TOPICS - click to expand or collapse

THE INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIAN WOMEN ON LIBERTY - AGENCY IN FORMING OUR CIVIL INSTITUTIONS - THE ORIGIN OF THE REVOLUTION IN AMERICAN HOMES - VIEWS OF ADAMS - HEROISM OF THE WOMEN OF THE REVOLUTION - THEIR PIETY AND FAITH - FORM FREEDOM-ASSOCIATIONS - PLEDGES NOT TO DRINK TEA - MEET TO SPIN FOR THE ARMY - SUPPLY THE ARMY WITH CLOTHING - LAFAYETTE IN BALTIMORE - A BALL-ROOM TURNED INTO A SEWING-ROOM - WOMEN OF PHILADELPHIA - THEIR CORRESPONDENCE WITH WASHINGTON - HIS TRIBUTE TO THEIR PATRIOTISM - LETTER OF A PHILADELPHIA LADY TO A BRITISH OFFICER - ADDRESS OF THE AMERICAN WOMEN TO THE FEMALES OF THE COUNTRY - CONCERTS OF PRAYER - AN INTERESTING INCIDENT - CHRISTIAN WORK OF THE WOMEN OF THE REVOLUTION - ABIGAIL ADAMS - HER LABORS, CHARACTER, AND INFLUENCE - THE MOTHER OF WASHINGTON - THE WIFE OF WASHINGTON - A MODEL PRESIDENT'S WIFE - REQUEST OF CONGRESS FOR THE REMAINS OF WASHINGTON - MRS. WASHINGTON'S ANSWER - PIETY HER CROWNING EXCELLENCE - TRIBUTE OF WASHINGTON TO THE FEMALES OF TRENTON - HIGH CHARACTER AND USEFULNESS OF AMERICAN WOMEN.

AMONG the Christian agencies that commenced and completed the work of American civilization and freedom, that of the influence of woman was pre-eminent and controlling. Her piety, home-culture, prayers, and personal labor and sacrifices, were among the chief causes that contributed to the progress and elevation of the nation, and which assisted largely in the triumphs of liberty and the results of the Revolution. They have ever been the most effective and polished workmen on the edifice of society and on the temple of human freedom. "All history, both sacred and profane, both ancient and modern, bears testimony to the efficacy of female influence and power in the cause of human liberty. From the time of the preservation by the hands of women of the great Jewish lawgiver in his infantile hours, and who was preserved for the purpose of freeing his countrymen from Egyptian bondage, has woman been made a powerful agent in breaking to pieces the rod of the oppressor. With a pure and uncontaminated mind, her actions spring from the deepest recesses of the human heart."

In an address to the ladies of Richmond, at a public reception which they gave to Mr. Webster, on the 5th of October, 1840, he said, -

"It is by the promulgation of sound morals in the community, and more especially by the training and instruction of the young, that woman performs her part towards the preservation of a free government. It is generally admitted that public liberty and the perpetuity of a free constitution rest on the virtue and intelligence of the community which enjoys it. How is that virtue to be inspired, and how is that intelligence to be communicated? Bonaparte once asked Madame de Stäel in what manner he could best promote the happiness of France. Her reply is full of political wisdom. She said, 'Instruct the Mothers of the French people.' Mothers are indeed the affectionate and effective teachers of the human race. The mother begins her process of training with the infant in her arms. It is she who directs, so to speak, its first mental and spiritual pulsations. She conducts it along the impressible years of childhood and youth, and hopes to deliver it to the stern conflicts and tumultuous scenes of life armed by those good principles which her child has received from maternal care and love.  

"If we draw," says Mr. Webster, "within the circle of our contemplation the mothers of a civilized nation, what do we see? We behold so many artificers, working, not on frail and perishable materials, but on the immortal mind, moulding and fashioning beings who are to exist forever. We applaud the artist whose skill and genius present the mimic man upon the canvas; we admire and celebrate the sculptor who works out that same image in enduring marble; but how insignificant are these achievements, though the highest and fairest in all departments, in comparison with the great vocation of human mothers! They work, not upon the canvas that shall fail, or the marble that shall crumble into dust, but upon mind, spirit, which is to last forever, and which is to bear the impress of a mother's plastic hand.

"The attainment of knowledge does not comprise all which is contained in the larger term of education. The feelings are to be disciplined, the passions are to be restrained, true and worthy motives are to be inspired, a profound religious feeling is to be instilled, and pure morality inculcated, under all circumstances. All this is comprised in education. Mothers who are faithful to this great duty will tell their children that neither in political nor in any other concerns of life can man ever withdraw himself from the perpetual obligations of conscience and of duty; that in every act, whether public or private, he incurs a just responsibility; and that in no condition is he warranted in trifling with important rights and obligations. They will impress upon their children the truth that the exercise of the elective franchise is a social duty,of as solemn nature as man can be called to perform; that a man cannot innocently trifle with his vote; that every free elector is a trustee as well for others as himself; and that every man and every measure he supports has an important bearing on the interests of others, as well as on his own. It is in the inculcation of high and pure morals, such as these, that in a free republic woman performs her sacred duty and fulfils her destiny."

"It is of great importance," says Charles Francis Adams, "not only to understand the nature of the superiority of the individuals who have made themselves a name above their fellow-beings, but to estimate the degree in which the excellence for which they were distinguished was shared by those among whom they lived. Inattention to this duty might present Patrick Henry and James Otis, Washington, Jefferson, and Samuel Adams, as the causes of the American Revolution, which they were not. There was a moral principle in the field, to the power of which a great majority of the whole population of the colonies, whether male or female, old or young, had been long and habitually trained to do homage. The individuals named, with the rest of their celebrated associates, were not the originators, but the spokesmen, of the general opinion, and instruments for its adaptation to existing events. Whether fighting in the field or deliberating in the senate, their strength against Great Britain was not that of numbers, nor of wealth, nor of genius; but it drew its nourishment from the sentiments that pervaded the dwellings of the entire population.

"How much this home-sentiment did then, and does ever, depend on the character of the female portion of the people, will be too readily understood by all, to require explanation. The domestic hearth is the first of schools and the best of lecture-rooms; for there the heart will co-operate with the mind, the affections with the reasoning powers. And this is the scene for the almost exclusive sway of woman. Yet, great as the influence thus exercised undoubtedly is, it escapes observation in such a manner that history rarely takes much account of it.

"In every instance of domestic convulsions, when the pruning hook is deserted for the sword and the musket, the sacrifice of feelings made by the female sex is unmixed with a hope of worldly compensation. With them there is no ambition to gratify, no fame to be gained by the simple negative virtue of privations suffered in silence. The lot of woman in times of trouble is to be a passive spectator of events which she scarcely hopes to make subservient to her own fame and control."

"The heroism of the females of the Revolution has gone from the memory with the generation that witnessed it, and but little remains upon the ear of the young of the present day but the faint echo of an expiring tradition." "Instances of patience, perseverance, fortitude, magnanimity, courage, humanity, and tenderness," says the wife of John Adams, which "would have graced the Roman character, were known only to those who were themselves the actors, and whose modesty could not suffer them to blazon abroad their own fame."

And yet enough of the noble deeds and influence of the women of the Revolution remains to show their piety, their patriotism, and their self-denying efforts in the cause of their country. Their piety and labors are thus referred to by Mrs. Ellet, the historiographer in this field of the Revolution. "I have been struck," says she, "by the fact that almost all were noted for piety. The spirit that exhibited itself in acts of humanity, courage, patriotism, and magnanimity was a deeply religious one. May we not with reason deem this an important source of the strength that gave success to the American cause? Το inflame the fires of freedom by mutual interchanges of feelings, and to keep them burning in the hearts of all around, they formed freedom-associations, and entered into written pledges to make every sacrifice they could for their country."

In Edenton, North Carolina, on the 25th of October, 1774, the women made the following covenant: -

As we cannot be indifferent on any occasion that appears to affect the peace and happiness of our country, and it has been thought necessary for the public good to enter into secret particular resolves by a meeting of the members of the Deputies from the whole Province, it is a duty we owe not only to our near and dear connections, but to ourselves who are severally interested in their welfare, to do every thing, as far as lies in our power, to testify our sincere adherence to the same; and we do therefore accordingly subscribe this paper as a witness of our fixed intention and solemn determination to do so.

