your needle, and are, besides, far from being well. The work, too,
is of the most particular kind, and cannot be hurried."

"Don't fear for me in the least, Mary. I will do all I have engaged
to do," and the young woman, who had already arranged the cut-out
garment, took a portion of it in her lap and commenced her task.

The two sisters, here introduced, were poor, in bad health, and
without friends. Mary, the older, had declined rapidly within a few
months, and become so much exhausted as to be obliged to keep her
bed most of the time. The task of providing for the wants of both
fell, consequently, upon Ellen. Increased exertion was more than her
delicate frame could well endure. Daily were the vital energies of
her system becoming more and more exhausted, a fact of which she was
painfully conscious, and which she, with studious care, sought to
conceal from Mary.

When, through loss of friends and change of circumstances, the two
sisters were thrown entirely dependent upon their own exertions for
a livelihood, they, with prudent forethought, immediately applied
themselves to the learning of a trade in order to have the means of
support. Confinement for twelve or fourteen hours a day, sitting in
one position--a great change for them--could not long be endured
without producing ill effects on frail young creatures at best.
Mary, the older, failed first; and, at the time of which we are
writing, had so far declined as to be little more than the shadow of
any thing earthly.

With her own unaided hands, Ellen found it impossible to earn enough
for even their most simple need. Often Mary was without medicine,