ngs,"
said Mr. P., laughing. "Do just as you please, however," he continued,
as he observed a brown gather on the brow of his wife; "for my part I
should be glad if washing-days were blotted entirely from the calendar."

At this moment the washerwoman passed the window with her stiffened
skirts and almost frozen hands and arms. Some emotions of pity stirring
in his breast at the sight, he again asked, "Do you think it will be
exactly right, my dear, to make old Phoebe do the same amount of labour
for half the wages?"

"Of course it will," replied Mrs. Percy, decidedly; "we are bound to do
the best we can for ourselves. If she objects, she can say so. There
are plenty of poor I can get who will be glad to come, and by this
arrangement I shall save thirteen dollars a year."

"So much," returned Mr. P., carelessly; "how these things do run up!"
Here the matter ended as far as they were concerned. Not so with "old
Phoebe," as she was called. In reality, however, Phoebe was not yet
forty; it was care and hardship which had seamed her once blooming face,
and brought on prematurely the appearance of age. On going to Mrs. Percy
in the evening after she had finished her wash, for the meagre sum she
had earned, that lady had spoken somewhat harshly about her being so
slow, and mentioned the new arrangement she intended to carry into
effect, leaving it optional with the poor woman to accept or decline.
After a moment's hesitation, Phoebe, whose necessities allowed her no
choice, agreed to her proposal, and the lady, who had been fumbling in
her purse, remarked:--

"I have no change, nothing less than this three-dollar bill. Suppose I
pay you by the month hereafter; it will save me a great deal of trouble,
and I will try to give you your dollar a month regularly."

Phoebe's pale cheek waxed still more ghastly as Mrs. Percy spoke, but
it was not within that lady's province to notice the colour of a
washerwoman's face. She did, however, observe her lingering, weary
steps as she proceeded through the yard, and conscience whispered some
reproaches, which were so unpleasant and unwelcome, that she endeavoured
to dispel them by turning to the luxurious supper which was spread
before her. And here I would pause to observe, that whatever method may
be adopted to reconcile the conscience to withholding money so justly
due, so hardly earned, she disobeyed the positive injunction of that God
who has not left the time of payment optional