all yer days? Why, when we wants any ting we can't git oursef,
nohow, we ask de Lord to gib it to us--dat's what it is."

That first day and evening in Tidy's new home was a memorable day
in her experience. It seemed as if she had been lifted up two
or three degrees in existence, so much had she heard and learned.
She had enough to think about as she lay down to rest, for the first
time away from Miss Matilda's sheltering presence.


CHAPTER VIII.

PRAYER.

As Tidy grew in stature she grew in favor also with those around her.
Spry but gentle in her movements, obedient, obliging, and apt
to learn, she secured the good-will of her master and mistress,
and the visitors that thronged to the place. If any little service
was to be performed which required more than usual care or expedition,
she was the one to be called upon to do it. It was no easy task
to please a person so fretful and impatient in spirit as Mrs. Lee,
yet Tidy, by her promptness and docility, succeeded admirably.
Still, with all her well-doing she was not able entirely to avoid
her harshness and cruelty.

One day, when she had been several months in Mrs. Lee's family,
she was set to find a ball of yarn which had become detached
from her mistress's knitting-work. Diligently she hunted
for it every-where,--in Mammy Grace's cabin, on the veranda,
in the drawing-room, dining-room, and kitchen, up-stairs, down-stairs,