BIOGRAPHICAL 
 
 AND 
 OTHER ARTICLES^ 
 
 WILLIAM- C TOD D A-B - 
 
 UC-NRLF 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL 
 
 AND 
 
 OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM C. TODD, A.B. 
 
 PRESIDENT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 BOSTON 
 LEE AND SHEPARD 
 
 MCMI 
 
Copyright, 1901, 
 By WILLIAM C. TODD. 
 
 ^// rights reserved. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER .ARTICLES. 
 
TO 
 
 . Sarab 3, SpaRnng 
 
 IN MEMORY OF 
 
 A LONG AND UNBROKEN FRIENDSHIP, AND IN RECOGNITION 
 
 OF HER MANY GIFTS, HER REGARD FOR TRUTH, 
 
 HER TRUE WOMANHOOD, 
 
 AND THE GOOD INFLUENCE SHE HAS EXERTED FOR 
 HALF A CENTURY ON ALL AROUND HER, 
 
 THIS VOLUME 
 
 IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR 
 
PREFACE 
 
 THIS volume is published more from the urgency of 
 friends than from the belief of any special merit. Most 
 of the articles were written years ago for magazines, and 
 have been introduced as originally published, and will 
 receive, I trust, charity from a generous public. 
 
 WILLIAM C. TODD. 
 
 ATKINSON, N.H., June, 1901. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER 11 
 
 [From " Green Bag," June, 1896.] 
 
 CALEB GUSHING 34 
 
 [From " Green Bag," January, 1892.] 
 
 KEV. STEPHEN PEABODY AXD WIFE 63 
 
 [From " N. E. Historical aud Genealogical Register," April, 1894.] 
 
 THOMAS HART BENTON 83 
 
 [In part, "Atlantic Monthly," September, 1870.] 
 
 TIMOTHY DEXTER 104 
 
 [From " N. E. Historical and Genealogical Register," 
 October, 1880, and July, 1890.] 
 
 KNAPP S LIFE OF TIMOTHY DEXTER 124 
 
 GEN. NATHANIEL PEABODY 128 
 
 A SUMMER IN NORWAY 154 
 
 SOME PERSONS I HAVE SEEN . 192 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER 
 
 THE presentation of a statue of Daniel Webster to 
 the Capitol at Washington by New Hampshire, his 
 native State, has called attention anew to the life and 
 abilities of this gifted man, especially among those old 
 enough to remember the time when he was so prominent 
 in public affairs, and when Clay, Webster, and Calhoun 
 were the intellectual giants of the American Congress. 
 All his intimate friends have passed away ; the vener 
 able Robert C. Winthrop was the last ; and but few, 
 comparatively speaking, survive who ever listened to 
 him. The writer remembers, when a little boy, hearing 
 a guest at his father s fireside, just after the Knapp 
 trials, say, " Daniel Webster is the smartest man in the 
 United States," and ever after he was interested to 
 learn all about this remarkable man. 
 
 The first time I saw Mr. Webster was at the great 
 Whig convention on Bunker Hill, Sept. 10, 1840, which 
 I attended largely to see him. And it was the most 
 fitting of all places to look on him, for it had been 
 associated with one of his grandest oratorical efforts. 
 There he had stood at the laying of the corner-stone of 
 the Bunker Hill Monument, with Lafayette by his side, 
 and before him the " venerable men," " remnant of 
 many a well-fought field," whom he so feelingly ad 
 dressed. There, too, he delivered the oration at the 
 
 11 
 
12 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 completion of the monument in 1843, and it is not easy 
 now to look at the monument and not think of Daniel 
 Webster. 
 
 There had never before, probably, in our country been 
 so large a convention, for the recent introduction of 
 railroads had then first made such a gathering possible, 
 nor has one since been more enthusiastic. The country 
 had not recovered from the panic of 1837, and the hard 
 times were charged, as usual, to the party in power. 
 Log cabins and other things associated with General Har 
 rison were in procession ; songs were sung with all sorts 
 of changes on " Tippecanoe and Tyler too," " Van, little 
 Van, Van is a used-up man ; " and there were no bounds 
 to the excitement of the crowd. The knowledge, too, 
 that Mr. Webster was to preside on such an historic 
 spot drew many who had never seen him, some of whom 
 had come from all parts of New England in the strangest 
 of vehicles, and took part in the long procession through 
 the streets of Boston to Bunker Hill. Mr. Winthrop 
 called the convention to order, and introduced Mr. 
 Webster as the president of the day. He looked older 
 and larger than I had imagined, and his hair, which he 
 brushed back from his massive forehead, was becoming 
 thin. He spoke briefly, and then with appropriate 
 words introduced the different speakers, distinguished 
 men from all parts of the country, to whom the place, 
 the excitement of that remarkable campaign, and the 
 immense crowd gave enthusiasm. In the evening he 
 presided over a meeting in Faneuil Hall, which was 
 crowded to its utmost capacity. The platform was then 
 but little raised above the body of the hall, and I pushed 
 my way towards it, up close to Mr. Webster, and was so 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER 13 
 
 near that I put my hand on his back, proud that I had 
 touched him. I heard him say to some one, "Mr. 
 Mason, I wish I had a seat for you," and, turning, I saw 
 a man towering above every one else, and I knew it was 
 that giant in body and mind, one of the greatest lawyers 
 New England has ever produced, Jeremiah Mason. He 
 stood upon a little elevation at last, and, with his deep- 
 toned, powerful voice, called the crowd to order. His 
 first words were, alluding both to the financial distress 
 and the struggling crowd in the Hall, " My friends, our 
 opponents make a mistake, as you can all witness, when 
 they say there is no pressure in the country that an 
 honest man need feel." He spoke with much emphasis 
 and gesture, dwelling on the strong reasons for a change 
 in the administration, and then introduced the speakers 
 of the evening. I remember best Ogden Hoffman, the 
 eloquent New York lawyer, then at the height of his 
 fame from his success in a recent noted criminal trial, 
 " Broad Seal " Governor Pennington of New Jersey, 
 George Evans of Maine, Benjamin Watkins Leigh of 
 Virginia, Governor Kent, for whom " Maine went hell 
 bent," and Reverdy Johnson. 
 
 I saw Mr. Webster next at a Dartmouth College 
 Commencement, when Levi Woodbury, who would have 
 been President instead of Franklin Pierce had he lived, 
 gave an oration, and Rufus Choate was present, the 
 three alumni of whom the college is so proud. He was 
 dressed in the well-known blue coat with bright buttons, 
 and wore a white beaver. He declined to make an 
 address. Mr. Choate was also requested to make a 
 political speech, but with a sense of propriety that all 
 public men do not have, he replied that partisan politics 
 
14 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 should never disturb the harmony of a gathering of 
 scholars. 
 
 Such was my interest in Mr. Webster, that if I met 
 any one who had known him, I was anxious to make 
 the most particular inquiries. Professor Shurtleff, of 
 Dartmouth College, remembered him well in his college 
 days as thin, dark and pale, so different from his man 
 hood appearance. He slept in the same room with him 
 the first night young Webster spent in Hanover. He 
 denied emphatically the oft-repeated stories that 
 Webster was an idle student and tore up his diploma. 
 He was not the first scholar in his class, but it is certain 
 that he gave promise of his future eminence. 
 
 Remarkable as were his powers, his industry and ap 
 plication developed them to the utmost. He could con 
 centrate all his faculties on a given subject, and he 
 would never undertake difficult work when he was tired. 
 He was an early riser, and labored early in the day, 
 when mind and body were fresh. He stated once that, 
 while Secretary of State, he rose every morning and 
 shaved himself by candle-light. 
 
 His competition with Jeremiah Mason, at the Rock- 
 ingham County Bar, sharpened him as nothing else 
 could have done. He had great admiration for this 
 lawyer, and the story is well-known that when he 
 learned that the celebrated William Wirt was to be his 
 antagonist in a case in Boston, he remarked, " I was 
 afraid it would be Jeremiah Mason." 
 
 When he began practice, Parker Noyes was the most 
 learned lawyer at the Merrimac County Bar, and know 
 ing but little law himself, yet having an opinion of 
 what the law ought to be, he would go to Mr. Noyes 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER 15 
 
 and state his point, and ask where the cases could be 
 found sustaining it. 
 
 The late Judge Tenney, of Maine, told me that Mr. 
 Webster, when at Portsmouth, heard one of Mr. Mason s 
 students say that the " old man " had been much puzzled 
 over a particular law difficulty, but had settled it. Mr. 
 Webster inquired what it was, and what was Mr. 
 Mason s solution, and did not forget it. A few years 
 after, in New York, Aaron Burr, one of the ablest law 
 yers of his time, applied to Mr. Webster for his opinion 
 on this very question, and was surprised to hear his 
 ready answer, that of Mr. Mason. 
 
 His retentive memory, termed by Mr. Choate " one of 
 his most extraordinary faculties," never lost information 
 once gained. He was ever thinking, studying, prepar 
 ing for questions that might arise. He had no time to 
 make special preparation for the Hayne speech, the most 
 celebrated ever delivered in Congress, but he was pre 
 pared. It is said that some of the sentences that have 
 become so noted had been elaborated in his mind for 
 years before the occasion arose to use them, like the one 
 so often quoted on the power of England, " whose 
 morning drum-beat, following the sun and keeping com 
 pany with the hours, circles the earth with one continu 
 ous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of England." 
 It does not seem possible that he could have uttered 
 that passage on the power of conscience from his speech 
 at the Knapp trial without previous preparation. 
 
 Towards the close of his life especially, Mr. Webster 
 was often dull and heavy, disappointing expectation. It 
 was only when aroused that he was eloquent, while 
 Choate could never be dull. One who often heard him, 
 
16 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 told me he only once saw him animated, and that was 
 when the judge, to his surprise, had decided a point 
 against him. It aroused him, and, warming up, he con 
 tended that, admitting the decision of the court to be 
 correct, it was so much better for his client, and he put 
 the case so strongly that there was no reply. 
 
 An ex-United States senator gave me an account of a 
 visit of Mr. Webster to Richmond. It had been ar 
 ranged that he should make an address in the evening 
 from the hotel. The distinguished men of Virginia 
 were around him at the dinner table ; the conversation 
 was sparkling ; all that Virginia hospitality could afford 
 was abundantly supplied; and the condition of the 
 company became at length what can well be imagined. 
 The friends of Mr. Webster began to fear that he was 
 not sufficiently composed for the effort, and proposed to 
 defer the address. Several leading men were sent to 
 consult him in regard to it, but he adhered to his pur 
 pose to speak. Mr. John M. Botts, a noted politician of 
 the day, and a special friend, was sent at last to influ 
 ence him, but his reply was, " Mr. Botts, I shall speak 
 to-night." At the appointed time, he was aided to the 
 balcony, and placed before the audience. He gazed 
 around for a moment, and in his deep, strong voice, such 
 aa they had never heard before, extending far beyond 
 the most distant auditor, began, " Virginians." A great 
 cheer broke out from the crowd. Again he cried, Vir- 
 ginans," and again a cheer. He was aroused then and 
 himself, and made such a speech as only Daniel Webster 
 could have made. 
 
 Mr. Webster was dignified and courteous in debate to 
 his opponents, and rarely drawn into personal remarks. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER 17 
 
 Almost the only instance recalled was in his reply to the 
 attack of Charles J. Ingersoll, in 1846, who had accused 
 him of corruption in connection with the "secret 
 service " fund, and made other charges affecting his in 
 tegrity. Mr. Webster closed his reply by a sentence 
 whose severity has been rarely equalled : " I now leave 
 the gentleman I leave him with the worst company I 
 know on the face of the earth, I leave him with him 
 self." 
 
 Hon. Horatio G. Parker, of the Boston Bar, repeated 
 to me recently an interesting statement regarding this 
 Ingersoll charge which he had from the lips of Peter 
 Harvey, whose authority was Jefferson Davis himself. 
 
 Mr. Davis had but just entered Congress, and was 
 much surprised when the Speaker appointed him on the 
 committee to investigate the charges made by Mr. Inger 
 soll against Mr. Webster. Soon after the venerable 
 John Quincy Adams came to his desk and addressed 
 him thus : " Young man, you have received an appoint 
 ment on a very important committee to consider a very 
 grave charge. I am older than you are, and, perhaps, 
 have given such a subject more thought. The greatness 
 of every nation is mainly due to the sagacity of a few 
 great men who have guided its policy at critical periods. 
 It was so with the nations of antiquity, it has been 
 especially the case with England and so it has been, 
 and will continue to be, with our own country. The 
 great men of a nation are its chief treasure. You have 
 had placed in your hands the fair fame of one of the 
 greatest men America has produced, and be careful you 
 do not needlessly tarnish it." 
 
 Mr. Davis sent a letter to Mr. Webster, asking when 
 
18 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 he could meet the committee, and a reply was made at 
 once, when the committee wished. At the appointed 
 time, he produced vouchers for every expenditure but 
 one, and requested delay to find this. In a short time 
 it was found, having been mislaid by his secretary in an 
 old desk in the department. Every matter Mr. Ingersoll 
 desired was investigated, and every accusation shown to 
 be groundless. 
 
 Mr. Davis met Mr. Ingersoll soon after, and said to 
 him : " We have examined fully all your charges, and 
 Mr. Webster has authenticated and satisfactorily ac 
 counted for every expenditure in question. Now, Mr. 
 Ingersoll, I think you should state in the House that 
 you have been mistaken, and make ample apology for 
 what you have said and done." His reply was, " I do 
 not know about that I do not think I shall." " Then," 
 said Mr. Davis, " I addressed him thus : I wish no 
 more to do with you, sir ; and if you ever speak to me 
 again I will shoot you. " 
 
 A lady who was present has recently told me of the 
 great excitement of this debate, and of the pale face and 
 agitated manner of Robert C. Winthrop, Mr. Webster s 
 devoted friend, as he rose to reply. 
 
 The only title now to fame of Mr. Ingersoll is his dis 
 creditable charge against Mr. Webster, and the latter s 
 reply. 
 
 The same lady told me of a gentleman who had judged 
 unfavorably of Mr. Webster on account of his well- 
 known careless money dealings, who paid him a large 
 sum in bills, and soon after, in the excitement of the 
 conversation, Mr. Webster rolled them up and put them in 
 the inkstand as a cork, showing his indifference to money. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER 19 
 
 All the artists to whom Mr. Webster sat have passed 
 away, the last and most famous, Mr. JETealy, only 
 a few weeks ago, who painted the large canvas in Fan- 
 euil Hall. Among others to whom he gave sittings was 
 the late Thomas B. Lawson of Lowell, in connection 
 with which the artist told me a singular circumstance. 
 It was at the time of the explosion on the "Princeton," 
 Feb. 28, 1844, when so many distinguished men were 
 present and killed, among them two members of the cab 
 inet. For some reason Mr. Webster did not wish to go 
 on the excursion, and as he had made an engagement 
 with Mr. Lawson he requested the artist to insist on its 
 fulfilment, which was done. The day after the fatal 
 explosion Mr. Webster came to the artist and said with 
 much feeling, " Mr. Lawson, you have saved my life." 
 He expressed to the artist much satisfaction with the 
 portrait, and as he looked at it said, " That is the 
 face I shave every morning." I have seen it stated that 
 he made the same remark to Mr. Healy. The original, 
 or a copy by the artist, was in the family of the late 
 Wm. B. Todd of Washington, D.C., and is now owned 
 by his daughter, Mrs. John Jay Knox of New York 
 City. 
 
 Thomas H. Benton, who was on board the "Prince 
 ton " at the time of the explosion, gave me an account 
 of it, and, with his well-known vanity, said his own life 
 was saved by his thirst for information. He had re 
 quested one of the officers to explain some of the ma 
 chinery, which took him away from the neighborhood of 
 the gun. 
 
 As is well known, Mr. Webster remained for some 
 time in the cabinet of John Tyler, after the latter had 
 
20 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 lost the support of the Whigs by his veto of the bank 
 bill, and by so doing displeased many of his friends. 
 General Fessenden, the father of William Pitt Fes- 
 senden, and the life-long friend of Mr. Webster, in 
 formed me at the time that Mr. Webster said, if it had 
 been a matter of reason, he could have argued with Mr. 
 Tyler, but when the President had stated that it was a 
 question of conscience, as he believed the bill unconsti 
 tutional, he could say no more. 
 
 An old lawyer has told me how kind Mr. Webster was 
 to him as a student in his office and a young practitioner. 
 He went to Washington to argue a case before the Su 
 preme Court, and in the most delicate manner Mr. 
 Webster counselled him to avoid all attempt at display, 
 or to excite feeling, so common before a jury, but to 
 state his case and his law as simply and clearly as possi 
 ble, which was all that would be effective before hard 
 lawyers like the judges of the Supreme Court. 
 
 Mr. Webster s most common competitor at the Massa 
 chusetts bar was Rufus Choate, one of the finest scholars 
 ever sent out from Dartmouth College, and one of the 
 most eloquent advocates America has produced. An 
 anecdote is told of them illustrating Choate s scholarship 
 and Webster s persistency. Webster had used a quota 
 tion from the classics, and Choate passed him a slip cor 
 recting it. Webster wrote on it " a false correction " 
 and returned it. Choate sent out for the author, and 
 passed it to Webster, showing his accuracy. Webster 
 wrote back, " spurious edition." 
 
 After one of Mr. Choate s most brilliant arguments, in 
 which, as was his custom, with logic and close rea 
 soning he had mingled many flowers of rhetoric and 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER 21 
 
 flights of the imagination, Mr. Webster rose to reply, and 
 in his grave tones, with a wave of the hand, as if brushing 
 it aside, he began, " Poetry, all poetry, gentlemen of the 
 jury; now let us come down to facts." 
 
 All are interested in the genealogy of distinguished 
 men, from the belief that mental as well as physical 
 traits are inherited, it may be, from generations far back. 
 It does not appear that Mr. Webster had much interest 
 in the subject, though lie employed Joshua Coffin, the 
 historian of Newbury, to trace back his ancestry. He 
 was so poorly informed that Mr. Coffin told me he gave 
 him the name of his grandfather incorrectly. Different 
 accounts have been given of the Webster ancestry. By 
 request of General Gushing, Horatio G. Somerby, the 
 well-known antiquarian, looked it up in England, and 
 found that Thomas Webster was one of a colony that 
 came from Ormsby, a village near Yarmouth, in the 
 county of Norfolk, and settled in Hampton. The history 
 of Gilmanton states that the first American ancestor of 
 Mr. Webster was John Webster, who came from Ips 
 wich, England, settled in Ipswich, Mass., and was made 
 freeman in 1635. His children were John, Thomas, Ste 
 phen, Nathan, Israel, and four daughters. He died in 
 1647. Thomas, born in 1632, lived in Hampton, where 
 he married in 1656 and died in 1715, aged 83. His chil 
 dren were Ebenezer, Thomas, Nathaniel, and some others. 
 Ebenezer, son of Thomas, was a grantee of Kingston, in 
 1692, and settled there in 1700, where Ebenezer his son 
 was born. Ebenezer, son of the last named Ebenezer, 
 was born in 1739, and was the father of Ezekiel and 
 Daniel. He enlisted in the French War as a private, 
 rose to be a captain, returned home, and was married. 
 
22 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 A large tract of unimproved land had been given by 
 the Masonian proprietors to Ebenezer Stevens, Oct. 25, 
 1749. Young Webster went there with a colony to set 
 tle in 1763, to whom was assigned the most northern 
 portion. Originally called Bakerstown, then Stevens- 
 town, it was incorporated as Salisbury in 1768. He 
 built a log cabin which he occupied for seven years. 
 
 Mr. Webster thus spoke of his father s early condition, 
 which cannot be too often quoted : " A man who is not 
 ashamed of himself need not be ashamed of his early 
 condition. It did not happen to me to be born in a log 
 cabin, but my older brothers and sisters were born in a 
 log cabin, raised among the snow-drifts of New Hamp 
 shire, at a period so early that when the smoke rose 
 from its rude chimney and curled over the frozen hills, 
 there was no similar evidence of a white man s habita 
 tion between it and the settlements on the rivers of 
 Canada." 
 
 All his life he remained poor, and, as is well known, 
 was obliged to mortgage his farm to educate his chil 
 dren. Yet he was always honored, respected, and use 
 ful, occupying such positions as State representative and 
 senator, member of the Constitutional Convention, and 
 judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He was a Chris 
 tian, too, and active in the affairs of his church. He 
 was with Stark at Bennington, and served during the 
 whole of the Revolutionary War, first as captain, and 
 promoted to be colonel in 1784. He was in the army 
 when news came of the birth of Daniel. Calling to his 
 nephew, he said, " Here, Stephen, I have another boy at 
 home ; get a gallon of rum, and we will be merry." 
 This, of course, was long before temperance days, when 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER 23 
 
 even good Christians thought it no harm to use stimu 
 lants. The son has alluded to his father s fine personal 
 appearance. He was tall, dark, stout, with keen black 
 eyes and a powerful voice, all characteristics of his son 
 Daniel. 
 
 The first wife of Ebenezer Webster died in March, 
 1774, and soon after he went to his old home on a visit. 
 A lady friend said to him, " Why do you not get mar 
 ried again ? " "I would," he replied, " if I knew the 
 right one." " I can tell you," she said, " one who will 
 just suit you ; about as black as you are, Abigail East 
 man of Salisbury." She gave him a letter of introduc 
 tion, and he mounted his horse for Salisbury. Reaching 
 the house, a young woman answered his call, of whom 
 he asked for Abigail Eastman. She replied that that 
 was her name, when he handed her his letter, was in 
 vited to enter, and before he left the house the business 
 was satisfactorily concluded. They were married Oct. 
 13, 1774. 
 
 She was a tailor ess by trade, going from house to 
 house as her services were needed. Her father was the 
 owner of a small farm a short distance from Newbury- 
 port on the opposite side of the river. The family came 
 from Wales, and settled first in Salisbury, Mass. She 
 had two brothers, Ezekiel and Daniel, for whom she 
 named her boys. 
 
 Both of Mr. Webster s parents were of humble origin, 
 inured to toil. Yet they gave birth to a son by whom 
 they have been more honored than if they could have 
 traced their blood through a thousand titled and sense 
 less ancestors. The father died in 1806, too early to 
 know of his son s fame, though he heard his first effort 
 
24 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 at the bar. His mother survived till 1816, and lived 
 long enough to be proud of her son. 
 
 Mr. Webster died Sunday morning, as the day was 
 breaking, Oct. 24, 1852, and old people well remember 
 the sadness that passed over the land with the tidings, 
 to most unexpected. The papers for days were full of 
 his life, his intellect, and his services. One paper said, 
 " His greatness and fame have become such a part of our 
 country, we did not think we could ever lose him." To 
 quote from Mr. Choate, " His plain neighbors loved him, 
 and one said as he was laid in the grave, How lonesome 
 the world seems ! Eulogies were delivered all over 
 the country, and party feeling was hushed in the wish to 
 honor his memory. His failings for he had them 
 were for the time forgotten. 
 
 The most remarkable eulogy was that of Rufus Choate, 
 whose heart was so full of love for his great personal 
 friend, before the Alumni of Dartmouth College, the 
 common Alma Mater. It was a fine specimen of the 
 style of this gifted orator. One sentence fills over four 
 pages of the printed copy. He traced Mr. Webster s 
 career, and dwelt, specially, on the rare spectacle of great 
 eminence at the bar and in public life. " When he died 
 he was the first of American lawyers, the first of Ameri 
 can statesmen." He spoke of the charm of his social 
 intercourse, and no one could testify better than one 
 whose relations with him had been so close as Mr. 
 Choate s. " From these conversations of friendship no 
 man no man, old or young went away to remember 
 one word of profanity, one allusion of indelicacy, one 
 impure thought, one unbelieving suggestion, one doubt 
 cast on the reality of virtue, of patriotism, of enthusiasm, 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER 25 
 
 of the progress of man one doubt cast on righteous 
 ness, or temperance, or judgment to come." To this 
 moral tribute from one who knew him so intimately it 
 may be added that when a young man he united with the 
 Congregational Church at Salisbury, and never severed 
 his connection. He inherited respect for religion. 
 
 Prof. Roswell D. Hitchcock, the eminent scholar and 
 divine, in a eulogy before the students of Bowdoin Col 
 lege, said, " Daniel Webster before he died had been 
 crowned as the ablest man this continent has ever pro 
 duced. ..." " He seemed to belong to another race 
 and order of beings. His brain exceeded in size the 
 common average by at least one-third. Only two such 
 heads had ever been noticed in the world before. The 
 glance of his eye was marvellous, searching as light itself; 
 and when strong feeling roused him it was terrible. 
 Those who came the closest to him were the most de 
 lighted and amazed. The impression always made was 
 that of vast power never yet called out." 
 
 By invitation of Peter Harvey, there was a memorable 
 festival at Boston, Jan. 18, 1859, to celebrate the seventy- 
 seventh anniversary of Mr. Webster s birthday. All who 
 participated by speech or by letter had been closely con 
 nected with him, and spoke from personal knowledge. 
 
 Gen. Caleb Gushing was called to preside. In his 
 opening address he alluded to the intimacy existing be 
 tween them in public and private life, and spoke of " his 
 respect, admiration, and attachment for Webster, begin 
 ning at an early date, and acquiring new strength with 
 every day of a constant and most confidential intimacy." 
 . . . " Cherishing and honoring the name of Webster, 
 we cherish and honor the Constitution he defended, the 
 
26 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 Liberty he maintained, and the Union he upheld, as one 
 and inseparable, now and forever. We but tread the 
 path of his own great foot-prints, indelibly stamped on 
 the face of the rock of ages, like those of L ,he pre-Adamite 
 colossus-birds on the banks of the Connecticut, so long 
 as we follow the flag, and keep step to the music of the 
 Union." His speech abounded in classical allusions, of 
 which his mind was so full, comparing Mr. Webster with 
 the great men of antiquity. Rufus Choate spoke with 
 his usual marvellous eloquence, so soon to be hushed, for 
 his health had begun to fail, and he died the same year. 
 There was a sad tone to his remarks, for there were fore 
 bodings of the terrible strife so soon to deluge the land 
 with fraternal blood, from the sorrow of which, however, 
 he was spared. He dwelt on the reserved power in Mr. 
 Webster and his love of the Union : 
 
 " Although I have seen him act, and have heard him 
 speak and give counsel in very sharp and difficult cases, 
 I always felt that if more had been needed, more could 
 have been done ; and that half his strength, or all his 
 strength, he put not forth. I never saw him make what 
 is called an effort without feeling that, let the occasion 
 be what it would, he would have swelled out to its limits. 
 There was always a reservoir of power of which you 
 never sounded its depths, certainly never saw the bot 
 tom ; and I cannot imagine any great historical and civil 
 occasion to which he would not have brought, and to 
 which he would not be acknowledged to have brought, 
 adequate ability. . . . The Union, the Constitution 
 -the national federal life the American name E 
 Pluribus Unum these filled his heart these dwelt 
 in his habitual speech. . . . Oh ! for an hour of 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER 27 
 
 Webster now ! Oh ! for one more roll of his thunder 
 inimitable ! One more peal of that clarion ! One more 
 grave and bold counsel of moderation ! One more throb 
 of American feeling ! One more farewell address ! And 
 then might he ascend unhindered to the bosom of his 
 father and his God." 
 
 Reverdy Johnson, one of the ablest lawyers of his 
 time, in a letter, expressed himself thus warmly : 
 
 " From the adoption of the Constitution to the present 
 time, with all the reverence and admiration we so justly 
 entertain for the many great and patriotic men, living 
 and dead, who have illustrated and enforced its true 
 doctrines, it is no disparagement to them, individually 
 or collectively, to say that on the 26th of January, 1830, 
 and the 16th of February, 1833, they received a support 
 from his lips never before furnished, and one that 
 scattered to the winds the sophistry, suggested by an 
 erring sense of State patriotism, that threatened to 
 weaken, and eventually to undermine them. His reply 
 to Colonel Hayne at the first date, and to Mr. Calhoun at 
 the second, eclipsing in eloquence all that the Old or the 
 New World had before exhibited, were so clearly 
 reasoned, so logically powerful, so patriotically perfect, 
 so captivating and persuasive of the heart and the 
 intellect, that the whole nation, as by one irresistible 
 impulse, assented and applauded, and with united voice 
 proclaimed throughout the entire land that proudest of 
 all earthly titles to an American citizen to be his, which 
 the galleries, at the close of the last effort, unable to 
 restrain themselves, and unrebuked, by one spontaneous 
 and deafening cheer, awarded him, Daniel Webster, the 
 Defender of the Constitution. 
 
28 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 "But beside my admiration of those almost more than 
 human efforts, and my appreciation of their inestimable 
 value to us as a people, and my knowledge, from an 
 intimacy with which for years he honored me, of his 
 ever perfect patriotism his constant devotion, to the 
 last moment of his public service, to what he believed to 
 be the true honor and welfare of his country, I remem 
 ber with delight (who, that knew him well, can ever 
 forget?) the charms of his society, when relieved for 
 the moment from the severe duties of life, surrounded 
 by a few friends, he poured out the riches of his mind, 
 the playfulness of his fancy, the charms of his wit, his 
 anecdotes ever so apposite the goodness of his heart. 
 Look at his firm figure, his stern, mighty brow, promis 
 ing nothing but intellect, his evidently concentrated 
 thought could the tenderness and susceptibility of 
 infancy be there also ? Yes, it was. I have seen him, 
 when he supposed himself unseen, weep as if his heart 
 would break at the death of a senatorial colleague. His 
 friend had been ill for weeks, but on that morning was 
 thought to be convalescent, when in the evening death 
 was his fate. 
 
 44 The suddenness and unexpectedness of the tidings 
 unnerved Mr. Webster, and his nature showed itself as 
 it was, kind, affectionate, loving. Tears, the evidence 
 of it, coursed down his manly cheeks without an effort 
 on his part to check them. 
 
 " He is lost to us, and to his country, but his works 
 remain. His speeches are left. What a rich, invaluable 
 legacy to the cause of letters, of eloquence, and of 
 freedom ! They show how mighty a man he was. They 
 will live as long as the English language survives, in- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER 29 
 
 tellect is honored, free institutions valued, and transmit 
 him to after-ages as one of the great of the world, born 
 to influence the destiny of man by inculcating principles 
 of constitutional freedom, calculated to secure to him 
 the liberty he has a right to enjoy, and the submission to 
 authority, without which it cannot exist." 
 
 Professor Felton, in his speech, spoke of a breakfast 
 with the eminent poet, Samuel Rogers : 
 
 " Mr. Rogers sat at the head of the table, surrounded 
 by the most illustrious lights of English science 
 and literature. There he sat, over ninety years of age, 
 pale as a corpse, and almost as silent, while the con 
 versation upon topics of letters and science was passing 
 around him. But when the name of Webster was men 
 tioned, he started up; a new life seemed to course 
 through his veins; the color came to his cheek. He 
 rose, and taking his knife in his hand, and ringing it 
 down on the table, said, Mr. Webster was a friend and 
 correspondent of mine. He was the greatest man of his 
 age. " 
 
 Charles Sumner told Mrs. S. J. Spalding of Newbury- 
 port that he was in England at the time when Mr. 
 Webster was there. At a dinner Mr. Webster was 
 obliged to leave, and he listened to the talk about him. 
 One gentleman said that he was disappointed, and when 
 asked why, replied, " I did not know that God had ever 
 made a man so wonderful as that man looks to be." 
 
 Mr. Goodrich (Peter Parley) said to Mrs. Spalding 
 that Wm. Wirt spoke to him of Mr. Webster s 
 remarkable face and the sweetness of his smile. Once 
 when they were together his little daughter was present, 
 and as they conversed seemed more and more afraid of 
 
30 BIOGKAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 Mr. Webster, and drew away. At last Mr. Webster 
 noticed her, put on his sweetest smile, and said, " Come 
 here and see me, my little girl." She ran to him at 
 once, and he took her in his arms. 
 
 As early as 1820, when the great ability of Mr. 
 Webster had only begun to be recognized, John Adams 
 luidsaid of his Plymouth oration: 
 
 " Mr. Burke is no longer entitled to the praise, the 
 most consummate orator of modern times. . . . This 
 oration will be read five hundred years hence with as 
 much rapture as it was heard." 
 
 No stronger evidence could be given than that con 
 tained in these extracts from men of national reputation, 
 his intimate associates in public life, how deeply Mr. 
 Webster s ability impressed his own generation, nor is it 
 believed from the tone of the speeches at the reception 
 of the statue by such men as Senator Hoar, that the 
 intervening years have materially modified that judg 
 ment. 
 
 Of Mr. Webster s two sons who reached maturity, 
 Edward was graduated from Dartmouth in 1841, though 
 he had studied mostly in Europe under the care of Mr. 
 Everett. He died in 1848 in the Mexican war, and 
 Fletcher in the war of the Rebellion. All his descen 
 dants have passed away. The mother of his children 
 was Grace Fletcher, of Hopkinton, N.H., whom he 
 married in 1808. An old lady, her schoolmate at Atkin 
 son Academy, has told me she was a pale, modest, sweet 
 girl, whom all loved. During a recent visit to Hopkin 
 ton, the house where she was born was pointed out, and 
 I saw also the grave of her father, Rev. Elijah Fletcher, 
 who died in 1786, at the age of 39. 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER 31 
 
 Most of the leading men of that period have been for. 
 gotten by the masses, but much as Webster impressed 
 his contemporaries, the more than forty years since his 
 decease have not lessened his fame. At the World s 
 Fair the thing that most attracted attention in the New 
 Hampshire exhibit was a huge plow, said to have been 
 made and used, by him. He was a great lawyer, a great 
 statesman, a great writer, a great orator. He had the 
 faculty of grasping the heart of a question, and present 
 ing it with irresistible power, in plain Saxon language, 
 so that even the uneducated could understand. The 
 speeches of many of our American statesmen have been 
 collected, but none have continued to be read as those of 
 Mr. Webster ; none are so often quoted ; from none have 
 come down to us so many sentences that have become as 
 household words. He early studied to acquire a clear, 
 condensed style, and was particular in his choice of 
 words. He could not have made such speeches as have 
 distinguished the recent silver and tariff debates in Con 
 gress mountains of words, all striving to ride on the 
 back of a few poor ideas. 
 
 The remembrance of Daniel Webster was so strong 
 on my mind Memorial Day, May 30, 1900, that I deter 
 mined to celebrate it by a visit to Bunker Hill, where 
 I had first seen him, at the great Whig convention, 
 nearly sixty years before. The same hill was there, and 
 towering above it was the granite monument, at the lay 
 ing of whose corner-stone he made the address, in the 
 presence of Lafayette and the spared " venerable men " 
 of the Revolution ; but the great crowd of 1840 had dis 
 appeared, and only a few stragglers were idling away the 
 holiday time on the benches around the monument. 
 
32 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 Boys were selling newspapers, and the one I bought 
 had the big heading: "Bobs in Johannesburg will 
 enter the city at noon to-day. Salisbury s statement 
 Not a shred of independence will be left the Boer Re 
 publics" which statement has since become history, 
 for the Republics have been declared a part of the 
 British Empire. 
 
 There was a contrast I could not but feel. England 
 was full of rejoicings over crushing people whose only 
 crime was struggling for freedom, and we, the same day, 
 were honoring the memory of our ancestors, who had 
 fought on this hill for freedom against this same Eng 
 land ! 
 
 The thought came to me, if Daniel Webster could be 
 called back to address an audience to-day, what would he 
 think, and what would he say? He was born during 
 the Revolution; his father was a soldier in the contest; 
 and the spirit of liberty was born in him. What would 
 he think and say, not simply of the wars now waged 
 against freedom by the two nations claiming to be the 
 most civilized and Christian, as they certainly are the 
 most powerful, of the world, but on many other ques 
 tions now agitating the country? 
 
 He was taught to revere the Declaration of Indepen 
 dence. What would he say of the way in which it is 
 now spoken of by many of our statesmen ? He had 
 some reputation as a Constitutional lawyer. What would 
 he say of the new interpretations put upon the Consti 
 tution, by statesmen of easy virtue, to adapt it to every 
 new condition as required ? Would he now support, or 
 oppose, the views Senator Hoar has so ably presented? 
 Oh ! that Daniel Webster could again address the coun- 
 
DANIEL WEBSTER 33 
 
 try but who would listen to him ? Inter arma silet 
 ratio, and with the spirit of aggressive war all over the 
 earth as never before, strongest where civilization and 
 Christianity are supposed to be most advanced, advocated 
 as a means of promoting true manhood and good in 
 itself, how little even the words of the Prince of Peace 
 are heeded ! It is sad to believe, inter arma silet religio ! 
 
CALEB GUSHING 
 
 OISTE of the most eminent men of his time for his long 
 and distinguished career as a jurist, statesman, and diplo 
 matist, and for the versatility of his gifts and his great 
 learning, was Caleb Gushing. 
 
 Caleb Gushing was born in Salisbury, Mass., just over 
 the river from Newburyport, Jan. 17, 1800. His first 
 ancestor in America was Mathew Gushing, who came 
 from Hingham, Eng., in 1638, and settled in Hingham, 
 Mass. His father was John N. Gushing, who removed 
 to Newburyport in 1802, and became one of the most 
 successful shipmasters and merchants of that place. 
 Young Gushing was prepared for college by Michael 
 Walsh, author of a noted arithmetic, and was graduated 
 from Harvard in 1817. Mr. George B. Emerson, a class 
 mate, said that though one of the youngest, he was the 
 most distinguished member of a class including many 
 who in after years became celebrated. For two years 
 next succeeding his graduation he was employed at Har 
 vard as a tutor in mathematics and natural philosophy 
 -a position given only to the best scholars. While 
 there he became specially interested in plants and min 
 erals, arid took many long walks to gather them, and 
 formed, it is said, the best collection of Essex County 
 specimens then in existence. He spent hours, too, in 
 the evening studying the constellations. In 1819 he 
 
 34 
 
CALEB GUSHING. 
 Taken in Geneva, 1872. 
 
CALEB GUSHING 35 
 
 gave a poem before the Harvard chapter of the Phi Beta 
 Kappa Society. 
 
 Resigning his place as tutor, he studied law with Hon. 
 Ebenezer Mosely, of Newhuryport, and at the Harvard 
 Law School, and on his admission to the bar opened an 
 office at Newburyport. In 1823 he married Caroline 
 Elizabeth, daughter of Judge Samuel S. Wilde, a most 
 accomplished lady, author of "Letters Descriptive of 
 Public Monuments, Scenery, and Manners in France and 
 Spain," which was very favorably reviewed by Alex 
 ander Everett in the " North American Review." She 
 died in 1832, and he never married again. They were 
 childless. 
 
 Mr. Gushing at once became prominent in his profes 
 sion, though the Essex County Bar at that time had a 
 galaxy of able lawyers, among whom was Rufus Choate, 
 of the same age, born within a dozen miles of him, who, 
 perhaps, never had his equal in the United States as a 
 jury lawyer. By contact with these men his powers 
 were stimulated and sharpened. At the same time he 
 entered warmly into the political questions of the day, 
 made frequent contributions to the literary periodicals 
 and the newspapers, and in 1826 published a history of 
 Newburyport. He began life with that indomitable 
 energy and industry which he ever maintained. 
 
 In 1825 Mr. Gushing was chosen representative to the 
 Massachusetts Legislature, and in 1826 was elected 
 State Senator, and in both positions was prominent. 
 Too close application, however, had impaired his health, 
 and in 1829 he visited Europe with his wife and re 
 mained there two years. Much of this time he spent in 
 Spain, of which country he made a special study, and in 
 
36 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 whose language he acquired an unusual proficiency. On 
 his return he published " Reminiscences of Spain," a 
 work in two volumes, which was favorably received, as 
 up to that time this country had been but little visited 
 by American travellers. 
 
 Mr. Gushing represented Newburyport in the Massa 
 chusetts Legislature in 1833 and 1834, and in 1834 was 
 elected to Congress, where he served till March 4, 1843. 
 
 From the first his ability was recognized. Mr. Web 
 ster said that " Mr. Gushing had not been six weeks in 
 Congress before he was acknowledged to be the highest 
 authority on what had been the legislation of Congress 
 on any given subject." It was a period of the keenest 
 party feeling, for it was during the close of General Jack 
 son s administration and all of Van Buren s. New 
 questions were constantly arising, some of them of a 
 Constitutional nature, and they were discussed with an 
 ability that had not been surpassed before, and has not 
 been since. General Jackson was opposed to the United 
 States Bank, vetoed bills for its recharter, withdrew 
 from it the Government funds, and deposited them in dif 
 ferent State banks, which lent the money freely and en 
 couraged speculation. Then came the severe financial 
 panic of 1837. The result was general discontent with 
 the party in power, unaided now by General Jackson s 
 popularity, and the overwhelming election of General 
 Harrison in 1840. 
 
