thousand dollars, to which it was proposed to remove, as soon as
furniture, on the way from New Orleans, should arrive. The first
story of this house was already fitted up as a store; and, as the
object of Mrs. Lloyd was to get into business in a small way, the
purchase of the property was made, in order as well to obtain a good
location as to make a safe investment. With the thousand dollars
that remained, it was proposed to lay in a small stock of fancy
dry-goods.

In the few interviews held with Mrs. Lloyd by the merchant, he was
struck with the beautiful harmony of her character, and especially
with her womanly dignity. As for the eldest daughter, something
about her had charmed him from the very beginning. And now when, for
the first time, this interesting family were his guests for a social
evening--when he saw their characters in a new aspect--and when he
felt, through the quick sympathy of a generous nature, how grateful
and happy they were--he experienced a degree of satisfaction such as
never pervaded the breast of any man whose love of mere gain was the
measure of his good-will toward others.

How different was the social sphere in the house of Mr. Jones on
that evening! The brow of the husband and father was clouded, and
his lips sealed in silence; or if words were spoken, they were in
moody tones, or uttered in fretfulness and ill-nature. The wife and
children caught from him the same repulsive spirit, and, in their
intercourse one with the other, found little sympathy or affection.
There was a chilling shadow on the household of the merchant; it
fell from the monster form of his expanding selfishness, that was
uplifted between the sunlight of genuine humanity and the neighbour
he would not regard. Alas! on how many thousands and thousands of