great was the luxury of doing good; for mercy--

"Droppeth as the gentle dew from heaven.
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed;
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes."

Having finished his errand to the market-gardener's wife, and received
a new order for some children's shoes, he took little Ned by the hand,
and, having left him at his home, and looked in on the sick
grandmother, he went back to his master's house, which now wore a more
comfortable aspect than it had ever done before. So true is it that
God accords to none unmitigated misery; and there are few, if any,
who, like our hero, are tempted to believe themselves the most
wretched beings in the world, who need anything but to look around
among their fellow-men, to find that they are not the only or the
greatest sufferers. Neither should any allow themselves to think that
poverty and misfortune form the chief misery of man. None but the
guilty are completely wretched; and trials are but necessary
discipline to bring the soul from earth to heaven. "Before I was
afflicted I went astray; but now I keep thy law," are the words of
David; and how many can be found ready to acknowledge that "it is good
for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth: for the. Lord will not
cast off for ever; but though he cause grief, yet will he have
compassion, according to the multitude of his mercies."

And so from this time, although the treatment he received at his
cheerless home was no better, the change which had come over his
spirit since his late humiliation, had urged him to fly to the throne
of grace for protection against the weakness of his own heart, and
also made the hardships he endured seem less. He grew more mature by
the severe discipline which, sanctified by the Spirit of grace, was
purifying his soul; and he pursued the homely trade which at first he
so disliked, and tried to conquer self by hurrying past the
picture-shops, which were so great a source of attraction at first,
and now regarded them as forbidden fruit. Not that they were less
attractive, but his own heart told him, and so did his friend, Thomas
Burton, that God appoints to every one such a sphere of action as is
suited to his nature; and although to one has been committed but one
talent, while another has five, and another ten, the principle on
which each is improved is the same. The great work each one has to do
is within his own breast, and he that would gain the crown pr