(Signed by fifty-one ladies.)

This patriotism was displayed in the willing sacrifices they made in their favorite beverage, tea. A tax being laid upon tea for the purpose of revenue to the British Government, its use was generally abandoned.

Three hundred heads of families in Boston, in a written covenant, resolved that they "would totally abstain from the use of tea till the revenue acts were repealed." The young ladies of Boston followed the example of their mothers, as the following pledge indicates: -

BOSTON, February 12, 1770.

We, the daughters of those patriots who have and do now appear for the public interest, and in that principally regard their posterity, - as such do with pleasure engage with them in denying ourselves the drinking of foreign tea, in hopes to frustrate a plan which tends to deprive a whole community of all that is valuable in life.

This pledge was signed by women throughout New England.

In an afternoon's visit of ladies in Newport, Rhode Island, it was resolved that those who could spin should be employed in that way, and those who could not should sew. When the time arrived for drinking tea, bohea and hyperion were provided; and every one of the ladies patriotically rejected the bohea, and unanimously, to their great honor, preferred the balsamic hyperion, the dried leaves of raspberry-plants.

In Boston, some fifty young ladies, enrolled as "The Daughters of Liberty," met at a minister's house (Rev. Mr. Morehead) and in a single day spun "two hundred and thirty-two skeins of yarn. Numerous spectators came to admire them, and the whole was concluded with many stirring tunes, anthems, and liberty songs, which were animated in their several parts by a number of the Sons of Liberty."

At Mecklenburg and Rowan, North Carolina, the young ladies entered into a written pledge not to receive the attentions of young men who would not volunteer in defence of their country. They declared they were of opinion that such persons who stay loitering at home when the important calls of their country demand their military service abroad, must certainly be destitute of that nobleness of sentiment, that brave “and manly spirit, which would qualify them to be the defenders and guardians of the fair sex."

An interesting incident, illustrative of female patriotism and activity, is given by Mr. Headley as occurring in the church at Litchfield, Connecticut. The pastor, Judah Champion, was an ardent patriot, and on a certain Sabbath was earnestly preaching and praying for the success of the American arms. During the service a messenger arrived, announcing that St. Johns - which had been besieged six weeks, and was regarded as the key to Canada - was taken. "Thank God for the victory!" exclaimed the patriot preacher, and the chorister, clapping his hands, vigorously shouted, "Amen, and amen!"

The communication of the messenger announced that our army was in a suffering condition, destitute of clothing, without stockings or shoes. "Sorrow and pity took the place of exultation, and generous sympathetic eyes filled with tears on every side. There was scarcely a dry eye among the females of the congregation. As soon as the audience was dismissed, they were seen gathered together in excited groups, and it was evident that some scheme was on foot that would not admit of delay. The result was that, when the congregation assembled in the afternoon, not a woman was to be seen. The men had come to church, but their earnest, noble wives and daughters had taken down their hand-cards, drawn forth their spinning-wheels, set in motion their looms, while the knitting and sewing needles were plied as they never were before. It was a strange spectacle to see that Puritan Sabbath turned into a day of secular work. The pastor was at the meeting-house, performing those duties belonging to the house of God, and the voice of prayer and hymns of praise ascended as usual from devout and solemn hearts; but all through the usually quiet streets of Litchfield the humming sound of the spinning-wheel, the clash of the shuttle flying to and fro, were heard, making strange harmony with the worship of the sanctuary. But let it not be supposed that these noble women had gone to work without the knowledge of their pastor. They had consulted with him, and he had given them his sanction and blessing.

"Swimming eyes and heaving bosoms were over their work, and lips moved in prayer for the destitute and suffering soldier. The pastor's wife contributed eleven blankets from her own stores to the collection."

The women of the Revolution were active in their services of relief and comfort to the armies of the country. "The supply of domestic cloth designed for families was in a short time, by the labor of the females, converted into coats for the soldiers; sheets and blankets were fashioned into shirts; and even the flannels already made up were altered into men's habiliments. Such aid was rendered by many whose deeds of disinterested generosity were never known beyond their own immediate neighborhood." Weights of clocks, pans, dishes, pewter services of plate, then common, were melted by the women and given to the army to be used in defence of freedom.

In 1776, Lafayette passed through Baltimore, and was honored with a public reception. In the gayeties of the scene he was seen to be sad. "Why so sad?" said a gay belle. "I cannot enjoy these festivities," said Lafayette, "while so many of the poor soldiers are without shirts and other necessaries." "They shall be supplied," responded the fair ladies; and the scenes of the festive hall were exchanged for the service of their needles. They immediately made up clothing for the suffering soldiers, – one of the ladies cutting out five hundred pairs of pantaloons with her own hands and superintending their making.

In 1780, a cold and dreary winter, when the soldiers greatly suffered, the ladies of Philadelphia formed an Industrial Association for the relief of the American army. They solicited money, sacrificed their jewelry, and labored with their own hands. Mrs. Bache, daughter of Dr. Franklin, was a leading spirit in these patriotic efforts. "She conducted us," said a French nobleman, in describing the scene, "into a room filled with work lately finished by the ladies of Philadelphia. It was shirts for the soldiers of Pennsylvania. The ladies bought the cloth from their own private purses, and took a pleasure in cutting them out and sewing them together. On each shirt was the name of the married or unmarried lady who made it; and they amount to twenty-two hundred." "During the cold winter that followed, thousands of poor soldiers in Washington's camp had occasion to bless the women of Philadelphia for these labors of love."

Mr. Reed, President of Congress, wrote to Washington, saying, -

The ladies have caught the contagion, and in a few days Mrs. Reed will have the honor of writing you on the subject. It is expected she will have a sum equal to one hundred thousand pounds to be laid out according to your Excellency's direction, in such a way as may be thought most honorable and gratifying to the brave old soldiers who have borne so great a share of the burden of this war. I thought it best to mention it in this way to your Excellency for your consideration, as it may tend to forward the benevolent scheme of the donors with dispatch. I must observe that the ladies have excepted such articles of necessity as clothing, which the States are bound to provide.

We have just heard that Mrs. Washington is on the road to this city, so that we shall have the benefit of her advice and assistance here, and, if necessary, refer afterwards to your Excellency.

A further account of this contribution was communicated in a letter from Mrs. Reed to General Washington, in which she wrote as follows: -

The subscription set on foot by the ladies of this city for the use of the soldiers is so far completed as to induce me to transmit to your Excellency an account of the money I have received, which, although it has answered our expectations, does not equal our wishes. But I am persuaded it will be received as a proof of our zeal for the great cause of America, and of our esteem and gratitude for those who so bravely defend it. The amount of the subscription is 200,580 dollars, and $625 68. 8d. in specie, which make in the whole, in paper money, 300,634 dollars. The ladies are anxious for the soldiers to receive the benefit of it, and wait your directions how it can be best disposed of. We expect considerable additions from the country; and I have also written to the other States in hopes that the ladies there will adopt a similar plan to render it more general and beneficial.

PHILADELPHIA, July 4.

The reply of General Washington is as follows: -

HEAD-QUARTERS, WHIPPANY, 25 July, 1780.

I very much admire the patriotic spirit of the ladies of Philadelphia, and shall with great pleasure give them my advice as to the application of their benevolent and generous donation to the soldiers of the army. Although the terms of the Association seem in some measure to preclude the purchase of any article which the public is bound to find, I would nevertheless recommend a provision of shirts, in preference to any thing else, in case the funds should amount to a sum equivalent to a supply of eight or ten thousand. The soldiery are exceedingly in want of them, and the public have never, for several years past, been able to procure a sufficient quantity to make them comfortable. They are, besides, more capable of an equal and satisfactory distribution than almost any other article. Should the sum fall short of a supply of the number of shirts I have mentioned, perhaps there could be no better application of the money than laying it out in the purchase of refreshments for the hospitals. These are my ideas at present.

