The battle of life

"THERE'S no use in talking more over the matter, mother; when I says a thing—I does it!" cried John Carey, striking his fist upon the table, to give emphasis to his words. "I've...

"WHAT an odd view mother takes of life!" thought John, as he went whistling along the road towards the house of Justice Burns, to whom his uncle had been butler, and in whose ha...

JOHN CAREY had enjoyed his walk to London, and had never so much as thought if he were tired or not; but whether from the noise and excitement to which he had been unaccustomed,...

IN the meantime, Widow Carey sat hour after hour in her little cottage, watching and waiting for the return of her son. She had laid the supper ready, the home-made loaf on the...

A TIME of heavy tribulation to the widow followed the horrors of that night. John Carey was not indeed killed, the spark of life glimmered still, but he lay for weeks in a dange...

NEVER had Mrs. Carey gone more unwillingly on an errand. It was not merely that—after being long shut up in a sick-room, weakened by watching and fasting, the fresh air made her...

WHILE his mother was putting on her bonnet before setting out on her errand, John Carey had finished the slender meal which appeared to leave him more hungry than before. He had...

LONELY was the little cottage in which dwelt Silas Mytton, the hewer and chopper of firewood. It stood in a corner of a heath, with not another house near it, and all the winds...

ON a bright sunny morning in the beginning of April, Silas Mytton harnessed his donkey to the cart, and led it to the shed, where he and his two younger sons loaded the cart wit...

"HOW late father is of coming back," cried Joe, as he entered the cottage, flushed and heated, after a long ramble with his brother. Sunburned little peasants were they, clad in...

THE sun's red rim had just sunk over the common; evening would soon close in, nothing had been found, save that one little scrap, which could possibly help even a keen lawyer in...

THE summer flowers came, and withered away; the days grew shorter and shorter. The swallows took their flight to warmer climes; winter was stealing on apace, and yet the lawsuit...

"I'M glad that you'll have your husband back again to-day, Mrs. Laver, and I hope that such a long time spent in the hospital will have set him up for good," said Mrs. Batten, t...

VERY quiet and very dull sat Annie on the counter, staring gravely at the window. She could not clamber down from the counter, and she dared neither play with anything on it, no...

AS Martin Laver was still weak from recent illness, he slept till a later hour than usual on the Sunday morning. It would have been pleasant to him to have begun his home-life a...

MARTIN found the time spent in church a time of refreshing, and returned to his home in a quiet, tranquil mood, better able to bear and to forbear, with the charity which hopeth...

THE day wore away, twilight came on, Annie grew tired of her play, her eyelids were heavy, she almost dropped asleep in her father's arms, as he carried her gently upstairs, and...

THE next six weeks were for Martin, weeks of sore trial. His wife's sufferings brought on her an attack of low fever; his night's rest was broken, his strength exhausted by watc...

These exclamations were uttered by Miriam Macbean in a voice almost hoarse with passion, as she turned suddenly round, and with sparkling eyes and clenched fist, faced the fello...

"ANYTHING the matter down in the lower regions, my dear? You look annoyed," said the mild, placid little husband of Mrs. Mellor, as his lady entered the drawing-room in which he...

MIRIAM, excited and angry still, went up to her little attic to prepare for her walk, carrying up with her the box which Caroline had brought down. With Miriam the storm had not...

"I KNOW all that you will say, Miriam," began Hamil, who was the first to break silence, looking down gloomily at the dusty grass before him. "You don't suppose that I've not of...

"BUT now," said Hamil, "I want to know what brought you up to our quarters when I so little expected to see you. I remember now that you said something—I don't know exactly what...

"I'm sure that you are not more sorry than I am!" cried Caroline. "I wish that silver knife had been at the bottom of the sea—I heartily do—mistress is so displeased with me, an...

"THIS is most vexatious, most perplexing; I am sure that I scarcely know which way to turn," exclaimed Mrs. Fairley, as she entered the room in which her firstborn babe lay asle...

"YES, she is going away, I told you that she was! There's Giles carrying out the big black box, with the cords tied about it, to put it up by the coachman!" exclaimed Tom Fairle...

TOM FAIRLEY arose in the morning perfectly free from fever, and the doctor, when he came in the forenoon, said that the boy would soon be as well as ever, and that in one or two...

SUSAN felt shy of speaking to Giles about writing a letter for her, and sending the stamps. She would far rather not have told her little secret to the man-servant, who, she fea...

TOM's sleep was, however, troubled, and did not last very long. He awoke feeling restless and thirsty. He wished to call for some milk and water, but the room was so still that...

"THAT's he—that's he—hurrah! Look, wife, look! He's a-sitting on the box of the coach that we may see him the better! Hurrah!" And with a cheer which came from the heart, Michae...

IF there was pleasure in the cottage at the officer's return, what was the joy within the home of his parents! Perhaps there was not a more cheerful group in all England than th...

"I TOLD you he'd come, I told ye, mistress!" exclaimed Michael Garth, in a tone of triumph, as he glanced in through the open cottage door at his wife, who was darning her good...

Michael Garth continued to look fixedly into the fire, with a thoughtful expression upon his weather-beaten face. His wife watched him anxiously, wishing that he should be the f...

HARRY MAUDE quitted the cottage, and Michael and Martha returned to their occupations, the one digging in the garden, the other mending stockings by the fireside. But the old ma...

BRIGHT and cloudless rose the sun on the following morning. The air was balmy as in May, and the budding leaves on the boughs, the early wild-flowers under the hedges, all seeme...