Childhood^ 17 



at the first clap of thunder he used to rush howling 

 in-doors, and place his face on my knee. Then my 

 father, who laughed not a little at our fear, would 

 bring a glass of wine to my mother, and say, " Drink 

 that, Peg ; it will give you courage, for we are going 

 to have a rat-tat-too." My mother would beg him 

 to shut the window-shutters, and though she could 

 no longer see to read, she kept the Bible on her knee 

 for protection. 



My mother taught me to read the Bible, and 

 to say my prayers morning and evening"; other- 

 wise she allowed me to grow up a wild creature. 

 When I was seven or eight years old I began to 

 be useful, for I pulled the fruit for preserving ; 

 shelled the peas and beans, fed the poultry, and 

 looked after the dairy, for we kept a cow. 



On one occasion I had put green gooseberries into 

 bottles and sent them to the kitchen with orders to 

 the cook to boil the bottles uncorked, and, when the 

 fruit was sufficiently cooked, to cork and tie up the 

 bottles. After a time all the house was alarmed by 

 loud explosions and violent screaming in the kitchen ; 

 the cock had corked the bottles before she boiled 

 them, and of course they exploded. For greater 

 preservation, the bottles were always buried in the 

 ground ; a number were once found in our garden 

 with the fruit in high preservation which had been 



