Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-02

AISlHcI was DOTn III bTluSoWdlef,
Vermont, August 1, 1914. When she was
eight years old her father met with fatal
| accident, leaving the family without finan-
cial resources Esther, possessed of the
stamina which made her cousin, Charles
Sumner famous, announced her determine
ton to acquire an education. Working out
during the summer she saved each year a
few dollars, which enabled her to attend the
village school in the winter. At the age of
seventeen she taught the little school on the
mountain in the little hamlet where she
now resides. Plymouth Union, Vermont.
She continued to direct the minds of her
little flock for three years, when Noah
Damon tottering soldier of the revolu-
ton, crossed her path. He came to Ply
mouth Union on a visit and fell in love with
the pretty school mistress. Two weeks
later they were married.
Welded Disillusionment.
The courtship appears to have been an
instance of history repeating itself; sec
ond edition of the wooing of Desdemona
by Othello. Night after night Noah Damon,
year-old patriarch, sat by Miss
Summers side and told her of his love, re-
counting his deeds of valor upon dozen
battlefeldS in the war for independence;
urging his need for help-meet in the de-
Ginning years of his life, and giving the girl
to understand that he possessed means to
enable them to live in comparative comfort
september y. 1871, lHey were married.
Immediately following the wedding 1t
developed that Mr.. Damon, instead of pos
sessing funds or property, could figure up
assets amounting all told to but 1880 and
that he had borrowed from a friend the
suit of clothes in which he was married.
The bride, by the exercise of great econ
omy had managed to save a small sum of
money from her meager allowance for
teaching, but this did not last long and
within a few weeks the couple found them
selves without funds or visible means of
support. Mr.. Damon was physically In
capable of toll and the task of bread-win-
ming fell upon the shoulders of the girl
bride of few weeks. who, instead of
esca ping the burden of self-support, was
compelled to provide for two instead of one.
Quarters in an humble cottage We're obtain
ed and by working at odd jobs, accepting
any kind of employment, and cultivating
bit of a garden mornings and evenings, the
mountain lass kept the wolf from the door
while her husband whiled away the hours
in idle gossip with the neighbors Or nodded
in his chair in the solitary living room.
At the end of three years the young wife
weared of the uphill struggle and one day
suggested to her husband, who had become
almost helpless that he go to his daughter,
by former marriage, living in New Hamp-
shire. The old veteran readily agreed to
the proposition and left his wife without
show of ill-feeling or resentment. He lived
only two years after that, but during this
time his wife bought his clothes out of
her small earnings and sent them to him
from time to time as neeQeQ.
Concerning her husband who has been
dead siXty-sX years, Mrs. Damon can give
but little information He was born in
1853 and at the age Of sixteen enlisted In
the continental army, IN Massachusetts
regiment, and served five years. He partic-
ipated in the battle of Long Island and
several other important engagements and
frequently mentioned having fought under
George Washington, whom he idolized
Firm of Damon & Snow.
The succeeding sixty years in the life of
Mrs. Damon were comparatively unevent
full During most of this period she sup
ported herself by sewing for tailor and in
nursing the sick. A few years after the
death of Mr.. Damon she was granted
pension of $50 per year, this amount score
of years ago having been increased to $12
per month, the amount she has received
up to the present month. This 40 cents
per day, since she became too old to work,
has been inadequate to provide even the
most necessary food and clothing, although
neighbors have not permitted her to actual
ly want for food.
During the early years of her widowhood
Mrs Damon had several offers of marriage,
but she turned a deaf ear to all proposals.
In 1890 she became acquainted with a Mrs.
Snow, like herself an aged widow, who
fortunately owned little cottage on the
mountain These widowed ladies seemed
strangely drawn toward one another and
the visit intended for day, was protracted
into week and then 1t was agreed they
should continue to live together for an in
definite period. Mrs Snow was to furnish
the cottage and garden and Mrs. Damon
agreed to put her $12 per month pension
money into the common purse; the story
of Damon and Pythias reduced to femin-
unity In the closing days of the nineteenth
century.
Until 1901 Mrs Damon and Mrs. Snow
lived together in the little white cottage
among the clouds and never were bride and
groom in a mansion happier or more con-
tented than they. BY the exercise of the
strictest economy and the gift of an oc-
casional cord of wood sack of flour or dress
pattern from neighbors they got along on
the 40 cents per day allowed Mrs. Damon
by Uncle Sam.
One day Mrs. Snow received letter from
relatives in Massachusetts inviting her to
come and remain with them the balance
of her life. After many conferences and
much weeping, Mrs Snow decided to ac-
cept the invitation, although when the
stage coach drove up to take her away she
would have baked had it not been for Mrs.
Damon.
The Firm Dissolves.
Mrs Snow reached the home Of her rela-
tives in northern Massachusetts, the same
night, but her heart was back in the cot
tage on the mountain. single day amid
the new surroundings was all she could
endure; she longed for the rude cottage
with It's plain surroundings and coarse fare,
but most or all for the companlonShip of
her Damon. She told her relatives she was
homesick and wanted to go back home"
The family, seeing how it was, interposed
no objections and the next morning she
was passenger for Plymouth Union
The stage driver man against whom
the charge of sentimentalism could not
possibly lie, remarked to a friend that he
had never before witnessed such demon
stration as that which occurred when the
stage coach rumbled up and stopped in
front of the white cottage Mrs. Damon,
sitting by her favorite window, had noted
the approach of the stage, and when it
stopped she came to the door, of course
having no suspicion of the identity of the
passenger. When the aged widows met
one might have supposed a girl to be well
coming her soldier lover home from a three
years campaign. They embraced. alter
nately laughed and cried. patted each other
a., fino hanlr lrisaad cr,tied and lonlad int,