from hunger all these long, long hours!"

"O, no! I have not thought of being hungry since you came," said the boy.

Mrs. Danforth approached the basket and gazed on its contents with
tearful eyes. She had not seen the like on her table for many a day, and,
dropping on her knees, she breathed a silent prayer to God for his
goodness in putting it into the hearts of his children to remember her in
her need! Willie brought forth a small bundle of sticks and lighted a
fire, while Ellen ran and filled a black, broken-nosed tea-kettle, and
hung it on a hook over the blaze. It soon began to sing merrily, and the
children laughed and said it had caught some of their happiness. Then
Ellen took some tea from the paper her mother had wrapped so nicely, put
it in a cracked blue bowl, and Willie fixed a bed of coals for her to set
it on. Dilly sat all the while gazing with tearful eyes on the two
beaming faces which were constantly turned up to hers, to see if she gave
her approval to their movements. At length the repast was prepared, and,
after partaking with them, as Mrs. Danforth insisted upon her doing,
Ellen set out for home, with Willie by her side. He hesitated some at
first, when his mother told him he must accompany her, for his jacket was
ragged and his shoes out at the toes. But when Ellen said so
reproachfully he was "too bad, too bad, to make her go all the way home
alone," he brightened, and said "he would be very glad to go with her if
she would not be ashamed of him." So they set out together, each holding
a handle of the basket; Ellen bidding Aunt Dilly a cordial good-by, and
promising to come soon again and bring her mother. They met Mr. Pimble on
their way, who scowled and passed by in silence.

Ellen found her mother anxiously waiting her return. She heard with
pleasure and interest her little daughter's animated description of her
visit; but when she said she had promised to visit Aunt Dilly soon again,
and take her mother with her, Mrs. Williams looked sad.

"What makes you look so, dear mamma?" said Ellen; "will you not go and
see poor Dilly?"

"I shall be very glad to do so, my dear child," answered the fond mother,
"if it is possible. You know your father has often wished to remove to a
place where his skill in architecture might be employed to better
advantage, and an excellent opportunity now offers for him to dispose of
his situation here, and remove to a large city, where his services will
be in con