The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-01-17

wife of a man who came counting her
and who declared himself to be Sir
Thomas Hale, Jr.. nephew of Lord
Chief Justice Hale. They were mar
ried July /, 1879. "in the presence of
nearly forty witnesses, and being hand
somely furnished, sailed for England
and safely arrived.
she went on shore in a dishabille."
says the curious old document which
preserves this moving tale. "leavng her
| trunks on board the vessel, and went
| To lodge with a relation Of hers. In
the morning early he ther husbandl
arose, took the keys, and told her he
| would send her trunks on shore that
she might be dressed before dinner.
He sent the trunks up, and she waited
impatiently for the keys till l or .
o'clock; but he not coming, she broke
open the trunks, and to her inexpres-
sble surprise she found herself stript
OF everything and her trunks filed
with combustible matter; on which her
kinsman ordered his carriage, and they
| went to a place where she stopt with
| her husband the night before. She en-
! quired for Sir Thomas Hale, Jr.: they
| said he had not been there for some
days. She said she was sure he was
there the night before. They said
| Thomas Ruinsey had been there With
a young Lady, but was gone to his
wife in Canterbury; and she saw him
| no more"
Thus abandoned, Rebecca set herself
| TO discover some means of income
| finally supporting herself and the child
| which soon came by painting on
glass" So she struggled on for thir-
! teen years, at the end OF which time
she determined to return to New Eng
| land. Her child she left in the care of
her sister in England. who had no chill
drcn of her own, and embarked for
| Boston by way of Jamaica in vessel
which belonged to one of her uncles.
| The ship, with its passengers and crew.
was swallowed up June O. 1892, in the
| great Port Royal earthquake. Whit
tier tells RebecCas story IN considerable
detail in his entertaining little piece
of imaginative writing, Leaves from
| Margaret Smiths Journal in the Prov
| ince of Massachusetts Bay"
One English marriage custom, which
the Puritans, to their honor stead
| lastly refused to introduce into the
New World was that by which children
were married off. while still of tender
| age, for the sake of assuring to the
| families concerned fortune that might
| be contingent. From a careful study
| made of the old court records in the
| town of Chester England. II has been
brought out that child marriages troth
| plights, and the like, were exceedingly
common in the old country during
the seventeenth century. Mary Hewitt
OF Danton Basset was welded In 1863
when years old. John Evelyn in 1852
was present at the marriage of Lord
| Arlingtons only daughter, sweet
child if there ever was any. aged s.
to the Duke of Grafton" The story
Is told of one little bridegroom of 3
/ who was held in the arms of an Eng
lsh clergyman and coaXed to repeat
the words of the service. Before It
was finished the child said that he
would learn no more OF his lesson that
day, but the parson answered.: you
| just speak a little more and then go
play yon." But when Governor Endl-
colt was approached to marry off at
| the age of Is little Rebecca Cooper,
who had been left an orphan in Salem,
and whom Governor Winthrop's sister
Nine. Downing, desired for a daugh-
| ter-in-law because, as she said frankly
"the disposition of the maybe and her
education with Mrs. Endlcott are hope
| full. her person tolerable, and the
estate very convenient" he. as guardian
of the child, firmly rejected the pro-
posal: "for these grounds, first: The
| Sir'e desires not to marry as yet
2ndlee: Shee confesseth (Which is the
| truth) herselfe to be altogether yeti
unfit for such a condition, shee beinge
"A verie girl and but Is yeares of age.
3rdlle: Where the man was moved to
her shee said shee could not like him.
4thlie: You know it would be of i'll re-
porte that a girl because shee hath
some estate should bee disposed of
soc young, espetialle not having any
parents to choose for her fifthlle
have some good hopes of the chlld's
coming on to the best thlnges.'
Governor Winthrop, to whom this let
ter was addressed. accepted the decision
without more ado, and the match did
not come off. But he was probably
none the less convinced that n girl of
Is was quite old enough to marry
he himself had been only II when he
first took upon himself the duties and
responsibilities OF a husband.
BY 1859 men in search of wives were
adopting the matrimonial advertise
ment" to help them in their quest
Thus. in the Boston EUcninO Post of
February % In that year may be found
the following naive notice;