436 MRS. L. N. MONMOUTH. she used an oil stove. Her lame arm, which was easily affected by the weather, became almost useless during periods of intense cold. At these times, feeling that when nothing could be earned something might at least be saved, she would spare her fuel by creeping into bed with a book and a hot freestone, and spend the day beneath the clothes. She had no money to , spare for incidental expenses. When the roof of her shed let in too much rain upon the wood-pile, the wood-pile was moved to a drier spot. When a front window was ruined by some reckless sportsman putting thirty shot holes through it, the blinds were closed and it was left unmended. When the plaster dropped down into the rooms its place was supplied by patches of cloth pasted over the bare brown laths. Yet, while her poverty reduced her to such makeshifts as these, while she denied herself even the lotion which would alleviate the condition of her crippled arm, Mrs. Monmouth always managed to keep a dollar or two on hand for charitable purposes, and never failed to manufacture some simple Christmas presents for a few children and faithful friends who were accustomed to bring her occasionally during the year what she gratefully terms ■' baskets of benefaction.'* She succeeded, moreover, in finding time and strength to render pleasing and attractive the old home which she could not afford to repair, and which became, in the course of a few years, a veritable museum of ingenious and beautiful handiwork. At last the people around her became interested ; the place began to be talked of, and its fame spread into the neighboring towns. Visitors arrived, few at first, and later in such numbers that Mrs. Monmouth was obliged to charge an admittance fee, and afterwards' to issue a circular containing prices and regulations. " Children, seven cents ; Ladies, ten ; Gentlemen, fif-
