● ● ● small waist, small hands and feet, dark brown hair and gray eyes with a faraway look in them, that were very expressive, and under excitement seemed darker than they really were. . . .
Her wardrobe at this time consisted of a black and white plaid, also a few morning dresses. Her one best black dress was of very fine material, made after the fashion of that day and trimmed with narrow silk velvet ribbon. She kept her clothes very carefully. It made no difference what she wore, there always seemed to be a certain style about her.115
When she came to the Wentworths’ in September, 1868, at their eager solicitation, they hoped that she would settle down and live with them indefinitely. That was not her own plan, although she was grateful for the haven.
“These golden Autumn days are very beautiful here,” she wrote Sarah Bagley in October. “I have a large pleasant room with trees in front of my window and a horse to take me to ride.”116 And in November she wrote that the Wentworths had been getting her out in a rather “laconic” style, giving several parties for her: “I attended one last eve and the evening previous—great style and much humor on both occasions.” But she was “torn asunder almost by requests to heal the sick and somehow they keep me at it continually.”117 Once again her thoughts turned to the possibility of joining George Glover out West, but she finally abandoned the idea and settled down for what turned out to be an eighteen-month stay in Stoughton.
Now her life took on a new pattern. “Sarah,” she wrote to her old Amesbury friend, “I never for a moment forget the pleasant hours we two have shared together romping over fences or sewing, reading &c ● ● ●
115 Lucy Wentworth Holmes to Mary Beecher Longyear, 10 February 1922, 1922.008.0001, LMC.
116 Mary Baker Glover to Sarah O. Bagley, 6 October 1868, L08305, MBEL.
117 Mary Baker Glover to Sarah O. Bagley, 8 November 1868, L08307, MBEL. About this time she paid a brief visit to the Winslows in Lynn, and it was then she brought about the healing of Mrs. Winslow which has usually been attributed to 1866. Referring to this visit, she wrote: “When I went there Mrs. Winslow was very lame and sick, had not walked up stairs naturally for years and given up trying to go out at all. I stopped two days and when I came away she walked to the Depot with me almost a mile. They were one and all urgent for me to stay there this winter but I am not of their opinion. I dont want society.” Mary Baker Glover to Sarah O. Bagley, 20 October 1868, L08306, MBEL.