Year: 1873

of the remainder. While l was waiting
for the minister's wife, | noticed in a cor
ner OF the parlor something new-an an
tlque vase, as curious as beautiful 1t
must have cost SO very much, and the
bracket that held it was elegantly carved
by hand; we have not a more expensive
piece of workmanship in our whole house
Certainly, my dear; I've no fault to find
with her having all she can get, but it is
with the giyer. The idea of Mr. Rogers
doing anything as extravagant as thatp'


Mr.. Lester had become accustomed to
his wife's yolubility. Sometimes he qui-
city listened, sometimes argued, and at
others tried to check the disposition to-
ward gossip which so evidently ruled her,
and was increasing rather than diminish
ing. Just now he wondered if all women
really were like his Edith--certainly not
as handsome, and no one could grace
table as well as she Even now, as she
sat talking, there was a charm about the
tipping of the dainty cup. Surely he was,
and ought to be, proud of her; yet there
was not the rest he needed in the talk with
which he was being entertained, a far
sample OF each evenings experience.
Knowing but little of her sex, he ques-
toned if all women found pleasure in so
severely criticising their neighbors He
had no sisters; his mother died when he
was boy, and boarding-school college,
and hotel life ill-served to show him wo-
man as she is when worthy of the name
she bears. John Lester had anticipated
having home. Had his ideal been too
beautiful? He had asked for wife. Had
he found the one he wanted?


The parsonage! And with the thought
of it he queried within himself if the
minister's modest little wife were season
ing her husbands supper with comments
upon their parishioners. No; he was
sure not. The night he sat up with Tony,
Mrs. Rogers had brought some jelly to the
sick man, and he was very certain that the
sweet voice which had comforted Eunice,
unconscious that any one heard it, could
never say i'll against another With the
vision of the little woman came a resolve
to be more of man than he ever had been.
He would not longer sit at his own table
and allow his neighbors to be slandered
when they were above reproach


Edith, how do you know that Mr..
Rogers bought the vase and bracket?


"know it, my dear, with all possible
evidence one could want. Why, right on
the table lay a card with the words, For
my wite-God grant she may yet live
many years to save and bless others as she
has her husband Pretty, all that. but of
course it accompanied the vase: there
were the nails and hammer used in hang
ing the bracket. Then, too, was stand
ing before it when Mrs. Rogers entered :;
and as | remarked that it was a new and
elegant ornament in their room, she ex-
claimed, oh yes; and a birthday present
from some one whom | love very much.
| found it on my bureau this morning
Taking her seat, she spied the card and
picked 1t up to put in her pocket with a
blush which made her look almost hand
some for once. | do believe she was
ashamed to tell me plainly that Mr..
Rogers made the gift and she ought to be
ashamedl Yes, say it exceeds anything
| ever knew Of in the line Of eXtrava-
Cancel"


Certainly Mrs. Testers statement seem
ed most plausible, yet her husband grew
strangely interested in the minister's little
helpmeet during ,he recital, and the man.
ly resolve in his heart to purify the tone
of his own wite's thoughts was thoroughly
rooted. In firm but gentle voice, he
replied:


Edith, till you kn0lo that Mr.. Rogers
gave his wife the vase you have no right
to say he did. Imagination is one thing,
evidence another. 1t may be very appa-
rent to our acquaintance that you have all
a woman could desire to make her life
happy; yet, is it a wOman's highest pleas
ure to slander her brothers and sisters?
You resent the idea of having any intent
to SANDER, but already Mrs. Pratt has
listened to what you have told me, and
she has or will repeat the story in a fuller
dress. | beg that tomorrow, instead of
spreading, you will try TO check the evil
you may have done. If Mr. Rogers did
give the vase he had his reasons for so do
ing, and it Is none of our business how
he spends his money. Unless l am mis-
taken, he and Mrs. Rogers will endeavor to
rid our village of this sin of gossip, and,
my wife, we Will aid them all we cann'


Mrs. Lester was subdued, if only by
the stand her husband had taken. \ wo-
man of no mean disposition, she had
merely succumbed to the custom of the
society in which he moved, forgettul that
owing to the position she held, a word of
hers weighed a great deal in the estima-
ton of others. Her husbands rebuke
had touched her, and for the first time in
her life she realized how deep an injury
she might do another by an unjust word.
All the unjust word had been spoken
that day, and on the morrow, while Mrs
Lester shopped in the city, the minister's
wife received an unusual number of
callers.


Harry" she said, they all noticed my
vase and admired it SO much. One lady
told me that antique was quite the style
now, and concluded my present must have
been very costly. 1t is beautiful, isn't it :?
but not half SO beautiful as the true love
that gave it to me"'


At that moment Mrs. Lester drove up
to the gate, and through the open window
saw the minister with his arm around his
wife standing before the bracket 1t
looked like another proof toward the
truth of her story; but recalling her hus-
bands words, she entered the parsonage
with more kindness in her heart than she
had ever carried there before


I'm just home from town, Mrs. Rogers.
and stopped to leave this small parcel
the fall goods We're being opened, and
this is pretty shade that will suit YOU"
and she did not wait for thanks


oh! Harry dear! a new dress. Now
you can do what you wished you could
this morning-get chair for poor Teddy
Burns. I'm so glad! Why, its like your
sermon on Sunday: All things working
together for good


In the Lester home that night there
was happy change. Mr. Lester wonder
ed why his wife was so tender in her
greeting, so softened in manner, never
dreaming that his rood deed was alrpo6y