d, it was quite amusing to see the
men all come to consult 'Aunt Mary' rather than father, when a knotty
question arose."

"As you have described grandmamma," said Marguerite, "she appears to be
superior to grandpapa. Do you so consider her?"

"Mother was father's superior," replied mamma, "intellectually and
morally. Father was rather cold in his nature, but mother had a warm
heart. She was an enthusiastic friend, and she loved every living
thing. I do not remember ever hearing her speak an ill word of a
neighbor, and I am sure she never had an enemy in her life.

"Though I do not call father warm-hearted, he certainly had great
affection for mother, and was sincerely attached to his family. I have
heard him say that he would walk all night, rather than stop short of
his home.

"Father was sometimes called by our neighbors a hard parent. He never
was, it is true, demonstrative in his affection, but he was strictly
just, and never harsh in his treatment of us. As I have often told
you, he believed in work for himself and his family, and I have heard
him say that sooner than have a child of his grow up idle, he would
make him pick up stones in one lot, and throw them over into the next
one. He considered that he had been generous in allowing brother
Horace to leave home, or, as country people call it, 'giving him his
time,' six years before he became of age, and he was willing at any
time to allow his daughters to seek their fortunes away from home,
should they desire to do so.

"This winter of 1826-27 was the last one that we four children spent at
home together. The next year sister Arminda, although only twelve
years old, opened a school in the little log-house upon our west farm--"

"When only twelve years old!" we interrupted in chorus; "pray whom did
she teach? Babies?"

"No," replied mamma, "she had a dozen or fourteen pupils, little boys
and girls, some of whom were older than herself, for very young
children could not have walked that distance--three and four miles."

"But I should think," interposed Gabrielle, "that the scholars would
have felt more inclined to play with Aunt Arminda, than to learn the
lessons she gave them; she was such a child."

"Your aunt was tall and well-developed," replied mamma, "and had a
natural air of dignity that gave her the appearance of being older than
she really was. She did not find it difficult to impress her pupils
with respect, or to enforce obedience.