o not know how true), that he had committed murder, and had
escaped the law by some legal quibble. He was a swill-gatherer, and had
two little bright daughters to assist him at home. These came to our
Fortieth-street School. They improved very fast, and one used to attract
much attention from the ladies by her pretty face and intelligent
answers. Nellie finally left the school, and was sent by us to the West.
She improved much there, and, after some time spent in different
families, came back to the city, where she became an 'operator' on the
sewing-machine. While at this business and living in a respectable
boarding-house, she attracted the attention of a gentleman of some means
and position, much older than herself, who, at length, offered himself
to her in marriage.

She declined, on the ground that she was so much inferior in position to
him, and that his family would object. He insisted, and declared that
'he wished to please himself, not his family,' and they were married.

"He took his wife away to a foreign country, where his business lay, and
there she has been a number of years, gradually improving in manners,
taste, and education, living like a lady of fortune, with her maid and
carriage, and making herself, in every way, a most suitable wife for one
who had been so much above her. We had often heard of her good fortune.
But during our Christmas Festival at the East River School, she herself
came in to see it again and thank those who had been so kind to her. We
all knew her at once; and yet she was so changed--a pretty,
tasteful-looking young lady, with a graceful manner and a Spanish accent
now--all the old stamp of 'Dutch Hill' quite gone, even the brogue lost
and replaced by foreign intonations. She was perfectly simple and
unaffected, and thanked us all for our former kindness with the utmost
heartiness; and told her story very simply, and how anxious she still
was to improve her education, seemingly not ashamed of her poor origin.
It is a pleasant circumstance that she has taken out her beloved
teacher, Mrs. Hurley, a number of times to drive in her carriage."

Several changes of fortune of this kind have made it quite a natural
question, when I visit Mrs. Hurley's School, "What about the
heiresses?"

Another girl, I remember, in one of these shanties, who came to school
in an old petticoat, and barefooted, a most destitute-looking child. She
was subsequently employed in our own family. I doubt wheth