work for the stores, I believe?" "Yes, sir." "What kind of work do you do?" "Here are some common shirts, which I have just brought home." "Well, how much do you get for them?" "Seven cents, sir." "_Seven cents_! How many of them can you make in a day?" "Two are as many as I shall be able to get through with, and attend to my children; and even then I must work half the night. If I had nothing to do but sit down and sew all the while, I might make three of them." "Shameful! Shameful! And is that the price paid for such work?" "It is all I get." "At this rate, then, you can only make fourteen cents a day?" "That is all, sir. And, even on the best of work, I can never get beyond a quarter of a dollar a day." "How in the world, then, have you managed to keep yourself and three children from actual want?" "I have not been able, doctor," she replied, with some bitterness. "We have wanted almost every thing." "So I should suppose. What rent do you pay for this poor place?" "Three dollars a month." "What! seventy-five cents a week! and not able to earn upon an average more than a dollar a week?" "Yes, sir. But I had better work through the summer, and sometimes earned two dollars, and even a little more, in a week." The doctor paused some time and then said-- "Well, Mrs. Gaston, it's no use for you to struggle on at this rate, even with your two remaining children. You cannot keep a home for them, and cover their nakedness from the cold. Now let me advise you."