CHAPTER XII.
the scene changes
"whatsoever is brought upon thee, take cheerfully, and be patient when thou art changed to a low estate," was an admonition perfectly illustrated by Lucy's mother. "Lucy's folks an't every-day folks," said Betsy, when she returned, to her friend the seamstress. "I found Lucy's mother in a little back room, as clean as hands could make it, sitting over a few coals, sewing away for dear life, and two bright slips of girls beside her. She turned deadly pale when I brought Lucy in, and the girls screamed out. 'Don't be frightened, dear mother,' said Lucy, in her quiet way; 'I have been sick, but I am getting better.' Her mother drew a cot near the fire, and we laid Lucy on it. I saw the poor woman was all of a nerve, but pretty soon she kissed her child, and said, 'It's a blessing to see you, any how, Lucy.' Then I heard a slender little
voice, and I turned round and saw our Jemmie, you know, bolstered up in a basket-cradle. An angel's face he has on his crooked body. He begged to have his cradle drawn close to her bed, and then he took her hand, and kissed it over and over, and said, 'Oh, how glad I should be, if I was not so sorry to see you sick, Lucy; and now you will stay at home, and it won't be your duty to go when you can't go, Lucy,' and so on. I declare, it
