Excerpt from Ethelyn's Mistake, or the Home in the West: A Novel Aunt Barbara's prayers were always to the point. She said what she had to say in the fewest possible words, wast log no time in repetition, and on this occasion she was briefer than usual, for the good woman had many things upon her mind this morning. First, there was Betty to rouse and get into a state of locomotion, - a good half hour's work, as Aunt Barbara knew from a three years' experience. There was the sponge put to rise the previous night, she must see if that had risen, and with her own hands mould the snowy breakfast rolls which Ethelyn liked so much. There were the chambers to be inspected a second time, and dinner to be prepared for the Van Buren set expected from Boston and last, though far from least, there was Ethelyn herself to be wakened when the clock should strike the hour of six, and this was a pleasure which good Aunt Barbara would not for the world have foregone. Every morning for the last sixteen years, when Ethelyn was at home, she had gone to the chamber where her darling slept; and bending over her had kissed her cheek, and called her back from the dreamless slumber which otherwise might nave been prolonged to an indefinite time, - for Ethelyn did not believe in the maxim, Early to bed and early to rise, and always begged for a little more indulgence, even after the brown eyes unclosed and flashed forth a responsive greeting to the motherly face bending above them. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.