A few years subsequent to the death of Philip Drew, Richard was apprehended on suspicion of forgery, and the charge proving well-founded, he was sentenced to transportation for life. His sister ran away from her father's house with a strolling-player, who spent the little money she brought him, and then left her with a young infant, to reap the fruits of infamy and shame. The father, who lived to see the consequences of neglecting the moral and religious education of his children, attempted to stifle his remorse by increased intemperance; and in the course of a few years a fit, occasioned by excessive drinking, put a period to his existence. The whole of this tale, the facts of which, as I have already mentioned, were collected on the spot, exemplifies in a singularly striking manner the text of Holy Scripture:-" The house of the wicked shall be overthrown: but the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish." THE GOSSIP, A TALE. The gossip who spends half her day The fast fleeting hours of her life. IN a small village in the west of England lived a poor family of the name of May, consisting of a labourer, his wife, and several young children. They were hard-working people, who bore the good-will of all who knew them: honest were they in their dealings, living peaceably with their neighbours, and as long as they had health to work, never troubling the parish for a farthing towards their support. They had no fewer than nine children, of whom Ellen (the subject of this tale,) was the eldest by some years. When scarcely five years old, the charge of nursing the infant, when her mother went out to work, was usually allotted to her; and as the family after this time almost yearly increased, she retained that occupation for a period of no short duration. However, at the age of fifteen, her parents began to think it was time she should be more profitably employed, and they accordingly sought some good opportunity of placing her in service. She was a tall stout girl, well disposed towards her work, and the possessor of a happy temper. She had however one unfortunate propensity, the consequence of having been left in early life entirely to her own guidance: this propensity was a love of gossipping. Was she dispatched on an errand, instead of executing her business, and returning without loss of time, she commonly stopped to talk with some of her acquaintance, from whom she gathered all the idle tales of the neighbourhood; and whenever she had the baby in her arms, during the absence of her mother, she was always found sitting with it close to the turnpike gate, that she might have a word with every one who was going or returning along the high road; and on a market-day especially this was her great delight. My readers may naturally feel surprised that John and Hannah May were all this time so little apprehensive of the consequences of their daughter being suffered to contract such bad habits; but the truth is, they were generally both so busily engaged from morning till night in providing for the maintenance of their family, that they neglected for some time to pay much attention, in any way, to her education: as to the prominent failing I have mentioned, I question whether it would not have escaped their notice for a still longer period, had not Mrs. Grant, the village school-mistress, warned them of the danger of such a habit. These poor people had never had the means of learning to read in their youth, but as they became convinced of its usefulness, they endeavoured at length to give Ellen the advantage of a little scholarship, and with this view sent her occasionally to school, that is, whenever they could afford to pay the necessary sum for her instruction; and although she could seldom be spared to remain as long as the rest of her school-fellows, she learned by degrees to read and work very fairly, and always seemed grateful for the pains Mrs. Grant bestowed upon her. This worthy woman one day took the opportunity of speaking privately to Hannah May on the subject of her daughter. "I like Ellen as a scholar," said she, "for I find her willing and obedient at all times, but she has a sad inclination for gossip, and if that is not checked, there is no saying to what a pitch it will arrive; besides it will be much against her getting on well in the world, a gossip can never make a trusty servant. Idle talk leads to scandal, and a lover of scandal is a mischief maker, who is always getting into scrapes herself, and is disliked by every one else." Hannah respected Mrs. Grant's opinions, and acknowledged the propriety of paying greater attention to her daughter's conduct. From henceforth she forbade the latter from spending so much time in the public road, and in order to wean her more effectually from her bad habits, became more anxious to procure her some situation. But this was no easy matter. In some counties (as in Yorkshire for instance) all those who are fit for service have only to repair on certain days in the year to some market-town, where they stand together in the street, and are generally hired before the evening closes; but here the case was different, there were no regular hirings: the farmers were mostly poor, and what few servants they kept were those termed parish apprentices, children of those persons who are supported by the parish, which thus obtains the right of binding them to individuals for a term of years. This term frequently commences at the early age of nine, and its duration is usually ten or eleven years. In the present instance the Mays had always been independent of the parish, so that the destination of their daughter was left entirely at their own disposal. Week after week rolled on, and all their exertions proved fruitless, till at length Mrs. Grant |