new rector told her plainly, the
other day, that she was making a great mistake; that she ought to
consider whether assistance assists. It was really amusing. Out of the
pulpit and off his guard, you know, he lisps a little; and he said she
ought to consider whether 'aththithtanth aththithtth.'"

There was a gay laugh at this, and the lady was called a perfect and
cruel mimic.

"'Aththithtanth aththithtth!'" said two or three to their neighbors, and
laughed again.

"What did your sister say to that?" asked the banker, bending forward
his white, tonsured head, and smiling down the board.

"She said she didn't care; that it kept her own heart tender, anyhow.
'My dear madam,' said he, 'your heart wants strengthening more than
softening.' He told her a pound of inner resource was more true help to
any poor person than a ton of assistance."

The banker commended the rector. The hostess, very sweetly, offered her
guarantee that Jane took the rebuke in good part.

"She did," replied the time-honored beauty; "she tried to profit by it.
But husband, here, has offered her a wager of a bonnet against a hat
that the rector will upset her new schemes. Her idea now is to make work
for those whom nobody will employ."

"Jane," said the kind-faced host, "really wants to do good for its own
sake."

"I think she's even a little Romish in her notions," said Jane's wiry
brother-in-law. "I talked to her as plainly as the rector. I told her,
'Jane, my dear, all this making of work for the helpless poor is not
worth one-fiftieth part of the same amount of effort spent in teaching
and training those same poor to make their labor intrinsically
marketable.'"

"Yes," said the hostess; "but while we are philosophizing and offering
advice so wisely, Jane is at work--doing the best she knows how. We
can't claim the honor even of making her mistakes."

"'Tisn't a question of honors to us, madam," said Dr. Sevier; "it's a
question of results to the poor."

The brother-in-law had not finished. He turned to the Doctor.

"Poverty, Doctor, is an inner condition"--

"Sometimes," interposed the Doctor.

"Yes, generally," continued the brother-in-law, with some emphasis. "And
to give help you must, first of all, 'inquire within'--within your
beneficiary."

"Not always, sir," replied the Doctor; "not if they're sick, for
instance." The ladies bowed briskly and applauded with their eyes. "And
not always if they're well," he added. His last w