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MEMO IR
j
' OP
MRS. MARY H. ADAMS.
BY HBB HUSBAND.
Favor is deceitftil, and beaaty is vain ; but a woman that fearetti
the Lord, she shall be praised.— Pboyebbs.
She hath done what she conld.— Jssus. -> .^ .
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BOSTON:
NEW ENGLAND UNIVERSALIST PUBLISHING HOUSE,
No. 37 CORNHILL.
1865.
THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY
163941
ASTOR, LENOX AND
TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.
1899.
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to
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' to » toto
» btototok toto -to
to • toto to* v"towVfcto
Press of Dakin micI Metcalf.
No. 87 CornhUl.
TO MY CHILDREN
WOULD I AFFECTIONATELY
^tWfdiit tj^b'Pumfalie Cribxttie
TO THB MEUOET OF
TUBIB, SAINTBn MOTHER.
PREFACE.
Striking and extraordinary incidents, much as they may
give interest to a memoir, are not the surest evidences of its
usefulness. The histories of trayellers, adventurers, discover-
ers, warriors, popular scholars, artists, or statesmen — of those
whose lives have been most constantly in the public eye — are
usually welcome to all. But there are other histories, equally
useful in their places, and which may minister good to the
attentive readers of them ; we mean those of the unobtrusive
and faithful, who, away from the glare of the world, have
been leadbig '* quiet and peaceable lives,*' working in hum-
blest ways for human good, strengthened in heart and soul
by living faith in Him *'who seeth in secret,*' and giving
themselves, in word and action and example, as contribu-
tions to that power which shall yet effect the world's spiritual
regeneration.
Such a history is the brief memoir before us. It is a book,
not for the reader seeking novelty or excitement, but for the
one who would take a calm view of that interior life among
mortals, which manifests itself amid rounds of duties in the
fiimily and home, in ministries of kindness wherever Chris-
tian duty calls beyond this sphere, and who would also eigoy
the blessing of a " still hour's " communion with a spirit who,
while it dwelt on earth, could have its conversation in heaven.
J. G. A.
Pbovidxncs, b. I., 1865.
i»r :
C:; :;ij|:
iiH;i:;:;:
MEM O IR.
INTRODUCTORY.
*' €tod gives us ministers of love
We know not Ailly, being near ;
Peath takes them from as, — then we fe^
That angels have been with us here."
TELE worthy subject of this memoir never
sought public notoriety, such even as a sim^
pie work like this might elicit. She lived for oth-
ers always more than for herself, and was most
happy when doing good in ways that might be
least known to the world. But it is this very
virtue which deserves, at times, our special atten-
tion, and which, if rightly apprehended, may awa^
ken and strengthen in us truest and noblest re-
solves to work the work of Him who sent us bere^
while life's day is oifrs. It ig in obscurest works
of goodness and of duty that our world is most^
10 ' MEMOm.
widely benefited and blest ; g,nd any new presen-
tation of a life that shall tend to make tbe^ works
more abundant is to be regarded as a new bless-
ing from the hand of the Giver of all good. Si^ch
a presentation have we here.
We commend this memoir to tbe Chrii^an of
whatsoever sect, as that of one with whom he
may claim spiritual relationship ; to tiiie believer
in the reconciliation of the world to God through
Christ, as the record of one who lo\^ and lived
this heavenly faith; to all who would aid and
strengthen the Christian ministry, as the story af
one who shared most faithfully its triJEils^ajid joys ;
to the family and home as the pleaaaxit narrative
of one who made her own home bright with Chris-
tian fidelity and love.
We commend it to teachers and papils of the
Sabbath-school. If ever there was a friend to the
little ones of whom the Master of Obristian^
said, *' Of such is my kingdom," she whose lifi^
story is here told may be numbered amon^ th3
most devoted of th^m all.
We commend it to the young women of oqr
INTBODUCTORT. 11
Id^Qd.. Here is an example for them of life early
cqiisecrated to duty, — of one who sought to be
iiseful in «Vpry situation she was called to occupy.
The dutiful daughter, the faithful wife and mother,
the sincere and s}'mpathizing friend, the active
and exemplary Christian, will come up in tliis
biief reoojpd before them.
« '
^
\
PARENTAGE AND EARLY LIFE.
'* Arouad her ia&at home
Life hung its summer hues, and very fair
Was thig wild earth to her *, the &trer
for her knowledge of its Author."
Mary Hall Barrett was blest with worthy and n
faithful parents. Her father, William Barrett, was
for many years a well-known and highly respected
citizen of Maiden, Mass., and probably did more,
while he lived, to advance the business interests
of that town than any other individual who had
.eyet been a resident there. He was born in Con-
cord, Mass., and in early life was apprenticed to
a^clothier in Billerica. Before he became of age,
he purchased his time of his master, and also the
business stand. He subsequently learned the art
of dyeing silks, and entered upon that business in
Charlestown, from which place he moved to Mai-
•d^n in 1804, the year of his marriage. Here he
set up what was afbemard so extensively known
as the " Maiden Dye-House." He was prosper-
12
-
FARENTAGE AKB EARLY LIFE. 13
oub, as he had little or no competition, and secnred
many business fHends. In the winter of 1816,
his first dye-Jionse, including his dwelling-house,
a wooden building, was burned to the ground.
In no wise disheartened, by noon the next day
after this disaster, Mr. Barrett had a temporary
building, erected for his workmen, and his work
going on; and soon after, by the assistance of
friends, erected the large and substantial brick
building now occupied by his sons. Mr. Barrett
was. one of Nature's noblemen. Obstacles formi-
dable to others did not usually daunt him. He
had come up from boyhood by his own efforts,
having lost his father in early life. He was ac-
customed' to toil, and to looking diligently after
his bn8ine88,-ju8t such a one as Solomon long
ago said could stand before princes, and had no
part with mean men. He had a clear, active
mind, and a great, warm, and manly heart. He
loved his family and home intensely, and was one
of the most unselfish of men. He was always in
readiness to engage in any movement of public
utility in ^e town where he dwelt, and has earned
14 MEMOIR.
a name upon its records among the most honored
of its citizens. He died November 15, 1834, aged
fifty-nine years.
Mr. Barrett was married to Miss Mary Hall, of
Charlestown, in 1804. A worthier and more
efficient helper and companion he could not have
found. She was one of the moat remarkable of
women. Small in stature, and of a somewhat
delicate physical organization, she had great force
of character, and by excellent household manage-
ment, reared a large family of children, beside
superintending the domestic arrangements re-
quired in the accommodation of many of the em-
ployees at the dye-house. And in all she proved
herself a most economical assistant of her com-
panion. She had great control ot her children,
and enstamped some of her own best virtues upon
them. Her family revered and loved her. She
was a dispenser of good, too, beyond her family
circle. Wherever the sick or the needy could be
reached by her ministries, she was in readiness
to bestow them. * Certain traits of her own char-
acter she transmitted to the daughter of whom we
PARENTAGE AND EARLY LIFE. 15
. are to write in the succeeding pages, among which
were her firmness, industry, thoroughness in what
she did, and benevolence, or love of doing for
others. She died of consumption. May 14, 1839,
* aged fifty-five.*
Mary's name was that of her mother and grand-
mother. She was bom on the 16th of September,
1816. From her girlhood she proved herself a
good scholar under the competent home-instructor
with which she was blest. Her advantages for
education were favorable to the healthy develop-
ment of her intellectual powers. In addmon to
the instruction obtained in her native village, she
had the privilege of attendance at excellent select
schools, in Medford and Charlestown. She used
her pen at composition early.
* She left a good record in her usefiil life. Twenty-five
yeard after her death, — as her daughter informed me, — a
seaman-stranger, on caUing at a house in^ Maiden, being ic-
' formed that the person with whom he was conyersing was a
daughter of Mrs. Barrett, said, very earnestly, ** Then you
must be a good woman, I know ; for I have many a time heard
my wife, who lived, in her youth, with your mother, say that
she seemed to her to be one of the best women in aU the
worid.'*
16 MEMOIR.
She was religions, pecaliarly so, by nature.
One of tbe first yontliful essays irritten by Iser,
which we have before us, was on the subject af-
terward selected by the preacher fear her own Mi-
neral sermon, — " the good part " chosen hy the
Mary of Bethany, that should not be taken away
from her. Religious instruction imparted to her
was seldom lost. She was reared in the Christian
faith. Her father was a believer in the priBci*
pies of Christian Universalism, as he received
them from the instructions of the Scriptures.
Her mother had been faithfully educated in the
same faith. She was the daughter of Deacon Moses
Hall, of Gharlestown, himself a friend of Rev.
John Murray, and whose funeral sermon appears
in one of the published volumes of discourses, by
Rev. Hosea Ballou.* JSfary had pleasant remem-
brances, always in after-life, of the many timc^
she had walked to church on the Sabbath, led bj
her honored father. Her love for the Christian
sanctuary and for the Sabbath-sehool increased
with her years.
* The eighteenth of ** Select Sermons.
»»
PABENT^iaR A3Sa> XABLT LIFE. 17
Bhe w«B fond of indulging her reflective powers,
«Bd of e^eretsing them through the pen ; so that
Ae beciime readier, in oommunicatioa by writing
4haii ia eonTersation. Epistolary addresses writ-
ieo. in ber early life are k^t among the cher-
ished meiDoriids of her by surriying friends. In
most of these writings there is an infhsion of the
religions^ which was so strong a peculiarity in her
'Character. She loved nature. Its beauties awa-
kened her admiration, and often called fbrth ex-
pressions of her feelings as she read the new les-
sons constantly comix^ up before her in this great
soene^room^ where we are permitted to view the
works of the inflnite Father everywhere around
ns. Flowers were among her choicest favorites.
There seemed to her a sweet sacredness in them,
and they were fhll of instruction to her in all her
subsequent life. Her love of nature served to
deepen her religions impressions. She saw the
harmony of this ^' elder scripture" written by the
eternal Hand^ and that grand revelation in which
she had been taught in the church and in her
home. She had strong conscientiousness. From
3
18 MEKOIB.
her early days it was thas with her. She seemed
inclined to act from principle in reference to any
duty that lay before her ; and as she judged othr
ers generously, it was an affliction to her to be
judged harshly or carelessly of them. With large
charity for the infirmities of our common nature,
she was not a little sensitive as to what she
deemed her own. She never cOnld have made a
mere nominal or formal religionist. The religion
which she professed before the world was in her
heart. She could not have espoused a creed or
service that was not lovable. She was drawn to
Christianity by its intrinsic excellency. She saw
in it an unspeakable blessedness, and for this rea-
son she embraced and avowed it. "Thou desir-
est truth in the inward parts," was an utterance
of the Psalmist which to her had a deep and most
significant meaning. .
" How complete the name is ! '* said Elizabeth
Barrett Browning to an American clergyman, at
her home, as they were conversing upon Ciiristian
faith and experience ; and her visitor in answer to
her question, " To what church do you belong ? **
PARENTAGE AND EARLT LIFE. 19
said, ^^ I am a Universalist/' and gave her some
aoooQiit of the church and Us doctrine. ^^ Univer-
ealist/' said she, meditatively, — ^' how complete
the name is, and how beautiful ! How much it
expresses, — universal truth, universal faith, hopa^
parity 1 It embraces God, and every child of God
in the fulness of love ! " The name seemed to her
an embodiment of all that was excellent in theol-
ogy, and religion. It was such to the worthy sub-
ject of these records.
To her, Universalism was the name of all names
given by earthly choice to the Christian sects.
It comprehended the grandest of all utterances of
the universal Father in answer to the spiritual
wants of his creftture man. Itwfis God's good-
ness shining through all his works, — in the earth,
in the heavens, in the universe^, every where, — star-
light, sun-ray, sailing plpud, and inyigible wind,
falling rains, .fertilizing* dews,, changing seasons^
Nature*^ mi^ifioence, Nature's varieties, all pro-
claiming it. It was God's wisdom, enlightening
men with a knowledge of his perfect law, teach-
ing them the blessing of obedience, and warning
them of the terrible consequences^ o# -^ansgres-
20 MEMoau
sion, saying to the erring one, paternal^, ao far
the beginning of hnman experience upon the
earth, ^^ If thoii doest well, shalt thou not he ae*-
cepted ? but if thou doest not well, sin Meth at tto
door.*' It was 6od*s love, outflowing to all Ifis
creatures, so moving him toward man as ta cause
him to send bis holy Son for his gftidance and
redemption ; love for the rebellious and ttttrecon-
ciled ; for alienated ones, ^^ dead in trespasses anit
sins ; " love unbought, uncreated, nnoonfined, in*
extinguishable ; love enduring through aH change,
seeking and saving that which was lo6t, calling
not the righteous but sinners to repentance ; high-
er than heaven, deeper than heU, adequate to the
work of salvation with all souls. It was love
running through all that seems evil^ — all adver-
sit3% affliction, destruction, death, through which
mortals must pass, and having its free and unin-
terrupted work in all hearts. It was God's
power, — that power which "is able to jKave to
the uttermost," —
** From seeming eTU stUl eduoing gpod.
And better thence again, and better 8lUt»
h^ infinite pffOffKmm**-'
PARENTAGK^ M^XB, BARLT UFE. il
lioweF oTer error, ski, everytiiiag^ that exalteth it^
9!^f agamst truth and righteousness,-^ that ^rould
gi^e the earthly domimon over the heavenly ia
iiiaii,-^|>oweF that has* announced its holy inlen->
turn to deliver this whole> human ^^ creation from
its bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty
^ the children of God." It was to h^ the niost
salutary and ^fective force that could be Inrought
to operate upon the human heart, inducing its
homage and obedience on that high and heavenly
ground of apostolic statement and fkith, -r* '^ We
love him! because he first loved us,'*
Such was the ridi and comprehensive creed of
tile one whose experience we are recording. She
saw in- it all that her heart could wish; nothing
to check her> spiritual aspirations, or limit her
apiritual improvement; nothing to render her
narrowly sectarian, or self-righteous, or negligent
of inward growth, but everything that could call
forth her beet powers, and consecrate them to the
heavenly service, whether in the life that liow ia,
or in that which is to come*
She waa ready to fellowship all, by whatever
22 MEMOIB.
denominational appellation they might be known;
who professed a love for the Christian service, or
the Christian name. If she could receive strength
from their life^ she was thankfbl for snch aid ; but
she felt that a broader, nobler, more soul-in&|)ir-
ing faith mortals could not possess and enjoy
than that which she had learned to know and lov^
under the comprehensive and glorious name, —
Universalism.
The desire and endeavor to be per^OQalljf: u^fiH
ful, as we have already intimated, , was la .ivir*
tue which Mary began to cherish in very early!
life. It was one which she inherited, acid, which
a mother's influence and example Served ; t'Q
strengthen in her as her years increased... : Hei-
early home was one where industry • prev^ile^i^
Its members were helpers one of .another* ? The
children all had their .work assigned tb^m^anc^
were made c6nscit>us, in s^onne gppd> degryee,,thfi$
they wei-e' responsible • for , their share, of : duty-f
And this ivirtu^ e^teilded its operations beyond
the family and home. Neither her parents nor
the otherxinembers of the family were content to
PARENTAGE AND .EARLY LIFE. 23
live ui|to themselves. In their prosperity they
did not forget wbst they might do for othecs^
especially for those less favored than they. ' The
iodother and sisters were . ever in readiness to ren«
det what aid they could to the sick or the needy :
and no one of them took greater pleasure in these
ministries of mercy than Mary.
She would willingly go from her own comfortable
home> to sit for the night at the bedside of some
weak or suffering one, the tediousness of whose
long hours she might lighten, and to whose com*
fort she might minister by some kind word or
deed. Never shall I forget the pleasure expressed
by her* in relating a night's experience away in
the woods, out of her native village, in company
with a most worthy woman, then very ill. The
sick one lived there with an aged father and two
idiot brothers. These, with Mary, were all that
were in the house. Sometime in the night a
violent thunder-storm arose. The weak-minded
.brothers became alarmed, and made wild out-
cries for a long time,. to the great annoyance of
the sick one. Instead of being disconcerted in
24 XEVOIR.
th^ xnidst of such a mtdnight sc^e botli ^tb-
out afid 'witMn doors, the yodUig wftt^r iseeii^ed
raider to regard it as onie of those speieially inteiv
estimg experiences which, as a ^^atlster of mwxj"
she might not dften have occaaion to eiyoy. SItfe
would have been an admirable mur^e of needy sad
suffering hospital inmates, —- a willing fa^per of
some Florence Nightingale.
Could she have lived to realize the afflictive
visitation which so soon after her departure eame
upon her bdoved country, how intensely wonld
she have shared in that interest for the imperiUed
and sick and suffeiing of its brave diefenders
which has so widely and gloriously manifested it-
iself through the Ceaseless and toilsome ministrii^s
Of the hearts and hands of the devoted women of
our nation !
Her experience with the^ick, howeve^i Was to
be realized for successive years^ in her own homo^
An dlder and much loved sister, whose bri^
Wedded life had been deeply shaded by trial and
sorrow, sank slowly down to the g^ave; and
then tiie honoi^d father^ after a lingering iUneaa^
PABEKTA6B Aim XiARLT LIFE. 25
passed away ; and nest tbe eldest brother ; and
finallif , the Mthfhl mother ; all by that lingering
but sni^ly fatal disease, consamptlon. Throngh
all these sicknesses, Mary, with heart unwearied,
did her work faithfhlly. Day and night- knew
of her watching and toiling. These made som^
inroads iipon her eonstiiutton, which were never
whofly outgrown ; but they served to give her an
e^rpetience which rendered her, in all after-life
One of the most reliable advisers in refer^ce to
tiie sfek and infirm, and one of the most efficient
nurses €»f tbem, that Could be found in any neigh-
borhood or home.
