consent; for he thought it would be a very unhandsome
return for all the favors he was receiving from his minister, to
decoy away his faithful servant from her place, without his consent.

This worthy gentleman, though sorry to lose so valuable a member of
his little family, did not scruple a moment about parting with her,
when he found it would be so greatly to her advantage. Tom was
agreeably surprised to hear she had saved fifty pounds by her
frugality. The Doctor married them himself, farmer Hodges being
present.

In the afternoon of the wedding-day, Dr. Shepherd condescended to
call on Farmer and Mrs. White, to give a few words of advice on the
new duties they had entered into; a common custom with him on these
occasions. He often took an opportunity to drop, in the most kind
and tender way, a hint upon the great indecency of making marriages,
christenings, and above all, funerals, days of riot and excess, as
is too often the case in country villages. The expectation that the
vicar might possibly drop in, in his walks, on these festivals,
often restrained excessive drinking, and improper conversation, even
among those who were not restrained by higher motives, as Farmer and
Mrs. White were.

What the Pastor said was always in such a cheerful, good-humored way
that it was sure to increase the pleasure of the day, instead of
damping it. "Well, farmer," said he, "and you, my faithful Sarah,
any other friend might recommend peace and agreement to you on your
marriage; but I, on the contrary, recommend cares and strifes."[5]
The company stared--but Sarah, who knew that her old master was a
facetious gentleman, and always had some meaning behind, looked
serious. "Cares and strife, sir," said the farmer, "what do you
mean?" "I mean," said he, "for the first, that your cares shall be
who shall please God most, and your strifes, who shall serve him
best, and do your duty most faithfully. Thus, all your cares and
strifes being employed to the highest purposes, all petty cares and
worldly strifes shall be at an end.

[5] See Dodd's Sayings.

"Always remember that you have both of you a better friend than each
other." The company stared again, and thought no woman could have so
good a friend as her husband. "As you have chosen each other from
the best motives," continued the Doctor, "you have every reasonable
ground to hope for happiness; but as this world is a soil in which
troubles and misfortunes will spring up; tr