IT IS MOTHER'S WAY.

"IF you please, ma'am, you did not tell me how I was to set the table, so I did it mother's way."

The speaker was Mrs. Glover's new servant, a tidy-looking little maid, whose youth would have led any mistress to suppose that she had nearly everything to learn. But as Mrs. Glover glanced at the neatly-arranged breakfast-table she had a pleasant surprise. The most experienced waiting damsel could not have laid it more to her satisfaction.

She was going to praise the new servant in warm terms, but she paused before uttering the words which first came to mind, and only said, "It will do very nicely, Mary. Now bring in the kettle. Your master will be down directly."

Mrs. Glover, though a wife of not quite a year's standing, had already changed her one servant three times. She was beginning to talk as older mistresses do, about their domestics being the "plague of one's life," "necessary evils," and so on, and wishing she could do without altogether.

Ellen Dixon, the new girl, had entered on her duties the night before, and Mrs. Glover's was her first place. The lady had told her that she should be down early enough to show her how to lay the table for the eight o'clock breakfast. But she was not, and so the little maid had done her best, and her mistress was fain to own that the best was very neat indeed. She glanced round the room and thought how orderly it looked, and was going to say so. She paused, and instead of uttering further encouraging words, she bethought herself of past experiences, and of "new brooms," and only wished the present state of things might last.

Much to her surprise, things went on better as the little maid became more used to her place, and instead of having to teach, Mrs. Glover found herself a learner.

"Please, ma'am, where shall I find the dust-covers?" was Ellen's question when she was going to clean the grate in the best sitting-room.

"What do you mean, Ellen?"

Ellen blushed as if she had done wrong. "We had some old sheets like at home to put over our parlour things when the floor was swept and the grate raked. Mother said the things got more spoiled with brushing dust off than with using; so she patched some pieces of old stuff together to throw over them. They kept the dust off nicely. But we are forced to take care of our things. It was just mother's way."

"And a very good way, Ellen. We will have dust-sheets too," said Mrs. Glover, and the covers were soon ready.

Again the mistress noticed the care with which the fire was laid so as to last, and Ellen's economy in the matter of cinders. The girl looked pleased when her mistress said, "Ellen, you are the first servant I have had who took any trouble about making a fire to suit the weather. Often I have come down when it was bitterly cold, and there was scarcely a spark to be seen. Then, when the morning was warm, I have found a fire large enough to cook a family's dinner; and I always before found cinders thrown on the dust-heap; I am glad you have learned to take care of them."

"We had to be careful at home," said Ellen. "Mother used to make the coals last as long as she could, and she taught us to see if it was warm or cold before we made fire up. We learned to do it her way."

"That girl never has to go hunting about the house for things," said Mr. Glover, as he noticed the new girl's movements with much satisfaction. "Ask for what you may, if Ellen has had the handling of it, she never needs to seek it or keep any one waiting."

Mrs. Glover thought she might now safely say words of encouragement to Ellen, so she repeated her husband's commendation.

The girl's face brightened as she answered, "I am so glad master is pleased, and so will mother be when I tell her. She always told me if I put a thing in its place when I had done with it, I should find it there when it was wanted; that nothing wasted so much time as seeking for what ought not to have been lost."

"I am sure you must have a good mother, Ellen."

"Oh, dear yes, ma'am! But she was never good to us by letting us have all our own way, but by learning us her way. She said she could not give us any money, but she must try and make us servants that would be worth keeping. We didn't always like mother's way best," added Ellen, frankly, "because if we did not do our work according to her showing, we had to do it over again. But we learned in time, and it seems as if I couldn't get out of mother's way now."

"I would not try if I were you, Ellen," said. Mrs. Glover, with a kindly smile. "You are a fortunate girl in having had such a teacher in your mother."

Quarter-day came, and the little maid received her first wages. She looked at the two golden sovereigns with all the delight natural to one who has honestly earned what has been cheerfully paid.

