THE NEW SCHOLAR.
In a house near the one where Miss Grant boarded was a little girl whose name was Hitty Moran. Her real name was Mehitable, but her mother and all her companions called her Hitty. She belonged to a very poor family, and as she was the eldest of a number of children, her mother thought she could not spare her to attend school.
From the windows of her chamber, Miss Grant often saw Hitty sitting on the doorstep, holding a large baby in her arms. She noticed that Hitty was always kind to her baby brother; that she sung to him, let him pull her long hair, and never became impatient or fretful with him. All this interested the kind teacher in the child, and she longed to be of some use to her.
One day, when she was returning from her school, she overtook Hitty, who was carrying a heavy basket of potatoes. "Let me help you," said the teacher, taking hold of the handle.
As they walked along, Miss Grant asked, "Did you ever go to school?"
"No, ma'am," said Hitty; "though I staid in a house once where the lady's son taught me my letters."
"Should you like to learn?" asked the teacher.
"O, yes, ma'am; sure I should be proud if I could read; but mother has so much work, and Bobby takes kindly to me, so that she can't spare me to go to school."
"I should think it could be planned somehow for you to learn," said Miss Grant, kindly. "I will go in and see your mother this evening."
She did so, and talked with Mrs. Moran of the advantage it would be to Hitty, if she could learn to read and write.