She distrusted her own patience and justice too much; and she feared too deeply the development of hereditary traits which she could not conquer; "I might find that I had taken a liar," she thought; "and I should hate him." As she reached middle age, this unsatisfied desire ceased to be so great a grief.

She became more and more like a motherly friend to the young people surrounding her.

Her house was a home to them all, and she reproduced in her own life very nearly the relation which Parson Dorrance had held to the young people of Danby.

Her friend Lizzy Hunter was now the mother of four girls, all in their first young womanhood.

They all strove eagerly for the privilege of living with "Aunt Mercy," and went in turn to spend whole seasons with her.
On Stephen White's thirty-sixth birthday, his mother died.