od's
judgment on us for our sins; but mine is a more liberal faith. God
afflicted her for some wise purpose; but if I thought it was to avenge
father, I should be afraid of her. As it is, I can be sorry, oh, _so_
sorry for her!

As usual I find myself taken care of at the expense of the others.
There are but two bars on the place; one, the overseer said, should be
for me, the other for the children. Sheets were scarce, covers scarcer
still. Tired of being spoiled in this way, I insisted on being allowed
to sleep on a mattress on the floor, after a vigorous skirmish with
mother and Miriam, in which I came off victorious. For a bar, I
impressed Miriam's grenadine dress, which she fastened to the doorknob
and let fall over me a la Victoria tester arrangement. To my share fell
a double blanket, which, as Tiche had no cover, I unfolded, and as she
used the foot of my bed for a pillow, gave her the other end of it,
thus (tell it not in Yankeeland, for it will never be credited)
actually sleeping under the same bedclothes with our black, shiny negro
nurse! We are grateful, though, even for these discomforts; it might
have been so much worse! Indeed, I fear that our fellow travelers do
not fare as well. Those who have sheets have no bars; those who have
blankets have no sheets; and one woman who has recently joined us has
nothing except a mattress which is to do the duty of all three. But
then, we got bread! Real, pure, wheat bread! And coffee! None of your
potato, burnt sugar, and parched corn abomination, but the
unadulterated berry! I can't enjoy it fully, though; every mouthful is
cloyed with the recollection that Lilly and her children have none.

As usual, as Mrs. Greyson says, the flowers follow us; yesterday I
received three bouquets, and Miriam got one too. In this out-of-the-way
place such offerings are unexpected; and these were doubly gratifying
coming from people one is not accustomed to receiving them from. For
instance, the first was from the overseer, the second from a servant,
and the third from a poor boy for whom we have subscribed to pay his
passage to the city.

Wednesday, April 22d,
NEW ORLEANS.

Yesterday we arrived; I thought we should never get here. Monday we had
almost given up in despair, believing the schooner would never return.
But in the evening, when all were gathered in our room discussing