William and Susanna were kind to me , but I was just the old maid sister , of no importance to anybody , and I never felt as if I were really living . I was simply vegetating on , and would n't be missed by a single soul if I died . It is a horrible feeling , but I did n't expect it would ever be any different , and I had made up my mind that when I died I would have the word `` Wasted '' carved on my tombstone . It would n't be conventional at all , but I 'd been conventional all my life , and I was determined I 'd have something done out of the common even if I had to wait until I was dead to have it . Then all at once the letter came from John Henry , my brother out west . He wrote that his wife had died and he wanted me to go out and keep house for him . I sat right down and wrote him I 'd go and in a week 's time I started . It made quite a commotion ; I had that much satisfaction out of it to begin with . Susanna was n't any too well pleased . I was only the old maid sister , but I was a good cook , and help was scarce in Northfield . All the neighbours shook their heads , and warned me I would n't like it . I was too old to change my ways , and I 'd be dreadfully homesick , and I 'd find the west too rough and boisterous . I just smiled and said nothing . Well , I came out here to Carleton , and from the time I got here I was perfectly happy . John Henry had a little rented house , and he was as poor as a church mouse , being the ne'er - do-well of our family , and the best loved , as ne'er - do-wells are so apt to be . He 'd nearly died of lonesomeness since his wife 's death , and he was so glad to see me . That was delightful in itself , and I was just in my element getting that little house fixed up cosy and homelike , and cooking the most elegant meals . There was n't much work to do , just for me and him , and I got a squaw in to wash and scrub . I never thought about Northfield except to thank goodness I 'd escaped from it , and John Henry and I were as happy as a king and queen . Then after awhile my activities began to sprout and branch out , and the direction they took was boys .
Carleton was full of boys , like all the western towns , overflowing with them as you might say , young fellows just let loose from home and mother , some of them dying of homesickness and some XXXXX them beginning to run wild and get into risky ways , some of them smart and some of them lazy , some ugly and some handsome ; but all of them boys , lovable , rollicking boys , with the makings of good men in them if there was anybody to take hold of them and cut the pattern right , but liable to be spoiled just because there was n't anybody .
after as for from if in of on out to