THE BEAUTIFUL LADDER. II 9 
The log shanty occupied by the widow was 
one of those primitive domiciles erected by the 
first settlers, to be vacated so soon as better 
homes could be provided. It was about twenty 
feet square, covered with wide slabs, with the 
usual stick-and-mud chimney, and stood at the 
edge of the woods, with three or four acres of 
cleared land around it. This ground showed 
no signs of recent cultivation, but served as a 
pasture for the cow of whose benefits the fam¬ 
ily had been so recently deprived. The only 
other signs of life around this poor abode were 
a few chickens busily engaged in a search after 
the scanty stores which Nature provides. The 
whole exterior showed that only extreme pov¬ 
erty could induce any one to inhabit such a 
dwelling-place; yet 
“ It was the home—if that sweet name 
Be not profaned by place so drear”— 
of one of earth’s angels, to whom it was now 
granted to receive visits of ministration rather 
than to make them. 
In response to a gentle rap the door was 
opened by a small lad who might well have 
sat for the picture of Whittier’s Barefooted 
