much larger."

"Did she know anything?"

"O, yes; it was rather an ignorant neighborhood; but she was one of the
most intelligent women in it."

"Did she ever go anywhere?"

"Yes; she came to my mother for sympathy. I remember just how she looked
in her tow and linen dress, with her hair fastened at the back of the
head with a goose-quill."

"There, there!" cried Dotty, "that was what made 'em call her a witch!"

"O, no; a goose-quill was quite a common fashion in those times, and a
great deal prettier, too, than the waterfalls thee sees nowadays. Mrs.
Knowles dressed like other people, and looked like other people, for
aught I know; but I wished she would not come to our house so much."

"Didn't you like her?"

"Yes; I liked her very well, for she carried peppermints in a black bag
on her arm; but I was afraid the stories were true, and she might bewitch
my mother."

"Why, grandma, I shouldn't have thought that of _you_!"

"I was a very small girl then, Prudence; and the children I played with
belonged, for the most part, to ignorant families."