Page:The Adventures of David Simple (1904).djvu/181

 away for his own profit, that he might be the happier man, at last entirely pacified me: we heard from him once a week, and I then lived in a situation, I think, the most desirable in the world; I am sure I have often esteemed it so since, and wished to live it over again. This life continued till I was twelve years old, when all my tranquillity was interrupted by a fatal accident, which has never been out of my thoughts twenty-four hours since it happened, and which I can never mention without the most piercing grief.

"One morning, as my mother and I were walking in the fields (as was our custom an hour before breakfast) a thorn ran into her foot, which put her into the most violent pain; insomuch, that she was unable to stir. As we were alone, I knew not what to do to help her; I saw her turn as pale as death, and look ready to faint away; this threw me into intolerable agonies and I fell a-screaming so loud, that I was heard by some labouring men, who were at plough in a ground not far from the place where we were. They immediately came to our assistance; I desired them to take one of their horses, and contrive, if they could, to carry my mother home; we were not above a quarter of a mile distant, so that one of the men made a shift, as she was a little woman, to carry her before him. It would be in vain to attempt to describe what my father (who loved her very affectionately) felt at this sight. "We rubbed her foot with some spirits, and in a little time she seemed to be easy, and went about the house only a little limping, without any great complaint, for four days; at the end of which she began to be very uneasy. We presently looked at her foot, the point of the thorn was just visible; all around it was very much swelled, and in the middle was a great black spot; we neither of us