's child and her husband's widow; so she
turned her hand to every odd job which offered, and went to work
in the fields when nothing else could be had. Whenever there was
sickness in the place, she was an untiring nurse; and, at one
time, for some nine months, she took the office of postman, and
walked daily some nine miles through a severe winter. The fatigue
and exposure had broken down her health, and made her an old
woman before her time. At last, in a lucky hour, the Doctor came
to hear of her praiseworthy struggles, and gave her the Rectory
washing, which had made her life a comparatively easy one again.

During all this time her poor neighbors had stood by her as the
poor do stand by one another, helping her in numberless small
ways, so that she had been able to realize the great object of
her life, and keep Harry at school till he was nearly fourteen.
By this time he had learned all that the village pedagogue could
teach, and had in fact become an object of mingled pride and
jealousy to that worthy man, who had his misgivings lest Harry's
fame as a scholar should eclipse his own before many years were
over.

Mrs. Winburn's character was so good, that no sooner was her son
ready for a place than a place was ready for him; he stepped at
once into the dignity of carter's boy, and his earnings, when
added to his mother's, made them comfortable enough. Of course
she was wrapped up in him, and believed that there was no such
boy in the parish. And indeed she was nearer the truth than most
mothers, for he soon grew into a famous specimen of a countryman;
tall and lithe, full of nervous strength, and not yet bowed down
or stiffened by the constant toil of a labourer's daily life. In
these matters, however, he had rivals in the village; but in
intellectual accomplishments he was unrivalled. He was full of
learning according to the village standard, could write and
cipher well, was fond of reading such books as came in his way,
and spoke his native English almost without an accent. He is
one-and-twenty at the time when our story takes him up; a
thoroughly skilled labourer, the best hedger and ditcher in the
parish; and, when his blood is up, he can shear twenty sheep in a
day, without razing the skin, or mow for sixteen hours at a
stretch, with rests of half an hour for meals twice in the day.

Harry shaded his eyes with his hand for a minute, as he stood
outside the cottage drinking in the fresh, pure air, laden wit