furnish. There were still to be seen, a few years ago, the marks
left on the moors, where fields of corn and potatoes had been planted in
that trying time.

So the young couple began their housekeeping in a very simple way. Mr.
Mitchell used to describe it as being very delightful; it was noticed
that Mrs. Mitchell never expressed herself on the subject,--it was she,
probably, who had the planning to do, to make a little money go a great
way, and to have everything smooth and serene when her husband came
home.

Mrs. Mitchell was a woman of strong character, very dignified, honest
almost to an extreme, and perfectly self-controlled where control was
necessary. She possessed very strong affections, but her self-control
was such that she was undemonstrative.

She kept a close watch over her children, was clearheaded, knew their
every fault and every merit, and was an indefatigable worker. It was she
who looked out for the education of the children and saw what their
capacities were.

Mr. Mitchell was a man of great suavity and gentleness; if left to
himself he would never have denied a single request made to him by one
of his children. His first impulse was to gratify every desire of their
hearts, and if it had not been for the clear head of the mother, who
took care that the household should be managed wisely and economically,
the results might have been disastrous. The father had wisdom enough to
perceive this, and when a child came to him, and in a very pathetic and
winning way proffered some request for an unusual indulgence, he
generally replied, "Yes, if mother thinks best."

Mr. Mitchell was very fond of bright colors; as they were excluded from
the dress of Friends, he indulged himself wherever it was possible. If
he were buying books, and there was a variety of binding, he always
chose the copies with red covers. Even the wooden framework of the
reflecting telescope which he used was painted a brilliant red. He liked
a gay carpet on the floor, and the walls of the family sitting-room in
the house on Vestal street were covered with paper resplendent with
bunches of pink roses. Suspended by a cord from the ceiling in the
centre of this room was a glass ball, filled with water, used by Mr.
Mitchell in his experiments on polarization of light, flashing its
dancing rainbows about the room.

At the back of this house was a little garden, full of gay flowers: so
that if the garb of the young Mitchells was rather