Anonymous

“ I do not wish to make you more so, only you will find that I cannot, at present, trust to what you say; neither can your grandmother, nor neighbour Green; but this you must endure as the consequence of the fault you have committed. It is a dreadful effect of doing wrong, that it makes us unhappy; but the more unhappy it makes you, the more you must strive against it in future. ”

“ I am sure she will be glad to mend her grandmother’s shift; for the more useful she is, the more happy you know she will be: so I will take it with me. Good night, God bless you, I must make haste, for we poor people have no time to lose. Away she set off: when she got home, well, Polly, said she, you have had no accident? Polly was very dull, and said no, mother. Your grandmother enquired kindly after you, and was very glad that you are such a comfort and help to me; but how was it, my dear, about the broth you last went with? Your grandmother has never had them. Polly trembled in every limb ”

“ Two pounds of the coarsest sugar I could buy, would cost eighteen pence. With that eighteen pence I could buy you a new shift; the sugar, you know, would be soon gone and forgotten; the shift will help to keep you warm [Pg 10] and comfortable for years. Which would you rather have? O the shift, said she to be sure. Well, my dear, said her mother, it is by denying ourselves tea that we are able to get a comfortable change of shirts and shifts; and another advantage is, that I believe we have better health than many people who live a good deal on tea. ”

“ Your father finds himself more able to work after bread and cheese and a pint of beer, than he would after tea: And a bason of milk-porridge is a much more satisfying meal for us; and, it is a very happy thing, that the most wholesome food is generally the cheapest. ”

“ I will lay by the halfpence I get till I can buy something useful, and then I shall find which affords me the most satisfaction. She observed, that her mother had long worked very hard to get food and cloaths for her children, and that she hardly ever bought anything for herself. Her caps were almost worn out, and Jenny knew that she did not know how to get any new ones: so she asked her mistress, at the school, to be so good as to tell her how much would buy her mother two caps. ”

“ Mary went home, and told her mother she wished her to go with her to Poverty-lane, to buy something at the second-hand shop, for she had seen some very pretty things there; and Sally Idle had bought a white apron for six-pence, and a muslin handkerchief for two-pence. My dear, said her mother, there is not a place in the town I have so great a dislike to as a rag-shop, for such it may properly be called; and, [Pg 21] it is one great cause of the ruin of poor people, that they lay out their money at these shops. ”

“ Ploughmen and milkmaids, who look so ruddy, and are the most healthy people in the kingdom, seldom taste tea. Part of their health and strength, it is true, is owing to their rising early, going to bed early, and living a good deal out of doors: but we, who are obliged to do our work more [Pg 11] in the house, ought to get the most wholesome food we can ”

“ My dear, said her mother, where could you get the money? O, said she, you know that I had many odd half-pence given me, these I kept till I got enough to buy you two caps, as I thought it would give me more pleasure than laying it out in any thing else. Her mother almost cried for joy, to find she had so good a child, and told her she should value the caps more than if any fine lady had given her them. Young, as you are, you now find how much you can do to render your parents comfortable ”

“ Let us think what is [Pg 7] best to be done, that is all we ought to do when any accident happens. Let us see: well, your gown is whole, that is a good thing; suppose you take it up, and put the chips in that, and, if you like, I will help you to mend your apron to-morrow. So they picked up the chips again as fast as they could, and made haste to get home. Mother, said Sukey, I am afraid you thought me long; but these will make amends for staying. She then threw down the chips under the coal-shed, and told her mother how she came by them. ”

“ The pleated bordered cap you saw, was, I dare say, already in holes; and, perhaps, after once washing it, could be pleated no more: besides, such a thing would take a great deal of time, which poor people have not to spare. I would rather see a plain cloth cap, with a strong lawn border, set strait on, which would wear well for years, than such fine ones which would not last a month. The cotton gown, perhaps, I could buy for half what I gave for my new stuff one ”

“ Her mother thanked her very kindly for her attention to the comfort of the family, and told her she believed, that, if she had not been so good a girl, and often contrived, in some way to help her, they must all have gone to the workhouse. ”

“ O no, said she, I cannot now, my mammy desired I would make haste; beside, the broth will be cold. When a little girl knows what is right, she ought to listen to no persuasions to do wrong. They told her, her mammy would never know anything about it: that they were going to buy a half-penny worth of apples, and would give her one if she would go with them. Come, said they, you may [Pg 26] set down the jug in this snug place, and we shall soon be back again. At last she consented; but she had no comfort as she went, nor when she had got her apple ”

“ Soap too, is very dear, so that it would soon cost me more than that I have: besides, I think it very untidy to see a poor woman with a dirty bit of a cotton gown all in rags, when she might, by a little contrivance, have a comfortable stuff one. ”