Frier said, he 'could go over and talk with her, but he did n't think it would be the least use, for she loved Jerry, ugly as he was, and he did n't believe she would be willing to have him punished by the court.'
However, after due consultation, he concluded to go over and have a talk with Mrs. Guttridge about the matter. Accordingly he took his hat, and walked over. He found the door open, as usual, and walked in without ceremony. Here he beheld the whole family, including Jerry himself, seated at their little pine table, doing ample justice to the basket of provisions which he had just before sent them. He observed the pie had been cut into two pieces, and one half of it, and he thought rather the largest half, was laid on Jerry's plate, the rest being cut up into small bits, and divided among the children. Mrs. Guttridge had reserved none to herself, except a small spoonful of the soft part, with which she was trying to feed the baby. The other eatables seemed to be distributed very much in the same proportion.
Mr. Frier was a cool, considerate man, whose passions were always under the most perfect control; but he always confessed, for years afterward, 'that for a minute or two, he thought he felt a little something like anger rising up in his stomach!'
He sat and looked on, until they had finished their meal, and Jerry had eaten bread, and meat, and vegetables, enough for two common men's dinners, and swallowed his half of the pie, and a large slice of cheese, by way of dessert; and then rose, took his hat, and, without saying a word, marched deliberately out of the house, directing his course again to the grog-shop.
Mr. Frier now broached the subject of his errand to Mrs. Guttridge. He told her the neighbors could not afford to support her family much longer, and unless her husband went to work, he did n't see but they would have to starve.
Mrs. Guttridge began to cry. She said 'she did n't know what they should do; she had talked as long as talking would do any good; but somehow, Mr. Guttridge did n't seem to love to work. She believed it was n't his natur' to work.'
'Well, Mrs. Guttridge, do you believe the scriptures?' said Mr. Frier, solemnly.
'I'm sure I do,' said Mrs. Guttridge; 'I believe all there is in the Bible.'
'And do n't you know,' said Mr. Frier, the Bible says, 'He that will not work, neither shall he eat?'
'I know there's something in the Bible like that,' said Mrs. Guttridge, with a very serious look.
'Then do you think it right,' added Mr. Frier, 'when your neighbors send you in a basket of provisions, do you think it right, that Mr. Guttridge, who wont work and 'arn a mouthful himself, should sit down and eat more than all the rest of you, and pick out the best part of it, too?
'Well, I don't s'pose it 's right,' said Mrs. Guttridge, thoughtfully; but somehow, Mr. Guttridge is so hearty, it seems as if he would faint away, if he did n't have more than the rest of us to eat.'
'Well, are you willing to go on in this way,' continued Mr. Frier, 'in