During the ministry of Rev. Sylvanus Cobtt;
her pastor, in Maiden, she became a teacher in
the Babbath-school. She entered into this work
with all herlieart. It was a pleasure to her to
impart, as it Was to 'sedk, religious instruction.
A dfcle of teachers, and others interested in the
ittTOStigafioilp'of liie Scriptures, was formed, and
held meetings at the house of the pastor. - She
became one of the most interested of them all in
the dfcjj^ets of the ^* Institute,'' as it was called.
« /
26 MEMOIR.
In the pastor's wife she found a warm-hearted,
faithful adviser and friend, and an intimacy was
formed between them which continued through
her life.
She became exercised in mind as to her duty to
the Christian church. A believer in Christian
truth, she was also a sincere seeker after the
Christian life. She desired to make a more dis-
tinct and public avowal of this interest, not to
display her piety and virtue, but to give them a
wider influence for good, if possible. Joining the
church was to her one of the high privileges of
the life God had given her. Too often, especially
by the young, it is regarded in an, entirely differ-
ent light, — as an unwelcome call, an unattractive
if not repulsive duty. They have not a present
interest in the claims of the church. Connection
with it may interdict many of life's pleasures, and
lessen its joys. In riper years, and when cares
and trials shall press more heavily upon them^
then, perhaps this consecration of self to the .Chris-
tian cause may be needful ; but not now, while
life is so fresh and fair, while its skies are so
PABENTAOE AKD EABLT LIFE. 27
bright, and the earth-scenery everywhere spread
out in it so attractive, and there is such an ex-
uberance of its good to be realized. As though
the freshness and strength of life's morning, the
first and freest efforts and tributes of the soul,
shotild all be given to the lesser interests, and the
greater be left until the darker times come, and
the years when the heart shall say, " There is no
pleasure in them ** I As though the earthly might
have the most, and the heavenly the least, of these
great- heart powers we possess ! As though the
gracious God of all would call us to a (Service
that would not be in itself a pleasure and delight
above all others this transient world could claim !
As though He who entered upon his holy mission
** for the joy that was set before him " would in-
stitute a church, and invite souls to its commun-
ion, without assuring them that in this communion
his joy should be in them, and that their joy should
be full ! She of whom we write had giveh these
considerations most truthful and devout attention,
and had wisely resolved to heed the teachings of
the Spirit, and to make a good confession of her
88 XSMOIB.
faith in the world's Teacher and Bedeemer. AAer
careful deliberation, prayerful thought, and the
advice of those in whom she had strongest reli-
gious confidence, she was induced to become a
member of the church, and entered upon this sa-
cred relation on the second Sabbath in Novembort
1836.
In a note to her pastor's wife, just before Al-
tering upon this new relation, she writesy "It is
my wish to become a member of the church of
Christ under your husband's care. Think not,
however, that I am but just aroused to a sense of
mj duty as to this step. Long have I desired to
take it. But I have needed more confidence in
myself, — in my ability to maintain my ground,
truly, as a professor of the truth of the gospel.
I have more of this self-confidence now, and im-
plicit confidence in an ev^-present helping 6od«
I hope that others may be induced to join whM I
do." Her wish was answered ; and afterward, in
anoUier note to the same friend, she says, " I
was very happy that I was not alone. Those
who Joined at that time, being all yonng, made
IPABENTAGE JiSD XABLT LIFE. 29
pe fee) that we were a company of young peti-
tionees at the throne of the Father for his aid and
gnidance in oar journey through a life in which
80 much of trial and change will be known.
They seemed and will seem more like brothers
and sisters to me than other young Mends;
though, before I say this to the world, I would
first know if they would allow me to designate
them as sudi relatives of mine/'
This step to her was one of the most important
she had ever taken. But once made, it was a joy
m her experience ever afterward. The church
was to her a home. She loved to be with those
Who had its interests near to their hearts. She
enjoyed most richly the seasons of communion, —
the observance of the Lord's Supper. These
seasons were occasions of spiritual refreshment,
comfort, and peace. The Sabbaths that called
h^ to them were, as she esteemed them, —
** The preludes of a feast that cannot oloy.
And the bright out-oourts of immortal glory."
It was as she appeared at this time of her early
80 MEMOIR.
womanhood that a younger friend (Mr. William
H. Richardson) remembered her in after-years,
and made this pleasant record of his impressions :
**For many years, eyen from early hoyhood, it was
my good fortune to know this estimable woman. Gentle,
Sympathetic, and winning in her disposition, she was to
my boyish eyes the incarnation of the trae lady and
frosty friend. Ah ! little do they know the depths of boy-
hood's heart who think it cannot measure or appreciate
the kind word, the heartfelt sympathy, the^ encouraging
smile, or the recognition of some youthful triumph.
Eo^ly impressions sink the deepest, and long years, filled
as they may or may not 'be with the busy cares of life
will never, never efface those words of kindness, those
deeds of gentleness, by which some full heart has blessed
the heedless toy. Well do I remember the beautiful girl
just blooming into womanhood, whose maturity was but
the rich fruition of the morning promise: well do I
rememher, and dearly do I cherish, that friendship of
boyhood life which was something more than formal rec-
ognition, which was rather the tender solicitude of a sis-
ter, the earnest and loving heart which guided by its
words of cheer, and inspired by its exalted sentiments.'*
A
V
r-*
RESIDENCE IN MALDEN.
** The glory of her youthful dream was changed ;
It was not darkened, but its color grew
Intense with heavenly light." -> Mbs. Mato.
It was not until her twenty-second year that
the writer of these pages became acquainted with
Mary Hall Barrett. This was at the time of his
settlement as pastor of the First Church in Mai*
den. He found her one of the most devoted of
hia parishioners, as a member of the church, the
choir, and the Sabbath-school, and an earnest
worker in all. We were united in marriage in
November, 1839.
It was said of Mary, by others, that she wai
peculiarlyqualified to be the life companion of a
minister. This was true. Her tastes and th<t
tendencies of her mind affirmed this. She could
appreciate the responsibility and work of a Chris-
tian minister. His interests and his methods of
life she could make her own, without any hard
31
32 MEMOIR.
sacrifices on her part. United to a minister of
her choice, she could with propriety adopt the
words of Ruth to Naomi : " Whither tbou goest, I
will go : thy people shall be my people, and thy
God my God." That she might have filled other
stations with honor to herself and blessing to
others, was evident ; but of all positions in life,
none could have been more gratifying to her than
that of the wife of a minister of her own faith,
whose life*interests she could sincerely identify
with her own. Never, we believe, was there »
union more happily entered upon and enjoyed
than that which made this ^* twain one.^ A train
script of her own mind on the subject is given in
a note to her friend, the wife of her former pas-
tor: —
*^ To be a clergyman's wife, joa know, has ficn my
childhood been the acme of my desires ; an4 1 r^ard the
day of my marriage as the oommencement of my duties
and pleasures, in anticipation of which my heart is joyous.
Say you, dear sister, it is a way of trials, vexations, griev*
ances, and toils? Then let them all come ! I have ever toiled
sinoe old enough to superintend tbefioKiily at home, and I
RESIDENCS IN MALDEK. SS
faaye been called to meet manj grievm&oes from childhood,
in the baffling of fond wiflheB, and in troubles such aa earth
has for most of us. There has been One to sustain me,
and impart fortitude to my heart. Now, his hand will
still guide and uphold me."
•
To another dear friend she writes, in reference
to learing her old home, —
<' Sometimes I feel yerj sad at the idea of leaving so
many dear ones and fond recollections, because in this
old home my parents lived and died, brother and sister,
too ; and when my dear mother lay upon her dying pillow,
she gave into my charge those younger sisters, to advise
and oounsel as &r as was in my power. I feel that being
removed frpm them I cannot enter so deeply into their feel-
ings and wishes as I do now. It is hard for me to leave
them without their dear mother ; and I know that they
will feel the separation as deeply as I shall. Still, I am
haf^y in view of my prospects. There is one whose
home I am bound to bless and to cheer as far as I can ;
and whose efforts will all be put forth for my happiness.
I am aware that I must pass through trials with which I
am now unacquainted. But my mind has borne stem
trials in the past. I welcome what shall come as a means
of discipline and purification."
3
34 MEMOIR.
The marriage service was held in the church on
Sunday evening, November 3d, Rev. Thomas Whit-
temore oflSciating, and after the delivery of a dis-
course by him, from our Lord's words as recorded
in Matthew xix. 6, — " What, therefore, God hath
joined together, let not man put asunder." The
discourse was doctrinal and practical, showing
how God had joined, in his immutable pur-
poses, 1. Man to him ; 2. Man to his fellow-
man ; 3. Sin and punishment, obedience and hap-
piness ; 4. Man to immortality. A large audience
manifested its appreciation of the sermon, as well
as its interest in the service which followed.
The simple reasons for having the wedding
ceremonies thus public are stated by Mary in a
note to a friend, whom she had invited to be
present from a neighboring town.
<^Our friends are numerous indeed, and our connections
also. This fact forbids our inviting them to the wedding,
as the house in which we are to live is not spacious
enough to accommodate all who would he here. As it
will be in the church, all who come can witness it."
To another sister friend, with whom she eiii-
RESIDEKCE IN MALDEN. 35
joyed the pleasure of correspondence and com-
panionship in subsequent life, she thus opens her
heart : —
*' Think of me, dear sister, on that evening, ahout the
time I shall stand at the altar, to promise, hetbre God and
the world, what my heart readily yields, — allegiance to
the laws of Christian love, and a hushand."
As we contemplate her in this new relation, it
may not be out of place to express a few thoughts
in reference to a topic which has been discussed
with not a little freedom in the various denom->>
inational circles in Christendom ; we mean miu'-
isters' wives.
The wives of ministers have been, in many in-
stances, wrongfully judged. Their positions and
duties have been underrated and overrated. Too
much has been expected of them on the one
hand,' and on the other hand too little considera-
tion exercised as to their influence on the work of
the minister. Some one has expressed the convic-
tion that, to meet public expectation in many in-
stamilB, the mii^ister's wife must be, ^^ like Mary,
36 MEMom.
ever at the Master^s feet, in possession of the ' one
thing needful/ regardless of every worldly in-
terest ; like Martha, always serving without being
incumbered by it ; like Dorcas, ready with con-
stant supplies for the destitute ; like the prophet-
ess Anna, in constant attendance at the temple ;
like the widow of Sarepta, capable of using
smallest means for the supply of her household,
without diminishing the quantity." That there
have been many of this honored company who
have in some good degree answered to these ex-
treme expectations, the true history of the Chris-
tian ministry would show. Many a man would
have had poor success as a pastor, but for the good
influence of his wife. She has been his inspira-
tion to duty, and his truest aid when duty most
troubled him, — the peacemaker, the reconciler,
the angel whose presence unites all hearts, and
dissipates all clouds with a heavenly sunshine.
With hand and heart full of duty at her own home,
she dispenses blessings in many others. With
the aged, the middle-aged, and the children, she
becomes the attractive medium of connection be-.
RESIDENOE IN MALDEN. 37
tween pastor and people. Said a New England
minister, at an annual festival a few years since,
y' *' A distiDguished lecturer once called on a clergyman
•'' of a parish, and though the clergyman was absent from
home, the wife was ready to welcome the stranger. He
found her washing the floor. The lecturer expressed sur-
prise in the hearing of a friend. Said the friend to him,
* Young man, if you ever get to heaven , you will find in
the front rank ministers* wives, ^ "
Mrs. Adams saw not only the sunny but the
shady side of this experience which the pastor's
wife must realize. Conscientious and sensitive
as she was, she could not fail to understand and
to feel most truly the responsibilities which she
had assumed. In a letter of date April 18th,
1841, to a dear friend, the wife of another clergy-
man, she writes, —
'' I think the duties and trials of a minister's wife are
but poorly understood and wrongly estimated by a great
many. I refer more particularly to visiting, now. The
relationship between the sisters of a society and the
fiiithful minister's wife is not the least of holy ties that
bind woman to woman. Yet we are often led to suppose
SB MEHOIR.
that it is Regarded as unimportant and unmea&iog, except^
as it is considered as an exalted one, that places one
uroman far above another. This may be the result of ed-
ucation, in part ; but it is oftener, as I think, the result
of ignorance and indifference. It is of but little conse-
quence to some whether they call upon the minister's
wife or not ; but should she fail to visit them, she might
be judged with great uncharitableness.
'* Perhaps you will think that I forget the minister, and
the many discouraging circumstances of a like nature
that he is called to endure. But no; I often won-
der that he does not faint ; that he is not discouraged.
Still, he can publicly defend himself, and his brother min-
isters can advocate his cause. But who will speak for
us?''
It was not with the thought of complaint, be-
cause of her inability to meet all these expecta-
tions of others, that our sister thus expressed her-
self. She had entered upon this new work of her
life from principle, with a loving and trusting
heart. She had resolved to do her duty, as far
as she had means and opportunity for doing it,
and to leave the consequences with Him to whose
eye all hearts were open, and who had promised
RESIDENCS IN MALDEN. 39
to be the unfailing aid and strength of his confid-
ing and dutiful children.
One thing she had determined upon in the out^
set of her married life, and that was, to be true
to the interests of her home. To look well " to the
ways of her own household " had become a kind 6f
second nature with her, so thorough in this re-
spect had been her own home experience and edu-
cation. The good she had received, she now de^
sired to impart ; and although many duties might
justly M\ her abroad, yet she could not, for any
of them, turn from these first and imperative claims
which home had upon her. Here was her holiest
place ; the beauty and power of her life were here*.
The conviction seemed ever present with her,
that the good home was the centre and source of
the richest and most enduring blessing which a
conununlty or a nation can ever realize or en-
joy. It was her desire to do what she could to
contribute to this blessing.
She believed that a sense of God's presence and
aid in this sacred place was above all other con-
siderations desirable, and that no home could
40 MEtfOIR.
rightly afford to be without the family altar. It
was in the enjoyment of this institution that sbe
found some of the holiest aspirations of her own
soul answered, and, in some good measure, fitted
herself to become the religious guardian and
helper of the children committed by a graeioud
Providence to her charge. She would have them
welcomed to an earthly home in readiness, not
only in its supplies of their temporal wants, bat
having in store for them the treasures of that
kingdom which '' is not meat and drink, but right-
eousness and peace and joy in holiness." It
was here, too, that she would seek daily supplies
of grace for her own soul's advancement in truth
and purity. The religion in which she believed
with her whole heart was a religion of growth, —
growth in Christ, in his character, spirit, and life ;
it was a religion consisting of devotion and deeds^
worship and benevolent action, adoration of God;
and fraternal operative love to man. She had
little sympathy with the extremeis in which too
many religionists indulge ; the one putting great
dependence upon the observance of devotional ex*
ercises, — piety toward God, — while active in-
BESIDEXCE IN HALDEK. 41
terest in liehalf of human good is often regarded
as bat cold morality ; or with that other mistake,
that good works constitute religion, and that
prayers to God can better be dispensed with than
benevolence to mankind. She believed in both
these eyidences of the true Christian character
and life, — in the divine source, and in the divine
onflow from it ; in the prayer that ^eeks God's
belp, and in Mxe help that comes through prayer,
and goes forth into the good deed to sanctify and
bless it, — a daily and constant heart-commun-
ion with the heavenly, that moves the feet to go
upon errands^ and the hands to do the work, of
goodness and mercy, in the midst of the wants and
failures and woes of this earthly life, ,She be-
lieved in the two lives here to be sought, enjoyed,
and improved by all, — the inner life with God and
our own hearts, the outward life with the world.
The inner life was of first consequence with her.
Her convictions of it seemed to correspond to the
older words of the good George Herbert : —
*' By all means, use sometimes to be alone ;
r ^ .J . Salute tbyself \ see what thy soul doth wear.
4^ krMdttt.
If Ate to look ini thy chest ; Ibr 'tis thiike own;
And tumble up and down what thou find*i^ there.* '
She was conscious of her own deficiencies. A
faultless Christian she did not expect to bci, but
one, rather, wh6 must contend with errors^ temp-
tations, and infirmities^ such as ever beset mortals
in this earthly sphere. She believed ih self-disei-
pline^ and sought to make her own heart a subject
of it. No onCj it has deemed to us^ could be freer
in the acknowledgment of her own shoilHsom-
ings than she, and node seiemed td desiire m&t^
sincerely t6 have them sujpplied through that fhl-
ness which is in Christ. It wail a ffart of thci
true Christiah^s work, as eihe deefned it, to be
watchful as well as jprayerfhl, td be outgrowihg
old weaknesses^ and gaining tiew accessions bf
the divine life-i)owcr. As she read this New Tes-
tament^ this was the iniitrtiction coming to her
ft-om its pages. Patil meant it, wlieh he wrot^,
«' Not as though 1 had already attained, either
were already perfect 5 but I follow after, if that I
may apprehend that for whicti I am apprehended
of Christ Jesus *, " and Peter, in bis eichortation
to ^' grow ix^ grace) sskd m ibe knowledge of pur
Xiord an4 Savipur Jesus Christ/' True life tp her
was ^rpwtb, prog]*esjB, ihigher jsajjiA wl<J|er visiiop,
•new'^ttraoticMis xe9ii^ei, new ^trexig^ acquired 9
^ew Tietories gained. »
i^hateyer ^she could ,ol;»toin of the fthqiights wfl
.«i?q>^3ri^ce8 pf ot^iers, w;ritten or unypirjitten, that
might aid Jber in itl^is work of intro£ipection and
impi^pyemept, sl^e always .welcomed. It was this
jaotetbod of life— subject >to many interruption's
-r-iirbich served .to impart tp ;)ier that inward
9ti:engt^ which gave ste^iness ,of purpose .and
good heart to her in her intercp^rse witjh ptheirs,
and in her e;sertions for their tenippr^l or spiritual
^elfEUce, It was .by this inwi^rd. supply ttqmih^
infinite source that the us^fuk^ess of ;ber4>utwari|l
life .was ipade to appear*
She entered upon her ,];tew.ri^latioi|s nnd§r cir-
enm^taiipes which might not have been so agree-
able. to one of less firmness and cpni^ientipusness
than she possesned. The parish an4 ebnreh .^
.which her husband was pa^tpr w^s one ip (the
.midst of which she h«d grpwn.np to.^pmmbppd.
