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John and Jane were the children of an Englishman. When they lived in
England they were well off, and were well taught by their mother, who took
much pains to lead them in the right way, and to teach them how they might
be happy here and hereafter. They lived in a pretty cottage near the sea
shore, where they could sometimes hear the waves dash against the rocks in
a storm. They played together, ate their meals together, sometimes sharing
them with the cat; they often walked together, and frequently rode out
with their father and mother.
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When Jane was ten years old and John eight, their father lost most of his
property, and decided to go to America with his family. They crossed the
ocean safely, but soon after they arrived in America their father and
mother were both taken sick, and after being sick, the father for a few
days, and the mother for several weeks, both died; the little property
they left was seized by their landlord, and John and Jane were left
entirely destitute and alone.
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Jane knew they had an uncle in a town in Ohio, and they had no other way
but to beg their way to him. They traveled several hundred miles on foot
to Ohio, begging their way; at first, in the city and until they had
traveled to a distance from it, people were often unkind to them; they
went ragged, frequently hungry, and sometimes found it very difficult to
learn their way; but after they got into the country towns many pitied
them, and not only gave them food, but supplied them with clothes, and
took pains to direct them on their way to the place where their uncle
lived.
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At last they reached their uncle's; they were kindly received, and their
uncle adopted them as his own children. Their sufferings were then at an
end; but they never forgot their sorrowful journey, nor the good things
their mother had taught them in their pleasant home in England, and tried
not only to remember but to obey her teachings.
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