The few passengers who took the boat with me looked scared as the sky darkened, and the boatman grasped his oars very soberly.

It took my breath away to see the signs, but I liked it; and I was much disappointed to get home dry.
When my mother heard of my misadventure she laughed, too; but that was different, and I was able to laugh with her.
This is the way I helped in the housekeeping and in business.

I hope it does not appear as if I did not take our situation to heart, for I did--in my own fashion.

It was plain, even to an idle dreamer like me, that we were living on the charity of our friends, and barely living at that.

It was plain, from my father's letters, that he was scarcely able to support himself in America, and that there was no immediate prospect of our joining him.