d, as they had but eight cents in
the house. In May came the end. The tailor died, and in the house of
mourning there was one care less, one less to feed and clothe. The widow
gathered her flock close and faced the future dry-eyed. The luxury of
grief is not for those at close grips with stern poverty.

When word reached far-off Hungary, Mrs. Josefy's sister wrote to her to
come back; she would send the money. The widow's friends rejoiced, but she
shook her head. To face poverty as bitter there? This was her children's
country; it should be hers too. At the Consulate they reasoned with her;
the chance was too good to let pass. When she persisted, they told her to
put the children in a home, then; she could never make her way with so
many. No doubt they considered her an ungrateful person when she flatly
refused to do either. It is not in the record that she ever darkened the
door of the Consulate again.

The charitable committee had no better success. They offered her passage
money, and she refused it. "She is always looking for work," writes the
visitor in the register, for once in her life a little resentfully, it
would almost seem. When finally tickets came at the end of a year, Victor,
the oldest boy, must finish his schooling first. Exasperated, the
committee issues its ultimatum: she must go, or put the children away. Dry
bread was the family fare when Mrs. Josefy was confronted with it, but she
met it as firmly: Never! she would stay and do the best she could.

The record which I have followed states here that the committee dropped
her, but stood by to watch the struggle, half shamefacedly one cannot help
thinking, though they had given the best advice they knew. Six months
later the widow reports that "the children had never wanted something to
eat."

At this time Victor is offered a job, two dollars and a half a week, with
a chance of advancement. The mother goes out house-cleaning. Together they
live on bread and coffee to save money for the rent, but she refuses the
proffered relief. Victor is in the graduating class; he must finish his
schooling. Just then her sewing-machine is seized for debt. The committee,
retreating in a huff after a fresh defeat over the emigration question,
hastens to the rescue, glad of a chance, and it is restored. In sheer
admiration at her pluck they put it down that "she is doing the best she
can to keep her family together." There is a curious little entry here
that sizes up t