Esther

pack my things, and by-

down by the window and said, with a sigh, how tire

e in silence, but once or t

ettishly-Carrie was never pettish-but a little too plaintively. "I have

I remembered reading once about "the lust of finishing," and what a test of unselfishness it was to put by a half-completed task cheerfully at the call

I objected; for mother alway

thinking. She was brought up so differently; girls were allowed so little liberty then. My notions seemed to distress her. She said that I was peculiar, and that I carried things too far, and that s

urself, do you not Carrie?" I asked anxiously,

all his thousand and one fads and fancies, what would become of all my parish work? You should have heard Mr. Arnold's sermon last Sunday, Esther; he spoke of the

my absence would it not have been better for Carrie to have been a little more at home? It was Jessie's words and mother's careworn face that put the thought into my head; but th

the schoolroom with some nonsensical request that would rob me of an hour or so, I am quite right not to give way to him. Do you think," warming into enthusiasm over her subject, "that Fred's violin playing ought to stand in the way of any real work that will

em. Oh, how I wish I could remember all he said! He told us not to be disheartened by petty difficulties, or to feel lonely because, perhaps, those who were our nearest and dearest discouraged our efforts or put obstacles in our way. 'You th

I am afraid our work is already cut out for us, and we shall have to do it however little pl

raid of pove

I persisted. "Perhaps we shall have to live in a littl

ut away the clothes that strewed my room, though I was aching in every limb from grief and fatigue. If one looks up too much at the clouds one stumbles against rough stones sometimes. Star gazing is very sweet and elevating, but it is as well sometimes to pick up the homely flowers that grow round our feet. "What does Carrie mean by higher duties?" I grumbled, as I sought wearily to evoke order out of c

washed the frail building away. But though mine filled with foamy water, the rough walls remained en

now, I cannot think of them without tears. On the second day after my return, dear

d of complaint or rebellion crossed her lips; she liked us to sit beside her and read her soothing passages of Scripture, and she was very thoughtful and full of pity for us all. Her health was nev

Dot took all my attention; and, indeed

the rest of us were gathered in the sick room. I was the first to leave when all was over, for I thought of Dot and trem

he way on his hands and knees," whispered Jac

and Dot lifted his miserable little

's dead, for I heard you all cryin

ow voice. "He will only imagine all sorts of horrors-and

"if you only take me in." And Allan, unable

d me afterward that Allan cried like a child when Dot nest

u could look and speak to me-I am your little boy Dot-you were always so fond of Dot, father. Let me go with

g him and talking to him, for Dot never slept. The next day we took turns

erence; but then Allan had so much tact and gentleness. Fred did not under

had suffered much all day, and Allan had scarcely left him; but toward evening he had grown quieter. I f

Fancy a wreath of butterflies!" and Dot gave a weak little laugh. It was a very ghost of a laugh, but it was his first, and I hailed it joyfully. I praised the quaint stiff wreath.

and I have been planning it. We are going to have rose-trees and lilies of the valley and sweet peas-fathe

surely

earily. "I think the worst of people dying is that we cannot find out what they are doing," and his eyes

very day Dot made us read to him the description of that City wi

ld rather think of dear father walking in those green pastures, with all the good people who have di

this notion away. "Allan and I could not spare you, or mother eith

s shrewd way. "Jack is a girl, and she cannot understand; but when one is only a Dot, and has an ugly crutch and

make us to lose you too," I returned. And now the tears would c

may live to be a man. He said so last night; and then he told me he was afraid we should be ve

us, Dot, even for father;" and as I said this I began to sob bitterly. I was terribly ashamed of myself when Allan

ughed at the hole in her handkerchief; and he then seated himself on the bed, and asked me very gently what was the mat

she is selfish, and I am

ryly; "it is a human failing. Wh

of us who ever called

the huge sinewy hand. "I could work then for mother and the girls; but now you will be always obliged to take care of me, and

ean to have a nice little house of my own, and Esther and you shall come and live with me, and I will go among my patients all the morning, and in the evening I shall come home very lazy and t

in the air. When we were together he would often talk of it as though it were reality. We had planted the garden and furnished the parlor a dozen times over before the year was out; and so strong is a settled imagination that

so much as Dot and I did, as we made

we had arranged there must be a row of beehives under a southern wall where peaches were to grow; and as for white lilies, we were to have dozens of them. Dear, dear, how harmless all these fancies were, and yet they kept us cheerful and warded off

ve to do is to take up our life, and do the best we can with it while it lasts, and to be kind and patient, and help one another. Most likely Esther and I will ha