"There is misery," he said; "maybe not the gaunt squalor and starvation of London or Paris or New York; the climate does not tolerate that,--stamps it out before it can assume dimensions; but there is at least misery of that sort that needs recognition and aid from the well-fed." The lady who had been beautiful so many years had somewhat to say; the physician gave attention, and she spoke:-- "If sister Jane were here, she would be perfectly triumphant to hear you speak so, Doctor." She turned to the hostess, and continued: "Jane is quite an enthusiast, you know; a sort of Dorcas, as husband says, modified and readapted. Yes, she is for helping everybody." "Whether help is good for them or not," said the lady's husband, a very straight and wiry man with a garrote collar. "It's all one," laughed the lady. "Our new rector told her plainly, the other day, that she was making a great mistake; that she ought to consider whether assistance assists. It was really amusing. Out of the pulpit and off his guard, you know, he lisps a little; and he said she ought to consider whether 'aththithtanth aththithtth.'" There was a gay laugh at this, and the lady was called a perfect and cruel mimic. "'Aththithtanth aththithtth!'" said two or three to their neighbors, and laughed again. "What did your sister say to that?" asked the banker, bending forward his white, tonsured head, and smiling down the board. "She said she didn't care; that it kept her own heart tender, anyhow. 'My dear madam,' said he, 'your heart wants strengthening more than softening.' He told her a pound of inner resource was more true help to any poor person than a ton of assistance." The banker commended the rector. The hostess, very sweetly, offered her guarantee that Jane took the rebuke in good part. "She did," replied the time-honored beauty; "she tried to profit by it. But husband, here, has offered her a wager of a bonnet against a hat that the rector will upset her new schemes. Her idea now is to make work for those whom nobody will employ." "Jane," said the kind-faced host, "really wants to do good for its own sake." "I think she's even a little Romish in her notions," said Jane's wiry brother-in-law. "I talked to her as plainly as the rector. I told her, 'Jane, my dear, all this making of work for the helpless poor is not worth one-fiftieth part of the same amount of effort spent in teaching and training those same poor to make their labor intrinsically marketable.'" "Yes," said the hostess; "but while we are philosophizing and offering advice so wisely, Jane is at work--doing the best she knows how. We can't claim the honor even of making her mistakes." "'Tisn't a question of honors to us, madam," said Dr. Sevier; "it's a question of results to the poor." The brother-in-law had not finished. He turned to the Doctor. "Poverty, Doctor, is an inner condition"-- "Sometimes," interposed the Doctor.