an ever, and her bright eyes shone with a steady, cheerful light, as
she went about her daily tasks.

As she said, it was necessary that they should both be very busy
through the winter, for James hoped to be able to enter college in
August; and Mary, who had heretofore kept pace with him in most of his
studies, though she did stumble at "tupto, tupso, tetupha," and vow
that Greek was not intended for girls, did not wish to give up her
Latin and Geometry. They had such a kind instructor in Mr. Lane, the
village lawyer, that an ambition to please him made them at first
forget the difficulties of the dry rudiments; and then it was that
James first began to dream of one day being able to plead causes
himself--of studying a profession. Mr. Lane, unconsciously, had
encouraged this, by telling his little pupils, to whom he was much
attached, the difficulties that had beset his youthful career, and how
he had gained an honest independence, when he had at first been
without friends or means. Then he would look up at his pretty young
wife, or put out his arms to their little one, as if he thought, and
is not this a sufficient reward for those years of toil and
despondence. James remembered, when he was a student, teaching in
vacations to aid in supporting himself through term time. He had
boarded at Mr. Gordon's, and when he came to settle in the village,
years after, he had offered to teach James and Mary, as a slight
recompense for Mrs. Gordon's early kindness to the poor student. Two
hours each afternoon were passed in Mr. Lane's pleasant little study;
and though Stephen thought it was time wasted, he did not complain
much, for James was doubly active in the morning. Mary, too,
accomplished twice as much as ever before; and after the day's routine
of household labor and study were over, her needle flew quickly, as
she prepared her little wardrobe for leaving home. March was nearly
through before they felt that spring had come; and though Mary's eyes
were sometimes filled with tears at the thought of the coming
separation, they were quickly dried, and the first of April found her
unshaken in her resolution.

CHAPTER II.

LEAVING HOME--FACTORY LIFE.

"To-morrow will be the last day at home," thought Mary, as she bade
her mother good-night, and turned quickly to her own room to conceal
the tears that would start; and, though they fringed the lashes of the
drooping lid when at last she slept, the repose was gentle and
und