wife. She had gone to school in Philadelphia, where she had gained
sufficient accomplishments to satisfy my father's fastidious taste; and
she was, besides being very pretty, a Christian young woman.

She often spoke of her brother Jeff with warm affection, for he, when at
home, had ever showed himself to be a loving, kind brother; indeed, Mary
was his pet, and if anybody could have induced him to lead a settled
life, she might have done it. He had had, somehow or other, a quarrel
with her one day,--little more than a tiff,--so off he went into the
woods and across the prairies; and, as it turned out, he never came
back. She was not the cause of his going, for he had been thinking about
it for a long time before, but this tiff just set the ball rolling.

My parents were perfectly happy in their married life, and might have
remained so had it not been for my poor father's unsettled disposition.
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 a