"But isn't it dreadful to think of, Mrs. Smith? See what harm the creature has done! Over and over again have I complained of your borrowing so much and returning so little; and you have doubtless made the same complaint of me." "I certainly have. I felt that I was not justly dealt by." "It makes me sick to think of it." And Mrs. Jordon sank into a chair. "Still I don't understand about the wash-boiler and tubs that you mentioned," she said, after a pause. "You remember my ten tumblers," I remarked. "Perfectly. But can she have broken up my tubs and boiler, or carried them off?" On searching in the cellar we found the tubs in ruins, and the wash-boiler with a large hole in the bottom. I shall never forget the chagrin, anger, and mortification of poor Mrs. Jordon when, at her request, Bridget pointed out at least twenty of my domestic utensils that Nancy had borrowed to replace such as she had broken or carried away. (It was a rule with Mrs. Jordon to make her servants pay for every thing they broke.) "To think of it!" she repeated over and over again. "Just to think of it! Who could have dreamed of such doings?" Mrs. Jordon was, in fact, as guiltless of the sin of troublesome borrowing from a neighbor as myself. And yet I had seriously urged the propriety of moving out of the neighborhood to get away from her. We both looked more closely to the doings of our servants after this pretty severe lesson; and I must freely confess, that in my own case, the result was worth all the trouble. As trusty a girl as my cook was, I found that she would occasionally run in to a neighbor's to borrow something or other, in order to hide her own neglect; and I only succeeded in stopping the the evil by threatening to send her away if I ever detected her in doing it again. CHAPTER XXIX. EXPERIENCE IN TAKING BOARDERS. I HAVE no experiences of my own to relate on this subject. But I could fill a book with the experiences of my friends. How many poor widows, in the hope of sustaining their families and educating their children, have tried the illusive, and, at best, doubtful experiment of taking boarders, to find themselves in a year or two, or three, hopelessly involved in debt, a life time of labor would fail to cancel. Many, from pride, resort to this means of getting a living, because--why I never could comprehend--taking boarders is thought to be more genteel than needlework or keeping a small store for the sale of fancy articles. The experience of one of my friends, a Mrs. Turner, who, in the earlier days of her sad widowhood, found it needful to make personal effort for the sustenance of her family, I will here relate. Many who find themselves in trying positions like hers, may, in reviewing her mistakes, be saved from similar ones themselves.