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

OUR MOTHER, SOPHRONIA KEELER 51
itself, though its chief note of association for me was the fact
that our mother had walked over the old fortifications of
Crown Point as a little girl. Somehow, bemg among the
historic scenes where she spent her childhood made it seem
more real to me that, long years ago, our mother had indeed
played upon the battlefield of old Ticonderoga, and with
young eyes had looked upon its overgrown trenches and broken
ramparts, and that her feet had truly clambered over the
wonderful ruins of Crown Point. Her memory pictures were
at last hung before me in reality.
Our first thought was to continue on to New York City,
where Brother Joseph was to meet our nephew Paul, who was
going to buy goods for his medical plant in Winona, Minnesota.
Later this plan was reconsidered, and a decision was reached
that Sister Ida and I should return to Ohio, parting company
with our brother at Albany. Before separating, however, we
went together to Saratoga Springs. The day we reached there
it rained. The crowd was great, and all the better places
seemed to be full. We could only secure some poorly kept
rooms, and the inferior accommodations shortened our stay.
The atmosphere of this resort was depressing to me; it seemed
indeed the "broad way," and the words of the old hymn came
to my mind as a most fitting description:
Broad is the way that leads to death.
And thousands walk together there;
But Wisdom shows a narrow way.
With here and there a traveler.
The people whom we met there I had not been accustomed to
meet otherwhere — the painted ladies, the gamblers, and
the drunken creatures. It was the time of the races, and the
crowd was great. The ever-rushing stream of humanity
there presented to me a new phase of life, one not pleasant to
contemplate, indeed terrible; and I was glad to have our stay
shortened on that broad highway.
We remained over one night in the beautiful city of Albany.
Here brother gave us a fine dinner at a first-class restaurant,
and with a pleasant hour over this "square meal" we parted
— he leaving for New York City and sister and I for Cleve-