performed his parental duty in bringing up his many children in
the fear of his heavy hand, in unceasing labor, and in almost
total abstinence from all amusement and self-indulgence. Far from
thinking himself cruel, he was convinced that the oftener and the
more vigorously he applied "the strap," the more conscientious a
parent was he.

His wife, Tillie's stepmother, was as submissive to his authority
as were her five children and Tillie. Apathetic, anemic,
overworked, she yet never dreamed of considering herself or her
children abused, accepting her lot as the natural one of woman,
who was created to be a child-bearer, and to keep man well fed and
comfortable. The only variation from the deadly monotony of her
mechanical and unceasing labor was found in her habit of
irritability with her stepchild. She considered Tillie "a dopple"
(a stupid, awkward person); for though usually a wonderful little
household worker, Tillie, when very much tired out, was apt to
drop dishes; and absent-mindedly she would put her sunbonnet
instead of the bread into the oven, or pour molasses instead of
batter on the griddle. Such misdemeanors were always plaintively
reported by Mrs. Getz to Tillie's father, who, without fail,
conscientiously applied what he considered the undoubted cure.

In practising the strenuous economy prescribed by her husband,
Mrs. Getz had to manoeuver very skilfully to keep her children
decently clothed, and Tillie in this matter was a great help to
her; for the little girl possessed a precocious skill in combining
a pile of patches into a passably decent dress or coat for one of
her little brothers or sisters. Nevertheless, it was invariably
Tillie who was slighted in the small expenditures that were made