soar away again high above his head as they discovered him approaching,
attracted his attention; but their cousins, the little black crickets and
the green and brown grasshoppers, springing about him in the meadowlands,
made him shout aloud with delight. Not knowing the true names of the lively
little fellows in the grass, he called them "jumper-men." Sometimes he
would catch them in his hands, but he never thought of hurting them just
for fun. And the turnip-patch! What a treat it was for all the children to
pull the pretty white balls from the earth and to eat them, dirt and all,
for it must be remembered that none of the children had been taught by
their overseers to be clean and neat. It was too great an undertaking for
Mrs. Engler to attend to such minor points. So the turnip just out of the
ground was more of a luxury to Edwin in his half-starved condition than
candy could have been, and candy at the poorhouse was practically unknown.

Once there was a kind old lady who came to stay for a short time in the
home. From the first she seemed interested in Edwin, and, seeing his great
desire to do the right, she endeavored to help and to encourage him. She
had a son of her own, who once had been small like Edwin, and she could
understand how very hard some things were for Edwin to bear.

Among the things that the lady taught him to do was to kneel down and with
his little hands folded and in her lap, repeat after her the little prayer,
"Now I lay me down to sleep." But she failed to tell him that it was
praying or what it meant to pray. Neither did she explain that there was a
great God over all, to whom he could tell all his troubles. But although
Edwin did not know the meaning of prayer, there was something about the
words and the repeating of them that he enjoyed, and long after the dear
old lady had gone away from the almshouse, the words seemed to bring a real
comfort and satisfaction to his poor little hungry soul.