"
"Poor Nancy!" said Alice. "Mrs. Vawse has no money nor
property of any kind, except what is in her house; but there
is not a more independent woman breathing. She does all sorts
of things to support herself. Now, for instance, Ellen, if
anybody is sick within ten miles round, the family are too
happy to get Mrs. Vawse for a nurse. She is an admirable one.
Then she goes out tailoring at the farmers' houses; she brings
home wool and returns it spun into yarn; she brings home yarn
and knits it up into stockings and socks; all sorts of odd
jobs. I have seen her picking hops; she isn't above doing
anything, and yet she never forgets her own dignity. I think,
wherever she goes and whatever she is about, she is at all
times one of the most truly lady-like persons I have ever
seen. And everybody respects her; everybody likes to gain her
good will; she is known all over the country; and all the
country are her friends."
"They pay her for doing these things, don't they?"
"Certainly; not often in money; more commonly in various kinds
of matters that she wants — flour, and sugar, and Indian meal,
and pork, and ham, and vegetables, and wool — anything; it is
but a little of each that she wants. She has friends that
would not permit her to earn another sixpence if they could
help it, but she likes better to live as she does. And she is
always as you saw her to-day — cheerful and happy as a little
girl.
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