would go and help them fight against the King."

Lois Henry looked horrified.

"Child, thou art silly and ignorant, and wicked, too. What dost thou
know about the King? We do not believe in kings, but we obey those set
over us until it comes to a matter of conscience. We leave all these
turbulent discussions alone and strive to be at peace with all men. Thou
canst not be saucy nor show thy hot temper here."

"Then send me home. Do send me home," said the child with spirited
eagerness.

"This is thy home for six months. Rachel, take the bundle up to the
little chamber next to that of Faith and put away the things in the
cupboard--and take the child with you. Primrose, thou wilt remain there
until thou art in a better frame of mind. I am ashamed of thee."

Primrose did not mind where she went. She knew her way up the winding
stairs put in a corner off the living room. The house had a double pitch
to the roof, the first giving some flat headway to the chambers, the
second a steep slant, though there were many houses with nearly flat
roofs. This was of rough, gray stone, and the windows small. There was
but one, and a somewhat worn chair beside it, the splints sorely needing
replacement. A kind of closet built up against the wall, and a cot bed
with a blue and gray blanket were all the furnishing.

The child glanced at it in dismay, not remembering that she had been
happy here only such a little while ago. But it seemed ages now, just as
she had almost forgotten what had passed before. There had been no one
to talk over the past with her, and she had missed her tender mother
sorely. Children were not considered of much importance then except as
regarded their physical welfare and a certain amount of training to
make them obedient to their elders. That serious, awesome spiritual life
that shadowed so much of childhood under Puritan auspices was not a
feature of the more southern colonies. They were supposed to imbibe
religious impressions from example. Early in the history of the town
there had been some excellent Quaker schools, that of Friend Keith, who
sowed some good seed even if he did afterward become a scorn to the
profane and contentious, because he started to found a sect of
"Christian Quakers," and finally found a home in England and the
Anglican Church. But the school flourished without him, and to the
Friends belongs the credit of the early free schools. The subtle
analysis of later times found no inquirin