was necessary to make it valid. When, however,
Mrs. Bell, afterwards, in going home, met Mr. Keep and related to
him the transaction, he said that he was afraid that the will was not
good, meaning that it would not stand in law.

The thought that the will was probably not valid, caused Mrs. Bell a
considerable degree of anxiety and concern, as she imagined that its
failure would probably cause Mary Erskine a considerable degree of
trouble and embarrassment, though she did not know precisely how. She
supposed that the children's share of the property must necessarily be
kept separate and untouched until they grew up, and that in the mean
time their mother would have to work very hard in order to maintain
herself and them too. But this is not the law. The guardian of
children, in such cases, is authorized to expend, from the children's
share of property, as much as is necessary for their maintenance while
they are children; and it is only the surplus, if there is any, which
it is required of her to pay over to them, when they come of age. It
would be obviously unjust, in cases where children themselves have
property left them by legacy, or falling to them by inheritance, to
compel their father or mother to toil ten or twenty years to feed and
clothe them, in order that they might have their property, whole and
untouched, when they come of age. All that the law requires is
that the property bequeathed to children, or falling to them by
inheritance, shall always be exactly ascertained, and an account of it
put upon record in the Probate office: and then, that a guardian shall
be appointed, who shall expend only so much of it, while the children
are young, as is necessary for their comfortable support and proper
education; and then, when they come of age, if there is any surplus
left, that it shall be paid over to them. In Mary Erskine's case,
these accounts would, of course, cause her some trouble, but it would
make but little difference in the end.

Mrs. Bell spent a great deal of time, during the day, in trying to
think what it would be best for Mary Erskine to do, and also in trying
to think what she could herself do for her. She, however, made very
little progress in respect to either of those points. It seemed to her
that Mary Erskine could not move into the new house, and attempt to
carry on the farm, and, on the other hand, it appeared equally out
of the question for her to remain where she was, in her lonesome log