degree, and they sent him to the State's Prison."

"O, is your father in the State's Prison?"

Dotty thought if her father were in such, a dreadful place, and she
herself were blind, she should not wish to live; but here was Emily
looking just as happy as anybody else. Indeed, the little girl was rather
proud of being the daughter of such a wicked man. She had been pitied so
much for her misfortunes that she had come to regard herself as quite a
remarkable person. She could not see the horror in Dotty's face, but she
could detect it in her voice; so she went on, well satisfied.

"There isn't any other little girl in this school that has had so much
trouble as I have. A lady told me it was because God wanted to make a
good woman of me, and that was why it was."

"Does it make people good to have trouble?" asked Dotty, trying to
remember what dreadful trials had happened to herself. "Our house was
burnt all up, and I felt dreadfully. I lost a tea-set, too, with gold
rims. I didn't know I was any better for that."

"O, you see, it isn't very awful to have a house burnt up," said Emily;
"not half so awful as it is to have your eyes put out."

"But then, Emily, I've been sick, and had the sore throat, and almost
drowned--and--and--the whooping-cough when I was a baby."

"What is your name?" asked Emily; "and how old are you?"

"My name is Alice Parlin, and I am six years old."