44 MEMOIR.
Could she meet the expectations bf those who had
so long and so well known her from her earliest
days? Could she sustain herself with that pru-
dence, dignity, and fidelity which might perhaps
be expected of another whose past life had not
been so familiar to the people of the place ? Such
questions would arise in her mind, and no won-
der. But she met them all with the resolution
and confidence of a Christian woman. Fourteen
years of pleasant intercourse with the members of
this parish proved the fidelity and success of the
minister's wife, and the appreciation of her work
on the part of the people.
She was anxious for the growth of the church.
She had great love for this Christian institution,
and she would have others in love with it too.
Upon no one topic did she speak more earnestly,
at times, than upon the religious responsibility
resting upon those professing the faith which she
so fondly cherished, — their duty to show to the
world the excellency of this faith by doing the
work which it demands. In mere theoretical Uni-
versalism, she had but little confidence. This
BESIDENCE IK MALDEN. 45
great name to her signified a heart-power, a mo-
itive, urging to godlike action, — to the life of
love. Not " to the letter that killeth " would she
seek to bring others, but to ^^ the Spirit that giveth
life." And with this righteous intent, she was
prompted to use her influence to deepen the re-
ligious life of the church, and to win new hearts
to fellowship and communion with it. She had
the satisfaction of knowing that this '^ labor in
the Lord " on her part had not been in vain. Of
the living and the departed there are those who
will hold her in grateful remembrance for the in-
terest taken by her in their spiritual growth and
life.
To the Sabbath-school, also, she was specially
devoted. She had her work there whenever this
was practicable on her part, and no one was more
punctual or interested as a teacher than she.
Anxious in her preparation to meet her class on
the Sabbath, she usually found the class in readi-
ness to meet and welcome her. A growing and
strong attachment of teacher and pupils was the
result. Her faithful words of instruction were.
4$ MfmOlEL,
in many instances, precious seeds of tinith jfiown
in productiye soU. She Iiy€^ to i(;now :Cif sucdi
desirable effects, and to be :^ad because of them*
Added to itbese interest^ were otliers., in ^wjhricli
sbe could not fail to be active to tbc extend of
ber ability. In sewing-rcircle or jReHi^f Ckun-
mittee, in parish festival or Sabbath-^school exhi-
bition, ahe.bad her voluntary and inevitable wosk.
During her residence as the pastor's wife in
Maiden, she was absent i^om home but little. A
few journeyings in her own and -into a neigbborr
ing State, including a short summer visit tto the
seashore on Gape Ai^u, were all the excursioofi
abroad she made. And these were richly enjoyed.
A few visits to dear friends in a mountain region
of Northern New Hampshire were deemed by her
of great value . They refbeshed and strengthened
her when she needed a brief exemption from home
cares and duties. During one of these sojourns
in the Granite State, she writes home, -r-
-^t Blessings on the country, — the real country, where
^ox}B no plashing, crowding, harrying, driving through
versab^' but where every man, and- every woman even.
RESIDENCE IN MALDEN. 47
dm 8it demi once in the daj, at least, and enjoy a little
jttsty lefrefibment, quiet, and meditation if they \rill.
Really, €rod seems nearer here. Thoughts of him will
crowd upon the mind, and these grand manifestations of
his power and his paternal care over the children of men,
scattered all around us, will arouse the religious feelings,
unless these are blunted by long neglect or abuse. '^
Once during her married life she visited Pbrts*
noDuth, N. H., tlie place of her husband's nativity^
ftnd there formed acquaintances of which she had
|)lea8ing remembrances in after-life* From this
place in company with others^ she attended the
Itnnttal session of the Rockingham Association
bf Universalists, which was held in Poplin (now
Freemont), in August, 1841. It was a meet-
ing of much religious interest and social enjoy-
ment. This, with occasional attendance at con-
ventions and associations in her own State, and
once in Rhode Island, was most of her visiting
abroad; She loved her life in the family, and if
iiot called to any extensive earthly journeying,
she wHb no stranger in that realm which the earth-
ly <Dftnn<)t bounds where new views of the spiritual
48 HEMOIB.
and infinite are enjoyed by tiie interested visitant,
and where the truly progressive Christian learner
is ever more and more at home.
Her strong interest in the religious education
and welfare of the young induced one of our de-
nominational publishers in Boston (Rev. J. M.
Usher), to engage her as the editor of a small
work to be entitled "The Sabbath-School An-
nual." She, with some hesitation at first, consent-
ed to comply with his request, arid for three years
the little visitor went forth, fillet I with pleasant
and instructive reading for the j'outhful ones.
She thus speaks of her intentions respecting the
work in a letter to a friend of whom she solicited
a contribution for it : —
** I never more than at present felt the necessity of
well-directed efforts to keep, to win, to reclaim the young
from what is wrong and unholy ; to kindle a love of pure
and sound instruction within them , — a love of Christ and
his precepts in their hearts ; to supply them with a de-
fence against the thousand temptations arrayed to defile
and destroy them. I know that you must feel with me
the great need of presenting good and profitoble reading
\
BESIDEKCB ZN KALDEN. 49
to tbiem, a^d the importance of filling our juTenile books
with Instructiye lessons in morality and religion. You
and joar husband and sister can do much good through
your pens in writing for the young. You have been
ready to assist me in making up the Annuals already
issued, and t am glad indeed that you ^ave regarded the
little offerings as worthy of your aid."
The '' Annual " was supplied with articles from
the most popular writers in the denomination. It
had but one defect, — the pictiures, some of which
were hardly lentitled to their places with the ex-
cellent niatt^ for the juvenile reader that accom-
panied them.
In the springtime of 1847, after the pastor had
dwelt nine years in Maiden, a very pleasant dem-
onstration was made one evening at the church,
significant of the good-will e^^isting between the
minister and his people. Valuable presents were
made to the pastor and wife, accompanied by a
very appropriate address from Mr. W. H. Richard-
son, Jr., the superintendent of the Sabbath-school.
In his reply, the pastor took occasion to speak in
behalf of his companion, and to express his own
4
50 HEMOIK.
deep gratification that they had been permitted to
prove that, whatever might have been the history
of other ministerial connections, it is not always
unsafe nor unpopular for a minister to many one
of his own parish.
It was in the early autumn of this same year
that death first entered the little family, and called
one in tender infancy away. It was a new ex-
perience, and was met by the stricken mother in
the calm trust of a Christian heart. Soon after
the event, she was prostrated by severe sickness,
and we were apprehensive at one time that she
might leave us for the higher home. Such were
her convictions. And she had prepared herself
for whatever change might come. She had lived
for duty; she was ready for the Master's call,
whether to a continuation of her work here, or to
the higher offices in the heavenly home. It pleased
the good Father to restore her to the loved ones
of earth again. Her recovery, however, was slow,
and it was not until the succeeding summer that
she was enabled to enter as usual upon her active
duties again.
BE8IDEVCB VX MALDEN. 51
In a letter to a dear friend, alluding to the
scenes of bereavement and sickness through which
she hiEul passed, she thus writes : —
'' The time has been, my dear sister, since I wrote yon,
when I supposed our communion on the earth was ended.
Qnoe have I died virtually, having hade adieu to all that
wan dear to me here. I have heen enshrouded in grave-
clothes and lain in the tomb. I now am like one risen
from the dead. Indeed, much of my life for the last year
seems a dream^ a vision, — a sad one, too, my sister.
The bitterest experienoeof my life, the holiest realization
of heavenly hope, have alike been mine, since we last ex-
changed thoughts. I had thought to hear from you when
my frame was bowed by sickness and sorrow. You al-
ways have a word of hope for the dejected, a store <S(
comfort to those who mourn. And although I received
no fresh supply from your kind heart at the time of my
affliction, I have still been blest with what was before
mine, in your sweet letters of old. Doubtless you could
not write. I know you had not fozgotten me."
During her residence in Maiden, Mrs. Adams
formed many friendly relationships which were
ver^ dear to her throudi life. These included
most of the families of the ministers of our faith
52 MBVOIB.
who resided in the vicinity of Boston, and else-
where in Massachusetts and in New England.
Never was she more gratified than to welcome
them to her home, or to enjoy their company.
Among the friends specially endeared to her, ^md
with whom she enjoyed for a time much pleacuuit
correspondence, were Miss S. C» Edgarton (afbar-
wards Mrs. Mayo) and Mrs. E. A. Bacon. One
brief visit to our home was ever held in most
agreeable and thankful remembrance. It was that ^
of the two kindred spirits, Miss Edgarton and
Miss Charlotte Fillebrown (afterward Mrs. Jer-
auld). There v^ere rare and rich communings on
that occasion, the only one ever thus enjoyed by
us all. The three sister spirits have since re-
newed their companionship in a higher s^eire.
The Universalist pastor residing nearest to oar
home, within a pleasant walking distance, was Dr.
Ballon, of Medford. I need not wiite" for those
who intimately knew him how welcome Ms fre-
quent calls at our home were, and how highly we
prized his presence and companionship. As I
write, the living and the dead, those who were
RESIDENCE IW ICALDEK. 5S
then dwelling in that neighborhood, come up b&*
fore me in that home., -^ the venerable Fathers
Ballon and Streeter, Dr. Ballon, Whittemore,
Chapin, King, Paige, Skinner, and others, whose
hearts were united in the love of a common cause,
and whose enviable calling it was to declare the
nnsearchable riches of a world's Redeemer to their
feUow-men. A noble part of that company are
not here. With the hnmble and loved one who
was the light of that home, they have passed on
to the brighter realm. We remain ibr a brief
season, and in that tarrying time it shall be onr
blessing to enjoy the sacred memories of these
sainted o(nes now awaiting ns on ^'the shining
shore." '
Mrs. Adams kept no private journal. Whatever
of her daily life theughts and interests were made
subjects fbr the pen may be fomid chiefly in her
correspondence. Her letters were often rapidly
written, and were usually the free outpourings of
her heart. She never wrote any of them for mere
effect, and seldom, except on business, when she
did not feel a good degree of freedom towaord the
54 MSMom.
person addressed. She was best satisfied if in
tliese communications she could cheer others who
were depressed ia spirit, or impart any usefiil i,.
formation, or give a few words of kindly advice
to those younger and less experienced in life than
herself, or sympathize with the afflicted, or direct
attention to that religious aspect of life which she
so truly enjoyed. Sometimes these letters were
intersprinkled with innocent sallies of wit, now
and then with suggestions in reference to some
author whose writings had specially interested her ;
but oftener the topics upon which she wrote were
those most closely connected with the cares and
callings of home life, and in suggestions as to the
daily usefulness with which this life may be in-
vested.
The brief extracts which foUow are taken from
letters written daring her residence in Maiden.
On the subject of a true Christian acquaintance
and familiarity with heavenly objects and interests,
she thus expresses herself to a friend : —
' ** Is li not a sad and humiliating consideration that so
many who profees to be Christ's disciples think and talk
BESIDEKCE IK MALDEK. 55
of heaven as an imaginary, a ficticious, state of being, or
a place to which our Father will send his children after
their life here is ended, instead of a real, sure, and blessed
home, -^ a place where the wicked shall cease from troub-
ling, and the weary find rest ? How beautiful ! Think
and talk of heaven, I say; but, oh, I feel that we do not,
as a body of Christians, so think and talk. We seem afraid
to say Heaven, and God, and Father in Heaven, and Bet-
ter Home, except in our prayers, or in the low voice of a
Sabbath-school teacher, or of' a parent to the little ones.
We seldom talk of these things in the sunlight, over the
needle, around the hearth on Monday or Tuesday, in the
highway, at the greeting of friends, among the merry
youth we meet, at the social boards Alas ! — but it is too
true, — they are Sunday themes, sick-bed topics, the minis-
ter's subjects, or ideas for the dying when earthly things
must be given up."
No one held in truer reverence and esteem the
Christian Sabbath than she. It was to her a sa-
cred day, because of the special memories, priv-
ileges, and duties always connected with it in the
mind of the believing and devout Christian be-
liever. She had heard of the formation of a
Sabbath-school, and of the- interest which a few
56 HEKom*
IViends had taken in bdialf of it, in a pleasaid.
coantry village in New Hampshire, and thus
writes to one of them : —
<< I learn that yoo have a SiJ)bathH9ehool of nearlj
forty members. Really^ you must be glad that yoa caa
witaess tbi» interest in so good a work at this un&votable .
season of the year. There is hope of better things in tbe
future, if the young ean be brought under good religious
influenoes, and taught rightly to spend and keep inviokte
the GO^ holy day. Some dear friends think ma paiitanic
in my ideas of keei>ing Sabbath time. But I know that
I am not unreascmably strict nor bigoted in my notions.
Of one thing I am convineed, that is, that those who do loTe
the Sabbath and the good inflo^Kses on society and man^
kind arising from its proper obeervanod muai devotedly
keep it, and cherish sacredly and improve religiouaiy its
hours, or the scoffer will be confirmed, the doubter lost
to a sense of its claims, and the young be led to belieTe
that there need be no Sabbath."
In a letter to a dear friend whose home was
gladdened with the presence of a first-born pbild,
she thus freely allodes to th^ bereavement which
her own heart had experienced : — >
RESIDENCE IH MALDEK. 57
'< The little Alice, then, will soon be a year old. I do
not forget the sober-faoed darling. 1 think much of you,
& , with the little treasure in your hands, or nestling
on your breast ; and I go at once from earth to heaven,
and find mj own little jewel which the Saviour hath
taken to keep for me. And although I would gratefully
love to fold an infant in my arms, again for weeks and
months to feast upon its opening attractions, I would not
call the departed one back. I shall always have a child
in heaven, and I shall be oftener there because she is one
of its angels. It is right. ' '
The early death of one whom she had never yet
seen, but with whom she was hoping to form and
enioy a happy acquaintance, was the occasion
which calls forth these thoughts in a letter to a
beloved friend, one of the afflicted family circle : —
*< A shade has come over our thoughts as we have con-
sidered the affliction that has come to your home. That
dear sister, whom the Father hath called away, was one
whom I have loved since first I heard of her virtues, and
had really thought to meet her, and had hoped to win a
litiie portion of her love. But such was not God's will.
I oon give yod my heart in sympatiiy ; for in my short life I
have been no stranger to death, nor to its sorvowiul doings.
58 MEMOIR.
I have felt in youth the arrow that pierces the heart of
the living when the dead He around. I have seen &ther
mother, brothers, sisters, and tender friends drop away ;
I have watched their slow steps to the tomb. I have
sought to strengthen the living when their last support
has been shaken by the fall of some cherished uphcdder
and protector. It has been mine to hear a mother's foil-
ing, struggling voice whisper out its counsels, its eomfort, '
its prayers for me when she should be no more. Death
even seems one of us , bo frequently have his steps been
directed to the home of my birth, so familiarly has be
taken those I loved and led them &r from my anxtous
gaze. And is it surprising that a heart, a young heart
too, that has so often bled from its own wounds, that has
so often throbbed with grief at its own losses, that has so
missed and mourned the loved ones from its own home,
should feel and weep and mourn when others do under
similar afflictions? The heart grows tender by its fre-
quent stripes. And if I have been so stricken, so severely
tried, so often cast down, have I nothing, being mised
again and happy, to o£kr to those who are still bowed
down ? Surely, I have ; for these trials have taught me
that the world, though it may have its fiiscinations, is in-
sufficient for the heart of man. I have learned that,
though . parents leave us forever as our earthly guardi-
BESIDENOB IN MALDEN. 59
aoB, still we are not orphans; that the protection of
the infinite Guardian is sure. I hare learned that my
brothers and sisters are not those alone who gathered
around the same mother with me, or have playfully en-
joyed the smiles of the same father, but that they are the
children of God ; and moreover, that where his spirit
and his image are, there is where the tie of sisterly love
binds me. To be the veriest servant to his children, is to
be free indeed. And more. I have learned that to bind
my aff^tions to earthly things is to nourish the seeds of
disappointment. My weeping eyes have followed the de-
parted ones till they were no more seen ; but has sight
utterly &iled me? Oh, no ! for the eye of faith has seen
them in their better home, — in that blest presence of the
Parent of all. And so 1 could seek to comfort others
with the comfort wherewith I was comforted of God."
The limited time which she could find for lit-
erary pursuits and enjoyments, in the midst of
home and parish cares, was eagerly seized and
employed. She appreciated a good author, and
loved to commend books which bad pleased and
edified her to others. We find, in her correspond-
ence, a letter to a much loved and younger friend
in New Hampshire, in which she is evidently tak-
60 MEMOIR.
ing great pleasure in commending to the attention
of this friend the poetical works of Miss Eliza-
beth Barrett (afterward Mrs. Browning). A large
portion of " The House in the Clouds *' is tran-
scribed for the benefit of the one addressed, with
such comments as very plainly evince the delight
of the writer in the poem. In the same letter, she
specifies " Sleeping and Watching," "A Portrait,"
"Bertha in the Lane," and " The Children Cry-
ing " as among the most attractive poems she had
found in perusing the pages of this eminent au*
thoress.
