The record-union., 1897-08-22
ABIGAIL ADAMS.
HER INFLUENCE DID MUCH
FOR THE COLONIES.
Story of the Wife of the Second
observation-disclosures for Her
Own Worth.


tive of a class of women whose quiet
influence did much for the cause of the
struggling colonies However much a
modern Daughter of the Revolution
may rejoice in her prestige, John
Adams wife was distinctly one of the
mothers" of the Revolution. Without
the sprightliness which made the wife
of Nathaniel Greene so popular and
free from the social ambition which ell
evated General KnoX's wife into the
position of the society leader of Wash
ington's administration, in depth of
character, and in positive influence, she
easily surpassed them both A por-
trait of her at the age of twenty-one,
one year after her marriage, shows a
strong and yet tender face, with low,
broad forehead, full and expressive
eyes, clearly-cut nose, a mouth sweet
and indicative of her sense of humor,
and a chin firm and strong. With all
her powers of observation and express
ion, even above her conversational abil-
ity, and her grace of manner, her
friends cherished her absolute honesty
and frank sincerity She was accus-
toned to say just what she meant, and
mean just what she said; and, while
some of the modern writers affirm that
the marvellous influence the men of
her day believed she welded over her
husband and his friends was somewhat
exaggerated, there still can be no doubt
that her power behind the throne"
was as marked as it was manifest.
Abigail Adams was a Puritan Of the
PuritanS SO far as her ancestry was
concerned. For forty years her father
was in charge of one parish and her
forefathers on each side were Puritan
preachers. AS a natural consequence
the religious side of her nature was
strongly developed, and taste for the
best that had been thought and said
was marked from her erliest days. 1t
was lament of her later life that she
had never been sent to any school, but
the loss, which arose from her. delicate
health as a girl and perhaps also from
natural prejudice against the education
of women in a community where the
traditions of Ann Hutchinson We're still
fresh, was more than compensated by
the development of her individuality
under the immediate care of her IA
ther 1t is the old form of the modern
question whether the drill and routine
of the public school or the personal in
fiuence of tutors or a private school is
better for growing girls. She lost from
the lack of attrition, but gained the de-
VelOpment of her own personality.
While truth and duty were writ large
in her vocabulary, the Puritan influence
was not all sad. Indeed, her father,
serious man though he was, enjoyed
his joke, and even was known to carry
it sometimes into the pulpit with him.
When Abigal's older sister Mary was
married to Richard Cranch, who after
wards became Judge of the Court of
Common Pleas, Parson Smith is said on
the Sunday following the ceremony TO
have preached from the text: And
Mary hath chosen that good part which
shall not be taken away from her. .
When two years later Abigail became
the wife of the young lawyer, John
Adams, her father, recognizing the
strong prejudice of the colony against
| lawyers, on the next Sunday solemnly
announced his text: For John came
neither eating bread nor drinking wine
| and ye say he hath a devil" With her
| two sisters, each of whom married a
!
man of prominence, she was trained to
| take a serious but not sad view of life
and her uniformly cheerful spirit in
| terest in politics and the world about
her, devotion to her friends, and clear
and candid judgment can perhaps al
be traced mainly to her Puritan heri-
tage and training.
! On the 10Th of October, 1864, she be-
came the wife of John Adams, and un-
| til the breaking out of the war spent
| her time in Boston or Braintree, as the
| health of her husband or his business
demanded. In this decade four children
! entered the home. three sons and a
| daughter, and doubtless the young wife
with her increasing cares, little dreamed
| that she was perhaps to be the only
one in the history of the new nation tC
occupy the unique position of the wife
| of one President and the mother of an
other. She was an ideal mother. the
companion of her children, and super
| intended all the details of their care
and training. Methodical, tender, firm
and devout, it is small cause for sur
prise that in later years her sons
proud of their father and his name, al
most reverenced the name of theil
mother.
The ability of her husband was soor
recognized, and he was active in the
! deliberations of the Continental Con
/ gress. Her letters to him in his alb
sence show that she foresaw far more
| clearly than most of the leaders what
the outcome was to be, and while she
encourages him to go on and writes
fully of the state of public feeling il
! Massachusetts, her anxiety is disclosed
as she writes him that she bids adier
to domestic felicity perhaps until the
meeting with her husband in another
| world, since she looks forward to moth
| ing further in this than sacrifice as the
result of the impending contest. The
terrors of war, the alarm of her neigh
bors and pestilence followed; but Abb
gail Adams, though she wrote that hel
heart had felt like d heart of lead, new
er flinched nor faItered Troops were
near, some of her relatives fell in the
struggle, the visits of her husband
were rare but she cared for her -four
young children, inspired her neighbors
and held steadily to her duty.
In November, 1117, John Adams was
again with his family, and not to return
| to Congress, for during his absence he
| was selected and elected to represent
the new nation in France Just before
his return to his home. she had writer
| him that of their thirteen years OF
married life, she had passed three ot
/ them in separation from her husband
and now a longer separation was al
hand. Her intense love for her husband
was stronger than her selfish longing
for his presence, and she urged him tc
go; but when, in February, 171S, with