ue the watch so much, and I
hope we shall be able to get it back again."

"I fear not. But you must hear the rest of this sad story."

Mrs. Redburn continued the narrative, though tears blinded her eyes,
and sobs chocked her utterance, as she told of the struggle she had had
with poverty and want. Her husband had done very well in New York; and,
gay and light-hearted in the midst of his prosperity, his habits had
been gradually growing worse and worse, till he lost his situation, and
became a common sot. The poor wife had then been compelled to toil for
her own support and that of her child; and having been brought up in
luxury and ease, it was a dreadful task to her.

John obtained another situation, but soon lost it. He was a
good-hearted man when he had not been drinking, and keenly felt the
disgrace and misery he was heaping upon himself and his unhappy wife.
Once he had the resolution to abandon the cup, fully determined to
redeem his lost character, and make his family happy again. The better
to accomplish this, he removed to Boston, where he obtained a good
situation, and for more than a year he adhered to his resolution. Mrs.
Redburn was happy again and tremblingly hoped that the clouds of
darkness had forever passed away.

The evil time came again, and John Redburn sank down lower than ever
before. His wife lost all hope of him, and struggled, with the courage
of a hero and the fortitude of a martyr, against the adverse tide that
set against her. She was fortunate in obtaining plenty of sewing, and
was able to support herself and child very well; but her husband, now
lost to all sense of decency, contrived to obtain, from time to time, a
portion of her hard earnings. She could never have believed that John
Redburn would come to this; for, as a clerk in her father's counting
room, he had been all that was good and noble; but there he was a
miserable sot, lost to himself, to his family, and the world.

One morning in winter he was brought home to her dead. He had died in
the watch-house of delirium tremens. He was buried, and peace, if not
hope, settled on the brow of the broken-hearted wife.

Year after year Mrs. Redburn struggled on, often with feeble hands and
fainting heart, to earn a subsistence for herself and Katy. She had
been bred in opulence, and her wants were not so few and simple as the
wants of those who have never enjoyed the luxury of a soft couch and a
well-supplied table. She had never lea