long bitter period of thirteen years it was commonly asked
concerning the woman: "Hasn't that hag trapped anybody yet? She'll
have to take back old Jabe when he gets out." And she did. For
nearly thirteen weary years she struggled nobly against fate: she
went after every unmarried man in her part of the country; but "No,"
said they, "we cannot-indeed we cannot-marry you, after the way you
went back on Jabe. It is likely that under the same circumstances
you would play us the same scurvy trick. G'way, woman!" And so the
poor old heartbroken creature had to go to the Governor and get the
old man pardoned out. Bless her for her steadfast fidelity! Margaret
the Childless.

This, therefore, is the story of her:--Some four years ago her
husband brought home a baby, which he said he found lying in the
street, and which they concluded to adopt. About a year after this
he brought home another, and the good woman thought she could stand
that one too. A similar period passed away, when one evening he
opened the door and fell headlong into the room, swearing with
studied correctness at a dog which had tripped him up, but which
upon inspection turned out to be another baby. Margaret's sus-
picion was aroused, but to allay his she hastened to implore him to
adopt that darling also, to which, after some slight hesitation, he
consented. Another twelvemonth rolled into eternity, when one
evening the lady heard a noise in the back yard, and going out she
saw her husband labouring at the windlass of the well with unwonted
industry. As the bucket neared the top he reached down and extracted
another infant, exactly like the former ones, and holding it up,
explained to the astonished matron: "Look at this, now; did you ever
see such a sweet young one go a-campaignin' about the country
without a lantern and a-tumblin' into wells? There, take the poor