s; for no where is the
distinction between the rich and poor more rigidly enforced than in
country villages. Most offensively marked is this distinction in the house
of God, where if any where this side the grave ought the rich and the poor
to meet on a level, before Him who regards not the outward estate of his
creatures. But modern Christians have contrived to evade the rebuke of the
apostle by the cunning device of introducing the noisy auctioneer, and
under a show of fairness and equality, 'the man in goodly apparel and
having a gold ring' is assigned the highest seat; and albeit a skeptic, by
the weight of his purse crowds the humble worshippers to the wall and into
the corners of their Father's house.

It was observed that the lone woman declined competition for those seats
so eagerly sought by the more wealthy, and selected those of a humbler
character, and eventually retired to the 'widow's pew,' a pew set apart,
in country churches, for the gratuitous accommodation of those in that
unhappy condition. Sincerely religious, the Christian widow still waited
upon God in the house of prayer, but felt the whole sting of poverty when
slowly and humbly wending her way to her obscure corner, her faded and
well-worn dress was brushed by the new and rich garments of her former
equals as they swept past her to their high seats. The neat and handsome
dwelling with its trim garden was at length resigned for one which barely
sheltered the mother and child from the weather, and was totally devoid of
the cheap luxury of fruit and flowers which had enriched and beautified
their former home.

Time wore on, and Want with its train of sordid attendants visited their
dwelling. Her former associates, one after another declined her society as
an equal. Occasionally calling, they were eloquent in excuses for their
neglect; for when did the prosperous lack an excuse for neglecting the
unfortunate? Counsel and advice were lavished upon her; for I have
observed that advice is the only thing that the rich impart freely to the
poor. Religion too was the frequent subject of their conversation; for how
can benevolence be shown more strongly than by a concern for the
well-being of the soul, which is to exist forever, in comparison with
which, the transient wants of the body are as nothing? Accordingly, the
poor widow, after her scanty meal, and over her dim and cheerless hearth,
was exhorted by her fur-clad and well-fed _friends_, to disregard