rited, out of
employment, afraid to walk the street lest I should encounter some one
I owed, and as wretched as a man could well be. I soon after left the
city, and sought employment hundreds of miles away. So much for my
experience in starting a newspaper.

THE WAY OF TRANSGRESSORS.

"Do not go out to-night, Amanda. The pavements are damp, and the air is
loaded with vapour."

"Indeed, ma, I must go."

"Amanda, there is no necessity for your attending this party; and very
urgent reasons why you should stay at home. Your cough is still
troublesome, and a little exposure might give it permanency. You know
that from your father you inherit a predisposition to disease of the
lungs."

"You only say that to alarm me."

"Not so, my child; I know your constitution, and know how fatally the
exposure of a night like this may affect you."

"But I'll wrap up warmly, and put on my India rubbers."

"A necessary precaution, if you will go out, Amanda. But I wish I could
persuade you to be guided by me. You know that the Bible says, the way
of transgressors is hard."

"I don't know how you will apply that to me, ma. I am transgressing no
law of divine appointment."

"Be not sure of that, Amanda."

"I do not understand you, ma."

"I will try and make my meaning clear. In our creation, as organized
beings, we were so constituted as to bear a certain relation to every
thing around us, and our bodily health was made dependent upon this
relation. Here then, we have a law of health, which may be called a
divine law--for there is nothing good that does not flow from the
Divine Creator. If we violate this law, we become transgressors, and
shall certainly prove the way we have chosen, in so doing, to be a hard
one."

"Oh, is that all?" said the daughter, looking up with a smile, and
breathing more freely. "I'll risk the consequences of breaking the law
you have announced."

"Amanda!"

"Don't be so serious, ma. I will wrap up close and have my feet well
protected. There is not the least danger of my taking cold."

"Well, you must do as you please. Still I cannot approve of your going,
for I see that there is danger. But you are fully of age, and I will
not seek to control you."

So strong was Amanda's desire to attend a large but select party, that
she went, in company with a young man who called for her,
notwithstanding the atmosphere was so humid and dense with fog, that
breathing became oppressive.

The room