Then there came a day in Albany when matters mended over night, and the Patroon most kindly commanded portraits of himself and family.

It started our brief prosperity.
"Other and thrifty Dutchmen now began to bargain for their portraits.
We took an old house on Pearl Street, and I was sent to school at Mrs.
Pardee's Academy for young ladies as a day pupil, returning home at evening.

About that time my foster mother became ill.

I remember that she lay on a couch all day, watching her husband paint.

He and his art were all she cared for.