by her example and persuasion,

"Allure to brighter worlds, and lead the way."

Arthur Bernard on leaving college had spent some years in travelling
through Europe, and had but just returned when our story commences. Left
in affluent circumstances at the death of his father, which had taken
place while he was yet a child, there was little necessity for exertion;
but of an active and energetic disposition, he could not remain
comparatively unemployed; and obtaining a situation in one of the
principal banks in the city, he devoted the income, acquired by it, to
aid in the diffusion of useful knowledge among his fellow-townsmen, and
for the alleviation of the wants of the helpless and distressed, for
never did the needy apply to him in vain. He looked not with a captious
eye upon their faults and follies,--did not harshly repel them because
sin had, in many instances, led to their distress, but first relieving
their bodily necessities, strove, by wise counsel, kindly administered,
to raise the fallen, cheer the hopeless, and assist the outcast and
degraded in retrieving their position, and again becoming useful members
of society.

Ella, his sister, a light-hearted girl of eighteen, over whose fair head
prosperity had hitherto scattered its richest blossoms, resembled her
brother in kindness of disposition; but her gay and volatile temper
formed a charming contrast to his grave and subdued manner. Five years
her elder, Arthur's brotherly affection was mingled with an air of
almost fatherly protection; and to him, next to her mother, she had been
in the habit of appealing, and never in vain, for advice and assistance
in any emergency; and while his gravity checked, in some measure, the
mirth which might have degenerated into frivolity, her