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.

day, and would be glad of a little help. No, don't hesitate
to accept them," she urged, "we've a large family you
know, and plenty of help."
Hardly had she disappeared, when from another source
came a pot of jam and a loaf of cake,- then a fresh loaf of
bread was contributed,- and before I had time to get flurried over my double duty as cook and hostess, all anxieties
were at an end. Nor was this a solitary instance of the
kindness of the large-hearted women among whom my lot
was cast. They were notable helpers one of another, and
came promptly to each other's relief in times of sickness,
extra labor, or in any case of emergency. As to myself,
the women of the entire parish bore me in continual kind
remembrance. And I never had occasion to remember that
I was living in a community isolated from the world, remote
from my kindred, and learning to adjust myself to unusual
phases of life, by any neglect or inconsiderateness on the
part of Stafford women.
As soon as we had established ourselves in our home, we
made our plans for work, and then proceeded to carry them
out. My husband was inexorable in his determination to
devote the hours of the morning to work in his study. I
never intruded upon him at that time, unless absolutely
obliged to do so, and stood between him and all visitors,
holding them in abeyance until the afternoon. The incessant calling on all occasions, and upon no occasion, was disapproved by these country people, who believed that calls
should be postponed until the afternoon and evening. They
expected the minister and his wife to visit every family
once a year, when they would be entertained at dinner, or
tea,- and it was their custom to reciprocate the visit en
masse, once a year, at the annual " donation party." We
were, however, punctilious in making parish calls, for we