Lucy Ellen Guernsey

“ I do so love to make presents! Cannot we have any Christmas money at all?"
"I fear not, my child, unless you can contrive some way to earn it. We have no right to indulge in luxuries so long as we are in debt, and the giving of Christmas presents is certainly a luxury."
"But the poor children, mother. We might give them only such things as they need, and leave out the candy and toys. Those little Brown girls have hardly comfortable clothes."
"I know it, Ethel, but we must be just before we are generous." ”

“ Suppose that Abby or some other schoolmate should come in, and find you engaged in this business?"
"They need not know that I work for money," said Ethel, a little taken aback by this consideration.
Mrs. Fletcher shook her head. "That will never do, my daughter. You must not do any thing that you are ashamed of having people know. It leads to evils and mortifications without end."
"Would you be mortified to have them know it, mother?" asked Ethel.
"No, my dear. There is nothing disgraceful in earning money when we stand in need of it." ”

“ Fletcher. "Christmas comes every year, does it not?"
"Yes," returned Ethel; "but shall we keep it ourselves, I mean?"
"Certainly, we shall keep it," replied Mrs. Fletcher. "We shall go to Church as usual, and there will be nothing to prevent our decorating our rooms with evergreens, though we shall have no flowers." And Mrs. Fletcher suppressed a little sigh as she spoke. She missed her green-house more than any of the luxuries she had lost.
"Shall we have—" any presents, Ethel was going to say, but she changed her mind. "Shall we have a Christmas tree for the poor children?" ”

“ Abby continued, without heeding her cousin's remark. "I know she would be very much mortified at the thought of my working for money. When Cousin Eliza stayed at our house, she used to give music lessons to the two Parkins girls, and mother always made her go round the back way, so that no one should see her. But I won't tell her about this, Ethel, if you don't want me to."
"You can do as you like about it, Abby," replied Ethel, with spirit. "I never intend to do any thing that I am ashamed of. But perhaps you would rather not be seen walking with any one that works for money." ”

“ Fletcher could not help smiling at the idea of Ethel's making amends for her hasty speech by the sacrifice of eating a piece of her aunt's plum-cake, but she answered quite seriously: "I am glad that you did not quarrel with Aunt Sally, my dear. She was provoking, no doubt, but you must remember that she is a very old woman, and have patience. Try to think not of her disagreeable speeches, but of the many kind things she does for us all. You will never be sorry after she is dead and gone, that you bore with her little ways." ”

“ That's always the way with men."
"But you know my father failed," said Ethel, "and we are not as rich as we were."
"So did my father fail," said Abby; "but I don't see that it makes any difference with us. Come, Ethel, ask your father for some money to-night, and to-morrow we can go out together and get our things. I want you to knit a shawl for your mother like the one I am doing. It would be so becoming to her. And then you ought to do something for Aunt Sally too. You know she won't like it if you don't." ”

“ It seems as if I had learned more there than I ever knew in all my life before."
"I have no doubt of that, my dear Ethel," replied her mother. "Experience is a hard teacher, but her lessons are worth all they cost. I only hope we shall none of us forget in prosperity the lessons we learned in adversity, nor to thank God for all His mercies to us. ”

“ Fletcher. "If in doing so, I should be obliged to speak freely of the faults of others, you must remember that what I say is not to be repeated."
"I will, mother," said Ethel. "But tell me first what it is to fail, please, for I don't know exactly."
"When a man is unable to pay all his debts," said Mrs. Fletcher, "he is said to fail, or to become insolvent. This may come to pass in many different ways. He may have lived so extravagantly as to use up all his means, and then have run into debt for what he wanted till people would trust him no longer. ”

“ I should think you would be ashamed, Aunt Sally."
Abby looked horrified at this bold speech. She hardly dared to glance at her aunt, but sat in silent terror, expecting some violent outburst. But Mrs. Bertie seemed rather amused than otherwise.
"Well done, Miss Fire-cracker! I like your spirit. But you must not go off so," she continued, seeing that Ethel continued to make preparations for departure. "You know nobody minds my speeches. I am an old woman, and always say just what I think. Come, come, kiss and be friends, and don't quarrel with your old auntie." ”

