The year was turning into the softer months of spring, and all the out-door world had been a benediction that evening if the sorrow and poverty and sin of the tenement district so near had not pervaded the very walls and atmosphere of the entire place.

The minister's wife answered bravely: "Yes, we have food and clothing and life's necessaries.

But, oh, Philip! this life is wearing you out.

Yes, Brother Man." she continued, while a tear rolled over her cheek, "the minister is giving his life blood for these people, and they do not care.

It is a vain sacrifice." She had spoken as frankly as if the old man had been her father.