JUNE. 59 



have not tasted food since yesterday ; and you 

 know, Sir, we are too poor to give them relief." 

 The woman sobbed again as she told me 

 this sad tale. Imagine my delight, when I 

 thought of the trout in my basket. Turning 

 up my sleeves, I became cook, scaled a brace, 

 prepared them for the fire, and in a short time 

 we were all seated together over our substantial 

 and most dainty dinner, to the astonishment of 

 the mother, and the little souls that accompa- 

 nied her. It would have made a heart of stone 

 ache to see how they devoured the meal. On 

 lifting their little heads to look at the stranger, 

 I was surprised at their beauty ; their eyes were 

 full of tears, yet they were too weak to cry, as 

 though all the energies of the body had been 

 exhausted. The sight altogether overpowered 

 me, and I did not speak till the repast was 

 nearly ended. How the poor mother lauded then 

 the Angler ; how different a gentleman from the 

 haughty Overseer, the husband's Captain, their 

 Landlord, &c. &c.; indeed, she could not find 



