The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1866-05-30
a 81 ereine of the Refugees.
woMAN's WIT A sURER DEFENCE TIA.
SOLDIERS ARMS


SOLDIERS ARMS.
1t is a matter of history, that, during the
war of the Rev olution, many of the families
who adhered to the crown, prosecuted by the
friends of freedom, fed for refuge to the prov
ince of Nova Scotia, which did not unite with
the States that declared for Independence.
Those who thus fled were, and still are. called
Refugees. Amongst them was a family from
one Of the towns in Plymouth county, Mass,
by the name of Foster, a family. by the way,
that had no special love for King George, but
emigrated thither because the unsettled state
OF things in the Old Colony and the danger to
which during the civil war, certain peace
loving subjects were exposed. They would
be free from the strife Of arms, and the hor-
rors of the Revolution. This family located
itself in the town of Liverpool, port on the
Atlantic, about fifty miles south of Halifax.
The Continentals had no Navy, and were
obliged to accept the adventurous patriotism of
Yankee privateers, fitted out in Portland,
(then Falmouth,) Salem, Boston, &c. These
cruised upon the broad ocean, or secured the
coast in order to capture British merchant
men, or plumber the property of Tories where
ever it could be found, on our own coast or in
the neighboring Province of Nova Scotia. The
latter, indeed, was the chief point of vengeance,
because it gave protection and comfort to the
traitOrous refugees of our own colonies.
The family, just removed, occupied house
in the village at the head of the town landing.
In a part of this house Mrs. Foster kept
small store as means of support during her
exile. 3
One day, large, ugly-looking privateer APP
peared in the harbor under full sail, making
directly for the landing. The inhabitants took
the alarm, and, gathering up their most valu-
able treasures, suddenly made safe retreat
into the neighDoring country. Mrs. F., how
ever, knew the Yankees well-she was Fan
kee herself had as much Yankee cour-
likely to exercise. She resolved not to leave
her house, but to remain quietly at home.
Hastily collecting her money, she fastened to
the garden and hid it under one of the cur
rent bushes, where, by the way, she hid it so
effectually, she was not able to find it herself
till nearly year afterwards. The goods up
ON her shop shelves, and the furniture of her
household, she gathered up and threw into
chamber, concealed under beds, in closets, &C.,
all of which put the chamber in great state
OF confusion, as if sickness and death had just
been accomplishing their sad mission in the
room. -, ol
BY this time the Yankee privateersmen were
landed near the front of the house, and had
divided into armed parties for searching the
detenceless town. The Captain conducted
the first squad up a fight of stairs that led to
the front door, and examining the articles on
the main floor, gave orders what ones to take
on board the privateer. Meanwhile our hero
inc remained in the chamber as the protector
of her goods. Having finished his plumber be-
low, the Captain assembled the stairs, and on
thrusting open the chamber door, was (unex-
pectedly) met by the good lady of the house,
blushing almost beyond true politeness, that
stranger-and man too-should enter her
sanctuary and find things in such a state of
dishabillel With much politeness she began
to courtesy and apologize to the officer for the
appearance of the room: she generally kept
it (she said) in good order, but her family on
the approach of the Yankee force, though
nearly al confined to the room as a hospital
they having the smallpox, had suddenly ac-
quired supernatural strength from the force of
fear, and left the house, and herself as nurse,
to the sole charge of the filthy chamber. She
hoped, therefore, that he would excuse the
disordered state of things. Had thunder
bolt fallen upon the marauder, he could not
have sprung more suddenly on retreat! Max
| a misstep ne pitched down the stairs and
flung himself into The street, leaving his I'M
scabbarded sword by the way, and giving to
his men the alarm Of small po1! fastened on
board his craft and left the place, which owed
| lite preservation to the Yankee shrewdness of
| a Refugee matron. The writer of this article
knew her well-she was near relative of his
and the foregoing account is no fiction
The family, after the war, returned to the
Old Colony. Mrs. Foster brought the sword
with her, and it is now kept as an heirloom.
IhAAL