BIRTH, HOME, MARRIAGE, CONVERSION.
Rebecca Gould, afterwards Rebecca Steward, was born in Gouldtown on
the 2d of May, 1820. But Gouldtown a half century ago was not what it
is now. It was then almost unbroken forest. The early childhood of
this family was passed in a rude little log house, in which one room
answered for kitchen, dining-room, parlor and bed-room for eleven
souls.
A brave and stalwart father, a slight and sickly mother, seven girls,
and two boys, made up that household. A little uncomfortable school
house, answering on the Sabbath for church, was the only public
building known. In such circumstances, grew up this family; the
children early learning to work in the fields and in the woods, girls
and boys, very much alike, getting now and then a few months in
school, and working occasionally in other families. Thus they learned
quite early the stern realities of life.
This home, though rude, was the abode of good cheer, in which the
wayworn traveler and especially the minister of the gospel, always
found a welcome.
Let me picture it as it lives in my earliest recollections. The
log-house had then given way to one of frame scarcely larger, and
this was old. The heavy oaken door painted red swung lazily on its
hinges, and the leather latch string answered for a knob. In one
corner of the room stood an ancient corner cupboard, with its glass
doors and abundant carvings; in another the old clock, with its two
brothers clasped in affectionate embrace on its front; the fire place
and the innovation of a ten plate stove, occupied one side of the
room; while opposite, stood the old table, with its legs terminating
in dragon's feet, from which I have crept away in terror many times,
imagining that the cloth concealed some hideous beast. A long settee
and a few rush bottom chairs completed the furniture.
My earliest recollections carry me to this house; to the well that
stood before it; to the old pear tree and apple tree near by. But
clearest in my memory are the white bread, the rich butter and sweet
milk, that "Grandmother" dealt out to her hungry juvenile visitors
with such liberal hand. Oh, how peaceful and sweet appear the
beginnings of life when we look back upon them from the smoking
perilous battle field of manhoods labors.
At nineteen years of age, Rebecca Gould was sought and won in marriage
by James Steward. He was then a young man of promise, a steady and
thrifty mechanic, having worked nine years in the Cumberland Nail and
Iron works. He had been reared practically an orphan, his mother
having gone to San Domingo, doubtless with an intention of one day
returning. She never returned; and thus his last earthly relative, so
far as he knew, departed. Alone he battled his way up. Providence,
however, ultimately gave him a home in the family of Elijah Gould,
father of Rev. T. Gould, where he remained until twenty-one. At
twenty-four years of age he took to his side Rebecca Gould and the
twain became one.
Of James Steward and Rebecca, were born six children, viz: Margarette,
William, Mary, Theophilus Gould, Alice, and Stephen Smith.
Permit me henceforth to speak of this couple as my father and mother,
and I beg the reader to pardon me, if I should manifest a degree of
love and respect, which may seem to him somewhat partial.
I write, I trust, as a man who feels that there can be no nobler
sentiment than real filial love.
Neither my father or mother were Christians at the time of marriage.
They commenced life in the town; but as children were born to them,
although they had purchased a home in the village, they sold it and
went to the country.
The principal object had in view in this matter, was to keep their
children in a pure and health giving moral, as well as physical,
atmosphere. I am not certain which took the lead in this change,
father or mother; but it is presumable that as father had been reared
in the town and mother in the country, it was done directly or
indirectly through her influence.
Fortunately father and mother agreed on all principal matters relating
to the government of their children. They both resolved to do the best
possible, to give them a practical education, an education that would
be of use; but mother being the better informed assumed the larger
share in the direction of this education. She, to some extent,
examined and encouraged the children even when in school, and kept the
love of learning burning briskly all the time.
About seven years after marriage she became an active Christian,
joining the African M. E. Church in Gouldtown, October 12, 1846, under
Rev. now Bishop A. W. Wayman; and not long after my father followed
her in a profession of faith.
My whole recollection of my mother is of a Christian. In my early
childhood, I remember her as being much afflicted. During one of these
long periods of sickness, I remember her requesting my father to sing
the hymn:
"Shrinking from the cold hand of death
I soon shall gather up my feet,
Shall soon resign this fleeting breath
And die,--my father's God to meet."
I suppose she felt that her end was approaching. She had taken the
book and found the hymn and requested my father to sing it. As soon as
he saw the character of the hymn he bowed himself upon the bedside
and wept. Though but a child scarcely above infancy, yet the scene is
firmly photographed on my memory.
I also remember during one of these long periods of sickness, of
receiving an impression that I had seen her walking out in the garden.
I was so sure that she had been out, that the next day I asked her if
she was going out again. She surprisingly asked "Going out again? why
when have I been out?" "Why," said I "you were out in the garden
yesterday." "No, I was not," she replied. I insisted that she had been
out; but she thought I had dreamed it; and that _disgusted me_, when I
was so sure I had _seen her and talked with her in the garden_. I
carry to this day a distinct recollection of her appearance in the
garden on that day.
The facts were, as I afterward learned, that she was sitting by the
south window in her room overlooking the garden, watching me while I
was playing in the garden. I have no explanation to offer.
The work of my mother may be divided in at least three parts, viz: In
her family, in the neighborhood, and in herself, in enduring
afflictions and triumphing over them.
As a wife and a mother, she fulfilled her whole duty in the household.
She was intelligent, hospitable, and kind; securing for her children
the best company within their reach. By extensive reading and careful
study, she prepared herself to entertain the young and the old, the
rude, and the refined; and by her executive ability she could secure
the comfort and pleasure of almost any number of guests. Towards the
community she stood as an unofficious and unostentatious missionary
and educator. In herself she suffered the will of God, and gave such
an example of patience as is rarely met with.
I shall try to present a brief sketch of her work in all these spheres
and refer the reader for illustrations, to her own writings and
letters, and to the contributions of those whose names honor this
book.