The Portage County Democrat. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1859-11-30
'|9"-.I ctoII tHe Ne" OfK IHuepFuueut, NUV. II.
PERSONAL INTERVIEW. WITH CAPTAIN
BROWNS WIFE. GZ=7 ~ 70

: ?"
a hasty account of personal interview last
evening with Mrs. Mary Brown, wife of Capt
John Brown, now under sentence of death in
Virginia, for having bravely failed in a brave
deed 90 .,.,.;,. .-zs.-...e
am scarcely at liberty to mention at what
place Mrs. Brown bas lately been staying or
whose hospitality she has been sharing. may
say, however that after her return from Bait
imore, where she was stopped on her half
made journey to her husband, she has been a
guest Of a family residing in. one of the most
beautiful regions of neighboring State, who
have proved themselves kind friends not only
to herself but to her husband, and who were
the more glad to bid her welcome to their
house, because the lady Of their household with
her son. had already made visit 10 Captain
Brown, in his prison at Charlestown, since his
sentence of death. Mrs. Browns stay with
these friends terminated this morning. She is
now on her way to Philadelphia, to meet Mr.
Sennot, the counsel for her husbands defense.
conversed with her during the entire eve
ming. But only ten minutes acquaintance is
enough to show that she is woman worthy
to be the wife of such man. She is tall
large and muscular, giving the impression at
first sight of frame capable of great strength
and long endurance. Her face is grave and
thoughtful, wearing, even in this hour of her
trial. an expression of soberness rather than
of sadness, as it, like her husband, she had
long since learned how to suffer and be calm.
Her manner is siugularly quiet and retiring,
although her natural simplicity and modesty
cannot hide the evident force of her character,
and strength of will and judgment, which have
fitted her SO long to be counsellor in her bus
bands enterprise and supporter in his trials.
T. She is native of Whitehall, near Lake
Champlain, and has been the mother of thir.
teen children; but notwithstanding the cares
of her numerous family, and her many priva
tions and struggles independent of household
burdens, she still appears as fresh and as hale
las if she were now in the prime and yigor of
life. iaa' 3ta51 stflsa7n baa tsr.siHaHFi-s5
a4 2ns A NEWSPAPER CORRECTION. .5,ass sa5
The conversation, of course, was of the
scenes of Harperis Ferry-both those which
have already been enacted, and those which
are shortly to follow. She alluded with sub
dued though evident emotion, to the wounds
of her husband, the loss of her two sons W at
son and Oliver, who fell in the struggle. But
she made no such remark as that recently at
ltributed to her in New England Newspa-
per, that four of her sons had already been
slain, and she would be willing that all the
trest Of her family should be made a.sacrifce
if necessary to the cause of freedom These
| words, she said to me, could never possibly
have fallen from her lips for she had already
felt too many griefs to court any fresh sacri
fees aud she could not think without pain
of any new death-stroke to her family She
would not shrink from any necessary trial oil
fstruggle when the hour came for it, but she
fcould not look forward to any further lessen
ing of her family, already to sadly broken
She regretted that such a remark should have
been put in her mouth, for as she observed
they we're unmotherly words s3y. E vsu1
She said that she had been so long accus
Z toned to sorrows that she had been trained
to bear them. While living ins Ohio four o
her children died, from dysentery. within
eleven days, three of whom were carried to the
grave together on the same day. She men
toned in this connection, that her husband
had, always been watchful nurse and tht
chief care-taker of the children, and of her
self, during periods of sickness. q, ..-
CAPTAIN BROWNS RELIGIOUS CHARACTER.
( adyerted, in alluding to Captain Brown
religious opinions. to the common report tina
q be was an Old School Presbyterian She re-
piled that he had been a church member evel
{ since he was boy; that he united, at six
teen years of age, with Congregations
church in Hudson, Ohio and that on remov
ing to Pennsylvania, thirty years ago. he trans
ferred his membership to the Presbyterian
z church, with which he had since remained con
a nected. She said that the religious elemen
7 of his character had always been the ruling
motive of his life. He had always observed
religious exercises in his household with ex
emplary regularity. 1t had been for man.
q years the custom of the family to read tht
Bible, every morning, in regular course o
chapters, each member reading in turn verse
She said that her husbands familiarity with
texts of Scriptures was SO great that he coult
detect almost the slightest misquotation of an!
p passage and that if q portion of verse il
almost any part of the Bible we're read or re
peated to him, he could Immediately repea
@ the remainder. His conversation frequently
abouuded with Scripture texts, and his letter.
we're always filed with them.
p asked if she knew what were his tavorite
passages, TO which she replied
He had great many but one was. Re
member them that are in bonds as bound ,ciil
them'
In his habits of living. his wife testified thai
he was always singularly selt-denying As al
example. he never suffered himself or his fam
lily to wear expensive clothing. His standing
admonition was, Let US save the money and
give to the poor bay before yesterday, wher
some clothes were sent from New York to
Mrs. Brown, to go IN box to her husband
among the articles was new coat, of brown
cloth, which, when it was shown to her, she
Immediately pronounced too gay for her has