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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Noble Deeds of American Women, Edited by J.
+(Jesse) Clement
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Noble Deeds of American Women
+       With Biographical Sketches of Some of the More Prominent
+
+
+Editor: J. (Jesse) Clement
+
+Release Date: March 8, 2012  [eBook #39079]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NOBLE DEEDS OF AMERICAN WOMEN***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Julia Neufeld, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
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+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
+
+      Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals.
+
+      The carat character (^) in Eng^d indicates that the following
+      letter ("d") is superscripted.
+
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration: Eng^d by J.C. Buttre.
+
+    MARTHA WASHINGTON.
+
+    FROM STUART'S PICTURE]
+
+SIXTEENTH THOUSAND.
+
+NOBLE DEEDS OF AMERICAN WOMEN;
+
+With Biographical Sketches of Some of the More Prominent.
+
+Edited by
+
+J. CLEMENT.,
+
+With an introduction by Mrs. L. H. Sigourney.
+
+
+   Such examples should be set before them as patterns for their daily
+   imitation.
+
+   LOCKE
+
+New Edition Revised.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+New York:
+Miller, Orton & Co.,
+25 PARK ROW.
+1857.
+
+Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by
+Geo. H. Derby & Co.,
+In the Clerk's Office of the Northern District of New York.
+
+
+
+
+Editor's Preface.
+
+
+This work was suggested by one of a similar character, entitled "Noble
+Deeds of Woman," an English work, which contains but three references to
+American Women, two of which are of but very little importance. Only one
+article is the same in both works, and that is the letter written by
+Mrs. Sigourney to the women of Greece, in 1828, in behalf of the ladies
+of Hartford.
+
+This failure to do justice to American women, may have been an
+oversight; be that as it may, a work of the kind here presented, seemed
+to be needed, and we regret that its preparation had not been assigned
+to an abler pen. Multitudes of works have been consulted, and such
+anecdotes gleaned as it is thought will have a salutary influence on
+the mind and heart. Should the records of female courage and virtue
+herein presented to the daughters of the land, encourage, even in the
+slightest degree, a laudable spirit of emulation, our humble labors will
+not have been put forth in vain.
+
+Facts are more sublime than fictions; and American women have actually
+performed all the good, and grand, and glorious deeds which the honest
+and judicious novelist dares ascribe to the female sex; hence we have
+found no occasion, in striving to make this work interesting, to deviate
+from the path of historical truth.
+
+The sources whence our materials have been derived, are largely
+indicated in the body of the work. Possibly, however, we may have
+failed, in some instances, to indicate our indebtedness to historians
+and biographers where such reference was justly demanded; suffice it to
+say, therefore, once for all, that, although something like two hundred
+of these pages are in our own language, we deserve but little credit for
+originality, and would prefer to be regarded as an unpretending
+compiler, rather than as an aspirant to the title of author.
+
+                                                            J. C.
+
+     NOTE TO THE REVISED EDITION.
+
+     The fact that eight thousand copies of this work have been
+     published in less than a year after its appearance, indicates a
+     degree of popularity which was not anticipated. In this edition we
+     have thrown out a few pages of the old matter, and substituted, in
+     most instances, fresher anecdotes; and this revision, with the
+     illustrations which the liberal-minded publishers have added, will,
+     it is hoped, render the work still more acceptable.
+
+                                                            J. C.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                             PAGE.
+
+  INTRODUCTION                                 13
+
+  Mother of Washington                         25
+
+  Wife of Washington                           33
+
+  Wife of John Adams                           39
+
+  Ann H. Judson                                52
+
+  A Christian Woman in the Hour of Danger      66
+
+  Humanity of Hartford Ladies                  69
+
+  Mother Bailey                                73
+
+  Elizabeth Heard                              76
+
+  Ladies of Philadelphia in 1780               78
+
+  Wife of President Reed                       80
+
+  Completion of Bunker Hill Monument           85
+
+  Lydia Darrah                                 89
+
+  Widow Storey                                 93
+
+  Mrs. Hendee                                  95
+
+  Patriotic Women of Old Middlesex             97
+
+  The Cacique's Noble Daughter                 99
+
+  Humane Spirit of a Forest Maid              104
+
+  Hannah Dustin                               108
+
+  The Heroines of Bryant's Station            111
+
+  Mrs. Daviess                                114
+
+  A Kentucky Amazon                           118
+
+  Heroism at Innis Settlement                 120
+
+  Bold Exploit at Tampico                     124
+
+  Dicey Langston                              125
+
+  Rebecca Motte                               129
+
+  Another Sacrifice for Freedom               132
+
+  A Patriotic Donation                        133
+
+  The Little Black-eyed Rebel                 134
+
+  The Benevolent Quakeress                    136
+
+  A Pioneer in Sunday Schools                 140
+
+  The Women of Wyoming                        142
+
+  Mary Gould                                  143
+
+  The Mother of President Polk                145
+
+  Trials of a Patriot                         146
+
+  Intrepidity of Mrs. Israel                  164
+
+  Incident in Missionary Life                 166
+
+  A Kind-hearted Chippewa                     169
+
+  Humanity of a Cherokee                      170
+
+  Self-sacrificing Spirit of the Missionary   171
+
+  Daring Exploit of Two Rebels                176
+
+  Elizabeth Martin                            178
+
+  The Mother's Effectual Petition             180
+
+  Noteworthy Integrity                        182
+
+  A Faithful Mother                           184
+
+  Mrs. Spaulding                              186
+
+  Wife of Colonel Thomas                      188
+
+  Exemplary Piety                             190
+
+  Adventure of a Patriotic Girl               192
+
+  Mrs. Caldwell and the Tories                195
+
+  Mother of Randolph                          198
+
+  Cornelia Beekman                            199
+
+  Mother of West                              202
+
+  Heroic Endurance                            204
+
+  Maternal Heroism                            211
+
+  A Modern Dorcas                             213
+
+  Sarah Hoffman                               218
+
+  Heroism of Schoharie Women                  221
+
+  A Sterling Patriot                          223
+
+  Heroic Conduct at Monmouth                  237
+
+  Courage of a Country Girl                   239
+
+  The Ledyards at Fort Griswold               241
+
+  Seneca Heroines                             244
+
+  Martha Bratton                              246
+
+  A Poor Woman's Offering                     250
+
+  Mother of Jackson                           251
+
+  Heroine of Fort Henry                       253
+
+  A Benevolent Widow                          256
+
+  Anne Fitzhugh                               258
+
+  Esther Gaston                               261
+
+  Remarkable Presence of Mind                 263
+
+  Wife of Governor Griswold                   265
+
+  Bold Exploit of a Young Girl                266
+
+  Susanna Wright                              268
+
+  Patriotism of 1770                          270
+
+  Mrs. Spalding                               272
+
+  Mrs. Dillard                                275
+
+  Phoebe Phillips                             277
+
+  Example of a Poor Widow                     279
+
+  Elizabeth Estaugh                           284
+
+  Kate Moore,                                 297
+
+  Captivity of Mrs. Rowlandson                299
+
+  Mrs. Bozarth                                303
+
+  Heroine of Steel Creek                      305
+
+  Benevolence of a Colored Woman              308
+
+  Rebecca Edwards                             309
+
+  The Beautiful Rebel                         311
+
+  Harriet B. Stewart                          313
+
+  A Kind and Benevolent Woman                 316
+
+  Noble Example of Pioneers                   320
+
+  Mrs. Slocumb                                323
+
+  Wife of Captain Richardson                  330
+
+  Striking Instance of Patience               331
+
+  Susannah Elliott                            336
+
+  Anna Elliott                                338
+
+  Patriotic Stratagem                         340
+
+  Influence of a Faithful Teacher             341
+
+  Wife of Thomas Heyward                      343
+
+  Noble Decision                              345
+
+  A Tennessee Heroine                         346
+
+  Mrs. M'Kay                                  352
+
+  Heroic Conduct of a Daughter                354
+
+  Heroic Decision                             356
+
+  Daughter of Aaron Burr                      358
+
+  Female Intrepidity                          361
+
+  Wife of Richard Shubrick                    362
+
+  Retort of Mrs. Ashe                         365
+
+  Wife of a Drunkard                          366
+
+  Mother of Dr. Dwight                        370
+
+  Happy Results of Maternal Fidelity          373
+
+  Mrs. Scott                                  375
+
+  Success of Boldness                         378
+
+  Mary Knight                                 380
+
+  Wife of William Gray                        381
+
+  Mrs. Huntington                             383
+
+  Mrs. Biddle                                 385
+
+  Kindness of Convicts                        387
+
+  Margaret Prior                              388
+
+  Noble Acts of Kindness                      395
+
+  Wife of Dr. Ramsay                          398
+
+  Margaret Schuyler                           400
+
+  Noble Treatment of Enemies                  402
+
+  Humanity Rewarded                           403
+
+  Margaret Winthrop                           404
+
+  A Pioneer Settler's Adventure               408
+
+  Mrs. McKenny                                410
+
+  The Fisherman's Heroic Wife                 416
+
+  Mrs. James K. Polk                          418
+
+  Widow Jenkins                               421
+
+  Faithful Little Girl                        423
+
+  Hospitality of California Women             424
+
+  Sarah Lanman Smith                          425
+
+  Brother saved by his Sister                 429
+
+  Mrs. Borden                                 431
+
+  Margaret Corbin                             432
+
+  Mrs. Channing                               433
+
+  Commendable Courage                         434
+
+  Heroine of Shell's Bush                     435
+
+  Father Taylor's Widowed Friend              437
+
+  Revolutionary Mother                        440
+
+  Successful Daring                           443
+
+  Worthy Example of Forgiveness               444
+
+  Crookshanks saved by a Female               445
+
+  Patriotic Artist                            446
+
+  Mohawk Women                                448
+
+  Female in the Revolutionary Army            450
+
+  Elizabeth Brant                             459
+
+  Brief Anecdotes                             465
+
+  Miss D. L. Dix                              474
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+The advantages of Biography are obvious and great. To the weight of
+precept, it adds the force and efficacy of example. It presents correct
+and beautiful models, and awakens the impulse to imitate what we admire.
+Other sciences strengthen the intellect, this influences and amends the
+heart. Other subjects interest the imagination, this modifies conduct
+and character. By the recorded actions of the great and good, we
+regulate our own course, and steer, star-guided, over life's trackless
+ocean.
+
+In remote ages, the department of Female Biography was almost a void.
+Here and there on the pages of the Sacred Volume, a lineament, or a
+form, is sketched with graphic power, either as a warning, or bright
+with the hues of heaven. Yet uninspired history, though she continued to
+utter "her dark sayings upon the harp," was wont to relapse into silence
+at the name of woman. Classic antiquity scarcely presents aught that
+might be cited as a sustained example. In the annals of ancient Greece,
+the wife of one of its philosophers has obtained a place, but only
+through the varied trials, by which she contributed to perfect his
+patience. Rome but slightly lifts the household veil from the mother of
+the Gracchi, as she exultingly exhibits her heart's jewels. Cleopatra,
+with her royal barge, casts a dazzling gleam over the Cydnus, but her
+fame is like the poison of the reptile that destroyed her. Boadicea
+rushes for a moment in her rude chariot over the battle field, but the
+fasces and the chains of Rome close the scene.
+
+Modern Paganism disclosed a still deeper abyss of degradation for woman.
+The aboriginal lord of the American forests lays the burden on the
+shoulder of his weaker companion, and stalks on in unbowed majesty, with
+his quiver and his tomahawk. Beneath the sultry skies of Africa, she
+crouches to drink the poison water before her judges, having no better
+test of her innocence than the deliverer, Death. In India, we see her
+plunging into the Ganges her female infants, that they may escape her
+lot of misery, or wrapped in the flames of the burning pile, turn into
+ashes with the corpse of her husband. Under the sway of the Moslem, her
+highest condition is a life-long incarceration, her best treatment, that
+of a gilded toy--a soulless slave. Throughout the whole heathen world,
+woman may be characterized, as Humanity, in Central Asia has been, by an
+elegant French writer, as "always remaining anonymous,--indifferent to
+herself,--not believing in her liberty, having none,--and leaving no
+trace of her passage upon earth."
+
+Christianity has changed the scene. Wherever her pure and pitying spirit
+prevails, the sway of brute force is softened, and the "weaker vessel"
+upheld. Bearing in her hand the blessed Gospel, "a light to lighten the
+Gentiles, and the glory of the people Israel," she adds to the
+literature of the world a new volume, the History of Woman. She spreads
+a page, for which the long, slow ages had neither looked, nor
+inquired,--neither waited for, nor imagined, the page of female
+biography.
+
+So liberal have been our own immediate times in supplying fitting
+materials, that an extensive and valuable library might readily be
+selected in this department alone. Since knowledge has shed her baptism
+upon the head of woman, her legitimate sphere of duty has become
+extended, and enriched by incident. We see her not only brought forward
+as a teacher, but entering unrebuked the fields of science and
+literature; we see her amid the hardships of colonial life, displaying a
+martyr's courage, or ascending the deck of the mission ship to take her
+part in "perils among the heathen."
+
+The venerable moralist of Barley Wood, who so perseveringly encouraged
+her sex to reflect, to discriminate, to choose the good and refuse the
+evil, who, after attaining the age of sixty years, presented them with
+eleven new and instructive volumes, has not long laid down her pen, for
+the rest and reward of the righteous. That high souled apostle of
+erring, suffering humanity, to whose dauntless benevolence crowned heads
+did honor, whose melodious voice I almost fancy that I again hear, as in
+the plain garb of her order, she stood as a tutelary being among the
+convicts at Newgate,--she has but recently arisen to that congenial
+society of the just made perfect, who rejoice over "one sinner that
+repenteth."
+
+And the harp of that tuneful one, so recently exchanged for a purer
+harmony, still breathes upon our hearts the echoes of her varied lay, as
+when touched by her hand it warbled--
+
+  "Fame hath a voice, whose thrilling tone
+    Can bid the life pulse beat,
+  As when a trumpet's note hath blown,
+    Warning the hosts to meet;
+  But ah! let mine, a woman's breast,
+  With words of home-born love be bless'd."
+
+She, too, who sleeps beneath the hopia-tree in Burmah, whose courage and
+constancy no hero has transcended, how rapidly has she been followed in
+the same self denying path, by others who "counted not their lives dear
+unto them," if they might bear to the perishing heathen the name and
+love of a Redeemer.
+
+And one still lives, the wonderful Scandinavian maiden, whose melody now
+holds our own land in enchantment, and who exhibits, on a scale hitherto
+unknown in the world's history, rare endowments, boundless liberality,
+and deep humility; God's grace held in subservience to the good of her
+fellow creatures. Through the power of song, which, as the compeer of
+the nightingale, she possesses, and with a singular freedom from vanity
+and selfishness, she charms and elevates, while with the harvest of her
+toils she feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, comforts the desolate,
+aids the hallowed temple to uplift its spire, and the school to spread
+its brooding wing over the children of future generations.
+
+  One there lives, who doth inherit
+  Angel gifts with angel spirit,
+  Bidding streams of gladness flow
+  Through the realms of want and woe,
+  'Mid lone age and misery's lot,
+  Kindling pleasures long forgot,
+  Seeking minds oppress'd with night,
+  And on darkness shedding light;
+  She the seraph's speech doth know,
+  She hath learn'd their deeds below
+  So, when o'er this misty strand,
+  She shall clasp their waiting hand,
+  They will fold her to their breast,
+  More a sister than a guest.
+
+If all true greatness should be estimated by its tendencies, and by the
+good it performs, it is peculiarly desirable that woman's claims to
+distinction should be thus judged and awarded. In this young western
+world, especially in New England, her agency has been admitted, and her
+capacity tested, of mingling a healthful leaven with the elements of a
+nation's character. Here, her presence has been acknowledged, and her
+aid faithfully rendered, from the beginning. There is a beautiful
+tradition, that the first foot which pressed the snow clad rock of
+Plymouth was that of Mary Chilton, a fair young maiden, and that the
+last survivor of those heroic pioneers was Mary Allerton, who lived to
+see the planting of twelve out of the thirteen colonies, which formed
+the nucleus of these United States.
+
+In the May Flower, eighteen wives accompanied their husbands to a waste
+land and uninhabited, save by the wily and vengeful savage. On the
+unfloored hut, she who had been nurtured amid the rich carpets and
+curtains of the mother land, rocked her new born babe, and complained
+not. She, who in the home of her youth had arranged the gorgeous shades
+of embroidery, or, perchance, had compounded the rich venison pasty as
+her share in the housekeeping, now pounded the coarse Indian corn for
+her children's bread, and bade them ask God's blessing, ere they took
+their scanty portion. When the snows sifted through their miserable
+roof-trees upon her little ones, she gathered them closer to her bosom;
+she taught them the Bible, and the catechism, and the holy hymn, though
+the war-whoop of the Indian rang through the wild. Amid the untold
+hardships of colonial life, she infused new strength into her husband by
+her firmness, and solaced his weary hours by her love. She was to him,
+
+  "An undergoing spirit, to bear up
+  Against whate'er ensued."
+
+During the struggle of our Revolution, the privations sustained, and the
+efforts made by women, were neither few nor of short duration. Many of
+them are delineated in the present volume, and in other interesting ones
+of the same class, which have found favor with the public.
+
+Yet innumerable instances of faithful toil, and patient endurance, must
+have been covered with oblivion. In how many a lone home, whence the
+father was long sundered by a soldier's destiny, did the Mother labor to
+perform to their little ones both his duties and her own, having no
+witness of the extent of her heavy burdens, and sleepless anxieties,
+save the Hearer of Prayer.
+
+A good and hoary headed man, who had passed the limits of fourscore,
+once said to me, "my father was in the army during the whole eight years
+of the Revolutionary war, at first as a common soldier, afterwards as an
+officer. My mother had the sole charge of us, four little ones. Our
+house was a poor one, and far from neighbors. I have a keen remembrance
+of the terrible cold of some of these winters. The snow lay so deep and
+long, that it was difficult to cut or draw fuel from the woods, and to
+get our corn to mill, when we had any. My mother was the possessor of a
+coffee mill. In that she ground wheat, and made coarse bread, which we
+ate, and were thankful. It was not always that we could be allowed as
+much, even of this, as our keen appetites craved. Many is the time that
+we have gone to bed, with only a drink of water for our supper, in
+which a little molasses had been mingled. We patiently received it, for
+we knew our mother did as well for us as she could, and hoped to have
+something better in the morning. She was never heard to repine; and
+young as we were, we tried to make her loving spirit and heavenly trust,
+our example.
+
+"When my father was permitted to come home, his stay was short, and he
+had not much to leave us, for the pay of those who achieved our
+liberties was slight, and irregularly rendered. Yet when he went, my
+mother ever bade him farewell with a cheerful face, and not to be
+anxious about his children, for she would watch over them night and day,
+and God would take care of the families of those who went forth to
+defend the righteous cause of their country. Sometimes we wondered that
+she did not mention the cold weather, or our short meals, or her hard
+work, that we little ones might be clothed, and fed, and taught. But she
+would not weaken his hands, or sadden his heart, for she said a
+soldier's lot was harder than all. We saw that she never complained, but
+always kept in her heart a sweet hope, like a well of living water.
+Every night ere we slept, and every morning when we arose, we lifted our
+little hands for God's blessing on our absent father, and our endangered
+country."
+
+How deeply the prayers from such solitary homes, and faithful hearts,
+were mingled with the infant liberties of our dear native land, we may
+not know until we enter where we see no more "through a glass darkly,
+but face to face."
+
+Incidents repeatedly occurred during this contest of eight years,
+between the feeble colonies and the strong motherland, of a courage
+that ancient Sparta would have applauded.
+
+In a thinly settled part of Virginia, the quiet of the Sabbath eve was
+once broken by the loud, hurried roll of the drum. Volunteers were
+invoked to go forth and prevent the British troops, under the pitiless
+Tarleton, from forcing their way through an important mountain pass. In
+an old fort resided a family, all of whose elder sons were absent with
+our army, which at the North opposed the foe. The father lay enfeebled
+and sick. Around his bedside the Mother called their three sons, of the
+ages of thirteen, fifteen, and seventeen.
+
+"Go forth, children," said she, "to the defence of your native clime.
+Go, each and all of you. I spare not my youngest, my fair-haired boy,
+the light of my declining years.
+
+"Go forth, my sons. Repel the foot of the invader, or see my face no
+more."
+
+It has been recorded in the annals of other climes, as well as our own,
+that Woman, under the pressure of unusual circumstances, has revealed
+unwonted and unexpected energies. It is fitting that she should prove
+herself equal to every emergency, nor shrink from any duty that dangers
+or reverses may impose.
+
+Still, her best happiness and true glory are doubtless found in her own
+peculiar sphere. Rescued, as she has been, from long darkness, by the
+precepts of the religion of Jesus, brought forth into the broad sunlight
+of knowledge and responsibility, she is naturally anxious to know how to
+discharge her debt to the age, and to her own land. Her patriotism is,
+to labor in the sanctuary of home, and in every allotted department of
+education, to form and train a race that shall bless their country, and
+serve their God.
+
+There has been sometimes claimed for her, under the name of "_rights_,"
+a wider participation in the pursuits, exposures, and honors
+appertaining to men. Were these somewhat indefinite claims conceded,
+would the change promote her welfare? Would she be a gainer by any added
+power or sounding title, which should require the sacrifice of that
+delicacy which is the life-blood of her sex?
+
+Would it be better for man to have no exercise for those energies, which
+the state of a gentle, trustful being calls forth; those protecting
+energies which reveal his peculiar strength, and liken him to a god-like
+nature? Would it add either to her attractions or his happiness, to
+confront her in the arena of political strife, or enable her to bear her
+part in fierce collision with the bold and unprincipled? Might it not
+endanger or obliterate that enthusiasm of love, which she so much
+prizes, to meet the tutelary spirit of his home delights, on the steep
+unsheltered heights of ambition, as a competitor or a rival?
+
+Would it be as well for the rising generation, who are given into the
+arms of Woman for their earliest guidance, that the ardor of her nature
+should be drawn into different and contradictory channels? When a
+traveler in those lands where she goes forth to manual toil in the
+fields, I have mourned to see her neglected little ones, deprived of
+maternal care, unsoftened by the blandishments of its tenderness,
+growing up like animals, groveling, unimpressible, unconscientious.
+Whatever detaches her thoughts or divides her heart from home duties and
+affections, is especially a loss to the young plants that depend on her
+nurture and supervision.
+
+If, therefore, the proposed change should profit neither man, woman, nor
+the rising race, how can it benefit the world at large? Is it not the
+province of true wisdom to select such measures as promote the greatest
+good of the greatest number?
+
+A moralist has well said, that "in contentions for power, both the
+philosophy and poetry of life are dropped and trodden down." A still
+heavier loss would accrue to domestic happiness, and the interests of
+well balanced society, should the innate delicacy and prerogative of
+woman, _as woman_, be sacrificed or transmuted.
+
+"I have given her as a help-meet," said the Voice that cannot err, when
+it spake unto Adam "in the cool of the day," amid the trees of Paradise.
+Not as a slave, a clog, a toy, a wrestler, a prize-fighter, a ruler. No.
+A _helper_, such as was meet for man to desire, and for her to become.
+
+If the unerring Creator has assigned different spheres of action to the
+sexes, it is to be presumed that some adaptation exists to their
+respective sphere, that there is work enough in each to employ them, and
+that the faithful performance of that work will be for the welfare of
+both. If He hath constituted one as the priestess of the "inner temple,"
+committing to her charge its veiled shrine and sacred harmonies, why
+should she covet to rage amid the warfare at its gates, or to ride on
+the whirlwind that may rock its turrets? Rushing, uncalled, to the
+strife, or the tumult, or the conflict, will there not linger in her
+heart the upbraiding question, "with whom didst thou leave thy few sheep
+in the wilderness?" Why need she be again tempted by pride, or
+curiosity, or glozing words, to forfeit her own Eden?
+
+The true nobility of Woman is to keep her own sphere, and adorn it, not
+as the comet, daunting and perplexing other systems, but like the star,
+which is the first to light the day and the last to leave it. If she win
+not the laurel of the conqueror and the blood-shedder, her noble deeds
+may leave "footprints on the sands of time," and her good works, "such
+as become those that profess godliness," find record in the Book of
+Life.
+
+Sisters, are not our rights sufficiently comprehensive, the sanctuary of
+home, the throne of the heart, the moulding of the whole mass of mind,
+in its first formation? Have we not power enough in all realms of sorrow
+and suffering, over all forms of want and ignorance, amid all ministries
+of love, from the cradle-dream to the sealing of the sepulchre?
+
+Let us be content and faithful, aye, more,--grateful and joyful,--making
+this brief life a hymn of praise, until admitted to that choir which
+knows no discord, and where melody is eternal.
+
+                                            L. HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY.
+
+HARTFORD, CONN.
+
+  [Illustration: Woman with plaque "Noble Deeds"]
+
+
+
+
+THE MOTHER OF WASHINGTON
+
+
+As the "mother" of our nation's "chief," it seems appropriate that Mary
+Washington should stand at the head of American females whose deeds are
+herein recorded. Her life was one unbroken series of praiseworthy
+actions--a drama of many scenes, none blood-chilling, none tragic, but
+all noble, all inspiring, and many even magnanimous. She was uniformly
+so gentle, so amiable, so dignified, that it is difficult to fix the eye
+on any one act more strikingly grand than the rest. Stretching the eye
+along a series of mountain peaks, all, seemingly, of the same height, a
+solitary one cannot be singled out and called more sublime than the
+others.
+
+It is impossible to contemplate any one trait of her character without
+admiration. In republican simplicity, as her life will show, she was a
+model; and her piety was of such an exalted nature that the daughters of
+the land might make it their study. Though proud of her son, as we may
+suppose she must have been, she was sensible enough not to be betrayed
+into weakness and folly on that account. The honors that clustered
+around her name as associated with his, only humbled her and made her
+apparently more devout. She never forgot that she was a Christian
+mother, and that her son, herself, and, in perilous times especially,
+her country, needed her prayers. She was wholly destitute of
+aristocratic feelings, which are degrading to human beings; and never
+believed that sounding titles and high honors could confer lasting
+distinctions, without moral worth. The greatness which Byron, with so
+much justness and beauty, ascribes to Washington, was one portion of the
+inestimable riches which the son inherited from the mother:
+
+  "Where may the weary eye repose,
+    When gazing on the great,
+  Where neither guilty glory glows,
+    Nor despicable state?
+  Yes, one--the first--the last--the best--
+  The Cincinnatus of the West,
+    Whom envy dared not hate--
+  Bequeathed the name of Washington,
+  To make men blush there was but one."
+
+Moulding, as she did, to a large extent, the character of the great
+Hero, Statesman and Sage of the Western World; instilling into his young
+heart the virtues that warmed her own, and fitting him to become the man
+of unbending integrity and heroic courage, and the father of a great and
+expanding republic, she may well claim the veneration, not of the lovers
+of freedom merely, but of all who can appreciate moral beauty and
+thereby estimate the true wealth of woman's heart. A few data and
+incidents of such a person's life should be treasured in every American
+mind.
+
+The maiden name of Mrs. Washington was Mary Bell. She was born in the
+Colony of Virginia, which is fertile in great names, towards the close
+of the year 1706. She became the second wife of Mr. Augustine
+Washington, a planter of the "Old Dominion," on the sixth of March,
+1730. He was at that time a resident of Westmoreland county. There, two
+years after this union, George, their oldest child, was born. While the
+"father of his country" was an infant, the parents removed to Stafford
+county, on the Rappahannock river, opposite Fredericksburg.
+
+Mrs. Washington had five more children, and lost the youngest in its
+infancy. Soon after this affliction, she was visited, in 1743, with a
+greater--the death of her husband. Thus, at the age of thirty-seven,
+Mrs. Washington became a widow, with five small children. Fortunately,
+her husband left a valuable property for their maintenance. It was
+mostly in land, and each son inherited a plantation. The one daughter
+was also suitably provided for. "It was thus," writes Mr. Sparks, "that
+Augustine Washington, although suddenly cut off in the vigor of manhood,
+left all his children in a state of comparative independence. Confiding
+in the prudence of the mother, he directed that the proceeds of all the
+property of her children should be at her disposal, till they should
+respectively come of age."
+
+The same writer adds that, "this weighty charge of five young children,
+the eldest of whom was eleven years old, the superintendence of their
+education, and the management of complicated affairs, demanded no common
+share of resolution, resource of mind, and strength of character. In
+these important duties Mrs. Washington acquitted herself with fidelity
+to her trust, and with entire success. Her good sense, assiduity,
+tenderness and vigilance, overcame every obstacle; and, as the richest
+reward of a mother's solicitude and toil, she had the happiness of
+seeing all her children come forward with a fair promise into life,
+filling the sphere allotted to them in a manner equally honorable to
+themselves, and to the parent who had been the only guide of their
+principles, conduct and habits. She lived to witness the noble career of
+her eldest son, till, by his own rare merits, he was raised to the head
+of a nation, and applauded and revered by the whole world."
+
+Two years after the death of his father, George Washington obtained a
+midshipman's warrant, and had not his mother opposed the plan, he would
+have entered the naval service, been removed from her influence, acted
+a different part on the theatre of life, and possibly changed the
+subsequent aspect of American affairs.
+
+Just before Washington's departure to the north, to assume the command
+of the American army, he persuaded his mother to leave her country
+residence, and assisted in effecting her removal to Fredericksburg.
+There she took up a permanent abode, and there died of a lingering and
+painful disease, a cancer in the breast, on the twenty-fifth of August,
+1789.
+
+A few of the many lovely traits of Mrs. Washington's character, are
+happily exhibited in two or three incidents in her long, but not
+remarkably eventful life.
+
+She who looked to God in hours of darkness for light, in her country's
+peril, for Divine succor, was equally as ready to acknowledge the hand
+and to see the smiles of the "God of battles" in the victories that
+crowned our arms; hence, when she was informed of the surrender of
+Cornwallis, her heart instantly filled with gratitude, and raising her
+hands, with reverence and pious fervor, she exclaimed: "Thank God! war
+will now be ended, and peace, independence and happiness bless our
+country!"
+
+When she received the news of her son's successful passage of the
+Delaware--December 7th, 1776--with much self-possession she expressed
+her joy that the prospects of the country were brightening; but when she
+came to those portions of the dispatches which were panegyrical of her
+son, she modestly and coolly observed to the bearers of the good
+tidings, that "George appeared to have deserved well of his country for
+such signal services. But, my good sirs," she added, "here is too much
+flattery!--Still, _George will not forget the lessons I have taught
+him_--he will not forget _himself_, though he is the subject of so much
+praise."
+
+In like manner, when, on the return of the combined armies from
+Yorktown, Washington visited her at Fredericksburg, she inquired after
+his health and talked long and with much warmth of feeling of the scenes
+of former years, of early and mutual friends, of all, in short, that the
+past hallows; but to the theme of the ransomed millions of the land, the
+theme that for three quarters of a century has, in all lands, prompted
+the highest flights of eloquence, and awakened the noblest strains of
+song, to the deathless fame of her son, she made not the slightest
+allusion.
+
+In the fall of 1784, just before returning to his native land, General
+Lafayette went to Fredericksburg, "to pay his parting respects" to Mrs.
+Washington. "Conducted by one of her grandsons, he approached the house,
+when the young gentleman observed: 'There, sir, is my grandmother!'
+Lafayette beheld--working in the garden, clad in domestic-made clothes,
+and her gray head covered with a plain straw hat--the mother of 'his
+hero, his friend and a country's preserver!' The lady saluted him
+kindly, observing: 'Ah, Marquis! you see an old woman; but come, I can
+make you welcome to my poor dwelling without the parade of changing my
+dress.'" During the interview, Lafayette, referring to her son, could
+not withhold his encomiums, which drew from the mother this beautifully
+simple remark: "I am not surprised at what George has done, for he was
+always a good boy."
+
+The remains of Mrs. Washington were interred at Fredericksburg. On the
+seventh of May, 1833, the corner-stone of a monument to her memory was
+laid under the direction of a Committee who represented the citizens of
+Virginia. General Jackson, then President of the United States, very
+appropriately took the leading and most honorable part in the ceremony.
+With the following extracts from the closing part of his chaste and
+elegant Address, our humble sketch may fittingly close:
+
+"In tracing the few recollections which can be gathered, of her
+principles and conduct, it is impossible to avoid the conviction, that
+these were closely interwoven with the destiny of her son. The great
+points of his character are before the world. He who runs may read them
+in his whole career, as a citizen, a soldier, a magistrate. He possessed
+unerring judgment, if that term can be applied to human nature; great
+probity of purpose, high moral principles, perfect self-possession,
+untiring application, and an inquiring mind, seeking information from
+every quarter, and arriving at its conclusions with a full knowledge of
+the subject; and he added to these an inflexibility of resolution, which
+nothing could change but a conviction of error. Look back at the life
+and conduct of his mother, and at her domestic government, as they have
+this day been delineated by the Chairman of the Monumental Committee,
+and as they were known to her contemporaries, and have been described
+by them, and they will be found admirably adapted to form and develop,
+the elements of such a character. The power of greatness was there; but
+had it not been guided and directed by maternal solicitude and judgment,
+its possessor, instead of presenting to the world examples of virtue,
+patriotism and wisdom, which will be precious in all succeeding ages,
+might have added to the number of those master-spirits, whose fame rests
+upon the faculties they have abused, and the injuries they have
+committed....
+
+"Fellow citizens, at your request, and in your name, I now deposit this
+plate in the spot destined for it; and when the American pilgrim shall,
+in after ages, come up to this high and holy place, and lay his hand
+upon this sacred column, may he recall the virtues of her who sleeps
+beneath, and depart with his affections purified, and his piety
+strengthened, while he invokes blessings upon the Mother of
+Washington."
+
+
+
+
+THE WIFE OF WASHINGTON.
+
+  A woman's noblest station is retreat:
+  Her fairest virtues fly from public sight;
+  Domestic worth--that shuns too strong a light.
+
+                                     LORD LYTTLETON.
+
+  The drying up a single tear has more
+  Of honest fame than shedding seas of gore.
+
+                                              BYRON.
+
+
+Woman may possess an equal share of the elements of greatness with man,
+but she has not an equal opportunity to display them in such a manner as
+to call forth the admiration and applause of the world. She was not made
+to pour the tide of eloquence in the Senate chamber, or lead on to
+victory the brave and heroic spirits of the land. Her course leads
+mainly through the quiet valley of domestic retirement, where the stream
+can rarely leap from dizzy heights with a thundering plunge, whose
+echoes shall go booming on to fill the ear of coming generations: her
+movements and influence are more like those of springs, which, flowing
+noiselessly and unseen, are widely scattered, and every where diffuse
+incalculable blessings.
+
+The wife of Washington could not be the hero of a seven-years' war, or
+the chief magistrate of a republic; but, as the companion of such a man,
+she could shine, in her own proper sphere, with a lustre as mild, as
+steady, as serene, as his. And thus she did. Prompt to obey the calls of
+duty, when the voice of humanity beckoned her to the camp, she hastened
+away, at the sacrifice of ease and comfort, to relieve the wants of the
+suffering; and when forced to leave her "paradise" at Mount Vernon, to
+preside, as the matron of the nation, at the President's house, she did
+it with a dignity and propriety perhaps never equalled, certainly never
+excelled. But let us not anticipate.
+
+Martha Dandridge was born in New Kent county, Virginia, in May, 1732.
+She was endowed with good sense, a strong mind, sound ideas of feminine
+proprieties, and correct views of woman's practical duties: and these
+had to answer measurably as a substitute for the discipline of female
+seminaries, which were rare in the "Old Dominion," and in the Colonies
+generally, in her younger days. The advantages to be derived from
+domestic instruction, she enjoyed, and those only. They, however, were
+cut off at the age of seventeen, by her union in marriage with Colonel
+Daniel P. Custis, a gentleman of many excellent parts. They settled on
+his plantation in her native county. Beautiful, lovely in disposition,
+and fascinating in manners, the young wife was warmly admired by her
+neighbors and all with whom she came in contact; and her residence,
+known as the "_White House_," was the centre of strong attractions, and
+the scene of much genuine or--which is the same thing--_Virginian_,
+hospitality. Colonel Custis became the father of three children, and
+then died. Previous to this solemn event, however, the White House had
+been veiled in weeds for the loss of his oldest child.
+
+With two small children, a son and daughter, Mrs. Custis early found
+herself a widow, with the disposition and management of all pecuniary
+interests left by her confiding husband, at her control. As sole
+executrix, it is said that she "managed the extensive landed and
+pecuniary concerns of the estate with surprising ability, making loans
+on mortgages, of money, and through her stewards and agents, conducting
+the sales or exportation of the crops to the best possible advantage."
+
+But from the cares of an extensive estate she was shortly relieved. On
+the sixth of January, 1759, she gave her hand, with upwards of a hundred
+thousand dollars, to Colonel George Washington, another planter of her
+native Colony. At the same time, she relinquished into his hands the
+guardianship of her children--the son six, and the daughter four years
+old--together with the care of their property. From the White House,
+Mrs. Washington now removed to Mount Vernon, which remained her home
+till her death, and became the final resting place of her remains.
+
+In her new home, as in the White House, she superintended the affairs of
+the household, exercising continual control over all culinary matters;
+carefully educating her offspring, and aiming to rear them up for
+usefulness. These duties she discharged with the utmost assiduity and
+faithfulness, in spite of the many social obligations which a woman in
+her position must necessarily encounter.[1] Nor did the demands of
+courtesy and of her family debar her from habitual and systematic
+charities, dispensed in her neighborhood, or from those most important
+of all daily duties, the calls of the "closet." In the language of Miss
+Conkling, in her Memoir: "It is recorded of this devout Christian, that
+never during her life, whether in prosperity or in adversity, did she
+omit that daily self-communion and self-examination, and those private
+devotional exercises, which would best prepare her for the self-control
+and self-denial by which she was, for more than half a century, so
+eminently distinguished. It was her habit to retire to her own apartment
+every morning after breakfast, there to devote an hour to solitary
+prayer and meditation."
+
+  [1] We have the authority of Mr. Sparks for asserting that while
+  Washington's pursuits were those of a retired planter, he seldom passed
+  a day when at home without the company of friends or strangers,
+  frequently persons of great celebrity, and demanding much attention from
+  the lady of the house.
+
+In 1770, she lost a child of many prayers, of bright hopes, and of much
+promise, her blooming daughter. She looked upon this affliction as a
+visitation from Him who doeth all things well, and bore it with becoming
+resignation, which the Christian only is prepared to do.
+
+During the Revolution, Mrs. Washington was accustomed to pass the
+winters with her husband at the head quarters of the army and the
+summers at Mount Vernon; and it was in the camp that she shone with the
+lustre of the true woman. "She was at Valley Forge in that dreadful
+winter of 1777-8, her presence and submission to privation strengthening
+the fortitude of those who might have complained, and giving hope and
+confidence to the desponding. She soothed the distresses of many
+sufferers, seeking out the poor and afflicted with benevolent kindness,
+extending relief wherever it was in her power, and with graceful
+deportment presiding in the Chief's humble dwelling."[2]
+
+  [2] Mrs. Washington, in writing to Mrs. Warren, says, "The General's
+  apartment is very small; he has had a log cabin built to dine in, which
+  has made our quarters more tolerable than at first."
+
+In 1781, she lost her last surviving child, John Custis, aged twenty
+seven. Her widowed daughter-in-law and the four children, she took to
+her own home, and thenceforward they were the objects of her untiring
+solicitude.
+
+The life of Mrs. Washington, after her husband took the Presidential
+chair, was marked by no striking incidents, and affords scanty material
+of the nature marked out for this work. During the eight years that he
+was Chief Magistrate, she presided in his mansion with the same
+unaffected ease, equanimity and dignified simplicity that had marked her
+previous course in more retired circles. Visitors were received on all
+days _except the Sabbath_, and, irrespective of rank, shared in her
+courtesies and hospitalities. A portion of each summer, at that period,
+was passed in the quiet and seclusion of Mount Vernon, she rarely, if
+ever, accompanying her husband on his tours through the land. She
+expressed regret when he was chosen President, because she preferred
+"to grow old" with him "in solitude and tranquillity;" hence it is not
+surprising that she found a luxury in retiring for a season from the
+scenes of public life, and in attending to the education of her
+grand-children and to other self-imposed tasks and important duties, in
+the performance of which she could bless her friends and honor God.
+
+After the death of her illustrious companion, which occurred in
+December, 1799, she remained at Mount Vernon; where she spent seventeen
+months mourning her loss; receiving the visits of the great from all
+parts of our land, and from various parts of the earth; attending, as
+heretofore, to her domestic concerns; perfecting in the Christian
+graces, and ripening for the joys of a holier state of being. On the
+twenty-second of May, 1801, she who, while on earth, could be placed in
+no station which she did not dignify and honor, was welcomed to the
+glories of another world.
+
+
+
+
+THE WIFE OF JOHN ADAMS.
+
+  The mother in her office holds the key
+  Of the soul; and she it is who stamps the coin
+  Of character, and makes the being who would be a savage,
+  But for her gentle cares, a Christian man.
+
+                                            OLD PLAY.
+
+  ----O we will walk this world,
+  Yoked in all exercise of noble aim.
+
+                                            TENNYSON.
+
+
+Abigail Smith was a daughter of the Rev. William Smith, a Congregational
+minister of Weymouth, Massachusetts, where she was born on the eleventh
+of November, 1744, O. S. "It was fashionable to ridicule female
+learning," in her day; and she says of herself in one of her letters, "I
+was never sent to any school." She adds, "I was always sick. Female
+education, in the best families, went no further than writing and
+arithmetic." But notwithstanding her educational disadvantages, she read
+and studied in private, and kept up a brisk correspondence with
+relatives, and by these means expanded and fed her mind, and cultivated
+an easy and graceful style of writing.
+
+On the twenty-fifth of October, 1764, Miss Smith became the wife of John
+Adams, a lawyer of Braintree.[3]
+
+  [3] The part of the town in which he lived was afterwards called Quincy
+  in honor of Mrs. Adams's maternal grandfather.
+
+Her grandson, Charles Francis Adams, to whose Memoir of her we are
+indebted for these statistics, says, that "the ten years immediately
+following, present little that is worth recording."
+
+Prior to 1778, Mr. and Mrs. Adams had been separated at sundry times, in
+all, more than three years, which was a severe trial to her fortitude.
+The strength of her conjugal affection may be gathered from an extract
+from one of her letters: "I very well remember," she writes, "when the
+eastern circuits of the courts, which lasted a month, were thought an
+age, and an absence of three months, intolerable; but we are carried
+from step to step, and from one degree to another, to endure that which
+at first we think impossible." Thus she was schooled for separation from
+her husband, when, in 1778, he went to France as a joint commissioner.
+While he was absent from his country on that occasion, faithful to the
+calls of duty, she remained at home, and managed, as she had done
+before, the affairs of the household and farm. And _there_ let the
+reader look at her and see a picture of a true mother of the Revolution.
+"She is a farmer cultivating the land, and discussing the weather and
+crops; a merchant reporting prices-current and the rates of exchange,
+and directing the making up of invoices; a politician, speculating upon
+the probabilities of peace or war; and a mother, writing the most
+exalted sentiments to her son."
+
+What nobler deed could the mother, thus situated, do with her son, John
+Quincy Adams, in a foreign land, than to write to him in a tone like
+that of the extracts which follow, and which are taken from letters
+dated 1778-80:
+
+"'Tis almost four months since you left your native land, and embarked
+upon the mighty waters, in quest of a foreign country. Although I have
+not particularly written to you since, yet you may be assured you have
+constantly been upon my heart and mind.
+
+"It is a very difficult task, my dear son, for a tender parent to bring
+her mind to part with a child of your years going to a distant land; nor
+could I have acquiesced in such a separation under any other care than
+that of the most excellent parent and guardian who accompanied you. You
+have arrived at years capable of improving under the advantages you will
+be likely to have, if you do but properly attend to them. They are
+talents put into your hands, of which an account will be required of you
+hereafter; and being possessed of one, two, or four, see to it that you
+double your numbers.
+
+"The most amiable and most useful disposition in a young mind is
+diffidence of itself; and this should lead you to seek advice and
+instruction from him, who is your natural guardian, and will always
+counsel and direct you in the best manner, both for your present and
+future happiness. You are in possession of a natural good understanding,
+and of spirits unbroken by adversity and untamed with care. Improve your
+understanding by acquiring useful knowledge and virtue, such as will
+render you an ornament to society, an honor to your country, and a
+blessing to your parents. Great learning and superior abilities, should
+you ever possess them, will be of little value and small estimation,
+unless virtue, honor, truth, and integrity are added to them. Adhere to
+those religious sentiments and principles which were early instilled
+into your mind, and remember that you are accountable to your Maker for
+all your words and actions.
+
+"Let me enjoin it upon you to attend constantly and steadfastly to the
+precepts and instructions of your father, as you value the happiness of
+your mother and your own welfare. His care and attention to you render
+many things unnecessary for me to write, which I might otherwise do; but
+the inadvertency and heedlessness of youth require line upon line and
+precept upon precept, and, when enforced by the joint efforts of both
+parents, will, I hope, have a due influence upon your conduct; for, dear
+as you are to me, I would much rather you should have found your grave
+in the ocean you have crossed, or that any untimely death crop you in
+your infant years, than see you an immoral, profligate, or graceless
+child.
+
+"You have entered early in life upon the great theatre of the world,
+which is full of temptations and vice of every kind. You are not wholly
+unacquainted with history, in which you have read of crimes which your
+inexperienced mind could scarcely believe credible. You have been taught
+to think of them with horror, and to view vice as
+
+    'a monster of so frightful mien,
+  That, to be hated, needs but to be seen.'
+
+"Yet you must keep a strict guard upon yourself, or the odious monster
+will soon lose its terror by becoming familiar to you. The modern
+history of our own times, furnishes as black a list of crimes, as can be
+paralleled in ancient times, even if we go back to Nero, Caligula, or
+Caesar Borgia. Young as you are, the cruel war into which we have been
+compelled by the haughty tyrant of Britain and the bloody emissaries of
+his vengeance, may stamp upon your mind this certain truth, that the
+welfare and prosperity of all countries, communities, and, I may add,
+individuals, depend upon their morals. That nation to which we were once
+united, as it has departed from justice, eluded and subverted the wise
+laws which formerly governed it, and suffered the worst of crimes to go
+unpunished, has lost its valor, wisdom and humanity, and, from being the
+dread and terror of Europe, has sunk into derision and infamy....
+
+"Some author, that I have met with, compares a judicious traveler to a
+river, that increases its stream the further it flows from its source;
+or to certain springs, which, running through rich veins of minerals,
+improve their qualities as they pass along. It will be expected of you,
+my son, that, as you are favored with superior advantages under the
+instructive eye of a tender parent, your improvement should bear some
+proportion to your advantages. Nothing is wanting with you but
+attention, diligence, and steady application. Nature has not been
+deficient.
+
+"These are times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the
+still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great
+characters are formed. Would Cicero have shone so distinguished an
+orator if he had not been roused, kindled, and inflamed by the tyranny
+of Catiline, Verres, and Mark Anthony? The habits of a vigorous mind are
+formed in contending with difficulties. All history will convince you of
+this, and that wisdom and penetration are the fruit of experience, not
+the lessons of retirement and leisure. Great necessities call out great
+virtues. When a mind is raised and animated by scenes that engage the
+heart, then those qualities, which would otherwise lie dormant, wake
+into life and form the character of the hero and the statesman. War,
+tyranny, and desolation are the scourges of the Almighty, and ought no
+doubt to be deprecated. Yet it is your lot, my son, to be an eye witness
+of these calamities in your own native land, and, at the same time, to
+owe your existence among a people who have made a glorious defence of
+their invaded liberties, and who, aided by a generous and powerful ally,
+with the blessing of Heaven, will transmit this inheritance to ages yet
+unborn.
+
+"Nor ought it to be one of the least of your incitements towards
+exerting every power and faculty of your mind, that you have a parent
+who has taken so large and active a share in this contest, and
+discharged the trust reposed in him with so much satisfaction as to be
+honored with the important embassy which at present calls him abroad.
+
+"The strict and inviolable regard you have ever paid to truth, gives me
+pleasing hopes that you will not swerve from her dictates, but add
+justice, fortitude, and every manly virtue which can adorn a good
+citizen, do honor to your country, and render your parents supremely
+happy, particularly your ever affectionate mother.
+
+... "The only sure and permanent foundation of virtue is religion. Let
+this important truth be engraven upon your heart. And also, that the
+foundation of religion is the belief of the one only God, and a just
+sense of his attributes, as a being infinitely wise, just, and good, to
+whom you owe the highest reverence, gratitude, and adoration; who
+superintends and governs all nature, even to clothing the lilies of the
+field, and hearing the young ravens when they cry; but more particularly
+regards man, whom he created after his own image, and breathed into him
+an immortal spirit, capable of a happiness beyond the grave; for the
+attainment of which he is bound to the performance of certain duties,
+which all tend to the happiness and welfare of society, and are
+comprised in one short sentence, expressive of universal benevolence,
+'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.'...
+
+"Justice, humanity, and benevolence, are the duties you owe to society
+in general. To your country the same duties are incumbent upon you, with
+the additional obligation of sacrificing ease, pleasure, wealth, and
+life itself for its defence and security. To your parents you owe love,
+reverence, and obedience to all just and equitable commands. To
+yourself,--here, indeed, is a wide field to expatiate upon. To become
+what you ought to be, and what a fond mother wishes to see you, attend
+to some precepts and instructions from the pen of one, who can have no
+motive but your welfare and happiness, and who wishes in this way to
+supply to you the personal watchfulness and care, which a separation
+from you deprived you of at a period of life, when habits are easiest
+acquired and fixed; and though the advice may not be new, yet suffer it
+to obtain a place in your memory, for occasions may offer, and perhaps
+some concurring circumstances unite, to give it weight and force.
+
+"Suffer me to recommend to you one of the most useful lessons of life,
+the knowledge and study of yourself. There you run the greatest hazard
+of being deceived. Self-love and partiality cast a mist before the eyes,
+and there is no knowledge so hard to be acquired, nor of more benefit
+when once thoroughly understood. Ungoverned passions have aptly been
+compared to the boisterous ocean, which is known to produce the most
+terrible effects. 'Passions are the elements of life,' but elements
+which are subject to the control of reason. Whoever will candidly
+examine themselves, will find some degree of passion, peevishness, or
+obstinacy in their natural tempers. You will seldom find these
+disagreeable ingredients all united in one; but the uncontrolled
+indulgence of either is sufficient to render the possessor unhappy in
+himself, and disagreeable to all who are so unhappy as to be witnesses
+of it, or suffer from its effects.
+
+"You, my dear son, are formed with a constitution feelingly alive; your
+passions are strong and impetuous; and, though I have sometimes seen
+them hurry you into excesses, yet with pleasure I have observed a
+frankness and generosity accompany your efforts to govern and subdue
+them. Few persons are so subject to passion, but that they can command
+themselves, when they have a motive sufficiently strong; and those who
+are most apt to transgress will restrain themselves through respect and
+reverence to superiors, and even, where they wish to recommend
+themselves, to their equals. The due government of the passions, has
+been considered in all ages as a most valuable acquisition. Hence an
+inspired writer observes, 'He that is slow to anger is better than the
+mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit, than he that taketh a city.' This
+passion, cooperating with power, and unrestrained by reason, has
+produced the subversion of cities, the desolation of countries, the
+massacre of nations, and filled the world with injustice and oppression.
+Behold your own country, your native land, suffering from the effects of
+lawless power and malignant passions, and learn betimes, from your own
+observation and experience, to govern and control yourself. Having once
+obtained this self-government, you will find a foundation laid for
+happiness to yourself and usefulness to mankind. 'Virtue alone is
+happiness below;' and consists in cultivating and improving every good
+inclination, and in checking and subduing every propensity to evil. I
+have been particular upon the passion of anger, as it is generally the
+most predominant passion at your age, the soonest excited, and the least
+pains are taken to subdue it;
+
+  ----'what composes man, can man destroy.'"
+
+With such a mother to counsel him, one is led to ask, how could John
+Quincy Adams _help_ becoming a noble-minded and great man? Who wonders
+that, with good natural endowments and his excellent privileges, coupled
+with maternal training, he fitted himself to fill the highest office in
+the gift of a free people?
+
+In June, 1784, Mrs. Adams sailed for London to join her husband, who was
+then our Minister at the Court of St. James. While absent, she visited
+France and Netherlands; resided for a time in the former country; and
+returned with her knowledge of human nature, of men, manners, &c.,
+enlarged; disgusted with the splendor and sophistications of royalty,
+and well prepared to appreciate the republican simplicity and frankness
+of which she was herself a model. While Mr. Adams was Vice-President and
+President, she never laid aside her singleness of heart, and that
+sincerity and unaffected dignity which had won for her many friends
+before her elevation, and which, in spite of national animosity,
+conquered the prejudices and gained the hearts of the aristocracy of
+Great Britain. But her crowning virtue was her Christian humility, which
+is beautifully exemplified in a letter which she wrote to Mr. Adams, on
+the 8th of February, 1797, "the day on which the votes for President
+were counted, and Mr. Adams, as Vice-President, was required by law to
+announce himself the President elect for the ensuing term:"
+
+  "'The sun is dressed in brightest beams,
+  To give thy honors to the day.'
+
+"And may it prove an auspicious prelude to each ensuing season. You
+have this day to declare yourself head of a nation. 'And now, O Lord, my
+God, thou hast made thy servant ruler over the people. Give unto him an
+understanding heart, that he may know how to go out and come in before
+this great people; that he may discern between good and bad. For who is
+able to judge this thy so great a people?' were the words of a royal
+sovereign; and not less applicable to him who is invested with the chief
+magistracy of a nation, though he wear not a crown, nor the robes of
+royalty.
+
+"My thoughts and my meditations are with you, though personally absent;
+and my petitions to Heaven are, that 'the things which make for peace
+may not be hidden from your eyes.' My feelings are not those of pride or
+ostentation, upon the occasion. They are solemnized by a sense of the
+obligations, the important trusts, and numerous duties connected with
+it. That you may be enabled to discharge them with honor to yourself,
+with justice and impartiality to your country, and with satisfaction to
+this great people, shall be the daily prayer of your
+
+                                                          "A. A."
+
+From her husband's retirement from the Presidency, in 1801, to the close
+of her life, in 1818, Mrs. Adams remained constantly at Quincy.
+Cheerful, contented, and happy, she devoted her last years, in that
+rural seclusion, to the reciprocities of friendship and love, to offices
+of kindness and charity, and, in short, to all those duties which tend
+to ripen the Christian for an exchange of worlds.
+
+But it would be doing injustice to her character and leaving one of her
+noblest deeds unrecorded, to close without mentioning the influence for
+good which she exerted over Mr. Adams, and her part in the work of
+making him what he was. That he was sensible of the benignant influence
+of wives, may be gathered from the following letter which was addressed
+to Mrs. Adams from Philadelphia, on the eleventh of August, 1777:
+
+"I think I have some times observed to you in conversation, that upon
+examining the biography of illustrious men, you will generally find some
+female about them, in the relation of mother, or wife, or sister, to
+whose instigation a great part of their merit is to be ascribed. You
+will find a curious example of this in the case of Aspasia, the wife of
+Pericles. She was a woman of the greatest beauty, and the first genius.
+She taught him, it is said, his refined maxims of policy, his lofty
+imperial eloquence, nay, even composed the speeches on which so great a
+share of his reputation was founded.
+
+"I wish some of our great men had such wives. By the account in your
+last letter, it seems the women in Boston begin to think themselves able
+to serve their country. What a pity it is that our generals in the
+northern districts had not Aspasias to their wives.
+
+"I believe the two Howes have not very great women to their wives. If
+they had, we should suffer more from their exertions than we do. This is
+our good fortune. A smart wife would have put Howe in possession of
+Philadelphia a long time ago."
+
+While Mr. Adams was wishing that some of our great men had such wives as
+Aspasia, he had such a wife, was himself such a man, and owed half his
+greatness to _his_ Aspasia. The exalted patriotism and the cheerful
+piety infused into the letters she addressed to him during the long
+night of political uncertainty that hung over these Colonies,
+strengthened his courage, fired his nobler feelings, nerved his higher
+purposes and, doubtless, greatly contributed to make him the right hand
+man of Washington.
+
+The diligent and faithful Andromaches, the gifted and patriotic
+_Aspasias_ of the Revolution, did their portion of the great work
+silently and unseen. Secretly they urged their husbands and sons to the
+battle-field, secretly spoke to them by letter in the camp or
+convention, and secretly prayed for wisdom to guide our statesmen and
+victory to crown our arms. Thus privately acting, how little of their
+labor or their worth is known. How few of their names are treasured in
+our annals. With rare exceptions, like the builders of the pyramids,
+their initials are lost. Then, while we have the name and the noble
+example of Mrs. Adams, with a few of her patriotic compeers, let us
+pledge our unswerving devotion to Freedom over the _unknown_ names of
+the wives and mothers who secretly assisted in nerving the arm that
+broke the sceptre of British dominion on these shores, and gave the
+eagle of Liberty a safe and abiding home on our mountain tops.
+
+
+
+
+ANN H. JUDSON.
+
+  God has a bright example made of thee,
+  To show that womankind may be
+  Above that sex which her superior seems.
+
+                                       COWLEY.
+
+
+About the commencement of the present century, a new field was opened
+for the display of Christian heroism. The despairing wail of the pagan
+millions of the East, had reached the ears of a few of the most devoted
+people of God on these Western shores, and the question arisen, Who
+shall lead the way to heathen realms, who among us first encounter the
+perils of an attempt to plant the standard of the Cross beside the
+pagodas of Buddhism? He who would then go forth, must leave his native
+land with the parting benediction of but few friends; must be
+accompanied with few and faint prayers; must make his own path through
+the tiger-haunted jungles, and face alone the untried dangers of a
+dubious assault on the strong-holds of pagan superstition. But,
+notwithstanding the discouragements inwoven with the contemplation of
+the undertaking, and the great peril that must attend its completion, it
+was magnanimous and sublime, and there were hearts in the land
+philanthropic enough to embark in it and brave enough to face its
+terrors without fainting.
+
+Among the foremost Americans who offered their services in this work,
+were the Rev. Adoniram Judson and his wife. They embarked from Salem,
+Massachusetts, for Calcutta, with Samuel Newell and lady, on the
+nineteenth of February, 1812: and five days afterwards Messrs. Hall and
+Nott, with their wives, and Mr. Rice, sailed from Philadelphia for the
+same place. The names of these pioneer missionaries are sacred to the
+memory of all living Christians, and, being embodied in the history of
+the grandest enterprise of the age, are to be handed down to all future
+generations.
+
+While all the female portion of this little band, exhibited many
+excellent traits of character, and worked well while their day lasted,
+no other one endured so many and so great hardships and trials,
+encountered such fearful perils, and had such an opportunity to test the
+strength of the higher virtues, as Mrs. Judson.
+
+Ann Hasseltine was born at Bradford, in Essex county, Massachusetts, on
+the twenty-second day of December, 1789. She was an active and
+enthusiastic child; of a gay disposition, yet thoughtful at times; and
+before she was seventeen, gave religion that attention which its
+importance demands.
+
+She became acquainted with Mr. Judson in 1810. He was then a student in
+the Andover Theological Seminary, preparing for the work of foreign
+missions. A mutual and strong attachment sprang up, and they were
+married in February, 1812, two weeks before their embarkation for India.
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Judson first halted at Serampore. There, soon after their
+arrival, they were immersed by an English missionary, having changed
+their views of the ordinance of baptism on the long voyage across the
+Atlantic and Indian oceans. From that place they were soon driven by the
+Directors and Agents of the British East India Company, who were at that
+time opposed to the introduction of the Christian religion into those
+parts. They sailed from Madras for Rangoon, on the twenty-second of
+June, 1813, and settled at the latter place.
+
+From the commencement of missionary toil, Mrs. Judson had many
+inconveniences to encounter, but they were met with patience and served
+to strengthen that energy which, it will be seen, was afterwards so much
+needed and so strikingly displayed. Four or five years after settling at
+Rangoon, Mr. Judson went to Chittagong, in a neighboring province, to
+secure help, some Arracanese converts being there, who spoke the Burman
+language. He expected to return within three months. "At the expiration
+of this period, however, when his return was daily expected, a vessel
+from Chittagong arrived at Rangoon, bringing the distressing
+intelligence that neither he nor the vessel in which he had embarked had
+been heard of at that port. Similar tidings were also contained in
+letters which Mrs. Judson received from Bengal.
+
+"While the missionaries were in this state of fearful suspense, an
+incident occurred which was well calculated to increase the perplexity
+and dismay in which they were plunged. Mr. Hough,[4] who had continued
+quietly studying the language, at the mission house, was suddenly
+summoned to appear immediately at the court house, and it was rumored
+among the affrighted domestics and neighbors who followed the officers
+that came for Mr. Hough, that the king had issued a decree for the
+banishment of all the foreign teachers. It was late in the afternoon
+when he made his appearance before the despotic tribunal that was
+charged with the execution of the imperial decree, and he was merely
+required to give security for his appearance the following morning;
+when, as the unfeeling magistrates declared, 'if he did not tell all the
+truth relative to his situation in the country, they would write with
+his heart's blood.' Mr. Hough was detained from day to day on the most
+flimsy pretences, himself unable to speak the language, and with no one
+near him who would attempt to explain his situation or vindicate his
+objects and his conduct. The viceroy whom Mr. and Mrs. Judson had known,
+had recently been recalled to Ava, and he who now held the reins of the
+government was a stranger, and, as his family were not with him, Mrs.
+Judson, according to the etiquette of the court, could not be admitted
+to his presence. The order which had led to the arrest was found to
+relate to some Portuguese priests whom the king had banished, and Mr.
+Hough was at first summoned to give assurance that he was not one of the
+number, and then detained by the officers in order to extort money for
+his ransom. He was at length released by order of the viceroy, to whom
+Mrs. Judson boldly carried the cause and presented a petition which she
+had caused her teacher to draw up for the purpose.
+
+  [4] Mr. Hough was a printer in the employment of the Baptist Board.
+                                                              AUTHOR.
+
+
+"The anxiety occasioned by this arrest and its train of petty
+annoyances, and still more by the protracted and mysterious absence of
+Mr. Judson, was at this time greatly increased by rumors which reached
+Rangoon, of an impending war between the English and the Burman
+governments. There were but few English vessels lying in the river, and
+the English traders who were in the country were closing their business
+and preparing to hasten away, at any new indications of hostilities that
+should be presented. The condition of the missionaries was rendered
+still more distressing by the ravages of the cholera, which now, for the
+first time made its appearance in Burmah, and was sending its terrors
+throughout the empire. The poor people of Rangoon fell in hundreds
+before its frightful progress. The dismal death-drum continually gave
+forth its warning sound as new names were added to the melancholy list
+of victims to the desolating malady. In these gloomy circumstances, they
+saw ship after ship leave the river, bearing away all the foreigners who
+were in the province, until at length the only one remaining was on the
+eve of sailing. Harassed with doubts concerning the uncertain fate of
+Mr. Judson, and surrounded with perils, they saw before them what
+appeared the last opportunity of leaving the country, before the
+threatened hostilities should begin, and they should be exposed to all
+the merciless cruelties of barbarian-warfare.
