supported her family, until her two oldest children died.  Soon after, the poor woman herself became sick, and the school was closed.  Then she moved into this part of the country, and tried to make her living by weaving mats out of rushes.  But in the fall, the child older than Alice, died; and Mrs. Gray again grew sick.  Her landlord was a hard hearted man:  he turned her out of doors, and the poor woman would have died, if some neighbors had not taken her in, and provided for her until she could work for herself.  At last she went to live on one of the hills that you can see near the iron mine.  She did pretty well that winter; but one day in the spring, a great freshet ruined every thing that she had, and almost carried away her house.  Afraid to stay on the hill any longer, she was about to go to the city, and ask assistance from the societies which give help to poor people, when some persons, told her to move to the cottage she is in now, and that they would pay the rent.  She did so.  When Alice grew older, she worked hard to support her mother, and she it was who planted all the flowers and vegetables that you saw in the garden.  Father made her a present of the bee hives.  Every body loves her because she has so sweet a temper.”

“And is the old lady still sick?” asked Samuel.

“Yes,” said his cousin, “she will never be well again.  Yet she is happy in having a good daughter and kind friends, and loves to see the young people, who sometimes stop to talk or read to her.”

At some distance from the cottage the boys met a bull in the road.  It was standing still when they first saw it; but in a little while it began to strike the ground with its feet, and toss about its head.  Samuel was afraid to go on; but his cousins told him to follow them, without attempting to run.  As they passed, the bull looked fiercely at them, and began to roar; but they walked on, keeping their eyes steady on it, all the while.  It continued to make a great noise, but did not follow them.  After they had passed it, Thomas said they could then walk as fast as they chose, lest the bull might follow them.  Samuel asked him, if bulls had not sometimes killed people.

“Yes,” he replied, “bulls are dangerous when any thing makes them angry.  And at such times, if you run from them they are sure to follow.  They often fight with each other; and farmer Smith had a bull killed by another one last spring.  If you meet them in the road, it is best to face them, without showing any fear.  It is not often that they will attack any one who has courage enough to look straight at them.”

[Illustration]

CHAPTER XII.

Locusts.

Mr. Harvey’s boys had a very fine fig tree, which had been presented to them by a friend of their father, and of which they took great care.  It was kept in a large box, so that it might be placed in the house during the winter.  The boys expected it would bear fruit next year.  One day John burst into the room where Thomas, Samuel, and his father were sitting, and exclaimed with a doleful voice: