It was, indeed, a bond of neighborly union
between a great many households in the young manufacturing city.
Anna's manners and language were those of a lady, though she had
come from the wilds of Maine, somewhere in the vicinity of Mount
Desert, the very name of which seemed in those days to carry one
into a wilderness of mountains and waves. We chatted together at
our work on all manner of subjects, and once she astonished me by
saying confidentially, in a low tone, "Do you know, I am thirty
years old!" She spoke as if she thought the fact implied
something serious. My surprise was that she should have taken me
into her intimate friendship when I was only seventeen. I should
hardly have supposed her older than myself, if she had not
volunteered the information.
When I lifted my eyes from her tall, thin figure to her fair face
and somewhat sad blue eyes, I saw that she looked a little worn;
but I knew that it was from care for others, strangers as well as
her own relatives; and it seemed to me as if those thirty loving
years were her rose-garland.
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