condition, the poor babe having lost its mother, and the
woman that nursed it being fallen sick, I then did say to
some of my friends, that, if my husband would give me leave,
I could be very willing to take my cousin's little one for a
while, till he could better dispose of it; whereupon the
child's father did move it to my husband. My dear husband,
considering my weakness, and the incumbrance I had in the
family, was pleased to return this answer,--that he did not
see how it was possible for his wife to undergo such a
burden. The next day there came a friend to our house, a
woman which gave suck, and she understanding how the poor
babe was left, being intreated, was willing to take it to
nurse, and forthwith it was brought to her: but it had not
been with her three weeks before it pleased the Lord to
visit that nurse with sickness also; and the nurse's mother
came to me desiring I would take the child from her
daughter, and then my dear husband, observing the providence
of God, was freely willing to receive her into his house."

At the time when this addition was made to his family, there was
certainly already in it another of his wife's connections, who had
been brought there when an infant in a manner perhaps equally
singular, and who had grown up to maturity. The particular
"incumbrance," however, spoken of by her, related to another matter.
She was an only daughter. Her father had died many years before, at
quite an advanced age. Her mother, who was sickly and infirm as well
as aged, was taken immediately into her family, and remained under her
roof until her death. In her weak and helpless condition, much care
and exertion were thrown upon her daughter. The only objection the
captain seemed to have to increasing the burden of the household, by