In a letter written from Maiden, in 1850, to a
very dear friend in Lowell (now departed), she
thus alludes to their different life experiences, and
to the changes which they had realized since their
first acquaintance with each other, and since th6
enjoyment of a happy visit and picnic excursion,
years before, amid the summer scenery of the
mountain home of her friend. There, out-of-door
refreshment tables had been spread where the iron
track of the railroad was afterward laid : —
'* I learn that the railroad-makers are busy near your
BESIDENCE IN HALDEN. 61
native village, and that one of their shanties occupies thb
place where the table was spread at the picnic. How
nnpoetical! Tes, prosaic ad I am, such a fact as this
disturbs me somewhat. And that sweet cottage site ;
do you suppose it is occupied by the same kind of build-
ing? Farewell to the beautiftil interval. It will be to
us among the things that were, hencefbrth ; and its quiet
shade, its waving boughs. and thick-grown shrubs, will be
forsaken by the sweet songsters of the Wood. Yet all the
lovely haunti^ will not be broken up by the ever-restless
sjpirit of man's invention, or traversed by the strong iron
horse. He can pass where the river makes its bed, but
he will not be likely to climb to where the trickling
stream comes gushing cool from a rock or spriug on the
mountain's side. And it will be long ere all those turfy
hills and wood-crowned mountain ranges will be levelled
by man's improvements.
<< But what I have just written suggests other thoughts.
We are no longer girls, ready and free to roam and climb,
and spend long hours in the cool of the mountain woods.
We have lefb behind us the liberty of girlhood. Our
calls how are not to choose our recreation, but to faith-
fully perform each our allotted duties. You have not lost
your love of romance ; you do not mean that it shall be
buried hi the realities of life that now are crowding
62 MEMOIR.
around jou. But I know that you are changed. Tour
life at jour own home, and your letters aesure^me of thk^
You have been overtaken by life's realities, and have be-
come better prepared than formerly to meet them. You
and I have drawn nearer to each other since you left that
ideal world among the mountains in which for years you
revelled, and have come out into life as it is, and into
woman's true sphere. You love me better than you did
(all unworthy as I feel, I say it), not because I have
grown so much better, but because you understand me —
we understand each other — better. "We could not be eo
near alike at once. But it is Saturday night ; I am a
matron at home, and must. heed the calls that come.
Excuse this abrupt conclusion."
" The calls that come." For these she seemed
always in readiness, whatever her means to meet
them might be. They did not take her by sur-
prise. DuriDg this time of her life, while she
was the pastor's companion in that olden parish
of her native town, she gave impressive evidence
jof her agreement in spirit with that apostolic in-
junction, ^' Not slothful in business, fervent in
spirit, serving the Lord.'* Toward the close of
RESIDENCE IX MALDEK. 63
her residence here, we find her writing in one of
her letters to a fHend, —
<* My husband is engaged here for another year, mak-
ing his twelfth year with this people. *• Settled for life,'
some say, ' or daring the life of his wife,^ It may be not,
however ; for his wife really has a desire to retire from
the aggressions of city life upon the quiet and simple
manners of our suburban people. Sometimes I sigh for
the leisure of a more retired situation, and the opportu-
nities it would afford for meditation, self-examination,
and self-culture. To live always in bustle and hurry,
JEtnd a ceaseless round of positive duties, accords not per-
fectly with my strong desire for a truly religious life. I
suppose — I know, indeed — that I am weak ; but I find it
utterly beyond me to grow spiritually, with all my pres-
ent cares and duties, as I would like. Yet this is one
field of duty, and in some respects I think I can improve
«
it. I hope I shall."
In correspondence with another friend, about
this time, she writes, —
<' Society imposes many duties upon us that I some-
times wish away ; for I do not believe they have enough
of holiness about, them to sanctify them to the good of
64 MEMOIR.
woman ; and I have not the moral courage to maintain an
entire independence of them. And here what some one
else has written is true of me : that many domestic evils
which afflict us ' are owing to present circumstances of so-
cial life ; but that many ot them are chargeable to a sad
submission to those circumstances is also too true. It is
in the power of women to make their domestic life more
holy in its discipline and ends than they now do.' Tou
perceive that I am not without instruotocs in these things.
No, once in a while I catch a paragraph in a newspaper
that gives me a courteous rap for my domestic defioiencies,
and I just take my scissors and clip it out, and pin it
up where my eyes shall every day read it ; and then I
know my sensitive heart will feel, and that I shall try
to change, to reform."
In December, 1852, the writer of these memoirs
accepted an invitation to become the pastor of the
Universalist society in Worcester, Mass. It was
not without very deep regret on his part that this
step was taken. But it was the result of a con-
viction of duty, and one of the chief inducements
to it was a desire to improve, if possible, the
health of the pastor's wife. It was believed that
a residence farther inland, away from the sea, and
RESIDENCE IK MALDEN. 65
from exposure to the strong easterly winds of
the New England coast, might prove beneficial to
her. The pastor had an invitation to three different
places ; namely, Waterville, Me., Cambridgeport
and Worcester, Mass. He chose the latter place ;
and one great cause of the choice was the con-
sideration already stated. There was but one
Qonolusion afterward,, on our part, and on the
part of many friends, as to the prc^riety of the
dxoice ;. and this was^ that the change added years
to her life.
At the time of the removal of the family, Mrs«
Adams was in feeble health. She was unable to
attend to the household care and labor prepara-
tory to this event,, and shared the kind attentions
0f brothers and sisters in Maiden until the new
home in Worcester was in readiness for her re-
ceptioA..
5
RESIDENCE IN WORCESTER.
** Home of good fellowship and peace, our thoaghts
Of thee come freighted with sweet memories."
It was in the springtime of 1853 that she was
welcomed into the new home in Worcester. As
the season advanced, she sought its out-of-door
attractions, and though unable at first to make
but little exertion, she gradually gained strength,
and found herself slowly improving as the sum-
mer advanced, and she could go forth beneath its
smiling sky, and find her best medicine in its pure
and invigorating air. The east winds lost much of
their harshness here, and the pleasant change of
scene which she realized in her change of places
added something to the causes of her improve-
ment. She was highly pleased with her new
home, — a residence on Salisbury Street, in the
north part of the city, — and after she had i*esumed
her correspondence with friends, thus writes of it
to one of them : —
66
RESn>ENC£ IK WORCESTER. 67
" You would not believe that we were living in a city,
should you come here and stay. We have not much
riding out on our street, and we cannot see the buildings
nor bear the noise of the city ; so we just fancy ourselves
in a lovely country village, and enjoy it accordingly. We
are on the shady side of the house in the morning, but
are sure of enjoying the sunny side in the afternoon,
with richest sunset scenes often. This city is one of the
pkasantest of all places that I have ever seen or enjoyed.
Our home has been very delightful here, ever since I
recovered from my illness. There never was a hcune more
full of blessings than ours ; and our hearts, I trust, are
trying to be as full of contentment and thankfulness to
the great and good Father whose love and mercy are shed
around us in such abundance !^'
New acquaintances and fViends were now made.
The pastor's wife entered with a whole heart into
a work like that which in the past had so engi'ossed
her. She found congenial spirits in this new con-
nection, — good, earnest workers.
She was glad to lead in or to second any move-
ment whereby the society, or church, or Sabbath-
school, could be profited, or the needy, anywhere
within the reach of her influence, be benefited.
68 HEMOIS.
It. was quite impossible for her to ke^ her light
hidden. She heeded the direction of the Master
to his disciples too faithflilly fbr that. The word
of the apostle on the occasion of his conversion to
Christianity seemed to be the question of her
spirit: "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?"
Her interest had its influence. It enkindled inter-
est in others ; it drew hearts in nearness to her ;
it was a commendable and faithful tribute to that
cause which, in her estimation, was above all ether
causes ever commended to mankind.
In a letter to a dear friend in Maiden, of date
Jul}'^ 3, 1853, we find an expression of her enjoy-
ment of the first season of public Christian con:-
munion in the church, with her new friends. The
extract includes the utterance of a most earnest
desire for the continued and increased prosperity
of the church and society in Maiden : —
'*I have been to church to-day. It wad commanion
Sabbath, the first one that I have been permitted to enjoy
with this new people in the observance of the Lord's
Supper. The most natural feeling in the world, I sup-
pofle, filled my mind doring tho prelittioairy mmmaitBi&,
RESIDENCE m Worcester. 69
which wm none other than a irecttn'ebce of thottght to
flimilar oecfMiions hi that old ohfeirch ftt home, tod, Heed I
add^ to the dear, good fHeuds who evet went before th&
Lord with nd, in our obseryance of the rite ? My enio>*
tione Were new. Here for the first time t sat with 9trat^
ger brothers and sinters, away from that old sanettiary
where I was christened, received into the visible ohureb^
married, and where my babes have been dedicated to the
service and will of the Father. Sere, on new ground,
amid new feces, with stmnger hearts all around me,
aWtty from kindred and home, I drewttear to my God
and Saviour for their blssii^g, and the oommunioatioh of
the influences o£ the Holy Spirit. I folt trttly that I Was
separated from home and old friends ; that I occupied a
new position, and had a new work before me. Yes, new
eKperiences will be daily coming. May Heaven aid and
direct me ; so shall I not utterly foil of doing good.
*' I greatly miss the sweet bouquets this summer.
Bot.you write that you still carry them to the church.
That is right. You did not offer them solely to the min^
ister^but to the altar itself; and it was good that you
did so. Yours was no minister-worship. Strong Ab your
attachment is, you yet have ri^t fedings in relation to
worship and the cause and another pastor. Of this I
am gkd. I do not foel glad when Christians are givsn
70 MEMOIR.
to man-worship, in whatsoeyer form it is offered. Your
futare pastor will seed all the support and eDCOorage*
ment you can give him by your strong personal attach*
ment, and the society will need the quickening influences
going out from just such zealous, true-hearted co-workers
as you ; and I beseech you, in the name of our most holy
faith, to continue to do for it as much as is in you."
Duties and works for others abroad never were
the occasion of lessening her love of home. The
cares and joys of the family circle had greatest
and most constant attractions for her. She thus
writes to a friend on home and children : —
<* I am, as you say, in a new home ! and my home, you
know, was always the pleasantest spot in the world. It
is as true now as ever. I say it sincerely, that our home
in this beautiful city is just one of the happiest homes
that was ever blest with sunshine and starlight. ... Of
stars, you know, we have three, as you have, — ' a little
trinity ' here, but one of brighter and holier beam in that
other home, whose light plays ever around the Father's
throne. In this experience, too, we are alike. Blessed
be God for children ! A neighbor, of ours says to a y(mng
mother, 'Why, I should rather have children than not.
RESIDENCE IK WORCESTER. 71
even if I should lose iheat all ; for they go to make np a
fknaily in heaven, and I shall yet enjoy them there.' That
is the theory. The departed are so many links to hind
UB to the unseen home."
' And, again, in a letter to another, she thus al-
lades to the gracious dealings of God in raising
her up, as if from the dead, and expresses her de-
termination to be more engaged than ever in the
new work before her: —
*' There is mueh that I could write in answer to your
question, * How does life pass with you ? ' Twice since
I saw your face life's sands have nearly run out, and I
supposed my work on the earth finished. But it has
pleased God to answer the prayer of some righteous
friend, and I am now restored and at work. You call
me from my busy life to write you a few lines. And so
I will, my good sister. But say if I ought not to keep
busy? When for weeks and months all efforts to labor
were utterly fruitless, and rapid thought brought to
mind the little atom of good I had done in the world, did
I not vow that if God spared my life, I would henceforth
work for him ? He raised me up, and now I will do al
I can for his cause. Hence I must be basy ; life must be
72 MfiHQ|R«
aa ii0eft|l q« J (san wake i^ ; and then tb«re viU be
iy>tbjng whereof I eaii boagt, y(hm indeed I da dep«H
ftomthe eaytb."
Here is also an expression of her view of the
imperfection and uncertainty of all earthly bless-
ing9, ^nd her quiet contentment 'with whatever
allotinents of a gracious Providence n^ight he
her9 ; —
" I often feel as if my cup were too full of joy and bless-
ing to be thus long, and always more full than I de-
serve. Also that if we have the measure of fulness meted
out in one way, there must eome subtraction in another,
that the cup be not perfectly filled. At the same time, you
know well that I enjoy all that is given us, and am oon-
tented with the lot which Heaven assigns to me.*'
This readiness for whatever might appear under
the wise dispensation of the Fathei^B wisdom and
goodness is thus expressed : —
'^ What i» vx store for us we know not» as all our deib-
tinies. are in the hand of a wise and beneficent Be^pigy w^
does not. unfold bis mysteries any &ster than we can bear
then^. I often have solemn ei^rcise of mind on tibe tbou^^t
RESIDENCE IK WORCESTER. 73
c€ leaving tfaia bi%b^ home, and the possible rupture of
its bap^esft. Sometimea I think myself as well pre-
pared aa i ever caa be, bj simply ooatemplatiDg what we
call the chances of Hfe, to have the strong and holy ties
that bind me to kindred and friends of ear^ sundered ;
for it will, it must be a distressing thought to me till the
pains of the body overpower the emotions of the soul.
Yet I do not feel that I love this world unduly. I ever
try to live in it as not wholly for it, but as passing on to
a better and holier one/'
•
It was a pleasure to her to seek, according to
the apostolic directi<m, to comfort others by the
same comfort wherewith she was comforted of
Grod. In a letter to an aged friend and mother,
who had been bowed under heavy bereavements,
she writes, —
«^ The aged Dr. Ripley, of Coneoird, USem^^ used to say,
that every day, when we aroae, we ought to refieot that
we might die before night,and every ivightto redoet that we
liifgfat die before morning. And itf there is any^^^g "^o
want said, or anything we wi^h to^, before we leave this
world, it should be attended tOs Sut I think thefre are
very few minda tha^ wwW Kt^ WmJ be cheerftil with th^
74 XBMOIB.
thoughts of death bo oontinnallj in mind. And ngain, it
is impossible, in my opinion, with Tery km exceptions, for
our hearts to be prepared, as we say, for oar own deatb,
or the death of our dearest relatives, except as Qod in his
mercy and wisdom insensibly prepares us. He does not
send us great and heavy afflictions inthout having first
allotted us something of good and S9und comfort by which
we may feel ccmsoled, if we only read his providenoea
aright, and search for the intentions of our ali^wise Father
in his dealings.
** And still again, it is not grateful in his childreD to
temember so keenly the bitter drops in life's cup, while
we forget the many pleasant draughts which his hand has
presented to us. Therefore, my dear friend, I trust that
you will not dwell too intently on the single bitter event
of your child's death, but rather keep in mind all that
you remember of his happy youth, and all his pleasant in-
tercourse with us during his visit home, and try to con-
ceive of the union of those three dear children who have
gone to the great home above before us, and of their meet-
ing their fother who had gone before them. To be laid
in the grave, or to sleep in icy coldness, is not all that there
is connected with the death of the boy. The release of the
invisible and mysterious soul, its destiny in unknown re-
gions, — whieh, though unknown to us, are under the eon-
RESIDENCE IK WORCESTER. 75
trpl of Him whom we trust aa oar unerring Friend, -^ the
recogniti<»i of loved ones long separated, and their union
in sympathy, affection, and life, are better and more prof*
itable thoughts for us to indulge in. If God designed that
the death of our friends should cause us to be enshrouded
ia darkness and gloom, would he have sent Jesus to re*
Teal the resurrection-lile to us, whereby we can feel as-
sured that our friends are still in existence ? The very
fiiot, too, that our relations and duties to the living do
not stop when one friend dies may be regarded as a prooi
that we are to leave the departed with God, from whom
their spirits came, and be comforted and sustained, and
feel blest in the abundance of mercies surrounding us.
In fervent, heartfelt prayer I know you will find conso-
lation and peace. Your trust in God will increase, too,
in every season of prayer. May he enable you to be, in
the midst of this deep and unexpected bereavement, one of
ills Mtbful, cheerful children! "
To another friend, on the subject of separation
by death, she thus communicates her thoughts : —
^< When I think of and sorrow for such as you, a fear-
fnl idea of what the separation of wedded hearts must be
comes like a terrible shock upon me. To bring the hand of
Providence thus near to my ows heart almost overpowers
76 MEHOIB.
me. Yet thoasancls are bronglit to saffer it. I will pity
all, and tiy to oonsole Bach as Imay. To be ' made perfect
tfaroagh Baffering,' mj dear aster, is a baid eiperienoe
ibr baman bearts ; but if, by reason of it, we are biooght
near nnto God, and become like Him whose Hfeanddeatlii
and resarrection were witnesses onto vs* of God^ tratii,
we may always say, ' Thy will be done. ' That God's -way
is not the best way, neither yoa nor I woold f(» a ibo-
ment assert. Yet to bow in meekness and trae«nbiius-
sion, when the sorrowful hour armes, is so hard iliat
we almost declare to the world ova ^cnbelief ! Lerfc ta
sedc to be consistent OhriBtianB.''
Detained upon a Sabbath by illness from the
communion service, she thus expresses her thoughts
to an invalid sister and friend of the church, who
is, realizing a similar deprivation : —
** It is our communion day. We cannot sit with thfe
disciples at the public table, and there remember Hun
who loved us and died for us. But we can bow ourselves
in spirit and supplicate, and Jesus will come to us, and
abide with and teach us, and impart to our firail «dA t]>em-
bling spirits some portion of that heavenly sti^ngth itod
'Surprising fortitude that enabled him to do the Eather's
will under heavi^ sorrow than it was ever yet our lot to
RESIDENdlft IN WORCESTKB. 77
bear. We cttn go in spirit with l^oee who l^ould honor
him -to^y at the table of the holy Sapper. How we
wish that a still larger number might be there, laying
hold upon so powerful and pare and effective a means of
self-awakening and elevation as this ! Truly, we hope
th^ multitude will yet be converted, and come under the
blessed inflnenoe of social ehureh odmmanion with the Sav-
iour, and with the gmoious Father. I pray that truly re-
'vivhig thoughts may al»de with you this day ; that the
eaEercise of spirit that shall come to you may leave you
st^xmg in faith, in hope, in love. I feel sure th»t your
belief is so grounded in right principles, and a true appre-
eiation of gospel doctrines, that it must yield you support
and comfort on your sick-bed.
