She was full of loyal conservatism toward the marine ornaments of her parlor, but she secretly preferred her own braided rugs, and the popular village fancy-work, in which she was quite skilful.

On each of her chairs was a tidy, and the tidies were all alike; in the corners of the room were lambrequins, all worked after the same pattern in red worsted and beads.

On one wall hung a group of pictures framed in cardboard, four little colored prints of crosses twined with flowers, and they were all alike.

"Why didn't you get them crosses different ?" many a neighbor had said to her--these crosses, with some variation of the entwining foliage, had been very popular in the rural neighborhood--and Amanda had replied with quick dignity that she liked them better the way she had them.

Amanda maintained the monotony of her life as fiercely as her fathers had pursued the sea.