The stones he waded for he carried to the mouth of the hole, and
only left just room enough to go in. Some of the neighbors at last
recollected him; and I sent to inquire what misfortune had reduced
him to such a deplorable state.

"The information I received from different persons I will
communicate to you in as few words as I can.

"Several of his children died in their infancy; and, two years
before he came to his native place, he had been overwhelmed by a
torrent of misery. Through unavoidable misfortunes he was long in
arrears to his landlord; who, seeing that he was an honest man, and
endeavored to bring up his family, did not distress him; but when
his wife was lying-in of her last child, the landlord died, and his
heir sent and seized the stock for the rent; and the person he had
borrowed some money of, exasperated to see all gone, arrested him,
and he was hurried to jail. The poor woman, endeavoring to assist
her family before she had gained sufficient strength, found herself
very ill; and the illness, through neglect and the want of proper
nourishment, turned to a putrid fever, which two of the children
caught from her, and died with her. The two who were left, Jacky
and Nancy, went to their father, and took with them a cur dog that
had long shared their frugal meals.

"The children begged in the day, and at night slept with their
wretched father. Poverty and dirt soon robbed their cheeks of the
roses which the country air made bloom with a peculiar freshness.
Their blood had been tainted by the putrid complaint that destroyed
their mother; in short, they caught the small-pox, and died. The
poor father, who was now bereft of all his children, hung over
their bed in speechless anguish; not a groan or a tear escaped from
him while he stood, two or three hours, in the same attitude,
looking at the dead bodies of his little darlings. The dog licked
his hands, and strove to attract his attention; but for a while he
seemed not to observe his caresses; when he did, he said
mournfully, 'Thou wilt not leave me;' and then he began to laugh.
The bodies were removed; and he remained in an unsettled state,
often frantic; at length the frenzy subsided, and he grew
melancholy and harmless. He was not then so closely watched; and
one day he co