'' It is the day of the annual meeting of the Sabbath-
school, when the officers are elected, and the superintend-
ent ipresents 'his repolrt. ' You cannot be present with the
school, 'and with your precious cksa, bodily, but I. know
you will be in spirit. I believe a good influence wiH
ovopshadow those ydung scholars, -^ an influence having
its Urth and growth and strength in the relation that has
existed between you and them. They all strongly desire
to enjoy again yotdr fibithful instructions. They will all
•think oi you to-day, I doubt not. Many in the school
will, and kindred hearts will offer silent prsyers lor your
restoration and joy and peace."
78 MEMOIR.
On another Sabbath, absent from ber Weroester
home, and deprived of the privilege of attending
public worship, she thus freely discourses t6 this
same loved sister and friend : —
<* In this quiet paternal home, on this holy Sahhatb-day,
my thoughts are ranging abroad among dear absent ones,
and my spirit holds sweetest communion with loved friends.
Among these, you have bad a prominent place to-day. I
long to look in upon your quiet home again, — that home
where you have so much, in the harmonious life which
you and yours enjoy, to be thankful for ; for it is not
place that makes home happy ; that I know, and many
have lived to learn. The palace, without the feeling
heart, virtuous affection, conscious purity and honesty of
purpose, is a dismal retreat. The humblest home where
all these dwell, and where rests the beautiful spirit of pc^
tient submission, is more to Him who surveys all things
from on high, and to his children who eschew earthly
glitter, than any splendor man can display, or monument
of wealth he can rear. I do not mean to preach ; but
the Spirit said, < Write,' and I must write. What a
blessing is it that memory so far supplies the preeetioe of
friends who are separated as to make us see them, hear
them, move with them, in places of mutual iateresti 1
RESIDENCE IN WORCESTER. 79
Imve seen jou all in chureh to-day, have heard the hymn,
the chant, the prayer, the sermon ;* have bowed in spirit
with such as I knew were afflicted ; have rejoiced with
Bach as I thought received a new portion of meat in due
season. And in such blessed recollections have I been
parsing the day."
As time passed on, during her residence in Wor-
cester, she became more and more deeply inter-
ested in the religious prosperity of the church
with which she was connected, and welcomed
with gladness every new evidence of its advance-
ment in spiritual life. The public dedication of
children and youth by the pastor, the additions
of new members to the church, and new voices
and new testimonies given in the conference and
prayer meetings, were events which aflfbrded her
peculiar gratification, and made her heart specially
thankful. The conference-meeting was to her a
sacred and happy occasion. She desired freedom
in it, and was one of the increasing number of
those who believe that the voice of woman may be
rightibliy and profitably heard there, pleading for
God and humanity, and for inward growth in the
80 IfiBHOiB*
divine life. Reserved^ and diaiDcliiied tcr jsate
herself in the least conspicnoas in such vmetimf^
she conscientiously believed in the right and pro*
priety of this agency in seeking to render th^D
impressive and successful. During a temporary
absence with some of her family fi-om home, she
writes to one there who could appreciate tier
words, —
* * How glad we were to hear of your good meetings ! My
husband and I were with you ; but we could not hear the
speaking. Will the sisters raise their yoices a little the
next time? Did you ever think of asking Sister to
pray in some of the meetings? It seemato me that she
is often filled with the Holy Spirit; and I feel as if she
could pray op exhort to excellent acceptauoe, and oer-
taialy to our profit. In our co&fereaoea, I want an !»•
flowing of the Holy Spirit ; and then I wai^i it outspokea
from the soul of him that receives the uafition fiNua oa
high. I want no hard striving to find something U> flay,
but an inward pressure of holy emotions that mikst find
utterance."
As we have said, she had no desire to speak' ia
pubUc ; but she believed that there were others of
BESIBENCE IN W0B0E8TER. 81
the women of onr chnrches who could and who
ought to employ their powers of speech in meet-
ings for social religious worship and improvement.
She was a worker, and desired to have all the
agencies that could be rightflilly employed en-
gaged in the advancement of the Christian cause.
There were seasons of bodily debility, in which
our sister keenly felt the pressure of duties upon
her. Writing on one occasion to a friend, she
thus humorously enumerates certain items of
home work which were then making urgent calls
npon her : —
*^ Let us see : a dressing-gown to be made immediately ;
the little boy*8 cloak cloth lies near, ready to be cut and
made; a sack to be prepared for me ; two sets of flannels ;
and then the little boy has none ; neither has he just now
a saitable change of dresses. Jacket and pants are needed
for another ; quilts, comforters, towels, etc., etc., ought
to be made; and how much other work is laid away
where I cannot see it I And then, is not my time my
own, so that I can make for and yisit the poor, and at-
tend to other pleasant calls away from home? After all
this, why may I not have leisure to write letters and
story-books and contributions for the children's paper? "
6
82 KBxoni.
We ar« not aware of any impropriety in thus
presenting one phase of the lift of a pastor's
wife at home. It is but a just representation of
other lives of those who would be numbered among
the Lord's faithful, in this sacred relation. It is
well to have them duly remembered.
Again she writes,' —
** I shall never drive buainees aaj more. I have turned
thf^t corner, and lefl it out of light. Henceforth , I am,
to all intents and purposefi, * a slow coach.' I draw
comfort, however, from considering the poor snail. He
moves slow, but he moves, ^fle accom^i^es his journey
and his work ; and by tne^flfessiBg of Go3, 1 shall mine,
in due time."
In the springtime of 1857, being on a visit to
Maiden, she enjoyed one occasion which gave her
great pleasure. It was that of meeting, in her
old home-church, and worshipping with, the three
wives of other pastors of this same parish, who,
by means of an interested friend, were thus
brought together on that day. These other per*
sons were Mrs. Cobb, Mrs. Livermore, and Mrs.
BESIPENCR IK WOBC£8TEB. . 83
Brookd. The 8Ul3joiii<Hi aeGottnib ot th6 meetitig is
thus given in the ^' Christian Freemiui : "
<< Their entrance together into the church ocouioned
quite a e^MKvtioB in the assembly. At the close of the
morning services, this august sisterhood of pastors* wivies
^njo^ed a happj mutual greeting ; and so was the greet-
ing ^^thusiasi^c between them and a}l the people who
Were able to approach tliem, Tbej Tisited the -Sunday-
eobdOl^ where Afos. O. addressed thechaldren and teachers,
maldng alluc^dn to the great change -since her connection
with ^e school at its origkml formation, and throiighta
series of its early years*
* * In the afternoon there was realized a peculiar season of
eatis&ction and joy. the large church Was well filled ;
a glow of sympathetic feeling pervaded the congregation.
Brother Brooks, the pastor, caught the inspiration, and
in true soul-eloquence, delivered a discourse appropriate
to the occasion. The fire of his spirit fused all hearts,
and * this was none other than the house of God, and this
was the gate of heaven.' To the few remaining old mem-
bers of the society, it was truly an aatepast of the joys im-
mortal."
An interiested flriend, Vrho was a.fterward in-
fonned of thi^ meeting, addressed the following
84 MEMOIR.
note to Mrs. Cobb, the eldest of this happy band
of pastors' wives : —
'< I have heard, my good sister, of that very agreeahle
occasion of the meeting of the Maiden pastors' wives last
Sabbath. The recital of it has deeply moved me. It was
an event of rare occurrence, and I can only imagme, but
not describe, some of the joys of the day there. Meditat-
ing upon them just now, I found myself inditing the Mr
lowing hymn, just as though I had been present in the
church that morning, and had repeated it to myself. I
dedicate it to the ministers' wives who were so happy to-
gether that day, and send it to you.
« SONG OF CHRISTIAN WELCOME.
' Welcome to this worship-dome !
Welcome to this Sabbath-home I
Chosen, &ithful of the Lord,
Gathered here with one accord.
' Helpers of the pastor's life,
In his watching, toil, and strife ;
Who hath higher right than ye
In this holy place to be 7
' Welcome to these walls to-day.
Where the gospel light-beams play,
^ Where the past and present blend
sonw ^ i^cw pleasure God doth send !
RESIDENCE IK WORCESTER. 85
• Hallowed memories — how they throng,
As the prayer goes up, and song!
Youthful pulses quicker move ;
Age enjoys the feast of love.
* Now the preacher's right words come ;
God and Christ and Heayen and Home ;
Chosen themes for this glad hour,
Uttered in lovers melting power.
' Sacred season ! few below
Like this doth the Sabbath know ;
Green spots in earth's pilgrim way ;
Blessings on thU Sabbath^ay ! ' **
The last years of her life in Worcester were
happily spent. There was a constant willingness
of spirit to make the most of her time and oppor-
tunities, however unwilling or languid her bodily
powers might be. A Mend, about these days,
humorously writes of her, *'We hope to see
Mary here, when she gets done doing for others.
If the other side of life's river should be much like
this, she would hardly know what to do with her-
self. There might be quite too much individuality
—too much of self there — to suit her benevolent
expectations. If the heathen mythology were true,
she would want to aid Charon in rowing across
86 MEMOIR.
the Styx, and would, on landing, no doubt, in-
quire of him where she should look for the * sew-
ing-circle ' ! God's blessings upon her ! "
Amidst all these temporal interests, she did
not lose sight of those higher aiiiis to which her
faith was constantly calling her. She sought in-
ward renewal and growth for herself; she was
ever in readiness to aid others in this heavenly
work. In a letter to a very dear yotii^ friend
who had signified her intention to connect herself
with the church, she writes,—
** When you were away firom us, and I ezperieiiced %hk \
chill which our hearts feel when the world gaiiis a devotee,
and the Saviour* lobes one, I would say to 'mysdf, ' We
inuBi keep F » for the Saviour. She miust sit at Je-
sus' feet, and I must tell her how much I wish it may be
so, before she leaves us.' Untoward circumstances pre-
yeuM me from saying it ; and how singular ! Your veiy
firfit letter spontaneously draws out the very idea from
me ! Judge of my joy to know that you had taken upon
you the vows of discipleship. May the Father give you
grace e<)aal td^ftU trials, that you Inay preserve yourself \«
imblemished in your integrity ! You have /the pirayen
i •
RESIDENCE IK WORCESTER. 87
of those who love jcm here, that you may 9tand, a burn-
ing and shining light. I have no fwra that you wil^
tire of your Saviour, when once you have learned to love
him. There is happiness in the pursuit of truth and
duty."
With another young friend, who had been very
dear to her from early life, she thus pleads in
earnestness as to her spiritual course : —
" Now, L , I believe you are truly awakened . Slum-
ber not ag^in until Christ is formed in your heart, and
yon feel that he will abide with you. He is strong and
mighty to save ; and when you feel weak, throw yourself
upon his compassion, and place yourself under the
shadow of his love. When you feel overwhelmed by the
nntowardness of the world, resort to the throne of the
Father, and pray for grace and mercy. When the cares
of the world seem to threaten to turn you from the great
purpose of your soul, turn to Jesus, whose yoke is easy,
whose burden is light. Leave all, and follow him.
" Your intellect is capable of understanding and appre-
ciating our grand &ith from the Bible, if you make it
your study. Your goodness of heart and sanguine sym-
pathies are equal to an exemplification of this &ith in
an outward exhibition of its inward power, if by prayer
88 UEHOIR.
and the grace of God you resolve to cheiiah the Holj
Spirit in yoor heart. Why, then, should yon not come
forth and avow your determination to accept such means
as may be presented you for the acoomplishm^at of yxmir
own salvation ? Why may not believers greet yon as an
example of the power of our faith to interest the young,
and call them to Jesus ? and why may not opponents see
in you an example of the purest piety even among those
whom they choose to call outcasts? Think of these
things, my dear L . You shall have our prayers that
you may not fail in this work."
Her heart could not restrain its desire to go
out after the youthful ones to whom she might
have access by speech or pen. This brief admon-
itory communication from her hand appears in
the Sabbath-school paper of May, 1858. It indi-
cates her real appreciation of the internal beauty
and worth of the individual in contrast with that
love of dress and display with which too many of
our youthful ones are led astray. It is entitled
'' A Letter to the Girls."
'* Dear Girls, — One Sunday morning, while the people
were assembling for worship in the churches, I sat down
BESIDEKCE IN WORCESTEB. 89
id ilee jMte of' timm pius. After every one who aeciriied
t9 be jKKittd'ibr 43hiiroh had gone along, there came \bim
three girla like yourtielv^, and I was pained to see thte
wholly absorbed in what thej worer The suii^hade'bf
onb;' the bonnet ^of the other, the shawl 'of the third, the
glov^; the artiflciiKl'flowers,* the spring circular, iill wiere
examined, and to me it appCiared as if no one good and
fipriouB thought of Qod, of worship, of prayer, of p^ni«-
tenoe, or any interest akiif io these had' ent^^ their
«M&ds. They wejre so entirely fiHed with thotights of
their dresses that they did not seem to heed the striking
of the clock at eloT»],-or io know that" they were late;
and they were stiH sdme distaboe ffohkway of the churches*
^* Theft i thought how sad it' was that those girls were so
in love with fine clothes.' If they had met ouir Sayiotiron
the way, Would he Uive looked to see 'What mantle, what
robe, what shoes, they wore? 'He would have look-in
yain for the robe of righteousness, or for the garment of
praise orsalyation. If' Jesus were here, I feieir he would
weep because the daughters of Christian people * are
haughty, and walk with s'tretched-forth neckS) ' trifling
'eyi'fl, walking and mincing' as they go, and makhig a
tinkling with their fecft ' (Isa.),' a display of their orna-
ments.
' * The prayerful , serious mind , the pure heart, the forgiv*
90 KBICOIS.
iog and peaoeiiil tpirit, humility, loTe, juid meek mod ooft-
tented dispoaition, are of fiur greater worth to our young
women than jewelry, silki^ laces, or fiMbion^ble flam*
mery. How becoming to a young woman are the Chruh
tian gracee ! What Bete off beauty of penon jnore tiu^i
the graces of the Spirit ? What adds more to a comely
&ce than gentleness, goodness, religious principle? I
tell you, nothing. The adornments of the penon with
feathers^ flowers, laces, and ribbons, is not to be^:«iMSbfid
as an adornment whien compared to tiiose aoqfaireB»eat9
that beautify a young woman's soul.
** Are not our young people as willing-hearted as the
sons and daughters of the Hebrews to make sacrifices fiur
:their God and his truth ? The wise-hearted among these
andent ones wrought with their hands, and the willing
hearts contributed their * bracelets^ their ear-ring^, their
fingerHdngfi, their tablets . ' Then wore they most adonaed,
1M9IUSQ inwardly beautified by works of hoUaes and devo-
iuMi« Le^ us each do what we can, thai ouar jmku^ vo*
men may loYe perishable adomingp less, and be more ready
to be clothed upon, and rejoice aa the fidtbiul did jp/the
prophet's day, saying, * My soul shall be joyful ip.m^
God ; for he hath clothed me with the garments of sa)Ta-
iion, he hath coTcred me with the robe of righteousness,
a* a brid^grocMa decketh himself with ornaments, and as
>.
BBSIDBKGE TX WOBCESTEB. 91
a hnie ailbrneih benelf with jewels/ — that thej may
be read J to follow the apostle's direction on this subject i
* whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of
plaiting the hair, and of wearing gold, or of putting on
pi apparel. But let it be the hidden man of the heart,
even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which
10, In the sight of God, of great price/ "
' Thte yeAr 1858 will long be remembered by
ttfkhjr ftnr tSie religious awakening which seemed
to spread everywhere over our land. It pervaded
k1l the churches. It was confined to no particular
sects, and really gave many evidences of the pres-
ence and power of the Holy Spirit. ^* Bevivatt
Ists '- by profession, with their planned and arti*
ficial means, found but little if any employment in
it. The work was deeper down than tb^ could
reaich; and many hearts were blest iHth a share
telt.
' The church in Worcester, with which Mrs.
Adams was connected, was an early participator
in this work. It began there before it manifested
itself in most of the other churches. It was a
manifestation which she welcomed with all the
92
earnestness of a living Christian spirit. She thm
writes- of it, in a letter to a mueh-loved :ftiend,
under date May 8, 1858: —
♦ ** We are having a revival here, of just such an Interert
as-it becomes Hniveraalists to hare. Oh that the washing
of regeneration and the Holy Spirit itself may make it as
pure and sincere and effectual in the lives of the disciples
as the Lord himself could desire !
* .1
" I cannot tell you the happiness I feel in view of such
a state of things. I have longed for it; wept for tt,
prayed for it, and well-nigh despaired, bat have' lived fi)
see what I have thus sought, — a society growing in grace
-and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, inquiring, striving,
seeking, asking, knocking, and .taking their places at the
Master's table, humbly praying that the church may en-
courfige, admonish, and aid them as they may need, that
we may all walk together as followers of the great Re-
• ■. •■ .... i - ,
deemer.
" Perhaps you heard before you left us of the little
quiet meeting held once a week for inquiry on topics' rel-
ative to the religious life. The band is called the * Home
Circle,' composed at first of twelve- persons. They mee*
-on ThuMay evenings, at the houses of the members, and
tli« host llwileeL in laoh friends -or noigbhonkas hemnj
BESIDENCB IK WORCESTER. 98
desire to. They more on steadily, eaUing in nefw hearan
ev^iy time, .and, as a natural result, interesting them; in
spiritual matters. EleTen, thus awakened, joined the
chnreh last Sabbath. Now isn't that the slow and sure
and true way to have a revival go on? ' Bless the Lord,
O my soul ! '
<<The world knows nbthing of all this, and worldly
considerations cannot move the participants in their pro-
ceedings. *'I hope and I believe that the Son himself, in-
deed i shall dwell in the midst of us. Probably eight or ten
more .wUl join at the next communion season. Several
were nearly decided to do so, but chose to wait. Those
who joined did so by signing a written memorial iid^ressed
to the church, which was read in public, and which, taken
with the presence of one of our most aged friends (now
more than eighty), made the service exceedingly impres-
sive. A hushed and weeping audience told how deeply
the services were affecting all present.
