said.

The interview terminated, and the cooper went home, quite elated by his
success. His present engagement would enable him to bridge over the dull
time, and save him from incurring debt, of which he had a just horror.

"Just in time," said Mrs. Crump. "We've got an apple-pudding to-day."

"You haven't forgotten what I like, Mary."

"There's no knowing how long you will be able to afford puddings," said
Aunt Rachel. "To my mind it's extravagant to have meat and pudding both,
when a month hence you may be in the poor-house."

"Then," said Jack, "I wouldn't eat any."

"Oh, if you grudge me the little I eat," said his aunt, in severe
sorrow, "I will go without."

"Tut, Rachel, nobody grudges you anything here," said her brother, "and
as to the poor-house, I've got some good news to tell you that will put
that thought out of your heads."

"What is it?" asked Mrs. Crump, looking up brightly.

"I have found employment."

"Not at your trade?"

"No, but at something else, which will pay equally well, till trade
revives."

Here he told the story of the chance by which he was enabled to serve
Mr. Merriam, and of the engagement to which it had led.

"You are, indeed, fortunate," said Mrs. Crump. "Two dollars a day, and
we've got nearly the whole of the money that came with this dear child.
How rich we shall be!"

"Well, Rachel, where are your congratulations?" asked the cooper of his
sister, who, in subdued sorrow, was eating her second slice of pudding.

"I don't see anything so very fortunate in being engaged as a porter,"
said Rachel, lugubriously. "I heard of a porter, once, who had a great
box fall upon him and crush him; and another, who committed suicide."

The cooper laughed.

"So, Rachel, you conclude that one or the other is the inevitable lot of
all who are engaged in this business."

"It is always well to be prepared for the worst," said Rachel,
oracularly.

"But not to be always looking for it," said her brother.

"It'll come, whether you look for it or not," returned her sister,
sententiously.

"Then, suppose we spend no thoughts upon it, since, according to your
admission, it's sure to come either way."

Rachel pursued her knitting, in severe melancholy.

"Won't you have another piece of pudding, Timothy?" asked Mrs. Crump.

"I don't care if I do, Mary, it's so good," said the cooper, passing his
plate. "Seems to me it's the best pudding you ever made."

"You've got a good appetit