ght it in the wood I have before alluded to。 But my night was wretched; my rest broken: the ground was damp; the air cold: besides; intruders passed near me more than once; and I had again and again to change my quarters; no sense of safety or tranquillity befriended me。 Towards morning it rained; the whole of the following day was wet。 Do not ask me; reader; to give a minute account of that day; as before; I sought work; as before; I was repulsed; as before; I starved; but once did food pass my lips。 At the door of a cottage I saw a little girl about to throw a mess of cold porridge into a pig trough。 “Will you give me that?” I asked。
She stared at me。 “Mother!” she exclaimed; “there is a woman wants me to give her these porridge。”
“Well lass;” replied a voice within; “give it her if she’s a beggar。 T pig doesn’t want it。”
The girl emptied the stiffened mould into my hand; and I devoured it ravenously。
As the wet twilight deepened; I stopped in a solitary bridle…path; which I had been pursuing an hour or more。
“My strength is quite failing me;” I said in a soliloquy。 “I feel I cannot go much farther。 Shall I be an outcast again this night? While the rain descends so; must I lay my head on the cold; drenched ground? I fear I cannot do otherwise: for who will receive me? But it will be very dreadful; with this feeling of hunger; faintness; chill; and this sense of desolation—this total prostration of hope。 In all likelihood; though; I should