grandchild he resolved to marry again. The middle-aged widow whom he
selected was a kind-hearted and generous woman, but indolent,
ignorant, and exceedingly high-tempered; and while she really loved
the little orphan committed to her care, she contrived to alienate
her affection, and to tighten the bonds of union between her husband
and the child. Possessing a remarkably amiable and equable
disposition, Edna rarely vexed Mrs. Hunt, who gradually left her
more and more to the indulgence of her own views and caprices, and
contented herself with exacting a certain amount of daily work,
after the accomplishment of which she allowed her to amuse herself
as childish whims dictated. There chanced to be no children of her
own age in the neighborhood, consequently she grew up without
companionship, save that furnished by her grandfather, who was
dotingly fond of her, and would have utterly spoiled her, had not
her temperament fortunately been one not easily injured by
unrestrained liberty of action. Before she was able to walk, he
would take her to the forge, and keep her for hours on a sheepskin
in one corner, whence she watched, with infantile delight, the blast
of the furnace, and the shower of sparks that fell from the anvil,
and where she often slept, lulled by the monotonous chorus of trip
and sledge. As she grew older, the mystery of bellows and slack-tub
engaged her attention, and at one end of the shop, on a pile of
shavings, she collected a mass of curiously shaped bits of iron and
steel, and blocks of wood, from which a miniature shop threatened to
rise in rivalry; and finally, when strong enough to grasp the
handles of the bellows, her greatest pleasure consisted in rendering
the feeble assistance which her grandfather was always so proud to
accept at her hands. Although ignorant and uncultivated, Mr. Hunt
was a man of warm, tender feelings, and rare nobility of soul. He
regretted the absence of early advantages which poverty had denied