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.

and was held so fast by the glutinous mud that my husband's
aid was again invoked, who assisted me to a footing on the
solid earth. People were prevented from passing, by our
compulsory gymnastics in Illinois mud, but no one uttered
advice or comment, and took the matter coolly as an everyday occurrence. They knew how it was themselves. This
experience was not the best possible preparation for divine
worship, so, bidding Mr. Livermore " Go on to church and
praise God, if he could!" I returned home to repair damages.
On one occasion I was invited to an old-fashioned teaparty, and was informed that a carriage would call for me
at four o'clock. Promptly at the appointed hour a large
Studebaker wagon arrived. The bottom was covered with
fresh straw in which chairs were set. The wagon backed
up to the doorsteps, and I took my seat amid the gay company, all of whom were Eastern women, much given to tears
and the dumps whenever they came together by themselves,
for they were afflicted with homesickness. Our hostess had
determined that there should be no weeping on this occasion, and had included a number of gentlemen among her
guests. They were always. gay, even to hilarity, for, if
Chicago was muddy and dirty and comfortless, they were
making money, and would have refused to change their residence to the New Jerusalem. When we reached the house
of our friend, the four-horse wagon backed up at her door,
and with great care we alighted, the skirts of our dresses
tucked up out of sight, that they might not become defiled
with the polluting mud. When the visit was over we were
returned to our homes in the same manner. We had fun
enough both coming and going, with an occasional scare,
when one side of the wagon dumped down so deeply in the
mud, that we all had to jump to the other side, to change
the center of gravity and prevent an upset.