She was too good to live; and was made for heaven, I suppose. Glory be
to God."




CHAPTER III.

AN OFFICIAL.


Our poormaster, Van Stingey, was a very conscientious officer. He never
squandered what he called the people's property, the commonwealth. He
was none of your vulgar, ordinary poormasters. He did not want the
office; they only forced it on to him. Like some of your great
statesmen, he acted for _man_, as he emphatically said; not for poor
widows and orphans, taken one by one; that was only a secondary
consideration. His whole duty, his very existence, seemed to be needed
for the good of man, or humanity in general. The question with him was,
not how to relieve this or that poor man or woman. _That_ might engage
the attention of a man of no intelligence, no education, or no
philosophy: what he aspired to was, always to act by principle; to act
so that the state, or the people who owned _real estate_, and who
elected him against his will, to see that their interests were attended
to, whatever became of the poor. Accordingly, when he heard of any case
of particular distress, such as that a poor emigrant died of misery in a
cold, deserted house, our poormaster regretted it, as an individual;
but, as an officer, he said, he acted according to principle. He could
not betray his constituents, who elected him against his will, by any
act of extravagance; and the good of the many must be consulted. "Even