strange indeed if Susy did not love the ugly
old woman, until at last she came to regard the wrinkles as veritable
lines of beauty; the nut-cracker nose and chin as emblems of persistent
goodness; the solitary wobbling tooth as a sign of unconquerable
courage; and the dark eyes--well, it required no effort of imagination
to change the character of the old woman's eyes, for they had always
been good, kindly, expressive eyes, and were at that date as bright and
lively as when she was sweet sixteen.

But chimney-pot Liz was poor--desperately poor, else she had not been
there, for if heaven was around and within her, assuredly something very
like pandemonium was underneath her, and it not unfrequently appeared as
if the evil spirits below were surging to and fro in a fierce endeavour
to burst up the whole place, and hurl the old woman with her garden into
the river.

Evil spirits indeed formed the dread foundation of the old woman's
abode; for, although her own court was to some extent free from the
curse, this particular pile of building, of which the garden formed the
apex, had a grog-shop, opening on another court, for its
foundation-stone. From that sink of iniquity, literal and unmitigated--
though not unadulterated--spirits of evil rose like horrid fumes from
the pit, and maddened the human spirits overhead. These, descending to
the foundation-den, soaked themselves in the material spirit and carried
it up, until the whole tenement seemed to reek and reel under its malign
influence.

But, strange to say, the riot did not rise as high as the garden on the
roof--only the echoes reached that little paradise.

Now it is a curious almost unaccountable fact, which no one would ever
guess, that a teapot was the cause of this--at least a secondary cause--
for a teapot was the chief instrument in checking, if not turning, the
tide of evil. Yes, chimney-pot Liz held her castle in the very midst of
the enemy, almost single-handed, with no visible weapon of offence or
defence but a teapot! We say visible, because Liz did indeed possess
other and very powerful weapons which were not quite so obvious--such
as, the Word of God in her memory, the love of God in her heart, and the
Spirit of God in her soul.

To the outside world, however, the teapot was her weapon and shield.

We have read of such a weapon before, somewhere in the glorious annals
of city missions, but just now we are concerned only with the teapot of
our ow