His father had been a workman in a distant village, and after his marriage had shared his brother’s home; his brother who, like himself, had a wife, and also children, and rented a two-roomed cottage in a narrow village street. These two rooms--they were both very small--made but a limited space for two families, especially at night; it is, therefore, not surprising, that after a little while the families began to quarrel. And since it is the lot of wives to remain at home all day, it is not wonderful that the disputes arose principally between the two ladies of the house. The mother of Tim was a little, feeble creature, absorbed in her own ill-health, and the baby at her breast; her rival was a handsome, coarse, and loud-tongued woman, who acquired an unbounded authority over both the men in the house. Under her influence Tim’s father learned to despise his wife, and to that contempt ill-treatment soon followed; he complained that she did not work hard enough, and attempted to enforce more work by chastisement. These efforts being unsuccessful, he determined to get rid of her; and, after having beaten her into submission, he provided her with a little money with which to get back to her parents, and then turned her out of the house. But by a refinement of cruelty, (which was also due to her rival,) he would not allow her to take the baby too; but on that morning hid the little creature carefully, so that the poor mother could not discover its hiding-place. The neighbours all heard the wailing of the mother, but they knew the household, and were afraid to interfere; and after she had been turned out, and had gone away to ‘her people,’ they were relieved by the comparative quiet that ensued. It was supposed indeed that the baby would be claimed, but the poor mother soon died in her parents’ house; and as these had no particular wish to rear the infant, Tim was left to the mercies of his uncle’s home.