"In my opinion there's no surer safeguard against disease than occupation for mind and body. Concentration of thought upon one's own selfish gratification dwarfs the intellect, blunts the moral sense, and enfeebles the body, while a moderate amount of work for others, an interest in their pursuits, and a conscientious endeavor so to live that the world may recognize in us the spirit of Him who went about doing good, will lift one's soul into a purer atmosphere." They walked in silence for some minutes through the gay, bustling throng that now filled the streets; but the tempting displays in the shop windows. and the festive preparations for Christmas could not banish from their thoughts the sad picture of suffering at the Bonsecour Home.

“I wish we had that poor Edna Shreve in one of our quiet chambers," said the doctor, when they had entered a street where conversation could be resumed.

"O, father, 'tis just what I've been longing for, ever since I saw the state she was in. Mrs. Wyman's ways are not soothing and gentle enough for a child so delicate, nervous, and torn with grief as Edna is. Do you think we might manage it?"

"There are ifs to be considered; your mother will object, and not without reason. She will be unwilling that so much care should fall on you; and that her systematic housekeeping should be thrown into disorder will really. be a trial to her nerves. Jane and Ellen will be very likely to send in a 'notice' if we take a sick child into our family; but you needn't give the subject any more thought. I'll consider it carefully, and talk it over with your mother this evening."

But the subject had taken such a deep hold on Diantha's thoughts that it was impossible to thrust it aside; and so preoccupied was she in thinking over ways and means for

the preservation of Edna, that on reaching home her mother noticed her silence, and remarked thereon,

"Diantha is all worn out with her morning's work, doctor; you'll ruin her health by taking her to witness scenes of suffering that are depressing her spirits and keeping her sympathies constantly excited. Such employment is entirely unsuited to her years and to her position in society. Now, Di, I want you to go to your room and rest, instead of taking your presents to the Jenks family."

It would not have been in harmony with Mrs. Howell's character if she had permitted an occasion like this to pass without expressing her disapprobation. Dr. Howell saw the look of disappointment that crept into Diantha's face, and came to her rescue.

"Let me prescribe for Daisy, my dear. She would better go to her room and lie down for a half hour, and Jane must send her up a cup of hot coffee and a lunch; and after that I think she might be allowed to go out and distribute her gifts. The ride, the fresh air, and the pleasure of making others happy, will be the best tonic for her."

"She'll take your prescription, of course. I didn't expect my advice would have a straw's weight. But I would like to know what she's been doing this morning."

"Only taking a step towards that heaven which we both hope to gain, Mary; and for her authority and encouragement she has this injunction: 'But to do good and to communicate forget not; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.""

CHAPTER IV.

DIANTHA'S MISSION.

"Blessing she is: God made her so:
And deeds of week-day holiness
Fall from her noiseless as the snow;
Nor hath she ever chanced to know

That aught were easier than to bless."

LOWELL.

"WHAT new victim of the world's rough usage has kept you a half hour from your appointment, and, as a matter of course, deprived a dozen poor wretches of a half hour's pleasure in the possession of this heap of rubbish, which you call Christmas gifts?"

"Have I really kept you waiting, Stephen? I'll tell you what made me late after you've helped carry these packages to the sleigh, and we are fairly off."

"Grant an ell and yield a yard," answered Stephen; and with comical grimaces, and. protestations against being made a porter of, he helped his sister fill the sleigh with her "rubbish."

She understood his feigned reluctance well enough to know that the service he was rendering her was not without its pleasure for him.

“Well, Di, now that we are 'fairly off' tell me what made you late, and what has given your eyes such a wistful, absent kind of stare, as if your vision reached beyond this mundane sphere."

"Now, Stephen, come down from your sophomoric stilts and talk common sense."

"Thank you for presuming that I have the ability to do so; and now for the reasons."

"You heard father say that a young girl was saved from the wreck of the Stella? Well, I've been to see her, and she is such a forlorn, miserable, suffering little creature that my heart aches for her."

"That organ you are pleased to call your heart ought to be proof against pain. What does the creature' look like?"

な

"Her face and eyes were so red with weeping, and so swollen from the effects of her exposure in that dreadful storm, that one could hardly imagine how she would look if she were in a healthy condition of mind and body; but I should think she was a fair, slender, dark-eyed girl, with a great quantity of light, tangled hair."

"In fact, quite a heroine for a romancer. You know girls in novels always have a great deal of hair --- especially in women's novels: you make her so much of a character that I can see

'Her hair, like the brown sea-weed,

On the billows fall and rise.'

And I dare say, like the skipper's daughter,

'Blue are her eyes as the fairy flax,

And her cheeks like the dawn of day.'

How old may this wonderful maiden be?"

"Not far from twelve, I think; but you will not hear anything more about her while you are in such a trifling mood."

“What injustice! to suppose I could be otherwise than serious, when your description has brought so vividly

before me the ill-fated maiden of the 'Wreck of the Hesperus.' I shall never be understood."

"That will be no great loss to the world; but please try to understand me now. I wish you to turn your horse's head into the next street on the right, and draw rein before a low, brown house; and then you will remain in the sleigh while I deliver these packages.”

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Straight forward and pointed as an arrow from Diana's quiver should be; I shall perform your royal bidding."

"This is the place; I will not detain you long;" and Diantha, with as many packages as she could well carry, disappeared within the brown house.

It would be difficult to find a more touching picture of poverty than was presented to Diantha's vision when the door was opened to admit her into a small room, not more than twelve by fourteen feet, containing eight persons.

Extreme poverty usually presents a hard, repellent aspect, not only in the faces of its victims, but in all their surroundings. But in this Jenks family its heavy hand had not crushed out all hope-all regard to outward appearances; it had left upon the face of the mother, and the children who huddled around her, a pathetic, appealing look, as if asking one's sympathy, rather than substantial aid.

It was an American family, one saw at a glance; their nationality was not only stamped upon their regular features, pallid complexions, shrewd eyes, and thin lips, but in the shrinking sensitiveness with which they accepted charity a pride which would almost sooner starve than beg, and which used every device for concealing the most threadbare side of their hard lot. The cleanliness of the room and its occupants, from the patched but scrupulously clean garments of the mother and children to the neatly-scrubbed floor and stove, all told the story of New England birth and pride.