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ANNALS OF NEEDLEWOMEN. 75
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
_ Chapter I. That Tlie Realities Of Life...
M was sent for to speak upon business with , some gentleman whose interest had been exerted in "behalf of the young artisan .
Mrs . M . awaited her husband ' s return in some excitement , wonderin what increase of fortune "was in store for them . There was , it
proceed appears g , to a "vacancy Bay . in Hi the gh wages " Royal would Mail be Company given to competent " for artisans hands to ,
and Mr . M had the offer to go if he liked . His wife's joy was much damped at the idea of separation , but in higher circles of life
than theirs private feelings have to be sacrificed to the interests of a famil . We pass over the parting and subsequent loneliness
without y the presence of the husband and father . The wife had power to draw half her husband ' s wages during his absence ,
and their reanion in a year or two was the _hoj _3 e before them . That meeting took lace much sooner than was anticipated ; ere three
months were passed p Mr . M was sent home in a dying state from fever caught _uj 3 on the coast , and only lived to recognise his wife
and expire in her arms in their own humble home . Crushed by the the weight atur of e her pangs bereavement of maternity , the and poor within widow' a s sorrow week of broug her ht hus on
band prem ' s death , a sickly infant was added , , to the family thus left to her sole The charge wants . of her children precluded any sacrifice to selfish grief ;
it was necessary to exert herself for them , and almost before she recovered from her confinement she devised meansas she thought ,
, for their maintenance . She would collect all her little belongings , convert them into money , and add it to the sum of twenty pounds
she had still left in the savings' bank , ( the rest having been appropriated to the expenses of her husband ' s funeral and her own
confinement , ) and open a small chandler's shop . Here was the moment when the advice of a judicious friend was
needed to help her to carry out her plan on business principles . No such friend was at hand . Mrs . M knew no gentleman or lady
to whom she could have applied . So in her own strength and judgment she opened the shopinvesting all her little capital in
, the venture . Alas ! inexperienced in business matters , her kindness of heart and trust in the world ' s honesty proved her ruin .
The profits of the shop were ample to have provided a living for herself and childrenhad she dealt with ready-money customers ;
but she gave credit on , promises of payment , which promises turning out nilshe lost moneyand failed within two years of the attempt .
B pai ( one y d selling twenty had , died p shillings art of remove her in , furniture the d pound to a and ; small and other then room , sacrifices with in her a , three she nei , hborhood however children , , where she was , unknown ) and looked out on the difficulties g before
, her Her with children a sinking were heart just and at an the emp age ty purse to require . nourishing food ,
yet , with the remembrance of her former life , she shrank from
entering the "" union , " or applying for parish , relief . She _was
Annals Of Needlewomen. 75
ANNALS OF NEEDLEWOMEN . 75
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), April 1, 1862, page 75, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01041862/page/3/
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