hildren
homeless and penniless, and she decided to remain on the farm.

It was a noble resolve, and came from a brave heart. To remain meant
years of hard work, years of patient endurance, years of quiet
suffering and numberless privations; yet she calmly faced them all,
that she might do her duty to her children, and faithfully discharge
the trust imposed upon her. First, she sold a part of her farm, and
with the money she paid her debts. Then, asking God to help her, she
prepared to fight her way through the difficulties which beset her path.

Her eldest son, Thomas, was only eleven years old when his father died.
Mehetabel, his sister, was twelve, a younger sister was seven, and
James was not quite two. Thomas was a brave little fellow, and when
his mother spoke to him about the work that would have to be done, he
offered to undertake it all. Though a boy in years, he spoke and acted
like a man.

That first winter, alone in the backwoods, was a terrible time.
Snowstorms swept around the humble dwelling, and wolves howled in the
forest during the long winter nights. Often the children lay awake in
terror when they heard the fearful cries of the hungry animals, and
knew that their brave protector was no longer there to defend them from
danger.

As soon as spring came round once more, Thomas borrowed a horse from a
neighbour, and went about the farm work as he had seen his father do.
With the assistance of his mother and, his eldest sister, he planted
wheat, corn, potatoes, and other vegetables. Then his mother helped
him to fence the wheatfield which contained her husband's grave. With
her own hands she brought wood from the forest and split it up into
rails for that purpose. Then the whole of the cleared land, in which
the log house stood, was fenced, and the patient workers waited for the
harvest.

[Illustration: Tom borrowed a horse.]

The waiting time is often the hardest to bear. Slowly but surely their
little store of corn grew less and less. Fearing to run short before
the harvest gave them a fresh supply, Mrs. Garfield carefully measured
their slender stock, and as carefully doled out the daily allowance
which alone would enable them to pull through.

She had no money to buy more, and therefore she gave up one meal a day
for herself, that her children might not suffer from hunger. Still she
found that there was barely sufficient, and the devoted mother took
only one meal a day until the har