She also was lame in one foot and had a withered hand.

In spite of this, I think she was an active and spirited girl, about like other girls.
She was very fond of social intercourse, especially later in life when my father knew her, but this intercourse was confined to a small circle.

Doctor Greene speaks of her timidity also.

I know of no traditions about her girlhood.

As an example of the thrift of the Smiths, or perhaps I should say, their exactness in all business dealings, my father says that Austin Smith never asked his sisters to sew a button or do repairs on his clothing without paying them a small sum for it, and he always received six cents for doing chores or running errands.
No doubt this was a practice maintained from early youth, for when Sophia Smith was born, in 1796, the family was in very moderate circumstances.