ow her taking some thought for the future, she
found that although my father had died free from debt he had been unable
to lay by anything for our future support. During my father's lifetime
we had occupied the parsonage, rent free, as had been stipulated when my
father became pastor of the church over which he presided till his
death. Consequently we had no longer any rightful claim to the dwelling
which had been our home for so many years. They kindly gave us
permission however, to occupy the house for one year, but my mother
liked not to continue to occupy a home which, in reality, was no longer
ours. After some deliberation upon the subject, my mother decided upon
teaching, as a means of support, as her own education had been
sufficiently thorough to render her competent for the undertaking. But,
as the village where we resided was small and already well supplied with
schools, she wrote to an old friend of my father's, who resided in
Edinburgh, as to what he thought of her removing to that city, for the
purpose of opening a school. She received a very encouraging reply from
the old gentleman, in which he promised to render her all the assistance
in his power in the way of obtaining pupils, and as the gentleman was
well known and much respected in the city, we found his assistance in
this respect to be of much value. The task of breaking up our old home
proved a very sad one both to my mother and myself. The furniture of the
parsonage was our own. My father had left quite an extensive library,
considering his limited means. With the exception of a few volumes which
my mother reserved for ourselves, she disposed of the books among our
acquaintances at a fair value, as each was anxious to obtain some relic
of their beloved pastor. The kind people, among whom we had resided,
expressed many kind wishes for our future welfare, when we left them to
seek a home in the great city. The school which my mother opened upon
our removal to the city proved very successful, and soon yielded us a
comfortable support. I assisted my mother both in the duties of the
school-room and also in our household work. We were prospered and lived
contentedly in our new home. We missed, it is true, the familiar faces
of our old friends, but we soon found friends in our new home; we were
cheerful, and should have been happy but for the sad loss we had
recently sustained. Four years thus glided by, during which time our
school continued to afford us a