ther Jack. He did his best to look after us, but not
being skilled as a nursemaid, while he was tending Mary, who, being a
girl--she was my twin sister, I should have said--required most of his
care, he could not always manage to prevent me from getting into
trouble. Fortunately nothing very serious happened.

Dear, kind Jack! I was very fond of him, and generally obeyed him
willingly. It would not be true to say that I always did so. He was
very fond of Mary and me too, of that I am sure, and he used to show his
fondness by spending for our benefit any coppers he picked up by running
on errands or doing odd jobs for neighbours. As his purchases were
usually brandy-balls, rock, and other sweets, it was perhaps fortunate
for us that he had not many to spend. By diligently pursuing her trade,
mother, in course of time, saved money enough to enable father to get
the wherry repaired, and to buy a new suit of sails, and when he got
plenty of employment he bade mother stay at home and look after Mary and
me, while Jack went with him. As, however, it would not have been
prudent to give up her business altogether, she hired a girl, Nancy
Fidget, to take her place, as Jack had done, when she was from home.

I don't remember that anything of importance happened after
grandmother's death till Jack went to sea. We missed him very much, and
Mary was always asking after him, wondering when he would come back.
Still, if I had gone away, she would, I think, have fretted still more.
Perhaps it was because we were twins that we were so fond of each other.
We were, however, not much alike. She was a fair, blue-eyed little
maiden, with flaxen hair and a rosy blush on her cheeks, and I was a
broad-shouldered, strongly-built chap, the hue on my cheeks and the
colour of my hair soon becoming deepened by my being constantly out of
doors, while my eyes were, I fancy, of a far darker tint than my
sister's.

After Jack went mother seemed to concentrate all her affections on us
two. I don't think, however, that any woman could have a warmer or
larger heart than hers, although many may have a wider scope for the
exercise of their feelings. She never turned a beggar away from her
door without some relief even in the worst of times, and when any of the
neighbours were in distress, she always did her best to help them.
Often when she had been out bum-boating for the best part of the day,
and had been attending to household matters for th