"
"Go and get the friend some flowers, the gayest and sweetest you can
find, Pansy," said Christie, and, as the child ran off, she added to
her friend:
"Now we must think of something pleasant for you to do. It may take
a little time, but I know we shall find your niche if we give our
minds to it."
"That's one reason why I came. I heard some friends of mine talking
about you yesterday, and they seemed to think you were equal to any
thing in the way of good works. Charity is the usual refuge for
people like me, so I wish to try it. I don't mind doing or seeing
sad or disagreeable things, if it only fills up my life and helps me
to forget."
"You will help more by giving of your abundance to those who know
how to dispense it wisely, than by trying to do it yourself, my
dear. I never advise pretty creatures like you to tuck up their silk
gowns and go down into the sloughs with alms for the poor, who don't
like it any better than you do, and so much pity and money are
wasted in sentimental charity."
"Then what shall I do?"
"If you choose you can find plenty of work in your own class; for,
if you will allow me to say it, they need help quite as much as the
paupers, though in a very different way.
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