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 ...

CHAPTER XX. CHRISTMAS AT THE NEGRO "QUARTERS" - MY LONELY LIFE BRIGHTENED -AN ARRIVAL FROM THE NORTH. Preparations for Christmas --Making ready for Guests -The Hubbub of the Kitchen- Dr Singleton Arrives- The House Beautified with Holly, Mistletoe, and Blooming Flowers - A Warm Welcome --Christmas at the "Quarters"-Swarms, of Negroes from other Plantations--Negro Foot-races, Cock Fights, and Revival Meetings --Sectarian Feuds among the Negroes-- Dr. Singleton and Mary gravitate towards each other - Divining the Future - "That Man will bear your Daughter away as a Bride"--Our Neighbors' Request - What the Henderson Children Learned - A Solemn Conclave -New Pupils Proposed - I Enlarge my School--An Increase of Salary - Fanny Codman arrives from the North - Her Grace and Loveliness - A Sharp Line of Demarcation. C HRISTMAS with its holidays and merry-makings again came on apace. The shadows were not yet lifted from the household, and the interest with which the glad season was anticipated was slight compared with the ecstasy of former years. All were quietly occupied in the stealthy preparation of gifts suitable to the occasion, for then, as now, a Christmas gift to be acceptable must be a genuine or simulated surprise. Mrs. Henderson and Aunt Aggy, with a large posse of colored sewing-women, were urging forward the completion of the clothing of the servants for the next year, the distribution of which was a feature of Christmas highly prized by them. To be clad in new garments was indispensable to their enjoyment, when they made visits to their friends and kindred during the holidays. Dr. Singleton, who had endeared himself to every mem(342)

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Title
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 ...
Author
Livermore, Mary Ashton Rice, 1820-1905.
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Page 342
Publication
Hartford, Conn. :: A.D. Worthington & Co.,
1897.
Subject terms
Livermore, Mary Ashton Rice, -- 1820-1905.

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"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 ..." In the digital collection Making of America Books. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/4728109.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 12, 2025.
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