'What next?'
"She continued to dictate,--
"'"You must take them away. It may be---perhaps it _must_ be---
that I shall soon follow, but the breaking heart of a wife still
pleads, 'a little longer, a little longer.'"'
"'How much longer must the gingerbread stay in?' inquired Mina.
"'Five minutes,' said Harriet.
"'"A little longer, a little longer,"' I repeated in a dolorous tone,
and we burst into a laugh.
"Thus we went on, cooking, writing, nursing, and laughing, till I
finally accomplished my object. The piece was finished, copied, and
the next day sent to the editor."
The widely scattered members of the Beecher family had a fashion of
communicating with each other by means of circular letters. These,
begun on great sheets of paper, at either end of the line, were passed
along from one to another, each one adding his or her budget of news
to the general stock. When the filled sheet reached the last person
for whom it was intended, it was finally remailed to its point of
departure. Except in the cases of Mrs. Stowe and Mrs. Perkins, the
simple address "Rev. Mr. Beecher" was sufficient to insure its safe
delivery in any town to which it was sent.
One of these great, closely-written sheets, bearing in faded ink the
names of all the Beechers, lies outspread before us as we write. It is
postmarked Hartford, Conn., Batavia, N. Y., Chillicothe, Ohio,
Zanesville, Ohio, Walnut Hills, Ohio, Indianapolis, Ind.
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