gets well so that she will not
worry about you.' Of course I was not going to disappoint my father
when he trusted me; so though I was homesick enough and very unhappy, I
stayed there for several weeks until the doctor said it was safe for me
to go home again. But you see I remember just how it feels to be
homesick, and feel as if one could n't stay away one single day more
from home. It takes a brave girl to make up her mind that she will not
give up to homesickness, but will do what she knows is going to please
those whom she loves. Yes, I know that sounds as if I meant that I was
brave, when I was a little girl, but then I really think I was, don't
you?"

"Yes," admitted Maude. "I think I should have gone home if I had been
in your place, and had only ten miles to walk. Did you have a nice
time staying with the old lady?"

"No, it was not very pleasant," said Mrs. Boardman. "Now pat the
pillow, this way, Maude, before you put it in its place, so. I did not
have any lessons nor any books to read, and I had no time to bring my
patchwork or knitting, and so the time hung very heavy on my hands. I
helped about the work when there was anything that a little girl could
do. I fed the hens, and looked for eggs, and wiped dishes, and sewed
carpet rags, and sometimes I went with the hired man to bring the cows
home. There, the bed looks very nicely now, does n't it? I think you
will be able to make it look as well as that every day, don't you? And
then when you go home again even if the servant does make it, you will
not have to think that she knows how to do something which you do not
know how to do. It is very nice to know how to do every useful thing,
even if it may not be necessary to practise it. Suppose your mamma did
not know how to make a bed, and she should have a servant who could
not, how do you suppose she would show her without knowing herself?
Now shall we hang up these dresses? It is almost time for the bell to
ring, so I think you can put these away just as nicely as you could if
I stayed and helped you, and then I can go and look after some of the
other girls. Now I am going to say to you what my father said to me,
'You are a brave little maid,' and I know you are to be trusted to do
what is right. I know you are going to forget all about how much you
want to go home, and you are going to do the very best you know how
to-day, so that your papa and mamma will be pleased with you;" and Mrs.
B