again I saddled Daisy and went for the cows while my sisters
washed the supper dishes. That evening as we gathered around the kitchen
table and my father read a chapter from the Bible, I think I was one of
the happiest girls in the world even if I was tired. As I went to bed
that evening I thanked the dear Father that I had a father, mother,
brothers and sisters to love and help care for. This is only one day out
of many that I have spent in this way."

When one reads this account, one pictures the strong vivid life of this
sound generous-hearted girl. It seems glorious to be so able and so
willing. What, then, will be the surprise when on looking down the page
a little farther one sees in the handwriting of the friend who had asked
her to write an account of one of her working days, a paragraph like
this: "The writer of the above is a cripple, getting about with the aid
of a crutch. She entered the Institute this fall and pays half her
expenses by working more efficiently than most pupils." After reading
this, what words of praise would not sound futile!

CHAPTER VII

THE OTHER SIDE

I cannot bear to think what life would be
With high hope shrunk to endurance; stunted aims
Like broken lances ground to eating knives;
And low achievement doomed from day to day
To distaste of its consciousness.

_George Eliot._

CHAPTER VII

THE OTHER SIDE

The experiences related in the last chapters have been purposely laid
before the reader with little comment. They make their own impression.
They may help to dispel an apprehension lest the girls on the farms
should be having too hard a time, or lest when the work in which they
are asked to join is closing somewhat too strongly upon their young
strength they should be weighed down with the sort of dullness that
comes from continued pressure on one nerve. They seem to give an
assurance that the country girl's day in many, perhaps the majority, of
cases, affords some time for reading and for music; there is a concert
in the evening or a spare afternoon hour for the village guest. They
encourage us to believe that when the point of joylessness approaches
there will be ready a new supply of energy for rejuvenation and
refreshment. As long as this state of things exists the case is not so
bad.

Into this serene atmosphere a bomb must be thrown; for both sides have a
right to be heard. The testimony of the Country Girl when she is
speaking in favor o