+
+"Mr. and Mrs. Hough decided to go on board and escape to Bengal, while
+escape was still in their power, and they urged Mrs. Judson to accompany
+them. She at length reluctantly yielded to their advice, and with a
+heart burdened with sorrows she embarked with her companions, on the
+fifth of July, in the only ship that remained to carry them from the
+country. The ship, however, was delayed for several days in the river,
+and was likely to be subjected to still further detention. Mrs. Judson,
+who had gone on board rather in obedience to the entreaties of her
+associates, and the dictates of prudence, than from the suggestions of
+that truer instinct which often serves to guide the noblest natures in
+great emergencies, now decided to leave the ship and return alone to the
+mission house, there to await either the return of her husband, or the
+confirmation of her worst fears respecting his fate. It was a noble
+exhibition of heroic courage, and gave assurance of all the
+distinguished qualities which, at a later period and amid dangers still
+more appalling, shone with unfailing brightness around the character of
+this remarkable woman. The event justified her determination; and,
+within a week after her decision was taken, Mr. Judson arrived at
+Rangoon, having been driven from place to place by contrary winds, and
+having entirely failed of the object for which he undertook the
+voyage."[5]
+
+  [5] Gammell's History of American Baptist Missions.
+
+In the summer of 1820, Mrs. Judson's health had become so far undermined
+by the deleterious influences of the climate, that it was deemed
+necessary that she should go to Calcutta for medical advice, better
+physicians being located there than in Rangoon. She was so feeble that
+her husband was obliged to accompany her. She was soon removed to
+Serampore, where were eminently skillful physicians and a purer
+atmosphere. Her health so improved in six months that she returned with
+her husband to Rangoon. The malady which had afflicted her was the
+chronic liver complaint. It was not entirely removed at Serampore, and a
+few months after her return, it began to distress her more than ever. It
+was now thought that nothing but a visit to her native land could save
+her. Accordingly, on the twenty-first of August, 1821, she started for
+Calcutta, where, after some delay, she found a ship bound to England, by
+which route she returned, reaching New York on the twenty-fifth of
+September, 1822.
+
+She remained in this country nine months. During that short period,
+aside from paying a visit to her relations, she attended the Triennial
+Convention at Washington, held in May, 1823; visited the larger cities
+North and South; attended numerous meetings of female associations; and
+prepared a history of the Burman mission which was so ably written that
+even the London Quarterly Review, and, if we mistake not, other English
+periodicals of high critical character, noticed it in commendatory
+terms.
+
+The following extracts from letters written to Dr. Wayland while in this
+country, show the interest she took in the affairs of Burmah while
+absent from that land of her adoption. Under date of "Baltimore, January
+twenty-second, 1823," she says, "I want the Baptists throughout the
+United States to feel, that Burmah _must be converted_ through their
+instrumentality. They must do more than they have ever yet done. They
+must _pray_ more, they must _give_ more, and make greater efforts to
+prevent the Missionary flame from becoming extinct. Every Christian in
+the United States should feel as deeply impressed with the importance of
+making continual efforts for the salvation of the heathen, as though
+their conversion depended solely on himself. Every individual Christian
+should feel himself guilty if he has not done and does not continue to
+do _all_ in his power for the spread of the gospel and the enlightening
+of the heathen world. But I need not write thus to you. You see, you
+feel the misery of the heathen world. Try to awaken Christians around
+you. Preach frequently on the subject of Missions. I have remarked it to
+be the case, when a minister feels _much_ engaged for the heathen, his
+people generally partake of his spirit."
+
+Writing from Washington in the following March, she says, "I long to be
+in Rangoon, and am anxiously hoping to get away in the spring. Do make
+inquiries relative to the sailing of ships from Boston and Salem. I must
+not miss one good opportunity."
+
+With her health much improved though not fully restored, she sailed for
+her Burman home on the twenty-second of June, 1823, and reached Rangoon
+on the fifth of the following December. She found the work of the
+mission prospering. The next year, however, a war broke out between the
+Burman government and the English in Bengal, and, not only suspended the
+operations of the missionaries, but jeopardised their lives. They were
+supposed to be spies employed by the English government. Mr. and Mrs.
+Judson, with Dr. Price, another of the missionaries, were at that time
+at Ava, where the imperial government of the Burman Empire had just been
+removed.
+
+"It was on the eighth of June, 1824, that a company of Burmans, headed
+by an officer, and attended by a 'spotted-faced son of the prison,' came
+to the mission house, and, in the presence of Mrs. Judson seized her
+husband and Dr. Price, and after binding them tight with cords, drove
+them away to the court house. From this place they were hurried, by
+order of the king, without examination, to a loathsome dungeon, known as
+'the death prison,' where along with the other foreigners they were
+confined, each loaded with three pairs of fetters and fastened to a long
+pole, so as to be incapable of moving. Meanwhile, Mrs. Judson was shut
+up in her house, deprived of her furniture and of most of her articles
+of property, and watched for several days by an unfeeling guard, to
+whose rapacious extortions and brutal annoyances she was constantly
+exposed, without being able to make any exertion for the liberation of
+the prisoners, or the mitigation of their cruel sentence. She however,
+at length succeeded in addressing a petition to the governor of the
+city, who had the prisoners in charge. By a present of one hundred
+dollars to his subordinate officer, their condition was somewhat
+meliorated, and by the unwearied perseverance of Mrs. Judson, and her
+affecting appeals to the sympathies of the governor, he was induced to
+grant her occasional permission to go to the prison, and at length to
+build for herself a bamboo shed in the prison yard, where she took up
+her abode, in order that she might prepare food for the prisoners, and
+otherwise minister to their necessities.
+
+"At the end of nine months they were suddenly removed from Ava to
+Amarapura, and thence to a wretched place several miles beyond, called
+Oung-pen-la, where it was arranged that they should be put to death in
+presence of the pakah-woon, as a kind of sacrifice in honor of his
+taking command of a new army of fifty thousand men about to march
+against the English. This sanguinary chief had been raised from a low
+condition to the rank of woongyee; but in the height of his power, just
+as he was about to march at the head of the army he had mustered, he
+fell into disgrace, was charged with treason, and executed, at an hour's
+notice, with the unqualified approbation of all classes of people at
+Ava. His timely execution saved the missionaries from the fate which
+hung over them, and they were left uncared for in the miserable cells of
+Oung-pen-la, till the near approach of the English to the capitol
+induced the king to send for Mr. Judson, to accompany the embassy that
+was about to start for the English camp, for the purpose of averting the
+destruction that now threatened the Golden City.
+
+"During this period of a year and a half Mrs. Judson followed them from
+prison to prison, beneath the darkness of night and the burning sun of
+noon-day, bearing in her arms her infant daughter,--the child of sorrow
+and misfortune, who was born after the imprisonment of its
+father,--procuring for them food which Burman policy never supplies to
+prisoners, and perpetually interceding for them with their successive
+keepers, with the governor of the city, with the kinsmen of the monarch,
+and the members of the royal household. More than once the queen's
+brother gave orders that they should be privately put to death; but such
+was the influence which Mrs. Judson possessed over the mind of the
+governor, that he evaded the order each time it was given, and assured
+her that for her sake he would not execute her husband, even though he
+was obliged to execute all the others. And when at last they were to be
+taken from his jurisdiction and driven to the horrid prison-house of
+Oung-pen-la, at the command of the pakah-woon, the old man humanely
+summoned Mrs. Judson from the prison where he had permitted her to go
+and sit with her husband, in order that she might be spared the pangs
+of a separation which he had not the power to prevent. Her own pen has
+traced, in lines that will never be forgotten by those who read them,
+the affecting history of the dismal days and nights of her husband's
+captivity. We follow her alike with admiration and the deepest sympathy
+as she takes her solitary way from Ava, at first in a boat upon the
+river, and then in a Burman cart, in search of the unknown place to
+which the prisoners have been carried. At length, overcome with fatigue,
+with exposure, and the bitter pangs of hope deferred, we see her in a
+comfortless cabin, prostrate with disease and brought to the very gates
+of death,--while her infant is carried about the village by its father
+in the hours of his occasional liberation, to be nourished by such
+Burman mothers as might have compassion on its helpless necessities.
+
+"Such is a single scene from this melancholy record of missionary
+suffering. History has not recorded; poetry itself has seldom portrayed,
+a more affecting exhibition of Christian fortitude, of female heroism,
+and all the noble and generous qualities which constitute the dignity
+and glory of woman. In the midst of sickness and danger, and every
+calamity which can crush the human heart, she presented a character
+equal to the sternest trial, and an address and fertility of resources
+which gave her an ascendency over the minds of her most cruel enemies,
+and alone saved the missionaries and their fellow captives from the
+terrible doom which constantly awaited them. Day after day and amid the
+lonely hours of night was she employed in conciliating the favor of
+their keepers, and in devising plans for their release, or the
+alleviation of their captivity. Sometimes, she confesses, her thoughts
+would wander for a brief interval to America and the beloved friends of
+her better days; 'but for nearly a year and a half, so entirely
+engrossed was every thought with present scenes and sufferings, that she
+seldom reflected on a single occurrence of her former life, or
+recollected that she had a friend in existence out of Ava.'"[6]
+
+  [6] Gammell.
+
+When peace was declared between the two powers, by the terms of
+negotiation, the European prisoners were all released; and thus closed
+the long and brutal incarceration of the missionaries. Mr. and Mrs.
+Judson immediately departed for Rangoon. They soon removed to Amherst, a
+new town on the Salwen or Martaban river. After having established a
+mission there, Mr. Judson had occasion to visit Ava. He started on the
+fifth of July, 1826, leaving his wife and infant daughter in the care of
+kind friends. He was detained at the Capital longer than he had
+anticipated; and before he returned he received the painful intelligence
+that his wife was dead. "A remittent fever had settled on her
+constitution, already enfeebled by suffering and disease, and she died
+on the twenty-fourth of October, 1826, amid the universal sorrow, alike
+of the English residents at Amherst and of the native Christians who
+had gathered around her at her new home. Her infant daughter died a few
+weeks afterwards, and side by side they were laid to rest, under a large
+hopia tree a few rods from the house where she had resided. Two marble
+stones, procured by the contributions of several female friends in her
+native land, are the humble memorial that marks the spot where sleeps
+one whose "name will be remembered in the churches of Burmah, in future
+times, when the pagodas of Gaudama shall have fallen; when the spires of
+Christian temples shall gleam along the waters of the Irrawaddy and the
+Salwen: and when the 'Golden City' shall have lifted up her gates to let
+the King of Glory in."
+
+
+
+
+A CHRISTIAN WOMAN IN THE HOUR OF DANGER.
+
+  O rainbow of the battle-storm!
+    Methinks thou'rt gleaming on my sight;
+  I see thy fair and fragile form
+    Amid the thick cloud of the fight.
+
+                                 SARA J. CLARKE.
+
+  One grain of incense with devotion offered,
+  Is beyond all perfumes or Sabaean spices.
+
+                                      MASSINGER.
+
+
+The following incident, we are informed by Mrs. Ellet, was communicated
+to a minister--Rev. J. H. Saye--by two officers in the Revolutionary
+war. One of them was in the skirmish referred to; the other lived near
+the scene of action; hence, it may be relied on as authentic. The name
+of the heroine is unknown, which is greatly to be regretted:
+
+"Early in the war, the inhabitants on the frontier of Burke county,
+North Carolina, being apprehensive of an attack by the Indians, it was
+determined to seek protection in a fort in a more densely populated
+neighborhood in an interior settlement. A party of soldiers was sent to
+protect them on their retreat. The families assembled, the line of
+march was taken towards their place of destination, and they proceeded
+some miles unmolested--the soldiers marching in a hollow square, with
+the refugee families in the centre. The Indians who had watched these
+movements, had laid a plan for their destruction. The road to be
+traveled lay through a dense forest in the fork of a river, where the
+Indians concealed themselves, and waited till the travelers were in the
+desired spot. Suddenly the war-whoop sounded in front, and on either
+side; a large body of painted warriors rushed in, filling the gap by
+which the whites had entered, and an appalling crash of fire-arms
+followed. The soldiers, however, were prepared; such as chanced to be
+near the trees darted behind them, and began to ply the deadly rifle;
+the others prostrated themselves upon the earth, among the tall grass,
+and crawled to trees. The families screened themselves as best they
+could. The onset was long and fiercely urged; ever and anon amid the din
+and smoke, the warriors would rush, tomahawk in hand, towards the
+centre; but they were repulsed by the cool intrepidity of the back-woods
+riflemen. Still they fought on, determined on the destruction of the
+victims who offered such desperate resistance. All at once an appalling
+sound greeted the ears of the women and children in the centre; it was a
+cry from their defenders--a cry for powder! 'Our powder is giving out,'
+they exclaimed. 'Have you any? Bring us some, or we can fight no
+longer!' A woman of the party had a good supply. She spread her apron on
+the ground, poured her powder into it, and going round, from soldier to
+soldier, as they stood behind the trees, bade each who needed powder put
+down his hat, and poured a quantity upon it. Thus she went round the
+line of defence, till her whole stock, and all she could obtain from
+others, was distributed. At last the savages gave way, and, pressed by
+their foes, were driven off the ground. The victorious whites returned
+to those for whose safety they had ventured into the wilderness.
+Inquiries were made as to who had been killed, and one running up,
+cried, 'Where is the woman that gave us the powder? I want to see her!'
+'Yes!--yes!--let us see her!' responded another and another; 'without
+her we should have been all lost!' The soldiers ran about among the
+women and children, looking for her and making inquiries. Directly came
+in others from the pursuit, one of whom observing the commotion, asked
+the cause, and was told. 'You are looking in the wrong place,' he
+replied. 'Is she killed? Ah, we were afraid of that!' exclaimed many
+voices. 'Not when I saw her,' answered the soldier. 'When the Indians
+ran off, she was on _her knees in prayer_ at the root of yonder tree,
+and there I left her.' There was a simultaneous rush to the tree--and
+there, to their great joy, they found the woman safe, and still on her
+knees in prayer. Thinking not of herself, she received their applause
+without manifesting any other feeling than gratitude to Heaven for their
+great deliverance."
+
+
+
+
+HUMANITY OF HARTFORD LADIES.
+
+  As the rivers farthest flowing,
+    In the highest hills have birth;
+  As the banyan broadest growing,
+    Oftenest bows its head to earth,
+  So the noblest minds press onward,
+    Channels far of good to trace;
+  So the largest hearts bend downward,
+    Circling all the human race.
+
+                             MRS. HALE.
+
+
+The sympathies of a free people are always aroused when a nation is
+struggling for freedom. Hence the war between the Turks and Greeks not
+only called forth the eloquence of American orators, but the mothers and
+daughters of the land, reminded of the long struggle of their husbands
+and fathers for liberty, were alive to the interests, and prayed much
+for the ransom of the latter people. Nor was this all; the sufferings to
+which the war reduced the Greeks, so much moved the hearts of females
+that, in one instance at least, they made a demonstration of their
+sympathy worthy of record. The ladies of Hartford, Connecticut, sent out
+a ship to the women of Greece, containing money, and articles of wearing
+apparel, wrought by themselves expressly for an offering to suffering
+humanity. Mrs. Sigourney, the Secretary of the Ladies' Committee, wrote
+the following letter to accompany the contribution:
+
+"_United States of America, March 12th, 1828._
+    _The Ladies of Hartford, in Connecticut, to the
+    Ladies of Greece._
+
+"SISTERS AND FRIENDS,--From the years of childhood your native clime has
+been the theme of our admiration: together with our brothers and our
+husbands, we early learned to love the country of Homer, of Aristides,
+of Solon, and of Socrates. That enthusiasm which the glory of ancient
+Greece enkindled in our bosoms, has preserved a fervent friendship for
+her descendants: we have beheld with deep sympathy the horrors of
+Turkish domination, and the struggles so long and nobly sustained by
+them for existence and for liberty.
+
+"The communications of Dr. Howe, since his return from your land, have
+made us more intimately acquainted with your personal sufferings. He has
+presented many of you to us in his vivid descriptions, as seeking refuge
+in caves, and, under the branches of olive trees, listening for the
+footsteps of the destroyer, and mourning over your dearest ones slain in
+battle.
+
+"Sisters and friends, our hearts bleed for you. Deprived of your
+protectors by the fortune of war, and continually in fear of evils worse
+than death, our prayers are with you, in all your wanderings, your wants
+and your griefs. In this vessel (which may God send in safety to your
+shores!) you will receive a portion of that bounty wherewith He hath
+blessed us. The poor among us have given according to their ability, and
+our little children have cheerfully aided, that some of you and your
+children might have bread to eat and raiment to put on. Could you but
+behold the faces of our little ones brighten, and their eyes sparkle
+with joy, while they give up their holidays, that they might work with
+their needles for Greece; could you see those females who earn a
+subsistence by labor, gladly casting their mite into our treasury, and
+taking hours from their repose that an additional garment might be
+furnished for you; could you witness the active spirit that pervades all
+classes of our community, it would cheer for a moment the darkness and
+misery of your lot.
+
+"We are the inhabitants of a part of one of the smallest of the United
+States, and our donations must therefore, of necessity, be more limited
+than those from the larger and more wealthy cities; yet such as we have,
+we give in the name of our dear Saviour, with our blessings and our
+prayers.
+
+"We know the value of sympathy--how it arms the heart to endure--how it
+plucks the sting from sorrow--therefore we have written these few lines
+to assure you, that in the remoter parts of our country, as well as in
+her high places, you are remembered with pity and with affection.
+
+"Sisters and friends, we extend across the ocean our hands to you in the
+fellowship of Christ. We pray that His Cross and the banner of your
+land may rise together over the Crescent and the Minaret--that your sons
+may hail the freedom of ancient Greece restored, and build again the
+waste places which the oppressor hath trodden down; and that you,
+admitted once more to the felicities of home, may gather from past
+perils and adversities a brighter wreath for the kingdom of Heaven.
+
+                                             "LYDIA H. SIGOURNEY,
+                            "_Secretary of the Greek Committee of
+                                          Hartford, Connecticut._"
+
+
+
+
+"MOTHER BAILEY."
+
+  No braver dames had Sparta,
+  No nobler matrons Rome.
+
+                       W. D. GALLAGHER.
+
+
+Anna Warner was born in Groton, Connecticut, on the eleventh of October,
+1758, and married Captain Elijah Bailey of the same town, in 1774. He
+participated in the hardships and dangers, and she in the trials of the
+struggle for Independence. He is dead; she is still living.[7]
+
+  [7] We are informed by the Postmaster of Groton, in a letter dated the
+  tenth of December, 1850, that Mrs. B. is still living, and that her mind
+  is somewhat impaired. She is now in her ninety-third year.
+
+She was a witness of the terrible massacre at Fort Griswold, in Groton,
+on the sixth of September; and the following morning she hurried off to
+the scene of carnage, a distance of three miles, to search for an uncle
+who was among the brave defenders. She found him among the fatally
+wounded: at his request that he might see his wife and child before he
+died, she ran home, caught and saddled a horse for the feeble mother,
+and taking the child in her arms, carried it the whole distance, that it
+might receive the kisses and benediction of its dying father!
+
+In the month of July, 1813 a blockading fleet appeared off the harbor of
+New London; and on the thirteenth, demonstrations were noticed of an
+intention to attack the place. Intense excitement now prevailed not only
+in New London, but in all the adjacent towns. Fort Griswold was once
+more occupied; small cannon--all to be had--were planted, and every
+preparation possible was made for a vigorous defence. The greatest
+deficiency was in flannel for cartridges; and in the emergency a
+messenger was dispatched to the village to consult with Mrs. Bailey on
+the most expeditious method of obtaining a supply. She promptly offered
+to see that each family was visited, and the wants of the soldiery made
+known. This was done, and each individual in the neighborhood cheerfully
+presented her and her co-laborers whatever of the desired articles could
+be spared, some in garments and some in the raw material. When these
+were delivered to the messenger, and there was still found a deficiency,
+she slyly slipped an under garment from her own person and charged him
+to give _that_ to the British. As the enemy did not deem it expedient to
+make an attack, it is difficult to tell what aid that garment rendered;
+nor does it matter: its patriotic surrender showed the noble spirit
+which has always actuated "mother Bailey," and was an appropriation for
+her country which never caused her a blush.[8]
+
+  [8] The editor of the Democratic Review, to whom we are indebted for a
+  portion of these facts, visited the heroine of Groton in the fall of
+  1846, in the number of his periodical for the January following spoke of
+  her as a remarkable woman, physically, as well as mentally and
+  patriotically. She was then eighty-eight years old, yet as agile as a
+  girl of eighteen, and neither sight nor hearing had began to fail. "Such
+  then," he adds, "is Mother Bailey. Had she lived in the palmy days of
+  ancient Roman glory, no matron of the mighty empire would have been more
+  highly honored." In the same article Mrs. B. is spoken of as the
+  Postmistress of Groton, an office, which the present Postmaster assures
+  us, she never held.
+
+  Since the above was originally stereotyped, Mrs. Bailey has died. Her
+  demise occurred in the winter of 1850-1.
+
+
+
+
+ELIZABETH HEARD.
+
+  Kindness has resistless charms.
+
+                                          ROCHESTER.
+
+  Why should'st thou faint? Heaven smiles above,
+  Though storm and vapor intervene.
+
+                                       PARK BENJAMIN.
+
+
+Mrs. Elizabeth Heard, "a widow of good estate, a mother of many children
+and a daughter of Mr. Hull, a revered minister formerly living at
+Pisquataqua," was among the sufferers from captivity by the Indians in
+the latter part of the seventeenth century. She was taken at the
+destruction of Major Waldron's garrison in Dover, New Hampshire, about
+1689. She was permitted to escape on account of a favor which she had
+shown a young Indian thirteen years before--she having secreted him in
+her house on the "calamitous day," in 1676, when four hundred savages
+were surprised in Dover.[9]
+
+  [9] Drake's Indian Captivities.
+
+Having been suffered to escape, writes the Rev. John Pike, minister at
+Dover, to Dr. Cotton Mather, "she soon after safely arrived at Captain
+Gerish's garrison, where she found a refuge from the storm. Here she
+also had the satisfaction to understand that her own garrison, though
+one of the first that was assaulted, had been bravely defended and
+successfully maintained against the enemy. This gentlewoman's garrison
+was on the most extreme frontier of the province, and more obnoxious
+than any other, and therefore incapable of being relieved. Nevertheless,
+by her presence and courage it held out all the war, even for ten years
+together; and the persons in it have enjoyed very eminent preservations.
+It would have been deserted if she had accepted offers that were made
+her by her friends to abandon it and retire to Portsmouth among them,
+which would have been a damage to the town and land."
+
+
+
+
+THE LADIES OF PHILADELPHIA IN 1780.
+
+  I have not shut mine ears to their demands,
+  Nor posted off their suits with slow delays.
+
+                                          SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+During the long war which resulted in the Independence of the American
+Colonies, the women all over the land were warmly interested in the
+condition of the soldiers, and prompt to relieve their wants when
+suffering. There was, at times, a sad deficiency of wearing apparel; and
+many are the instances in which a noble sacrifice of ease and a liberal
+expenditure of time and strength, were made by the ladies that this
+comfort might be restored to the self-sacrificing soldiers.
+
+In 1780, the ladies of Philadelphia city and county, learning that the
+soldiers were in great need of clothing, sold their jewelry and
+converted _other_ trinkets into something more serviceable; collected by
+solicitation large sums of money; purchased the raw material, plied the
+needle "with all diligence;" and in a short time the aggregate amount of
+their contributions was $7,500.[10]
+
+  [10] This sum was raised in and immediately around Philadelphia. The
+  efforts of the ladies were not, however, limited to their own
+  neighborhood. They addressed circulars to the adjoining counties and
+  states, and the response of New Jersey and Maryland was truly generous.
+
+The number of shirts made by the ladies of Philadelphia during that
+patriotic movement, was twenty-two hundred! These were cut out at the
+house of Mrs. Sarah Bache, daughter of Dr. Franklin. This lady writing
+to a Mrs. Meredith, of Trenton, New Jersey, at that time, says, "I am
+happy to have it in my power to tell you that the sums given by the good
+women of Philadelphia for the benefit of the army, have been much
+greater than could be expected, and given with so much cheerfulness and
+so many blessings, that it was rather a pleasing than a painful task to
+call for them. I write to claim you as a Philadelphian, and shall think
+myself honored in your donation."
+
+
+
+
+THE WIFE OF PRESIDENT REED.[11]
+
+                                  Mightier far
+  Than strength of nerve or sinew, or the sway
+  Of magic potent over sun and star,
+  Is love, though oft to agony distrest,
+  And though his favorite seat be feeble woman's breast.
+
+                                              WORDSWORTH.
+
+  Undaunted by the tempest, wild and chill,
+  That pours its restless and disastrous roll,
+  O'er all that blooms below.
+
+                                         SANDS' YAMOYDEN.
+
+
+Prominent among the ladies of Philadelphia who, in the summer and fall
+of 1780, were active in assisting the sufferers in the American army,
+was Esther Reed, the wife of President Reed. She stood at the head of
+the Association till her death, which occurred on the eighteenth of
+September of that year. She was succeeded by Mrs. Sarah Bache, Mrs.
+Francis, Mrs. Clarkson, Mrs. Blair and Mrs. Hillegas, who were
+constituted an Executive Committee.
+
+  [11] The facts embodied in this notice of Mrs. Reed, are mainly obtained
+  from the Life and Correspondence of President Reed. _Vide_ volume II.,
+  chapter XII.
+
+The maiden name of Mrs. Reed was De Berdt. She was born in London on the
+twenty-second of October, 1746. There, about the year 1763, she became
+acquainted with Mr. Joseph Reed, of New Jersey, then a student at the
+Temple. She had fond parents and lived in affluence, but from these she
+at length turned, and, being married in May, 1770, "followed the lover
+of her youth to these wild Colonies." Philadelphia became the home of
+the happy couple. The wife of an American, she imbibed the sentiments
+and manifested the spirit of an American, and to the day of her death
+showed herself worthy to be the wife of an American soldier. "During
+five years of war, more than half the time her family was broken up, and
+for a long period the young wife, with her little children and an aged
+mother, was driven to seek a distant and precarious refuge." Her husband
+was an Adjutant-General, and was in the camp much of the time, till he
+was chosen President--or, as we now say, Governor--of Pennsylvania, in
+1778. Her letters written to him, breathe a patriotic and submissive
+spirit, and a cheerful trust in that "presiding Power" from whom all
+solace is derived in seasons of danger, disappointment and affliction.
+
+She was placed at the head of the voluntary association of Philadelphia
+ladies at its formation in May, and as early as the twentieth of the
+following month, it will be seen, by an extract from a letter written by
+Mr. Reed to General Washington, the business of the society was
+progressing admirably: "The ladies have caught the happy contagion, and
+in a few days Mrs. Reed will have the honor of writing to you on the
+subject. It is expected she will have a sum equal to L100,000, to be
+laid out according to your Excellency's direction, in such a way as may
+be thought most honorable and gratifying to the brave old soldiers who
+have borne so great a share of the burden of this war. I thought it best
+to mention it in this way to your Excellency for your consideration, as
+it may tend to forward the benevolent scheme of the donors with
+dispatch. I must observe that the ladies have excepted such articles of
+necessity, as clothing, which the states are bound to provide."
+
+The following letter, written the next month, explains itself:
+
+                                      "ESTHER REED TO WASHINGTON.
+                                          "Philadelphia, July 4th, 1780.
+
+"SIR,--The subscription set on foot by the ladies of this city for the
+use of the soldiery, is so far completed as to induce me to transmit to
+your Excellency an account of the money I have received, and which,
+although it has answered our expectations, does not equal our wishes,
+but I am persuaded will be received as a proof of our zeal for the great
+cause of America, and our esteem and gratitude for those who so bravely
+defend it.
+
+"The amount of the subscription is 200,580 dollars, and L625 6_s._ 8_d._
+in specie, which makes in the whole, in paper money, 300,634 dollars.
+
+"The ladies are anxious for the soldiers to receive the benefit of it,
+and wait your directions how it can best be disposed of. We expect some
+considerable addition from the country, and have also wrote to the other
+States in hopes the ladies there will adopt similar plans, to render it
+more general and beneficial.
+
+"With the utmost pleasure I offer any further attention and care in my
+power to complete the execution of the design, and shall be happy to
+accomplish it agreeable to the intention of the donors and your wishes
+on the subject.
+
+"The ladies of my family join me in their respectful compliments and
+sincerest prayer for your health, safety, and success.
+
+             "I have the honor to be,
+                       "With the highest respect,
+                               "Your obedient humble servant,
+                                                        "E. REED."
+
+During the months of July and August, though in feeble health, Mrs. Reed
+held frequent correspondence with General Washington on the best mode of
+administering relief to the destitute soldiers. Her desire to make
+herself useful may be inferred from the tone of a letter addressed to
+her husband from the banks of the Schuylkill, on the twenty-second of
+August. Among other things, she says, "I received this morning a letter
+from the General, and he still continues his opinion that the money in
+my hands should be laid out in linen; he says, no supplies he has at
+present or has a prospect of are any way adequate to the wants of the
+army. His letter is, I think, a little formal, as if he was hurt by our
+asking his opinion a second time, and our not following his directions,
+after desiring him to give them. The letter is very complaisant, and I
+shall now endeavor to get the shirts made as soon as possible. _This is
+another circumstance to urge my return to town, as I can do little
+towards it here._"
+
+The responsible and onerous duties of Mrs. Reed during the summer of
+1780, were no doubt injurious to her already poor health, and hastened
+the approach of death. Early in September she was laid upon a bed of
+fatal illness, and before the month had closed, as before mentioned, she
+was in the "mysterious realm." The Council and Assembly adjourned to pay
+their last respect to her exalted virtues. Her remains were deposited in
+the Presbyterian burying-ground in Arch Street, and the following
+epitaph was inscribed on her tomb:
+
+    "In memory of ESTHER, the beloved wife of Joseph Reed,
+        President of this State, who departed this life
+    On the 18th of September, A. D. 1780, aged 34 years.
+    Reader! If the possession of those virtues of the heart
+  Which make life valuable, or those personal endowments which
+  Command esteem and love, may claim respectful and affectionate
+        Remembrance, venerate the ashes here entombed.
+        If to have the cup of temporal blessings dashed
+  In the period and station of life in which temporal blessings
+  May be best enjoyed, demands our sorrow, drop a tear, and
+    Think how slender is that thread on which the joys
+                  And hopes of life depend."
+
+
+
+
+COMPLETION OF BUNKER HILL MONUMENT.
+
+  The tardy pile, slow rising there,
+  With tongueless eloquence shall tell
+  Of them who for their country fell.
+
+                                 SPRAGUE.
+
+                  Ladies, you deserve
+  To have a temple built _you_.
+
+                              SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+The Bunker Hill Monument Association was incorporated in June, 1823.
+Nothing further was done that year. At the second annual meeting, which
+was held on the seventeenth of June, efficient plans were devised to
+carry forward the enterprise; and at the end of another year, just half
+a century after the battle, the corner stone was laid. General Lafayette
+was then on a visit to the United States, and was appropriately chosen
+to take a leading part in this interesting ceremony. The monument did
+not get fairly under way till the spring of 1827. This apparent
+tardiness was owing to the circumstance that the material was to be
+brought from a granite quarry in Quincy, and a rail road--the first in
+the United States--had to be built from the quarry to the wharf in
+Quincy to convey the stone.
+
+In 1828, the funds were exhausted, and the work was not resumed till
+1834. Within a year the work was again suspended for the same cause.
+Nothing further was done, and but little said, till 1839, when it was
+announced that two gentlemen--Amos Lawrence, Esq., of Boston, and Judah
+Truro, Esq., of New Orleans--would give ten thousand each, provided a
+sum sufficient to complete the monument could be raised. This liberal
+offer caused some momentary stimulation; but no proposal immediately
+made was deemed expedient.
+
+The affairs of the Association now wore, as they had done once or twice
+before, a gloomy aspect. In the annual report, made on the seventeenth
+of June, 1840, doubts were expressed whether the present generation
+would see the monument completed. The same discouraging remark was made
+soon after, in one of the sewing circles of Boston, when, instead of
+depressing the spirits, it raised the ambition and quickened the
+thoughts of the ladies, and several of them proposed to get up a Fair.
+It was a happy suggestion; was forthwith sanctioned by the board of
+directors; prompted the issuing of a circular by a sub-committee of the
+same; raised the stentorian voice of a free and patriotic press, and met
+with immediate favor all over the land.
+
+The ladies had moved in the matter--_had taken the work into their own
+hands_--and all doubts in regard to its speedy completion seemed to
+vanish. The Fair was announced to be held in Quincy Hall, Boston, to
+commence on the fifth of September, 1840 Every female in the land was
+invited to contribute some article of her own hands' production, to the
+exhibition. The patriotic spirit of the _mothers_ of the Revolution was
+now warm in the hearts of their _daughters_, and ten thousand hands,
+engaged in the work of preparation, were "plying the needle with
+exquisite art."
+
+The ladies were to have the complete management of the Fair; and, all
+things in readiness, it commenced. The product of so much industry and
+ingenuity, dispensed at the hands of the ladies, presented a scene to
+the thousands who gathered around the numerous well-stored tables, that
+is described by a writer--doubtless an eye-witness--as "brilliant and
+inspiring."[12]
+
+  [12] Frothingham's Siege of Boston.
+
+The Fair continued till the fifteenth of the month. Its success was
+chronicled from day to day in a journal called "The Monument," printed
+in the Hall. It was the grandest movement of the kind ever made in the
+country; was conducted throughout in the most admirable manner, and
+wound up in triumph. Its net proceeds were $30,035 50. To this sum and
+the $20,000 pledged by the two gentlemen before mentioned, was soon
+added enough, from other sources, to make the fund $55,153 27; and the
+work went on to its completion.[13] Thus, at length, a "duty had been
+performed;" this imperishable offering to Freedom, "which had its
+commencement in manly patriotism," was "crowned by garlands of grace and
+beauty."
+
+  [13] The last stone was raised on the morning of the twenty-third of
+  July, 1842; the government of the Association and a multitude of other
+  people were present on the occasion. Just before this act took place, a
+  cannon was raised to the apex and discharged--a morning salute to call
+  the people together to engage in the matins of Freedom. Edward Carnes,
+  Jr., of Charlestown, accompanied the stone in its ascent, waving the
+  American flag as he went up, and the Charlestown Artillery were
+  meanwhile firing salutes to announce to the surrounding country the
+  interesting event.
+
+
+
+
+LYDIA DARRAH.
+
+  The brave man is not he who feels no fear,
+  For that were stupid and irrational;
+  But he whose noble soul its fear subdues,
+  And bravely dares the danger nature shrinks from.
+
+                                     JOANNA BAILLIE.
+
+
+We find the following anecdote of the amiable and heroic Quakeress,
+Lydia Darrah, in the first number of the American Quarterly Review:
+
+When the British army held possession of Philadelphia, General Howe's
+head quarters were in Second street, the fourth door below Spruce, in a
+house which was before occupied by General Cadwalader. Directly
+opposite, resided William and Lydia Darrah, members of the Society of
+Friends. A superior officer of the British army, believed to be the
+Adjutant General, fixed upon one of their chambers, a back room, for
+private conference; and two of them frequently met there, with fire and
+candles, in close consultation. About the second of December, the
+Adjutant General told Lydia that they would be in the room at seven
+o'clock, and remain late; and that they wished the family to retire
+early to bed; adding, that when they were going away, they would call
+her to let them out, and extinguish their fire and candles. She
+accordingly sent all the family to bed; but, as the officer had been so
+particular, her curiosity was excited. She took off her shoes, and put
+her ear to the key-hole of the conclave. She overheard an order read for
+all the British troops to march out, late in the evening of the fourth,
+and attack General Washington's army, then encamped at White Marsh. On
+hearing this, she returned to her chamber and laid herself down. Soon
+after, the officers knocked at her door, but she rose only at the third
+summons, having feigned to be asleep. Her mind was so much agitated
+that, from this moment, she could neither eat nor sleep; supposing it to
+be in her power to save the lives of thousands of her countrymen; but
+not knowing how she was to convey the necessary information to General
+Washington, nor daring to confide it even to her husband. The time left,
+was, however, short; she quickly determined to make her way, as soon as
+possible, to the American outposts. She informed her family, that, as
+they were in want of flour, she would go to Frankfort for some; her
+husband insisted that she should take with her the servant maid; but, to
+his surprise, she positively refused. She got access to General Howe,
+and solicited--what he readily granted,--a pass through the British
+troops on the lines. Leaving her bag at the mill, she hastened towards
+the American lines, and encountered on her way an American, Lieutenant
+Colonel Craig, of the light horse, who, with some of his men, was on the
+look-out for information. He knew her, and inquired whither she was
+going. She answered, in quest of her son, an officer in the American
+army; and prayed the Colonel to alight and walk with her. He did so,
+ordering his troops to keep in sight. To him she disclosed her momentous
+secret, after having obtained from him the most solemn promise never to
+betray her individually, since her life might be at stake, with the
+British. He conducted her to a house near at hand, directed a female in
+it to give her something to eat, and he speeded for head quarters, where
+he brought General Washington acquainted with what he had heard.
+Washington made, of course, all preparation for baffling the meditated
+surprise. Lydia returned home with her flour; sat up alone to watch the
+movement of the British troops; heard their footsteps; but when they
+returned, in a few days after, did not dare to ask a question, though
+solicitous to learn the event. The next evening, the Adjutant General
+came in, and requested her to walk up to his room, as he wished to put
+some questions. She followed him in terror; and when he locked the door,
+and begged her, with an air of mystery to be seated, she was sure that
+she was either suspected, or had been betrayed. He inquired earnestly
+whether any of her family were up the last night he and the other
+officer met:--she told him that they all retired at eight o'clock. He
+observed--"I know _you_ were asleep, for I knocked at your chamber door
+three times before you heard me;--I am entirely at a loss to imagine who
+gave General Washington information of our intended attack, unless the
+walls of the house could speak. When we arrived near White Marsh, we
+found all their cannon mounted, and the troops prepared to receive us;
+and we have marched back like a parcel of fools."
+
+
+
+
+WIDOW STOREY.[14]
+
+  Stick to your aim; the mongrel's hold will slip,
+  But only crow-bars loose the bull-dog's lip;
+  Small as he looks, the jaw that never yields,
+  Drags down the bellowing monarch of the fields.
+
+                                             HOLMES.
+
+
+The first man who commenced a settlement in the town of Salisbury,
+Vermont, on the Otter creek, was Amos Storey, who, in making an opening
+in the heart of the wilderness on the right of land to which the first
+settler was entitled, was killed by the fall of a tree. His widow, who
+had been left in Connecticut, immediately resolved to push into the
+wilderness, with her ten small children, to take his place and preserve
+and clear up his farm. And this bold resolution she carried out to the
+letter, in spite of every difficulty, hardship and danger which for
+years constantly beset her in her solitary location in the woods. Acre
+after acre of the dense and dark forest melted away before her axe,
+which she handled with the dexterity of the most experienced chopper.
+The logs and bushes were piled and burnt by her own strong and untiring
+hand: crops were raised, by which, with the fruits of her fishing and
+unerring rifle, she supported herself and her hardy brood of children.
+As a place of refuge from the assaults of Indians or dangerous wild
+beasts, she dug out an underground room, into which, through a small
+entrance made to open under an overhanging thicket in the bank of the
+stream, she nightly retreated with her children. And here she continued
+to reside, thus living and thus laboring, unassisted, till, by her own
+hand and the help which her boys soon began to afford her, she cleared
+up a valuable farm and placed herself in independent circumstances in
+life.
+
+  [14] For this anecdote and that of Mrs. Hendee, we are indebted to the
+  Hon. Daniel P. Thompson, of Montpelier, author of "The Green Mountain
+  Boys," "Locke Amsden," &c. In a note to the author, in a letter which
+  contained these anecdotes, he appropriately observes that "the women of
+  the Green Mountains deserve as much credit for their various displays of
+  courage, endurance and patriotism, in the early settlement of their
+  State, as was ever awarded to their sex for similar exhibitions in any
+  part of the world. In the controversy with New York and New Hampshire,
+  which took the form of war in many instances; in the predatory Indian
+  incursions, and in the war of the Revolution, they often displayed a
+  capacity for labor and endurance, a spirit and firmness in the hour of
+  danger, and a resolution and hardihood in defending their families, and
+  their threatened land against all enemies, whether domestic or foreign,
+  that would have done honor to the dames of Sparta."
+
+
+
+
+MRS. HENDEE.
+
+  I am their mother, who shall bar me from them.
+
+                                        SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+On the burning of Royalton, Vermont, by the Indians, in 1776, Mrs.
+Hendee, of that place, exhibited a praiseworthy and heroic character.
+The attack was sudden, and her husband being absent in the Vermont
+regiment, and she being in the field, the Indians seized her children,
+carried them across White river, at that place perhaps an hundred yards
+wide and quite deep for fording, and placed them under the keepers
+having the other persons they had collected, thirty or forty in number,
+in charge. On discovering the fate of her children, Mrs. Hendee
+resolutely dashed into the river, waded through, and fearlessly entering
+the Indian camp, regardless of their tomahawks menacingly flourished
+round her head, boldly demanded the release of her little ones, and
+persevered in her alternate upbraidings and supplications, till her
+request was granted. She then carried her children back through the
+river and landed them in safety on the other bank. But not content with
+what she had done, like a patriot, as she was, she immediately
+returned, begged for the release of the children of others; again was
+rewarded with success, and brought two or three more away; again
+returned and again succeeded, till she had rescued the whole fifteen of
+her neighbors' children who had been thus snatched away from their
+distracted parents. On her last return to the camp of the enemy, the
+Indians were so struck with her conduct that one of them declared that
+so brave a squaw deserved to be carried across the river, and offered to
+take her on his back and carry her over. She, in the same spirit,
+accepted the offer, mounted the back of the gallant savage, was carried
+to the opposite bank, where she collected her rescued troop of children,
+and hastened away to restore them to their over-joyed parents.
+
+
+
+
+PATRIOTIC WOMEN OF OLD MIDDLESEX.
+
+  In the radiant front superior shines
+  That first paternal virtue, public zeal,
+  Who throws o'er all an equal wide survey,
+  And, ever musing on the common weal,
+  Still labors glorious with some great design.
+
+                                         THOMSON.
+
+
+"Old Middlesex" being our native county, with peculiar pleasure and some
+local pride, we record the following anecdote. Should the historical
+ploughshare be driven through the other towns in the county, and the
+towns generally of Massachusetts, it would turn up similar gems in
+abundance, "of purest ray serene." We quote from Butler's History of
+Groton:
+
+"After the departure of Colonel Prescott's regiment of 'minute-men,'
+Mrs. David Wright, of Pepperell, Mrs. Job Shattuck, of Groton, and the
+neighboring women, collected at what is now Jewett's Bridge, over the
+Nashua, between Pepperell and Groton, clothed in their absent husbands'
+apparel, and armed with muskets, pitchforks, and such other weapons as
+they could find; and having elected Mrs. Wright their commander,
+resolutely determined that no foe to freedom, foreign or domestic,
+should pass that bridge. For rumors were rife, that the regulars were
+approaching and frightful stories of slaughter flew rapidly from place
+to place, and from house to house.
+
+"Soon there appeared one[15] on horseback, supposed to be treasonably
+engaged in conveying intelligence to the enemy. By the implicit command
+of Sergeant Wright, he is immediately arrested, unhorsed, searched, and
+the treasonable correspondence found concealed in his boots. He was
+detained prisoner, and sent to Oliver Prescott, Esq., of Groton, and his
+dispatches were sent to the Committee of Safety."
+
+  [15] Captain Leonard Whiting, of Hollis, N. H., a noted tory, who was
+  the bearer of dispatches from Canada to the British in Boston.
+
+
+
+
+THE CACIQUE'S NOBLE DAUGHTER.
+
+  I think of thee, sweet lady, as of one
+    Too pure to mix with others, like some star,
+  Shining in pensive beauty all alone,
+    Kindred with those around, yet brighter far.
+
+                                          MRS. WELBY.
+
+
+In his history of the Conquest of Florida, Mr. Theodore Irving repeats,
+very interestingly, the story of Juan Ortiz who, with three other
+Spaniards, fell into the hands of the Indians by stratagem. The four
+captives were taken to the village of Hirrihigua, the cacique, who
+ordered them to be executed on a day of religious festival. Three were
+shot with arrows; and then "Juan Ortiz, a youth, scarce eighteen years
+of age, of a noble family of Seville, was the fourth victim. As they
+were leading him forth, his extreme youth touched with compassion the
+hearts of the wife and daughters of the cacique, who interceded in his
+favor.
+
+"The cacique listened to their importunities, and granted for the
+present the life of Ortiz;--but a wretched life did he lead. From
+morning until evening he was employed in bringing wood and water, and
+was allowed but little sleep and scanty food. Not a day passed that he
+was not beaten. On festivals he was an object of barbarous amusement to
+the cacique, who would oblige him to run, from sunrise until sunset, in
+the public square of the village, where his companions had met their
+untimely end, Indians being stationed with bows and arrows, to shoot
+him, should he halt one moment. When the day was spent, the unfortunate
+youth lay stretched on the hard floor of the hut, more dead than alive.
+At such times the wife and daughters of the cacique would come to him
+privately with food and clothing, and by their kind treatment his life
+was preserved.
+
+"At length the cacique, determining to put an end to his victim's
+existence, ordered that he should be bound down upon a wooden frame, in
+the form of a huge gridiron, placed in the public square, over a bed of
+live coals, and roasted alive.
+
+"The cries and shrieks of the poor youth reached his female protectors,
+and their entreaties were once more successful with the cacique. They
+unbound Ortiz, dragged him from the fire, and took him to their
+dwelling, where they bathed him with the juice of herbs, and tended him
+with assiduous care. After many days he recovered from his wounds,
+though marked with many a scar.
+
+"His employment was now to guard the cemetery of the village. This was
+in a lonely field in the bosom of a forest. The bodies of the dead were
+deposited in wooden boxes, covered with boards, without any fastening
+except a stone or a log of wood laid upon the top; so that the bodies
+were often carried away by wild beasts.
+
+"In this cemetery was Ortiz stationed, with a bow and arrows, to watch
+day and night, and was told that should a single body be carried away,
+he would be burnt alive. He returned thanks to God for having freed him
+from the dreaded presence of the cacique, hoping to lead a better life
+with the dead than he had done with the living.
+
+"While watching thus one long wearisome night, sleep overpowered him
+towards morning. He was awakened by the falling lid of one of the
+chests, and running to it, found it empty. It had contained the body of
+an infant recently deceased, the child of an Indian of great note.
+
+"Ortiz doubted not some animal had dragged it away, and immediately set
+out in pursuit. After wandering for some time, he heard, at a short
+distance within the woods, a noise like that of a dog gnawing bones.
+Warily drawing near to the spot, he dimly perceived an animal among the
+bushes, and invoking succor from on high, let fly an arrow at it. The
+thick and tangled underwood prevented his seeing the effect of his shot,
+but as the animal did not stir, he flattered himself that it had been
+fatal: with this hope he waited until the day dawned, when he beheld his
+victim, a huge animal of the panther kind, lying dead, the arrow having
+passed through his entrails and cleft his heart.
+
+"Gathering together the mangled remains of the infant, and replacing
+them in the coffin, Ortiz dragged his victim in triumph to the village,
+with the arrow still in his body. The exploit gained him credit with the
+old hunters, and for some time softened even the ferocity of the
+cacique. The resentment of the latter, however, from the wrongs he had
+suffered from white men, was too bitter to be appeased. Some time after,
+his eldest daughter came to Ortiz, and warned him that her father had
+determined to sacrifice him at the next festival, which was just at
+hand, and that the influence of her mother, her sisters, and herself
+would no longer avail him. She wished him, therefore, to take refuge
+with a neighboring cacique named Mucozo, who loved her and sought her in
+marriage, and who, for her sake, would befriend him. 'This very night at
+midnight,' said the kind-hearted maiden, 'at the northern extremity of
+the village you will find a trusty friend who will guide you to a
+bridge, about two leagues hence; on arriving there, you must send him
+back, that he may reach home before the morning dawn, to avoid
+suspicion--for well he knows that this bold act, in daring to assist
+you, may bring down destruction upon us both. Six leagues further on,
+you will come to the village of Mucozo--tell him I have sent you, and
+expect him to befriend you in your extremity--I know he will do it--go,
+and may your God protect you!' Ortiz threw himself at the feet of his
+generous protectress, and poured out his acknowledgments for the
+kindness she had always shown him. The Indian guide was at the place
+appointed, and they left the village without alarming the warlike
+savages. When they came to the bridge, Ortiz sent back the guide, in
+obedience to the injunction of his mistress, and, continuing his flight,
+found himself, by break of day, on the banks of a small stream near the
+village of Mucozo.
+
+"Looking cautiously around, he espied two Indians fishing. As he was
+unacquainted with their language, and could not explain the cause of his
+coming, he was in dread lest they should take him for an enemy and kill
+him. He, therefore, ran to the place where they had deposited their
+weapons and seized upon them. The savages fled to the village without
+heeding his assurances of friendly intention. The inhabitants sallied
+out with bows and arrows, as though they would attack him. Ortiz fixed
+an arrow in his bow, but cried out at the same moment, that he came not
+as an enemy but as an ambassador from a female cacique to their chief.
+Fortunately one present understood him, and interpreted his words. On
+this the Indians unbent their bows, and returning with him to their
+village, presented him to Mucozo. The latter, a youthful chieftain, of a
+graceful form and handsome countenance, received Ortiz kindly for the
+sake of her who had sent him; but, on further acquaintance, became
+attached to him for his own merits, treating him with the affection of a
+brother."
+
+
+
+
+HUMANE SPIRIT OF A FOREST MAID.
+
+                          "Beneath the gloom
+  Of overshadowing forests, sweetly springs
+  The unexpected flower."
+
+
+Some of the noblest attributes of humanity are sometimes exhibited by
+the wild children of the forest. These attributes, in such cases, seem,
+like trees in the remotest wilderness, to have gained, by their
+spontaneous growth, surprising height, symmetry and beauty.
+
+A lovelier character than Pocahontas, daughter of Powhatan, king of the
+country where the first white settlement in Virginia was made, is rarely
+found among any people. She was lovely in the broadest as well as
+noblest sense of that word--lovely in features, lovely in disposition,
+lovely in the highest adornments of Christian grace. She was, in 1607,
+"a girl of ten or twelve years of age, who, not only for feature,
+countenance and expression, much exceeded any of the rest of her people,
+but for wit and spirit was the only nonpareil of the country." Such was
+Pocahontas, as described by the first white man, probably, who ever saw
+her, and in whose behalf, at the above date, she displayed the
+tenderness and true grandeur of her nature.
+
+The colonists, writes Mr. Hildreth, in his new History of the United
+States, "were specially instructed to seek for a passage to the South
+Sea; and it was thought that possibly the Chickahoming might lead
+thither. Having ascended as high as he could in his barge, Captain Smith
+followed up the stream in a canoe, with two colonists and two Indians
+for companions; and when the canoe would float no longer, he left the
+two colonists to guard it, and struck inland with a single Indian as a
+guide. Set upon unexpectedly by a large party of natives, who had
+already surprised and killed the two men left to guard the canoe, Smith
+bound his Indian guide to his arm as a buckler, and made a vigorous
+defence, killing three of the assailants; but as he retreated backward,
+he presently sank into a miry swamp, and was taken prisoner. His captors
+would have killed him, but he amused them with a pocket compass. Carried
+in a sort of triumph through several villages, he was taken before
+Powhatan, the same chief whom he had visited in company with Newport. An
+attempt was made to engage his services--at least so Smith understood
+it--in surprising the colonists at Jamestown. Having failed in this,
+after much consultation, it was resolved to put him to death. He was
+dragged to the ground and his head placed upon a stone; Powhatan raised
+a club to dash out his brains"--and now view the highly dramatic scene
+which follows, as pictured by Mrs. Sigourney in a few lines of masterly
+coloring:
+
+    The sentenced captive see--his brow how white!
+  Stretched on the turf, his manly form lies low,
+  The war club poises for its fatal blow,
+    The death-mist swims before his darkened sight;
+  Forth springs the child, in tearful pity bold,
+  Her head on his reclines, her arms his neck enfold,
+
+  "The child! what madness fires her? Hence! Depart!
+    Fly, daughter, fly! before the death-stroke rings;
+  Divide her, warriors! from that English heart."
+    In vain, for with convulsive grasp she clings:
+  She claims a pardon from her frowning sire;
+  Her pleading tones subdue his gathered ire,
+    And so, uplifting high his feathery dart,
+  That doting father gave the child her will,
+  And bade the victim live and be his servant still.
+
+After Smith had been an inmate of Powhatan's wigwam awhile, he was
+permitted to leave the Indians. Sometime after this the savages,
+becoming alarmed by witnessing Smith's wonderful feats, "laid a plan to
+get him into their power under the pretence of wishing an interview with
+him in their territory. But Pocahontas, knowing the desire of the
+warriors, left the wigwam after her father had gone to sleep, and ran
+more than nine miles through the woods to inform her friend Captain
+Smith of the danger that awaited him, either by stratagem or attack."
+
+Subsequently the colony at Jamestown was threatened with famine, when,
+accompanied by a few companions, she was accustomed to go to the fort
+every day or two with baskets of corn, and thus her
+
+  ----"generous hand vouchsafed its tireless aid
+  To guard a nation's germ."
+
+At the age of seventeen or eighteen, Pocahontas married a pious young
+English officer, named Thomas Rolfe, and went with him to England, where
+she was baptized and called Rebecca, and where she soon died. Well may
+it be said of her, in the language of the poet, slightly altered,
+
+  It is not meet such names should moulder in the grave.
+
+
+
+
+HANNAH DUSTIN.
+
+                     Experience teaches us
+  That resolution 's a sole help at need;
+  And this, my lord, our honor teacheth us,
+  That we be bold in every enterprise.
+
+                                   SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+On the fifteenth of March, 1697, a band of Indian prowlers broke into
+the house of Mr. Dustin, of Haverhill, Massachusetts, and captured his
+wife, her nurse,[16] and a babe about one week old. The last was killed
+before leaving the town. The other two were marched through the
+wilderness for several days till they came to a halt on an island in the
+Merrimac river about six miles above Concord, New Hampshire. There they
+were placed in a wigwam occupied by two men, three women, seven children
+of theirs, and an English boy who had been captured about a year
+previous at Worcester, Massachusetts. The captives remained there till
+the thirtieth of that month before they planned escape. On that day the
+boy was requested by Mrs. Dustin to ask his master where to strike "to
+kill instantly;" and the savage was simple enough to tell, and also
+instructed him in the art of scalping. "At night," to use the concise
+language of Mr. Bancroft, "while the household slumbers, the captives,
+each with a tomahawk, strike vigorously, and fleetly, and with division
+of labor,--and of the twelve sleepers, ten lie dead; of one squaw the
+wound was not mortal; one child was spared from design. The love of
+glory next asserted its power; and the gun and tomahawk of the murderer
+of her infant, and a bag heaped full of scalps were choicely kept as
+trophies of the heroine.--The streams are the guides which God has set
+for the stranger in the wilderness: in a bark canoe, the three descend
+the Merrimac to the English settlements, astonishing their friends by
+their escape, and filling the land with wonder at their successful
+daring."
+
+  [16] Mrs. Mary Neff.
+
+Mrs. Dustin had the happiness of meeting her husband and seven children,
+who had escaped from the house before the savages entered, and the honor
+of a very handsome present from Colonel Nicholson, governor of Maryland,
+as a reward for her heroism.[17]
+
+  [17] Eleven years after the capture of Mrs. Dustin, a party of French
+  and Indians from Canada made an attack upon the inhabitants of
+  Haverhill, and killed and captured about forty persons. Several women
+  exhibited on the occasion a remarkable degree of sagacity, courage and
+  presence of mind. We condense from Mirick's History of Haverhill.
+
+  Ann Whittaker escaped the tomahawk by hiding in an apple chest under the
+  stairs.--A negro servant, named Hagar, covered a couple of children with
+  tubs in the cellar and then concealed herself behind some meat barrels.
+  The Indians trod on a foot of one of the children and took meat from the
+  barrel behind which Hagar had hidden, without discovering any of
+  them.--The wife of Thomas Hartshorn, took all her children except the
+  babe--which she was afraid would cry--through a trap-door into the
+  cellar. The enemy entered and plundered the house, but did not find the
+  way into the cellar. They took the infant from its bed in the garret and
+  threw it out of the window. Strange to say, though stunned, it lived and
+  grew to rugged manhood.--The wife of Captain Simon Wainwright, after the
+  enemy had killed her husband, let them into the house and treated them
+  kindly. They at length demanded money, when she went out, as she
+  pretended, to get it. They soon ascertained--though too late to find
+  her--that she had fled with all her children but one, who was taken
+  captive.
+
+
+
+
+THE HEROINES OF BRYANT'S STATION.
+
+  The brave example cannot perish
+  Of courage.
+
+                                        HOSMER.
+
+  Nor could the boldest of our youth have dared
+  To pass our outworks.
+
+                                    POPE'S HOMER.
+
+
+At the siege of Bryant's station near Lexington, Kentucky, in August,
+1782, the water in the fort was exhausted; and as the nearest place to
+obtain a supply was a spring several rods off, it would require no small
+risk and, consequently, no common intrepidity to undertake to bring it.
+A body of Indians in plain sight, were trying to entice the soldiers to
+attack them without the walls, while another party was concealed near
+the spring, waiting, it was supposed, to storm one of the gates, should
+the besieged venture out. It was thought probable that the Indians in
+ambush would remain so until they saw indications that the other party
+had succeeded in enticing the soldiers to open engagement.
+
+The position of things was explained to the women, and they were invited
+to each take a bucket and march to the spring in a body. "Some, as was
+natural, had no relish for the undertaking, and asked why the men could
+not bring water as well as themselves, observing that they were not
+bullet-proof, and the Indians made no distinction between male and
+female scalps. To this it was answered, that the women were in the habit
+of bringing water every morning to the fort; and that if the Indians saw
+them engaged as usual, it would induce them to think that their
+ambuscade was undiscovered; and that they would not unmask themselves
+for the sake of firing at a few women, when they hoped, by remaining
+concealed a few moments longer, to obtain complete possession of the
+fort: that if men should go down to the spring, the Indians would
+immediately suspect something was wrong, would despair of succeeding by
+ambuscade, and would instantly rush upon them, follow them into the
+fort, or shoot them down at the spring.
+
+"The decision was soon made. A few of the boldest declared their
+readiness to brave the danger, and the younger and more timid rallying
+in the rear of these veterans, they all marched down in a body to the
+spring, within point blank shot of more than five hundred Indian
+warriors! Some of the girls could not help betraying symptoms of terror;
+but the married women, in general, moved with a steadiness and composure
+that completely deceived the Indians. Not a shot was fired. The party
+were permitted to fill their buckets, one after another, without
+interruption; and although their steps became quicker and quicker, on
+their return, and when near the fort, degenerated into a rather
+unmilitary celerity, with some little crowding in passing the gate, yet
+not more than one-fifth of the water was spilled, and the eyes of the
+youngest had not dilated to more than double their ordinary size."[18]
+
+  [18] M'Clung's Sketches of Western Adventure.
+
+
+
+
+MRS. DAVIESS.
+
+               'Tis late before
+  The brave despair.
+
+                                     THOMSON.
+
+
+Samuel Daviess was an early settler at a place called Gilmer's Lick, in
+Lincoln county, Kentucky. In the month of August, 1782, while a few rods
+from his house, he was attacked early one morning by an Indian; and
+attempting to get within doors, he found that his house was already
+occupied by other Indians. Pursued by his foe, he ran into a cornfield
+and lay concealed till the savage gave up the chase and returned to the
+house. He then ran to his brother's station, five miles off, gave the
+alarm, and was soon returning with five stout, well armed men.
+
+  [Illustration: THE INDIAN HORSE THIEF.]
+
+Meanwhile the Indians--four in number--who had entered the house while
+the fifth was in pursuit of Mr. Daviess, routed Mrs. Daviess and the
+children from their beds, and they soon understood that they must take
+up a line of march--they knew not whither. As soon as she was dressed,
+Mrs. Daviess "commenced showing the Indians one article of clothing and
+then another, which pleased them very much; and in that way delayed them
+at the house nearly two hours. In the mean time, the Indian who had
+been in pursuit of her husband returned, with his hands stained with
+poke berries, which he held up, and with some violent gestures and
+waving of his tomahawk, attempted to induce the belief, that the stain
+on his hands was the blood of her husband, and that he had killed him.
+She was enabled at once to discover the deception, and instead of
+producing any alarm on her part, she was satisfied that her husband had
+escaped uninjured.
+
+"After the savages had plundered the house of every thing that they
+could conveniently carry off with them, they started, taking Mrs.
+Daviess and her children--seven in number--as prisoners, along with
+them. Some of the children were too young to travel as fast as the
+Indians wished, and discovering, as she believed, their intention to
+kill such of them as could not conveniently travel, she made the two
+oldest boys carry them on their backs. The Indians, in starting from the
+house, were very careful to leave no signs of the direction they had
+taken, not even permitting the children to break a twig or weed as they
+passed along. They had not gone far before an Indian drew his knife and
+cut off a few inches of Mrs. Daviess' dress, so that she would not be
+interrupted in traveling.
+
+"Mrs. Daviess was a woman of cool, deliberate courage, and accustomed to
+handle the gun, so that she could shoot well, as many of the women were
+in the habit of doing in those days. She had contemplated, as a last
+resort, that if not rescued in the course of the day, when night came on
+and the Indians had fallen asleep, she would deliver herself and
+children by killing as many of the Indians as she could--thinking that
+in a night attack as many of them as remained would most probably run
+off."[19]
+
+  [19] Collins's Historical Sketches of Kentucky.
+
+Mr. Daviess and his comrades reaching the house and finding it empty,
+hastened on in pursuit of the Indians. They had gone but a few miles
+before they overtook the retreating party. Two Indian spies in the rear,
+first discovered the pursuers, and running on, overtook the three
+others, with the prisoners, and knocked down and scalped, though they
+did not kill, the oldest boy. At that moment the pursuers fired at the
+Indians, but missed. The latter were now alarmed and confused, and Mrs.
+Daviess, taking advantage of this circumstance, jumped into a sink hole
+with her infant in her arms; and the Indians fleeing, every child was
+saved.
