The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1871-08-01
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quickened my pace almost unconsciouslv.
hoping to escape the image, as well as the r.'.
ality OF what had witnessed"
The young man died the next morning. b,,.
tween tour and five O'Clock. His father, We
are told, was with difficulty supported to tho
grave, and the mother remained at home
stricken with grief, robbed of her offspring by
opinion. "N f''s
ho I inls duel, as the reader knows, proved to
which 1he , prelude and rehearsal OF the one
ilton ~ Se years later, deprived Mrs. Ham
a fa,har husband, and her seven children If
s;n,;Ian III ne circumstances were startlingly
grnn%d "a ne uuel was fought upon the siDe
words uttaroa or similar reasOn-ofensiva
which H. fs oy hamilton. The wount
wnich Tue iaiher received was verv similar In
the one which destroyed the son. and the "a.
tner, like the son, did not fire at his antaos,-
MIST. The father, too, was borne across Ia
river and taken to a friends bonse near ths
shore, where he Fingered almost exactly ths
same number OF hours as the son. and died
surrounded by the same throng of weeping
friends and relations. 1t was doubtless cor.
ISOLATION to his wife, so cruelty injured, to dis
cover that she had been in his thoughts the
evening before, when he had written a solema
injunction to his children never to forget
what they owed to the "best and most devot-
ed OF mothers" In his will, he left all that
he possessed to his "dear and excellent wife,"
and then added these words:
SHOULD it happen that there is not enough
iof the payment of my debts, l entreat my
uear chlldren, If they, or any of them, should
ever be able, to make up the deficiency. I,
without hesitation, commit to their delicacy q
wish which is dictated by my own. Thou b
conscious that | have too far sacrificed the IN
terests OF my family to public avocations, and
ON this account have the less claim to burdea
my children, yet trust in their magnanimity,
to appreciate as they ought this my request.
In so uniavorable all event of things the sul,-
port OF their dear mother, with the most ra-
spectful and tender attention, is a duty, al
the sacredness of which they will feel. Prob
ably her own patrimonial resources will pre-
serve her from indigence. But In all situs-
tions they are charged to bear in mind, that
she has been to them the most devoted aud
best of mothers"
Thus can the eloquent tongue apologize for
the faults of the weak heart; and women, in
their tender charity, accept the eloquent
words and forgive the mighty wrong which
lays waste their lives. Why could he not
have said to Burr: my wife and childrea
theirs, and not my own. My life is not mine
to risk"
he could not say these words, and no mao
at that day could have said them, unless ho
had been exceptionally strong and good,
which Hamilton was not.
Mrs. Hamilton remained for more than ff-
ty years widow, and during all that period
she was an object of veneraton and peculiar
interest in 1.-THE circles in which she moved.
1t is pleasing to know that her children faith
fully observed their fathers injunction. She
testified to the "unremitting kindness and at
tentiOn" which she had received from her SON
James A. Hamilton. lie even supplied her
wants too abundantly. One of her letters to
him has been published, in which she tells
him that she did not need check which he
had sent her, and that he must not send hex
any more money unless she asked for it.
"As all good acts" she added, "are recorded
in the habitation where your father now d.
have no doubt this one will be proclaimed
to him, and have thus given him another mo-
tive to implore continued blessings upon YOU
Amen. my dear son."
During the last years of her life, she waa
much interested in the prosperity of the Wild
Ows' Society and Orphan Asylum, for which
she raised great deal of money by personal
application.
"Mamma," said her son to her one day,
'you are sturdy beggar."
MY dear son." was her reply, l caunot
spare myself or others; my Maker has poiut-
ed out this duty to me, and has given me The
ability and inclination to perform it."
For one OF the orphans whom she rescued
from poverty aud ignorance through the asy-
lum, she obtained cad, tship at the military
academy. He graduated, rose to the rank Of
captain in the army, and was killed at Mon
terey, bravely leading his company into bat
tie. As long as he lived, he gave something
out OF his pay every year for the asylum. and
making his will the night before the battle,
lett it all he had-about eighteen hundred
dollars.
Mrs. Hamilton lived to the great age Of
ninety seven, spending her last years at
Washington, wiyh one of her daughters. She
retained her faculties to her last moment, and
her death was painless and peaceful. She
called her son James, about eleven o'clock
one night, and asked him to make somo
change in the bed clothes at her feet. Hav-
ing complied with her request, he bent over
her, and looked to see ii there was any change
in her countenance. She put her arm around
his neck, pressed him to her, kissed him
most tenderly, and said:
"God bless you, you have been good son."
The arm relaxed. She uttered slight sound
like hiccough. She had breathed her last