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sence Fanny and I followed him in his travels by tracing his
route from his letters on the map. We talked of him constantly.
His absence of perhaps ten or fifteen months seemed like an age.
He had been so in the habit of teasing Fanny that she still dis-
liked him. Still, we took great interest in his letters and enjoyed
the scenes and adventures he described and looked forward
anxiously to his return. When he returned Fanny had grown
and improved so much that he no longer thought of teasing her
and they were forever after dear friends. He went to reside
in the northern part of the State, but his visits were frequent
and made us very happy.
In 183 - Arcena married Mr. Thomas Wasson and soon after
they moved into a house just opposite to ours on the south side of
William Street. When Fanny learned the object of Mr. Wasson's
visits, she became very angry; she scolded at him and about
him; she locked the door when she saw him coming and de-
clared he should never have Arcena for his wife. She finally
became reconciled and after the marriage spent much time at
Mr. Wasson's.
In the fall after Mrs. Wasson had gone to housekeeping,
Mother went to Lower Sandusky to nurse Uncle through a
severe sickness (bilious fever), and was absent five or six weeks.
Fanny and I boarded with Mrs. Wasson while Mother was gone
and were constantly together. This was an eventful period in
our lives. We were very homesick and had a great many child-
ish trials and troubles. Our friends were very kind to us, but
nothing could comfort us. We wanted our mother! We had
never before known how much we loved her, nor how necessary
she was to our happiness. One of our greatest trials was the
loss of our old cat. Our old family puss, which had been with
us ever since we could remember, was left in the house during
Mother's absence. There being no one to feed her at home, she
wandered off and for several days we didn't know where she
was. After hunting all over the neighborhood, we found her
dead under an apple tree in a neighbor's garden. Her loss under
any circumstances would have been a sore trial to us, but some-
thing led us to think she had been stoned to death! We suffered
almost as much as if she had been a human being. She was one