uth to Cyrus, or to any one else in this house,
for it is more than ever the fashion for people to disregard the advice
of others, and the older I get the more I find it wise to save my breath
to cool my porridge--there come times, however, when I feel it my duty
to speak.

"Mark my words, Cyrus," I said. "You'll be sorry you sent Peggy off to
a boys' school. Girls at her age are impressionable, and if they aren't
under their mothers' roofs, where they can be protected and sheltered,
why, then send them to a seminary where they will see as few young men
as possible."

Cyrus only laughed and said:

"Well, mother, you can say 'I told you so' if anything bad comes of it."

"It's all very well to laugh, Cyrus," I answered, "but _I_ don't believe
in putting difficulties into life that aren't there already, and that's
what sending young men and young women off to the same college seems to
ME!"

When Peggy came home engaged, after her last year, everybody was
surprised.

"I'm sure I don't know what Cyrus expected," I said to Ada. "You can't
go out in the rain without getting wet. Let us pray that this young man
will turn out to be all right, though we know so little about him."
For all we knew was what Peggy told us, and you know the kind of things
young girls have to tell one about their sweethearts. Peggy didn't even
know what church his people went to! I couldn't bear the thought of
that dear child setting out on the long journey of marriage in such a
fashion. I looked forward with fear to what Ada might have to go through
if it didn't turn out all right. For one's daughter's sorrows are one's
own; what she suffers one must suffer, too. It is hard for a mother to
see a care-free, happy young girl turn into a woman before her eyes.
Even if a woman is very happy, marriage brings many responsibilities,
and a woman who has known the terror of watching beside a sick child can
never be quite the same, I think. We ourselves grew and deepened
under such trials, and we wouldn't wish our daughters to be less than
ourselves; but, oh, how glad I should be to have Peggy spared some
things! How happy I should be to know that she was to have for her lot
only the trials we all must have! I do not want to see my Ada having to
bear the unhappiness of seeing Peggy unhappy. Even if Peggy puts up a
brave face, Ada will know--she will know just as I have known things in
my own children's lives; and I shall know, too. This young man has it