ell," said Miss Nancy Shott to Mrs.
Ferguson one morning when the latter had called upon her with a little
basket of cake and preserves, "for Mrs. Cliff to be sending her money to
the colored poor of South America, but a person who has lived as she has
lived in days gone by ought to remember that there are poor people who
are not colored, and who live a great deal nearer than South America."
Miss Shott was at work as she said this, but she could always talk when
she was working. She was busy packing the California blankets, which
Mrs. Cliff had given her, in a box for the summer, putting pieces of
camphor rolled up in paper between their folds. "If she wanted to find
people to give money to, she needn't hire ministers to go out and hunt
for them. There are plenty of them here, right under her nose, and if
she doesn't see them, it's because she shuts her eyes wilfully, and
won't look."

"But it seems to me, Miss Shott," said Mrs. Ferguson, "that Mrs. Cliff
has done ever so much for the people of Plainton. For instance, there
are those blankets. What perfectly splendid things they are,--so soft
and light, and yet so thick and warm! They're all wool, every thread of
them, I have no doubt."

"All wool!" said Miss Shott. "Of course they are, and that's the trouble
with them. Some of these days they'll have to be washed, and then
they'll shrink up so short that I suppose I'll have to freeze either my
chin or my toes. And as to her giving them to me, 'turn about's fair
play.' I once joined in to give her a pair."

"Oh," said Mrs. Ferguson.

Mr. George Burke was now the only member of our little party of friends
who did not seem entirely satisfied with his condition and prospects. He
made no complaints, but he was restless and discontented. He did not
want to go to sea, for he vowed he had had enough of it, and he did not
seem to find any satisfaction in a life on shore. He paid a visit to his
mother, but he did not stay with her very long, for Plainton seemed to
suit him better. But when he returned to his house in that town, he
soon left it to go and spend a few days with Shirley.

When he came back, Mrs. Cliff, who believed that his uneasy state of
mind was the result of want of occupation and the monotonous life of a
small town, advised him to go out West and visit Captain Horn. There was
so much in that grand country to interest him and to occupy him, body
and mind; but to this advice Mr. Burke stoutly objected.

"I