share no small amount of carelessness, and some little pride and self-will; all of

at the Point,-mild, soft, and sunny; only the September haze up

d wrist; the children at play upon the beach with Mammy, and their faithful pages, Bill and Jim, in attendance. I had stipulated, with a fanciful idea that I was making some righ

t aunt Emily's knee, and, as the tale proceeded, her dear hand tenderly stroking my hair and cheek, I had told the story to its

lves and me upon the recovery of the earrings. My name, and the likeness I bore to the Amy Rutherford in heaven, would have pleaded for and won me absolution in a far worse case than this; and they at once set themselves to work to demoli

g themselves to the utmost, and having matters all their own way, as usual. Jim was lying prone upon the beach, while Allie and Daisy

mean to do with him, Milly?" he asked, turning to my

ear uncle,-well, it is less what I mean to do with him, than what he means to do with himself. His own ambitions are soaring, and quite beyond any plans that I could form for him; his aim being the head of the government of our country, with the powers of an autocrat, and no responsibility

Milly herself," I interrupted. But my remark was

u think so?" asked uncle Rutherford; adding, "Whatever his aims an

make mention of all that she was doing fo

r two hours every evening, and are both making quite remarkable progress in the three R's; and Bill had singing

more thorough and far-reaching than this." And Milly's eyes lighted, for she knew th

, "Columbia itself will not bound his ambition. He, too, wi

e sand, and risen to his feet, was now tumbling rapidly over in a series of "cart-wheels;" another performance in which the souls of our children delighted, and in which

had the most exasperating way of exciting one's curiosity and in

t; and, with an eye to further prepossessing uncle Rutherford in the boy's favor, I forthwith unfolded his scheme for the benefit of the helpless young

n Yorke's share in it,-"Amy, I am going to invite Captain and Mrs. Yorke to visit New York this winter, and," wit

as visitors in uncle Rutherford's house was somewhat incongruous; while the vision of Milly and myself escorting the

oming winter,-or, I should say, not to occupy my own house; for, Amy, as my boys will pass the winter abroad, and your aunt and I would feel lonely without them, we have been

aunt Emily to spend the winter with us; a pleasure which I would willingly have earned by any amount of ciceroneship to the old sailor and his wife. The subject had not been moot

had somewhat subsided, and calmness was once more restored. "You do not re

far-reaching desire to benefit and make others happy, was given to ways and plans which, at times, were too much even for his ever-charitable, generou

olence was not as large as that of some other members of the family, and he was inclined to look askance upon uncle Rutherford's demands upon his heart and his purse. These, to tell the truth, were not infrequent; for our uncle, believing that

es away with the other," Norman had said, grum

said Douglas, resentfully; for he inherited, to the fullest extent, the family g

imed at his head, and left his sh

e was almost as great as Milly's and mine in view of the stay of our uncle and aunt at our home; being incited, probably,

om her lameness before she is entirely crippled; and we shall therefore propose that they come to the city after we are fairly settled there, when we will provide comfortable quarters for them, and put

nking--" I bega

t a somewhat trying experience upon you," said uncle Rutherford, in answ

y thought. Any slight embarrassment which I might have felt, however, wa

nston coming ove

man, with what I chose to consider a saucy glance in my direction;

of interest, and these, for reasons which seemed good to himself, he usually considered it necessary to bring over to the homestead as soon as possible after they came to his knowledge. Indeed, our boys basely slandered him, by

was seated, and addressing himself to my uncle, who, by virtue of his interest in, and proprietorship of, a great portion of the P

nswered uncle Rutherford.