+
+"Kentucky, in its early days, like most new countries, was occasionally
+troubled by men of abandoned character, who lived by stealing the
+property of others, and, after committing their depredations, retired to
+their hiding places, thereby eluding the operation of the law. One of
+these marauders, a man of desperate character, who had committed
+extensive thefts from Mr. Daviess, as well as from his neighbors, was
+pursued by Daviess and a party whose property he had taken, in order to
+bring him to justice. While the party were in pursuit, the suspected
+individual, not knowing any one was pursuing him, came to the house of
+Daviess, armed with his gun and tomahawk--no person being at home but
+Mrs. Daviess and her children. After he had stepped into the house, Mrs.
+Daviess asked him if he would drink something--and having set a bottle
+of whiskey upon the table, requested him to help himself. The fellow,
+not suspecting any danger, set his gun up by the door, and while
+drinking, Mrs. Daviess picked up his gun, and placing herself in the
+door, had the gun cocked and leveled upon him by the time he turned
+around, and in a peremptory manner ordered him to take a seat, or she
+would shoot him. Struck with terror and alarm, he asked what he had
+done. She told him he had stolen her husband's property and that she
+intended to take care of him herself. In that condition she held him a
+prisoner, until the party of men returned and took him into their
+possession."[20]
+
+  [20] Collins.
+
+
+
+
+A KENTUCKY AMAZON.
+
+  This is true courage.
+
+                   WHITEHEAD'S ROMAN FATHER.
+
+
+During the summer of 1787, writes Mr. McClung, in his Sketches of
+Western Adventure, "The house of Mr. John Merrill, of Nelson county,
+Kentucky, was attacked by the Indians, and defended with singular
+address and good fortune. Merrill was alarmed by the barking of a dog
+about midnight, and upon opening the door in order to ascertain the
+cause of the disturbance, he received the fire of six or seven Indians,
+by which one arm and one thigh were broken. He instantly sank upon the
+floor, and called upon his wife to close the door. This had scarcely
+been done when it was violently assailed by the tomahawks of the enemy,
+and a large breach soon effected. Mrs. Merrill, however, being a perfect
+amazon, both in strength and courage, guarded it with an axe, and
+successively killed or badly wounded four of the enemy as they attempted
+to force their way into the cabin.
+
+"The Indians ascended the roof, and attempted to enter by way of the
+chimney; but here again they were met by the same determined enemy.
+Mrs. Merrill seized the only feather bed which the cabin afforded, and
+hastily ripping it open, poured its contents upon the fire. A furious
+blaze and stifling smoke instantly ascended the chimney, and brought
+down two of the enemy, who lay for a few moments at the mercy of the
+lady. Seizing the axe, she quickly dispatched them, and was instantly
+afterwards summoned to the door, where the only remaining savage now
+appeared, endeavoring to effect an entrance, while Mrs. Merrill was
+engaged at the chimney. He soon received a gash in the cheek, which
+compelled him, with a loud yell, to relinquish his purpose, and return
+hastily to Chillicothe, where, from the report of a prisoner, he gave an
+exaggerated account of the fierceness, strength, and courage of the
+'long knife squaw!'"
+
+
+
+
+HEROISM AT INNIS SETTLEMENT.
+
+  Courage alone can save us.
+
+                            SOUTHEY.
+
+
+The account of the Indians' attack on the Innis settlement, near
+Frankfort, Kentucky, in April, 1792, has been differently related by
+different writers. The most reliable account is doubtless that given by
+the Rev. Abraham Cook, a minister of the Baptist denomination and the
+brother of Jesse and Hosea Cook, whose wives were the heroines of the
+settlement. The attack was made on the twenty-eighth of the month, by
+about one hundred Indians, and at three points almost simultaneously.
+The first onset was upon the Cooks who lived in cabins close together,
+and where was displayed a degree of intrepidity rarely matched.
+
+"The brothers were near their cabins, one engaged in shearing sheep, the
+other looking on. The sharp crack of rifles was the first intimation of
+the proximity of the Indians; and that fire was fatal to the
+brothers--the elder fell dead, and the younger was mortally wounded, but
+enabled to reach the cabin. The two Mrs. Cook, with three children--two
+whites and one black--were instantly collected in the house, and the
+door, a very strong one, made secure. The Indians, unable to enter,
+discharged their rifles at the door, but without injury, as the balls
+did not penetrate through the thick boards of which it was constructed.
+They then attempted to cut it down with their tomahawks, but with no
+better success. While these things occurred without, there was deep
+sorrow, mingled with fearless determination and high resolve within. The
+younger Cook, mortally wounded, immediately the door was barred, sank
+down on the floor, and breathed his last; and the two Mrs. Cook were
+left the sole defenders of the cabin, with the three children. There was
+a rifle in the house, but no balls could be found. In this extremity,
+one of the women got hold of a musket ball, and placing it between her
+teeth, actually bit it into two pieces. With one she instantly loaded
+the rifle. The Indians, failing in their attempts to cut down the door,
+had retired a few paces in front, doubtless to consult upon their future
+operations. One seated himself upon a log, apparently apprehending no
+danger from within. Observing him, Mrs. Cook took aim from a narrow
+aperture and fired, when the Indian gave a loud yell, bounded high in
+the air, and fell dead. This infuriated the savages, who threatened--for
+they could speak English--to burn the house and all the inmates. Several
+speedily climbed to the top of the cabin, and kindled a fire on the
+boards of the roof. The devouring element began to take effect, and
+with less determined and resolute courage within, the certain
+destruction of the cabin and the death of the inmates, must have been
+the consequence. But the self possession and intrepidity of these
+Spartan females were equal to the occasion. One of them instantly
+ascended to the loft, and the other handed her water, with which she
+extinguished the fire. Again and again the roof was fired, and as often
+extinguished. The water failing, the undaunted women called for some
+eggs, which were broken and the contents thrown upon the fire, for a
+time holding the flames at bay. Their next resource was the bloody
+waistcoat of the husband and brother-in-law, who lay dead upon the
+floor. The blood with which this was profusely saturated, checked the
+progress of the flames--but, as they appeared speedily to be gathering
+strength, another, and the last expedient ... proved successful. The
+savage foe yielded, and the fruitful expedients of female courage
+triumphed. One Indian, in bitter disappointment, fired at his unseen
+enemy through the boards, but did not injure her, when the whole
+immediately descended from the roof.
+
+"About the time the attack commenced, a young man named McAndre, escaped
+on horseback, in view of the Indians, who, it was supposed, would give
+the alarm to the older neighboring settlements. As soon as they
+descended from the house top, a few climbed some contiguous trees, and
+instituted a sharp look out. While in the trees, one of them fired a
+second ball into the loft of the cabin, which cut to pieces a bundle of
+yarn hanging near the head of Mrs. Cook, but without doing further
+injury. Soon after, they threw the body of the dead Indian into the
+adjacent creek, and precipitately fled."
+
+
+
+
+BOLD EXPLOIT AT TAMPICO.
+
+  A thousand hearts are great within my bosom;
+  Advance our standards.
+
+                                       SHAKSPEARE.
+
+  Rocks have been shaken from their solid base;
+  But what shall move a dauntless soul?
+
+                                       JOANNA BAILLIE.
+
+
+At the capture of Tampico, which took place on the fourteenth of
+November, 1846, a noteworthy act was performed by a lady, whose
+patriotism and daring should not be forgotten. She not only gave
+Commodore Connor full information in regard to the defence of the place,
+with a plan of the harbor, town and forts, but when the squadron was
+approaching, though opposed by the city council and even menaced, she
+hoisted the American flag and persisted in waving it beneath the very
+eye of the _ayuntamiento_! This intrepid woman was Mrs. Ann Chase, wife
+of the American Consul.
+
+  [Illustration: THE COLONEL AND HIS DAUGHTER.]
+
+
+
+
+DICEY LANGSTON.
+
+  Thou soul of love and bravery!
+
+                                MOORE.
+
+
+Dicey Langston was the daughter of Solomon Langston, of Laurens
+district, South Carolina. She possessed an intrepid spirit, which is
+highly serviceable in times of emergency, and which, as she lived in the
+days of the Revolution, she had more than one opportunity to display.
+Situated in the midst of tories, and being patriotically inquisitive,
+she often learned by accident, or discovered by strategy, the plottings
+so common in those days, against the whigs. Such intelligence she was
+accustomed to communicate to the friends of freedom on the opposite side
+of the Ennoree river.
+
+Learning one time that a band of loyalists--known in those parts as the
+"Bloody scout"--were about to fall upon the "Elder settlement," a place
+where a brother of hers and other friends were residing, she resolved to
+warn them of their danger. To do this she must hazard her own life. But
+off she started, alone, in the darkness of the night; traveled several
+miles through the woods, and over marshes and across creeks, through a
+country where foot-logs and bridges were then unknown; came to the
+Tyger, a rapid and deep stream, into which she plunged and waded till
+the water was up to her neck; she then became bewildered, and zigzagged
+the channel for some time; reached the opposite shore at length--for a
+helping Hand was beneath, a kind Providence guiding her:--hastened on;
+reached the settlement, and her brother and the whole community were
+safe!
+
+She was returning one day from another settlement of whigs--in the
+Spartanburg district, when a company of tories met her and questioned
+her in regard to the neighborhood she had just left; but she refused to
+communicate the desired information. The leader of the band then held a
+pistol to her breast, and threatened to shoot her if she did not make
+the wished for disclosure. "Shoot me if you dare! I will not tell you!"
+was her dauntless reply, as she opened a long handkerchief that covered
+her neck and bosom, thus manifesting a willingness to receive the
+contents of the pistol, if the officer insisted on disclosures or life.
+The dastard, enraged at her defying movement, was in the act of firing,
+at which moment one of the soldiers threw up the hand holding the
+weapon, and the cowerless heart of the girl was permitted to beat on.
+
+The brothers of Dicey were no less patriotic than she; and they having,
+by their active services on the side of freedom, greatly displeased the
+loyalists, these latter were determined to be revenged. A desperate
+band accordingly went to the house of their father, and finding the sons
+absent, they were about to wreak their vengeance on the old man, whom
+they hated for the sons' sake. With this intent one of the party drew a
+pistol; but just as it was aimed at the breast of her aged and infirm
+father, Dicey rushed between the two, and though the ruffian bade her
+get out of his way or receive in her own breast the contents of the
+pistol, she regarded not his threats, but flung her arms around her
+father's neck and declared she would receive the ball first, if the
+weapon must be discharged. Such fearlessness and willingness to offer
+her own life for the sake of her parent, softened the heart of the
+"bloody scout," and Mr. Langston lived to see his noble daughter perform
+other heroic deeds.
+
+One time her brother James, in his absence, sent to the house for a gun
+which he had left in her care, with orders for her to deliver it to no
+one except by his direction. On reaching the house one of the company
+who where directed to call for it, made known their errand, whereupon
+she brought and was about to deliver the weapon. At this moment it
+occurred to her that she had not demanded the countersign agreed on
+between herself and brother. With the gun still in her hand, she looked
+the company sternly in the face, and remarking that they wore a
+suspicious look, called for the countersign. Hereupon one of them, in
+jest, told her she was too tardy in her requirements; that both the gun
+and its holder were in their possession. "Do you think so," she boldly
+asked, as she cocked the disputed weapon and aimed it at the speaker.
+"If the gun is in your possession," she added, "take charge of it!" Her
+appearance indicated that she was in earnest, and the countersign was
+given without further delay. A hearty laugh on the part of the "liberty
+men," ended the ceremony.
+
+
+
+
+REBECCA MOTTE.
+
+  We can make our lives sublime.
+
+                          LONGFELLOW.
+
+
+During the Revolutionary war, while Fort Motte, situated on Congaree
+river, in South Carolina, was in the hands of the British, in order to
+effect its surrender, it became necessary to burn a large mansion
+standing near the centre of the trench. The house was the property of
+Mrs. Motte. Lieut. Colonel Lee communicated to her the contemplated work
+of destruction with painful reluctance, but her smiles, half
+anticipating his proposal, showed, at once, that she was willing to
+sacrifice her property if she could thereby aid in the least degree
+towards the expulsion of the enemy and the salvation of the land. The
+reply she made to the proposal was that she was "gratified with the
+opportunity of contributing to the good of her country, and should view
+the approaching scene with delight!"[21]
+
+  [21] MRS. BREWTON,--since Foster--one of the most amiable and
+  enlightened of the whig ladies, was an inmate of Mrs. Motte's family at
+  the time of the destruction of her house. Meeting with her shortly after
+  the signing of the preliminary articles of peace at Philadelphia, I
+  inquired--"How it had happened, that she, a helpless, unprotected widow,
+  without any charge of improper conduct, had so far incurred the enmity
+  of the British commanders, as to have been arrested without ceremony,
+  and hurried unprepared, into exile." She answered--"That she knew no act
+  of hers which had merited such ungentlemanly and inhuman treatment."
+  Entering, however, into conversation relative to the siege and surrender
+  of Fort Motte, she gave at once a clue to the transaction. While the
+  American forces were at a distance, Major M'Pherson, the commander of
+  the post, suffered Mrs. Motte and her family to remain, and an apartment
+  was allowed for their accommodation. But when the post at Thompson's,
+  but a little removed from him, was attacked and carried, anticipating
+  the fate which awaited him, immediate removal was not only advised, but
+  insisted on. At the moment of departure, Mrs. Brewton seeing a quiver of
+  arrows, which had been presented to Mr. Motte by a favorite African,
+  said to her friend, "I will take these with me, to prevent their
+  destruction by the soldiers." With the quiver in her hands, she was
+  passing the gate, when Major M'Pherson, drawing forth a shaft, and
+  applying the point to his finger, said, "what have you here, Mrs.
+  Brewton?" "For God's sake be careful," she replied "these arrows are
+  poisoned." The ladies immediately passed on to the out-house, which they
+  were now to inhabit. In the siege which directly followed, when the
+  destruction of the house was determined upon, and missiles eagerly
+  sought for by Lieutenant Colonel Lee for conveying the fire to the
+  shingles, these arrows being remembered, were presented by Mrs. Motte,
+  with a wish for the happy accomplishment of the end proposed. It was
+  afterwards known, that the first arrow missed its aim, and fell at the
+  feet of the commander, who taking, it up, with strong expressions of
+  anger, exclaimed, "I thank you, Mrs. Brewton." The second arrow took
+  effect, and set fire to the roof, when the brisk discharge of a six
+  pounder being maintained by Captain Finley, in the direction of the
+  stair-case, every effort to extinguish it proved fruitless, until, from
+  the apprehension of the roof falling in, the garrison were compelled to
+  surrender at discretion. General Greene arriving soon after, paid to
+  Major M'Pherson the tribute of applause due to his excellent defence,
+  declaring, "that such gallantry could not fail to procure for him a high
+  increase of reputation." This compliment, however, does not appear to
+  have soothed the mortified soldier; for, walking immediately up to Mrs.
+  Brewton, he said, "to _you_ madam, I owe this disgrace; it would have
+  been more charitable to have allowed me to perish by poison, than to be
+  thus compelled to surrender my post to the enemy." This speech alone,
+  accounts for the enmity against Mrs. Brewton.--[Knapp's American
+  Anecdotes.
+
+The husband of this noble-hearted widow had so involved himself by
+securities for friends, that after the struggle for Independence was
+over, it was impossible for her to immediately meet all demands against
+the estate. She, however, resolved that they should some day be
+liquidated--that, life and health being continued long enough, all
+obligations of her husband's contracting should be good against herself.
+She purchased a large tract of rice land on credit, and by industry and
+economy was able, in a short time, to pay the old demands, and lived to
+accumulate a handsome property. She reminds us of Solomon's picture of
+the virtuous woman: "She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the
+fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard."... "She looketh well to the
+ways of her household, and eateth not of the bread of idleness."
+
+
+
+
+ANOTHER SACRIFICE FOR FREEDOM.
+
+  A patriot's birth-right thou may'st claim.
+
+                                         SHELLEY.
+
+
+The subject of the following anecdote was a sister of General Woodhull,
+and was born at Brookhaven, Long Island, in December, 1740. Her husband
+was a member of the Provincial Convention which met in May, 1775, and of
+the Convention which was called two years after, to frame the first
+state constitution.
+
+While Judge William Smith was in the Provincial Congress, his lady was
+met, at a place called Middle Island, by Major Benjamin Tallmadge, who
+was then on his march across Long Island. He told her he was on his way
+to her house to capture the force then possessing Fort St. George, and
+that he might be obliged to burn or otherwise destroy her dwelling-house
+and other buildings in accomplishing this object. Ready to make any
+sacrifice for the good of her bleeding country, she promptly assured the
+Major that the buildings were at his disposal, to destroy or not, as
+efforts to dislodge the enemy might require.
+
+
+
+
+A PATRIOTIC DONATION.
+
+  Large charity doth never soil,
+  But only whitens soft white hands.--LOWELL.
+
+
+When General Greene was retreating through the Carolinas, after the
+battle of the Cowpens, and while at Salisbury, North Carolina, he put up
+at a hotel, the landlady of which was Mrs. Elizabeth Steele. A
+detachment of Americans had just had a skirmish with the British under
+Cornwallis at the Catawba ford, and were defeated and dispersed; and
+when the wounded were brought to the hotel, the General no doubt felt
+somewhat discouraged, for the fate of the south and perhaps of the
+country seemed to hang on the result of this memorable retreat. Added to
+his other troubles was that of being penniless; and Mrs. Steele,
+learning this fact by accident, and ready to do any thing in her power
+to further the cause of freedom, took him aside and drew from under her
+apron two bags of specie. Presenting them to him she generously said,
+"Take these, for you will want them, and I can do without them."[22]
+
+  [22] Never did relief come at a more propitious moment; nor would it be
+  straining conjecture to suppose that he resumed his journey with his
+  spirits cheered and brightened by this touching proof of woman's
+  devotion to the cause of her country. [Greene's Life of Nathaniel
+  Greene.
+
+
+
+
+"THE LITTLE BLACK-EYED REBEL."
+
+              Some there are
+  By their good deeds exalted
+
+                         WORDSWORTH.
+
+
+Mary Redmond, the daughter of a patriot of Philadelphia of some local
+distinction, had many relatives who were loyalists. These were
+accustomed to call her "the little black-eyed rebel," so ready was she
+to assist women whose husbands were fighting for freedom, in procuring
+intelligence. "The dispatches were usually sent from their friends by a
+boy who carried them stitched in the back of his coat. He came into the
+city bringing provisions to market. One morning when there was some
+reason to fear he was suspected, and his movements were watched by the
+enemy, Mary undertook to get the papers from him in safety. She went, as
+usual, to the market, and in a pretended game of romps, threw her shawl
+over the boy's head and secured the prize. She hastened with the papers
+to her anxious friends, who read them by stealth, after the windows had
+been carefully closed."
+
+When the whig women in her neighborhood heard of Burgoyne's surrender,
+and were exulting in secret, the cunning little "rebel," prudently
+refraining from any open demonstration of joy, "put her head up the
+chimney and gave a shout for Gates!"
+
+
+
+
+A BENEVOLENT QUAKERESS.[23]
+
+  How few, like thee, inquire the wretched out,
+  And court the offices of soft humanity!
+
+                                           ROWE.
+
+
+Charity Rodman was born in Newport, Rhode Island, in the year 1765. Her
+father was a sea-captain, and died at Honduras while she was in infancy.
+She married Thomas Rotch, of Nantucket, Massachusetts, on the sixth of
+June, 1790. Soon afterwards the Rotch family removed to New Bedford,
+where they have since distinguished themselves by their energy and
+uprightness of character, and their success in the mercantile business,
+being extensively engaged in the whale-fishery. Of some of them, as
+traffickers, it may be said, as it was of the merchants of Tyre in the
+days of her glory: "they are among the honorable of the earth."
+
+  [23] Some of the facts embodied in this article were gathered by the
+  author while on a visit to Massillon, Ohio, in the summer of 1847, and
+  were communicated to the public at that time through the columns of the
+  Western Literary Messenger; others were lately and very obligingly
+  furnished by Dr. William Bowen, of that place.
+
+About the year 1801, Mrs. Rotch removed with her husband to Hartford,
+Connecticut, where she remained till 1811. She then, in a feeble state
+of health, and for its improvement, accompanied her husband on a journey
+through Ohio, and other parts of the West. The mildness of the winter
+was favorable to her constitution, and, restored to comfortable health,
+she returned to Hartford in the early part of the next summer. The
+following November she removed to Kendol, in Stark county, Ohio, near
+the site of the present village of Massillon.
+
+There the mind of Mrs. Rotch, cooperating with the long-cherished wishes
+of her heart, originated and matured plans for the establishment of a
+"school for orphan and destitute children." Having traveled much, she
+had made extensive observations; and with an eye always open to the
+condition and wants of human kind, she early and often felt the force of
+a remark once made to her by an English friend: "That there were a great
+many children _wasted_ in this country"--a painful truth, but no less
+applicable to Great Britain than to the United States.
+
+Her husband died in 1823, and bequeathed to her, during life, his large
+and entire estate. His personal property was left in her hands to be
+disposed of as her philanthropic heart might dictate. This formed the
+basis of the school-fund which she left, and which, four or five years
+after her death, which occurred on the sixth of August, 1824, amounted
+to twenty thousand dollars. The interest of this sum has since purchased
+a farm of one hundred and eighty-five acres, one and a half miles from
+the village of Massillon, and erected, at a cost of five thousand
+dollars, a large brick edifice for educational and dwelling purposes,
+which has been open seven years and which sustains forty pupils. The
+real and personal estate of the institution, is now estimated at
+thirty-five thousand dollars.
+
+A class of ten pupils enter annually and remain four years. The school
+is established on the manual labor plan; and the boys are thoroughly
+instructed in the art of husbandry, and the girls in culinary duties and
+the manufacture of their own wearing apparel. Children enter between the
+ages of ten and fourteen, hence the youngest leave as advanced in life
+as their fifteenth year, a period when their habits of industry and
+their moral principles usually become too well established to be easily
+changed.
+
+This school, founded by the benevolence of a single individual--a
+devout, yet modest and quiet member of the Society of Friends--is
+destined to become a source of inestimable blessings. Every half
+century, five hundred otherwise neglected plants in the garden of
+humanity, will there be pruned and nurtured, and strengthened for the
+storms of life; and many of them will doubtless be fitted to bear fruit
+here to the glory of God, and be finally transplanted to bloom in
+eternal youth in the gardens above.
+
+The offspring of Christian philanthropy, the school will stand as a
+lasting memorial of woman's worth. The highest ambition of its founder
+was to be a blessing to those who should come after her; and it may be
+said that while she did not live in vain, neither did she die in vain.
+Her death threw a legacy into the lap of orphanage, the benignant
+influence of which will long be felt.
+
+The grave of Mrs. Rotch is overlooked by the monument of her
+munificence, but no marble nor enduring object marks the spot. Virtues
+like hers neither crave nor need _chiseled_ words of praise; they are
+engraved on the hearts of the succored, to be remembered while those
+hearts continue to beat; and the feet of befriended children will keep a
+path open to the grave of their foster-mother, for ages.
+
+
+
+
+A PIONEER IN SUNDAY SCHOOLS.[24]
+
+  --Doubtless unto thee is given
+  A life that bears immortal fruit
+  In such great offices as suit
+  The full-grown energies of heaven.
+
+                           TENNYSON'S IN MEMORIAM.
+
+
+The Ohio Company, which was organized in Boston in the year 1787, built
+a stockade fort during the next two years, at Marietta, and named it
+_Campus Martius_. The year it was completed, the Rev. Daniel Storey, a
+preacher at Worcester, Massachusetts, was sent out as a chaplain. He
+acted as an evangelist till 1797, when he became the pastor of a
+Congregational church which he had been instrumental in collecting in
+Marietta and the adjoining towns, and which was organized the preceding
+year. He held that relation till the spring of 1804. Probably he was the
+first Protestant minister whose voice was heard in the vast wilderness
+lying to the north-west of the Ohio river.
+
+  [24] The facts contained in this article we find in a series of papers,
+  by S. P. Hildreth, Esq., published in "The American Pioneer," in 1842.
+
+In the garrison at Marietta was witnessed the formation and successful
+operation of one of the first Sunday schools in the United States. Its
+originator, superintendent and sole teacher, was Mrs. Andrew Lake, an
+estimable lady from New York. Every Sabbath, after "Parson Storey" had
+finished his public services, she collected as many of the children at
+her house as would attend, and heard them recite verses from the
+Scriptures, and taught them the Westminster catechism. Simple in her
+manner of teaching and affable and kind in her disposition, she was able
+to interest her pupils--usually about twenty in number--and to win their
+affections to herself, to the school, and, subsequently, in some
+instances, to the Saviour. A few, at least, of the little children that
+used to sit on rude benches, low stools and the tops of meal bags, and
+listen to her sacred instructions and earnest admonitions, have
+doubtless ere this became pupils, with her, in the "school of Christ"
+above.
+
+
+
+
+THE WOMEN OF WYOMING.
+
+  The guardians of the land.
+
+                           HOLMES.
+
+
+Justice and gratitude, writes Miner,[25] "demand a tribute to the
+praiseworthy spirit of the wives and daughters of Wyoming. While their
+husbands and fathers were on public duty, they cheerfully assumed a
+large portion of the labor which females could do. They assisted to
+plant, made hay, husked and garnered the corn. As the settlement was
+mainly dependent on its own resources for powder, Mr. Hollenback caused
+to be brought up the river a pounder; and the women took up their
+floors, dug out the earth, put it in casks, and run water through
+it,--as ashes are bleached:--then took ashes, in another cask, and made
+ley--mixed the water from the earth with weak ley, boiled it, set it to
+cool, and the saltpetre rose to the top. Charcoal and sulphur were then
+used, and powder was produced for the public defence."
+
+  [25] History of Wyoming, page 212.
+
+
+
+
+MARY GOULD.
+
+  Far rung the groves and gleamed the midnight grass,
+  With flambeau, javelin and naked arm;
+  As warriors wheeled their culverins of brass,
+  Sprung from the woods a bold athletic mass,
+  Whom virtue fires and liberty combines.
+
+                                            CAMPBELL.
+
+  Such is the power of mighty love.
+
+                                              DRYDEN.
+
+
+Early in the evening of the third day of July, 1778--the date of the
+memorable Wyoming massacre--Mrs. Mary Gould, wife of James Gould, with
+the other females remaining in the village of Wyoming, sought safety in
+the fort. In the haste and confusion attending this act, she left a boy
+of hers about four years old, behind. Obeying the instincts of a mother,
+and turning a deaf ear to the admonitions of friends, she started off on
+a perilous search for the missing one. It was dark; she was alone, and
+the foe was lurking around; but the agonies of death could not exceed
+her agonies of suspense; so she hastened on. She traversed the fields
+which, but a few hours before,
+
+  "Were trampled by the hurrying crowd;"
+
+where
+
+  "--fiery hearts and armed hands
+  Encountered in the battle cloud,"
+
+and where unarmed hands were now resting on cold and motionless hearts.
+After a search of between one and two hours, she found her child on the
+bank of the river, sporting with a little band of playmates. Clasping
+the jewel in her arms, she hurried back and reached the fort in safety.
+
+
+
+
+THE MOTHER OF PRESIDENT POLK.
+
+  Holy as heaven a mother's tender love!
+  The love of many prayers, and many tears,
+  Which changes not with dim, declining years.
+
+                                          MRS. NORTON.
+
+
+The late President Folk's mother, who died at Columbia, Tennessee, in
+the winter of 1851-2, was a member of the Presbyterian church, a highly
+exemplary Christian, and a faithful mother. The lessons which she taught
+her son in youth, were not forgotten when he had arrived at manhood, and
+risen to the highest office in the gift of a free and sovereign people.
+A single anecdote will show the abiding recollection and influence of
+her teachings.
+
+A gentleman, who once visited Mr. Polk at the White House, remarked to
+him that his respect for the Sabbath was highly gratifying to the
+religious sentiment of the country; whereupon he made the following
+reply: "I was taught by a pious mother to fear God, and keep his
+commandments, and I trust that no cares of a government of my own, will
+ever tempt me to forget what I owe to the government of God."
+
+
+
+
+TRIALS OF A PATRIOT.
+
+  Press on! if fortune play thee false
+  To-day, to-morrow she 'll be true.
+
+                              PARK BENJAMIN.
+
+
+During the latter part of the Revolution, Thomas McCalla lived in
+Chester district, South Carolina. He removed thither from Pennsylvania,
+with his young wife, in 1778. He was a whole-hearted whig; served in the
+American army before moving to the south, and again enlisted soon after
+reaching his new home. He was in all the engagements attending Sumter's
+operations against the enemy, till the seventeenth of August, 1780,
+when, by permission, he went to visit his family. A short time
+afterwards he again joined the fighting men, but was almost immediately
+taken prisoner, sent to Camden, thrown into jail and threatened daily
+with hanging. The persevering and heroic endeavors of his affectionate
+and patriotic wife, to obtain his release, are detailed in the following
+interesting manner by the author of the Women of the Revolution:
+
+While this brave man was languishing in prison, expecting death from day
+to day, his wife remained in the most unhappy state of suspense. For
+about a month she was unable to obtain any tidings of him. The rumor of
+Sumter's surprise, and that of Steel, came to her ears; she visited the
+places where those disasters had occurred, and sought for some trace of
+him, but without success. She inquired, in an agony of anxiety, of the
+women who had been to Charlotte for the purpose of carrying clothes or
+provisions to their husbands, brothers, or fathers, not knowing but that
+he had gone thither with the soldiers; but none could give her the least
+information. Imagination may depict the harrowing scenes that must have
+passed, when females returning to their homes and children after
+carrying aid to the soldiers, were met by such inquiries from those who
+were uncertain as to the fate of their kindred. To these hapless
+sufferers no consolation availed, and too often was their suspense
+terminated by more afflicting certainty.
+
+In the midst of Mrs. McCalla's distress, and before she had gained any
+information, she was called to another claim on her anxiety; her
+children took the small-pox. John was very ill for nine days with the
+disease, and his mother thought every day would be his last. During this
+terrible season of alarm, while her mind was distracted by cares, she
+had to depend altogether upon herself, for she saw but one among her
+neighbors. All the families in the vicinity were visited with the
+disease, and to many it proved fatal. As soon as her child was so far
+recovered as to be considered out of danger, Mrs. McCalla made
+preparations to go to Camden. She felt convinced that it was her duty to
+do so, for she clung to the hope that she might there learn something
+of her husband, or even find him among the prisoners.
+
+With her to resolve was to act, and having set her house in order, she
+was in the saddle long before day, taking the old Charleston road
+leading down on the west side of the Catawba river. The mountain gap on
+Wateree creek was passed ere the sun rose, and by two o'clock she had
+crossed the river, passing the guard there stationed, and entered
+Camden. Pressing on with fearless determination, she passed the guard,
+and desiring to be conducted to the presence of Lord Rawdon, was
+escorted by Major Doyle to the head-quarters of that commander. His
+Lordship then occupied a large, ancient looking house on the east side
+of the main street. The old site of the town is now in part deserted,
+and that building left standing alone some four hundred yards from any
+other, as if the memories associated with it had rendered the
+neighborhood undesirable. It was here that haughty and luxurious
+nobleman fixed his temporary residence, "sitting as a monarch," while so
+many true-hearted unfortunates, whose fate hung on his will, were
+languishing out their lives in prison, or atoning for their patriotism
+on the scaffold.
+
+Into the presence of this august personage Mrs. McCalla was conducted by
+the British major. Her impression at first sight was favorable; he was a
+fine looking young man, with a countenance not unprepossessing, which we
+may suppose was eagerly searched for the traces of human sympathy by one
+who felt that all her hopes depended on him. His aspect gave her some
+encouragement, and being desired to explain the object of her visit, she
+pleaded her cause with the eloquence of nature and feeling; making known
+the distressed situation of her family at home, the fearful anxiety of
+mind she had suffered on account of the prolonged absence of her husband
+and her ignorance of his fate, and her children's urgent need of his
+care and protection. From Major Doyle she had at length learned that he
+was held a prisoner by his lordship's orders. She had come, therefore,
+to entreat mercy for him; to pray that he might be released and
+permitted to go home with her. This appeal to compassion she made with
+all the address in her power, nor was the untaught language of distress
+wanting in power to excite pity in any feeling heart.
+
+Lord Rawdon heard her to the end. His reply was characteristic. "I would
+rather hang such ---- rebels than eat my breakfast." This insulting
+speech was addressed to his suppliant while her eyes were fixed on him
+in the agony of her entreaty, and the tears were streaming down her
+cheeks. His words dried up the fountain at once, and the spirit of the
+American matron was roused. "Would you?" was her answer, while she
+turned on him a look of the deepest scorn. A moment after, with a
+struggle to control her feelings, for she well knew how much depended on
+that--she said, "I crave of your lordship permission to see my husband."
+
+The haughty chief felt the look of scorn his cruel language had called
+up in her face, for his own conscience bore testimony against him, but
+pride forbade his yielding to the dictates of better feeling. "You
+should consider, madam," he answered, "in whose presence you now stand.
+Your husband is a rebel----"
+
+Mrs. McCalla was about to reply--but her companion, the Major, gave her
+a look warning her to be silent, and in truth the words that sprang to
+her lips would have ill pleased the Briton. Doyle now interposed, and
+requested his lordship to step aside with him for a moment. They left
+the apartment, and shortly afterwards returned. Rawdon then said to his
+visitor, with a stately coldness that precluded all hope of softening
+his determination: "Major Doyle, madam, has my permission to let you go
+into the prison. You may continue in the prison _ten minutes only_.
+Major, you have my orders." So saying, he bowed politely both to her and
+the officer, as intimating that the business was ended, and they were
+dismissed. They accordingly quitted the room.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The sight of the prison-pen almost overcame the fortitude of the
+resolute wife. An enclosure like that constructed for animals, guarded
+by soldiers, was the habitation of the unfortunate prisoners, who sate
+within on the bare earth, many of them suffering with the prevalent
+distemper, and stretched helpless on the ground, with no shelter from
+the burning sun of September. "Is it possible," cried the matron,
+turning to Doyle, "that you shut up men in this manner, as you would a
+parcel of hogs!" She was then admitted into the jail, and welcome indeed
+was the sight of her familiar face to McCalla. The time allotted for the
+interview was too short to be wasted in condolement or complaint; she
+told him she must depart in a few minutes, informed him of the state of
+his family--inquired carefully what were his wants, and promised speedy
+relief. When the ten minutes had expired, she again shook hands with
+him, assuring him she would shortly return with clothes for his use, and
+what provisions she could bring, then turning walked away with a firm
+step, stopping to shake hands with young John Adair and the other
+captives with whom she was acquainted. The word of encouragement was not
+wanting, and as she bade the prisoners adieu, she said: "Have no fear;
+the women are doing their part of the service." "I admire your spirit,
+madam," Doyle observed to her, "but must request you to be a little more
+cautious."
+
+Mrs. McCalla was furnished by the Major with a pass, which she showed to
+the officer on duty as she passed the guard on her return, and to the
+officer at the ferry. She rode with all speed, and was at home before
+midnight; having had less than twenty-four hours for the accomplishment
+of her whole enterprise; in that time riding one hundred miles, crossing
+the river twice, and passing the guard four times--visiting her husband,
+and having the interview with Lord Rawdon, in which probably for the
+first time in his life he felt uneasiness from a woman's rebuke. It
+convinced him that even in the breast of woman a spirit of independence
+might dwell, which no oppression could subdue, and before which brute
+force must quail, as something of superior nature. How must the
+unexpected outbreaking of this spirit, from time to time, have dismayed
+those who imagined it was crushed forever throughout the conquered
+province!
+
+It is proper to say that Mrs. McCalla met with kinder treatment from the
+other British officers to whom she had occasion to apply at this time,
+for they were favorably impressed by the courage and strength of
+affection evinced by her. Even the soldiers, as she passed them, paid
+her marks of respect. The tories alone showed no sympathy nor pity for
+her trials; it being constantly observed that there was deeper hostility
+towards the whigs on the part of their countrymen of different politics,
+than those of English birth.
+
+Mrs. McCalla began her work immediately after her arrival at home;
+making new clothes, altering and mending others, and preparing
+provisions. Her preparations being completed, she again set out for
+Camden. This time she had the company of one of her neighbors, Mrs. Mary
+Nixon. Each of the women drove before her a pack-horse, laden with the
+articles provided for the use of their suffering friends. They were
+again admitted to the presence of Lord Rawdon to petition for leave to
+visit the prisoners, but nothing particular occurred at the interview.
+His lordship treated the matron who had offended him with much
+haughtiness, and she on her part felt for him a contempt not the less
+strong that it was not openly expressed. From this time she made her
+journeys about once a month to Camden, carrying clean clothes and
+provisions; being often accompanied by other women bound on similar
+errands, and conveying articles of food and clothing to their captive
+fathers, husbands, or brothers. They rode without escort, fearless of
+peril by the way, and regardless of fatigue, though the journey was
+usually performed in haste, and under the pressure of anxiety for those
+at home as well as those to whose relief they were going. On one
+occasion, when Mrs. McCalla was just about setting off alone upon her
+journey, news of a glorious event was brought to her; the news of the
+battle of King's Mountain, which took place on the seventh of October.
+She did not stop to rejoice in the victory of her countrymen, but went
+on with a lightened heart, longing, no doubt, to share the joy with him
+who might hope, from the changed aspect of affairs, some mitigation of
+his imprisonment.
+
+... About the first of December, Mrs. McCalla went again to Camden. On
+the preceding trip she had met with Lord Cornwallis, by whom she was
+treated with kindness. Whatever hopes she had grounded on this, however,
+were doomed to disappointment; he was this time reserved and silent. She
+was afterwards informed by the Major that a considerable reverse had
+befallen his majesty's troops at Clermont, and the annoyance felt on
+this account--Doyle said--was the cause of his not showing as much
+courtesy as he usually did to ladies. "You must excuse him," observed
+the good-natured officer, who seems to have always acted the part of a
+peacemaker on these occasions; and he added that Cornwallis had never
+approved of the cruelties heretofore practised.
+
+Towards the last of December the indefatigable wife again performed the
+weary journey to Camden. McCalla's health had been impaired for some
+months, and was now declining; it was therefore necessary to make a
+strenuous effort to move the compassion of his enemies, and procure his
+release. Rawdon was in command, and she once more applied to him to
+obtain permission for her husband to go home with her. As might have
+been anticipated, her petition was refused: his lordship informed her
+that he could do nothing in the premises; but that if she would go to
+Winnsboro' and present her request to Lord Cornwallis, he might possibly
+be induced to give her an order for the liberation of the prisoner.
+
+To Winnsboro', accordingly, she made her way, determined to lose no time
+in presenting her application. It was on New Year's morning that she
+entered the village. The troops were under parade, and his lordship was
+engaged in reviewing them; there could be no admission, therefore, to
+his presence for some time, and she had nothing to do but remain a
+silent spectator of the imposing scene. A woman less energetic, and less
+desirous of improving every opportunity for the good of others, might
+have sought rest after the fatigues of her journey, during the hours her
+business had to wait; Sarah McCalla was one of heroic stamp, whose
+private troubles never caused her to forget what she might do for her
+country. She passed the time in noticing particularly every thing she
+saw, not knowing but that her report might do service. After the lapse
+of several hours, the interview she craved with Cornwallis was granted.
+He received her with courtesy and kindness, listened attentively to all
+she had to say, and appeared to feel pity for her distresses. But his
+polished expression of sympathy, to which her hopes clung with
+desperation, was accompanied with regret that he could not, consistently
+with the duties of his Majesty's service, comply unconditionally with
+her request. He expressed, nevertheless, entire willingness to enter
+into an exchange with General Sumter, releasing McCalla for any prisoner
+he had in his possession. Or he would accept the pledge of General
+Sumter that McCalla should not again serve until exchanged, and would
+liberate him on that security. "But, madam," he added, "it is Sumter
+himself who must stand pledged for the keeping of the parole. We have
+been too lenient heretofore, and have let men go who immediately made
+use of their liberty to take up arms against us."
+
+With this the long-tried wife was forced to be content, and she now saw
+the way clear to the accomplishment of her enterprise. She lost no time
+in returning home, and immediately set out for Charlotte to seek aid
+from the American general. She found Sumter at this place, nearly
+recovered of the wounds he had received in the action at Blackstock's,
+in November. Her appeal to him was at once favorably received. He gave
+her a few lines, stating that he would stand pledged for McCalla's
+continuance at home peaceably until he should be regularly exchanged.
+This paper was more precious than gold to the matron whose perseverance
+had obtained it; but it was destined to do her little good. She now made
+the best of her way homeward. After crossing the Catawba, she
+encountered the army of General Morgan, was stopped, being suspected to
+be a tory, and taken into his presence for examination. The idea that
+she could be thus suspected afforded her no little amusement, and she
+permitted the mistake to continue for some time, before she produced the
+paper in Sumter's hand-writing which she well knew would remove every
+difficulty. She then informed the General of her visit to Winnsboro' on
+the first of January, and her sight of the review of the troops. Morgan
+thanked her for the information and dismissed her, and without further
+adventure she arrived at her own house.
+
+A few days after her return, the British army, being on its march from
+Winnsboro', encamped on the plantation of John Service, in Chester
+district, and afterwards at Turkey creek. Mrs. McCalla went to one of
+those camps in the hope of seeing Lord Cornwallis. She succeeded in
+obtaining this privilege; his lordship recognised her as soon as she
+entered the camp, and greeted her courteously, questioning her as to her
+movements, and making many inquiries about Sumter and Morgan. On this
+last point she was on her guard, communicating no more information than
+she felt certain could give the enemy no manner of advantage, nor
+subject her friends to inconvenience. At length she presented to the
+noble Briton the paper which she imagined would secure her husband's
+freedom. What was her disappointment when he referred her to Lord
+Rawdon, as the proper person to take cognizance of the affair! The very
+name was a death-blow to her hopes, for she well knew she could expect
+nothing from his clemency. Remonstrance and entreaty were alike in vain;
+Cornwallis was a courteous man, but he knew how, with a bland smile and
+well-turned phrase of compliment, to refuse compliance even with a
+request that appealed so strongly to every feeling of humanity, as that
+of an anxious wife pleading for the suffering and imprisoned father of
+her children. She must submit, however, to the will of those in power;
+there was no resource but another journey to Camden, in worse than doubt
+of the success she had fancied just within her reach.
+
+It was a day or two after the battle of the Cowpens that she crossed the
+ferry on her way to Camden. She had not yet heard of that bloody action,
+but, observing that the guard was doubled at the ferry, concluded that
+something unusual had occurred. As she entered the village, she met her
+old friend Major Doyle, who stopped to speak to her. His first inquiry
+was if she had heard the news; and when she answered in the negative, he
+told her of the "melancholy affair" that had occurred at the Cowpens.
+The time, he observed, was most inauspicious for the business on which
+he knew she had come. "I fear, madam," he said, "that his lordship will
+not treat you well."
+
+"I have no hope," was her answer, "that he will let Thomas go home; but,
+sir, it is my duty to make efforts to save my husband. I will thank you
+to go with me to Lord Rawdon's quarters."
+
+Her reception was such as she had expected. As soon as Rawdon saw her,
+he cried angrily, "You here again, madam! Well--you want your husband--I
+dare say! Do you not know what the ---- rebels have been doing?"
+
+"I do not, sir," replied the dejected matron, for she saw that his mood
+was one of fury.
+
+"If we had hung them," he continued, "we should have been saved this.
+Madam! I order you most positively never to come into my presence
+again!"
+
+It was useless, Mrs. McCalla knew, to attempt to stem the tide; she did
+not therefore produce, nor even mention the paper given her by Sumter,
+nor apologise for the intrusion by saying that Lord Cornwallis had
+directed her to apply to him; but merely answered in a subdued and
+respectful tone by asking what she had done.
+
+"Enough!" exclaimed the irritated noble. "You go from one army to
+another, and Heaven only knows what mischief you do! Begone."
+
+She waited for no second dismissal, but could not refrain from saying,
+as she went out, in an audible voice, "My countrymen must right me."
+Lord Rawdon called her back and demanded what she was saying. She had
+learned by this time some lessons in policy, and answered, with a smile,
+"We are but simple country folk." His lordship probably saw through the
+deceit, for turning to his officer, he said, "Upon my life, Doyle, she
+is a wretch of a woman!" And thus she left him.
+
+That great event--the battle of the Cowpens--revived the spirits of the
+patriots throughout the country. Every where, as the news spread, men
+who had before been discouraged flew to arms. The action took place on
+the seventeenth of January, 1781; on the twenty-second of the same
+month, six wagons were loaded with corn at Wade's island, sixty miles
+down the Catawba for the use of General Davison's division. The whole
+whig country of Chester, York and Lancaster may be said to have risen in
+mass, and was rallying to arms. Mecklenburg, North Carolina, was again
+the scene of warlike preparation; for the whigs hoped to give the enemy
+another defeat at Cowans or Batisford on the Catawba. On the
+twenty-fourth of January, General Sumter crossed this river at
+Landsford, and received a supply of corn from Wade's island. His object
+was to cross the districts to the west, in the rear of the advancing
+British army, to arouse the country and gather forces as he went,
+threaten the English posts at Ninety-Six and Granby, and go on to
+recover the State. While Cornwallis marched from his encampment on
+Service's plantation, the whigs of Chester, under the gallant Captains
+John Mills and James Johnston, were hovering near, watching the
+movements of the hostile army as keenly as the eagle watches his
+intended prey. Choosing a fit opportunity, as they followed in the
+rear, they pounced upon a couple of British officers, one of whom was
+Major McCarter, at a moment when they had not the least suspicion of
+danger, took them prisoners in sight of the enemy, and made good their
+retreat. By means of this bold exploit the liberation of McCalla was
+brought about, at a time when his wife was wholly disheartened by her
+repeated and grievous disappointments. When General Sumter passed
+through the country, a cartel of exchange was effected, giving the two
+British officers in exchange for the prisoners of Chester district in
+Camden and Charleston.
+
+The person sent with the flag to accomplish this exchange in Camden, was
+Samuel Neely of Fishing creek. As he passed through the town to the
+quarters of Lord Rawdon, he was seen and recognized by the prisoners,
+and it may be supposed their hearts beat with joy at the prospect of
+speedy release. But in consequence of some mismanagement of the
+business, the unfortunate men were detained in jail several weeks
+longer. Neely was in haste to proceed to Charleston, being anxious, in
+the accomplishment of his mission in that city, to get his son Thomas
+out of the prison-ship, and in his hurry probably neglected some
+necessary formalities. His countrymen in Camden were kept in confinement
+after his return from Charleston with his son. Captain Mills was
+informed of this, and indignant at the supposed disrespect shown by Lord
+Rawdon to the cartel of General Sumter, wrote a letter of remonstrance
+to Rawdon, which he entrusted to Mrs. McCalla to be conveyed to him.
+
+Our heroine was accompanied on this journey by Mrs. Mary Nixon, for she
+judged it impolitic that the letter should be delivered by one so
+obnoxious to his lordship as herself. Still she deemed it her duty to be
+on the spot to welcome her liberated husband, supply all his wants, and
+conduct him home. The distance was traversed this time with lighter
+heart than before, for now she had no reason to fear disappointment.
+When they arrived at Camden, they went to the jail. John Adair was
+standing at a window; they saw and greeted each other, the women
+standing in the yard below. Perhaps in consequence of his advice, or
+prudential considerations on their part, they determined not to avail
+themselves of the good offices of Major Doyle on this occasion. Adair
+directed them to send the jailor up to him, and wrote a note introducing
+his sister to the acquaintance of Lord Rawdon. The two women then
+proceeded to the quarters of that nobleman. When they arrived at the
+gate, Mrs. McCalla stopped, saying she would wait there, and her
+companion proceeded by herself. She was admitted into the presence of
+Lord Rawdon, who read the note of introduction she handed to him, and
+observed, referring to the writer--that the small-pox had almost
+finished him; still, he had come very near escaping from the jail; that
+he was "a grand 'scape-gallows." On reading the letter of Captain Mills
+his color changed, and when he had finished it, turning to Mrs. Nixon,
+he said in an altered tone: "I am sorry these men have not been
+dismissed, as of right they ought." He immediately wrote a discharge for
+eleven of the prisoners, and put it into her hands, saying: "You can get
+them out, madam. I am very sorry they have been confined so many weeks
+longer than they should have been." At the same time he gave Mrs. Nixon
+a guinea. "This," he said, "will bear your expenses."
+
+His lordship accompanied her on her way out, and as she passed through
+the gate his eye fell on Mrs. McCalla, whom he instantly recognized.
+Walking to the spot where she stood near the gate, he said fiercely:
+"Did I not order you, madam, to keep out of my presence?" The matron's
+independent spirit flashed from her eyes, as she answered: "I had no
+wish, sir, to intrude myself on your presence; I stopped at the gate on
+purpose to avoid you." Unable to resist the temptation of speaking her
+mind for once, now that she had a last opportunity, she added: "I might
+turn the tables on you, sir, and ask, why did _you_ come out to the gate
+to insult a woman? I have received from you nothing but abuse. My
+distresses you have made sport of, and I ceased long since to expect
+anything from you but ill-treatment. I am now not your supplicant; I
+came to _demand_, as a right, the release of my husband!" So saying, she
+bowed to him contemptuously, wheeled about, and deliberately walked off,
+without stopping to see how her bold language was received. Mrs. Nixon
+hastened after her, pale as death, and at first too much frightened to
+speak. As soon as she found voice, she exclaimed: "Sally, you have
+ruined us, I am afraid! Why, he may put us both in jail!"
+
+Mrs. McCalla laughed outright. "It is not the first time, Mary," she
+replied, "that I have given him to understand I thought him a villain!"
+The two made their way back to the prison, but even after they got there
+Mrs. Nixon had not recovered from her terror. She was informed that it
+would be some time before the prisoners could be released. The
+blacksmith was then sent for, and came with his tools. The sound of the
+hammering in the apartments of the jail, gave the first intimation to
+the women who waited to greet their friends, that the helpless captives
+were chained to the floor. This precaution had been adopted not long
+before, in consequence of some of the prisoners having attempted an
+escape. They were then put in handcuffs or chained by the ankle. These
+men left the place of their long imprisonment and suffering in company
+with the two women, and as they marched through the streets of Camden,
+passing the British guard, they sang at the top of their voices the
+songs of the "liberty-men."
+
+
+
+
+INTREPIDITY OF MRS. ISRAEL.
+
+  He is not worthy of the honey comb,
+  That shuns the hive because the bees have stings.
+
+                                        SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+During the Revolution, Israel Israel, a true whig and a worthy farmer,
+residing on the banks of the Delaware, near Wilmington, was, for a short
+time, a prisoner on board the frigate Roebuck, directly opposite his own
+house and land. While thus situated, it was reported by some loyalists
+by whose treachery he had been betrayed into the hands of the enemy,
+that he had said repeatedly that "he would sooner drive his cattle as a
+present to George Washington, than receive thousands of dollars in
+British gold for them." The commander hearing the report, to be revenged
+on the rebel, sent a small detachment of soldiers to drive his cattle,
+which were in plain sight of the frigate, down to the Delaware, and have
+them slaughtered before their owner's eyes. Mrs. Israel,[26] who was
+young and sprightly, and brave as a Spartan, seeing the movements of
+the soldiers as she stood in her doorway, and divining their purpose as
+they marched towards the meadow where the cattle were grazing, called a
+boy about eight years old, and started off in great haste, to defeat, if
+possible, their marauding project. They threatened and she defied, till
+at last they fired at her. The cattle, more terrified than she,
+scattered over the fields; and as the balls flew thicker she called on
+the little boy "Joe" the louder and more earnestly to help, determined
+that the assailants should not have one of the cattle. _They did not._
+She drove them all into the barn-yard, when the soldiers, out of respect
+to her courage, or for some other cause, ceased their molestations and
+returned to the frigate.
+
+  [26] The maiden name of Mrs. Israel was Hannah Erwin. Her first meeting
+  with her husband was romantic enough. Mr. Israel had sailed in a sloop,
+  or packet, from Philadelphia, to visit New Castle where his mother and
+  family resided. He observed on deck an extremely pretty girl, hardly
+  seventeen years of age, and very neatly and tastefully dressed, with the
+  finest turned foot and ankle in the world. All who went on such voyages
+  were then obliged to furnish themselves with provisions; and his
+  attention was drawn by the young girl's kindly distribution of her
+  little stock, handing it about from one to another, till but little was
+  left for her own portion. In passing him, she modestly hesitated a
+  moment, and then offered him a share. This led to conversation; he
+  learned that she was the daughter of highly respectable parents, and
+  resided in Wilmington. Love at first sight was as common in those days
+  as now. After seeing his mother, he visited Wilmington; became better
+  acquainted, offered himself and was accepted: and on his marriage,
+  rented the farm above mentioned, and commenced life anew.--[Mrs.
+  Ellet.
+
+
+
+
+AN INCIDENT IN MISSIONARY LIFE.
+
+  Love's holy flame for ever burneth;
+  From heaven it came, to heaven returneth;
+  Too oft on earth a troubled guest,
+    ... at times oppressed.
+  It here is tried and purified,
+  Then hath in heaven its perfect rest.
+  It soweth here with toil and care,
+  But the harvest time of love is there.
+
+                                    SOUTHEY.
+
+
+No class of laborers in the broad harvest field of the world endure so
+many sacrifices of comfort and of home felicities as the missionaries to
+foreign countries. Of the trials peculiar to _mothers_ who go forth on
+such an errand of humanity, the keenest must be their separation from
+their children. The pernicious habits and influences of a pagan
+community, often render it absolutely necessary that their offspring
+should be sent to a civilized land to be educated. This duty, however
+painful, is imperative, and they who accuse the mother of hardness
+because she does it, are either grossly ignorant, or haters of truth.
+Many instances of heroic firmness and almost superhuman calmness under
+such trials, are on record, but one may stand as a type of the whole.
+
+Mrs. Comstock[27] of the Burmah Baptist mission felt called upon to part
+with her two children, whom God had given her while on the field of
+labor. The hour for separation came, and taking them by the hand, she
+led them down to the ship that was to bear them for ever from her sight.
+Having invoked the blessing of Heaven upon them, she gave each the
+parting kiss and, with streaming eyes, lifted her hands towards heaven
+and exclaimed: "My Saviour! I do this for thee."
+
+  [27] Sarah Davis Comstock was the wife of the Rev. Grover S. Comstock,
+  who was stationed at Kyouk Phyoo in the province of Arracan, Burmah. She
+  was born at Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1812 and died at Ramree, April
+  twenty-eighth, 1843.
+
+  Amid the jungles of the East,
+    Where gloomiest forms of sin are rife,
+  Like flowerets in a desert drear,
+    Her treasured ones had sprung to life.
+
+  And smiling round her, day by day,
+    Though cares unnumbered weigh her heart,
+  Their prattle, full of music tones,
+    Unceasing joy and hope impart.
+
+  Their little minds, like tender buds
+    In vernal hours, she sees unfold,
+  And young affection in their eyes
+    Is gleaming like a gem of gold.
+
+  But 'mid the toils that press her sore--
+    The spirit-wants of 'wildered ones--
+  These buds must often miss the dew,
+    And plead in vain for constant suns.
+
+  She sees their smiles, their music hears,
+    And feels affection's holy thrall;
+  But duty's voice, from out the skies,
+    In sweeter tones, is heard o'er all.
+
+  To Western climes, illumed by truth,
+    And blest with learning's sacred flowers,
+  These blossoms of her heart must go,
+    To bloom henceforth in stranger bowers.
+
+  She leads them to the waiting ship;
+    She kneels in anguish on the deck,
+  And while she breathes a silent prayer,
+    Their arms like tendrils twine her neck.
+
+  She tears her from the loved away,
+    Whom she on earth no more may see,
+  And looking up to heaven, exclaims,
+    "_My Saviour, I do this for thee!_"
+
+  Then hastens to her task again,
+    The pleasant task her Saviour's given,
+  That, finished all, she may ascend,
+    And lure the distant ones to heaven.
+
+
+
+
+A KIND-HEARTED CHIPPEWA.
+
+  Both men and women belie their nature
+  When they are not kind.
+
+                             BAILEY'S FESTUS.
+
+
+In the early settlement of Ohio, Daniel Convers was captured by the
+savages; but he had the good fortune to be purchased by a noble-hearted
+Indian whose wife possessed a kindred spirit. His condition, we are
+informed in the Pioneer History of Ohio, "was not that of a slave, but
+rather an adoption into the family as a son. The Indian's wife, whom he
+was directed to call mother, was a model of all that is excellent in
+woman, being patient, kind-hearted, humane and considerate to the wants
+and comfort of all around her, and especially so to their newly adopted
+son. To sum up all her excellences in a brief sentence of the captive's
+own language, she was 'as good a woman as ever lived.'"[28]
+
+  [28] Mr. Convers escaped from his Chippewa friends, at Detroit. Touching
+  the treatment he received from his adopted mother, a writer says: "How
+  few among the more civilized race of whites would ever imitate the
+  Christian charities of this untaught daughter of nature!"
+
+
+
+
+HUMANITY OF A CHEROKEE.
+
+            How poor an instrument
+  May do a noble deed.
+
+                            SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+During the Revolution, a young Shawanese Indian was captured by the
+Cherokees and sentenced to die at the stake. He was tied, and the usual
+preparations were made for his execution, when a Cherokee woman went to
+the warrior to whom the prisoner belonged, and throwing a parcel of
+goods at his feet, said she was a widow and would adopt the captive as
+her son, and earnestly plead for his deliverance. Her prayer was
+granted, and the prisoner taken under her care. He rewarded her by his
+fidelity, for, in spite of the entreaties of his friends, whom he was
+allowed to visit, he never left her.
+
+
+
+
+SELF-SACRIFICING SPIRIT OF THE MISSIONARY.
+
+    Thou know 'st not, Afric! sad of heart and blind,
+      Unskilled the precious Book of God to read;
+    Thou canst not know, what moved that soul refined,
+      Thy lot of wretchedness to heed,
+    And from her fireside, bright with hallowed glee,
+  To dare the boisterous surge and deadly clime for thee.
+
+                                           MRS. SIGOURNEY.
+
+
+We know not how one may exhibit greater benevolence than to offer life
+for the spiritual good of the heathen; and he virtually does this who
+goes to some, at least, of the missionary stations. Those in Africa are
+the most unhealthy, and their history presents a frightful bill of
+mortality. In his journal of January, 1846, Dr. Savage, of the
+Protestant Episcopal mission in Africa, states that during the nine
+years previous to that date, the whole number of missionaries under the
+patronage of the different Boards, in Africa, had been sixty-one, and of
+that number forty were then dead. American Baptists alone lost eleven
+between 1826 and 1848. Five of them were buried in the single town of
+Monrovia. With such facts as these, touching African missions, staring
+the disciple of Christ in the face, it must require no common degree of
+moral courage for him to embark in the enterprise.
+
+The following letter, by Miss Maria V. Chapin, of Vermont, was written
+prior to her leaving this country for West Africa, and breathes the
+sentiments of a self-sacrificing and heroic Christian. Multitudes of
+like examples, equally as noble, might be pointed out, but it seems to
+be needless: this letter may stand as a type of the spirit usually
+exhibited under similar circumstances. It was addressed to the Rev. Dr.
+Vaughan, then Secretary of the Foreign Committee of the Protestant
+Episcopal church:
+
+"The question of my personally engaging in a mission to the heathen, has
+long been before my mind, and received, as it claimed, my most serious
+and prayerful consideration. This great work is now brought nearer to my
+mind than I could ever before regard it, and I trust it does not appear
+the less desirable. I have considered the subject in every light, so far
+as I am able from the information I have respecting it, and I can never
+take up the question again, to find reasons for going. My mind is now
+settled as to the duty, should no unforeseen providence prevent, of
+leaving home and country for a heathen land. A long adieu to my kindred
+and friends will rend the heart; I feel already that it will; but at the
+same time, the prospect of doing good to some poor heathen soul will
+fill it with joy, and the hope of advancing, in ever so small a degree,
+the cause of my Redeemer, will be a constant feast to the soul. The
+silent tear of parental affection and solicitude would indeed overpower
+me, had I not confidence that He who thus afflicts, will support, my
+beloved parents. Neither, in the present case, can I think it proper to
+follow, altogether, the opinion of friends. With the smiles of my
+heavenly Father, I must be happy, though friends forsake me. I feel an
+inexpressible pleasure in commending them to God, assured that they will
+be enabled to give up their child without regret, in the hope that she
+will do good to perishing souls. And I have, also, that blessed hope,
+that, should we never again meet in this world, we shall be a happy
+family circle at the right hand of God. Still, I feel my own
+insufficiency to decide a question of such importance as that of leaving
+all that the heart holds most dear on earth, to encounter the toils and
+hardships of a missionary life. Indeed, I would not decide for myself. I
+trust solely to Him who has promised grace and strength. Though, at
+times, great weakness has constrained me to shrink at the prospect
+before me, I have been consoled and supported in the assurance that God
+will perfect strength in my weakness. I feel a desire to act in
+accordance with the will of God; to do nothing which would be
+displeasing in His sight. I think I am willing to be, and to do,
+anything for the sake of the glory of God; and if I can only be sure
+that I am wholly under the guidance of His spirit, I shall be fully
+satisfied. It is difficult, I know, to analyze one's feelings, and
+ascertain the real character of the motives by which we are actuated; I
+feel my liability to be deceived, and my need of Divine assistance. The
+only question which concerns me, is, are my motives pure and holy?
+Never would I bear the missionary standard, without having in my heart
+the missionary spirit. I have calmly and deliberately weighed the
+subject, and feel that no attraction from its novelty, no impulse from
+its moral dignity, can bear up, and carry forward any one, amidst the
+long continued labors of almost uniform sameness which you represented
+to me; nothing but a thorough conviction of being in the path of duty,
+nothing but the approving smile of Heaven, can keep one from
+despondency, from sinking into hopeless inactivity; but I have calmly
+and deliberately weighed the subject, and feel a willingness to give up
+comforts, and submit to privations, to forsake ease and endure toil, to
+assemble no more 'with the great congregation,' but seek the Lord in the
+wilderness, or in the desert--in short, to make every sacrifice of
+personal ease and gratification, for the one great object of making
+known a crucified Saviour to those who are perishing in ignorance and
+sin. Indeed, what sacrifice can be too great, if what is done for Him
+who bought us with his own blood can be called a sacrifice, for those to
+make, who have themselves experienced the efficacy of a Saviour's blood?
+I have reflected, that should I go out, cheered by the smiles of
+friends, and encouraged by the approbation of the churches, yet soon,
+amidst a people of strange speech, I shall see these smiles only in
+remembrance, and hear the voice of encouragement only in dying whispers
+across the ocean. Yet, when I have considered the command of Christ, 'Go
+ye and teach all nations,'--and when, in pouring out my soul on this
+subject to the Father of light, I have realized more of that sweet
+'peace which passeth all understanding;' objections have all dwindled to
+a point; I have been enabled, by the eye of faith, to discover the
+finger of God, pointing me to the benighted African, and have heard his
+voice saying, with the affection of a Father and the authority of a
+Sovereign, 'Come, follow me'--'He that loveth father or mother more than
+me, is not worthy of me;' and adding, for my encouragement, 'I will
+never leave thee nor forsake thee.' I do feel that God calls me to
+become a missionary, and do, with this belief, resolve to consider
+myself as devoted to that service, hoping that God will qualify me, and
+make me a faithful servant for Christ's sake."[29]
+
+  [29] This letter was written in the fall of 1841. Miss Chapin,
+  afterwards Mrs. Savage, embarked for Africa on the twenty-eighth of the
+  following January, and reached Cape Palmas on the twenty-fifth of March.