 Into all the discussions in Congress and before popu 
 lar assemblies, Mr. Gushing threw himself with all his 
 vigor, and with an ability that gave him a national repu 
 tation. The campaign of 1840 was probably the most 
 remarkable in American history. It was the first when 
 
CALEB GUSHING 37 
 
 large crowds were assembled at political gatherings in 
 every part of the country, for the building of railroads 
 to all the great centres of population had then first made 
 such gatherings possible. 
 
 The leading feature of the campaign was the introduc 
 tion of new means of influencing the masses. General 
 Harrison had been nominated because of his supposed 
 availability, and one of his opponents, to disparage him, 
 had said he lived in a log hut, and drank hard cider. 
 This was taken up as the rallying cry by the Whigs, and 
 log cabins and cider barrels were carried in all the pro 
 cessions, the barrels always empty at the end of the route, 
 if not at the beginning. General Harrison s simplicity 
 of life was contrasted with the alleged extravagance of 
 Van Buren, who was said to use " gold spoons." Many 
 popular songs were composed and sung, full of taking 
 phrases that wonderfully excited the crowds. One that 
 is remembered ran thus in the chorus : 
 
 " Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, 
 
 For Tippecanoe and Tyler too, 
 For Tippecanoe and Tyler too, 
 And with them we ll beat little Van, 
 Van, Van, Van is a used up man." 
 
 One of the largest of the mass meetings was that on 
 Bunker Hill, September 10, presided over by no less a 
 man than Daniel Webster, and addressed by the most 
 distinguished men from all over the country, of whom 
 are recalled Ogden Hoffman, so celebrated as a jury law 
 yer, Benjamin Wa-tkins Leigh, Reverdy Johnson, then a 
 young man, and Governor Pennington of New Jersey, 
 besides many orators from New England. The writer 
 
38 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 was then a boy, an ardent Whig, anxious above all to 
 look on the face of Daniel Webster, and well remembers 
 the enthusiasm and excitement of the occasion. All the 
 prominent men who took part have passed away, the 
 last to go being Robert C. Winthrop, then a young 
 man, who called the convention to order, and who long 
 survived, a noble remnant of what seems to have been 
 an heroic age of great men. 
 
 In this Harrison campaign Mr. Gushing took an im 
 portant part. He wrote a life of General Harrison, which 
 was extensively circulated, and made speeches continu 
 ally, one of which I heard. The meeting was presided 
 over by a man who up to that time had been a leading 
 Democrat, but who had been unable to withstand the 
 strong drift to the Whigs, and had suddenly changed his 
 party. Long before the election it was evident which 
 party would win, especially when the hitherto strong 
 Democratic State of Maine elected a Whig governor ; as 
 it was expressed at the time : 
 
 " Maine went hell-bent 
 For Governor Kent." 
 
 The election of Harrison and the prominence in it of 
 Mr. Gushing would seem to have opened up great possi 
 bilities for him, intimate as he was with Mr. Webster, 
 the new Secretary of State ; but in one short month 
 the President died, was succeeded by John Tyler, who 
 vetoed Mr. Clay s Bank Bill, and the Whig party, led 
 by their great chief, broke away from the President, and 
 -it is not too strong a word to use hated him. 
 Whether wise or unwise in his action, there is no 
 doubt President Tyler was actuated by honest motives. 
 
CALEB GUSHING 39 
 
 General Fessenden, the father of William Pitt Fessen- 
 den, stated to me at the time that Mr. Webster so 
 believed, and had said to him that if it had been 
 a matter of argument he could have reasoned with him ; 
 but when Mr. Tyler had put it as a matter of conscience 
 that he could not sign what he believed to be an uncon 
 stitutional bill, he could say nothing. 
 
 Mr. Webster alone of the Cabinet remained ; and Mr. 
 Gushing, sympathizing with the course of President 
 Tyler, also adhered to him, and of course lost the favor 
 of the Whigs, and cast in his lot with the Democrats, 
 with whom he in future acted. He was nominated for 
 Secretary of the Treasury, and his fitness was not ques 
 tioned; but the party of Mr. Clay transferred their 
 dislike of Tyler to all his adherents, and he was rejected. 
 He was soon after sent as Commissioner to China, and 
 negotiated our first treaty with that country, securing to 
 us great commercial advantages. His success was a 
 matter of national congratulation, for the anti-Chinese 
 feeling had not then arisen. 
 
 On his return he was again chosen representative to 
 the State Legislature an office his home was ever 
 proud to bestow on him. 
 
 The Mexican war began in 1846, and in 1847 Mr. 
 Gushing raised a regiment, mainly at his own expense, 
 went to the war as its colonel, served till its close, and 
 returned with the rank of brigadier-general. The war 
 was not popular in New England, for it was regarded 
 as waged for the extension of slavery, and no one could 
 foresee its immense influence over the future of our coun 
 try by the acquisition of California. To Mr. Gushing, 
 however, it was the war of his country, and it enabled 
 
40 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 him also to gratify a natural taste for military affairs. 
 While in Mexico he was nominated by the Democrats 
 as their candidate for Governor of Massachusetts, but 
 with no hope of an election in that strong Whig State. 
 
 Newburyport was incorporated as a city in 1851, and 
 Mr. Gushing served as its first mayor. 
 
 In 1851 and 1852 he was a member of the Massachu 
 setts Legislature, and was the leader of the opposition 
 to the coalition that elected Mr. Sumner to the United 
 States Senate. 
 
 In 1852 he was appointed a Justice of the Supreme 
 Court of Massachusetts, discharging his duties to the 
 admiration of the Bar, who wondered at his familiarity 
 with the reports, and the profound knowledge of law 
 shown in his decisions, drawn as he had been so long 
 from active practice. To prepare himself he read in 
 nineteen days the fifty-seven volumes of Massachusetts 
 reports. 
 
 The Democratic convention for nominating a candi 
 date for President met at Baltimore June 12, 1852. 
 There were several candidates. The friends of each 
 were persistent ; and after 35 ballots in which his name 
 had not been presented, Franklin Pierce was nominated 
 on the 49th ballot, by a vote of 282 to 11 for all others. 
 The nomination was a surprise to the country, as he had 
 never been publicly spoken of for the position, and it 
 was regarded as one of those unexplained accidents of 
 which history is so full. The newspapers of the day 
 recounted the astonishment of Mr. Pierce, to whom a 
 boy brought the news as he was on a visit to Mt. 
 Auburn cemetery. The truth is, however, it was the 
 successful culmination of an arrangement planned by 
 
CALEB OUSHING 41 
 
 Mr. Gushing, General Butler, Paul R. George, and a 
 few others, in anticipation of a deadlock at Baltimore, 
 to spring Mr. Pierce s name on the convention. Mr. 
 Gushing had several times visited Mr. Pierce in regard 
 to it, and leading men in different States had been con 
 ferred with, and all the details agreed upon. I had been 
 told this long since by men familiar with the inside his 
 tory of the political events of that period, but all have 
 now passed away who were actors. Wishing to verify 
 this statement, and also wishing General Butler s opin 
 ion of Mr. Gushing, whom he had known so intimately, 
 I once addressed him a letter, to which the following 
 is his reply, and is of value as explaining an important 
 event in American history, not before understood by 
 the public : 
 
 BOSTON, May 2, 1891. 
 
 DEAR SIR My professional and other engagements are such 
 that I cannot go into any discussion worthy of General Gushing, 
 yourself, or myself, as to his great endowments as a lawyer, and 
 his great learning and ability as a statesman. I hold him in the 
 highest reverence. 
 
 As to the question you put me in relation to the nomination of 
 Gen. Franklin Pierce as President, the matter was fully con 
 sidered by the three gentlemen you name, and the Hon. Charles 
 G. Atherton, and the Hon Henry A. Wise, of Virginia, immedi 
 ately after the death of Judge Woodbury in 1851, and the means 
 to present his name in the manner it was presented fully deter 
 mined upon ; so that while the presentation of General Pierce s 
 name was a surprise to the general public, it was not to the 
 well informed and active members of the convention which 
 nominated him. 
 
 I am very truly yours, 
 
 BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 
 
 Many circumstances combined to make the election of 
 
42 BIOGRAPHIC AL AND OTHEK ARTICLES 
 
 Mr. Pierce a triumphant one, and he received 254 votes 
 to 42 for General Scott. On the formation of his Cabi 
 net, one of great ability, and the only one in our history 
 unbroken during a whole administration, Mr. Gushing 
 was made Attorney-General. 
 
 During Pierce s administration the anti-slavery senti 
 ment was continually growing stronger in the North, 
 intensified by the troubles in Kansas, the attack on Mr. 
 Sumner, and other causes not now to be entered into. 
 The Republican party, just formed on the anti-slavery 
 issue, was fast gaining control of the North, having 
 absorbed the Whig party, and drawn largely from the 
 Democratic. The great moral question of slavery was 
 debated in Congress, and at the fireside, by the press and 
 the pulpit, in all its aspects, almost to the exclusion of 
 every other subject, and the historian of this administra 
 tion will discuss it more with reference to this question 
 than any other. Many difficult questions connected 
 with our domestic and foreign affairs came before the 
 law department, and the ability with which they were 
 met is conceded. The opinions of Mr. Gushing while 
 Attorney-General fill three volumes of the fifteen up to 
 that date, and no less an authority than William Beach 
 Lawrence said, " They constitute in themselves a valua 
 ble body of international law." President Pierce stated 
 that however able Mr. Gushing was in his department, 
 he was equally well fitted for every other position in the 
 Cabinet ; and it is said that when a question arose about 
 which all the other members were in doubt, it was re 
 ferred with confidence to Gushing. 
 
 In 1857, 1858, and 1859 he was a member of the Mas 
 sachusetts House of Representatives, active and atteii- 
 
CALEB GUSHING 43 
 
 tive to all his duties. A memorable debate on national 
 affairs occurred between him and the late John A. 
 Andrew. 
 
 In 1860 he was a delegate to the Democratic National 
 Convention at Charleston, S.C., was chosen its president, 
 and was one of the seceders that met at Baltimore. He 
 supported Breckenridge as the only Democratic candidate 
 who could hope to win. President Buchanan sent him to 
 Charleston to confer with the secessionists, but with no 
 result. The " irrepressible conflict " was at hand, and 
 as we look back upon it, sad as were the loss of life and 
 all the horrors of the civil war, it seems the only way by 
 which we could have gained that great blessing, as 
 all North and South now regard it, the abolition 
 of slavery. 
 
 After the war began Mr. Gushing offered his services 
 to his country, as he had before done in the Mexican 
 war, but Governor Andrew for reasons satisfactory to 
 himself declined them. But Mr. Gushing never knew 
 what it was to be idle, and his time was fully occupied 
 in important cases, as one of the recognized leaders of the 
 American Bar. The different departments at Washing 
 ton largely demanded his valuable services, and not a 
 few high officials received credit to which he was en 
 titled for able papers and opinions. 
 
 In 1866 Mr. Gushing was appointed one of three com 
 missioners to codify the laws of Congress, and in 1868 
 was sent to Bogota, in consequence of a diplomatic 
 difficulty. General Grant, whose friendship for him and 
 confidence in him are well known, appointed him, in 1872, 
 one of the counsel to settle the Alabama claims at the 
 Geneva conference, and the favorable results to American 
 
44 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 interests were largely due to his efforts. He could speak 
 French fluently, the language of the conference. 
 
 In 1873, when the Senate had refused to confirm 
 Williams as Chief-Justice on the ground of incompe 
 tence, General Grant nominated Mr. Gushing, remarking, 
 as was said, that he would nominate one whose knowledge 
 and ability they could not question. The nomination 
 was withdrawn, however, through the efforts of a son 
 of Newhuryport, now deceased. In 1874 he was nom 
 inated and confirmed as our minister to Spain, where our 
 relations then required a representative of peculiar fitness, 
 and he remained there till 1877. This was his last public 
 position, the remaining years of his life being devoted 
 to his profession. 
 
 Until the last there seemed to be no mental decay, 
 though it was perceived that he was losing physically 
 that power of endurance that had ever been so remark 
 able. When he became conscious of disease, he consulted 
 a physician, and studied medical books, to learn all about 
 his case, as had been his custom on every subject. Re 
 alizing how little could be done, he prepared calmly for 
 the end. To one who asked about his health he replied, 
 " I have what I have never had before, seventy-nine 
 years." He talked but little about himself, and preferred 
 to be alone. A little before he died, he requested his 
 friends to leave him, which they did, supposing he wished 
 to sleep ; and when they again entered his room he had 
 passed away. He died Jan. 2, 1879. Time had been 
 very gentle with his external appearance, and he was a 
 handsome man to the last. As he lay in his casket at 
 the funeral, dressed as in life, with the sword he had worn 
 in the Mexican war by his side, his face was as calm and 
 
CALEB GUSHING 45 
 
 natural as if in sleep ; and as I gazed at him, I could but 
 wonder what had become of all those vast acquisitions 
 of knowledge that had been stored in that great brain, 
 now so cold and lifeless. Many of his old friends were 
 there to pay their last token of respect to his memory, 
 among whom was General Butler, who gazed long on the 
 remains of his old friend. 
 
 This condensed abstract of his life for to speak in 
 detail of his different official acts and the prominent 
 legal cases in which he was counsel would require a 
 volume, instead of the limited space of a personal sketch 
 shows that but few Americans ever filled so many and 
 so distinguished positions. That he was one of the most 
 learned men the country has ever produced cannot be 
 doubted learned not as most men are in one branch, 
 nor in a few, but in almost every department of knowl 
 edge; and in nothing was he superficial. 
 
 One of his most marked traits was his industry. 
 Thomas H. Benton once said to the writer that he thought 
 himself the most industrious man he had ever known in 
 public life with the exception of John Quincy Adams. 
 Yet neither of these men was more industrious than 
 Caleb Gushing. After his return from his early visit to 
 Spain he was blessed with good health and a remarkably 
 vigorous constitution, and would toil all day and study 
 or journey at night, and never seemed to know fatigue. 
 I never went by his house at Newburyport, when he was 
 at home, be it ever so late, that I did not see a light in 
 his room ; and it was known to be his habit to work till 
 after midnight, then throw himself on a lounge for a 
 few hours rest, arid at daylight resume his labor. What 
 ever point came up, however trivial apparently, he would 
 
46 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 not rest till he was satisfied. A bank officer said that 
 Mr. Gushing once asked him what name was given to 
 the part left after a check had been torn from a check 
 book, and he could not inform him. A few days after he 
 received a letter from Mr. Gushing with the single word 
 " stub." If Mr. Gushing wished for information, he was 
 not above seeking it from every source. An associate in 
 Washington told me he would go into the street and ask 
 the meanest-looking negro, if in that way he could learn 
 what he wished to know. His thirst for knowledge that 
 might be useful to him was universal, and he gave away 
 his plants because they drew too much attention from 
 other things. He was omnivorous in his reading. I 
 took tea with him at the house of his niece not long be 
 fore he died, and during the conversation he turned to a 
 niece and said, " Margaret, I see the ladies are to wear 
 so-and-so the coming season," giving in detail the new 
 fashions. It was not easy to start a topic of which he 
 was ignorant. When Webster s Unabridged Dictionary 
 first appeared, he read it all through, word by word, and 
 corrected its mistakes. 
 
 He had a remarkably retentive memory, that never 
 seemed to lose what it had once gained. Few could quote 
 so freely and accurately from ancient and modern authors. 
 His speeches are full of classical allusions, and show 
 how familiar he was with all classes of literature. His 
 ready memory enabled him to call up as occasion re 
 quired all the stores of his long and eventful life, and 
 this made him a formidable antagonist. This power made 
 John Quincy Adams so much dreaded by his opponents 
 in debate during his closing years in the House of Rep 
 resentatives. What others knew imperfectly he knew 
 
CALEB GUSHING 47 
 
 fully. The opportunities of both these men had been 
 large and fully improved, and it would be difficult to 
 name any other of our public men who could be com 
 pared with them in the extent of their acquirements. 
 
 Mr. Gushing was a methodical man ; every paper was 
 in its place, and nothing disturbed him more than to have 
 any one disarrange the order of his office. He used often 
 to speak of the time lost by many from a want of this 
 habit. He was punctual in his appointments. A Wash 
 ington real estate man once wished to show him a piece 
 of property, and asked at what hour he should call for 
 him. The reply was at five the next morning. The man 
 was not accustomed to such early hours, but was advised 
 by one who knew Mr. Gushing to be prompt ; and as he 
 drove to the door at the appointed time, Mr. Gushing 
 was on the steps. 
 
 ^ Mr. Gushing excelled as a linguist, speaking French, 
 Spanish, and other modern languages with fluency, and 
 was said to be able to converse with all the foreign min 
 isters at Washington in their own tongue. It has been 
 stated even that in China he transacted his official busi 
 ness without the aid of an interpreter. One of the last 
 times I saw him was in a railway car, and he was reading 
 a French newspaper. 
 
 Mr. Gushing s mind was so well disciplined that he 
 could at once arrange his thoughts and bring his knowl 
 edge to bear on any given point. Some of his best 
 efforts were extemporaneous, in reply to an opponent, 
 for then he was in his element. The Hon. E. F. Stone, 
 in his able address before the Essex Bar, has given an in 
 stance where some one in the Massachusetts Legislature 
 had quoted from an old speech to show his inconsistency : 
 
48 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 "Gushing was uneasy under the attack, and the 
 moment it was finished he sprang to the floor, and 
 defended himself with great spirit in a speech of about 
 fifteen minutes, which for rapid, overwhelming, and 
 powerful declamation was never surpassed in that hall. 
 The effect was electrical. The House and gallery broke 
 out in the most tumultuous applause, which the Speaker 
 tried in vain to suppress ; and the member from Monson, 
 instead of scoring a point against Gushing, suddenly 
 found himself on the defensive, and was glad to beat a 
 hasty retreat and withdrew from the field." When 
 able, however, he prepared his speeches with care. 
 
 As a speaker Gushing ranked high. He was choice 
 in use of language, seeking from the copious vocabulary 
 at his command the best word to convey his meaning, 
 sometimes an unusual one. He had a power of clear 
 statement, so effective in an orator, and so marked a 
 trait in Daniel Webster. His sentences were well con 
 structed and vigorous with his mind they could not 
 have been otherwise. He had a good voice, a distinct 
 enunciation, spoke slowly unless excited, and with 
 much emphasis, and held the attention of his hearers. 
 He was logical, appealing more to reason than to pas 
 sion. He was persistent to the end in whatever he en 
 gaged. 
 
 Mr. Gushing was a brave man, and never feared an 
 antagonist. Shortly after he entered Congress, an old 
 member from a State where the Code was recognized as 
 the true way to settle difficulties, and who had made 
 himself feared, attempted to browbeat the new young 
 member ; but Gushing replied in a way that called out 
 the applause of the House and galleries, and ended by 
 
CALEB GUSHING 49 
 
 declaring himself responsible for his words, there or 
 elsewhere. 
 
 Mr. Gushing was called a cold man. He was not 
 demonstrative, and certainly had but little of that " mag 
 netism " said to be a trait of some public men. He was 
 naturally retiring, and not generally social, because not 
 caring for the conversation of most social gatherings. 
 He had but little of what is called " small talk." A 
 gentleman at whose fireside he often sat said he would 
 remain silent, absorbed in his thoughts, till some topic 
 was started requiring information, or leading to discus 
 sion, when his interest would be aroused, and he would 
 talk for hours. He was accessible, kind, freely giving 
 advice to his friends and neighbors in their troubles ; 
 and when he joined, as he often did, in their fishing ex 
 cursions, he was one of the most agreeable of compan 
 ions, and laughed and joked with the merriest. A 
 lady said to me that the only time she ever called at his 
 home he took her over his house, and in one room he 
 had preserved every little thing that had been his 
 mother s surely not an evidence of a cold heart. In 
 his habits he was simple, abstemious, indifferent to food, 
 dress, and outward display. 
 
 Mr. Gushing was reproached as not enough in sym 
 pathy with the great reforms of the day, especially with 
 the anti-slavery sentiment. In 1836 Henry A. Wise 
 threatened in Congress to plant slavery in the North, 
 and in an indignant speech Mr. Gushing replied : " You 
 may raze to the earth the thronged cities, the industrious 
 villages, the peaceful hamlets of the North ; you may 
 plant its soil with salt, and consign it to everlasting 
 desolation ; you may transform its beautiful fields into 
 
50 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 a desert as bare as Sahara. . . . But I assure every 
 gentleman within the sound of my voice, you shall not 
 introduce slavery into the North." He was a lawyer, 
 however, and had been a judge, and from his whole 
 training had been accustomed to look at the legal 
 aspects of every question; and for that reason he, 
 Daniel Webster, and other statesmen of that period 
 opposed the abolition agitation as against the Constitu 
 tion which they had sworn to obey. They took the 
 ground that the North had consented to recognize 
 slavery to gain the Union, and however opposed to its 
 existence, the compact should be observed by the North 
 as much with regard to slavery as to every other pro 
 vision. With the leaders of the abolition movement it 
 was the " higher law " of justice and humanity they 
 were bound to obey, and not the Constitution, that, 
 as some of them declared, was a " league with hell," 
 and they justified the invasion of John Brown, and 
 made a hero of him. I once heard Wendell Phillips 
 say in an impassioned speech, and America has pro 
 duced but few such wonderful orators, after Massa 
 chusetts, in obedience to the Fugitive Slave Law, had 
 returned a slave, " God damn the Commonwealth of 
 Massachusetts ; " and in a speech after the war began, 
 he said that when he heard of the attack on Fort Sum- 
 ter, in his joy he threw his hat as high in the air as he 
 could throw it, knowing that by war only could slavery 
 be abolished. The most eloquent speeches of Webster, 
 Choate, and other orators of that period were on the value 
 of the Union. Mr. Gushing felt as they did, and in a 
 Fourth of July oration delivered at Newburyport, in 1850, 
 on the occasion of laying the corner stone of the new City 
 
CALEB GUSHING 51 
 
 Hall, the Union was his topic. After depicting the 
 blessings of the Union, the calamities that would follow 
 disunion, the dangers to which the Union was exposed, 
 and urging his hearers faithfully to observe and main 
 tain both the letter and spirit of the Constitution, he 
 closed thus : 
 
 " The living men who uttered the Declaration of In 
 dependence have all passed away from time to eternity. 
 But their spirits watch over us from the bright spheres 
 to which they have ascended. We stand in their pres 
 ence. They shall be our witnesses as we solemnly 
 renew this day our vows of unalterable attachment to 
 the Union, and that 
 
 " . . . nor steel, nor poison, 
 
 Malice domestic, foreign levy, nothing 
 
 shall prevail against it, and to this we pledge our 
 lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor, so help us 
 God ! " 
 
 When Mr. Gushing dismissed the Democratic Con 
 vention at Charleston, his last words were : " I pray 
 you, gentlemen, in returning to your constituents and 
 the bosom of your families, to take with you as your 
 guiding thought the sentiment, the Constitution and 
 the Union." 
 
 As the theme for Fourth of July eloquence the pres 
 ervation of the Union and the danger of a dissolution 
 can no longer be used. No one fears now ; the crisis 
 has been passed, the great cause of bitterness between 
 the North and the South has been removed, and both 
 sections are glad. But this generation, looking back 
 ward, can hardly realize how dark the future of their 
 
52 BIOGRAPHIC AL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 country seemed to many honest men a few years before 
 the war, and how they dreaded a sectional conflict. 
 
 Mr. Gushing was called ambitious. So were Daniel 
 Webster, Henry Clay, and a long list of prominent men 
 of the past; and now almost every young talented 
 American expects to be President, and with some 
 reason, in the light of our past history. Yet he cer 
 tainly followed his convictions more than pure ambition 
 in his career, or often he would have adopted a different 
 course ; would have abandoned old ideas, and followed 
 the drift of public opinion, as did other prominent 
 Massachusetts men, to their great personal advantage. 
 
 His personal integrity no one ever questioned a 
 rare virtue in a public man, as we have learned by many 
 modern examples. He was indifferent to money, and 
 disregarded it in his public and professional service. 
 
 He was called a partisan. If to be a partisan means 
 to follow one s party blindly, he was too independent, 
 too strong in his own opinions, to be one. He was born 
 more to command than to obey ; to be a leader rather 
 than a follower ; to impress his own views on others, 
 not to receive theirs. If he had been a devoted partisan 
 he would have followed Henry Clay rather than the 
 fortunes of John Tyler, by which he lost the favor of 
 New England. Then if he had joined the Republican 
 party, as most Northern Whigs did, as intimated before, 
 it is not easy to predict to what a position he might not 
 have risen. He must be credited with sincerity in his 
 action, or he showed far less practical wisdom than most 
 men are supposed to possess. He lived at a time when 
 but little charity was shown for difference of action or 
 opinion, and when men who had freely exposed their 
 
CALEB GUSHING 53 
 
 lives for their country, and were willing to do it again, 
 were denounced as its most dangerous foes by men who 
 had shunned the battle-field and whose only devotion 
 during the war had been to themselves. Few have even 
 justice from their own generation that it is the duty 
 of posterity to render. 
 
 The death of Mr. Gushing called out a general feeling 
 of regret all over the country. He had for years with 
 drawn from party politics, and his learning and legal 
 ability and experience had been devoted to the govern 
 ment at a time when they were specially needed, and all 
 had recognized their value. At many gatherings lead 
 ing men were glad to bear testimony to his great quali 
 ties. At a meeting at Washington called to pay respect 
 to his memory, the late lamented and brilliant Richard 
 S. Spofford, who had been more intimately associated 
 with him, probably, than any other man for a quarter of 
 a century, after speaking of those " superb attain 
 ments and powers that made him second to none among 
 publicists and statesmen," continued : " When in a later 
 age some great orator of the Republic, the Pericles of 
 its meridian splendor, or, if that is inevitable, the De 
 mosthenes of its declining period, here in this grandest 
 of Capitols, shall revert to our times and recount their 
 history, few names upon the roll of our civic fame will 
 seem to him and those whom lie addresses more illustri 
 ous than his in honor of whom we are assembled. . . . 
 By all will it then be clearly recognized that the true 
 rank to be assigned to him is that of one among the 
 greatest of statesmen, the most learned of lawyers, the 
 most patriotic of citizens, the most accomplished of 
 men ; and that, occupying this pre-eminent position, so 
 
54 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 great and valuable were his public services that it may 
 truthfully be said that in his day and generation he was 
 one of the pillars of the Republic." 
 
 Robert C. Winthrop, whose praise is always golden, 
 before the Massachusetts Historical Society, after enu 
 merating his great services, said : " He has certainly 
 gone through as great a variety of responsible and con 
 spicuous public services as has ever, I think, fallen to 
 the lot of a Massachusetts man. . . . Differing from 
 him far more frequently than I could agree with him, 
 and by no means prejudiced in his favor, I was all the 
 more a trustworthy witness of his varied ability, his vast 
 acquirements, his unwearied application, and his force 
 and skill as a writer and speaker. Nor can I forget the 
 many amiable traits of his character, which prevented 
 differences of opinion or of party from sundering the 
 ties of social intercourse. He knew how to abandon a 
 policy or quit a party without quarrelling with those 
 whom he left behind." 
 
 The late Charles W. Tuttle, whose early death was 
 so much regretted, and who was in the same law office 
 with Mr. Gushing for some years, once said : " Mr. 
 Gushing was endowed with extraordinary intellectual 
 powers, with an uncommonly fine physique, and a vig 
 orous constitution. Externally Nature had stamped 
 him as a man of distinguished character. Such was the 
 versatility of his talents that he could master with equal 
 facility any subject. Had he so determined, he could 
 have gone down to posterity one of the greatest scien 
 tists or the great philologist of the age, as he was a 
 great jurist and statesman. His capacity and equally 
 great memory, his unwearied industry, his scorn of de- 
 
CALEB GUSHING 55 
 
 light, and love of laborious days, enabled him to conquer 
 all knowledge. I know of no subject of intellectual 
 contemplation that lay outside the range of his medita 
 tion and study. Like Bacon, he took all knowledge for 
 his province." 
 
 Hugh McCulloch, Secretary of the Treasury under 
 Lincoln, Johnson, and Arthur, in his very interesting 
 volume, recently published, " Men and Measures of Half 
 a Century," in giving his impressions of Edward 
 Everett, says : " He was perhaps the finest classical 
 scholar of the day, the greatest linguist that ever went 
 to Congress, except Caleb Gushing. It was said of Mr. 
 Gushing that he could translate all the European lan 
 guages. While in Congress there came to the State 
 Department a document that no one in the department 
 could interpret. Upon the suggestion of some one who 
 had heard of Mr. Cushing s reputation as a linguist, it 
 was sent to him, and he translated it without difficulty. 
 Mr. Gushing was a ready and effective speaker, and a 
 very able and learned lawyer. He was one of the few 
 men whose voice could be heard in the old House of 
 Representatives, and who never spoke without com 
 manding the attention of the members." 
 
 Hon. Horatio G. Parker, of the Suffolk Bar, was in a 
 position to form a clear judgment of Mr. Gushing, and 
 by request has written out his opinion of him : 
 
 "You have asked me in a few words to give some 
 idea of that eminent man Caleb Gushing as a lawyer. 
 
 " He was in form and feature a fine specimen of 
 manly beauty, power, and elegance. 
 
 " At the bar he always showed that he was perfectly 
 familiar with the facts and law of his case, showing as 
 
66 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 thorough preparation as industry could give. His man 
 ner in examining witnesses was plain and direct, but 
 very searching, and you felt when he left a witness that 
 the examination, whether direct or cross, had accom 
 plished its intended and perfect work. 
 
 44 In addressing a jury, he was quiet and clear, very 
 attractive, and when occasion required, bold, powerful, 
 and rising to the height of eloquence. 
 
 " He was accomplished in every duty a lawyer could 
 be called upon to perform. Whether to draft a statute, 
 write an argument, preside at a jury trial, or decide and 
 write opinions upon cases before the full court, he was 
 equally competent and ready. He had attainments 
 which enabled him to do what very few lawyers could. 
 I very well recollect seeing him dictate an opinion in a 
 Mexican land-grant case to three amanuenses at once, 
 one writing English, one French, and one Spanish. 
 He easily kept the three busy. 
 
 " As an instance of his grasp of principles of law and 
 ability to frame concisely a statute which should accom 
 plish a broad and deeply reaching change in the law of 
 real estate, Chapter 29 of the Acts of Massachusetts for 
 the year 1852 may be cited. The Act reads : 4 Aliens 
 may take, hold, convey, and transmit real estate. I was 
 told by a member of the State Senate at the time that 
 Caleb Gushing drew the Act. The statute now exists 
 in the same words in Public Statutes of Massachusetts, 
 Chapter 126, Section 1. 
 
 " The statute has never been amended, and the Court 
 has never been called upon to construe it further than 
 to say that it applies to aliens resident abroad. 
 
 " Mr. Gushing sat Upon the bench in Massachusetts 
 
CALEB GUSHING 57 
 
 Only from May 22, 1852 to March 7, 1853, when he re 
 signed to accept the position of Attorney-General of the 
 United States in the Cabinet of General Pierce. He 
 entered upon his duties as Judge as one fully equipped, 
 t \nd performed them with such ease, naturalness, and 
 success as to command the approval, respect, and admira 
 tion of all. 
 
 "His opinion in Popkin et al. vs. Sargent et al., 10 
 Gush. 327, may perhaps be referred to as a model of 
 what an opinion may be in soundness of law and clear 
 ness and grace of expression. The case is upon the 
 construction of a will, and is a wonderful expression of 
 the cardinal principle that in the construction of a will 
 the intention of the testator must govern, while at the 
 same time the circumstances surrounding the testator, 
 as well as the testator s peculiarities and views, should 
 be learned and considered in ascertaining that intention. 
 
 " It is an admirable statement of the law, and a most 
 lucid illustration of applying law to conditions and cir 
 cumstances to be either strengthened or tempered 
 thereby. No one would go far astray in the principles 
 of construing a will who should first read the opinion in 
 Popkin et al. vs. Sargent et al. 
 
 " How Mr. Gushing succeeded as Attorney-General 
 is sufficiently attested by the volumes of his opinions, 
 and the comments made upon them by eminent jurists 
 of this and other countries. 
 
 " But the lawyer is only one phase of Mr. Gushing, 
 and the most eminent lawyers seldom do more than 
 write their names in water. 
 
 " I had the highest regard for and confidence in Mr. 
 Cushing s ability, integrity, and patriotism. It is well 
 
58 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 known what confidence those in authority placed in him 
 during the war, and how often they availed themselves 
 of his gifts, accomplishments, and abilities during our 
 darkest days. I heard him say at nearly the end of the 
 war that he considered the way in which the Administra 
 tion had kept up the courage and confidence of the 
 people and had availed itself of the resources of the 
 country as worthy of much praise." 
 
 The relations of Mr. Gushing with Daniel Webster 
 were very intimate, and lie often rendered his friend aid 
 in the way it was not infrequently asked. The seventy- 
 seventh birthday of the great statesman was celebrated, 
 Jan. 18, 1859, by his friends at Boston, when Mr. Gush 
 ing presided, and speeches were made by Rufus Choate 
 and others. Some extracts are given from his speech on 
 that occasion .as a good specimen of his style ; as an 
 indication, also, of how strongly Mr. Webster impressed 
 his contemporaries : 
 
 " We, friends, associates, admirers of Webster, assem 
 ble on his birthday, not to mourn him dead in the silent 
 grave where his mortal body lies interred, but to rejoice 
 in the immortality of his glory, to honor him as living 
 still, with all his native majesty and strength of linea 
 ment and proportions, in our hearts, in the veneration of 
 his countrymen, in the respect and honor of the world. 
 
 " Death makes no conquest of this conqueror, 
 For now he lives in fame, though not in life. 
 
 " Quicquid ex Agricola amavimus, quicquid mirati su- 
 mus manent, mansurumque est, in animis hominum, in 
 aeternitate temporum, fama rerum. To the commemora 
 tion of all this we have dedicated ourselves this evening ; 
 
CALEB GUSHING 59 
 
 and fitly we do so, gathered around this flower-decked 
 board, with harmonies of the eye and ear to animate us, 
 and with feast of reason to crown that of sense, - 
 as in the Athenian or Roman days men sat at the ban 
 quet table with garlanded images of their honored dead 
 on the seats beside them, in revivified presence, as it 
 were, so their souls overflowing with speech and song 
 to celebrate the memory of the heroic persons of the 
 Republic. . . . 
 
 " My own respect, admiration, and attachment for 
 Webster, beginning at an early date, and acquiring new 
 strength with every day of a constant and most confi 
 dential intimacy through life, settled down into that con 
 dition of mind regarding him which rightly belongs to the 
 contemplation of one of Plutarch s men. Plow it would 
 startle and move us, if Demosthenes were to step out 
 from behind the curtained shadows of history, to rouse 
 the fierce democracy of another Greece against the am 
 bition of another Philip ; or a Cicero, in his ample robe 
 and purple-bordered tunic, hurling his consular anathe 
 mas at Catiline, or pouring forth his senatorial invectives 
 on the head of Mark Antony. Yet have we not all 
 heard and seen this ? Ay, but we may have heard it as 
 though hearing it not, and seen it as though seeing it 
 not. Just as the infinite and eternal God is with us 
 always, though invisible but in his works, so God s vice 
 gerents on earth, to whom he has vouchsafed the gift 
 of genius, of wisdom, and of eloquence, and whom he 
 has thus delegated and sent to be the world s leaders, are 
 with us ; and them we see, them we elbow in the streets, 
 them we hear of carelessly in the senate, the council 
 chamber, or the field. Then we come at length to know, 
 
60 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 as one of them leaves the earth to its fate and ascends to 
 his congenial heaven, and we then see, perchance too 
 late, by the long train of light which illumines his up 
 ward path, that a demi-god and not a man had been 
 with us the while, working out with strong will the in 
 scrutable providences of the Almighty. It may be, and 
 it often is, that the scales of inadvertence fall from our 
 eyes long before the hero man is transfigured by death ; 
 it may be, and often is, that not before then does he rise 
 up from the dust into which he has been overwhelmed 
 and borne down by the brute weight and stolid mass of 
 our passions and prejudices. Sometimes he is a Wash 
 ington, and the world bows down at once in deferential 
 reverence before its foremost in virtue and glory ; some 
 times he is a Prometheus, chained to Caucasian cliffs in 
 resentment for the good he has done, or a Samson Ago- 
 nistes in the work-house of the Philistines. And so in 
 this hurly-burly of life, the world s ears filled with disso 
 nant cries as of the multitudinous voices of the sea, men 
 come and go, with various fortune or estimation, accord 
 ing as the lights or shadows of time fall upon their path 
 way and their persons. Yet that Webster was one of 
 those predestined men of history, none who saw him, 
 either in his public or private manifestations, none who 
 knew him, could doubt. I certainly never did ; and it 
 was a source of never-failing interest to me to witness, 
 in life, the working of that great spirit, gigantic in force 
 and sublime in virtue, despite all its infirmities, as it 
 now is to contemplate him in death, with his traits soft 
 ened by time and distance, and yet brightened into dis 
 tinctness by the reflected rays of a beam of light from 
 the celestial splendors of the throne of God." 
 
CALEB GUSHING 61 
 
 In this same speech Mr. Gushing states that Mr. 
 Webster and himself constantly conferred together in 
 their common adherence to President Tyler. 
 
 Mr. Cushing s publications were " History of the Town 
 of Newburyport" (1826); "Practical Principles of 
 Political Economy " (1826) ; " Review of the Late Revo 
 lution in France " (1833) ; " Reminiscences of Spain " 
 (1833) ; " Growth and Territorial Progress of the United 
 States " (1839) ; " Life of William H. Harrison " (1840) ; 
 " The Treaty of Washington " (1873), and many speeches 
 and addresses. Of these by far the most important is 
 " The Treaty of Washington," by which the different 
 questions at issue between Great Britain and the United 
 States, and especially the Alabama claims, were settled, 
 and which are fully discussed by one who took a 
 leading part, and was thoroughly informed of all the 
 facts. To the historian this work will be invaluable. 
 The American side is presented ably, and with the 
 warmth of an advocate, for the author was intensely 
 American in his feelings. The importance of this treaty 
 is shown in the following extract : 
 
 " We have gained the vindication of our rights as a 
 government ; the redress of wrong done to our citizens ; 
 the political prestige in Europe and America of the en 
 forcement of our rights against the most powerful state 
 of Christendom ; the elevation of maxims of right and 
 justice into the judgment-seat of the world ; the recog 
 nition of our theory and policy of neutrality by Great 
 Britain ; the honorable conclusion of a long-standing con 
 troversy, and the extinction of a cause of war between 
 Great Britain and the United States; and the moral 
 authority of having accomplished these great objects 
 
62 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 without war, by peaceful means, by appeals to conscience 
 and to reason, through the arbitrament of a high inter 
 national tribunal." 
 
 According to Mr. Cushing s request, he was buried 
 by the side of the wife from whom he had been so long 
 separated, and to whose memory he had been devoted. 
 His grave is on the highest point of the old cemetery at 
 Newburyport, overlooking a place that had been his 
 home for nearly four-score years, and that had been dear 
 to him. Surely it can be said of him for his services to 
 his country, as was said of honored men in the days of 
 Rome, " De republica bene meruit" 
 
REV. STEPHEN PEABODY AND WIFE 
 
 OF ATKINSON, NEW HAMPSHIRE 
 AN OLD-TIME PASTOR 
 
 " A man he was to all the country dear, 
 And passing rich on forty pounds a year." 
 
 GOLDSMITH. 
 
 IN the general attention now given to the men and 
 customs of a century ago, an old-time pastor and his 
 wife deserve special recognition. 
 
