FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91  
92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   >>  
thus: "O thou for whose dear sake I bear A doom so dreadful, so severe, May happy fates thy footsteps guide And o'er thy peaceful home preside. Nor let Eliza's early tomb Infect thee with its baleful gloom." A stone was raised above her grave, by whom it is not known, and this inscription was engraved thereon: "This humble stone, in memory of Elizabeth Whitman, is inscribed by her weeping friends, to whom she endeared herself by uncommon tenderness and affection. Endowed with superior genius and acquirements, she was still more endeared by humility and benevolence. Let candor throw a veil over her frailties, for great was her charity for others. She sustained the last painful scene far from every friend, and exhibited an example of calm resignation. Her departure was on the 25th of July, 1788, in the thirty-seventh year of her age, and the tears of strangers watered her grave." SALE OF THE SOUTHWICKS Bitter were the persecutions endured by Quakers at the hands of the Puritans. They were flogged if they were restless in church, and flogged if they did not go to it. Their ears were slit and they were set in the stocks if they preached, and if any tender-hearted person gave them bed, bite, or sup, he, too, was liable to punishment. They were charged with the awful offence of preaching false doctrine, and no matter how pure their lives might be, the stern Salemite would concede no good of them while their faith was different from his. They even suspected Cobbler Keezar of mischief when he declared that his magic lapstone which Agrippa had torn from the tower at Nettesheim--gave him a vision of the time when men would be as glad as nature, when the "snuffler of psalms" would sing for joy, when priests and Quakers would talk together kindly, when pillory and gallows should be gone. Poor Keezar! In ecstasy at that prospect he flung up his arms, and his lapstone rolled into the Merrimack. The tired mill-girls of Lowell still frequent the spot to seek some dim vision of future comfort. In contrast to the tales of habitual tyranny toward the Quakers is the tradition of the Southwicks. Lawrence and Cassandra, of that name, were banished from Salem, in spite of their blameless lives, for they had embraced Quakerism. They died within three days of each other on Shelter Island, but their son and daughter, Daniel and Provided, returned to their birthplace, and were incessantly fined fo
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91  
92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   >>  



Top keywords:

Quakers

 
endeared
 

flogged

 

Keezar

 

vision

 

lapstone

 

Shelter

 

suspected

 
concede
 

Cobbler


mischief

 

Agrippa

 

Quakerism

 

declared

 

Salemite

 
charged
 

offence

 

preaching

 
punishment
 

liable


incessantly

 

doctrine

 

birthplace

 

daughter

 
Nettesheim
 

Island

 

Daniel

 

Provided

 

matter

 

returned


embraced

 

Merrimack

 
tradition
 
Southwicks
 

rolled

 

Cassandra

 

Lawrence

 

future

 

tyranny

 

habitual


contrast

 
Lowell
 

frequent

 

prospect

 

snuffler

 

nature

 

psalms

 

blameless

 
comfort
 
priests