“ You may observe, too, that those people who pride themselves on being plain spoken, are the last to bear any plain speaking from others."
"I know that," said Ethel. "Aunt Sally will hardly bear a word from any one, though she did not seem to be angry with me this afternoon. She called me Miss Fire-cracker, but she said she liked my spirit."
"It is not very easy to calculate what she will say or do at any time," said Mrs. Fletcher. "Now, if you please, my dear, you may set the table for tea. I am going to make some of those little warm biscuits you like so much." ”

“ Ethel had waited for some time in the store, and it was almost dark when she came out. She had a nervous dread of being out late in the street, and hurried home without looking at her money which she had put into her glove.
"Make haste down, Ethel," said her mother, as she went up-stairs to put away her bonnet and shawl, "I want you to help me."
Ethel obeyed, and dropped her money into the box without counting, or even looking at it. She was very busy all the evening helping her mother finish up the ironing and mending, that nothing might be left to do on the morrow. ”

“ Fletcher. "I see you are learning to think. There is another way yet of failing. A man may buy a great quantity of some kind of property—bank stock or railroad stock, for instance—expecting it to rise so much in value that he will be able to sell it for a great deal more than he gave. Then if it goes down instead of rising, what becomes of him?"
"He loses his money," said Ethel.
"Yes, not only what he has spent, but what he expected to make. This is called speculation, and has ruined more people than I can tell you. This was just what Mr. Coles did. ”

“ If days should teach, Mrs. Bertie ought to have been very wise, for she was a very old lady, though she would hardly have thanked any one for telling her so. But the years which had passed over her head had only added to her self-esteem, without increasing her wisdom, and she was now, at seventy-nine, as self-willed, exacting, unreasonable, and petulant, as she had been at fifteen.
She had the misfortune to be the only child of very rich parents, who found it less trouble to humor her in every whim, than to control and regulate her naturally troublesome temper. ”

“ And yet my little Ethel, because she cannot have just what she wants, and cannot celebrate Christmas in her own way, would rather not celebrate it at all. She does not care to thank God for the birth of His dear Son, because she cannot have what she has been accustomed to at this Holy Season, all the pleasures of which have, or should have, a direct reference to the great and unspeakable Gift made to us on this day. ”

“ A man of your father's integrity cannot but do well. 'I have been young and now am old, yet saw I never the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging their bread.'" He considered a little, and then asked—"How much money have you?"
"I have four dollars and a half, sir; but then I want to buy other presents, and some gloves for myself, so I must get something else for mother."
"Would you be willing to do some work in holiday time—say on Christmas day, for instance," asked Mr. Beckford, "supposing that I should pay you in advance?" ”

“ Fletcher calmly, "do not say any thing which you will afterwards be sorry for. You are angry now, and not in a condition to weigh your words. You both know very well that I never courted Aunt Sally's favor by subserviency, though I always intended to treat her with all the respect due to her age and our relationship. No one can be more surprised than myself at the disposition she has made of her property, with which, let me remind you, she had a perfect right to do as she pleased."
Meantime Ethel and Abby were talking on the sofa. ”

“ She finished her other shopping with a great deal of pleasure, making her money stretch far enough to buy something for her father and the boys, a pretty book for Abby, and a carved ivory case containing a yard measure for Aunt Sally, whom she had heard lamenting the mysterious disappearance of hers a few days before.
"Well, my daughter, you have made a long morning of it," said her mother, as she entered the house. "Did you find what you wanted?"
"Oh yes, mother, just exactly what I wanted, and I had four shillings left. How nice it seems to spend money that one has earned, doesn't it?" ”

“ You see it does not answer to employ every one, because some would be careless and spoil them."
While Bessy was speaking, there flashed across Ethel's mind the remark her mother had made the night before: "If you want any Christmas money, you must earn it."
"Do you think your uncle would let me try some of them?" she asked. "I want to earn some money very much."
"If you could do it nicely—" said Bessy doubtfully.
"Of course she could," interrupted Rosa. "She knows more about painting than either of us. Don't you remember that she took lessons last summer?" ”

