134 Turnaside Cottage.

and knows all that has happened ; but with me it
was a very gradual process. First, I knew and
thought of nothing but my own wants and pains ;
then came an indistinct recollection of trouble and
anxiety ; then a sense of loneliness, that both my
father and my master were gone, and that I must
say nothing lest I should get them into trouble.
This impression kept me from asking any questions,
and gradually my mind became clear as to all that
had passed. I was in bed for nearly three weeks,
and the doctor had some doubts, I was told after-
wards, whether he should pull me through. I my-
self, during the days of weakness and uncertainty
which followed, was almost sorry that he had
succeeded. I could not think how I was to support
mysclf. No farmer would take me, even for my
food and lodging; and I had no money to bind
myself apprentice to anyone. If I were near a
town, I thought, I might find employment as a
printer’s boy, or as half clerk, half errand-boy in
some attorney’s office ; but I knew not how to set
about finding any such place, and I was unknown
and had no friend now to help me—no one but
Master George, and he was but a boy himself.
Often as I turned the matter over, I never could
get any further, and I ended always by carrying
this trouble to that Footstool where I was learning