" My husband was a remarkably fine whip,*'
she will say. "Why, he drove his own four-
in-hand when most boys are scarcely capable
of managing a rocking-horse.**

Just what mamma was I do not know, for
her early life is about the only subject on which
her lips are hermetically sealed. Regarding
this period she is never to be surprised into
confidence, even with her children : therefore
I suspect things that are perhaps worse than
the reality. It is one of her maxims that chil-
dren who have a sense of low birth never
acquire an air of distinction : probably, there-
fore, she has withheld from us family details

21



A PROFESSIONAL BEAUTY

which might have overwhelmed our self-re-
spect.
My suspicion is that my maternal grand-
mother kept a sort of country store, behind
whose counter mamma learned those lessons
of calculation and bargaining which have stood
her in such good stead, and that there, also,
she acquired that nice discrimination in human
nature which in her amounts to positive genius.
It is such a natural surmise that a thriving
young huckster should fall in love with the
daughter of one of his patrons.
Papa never seemed to have any relatives.
If he had, mamma's tact kept them safely in
the background of their native Green Moun-
tains. But once in a while, notwithstanding
all her precautions, some of her own people
would create consternation in the household by
coming, unannounced, to make us a visit. The
same visitors never came twice.
Papa*s business career was very successful.
