deformity, and overcome the weakness by tonic treatment, but had
neglected to do so, we should not have much to say about chance. I
know of a poor man who spent nearly all that he had in the world to
have his boy's leg straightened, and he was called a "good father."
What are these physical defects compared with the graver defects of
character?

Even though Mr. Allen is dead, we cannot say that he was a good
father, though he spent so many thousands on his daughters. We
certainly cannot call Mrs. Allen a good mother, and the proof of this
is that Laura is feeble and selfish, Zell deformed through lack of
self-control, and Edith hard and pitiless in her comparative strength.
They were unable to cope with the practical questions of their
situation. They had been launched upon the perilous, uncertain voyage
of life without the compass of a true faith or the charts of principle
to guide them, and they had been provided with no life-boats of
knowledge to save them in case of disaster. They are now tossing among
the breakers of misfortune, almost utterly the sport of the winds and
waves of circumstances. If these girls never reached the shore of
happiness and safety, could we wonder?

How would your daughter fare, my reader, if you were gone and she were
poor, with her hands and brain to depend on for bread, and her heart
culture for happiness? In spite of all your providence and foresight,
such may be her situation. Such becomes the condition of many men's
daughters every day.

But time and events swept the Allens forward, as the shipwrecked are
borne on the crest of a wave, and we must follow their fortunes.
Hungry creditors, especially the petty ones uptown, stripped them of