ot to send us home any of your
earnings; but I do not hesitate now to ask you to remit as much as will
be sufficient for David's voyage, if you approve of his going out to
join you."
"The very thing of all others I have been longing for," exclaimed
Donald, as he finished Margaret's letter. "I have ample to enable him
to come out, and I am sure Mr Todd will find employment for him. But
Margaret and Janet must not remain with straitened means; I wish they
would come out also. I will send home sufficient for their voyage, and
use every argument to induce them to come. If they will not they must
spend the money on their own support at home. Margaret will, I am sure,
be perfectly happy out here, though Janet would find the country rather
strange, yet neither of them would mind the rough life they would be
compelled to live, any more than others do, many of whom have been far
more accustomed than they are to the luxuries and refinements of the old
country."
Thus Donald meditated till he persuaded himself that in a few months he
should see his sister and brother and their faithful nurse arrive to
take possession of the log-hut he proposed building for them. He lost
no time in writing a letter, and in arranging with Mr Todd to send home
a considerable portion of the salary due to him. He insisted that
Margaret should receive whatever David did not require for his
passage-money and journey to the township, and should spend it on the
support of Janet and herself, should they decline accompanying David.
He thought it impossible that they could refuse, and forthwith set to
work to build a substantial log-hut on a plot of ground which, by Mr
Todd's advice and assistance, he had purchased not far from Mr
Skinner's location.
Mr Skinner had made inquiries about his family when he heard of his
hopes of being joined by his brother and sister and old nurse. He at
once begged that he would apply to him for whatever he might require for
their comfort and convenience.
"I am a bachelor, and as my personal expenses are trifling, I shall
consider it a privilege to be allowed to be of use to those who are so
well deserving of assistance," he observed. "That old nurse of yours
has excited my warm admiration. Her knowledge may be limited, but from
your account she has lived a practical Christian life, and though you
may justly desire to be independent, and to support yourself by your own
labour, you cannot wish her and your sist
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