 Rev. Stephen Peabody, the first settled minister of 
 Atkinson, N.H., was born in Aridover, Nov. 11, 1741. 
 He was a descendant of Lieut. Francis Peabody, who 
 came to this country in the " Planter " in 1635. He 
 was the son of John and Sarah (Ingalls) Peabody. He 
 was graduated from Harvard College in 1769, a class 
 mate of Theophilus Parsons. He was a poor boy, and 
 used to tell in after life of his struggles to obtain an 
 education, earning his board at college by waiting on 
 the table, and carrying with him from home the linen he 
 needed during the term, which his loving sisters had 
 laundered. He was twenty-eight years old at gradua 
 tion, the pater omnium of his class, and it was not a little 
 to his credit that his age did not alter his resolve to ob 
 tain an education. Having fixed upon the ministry for 
 his profession, he studied in the family of a minister, for 
 
64 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 it was before the day of theological seminaries, and de 
 frayed his expenses by working on a farm and teaching 
 school. 
 
 He was ordained at Atkinson as pastor Nov. 25, 1772. 
 This town was a part of land purchased of the Indians 
 by the inhabitants of Pentucket, now Haverhill, Mass., 
 and set off into New Hampshire as a part of Plaistow, 
 and had been separated from that town and incor 
 porated Sept. 3, 1767, five years before the settlement 
 of Mr. Peabody. It seems strange to this generation 
 to learn that the reason for the separation was that 
 the people might have their own church and minis 
 ter. In their application to the legislature for an act 
 of incorporation, the petitioners state : " That by rea 
 son of the great distance of their dwellings from the 
 meeting-house they undergo many and great difficulties 
 in attending the public worship of Almighty God there, 
 and that the said meeting-house is not large enough to 
 accommodate more than half the inhabitants of said 
 town." At that period, as is well known, the church 
 was an institution of the town ; the town as a corpora 
 tion was holden for the support of the minister ; and 
 each citizen was assessed for the support of religious 
 worship, as for other expenses. 
 
 The small salary offered Mr. Peabody well illustrates 
 the economy of the times. The record is as follows: 
 " Voted, To give Mr. Stephen Peabody one hundred and 
 sixty pounds, lawful money, as a settlement, upon con 
 dition that the salary begin at sixty-six pounds, thirteen 
 shillings and four pence, lawful money, the first year, 
 and add on forty shillings per year till it amounts to 
 eighty pounds per year." 
 
REV. STEPHEN PEABODY AND WIFE 65 
 
 " Voted, To give Mr. Stephen Peabody ten cords of 
 wood per year so long as he carries on the work of a 
 ministry in Atkinson." No increase was ever made in 
 this salary during his long ministry. 
 
 The people used to settle their tax individually with 
 the minister, with most of whom he had running ac 
 counts for articles furnished, or services rendered, and 
 at the close of the year his cash receipts were often very 
 small, as can well be imagined. He was settled for life, 
 as was the old custom, and remained with his people 
 forty-seven years. In Hampstead, an adjoining town, a 
 contemporary, Rev. John Kelly, whom many now living 
 remember, was pastor of his church fifty-six years. The 
 ministerial itineracy of a later period was unknown. 
 Soon after his settlement the Revolutionary war began, 
 and he entered Poor s regiment as chaplain, for he was a 
 brave man and a patriot. 
 
 And it may not be out of place here to say, that in 
 praising and honoring those who fought in the war of 
 1861-65, we should not forget the soldiers of the Revo 
 lution who endured hardships to which soldiers now are 
 strangers, with no motive but pure patriotism to draw 
 them into the service. At the beginning of the Revolu 
 tionary war the Continental Congress sent the following 
 circular for signatures, which deserves to be more gene 
 rally known to this generation : " We, the subscribers, 
 do hereby solemnly engage and promise that we will to 
 the utmost of our power, at the risk of our lives and for 
 tunes, with arms, oppose the hostile proceedings of the 
 British fleets and armies against the United American 
 Colonies." Every male citizen of Atkinson, ninety- 
 seven in all, signed this pledge. In the last war the 
 
66 BIOGRAPHICAL, AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 town in filling its quota was obliged to pay many sol 
 diers eight hundred dollars each, as bounty, to induce 
 them to enlist. 
 
 On his return to his people Mr. Peabody discharged 
 faithfully all the duties of his pastorate, and they were 
 many and varied. He must preach two sermons on the 
 Sabbath, for in those days of few books and papers the 
 sermons gave food for thought and discussion during the 
 week. They were long sermons, too, and the people 
 were not tired of listening, though seated in a cold church 
 never warmed, and on hard seats with no cushions. All 
 attended church, for it was not respectable to do secular 
 work or seek amusement on the Sabbath. The prayer 
 meetings at which he was expected to be present were 
 more numerous and better attended than now, and more 
 pastoral visits must be made. 
 
 Mr. Peabody kept a diary, simply a record of what he 
 did each day, without a reflection or any statement that 
 did not relate to himself, written in a fine hand and con 
 densed. That for 1783 has been preserved, and throws 
 much light on the life of a clergyman at that period. 
 Some entries will be given. 
 
 " Oct. 3. Catechised the children at John Dustin s." 
 All the children must be taught the Westminster Cate 
 chism, and from Sunday to Sunday the pastor would 
 give notice what families would be visited during the 
 week " to catechise the children," and question them on 
 the points of doctrine found in that little book, once so 
 revered, now hardly known. At the appointed time the 
 children would be gathered in the best room, dressed in 
 their Sunday clothes, with clean faces, to receive their 
 spiritual teacher, and when each child answered readily 
 
REV. STEPHEN PEABODY AND WIFE 67 
 
 every question, beginning with " What is the chief end 
 of man? " and the pastor commended the faithfulness of 
 both children and parents, all eyes sparkled at his words 
 of praise. Parents were proud of their children, and 
 children proud of themselves. 
 
 " April 13. Wrote John Little s Will." This entry 
 shows that a pastor s duty was not confined to religious 
 instruction. He was the scholar of the town, and must 
 give advice, and write documents where some education 
 and legal knowledge were required, and he felt as willing 
 to aid his people as they felt free to call on him. There 
 were but few lawyers, so abundant now. 
 
 " July 16. Went to Commencement." No clergyman 
 of that day neglected to visit Cambridge on that occa 
 sion, if only from religious motives. The strict Puritan 
 theology of the time then prevailed at Harvard. It was 
 regarded as the nursery of the church, where they could 
 receive large draughts of spiritual life as well as mingle 
 with the scholars of New England. For many weeks 
 after his return the minister would tell his people what 
 he had seen and heard, and they were no more tired of 
 hearing than he was of telling. 
 
 "Married Jonathan Johnson to Molly Follansbee ; 
 Moses Atwood to Judith Wadley, all of Hampstead for 
 a dollar a piece." Again, "Married Major Moore to 
 widow Little for two dollars." These entries show how 
 little it cost to get married a century ago, and explains 
 in part why so few then led single lives. As a " Major " 
 was quite an important personage years ago, and from 
 regard for his dignity would pay the highest price where 
 his happiness was so deeply concerned, it would seem 
 that two dollars was a big fee. With no knowledge on 
 
68 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 the subject, it is to be hoped our clerical friends are now 
 more liberally rewarded. One can certainly afford to 
 pay well for a union with a good wife, and if he gets a 
 poor one he may as well begin first as last to pay dearly 
 for his folly. 
 
 " Nov. 6. At Mr. Dow s mill raising." Even in the 
 youth of many now living it was quite an event to raise 
 a building. The timbers were large, some of them big 
 enough to give timber for a modern house, and all the 
 men of the town must assemble to aid. The min 
 ister went, too, for he could see the people and talk 
 with them. Prayer was generally offered before the 
 work began. Refreshments were provided in abun 
 dance, and New England rum was never wanting, of 
 which the minister would take a little with the rest 
 only a little. It was long before the days of temper 
 ance ; it was a pure liquor, not the often poisonous mix 
 ture now drunk, and if the people became a little excited 
 their heads were clear the next day. 
 
 " Dec. 26. Got my wood." Most pastors of that day 
 were settled for so much money and so many cords of 
 wood, and so it was, as has been stated, with Parson 
 Peabody. Word would be given out that on a given 
 day, all must bring the minister s wood, and a merry 
 time they had of it, for it was a labor of love, and all 
 rejoiced to take part. No one could work too hard, arid 
 the heart of the pastor was not more glad than those of 
 his people at the big pile before his door. No sworn 
 surveyor measured the allowance, no short sticks were 
 slyly put in the minister must be kept warm, for they 
 well knew how welcome they would be to his fireside. 
 
 To add to his means of support he had bought a little 
 
REV. STEPHEN PEABODY AND WIFE 69 
 
 farm. He did much of the work on his land with his 
 own hands, and in his diary he speaks of " getting in the 
 corn," and " husking it," " killing the hog and cow," 
 and other such necessary farm labor. The out-of-door 
 exercise kept him in robust health, as it would keep 
 clergymen now. He was a large man, over six feet in 
 height, of great strength, with a keen black eye, swarthy 
 complexion, and curling, bushy hair. He could do every 
 kind of farm work, for which his early life had prepared 
 him, and whether holding the plough, hoeing corn, 
 wielding the scythe, harvesting, or gathering his fruit, 
 about which he was very select, bearing in mind his 
 guests, no one of his neighbors could surpass him. He 
 knew no fear, and in his youth he had been a famous 
 wrestler, and, it was said, bad men had not unfrequently 
 experienced his " muscular Christianity " in a way they 
 did not forget, when they had excited him to holy anger. 
 His farm work was a bond of union between him and 
 his people. He was one of them, he worked as they 
 worked, did as they did, and in all his labors, in time of 
 need, their willing hands were ever at his service. It 
 was the advantage of a long pastorate, that the minister 
 knew all his people. The population was then stationary, 
 with no foreign mixture, and as years rolled on the 
 children and grandchildren of his first charge grew up 
 around him, their history was familiar to him, and they 
 seemed like a part of his own family. At funerals Mr. 
 Peabody could drop a sympathetic and sincere tear, for 
 a friend had departed, and at weddings he was the life 
 of the company, giving loose rein to his exuberant spirits, 
 and interspersing good advice with the cheerful talk be 
 fitting the occasion. 
 
70 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 Mr. Peabody was very hospitable, and his diary gives 
 evidence of the amount of company he entertained. Al 
 most every day he speaks of persons who have dined or 
 lodged with him, and when the labor of giving names 
 was too great he would write, " full of company." 
 
 Before the introduction of railroads it was the custom 
 of the farmers of Vermont and New Hampshire to bring 
 their produce in their own conveyances to the seaport 
 towns, and exchange for groceries and other needed arti 
 cles. These journeys were usually made in winter, as 
 it was their season of leisure, and in sleighs for ease of 
 transport. Often, however, the snow would suddenly 
 disappear, so that the farmers made all possible expedi 
 tion, travelling much in the night. So well known was 
 Mr. Peabody s hospitality that many of them would 
 stop at his house, and they were welcome. His doors 
 were left unfastened at night ; the big back-log gave 
 heat to his sitting-room ; and they would enter, warm 
 themselves, chat with the good pastor in his adjacent 
 bed-room, and depart, their faces unseen, and, perhaps, 
 as in the old days of chivalry, their names unasked. 
 
 He was a gentleman in his appearance, and paid full 
 regard to the proprieties of dress demanded of a clergy 
 man at that period. If when at work in the field, in a 
 plain farmer s dress, it was announced that polished 
 visitors had come to see him, he would quickly prepare 
 to meet them, in his best dark garb, with his white cra 
 vat, his silk stockings meeting the breeches at the knee, 
 and the silver buckles worn then by gentlemen. 
 
 He was a man of large views, and one of his first 
 anxieties was to provide for his people better means of 
 education, and aided by a few friends he established 
 
REV. STEPHEN PEABODY AND WIFE 71 
 
 Atkinson Academy in 1787, though it was not incorpo 
 rated till 1791, the oldest in the State after Phillips at 
 Exeter. Money was scarce, and to raise the necessary 
 funds was no easy task, and from his own limited re 
 sources he expended freely, and incurred debts that em 
 barrassed him to the end of his life. One of the means 
 then common to secure money for such objects was lot 
 teries, for there were no moral scruples in regard to them. 
 In the year 1791 a petition was presented to the New 
 Hampshire legislature, in which it was stated : " That 
 lotteries are now established in Massachusetts for rais 
 ing funds to support academies, and for various other 
 purposes, by which considerable sums are daily drawn 
 from the citizens of this State." And after enlarging 
 upon the benefit to be obtained from the lottery, the pe 
 tition prays : " That we might have liberty to raise one 
 thousand pounds, or such other sum as may be thought 
 proper, to be disposed of for the accomplishment of the 
 above purpose." Massachusetts was authority then as 
 now in morals. 
 
 The petition was at once granted, Feb. 17, 1791. 
 Then, as the town was so near the boundary, a peti 
 tion was presented to the legislature of Massachusetts 
 for permission to sell tickets in that State. It was re 
 fused, not on moral grounds, but the thrifty Old Bay 
 State wished to reap fully all the advantages to be ob 
 tained from the cultivation of its own territory it 
 believed then as now in a " Home Market." The good 
 man had made several journeys to Boston on this errand, 
 and it was with a sad heart that he turned his horse 
 homeward from his unsuccessful mission. 
 
 The lottery scheme was a failure, for but few tickets 
 
72 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 could be sold in a section so sparsely settled as New 
 Hampshire. His efforts, however, in favor of the infant 
 institution were not relaxed, and were rewarded by suc 
 cess. It soon gained a wide reputation, and students 
 flocked thither from far around, many of whom, as Levi 
 Woodbury, Governor Kent, Jonathan Cilley, President 
 Brown, in after years gained a national reputation. 
 Grace Fletcher, wife of Daniel Webster, was one of 
 the pupils, and an old lady, one of her schoolmates, told 
 me she was a pale, delicate, modest girl, whom all loved. 
 It was, I think, the first academy in the country to admit 
 ladies to its privileges. The tradition is that " Polly " 
 Peabody told her father she was going to the academy. 
 He was amazed at such a proposition, for up to that time 
 but few girls had received more than an elementary edu 
 cation, but he could deny his only daughter nothing, and 
 she and some of her companions were admitted, sat with 
 the boys, joined their classes, and co-education was es 
 tablished. The advocates of woman s rights should give 
 merited credit to " Polly " Peabody and Atkinson Acad 
 emy for this advance movement in the higher education 
 of women. Parson Peabody received many pupils into 
 his family, as he had erected a large house, and they were 
 ever after grateful for the instruction and refining influ 
 ence of his home, largely due to his wife, of whom it will 
 be spoken later. 
 
 One of these pupils, the late Rev. Dr. Samuel Gilman, 
 has told how his mother, left a poor widow with four chil 
 dren, had taken him, her only son, a little boy of seven 
 years, to Mr. Peabody s home, and related her condition 
 and anxiety for the child s future. " Madam," was his 
 reply, " leave your little boy with us. He shall be one 
 
REV. STEPHEN PEABODY AND WIFE 73 
 
 of us, and enter the academy. If Providence blesses 
 your efforts to secure for yourself a livelihood, well and 
 good ; you may remunerate us in the usual way. But, 
 if you are doomed to struggle with adversity, be not 
 anxious about your son ; be sure he shall have a home 
 and an education." His wife was sitting near knitting, 
 and smiled approval of her husband s words. Was not 
 this practical Christianity? It can well be imagined 
 with what a light heart that mother drove back the next 
 morning to her home in Gloucester. It should be added 
 that the debt was fully paid in after years, so far as 
 money could pay it. It is an illustration of the kindness, 
 unselfishness, and hospitality of this clergyman during 
 his whole life. 
 
 Not content with the establishment of the academy, 
 in his Avish to cultivate the people generally he started 
 a library, with the leading citizens its shareholders, 
 which was continued long after his decease, and had a 
 marked influence in forming an intelligent community. 
 The books were carefully selected, every one instructive, 
 in marked contrast to the volumes burdening so many 
 shelves of our modern libraries. It was before the day 
 of cheap fiction. 
 
 With all these traits that could not fail to be appre 
 ciated, it is not to be wondered at that he had a strong 
 hold on the respect and affections of his people. No 
 child passed him that did not take off the hat or make 
 a courtesy, and it may be said that at that period every 
 child was taught at home and at school to show this 
 civility to the passing stranger, and punished for dis 
 obedience. In far off Hammerfest, in Norway, a few 
 years ago, the writer was struck with this attention to a 
 
74 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 t 
 
 stranger, recalling the instruction of his boyhood. Are 
 our children better now for its disregard ? 
 
 In the church at the close of the service, the congre 
 gation rose, and remained standing till Mr. Peabody had 
 left the house, bowing on each side as he passed down 
 the aisle followed by his wife. He was never spoken of, 
 or to, lightly, but usually as " Sir Peabody," or " Parson 
 Peabody." 
 
 He was not a learned man, and his theological library 
 was said not to have contained more than fifty volumes, 
 yet his talents were certainly very respectable. He was 
 not unfrequently called upon to preach at the ordination 
 exercises of his brother clergymen, and once preached the 
 annual sermon before the New Hampshire legislature. 
 His sermons were written in a fine hand, on small sheets 
 of paper, for economy was required even in small things. 
 Sermons then were divided into many heads, but he 
 rarely went beyond " fifthly." He had the attention of 
 his hearers, of the older portion from interest, and the 
 younger people seated in the large galleries were kept in 
 order by tithingmen, regularly appointed by the town at 
 their annual meetings to look after unruly boys. Mr. 
 Peabody did not hesitate himself to stop in his sermon 
 and rebuke any impropriety in the house of God. After 
 the religious exercises had been finished, it was the cus 
 tom of the town clerk to read the intentions of marriage, 
 when all, especially the young, were eager listeners. It 
 was certainly a proof of his ability that his people were 
 for so long a time united under his teachings. But it 
 was a period of faith, of adherence to time-honored 
 views, before the " divers and strange doctrines " that 
 have since divided the churches had crept in. It was a 
 
REV. STEPHEN PEABODY AND WIFE 75 
 
 sufficient ground of belief that " Parson Peabody " and 
 the Bible said it. An unbeliever in the old Orthodoxy 
 was looked upon with suspicion, and suffered in his 
 social intercourse as a dangerous associate, especially for 
 the young. An old Boston teacher who had taught 
 Edward Everett came to spend his declining years in 
 the town, but found it prudent to conceal his Unita- 
 rianism, and when asked his religious belief would evade 
 a direct answer by saying : " My wife is a Methodist." 
 He attended the service, and contributed as did his 
 neighbors. 
 
 Mr. Peabody had a happy temperament and joyous 
 nature, and was fond of a joke. He was quick to see 
 the humor of any incident, and told a story or anecdote 
 with much glee, often rising and using action to add to 
 the effect, and joining heartily in the laughter that 
 followed. He was a fine singer, revelled in music, and 
 often the first thing heard in his house in the morning 
 was his loud melodious voice in some song like " The 
 bright rosy morning peeps over the hills," arousing the 
 sleeping inmates. When riding alone, or at home, the 
 impulse would seize him, and he would break out in 
 some favorite tune. He joined in the singing at the 
 church, and if there was any deficiency he supplied it, 
 sometimes taking the place of the choir. He played the 
 violin, and would draw from its chords exquisite music, 
 and it was thought that he would gladly have danced 
 but for his profession. 
 
 In his domestic relations Mr. Peabody was fortunate. 
 He married his first wife Jan. 19, 1773, soon after his 
 settlement. She was Mary Haseltine, daughter of 
 Deacon John and Mary (Ingalls) Haseltine, of Brad- 
 
76 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 ford, Mass., and an aunt of the missionary Mrs. Judson 
 and of Miss Abigail C. Haseltine, so long the able 
 principal of Bradford Female Seminary. She was a 
 devoted wife and mother, whose chief happiness was in 
 her family. She died Sept. 19, 1793. Becoming a 
 widower at an early age, according to the custom of that 
 class he began to look for another wife, and in due time 
 married Mrs. Elizabeth Shaw, widow of Rev. John 
 Shaw, pastor of the first Church of Haverhill, Mass. 
 Her history was specially identified with that of Mr. 
 Peabody and his Society, and it is not easy to speak too 
 strongly in her praise. 
 
 She was the youngest of three remarkable sisters, 
 daughters of Rev. William Smith, of Weymouth, Mass., 
 and was said not to have been inferior to either of her 
 sisters. One of them married President John Adams, 
 and the third married Richard Cranch, and was the 
 mother of the late Judge Cranch, of Washington, D.C. 
 Her father had educated her with great care, and as 
 the wife of Mr. Shaw she occupied a prominent social 
 position. The clergy of that period mingled much with 
 each other, to discuss theological and other questions 
 continually arising in their parishes, and to talk about 
 new books, then rarely appearing, and give to them 
 selves and their families the benefit of the best social 
 intercourse. It was a custom then, long since passed 
 away, to hold protracted meetings for three or four 
 successive days, in aid of a revival, at which all the 
 ministers of the surrounding towns with their wives 
 were gathered. As few events but death caused a 
 change of pastorate, the clergymen became very intimate 
 with each other and their families, and so rare a woman 
 
ELIZABETH PEABODY. 
 
HEV. STEPHEN PEABODY AND WIFE 77 
 
 as Mrs. Shaw was well known and admired, not the least 
 by Mr. Peabody. As a widower he consulted her about 
 the new wife for whom he was in search. " What kind 
 of a woman do you want? " she asked. " One just like 
 yourself," was the gallant and sincere reply. Soon 
 after Mr. Peabody mounted his horse, and was on his 
 way to visit the lady recommended, when he heard of 
 the sudden death of Mr. Shaw. Other thoughts at once 
 took possession of him, and he turned his horse and 
 went home. 
 
 As might be expected, others besides Mr. Peabody 
 were anxious to console the interesting widow in her 
 bereavement, and among them the Rev. Isaac Smith, a 
 cousin and youthful admirer. He was preceptor of By- 
 field Academy, the oldest in the State, and which has 
 been one of the most useful. But Parson Peabody was 
 only six miles from Haverhill, and Mr. Smith was fifteen, 
 and naturally the former went of tener and stayed later, in 
 his visits to the lady, and the result was then as now to 
 be expected he won. Mrs. Shaw s domestic, with her 
 eyes and ears open to passing events, a trait by no means 
 lost now in that class, kept herself well informed. She 
 favored Mr. Smith, had regretted his early disappoint 
 ment, and had encouraged him to renewed efforts. The 
 evening when the momentous question was settled, it 
 rained hard, and for that reason, probably, each had se 
 lected it, thinking he would have a clear field and no 
 interruption. But the distance had told, and when after 
 dark Mr. Smith presented himself at the door Lydia said 
 to him sharply : " You are altogether too late, sir; Par 
 son Peabody has long ago dried his coat by the kitchen 
 fire, and has been sitting with Mrs. Shaw a whole hour 
 
78 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 in the parlor." Mr. Smith turned home to Byfield and 
 never married. His face was said ever after to have 
 worn a melancholy expression, his mind no doubt filled 
 with the thought of what " might have been." 
 
 A word should be said of this domestic, Lydia Springer. 
 She spent her life in the service of this one family, re 
 garded more as a friend than a servant. On the death 
 of her mistress, she was retained by her daughter. Her 
 wages were fifty cents a week, the ruling price then, from 
 which she saved a considerable sum. 
 
 No greater blessing could have been bestowed on the 
 people of the little town and on the infant academy than 
 the advent of Mrs. Peabody. She became to them as a 
 superior being. With a cultivation and refinement to 
 which they had not been accustomed, her whole appear 
 ance was an inspiration, for her person was very pleas 
 ing, and she did not neglect the attractions of dress. By 
 her visits to Boston and Quincy, where she met the best 
 society of the day, she could bring back information of 
 new books and authors, not neglecting the latest fashions 
 for her own benefit and that of her friends. There was 
 a charm about her conversation and a kindness and sweet 
 ness in her smile and whole manner that won every heart. 
 She had many students of both sexes in her family, over 
 whom she tenderly and carefully watched, who idolized 
 her, and would never in her presence do or say a rude 
 thing. Everything connected with her lifted them up 
 to something purer and better, and even when they left 
 her home she followed them by her correspondence, giv 
 ing them needed advice, precious from such a source. 
 She always turned the conversation at the table, and 
 elsewhere, to instructive topics. Familiar with the best 
 
REV. STEPHEN PEABODY AND WIFE 79 
 
 literature, she would quote from such authors as Shake 
 speare, Pope, Addison, and would interest them by read 
 ing such books as "Hannah More s Tracts," then re 
 cently published, which had such a wonderful and 
 healthy circulation. 
 
 With all these accomplishments, she was not above 
 attention to the common duties of a large household and 
 the requirements of a poor clergyman s wife. She aided 
 her solitary maid in her work, mended the stockings and 
 attended to the clothing and appearance of the little boys 
 in her family, and was above no labor; but, however 
 engaged, or however dressed, she was always a lady to 
 those around her. Careful about her attire, an elaborate 
 " queenly head dress," as one who remembered her styled 
 it, seemed to have impressed itself as peculiar to her, and 
 it is represented in the portrait of her by Stuart still in 
 existence. It is safe to say that no other lady in that 
 vicinity ever exerted such an influence, or was so widely 
 remembered. 
 
 She died suddenly April 9, 1815, in the 66th year of 
 her age. John Quincy Adams, then in London, wrote 
 to his mother, under date of June 30, 1815, as follows : 
 " My aunt Peabody was, next to you; one of the earliest 
 and kindest friends and guardians of my childhood. 
 Since that time every recollection that I have of her is 
 of acts of kindness to myself and to my children. The 
 news of her decease, therefore, could not but painfully 
 affect me, and the sentiment was deepened by that of the 
 impression with which I knew you must have been 
 affected by the event." Mrs. Abigail Adams, wife of 
 President John Adams, wrote of her : " Few persons held 
 so eloquent a pen, or could find such ready access to the 
 
80 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 heart. I scarcely ever received a letter from her which 
 did not draw involuntary tears from my eyes. Her im 
 agination was brilliant, her affections pure and ardent, 
 her wit and playfulness full of good humor, unalloyed 
 with acrimony. To know her was to love and respect 
 her. How many owe to her the good seed which she 
 planted in their infant minds, and which, I doubt not, 
 will be her crown of rejoicing ! " 
 
 Two children by Mr. Shaw survived her, a son and a 
 daughter. Her son, William Smith Shaw, was graduated 
 at Harvard ; was private secretary of his uncle, President 
 John Adams ; studied law and was clerk of the United 
 States District Court. He was one of the principal 
 founders of the Boston Athenseum, to which he gave his 
 valuable collection of coins, tracts, and curios. He died 
 in Boston, April 25, 1826. 
 
 The daughter, Elizabeth Quincy Shaw, became the 
 wife of the late Joseph B. Felt, well known as an his 
 torian and antiquary, whose acquaintance she had made 
 while he was a student at Atkinson Academy, and an 
 inmate of her mother s family. 
 
 The death of his wife was a severe blow to Mr. Pea- 
 body, already beginning to feel the approach of old age. 
 The sunshine of his life was gone. He could not sing 
 and joke as of old. He was feeble in the discharge of 
 his parish duties, and rarely wrote a new sermon, but 
 would read from Henry s or Scott s Commentaries. To 
 the last he retained the affection of his people, charitable 
 to all omissions in one who had served them as pastor so 
 long and so faithfully. He died May 23, 1819. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Peabody sleep side by side in the bury- 
 ing-ground in the centre of the village, over three hun- 
 
REV. STEPHEN PEABODY AND WIFE 81 
 
 dred feet above the sea-level ; where can be had a view 
 on which they loved to look, of the Monadnock and 
 other mountains to the west and north ; and of the 
 spires of many villages extending for miles south and 
 east to the ocean at Newburyport. A few years ago a 
 loving grandson erected a handsome monument to re 
 place the old broken stones, preserving the original 
 epitaphs that record none too strongly the merits of the 
 departed. They were as follows : 
 
 " Rev. Stephen Peabody died May 23, in his 78th 
 year. He was ordained the first minister of this town 
 Nov. 25, 1772, and until his death sustained the office 
 with dignity, possessed the love and confidence of his 
 people, and ardently sought the interest of his charge 
 and of mankind. He was a man of good talents, a 
 sound divine, a Christian in word and deed. He was to 
 the last a friend of those in distress, the patron of merit 
 and literature, and served as chaplain in the army of the 
 Revolution. 
 
 " And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness 
 of the firmament, and they shall turn many to righteous 
 ness as the stars for ever. 
 
 " In memory of Mrs. Elizabeth Peabody. At her de 
 cease she was the wife of Rev. Stephen Peabody of 
 this town. She died suddenly April 9, 1815, aged 65 
 years. She was eminent for strength of mind and the 
 acquisition of literature. She lived not for herself but 
 for the benefit of others, and the honor of her Maker. 
 The religion she possessed was exemplified in her life. 
 Though dead, her memory is embalmed in the hearts of 
 many. Of her it may justly be said 4 Blessed are the 
 dead that die in the Lord. 
 
82 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 " In memory of Elizabeth Quincy Shaw, eldest daugh 
 ter of the late Rev. John and Elizabeth Shaw, of Haver- 
 hill, Mass., who died Sept. 4, 1798, aged 18 years." 
 
 Those who knew them cherished warmly years after 
 their decease the memory of " Sir " and " Ma am Pea- 
 body," and spoke to their children and their children s 
 children of their many virtues and hallowed influence, 
 as my parents did to me. 
 
 Mr. Peabody left two children by his first wife, a son 
 and a daughter. The son, Stephen (Harv. 1794), born 
 Oct. 6, 1773, was judge of the Court of Common Pleas, 
 of Hancock County, Maine, and died April 12, 1851, at 
 Bucksport. He had four sons : Stephen, George, Wil 
 liam, and Leonard, all deceased, of whom only Leonard 
 left children, two sons and a daughter. Leonard married 
 Mary, a daughter of Hon. William Todd of St. Stephen, 
 New Brunswick. His eldest son, Harry Ernest Pea- 
 body, was graduated from Harvard in 1887, and from 
 the Yale Divinity School in 1891. He is now a Congre 
 gational clergyman of Windsor Avenue Church, Hart 
 ford, Ct. 
 
 Mr. Peabody s daughter, Mary, usually called " Polly," 
 married Stephen Peabody Webster, of Haverhill, N.H., 
 but left no children. 
 
 For this sketch of Mr. and Mrs. Peabody the writer is 
 indebted to the recollections of aged people, and espe 
 cially to a magazine article of the Rev. Dr. Samuel Gil- 
 man, written fifty years ago, from a heart full of grati 
 tude for youthful training in their home. Mr. Geo. A. 
 Gordon, my personal friend for fifty years, commencing 
 in college days, also has supplied important facts in 
 regard to Mr. Peabody and his family. 
 
SKETCH AND REMINISCENCES OF THOMAS 
 HART BENTON 
 
 MISSOURI has recently presented to the Capitol at 
 Washington the statue of Thomas Hart Benton, as that 
 of one of the two men whom she wished thus specially 
 to honor, and attention has been called anew to one of 
 the most prominent of deceased American statesmen. 
 
 Thomas Hart Benton was born in Orange County, 
 N.C., March 14, 1782, the same year that gave birth to 
 Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, Martin Van Buren, 
 and LeAvis Cass, with whom his political life was so 
 closely associated. His parents were of good old Eng 
 lish Virginia lineage. He spent some time at a grammar 
 school and at a college, but his education was inter 
 rupted and imperfect, and he did not take a degree. 
 His father, who was a lawyer, died when he was quite 
 young, and his mother moved to Tennessee, where the 
 family owned real estate. He studied law, and began 
 to practise at Nashville. At the age of seventeen he 
 first saw Andrew Jackson, then judge of the Superior 
 Court at Tennessee, and afterwards major-general of 
 the state militia, with whom his history was so closely 
 identified. He became an aide-de-camp of Jackson, 
 which gave him his title of colonel, by which he was 
 afterwards generally designated, and he claims in his 
 "View" that Jackson received his appointment in the 
 
84 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 regular army by his influence. The two soon became 
 warm friends and so continued until their feud in 1813, 
 which arose through the brother, Jesse Benton, and came 
 near terminating the early career of both. 
 
 He served one term in the Legislature of Tennessee, 
 where, though young, he was very active, and caused to 
 be enacted a law giving to slaves the same right of trial 
 by jury as to the whites. 
 
 He was appointed by President Madison a lieutenant 
 colonel in the regular army, but resigned on the declara 
 tion of peace with England. He removed to St. Gene- 
 vieve, in Missouri, and soon after to St. Louis, where he 
 opened a law office, became engaged in politics, estab 
 lished a newspaper full of personalities, and was in 
 volved in quarrels and duels, in one of which he killed 
 his man, to his deep subsequent regret. Duelling, how 
 ever, was then regarded as the proper course in a matter 
 of wounded honor, and he was present at the duel 
 between Clay and Randolph. 
 
 He was active in securing the admission of Missouri 
 to the Union, though as a slave State, and was rewarded 
 by an election as one of the first senators by one majority. 
 This position he retained from 1821 to 1851, a period of 
 great prominence in American history, when the most 
 celebrated debates were held, and such intellectual 
 giants as Webster, Clay, and Calhoun were partici 
 pants. 
 
 In the Senate, in 1824, he met again Andrew Jackson, 
 then a senator from Tennessee, with whom he had not 
 spoken since their fray in 1813, and who still carried in 
 his arm the bullet of Jesse Benton. Colonel Benton, in a 
 letter written at the time, thus describes the resumption 
 
THOMAS HART BENTON 85 
 
 of their intercourse : " Well, how many changes in this 
 life ! General Jackson is now sitting in the chair next to 
 me. There was a vacant one next to me, and he took it 
 for the session. Several senators saw the situation and 
 offered mediation. I declined it on the ground that what 
 had happened could neither be explained, recanted, nor 
 denied. After this we were put on the same committee. 
 Facing me one day, as we sat in our seats, he said : 
 4 Colonel, we are on the same committee. I will give you 
 notice when it is necessary to attend. (He w us chairman, 
 and had a right to summon us.) I answered : 4 General, 
 suit yourself; it will be convenient for me to attend at 
 any time. In committee we did business together just 
 as other persons. After that he asked me how my wife 
 was, and I asked him how his was. Then he called and 
 left his card at my lodgings, 4 Andrew Jackson for Col. 
 Benton and lady ; forthwith I called at his and left 
 mine. Since then we have dined together at several 
 places, and yesterday at the President s. I made him 
 the first bow ; he held out his hand, and we shook hands. 
 I then introduced him to my wife, and thus civil rela 
 tions are perfectly established between us. Jackson has 
 gained since he has been here by his mild and concilia 
 tory manner/ It has been said that the first salutation 
 of one to the other was, "Shall it be peace or war?" 
 and the answer was " Peace." Both were equally prepared 
 all their lives for one or the other, equally intense in love 
 or hate. Thus reconciled, they were to the end devoted 
 to each other, and were a great power in American poli 
 tics. 
 
 In the election of 1824, Colonel Benton was originally 
 a supporter of Mr. Clay, whose wife wus a relative, but 
 
86 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 when the contest lay between Adams and Jackson he 
 gave his influence to the latter. 
 
 As might be expected from his character, Colonel 
 Benton became at once active, prominent, and influen 
 tial, speaking often and in elaborate speeches, and 
 watching every opportunity to advance the interest of 
 the West. 
 
 He was a bitter opponent of the re-chartering of the 
 United States bank, making his first speech against it in 
 1831, and without a doubt did much to influence the 
 course of Gen. Jackson on this as on many other ques 
 tions. He became specially interested in financial 
 questions, advocating hard money, and well earned his 
 title of " Old Bullion." His speeches were carefully 
 prepared, and, though unlike his great opponents, 
 Webster and Clay, he was not an orator, and spoke to 
 an empty Senate, he influenced the people. 
 
 General Jackson vetoed the bank re-charter bill, and 
 withdrew the deposits, placing them in " pet banks," and 
 the Senate passed a vote of censure. Colonel Benton at 
 once gave notice of his expunging resolution, which was 
 carried at last, just after the close of Jackson s adminis 
 tration, at a session of intense excitement, against the 
 protest of Webster and others. He professed to fear 
 assassination, and his wife was present in her anxiety. 
 He regarded this as the greatest act of his life, of which 
 he ever boasted. " Solitary and alone," he said, " I put 
 this bill in motion." 
 
 He was ever a strong Union man, opposed to Mr. Cal- 
 houn in his nullification course, whom he regarded as a 
 personal enemy, and said he should have hung him as a 
 traitor if lie had been President. 
 
THOMAS HART BENTON 87 
 
 He early moved in the occupation of Oregon, per 
 ceiving its future importance. He opposed the tariff as 
 prejudicial to the interests of the consumers of the West. 
 He advocated preemption rights and other means to pro 
 mote settlements in the West, and a national road to the 
 Pacific. He was a friend of Van Buren, and predicted 
 that his rejection as minister to England would make 
 him President. He aided in establishing and, perhaps, 
 was the real author of the Sub-Treasury system, which 
 continued till the Civil War, and in the opinion of many 
 should never have been changed for the greenbacks of 
 Mr. Chase. He was at heart early opposed to slavery, 
 and opposed the resolutions introduced by Mr. Calhoun 
 in 1847, though instructed by the Missouri Legislature 
 to vote for them. He opposed the admission of Texas 
 as a slave State, a most unpopular act in Missouri, and 
 which, probably, defeated his re-election. 
 
 In the Mexican War he exercised much influence, 
 sustaining the course of the government, and at one 
 time it was proposed to entrust to him the conduct of the 
 war under the title of lieutenant-general. 
 
 He was opposed to the compromise measures of Mr. 
 Clay, which were under discussion when his long sena 
 torial term expired, and to all measures tending to 
 strengthen slavery. In reply to the resolutions of in 
 struction in their favor his reply was that he should 
 appeal to the people. Senator Vest said of him that he 
 never knew a man who in his action thought less of its 
 influence on himself. He did appeal to the people, but 
 he had broken away from his party, especially on the ad 
 mission of Texas ; he was an old man, and had made 
 many enemies ; had attempted to conciliate no one, for 
 
88 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 all opponents he regarded as his enemies, and he was 
 defeated in his canvass for re-election. 
 
 Defeated for the Senate, his desire for public life still 
 continued, and he offered himself as a candidate for the 
 national House of Representatives, and was elected. 
 Here he used all his efforts to prevent the repeal of the 
 Missouri Compromise Bill. Defeated for re-election, he 
 became a candidate in 1856 for Governor of Missouri, 
 and stumped the State with all the vigor of a young 
 man, attacking all opponents in the strongest personal 
 language, but failed. In the presidential contest of that 
 year he sustained Buchanan against Fremont, his son-in- 
 law, on the ground that the Republican was a sectional 
 party, though his action was evidently contrary to his 
 feelings. 
 
 With the end of his political career, he had lost none 
 of -his energy and industry, and he resumed work on his 
 " Thirty Years View," the first volume of which had 
 appeared in 1854. He completed the second volume, 
 and then engaged on an " Abridgment of the Debates 
 of Congress " from 1789 to 1850, in 15 volumes, which 
 he finished in a whisper on his death bed. He wrote, 
 also, a review of the Dred Scott decision, and proposed 
 a review of the Pierce Administration, with which he 
 was not in sympathy, but he did not write it. 
 
 In presenting the statue of Colonel Benton, Senator 
 Vest said of him, in comparing him with Webster, Clay, 
 and Calhoun, the great three of his generation : " He 
 was not as an orator the equal of Mr. Clay; he was not the 
 equal of Mr. Webster as a lawyer; he was not the equal 
 of Mr. Calhoun as a close, analytical debater and dis 
 putant; but he was the superior of any one of the three 
 
THOMAS HART BENTON 89 
 
 as a natural, valuable, all-around legislator. His honesty 
 was above question ; his courage, morally and physically, 
 equal to that of an}^ man who ever lived upon the earth. 
 His 4 Thirty Years View is the most valuable political 
 treatise in our history." 
 
 It can be said, however, of this Revieiv, that its value 
 would be much increased, if it had been less Bentonian, 
 less occupied with the part he had taken in the debates, 
 and more with that of other statesmen. 
 
 His devotion to the Union was deep, and if he had 
 been spared there can be no doubt that his loyalty would 
 have been unswerving during the Civil War. 
 
 Colonel Benton had not been popular in New Eng 
 land, especially in Massachusetts, largely from his op 
 position to the fishing bounties given to vessels that were 
 out a specified time engaged in cod fishing. As an in 
 dication of the feeling, old persons remember that, in 
 the " Tippecanoe and Tyler too " campaign of 1840, one 
 of the banners had a picture of Benton stranded on a 
 rock, scourged with a fishing rod, with the words, 
 
 " For Benton a rod, 
 And a bounty on cod." 
 
