THE EARNEST PHILANTHROPIST. This journey was the casting die in Elizabeth's life; the lessons then learned were to the end of her days valuable. "I learned much and had much to digest," she wrote thirty years after; "I saw and entered various scenes of gaiety ; many of our first public places ; attended balls and other places of amusement, and saw many interesting characters in the world, some of considerable eminence in that day; a great variety of persons of different de- scriptions." She had every opportunity of judging the world, and, like all noble and reflective natures, felt how insufficient it is to satisfy a real human soul, " capable of better things." She attended many interesting meetings of the Friends; and was more than ever deeply impressed by the eloquence of William Savery. The struggle had nearly ter- minated; the storm of passion almost subsided; and she longed for the quiet of Earlham. Returned home, she earnestly began her work; she visited and relieved the poor and sick of Earlham and Norwich; read the words of holy promise and comfort to them; instructed their children. She founded a Sunday School, with a little boy named Billy for her first scholar; and it increased so rapidly that she had to resort to a large vacant laundry, where, alone, and without the aid of books, she taught no fewer than seventy children. Nor was it solely towards the very poor that her sympathy was extended. She learned that there was the young wife of an officer, a lady whose income 17
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