370 CHAMP. 



but that entry convinced me that he always had a 

 warm place in his heart for her and did not forget her 

 when she was in trouble. 



"When Peter Pickle was married, he had a little 

 money of his own. Up to that time he had lived at 

 home and had never done a- day's work. After set- 

 tling down to housekeeping, he adopted the same plan 

 as both he and his wife thought that the money would 

 last forever. With all going out and nothing com- 

 ing in, they in time, found they were mistaken. 

 Then there was a spell of borrowing ; after which 

 Mary, who was too proud to go and live with the old 

 people, told her friends that she was going to take 

 up her trade again. This bit of independence re- 

 sulted in Peter Pickle being cut off with a few dol- 

 lars in his father's will. 



"As soon as Peter found that his wife could earn 

 money, he stopped making an effort to get any, and 

 let her keep the house. Mrs. Pickle never said a 

 word, but worked away until her daughter Mary was 

 old enough to help her. When I enlisted, Mary was 

 a slip of a girl in short dresses with a big braid of 

 black hair hanging down her back- When I re- 

 turned, she was the belle of the village. Everyone 

 called her 'pretty Mary Pickle/ but with all her good 

 looks, she worked away and never lost her head. 

 Her father continued in the same old rut, while the 

 village boys with whom he was never very popular, 

 put in all of their spare time making jingles with his 

 name, or repeating in his hearing such alliterative 

 nonsense, as 'Peter Pickle put a pig in Pepper's 

 pound,' or 'Peter Pickle picked a peck of pickled pep- 

 pers.' Notwithstanding all this, the mother and 



