together to one and became expert in the black arts. She used to hear strange
noises at night for a time, which seemed signs and portents of disaster at sea, fell
into the ways of her neighbors, and had more faith in incantations than in
doctors' doses. She not only heard voices and very ingeniously described them,
but claimed to know what was going to happen and compared her forebodings
with the maid. She "got religion" very intensely under the influence of her aunt,
grew thin, lost her appetite and sleep, had heartache to think of her friends
burning in hell, and tried to save them.
Beth never thought at all of her personal appearance until she overheard a
gentleman call her rather nice-looking, when her face flushed and she had a new
feeling of surprise and pleasure, and took very clever ways of cross-examining
her friends to find if she was handsome. All of a sudden the care of her person
became of great importance, and every hint she had heard of was acted on. She
aired her bed, brushed her hair glossy, pinched her waist and feet, washed in
buttermilk, used a parasol, tortured her natural appetite in every way, put on
gloves to do dirty work, etc.
The house always irked her. Once stealing out of the school by night, she was
free, stretched herself, drew a long breath, bounded and waved her arms in an
ecstasy of liberty, danced around the magnolia, buried her face in the big flowers
one after another and bathed it in the dew of the petals, visited every forbidden
place, was particularly attracted to the water, enjoyed scratching and making her
feet bleed and eating a lot of green fruit. This liberty was most precious and all
through a hot summer she kept herself healthy by exercise in the moonlight. This
revived her appetite, and she ended these night excursions by a forage in the
kitchen. Beth had times when she hungered for solitude and for nature.
Sometimes she would shut herself in her room, but more often would rove the
fields and woods in ecstasy. Coming home from school, where she had long
been, she had to greet the trees and fields almost before she did her parents. She
had a great habit of stealing out often by the most dangerous routes over roofs,
etc., at night in the moonlight, running and jumping, waving her arms, throwing
herself on the ground, rolling over, walling on all-fours, turning somersaults,
hugging trees, playing hide-and-seek with the shadow fairy-folk, now playing
and feeling fear and running away. She invoked trees, stars, etc.
Beth's first love affair was with a bright, fair-haired, fat-faced boy, who sat near
her pew Sundays. They looked at each other once during service, and she felt a
glad glow in her chest spread over her, dwelt on his image, smiled, and even the