+  As might be anticipated, her labors soon closed. She died on the field,
+  in December, 1843.
+
+    "That life is long which answers life's great end."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+DARING EXPLOIT OF "TWO REBELS."
+
+  Think'st thou there dwells no courage but in breasts
+  That set their mail against the ringing spears,
+  When helmets are struck down? Thou little knowest
+  Of nature's marvels.
+
+                                              MRS. HEMANS.
+
+
+During the sieges of Augusta and Cambridge, two young men of the name of
+Martin, belonging to Ninety-Six district, South Carolina, were in the
+army. Meanwhile their wives, who remained at home with their
+mother-in-law, displayed as much courage, on a certain occasion, as was
+exhibited, perhaps, by any female during the struggle for Independence.
+
+Receiving intelligence one evening that a courier, under guard of two
+British officers, would pass their house that night with important
+dispatches, Grace and Rachel Martin resolved to surprise the party and
+obtain the papers. Disguising themselves in their husbands' outer
+garments and providing themselves with arms, they waylaid the enemy.
+Soon after they took their station by the road-side, the courier and his
+escort made their appearance. At the proper moment, the disguised ladies
+sprang from their bushy covert, and presenting their pistols, ordered
+the party to surrender their papers. Surprised and alarmed, they obeyed
+without hesitation or the least resistance. The brave women having put
+them on parole, hastened home by the nearest route, which was a by-path
+through the woods, and dispatched the documents to General Greene by a
+single messenger, who probably had more courage than the trio that
+lately bore them.
+
+Strange to say, a few minutes after the ladies reached home, and just as
+they had doffed their male attire, the officers, retracing their steps,
+rode up to the house and craved accommodations for the night. The mother
+of the heroines asked them the cause of their so speedy return after
+passing her house, when they exhibited their paroles and said that "two
+rebels" had taken them prisoners. Here the young ladies, in a rallying
+mood, asked them if they had no arms, to which query they replied, that,
+although they had, they were arrested so suddenly that they had no time
+to use them. We have only to add that they were hospitably entertained,
+and the next morning took their leave of the women as ignorant of the
+residence of their captors as when first arrested.
+
+
+
+
+ELIZABETH MARTIN.
+
+  The mothers of our Forest-land!
+  Their bosoms pillowed _men_.
+
+                       W. D. GALLAGHER.
+
+  --A fine family is a fine thing.
+
+                                  BYRON.
+
+
+The mother-in-law of the two patriotic women spoken of in the preceding
+article, was a native of Caroline county, Virginia. Her maiden name was
+Marshall. On marrying Mr. Abram Martin, she removed to South Carolina.
+
+When the Revolutionary war broke out, she had seven sons old enough to
+enlist in their country's service; and as soon as the call to arms was
+heard, she said to them, "Go, boys, and fight for your country! fight
+till death, if you must, but never let your country be dishonored. Were
+I a man I would go with you."
+
+Several British officers once called at her house, and while receiving
+some refreshments, one of them asked her how many sons she had. She told
+him, eight; and when asked where they were, she boldly replied, "Seven
+of them are engaged in the service of their country." The officer
+sneeringly observed that she had enough of them. "No, sir, I wish I had
+fifty!" was her prompt and proud reply.
+
+Only one of those seven sons was killed during the war. He was a captain
+of artillery, served in the sieges of Savannah and Charleston, and was
+slain at the siege of Augusta. Soon after his death a British officer
+called on the mother, and in speaking of this son, inhumanly told her
+that he saw his brains blown out on the battle field. The reply she made
+to the monster's observation was: "He could not have died in a nobler
+cause."
+
+When Charleston was besieged, she had three sons in the place. She heard
+the report of cannon on the occasion, though nearly a hundred miles west
+of the besieged city. The wives of the sons were with her, and
+manifested great uneasiness while listening to the reports; nor could
+the mother control her feelings any better. While they were indulging in
+silent and, as we may suppose, painful reflections, the mother suddenly
+broke the silence by exclaiming, as she raised her hands: "Thank God!
+they are the children of the republic!"[30]
+
+  [30] Vide Women of the Revolution, vol. 1 p. 278.
+
+
+
+
+THE MOTHER'S EFFECTUAL PETITION.
+
+          What rhetoric didst thou use
+  To gain this mighty boon?
+
+                                  ADDISON.
+
+
+James M. Wilson was one of the unfortunate young men who engaged in the
+Cuban invasion, in 1851; and he was taken prisoner and sent to Spain.
+His mother petitioned for his release through President Fillmore, and so
+earnest, so full of the beauty of maternal love, and so touching was her
+appeal, that her request was granted, and the erring son was permitted
+to return to his mother's embrace. The following is a copy of the letter
+which she addressed to the President. It is said to have called forth
+flattering commendation from the heads of State and the highest
+encomiums from the Majesty of Spain.
+
+                                          NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 25, 1851.
+
+DEAR FATHER OF OUR COUNTRY:--To you I look for help. My dear son is one
+of the unfortunate prisoners to Spain. He is all the child I have; is
+only nineteen years old, not twenty-two, as stated. He was innocent and
+unsuspecting, and the more easily duped. He saw no means of making a
+support for himself and me, we being poor: he could get no employment;
+my health was bad; he therefore hoped to do something by going to Cuba.
+But, alas! I am worse than poor! Death would have been more welcome. His
+father died, when he was very young, in Texas, which makes him more dear
+to me. Oh! cruel fate, why have I lived to see this? Perhaps to suit
+some wise design. God's will be done, not mine! I have prayed for his
+life from the time he left; it was spared. Dear President, will it be
+possible for you to do any thing? Can you comfort me? I am wearing away.
+Methinks I cannot bear up under the idea of ten years; perhaps executed,
+or detained for life, or the climate cause his death. I feel for all of
+them, and pray for all. It was not my will that he should go; he was
+seduced into it by others. Dear father of the land of my birth, can you
+do any thing? Will you ask for their release? Methinks you will, and it
+would be granted. Will you feel offended with me for appealing to you
+for comfort? If so, I beg pardon. My distress has stimulated me to
+venture to dare to address the President. To whom else could I look for
+comfort? If you could but see me, I know you would pity me. If any one
+knew I had approached you, they might think I presumed much. Perhaps I
+do. Yet methinks you will view it in charity.
+
+      With all due respect to your Excellency.
+                                                   OPHELIA P. TALBOT.
+
+
+
+
+NOTEWORTHY INTEGRITY.
+
+  Honesty, even by itself, though making many adversaries
+  Whom prudence might have set aside, or charity have softened,
+  Evermore will prosper at the last.
+
+                                                            TUPPER.
+
+
+We have often read an interesting story of a stockbroker who, just
+before his death, laid a wager on parole with a Parisian capitalist; and
+a few weeks after his death, the latter visited the widow and gave her
+to understand that her late husband had lost a bet of sixteen thousand
+francs. She went to her secretary, took out her pocket-book, and counted
+bank notes to the stated amount, when the capitalist thus addressed her:
+"Madame, as you give such convincing proof that you consider the wager
+binding, _I_ have to pay you sixteen thousand francs. Here is the sum,
+for _I_ am the loser, and not your husband."
+
+An act that, in principle, matches the above, came to light not long
+since in Philadelphia. During the speculations of 1837-38, Mr. C., a
+young merchant of that city, possessed of a handsome fortune, caught the
+mania, entered largely into its operations, and for a time was
+considered immensely rich. But when the great revulsion occurred he was
+suddenly reduced to bankruptcy. His young wife immediately withdrew
+from the circles of wealth and fashion, and adapted her expenses, family
+and personal, to her altered circumstances.
+
+At the time of Mr. C.'s failure, his wife was in debt to Messrs. Stewart
+and Company, merchants of Philadelphia, about two hundred dollars for
+articles which she had used personally. This debt, she had no means of
+liquidating. It became barred by the statute of limitation, before Mr.
+C. became solvent, though his circumstances gradually improved. After
+the lapse of twelve years, and when the creditors had looked upon the
+debt as lost, Mrs. C. was able to take the principle, add to it twelve
+years' interest, enclose the whole in a note and address it to Messrs.
+Stewart and Company.[31]
+
+  [31] Messrs. Stewart and Company, upon the receipt of the money,
+  addressed a note in reply to Mrs. C., in which they requested her
+  acceptance of the accompanying gift, as a slight testimonial of their
+  high appreciation of an act so honorable and so rare as to call forth
+  unqualified admiration. Accompanying the letter was sent a superb
+  brocade silk dress, and some laces of exquisite texture and great
+  value.--[Philadelphia Enquirer.
+
+
+
+
+A FAITHFUL MOTHER.
+
+  --Her pure and holy spirit now
+  Doth intercede at the eternal throne.
+
+                                MISS LANDON.
+
+
+The following anecdote strikingly illustrates the strength of maternal
+love, the beauty of faith, and the efficacy of prayer. It was related by
+a blind preacher:
+
+"When I was about eighteen years of age, there was a dancing party in
+Middleboro, Massachusetts, which I was solicited to attend, and act, as
+usual, in the capacity of musician. I was fond of such scenes of
+amusements then, and I readily assented to the request. I had a pious
+mother; and she earnestly remonstrated against my going. But, at length,
+when all her expostulations and entreaties failed in changing my
+purpose, she said: 'Well, my son, I shall not forbid your going, but
+remember, that all the time you spend in that gay company, I shall spend
+in praying for you at home.' I went to the ball, but I was like the
+stricken deer, carrying an arrow in his side. I began to play; but my
+convictions sank deeper and deeper, and I felt miserable indeed. I
+thought I would have given the world to have been rid of that mother's
+prayers. At one time I felt so wretched and so overwhelmed with my
+feelings, that I ceased playing and dropped my musical instrument from
+my hand. There was another young person there who refused to dance; and,
+as I learned, her refusal was owing to feelings similar to my own, and
+perhaps they arose from a similar cause. My mother's prayers were not
+lost. That was the last ball I ever attended, except _one_, where I was
+invited to play again, but went and prayed and preached _instead_, till
+the place was converted into a Bochim, a place of weeping. The
+convictions of that wretched night never wholly left me, till they left
+me at the feet of Christ, and several of my young companions in sin ere
+long were led to believe and obey the gospel also."
+
+
+
+
+ANECDOTE OF MRS. SPAULDING OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.[32]
+
+  Through the deep wilderness, where scarce the sun
+  Can cast his darts, along the winding path
+  The pioneer is treading.
+
+                                                STREET.
+
+                            An energy
+  A spirit that will not be shaken.
+
+                                                WILLIS.
+
+
+One of the first two settlers of Northumberland, New Hampshire, was
+Daniel Spaulding, who removed thither in the summer of 1767. On the way
+to his new home, with his wife and child, the last burnt himself so
+badly at Plymouth that the mother was obliged to remain and take care of
+him, while Mr. Spaulding proceeded to the end of the journey. She soon
+became uneasy, and, anxious to join her husband, started off with her
+child, twenty-one months old, to travel twenty-six miles through the
+wilderness. A friend who had agreed to accompany her the whole distance
+with a horse, returned after traveling about one third of the way.
+Undaunted and persevering, she pushed on, alone and on foot; waded
+through Baker's river with her child in her arms; was overtaken by a
+heavy "thunder gust" in the afternoon, and thoroughly drenched; seated
+herself beside a tree when darkness appeared, and held her child in her
+lap through a long and sleepless night; resumed her journey early the
+next morning; waded through a small pond, with the water waist-high;
+pushed on to another river, which, though swollen by the rain of the
+preceding day and looking rapid and terrifying, she forded in safety;
+and at eleven o'clock that day, the second of her journey, she met her
+husband, who was on his way back with a horse for her accommodation.[33]
+
+  [32] The substance of this anecdote we find in the second number of the
+  first volume of a periodical called "Historical Collections," published
+  nearly thirty years ago at Concord, New Hampshire, and edited by J.
+  Farmer and J. B. Moore. The anecdote was communicated by Adino N.
+  Brackett, Esq., of Lancaster, and appeared in the June number for 1822.
+
+  [33] This pioneer matron of northern New Hampshire, was living at
+  Lancaster, in 1822, then in her eighty-second year. She was a
+  descendant, "in the third degree," of Mrs. Dustin, the heroine of
+  Penacook.
+
+
+
+
+THE WIFE OF COLONEL THOMAS.
+
+  Then since there is no other way but fight or die,
+  Be resolute, my lord, for victory.
+
+                                            SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+Jane Thomas, wife of John Thomas, Colonel of the Spartan regiment of
+South Carolina, was a native of Chester county, Pennsylvania. She was a
+woman of remarkable coolness and intrepidity, as a single act of hers,
+in the times that tried _women's_ souls, plainly indicates.
+
+Governor Rutledge having stored a quantity of arms and ammunition in the
+house of Colonel Thomas, under a guard of twenty-five men, the tories
+were determined to obtain these munitions. To this end they sent a large
+party under Colonel More of North Carolina. Apprised of their approach
+and not daring to engage with a force so superior, Colonel Thomas fled
+with his twenty-five soldiers, taking along as much ammunition as could
+be conveniently carried. Two young men and the women were now the sole
+occupants of the house. The tories marched up to the door, but instead
+of being invited by the ladies to enter, they were ordered off the
+premises. Not choosing to obey the commands of the mistress, they
+commenced firing into the logs of the house. The compliment was
+instantly returned from the upper story; and the women now loading the
+guns for the older of the two young men to discharge, a constant and
+perilous firing was kept up from the chamber, which soon made the
+assailants desperate. They forthwith attempted to demolish the "batten
+door," but it was too strongly barricaded. Finding that themselves were
+likely to share a worse fate then the door, they finally obeyed the
+original orders of the intrepid mistress; withdrew from the premises and
+fled. Mrs. Thomas soon afterwards descended, and opening the door, there
+met her returning husband.--The ammunition saved on that occasion by the
+courage of a woman, was the main supply, it is said, of Sumter's army in
+the skirmishes at Rocky Mount and Hanging Rock.
+
+
+
+
+EXEMPLARY PIETY.
+
+  I've pored o'er many a yellow page
+    Of ancient wisdom, and have won,
+  Perchance, a scholar's name--but sage
+    Or bard have never taught thy son
+  Lessons so dear, so fraught with holy truth,
+  As those his mother's faith shed on his youth.
+
+                                  GEORGE W. BETHUNE.
+
+
+A lady in the district of Beaufort, South Carolina, at the age of
+seventy-six, anxious once more to enjoy the society of all her children
+and grandchildren, invited them to spend a day with her. The interview
+was permitted and was very affecting. It "was conducted just as we
+should suppose piety and the relation sustained by the parties would
+dictate. She acknowledged God in this, as well as in every other way.
+Her eldest son, who is a minister of the Gospel in the Baptist
+denomination, commenced the exercises of the day, by reading the
+Scriptures and prayer. The whole family then joined in the song of
+praise to the Giver of every good and perfect gift. This service was
+concluded by a suitable exhortation from the same person. Eighty-five of
+her regular descendants were present. Forty-four children and
+grandchildren, arrived at maturity, sat at the same table at dinner. Of
+that number, forty-three professed faith in Jesus Christ; of the four
+surviving sons of this excellent lady, two were preachers of the Gospel,
+and the other two deacons in the Baptist church.
+
+"Two of her grandsons were also ministers of the same church. When the
+day was drawing to a close the matron called her numerous children
+around her, gave them each salutary advice and counsel, and bestowed
+upon all her parting blessing. The day was closed by her youngest son,
+with exercises similar to those with which it commenced.
+
+"Mrs. ---- lived eight years after this event, leaving, at her death,
+one hundred and fifteen lineal descendants, in which large number not a
+swearer nor drunkard is to be found."[34]
+
+  [34] Jabez Burns, D. D.
+
+
+
+
+BOLD ADVENTURE OF A PATRIOTIC GIRL.
+
+                          Stand
+  Firm for your country: *    *
+     *    * it were a noble life,
+  To be found dead embracing her.
+
+                                       JOHNSON.
+
+                      There is strength
+  Deep bedded in our hearts, of which we reck
+  But little.
+
+                                    MRS. HEMANS.
+
+
+We find the following incident in the first volume of American
+Anecdotes, "original and select." The young heroine of the adventure
+afterwards married a rich planter named Threrwits, who lived on the
+Congaree. She has been dead more than half a century, but her name
+should be remembered while this republic is permitted to stand.
+
+"At the time General Greene retreated before Lord Rawdon from
+Ninety-Six, when he had passed Broad river, he was very desirous to send
+an order to General Sumter, who was on the Wateree, to join him, that
+they might attack Rawdon, who had divided his force. But the General
+could find no man in that part of the state who was bold enough to
+undertake so dangerous a mission. The country to be passed through for
+many miles was full of blood thirsty tories, who, on every occasion that
+offered, imbrued their hands in the blood of the whigs. At length Emily
+Geiger presented herself to General Greene, and proposed to act as his
+messenger: and the General, both surprised and delighted, closed with
+her proposal. He accordingly wrote a letter and delivered it, and at the
+same time communicated the contents of it verbally, to be told to Sumter
+in case of accidents.
+
+"Emily was young, but as to her person or adventures on the way, we have
+no further information, except that she was mounted on horseback, upon a
+side-saddle, and on the second day of her journey she was intercepted by
+Lord Rawdon's scouts. Coming from the direction of Greene's army, and
+not being able to tell an untruth without blushing, Emily was suspected
+and confined to a room; and as the officer in command had the modesty
+not to search her at the time, he sent for an old tory matron as more
+fitting for that purpose. Emily was not wanting in expedient, and as
+soon as the door was closed and the bustle a little subsided, she _ate
+up the letter_, piece by piece. After a while the matron arrived, and
+upon searching carefully, nothing was to be found of a suspicious nature
+about the prisoner, and she would disclose nothing. Suspicion being thus
+allayed, the officer commanding the scouts suffered Emily to depart
+whither she said she was bound; but she took a route somewhat
+circuitous to avoid further detention, and soon after struck into the
+road to Sumter's camp, where she arrived in safety. Emily told her
+adventure, and delivered Greene's verbal message to Sumter, who, in
+consequence, soon after joined the main army at Orangeburgh."
+
+
+
+
+MRS. CALDWELL AND THE TORIES.
+
+      --The spell is thine that reaches
+  The heart.
+
+                                   HALLECK.
+
+  Prudence protects and guides us.
+
+                                     YOUNG.
+
+
+Rachel Caldwell was the daughter of the Rev. Alexander Craighead and the
+wife of David Caldwell, D. D., whose history is somewhat identified with
+that of North Carolina. For several years he was at the head of a
+classical school at Guilford in that state, and in the vocation of
+teacher he had, at times, the efficient aid of his faithful and talented
+companion. She was a woman of exalted piety; and such a degree of
+success attended her "labor of love" in the school, that it became a
+common saying that "Dr. Caldwell makes the scholars, and Mrs. Caldwell
+makes the preachers."
+
+More than once during the Revolution, the house of Dr. Caldwell, who was
+a stanch friend of his country, was assailed by tories:[35] and on one
+occasion, while his wife was alone and the marauders were collecting
+plunder, they broke open a chest or drawer and took therefrom a
+table-cloth which was the gift of her mother. She seized it the moment
+the soldier had it fairly in his hand, and made an effort to wrest it
+from him. Finding she would be the loser in a trial of physical
+strength, she instinctively resorted to the power of rhetoric. With her
+grasp still firm on the precious article, she turned to the rest of the
+plunderers, who stood awaiting the issue of the contest, and in a
+beseeching tone and with words warm with eloquence, asked if some of
+their number had not wives for the love of whom they would assist her,
+and spare the one dear memorial of a mother's affection! Her plea,
+though short, was powerful, and actually moved one man to tears. With
+rills of sympathy running down his cheeks, he assured her he had a
+wife--a wife that he loved--and that for her sake the table-cloth should
+be given up. This was accordingly done, and no further rudeness was
+offered.
+
+  [35] The tories not only destroyed his property, but drove him into the
+  woods, where he was often obliged to pass nights; and some of his
+  escapes from captivity or death are said to have been almost
+  miraculous.--He resumed his labors as teacher and pastor after the war;
+  and continued to preach till his ninety-sixth year. He died in 1824, at
+  the age of ninety-nine. His wife died the following year, in the
+  eighty-seventh of her age.
+
+In the fall of 1780, a "way-worn and weary" stranger, bearing dispatches
+from Washington to Greene, stopped at her house and asked for supper and
+lodgings. Before he had eaten, the house began to be surrounded by
+tories, who were in pursuit of him. Mrs. Caldwell led him out at a
+back-door, unseen in the darkness, and ordered him to climb a large
+locust tree, and there remain till the house was plundered and the
+pursuers had departed. He did so. Mrs. Caldwell lost her property, but
+her calmness and prudence saved the express, and that was what most
+concerned the patriotic woman.
+
+
+
+
+THE MOTHER OF RANDOLPH
+
+       She led me first to God;
+  Her words and prayers were my young spirit's dew;
+       For when she used to leave
+       The fireside every eve,
+  I knew it was for prayer that she withdrew.
+
+  PIERPONT.
+
+
+The biographers of John Randolph mention the interesting fact that his
+mother taught him to pray. This all-important maternal duty made an
+impression on his heart. He lived at a period when skepticism was
+popular, particularly in some political circles in which he had occasion
+to mingle; and he has left on record his testimony in regard to the
+influence of his mother's religious instruction. Speaking of the subject
+of infidelity to an intimate friend, he once made the following
+acknowledgment:
+
+"I believe I should have been swept away by the flood of French
+infidelity if it had not been for one thing--the remembrance of the time
+when my sainted mother used to make me kneel by her side, taking my
+little hands folded in hers, and cause me to repeat the Lord's Prayer."
+
+
+
+
+CORNELIA BEEKMAN.
+
+  The smallest worm will turn when trodden on,
+  And doves will peck, in safeguard of their brood.
+
+                                              SHAKESPEARE.
+
+                  The vaunts
+  And menace of the vengeful enemy
+  Pass like the gust, that roared and died away
+  In the distant tree.
+
+                                                COLERIDGE.
+
+
+Mrs. Cornelia Beekman was a daughter of Pierre Van Cortlandt, Lieutenant
+Governor of New York from 1777 to 1795; and she seems to have inherited
+her father's zeal for the rights of his country. She was born at the
+Cortlandt manor house, "an old fashioned stone mansion situated on the
+banks of the Croton river," in 1752; was married when about seventeen or
+eighteen, to Gerard G. Beekman; and died on the fourteenth of March,
+1847. A few anecdotes will illustrate the noble characteristics of her
+nature.[36]
+
+  [36] For a fuller account of her life, see the second volume of Mrs.
+  Ellet's Women of the Revolution, to which work we are indebted for the
+  substance of these anecdotes.
+
+When the British were near her residence, which was a short distance
+from Peekskill, a soldier entered the house one day and went directly to
+the closet, saying, in reply to a question she put to him, that he
+wanted some brandy. She reproved him for his boldness and want of
+courtesy, when he threatened to stab her with a bayonet. Unalarmed by
+his oath-charged threats--although an old, infirm negro was the only aid
+at hand--she in turn threatened him, declaring that she would call her
+husband and have his conduct reported to his commander. Her sterness and
+intrepidity, coupled with her threats, subdued the insolent coward, and,
+obeying her orders, he marched out of the house.
+
+A party of tories, under command of Colonels Bayard and Fleming, once
+entered her house, and, with a great deal of impudence and in the most
+insulting tone, asked if she was not "the daughter of that old rebel,
+Pierre Van Cortlandt?" "I am the daughter of Pierre Van Cortlandt, but
+it becomes not such as you to call my father a rebel," was her dauntless
+reply. The person who put the question now raised his musket, at which
+menacing act, she coolly reprimanded him and ordered him out of doors.
+His heart melted beneath the fire of her eye, and, abashed, he sneaked
+away.
+
+In one instance, a man named John Webb, better known at that time as
+"Lieutenant Jack," left in her charge a valise which contained a new
+suit of uniform and some gold. He stated he would send for it when he
+wanted it, and gave her particular directions not to deliver it to any
+one without a written order from himself or his brother Samuel. About
+two weeks afterwards, a man named Smith rode up to the door in haste,
+and asked her husband, who was without, for Lieutenant Jack's valise.
+She knew Smith, and had little confidence in his _professed_ whig
+principles; so she stepped to the door and reminded her husband that it
+would be necessary for the messenger to show his order before the valise
+could be given up.
+
+"You know me very well, Mrs. Beekman; and when I assure you that
+Lieutenant Jack sent me for the valise, you will not refuse to deliver
+it to me, as he is greatly in want of his uniform."
+
+"I do know you very well--_too well_ to give you the valise without a
+written order from the owner or the Colonel."
+
+Soon after this brief colloquy, Smith went away without the valise, and
+it was afterwards ascertained that he was a rank tory, and at that very
+hour in league with the British. Indeed Major Andre was concealed in his
+house that day, and had Smith got possession of Webb's uniform, as the
+latter and Andre were about the same size, it is likely the celebrated
+spy would have escaped and changed the reading of a brief chapter of
+American history. Who can tell how much this republic is indebted to the
+prudence, integrity, courage and patriotism of Cornelia Beekman?
+
+  [Illustration: WEST AND HIS MOTHER.]
+
+
+
+
+THE MOTHER OF WEST.
+
+  O wondrous power! how little understood--
+    Entrusted to the mother's mind alone--
+  To fashion genius, form the soul for good,
+    Inspire a West, or train a Washington.
+
+                                      MRS. HALE.
+
+
+When Benjamin West was seven years old, he was left, one summer day,
+with the charge of an infant niece. As it lay in the cradle and he was
+engaged in fanning away the flies, the motion of the fan pleased the
+child, and caused it to smile. Attracted by the charms thus created,
+young West felt his instinctive passion aroused; and seeing paper, pen
+and some red and black ink on a table, he eagerly seized them and made
+his first attempt at portrait painting. Just as he had finished his
+maiden task, his mother and sister entered. He tried to conceal what he
+had done, but his confusion arrested his mother's attention and she
+asked him what he had been doing. With reluctance and timidity, he
+handed her the paper, begging, at the same time, that she would not be
+offended. Examining the drawing for a short time, she turned to her
+daughter and, with a smile, said, "I declare, he has made a likeness of
+Sally." She then gave him a fond kiss, which so encouraged him that
+he promised her some drawings of the flowers which she was then holding,
+if she wished to have them.
+
+The next year a cousin sent him a box of colors and pencils, with large
+quantities of canvas prepared for the easel, and half a dozen
+engravings. Early in the morning after their reception, he took all his
+materials into the garret, and for several days forgot all about school.
+His mother suspected that the box was the cause of his neglect of his
+books, and going into the garret and finding him busy at a picture, she
+was about to reprimand him; but her eye fell on some of his
+compositions, and her anger cooled at once. She was so pleased with them
+that she loaded him with kisses and promised to secure his father's
+pardon for his neglect of school.
+
+How much the world is indebted to Mrs. West for her early and constant
+encouragement of the immortal artist. He often used to say, after his
+reputation was established, "_My mother's kiss made me a painter!_"
+
+
+
+
+HEROIC ENDURANCE.
+
+  'Tis not now who is stout and bold,
+  But who bears hunger best and cold.
+
+                                        BUTLER.
+
+
+On the twenty-seventh of July, 1755, Mrs. Howe, of Hinsdale, New
+Hampshire, with seven children and two other women and their children,
+was taken captive by the Indians, and marched through the wilderness to
+Crown Point. There Mrs. Howe, with some of the other prisoners, remained
+several days. The rest were conducted to Montreal to be sold, but the
+French refusing to buy them, they were all brought back, except Mrs.
+Howe's youngest daughter, who was presented to Governor De Vaudreuil.
+
+Ere long the whole party started for St. Johns by water. Night soon came
+on; a storm arose; the darkness became intense; the canoes separated,
+and just before day Mrs. Howe was landed on the beach, ignorant of the
+destiny of her children. Raising a pillow of earth with her hands, she
+laid herself down to rest with her infant on her bosom. A toilsome day's
+journey brought her and her captors to St. Johns, and pressing onward
+they soon reached St. Francis, the home of the latter. A council having
+been called and the customary ceremonies performed, Mrs. Howe, with her
+infant left to her care, was put in the charge of a squaw, whom she was
+ordered to call mother.
+
+"At the approach of winter, the squaw, yielding to her earnest
+solicitations, set out with Mrs. Howe and her child, for Montreal, to
+sell them to the French. On the journey both she and her infant were in
+danger of perishing from hunger and cold; the lips of the child being at
+times so benumbed, as to be incapable of imbibing its proper
+nourishment. After her arrival in the city, she was offered to a French
+lady; who, seeing the child in her arms, exclaimed, 'I will not buy a
+woman, who has a child to look after.' I shall not attempt to describe
+the feelings with which this rebuff was received by a person who had no
+higher ambition than to become a slave. Few of our race have hearts made
+of such unyielding materials, as not to be broken by long-continued
+abuse; and Mrs. Howe was not one of this number. Chilled with cold, and
+pinched with hunger, she saw in the kitchen of this inhospitable house
+some small pieces of bread, floating in a pail amid other fragments,
+destined to feed swine; and eagerly skimmed them for herself. When her
+Indian mother found that she could not dispose of her, she returned by
+water to St. Francis, where she soon died of small pox, which she had
+caught at Montreal. Speedily after, the Indians commenced their winter
+hunting. Mrs. Howe was then ordered to return her child to the captors.
+The babe clung to her bosom; and she was obliged to force it away. They
+carried it to a place called 'Messiskow,' on the borders of the river
+Missiscoui, near the north end of lake Champlain upon the eastern shore.
+The mother soon followed, and found it neglected, lean, and almost
+perishing with hunger. As she pressed its face to her cheek, the eager,
+half-starved infant bit her with violence. For three nights she was
+permitted to cherish it in her bosom; but in the day-time she was
+confined to a neighboring wigwam, where she was compelled to hear its
+unceasing cries of distress, without a possibility of contributing to
+its relief.
+
+"The third day the Indians carried her several miles up the lake. The
+following night she was alarmed by what is usually called the great
+earthquake, which shook the region around her with violent concussions.
+Here, also, she was deserted for two nights in an absolute wilderness;
+and, when her Indian connections returned, was told by them that two of
+her children were dead. Very soon after, she received certain
+information of the death of her infant. Amid the anguish awakened by
+these melancholy tidings, she saw a distant volume of smoke; and was
+strongly inclined to make her way to the wigwam from which it ascended.
+As she entered the door, she met one of the children, reported to be
+dead; and to her great consolation found that he was in comfortable
+circumstances. A good-natured Indian soon after informed her, that the
+other was alive on the opposite side of the lake, at the distance of a
+few miles only. Upon this information she obtained leave to be absent
+for a single day; and, with the necessary directions from her informant,
+set out for the place. On her way she found her child, lean and hungry,
+and proceeded with it to the wigwam. A small piece of bread, presented
+to her by the Indian family in which she lived, she had carefully
+preserved for this unfortunate boy; but, to avoid offending the family
+in which he lived, was obliged to distribute it in equal shares to all
+the children. The little creature had been transported at the sight of
+his mother; and, when she announced her departure, fell at her feet, as
+if he had been dead. Yet she was compelled to leave him; and satisfied
+herself, as far as she was able, by commending him to the protection of
+God. The family in which she lived, passed the following summer at St.
+Johns. It was composed of the daughter and son-in-law of her late
+mother. The son-in-law went out early in the season on an expedition
+against the English settlements. At their return, the party had a
+drinking frolic, their usual festival after excursions of this nature.
+Drunkenness regularly enhances the bodily strength of a savage, and
+stimulates his mind to madness. In this situation he will insult, abuse,
+and not unfrequently murder, his nearest friends. The wife of this man
+had often been a sufferer by his intemperance. She therefore proposed to
+Mrs. Howe that they should withdraw themselves from the wigwam until
+the effects of his present intoxication were over. They accordingly
+withdrew. Mrs. Howe returned first, and found him surly and ill-natured,
+because his wife was absent. In the violence of his resentment he took
+Mrs. Howe, hurried her to St. Johns, and sold her for a trifling sum to
+a French gentleman, named Saccapee.
+
+"Upon a little reflection, however, the Indian perceived that he had
+made a foolish bargain. In a spirit of resentment he threatened to
+assassinate Mrs. Howe; and declared that if he could not accomplish his
+design, he would set fire to the fort. She was therefore carefully
+secreted, and the fort watchfully guarded, until the violence of his
+passion was over. When her alarm was ended, she found her situation as
+happy in the family, as a state of servitude would permit. Her new
+master and mistress were kind, liberal, and so indulgent as rarely to
+refuse anything that she requested. In this manner they enabled her
+frequently to befriend other English prisoners, who, from time to time,
+were brought to St. Johns.
+
+"Yet even in this humane family she met with new trials. Monsieur
+Saccapee, and his son, an officer in the French army, became at the same
+time passionately attached to her. This singular fact is a forcible
+proof that her person, mind, and manners, were unusually agreeable. Nor
+was her situation less perplexing than singular. The good will of the
+whole family was indispensable to her comfort, if not to her safety; and
+her purity she was determined to preserve at the hazard of her life. In
+the house where both her lovers resided, conversed with her every day,
+and, together with herself, were continually under the eye of her
+mistress, the lovers a father and a son, herself a slave, and one of
+them her master, it will be easily believed that she met with very
+serious embarrassments in accomplishing her determination. In this
+situation she made known her misfortunes to Colonel Peter Schuyler of
+Albany, then a prisoner at St. Johns. As soon as he had learned her
+situation he represented it to the Governor De Vaudreuil. The Governor
+immediately ordered young Saccapee into the army; and enjoined on his
+father a just and kind treatment of Mrs. Howe. His humanity did not stop
+here. Being informed that one of her daughters was in danger of being
+married to an Indian of St. Francis, he rescued her from this miserable
+destiny, and placed her in a nunnery with her sister. Here they were
+both educated as his adopted children.
+
+"By the good offices of Colonel Schuyler, also, who advanced
+twenty-seven hundred livres for that purpose, and by the assistance of
+several other gentlemen, she was enabled to ransom herself, and her four
+sons. With these children she set out for New England in the autumn of
+1758, under the protection of Colonel Schuyler, leaving her two
+daughters behind.[37] As she was crossing lake Champlain, young
+Saccapee came on board the boat, in which she was conveyed; gave her a
+handsome present; and bade her adieu. Colonel Schuyler being obliged to
+proceed to Albany with more expedition than was convenient for his
+fellow travelers, left them in the care of Major Putnam, afterwards
+Major-General Putnam. From this gentleman she received every kind
+office, which his well known humanity could furnish; and arrived without
+any considerable misfortune at the place of their destination."[38]
+
+  [37] After the treaty of peace at Paris, Mrs. Howe went to Canada and
+  brought home the younger daughter, who left the nunnery with a great
+  deal of reluctance. The older went to France with Monsieur Dr.
+  Vaudreuil, and was there married to a man named Louis.
+
+  [38] Dwight's Travels.
+
+
+
+
+MATERNAL HEROISM
+
+  Is there a man, into the lion's den
+  Who dares intrude to snatch his young away?
+
+                                         THOMSON.
+
+
+During the campaign of 1777, a soldier of the Fifty-fifth regiment was
+sitting with his wife at breakfast, when a bomb entered the tent, and
+fell between the table and a bed where their infant was sleeping. The
+mother urged her husband to go round the bomb and seize the child, his
+dress being, from the position of things, more favorable than hers for
+the prosecution of the dangerous task: but he refused, and running out
+of the tent, begged his wife to follow, saying that the fusee was just
+ready to communicate with the deadly combustibles. The fond mother,
+instead of obeying, hastily tucked up her garments to prevent their
+coming in contact with the bomb; leaped past it; caught the child, and
+in a moment was out of danger.
+
+In December, 1850, the house of Peter Knight, of Bath, Maine, caught
+fire, and a small child, asleep in the room where the flames burst out,
+would have perished but for the self-possession and daring of its
+mother. One or two unsuccessful attempts had been made by others to
+rescue it, when the mother, always the last to despair, made a desperate
+effort, and secured the prize. When the two were taken from the window
+of the second story, the dress of Mrs. Knight was in flames!
+
+
+
+
+A MODERN DORCAS.
+
+  'Tis truth divine, exhibited on earth,
+  Gives charity her being.
+
+                                      COWPER.
+
+
+Isabella, the wife of Dr. John Graham, was born in Scotland, on the
+twenty-ninth of July, 1742. At the age of seventeen she became a member
+of the church in Paisley of which the Rev. Dr. Witherspoon, afterwards
+President of Princeton college, was the pastor. Dr. Graham was a
+physician of the same town. Her marriage took place in 1765. The next
+year Dr. Graham was ordered to join his regiment then stationed in
+Canada. After spending a few months at Montreal, he removed to Fort
+Niagara, where he remained in the garrison four years.
+
+Just before the Revolutionary war the sixteenth regiment of Royal
+Americans was ordered to the island of Antigua. Thither Dr. Graham
+removed with his family, and there he died in 1774. Mrs. Graham then
+returned to her native land.
+
+In 1789 she came to this country, and permanently settled in the city of
+New York. She there opened a school for young ladies, and gained a high
+reputation in her profession. She united with the Presbyterian church
+of which John Mason, D. D., was pastor, and was noted, through all the
+latter years of her life, for the depth of her piety and her Christian
+benevolence. She made it a rule to give a tenth part of her earnings to
+religious and charitable purposes. In 1795 she received, at one time, an
+advance of a thousand pounds on the sale of a lease which she held on
+some building lots; and not being used to such large profits, she said,
+on receiving the money, "Quick, quick, let me appropriate the tenth
+before my heart grows hard."
+
+Two years afterwards, a society was organized and chartered, for the
+relief of poor widows; and Mrs. Graham was appointed first directress.
+Each of the managers had a separate district, and she had the
+superintendence of the whole. A house was purchased by the society,
+where work was received for the employment of the widows; and a school
+was opened for the instruction of their children. "Besides establishing
+this school, Mrs. Graham selected some of the widows, best qualified for
+the task, and engaged them, for a small compensation, to open day
+schools for the instruction of the children of widows, in distant parts
+of the city: she also established two Sabbath schools, one of which she
+superintended herself, and the other she placed under the care of her
+daughter. Wherever she met with Christians sick and in poverty, she
+visited and comforted them; and in some instances opened small
+subscription lists to provide for their support. She attended
+occasionally for some years at the Alms House for the instruction of the
+children there, in religious knowledge: in this work she was much
+assisted by a humble and pious female friend, who was seldom absent from
+it on the Lord's day.
+
+"It was often her custom to leave home after breakfast, to take with her
+a few rolls of bread, and return in the evening about eight o'clock. Her
+only dinner on such days was her bread, and perhaps some soup at the
+Soup House, established by the Humane Society for the poor, over which
+one of her widows had been, at her recommendation, appointed."[39]
+
+  [39] Mrs. Bethune's Life of Mrs. Graham, abridged.
+
+In the winter of 1804-5, before a Tract or Bible Society had been formed
+in New York, she visited between two and three hundred of the poorer
+families, and supplied them with a Bible where they were destitute. She
+also distributed tracts which were written, at her request, by a friend,
+"and lest it might be said it was cheap to give advice, she usually gave
+a small sum of money along with the tracts."
+
+On the fifteenth of March, 1806, a society was organized in New York for
+providing an Asylum for Orphan Children; and Mrs. Graham occupied the
+chair on the occasion. Her sympathies were strongly enlisted in this
+organization, and she was one of the trustees at the time of her death.
+
+"In the winter of 1807-8, when the suspension of commerce by the
+embargo, rendered the situation of the poor more destitute than ever,
+Mrs. Graham adopted a plan best calculated in her view to detect the
+idle applicant for charity, and at the same time to furnish employment
+for the more worthy amongst the female poor. She purchased flax, and
+lent wheels where applicants had none. Such as were industrious took the
+work with thankfulness, and were paid for it; those who were beggars by
+profession, never kept their word to return for the flax or the wheel.
+The flax thus spun was afterwards woven, bleached, and made into
+table-cloths and towels for family use."[40]
+
+  [40] Mrs. Bethune.
+
+When the Magdalen Society was established by some gentlemen, in 1811, a
+board of ladies was elected for the purpose of superintending the
+internal management of the house; and Mrs. Graham was chosen President.
+This office she continued to hold till her death. The next year the
+trustees of the Lancasterian School solicited the services of several
+women to instruct the pupils in the catechism. Mrs. Graham cheerfully
+assisted in this task, instruction being given one afternoon in each
+week.
+
+"In the spring of 1814 she was requested to unite with some ladies, in
+forming a Society for the Promotion of Industry amongst the poor. The
+Corporation of the city having returned a favorable answer to their
+petition for assistance, and provided a house, a meeting of the Society
+was held, and Mrs. Graham once more was called to the chair. It was the
+last time she was to preside at the formation of a new society. Her
+articulation, once strong and clear, was now observed to have become
+more feeble. The ladies present listened to her with affectionate
+attention; her voice broke upon the ear as a pleasant sound that was
+passing away. She consented to have her name inserted in the list of
+managers, to give what assistance her age would permit in forwarding so
+beneficent a work. Although it pleased God to make her cease from her
+labors, before the House of Industry was opened, yet the work was
+carried on by others, and prospered. Between four and five hundred women
+were employed and paid during the following winter. The Corporation
+declared in strong terms their approbation of the result, and enlarged
+their donation, with a view to promote the same undertaking for the
+succeeding winter."
+
+Mrs. Graham died on the twenty-seventh of July, 1814. Of no woman of the
+age may it be said with more propriety, as it was of Dorcas: "This woman
+was full of good works and alms-deeds, which she did." Yet few women are
+more humble than was Mrs. Graham, or think less of their benevolent
+deeds. Her daughter, Mrs. Bethune, writing of her decease, says that she
+departed in peace, not trusting in her wisdom or virtue, like the
+philosophers of Greece and Rome; not even, like Addison, calling on the
+profligate to see a good man die; but, like Howard, afraid that her good
+works might have a wrong place in the estimate of her hope, her chief
+glory was that of a "sinner saved by grace."
+
+
+
+
+SARAH HOFFMAN.
+
+  Still to a stricken brother turn.
+
+                               WHITTIER.
+
+
+In the act of incorporation of the Widow's Society, established in the
+city of New York, in 1797, with the name of Mrs. Graham, is associated
+that of Mrs. Sarah Hoffman. This lady was the daughter of David Ogden,
+one of the judges of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, before the
+elevation of the provinces into states. She was born at Newark, on the
+eighth of September, 1742; and married Nicholas Hoffman, in 1762. She
+early took delight in doing good, being thus prompted by deep religious
+principle. Cautious and discriminating, her charities were bestowed
+judiciously, and she was able to do much good without the largest means.
+In her benevolent operations, however, she usually acted in an
+associated capacity.
+
+As already intimated, she was a member of the society formed "for the
+relief of poor widows with small children." That this institution
+prospered under the control of such women as Mrs. Hoffman and Mrs.
+Graham, may be inferred from their report made in April, 1803.
+"Ninety-eight widows and two hundred and twenty-three children," this
+document states, "were brought through the severity of the winter with a
+considerable degree of comfort."
+
+Mrs. Hoffman, Mrs. Graham and their associates, often perambulated the
+districts of poverty and disease, from morning till night, entering the
+huts of want and desolation, and carrying comfort and consolation to
+many a despairing heart. They clambered to the highest and meanest
+garrets, and descended to the lowest, darkest and dankest cellars, to
+administer to the wants of the destitute, the sick, and the dying. They
+took with them medicine as well as food; and were accustomed to
+administer Christian counsel or consolation, as the case required, to
+the infirm in body and the wretched in heart. They even taught many poor
+creatures, who seemed to doubt the existence of an overruling
+Providence, to pray to Him whose laws they had broken and thereby
+rendered themselves miserable.[41]
+
+  [41] Knapp's Female Biography.
+
+In Mrs. Hoffman's character, to tenderness of feeling were added great
+firmness, strength of mind, and moral courage. She was often seen in the
+midst of contagion and suffering where the cheek of the warrior would
+blanch with fear. She exposed her own life, however, not like the
+warrior, to destroy, but to save; and hundreds _were_ saved by her
+humane efforts, combined with those of her co-workers. Her life
+beautifully exemplified the truth of what Crabbe says of woman:
+
+  ----In extremes of cold and heat,
+    Where wandering man may trace his kind;
+  Wherever grief and want retreat,
+    In woman they compassion find.
+
+And if, as the poet Grainger asserts,
+
+  The height of virtue is to serve mankind,
+
+Mrs. Hoffman reached a point towards which many aspire, but above which
+few ascend.
+
+
+
+
+HEROISM OF SCHOHARIE WOMEN.
+
+  Invaders! vain your battles' steel and fire.
+
+                                          HALLECK.
+
+
+During the struggle for Independence, there were three noted forts in
+the Schoharie settlement, called the Upper, Middle and Lower; and when,
+in the autumn of 1780, Sir John Johnson sallied forth from Niagara, with
+his five hundred or more British, tory and German troops, and made an
+attack on these forts, an opportunity was given for the display of
+patriotism and courage, as well by the women of the settlement as by the
+men.
+
+When the Middle fort was invested, an heroic and noted ranger named
+Murphy, used his rifle balls so fast as to need an additional supply;
+and, anticipating his wants, Mrs. Angelica Vrooman caught his bullet
+mould, some lead and an iron spoon, ran to her father's tent, and there
+moulded a quantity of bullets amid
+
+                                "the shout
+  Of battle, the barbarian yell, the bray
+  Of dissonant instruments, the clang of arms,
+  The shriek of agony, the groan of death."
+
+While the firing was kept up at the Middle fort, great anxiety
+prevailed at the Upper; and during this time Captain Hager, who
+commanded the latter, gave orders that the women and children should
+retire to a long cellar, which he specified, should the enemy attack
+him. A young lady named Mary Haggidorn, on hearing these orders, went to
+Captain Hager and addressed him as follows:--"Captain, I shall not go
+into that cellar. Should the enemy come, I will take a spear, which I
+can use as well as any _man_, and help defend the fort." The Captain,
+seeing her determination, made the following reply:--"Then take a spear,
+Mary, and be ready at the pickets to repel an attack." She cheerfully
+obeyed, and held the spear at the picket, till "huzzas for the American
+flag" burst on her ear, and told that all was safe.[42]
+
+  [42] _Vide_ History of Schoharie county, p. 410-11.
+
+
+
+
+A STERLING PATRIOT.
+
+  With nerve to wield the battle-brand,
+    And join the border-fray,
+  They shrank not from the foeman,
+    They quailed not in the fight,
+  But cheered their husbands through the day,
+    And soothed them through the night.
+
+                                   W. D. GALLAGHER.
+
+
+The most noted heroine of the Mohawk valley, and one of the bravest and
+noblest mothers of the Revolution, was Nancy Van Alstine. Her maiden
+name was Quackinbush. She was born near Canajoharie, about the year
+1733, and was married to Martin J. Van Alstine, at the age of eighteen.
+He settled in the valley of the Mohawk, and occupied the Van Alstine
+family mansion. Mrs. Van Alstine was the mother of fifteen children. She
+died at Wampsville, Madison county, in 1831.
+
+In the month of August, 1780, an army of Indians and tories, led on by
+Brant, rushed into the Mohawk valley, devastated several settlements,
+and killed many of the inhabitants: and during the two following months,
+Sir John Johnson, made a descent and finished the work which Brant had
+begun. The two almost completely destroyed the settlements throughout
+the valley. It was during those trying times that Mrs. Van Alstine
+performed a portion of her heroic exploits which are so interestingly
+related by Mrs. Ellet.
+
+"While the enemy, stationed at Johnstown, were laying waste the country,
+parties continually going about to murder the inhabitants and burn their
+dwellings, the neighborhood in which Mrs. Van Alstine lived remained in
+comparative quiet, though the settlers trembled as each sun arose, lest
+his setting beams should fall on their ruined homes. Most of the men
+were absent, and when, at length, intelligence came that the destroyers
+were approaching, the people were almost distracted with terror. Mrs.
+Van Alstine called her neighbors together, endeavored to calm their
+fears, and advised them to make immediate arrangements for removing to
+an island, belonging to her husband, near the opposite side of the
+river. She knew that the spoilers would be in too great haste to make
+any attempt to cross, and thought if some articles were removed, they
+might be induced to suppose the inhabitants gone to a greater distance.
+The seven families in the neighborhood were in a few hours upon the
+island, having taken with them many things necessary for their comfort
+during a short stay. Mrs. Van Alstine remained herself to the last, then
+crossed in the boat, helping to draw it far up on the beach. Scarcely
+had they secreted themselves before they heard the dreaded warwhoop, and
+descried the Indians in the distance. It was not long before one and
+another saw the homes they loved in flames. When the savages came to Van
+Alstine's house, they were about to fire that also, but the chief,
+interfering, informed them that Sir John would not be pleased if that
+house were burned--the owner having extended civilities to the baronet
+before the commencement of hostilities. 'Let the old wolf keep his den,'
+he said, and the house was left unmolested. The talking of the Indians
+could be distinctly heard from the island, and Mrs. Van Alstine rejoiced
+that she was thus enabled to give shelter to the houseless families who
+had fled with her. The fugitives, however, did not deem it prudent to
+leave their place of concealment for several days, the smoke seen in
+different directions too plainly indicating that the work of devastation
+was going on.
+
+"The destitute families remained at Van Alstine's house till it was
+deemed prudent to rebuild their homes. Later in the following autumn an
+incident occurred which brought much trouble upon them. Three men from
+the neighborhood of Canajoharie, who had deserted the whig cause and
+joined the British, came back from Canada as spies, and were detected
+and apprehended. Their execution followed; two were shot, and one, a
+bold, adventurous fellow, named Harry Harr, was hung in Mr. Van
+Alstine's orchard. Their prolonged absence causing some uneasiness to
+their friends in Canada, some Indians were sent to reconnoitre and learn
+something of them. It happened that they arrived on the day of Harr's
+execution, which they witnessed from a neighboring hill. They returned
+immediately with the information, and a party was dispatched--it is said
+by Brant--to revenge the death of the spies upon the inhabitants. Their
+continued shouts of 'Aha, Harry Harr!' while engaged in pillaging and
+destroying, showed that such was their purpose. In their progress of
+devastation, they came to the house of Van Alstine, where no
+preparations had been made for defence, the family not expecting an
+attack, or not being aware of the near approach of the enemy. Mrs. Van
+Alstine was personally acquainted with Brant, and it may have been owing
+to this circumstance that the members of the family were not killed or
+carried away as prisoners. The Indians came upon them by surprise,
+entered the house without ceremony, and plundered and destroyed
+everything in their way. Mrs. Van Alstine saw her most valued articles,
+brought from Holland, broken one after another, till the house was
+strewed with fragments. As they passed a large mirror without
+demolishing it, she hoped it might be saved; but presently two of the
+savages led in a colt from the stable, and the glass being laid in the
+hall, compelled the animal to walk over it. The beds which they could
+not carry away, they ripped open, shaking out the feathers and taking
+the ticks with them. They also took all the clothing. One young Indian,
+attracted by the brilliancy of a pair of inlaid buckles on the shoes of
+the aged grandmother seated in the corner, rudely snatched them from her
+feet, tore off the buckles, and flung the shoes in her face. Another
+took her shawl from her neck, threatening to kill her if resistance were
+offered. The eldest daughter, seeing a young savage carrying off a
+basket containing a hat and cap her father had brought her from
+Philadelphia, and which she highly prized, followed him, snatched her
+basket, and after a struggle succeeded in pushing him down. She then
+fled to a pile of hemp and hid herself, throwing the basket into it as
+far as she could. The other Indians gathered round, and as the young one
+rose clapped their hands, shouting 'Brave girl!' while he skulked away
+to escape their derision. During the struggle Mrs. Van Alstine had
+called to her daughter to give up the contest; but she insisted that her
+basket should not be taken. Having gone through the house, the intruders
+went up to the kitchen chamber, where a quantity of cream in large jars
+had been brought from the dairy, and threw the jars down stairs,
+covering the floor with their contents. They then broke the window glass
+throughout the house, and unsatisfied with the plunder they had
+collected, bribed a man servant by the promise of his clothes and a
+portion of the booty to show them where some articles had been hastily
+secreted. Mrs. Van Alstine had just finished cutting out winter clothing
+for her family--which consisted of her mother-in-law, her husband and
+twelve children, with two black servants--and had stowed it away in
+barrels. The servant treacherously disclosed the hiding place, and the
+clothing was soon added to the rest of the booty. Mrs. Van Alstine
+reproached the man for his perfidy, which she assured him would be
+punished, not rewarded by the savages, and her words were verified; for
+after they had forced him to assist in securing their plunder, they
+bound him and put him in one of their wagons, telling him his treachery
+to the palefaces deserved no better treatment. The provisions having
+been carried away, the family subsisted on corn, which they pounded and
+made into cakes. They felt much the want of clothing, and Mrs. Van
+Alstine gathered the silk of milkweed, of which, mixed with flax, she
+spun and wove garments. The inclement season was now approaching, and
+they suffered severely from the want of window glass, as well as their
+bedding, woolen clothes, and the various articles, including cooking
+utensils, taken from them. Mrs. Van Alstine's most arduous labors could
+do little towards providing for so many destitute persons; their
+neighbors were in no condition to help them, the roads were almost
+impassable, besides being infested by Indians, and their finest horses
+had been taken. In this deplorable situation, she proposed to her
+husband to join with others who had been robbed in like manner, and make
+an attempt to recover their property from the Indian castle, eighteen or
+twenty miles distant, where it had been carried. But the idea of such an
+enterprise against an enemy superior in numbers and well prepared for
+defence, was soon abandoned. As the cold became more intolerable and the
+necessity for doing something more urgent, Mrs. Van Alstine, unable to
+witness longer the sufferings of those dependent on her, resolved to
+venture herself on the expedition. Her husband and children endeavored
+to dissuade her, but firm for their sake, she left home, accompanied by
+her son, about sixteen years of age. The snow was deep and the roads in
+a wretched condition, yet she persevered through all difficulties, and
+by good fortune arrived at the castle at a time when the Indians were
+all absent on a hunting excursion, the women and children only being
+left at home. She went to the principal house, where she supposed the
+most valuable articles must have been deposited, and on entering, was
+met by the old squaw who had the superintendence, who demanded what she
+wanted. She asked for food; the squaw hesitated; but on her visitor
+saying she had never turned an Indian away hungry, sullenly commenced
+preparations for a meal. The matron saw her bright copper tea-kettle,
+with other cooking utensils, brought forth for use. While the squaw was
+gone for water, she began a search for her property, and finding several
+articles gave them to her son to put into the sleigh. When the squaw,
+returning, asked by whose order she was taking those things, Mrs. Van
+Alstine replied, that they belonged to her; and seeing that the woman
+was not disposed to give them up peaceably, took from her pocket-book a
+paper, and handed it to the squaw, who she knew could not read. The
+woman asked whose name was affixed to the supposed order, and being told
+it was that of 'Yankee Peter'--a man who had great influence among the
+savages, dared not refuse submission. By this stratagem Mrs. Van Alstine
+secured, without opposition, all the articles she could find belonging
+to her, and put them into the sleigh. She then asked where the horses
+were kept. The squaw refused to show her, but she went to the stable,
+and there found those belonging to her husband, in fine order--for the
+savages were careful of their best horses. The animals recognised their
+mistress, and greeted her by a simultaneous neighing. She bade her son
+cut the halters, and finding themselves at liberty they bounded off and
+went homeward at full speed. The mother and son now drove back as fast
+as possible, for she knew their fate would be sealed if the Indians
+should return. They reached home late in the evening, and passed a
+sleepless night, dreading instant pursuit and a night attack from the
+irritated savages. Soon after daylight the alarm was given that the
+Indians were within view, and coming towards the house, painted and in
+their war costume, and armed with tomahawks and rifles. Mr. Van Alstine
+saw no course to escape their vengeance but to give up whatever they
+wished to take back; but his intrepid wife was determined on an effort,
+at least, to retain her property. As they came near she begged her
+husband not to show himself--for she knew they would immediately fall
+upon him--but to leave the matter in her hands. The intruders took their
+course first to the stable, and bidding all the rest remain within
+doors, the matron went out alone, followed to the door by her family,
+weeping and entreating her not to expose herself. Going to the stable
+she enquired in the Indian language what the men wanted. The reply was
+'our horses.' She said boldly--'They are ours; you came and took them
+without right; they are ours, and we mean to keep them.' The chief now
+came forward threateningly, and approached the door. Mrs. Van Alstine
+placed herself against it, telling him she would not give up the animals
+they had raised and were attached to. He succeeded in pulling her from
+the door, and drew out the plug that fastened it, which she snatched
+from his hand, pushing him away. He then stepped back and presented his
+rifle, threatening to shoot her if she did not move; but she kept her
+position, opening her neckhandkerchief and bidding him shoot if he
+dared. It might be that the Indian feared punishment from his allies for
+any such act of violence, or that he was moved with admiration of her
+intrepidity; he hesitated, looked at her for a moment, and then slowly
+dropped his gun, uttering in his native language expressions implying
+his conviction that the evil one must help her, and saying to his
+companions that she was a brave woman and they would not molest her.
+Giving a shout, by way of expressing their approbation, they departed
+from the premises. On their way they called at the house of Col. Frey,
+and related their adventure, saying that the white woman's courage had
+saved her and her property, and were there fifty such brave women as
+the wife of 'Big Tree,' the Indians would never have troubled the
+inhabitants of the Mohawk valley. She experienced afterwards the good
+effects of the impression made at this time....
+
+"It was not long after this occurrence that several Indians came upon
+some children left in the field while the men went to dinner, and took
+them prisoners, tomahawking a young man who rushed from an adjoining
+field to their assistance. Two of these--six and eight years of
+age--were Mrs. Van Alstine's children. The savages passed on towards the
+Susquehanna, plundering and destroying as they went. They were three
+weeks upon the journey, and the poor little captives suffered much from
+hunger and exposure to the night air, being in a deplorable condition by
+the time they returned to Canada. On their arrival, according to custom,
+each prisoner was required to run the gauntlet, two Indian boys being
+stationed on either side, armed with clubs and sticks to beat him as he
+ran. The eldest was cruelly bruised, and when the younger, pale and
+exhausted, was led forward, a squaw of the tribe, taking pity on the
+helpless child, said she would go in his place, or if that could not be
+permitted, would carry him. She accordingly took him in her arms, and
+wrapping her blanket around him, got through with some severe blows. The
+children were then washed and clothed by order of the chief, and supper
+was given them. Their uncle--then also a prisoner--heard of the arrival
+of children from the Mohawk, and was permitted to visit them. The little
+creatures were sleeping soundly when aroused by a familiar voice, and
+joyfully exclaiming, 'Uncle Quackinbush!' were clasped in his arms. In
+the following spring the captives were ransomed, and returned home in
+fine spirits."[43]
+
+  [43] Women of the Revolution.
+
+Prior to the commencement of hostilities, Mr. Van Alstine had purchased
+a tract of land on the Susquehanna, eighteen miles below Cooperstown;
+and thither removed in 1785. There as at her former home, Mrs. Van
+Alstine had an opportunity to exhibit the heroic qualities of her
+nature. We subjoin two anecdotes illustrative of forest life in the
+midst of savages.
+
+"On one occasion an Indian whom Mr. Van Alstine had offended, came to
+his house with the intention of revenging himself. He was not at home,
+and the men were out at work, but his wife and family were within, when
+the intruder entered. Mrs. Van Alstine saw his purpose in his
+countenance. When she inquired his business, he pointed to his rifle,
+saying, he meant 'to show Big Tree which was the best man.' She well
+knew that if her husband presented himself he would probably fall a
+victim unless she could reconcile the difficulty. With this view she
+commenced a conversation upon subjects in which she knew the savage
+would take an interest, and admiring his dress, asked permission to
+examine his rifle, which, after praising, she set down, and while
+managing to fix his attention on something else poured water into the
+barrel. She then gave him back the weapon, and assuming a more earnest
+manner, spoke to him of the Good Spirit, his kindness to men, and their
+duty to be kind to each other. By her admirable tact she so far
+succeeded in pacifying him, that when her husband returned he was ready
+to extend to him the hand of reconciliation and fellowship. He partook
+of some refreshment, and before leaving informed them that one of their
+neighbors had lent him the rifle for his deadly purpose. They had for
+some time suspected this neighbor, who had coveted a piece of land, of
+unkind feelings towards them because he could not obtain it, yet could
+scarcely believe him so depraved. The Indian, to confirm his story,
+offered to accompany Mrs. Van Alstine to the man's house, and although
+it was evening she went with him, made him repeat what he had said, and
+so convinced her neighbor of the wickedness of his conduct, that he was
+ever afterwards one of their best friends. Thus by her prudence and
+address she preserved, in all probability, the lives of her husband and
+family; for she learned afterwards that a number of savages had been
+concealed near, to rush upon them in case of danger to their companion.
+
+"At another time a young Indian came in and asked the loan of a drawing
+knife. As soon as he had it in his hand he walked up to the table, on
+which there was a loaf of bread, and unceremoniously cut several slices
+from it. One of Mrs. Van Alstine's sons had a deerskin in his hand, and
+indignantly struck the savage with it. He turned and darted out of the
+door, giving a loud whoop as he fled. The mother just then came in, and
+hearing what had passed expressed her sorrow and fears that there would
+be trouble, for she knew the Indian character too well to suppose they
+would allow the matter to rest. Her apprehensions were soon realized by
+the approach of a party of savages, headed by the brother of the youth
+who had been struck. He entered alone, and inquired for the boy who had
+given the blow. Mr. Van Alstine, starting up in surprise, asked
+impatiently, 'What the devilish Indian wanted?' The savage,
+understanding the expression applied to his appearance to be anything
+but complimentary, uttered a sharp cry, and raising his rifle, aimed at
+Van Alstine's breast. His wife sprang forward in time to throw up the
+weapon, the contents of which were discharged into the wall, and pushing
+out the Indian, who stood just at the entrance, she quickly closed the
+door. He was much enraged, but she at length succeeded in persuading him
+to listen to a calm account of the matter, and asked why the quarrel of
+two lads should break their friendship. She finally invited him to come
+in and settle the difficulty in an amicable way. To his objection that
+they had no rum, she answered--'But we have tea;' and at length the
+party was called in, and a speech made by the leader in favor of the
+'white squaw,' after which the tea was passed round. The Indian then
+took the grounds, and emptying them into a hole made in the ashes,
+declared that the enmity was buried forever. After this, whenever the
+family was molested, the ready tact of Mrs. Van Alstine, and her
+acquaintance with Indian nature, enabled her to prevent any serious
+difficulty. They had few advantages for religious worship, but whenever
+the weather would permit, the neighbors assembled at Van Alstine's house
+to hear the word preached. His wife, by her influence over the Indians,
+persuaded many of them to attend, and would interpret to them what was
+said by the minister. Often their rude hearts were touched, and they
+would weep bitterly while she went over the affecting narrative of our
+Redeemer's life and death, and explained the truths of the Gospel. Much
+good did she in this way, and in after years many a savage converted to
+Christianity blessed her as his benefactress."
