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JAMES HARMER'S RESOLVE.
It was with a grave face, yet with a brave and cheerful mien, that the worthy Harmer met his household upon the following morning.

He had passed the remainder of that strangely interrupted night in meditation and prayer, and had arrived now at a resolution which he intended to put into immediate effect.
His household consisted, it will be remembered, of his own family, together with apprentices, shopmen, and serving wenches.

To all of these he now addressed himself, told the story which his daughter had related of the treatment received in the house of the high-born lady by the poor girl stricken by the pestilence, and how it had made even his own child almost fear to enter her father's house.
"My friends," said the master, looking round upon the ring of grave and eager faces, "these things ought not to be.

In times of common trouble and peril the hearts of men should draw closer together, and we should remember that God's command to us is to love our neighbour as ourself.