AS HIS FRIENDS AND FAMILY KNEW HIM 141 



an order unless he saw that it was obeyed and not for- 

 gotten. A punishment which he inflicted once on 

 Betty and myself I shall never forget. Betty borrowed 

 'Helen', one of a very handsome and complete set of 

 Miss Edgeworth's novels, from cousin Sally Fontaine 

 in Washington, thinking, or persuading herself, that 

 Papa would not object, as that was so mild a type of 

 fiction, and we both read most of it. He found us at 

 it one Saturday. He didn't say one word, but took 

 the book, and one of us in each hand, marched us down- 

 stairs into Mamma's room, and, to our horror, thrust 

 the handsome borrowed book into the flames, and held 

 it there with the tongs until it was entirely consumed. 

 Oh, how we did cry! It seemed such a terrible thing 

 to burn a book — a priceless book — of \vhich we had so 

 few. Then our honor was touched to the quick, for we 

 had borrowed it. But for those very reasons the lesson 

 cut deep, and made the impression that was intended. 

 I for one would gladly have taken a whipping instead, 

 to be allowed to return the book uninjured". ^ 



Whatever sternness Maury displayed toward his 

 children, it was so tempered with gentleness and loving 

 consideration that it did not detract at all from the ideal 

 relationship existing between them. When his tw^o old- 

 est daughters were married and left their father's home, 

 he saw to it that the loving ties which bound them to the 

 rest of the family were kept as strong as ever; and the 

 letters which he wrote to them were filled with the 

 tenderest and sincerest expressions of affection and the 

 most tactfully worded counsel and advice. For example, 



^ Ibid., pp. 149-154. Maury's children were Betty, Diana Fontaine, 

 Richard Launcelot, John Herndon, Mary, Eliza, Matthew Fontaine, Jr., 

 and Lucy. 



