the
small world about me no sign of my folly, I dismissed the subject and
betook myself to an eager enjoyment of the day.

The soft June breeze played with my hair and gently and affectionately
touched my face; the lake quivering and rippling with passing emotions
stretched away from me toward that other shore which it kept secreted
somewhere on its farther side. The very sight of it, with its shimmering
greens, turquoise blue, and tawny yellow, cooled and soothed me, and ere
I knew it, I had slipped into a pleasant, active speculation on matters
of larger interest than the petty subjects which had lined my brow a
moment before. I was walking directly toward one of my families, and it
occurred to me that I might run in and make a call, while I was near at
hand. I had first become interested in them at church. I was impressed
by their cleanliness and regularity of attendance, and by a certain
judicious arrangement of their children--the parents always sitting so as
to separate the latter by their authority and order.

Another point that claimed my attention was that the children were
changed each Sunday--a fresh three succeeding the first bunch, and on
the third Sunday, one of the first three being added to a fresh two, to
make up the proper complement. Both parents had a self-respecting,
self-sacrificing look, as of people who had learned to help themselves
cautiously from the family dish, and to "put their knives to their
throats" before time; but kept all this to themselves, asking nothing
from anyone, and making their little answer without murmur or complaint.
I had, for some time, realized that the child who was now getting more
than his share of sermons, by reappearing on the third Sunday, would
soon be reduced to the level of his brethren, and a new relative would
take the place which he had been filling as a matter of accommodation. I
sought occasion to make the acquaintance of the mother of this fine
brood, on the pretext of some church work, and after that became a
regular visitor at their little home. The perfect equality of the
parents; the deference with which they treated one another; and their
quiet happiness, in spite of all labor and privation, made me realize
that they might well extend a pitying thought to some of the apparently
wealthy members of the church. We may yet live to see the day when a new
scale shall come in vogue, and some Croesus who now stands in an enviable
light, shall then pass into