Some one
listening reproved her, but she said, "Why, if they fit them-
selves to be good, helpful, cheerful old maids, they will
certainly be better wives, if they ever are married," and that
maxim I laid by in my memory for future contingencies, for I
believed in every word she ever uttered. She herself, however,
did not carry out her girlish intention. "Her children arise up
and call her blessed; her husband also; and he praiseth her." But
the little sisters she used to fondle as her "babies have never
allowed their own years nor her changed relations to cancel their
claim upon her motherly sympathies.
I regard it as a great privilege to have been one of a large
family, and nearly the youngest. We had strong family resem-
blances, and yet no two seemed at all alike. It was like
rehearsing in a small world each our own part in the great one
awaiting us. If we little ones occasionally had some severe
snubbing mixed with the petting and praising and loving, that was
wholesome for us, and not at all to be regretted.
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