Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed. [Illustration: Daisy Meads and John Davis lay senseless, side by side, upon the half-made hay. Frontispiece.] DAISY OF "OLD MEADOW." BY AGNES GIBERNE, AUTHOR OF "OLD UMBRELLAS;" "SUN, MOON, AND STARS;" "ST. AUSTIN'S LODGE;" "BERYL AND PEARL;" ETC. "If I have made gold my hope . . . this also were an iniquity to be punished."—JOB xxxi. "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth."—MATT. vi. LONDON JAMES NISBET & CO., LIMITED 21 BERNERS STREET PREFACE. THE following pages are issued with two objects:— First; they may be used for daily meditation on rising or retiring to rest, in the quiet chamber, when none but God is near. Secondly; for short services in sick chambers, or for invalids. Many a child of God suffers from infirmities of such a nature that none but a very short service can be borne. This may be carried out by reading the whole chapter, or a portion of it, from which the text is taken; then the address, and the poem. This may be preceded or followed by a short prayer, thus compressing the entire service within ten minutes or a quarter of an hour. I am aware of the many and great deficiencies which mark these addresses. But they have been issued with one desire and one aim—to glorify Jesus. May He thus use them, by His Holy Spirit, for this end is my earnest prayer! ST. MARY'S, HASTINGS, October, 1885. CONTENTS. CHAP. I. THE WIDOW'S OPINIONS II. STRUCK III. DAISY'S NEEDS IV. AN UNTIDY HOME V. A DANGER ESCAPED VI. TWO NURSES VII. PAST DAYS VIII. GOLD IX. OLD ISAAC X. DAISY'S WISH XI. A RICE PUDDING XII. DAISY'S TROUBLE XIII. GONE XIV. A MOTHER'S WORK XV. SORRY AND GLAD XVI. ISAAC'S LOSS XVII. MONEY AGAIN XVIII. OUT OF DANGER DAISY OF "OLD MEADOW." CHAPTER I. THE WIDOW'S OPINIONS. "HE'S the crookedest crabbedest cantankerousest old fellow ever I came across, and that's all I have to say! And she's a little angel, if ever there was one, and that's all I have to say too!" It might have been all that Betsy Simmons had to say, but it certainly was not all that she did say. For, finding her hearer not indisposed to listen, she started off afresh. Betsy Simmons was fresh-complexioned, large in make, and verging on fifty. The other, a younger woman by many years, was quiet and thoughtful in look, with a face and a manner some degrees superior to her poor style of dress.