Prudy's face was sunny, and her mouth not much larger than a button-hole.
The youngest sister was named Alice, but the family usually called her Dotty, or Dotty Dimple, for she was about as round as a period, and had a cunning little dimple in each cheek.

She had bright eyes, long curls, and a very short tongue; that is, she did not talk much.

She was two years and a half old before she could be prevailed upon to say anything at all.

Her father declared that Dotty thought there were people enough in the world to do the talking, and she would keep still; or perhaps she was tired of hearing Prudy say so much.
However, she had a way of nodding her curly head, and shaking her plump little forefinger; so everybody knew very well what she meant.

She had learned the use of signs from a little deaf and dumb boy of whom we shall hear more by and by; but all at once, when she was ready she began to talk with all her might, and soon made up for lost time.
The other members of the family were only grown people: Mr.and Mrs.
Parlin, the children's excellent parents; Mrs.Read, their kind Quaker grandmother; and the Irish servant girl, Norah.
Just now Mrs.Margaret Parlin, their "aunt Madge," was visiting them, and the little girls felt quite easy about Christmas, for they gave it all up to her; and when they wanted to know how to spend their small stock of money, or how much this or that pretty toy would cost, Prudy always settled it by saying, "Let's go ask auntie: _she'll_ know, for she's been through the Rithmetic." Prudy spoke these words with awe.