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

CHAPTER VIII
OUR NEIGHBORS
HERE was variety, of course, in our neighbors,
and they had their part, and a real one, in our
hves. Well do I remember the strange old
woman who used to inhabit a little cabin a few
rods north of our house. I cannot say that it
ik,,'-^^ was picturesque^ with bending trees and droop-
-^^"'^ ->) ing vines clinging to the eaves. It was a rustic
cabin belonging to one who cared little for flowers and poetry.
There was a well-beaten path between our houses — not that
we were the dearest of friends, but because our well usually
had water in abundance. After I had grown old enough to
"know good from evil" I asked mother how it ever came that
they gave "Aunt Isabelle" a lease to that lot, as I clearly
saw her presence was an annoyance to our parents. Then she
told me the following short story: "While on a visit to relatives
who lived in the Miami valley, we contracted ague and
were all down in bed helpless; and Aunt Isabelle came in and
was so kind and attentive that we thought it would be helpful
to her and to us, as well as pleasant, to have her near us.
When her little cabin was moved over close to us, she seemed
so changed we have almost forgotten that she was ever good
and kind."
The early days of the nineteenth century were full of tense
religious revolution; the question of creeds and confessions of
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