*'The daily morning prayer-meetings, held in these
tinies ineoiflmon with -the other sects, helped our young
men along. iSach one, in turn,- conducted the meeting of
. the day. The conferences are still interesting, and fully
attended.'' .
Aniosg.thjS biographies of the wise and good
M MCMOntr '
which Mrs. Adams had the opp(AtimIty to read
in these years, that of Mrs. Mafjf L. Ware gat^
her great pleasure. There are palsages in the xdf-
ame, marked by her hand, which show how truly the
reader appreciated the life that was thus passing
before her on these living pages. It was an ad-
miration such as one pure-souled woman lias of
another, who has in faith and lo^-e gone '^ ut>
higher/' lea.ving her pathway iUnmined with &^
light that came fh>m her daily eartUy toil, ann^
heavenly trust and prayer. "\
During her residence in Worcester, she bad
occasional opportunities, notwithstanding her
many calls to diligence, of enjoying those inter-
views with nature such as the hills and groves and
fields in the vicinity of this beautifhl city afforded
her. An afternoon ramble with diildren, a day
in the woods, a dinner with a company of firiends^
in some shady nook, or a tea-party of a l^w loved*
ones in the edge of some woody opening npon a'
golden sunset scene, were enjoyments weU sniteidl^
to her tastes ; and the occasional and happy indul-^
gence in theih with her will long be tein^tiiilMitred
bv surviving friends.
BESIDEKCS; IH. WORCICSTER. 96
,. In.|lu!.ml^amii of 1859, the bei^hh of Mra« Ad*
im^^c^Y^ ^denee of more tban uanal feeUeneM,
and in December she had an attack of pneumonia.
It left her weak, so that she was unt^ble aHerward
to resume her nsoal duties in the home* She had
hope, at times, of temporary relief or restoration,
bat was still prepared for the reverse of this, if it
i|)^pnld come in the order of God's providence. If
t^er work upon the earth was 4one» no one could
be. more in readiness than she to hear the next
expression of the Father's will.
In Jane, i860, her husband, in acceptance of a
call to become the pastor of the Second Universa-
list Society in Providence, R. I., removed to that
city. During the removal, Mrs. Adams was on
a visit to her sisters in Maiden, and in July was
able to come, by the usual public conveyance, to
Join bqr family in their new hoipe. She could not
Ij^ve Worcester, however, without great heaviness
of Iteart, so strong were her attachments to many
c^ar friends there, and so harmonious had been
tbetr intercourse. Her last letters fh>m her home
ifk t^u^P^jtiy evince this attachment. Bot in her
96
MEMOIB.
readiness to follow wherever duty seemed to<ciEill,
she was ptepared to adopt the sweet language of
Madame Guyon :-^—
** While place we seek, or place we shun,
The soul finds ba]ppinflS9 in none ;
But with a God to guide our way,
*Ti8 equal joy to go or Way."
' > i
LAST DATS IN PROVIDENCE.
• k . - • ;. •
** Vfniib thjr worlK, then lik.tiMe dofvn
Ob Mme eeleatUl hill,
Axi4af iteflreofthHreriTiiiff lUr ■
Tbke thou tliy fill!
•* Qive tfaMik»to SiA wlift Inkl tkae iqp
In all th)r path below,
Who made Utee fafthfal onto dea^,
And crowns thee now." -^ Axon.
AxoKG her cpmmnnicationR bj letter, made jnst
hetare lei^viiig. Worcester, we find Qne wiritten in
pen<^Ii and in ber illness, but in mnch leamestness
III reference to the Christian duty of the young
Mend she addresses. She says, —
- ■ " - ' •
** I wish I could pen my letter. I am too tired ; yet I
desire to say that I sympathize with you sincerely in the
present struggle that agitates your mind. To me you
seem to haye gone as far as you can go, without you can
take a yiew of the matter from another point. You are
at the Tery gate of the church. You have been seriously
exercised in mind pn the subject, and understand clearly
the design of the institution, its iofiuenccj its bless^ednesa
7 97
... ' ■' ■ • • • : • ri ■ • ■
,?' i
98 XEKOIB.
M a Christian priyilege. Ton have done what joa oould
in the way over which joa have gone. The gate is opened
tojoa. You do not enter. Ton are not worthy, as
joa may think. Where will yod go?* WiU you tani
hack ? Can you profit by again trarelling the perpleikig
way 7 Do you'see any advantage to be. gained by wait*
ing at the very tbreafaoki of the'drorehy^deening yo«r>
self unworthy to enter ?
** Ton are not perfect ! None of us are. The apoatlesi
whom Jesus diose to be his immediate followeis. were
not. Jesos knew that. Some dishonored him. He said
not, * Go back ! ' but rather, * fie that taketh not his
cross and foUaweih after me is not worthy of me ! * I
wonder^ my dear friend, that the blessed prirOege does
not sometimes speak to you in these words, * T%is do-m
ranembrance of me.^ / see no dlBiealty i bat you sMi
to regard the form as ain: ic/limlBniin, -^ when yon ahall be
without sin ! whereas, it is proper to rtgud it as. an
avaihible means of grace, or incentiye Air all sincerp
lovers of Jesus to go forward in righteousness, walking
with him. If these few thouirhis could help you to more
bght, or reflect what you have gained by a new refraction,
how happy I should feel ! '^
On hi&p oomiiig to Pfovideiice, unable Ha lEtfie
was to endure the ezatemeiit of meeting Hbfi new
JJLffT DATS IN PBOVmSNCE. ' 99
'»- '.• ,>■•..
Ilr|end8 who were in readiness to welioome her^ it
If^. deemed expedient for her to be kept in qaiet^
i$A as free ftom oompanj an possible, A worthy
|^sMlf^ithftil friend h^ change 0f heir fkmlty affati»>
Ehuin^' the sinthnier aiid aiitcunAal'iittonths, Abf
iHls'abte to takd short rides, atid to faiire brief In^
tdrviews with he^ar relatites and ftiendb. !Bnt ebd
#i6-ii^ar^ that her' days with iis w^ few, tod
ma^e'lier arriuigements accordingly, wtth kn tri^
crelise, if poi^sible; of thiat firniness and jGbmp<^re
irhieh had so marked her character in' the many
tril|U[ and teiits Of her faith in the p$st. Although
witti >tb^ ahxieiy of a Wifb find mother stiU'liolding
ber, ihie daily waited, patiently and tioat\n||^jr,
iMrtb^IiOidi • ■; ■ f ■••:• .
O^e^ oC her last l^tdrdp to a b^tofed sf ster and
M^ftOi in Woixieiit^; wiritfien-irith pettblli in «
tirembling and irregular hand, is an affectiwiate
exhbttatlbfi W du1^,-^the titt^ance ofaheaH; atill
iinxibQs Ibr the ^Wth and prosperity of the Ohriiih
tiaft cause, still zeakm^ to eti^ist otlierfittnit; ShB
'it/i» ^. <h€r Iiist cfestrbus t&at^e bhurdit and society
%i&ifi1i6ttt sbe had wrofa^bt, liiid^to iitete welft^
1 fi:^94i
100 mtasa^u ;
sbe had been so sinoerelj devoted, should eontiniie.-
faithfal; that each member shoold ^^besteadftst,;
and abounding in the work of the Lord.'' ^^ I<
may never write you again on your reHgidus dnty r
so you will take all kindly ; will you not? Uni^e^ .
salism needs the devoted work of every indiviiiiial^
in the land who claims to be its friend." TH^
seemed to be one of the anxieties of her liCe* rrr.
that the gospel, as she believed it, should b§ a^.
preciated by its professed Mends ; that they shooid.:
understand its demands upon them, and remember^
What they owed to the world with such a treasure
as this in hand. Fully committed herself to it,
fully persuaded of its pre-eminent value, she would
have others see it with the same clearness of
vision. This was her last arixiety^ next to that re-
specting the loved ones of her own home, — * a ble^s-
ed bequest to us who remain.
In the summer of 1860, a very dear flriend 6f
Mrs. Adams, a wife and mother, was called to the '
spirit world. During her last days,' she was Ex-
ceedingly auctions in behalf of a beloved daughter,
whom she must leave motherless at a time of lift
LAST DATSdff FftOTIDEKCB. 101
wfaeaA ilEdibiAil maternal guardianship was moat
naeded by her. Not long after this Mend's de-
parture, an expression of her anxiety for the fsur-
viying elyild was found among her papers. Some,
of the thoughts as thus recorded we here tran-
sbrlibe:-^
'' Who will be a mother to my dear child ? I cannot
^ve up all finxiety on her account. I would still in^r-
pOte my £M3bie itnogth between her and the rough storm
oilSte, It is all so. Mtd to me ! Qh, could 1 teach her
with my experisnoe ! Who will fblfil a mother's duties ?>
There is one friend in whose judgment and kindness 1
haye perfect confidence, could she feel to assume the
care, — Mrs. Adams, wise and excellent friend ! I could
leaye my child with her in the belief that she would fit
her io rightly fulfil her earthly duties, and be prepared to
meet me in heaven. Will she take her ? Heaven decide
for the best good of my child I"
'The dear mother who thus poured out her heart
Ia. affectionate earnestness for that loved one, knew
not bow nearly together would be the entrance of
this^ friend, whose guardian aid she sought, and
that of her own into the realm where earthly cares
and anxieties have an end.
102 HEMOIB*
' The invalid had come to a new home ; but she
could form but a few iiew^ acquaintances in Provi*
dence. ' Her earthly sphere was narrowing, white
li new and grander one was about to open ttp6a
her. She was alive to both realities. Although
prudence restricted her intercourse with firiends,
fhe was able from time to time t^o enjoy sl^ort ^ides
out of the city, . and take pleasant yiQw$. of jtti^
scenery^ especially that which piresent^ itself ^q^
the sides of the beautifhl river and bay that ex-
tend fVom Providence harbor to Newport and the
Sea. These were her last interviews with that out^
ward world upon which from her childhood she had
SO delighted to gazi^, and which, as the handiwork
of the God she loved, had so often inspired and
instructed her.
And so as the outward began to recede, the in-
ward view opened. Cheering glimpses of the spir*
itual realm had she enjoyed in the past, and now
her vision was becoming more distinct and.ez-
panded. This home-land she was nearing seemed
to assume the aspect of a heavenly reality. She
had lived in thoughts and expectations of it, and
LAST DATS JX PBOYIDCfCB. 103
had strengthened other hearts in their faith in the
^* many mansions/' becatise this fai^h was deeply
seated in her own. She regarded as eminently
trathfhi the afflrmations of the word that, as we
turn our eyes away from the things seen ^d tem4
poral, we may all the ihoire readily and effectiviely
realtze the things that are uhseeh and eternal.
Such was the eleamess of her spiritual .vision. It
wa^ not an impulsive or rapturous enjoyment. It
wad calm, steady, deep; daily sti'engthening,
ek vating, and sustaining her. It was the serenit jr
of Christian faith. While the earth-e»hadoWs Wer^
about .her, s)]^e could, not be Insensible to tbemii
What of strength remained to her, she employed in
expressed wishes respecting her family interests,
when she shouM no longer have charge of them.
Anxiety for thd dear ones she ' was to leave
would often come to that pillow where she lay in
prayerful and meek waiting fbr the Lord. But
all Ihis. hindered not that inflow pf heavenly light
which cheered her imto the end* Verily the sweet
words pf the poet seem expressive of her soul's
healthA^lne8s»,receptivenes8^ and trust : -— ; , i
104 XEMOIB*
** And lo tlie diidoivB fiJl apwt.
And so the west winds play,
And all the windows of my heart
■ lop^totheday,*'-- ^
^' the day," indeecl, to her, of God's presence and
love and peace !
Time was passing, and the event we were feaiw
ing was at hand. The day of out annual Tlijaidk»-
giving came, and she was just able to take ber
seat with us at the table. ^^ Once more ! ** were her
low but emphatic words, as the repast was ended.
At her request, we then assisted her to th^ piano^^
that she might again touch its keys. She selected
a hymn- entitled ^^ Universal Praise," coBunenc^
ing with the verse, — . ^
' "I'll praise my Maker while Pre breath.
And when ihy yoioe is lost in dtiath.
Praise shall employ my nobler powers ;
My days of praise shall ne*er be past.
While life and thought and being last,
Or immortality endures.*'
It was her last effort of tlie kind. As a friend
has so well expressed it, *'*' This was the clbsiag
hymn before the benediction. She quietly returned
to her bed, and ere many days bad passedf aaotlier
(i
•(.\\': ". '"':.*u
JJLSrt DATd m l^nOYIDENCE. 105
song was h^h^ litid atig^h welbot&ed another Bpirit
to the heavenly choir,"
She left lis BUddetily at last. We knew her
^ftlel)teited&, but istill were fbndl y promising our<^
selves that she might possibly oontinne with us a
ftrWw^lts tnore^ This the good Father had not
lH9l(^. lliroiigh the last week of her continuance^
)stiB bad experient^ at times much difficulty in
'¥iei^hg ftom the lungs. Saturday came (Decern-
^3^ 8lh)9 and with it an increase of these exhaust'^
4a^ IfibrtSk I had been absent on some parochial
illities a part c^ the afternoon. On my return^ she
eitptessed her satisfaction* In early evening, the
ebildfen took tiieir leave of her. After the bed
was adjusted i^ Uie nighty she was quiet, and we
conversed a little together. Soon her breathing
again became difficult. ^' If I am to have another
such struggle as the laiit one," she said, ^^ I pray
^e Iiord to help me.^' She was raised up, but
bftd^ i^M s^lrength to rally, with all the efforts we
IMld make for her. In a short time, the strife
iras over, — the breathing had ceased ; her prayer
IvM msweredt The Lord had helped her to pass
106 MEMOIR.
quietly tcom our presence ; the loyed ooe «s at
rest.
And 80 closed, with os, the last week, of her
earthly life. The Sahbath moniiiig found i
rcavcd and sorrowing family ; bat the golden
rays that came in upon us were indicatiYe of that
purer and brighter light into which her freed ^irit
hod been welcomed. ^'The vestibale of death"
liad indeed become '' the gateway of corcmation.''
It was the first Sabbath of the loved one on the
other side of this life-line — among the immortala !
A more sacred Sabbath had never come to our
home. Her still form was resting with us, and
her face seemed to wear its wonted sweetness and.
serenity. Our Sabbath services were mostly in
the deep meditations of subdued hearts that day.
A ministering friend (Rev. G. W. Quinby), who
was on exchange with Rev. C. H. Fay of the First
Society, kindly officiated at our church in the af-
ternoon. He called upon us, and spoke comfort-
ing words, prompted by a similar experience of
his own.
The funeral took place at our home on Wednes-
LAST DAYS IN PROVIDENCE. 107
day, the 12th. A large number came, and all
seemed to be mourners. Beside relatives, Ariends
from Boston, Maiden, and Worcester were present.
The services were highly appropriate and accepta-
ble. The choir sung select hymns, an affecting
address was made by Rev. J. Boyden, and an ear-
nest prayer oflTered by Rev. C. H. Fay. Then we
placed her in the quiet home of the dead, saying
in heart, ^' Farewell, precious dust I hail, risen
spirit I ' The righteous shall be in everlasting re-
membrance 1 * "
TESTIMONIALS.
*< BteMed are Ihe dead who die in the Lprd.**— ArocALTTSB.
Amoho the testiiiKMiials of esteemed Mendtf
called forth by the death of Mrs. Adams, wqde e m
it proper to subjoin a few which seem to os wor*
thy of a place in connection with what we have
already written respecting her life and character.
The pastor of her youth, Rev. Dr. Cobb, thos
speaks, in a notice of her departure, in the
" Christian Freeman : " —
'< When we oommenoed our paetond charge in Maiden,
in the spring of 1828, Mary H. Barrett was a little girl
of about twelve years. Though her &tber was wealthy,
and her companions were of the first daas of society
socially, she was ever modest and af&ble in her manners
toward all. There was a combination of intellectoalitjf
and benevolence in her expression, and her highest oon-
oem was the enriching and the adornment of the mind.
