The story of my life ; or, The sunshine and shadow of seventy years / by Mary A. Livermore ... with hitherto unrecorded incidents and recollections of three years' experience as an army nurse in the great Civil War, and reminiscences of twenty-five years' experiences on the lecture platform ... to which is added six of her most popular lectures ... with portraits and one hundred and twenty engravings from designs by eminent artists ...

AN OLD-FASHIONED JOURNEY BY STAGE-COACH. 101
maintained my position until seven o'clock in the evening.
I have never been able since then to take even a short ride
inside a stage-coach. At that time there was no other mode
of travel through the country than by stage, private conveyance, or on horseback. At first, all was delightful, as we
drove through fields, galloped through villages, and passed
thrifty farms. New England then, as now, looked fresh,
clean, and tidy, like a house recently put in order by a caref al housekeeper. By noon, when a halt was made for dinner, we had all become weary The little children inside
the coach slept in the arms of my father and mother, and a
kind-hearted traveler on the outside arranged a resting
place for my head, and sheltered me with an umbrella from
the blazing sun, so that I slept also; and when I awoke the
afternoon was well spent.
When we reached Northampton, between seven and
eight o'clock in the evening, my father decided to take a
private conveyance and push on to my grandfather's farm,
some five miles farther on. What an obstreperous welcome
awaited us! Though late for the young children of the
family, all were on hand to receive us. Candles were blazing, supper was ready, two or three house-dogs barked themselves hoarse, and nearly wriggled themselves in twain in
the fervor of their welcbme, and in a few moments we had
forgotten our weariness. My grandfather was a grave and
dignified old man, quaint and pious in speech, and very
solemn in his demeanor, while my handsome grandmother
was as rollicking as any of her grandchildren, and promised