hing of him since,-that is, until to-day, when a woman, claiming to be his widow, appeared with five children. She had his "marriage lines," as she called them, a letter from the prodigal himself to his father, and other papers, which appear to substantiate her claim; and the old couple have admitted it, and received the whole crowd. 'Matildy Jane' is sceptical, derisive, and not amiable. Nor can one be surprised that she is not pleased at this addition to her household care

n. "Milly will adopt the crowd, and have the

an appalling misfortune. "Imagine, if the thing is true, and these people dependent upon him, the utter up-turn

at he must 'see what mother said,' giving neither word of welcome nor refusal to admit the claim of the strangers; and presently Mrs. Yorke appeared, in a state of overwhelming excitement, and, nothing doubting, straightway fell upon the new arrivals with an attempt to take the whole quintette into her ample embrace. No need of proofs for her; and, seeing this, the captain's doubts were dispersed, and he began a vigorous hand-shak

that the woman is a fr

rriage certificate which were in her possession, making good her pretensions, she had an honest face, and ap

this numerous family, it will interfere wi

ften insisted upon benefiting people against their will. "Not at all. The new family can be left here to keep Matilda Jane company while her f

he kindest and most generous of hearts, he always believed, until

y turning to my sister, "will you

and the two kindred sp

es the arrival of this infirmary opens up to them. I knew that they wou

es there may be for the hospital c

ew how to do; the captain piloting the blind child about the house and garden, familiarizing him with different objects, by which he might learn his own way about by his acute sense of touch; the youngest-a teething, not consumptive, baby-fast asleep; and even the recalcitrant "Matildy Jane" tolerably pleasant and good-natured beneath the fascinations of a handsome, sturdy urchin four years old, who, undaunted by her hard face and snappish voice, insisted upon following her around, and "helping" her in her man

Not even "Matildy Jane." And she had succ

d brought upon the family of her husband, and sat peeling potatoes from a huge basket on the one side, while a pan of apples, duly pared and quartered, stood

ityingly, as she stood beside the old sailor in the porch, while aunt E

, don't they?" he added, unconsciously expressing Mr. Winston's view of the situation. "Me an' Mis' Yorke, we foun' out the truth of the Scriptur' sayin', how sharper than an achin' tooth it is to have a thankless child, an' Tom,-I don't min' sayin' it to you,-he was thankless enough, though he's dead an' gone, an' his old father ain't the one to cast stones at him now. But me an' Mis' Yorke, we don't want to make out the truth of that other Scriptur', that the sins of the father shall be visited on the children,-leastways, not Tom's children; they ain't to blame for his short-comin's; an', meanin' no disrespec' nor onbelief, that Scriptur' do always seem to me a little hard on the children. Maybe-who knows-them youngsters will ha' brought a blessin' with 'em; an' my opinions is they has, when I see Mis' Yorke a cuddlin' an' croonin' over that little hunchback. Now she's aw

and Jabez's opinions; but Milly had no fear that the

n placed in father's hands for investment, we knew to a fraction what he had to depend upon, and that it was not enough to provide for all. The sturdy independence of the captain would no doubt revolt against the idea of receiving any actual pecuniary assistance, as would that of his wife; but some way must be contrived of lessening their responsibilities and cares. Jabez Strong and his wife must share these, although he might and probably would be

ittle sisters had so burdened themselves, that they needed assistance to transport all these gifts to Captain Yorke's house; and they could not look for any great amount of this from mammy, who had all she could do to convey her own portly person, and the enormous umbrella without which she never stirred, as a possibly needed pro

xpedition with a face and air of such portentous gravity, so different from his usual h

olks didn't do nothin',

en?" ask

ed. "I was on'y thinkin' what a lot

queried Milly, rather wonderi

Tony Blair, who me an Bill has took into our keepin' soon as we get to the city; an' now here comes a Yorke hunchback, an' a Yorke blind, an' a Yorke sick baby, all sudden like; an' I say that's

ach one does his or her mite, we can among us greatly lighten the load of human suffering; and that is wh

tefully at her. "There ain't no halfway 'bout you, Miss Milly. But I would like to help Captain Yorke, if I co

to be benefited by the "peanut-undertaking;" and, as frequent new claims and claimants

all the other people you have upon your list. They shall not be allowed to s

go to passin' 'em over when they was so good to me? No, that I wouldn't; I ain't never goin' to forget how Mis' Yorke nussed me, an' made much of me, when I was sick there in her house; an' they were good to me, too, w

acrifice and charity which she herself had shown in faith and hope. And this, too, in ground which the on-looke

ngs hath she

r souls may