When we organized a Sundaynwhool in our paridi, in
June, 18S2, which wos one of the first in oar denomina-
106
lion, Mwy* then but ^IbonA pizt«eQ yetau oldi eute|!^
hewriily imd eAdently into the work, bepam^ a te^K^her,
«ii(| rendered us awia^ci) whiph we grateful] j ii{)|)re-
ciated, as youDg people had not then become enlisted in
the work as now. There was soon organized a Bible-
elasB, which met at the parsonage house (man evening
eaeh week, and Tdary was a m«Bber and always pvesent
at the meetings, and intent on understanding the Serip-
t)ireB» About the same time, she, with a younger sister
and ft few of he? yowg friends, became piembers of 0Hr
chureh, and her eiiligbtened and ever-glowing spirit of 4^
votion Added to the spiritual interest of the communion,
and other services of that institution, Her intellectual
und spiritual elevation, her poble womanly exhibition of
the Christian faitlv'^hioh blessed her life, afid her conse-
gpent high social/inSutR^oe £>r gPo4» werci often imbject
mattw <^ conveisation in our fitmily. An4 ^ben, after
opf JmQ^ ftom Maiden, we hewd of her mwriage
with fsm young and esteepxed s^cpessor in that parish,
Brotb^ Adws, wi^ were glad tbftt she was to occupy s
position ipi whi<^ b#r sphere of usefulness would be en-
Inrgpd, ftndber Christian ipflu^u^ bashed abrosd over so
mpoyr ^tber viinds,
«• M in& 9nd notber, and i^ n^ pastor's cgn^pi^iion^ top,
sbmJimi be«n 90 Ipm opmpetent s#d liithful to ihp high
110 MEMOIR.
TeBponsibilitiee of these higher relatioiiB than she wae to
those of her yoanger years. ' She opened her moatli
in wisdom, and in her tongue was the law of kindness.' *'
From an obituary notice which appeared in the
*< Star in the West " (Cincinnati, Ohio), from the
.pen of its editor, Rev. H. R. Nye, we copy the fol-
lowing : —
*' Our acquaintance with Mary Hall Barrett began some
twenty years ago, before she was united in marriage to
the beloved brother who now in bereavement and desola-
tion weeps her loss ; we were with her to look upon her
pale, but serene and beautiful, face in her maMage-hour ;
she gave us strength and courage and hope, by her en-
couraging words and her lofly faith, in the commencement
of our ministerial work ; in her presence and home we
have passed many of the most blessed hours and days of
our life ; for her we have cherished the purest and holiest
affection as a sister and friend, and no words which the
pen can write can reveal the emotions experienced, or the
sorrow of the heart, when we first learned that she had
gone to her rest. Invalid as she was, she devoted herself
with wonderful patience and great practical skill to her
household duties and cares, and employed all her energy
and tact in the training of the children God had given
TESTIMOI71AI.S. Ill'
l^r. A demoted Cbrifitian womao, poesesBed . of gifls
which qualified her to fill with honor and usefulness the
sphere in which she was called to act , — in the choir, the
Sunday-school, and church, — »to the extent that her
strength would permit, she ever evinced her constancy
and j^eal, andi^er niunc and memory will be held.in.gnkte*
fal remembrance in all the churches where her hi|sband
has passed his ministerial life, Mrs. Adams was a woman
of wdl-disciplined mind,, of extensive reading, of. more
than ordinary intellectual gifts, and with better health, .
and differently circumstanced in life, we are confident
would have occupied an honorable rank among the female
writers of our church and land. But it was in her home
that the beauty of her life was seen. A woman of delif
cate tastes and quick ijjtuitions and quiet habits, she
shrunk from too. much contact with the world, and gave,
herself with a rare, self-^sacrificing spirit to the duties of
the family circle. - She lived a life of purity, fidelity, and
charity, and died, we doubt not, as she lived, in perfect
peace with God and the world. For her we are sure the.
grave had no terror and death no sting ; and that hour,
so dark and fearful to the timid and doubting, must have,
been to her the blessed hour of release and triumph,,
bright with the radiance and splendor of the Christian *b
hope."
Ill MfSMM.
fiev. It. 0. Litonafd, of Watertille, Itt. (siobll
chaplain in our army), also Writer, —
'** Our sidter Ikhd fHetid, T/Ltfi. AAains, hAA pAea^ 6th
iiwti to the home of eternal pMude, The 8th of^ the pt^
eti ittoDith thiB her latent day on earth. Thus they go,
ohe after another, the fiaintly oim to wh<Mki ir6 have
ofteheet tnftied tn ottr thought as the purest atid fairest
daughters ot our eouiinunioii. How much are we indebted
to them for what they have dkchwed of the heaiga poWer
ct our Hiith in livtee of singular beauty ! How many 0o«&!il
believe that Ihey ar« loftier, better, and happier thatithiay
had been, b&catise they hat6 livdl in the mnie day wiilk
these angels of Our hraneh of the Christian diureh!
Hieir named ndW are almost too sacred to repeat. She
tl'hoae name iMands at the head Of this article k one of
the number. Many foaits she has teemed as much an hi-
habitant of heaven as ot thii World. We are not too apt
to discern on the human &oe the refiecti<Mi of ^t light
iHAch iilumines the world to come. On hers we saw ft
without an io^aghiative ^e. And to our yM(^ It wai
all the mote dear, because, while Wearing it, she Wi8
fcithful to all her cares and trusts on earth. It lanot
for us to say What we might of what we have seen of hi^
life within the pale of her own home. Oar veooUacttont
TEStmOKULS. 118
pf that life the»e are of eanctitode that im will not at-
tempt to porttay with oar poor words. Maty, that most
beautiful of the Hebrew names, will have still another as-
spciation to make it a charm to our eye and ear ; namely^
the life of another Christian woman."
Her esteemed fHend, Mrs. E. A. Bacon (now
Mrs. Lathrop), then editress of the "Ladies'
Repository," thus tenderly refers to her departure :
^' Painful is it for OS to record the recent departure of
0ad very dear to us, — Mrs. Mary H. Adams. £ver nhce
her marriage with our i^^iend and brother, we haye known
her intimately, and hare corresponded with her frequent-
ly. The last of that correspondence, that her dear, trem-
bling Ibigers Wrote to encourage us a few weeks ago, is
lying beside us now, and iaemory is busy calling over the
beautiful records of her quiet Christian life. She was a
minister's wife in the truest sense of the term, and was
worthy to be a pattern and a guide. Many times have
we thought to ourself , when trying to do our best in that
cp69il2iar oflke, how would Mary hare acted here ? What
:W«nM'she do in this dilemma? What words would she
lyteak at thif time ? And though sdie never knew it, for
h#t pweei bumiiity kept us silent upon the sttl^eet, wt
aenr write i^ «• her memorial.
8
114 XKMOIB.
'< A brief notice cannot do jnstiee to a life like
We haire a pile of her written letters that rereai the
titj of ber inner life, and our own words are bat poor
interpreters of what she was. Frail and feeble tfaioagli
all her days, yet few have been more feithfol to the dntiei
of a wife and mother. Ah, how her heart clang to those
dear children who were the life of her life, and if
' The spirits in bliss
Do bow their bright wings
To a world such as this,*
hers will rest over and protect that little band. Ontaide
that home are a large circle who will weep for Mary, —
weep that they shall touch her living hand no more, that
no more her soul-lit eyes will look with tender sympathy
into theirs. But with this grief is a joy that rest has come
to the sufferer. Our friend sleeps. He giveth His be-
loved sleep."
A friend and brother, connected with her by
marriage, writes from Maiden to the '^ Christian
Freeman,** —
'* Last Sabbath morning, our minister. Rev. Mr. Green-
wood, preached a very appropriate sermon suggested bjr
the recent death of Mrs. Adams. Although the speaker
had never an intimate personal acquaintance with the de-
TESTIMONIALS. 115
ceased, be had learned from others of her many virtues
wad exemplary ChriBtian life. He remarked in the course
9f the pennon that he had never in all his ministerial ex-
fenmoe known so much of one of whom he had known so
little. This brief but comprehensiye statement was to
me an eloquent sermon in itself."
The same friend, in another communication,
makes this record : —
** While we mourn, we yet rejoice that such a life has
been given to us. It is not a life made great by splendid
achievements or heroic deeds, but great in its simple beau-
ty, for its calm and regular discharge of the little duties
of life, for the golden thread of virtuous endeavor which
glistened in the shades of home and the privacy of retire-
ment, winch could do right for its own sake, which
needed not the glare of public life, but in all circumstances,
and under all conditions, was inspired by a faith ever
read J for exertion or sacrifice."
Rev. A. D. Mayo, whose departed companion
WHS also a dearly-cherished friend of Mrs. Adams,
thus writes: —
**I remember your worthy wife with great interest.
>he was one of those rare women who seem to be bom to
116
iUoftmte ih^ beaaty of oar fiuth. I iievw kwnr m
truly religious body of women than tiiat lifttib bwid lli^t
eluBtered about Sarah. One by one they are going to take
their places in the better society of heav^i. I ipa ^bd
that yon propose to add another biography to thg^e of
Sarah, Mrs. Scott, and Charlotte. Mrs. Oase,in|Q» nap-
ner, should be put iuto a memoir, for the benefit of our
youDg women."
Says Rev. T. H. Miller, of Portsmouth, N. H.,
in a letter to the writer, —
**A single visit from Mary with you, at my hMM,
made her an intimate friend, whose active kindness and
earnest sympathy were shown to me and mine during all
her remaining years on «arth ; and it is to me a ptcasing
thought that she is now one of the great ' eloud of wit-
nesses ' by whom we are surrounded, and who watdi over
our iaith in the blissful life which they enjoy.
** My many visits at your home in Maiden gave ve aa
iusight into the home-life of one of the purest and noblest
spirits. Our conversations never tired, and were never
finished, — only broken off, with mutual desire that they
might be renewed, as we trust they will be, in the future
life. Her powers of conversation were remarkably fine.
Out of the abundance of her heart her month spake words
TEdTIMOKIALS. 117
of kindnoM and pity, wisdom a&d tnith . And being ear-
nest in aU she said, her actions corresponded with her
speech, so that the law of kindness was plainly written
all oyer her words and deeds. Indastrj and order, quiet
and energy, were felt rather than seen to be the atmos-
phere of her household, in which every worthy guest
might breathe freely, and enjoy mental and moral health
and life.
** As a Christian, her views were clear, and her vision
large. No bigotry dwelt there upon little dark spots in
any one's creed or life ; but fiiith in God and hope for
Stan were the building she placed on the Rock, Christ
Jesus ; and having these, she added appropriate works
most naturally and constantly.
'* The pleasure which I take in remembering and say-
ing these things is shaded by the thought that she is not
h«re, and then enlivened again by the thought that we
shall go to her, though she will not return to us. We
««re paesing on ; she is only gone a little before us."
From the timely and appropriate discourse de-
livered in the church in Providence, on the Sab-
bath after the funeral, by Rev. C. H. Fay, we
make the subjoined extracts. The words of the
text 'were those of Jesus, spoken in the home of
1 18 MEMOIR.
the sisters in Bethany : ^' Mary bath chosen that
good part, which shall not be taken away froiu
her." Luke x. 42.
'* "Why did Mary place herself at Jedos' feet? What
good did she seek ? Did she ask for glittering wealth 7
Oh, no ; for she knew that their guest was poorer than the
foxes of the earth, or the birds of the air. Did she look
for worldly honors? No, not for these; fov Bhe WttS
aware that he in whose presence she sat was de6{»8^
and rejected of men. She craved no earthly good. She
sought at his hands nothing that would minister to her
temporal needs. She was profoundly impressed with a
sense of her spiritual necessities, and she sought for a
supply such as earth cannot furnish.
*' Strength of character may be named among the
fruits of the Christian's hetter part. We may infer this
from the fact that strength is usually allied with health
and soundness. But it is easy to see that it is a natural
production. When is a human soul weak? Is it not
when it feels the presence of no omnipotent truth, and
when its powers are braced by no eternal principles f
What makes a human soul strong? The consciousness
that it rests upon truth's everlasting rock, and that it
enjoys the inspiration of immutable principles of right
TESTIMONIALS. 119
and jnstioe. And who can teach these fundamental
truths ? Who is able to impart to the soul these strength-
ening principles? Who but the Son of Godf Whoever
sits, like Mary, at his feet, to learn of him, will become
fslmxag in his divine strength ; a character based upon,
and braced bj, his instructions becomes one of the
mightiest forces on earth. It is stronger than any
i^BDtptation, greater than any difficulty that obstructs its
CMHirse, «(|nid to any emergency that may tax its powers,
luid superior to any trial it may be called to endure.
Behold it making its perilous llfe-Toyage ! No calm
overcomes its patience, no dangers surprise its watchful
powers, no difficulties overtax them. Onward it moves,
over untried waters, with more than a Columbus* assur*
ance, riding with unfaltering confidence into the blacken*
ing tempest of affliction, making itd way securely among
the grinding icebergs of worldliness, and entering the
nigfat-wrapped haven at last, the stronger for the waves
that have lashed it, and the storms that have buffi^ted
it!
<< There are still other fruits which grow out of that
better part which the reverent sister of Bethany chose.
We see them in the influence which a character, de-
veloped and strengthened by wisdom from above, exerts
ov0r others. It was wisely ordained that such characters
120 MEMOIR.
should act with power upon all others within , their
sphere. We rank them highest among the educators of
our world. And has not God invested woman's naturv
with even a greater moulding power than he has given to
man? Man's character may have grander proportions^
perhaps, and, as measured by the outward sense, may
seem the stronger. But it lacks too often that element
of love whose warmth is needed to soften and makd
plastic the natures it acts upon. This love is the fomaoe
in which the rude ore must be melted ere it can be 6ast
in moulds of symmetry.
'< How great is the transforming power of a loving
Christian woman ! Is she a wife? Her infiaence investi
her companion like an atmosphere, toning his whole
nature, tempering all his powers, and silently moulding
his character. Is she a mother? Her children's char*
acters are cast in the die of her own, and stamped with
the seal of its authority. The power of this infboenee is
not confined to the home. It diffuses itself through the
social sphere in which she moves. Those at its centre
feel it most \ those at its circumference are not insensible
to its silent workings. Ah, what precious firuits are
these ! Qod be praised that they are permitted to ripen
in the homes and neighborhoods of earth.
TESTIlEOKIALd. 121
*< And let us not forget that these fruits are imperishahle.
They will never decay and die. The riches which the soul
receives from Christ, moth and rust cannot corrupt,
cannot corrode; no enemy can wrench them from its
grasp, and even death itself leaveis them untouched and
unharmed. The beautiful &bric of character which
springs upward from the foundation of Christian truth
and principle death cannot demolish ; neither can it
check its development. In the world above, the work of
perfection will go on ; new powers will be unfolded,
and new beauties displayed. Brighter and brighter will
it grow, eve^ unto the perfect day. And the joy and
peace which here attend such spiritual progress will not
stop at the grave. Their bright streams will leap the
dark abyss, and flow on in broader and deeper channels
through all the future ages.
*' And the forming influences of such a character will
not be stopped in their work upon other natures when it
ascends to a higher sphere. Oh, no ! death has no power
to stay the operations of these unseen forces. They are
as immortal as the nature from whence they emanated.
Sometimes death invests them, seemingly, with a higher
power. Through death they have a resurrection. The
memory of loved ones ' passed into the skies ' exerts over
ns oflen a greater power than was ever exercised by their
123
personal presenoe. Oh, we deem tiie sun a iroodeTfiil
luminary, because, placed bo manj millions i^ miles ficom
<mr earth, it is able to hold it in its orbit, and to belt it
at will with Terdare and with snow. Mightier is the
force of a Christian sool, shining unseen by mortal eje in
the infinite hear^is. Tboagh inTisible, its mysterioas
infioenees reach down from its * sablime abode,' and hold
in their ibnd embrace the objeets of its loTe while they
soften, refine, and spiritualize their natures, and thus pre-
pare them fi>r the higher companionsfaip which awaits
them in hearen. There is not a soul among faesren's
shinii^ immortals that is not represented in some part
of this earthly Tineyard, by its spiritual influeDoes. We
are made to feel through ^ese influences the realities oi
bearen, thoogh we see than not. Through these, also,
come some of the heayenly yisions we enjoy. Yes, these
firuits of the better part are imperishable. Tfiey can
never be taken away from «5.
*• The Mary whose loss we mourn, like Mary of Beth-
any, chose, as we hare seen, the better part, and its firuits
abounded in her life and character.
** Though constitutionally weak in body, she possessed a
well-toned and healthy spirit. The food she reoeiTed
while sitting at her Sayiour's feet nourished eontinually
TESfnMOHIALS. 123
her flpirltaal life*>foioes ; and tfaroiigh eveij TidaBitodfr
of her eiurtblj existence she grow in tmth and in giaee.
Phmted upon the Rook, Christ Jeans, smd stayed snd
hraoed bj the eternal princtples of the gospel, her spirit
was a spirit of power. Th<»ougb]y oonscientioiis, — act-
ing on the line of principle always, — her character was
marked and positiTe. Devoted entirely to Christian aims
and purposes, self-sacrificing, hopefol, imstfol, she
wrought many works which assure the world that she
did not liye in vain. That joy and peace were hers which
the w<»ld can neither give nor take away. Their springs
in her soul, fed from heavenly reservoirs, were perennial,
and sometimes they overflowed the most when the world
seemed most desolate and drear.
** Such a character is ever a centre of influence, vmorking
unseen, silently, but effisctively, in other hearts, and pro-
ducing therein most promising fruits. These fruits ap-
pear in the characters of the children who now mourn her
departure. Their youthful natures have been tempered
and directed, in their growth, by the forming power of
the mother. Her seal is on their hearts, and she will long
live in them. This influence my brother has felt, and for
it he has been thankful. Too active and diffusive to be
limited to the home, it has gone forth and wrought in a
&i wider sphere. All who have esteemed her as their
124 MEMOIR.
pastor's wife, — all, indeed, who enjoyed her friendship,
have been profited by this influence. And let us rejoice
that death has not checked its operations, but that it
will long continue on its missions of good. The fruits of
the * good part ' she chose, —
* The stainless memory of the just,
The " wealth beyond the grave " * —
she will still enjoy. These cannot be taken away from
her."
MOTHER AND HOME.
" Oh, flay to mothen what a holy charge
Is thein ! ->• with what a kingly power their love
Might rule the fountain of the new-born mind !
Warn them to wake at early dawn, and sow
Qood seed before the world hath sown her tarea }
Nor in their toil decline, that angel bands
Biay put their sickles in, and reap for God,
And gather to his gamer.**
N the life which we have thus briefly contemplat-
two of the most precious names known to mor-
\ are newly honored and sanctified, — Mother
[ Home.
' If the whole world/' writes Lord Langdale,
ere put into one scale, and my mother into
other, the world would kick the beam/' This
ihe right estimate, when a true and faithful
bher is to be set against the world's power.
) is the greater. So do the experiences of
at numbers of the human family declare,
sre is a divine ordination revealed in this fact.
3 mother is nearest of earthly beings and pow-
125
126 MBMom.
ern to the child, — its gnardian, helper, nnriumg-
iu^ and unciiangcable friend. No father, no other
gimrdlan, can take her place. ConseqfaenUj, no
influences tlmt are brought to bearnpon the minds
and hearts of the *' little ones " are like hers. In
all after-life are these influences operating and
abiding.
