THE COTTAGE ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 167 



" Not get work ! Why, have you quarrelled with farmer Jones, 

 or what is it ?" 



" I haven't quarrelled with anybody ; but the magistrates, you see, 

 have made a scale of wages ; so much for single men, so much 

 for families ; and the farmers say they can't give so much, so it must 

 be made up by the parish." 



" Well, at any rate, you will be as well off as others ; and I don't 

 see how that is to prevent your getting work." 



ee Why, because there's more want work than can get it." 



" But'you're not likely to be one ; you have worked for farmer 

 Jones a long time, and why should he send you away to take in a 

 stranger ?" 



" Because they know I've got some money ; those that have none, 

 if they have nothing to do, come upon the parish, so they give them 

 work ; but as I have saved money, the parish is not bound 'to help 

 me, and that's the reason they won't employ me." 



" That's hard," said Mary, after a pause, " very hard, not to give 

 work because you've been industrious and saving." 



" I am glad you think so at last , I told you it was no good to 

 work, and now you see the little I did hoard up must all go. It's no 

 use, Mary, we must give it up." 



" For the present," she replied, " I see no help for it ; but you 

 must bear up like a man ; and if the worst comes to the worst, 'tis 

 but waiting a few years longer." 



Poor Mary ! though herself greatly disappointed, she did all in 

 her power to keep alive her lover's hopes, and when he left her she 

 bid him farewell with unusual affection, and forgot to count the 

 kisses he took at parting. 



Misfortunes never come alone, is a common saying, and in this 

 case a true one. Old Baker was taken ill suddenly, and died after a 

 fortnight's illness ; his wife never left him day or night, but when 

 the excitement that supported her was gone, she fell into a low fever, 

 attended with delirium, requiring all Mary's care and nursing to 

 overcome it. In a few days, however, Mrs. Baker recovered so far 

 as to sit up in an easy chair, and Mary wandered out in the evening 

 for a little fresh air. On her return she was extremely shocked to find 

 her mother lying on the floor in a fainting-fit. An open letter by her 

 side shewed the cause the bank had failed. Mrs. Baker was 'again 

 confined to her bed, from which she never arose. A lingering illness 

 of two months succeeded, and she died at length, in great distress of 

 min d at leaving Mary a destitute orphan. 



When the last duties had been paid, and the time was come for 

 Mary to form some plan for the future, Robinson, who had been]her 

 only comfort in these mournful scenes, was of course consulted ; he 

 immediately proposed that they should marry. To Mary this ap- 

 peared downright madness ; but he spoke quite seriously, and urged 

 many reasons to induce her to consent. He said a married man was 

 allowed higher wages by the magistrates, and was, besides, more 

 likely to get work, because, if unemployed, both himself and wife 

 were thrown on the parish ; that there was no hope of saving any 

 thing towards the garden, nor any other way to prevent her going 



