workers. Her bundle is the badge of her profession. My sister had a
great deal of pride on this point. She was extremely nice about her
looks, There was a neat jauntiness in her appearance, of which she
seemed to be fully conscious; and as she grew up to womanhood, I think
it became more apparent in all her actions. She was really a very
attractive girl,--certainly so to me,--and she must have been more so to
the other sex, as I noticed that the men about the establishment were
more courteous to her than they were to me. Even our employer treated
her with a deferential politeness that he did not extend to others, and
when paying us our wages, always had a complimentary remark for Jane, as
if seeking to win the good opinion of one who seemed to be a general
favorite.

But I confess that during all the time we were working in the factory I
sighed for the possession of a machine of my own, so that I could be
more at home with my mother in her loneliness: for when we left her in
the morning we carried our dinners with us, leaving her to her own
thoughts during the whole day. The grief at my father's loss had by no
means been overcome, for with all of us it was something more than the
shadow of a passing cloud. Personally, I cared nothing for the carrying
of a bundle through the streets, even though it made proclamation of my
being a sewing-girl. Then as to exercise or recreation, I could have
abundance in the garden. As it was, I still continued to see it kept in
order. Fred was very good in doing all I wanted. He would rise early
before breakfast, and do any digging it required, and in the evening,
after returning from the foundry, would attend to many other things
about it as they needed. I was equally industrious; and now that it was
wholly left for me to see to, my fondness for it increased, while I came
to understand its management more thoroughly than when my father was
sole director. The more I had to do, the more I learned. Then there were
times when I rose in the morning feeling so poorly that it was a tax
upon both spirits and strength to tramp the long distance to the
factory; yet it would have been no hardship to work at a machine at
home, or to do an hour's gardening. I think my earnings could have been
made quite as large as they were at the factory, as the owner of a
machine generally received a little more pay than when working on one
belonging to her employer; and I felt quite sure that there would be no
di