Now she managed to understand all this in a way that made it easy for her to say, “Why, Anna, I think you feel too bad about seeing what the children are doing every minute in the day.  Julia and Willie are real good, and they play with all the nicest children in the square.  If you had some, all your own, Anna, you’d see it don’t do no harm to let them do a little as they like, and Julia likes this baby so, and sweet dear little boy, it would be so kind of bad to send him to a ’sylum now, you know it would Anna, when you like children so yourself, and are so good to my Willie all the time.  No indeed Anna, it’s easy enough to say I should send this poor, cute little boy to a ’sylum when I could keep him here so nice, but you know Anna, you wouldn’t like to do it yourself, now you really know you wouldn’t, Anna, though you talk to me so hard.—­My, it’s hot to-day, what you doin’ with that ice tea in there Julia, when Miss Annie is waiting all this time for her drink?”

Julia brought in the ice tea.  She was so excited with the talk she had been hearing from the kitchen, that she slopped it on the plate out of the glasses a good deal.  But she was safe, for Anna felt this trouble so deep down that she did not even see those awkward, bony hands, adorned today with a new ring, those stupid, foolish hands that always did things the wrong way.

“Here Miss Annie,” Julia said, “Here, Miss Annie, is your glass of tea, I know you like it good and strong.”

“No, Julia, I don’t want no ice tea here.  Your mamma ain’t able to afford now using her money upon ice tea for her friends.  It ain’t right she should now any more.  I go out now to see Mrs. Drehten.  She does all she can, and she is sick now working so hard taking care of her own children.  I go there now.  Good by Mrs. Lehntman, I hope you don’t get no bad luck doin’ what it ain’t right for you to do.”

“My, Miss Annie is real mad now,” Julia said, as the house shook, as the good Anna shut the outside door with a concentrated shattering slam.

It was some months now that Anna had been intimate with Mrs. Drehten.

Mrs. Drehten had had a tumor and had come to Dr. Shonjen to be treated.  During the course of her visits there, she and Anna had learned to like each other very well.  There was no fever in this friendship, it was just the interchange of two hard working, worrying women, the one large and motherly, with the pleasant, patient, soft, worn, tolerant face, that comes with a german husband to obey, and seven solid girls and boys to bear and rear, and the other was our good Anna with her spinster body, her firm jaw, her humorous, light, clean eyes and her lined, worn, thin, pale yellow face.

Mrs. Drehten lived a patient, homely, hard-working life.  Her husband an honest, decent man enough, was a brewer, and somewhat given to over drinking, and so he was often surly and stingy and unpleasant.

The family of seven children was made up of four stalwart, cheery, filial sons, and three hard working obedient simple daughters.