This example was followed by the ladies in New Jersey. Miss Mary Dagwerthy wrote to the commander-in-chief, -

By order of Mrs. Dickinson and the other ladies of the committee, I have transmitted to your Excellency fifteen thousand four hundred and eighty-eight dollars, being the subscription received at this place, to be disposed of in such manner as your Excellency shall think proper for the benefit of the Continental soldiers. As the other subscriptions come in, they will be forwarded without delay.

TRENTON, July 7.

The ladies of Maryland emulated their sisters in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and the other colonies. Washington, in writing to the ladies of Maryland, says, -

I cannot forbear taking the earliest moment to express the high sense I entertain of the patriotic exertions of the ladies of Maryland in favor of the army.

"Amid all the distress and sufferings of the army," said Washington, "from whatever source they have arisen, it must be a consolation to our virtuous countrywomen that they have never been accused of withholding their most zealous efforts to support the cause we are engaged in, and encourage those who are defending them in the field.

"It embellishes the American character with a new trait, by proving that the love of country is blended with those softer domestic virtues which have always been allowed to be more peculiarly your own. You have not acquired admiration in your own country only; it is paid to you abroad, and, you will learn with pleasure, by a part of your own sex, whose female accomplishments have attained their highest perfection, and who from the commencement have been the patronesses of American liberty."

The patriotic sacrifices of the women were made with deep enthusiasm. Their firmness and intrepidity supplied every persuasive that could animate to perseverance and secure fidelity. So ardent were they in the cause of liberty, that a British officer said to Mrs. Pinckney, wife of Charles Pinckney, a distinguished orator of the Revolution, "It is impossible not to admire the intrepid firmness of the ladies of your country. Had your men but half their resolution, we might give up the contest. America would be free."

The following is a letter from a lady of Philadelphia to a British officer in Boston, written immediately after the battle of Lexington, and previous to the Declaration of Independence. It fully exhibits the feelings of those times. A finer spirit never animated the breasts of Roman matrons than the letter breathes: -

SIR: -

We received a letter from you, wherein you let Mr. S. know that you had written after the battle of Lexington particularly to me, - knowing my martial spirit, that I would delight to read the exploits of heroes. Surely, my friend, you must mean the New England heroes, as they alone performed exploits worthy of fame, while the regulars, vastly superior in numbers, were obliged to retreat with a rapidity unequalled, except by the French at the battle at Minden. Indeed, General Gage gives them due praise in his letter home, where he says Lord Percy was remarkable for his activity. You will not, I hope, take offence at any expression that in the warmth of my heart should escape me, when I assure you that, while we consider you as a public enemy, we regard you as a private friend, and while we detest the cause you are fighting for, we wish well to your own personal interest and safety. Thus far by way of apology.

As to the martial spirit you suppose me to possess, you are greatly mistaken. I tremble at the thoughts of war, but of all wars a civil one. Our all is at stake, and we are called upon, by every tie that is dear and sacred, to exert the spirit that Heaven has given us in this righteous struggle for liberty. I will tell you what I have done. My only brother I have sent to the camp with my prayers and blessings. I hope he will not disgrace me. I am confident he will behave with honor, and emulate the great example he has before him. Had I twenty sons and brothers, they should go. I have retrenched every superfluous expense in my table and family. Tea I have not drunk since last Christmas, nor bought a new cap or gown since your defeat at Lexington, and, what I never did before, have learned to knit, and am now making stockings of American wool for my servants; and in this way do I throw in my mite to the public good. I have the pleasure to assure you that these are the sentiments of all my sister Americans. They have sacrificed assemblies, parties of pleasure, tea-drinking, and finery, to that great spirit of patriotism that actuates all degrees of people throughout this extensive continent.

If these are the sentiments of females, what must glow in the breasts of our husbands, brothers, and sons? They are as with one heart determined to die or be free. It is not a quibble in politics - a science which few understand - which we are contending for; it is this plain truth, which the most ignorant peasant knows, and is clear to the weakest capacity, that no man has a right to take their money without their consent. The supposition is ridiculous and absurd, as none but highwaymen and robbers attempt it. Can you, my friend, reconcile with your own good sense that a body of men in Great Britain, who have little intercourse with America, and of course know nothing of us, nor are supposed to know or feel the misery they would inflict upon us, shall invest themselves with a power to command our lives and properties at all times and in all cases whatsoever?

You say you are no politician. Oh, sir, it requires no Machiavelian head to develop this and to discover this tyranny and oppression. It is written with a sunbeam. Every one will see and know it, because it will make them feel, and we shall be unworthy of the blessing of Heaven if we ever submit to it.

All ranks of men among us are in arms. Nothing is heard now in our streets but the trumpet and the drum; and the universal cry is, "Americans, to arms!" All your friends are officers; there are Captain S. D., Lieutenant B., and Captain J. S. We have five regiments in the city and county of Philadelphia, complete in arms and uniform, and very expert at their military manœuvres. We have companies of light horse, light infantry, grenadiers, riflemen, and Indians, several companies of artillery, and some excellent brass cannon and field-pieces. Add to this that every county in Pennsylvania and the Delaware government can send two thousand men to the field. Heaven seems to smile on us; for in the memory of man were never known such quantities of flax, and sheep without number. We are making powder fast, and do not want for ammunition. In short, we want for nothing but ships of war to defend us, which we could procure by making alliances; but such is our attachment to Great Britain that we sincerely wish for reconciliation, and cannot bear the thought of throwing off all dependence on her, which such a step would assuredly lead to. The God of mercy will, I hope, open the eyes of our king, that he may see, while seeking our destruction, he will go near to complete his own. It is my ardent prayer that the effusion of blood may be stopped. We hope yet to see you in this city, a friend to the liberties of America, which will give infinite satisfaction to

Your sincere friend,

C. S.

To Captain S., in Boston.

Mrs. Wilson, of North Carolina, was a noble illustration of the patriotism of the women of the Revolution. Cornwallis, in his march through that State, had encamped his army on her husband's plantation. He tried by flattery to win her over to the royal cause. Her heroic reply to Cornwallis was, "I have seven sons who are now, or have been, bearing arms: indeed, my seventh son, Zaccheus, who is only fifteen years old, I yesterday assisted to get ready to go and join his brothers in Sumter's army. Now, sooner than to see one of my family turn back from the glorious enterprise, I should take my boys (pointing to three small sons), and with them would enlist under Sumter's standard, and show my husband and sons how to fight and, if necessary, to die for their country."

Another Christian mother had also the sacred number of seven sons in the army of freedom. "She has seven sons in the rebel army," was the reason given by the British officer for plundering the farm and burning the house of Widow Brevard, in Centre Congregation, while Cornwallis was in pursuit of Morgan and Greene after the victory of the Cowpens. What a mother! seven sons in the army at one time! and for this glorious fact the house of the widow plundered and burned and her farm pillaged!

Everywhere fife and drum were heard, and the fathers and sons, inspired by the patriotic women, took lessons together in the art of war. Such was the prevalent and inspiring spirit of patriotism inspired by liberty-loving women, that General Gage, the British commander, wrote, "The very children here draw in liberty from the air they breathe."

Mrs. Ellet, in her "Domestic History of the Revolution," says, "Throughout the war, the influence and exertions of women in all parts of the country contributed to impart a spirit of patriotism. They animated the courage and confirmed the self-devotion of those who ventured all in the common cause. They frowned upon instances of coldness or backwardness, and in the period of deepest gloom cheered and urged on the desponding. They willingly shared inevitable dangers and privations, relinquished without regret prospects of advantage to themselves, and parted with those they loved better than life, not knowing when they were to meet again. It is almost impossible now to appreciate the vast influence of woman's patriotism upon the destinies of the infant republic. We have no means of showing the important part she bore in maintaining the struggle, and in laying the foundation on which so mighty and majestic a structure has arisen. To her we are not less indebted for national freedom than to the swords of the patriots who poured out their blood."

