ught that her design was to make money, by
sending of their children for slaves; others, that, if she instructed
them for seven years, she would acquire such a control as to be able
to send them beyond seas. But she persisted, and her success was great
beyond expectation. In a short time, she had at Cheddar near three
hundred children, under the charge of a discreet matron, whom she
hired for the purpose.

Encouraged by this success, she extended her field of operations, and
established schools at several other villages. The nearest of these
was six miles from her home; the labor and fatigue of superintending
the whole was therefore very great. But she declined an assistant for
reasons stated in a letter to Mr. Wilberforce, who had offered to seek
for one. "An ordinary person would be of no use; one of a superior
cast, who might be able to enter into my views, and further them,
would occasion an expense equal to the support of one or two more
schools. It will be time enough to think of your scheme when I am
quite laid by. This hot weather makes me suffer terribly; yet I have
now and then a good day, and on Sunday was enabled to open the school.
It was an affecting sight. Several of the grown-up lads had been tried
at the last assizes; three were children of a person lately condemned
to be hanged; many thieves; all ignorant, profane, and vicious, beyond
belief. Of this banditti I have enlisted one hundred and seventy; and
when the clergyman, a hard man, who is also a magistrate, saw these
creatures kneeling round us, whom he had seldom seen but to commit or
to punish in some way, he burst into tears."

Her plan was not limited to intellectual and spiritual instruction.
The children were taught to sew, to spin, and to knit. Nor were her
labors confined to the advancement of the well-being of the young; she
sought to introduce branches of manufacture, suitable to the strength
and sex of the women, and she arranged with master manufacturers to
buy the products of their labor. She sought to establish habits of
economy by getting up associations, in which each contributed a
portion of her earnings, on condition of receiving a support in case
she should be disabled from labor. This was a work of difficulty.
Though the subscription was only three half-pence per week, yet many
could not raise even this: such were privately assisted. Other
inducements, besides considerations of providence, must be held out
to the improvident. "