The temper of Prudence, the youngest sister, now Mrs. Todd,
paled into insignificance beside that of the others, but it was
a very pretty thing in tempers nevertheless, and would have been
thought remarkable in any other family in Scarboro.
You may have noted the fact that it is a person's virtues
as often as his vices that make him difficult to live with.
Mrs. Todd's masterfulness and even her jealousy might have
been endured, by the aid of fasting and prayer, but her neatness,
her economy, and her forehandedness made a combination that
only the grace of God could have abided with comfortably,
so that Jerry Todd's comparative success is a matter of
local tradition. Punctuality is a praiseworthy virtue enough,
but as the years went on, Mrs. Todd blew her breakfast horn
at so early an hour that the neighbors were in some doubt
as to whether it might not herald the supper of the day before.
They also predicted that she would have her funeral before she
was fairly dead, and related with great gusto that when she
heard there was to be an eclipse of the sun on Monday,
the 26th of July, she wished they could have it the 25th,
as Sunday would be so much more convenient than wash-day.
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