Mary was then sixteen; and while at Hoxton she had her education
advanced by the friendly care of a deformed clergyman--a Mr. Clare--
who lived next door, and stayed so much at home that his one pair of
shoes had lasted him for fourteen years.

But Mary Wollstonecraft's chief friend at this time was an
accomplished girl only two years older than herself, who maintained
her father, mother, and family by skill in drawing. Her name was
Frances Blood, and she especially, by her example and direct
instruction, drew out her young friend's powers. In 1776, Mary
Wollstonecraft's father, a rolling stone, rolled into Wales. Again
he was a farmer. Next year again he was a Londoner; and Mary had
influence enough to persuade him to choose a house at Walworth,
where she would be near to her friend Fanny. Then, however, the
conditions of her home life caused her to be often on the point of
going away to earn a living for herself. In 1778, when she was
nineteen, Mary Wollstonecraft did leave home, to take a situation as
companion with a rich tradesman's widow at Bath, of whom it was said
that none of her companions could stay with her. Mary
Wollstonecraft, nevertheless, stayed two years with the difficult
widow, and made herself respected. Her mother's failing health then
caused Mary to return to her. The father was then living at
Enfield, and trying to save the small remainder of his means by not
venturing upon any business at all. The mother died after long
suffering, wholly dependent on her daughter Mary's constant care.
The mother's last words were often quoted by Mary Wollstonecraft in
her own last years of distress--"A little patience, and all will be
over."

After the mother's death, Mary Wollstonecraft left home again, to