Every penny that I could save I knew was needed at home.

My parents were wise and nothing was withheld from me.
I knew every week the receipts of each of the three who were working--my father, my mother, and myself.

I also knew all the expenditures.

We consulted upon the additions that could be made to our scanty stock of furniture and clothing and every new small article obtained was a source of joy.

There never was a family more united.
Day by day, as mother could spare a silver half-dollar, it was carefully placed in a stocking and hid until two hundred were gathered, when I obtained a draft to repay the twenty pounds so generously lent to us by her friend Mrs.Henderson.That was a day we celebrated.