"Her name is Gray," said Thomas. "Alice is her daughter. Mrs. Gray's
husband was a sailor, and when Alice was about three years old, he went
on a voyage to catch whales, but was lost, with all the crew. Mrs. Gray
was poor, and had four children; and as no one in the town where she
lived would help her, she opened a school for little boys and girls. The
money she got by teaching, supported her family, until her two oldest
children died. Soon after, the poor woman herself became sick, and the
school was closed. Then she moved into this part of the country, and
tried to make her living by weaving mats out of rushes. But in the fall,
the child older than Alice, died; and Mrs. Gray again grew sick. Her
landlord was a hard hearted man: he turned her out of doors, and the
poor woman would have died, if some neighbors had not taken her in, and
provided for her until she could work for herself. At last she went to
live on one of the hills that you can see near the iron mine. She did
pretty well that winter; but one day in the spring, a great freshet
ruined every thing that she had, and almost carried away her house.
Afraid to stay on the hill any longer, she was about to go to the city,
and ask assistance from the societies which give help to poor people,
when some persons, told her to move to the cottage she is in now, and
that they would pay the rent. She did so. When Alice grew older, she
worked hard to support her mother, and she it was who planted all the
flowers and vegetables that you saw in the garden. Father made her a
present of the bee hives. Every body loves her because she has so sweet
a temper."

"And is the old lady still sick?" asked Samuel.

"Yes," said his cousin, "she will never be well again. Yet she is happy
in having a good daughter and kind friends, and loves to see the young
people, who sometimes stop to talk or read to her."