his disposition. Whether any such idea was imbibed from the fact well established in the neighborhood, that not a day passed away in which Mr. Greedy did not impress upon the minds of his children the sensible maxim, "Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves," or from the circumstance that he had repeatedly been heard to say with great emphasis, "that it was wrong for a certain storekeeper in a village hard by, always to take the half cent in his dealings,' or from other facts and circumstances, it behoveth not the deponents to say. One thing, however, no one had any doubt about; and that was this, that Mr. Greedy was a remarkably careful man about all his expenditures. He used to boast that he never spent money uselessly; but his neighbors thought he sometimes lost money when there was no occasion to lose it. He used to trade much in cattle, and generally wintered a large stock; and scarcely a winter passed but that more or less of them died. Now his neighbors thought that as their cattle did not die, there was no particular necessity for his cattle to die; and it was their unanimous opinion, that if he had given them

more fodder, they would have weathered the season as well as their own. One individual declared "that Mr. Greedy's cattle were so hungry, that they broke into his land, and eat up three cords of newly cut spruce and hemlock wood, with the exception of one very knotty log, which was so hard that they could not eat it, and so tough that he could not split it." His man called upon the minister, and desired him to have Mr. Greedy "churched," as he called it, that is, disciplined by the church, because he refused to pay for the wood.

Whether Mr. Greedy spent money carelessly or not, it was very evident that he did not give money away carelessly, for whatever application might be made to him, he refused to give. Justice, however, demands that it be acknowledged that he always had his reasons for not giving, and was not at all reluctant to state them. If applied to to assist a poor man, he would say "he could not conscientiously give to the poor because it made them lazy." He thought all Christians ought to refrain, on principle, from giving to the poor, "for," said he, "if they can live on charity they will not work.”

If requested to aid a needy and suffering sick person, he would say, "when people are sick they do not need much, and that it was a mistaken kindness to beg money and buy little luxuries for them, as they made them worse." And then he would tell what a doctor once told him, which was, "that a certain poor patient of his was happily recovering from a dangerous fever, when some persons with misguided good intentions, brought her some oranges and figs, which she eat, and was thrown back again into the fever, and died." If an agent of any society applied to him, he invariably refused to give, on the ground "that it cost so much to support agents." Thus he always had his reasons for not giving.

It is said of Peter the Great, that when any individual told him of the faults of another, he would say, "Is there not a fair side also to the character of the person of whom you are speaking? Come, tell me his good qualities." So now, we will mention some good things about Mr. Greedy. He was very good to encourage his minister, by always being at meeting on the Sabbath, unless prevented by sickness. Neither rain, nor snow,

nor cold, nor heat, nor bad roads kept him from the sanctuary, although his house was more than two miles distant.

are.

He was very good in regularly attending the weekly prayer meeting in the vestry, and was punctual at the time; never being ten, fifteen, or twenty minutes behind the time, as many And he was always ready to speak and pray; and although some of the members did not like to hear him, he prayed with considerable apparent fervor, and exhorted with more than ordinary earnestness. He was generally at the monthly church meeting; and another thing that is truly deserving of mention, he was never known to be absent from a business meeting, either of church or society. This last ought especially to be remembered to Mr. Greedy's credit, because it is a lamenta ble fact, that many church members seldom or never attend the business meeting, and seem to think it a sufficient reason for not going, be cause it is a business meeting; whereas no church member should ever neglect it. Another good thing about Mr. Greedy was this; that he was always willing to serve on any committee, or perform any sort of labor for

one can do better."

the church. He never plead off with his modest inability, like some of our brethren, who can talk long, and tell what ought to be done, and when requested to take hold and help do, say, "Excuse me, I think some other He was ready to work in any way for the church, and although rather backward in paying his own tax, he very cheerfully went about the parish as collector, to gather the taxes of others. Some, indeed, said he did this "that he might have a good opportunity to talk with the people about the great salary he considered the minister was paid." We will, however, consider this a wicked and cruel slander, and let it pass; although we must now turn the picture over again, and look on the other side.

It must be confessed that Mr. Greedy was squeamishly sensitive about the salary in question. He said "he thought conscientiously, that his minister was paid altogether too much salary;" though the fact was, he received only $450, and had a family of nine children to maintain, the eldest of whom was not seventeen years of age. He had several times in church meeting most unequivocally advocated