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he saddest day of Eva's life was her fifteenth
birthday. On that day she was called solemnly
into her parents' bedroom to say goodbye to her
dying mother. Mary Jane had been seriously ill
with Bright's Disease for months, and her kidneys
had finally failed. Just before her mother died,
Eva wept at her bedside and promised "to
take care of the boys." Eva was the oldest
girl left at home---her sisters were all married
and had families of their own to care for. There
were four little boys younger than Eva, and now
she would cook and clean by herself for the whole
family. For the next seven years she willingly
worked and scrubbed and lovingly cared for the
motherless children, though she was only a slip
of a girl herself. The youngest one was only
three. Until the end of their lives, the younger
brothers loved her and honored her as if she were
their own mother.
Ninety-four years after her mother died, Eva
said she missed her still.
Eva as a
teen-ager.
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