PEEP AT OUR NEIGHBORS. 121

learning she had picked up, I scarcely
know how, when and where. But I al-
ways felt, when in her presence, that I
was a mere dunce. It is astonishing
what influence she had over me; though
I presume that as great a portion of it was
due to her pure principles and consistent
life, as to a mind quite above her years.
Amanda’s father was a blacksmith—
the only one in Willow Lane. He shod
all the horses and oxen, put on all the
cart tires, made all the cranes, hooks and
trammels, and in short, did all the blow-
ing and striking in Willow Lane; unless
I except the blowing and striking, which
certainly had not much to do with black-

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