“ Her father remarked her impatience, and took an opportunity of saying gently, "Ethel, if your employment is going to spoil your Sundays, it would be better to give it up at once. Your earnings will cost more than they come to, if they lead you into sin." ”

“ Ethel was silenced, if not entirely satisfied by her mother's reasoning. But after a little interval, she resumed the conversation.
"Mother, how does it happen that failing makes so much more difference with some people than it does with others? Why is Mr. Coles rich, while father and the Mr. Wileys are poor? Now cousin Anna has every thing just as she always did: they do not make any difference in their housekeeping, and Abby is dressed just as well as ever. She told me to-day, that her father had given her five dollars, and was going to give her five more if she finished the arithmetic. ”

“ Fletcher. "Abby is always ready to do any thing for you, and you may as well learn first as last to say boldly, 'I cannot afford it.' That little lesson once learned, will save you worlds of trouble."
With all her resolution, fortified by the recollection of the cause of her father's poverty, Ethel did not find the day a very pleasant one. Abby's ten dollars seemed to buy more and prettier things than any ten dollars had ever done before, and when it was gone, she did not scruple to run into debt for several articles she wanted to complete her gifts. ”

“ No money Ethel had ever possessed seemed in her eyes so valuable as this. She put it carefully into her purse, and taking her way homewards, she looked up at the shop windows, calculating what she could get for her mother and the boys; and she even went into a store to ask the price of a pretty little stained willow sewing chair, the same shape as a favorite one of her mother's which had been sold with the rest. It was marked two dollars, but the man said he would sell it for ten shillings. ”

“ She made me a tempting offer too;" and she repeated her aunt's proposition.
"You are a good girl, Ethel," said Abby, sighing. "I wish I was."
"I am sure you are quite as good as I am," returned Ethel, now really feeling what she said. "You are a great deal more good-natured, and I am sure you are a better scholar. But don't let us talk about ourselves—tell me what presents you had."
The girls chatted merrily all the way home, and Ethel enjoyed the walk very much. Some apple pies had been made, and Uncle George's turkey got ready for roasting the day before. ”

“ On Christmas day, our Saviour began His career upon earth, by taking upon Him the burden of our frail and sinful nature—began that life which ended with His death upon the cross, whereby He secured our redemption for us. ”

“ She did not like to stay longer, knowing that her mother would need her help, so she left her work with the girls, who promised to show it to their uncle when he came in.
Ethel walked rapidly homeward, building various castles in the air, and anxious to impart her scheme to her mother.
When she came in sight of the house, she saw to her vexation a carriage standing at the door.
"That is always the way," she said to herself. "I don't see why people must always come at the wrong time." ”

“ Beckford had come after the money, what should I have done? But I hope I shall never be tempted in that way again."
"That is, perhaps, rather too much to expect," said Mrs. Fletcher. "We must always be subject to temptation as long as we live in the world, but you may safely hope that God will give you strength to overcome, as He has at this time."
The entrance of the boys here interrupted the conversation, and Ethel had the pleasure of hearing them say, as they pulled out the contents of their stockings, that their presents were just what they wanted. ”

“ I do like her, after all, Abby; she is so straightforward. I don't mean about talking," she continued, seeing Abby laugh: "she is rather too straightforward about that sometimes; but in things like this, for instance. She wanted me to give it all up, but as soon as I told her that I had made a bargain, and ought not to give it up, she agreed with me directly. ”

“ Mr. Fletcher promised, and Ethel hastened up to Mr. Beckford's store, feeling very happy. Mr. Beckford had the drawings all ready for her.
"How much can you afford to give for your chair?" he asked.
"The first one that I looked at cost twelve shillings," replied Ethel, "and I thought I could spare that much."
"Then if I pay you twelve shillings more, you can procure the chair, and yet have something to spare. Can you earn so much?" ”