y, with a good blanket to wrap round her.'

To shorten the contest I said that I thought I could sleep very well
upon the hay, though I certainly should have preferred sleeping in the
house, but I was afraid they would quarrel on my account, which would
have been to my injury; and, at all events, the hay-loft was a better
place to sleep in than the wretched attic at Mr. Smith's. This point
being settled, Mr. Davis went out, as he had not yet finished his day's
work, and it being dark, so that no more work could be done in the
gardens, the children remained at home.

I had now an opportunity of observing these children. The eldest was a
girl, seemingly about thirteen, of a healthy, robust appearance, but by
no means neat in her dress. The second, a girl of eleven, with much the
same appearance as her sister; and the youngest, a boy, seemingly about
nine, a chubby, good-natured-looking little fellow, and, I thought, very
like his father. After the tea-things were put away, the girls brought
each a little box to the table, in which was a quantity of odd pieces of
muslin, ribbon, silk, etc., and they passed the evening in making these
things up into frills and other articles of finery. The boy brought a
quantity of wood to the further end of the table, and with no tool but a
knife and a little saw, he employed himself in making little toys. That
evening he made a dining-table and a chair.

'Tommy is a clever boy,' said the mother to me, seeing I was looking at
his work. 'He amuses himself of an evening in making these kind of toys,
and he sells them to young gentlemen and ladies in the neighbourhood,
and I assure you they like his toys better than what they buy in the
shops. What was it Master Watson gave you for the little boat, Tommy?'

'Half a crown, mother; but I was two weeks in making it; and last week I
earned two shillings in making chairs and tables.'

I felt curious to know what Tommy did with his money, as he earned so
much, but I did not like to ask the question, as that would have been
rude. However, his mother, who seemed very fond of him, and, I thought,
justly so, soon told me.

'Tommy earns a great deal of money by this kind of work, which is his
play,' said she; 'and he gives every farthing of it to his father and
me. Part of it we lay out in clothes for him, and the rest we are saving
till he is ten years old, and then he is to go to school, and his own
money will pay for it. We take what he earns at