judge him so hardly, but be assured I will make full amends when we meet
again."
Then the good-bys were said, the good wishes given, and the last of
Dorris's three cavaliers had left her.
* * * * *
Summer has gone, and snow lies white upon the ground, and we find Dorris
seated before the old desk, whose secret drawer is no longer empty, but
holds a faded cluster of roses and forget-me-nots, writing busily in her
diary a record not only of the day's doings but of the varying emotions
which each day brought to life. The words the busy hand is tracing are
these:--
"Jan. 2, 1779. Yesterday was the beginning of the New Year, and as I
wondered what it would bring me,--joy or grief, pleasure or pain,--I
saw a carriage come up the drive-way and then stop, while the driver
assisted to the door a figure in a soldier's uniform. In a moment I was
in the hall, and my arms around my brother--for it was my own bravest
Roy. He had often written us, but we received none of his letters: they
were either intercepted or lost. But, oh, how can I forgive myself when
I think to whom I owe my brother's life! that, when Roy was surrounded
by enemies, and desperately wounded, it was Keith Endicott who rushed to
his aid, and, fighting against fearful odds, bore him alive from the
field, at the cost of a sabre cut on his own hand. It was he who saw Roy
daily in his long struggle with death, and when that dreadful presence
was banished it was he who cared for his safe transportation home, to
enjoy the rest which is the only means of giving him back his old
strength and vigor. And Roy almost worships Keith, as well he may,
saying he is the idol of the soldiers, who have dubbed him the hero of
the regiment.
"The New Year has truly brought me happiness, for my brother is with me
safe once more; our armies are fast gaining ground, our victories are
more numerous, and hope dawns that the flag of liberty will yet wave
triumphantly over a free and happy nation; and I can once more mingle a
song and not a sob with the busy hum of my wheel."
* * * * *
Two years have passed; Yorktown has been fought and won, and Dorris's
hopeful words are verified. The flag of liberty is unfurled over a free
and happy nation,--a nation with its history yet before it, with only
its darkest and yet most glorious record traced indelibly on the annals
of the world. The New Year has come again, and Dorris, with her
spinning-wheel, is wondering what it will bring her. The door opens
suddenly, and some one announces, "Col. Endicott, Miss Gordon."
For a moment Dorris loses sight of everything but a tall figure in the
quaint Continental uniform, and only hears the old, light tones say,
"Will the fair Goddess of Liberty welcome the soldier as he comes back
from fighting his own battles, as she bade him?"
And Dorris, with a blush for the memory he recalls, bravely confesses
her fault and her gratitude, and ends very humbly, "Can you forgive me,
Col. Endicott?" stealing a look up at the grave face.
"Forgive you, dear child! Do you not know that I have loved you all the
time? Now that you know I am a little better than you thought me can you
trust me for the rest? Can you love me a little, sweet Dorris?"
There was no lightness now, only deep, loving tenderness; and Dorris
answered trustingly:--
"I have been waiting for my hero, and I have found him, Keith."
And there we will leave them, while the dancing fire-light shows us the
pretty scene beside Dorris's dear little spinning-wheel, and the silvery
beams of the rising moon bring to Dorris the beginning of a new and
happy life with the advent of a new year.
But ah, Great-grandmother Dorris, stately and demure in your lavender
brocade, and your feathered and powdered hair, do you know you were not
so very unlike the Dorrises of to-day, after all? And they have
spinning-wheels, too, with their flax tied with blue ribbons. And think
you that these wheels see no romances? Ah, but they can't _tell_ them,
you know, pretty Grandmother Dorris.
EDITOR'S TABLE.
It often happens that the worst effects of wrong-doing are visited upon
neither the criminal nor upon those who have suffered in person or
property by his crime. This fact is emphasized by the recent suicide of
a convict's wife, in one of our New England States, after having killed
her two children. This incident furnishes a dreadful commentary on the
condition of those dependent upon convicted criminals who are paying the
penalty of their crimes. For the convict there is abundant sympathy. As
the _St. Louis Globe Democrat_ well puts it, societies are organized for
the purpose of improving his mind, and cooking-clubs toil and perspire
at Christmas and Thanksgiving to the end that his body may not suffer;
tract-distributors provide him with reading matter, and sewing-circles
warm him with flannel under-wear; doctors look after his health, and
legislators vie with each other in seeing that he is not overworked;
but, if there is any society organized for the purpose of helping the
wife whom he has disgraced, and most likely left penniless at home, its
name has not yet been made public; if any sewing-circle has undertaken
to clothe his children, the fact has not been heralded to the world. Yet
the heaviest part of the punishment falls not on the convict but on his
family, the members of which, by one of those unjust society decisions
from which there is no appeal, are stigmatized with disgrace on account
of an offence in which they had no part. This is grossly unjust, and
those who are benevolently inclined should take the matter in hand and
see what can be done for the wives and children of convicts.
