More than this As from prin those who might need their charity. came, almost without their seeking. ciple they wasted nothing, their small gains annually accumulated, until they became owners of the spot where they were originally tenants, and which had constantly been improving under their occupancy. Thus years fled away, until faithful Richard, desiring, with their entire approbation, to marry a deserving young woman, it was decided to intrust to their tenantry the place hitherto occupied, and erect a new habitation on some land recently purchased. Soon a tasteful cottage reared its white front on a neighboring knoll, with a lofty walnut-grove for a background. An acacia-hedge, intermingled at regular intervals with the graceful sumach, bordered its sloping lawn; and the fruit-trees, which had been prospectively planted, were in full prosperity. Flowering shrubs and vines imbowered the lovely mansion, clustering roses adorned the winding gravelwalk, and a noble, drooping elm, in patriarchal majesty, spread its broad arms over the rustic gate. The traveler often paused to admire the symmetry and simple elegance of the building, and the quiet repose of the shades that imbosomed it. There, still in those habits of rural industry which promote and preserve health, but in the enjoyment of all the leisure they could desire, and which they so well knew how to render improving both to themselves and others, their time passed in felicity and in love. The lady of the cottage, as years flowed on, Ал delighted more and more in the society of the young of her own sex, because she felt that it was in her power to do them good. The inhabitants of the village, knowing that she had enjoyed the advantages of a superior education, were anxious that such of their daughters as had attained sufficient age to appreciate its value, should profit by intercourse with her. Yielding to their solicitations, she consented to give them regular instruction in the studies and accomplishments that were to her familiar. Four afternoons in the week, she saw her parlor pleasantly filled with the bright faces of the young whom she loved, and by whom she was beloved in return. While imparting to their docile minds the healthful aliment of knowledge, she was sometimes led silently to contrast the pure, unostentatious pleasure which she thus enjoyed, with that period of wasting excitement when the splendor of her dress, or the elegance of her entertainments, won the adulation of a heartless throng, she herself wearied and ill content with a profitless existence. Striving to prepare her pupils for the faithful and graceful discharge of every feminine duty, she earnestly impressed those precepts of morality and piety, whose sustaining influences she had from her youth experienced. Some of her favorite lessons were, that there may be happiness, respectability, and influence, without wealth; that the pursuit of it, as the main object of life, is mistaken and dangerous; that all expenditure beyond income is injustice; and that to live in luxury upon the property of others, withheld from them against their will, and to their inconvenience or suffering, is a sin against conscience, of which no consistent Christian could be guilty. "Pay your debts, my dear young friends," she would say, "and when you have husbands, do not lead them into extravagance, but be their helpers." The good she accomplished, and the affection she acquired by her judicious labors as a teacher, could not be bounded by this fleeting existence. And as the husband and wife, arm in arm, walked, at the close of day, around the grounds, which every year became more beautiful, they said to each other, "How much higher enjoyment have we here found than great riches, with their cares and dangers, could have afforded; and how superior is the quiet rest of an approving heart to the pursuit of those shadows which the gay world calls happiness." |