of action. The 1st of September
may, perhaps, be of as much importance to Great Britain, as the ides
of March to Caesar. I wish you every public and private blessing, and
that wisdom which is profitable for instruction and edification, to
conduct you in this difficult day."

She perceived, at a very early period, that the conflict would not be
speedily settled, and of the personal consequences to herself she
speaks in the following affecting terms: "Far from thinking the scene
closed, it looks as though the curtain was but just drawn, and only
the first scene of the infernal plot disclosed: whether the end will
be tragical, Heaven alone knows. You cannot be, I know, nor do I wish
to see you, an inactive spectator; but, if the sword be drawn, I bid
adieu to all domestic felicity, and look forward to that country where
there are neither wars nor rumors of wars, in a firm belief that,
through the mercy of its King, we shall both rejoice there together."

Indeed, from this period till she joined her husband in Europe, in
1784, she enjoyed very little of his society. Had the state of the
times rendered it safe or agreeable for her to have accompanied her
husband in his journeys and voyages, the circumstances of the family
would not have allowed it. Without hereditary fortune, with no
opportunity of practising in his profession, and now serving the
public for a price which would not defray his actual and necessary
expenses,--Mr. Adams would have been, in his old age, in the
lamentable condition of many of the most active patriots of the
revolution, who, devoting their years of vigorous manhood to the
service of their country, were left, in their declining days, in a
state of penury,--had he not possessed in his wife a helper suited to
the exigency. She husbanded their small property, the savings of years
of professional prosperity; she managed the farm with skill; and in
all matters of business she displayed a degree of judgment and
sagacity not to be exceeded. All the powers of her mind were now
called into activity, and her character displayed itself in the most
favorable colors. The official rank of her husband imposed high duties
upon her; her timid neighbors looked to her for support and comfort,
and she was never found wanting.

The absence of Mr. Adams relieved his wife from one source of
anxiety--that for his personal safety. As the conflict in the early
periods of the revolution was confined to the vicinity of Bo