The pen of woman was gracefully wielded for freedom, as the sword was by the patriots and heroes. The following address, signed "An American Woman," written, it was supposed, by Mrs. Washington, in 1780, will present a delightful proof of woman's patriotism and her intellectual culture. It was printed and scattered throughout the country.

On the commencement of the actual war, the women of America manifested a firm resolution to contribute as much as could depend on them to the deliverance of their country. Animated by the purest patriotism, they are full of sorrow at this day in not offering more than barren wishes for the success of so glorious a revolution. They aspire to render themselves more really useful, and this sentiment is universal from the north to the south of the thirteen United States. Our ambition is kindled by the fame of those heroines of antiquity who have rendered their sex illustrious, and have proved to the world that, if the weakness of our constitution, if opinion and manners, did not forbid us to march to glory by the same path as the men, we should at least equal and sometimes surpass them in our love for the public good. I glory in all my sex have done that is great and commendable. I call to mind with enthusiasm and admiration all those acts of courage, of constancy, and of patriotism which history has transmitted to us: the people favored by Heaven preserved from destruction by the virtues, the zeal, and the resolution of Deborah, of Judith, of Esther; the fortitude of the mother of the Maccabees, in giving up her sons to die before her eyes; Rome saved from the fury of a victorious enemy by the efforts of Volumnia and other Roman ladies; so many famous sieges where women have been seen, forgetting the weakness of their sex, building new walls, digging trenches with their feeble hands, furnishing arms to their defenders, they themselves darting the missile weapons on the enemy, resigning the ornaments of their apparel, and their fortune, to fill the public treasury and to hasten the deliverance of their country; burying themselves under its ruins, throwing themselves into the flames, rather than submit to the disgrace of humiliation before a proud enemy.

Born for liberty, disdaining to bear the irons of a tyrannical government, we associate ourselves to the grandeur of those sovereigns, cherished and revered, who have held with so much splendor the sceptre of the greatest states, the Matildas, the Elizabeths, the Marys, the Catharines, who have extended the empire of liberty, and, contented to reign by sweetness and justice, have broken the chains of slavery, forged by tyrants in the times of ignorance and barbarity. The Spanish women, do they not make, at this moment, the most patriotic sacrifices to increase the means of victory in the hands of their sovereign? He is a friend to the French nation. They are our allies. We call to mind, doubly interested, that it was a French maid who kindled up amongst her fellow-citizens the flames of patriotism buried under long misfortunes. It was the maid of Orleans who drove from the kingdom of France the ancestors of those same British whose odious yoke we have just shaken off; and when it is necessary, we drive them from this continent.

But I must limit myself to the recollection of this small number of achievements. Who knows if persons disposed to censure, and sometimes too severely, with regard to us, may not disapprove our appearing acquainted even with the actions of which our sex boast?

We are at least certain he cannot be a good citizen who will not applaud our efforts for the relief of the armies which defend our lives, our possessions, our liberty. The situation of our soldiery has been represented to me; the evils inseparable from war, and the firm and generous spirit which has enabled them to support these. But it has been said that they may apprehend that in the course of a long war the view of their distresses may be lost, and their services forgotten. Forgotten! never; I can answer, in the name of all my sex. Brave Americans, your disinterestedness, your courage, and your constancy will always be dear to America, so long as she shall preserve her virtue.

We know that, at a distance from the theatre of war, if we enjoy any tranquillity, it is the fruit of your watchings, your labors, your dangers. If I live happy in the midst of my family, if my husband cultivate his fields and reap his harvest in peace, - if, surrounded by my children, I myself nourish the youngest and press it to my bosom without being afraid of seeing myself separated from it by a ferocious enemy, if the houses in which we dwell, if our barns, our orchards, are safe at the present time from the hands of the incendiary, it is to you that we owe it. And shall we hesitate to evince to you our gratitude? Shall we hesitate to wear a clothing more simple, hair dressed less elegantly, while at the price of this small privation we shall deserve your benedictions? Who among us will not renounce with the highest pleasure those vain ornaments, when she shall consider that the valiant defenders of America will be able to draw some advantage from the money which she may have laid out in these? that they will be better defended from the rigors of the season? that after their painful toils they will receive some extraordinary and unexpected relief? that these presents will perhaps be valued by them at a greater price when they will have it in their power to say, This is the offering of the ladies!

The time is arrived to display the same sentiments which animated us at the beginning of the Revolution; when we renounced the use of teas, however agreeable to our taste, rather than receive them from our persecutors; when we made it appear to them that we placed former necessaries in the rank of superfluities when our liberty was interested; when our republican and laborious hands spun the flax and prepared the linen intended for the use of our soldiers; when, exiles and fugitives, we supported with courage all the evils which are the concomitants of war. Let us not lose a moment; let us be engaged to offer the homage of our gratitude at the altar of military valor; and you, our brave deliverers, while mercenary slaves combat to cause you to share with them the irons with which they are loaded, receive with a free hand our offering, the purest which can be presented to your virtue.

The piety and patriotism of the women of the Revolution had an appropriate development in the preparation and presentation of flags; and on them were inscribed Christian symbols and mottoes. The Moravian Sisters at Bethlehem, Maryland, presented to Pulaski, the Polish patriot who assisted our Revolutionary fathers in their struggle for independence, a beautiful banner of crimson silk.

This banner bore on one side the letters U.S., and on a circle round them the words, Unitas virtus fortior, - "Union makes valor stronger." On the other side, in the centre, an emblem, representing the all-seeing eye, with the words, Non alius regit, "No other governs." This banner, symbolical of woman's faith in God and her devotion to the cause of liberty, was borne by the brave Polander, in all his battles, till he fell, in 1779, on the field, a martyr to liberty.

A Pennsylvania paper of June, 1775, contains the following incident illustrative of the enthusiasm of the females in the cause of the Revolution: -

"The ladies in Bristol township have evidenced a laudable regard to the interests of the country. At their own expense they have furnished the regiment of that county with a suite of colors and drums, and are now making a collection to supply muskets to such of the men as are not able to supply themselves. The lady who was appointed to present the colors to the regiment gave in charge to the soldiers never to desert the colors of the ladies, if they ever wished that the ladies should enlist under their banners."

Another source of woman's influence during the Revolution was in her constant devotions and prayers. She had power with God, and made her influence felt through all hearts and over all interests. Prayer does avail with God; and the women of the Revolution were almost all praying women, and hence their powerful and beneficent influence during the scenes of the Revolution. One cheering fact during those trying times was the surprising union of feeling among all the colonies and people in reference to the common cause of liberty.

"All America," said John Adams, in 1775, "is united in sentiment. One understanding governs, one heart animates, the whole. This is as if it had been a revelation from above." "Call me an enthusiast," said Samuel Adams, "this union among the colonies, and warmth of affection, can be attributed to nothing less than the agency of the Supreme Being." "The surprising union of the colonies," said Congress, "affords encouragement. It is an inexhaustible source of comfort that the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." And who can doubt that this "surprising union" was the result of prayer? In every family, almost, as in all the pulpits, prayer was going up to God for this union and harmony among the defenders of freedom.

"In every trying hour of the Revolution, women would hold conferences for prayer, that God would be with the armies and give them the victory. During the battle at Guilford Court-House, North Carolina, March 15, 1781, two companies of Christian women were gathered from Dr. Caldwell's congregation, for prayer. Whilst the two armies met, the British under Cornwallis and the American under General Greene, these pious women were in prayer to Almighty God for his protection and aid. In many places the solitary voice of a pious woman went up to the Divine ear, with the earnest pleadings of faith, for the success of the Americans. The battling hosts were surrounded by a cordon of praying women during those dreadful hours of contest." Mr. Caldwell, in reply to the taunts of a British officer, said, "Wait and see what the Lord will do for us. " The results of the battle were "highly beneficial to the cause of the patriots."

A Christian mother in New Rochelle, after melting all the pewter she had for bullets for her two sons, sent them forth to join the Continental army. As she stood in the door to bid them farewell, one turned back, saying he had no gun; but she said, Go on, for he would find a gun to spare in the army. When she had lost sight of them both, she went back weeping into the house, to pray for their safety and her country.

