Left alone, Ida May commenced to look through the "Want" columns.
All through sixteen columns of the paper the girl's eyes eagerly ran. She did not find anything that she was competent to do, and tears of vexation rolled down her cheeks.
Suddenly her eyes rested upon an advertisement which she must have missed in her hurried examination of the column.
"Wanted.—A few more hands in a cotton-mill. No. — Canal Street. Applicants must apply between the hours of nine and ten, this A. M."
Little dreaming of what was to come of it, Ida May concluded that this was certainly the only position she could dare apply for.
[CHAPTER XVI.]
The matron entered presently, and Ida May showed her the advertisement that had attracted her attention.
"It might be as well to try that," said the matron, encouragingly.
She looked after the girl as she went slowly down the steps, and shook her head sadly.