Page:Hannah More (1887 Charlotte Mary Yonge British).djvu/130

118 redeemed by his virtuous friend just in time to save his life, but when he has become so crippled in his limbs as to be obliged to find a home in the workhouse.

The most spirited of the tales is Black Giles the Poacher, containing some Account of a Family who had rather live by their Wits than their Work. The children begin life by rushing to open a gate on the road, and besetting the occupants of every carriage that passes through, and then follow various lines of pilfering. Giles's avowed trade is rat-catching; but he always takes care to leave a few rats to keep up the stock, or even to introduce them into fresh hunting grounds. Tawny Rachel, his wife, is a fortune-teller, and we have the story of a poor victim whom she deludes into deserting a faithful lover to marry in favour of one who has administered a fee to the Sybil. Rachel's best red cloak is her ironing-cloth on Sunday, and her blanket by night! There is more action in this story than in most of them. The robbery of Widow Brown's red-streaked apples, and the suspicion being directed to the good boy of the parish, is very exciting, especially as the excellent Tom Price is in woeful danger of being set in the stocks or whipped round the market-place. However, on the next Sunday, Dick, the least depraved of the poacher's family, who has received some little kindnesses from the unlucky Tom, is found lingering about near the