In the valley between "Longbrigg" and "Highclose," in the fertile little
dale on the left, stands an old cottage, which is truly "a nest in a
green place." The sun shines on the diamond paned windows all through
the long afternoons of a summer's day. It is very large and roomy.
Around it is a trim little garden with pleasant flower borders under the
low windows. From the cottage is a bright lookout into a distant scene
of much variety.
Some years ago it was more desolate, as it was so isolated from the
world. Now the children's voices blend with the song of the wood birds,
and they have a garden there of dandelions, daisies, and flowers. The
roof and walls are now covered with stone crop and moss, and traveller's
joy, which gives it a variety of color. The currant bushes are pruned,
and the long rose branches are trimmed, and present a blooming
appearance. This house, with forty acres of land, some rocky and
sterile, and some rich meadow and peat, formed the possessions of the
Prestons in Westmoreland. For two hundred years this land had been
theirs. Mr. Preston and his wife were industrious and respectable
people. They had two children, Martha and John. The sister was eight
years older than her brother and acted a motherly part towards him. As
her mother had to go to market, to see to the cows and dairy, and to
look after the sheep on the fell, Martha took most of the care of little
Johnny.
It is said that a very active mother does not _always_ make a very
active daughter, and that is because she does things herself, and has
but little patience with the awkward and slow efforts of a learner. Mrs.
Preston said that Martha was too long in going to market with the
butter, and she made the bread too thick, and did not press all the
water out of the butter, and she folded up the fleeces the wrong way,
and therefore she did all herself. Hence Martha was left to take the
whole care of Johnny, and to roam about in the woods. When she was
about fifteen her mother died, so that Martha was left her mother's
place in the house, which she filled beyond the expectation of all the
neighbors. Her father died when Johnny was sixteen, and his last advice
to his daughter was, to take care of her brother, to look after his
worldly affairs, and above all to bear his soul in prayer to heaven,
where he hoped to meet the household once more. The share of her
father's property when he died, was eighty pounds. Here Martha spent her
days, frugal, industrious and benevolent. And it is said, there will not
be a grave in Grasmere churchyard, more decked with flowers, more
visited with respect, regret, and tears, and faithful trust, than that
of Martha Preston when she dies. In the next story you will be
interested in what happened at the Grey Cottage.