 It should be said in his defence, that he was, probably, 
 influenced, not by hostility to New England, but by his 
 opposition to the policy of giving bounties. At a re 
 cent meeting of the " OuldNewbury Historical Society," 
 the subject was introduced, and different gentlemen old 
 enough to have had personal knowledge of the subject, 
 and to have been engaged in the business, defended 
 Benton, and spoke of the frauds committed to secure the 
 bounties. Vessels would go out for mackerel, or on 
 
90 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 other business, and remain the required time and claim 
 the bounty, when cod had not been fished for. Captain 
 Nichols, of the Custom House, an honest man, incurred 
 ill will by refusing to pay the bounty when knowing that 
 perjury had been used to obtain it. There is no doubt 
 that for political and other reasons Ben ton had not been 
 an admirer of this section, but his feelings had changed 
 as his anti-slavery sentiments increased. 
 
 In the autumn of 1856 the writer was one of the 
 directors of the Newburyport Lyceum, and, wishing to 
 secure the success of the course, it occurred to him to 
 write to Colonel Benton as one of the most distinguished 
 of living American statesmen, and attractive because 
 personally almost unknown in New England. An invi 
 tation to come and lecture was accordingly sent to him, 
 suggesting the Union as a subject. He replied as fol 
 lows : " I have meditated delivering a lecture this winter 
 in different places, intended for practical effect in the 
 present distracted state of the Union. I believe there 
 is danger of disunion, and that the first step towards 
 averting that danger is to face it and to fathom it. 
 After the depth and nature of the disease are known 
 the remedy can be considered, which must be concilia 
 tion an application to all the feelings of patriotism, 
 national pride, and mutual interest, which certainly ani 
 mate the great majority in both sections of the Union, 
 and an attempt to unite them in a course of conduct 
 which should have iiarmony and reconciliation for its 
 object. The subject is a large one, and, besides requiring 
 care and knowledge in the preparation of the lecture, 
 would require double the usual time in delivery say, 
 two hours. If I go into it at all it will be to produce 
 
THOMAS HART BENTON 
 
 91 
 
 effect, and, therefore, to be delivered in many places, 
 and to thinking audiences, such as a literary institution 
 and moderate-priced tickets could collect. I have never 
 received anything for lectures, leaving all the proceeds 
 to the institutions whose invitations I have accepted ; 
 but if I should go into the business for a winter s work, 
 I should expect the interest to be mutual," etc. With 
 out giving a definite answer he invited further corre 
 spondence. 
 
 I replied that such a lecture would be very acceptable 
 to us, and, coming from one of his age and long public 
 service, must have a marked effect. Mr. Everett had 
 gone from city to city delivering his lecture on Wash 
 ington ; and how much greater would be the service, 
 and how much deeper the gratitude of his countrymen, 
 for the discussion of a nobler theme even than Washing 
 ton, "The Union and its Preservation." 
 
 After a little negotiation he decided to come, and the 
 details as to terms and time were arranged. 
 
 I met him at the Tremont House in Boston as pre 
 viously agreed. Sending in my card, though early in 
 the morning, he requested me to come to his room, where 
 I found him, not yet dressed, in a loose wrapper, with a 
 cap on his head, sitting at a table writing. And this 
 was my first interview with one I had long wished to 
 see, " Old Bullion," the close friend of General Jackson ; 
 the man for years so cordially hated and hating; the 
 survivor of that long list of able men clustering around 
 Webster, Clay, and Calhoun, who was more familiar 
 with our legislation, and had more participation in it, 
 than any other living person. 
 
 He spoke of the attention he was receiving ; that Mr. 
 
92 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 Everett, Mr. Winthrop, and other well-known gentle 
 men, had at once called on him ; said he had agreed to 
 favor a photograph artist ; " we must gratify these peo 
 ple, you know;" and after some general conversation, 
 informing him when I must call for him, I took my 
 leave. 
 
 After it was announced that he was to lecture in 
 Newburyport he received many invitations from other 
 places, and, as he was ignorant of their localities, he 
 requested me to arrange for him the dates, so that for 
 some days I was much in his company; and I was 
 naturally interested to hear his views of men and things, 
 and to study the man. He was very communicative, 
 never hesitating to speak with the utmost freedom of 
 any individual, living or deceased, or of any measure. 
 He used strong language, sometimes not quite choice, 
 accompanied frequently with that emphasis of tone and 
 manner for which he had been noted in the Senate ; and 
 not rarely, as in the case of General Jackson, an exple 
 tive would be introduced which a New England Puritan 
 might not have approved. 
 
 The lecture which he came to deliver, as stated, was 
 on the Union. It was in November, following the ex 
 citing presidential campaign, in which the two parties 
 occupied substantially the same position as in 1860, and 
 which would probably have been followed by the same 
 results had Fremont been elected. He urged that 
 the agitation of the slavery question should cease, both 
 North and South. He blamed both sections for the ex 
 isting alienation and bitterness, and thought we should 
 endeavor to cultivate the harmony and forbearance of 
 former days. He depicted in forcible language the 
 
THOMAS HART BENTON 
 
 blessings of union, and the evils of disunion, to North 
 and South showed how closely our interests are inter 
 woven how connected with our prosperity was the 
 union, and that as two nations we could not live in 
 peace. Slavery, customs, the navigation of the Missis 
 sippi, and other elements of discord would continually 
 excite ill-will, if not war. 
 
 The lecture contained nothing original, but was care 
 fully prepared and able, and evidently expressed the 
 earnest convictions of the author. His elocution was 
 not specially attractive. He used few gestures, and had 
 but little animation, though at times a few words and 
 sentences would be marked by strong emphasis. Some 
 times his voice would sink to a whisper, or rather his 
 words would be hissed out. He spoke for about two 
 hours, and the reputation of the man caused him to be 
 listened to with attention, though hardly with enthu 
 siasm, for his politics had never been popular in Massa 
 chusetts. The fear of disunion did not then generally 
 prevail in New England, but was regarded as the dream 
 of croakers and timid men. It had been so long threat 
 ened that our ears had become familiar with it, and 
 though the audience respected the convictions of so 
 aged and honored a statesman as Colonel Benton, that 
 he should be so disturbed by such forebodings seemed 
 rather an indication of his mental decay. They did not 
 k now _ they could not know that he was depicting 
 what was to be fulfilled in their time with all the horrors 
 of our terrible Civil War. The audience was very large, 
 for the fame of the man had brought many from a great 
 distance. He was much pleased with their attention, 
 and said to me: "They sat like statues I could have 
 
94 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 heard a pin drop. The sacredness of the church did not 
 restrain their applause." 
 
 He declined proffers of private hospitality, saying as 
 a public man he had never accepted it. The next day 
 was Thanksgiving, however, and he accepted an invita 
 tion to dine with the Hon. Albert Currier, and ex 
 pressed himself as happy to be able to celebrate with us 
 our time-honored festival. In the afternoon, with a party 
 of gentlemen, he rode to Plum Island, and gazed for a 
 long time, much absorbed, on the rolling waves, and the 
 ships in the distance. I think he remarked that it was 
 his first visit to the seaside. 
 
 During the days that I spent in his company I noted 
 down many of his remarks, most of which were in reply 
 to questions. 
 
 " Tyler was a trifling man, and to this characteristic 
 he owed his preservation at the bursting of the big gun 
 of the Princeton. Word had been given that a song 
 was to be sung in the cabin, and he rushed down to hear 
 it. I was also saved by my characteristic habit of in 
 quiry and investigation. I had been going around all 
 day inquiring into everything, and as a compliment to 
 my business habits was invited to witness the firing, and 
 had just before been requested to change my position 
 that the smoke might not prevent my view. He was a 
 man of great good luck. It was a common observation 
 that whoever stood in the way of Tyler and his advance 
 ment would die, and so they predicted the early death 
 of Harrison." 
 
 In speaking of Mr. Clay, he said that he once terribly 
 retorted on a South Carolina man. " Mr. Clay had cen 
 sured severely some disunion sentiments which had been 
 
THOMAS HAE,T BENTON 95 
 
 uttered, when this man rose and said that the author 
 was a relation of his. Mr. Clay rose to his full height, 
 his eyes flashed fire, and in a voice of thunder he ex 
 claimed : I care not whose relation he is he is a 
 traitor who utters such sentiments. Great God! It 
 sank him to the earth, sir. He was never heard of 
 afterwards. 
 
 " Mr. Cass was very timid afraid to take a decided 
 stand. Mr. Wright (referring to Silas Wright) truly 
 said of him : c He is amiable, but afraid of his own 
 shadow. Though very amiable in his private relations, 
 never quarrelling with any one, in the Senate he was 
 always for a war with England. He uttered so often in 
 his speeches, War is inevitable, that it became a by 
 word. I once turned it on him, to the amusement of the 
 Senate. After one of his speeches I rose, and, speaking 
 of the little danger of war, ended with his words changed 
 Peace is inevitable. 
 
 " Douglas was driven into the Kansas-Nebraska bill by 
 the Southerners, Atchison, and others, the fire-eaters 
 of the South. They threatened to drop him if he would 
 not take hold of it. 
 
 " To advocate disunion is to gain the favor of this ad 
 ministration (that of Pierce). The last foreign appoint 
 ment was that of an editor from Mobile to Mexico, 
 whose last editorial was in favor of disunion. Those 
 disunion editors from Richmond, vulgar dogs, get the 
 appointments. One wrote that nasty, stinking letter 
 from Turin. As soon as it was known there, they 
 dropped him, sir, would not notice him at all in that 
 refined circle, paid him only the attention due a repre 
 sentative from the United States made a distinction 
 
96 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 between the man and the representative you under 
 stand, sir." 
 
 I remarked to him that his great vigor surprised me, 
 and his erect and youthful appearance, so different from 
 what I had expected in one of his age. He replied : 
 " That reminds me of what occurred in Missouri last 
 summer. Two anti-Benton men wished to get a look 
 at me, for the first time, but would not come into the 
 room, and so peeped in at the door. I was standing up 
 engaged in an animated conversation with some friends, 
 and, I suppose, I looked more vigorous than usual, and 
 one turned to the other and said ; 4 Good God ! we shall 
 have to fight him these twenty years ! I keep my 
 health by horse-back riding. I might be taken by a 
 foreigner for Gen. Pelissier on my black horse. But 
 few ride so well as I ride. I was once when riding on 
 my black horse, with my little grandson at my side on a 
 white pony, taken for a riding master by a foreigner. 
 Few public men have kept horses to ride. Mr. Randolph 
 was an exception who rode much on horse-back. 
 
 " Contrary to the general opinion, Mr. Randolph was 
 very industrious, and labored hard in the committee- 
 room. My seal (exhibiting it) was given me by him 
 after his duel with Mr. Clay. He ordered it for me 
 in London, searching out the coat-of-arms of the Benton 
 family. He said the motto should be, Factis et verbis 
 instead of, Factis non verbis" 
 
 In speaking of the industry of public men he re 
 marked : " John Quincy Adams was the most indus 
 trious man I ever knew. I have been compared to him 
 in this respect, though I cannot compliment myself so 
 highly. I am now engaged on my 4 Abridgment of the 
 
THOMAS HABT BENTON 97 
 
 Debates of Congress in about sixteen volumes, which 
 will occupy me two years. I hope to live till 1860, and 
 the remaining two years I intend to devote to a history 
 of this Administration." He evidently did not have an 
 exalted opinion of Mr. Pierce and his Administration, 
 and, in reply to a gentleman who wished his aid for an 
 office, replied that he had no influence at Washington. 
 " Mr. Pierce," he said, " has the high honor to have 
 come in almost unanimously, and he will go out with as 
 great unanimity. At the Cincinnati convention he did 
 not know that Douglas had withdrawn, and was pre 
 sented in the pitiable position of hanging on to the last 
 hope for a nomination." I asked him what influence 
 determined the result at that convention. " An outside 
 pressure," he replied, referring by his manner, without a 
 doubt, to himself, " decided the nomination." 
 
 In reply to a remark that Mr. Buchanan did not seem 
 to have much decision, he observed : " It is too true, he 
 is not a firm, decided man he is too apt to be swayed 
 by others." I asked if he had any opinion who would 
 constitute his Cabinet, and he said : " God Almighty 
 knows I don t." 
 
 Alluding to the aged living statesmen, he said : " I 
 am much younger than Cass, Van Buren, and the other 
 statesmen of my age, much more vigorous than Bu 
 chanan. Last summer I made forty addresses in Mis 
 souri, of two or three hours each, to acres of people, 
 under a solstitial sun, in successive days, and travelled 
 1200 miles, over rough roads, unlike yours in New Eng 
 land. I have been careful in all my habits. Too many 
 
 public men in Washington lead immoral lives. Mr. 
 
 (naming a distinguished New England statesman) thus 
 
98 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 shortened his days and purse. I have never employed 
 a letter writer." 
 
 I spoke of Silas Wright as an able debater, and asked 
 how he would compare with Mr. Webster. " They are 
 very unlike. Mr. Webster was more labored and 
 rhetorical. The arguments of Mr. Wright seemed to be 
 evolved naturally from the subject he was very 
 simple and amiable." 
 
 In riding through Wenham, I pointed out to him the 
 old farmhouse of Timothy Pickering, calling his atten 
 tion to the row of fine larch trees planted by his hand. 
 "I remember," he said, "reading in a letter of Mr. 
 Pickering s where he spoke of his fondness for baked 
 apples, the apples taken from trees planted by himself. 
 I knew he must be a man of simple habits, for no one 
 who has pampered his stomach by spices and rich food 
 would relish so simple a diet as baked apples." 
 
 u I am five feet eleven inches in height, and weigh 
 210 Ibs. I have eight grandchildren, three of them 
 children of Mr. Fremont." 
 
 A gentleman remarked to him that many here were 
 very much attached to Mr. Fremont. " I shall not quar 
 rel with them for that. I did not support him, because 
 I could not then have delivered the address I am now 
 giving. They told many lies about him. The one in 
 regard to his Catholicism was designed to act against 
 him doubly if believed, it would alienate the Protes 
 tants if denied, the Catholics." 
 
 It was remarked to him that he had been received 
 very kindly in New England, yet he had always been 
 regarded as hostile to us, allusion being made to his op 
 position to the fishing bounties. We had welcomed him, 
 
THOMAS HABT BENTON 99 
 
 yet if one of us opposed to slavery were to go South, 
 he would be exposed to personal violence. " It is true," 
 he said warmly. " I wish I had spoken of it in my 
 lecture." 
 
 I alluded to the " squatter sovereignty " views of Mr. 
 Douglas, when he dropped the pen with which he had 
 been writing, threw back his head, and extended both 
 arms to give emphasis to his words : " Squatter sover 
 eignty ! it is an insane, demagogical idea, taken up by 
 the timidity of old Cass, as unreasonable as it is for a 
 child to be independent of its father. I am opposed to 
 the farther extension of slavery," speaking with much 
 warmth. 
 
 To the observation that few men had ever acted as he 
 did, " solitary and alone," in originating and carrying 
 through the " expunging resolution," he replied, " If I 
 had consulted others, I should never have done anything. 
 There are always timid people to hold one back." 
 
 He quoted Edward Everett as telling him that his ad 
 dress was received with much favor in Boston, and that 
 no one but himself could have given it. 
 
 I alluded again to the impression that he was hostile 
 to New England, saying it might have originated from 
 his course in the great debate between Webster and 
 Hayne. He said, " My feelings at that time were all 
 Southern, and I did not then believe they entertained 
 disunion sentiments. I supposed they simply meant 
 nullification in the Virginia sense, which was simply re 
 monstrance. I do not think Hayne had disunion views 
 then, though he was drawn into them a few years after, 
 but Calhoun had. Webster saw through their disunion 
 schemes before I did." 
 
100 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 " The thirty years I was in the Senate will stand as 
 the most momentous in our country s history." 
 
 " I have known all the Presidents since Jefferson inti 
 mately, and him to some extent." 
 
 " Douglas is now farther from the presidency than 
 ever." 
 
 "The abolition of the Missouri Compromise killed 
 poor old Cass." 
 
 " Mr. Clayton was a very indolent man. He was ac 
 customed to take off his clothes and go to bed at two 
 o clock in the afternoon. His soft-looking flesh indicated 
 his habits." 
 
 He asked me if Taunton, from which he had an invi 
 tation to lecture, was not the home of the man who, after 
 so many trials, was elected governor by one vote, refer 
 ring to Governor Morton. He referred, also, to the 
 election bet by which Maj. Ben : Perley Poore wheeled 
 a barrel of apples to Boston. 
 
 An .invitation came to him from Manchester, N.H., 
 and he asked me if he could take that place on his way 
 to Maine, where he had some engagements. I told him 
 he must return to Lawrence. He said, " I must decline, 
 then, for I never like to take the back track." He after 
 wards concluded, however, to go, as it was in the Granite 
 State, for which he seemed to have an affection. 
 
 Wishing him to write in my autograph album, he com 
 plied as follows : 
 
 "Thomas H. Benton, of Missouri, Senator in the Con 
 gress of the United States for thirty years, and all that 
 time devoted to the harmony, the stability, and the per 
 petuity of the Union." 
 
 I introduced to him Capt. William Nichols, an old sea 
 
THOMAS HART BENTOK 
 
 captain and privateersman, of Newburyport, who in the 
 war of 1812, had, by his bravery, captured twenty-seven 
 English vessels. He was much gratified by the inter 
 view, and expressed his warm approval of the whole sys 
 tem of privateering. He requested me to write out an. 
 account of the adventures of Captain Nichols, and send 
 it to him. I did so, and received the following reply : 
 
 WASHINGTON CITY, April 14, 1857. 
 
 I am much obliged to you for the letter giving me an account 
 of the vessels which he captured during the war of 1812. His 
 name and exploits shall appear in the notes of the " Abridgement 
 of the Debates of Congress," which I am drawing up, and will 
 constitute a part of the answer to the suicidal policy of the late 
 Administration to give up privateering, which I consider as cut 
 ting off our right arm in naval warfare. 
 
 Respect ly, etc., 
 
 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 Colonel Benton died in Washington, April 10, 1858, 
 after a lingering illness, less than a year and a half after 
 his New England lecture tour, when he seemed so vigor 
 ous and hoped for years of life. He was buried in La Belle 
 Fontaine Cemetery, St. Louis, in the presence of forty 
 thousand people. He had labored and retained his men 
 tal faculties and interest in public affairs to the last. His 
 personal appearance was striking, and he would any 
 where have attracted attention. At the close of his life 
 he was erect, his head thrown back, and he walked and 
 looked, as he felt, with the air and pride of an American 
 sovereign. He was never more useful, never more re 
 spected, than during his last few years for his honesty 
 and independence, after he had lost political influence 
 in his State and with the national Administration. He 
 
102 BIOGRAPHIOAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 had risen above partisanship and sectionalism, which 
 had at times characterized his career, and showed him 
 self anxious only for his country and her preservation 
 from the internal enemies seeking to destroy her. Every 
 foe of the Union was his foe and his personal enemy. 
 If he had lived to see the Civil War, which he had 
 dreaded, and which burst forth so soon after his de 
 cease, there can be no doubt what would have been 
 his position, and how his influence would have been 
 exerted. 
 
 He was a devoted husband, and from 1844, when his 
 wife was prostrated by a paralytic shock, to 1854, when 
 she died, all the time he could spare from business 
 he spent by her side in the sick-room. He died poor, 
 though from government influence he could easily have 
 become rich ; the politicians of to-day will laugh at his 
 simplicity. He was moral and temperate in his habits, 
 and abstained from tobacco, gaming, and liquors, saying 
 he obeyed his mother s request. He was courteous and 
 gentlemanly in his general intercourse, but was easily 
 provoked, and never shrank from a contest, whatever 
 might be its nature. Towards the close of his life he 
 manifested a power of invective and sarcasm unknown 
 to his earlier speeches, and which John Randolph might 
 have envied. 
 
 Under no circumstances of adversity did he ever lose 
 courage and despond. When an old man, and his house 
 in Washington was burned with its contents, including 
 many valuable papers that could not be replaced, and 
 on which he much depended in his contemplated publi 
 cations, hastily summoned from the Capitol, he looked 
 on calmly, and gave directions without a murmur. 
 
THOMAS HART BENTON 103 
 
 Able, industrious, surpassed by few of the remarkable 
 statesmen of his day in historical and political informa 
 tion, fearless, wilful, passionate, egotistical, true to his 
 friends and never forgetting his enemies, persevering, 
 unyielding, his memory is stronger to-day, and more 
 respected in Missouri and the country, than ever before. 
 He will ever be regarded as one of the most illustrious 
 of American statesmen, as he certainly was one of the 
 most influential. 
 
TIMOTHY DEXTER, KNOWN AS "LORD 
 TIMOTHY DEXTER," 
 
 OF NEWBURYPORT, MASS. 
 
 AN INQUIRY INTO HIS LIFE AND TRUE 
 CHARACTER 
 
 THE writer lost, years ago, much of his faith in history 
 and tradition. Events are misstated; good and wise 
 men are represented as wicked and foolish, and virtue 
 and greatness bestowed on the undeserving. After cen 
 turies, often, men and actions are shown to have been 
 entirely misjudged, and, in some cases, as in that of 
 William Tell, history becomes pure fiction. 1 
 
 The " hatchet " story of George Washington, believed 
 
 1 An amusing illustration of one of these persistent and popularly cher 
 ished fictions, which even Senator Lodge accepts in his " Story of the 
 Revolution," has recently come to the knowledge of the writer. Accord 
 ing to all histories of the United States, Ethan Allen demanded from the 
 British commander the surrender of Ticonderoga, " in the name of the Great 
 Jehovah and the Continental Congress." Prof. James D. Butler, D.D., 
 LL.D., of Madison, Wis., has informed me that his grandfather, Israel 
 Harris, was present, and had often told him that Ethan Allen s real language 
 was, " Come out of here, you d d old rat." 
 
 The late Peter Butler told me that he was acquainted with Israel Harris, 
 and that he had never known a man more truthful. It is hard to believe that a 
 man of Ethan Allen s culture could have uttered such a grand sentence as 
 history has put into his mouth, especially in the excitement of such a moment. 
 Professor Butler is a clergyman, and one of the most active members of the 
 Wiconsin Historical Society. 
 
 104 
 
TIMOTHY DEXTER 105 
 
 by many to be veritable history, according to James 
 Parton first appeared in Weem s " Life of Washington," 
 whose author credited to Washington all the stories he 
 could find of a good little boy, and it made his book 
 very popular. Abraham Lincoln read it when a boy, 
 and was enthusiastic over it. 
 
 Timothy Dexter, or Lord Timothy Dexter, as he was 
 generally called, had a peculiar and enduring celebrity. 
 Many distinguished men have lived in Newburyport, 
 yet the home of no one else is so frequently asked for 
 by strangers in that city, and in all parts of the country 
 when the writer has spoken of residing there, the first 
 exclamation has been, " Ah ! that was the home of Lord 
 Timothy Dexter ! " He has been regarded as the most 
 marked example of a man of feeble intellect gaining 
 wealth purely by luck. However unwise seemed the 
 speculation into which he was drawn by his own folly, 
 or by suggestions from others made in joke, it always 
 resulted in large gains, and the stories are still fresh and 
 often repeated, fourscore years since his decease, of his 
 sending warming pans and Bibles to the West Indies, 
 etc., etc. These stories have been received, too, without 
 a question of their truth, even in the place where he 
 lived, and have been endorsed by every history of New 
 buryport, and a respectable magazine recently published 
 them as real history. It may be well, then, at a time when 
 the credibility of so much in the past, important and 
 unimportant, is subjected to criticism, to examine the 
 correctness of the popular estimate of this man, whose 
 name is so familiar when so many distinguished men of 
 his time have been forgotten. So prominent was he that 
 Samuel L. Knapp, a well-known literary man, author of 
 
106 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 the first " Life of Daniel Webster," who came to New- 
 buryport to reside two years after Dexter s death, and 
 had often seen him, thought fit to write his life, now a 
 rare book, though several times republished. 
 
 The late John A. Lewis first suggested to the writer, 
 then residing in Newburyport, to examine the authen 
 ticity of the Dexter stories as given by Knapp, which 
 he believed to be a fiction. Mr. Lewis was, prob 
 ably, better informed in early New England history than 
 any other man of his time, and collected the rare and 
 valuable library of " Americana " which after his decease 
 Mrs. Lewis gave to the Boston Public Library. The 
 suggestion of Mr. Lewis led to this account, as is be 
 lieved, of the real Dexter. 
 
 Timothy Dexter was born in Maiden, Mass., Jan. 
 22, 1747. He learned the trade of a leather dresser, an 
 occupation then popular and profitable, and at the age 
 of twenty-one commenced business for himself in 
 Charlestown, where leather-dressing was much carried 
 on, and by his industry and economy was from the 
 first successful. He early married the widow of a 
 glazier, nine years his senior, whose husband had left her 
 considerable property. She was Elizabeth Lord, daugh 
 ter of John Lord, of Exeter, N.H., and her first husband 
 was Benjamin Frothingham, of Newbury, who was born 
 April 30, 1717, and died June 1, 1769. She was an in 
 dustrious and frugal worn an, and by keeping a huckster s 
 shop added to her husband s income, so that Dexter 
 soon had several thousand dollars in specie at his com 
 mand, which he was anxious to invest profitably. It 
 was when continental money was so depreciated, and 
 he had learned that Governor Hancock and Thomas 
 
TIMOTHY DEXTER 107 
 
 Russell, a noted merchant, had been buying up this 
 paper at a small part of its face value, and in imitation 
 of them he began to do the same. He probably made 
 better bargains, too, because he bought in small quanti 
 ties, of poor holders, obliged to sell for what they could 
 get. He was fortunate in his purchase, as were all 
 others of that day and during our late war who had 
 faith in the government. The funding scheme of Ham 
 ilton gave this depreciated paper its par value, and he 
 soon found himself a rich man for that period, and be 
 came an operator in the stocks of the day, which were 
 constantly advancing. 
 
 With wealth came different and large ideas. As he 
 had become rich like Hancock and Russell, his vanity 
 led him to think himself their equal, and entitled to the 
 same consideration. Finding that he was not received 
 into the best society as they were, he sought another 
 home where he would be better appreciated, and finally 
 fixed upon Newburyport. His wife s associations with the 
 place probably also influenced his decision. This was at 
 that time a town of much wealth and commercial im 
 portance, the third in the State in population, occupying 
 a very different position relatively from its present rank. 
 John Quincy Adams, a law student, then with the cele 
 brated Theophilus Parsons, used to say that he found 
 better society there than at Washington. Harrison Gray 
 Otis, who was often there when a young man, bore simi 
 lar testimony ; and Talleyrand and other distinguished 
 strangers who visited it praised warmly its generous 
 hospitality, its air of wealth and refinement, and the 
 beauty of its long High Street. 
 
 Real estate was low, as several large failures had oc- 
 
108 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 curred, and Dexter bought and occupied one of the best 
 houses in the town, that now used for the Public 
 Library, but he soon removed to another house on 
 High Street, with ten acres of land, which he fitted up 
 in a manner worthy of his estimate of himself. He laid 
 out the grounds after what he was told was the Euro 
 pean style, and had fruits, flowers, and shrubbery of many 
 varieties planted in them. He put minarets on the roof 
 of the house, surmounted with gilt balls, and in front 
 placed rows of columns fifteen feet high, about 40 in 
 all, each having on its top a statue of some distin 
 guished man. Before the door were two lions on each 
 side, with open mouths, to guard the entrance. On an 
 arch, and occupying the most prominent position, were 
 the statues of Washington, Adams, and Jefferson, and 
 to the other statues he gave the names of Bonaparte, 
 Nelson, Franklin, and other heroes, often changing them 
 according to his fancy. In a conspicuous place was a 
 statue of himself, with the inscription, "I am the first in 
 the East, the first in the West, and the greatest philoso 
 pher in the Western world." All these statues were 
 carved in wood by a young ship-carver, Joseph Wilson, 
 who had just come to Newburyport. They were gaudily 
 painted, and though having but little merit as works of 
 art, and less as likenesses, gave the house a strange ap 
 pearance, and attracted crowds, whose curiosity deeply 
 gratified the owner, and he freely opened his grounds to 
 them. Knapp says these images cost $15,000 ; but an 
 old gentleman, who remembered Dexter and knew the 
 artist, has told me the price was $100 for each, and that 
 Dexter made as sharp a bargain as he could with the 
 artist, as he did with every one. Wishing his house to 
 
TIMOTHY DEXTER 109 
 
 be in all respects equal to those of Hancock and Russell, 
 he imported from France expensive furniture and works 
 of art, as they had done, and bought many costly books, 
 as he knew they had fine libraries. Having made him 
 self a " lord," he bought good horses and an elegant 
 coach, on which he caused to be conspicuously painted a 
 coat of arms taken from a book of heraldry, in imitation 
 of European lords. Ranking himself with the nobility, 
 he showed much commiseration for the sufferings of the 
 higher classes during the French Revolution, caused the 
 bells to be tolled on the death of Louis XVI., and sent 
 out an invitation to the survivors of the royal family to 
 become his guests. In expectation of their acceptance 
 he laid in a large stock of provisions, which rose on his 
 hands, an act of Providence, as he said, to reward him 
 for his good intentions, but according to the popular 
 idea, another instance of his unfailing good luck. 
 
 He had a tomb constructed in his garden, and having 
 heard that some great man had had his coffin made dur 
 ing his life, he also caused a coffin to be made of ma 
 hogany, with silver handles, expensively lined, which he 
 kept in his house and used to exliibit to his guests. An 
 old gentleman has told me within a few days that he 
 remembers when a boy looking in at the window to 
 see it. 
 
 With no regular business, and restless, Dexter gave 
 himself up to his whims, was much of the time in a state 
 of intoxication, and was occasionally doing strange 
 things, of which many instances are given. Acting on 
 some impulse, he had a mock funeral. Some one was 
 procured to officiate as clergyman, cards were sent out 
 to invite the mourners, and Dexter watched the people 
 
110 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 to see how they were affected. He was satisfied with 
 all except that his wife did not shed so many tears as 
 he thought were becoming, for which, as the story is, he 
 caned her severely after the ceremony. Persons would 
 go to his house professing to be lords, and saying they 
 were desirous of paying their respects to one whose fame 
 had become so world-wide, whom he would receive with 
 consideration, and offer them the best he had to eat and 
 drink. Mr. Ladd, the well-known peace advocate, of 
 Portsmouth, used to describe such a visit. One of the 
 party told Dexter that this gentleman was one of the first 
 lords of England, and Dexter wished to know what the 
 king had said about him lately. A gentleman told me 
 recently he had often heard his father speak of a visit 
 made to Dexter with other young men, who asked for 
 the honor of crowning him. He consented, and they 
 placed him on a table full of liquor, and all had a ca 
 rousal. Only a few days ago a gentleman said to me 
 that one of his ancestors, a clergyman, called on him, 
 and after some conversation wished to offer a prayer, for 
 which permission was given. At the close, Dexter 
 turned to his son and said, "That was ad d good 
 prayer, wasn t it, Sam ? " 
 
 Wishing to extend his fame, he bought a country seat 
 in Chester, N.H., on which he spent considerable money 
 in ways to make a show, and called himself " Lord of 
 Chester." He often visited Hampton Beach, then as 
 now a favorite resort, and was delighted with the sensa 
 tion he made. At one time he was sent to the county 
 jail at Ipswich, for attempting to shoot a man in a 
 drunken frolic, and rode thither in his coach, boasting 
 that no one else had ever been carried there in that style. 
 
TIMOTHY DEXTER 111 
 
 He was accustomed to walk through the streets wearing 
 a cocked hat and long coat, and carrying a cane, fol 
 lowed by a peculiar-looking black dog with no hair; 
 and boys knowing his vanity would follow him and 
 salute him as " Lord Timothy Dexter," whom he would 
 reward by money, a scene which a few now living can 
 remember. 
 
 Newburyport at that time was a large market town, 
 and countrymen came from far with their market wagons 
 to buy and sell, and they all carried home wonderful 
 stories about Dexter, his great wealth, his house deco 
 rated with images, and his many strange acts. With but 
 few newspapers, and so much less than now to discuss, 
 it is not to be wondered at that his eccentricities should 
 have been so much talked about, and that people came 
 from a great distance simply to see him and his images. 
 
 Persuaded of his own greatness, and that he was 
 equal to any undertaking, like other eminent men, he 
 thought he must become an author, and so he wrote a 
 book called " Pickle for the Knowing Ones." It was a 
 small volume, with some sense and much nonsense 
 jumbled together. There were no punctuation marks, 
 and as this was commented upon, in the second edition 
 he placed at the end a page of different punctuation 
 marks with this note : 
 
 " Mister printer the Nowing ones complane of my 
 book the first edition had no stops I put in A Nuf here 
 and thay may peper and solt it as they plese." 
 
 He had thousands of copies printed, and gave them 
 away, and this, perhaps, more than any other one thing, 
 increased his notoriety. Even now there is a demand 
 for this little work, and though it has been reprinted 
 
112 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 several times, a short time ago its market price was a 
 dollar for what had cost but a few cents. He expresses 
 his views on many topics, and some of his remarks indi 
 cate shrewdness. He condemns the folly of Newbury- 
 port in being set off from Newbury with an area of only 
 six hundred acres, and within a few years it has been 
 reannexed to a large part of Newbury, from Dexter s 
 advice, or for some other reason. In speaking of the 
 ministers he says : " I suppose they are all good men, 
 but I want to Know why they do not agree better. 
 They are always at swords points, and will not enter 
 each other s houses, nor hardly nod to each other in the 
 street." This remark certainly would not indicate a 
 want of sense. 
 
 Having heard that the kings of England had a poet 
 laureate to sing their praises, Dexter thought he also 
 should have one, and he found him in the person of 
 Jonathan Plummer, a young man who had been a peddler 
 of fish, then of sermons, songs, and sheets on which 
 were printed horrible events, and who in the end turned 
 poet and sold his own verses. Dexter took him into his 
 service, gave him a suit of black livery ornamented with 
 stars, and crowned him with parsley, and, thus equipped, 
 the bard travelled around selling verses in praise of his 
 patron. A few stanzas from a long poem will illustrate 
 the character of his productions : 
 
 " Lord Dexter is a man of fame; 
 Most celebrated is his name ; 
 More precious far than gold that s pure, 
 Lord Dexter shines forever more. 
 
 " His noble house, it shines more bright 
 Than Lebanon s most pleasing height ; 
 
TIMOTHY DEXTER 113 
 
 Never was one who stepped therein 
 Who wanted to come out again. 
 
 " Lord Dexter, thou, whose name alone 
 Shines brighter than King George s throne ; 
 Thy name shall stand in books of fame, 
 And princes shall thy name proclaim. 
 
 44 Lord Dexter like King Solomon 
 Hath gold and silver by the ton, 
 And bells to churches he hath given 
 To worship the great King of heaven. 
 
 " In heaven may he always reign, 
 For there s no sorrow, sin, nor pain ; 
 Unto the world I leave the rest 
 For to pronounce Lord Dexter blest." 
 
 Dexter was superstitious, had a collection of dream 
 books, and was much governed by the advice of others. 
 He used often to consult a fortune-teller, Madam 
 Hooper, and after her decease, Moll Pitcher, a fortune 
 teller celebrated in the whole region around Lynn, her 
 home, both of whom knew how to make money out of 
 him. The one who had the most influence over him, 
 however, was Lucy Lancaster, a colored woman, whose 
 father was said to have been the son of an African prince. 
 She was shrewd, well-informed, well-disposed, and used 
 her power over him to restrain his excesses. She gave 
 him more credit for intellect than did most others, 
 saying that he was honest, and that his follies sprang in 
 a great degree from his uneasy nature and want of 
 regular employment. 
 
 But the great notoriety of Dexter, as has been stated, 
 is as a man who with poor judgment gained his wealth 
 by luck. Did he so gain it? 
 
114 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 There is no doubt that his first wealth was gained by 
 the exercise of his trade, in competition with skilled 
 workmen, and without ordinary business capacity it is 
 hard to understand how he could have succeeded. He 
 added to his wealth by marriage, and as this union is 
 the result of luck, or calculation, or love, which decided 
 it in his case is unknown. He certainly made a large 
 sum by his speculation in continental money, as did all 
 who bought it. In the case of Hancock and Russell, 
 this would be called shrewd foresight ; in Dexter it was 
 regarded as his luck. After he gave up his trade he 
 seems to have speculated in many ways, generally or 
 always, as is supposed, taking hints from others, as all 
 speculators do ; but it is hardly credible, from his early 
 history and constant success, that he did not reason 
 about his ventures. Kiiapp says : " Many who attempted 
 to take advantage of him got sadly deceived. He had 
 no small share of cunning, when all else seemed to have 
 departed from him. He by direct or indirect means 
 obtained correct opinions upon the value of goods and 
 lands, and seldom made an injudicious speculation." He 
 was in the habit of finding out what articles were scarce, 
 thus making what would now be called in Wall Street 
 parlance a " corner." The shrewdest Wall Street opera 
 tors fail Dexter seems never to have made a mistake. 
 He would transact no business when intoxicated, and 
 made his appointments for the forenoon, saying he was 
 always drunk in the afternoon. In buying he gave the 
 most foolish reasons to blind the seller, who thought he 
 was deceived when deceiving. He bought up such 
 articles as opium, of which it was easy at that period of 
 limited supply to secure most in the market. Knapp 
 
TIMOTHY DEXTER 115 
 
 says : " It often happened that shrewd merchants were 
 suspicious of selling him an article, apprehensive that it 
 was almost a sure sign that it was going to rise, 
 although they could see no reason for it." 
 
 Dexter s ostentation in so many foolish ways natu 
 rally caused a high estimate of his wealth, and much 
 curiosity how a man of his capacity could have gained 
 it. He seems to have been often questioned about it, 
 and in the " Pickle for the Knowing Ones " gives his 
 answer, which is quoted in full as a good illustration of 
 the style of the book. 
 
 44 How Did Dexter Make his Money ye says bying 
 whale bone for staing for ships in grosing three hundred 
 & 40 tons bort all in boston salum and all in Noue york 
 under Cover oppenly told them for my ships they all 
 laffed so I had at my own pris I had four Counning men 
 for Rounners thay found the home as I told them to act 
 the fool I was full of Cash I had nine tun of silver on 
 hand at that time all that time the Creators more or less 
 laffing it spread very fast here is the Rub in fifty days 
 they smelt a Rat found where it was gone to Nouebry 
 Port spekkelaters swarmed like hell houns to be short 
 with it I made seventey five per sent one tun and halfe 
 of silver on hand and over one more spect Drole a Nuf I 
 Dreamed of warming pans three nites that they would 
 doue in the west inges I got no more than fortey two 
 thousand put them in nine vessels for difrent ports that 
 tuck good hold I cleared sevinty nine per sent the pans 
 thay made yous of them for Coucking very good masser 
 for Couckey blessed good in Deade missey got nice 
 handel Now burn my fase the last thing I Ever see in 
 borne days I found I was very luckky in spekkelation I 
 
116 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 dreamed that the good book was Run Down in this 
 Countrey nine years gone so low as halfe prise and Dull 
 at that the bibel I means I had the Ready Cash by holl 
 sale I bort twelve per sent under halfe pris they Cost 
 fortey one sents Each bibbel twentey one thousand I put 
 them into twenty one vessels for the west inges and sent 
 a text that all of them must have one bibel in every 
 family or if not thay would goue to hell and if thay had 
 Dun wiked flie to the bibel and on thare Neas and kiss 
 the bibel three times and look up to heaven aunest for 
 forgivness my Capttains all had Compleat orders here 
 Comes the good luck I made one hundred per sent & 
 littel over then I found I had made money enuf I 
 hant spekalated sence old time by government securities 
 I made or cleared forty seven thousands Dolors that is 
 the old afare Now I toald the all the sekrett Now be still 
 let me A lone Dont wonder Noe more houe I made my 
 money boas." 
 
 It would be difficult to condense into the same space 
 more improbable statements than are found in this ex 
 planation of how Dexter made his money, as a little ex 
 amination will show. 
 
