My cousin Ida came to see us one summer. She was 16 and had a serious boyfriend back home. She was in love with a boy named Jed. She told me that her and Jed had been talking about marrying up soon. Ida lived in Missouri and I guess her father must have had some money because she rode on a train to come to La Junta. I was still young and very impressed with this glamorous cousin of mine.

Mama said Ida was prideful. She said she was at that flustered age but I thought she was grand. She was so lovely, her face glowed with color.

It was strawberry time, our patch was giving us some big strawberries and they tasted delicious with cream, but Ida wasn't eating them. She was using the berries for something else. Oscar sneaked up on her one day and learned all about it.

"No wonder her lips look like strawberries. She's rubbing squashed strawberry juice on her face," Oscar laughed as he told me Ida's secret.

"That's why she's so pretty," I said.

"Mama would have a fit if she found out how Ida's using her strawberries," he said. "Strawberries are to eat."

"Don't you dare tell," I warned him.

We had a mirror in our front room and when Mama wasn't looking Ida spent a lot of time standing in front of it. I stood beside her and admired her. If only I looked as good as Ida I would be pretty too.

Sometimes she put a book on her head and walked in a straight line. The first time I saw her I watched for a time. I was curious and had to find out why she was walking with a book on her head.

"Why are you doing that?" I asked.

"To improve my carriage, Sadie," Ida answered and she giggled when I put Tom Sawyer on my head and it fell off.

"I wish I could be as pretty as you, Ida," I told her.

"Why Sadie," she said. "You just wait until you get older, you're going to be a beauty." But I didn't want to wait until I was older to be a beauty.

Ida stayed with us for three weeks that summer and it was nice to have another girl around. I missed her something powerful when she went back to Missouri. That mirror made me feel closer to Ida so I stood and watched myself to see if I was going to start turning into a beauty. I decided to help nature out and started squashing a strawberry every morning and putting the juice on my face. I spent a lot of time walking back and forth in front of the mirror with a book on my head or rubbing squashed strawberries from the berry patch on my cheeks. Fact is I spent too much time and Mama caught me.

One morning she walked in and there I was rubbing strawberry juice on my face.

"Whatever are you doing, Sadie?" she asked me.

"Putting strawberry juice on my face," I said.

"Sadie," Mama said. "You're painting your face." She sounded shocked.

"Yes, ma'am," I said looking at my pink cheeks.

"Nice girls don't paint their faces," Mama said.

"Ida's a nice girl and she paints her face," I said.

"Oh, no," Mama groaned. "How do you know that?"

"Oscar saw her," I said.

Mama sighed. "Well, I'm sure her mother doesn't know she's doing that. You mustn't rub strawberry juice on your cheeks again."

"Why not?" I asked.

"Well, it's liable to give you chapped skin and besides, pride goeth before a fall," Mama said as she headed back to the kitchen.

I had no idea what "pride goeth before a fall" meant, but I did stop putting strawberry juice on my face. Instead I tried another trick that I'd seen Ida use, I pinched my cheeks real hard so they'd be pink. Then I admired my face in the mirror. I wanted to make sure when I did turn into a beauty I would see it.

Mama caught me looking at myself in the mirror several times.

"I declare," she said, "I'm going to hide that mirror if you don't stop admiring yourself."

"Don't hide it, Mama," I begged.

She gave me many words of advice such as, "Beauty is only skin deep, beauty is in the eye of the beholder," but most of all, "pride goeth before a fall."

I tried to act like I knew what she was talking about.

"You stop trying to put on airs," Mama told me. That evening I heard her tell Father, "We're going to have to cut a tall poppy down to size." I had no idea what that meant. But I did know that I shouldn't stand in front of the mirror when Mama was around.

Soon after that my oldest brother, Doc, his name was Jesse, but we called him Doc, moved to La Junta. Doc was 22 years older than me and he stayed in Missouri when Mama and Papa moved west. He married his wife Amanda on Christmas day but he was living in Topeka, Kansas then so we didn't get to go to the wedding. Doc worked for the government and came to La Junta once in awhile so we saw him now and then but he came by himself. He seemed more like an uncle than a brother to me. Doc liked the Arkansas Valley and he soon got a job with the Santa Fe. He and his family moved to a house on 2nd Street in East La Junta. We lived on West 1st Street and they were across town, but it was close enough for us to see them just about every week.

At the time they moved to La Junta Doc and Amanda had a cute little boy, his name was Johnny. Shortly after they came to live here William was born, we called him B. Now, I loved children and wanted a sister or a brother so bad. Mama said she didn't think so, after all she had already given birth to 13 children and she was too old now. Mama said I would just have to pretend that Doc's youngun's were my brothers.

After Doc and Amanda came to live in La Junta I didn't miss Ida so much but I still liked to stand in front of that mirror. Two year old Johnny stood beside me and watched me, just like I had looked at Ida. Now I truly felt grown up. I looked at my face and decided that I really was getting to be a beauty.

One snowy morning Amanda was feeling poorly so Doc brought the little ones over in the wagon and asked Mama if she would take care of them for the day because Amanda needed to stay in bed. Mama said sure and Doc handed Johnny down to her. She took him in her arms. I was sure I could carry the baby so I reached for him.

"I don't know Sadie," Mama said. "Do you think you can carry him?"

"Yes, Mama," I said. After all I was getting quite grown up. I took the baby in my arms. I was holding on tight as I could to my little nephew.

Mama said, "Be sure and don't let him fall."

I said, "I will hold on so tight." But he was heavier than I thought because just then he slid out of my arms and dropped into the snow. He let out a war hoop and I thought he was killed. I started crying and picked him up. The snow was soft. Thank goodness he wasn't hurt.

"Mama," I said after I made sure that I hadn't killed the poor little guy. "Is that what you mean when you say "pride goes before a fall"?

"Well, Sadie," Mama laughed as we walked back into the house. "It isn't exactly what I meant but I guess it'll do."

"Well, I've been feeling mighty proud of how grown up I'm getting," I admitted. "And now B took a fall."

"I guess that's pride going before a fall," she laughed.

Now that I understood what it meant I tried to be extra careful, I didn't want anyone else to take a fall. I didn't pinch my cheeks anymore and I even lost interest in the mirror -- for a few years.