178 RECOLLECTIONS OP POVERTY. 



was oppressed, and all that she said seemed the result of laboured 

 effort and stern determination. 



She proceeded thus; " In the autumn of the year 182 ,1 became 

 the wife of a poor, but industrious mechanic. He also had been 

 trained in the school of adversity : time, however, had diminished 

 the intensity of his sorrow, and produced a resignation of mind and 

 placidity of manner which, together with the many amiable qualities 

 of this best of men, rendered him at once an object of ardent love and 

 fervent adoration. Yes, I loved him too well. So intimate was the 

 union of our feelings, so close were the ties which held us together 

 in affection and love, so powerful was the sympathy which animated 

 us both, that when the rude hand of death tore him from me I suf- 

 fered a shock from which I have never recovered. He was the only 

 son of an affectionate mother. We lived with her, and, although 

 the remembrance of the past would at times embitter our enjoyment, 

 we passed a few years in great comfort and happiness. I thought 

 fortune had ceased to persecute me. 



" Meanwhile the increase of our family (for we had then four 

 children) demanded additional exertions for their maintenance, and 

 although we had always observed the utmost frugality, amounting 

 even to parsimony, owing to the depressed state of trade, we were 

 obliged to endure some of the evils of poverty. By chance my hus- 

 band heard that constant employment and good wages might be had 

 at a large town in the north. Anxious to improve our condition, we 

 determined to go thither. 



" I well remember the day on which we parted from our mother ; 

 yes, I call her mother, for she supplied the place of her whom I had 

 lost, with tenderness and love, and all that was endearing and amiable 

 in my deceased parent seemed to live again in her. Embracing ua 

 tenderly, she let us go. But a melancholy foreboding 1 seemed to hang 

 over her ; she feared we should not meet again. 



" Ere long we arrived at our destination^ My husband became 

 actively engaged ; our prospects brightened, and nothing occurred to 

 interrupt our happiness." 



She had told thus far with tolerable composure. She attempted 

 to proceed, but her voice faltered, and she burst into tears. I en- 

 treated her not to continue the relation of that which seemed so pain- 

 ful to her ; but, summoning to her aid all the fortitude she possessed, 

 she replied with firmness, " I will finish now. What remains to be 

 told is short. I find myself daily consuming away; to-morrow I may 

 not be here/' 



Resuming her narrative, she continued thus: " In the month of 

 February last, I was confined with this sweet babe now at the breast, 

 and two children who are now dead were* then ill of a fsver. Dur- 

 ing that tedious time it was always a peculiar pleasure to me to hear 

 my husband's voice when he entered our house on his return from 

 work, and anxiously would I listen to his footsteps as he passed along 

 the pavement to our door, for I knew them well. One evening thei 

 usual hour had passed by, and I had not heard him. I asked about 

 him. They told me he had not returned. Time flew past, yet he came not. 