+
+
+
+
+HEROIC CONDUCT AT MONMOUTH.
+
+  Proud were they by such to stand,
+    In hammock, fort or glen;
+  To load the sure old rifle--
+    To run the leaden ball--
+  To watch a battling husband's place,
+    And fill it should he fall.
+
+                             W. D. GALLAGHER.
+
+
+During the battle of Monmouth, a gunner named Pitcher was killed; and
+when the call was made for some one to take the place of her fallen
+husband, his wife, who had followed him to the camp, and thence to the
+field of conflict, unhesitatingly stepped forward, and offered her
+services. The gun was so well managed as to draw the attention of
+General Washington to the circumstance, and to call forth an expression
+of his admiration of her bravery and her fidelity to her country. To
+show his appreciation of her virtues and her highly valuable services,
+he conferred on her a lieutenant's commission. She afterwards went by
+the name of _Captain Molly_.
+
+The poet Glover tells us, in his Leonidas, that Xerxes boasted
+
+  "His ablest, bravest counselor and chief
+  In Artemisia, Caria's matchless queen;"
+
+and Herodotus also very justly eulogizes the same character. Yet
+Artemisia was scarcely more serviceable to Xerxes in the battle of
+Salamis, than "Captain Molly" to Washington in the battle of Monmouth.
+One served in a Grecian expedition, to gratify her great spirit, vigor
+of mind and love of glory; the other fought, partly, it may be, to
+revenge the death of her husband, but more, doubtless, for the love she
+bore for an injured country, "bleeding at every vein." One was rewarded
+with a complete suit of Grecian armor; the other with a lieutenant's
+commission, and both for their bravery. If the queen of Caria is
+deserving of praise for her martial valor, the name of the heroic wife
+of the gunner, should be woven with hers in a fadeless wreath of song.
+
+
+
+
+COURAGE OF A COUNTRY GIRL.
+
+  Honor and shame from no condition rise,
+  Act well your part, there all the honor lies.
+
+                                            POPE
+
+
+In December, 1777, while Washington was at Valley Forge and the enemy
+was in Philadelphia, Major Tallmadge was stationed between the two
+places with a detachment of cavalry, to make observations and to limit
+the range of British foragers. On one occasion, while performing
+this duty, he was informed that a country girl had gone into
+Philadelphia--perhaps by Washington's instigation--ostensibly to sell
+eggs, but really and especially to obtain information respecting the
+enemy; and curiosity led him to move his detachment to Germantown. There
+the main body halted while he advanced with a small party towards the
+British lines. Dismounting at a tavern in plain sight of their outposts,
+he soon saw a young girl coming out of the city. He watched her till she
+came up to the tavern; made himself known to her, and was about to
+receive some valuable intelligence, when he was informed that the
+British light horse were advancing. Stepping to the door he saw them in
+full pursuit of his patroles. He hastily mounted, but before he had
+started his charger, the girl was at his side begging for protection.
+Quick as thought, he ordered her to mount behind him. She obeyed, and in
+that way rode to Germantown, a distance of three miles. During the whole
+ride, writes the Major in his Journal, where we find these details,
+"although there was considerable firing of pistols, and not a little
+wheeling and charging, she remained unmoved, and never once complained
+of fear."
+
+
+
+
+THE LEDYARDS AT FORT GRISWOLD
+
+  Ah never shall the land forget
+    How gushed the life-blood of the brave;
+  Gushed warm with hope and courage yet,
+    Upon the soil they fought to save.
+                          BRYANT
+
+  How few like thee enquire the wretched out,
+  And court the offices of soft humanity.
+
+                                          ROWE.
+
+
+"It will be remembered that at the time of the burning of New London,
+Connecticut, a detachment of the army of the traitor Arnold, under whose
+personal direction that feat of vandalism was performed, was directed to
+attack and carry Fort Griswold at Groton, on the opposite side of the
+river. It was then under the command of Colonel Ledyard, a brave and
+meritorious officer, whose memory will live in the warm affections of
+his country, as that of one of the early martyrs to her liberty, whilst
+the granite pile which now lifts its summit above the spot where he was
+sacrificed, shall long remain to bear the record of his death. The fort
+was, in truth, little more than an embankment of earth, thrown up as a
+breast-work for the handful of troops it surrounded, and with a strong
+log-house in the center. The force which attacked it was altogether
+superior to that of its defenders, even when the difference in their
+position is taken into view. The case was so hopeless, that the
+slightest share of prudence would have suggested retreat. But the chafed
+and gallant spirits of Ledyard and his men would not permit them to
+retire before a marauding enemy, however powerful, without making at
+least one effort to beat him back. With a boldness and heroism scarcely
+ever surpassed, they stood their ground, until overwhelming numbers of
+the enemy were in the fort, and engaged hand to hand with its heroic
+defenders. Fierce and terrible, for a few moments, was the encounter,
+and it was not until the last ray of hope was gone, and nothing but a
+useless effusion of blood would have resulted from further resistance,
+that they at length yielded. In doing so, however, they were inclined to
+believe that the gallantry displayed by their little band, would at
+least shelter them from indignity. Ledyard had turned the handle of his
+sword to the commander of the assailants, and in answer to the question,
+'who commands this fort,' replied, 'I did, sir, but you do now,' when he
+was pierced to the heart with his own weapon, and by the dastardly hand
+in which he had just placed it. An almost indiscriminate butchery now
+commenced; many falling instantly dead and some being desperately
+wounded. The fort was then entirely at the disposal of the enemy. The
+barbarity, however, did not end there. When it was found that several of
+the prisoners were still alive, the British soldiers piled their mangled
+bodies in an old cart and started it down the steep and rugged hill,
+towards the river, in order that they might be there drowned. But
+stumps and stones obstructed the passage of the cart; and when the enemy
+had retreated--for the aroused inhabitants of that region soon compelled
+them to the step--the friends of the wounded came to their aid and thus
+several lives were saved."[44]
+
+  [44] Democratic Review, vol. 20, pp. 93-4.
+
+One of the "ministering angels" who came the next morning to the aid of
+the thirty-five wounded men, who lay all night freezing in their own
+blood, was Miss Mary Ledyard, a near relative of the Colonel. "She
+brought warm chocolate, wine, and other refreshments, and while Dr.
+Downer of Preston was dressing their wounds, she went from one to
+another, administering her cordials, and breathing into their ears
+gentle words of sympathy and encouragement. In these labors of kindness
+she was assisted by another relative of the lamented Colonel
+Ledyard--Mrs. John Ledyard--who had also brought her household stores to
+refresh the sufferers, and lavished on them the most soothing personal
+attentions. The soldiers who recovered from their wounds, were
+accustomed, to the day of their death, to speak of these ladies in terms
+of fervent gratitude and praise."[45]
+
+  [45] Mrs. Ellet.
+
+
+
+
+SENECA HEROINES.
+
+  They fought like brave _men_, long and well.
+
+                                         HALLECK.
+
+
+In the celebrated battle between the French and Indians, which occurred
+near Victor, in the western part of New York, in 1687, five Seneca women
+took an active part in the bloody conflict. Mr. Hosmer, the poet,
+alludes to the circumstance in one of his celebrated "Lectures on the
+Iroquois," from the manuscript of which we have been permitted to copy,
+as follows:
+
+"The memory of illustrious women who have watched in defence of altar
+and hearth, the deeds of the sterner sex, has been enshrined in song,
+and honored by the Historic Muse. Joan of Arc, and the dark-eyed maid of
+Saragossa in all coming time will be chivalric watch-words of France and
+Spain, but not less worthy of record, and poetic embalmment, were the
+_five_[46] devoted heroines who followed their red lords to the
+battle-field near ancient Ganagarro, and fought with unflinching
+resolution by their sides. Children of such wives could not be
+otherwise than valiant. Bring back your shield, or be brought upon it,
+was the Spartan mother's stern injunction to her son: but roused to a
+higher pitch of courage, the wild daughters of the Genesee stood in the
+perilous pass, and in the defence of their forest homes, turned not back
+from the spear, 'the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.'"
+
+  [46] _Vide_ Doc. His, Vol. 1. p. 256.
+
+
+
+
+MARTHA BRATTON.
+
+  Not to the ensanguined field of death alone
+  Is valor limited.
+
+                                            SMOLLET.
+
+  Our country first, their glory and their pride.
+
+                                        J. T. FIELDS.
+
+
+Martha Bratton was the wife of William Bratton a native of Pennsylvania.
+She was born in Rowan county, North Carolina. They settled near York
+ville, in South Carolina, where she died in 1816. Two or three anecdotes
+will suffice to illustrate her character.
+
+In June, 1780, a party of British and tory marauders, were attacked by a
+company of whigs under Colonel Bratton, at Mobley Meeting House, in
+Fairfield district, South Carolina, and defeated. Advertised of this
+disaster, Colonel Turnbull, commander of a detachment of British troops
+at Rocky Mount, Chester county, ordered Captain Huck to proceed with his
+cavalry to the frontier of the province, collecting all the royal army
+on his march, and if possible to subdue the rebels. An engagement soon
+took place between Captain Huck and Colonel Bratton; but before the
+battle, the Colonel's wife had an opportunity to display her character
+in a truly heroic manner. The evening preceding, Huck arrived at the
+Colonel's house, and entering in an uncivil manner, demanded of his wife
+where her husband was. She boldly replied "He is in Sumter's army!" Huck
+then tried to persuade her to induce her husband to join the British,
+and even went so far as to promise him a commission, in case he would do
+so. But neither persuasion nor argument availed any thing. With the
+firmness of a true patriot, she assured him that she would rather see
+him--faithful to his country--perish in Sumter's army, than clothed with
+any power or graced with any honor royalty could bestow! At this point,
+a soldier, exasperated at her bold and fearless manner, seized a reaping
+hook that hung in the piazza and threatened to kill her if she did not
+give particular and full information in regard to her husband. But with
+the weapon still at her throat, she promptly refused; and, but for the
+interference of the officer second in command, she would have lost her
+life.
+
+Huck now ordered her to prepare supper for himself and the whole band.
+With this request she complied, and then retired to an upper apartment
+with her children. Supper over, Huck posted his sentinels along the road
+and went with his officers to another house, half a mile off, to pass
+the night.
+
+Convinced that the royalists would seek revenge for their late defeat at
+Mobley's Meeting House, and naturally fearing that his own family might
+be among the victims, Colonel Bratton had that day marched from
+Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, with seventy-five men. Late in the
+evening he drew near his house, and learning that the enemy were there,
+and ascertaining their number, he made speedy preparations for an
+attack. The guard of the royalists was neglected, and he found no
+trouble in reconnoitering the encampment. All things ready, the attack
+was made before Huck had finished his morning nap. He awoke only to
+attempt to rally his men and then lie down again to sleep for ever! The
+tories seeing their leader fall, fled, or made the attempt. Some _did_
+escape, others were killed, others taken prisoners. The firing ceased
+about day light, when Mrs. Bratton made her appearance. She received the
+wounded on both sides, and showed them impartial attention, setting
+herself to work immediately, dressing their wounds and trying to relieve
+their pains. She who was so brave in the hour of danger, was no less
+humane in a time of suffering.[47]
+
+  [47] The following toast was drunk at Brattonsville, York district, on
+  the twelfth of July, 1839, at a celebration of Huck's Defeat.
+
+  "The memory of Mrs. Martha Bratton.--In the hands of an infuriated
+  monster, with the instrument of death around her neck, she nobly refused
+  to betray her husband; in the hour of victory she remembered mercy, and
+  as a guardian angel, interposed in behalf of her inhuman enemies.
+  Throughout the Revolution she encouraged the whigs to fight on to the
+  last; to hope on to the end. Honor and gratitude to the woman and
+  heroine, who proved herself so faithful a wife--so firm a friend to
+  liberty!"
+
+Prior to the fall of Charleston at a period when ammunition was very
+scarce, Governor Rutledge intrusted to her a small stock of powder. This
+fact some tory ascertained, and communicated to the British at a station
+not far off. A detachment was forthwith sent out to secure the treasure,
+of which movement Mrs. Bratton received early intimation. Resolving that
+the red coats should not have the prize, she laid a train of powder from
+the depot to the spot she chose to occupy; and when they came in sight,
+she blew it up. "Who has dared to do this atrocious act? Speak quickly,
+that they may meet the punishment they deserve," was the demand of the
+officer in command. "Know then, 'twas _I_," was the dauntless reply of
+Mrs. Bratton, "and let the consequences be what they will," she added,
+"I glory in having frustrated the mischief contemplated by the merciless
+enemies of my country."
+
+
+
+
+A POOR WOMAN'S OFFERING.
+
+  The world is but a word;
+  Were it all yours, to give it in a breath,
+  How quickly were it gone!
+
+                                        SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+The following anecdote was related, a few years ago, by the Rev. W. S.
+Plumer, while addressing the Virginia Baptist Education Society. We
+regret that he did not give the name of the good woman who possessed
+such commendable zeal for the missionary cause.
+
+"A poor woman had attended a missionary meeting a few years since. Her
+heart was moved with pity. She looked around on her house and furniture
+to see what she could spare for the mission. She could think of nothing
+that would be of any use. At length she thought of her five children,
+three daughters and two sons. She entered her closet, and consecrated
+them to the mission. Two of her daughters are now in heathen lands, and
+the other is preparing to go. Of her sons, one is on his way to India,
+and the other is preparing for the ministry, and inquiring on the
+subject of a missionary life."
+
+
+
+
+THE MOTHER OF PRESIDENT JACKSON.
+
+        How often has the thought
+        Of my mourn'd mother brought
+  Peace to my troubled spirit, and new power
+        The tempter to repel.
+        Mother, thou knowest well
+  That thou has bless'd me since my natal hour.
+
+                                            PIERPONT.
+
+
+The mother of General Jackson had three children. Their names were Hugh,
+Robert and Andrew. The last was the youngest and lost his father when an
+infant. Like the mother of Washington, she was a very pious woman, and
+strove to glorify God as much in the rearing of her children as in the
+performance of any other duty. She taught Andrew the leading doctrines
+of the Bible, in the form of question and answer, from the Westminster
+catechism; and those lessons he never forgot. In conversation with him
+some years since, says a writer, "General Jackson spoke of his mother in
+a manner that convinced me that she never ceased to exert a secret power
+over him, until his heart was brought into reconciliation with God."
+This change, however, he did not experience till very late in
+life--after he had retired from the Presidency. He united with the
+Presbyterian church near the close of the year 1839, then in his
+seventy-third year. Just before his death, which occurred in June, 1845,
+he said to a clergyman, "My lamp of life is nearly out, and the last
+glimmer is come. I am ready to depart when called. The Bible is true....
+Upon that sacred volume I rest my hope of eternal salvation, through the
+merits and blood of our blessed Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ."
+
+If departed spirits, the saintly and ascended, are permitted to look
+from their high habitation, upon the scenes of earth, with what holy
+transport must the mother of Andrew Jackson have beheld the death-bed
+triumph of her son. The lad whom she early sent to an academy at the
+Waxhaw meeting-house, hoping to fit him for the ministry, had become a
+man, and led the hosts of the land through many a scene of conflict and
+on to a glorious and decisive victory; had filled the highest office in
+the world, and was now an old man, able, in his last earthly hour, _by
+the grace of God attending her early, pious instruction_, to challenge
+death for his sting and to shout "victory" over his opening grave.
+
+
+
+
+THE YOUNG HEROINE OF FORT HENRY.
+
+        Judge me not ungentle,
+  Of manner's rude, and insolent of speech,
+  If, when the public safety is in question,
+  My zeal flows warm and eager from my tongue.
+
+                                  ROWE'S JANE SHORE.
+
+
+The siege of Fort Henry, at the mouth of Wheeling creek, in Ohio county,
+Virginia, occurred in September, 1777. Of the historical _fact_ most
+people are aware; yet but few, comparatively, knew how much the little
+band in the garrison, who held out against thirty or forty times their
+number of savage assailants, were indebted, for their success, to the
+courage and self-devotion of a single female.
+
+The Indians kept up a brisk firing from about sunrise till past noon,
+when they ceased and retired a short distance to the foot of a hill.
+During the forenoon the little company in the fort had not been idle.
+Among their number were a few sharp shooters, who had burnt most of the
+powder on hand to the best advantage. Almost every charge had taken
+effect; and probably the savages began to see that they were losing
+numbers at fearful odds, and had doubtless retired for consultation. But
+they had less occasion for anxiety, just at that time, than the men,
+women and children in the garrison. As already hinted, the stock of
+powder was nearly exhausted. There was a keg in a house ten or twelve
+rods from the gate of the fort, and as soon as the hostilities of the
+Indians were suspended, the question arose, who shall attempt to seize
+this prize? Strange to say, every soldier proffered his services, and
+there was an ardent contention among them for the honor. In the weak
+state of the garrison, Colonel Shepard, the commander, deemed it
+advisable that only one person should be spared; and in the midst of the
+confusion, before any one could be designated, a girl named Elizabeth
+Zane,[48] interrupted the debate, saying that her life was not so
+important, at that time, as any one of the soldier's, and claiming the
+privilege of performing the contested service. The Colonel would not, at
+first, listen to her proposal; but she was so resolute, so persevering
+in her plea, and her argument was so powerful, that he finally suffered
+the gate to be opened, and she passed out. The Indians saw her before
+she reached her brother's house, where the keg was deposited; but, for
+some unknown cause, they did not molest her, until she re-appeared with
+the article under her arm. Probably divining the nature of her burden,
+they discharged a volley as she was running towards the gate; but the
+whizzing balls only gave agility to her feet, and herself and the prize
+were quickly safe within the gate. The result was that the soldiers
+inspired with enthusiasm by this heroic adventure, fought with renewed
+courage, and, before the keg of powder was exhausted, the enemy raised
+the siege.
+
+  [48] We learn, from Withers, that Miss Zane has since had two husbands.
+
+  The name of the second was Clarke, a resident of Ohio. She was living,
+  not long since, near St. Clairsville.
+
+
+
+
+A BENEVOLENT WIDOW
+
+                Charity ever
+  Finds in the act reward.
+
+                     BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER.
+
+
+Several years ago, a poor widow had placed a smoked herring,--the last
+morsel of food she had in the house--on the table for herself and
+children, when a stranger entered and solicited food, saying that he had
+had nothing to eat for twenty-four hours. The widow unhesitatingly
+offered to share the herring with him, remarking, at the same time, "We
+shall not be forsaken, or suffer deeper for an act of charity."
+
+  [Illustration: THE WIDOW AND HER SON.]
+
+As the stranger drew near the table and saw the scantiness of the fare,
+he asked, "And is this all your store? Do you offer a share to one you
+do not know? Then I never saw charity before. But, madam, do you not
+wrong your children by giving a part of your morsel to a stranger?"
+"Ah," said she, with tears in her eyes, "I have a boy, a darling son,
+somewhere on the face of the wide world, unless Heaven has taken him
+away; and I only act towards you as I would that others should act
+towards him. God, who sent manna from heaven, can provide for us as he
+did for Israel; and how should I this night offend him, if my son
+should be a wanderer, destitute as you, and he should have provided for
+him a home, even as poor as this, were I to turn you unrelieved away!"
+
+The stranger whom she thus addressed, was the long absent son to whom
+she referred; and when she stopped speaking, he sprang from his feet,
+clasped her in his arms, and exclaimed, "God, indeed, has provided just
+such a home for your wandering son, _and has given him wealth to reward
+the goodness of his benefactress_. My mother! O, my mother!"[49]
+
+  [49] Abridged from Cyclopedia of Moral and Religious Anecdotes.
+
+
+
+
+ANNE FITZHUGH.
+
+  Who shall find a valiant woman?
+  The price of her is as things brought from afar.
+
+                                           PROVERBS.
+
+                               'T is the last
+  Duty that I can pay to my dear lord.
+
+                                           FLETCHER.
+
+
+The wife of Colonel William Fitzhugh, of Maryland, while he was absent
+at one time during the Revolution, was surprised by the news that a
+party of British soldiers was approaching her house. She instantly
+collected her slaves; furnished them with such weapons of defence as
+were at hand; took a quantity of cartridges in her apron, and, herself
+forming the van, urged her sable subalterns on to meet the foe. Not
+looking for resistance, the advancing party, on beholding the amazon
+with her sooty invincibles, hastily turned on their heels and fled.
+
+  [Illustration: THE HEROIC MOTHER.]
+
+On a subsequent occasion, a detachment of soldiers marched at midnight
+to Colonel Fitzhugh's house, which was half a mile from the shore, and
+near the mouth of the Patuxent river, and knocked at the door. The
+Colonel demanding who was there, and receiving for reply that the
+visitants were "friends to King George," told the unwelcome intruders
+that he was blind and unable to wait upon them, but that his wife would
+admit them forthwith. Lighting a candle and merely putting on her
+slippers, she descended, awoke her sons, put pistols in their hands,
+and, pointing to the back door, told them to flee. She then let the
+soldiers in at the front door. They inquired for Colonel Fitzhugh, and
+said he must come down stairs at once and go as a prisoner to New York.
+She accordingly dressed her husband--forgetting meanwhile, to do as much
+for herself--and when he had descended, he assured the soldiers that his
+blindness, and the infirmities of age unfitted him to take care of
+himself, and that it could hardly be desirable for them to take in
+charge so decrepit and inoffensive a person. They thought otherwise; and
+his wife, seeing he must go, took his arm and said she would go too. The
+officer told her she would be exposed and must suffer, but she persisted
+in accompanying him, saying that he could not take care of himself, nor,
+if he could, would she permit a separation.
+
+It was a cold and rainy night, and with the mere protection of a cloak,
+which the officer took down and threw over her shoulders before leaving
+the house, she sallied forth with the party. While on the way to their
+boat, the report of a gun was heard, which the soldiers supposed was the
+signal of a rebel gathering. They hastened to the boat, where a parole
+was written out with trembling hand, and placed in the old gentleman's
+possession. Without even a benediction, he was left on shore with his
+faithful and fearless companion, who thought but little of her wet feet
+as she stood and saw the cowardly detachment of British soldiers push
+off and row away with all their might for safety.
+
+
+
+
+ESTHER GASTON.
+
+  True fortitude is seen in great exploits
+  That justice warrants and that wisdom guides.
+
+                                           ADDISON.
+
+  The good alone are great.
+
+                                           BEATTIE.
+
+
+On the morning of July thirtieth, 1770, Esther Gaston, afterwards the
+wife of Alexander Walker, hearing the firing at the battle of Rocky
+Mount, took with her a sister-in-law, and, well mounted, pushed on
+towards the scene of conflict. They soon met two or three cowardly men,
+hastening from the field of action. Esther hailed and rebuked them, and
+finding entreaties would not cause them to retrace their steps, she
+seized the gun from the hands of one of them, exclaiming, "Give _us_
+your guns, then, and we will stand in your places." The cowards,
+abashed, now wheeled, and, in company with the females, hurried on to
+face the cannon's mouth.
+
+While the strife was still raging, Esther and her companion busied
+themselves in dressing the wounded and quenching the thirst of the
+dying. Even their helpless enemies shared in their humane services.
+
+During the battle of Hanging Rock, which occurred the next week, Esther
+might be seen at Waxhaw church, which was converted for the time into a
+hospital, administering to the wants of the wounded.
+
+As kind as patriotic, with her hands filled with soothing cordials, she
+was seen, through all her life, knocking at the door of suffering
+humanity.
+
+
+
+
+REMARKABLE PRESENCE OF MIND AND SELF-POSSESSION.
+
+  Were I the monarch of the earth,
+  And master of the swelling sea,
+  I would not estimate their worth,
+  Dear woman, half the price of thee.
+
+                              GEO. P. MORRIS.
+
+
+Mr. Ralph Izard, a true "liberty man," resided, during the struggle for
+Independence, near Dorchester, in South Carolina. He was for awhile
+aid-de-camp to the commander of the Light Troops, and was an especial
+object of British hatred. On one occasion, while at home, he came very
+near falling into the hands of the enemy. A number of British soldiers
+surrounded his house, and on discovering them he hid himself in the
+clothes-press. They were confident he was in the house, and having
+instituted a thorough but ineffectual search, threatened to burn the
+building, unless his wife would point out his place of concealment. She
+adroitly evaded answering directly all queries respecting his quarters.
+They next robbed his wardrobe; seized all the better articles they could
+find in the house, and even tried to force off her finger-rings. She
+still remained composed and courageous, yet courteous and urbane,
+knowing that much, every thing, in fact, depended on her self-control.
+Her calmness and apparent unconcern led the marauders to conclude that
+they had been misled in supposing Mr. Izard was in the house; and at
+length they departed. He then sprang from his covert, and, rushing out
+by a back door, crossed the Ashley river and notified the Americans on
+the opposite side, of the state of things.
+
+Meantime, the ruffians returned to the house, and, strange to say, went
+directly to the clothes-press. Again disappointed, they retired; but
+they were soon met by a body of cavalry, handsomely whipped, and all the
+fine articles belonging to Mr. Izard's wardrobe and house were
+restored.
+
+
+
+
+THE WIFE OF GOVERNOR GRISWOLD.
+
+  Happy the man, and happy sure he was,
+  So wedded.
+
+                                   HURDIS.
+
+
+The residence of the first Governor of Connecticut, was at Blackhall,
+near Long Island Sound. While British ships were lying at anchor in
+these waters on a certain occasion, a party of marines in pursuit of his
+Excellency, presented themselves at the door. It being impossible for
+him to escape by flight, his affectionate and thoughtful wife secreted
+him in a large new meat barrel or tierce--for although he was somewhat
+corpulent, he could not vie in physical rotundity with the early and
+honored Knickerbocker magistrates. He was cleverly packed away in the
+future home of doomed porkers, just as the soldiers entered and
+commenced their search. Not finding him readily, they asked his
+quick-witted wife one or two hard questions, but received no very
+enlightening answer. The Legislature had convened a day or two before at
+Hartford, and she intimated that he was or ought to be at the capital.
+Unsuccessful in their search, the soldiers took their boat and returned
+to the ship. Before they had reached the latter, his unpacked Honor was
+on a swift steed, galloping to Gubernatorial head-quarters.
+
+
+
+
+BOLD EXPLOIT OF A YOUNG GIRL.
+
+  Some god impels with courage not thy own.
+
+                                 POPE'S HOMER.
+
+
+Robert Gibbes was the owner of a splendid mansion on John's Island, a
+few miles from Charleston, South Carolina, known, during the Revolution,
+as the "Peaceful Retreat." On his plantation the British encamped on a
+certain occasion; and the American authorities sent two galleys up the
+Stono river, on which the mansion stood, to dislodge them. Strict
+injunctions had been given to the men not to fire on the house, but Mr.
+Gibbes not being aware of this fact, when the firing commenced, thought
+it advisable to take his family to some remote place for shelter. They
+accordingly started in a cold and drizzly rain and in a direction
+ranging with the fire of the American guns. Shot struck the trees and
+cut the bushes beside their path for some distance. When about a mile
+from the mansion, and out of danger, reaching the huts occupied by the
+negroes on the plantation, Mrs. Gibbes, being chilled and exhausted, was
+obliged to lie down. Here, when they supposed all were safe, and began
+to rejoice over their fortunate escape, to their great astonishment,
+they discovered that a boy named Fenwick, a member of the family, had
+been left behind.[50] It was still raining, was very dark, and imminent
+danger must attend an effort to rescue the lad. And who would risk life
+in attempting it? The servants refused. Mr. Gibbes was gouty and feeble,
+and prudence forbade him to again venture out. At length, the oldest
+daughter of the family, Mary Ann, only thirteen years old, offers to go
+alone. She hastens off; reaches the house, still in possession of the
+British; begs the sentinel to let her enter; and though repeatedly
+repulsed, she doubles the earnestness of her entreaties, and finally
+gains admittance. She finds the child in the third story; clasps him in
+her arms; hastens down stairs, and, passing the sentry, flees with the
+shot whizzing past her head; and herself and the child are soon with the
+rest of the family.
+
+  [50] In addition to her own family, Mrs. Gibbes had the care of the
+  seven orphan children of Mrs. Fenwick, her sister-in-law, and two other
+  children. It is not surprising, that, in the confusion of a sudden
+  flight from the house, one of the number should be left behind.
+
+
+
+
+SUSANNA WRIGHT.
+
+  Work for some good, be it ever so slowly;
+  Cherish some flower, be it ever so lowly;
+  Labor--all labor is noble and holy.
+
+                                    MRS. OSGOOD.
+
+
+Susanna Wright removed to this country with her parents from Warrington,
+in Great Britain, in the year 1714. The family settled in Lancaster
+county, Pennsylvania. Susanna was then about seventeen. "She never
+married; but after the death of her father, became the head of her own
+family, who looked up to her for advice and direction as a parent, for
+her heart was replete with every kind affection."
+
+She was a remarkable economist of time, for although she had the
+constant management of a large family, and, at times, of a profitable
+establishment, she mastered many of the sciences; was a good French,
+Latin and Italian scholar; assisted neighbors in the settlement of
+estates, and was frequently consulted as a physician.
+
+"She took great delight in domestic manufacture, and had constantly much
+of it produced in her family. For many years she attended to the rearing
+of silk worms, and with the silk, which she reeled and prepared
+herself, made many articles both of beauty and utility, dying the silk
+of various colors with indigenous materials. She had at one time upwards
+of sixty yards of excellent mantua returned to her from Great Britain,
+where she had sent the raw silk to be manufactured."
+
+This industrious and pious Quakeress, who seems to have possessed all
+the excellencies defined in Solomon's inventory of the virtuous woman,
+lived more than four score years, an ornament to her sex and a blessing
+to the race.
+
+                          "There was no need,
+  In those good times, of trim callisthenics,--
+  And there was less of gadding, and far more
+  Of home-bred, heart-felt comfort, rooted strong
+  In industry, and bearing such rare fruit
+  As wealth may never purchase."
+
+
+
+
+PATRIOTISM OF 1770.
+
+  In conduct, as in courage, you excel,
+  Still first to act what you advise so well.
+
+                                    POPE'S HOMER.
+
+
+In the early part of February, 1770, the women of Boston publicly
+pledged themselves to abstain from the use of tea, "as a practical
+execution of the non-importation agreement of their fathers, husbands
+and brothers." We are credibly informed, writes the editor of the Boston
+Gazette of February ninth, "that upwards of one hundred ladies at the
+north part of the town, have, of their own free will and accord, come
+into and signed an agreement, not to drink any tea till the Revenue Acts
+are passed." At that date three hundred matrons had become members of
+the league.
+
+Three days after the above date, the young women followed the example of
+their mothers, multitudes signing a document which read as follows: "We,
+the daughters of those patriots who have and do now appear for the
+public interest, and, in that, principally regard their posterity,--as
+such do with pleasure engage with them in denying ourselves the drinking
+of foreign tea, in hopes to frustrate a plan which tends to deprive the
+whole community of all that is valuable in life."
+
+Multitudes of females in New York and Virginia, and, if we mistake not,
+some in other states, made similar movements; and it is easy to
+perceive, in the tone of those early pledges of self-denial for honor,
+liberty, country's sake, the infancy of that spirit which, quickly
+reaching its manhood, planned schemes of resistance to oppression on a
+more magnanimous scale, and flagged not till a work was done which
+filled half the world with admiration and the whole with astonishment.
+
+
+
+
+MRS. SPALDING OF GEORGIA.
+
+  Through trials hard as these, how oft are seen
+  The tender sex, in fortitude serene.
+
+                                    ANN SEWARD.
+
+
+Mrs. Spalding was the niece of General Lachlan McIntosh, daughter of
+Colonel William McIntosh and mother of Major Spalding, of Georgia.
+
+In 1778, after Colonel Campbell took possession of Savannah, Georgia,
+that section of the country was infested with reckless marauders, and
+many families fled to avoid their ruthlessness. Mr. Spalding retired
+with his wife and child to Florida; and twice during the Revolution, she
+traversed "the two hundred miles between Savannah and St. John's river,
+in an open boat, with only black servants on board, when the whole
+country was a desert, without a house to shelter her and her infant
+son."
+
+The part she bore in the dangers of the Revolution and the anxieties to
+which she was necessarily subjected, so impaired her health that "many
+years afterwards it was deemed necessary that she should try the climate
+of Europe. In January, 1800, she, with her son and his wife, left
+Savannah in a British ship of twenty guns, with fifty men, built in all
+points to resemble a sloop of war, without the appearance of a cargo.
+When they had been out about fifteen days, the captain sent one morning
+at daylight, to request the presence of two of his gentlemen passengers
+on deck. A large ship, painted black and showing twelve guns on a side,
+was seen to windward, running across their course. She was obviously a
+French privateer. The captain announced that there was no hope of
+out-sailing her, should their course be altered; nor would there be hope
+in a conflict, as those ships usually carried one hundred and fifty men.
+Yet he judged that if no effort were made to shun the privateer, the
+appearance of his ship might deter from an attack. The gentlemen were of
+the same opinion. Mr. Spalding, heart-sick at thought of the perilous
+situation of his wife and mother, and unwilling to trust himself with an
+interview till the crisis was over, requested the captain to go below
+and make what preparation he could for their security. After a few
+minutes' absence the captain returned to describe a most touching scene.
+Mrs. Spalding had placed her daughter-in-law and the other inmates of
+the cabin for safety in the two state-rooms, filling the berths with the
+cots and bedding from the outer cabin. She had then taken her station
+beside the scuttle, which led from the outer cabin to the magazine, with
+two buckets of water. Having noticed that the two cabin boys were
+heedless, she had determined herself to keep watch over the magazine.
+She did so till the danger was past. The captain took in his light
+sails, hoisted his boarding nettings, opened his ports, and stood on
+upon his course. The privateer waited till the ship was within a mile,
+then fired a gun to windward, and stood on her way. This ruse preserved
+the ship."[51]
+
+  [51] Mrs. Ellet.
+
+
+
+
+COURAGEOUS ACT OF MRS. DILLARD.
+
+  Thy country, glorious, brave and fair,
+  Thine all of life--
+  Her name alone thy heart's depths stirred,
+  And filled thy soul with war-like pride.
+
+                                    SARA J. CLARKE.
+
+
+The day before the battle at the Green Spring, in the Spartanburg
+district, South Carolina, Colonel Clarke, of the Georgia volunteers,
+with about two hundred men, stopped at the house of Captain Dillard and
+were cordially welcomed to a good supply of refreshments. In the evening
+of the same day, Colonel Ferguson and another officer named Dunlap, with
+a party of tories, arrived at the same house and inquired of the
+mistress, if Colonel Clarke had been there, to which question she gave a
+direct and honest answer. He then inquired in regard to the time of
+Clarke's departure and the number of his men. She could not guess their
+number, but said they had been gone a long time. She was then ordered to
+get supper, which she did, though in a less hospitable spirit than she
+had prepared the previous meal. While at work, she overheard some of the
+conversation of the officers, by which she learned that they were bent
+on surprising Colonel Clarke, and would start for that purpose when
+supper was dispatched. As soon as the food was on the table, Mrs.
+Dillard hurried out at the back door, bridled a horse that stood in the
+stable, and mounting without saddle, rode till nearly daylight before
+reaching the Green Spring where Clarke had encamped, and where he was to
+be attacked by Ferguson, at the break of day or sooner, as she had
+learned before starting.
+
+She had just aroused the whigs and notified them of their danger, when a
+detachment of two hundred picked, mounted men, commanded by Dunlap,
+rushed into the camp. They found their intended victims ready for the
+charge; were quickly driven out of the camp, and glad to escape by
+flight. Thus, fortunately for the friends of freedom, ended this battle,
+which, but for the daring of a single patriotic woman, would doubtless
+have resulted in the annihilation of the little band of Georgia
+volunteers.
+
+
+
+
+PHOEBE PHILLIPS.
+
+  The secret pleasure of a generous act
+  Is the great mind's great bribe.
+
+                                    DRYDEN.
+
+
+Phoebe Foxcroft, afterwards the wife of Samuel Phillips, the joint
+founder, with his uncle, of the academy at Andover, Massachusetts, was a
+native of Cambridge, in the same state. Reared beneath the shades of
+"Old Harvard" and being the daughter of a man of wealth and high
+respectability, it is almost needless to say that she was well educated
+and highly refined. To mental attainments she added the finishing charm
+of female character, glowing piety. The last forty years or more of her
+life were passed at Andover, where, after the death of her husband, she
+assisted in founding the celebrated Theological seminary. She died in
+1818.
+
+It is said that she was accustomed, for years, to make the health of
+every pupil in the academy a subject of personal interest. Her
+attentions to their wants were impartial and incalculably beneficial. To
+those that came from remote towns, and were thus deprived of parental
+oversight, she acted the part of a faithful mother.
+
+Affectionate, kind, generous, watchful, as a christian guardian; she was
+unbending, self-sacrificing and "zealous, yet modest," as a patriot.
+During the seven years' struggle for freedom, she frequently sat up till
+midnight or past, preparing bandages and scraping lint for the hospitals
+and making garments for the ragged soldiers.
+
+An offender of justice was once passing her house on his way to the
+whipping-post, when a boy, who observed him from her window, could not
+withhold a tear. He tried to conceal his emotion, but Mrs. Phillips saw
+the pearl drop of pity, and while a kindred drop fell from her own eyes,
+she said to him, with much emphasis and as though laying down some
+golden maxim--"When you become a law maker, examine the subject of
+corporeal punishment, and see if it is not unnatural, vindictive and
+productive of much evil." She was very discriminating, and could detect
+talent as well as tears; and addressed the lad with a premonition that
+he was destined to become a legislator--which was indeed the case.
+Elected to the assembly of the state, with the sacred command of his
+early and revered mentor impressed on his memory, he early called the
+attention of that body to the subject of corporeal punishment; had the
+statute book revised and the odious law, save in capital offences,
+expunged, and the pleasure of announcing the fact to the original
+suggestor of the movement.
+
+
+
+
+WORTHY EXAMPLE OF A POOR WIDOW.
+
+  Howe'er it be, it seems to me
+    'Tis only noble to be good;
+  Kind hearts are more than coronets,
+    And simple faith than Norman blood.
+
+                                   TENNYSON.
+
+
+The following article was communicated to the Christian Watchman and
+Reflector, of Boston, for January thirtieth, 1851. The facts are given
+without coloring or embellishment. The subject of the article has gone
+to the grave, but the influence of her exemplary life has not ceased to
+be felt. Her
+
+               "Speaking dust
+  Has more of life than half its breathing moulds."
+
+Some twenty years since, the writer became pastor of a church in the
+town of B. A few weeks after my settlement, I called at the humble
+dwelling of a poor widow, with whom I had already become somewhat
+acquainted. Having been apprised of the high estimation in which she was
+held by the church of which she was a member, for her cheerful and
+consistent piety, an interesting and profitable interview was
+anticipated. I had been seated but a few moments when she placed in my
+hand one dollar, and proceeded, by way of explanation, to make the
+following statements, which I give as nearly as possible in her own
+language:
+
+"Before you came among us, our church and people where in a very
+depressed and disheartened condition. For two or three Sabbaths we had
+no religious services during the day. How sad to be as sheep without a
+shepherd, and to have the house of God closed on his holy day! If the
+Lord would only send us a pastor, I felt willing to do any thing in my
+power to aid in sustaining him. But then the thought occurred to me,
+What can _you_ do, a poor widow, with four small children to support,
+and your house rent to pay? It is quite as much as you can do to meet
+necessary expenses. For a moment I was sad; but my mind still dwelt upon
+the subject, until finally this plan occurred to me: 'God has blessed
+you with excellent health, and you can sit up and work between the hours
+of nine and eleven or twelve o'clock at night; and what you thus earn
+you can give for that object.' I was at once relieved, and resolved
+before the Lord that, if he would send us a pastor, I would immediately
+commence my labors, and do what I could to aid in sustaining and
+encouraging him. I felt that now I could pray consistently, as I was
+willing to do my duty. With a faith and fervor to which I had before
+been a stranger, I besought the Lord speedily to favor us with an
+under-shepherd; and soon you came here to preach for us. I believed God
+sent you; and although at first you had no idea of remaining, I never
+doubted that you would become our pastor. As soon as you had accepted
+the call of the church, I began to work in accordance with my vow, and
+that dollar is the result of my earning, the last four weeks. And O, you
+would rejoice with me, could you know how much I have enjoyed these
+silent hours of night, when my children around me are wrapt in slumber,
+and all is as the stillness of the grave. The Lord has been with me
+continually, and I have had uninterrupted communion with him. When God
+had given us a pastor, I felt I must pray for a blessing to attend his
+labors among us; and, often have I been so impressed with the importance
+of a revival of religion, and the conversion of my children, and the
+people of this place, that I have been obliged to leave my work, and
+kneel down before my Maker, and earnestly plead with him that his Spirit
+may accomplish this work. Even after I had retired to rest, I have
+sometimes been obliged to arise and pray that he would save the souls of
+this people. And, blessed be his holy name, he has listened to prayer
+for this object also. When I heard of the numbers who attended the
+religious inquiry meeting, and the hopeful conversion of some to God, I
+felt I could say, 'This is the Lord, I have waited for him;' and I
+believe he will do greater things than these in our midst. Thus has God
+blessed one of the most unworthy of all his creatures; and I have often
+been led to sing, while I have been laboring here, lowly as is my
+condition,
+
+  'I would not change my blest estate,
+  With all that earth calls rich or great;
+  And, while my faith can keep her hold,
+  I envy not the sinner's gold.'"
+
+My attention had been absorbed with this interesting and affecting
+narrative; nor had I any inclination to interrupt it with remarks of my
+own. I now thought I could read the secret of the apparent success which
+had attended my labors in so short a time. As soon as I could recover
+from my emotions, I said to her, I am grateful for your prayers and this
+proffered donation; but, as my parish affords me a competent support, I
+can on no account feel at liberty to appropriate to my own private use
+the money thus earned. No; you shall have the additional satisfaction,
+while you are toiling at these unseasonable hours of night, of knowing
+that what you place in my hands shall be sacredly devoted to the cause
+of Christian benevolence, which I am sure you ardently love. With this
+she expressed herself satisfied; and continued her toils and prayers.
+
+It may be asked, What was the result? The answer is recorded with
+pleasure, and, I trust, with gratitude to God. Besides punctually
+attending all the meetings of the church, and laboring much in private
+for the eternal welfare of souls; besides supporting her family with
+more ease than formerly, as she stated to her pastor, at the close of
+the first year, and paying her assessments in several charitable
+societies to which she belonged, and also contributing something
+whenever a public collection was taken for benevolent objects; in
+addition to all this, she had placed in my hands ten dollars and a half,
+which was appropriated as stated above. Her donations for objects of
+religious charity must have amounted to at least _twelve dollars_ during
+that year, which, it is presumed, exceeded the amount given for similar
+objects by any other member of the church, although quite a number
+possessed a comfortable share of wealth. It may be thought that she was
+engaged in some business which yielded a handsome profit to reward her
+toils. But no; her business was shoe-binding, not then by any means very
+profitable. And who, with her disposition and spirit, could not do
+something to aid the cause of God? But what she earned and gave was not
+all. Her prayers, it is believed, had secured for the church a pastor,
+and been the means, with others, of the commencement of a revival of
+religion, which continued to prevail to a greater or less extent, for
+three successive years, during which time a large number were hopefully
+converted and added to the church: and among them several of her older
+children, who were away from home.
+
+
+
+
+ELIZABETH ESTAUGH.
+
+  A perfect woman, nobly planned,
+  To warn, to comfort and command;
+  And yet a spirit still, and bright
+  With something of an angel light.
+
+                                WORDSWORTH.
+
+
+Elizabeth Haddon was the oldest daughter of John Haddon, a well educated
+and wealthy, yet humble, Quaker, of London. She had two sisters, both of
+whom, with herself, received the highest finish of a practical
+education. Elizabeth possessed uncommon strength of mind, earnestness,
+energy and originality of character, and a heart overflowing with the
+kindest and warmest feelings. A single anecdote of her childhood, told
+by Mrs. Child, will illustrate the nobleness of nature which
+characterized her life:
+
+"At one time, she asked to have a large cake baked, because she wanted
+to invite some little girls. All her small funds were expended for
+oranges and candy on this occasion. When the time arrived, her father
+and mother were much surprised to see her lead in six little ragged
+beggars. They were, however, too sincerely humble and religious to
+_express_ any surprise. They treated the forlorn little ones very
+tenderly, and freely granted their daughter's request to give them some
+of her books and playthings at parting. When they had gone, the good
+mother quietly said, 'Elizabeth, why didst thou invite strangers,
+instead of thy schoolmates?' There was a heavenly expression in her eye,
+as she looked up earnestly, and answered, 'Mother, I wanted to invite
+_them_, they looked _so_ poor.'"
+
+When eleven years of age, she accompanied her parents to the Yearly
+Meeting of the Friends, where she heard, among other preachers, a very
+young man named John Estaugh, with whose manner of presenting divine
+truth she was particularly pleased. Many of his words were treasured in
+her memory. At the age of seventeen she made a profession of religion,
+uniting herself with the Quakers.
+
+During her early youth, William Penn visited the house of her father,
+and greatly amused her by describing his adventures with the Indians.
+From that time she became interested in the emigrant Quakers, and early
+began to talk of coming to America. Her father at length purchased a
+tract of land in New Jersey, with the view of emigrating, but his
+affairs took a new turn, and he made up his mind to remain in his native
+land. This decision disappointed Elizabeth. She had cherished the
+conviction that it was her duty to come to this country; and when, at
+length, her father, who was unwilling that any of his property should
+lie unimproved, offered the tract of land in New Jersey to any relative
+who would settle upon it, she promptly agreed to accept of the
+proffered estate. Willing that their child should follow in the path of
+duty, at the end of three months, and after much prayer, the parents
+consented to let Elizabeth join "the Lord's people in the New World."
+
+Accordingly, early in the spring of 1700, writes Mrs. Child, in whose
+sweet language, slightly condensed, the rest of the narrative is told,
+arrangements were made for her departure, and all things were provided
+that the abundance of wealth, or the ingenuity of affection, could
+devise.
+
+A poor widow of good sense and discretion accompanied her, as friend and
+housekeeper, and two trusty men servants, members of the Society of
+Friends. Among the many singular manifestations of strong faith and
+religious zeal, connected with the settlement of this country, few are
+more remarkable than the voluntary separation of this girl of eighteen
+years old from a wealthy home and all the pleasant associations of
+childhood, to go to a distant and thinly inhabited country, to fulfill
+what she considered a religious duty. And the humble, self-sacrificing
+faith of the parents, in giving up their child, with such reverend
+tenderness for the promptings of her own conscience, has in it something
+sublimely beautiful, if we look at it in its own pure light. The parting
+took place with more love than words can express, and yet without a tear
+on either side. Even during the long and tedious voyage, Elizabeth never
+wept. She preserved a martyr-like cheerfulness and serenity to the end.
+
+The house prepared for her reception stood in a clearing of the forest,
+three miles from any other dwelling. She arrived in June, when the
+landscape was smiling in youthful beauty; and it seemed to her as if the
+arch of heaven was never before so clear and bright, the carpet of the
+earth never so verdant. As she sat at her window and saw evening close
+in upon her in that broad forest home, and heard, for the first time,
+the mournful notes of the whippo-wil and the harsh scream of the jay in
+the distant woods, she was oppressed with a sense of vastness, of
+infinity, which she never before experienced, not even on the ocean. She
+remained long in prayer, and when she lay down to sleep beside her
+matron friend, no words were spoken between them. The elder, overcome
+with fatigue, soon sank into a peaceful slumber; but the young
+enthusiast lay long awake, listening to the lone voice of the whippo-wil
+complaining to the night. Yet, notwithstanding this prolonged
+wakefulness, she arose early and looked out upon the lovely landscape.
+The rising sun pointed to the tallest trees with his golden finger, and
+was welcomed with a gush of song from a thousand warblers. The poetry in
+Elizabeth's soul, repressed by the severe plainness of her education,
+gushed up like a fountain. She dropped on her knees, and, with an
+outburst of prayer, exclaimed fervently, "Oh, Father, very beautiful
+hast thou made this earth! How bountiful are thy gifts, O Lord!"
+
+To a spirit less meek and brave, the darker shades of the picture would
+have obscured these cheerful gleams; for the situation was lonely and
+the inconveniences innumerable. But Elizabeth easily triumphed over all
+obstacles, by practical good sense and the quick promptings of her
+ingenuity. She was one of those clear strong natures, who always have a
+definite aim in view, and who see at once the means best suited to the
+end. Her first inquiry was what grain was best adapted to the soil of
+her farm; and being informed that rye would yield best, "Then I shall
+eat rye bread," was her answer. But when winter came, and the gleaming
+snow spread its unbroken silence over hill and plain, was it not dreary
+then? It would have been dreary indeed to one who entered upon this mode
+of life from mere love of novelty, or a vain desire to do something
+extraordinary. But the idea of extended usefulness, which had first
+lured this remarkable girl into a path so unusual, sustained her through
+all trials. She was too busy to be sad, and leaned too trustingly on her
+Father's hand to be doubtful of her way. The neighboring Indians soon
+loved her as a friend, for they found her always truthful, just, and
+kind. From their teachings, she added much to her knowledge of simple
+medicines. So efficient was her skill and so prompt her sympathy, that
+for many miles round, if man, woman, or child were alarmingly ill, they
+were sure to send for Elizabeth Haddon; and wherever she went, her
+observing mind gathered some hint for the improvement of farm or dairy.
+Her house and heart were both large; and as her residence was on the way
+to the Quaker meeting-house in Newtown, it became a place of universal
+resort to Friends from all parts of the country traveling that road, as
+well as an asylum for benighted wanderers.
+
+The winter was drawing to a close, when late one evening, the sound of
+sleigh-bells was heard, and the crunching of snow beneath the hoofs of
+horses, as they passed into the barn-yard gate. The arrival of travelers
+was too common an occurrence to excite or disturb the well-ordered
+family.
+
+Great logs were piled in the capacious chimney, and the flames blazed up
+with a crackling warmth, when two strangers entered. In the younger,
+Elizabeth instantly recognized John Estaugh, whose preaching had so
+deeply impressed her at eleven years of age. This was almost like a
+glimpse of home--her dear old English home! She stepped forward with
+more than usual cordiality, saying:
+
+"Thou art welcome, Friend Estaugh; the more so for being entirely
+unexpected."
+
+"And I am glad to see thee, Elizabeth," he replied with a friendly shake
+of the hand. "It was not until after I landed in America, that I heard
+the Lord had called thee hither before me; but I remember thy father
+told me how often thou hadst played the settler in the woods, when thou
+wast quite a little girl."
+
+"I am but a child still," she replied, smiling.
+
+"I trust thou art," he rejoined; "and as for these strong impressions in
+childhood, I have heard of many cases where they seemed to be prophecies
+sent of the Lord. When I saw thy father in London, I had even then an
+indistinct idea that I might sometime be sent to America on a religious
+visit."
+
+"And hast thou forgotten, Friend John, the ear of Indian corn which my
+father begged of thee for me? I can show it to thee now. Since then I
+have seen this grain in perfect growth; and a goodly plant it is, I
+assure thee. See," she continued, pointing to many bunches of ripe corn,
+which hung in their braided husks against the walls of the ample
+kitchen: "all that, and more, came from a single ear, no bigger than the
+one thou didst give my father. May the seed sown by thy ministry be as
+fruitful!" "Amen," replied both the guests.
+
+The next morning, it was discovered that snow had fallen during the
+night in heavy drifts, and the roads were impassable. Elizabeth,
+according to her usual custom, sent out men, oxen and sledges, to open
+pathways for several poor families, and for households whose inmates
+were visited by illness. In this duty, John Estaugh and his friend
+joined heartily and none of the laborers worked harder than they. When
+he returned, glowing from this exercise, she could not but observe that
+the excellent youth had a goodly countenance. It was not physical
+beauty; for of that he had little. It was that cheerful, child-like,
+out-beaming honesty of expression, which we not unfrequently see in
+Germans, who, above all nations, look as if they carried a crystal heart
+within their manly bosoms.
+
+Two days after, when Elizabeth went to visit her patients, with a
+sled-load of medicines and provisions, John asked permission to
+accompany her. There, by the bedside of the aged and the suffering, she
+saw the clear sincerity of his countenance warmed with rays of love,
+while he spoke to them words of kindness and consolation; and there she
+heard his pleasant voice modulate itself into deeper tenderness of
+expression, when he took little children in his arms.
+
+The next First day, which we call the Sabbath, the whole family attended
+Newtown meeting; and there John Estaugh was gifted with an out-pouring
+of the spirit in his ministry, which sank deep into the hearts of those
+who listened to him. Elizabeth found it so marvellously applicable to
+the trials and temptations of her own soul, that she almost deemed it
+was spoken on purpose for her. She said nothing of this, but she
+pondered upon it deeply. Thus did a few days of united duties make them
+more thoroughly acquainted with each other, than they could have been by
+years of fashionable intercourse.
+
+The young preacher soon after bade farewell, to visit other meetings in
+Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Elizabeth saw him no more until the May
+following, when he stopped at her house to lodge, with numerous other
+Friends, on their way to the Quarterly Meeting at Salem. In the morning,
+quite a cavalcade started from her hospitable door, on horseback; for
+wagons were then unknown in Jersey. John Estaugh, always kindly in his
+impulses, busied himself with helping a lame and very ugly old woman,
+and left his hostess to mount her horse as she could. Most young women
+would have felt slighted; but in Elizabeth's noble soul the quiet deep
+tide of feeling rippled with an inward joy. "He is always kindest to the
+poor and the neglected," thought she; "verily he _is_ a good youth." She
+was leaning over the side of her horse, to adjust the buckle of the
+girth, when he came up on horseback, and inquired if anything was out of
+order. She thanked him, with slight confusion of manner, and a voice
+less calm than her usual utterance. He assisted her to mount, and they
+trotted along leisurely behind the procession of guests, speaking of the
+soil and climate of this new country, and how wonderfully the Lord had
+here provided a home for his chosen people. Presently the girth began to
+slip, and the saddle turned so much on one side, that Elizabeth was
+obliged to dismount. It took some time to re-adjust it, and when they
+again started, the company were out of sight. There was brighter color
+than usual in the maiden's cheeks, and unwonted radiance in her mild
+deep eyes. After a short silence, she said, in a voice slightly
+tremulous, "Friend John, I have a subject of importance on my mind, and
+one which nearly interests thee. I am strongly impressed that the Lord
+has sent thee to me as a partner for life. I tell thee my impression
+frankly, but not without calm and deep reflection; for matrimony is a
+holy relation, and should be entered into with all sobriety. If thou
+hast no light on the subject, wilt thou gather into the stillness, and
+reverently listen to thy own inward revealings? Thou art to leave this
+part of the country to-morrow, and not knowing when I should see thee
+again, I felt moved to tell thee what lay upon my mind."
+
+The young man was taken by surprise. Though accustomed to that
+suppression of emotion which characterizes his religious sect, the color
+went and came rapidly in his face, for a moment; but he soon became
+calmer, and replied, "This thought is new to me, Elizabeth; and I have
+no light thereon. Thy company has been right pleasant to me, and thy
+countenance ever reminds me of William Penn's title page, 'Innocency
+with her open face.' I have seen thy kindness to the poor, and the wise
+management of thy household. I have observed, too, that thy
+warm-heartedness is tempered by a most excellent discretion, and that
+thy speech is ever sincere. Assuredly, such is the maiden I would ask of
+the Lord, as a most precious gift; but I never thought of this connexion
+with thee. I came to this country solely on a religious visit, and it
+might distract my mind to entertain this subject at present. When I have
+discharged the duties of my mission, we will speak further."
+
+"It is best so," rejoined the maiden; "but there is one thing disturbs
+my conscience. Thou hast spoken of my true speech; and yet, Friend John,
+I have deceived thee a little, even now, while we conferred together on
+a subject so serious. I know not from what weakness the temptation came;
+but I will not hide it from thee. I allowed thee to suppose, just now,
+that I was fastening the girth of my horse securely; but, in plain
+truth, I was loosening the girth, John, that the saddle might slip, and
+give me an excuse to fall behind our friends; for I thought thou wouldst
+be kind enough to come and ask if I needed thy services."
+
+They spoke no further concerning their union; but when he returned to
+England, in July, he pressed her hand affectionately, as he said,
+"Farewell, Elizabeth. If it be the Lord's will, I shall return to thee
+soon."
+
+In October, he returned to America, and they were soon married, at
+Newtown meeting, according to the simple form of the Society of Friends.
+Neither of them made any change of dress for the occasion, and there was
+no wedding feast. Without the aid of priest or magistrate, they took
+each other by the hand, and, in the presence of witnesses, calmly and
+solemnly promised to be kind and faithful to each other. The wedded pair
+quietly returned to their happy home, with none to intrude upon those
+sacred hours of human life, when the heart most needs to be left alone
+with its own deep emotions.
+
+During the long period of their union, she three times crossed the
+Atlantic, to visit her aged parents, and he occasionally left her for a
+season, when called abroad to preach. These temporary separations were
+felt as a cross, but the strong-hearted woman always cheerfully gave him
+up to follow his own convictions of duty. In 1742, he parted from her,
+to go on a religious visit to Tortola, in the West Indies. He died
+there, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. She published a religious
+tract of his, to which is prefixed a preface entitled "Elizabeth
+Estaugh's testimony concerning her beloved husband, John Estaugh." In
+this preface, she says, "Since it pleased Divine Providence so highly to
+favor me, with being the near companion of this dear worthy, I must give
+some small account of him. Few, if any, in a married state, ever lived
+in sweeter harmony than we did. He was a pattern of moderation in all
+things; not lifted up with any enjoyments, nor cast down at
+disappointments; a man endowed with many good gifts, which rendered him
+very agreeable to his friends, and much more to me, his wife, to whom
+his memory is most dear and precious."
+
+Elizabeth survived her excellent husband twenty years, useful and
+honored to the last. The monthly Meeting of Haddonfield, in a published
+testimonial, speak of her thus: "She was endowed with great natural
+abilities, which, being sanctified by the spirit of Christ, were much
+improved; whereby she became qualified to act in the affairs of the
+church, and was a serviceable member, having been clerk to the women's
+meeting nearly fifty years, greatly to their satisfaction. She was a
+sincere sympathizer with the afflicted, of a benevolent disposition, and
+in distributing to the poor, was desirous to do it in a way most
+profitable and durable to them, and, if possible, not to let the right
+hand know what the left did. Though in a state of affluence as to this
+world's wealth, she was an example of plainness and moderation. Her
+heart and house were open to her friends, whom to entertain seemed one
+of her greatest pleasures. Prudently cheerful, and well knowing the
+value of friendship, she was careful not to wound it herself, nor to
+encourage others in whispering supposed failings or weaknesses. Her last
+illness brought great bodily pain, which she bore with much calmness of
+mind and sweetness of spirit. She departed this life as one falling
+asleep, full of days, like unto a shock of corn, fully ripe."
+
+The town of Haddonfield, in New Jersey, took its name from her; and the
+tradition concerning her courtship is often repeated by some patriarch
+among the Quakers.
+
+Her medical skill is so well remembered, that the old nurses of New
+Jersey still recommend Elizabeth Estaugh's salve as the "sovereignest
+thing on earth."
+
+
+
+
+KATE MOORE.
+
+  From lowest place when virtuous things proceed,
+  The place is dignified by the doer's deed.
+
+                                              SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+Kate Moore is the daughter of Captain Moore, keeper of the Light House
+on Fairweather Island, sixty miles north of the city of New York, and
+about half way between the harbors of Black Rock and Bridgeport,
+Connecticut. The island is about half a mile from shore and contains
+five acres of land. On that little, secluded spot Captain Moore has
+resided nearly a quarter of a century, and has reared a family of five
+children, of whom Kate is the heroine.
+
+Disasters frequently occur to vessels which are driven round Montauk
+Point, and sometimes in the Sound, when they are homeward bound; and at
+such times she is always on the alert. She has so thoroughly cultivated
+the sense of hearing, that she can distinguish amid the howling storm,
+the shrieks of the drowning mariners, and thus direct a boat, which she
+has learned to manage most dexterously, in the darkest night, to the
+spot where a fellow mortal is perishing Though well educated and
+refined, she possesses none of the affected delicacy which characterizes
+too many town-bred misses; but, adapting herself to the peculiar
+exigences of her father's humble yet honorable calling, she is ever
+ready to lend a helping hand, and shrinks from no danger, if duty points
+that way. In the gloom and terror of the stormy night, amid perils at
+all hours of the day, and all seasons of the year, she has launched her
+barque on the threatening waves; and has assisted her aged and feeble
+father in saving the lives of twenty-one persons during the last fifteen
+years! Such conduct, like that of Grace Darling, to whom Kate Moore has
+been justly compared, needs no comment; it stamps its moral at once and
+indelibly upon the heart of every reader.
+
+
+
+
+CAPTIVITY OF MRS. ROWLANDSON.
+
+  Through sorrowing and suffering thou hast pass'd,
+  To show us what a woman true may be.
+
+                                                  LOWELL.
+
+
+Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, the wife of the Rev. Joseph Rowlandson, was taken
+prisoner by the Indians at Lancaster, Massachusetts, on the tenth of
+February, 1676, and remained in captivity till the third of the
+following May. The details of her sufferings, as related by herself, are
+too painful for many persons to read; but she bore them with such
+Christian fortitude, that nothing short of a brief account of her
+captivity would seem to be excusable in a work like this.
+
+The day after the destruction of Lancaster, the Indians began their
+march; and Mrs. Rowlandson carried her infant till her strength failed
+and she fell. She was then furnished with a horse, without a saddle.
+Attempting to ride, she again fell. Towards night it began to snow; and
+gathering a few sticks, she made a fire. Sitting beside it on the snow,
+she held her child in her arms through the long and dismal night. For
+three or four days she had no sustenance but water; nor did her child
+share any better for nine days. During this time it was constantly in
+her arms or lap. At the end of that period, the frost of death crept
+into its eyes, and she was forced to relinquish it to be disposed of by
+the unfeeling sextons of the forest.
+
+After its burial, Mrs. Rowlandson was sold by her Narraganset captor to
+a Sagamore named Quanopin, by which transfer she found in her new
+master's wife "a most uncomfortable mistress." Soon afterwards the
+Indians went on an expedition to Medfield, and on their return one of
+them gave her a Bible--her best friend and great support during her
+sufferings and trials. She retained it during her captivity.
