assed away, for she had been dreaming another dream,
a very sweet one, which always set her heart a-longing and a-thrilling,
and it now came true and changed her life. It was the biggest thing and
the happiest that ever happened to her. She gave her heart to Jesus.
Very shyly one night she crept up to her mother, nestled close to her,
and laid her head on her knee, and then whispered the wonderful news.
"I'll try, mother," she said, "to be a good girl and a comfort to you."
Her mother was filled with joy, and both went about for long afterwards
singing in their hearts. If only the shadow would lift!

[Illustration: THE LITTLE HOUSE-MOTHER.]

But it settled down more darkly than ever. We can change the place where
we stay and wander far, but it is not so easy to change our habits. Mr.
Slessor was now bringing in so little money that his wife was forced to
go and work in one of the mills in order to buy food and clothes for the
children. Mary became the little house-mother, and how busy her hands
and feet were, how early she was up, and how late she tumbled into bed,
and how bravely she met all her troubles! Tears might steal into her
eyes when she felt faint and hungry, but it was always a bright and
smiling face that welcomed the tired mother home at night.

Gloomier grew the shadow. More money was needed to keep the home, and
Mary, a slim girl of eleven, was the next to go out and become a
bread-winner. One morning she went into a big factory and stood in the
midst of machines and wheels and whirling belts, and at first was
bewildered and a little afraid. But she was only allowed to stay for
half a day: the other half she had to go to a school in the works where
the girls were taught to read and write and count. She was fond of the
reading, but did not like doing the sums: the figures on the board
danced before her eyes, and she could not follow the working out of the
problems, and sometimes the teacher punished her by making her stand
until the lesson was finished.

But she was clever with her fingers, and soon knew all about weaving.
How proud she was when she ran home with her first week's earnings! She
laid them in the lap of her mother, who cried over them and wrapped them
up and put them away: she could not, just then, find it in her heart to
spend such precious money.

By the time she was fourteen Mary was working a large machine and being
paid a good wage. But she had to toil very hard for it. She rose at f