The Rev. Mr. Malcolm was a man of about thirty years of age.  He had taken orders a couple of years previous to the date of his call to the parish where he now preached.  At the time of doing so, he was engaged in teaching a school; from which he received a very comfortable income.  The bishop who ordained him recommended the parish at C—­, when Mr. Pelton left there, to apply for Mr. Malcolm; which was done.  The latter was an honest, conscientious man, and sincere in his desire to do good in the sacred office to which he believed himself called.  When the invitation to settle at C—­came, he left home and visited the parish, in order that he might determine whether it was his duty to go there or not.  On his return, his wife inquired, with a good deal of interest, how he liked the place, and if he thought he would go there.

“I think I shall accept the call,” said he.  This was not spoken with much warmth.

“Don’t you like the people?” inquired Mrs. Malcolm.

“Yes; as far as I saw them, they were very pleasant, good sort of people.  But the salary is entirely too small.”

“How much?”

“Four hundred dollars a year, and the parsonage—­a little affair, that would rent for about a hundred dollars.”

“We can’t live on that,” said Mrs. Malcolm, in a disappointed tone; “it is out of the question.”

“No, certainly not.  But I am assured that at least seven or eight hundred will be made up during the year.  This has always been done for Mr. Pelton and will be done for me, if I accept the call.”

“That might do, if we practised close economy.  But why do they not make the salary seven or eight hundred dollars at once?  It would be just the same to them, and make the minister feel a great deal more independent.”

“True; but we must let people do things in their own way.  We can live on seven hundred dollars, and I therefore think it my duty to give up my school, and accept the call.”

“No one, certainly, can charge you with sordid views in doing so, for your school yields you now over a thousand dollars, and is increasing.”

“I will try and keep my mind free from all thought of what people may say or think,” returned Mr. Malcolm, “and endeavour to do right for the sake of right.”

The wife of the Rev. Mr. Malcolm fully sympathized with her husband in his wish to enter upon the duties of his sacred calling, and was ready to make any sacrifice that could be made in order to see him in the position he so much desired to occupy.  She did not, therefore, make any objection to giving up their pleasant home and sufficient income, but went with him cheerfully to C—­, and there made every effort to reduce all their expenses to their reduced means of living.

It is a much easier thing to increase our expenses than to reduce them.  We get used to a certain free way of living, and it is one of the most difficult things in the world to give up this little luxury, and that pleasant indulgence, and come right down to the meagre necessaries of life.  This fact was soon apparent to Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm; but they were in earnest in what they were about, and practised the required self-denial.  Their expenses were kept within the limits of seven hundred dollars, the lowest sum that had been named.