And he laughed a pleasant laugh.

“Very poor,” I said to myself, musingly, as I walked away from the humble abode of the Wightmans.  “Very poor.  The words have had a wrong application.”

On the next day I met Payson.

“I spent last evening with the Wightmans,” said I.

“Indeed!  How did you find them?  Very poor, of course.”

“I have not met a more cheerful family for years.  No, Mr. Payson they are not ‘very poor,’ for they take what the great Father sends, and use it with thankfulness. Those who ever want more than they possess are the very poor. But such are not the Wightmans.”

Payson looked at me a moment or two curiously, and then let his eyes fall to the ground.  A little while he mused.  Light was breaking in upon him.

“Contented and thankful!” said he, lifting his eyes from the ground.  “Ah! my friend, if I and mine were only contented and thankful!”

“You have cause to be,” I remarked.  “The great Father hath covered your table with blessings.”

“And yet we are poor—­VERY POOR,” said he, “for we are neither contented nor thankful.  We ask for more than we possess, and, because it is not given, we are fretful and impatient.  Yes, yes—­we, not the Wightmans, are poor—­very poor.”

And with these words on his lips, my old friend turned from me, and walked slowly away, his head bent in musing attitude to the ground.  Not long afterwards, I heard that he had failed.

“Ah!” thought I, when this news reached me, “now you are poor, VERY poor, indeed!” And it was so.  The Project Gutenberg Etext of Home Lights and Shadows by T. S. Arthur ******This file should be named hmlgh10.txt or hmlgh10.zip******

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