"It might be very much more to the man himself; and if so, it would really be the larger gift. The man who gave away ten pounds and kept ninety, would not miss so much what he gave, as the man who had only one pound, and who gave that pound, and kept nothing at all for himself. Of course if he was sure of food and clothes and comforts, when he gave his pound, one could not say that he had really had nothing more—even though it might have been the last coin in his pocket."
"And it mightn't be right for a man to give away all he had, if he had children depending on him."
"Certainly it might not."
Jessie worked busily for some time, not talking.
"Do you know about Jack?" she asked suddenly.
"What about Jack?"
"He wants to go away to get work somewhere else. He says he can never get on here. And Mrs. Groates spoke to Mr. Gilbert yesterday—I was there in the afternoon when she came in—and Mr. Gilbert is going to try to help Jack to find something."
"I think Jack is right. It has seemed to me for a good while that he ought not to stay here. There is no chance of his getting on."
"That's what they all say. And Jack wants to begin to lay by. He says he ought."
"Of course he ought. No man has any business to think of marrying, until he has a good hope of giving his wife a comfortable home. If Jack and you were to marry, with nothing laid by, and only just making enough to carry you on from week to week, you would have very little comfort. Loss of work or of health would mean misery at once."