One Sunday Mrs. Scott made him and his next older sister as clean and respectable as possible, and took them to church with her. The result was, some of the ladies of the church came around to see the Torrences, fitted the older ones out with decent clothes, and gathered them into the Sunday-school. Soon after this, one afternoon Miss Alice came into Mrs. Ashford's sitting-room, half laughing, and exclaimed as she sank into a chair, "Oh, Marty, how you and your mission work are getting me into business!" "Why, how?" demanded Marty. "Oh, those Torrences!" said Miss Alice, still laughing. "What about them? Do tell us," Marty insisted. "Well, one day as I was going to see Jennie, I saw the two little girls younger than Jimmy on the stairs, and they did look so cold this kind of weather in their ragged calico frocks, and not much else on. So I just went home, got my old blue flannel dress, bought a few yards of cotton flannel, and took them to Mrs. Torrence to make some comfortable clothes for those poor children. And, Cousin Helen, will you believe it? I found the woman didn't know the first thing about cutting and making clothes!" "That is very strange," said Mrs. Ashford. "How has she been getting along all this time with such a family?" "She depends on people giving her things, and on buying cheap ready-made clothing." "That is very thriftless." "Yes. But I've heard it is the way so many poor people do. A great many of those women work in factories or shops before they are married, and afterwards, too, sometimes, and they have no time to learn to sew. When I found out about Mrs. Torrence I thought I would offer to show her how to cut and make those things. I thought doing that would be far greater charity than making them for her would be." "So it would." "To be sure she goes out washing now and then, but she has time enough to sew other days, as she only has those two little rooms to take care of, and she hasn't been taking much care of them evidently." "I thought they only had one room," said Marty. "They have taken another now, as Mr. Torrence has steady work. Father got him a place in a livery stable, and he's not a drinking man, so they ought to get along." "Well, how did Mrs. Torrence take your offer of help?" asked Mrs. Ashford. "She did not seem to like it at first. I suspect she thought I ought to make the garments myself. But after a while she came around and--" "Your pleasant ways would make anybody come around," exclaimed Marty warmly. "Thanks for the compliment," replied Miss Alice, smiling. "Well, the amount of it is I have been giving her lessons, and she is really beginning to do right well. The little tots look a great deal more comfortable, and now I am going to show her how to alter some of the clothes the Methodist Sunday-school ladies gave her, so that she will have something decent to wear herself."