ick abed;
And therefore was it she was sent
Abroad to beg for bread.

We saw a woman sitting down
Upon a stone to rest;
She had a baby at her back,
And another at her breast.

I ask'd her why she loiter'd there,
When the night-wind was so chill;
She turn'd her head, and bade the child
That scream'd behind, be still--

Then told us that her husband served,
A soldier, far away;
And therefore to her parish she
Was begging back her way.

I turn'd me to the rich man then,
For silently stood he;
"You ask'd me why the poor complain
And these have answer'd thee!"

--_Old Magazine._

1542

The world caresses the rich, though vulgar and ill-bred, and avoids the
poor man of merit in the threadbare coat.

1543

ONE "ALWAYS RIGHT;" THE OTHER, "NEVER WRONG."

A worthy old Ayrshire farmer had the portraits of himself and his wife
painted. When that of her husband, in an elegant frame, was hung over
the fireplace, the gudewife remarked in a sly manner: "I think, gudeman,
noo that ye've gotten your picture hung up there, we should just put in
below't, for a motto, like, 'Aye richt!'"

"Deed may ye, my woman," replied her husband in an equally pawkie tone;
"and when ye get yours hung up over the sofa there, we'll just put up
anither motto on't, and say, 'Never wrang.'"

1544

Not every man who has an easy place has a soft pillow.

1545

CONCEALING POVERTY.

If rich, it is easy enough to conceal our wealth; but, if poor, it is
not quite so easy to conceal our poverty. We shall find it less
difficult to hide a thousand guineas, than one hole in our coat.

1546

Poverty is the only burden which grows heavier when loved ones help to
bear it.

1547

Poverty is in want of much, but avarice of everything.

--_Publius Syrus._

1548

POVERTY.

A poor man resembles a fiddler, whose music, though liked, is not much
praised, because he lives by it; while a gentleman performer, though the
most wretched scraper alive, throws the audience into raptures.

1549

The love of power is an instinct of the human heart.

--_Tacitus._

1550

Power often goes before talent.

--_From the Danish._

1551

When po