w that she was of the party, for they were so drunk they never saw
that she left them, and to this day no one knows that it was her
cousin's auto that knocked Mollie down, for he escaped. Mother came home
after Mollie had been taken to the hospital, and at that time we all
thought that she had been out spending the evening. When she found that
Mollie was injured for life she began to take morphine. I alone know her
secret; she never knew that she told it. For God's sake don't betray me.
Every-penny that Father gave her she spent for that drug, and he
thinking that Mollie had the benefit of it.

"At last I couldn't stand it. I couldn't see my little sister die for
the want of proper food, nor could I tell Father, and give my own mother
away, for outside of her ambition for me she had been a good mother.
Then Father grew ill and was laid up with rheumatism. I refused to give
Mother the three dollars for board, but I kept it for expenses. When
she demanded, I told her what I knew and threatened to expose her.

"Father grew better and was able to work again, but poor Mollie failed
daily. I laid awake night after night. I prayed--for I was a good girl
once--for a way to be shown me whereby I could make more than six
dollars a week.

"Then in Sunday School I met Miss Hollister. I had heard of these Camp
Fire Girls and how many fine things a girl could learn, so that in time
she could earn good money. I consulted with Father and he advised me to
join; and Mother was delighted, for she saw visions of my being intimate
with the 'swell' girls."

Here Mattie put her hands on her breast and Ethel ran to the trough for
more water.

"Before we came up here," she continued, "I found a doctor who upon
seeing Mollie said that for one hundred and fifty dollars he could put
her in a Home where she would have attention and treatment. She could
wear braces, and perhaps in time she might grow to be strong and well.
But how was I to get it? Father and I together could hardly pay for our
food.

"One afternoon just before the store closed a lady dropped her purse. I
put my foot over it and stood until she had gone off in her auto. Then
when no one was looking I picked it up, put it in my bosom, and went
home. In the purse I found forty dollars.

"That was the beginning. After that it came so easy, and Mollie enjoyed
the fruit that I brought her. But thirty-five dollars of the money I put
in the bank. I took little things from the store