Sanitary Conditions of Tenement
Houses. She's a member of the W.C.A., and the W.C.T.U., and the
S.P.C.A.; she's on the Board of Lady Managers of the Newsboys' Home, and
one of the Directors of the Industrial School for Girls. In fact she is
fairly torn asunder in her efforts to ameliorate the condition of the
"submerged tenth."'

'"Submerged tenth,"' echoed Pauline wonderingly. 'Is any one submerged
in Boston?'

'You dear stupid, of course! The unseen population in filth, rags and
unrighteousness, and the rest of us in lazy self-indulgence, which,
perhaps, in God's sight, is about as bad. I often think if each
professing Christian took hold of one poor beggar and tried to elevate
him, we should solve the problem a great deal sooner than by starting so
many societies to improve them in the aggregate. I can theorize, you
see, but the practice is beyond me.'

'But why don't you try it?' cried Pauline, her eyes sparkling. 'It is a
splendid idea.'

'Bless you, my child, because it would involve work, and that is a thing
I abhor.'

'But Gwendolyn must work on all these societies,' said Pauline.

Belle danced across the room, and seated herself on the arm of her
chair.

'You dear old thing! You're as innocent as your own daisies, and it is a
shame to take you from your mossy bed. Don't you know there is work and
work? God says, "Go work in My vineyard," and we good Christians answer,
"Yes, Lord, but let some one else go ahead and take out the stumps." The
most of us like to do our spiritual farming on a western scale. It is
pleasanter to drive a team of eight horses over cleared land than to
grub out dockweed and thistles all alone in one corner.'

She leaned forward and began reading the titles of the books Pauline
had selected for her study.

'Homer's _Iliad_ and _Plato_,--I told mamma you were intense--Hallam's
_Middle Ages_ and Macaulay's _History of England_. I had no idea you had
monarchical tendencies. I must take you to our little chapel, and show
you the communion service that belonged to Charles the Second, or
perhaps it was one of the Georges, I'm not very clear on that point. My
dear Paul, you're delicious! To think of anybody voluntarily undertaking
to scrape acquaintance with all these dry-as-dust worthies, and in
summertime!'

'It is not easy for you to understand how hungry I am,' said Pauline,
with a tremor in her voice. 'You have been going to school all your
life.'

'Unfortunately, yes!' sig