"Let me see," she said, thinking aloud in her mistress's hearing. "One must go to mother. She did not want me to send her any of my wages, but I know she ought to have this and more, because it cost her a good bit to fit me out when I was coming."

"Can you spare so much, Ellen?" asked Mrs. Glover.

"Oh yes, ma'am. My things are not a bit worse; mother taught me to mend a hole when it is little. She says nothing grows faster than holes. Then there will be ten shillings to go in the savings bank," she continued, as if her calculations had not been interrupted.

"Why, Ellen, have you begun to save already?"

"Mother begun for us when we were very little," replied Ellen. "Not with much, but then it was a start. She could not lay by more than a copper or two at a time, but it got us in the way of taking care of pence. I always promised her that I would save something whenever I got my wages, and I would never buy a penn'orth unless I had a penny to pay for it with. 'Do that and you'll be rich,' mother said. 'Spend less than you earn, and pay for what you get, and you'll keep out of money troubles.'"

"Anything else in the business way?" asked Mrs. Glover, who was equally amused and interested in Ellen's doings, and who, to say the truth, was learning some important lessons from what the girl told about "mother's way."

Ellen blushed and hesitated, then said slowly, "Mother told me never to forget what I owed to God, and I promised that, besides saving a bit, I would always give a bit out of my wages, whether they were little or much."

Mrs. Glover did not ask what part was to be thus devoted, but she was well assured that it would be in fair proportion to the girl's means. She said a few encouraging words to her, promised to write and let Ellen's mother know how well her daughter practised the lessons she had taught her, and then she asked, "Is there anything you have to say to me? Are you quite satisfied in your place?"

There was plainly something that Ellen wished to say, for her cheeks turned first red, then white, and her eyes filled with tears. At last it came out—

"Oh, please, ma'am, at home father used to read a chapter and pray before we went to bed at nights. Mother did in the morning, because he had to go to work so soon. And we learned verses and hymns, and mother heard us say them; but now no one hears me, or talks about these things as mother did."

The girl stopped, afraid to say more. There was no need, for the lesson went home, and it was not the first on that particular quarter-day.

Mrs. Glover had not been very particular about paying for things as she got them. Love of pretty bonnets and dresses had induced her to spend just a trifle more than her income, and she found herself a little in debt. She had never considered that a portion of her means should be devoted to God's service; and as to family prayer, with just three or sometimes only two in the house, she had never dreamed of such a thing.

She began to ponder the words of her little maid. Then she went to her room, and though no human eye followed her, there was One who both saw and heard her tearful face and the prayer for pardon and guidance.

When her husband came home Mrs. Glover told him all that was in her heart, and how the new desires and resolutions had come there. He clasped her lovingly to his own, kissed away her tears, forgave the little extravagances into which she had been tempted, and said, "We will turn over a new leaf, darling, and we will do it at once."

So Ellen was called in to listen whilst the master read from God's Word and then prayed, pleading that they might have the blessing promised to the two or three gathered in His name. From that night master, mistress, and servant knelt together. Years passed on. Children were born in the house. Mr. Glover's means increased, and more servants were needed; but the one most trusted of all was Ellen Dixon.

"We should like you to have charge of the children next to ourselves," said Mr. and Mrs. Glover. "We know you will not teach them anything but what is right."

"They are our most precious treasures," said the mother, as she looked on her sleeping baby, and smiled as Ellen used the old familiar words.

"I have not had much to do with children lately, but I will do my best for the dear little things. I shall try and remember mother's way of managing them—" with which Mrs. Glover was quite content.

Mothers! you cannot tell how much good you may do by teaching your children wise lessons and leading them in the right way whilst they are young and willing to be guided by you.

Take care that in after-life, when they go out into the world, or are at the head of home of their own, they may never be able to say of any wrong habits, "I learned it of mother, it was mother's way;" but may your names be ever joined to happy memories of wise words, pious training, and a good example.