* * * * *
New England has no representative in the national legislature upon whose
career she can look with more of pride and satisfaction than that of
Gen. Joseph R. Hawley, of Connecticut. A man of sound learning, and
many of the highest qualities of statesmanship; he is unpretentious in
manner, lives simply, is free from egotism, and full of the generous and
manly qualities which inspire confidence and compel friendliness. Few
men, of this generation at least,--as will be universally recognized a
little later if not now,--have approached nearer to the popular ideal of
a representative American in public life. There could be no better
evidence of the manly independence which he brings to the discussion of
measures of importance than his attitude with reference to the bill
intended to provide for the maintenance of an army of such size and
efficiency as to provide for all possible contingencies arising from
foreign aggression or internal troubles. In recognition of the fact that
we have lawless elements in all of our large cities always ready to
avail themselves of any pretext for riot and incendiarism, he urged the
wisdom of providing such safeguards against these uprisings as would be
afforded by disciplined and efficient troops ready for instant service
at any point. Some of the demagogues in the Senate, hypocritically
posing as friends of the working-men, endeavored to distort this
common-sense and patriotic view into an intention to use the army for
the crushing of the working-men. There have been few better speeches in
the Senate in recent times than Senator Hawley's temperate but cutting
reply to these pseudo-friends of labor. It affords sufficient evidence,
if any were wanting, that the true friends of the working-men are those
who have the courage of their convictions, even when to utter them may
afford opportunity for misrepresentation and abuse.
* * * * *
The report of a recent attempt to wreck a train on the Maine Central
Railroad is not so startling as it would be were this species of crime
of less frequent occurrence; but it is noteworthy as being the sixth
attempt of the kind at the same place within a few years. It is very
fortunate that so many of these dastardly efforts to bring innocent
people to destruction prove futile. In fact it is comparatively seldom
that the boldest attempts at train-wrecking result in loss of life. The
awful possibilities, however, which lie within the hands of the
train-wrecker suggest most forcibly that this crime should be treated
with unusual severity. The person who would indiscriminately bring the
passengers of a moving train to death must invariably, if sane, be a
criminal of the darkest dye. Murder of an individual, even when coming
within the first degree, is not often without some particular
aggravation on the part of the victim. But train-wrecking must always be
the result of the purest malice,--of diabolism unalloyed. No palliating
circumstance ever suggests itself. The villain attempts to kill not one
who has involved himself in a quarrel with him, but peaceable,
unsuspecting men, women, and children, without distinction. And attempts
of this kind have become so frequent, and the crime is at once so
cowardly, so insidious, and so dastardly, that no pains to apprehend the
villain can ever be too great, nor can any penalty that is allowed for
any crime be too severe for this. If capital punishment is to be on our
statute books for anything, it should certainly be for the
train-wrecker. Let there be a law which shall with certainty bring to
the hangman's noose every person who makes even an attempt to destroy a
moving train, and this fiendish crime may be less frequent than it now
is.
HISTORICAL RECORD.
March 19.--Under this date Mayor Chapman, chairman of the Committee on
Invitation for the Centennial Celebration at Portland, Maine, which is
to occur on the 4th of July next, issued a circular saying: "The
Committee on Invitation of the Centennial Committee desire to have a
record prepared of the names of Sons and Daughters of Portland who are
residents in other places, to whom invitations to attend the Centennial
Anniversary can be sent. For that purpose they request information of
such absentees, including those who were born here--those whose parents,
or husbands, or wives were natives of our city, and also those not
natives who were former residents. Such information can be communicated
by letter or otherwise to John T. Hull, Clerk of Committee, at Room No.
18, City Hall."
