"
"Ah! Fortune never would take the world easy," said the old
woman, shaking her head from side to side; — "never would; — I
never could get her to."
"Now, do hush, mother, will you!" said the daughter, turning
round upon her with startling sharpness of look and tone; "
'take the world easy!' you always did; I am glad I ain't like
you."
"I don't think it's a bad way, after all," said Alice; "what's
the use of taking it hard, Miss Fortune?"
"The way one goes on!" said that lady, picking away at her
beans very fast, and not answering Alice's question; "I'm
tired of it; toil, toil, and drive, drive, from morning to
night — and what's the end of it all?"
"Not much," said Alice, gravely, "if our toiling looks no
further than this world. When we go we shall carry nothing
away with us. I should think it would be very wearisome to
toil only for what we cannot keep, nor stay long to enjoy."
"It's a pity you warn't a minister, Miss Alice," said Miss
Fortune, drily.
"Oh, no, Miss Fortune," said Alice, smiling, "the family would
be overstocked. My father is one, and my brother will be
another — a third would be too much. You must be so good as to
let me preach without taking orders."
"Well, I wish every minister was as good a one as you'd make,"
said Miss Fortune, her hard face giving way a little; "at any
rate, nobody'd mind anything you'd say, Miss Alice.
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