A pet amusement of our invisible tenant was the translating of human babies into his lair, leaving one of his own brats in the cradle; the moral of which was that if nurse wanted to loaf in the yard and watch who went out and who came in, we children must mind the baby.

The girl was so sly that she carried on all this tyranny without being detected, and we lived in terror till she was discharged for stealing.
In our grandmothers we were very fortunate: They spoiled us to our hearts' content.

Grandma Deborah's methods I know only from hearsay, for I was very little when she died.

Grandma Rachel I remember distinctly, spare and trim and always busy.

I recall her coming in midwinter from the frozen village where she lived.