● ● ●  quickly in landing the most eligible young bachelor in town, Alexander Hamilton Tilton, who built and owned a large woolen mill and amassed a considerable fortune before he died. Eventually Sanbornton Bridge was renamed Tilton, and Abigail had the satisfaction of being the first lady of the town. With a deep sense of responsibility and a rigid sense of propriety, she illustrated Harriet Martineau’s statement that the “worship of Opinion is, at this day [1836], the established religion of the United States.”¹⁹

As the biologist might view it, her eminence in her own small world was an example of successful adaptation to environment; given her will to succeed within the conventions of her society, her behavior was reasonably predictable. Although in some ways a bold and independent person, Abigail had that fundamental Yankee conservatism or caution which took its chief form, according to Miss Martineau, in “fear of singularity.”²⁰

Mary, who was outwardly so much more timid than Abigail, was vastly more daring when it came to fundamentals, and her willingness to stand out against the whole world eventually shocked the older sister’s sense of propriety and alienated her affections beyond repair. The course of Mary’s future could certainly not be plotted by the minor civilities she held in esteem or even by the major ideals of her society. It is a simple fact that she had it in her to shatter existing patterns.

At the same time she clung to family and friends with wistful eagerness. Of the ill health that interfered with the society of friends she wrote to her school friend and close confidante, Augusta Holmes, that “this, Dear Augusta, is the corroding canker of a youthfull and ardent mind.”²¹ On the eve of Abigail’s marriage she wrote George: