The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1837-09-12


| When he was rich who had a happy home
And love pure viruous love, pearl of price,
Was placed above the show of fashions gauds,
| And peiy was deemed the crown OF life"
However much we may boast of our advances
in knowledge and improvements in the arts, since
the days OF our fathers the pilgrim settlers ofNew
England, it is by no means certain that we have
advanced in the knowledge of our duties towards
heaven, or in the art of living happily on earth.
Abundance does not bring content, nor security
insure us peace. The passion for excessive
wealth, always the ruling one in an age Of trade
and speculation, has far more whitening infu-
ence on the tender and kindly feelings of our
nature those soft emotions whose vrtuous in.
diligence make so large portion of the hearts
pure happiness than have dangers, or prTatons,
or even poverty. That devotion to one dear OBJ
ject, which constitutes the romance of love- is not
cherished where fortune is considered an indis-
pensable ingredient in the marriage contract nor
is the domestic union of such couple cemented
by that mutual confidence, those kind, yet unob-
trrsve attentions, and reciprocal sacrifices TO
promote the happiness Of each other, which con-
fer so much of the real felicity of welded life, the
felicity arising from the certainty ofbeing beloved.
Our ancestors must have enjoyed this certainty.
Nothing save that affection which is stronger
than the fear of death, that love which "womans
own fond spirit" can only feel, could have induced
her to consent to share the dangers and distresses
Of the wilderness. Her empire is the heart TO
rule there, what will she not do or suffer? The
men had a wider sphere of ambition. They in
tended to found a nation whose faith should be
pure, and freedom unconquerable. Yet even
then their dearest hopes must have centcred in
their own families When husbands and fathers
went armed to their labor, and dared not venture
from the sight OF their homes, lest the savage ell
envy should surprise the helpless inmates, could
they fail in love and fidelity 10 those they guarded
SO sedulously? And what smiles OF gladncss,
,ln
return from those who were dependant on Them,
not only for support but for protection, for life .
Nei,i,1i riches nor rank Influenced The choice OF
Robert Wilson, when he seitcted Mary Grant 10.
his wife. Mary was poor and an orphan. Her lit
thcr died on lns passage to n. England, whittier he
was fleeing from Il religious persecution that had
confiscated his property, and for three long years
held him confined in Il prison. He at length es-
capped, and with his wife and child embarked, us
he hoped and prayed, for better land. His
prayer was doubtless answered in mercy, for his
was not constitution or mind that could long
have struggled with the hardships of The wilder
ness: he died the day before the vessel entered
the barber of Boston. His wife survived him
only two weeks, and the little weeping Mary was
thrown upon the charity of strangers III new
world
They had kind hearts in those old times, and
though their own portion was ever so small our
pilgrim ancestors always impaired share to the
needy. Mary found many willing to wipe away
her tears, and shelter her in their homes and
finally in Captain Waldron and his amiable wife,
protectors indulgent as parents.
Captain Wadron resided ut Dover, N. H., then
considered as belonging TO Massachusetts. lie
found Mary Grant at the house of n friend OF his
in Boston, and so interested in her story and
appearance, that he carried her home, and, .lav-
ing obtained the consent of his wife, adopted her
as his daughter.
a
in Dover and his wife was considered one ofthe
elite: twas frequently remarked that they would
make quite fine lady of Mary. But the quail
fcations for ladies we're not: at that period, grad
uuted on precisely the same scale at Dover or in
deed in New England, rs is now thought ndis-
pensuble. Mary was called well educated, and
yet she had never been taught dancing or en-
brodery nor had she ever studied French, music
or Euclid.
She could read English, however, as nuenty
as any modern fine lady, and read, too, with those
tones of feeling which penetrate the heart OF the
listener Her voice had music in its expression
and she sung so sweetly, that no gallant amateur
but must have preferred the warbng of her
"wood notes Wild" to the most scientific pcrior-
nance of modem bell on that much tortured
instrument, the piano. Moreover, Mary could
sew, and knit, and spin, and milk, ana lay The
table, and prepare dinner IN the very best slyle
and all before she was seventeen. linen nature,
whose gifts are far more to be desired than those
of fashion or fortune, had been prodgal to Mary
She wns the faires lady in the country, and many
an aged woman, when gazing OH her sweet face,
would shake their heads, and prophecy that she
was not long to remain in this dark world.
Mary's beauty was not of the kind that is Gun
changingIy bright" it was the oveliness of sem
tment,the benignity and purity Of the soul within,
which gave to her countenance its Irresistible
charm Her chestnut hair just touched with a
golden tint curled round her lovely, meek and
fr forehead with grace and luxuriance which
been thought to have predomlnatcd too much in
her complexion, had not the least emotion called
the blood so quickly and eloquently to her cheek:
and the pensiveness of her soft blue eyes always
changed to the lustre of joy, when she welcomed
Il friend.
Still Mury's disposition was rather inclined to
pensiveness The recollection of her parents
whose deaths she still remembered or that feel
ing of desoaton and loneliness, which Will at
times, press OH the hearts of those who can claim
no kindred tie, had given to her face an expires