But this is not surprising: for, even as early as her twelfth year, she had much the appearance of a mature woman--something like that noticed in young quakers, by Clarkson[79]--and her figure belonged to that rugged type, which is adapted to bear, unscathed, more than the ravages of time. She was never above the medium height, for the rigid rule of economy seemed to apply to flesh and blood, as to all other things pertaining to her race; at all events, material had not been wasted in giving her extra longitude--at the ends. Between the extremities, it might be different--for she was generally very long-waisted. But this might be accounted for in the process of _flattening out_: for like her compeer, the schoolmaster, she had much more breadth than thickness. She was somewhat angular, of course, and rather bony; but this was only the natural correspondence, between the external development, and the mental and moral organization. Her eyes were usually blue, and, to speak with accuracy, a little cold and grayish, in their expression--like the sky on a bleak morning in Autumn. Her forehead was very high and prominent, having, indeed, an _exposed_ look, like a shelterless knoll in an open prairie: but, not content with this, though the hair above it was often thin, she usually dragged the latter forcibly back, as if to increase the altitude of the former, by extending the skin. Her mouth was of that class called "primped," but was filled with teeth of respectable dimensions. Her arms were long, and, indeed, a little skinny, and she swung them very freely when she walked; while hands, of no insignificant size, dangled at the extremities, as if the joints of her wrists were insecure. She had large feet, too, and in walking her toes were assiduously turned out. She had, however, almost always one very great attraction--a fine, clear, healthy complexion--and the only blemishes upon this, that I have ever observed, were a little _red_ on the tip of her nose and on the points of her cheek-bones, and a good deal of _down_ on her upper lip.