"Yes, ma'am,"

"Is her husband doing well?"

"I can't say that he is. He isn't a very thrifty man, though steady
enough."

"Why did they go to Charleston?"

"He thought he would do better there than here; but they haven't
done as well, and Lotty is very unhappy."

"Do they talk of returning?"

"Yes, ma'am; they're both sick enough of their new home. But then it
costs a heap of money to move about with a family, and they haven't
saved any thing. And, more than this, it isn't just certain that
James could get work right away if he came back. Foolish fellow that
he was, not to keep a good situation when he had it! But it's the
way of the world, Mrs. Markland, this ever seeking, through change,
for something better than Heaven awards in the present."

"Truly spoken, Mrs. Elder. How few of us possess contentment; how
few extract from the present that good with which it is ever
supplied! We read the fable of the dog and the shadow, and smile at
the folly of the poor animal; while, though instructed by reason, we
cast aside the substance of to-day in our efforts to grasp the
shadowy future. We are always looking for the blessing to come; but
when the time of arrival is at hand, what seemed so beautiful in the