MARY CARPENTER. 65 



working beyond his strength. He was a very busy 

 man ; he had his church to look after, the school to 

 superintend, literary work and philanthropic work 

 devolving upon him, his family dependent on him, 

 and his health began to fail. A weak girl under 

 these circumstances would have been unhappy, and 

 done nothing. She would have waited to see what 

 came, and hoped that things would mend. But Mary 

 was not weak ; she was very strong. At once she 

 prepared to rush to her father's rescue. 



It would be a mistake to say that Mary began 

 now to take upon herself a share of the burden of the 

 family, for she had begun to do that long before. 

 When she was quite a young girl she used to take her 

 father's place in the school during his occasional 

 absence from illness, and, with the assistance of her 

 schoolfellow, the friend who afterwards became Dr. 

 James Martineau, she superintended the lessons of the 

 other pupils. She was so useful in the home, too, 

 that when she had to go away her mother missed her 

 help sadly. But more was wanted from her now. 

 She saw that what was required was that her father 

 should be relieved from the school altogether, and 

 should have an easier life. Very steadily she set to 

 work to accomplish this. She missed no opportunity 

 of gaining knowledge, so that she might be fit to 

 teach, and she took entire charge of the younger 

 pupils. Not content with this, she resolved, after a 

 time, to leave home and go out as a governess. She 

 E 



