ering
where all this would end, was aroused by the cry of "James, James, the
doctor says your wife must put her feet into warm water; so bring up
some directly, James, in a large pan or bucket, or any thing that is
handy; pray, make haste;" and before I could reply, for I doubted
whether there was either, the door was shut, and again I was placed in a
new difficulty. However, I found an old leaky pail and an old broken
pan; so I set the pail into the pan to catch the leakage, and together,
they did tolerably well; but I felt considerable shame as I handed this
lumbering affair up stairs, well knowing it would call forth some
remark.

I had just again seated myself at the fire, when the doctor, in no very
gentle tone, called out, "James, here, man, take this paper to my
office; Mr. Armstrong will give you some physic for your wife, and then
it will be twice given, for I suppose you will never pay for it." I
stared at him, or rather paused and hesitated--who could tell why? was
it the taunts I was thus obliged to endure; or was it bodily exhaustion?
I had eaten all the food my poor Mary had put into my basket for my
breakfast; and, as it appeared, all she had in the world; yet I had
managed to borrow sixpence at noon, intending to buy me a loaf and
cheese, and half a pint of beer for my dinner; but venturing upon half a
pint of beer first, I called for another; and, becoming thirsty, for a
pint; and so my dinner and my afternoon's work were both lost together.
It must now have been nearly ten o'clock, and I had tasted no food, as I
said before, since breakfast. I felt faint, and well I might; however,
with a heavy step and a heavier heart, taking up the doctor's lantern,
and looking round upon the empty wretchedness before me, I again set out
for the doctor's. And did I not also think over neighbor Wright's
comfortable, cheerful room, and his boiling pot; while I, who had that
day spent a borrowed sixpence upon beer, had not even a crust of bread
for myself or family? And did I forget the pence, and then the
shillings, and then the pounds I had paid at public-houses; selling, and
pawning my bed from under me, and my clothes from off my back, and all
to gain misery and want, and lose my good name?

Mr. Armstrong was a kind-hearted young man, and soon prepared the
medicines, and by kind and cheerful hopes concerning my poor Mary, and a
little civil conversation, raised my spirits, and I walked back somewhat
lighter of hea