 The first speculation named is that of whalebone. The 
 year is not stated, so that it is not possible to give the 
 amount in the country and the price at that date, which 
 have greatly varied at different periods. The amount 
 in the country in 1830 was 120,000 Ibs. ; the maximum 
 quantity was 5,652,300 Ibs. in 1853. The price is now 
 $2 a pound ; within three years it has been $3 a pound ; 
 and I have heard of sales as low as eight cents, the price 
 of course varying with the demand and supply. Three 
 hundred and forty-two tons would be in the old reckon- 
 
TIMOTHY DEXTER 117 
 
 ing 761,600 Ibs., costing at the highest price given over 
 two millions of dollars, and at the lowest over 60,000 
 dollars. It is not probable that this quantity was in the 
 country nearly a century ago, nor that it could have 
 found a market, as the demand for it has always been 
 limited. Dexter never could have bought this quantity 
 except at the lowest price, and even that is doubtful, as 
 will be shown later. The tradition is that as soon as he 
 had purchased it the fashion for broad skirts was intro 
 duced, and it was all in demand. How far a ton of 
 whalebone would go in satisfying the expansive desires 
 of the ladies of that time, the writer has no data for a 
 calculation. Most of them, however, were practical, 
 hard-working, and economical, from necessity ; merely 
 fashionable ladies were rare, and visits to Newport and 
 Saratoga unknown. As to the foolish reason for the 
 purchase, it was characteristic in him to give it if he 
 wished to buy. 
 
 He says he had nine tons of silver on hand, which 
 would be worth in round numbers $300,000, a sum 
 which he never could have commanded, as will be shown 
 farther on. It was just after the commencement of our 
 government, when hard money was scarce, and most of 
 it foreign, as we had coined but little before the day of 
 safety vaults, and banks were few. If one had had such 
 a large amount of coin, where could he safely have de 
 posited it? Who ever dared to keep such an amount in 
 a private house ? 
 
 His next most noted speculation was in sending 
 42,000 warming pans to the West Indies. No hard 
 ware was made in this country until a little more than 
 half a century ago, and all the warming-pans in use 
 
118 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 came from Great Britain. The amount named would 
 have cost about $150,000, to be paid for in hard money, 
 as bills of exchange were then but little used. Such an 
 importation and exportation would have required months 
 of time, and would have made a sensation indeed, for, 
 though common, a large part of the families had none, 
 and they are now rare as old curiosities. Is it possible, 
 rating his intelligence very low, that, if he had attempted 
 such a speculation, he would not have been persuaded 
 of its folly long before he could have executed it ? Ex 
 cept for the purpose for which they were made, they are 
 of no value. Dexter says they were sold in the West 
 Indies as cooking utensils, but a glance shows how in 
 convenient they would be for such use. The tradition 
 is that they were sold to dip and strain molasses, but they 
 are poorly adapted to this, and nearly a century ago, when 
 sugar plantations were few in the West Indies, but a 
 small part of 42,000 would have satisfied any such de 
 mand. Did any visitor to the West Indies ever see or 
 hear of one of these 42,000 warming-pans ? 
 
 Of all his speculations the Bible venture seems most 
 improbable. If there was an over-supply, they would 
 be English Bibles, sent to a Roman Catholic country, 
 where Bibles are but little circulated, to a Spanish speak 
 ing people that could not read them, and of course could 
 not be made to understand their terrible destiny if they 
 did not buy one. 
 
 There is another speculation often spoken of, and men 
 tioned by Mrs. Smith in her " History of Newburyport," 
 but which Dexter does not give in his " Pickle for the 
 Knowing Ones," a consignment of mittens to the West 
 Indies, which were bought at a large advance by a vessel 
 
TIMOTHY DEXTER 119 
 
 bound for the Baltic. It is enough to say of this that 
 wool and labor have always been cheaper in the North 
 of Europe than here, and there has never been a time 
 since 1492 when mittens could have been shipped there 
 from America at a profit. The sale of this article is 
 limited everywhere, as the supply from lady friends usu 
 ally equals every demand. If one consignment of mit 
 tens, or of any other article in which Dexter was so 
 fortunate, could yield such a return, why did not some 
 other Yankee, taking the hint, repeat the venture ? 
 
 All these professed importations and exportations 
 would naturally have been made at Newburyport, where 
 Dexter lived, and which had a large trade with the West 
 Indies ; yet the collector of customs of that place has 
 told me that the books of the custom house contain no 
 evidence of any such transactions. Every old person in 
 Newburyport with whom I have conversed has accepted 
 all these stories, yet could give no foundation for them 
 except the common belief. If Dexter dealt in warming- 
 pans and the other articles named at all, it was probably 
 in small quantities, as he would have dealt in other arti 
 cles in common demand, to make a little " corner," and, 
 to conceal his object, he would give the most foolish 
 reason. The only direct evidence I can find is Dexter s 
 own word, and he professes to tell a " secret," when such 
 large and unusual speculations could not have taken 
 place without general knowledge and discussion. Knapp 
 says : " Tricks without malice made up the great amuse 
 ment of his latter days. He devised it in the morning 
 and cherished it at night, and no doubt it filled his 
 dreams." The only satisfactory explanation, then, of 
 these stories which Dexter tells to those inquiring minds 
 
120 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 so anxious to learn the secret how he made his money, 
 is that they were the creation of his own brain, a great 
 joke worthy of Mark Twain, successfully imposed on the 
 community, that instead of being the fool he is com 
 monly regarded, he fooled others. 
 
 The inventory of Dexter s estate, taken from the Pro 
 bate Office, is as follows : 
 
 Real Estate .... 112,000 00 
 Personal Estate . . . 15,500 00 
 Goods 7,527 39 
 
 $35,027 39 
 
 This small estate shows how largely Dexter s wealth 
 was overestimated, and how improbable are the state 
 ments of transactions calling for such large sums as have 
 been named. He was sharp in all his business affairs, 
 and spent but little except to gratify his vanity and his 
 passion for drink. A little money in those days of small 
 means and great economy made much show, and it is 
 doubtful if he ever could have been worth as much as 
 $75,000. There is no reason to believe he ever had any 
 serious losses ; this would be contrary to the tradition 
 that he was always a lucky fool. All the business opera 
 tions of which we have any knowledge seem to have been 
 marked by good sense. He was interested in public 
 affairs, and gave judiciously, but not largely, to objects 
 of charity. He took one hundred shares and was the 
 largest stockholder in the new bridge over the Merri- 
 mack, at Deer Island, now the attractive home of Rich 
 ard S. and Harriet Prescott Spofford, and at its opening, 
 July 4, 1793, delivered an oration which one of the 
 
TIMOTHY DEXTER 121 
 
 newspapers of that day, thrusting greatness on Timothy 
 Dexter as they have done on many a Dexter since, pro 
 nounced " for elegance of style, propriety of speech, and 
 force of argument, truly Ciceronian." And it may be 
 stated that these shares are all the stocks named in his 
 will, or in the inventory of his estate. It has been said 
 that his motive for putting up the images was to make 
 the new bridge a paying investment by drawing travel 
 over it and past his house, and he wrote some newspaper 
 articles against other proposed bridges. He gave a bell 
 to one of the churches, and sums to the other churches 
 to be used in benevolence. A gift was made to St. 
 Paul s Church on condition that a tablet should perpet 
 uate it, and there it hangs to-day with gilt letters, a 
 monument of his vanity and of his shrewdness in so ingen 
 iously perpetuating his name. He offered to pave High 
 Street if it should be called by his name, and to build a 
 market house for the use of the town with a similar con 
 dition. Both objects were much needed, and he showed 
 far better judgment in the offer than did the town in its 
 rejection. 
 
 His family, mainly his own fault, was not a happy 
 one. His only son was allowed to spend money as he 
 pleased, was sent to Europe, and had every opportunity 
 for improvement ; but, as might be expected, he became 
 dissipated, a prodigal, and died a drunkard one year after 
 his father. His only daughter, with some beauty but a 
 feeble intellect, was sought on account of her reputed 
 wealth, and married a judge, who soon became tired of 
 her, and obtained a divorce, with or without reason, and 
 sent her home an imbecile, with confirmed habits of in 
 toxication. A child of this daughter married respecta- 
 
122 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 bly, but died early, and with the death of the daughter, 
 about 1850, the family became extinct. 
 
 A lady in Newburyport has a portrait of Dexter, 
 taken by an artist in New Haven, where his daughter 
 had married. He is represented dressed as a gentleman 
 of that day, wearing a wig, a ruffled bosom, and ruffled 
 wristbands, and his face certainly indicates no lack of 
 intelligence. 
 
 He died Oct. 26, 180(3, his death caused or hastened 
 by intemperate habits. His will was judicious. He 
 provided carefully for his family and others having 
 natural claims on him, and made some sensible bequests, 
 among them $2,000 to Newburyport, the income to be 
 expended for the poor, and $2,000 for the support of the 
 gospel, and $300 for a bell to his native town, Maiden. 
 He requested to be buried in the tomb he had con 
 structed in his garden, but the board of health inter 
 fered, and he rests with his follies in the cemetery close 
 to the beautiful mall. On the plain stone over his grave 
 is the following inscription : 
 
 IN MEMORY OF TIMOTHY DEXTER 
 WHO DIED OCT. 26, 1806, 
 /ETATIS 60. 
 
 HE GAVE LIBERAL DONATIONS 
 
 FOR THE SUPPORT OF THE GOSPEL; 
 
 FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE POOR, 
 
 AND FOR OTHER BENEVOLENT PURPOSES. 
 
 Near his grave are those of his wife, who died July 3, 
 
TIMOTHY DEXTER. 123 
 
 1809, aged 72, and of his son, who died July 20, 1807, 
 aged 36. 
 
 The images remained as at Dexter s decease until the 
 great gale in 1815 blew down most of them, which were 
 sold by auction for a small sum. The three presidents 
 on the arch, however, occupied their place till about 
 1850, attracting much attention, and keeping alive the 
 old curiosity about the former eccentric owner. 
 
 The house was used as a hotel and the home of the 
 daughter till her death, and with the grounds was 
 neglected. It was then bought by a gentleman of good 
 taste, the late Dr. E. G. Kelley, who greatly improved 
 the buildings and grounds, and sold it to the Hon. 
 George H. Corliss, who made it one of the most attractive 
 homes of the city. The eagle on the top remains, the 
 last of Dexter s images. 
 
 The heirs of Mr. Corliss sold the property to Mr. and 
 Mrs. Alexander B. Johnson, the last owners up to 1900, 
 who were both lost in the sad burning of the Windsor 
 Hotel at New York. 
 
KNAPP S LIFE OF TIMOTHY DEXTER 
 
 THE life of Timothy Dexter, now a very rare book, 
 was written by Samuel L. Knapp, a graduate of Dart 
 mouth College, class of 1804, a lawyer and one of the 
 best-known literary men of his time. Knapp settled in 
 Newburyport as a lawyer in 1808, only two years after 
 Dexter died and when his notoriety was at its height, and 
 was in a position to learn all that could be known about 
 him. He had seen Dexter, and in the preface states : 
 " All the dramatis persons were well known to me, and 
 were the subjects of my particular study," and that he 
 wrote his book from "memoranda made many years 
 ago/ His account of Dexter is that he was appren 
 ticed as a leather-dresser in Charlestown ; that he com 
 menced business for himself in that town at twenty-one ; 
 that he soon after married a widow Frothingham, who 
 had some property and aided him by keeping a huck 
 ster s shop ; that by industry and fortunate speculations 
 in continental money, state securities, etc., etc., taking 
 hints from Governor Hancock and Thomas Russell, the 
 most eminent merchant of that day, he became rich ; 
 that, failing to receive the social standing of these men 
 to which he thought himself entitled, he sought a new 
 home where he would be better appreciated, and came 
 to Newburyport, " bought two palaces," one of which 
 
 124 
 
KNAPP S LIFE OF TIMOTHY DEXTER 125 
 
 (now the public library building) he occupied for a 
 short time, and then moved to the other, which he elabo 
 rately decorated with images, etc., etc. Knapp narrates, 
 also, all the well-known speculations by which Dexter, 
 in his " Pickle for the Knowing Ones," explains how he 
 made his money, as of undoubted accuracy, and his 
 statements have always been so received, even in 
 Newburyport. 
 
 In the article on Dexter in the October number of the 
 " Register," 1886, the writer gave reasons why the oft- 
 repeated speculations could only be regarded as Dexter s 
 lies, or jokes, but the main events of his life were as 
 sumed to be as Knapp gave them. An examination, 
 however, shows that even here the Life is full of errors. 
 
 Mr. O. P. Dexter, of New York City, has traced out 
 very carefully the genealogy of the Dexter family, and 
 I am indebted to him for calling my attention to the 
 many errors in " Knapp s Life." In a communication, he 
 says : " Timothy Dexter, son of Nathan and Esther 
 (Brintnall) Dexter, was born at Maiden, Mass., Jan. 22, 
 1746-7. I have never seen any proof that he lived in 
 Charlestown. If any one will examine the land records 
 of Exeter, N.H., he will find that Stephen Noyes of 
 Hampstead mortgaged land at Chester to Jonathan Mul- 
 liken and Timothy Dexter, 4 leather dresser, of Newbury 
 port, March 16, 1T70. He married, May, 1770, later 
 than the mortgage above given, Elizabeth, widow of 
 Benjamin Frothingham, and daughter of Deacon John 
 and Abigail (Gilman) Lord, of Exeter, N.H. Mr. Ben 
 jamin Frothingham seems to have died at Newburyport, 
 so the marriage of Timothy Dexter probably took place 
 at Newburyport, Newbury, or Exeter. The land records 
 
126 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 of Exeter mention Timothy Dexter as of Newburyport 
 in 1779, 1780, 1784, 1786, 1787, 1790, 1795." These 
 dates, it will be seen, cover nearly all the business life of 
 Dexter. 
 
 I have had the land records of Salem examined, and 
 they show that, Jan. 2, 1770, a deed was given by Will 
 iam Wyer, mariner, to " Timothy Dexter of Newbury 
 port, leather dresser, for 59 pounds 8 shillings," and at 
 different later dates are many conveyances, in which 
 Dexter is styled " leather dresser," then " trader," " mer 
 chant," and " gentleman," rising in dignity with in 
 crease of wealth, though the last designation seems a 
 strange misnomer. 
 
 I have in my possession an indenture dated Feb. 9, 
 1785, by which " Timothy Dexter of Newburport, leather 
 dresser," covenants to sell his interest in " four undivided 
 fifth parts of a certain dwelling house, barn, and of the 
 land under, adjoining and belonging thereto, and also 
 all the said Timothy s right, title and interest in and to 
 certain three acres of land, all the premises being situate 
 in Exeter, in the County of Rockingham and State of 
 New Hampshire, and being the whole estate that was 
 taken by an execution issued on a judgment recovered 
 by said Timothy against Daniel Gilman of the same Exe 
 ter leather dresser ... on payment of the sum of 
 two hundred and thirty-three pounds lawful money of 
 the State of Massachusetts, &c." 
 
 This indenture was signed by the two parties to it, 
 Timothy Dexter and Samuel Sawyer, and also by the 
 celebrated Theophilus Parsons as a witness, who wrote 
 the paper. 
 
 At the earliest dates above given, Dexter was only 
 
KNAPP S LIFE OF TIMOTHY DEXTER 127 
 
 twenty-three years of age, yet he had been in business 
 long enough to invest in real estate, not only in New- 
 buryport but also in New Hampshire. There can be no 
 room to question, then, that though he may have learned 
 his trade in Charlestown, he commenced business at 
 Newburyport, and that all his money was made there. 
 I remember a few years ago an old gentleman told me 
 that his father was associated with Dexter, and related 
 anecdotes of him when poor, and living in an humble 
 way as a leather dresser in one of the poor sections of 
 the town, which I could not reconcile with " Knapp s 
 Life." 
 
 The Dexter, then, of " Knapp s Life " and of common 
 belief, the fool who made his money by senseless specu 
 lations that always turned out well, is a fiction. There 
 is not the least evidence in support of his stories but his 
 own word. He was not in a position to get hints from 
 Governor Hancock and Russell, and he never had the 
 wealth to engage in large operations, for his estate at 
 his decease was valued at only $35,000, of which his 
 real estate was $12,000. 
 
 The real Dexter, with all his folly, acquired his prop 
 erty as other people do by prudence, industry, and 
 business sagacity, which gave him a fortune for that pe 
 riod. Towards the close of his life, his vanity, igno 
 rance, and drunken habits led him into foolish display 
 and eccentricities, and to increase the wonder he told the 
 stories that have given him such wide and peculiar noto 
 riety, and which have been so strangely credited. As a 
 man he was worthless, and only deserves the space de 
 voted to him as an example of erroneous biography and 
 tradition, of which so much still remains accepted. 
 
GEN. NATHANIEL PEABODY 
 
 OF ATKINSON, N.H. 
 
 NATHANIEL PEABODY was born at Topsfield, Mass., 
 March 1, 1741. He was the son of Dr. Jacob Peabody, 
 who removed to- Leo minster in 1745, and died there in 
 1758. His mother, Susanna, was the daughter of the 
 Rev. John Rogers, for thirty years minister of Boxford, 
 Mass., and tenth in descent from John Rogers, the 
 martyr of Smithfield. 
 
 Young Peabody never attended school a day, but all 
 his education, both academical and medical, was received 
 from his father, who must have been a man of large ac 
 quirements. He studied and practised with his father 
 till he was eighteen years of age, when his father died. 
 At the age of twenty he went to Atkinson, then a part 
 of Plaistow, and established himself as a physician. 
 He soon gained a high reputation in his profession, and 
 many young men came to him for instruction, for there 
 were no professional schools at that period, and students 
 became pupils with some one of reputation in the 
 desired profession. March 1, 1763, he married Abigail, 
 daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Follansbee) Little, born 
 Sept. 15, 1745. 
 
 He soon became active outside of his profession, and 
 interested in all town, State, and national affairs. The 
 
 128 
 
GEN. NATHANIEL PEABODY 129 
 
 people of Atkinson wished to form a separate township, 
 and a petition was presented to the Legislature " May ye 
 20, 1766," that the westerly part of Plaistow be set off 
 as a town. The name of Nathaniel Peabody was first 
 on the petition, which he probably wrote, and the reason 
 seems strange to us now, who live in such degenerate 
 days as the official head of the State portrays for New 
 Hampshire. The petition urges that the request may 
 be granted, " By reason of the many and great difficul 
 ties they undergo in attending the Public Worship of 
 God at the Meeting House where it now stands, through 
 the great distance of their dwellings therefrom, and 
 that tne Meeting House is not large enough to accom 
 modate more than one-half of the inhabitants of said 
 town." 
 
 The petition was granted, for such a weighty reason 
 could not be disregarded by our church-going fore 
 fathers, and the town was incorporated Aug. 28, 1767, 
 and named for Theodore Atkinson, a prominent man of 
 the State, and a large landholder in the town. 
 
 Dr. Peabody early formed the acquaintance of many 
 of the leading men of the State, and April 30, 1771, 
 was commissioned by Gov. John Wentworth as Justice of 
 the Peace and Quorum, a far more important office then 
 than now. He developed, too, a taste for military ser 
 vice, and Oct. 27, 1774, was appointed lieutenant-colonel 
 of the 7th regiment. He was a candidate for the Legis 
 lature in 1774, and his friends thought he would have 
 been chosen at a fair election, and petitioned in vain for 
 another trial. 
 
 The first New Hampshire Provincial Congress, or 
 Assembly, met at Exeter, July 21, 1774, and the second 
 
130 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 Jan. 25, 1775. Nathaniel Peabody was a member of 
 both. 
 
 The struggle between the colonies and the mother 
 country was now approaching, and Colonel Peabody did 
 not hesitate as to his duty. He is said to have been the 
 first officer in the State to resign his commission in the 
 king s service. He joined John Sullivan, John Lang- 
 don, Josiah Bartlett, and others in December, 1774, who 
 made the attack on Fort William and Mary, cap 
 tured the captain and five men, one hundred barrels of 
 powder, fifteen cannon, all the small arms and other 
 stores, and carried them into the country. This was the 
 first act of armed hostilities in the colonies, and if there 
 had been resistance New Hampshire and Portsmouth 
 would have had the honor of shedding the first blood for 
 American Independence, and not Massachusetts and Lex 
 ington. The powder thus seized did good service at Bun 
 ker Hill, where the failure of ammunition obliged our 
 soldiers to retreat. Nor was it alone New Hampshire 
 powder that was so effective at Bunker Hill. My friend 
 Colonel Gilmore, of Manchester, has shown that two- 
 thirds of the soldiers in that engagement were from 
 New Hampshire. New Hampshire men are so modest 
 as not to have dwelt enough on the seizure of Fort 
 William and Mary, and their part in the Bunker Hill 
 engagement and the credit due the Granite State. 
 
 Soon after the struggle for independence began the 
 Continental Congress sent out a request " That all 
 patriotic citizens should pledge themselves to risk their 
 lives and fortunes against British aggression," and 
 what was called the " Association Test " was circulated 
 by order of the Committee of Safety. Every citizen of 
 
GEN. NATHANIEL PEABODY 131 
 
 * 
 
 Atkinson over twenty-one years of age at once signed 
 the pledge. It was signed by Colonel Peabody, and he 
 was one of the selectmen of the town who certified to 
 the list of signers, Sept. 25, 1776. 
 
 In November, 1776, a convention of some forty towns 
 of New Hampshire and Massachusetts was held at the 
 house of Joseph Varnum, of Dracut, Mass., to see 
 about the currency and the high price of the necessities 
 of life. Colonel Peabody was a delegate from Atkin 
 son, was made clerk of the convention, and was one of 
 the most active members. It was claimed that the 
 " honest mechanic and laborer were much distressed by 
 the extortion of the trader and farmer, whereby many 
 good and valuable men are discouraged from engaging 
 in the service of the States, to the great damage of the 
 continental army, upon which under God the future 
 safety and well being of these States very much depend." 
 Two committees were appointed to petition the States of 
 New Hampshire and Massachusetts to act in the matter. 
 Colonel Peabody was one of the two named to prepare 
 the reports, and he wrote the one addressed to the Legis 
 lature of Massachusetts which was adopted for New 
 Hampshire. It would seem veiy strange now to our 
 granger friends to hear complaints of the extortion of 
 the farmer, and a demand that his products must be sold 
 at a price fixed by law. 
 
 The condition of the currency at this time was very 
 unsatisfactory, and for years following, all over the 
 country, and the demand was urgent for an issue of 
 paper money. A few years after the Dracut convention, a 
 petition was presented to the New Hampshire Legislature, 
 from Atkinson, without a doubt written by Colonel 
 
132 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 Peabody, in which the subject is discussed after the 
 manner of the greenback advocates of a modern date, 
 and fully as ably. The following is an extract : " Silver 
 and gold have taken wings, and flown to the other side 
 of the Atlantic, without leaving a substitute, or even 
 its shadow ; besides which, to support the late war the 
 private debts of individuals have been in many cases 
 augmented people are called upon to pay large taxes 
 in gold and silver which are not to be had neither the 
 United States, nor this State, have a single shilling to 
 call money, but for which they are indebted to foreigners 
 the silver and gold heretofore in circulation in this 
 State being English, French, Spanish, Portugal, or other 
 foreign coin. . . . Therefore the said inhabitants 
 beg leave to suggest as their opinion and request the 
 Hon. Court cause to be issued 250,000 pounds, lawful 
 money, to be emitted in paper bills." The committee of 
 the Legislature made a report which was not satisfactory 
 to Atkinson, which voted that it preferred its own plan 
 to that of the Legislature. It is to the credit of New 
 Hampshire that it voted against any plan to issue paper 
 money in payment of private contracts, though money 
 was so scarce and hard to obtain. Mesheah Weare 
 wrote to Colonel Peabody, March 28, 1780 : " The price 
 of a cow is 12 or 1300 dollars, 40 dollars for a bushel of 
 corn, 80 dollars for rye, 100 pounds for broadcloth, 50 to 
 100 dollars for linen, and is still daily rising." 
 
 Colonel Peabody was elected a member of the house 
 returned to sit at Exeter, Dec. 18, 1776. December 20, 
 he was appointed one of a committee to report upon a 
 petition from the Dracut convention concerning the 
 regulation of trade and the price of the "necessities of 
 
GEN. NATHANIEL PEABODY 133 
 
 life." The committee brought in a bill to fix the max 
 imum price, and a fine for its violation, but no action 
 seems to have been taken on it. 
 
 Jan. 1, 1777, he was appointed on a committee "to 
 draw up and bring in a bill for the trial and punishment 
 of persons who shall by any misbehavior in word or 
 deed be adjudged inimical to the liberty and freedom of 
 the states of America (not within the act against treason) 
 and directing how judgments thereon shall be executed. 
 
 Jan. 6, 1777, he was appointed on a committee to re 
 port " how and in what manner the officers taken in prize 
 vessels shall be removed from Portsmouth and distributed 
 in different parts of the State." 
 
 Jan. 10, 1777, he was appointed a member of the Com 
 mittee of Safety, with such men as Mesheah Weare and 
 Josiah Bartlett. This committee was appointed by the 
 General Assembly of New Hampshire, March 9, 1775, and 
 was the real executive of the State during the war, with 
 power to transact all business during the recess of the 
 Legislature, and was one of the most important positions 
 of the State, given only to men of trust and influence. 
 Its first president was Mesheah Weare. 
 
 July 18, 1777, Colonel Peabody was appointed with 
 Josiah Bartlett to attend a convention at Springfield to 
 act on paper money with delegates from other States, and 
 in the same month was made Adjutant-General of the 
 State. 
 
 Aug. 23, 1777, he was ordered with Josiah Bartlett 
 "to repair to Bennington to look after the sick and 
 wounded in General Stark s regiment, and to consult 
 with General Stark on future operations, and give an 
 exact account of the late action with British troops." 
 
134 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 Dec. 26, 1777, he was chosen by ballot to go to New 
 Haven with Jonathan Blanchard, to meet commissioners 
 from other States Jan. 15, 1778, " to endeavor a reg 
 ulation of trade and the price of labor agreeable to the 
 5th article of the Continental Congress of Nov. 22 
 last." To show the importance attached to this conven 
 tion, men like Roger Sherman were members. 
 
 Colonel Peabody was a member of the house in 1778. 
 In August of that year a brigade was sent to Rhode 
 Island to operate in connection with the French fleet in 
 driving the enemy from that State. It was commanded 
 by Gen. Wm. Whipple, a signer of the Declaration of 
 Independence, and Colonel Peabody was adjutant- 
 general of the brigade. His name is also given as one 
 of the thirteen volunteers from Atkinson, agreeably to 
 a requisition of the Committee of Safety, and an order 
 was given on the Receiver General to pay him .130, or 
 X10 for each volunteer. 
 
 Colonel Peabody was chosen to the Legislature in 1779, 
 but March 25 was elected a delegate to Congress, and 
 took his seat June 22. He at once took an active part 
 in legislation, and his abilities were recognized. He 
 was made chairman of the medical committee, for which 
 his profession so well qualified him, a committee of 
 special importance at that period of the war. The high 
 price of provisions and the depreciation of the currency 
 were the cause of general complaint, and Colonel Pea- 
 body and John Langdon were appointed commissioners 
 from New Hampshire, Nov. 6, 1779, to meet com 
 missioners from other States at Philadelphia to consult 
 on a remedy, several conventions having already been held 
 for the same purpose in different parts of the country. 
 
GEN. NATHANIEL PEABODY 135 
 
 The winter of 1779-80 was the darkest time of the 
 American Revolution. Bancroft says of it: "Every 
 department of the army was without money or credit, 
 and had been unpaid for five months at the beginning 
 of 1780. For a long time the troops had from one-half 
 to one-eighth rations of meat, and sometimes had none. 
 The credit of Congress was exhausted there was no 
 regularity in the supplies. Sometimes the army was 
 without bread for five or six days, at other times without 
 m eat and at times for two or three days with neither. 
 Continental money was 30 to 1." 
 
 Lafayette wrote to his wife : " No European army 
 would suffer a tenth of what the American troops 
 suffer." 
 
 Washington wrote : " For a fortnight past both officers 
 and men have been almost perishing from want. They 
 have been alternately without bread or meat the whole 
 time, with a scant allowance of either, and frequently 
 destitute of both." It was reported that the medical 
 department had no sugar, coffee, tea, chocolate, nor 
 spirituous liquors of any kind. 
 
 Impressed with the gravity of the situation, Congress 
 voted to send a committee of its members to the quarters 
 of the army at Morristown, to consult with General 
 Washington and other officers, and plan and execute any 
 schemes that might reduce expenses, provide for the sus 
 tenance of the army, and generally promote its efficiency. 
 The committee was elected by ballot, April 13, 1780, 
 and choice was made of Philip Schuyler of New York, 
 John Mathews of South Carolina, and Nathaniel Peabody 
 of New Hampshire. To have been elected a member of 
 so important a committee indicates his prominence and 
 
136 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 the confidence placed in him. The Peabody papers, con 
 sisting of letters to and from Colonel Peabody, found in 
 an old junk shop, and now the property of the New 
 Hampshire Historical Society, give much information 
 concerning this critical period. In a letter to Mesheah 
 Weare at this time, he spoke of his fatigue and anxiety 
 as impairing his health, but hopes that prosperity will soon 
 give him relaxation, and remedy every evil. He wrote : 
 " I sensibly feel for ye distress of ye citizens, and of them 
 in particular, for they have undertaken a great and cour 
 ageous work. I wish them to be strong and courageous, 
 and the Lord shall prosper them." 
 
 In a letter to Congress dated May 28, 1780, in regard 
 to the investigation of the committee chosen to visit the 
 army, he wrote : u ln the letter of the 9th instant to Con 
 gress, we observed that, if the spirit of discontent then 
 prevailing among the soldiers should fully establish itself, 
 it would produce the most serious consequences. The 
 causes which contributed to the first rise of dissatisfac 
 tion continuing have increased and ripened into mutiny. 
 Two entire regiments of Conn, line paraded on Tues 
 day evening, with their arms, accoutrements, and packs, 
 intending to march off, and return home. They com 
 plained of inability any longer to endure the torture 
 of famine and the variety of distress they experienced. 
 The brave, patriotic, and virtuous band of 
 officers have given up their rations to the soldiery, and 
 submitted literally to bread and water as their only sus 
 tenance." 
 
 In a letter to Col. Josiah Bartlett, dated at Morris- 
 town Aug. 6, 1780, he wrote : " The whole dependence of 
 our army for success has not been for a long time the 
 
GEN. NATHANIEL PEABODY 137 
 
 real weakness of America, but ruining our finances, 
 which is well nigh completed, and on our not having an 
 army properly established in the field. It might not be 
 improper to observe in this place, that the usual calcula 
 tions in all armies are that a much greater proportion of 
 men die from sickness within the first four months of 
 camp life than for four years after that term has ex 
 pired." He was opposed to short enlistments, but wished 
 all to be for the war. He compliments New Hampshire : 
 " I cannot conclude without mentioning the high sense I 
 entertain of the honor and merit due that State for its 
 decisive and spirited exertions at this critical and alarm 
 ing juncture. It is confessed by many that no other 
 State in the Union has a claim to higher, if there is one 
 to equal, merit with the State of New Hampshire upon 
 this occasion." 
 
 There were complaints made in regard to General 
 Greene, so that he intended to resign, and Colonel Pea- 
 body wrote him a letter dated Morristown, Sept. 18, 
 1780, to dissuade him from such a step. He said : " I 
 have the satisfaction of knowing that I fully joined with 
 my colleagues in representing to Congress the probable 
 consequences of your resignation, and of making a 
 change of men and measures at so late a period of the 
 campaign, and have shared largely in the honor of being 
 censured for giving out sentiments upon the subject." 
 The judgment of history has been that General Greene 
 was next to Washington the ablest general of the Rev 
 olutionary War. He was soon after appointed general 
 of the South, and had a large share in the movements 
 that forced the surrender of Cornwallis and the close 
 of the war. It reflected much credit on Colonel Peabody 
 
138 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 that he sustained General Greene, and won his friend 
 ship. 
 
 The report of the committee excited much opposition 
 in Congress, and its members were severely censured. 
 In regard to which Colonel Peabody wrote : " Do you 
 imagine a sacrifice of three men only could by any means 
 expiate the sins of those who have begun to crucify them 
 for no other fault than speaking the truth, and of en 
 deavoring upon just principles to promote the situation 
 of a distressed sinking country ? Though I should highly 
 esteem the good will and opinion of Congress, and should 
 place the approbation of my fellow citizens among my 
 choicest treasures, yet neither the frowns nor flattery of 
 the former, nor the expectation of applause from the 
 latter, nor any other consideration whatever, shall in any 
 circumstance of life induce me to censure, or approve, 
 men or measures contrary to my real sentiments." 
 
 In a letter to Richard Henry Lee, dated Morristown, 
 Oct. 7, 1780, he wrote : " I cannot quit the subject 
 without congratulating you, my dear sir, on the appoint 
 ment of Major-General Greene to the command of the 
 Southern Army. That gentleman s great abilities in the 
 field, his extensive knowledge of the various depart 
 ments in the army, gives him the advantage of almost any 
 other general officer in America in restoring immediately 
 to order and system an army and its officers, which at 
 present are almost without form and void. But, alas ! of 
 what avail will be the exertions of the greatest generals 
 unless aided with men, money, and other necessary sup 
 plies ? In the present deranged situation of our public 
 affairs can this aid be furnished ? Our treasury is empty, 
 our military and ordnance stores in that quarter are much 
 
GEN. NATHANIEL PEABODY 139 
 
 exhausted, and I fear the resources of the country, under 
 its present embarrassments, will prove incompetent for 
 those other supplies. Your zeal and exertion in the cause 
 of our distressed country on every former occasion for 
 bids my mentioning a single argument to induce your 
 utmost efforts in the present alarming conjuncture." 
 
 In our gratitude to the fathers of the Republic we are 
 inclined to think that those then in military and legis 
 lative positions were too great patriots to have aught at 
 heart but the good of the country. The student of 
 history, however, is aware that there were divisions in 
 counsel, and the same rivalry and jealousy so manifest 
 in our late war. 
 
 General Greene wrote to Colonel Peabody, Sept. 6, 
 1780, in regard to the work of the committee: "You 
 have your day of difficulty as well as I. Congress seems 
 to have got more out of temper with the committee than 
 with me, and, I am told, charge a great part of the diffi 
 culties upon the committee that have taken place between 
 them and me. . . . The committee stand fair with 
 the army, and I believe we are altogether indebted to 
 the committee for the tolerable state we are in. I am 
 made very unhappy by your long and obstinate sickness. 
 When you left the army we were in hopes it was only a 
 slight touch of a fever, which a relaxation and recess from 
 business would soon remove ; but, to my sorrow, we hear 
 you are still persecuted with an intermittent fever, which 
 threatens you with a long confinement. You have my 
 prayers for your speedy recovery, as well from motives 
 of private friendship as for the public good." 
 
 Richard Henry Lee wrote to him in approval of his 
 course in Congress, Nov. 2, 1779 : " Though not per- 
 
140 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 sonally acquainted with you, I hope I shall be par 
 doned for this letter. I have seen the proceedings of 
 Congress in a late affair, and I have observed N.H. sup 
 porting the cause of virtue against a powerful, and not 
 less artful and wicked, cabal, aiming at the public injury 
 through the sides of its faithful servant; and I have 
 been particularly informed, sir, of your very worthy 
 support of a character that has not deserved the treat 
 ment he has met with. New Hampshire has long been 
 celebrated for its spirit, and it has now on an extraordi 
 nary occasion, when powerful efforts were made to 
 debauch and mislead, proved its title to still higher 
 qualities of wisdom and virtue. There was a wicked 
 cabal in Congress that sought to ruin General Greene 
 and other men that were an honor to the country, and 
 whose services were specially valuable." 
 
 John Langdon wrote to him in complimentary terms. 
 Washington, also, thanked him for valuable information, 
 and expressed an interest in his health. A perusal of 
 the Peabody correspondence, and all that we know of his 
 course in Congress, seem to reflect much credit on him 
 and his State ; and of all his services his active support 
 of General Greene, when such powerful influences were 
 used to remove him from the army, was one of the most 
 important. 
 
 But his health had long been impaired, and he was 
 anxious to return home, and resigned Nov. 9, 1780. 
 He soon, however, became again active in State affairs ; 
 was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention called 
 to meet at Concord, June 5, 1781, and was chairman of 
 the committee that drafted it. The first report of the 
 Convention was rejected, as has often been the case since 
 
GEN. NATHANIEL PEABODY 141 
 
 in New Hampshire ; and it was not till Oct. 31, 1783, 
 an interval of two years, four months, and twenty-six 
 days, that an acceptable constitution was framed. 
 
 Colonel Peabody was a member of the House in 1782 
 and 1783. June 1, 1782, he was one of the committee 
 to prepare all bills necessary to be passed. He was 
 appointed on a committee with Woodbury Langdon and 
 Joseph Whipple, to present an address of the General 
 Assembly to Count de Vondreuil. In 1784-5 he was 
 a member of the House, was chosen counsellor, and 
 appointed a justice of the Court of Common Pleas, which 
 last position he declined. At the opening of the ses 
 sion of the General Court in June, 1784, the first under 
 the new constitution, he was appointed chairman of a 
 committee "to make what provision they shall judge 
 necessary for the entertainment of the revered clergy 
 who this day may attend at this place," showing the re 
 spect entertained by our forefathers for their religious 
 teachers, thought to be sadly wanting in this degener 
 ate age. He was on the committee to prepare rules for 
 the government of the House, and to draft all such bills 
 as were thought necessary to be passed. During the 
 session he served on committees to determine what action 
 shall be taken on Continental money in the hands of 
 private persons in the State, to make sale of the excise, 
 to see what can be done about horse-thieves, about the 
 property of refugees that may return, about State notes 
 issued prior to 1775, on the better observance of the 
 Lord s Day, on the amount of money to be raised the 
 current year, to nominate managers of the Dartmouth 
 College lottery, and on nearly all the important com 
 mittees. 
 
142 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 In the Legislature of 1785 he was senator from Rock- 
 ingham County, and was elected counsellor. June 21 
 he was elected delegate to Congress for one year from 
 the following November, but he probably did not take 
 his seat. He was appointed one of a committee to 
 revise the laws of the State. He reported a bill for a 
 lottery to raise money to build a bridge over Sugar 
 River at Newport. Lotteries, so much condemned now, 
 were a favorite way of raising money at that period. 
 
 In 1786 he was not a member of the Legislature, and 
 his opponents took the opportunity to injure his good 
 name. A vote was passed June 21 to recall him as a 
 delegate to Congress, and July 31 it was voted in the 
 House : " That an address be presented to the President 
 that the appointment of Nath l Peabody, Esq., to the 
 office of brig, general of light-horse brigade has given 
 the good citizens of the State much uneasiness, and, we 
 fear, will retard (if not entirely hinder) the arrangement 
 and forming of that important corps, as gentlemen of 
 character and fortune will not serve under him ; and, 
 therefore, we pray that your excellency, with the advice 
 of the council, will remove said Peabody from that 
 important post, in order that it may be filled by a 
 person more to acceptance." 
 
 It will be observed that no distinct charges affecting 
 his integrity are made, and we can only infer that it 
 was the result of personal unpopularity. It is singular 
 that the same House repented of its action, and Decem 
 ber 27, only a few months later, voted : " That the vote 
 of this House of the 24th of June last respecting the 
 removal of Nath l Peabody, Esq., from the office of 
 brig, general of light-horse (which was not concurred 
 
GEN. NATHANIEL PEABODY 143 
 
 in by the Hon. Senate) be reconsidered, and made 
 null and void." The opposition to him did not appear 
 to have lessened his popularity and influence, for he was 
 chosen a member of the next Legislature. 
 
 He was chosen a member of the House in 1787, was 
 elected speaker pro tempore, and, as usual, on the com 
 mittee to consider the message of the governor. He 
 was appointed on committees to consider a further re 
 vision of the laws on the bill to prevent the bodies of 
 debtors being taken on execution, a law that later bore 
 so severely on himself ; and was chairman of a committee 
 to receive revenues by excise, and to make sale of excise 
 for Rockingham county. He was chairman of commit 
 tees on schools, on receiving State notes for taxes, and to 
 draft all bills directed to be drawn during recess. He 
 was on the committee to act on the proposed convention 
 to ratify the Constitution of the United States, and on 
 the committee that reported in favor of a Dartmouth 
 College lottery, not to exceed .1,800. 
 
