CHAPTER XII.

"The grave is the poor man's only sanctuary; he can lay him down there, and neither feel nor fear the chilness of the world—the earth-worm gnaws the heart that poverty destroyed; but it only takes its portion. Earth has returned to earth-the spirit is far beyond the reach of poverty."

"When the nature of the trial is changed-when instead of some great and stunning calamity, each day brings with it some new care, some new variety of vexation, some new annoyance-trivial, if taken separately, but making a large amount of suffering in the aggregate; then it is found that those who have lived long in the world, and become experienced in its griefs, will bear with indifference that which preys upon the mind, and slowly, but surely, breaks the spirit of the young and sanguine."

NEVERTHELESS there was a calm in the anxious wife's breast, when all these affairs were concluded. She seemed in green fields, after having gone through a rugged and fearful

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desert, - a mariner reposing on the strand, the shipwreck passed.

She saw, at the same time, that the remedy had not rooted out the evil; and she grieved to see and to feel, how widely it had divided her from her husband. She had built her love,

she feared, on a slippery foundation; she fancied she could now trace the source of the love that was returned, to self-love alone; and that having been so completely disturbed, showed her "the poverty of the land." She had, in short, worked and toiled, to eke out the extent of her husband's indulgences; and while she had supposed he had been giving her credit for self-denial and praiseworthy endeavours, he had, in point of fact, largely taken advantage of the increase of means it had given him, without feeling one scruple or just conception of pity for the position in which he had placed her, or the wear and tear he had occasioned her. Perhaps to have looked for the faculty of his

reasoning on the point, was expecting too much; but she might have hoped that the instinctive feeling of tenderness from man to woman, would have come forth to have spared her but not a bit; things were now going on well; and as the quicksilver of his good spirits arose, so far did he again mount out of the latitude of her control and restriction ; hiring new servants, having various helpers; and a carpenter to put a leetle bit of cornice round the verandah. She had him, however, still domesticated under her roof; he had

not yet faced the world that world which kept so scrupulously from him! But then the influenza was catching; - he afraid of taking disease himself, but so many were so timid, and so foolishly fearful!

was not

He little suspected where the fear of the world lay; if he did, he kept it to himself; and Mrs. Strickland did not breathe a word of her suspicions. But it had dawned

on her where their "pitcher" was cracked, which the ancient poets represent we sail in,— "that saileth in the frail bark of the flesh through the waves of the world :" she knew the tables were turned against them; and she was prepared to meet the reverse with very ladylike fortitude and resignation, and a comfortable glance round her pretty favourite room, at the little chance there was of her being disturbed in it. Her tact, indeed, placed her in advance of the world, and her strict principles and integrity enabled her to feel above it. She wished she could teach her husband the same true state of independence; to take him up to the point on which she stood: but she must then take up with him, his little carriage- his dinner at six-his rubber at whist his various attendants

even

his dozen pair of new kid gloves, and all his catalogue of creature comforts! She was, in short, in love with adversity; whilst he kicked

most laboriously and decidedly against it. He longed for prosperity with all its fears and distastes; she caressed adversity, with its comforts and hopes. She had, indeed, found the jewel that the toad wore in its head the perfume in the crushed and despoiled flower the losses that are gains, when they

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assist in obtaining durable riches, the mercy through Divine grace, that is made the means of saving our souls.

She had learnt a dear and useful lesson to her; and this was, not to depend on her own strength. Like Martha, she had been one of many cares: she had made her bed, but she had been restless in lying on it

she had failed in saying from her heart,

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Thy will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven." She now saw there was a rest, which the Marthas of this world made little progress in obtaining; her stock of comfort increased as it was gained; and she fearlessly