If all had brought the ten cents a box, she would have made seventy-five cents; but such was not the case.

Rich ladies had beaten her down in her price--had chaffered with her for the few pennies of profits to which her hard labor entitled her--and actually robbed her of the meager pittance she strove to earn for her children.

Instead of realizing the small sum of seventy-five cents, she had cleared only forty-five cents.

With this she bought a little Indian meal and molasses for her own and her children's supper and breakfast.
As she sat with her children, eating the only food she was able to provide for them, and thought of what had occurred during the day, a feeling of bitterness toward her kind came over her; but the remembrance of the kind words, and the glass of cool water, so timely and thoughtfully tendered to her, was like leaves in the waters of Marah.

Her heart softened, and with the tears stealing to her eyes, she glanced upward, and asked a blessing on her who had remembered that, though poor, she was still human.
Economy is a good thing, and should be practiced by all, but it should show itself in denying ourselves, not in oppressing others.
We see persons spending dollar after dollar foolishly one hour, and in the next trying to save a five penny piece off of a wood-sawyer, coal-heaver, or market-woman.