Noble Deeds Of American Women Part 21

In the spring of 1779, while two or three neighboring families, had, from fear, collected at the house of Mrs. Bozarth, in Green county, Pennsylvania, the little company was one day attacked by Indians. The children, who were playing without, first discovered the foe, and, giving the alarm, had not time to get within doors before they were overtaken, and began to fall beneath the tomahawk. The first man who stepped to the door when the alarm was heard, was shot, and fell back; and before the door could be closed, an Indian leaped over him into the house. The other man in the house caught the savage and threw him on the bed. He then called for a knife, but Mrs. Bozarth, being unable to find one, seized an axe and instantly dispatched the bold a.s.sailant. Another Indian now rushed in, and shot at and wounded the man before he was off the bed. Mrs. Bozarth gave this second intruder several blows, when his cries brought a third to the door. Him she killed as he entered. The wounded savage was then dragged out; the door again closed and fastened; and, through the a.s.sistance of the wounded man, Mrs. Bozarth was able to keep out the rest of the murderous a.s.sailants until relieved by the arrival of friends.

THE HEROINE OF STEEL CREEK

Here and there some stern, high patriot stood.

BYRON.

The subject of the following anecdote was the mother of eleven sons.

Most of them were soldiers and some were officers in the war of the Revolution. Her residence was in Mechlenburg county, near Steel creek, North Carolina.

When Lord Cornwallis heard of the defeat of Ferguson at King's Mountain,[52] fearing an attack of his rear at Camden, he collected his forces and retreated towards Winnsboro. While on this march, his whole army halted for the night on the plantation of Robert Wilson. Cornwallis and his staff took possession of the house, and made an unstinted levy on the hospitality of the good lady. By asking such questions as a British lord would, under the circ.u.mstances, feel at liberty to propound, the General learned, in the course of the evening, that the husband of Mrs. Wilson, and some of her sons, were then his prisoners in Camden jail. Her kindness and urbanity led him to think that perhaps she was a friend to the Crown; and, after some preliminary remarks, intended to prepare her mind for the leading consideration which he wished to enforce upon it, he at length addressed her as follows:

[52] October seventh, 1780.

"Madam, your husband and your son are my prisoners; the fortune of war may soon place others of your sons--perhaps all your kinsmen, in my power. Your sons are young, aspiring and brave. In a good cause, fighting for a generous and powerful king, such as George III, they might hope for rank, honor and wealth. If you could but induce your husband and sons to leave the rebels, and take up arms for their lawful sovereign, I would almost pledge myself that they shall have rank and consideration in the British army. If you, madam, will pledge yourself to induce them to do so, I will immediately order their discharge."

"I have seven sons," Mrs. Wilson replied, "who are now, or have been, bearing arms--indeed my seventh son, Zaccheus, who is only fifteen years old, I yesterday a.s.sisted to get ready to go and join his brothers in Sumter's army. Now, sooner than see one of my family turn back from the glorious enterprise, I would take these boys--pointing to three or four small sons--and with them would myself enlist, under Sumter's standard, and show my husband and sons how to fight, and, if necessary, to die for their country!"

Colonel Tarleton was one of the listeners to this colloquy, and when Mrs. Wilson had finished her reply, he said to Cornwallis: "Ah! General!

I think you've got into a hornet's nest! Never mind, when we get to Camden, I'll take good care that old Robin Wilson never comes back again!" We may add that Tarleton's threat was never executed. Mr. Wilson and his worthy companion lived to old age, and died at Steel creek just before the war of 1812.

BENEVOLENCE OF A COLORED WOMAN.

Great minds, like Heaven, are pleased in doing good.

ROWE.

The following anecdote is obtained from a reliable source. Did the spirit which pervaded the heart of its subject, thoroughly permeate the churches, the great work of carrying the Gospel to every nation, would soon be accomplished.

"In one of the eastern counties of New York lived a colored female, who was born a slave, but she was made free by the act gradually abolis.h.i.+ng slavery in that state. She had no resources except such as she obtained by her own labor. On one occasion she carried to her pastor _forty dollars_: she told him that she wished him, with two dollars of this sum to procure for her a seat in his church; eighteen dollars she desired to be given to the American Board; and the remaining twenty dollars she requested him to divide among other benevolent societies according to his discretion."

REBECCA EDWARDS.

Honor being then above life, dishonor must Be worse than death; for fate can strike but one.

Reproach doth reach whole families.

CARTWRIGHT'S SIEGE.

At the celebration of our national Independence, in 1797, the orator of the society of the Cincinnati of South Carolina, paid the following tribute to the magnanimity of Mrs. Rebecca Edwards:--"The Spartan mother, on delivering his s.h.i.+eld to her son departing for the army, n.o.bly bade him 'return with it or on it.' The sentiment was highly patriotic, but surely not superior to that which animated the bosom of the distinguished female of our own state, who, when the British officer presented the mandate which arrested her sons as objects of retaliation, less sensible of private affection than attached to her honor and the interest of her country, stifled the tender feelings of the mother, and heroically bade them despise the threats of their enemies, and steadfastly persist to support the glorious cause in which they had engaged--that if the threatened sacrifice should follow, they would carry a parent's blessing, and the good opinion of every virtuous citizen along with them to the grave: but if from the frailty of human nature--of the possibility of which she would not suffer an idea to enter her mind--they were disposed to temporize, and exchange their liberty for safety, they must forget her as a mother, nor subject her to the misery of ever beholding them again."[53]

[53] American Anecdotes, vol. 2, p. 11.

