STURDY AND STRONG

CONTENTS.


STURDY AND STRONG: PAGE
I. ALONE, 1
II. TWO FRIENDS, 25
III. WORK, 48
IV. HOME, 74
V. AN ADVENTURE, 97
VI. FIRE! 117
VII. SAVED! 142
DO YOUR DUTY, 165
SURLY JOE, 231
A FISH-WIFE'S DREAM, 257




STURDY AND STRONG.




CHAPTER I.

ALONE.


"You heard what he said, George?"

"Oh, mother, mother!"

"Don't sob so, my boy; he is right. I have seen it coming a long time,
and, hard as it seems, it will be better. There is no disgrace in it.
I have tried my best, and if my health had not broken down we might
have managed, but you see it was not to be. I shall not mind it, dear;
it is really only for your sake that I care about it at all."

The boy had ceased sobbing, and sat now with a white set face.

"Mother, it will break my heart to think that I cannot keep you from
this. If we could only have managed for a year or two I could have
earned more then; but to think of you--you in the workhouse!"

"In a workhouse infirmary, my boy," his mother said gently. "You see it
is not as if it were from any fault of ours. We have done our best. You
and I have managed for two years; but what with my health and my eyes
breaking down we can do so no longer. I hope it will not be for long,
dear. You see I shall have rest and quiet, and I hope I shall soon be
able to be out again."