said the minister, gravely; "if every one was to reside on the hills,
who would cultivate the valleys? We should not forget that godliness,
with contentment, is great gain. It would be far better, Mrs. Myles,
if, instead of struggling to get _out _ of our sphere, we laboured to
do the best we could in it."

"Ah, sir, and that's true," replied Mrs. Myles; "just what I say to
Mrs. Jones, who _will_ give bad sherry at her little tea-parties; good
gooseberry, I say, is better than bad sherry. Will you taste mine,
sir?"

"No, thank you," said the good man, who at the very moment was
pondering over the art of self-deception, as practised by ourselves
_upon_ ourselves. "No, thank you; but do, my dear madam, imbue those
children with a contented spirit; there is nothing that keeps us so
truly at peace with the world as contentment--or with ourselves, for
it teaches peace--or with a Higher Power, for it is insulting to
His wisdom and love to go on repining through this beautiful world,
instead of enjoying what as Christians we can enjoy, and regarding
without envy that which we have not."

"Exactly so, good sir. 'Be content,' I said to Helen only this very
morning--'be content, my dear, with your pink gingham; _who knows but
by and by you may have a silk dress for Sundays_?'"

"Ah, my dear Mrs. Myles, you are sowing bad seed," said the clergyman.

"What, sir, when I told her to be content with the little pink
gingham?"