114 



" Thirty dollars." 



" Take twenty-eight." 



"No, sir." 



"Wall, it's mor'n I'm paying, but they is extra, they 

 is. I'll take three thousand. The boys will come over for 

 them in a day or so. You may give them five hundred at 

 a time. I can't come myself again, and, seeing you are a 

 woman, I'll pay you now while I have the money." Tak- 

 ing out an old leather purse, he placed in my hancl ninety 

 dollars, and then drove away. 



When he had gone, I unrolled the money and looked at 

 it. Suddenly the moisture gathered in my eyes. Lean- 

 ing my head upon the edge of the border, I gave way to a 

 flood of tears. Not tears of sorrow, this time, but tears of 

 joy and thankfulness. Surely God deserts not the widow 

 and the fatherless. 



From that day the Lord prospered me. I sold all my 

 bedding-plants without any difficulty. The aggregate 

 amount I received for them was four hundred and twenty- 

 six dollars and fifty cents. The tomato plants yielded one 

 hundred and twenty dollars more. With this money I paid 

 Mr. McTernan, and, after settling every bill had enough 

 left to take up one half my mortgage. 



On the evening of the Fourth of July, just a year from 

 the day I began, I invited Miss Sampson, Mr. McTernan, 

 Mr. Felix, his wife, whom I found to be a charming lady, 

 and their two little girls, to a grand strawberry supper. 



