and on my back, shoving me on till I was well on the way, and then
returning to try to do as much in the field that day as she and I
together would be expected to do. When the landlord came to the quarters
early to look for me, my mother would hide me behind the cook-pot and
other vessels. When I was a little older I had to play my part on the
farm. Mother now worked another scheme. I took turns with my brother at
school and at the plow. What he learned at school on his school-day was
taught to me at night, and vice versa. In this way we got a month of
schooling each during the year, and got the habit of home study.

Our family was increasing rapidly, and to keep the children even roughly
clothed and fed was about all that could be done under the
circumstances. When the school exhibition took place and every girl was
expected to have a white dress and every boy a pair of white
pantaloons, my mother was often put to her trumps to get these things.
Father would not trouble himself about them, as he said they were
useless. But the teacher said they were necessary, and his word was law
and gospel with most parents in our community. An exhibition was near at
hand and three of us had no white pantaloons. Mother manipulated every
scheme, but no cloth yet to make them! Finally the day arrived, but not
till mother solved the problem by getting up before dawn that morning
and making three pairs of white pantaloons for us out of her Sunday
petticoat. Mother was of a determined disposition, and seldom failed to
solve a domestic problem. We looked about as well as other people's
children in that exhibition--at least we thought we did, and that was
sufficient. But it must be remembered that there is just so much cloth,
and no more, in a petticoat. So our suits were necessarily made tight. I
had to be careful how I got around on the stage.

I usually had different teachers every year, as one teacher seldom cared
to stay at a place for more than a session. I well remember the
disadvantages of this custom. One teacher would have me in a Third
Reader and fractions, another in Fifth Reader and addition. When I
reached the point where the teacher ordered me to get a United States
History, the book-store did not have one, but sold me a biography of
Martin Luther instead, which I studied for some time, thinking that I
was learning something about the United States. I did not know what the
United States was or was like, although I had studied