Annals of our ancestors; one hundred and fifty years of history in the ...

OUR SPRINGTIME 99
made dyes. The novelty of our farm life appealed to our town
cousin, and she entered into everything with spirit, from
playing hide-and-seek in the barn to romping in the orchard.
After the lapse of more than threescore years what a quaint
little maiden comes back to me as I recall with strange vivid-
ness our Cousin Mary Jane. Thick dark hair about the
sparkling young face; vivacity in every movement, whether
catching fireflies or dancing down to the barnyard to see the
goslings; even her little round ruffled aprons glimpse across
my memory.
I cannot remember just how long Mary Jane was with us,
but it must have been for the greater part of a year. When
the time came to pack the little hair trunk we all stood about
agam. The Scudder relatives m Cmcinnati, as I remember,
had given her many nice presents, and it was a problem how
they were all to be stowed away in that one little trunk, which
seemed full to overflowing without them. Finally, however,
close packing and a rope prepared the trunk for shipping without
immediate danger of its exploding. The picture book
must long ago have disappeared, but one of its stanzas or a
fragment of one still clings to my memory:
With books and work and healthful play
Let your first years be spent
The little trunk has passed away; I never saw another like it
until, many years later, I found at Mount Vernon in the bedroom
of George Washington, at the foot of the high posted
bed, the mate to the little hair trunk of our cousin. How long
the days seemed after she went away; we children felt quite
lost without her. About that time a neighbor asked me how
long Mary Jane had been gone, and I replied that it had been
a very long time, when in reality it had been about two weeks.
Of the four children, Ida was youngest and best beloved.
She was called "Blue-eyed-a" at first, from the color of her
eyes; the name shortened to "Ida" while her middle name remained
"Louisa." Her tenderness and delicacy were always
appealing to her more sturdy brothers, so Will and Joe were
usually ready to concede to her small requests. She soon out-