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"They that sow in tears shall reap in joy, you know," said she. "That's a precious word of consolation, Joe. It means that if we have some troubles and sorrows here, we shall get the better of them hereafter, in the help of the Lord."

"My troubles, Mrs. Prescott," said the old man, "my troubles have come on me by my own doing, and it sort of strikes me that the Bible comfort isn't meant of such sinners; it's meant for better sort of persons than deserve to die in the poor-house."

"Oh! la sus, Joe," said the old woman Brinsmade, "then what's the chance for me and half of us? Ye see, Joe, we must all consider there's some hope. Now your'n, and mine, may he's small. But -- drum, drum, drum -- a little's better than none at all -- ain't it so -- Miss Prescutt?"

"The Saviour of the world says, 'I am come to seek and to save them that are lost.' 'I come not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.' 'Go ye out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, (meaning poor folks, you know? "Yes," said aunt Dorothy, 'that my house may be filled.'"

"And do you really reckon, Mrs. Prescott," inquired the sick man, "that a poor fellow like me, or any body like us, might have been meant by that sort of merciful language?"

"Oh, I know it, Joe! It is all a perfect revelation of pity, the gospel -- meant for the greatest of all sufferers, poor, and ignorant, and dying."

"Wall, I'll be hanged if I don't wish it might be true," he replied, wiping a tear from his eye.

"Oh, it's all true, Joe," said aunt Dorothy, "I'm a firm believer in it, and it'll do you a heap of good to believe it too."

"Yes," said the widow, "a great deal, for we read, 'He will wipe away all tears from their eyes, neither shall there be any more sorrow nor pain, and they shall be forever with the Lord, and your sins and iniquities will I remember no more forever.'"

"That's a very good, and seems like a gracious promise," said the poor creature.

"Oh, it is, it has a great deal of comfort in it."

"I've been a great rebel sinner," said the man, "a swearer, a drinker, gambler, and all that's bad; but of late years I've thought on my ways some, and getting old I've left off some of my bad ways, but not from an understanding mind. Now I think I see where the truth is, if I can only get hold of it."

"You do, you can, sartain," said aunt Dorothy, "it is as plain as daylight. Don't put it off."

"If you cast yourself on the Saviour for salvation, and do not cling to your own righteousness -- "

"No, I throw that away, it's about as good as these bed-quilts -- "

"A hit, I s---!" cried aunt Dorothy, throwing her hands into the air in a perfect transport of feeling.

"Mercy on us! What do you mean, aunt Dorothy, to talk so?" said the offended widow, and the old dying Joe rolled his eyes on her mournfully enough.

"Well, it's no use fretting," said she, "I only spoke in earnest, not in wickedness, so help me; ah! now, I say, Joe, we are mighty glad you've got rid of your own righteousness, and begin to see the right sort -- drum, drum, drum."

"Joe," said the widow, stooping down to his pillow, and speaking in a low voice, "the Saviour says, 'He that Cometh unto me shall in no wise be cast out.' Now you must turn your mind to him and believe on him as your own suffering Saviour, dying on the tree, to save you. Then you must try to repent of all your sins, and cast yourself just as you are, by faith, upon the Lord. He'll accept you then, and it'll be just like the Prodigal Son going home to his father. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I think I do, a little," said he.

"'Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you.'"

After a few moments the invalid raised his eyes to her's and said, "It seems to me, if I could only pray -- but it's of little use to think of it -- I don't know how to. Can anybody pray for old Joe in his time of need?"

"Yes," said she, "I'll pray for you myself. Aunt Dorothy, let us kneel down and pray for him. He's feeling the need of it, I know."

Aunt Dorothy required no second asking, and then they kneeled down their aged limbs, poor, helpless sinners as they were, and while Joe shut his eyes and moaned a true, penitent groan, the pious old lady offered her humble and earnest petition to the Saviour in his behalf. She was a praying saint, doubtless, and many an old pauper under that roof had heard her prayers in similar circumstances, and acknowledged her great kindness. So the good widow, even in her old age and weakness, was helpful to the poor ones there, in guiding them out of their dark and sinful paths into the light and pleasant ways of the Lord.

Poor Joe had been a merchant. But the reverses of fortune and the allurements of the cup, long ago impoverished him, and without a living relative near enough of kin to care for him, he became a pauper, shattered and weak of intellect, and a miserable wreck of humanity every way -- a great change indeed from the gay and active young man of business, Mr. Joseph Harnden, of New York, merchant in Broadway. So it is with the poor of the north frequently. They are men who have been in a far better condition, and to all appearances, far enough from the poor-house. But no man knows what is before him in life, especially if he be addicted to any vice. It is very certain that even yet many a proud speculator, many a lady in silks, many a blushing maiden, many a hard-working laborer, will end his days among the paupers, as poor and miserable as any of whom we are now writing -- because every antecedent cause of poverty, extravagance, intemperance, pride, licentiousness, dishonesty, anger, revenge, hatred, violence, sickness, pestilence, conflagration and famine, now preys on the vitals of society very much as it has hitherto done.