DORA AND HER LITTLE FRIEND.

"WELL, mother, I do so wish I could become a great woman," said Dora Harley, as she laid aside the book she had been reading, and rather lazily took up a piece of sewing.

"What do you mean by becoming a great woman, Dora ?" quietly asked her mother, at the same moment plying her needle with an energy that seemed to say time was precious.

} "Oh, to grow up clever and rich; then I would write books, and build school-houses, and visit poor No. 206. FEBRUARY, 1862.

C

prisoners, and teach ignorant people, like those ladies I have just been reading about. But there is no chance of that; here we live nearly as poor as we can be and I am sure any one is to be pitied who has a great set of brothers, and must darn and patch for them instead of taking a little amusement when school is over."

:

Mrs. Harley laid her hand lovingly on Dora's smooth, dark hair, and asked, "What do you think God sent you into this world to do ?"

"Not surely, mother, to scrub and mend, but to be happy."

66

'Every one wishes to be happy, Dora, but every one does not choose the right way: if our own pleasure is our object in life, we are sure never to find it; but if we try to glorify God by believing on Christ, loving and obeying him, and, from love to him, doing all the good we can, then happiness will certainly follow. The way to become a great woman is to be, through God's grace, a good girl.” Oh, I never can be great without being rich, and being good will bring no money."

"You cannot even be sure of that, Dora; but you make a mistake in thinking that riches are necessary to either greatness or happiness: the very best things can neither be bought nor sold. Just try, this afternoon, how much love can do without money."

"Oh then, mother, did you hear that our little neighbour, Jane Wright, is very ill ?" said Dora, not unwilling to change the subject. "She has not been at school for more than a week, and the

doctor has blistered her because she has a dreadful cough. Look there, the little curtain is drawn across her window; how very warm that room must be this close weather."

"Poor child! has she been so long ill without my hearing of it? Why did you not tell me before, Dora ?"

"I only heard it myself to-day, mother, and then I was so taken up with my new book, that I forgot all about it until this moment."

66

Finish up your work as quickly as you can, dear, and then you may step over the street to inquire for your little friend, and see if you can do any thing for her." And while Dora is quickly finishing her sewing and putting on her clean white apron, tippet, and hat, we shall tell our little readers, in a few words, who Jane Wright was.

She was an orphan child, of ten years old, with very pale cheeks, which flushed brightly when any one spoke to her. Her father had been a soldier, but was killed in the wars; her mother did not long survive the sad tidings, and poor Jane might have been sent to the workhouse, if an aunt, who was a milliner in London, had not come to her native village, paid the expenses of the widow's funeral, and taken the child to live with her. This aunt was poor herself, but she was always ready to share with those still poorer. She furnished a single room in the house opposite to that in which Dora Harley lived with her father, mother, and five brothers; this room was in future to be Jane's home.

The change from a little white cottage on a hillside, in the midst of kind neighbours, to a lonely room in a back street of the great city, where nobody knew or cared anything about her, was indeed a sad trial to Jane, and the day often seemed very long. But then, she was a gentle, thankful child, and when school was over she tried to get her lessons for the next day, her aunt very properly having forbidden her to play in the street.

There were few things in that small room to amuse Jane, her entire earthly possessions being contained in a little trunk which had brought her clothes, her small stock of books, her father's letters, and her mother's Bible from the country. That precious Bible whispered a message of love to the lonely child, and told of One whose heart is more tender than a parent's, and who never can change, or die. She learned to know and believe the love God had to her, as shown in the gift of his only Son, and, giving her young heart to him, she tried to prove her love by obedience. But what could a poor child like Jane do? Nothing that Dora Harley might call "great," but many a thing which was good; for, when the seeds of grace take root in the heart, they grow downwards in humility and upwards in prayer-inwardly by self-conquest, and outwardly by right deeds. How diligent was her study of the Bible! how carefully her lessons were prepared! how tidy the room was kept! how comfortably her aunt's tea was ready on her return from business! and, thoughtful for every one, her influence at school and at home was like that

But now

of the silent dew-more felt than seen. Jane was ill; a severe cold had turned into inflammation of the lungs, and the little girl who had been so ready to do, was now learning to suffer.

"Oh, Dora, how kind you are to come to see me!" said the sick child, as her young friend entered the room; "I was just wishing for somebody, it seems so long since aunt went to business this morning."

"And have you really been all day alone? how cruel they are to leave you!"

66

Do not say that, Dora; my aunt was up nearly all last night watching me; but you know she would lose her situation if she did not go to her work every day; she leaves my drink and medicine ready on this little table near me, and now and then Mrs. Hughes, our landlady, comes in; however, as this was one of her busy days, I was beginning to feel a little bit lonely."

66

Well, I can stay a while," said Dora, taking off her hat and hanging it at the foot of the bedstead.

"It is very good of you indeed, Dora; won't you sit on the trunk by the side of my bed? then we can talk."

"But talking makes you cough. What a pity I did not bring over my new book; it is so interesting, all about grand, clever women. I really wish we were like them, Jane."

A faint blush passed over the sick girl's face as she said, "Dora, my aunt often tells me our duty