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Whether she had any natural sense of modesty, could only be judged by the negative evidence of her not violating its dictates in regard to dress, attitude or action, while she transgressed most of the other laws of decorum continually. At table, for instance, she stretched out her hands and laid hold of every thing within reach. She was less inclined to allow any one in man's dress to touch her than in woman's; she repelled the one, but shrank from the other as from strangers, and was not at all disposed to receive any endearments from them. She was slender, but apparently very active and strong; and at home moved about very freely, both in the house and in its immediate neighborhood, and could climb trees with great agility. She had learned to sew, and was very handy with her needle, as well as ingenious in cutting and constructing various little articles.

She was accompanied by her father, a very respectable farmer, from Danby, Vt., and a younger sister to whom she clung very closely; not, however, as I should think so much from affection, as for protection among strangers. She would not, indeed, allow her sister to leave her an instant; and when she perceived that she was inclined to do so, either grasped her dress with one hand, or if she was obliged to use both her hands for any thing she would pin her gown to her own. I directed the sister to unpin the dress softly and to slip away a moment, so that Lucy might begin to be accustomed to her absence, and to learn that she would return again; but when she did return, Lucy held fast to her, and would not trust the pin any more, but whenever she had occasion to use both hands, she held some part of the dress in her teeth. As there was no way of separating them without violence, and, perhaps, without dangerous agitation to Lucy's feelings; and as I was desirous that the anxious parents should feel every assurance of their unfortunate child's proper treatment, I requested the sister to remain, which she did, during several weeks.

After waiting a few days until she should become a little familiar with her new locality, and learn that she was among friends, I commenced the attempt to make her take her seat at a desk with the other girls, but found that the teachers could not induce her to remain in it. As soon as I felt assured that she understood what was required of her, and that caressing would not induce her to obey, I came to the resolution, painful as it was, to coerce her to obedience. I am not now sure that I was right, perhaps it would have been better to lose whole months in the attempt to coax her to obedience, and to manifest the kind feeling by which I was actuated, in a manner more comprehensible to her. But having no precedent to guide me, and not foreseeing how great would be her resistance, I acted according to my best judgment and proceeded to enforce obedience. Having, therefore, her sister by her side to assure her that a friend was near, I endeavored gently to detain her in the seat to which her teacher had led her; she resisted, and I held her more firmly, upon which she sprang up suddenly with so much agility and force, as to drag herself across the room in spite of all I could do. I now took more firm hold of her, when, finding, after a short struggle, that she could not get away from me, she suddenly darted her nails into my hands, and brought blood with every scratch; still I carried her along, upon which, as if perceiving there was a more sensible spot, she clawed at my face so ferociously, that I was forced to put up my hands to save my eyes. Taking advantage of this, and exerting a degree of strength and activity altogether surprising in one of her age, she defied all my efforts to hold her, or to put her in her seat.

I then put a wire fencing mask upon my face, and thick gloves on my hands, and after trying gently to coax her to her place, I took firm hold of her, upon which she instantly clutched again at my face, but seemed amazed at the reception which her talons met with; nothing daunted, however, she clawed at my hands, and not being able to penetrate the gloves, she curled her fingers under my coat-sleeves, and scratched at the flesh between the cuff and the glove. This satisfied me she vas perfectly conscious of what she was about, and could exercise discretion as to the points of attack; especially as finding that I did not now mind her nails, she quickly bent her head down, and began to bite; I, therefore, no longer hesitated to exert all my strength, and force her to her seat. Still she would not yield, but renewed the contest repeatedly for two hours, until I was almost completely exhausted, when she finally yielded. She however in her resistance twice within the twenty-four hours, and then submitted entirely.

For some time after this, she would mind no one else, and several times she made violent resistance to my will; but I procured a a -sic- pair of leather hand-cuffs, and fastened her hands behind her back once or twice, and she so dreaded them, that their touch was enough to make her yield.