"No, ma'am: I have noticed some of them when we have ridden past the cottages, but I didn't see any who were at all like Ruth."
"How do you know they were not like Ruth?"
"Because they laughed loud, and acted rough, and looked you right in the face, in a kind of unpleasant way," replied Sue, who, although she did not know exactly why she was not prepossessed by the nurse-girls she had seen around the cottages, was resolved to give as good a reason as she could.
"I suppose they are nice girls enough, in their way," said Mrs. Peterson; "but of course they don't expect to associate with other young persons about here. I suppose you know, Ruth, that, if you are a nurse-girl, you can only go with your own class: and, besides, you will have no time to yourself; you will have to be with the children you take care of, day and night.
"Yes, ma'am," replied Ruth, coloring; "I know that; but I think it will be pleasanter than being where there are no children. I had younger brothers and sisters at home, and I used to help take care of them. I liked it very much. I've missed them a good deal."
"How came you to be separated from your brothers and sisters?"
"My father was dead, and their father was my step-father. After our mother died, my stepfather was married again, and my step-mother thought it was enough to have my step-father's children. So my uncle came and took me, because I hadn't any own father and mother."
"Oh! that was it? That was very mixed up. How old were you when your mother married again?"
"Six years old. And my father died when I was a year old. He used to live a little way from here: he was a farmer."
"And what is your step-father's business?"