y!' when she saw any signs of stumbling. But
trying to keep from it seemed to make me do it all the more, and down I
would come on my poor knees and spill those children out of the wagon,
like blackberries from a full basket.

"One day, after this had happened, master told our Ada she was not to
drive me any more, and before I had got over feeling bad about that,
there came some thing a great deal worse; for I was standing by the pump
in the backyard one day, and master and mistress were in the porch, and
I heard him tell her he had had an offer from Jones the milkman, to buy
me. 'Twould be an easy place, and he'd promised to treat me well, and
he'd about made up his mind to take up with it; for he couldn't afford
to keep a horse on the place that--well, I don't care to repeat the rest
of the speech. 'Twas rather hard on me, but I haven't laid it up against
master. Fact is, he had a deal to worry him about that time, for he was
disappointed in the wheat crop, and the heavy rains had damaged his
corn, and he was feeling mighty poor.

"But mistress was up in arms in a minute. 'What, sell Star!' says she,
'our good, faithful Star, who's been in the family ever since you were a
boy! and to Ki Jones to peddle milk round Skipton Mills and Hull
Station! O pa!' says mistress, says she, 'have we got down so low as
that? Why 't would break our Ada's heart, and mine too, to see Star
hitched to a milk-cart. Rather than have you do that, says she, 'I'll go
in rags, and keep the children on mush and molasses;' and she put her
apron to her eyes.

"'Well, well, don't fret!' says master,--and I thought he looked kind o'
ashamed,--'I haven't sold him yet I've a notion to turn him out to
grass a while, and see what that'll do for him,' So the next day he put
me in this pasture.

"You see that plank bridge yonder, over the creek? That's where our Ada
fell into the water. Master has put up a railing, and made all safe
since the accident happened. 'T was a risky place always, though the
children have

William Babington Maxwell (18661938) was a British novelist. He was a son of novelist Mary Elizabeth Braddon. Though nearly 50 years old at the outbreak of the First World War, he was accepted as a lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers and served in France until 1917.

Cyrus Townsend Brady (December 20, 1861 January 24, 1920) was a journalist, historian and adventure writer. His most well-known work is Indian Fights and Fighters. He was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1883. He was also a deacon in the Episcopal church. His first wife was Clarissa Guthrie, who died in 1890. His second wife was Mary Barrett.

Rebecca Sophia Clarke (1833-1906), also known as Sophie May, was an American author of childrens fiction. Using her nieces and nephews as inspiration, she wrote realistic stories about children. She wrote 45 books between 1860 and 1903. The most popular being the Little Prudy books. She lived most of her life in her native town of Norridgewock, Maine, where she lived out her life with her sister, who was also a successful author.