 He was representative in 1788, and chairman of com 
 mittees on a new State valuation, on the salary of the 
 President, to consider the military laws of the State, 
 and to act on most questions relating to finance. The 
 first election for United States senators occurred this 
 year, and the first chosen was John Langdon. In the 
 ballot for a second senator General Peabody received in 
 the House forty votes to thirty-six for all others, and 
 was chosen on the part of the House, but the Senate 
 did not concur, giving him only two yeas to six nays. 
 Josiah Bartlett was chosen, but declined, and later Paine 
 Wingate was elected. It was certainly a high honor to 
 have come so near an election to so coveted a position, 
 
144 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 with so many able men, as New Hampshire always had, 
 from whom to select. This failure was due to personal 
 opponents, whom he generally made no attempt to con 
 ciliate, and especially to a bitter speech and active ef 
 forts of William Plumer, then a young man, later gov 
 ernor of the State. 
 
 General Peabody was a member of the House in 
 1789, and was chairman of committees to report on the 
 message of the governor and necessary business on the 
 distribution of insolvent estates, on the sale of property 
 for taxes, to run a line on the northern part of the State, 
 and to see if the State laws militate against those of 
 the United States. It was voted, Jan. 23, 1790, that 
 Jeremiah Smith, Nathaniel Peabody, and John Samuel 
 Sherburne be a committee to select, revise, and arrange 
 all the laws and resolves of the State in one volume, with 
 an index, and later he was appointed one of the com 
 mittee to inspect the press during the printing. It was 
 certainly an extraordinary compliment to be placed on 
 such a committee for one not a member of the legal pro 
 fession. 
 
 In 1790 General Peabody was chosen a member of the 
 House, and later elected senator by the Legislature, and 
 took an active part in all the proceedings. A petition 
 was presented for the incorporation of Atkinson Acad 
 emy, and to authorize a lottery. The request for the 
 lottery was rejected, but subsequently granted. The 
 academy had been in operation since 1787, and was the 
 second in the State in the date of its establishment, 
 though not incorporated till Feb. 3, 1791. But little 
 money was raised by the lottery, as Massachusetts re 
 fused permission to allow the sale of tickets, though the 
 
GEN. NATHANIEL PEABODY 145 
 
 Rev. Stephen Peabody, whose wife was a sister of John 
 Adams, made repeated visits to Boston to secure con 
 sent. The refusal was not based on moral grounds, but 
 the State wished to retain the whole field for home culti 
 vation. 
 
 In 1791 General Peabody was a member of the House, 
 and elected speaker, but was soon after chosen senator, 
 and preferred that position. He was chairman of the 
 committee to carry into effect that part of the Constitu 
 tion directing a convention to be called for a revision of 
 the same. He made a written protest against a law in 
 regard to the militia as unconstitutional, because " it im 
 plied that no law of the United States is valid in New 
 Hampshire until it has been recognized and enacted by 
 the Legislature of the State." 
 
 He was a member of the Constitutional Convention at 
 Concord, Sept. 7, 1791, and active and influential in all 
 the debates. He was one of the two chosen by ballot to 
 represent Rockingham county on the number and pro 
 portion of senators, and was chairman of the committee 
 " to take into consideration the constitution and resolves 
 passed at this session, and the several motions for altera 
 tions that have been acted upon, and prepare and report 
 to the convention at its adjournment alterations and 
 amendments to be submitted to the people." It was the 
 most important committee of the convention. At the 
 adjournment, Feb. 8, 1792, the convention resolved 
 itself into committee of the whole, with General Peabody 
 as chairman. The Constitution was accepted by the 
 people, and went into, operation, September, 1792. He 
 was elected senator by the popular vote, for the Legisla 
 ture of 1792, and March 27, 1793, was appointed major- 
 
146 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 general of the first department, in place of Gen. Joseph 
 Cilley, declined. 
 
 He was a member of the House in 1795, the last time 
 he served in any legislative body. For twenty-five 
 years he had been almost constantly in public life, and in 
 all that period he had received the approval and confi 
 dence of the people he represented. He had been inter 
 ested not only in civil and military affairs, but in all that 
 seemed to him of benefit to the community. He was 
 active in the cause of education, was one of the most 
 active in founding Atkinson Academy, so prominent in 
 its early history, aided young men to secure an edu 
 cation, and helped to establish a circulating library that 
 did much for the general intelligence of the community. 
 He was one of the principal founders of the New Hamp 
 shire Medical Society, in 1791. He was a friend of 
 Dartmouth College, and in appreciation of his interest 
 he received a special invitation to attend the Commence 
 ment, at which the degree of Master of Arts was con 
 ferred on him. Though his many and varied other 
 duties occupied much of his time, he continued to prac 
 tise his profession, and sustained his reputation as an 
 able physician. 
 
 His declination of all public office after 1795 was due 
 in part to ill-health, but more to debts from which he 
 could not extricate himself by the easy methods of mod 
 ern civilization. Not only could all the property of the 
 debtor be seized, but his person living, and even his dead 
 body, could be attached. A striking instance was that 
 of Major-Gen. John Sullivan. To few had the country 
 been so much indebted for valuable patriotic service. 
 He was a delegate to the first Continental Congress, in 
 
GEN. NATHANIEL PEABODY 147 
 
 1774, had had a long and distinguished military 
 career, had represented his State in many positions, and 
 had been its president. Largely from neglect of his af 
 fairs in the cause of his country, he had become involved 
 in debt, and when he died, in 1795, by means of the 
 statute then in operation, his body was attached, and 
 held from burial, until General Cilley, his old companion 
 in arms, drawing his pistols, held the creditors at bay 
 till the remains were consigned to earth. 
 
 This same law was executed in the case of General 
 Peabody. He had been drawn away from his profession, 
 and public service was not then, as it often is now, a 
 means of gaining wealth. He had often spoken in his 
 letters of the sums he had expended in attending to his 
 official duties. In 1800 he stated that previous to 1794 
 his creditors were few, that the aggregate of their 
 demands on him did not exceed twenty per cent, of the 
 debts due him, including his lands and other property 
 at a just valuation, although he had before that time 
 done many acts of humanity to persons in distress, by 
 means of which he had sustained considerable damage. 
 He complained, also, of the losses by suretyship and the 
 misconduct of agents and supposed friends. Whatever 
 may have been the truth, whatever his business errors, 
 one thing was . certain in those good old days of our 
 fathers, a man must pay his debts or must go to jail, and 
 as General Peabody could not pay, he was committed to 
 the jail at Exeter, where he was confined some twenty 
 years till his decease, June 27, 1823. By a law then in 
 force he was allowed what was called the " liberty of the 
 jail yard," by which he could go anywhere within pres 
 cribed limits, which included most of the town, and he 
 
148 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 resided in a house east of the Great Bridge, known as 
 the Racket House. He practised his profession, and 
 had many patients drawn by his high reputation. The 
 governor of the State was so favorable to him that his 
 commission as justice of the peace was continued to him 
 nearly to the last. His intellect was unimpaired even in 
 his old age. His wife survived him several years. No 
 children had ever been born to them. 
 
 It is not easy to write history, and almost impossible 
 biography. When the writer was a young man it was 
 a favorite topic for the local debating society, " Was 
 Cromwell an honest man ? " and both sides of the 
 question convinced themselves. Abbott s " Life of 
 Napoleon " pleased the French, and was very popular with 
 the many admirers of the great soldier, yet Caleb Gush 
 ing used to say he could point out twenty errors on 
 every page. The writer has heard favorable and un 
 favorable opinions of General Peabody in the town 
 where he lived. All are now dead who could speak of 
 him from personal knowledge, and a century ago there 
 were but few newspapers to discuss men, and if there 
 had been more the difficulty in forming a just estimate 
 might have been increased. 
 
 It is difficult to read a review of General Peabody s 
 life, his prominence in all the positions he filled, and his 
 influence, without the conviction that he was one of the 
 ablest men of his time in New Hampshire, and one to 
 whom the State was greatly indebted at a critical period 
 of her history. Educated as a physician, untaught in 
 schools, he was a power in the State and nation. He 
 was an authority even in positions requiring high legal 
 knowledge, and associated with such eminent lawyers as 
 
GEN. NATHANIEL PEABODY 149 
 
 Jeremiah Smith. At nearly every session of the Legis 
 lature he was on committees to direct the most im 
 portant legislation, and on all questions he was a leader, 
 not a follower. He wrote well and debated well. We 
 have good testimony in regard to him from those who 
 spoke from knowledge. The Rev. Dr. Bouton, so 
 learned in New Hampshire history, in a notice of him 
 said : " He was one of the most distinguished men of his 
 time. . . . By turns he held almost every office 
 of trust and honor in the town and State, selectman, 
 representative, justice of the peace and quorum, colonel, 
 adjutant-general of the State, member of the Continental 
 Congress, major-general of militia." 
 
 John Farmer, to whom New Hampshire is so much 
 indebted for biographies of her prominent men, published 
 a sketch of General Peabody, January, 1824, less than a 
 year after his decease, when he could know the opinions 
 of his contemporaries, and his estimate of him is entitled 
 to more credit than any other source of information. 
 He thus spoke of him : " His perceptions were quick, 
 his invention powerful, his reasoning tolerably prompt, 
 just, and perspicuous, and his memory remarkably tena 
 cious, but he was most distinguished for his caustic wit 
 and resistless ridicule." "At the time when he was 
 speaker his influence was so great that by means of 
 three or four associates lie ruled the State." " He was 
 an able and leading legislator." " In his habits he was 
 regular and correct; he ate and drank but little, and 
 that of the best, and seldom slept more than four or five 
 hours." " One who knew him well for forty years 
 always considered him a cheerful, sociable, witty, and 
 friendly man. He was generous, sincere, and constant, 
 
150 BIOGBAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 never deserting a friend in the hour of need." " His 
 character was honored by a man so universally esteemed 
 and respected as his friend General Sullivan." "He 
 was a patron of merit and enterprise, and several young 
 men were indebted to him for a liberal education." " His 
 mind was steeled against vicissitudes they did not 
 sour his temper nor cloud his intellect. His mental 
 powers were but little impaired by age, and he bore the 
 anguish of sickness and disease with fortitude." * But 
 General Peabody was not without foibles and faults, 
 He was always rather vain and opinionative. At 
 middle age he was almost passionately fond of dress and 
 ostentatious parade, and expended large sums for that 
 purpose. He was a fine horseman, and in his golden 
 days usually travelled with the most elegant horses (of 
 which he was a good judge and great admirer), attended 
 by his servant." 
 
 " On a candid review of General Peabody s long life," 
 wrote Mr. Farmer, " we are compelled to the conclusion 
 that he was a useful citizen, an enlightened politician, 
 and in times of trial and danger as well as in the halcyon 
 days of peace and prosperity, a firm and ardent friend of 
 his country. When the waves of time shall have rolled 
 over the present generation, and washed away the last 
 trace of prejudice and enmity from his character, who 
 will venture to predict that he will not be placed 
 by grateful posterity in the bright and glorious constel 
 lation of Revolutionary worthies, and with his compa 
 triots and friends, the illustrious Weare, Bartlett, Sulli 
 van, Langdon, Lee, Laurens, Greene, Matthews, Gerry, 
 and Schuyler, shine with unclouded lustre, through long 
 ages of American freedom and glory ? " 
 
GEN. NATHANIEL PEABODY 151 
 
 It is to his credit that in his long career he retained the 
 support of his constituents, who returned him to the 
 Legislature till his voluntary retirement. It is also to be 
 remarked that though his habits were expensive and he 
 was often in need of money, and was entrusted from 
 time to time with large sums by the State, as far as I 
 know no suspicion of the wrong use of public money 
 was ever charged against him, so common a crime in our 
 modern civilization. 
 
 Governor Bell, in his history of Exeter, has a notice 
 of General Peabody as one of the distinguished persons 
 who had resided in the town, though detained as a pris 
 oner. He thus speaks of him : " General Peabody in his 
 best days had the confidence and respect of the promi 
 nent men among whom he moved. But pecuniary em 
 barrassments exposed him to dishonorable dealings, and 
 his manners were not such as to render him an agreeable 
 companion. He was cynical in his notions, and having 
 great powers of endurance, he had little patience with 
 those who complained. He had probably acquired the 
 rough habits and expressions of the camp, also, and em 
 ployed them without much discrimination. He is said 
 to have been a man of wit, and to have had a softer side. 
 But apparently he did not often present it to others. 
 He was undoubtedly a man of much ability, and, if he 
 had paid less attention to public affairs and more to his 
 own, might have acquired fortune and a life of ease. 
 His patriotic services for his country entitle him to our 
 gratitude, and his foibles may well be consigned to ob 
 livion." 
 
 The remark of Governor Bell that General Peabody 
 would have died richer, and led a life of ease, if he had 
 
152 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 attended more to private and less to public affairs, was 
 true of him, and could have been made then of most men 
 in public life. Allusion has been made to the case of Gen 
 eral Sullivan, and it is well known that the private affairs 
 of Washington suffered by his army service. No one 
 could have grown rich by the Revolutionary War, but 
 he served his country in the hour of need, the only re 
 ward expected. Now in these " halcyon days," to quote 
 from Governor Bell the expression, millionaires are 
 elected to Congress and other halls of legislation, and 
 grow richer and richer while they serve rich corporations 
 and their country. 
 
 The aim of all true biography should be to photograph 
 the man. If Oliver Cromwell had a large wart on his 
 face, the artist should paint it. In too many biographies 
 the high qualities of the man, his freedom from faults 
 have become for the first time revealed. When I once 
 criticised a distinguished author of biographies for the 
 perfection of his heroes, he replied that it was not right 
 to turn a man out into the world naked. It seems more 
 honest, however, to tell the truth, as is done in the 
 Bible, where the crimes as well as the virtues of David 
 and Solomon are faithfully given, and present the real 
 man. It should be said, then, as Governor Bell inti 
 mates, that the tradition in his town is not entirely fa 
 vorable to General Peabody. His ability and patriotism 
 have not been questioned, but he was said to have lacked 
 integrity, and to have wronged those who trusted him. 
 He was, also, skeptical in his religious views, a sin not 
 so easily forgiven in those Puritan days as now. He 
 had expensive tastes, whose indulgence required far 
 more than his professional income, and he may have 
 
GEN. NATHANIEL PEABODY 153 
 
 been tempted to wrong acts, so common to humanity, to 
 gratify them. Even Washington has been said of late 
 to have had some blemishes, and in a recent discussion 
 I heard a man say that he was glad to know that the 
 " Father of his Country " was human, like himself. But, 
 whatever may have been the faults of General Peabody, 
 he suffered a severe punishment in the loss of personal 
 liberty for twenty years, and it should not be forgotten 
 how faithfully he loved and served his country. 
 
 The many patriotic and historical societies are now 
 honoring as never before the memory of those who 
 founded the Republic, and among them General Peabody 
 well deserves to be remembered. It is a coincidence 
 that he died the year the New Hampshire Historical 
 Society, for which this article was prepared, was es 
 tablished. He left no descendants to honor him. Let 
 this society, then, do justice to his great ability, his 
 patriotism, and his distinguished services. 
 
 His wife died at her brother Daniel s home in Harnp- 
 stead, Feb. 8, 1831, having survived her husband nearly 
 eight years. 
 
A SUMMER IN NORWAY 
 
 I WENT to Norway in 1879, before it had been gener 
 ally visited by tourists, and before even Baedeker had 
 issued a guide-book of the country. There are two lines 
 of steamboats from Great Britain to Norway one from 
 Leith, the port of Edinboro , the other from Hull. I 
 chose the latter, because nearest to London, my starting 
 point. My route to Hull was near the east coast of 
 England, through a country of peculiar historical in 
 terest, and with many noted towns. Peterborough has 
 a grand cathedral, where are interred the remains of 
 Catherine of Aragon, and Mary Queen of Scots. This 
 section, however, is most interesting to a native of New 
 England as the old home of the Pilgrim fathers, who 
 first gathered as an independent sect at Scrooby, a little 
 village on the line of the railroad ; then moved east to 
 Boston, on the coast ; then to Holland, and subsequently, 
 in the " Mayflower," to America. I went a few miles 
 out of my way to visit York, the metropolis of the old 
 Romans in England, where Hadrian and other Roman 
 emperors lived, Constantine the Great was born, and 
 Severus died. It was famous in all the early English 
 wars. Its great pride now is its cathedral, probably the 
 grandest in England. Hull is a large thriving seaport, 
 very different from its little namesake on our coast. 
 
 When I went on board the steamer I found it 
 
 154 
 
A SUMMER IN NORWAY 155 
 
 crowded, for it was the season to visit Norway. We ex 
 pected to start early in the afternoon, but some broken 
 machinery caused delay, and an Englishman, full of in 
 dignation that any accident should happen to a steam 
 boat where he was on board, at once telegraphed to Mr. 
 Wilson, principal owner of the line and a member of 
 Parliament, that all the passengers were deeply dis 
 gusted. We all went to our state-rooms at last, and 
 when I awoke at daybreak the next morning we were 
 just leaving the harbor. If any one expects to find in 
 the steamers plying between the different ports of Europe 
 the comforts of theAtlantic and our American boats, he 
 will be disappointed. I had one of the best berths on 
 the boat, for I had engaged my passage early, and the 
 fare was more than I had ever paid before for an equal 
 distance ; yet four of us were crowded into one state 
 room, so small that only one could dress and wash at a 
 time. The passengers were of many nationalities, as is 
 the case on all European steamers, most of them Ameri 
 cans and English, visiting Norway from curiosity or to 
 hunt and fish. One of the Americans soon made the ac 
 quaintance of all on board, and as he, like myself, was 
 bound for the North Cape, I was destined to see much 
 of him for the next few weeks. He had a large fine 
 physical development, reminding me of Charles Sumner, 
 though the comparison should not be extended too far. 
 Like a few more of his countrymen, he was always 
 ready to express an opinion on any subject, however ab 
 struse, at a moment s warning. He had been a miner, 
 had owned a coffee plantation, had been a speculator, 
 and travelled the world over ; had become a doctor (by 
 which title we all addressed him) whether with or 
 
156 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 without study I do not know ; had made money, and 
 then, very naturally, had drifted to Paris. He was a 
 remarkably well-preserved man, and always in good 
 spirits, whether because he had married three times or 
 become three times a widower, I cannot say. One trait 
 was marked in him, perhaps from his residence in Cali 
 fornia, he was always anxious to bet on something, no 
 matter what. 
 
 The North Sea is generally unpleasant, but it received 
 us very kindly, and a smooth passage of thirty-six hours 
 brought us among the rocks on the coast of Norway. A 
 fog came over us, and we were obliged to stop till it 
 cleared away. This gave the doctor an opportunity to 
 propose a pool on the hour when we should land at Sta- 
 vanger, the first port at which we were to touch. Each 
 one who participated was to pay a given sum, and name 
 the hour, and the one who came nearest the time was to 
 receive all the money. The fog detained us but a few 
 hours, and then, with a clear sky, we wound our way 
 among great rocks into the harbor of Stavanger, about 
 nine o clock in the evening, but in broad daylight. The 
 work of the day was over, and a great crowd of men, 
 women, and children were gathered on the wharf to re 
 ceive us, who scanned us with as much curiosity as we 
 them. We were to stop here several hours, and we all 
 went on shore to see the place. Several men and boys 
 came forward, and in broken English offered to guide 
 us, but a few of us put ourselves in charge of an Oxford 
 professor of our party, who had been there often before. 
 He was a very plain-looking man, with his long gray 
 beard and smoking a pipe, but his old slouch hat covered 
 brains enough to make a score of average Congressmen. 
 
A SUMMER IN NORWAY 157 
 
 Stavanger is a thriving, busy town of 20,000 inhabi 
 tants ; built on rocky, irregular ground, its houses gener 
 ally of wood, and one-story; its streets narrow and 
 irregular. It is one of the oldest towns in Norway, dat 
 ing back to the eighth century. We visited an old light 
 house tower on an eminence in the centre, from which 
 we had a fine view of the surrounding country. On the 
 walls inside were portraits of different generals cel 
 ebrated in our late war, and under them the words 
 " Honor the Brave." Truth to history compels me to 
 state the names were those of Stonewall Jackson and 
 other famous leaders of the Confederate army, showing 
 that the sympathies of the people were with the South 
 in our struggle. The most interesting object in the 
 town is its cathedral, one of the oldest and finest in Nor 
 way, dating back to the eleventh century, the best speci 
 men of early English and Norman architecture I have 
 ever seen, better, our Oxford professor told us, than 
 any in England. I noticed one peculiarity on the signs 
 in Stavanger which I had never seen before, but which I 
 found was universal in the country. If a woman doing 
 business was a widow, the word enke, the Norwegian for 
 widow, was added. For example, if the widow of John 
 Smith continued the business the sign would read : 
 " John Smith s Widow" Such a sign in America, I 
 think, would be taken as indicating the willingness of 
 John Smith s widow to form a partnership in the busi 
 ness. 
 
 We left Stavanger a little before midnight, and at ten 
 o clock the next morning were at Bergen, where I left 
 the English steamboat. This is the largest city on the 
 West Coast, and the second in Norway in size, with a 
 
158 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 population of 40,000, and by far the most interesting to 
 visit. It is very old, having been founded by King Olaf 
 in 1070, and for centuries it was the most important 
 place in the kingdom, and the scene of many remarkable 
 events. It soon became the centre of the fish trade of 
 Norway, and probably now is the greatest fish mart in the 
 world. It is located on a hilly peninsula and isthmus, with 
 mountains behind it rising to the height of 2,000 feet, 
 high up the slopes of which are beautiful villas. I have 
 seen but few cities so picturesque and attractive, or pre 
 senting finer views. The streets are generally narrow, 
 with small sidewalks, if any, so that the people walk in 
 the middle. The houses are nearly all of wood, and with 
 two stories. Along the water s edge are immense fish 
 houses of peculiar construction, and two old forts are 
 more remarkable for the service they have rendered in 
 the past than formidable for the future. I arrived on a 
 bright Sunday morning, and the harbor was full of ves 
 sels, all with flags flying, and the streets were filled with 
 people clad in their best clothes. It was the longest day 
 in the year, and was observed as a holiday, and at night 
 fires were built on the mountains around, a custom 
 always observed on that day. I attended service at the 
 cathedral, an old church of strange architecture. There 
 were double galleries, partitioned off into stalls like a 
 theatre for the seclusion of the worshippers of the better 
 classes. The clergyman wore around his neck a wide 
 plaited collar, what a Scotchman said was a " John Knox 
 ruffle." The singing was congregational, the numbers 
 of the hymns put up in different parts of the church, as 
 in Germany. The people sat or stood, as they inclined. 
 After the service there was the baptism of a child, which 
 
A SUMMER IN NORWAY 159 
 
 was long, and attended with much ceremony, the parents 
 and friends entering and leaving with a formal proces 
 sion, and the congregation rising to do them honor. The 
 baptismal font was held in the arms of an angel suspended 
 from above, as if coming down to bless the child thus 
 presented to God by its parents. 
 
 There are many very pleasant excursions in the neigh 
 borhood of Bergen. One day a gentleman, whose ac 
 quaintance I had made, took me to his house a few 
 miles distant. He had an immense estate, comprising 
 fifteen distinct farms, which had been many years in his 
 family. He told me his father had lived to the age of 
 ninety-two. He showed me a beech-tree seven hundred 
 years old, and seventeen feet round, and offered me 
 wine fifty years old. His estate had an abundance of 
 apple and cherry trees, gooseberries, currants, and grow 
 ing all around were horse-chestnut trees, the English 
 hawthorne, azaleas, honeysuckles, tulips, etc., etc. 
 
 He told me the winters were not very cold, the ther 
 mometer rarely falling below 15 Fahrenheit. 
 
 There was no real darkness, and I found it at first 
 difficult to sleep. I kept rising and looking out, and 
 could read distinctly at midnight. It took me many 
 days to accustom myself to the strangeness of no night, 
 but one unending day. I ought to add in regard to 
 Bergen, that, unlike Bayard Taylor, I found a good 
 hotel, clean, and with good fare. It was the hotel where 
 Ole Bull stopped when in Bergen, whose home was only 
 a few miles distant. 
 
 From Bergen I took passage on a Norwegian steamer 
 for the North Cape. The boat was crowded with pas 
 sengers from many nations, and among them a large 
 
160 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 party of Cook s excursionists, made up of Americans 
 and English. Some of the Americans were very pleas 
 ant people, among whom were the well-known scientific 
 gentleman, Dr. Smith, of Louisville, and the daughter 
 and two grandchildren of James Guthrie, Secretary of 
 the Treasury under President Pierce. Every state-room 
 was occupied, and the cabin was filled with temporary 
 berths, of which I had one, and near me was the American 
 doctor of whom I have spoken. He became very much 
 excited the first night, because, on retiring, he discovered 
 that he had lost a very necessary night garment, which 
 he shouted to the waiter in English, louder and louder, 
 to find. It came to him at last that the waiter could 
 not understand him, and he went to bed, declaring in 
 language quite emphatic, but such as our Puritan 
 Fathers would have strongly condemned, that he would 
 never again go on a boat where the waiters could not 
 understand English. 
 
 A voyage along the coast of Norway is, probably, un 
 like any that could be taken elsewhere. A chain of 
 mountains runs the whole length of the western part, 
 rising to the height of 7,000 feet, and descending abruptly 
 to the water, terminating often in precipitous cliffs. 
 Outside of the true coast are thousands upon thousands 
 of rocky islands of all sizes, shapes, and elevations, act 
 ing as a breakwater. For nearly the whole distance to 
 the North Cape, our course was between these islands 
 and the mainland, in smooth water, rarely catching even 
 a glimpse of the ocean. It seemed as if we were moving 
 at times on a river, the high banks approaching so close 
 together as to leave hardly room for the ship to pass 
 through ; and then expanding we seemed to be on 
 
A SUMMER IN NORWAY 161 
 
 a broad lake, the islands forming such a maze that we 
 could not tell how we had entered, nor where would be 
 our way out. It was an enchanting panorama, ever pre 
 senting new objects of interest, the rocks of the coast 
 and islands forming strange figures, to which many 
 names have been given, and the imagination suggested 
 many more. One island rising up 1,700 feet is called 
 the " Horseman s Island," from its resemblance to a man 
 on horseback, the story being that a lover was turned to 
 stone on a visit to his lady. Whether this sad fate 
 overtook him going or returning, the legend does not 
 say. Why he should be thus punished, I do not under 
 stand, for it was a very pardonable offence. 
 
 In one place was a mountain called Torghaetta, the 
 " market hat," because pierced by an immense hole re 
 sembling a hat. The captain kindly stopped the boat 
 one midnight to allow us to visit it a rough moun 
 tain walk of three miles. The aperture is about 500 feet 
 long, and 200 feet high and wide, and is a remarkable 
 natural curiosity. We had not yet reached the Arctic 
 Circle, but it was broad daylight, and we picked wild flow 
 ers all along in our midnight walk. We passed close to 
 cliffs rising 3,000 feet out of the water. On all these 
 islands and on the mainland here and there was a fish 
 erman s little hut, for catching fish is nearly the whole 
 occupation of the people of western Norway. The snow 
 and ice were still on all the mountains and high hills, 
 and it was so strange to see down close to the water s 
 edge green grass and flowers, where there was soil 
 enough for them to grow, above them a belt of dark 
 rock, and, still higher up, the white snow, or perhaps 
 a glacier from which were flowing innumerable water- 
 
162 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 falls. It was hard to go to bed with all these changing 
 scenes ever before us, and most of us remained on deck, 
 night after night, till long after midnight, nothing but 
 fatigue and our watches telling us it was time to retire. 
 Some persons were playing whist generally till two o clock 
 in the morning, the sun always giving them his light. 
 
 As we journeyed along, our boat touched at all the 
 towns on the coast, remaining a longer or shorter time, 
 according to their importance. Some places were small, 
 consisting of a half dozen fishermen s houses ; others 
 numbered a population of some thousands, and here we 
 went on shore, stopping, sometimes, one or two days, 
 and examining everything of interest. 
 
 The first town of importance, after leaving Bergen, 
 was Aalesund, with 7,000 inhabitants whose principal 
 business is in fish. It is finely located, and is of much 
 interest historically. Near this was the home of the 
 leading Vikings, or sea kings, who roamed over all the 
 seas for plunder. A little south was the castle of Rollo 
 the Walker, who became the conqueror of Normandy, 
 and founder of its duchy, and was the ancestor of Wm. 
 the Conqueror, and, of course, of Queen Victoria. He 
 was called "Rollo the Walker" because he was so large 
 a giant that he could not ride on a horse, and was 
 obliged to walk. From all this neighborhood, too, went 
 out the Northmen, who, without a doubt, discovered 
 America, 500 years before Columbus. We went on 
 shore at eleven o clock at night, but found the streets 
 all quiet. Almost the only one I saw was a man sitting on 
 his doorstep reading his newspaper, by daylight, before he 
 went to bed. A few hours later and we reached Molde, 
 one of the most beautiful towns in Norway, where many 
 
A SUMMER IN NORWAY 163 
 
 travellers make a prolonged stay. Then came Christian- 
 sund, a town of 8,000 population, picturesquely located 
 on several islands, and at midnight of the same day we 
 entered the harbor of Throndhjem, a large place of 
 22,000 population, founded 1016, and, next to Bergen, 
 the most important on the western coast. We could not 
 yet see the midnight sun, but the sky in the west looked 
 as bright as with us about five minutes after sunset, and 
 many people were at the wharf on business, or from 
 curiosity. 
 
 I wish I could describe this celebrated old city as it 
 deserves. An old traveller thinks its bay equal to that 
 of Naples. It was founded by a famous old sea-king, 
 also a saint and martyr, St. Olaf, about the year 1000, 
 and his body was interred in the cathedral, a magnificent 
 structure, the finest of the kind in Norway, where all 
 the kings are crowned. I ought to add in regard to this 
 St. Olaf that he was regarded as a very cruel man while 
 he lived, and, like many others, his holiness was not dis 
 covered till some time after his death. When it was 
 known at last that he was really a saint, his resting- 
 place became the resort of thousands of pilgrims, and 
 was regarded as the holiest spot in Norway. The 
 cathedral has fallen to decay, but is probably one of the 
 best specimens of old architecture in Europe, and some 
 of the stone carving is wonderfully delicate and elaborate. 
 The town interested me much, and I wandered through 
 and through its streets, examining all its peculiarities 
 and inspecting its people. A new railroad has been 
 opened connecting it with Christiania, which will add 
 much to its prosperity. I made an excursion a few 
 miles distant to see two waterfalls which the Oxford 
 
164 BIOGBAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 professor thought were the finest in Norway. They are 
 certainly fine falls, one about eighty feet and the other 
 one hundred feet high, the river being perhaps five 
 hundred feet wide. An Oxford student of the com 
 pany seemed very much impressed, and turned to me 
 and asked if Niagara was much superior. I informed 
 him that Niagara was twice as high, and a thousand 
 times as large, and he was silent. 
 
 We continued our course from Throndhjem, between 
 islands and the mainland as before, stopping at many 
 interesting little towns. At one place they were holding 
 a fair of three days, and the harbor was full of boats 
 and people. The boats had no keel, were very sharp, 
 and seemed to be only one board thick. After two days 
 we crossed the Arctic Circle, and are at last in the region 
 of the midnight sun, passing through the wildest scenery, 
 hemmed in by huge rocks covered with ice and snow. 
 Bodo is the first place of any size in the Arctic zone, 
 containing about 1,500 inhabitants, on one long street 
 parallel with the shore. Louis Philippe once lived here 
 some time when a refugee from France. We landed 
 here at midnight, as we did at many places, and were 
 obliged to make much noise to arouse the people with 
 whom the boat had business. The midnight sun was 
 shining, but it was behind a hill, and we could only see 
 his reflected light. We walked through the town, where 
 all was quiet, every store closed and the people in their 
 beds, though in many cases the doors of the houses were 
 open, for there is no fear of thieves in Norway. The 
 only persons awake seemed to be here and there a young 
 man and woman, of immature age, sitting on a doorstep, 
 or wandering at large in earnest conversation why 
 
A SUMMER IN NORWAY 165 
 
 out so late, or what they were talking about, most know 
 better than myself. The Doctor was in unusually good 
 spirits, and finding at last a young man playing a violin, 
 he hired him to march through the street at the head of 
 the large company on shore from the boat. Much noise 
 was made and the people began to open their windows 
 and look out, rubbing their eyes and wondering at such 
 an unusual disturbance. Soon an officer came up, and 
 said such things were never allowed there. Then the 
 doctor was anxious to get up a pool, and proposed that 
 each one should guess how many boards were in a pile 
 a hundred feet away. This was done, and the guesses 
 varied from twenty to two hundred, and many were much 
 surprised to see how wild were their estimates. I 
 wandered off alone to gather wild flowers and inspect 
 from a hill near by the surroundings of this strange spot 
 at such an hour. 
 
 From Bodo we crossed the West Fjord to the Lofoden 
 Islands. Our course was in the open sea, the whales 
 spouting all around us. The Lofoden group of islands 
 is one of the most remarkable in the world, forming 
 a perfect maze of mountains, bays, and straits. The 
 mountains rise out of the sea, many of them to a height 
 of 3,000 feet, with countless pinnacles and the most re 
 markable shapes, generally great rocks, destitute of vege 
 tation. The islands number thousands, some very 
 small, others with rivers, lakes, and villages. Here is 
 the famous maelstrom, defined when I was a boy as a 
 fearful whirlpool, drawing into its vortex vessels and 
 even whales, if they approached too near. Jules Verne 
 has made good use of it in one of his stories. It has 
 now, however, like so many creations of the past, lost 
 
166 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 all its terrors. It is simply a violent rushing of the tide 
 between two islands. The whole area of these islands 
 is about 1,600 square miles, and they contain a popula 
 tion of 20,000, all engaged in fishing. More than 20,000,- 
 000 of cod are annually taken here in small boats. This 
 whole region, too, is the home of the eider-down ducks, 
 which were continually swimming around our vessel, and 
 as it is forbidden to harm them, they are very tame. They 
 build their nests on the rocks, and suffer them to be 
 robbed of their clown twice, and the third time desert 
 them. They pluck the down from the body, and that 
 taken from a dead bird has no value. 
 
 For many hours we coasted along these remarkable 
 islands, any one of which would make the fortune of an 
 American hotel-keeper. Occasionally we passed a neat 
 little village, and at one place we visited a curious old 
 church, which the pastor who showed us around said 
 was 400 years old. It had some paintings of consider 
 able merit, brought from Holland, and some rare old 
 frescos on the walls. One night a Lapland chief came 
 on board with his daughter, taking passage for a town 
 a few hours distant. He was said to own 2,000 deer, 
 which would make him an important man. He was 
 small, unclean, clad in deerskins, and generally very 
 unattractive, and the daughter was like her father. 
 
 The next important town was Tromso, with 6,000 
 population, a really beautiful place on the slope of a 
 hill, with many handsome houses and an air of pros 
 perity. We stopped here a day, long enough to examine 
 all of interest in the town, and what we cared for most, 
 to visit a camp of Lapps, four miles distant. It was a 
 rough, hard walk, especially for the ladies of our party, 
 
A SUMMER IN NORWAY 167 
 
 up a deep valley, over heaps of snow, swift mountain 
 torrents, quagmires, and fallen trees, with a profusion of 
 wild flowers and ferns everywhere. We reached the 
 camp at last, and found about twenty Lapps and a hun 
 dred reindeer. The Lapps were of all ages, dressed in 
 skins, the men and women apparently alike, so that it 
 was difficult to distinguish them, ancF all were disgust 
 ingly filthy. They were very diminutive, yet larger than 
 I expected. The men are inveterate smokers and drink 
 ers, and the women, assimilating to their beloved hus 
 bands, are the same. I went into their houses, which 
 were made of poles covered with sods. There was no 
 furniture, dried venison was hung up all around ; and 
 in the centre was suspended over a fire a large kettle, 
 the smoke, after filling the hut, passing out of a hole in 
 the top. The men, women, and children sleep on the 
 ground, or on leaves and twigs of trees, and never remove 
 their clothing, their only covering reindeer skins. The 
 deer seems to supply all their wants. He gives them 
 meat, milk, clothing, and transportation. A soup is 
 made from his meat, and each one dips his spoon of 
 wood, or deer s horn, into the boiling vessel, and eats 
 till all is gone, or his hunger is appeased. They seemed 
 very pleasant started off the deer at a furious speed 
 and then caught them with lassos milked them and 
 offered us the milk to drink and brought out skins, 
 spoons, and deerskin shoes to sell. I wanted to taste 
 the milk, and many of the party did, but the bowl was 
 too unclean, and my stomach revolted. Some of the 
 party fondled the children, but I could not do that, the 
 risk of vermin was too great. It did not require many 
 hours to satisfy us that we had seen enough, and we 
 
168 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 left them. They are a harmless, superstitious, ignorant, 
 roving people, living an animal existence, bearing some 
 resemblance to the gypsies, but far less intelligent, and 
 seemed to me then and afterwards when I saw them, the 
 most uninteresting race I had ever seen. 
 
 We left Tromso in the evening, and that night with a 
 clear sky and unobstructed horizon we saw the sun for 
 the first time at midnight before on account of hills 
 we had only seen his reflection. I went to bed at one 
 o clock, the sun shining in my face with painful bril 
 liancy through the cabin window. The next day at noon 
 we were in Hammerfest, the most northern town in the 
 world, with a population of 2,200. It is situated under a 
 long cliff on a bay well protected from storms, and, when 
 we saw it, was full of vessels from many nations. The 
 sun was shining bright as I passed through the long 
 street and it was very warm, the children playing with 
 bare feet, and everything looked cheerful and every 
 body happy. When I was a boy in the country I was 
 taught to make my " manners," as it was called, to 
 strangers, and though the custom has passed away here 
 like many other habits, with modern improvements, it 
 still exists away off in Hammerfest, for every boy made 
 his bow to me, and every girl a curtesy. The great 
 trade of the town is in fish, cod-liver oil, and eider 
 down, and as it was the busy season the streets were 
 very lively. The odor of cod-liver oil filled the air, and 
 I went into several factories to see the process of extrac 
 tion, bought some eider down as a curiosity, and then 
 went into the fields to get some wild flowers, of which I 
 found only a few, looking lonely and sickly enough. I 
 returned to the town, and visited the shops and ani- 
 
A SUMMER IN NORWAY 169 
 
 mated wharves, and thought how different must be the 
 scene in winter when the never-ending day gives place 
 to never-ending night, spreading its gloomy pall over 
 man and nature. Dr. Kane has depicted in vivid lan 
 guage the depressing influence of constant darkness on 
 the health and spirits of his men and dogs, and the 
 familiar lines of Byron beginning : " I had a dream that 
 was not all a dream," etc. 
 
 I would not like to spend a winter at Hammer- 
 fest. It is just to state, however, that though the sun 
 is below the horizon for ten weeks in winter, as for the 
 same time it is always visible in summer, there is most 
 of the time more or less twilight. The harbor, too, is 
 always open. The average temperature of January is 
 23 Fahrenheit, and that of July 50. This exemption 
 from extreme cold is due to the influence of the Gulf 
 Stream, conveying its heat thousands of miles from the 
 tropics, without which a large part of Norway would be 
 uninhabited. 
 
 It is one hundred miles from Hammerfest to the North 
 Cape, and for nearly the whole distance we were in the 
 open sea, unprotected by the island belt, which had made 
 our voyage so picturesque and agreeable. On the coast all 
 was desolation of desolation, great bare rocks rising out of 
 the water, not a tree nor shrub, these had all disappeared 
 from this far northern region. Not a vessel was in sight 
 
 we were alone on our voyage of curiosity. The sea 
 
 soon became rough, and poor sailor as I am, I succumbed 
 to its influence ; and, as all victims of sea-sickness can 
 well comprehend, lost all my interest in North Capes, 
 midnight suns, and everything else in Norway and out 
 of it but my own miserable condition. I threw myself 
 
170 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 on a lounge in the cabin, with only one small comfort, 
 that opposite me was stretched the Doctor, for the first 
 time in the voyage subdued and speechless, evidently more 
 unhappy than myself, with no proposal for a bet or pool. 
 The dreary hours passed on, and at last some one came 
 down and cried, " The North Cape we can see it ! " 
 Not, however, till our boat had rounded the cape and 
 come to anchor on the east side could I arouse myself 
 to go on deck and there it was before me, that great 
 mountain rock, the famous North Cape I had come so 
 far to see. We landed with difficulty on the rocks, and 
 most of the party made the steep ascent to the summit, a 
 work of great toil, and there raised the flag of the Stars 
 and Stripes amid many cheers. 
 
