go out--then be a little smiling and chatty, and tell them to light
their pipes and stay with you, for you are a bit lonesome. If they
will have their mug of beer, coax them to take it here at home. Try
to put a few shillings in the savings bank every week, and talk
over little plans of saving more. If you can only make your husbands
feel that they are getting ahead a little, it will have a great
influence in steadying them and keeping them out of bad company."

Mildred had a genius for everything relating to domestic life, and
an almost unbounded belief in good home influences. Although she
rarely talked religion directly to the people whom she was trying
to benefit--she was much too diffident and self-depreciative
for this--her regular attendance at some place of worship on the
Sabbath and her course toward poor Mrs. Bute and her daughter had
given the impression that she was a very religious girl, and that
her motives were Christian in character. People's instincts are
quick in discerning the hidden springs of action; and her influence
was all the more effective because she gave them the fruits of
faith rather than stems of exhortation or which they were required
to develop fruit of their own. Much good fruit was eventually
produced, but more through her example, her spring-like influence,
than from any formal instruction.




CHAPTER XXI

"HE'S A MAN"