A SIGHT OF THE OCEAN.
"Oh, what I would give for a sight of the ocean!" said Ruth Turner, as she sat one hot day in June in their little parlor, with her two sisters and their mother.
"We must content ourselves in the city this summer," said Mrs. Turner. "What with the great fire, and the stagnation of trade, your father has lost so much money that we cannot afford to hire a cottage by the sea-side this year."
"Well, we must try to make home pleasant," said little Anna, whose pale, pinched face showed that the pent air of the city had already begun to affect her health.
"Let us all shut our eyes, and imagine ourselves on the beach," said Ellen, who was the poetess of the family.
At that moment, the postman's knock at the door gave promise of a letter. Ruth ran to get it, and, returning in a moment, handed her mother a note, and said, "It is from that ugly, fat old Mr. Jenks, the grocer: his name is on the back. What can he want?"
"Give me the letter, child," said Mrs. Turner; "and do not let me hear you speak of any fellow-being with contempt, because he is ugly, fat, or old. Mr. Jenks is all the time doing kind things. I am sorry to hear that his wife is ill."