Their Christmas [pp. 438-439]

THE LADZES' REPOSIToR Y.
right that her heart should be indulged a little
the prop upon which she had once fondly hoped
to lean was taken away, so she would learn to
rely upon herself.
Mrs. Earle's duties had by no means lessened
since the early days of wifehood, and she had
no more the faculty now than then of being in
two places at once. Under the influence of a
digniiied and gentle demand Mr. Earle furnished
the means and she employed assistance in her
self-imposed and additional labors.
In a year's time fiom that Summer the home
of the Earles was scarcely to be known, either
inside or out. The rough, weedy door-yard had
been transformed into a smooth, green lawn,
tastefully planted with shrubs and evergreens,
and brightened with plats of brilliant bloom.
I The tumbling fences and leaning gates had
been repaired or substituted by new; the pile
of rubbish at the bottom of the garden was
removed, and the last remains of the altogether
rotted saplings of the long-ago promised Sum mer house at last cleared away, and Mrs. Earle
re-resolved that the remembrance of the broken
promise should die out of her heart and mind
as well. An arbor was erected under her own
supervision, and she took tender pleasure in
training over it a vine like that under which
she had sat dreaming in girlhood near the old
farm-house, now long passed into strangers'
hands, and the bodies of its loved inmates
resting in the quiet country church-yard.
Mlr. Earle watched at first with careless in difference the renovation going on around him.
But soon a pleased surprise grew out of indifference, and a firm respect for the abilities
of his wife took possession of him. He began
timidly to make suggestions which his wife
readily followed, for his taste was almost faultless when it could be brought into requisition.
Mrs. Earle watched with secret delight his
growing interest in what she had undertaken
and accomplished, and the climax of her satisfaction was capped when she found him one
day, spade in hand, busily engaged in loosening
the soil around some choice rose trees that she
had planted when they first went to housekeeping. Nor was this the termination of his manual
exertions; it was only the beginning, and as
time passed he seemed to imbibe a portion of
her own zeal. She had certainly put him to
shame by a steady, silent and unobtrusive declaration of what might be done, and the extreme
pleasure derived from the results of healthful
exertion.
Mrs. Earle's satisfaction was great, certainly,
but often memory reminded her of the years
that had been wasted in idle repining, and she
was saddened with a remorseful regret. Often
she said to herself, "If I had persevered in
the beginning with what I so much wished to
accomplish, Edward might then have been
shamed into rendering me the same assistance
which lie does now." But her fond dreams
in regard to the professional career of her hlus band were never to be realized. She could not
hope for this now. She bravely drove the pict ure of what "mighlt have been" from her wist ful vision, and gazed upon her eldest son with
the rare hope that some dclay his bright intellect
would be her especial pride and satisfaction.
During all the period of Mrs. Earle's active
exertions around her home, she dlid not lose
sight of the poor woman whose sad story had
much to do with her own changed course. She
assisted her by counsel and by more substan tial kindness. It was not very long ere the
tried woman's release came. In a sad way it
was, to be sure, but she felt as if God had pro vided it, and sought not to question the manner
of it. Dreadful it was, the spirit of the miser able man departing amid the agony of terrors
unspoken, but the wife steadily turned her face
fiom all questioning, and laid it away as it is
best we should lay away, and not fret over what
is not made clear to our yet imperfect comprehension. And she was rewarded, as Mrs. Earle
told her she would be, by the tenderest care
and respectful affection from the children for
whose sake she had summoned all her resolutioni and borne so much, and concealed it jealously from the eyes of a clurious world.
Often afterward, as the two ladies, now in
equal positions, were bound together by mutual
relations, because each had become aware of
the other's peculiar trials, Mrs. Earle would
remark to her fi-iend: "0, how much a little
resolution will accomplish after the first step is
taken! My undertaking was small in comparison to yours, but to me it has been very large
in its results upon my whole present and future
life; and not only upon mine, but upon that
of all my family."
THEIR CHRISTMAS.
THE moon in the west was sinking low,
The mountains and meads were white with snow.
The steadfast stars were shining bright
On the brow of the clear, cold Christmas night.
The Christmas night, when bells rang clear
And told to all the world their cheer.
Fair shone the fire-light on the wall,
And the clock in the corner, old and tall.
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