SHE WAS GOOD FOR NOTHING [3]
grave; for she was his mother. Sometime after, when his father died,
he was in foreign lands, and did not come home. I know that he never
married, I believe he became a lawyer. He had forgotten me, and even
had we met he would not have known me, for I have lost all my good
looks, and perhaps that is all for the best." And then she spoke of
the dark days of trial, when misfortune had fallen upon them.
"We had five hundred dollars," she said, "and there was a house in
the street to be sold for two hundred, so we thought it would be worth
our while to pull it down and build a new one in its place; so it
was bought. The builder and carpenter made an estimate that the new
house would cost ten hundred and twenty dollars to build. Eric had
credit, so he borrowed the money in the chief town. But the captain,
who was bringing it to him, was shipwrecked, and the money lost.
Just about this time, my dear sweet boy, who lies sleeping there,
was born, and my husband was attacked with a severe lingering illness.
For three quarters of a year I was obliged to dress and undress him.
We were backward in our payments, we borrowed more money, and all that
we had was lost and sold, and then my husband died. Since then I
have worked, toiled, and striven for the sake of the child. I have
scrubbed and washed both coarse and fine linen, but I have not been
able to make myself better off; and it was God's will. In His own time
He will take me to Himself, but I know He will never forsake my
boy." Then she fell asleep. In the morning she felt much refreshed,
and strong enough, as she thought, to go on with her work. But as soon
as she stepped into the cold water, a sudden faintness seized her; she
clutched at the air convulsively with her hand, took one step forward,
and fell. Her head rested on dry land, but her feet were in the water;
her wooden shoes, which were only tied on by a wisp of straw, were
carried away by the stream, and thus she was found by Martha when
she came to bring her some coffee.
In the meantime a messenger had been sent to her house by the
mayor, to say that she must come to him immediately, as he had
something to tell her. It was too late; a surgeon had been sent for to
open a vein in her arm, but the poor woman was dead.
"She has drunk herself to death," said the cruel mayor. In the
letter, containing the news of his brother's death, it was stated that
he had left in his will a legacy of six hundred dollars to the
glovemaker's widow, who had been his mother's maid, to be paid with
discretion, in large or small sums to the widow or her child.
"There was something between my brother and her, I remember," said
the mayor; "it is a good thing that she is out of the way, for now the
boy will have the whole. I will place him with honest people to
bring him up, that he may become a respectable working man." And the
blessing of God rested upon these words. The mayor sent for the boy to
come to him, and promised to take care of him, but most cruelly
added that it was a good thing that his mother was dead, for "she
was good for nothing." They carried her to the churchyard, the
churchyard in which the poor were buried. Martha strewed sand on the
grave and planted a rose-tree upon it, and the boy stood by her side.
"Oh, my poor mother!" he cried, while the tears rolled down his
cheeks. "Is it true what they say, that she was good for nothing?"
"No, indeed, it is not true," replied the old servant, raising her
eyes to heaven; "she was worth a great deal; I knew it years ago,
and since the last night of her life I am more certain of it than
ever. I say she was a good and worthy woman, and God, who is in
heaven, knows I am speaking the truth, though the world may say,
even now she was good for nothing."
THE END
.