KUTH. 107

almost forgotten, for she was told that henceforth her home
would be with her cousin John; he and his wife were lonely
with no children of their own.

And so Ruth was to exchange the great dreary house for
a sunny cottage almost in the country, where so few tears were
her portion that she has nearly forgotten how to cry.

Miss Maria and Miss Sophia still sit stiffly up and dis-
course upon the follies of the present day; and, though Miss
Sophia sometimes expresses a small regret that Ruth should
have left them, Miss Maria always says, “ You know, Sophia,
she was a great care and expense,” and that concludes the
matter.

Ruth has learned how sweet affection and sympathy can
be to a hungry little heart, and repays it all with such love
and devotion to Papa John and Mamma Alice that they bless
the day when they took her home.