第19章

We then went to see Susan Green.She had made a carpet for her room by sewing together little bits of pieces given her, I suppose, by persons for whom she works, for she goes about fitting and making carpets.It looked bright and cheerful.She had a nice bed in the corner, covered with a white quilt, and some little ornaments were arranged about the room.Mother complimented her on her neatness, and said a queen might sleep in such a bed as that, and hoped she found it as comfortable as it looked.

"Mercy on us!" she cried out, "it ain't to sleep in! I sleep up in the loft, that I climb to by a ladder every night."Mother looked a little amused, and then she sat and listened, patiently, to a long account of how the poor old thing had invested her money; how Mr.Jones did not pay the interest regularly, and how Mr.Stevens haggled about the percentage.After we came away, I asked mother how she could listen to such a rigmarole in patience, and what good she supposed she had done by her visit.

"Why the poor creature likes to show off her bright carpet and nice bed, her chairs, her vases and her knick-knacks, and she likes to talk about her beloved money, and her bank stock.I may not have done her any good; but I have given her a pleasure, and so have you.""Why, I hardly spoke a word."

"Yes, but your mere presence gratified her.And if she ever gets into trouble, she will feel kindly towards us for the sake of our sympathy with her pleasures, and will let us sympathize with her sorrows."I confess this did not seem a privilege to be coveted.She is not nice at all, and takes snuff.

We went next to see Bridget Shannon.Mother had lost sight of her for some years, and had just heard that she was sick and in great want.

We found her in bed; there was no furniture in the room, and three little half-naked children sat with their bare feet in some ashes where there had been a little fire.Three such disconsolate faces Inever saw.Mother sent me to the nearest baker's for bread; I ran nearly all the way, and I hardly know which I enjoyed most, mother's eagerness in distributing, or the children's in clutching at and devouring it.I am going to cut up one or two old dresses to make the poor things something to cover them.One of them has lovely hair that would curl beautifully if it were only brushed out.I told her to come to see me to-morrow, she is so very pretty.Those few visits used up the very time I usually spend in drawing.But on the whole Iam glad I went with mother, because it has gratified her.Besides, one must either stop reading the Bible altogether, or else leave off spending one's whole time in just doing easy pleasant things one likes to do.

JAN.20.-The little Shannon girl came, and I washed her face and.

hands, brushed out her hair and made it curl in lovely golden ringlets all round her sweet face, and carried her in great triumph to mother.

"Look at the dear little thing, mother!" I cried; "doesn't she look like a line of poetry?""You foolish, romantic child!" quoth mother."She looks, to me, like a very ordinary line of prose.A slice of bread and butter and a piece of gingerbread mean more to her than these elaborate ringlets possibly can.They get in her eyes, and make her neck cold; see, they are dripping with water, and the child is all in a shiver."So saying, mother folded a towel round its neck, to catch the falling drops, and went for bread and butter, of which the child consumed a quantity that, was absolutely appalling.To crown all, the ungrateful little thing would not so much as look at me from that moment, but clung to mother, turning its back upon me in supreme contempt.

Moral.-Mothers occasionally know more than their daughters do.