d I, 'there are I perceive many children amongst you, how
happens that? Your ages shew they are not your own.'

'Oh! as for that,' replied my intelligencer, 'I will tell you how that
is. You must know these good ladies, heaven preserve them! take every
child after the fifth of every poor person, as soon as it can walk, till
when they pay the mother for nursing it; these children they send to us
to keep out of harm, and as soon as they can hold a knitting-needle to
teach them to knit, and to spin, as much as they can be taught before
they are four or five years old, when they are removed into one of the
schools. They are pretty company for us, and make us mothers again, as
it were, in our old age; then the children's relations are all so fond
of us for our care of them, that it makes us a power of friends, which
you know is very pleasant, though we want nothing from them but their
good wills.'

Here I interrupted her by observing, that it must take up a great deal
of time, and stop their work, consequently lessen their profits.

'There is nothing in that,' continued the good woman, 'the ladies'
steward sends us in all we want in the way of meat, drink and firing;
and our spinning we carry to the ladies; they employ a poor old weaver,
who before they came broke for want of work, to weave it for us, and
when there is not enough they put more to it, so we are sure to have our
clothing; if we are not idle that is all they desire, except that we
should be cleanly too. There never passes a day that one or other of the
ladies does not come and look all over our houses, which they tell us,
and certainly with truth, for it is a great deal of trouble to them, is
all for our good, for that we cannot be healthy if we are not clean and
neat. Then every Saint's day, and every Sunday after church, we all go
down to the hall, and the ladies read prayers, and a sermon to us, and
their own family; nor do they ever come here without giving us some
good advice. We used to quarrel, to be sure, sometimes when we first
came to these houses, but the ladies condescended to make it up amongst
us, and shewed us so kindly how much it was our duty to agree together,
and to forgive everybody their faults, or else we could not hope to be
forgiven by God, against whom we so often sinned, that now we love one
another like sisters, or indeed better, for I often see such quarrel.
Beside, they have taught us that we are generally in fault ourselves;
and