homespun, with breeches, low shoes, and a low, flat beaver hat. I can hear
my mother say, "Here are two big apples for thy master," it being the
custom so to propitiate pedagogues. Often afterward I took eggs in a little
basket, or flowers, and others did the like.

"Now run! run!" she cried, "and be a good boy; run, or thou wilt be late."
And she clapped her hands as I sped away, now and then looking back over my
shoulder.

I remember as well my return home to this solid house, this first day of my
going to school. One is apt to associate events with persons, and my mother
stood leaning on the half-door as I came running back. She was some little
reassured to see me smiling, for, to tell the truth, I had been mightily
scared at my new venture.

This sweet and most tender-hearted lady wore, as you may like to know, a
gray gown, and a blue chintz apron fastened over the shoulders with wide
bands. On her head was a very broad-brimmed white beaver hat, low in the
crown, and tied by silk cords under her chin. She had a great quantity of
brown hair, among which was one wide strand of gray. This she had from
youth, I have been told. It was all very silken, and so curly that it was
ever in rebellion against the custom of Friends, which would have had it
flat on the temples. Indeed, I never saw it so, for, whether at the back or
at the front, it was wont to escape in large curls. Nor do I think she
disliked this worldly wilfulness, for which nature had provided an
unanswerable excuse. She had serious blue eyes, very large and wide open,
so that the clear white was seen all around the blue, and with a constant
look as if of gentle surprise. In middle life she was still pliant and well
rounded, with a certain compliment of fresh prettiness in whatever gesture
she addressed to friend or guest. Some said it was a French way, and indeed