The loss of Ella, after having striven so long and so hard for the sake of her children, made her feel more discouraged than she had ever yet felt.
It seemed to her as if even Heaven had ceased to regard her--or that she was one doomed to be the sport of cruel and malignant powers.
She had been home for only a short time, when Dr.R--came in.

After inquiring about her health, and if the children were still free from any symptoms of the terrible disease that had carried off their sister, he said-- "I've been thinking about you a good deal in the last day or two, Mrs.Gaston, and have now called to have some talk with you.

You work for the stores, I believe ?" "Yes, sir." "What kind of work do you do ?" "Here are some common shirts, which I have just brought home." "Well, how much do you get for them ?" "Seven cents, sir." "_Seven cents_! How many of them can you make in a day ?" "Two are as many as I shall be able to get through with, and attend to my children; and even then I must work half the night.

If I had nothing to do but sit down and sew all the while, I might make three of them." "Shameful! Shameful! And is that the price paid for such work ?" "It is all I get." "At this rate, then, you can only make fourteen cents a day ?" "That is all, sir.

And, even on the best of work, I can never get beyond a quarter of a dollar a day." "How in the world, then, have you managed to keep yourself and three children from actual want ?" "I have not been able, doctor," she replied, with some bitterness.
"We have wanted almost every thing." "So I should suppose.