Litchfield enquirer., 1830-06-03
FEMALE COURAGE AND FoRr1ruDE.

At the time of tho first emigration to this
 country, the females of England were well educated, and had a higher rank in the scale of mind, than at any previous age in
 British history. This had been effected,
 in no small degree, by the long and pros porous reign of Queen Elizabeth and her high reputation for talents and learning.--- Fashion has often the same control over the mind, as over the dress and equipage of people. 1t was fashionable during the reign of this extraordinary Queen, to thinkwomen as capable of reasoning upon public affairs, as men. Our mothers AesS eds% dsa%Pf5Rg f6 sd af es sew se Sdeh S then hen sex had done in the advancement of civil- ization and Christianity and here, was the finest field to prove that they still had the power and inclination. Naturally gen- erous and enthusiastic, women have in eve " age been attached to the hero and the > saint and have followed the former to the battlefield, to bind up his wounds, and to sing his praises after victory; and the lat- ter to the cross and the tomb. The wives of the pilgrims who landed at Plymouth, discovered more than Spartan fortitude in praying dangers and in supporting calami- ties. They were well educated women.
 Among those who came after the pill grims to- settle in the province of Massa- chusetts bay, were several women of high rank and. superior refinement. Lady Arr abelIa Johnson, daughter of the Earl of Lincoln. and the wives of the gentlemen
 who formed the board of magistrates, were
 high-bred danes as well as the wives of the clergy, and many of the wives of their associates. Some of ftheir chirography has reached us. It resembles, the easy, flow ing, fashionable hand. of the present day, while the writing of the men of that day is difficult to be read. We have all seen ,needle-work of that age in embroidered armorials. and genealogical trees and these ancient records bear ample testimo- ny to the industry, talent, and skill of the fair who wrought them. They fared the hardships of the times. Many lovely daughter, in4 that day, who had been brought up in affiuence, and with tender ness, on her marriage, moved from her home and parents to sonie new settlement, where her bridal serenade was the how ling of the beasts of prey, as they nightly roamed the desert. N, If our mothers had share, and great share they had. in the trials of those days, why should they not be remembered in the history of this newborn empire con- tsnd, and who will deny it. that it required more courage and fortitude to stay on the skirts of the forest, unprotected by moat, ditch, or stockade, in the halE-built cabin, pish decreptitude and infancy, and listening to avery step. anxious for the coming in of fhose lwho have gone forth in search of the fos, than is did to fight the foe when he was met. This was more than Spartan forti- tude 1; for the enemy seldom saw the dwell ling, where the her,ic mother of Sparta, waited to hear the fate of her husband or children; but ours were in constant dan- ger of an attack from the savages. < \ Many instances of female heroism, which occurred during the early settlement of the country, are on record. and should he carefully preserved. Among the most cpnspicnous was that of Mrs. Hannah Dus- ton, of Haverhill, pleasant village situa- ted on the Jeff bank of the Merrimack.- on ne 18th of March, 16os, Mrs. Duaton E.aS made prisoner by party of Indians. She was son this day confined to her bed by