heard of her being there, he applied
first to Mr. _Smith_, and threatened to reduce his Tythes if he
kept her; and after that he spoke to Sir _Timothy_, who sent Mr.
_Smith_ a peremptory Message by his Servant, that _he should
send back_ Meanwell's _Girl to be kept by her Relations, and not
harbour her in the Parish_. This so distressed Mr. _Smith_
that he shed Tears, and cried, _Lord have Mercy on the Poor!_

The Prayers of the Righteous fly upwards, and reach unto the Throne of
Heaven, as will be seen in the Sequel.

[Illustration]

Mrs. _Smith_ was also greatly concerned at being thus obliged to
discard poor Little _Margery_. She kissed her and cried; as also
did Mr. _Smith_, but they were obliged to send her away; for the
People who had ruined her Father could at any Time have ruined them.

CHAP. IV.

_How Little_ Margery _learned to read,
and by Degrees taught others._

Little _Margery_ saw how good, and how wise Mr. _Smith_ was,
and concluded, that this was owing to his great Learning, therefore
she wanted of all Things to learn to read. For this Purpose she used
to meet the little Boys and Girls as they came from School, borrow
their Books, and sit down and read till they returned;

[Illustration]

By this Means she soon got more Learning than any of her Playmates,
and laid the following Scheme for instructing those who were more
ignorant than herself. She found, that only the following Letters were
required to spell all the Words in the World; but as some of these
Letters are large and some small, she with her Knife cut out of
several Pieces of Wood ten Setts of each of these:

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o
p q r (s) s t u v w x y z.

[Post-processor's note: (s) is an old-English style non-terminating
letter "s".]

And six Setts of these:

A B C D E F G H I K L M N O
P Q R S T U V W X Y Z.

And having got an old Spelling-Book, she made her Companions set up
all the Words they wanted to spell, and after that she taught them to
compose Sentences. You know what a Sentence is, my Dear, _I will be
good_, is a Sentence; and is made up, as you see, of several Words.

The usual Manner of Spelling, or carrying on the Game, as they called
it, was this: Suppose the Word to be spelt was Plumb Pudding (and who
can suppose a better