A famous candle-maker is my mother, and I have known her to make as many as one hundred and fifty in a single day.
The candle box which your uncle gave us is of great convenience, for since it has on the inside a hollow for each candle, there is little danger that any will be broken, and, besides, we may put therein the half-burned candles, for we cannot afford to waste even the tiniest scraps of tallow.
Captain Standish has in his home candles made from bear's grease, and as wicks, dry marsh grass braided.
When the second winter had begun, and the snow lay deep all around, save where our people had dug streets and paths, Sarah and I were forced, as a matter of course, to remain a goodly portion of the time within our homes. Those of the men who were not needed to hew huge trees into lengths convenient for burning, were hunting and setting traps, in the hope of adding to the store of provisions which was so scanty after it had been divided among those who came in the Fortune, and Sarah and I had little else to do than recall to mind that which had happened during the summer, when all the country was good to look upon instead of being imprisoned by the frost.
WHEN JAMES RUNS AWAY
We went back to the time when James Billington, son of John, caused us all such a fright by his wayward behavior.
Because James was not a favorite with any of us girls, being prone to tease us at every opportunity, and spending more of his time in mischief than in work, I must be careful how I speak of the lad, lest I fall into that sin which Elder Brewster warns us to guard against: allowing one's feelings to control the tongue, thereby speaking more harshly against another than is warranted by the facts.
I must, however, set it down that James was not a favorite with any save his parents; but seemed ever watching for an opportunity to make trouble for others, and just before the harvest time did he succeed in throwing the entire village into a state of confusion and anxiety.