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 ...

SURVEYING THE WRECK

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hung were broken into fragments, and the whale-oil with
which it was filled streamed over the carpet.
It was very near midnight when our guests bade us
"good night," and departed, leaving my husband and myself
alone in our demoralized home. The freshness, the beauty,
the charm of our lovely house was gone. As I took in the
damage that had been wrought, and realized the labor and
money that must be expended in repairs, I broke down utterly. My husband tried to comfort me with the assurance
that a night's sleep would enable us to face the mischief of
pli
SI broke down utterly.
the evening with greater equanimity, and
tone up our courage to bear it.
"But I don't propose to bear it!" was my reply. "I
propose to see the trustees of the church to-morrow, and
persuade them never to give us another donation party, but
instead, its equivalent in money. If they will not do this,
you must seek another parish, where donation parties are
not in vogue. I never can, and never will face another such
storming of my home as this! "