thank you, mine is as good as yours any day; and folks have said it
was a blessed thing for the neighborhood when the rheumatiz laid
Peter Wood up, and his wife, Dorothy Elmira Wood, run the mill. Now,
it's of no earthly use to cut at us women over that child's
shoulders; if she wants an education she has as much right to it as
anybody, if she can pay for it. My doctrine is, everybody has a
right to whatever they can pay for, whether it is schooling or a
satin frock!"

Mrs. Wood seized her snuff-bottle and plunged a stick vigorously
into the contents, and, as the miller showed no disposition to
skirmish, she continued:

"I take an interest in you, Edna Earl, because I loved your mother,
who was the only sweet-tempered beauty that ever I knew. I think I
never set my eyes on a prettier face, with big brown eyes as meek as
a partridge's; and then her hands and feet were as small as a
queen's. Now as long as you are satisfied to stay here I shall be
glad to have you, and I will do as well for you as for my own
Tabitha; but, if you are bent on factory work and schooling, I have
got no more to say; for I have no right to say where you shall go or
where you shall stay. But one thing I do want to tell you, it is a
serious thing for a poor, motherless girl to be all alone among
strangers."

There was a brief silence, and Edna answered slowly:

"Yes, Mrs. Wood, I know it is; but God can protect me there as well
as here, and I have none now but Him. I have made up my mind to go,
because I think it is the best for me, and I hope Mr. Wood will