education and refinement; the necessity not merely of economy, for most
of us can bear a large portion of this pretty cheerfully; but the
difficulty, with close economy, of supplying the decent comforts of
life, and tell me, as some who have never been visited by any trial of
this kind would tell me, if it is selfish and sordid to compare this
lasting sorrow with that great ordinance of death and separation which
all must share alike? Alas! these are objects not generally reached by
charitable societies; but not less deserving, and subjected to trials no
less hard than those whose lot has always been one of poverty.

Having admitted that, under some circumstances, the loss of property may
occasion grief so deep and lasting as to make it worthy of comparison
even with loss of dear friends, I would say, on the other hand, that
instances often occur where no comparison can be made between the two
evils. We hear sometimes of dreadful calamities at sea, where entire
families are swept away; where, as on the 'Austria,' the only
alternative is the _mode_ of death, whether it shall be on the burning
ship or beneath the cold, dark billow. What experience can be more
awful, in the life of any man, than that which compelled this father to
throw child after child into the sea, not with any hope of rescue, but
merely to prolong for a few moments a life that could no longer be
endured on the burning deck? Different, but scarcely less painful, the
burial of hope in a father's breast, as in the death of the sons of
Hallam. Industry may repair the wrecks of fortune; but the hopes and
affections that have centered here must be laid aside forever.

Are there many of us, after all, who would care for a career of unbroken
prosperity? Men of talent and worth have been crushed and hurried to
their graves by the iron hand of poverty; but for one such, there have
probably been ten who have passed through life with energies and talents