Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1897-06-10
LYDIA.
A Daughter of the Revolution.

When the Barringtons filed out the
papers which entitled them to join the
society of the Daughters of the Rev
olutiOn" last year, old Mrs. Barring
ton put shabby book and package
of yellow letters into the hands Of her
sons wife
I'VE hear much talk just now about
the claims Of our ancestors to consider
ation," she said. ''It seems to me that
the women Of those days possess also
some right to our remembrance. This
journal and these letters were given
to me, in trust, by my husbands
mother, as l give them to you. They
have been read by my daughters, and
must be read by yours. They contain
the story Of a real daughter of the
Revolution, and are to remain an heir
loom in her family SO long as the
paper on which they are written will
hold together"
And this is the story:
Mistress Lydia Darlington was eigh-
teen when the lighting Of that lamp
in the belfry Of the Old North Church
III 1OOSCOu oSI CIDIClLC G11C III Vim w L11O41
our country burned it's ancient letters.
Her home was one of those stately
Colonial houses, whose pillared p0rCicOS
front the Delaware river between Phil
adelphia and Wilmington. Her father,
from the outbreak of the Revolution,
was among it's stanchest supporters.
He had been a soldier in his youth, and
I'd I1ncIz'c
astrCus campaign beside Washington
But in his middle age, and when his
country needed him so sorely, an in
durable malady held him prisoner, and
he sent his only son to represent him
on the staff of his old cOmrade.
When the British captured Philadel-
phia they ravaged his estate, and laid
every resource under constant contri-
button. Yet they respected that grim
warder, Death, who watched the pa
triot's door, and they permitted his
departure from house and lands to be
postponed until that summons which
none can disobey.
Barrington's wife rarely left him, and
the ordering Of their household fell
into the capable pair Of hands of their
daughter Lydia. She brewed and she
baked, and she spun. She managed
the dairy, and supervised the poultry
yard as became the mistress of large
and isolated establishment in those
days But the while her thoughts and
her prayers were for her country's
strife with the same ardOr which kept
her father alive until ne should be-
hold that c0untry's freedom.
Darlington Manor was set il the
midst of the lovely district across which,
backward and forward, the tide of war
swept continually. Now the beloved
bluec0ats were warmed at it's firesides
and welcomed to every comfort it could
supply. Then the aOhorred redcoats
cIamOred for the hospitality which
would have been taken by force had
It been refused.
Thus it happened that 10 surprise,
though much reluctance, STIRRED the
heart Of Mistress Lydia when, on al
autumn afternoon. she was summoned
as her mothers deputy to receive a
British officer 50 desperately wounded
in a near skirmish that his troops
dared not carry him further.
A dozen scaTlet-clad horsemen waited
under the lea6ess trees of the avenue,
and Captain Pelham lay supported by
a comrades arms upon the tOpmOsG
step of the portico.
He had been shot near the lungs AMI
was speechIess. But he was conscious,
I'd hic Joor
that, from the moment she appeared
within the high Colonial doorway, he
became Mistress Lydia's prisoner for
ever, as well as her patient for a time.
A time which proved to be for him
and for her that brief stay in Paradise
which a tender old prOyerb promises
once in a life to each child of Eve.
Through the ensuing winter, which
was the winter Of Valley Forge, Cap
tain Pelham dwelt in the guest-chamber
at Darlington Manor. He was visited
occasionally, when the movements of
the American troops permitted, by his
brother, an eminent surgeon from Phil
adelphia. For the most part, however,
according to the custom Of a hundred
years ago, lie I6uldlueu lie Charge VI
his young hostess.
Outside was cold and hunger, the
deadly strife Of those dear to both, the
hope of a struggling people sinking
almost in dispair. But within was love
that made happy the present, and as
sured the future with the fervor of
their youth and the conviction of their
mutual faith.
When he was able to walk so far,
Captain Pelham made his way to that
other sickroom, where Lydias father
lay dying, and told his story. 1t was
kindly heard. Endowed with the clear
tolerance which the neighborhood Of
Death bestows on some just sous,
Darlington promised his daughter 20
her British lover when the war between
their factions should be ended-which
ever cause victory might adorn.