Excerpt from Through Two Administrations: Character Sketches of Kentucky So much for Aunt Arethusa's introduction to the kitchen. Aunt Arethusa was my father's eldest sister. She spent her early life on a farm in New Hampshire. When her parents died the old homestead was sold for debt, and my aunt came south to live with her younger sister, with an annual visit of six months to us thrown in. I overheard Aunt Arethusa say to a neigh bor one day, Poor William Henry, she always spoke of my father that way, might have landed on the supreme bench if he had only remained in an atmosphere of energy, but instead of that he came to Kentucky and just threw himself away. To my aunt the most coveted position in the gift of the people was supreme judgeship. The neighbor, who was a devoted admirer of my mother, did not stay long after Aunt Arethusa's burst of confidence, and I thought she was rather stiff when she told my aunt good evening. She said afterwards, If Miss Arethusa thinks marrying a beautiful Kentucky girl that's a saint compared with some folks and an heiress besides is throwing one's self away she must have. High notions.12 IN the reign OF aunt arethusa. My father's tastes were unquestionably literary, and I do not know what pre-eminence he might have attained had he pursued his profession of law. 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.