Page:The Life of Mary Baker Eddy (Wilbur).djvu/96

60 her books. She had brought to Franklin furnishings to make her small home comfortable, a few pieces of mahogany willed to her by her mother, long mirrors in gilt frames, her own excellent collection of books. A few family friends came from time to time and certain of the townspeople called. Among them, Mr. Warren Daniels, a wealthy and retired mill owner living in Franklin, said that Mrs. Patterson’s reputation for intellect and beauty had preceded her, but that in Franklin she led a retired life, was the most reserved of women, and one whom all men must respect and honor.

In 1856 Mrs. Patterson persuaded her husband to remove to Groton, a village to the North of the Winnepesaukee region, near the entrance of the Franconia range of the White Mountains. In this village her son was living with the Cheneys. Perhaps Dr. Patterson was more easily persuaded to make the change since the Tiltons held a mortgage on a little property in that town which he hoped to buy on easy terms. Groton is a farming center, little changed by passing years. It boasts a general store and post-office, a blacksmith shop, district school and Union church. Situated some miles back from the railroad, its elevation is about one thousand feet above sea-level. The journey thither is by conveyance, up through the foot-hills along a valley pass, following a turbulent trout stream which leaps and falls over the rocks, singing a wild little song of its own. Two mountains loom blue and magnificent away to the North. On the lesser hills along the way the loggers are at work.