I have been told, a
lack of knowledge does not alter facts.

I think my grandmother used to go to church to see what kind of clothes
Harriet Bledsoe wore; for I have often heard her say, after the sermon
was over, that Harriet's bonnet, or Harriet's dress, was perfectly
charming. Certainly Mrs. Tomlinson was always dressed in the height of
fashion, though it was a very simple fashion when compared with the
flounces and furbelows of her neighbors. I remember this distinctly,
that she seemed to be perfectly cool the hottest Sunday in summer, and
comfortably warm the coldest Sunday in winter; and I am convinced that
this impression, made on the mind of a child, must bear some definite
relation to Mrs. Tomlinson's good taste.

Certainly my grandmother was never tired of telling me that Harriet
Bledsoe was blessed with exceptionally good taste and fine manners; and
I remember that she told me often how she wished I was a girl, so that I
might one day be in a position to take advantage of the opportunities I
had had of profiting by Harriet Bledsoe's example. I think there was
some sort of attachment between my grandmother and Mrs. Tomlinson,
formed when they were at school together, though my grandmother was much
the older of the two. But there was no intimacy. The gulf that money
sometimes makes between those who have it and those who lack it lay
between them. Though I think my grandmother was more sensitive about
crossing this gulf than Mrs. Tomlinson.

I was never in the Tomlinson house but once when a child. Whether it was
because it was two or three miles away from Rockville, or whether it was
because I stood in awe of my grandmother's Harriet Bledsoe, I do not
know. But I have a very vivid recollection of the only time I went there
as a boy. One of my play-mates, a rough-and-tumble little fellow, was
sent by his mother, a poor sick woman, to ask Mrs. Tomlinson for some
preserves. I think this woman and her little boy were in some way
related to the Tomlinsons. The richest and most powerful people, I have
heard it said, are not so rich and powerful but they are pestered by
poor kin, and the Tomlinsons were no exception to the rule.

I went with this little boy I spoke of, and I was afraid afterward that
I was in some way responsible for his boldness. He walked right into the
presence of Mrs. Tomlinson, and, without waiting to return the lady's
salutation, he said in a loud voice:

"Aunt Harriet, ma says send her so