in the North[3] she had enlisted the sympathy and respect of kind friends, who came to her relief and helped her to help herself, the very best assistance they could bestow upon her.  Capable and efficient, she found no difficulty in getting work for herself and older children, who were able to add their quota to the support of the family by running errands, doing odd jobs for the neighbors and helping their mother between school hours.  Nor did she lay all the household burdens on the shoulders of the girls and leave her boys to the mercy of the pavement; she tried to make her home happy and taught them all to have a share in adding to its sunshine.  “It makes boys selfish,” she would say, “to have their sisters do all the work and let the boys go scot-free.  I don’t believe there would be so many trifling men if the boys were trained to be more helpful at home and to feel more for their mothers and sisters.”  All this was very well for the peace and sunshine of that home, but as the children advanced in life the question came to her with painful emphasis——­“What can I do for the future of my boys and girls?” She was not anxious to have them all professional men and school teachers and government clerks, but she wanted each one to have some trade or calling by which a respectable and comfortable living could be made; but first she consulted their tastes and inclinations.  Her youngest boy was very fond of horses, but instead of keeping him in the city, where he was in danger of getting too intimate with horse jockeys and stable boys, she found a place for him with an excellent farmer, who, seeing the tastes of the boy, took great interest in teaching him how to raise stock and he became a skillful farmer.  Her second son showed that he had some mechanical skill and ingenuity and she succeeded in getting him a situation with a first-class carpenter, and spared no pains to have him well instructed in all the branches of carpentry, and would often say to him, “John, don’t do any sham work if you are going to be a carpenter; be thorough in every thing you do and try to be the best carpenter in A.P., and if you do your work better than others, you won’t have to be all the time going around advertising yourself; somebody will find out what you can do and give you work.”  Her oldest son was passionately fond of books and she helped him through school till he was able to become a school teacher.  But as the young man was high spirited and ambitious, he resolved that he would make his school teaching a stepping stone to a more congenial employment.  He studied medicine and graduated with M.D., but as it takes a young doctor some time to gain the confidence of an old community, he continued after his graduation to teach and obtained a certificate to practice medicine.  Without being forced to look to his mother for assistance, while the confidence of his community was slowly growing, he depended on the school for his living and looked to the future for his success as a physician.