door, when I observed a boy, about four or five years old, who had entered cautiously, as if not to disturb the slumbers of the child. He took no notice of my presence, but approached the bed, and looking anxiously up into the face of his mother, asked if sissy was well.' He was a fine, manly little fellow, and the mother seemed to dote upon him. While her attention was occupied with him, my own thoughts were dwelling upon the reflection that this woman, still young and attractive-blessed with all the advantages of education and eminent moral culture— was doomed to waste her life in incessant toil for the support of herself and her darling children, exposed to every temptation and vice, and subject to the will of a mercenary being, whose only aim it was to procure the greatest possible amount of labor for the smallest possible compensation, regardless that death lurked in every stitch drawn by his victim. Little do the sons and daughters of idleness know of the woes that wring the heart of the young mother as she bends over her lonely toil, working on from early morn till night- nor ceases then from her labor. Oh no! She trims her sickly taper, and works on, and on, through the long vigils of the night, that her little ones may not perish before her eyes for want. Little do they see of the silent and insidious approaches of the tyrant Disease, who, one by one, despoils her of her faculties - pales the lustre of her eye, and blanches the rich carnation of her cheekpalsies the once elastic frame, and drags her to the fearful brink where Death steps in and shuts the scene!

"The sempstress, lean, and weary, and wan,
With only the ghosts of garments on;

The weaver, her sallow neighbor;
The grim and sooty artisan;

Every soul-child, woman, or man,

Who lives or dies-by labor!'

"I perceive,' said I, pointing to the certificate above the fireplace, that my old friend your husband was a member of the Order of Odd-Fellows.'

"He was,' she replied; and respected it so much, that, though I know little of its character, I have, somehow, always felt that I must preserve that, the only relic of his attachment to the Order.'

"Was he in good standing at his death?' I inquired. "He was, for aught I know.'

"Was he not visited, then, during his sickness, by the brethren of the Order?' I asked.

"He was not. I must relate to you something of our history since we parted.' She then proceeded to relate her history from the time of her marriage. I will not repeat it to you in detail, since you could not feel the same interest in it that I did, but I will relate enough of it to apprize you of her situation at the time, and what we have since been able, jointly, to accomplish. Soon after her marriage, she removed with her husband to Philadelphia, where he embarked in business with an old mercantile friend of his father. This was in the year '34. His father furnished him with all the means at his command, to

establish him respectably, and for a time matters prospered abundantly. Then came the overwhelming revulsions of

'36- —a time when the stoutest hearts were appalled – when old firms, that had stood stoutly up against repeated revulsions in commerce, trembled to their foundations, if they were not absolutely crushed, by the whirlwind of ruin that swept the country like a deluge. They were involved in this common ruin. For a time they struggled manfully against it, calling in the aid of their friends, and availing themselves of every expedient suggested to their minds by the imminence of their peril, with a vain hope that the storm would pass over without leaving them altogether shipwrecked. The elder Jordan proffered and lost all he had, and was left in his old age little better than a beggar. It was a cruel and decisive blow to the pride and spirit of the light-hearted Charles, and he became in consequence melancholy and dispirited. When all hope of being restored to his former position was over, he sought and obtained employment as book-keeper with another firm, at a moderate salary. In this situation he remained for two years, at the end of which time, hearing of an opportunity to mend his circumstances in New York, he came hither with his little family. Clara's mother meanwhile had died, and Charles was determined, under no circumstances, to burden his father with his wants. I should have mentioned, that soon after he went to Philadelphia, he united with the fraternity of Odd-Fellows, as the wife assured me, more in a freak of curiosity, than with any expectation of

profiting by the affiliation, for he always protested against receiving anything in the form of benefits from their hands. He was too proud to be the recipient of anything that smacked of charity, and Clara was the last person in the world to insist upon his doing so. On his removal from Philadelphia, he withdrew his card and deposited it with a lodge here; for, though averse to receiving benefits himself, he was happy to be the instrument of good to others. Here he was in a fair way to retrieve his fallen fortunes, until, worn down by too constant application and the want of proper exercise, Disease laid his iron hand upon him, and he sunk gradually to his grave, leaving a lovely wife and two young children to mourn his loss, and struggle alone with the storms of fate. Too proud to call upon his impoverished father for assistance, and opposed to receiving benefits from the Order, when he found his health gradually failing, he converted his stock of furniture into money, receiving enough only for the mere necessities of life, removed to more humble quarters, and never notified the officers of his lodge of his removal or illness. At his death, their little stock of means was nearly exhausted, and the widow was driven to the necessity of procuring such needlework as she could perform for the maintenance of herself and her little ones.

"I procured from her the name of the lodge of which he was a member in Philadelphia, and addressed a letter immediately to its officers to which I received answer that he was an active member while with them, and, when

he left, was in good standing, I then made inquiries here; and after some time spent in the search, succeeded in discovering where he had deposited his card, and learned that his dues had been regularly paid. He was thus entitled to benefits accruing during several months' illness, besides the funeral charges, which, together with the annuity belonging to the widow and orphans, swelled the amount to nearly three hundred dollars. I made known to his lodge the distress of his bereaved family, and also advised the lodge of which he was originally a member of their situation, which was promptly answered with a donation of one hundred dollars. Thus, then, she was mistress of about four hundred dollars, without so much as being aware of it, until I waited upon her with the intelligence. I shall never forget that scene, and I would perform a pilgrimage to Mecca to witness just such another.

"I found her busy with the eternal needle. On my entrance, however, she threw her work over the back of a chair, and little Helen and Charles came forward and greeted me with smiles of welcome, for somehow I had contrived to win their good-will. 'Come,' said I, in the excitement of the moment, forgetting all forms throw aside your needle! You are rich now! -you shall have a little home all in your own right, and my little friends here shall be well provided for and happy. You are rich, Clara, rich! Come, stay no longer in this dismal abode ! You shall have a shop of your own, and employ your own sempstresses!'