The party was a success. The thirteen little girls were there; each wore her pretty apron and the knot of ribbon in her hair; each recited her little poem unknown to the others. We danced--played ring plays. “The needle’s eye that can supply The thread that runs so truly.” “For no man knows Where oats, peas, beans, or barley grows.” We “chased the squirrel,” “hunted the slipper,” trimmed our hats with wild flowers and stood in awe before the great waterwheel of the busy mill. At five o’clock a pretty tea was served for us, and dark-eyed Olivia presided with the grace and gravity of a matron; and, as the sun was sinking behind the western hills, we bade good-bye, and each sped away to the home awaiting her, I to be met by a mother’s approving kiss, for I had been “a good girl,” and gladly sought the little bed, and the long night of unbroken sleep that only a child may know. Long, long years ago the watchful mother went to that other world; one after another the guests of the little party followed her--some in girlhood, some in young womanhood, some in weary widowhood. One by one, I believe, she has met and welcomed them--welcomed each of the twelve, and waits CLARA BARTON Another formative influence which must not be overlooked was that of phrenology. This now discredited science had great influence in the early part of the nineteenth century. Certain men, among whom the Fowler brothers were most conspicuous, professed to be able to read character and to portray mental aptitude by a tactual examination of the head. The perceptive faculties, according to this theory, were located in the front part of the brain, the moral faculties in the top of it, and the faculties that governed the animal nature in the back. They professed to be able by feeling over the “bumps” or “organs of the brain,” to discover what vocation a person was good for and what undesirable tendencies he ought to guard against. The mother of Clara Barton was greatly troubled by the abnormal sensitiveness of this little child. She asked L. W. Fowler, who was then staying at the Barton home, what this little girl ought to do in life. Mr. Fowler answered: “The sensitive nature will always remain. She will never assert herself for herself; she will suffer wrong first. But for others she will be perfectly fearless. Throw responsibility upon her.”