Miriam Berry Whitcher Speaks Her Mind [ 37 ] it will bear no comparison with many in the village—& their stiches are the least—nay—less than the least you ever saw. I would'nt dare have them see those I brought from home, yes I would too—for I wish them to know that I do'nt care for such things.30 Miriam missed the easy companionship of the Whitesboro gatherings, and the pressure of competition between the women in Elmira probably served to remind her of her own domestic limitations. Here, in a passage from The Widow Bedott Papers, Aunt Maguire described a meeting of the sewing society in Scrabble Hill's neighboring community of Slabtown, where the quilters strove to out-do and un-do each other. It's cur'us, by the way, what a wonderful time the Slabtown wimmin make about their quilts. Ther seems to be a continniwal strife there as to who shall git the most stitchin' on a quilt. They crowd and stuff 'em as full o' work as they possibly can. Folks that's able to buy han'some bed-kivers, never think o' such a thing. But they'll spend ever so many weeks a diggin' away at a home-made bed-quilt, and git the neighbors together time and agin, and stitch, stitch, stitch, stitch, as if their lives depended on't, and not feel satisfied till every spot as big as a sixpence is kivered with stitches. Eunice had a quiltin' while I was there. My eyes wa'n't good enought to work on the quilt, and Eunice dident seem to be very sorry; for she wa'n't very anxious to have me make my appearance among her genteel friends. So I staid up in my own room. Ther was a stove-pipe hole in the floor from the parlor where they was quiltin! and I could hear 'em talk. Grammany, what a buzzin they kept up! I tell ye, every body that wa'n't there had to take it, and no mistake. It would have to be a pretty skillful arithmeticker that could calculate how many characters can be pulled to pieces while one quilt's a puttin' together.31 At the same time that Miriam was adjusting to domestic matters she was also concerned with church matters and William's position as Elmira's Episcopal minister. In Elmira, and in most towns, churches were a focus in the community and an important part of people's daily lives. This was an era of revivalist and evangelical movements, also of proliferating sects, of hybrid denominations, and of experimentation with different faiths. Miriam was not persuaded that people's adherence to a particular denomination was based on religious conviction, and, once again, it was through the Widow Bedott that Miriam sati- 30 M. Whitcher to sister, June 27,1847. 31 Bedott Papers, 336.