* * * * *
March 21.--Fire at Newburyport destroyed two shoe factories and a
three-tenement block; another block was nearly destroyed, and other
buildings were damaged. Total loss, $75,000.
* * * * *
April 1.--Celebration at Lowell of the fiftieth anniversary of the
incorporation of the city. In the forenoon an historical address was
given by C. C. Chase, formerly principal of the High School; in the
afternoon Mayor Abbott gave an address, followed by an oration by Hon.
F. T. Greenhalge.
* * * * *
April 4.--Fire at Westboro', Mass., destroyed shoe factories and damaged
other buildings, with a total loss of $90,000.
* * * * *
April 7.--The State election in Rhode Island resulted in the election
for governor of George Peabody Wetmore for a second term. The
prohibitory constitutional amendment was adopted.
* * * * *
April 7.--Quarterly meeting of the New England Historic Genealogical
Society. Judge Cowley, of Lowell, read a paper on "Judicial
Falsification of History."
Rev. Increase N. Tarbox, D.D., the historiographer, reported that since
Jan. 1 there had been fifteen deaths among the members. Memorial
sketches of seven deceased members were reported, namely: Nicholas
Hoppin, D.D., a resident member, born in Providence R.I., Dec. 3, 1812,
died in Cambridge, Mass., March 8, 1886. Ex-president William Smith
Clark, resident member, born in Ashfield, Mass., July 31, 1826, died in
Amherst, Mass., March 9, 1886. George H. Allan, a resident member, born
in Boston, Mass., June 16, 1832, died in Boston, March 15, 1886. William
Temple, a resident member, born in Reading, Mass., Sept. 15, 1801, died
in Woburn, Mass., March 18, 1886. Archbishop Richard Chenevix French,
corresponding member, born in Dublin, Ireland, Sept. 7, 1807, died March
27, 1886. John Bostwick Morean, corresponding member, born in New York
City, Oct. 12, 1812, died in same city, March 10, 1886. John Gerrish
Webster, life member, born in Portsmouth, N.H., April 8, 1811, died in
Boston, Feb. 7, 1886. Francis Minot Weld, life member and benefactor,
born in Boston, April 27, 1815, died in Jamaica Plain, Feb. 4, 1886.
* * * * *
April 7.--Terrible disaster to a Fitchburg Railroad train near
Bardwell's Ferry, on the State road. Ten persons were killed and
twenty-two injured.
* * * * *
April 13.--Regular meeting of the Bostonian Society. The following life
members were admitted: Charles Francis Adams, Jr., Thomas Mack, William
Minot, Jr., Jonathan A. Lane, Clarence J. Blake, M.D., Amos A. Lawrence,
Nahum Chapin, William Caleb Loring, J. A. Woolson. The essay was by
Alexander S. Porter, on "Real Estate Values in Boston During the Present
Century." The highest priced land which the essayist had heard of in
Boston is the estate bought by H. D. Parker at the corner of Tremont and
School streets, 1,984 square feet, for $200,000, or about $100 per foot.
The cheapest he had heard of was that of Harrison Gray Otis, on the west
slope of Beacon Hill, he having obtained it by squatter sovereignty. In
closing he said that real estate has proved to be a safe investment in
Boston, and many wealthy families have gained a large share of their
wealth simply by the rise of real-estate values.
* * * * *
April 13.--At an adjourned meeting of the people of Lexington who are
interested in the formation of an historical society, an organization
was effected by the choice of the following-named officers: president
Hon. A. E. Scott; vice-presidents, M. H. Merriam, W. A. Tower, Miss K.
Whitman, Miss M. E. Hudson; treasurer, L. A. Saville; recording
secretary, A. E. Locke; corresponding secretary, Rev. E. G. Porter;
historian, Rev. C. A. Staples; custodian, Dr. R. M. Lawrence.
April 13.--Celebration of the incorporation of the new town of Hopedale.
At sunset a salute of eighty-six guns was fired by Battery B, of
Worcester, Hopedale being the eighty-sixth town incorporated in
Massachusetts during this century. Joy bells were then rung for one
hour. Then followed an illumination with fireworks. This town was set
off from Milford after a hard struggle in the Legislature.
* * * * *
April 13.--Dedicatory exercises of the new county building in Ellsworth,
Me. The Rev. Dr. Tenney opened the exercises by prayer, and Hon. John B.