In the struggles of the Revolution and in gaining our independence, "who can tell how much availed the prayers of those righteous women?" They had continual audience with Heaven, and blessings on civil councils and on the armies of freedom descended to inspire and to guide to the auspicious and glorious results that followed the Revolution and crowned it with a system of free government.

During the winter of 1777, when the British had possession of Philadelphia, and Washington was passing a gloomy winter at Valley Forge, with his soul still resting with hope in God, the ladies of Philadelphia formed an association for the purpose of conveying important information to Washington respecting the plans of the British. Many of the British officers were quartered with patriotic families in the city, and, in a free and familiar way, would unfold to each other their future campaigns to capture our armies and subdue the colonists. The ladies listened with eager attention and silence to their statements, and then would delegate one of their number to convey the intelligence to a certain point, where another patriotic woman would carry it to another point, and thus these female couriers went from point to point, until the information reached Washington at his head-quarters. These journeys were all performed on foot, and made under pretence of visits of friendship and affection. The valuable information. thus conveyed puzzled the British officers to know how it was communicated, and baffled some of their best-concerted plans. Among the heroic women of that noble band of patriots was a Mrs. Redman, who for many years, with the enthusiasm of woman's heart in a good cause, was accustomed to narrate these incidents of the female patriotism of Revolutionary times.

The above incident was narrated to the compiler of this volume, in April, 1863, by Mrs. Lydia R. Bailey, a venerable Christian lady of Philadelphia, now eighty-five years of age, who often heard it from the lips of Mrs. Redman and other female friends. She also remarked, with tearful emotion, that the present generation did not seem to realize the sacrifices which the blessings of liberty and good government cost, and that in the pride of their hearts they had forgotten the God of their fathers, and acted as if all their prosperity had come, not from the goodness of God, but from their own hands and efforts. How full of faith and piety were the Christian women of the Revolution, and those who caught the flame of patriotism and piety from such noble Christian ancestors!

Pre-eminent among the patriotic women of the Revolution was Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams. She was the daughter of a New England minister, Rev. Mr. Smith, and as distinguished for her intellectual accomplishments as for piety and patriotism. Her influence and activity were great and un- wearied during the Revolution and in the opening scenes of the civil administration of the new government. She was polished with her pen, and self-sacrificing in her devotion to her country.

In 1770, when her husband returned home from a town-meeting in Boston, in which he had been chosen a Representative, he said to his wife, "I have accepted a seat in the House of Representatives, and thereby have consented to my own ruin, to your ruin, and the ruin of our children. I give you this warning, that you may prepare yourself for your fate." She burst into tears, but instantly cried out, in a transport of magnanimity, "Well, I am willing in this cause to run all risks with you, and be ruined with you, if you are ruined." "These were times," said John Adams, "which tried women's souls as well as men's."

Bancroft says that when the king's proclamation reached this country, "Abigail Smith, the wife of John Adams, was at the time in their home near the foot of Penn Hill, charged with the sole care of their little brood of children, managing their farm, keeping house with frugality, though opening her doors to the houseless and giving with a good will a part of her scant portion to the poor; seeking work for her own hands, and ever busily occupied, now at the spinning-wheel, now making amends for having never been sent to school, by learning French, though with the aid of books alone. Since the departure of her husband for Congress, the arrow of death has sped near her by day, and the pestilence that walks in the darkness had entered her humble mansion. She herself was still weak after a violent illness. Her house was an hospital in every part; and, such was the distress of the neighborhood, she could hardly find a well person to assist in looking after the sick. Her youngest son had been rescued from the grave by her nursing. Her own mother had been taken away, and, after the austere manner of her forefathers, buried without prayer. Woe followed woe, and one affliction trod on the heels of another. Winter was hurrying on; during the day family affairs took off her attention, but her long evenings, broken by the sound of the ocean, and of the enemy's artillery at Boston, were lonesome and melancholy. Ever in the silent night ruminating on the love and tenderness of her departed parent, she needed the consolation of her husband's presence; but when, in November, she read the king's proclamation, she willingly gave up her nearest friend exclusively to his perilous duties, and sent him her cheering message, 'This intelligence will make a plain path for you, though a dangerous one. I could not join to-day in the petitions of our worthy pastor for a reconciliation between our no longer parent State, but tyrant State, and these colonies. Let us separate: they are unworthy to be our brethren. Let us renounce them, and instead of supplications, as formerly, for their prosperity and happiness, let us beseech the Almighty to blast their counsels and bring to naught all their devices."

Mrs. Adams's correspondence with her husband  during The Revolutionary War, and his absence from the country in Europe, forms one of the most interesting chapters in our history. The following, after the battle of Bunker Hill, is full of piety and patriotism: -

Sunday, 18th June, 1775.

DEAREST FRIEND: -

The day - perhaps the decisive day - is come, on which the fate of America depends. My bursting heart must find vent at my pen. I have just heard that our dear friend Dr. Warren is no more, but fell gloriously fighting for his country, saying, "Better to die honorably in the field than ignominiously hang upon the gallows." Great is our loss. He has distinguished himself in every engagement by his courage and fortitude, by animating the soldiers and leading them on by his own example. A particular account of those dreadful but, I hope, glorious days, will be transmitted you, no doubt, in the exactest manner.

"The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; but the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people. Trust in him at all times, ye people, pour out your hearts before him: God is a refuge for us." The battle began upon our intrenchments upon Bunker's Hill, Saturday morning about three o'clock, and has not yet ceased, and it is now three o'clock Sabbath afternoon.

It is expected they will come out over the Neck tonight, and a dreadful battle must ensue. Almighty God, cover the heads of our country-men and be a shield to our dear friends! How many have fallen we know not. The constant roar of the cannon is so distressing that we cannot eat, drink, or sleep. May you be supported and sustained in this dreadful conflict! I shall tarry here till it is thought unsafe by my friends, and then I have secured myself a retreat at your brother's, who has kindly offered me a part of his home. I cannot compose myself to write any further at present. I will add more as I hear further.

Mrs. Adams was in London in 1787, and received a letter from her sister (Mrs. Cranch) in the United States, giving her an account of some insurrectionary movements in Massachusetts. In reply she writes as follows: -

LONDON, 25th February, 1787.

MY DEAR SISTER: -

The thoughts that naturally occurred to me were, "For what have we been contending against the tyranny of Britain, if we are to become the sacrifice of a lawless banditti?" Must our glory be thus shorn and our laurels thus blasted? Is it a trifling thing to destroy a Government? Will my countrymen justify the maxim of tyrants, that mankind are not made for freedom? I will, however, still hope that the majority of our fellow-citizens are too wise, virtuous, and enlightened to permit these outrages to gain ground and triumph. Solon, the wise lawgiver of Athens, published a manifesto rendering infamous all persons who in civil seditions should remain spectators of their country's danger by a criminal neutrality. More energy in Government would have prevented the evil from spreading as far as it has done.

"Mercy but gives Sedition time to rally.

Every soft, pliant, talking, busy rogue,

Gathering a flock of hot-brained fools together,

Can preach up new rebellion,

Spread false reports of the Senate, working up

Their madness to a fury quick and desperate,

Till they run headlong into civil discords,

And do our business with their own destruction."

This is a picture of the civil dissensions in Rome, and, to our mortification, we find that human nature is the same in all ages. Neither the dread of tyrants, the fall of empires, nor the more gloomy picture of civil discord, are sufficient to deter mankind from pursuing the same steps which have led others to ruin. Selfishness, and spite, and avarice, and ambition, pride, and a levelling principle, are very unfavorable to the existence of civil liberty.

It is a very just observation, that those who have raised an empire have always been grave and severe, they who have ruined it have been uniformly distinguished for their dissipation.

In this same letter she says, —

Disagreeable as the situation of my native State appears, I shall quit Europe with more pleasure than I came into it, uncontaminated, I hope, with its manners and vices. I have learned to know the world and its value; I have seen high life; I have witnessed the luxury and pomp of state, the power of riches, and the influence of titles, and have beheld all ranks bow before them as the only shrine worthy of worship. Notwithstanding this, I feel that I can return to my little cottage and be happier than here; and, if we have not wealth, we have what is better, - integrity.

