The  time  of  severer  trial  was  evidently  drawing
near.  Almost  the  last  resource  was  cut  off,  in  the
injury  jj^r  boy  had  sustained.  She  had  not  looked
at  his  hand,  nor  did  she  comprehend  the  extent  of
damage  it  had  received.  It  was  enough,  and  more
than  enough,  that  it  was  badly  hurt — so  badly,  that
a  physician  had  been  required  to  dress  it.  How  the
mother's  heart  did  ache,  as  she  thought  of  the  pain
her  poor  boy  had  suffered,  and  might  yet  be  doomed
to  suffer !  And  yet,  amid  this  pain,  camp  intruding


166  THE  NEW  YEAR'S  GIFT.
the  thought,  which  she  tried  to  repel  as  a  selfish
thought,  that  he  could  work  no  more,  and  earn  no
more,  for,  perhaps,  a  long,  long  time.
Yes,  the  period  of  severer  trial  had  evidently  come.
She  did  not  permit  herself  even  to  hope  that  her
husband  when  he  returned  would  bring  with  him
enough  money  to  pay  the  rent.  She  knew,  too  wellj
that  he  would  not;  and  she  also  knew,  alas!  too  well
that  the  man  to  whose  tender  mercies  they  would  then
be  exposed  had  no  bowels  of  compassion.
Wet  with  many  tears  was  the  pillow  upon  which
the  mother's  head  reposed  that  night.  She  was  too
weary  in  body  and  sorrowful  in  mind  to  sleep.
