He at once took his place on the upper seat, among the
elders, most of whom he knew already, from having met them, year
after year, in Philadelphia. The charge of a few acres of ground
gave him sufficient occupation; the money left to him after the
sale of his farm was enough to support him comfortably; and a late
Indian summer of contentment seemed now to have come to the
old man. He was done with the earnest business of life. Moses was
gradually taking his place, as father and Friend; and Asenath would
be reasonably provided for at his death. As his bodily energies
decayed, his imperious temper softened, his mind became more
accessible to liberal influences, and he even cultivated a cordial
friendship with a neighboring farmer who was one of "the world's
people." Thus, at seventy-five he was really younger, because
tenderer of heart and more considerate, than he had been at sixty.
Asenath was now a woman of thirty-five, and suitors had ceased to
approach her. Much of her beauty still remained, but her face had
become thin and wasted, and the inevitable lines were beginning to
form around her eyes.
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