Chapter I: Preface

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I HAVE tried in these pages to give a faithful record of a state of manners the memory of which is fast passing away. I have drawn my materials from original sources for the most part, and I am specially indebted to Mrs. Chloe Sheldon, an old lady who died in Rochester last summer in her hundred and fourth year. She was a woman of uncommonly acute mind, and retained her faculties to the very last. The story, such as it is, carries its own moral.

L. E. G.

GRANDMOTHER'S PREFACE.

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MY great-grand-daughter Alice Brown, who is at present confined to the house by a sprained ankle, has persuaded me to repeat to her some passages of my early life that she may write them down. She thinks the doing so will be an amusement both to herself and me, and she is pleased also to say that she believes a record of such early times will be worth preserving. Alice is a good child, and so kind and attentive to me when she is able to be about that it is no more than fair I should give her a pleasure when it is in my power. And Alice says also what is quite true—that the memory of those old times is fading day by day. I never was one of those who are always saying that the former times are better than these, but I cannot think it well that the young folks of the present day should think (as some of them seem to think) that their ancestors were all ignorant and half savage.

I know that a great deal more is made of education now than was ever the case in my time, but I am not sure that any more is learned. On the whole, it seems to me that people use the word "education" wrongly when it is made to mean only what is learned out of books. I think when I was teaching my daughter Rachel, Alice's grandmother, to spin wool and flax and to sew and make butter and cheese, I was carrying on her education as much, and perhaps as usefully, as if I had been teaching her geometry and metaphysics. Not that I have any objection to having girls learn mathematics and all the other sciences if they have the time and the health. When I had a young ladies' school of my own, I always tried to give my girls "hungry minds" for all kinds of knowledge. But if they must either give up the science or give up helping at home, I know which I think ought to go. But this is by the way.

I have chosen to write this introduction with my own hand, for I am thankful to say that, though I am ninety years old this very day, I can still write and sew and thread my own needle with the help of my glasses. But I find my hand somewhat stiff when I try to write long at a time, and also, I think, Alice will be amused with setting down the words as I shall dictate them to her. I have had many blessings in my long life for which to be thankful, and it is not one of the least of these that my grandchildren, upon whom I am dependent (if not for my support, yet for that kindness, care, and cherishing love without which life is worth little), have trained their children also to follow in their footsteps, and to pay me that respect which the Bible says is due to age and gray hairs.

OLIVIA BROWN.

NOTE BY ALICE BROWN.

I HAVE tried to set down this memoir or story just as grandmother dictated it to me, and on that account there will be found, perhaps, some words and expressions which, although not incorrect, are not in use at the present day. I remember when we studied grammar with our dear Miss Hilliard she made us understand the difference between words and expressions which were obsolete or old-fashioned and those which were ungrammatical or vulgar. But I have thought the story would be more interesting if I wrote it in the dear old lady's own words. I have often tried to persuade her to write a memoir of her own life or let me do so, but I do not suppose the work would ever have been commenced if I had not sprained my ankle in running across the road to save Mrs. Bell's baby, which was just under the feet of Mr. Antis's horse. I am sure I don't regret saving the baby as I did, but I was a good deal vexed about the sprain, which seemed to be one of those which grandma calls unnecessary accidents, because, if Lucinda Bell had been minding the baby instead of scolding Jeduthun Cooke because her chickens ate his tomatoes, the thing would not have happened. But I am almost reconciled to sitting still and being waited on, since my want of amusement really brought grandmamma to the point of letting me write down some of her early recollections.

ALICE BROWN.

BOONVILLE, August, 1874.

CONTENTS.

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CHAPTER

I.—EARLIEST DAYS

II.—EARLY RECOLLECTIONS

III.—GOING TO SCHOOL

IV.—THE TREASURE-SEEKERS

V.—SUNDAY

VI.—THE GREAT BREAK

VII.—AUNT BELINDA

VIII.—MY NEW HOME

IX.—THE DOLL'S TRAGEDY

X.—BOSTON DAYS

XI.—NEW CHANGES

XII.—ELMINA'S FORTUNE

XIII.—NEW SCENES

XIV.—NEW EXPERIENCES

XV.—ENGLISH DAYS

XVI.—ENGLISH SCHOOL-DAYS

XVII.—HOME AGAIN

XVIII.—HOME

XIX.—THE WEEKS OF SECLUSION

XX.—CONCLUSION

SCHOOL-DAYS IN 1800

GRANDMOTHER'S SCHOOL-DAYS.

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