But I did not have consumption, only life; and one was
not expected to burn wood all day for private convenience in our
furnace-heated house. Was there not the great dining-room where the
children studied?
It was not so long since I, too, had learned my lessons off the
dining-room table, or in the corner by the register, that it should
occur to any member of the family that these opportunities for privacy
could not answer my needs.
Equally, it did not occur to me to ask for any abnormal luxuries. I
therefore made the best of my conditions, though I do remember sorely
longing for quiet.
This, at that time, in that house, it was impossible for me to
compass. There was a growing family of noisy boys--four of them--of
whom I was the only sister, as I was the oldest child. When the baby
did not cry (I have always maintained that the baby cried pretty
steadily both day and night, but this is a point upon which their
mother and I have affectionately agreed to differ), the boys were
shouting about the grounds, chasing each other through the large
house, up and down the cellar stairs, and through the wide halls,
a whirlwind of vigor and fun. They were merry, healthy boys, and
everything was done to keep them so. I sometimes doubt if there are
any happier children growing anywhere than the boys and girls of
Andover used to be.
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