Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-02
SOLITARY SURVIVOR
Only Remaining Widow Of the
Revolutionary War.
MRS. DAMON'S HISTORY
AGED WOMAN sUBSIsTING ON
FORTY CENTS A DAY.
Unknown Outside the Little Vermont
Town Where She Has Passed
Her Life.

Written for The Sunday Star.
High among the Green mountains of Yer
mont, half days journey from the nearest
railroad lives the last widow of the war of
the revolution-Esther Sumner Damon-own
cousin of former United States Senator
Charles Sumner For half a century she
has subsisted on a meager forty cents per
day pension. Under provisions of a special
act approved February %, 1905, she will
receive twenty-four dollars per month
Strong and active in mind, though broken
in body she sits day after day in an arm
chair by the south window of little white
cottage on the mountain, silently studying
the horizon; the last relic of the war for
liberty, not knowing everyday comforts;
an utter stranger to luxuries.
Esther Sumner was born in Bridgewater,
Vermont, August 1, 1914. When she was
eight years old her father met with a 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
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 lin 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, lettering soldier of the revolu
ton, crossed her path. He came to Ply
mouth Union on visit and fell in love with
the pretty school mistress. Two weeks
later they were married.
Welded DISBURSEMENT.
The courtship appears to have been an
instance of history repeating itself; a sec
ond edition of the Wooing of Desdemona
by Othello. Night after night Noah Damon,
acknowledgements patriarch, sat by Miss
Summers side and told her of his love, re-
counting his deeds of valor upon a dozen
battlefields 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 6, 1884, they were married.
Immediately following the wedding it
developed that Mr.. Damon, instead of pos
sessing funds or property, could figure up
assets amounting all told to but $3.50, 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 few weeks the couples 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 a few weeks, who, instead of
escaping 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 a
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
wearied of the uphill struggle and one day
suggested to her husband, who had become
almost helpless, that he go to his daughter,
by a 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 needed.
Concerning her husband who has been
dead siXtysix years, Mrs. Damon can give
but little information. He was born In
the continental army, in a Massachusetts
regiment, and served five years. He partlc-
ipated in the battle of Long Island and
several other important engagements and
frequently mentioned having fought under
George Washington, whom he idolized.
C44W VI OnAhOAA " S0o"s
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 a score
of years ago having been increased to ST.
per month the amount she has received
up to the present month. This 40 cents
nfr Dc1,a hno oy,oa n n MO
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 aged widow, who
Fortunately owned a little cottage on the
mountain. These widowed ladies seemed
strangely drawn toward one another. and
the visit intended for day, was protracted
into a. 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.
lived together in the little white cottage
among the clouds and never were bride and
groom in 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.