BESSIE GRAY.

CHAPTER I.

THE ALPHABET.

ELIZABETH GRAY was the only daughter of a labourer in a country village. Her parents were industrious and respectable people, and her father, from his cleverness and handiness, was raised a degree above many of his own class. If any thing was amiss in the village, Robert Gray was sure to be sent for; and it was a hard matter indeed if his skill or his good sense did not mend it a little.

But it is of Elizabeth, or, as she was always called, Bessie, I am going to write, and there