Looking Back

Feb. 7, 1869

Papa saw a maring spike bird. It has one feather for a tail. Allie is fifteen. Good Bye For To Day.

 


As an adult, Laura recalled the time Prescott sneaked up on the old cook sitting on a stool in the doorway of the gallery. Prescott snatched the cook's greasy cap off his head and threw it overboard. Laura said she "had a dim recollection of suggesting this to him and urging him to do it!"

Another memory Laura related later was the time the family was all on deck and they heard a loud splash in the water as though someone had fallen overboard. Helen was very frightened thinking that it was Prescott. To everyone's relief, it was only a rotten pumpkin being thrown overboard by one of the sailors!

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image of cook

Illustration by Juliet Jacobson