Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch

d and scum

always alw

this mornin'! The thermome

sum and substance of her philosophy lay in keeping the dust off her rose-colored spectacles. When Mr. Wiggs traveled to eternity by the alcohol route, she buried his faults with him, and for want of better virtues to extol she alw

en and made them sit up close to the stove, while she pasted brown paper over

. Bagby's grocery, it is true, conformed to convention, and presented a solid front to the railroad track, but Miss Hazy's cottage shied off sidewise into the Wiggses' yard, as if it were afraid of the big freight-trains that went thundering past so many times a day; and

but you would never guess it from the street. When the country house burned, one door had been saved. So Mrs. Wiggs and the boys brought it to the new home and skilfully placed it at the front

capable of supporting the burden imposed upon them. In his anxious eyes was the look of a bread-winner who had begun the struggle too soon. Life had been a tragedy

occasion or his mother demanded he worked to good purposes with a tenacity that argued well for his future success, but

When the last baby arrived, Billy had stood looking down at the small bundle and asked anxiously: "Are you g

ning Mrs. Wiggs bustled about

ame in from the parlor, where she kept her potatoes and onions. "The boys'll be in soon,

time in the neighborhood, so Mrs. Wiggs had orga

ia, from her post by the stove; "I bet they've had th

ne leg, too! 'T ain't no trouble at all. All I got to do is to put a littl

places at the table taken, so they sat on th

"I've drinken so much that when I swaller

bring me in a couple of planks to put acr

, was occupied. The boys sat in the windows and on the table, and the girls squeezed together o

e kin all sing a hymn; I'll read it

s billers you ar

scouraged think

blessin's, name

ise you what the

ss of time, but with a genuine enthusiasm that was in itself a blessing.

dy 'bout last Su

othered giggle from tw

what the Lord give Mos

the corner, and an

give Moses ten taller

n the eye with a paper wad. It was aimed at Billy, but when he dodged she became the victim. This caused so

y thop thpittin' terba

, I know wh

kin I gi

tied over her eye, emerged from the bedroom a

she began, reading fro

me!" promptly

and passed to the next,

it in A

the Holy La

r that held one of the planks, and a cascade of small, indignant girls were tobogganing sidewise down the incline. A fight was

hold a service. An' when he got up to preach he sez, 'Friends,' sez he, 'my tex' is Chillblains. They ain't no use a-preachin' religion to men whose whole thought is set on their feet. Now, you fellows git some soft-soap an' pour it in yer shoes, an' jes' keep them shoes on till yer feet gits well, an' the nex' time I come 'round yer minds'll be better prepar

" came the p

w we'll sing 'Pul

rom the vibrations of the lusty chorus,

heir mas an' their pas. Make 'em thankful fer whatever they 'are got, even if it ain't but a little.

ng. He had taken no part in the singing, and was silent and preoccupied. "Jim," said his mother, tryi

't ain't 'nough fer the rent. I g

shoulder, and together they loo

be I kin git work to-morrow, or you'll git

ssed what the