G. A. Birmingham

“ Crossley gazed at him in amazement.
"Isn't it you that is the Archdeacon's lady? Many's the time I've seen him in the big town, when I was there for a fair or such like. A fine man he is, God bless him. Indeed now, if he does be a bit foolish at times, and a bad head to you—not that I ever heard that same of him, but your ladyship knows best—isn't it what many a woman has to put up with? and God is good. Indeed now they say, saving your ladyship's presence, that many a time it's the woman's own fault when a man takes a drop too much ”

“ With a convulsive effort she turned her head away.
"It is cold that is on the lady," repeated the girl who had made this discovery first. Several shawls were stripped off, and in a minute or two she was swathed from neck to foot. A faint sense of warmth stole over her. It rained more heavily, and the spray swept across the deck in sheets. The red-haired girl stretched her shawl over her own head and Mrs. Crossley's, making a kind of tent. She stooped low and tucked the two ends of it under her. Then she pressed her rough hands on Mrs. Crossley's forehead. ”

“ She planned to change her clothes in the cabin before any of the harvesting girls arrived. There was only one drawback. She would be obliged to conceal her dress and hat somewhere, and might never be able to recover them. But, then, no great work can be accomplished without some sacrifice. On her way down she posted a letter to the Archdeacon explaining her plans fully. She knew that it would not be delivered until she was far out of reach of expostulation.
She approached an officer who was blasphemously assisting in the embarkation of some bullocks, and asked him for the harvesters' cabin. ”

“ Once she was smitten with a wish to eliminate drunkenness from among the scourges which afflict humanity. She argued, most logically, that if everyone were a total abstainer there would be no drunkards, and having reached this conclusion, set about persuading and coercing people into signing pledges. ”

“ It happened to be the day on which the steamer sails from Ardnamore to Glasgow, and she met a crowd of rough country girls on their way to embark. She knew very well what they were and where they were going. They came from the poorer parts of the country, inland; from among the mountains and the bogs where holdings of land are small, and it is impossible for a family to get a living. Therefore, young men and women, often old men, too, go off to Scotland and England, there to work in the fields for six months of the year, and to live—— It was at this point that Mrs. ”