or hear them either, if I can help it. I have to write
Mr. Lossing's letters about them, and that's enough.
I've given all I can afford, and you've given more than you
can afford; and I helped get up the subscription at the shops.
I've done all I could; and now I ain't going to have my feelings
harrowed up any more, when it won't do me nor the Russians
a mite of good."

"But I cayn't HELP it, Tilly. I cayn't take any comfort in my meals,
thinking of that awful black bread the poor children starve rather
than eat; and, Tilly, they ain't so dirty as some folks think!
I read in a magazine how they have GOT to bathe twice a week
by their religion; and there's a bath-house in every village.
Tilly, do you know how much money they've raised here?"

"Over three thousand. This town is the greatest town for giving--
give to the cholera down South, give to Johnstown,
give to Grinnell, give to cyclones, give to fires.
_The Freeman_ always starts up a subscription, and Mr. Bayard runs
the thing, and Mr. Lossing always gives. Mother, I tell you HE
makes them hustle when he takes hold. He's the chairman here,
and he has township chairmen appointed for every township.
He's so popular they start in to oblige him, and then, someway,
he makes them all interested. I must tell you of a funny
letter he had to-day from a Captain Ferguson, out at Baxter.
He's a rich farmer with lots of influence and a great worker,
Mr. Lossing says. But this is 'most word for word what he wrote:
'Dear Sir: I am sorry for the Russians, but my wife
is down with the la grippe, and I can't get a hired girl;
so I have to stay with her. If you'll get me a hired girl,