ence in an abrupt and shameful manner, and
scolded me from morning till night.

I should have some difficulty to give you an account, which cannot be
done without wounding charity, if you had not forbidden me to omit any
one. I request you not to look at things on the side of the creature,
which would make these persons appear worse than they were. My
mother-in-law had virtue, my husband had religion, and not any vice. It
is requisite to look at everything on the side of God. He permitted
these things only for my salvation, and because He would not have me
lost. I had beside so much pride, that had I received any other
treatment, I should have continued therein, and should not, perhaps,
have turned to God as I was induced to do, by the oppression of a
multitude of crosses.

My mother-in-law conceived such a desire to oppose me in everything,
that, in order to vex me, she made me perform the most humiliating
offices. Her disposition was so extraordinary, having never surmounted
it in her youth, that she could hardly live with anybody. Saying none
than vocal prayers, she did not see this fault; or seeing it, and not
drawing from the forces of prayer, she could not get the better of it.
It was a pity, for she had both sense and merit. I was made the victim
of her humors. All her occupation was to thwart me and she inspired the
like sentiments in her son. They would make persons my inferiors take
place above me. My mother, who had a high sense of honor, could not
endure that. When she heard it from others (for I told her nothing) she
chided me thinking I did it because I did not know how to keep my rank
and had no spirit. I dared not tell her how it was; but I was almost
ready to die with the agonies of grief and continual vexation. What
aggravated all was the remembrance of the persons who had proposed for
me, the difference of their dispositions and manners, the love they had
for me, with their agreeableness and politeness. All this made my
burden intolerable. My mother-in-law upbraided me in regard to my
family, and spoke to me incessantly to the disadvantage of my father
and mother. I never went to see them, but I had some bitter speeches to
bear on my return.

My mother complained that I did not come often enough to see her. She
said I did not love her, that I was alienated from my family by being
too much attached to my husband.

What augmented my crosses was that my mother related to my
mother-in-law the pains I