he
hand of charity has been more active and full than ever; and though many
have been denied their accustomed luxuries, there has been bread for all.

Weather prophets also promised us a winter of unusual severity. They knew
it from the amount of investment the squirrels had made in winter stock,
and from the superabundance of wool on the sheep's back, and the lavishness
of the dog's hair. Are the liars ready to confess their fault? The boys
have found but little chance to use their skates, and I think the
sheep-shearing of the flocks on celestial pasture-fields must have been
omitted, judging from the small amount of snowy fleece that has fallen
through the air. I have not had on my big mittens but once or twice, and my
long-ago frost-bitten left ear has not demanded an extra pinching. To make
up for the lack of fuel on the hearth, the great brass handiron of the sun
has been kept unusually bright and hot. And yesterday we heard the horn of
the south wind telling that the flowery bands of spring are on the way up
from Florida.

The necessity for retrenchment has blessed the whole land. Many of us have
learned how to make a thousand dollars do what fifteen hundred dollars--

Quizzle broke in at the first opportunity and said, "No doubt, governor, it
is easy for you to be placid, for everything has gone well with you since
you started life, whereas my mother died when I was little, and I was
kicked and cuffed about by a step-mother whose name I cannot bear to hear."

Ha! ha! said Governor Wiseman. It is the old story of step-mothers. I don't
believe they are any worse than other people, taking the average. I have
often wondered why it is that the novels and romances always make the
step-mother turn out so very badly. She always dresses too much and bangs
the children. The authors, if writing out of their own experience, must
have had a very hard time.

In society it has become a proverb: "Cruel as a step-mother." I am
disposed, however, to think that, while there may be marked exceptions,
step-mothers are the most self-sacrificing beings in all the world. They
come into the family scrutinized by the household and the relatives of the
one who used to occupy the motherly position. Neighborly busybodies meet
the children on the street and sigh over them and ask them how their new
mother treats them. The wardrobe of the youngsters comes under the severe
inspection of outsiders.

The child, haying been taught that the la