 The North Cape is a great cliff rising in the form of a 
 wedge nearly perpendicular out of the sea to a height of 
 one thousand feet. Longfellow describes it correctly in 
 the following lines : 
 
 " And then uprose before me, 
 Upon the water s edge, 
 The huge and haggard shape 
 Of that unknown North Cape, 
 Whose form is like a wedge." 
 
 We were now north of lat. 71, and a glance at the 
 map will show that we were four degrees farther north 
 than any part of Iceland farther north than any perma 
 nent human habitation. Around us, north, east, and 
 west, as far as the eye could reach, was the mighty 
 Arctic Ocean, whose mysteries so many have tried in 
 vain to penetrate in their search for the North Pole, 
 dashing in great waves at our feet. We reached there 
 
A SUMMER IN NORWAY 171 
 
 a little before midnight, and watched the midnight sun, 
 shining with dazzling brightness, moving down slowly 
 to within six or eight times his diameter above the hori 
 zon, then seeming to rest a few moments as if to gather 
 strength for renewed toil then, slowly rising, the sun 
 set and sunrise had mingled in a golden union, and a 
 new day had commenced ! Were I a clergyman I could 
 find no better comparison of the Christian s death and 
 resurrection a transition, without darkness, from one 
 golden state to another ! I will not attempt to describe 
 the feelings of the coolest mind on such a spot at such 
 a time. 
 
 Many others, masters of the English language, have 
 tried to do that. I will only say, it was an impressive 
 scene, well worth the long journey that must be made 
 to witness it. We were fortunate in being able to land, 
 which cannot be done in rough weather, and we were 
 more fortunate in having the clearest of skies during the 
 whole time we were in the Arctic Circle, so that we could 
 always see the midnight sun, which many frequently wait 
 weeks in vain to see. One midnight I burned a hole 
 through my hat by the heat of the sun with a little glass. 
 By a happy coincidence we reached the Cape a little be 
 fore midnight preceding the fourth of July, and as the 
 day of our great national holiday was ushered in, we had 
 guns fired, and the steam engine gave a loud scream for 
 each State in imitation of the American eagle ; toasts and 
 cheers were given ; and at the dinner of the day cham 
 pagne was served, speeches made, and we had all that 
 belonged to a regular fourth of July celebration, and 
 none of us had ever before celebrated the day with so 
 much enthusiasm. It certainly could never be more 
 
172 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 impressively celebrated than in that strange situation, 
 with the midnight sun for our fireworks, and our music 
 the screaming of the sea birds and the dashing of the 
 Arctic waves on the great North Cape. 
 
 I have been surprised to find what singular ideas exist 
 as to the midnight sun. An American professional gen 
 tleman on the steamer expected, no matter how far north 
 we were, to see the sun descend every night to the hori 
 zon, and then begin to mount into the heavens, and an 
 English lady of education once asked me if we could see 
 the sun at midnight, when it rose. I need hardly ex 
 plain that the sun goes round and round in a low circle, 
 highest and in the south at noon, and lowest and pre 
 cisely north at midnight. Though the sun shines the 
 whole twenty-four hours, there is no intense heat, be 
 cause it runs so low in the heavens. 
 
 From the North Cape our steamboat turned back, and 
 visited again the same places we had seen on our journey 
 north, taking at each little town, especially at the Lofo- 
 den Islands, immense quantities of fish for southern 
 markets. At Molde I left the boat, as did the Cook s 
 excursionists, who had formed such a large part of our 
 company to the North Cape. Here I paid my fare, for 
 as I was uncertain at first how long I should remain on 
 the boat, I was told I could settle at the end of my jour 
 ney. The idea seems never to have occurred to them 
 that I could take my leave with unpaid bills. I stopped 
 at Molde several days, and made the acquaintance of a 
 Norwegian physician who had been ten years a resident 
 of America, and was a surgeon in our army during the 
 war, but his love of home had drawn him back. 
 
 It was my object, now, to travel inland and visit some 
 
A SUMMER IN NORWAY 173 
 
 of the valleys and fjords that form such a marked fea 
 ture of Norway scenery. A few years ago it was not 
 easy to traverse Norway, but now the government roads 
 are the best in the world, and steamboats with respect 
 able accommodations are running in all its waters. The 
 government has established a system that, I think, exists 
 nowhere else for the convenience of travellers. There 
 are stations about ten miles apart, the keeper of which 
 is obliged to furnish a horse and carriole, at a fixed 
 tariff, to every traveller, and also to entertain him. A 
 book is kept where the charge for conveyance is stated, 
 and each traveller records his name and any complaint, 
 and these books are inspected at regular intervals by 
 government officials. The carriole is the national car 
 riage, a small, light vehicle for one person, very much 
 like the gigs used by physicians when I was a boy. The 
 horses are small but hardy and active, and a boy or girl 
 goes with the traveller to take the horse back at the end 
 of the station, riding on the back of the carriole. A 
 journey in this way is very entertaining if one knows 
 enough of the language to converse with the boy. 
 
 The whole coast of Norway is indented with fjords, 
 a name here given to inlets from the ocean, extending a 
 great distance inland, throwing out arms in every direc 
 tion, and bounded by the most remarkable cliffs. At 
 the end of each fjord is a deep valley, bounded by simi 
 lar cliffs, and running to the top of the mountain range 
 that forms the backbone of Norway. I went for miles 
 through some fjords where the rocks rose up, almost per 
 pendicular, four thousand feet, and, strange to say, 
 houses have been built two thousand feet high on some 
 of these cliffs, and there the fishermen live, descending 
 
174 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 by a zigzag path to the water to fish. Not a safe home, 
 we should think, for children to play, or a somnambulist 
 to walk. The Hardanger and Sogne fjords extend a 
 hundred miles into the country, and present the most 
 varied scenery. Wherever a valley connects with the 
 fjord is usually a little village, its church and sharp- 
 pointed spire reminding me of our New England coun 
 try churches. Little islands are scattered everywhere 
 through the fjords, and waterfalls and cascades, dashing 
 over the cliffs and down the hills, are ever in view. 
 
 Taking a steamboat from Molde, I went up a fjord to 
 a place called Vaeblungsnaes, and then walked about 
 five miles to Aak hotel, where I remained a week. This 
 was, probably, in 1879, the best known hotel in Norway. 
 It was a large log house, with a birch-bark roof covered 
 with sods, a roof common in western Norway, and very 
 durable. All the furniture was of the most primitive 
 sort, yet it had the advantage of most of the hotels of the 
 country in being able to give each guest a separate room, 
 though small. Generally in the country hotels of Nor 
 way the rooms are large, and a dozen beds may be placed 
 in one chamber, and one chamber is often made a pas 
 sageway to another, without a thought that any one can 
 object to such an arrangement. It interested me much 
 while at this hotel to study the peculiarities of the differ 
 ent travellers, as they came from many different nation 
 alities. There were a few Americans, but most were 
 Englishmen, clergymen on a vacation tour, and sports 
 men, visiting Norway to hunt and fish, paying a fixed 
 sum for the right to fish in a stream between certain 
 points. In these bargains it seemed to me, from what I 
 heard, the Norwegians had very much the best of the 
 
A SUMMER IN NORWAY 175 
 
 trade. One English gentleman told me he had paid six 
 hundred dollars for a fish right, and had not caught a 
 fish, and he was going home in deep disgust. Another 
 told me he had paid fifteen hundred dollars, and had 
 caught three salmon. 
 
 Among other guests at the hotel were a young Eng 
 lishman and his bride, whom I had occasion to meet at 
 several different times. They were not specially inter 
 esting, nor did they seem so demonstrative as most young 
 married people, probably because they had more control 
 of their feelings, but I remember them mainly because 
 they were always getting into difficulty, and they seemed 
 to take it all as a matter of course. They could not 
 speak a word of the language, and when they wanted to 
 go one way were pretty sure to be started the other. 
 Once they intended to take a steamboat south from 
 Bergen, and found when out of the harbor that they 
 were bound north. Once as we were about to start on 
 ?, steamboat the gentleman told me that he had left his 
 valise with his money at the hotel. With my little 
 Norwegian I induced the captain to wait for him to get 
 it, and advised him in future to take his money from his 
 valise and give it to his wife, as women always know 
 what to do with it, advice which, I know, all ladies will 
 regard as very sage. One day they heard a boat was to 
 start at eleven o clock, and were on the wharf in the morn 
 ing, and waited till the boat started, which happened to be 
 eleven o clock at night. I am sure they were made wiser 
 by their Norwegian experience, better fitted to bear to 
 gether the little trials of life, which fall to the lot of all. 
 The Aak hotel is at the entrance to the Romsdal, the 
 grandest valley in Norway. It is nearly 30 miles long, 
 
176 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 and for 20 miles is hemmed in by cliffs from 3,000 to 
 6,000 feet high. On one side there is no path out of the 
 valley, and on the other only two places where a footman 
 can climb up. The valley is in some places nearly a mile 
 wide, and through it runs a stream forming a succession 
 of waterfalls. At one place the valley is contracted to a 
 narrow pass by two mountains, one 5,000 feet high, and the 
 other nearly 6,000 feet, forming one of the wildest gorges 
 I have ever seen. Over the cliffs were pouring water 
 falls, thousands of feet high, and I counted in some 
 places a dozen at a time. I walked through this valley 
 and back, going about ten miles a day, and stopping at 
 the little Norwegian hotels, and rarely have I enjoyed an 
 excursion so much. 
 
 Leaving Aak hotel, I took a boat for Vestnaes, and 
 then crossed a mountainous peninsula to Soholt, a beauti 
 ful town, distinguished for its salmon and herring fish 
 eries, and for an iron mine. I met here a highly cultivated 
 gentleman from Christiania, a nobleman in the day of 
 titles, who expressed a very poor opinion of many of the 
 English tourists, and complained that by their money 
 and habits they had demoralized his countrymen. He did 
 not speak of the Americans, probably knowing my own 
 nationality. 
 
 My object now was to visit the Geiranger Fjord, the 
 finest in Norway. We passed up the Stor Fjord, every mo 
 ment giving us picturesque views of mountains, cliffs, 
 waterfalls, with little villages and a church scattered here 
 and there. I spent the night on the boat at Hellesylt, 
 where a deep valley runs down to the water, and early the 
 next morning the boat entered the Geiranger Fjord. I can 
 find no language fitly to describe it. Imagine a river 
 
A SUMMER IN NORWAY 177 
 
 half a mile wide, hemmed in by cliffs 4,000 or 5,000 feet 
 high, nearly perpendicular, over which waterfalls are 
 pouring, little houses perched high up on the rocks, 
 pinnacles of strange shapes rising above the cliffs, and 
 deep gorges running through them, the whole scene dark 
 and gloomy, because the rays of the sun cannot pene 
 trate. The captain sounded the steam whistle, and it 
 was echoed and re-echoed along the cliffs till it died away 
 in the distance. I know not where except in Norway 
 such a scene can be witnessed. 
 
 I returned through the same fjord to Aalesund, of which 
 I have already spoken. It was full of vessels after fish, and 
 a large English yacht was in the harbor, its inmates expect 
 ing, English-like, to see all the wonders of Norway in 
 about a week. I visited some shops where old Norwegian 
 silver was for sale, and saw some fine old silver goblets, 
 covered with exquisite carving, indicating the wealth of 
 its owners years ago. I found the boat for Bergen 
 crowded, for there had been a large gathering at Thrond- 
 heim, and the people were homeward bound. Not one 
 English-speaking traveller was on board except myself, 
 most of the passengers being Norwegians or Germans. 
 The captain gave me a bed in the cabin, which was more 
 than he had promised, and I passed the night very com 
 fortably. Though the boat was full, there was no noise, 
 no rudeness, no card-playing, such as we too often see on 
 American boats, especially on our Western rivers. It 
 rained most of the time, so that many of the fine views 
 I had so enjoyed on my upward journey were lost to me. 
 It was a bright sunshine, however, when I reached pict 
 uresque Bergen for the second time, and I was most 
 fortunate in my visit, for the king was expected that day, 
 
178 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 and a grand celebration was preparing for him. No king 
 of Norway had been in Bergen for 200 years, and I have 
 never seen so much enthusiasm displayed, nor so many 
 flags from the houses. I had a front window on the main 
 street, and as he drove past, his carriage was literally 
 filled with flowers. He seemed much affected by the 
 warmth of his people, and said : " Bergen could move a 
 heart of stone." He is a fine-looking man, the grand 
 son of Bernadotte, the handsomest king I have seen in 
 Europe, and I have seen most of them. He had with 
 him two of his four sons, fine-looking boys. Thousands 
 of peasants had come in from all the country around, and 
 I had an opportunity I could have had at no other time 
 to see their peculiar costumes. I wish I could properly 
 describe the dresses of the peasant women, but, unfor 
 tunately, it is a subject I am poorly prepared to discuss. 
 They wore caps, white or black, fitting close to the head 
 and covering the ears, woollen homespun dresses, black 
 or green, short and elaborately plaited at the waist and 
 down the skirt, and open at the breast to display a finely 
 wrought linen bosom, much ornamented with jewelry, as 
 was the neck. Many of the costumes were striking and 
 attractive, full of bright colors and worsted embroidery, 
 the work evidently of their own hands, and the jewelry 
 had been heirlooms in the families for centuries. The 
 whole city was given up to festivities during the presence 
 of the king, many entertainments were prepared in his 
 honor, the streets were full, and the king made himself 
 very familiar, willing to see everything. A ball was 
 given to him Sunday night, and fireworks were displayed, 
 which I did not see, for I waited for the darkness till 
 after eleven o clock, and then was tired and went home. 
 
A SUMMER IK NORWAY 179 
 
 Bergen will long remember that visit of the king, and 
 one American certainly will long remember it, and will 
 remember Bergen, too, as one of the most fascinating 
 cities the world contains. I might add that as I was 
 walking one day a little out of Bergen alone, the king 
 came along, and was not too proud to bow to me, and I 
 was not too proud to take off my hat, and make my very 
 best bow to him. 
 
 I took a boat at Bergen for the Hardanger Fjord, the 
 largest fjord of Norway, and one of the most celebrated 
 for its varied beauty and grandeur. Like all the fjords, 
 it is enclosed by mountains, with waterfalls, glaciers, 
 smiling villages, and all that can make scenery attrac 
 tive. One could pleasantly pass a whole summer at its 
 many places of interest. I stopped longest at Odde, at 
 a little hotel kept by a Norwegian and his sister, who 
 had both lived in America. It is at the end of the 
 fjord, at the entrance of a valley, enclosed by mountains, 
 with a great glacier in full view. Wishing to see one of 
 the most celebrated waterfalls in Norway, I made an 
 excursion with a few others to the Skjaeggedals, re 
 garded by many as the grandest in the country. 
 
 It is a hard journey, and few ladies have the strength 
 to undertake it. We went an hour over the fjord in a 
 boat, then walked two hours over the wildest mountain 
 path I have ever trod, yet affording the grandest views. 
 We then reached a little lake that we crossed in a boat, 
 and after a walk of twenty minutes reached a second 
 lake, a cascade connecting the two. This second lake is 
 five miles long and about two wide, is 1,600 feet above 
 the sea, and hemmed in by cliffs from 1,000 to 2,000 high, 
 nearly perpendicular on every side except the outlet. 
 
180 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 Taking a boat and passing several smaller falls, we 
 reached at the extreme end the great fall, made by a 
 river dashing over the cliff into the lake nearly 
 a thousand feet below. All around the scenery was of 
 the wildest nature not a human habitation for miles 
 not even a fish lives in the cold clear water, and I 
 have rarely been so much impressed as by this great 
 waterfall and remarkable lake, so difficult of access and 
 almost unknown. Place them where they could be 
 easily visited, and they would be regarded as among 
 the wonders of the world, and poets would work them 
 selves into a frenzy in singing their praise. 
 
 The great glacier near Odde is forty miles long and 
 fifteen miles wide, coming down close to the fjord, the 
 flowers springing up by its side. I took a long walk one 
 day to a lake at the foot of this glacier, and while there 
 watched a woman bringing down in her arms large 
 bundles of hay, which she had cut from a fertile spot on 
 the mountain. She placed it in a large boat till the 
 boat could hold no more, then rowed over the lake 
 several miles to her home. Another woman was making 
 hay with a babe in her arms. One of the saddest sights 
 to an American in Europe is the hard lot of the women, 
 and no American woman can see the condition of her 
 sex over the Atlantic without thanking her Maker that 
 she was born in our favored land. Some people have 
 said I have no opinion of my own in our country 
 the men were made for the women. There can be no 
 doubt that in the Old World the women were made for 
 the men theirs are the hardest toil, the most sacrifices, 
 the smallest recompense. I have seen women doing the 
 most menial work making roads, digging canals, drag- 
 
A SUMMER IN NORWAY 181 
 
 ging along canal boats by the side of horses, at work in 
 barn-yards, etc., etc., an unknown sight, I am proud 
 to say, in America. 
 
 Taking a boat from Odde at two o clock in the morn 
 ing, I touched at many beautiful villages till I came to 
 Eide, when I left the boat, and passing over a high ridge 
 of land by a magnificent zigzag road, crossing repeatedly 
 a river descending with many cascades, I at last entered 
 the Vossevangen Valley, one of the most fertile and best 
 known in Norway. Its excellent hotel, where the king 
 had stopped a few days before, was kept by a man who 
 had lived years in America, and was a place of great 
 resort. The church here is six hundred years old, with 
 a round Norman arch doorway, and has a Bible printed 
 in 1589. At Vossevangen I saw one of the bridal 
 gowns of the peasants, with a dazzling gilt crown for 
 the head, all prepared with much labor. The gown is 
 used for a village and for many years, a custom that will 
 never find favor with American brides. 
 
 I moved on, partly on foot, partly by carriole, over a 
 romantic road, with fine views of mountains and valleys, 
 lakes and waterfalls. Some of the little hotels where I 
 stopped were very plain, but the people were every 
 where kind and honest. At one place they could only 
 give me for dinner a bottle of Norwegian beer and some 
 hard dry bread, called flad-brod, of peculiar manufacture, 
 and which will keep a year. The old landlord wanted 
 to know where I came from, and when I told him from 
 America, he repeated with amazement, " Fra America ! " 
 as if it was a thing hardly to be credited that one should 
 visit Norway from so distant a land. But he had friends 
 in America, and he called his old wife to tell her about 
 
182 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 it. He had solid silver buttons on his jacket, and as he 
 saw they attracted my attention, he said they had been 
 two hundred years in the family. He took me to the 
 top of a hill, and pointing to the great gorge towards 
 Gudvangen, said it was one of the grandest views in 
 Norway, and he was right. Leaving him, I descended 
 by zigzags cut with immense labor, a precipitous slope 
 between two superb waterfalls, into a deep valley, 
 bounded by lofty and imposing mountains, thousands of 
 feet high, contracting in some places so as to leave only 
 room for the road and the river, and so it continued to 
 Gudvangen, seven miles. It is called Naerodal. A 
 storm came up while I was traversing it alone and on 
 foot, so that its gloomy depths seemed almost terrible, a 
 fit home for the most horrible creations of ancient myth 
 ology. 
 
 Gudvangen, the end of this wild valley, is a village 
 with only six houses, and lies so deep in the gorge 
 that in winter not a ray of sunshine can reach it. 
 Several waterfalls are near it, one twice as high as the 
 famous Staubach of Switzerland, and much grander. 
 The Naerofjord, which here begins, is a continuation of 
 the dark valley, with the same narrow passage between 
 high cliffs, the same fine views of mountains and water 
 falls, quite like the Geiranger Fjord of which I have 
 spoken, and by some claimed to be its equal, if not its 
 superior, in grandeur. 
 
 I was now on the Sogne Fjord, rivalling the Hardanger 
 Fjord in its objects of interest. Touching at many 
 places, I at last reached Laerdalsoren, the most inland 
 town of the fjord, and leaving the steamboat I turned 
 my face towards Christiania. My course was up a long 
 
A SUMMER IN NOB WAY 183 
 
 valley, by the side of a river springing from the top of 
 the mountain range that runs the whole length of 
 Norway, and continually enlarged by streams from the 
 lateral valleys. I went about ten miles a day, nearly 
 the whole distance on foot, having sent my baggage 
 before me, stopping a day, sometimes several days, at 
 each hotel, examining at my leisure everything on the 
 way, talking with the people, and trying to learn all I 
 could of their condition, manner of life, etc., etc. At 
 the hotel where I stopped the first night the only other 
 guests were a professor from Christiania on a pedestrian 
 tour with his two sons as a reward for diligence at 
 school. They were the only pedestrians I saw for 
 pleasure, which struck me with surprise ; for I have 
 been in no other country where the invigorating air 
 makes walking so easy and healthful. As they rose 
 from the dinner table the sons shook their father by the 
 hand to express their gratitude for the meal, after the 
 universal custom of Norway. The national method of 
 expressing thanks is by hand-shaking, and it was some 
 times very amusing to see a little carriole boy offer his 
 unclean hand to a nicely-gloved lady when at parting 
 she gave him a small gratuity. The second day I visited 
 the Borgund Church, the oldest in Norway, built 400 
 years before Columbus discovered America; a quaint 
 little building, full of gables, somewhat resembling a 
 Chinese pagoda. When I started the third day I was 
 twenty-one miles from the summit of the mountain, over 
 which my path lay, and intended to stop at Maristuen, 
 ten miles distant. The hotels, however, in the country, 
 rarely have any signs, nor anything else, in fact, to indi 
 cate their character, for everybody is supposed to know 
 
184 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 everybody for a hundred miles in that thinly -peopled 
 region; and before I thought I could have walked ten 
 miles I had passed the little hotel unobserved, and was 
 high up the mountain. The trees had disappeared, and 
 houses and snow-capped peaks were overhanging me. 
 I wandered on, and on, evidently near the summit, and 
 wondering where the hotel was, and at last came to 
 some saeters, as the rude mountain stone huts are called, 
 where were many cows in charge of some women and 
 children, driven there for pasturage, as is the custom in 
 Norway in summer, so hard is it to find food for them 
 in the valleys. I asked the women how far it was to 
 Hotel Maristuen, and they began to laugh, and pointed 
 back. It was late, and I was tired, and asked them 
 where I could get something to eat, and spend the night. 
 They said they could give me nothing but milk, and 
 that I must go to the top of the mountain. I walked 
 on, and in about an hour reached Nystuen, 4,000 feet 
 high, on the summit of the Fille Fjeld Pass, having 
 walked twenty-one miles with but little fatigue in that 
 bracing air. There was a large lake near the hotel, and 
 wild flowers were growing around, but mountains pre 
 vented distant views. I descended rapidly the next 
 day, and found the country and houses were better, and 
 the hotel where I rested for the night was very comfort 
 able. They were making hay on the large farm belong 
 ing to the landlord ; and when I went to bed at nine 
 o clock I saw from my window many women and a few 
 men hard at work, and when I awoke at four they had 
 commenced again the labor of the day. No one talks 
 about eight hours a day in Norway. The following day 
 I dined with a landlord who was a member of Parlia- 
 
A SUMMER Itf NORWAY 185 
 
 ment, and of whom I bought some silver jewelry 200 
 years old. For two weeks I went on in this manner, 
 through the most enchanting scenery, along lovely lakes, 
 through fine groves of pine, spruce, fir, and birch trees, 
 lingering here and there to enjoy a fine prospect, regret 
 ting every step that I left behind me, and only wishing 
 my friends could be with me to share my pleasure. One 
 day, in the finest part of a long lake, I met a double 
 carriage with four English travellers, and had quite a 
 chat with them. They were making a tour in Norway, 
 and were having a nice game of whist, as the carriage 
 moved along amid this lovely scenery, to relieve the 
 monotony of travel. Not all English travellers are 
 intelligent. Some months later I met in Italy an Eng 
 lish gentleman and his wife, who had been travelling a 
 year for their mutual improvement, and asked them 
 where they had been. With some difficulty the gentle 
 man got as far as Berlin, and then turned to his wife, 
 after a pause, and said : " My dear, where did we go to 
 from Berlin?" 
 
 I ought to add, in justice to the truth, that of the 
 thousands of Americans let loose on Europe annually, 
 many are not more intelligent than the English. In my 
 last visit to London an American asked me to tell him 
 who that Wellington was whose statue met him every 
 where ; and some years ago I found by my side in the 
 speaker s gallery of the House of Commons an American 
 who wished to know who was at the head of the British 
 Government. His finger-nails were of the color of ink, 
 and his soft hat had evidently seen years of service. He 
 told me he was on his way as consul to represent us at 
 one of the most cultivated cities of Switzerland. An 
 
186 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 Italian gentleman in Rome told me of the American 
 who was trying to find the studio of Michael Angelo. 
 He had heard a great deal about the gentleman, and 
 wanted to see him. 
 
 So few people make tours on foot in Norway that I 
 found I had become very well known all along the road. 
 It is a custom to place benches where fine views can be 
 had, and I was seated on one of these one day when a 
 gentleman in a carriage stopped his horse, and asked : 
 " You are an American, and came from Laerdalsoren ? " 
 I answered, "Yes." "You are bound for Christiania ? " 
 I replied, "Yes." "You are travelling on foot?" I 
 said, "Yes," and I learned that other people besides 
 Yankees asked questions. 
 
 After one hundred and fifty miles on foot I took a 
 steamboat for thirty-five miles over the long, narrow 
 Lake Spirillen, bounded on both sides by thick forests. 
 At Keen I had my first experience of a Norwegian rail 
 road. The first-class car in which I journeyed was a 
 little room, nearly square, with a table in the centre, 
 and seats all around, so that one could move about as in 
 a parlor, and it was really very comfortable. There were 
 but few people in the car, for in Europe nearly all jour 
 ney third class. At Honefos is a fine waterfall, and the 
 town contains a thousand inhabitants, the largest place 
 I had seen since I left Bergen. Here I left the railroad, 
 and went on foot through a great forest, ascended a 
 rocky mountain, Kroghleven, for a superb view, called 
 one of the finest in Norway, then continued over a 
 most interesting road, with mountains on one side and 
 the Tyri Fjord on the other, to Sandviken, where I 
 again took a railroad ; and passing villages, and hand- 
 
A SUMMER IN NORWAY 187 
 
 some country houses, along the shore of the Christiania 
 Fjord, was soon at Christiania, the capital of Norway, 
 md largest city, finely built, with handsome palaces, 
 museums, etc., etc., but which I do not propose now to 
 lescribe. I was sorry when I reached the city, for it 
 was to be the last city I should visit in Norway, and 
 [ never expected again to find such enjoyment in travel 
 is I had received the whole summer in this most north- 
 3rn country of Europe. I had travelled on foot three 
 lundred and fifty miles, and had become a stronger, 
 tviser, and better man. 
 
 I should have passed a poor examination on Norway 
 jefore I went there, for my knowledge of it was very 
 fague. My early impressions of it when a boy at school 
 ivere from a picture in Peter Parley s Geography, repre 
 senting a Norwegian dressed in skins, killing a bear with 
 i knife. Both man and bear were erect, facing each 
 )ther, and it was not easy to tell which looked the most 
 savage. I naturally inferred that all the Norwegians 
 ;vore skins, and that killing bears was their daily occu 
 pation. My summer spent in the country gave me a 
 pery different impression of them. They are plain in 
 Iress, independent in manner and speech, disregarding 
 nany of the courtesies of other nations ; but I have 
 lever seen a kinder, more honest, or more obliging 
 people. Education is compulsory, and all can read and 
 tvrite. In the back districts, where the children are too 
 kr separated to be collected in schools, the masters go 
 ;o their homes to instruct them. No nation in the world 
 s more free. They have a king, but his power is 
 lominal, as laws can be passed over his veto, and there 
 ire no rich corporations to control legislation, as with 
 
188 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 us. Hereditary titles were abolished years ago. I know 
 of no country where such uniformity in religion prevails. 
 Nine adults in ten are members of the Lutheran church, 
 and the societies of other denominations are very small, 
 and confined to the cities. It is the only country I ever 
 travelled in where people do not lock their doors. I do 
 not believe there is a civilized country in the world 
 where life and property are more secure. I trust Eng 
 lish and American travellers will not corrupt them. They 
 leave money and valuable articles anywhere with no 
 fear of losing them. They regard everybody as honest, 
 and have no suspicion of fraud. I had a draft on Lon 
 don, for which I wished the money, and it was cashed at 
 once at a Bergen bank, stranger as I was, with not a ques 
 tion as to identity. I went into a store at Bergen with an 
 American gentleman and lady to look at some old Nor 
 wegian silver, and the shopkeeper told us if we had not 
 the money with us we could give our checks. Were a 
 man in America to begin to sell goods to strangers for 
 checks his friends would start him at once for an insane 
 asylum, with the deepest anxiety as to his ultimate 
 recovery. At restaurants in Norway and Sweden guests 
 are often allowed to eat what they please and report 
 to the cashier for payment. Would such a restaurant be 
 a success in America ? 
 
 The people are generally poor, and must always remain 
 so, for only one acre of land in one hundred and twenty can 
 be cultivated ; much of their flour and meat is from Amer 
 ica, and but for the fisheries nearly the whole western coast 
 would be depopulated. Most of the common people 
 wear homespun clothes, and as you go through the 
 country you can still hear the music of the loom and 
 
A SUMMER IN NORWAY 189 
 
 spinning-wheel, the only instruments our grandmothers 
 played upon, but of which the daughters know so little. 
 They have a genuine politeness. I never met a man or 
 boy in the country that he did not take off his hat and 
 say god-dag good-day. The men are generally finely 
 developed and good looking. I saw no beauty among 
 the women. It may be my home in America has made 
 me too critical to appreciate beauty abroad. They pay 
 their doctors by the year, and soon get well. I have 
 never seen a more contented people. Living lives of 
 extreme toil, in log houses, tilling a barren soil, deprived 
 of nearly all the fruits and other luxuries of a more 
 southern clime, their whole struggle, not to become rich, 
 but simply to exist, on the plainest fare, and with the 
 simplest clothing, they love their homes with the deepest 
 affection. I saw many who had lived in America for 
 years, and they told me how much better off they were 
 there, but they said the yearning for yamle Norge, old 
 Norway, as they always call it, had been too strong to 
 resist, and they had come back to the home of their 
 fathers to die. 
 
 The exports of the country show its poverty, and also 
 its industry. Fish, lumber, and ice are nearly all, yet, 
 with these products, the commercial fleet of Norway, 
 having a population of less than two millions, is next to 
 those of Great Britain and the United States. It is 
 sparsely settled, its 122,752 square miles averaging but 
 fifteen persons to the square mile. Sometimes I jour 
 neyed many miles without seeing a house, and the still 
 ness of the forests was oppressive. On the long country 
 roads I found everybody knew everybody for a hundred 
 miles. I noticed but few birds, more frequently the chat- 
 
190 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 tering magpie and noisy brown crows, screaming when 
 disturbed, as if to complain that any one should encroach 
 on their homes. 
 
 I remained in Norway till September, and left it with 
 regret and with deep respect for its honest, industrious 
 people, wishing Heaven had granted them a milder cli 
 mate and a more favored soil. But it may be their very 
 hardships have made them better. The influence of 
 country, however, on national character I shall leave to 
 others to discuss. 
 
 From Norway I visited Sweden, Denmark, Germany, 
 and Austria, and the following spring and summer was 
 in Italy, the land of poetry, music, and art, where ruins 
 of the mighty past meet you at every step, and the 
 fragrance of orange blossoms fills the air where every 
 sense and every passion finds enjoyment, and one lingers 
 and lingers, so reluctant % to depart on many accounts 
 more interesting than Norway, and in all respects so dif 
 ferent. Then I visited Switzerland, France, and Eng 
 land, and started for America. It will be seen I saw 
 many different people, varying as much as possible in 
 external life and mental traits. The great lesson I 
 learned from it all, and from four years in Europe at 
 different periods, was that in everything essential we 
 are far better off than any other nation in the world. I 
 pity the understanding and heart of him who returns 
 from a foreign tour with his tongue full of comparisons 
 unfavorable to this country. I left England covered, as 
 it had been for weeks, with fog, and, day after day, not a 
 ray of sunshine, and my next view of land was when I 
 entered Boston harbor, on the loveliest of Sunday morn 
 ings, the sun illuminating everything with his golden light, 
 
Ill 
 
 A SUMMER IN NORWAY 191 
 
 and all nature and every being reflecting it joyously 
 back, and looking so bright and happy, can it be a 
 wonder that the contrast between the old world and the 
 new struck me as never before, and that my heart of 
 hearts was filled to overflowing with a gratitude I 
 could find 110 language to express that I was born 
 America, and was home again ? 
 
 " There is no other land like thee, 
 
 No dearer shore; 
 
 Thou art the shelter of the free 
 
 The home, the port of liberty, 
 Thou hast been, and shalt ever be, 
 
 Till time is o er, 
 
 " Land of the forest and the rock, 
 
 Of dark blue lake and mighty river, 
 Of mountains reared on high to mock 
 The storm s career and lightning s shock, 
 My own dear land forever ! " 
 
SOME PERSONS I HAVE SEEN 
 
 THE first man of national reputation that I ever saw 
 was John Quincy Adams, at Newburyport, July 4, 1837. 
 He had been a law student there when a young man, 
 and his return to give an oration, after such a distin 
 guished career, was a marked event, and people gathered 
 from a great distance around to see him. I was a little 
 boy, but I had an intense desire to see distinguished 
 men, far more than now, and I came sixteen miles 
 to see an ex-President. There was a great crowd, and 
 Mr. Adams was introduced to the people, on Brown 
 square, by Caleb Gushing, then a young man, thirty-seven 
 years of age. 
 
 The procession was formed to go to the Pleasant-street 
 Church, and I joined it. At the church the officers in 
 charge objected to my entrance on the ground of my 
 youth, but I pleaded that I had walked the whole 
 distance in the procession ; kind people around me took 
 my part, moved by my earnestness, and I was admitted. 
 
 Nothing in the now long past is fresher in my mind 
 than Mr. Adams and all the exercises. He was short 
 and thick-set, very bald, a trait of the family, and 
 seemed old and feeble, yet when he began to speak it 
 was with the energy of a young man. His voice was 
 sharp and shrill ; he gesticulated much, and used great 
 emphasis when he wished to call attention to a point. 
 
 192 
 
SOME PERSONS I HAVE SEEN 193 
 
 He spoke naturally, had no arts of oratory, and though 
 an earnest, forcible speaker I was disappointed. He was 
 not the cultivated orator I had expected to hear in the 
 " old man eloquent," for even then such he was called. 
 He was a most remarkable man in his industry, acquire 
 ments, long public service, and mental powers unim 
 paired to the last. He was a formidable antagonist in 
 his congressional career, as he knew so much more of 
 public affairs than any other man in Congress and was 
 thoroughly informed where the knowledge of his op 
 ponent was imperfect. It is remembered that, towards 
 the close of their lives, a distinct issue was made be 
 tween him and General Jackson as to a question of fact, 
 and Mr. Adams in Faneuil Hall showed his diary, where 
 he had made his record in regard to it, and there was 
 no more doubt as to whose was the error. It should be 
 said of him, too, that his sincerity and integrity were 
 never questioned. The manuscript of his oration is one 
 of the treasures of the Newburyport Public Library. 
 
 The next great man that I saw was Daniel Webster, the 
 idol of my youth, at the great Whig convention of 1840, 
 on Bunker Hill, of whom I have written in another article. 
 
 Rufus Choate was at this time at the height of his 
 fame as an orator, and as a successful jury lawyer, prob 
 ably, he never had his superior in the United States. I 
 heard him many times in court and on the stump, and 
 always with admiration. His person was striking, with 
 his pale face and waving hair. He was one of the best 
 scholars ever graduated from Dartmouth, and had a 
 copiousness of language, a richness of illustration, and 
 a keen wit, combined with strong logic, that gave an 
 interest to the most barren topic. It was said of his 
 
194 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 arguments that they were an iron cable covered with 
 roses. As we have elsewhere stated, on his oration on 
 Daniel Webster before Dartmouth College, one sentence 
 fills four pages. He was so earnest that he was always 
 eloquent, whether pleading before a justice of the peace 
 or before a jury in a crowded court room. No man ever 
 more loved his profession, and it was with reluctance 
 that he was sent to Congress, where he did not feel at 
 home. Brilliant as was his reputation with his contem 
 poraries, like that of most other lawyers, his fame will 
 not, probably, be enduring. A very intelligent gentle 
 man, living all his life in New Hampshire, recently asked 
 me who Jeremiah Mason was, the greatest lawyer ever 
 in his State. I rejoice that a statue of Rufus Choate has 
 recently been placed in the Court House at Boston, the 
 gift of a Boston schoolmaster. 
 
 Edward Everett was one of the most remarkable of 
 American orators. Distinguished as a scholar at Harvard, 
 while little more than a boy drawing great crowds as a 
 clergyman in Boston, he became professor at Harvard, 
 member of Congress, governor of the State, secretary of 
 state, president of Harvard University, and few men 
 ever gave more learned and finished addresses on many 
 different occasions and subjects. He was a candidate 
 for vice-president on the Union ticket with Bell of 
 Tennessee in 1860. He was active in raising a fund to 
 make Mount Vernon the property of the nation, arid 
 delivered an address in many places for that purpose 
 which in manner and matter was the finest effort I 
 have ever heard. He was not successful as an extem 
 poraneous speaker, in which his gifted son so greatly 
 excels, but prepared carefully, committing to memory, 
 
SOME PERSONS I HAVE SEEN 195 
 
 and if every movement, every gesture, every tone of the 
 voice was studied, they were natural. He was a high- 
 toned, sensitive man, and, it is feared, would have had 
 poor success as a politician in this pushing age. I 
 doubt if he ever sought any position, but the office 
 sought him, showing how times have changed. 
 
 About 1840 what was termed Millerism deserves men 
 tion for the sensation it created in New England. Mr. 
 Miller, its author, had been a sailor, and had devoted 
 much time while at sea to a study of the Bible, with 
 which he became very conversant. He had but little 
 education, but became a man of " one book." He came 
 to the conclusion that the prophecies all pointed to the 
 end of the world in 1843, and so skilfully did he quote 
 and explain different passages that his opponents found 
 it difficult to answer his points. Many publications 
 were issued to sustain his position, and his followers 
 numbered thousands, many of whom gave away their 
 property, and prepared for themselves white robes in 
 which to ascend to Heaven. I heard him speak several 
 times in churches, and once at a camp meeting of his 
 people. He was an old man, very stout, his voice and 
 hands trembling with age, but speaking with an earnest 
 ness that left no doubt of his sincerity, and that im 
 pressed his hearers. He would quote passage after 
 passage, all pointing to 1843 as the end of all things 
 earthly, and then, in the most solemn manner, urge 
 them to prepare for the judgment so soon to come ; and 
 I have never before or since seen an audience so moved 
 as once in Haverhill. Man after man arose, and ex 
 pressed his belief in what had been said, and even the 
 skeptical were excited by the almost universal sympathy. 
 
196 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 The years 1845 and 1846 I spent in Kentucky ; was 
 introduced to William J. Graves, and saw and heard 
 much of him. Old people remember the excitement all 
 over the country caused by his killing Jonathan Cilley 
 in a duel, Feb. 24, 1838, an excitement greater, proba 
 bly, than that of any other duel since that between 
 Hamilton and Burr. Mr. Graves was a fine looking 
 man, popular and gentlemanly. A true Kentuckian, he 
 was fond of games of chance, and not a prohibitionist. 
 Of course he did not speak of the duel, but his friends 
 discussed it freely. They said he did not feel remorse 
 for the act, as he thought Mr. Cilley meant to kill him, 
 and that he had been driven into the duel by what was 
 termed the " code of honor." Singular as it seemed, he 
 was not familiar with the rifle, as are most Kentuckians, 
 but he had iron nerves, and was cool, while Mr. Cilley 
 could have killed game, but was unnerved against a 
 man, even if he intended to kill Mr. Graves, in which 
 idea, without a doubt, the friends of Mr. Graves were 
 mistaken. That Mr. Cilley, a New England man, should 
 have accepted a challenge, has ever been regarded with 
 surprise. 
 