In the War of 1812, Mrs. Cushing, an intimate friend of Mrs. Adams, lost a brother on the field of battle. Mrs. Adams writes as follows: -

QUINCY, 18th February, 1813.

MY DEAR MRS. CUSHING: -

The voice of friendship bids me sympathize with the bereaved sisters and relatives over the brave youth who has fallen in defence of the injured rights and honor of his country.

"How beautiful is death when earn'd by virtue!

Who would not be that youth? What is it

That we can die but once to serve our country?"

So spoke the Roman from the mouth of Cato. So said the father over the dead body of his son." It is," said Ossian, "when the foes fly before them that fathers delight in their sons. But their sighs burst forth in secret when their young warriors yield." In the agony of grief for the loss of those most dear, it is an alleviation to the wounded bosom to know that they died, covered with glory, in the arms of victory. Long will young Aylwin be remembered and regretted, "by all his country's wishes blest."

To all of you, my afflicted friends, I wish consolation and support from a higher source than the honor and fame which man can bestow,

And am your sympathizing friend,

ABIGAIL ADAMS.

The following views are wise, and always timely to American females: -

QUINCY, 5th June, 1809.

MY DEAR SISTER: -

You know, if there be bread enough and to spare, unless a prudent attention manage that sufficiency, the fruits of diligence will be scattered by the hand of dissipation. No man ever prospered in the world without the consent and co-operation of his wife. It behooves us who are parents or grandparents, to give our daughters and grand-daughters, when their education devolves upon us, such an education as shall qualify them for the useful and domestic duties of life, that they should learn the proper use of time, since time  was given for use, not waste." The finer accomplishments, such as music, drawing, and painting, serve to set off and embellish the picture; but the ground-work must be formed of more durable colors.

I consider it as an indispensable requisite that every American wife should herself know how to order and regulate her family, how to govern her domestics and train up her children. For this purpose the all-wise Creator made woman an help-meet for man; and she who fails in these duties does not answer the end of her creation.

"Life's cares are comforts, - such by Heaven design'd;

They that have none must make them, or be wretched.

Cares are employments, and without employ

The soul is on a rack, the rack of rest."

I have frequently said to my friends, when they have thought me overburdened with care, I would rather have too much than too little. Life stagnates without action. I could never bear merely to vegetate.

"Waters stagnate when they cease to flow."

Mrs. Adams, like all the female patriots of that era of liberty, felt deeply on the subject of slavery. Writing to her husband on the 22d of September, 1774, who was in the first Congress of the United Colonies, at Philadelphia, she says, -

I wish, most sincerely, that there was not a slave in the province: it always seems a most iniquitious scheme, to me, to fight ourselves for what we are daily robbing and plundering from those who have as good a right to freedom as ourselves. You know my mind on this subject.

In another letter to a friend, she says, -

Is it not amazing, when the rights of humanity are defined with precision, in a country above all others fond of liberty, that in such an age and in such a country we find men professing a religion the most humane and gentle, adopting a principle as repugnant to humanity as it is inconsistent with the Bible and destructive to liberty? Believe me, I honor the Quakers for their noble efforts to abolish slavery. It is a debt we owe the purity of our religion, to show that it is at variance with that law which warrants slavery.

Her piety and patriotism have a beautiful development in the following letter which she addressed to her husband when he was elected President of the United States: -

QUINCY, 8th February, 1797.

"The sun is drest in brightest beams

To give thy honors to the day."

And may it prove an auspicious prelude to each ensuing season! You have this day to declare yourself head of a nation. "And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant ruler over the people. Give unto him an understanding heart, that he may know how to go out and come in before this great people; that he may discern between good and bad. For who is able to judge this thy so great a people?" were the words of a royal sovereign, and not less applicable to him who is invested with the chief magistracy of a nation, though he wear not the crown nor the robes of royalty.

My thoughts and my meditations are with you, though personally absent, and my petitions to Heaven are that the things which make for peace may not be hidden from your eyes. My feelings are not those of pride or ostentation upon the occasion: they are solemnized by a sense of the obligations, the important trusts and numerous duties, connected with it. That you may be enabled to discharge them with honor to yourself, with justice and impartiality to your country, and with satisfaction to this great people, shall be the daily prayer of your

A. A.

Mrs. Adams rendered an eminent service to the country in the maternal training of her son.

Edward Everett, in his eulogy on John Quincy Adams, before the Legislature of Massachusetts, in April, 1848, says, "I may be permitted to pause for a moment, to pay a well-deserved tribute of respect to the memory of the excellent mother to whose instructions so much of the subsequent eminence of the son is due. No brighter example exists of auspicious maternal influence in forming the character of a great and good man. Her letters to him might almost be called a Manual of Wise Mother's Advice. The counsels of the faithful and affectionate mother followed him beyond the sea."

The following are among the Christian counsels Mrs. Adams inculcated upon her son, and by which she formed his character and prepared him for his eminent usefulness.

"The only sure and permanent foundation of virtue," says she to her young son, "is religion. Let this important truth be engraven on your heart, and also that the foundation of religion is the belief of one only God, as a Being infinitely wise, just, and good, to whom you owe the highest reverence, gratitude, and adoration. Placed as we are in this transitory scene of probation, drawing nigher and still nigher, day after day, to that important crisis which must introduce us to a new system of things, it ought to be our principal concern to become qualified for our expected dignity. Great learning and superior abilities, should we even possess them, will be of little value and small estimation, unless virtue, honor, truth, and integrity are added to them. Adhere, then, to those religious sentiments which were early instilled into your mind, and remember that you are accountable to your Maker for all your words and actions.

"Dear as you are to me, I would much rather you should have found your grave in the ocean you have crossed, or that an untimely death should crop you in your infant years, than to see you an immoral, profligate, or graceless child."

Mr. Adams acknowledged his indebtedness to his mother, when Governor Briggs, of Massachusetts, meeting him on the streets of Washington, both being members of Congress, said, "I have just found out who made you, Mr. Adams. I have been reading the letters of your mother; and she made you what you are." "Yes," replied the old man: "all I have been, and all I am, I owe to my mother."

Mr. Adams said, only a short period before his death, that he never retired to rest without repeating the simple prayer which his mother taught him in childhood: -

Here I lay me down to sleep:

I pray the Lord my soul to keep;

If I should die before I wake,

I pray the Lord my soul to take.

A beautiful and tender exhibition of Mrs. Adams's piety and sense of Christian propriety was displayed on the occasion of the death of Washington. His sudden departure, amidst the quiet scenes of Mount Vernon, on the 13th of December, 1799, touched with universal grief the national sensibilities, and every household and heart felt it as a deep personal bereavement.

Mrs. Adams, when Washington died, was the wife of the President of the United States, and presiding with dignity in the court-circles of Philadelphia. The evening subsequent to the death of Washington Mrs. Adams had appointed for a public reception; but as soon as the intelligence reached the city she published the following notice: -

"In consequence of the afflictive intelligence of the death of General Washington, Mrs. Adams's drawing-room reception is deferred to Friday, the 27th, when the ladies are respectfully requested to wear white trimmed with black ribbon, black gloves and fans, as a token of respect to the memory of the late President of the United States. The ladies of the officers of the General Government will please wear black."

MARY, THE MOTHER OF WASHINGTON,

Has, through her son, exerted a larger and more beneficent influence on the American nation than any other woman. Her faith, piety, and good sense gave to the nation and the race this peerless man. "She was eminently qualified, by nature and religion, to fulfil all her duties to her family. She possessed a strong mind and sound judgment, united with great simplicity of manners, energy, honesty, and truthfulness. She was a strict disciplinarian, and obtained over her children an uncompromising, but benign, control. She was deeply interested in forming the minds and hearts of her children according to the teachings of the gospel; and she daily taught them select parts of Sir Matthew Hale's 'Contemplations, Moral and Divine,' wonderfully plain and simple, but exquisitely Christian, abounding in golden maxims of sound wisdom and pure piety. It was the lot of Washington to receive from his father, as well as his mother, the advantages of a sound religious education; but, in common with the worthies who have adorned our race, he points the world to the chief earthly source of his successes, - HOME INFLUENCES DIRECTED BY A MOTHER."

