[Now or Never by Oliver Optic]@TWC D-Link bookNow or Never CHAPTER III 6/10
The youngest was only three years old, and Bobby, the oldest, was nine, when his father died. Squire Lee, who had always been a good friend of John Bright, told the widow that she had better go to the poorhouse, and not attempt to struggle along with such fearful odds against her.
But the widow nobly refused to become a pauper, and to make paupers of her children, whom she loved quite as much as though she and they had been born in a ducal palace.
She told the squire that she had two hands, and as long as she had her health, the town need not trouble itself about her support. Squire Lee was filled with surprise and admiration at the noble resolution of the poor woman; and when he returned to his house, he immediately sent her a cord of wood, ten bushels of potatoes, two bags of meal, and a firkin of salt pork. The widow was very grateful for these articles, and no false pride prevented her from accepting the gift of her rich and kind-hearted neighbor. Riverdale Centre was largely engaged in the manufacturing of boots and shoes, and this business gave employment to a large number of men and women. Mrs.Bright had for several years "closed" shoes--which, my readers who do not live in "shoe towns" may not know, means sewing or stitching them.
To this business she applied herself with renewed energy.
There was a large hotel in Riverdale Centre, where several families from Boston spent the summer.
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