+
+The party of Indians with whom she continued, remained for some time
+near Petersham, in Worcester county. At length, hearing a report that
+the pale faces were in pursuit of them, they hastily decamped and
+continued their march till they crossed the Connecticut river, in the
+neighborhood of Gill or Bernardston. There Mrs. Rowlandson came in
+contact with the great chief, Philip, who treated her civilly and even
+politely. Ere long the Indians re-crossed the Connecticut, and returned
+into Worcester county. During this part of her pilgrimage, writes
+President Dwight, whose concise narrative we have followed, "Mrs.
+Rowlandson went through almost every suffering but death. She was
+beaten, kicked, turned out of doors, refused food, insulted in the
+grossest manner, and at times almost starved. Nothing but experience
+can enable us to conceive what must be the hunger of a person, by whom
+the discovery of six acorns, and two chestnuts, was regarded as a rich
+prize. At times, in order to make her miserable, they announced to her
+the death of her husband and her children. One of the savages, of whom
+she enquired concerning her son, told her that his master had, at a time
+which he specified, killed and roasted him; that himself had eaten a
+piece of him, as big as his two fingers, and that it was delicious meat.
+On various occasions they threatened to kill her. Occasionally, but for
+short intervals only, she was permitted to see her children; and
+suffered her own anguish over again in their miseries. She was also
+obliged, while hardly able to walk, to carry a heavy burden over hills,
+and through rivers, swamps, and marshes; and that in the most inclement
+seasons. These evils were repeated daily; and, to crown them all, she
+was daily saluted with the most barbarous and insolent accounts of the
+burning and slaughter, the tortures and agonies, inflicted by them upon
+her countrymen. It is to be remembered that Mrs. Rowlandson was tenderly
+and delicately educated, and as ill fitted to encounter these distresses
+as persons who have received such an education, now are in this and
+other countries.
+
+"There was, however, among the savages a marked difference of character.
+Some of them, both men and women, treated her with kindness. None of
+them exhibited so much insolence to her as her mistress. This woman
+felt all the haughtiness of rank, as much as if she had been a European
+or Asiatic princess; and spent almost as much time in powdering her
+hair, painting her face, and adorning herself with ear-rings, bracelets,
+and other ornaments, a part of their plunder from the English."
+
+The captivity of Mrs. Rowlandson was terminated through the agency of
+Mr. Hoar, of Concord, Massachusetts. Under a commission from the
+Government he redeemed her for about eighty dollars, which sum was
+contributed by a Mr. Usher and some female friends in Boston.
+
+
+
+
+MRS. BOZARTH.
+
+  To weakness strength succeeds, and power
+  From frailty springs.
+
+                                   PARK BENJAMIN.
+
+  There's no impossibility to him
+  Who stands prepared to conquer every hazard.
+
+                                       MRS. HALE.
+
+
+In the spring of 1779, while two or three neighboring families, had,
+from fear, collected at the house of Mrs. Bozarth, in Green county,
+Pennsylvania, the little company was one day attacked by Indians. The
+children, who were playing without, first discovered the foe, and,
+giving the alarm, had not time to get within doors before they were
+overtaken, and began to fall beneath the tomahawk. The first man who
+stepped to the door when the alarm was heard, was shot, and fell back;
+and before the door could be closed, an Indian leaped over him into the
+house. The other man in the house caught the savage and threw him on the
+bed. He then called for a knife, but Mrs. Bozarth, being unable to find
+one, seized an axe and instantly dispatched the bold assailant. Another
+Indian now rushed in, and shot at and wounded the man before he was off
+the bed. Mrs. Bozarth gave this second intruder several blows, when his
+cries brought a third to the door. Him she killed as he entered. The
+wounded savage was then dragged out; the door again closed and fastened;
+and, through the assistance of the wounded man, Mrs. Bozarth was able to
+keep out the rest of the murderous assailants until relieved by the
+arrival of friends.
+
+
+
+
+THE HEROINE OF STEEL CREEK
+
+  Here and there some stern, high patriot stood.
+
+                                              BYRON.
+
+
+The subject of the following anecdote was the mother of eleven sons.
+Most of them were soldiers and some were officers in the war of the
+Revolution. Her residence was in Mechlenburg county, near Steel creek,
+North Carolina.
+
+When Lord Cornwallis heard of the defeat of Ferguson at King's
+Mountain,[52] fearing an attack of his rear at Camden, he collected his
+forces and retreated towards Winnsboro. While on this march, his whole
+army halted for the night on the plantation of Robert Wilson. Cornwallis
+and his staff took possession of the house, and made an unstinted levy
+on the hospitality of the good lady. By asking such questions as a
+British lord would, under the circumstances, feel at liberty to
+propound, the General learned, in the course of the evening, that the
+husband of Mrs. Wilson, and some of her sons, were then his prisoners in
+Camden jail. Her kindness and urbanity led him to think that perhaps
+she was a friend to the Crown; and, after some preliminary remarks,
+intended to prepare her mind for the leading consideration which he
+wished to enforce upon it, he at length addressed her as follows:
+
+  [52] October seventh, 1780.
+
+"Madam, your husband and your son are my prisoners; the fortune of war
+may soon place others of your sons--perhaps all your kinsmen, in my
+power. Your sons are young, aspiring and brave. In a good cause,
+fighting for a generous and powerful king, such as George III, they
+might hope for rank, honor and wealth. If you could but induce your
+husband and sons to leave the rebels, and take up arms for their lawful
+sovereign, I would almost pledge myself that they shall have rank and
+consideration in the British army. If you, madam, will pledge yourself
+to induce them to do so, I will immediately order their discharge."
+
+"I have seven sons," Mrs. Wilson replied, "who are now, or have been,
+bearing arms--indeed my seventh son, Zaccheus, who is only fifteen years
+old, I yesterday assisted to get ready to go and join his brothers in
+Sumter's army. Now, sooner than see one of my family turn back from the
+glorious enterprise, I would take these boys--pointing to three or four
+small sons--and with them would myself enlist, under Sumter's standard,
+and show my husband and sons how to fight, and, if necessary, to die for
+their country!"
+
+Colonel Tarleton was one of the listeners to this colloquy, and when
+Mrs. Wilson had finished her reply, he said to Cornwallis: "Ah! General!
+I think you've got into a hornet's nest! Never mind, when we get to
+Camden, I'll take good care that old Robin Wilson never comes back
+again!" We may add that Tarleton's threat was never executed. Mr. Wilson
+and his worthy companion lived to old age, and died at Steel creek just
+before the war of 1812.
+
+
+
+
+BENEVOLENCE OF A COLORED WOMAN.
+
+  Great minds, like Heaven, are pleased in doing good.
+
+                                                     ROWE.
+
+
+The following anecdote is obtained from a reliable source. Did the
+spirit which pervaded the heart of its subject, thoroughly permeate the
+churches, the great work of carrying the Gospel to every nation, would
+soon be accomplished.
+
+"In one of the eastern counties of New York lived a colored female, who
+was born a slave, but she was made free by the act gradually abolishing
+slavery in that state. She had no resources except such as she obtained
+by her own labor. On one occasion she carried to her pastor _forty
+dollars_: she told him that she wished him, with two dollars of this sum
+to procure for her a seat in his church; eighteen dollars she desired to
+be given to the American Board; and the remaining twenty dollars she
+requested him to divide among other benevolent societies according to
+his discretion."
+
+
+
+
+REBECCA EDWARDS.
+
+  Honor being then above life, dishonor must
+  Be worse than death; for fate can strike but one.
+  Reproach doth reach whole families.
+
+                                         CARTWRIGHT'S SIEGE.
+
+
+At the celebration of our national Independence, in 1797, the orator of
+the society of the Cincinnati of South Carolina, paid the following
+tribute to the magnanimity of Mrs. Rebecca Edwards:--"The Spartan
+mother, on delivering his shield to her son departing for the army,
+nobly bade him 'return with it or on it.' The sentiment was highly
+patriotic, but surely not superior to that which animated the bosom of
+the distinguished female of our own state, who, when the British officer
+presented the mandate which arrested her sons as objects of retaliation,
+less sensible of private affection than attached to her honor and the
+interest of her country, stifled the tender feelings of the mother, and
+heroically bade them despise the threats of their enemies, and
+steadfastly persist to support the glorious cause in which they had
+engaged--that if the threatened sacrifice should follow, they would
+carry a parent's blessing, and the good opinion of every virtuous
+citizen along with them to the grave: but if from the frailty of human
+nature--of the possibility of which she would not suffer an idea to
+enter her mind--they were disposed to temporize, and exchange their
+liberty for safety, they must forget her as a mother, nor subject her to
+the misery of ever beholding them again."[53]
+
+  [53] American Anecdotes, vol. 2, p. 11.
+
+
+
+
+"THE BEAUTIFUL REBEL."
+
+                  Trembling and fear
+  Are to her unknown.
+
+                           SIR WALTER SCOTT.
+
+
+The maiden name of Mrs. Lewis Morris was Ann Elliott. She was born at
+Maccabee, in 1762, and died in New York, in 1848. She was a firm and
+fearless patriot, and when the city of Charleston, South Carolina, was
+in possession of the red coats, she wore thirteen small plumes in her
+bonnet. She had so fair a face, so graceful a form and so patriotic a
+spirit, as to be called "the beautiful rebel." An English officer fell
+in love with her and offered to join the Americans, if she would favor
+his proposals. She ordered the friend who interceded for him to say to
+him, "that to her former want of esteem, was added scorn for a man
+capable of betraying his sovereign for selfish interest."
+
+While she was engaged to Colonel Morris and he was on a visit one time
+at Maccabee, the house was suddenly surrounded by Black Dragoons. They
+were in pursuit of the Colonel, and it was impossible for him to escape
+by flight. What to do he knew not, but, quick as thought, she ran to the
+window, opened it, and, fearlessly putting her head out, in a composed
+yet firm manner, demanded what was wanted. The reply was, "We want the
+---- rebel." "Then go," said she, "and look for him in the American
+army," adding "How dare you disturb a family under the protection of
+both armies!" She was so cool, self-possessed, firm and resolute as to
+triumph over the dragoons, who left without entering the house.
+
+
+
+
+HARRIET B. STEWART.
+
+  Men sacrifice others--women themselves.
+
+                            MRS. S. C. HALL.
+
+
+Harriet Bradford Tiffany, afterwards the wife of the Rev. Charles S.
+Stewart, was born near Stamford, Connecticut, on the fourth of June,
+1798. She lost her father when she was a small child, and till 1815,
+passed most of her time with an uncle, in Albany. At this date, an older
+sister married and settled in Cooperstown, and consequently Harriet took
+up her abode in that place. She became the subject of renewing grace in
+the summer of 1819; was married on the third of June, 1822, and sailed
+with her husband and nearly thirty other missionaries, all bound to the
+same field, on the nineteenth of November following. This little, heroic
+band, that, by the help of God, have since been mainly instrumental in
+making the Sandwich islands blossom like a rose, arrived at Honolulu, in
+Oahu, on the twenty-seventh of April, 1823.
+
+Mrs. Stewart left a beautiful town in a thriving part of the Empire
+State; tempting luxuries; a brilliant circle, and many endearing
+friends; but she had embarked in a glorious enterprise for Christ's
+sake, and, hence, she settled down in a little log hut, in the town of
+Lahaiua, three days' sail from Oahu, contented and happy. On the first
+day of January, 1824, she wrote as follows: "It is now fifteen months
+since I bade adieu to the dear valley which contains much, very much,
+that is most dear to me; but since the day I parted from it, my spirits
+have been uniformly good. Sometimes, it is true, a cloud of tender
+recollections passes over me, obscuring, for a moment, my mental vision,
+and threatening a day of darkness; but it is seldom. And as the
+returning sun, after a summer shower, spreads his beams over the
+retiring gloom of the heavens, and stretches abroad the shining arch of
+promise to cheer the face of nature, so, at such times, do the rays of
+the Sun of Righteousness speedily illumine the hopes of my soul, and
+fill my bosom with joy and peace."
+
+A few months after the above date, writing to a friend, she says: "We
+are most contented and most happy, and rejoice that God has seen fit to
+honor and bless us by permitting us to be the bearers of his light and
+truth to this dark corner of the earth. Could you feel the same gladness
+that often fills our bosoms, in witnessing the happy influence of the
+Gospel on the minds and hearts of many of these interesting creatures,
+you would be satisfied, yes more than satisfied, that we should be _what
+we are, and where we are, poor missionaries in the distant islands of
+the sea_."
+
+In these brief extracts from her letters, shines, in its serenest
+lustre, the character of the Christian heroine:[54] and it would be an
+easy task to compile a volume of letters written on the field of moral
+conflict by American female missionaries, breathing a spirit equally as
+unselfish, cheerful and brave. All pioneer women in this enterprise are
+heroines, and if the conflicts and sublime victories of all claiming
+American citizenship, are not herein recorded, it is because, in a work
+of unambitious pretensions as it regards size, a few characters must
+stand as representatives of a class.
+
+  [54] For a full account of the life of Mrs. Stewart, we refer the reader
+  to an interesting Memoir, by her husband.
+
+So pernicious was the influence of a tropical climate that, in the
+spring of 1825, the health of Mrs. Stewart began to fail; and at the end
+of a year, she was forced to leave the country. She sailed, with her
+husband, for London; and after tarrying three months in England, they
+embarked for home. They reached the valley of the Otsego in September,
+1826. For three or four years, it was the prayer of Mrs. Stewart that
+she might be restored to health and permitted to return to the mission
+station; but in January, 1830, she was laid on a bed of declension and
+suffering, and in the following autumn, fully ripe, was gathered into
+the heavenly garner.
+
+
+
+
+A KIND AND BENEVOLENT WOMAN.
+
+  Ah! woman--in this world of ours,
+  What gift can be compared to thee.
+
+                          GEORGE P. MORRIS.
+
+
+Mrs. Margaret Morris, of Burlington, New Jersey, kept a journal during
+the Revolution, for the amusement, it is said, of a sister, the wife of
+Dr. Charles Moore, of Philadelphia. A few copies were printed several
+years ago, for private circulation, supplying friends with a mirror
+which reflects the image of expanded benevolence and exalted piety.
+Belonging to the Society of Friends, she was not partial to
+
+  "The shot, the shout, the groan of war;"
+
+yet her principles were patriotic, and she no doubt rejoiced over all
+the victories and in the final and complete success of the "rebel" army.
+She became a widow at an early age, and died at Burlington, in 1816,
+aged seventy-nine years.
+
+A single extract from her journal will illustrate the most prominent
+feature of her character:
+
+"June 14th, 1777. By a person from Bordentown, we hear twelve expresses
+came in there to-day from camp. Some of the gondola-men and their wives
+being sick, and no doctor in town to apply to, they were told Mrs.
+Morris was a skillful woman, and kept medicines to give to the poor; and
+notwithstanding their late attempts to shoot my poor boy, they ventured
+to come to me, and in a very humble manner begged me to come and do
+something for them. At first I thought they designed to put a trick on
+me, get me aboard their gondola, and then pillage my house, as they had
+done some others; but on asking where the sick folks were, I was told
+they were lodged in the Governor's house. So I went to see them; there
+were several, both men and women, very ill with fever; some said, the
+camp or putrid fever. They were broken out in blotches; and on close
+examination, it appeared to be the itch fever. I treated them according
+to art, and they all got well. I thought I had received all my pay when
+they thankfully acknowledged my kindness; but lo! in a short time
+afterwards a very rough, ill-looking man came to the door and asked for
+me. When I went to him he drew me aside, and asked if I had any friends
+in Philadelphia. The question alarmed me, supposing there was some
+mischief meditated against that poor city; however, I calmly said--'I
+have an ancient father, some sisters, and other near friends there.'
+
+"'Well,' said the man, 'do you wish to hear from them, or send any thing
+by way of refreshment to them? If you do, I will take charge of it, and
+bring you back any thing you may send for.'
+
+"I was very much surprised, and thought, to be sure, he only wanted to
+get provisions to take to the gondolas; but when he told me his wife was
+one of those I had given medicine to, and this was the only thing he
+could do to pay me for my kindness, my heart leaped with joy, and I set
+about preparing something for my dear, absent friends. A quarter of
+beef, some veal, fowls and flour, were soon put up; and about midnight
+the man called and took them aboard his boat. He left them at Robert
+Hopkins'--at the point--whence my beloved friends took them to town.
+
+"Two nights afterwards, a loud knocking at our front door greatly
+alarmed us, and opening the chamber window, we heard a man's voice,
+saying, 'Come down softly and open the door, but bring no light.'
+
+"There was something mysterious in such a call; but we concluded to go
+down and set the candle in the kitchen.
+
+"When we got to the front door, we asked, 'Who are you?'
+
+"The man replied, 'A friend; open quickly.' So the door was opened; and
+who should it be but our honest gondola-man, with a letter, a bushel of
+salt, a jug of molasses, a bag of rice, some tea, coffee, and sugar, and
+some cloth for a coat for my poor boys; all sent by my kind sisters!
+
+"How did our hearts and eyes overflow with love to them, and thanks to
+our Heavenly Father for such seasonable supplies! May we never forget
+it! Being now so rich, we thought it our duty to hand out a little to
+the poor around us, who were mourning for want of salt; so we divided
+the bushel, and gave a pint to every poor person who came for it--having
+abundance left for our own use. Indeed, it seemed to us as if our little
+store was increased by distribution, like the bread broken by our
+Saviour to the multitude."
+
+
+
+
+NOBLE EXAMPLE OF PIONEERS.
+
+  In every rank, or great or small,
+  'Tis industry supports us all.
+
+                                      GAY.
+
+ Count life by virtues--these will last
+ When life's lame-footed race is o'er.
+
+                                 MRS. HALE.
+
+
+In the year 1843, the Hon. Samuel Wilkeson, of Buffalo--since
+deceased--communicated to the American Pioneer, a series of papers
+entitled "Early Recollections of the West." They present a graphic, yet
+painful picture of the perils, hardships and sufferings attendant on
+back-woods life in the midst of the aboriginal foresters. His father's
+family was one of twenty that removed from Carlisle and the adjacent
+towns, to the western part of Pennsylvania, in the spring of 1784. He
+pays the following tribute to the industry, perseverance and pious
+efforts of the mothers of the band:
+
+The labor of all the settlers was greatly interrupted by the Indian war.
+Although the older settlers had some sheep, yet their increase was slow,
+as the country abounded in wolves. It was therefore the work of time to
+secure a supply of wool. Deerskin was a substitute for cloth for men and
+boys, but not for women and girls, although they were sometimes
+compelled to resort to it. The women spun, and generally wove all the
+cloth for their families, and when the wife was feeble, and had a large
+family, her utmost efforts could not enable her to provide them with
+anything like comfortable clothing. The wonder is, and I shall never
+cease to wonder, that they did not sink under their burthens. Their
+patient endurance of these accumulated hardships did not arise from a
+slavish servility, or insensibility to their rights and comforts. They
+justly appreciated their situation, and nobly encountered the
+difficulties which could not be avoided.
+
+Possessing all the affections of the wife, the tenderness of the mother,
+and the sympathies of the woman, their tears flowed freely for others'
+griefs, while they bore their own with a fortitude which none but a
+woman could exercise. The entire education of her children devolved on
+the mother, and notwithstanding the difficulties to be encountered, she
+did not allow them to grow up wholly without instruction; but amidst all
+her numerous cares taught them to read, and instructed them in the
+principles of Christianity. To accomplish this, under the circumstances,
+was no easy task. The exciting influences which surrounded them, made
+the boys restless under restraint. Familiarized as they were to
+hardships from the cradle, and daily listening to stories of Indian
+massacres and depredations, and to the heroic exploits of some
+neighboring pioneer, who had taken an Indian scalp, or by some daring
+effort saved his own, ignorant of the sports and toys with which
+children in other circumstances are wont to be amused, no wonder they
+desired to emulate the soldier, or engage in the scarcely less exciting
+adventures of the hunter. Yet even many of these boys were subdued by
+the faithfulness of the mother, who labored to bring them up in the fear
+of God.
+
+
+
+
+ANECDOTE OF MRS. SLOCUMB.
+
+                  Our country yet remains:
+  By that dread name, we wave the sword on high,
+  And swear for her to live--with her to die!
+
+                                            CAMPBELL.
+
+
+One of the spiciest specimens of colloquial sparring, _vis-a-vis_, in
+our Revolutionary annals, was between Colonel Tarleton and the wife of
+Lieutenant Slocumb, of Wayne county, North Carolina.[55] The Attic wit
+and Spartan boldness of the latter, exhibit original powers of mind,
+strength of will, and a degree of self-possession truly grand and
+ennobling. But the character of the heroine of "Pleasant Green," is most
+luminous in her conduct at the battle of Moore's Creek, which occurred
+on the twenty-seventh of February, 1776. She tells the story of her
+adventures on that bloody occasion, as follows:
+
+  [55] _Vide_ Women of the Revolution, vol. 1. pp. 306-7, etc.
+
+"The men all left on Sunday morning. More than eighty went from this
+house with my husband; I looked at them well, and I could see that every
+man had mischief in him. I know a coward as soon as I set my eyes upon
+him. The tories more than once tried to frighten me, but they always
+showed coward at the bare insinuation that our troops were about.
+
+"Well, they got off in high spirits, every man stepping high and light.
+And I slept soundly and quietly that night, and worked hard all the next
+day; but I kept thinking where they had got to--how far; where and how
+many of the regulars and tories they would meet; and I could not keep
+myself from the study. I went to bed at the usual time, but still
+continued to study. As I lay--whether waking or sleeping I know not--I
+had a dream; yet it was not all a dream. (She used the words,
+unconsciously, of the poet who was not then in being.) I saw distinctly
+a body wrapped in my husband's guard-cloak--bloody--dead; and others
+dead and wounded on the ground about him. I saw them plainly and
+distinctly. I uttered a cry, and sprang to my feet on the floor; and so
+strong was the impression on my mind, that I rushed in the direction the
+vision appeared, and came up against the side of the house. The fire in
+the room gave little light, and I gazed in every direction to catch
+another glimpse of the scene. I raised the light; every thing was still
+and quiet. My child was sleeping, but my woman was awakened by my crying
+out or jumping on the floor. If ever I felt fear it was at that moment.
+Seated on the bed, I reflected a few moments--and said aloud: 'I must
+go to him.' I told the woman I could not sleep, and would ride down the
+road. She appeared in great alarm; but I merely told her to lock the
+door after me, and look after the child. I went to the stable, saddled
+my mare--as fleet and easy a nag as ever traveled; and in one minute we
+were tearing down the road at full speed. The cool night seemed after a
+mile or two's gallop to bring reflection with it; and I asked myself
+where I was going, and for what purpose. Again and again, I was tempted
+to turn back; but I was soon ten miles from home, and my mind became
+stronger every mile I rode. I should find my husband dead or dying--was
+as firmly my presentiment and conviction as any fact of my life. When
+day broke I was some thirty miles from home. I knew the general route
+our little army expected to take, and had followed them without
+hesitation. About sunrise I came upon a group of women and children,
+standing and sitting by the road-side, each one of them showing the same
+anxiety of mind I felt. Stopping a few minutes I inquired if the battle
+had been fought. They knew nothing, but were assembled on the road-side
+to catch intelligence. They thought Caswell had taken the right of the
+Wilmington road, and gone towards the north-west (cape Fear). Again was
+I skimming over the ground through a country thinly settled, and very
+poor and swampy; but neither my own spirits nor my beautiful nag's
+failed in the least. We followed the well-marked trail of the troops.
+
+"The sun must have been well up, say eight or nine o'clock, when I heard
+a sound like thunder, which I knew must be cannon. It was the first time
+I ever heard a cannon. I stopped still; when presently the cannon
+thundered again. The battle was then fighting. What a fool! my husband
+could not be dead last night, and the battle only fighting now! Still,
+as I am so near, I will go on and see how they come out. So away we went
+again, faster than ever; and I soon found, by the noise of the guns,
+that I was near the fight. Again I stopped. I could hear muskets, I
+could hear rifles, and I could hear shouting. I spoke to my mare and
+dashed on in the direction of the firing and the shouts, now louder than
+ever. The blind path I had been following brought me into the Wilmington
+road leading to Moore's creek bridge, a few hundred yards below the
+bridge. A few yards from the road, under a cluster of trees were lying
+perhaps twenty men. They were the wounded. I knew the spot; the very
+trees; and the position of the men I knew as if I had seen it a thousand
+times. I had seen it all night! I saw all at once; but in an instant my
+whole soul was centered in one spot; for there, wrapped in his bloody
+guard-cloak, was my husband's body! How I passed the few yards from my
+saddle to the place I never knew. I remember uncovering his head and
+seeing a face clothed with gore from a dreadful wound across the temple.
+I put my hand on the bloody face; 'twas warm; and an _unknown voice_
+begged for water. A small camp-kettle was lying near, and a stream of
+water was close by. I brought it; poured some in his mouth; washed his
+face; and behold--it was Frank Cogdell. He soon revived and could speak.
+I was washing the wound in his head. Said he 'It is not that; it is that
+hole in my leg that is killing me.' A puddle of blood was standing on
+the ground about his feet. I took his knife, cut away his trowsers and
+stockings, and found the blood came from a shot hole through and through
+the fleshy part of the leg. I looked about and could see nothing that
+looked as if it would do for dressing wounds but some heart-leaves. I
+gathered a handful and bound them tight to the holes; and the bleeding
+stopped. I then went to the others; and--Doctor! I dressed the wounds of
+many a brave fellow who did good fighting long after that day! I had not
+inquired for my husband; but while I was busy Caswell came up. He
+appeared very much surprised to see me; and was with his hat in hand
+about to pay some compliment: but I interrupted him by asking--'Where is
+my husband?'
+
+"'Where he ought to be, madam; in pursuit of the enemy. But pray,' said
+he, 'how came you here?'
+
+"'Oh, I thought,' replied I, 'you would need nurses as well as soldiers.
+See! I have already dressed many of these good fellows; and here is
+one'--going to Frank and lifting him up with my arm under his head so
+that he could drink some more water--'would have died before any of you
+men could have helped him.'
+
+"'I believe you,' said Frank. Just then I looked up, and my husband, as
+bloody as a butcher, and as muddy as a ditcher,[56] stood before me.
+
+  [56] It was his company that forded the creek, and, penetrating the
+  swamp, made the furious charge on the British left and rear which
+  decided the fate of the day.--[Mrs. Ellet.
+
+"'Why, Mary!' he exclaimed, 'What are you doing there? Hugging Frank
+Cogdell, the greatest reprobate in the army?'
+
+"'I don't care,' I cried. 'Frank is a brave fellow, a good soldier, and
+a true friend to Congress.'
+
+"'True, true! every word of it!' said Caswell. 'You are right, madam,'
+with the lowest possible bow.
+
+"I would not tell my husband what brought me there. I was so happy; and
+so were all! It was a glorious victory; I came just at the height of the
+enjoyment. I knew my husband was surprised, but I could see he was not
+displeased with me. It was night again before our excitement had at all
+subsided. Many prisoners were brought in, and among them some very
+obnoxious; but the worst of the tories were not taken prisoners. They
+were, for the most part, left in the woods and swamps wherever they were
+overtaken. I begged for some of the poor prisoners, and Caswell readily
+told me none should be hurt but such as had been guilty of murder and
+house-burning. In the middle of the night I again mounted my mare and
+started for home. Caswell and my husband wanted me to stay till next
+morning, and they would send a party with me; but no! I wanted to see
+my child, and I told them they could send no party who could keep up
+with me. What a happy ride I had back! and with what joy did I embrace
+my child as he ran to meet me!"[57]
+
+  [57] Mrs. Slocumb was a dignified and generous matron, a kind and
+  liberal neighbor, and a Christian of indomitable fortitude and
+  inexhaustible patience. After four or five years' extreme bodily
+  suffering, resulting from a complication of diseases, she died, on the
+  sixth of March, 1836, aged seventy-six years.
+
+
+
+
+CAPTAIN RICHARDSON SAVED BY HIS WIFE.
+
+  Love, lend me wings to make this purpose swift,
+  As thou hast lent me wit to plot this drift.
+
+                                          SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+During the struggle for Independence, Captain Richardson, of Sumter
+district, South Carolina, was obliged to conceal himself for a while in
+the thickets of the Santee swamp. One day he ventured to visit his
+family--a perilous movement, for the British had offered rewards for his
+apprehension, and patrolling parties were almost constantly in search of
+him.--Before his visit was ended, a small band of soldiers presented
+themselves in front of the house. Just as they were entering, with a
+great deal of composure and presence of mind, Mrs. Richardson appeared
+at the door, and found so much to do there at the moment, as to find it
+inconvenient to make room for the uninvited guests to enter. She was so
+calm, and appeared so unconcerned, that they did not mistrust the cause
+of her wonderful diligence, till her husband had rushed out of the back
+door and safely reached the neighboring swamp.
+
+
+
+
+STRIKING INSTANCE OF PATIENCE.
+
+  Patience and resignation are the pillars
+  Of human peace on earth.
+
+                                            YOUNG.
+
+
+The panegyric of Decker on patience is beautiful:
+
+  Patience, my lord! why 'tis the soul of peace:
+  Of all the virtues 'tis the nearest kin to heaven;
+  It makes men look like gods.
+
+Not every Christian sufferer wears this garment in its celestial
+whiteness, as did the God-man, whom the same writer calls
+
+                    "the best of men
+  That e'er wore earth about him."
+
+One of the most patient beings in modern times was Miss Sarah Parbeck,
+of Salem, Massachusetts. A lady who visited her in 1845, gives the
+following account of the interview:
+
+The door was opened by a very old lady, wrinkled and bowed down with
+age, who invited us to enter. The room was so dark, that, before my eyes
+were accommodated to the change, I could only see a figure dressed in
+white, sitting upon the bed and rocking to and fro. This motion was
+attended by a sound like the click of wooden machinery, which arose, as
+I afterwards discovered, from the bones, as they worked in their
+loosened sockets. As we approached, she extended her hand to my
+companion, and said, in a painful but affectionate voice, "Eliza, I am
+very glad to see thee;" and then asked my name and place of residence.
+She had just given me her hand, when a spasm seized her, and it was
+twitched suddenly from my grasp. It flew some four or five times with
+the greatest violence against her face, and then, with a sound, which I
+can only compare to that made by a child who has been sobbing a long
+time, in catching its breath, she threw up both her arms, and with a
+deep guttural groan was flung back upon her pillow, with a force
+inconceivable to one who has not witnessed it. The instant she touched
+the bed, she uttered that piercing shriek again, and sprung back to her
+former position, rocking to and fro, with those quick, heart-rending
+groans which I had heard while standing at the door. It was several
+minutes before she could speak, and then there was none to answer her.
+Both my companion and myself were choked with tears. Her poor mother
+went to the other side of the bed, and smoothed the coverlid, and
+re-arranged the pillows, looking sadly upon her poor child, writhing in
+torture which she could not alleviate. I became faint, and trembled with
+sudden weakness: a cold perspiration stood upon my face. The objects in
+the room began to swim about me, and I was obliged to take hold of the
+bedside for support. I have been in our largest hospitals, and have
+spent hours in going from room to room with the attending physician. I
+have witnessed there almost every form of human suffering, but I had
+never beheld any thing to be compared to that now before me. She
+afterwards told me, as if in apology for her screams, that when she was
+hurled back upon her pillow, both shoulders were dislocated, and as they
+sprung back into their sockets, the pain was far beyond endurance, and
+extorted from her these shrieks.
+
+Her sentences were broken, uttered with much difficulty, and frequently
+interrupted by the terrible spasm I have described above. Yet this was
+her "quiet" state; this the time when she suffered _least_. Day after
+day, night after night, _fourteen weary years_ have dragged themselves
+along, whilst her poor body has been thus racked. No relief; no hope of
+relief, except that which death shall give. When I asked her if her
+affliction did not at times seem greater than she could bear, "O!
+never," she replied. "I cannot thank God enough for having laid his
+heavy hand upon me. I was a thoughtless sinner, and had he not, in his
+mercy, afflicted me, I should probably have lost my immortal soul. I see
+only his kindness and love. The sweet communion I have with my Saviour
+more than compensates me for all I suffer. I am permitted to feel, in a
+measure, in my poor body, what he suffered to save me, and my soul can
+never grow weary in his praise." This last sentence, I must say, gave me
+an argument which put doubts of the verity and power of religion to
+flight more effectually than all the evidences which the wisdom of man
+has arrayed against the skeptic; and I could not but exclaim, "If this
+be delusion let me be deluded!"
+
+She spoke in the most tender terms of her Saviour's love. Her
+conversation was in heaven, from whence also she looked for her Saviour,
+knowing that he should change her body of humiliation, and fashion it
+like unto his glorious body. I shall never forget the tones and language
+in which she entreated my sobbing companion to give that Saviour her
+heart. As she recovered from a spasm, I said to her, "do you not often
+desire to depart, and be with the Saviour you love so fervently?" She
+had hardly recovered her exhausted breath, but replied with great
+decision, "By the grace of God, _I have never had that wish_. Though
+death will be a welcome gift when my Father sees fit to bestow it upon
+me, yet, thanks to his supporting grace, I can wait his time without
+impatience. He sees that there is much dross to refine away, and why
+should I wish against his will?"
+
+I remained by her side for more than an hour; such, however, were the
+attractions of her discourse, that I was unconscious of the time. I know
+not when I have been so drawn towards a fellow Christian, and never had
+I been led to such delightful contemplations of our Saviour's
+character--his faithfulness and love. I remarked to her, as I turned to
+go away, "God has made you a powerful preacher, here upon your bed of
+pain." "O," she replied, "if he will make me the instrument of saving
+but a single soul, I am willing to live and suffer here until my hair is
+gray with age." I noticed some bottles standing upon a small table, and
+asked her if she found any relief from opiates. "Through God's
+kindness," she answered, "I probably owe the preservation of my life
+thus far to an extract made from blackdrop." "Does it enable you to
+sleep?" "O no," she replied, "I have not known sleep for a very long
+time." "What!" I cried, "do you never rest?" A severe spasm here seized
+her, and it was some time before she could answer me; she had been
+attacked in this way some twelve or fifteen times whilst conversing with
+us, and frequently in the midst of a reply. When she recovered, she said
+the physicians thought she obtained rest in her "long spasm," which
+lasted for more than an hour. "During that time," she continued, "I am
+dead to every thing but a sense of the most extreme anguish. I see and
+hear nothing; I only feel as though I was being crushed in pieces by
+some immense weight." This was her rest! the rack! Yet, through all this
+suffering, the smiles of God penetrated to her heart. She sees him just,
+and acknowledges his love.
+
+
+
+
+SUSANNAH ELLIOTT.
+
+  ----The painted folds thus fly,
+  And lift their emblems, printed high
+  On morning mist and sunset sky.
+
+                                                HOLMES.
+
+  She showed that her soft sex contains strong mind.
+
+                                         SIR W. DAVENANT.
+
+
+Susannah Smith, afterwards the wife of Colonel Barnard Elliott, was a
+native of South Carolina. Ramsay, in his history of that state, and
+other authors, give a glowing account of her presentation of a pair of
+colors to the second South Carolina regiment of infantry, commanded by
+Col. Moultrie. The ceremony took place on the twenty-eighth of June,
+'76, two or three days after the attack on Fort Moultrie, Sullivan's
+island. The colors, which were embroidered by her own hand, were
+presented in these words: "Your gallant behavior in defence of liberty
+and your country, entitles you to the highest honors: accept these two
+standards as a reward justly due to your regiment; and I make not the
+least doubt, under Heaven's protection, you will stand by them as long
+as they can wave in the air of liberty."
+
+Mrs. Elliott had a plantation called "The Hut," and while there she once
+had three American gentlemen as guests. These she was obliged to hurry
+into a closet one day, on the sudden approach of the enemy; and, opening
+a secret door, she showed them a narrow apartment back of the chimney,
+which she had contrived expressly for a hiding place. Two of the guests
+entered, and were saved, while the third, attempting to flee on
+horse-back, was overtaken and slain.
+
+After the British had thoroughly, though ineffectually, searched the
+house, and failed, by many threats, to persuade the mistress to disclose
+the hiding place of the others, they demanded her silver. Pointing to
+some mounds of earth near by, as they made the demand, they asked if the
+plate was not buried there.[58] She told them, in reply, that those
+mounds were the graves of British soldiers who had died under her roof.
+The officers did not believe her, and made two of the soldiers dig till
+they came to one of the coffins, which was opened and which verified her
+assertion. The enemy then departed, when the two guests came forth,
+filled with gratitude to their kind and ingenious hostess for the free
+use of this singular apartment.
+
+  [58] The silver was buried in a trunk, and remained in a marshy bed till
+  the close of the war. When disinterred, it had turned black.
+
+
+
+
+ANECDOTES OF ANNA ELLIOTT.
+
+  "The spark of noble courage now awake,
+  And strive your excellent self to excel."
+
+
+The wife of Charles Elliott, of Charleston, South Carolina, was one of
+those dames of Seventy-six who "appeared to concentrate every thought
+and every hour of existence to the interests of America." She cheered
+the prisoner, befriended the unjustly persecuted, comforted the sick,
+fed the hungry, and was humane alike to enemies and friends. Major
+Garden has paid her the following compliment: "I do not know an officer
+who did not owe to her some essential increase of comfort."
+
+A British officer, whose cruel and persecuting disposition was well
+known to Mrs. Elliott, was walking with her in a flower garden one day,
+when, pointing to the chamomile he asked, "What is this, madam?" She at
+once replied, "The rebel flower." "And why," asked he, "is it called the
+rebel flower?" "Because," answered she, "it always flourishes most when
+trampled upon."
+
+At another time, while an officer of the royal army was in her house at
+Charleston, a French officer, belonging to Pulaski's legion, passed;
+and pointing to him, he vociferated, "There, Mrs. Elliott, is one of
+your illustrious allies. What a pity the hero is minus his _sword_." The
+spirit of the woman was roused, and she replied, "Had two thousand such
+men been here to aid in the defence of our city, I should not at this
+moment, sir, have been subjected to the insolence of your observation."
+
+When her father, the brave and zealous patriot, Thomas Ferguson, was put
+on board a transport ship at Charleston, preparatory to exile, she
+hastened from the country, where she chanced to be, and begged
+permission to receive his parting blessing. Her request being granted,
+she went on board the ship. Just as she entered the cabin, she was
+overcome with grief, and fainted. When recovered, she addressed her
+father as follows: "Let not oppression shake your fortitude, nor the
+hope of gentler treatment cause you for a moment to swerve from strict
+duty. Better times are in store for us: the bravery of the Americans,
+and the friendly aid of France, will achieve the deliverance of our
+country from oppression. We shall meet again, my father, and meet with
+joy."[59]
+
+  [59] A similar spirit was exhibited by the wife of Isaac Holmes, one of
+  the number who were sent into exile at St. Augustine. Just as the guard
+  were separating him from his family, she said to him, "Waver not in your
+  principles, but be true to your country. Have no fears for your family;
+  God is good, and will provide for them."
+
+
+
+
+PATRIOTIC STRATAGEM.
+
+  What bosom beats not in its country's cause?
+
+                                              POPE.
+
+
+While the Legislature of Virginia was in session at Charlottesville,
+Colonel Tarleton, with his famous band of cavalry, made a secret march
+to that place, in order to capture the Governor and some public stores
+there collected. Several of the Assembly-men were at the house of
+Colonel John Walker, a dozen miles distant, and directly on Tarleton's
+route. Colonel Walker was absent on duty in the lower part of the state.
+Tarleton came suddenly up to the door, and succeeded in making one or
+two prisoners, the other members fleeing to town. He then ordered
+breakfast for himself and his whole corps, which the shrewd lady of the
+house prepared in the slowest manner possible. This she did in order
+that the members who had fled to the capital, might attend to the
+removal or concealment of the stores, in the preservation of which she
+was deeply interested. Her stratagem succeeded; and, after tarrying a
+day or two at Charlottesville, Tarleton went empty away.
+
+
+
+
+INFLUENCE OF A FAITHFUL TEACHER.
+
+  Spread out earth's holiest records here.
+
+                                      SPRAGUE.
+
+
+"About the first of September, 1833, a deep and solemn interest upon the
+subject of religion, began to be visible in the Presbyterian church and
+congregation of Washingtonville, New York, and particularly in the
+Sabbath school. One teacher, feeling deeply the responsibility resting
+upon her, and the worth of immortal souls, before the school was
+dismissed on the Lord's day, affectionately requested her class,
+consisting of little girls about twelve or thirteen years of age, to
+remain after the rest of the school had retired. She then began, with an
+aching heart and with flowing tears, to reason and plead with them upon
+the subject of personal religion. They were deeply affected, and 'wept
+bitterly' in view of their lost condition. They then all knelt together
+before the Lord, and the teacher prayed for their salvation; and
+immediately the scholar next to her commenced praying for herself, and
+then the next, and so on, until the whole class, with ardent
+supplications, begged for the forgiveness of their sins, and the
+salvation of their souls. It would take long to tell the history of this
+class, and relate particular instances of conversions, and the happy
+changes which took place in the families to which they belonged, and
+show the family altars which were established. These scholars, with
+their teacher and their fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, were
+ere long seen commemorating a Saviour's dying love together. The revival
+extended itself to other towns, and the great day can alone unfold the
+astonishing results."
+
+
+
+
+THE WIFE OF THOMAS HEYWARD.
+
+  What I will, I will, and there's an end.
+
+                                     SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+Immediately after the victory of the British at Guilford, order was
+given for the illumination of Charleston, South Carolina. This order,
+Major Garden informs us,[60] the wife of Thomas Heyward of that city
+refused to obey; and when an officer asked her the reason of her
+disobedience, she replied, "Is it possible for me, sir, to feel a spark
+of joy? Can I celebrate the victory of your army while my husband
+remains a prisoner at St. Augustine?" Enraged at her obstinacy, he told
+her she _should_ illuminate. "Not a single light shall be placed, with
+my consent, on any occasion, in any window in the house," was her
+fearless reply. He then threatened to destroy her house before midnight.
+"You have power to destroy, sir," she said, "and seem well disposed to
+use it, but over my opinions you possess no control. I disregard your
+menaces, and resolutely declare, _I will not illuminate_!" As good as
+her word, she _did_ not, nor was her house destroyed.
+
+  [60] Revolutionary Anecdotes, First Series
+
+Orders were given, at another time, for an illumination on the
+anniversary of the battle and surrender of Charleston,[61] and Mrs.
+Heyward again refused to obey. The mob was so indignant as to pelt her
+house with brickbats; and while engaged in the mean act, a feeble and
+emaciated sister of Mrs. Heyward--Mrs. George A. Hall--expired! When the
+town major heard of this painful circumstance, he tried to apologize to
+Mrs. Heyward, expressing regret for the indignities and damages, and
+offering to repair the building. She received his personal courtesies,
+but refused his proffered aid in making repairs, hinting, at the same
+time, that it was hardly possible for the authorities, in that way, to
+remedy insults the offering of which their baseness had probably
+prompted and and which they could and _should_ have prevented.
+
+  [61] May twelfth, 1781.
+
+
+
+
+NOBLE DECISION.
+
+  We are born to do benefits.
+
+                          SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+When the news was received in Illinois, a few years ago, that, owing to
+a deficiency of funds, the Ceylon missionaries had been obliged to
+dismiss thousands of pupils from their schools, and that twenty-five
+dollars would revive any one of them, a minister of that state laid the
+subject before his small and poor church, and between pastor and people
+twenty-five dollars were promptly raised. Going home and communicating
+the intelligence to his wife, the minister learned that she had been
+weighing the subject, and was anxious, in some way, to raise enough
+herself alone to resuscitate a school. Her husband told her she could do
+it by dispensing with a tomb stone which had been ordered from New York
+for a child lately deceased, and which would cost twenty-five dollars.
+She promptly consented to have the order countermanded, saying that
+"living children demanded her money more than the one that was dead." By
+suffering the love of Christ to triumph over maternal feeling, she
+re-opened a mission school, and the day of judgment will reveal the
+great amount of good thereby accomplished.
+
+
+
+
+A TENNESSEE HEROINE.
+
+                          It is held
+  That valor is the chiefest virtue;
+  Most dignifies the haver: if it be,
+  The man I speak of cannot in the world
+  Be singly counterpoised.
+
+                                  SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+Milton A. Haynes, Esq., of Tennessee, furnished for Mrs. Ellet's Women
+of the Revolution a lengthy and very interesting sketch of Sarah
+Buchanan, of East Tennessee. The following anecdotes, extracted
+therefrom, exhibit the heroism of her character:
+
+On one occasion, Sarah and a kinswoman named Susan Everett were
+returning home from a visit a mile or two distant, careless of danger,
+or not thinking of its presence. It was late in the evening, and they
+were riding along a path through the open woods, Miss Everett in
+advance. Suddenly she stopped her horse, exclaiming, "Look, Sally,
+yonder are the red skins!" Not more than a hundred yards ahead was a
+party of Indians armed with rifles, directly in their path. There was no
+time for counsel, and retreat was impossible, as the Indians might
+easily intercept them before they could gain a fort in their rear. To
+reach their own block-house, four or five hundred yards distant, was
+their only hope of safety. Quick as thought, Sarah whispered to her
+companion to follow and do as she did, and then instantly assuming the
+position of a man on horseback, in which she was imitated by her
+relative, she urged her horse into a headlong gallop. Waving their
+bonnets in the air, and yelling like madmen, they came furiously down
+upon the savages, who had not seen them, crying out as they came--"Clear
+the track, you ---- red skins!" The part was so well acted, that the
+Indians took them for the head of a body of troopers, who were making a
+deadly charge upon them, and dodging out of the path, fled for very
+life--and so did Sally and Susan! Before the savages had recovered from
+their fright, the two girls were safe within the gates of the fort,
+trembling like frightened fawns at the narrow escape which they had
+made.
+
+On another occasion, when her husband and all the men of the fort were
+absent, two celebrated horse-thieves, who had taken refuge with the
+Indians, came and demanded of Mrs. Buchanan two of the Major's fine
+horses. Knowing their lawless character, she pretended acquiescence, and
+went with them to the stable, but on arriving at the door she suddenly
+drew a large hunting knife from under her apron, and assuming an
+attitude of defiance, declared that if either of them dared to enter the
+stable, she would instantly cut him down. Struck by her intrepid
+bearing, they fell back, and although they tried to overcome her
+resolution by threats and bravado, she maintained her ground, and the
+marauders were compelled to retire without the horses.
+
+On Sunday night,[62] about the hour of midnight, while the moon was
+shining brilliantly, the Indian army under Watts and the Shawnee,
+advancing in silence, surrounded Buchanan's station. In order to effect
+an entrance into the fort by a _coup de main_, they sent runners to
+frighten and drive in the horses and cattle. This was done, and the
+animals came dashing furiously towards the fort; but the garrison,
+wrapped in slumber, heeded them not. The watchman, John McCrory, at this
+instant discovering the savages advancing within fifty yards of the
+gates, fired upon them. In an instant the mingled yells of the savage
+columns, the crack of their rifles, and the clatter of their hatchets,
+as they attempted to cut down the gate, told the little squad of
+nineteen men and seven women that the fearful war-cloud, which had been
+rising so long, was about to burst upon their devoted heads!
+
+  [62] In the autumn of 1792, while the war with the Creeks and Cherokees
+  was raging in the Cumberland valley.
+
+Aroused suddenly from deep slumber by the terrible war-whoop, every man
+and woman felt the horror of their situation. The first impulse with
+some was to surrender, and it is related of one woman that she instantly
+gathered her five children and attempted to go with them to the gate to
+yield themselves to the Indians. Mrs. Buchanan seized her by the
+shoulder, and asked her where she was going.
+
+"To surrender myself and children to the Indians--if I don't they'll
+kill us, any how," exclaimed the terrified woman. "Come back," said Mrs.
+Buchanan, "and let us all fight and die together." An old man, who waked
+up as it were in a dream, seemed paralyzed, and exclaimed, in a
+plaintive voice--"Oh, we shall all be murdered!"
+
+"Get up then and go to fighting!" exclaimed Mrs. Buchanan; "I'd be
+ashamed to sit crouched up there when any one else is fighting. Better
+die nobly than live shamefully!"
+
+In the mean time Major Buchanan had arranged his men in the block-houses
+so as to rake the Indians by a flank fire, and was pouring a galling
+fire into the head of the assaulting column. Yet, nothing dismayed, the
+daring foe crowded against the gates, their blows falling faster and
+heavier, while now and then they attempted to scale the pickets. At
+length, unable to do this or to force open the well-barred and ponderous
+gate, the bold warriors advanced to the block-houses, and standing
+before them, pointed their guns in at the port holes; both sides
+sometimes at the same instant firing through the same opening. It was
+the policy of Major Buchanan to impress upon them the idea that the fort
+contained a large garrison. To do this it was necessary for his men to
+fire their guns often, and occasionally in volleys. At this crisis the
+whisper went round--"All is lost. Our bullets are out!" But there were
+guardian angels whom these brave men knew not of. Scarcely had the words
+been spoken, when Mrs. Buchanan passed around with an apronful of
+bullets, which she and Nancy Mulherrin, the Major's sister, had moulded,
+during the fight, out of her plates and spoons. At the same time she
+gave to each of the tired soldiers some brandy which she carried in a
+pewter basin. During the contest they had thus moulded three hundred
+bullets. Not without their fun were these hardy men in this hour of
+peril. In order to keep up a show of good spirits, they frequently cried
+out to the Indians, "Shoot bullets, you squaws! Why don't you put powder
+in your guns?" This was understood, for Watts and many others spoke very
+good English, and they replied by daring them to come out and fight like
+men. In the midst of these banterings, Mrs. Buchanan discovered a large
+blunderbuss which had been standing in a corner during the fight and had
+not been discharged, and gave it to an Irishman named O'Connor to fire
+off. In telling the story afterwards the Irish man said: An' she gave me
+the wide-mouthed fusee and bade me to shoot that at the blasted
+creeters, and Jimmy O'Connor he took the fusee, and he pulled the
+trigger when the rest fired, for three or four times, and loaded her
+again every time, and so ye see, yer honor, when I pulled the trigger
+again, the fusee went off, it did, and Jimmy O'Connor went under the
+bed. This unequal contest lasted for four long hours, and when the first
+blush of morning began to appear in the east, most of the chiefs were
+killed or wounded. The boastful Shawnee was transfixed in death, leaning
+against the gate which he had so valorously assaulted; the White Owl's
+son and Unacate, or the White-man-killer, were mortally wounded, and
+John Watts was borne off on a litter, shot through both legs.
+
+During this protracted fight Mrs. Buchanan aided the defenders by words
+and deeds, as if life or death depended upon the efforts which she was
+then making. She knew, and all knew, that if the assault could be
+repelled for four hours, relief would come from the neighboring posts.
+Foiled, discouraged, their leaders disabled, this formidable army of
+savage warriors precipitately retreated towards their country, bearing
+off most of their wounded, yet leaving many dead upon the field. This
+was the first formidable invasion of Cumberland valley, and its tide was
+rolled back as much by the presence of mind and heroic firmness of Sarah
+Buchanan and Nancy Mulherrin, as by the rifles of their husbands and
+friends. The fame of this gallant defence went abroad, and the young
+wife of Major Buchanan was celebrated as the greatest heroine of the
+West. From 1780 to 1796, there was not a year in which her family had
+not been exposed to peril, in which, of course, she was a partaker.[63]
+
+  [63] This heroic woman died at Buchanan's Station, on the twenty-third
+  of November, 1831. She sleeps on the site of the old fort that witnessed
+  her bravery; and Carcas, queen of Carcassone, who defended that city
+  with such courage and resolution, when it was besieged by Charlemagne,
+  that the Emperor permitted her to retain the sovereignty of the place,
+  has scarcely higher claims to historical commemoration.
+
+AUTHOR.
+
+
+
+
+MAGNANIMITY OF MRS. M'KAY.
+
+  Greatness of mind, and nobleness, their seat
+  In her build loveliest.
+
+                                           MILTON.
+
+
+"In the beginning of June, 1781, the British garrison at Augusta,
+Georgia, capitulated to the American forces, under command of General
+Pickens and Colonel Lee, of the partizan legion. Colonel Grierson, who
+was obnoxious to the Americans on account of his barbarities, was shot
+down by an unknown hand, after he was a prisoner. A reward of one
+hundred guineas was offered to any person who would point out the
+offender, but in vain. Colonel Brown, the British commander, expecting
+the same fate, conscious that he deserved it, from his unrelenting and
+vindictive disposition towards the Americans, was furnished with a
+guard, although he had hanged thirteen American prisoners, and had given
+others into the hands of the Indians to be tortured. On his way to
+Savannah, he passed through the settlements where he had burned a number
+of houses, and hung some of the relatives of the inhabitants. At
+Silverbluff, Mrs. M'Kay obtained leave of the American officer, who
+commanded his safeguard, to speak to him; when she thus addressed
+him:--'Colonel Brown, in the late day of your prosperity, I visited your
+camp, and on my knees supplicated for the life of my only son, but you
+were deaf to my entreaties; you hanged him, though a beardless youth,
+before my face. These eyes have seen him scalped by the savages under
+your immediate command, and for no better reason than that his name was
+M'Kay. As you are now a prisoner to the leaders of my country, for the
+present I lay aside all thoughts of revenge, but when you resume your
+sword, I will go five hundred miles to demand satisfaction at the point
+of it, for the murder of my son!'"
+
+  [Illustration: THE GENEROUS DENTIST.]
+
+
+
+
+HEROIC CONDUCT OF A DAUGHTER.
+
+  Fair was her face, and spotless was her mind,
+  Where filial love with virgin sweetness joined.
+
+                                               POPE.
+
+
+Xantippe, a Roman lady, who nursed her father, the aged Cimonus, while
+he was a prisoner, and thereby saved his life, rendered herself immortal
+by this manifestation of filial affection. But the "Roman Charity" is
+not comparable to the following extraordinary deed of filial sacrifice.
+
+The winter of 1783 was unusually severe, and the sufferings of the poor
+in the city of New York were very great. One family, consisting of the
+husband, wife and one daughter, were, on one occasion, reduced to the
+last stick of wood, and were wholly destitute of provisions. The
+daughter, who had thus far supported her aged and infirm parents by her
+industry, was out of work, and knew not what to do. At this juncture of
+affairs, she recollected that a dentist had advertised for sound
+fore-teeth, and offered three guineas a piece for all he was himself
+permitted to extract. In the midst of her grief, the generous girl
+suddenly brightened up, and hastened to the dentist's office. She
+made known the condition of her parents, and offered to dispose of all
+her fore-teeth on his terms. The dentist, instead of extracting a tooth,
+with tears in his eyes, placed in her hands ten guineas, and sent her,
+rejoicing, to the relief of her parents.
+
+
+
+
+HEROIC DECISION.
+
+          No thought of flight,
+  None of retreat, no unbecoming deed
+  That argued fear.
+
+                                   MILTON.
+
+
+We have elsewhere in this work spoken of the perils necessary to be
+encountered by Christian missionaries, and particularly those who
+connect themselves with stations in Africa. The history of the Methodist
+Episcopal mission in that quarter of the globe, presents a noble, if not
+a long, list of soldiers who early fell there while contending with
+Error. They sank upon the battle field, with their armor on and covered
+with glory. They fell not before the hosts of paganism; they were
+conquered by the climate. Most of those who have not died on the field,
+have been obliged to shortly flee to their native land for the
+restoration of health. Here and there one has withstood the adverse
+nature of the climate, toiled for years, and done a noble work, which
+has caused rejoicing in Heaven and honored the name of Christ on earth.
+
+Few persons, whose names are connected with the history of modern
+missions, have displayed a more devoted, self-sacrificing spirit, or
+greater moral courage, than Miss Sophronia Farrington. Prior to the
+autumn of 1834, of six missionaries who had entered the field in Africa
+under the patronage of American Methodists, three[64] were in their
+graves, and two[65] had returned to the United States for health. Miss
+Farrington stood alone, and the question arose, what she should do. The
+officers of the Missionary Society were willing she should return home,
+and her friends were urging it upon her. With her co-laborers all dead
+or fled, she seemed herself to be left to the alternative either to flee
+or fall. Should she choose the former course, the mission would be
+wholly, and, for ought she knew, for ever, abandoned. What then should
+she do? Like a hero, to use her own words, she had "offered her soul
+upon the altar of her God, for the salvation of that long benighted
+continent," and with courage that shames the facer of the cannon's
+mouth, she resolved to remain and toil alone, beside the graves of her
+fallen companions till more help should come or the Divine Husbandman
+close the labors of the lone vine-dresser. More help arrived in a few
+months, and, according to the annual report of 1836, the mission, of
+whose history she formed at one time the connecting link, "continued to
+loom up in bright perspective, and promise a rich reward for all the
+labors and sufferings of the faithful missionaries."
+
+  [64] Rev. M. B. Cox and Rev. O. S. Wright and wife.
+
+  [65] Rev. Mr. Spaulding and lady.
+
+
+
+
+THE DAUGHTER OF AARON BURR.
+
+  'Tis thine on every heart to 'grave thy praise,
+  A monument which Worth alone can raise.
+
+                                              BROOME.
+
+
+Theodosia, the only daughter of Aaron Burr, was a woman of superior
+mental accomplishments, and very strong affections. She was married to
+Joseph Alston, Esq., afterwards Governor of South Carolina, in 1801. She
+was then in her eighteenth year. That she was an excellent wife may be
+gathered, not merely from the story of her life, but from the testimony
+of her husband. Writing to her father in 1813--soon after her death--he
+says, "The man who has been deemed worthy of the heart of Theodosia
+Burr, and has felt what it was to be blest with such a woman's, will
+never forget his elevation."[66]
+
+  [66] Memoirs of Aaron Burr, by Matthew L. Davis, vol. 2, p. 432.
+
+In regard to her attachment to her father, a writer, quoted in the
+appendix to Safford's Life of Blennerhassett, remarks as follows: "Her
+love for her father partook of the purity of a better world; holy, deep,
+unchanging; it reminds us of the affection which a celestial spirit
+might be supposed to entertain for a parent cast down from heaven, for
+sharing in the sin of the 'Son of the Morning.' No sooner did she hear
+of the arrest of her father, than she fled to his side.[67] There is
+nothing in human history more touching than the hurried letters, blotted
+with tears, in which she announced her daily progress to Richmond; for
+she was too weak to travel with the rapidity of the mail."
+
+  [67] He was imprisoned in Richmond, Virginia.--AUTHOR.
+
+Had her health permitted, and occasion presented itself, she would have
+matched in heroism any act in the life of Margaret Roper or Elizabeth
+Cazotte.[68]
+
+  [68] Mrs. Roper accompanied her father, Sir Thomas More, to prison, and
+  after he was executed and his head had lain fourteen days on London
+  Bridge, she purchased it, and thus saved it from being thrown into the
+  Thames. For this intrepidity, by the king's orders she was cast into
+  prison--though she was soon permitted to escape.
+
+  Mademoiselle Cazotte was the daughter of an aged Frenchman, who, on one
+  occasion, during the Revolution in his country, would have lost his life
+  but for her courage. He was a "counter-revolutionist," and after an
+  imprisonment, during which his daughter chose to be immured with him, on
+  the second day of September, he was about to be slain. An axe was raised
+  over his head, when Elizabeth threw herself upon him, and exclaimed,
+  "Strike, barbarians; you cannot reach my father but through my heart."
+  She did other heroic deeds.
+
+The trial of her father for treason, and his virtual banishment, not
+only depressed her spirits, but fearfully racked her already feeble
+constitution, yet his disgrace abated not a tittle the ardor of her
+affection; and when he returned from Europe, though in feeble health,
+she resolved to visit him in the city of New York. She was then in South
+Carolina. Embarking in the privateer Patriot, on the thirteenth of
+January, 1813, she was never heard of afterwards. The schooner may have
+fallen into the hands of pirates; but, as a heavy gale was experienced
+for several days soon after leaving Georgetown, the probability is that
+the craft foundered. Thus closed a life to which the panegyrical
+exclamation of Milton happily applies:
+
+  O glorious trial of exceeding love
+  Illustrious evidence, example high.
+
+
+
+
+FEMALE INTREPIDITY.
+
+  Be not dismayed--fear nurses up a danger,
+  And resolution kills it in the birth.
+
+                                          PHILLIPS.
+
+
+During the war between the Indians and Kentuckians, while the owner of a
+plantation in a thinly settled part of the state, was at work with his
+slaves in the field, a sable sentinel, who was posted near the house,
+saw a party of savages approaching. One of them was more fleet than he,
+and reaching the house at the same moment, they rushed within doors
+together. The planter's wife instantly closed the door and the negro and
+Indian grappled. The former was the stronger of the two, though the
+latter was the more expert. After a hard struggle, the negro threw the
+Indian, and held him fast until the woman beheaded him with a broad-axe.
+The negro then seized the guns, and began to fire at the other Indians
+through the loop-holes. The guns were loaded by the woman as fast as
+discharged. Their frequent report soon brought the laborers from the
+field, and the surviving Indians were driven away.
+
+
+
+
+THE WIFE OF RICHARD SHUBRICK.
+
+                                  Be fire with fire;
+  Threaten the threatener, and out face the brow
+  Of bragging horror: so shall inferior eyes,
+  That borrow their behavior from the great,
+  Grow great by your example.
+
+                                             SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+The following anecdotes of Mrs. Richard Shubrick may be found in the
+First Series of Major Garden's Revolutionary Anecdotes. "There was," he
+writes, "an appearance of personal debility about her that rendered her
+peculiarly interesting: it seemed to solicit the interest of every
+heart, and the man would have felt himself degraded who would not have
+put his life at hazard to serve her. Yet, when firmness of character was
+requisite, when fortitude was called for to repel the encroachments of
+aggression, there was not a more intrepid being in existence.
+
+"An American soldier, flying from a party of the enemy, sought her
+protection, and was promised it. The British, pressing close upon him,
+insisted that he should be delivered up, threatening immediate and
+universal destruction in case of refusal. The ladies, her friends and
+companions, who were in the house with her, shrunk from the contest,
+and were silent; but, undaunted by their threats, this intrepid lady
+placed herself before the chamber into which the unfortunate fugitive
+had been conducted, and resolutely said, 'To men of honor the chamber of
+a lady should be as sacred as the sanctuary! I will defend the passage
+to it though I perish. You may succeed, and enter it, but it shall be
+over my corpse.' 'By God,' said the officer, 'if muskets were only
+placed in the hands of a few such women, our only safety would be found
+in retreat. Your intrepidity, madam, gives you security; from me you
+shall meet no further annoyance.'
