12 



THE STORY OF A BIRD LOVER 



market-going, with her a serious function, very 

 unlike the present-day calls of butchers and gro- 

 cers at one's house, or the hurried conversation 

 as to one's wants, with these gentry over the tele- 

 phone. She looked after every detail of her 

 house almost to the end ; so that when she died 

 on the 1 2th of January, the friend who settled up 

 her affairs found that on the ist of January all 

 of her current expenses had been discharged and 

 settled, leaving only twelve days of her life to be 

 arranged and paid for. 



From my grandmother I learned many things. 

 As a child I saw her regular round of yearly 

 household work, each season with its own partic- 

 ular associations — the sweetmeats and preserves 

 that were made up in the summer months, the 

 apple and mince pies at Thanksgiving, the first 

 shad of the spring. All the details of work and 

 all the delicacies appropriate to each season were 

 impressed on my mind because of the fine house- 

 hold economy and good cheer that were due to 

 her careful administration. 



In 1 86 1, we made a journey to Europe, then no 

 inconsiderable undertaking, and the chief incen- 

 tive was the possibility that something might be 

 done by the great surgeons of Europe to mitigate 

 my lameness, which was then of about four years' 

 standing. But before we left America an inci- 

 dent occurred which made a deep impression in 



