le paying no more than they had heretofore done, profited
greatly by the change. They had plain and wholesome, because
well-cooked, food, plenty of cleanliness and fresh air, besides the
elevating and refining influence of a home where Christian living was
inculcated, not so much by precept as by practice. God "setteth the
solitary in families," not boarding-houses or institutions; but that is
the only true family which takes care "in all its ways to acknowledge
him." If such families all over our land would open the arms of their
exclusiveness each to take in one or more of the waifs and strays of
life, and throw around them the arms of Christian love, they would be
taking a long step toward answering their own daily prayer of

"Thy kingdom come ... on earth as it is in heaven."

Katie and Tessa were pleased, girl-like, with the addition to their
family party, and, though the boys grumbled a little at first, being, as
boys are apt to be, a little shy of girls' society, they soon became
used to the change and glad to enjoy the evening occupations that were
rendered possible by so large a number.

It had always been a source of great anxiety to the widow, lest her
boys, deprived of a father's watchful authority, would, as they grew up,
wander off at night, fall under bad influences, learn evil habits, and
grow up worthless, dissipated men. But thus far she had been successful
in keeping Eric and Alfred at home with her and their little sister, and
now, just when the restlessness common to their age might have drawn
them away, a new interest was presented in the shape of a "home reading
society," which held its sessions on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday
nights; Wednesday evening being devoted to Miss Eunice's "tea-party,"
Friday to the church service, and Saturday to games.

Mrs. Robertson had plans of a more solid nature for the winter, but till
the warm summer weather was over, this seemed enough. The books read
were historical stories, biographies, and the like, taken from the mill
library by special permission. The boys were generally the readers,
while the girls were encouraged by their motherly landlady to repair and
keep their clothes in order, a branch of womanliness apt to be much
neglected by factory operatives, who often marry and enter upon family
duties without even knowing how to hold a needle.

Of course, the widow's time was now so fully occupied that she could not
go out to work in families,