“There’s a great risk in taking up with a boy like that; we can’t know anything about him; they all tell a good story.”
“I know that’s a good boy, Ben; I feel it in my bones.”
“It will make you a great deal of work, Sally; you will have to spin and weave, make clothes, knit stockings, and wash for him.”
“And he’ll bring in wood and water, churn, feed the hogs, and help me. I know what it is to take care of a boy; I’ve taken care of all ours. I made every stitch of clothes that our Sam wore till I was married; besides, when you begin to plant and sow, such a boy will be a great help.”
“That is all true, Sally; and I would not hesitate a moment if I knew he was a good boy; but suppose he should turn out like that Pete, Uncle Smullen and his wife did so much for, and got no thanks for; and even if he is good, boys that have got a notion of running about can’t stay long in a place, and settle themselves down to steady work; they want to be among folks, and with other boys. Now, we might take him, and you go to work, as I know you would, and clothe him all up, and then he get lonesome on this island, get on board some vessel, and run off.”
“It seems to me, Ben, that this poor little boy, without ‘kith or kin,’ has been thrown into our hands by the providence of God, and, if we let him go back to these wretches, when we can keep him just as well as not, and drive the poor little harmless, trembling thing from our threshold, with the tears on his cheeks, that we shall not prosper, and ought not to expect to.”
“Enough said; I’ll take him.”
“You’ll be kind to him—won’t you? because he trembles so every time you speak to him.”
“I’ve not altered my nature, Sally, because I treated those villains as they deserved.”
When Sally came back, she wanted to press the wanderer to her heart; but she recalled Ben’s caution, and merely said, “My husband is willing you should stay with us, and I hope you will try and be a good boy.”