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 ...

206

206 THE STORY OF' MY LIFE*

halt in the regular routine of the household until after the
mail had been examined, papers and magazines taken from
their wrappers, and the letters read. As Allen came dashing up the winding avenue under the bare oaks, we could
see.him from the schoolroom windows, more than half a.
mile from the house. His horse was the fleetest on the
place, and he carried' two large bags that hung from each
side of his saddle. Some half-dozen of the neighboring
planters received their mail from our bags, and their servants, well-mounted, were waiting for their share.
Dick was the first to spy Allen on his return route. He
bounded to the door, shouting as he went, "1Allen's commn',
girls, with two big bags chock full!1." and he ran down the
avenue like a deer. There was a dash, and a furious scamper of his sisters after him, by whom he was overtaken, and
they entered the house some ten minutes in advance of the
mail-carrier.
I saw no more of them until I met them at the dinner
table, elate with their portion of the mail, which they triumphantly exhibited. No apology was offered for their
abrupt departure, and no explanation vouchsafed by their
parents, and I understood perfectly that they not only felt
at liberty to ignore school duties whenever it pleased. them,
but that they would probably do so.
I heard them anticipating the pleasure of a week's visit
to this and that plantation during the winter, and saw that
neither their plans, nor those of Mr. and Mrs. Henderson
were arranged with any reference to their education. That
must be carried on hap-hazard, as their mother had conducted it, at such odd times and moments as were left when