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

LIFE IN THE 'SIXTIES 259
October, Brother Will and his wife and baby, Brother Joe and
I went home. Julia and I had to stay all day alone, and we
were ever on the alert if we heard any strange noise. Our
hearts would throw on high pressure as we quickly ran to the
door, to see perhaps a stray dog disappearmg, and that was all.
"We were living at this time in Brother Will's claim shanty,
but for better protection during the late fall and the winter all
gathered naturally at father's house on Pearl Lake. There
we were, Brother Will and wife and Baby Rosamond, Sister
Julia and husband and sweet Baby Charlie, besides our dear
parents and Joe and I. Many interesting incidents occurred
during that time. One that I have so often thought of was the
teaching of Baby Rosamond in a truly orthodox manner to
say her little prayer, 'Now I lay me'— of which she was very
fond, thinking it a little story, no doubt. Once saying it did
not seem to satisfy, and her petition always ended up with
'More Loid, Aunt Ida, more Loid.'
"I cannot leave this page without one more remembrance
of my girlhood days, and that is a tribute to the lovelmess of
the old home on that lake of beauty. I would go away to teach
about May first, and in those days the spring did not seem to
come so early as now, for well do I remember that the only
green spots then to be seen would be in the marshes and in little
low places along the roadside. After three months of absence
I would return, to find a wonderful transformation had taken
place. The trees were in full leaf, the flowers in bloom, the
birds in glorious concert everywhere, and there our lovely
I^ake Pearl stretched out its crystal beauty, reflecting every
leafy tree and slender reed around its shores; what a chalice of
emerald it was! The waterfowl upon its quiet bosom, the wild
cry of the loon to its mate — small wonder I walked in a daze
until my eyes had registered every detail on my brain! Out
from the rare loveliness of those long-gone summertimes shone
the dearest sight of all, the calm and gentle face at the door to
greet me — my mother, with a welcoming smile for her youngest.
The handsome, white-haired father was there, too, with
a glad greeting for his daughter, and then the brown-eyed
younger brother of our family, upon whom all depended in their