She had loved to read the strange stories of Hoffman, and the imaginative works of Baron Fouque.
She used to aspire to be an author or poet, but these aspirations had received no countenance from Mrs.Woods, and yet the latter seemed rather proud to regard her ward as possessing a superior order of mind.
"If there is anything that I do despise," Mrs.Woods used to say, "it is books spun out of the air, all about nothin'! Dreams were made for sleep, and the day was made for work.

I haven't much to be proud of in this world.

I've always been a terror to lazy people and to Injuns, and if any one were to write my life they'd have some pretty stirring stories to tell.

I have no doubt that I was made for something." Although Mrs.Woods boasted that she was a terror to Indians, she had been very apprehensive of danger since the Whitman colony massacre.

She talked bravely and acted bravely according to her view of moral courage, but with a fearful heart.