"But what is the purpose without the act?"

"It is all that is required, where no ability to act is given.
William, God does not demand of any one impossibilities."

"Though man often does," said the tailor, bitterly.

There was a pause, broken, at length, by the wife, who said--"And
have you really determined to put John and Henry out to trades? They
are so young."

"I know they are, Alice; too young to leave home. But"--

The tailor's voice became unsteady; he broke off in the middle of
the sentence.

"Necessity requires it to be done," he said, recovering himself;
"and it is of no avail to give way to unmanly weakness. But for this
old debt, we might have been comfortable enough, and able to keep
our children around us until they were of a more fitting age to go
from under their parents' roof. Oh, what a curse is debt!"

"There is more yet to pay?"

"Yes, several hundreds of dollars; but if I fail as I have for a
year past, I will break down before I get through."

"Let us think of our family, William; they have the first claim upon
us. Those to whom money is owed are better off than we are; they