ion.
I was born, then Clarice; and both my father and mother devoted all the
time they could spare from the duties of the farm to our education.
Clarice was always a bright, intelligent little creature, and rapidly
took in all the instruction she received. My mother's only unhappiness
arose from the thought of sending her to Philadelphia,--where she might
have to complete her education, as she wished her to become as perfect a
lady as our father was a thorough gentleman. He, being well informed,
was able to instruct me, and I made as much progress as my sister.
Rough in some respects as were our lives, we found the advantage of
this, as we could enjoy many amusements from which we should otherwise
have been debarred. Clarice learned to play and sing from our mother;
and I was especially fond of drawing, an art in which my father was well
able to instruct me.

But our family, hitherto prosperous, were now to suffer severe reverses.
My grandfather's property lay in a rich bottom, and one early spring
the floods came and swept away his corn-fields, destroyed his meadows,
and carried off his cattle. One of my uncles was drowned at that time,
another died of fever caught from exposure, and a third was killed by
the fall of a tree. The old man did not complain at God's dealing with
him, for he was a true Christian, but he bowed his head; and he died
shortly afterwards, at our house. My father's property had escaped the
floods, but the following summer, which was an unusually dry one, a fire
swept over the country. It reached our farm, and although my father had
timely notice, so that he was able to put my mother and us into one of
the waggons, with the most valuable part of his household property, the
rest was enveloped in flames shortly after we had left the house. The
next day not a building, not a fence, remained standing. The whole farm
was a scene of black desolation.

"We have had a pretty strong hint to move westward, which I have long
been thinking of doing," said my father. "Many who have gone to the
Pacific coast have become possessed of wealth in half the time we have
taken to get this farm in order. What do you say, Mary?"

Our mother was always ready to do whatever he wished, although she would
rather have remained in the part of the country where she was born and
still had many friends.

"I should say, let us go eastward, and purchase a small farm in some
more civilised district; we can then send