 In 1848 I visited England for the first time, and I 
 was at an age when I was anxious to look at distin 
 guished men, and especially the old Duke of Wellington. 
 I was seated on a bench in the park near the Horse 
 Guards, saying to a gentleman at my side that I wished 
 to see their great warrior, when I heard a cry, "the 
 Duke, the Duke." " There he is," he said, " the man 
 on horseback." I hastened towards him, and was close 
 to him by the time he had alighted from his horse, and 
 given it in charge of his attendant. He walked some 
 
SOME PERSONS I HAVE SEEN 19T 
 
 rods to the Horse Guards, rang at a door which was not 
 opened for several minutes, while I was so near that 
 I could have touched him, and, in the American fashion, 
 have asked him to shake hands with me which I did 
 not do, but I devoured him with my eyes. I have never 
 been so interested in the sight of any other man. There 
 was the conqueror of Napoleon, and it took me back to 
 the wonderful history of that most wonderful man, of 
 which I had read so much, and made it real, for here 
 was one of the great actors of that remarkable period. 
 He was nearly four-score years of age, but seemed vigor 
 ous, though bent. His most marked feature was an enor 
 mous nose. His hair was thick, cut short, and perfectly 
 white. He was below the average height, and what is 
 called thick-set. I saw him several times after that, 
 once in the House of Lords, where he was moving about 
 actively, wearing a white vest. 
 
 At the same time I saw Prince Albert, a handsome 
 young man, beginning to be bald, driving with the 
 Queen by his side her first drive after her confinement 
 two weeks before. I was at the entrance of Hyde Park, 
 near the Apsley House, the residence of the Duke of 
 Wellington, when a policeman with whom I had been in 
 conversation told me if I waited a few moments I 
 should see the Queen, for notice had been sent before to 
 the police. It was a period of some anxiety, for the 
 great Chartist meeting was about to be held, which 
 Kingsley has so graphically described in his " Alton 
 Locke," and a demonstration against royalty was feared. 
 
 I saw in the House of Commons many men of fame, 
 such as Sir Robert Peel, a fine-looking man ; John Stuart 
 Mill, small and bald ; Viscount Morpeth, who had just 
 
198 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 before visited the United States, and Lord John Russell, 
 then at the head of the government. The last made a 
 long speech, which I had the privilege of hearing. He 
 was a small man, and a very good speaker, though he 
 could hardly be called eloquent. 
 
 I had a letter of introduction to Sir William Brown, 
 the many times millionaire, of Liverpool, at the head of 
 the great firm of Brown and Shipley, then a member of 
 Parliament. He received me very kindly, and at my 
 request gave me several orders of admission to the de 
 bates of the House of Commons. He was small, old, 
 white-haired, and appeared in delicate health, due, as his 
 wife, who was with him, said, to the late hours of the 
 sessions of the House of Commons. He left no children, 
 and established the Brown free library and museum, 
 which is such a treasure to Liverpool. 
 
 No clergyman of London had so high a reputation for 
 eloquence at that time as the Hon. and Rev. Baptist 
 W. Noel, and I heard him preach, but was disappointed 
 that he fell so much below my expectations. Years 
 after I heard often the more celebrated Spurgeon. He 
 was short, thick-set, with a remarkably fine voice, of 
 great compass. I heard him twice in a hall said to seat 
 20,000. The first time I sat near to have a good view 
 of him, and the next time I took a seat as far as 
 possible from the speaker, and heard every word dis 
 tinctly. He was very earnest, by no means so eloquent 
 and gifted as Beecher, but more impressive, with none 
 of the jokes with which the latter so often interspersed 
 his sermons. He was interested in many objects, his 
 whole aim seemed to be to do good, and probably no 
 clergyman in London was ever more useful. 
 
SOME PEKSONS I HAVE SEEN 199 
 
 I heard Cardinal Manning preach ; plain in manner, 
 but learned and able, one of the many High Church 
 Episcopalians who have gone over to Romanism; also 
 the gifted James Martineau, who impressed me even 
 more favorably in the pulpit, by his cultivated appear 
 ance, than he had done by his writings. 
 
 I visited Europe during the Paris Exposition of 1867, 
 and never could I have been there at a more interesting 
 period for sight-seeing. I heard Dickens twice in Lon 
 don read from his own writings, and aside from his fame 
 as an author, he had great gifts as a reader and actor. 
 
 The House of Commons is very unlike our National 
 House of Representatives. The galleries are small, and 
 admittance can be gained only by an order from a mem 
 ber. The members sit with their hats on, and have no 
 desks before them as at Washington, which the sena 
 tors and representatives use for writing, or, not unfre- 
 quently, as footstools. This forces attention to the 
 business, but coughing and other means of disposing of 
 a disagreeable speaker are adopted. Reading speeches 
 and obtaining leave to print what is never spoken, so 
 common at Washington, are unknown. I heard D Israeli 
 speak for an hour and a half. He spoke clearly, with 
 great distinctness and hardly a gesture, held the undi 
 vided attention, and sustained by his matter his high 
 reputation. He was always epigrammatic, expressing 
 much in a few words that were remembered. As an 
 orator he was inferior to his great rival Gladstone, 
 whom I heard in a brief speech in praise of America 
 for hastening to pay the principal of its debt. He was 
 fluent, never hesitating for a word, used many gestures, 
 more like most of our American orators, able to speak 
 
200 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 for any length of time on any subject, and he spoke 
 often and ably, for he was a distinguished scholar. I 
 was anxious to hear Bright, but was disappointed, 
 though I saw him often. 
 
 Paris in 1867 did its best to entertain the strangers 
 that attended the Exposition ; and it usually does its 
 best, for it lives on them. Every place of interest was 
 open to them, where closed to its own people. Among 
 other places on exhibition was Malmaison, fitted up as 
 when occupied by Josephine, all the articles owned by 
 her collected as far as possible, and among other things 
 was the last piece of embroidery worked by her, the 
 needle remaining in it as she had left it, with the un 
 used thread. Nearly every sovereign of Europe was 
 there at some period during the summer, a public recep 
 tion was made for each, and such grand parades Europe 
 had never seen before. I saw Napoleon, with his dull, 
 inexpressive face, many times, whose career was marked 
 by such changes of fortune, and of whose general capac 
 ity such different estimates have been made. His wife, 
 too, graceful, beautiful, winning in manner, was often 
 driving with her gorgeous carriage through the streets 
 and in the Bois de Boulogne, her history as full of 
 changes as that of her husband. I saw, too, their little 
 son, a pretty blue-eyed boy, whose tragic death in South 
 Africa could then have been so little anticipated, but 
 that seemed almost a fitting end of the last prominent 
 member of a family that had convulsed Europe so long, 
 and, to appearance, had no future. He certainly died 
 bravely. 
 
 The world up to that time had had no such grand Ex 
 position, and to that end Napoleon and Eugenie worked 
 
SOME PERSONS I HAVE SEEN 201 
 
 untiringly. It has been a model for many similar 
 efforts. In visiting it one day, in a small room, I no 
 ticed a short, thick-set man, with glasses, moving around 
 quickly in company with a lady, inspecting everything 
 and asking many questions. I thought it must be 
 Monsieur Thiers, and the attendant confirmed my im 
 pression, one of the most remarkable men of Europe. 
 Coming into notice first as a journalist, he became dis 
 tinguished as a member of the House of Deputies, 
 helped make France a republic, became its president, 
 and few men have ever been more sincerely lamented 
 by all France when he died. 
 
 Of the different sovereigns present, the old Emperor 
 of Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm, was, probably, the most 
 attractive, accompanied as he was by Bismarck. He 
 was a son of the beautiful Empress Louise. To him 
 and Bismarck Germany is indebted for its unity. I saw 
 him afterwards several times at Berlin and Potsdam. 
 No one could have dreamed then that he was so soon to 
 return, not as a guest, but a conqueror. I saw him 
 once talking with a lady, and it was with an uncovered 
 head, though so cold I would not have dared thus to 
 expose myself. We can learri politeness from Europe. 
 A prominent American once boasted to me of a quarrel 
 he had with the attendants because he would not remove 
 his hat in a church a want of respect for the place of 
 which the humblest European would not have been 
 guilty. I never saw a funeral procession in the streets 
 of Paris that every one did not stand uncovered till it 
 had passed. 
 
 Among others Gounod, the great musical composer, 
 was once pointed out to me. 
 
202 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 I often in Paris attended lectures at the College of 
 France, to hear pure French spoken. Lectures were 
 given by the ablest men of France, of whom, perhaps, 
 the best known in America was Laboulaye. He was a 
 handsome man, and drew larger audiences than any 
 other professor. Another popular lecturer was Guizot, 
 son of the eminent Guizot, who often came as an audi 
 tor. I was once the only listener to a lecturer on San 
 scrit, but the professor did his duty, and went through 
 the lecture. 
 
 At Geneva, where I went from Paris, I saw two of 
 the famous men of Europe. One was Garibaldi, who 
 had exerted such an influence over the destiny of Italy. 
 He came to attend a convention, and his reception on 
 Sunday was enthusiastic. Every one was in the street 
 to greet him, and loud cheers were given as he passed 
 along. He made a long speech in French to the Con 
 vention, and spoke fluently. His address, however, was 
 full of attacks on religion and the clergy, and it did 
 much to cool the ardor of his reception. He was a man 
 of medium size, his hair thin and nearly white. He was 
 clad very simply, wearing the red shirt, as he is usually 
 represented in his pictures. 
 
 I had long been interested in Merle d Aubigny, for I 
 had early read his " History of the Reformation," which 
 gave him a world- wide reputation. I attended one of 
 his lectures, and a student whose acquaintance I had 
 made introduced me to him. His lecture was in French, 
 and so was our conversation, though he made an attempt 
 to use English. I soon found, however, that my poor 
 French was better than his bad English. He was an 
 old man then, but grand-looking, his head reminding me 
 
SOME PERSONS I HAVE SEEN 203 
 
 of Daniel Webster, if any man can look like our great 
 American. He spoke very kindly of America, from 
 which students had come to him, one of whom I knew 
 well. 
 
 I was in Athens during the spring of 1868, and was 
 present at the opening of the Greek Parliament, when 
 the king read his speech. He was then a handsome 
 young man, and his selection by the Greeks for their 
 king seemed to be wise. His tutor told me that his 
 Greek pronunciation as he read was very defective, 
 though he had been carefully trained. I saw the queen 
 often once as she was worshipping in the Greek 
 church. She was young, had only recently been mar 
 ried, was of the Russian royal family, and I thought 
 her one of the most beautiful women I had seen in 
 Europe. 
 
 In Rome, in 1868, I had many opportunities of seeing 
 Pope Pius IX., and was often blessed by him as one of 
 a crowd. He was a handsome old man with a benevo 
 lent countenance, well calculated to deepen the awe 
 thrown around his person. Once I saw him borne in a 
 chair by men around the court of Saint Peter s church 
 with much ceremony, and he appeared in public on 
 many occasions at religious festivals, accompanied by 
 the cardinals clad in rich vestments and in magnificent 
 carriages, drawn by richly caparisoned horses. Such 
 spectacles were intended to impress the people with the 
 sanctity of the religious prelates, and they had that 
 effect. Two years later, in 1870, the Pope lost his tem 
 poral power, and secluded himself in the Vatican. 
 
 George P. Marsh, that accomplished scholar, was our 
 Italian minister, and Hiram Powers, W. W. Story, and 
 
204 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 Mr. Ball were in Italy as artists, an honor to American 
 art, all of whom I saw. 
 
 I saw the present Pope only once in Rome in 1880, 
 and then by accident. I had lost my way in the Vatican, 
 and was straying in forbidden grounds. He is a small 
 man physically, of profound scholarship, and much re 
 spected. 
 
 At a later visit, I had many opportunities of seeing the 
 King of Italy, whose sad death has been so much la 
 mented. He had the love of his people, to whose wel 
 fare he was devoted, and so had the queen, also their 
 son, whom I used to see as a little boy. The queen 
 could hardly be called beautiful, but she was graceful 
 and winning, and when she appeared in public every one 
 cheered her warmly. 
 
 The handsomest sovereign of Europe seems to me to 
 be Oscar II., King of Sweden and Norway, a grandson 
 of Bernadotte, one of Napoleon s marshals. I was in 
 Bergen in 1879, on my return from the North Cape, at 
 the time of his first visit to that city, and no ruler could 
 have had a more royal and enthusiastic reception. It 
 was a good opportunity to see the national costumes of 
 the people, now rapidly disappearing in the general in 
 tercourse of nations. It had been a rare sight in Bergen 
 to see a king, and all classes from the whole country 
 around gathered to bid him welcome. There was a 
 long procession of boys and girls in their peasant dress, 
 and that of the young ladies was peculiarly attractive, 
 and I regret that my education has not prepared me 
 properly to describe it. Their gowns were evidently 
 homespun, as were those of our grandmothers years 
 ago, were bright in color, wide open at the breast to dis- 
 
SOME PERSONS I HAVE SEEN 205 
 
 play a richly embroidered bodice, I think it is called, 
 and they were decorated with much old silver jewelry, 
 heirlooms which the poorest families are proud to pos 
 sess. I have seldom seen such beautiful girls, and all 
 looked happy, for each one was dressed for exhibition, 
 and thought the eyes of the king were fixed on her alone. 
 The king mingled freely with the people, and made 
 himself very popular. Once as I was walking alone 
 outside of the city we exchanged bows. 
 
 Before our civil war, an epoch from which many 
 changes have dated, the lyceum lecture course was the 
 popular literary entertainment of the winter in New 
 England, with one of which the writer was connected, 
 and it brought him in contact with some of the most 
 brilliant men of the country. Wendell Phillips, a gen 
 tleman by birth and education, with an unusually re 
 fined presence and a classical outline of face, was one of 
 the finest orators America has produced. Calm, using 
 but few gestures, distinct in his utterance, his short, 
 crisp, pointed sentences went straight to the hearts of 
 his hearers, and he was the most effective of all the anti- 
 slavery speakers. He had a favorite lecture on the 
 " Lost Arts," aiming to show that in some respects the 
 ancients surpassed the moderns. 
 
 John B. Gough lectured mainly on temperance, and 
 drew crowded houses wherever he went in America or 
 England. As a mimic, actor, and story teller moving 
 his hearers to tears or laughter, he has had but few 
 equals. In early life he was a drunken book-binder in 
 Newburyport. 
 
 Henry Ward Beecher lectured every winter, and no 
 popular speaker in America ever surpassed him. With 
 
206 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 a fine presence and voice, a rare power of illustration, 
 an unusual command of language, he could hold his 
 audience for any length of time. He was not a scholar 
 or logician, but warm-hearted and inspiring, whatever 
 his subject. 
 
 Few speakers did so much for the Union cause during 
 our civil war, both here and in England. He was 
 remarkable for his ready wit. An illustration will show 
 his quickness. Entering a barber s shop where he was 
 a stranger, the barber asked if he was to attend the 
 lecture by Beecher that evening. The reply was that 
 he had no ticket. " Then you have no chance but to 
 stand in a crowd, as the tickets are all sold," said the 
 barber. " Well, that is always my luck when I hear 
 that man lecture, I always have to stand," said Beecher. 
 
 John Pierpont started as a lawyer, but became a 
 clergyman, and was noted for a long legal contest with 
 the Hollis-street Society of Boston, of which he was 
 pastor. He was tall, commanding in person, a good 
 speaker and poet, and an original laborer in the anti- 
 slavery cause. 
 
 E. H. Chapin was a popular lecturer, with a voice 
 corresponding with his huge frame, and with considera 
 ble eloquence. 
 
 No lecturer was more welcome than Starr King. 
 Tall, slender, full of wit, he had a brilliant career in 
 New England, and later in California, which State he 
 did much to keep in the Union during the rebellion. 
 There was sadness all over the country at his early and 
 sudden decease. He was buried in front of his church 
 in San Francisco, and few strangers neglect to visit his 
 grave. 
 
SOME PERSONS I HAVE SEEN 207 
 
 George W. Curtis, the orator, finished writer, culti 
 vated gentleman, honest man, was deeply regretted 
 when he died, for there was no one to fill the vacancy. 
 He lectured every year, and it was a rich treat to listen 
 to him. 
 
 Ralph Waldo Emerson, the philosopher and poet, was 
 always in demand as a lecturer from his high reputation 
 and the excellence of his matter. He was an interest 
 ing speaker, though he could hardly be called an orator. 
 He spoke slowly, with no gestures, his lecture a series 
 of short expressive sentences each one a text. It was 
 not easy to tell his subject, so many different ideas were 
 suggested. I heard his friend Alcott say that his lect 
 ures were a patch-work. When a striking thought 
 came to him he would note it down then another 
 and so on and at the end, perhaps, of twenty years, 
 put them together for a lecture. He was a strong anti- 
 slavery man, and before the war, whatever his subject, 
 would allude to the wrong of slavery and the duty to 
 abolish it. He was one of the purest of men, and the 
 idol of a crowd of worshippers. 
 
 Theodore Parker was one of the marked men of his 
 time, and a constant lecturer. He was noted for his 
 strong abolition views, but more for his rejection of the 
 old theology and of the Bible as an inspired volume, a 
 position rarely taken by a clergyman at that period. 
 Withdrawing from his denomination, he formed an in 
 dependent society, and for years filled Music Hall. He 
 was calm but intense as a speaker, rarely using a 
 gesture, and few could so hold the attention of an 
 audience. Even in a Lyceum lecture when such subjects 
 were supposed to be excluded whatever his topic, he 
 
208 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 rarely failed in some sentences to indicate his abhor 
 rence of slavery and the old theology. He became 
 early bald, and soon allowed his beard to grow, which 
 turning gray gave him a venerable appearance, though he 
 was only fifty- two at his decease. He courted prominence, 
 and once at a meeting in Faneuil Hall called to protest 
 against the rising abolition sentiment, when the great 
 lawyer Benjamin R. Curtis was speaking, I sat by his 
 side in the gallery, and he rose and made an attempt to 
 interrupt the speech, but Mr. Curtis would not listen to 
 him. He was an amiable man, a sincere friend of 
 humanity, and greatly loved by those who knew him. 
 He died before the great struggle which he had done 
 much to cause died, as is well understood, when 
 longing to live, and was buried just outside the 
 walls of Florence, where he had gone in search of 
 health. 
 
 Lieutenant Maury gave several lectures before our 
 lyceum. He was one of the first to study ocean cur 
 rents, and to no other man is the country more indebted 
 for information on this subject, and for directing atten 
 tion to its importance in commerce. He was a small, 
 lame man, but very interesting as a lecturer and in 
 private, as well as in his writings, his works having the 
 charm of a romance. He was a Southerner and joined 
 the Confederate service. 
 
 William Lloyd Garrison lectured much, and always 
 on slavery. He was a bald-headed man, fluent in speech, 
 a good speaker, and in private agreeable. His courage 
 in advocating his views was never subdued by personal 
 danger, and from being the pursued of a mob, he lived 
 to see himself regarded as one of the saviors of a race, 
 
SOME PERSONS I HAVE SEEN 209 
 
 and his statue now occupies a prominent place on the 
 proudest street of Boston. 
 
 I made the acquaintance of Artemas Ward, the cele 
 brated wit, when he gave the second lecture, I think he 
 said, he had ever given in public. It was on the " Babes 
 in the Woods," and the humor of it was in beginning 
 some story, and when the interest of the audience was 
 at its height to hear the end he would break off and 
 say, " But I must return to my subject, which is 4 The 
 Babes in the Woods. " 
 
 He was a slim, boyish-looking young man, and in a 
 company given for him in the Public Library building at 
 Newburyport, then a private dwelling-house, he appeared 
 modest and diffident, more a listener than a talker. He 
 afterwards went over the country giving entertainments 
 with his "Wax figures," as he called them, which drew 
 large crowds, and then went to England, where he died 
 young and lamented. It seemed difficult to associate 
 death with such a temperament. 
 
 Dr. Holmes was a frequent and welcome lecturer, a 
 fine speaker, full of wit in his prose as in his poetry. 
 
 The great scientist Agassiz lectured from time to 
 time, and was able to make his special topics, however 
 abtruse, popular with a miscellaneous audience. He was 
 a large, handsome man, with perfect command of English, 
 though with a foreign accent. Dr. Perkins, the most 
 scientific native of Newburyport, was intimate with him. 
 
 Caleb Gushing often lectured at the request of his 
 fellow citizens, always instructive and interesting, from 
 his vast storehouse, and Thomas Hart Benton gave one 
 lecture. I have inserted in this volume articles on both. 
 Joshua R. Giddings, too, lectured on slavery. 
 
210 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 One of the most popular speakers before a miscellan 
 eous assembly to whom I ever listened, especially in 
 political times, was Anson Burlingame. He committed 
 his speeches carefully to memory, and delivered them so 
 finely as to charm his audience. After a career in Con 
 gress he was sent as ambassador to China, by that 
 country to other nations, and died young. 
 
 James Russell Lowell, as a scholar and poet, probably 
 the first literary man of America, came to Newburyport 
 once during the war, and gave a lecture in aid of the 
 library, as it was the home of his ancestors, and I had 
 the pleasure of spending an evening with him always to 
 be remembered, for his conversation was as interesting 
 as his writing. 
 
 Lyceum lectures, such as were given by the men of 
 whom I have spoken, are a thing of the past, as are the 
 men who gave them, for, I think, it will not be claimed 
 that those who now appear as lecturers are their worthy 
 successors. It is certain that the audience would be 
 small if a baseball game were in progress, and the lecture 
 was for college students. 
 
 George S. Boutwell is said to have recently expressed 
 the opinion, right or wrong, that we have now no first- 
 class statesman, orator, or literary man, and gave as a 
 reason that the civil war killed off the men who would 
 have succeeded the great men of the past. It is, if true, 
 a strong argument against war, for if ever our country 
 needed great statesmen it is now. Mr. Boutwell is one 
 of the few living statesmen who became prominent before 
 the civil war, and has filled many high positions. He 
 once gave the annual address before the Female High 
 School. 
 
SOME PERSONS I HAVE SEEN 211 
 
 Not long after his celebrated debate with Douglas, 
 Abraham Lincoln came to New England, and made some 
 political speeches, one at Woonsocket, Rhode Island, in 
 the interest of the Republican candidate for governor, 
 which I heard. I had long wished to hear him on ac 
 count of that debate, and was glad of the opportunity, 
 though little dreaming of his remarkable future. He was 
 tall, gaunt, with a smooth face, and though far from 
 graceful, an unusually interesting speaker. His voice 
 was sharp, he was fluent, full of wit, told a story finely, 
 and it was easy to see what power he would have over 
 a Western audience. His pronunciation was peculiar for 
 Eastern ears. I remember he had occasion to use the 
 phrase don t care several times, pronouncing care as if 
 spelt keer. He stated that he was not familiar with East 
 ern local politics, and should therefore confine himself to 
 national politics ; and he went over the arguments he 
 had used with Douglas, for the Kansas question and the 
 extension of slavery were the absorbing questions of the 
 day. It is a memory to be cherished to have heard this 
 political speech from Abraham Lincoln. I saw him often 
 afterwards in Washington, but never making an ad 
 dress. 
 
 I spent the summer of 1864 at Marquette, on Lake 
 Superior, and while there was thrown in close contact 
 with two men who afterwards gained unexpected promi 
 nence. One was Samuel J. Tilden. He came there 
 from the Chicago Convention that nominated McClellan 
 for president, to inspect an iron mine, which he had 
 bought in company with some other gentlemen, among 
 them William B. Ogden, the celebrated railroad king 
 and ex-mayor of Chicago. 
 
212 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 By invitation I went into the woods with them in 
 their examination of the mine, where we all camped out, 
 for it was several miles from any habitation. They had 
 a mining expert with them, examined the ore in many 
 places, were pleased with its prospects, and laid out a 
 village which must be formed to work the mine, and a 
 railroad to make easy access to it for the transportation 
 of the ore. 
 
 Mr. Tilden told me that he had bought the mine alone, 
 and taken all the responsibility of it, involving an ex 
 penditure of several hundred thousand dollars, and had 
 associated with him the other gentlemen. They were a 
 merry set, with an abundance of good refreshments, not 
 forgetting Kentucky s favorite beverage. I left the camp 
 with a gentleman who was a practical miner, who said 
 that the ore had no value, and I was told afterwards that 
 it so proved, though a large sum was expended on it. 
 Mr. Tilden, however, owned the whole of another mine 
 which proved of value, and gave rise to a controversy 
 over his income tax which was started when he became a 
 candidate for president, and dropped after the election. 
 
 While in Marquette he was invited by the Democrats 
 to make a political speech, and consented. While not 
 an accomplished orator, he was remarkably clear, concise, 
 and logical, and made a favorable impression. Mr. Og- 
 den, who was a warm friend and business associate, told 
 me that he regarded him as the ablest railroad lawyer in 
 the United States, that he had one of the best private 
 libraries, and was a remarkable man. I asked Mr. Til 
 den what was the prospect of McClellan s election, and, 
 lawyer-like, instead of giving his own opinion, he asked 
 me mine. Mr. Tilden at that time had never held any 
 
SOME PERSONS I HAVE SEEN 213 
 
 public office, but had been active at several Democratic 
 national conventions. His election as governor of New 
 York and his part in the presidential campaign of 1876 
 could never have entered his dreams. The future of no 
 one in America can be foretold. 
 
 Another gentleman came to Marquette with his wife, 
 stopped at the same hotel, and I had many conversations 
 with him, whose subsequent history could then little 
 have been anticipated, James A. Garfield. He was a 
 pleasant man to meet socially, affable and unassuming. 
 While there lie made a political speech for the Republi 
 cans. He evidently had made no preparation, but dis 
 cussed ably the different party issues, and made an 
 eloquent address. I expressed my surprise to him after 
 wards at his fluency and command of language, and he 
 said that he never had difficulty in expressing his ideas. 
 I heard him many times later in Congress, where he was 
 the leader of his party in debate, largely from his readi 
 ness, which so many able men lack. 
 
 Mr. Ogden interested me much. He spoke of the 
 men he had met, among others of Stephen Girard, with 
 whom lie once had business. He well deserved his 
 great popularity in Chicago., and his high business 
 reputation. 
 
 My first visit to Washington was in 1856. I reached 
 there the week of the attack by Brooks on Charles 
 Sumner, and when the excitement was at its height. 
 One of the pages showed me the seat in which Sumner 
 sat in the old senate chamber, now the supreme court 
 room, and, also, broken pieces of the cane with which 
 the assault was made. The next Saturday the band, as 
 usual, played in front of the White House, and mem- 
 
214 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 bers of Congress and people generally were there to 
 listen to the music and to promenade, and the crowd was 
 greater on account of the excitement. The most ob 
 served of all was Brooks, walking around, chatting with 
 friends, and apparently as unconcerned as if he were not 
 the object of such general attention. He was a tall, 
 slender man, comparatively young. He died soon after, 
 and did not live to see the great struggle which he did 
 so much to hasten, for it must have come, sooner or 
 later. He was said to have been an amiable man, but 
 was urged on by false chivalry to an act cowardly in 
 itself, and in the manner of it. He declined to write 
 his name in my autograph book which a page handed 
 him. 
 
 It was the first time I had ever met President Pierce. 
 He was a handsome man, and a gentleman in all his 
 intercourse with others. He had an able Cabinet, the 
 only one to date unbroken during a whole presidential 
 term. No one ever fulfilled the social duties of his 
 position more acceptably, though they were much less 
 onerous than now. He was popular in the district, and 
 once gave a party to the leading citizens, saying that he 
 was their neighbor and wished to establish pleasant 
 relations with them. He was a fine orator, and the only 
 president down to Mr. Cleveland who gave his inaugural 
 without notes. It was an unfortunate period for him, as 
 the anti-slavery sentiment, with which he did not sym 
 pathize, was growing, and he could not satisfy by his 
 action the North and South. This course made him 
 unpopular in the North, and it has extended to his 
 memory. He rests in an obscure graveyard, a plain 
 monument over him, with no inscription except his name 
 
SOME PERSONS I HAVE SEEN 215 
 
 and the dates of his birth and decease. When I had 
 the curiosity years ago to see the grave of an ex- 
 president, the mayor of the city did not know its loca 
 tion. His motives have been impugned and his patriot 
 ism denied. Yet those who knew him most intimately 
 assert that a warmer-hearted man and more generous 
 never lived, nor one more devoted to his country, for 
 which he had fought. His wife was a most estimable 
 and cultivated lady, the daughter of President Appleton 
 of Bowdoin College, and once a clergyman of Hampton, 
 N.H. She was in delicate health, and saddened by the 
 death of their only child, by an accident, just before the 
 inauguration. 
 
 As is well known, President Pierce was a classmate of 
 Nathaniel Hawthorne, his life-long devoted friend, who 
 wrote his campaign biography, and to whom he gave the 
 best paying office at his disposal, for the great author s 
 wealth was limited. The two friends were together at 
 the time of Hawthorne s decease, during a journey 
 undertaken by invitation of Mr. Pierce, in the hope that 
 it might improve the health of Mr. Hawthorne. A 
 friend of mine has given me an account of his death that 
 came to him from Mr. Pierce himself. Mr. Pierce had 
 been so anxious about his friend that he went into his 
 room in the middle of the night, and found him dead. 
 On examining his portemonnaie, the only contents were 
 a little money and a picture of Mr. Pierce himself, at 
 testing his great love for his friend. All the personal 
 friends of Mr. Pierce were devoted to him. General 
 Drum, adjutant-general of the army, who served with 
 him in the Mexican war, told me that the soldiers loved 
 him with the love of man for woman. I was his political 
 
216 BIOGRAPHICAL AND O^HER ARTICLES 
 
 opponent and would not vote for him, but have written 
 this as an act of justice. 
 
 The Senate of the United States had then many able 
 men, for it was before the time when wealth has done so 
 much to fill it. Among the members were Lewis Cass, 
 defeated for the presidency by General Taylor, Mason 
 and Slidell, so well known later by their seizure during 
 the war of the Rebellion, B. F. Wade, rough and pro 
 fane, but able and sincere, who came so near the presi 
 dency by the impeachment of Andrew Johnson, Wm. H. 
 Seward, as a young man governor of New York, com 
 petitor with Lincoln as a candidate for president, and 
 later his secretary of state and that of Andrew Johnson, 
 J. J. Crittenden, an able lawyer and celebrated for his 
 wit and eloquence, John Bell, candidate for president 
 with Edward Everett for vice-president on the Union 
 ticket in 1860, Stephen A. Douglas, able, ambitious, 
 like so many others, losing the presidency when appar 
 ently so near attaining it, and dying prematurely, Rob 
 ert Toombs and Judah P. Benjamin, distinguished as 
 among the leaders of the Southern Confederacy, Lyman 
 Trumbull, who defeated Lincoln for the Senate, and one 
 of the ablest and readiest debaters ever in the Senate, 
 A. P. Butler, the uncle of Brooks, and the occasion of 
 the assault, old, feeble, white-haired, who died the fol 
 lowing year, William Pitt Fessenden, the ablest debater 
 ever in Congress from Maine, and a conscientious politi 
 cian, whose early death was so much lamented, R. M. P. 
 Hunter, who had been speaker of the House, Henry 
 Wilson, vice-president with Grant, Charles Sumner, his 
 seat temporarily vacant by the assault. 
 
 In the House of Representatives were Alexander 
 
SOME PERSONS I HAVE SEEN 217 
 
 Stephens, later vice-president of the Southern Confed 
 eracy, and soon after its collapse coming back and serv 
 ing some years, so paralyzed that he was wheeled around 
 in a chair, Ho well Cobb, Galusha A. Grow, and Schuy- 
 ler Colfax, all afterwards speakers of the House, the last 
 vice-president and dying under a cloud, Joshua R. Gid- 
 dings, one of the earliest, most fearless, and most persis 
 tent of the anti-slavery agitators, a large man, able but 
 not eloquent, and many others, most of them now dead 
 and forgotten, as are most members when their term has 
 expired. 
 
 Washington was excited by the Brooks assault and 
 the approaching Democratic National Convention, whose 
 members were passing through the city, and though I 
 could see the many prominent politicians there was no 
 debate of general interest. It was more the working of 
 those forces that broke forth so soon after in the great 
 Rebellion, and one of its first effects was the nomi 
 nation of Buchanan, then in London, for president, 
 instead of Pierce or Douglas, both of whom were 
 supposed to be too much in sympathy with the South 
 to be run against the Northern feeling, so excited by 
 the Brooks assault. 
 
 Of the Cabinet of Mr. Pierce, William L. Marcy, Sec 
 retary of State, James Guthrie, Secretary of the Treas 
 ury, Jefferson Davis, Secretary of War, and Caleb Gush 
 ing, Attorney-General, were unusually able men, and I 
 need not say how prominent Davis was, subsequently. 
 I had an opportunity to see them, and have their names 
 in my autograph book, as well as those of most of the 
 members of the Senate and House in 1856. 
 
 I was in Washington many times during the war, vis- 
 
218 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 ited the forts, and saw much of the army and its gen 
 erals. I was there just after the battle of Bull Run, 
 when the fear lest the city might be taken was greater 
 than at any other period. A great many members of 
 Congress and others went to see the battle as to any 
 other entertainment, not dreaming of danger, and when 
 it was realized that they might be captured, made the 
 best time possible for Washington on foot, for there 
 were no hacks to convey them. No one, as he told his 
 story on his arrival, admitted any fear, and each said he 
 was the last to leave the field. I had an account after 
 wards from Julius Bing, a reporter, and Mr. Ely, a 
 member of Congress from New York, both of whom were 
 taken prisoners. They had intended to keep in the rear 
 of our army, and their mistake was in keeping too far in 
 the rear. Mr. Bing named to me several prominent 
 public men whose activity in their efforts to escape cap 
 tivity commended itself to him. 
 
 I was in Washington during the session of 1860-1, 
 when the Southern senators were leaving their seats. I 
 remember, especially, John C. Breckenridge of Ken 
 tucky, who had been vice-president, and a defying 
 speech made by him just before he left. He was a 
 handsome man, of a noted family. After the down 
 fall of the Confederacy he was obliged to leave the 
 country, and spent several years in banishment, and 
 probably never was a man happier than he was when 
 allowed to return home. One of the consuls in Asia 
 told me how strongly he had expressed to him the supe 
 riority of his native land over every other. An Ameri 
 can will go abroad to make money, for which he will 
 go anywhere and do almost anything, he would reach 
 
SOME PERSONS I HAVE SEEN 219 
 
 the North Pole if he could be persuaded it is made of 
 solid gold, but he would return all the more grateful 
 to God for his American birth. 
 
 I met in Washington Mrs. Gaines, celebrated for her 
 long legal contests. She was a little woman, and en 
 thusiastic in her praise of Rufus Choate, who had 
 been her attorney. I became acquainted, too, with 
 Mrs. Southworth, whom readers of fiction years ago 
 will remember, who said she had written, I think, 
 seventy-five novels. 
 
 Not long before he died I was introduced to Henry A. 
 Wise, and heard a lecture by him on the commercial ad 
 vantages of Norfolk. Handsome, with a voice of extraor 
 dinary compass, with great wit and power of illustration, 
 few Americans have been more eloquent, or had more 
 power over a popular assembly. He was an actor in 
 many historical events. Not always wise, he had his 
 virtues. He never gambled, and was sincere in his 
 action. " He never regarded majorities if they were 
 wrong," said one of his biographers. 
 
 I once had a long interview with Thomas Ewing, one 
 of the most celebrated statesmen of his period, secretary of 
 the treasury in 1841, and holding many other high posi 
 tions. He was a large man, bald, plain in manner and 
 appearance. General Sherman was his adopted son, and 
 married his daughter. 
 
 Just after the war closed, so early that Richmond was 
 still burning, I visited the city, saw Libby prison, the 
 battlefield of Petersburg, and other points made memor 
 able by our sad contest. At the church in Richmond I 
 had my only view of General Lee, and as he passed from 
 the church the devotion of the people to him was plainly 
 
220 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 manifested. I also went through the South generally, 
 saw the ravages of the war, talked with the women, and 
 heard their tales of suffering, and could well realize the 
 truth of General Sherman s remark, " War is hell." 
 
 By the aid of high influence I one day gained admis 
 sion to the trial of Mrs. Surra tt, and the men tried with 
 her for the murder of President Lincoln. Mrs. Surratt 
 strove as much as possible to avoid observation, and it 
 was pitiful to look at her. She was convicted and hung, 
 but no less an authority than General Butler always re 
 garded it as an unjust verdict. Her friends claimed that 
 she knew nothing of the crime till it had been commit 
 ted that, mother-like, she only aided her son to escape ; 
 but the excitement after the assassination was too great 
 for a calm trial. The other prisoners looked very mean, 
 with the exception of Payne, who was bold in appear 
 ance, and gloried to the last in his act. 
 
 For years before and after the war I was accustomed 
 to spend much of the winter in Washington, and was 
 often at the Capitol to listen to the debates. Sometimes 
 I was repaid for my trouble, but seldom. I have been 
 present at all the inaugurations from the second of Grant 
 to that of McKinley, which have become more and more 
 occasions of general interest. I attended several sessions 
 of the Electoral Commission, and was a witness to the 
 intense feeling of that exciting period. It was well 
 understood what the decision would be, but it was not 
 rendered till late in the night, and my first knowledge of 
 it was a cry, a little after midnight, of " Hurrah for 
 Hayes." 
 
 One who wishes a high opinion of Congress had better 
 gain it from the reports of newspaper correspondents, 
 
SOME PERSONS I HAVE SEEN 221 
 
 many of whom are in the employ of the members, rather 
 than by looking down from the galleries. A story is 
 told of Senator Nesmith, the first senator from Oregon. 
 On his first appearance at Washington, the other sena 
 tors, thinking that he must be poorly informed, coming 
 from a State so far away from civilization, asked him his 
 sensation. He replied that, coming from the woods, and 
 seeing all the grandeur and display of Washington, his 
 first sensation had been one of awe, and he wondered 
 how so humble an individual as himself had ever got 
 there. But he had not been there long, and seen them, 
 and heard them debate before he still more wondered 
 how they ever got there. Some expletives have been 
 omitted. He was asked no more questions. 
 
 Yet there have been many able men in the Senate, 
 and many such are there now. Of the recent deceased 
 members no one has attracted more attention or drawn 
 greater crowds to his speeches than Charles Sumner. 
 He was a handsome man, finely developed, had a clear, 
 distinct voice, and was an eloquent speaker. His 
 speeches were carefully prepared, for he was a scholar, 
 and at first were committed to memory, and later read 
 from manuscript, or from a printed copy. He did not 
 excel as a debater, for he could not reply till he had 
 taken time to prepare himself, when the effect was much 
 lessened. 
 
 I have known ladies of high literary reputation. Mrs. 
 Harriet Beecher Stowe was the most noted American 
 authoress of the century. No book up to her time had 
 ever had such a phenomenal world-wide reputation as 
 her " Uncle Tom s Cabin," published first in the " Na 
 tional Era," and in book form in 1852. It did much to 
 
222 BIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER ARTICLES 
 
 intensify the opposition to slavery, resulting a few years 
 later in the civil war. No American author ever 
 had such an ovation in England. Her pathos was re 
 markable, and few strong women, or men, could read her 
 " Uncle Tom s Cabin " unmoved. I knew a cool old 
 lawyer who took up the volume, and continued to read 
 late into the night, and at last burst into tears, exclaim 
 ing, "Uncle Tom s dead." She was plain in her manner, 
 paying but little attention to her toilet, but pleasing and 
 natural. 
 
 Few American ladies had so sharp and witty a pen as 
 Miss M. A. Dodge, generally known as Gail Hamilton, 
 and it is much to be regretted that a difficulty with her 
 publishers withdrew from circulation some of her best 
 books. In social intercourse she was as bright and 
 sparkling as in her writings. 
 
 Lucy Larcom was a factory girl in early life, of which 
 she was never ashamed, then a teacher. She was a type 
 of fine womanhood, and wrote some sweet poetry that 
 will not be forgotten. 
 
 James Parton was my neighbor for years, a most lov 
 able man, and one of the most fascinating of biographers. 
 He had a sympathy with all that could be commended 
 in his heroes, and found it easy to apologize for their 
 faults. No one can read his "Life of Aaron Burr" and 
 not feel that he does not deserve the severe verdict of 
 history. 
 
 For a great many years I lived near and often met one 
 whom it is an honor to have known, one of America s 
 greatest poets, and the last person I will mention, John 
 G. Whittier. Simple, like his religion, in dress, manner, 
 language, and feeling, few poets of the century have so 
 
SOME PERSONS I HAVE SEEN 223 
 
 painted human wrongs, so entered into the hearts of the 
 people, and will so long be read and admired as this 
 Quaker poet. 
 
 He lived to a great age, yet when about forty had 
 been told that by great care he might live to see fifty. 
 
 In what I have written I have spoken only of the 
 deceased. 
 
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