Knickerbocker | Page 7

few years of quiet enjoyment passed, happily varied by the accession
of a fair and delicate little girl, who might be seen at their cheerful
meals seated in her high chair, the common object of their care and
attention; and not only affording in her fragile little person the strongest
bond of union, but the never-tiring subject of conversation. Sad indeed
was the change in this once happy family, when the widow and orphan

sat alone at the cheerless board. Death had entered and taken from them
the sun of their little world. The bereaved wife might have sunk under
this calamity, had not maternal solicitude been mixed with grief. With
that admirable fortitude and submission to duty so common to those of
her sex in similar circumstances, she at once devoted herself with
increased solicitude to the remaining object of her care and affection.
For a time but little change was visible in the family arrangements, for
though a sensitive she was a spirited woman. Her garden, which had
been the pride and delight of her husband, still flourished in perfect
neatness. After the usual time of decent seclusion, she again
interchanged visits with her friends and neighbors, and continued to
maintain the stand in the village society which had always been
conceded to her. But this state of things did not long continue, for alas!
the gathering as well as the protecting hand was removed. Her more
aristocratic acquaintances now began to remark that her table showed
less of plenty and variety than formerly, and that her dress, though
perfectly neat, was less new and fashionable than they expected in their
associates; for no where is the distinction between the rich and poor
more rigidly enforced than in country villages. Most offensively
marked is this distinction in the house of God, where if any where this
side the grave ought the rich and the poor to meet on a level, before
Him who regards not the outward estate of his creatures. But modern
Christians have contrived to evade the rebuke of the apostle by the
cunning device of introducing the noisy auctioneer, and under a show
of fairness and equality, 'the man in goodly apparel and having a gold
ring' is assigned the highest seat; and albeit a skeptic, by the weight of
his purse crowds the humble worshippers to the wall and into the
corners of their Father's house.
It was observed that the lone woman declined competition for those
seats so eagerly sought by the more wealthy, and selected those of a
humbler character, and eventually retired to the 'widow's pew,' a pew
set apart, in country churches, for the gratuitous accommodation of
those in that unhappy condition. Sincerely religious, the Christian
widow still waited upon God in the house of prayer, but felt the whole
sting of poverty when slowly and humbly wending her way to her

obscure corner, her faded and well-worn dress was brushed by the new
and rich garments of her former equals as they swept past her to their
high seats. The neat and handsome dwelling with its trim garden was at
length resigned for one which barely sheltered the mother and child
from the weather, and was totally devoid of the cheap luxury of fruit
and flowers which had enriched and beautified their former home.
Time wore on, and Want with its train of sordid attendants visited their
dwelling. Her former associates, one after another declined her society
as an equal. Occasionally calling, they were eloquent in excuses for
their neglect; for when did the prosperous lack an excuse for neglecting
the unfortunate? Counsel and advice were lavished upon her; for I have
observed that advice is the only thing that the rich impart freely to the
poor. Religion too was the frequent subject of their conversation; for
how can benevolence be shown more strongly than by a concern for the
well-being of the soul, which is to exist forever, in comparison with
which, the transient wants of the body are as nothing? Accordingly, the
poor widow, after her scanty meal, and over her dim and cheerless
hearth, was exhorted by her fur-clad and well-fed friends, to disregard
the evils of this fleeting life, and receive with resignation the
chastenings of Providence; for we all needed correction, being by
nature utterly sinful and depraved. And after some vague and indefinite
offers of assistance, the good women would take their leave. A way of
discharging duty discovered by modern philanthropists; and when
accompanied by the Societies' tract, seldom fails to convince the
unfortunate object of charity that to Heaven alone should they look for
assistance and sympathy.
This lady, as we have intimated, possessed a large share of that
generous spirit so common in her sex, which enabled her to sustain
herself amid