gagements of
any sort. Since my recovery I have confined myself to voice teaching.
Only on a few occasions have I appeared in public. This was either on
Decoration Day or the Fourth of July, when my patriotism was aroused.
I was always ready to sing for Old Glory or help our boys who fought
in 1861.

[Illustration: Captain Charles Blake

AN ANCIENT SHEEPSKIN, FROM THE GRAND LODGE OF FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS
OF LONDON, ENGLAND, 1811, THE FIRST ISSUED TO AN AMERICAN]

In 1855 when I left the seminary I returned to my home in Stockton. My
parents were getting along in years and I felt it my duty to aid them
if possible. There were many families in Stockton at this time and
young children were everywhere. I conceived the idea of an infant
school composed of little boys and girls too small to go to the public
schools. My suggestion met with approval wherever I applied, and I
soon had thirty pupils promised. I rented a cottage of one room across
the slough from my home. On July 1, 1856, I began and soon had a
school full of little folks, numbering thirty-five. I continued
teaching until September 17, 1857, when I also followed my older
sisters' example and was married to George H. Blake, the eldest son of
Sir Edwin Blake, who was Minister Plenipotentiary to England from
America at one time. My husband was also the grandson of Major-General
Benjamin Lincoln, a heroic officer of the Revolution and a skillful
diplomat in the councils of his country. Lincoln was born in Hingham,
near Boston, May 23d, 1733. In 1775 he was elected a member of the
Provincial Congress and was appointed on the committee of
correspondence. In 1776 he received the appointment of brigadier and
soon after that of major-general. He rendered valuable services in the
trying campaign and signalized himself in the battles on the plains of
Saratoga which proved so disastrous to Burgoyne. He was severely
wounded during these battles. In the battle that took place on
October 7, 1776, he was obliged to leave the army. He did not return
until the following August, when he was immediately sent south to
assume command of the army in that quarter, which on his arrival at
Charleston in December, 1778, he found in the most miserably destitute
and disorderly condition. But his indefatigable industry and
diplomatic energy enabled him in the following June to take the field.
Such was his popularity with the army and the whole country that when
he rejoined the army in 1