Peter Trawl | Page 5

to be made, and
grandmother and mother contrived to make it. Poor grandmother,
however, before long fell ill, as she said she should, and then all the
work fell on mother. Father got better, and was able sometimes to go
out with the wherry, but grandmother got worse and worse, and mother
had to attend on her till she died.
When she and father were away from home, Mary and I were left to the
care of our brother Jack. He did his best to look after us, but not being
skilled as a nursemaid, while he was tending Mary, who, being a
girl--she was my twin sister, I should have said--required most of his
care, he could not always manage to prevent me from getting into
trouble. Fortunately nothing very serious happened.
Dear, kind Jack! I was very fond of him, and generally obeyed him
willingly. It would not be true to say that I always did so. He was very
fond of Mary and me too, of that I am sure, and he used to show his
fondness by spending for our benefit any coppers he picked up by
running on errands or doing odd jobs for neighbours. As his purchases
were usually brandy-balls, rock, and other sweets, it was perhaps
fortunate for us that he had not many to spend. By diligently pursuing

her trade, mother, in course of time, saved money enough to enable
father to get the wherry repaired, and to buy a new suit of sails, and
when he got plenty of employment he bade mother stay at home and
look after Mary and me, while Jack went with him. As, however, it
would not have been prudent to give up her business altogether, she
hired a girl, Nancy Fidget, to take her place, as Jack had done, when
she was from home.
I don't remember that anything of importance happened after
grandmother's death till Jack went to sea. We missed him very much,
and Mary was always asking after him, wondering when he would
come back. Still, if I had gone away, she would, I think, have fretted
still more. Perhaps it was because we were twins that we were so fond
of each other. We were, however, not much alike. She was a fair,
blue-eyed little maiden, with flaxen hair and a rosy blush on her cheeks,
and I was a broad-shouldered, strongly-built chap, the hue on my
cheeks and the colour of my hair soon becoming deepened by my being
constantly out of doors, while my eyes were, I fancy, of a far darker tint
than my sister's.
After Jack went mother seemed to concentrate all her affections on us
two. I don't think, however, that any woman could have a warmer or
larger heart than hers, although many may have a wider scope for the
exercise of their feelings. She never turned a beggar away from her
door without some relief even in the worst of times, and when any of
the neighbours were in distress, she always did her best to help them.
Often when she had been out bum-boating for the best part of the day,
and had been attending to household matters for the remainder, she
would sit up the whole night with a sick acquaintance who was too
poor to hire a nurse, and had only thanks to give her, and perhaps of
that not very liberally.
I have said that my mother had as warm and generous a heart as ever
beat in woman's bosom. I repeat it. I might give numerous instances to
prove the truth of my assertion, and to show that I have reason to be
proud of being her son, whatever the world may think about the matter.
One will suffice. It had an important effect on my destinies, although at

the time no one would have supposed that such would be the case. One
evening, as my mother was returning home off the water after dark, she
found a female fallen down close to our door, in what seemed to be a fit.
Some of the neighbours had seen the poor creature, but had let her lie
there, and gone indoors, and several persons passing showed by their
remarks what they thought of her character; but mother, not stopping to
consider who she was or what she was, lifting her up in her strong arms,
carried her into the house, and placed her on the bed which used to be
Jack's.
Mother now saw by the light of the candle that the unhappy being she
had taken charge of was still young, and once had been pretty, but the
life she had led had marred her beauty and brought her to her present
sad state. After mother had undressed her and given