The children all had the measles, and two of them the scarlet fever, so that Mrs.Bright could not work much.
Her affairs were not in a very prosperous condition when the spring opened; but the future was bright, and the widow, trusting in Providence, believed that all would end well.
One thing troubled her.

She had not been able to save any thing for Mr.Hardhand.

She could only pay her interest; but she hoped by the first of July to give him twenty-five dollars of the principal.

But the first of July came, and she had only five dollars of the sum she had partly promised her creditor.

She could not so easily recover from the disasters of the hard winter, and she had but just paid off the little debts she had contracted.