Washington regarded his mother as the source of all his fortunate success and exalted greatness, and paid her the most profound and heartfelt veneration and obedience. The secret of his greatness, as well as his mother's influence, are seen in the memorable reply she made to Lafayette when he hastened to her home in Fredericksburg, Virginia, after the victory at Yorktown, to announce to her the great achievement of her fortunate son. She listened to the words of Lafayette, as he described the victory and spoke of the honor and fame which would thereby accrue to her son. She simply replied, "It is nothing more than I expected; as George was always a good boy."

His farewell visit to her, before he set out to assume the responsibilities of the Presidency, is one of the most beautiful scenes recorded in the annals of history. He said, -

The people, honored madam, have been pleased, with the most flattering unanimity, to elect me to the chief magistracy of the United States; but, before I can assume the functions of that office, I have come to bid you an affectionate farewell. So soon as the public business which must necessarily be encountered in arranging a new government can be disposed of, I shall hasten to Virginia, and -

Here his mother interrupted him, with -

You will see me no more. My great age, and the disease which is fast approaching my vitals, warn me that I shall not be long in this world. I trust to God I am somewhat prepared for a better. But go, George, fulfil the destiny which Heaven appears to assign you. Go, my son; and may Heaven's and your mother's blessing be with you.

On the death of his mother, which took place at Fredericksburg, August 25, 1789, in the eighty-third year of her age, Washington wrote to his sister, Mrs. Lewis, as follows: -

Awful and affecting as the death of a parent is, there is consolation in knowing that Heaven has spared ours to an age beyond which few attain, and favored her with the full enjoyment of her mental faculties, and as much bodily strength as usually falls to the lot of fourscore. Under these considerations, and a hope that she is translated to a happier place, it is the duty of her relatives to yield due submission to the decrees of the Creator. When I was last at Fredericksburg, I took a final leave of my mother, never expecting to see her more.

There is no fame in the world more pure than that of the mother of Washington, and no woman since the mother of Christ has a better claim to the affectionate reverence of mankind.

Martha, the wife of Washington, was a woman of fine accomplishments, eminently qualified for the exalted station she was called, in the providence of God, to fill. Her piety and patriotism were equal to every trial, and were constantly exerted in behalf of her country. She often left the comforts and elegancies of Mount Vernon and spent months with Washington and his armies, cheering them by her presence and encouraging the soldiers by her words.

Mrs. Washington accompanied the general to the line before Boston, and witnessed its siege and evacuation. At the close of each campaign, an aide-de-camp repaired to Mount Vernon to escort her to the head-quarters. Her arrival at the camp was an event much anticipated, and was always the signal for the ladies of general officers to repair to the bosoms of their lords. The arrival of Mrs. Washington at Valley Forge, Morristown, and West Point diffused a cheering influence amid the gloom that hung over those scenes. She always remained at head-quarters till the opening of the campaign, and often remarked, in after-life, that it had been her good fortune to hear the first cannon at the opening and the last at the closing of every campaign of the Revolutionary War. During the whole of the period when we struggled for independence, Mrs. Washington preserved her equanimity, together with a degree of cheerfulness that inspired all around her with the brightest hopes of ultimate success.

The love of the old soldiers for Mrs. Washington had a tinge of romantic tenderness. They were welcomed by her on all occasions, after the war, and, while she was at Philadelphia, as the wife of the President of the United States. "They came, they would say, to head-quarters, just to inquire after the health of his excellency and Lady Washington. They knew his excellency was, of course, much engaged, but they would like to see the good lady. All were 'kindly bid to stay,' and were conducted to the steward's apartments and refreshments set before them; and, after receiving some little token from the lady, with her best wishes for the health and happiness of an old soldier, they went their way, with blessings upon their revered commander and the good Lady Washington uttered by many a war-worn veteran of the Revolution.

"She had an inveterate habit of knitting. It had been acquired, or at least fostered, in the wintry encampments of the Revolution, where she used to set an example to her lady-visitors by diligently plying her needles, knitting stockings for the poor destitute soldiery."

Mrs. Washington presided with graceful dignity and Christian propriety over the republican court of the Government. As the wife of the President of the United States, her elegant manners, elevated example, and the charms of her social and Christian character, exerted an ennobling influence on society, and won for her universal admiration and praise. As Washington was a model President and a finished gentleman, so Providence had given him a model wife and a Christian woman, whose influence was genial, and whose example was worthy of universal imitation by her countrywomen, and especially by all who should succeed her in the high position she occupied.

The following letter, written to a friend after the President had returned from his tour to the North and East, is a fine development of her feelings, taste, and character: -

NEW YORK, December 26, 1789.

MY DEAR MADAM: - Your very friendly letter of the 27th of last month has afforded me much more satisfaction than all the formal compliments and empty ceremonies of mere etiquette could possibly have done. I am not apt to forget the feelings that have been inspired by my former society with good acquaintances, nor to be insensible to their expressions of gratitude to the President of the United States; for you know me well enough to do me the justice to believe that I am only fond of what comes from the heart. Under a conviction that the demonstrations of respect and affection which have been made to the President originate from that source, I cannot deny that I have taken some interest and pleasure in them. The difficulties which presented themselves to view upon entering upon the Presidency seem thus to be, in some measure, surmounted. It is owing to this kindness of our numerous friends, in all quarters, that my new and unwished-for situation is not indeed a burden to me.

When I was much younger, I should probably have enjoyed the innocent gayeties of life as much as most of my age. But I had long since placed all the prospects of my future worldly happiness in the still enjoyments of the fireside at Mount Vernon.

I little thought, when the war was finished, that any circumstance could possibly have happened which would call the general into public life again. I had anticipated that from that moment we should have been left to grow old, in solitude and tranquillity, together. That was, dear madam, the first and dearest wish of my heart; but in that I have been disappointed. I will not, however, contemplate with too much regret disappointments that are inevitable.

Though the general's feelings and my own were perfectly in unison with respect to our predilection for private life, yet I cannot blame him for having acted according to his ideas of duty in obeying the voice of his country. The consciousness of having attempted to do all the good in his power, and the pleasure of finding his fellow-citizens so well satisfied with the disinterestedness of his conduct, will doubtless be some compensation for the great sacrifices which I know he has made. Indeed, in his journey from Mount Vernon to this place, in his late tour through the Eastern States, by every public and by every private information which has come to him, I am persuaded he has experienced nothing to make him repent his having acted from what he conceived to be alone a sense of indispensable duty. On the contrary, all his sensibilities have been awakened in receiving such repeated and unequivocal proofs of sincere regard from all his countrymen.

With respect to myself, I sometimes think the arrangement is not quite as it ought to have been, - that I, who had much rather be at home, should occupy a place with which a great many younger women would be prodigiously pleased. As my grandchildren and domestic connections make up a great portion of the felicity which I looked for in this world, I shall hardly be able to find any substitute that would indemnify me for the loss of a part of such endearing society. I do not say this because I am dissatisfied with my present station. No: God forbid! For everybody and every thing conspire to make me as contented as possible in it. Yet I have seen too much of the vanity of human affairs to expect felicity from the splendid scenes of public life. I am still determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever station I may be, for I have also learnt that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our disposition, and not upon our circumstances. We carry the seeds of the one or the other about us, in our minds, whithersoever we go. I have two of my grandchildren with me, who enjoy advantages in point of education, and who, I trust, by the goodness of Providence, will continue to be a great blessing to me. My other two grandchildren are with their mother in Virginia.

The President's health is quite restored by his late journey. Mine is much better than it used to be. I am sorry to hear that General Warren has been ill; I hope before this time that he may be entirely recovered. We should rejoice to see you both. To both I. wish the best of Heaven's blessings, and am, dear madam, with esteem and regard, your friend and humble servant.