Redman introduced Hon. N. B. Coolidge, chairman of the county
commissioners, who presented the buildings to the court and county in
appropriate remarks. Mr. Coolidge was followed by C. A. Spofford,
president of the Hancock county bar; Chief-Justice Peters, who reviewed
the history of the county in an interesting speech; Judge Haskell, of
Portland, and Hon. Eugene Hale.
NECROLOGY.
March 21.--Death from apoplexy of Col. B. W. Hoyt, secretary and
treasurer of the New Hampshire Club, treasurer of the B. W. Hoyt Shoe
Company of Epping, and special commissioner of the Boston & Maine
Railroad.
* * * * *
March 23.--Judge Joseph McKean Churchill, of the Central Municipal Court
of Boston, died at his home in Milton, aged 64 years. He was graduated
from Harvard in 1840, and from the Law School in 1845. He served as
captain in the Forty-fifth Massachusetts Regiment during the war. He was
appointed to the bench in December, 1870.
* * * * *
April 3.--Death at Philadelphia of Theodore C. Hersey of Portland, Me.
He was born in Gorham, Me., in 1812. He early went to Portland, where he
formed a partnership with St. John Smith in the West India trade. Mr.
Hersey was one of the proprietors of the International line of steamers,
and for many years was its president, resigning, on account of ill
health, about a year ago. He was one of the founders of the Board of
Trade, and its president in 1863-68 and 1873-74, and a charter member of
the Merchant's Exchange.
April 4.--Death of George L. Claflin, a prominent wholesale druggist, of
Providence, R.I., aged 63 years. He had been a member of the Common
Council and the General Assembly, and took an active part in banking and
insurance corporations.
* * * * *
April 5.--Death of Dr. George A. Bethune, of Boston. He was born there,
in 1812, and was graduated at Harvard College in 1831. He studied
medicine in the Harvard Medical School, and also abroad, and having made
eye and ear diseases a specialty, practised until about ten or fifteen
years ago, when he retired. He was at one time connected with the
Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary.
* * * * *
April 6.--Death, at Brunswick, Me., of Hon. William G. Barrows. He was
born in Bridgton, Me., January, 1821, and was graduated from Bowdoin
College in the class of 1839. He was admitted to the bar in 1842, and
settled for practice in his profession at Brunswick, where ever since he
had resided. From 1853 to 1855 he edited with marked ability the
_Brunswick Telegraph_. In 1856 he was selected judge of Probate Court
for Cumberland County, and reelected in 1860. In 1863 he was appointed
associate justice of the Supreme Judicial Court and reappointed in 1870
and 1877, serving three terms of seven years each. At the expiration of
the latter term he declined a reappointment, preferring the retirement
of private life. He was a member of the Maine Historical Society, and
one of its most earnest supporters. He was warmly interested in the
establishment of the Brunswick Public Library, and one of its most
liberal supporters.
* * * * *
April 7.--Unexpected death of Prof. Thomas Anthony Thatcher, LL.D.,
professor in Yale College of the Latin Language and Literature. He was
born in Hartford, Jan. 11, 1815. He was fitted for Yale at the Hartford
Hopkins Grammar School, and entered the college in 1831, graduating four
years later. Then he taught in the New Canaan, Conn., Seminary for two
years, and then in the Oglethorpe University, Georgia. He became a Latin
tutor in Yale in 1838, and four years later was made a professor. In
1843 he went to Germany and studied two years. While there he was
offered and accepted a position as tutor to the Crown Prince of Prussia
and his royal cousin, Prince Frederick Charles. His "De Officiis" of
Cicero and Madvig's Latin Grammar are widely known.
* * * * *
April 8.--Dan Stone Smalley died at his residence, on Green street,
Jamaica Plain, at the age of 75 years. He was for many years teacher of
the Eliot Commercial School in Jamaica Plain.
April 9.--Death at Bement, Ill., of Hon. Lewis Bodman, formerly of
Williamsburg, Mass., and senator from Hampshire county.
* * * * *
April 10.--Sudden death of Hon. Elbridge Gerry of Portland, Me. He was
born in Waterford, Oxford county, Me., Dec. 6, 1815. He received an
academical education. After its completion he studied law, and was
admitted to the bar in his twenty-fourth year. In the following year
he was appointed clerk of the House of Representatives of Maine. At
twenty-seven he was chosen state attorney for his native county. At
thirty-one he was elected to the State Legislature as a Democratic
representative. In 1849 his political career culminated in his election
to Congress. He retired from public life in 1851, and settled down to
the practice of his profession in Portland. His son is vice-consul at
Havre, France.