8eventy-five long years of the life of one of our
eminent statesmen had passed ; scenes political
and national, the most exciting, had been wit-
nessed by him ; nearly fifty years had marked
the resting-place of the Christian woman who
gave him to the world ; when npon his death-bed,
as these time-views are becoming more and more
dim to his vision, ho is heard calling with earnest-
ness that sacred name, ^ Mother ! " He would
invoke her presence and blessing in that awibi
hour. To how many hearts have the truthfbl and
thrilling words of the poet spoken : —
** Tired of the hollow, the base, and antme,
Mother, oh, mother, my heart oaDs for you !
Many a summer the grass has growi} green»
Blossomed and faded, our faces between, —
Yet with strong yearning atkl psssioiiate pahi.
MOTHER AND HOME. 127
Long I to-night foryoor preience ag^ ;—
Come from the silence so. long and so deep —
Bock me to sleep, mother, — rock me to sleep ! "
The story of John Newton has been often told.
The reckless young wanderer from home, his voy-
agings abroad, and his connection with the AM-
can slave-trade ; the depths of guilt into which
he sunk, and from which he was raised by means
of influence received in early life from a Christian
mother ; his entrance upon the Christian life, and
his work as a minister ; the influence of his min-
istry, in bearings near or remote, upon Claudius
Buchanan, Thomas Scott, Wilberforce, Leigh
Richmond, and Adoniram Judson, — an influence
springing from that one source in the unnoted
home of that worthy mother, and diflusing at
length such a measure of good into the world,
— such is the account of the historian.
" A cloud of witnesses " present their testimo-
nies in favor of this same vital, enduring, and re-
generative power. Says Bichard Winter Hamil-
ton, "My mother's instructions are as deeply
traced on the memory as her features, and as
~ «rae iscoB taribste
liuuu SiL; -^Qaw
MOTHER Ain> HOME. 129
cepts and examples of my mother ; " — and Amoa
Lawrence : *' My mind turns back to my dear
and honored mother almost as frequently as its
powers are brought into separate action, and al-
ways with an interest that animates and quickens
my pulse ; for, under God, it is by her good teach-
ings that I am prepared to enjoy those blessings
which he has so richly scattered in my path in
all my onward progress in life."
These are but a few of the many instances
pressing upon us, in confirmation of this truth of
the mother's influence upon the lives and destinies
of the children. The poet Savage, in extenuation
of the moral failure of his own life, wrote, ^-
** No mother's care
Shielded my infant innocence with prayer."
This told all. ^^I had no one to care for me
when I was a boy," said a poor culprit, about to
be executed; "and I never heard a prayer at
home in my life." No sadder testimony thaij
this can the world hear, and none better than
these which follow it : " The prayers of my child-
hood," says Dr. Clark, " are yet precious to me,
9
130 MEMOIR.
and the simple hymns I sung when a child I still
remember with delight." Of his mother, Bishop
Griswold, in his autobiography, writes, " My
case so far resembled that of Timothy that my
mother's name was Eunice, and my grandmother's
Lois, and that from both of them I received much
earl}^ instruction. By their teachings, from a
child I have known the Holy Scriptures, which
were able (had I rightly used the knowledge)
to make me wise unto salvation. To the cai*e of
my mother, especially, instilling into my tender
mind sentiments of piety, with the knowledge of
Christ and the duty of prayer, I was much in-
debted. Through life I have sinned much, and in
everything have come short of what should have
been my improvement from such advantages ; yet
through the Lord's merciful goodness, the fear of
God, the love of his name, and a faith in Christ
have never been wholly lost." Said a soldier of
our Western army, "I am bound with a chain,
and cannot swear. The bands of love bind me ;
the power of God through mother and home cov-
ers and shields me."
MOTHER AND HOME. 131
The early life of the one whom we would mem-
orize in these pages was blest with the guidance
and care of a watchful, faithful Christian mother.
Here is a part of her own testimony on this sub-
ject, as she writes of the old family Bible in her
possession : —
*' It was my mother's ; it was my father's ; and it folds
within its leaves the names of all my brothers and sis-
ters. We were a happy family when, with this same
Bible upon her lap, my gentle mother called us round her
on each returning Sabbath eve, and taught us from its
sacred pages. My father would sit in silent joy by the
side of his &ithful companion, with ten happy children
before him, to hear our Scripture lessons recited, prompt-
ing us when we hesitated, encouraging when we failed.
But my father's voice can no longer prompt, my blessed
mother no longer teach us. They are gone, and two
sons and two daughters are gone too.
* This leather-bound Bible, —
It taught them to liye, yea, it taught them to die ;
I stood by their death-bed when dim grew the eye,
And the pulse fluttered faint, yet, oh, how serene
They passed through the closing of life's busy scene !
Like the angels they mounted in spirit on high.
This leather-bound Bible well taught them to die.*
182 MEMom.
But here are four brothers and four Bisters left, for we
were twelve in all, and here is the old Bible, with its
cover of plaid, and its precepts more precious than gold,
with the self-same truths that our parents taught, un-
changed. The sweet voice of my angel mother still seems
to say, * Son, daughter, take up the lesson where I laid it
down, and teach your children as I taught you. Bind the
truths to your heart forever. They are eternal.' "
And counsel like this was not lost upon the
daughter. It was given to a heart in readiness to
receive it. She knew, and ever felt, the value of
such early instruction as she thus enjoyed, and
would seek to confer upon her own family the in-
valuable blessings of a Christian home. For this
she is to be honored, as all deserve to be ^ho
would make their contribution through good and
virtuous homes to the welfare of the State, the na-
tion, the race. There are no forces that bear more
directly and vitally upon the condition of a peo-
ple than these influences that come from the home.
" Give us Christian homes," says a strong and
discriminating writer, on the wants of our times,
" and we will give you a liappy country, a
MOTHER AKD UOM£. 133
good government, a prosperoD& and peaceful age,
sure and rapid social progress, quiet, steady, en-
during moral and religious reform. Grive us
Christian homes, and wq will soon give you all
for which philanthropists are laboring, and the
masses groan, and the moral creation is trayailing.
Bat let the domestic altar be forsaken, let family
discipline be neglected, let household government
and order be disregarded, and we shall have a
rotten commonwealth, a dissolute and disorderly
people, a prevalence of social wrongs, a religious
paralysis and death, in spite of ail our legislation,
all om* preaching, all our philanthropic movements,
and all our beautiful systems of popular education."
The faithful wife and mother of whom we
write had this idea of home ; and one of her
chief anxieties was, to render her own home a
helper and educator to all its members, — a school
in which all could advance together in moral and
spiritual culture ; in which the strong should bear
the infirmities of ttie weak, and
" Each f«afil his part,
With sympathizing heart,
In all the cares of life and love."
134 MEMOm.
lu seeking to promote these vital interests of her
family, she kept steadily in view, as prerequisite
to this great end, the religious character of the
home and the proper culture and discipline of the
children* Her ideal of the true home was a very
high one, however far below it she might deem
herself, in her endeavors or accomplishments to
reach it.
Her guide-book for the home was the Bible.
What it had done for her, she would have it do
for her children, — her home. In a communica-
tion to youthful readers once made through the
press, she thus speaks of the preciousness of cer-
tain copies of this excellent counsellor, which she
possessed : —
<< First, then, there is the little one, the parting gift of
a fitithful maid-servant to the baby, when she gave bixn
her last kiss. * I have loved it,' said she, ' and learned it
too ; I hope he will do the same, and practise what he
learns.' Years have passed, and the boy is no longer a
babe. These years have borne the giver to a home in the
distant West, but with us she has left a sacred memento.
'< We have a Bible which a younger sister used as a
MOTHER AND HOMK. 135
school-book. It bears her name in the stiff and precise
handwriting of an old and respected teacher. I can tell
little of its history, for we were pupils in separate schools.
I know, however, that she has been a learner of the Bi-
ble, and hope that it was not used as a school-bopk alone,
but that she regards it in later years as her text-book, on
which she will found Many sermons of her life, — her guide-
book to the paths of peace and holiness, to the river of
life, to the covert from the tempest, to the light that
gleams through the valley of the shadow of death.
** We have the Bible of my oldest brother, a gift from
his pious grandmother in the year 1816. It was his
school-book then, and after he became a man he laid it
not aside. It had its place in his trunk, when he so-
journed in the stranger's home, and was read when he
remembered the injunctions of his mother. When his
days of absence from the homestead were over, and ho
came back to leave us no more, it had its place in his
chamber. Early and late have I seen him studying its
#
pages, and his life told how deeply its precepts were im-
planted in his heart. He had no other gods but God,
bore no folse witness, coveted no man's goods, gave lib-
erally to the poor. He died in the fulness of joy which
a knowledge of this blessed volume imparts.
** Another one has been the companion, the friend.
136 MEMOIB.
*be fltudy, of my husband for years. It was his guide
and instructor in his preparations for the ministry, has
furnished him with texts and thoughts since he entered it.
When life has seemed dark, he has found light here ; when
perplexities surrounded him, he has by his Bible the true
path ; when friends have proved false, its teachings have
brought peace and comfort; and when life itself shall
close upon him, may its promises and doctrines bring * joy
unspeakable and full of glory.'
** Another is my own precious Bible, the gift of my
oldest sister, in 1830. It is a London edition of the Poly-
glot Bible. It has been my companion in many severe
trials of life. It has spoken peace to me when I mourned
the departed from the i&mily circle, and cares accumulated
on my young hands in my early home, and when, by the
will of our heavenly Father, a precious bebe was borne
away from my own little fiimily ; when I myself lay at
the brink of the grave, too weak to read, and too feeble
to hear its truths uttered, then was my Spirit calm and
happy in the belief of them . God be praised ! An4 thou ,
precious book, still bless, instruct, and guide me.
' When the morning is here, with its dew and its light,
When the star sparkles first in the blue arch of night,
I will turn to these leaves, and learn how to forgive
Each error in those who around me may live ;
And pray that when death stills the throb of my heart,
I may smile, looking upward, and sweetly depart.'
MOTHER AND HOME. 137
'' Laatlj, I would meBtioa what may indeed be called
the book of books, the Bible of Siblee ; I mean the large
edition called Harper's Pictorial. It was a gift to my
husband firom his people, — a token, of the esteem they
cherish for him, for his fidelity as a minister. He will
loTe it as such ; and his family will respect and remember
to bless the warm hearts and generous hands of those who
jointly presented it. The present is itself a silent ad-
monition to him and his, that they forget not to heed this
divine diieotoc, and see that its inspired teachings be
taught at the &inily: altar, in the publio sanotuary, in the
visits of ih» pastor aoiong hiA people, and- in his walk
b^oxja the world."
In accordance with these estimates of the Bible,
so simply yet heartily expressed, were her en*
deavors to impress upon the youthful ones of her
household the importance and excellence of its in-
structioQS. She had no agreement with the idea,
whether entertained by the old or the young, that
the Bible is a dull or uninteresting book ; and no
youthful mind to whom she could have access
with its instructions could fail tq see and to feel
8omethi]ig of the attractiveness of its luminous
pages.
138 MEMOIR.
Her idea of the religious devotions of hoine
were elevated and refined. No public service was
ever more enjoyed by her than the quiet and fer-
vent offering to the Father, through the Holy Son,
as the day opened upon the family-band, and the
new mercies of Heaven called for new utterances
of gratitude, and the new duties of life for peti-
tions for new guidance and strength. The church
at home was to her of the first importance. Not
until since her departure fi'om us have I seen
from any pen so complete an embodiment of her
conception of the Christian home as is given in
the following passage, by the author of an attrac-
tive little work recently issued from the press : —
** We not only need to be shut out from other &milie8,
but the members of the same family require means of se-
clusion from each other. It is not safe or healthy, mor-
ally, for a family to live always in common. There must
be some place to which each can withdraw, sacred from
all intruding steps, as was the Jewish inner sanctuary, —
a place to go for the chastising of a perturbed temper ;
for reflection upon our mistakes, imprudence, or unkind-
ness ; for self-study, resolves, and prayers. In the varied
MOTHER AND HOME. 139
and intimate intercourse of the home, perpetually do we
need to pause, to withdraw, to think, and get strength ;
and one great preventive of a firm inner growth is, that
we are obliged to postpone acts and exercises to a conven-
ient season, whose vitality depends upon being embraced
at the moment. We need to seize moods of mind, to use
hints as they arise, to follow out the suggestings of cir-
cumstance or the moment, and we cannot do this unless
r
we have some place in the house which is all our own to
wiiich to retire unmolested. The idea of the chapel and
oratory might with advantage be borrowed from the
Romish Church, and the home receive some decided ad-
vantage, not from facts and flagellations and counted
beads, but from the sincere humiliation of the soul at
such times as come to us all, when it is perturbed by
the intercourse of home. The closet ought not to be a
fiction of our rhetoric, but a fiict of our homes and our
experience."*
Devotedness to her children was a ruling prin-
ciple — not to say passion — with Mrs. Adams.
And yet she was discriminating and just in this
devotion. Hers was not a weak although it was
♦ Home Life : What it is, and What it Needs. By John F.
W. Ware.
140 * MKMOIft.
a deep and sangiilfiie aflTectioii. She had no #at^
tcry for them ; " nor did she desire that others
should have. Just praise she would never with-
hold ; but equally faithful would she be in just re-
proof or censure, if these seemed needful by her.
She would have a family something else than *•' a
mutual admiration society," where faults are over-
looked and virtues magnified^. The family was to
her a ischool, needing meutal disoipliBe, ChriiBtiaii
training, «onnd '^doctrine, correction, reproof,
and instruction in righteousness." And in tier
own home she directed her enei^es in agreetnetit
with these convictions. She knew that even with
their best and truest efforts, parents may often
fail in moulding the hearts and lives of their chil-
dren after the models which they would keep con-
stantly before them ; but she was also aware that^
under the divine ordination, this was the except
tioB and not the rule, — that the ancient proverb
remained nnalterably true, ** Train up a child in
the way he should go, and when be is old he will
not depart from it."
" Make home pleasant and attractive." This,
MOTHER Ain> ^OHB. 141
"anottered or expressed,'* was another of her
practical convictions. She sought to abide by it.
Whatever would add to the pleasures and charms
of hcMxie, she would gladly and earnestly seek and
Bse. Books, conversation, plays, simple juvenile
etttertaintnents, birthday observances, ^— all were
called into requisition, that home might be the
place of all places in the estimation of its youth-
fiil members. How well she succeeded in these
^stSyrts, they ate well iaware who best and longest
fenew her home. Nor could she be content to
fimft home^guardiatiship to her own deftr offspring.
Her benevolent heart went out after others who
were in special need of home-shelter and comfort,
and to whose wants it became her joy for a time
to minister. They, too. Were made welcome, as
cilrcumstanced permitted, at her hotoe, and will
^ottbtless bear sweet memories of their early en*
Jojmetits l^ere, while life lasts. These indul-
gences of her good-will were illustrations^ in part,
of her theory- that no home is all that it should
be, unless there is some child-interest in it, to be
looked after and promoted. '• So many children
142 MEMOIR.
destitute of homes, and so many homes needing,
more than anything else, the presence and guard-
ianship of children ! No pleasant, well-sustained
home ought to be without a child in it, somebody's
child, to be cared for and blest." These were her
thoughts frequently expressed, and they prompted
her to look with special tenderness after the needy
little ones.
No one realized more clearly than she did the
work of change which is so constantly going on
with all earthly homes. Much of this had she ex-
perienced in the old paternal mansion, and well
aware was she of the change of place so generally
pertaining to the profession tp which her husband
was devoted. Yet this had no tendency to di-
minish her conceptions of the significance of home
life. That, to her, consisted not more in place
than in state. It was the well-ordered, loving,
Christian home that she would seek and sustain
and enjoy. She fully appreciated the good words
of the hymn : —
" Where'er the Lord shall build my house.
An altar to his name I ' U raise. "
MOTHER AND HOME. 148
The heart's consecration made the home, whatever
the material construction or surroundings of that
home might be. K Christian truth and virtue had
consecrated it, and if its inmates had gone out in-
to the world, bearing with them the effects of such
consecration, that home, whatever might become
of its material structure, would ever be to them a
living and abiding inspiration.
** You may break, yoif may scatter, the vase if you will.
But the sceut of the roses will hang round it still."
Reader, have you a Christian mother ? You
cannot too highly honor her. Had you one ? It
would be weakness in me to ask you to love and
bless her memory. Have you a Christian home ?
K so, thank God for it, and ^eek to bless and
honor it. Have you not ? If it shall be in your
power to add one to the world's good, endeavor,
by divine grace, to make this addition. No ma-
terial wealth you may bequeath to your kindred
or your race can equal it.
" This is life eternal," said the holy Jesus in
his prayers to the Father, " that they may know
thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom
144' MJGMOIB.
thou hast sent." This memoir, as it comes before
the reader in these pages, is but a faint represen-
tation of the life of which it speaks,, — a life which
really must ever be unrecorded with mortals. Its
chief resources and enjoyments were within. It
did not give all of itself to the world, although it
gave what it could. She who possessed It had
an inward strength of which the few only knew,
and T^hich God knew best of all. If ever
there were hidden waters of divine recuperation
flowing through any soul for its renewal and
strength amid the wastings caused by this earthly
strife and toiling, there were such in hers, — mv-
failing springs of life and salvation.
She lives, then, in her holy work and memory
with us here ; but her greatest life is still in Him
whose consecra,ted and faithful child she would be
evermore. To that life let us aspire.
*' Not upon us or oura the solemn angel
Hath evil wrought;
The funeral anthem is a glad evangel ;
The good die not.
God calls our loved ones, but we loae not wholly,
What he has ^ven ; Vk
They live on earth in thought and deed as truly tj ^
As in his heaven."
ii
OCT
.. XQ7^
I T J, .,,:5,f..'v