I know no mother in our neighborhood who watched the steps of her sons so vigilantly as mine did. In fact the women of the adjacent houses often said that “they never dreamed of or prescribed such regulations for their children, and that they did not watch their _babies_ so closely as my mother did her adults.” When anything unpleasant, wicked, or vicious happened in the place, she would take the opportunity to warn me, saying, “I hope, Joguth, you would die before you would become guilty of such things. I should feel anxious to leave you alone in this world, in case I should die first, much as it will be a happiness to me. Remember the saying, ‘Let go your life, but retain your honor.’” Her favorite mottoes were the following, which she would always hold before me. When we complained of any one, she would say, “If I am good, the world is good unto me.” In time of temptation, “Conquer within first, and you will conquer without.” When any one is discontented, and cannot live in peace with his brethren, her motto is, “Peace accommodates nine persons in one room, but discord puts them in nine separate ones.” Speaking of quarrelsome persons, her saying was, “She who is naturally quarrelsome would quarrel with her work-basket.” Of those who bring discord, “Wicked man and mouse break; good man and needle connect.” Beside these she had other sayings: “Where there is right, there is victory.” “Walk in the way of righteousness, and you will receive your meal even in the midnight.” “If you want to be the greatest, be the lowest.” I have observed before that she would watch me on every side. She did not feel satisfied with merely prescribing regulations for me, but with strictness would see them carried out. Sometimes she would put some false charge upon me, in order to teach me a lesson. “Joguth, were you quarreling with the boy?” so saying, she would paint the evil of fighting in dark colors. I was not allowed to dress gay like other young men of my age, nor even to part my hair: “Comb your hair simply; look _clean_ but not _foppish_.” She would comment upon my mode of walking, smiling, and talking, and give some sharp rebukes if there was any fault in them. One evening I came very near the kitchen where the women were, walking so slow that none could hear sounds of my steps. To my utter confusion she said, “I am afraid of you, Joguth; what kind of walking was that? You came in, giving no warning with your steps, so slow they were! O Joguth, gentlemen do not do so; _thieves_ do. Were you practising how the thieves walk?” When at home I was not allowed to talk to my aunt, or brother’s wife even. My mother had great fear of young women, saying that man could not corrupt them unless they yield; so more than a dozen times she begged them not to speak to her Joguth.