shipwrecked, and the money lost. Just about this time, my dear sweet boy,
who lies sleeping there, was born, and my husband was attacked with a
severe lingering illness. For three quarters of a year I was obliged to dress
and undress him. We were backward in our payments, we borrowed more
money, and all that we had was lost and sold, and then my husband died.
Since then I have worked, toiled, and striven for the sake of the child. I have
scrubbed and washed both coarse and fine linen, but I have not been able to
make myself better off; and it was God’s will. In His own time He will take
me to Himself, but I know He will never forsake my boy.” Then she fell
asleep. In the morning she felt much refreshed, and strong enough, as she
thought, to go on with her work. But as soon as she stepped into the cold
water, a sudden faintness seized her; she clutched at the air convulsively
with her hand, took one step forward, and fell. Her head rested on dry land,
but her feet were in the water; her wooden shoes, which were only tied on
by a wisp of straw, were carried away by the stream, and thus she was
found by Martha when she came to bring her some coffee.
In the meantime a messenger had been sent to her house by the mayor, to
say that she must come to him immediately, as he had something to tell her.
It was too late; a surgeon had been sent for to open a vein in her arm, but
the poor woman was dead.
“She has drunk herself to death,” said the cruel mayor. In the letter,
containing the news of his brother’s death, it was stated that he had left in
his will a legacy of six hundred dollars to the glovemaker’s widow, who had
been his mother’s maid, to be paid with discretion, in large or small sums to
the widow or her child.
“There was something between my brother and her, I remember,” said the
mayor; “it is a good thing that she is out of the way, for now the boy will
have the whole. I will place him with honest people to bring him up, that he
may become a respectable working man.” And the blessing of God rested
upon these words. The mayor sent for the boy to come to him, and promised
to take care of him, but most cruelly added that it was a good thing that his
mother was dead, for “she was good for nothing.” They carried her to the
