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"But you had the tendency to it, Effie, like the rest of us, or you could not have caught it. The plague is infectious, and the scarlet fever; but the body is predisposed to take these, and therefore we use precautions against them, and so escape."

"But, Helen, what sort of disinfecting process would you apply to the mind? We have no mental camphor or aromatics, no mental chlorides, that I am acquainted with."

"Yes, we have, Effie, only we forget to use them. The breath of God's Spirit infusing into the mind high and holy thoughts, is an effectual preservative against evil infection. And such thoughts as these will it bring-The servant of the Lord must not strive.' 'A meek and lowly spirit is in the sight of God of great price.' 'Have compassion, one of another; be pitiful, be courteous, not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing; but contrariwise, blessing, knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.'

Oh, Effie, the peace of God, which follows upon thoughts like these, is too rich a dower to bə trifled away by the indulgence of angry temper. This only brings grief and pain, and is followed by the loss of that which the universo is too poor to buy."

Effie walked up to her cousin, and, laying her cheek upon her shoulder, she whispered, "I will try." But at this moment the door opened, and a servant brought a summons to Helen to join her aunt in the breakfast

room.

Helen Burnet was an orphan, and dependent upon the selfish caprice of an aunt, who had, upon her mother's death, grudgingly offered her a home beneath her roof. She had lost her father when an infant, and her life, as far as temporal things were concerned, had been one of privation and, in some degree, of toil, but all had been rendered easy and delightful, by the careful training and dear companionship of her mother. And when Helen first removed from

her childhood's home, where the only law she

had knn was the law of love, and found herself surrounded by wealth, but in an atmosphere of cold-hearted selfishness, she thought how miserable was the exchange, and how false is the interpretation which the world too often gives to the word " poverty.”

But two years had now elapsed, and Helen was become accustomed to her new life. Her trials had not lessened, they had rather increased. She was never allowed to forget that she was a dependent on her aunt's bounty. Her peculiar tastes and pursuits were utterly disregarded, her time and talents were not her own, but made over to her who considered she had an unquestionable right to them, in exchange for that charity which cost her nothing.

But Helen's philosophy rested on a deep foundation. She believed these words, 'God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tried above that ye are able;" and in spite of the daily grievances which would have worn out many a fainter heart, she went on her way re

joicing, gathering from every event in life fresh food for hope and thankfulness, and shedding around her, in the limited sphere in which she moved, a steady though humble light.

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