nly blessings clustered about mine. I learned a lesson of thankfulness
that has never been forgotten.

If there had been need of such exhibitions of positive distress as
teachers of contentment, others were not wanting within my little
circle. One of my cousins, a girl of my own age, ambitious to support
herself, had been successful in obtaining a situation as saleswoman in a
highly fashionable shop, where the most costly goods were sold in large
quantities, and to which, of course, the most dashing customers
resorted. I always thought her a truly beautiful girl. She was tall and
eminently graceful, her face expressing the virtue and intelligence of
her mind: for I cannot understand that true beauty can exist without
these corresponding mental harmonies, any more than a shadow without the
substance.

My taste in such matters may be defective, because it lacks the
cultivation which fashion gives. Such as I possess is altogether
natural. To my primitive apprehension, therefore, the attractions of a
finely formed neck or arm receive no addition from being encircled by
chains of gold or bracelets of pearls. When charmed with the appearance
of a beautiful woman in simple robes, who is there, if told that the
profuse expenditure that would have been required to cover her with
brilliants had been employed in charity,--that she had used it as a fund
to relieve the wants of the needy, to minister to the sick, to comfort
the widow, to support and educate the destitute orphan,--who is there
that would not feel the loftier emotions of his nature mingling with his
admiration?

At home my cousin had been seated at her needle, but in her new
employment she found herself compelled to stand. There was neither bench
nor chair nor stool behind the counter, on which she could for a moment
rest a body which had never been accustomed to so long-continued and
unnatural a strain upon its powers. It was the peremptory order of the
wealthy proprietor that no girl employed in the shop should on any
occasion sit down. There were soft stools for the repose of customers
who had money to spend, but not even a block for the weary saleswoman
who had money to earn. The rich lady, who had promenaded the street
until fatigued by the exertion of displaying her new bonnet over miles
of pavement, came in and rested herself while pricing goods she did not
intend to buy. There was a seat for all such. The unoccupied saleswoman
had been seeking relief from t