Page:The Cottagers of Glenburnie - Hamilton (1808).djvu/43

 of what grown people suffer from their passions? My mother taught me the only true road to obedience, in the love and fear of God. I learned from her to read, but she read ill herself, and could not instruct me in a proper method; nor could she afford to send me to school, for she was reduced to extreme poverty. She died when I was ten years old, and I thank God for enabling me to add to the comforts of the last year of her life by my industry."

"Why, what could you do for her at that tender age?" said Mary, "you were but a little child."

"I was so, Miss," replied Mrs Mason, "but I could knit stockings, though I wore none; and having knit a pair for the gardener's wife at Hill Castle, I was recommended by her to the housekeeper, who had the gout in her feet, and wanted a pair knit of lambs wool, to wear in the winter. I happened to please her; and when she paid me, she not only gave me