f, if you
had no one but yourself to provide for?' 'Why, no, ma'am, I don't. If
I hadn't been married, I should always have had to work as hard as
I could; and now I can't do more than that. My children are a great
comfort to me; and I look forward to the time when they'll do as much
for me as I have done for them.'

Here was true philosophy! I learned a lesson from that poor woman
which I shall not soon forget. If I wanted true, hearty, well
principled service, I would employ children brought up by such a
mother.

* * * * *

REASONS FOR HARD TIMES.

Perhaps there never was a time when the depressing effects of
stagnation in business were so universally felt, all the world over,
as they are now.--The merchant sends out old dollars, and is lucky if
he gets the same number of new ones in return; and he who has a share
in manufactures, has bought a 'bottle imp,' which he will do well to
hawk about the street for the lowest possible coin. The effects of
this depression must of course be felt by all grades of society. Yet
who that passes through Cornhill at one o'clock, and sees the bright
array of wives and daughters, as various in their decorations as the
insects, the birds and the shells, would believe that the community
was staggering under a weight which almost paralyzes its movements?
'Everything is so cheap,' say the ladies, 'that it is inexcusable not
to dress well.' But do they reflect _why_ things are so cheap? Do they
know how much wealth has been sacrificed, how many families ruined, to
produce this boasted result? Do they not know enough of the machinery
of society, to suppose that the stunning effect of crash after crash,
may eventually be felt by those on whom they depend for support?

Luxuries are cheaper now than necessaries were a few years since; yet
it is a lamentable fact, that it costs more to live now than it did
formerly. When silk was nine shillings per yard, seven or eight yards
sufficed for a dress; now it is four or five shillings, sixteen or
twenty yards will hardly satisfy the mantuamaker.

If this extravagance were confined to the wealthiest classes, it would
be productive of more good than evil. But if the rich have a new dress
every fortnight, people of moderate fortune will have one every month.
In this way, finery becomes the standard of respectability; and a
man's cloth is of more consequence than his character.

Men of fixed salaries spend e