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.

gave way to a polka, when Mr. Henderson joined them;
then came a crazy galop, and the dancing feet seemed
winged, so airily did they skim the floor. Faster,-faster,faster yet,-and down they dropped into chairs, panting,
laughing, their faces aglow with heat. Their exuberance
was relieved, and after cooling off and resting, they were
ready for lessons.
On Mr. Henderson's invitation I accompanied him to
the family room, where Aunt Aggy was receiving orders
for work from her mistress, which the capable head-servant
was to see executed. As soon as she had departed, the conversation naturally turned upon my late " attack," as they
phrased it, and I received from Mrs. Henderson hygienic
advice which I did not think it worth while to discuss. I
was to take no more walks before breakfast, according to
her, and no tramps even with the children, after sundown;
was not to sit up to read and write after the household had
retired. I was to forego my frequent baths, my walks in
the woods, my abstemiousness in diet, and so on. These
were all unhealthy notions of mine according to southern
ideas. I had been reared on similar prohibitions, and her
advice fell upon me like rain on the roof.
Suddenly Mrs. Henderson wheeled around and inquired,
"Where were you that you saw Bryson punish Matt? Did
you know that he was to be punished?"
I colored to the roots of my hair, as if caught in a dishonorable act, but* recovering quickly, I narrated the circumstances as briefly as possible, adding that "as I had
been informed whipping was not allowed on the plantation,
I did not dream that Matt was to be punished."
"Was it that which made you ill?" inquired Mr Henderson, with entire freedom from the asperity of tone assumed by his wife.