* * * * *
April 10.--Sudden death at Dallas, Texas, of John T. Ferris, manager of
the Union Mutual Life Insurance Co., of Portland, Me. He was a man
greatly esteemed in his large circle of acquaintances.
* * * * *
April 12.--Death of Thaddeus Fairbanks of St. Johnsbury, Vt. He was born
at Brimfield, Mass., Jan. 17, 1796, and went with his father to St.
Johnsbury when he was twenty years old. His many inventions in the line
of weighing-machines are too familiar to need enumeration. He was the
only American who was honored at the Vienna Exhibition by being made a
Knight of Imperial Order of Francis Joseph. To his munificent gifts the
academy at St. Johnsbury owes its worth.
* * * * *
April 12.--Dr. Abram M. Shew, superintendent of the Connecticut Hospital
for the Insane at Middletown, died suddenly at the age of 45. He was
appointed assistant physician of the New York Asylum for Insane Convicts
at Auburn in 1862; in 1866 he went to Middletown, to superintend the
building of the Connecticut Hospital for the Insane, and had since
remained in charge of that institution. He was a native of Watertown,
N.Y.
LITERATURE.
It is with a much more than ordinary degree of expectancy that the
literary public has awaited a complete and adequate biography of the
poet Longfellow. It comes to us at last as the work[11] of the poet's
own brother, Samuel, who has, however, modestly assumed to have only
edited the elaborate volumes which have recently come from the
publisher's hands. This is true to a large extent, for the Life is for
the greater part composed of portions of Longfellow's voluminous diary
and correspondence; but these are interspersed throughout with his
brother's own narrative, full of reminiscences and charming comments.
[11] Life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. With extracts from his Journals
and Correspondence. Edited by Samuel Longfellow. 2 volumes. Boston:
Ticknor & Co.
The work is not to hardly any degree analytical in its character; it is
a vivid panorama of a most deeply and widely interesting career. We are
made familiar by means of these volumes with the daily life of Henry W.
Longfellow. Much of this insight is afforded, as has already been seen,
through the published letters and diary. The interest of these is far
greater than is usually the case with such compilations. Longfellow's
life was to such a degree an intellectual one, that those who would know
him best must find his own pen his best biographer. The comments in his
journal are delightful, and the letters are highly interesting reading.
They are from and to a host of friends, including Sumner, Hawthorne,
Samuel Ward, Park Benjamin, Carlyle, and many others of equal note. Of
course there is much in both letters and journal of personal matters,
even such as regarding an invitation to dine, or some other passing
slight event; but there is no apparent reason why anything should have
been omitted that has been inserted in this work. Not only the poetry
but the every-day life, the experiences, and the associations of
Longfellow are worth knowing to those far beyond the pale of his own
particular group of friends. Nothing has been inserted here, however,
that seems to offend the sense of propriety, and the editor has
certainly given evidence of the best of wisdom, care, and delicacy.
Where he becomes the biographer he confines himself mostly to simple
narrative; indeed, his final "summing up," after the last has been told
that could be told of his illustrious brother's earthly career, is given
in a single page.
There is very little to criticise regarding this Life. Of its kind it
could not be more satisfactory. It is not the work of the theorist, the
analyst, critic, or the eulogist. It is the full, plain, unvarnished
story of the life of "the good son, devoted husband, affectionate
father; the generous, faithful friend; the urbane and cultivated host;
the lover of children; the lover of his country; the lover of liberty
and of peace."
INDEX TO MAGAZINE LITERATURE.
(_APRIL 1886._)
ART, ARCHITECTURE. Slyfield Surrey. _Basil Champneys._ 22.--A Chapter
on Fireplaces. _I. H. Pollen._ 22.--The Romance of Art. _F. Mabel
Robinson._ 22.--The Annunciation in Art. _Julia Cartwright._
22.--American Embroideries. _S. R. Koehler._ 22.--Art in Phoenicia.
_Wm. Holmden._ 22.--Boydell's Shakespeare. _Alfred Beaver._ 22.