death her mother was very poor, and lived in so secluded and solitary
a place, that Mary had no opportunity then to go to school. She
began to work too as soon as she was able to do any thing, and it was
necessary from that day forward for her to work all the time; and this
would have prevented her from going to school, if there had been one
near. Thus when her mother died, although she was an intelligent and
very sensible girl, she could neither read nor write a word. She told
Mrs. Bell the day that she went to live with her, that she did not
even know any of the letters, except the round one and the crooked
one. The round one she said she _always_ knew, and as for S she
learned that, because it stood for Erskine. This shows how little she
knew about spelling.

Mrs. Bell wanted Mary Erskine to help her in taking care of her own
daughter Mary, who was then an infant. As both the girls were named
Mary, the people of the family and the neighbors gradually fell
into the habit of calling each of them by her full name, in order to
distinguish them from each other. Thus the baby was never called Mary,
but always Mary Bell, and the little nursery maid was always known as
Mary Erskine.

Mary Erskine became a great favorite at Mrs. Bell's. She was of a
very light-hearted and joyous disposition, always contented and happy,
singing like a nightingale at her work all the day long, when she
was alone, and cheering and enlivening all around her by her buoyant
spirits when she was in company. When Mary Bell became old enough to
run about and play, Mary Erskine became her playmate and companion,
as well as her protector. There was no distinction of rank to separate
them. If Mary Bell had been as old as Mary Erskine and had had a
younger sister, her duties in the household would have been exactly