ek in
a great brick oven; her other daily cooking was done by an open fire.
Brown bread and cheese were the staff of our life, and I became more
fond of them than of any viands I have since eaten. In vain have I
besought my household to discover the recipe of my aunt's brown loaves.
Who can recover for me the relish that went with them? With this aged
couple I led a lonely yet healthful life. I came nearer to the earth
than ever before; I mean her dirt, her stones, her odors and dews as
well as to cows, sheep and horses, whose closer relation to the soil
insensibly affects those who have the care of them. I felt myself a
brother to the ox that I yoked and guided along the furrow. My nigh ox
came from the pasture at my call and would lick my hand and stretch out
his neck to be stroked. The whole barnyard was friendly, and I took
pleasure, having none other, in the signs of it. The neighbors were few
and I saw nothing of them. One young man sometimes called, but as his
interest in me appeared to consist in a desire to save my soul his
visits distressed me. It was my singular fortune through my childhood
and early youth, to have been followed by soul savers. At last in
desperation I told him that I was not sure as yet that I had a soul to
save; when I had, I would consider his propositions. Whereupon he went
his way and reported that I was a Universalist, that being in Bellingham
the most opprobrious of names, in consequence of an ancient feud between
the Baptist and Universalist churches. The Baptists had come off
conquerers; the name, however, remained; and an indefinable name of
reproach is a convenient thing to have in a country neighborhood.

I have mentioned the penuriousness of my employers. In the case of my
uncle it was exhibited in the most extraordinary, amusing, yet harmless
ways. He never could pass by an old, bent, used-up nail, bit of string,
pin or a straight stick without picking it up and putting it away. The
collar of his coat and front of his gaudy flannel vest were stuck full
of pointless pins and eyeless needles. The shed opposite the house was a
museum of rubbish, odds and ends of the most worthless articles neatly
sorted, tied up in small bundles and hung about the sides of the
building. It was a well-developed mania with him, having acquired it
through his long years of money getting and saving, and in larger
matters, which had made him a well-to-do farmer. Although now old, he
was a well-preserved