What have you there, Warner? Is that tea? Oh! I should like
some tea. I do think tea would do me some good. I have quite
a longing for it. Run down, Warner, and ask them to let us
have a kettle of hot water. It is better than all the fire in
the world. Amelia, my dear, do you see what they have sent
us. Plenty to eat. Tell Maria all about it. You are good
girls; you will never be like that infamous Harriet. When you
earn wages you will give them to your poor mother and baby,
won't you?"
"Yes, mother," said Amelia.
"And father, too," said Maria.
"And father, too," said the wife. "He has been a very good
father to you all; and I never can understand why one who
works so hard should earn so little; but I believe it is the
fault of those machines. The police ought to put them down,
and then every body would be comfortable."
Sybil and Warner re-entered; the fire was lit, the tea made,
the meal partaken. An air of comfort, even of enjoyment, was
diffused over this chamber, but a few minutes back so desolate
and unhappy.
"Well," said the wife, raising herself a little up in her bed,
"I feel as if that dish of tea had saved my life. Amelia,
have you had any tea? And Maria? You see what it is to be
good girls; the Lord will never desert you.
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