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"No, dear, that is true; nobody need be so; for God has given us all His Spirit to overcome our selfishness; but Martha is not wholly selfish. Last winter, when little Jem Hanley had such bad chilblains that he could not go out to his work, she was very kind indeed to him. She made his mother bring him to her fire, when the poor woman wanted to be out for a day's washing, and she took great care of him, and dressed his feet, and got a book to amuse him, and Jem is quite fond of her."

'When Aunt told me this, I was sorry to have been so angry with the old woman, and since then I have been to see her again, and liked her much better. I met Mr. Black, the clergyman, there, and was quite surprised to see how he treated her; quite with respert, Mamma, not at all like a person whom he was only to find fault with. And her tears came as he spoke, and she was humbly sorrowful, and told him how impatient and cross she sometimes was. I really could scarcely bear to hear her, and when I was coming away, and Mr. Black was walking a little bit of the way with me, I could hardly help crying myself, and telling him how mach worse I was than poor old Martha. I think he had a peep into my mind, for he said it was hard work for a clergyman to find out who was the proudest of his flock, and he had left off judging by words; and then he said something about the sweet, peaceful, silent look of the fields at this time of year, and how much better it was to be patient, and pray and love our fellow-creatures, and help their good thoughts all we could, rather than be always looking at their faults.

'Dear Mammie, I hope I shall not forget this.

'I am your affectionate little daughter,

'FANNY.'

'Dear Mamma,

LUCY'S LETTER.

Beckham, September 4th.

'I had no notion that Fanny was going to write to you again so very soon; she is grown quite a scribe. She is much happier here than she was at first, and likes Uncle better; and then I am quite sure that Uncle, and indeed everyone, likes her much more; and she and I, though still we are not so much alike as sisters often are, are often quite merry and happy together, and we have not had a quarrel for a long time. She has been so good about your not writing, and she has kept back her own letter four days because I was not ready with mine. But really I think everybody must grow better at Beckham. Neither Aunt, nor Cousin Eliza,

nor Henry, seem to have any selfishness in them, and if Uncle has a little now and then, he takes great pains, and does not let it conquer him. I thought at first, when he spoke with his great rough voice to Mr. Black, as if he was finding fault with him, that he, at least, did not think very much about the church being often open. and Mr. Black visiting a great deal in the parish. But indeed he does; Uncle won't say one word more than he feels himself, and he is apt to be impatient with those who do; and so if a man e woman in the village is known to have made a fine speech for the sake of "coming over the clergyman," Uncle gets angry, and calls them hypocrites. But Aunt says he must wait a little while, and if he finds that the people have good in them, he is quite willing to acknowledge it after all. I am sure Uncle is not hard; he is very kind indeed, and will excuse a poor labourer often and often; bat they cannot impose upon him, as he is apt to fancy they do apon Mr. Black. Yet he is very much disturbed if the people do not behave well to their minister, and as he is a churchwarden, he s willing and anxious to help, as far as possible, to promote Mr. Black's wishes.

'Now and then, dear Mammie, I have had such a nice drive with Uncle in his gig. He sometimes has a little business to do in a village four miles off, and when Aunt cannot go with him he has asked me to go. It is such a pleasure, for we drive into a closer part of the country, where the lanes are shady and narrow, and only now and then we come out on a village green. We could not have taken these drives in harvest or hay time, Uncle says, for the loaded wagons quite fill up the lanes, and you could not possibly pass one. How pretty they must be in spring, when the banks are quite golden with primroses, and the meadows with cowships! Perhaps we may one day see them at that time; that is, if you, dear Mamma, would come too. Good-bye,

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Perhaps our younger readers may consider no apology needed for this month's unusual allowance of fiction, as though the thistle-down were al wing and very little seed. But to our elder readers we would promARI that our ingredients may for the future be mixed in better proportions than those to which we have been compelled by the desire to finish off as much as possible with the half-year's volume.

John and Charles Mozley, Printers, Derby.

THE

MONTHLY PACKET

OF

EVENING READINGS

FOR

Younger Members of the English Church.

VOLUME XIV.

Nos. LXXIX. TO LXXXIV. JULY-DECEMBER, 1857.

LONDON:

JOHN AND CHARLES MOZLEY, 6, PATERNOSTER ROW;

AND J. H. PARKER, OXFORD.

1857.

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Cathedral Sketch:

Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, Ely

Cameos from English History :—

The Knights of the Temple

The Barons' Wars

Good King Robert's Testament

Comments on the Prayer-Book

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Conversations on the Catechism:

The Sixth Commandment. (The Law of Mercy.)
The Seventh Commandment. (The Law of Purity.)

Christmas in India

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73

113

337

449

561

1

225

662

111, 447

103

326

438

603

299, 643

Ripa Grande Retrospection

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31, 156, 259, 403, 513, 586

333 96

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