Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1897-06-10
LYDIA.
A Daughter of the Revolution.

When the Barringtons filled out the
papers which entitled them to join the
society of the Daughters OF the Rev
olution" last year, old Mrs. Barring
ton put a shabby book and a 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
alton" she said. at seems to me that
the women of those days possess also
some right to our remembrance, This
journal and these letters We're given
to me, in trust, by my husbands
mother as | give them to YOU. They
have been read by my daughters, and
must be read by yours, They contain
the story OF real daughter Of the
Revolution, and are to remain an heir
loom in her family 81 long as the
paper on which they are written will
hold together"
And this is the story:
Mistress Lydia harrington was etgh-
teen when the lighting of that lamp
in tine belfry of the Old North Church
in Boston set ablaze the fire with which
our country burned its ancient letters.
Her home was one of those stately
Colonial houses, whose pillared portieos
front the Delaware river between Phil
adelphia and Wilmington. Her father,
from the outbreak of the Revolution,
was among its stancheSt supporters,
He had been a soldier in his youth, and
had struggled through Braddock's dis
astrous campaign beside Washington,
But in his middle age, and when his
country needed him 50 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 WHOA
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 a large
and isolated establishment in those
days. But the while her thoughts and
her prayers were for her country 8
strife with the same ardor which kept
her father alive until he should be-
hold that c1untry's freedom.
Darlington Manor was set in the
midst Of the lovely district across which,
backward and forward, the tide of war
swept continually. Now the beloved
bluecoats were warmed at its firesides
and welcomed to every comfort II could
supply. Then the abhorred redcoats
c!amored for the hospitality which
would have been taken by force had
it been refused
Thus it happened that no surprise,
though much reluctance, STIRRED the
heart OF Mistress Lydia when, on an
autumn afternoon, she was summoned
as her mothers deputy to receive a
British officer so desperately wounded
in near skirmish that his troops
dared not carry him further
A dozen scallct-clad horsemen waited
under the leafess trees of the avenue,
and Captain Pelham lay supported by
a comrades arms upon the topmos
step Of the portico.
He had been shot near the lungs and
was speeches.. But he was conscious,
and mis- letters bear passionate record
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 tender old proverb promises
orce in 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
when the movements Of
the American troops permitted by his
brother an eminent surgeon from Phil
adelphia. For the most part, however
according u the~custom Of hundred
years ago, he remained the charge Of
his young hostess.
Outside was cold and hunger. the
deadly strife Of those dear to both. the
hope Of struggling people sinking
almost in dlspair. But within was love
that made happy the present, and as
suref the future with the fervor Of
thor youth and the conviction OF their
mutual faith.
When he was able to walk 80 far.
Captain Pelham made his way to that