little histories,-how mother was-whether sister was any better: in short, all the village stories; and he would give them advice, or send them up to his house for a cup of milk, or a can of good strong broth, or maybe a little tea or sugar, or perhaps in the fruit season a little nice fresh fruit for any one who was feverish and thirsty: as the poor people would often say, 'there seemed a comfort for every ill, and a cure for every sorrow, if you only get a sight of the good doctor.'

The day that I am to tell you of (it was Monday), it was still early, and he was sitting in his garden, putting down the different patients he had to see, when he heard the sound of small feet coming along the walk, and on looking up, he immediately recognized little Fanny Aikin's brother. As soon as the child drew near, he asked him what he wanted! The poor boy looked very sad and said, "he was come for something for mother's finger, and to ask his honour to be so good as to come and see Fanny, for that she was very badly, and fretted sadly at being laid up so long.

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Well, my man," the Doctor answered, 'you go home now, and tell your mother I will be with her in an hour, and I dare say we shall do Fanny good; meanwhile you shall take her some of my strawberries,― we will go and pick some, and they will

be very good for her, and take away her thirst.'

Little Willie coloured up with pleasure, for he liked being in the pretty garden, and he could not help thinking, perhaps, that he might get a few for himself,-not that he would have taken one away from Fanny, or touched them without leave, for he was a very good little boy; and both her children had been well and carefully brought up by their good mother.

The Doctor was very fond of Fanny, and knew what a good girl she was; but she had never told him of her plan, she felt shy and ashamed, and as if it would seem like asking help, and that she knew her mother would object to, and she herself would lose half her pleasure if it was not all her own doing.

When the strawberries were picked, and Willie had had a very good share, he set off home; and, according to his promise, the Doctor arrived there within an hour afterwards. Fanny looked ill; he thought her face very much flushed, and her hand very hot and dry; but she was sitting up, and as he had often seen her very busy at work with a great many bits of coloured silk and ribbon scattered about, and some half-finished pincushions lying on her lap, he spoke very kindly to her, but told her she must go to bed directly, for that she was very feverish, and would get worse if she sat up, as she

couldn't be kept from the air blowing upon her whenever the door was opened; then he went on to say,

"Never mind, Fanny, we will soon get you quite well again; and then when you are, you shall come up with your mother and Willie to my house, and have tea with my housekeeper. She will be very glad to see Fanny," he said, turning to Mrs. Aiken, "for she says Fanny is a good industrious girl, and will make a steady servant some of these days, and be a comfort and help to her mother; but I am sure she is that now to you, for she always seems trying what she can do to be useful."

Poor Fanny's heart was very full as she heard all this, and thought that even before she was well, she might be obliged to go quite away with her mother, where they would never see the kind Doctor or his pretty garden again. Her mother thought it better to tell the Doctor what a misfortune was likely to befall her, so she told him every-. thing: how she had thought of taking two small rooms in some other house in the village, which she said, "though not like our own dear home, sir, would still have been better than going among strangers; but it can't be, sir, there is never a house or a room to be had aynwhere about for some months to come; so, as I tell Fanny, we must make up our minds to go. It is a a hard trial to me,

for I never thought to leave this old place; and it is still harder for the young ones to bear, for they are not so used to sorrow, as I tell them, poor things: but the Lord's will be done, sir, in all things. It would ill become us to complain, for we have had many and many a mercy to be thankful for; and, as I tell Fanny, if we strive to do our duty, God will raise up friends for us wherever we are!"

The poor woman found it a comfort to open her heart to her kind friend; and he listened most eagerly to all she had to say; and then, in a few simple words, tried to comfort her, and spoke quite cheerfully of the future.

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Why you know, Mrs. Aiken, you need not go far off; there are plenty of villages hereabouts, and in my rides I will look for something likely to suit you;—we will be neighbours still, if not quite such near ones; and Fanny shall still come and see me."

The hearty cheerful tone in which he spoke, seemed to do the widow's heart good, and she turned to her child, hoping to see a smile upon her countenance; and the Doctor also looked towards her, and for a moment seemed surprised at the sad expression of her face; but he knew she was suffering bodily, and that the young feel things more sharply than those who are older, and so he made every allowance, and like a wise man

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tried to turn the subject; but Fanny had quite made up her mind to tell him everything, and was only summoning up courage to begin, which she soon did in a very broken tremulous voice; she omitted nothing, not even her own sad feelings, and how inclined she felt to murmur and complain at her illness, and the hindrance that it had been to her, and how afraid she was she had made herself worse by trying to work before she was able. It was all told-all her hopes and fears were laid before her kind friend, and she felt quite comforted when she had done, and as if she would be better able to bear whatever was before her. The Doctor listened with all his best attention, and had two or three times to take off his spectacles and wipe them, from the tears brought into his eyes by her simple touching story; and when she had done he stooped over her bed and took her hand in his, and said in a very earnest, feeling voice,—

"God bless you, my dear child, and lead you now and evermore in the path which leadeth to everlasting life; and He will bless you, dear Fanny, as long as you strive, as you seem to have done hitherto, to be a good and dutiful child, and to serve God by walking according to His holy laws."

There was a pause after the good Doctor had concluded his solemn address to the child. They all felt their hearts strengthened and