place together; after which they would take a trip to Concord and see
where he was buried, and also the places where he had lived, which, she
had heard, were so charming. She could then tell her boy of Emerson and
Thoreau; and, through a sight of the place where the first battle of the
Revolution was fought, she could lead him willingly into the study of
history.

Thus Mrs. Tracy planned with herself. She had suddenly become converted
to a knowledge of her larger duty in the training of her child--her only
child now; for, nearly two years before, death had claimed, in one week,
her two other children, one older and one younger than Reuben; and since
then she had fallen into a sad, listless state of mind which she found
hard to get out of. She was an unusually good mother in the ordinary
sense of the word, since she was careful to have her boy well-fed,
well-clothed, and well-behaved; but now she saw more than that was
required of her.

The good resolution of Mrs. Tracy became so fruitful, that another
week's time found Reuben and herself acquainted with the points of
interest which Johnnie Evans had mentioned, and several more beside.
Mrs. Tracy had accompanied these visits with much interesting
information, which Reuben had enjoyed greatly. Such success led her to
provide something new for the following week. Now, she herself had never
seen the old town of Marblehead,--only four miles from Salem,--although
of late she had been to Marblehead Neck to see a sister who was boarding
there for the summer. So with an eye to visiting the old town, she spent
an hour each day, for several days, reading and talking with Reuben on
the history and legends of Marblehead; and, through the guidance of
Drake's New England Coast, learning what now remained there as mementos
of the past. Then, after having invited two of Reuben's little