"Miss Cotton and her brother sat in the back parlor after school
was over, and the young ladies were sent to bed. Mr. John was
very deaf, and Miss Priscilla very near-sighted, two convenient
afflictions for the girls on some occasions, but once they proved
quite the reverse, as you shall hear.
"We had been very prim for a week, and our bottled up spirits
could no longer be contained; so we planed a revel after our own
hearts, and set our wits to work to execute it.
"The first obstacle was surmounted in this way. As none of us
could get out alone, we resolved to lower Sally from the window,
for she was light and small, and very smart.
"With our combined pocket-money she was to buy nuts and candy,
cake and fruit, pie, and a candle, so that we might have a light,
after Betsey took ours away as usual. "We were to darken the
window of the inner chamber, set a watch in the little entry, light
up, and then for a good time.
"At eight o'clock on the appointed evening, several of us professed
great weariness, and went to our room, leaving the rest sewing
virtuously with Miss Cotton, who read Hannah More's Sacred
Dramas aloud, in a way that fitted the listeners for bed as well as a
dose of opium would have done.
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