+
+"At Brabant, the seat of the respectable and patriotic Bishop Smith, a
+sergeant of Tarleton's dragoons, eager for the acquisition of plunder,
+followed the overseer, a man advanced in years, into the apartment where
+the ladies of the family were assembled, and on his refusing to discover
+the spot in which the plate was concealed, struck him with violence,
+inflicting a severe sabre wound across the shoulders. Aroused by the
+infamy of the act, Mrs. Shubrick, starting from her seat, and placing
+herself betwixt the ruffian and his victim, resolutely said, 'Place
+yourself behind me, Murdoch; the interposition of my body shall give you
+protection, or I will die:' then, addressing herself to the sergeant,
+exclaimed, 'O what a degradation of manhood--what departure from that
+gallantry which was once the characteristic of British soldiers. Human
+nature is degraded by your barbarity;--but should you persist, then
+strike at _me_, for till I die, no further injury shall be done to
+_him_.' The sergeant, unable to resist such commanding eloquence,
+retired."[69]
+
+  [69] "The hope, however, of attaining the object in view, very speedily
+  subjected the unfortunate Murdoch to new persecution. He was tied up
+  under the very tree where the plate was buried, and threatened with
+  immediate execution unless he would make the discovery required. But
+  although well acquainted with the unrelenting severity of his enemy, and
+  earnestly solicited by his wife, to save his life by a speedy confession
+  of the place of deposit, he persisted resolutely, that a sacred trust
+  was not to be betrayed, and actually succeeded in preserving it."
+
+
+
+
+KEEN RETORT OF MRS. ASHE.
+
+  I have a thousand spirits in one breast,
+  To answer twenty thousand such as you.
+
+                                        SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+While General Leslie was staying with the British troops at Halifax,
+North Carolina, Colonel Tarleton and other officers held their quarters
+at the house of Colonel Ashe, whose wife was a firm friend of liberty.
+Her beau ideal of the hero was Colonel William Washington; and, knowing
+this fact, the sarcastic Tarleton took great delight in speaking
+diminutively of this officer in her presence. In his jesting way, he
+remarked to her one time, that he should like to have an opportunity of
+seeing her friend, Colonel Washington, whom he had understood to be a
+very small man. Mrs. Ashe promptly replied, "If you had looked behind
+you, Colonel Tarleton, at the battle of the Cowpens, you would have had
+that pleasure."[70]
+
+  [70] It is said that this taunt was so keenly felt that Tarleton laid
+  his hand on the hilt of his sword. General Leslie entered the room at
+  the moment, and seeing the agitation of Mrs. Ashe, and learning its
+  cause, said to her, "Say what you please, Mrs. Ashe; Colonel Tarleton
+  knows better than to insult a lady in my presence."
+
+
+
+
+PHILANTHROPIC WIFE OF A DRUNKARD.
+
+  There's in you all that we believe of heaven.
+
+                                            OTWAY.
+
+
+"The amazing influence of one Christian, who shows in her life the
+spirit of Christ, is illustrated in a striking manner, in the life of a
+lady who died not long since, in one of the principal cities of the
+United States. I am not permitted to give her name, nor all the
+particulars of her life. But what I relate may be relied upon, not only
+as facts, but as far below the whole truth. She had been for a long time
+afflicted with a drunken husband. At length the sheriff came, and swept
+off all her property, not excepting her household furniture, to
+discharge his grog bills. At this distressing crisis, she retired to an
+upper room, laid her babe upon the bare floor, kneeled down over it, and
+offered up the following petition: "O Lord, if thou wilt _in any way_
+remove from me this affliction, I will serve thee _upon bread and
+water_, all the days of my life." The Lord took her at her word. Her
+besotted husband immediately disappeared, and was never heard of again
+till after her death. The church would now have maintained her, but she
+would not consent to become a charge to others. Although in feeble
+health, and afflicted with the sick headache, she opened a small school,
+from which she obtained a bare subsistence; though it was often no more
+than what was contained in the condition of her prayer--literally bread
+and water. She was a lady of pleasing address, and of a mild and gentle
+disposition. "In her lips was the law of kindness." Yet she possessed an
+energy of character and a spirit of perseverance, which the power of
+faith alone can impart. When she undertook any Christian enterprise, she
+was discouraged by no obstacles, and appalled by no difficulties. She
+resided in the most wicked and abandoned part of the city, which
+afforded a great field of labor. Her benevolent heart was pained at
+seeing the grog shops open upon the holy Sabbath. She undertook the
+difficult and almost hopeless task of closing these sinks of moral
+pollution upon the Lord's day, and succeeded. This was accomplished by
+the mild influence of persuasion, flowing from the lips of kindness, and
+clothed with that power which always accompanies the true spirit of the
+gospel. But she was not satisfied with seeing the front doors and
+windows of these houses closed. She would, therefore, upon the morning
+of the Sabbath, pass round, and enter these shops through the dwellings
+occupied by the families of the keepers, where she often found them
+engaged secretly in this wickedness. She would then remonstrate with
+them, until she persuaded them to abandon it, and attend public worship.
+In this manner, she abolished, almost entirety, the sale of liquors
+upon the Sabbath, in the worst part of the city.
+
+"She also looked after the poor, that the Gospel might be preached to
+them. She carried with her the number of those pews in the church which
+were unoccupied. And upon Sabbath mornings, she made it her business to
+go out in the streets and lanes of the city, and persuade the poor to
+come in and fill up these vacant seats. By her perseverance and energy,
+she would remove every objection, until she had brought them to the
+house of God. She was incessant and untiring in every effort for doing
+good. She would establish a Sabbath school, and superintend it until she
+saw it flourishing, and then deliver it into the hands of some suitable
+person, and go and establish another. She collected together a Bible
+class of apprentices, which she taught herself. Her pastor one day
+visited it, and found half of them in tears, under deep conviction. She
+was faithful to the church and to impenitent sinners. It was her
+habitual practice to reprove sin, and to warn sinners wherever she found
+them. At the time of her death, she had under her care a number of pious
+young men preparing for the ministry. These she had looked after, and
+brought out of obscurity. As soon as their piety had been sufficiently
+proved, she would bring them to the notice of her Christian friends. She
+persuaded pious teachers to give them gratuitous instruction, and pious
+booksellers to supply them with books. In the same way, she procured
+their board in the families of wealthy Christians; and she formed
+little societies of ladies, to supply them with clothing. There was
+probably no person in the city whose death would have occasioned the
+shedding of more tears, or called forth more sincere and heartfelt
+grief."[71]
+
+  [71] Practical Directory for Young Christian Females.
+
+
+
+
+THE MOTHER OF DR. DWIGHT.
+
+                                  Though renown
+  Plant laurels on the warrior's grave, and wreathe
+  With bays the slumbering bard--the mother's urn
+  Shall claim more dear memorials: gratitude
+  Shall there abide; affection, reverence, there
+  Shall oft revolve the precepts which now speak
+  With emphasis divine.
+
+                                             MRS. WEST.
+
+
+The mother of Timothy Dwight was a daughter of Jonathan Edwards, and
+seems to have inherited a large share of her father's talents and
+spiritual graces. Her powers of mind were unusually strong; her
+knowledge was extensive and varied, and her piety highly fervid. She
+married at an early age; became a mother when eighteen; had a large
+family; and, though never negligent of domestic duties, she daily and
+assiduously devoted herself to the education of her children. She began
+to instruct Timothy, it is said, "as soon as he was able to speak; and
+such was his eagerness, as well as his capacity for improvement, that he
+learned the alphabet at a single lesson; and before he was four years
+old, was able to read the Bible with ease and correctness.... She taught
+him from the very dawn of his reason to fear God and to keep his
+commandments; to be conscientiously just, kind, affectionate,
+charitable, and forgiving; to preserve, on all occasions, and under all
+circumstances, the most sacred regard for truth; and to relieve the
+distresses and supply the wants of the poor and unfortunate. She aimed,
+at a very early period, to enlighten his conscience, to make him afraid
+of sin, and to teach him to hope for pardon only through Christ. The
+impressions thus made upon his mind in infancy, were never effaced. A
+great proportion of the instruction which he received before he arrived
+at the age of six years, was at home with his mother. His school room
+was the nursery. Here he had his regular hours for study, as in a
+school; and twice every day she heard him repeat his lesson. Here, in
+addition to his stated task, he watched the cradle of his younger
+brother. When his lesson was recited, he was permitted to read such
+books as he chose, until the limited period was expired. During these
+intervals, he often read over the historical parts of the Bible, and
+gave an account of them to his mother. So deep and distinct was the
+impression which these narrations made upon his mind, that their
+minutest incidents were indelibly fixed upon his memory. His relish for
+reading was thus early formed, and was strengthened by the conversation
+and example of his mother. His early knowledge of the Bible led to that
+ready, accurate, and extensive acquaintance with Scripture, which is so
+evident in his sermons and other writings."[72]
+
+  [72] Mothers of the Wise and Good, p. 142
+
+It is easy to see, in this picture, who it was that laid the foundation
+of that character which sanctified genius, and caused it to shine with
+transcendent lustre, for more than twenty years, at the head of Yale
+college. The mother of President Dwight was well repaid, even in this
+life, for the pains she took to rear this son for the glory of God; for,
+while he never disobeyed a command of hers or omitted a filial duty, he
+was kind and generous to her in her old age, and smoothed her path to a
+Christian's grave. But her true and great reward for her maternal
+faithfulness, is in another world, whither she went to receive it about
+the year 1807.
+
+
+
+
+HAPPY RESULTS OF MATERNAL FIDELITY.
+
+  Lift the heart and bend the knee.
+
+                              MRS. HEMANS.
+
+
+The superior influence of the mother in forming the character of the
+child, is generally conceded. Biographical literature abounds with
+illustrations of this fact, and renders it incontrovertible. As
+examples, in Great Britain, we are often, with propriety, pointed to the
+mothers of Isaac and John Newton, Doddridge, the Wesleys, Richard Cecil,
+Legh Richmond and many others; but it is needless for any people to
+search in foreign lands for such examples.
+
+In the notices of the mothers of Washington, Jackson, Randolph, Dwight
+and some others, on preceding pages of this volume, the truth of the
+same proposition is endeavored to be substantiated: and, as facts most
+forcibly illustrate argument, and wholesome hints are often easiest
+given by example, we will add two or three more anecdotes having a
+bearing on this point.
+
+The mother of Jonathan Edwards, it is well known, began to pray for him
+as soon as he was born; and probably no mother ever strove harder than
+she to rear a child "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." The
+result of her efforts is known to the world.
+
+The late Professor Knowles, of the Newton theological institution,
+received much pious instruction from his mother in his infant years;
+and, as he lost his father at the age of twelve, at that period she
+assumed wholly the guidance of his steps and his studies. She early
+discovered his love of books and his promising talents; and while she
+admonished him, and led him to the Saviour, she also sympathized with
+him in his literary taste and encouraged him in his scientific pursuits.
+The zealous minister, the learned biblical instructor, the polished
+writer and biographer of the first Mrs. Judson, owed very much to the
+moral training and the literary encouragement of his faithful mother.
+
+Nearly half a century ago, the mother of the celebrated Beecher family,
+made the following record: "This morning I rose very early to pray for
+my children; and especially that my sons may be ministers and
+missionaries of Jesus Christ." The "fervent" prayers of the good woman
+were "effectual:" her five sons became "ministers and missionaries of
+Jesus Christ," and all her children--eight in number--are connected with
+the "household of God"--several on earth and one,[73] at least, in
+heaven.
+
+  [73] The late George Beecher.
+
+
+
+
+WONDERFUL ENDURANCE AND PERSEVERANCE OF MRS. SCOTT.
+
+                                  ----Mute
+  The camel labors with the heaviest load,
+  And the wolf dies in silence; not bestowed
+  In vain should such examples be; if they,
+  Things of ignoble or of savage mood,
+  Endure and shrink not, we of nobler clay,
+  May temper it to bear--it is but for a day.
+
+                                                BYRON.
+
+
+Mrs. Scott, a resident of Washington county, Virginia, was taken captive
+by Indians on the night of the twenty-ninth of June, 1785. Her husband
+and all her children were slain; and before morning she was forced to
+commence her march through the wilderness.
+
+On the eleventh day of her captivity, while in charge of four Indians,
+provision becoming scarce, a halt was made, and three of the number went
+on a hunting excursion. Being left in the care of an old man, she made
+him believe she was reconciled to her condition, and thus threw him off
+his guard. Anxious to escape, and having matured her plans, she asked
+him, in the most disinterested manner possible, to let her go to a small
+stream, near by, and wash her apron, which was besmeared with the blood
+of one of her children. He gave her leave, and while he was busy in
+"graining a deer-skin," she started off. Arriving at the stream, without
+a moment's hesitation, she pushed on in the direction of a mountain.
+Traveling till late at night, she came into a valley where she hoped to
+find the track along which she had been taken by her captors, and
+thereby be able to retrace her steps. Hurrying across the valley to the
+margin of a river, which she supposed must be the eastern branch of the
+Kentucky, she discovered in the sand the tracks of two men who had
+followed the stream upwards and returned. Thinking them to be the prints
+of pursuers, and that they had returned from the search, she took
+courage, thanked God, and was prepared to continue her flight.
+
+On the third day she came very near falling into the hands of savages, a
+company whom she supposed had been sent to Clinch river on a pilfering
+excursion. Hearing their approach before they came in sight, she
+concealed herself, and they passed without noticing her. She now became
+greatly alarmed, and was so bewildered as to lose her way and to wander
+at random for several days.
+
+At length, coming to a stream that seemed to flow from the east, she
+concluded it must be Sandy river; and resolving to trace it to its
+source, which was near a settlement where she was acquainted, she pushed
+on for several days, till she came into mountainous regions and to
+craggy steeps. There, in the vicinity of a "prodigious waterfall," she
+was forced to leap from a precipice, upon some rocks, and was so stunned
+as to be obliged to make a short delay in her journey.
+
+Soon after passing through the mountain,[74] she was bitten by a snake
+which she supposed was venomous. She killed it, and expected her turn to
+die would come next; but the only injury she received was some pain and
+the slight swelling of one foot. A writer, whose narration we follow and
+whose facts are more reliable than his philosophy, thinks that, being
+"reduced to a mere skeleton, with fatigue, hunger and grief," she was
+probably, on that account, "saved from the effects of the poisonous
+fangs."
+
+  [74] Laurel mountain.
+
+Leaving the river, Mrs. Scott came to a forked valley, and watching the
+flight of birds, took the branch they did, and in two days came in sight
+of New Garden, the settlement on Clinch river, before referred to. Thus,
+after wandering in the wilderness for six long weeks, almost destitute
+of clothing, without a weapon of defence or instrument for obtaining
+provision; exposed to wild beasts and merciless savages; subsisting a
+full month on the juice of young cane stalks, sassafras leaves and
+similar food; looking to God in prayer for guidance by day, and for
+protection by night; shielded from serious harm, and led by an unseen
+Hand, on the eleventh of August, the wanderings of the widowed and
+childless captive were brought to a close.
+
+
+
+
+SUCCESS OF BOLDNESS.
+
+  "Courage, prove thy chance once more."
+
+
+While Colonel Tarleton was marching through North Carolina, near the
+close of the Revolution, he passed two nights in Halifax county. From
+malice or because of a scarcity of provision, he caused his troops to
+catch all the horses, cattle, hogs, fowls, etc., that could be found,
+most of which were destroyed. The inhabitants generally fled and
+concealed themselves in the neighboring swamps and thickets. One young
+lady, however, in the upper part of the county, where they spent the
+second night, refused to retire. Remaining on the premises alone, when
+the marauders came for the horses and cattle thereon, Miss Bishop[75]
+ordered them off; but they did not obey. Among the animals they drove to
+camp, was a favorite pony of hers, which she resolved to recover. When
+night come on, she went unarmed to the camp, about a mile distant, and
+boldly made known her errand to Tarleton. "Your roguish men in red
+coats," she said to him, "came to my father's house about sundown and
+stole my pony, and I have walked here alone and unprotected, to claim
+and demand him; and, sir, I must and I will have him. I fear not your
+men. They are base and unprincipled enough to dare to offer insult to an
+unprotected female; but their cowardly hearts will prevent them from
+doing her any bodily injury." While thus speaking, her eye happened to
+fall on her favorite animal, upon which the camp fire flung its light,
+and she added, "There, sir, is my horse. I shall mount him and ride
+peacefully home; and if you have any gentlemanly feeling within you, of
+which your men are totally destitute, or, if you have any regard for
+their safety, you will see, sir, that I am not interrupted. But, before
+I go, I wish to say to you that he who can, and will not, prevent this
+base and cowardly stealing from henroosts, stables and barn-yards, is no
+better, in my estimation, than the mean, good-for-nothing, guilty
+wretches who do the dirty work with their own hands! Good night, sir."
+
+  [75] Afterwards Mrs. Powell. She died in 1840.
+
+Tarleton took the hint; ordered his soldiers not to molest her; and she
+was suffered to take the pony and gallop peacefully home.
+
+
+
+
+MARY KNIGHT.
+
+                          ----The office
+  Becomes a woman best; I'll take it upon me.
+
+                                      SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+The subject of this brief notice was a sister of General Isaac Worrell.
+She died two or three years since, in Philadelphia. The following
+tribute to her patriotism and humanity, was paid by a New Jersey
+newspaper, in July, 1849:
+
+"The deceased was one of those devoted women who aided to relieve the
+horrible sufferings of Washington's army at Valley Forge--cooking and
+carrying provisions to them alone, through the depth of winter, even
+passing through the outposts of the British army in the disguise of a
+market woman. And when Washington was compelled to retreat before a
+superior force, she concealed her brother, General Worrell,--when the
+British set a price on his head--in a cider hogshead in the cellar for
+three days, and fed him through the bunghole; the house being ransacked
+four different times by the troops in search of him, without success.
+She was over ninety years of age at the time of her death."
+
+
+
+
+THE WIFE OF WILLIAM GRAY.
+
+                  ----Our lives
+  In acts exemplary, not only win
+  Ourselves good names, but do to others give
+  Matter for virtuous deeds, by which we live.
+
+                                          CHAPMAN.
+
+
+Elizabeth Chipman was born in Essex county, Massachusetts, in May, 1756.
+She was the daughter of a talented and eminent lawyer of Marblehead, and
+inherited a highly respectable share of his mental endowments. Her
+intellectual faculties and moral feelings were early and highly
+developed; and when, in 1782, she was married to William Gray, the
+celebrated millionaire, of Salem, in her native county, she was
+prepared, in all respects, to command the highest influence in society.
+But, although the wife of the richest man in Massachusetts and probably
+in New England, she never rose above her duties as a housekeeper, a
+mother and a Christian. She managed her domestic affairs personally and
+economically; and inculcated in the minds of her six children, by
+example as well as precept, the best habits and the noblest principles.
+"She divided her time between reading, household affairs, and duties to
+society, in such a manner as never for a moment to be in a hurry."[76]
+She was as well known by the poor as the rich: her virtues irradiated
+every sphere. She was anxious to exalt as much as possible the Christian
+profession; hence she rode in a plain carriage, and avoided all
+unnecessary display, "that no evil precedents of expense could arise
+from her example."
+
+  [76] Knapp's Female Biography, p. 235.
+
+The latter years of this excellent woman were passed in Boston, whither
+the family had removed, and where she died on the twenty-fourth of
+September, 1823. In her benevolent acts and cheerful life, is
+beautifully exemplified the truth of the poet's assertion:
+
+  On piety humanity is built,
+  And on humanity, much happiness.
+
+
+
+
+ANECDOTE OF MRS. HUNTINGTON.
+
+  Earthly power doth then show likest gods,
+  When mercy seasons justice.
+
+                                    SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+Susan Mansfield was the daughter of the Rev. Achilles Mansfield, of
+Killingworth, Connecticut, and was born on the twenty-seventh of
+January, 1791. At the age of eighteen or nineteen, she was married to
+Joshua Huntington, pastor of the Old South church, Boston. She died in
+1823. Her memoirs, written by her husband's pastoral successor, B. B.
+Wisner, was, at one time, a very popular work. It passed through five
+editions in Scotland, in a very few years.
+
+Her husband preceded her to the grave four years. While a widow, she was
+robbed of several articles of jewelry by a young woman; and the articles
+were recovered, and the thief arrested and tried. During the
+examination, Mrs. Huntington was called into court to identify the
+property; and having done this, she was asked their value. Knowing that
+the degree of punishment depended somewhat on the apprisal of the
+property, and pitying the poor girl, she hinted that she never used
+much jewelry, and was not a good judge of its value. A person was then
+called upon to prize the several articles; and she told him to bear in
+mind that they had been used for many years, were consequently damaged,
+and out of fashion. In this way she secured a low and, to herself, a
+satisfactory valuation. She then addressed the judge, stating that she
+had herself taken the jewelry from a trunk; had carelessly left it
+exposed on a table; had thus thrown temptation in the way of the girl,
+and suggested that her own heedlessness might possibly have been the
+cause of the offence. She did not, she assured the judge, wish to
+interfere with his duties, or wrongly bias his decisions, but she would,
+nevertheless, esteem it a favor, if the punishment inflicted on the
+unfortunate transgressor, could be the lightest that would not dishonor
+the law. Hoping the ignorant girl would repent and reform, she left the
+stand with tears in her eyes, which greatly affected the judge. In his
+sentence he reminded the culprit, that the person whom she had most
+offended, was the first to plead for a mitigation of her punishment, and
+had saved her from the extreme rigors of a broken law.
+
+
+
+
+HOSPITALITY OF MRS. BIDDLE.
+
+  ----All were welcome and feasted.
+
+                            LONGFELLOW.
+
+
+In the summer of 1777, while Washington was encamped near Brandywine, a
+large party of foragers came into the neighborhood, and the General gave
+orders to a company of his troops, to go in pursuit of them early the
+next morning, and, if possible, cut off their retreat. As an engagement
+might ensue, he also gave orders that the women should leave the camp.
+Receiving intelligence of the latter order, and unwilling to be included
+in it, the wife of Colonel Clement Biddle, an intimate associate of Mrs.
+Washington in the camp, went to the General and told him that the
+officers, who had gone on the expedition, would be likely to return
+hungry, and she would consider it a favor to be allowed to remain and
+prepare some refreshment for them. Washington complied with her request,
+and her servant was immediately posted off in search of provision.
+
+Receiving information that a band of "rebels" was in pursuit of them,
+the foragers took a quick step out of the neighborhood. The pursuers
+returned at a late dinner hour exceedingly fatigued and ripe for
+attacking the "good things" prepared by Mrs. Biddle. Notified of her
+generosity, the officers forthwith repaired to her quarters, each
+saying, on his entrance, "Madam, we hear that you feed the army to-day."
+It is said that at least a hundred officers enjoyed her hospitalities on
+that occasion.
+
+  They ate like Famine, fast and well,
+    Piling their plates with turkeys slain;
+  They conquered--bones alone could tell
+    Of fowls late bled at every vein.
+
+
+
+
+KINDNESS OF SOME CONVICTS
+
+        ----When your head did but ache,
+  I knit my handkerchief about your brows,
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  And with my hand at midnight held your head;
+  And, like the watchful minutes to the hour,
+  Still and anon cheered up the heavy time.
+
+                                    SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+When the yellow fever broke out in Philadelphia, several years ago, it
+was extremely difficult to obtain help at the hospital; application was
+consequently made to the female convicts in the prison. Braving the
+danger of becoming nurses for the sick under such circumstances, as many
+as were needed readily profered their aid, and remained as long as
+desired. There was a scarcity of bedsteads, and these females were asked
+for theirs. Willing to sacrifice the meagre comforts of a convict for
+the sake of alleviating the condition of the sick and the dying, they
+not only gave up their bedsteads, but bedding also. Such humane conduct,
+coming from whom it may, is deserving of praise and worthy of record.
+
+
+
+
+MARGARET PRIOR.
+
+  ----If a soul thou wouldst redeem,
+    And lead a lost one back to God;
+  Wouldst thou a guardian angel seem
+    To one who long in guilt hath trod;
+  Go kindly to him--take his hand,
+    With gentlest words, within thine own,
+  And by his side a brother stand,
+    Till all the demon thou dethrone.
+
+                            MRS. C. M. SAWYER.
+
+
+The subject of this notice was a native of Fredericksburg, Virginia. She
+was born in 1773. Her maiden name was Barrett. She was married to
+William Allen, a merchant of Baltimore, at the age of sixteen; resided
+in that city for several years, and became the mother of seven children.
+All but one of them died in infancy. Her husband was lost at sea, in
+1808, when her only surviving child was about eighteen months old.
+
+Soon after becoming a widow she removed to the city of New York. There,
+in 1814, she was united in marriage with William Prior, a benevolent and
+public-spirited member of the Society of Friends. She was herself at
+that time in communion with the Baptists, she having united with them
+before the death of her first husband. In 1819 she joined the
+Methodists, with whom she remained in church-fellowship the residue of
+her life.
+
+When the New York Orphan Asylum was instituted, she was appointed one of
+the managers and was, thenceforward, incessantly engaged in benevolent
+operations. We first find her in the more conspicuous "walks of
+usefulness," in the severe winter of 1818 and '19. There being, at that
+time, no public fund for meeting the wants of the poor, she made
+arrangements with her nearest neighbor--herself a kind-hearted, humane
+woman--to prepare soup three times a week for the destitute in the ninth
+ward. She had previously visited that part of the city and made herself
+acquainted with many suffering individuals. All who applied for soup, if
+not known, she accompanied to their homes, and presented them with
+tickets entitling them to further supplies, if found to be true objects
+of charity. Many, it is thought, were saved from starvation by her
+humane exertions. "These, and similar deeds of mercy, tended to enlarge
+her heart: while she watered others, she was watered also herself, and
+felt continually the truth of the assertion, 'It is more blessed to give
+than to receive.'"[77]
+
+  [77] Walks of Usefulness; or, Reminiscences of Margaret Prior, p. 17.
+
+Notwithstanding her arduous, public duties, Mrs. Prior managed her
+household affairs with care, neatness and regularity. It has been
+appropriately said of her that she had "a place for every thing and
+every thing in its place." The time that some spend in fashionable and
+heartless calls, she devoted to industry and humanity. By rising early,
+working late, observing the strictest rules of economy, and subjecting
+herself, at times, to self-denial, she was able to visit the suffering,
+and to make daily appropriations from her own table for their relief.
+
+Numerous instances of her self-denial have been related, and one of them
+we will repeat. She usually obtained assistance to do her washing, and
+limited herself to a dollar a week to meet that expense. Sometimes the
+amount she wished to devote to some particular object fell short, and in
+such instances she would do the washing herself, and thereby save the
+dollar. She felt, in such cases, as has been remarked, that "the
+personal effort was made a blessing to herself of greater value than the
+sum saved."
+
+In the year 1822, Mrs. Prior visited the families on Bowery hill, where
+she had resided the three previous years; thoroughly acquainted herself
+with their moral condition and necessities; established a school for
+poor children; commenced her long-continued weekly visits for
+conversation and prayer with the pupils, and secured the sympathies and
+pecuniary assistance of several Christians to aid in supporting the
+school from year to year. She herself contributed one hundred dollars
+annually for its maintenance.
+
+On the fourteenth of September, 1829, this good woman again became a
+widow. Previous to this date she had lost her seventh child, and an
+adopted one. She had also taken a second motherless child into her
+family. About the year her second husband died, Bowery hill was dug
+away, and she changed her residence.
+
+When, in the early part of 1833, the Moral Reform society was organized,
+she became a prominent member of its board of managers, and, four years
+afterwards, commenced, under its patronage, her memorable labors as a
+city missionary. These she continued till 1842, in which year, on the
+seventh of April, her earthly work was finished.
+
+Two or three incidents connected with her labors as a missionary, will
+show, in part, at least, the character of her work and the philanthropic
+spirit by which she was ever actuated.
+
+As she was once passing through the streets, she was accosted by a lady
+who inquired her name, and wished to know if she did not belong to the
+society which had opened a register of direction for the accommodation
+of respectable females. Ascertaining that she was not mistaken in the
+person, the stranger told Mrs. Prior that two female acquaintances of
+hers were out of work, had become reduced to want, and were so wretched
+as to threaten to drown themselves, unless they soon found a situation.
+They had been working for houses connected with the southern trade which
+had failed, and thus thrown them out of employment. Learning their
+residence, Mrs. Prior visited them immediately; told them of the
+enormity of the crime they had threatened to commit; that she would try
+to secure work for them, and that it was their duty to seek the grace of
+God to sustain them in such trying seasons. The next day she found
+situations for them in pious families, and thus, while she probably
+saved them from committing suicide, she was, perhaps, the instrument, in
+the hands of God, of saving them from infamy and eternal ruin.
+
+Passing through the suburbs of the city one day, her attention was
+arrested by the chime of youthful voices. Seeing that the music
+proceeded from some little beggar-girls, who were sitting in the sun
+beside the fence and singing a Sabbath school hymn, she inquired of them
+what they were doing, when the following dialogue occurred: "We were
+cold, ma'am, and are getting warm in the sun." "Where do you live?" "In
+Twentieth street, ma'am." "Why have you come so far away from your
+homes?" "To get some food and some things to make a fire." "Why were you
+singing?" "To praise God: we go to the Sunday school, and our teacher
+says if we are good children God will never let us want." Pleased with
+the modest and artless answers to her questions, the good woman took
+them across the street, procured each of them a loaf of bread, gave them
+some pious counsel, and left them with smiles on their faces and
+gratitude in their hearts.
+
+Mrs. Prior frequently visited the city prison, and on occasion[78] went
+to Sing Sing. She made a record of her visit to the latter place, from
+which we make an extract: "In visiting the female convicts at their
+cells on Sabbath morning, after Sabbath school, which, under the
+customary regulations, we were permitted to do, we found nearly all
+employed in reading their Bibles. We conversed with them respecting the
+welfare of their souls, and as we knelt with them at the throne of
+grace, they on one side of the grated door and we on the other, we felt
+that He who healed a Mary Magdalene, is still the same compassionate
+Saviour, and our faith, we trust, apprehended him as the atoning
+sacrifice, who bore our sins in his own body on the tree, and opened a
+way for the salvation of even the chief of sinners."
+
+  [78] June, 1840.
+
+Being on an errand of mercy in G---- street one day, she stepped into a
+house of infamy to leave a certain tract. As soon as she had entered and
+made known her mission, the door was closed and locked by one of the
+female inmates, who told her that she was their prisoner. "For a
+moment," writes Mrs. Prior, in her journal, "my heart was tremulous; I
+said nothing till the risings of fear were quelled, and then replied
+pleasantly, 'Well, if I'm a prisoner, I shall pray here, and would sing
+praises to God if I were not so hoarse. Yes, bless the Lord! his
+presence can make me happy here or any where, and you can have no power
+to harm me unless he gives it. This is a dreadful place, to be sure, but
+it is not so bad as hell; for there, there is no hope. The smoke of
+their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever! What a mercy that we are
+not all there! what compassion in the blessed Jesus that he spares us,
+when our sins are every day so great.' I talked to them in this manner
+till they were glad to open the door as a signal for my release."
+
+Such were the doings, such was the character, of Margaret Prior. We see
+her organizing week-day and Sabbath schools, industrial associations and
+temperance societies; establishing soup houses and orphan asylums;
+visiting the sick, the poor, the idle, the culprit, the outcast;
+pointing the dying to a risen Saviour, leading the destitute by the hand
+to the place of relief, the idle to houses of industry, and warning the
+outlaw and the corrupt of the certain and terrible doom that would
+attend persistency in their downward course. With the sweetness,
+gentleness, simplicity, and delicacy, so becoming in woman under all
+circumstances, were blended in her character, energy that was
+unconquerable, courage that danger could not blench, and firmness that
+human power could not bend. The contemplation of such a character is
+superficial, if it does not prompt benevolent feelings, re-affirm
+virtuous resolutions, and revive and strengthen drooping piety.
+
+
+
+
+NOBLE ACTS OF KINDNESS.
+
+  We are to relieve the distressed, to put the wanderer in the way,
+  and divide our bread with the hungry.--SENECA.
+
+
+The Rev. Thomas Andros, of Berkley, Massachusetts, was a firm patriot
+and a keen sufferer in the strife for freedom. He was captured whilst on
+board a privateer, and transferred to the Jersey prison ship. In the
+autumn of 1781, he escaped; and, skulking through the east end of Long
+Island, received at the hands of females such marks of pity and kindness
+as were thought worthy of noting in his journal. The following are
+extracts:
+
+"I came to a respectable dwelling-house and entered it. Among the
+inmates were a decent woman and a tailor. To the woman I expressed my
+want of something to nourish my feeble frame, telling her if she would
+give me a morsel, it would be a mere act of charity. She made no
+objection, asked no questions, but promptly furnished me with the dish
+of light food I desired. Expressing my obligations to her, I rose to
+depart. But going round through another room, she met me in the front
+entry, placed a hat on my head, put an apple pie in my hand, and said,
+'you will want this before you get through the woods.' I opened my mouth
+to give vent to the grateful feelings with which my heart was filled.
+But she would not tarry to hear a word, and instantly vanished. The
+mystery of her conduct I suppose was this: she was satisfied that I had
+escaped from prison, and if she granted me any succor, knowing me to be
+such, it might cost her family the confiscation of their estate. She did
+not therefore wish to ask me any questions or hear me explain who I was
+in the hearing of the tailor, who might turn informer. This mark of
+kindness was more than I could well bear, and as I went on the tears
+flowed copiously! The recollection of her humanity and pity revives in
+my breast even now the same feeling of gratitude.
+
+"Some time after, in Suffolk county, being repulsed from one dwelling, I
+entered another, and informed the mistress of the house of my wants. By
+the cheerfulness and good-nature depicted in her countenance and first
+movements, I knew my suit was granted, and I had nothing more to say
+than to apprise her I was penniless. In a few moments she placed on the
+table a bowl of bread and milk, a dried bluefish roasted, and a mug of
+cider, and said, 'sit down and eat.'
+
+"It was now growing dark, so I went but a short distance further,
+entered a house, and begged the privilege of lodging by the fire. My
+request was granted. There was no one in the house but the man and his
+wife. They appeared to be cordial friends to each other--it was indeed
+one of the few happy matches. Before it became late in the evening the
+man took his Bible and read a chapter. He then arose and offered up his
+grateful acknowledgments and supplications to God through the Mediator.
+I now began to think I had got into a safe and hospitable retreat. They
+had before made many inquiries such as indicated that they felt tenderly
+and took an interest in my welfare. I now confessed my situation to
+them. All was silence. It took some time to recover themselves from a
+flood of tears. At last the kind woman said, 'Let us go and bake his
+clothes.' No sooner said than the man seized a brand of fire and threw
+it into the oven. The woman provided a clean suit of clothes to supply
+the place of mine till they had purified them by fire. The work done, a
+clean bed was laid down on which I was to rest, and rest I did as in a
+new world; for I had got rid of a swarm of cannibals who were eating me
+up alive! In the morning I took my leave of this dear family with a
+gratitude that for fifty years has suffered no abatement."[79]
+
+  [79] Mr. Andros thus describes the old Jersey: "Her dark and filthy
+  exterior corresponded with the death and despair reigning within. It is
+  supposed that eleven thousand American seamen perished in her. None came
+  to relieve their woes. Once or twice, by order of a stranger on the
+  quarter-deck, a bag of apples was hurled promiscuously into the midst of
+  hundreds of prisoners, crowded as thick as they could stand--and life
+  and limbs were endangered in the struggle. The prisoners were secured
+  between the decks by iron gratings; and when the ship was to be cleared
+  of water, an armed guard forced them up to the winches, amid a roar of
+  execrations and reproaches--the dim light adding to the horrors of the
+  scene. Thousands died whose names have never been known; perishing when
+  no eye could witness their fortitude, nor praise their devotion to their
+  country."
+
+
+
+
+THE WIFE OF DR. RAMSAY.
+
+  Unrivalled as thy merit, be thy fame.
+
+                                   TICKELL.
+
+
+Few women of modern times have more charmingly exhibited "the beauties
+of holiness" than Martha Laurens Ramsay, the wife of the historian of
+South Carolina. In his interesting series of lectures on the Christian
+graces, the Rev. Dr. Williams very happily refers to her habit of
+prayer, to illustrate the spirit of brotherly kindness as shown in the
+mutual intercession of brethren in the same church. "It is animating,"
+he writes, "and yet, as contrasted with our present remissness,
+humiliating, to read how Baxter and his people held days of fasting and
+prayer for each other; or to turn to the pages which describe a
+Christian matron of the South, the wife of Ramsay and the daughter of
+Henry Laurens, President of the Continental Congress, praying over a
+list of her fellow-members, name by name, and remembering, to the best
+of her knowledge, the cares and wants of each before the throne of
+grace."[80]
+
+  [80] Religious Progress, pp. 200-1.
+
+Prior to her marriage, and whilst residing in France with her father,
+she received from him the handsome present of five hundred guineas.
+Appropriating a very small portion of this sum to her own use, with the
+bulk she purchased one hundred French Testaments--all to be found in the
+market--and distributed them amongst the destitute in Vigan and its
+vicinity, and organized a school there for the instruction of youth,
+constituting a fund sufficient to oblite rate its annual charges.
+
+Mrs. Ramsay was remarkably economical of time, rising early and devoting
+every hour to some useful service; and of money, never indulging herself
+in any needless expenditure. This principle of economy was observed even
+at her funeral. She directed that it should be at her own private house;
+and that her coffin should be plain and without a plate. She died on the
+tenth of June, 1811.
+
+
+
+
+COURAGE AND PRESENCE OF MIND OF MARGARET SCHUYLER.
+
+  --Courage mounteth with occasion.
+
+                            SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+In August, 1781, when the abduction of General Schuyler from his house
+in the suburbs of Albany, was projected, and John Waltermeyer, the bold
+partizan of Joseph Bettys, led a motley and blood-thirsty band--tories,
+Canadians and Indians--in the daring undertaking, a daughter of the
+General acted so courageous and wise a part as to justify us in giving
+on outline sketch of the unsuccessful enterprise.
+
+As the family sat in an open door, in the evening of a very sultry day,
+receiving information that a stranger was waiting at the back gate to
+see him, General Schuyler mistrusted, at once, that something was wrong;
+and, instead of repairing to the gate, he instantly closed and fastened
+the doors, and ran to his bed chamber for his arms. He then hurried his
+family into the third story, where he immediately discharged a pistol to
+arouse the careless guards, and afterwards others, to alarm, if
+possible, the inhabitants of the city. In hurrying up stairs, his wife
+overlooked her infant, which was asleep in the cradle; and she was about
+to descend, when the General warned her of the danger, and held her
+back. Seeing her mother's agony, a daughter named Margaret, rushed down
+stairs into the nursery, caught the child, and was about ascending, when
+a tomahawk flew past her, simply grazing her dress and slightly injuring
+it. Hurrying up a private stairway, she was met by Waltermeyer, who
+roughly exclaimed, "Wench! where is your master?" With remarkable
+presence of mind, she answered, "Gone to alarm the town." Fearing that
+such might be the case, Waltermeyer called his pilfering men, who were
+bagging plate in the dining hall, and began a consultation. Meanwhile
+the General was also thinking, and devising a stratagem by which to
+frighten away the kidnappers. He soon threw up a window, and, in the
+voice of an experienced commander, cried out, "Come on, my brave
+fellows; surround the house and secure the villains who are plundering."
+As he anticipated, the gang, hearing these words, snapped the thread of
+their consultation, and tested the nimbleness of their feet. The reports
+of the General's arms had alarmed the people of the city, and they came
+to the rescue just in season to be unneeded.
+
+
+
+
+NOBLE TREATMENT OF ENEMIES.
+
+                      ----True religion
+  Is always mild, propitious and humble,
+  Plays not the tyrant, plants no faith in blood;
+  Nor bears destruction on her chariot wheels;
+  But stoops to polish, succor, and redress,
+  And builds her grandeur on the public good.
+
+                                   MILLER'S MAHOMET.
+
+
+Among the early converts to Christianity in the Cherokee tribe, were a
+few women, who formed themselves into a society for propagating the
+Gospel. They felt its expanding power, and, though poor, were anxious to
+do something for those who were not sharing in the same blessing. The
+proceeds of their first year's efforts, were about ten dollars; and
+while deliberating on the manner of its appropriation, one of the
+members suggested that it be devoted to the promotion of religion among
+the Osages, giving as a reason that they were the greatest enemies of
+the Cherokees, and that the Bible teaches Christians to do good to
+such.
+
+
+
+
+HUMANITY REWARDED.
+
+  ----I should some kindness show them.
+
+                                 SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+Among the early settlements of New Hampshire, were several on the
+Piscataqua river, in the neighborhood of the present town of Dover. For
+awhile the aborigines and whites were on amicable terms, and the former
+not unfrequently paid the latter a friendly visit. On one of those
+occasions, a pappoos was suddenly seized with illness, and its mother
+was obliged to remain several days. She found shelter and accommodations
+with a widow, who received her cordially, and nursed the feeble infant
+as her own. Such kindness would not be forgotten, even by savages; and
+when, after the lapse of years, the bow was bent and the hatchet raised
+against the settlement where the widow resided, the Indians placed a
+strong guard around her house; and, though the butchery was terrible,
+she and her family were unharmed.
+
+
+
+
+MARGARET WINTHROP.
+
+                      ----When meet now
+  Such pairs, in love and honor joined?
+
+                                    MILTON.
+
+
+Governor Winthrop, the father of the Massachusetts' colony, married
+Margaret, the daughter of Sir John Tindal, in April, 1618. She was his
+third wife, and a woman of rare qualities both of mind and heart.
+Previous to their emigration to New England, it was not an uncommon
+occurrence for them to be separated, and their correspondence on such
+occasions savors of the purest affection. Who does not see the image of
+a devoted wife and an exalted spirit in the following letter, written
+about the year 1627:
+
+"MY MOST SWEET HUSBAND,--How dearly welcome thy kind letter was to me, I
+am not able to express. The sweetness of it did much refresh me. What
+can be more pleasing to a wife, than to hear of the welfare of her best
+beloved, and how he is pleased with her poor endeavors! I blush to hear
+myself commended, knowing my own wants. But it is your love that
+conceives the best, and makes all things seem better than they are. I
+wish that I may be always pleasing to thee, and that those comforts we
+have in each other may be daily increased, as far as they may be
+pleasing to God. I will use that speech to thee, that Abigail did to
+David: 'I will be a servant to wash the feet of my lord.' I will do any
+service wherein I may please my good husband. I confess I cannot do
+enough for thee; but thou art pleased to accept the will for the deed,
+and rest contented.
+
+"I have many reasons to make me love thee, whereof I will name two:
+first, because thou lovest God; and secondly, because thou lovest me. If
+these two were wanting, all the rest would be eclipsed. But I must leave
+this discourse, and go about my household affairs. I am a bad housewife
+to be so long from them; but I must needs borrow a little time to talk
+with thee, my sweet heart. I hope thy business draws to an end. It will
+be but two or three weeks before I see thee, though they be long ones.
+God will bring us together in his good time; for which I shall pray.
+
+Farewell, my good husband; the Lord keep thee.
+
+                                     Your obedient wife,
+
+                                             MARGARET WINTHROP."
+
+Below is another letter from the pen of this good woman, written after
+her husband had decided to come to Massachusetts, and just before his
+embarkation:
+
+"MY MOST DEAR HUSBAND,--I should not now omit any opportunity of writing
+to thee, considering I shall not long have thee to write unto. But, by
+reason of my unfitness at this time, I must entreat thee to accept of a
+few lines from me, and not impute it to any want of love, or neglect of
+duty to thee, to whom I owe more than I ever shall be able to express.
+
+"My request now shall be to the Lord to prosper thee in thy voyage, and
+enable thee and fit thee for it, and give all graces and gifts for such
+employments as he shall call thee to. I trust God will once more bring
+us together before you go, that we may see each other with gladness, and
+take a solemn leave, till we, through the goodness of our God, shall
+meet in New England, which will be a joyful day to us. With my best
+wishes to God for thy health and welfare, I take my leave and rest, thy
+faithful, obedient wife,
+
+                                                MARGARET WINTHROP."[81]
+
+  [81] The following extract from a letter written by the Governor in
+  March, 1629, shows that he was not unconscious of the excellence of the
+  gift he possessed in his "yokefellow." Addressing her as "MINE OWN DEAR
+  HEART," he proceeds:
+
+  "I must confess thou hast overcome me with thy exceeding great love, and
+  those abundant expressions of it in thy sweet letters, which savor of
+  more than an ordinary spirit of love and piety. Blessed be the Lord our
+  God, that gives strength and comfort to thee to undergo this great
+  trial, which, I must confess, would be too heavy for thee, if the Lord
+  did not put under his hand in so gracious a measure. Let this experience
+  of his faithfulness to thee in this first trial, be a ground to
+  establish thy heart to believe and expect his help in all that may
+  follow. It grieveth me much, that I want time and freedom of mind to
+  discourse with thee, my faithful yokefellow, in those things which thy
+  sweet letters offer me so plentiful occasion for. I beseech the Lord, I
+  may have liberty to supply it, ere I depart; for I cannot thus leave
+  thee."
+
+Governor Winthrop landed on these shores in June, 1630, and his wife
+followed him in about a year. She lived till June, 1647, and was perhaps
+as useful in her more private, as her husband in his public and highly
+honorable, sphere. "A woman of singular virtue, prudence, modesty and
+piety;" though dignified, she was condescending; and knowing her place,
+she kept, and filled, and honored it. With undimmed and steady lustre,
+she shone for sixteen years amid the shadows of night that overhung and
+threatened the infant colony.
+
+
+
+
+A PIONEER SETTLER'S ADVENTURE.
+
+  ----Screw your courage up to the sticking place,
+  And we'll not fail.
+
+                                           SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+The first settler in Hollis, New Hampshire, was Captain Peter Powers. He
+removed thither in 1731. His nearest neighbor, for a time, was ten miles
+distant; and in order to exchange courtesies it was necessary for the
+families to cross the Nashua river. It had but one convenient and safe
+fording place in that vicinity, and that one only when the river was
+low.
+
+Having occasion, on a pleasant August morning, to visit her neighbor,
+Mrs. Powers mounted a Narraganset, hastened away, and reached the place
+of destination long before noon. Early in the after part of the day a
+fearful thunderstorm came up, and continued for several hours. Just at
+sunset the clouds began to break away, and Mrs. Powers immediately
+started on her return. She did not reach the river until some time after
+dark; and coming to the ford, she found the bank full and the water--as
+a narrator of the incident has it--"pressing on it with great
+rapidity." Added to this alarming circumstance, the wind had shifted and
+rolled the clouds up the sky again, so that the rain was descending in
+torrents, and drowning the threatening voice of the waves. Trusting to
+the experienced animal to keep the ford, and giving a slack rein,
+without realizing the danger, the courageous woman plunged into the
+black stream. The steed almost instantly lost its foothold, and "rolling
+in the waves at a full swim," made for the opposite shore. Missing the
+ford, and striking a forefoot on a rock in the bed of the stream, the
+animal was raised momentarily half way out of the water. Then plunging
+forward, it sank so deep that Mrs. Powers was raised from the pommel;
+but seizing the horse's mane as it rose, she held her grasp till they
+were safely on shore. The faithful animal soon found the right track,
+and in a brief hour Mrs. Powers was under the shelter of her cabin.
+
+
+
+
+MRS. McKENNY.
+
+  More can I bear than you dare execute.
+
+                                 SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+"Not a great way from Steel's and Taylor's forts was a settlement
+consisting of a few families, among which were those of William McKenny
+and his brother James. These lived near Fishing creek. In the summer of
+1761, sixteen Indians, with some squaws of the Cherokee tribe, took up
+their abode for several weeks near what is called Simpson's shoals, for
+the purpose of hunting and fishing during the hot months. In August, the
+two McKennys being absent on a journey to Camden, William's wife,
+Barbara, was left alone with several young children. One day she saw the
+Indian women running towards her house in great haste, followed by the
+men. She had no time to offer resistance; the squaws seized her and the
+children, pulled them into the house, and shoved them behind the door,
+where they immediately placed themselves on guard, pushing back the
+Indians as fast as they tried to force their way in, and uttering the
+most fearful outcries. Mrs. McKenny concluded it was their intention to
+kill her, and expected her fate every moment. The assistance rendered by
+the squaws, whether given out of compassion for a lonely mother, or in
+return for kindness shown them,--proved effectual for her protection
+until the arrival of one of the chiefs, who drew his long knife and
+drove off the savages. The mother, apprehending another attack, went to
+some of her neighbors and entreated them to come and stay with her.
+Robert Brown and Joanna his wife, Sarah Ferguson, her daughter Sarah and
+two sons, and a young man named Michael Melbury, came, in compliance
+with her request, and took up their quarters in the house. The next
+morning Mrs. McKenny ventured out alone to milk her cows. It had been
+her practice heretofore to take some of the children with her, and she
+could not explain why she went alone this time, though she was not free
+from apprehension; it seemed to be so by a special ordering of
+Providence. While she was milking, the Indians crept towards her on
+their hands and knees; she heard not their approach, nor knew any thing
+till they seized her. Sensible at once of all the horror of her
+situation, she made no effort to escape, but promised to go quietly with
+them. They then set off towards the house, holding her fast by the arm.
+She had the presence of mind to walk as far off as possible from the
+Indian who held her, expecting Melbury to fire as they approached her
+dwelling. As they came up, he fired, wounding the one who held Mrs.
+McKenny; she broke from his hold and ran, and another Indian pursued
+and seized her. At this moment she was just at her own door, which John
+Ferguson imprudently opening that she might enter, the Indians without
+shot him dead as he presented himself. His mother ran to him and
+received another shot in her thigh, of which she died in a few days.
+Melbury, who saw that all their lives depended on prompt action, dragged
+them from the door, fastened it, and repairing to the loft, prepared for
+a vigorous defence. There were in all five guns; Sarah Ferguson loaded
+for him, while he kept up a continual fire, aiming at the Indians
+wherever one could be seen. Determined to effect their object of forcing
+an entrance, some of the savages came very near the house, keeping under
+cover of an outhouse in which Brown and his wife had taken refuge, not
+being able, on the alarm, to get into the house. They had crept into a
+corner and were crouched there close to the boarding. One of the
+Indians, coming up, leaned against the outside, separated from them only
+by a few boards, the crevices between which probably enabled them to see
+him. Mrs. Brown proposed to take a sword that lay by them and run the
+savage through the body, but her husband refused; he expected death, he
+said, every moment, and did not wish to go out of the world having his
+hands crimsoned with the blood of any fellow creature. 'Let me die in
+peace,' were his words, 'with all the world.' Joanna, though in the same
+peril, could not respond to the charitable feeling. 'If I am to die,'
+she said, 'I should like first to send some of the redskins on the
+journey. But we are not so sure we have to die; don't you hear the crack
+of Melbury's rifle? He holds the house. I warrant you that redskin
+looked awfully scared as he leaned against the corner here. We could
+have done it in a moment.'
+
+"Mrs. McKenny, meanwhile, having failed to get into her house, had been
+again seized by the Indians, and, desperately regardless of her own
+safety, was doing all in her power to help her besieged friends. She
+would knock the priming out of the guns carried by the savages, and when
+they presented them to fire, would throw them up, so that the discharge
+might prove harmless. She was often heard to say, afterwards, that all
+fear had left her, and she thought only of those within the building,
+for she expected for herself neither deliverance nor mercy. Melbury
+continued to fire whenever one of the enemy appeared; they kept
+themselves, however, concealed, for the most part, behind trees or the
+outhouse. Several were wounded by his cool and well-directed shots, and
+at length, tired of the contest, the Indians retreated, carrying Mrs.
+McKenny with them. She now resisted with all her strength, preferring
+instant death to the more terrible fate of a captive in the hands of the
+fierce Cherokees. Her refusal to go forward irritated her captors, and
+when they had dragged her about half a mile, near a rock upon the
+plantation now occupied by John Culp, she received a second blow with
+the tomahawk which stretched her insensible upon the ground. When after
+some time consciousness returned, she found herself lying upon the rock,
+to which she had been dragged from the spot where she fell. She was
+stripped naked, and her scalp had been taken off. By degrees the
+knowledge of her condition, and the desire of obtaining help came upon
+her. She lifted up her head, and looking around, saw the wretches who
+had so cruelly mangled her, pulling ears of corn from a field near, to
+roast for their meal. She laid her head quickly down again, well knowing
+that if they saw her alive, they would not be slack in coming to finish
+the work of death. Thus she lay motionless till all was silent, and she
+found they were gone; then, with great pain and difficulty, she dragged
+herself back to the house. It may be imagined with what feelings the
+unfortunate woman was received by her friends and children, and how she
+met the bereaved mother, wounded unto death, who had suffered for her
+attempt to save others. One of the blows received by Mrs. McKenny had
+made a deep wound in her back; the others were upon her head....
+
+"The wounds in Mrs. McKenny's head never healed entirely; but continued
+to break out occasionally, so that the blood flowing from them stained
+the bed at night, and sometimes fragments of bone came off;
+nevertheless, she lived many years afterwards and bore several children.
+She was at the time with child, and in about three months gave birth to
+a daughter--Hannah, afterwards married to John Stedman--and living in
+Tennessee in 1827. This child was plainly marked with a tomahawk and
+drops of blood, as if running down the side of her face. The families of
+McKenny and McFadden, residing on Fishing creek, are descended from this
+Barbara McKenny; but most of her descendants have emigrated to the West.
+The above mentioned occurrence is narrated in a manuscript in the
+hand-writing of her grandson, Robert McFadden."[82]
+
+  [82] Women of the Revolution, vol. 3.
+
+
+
+
+THE FISHERMAN'S HEROIC WIFE.
+
+                              Strong affection
+  Contends with all things, and o'ercometh all things.
+
+                                               JOANNA BAILLIE.
+
+
+"One of the small islands in Boston bay was inhabited by a single poor
+family. The father was taken suddenly ill. There was no physician. The
+wife, on whom every labor for the household devolved, was sleepless in
+care and tenderness by the bedside of her suffering husband. Every
+remedy in her power to procure was administered, but the disease was
+acute, and he died.
+
+"Seven young children mourned around the lifeless corpse. They were the
+sole beings upon that desolate spot. Did the mother indulge the grief of
+her spirit, and sit down in despair? No: she entered upon the arduous
+and sacred duties of her station. She felt that there was no hand to
+assist her in burying her dead. Providing, as far as possible, for the
+comfort of her little ones, she put her babe into the arms of the
+oldest, and charged the two next in age to watch the corpse of their
+father. She unmoored her husband's fishing boat, which, but two days
+before, he had guided over the seas, to obtain food for his family. She
+dared not yield to those tender recollections, which might have unnerved
+her arm. The nearest island was at the distance of three miles. Strong
+winds lashed the waters to foam. Over the loud billows, that wearied and
+sorrowful woman rowed, and was preserved. She reached the next island,
+and obtained the necessary aid. With such energy did her duty to her
+desolate babes inspire her, that the voyage which depended on her
+individual effort, was performed in a shorter time than the returning
+one, when the oars were managed by two men, who went to assist in the
+last offices to the dead."
+
+
+
+
+MRS. JAMES K. POLK.
+
+  A fault doth never with remorse
+    Our minds so deeply move,
+  As when another's guiltless life
+    Our error doth reprove.
+
+                                BRANDON.
+
+
+Sarah Childress Polk is the daughter of an enterprising and wealthy
+merchant of Rutherford county, Tennessee. She was married on the first
+of January, 1824.
+
+Fitted to dignify and adorn any station appropriate for woman, while
+presiding at the White house she was universally esteemed, and retired
+as honorably as any woman since the days of Washington. She is
+intelligent, refined, unaffected, affable, courteous, hospitable, and,
+above all, pious, and exemplary as a Christian. She has been for years
+in communion with the Presbyterians; and while at the Capital, and the
+eyes of the whole nation were upon her, she forbade, in the President's
+mansion, any amusement not in keeping with the Christian profession. In
+this respect, it may be said of her, in the language of Shakspeare,
+
+  Thou art not for the fashion of these times.
+
+The following poetical tribute, from the pen and heart of Mrs. Stephens,
+is well merited:
+
+  LADY! had I the wealth of earth
+    To offer freely at thy shrine,
+  Bright gold, and buds of dewy birth,
+    Or gems from out the teeming mine,
+  A thousand things most beautiful,
+    All sparkling, precious, rich, and rare,
+  These hands would render up to thee--
+    Thou noble lady, good and fair!
+
+  For, as I write, sweet thoughts arise
+    Of times when all thy kindness lent
+  A thousand hues of Paradise
+    To the fleet moments as they went;
+  Then all thy thoughts were winged with light,
+    And every smile was calm and sweet,
+  And thy low tones and gentle words
+    Made the warm heart's blood thrill and beat.
+
+  There, standing in our nation's home,
+    My memory ever pictures thee
+  As some bright dame of ancient Rome,
+    Modest, yet all a queen should be.
+  I love to keep thee in my mind,
+    Thus mated with the pure of old,
+  When love with lofty deeds combined,
+    Made women great and warriors bold.
+
+  When first I saw thee standing there,
+    And felt the pressure of thy hand,
+  I scarcely thought if thou wert fair,
+    Or of the highest in the land;
+  I knew thee gentle, pure as great;
+    All that was lovely, meek and good;
+  And so I half forgot thy state
+    In love of thy bright womanhood.
+
+  And many a sweet sensation came
+    That lingers in my bosom yet,
+  Like that celestial, holy flame
+    That vestals tremble to forget
+  And on the earth, or in the sky,
+    There's not a thought more true and free
+  Than that which beats within my heart,
+    In pleasant memory of thee.
+
+  Lady, I gladly would have brought
+    Some gem that on thy heart may live;
+  But this poor wreath of woven thought
+    Is all the wealth I have to give.
+  All wet with heart-dew, fresh with love,
+    I lay the garland at thy feet,
+  Praying the angel forms above
+    To weave thee one more pure and sweet.
+
+
+
+
+
+THE WIDOW JENKINS.
+
+  In humblest vales the patriot heart may glow.
+
+                                          J. T. FIELDS.
+
+
+At the time Colonel Watson, the commander of a corps of regulars and
+tories, was making inroads upon the Pedee, he pitched his tent one night
+near the house of a widow named Jenkins, and took up his own quarters
+under her roof. Learning, in the course of the evening, that she had
+three sons fighting under General Marion, he commenced the following
+conversation with her:
+
+"So, madam, they tell me you have several sons in General Marion's camp;
+I hope it is not true."
+
+She said it was very true, and was only sorry that it was not a thousand
+times truer.
+
+"A thousand times truer, madam!" replied he, with great surprise, "pray
+what can be your meaning in that?"
+
+"Why, sir, I am only sorry that in place of three, I have not three
+thousand sons with General Marion."
+
+"Aye, indeed! well then, madam, begging your pardon, you had better send
+for them immediately to come in and join his majesty's troops under my
+command: for as they are rebels now in arms against their king, should
+they be taken, they will be hung as sure as ever they were born."
+
+"Why, sir, you are very considerate of my sons; for which, at any rate,
+I thank you. But, as you have begged my pardon for giving me this
+advice, I must beg yours for not taking it. My sons, sir, are of age,
+and must and will act for themselves. And as to their being in a state
+of rebellion against their king, I must take the liberty, sir, to deny
+that."
+
+"What, madam! not in rebellion against their king? Shooting at and
+killing his majesty's subjects like wolves! don't you call that
+rebellion against their king, madam?"
+
+"No, sir, they are only doing their duty, as God and nature commanded
+them, sir."
+
+"The d----l they are, madam!"
+
+"Yes, sir, and what you and every man in England would glory to do
+against the king, were he to dare to tax you contrary to your own
+consent and the constitution of the realm. 'Tis the king, sir, who is in
+rebellion against my sons, and not they against him. And could right
+prevail against might, he would as certainly lose his head as ever king
+Charles the First did."[83]
+
+  [83] Weems' Marion, pp. 182-3.
+
+
+
+
+A FAITHFUL LITTLE GIRL.
+
+  Labor in the path of duty
+  Beam'd up like a thing of beauty.
+
+                              C. P. CRANCH.
+
+
+"A very profane and profligate sailor, who belonged to a vessel lying in
+the port of New York, went out one day from his ship into the streets,
+bent on folly and wickedness. He met a pious little girl, whose feelings
+he tried to wound by using vile and sinful language. The little girl
+looked him earnestly in the face, warned him of his danger, and, with a
+solemn tone, told him to remember that he must meet her shortly at the
+bar of God. This unexpected reproof greatly affected him. To use his own
+language, 'it was like a broadside, raking him fore and aft, and
+sweeping by the board every sail and spar prepared for a wicked cruise.'
+Abashed and confounded, he returned to his ship. He could not banish
+from his mind the reproof of this little girl. Her look was present to
+his mind; her solemn declaration, 'You must meet me at the bar of God,'
+deeply affected his heart. The more he reflected upon it, the more
+uncomfortable he felt. In a few days his hard heart was subdued, and he
+submitted to the Saviour."
+
+
+
+
+HOSPITALITY OF CALIFORNIA WOMEN.
+
+  Blest that abode where want and pain repair,
+  And every stranger finds a ready chair.
+
+                                          GOLDSMITH.
+
+
+In his Three Years in California, the Rev. Walter Colton speaks as
+follows of the native women:
+
+Their hospitality knows no bounds; they are always glad to see you, come
+when you may; take a pleasure in entertaining you while you remain; and
+only regret that your business calls you away. If you are sick, there is
+nothing which sympathy and care can devise or perform, which is not done
+for you. No sister ever hung over the throbbing brain or fluttering
+pulse of a brother with more tenderness and fidelity. This is as true of
+the lady whose hand has only figured her embroidery or swept her guitar,
+as of the cottage-girl wringing from her laundry the foam of the
+mountain stream; and all this from the _heart_! If I must be cast, in
+sickness or destitution, on the care of a stranger, let it be in
+California; but let it be before avarice has hardened the heart and made
+a god of gold.
+
+
+
+
+SARAH LANMAN SMITH.
+
+  Where'er the path of duty led,
+  With an unquestioning faith she trod.
+
+                                   T. W. RENNE.
+
+
+Among the many names endeared to the friends of missions, is that of
+Sarah L. Smith, a native of Norwich, Connecticut. Her maiden name was
+Huntington. She was born in 1802; made a profession of religion in
+youth; became the wife of the Rev. Eli Smith in July, 1833; embarked
+with him for Palestine the September following; and died at Boojah, near
+Smyrna, the last day of September, 1836.
+
+Her work as a foreign missionary was quickly finished. She labored
+longer as a home missionary among the Moheagans, who live in the
+neighborhood of Norwich, and there displayed most conspicuously the
+moral heroism of her nature. In conjunction with Sarah Breed, she
+commenced her philanthropic operations in the year 1827. "The first
+object that drew them from the sphere of their own church, was the
+project of opening a Sabbath school for the poor Indian children of
+Moheagan. Satisfied that this was a work which Heaven would approve,
+they marked out their plans, and pursued them with untiring energy.
+Boldly they went forth, and, guided by the rising smoke or sounding axe,
+visited the Moheagans from field to field, and from hut to hut, till
+they had thoroughly informed themselves of their numbers, condition, and
+prospects. The opposition they encountered, the ridicule and opprobrium
+showered upon them from some quarters, the sullenness of the natives,
+the bluster of the white tenants, the brush wood and dry branches thrown
+across their pathway, could not discourage them. They saw no 'lions in
+the way,' while mercy, with pleading looks, beckoned them forward."
+
+The Moheagans then numbered a little more than one hundred, only one of
+whom was a professor of religion. She was ninety-seven years of age. In
+her hut the first prayer meeting and the first Sabbath school gathered
+by these young ladies, were held.
