and very thirsty. Sometimes she went
to the pail herself for a cup of water, and sometimes her brother
would get it for her. He seemed kind, gentle, and sympathizing--a good
example for some more favoured boys.

Pretty soon the door opened, and an aged woman, bent with years and
breathing hard and painfully, entered the room. A boy, with a
complexion fair and transparent, through which the blue veins showed
themselves, immediately followed her. She greeted us kindly, and took
a chair by my side, bending towards us that she might hear more
easily, for she was almost deaf. She told us that since her daughter's
death she had been entirely dependent on charity.

After talking with her a short time, Mrs. B----, the lady accompanying
me, gave her little grandson a penny to buy some candy. She did so,
because she wished to talk with his grandmother about him, and thought
he had, perhaps, better not be in the room. So soon as he left, she
asked the old lady if she had made up her mind to part with the
child. She had been spoken to a fortnight previously in regard to it
by another lady, and seemed then unwilling that he should leave her.
She said she had come to the conclusion that she must give him up, for
she was too old and feeble to take care of him, and she was constantly
anxious about him. She could not do for him all that he needed, and
she knew it would be much better for him to be adopted in some kind
family, where he could be brought up as a son. She spoke of him most
tenderly and affectionately. He was her earthly all. She had taken
care of him from his infancy. She came from Ireland for that very
purpose. His father had died before he was old enough to remember him,
and his mother had supported him by her own industry.

The grandmother's name was not Smith, as we called her. It was, as she
said, widow Cahoon. The daughter's name was Smith, and the
sunny-haired boy was David. Last May, Mrs. Smith died of cholera,
leaving her aged mother homeless, and her beautiful boy an orphan.

When David returned with a great piece of molasses-candy, he did not
keep it all himself. He divided it among the other children without
being told to do so. This showed that he was a generous child, and
loved to make others happy. When he had eaten his portion, his
grandmother washed his face, neck, and hands, and put on his best
clothes, which his mother had made for him before her death. He
looked very tidy and comfortable in his brown