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them offhand; whilst there being no rule of expenditure, and no calculation ever made of the difference of retail and wholesale cost, utter indifference reigned as to the savings which might have been effected on the articles of consumption they required. As to Harry Martin's financial position, which naturally his friends, seeing he had retained so lucrative a situation for nearly fifteen years, thought must be independent, he was himself afraid to look into it, if the truth be told; for although the recipient of over £200 a year, with no special appearances to keep up, he was by far a poorer man than when he had married twelve years before-poorer because without a penny to turn to. He had a helpless sort of wife and six children depending on him for support, not one of whom, were he to be taken from this life, had received any training towards their own independence, and for whom he, as their husband and father, had not made the slightest provision for the future. As to himself, at thirty-eight years of age, although he derived less and less satisfaction from the habit of self-indulgence and pleasure-taking, which had formed so prominent a feature in his character, yet these habits had now become second nature to him; and he could no more have got on without his glass and his pipe, and his two hours daily at the alehouse, where he met his friends every evening for a game of cards or backgammon, than without his daily food.

Of the interests and enjoyments of home life he knew literally nothing. He had married Kate Davies for her beauty and her liveliness, and when these failed and there were no deeper qualities to draw out his own better nature, and teach him the value of domestic happiness, he simply went where he could gratify his first tastes; regardless of how those fared whom he left behind, or of the responsibilities he had incurred by that same marriage.

As to religion or the preparation for another state, this was a matter that never troubled him at all, Periodically his wife made him accompany her to church, at the various christenings of the children, and he listened to the service as if it was a mere form required by law, as much as a register of the child's birth was; whilst the sabbath was a mere holiday and nothing more, passed in idleness and amusement.

Of course, when such ignorance and indifference exists there can be no spirituality in the soul, and Harry Martin was only one of thousands whose daily lives were a plain exemplification of our Saviour's parable respecting those who build their house upon the sand; which, having no foundation, when floods come or storms arise, must of necessity fall, when great is the fall thereof.

Very different had been the result of Robert Buchanan and his wife's experience. They had both married with the strongly-established fact in view, that this life is but the preparation for that which is

to come, that although in God's merciful providence, while He has ordained that the former shall be one of duty and of toil, of cares and anxieties-the latter consequent on man's disobedience and fall, in the fulfilment of the decree, viz., that "in the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread," He had yet sweetened such labour by domestic joys, intending that in family ties the wife's greatest interests should be found. Together, ever since the day that united then, Robert and Bessie had trodden this path; the weaker leaning on her husband for strength or wisdom, either individually or collectively seeking counsel from God in every difficulty that presented itself. In this view also their children had been trained, one after another being early taught that to form a happy whole, each member of a family must do his or her part to preserve neatness and comfort, peace and harmony.

The Buchanans had their ups and downs, their trials and crosses, as well as others have; but there was this difference, that as a good pilot steers his Vessel safely through the rocks and shoals by looking ahead, and by a skilful turn of the helm, avoiding such dangers, so Buchanan, as head of the family, was ever at his post as its pilot, forearmed against unexpected calls, on the look-out for openings for his children's welfare, whilst he could calmly survey the future without anxiety, for he knew that, come what might, the insurance of his life would not only leave his widow provided for,

but that without any great personal deprivations, his savings were sufficient to apprentice his boys to some useful calling, and to purchase his girls likewise an independent business, even if they did not marry into homes of their own.

Yes, my friends, all this had been accomplished, and that without any personal diminution of the home comforts of Robert Buchanan's household, which in its every arrangement and aspect would have borne a most favourable comparison with Harry Martin's, and with many others of his acquaintances; whose salaries were equivalent to his own, but who, with no forethought or fixed plan of expenditure, squandered their earnings in reckless indulgence, of extra good living, of drinking, or of pleasure-hunting.

As to Bessie Buchanan's banking-book, we have already been told by herself that it was to her an independent source of comfort, at hand when any extra call was required of her that she did not care to apply to her husband to meet. She had conmenced it, as noted, the year of her marriage, witha deposit of three shillings, and had always put ore shilling, sometimes more, in every week since; this, with interest and compound interest, amounted to a good sum. True, she had often drawn out a portion, sometimes as much as one or two pounds at a time, but against this she could fairly set the numbers of odd shillings she had added from needlework earnings. The principal sum still remained,

as what her husband called her working-capital; on which he made no claim, nor demanded any explanation as to the way his wife spent it.

Regarding Buchanan's own savings, with his natural reserve of character, no one, not even Bessie, knew the exact amount; suffice it to say, that more than once having obtained the limit of the sum on which interest was allowed, viz., £150, he had had to withdraw a portion and invest it elsewhere, and then he had continued building up the remainder on the old system, until the same necessity occurred. In his class, Robert Buchanan might certainly be called a rich man, for he was always alive as to what the present or the future might bring him. Yet his wealth had only been gathered by ordinary thrift; and there was hardly a man of his standing and salary who might not have been in the same position, had he adopted the same prudential habits.

But Buchanan's earthly gains, satisfactory as was their possession for his family's sake, were the least portion of the riches he had during his life-time gathered up; for, beyond these, Grace had led him to the full knowledge of Jesus Christ; of that Saviour "in whom is hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge"-treasures which neither moth nor rust can corrupt, and which endure beyond time throughout the endless ages of eternity. Nor did he enjoy alone the happiness which a close walk with God ensures. Hand in hand with him his wife trod the same peaceful path, and together they could thus

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