great lift to my spirits, and easement to the children's feet; and so after that, we came on pretty well, and met with a great deal of kindness; but, oh! ma'am, 'tis a wearisome journey."
"And here you are," said Mrs. Wilson; "and I suppose the town must take care of you."
"I did not mean to be a burden to the town," replied the woman. "If it pleased the Lord to restore my health, and if I could have got the hundred dollars, I would not have been a burden to any body. I calculated to hire me a little place, bought a loom, and turned my hand to weaving—I am a master weaver, ma'am."
"I am sorry for you, good woman," said Mrs. Wilson; "here," said she, after rummaging her pocket and taking out a reluctant ninepence; "here is a 'widow's mite' for you. I can't give you the least encouragement about my brother's debt. He left nothing but a destitute child that I have had to support ever since his death."
"Is that little Jane," exclaimed the woman, for the first time recalling to mind the features of our heroine. "Well," added she, surveying her delicate person with a mingled expression of archness and simplicity, "I think it can't have cost you much to support her, ma'am. I wonder I did not know you," she continued, "when you took my baby so kindly. It was just like you. I used to set a great store by you. But you have grown so tall, and so handsome; as to the matter of that, you was always just like a Lon'on doll."
