Towards Fred Vincy she had a motherly feeling, and had always been

disposed to excuse his errors, though she would probably not have

excused Mary for engaging herself to him, her daughter being included

in that more rigorous judgment which she applied to her own sex. But

this very fact of her exceptional indulgence towards him made it the

harder to Fred that he must now inevitably sink in her opinion. And

the circumstances of his visit turned out to be still more unpleasant

than he had expected; for Caleb Garth had gone out early to look at

some repairs not far off. Mrs. Garth at certain hours was always in

the kitchen, and this morning she was carrying on several occupations

at once there--making her pies at the well-scoured deal table on one

side of that airy room, observing Sally's movements at the oven and

dough-tub through an open door, and giving lessons to her youngest boy

and girl, who were standing opposite to her at the table with their

books and slates before them. A tub and a clothes-horse at the other

end of the kitchen indicated an intermittent wash of small things also

going on.

Mrs. Garth, with her sleeves turned above her elbows, deftly handling

her pastry--applying her rolling-pin and giving ornamental pinches,

while she expounded with grammatical fervor what were the right views

about the concord of verbs and pronouns with "nouns of multitude or

signifying many," was a sight agreeably amusing. She was of the same

curly-haired, square-faced type as Mary, but handsomer, with more

delicacy of feature, a pale skin, a solid matronly figure, and a

remarkable firmness of glance. In her snowy-frilled cap she reminded

one of that delightful Frenchwoman whom we have all seen marketing,

basket on arm. Looking at the mother, you might hope that the daughter

would become like her, which is a prospective advantage equal to a

dowry--the mother too often standing behind the daughter like a

malignant prophecy--"Such as I am, she will shortly be."

"Now let us go through that once more," said Mrs. Garth, pinching an

apple-puff which seemed to distract Ben, an energetic young male with a

heavy brow, from due attention to the lesson. "'Not without regard to

the import of the word as conveying unity or plurality of idea'--tell

me again what that means, Ben."

(Mrs. Garth, like more celebrated educators, had her favorite ancient

paths, and in a general wreck of society would have tried to hold her

"Lindley Murray" above the waves.)

"Oh--it means--you must think what you mean," said Ben, rather

peevishly. "I hate grammar. What's the use of it?"




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