to sort o' slick up in. I hain't got a delaine one to
my name.

"Sometimes I get my temper up, and tell him I will have something to
wear as well as other folks, but he says he goes without as well as I,
and there ain't no use of our laying out everything for finery.

"Don't you think its about time for me to strike for something that
people, that call themselves decent, have to wear?"

"Why," said Clemence, truthfully, seeing she was expected to make some
reply, "don't that seem a little like injustice? It can't be right to
deny yourself everything, and indulge in no relaxation after such
laborious employment. You owe something to yourself as well as others.
Of course it is wise in you to look forward to the future, and it is
perfectly natural and commendable to wish to lay up something for your
children, that their life may be easier than your own; but, have you
never thought that, after all, you may not be working for their best
interests. Supposing you should sink underneath the burden you have
assumed, and death should find you all unprepared, would you not regret
that you had spent your days thus? It does not seem as if any mother was
called upon for such sacrifices. No woman, or at least, no American
woman, can endure such severe, unremitting toil."

Her hearer looked startled.

"I had never taken this view of the case," she said, "but you are right.
My strength cannot always hold out, and if I should be taken away, what
would become of my little children?"

Here the baby awoke with a scream, and the mother had enough to keep
tongue and hands busy in the effort to pacify him, and finish her
labors. As it was, tea was delayed.

The group of tired, sun-burned men, who came up from the field, lingered
around the kitchen door, furtively watching the pretty young
schoolmistress, but not venturing to speak above a whisper, until supper
was announced, when they came in awkwardly, and took their seats.

Clemence was duly presented to them and her host, a quiet, good-natured
looking man, and during the conversation which followed, they made some
progress towards a further acquaintance. She was pleased, too, to
observe that she had made quite a favorable impression, having formed a
plan in her mind which she now thought might be easy of accomplishment.

Clemence Graystone was both young and enthusiastic, and she thought here
was an opportunity of benefiting one of her own sex in a quiet,
unassuming way. She took