The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1894-12-07

but his courteous interest soon melted the
last remnant of pride and reserve, and she
found herself telling him all her story. 4
And this WAS the last resort" she
said, opening the tiny box which he had
found in her nerveless hand, and display
Toned gold brooch handsomely set
1.-The brooch was my mothers, my
gmndmother's and my great-grandmoth-
ers, and | intended it for TINA, my eld-
est daughter; but l can't see them
Then the gentle-faced woman brought
At the second bite Mrs. Benton dropped
starving babcs!'
"Eat this: your children shall be cared
for. the minister made answer. And
then she fairly fell upon the delicate NOR
seis-despite her efforts to restrain her
self-and devoured the last crumb.
ferhaps you were never hungry was
al her apology, as she handed up the
server and smiled into the face Of the
white-haired woman.
For reply the latter dropped u kiss
upon ,.% her forehead; saying:
than those of hunger. Thank your heav-
emily Father that YOU still have your chill
dreM unspotted by the world"
linen l have something to he thankful
for she said to herself, as, for Il few
moments she was alone,
Whats that:" cried Clare, suddenly.
as from the window she espied two men
coming up the path carrying IL huge bas-
ket; The others crowded to see
What can it mean? said Bert.
81, NANNY ~, never could have bought
that. said Tina.
,"Mebby poppy sent EN-" suggested
o1yy *
Tina opened the door.
1--WE were to leave these things at James
Rentons; is this the placeY' one of the
house.
Yes. SIR
Out on to the table they piled the con-
tents of the basket-a chicken. n small,
ham, some links of sausage, Il half dozen
loaves of bread, u tiny Jar Of butter. tea,
dries"
Ten minutes later Mrs. Benton ar
rived, and when she saw the ''supplies, :"
she sank on her knees, saying fervently:
LET us pray
Awed. the children knelt around her,
and Il PRAYER OF thanksgiving arose, as
fervent as had been the plea for help.
nat dinner they had, though poor.
faint Bert would only wait to eat Il good
sized slice of bread and butter before he
went ont to find Carl. The latter, poor
little fellow, had not earned Il dime.
1t was growing dusk before food for
the COW and Il load of coal arrived
~ walked out there the young
minister told his mother at bedtime: Il
could not resist the temptation. and to-
look in at the uncurtained window, and
l came away repeating over and over:
1T is more blessed to give than to re-
ce'vee.' and 'lnaSlnuch as We did it unto
the least of these I'm happy and thank
full tonight, mother. Tomorrow VIC will
interest our friends Oh, that the striker
would stop to count the cost before he
goes into it!'
James Benton came home IL few days
later. worn. ragged and penniless, but
when he learned what had been done
for the family, he cried out: "Then all
men are not bad. after all. I'm going to
work tomorrow if they'll let me;' and
he did. and within twenty four hours
others had followed his example, and the
strike off.
Zone wrong can never right another"
was the motto Tina worked, and her
father nailed it up in his shop. as he said
to keep himself and others from going
on another strike Once more the nee
esSaries and many of the comforts of life
can be found in his home and he has
learned to "be content with his wages"-
Velma G. Melville in Practical Farmer.