M. WASHINGTON.

"What chiefly won old and young was a bland cheerfulness, - the silent history of the soul's happiness, and an expressive smile, inspiring every beholder with confidence, like a beam from the Temple of Truth. There was about her in youth a womanly dignity which chastened the most forward admiration into respect." Her public life was in beautiful correspondence with her youthful accomplishments and graceful conduct. In the first republican court of America she formed the social etiquette of the Government on the rules of Christian dignity and propriety, and the example was pure and ennobling in its national influences.

Piety gave the crowning finish to her character, and adorned her public and private life with its virtues. Her Christian resignation at the death of her illustrious husband has all the humility and beauty of submission to the Divine will. When the great man breathed his last, she said, "Tis well: all is now over. I soon shall follow him; I have no more trials to pass through." "That piety," says Mrs. Sigourney, "which had so long been her strength, continued its support, but her heart drooped. Cheerfulness did not forsake her; yet she discharged the habitual round of duties as one who felt that the 'glory had departed."

"In the life of this model woman," says a writer, "we perceive that it was neither the beauty with which she was endowed, nor the high station she attained, that gave enduring lustre to her character, but her Christian fidelity in those duties which devolve upon her sex. These fitted her to irradiate the home, to lighten the cares, to cheer the anxieties, to sublimate the enjoyments, of him who was her exalted and illustrious husband. Christian fidelity marked her whole public life; and her influence, like that of Washington, has been beneficent upon the interests of the nation."

"I had," said a female relative who was twenty years an inmate of the family, "the most perfect model of female excellence ever with me as my monitress, who acted the part of a tender and devoted parent, loving me as only a mother can love, and never extenuating or approving in me what she disapproved in others. She never omitted her private devotions or her public duties; and she and her husband were so perfectly united and happy, that they must have been Christians. She had no doubts, no fears, of him. After forty years of devoted affection and uninterrupted happiness, she resigned him, without a murmur, into the arms of his Saviour and his God, with the assured hope of his eternal felicity."

Her Christian duties, public and private, she never omitted. During the Presidency of Washington in Philadelphia, Bishop White testifies to her habitual and devout attendance, with her husband, on the public services of the sanctuary, and that she was a constant communicant at the table of the Lord, in his church.

Among the resolutions of Congress, in session at Philadelphia, on the death of General Washington, were the following: - 

December 24, 1799.

Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That a marble monument be erected by the United States, in the Capitol, in the city of Washington, and that the family of General WASHINGTON be requested to permit his body to be deposited under it; and that the monument be so designed as to commemorate the great events of his military and political life.

And be it further resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to direct a copy of these resolutions to be transmitted to MRS. WASHINGTON, assuring her of the profound respect Congress will ever bear to her person and character, of their condolence on the late afflictive dispensation of Providence, and entreating her assent to the interment of the remains of General GEORGE WASHINGTON in the manner expressed in the first resolution.

The following message was received from the PRESIDENT: -

GENTLEMEN OF THE SENATE, and

GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: -

In compliance with the request in one of the resolutions of Congress of the 21st of December last, I transmitted a copy of those resolutions, by my secretary, Mr. Shaw, to Mrs. Washington, assuring her of the profound respect Congress will ever bear to her person and character, of their condolence in the late afflictive dispensation of Providence, and entreating her assent to the interment of the remains of General GEORGE WASHINGTON in the manner expressed in the first resolution. As the sentiment of that virtuous lady, not less beloved by this nation than she is at present greatly afflicted, can never be so well expressed as in her own words, I transmit to Congress her original letter.

It would be an attempt of too much delicacy to make any comment upon it; but there can be no doubt that the nation at large, as well as all the branches of the Government, will be highly gratified by any arrangement which may diminish the sacrifice she makes of her individual feelings.

JOHN ADAMS.

MRS. WASHINGTON'S LETTER.

MOUNT VERNON, December 31, 1799.

SIR: - While I feel, with keenest anguish, the late dispensation of Divine Providence, I cannot be insensible to the mournful tributes of respect and veneration which are paid to the memory of my dear deceased husband; and, as his best services and most anxious wishes were always devoted to the welfare and happiness of his country, to know that they were truly appreciated and gratefully remembered affords no inconsiderable consolation.

Taught, by that great example which I have so long had before me, never to oppose my private wishes to the public will, I must consent to the request made by Congress, which you have had the goodness to transmit to me; and in doing this I need not - I cannot say what a sacrifice of individual feeling I make to a sense of public duty.

With grateful acknowledgments and unfeigned thanks for the personal respect and evidences of condolence expressed by Congress and yourself, I remain, very respectfully, sir,

Your most obedient servant,

MARTHA WASHINGTON.

The following historical scene is thus described by Chief-Justice Marshall: -

"At Trenton, Washington was welcomed in a manner as new as it was pleasing. In addition to the usual demonstrations of respect and attachment which were given by the discharge of cannon, by military corps, and by private persons of distinction, the gentler sex prepared, in their own taste, a tribute of applause indicative of the grateful recollection in which they held their deliverance, twelve years before, from a formidable enemy. On the bridge over the creek which passes through the town was erected a triumphal arch, highly ornamented with laurels and flowers, and supported by thirteen pillars, each entwined with wreaths of evergreen. On the front arch was inscribed, in large gilt letters,

THE DEFENDERS OF THE MOTHERS

WILL BE THE

PROTECTORS OF THE DAUGHTERS.

"On the centre of the arch, above the inscription, was a dome or cupola of flowers and evergreens, encircling the dates of the two memorable events which were peculiarly interesting to the people of New Jersey. The first was the battle of Trenton, and the second the bold and judicious stand taken by the American troops at the same creek, by which the march of the British army was arrested on the evening preceding the battle of Princeton. At this place Washington was met by a party of matrons leading their daughters dressed in white, who carried baskets of flowers in their hands, and sang, with exquisite sweetness, an ode composed for the occasion. It is as follows: -

Welcome, mighty chief, once more

Welcome to this grateful shore!

Now no mercenary foe

Aims again the fatal blow, -

Aims at thee the fatal blow.

Virgins fair and matrons grave,

Those thy conquering arm did save,

Build for thee triumphal bowers;

Strew, ye fair, his way with flowers, -

Strew your hero's way with flowers!

"The beauty of the scene, and its lovely exhibition of gratitude and patriotism, touched the heart of the great hero, and tears testified to his deep emotion. Before he left Trenton, he sent the following note to the ladies: -

"General Washington cannot leave this place without expressing his acknowledgments to the matrons and young ladies who received him in so novel and grateful a manner at the triumphal arch in Trenton, and for the exquisite sensation he experienced in that affecting moment. The astonishing contrast between his former and actual situation at the same spot, the elegant taste with which it was adorned for the present occasion, and the innocent appearance of the white-robed choir who met him with the congratulatory song, have made such an impression on his remembrance as he assures them will never be effaced.

"TRENTON, April 21, 1789."

"The merit of these appropriate and classical decorations is due," says Custis, "to the late Mrs. Stockton, of Princeton, a lady of superior literary acquirements and refined taste. She was familiarly called duchess, from her elegance and dignity of manners. She was a most ardent patriot during the War of the Revolution, and, with the Stockton family, was marked for persecution on the ruthless invasion of the Jerseys. Her husband was accustomed to call her 'the best of women.' Piety and patriotism, as in the life and character of her husband, were her crowning excellencies."

Female life and influence during the heroic age of the republic were in harmony with the precepts of religion, and gave grace and purity and dignity to their public and private character. "The domestic life of that period," says a writer, "revealed in all we know of its refinement and elegance, its dignified courtesy and inflexible morality, can be contemplated only with a respectful admiration. It was in keeping with the frankness and sincerity of ascendant politics. Women unhesitatingly evinced their sympathies with whatever was generous and honorable in public conduct, but rarely, if ever, in forgetfulness of feminine propriety. Though patriotic, they were content to be women still, and were anxious for the distinctions of delicacy and grace. They perceived it was their nobility not to be men, but to be women worthy of men. In possession of every right with which they were endowed by nature, they had no desire to usurp men's prerogatives."