and
their future for them, and showed them how in the past they had been
wrong in all their methods.

Mrs. Haydon's only trouble was with her two daughters, whom she could
not make behave well to her parents. The two girls were very nasty to
all their numerous relations. Their mother could hardly make them kiss
their grandparents, and every day the girls would get a scolding. But
then Mrs. Haydon was so very busy that she did not have time to really
manage her stubborn daughters.

These hard working, earth-rough german cousins were to these american
born children, ugly and dirty, and as far below them as were italian
or negro workmen, and they could not see how their mother could ever
bear to touch them, and then all the women dressed so funny, and were
worked all rough and different.

The two girls stuck up their noses at them all, and always talked in
English to each other about how they hated all these people and how
they wished their mother would not do so. The girls could talk some
German, but they never chose to use it.

It was her eldest brother's family that most interested Mrs. Haydon.
Here there were eight children, and out of the eight, five of them
were girls.

Mrs. Haydon thought it would be a fine thing to take one of these
girls back with her to Bridgepoint and get her well started. Everybody
liked that she should do so and they were all willing that it should
be Lena.

Lena was the second girl in her large family. She was at this time
just seventeen years old. Lena was not an important daughter in the
family. She was always sort of dreamy and not there. She worked hard
and went very regularly at it, but even good work never seemed to
bring her near.

Lena's age just suited Mrs. Haydon's purpose. Lena could first go
out to service, and learn how to do things, and then, when she was a
little older, Mrs. Haydon could get her a good husband. And then Lena
was so still and docile, she would never want to do things her own
way. And then, too, Mrs. Haydon, with all her hardness had wisdom, and
she could feel the rarer strain there was in Lena.

Lena was willing to go with Mrs. Haydon. Lena did not like her german
life very well. It was not the hard work but the roughness that
disturbed her. The people were not gentle, and the men when they were
glad were very boisterous, and would lay hold of her and roughly tease
her. They were good people enough around her, but it was all harsh and
dreary for her.