There was a Japanese girl named Ikumi who lost her father when she was very young.After he died,her mother was so devastated that she never remarried.The family did not have a lot of money, so Ikumi's mother was forced to bring up her daughter alone.The poor woman had to work day and night to make ends meet.The mother sacrificed everything to earn enough money to send Ikumi to school.During the day she would wash clothes and clean houses.At night,she would sew clothes and make little trinkets to sell at the markets.She wanted to make sure her daughter got a good education.After a while, the days filled with back-breaking work and the sleepless nights started taking a toll on the mother and her health began to fail.One day, when Ikumi was in
