128 FRIENDS OF THE STRANGER.

activity, learning as much from flowers and trees ag
they could possibly do from books. If the swing should
break they would not. have very far to fall, and the
grass is almost as soft as a bed. So, as long as they
do not quarrel, Mary remains contented at her em-
broidery, every now and then stealing a side-look at a
volume which lies open beside her.

The rosy-cheeked girl at Mary’s feet is a little child
whom she has taken to bring up, and whose parents
were carried off by the cholera. You might guess from
the clear red and white of her complexion, the pearly
teeth, and the bright blue eyes, that Hannah is of Irish
blood. But she knows nothing of Ireland except what
is in her geography lesson, and has no thought about
any friend but Miss Mary.

The boy who is entering the little enclosure around the
school-house, and taking off his hat to Mary, is no other
than our friend Carl Adler. His face reveals that he has
had a rapid walk, but Carl is a youth who can bear a
good deal of fatigue and exposure, Perhaps I ought
to tell how he became acquainted with Mary Brewer.
He met her on a visit of mercy to a poor German
family in the neighbourhood of the Oaks. Carl had
been drawn to their assistance by hearing from their
hovel, as he passed one day, the well-known melody of
a German hymn. He first stopped, then opened the
door, and then joined heartily in the chorus. The effect
was instantaneous, The poor woman sprang up from the