"THE BEAUTIFUL REBEL."

Trembling and fear Are to her unknown.

SIR WALTER SCOTT.

The maiden name of Mrs. Lewis Morris was Ann Elliott. She was born at Maccabee, in 1762, and died in New York, in 1848. She was a firm and fearless patriot, and when the city of Charleston, South Carolina, was in possession of the red coats, she wore thirteen small plumes in her bonnet. She had so fair a face, so graceful a form and so patriotic a spirit, as to be called "the beautiful rebel." An English officer fell in love with her and offered to join the Americans, if she would favor his proposals. She ordered the friend who interceded for him to say to him, "that to her former want of esteem, was added scorn for a man capable of betraying his sovereign for selfish interest."

While she was engaged to Colonel Morris and he was on a visit one time at Maccabee, the house was suddenly surrounded by Black Dragoons. They were in pursuit of the Colonel, and it was impossible for him to escape by flight. What to do he knew not, but, quick as thought, she ran to the window, opened it, and, fearlessly putting her head out, in a composed yet firm manner, demanded what was wanted. The reply was, "We want the ---- rebel." "Then go," said she, "and look for him in the American army," adding "How dare you disturb a family under the protection of both armies!" She was so cool, self-possessed, firm and resolute as to triumph over the dragoons, who left without entering the house.

HARRIET B. STEWART.

Men sacrifice others--women themselves.

MRS. S. C. HALL.

Harriet Bradford Tiffany, afterwards the wife of the Rev. Charles S.

Stewart, was born near Stamford, Connecticut, on the fourth of June, 1798. She lost her father when she was a small child, and till 1815, pa.s.sed most of her time with an uncle, in Albany. At this date, an older sister married and settled in Cooperstown, and consequently Harriet took up her abode in that place. She became the subject of renewing grace in the summer of 1819; was married on the third of June, 1822, and sailed with her husband and nearly thirty other missionaries, all bound to the same field, on the nineteenth of November following. This little, heroic band, that, by the help of G.o.d, have since been mainly instrumental in making the Sandwich islands blossom like a rose, arrived at Honolulu, in Oahu, on the twenty-seventh of April, 1823.

Mrs. Stewart left a beautiful town in a thriving part of the Empire State; tempting luxuries; a brilliant circle, and many endearing friends; but she had embarked in a glorious enterprise for Christ's sake, and, hence, she settled down in a little log hut, in the town of Lahaiua, three days' sail from Oahu, contented and happy. On the first day of January, 1824, she wrote as follows: "It is now fifteen months since I bade adieu to the dear valley which contains much, very much, that is most dear to me; but since the day I parted from it, my spirits have been uniformly good. Sometimes, it is true, a cloud of tender recollections pa.s.ses over me, obscuring, for a moment, my mental vision, and threatening a day of darkness; but it is seldom. And as the returning sun, after a summer shower, spreads his beams over the retiring gloom of the heavens, and stretches abroad the s.h.i.+ning arch of promise to cheer the face of nature, so, at such times, do the rays of the Sun of Righteousness speedily illumine the hopes of my soul, and fill my bosom with joy and peace."

A few months after the above date, writing to a friend, she says: "We are most contented and most happy, and rejoice that G.o.d has seen fit to honor and bless us by permitting us to be the bearers of his light and truth to this dark corner of the earth. Could you feel the same gladness that often fills our bosoms, in witnessing the happy influence of the Gospel on the minds and hearts of many of these interesting creatures, you would be satisfied, yes more than satisfied, that we should be _what we are, and where we are, poor missionaries in the distant islands of the sea_."

In these brief extracts from her letters, s.h.i.+nes, in its serenest l.u.s.tre, the character of the Christian heroine:[54] and it would be an easy task to compile a volume of letters written on the field of moral conflict by American female missionaries, breathing a spirit equally as unselfish, cheerful and brave. All pioneer women in this enterprise are heroines, and if the conflicts and sublime victories of all claiming American citizens.h.i.+p, are not herein recorded, it is because, in a work of unambitious pretensions as it regards size, a few characters must stand as representatives of a cla.s.s.

[54] For a full account of the life of Mrs. Stewart, we refer the reader to an interesting Memoir, by her husband.

So pernicious was the influence of a tropical climate that, in the spring of 1825, the health of Mrs. Stewart began to fail; and at the end of a year, she was forced to leave the country. She sailed, with her husband, for London; and after tarrying three months in England, they embarked for home. They reached the valley of the Otsego in September, 1826. For three or four years, it was the prayer of Mrs. Stewart that she might be restored to health and permitted to return to the mission station; but in January, 1830, she was laid on a bed of declension and suffering, and in the following autumn, fully ripe, was gathered into the heavenly garner.

A KIND AND BENEVOLENT WOMAN.

Ah! woman--in this world of ours, What gift can be compared to thee.

GEORGE P. MORRIS.