o fetch a
doctor, Mrs. Amos made the sick woman some beef-tea, tidied the bed,
and took charge of the baby.

The doctor was soon with the patient, and, having examined her, gave
his permission for her removal to Mrs. Amos's house, to which she was
quickly taken. Mrs. Amos had a husband and six children, and her house
was a small one; but nevertheless she was able to give the mother and
baby a comfortable room. Day after day she nursed them tenderly, but
to her surprise the mother did not show any signs of improvement. The
doctor came regularly to see her, and one day, when he had been
attending her for about a week, he announced that she was suffering
from small-pox.

For a few minutes Mrs. Amos was overcome with horror at the danger to
which she had unintentionally subjected her six children. Nearly all
of them had nursed the baby and waited on the sick woman, and it seemed
to her certain that they would be stricken down with the disease. It
would probably spread through the village, and she would be the cause
of the sorrow that would ensue.

These fears she soon overcame, and bravely faced the danger. She
declared that she would not have the poor creature removed from the
house unless the doctor insisted upon it, and that she would continue
to nurse her. The patient was allowed to remain, but steps were, of
course, taken to guard against the disease spreading. The shop was
closed, and Mrs. Amos's only means of earning a living was gone, at any
rate for a time. Her children were sent away, and watched carefully
for any signs of the disease appearing in them. Anxiety concerning her
own family and the loss occasioned by the suspension of her business
might well have made her willing to hand over to the local medical
authorities the innocent cause of her trouble. But Mrs. Amos would not
relinquish her self-imposed duty. She nursed mother and child as
tenderly as if they had been her relatives, and if it had been possible
to save their lives they would have been saved. The child died, and a
week later the woman herself passed away. Happily, neither Mrs. Amos
nor any of her children contracted the disease.

'I prayed earnestly that God would spare the village,' Mrs. Amos told
the writer of this book, 'and He did. Not one case resulted from it.'

It was some time before the little shop was re-opened, but many people,
hearing of Mrs. Amos's bravery, came forward to help her tide over her
difficulties. Th