through danger and sin, where one, more conscious of evil, would have fallen.  How unlike the world he was in, was the one he pictured to himself.  At night he crawled into empty boxes, scarcely knowing what it was to go to sleep without feeling hungry, but the Goddess of dreams wove golden threads through the brain of little Ned, weaving her most brilliant colors, through the warp and woof of his childish dreams, as if in compensation for the sombre colors and gloom of his waking moments, and no child lying on his bed of down, placed there by the careful hands of nurse, and receiving the mother’s good night kiss, ever had sweeter, purer dreams, than the friendless, homeless match-seller on his bed of straw.  Mothers, do you ever think when you see your children safe in their warm beds, of the numberless little waifs in large cities, whose resting places are pallets of straw, whose good night kisses are the cold breath of poverty?

There was very little variety in the life of little Ned.  Waking in the morning, he would start out with the matches, selling them if he could, if not, hunger, to which he was so accustomed, was his companion.  So from day to day it was the same story, the only variation, the only change was in his dreams and visions; hunger could not deprive him of that solace, the cold could not freeze the warm fancies and imaginations.  One morning in early spring little Ned awoke from his pleasant dreams and started on his route.  Passing numberless people, some stopped to look at him carefully, for his face had such a strange look, his eyes had such a dreamy expression, and at times he smiled to himself as he moved along.  But people did not stop long, for who in a large, busy city has time to enquire into the life and means of living of a little match seller.  All day long, he trudged his weary way, and towards night-fall he found himself nearer the suburbs than he had ever been before.  He passes a house which is brilliantly lighted, and strains of gay music reach his ear.  Moving to the window, which was open, he gazes with open-eyed wonder at the scene within.  It is evidently a children’s party for little fairy forms are flitting about in a merry dance, and all is light, warmth and happiness, while outside with his face pressed close to the window stands little Ned.  His flaxen hair is blown by the wind, his blue eyes open to their widest extent as he looks at the gay scene, of which he forms no part.  Inside, all is happiness, outside is the gloom of night, and the desolate figure of little Ned.  He turns away with a sigh, turns away from the happiness he has never known, into the darkness with which he is so familiar.  He has grown very hungry, having eaten nothing since noon.  Seeing a woman before a handsome carriage, he tells his story, but it falls on stony ground, the woman has nothing to give, and leaves him standing there, while she dries away.  “O, the rarity of Christian charity!” Such are the women whose names very often head the list of subscriptions for Christian missions, but who turn a deaf ear to the sorrows of people at their own door; but if they give to the poor in secret no one will know it, while if they head a list with a large sum, they will be called good Christian women.