PHILANTHROPY OF AMERICAN WOMEN: MISS DIX.

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J. Clement
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 antennÆ 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 coÖperation 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]

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?"

THE END.

Two children sitting and reading at foot of tree

FOOTNOTES:

[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.

[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."

[3] The part of the town in which he lived was afterwards called Quincy in honor of Mrs. Adams's maternal grandfather.

[4] Mr. Hough was a printer in the employment of the Baptist Board.
Author.

[5] Gammell's History of American Baptist Missions.

[6] Gammell.

[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.

[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.

[9] Drake's Indian Captivities.

[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.

[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.

[12] Frothingham's Siege of Boston.

[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.

[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."

[15] Captain Leonard Whiting, of Hollis, N. H., a noted tory, who was the bearer of dispatches from Canada to the British in Boston.

[16] Mrs. Mary Neff.

[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.

[18] M'Clung's Sketches of Western Adventure.

[19] Collins's Historical Sketches of Kentucky.

[20] Collins.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[25] History of Wyoming, page 212.

[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.

[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.

[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!"

[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."

[30] Vide Women of the Revolution, vol. 1 p. 278.

[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.

[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.

[34] Jabez Burns, D. D.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[39] Mrs. Bethune's Life of Mrs. Graham, abridged.

[40] Mrs. Bethune.

[41] Knapp's Female Biography.

[42] Vide History of Schoharie county, p. 410-11.

[43] Women of the Revolution.

[44] Democratic Review, vol. 20, pp. 93-4.

[45] Mrs. Ellet.

[46] Vide Doc. His, Vol. 1. p. 256.

[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!"

[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.

[49] Abridged from Cyclopedia of Moral and Religious Anecdotes.

[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.

[51] Mrs. Ellet.

[52] October seventh, 1780.

[53] American Anecdotes, vol. 2, p. 11.

[54] For a full account of the life of Mrs. Stewart, we refer the reader to an interesting Memoir, by her husband.

[55] Vide Women of the Revolution, vol. 1. pp. 306-7, etc.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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."

[60] Revolutionary Anecdotes, First Series

[61] May twelfth, 1781.

[62] In the autumn of 1792, while the war with the Creeks and Cherokees was raging in the Cumberland valley.

[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.

[64] Rev. M. B. Cox and Rev. O. S. Wright and wife.

[65] Rev. Mr. Spaulding and lady.

[66] Memoirs of Aaron Burr, by Matthew L. Davis, vol. 2, p. 432.

[67] He was imprisoned in Richmond, Virginia.—Author.

[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.

[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."

[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."

[71] Practical Directory for Young Christian Females.

[72] Mothers of the Wise and Good, p. 142

[73] The late George Beecher.

[74] Laurel mountain.

[75] Afterwards Mrs. Powell. She died in 1840.

[76] Knapp's Female Biography, p. 235.

[77] Walks of Usefulness; or, Reminiscences of Margaret Prior, p. 17.

[78] June, 1840.

[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."

[80] Religious Progress, pp. 200-1.

[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."

[82] Women of the Revolution, vol. 3.

[83] Weems' Marion, pp. 182-3.

[84] Missionary Offering, p. 86. We are indebted to the same source for most of the particulars embraced in this article.

[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.

[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."

[87] Major Garden.

[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.

[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.

[91] Belknap.

[92] American Biography, vol. 2, p. 182.

[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.'"

[94] Major Garden.

[95] Vide Women of the Revolution, vol. I, p. 296.

[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."

[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."

[98] Mrs. Ellet.

[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.

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".

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".

Footnote 351: "beseiged" changed to "besieged".

p. 389: "appropiately" changed to "appropriately".

p. 402: "Buts stoops" changed to "But stoops".

*******

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