they were singin' the first hymn, and when the preacher
read his text and begun to preach, it seemed to me that something must
have led me there, for that sermon, every word of it, was just meant for
me. The text was: 'I know both how to abound and to suffer need,' and he
said life was a school, and every change that life brought to us was a
lesson, and instead of complaining about it, we ought to go to work and
learn that lesson, and get ready for a new one. He said if poverty came
to us, it was because we needed the lesson of poverty; and if riches
came, it was because we needed another lesson; and he said the lesson of
poverty was easier to learn than the lesson of wealth. Oh,
David!"--Sarah's face was glowing with repressed emotion and her voice
trembled,--"I wish you could have heard him, I can't remember it all,
but it seemed as if he was preaching just to me, and I sat and listened,
and all my troubles and worries just seemed to leave me, because I began
to see the meaning of them; and when you know what trouble means, it's
not a trouble any longer. And he said that there was a purpose in every
life, and it was our duty to find out what the purpose was and do our
best to carry it out. Now, I believe, David, that I see why all this
money's been put into our hands. We were happy without it, and it made
us pretty miserable at first, but it was given to us for a purpose, and
we must carry out the purpose. Both of us were born poor, and we've
lived with poor people all our lives, and I can see the purpose in that.
We know how poor people live, we know what they need, and now we've got
money"--she stopped abruptly. "Don't you see the purpose, David?"

David was silent, but Sarah knew that the silence did not mean dissent.
His wife's narrative had started a train of thoughts and emotions that
would be henceforth the mainspring of all his acts. Of late the sleeping
ambition that lies in the heart of every man had begun to stir, and he
had dared to think timidly and doubtfully of a time when he should be,
to use his own words, "something and somebody" in the world. As he
listened to the story of Sarah's social adventures, his heart swelled
proudly. His wife had found her place among her fellow women; he would
find his among his fellow men. Before him were the doors of opportunity
all "barred with gold", but he held in his hand the "golden keys" that
would unlock them, and the finger of Divinity was pointing out the way
he