They were the most mortifying sight I ever beheld; and the women were homelier than the men Beside the usual deformities in extreme old age, they acquired an additional ghastliness, in proportion to their number of years, which is not to be described; and among half a dozen I soon distinguished which was the eldest, although there was not above a century or two between them.

So it seemed to me then, before I had seen greater ghastliness.

She veiled from us the ghastliness of death, telling us Aunt Betsy and both our little cousins had gone to heaven.