TIIE LADIES' FLORAL CABINET. 
281 
teach you how to use them. Would you like to learn to 
do work like this Poppy, Jenny V” 
««0 
That was all Jenny s#id, but her clasped hands and 
sparkling oyes were answer enough. 
"Then J think we will begin with Golden-rod,” said 
Amy, ‘‘as that was the iirst think that made us ac¬ 
quainted. Here is one of the very blossoms that 1 broke 
oil—as fresh as ever, you see. Now, which of these 
colors would you use for the foliage ?” 
Amy’s eyes sparkled in their turn as Jenny, after a 
moment’s hesitation, picked from the bundle the very 
shade of green which Amy’s trained eye had at once 
selected. 
•‘The very thing!” she cried.” “And now for the 
yellows. Why, Jenny, you have an absolute genius for 
colors. You just ought to see the shades I selected first. 
How my teacher laughed ! Now, on this bit of linen I 
sketch the outline, just the stem and one or two leaves. 
The stitch is simple enough—so, you see.” 
The lesson went on and Jenny watched with eager 
oyes. Then she took the needle herself in fingers which 
trembled at first, but soon grew firm. The Golden-rod 
was enough for that day, but other lessons followed, 
until the pupil quite equaled, and, indeed, bade fair to 
surpass the teacher. Amy’s technical skill might still 
be somewhat superior, but the poor girl showed a feeling 
for color which her teacher could never hope to ap¬ 
proach. 
The time came at last for which Amy was sighing 
when we first saw her. The city house was ready, and 
in two days they were to leave Mortlake. Would you 
believe that Amy felt a little sad over it ? But when she 
thought of something else, her eyes shone and she broke 
unconsciously into a little dance of sheer delight. 
Jenny looked grave and sad enough for two, when 
Amy reached the little brown house. She knew that it 
was the last time she would see her friend that summer; 
the last time, perhaps, forever. 
“You are glad to go, I suppose,” she said, looking 
wistfully at Amy's bright face and sparkling eyes. 
“ Glad ?” said Amy. “Yes, of course I am, but not 
near so glad as I should have been two months ago, 
thanks to you, Jenny. But I am going to make y ou 
glad, too, before I go. Guess how, Jenny.” 
But Jenny could not guess. She could think of noth¬ 
ing which would make her glad, now that her friend 
was going away. She looked so sad that Amy thought 
it high time to impart her good news. So she opened 
her hand and held up a shining five-dollar gold piece. 
Jennie looked almost frightened. 
“Not for me,” she said “I can’t take it,indeed Ican’t. 
You have given me so much already.” 
“ Don’t distress yourself,” said Amy, laughing. “It 
is no gift from me, but your own honest earnings. Do 
you remember that chair-back with the Liverwort upon 
it, that I begged you to give me because I liked it so 
much? Well, I sent that to the Society of Decorative 
Art in New York. It was accepted and sold, and this 
is the money for it, fairly and honestly your own, you 
see, Jenny. And I have more than that to say to you,” 
Take life just as God gives it to you, and make it as 
beautiful as you can. 
said Amy, and Jenny sank back among her pillows, 
speechless with her surprise and delight. “You know 
how to work quite as well as I do, and you have a great 
deal more taste and ingenuity, so you just go on work¬ 
ing; Nelly will scour the woods for models for you. 
When your work is done, send it to me and I will take 
it to the Decorative Art rooms for you. When you 
want materials, let me kuow and I will send them to 
you, unless—and then—Never mind, that’s all. Good¬ 
bye, Jenny.” 
There was something more that Amy wanted dread¬ 
fully to say, but she choaked it back. 
“ It would be too cruel to raise Jenny’s hopes for 
nothing,” Mr. Lester had said. “The news that you 
have to give her will be enough for the present, and the 
other will lose nothing by waiting.” 
“ O, if Dr. Banks will only say yes!” sighed Amy. 
“ Suppose any thing should prevent his coming to-night. 
Suppose-” 
“ Suppose you stop supposing,” said Mr. Lester, laugh¬ 
ing. “I don’t know what your experience is, but I 
never found it make the time go faster.” 
Perhaps you have guessed Amy’s secret by this time. 
Dr. Banks was an old friend of Mr. Lester's, and he was 
to come out and spend that night with them. Moreover, 
Dr. Banks was an expert in spinal troubles, such as 
Jenny’s; so now you see why Amy was so excited and 
what it was that she wanted to tell Jenny, and did not 
dare. 
My story is almost ended, and I must tell you the 
rest of it in a few words. Dr. Banks did come, and 
Mr. Lester took him to drive that evening. In the 
course of the drive they stopped at the little brown cot¬ 
tage, and on their return, Amy was waiting for them 
with eager, questioning eyes. 
“Good news, Miss Amy,” said the doctor, as he 
alighted. “ Your little friend is by no means past cure. 
A few weeks in the hospital, to which I caij easily pro¬ 
cure her admission, will quite set her up again.” 
“And, in the meantime,” said Mr. Lester, “I have 
seemed her mother’s services as laundress. You (to 
Mrs. Lester) have often said that you never saw such 
washing and ironing, and she has consented to come for 
the sake of being near Jenny.” 
It was all carried out as was planned. To-day, in a 
pleasant little flat in New York, you may find a happy 
family, Jenny, restored to health and strength, makes a 
comfortable living by her embroidery, for which orders 
never fail. Nelly, who shares her sister's talent, is going 
tln-ough a course of lessons at the Society of Decorative 
Art, with a prospect of being taken into the work-rooms 
there at the end of her apprenticeship. Mrs. Leavitt 
still does the washing of the Lesters, and of one or two 
other families, to whom they have recommended her. 
She has no trouble in finding employment, for good 
work always commands its price in the best market. 
And Amy? Well, Amy is a young lady, but she has 
never forgotten her humble friends. She often says 
that the lessons she gave Jenny were as nothing compared 
to the lessons which Jenny taught her. W ho knows 
what those lessons were ?—Helen F. More in Elcctra. 
Little deeds are like little seeds—they grow to flow¬ 
ers or to weeds. 
