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 ...

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THE STORY OF MY LIFE.

necessity to them. I decided to go to Virginia, and to bat.
tie with myself alone, and if I could not conquer the doubts
and fears which shadowed my life, I would learn, like the
camel, to struggle mutely
with the heaviest load, and
like the wolf, die in silence.
SV On making my decision,, \,! known to my father, he
V \\. opposed it vehemently.
S ^ "A daughter should live
S< at home with her father,"?y he declared, " and under his
Sprotection, obedient to his
S laws, until she married, and
Sthen she should live under
- her husband's roof, and be
subject to him."
I did not debate the
AN UNEXPECTED INVITATION. subject, for my desire to get
away from home and to enter upon new scenes, amid new
surroundings, restrained me, and caused me to put aside all
other considerations. I urged my wishes most earnestly,
but my father cut short my elaborate portrayal of the advantages of the Southern situation with a wave of his hand
and an emphatic shake of his head.
"I do not wish to talk about this subject; please do not
mention the matter to me again. You are doing well enough
where you are, and had better stay there, and it is my wish
that you should."
My wishes were quite as resolutely opposed by other
relatives and friends, no one seconded them, not even my
beloved minister, Rev. Dr. Neale, and I declined the invitation very reluctantly.