t. Her parents were poor, but respectable people, who died when
Helen was fifteen years old. She was then taken from school, and I
never saw her afterward until she came to my house in the capacity of a
washerwoman, hundreds of miles away from the scenes of our early years.

"But can't you find easier work than washing?" I asked. "Are you not
handy with your needle?"

"The only work I have been able to get has been from the clothing men,
and they pay so little that I can't live on it."

"Can you do fine sewing?" I asked.

"Yes, I call myself handy with my needle."

"Can you make children's clothes?"

"Boy's clothes?"

"No. Girl's clothing."

"Oh, yes."

"I'm very much in want of some one. My children are all in"--rags and
tatters I was going to say, but I checked myself--"are all in need of
clothes, and so far I have not been able to get anybody to sew for me.
If you like, I will give you three or four weeks' sewing at least."

"I shall be very glad to have it, and very thankful for your kindness
in offering it to me," returned Mrs. Partridge, rising from her chair,
and adding as she did so--

"But I must be getting home. It is nearly dark, and Jane will be
anxious to see me back again."

I handed her the seventy-five cents she had earned for washing for me
during a whole day. Promising to come over and see me early in the
morning about the sewing, she withdrew, and I was left again to my own
reflections.

"If ever a murmurer and complainer received a severe rebuke, it is I!"
was the first almost audible thought that passed through my mind. "To
think that I, with my cup full and running over with blessings, should
make myself and all around me unhappy, because a few minor things are
not just to my satisfaction, while this woman, who toils like a slave
from morning until night, and who can hardly procure food and clothing
for her children, from whom she is almost constantly separated, is
patient and hopeful, makes me feel as if I deserved to lose what I have
refused to enjoy."

On the next morning Mrs. Partridge called quite early. She cut and
fitted several frocks for the children, at which work she seemed very
handy, and then took them home to make. She sewed for me five weeks,
and then got work in another family where I recommended her. Since
then, she has been kept constantly employed in sewing, at good prices,
by about six families. In all of these I have spoken of her and created
an interest in h