Mary Erskine Mary Bell

Author : Jacob Abbott
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 78 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (955 download)

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Download or read book Mary Erskine written by Jacob Abbott and published by . This book was released on 2021-01-16 with total page 78 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mary Erskine was an orphan. Her mother died when she was about twelve years old. Her father haddied long before, and after her father's death her mother was very poor, and lived in so secluded andsolitary a place, that Mary had no opportunity then to go to school. She began to work too as soonas she was able to do any thing, and it was necessary from that day forward for her to work all thetime; and this would have prevented her from going to school, if there had been one near. Thuswhen her mother died, although she was an intelligent and very sensible girl, she could neither readnor write a word. She told Mrs. Bell the day that she went to live with her, that she did not evenknow any of the letters, except the round one and the crooked one. The round one she said shealways knew, and as for S she learned that, because it stood for Erskine. This shows how little sheknew about spelling.Mrs. Bell wanted Mary Erskine to help her in taking care of her own daughter Mary, who was thenan infant. As both the girls were named Mary, the people of the family and the neighbors graduallyfell into the habit of calling each of them by her full name, in order to distinguish them from eachother. Thus the baby was never called Mary, but always Mary Bell, and the little nursery maid wasalways known as Mary Erskine.Mary Erskine became a great favorite at Mrs. Bell's. She was of a very light-hearted and joyousdisposition, always contented and happy, singing like a nightingale at her work all the day long, whenshe was alone, and cheering and enlivening all around her by her buoyant spirits when she was incompany. When Mary Bell became old enough to run about and play, Mary Erskine became herplaymate and companion, as well as her protector. There was no distinction of rank to separatethem. If Mary Bell had been as old as Mary Erskine and had had a younger sister, her duties in thehousehold would have been exactly the same as Mary Erskine's were. In fact, Mary Erskine'sposition was altogether that of an older sister, and strangers visiting, the family would have supposedthat the two girls were really sisters, had they not both been named Mary.