I FIND A FRIEND. 5 



appetite and my teeth, for they made bones 

 of nothing. Two years I had of this dull 

 work ; for I'd a proud heart, and did not 

 care to go among the boys in livery that 

 were with the horses, for they were a bad 

 lot \ and I've noticed all my life that horses 

 seem to spoil any body that has much to do 

 with them, whether master or man. 



These boys were a terrible plague to the 

 only friend I seemed to have in the world 

 that wore a petticoat ; they were always 

 tormenting her, and calling her a witch; 

 and they had nearly persuaded me that she 

 was one, too, when she first took me up. 

 She'd lost her husband not long before I 

 came ; and having nobody else to scold, she 

 seemed glad of me to keep her tongue in 

 tune ; and yet in a little while I found it 

 was only a habit of hers, and a cover to a 

 deal of real kindness. One while she'd 

 scold me for not being clean ; another time 

 because my clothes were dirty or ragged ; 

 and then she'd scrub my head or neck, or 

 wash my linen, or put a patch here and a 

 darn there ; and take so little of my money 

 for doing it, that she was another mother 

 to me for these matters. 



