ves; but a kind-hearted tailor and his wife, who lived
neighbours, took pity on the children and gave them a home. Joseph
was a smart, intelligent lad, and the tailor thought he could do no
better by him than to teach him his trade. So he set him to work
with the needle, occasionally sent him about on errands, and let him
go to school during the slack season. Joseph was a willing boy, as
well as attentive, industrious, and apt to learn. He applied himself
to his books and also to his work, and thereby gave great
satisfaction to the good tailor. Agnes was employed about the house
by the tailor's wife, who treated her kindly.

As Joseph grew older, he became more useful to his master, for he
rapidly acquired a knowledge of his trade, and did his work
remarkably well. At the same time, a desire to improve his mind made
him studious and thoughtful. While other boys were amusing
themselves, Joseph was alone with his book. At the age of eighteen
he had grown quite tall, and was manly in his appearance. He had
already acquired a large amount of information on various subjects,
and was accounted by those who knew him a very intelligent young
man. About this time, a circumstance occurred that influenced his
whole after-life. He had been introduced by a friend to several
pleasant families, which he visited regularly. In one of these
visits, he met a young lady, the daughter of a dry-goods dealer,
toward whom he felt, from the beginning, a strong attachment. Her
name was Mary Dielman. Led on by his feelings, he could not help
showing her some attention, which she evidently received with
satisfaction. One evening, he was sitting near where she was
chatting away at a lively rate, in the midst of a gay circle of
young girls, and, to his surprise, chagrin, and mortification, heard
her ridiculing, as you too often do, the business at which he was
serving an apprenticeship.

"Marry a tailor!" he heard her say, in a tone of contempt. "I would
drown myself first."

This was enough. Joseph's feelings were like the leaves of a
sensitive plant. He did not venture near the thoughtless girl during
the evening, and whenever they again met, he was distant and formal.
Still, the thought of her made the blood flow quicker through his
veins, and the sight of her made his heart throb with a sudden
bound.

From that time, Joseph, who had looked forward with pleasure to the
period when, as a man, he could commence his business, and prosecute
it