e iron bedsteads were
arranged in symmetrical order; at each end were the beds of the two
mothers of families, who took the superintendence by turns.

"Dear me! how well it is arranged, M. Agricola, and how neat and clean!
Who is it that takes such good care of it?"

"The children themselves; we have no servants here. There is an
extraordinary emulation between these urchins--as to who shall make her
bed most neatly, and it amuses them quite as much as making a bed for
their dolls. Little girls, you know, delight in playing at keeping
house. Well, here they play at it in good earnest, and the house is
admirably kept in consequence."

"Oh! I understand. They turn to account their natural taste for all such
kinds of amusement."

"That is the whole secret. You will see them everywhere usefully
occupied, and delighted at the importance of the employments given
them."

"Oh, M. Agricola!" said Angela, timidly, "only compare these fine
dormitories, so warm and healthy, with the horrible icy garrets, where
children are heaped pell-mell on a wretched straw-mattress, shivering
with cold, as in the case with almost all the workmen's families in our
country!"

"And in Paris, mademoiselle, it is even worse."

"Oh! how kind, generous, and rich must M. Hardy be, to spend so much
money in doing good!"

"I am going to astonish you, mademoiselle!" said Agricola, with a smile;
"to astonish you so much, that perhaps you will not believe me."

"Why so, M. Agricola?"

"There is not certainly in the world a man with a better and more
generous heart than M. Hardy; he does good for its own sake and without
thinking of his personal interest. And yet, Mdlle. Angela, were he the
most selfish and avaricious of men, he would still find it greatly to
his advantage to put us in a position to be as comfortable as we are."

"Is it possible, M. Agricola? You tell me so, and I believe it; but if
good can so easily be done, if there is even an advantage in doing it,
why is it not more commonly attempted?"

"Ah! mademoiselle, it requires three gifts very rarely met with in the
same person--knowledge, power and will."

"Alas! yes. Those who have the knowledge, have not the power."

"And those who have the power, have neither the knowledge nor the will."

"But how does M. Hardy find any advantage in the good he does for you?"

"I will explain that presently, mademoiselle."

"Oh, what a nice, sweet smell of fruit!" said Angela, suddenly.