one which might be verified in real life. I have tried to avoid all
that would be impossible or even improbable. The labors performed by
the children in the story were not unknown to my own hands, in
childhood, nor would they form tasks too severe for many little
hands now idle in the cities.

The characters are all imaginary; the scenes, in the main, are real:
and I would gladly lure other families from tenement flats into
green pastures.

E. P. R.

CORNWALL-ON-THE-HUDSON,

August 10, 1885.




CONTENTS


CHAPTER I
A PROBLEM

CHAPTER II
I STATE THE CASE

CHAPTER III
NEW PROSPECTS