+
+Miss Breed soon removed from that part of the country, and Miss
+Huntington continued her labors for awhile alone. She was at that time
+very active in securing the formation of a society and the circulation
+of a subscription, having for their object the erection of a chapel. She
+found, ere long, a faithful co-worker in Miss Elizabeth Raymond. They
+taught a school in conjunction, and aside from their duties as teachers,
+were, at times, "advisers, counsellors, lawgivers, milliners,
+mantuamakers, tailoresses and almoners."[84]
+
+  [84] Missionary Offering, p. 86. We are indebted to the same source for
+  most of the particulars embraced in this article.
+
+"The school was kept in a house on Fort Hill, leased to a respectable
+farmer in whose family the young teachers boarded by alternate weeks,
+each going to the scene of labor every other Sabbath morning and
+remaining till the evening of the succeeding Sabbath, so that both were
+present in the Sabbath school, which was twice as large as the other. A
+single incident will serve to show the dauntless resolution which Miss
+Huntington carried into her pursuits. Just at the expiration of one of
+her terms of service during the winter, a heavy and tempestuous fall of
+snow blocked up the roads with such high drifts, that a friend who had
+been accustomed to go for her and convey her home in bad weather, and
+had started for this purpose in his sleigh, turned back, discouraged. No
+path had been broken, and the undertaking was so hazardous that he
+conceived no female would venture forth at such a time. He therefore
+called at her father's house to say that he should delay going for her
+till the morrow. What was his surprise to be met at the door by the
+young lady herself, who had reached home just before, having walked the
+whole distance on the hard crust of snow, _alone_, and some of the way
+over banks of snow that entirely obliterated the walls and fences by the
+roadside."
+
+While at Moheagan, Miss Huntington corresponded with the Hon. Lewis
+Cass, then Secretary of War, and secured his influence and the aid of
+that department. In 1832, a grant of nine hundred dollars was made from
+the fund devoted to the Indian department, five hundred being
+appropriated towards the erection of missionary buildings and four for
+the support of a teacher. Before leaving the Moheagan, for a wider
+field, this devoted and heroic missionary had the happiness of seeing a
+chapel, parsonage and school house, standing on "the sequestered
+land"[85] of her forest friends, and had thus partially repaid the debt
+of social and moral obligation to a tribe who fed the first and
+famishing settlers in Connecticut, and strove to protect them against
+the tomahawk of inimical tribes, and whose whoop was friendly to freedom
+when British aggressors were overriding American rights.
+
+  [85] That was its original name. It is a reserved tract; contains
+  between two and three thousand acres, and a considerable part is now
+  occupied by white tenants. Its situation is on the Thames, between New
+  London and Norwich.
+
+
+
+
+A BROTHER SAVED BY HIS SISTER.
+
+  Brave spirits are a balsam to themselves.
+
+                                     CARTWRIGHT.
+
+
+During the invasion of the Mohawk valley by Sir John Johnson, Samson
+Sammons, of Johnstown, and his three sons, were taken captive early one
+morning in May. The females were not made prisoners. While a soldier was
+standing sentinel over the youngest son, named Thomas, who was about
+eighteen, the latter, who was not more than half dressed, said he was
+not going to Canada in such a plight; that he should need his shoes
+especially; and asked permission to go to his chamber and get his
+clothes. The favor was not granted; but Thomas, resolving to have his
+shoes, stepped towards the door, when the barbarous soldier pointed a
+bayonet at his back, and made a plunge. At that moment a sister, who had
+watched every movement with breathless anxiety, sprang forward, seized
+the gun, threw herself across its barrel, bore it to the ground, and
+thus saved her brother's life. After a brief struggle, the soldier
+disengaged his weapon, but before he had time to make another plunge,
+an officer rushed forward and asked what was the trouble. The heroic
+girl stated the case, when the soldier was severely rebuked, and her
+brother permitted to obtain his shoes and all the raiment he
+desired.[86]
+
+  [86] It may be interesting to the reader to know that Thomas Sammons did
+  not go to Canada. He was released in the afternoon of the same day, with
+  some other persons who had been taken prisoners during the forenoon.
+  Feigning extreme lameness in one foot, he attracted the attention and
+  excited the sympathy of the widow of a British officer: she had resided
+  in the neighborhood, knew many of the captives, and as some were her
+  personal friends, she asked Sir John to permit their release. He did so;
+  and on going into the field to select them, writes Colonel Stone, "she
+  adroitly smuggled young Sammons into the group, and led him away in
+  safety."
+
+
+
+
+PATRIOTIC SACRIFICE OF MRS. BORDEN.
+
+  They love their land because it is their own.
+
+                                             HALLECK.
+
+
+At the darkest period of the Revolution, New Jersey was, for a short
+time, full of British soldiers, and Lord Cornwallis was stationed at
+Bordentown.[87] He visited Mrs. Borden one day, at her elegant mansion,
+and made an effort to intimidate her. He told her that if she would
+persuade her husband and son, who were then in the American army, to
+join his forces, none of her property should be destroyed; but if she
+refused to make such exertions, he would burn her house, and lay waste
+her whole estate. Unintimidated and patriotic, she made the following
+bold reply, which caused the execution of the threat: "The sight of my
+house in flames would be a treat to me, for I have seen enough to know
+that you never injure what you have power to keep and enjoy. The
+application of a torch to my dwelling I should regard as the signal for
+your departure." And such it was.
+
+  [87] Major Garden.
+
+
+
+
+MARGARET CORBIN.
+
+  Where cannon boomed, where bayonets clashed,
+  There was thy fiery way.
+
+                                       SARA J. CLARKE.
+
+
+An act similar to that recorded of Mrs. Pitcher at the battle of
+Monmouth, was performed by Mrs. Margaret Corbin at the attack on Fort
+Washington. Her husband belonged to the artillery; and, standing by his
+side and seeing him fall, she unhesitatingly took his place and
+heroically performed his duties. Her services were appreciated by the
+officers of the army, and honorably noticed by Congress. This body
+passed the following resolution in July, 1779:
+
+"Resolved,--That Margaret Corbin, wounded and disabled at the battle of
+Fort Washington, while she heroically filled the post of her husband,
+who was killed by her side serving a piece of artillery, do receive
+during her natural life, or continuance of said disability, one-half the
+monthly pay drawn by a soldier in service of these States; and that she
+now receive out of public stores, one suit of clothes or value thereof
+in money."
+
+
+
+
+BRAVERY OF MRS. CHANNING.
+
+                          ----The truly brave,
+  When they behold the brave oppressed with odds,
+  Are touched with a desire to shield or save.
+
+                                               BYRON.
+
+
+Soon after the commencement of the Revolutionary war, the family of Dr.
+Channing,[88] being in England, removed to France, and shortly
+afterwards sailed for the United States. The vessel, said to be stout
+and well-armed, was attacked on the voyage by a privateer, and a fierce
+engagement ensued. During its continuance, Mrs. Channing stood on the
+deck, exhorting the crew not to give up, encouraging them with words of
+cheer, handing them cartridges, and aiding such of them as were disabled
+by wounds. When, at length, the colors of the vessel were struck, she
+seized her husband's pistols and side arms, and flung them into the sea,
+declaring that she would prefer death to the witnessing of their
+surrender into the hands of the foe.
+
+  [88] This anecdote, which is recorded in several works, cannot refer to
+  the late William Ellery Channing, as he was not born at the commencement
+  of the Revolution.
+
+
+
+
+COMMENDABLE COURAGE.
+
+  Have chivalry's bold days
+  A deed of wilder bravery
+  In all their stirring lays?
+
+                     SARA J. CLARKE
+
+
+An incident which occurred at one of the forts in the Mohawk valley,
+might have been mentioned in connection with the heroism of Schoharie
+women. It is briefly related by the author of Border Wars of the
+American Revolution. "An interesting young woman," he writes, "whose
+name yet lives in story among her own mountains, perceiving, as she
+thought, symptoms of fear in a soldier who had been ordered to a well
+without the works, and within range of the enemy's fire, for water,
+snatched the bucket from his hands, and ran forth for it herself.
+Without changing color, or giving the slightest evidence of fear, she
+drew and brought back bucket after bucket to the thirsty soldiers, and
+providentially escaped without injury."
+
+
+
+
+THE HEROINE OF SHELL'S BUSH.
+
+  I dare do all that may become a man.
+  Who dares do more, is none.
+
+                                SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+For three-fourths of a century, there has been a wealthy settlement of
+Germans four or five miles north of the village of Herkimer, in the
+upper part of the Mohawk valley, called Shell's Bush. Among the early
+settlers, was John Christian Shell, who had a family of six brave sons
+and a no less brave wife. When, on the sixth of August, 1781, a Scotch
+refugee named Donald McDonald, at the head of sixty-six tories and
+Indians, attacked that settlement, Mrs. Shell acted the part of an
+heroic dame. The house was built for border emergencies, and when the
+enemy approached, the husband and older boys[89] fled from the fields,
+entered their castle, and strongly barricaded the doors. From two
+o'clock in the afternoon until twilight, the besieged kept up an almost
+incessant firing, Mrs. Shell loading the guns for her husband and older
+sons to discharge. During the siege, McDonald attempted to force the
+door with a crow bar, and was shot in the leg, seized by Shell and drawn
+within doors. Exasperated at this bold feat, the enemy soon attempted to
+carry the fortress by assault, five of them leaping upon the walls and
+thrusting their guns through the loopholes. At that moment the cool and
+courageous woman seized an axe, smote the barrels and bent and spoiled
+them. Her husband then resorted to stratagem to drive the besiegers
+away: running up stairs and calling to Mrs. Shell in a very loud voice,
+he said that Captain Small was approaching with help from Fort Dayton.
+Then raising his voice to its highest pitch, he exclaimed, "Captain
+Small, march your company round upon this side of the house. Captain
+Getman, you had better wheel your men off to the left, and come up upon
+that side."[90] Fearing the phantom troops whom Mr. Shell's imagination
+had conjured, the enemy shouldered their guns--crooked barreled and
+all--and quickly buried themselves in the dense forest.
+
+  [89] The two youngest boys, who were twins and about eight years old,
+  were captured; and when the enemy fled, they were carried away as
+  prisoners.
+
+  [90] Border Wars of the American Revolution, vol. 2, p. 153.
+
+
+
+
+FATHER TAYLOR'S WIDOWED FRIEND.
+
+  Humble toil and heavenward duty.
+
+                            MRS. HALE.
+
+
+"A pious widow, who resided among ignorant and vicious neighbors in the
+suburbs of B----, Massachusetts, determined to do what she could for
+their spiritual benefit; and so she opened her little front room for
+weekly prayer meetings, and engaged some pious Methodists to aid in
+conducting them. Much of the seed thus scattered on a seemingly arid
+soil, produced fruit. One instance deserves special notice.
+
+"Among others who attended, was a young sailor of intelligent and
+prepossessing countenance. A slight acquaintance with him discovered him
+to be very ignorant of even the rudiments of education; but, at the same
+time, he had such manifestly superior abilities, that the widow became
+much interested in his spiritual welfare, and could not but hope that
+God would in some way provide for his further instruction, convert him
+and render him useful. But in the midst of her anticipations, he was
+suddenly summoned away to sea. He had been out but a short time when the
+vessel was seized by a British privateer and carried into Halifax,
+where the crew suffered by a long and wretched imprisonment.
+
+"A year had passed away, during which the good woman had heard nothing
+of the young sailor. Still she remembered and prayed for him with the
+solicitude of a mother. About this time, she received a letter from her
+relations, who resided in Halifax, on business which required her to go
+to that town. While there, her habitual disposition to be useful, led
+her with a few friends to visit the prison with Bibles and tracts. In
+one apartment were the American prisoners. As she approached the grated
+door, a voice shouted her name, calling her mother, and a youth appeared
+and leaped for joy at the grate. It was the lost sailor boy! They wept
+and conversed like mother and son, and when she left she gave him a
+Bible--his future guide and comfort. During her stay at Halifax, she
+constantly visited the prison, supplying the youth with tracts,
+religious books, and clothing, and endeavoring by her conversation to
+secure the religious impression made on his mind at the prayer meetings
+in B----. After many months she removed to a distant part of the
+provinces; and for years she heard nothing more of the young sailor.
+
+"We pass over a period of many years, and introduce the reader to Father
+T----, the distinguished mariners' preacher in the city of B----. In a
+spacious and substantial chapel, crowded about by the worst habitations
+in the city, this distinguished man delivered every Sabbath, discourses
+as extraordinary, perhaps, as are to be found in the Christian world.
+In the centre column of seats, guarded sacredly against all other
+intrusion, sat a dense mass of mariners--a strange medley of white,
+black, and olive; Protestant, Catholic, and Pagan. On the other seats in
+the galleries, the aisles, the altar, and on the pulpit stairs, were
+crowded, week after week, and year after year--the families of sailors,
+and the poor who had no other temple--the elite of the city--the learned
+professor--the student--the popular writer--the actor--groups of
+clergymen, and the votaries of gayety and fashion, listening with
+throbbing hearts and wet eyes, to a man whose only school had been the
+forecastle, and whose only endowments were those of grace and nature.
+
+"In the year 183--, an aged English local preacher moved into the city
+of B---- from the British provinces.
+
+"The old local preacher was mingling in a public throng one day with a
+friend, when they met 'Father T----.' A few words of introduction led to
+a free conversation, in which the former residence of his wife in the
+city was mentioned, and allusion was made to her prayer meeting--her
+former name was asked by 'Father T----;' he seemed seized by an
+impulse--inquired their residence, hastened away, and in a short time
+arrived in a carriage, with all his family, at the home of the aged
+pair. There a scene ensued which must be left to the imagination of the
+reader. 'Father T----' was the sailor boy of the prayer meeting and the
+prison. The old lady was the widow who had first cared for his soul."
+
+
+
+
+PICTURE OF A REVOLUTIONARY MOTHER.
+
+  This is my own, my native land.
+
+                                      SCOTT.
+
+  True wit is nature to advantage dressed.
+
+                                        POPE.
+
+
+Mrs. Eliza Wilkinson resided during the Revolution on Yonge's island,
+thirty miles south of Charleston, South Carolina. She was a cheerful,
+witty and accomplished young widow, and a keen sufferer on account of
+her whig principles. Her letters, arranged by Mrs. Gilman, and published
+several years ago, afford a panoramic view of many dark scenes at the
+gloomiest period of American history, and beautifully daguerreotype her
+own pure and patriotic heart. A single extract will show her character.
+She visited the city of Charleston soon after its surrender, and
+witnessed the departure of her exiled friends. Referring to matters
+about that period, she writes:
+
+"Once I was asked by a British officer to play the guitar.
+
+"'I cannot play; I am very dull.'
+
+"'How long do you intend to continue so, Mrs. Wilkinson?'
+
+"'Until my countrymen return, sir!'
+
+"'Return as what, madam?--prisoners or subjects?'
+
+"'As conquerors, sir.'
+
+"He affected a laugh. 'You will never see that, madam!'
+
+"'I live in hopes, sir, of seeing the thirteen stripes hoisted once more
+on the bastions of this garrison.'
+
+"'Do not hope so; but come, give us a tune on the guitar.'
+
+"'I can play nothing but rebel songs.'
+
+"'Well, let us have one of them.'
+
+"'Not to-day--I cannot play--I will not play; besides, I suppose I
+should be put into the Provost for such a heinous crime.'
+
+"I have often wondered since, I was not packed off, too; for I was very
+saucy, and never disguised my sentiments.
+
+"One day Kitty and I were going to take a walk on the Bay, to get
+something we wanted. Just as we had got our hats on, up ran one of the
+Billets into the dining-room, where we were.
+
+"'Your servant, ladies.'
+
+"'Your servant, sir.'
+
+"'Going out, ladies?'
+
+"'Only to take a little walk.'
+
+"He immediately turned about and ran down stairs. I guessed for what....
+He offered me his hand, or rather arm, to lean upon.
+
+"'Excuse me, sir,' said I; 'I will support myself if you please.'
+
+"'No, madam, the pavements are very uneven; you may get a fall; do
+accept my arm.'
+
+"'Pardon me, I cannot.'
+
+"'Come, you do not know what your condescension may do. I will turn
+rebel!'
+
+"'Will you?' said I, laughingly--'Turn rebel first, and then offer your
+arm.'
+
+"We stopped in another store, where were several British officers. After
+asking for the articles I wanted, I saw a broad roll of ribbon, which
+appeared to be of black and white stripes.
+
+"'Go,' said I to the officer who was with us, 'and reckon the stripes of
+that ribbon; see if they are _thirteen_!' (with an emphasis I spoke the
+word)--and he went, too!
+
+"'Yes, they are thirteen, upon my word, madam.'
+
+"'Do hand it me.' He did so; I took it, and found that it was narrow
+black ribbon, carefully wound round a broad white. I returned it to its
+place on the shelf.
+
+"'Madam,' said the merchant, 'you can buy the black and white too, and
+tack them in stripes.'
+
+"By no means, sir; I would not have them _slightly tacked_, but _firmly
+united_.' The above mentioned officers sat on the counter kicking their
+heels. How they gaped at me when I said this! But the merchant laughed
+heartily."
+
+
+
+
+SUCCESSFUL DARING.
+
+  ----He stopped the fliers.
+
+                  SHAKSPEARE'S CORIOLANUS.
+
+
+Many years ago, while a stage was passing through Temple, New Hampshire,
+the driver's seat gave way, and himself and a gentleman seated with him,
+were precipitated to the ground. The latter was killed. The horses took
+fright at the noise, and ran a mile or more at full speed. Meanwhile,
+Miss Abigail Brown, the only inside passenger and now the sole occupant
+of the stage, endeavored, by speaking soothingly, to stop the horses. At
+length they came to a high hill, when their speed began to slacken, and
+Miss Brown, having previously opened the door and taken a convenient
+position to alight, sprang out. Not content to save her own life, but
+bent on acting the part of a heroine, she rushed forward, seized the
+leaders, turned them out of the road, and held them fast till persons
+whom she had passed and who had tried to stop the flying steeds, came to
+her relief. Had this feat, trifling as it may seem, been performed by
+the wife of some Roman dignitary, she would have been apotheosized and
+her biography inserted in Lempriere's Classical Dictionary.
+
+
+
+
+WORTHY EXAMPLE OF FORGIVENESS
+
+  They who forgive most shall be most forgiven.--BAILEY.
+
+
+"A worthy old colored woman in the city of New York, was one day walking
+along the street, on some errand to a neighboring store, with her
+tobacco pipe in her mouth, quietly smoking. A jovial sailor, rendered a
+little mischievous by liquor, came sawing down the street, and when
+opposite our good Phillis, saucily crowded her aside, and with a pass of
+his hand knocked her pipe out of her mouth. He then halted to hear her
+fret at his trick, and enjoy a laugh at her expense. But what was his
+astonishment, when she meekly picked up the pieces of her broken pipe,
+without the least resentment in her manner, and giving him a dignified
+look of mingled sorrow, kindness and pity, said, 'God forgive you, my
+son, as I do.' It touched a tender cord in the heart of the rude tar. He
+felt ashamed, condemned and repentant. The tear started in his eye; he
+must make reparation. He heartily confessed his error, and thrusting
+both hands into his two full pockets of '_change_,' forced the contents
+upon her, exclaiming, 'God bless you, kind mother, I'll never do so
+again.'"
+
+
+
+
+CROOKSHANKS SAVED BY A FEMALE.
+
+                    ----Oh the tender ties,
+  Close twisted with the fibres of the heart.
+
+                                            YOUNG.
+
+
+The night before the surprise of Georgetown, Adjutant Crookshanks, one
+of the enemy's officers, together with some of his commissioned
+comrades, slept at a public house. The next morning it was surrounded,
+and the Adjutant would have lost his life, but for the interposition of
+the landlord's daughter, to whom he was affianced. Awakened and, at
+first, alarmed by the firing without and the bustle at the door, and
+hearing her lover's voice, she sprung out of bed and rushed, half
+dressed, into the piazza. At that moment the swords of her countrymen
+were raised over his head, and she threw her arms around his neck,
+exclaiming, "O save! save Major Crookshanks!" Though made a prisoner, he
+was forthwith paroled, and left, for the time, with the brave and
+true-hearted maiden.
+
+
+
+
+A PATRIOTIC ARTIST.
+
+  Genius, the Pythian of the Beautiful,
+  Leaves its large truths a riddle to the dull.
+
+                                              BULWER.
+
+
+"At the commencement of the Revolution, Mrs. Wright, a native of
+Pennsylvania, a distinguished modeler of likenesses and figures of wax,
+was exhibiting specimens of her skill in London. The king of Great
+Britain, pleased with her talents, gave her liberal encouragement, and,
+finding her a great politician, and an enthusiastic republican, would
+often enter into discussion relative to passing occurrences, and
+endeavored to refute her opinion with regard to the probable issue of
+the war. The frankness with which she delivered her sentiments, seemed
+rather to please than to offend him; which was a fortunate circumstance,
+for, when he asked an opinion, she gave it without constraint, or the
+least regard to consequences. I remember to have heard her say, that on
+one occasion, the monarch, irritated by some disaster to his troops,
+where he had prognosticated a triumph, exclaimed with warmth: 'I wish,
+Mrs. Wright, you would tell me how it will be possible to check the
+silly infatuation of your countrymen, restore them to reason, and
+render them good and obedient subjects.'--'I consider their submission
+to your majesty's government is now altogether out of the question,'
+replied Mrs. Wright: 'friends you may make them, but never subjects; for
+America, before a king can reign there, must become a wilderness,
+without any other inhabitants than the beasts of the forest. The
+opponents of the decrees of your parliament, rather than submit, would
+perish to a man; but if the restoration of peace be seriously the object
+of your wishes, I am confident that it needs but the striking off of
+_three heads_ to produce it.'--'O, Lord North's and Lord George
+Germaine's, beyond all question; and where is the third head?' 'O, sir,
+politeness forbids me to name _him_. Your majesty could never wish me to
+forget myself, and be guilty of an incivility.'
+
+"In her exhibition room, one group of figures particularly attracted
+attention; and by all who knew her sentiments, was believed to be a
+pointed hint at the results which might follow the wild ambition of the
+monarch. The busts of the king and queen of Great Britain, were placed
+on a table, apparently intently gazing on a head, which a figure, an
+excellent representation of herself, was modeling in its lap. It was the
+head of the unfortunate Charles the First."
+
+
+
+
+TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT AMONG MOHAWK WOMEN.
+
+  Beware the bowl! though rich and bright
+  Its rubies flash upon the sight,
+  An adder coils its depths beneath,
+  Whose lure is woe, whose sting is death.
+
+                                          STREET.
+
+
+In the years 1801 and 1802, great efforts were made by the chiefs of the
+Mohawk Indians to prevent the sale of spirituous liquors among their
+people. In this humane movement the women of the tribe readily joined;
+and having assembled in council, on the twenty-second of May, 1802, they
+addressed the chiefs, whom they had summoned, as follows:
+
+"UNCLES,--Some time ago the women of this place spoke to you, but you
+did not then answer them, as you considered their meeting not
+sufficient. Now, a considerable number of those from below having met
+and consulted together, join in sentiment, and lament, as it were with
+tears in our eyes, the many misfortunes caused by the use of spirituous
+liquors. We therefore mutually request that you will use your endeavors
+to have it removed from our neighborhood, that there may be none sold
+nigher to us than the mountain. We flatter ourselves that this is in
+your power, and that you will have compassion on our uneasiness, and
+exert yourselves to have it done." STRINGS OF WAMPUM.
+
+This appeal had a good effect on the chiefs; and received suitable
+attention, drawing from them the following reply. It was delivered by
+Captain Brant:
+
+"NIECES,--We are fully convinced of the justice of your request;
+drinking has caused the many misfortunes in this place, and has been,
+besides, a great cause of the divisions, by the effect it has upon the
+people's speech. We assure you, therefore, that we will use our
+endeavours to effect what you desire. However, it depends in a great
+measure upon government, as the distance you propose is within their
+line. We cannot, therefore, absolutely promise that our request will be
+complied with."
+
+STRINGS. 29
+
+
+
+
+A FEMALE IN THE REVOLUTIONARY ARMY.
+
+  She'll be a soldier too, she'll to the wars.
+
+                                       SHAKSPEARE.
+
+
+Deborah Samson, the daughter of very poor parents, of Plymouth county,
+Massachusetts, began, when about twenty years of age, to feel the
+patriotic zeal which had prompted the sterner sex in her neighborhood to
+take up arms in their country's defence. She accordingly assumed male
+attire, and enlisted in the Revolutionary army. We agree with Mrs. Ellet
+that, while this course cannot be commended, her exemplary conduct,
+after taking the first step, goes far to plead her excuse, and is worthy
+of record. Her method of obtaining men's garments, and her military
+career, are thus narrated by the author just mentioned:
+
+By keeping the district school for a summer term, she had amassed the
+sum of twelve dollars. She purchased a quantity of coarse fustian, and,
+working at intervals when she could be secure from observation, made up
+a suit of men's clothing; each article, as it was finished, being hid
+in a stack of hay. Having completed her preparations, she announced her
+intention of going where she could obtain better wages for her labor.
+Her new clothes and such articles as she wished to take with her, were
+tied in a bundle. The lonely girl departed; but went not far, probably
+only to the shelter of the nearest wood, before putting on the disguise
+she was so eager to assume. Although not beautiful, her features were
+animated and pleasing, and her figure, tall for a woman, was finely
+proportioned. As a man, she might have been called handsome; her general
+appearance was extremely prepossessing, and her manner calculated to
+inspire confidence.
+
+She now pursued her way to the American army, where she presented
+herself, in October, 1778, as a young man anxious to join his efforts to
+those of his countrymen, in their endeavors to oppose the common enemy.
+Her acquaintances, meanwhile, supposed her engaged in service at a
+distance. Rumors of her elopement with a British soldier, and even of
+her death, were afterwards current in the neighborhood where she had
+resided; but none were sufficiently interested to make such search for
+her as might have led to a discovery.
+
+Distrusting her own constancy, and resolute to continue in the service,
+notwithstanding any change of her inclination, she enlisted for the
+whole term of the war. She was received and enrolled in the army by the
+name of Robert Shirtliffe. She was one of the first volunteers in the
+company of Captain Nathan Thayer of Medway, Massachusetts; and as the
+young recruit appeared to have no home or connections, the Captain gave
+her a home in his family until his company should be full, when they
+were to join the main army.
+
+We now find her performing the duties and enduring the fatigues of
+military life. During the seven weeks she passed in the family of
+Captain Thayer, she had time both for experience and reflection; but, in
+after years, her constant declaration was that she never, for one
+moment, repented or regretted the step she had taken. Accustomed to
+labor from childhood, upon the farm and in out-door employment, she had
+acquired unusual vigor of constitution; her frame was robust, and of
+masculine strength; and having thus gained a degree of hardihood, she
+was enabled to acquire great expertness and precision in the manual
+exercise, and to undergo what a female delicately nurtured would have
+found it impossible to endure. Soon after they had joined the company,
+the recruits were supplied with uniforms by a kind of lottery. That
+drawn by Robert did not fit; but, taking needle and scissors, he soon
+altered it to suit him. To Mrs. Thayer's expression of surprise, at
+finding a young man so expert in using the implements of feminine
+industry, the answer was--that his mother having no girl, he had been
+often obliged to practice the seamstress's art.
+
+While in the house of Captain Thayer, a young girl visiting his wife,
+was much in the society of Deborah, or, as she was then called, Robert.
+Coquettish by nature, and perhaps priding herself on the conquest of
+the "blooming soldier," she suffered her growing partiality to be
+perceived. Robert, on his part, felt a curiosity to learn by new
+experience how soon a maiden's fancy might be won; and had no scruples
+in paying attentions to one so volatile and fond of flirtation, with
+whom it was not likely the impression would be lasting. This little
+piece of romance gave some uneasiness to the worthy Mrs. Thayer, who
+could not help observing that the liking of her fair visitor for Robert
+was not fully reciprocated. She took an opportunity of remonstrating
+with the young soldier, and showed what unhappiness might be the
+consequence of such folly, and how unworthy it was of a brave man to
+trifle with a girl's feelings. The caution was taken in good part, and
+it is not known that the "love passage" was continued, though Robert
+received at parting some tokens of remembrance, which were treasured as
+relics in after years.
+
+For three years our heroine appeared in the character of a soldier,
+being part of the time employed as a waiter in the family of Colonel
+Patterson. During this time, and in both situations, her exemplary
+conduct, and the fidelity with which her duties were performed, gained
+the approbation and confidence of the officers. She was a volunteer in
+several hazardous enterprizes, and was twice wounded, the first time by
+a sword cut on the left side of the head. Many were the adventures she
+passed through; as she herself would often say, volumes might be filled
+with them. Sometimes placed, unavoidably, in circumstances in which she
+feared detection, she nevertheless escaped without the least suspicion
+being awakened among her comrades. The soldiers were in the habit of
+calling her "Molly," in playful allusion to her want of a beard; but not
+one of them ever dreamed that the gallant youth fighting by their side,
+was in reality a female.
+
+About four months after her first wound she received another severe one,
+being shot through the shoulder. Her first emotion when the ball
+entered, she described to be a sickening terror at the probability that
+her sex would be discovered. She felt that death on the battle-field
+were preferable to the shame that would overwhelm her, and ardently
+prayed that the wound might close her earthly campaign. But, strange as
+it may seem, she escaped this time also unsuspected; and soon recovering
+her strength, was able again to take her place at the post of duty, and
+in the deadly conflict. Her immunity was not, however, destined long to
+continue--she was seized with a brain fever, then prevalent among the
+soldiers. For the few days that reason struggled against the disease,
+her sufferings were indescribable; and most terrible of all was the
+dread lest consciousness should desert her, and the secret she had
+guarded so carefully be revealed to those around her. She was carried to
+the hospital, and there could only ascribe her escape to the number of
+patients, and the negligent manner in which they were attended. Her case
+was considered a hopeless one, and she perhaps received less attention
+on this account. One day the physician of the hospital, inquiring--"How
+is Robert?" received from the nurse in attendance the answer--"Poor Bob
+is gone." The doctor went to the bed, and taking the hand of the youth
+supposed dead, found that the pulse was still feebly beating; attempting
+to place his hand on the heart, he perceived that a bandage was fastened
+tightly around the breast. This was removed, and to his utter
+astonishment he discovered a female patient where he had least expected
+one!
+
+This gentleman was Dr. Binney, of Philadelphia. With a prudence,
+delicacy and generosity, ever afterwards warmly appreciated by the
+unfortunate sufferer, he said not a word of his discovery, but paid her
+every attention, and provided every comfort her perilous condition
+required. As soon as she could be removed with safety, he had her taken
+to his own house, where she could receive better care. His family
+wondered not a little at the unusual interest manifested for the poor
+invalid soldier.
+
+Here occurred another of those romances in real life, which in
+strangeness surpass fiction. The doctor had a young and lovely niece, an
+heiress to considerable property, whose compassionate feelings led her
+to join her uncle in bestowing kindness on the friendless youth. Many
+censured the uncle's imprudence in permitting them to be so much in each
+other's society, and to take drives so frequently together. The doctor
+laughed to himself at the warnings and hints he received, and thought
+how foolish the censorious would feel when the truth should come out.
+His knowledge, meanwhile, was buried in his own bosom, nor shared even
+with the members of his family. The niece was allowed to be as much with
+the invalid as suited her pleasure. Her gentle heart was touched by the
+misfortunes she had contributed to alleviate; the pale and melancholy
+soldier, for whose fate no one seemed to care, who had no possession in
+the world save his sword, who had suffered so much in the cause of
+liberty, became dear to her. She saw his gratitude for the benefits and
+kindness received, yet knew by intuition that he would never dare aspire
+to the hand of one so gifted by fortune. In the confiding abandonment of
+woman's love, the fair girl made known her attachment, and offered to
+provide for the education of its object before marriage. Deborah often
+declared that the moment in which she learned that she had unwittingly
+gained the love of a being so guileless, was fraught with the keenest
+anguish she ever experienced. In return for the hospitality and tender
+care that had been lavished upon her, she had inflicted pain upon one
+she would have died to shield. Her former entanglement had caused no
+uneasiness, but this was a heart of a different mould; no way of amends
+seemed open, except confession of her real character, and to that,
+though impelled by remorse and self-reproach, she could not bring
+herself. She merely said to the generous girl, that they would meet
+again; and, though ardently desiring the possession of an education,
+that she could not avail herself of the noble offer. Before her
+departure, the young lady pressed on her acceptance several articles of
+needful clothing, such as in those times many of the soldiers received
+from fair hands. All these were afterwards lost by the upsetting of a
+boat, except the shirt and vest Robert had on at the time, which are
+still preserved as relics in the family.
+
+Her health being now nearly restored, the physician had a long
+conference with the commanding officer of the company in which Robert
+had served, and this was followed by an order to the youth to carry a
+letter to General Washington.
+
+Her worst fears were now confirmed. From the time of her removal into
+the doctor's family, she had cherished a misgiving which sometimes
+amounted almost to a certainty, that he had discovered her deception. In
+conversation with him she anxiously watched his countenance, but not a
+word or look indicated suspicion, and she had again flattered herself
+that she was safe from detection. When the order came for her to deliver
+a letter into the hands of the Commander-in-chief, she could no longer
+deceive herself.
+
+There remained no course but simple obedience. When she presented
+herself for admission at the head-quarters of Washington, she trembled
+as she had never done before the enemy's fire. Her heart sunk within
+her: she strove in vain to collect and compose herself, and, overpowered
+with dread and uncertainty, was ushered into the presence of the Chief.
+He noticed her extreme agitation, and, supposing it to proceed from
+diffidence, kindly endeavored to re-assure her. He then bade her retire
+with an attendant, who was directed to offer her some refreshment, while
+he read the communication of which she had been the bearer.
+
+Within a short time she was again summoned into the presence of
+Washington. He said not a word, but handed her in silence a discharge
+from the service, putting into her hand at the same time a note
+containing a few brief words of advice, and a sum of money sufficient to
+bear her expenses to some place where she might find a home. The
+delicacy and forbearance thus observed affected her sensibly. "How
+thankful," she has often said, "was I to that great and good man who so
+kindly spared my feelings! He saw me ready to sink with shame; one word
+from him at that moment would have crushed me to the earth. But he spoke
+no word--and I blessed him for it."
+
+After the termination of the war, she married Benjamin Gannett, of
+Sharon. When Washington was President, she received a letter inviting
+Robert Shirtliffe, or rather Mrs. Gannett, to visit the seat of
+government. Congress was then in session, and during her stay at the
+capital, a bill was passed granting her a pension in addition to certain
+lands, which she was to receive as an acknowledgment for her services to
+the country in a military capacity. She was invited to the houses of
+several of the officers, and to parties given in the city; attentions
+which manifested the high estimation in which she was there held.
+
+
+
+
+HOSPITALITY OF ELIZABETH BRANT.
+
+  Stranger, whoe'er thou art, securely rest
+  Affianced in my faith, a friendly guest.
+
+                                           POPE.
+
+
+At the close of the last war, John and Elizabeth Brant, children of the
+celebrated warrior, took possession of their father's mansion at the
+head of lake Ontario, and dispensed his "ancient hospitalities." While
+making the tour of Canada West with two of his daughters, in 1819, James
+Buchanan, Esq., British consul for the port of New York, visited the
+"Brant House," and afterwards published the following interesting
+account in a small volume of Indian sketches:
+
+"After stopping more than a week under the truly hospitable roof of the
+Honorable Colonel Clarke, at the Falls of Niagara, I determined to
+proceed by land, round lake Ontario, to York; and Mrs. Clarke offered to
+give my daughters a letter of introduction to a Miss Brant, advising us
+to arrange our time so as to sleep and stop a day or two in the house of
+that lady, as she was certain we should be much pleased with her and her
+brother. Our friend did not intimate, still less did we suspect, that
+the introduction was to an Indian prince and princess. Had we been in
+the least aware of this, our previous arrangements would all have given
+way, as there was nothing I was more anxious to obtain than an
+opportunity such as this was so well calculated to afford, of seeing in
+what degree the Indian character would be modified by a conformity to
+the habits and comforts of civilized life.
+
+"Proceeding on our journey, we stopped at an inn, romantically situated,
+where I determined to remain all night. Among other things, I inquired
+of the landlord if he knew the distance to Miss Brant's house, and from
+him I learned that it was about twenty miles farther. He added, that
+young Mr. Brant had passed that way in the forenoon, and would, no
+doubt, be returning in the evening, and that, if I wished it, he would
+be on the lookout for him. This I desired the landlord to do, as it
+would enable me to intimate our introduction to his sister, and
+intention of waiting on her the next morning.
+
+"At dusk Mr. Brant returned, and, being introduced into our room, we
+were unable to distinguish his complexion, and conversed with him,
+believing him to be a young Canadian gentleman. We did not, however,
+fail to observe a certain degree of hesitation and reserve in the manner
+of his speech. He certainly expressed a wish that we would do his sister
+and himself the favor of spending a few days with them, in order to
+refresh ourselves and our horses: but we thought his style more laconic
+than hospitable. Before candles were brought in our new friend departed,
+leaving us still in error as to his nation.
+
+"By four o'clock in the morning we resumed our journey. On arriving at
+the magnificent shores of lake Ontario, the driver of our carriage
+pointed out, at the distance of five miles, the house of Miss Brant,
+which had a very noble and commanding aspect; and we anticipated much
+pleasure in our visit. Young Mr. Brant, it appeared, unaware that with
+our carriage we could have reached his house so soon, had not arrived
+before us; so that our approach was not announced, and we drove up to
+the door under the full persuasion that the family would be apprised of
+our coming. The outer door, leading to a spacious hall, was open. We
+entered and remained a few minutes, when, seeing no person about, we
+proceeded into the parlor, which, like the hall, was for the moment
+unoccupied. We therefore had an opportunity of looking about us at our
+leisure. It was a room well furnished, with a carpet, pier and chimney
+glasses, mahogany tables, fashionable chairs, a guitar, a neat hanging
+bookcase, in which, among other volumes, we perceived a Church of
+England Prayer Book, translated into the Mohawk tongue. Having sent our
+note of introduction in by the coachman, and still no person waiting on
+us, we began to suspect (more especially in the hungry state we were in)
+that some delay or difficulty about breakfast stood in the way of the
+young lady's appearance. I can assure my readers that a keen morning's
+ride on the shores of an American lake is an exercise of all others
+calculated to make the appetite clamorous, if not insolent. We had
+already penetrated into the parlor, and were beginning to meditate a
+farther exploration in search of the pantry, when, to our unspeakable
+astonishment, in walked a charming, noble-looking Indian girl, dressed
+partly in the native and partly in the English costume. Her hair was
+confined on the head in a silk net, but the lower tresses, escaping from
+thence, flowed down on her shoulders. Under a tunic or morning dress of
+black silk was a petticoat of the same material and color, which reached
+very little below the knee. Her silk stockings and kid shoes were, like
+the rest of her dress, black. The grace and dignity of her movement, the
+style of her dress and manner, so new, so unexpected, filled us all with
+astonishment. With great ease, yet by no means in that commonplace mode
+so generally prevalent on such occasions, she inquired how we found the
+roads, accommodations, etc. No flutter was at all apparent on account of
+the delay in getting breakfast; no fidgeting and fuss-making, no running
+in and out, no idle expressions of regret, such as 'Oh! dear me! had I
+known of your coming, you would not have been kept in this way!' but,
+with perfect ease she maintained conversation, until a squaw, wearing a
+man's hat, brought in a tray with preparations for breakfast. A
+table-cloth of fine white damask being laid, we were regaled with tea,
+coffee, hot rolls, butter in water and ice-coolers, eggs, smoked beef,
+ham, broiled chickens, etc., all served in a truly neat and comfortable
+style. The delay, we afterwards discovered, arose from the desire of our
+hostess to supply us with hot rolls, which were actually baked while we
+were waiting. I have been thus minute in my description of these
+comforts, as they were so little to be expected in the house of an
+Indian.
+
+"After breakfast Miss Brant took my daughters out to walk, and look at
+the picturesque scenery of the country. She and her brother had
+previously expressed a hope that we would stay all day; but, though I
+wished of all things to do so, and had determined, in the event of their
+pressing their invitation, to accept it, yet I declined the proposal at
+first, and thus forfeited a pleasure which we all of us longed in our
+hearts to enjoy; for, as I afterward learned, it is not the custom of
+any uncorrupted Indian to repeat a request if once rejected. They
+believe that those to whom they offer any mark of friendship, and who
+give a reason for refusing it, do so in perfect sincerity, and that it
+would be rudeness to require them to alter their determination or break
+their word. And as the Indian never makes a show of civility but when
+prompted by a genuine feeling, so he thinks others are actuated by a
+similar candor. I really feel ashamed when I consider how severe a
+rebuke this carries with it to us who boast of civilization, but who are
+so much carried away by the general insincerity of expression pervading
+all ranks, that few, indeed, are to be found who speak just what they
+wish or know. This duplicity is the effect of what is termed a high
+state of refinement. We are taught so to conduct our language that
+others cannot discover our real views or intentions. The Indians are not
+only free from this deceitfulness, but surpass us in another instance of
+good breeding and decorum, namely, of never interrupting those who
+converse with them until they have done speaking; and then they reply in
+the hope of not being themselves interrupted. This was perfectly
+exemplified by Miss Brant and her brother; and I hope the lesson my
+daughters were so forcibly taught by the natural politeness of their
+hostess will never be forgotten by them, and that I also may profit by
+the example."
+
+Elizabeth was the youngest daughter of Joseph Brant. She was married to
+William Johnson Kerr, a gentleman who bore a commission in the last war,
+and fought against the Americans on the Niagara frontier. He is a
+grandson of Sir William Johnson. The author of American Border Wars,
+wrote in 1843, as follows: "Mrs. Kerr, as the reader must infer from
+what has been previously said respecting her, was educated with great
+care, as well in regard to her mental culture as her personal
+accomplishments. With her husband and little family, she now occupies
+the old mansion of her father, at the head of lake Ontario; a noble
+situation, as the author can certify from personal observation."
+
+
+
+
+BRIEF ANECDOTES.
+
+  The worthy acts of women to repeat.
+
+                       MIRROR FOR MAGISTRATES.
+
+
+Immediately after the dreadful massacre of Virginia colonists, on the
+twenty-second of March, 1622, Governor Wyat issued an order for the
+remainder of the people to "draw together" into a "narrow compass;"[91]
+and most of the eighty plantations were forthwith abandoned. Among the
+persons who remained at their homes, was Mrs. Proctor, whom Dr. Belknap
+calls "a gentlewoman of an heroic spirit."[92] She defended her
+plantation against the Indians a full month, and would not have
+abandoned it even then, had not the officers of the colony obliged her
+to do so.
+
+  [91] Belknap.
+
+  [92] American Biography, vol. 2, p. 182.
+
+One of the best women of her times was Experience West, wife of the Rev.
+Dr. West, who was pastor of a church in New Bedford, Massachusetts, for
+nearly half a century. Her life abounded in praiseworthy, though
+unrecorded, deeds. The Doctor was aware of the worth of his
+"help-meet," and had a punning way of praising her which must have
+sounded odd in a Puritan divine a hundred years ago. She was unusually
+tall, and he sometimes remarked to intimate friends, that he had found,
+by _long Experience_, that it is good to be married.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Rev. Dr. Mather Byles, of Boston, a tory of considerable notoriety,
+paid unsuccessful addresses to a young lady who subsequently gave her
+hand to a gentleman of the name of Quincy. Meeting her one day, the
+Doctor remarked: "So, madam, it appears that you prefer a Quincy to
+Byles." "Yes," she replied, "for if there had been any thing worse than
+_biles_, God would have afflicted Job with them."[93]
+
+[93] A Sabine's American Loyalist. The loyal divine was himself a wicked
+punster. "Near his house, in wet weather, was a very bad slough. It
+happened that two of the selectmen who had the care of the streets,
+driving in a chaise, stuck fast in this hole, and were obliged to get
+out in the mud to extricate their vehicle. Doctor Byles came out, and
+making them a respectful bow, said; 'Gentlemen, I have often complained
+to you of this nuisance without any attention being paid to it, and I am
+very glad to see you stirring in the matter now.' On the celebrated dark
+day in 1780, a lady who lived near the Doctor, sent her young son with
+her compliments, to know if he could account for the uncommon
+appearance. His answer was: 'My dear, you will give my compliments to
+your mamma, and tell her that I am as much in the dark as she is.'"
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A married Shawnee woman was once asked by a man who met her in the
+woods, to look upon and love him: "Oulman, my husband, who is forever
+before my eyes, hinders me from seeing you or any other person."
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+While the husband of Mrs. Dissosway, of Staten island, was in the hands
+of the British, her brother Nathaniel Randolph, a Captain in the
+American army, repeatedly and greatly annoyed the tories; and they were
+anxious to be freed from his incursions. Accordingly, one of their
+colonels promised Mrs. Dissosway to procure her husband's release, if
+she would prevail upon her brother to leave the army. She scornfully
+replied: "And if I could act so dastardly a part, think you that General
+Washington has but one Captain Randolph in his army?"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When, by permission of the British authorities, the wife of Daniel Hall
+was once going to John's island, near Charleston, to see her mother, one
+of the king's officers stopped her and ordered her to surrender the key
+of her trunk. On her asking him what he wished to look for, he replied,
+"For treason, madam." "Then," said she, "you may be saved the trouble of
+search, for you may find enough of it at my tongue's end."[94]
+
+  [94] Major Garden.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When a party of Revolutionary patriots left Pleasant River settlement,
+in Maine, on an expedition, one of the number forgot his powder horn,
+and his wife, knowing he would greatly need it, ran twenty miles through
+the woods before she overtook him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When the village of Buffalo was burnt during the last war, only one
+dwelling-house was suffered to stand. Its owner, Mrs. St. John, was a
+woman of wonderful courage and self-possession; and when the Indians
+came to fire it, and destroy its inmates, she ordered them away in such
+a dignified, resolute and commanding, yet conciliatory, manner, that
+they seemed to be awed in her presence, and were kept at bay until some
+British officers rode up and ordered them to desist from the work of
+destruction. Saved by her presence of mind and heroic bravery, she who
+saw her neighbors butchered at their doors and the young village laid in
+ashes, lived to see a new village spring up, phoenix-like, and expand
+into a city of thirty-five thousand inhabitants.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Mrs. Beckham, who resided in the neighborhood of Pacolet river, South
+Carolina, was a true friend of freedom, and a great sufferer on that
+account. Tarleton, after sharing in her hospitality, pillaged her house,
+and then ordered its destruction. Her eloquent remonstrance, however,
+caused him to recall the order. Concealing a guinea in her braided hair,
+she once went eighty miles to Granby, purchased a bag of salt, and
+safely returned with it on the saddle under her.[95]
+
+  [95] Vide Women of the Revolution, vol. I, p. 296.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The house of Captain Charles Sims, who resided on Tyger river, South
+Carolina, was often plundered by tories; and on one of these occasions,
+when his wife was alone and all the robbers had departed but one, she
+ordered _him_ away, and he disobeying, she broke his arm with a stick,
+and drove him from the house.
+
+Several years ago, a family, residing on the Colorado, in Texas, were
+attacked by a party of Camanche Indians, who first fell upon two workmen
+in the fields and slew them. Seeing one of them fall, the proprietor of
+the establishment, who was standing near his house, caught two guns and
+ran towards the field. A daughter hastily put on her brother's hat and
+surtout, and followed her father. She soon overtook him, and persuaded
+him to return to the house. She bravely assisted in guarding it until
+the Indians, tired of the assault, departed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the year 1777, when General Burgoyne entered the valley of the
+Hudson, the wife of General Schuyler hastened to Saratoga, her husband's
+country seat, to secure her furniture. "Her carriage," writes the
+biographer of Brant, "was attended by only a single armed man on
+horseback. When within two miles of her house, she encountered a crowd
+of panic-stricken people, who recited to her the tragic fate of Miss
+M'Crea,[96] and, representing to her the danger of proceeding farther in
+the face of the enemy, urged her to return. She had yet to pass through
+a dense forest within which even then some of the savage troops might
+be lurking for prey. But to these prudential counsels she would not
+listen. 'The General's wife,' said she, 'must not be afraid!' and,
+pushing forward, she accomplished her purpose."
+
+  [96] The circumstances in regard to the murder of Jane M'Crea, have been
+  variously stated. The following version of the cruel story is probably
+  correct: "Miss M'Crea belonged to a family of loyalists, and had engaged
+  her hand in marriage to a young refugee named David Jones, a subordinate
+  officer in the British service, who was advancing with Burgoyne. Anxious
+  to possess himself of his bride, he dispatched a small party of Indians
+  to bring her to the British camp. Her family and friends were strongly
+  opposed to her going with such an escort; but her affection overcame her
+  prudence, and she determined upon the hazardous adventure. She set
+  forward with her dusky attendants on horseback. The family resided at
+  the village of Fort Edward, whence they had not proceeded half a mile
+  before her conductors stopped to drink at a spring. Meantime, the
+  impatient lover, who deserved not her embrace for confiding her
+  protection to such hands, instead of going himself, had dispatched a
+  second party of Indians upon the same errand. The Indians met at the
+  spring; and before the march was resumed, they were attacked by a party
+  of the Provincials. At the close of the skirmish, the body of Miss
+  M'Crea was found among the slain, tomahawked, scalped, and tied to a
+  pine-tree, yet standing by the side of the spring, as a monument of the
+  bloody transaction. The ascertained cause of the murder was this: The
+  promised reward for bringing her in safety to her betrothed was a barrel
+  of rum. The chiefs of the two parties sent for her by Mr. Jones
+  quarreled respecting the anticipated compensation. Each claimed it; and,
+  in a moment of passion, to end the controversy, one of them struck her
+  down with his hatchet."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+While Thomas Crittenden, the first Governor of Vermont, was discharging
+the functions of an executive, he was waited upon one day, in an
+official capacity, by several gentlemen from Albany. The visitors were
+of the higher class, and accompanied by their aristocratic wives. At
+noon the hostess summoned the workmen from the fields, and seated them
+at the table with her fashionable visitors. When the females had retired
+from the dinner table to an apartment by themselves, one of the visitors
+said to the lady of the house, "You do not usually have your hired
+laborers sit down at the first table do you?" "Why yes, madam," Mrs.
+Crittenden replied, "we have thus far done so, but are now thinking of
+making a different arrangement. The Governor and myself have been
+talking the matter over a little, lately, and come to the conclusion
+that the men, who do nearly all the hard work, ought to have the first
+table,--and that he and I, who do so little, should be content with the
+second. But, in compliment to you, I thought I would have you sit down
+with them, to-day, at the first table."[97]
+
+  [97] We find the substance of this anecdote in a copy of the Green
+  Mountain Freeman published in March, 1851. The paper is edited by Daniel
+  P. Thompson, Esq., who prefaces the article with the remark that the
+  anecdote was related to him "by the late Mrs. Timothy Hubbard, of
+  Montpelier, who, while a girl, was intimate with the Governor's family,
+  and knowing to the amusing incident at the time of its occurrence."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At the Fair held in Castle Garden, in the autumn of 1850, was exhibited
+a large Gothic arm-chair, backed and cushioned with beautifully wrought
+needle work in worsted. The needle work was from the hands of Mrs.
+Millard Fillmore. It was setting a noble example for the wife of a
+President to present her handiwork at an industrial exhibition; and, if
+the decision of the three Roman banqueters in regard to their wives, was
+correct--they preferring the one who was found with her maidens
+preparing loom-work,--Mrs. Fillmore must be ranked among the best of
+wives.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+During the last war, Major Kennedy of South Carolina, wished to raise
+recruits for his troop of horse; and accordingly went to Mrs. Jane
+White, who had several hardy sons, and made known his wants. She was a
+true patriot, like her husband, who was an active "liberty man" in the
+war of '76: hence she was ready and anxious to further the Major's
+plans. Her sons being at work in the field, excepting the youngest, she
+called the lad, and ordered him, in her broad Scotch-Irish dialect, to
+"rin awa' ta the fiel' an' tell his brithers ta cum in an' gang an'
+fight for their counthry, like their father afore them."[98]
+
+ [98] Mrs. Ellet.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Among the fine sentiments quaintly uttered by the old dramatic poet,
+Webster, are these:
+
+  The chiefest action of a man of spirit
+  Is, never to be out of action; we should think
+  The soul was never to be put into the body,
+  Which has so many rare and curious pieces
+  Of mathematical motion, to stand still.
+  Virtue is ever sowing of her seeds.
+
+One of the models in activity and virtue, and one who doubtless secured
+thereby the prize of healthy and extreme old age, was Mrs. Lydia Gustin,
+a native of Lyme, Connecticut. She had five children, all of whom were
+at home to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of her birth day. She
+died in New Hampshire, on the twentieth of July, 1847, in the hundred
+and second year of her age. A part of the labor performed during her
+hundredth year, was the knitting of twenty-four pairs of stockings.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Mrs. Elizabeth Ferguson, who resided near Philadelphia, was one of the
+number who assisted the American prisoners taken at the battle of
+Germantown. She spun linen and sent it into the city, with orders that
+it be made into shirts. She was noted for humanity and benevolence.
+Learning, one time, while visiting her friends in Philadelphia, that a
+reduced merchant had been imprisoned for debt, and was suffering from
+destitution, she sent him a bed and other articles of comfort, and,
+though far from wealthy, put twenty dollars in money into his hands. She
+refused to give him her name, but was at length identified by a
+description of her person.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At the battle of the Cowpens, Colonel Washington wounded Colonel
+Tarleton; and when the latter afterwards, in conversation with Mrs.
+Wiley Jones, observed to her: "You appear to think very highly of
+Colonel Washington; and yet I have been told that he is so ignorant a
+fellow that he can hardly write his own name;" she replied, "It may be
+the case, but no man better than yourself, Colonel, can testify that he
+knows how to make his mark."
+
+
+
+
+PHILANTHROPY OF AMERICAN WOMEN: MISS DIX.
+
+  To the blind, the deaf, the lame,
+    To the ignorant and vile,
+  Stranger, captive, slave he came,
+    With a welcome and a smile.
+  Help to all he did dispense,
+    Gold, instruction, raiment, food;
+  Like the gifts of Providence,
+    To the evil and the good.
+
+                                  MONTGOMERY.
+
+
+It requires the enlightening and expanding influence of Christianity to
+show the full extent of fraternal obligation, and to make one _feel_ the
+wants of his brother's threefold nature. We must, therefore, look for
+large hearts, whose antennae stretch through the domain of man's mental
+and moral, as well as his physical necessities, among a Christian
+people: there such hearts abound, and the strongest are among the female
+sex. Nor is this strange: the feelings of woman are more delicate, her
+constitution is less hardy, than man's. Physically more frail, she feels
+more sensibly the need of a helper and protector; and, being the greater
+sufferer, she thinks more of the sufferings of others, and consequently
+more fully develops the sisterly and sympathetic feelings of her
+nature.
+
+It is not, therefore, surprising, that in all the humanitary movements
+of the age, American women are interested; but it _is_ surprising to see
+with what masculine energy, heroic courage and sublime zeal they often
+prosecute their philanthropic labors. They lead in the distribution of
+the poor fund; are untiring in their efforts to sustain Sabbath schools
+in by-places; form and nobly sustain temperance organizations among
+themselves; establish and conduct infant schools on their own
+responsibility; manage orphan asylums; pray, and plead, and labor for
+the comfort of the insane, and for the education of the deaf, dumb and
+blind; and, with the religious tract in one hand and the Bible in the
+other, plunge into the darkest dens of vice, and, nerved by divine
+power, sow the good seed of truth in the most corrupt soil, with courage
+that seems to palsy the giant arm of Infamy.
+
+Heroines in the philanthropic movements which so beautify the present
+age, are found in most of the villages and in every city in the land.
+Isabella Graham, Sarah Hoffman, Margaret Prior, and others whose names
+are recorded in this work, are representatives of a class whose number
+is annually increasing and whose philanthropic exertions are manifest
+wherever human suffering abounds or the current of moral turpitude is
+strong and appalling. With the delicacy and fragility inherent in their
+sex, they possess the bravery and perseverance of the ambitious leader
+in the military campaign, and shrink from no task, however formidable or
+disheartening.
+
+They visit the abode of sickness, and the pillow is softened and the
+pain allayed; they enter the hut of penury, and the cry for bread is
+hushed, they pour the tide of united and sanctified effort through the
+Augean stables of iniquity, and the cleansing process is astonishing.
+Such is the work of philanthropic women; they are the "salt" of the
+community.
+
+A lady is now living in the city of Buffalo, whose benevolent exertions,
+in her restricted sphere, would compare favorably with those of the
+celebrated Quakeress whose mission at Newgate justified, for once, at
+least, the use of angel as an adjective qualifying woman. The person to
+whom we refer--who would blush to see her name in print--is foremost in
+all the humane and charitable operations of the day, and has, for years,
+been in the habit of visiting the jail regularly and usually alone on
+the Sabbath, to instruct its inmates from the word of God and to lecture
+before them on all that pertains to human duty. She is married, and has
+a family--her children being adopted orphans,--hence her opportunities
+for public usefulness are measurably limited: but her life-long actions
+seem to say,
+
+                                   "Give me leave
+  To speak my mind, and I will through and through
+  Cleanse the foul body of the infected world,
+  If they will patiently receive my medicine."
+
+Aside from our female missionaries, whose heroism is elsewhere partially
+illustrated in this work, the finest example of a living American
+philanthropist is Miss D. L. Dix, of Massachusetts. Her extreme
+modesty, learned through her New England friends, with whom we have
+corresponded, withholds all facts touching her early and private
+history, and leaves us a paucity of materials out of which to frame even
+an outline of her public career.
+
+We first hear of her as a teacher in the city of Boston, in which
+vocation she was faithful and honored. At the same time, she was
+connected, as instructor, with a Sabbath school--belonging we believe,
+to Dr. Channing's society--and while searching in by-places for poor
+children to enlarge her class, she necessarily came in contact with many
+destitute persons, and saw much suffering. Ere long she became
+interested more especially in the condition and wants of poor seamen,
+and endeavored to enlist the sympathies of others in their behalf. As
+opportunities presented themselves, she visited the hospital and other
+benevolent institutions in and near Boston, together with the State
+Prison. Anon we find her in the possession of a small legacy left by her
+deceased grand-mother; and, having resigned the office of teacher, she
+is traveling through the state. Having visited all the counties and most
+if not all the towns in Massachusetts, hunting up the insane and
+acquainting herself with their condition, visiting the inmates of the
+poor-houses and jails, and learning the state of things among all the
+unfortunate and suffering, she went to the Legislature, made a report,
+and petitioned for reforms where she thought they were needed.
+
+Having thoroughly canvassed one state, feeling her benevolent heart
+expand, she entered another, and went through the same routine of
+labors--visiting, reporting, pleading for reforms. She has traveled
+through all the states but three or four, and has extended her humane
+mission to Canada.
+
+She overlooks no almshouse; never fails of seeing and learning the
+history of an insane person; goes through every jail and prison; and
+usually, if not invariably, has a private interview with each inmate,
+imparting such counsel as wisdom and Christian sympathy dictate. She has
+lately petitioned Congress--as yet unsuccessfully--for a large
+appropriation of the public lands for the benefit of the insane.
+
+Her petitions are usually presented in a very quiet and modest manner.
+In her travels, she acquaints herself with the leading minds, and among
+them the state and national legislators; and when the law-making bodies
+are in session, she obtains an interview with members in the retirement
+of the parlor or the small social gathering; communicates the facts she
+has collected; and secures their cooperation in her plans and their aid
+in effecting her purposes.
+
+She who began the work of reform as a teacher in a Sabbath school, has
+advanced, step by step, until her capacious heart has embraced the
+Union, throughout which the benign influence of her philanthropic labors
+is sensibly felt. Some one has truthfully remarked that "the blessings
+of thousands, ready to perish, have come down upon her head," and that
+the institutions which she has caused to be erected or modified in the
+several states "are monuments more honorable, if not more enduring than
+the pyramids."
+
+While Miss Dix has brought about important reforms, she has accomplished
+her labors by great hardship and the most rigid economy. She had not a
+princely fortune, like Mrs. Fry, to expend in benevolent causes; she
+could not ride from place to place in her own private and splendid
+carriage, saying to this servant, do this, and to another, do that; she
+has been obliged to travel by public, haphazard conveyances--often in
+most uncomfortable vehicles in the most uncomfortable weather. A part of
+her early labors in the state of New York were performed in the winter,
+and when in the north-eastern and coldest part, she was under the
+necessity, on one occasion, of traveling all night in the severest part
+of the season in an open carriage. To show her economy, which has been
+hinted at, it is necessary merely to say that she purchases the
+materials for most of her garments in the places which she visits, and
+makes them up with her own hands, while traveling on steamboats, waiting
+for stages at public houses, and such odd intervals of leisure.[99]
+
+  [99] For the two last mentioned facts, and some others in regard to Miss
+  Dix, we are indebted to the Rev. G. W. Hosmer, pastor of the Unitarian
+  church, Buffalo.
+
+The character of Miss Dix is both pleasant and profitable to
+contemplate. Every thing connected with her public career is noble and
+worthy to be imitated. Would that the world were full of such
+characters: they are needed. Although she has done a great work, much is
+yet to do. Our country is wide, and enlarging almost every year; the
+field of benevolence is white to harvest, and where are the reapers,
+who, like Miss Dix, will make their "lives sublime?"
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice. Printer errors
+have been changed and are listed here. All other inconsistencies are as
+in the original including unmatched quotation marks.
+
+p. viii: "Scoharie" changed to "Schoharie".
+
+p. ix: "Spaulding" changed to "Spalding".
+
+p. x: "McKenney" changed to "McKenny".
+
+p. xxii: "updraiding" changed to "upbraiding".
+
+p. 54: "inconveniencies" changes to "inconveniences".
+
+p. 59: "generaly" changed to "generally".
+
+p. 62: "horid" changed to "horrid".
+
+p. 77: "succesfully" changed to "successfully".
+
+p. 161: "Mrs. Mary Dixon" changed to "Mrs. Mary Nixon".
+
+p. 163: "appartments" changed to "apartments".
+
+p. Footnote 165: "seventeeen" changed to "seventeen".
+
+p. 179: "silence by exclaming" changed to "silence by exclaiming".
+
+p. 194: "delivered Green's verbal" changed to "delivered Greene's
+        verbal".
+
+p. 216: "industrions" changed to "industrious".
+
+p. 251: "Westminister" changed to "Westminster".
+
+p. 261: "rebuked then" changed to "rebuked them".
+
+p. 293: "see the again" changed to "see thee again".
+
+p. 325: "rode side" changed to "road side".
+
+P. Footnote 351: "beseiged" changed to "besieged".
+
+p. 389: "appropiately" changed to "appropriately".
+
+p. 402: "Buts stoops" changed to "But stoops".
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NOBLE DEEDS OF AMERICAN WOMEN***
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