nd's name was Tom Crossley, the grandfather of
this very man that was courting me,--and that a wilder, idler scapegrace
she never knew. She always said, when she saw him coming, 'There's young
Crossley come again.'

"One day I received a love-letter from him, which I could now repeat
word for word. I had several other suitors, but none were so persevering
as John Crossley. He pressed me very much to have him. At last he sent
me a letter to say that a house was vacant in Lower George Yard, close
to the works he was managing, and that it was a great chance to meet
with one so convenient. I told him that I was going home to spend the
5th of November, and would pass that way and look at the house, which I
did. When I got home I asked my parents for their consent. They did not
object much to it at the time; but I had not been at Miss Oldfield's
more than a day or two, before they sent over my sister Grace to say
that they would not give their consent to the match, and that if I
insisted on being married to John Crossley, they would never look me in
the face again.

"So soon as my sister was gone, I retired in a most distressed state of
feeling to my bedroom, and opened my book that was the preparation for
the sacrament, and the first place at which I opened I read these words:
'When thy father and thy mother forsake thee, then the Lord will take
thee up.' This comforted me very much. I felt that the Lord was with me
in this matter, and I could no longer doubt which was the path of
duty.... I decided to accept John Crossley's offer, and we were married
on the 28th day of January, 1800."

Mr. Crossley never did a better day's work than in marrying his
excellent and noble wife. From that day forward she was his helper, his
co-worker, his consoler. She assisted her husband in all his struggles,
and in a certain sense she was the backbone of the Crossley family.

After the death of Mr. Job Lees, whose carpet manufactory he had
managed, Mr. Crossley entered into partnership with two other persons,
to take the plant and carry on the business. Some difference having
occurred with the partners, he left the firm, and took a lease of Dean
Clough Mill, where he entered into another partnership with his brother
Thomas, and James Travers. There they carried on the business of worsted
spinning. At the same time, John Crossley continued to spin and dye the
yarns and to manage the looms of the firm which he had left. In fact,
the dyeing