Page:The Poor Rich Man, and the Rich Poor Man.djvu/110

102 one of my warm frocks?—I can do with one, and she looks so shivery!"

"And, father," said William, "if you will only give her the rest, I will give her my four shillings towards a pair of good shoes. I saw her coming in the other day, with her feet so wet and cold that she could not help crying."

"Mother," said little Ruth, "can't you and Aunt Lottie contrive her such a petticoat as you made for me, of old pieces, with cotton quilted between them? you may take my patchwork for the lining."

"My friends," said Mr. Barlow, who sat listening with extreme interest to these promptings of the heart, "may I put in my mite? Cannot the little girl come into our evening class? She may gain something from my instructions, and she cannot fail to profit by intercourse with your children."

The Aikins most cheerfully acquiesced in this suggestion. "The warm garments," Susan said, "would only be a present comfort, but a good done to her mind would be lasting; and she feared no evil to arise to her children while their intercourse with the little stranger was under her own eye."

Blessed are those families who call within their fold some of the wandering lambs of the flock! One more point was to be gained. The insuperable obstacle to conferring a benefit often arises from the party to be benefited. Mrs. Aikin was desirous to see Juliet's present protector. Some curiosity, we do not deny, she felt to see, face to face, the person whose gait and voice had struck her father and herself as familiar; but she was mainly anxious to ascertain the child's condition