Charity.—The History of Peggy and her Family.—The Sailor’s Widow.
I have often remarked to you, said Mrs. Mason, one morning, to her
pupils, that we are all dependent on each other; and this dependence is
wisely ordered by our Heavenly Father, to call forth many virtues, to
exercise the best affections of the human heart, and fix them into
habits. While we impart pleasure we receive it, and feel the grandeur of
our immortal soul, as it is constantly struggling to spread itself into
futurity.
Perhaps the greatest pleasure I have ever received, has arisen from the
habitual exercise of charity, in its various branches: the view of a
distressed object has made me now think of conversing about one branch of
it, that of giving alms.
You know Peggy, the young girl whom I wish to have most about my person;
I mean, I wish it for her own sake, that I may have an opportunity of
improving her mind, and cultivating a good capacity. As to attendance, I
never give much trouble to any fellow-creature; for I choose to be
independent of caprice and artificial wants; unless indeed, when I am
sick; then, I thankfully receive the assistance I would willingly give to
others in the same situation. I believe I have not in the world a more
faithful friend than Peggy; and her earnest desire to please me gratifies
my benevolence, for I always observe with delight the workings of a
grateful heart.
I lost a darling child, said Mrs. Mason, smothering a sigh, in the depth
of winter—death had before deprived me of her father, and when I lost my
child—he died again.
The wintery prospects suiting the temper of my soul, I have sat looking
at a wide waste of trackless snow for hours; and the heavy sullen fog,
that the feeble rays of the sun could not pierce, gave me back an image
of my mind. I was unhappy, and the sight of dead nature accorded with my
feelings—for all was dead to me.
As the snow began to melt, I took a walk, and observed the birds hopping
about with drooping wings, or mute on the leafless boughs. The mountain,
whose sides had lost the snow, looked black; yet still some remained on
the summit, and formed a contrast to diversify the dreary prospect.
I walked thoughtfully along, when the appearance of a poor man, who did
not beg, struck me very forcibly. His shivering limbs were scarcely
sheltered from the cold by the tattered garments that covered him; and he
had a sharp, famished look. I stretched out my hand with some relief in
it, I would not enquire into the particulars of such obvious distress.
The poor wretch caught my hand, and hastily dropping on his knees,
thanked me in an extacy, as if he had almost lost sight of hope, and was
overcome by the sudden relief. His attitude, for I cannot bear to see a
fellow-creature kneel, and eager thanks, oppressed my weak spirits, so
that I could not for a moment ask him any more questions; but as soon as
I recollected myself, I learned from him the misfortunes that had reduced
him to such extreme distress, and he hinted, that I could not easily
guess the good I had done. I imagined from this hint that he was
meditating his own destruction when I saw him, to spare himself the
misery of seeing his infant perish,—starved to death, in every sense of
the word.
I will now hasten to the sequel of the account. His wife had lately had
a child, she was very ill at the time, and want of proper food, and a
defence against the inclemency of the weather, hurried her out of the
world. The poor child, Peggy, had sucked in disease and nourishment
together, and now even that wretched source had failed—the breast was
cold that had afforded the scanty support; and the little innocent
smiled, unconscious of its misery. I sent for her, added Mrs. Mason, and
her father dying a few years after, she has ever been a favourite charge
of mine, and nursing of her, in some measure, dispelled the gloom in
which I had been almost lost.—Ah! my children, you know not how many,
‘houseless heads bide the pitiless storm!’
I received soon after a lesson of resignation from a poor woman, who was
a practical philosopher.
She had lost her husband, a sailor, and lost his wages also, as she could
not prove his death. She came to me to beg some pieces of silk, to make
some pin-cushions for the boarders of a neighbouring school. Her lower
weeds were patched with different coloured rags; but they spoke not
variety of wretchedness, on the contrary, they shewed a mind so content,
that want, and bodily pain, did not prevent her thinking of the opinion
of casual observers. This woman lost a husband and a child suddenly, and
her daily bread was precarious.—I cheered the widow’s heart, and my own
was not quite solitary.
But I am growing melancholy, whilst I am only desirous of pointing out to
you how very beneficial charity is—because it enables us to find comfort
when all our worldly comforts are blighted: besides, when our bowels
yearn to our fellow-creatures, we feel that the love of God dwelleth in
us—and then we cannot always go on our way sorrowing.