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THE MONUMENT TO HANNAH DUSTIN AND MARY CORLISS NEFF.

THE MONUMENT.

IN the August number of the third volume of The American Historical Record, there was a notice of this monument, and in the May, (1875) number of the MONTHLY there was an excellent paper, from the pen of Dr. Lossing, telling the story of the marvelous exploits of Hannah Dustin and Mary Corliss Neff. And now, being favored with a picture of the monument, we shall copy from the Record the notice referred to with some changes:

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carried off the wife of Thomas Dustin with her infant only a week old, and her nurse. She was taken from her bed, half dressed, and, without shoes or stockings, exposed to the cold March winds, they took her to what is now called Dustin's Island, a few miles above Concord, New Hampshire. They had killed the babe at the outset. Here the prisoners were in an Indian family, and were told that they were soon to pass through a shocking scene. Mrs. Dustic resolved to escape, and laid her plans with her nurse, Mary Neff. and a boy prisoner named Leonardson. At midnight, whilst the savage family were asleep, Mrs. Dustin, the nurse, and the boy (who had been made a prisoner before), killed the Indians,

took off their scalps, scuttled all the boats but one to prevent pursuit, and started off in that for Haverhill. They reached that place, with ten scalps as witnesses of their prowess, and found safety in Boston."

The legislature of Massachusetts, according to Dr. Lossing, at once unanimously voted Mrs. Dustin, Mrs. Neff and the lad each fifty pounds Massachusetts currency, and Governor Nicholson

was so noved by the exploit that he presented about six miles above Concord. The pedestal Mrs. Dustin a beautiful tankard, described and bears appropriate inscriptions, one of which is as pictured in the May MONTHLY, 1875. follows:

Some time since, the Legislature of Massachusetts appropriated six thousand dollars towards the erection of a monument to commemorate the heroic deed of Mrs. Dustin and the maid and boy. To this was added a considerable sum in private subscriptions, and the result was the erection of the monument of which the engraving herewith affords a correct idea. It stands on the highest point of Dustin Island, Contoocook river,

HANNAH DUSTIN,

MARY NEFF, AND
SAMUEL LEONARDSON.

MARCH 30, 1697-MIDNIGHT.

Upon this pedestal stands a statue, seven and a half feet high, representing Mrs. Dustin, with the tomahawk in one hand, and the scalps of the ten Indians in the other. This statue is of granite, and reflects credit upon the artist, Mr. William Andrews, of Lowell.

SCHUYLER AND GATES-AND THE SURRENDER OF BURGOYNE. BY AMBROSE B. CARLYLE.

"THE tone of all reputable writers of some years past, in speaking of Generals Schuyler and Gates, afford's a fair illustration of the fact that, however a man's contemporaries may misunderstand him, time will correct these misunderstandings, by clearing the true man's reputation of all false colorings and by laying bare the meannesses, or worse, of the false."

This sentence occurs in the MONTHLY for January of the current year, page 30, and it is true as a rule, though I have been forcibly impressed with a striking ex

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ception which has just come under my eye. I was consulting a Biographical Dictionary, published by a reputable house and compiled by a reputable editor, when the name of General Schuyler arrested my attention; the sketch of that illustrious patriot is given in nineteen lines and is remarkable more for what it does not, than for what it does, tell of his interesting career. Turning naturally to the article on Horatio Gates, I find sixty-seven lines, a careful perusal of which would lead one, not otherwise better informed, to regard that half-traitor," as the MONTHLY aptly characterized him (page 30, as above), as a great

and worthy man, a true patriot and an honorable and able soldier; at least, from the peculiar phraseology of this sketch, one would award him all the glory of the capture of Burgoyne and his army, and would withhold from him all censure for his later achievements at Camden, South Carolina. I do not find herein a word of Gates's plottings against Schuyler, or even of his infamous part in the conspiracy against Washington. I then turn to the name of General Stark, and, lo, a mean little paragraph, positively worthless as a notice of that distinguished patriot.

Disgusted with the injustice and positive untruth.

of this Biographical Dictionary in its treatment
of Schuyler and Gates, and worthlessness in its
notice of Stark, I turn to another-Francis S.
Drake's "Dictionary of American Biography,"
[Boston, James R. Osgood & Company, 1874],
and here I find justice and truth. The notice of
Schuyler is brief, but admirably comprehensive
and fair, while that
of Gates shows the
care and clear-headed
judgment of Mr.
Drake-he gives
Gates all the credit
and praise he is fairly
entitled to, but with-
out ignoring the
rightful claims of
others to honorable
mention; for exam-
ple, in telling of
Gates's appointment
to the command on
the northern frontier
in August, 1777, he
says: "It was for-
tunate for General Gates that the retreat from
Ticonderoga had been conducted under other
auspices than his, and that he took the command
when the indefatigible but unrequited labors of
Schuyler, and the courage of Stark and his moun-
taineers, had already insured the ultimate defeat
of Burgoyne." But, farther, Mr. Drake, as a
faithful chronicler, tells not only of Gates's glory,
but also of his shame: "His glory was soon
obscured by the intrigues then progressing for
elevating him to the station occupied by Wash-
ington."

GATES'S HEADQUARTERS AT BE-
MIS'S HEIGHTS.

Turning again to the notice of Schuyler, I find: On the approach of Burgoyne's army in 1777, he did all in his power to impede its advance by obstructing the navigation of Wood Creek, rendering the roads impassable, removing all provisions and stores beyond its reach, and summoning the militia of New York and New England to his assistance; but the necessary evacuation of Ticonderoga by St. Clair occasioning unreasonable jealousies in regard to Schuyler in New England, he was superseded by Gates in August, though Congress, upon investigation, warmly approved his conduct. Though 'sensible of the indignity,' and though superseded by a

man who had ever been his enemy, this patrict offered to serve his country as a private gentleman in any way in which he could be useful."

Then, I turn to Mr. Drake's article on General Stark, and find a remarkable summary of his remarkable career-a fine specimen of that skill in condensation which compresses a biography into a paragraph, without omitting any important facts.

In conclusion, let me mention one more illustration of the difference between the right and the wrong sort of notice of a great and good man. At the time of Burgoyne's invasion, John Langdon was Speaker of the Assembly of New Hampshire, and Edward Everett in his "Life of John Stark," tells us of him that, in the midst of the gloom and despondency prevalent everywhere in New England, and evident in the Assembly, he arose and said:

"I have three thousand dollars in hard money, I will pledge my plate for three thousand more; I have seventy hogsheads of Tobago rum which shall be sold for the most it will bring These are at the service of the state. If we succeed in defending our firesides and homes, I may be remunerated; if we do not, the property will be of no value to me. Our old friend Stark, who so nobly maintained the honor of our state at Bunker Hill, may be safely intrusted with the conduct of the enterprise, and we will check the progress of Burgoyne."

Now, of this man I find a notice of less than fifty words in the "reputable" dictionary first above alluded to, which does not tell me even that he was a patriot or hint at his noble gift of his all; Drake, on the other hand, furnishes a complete record of his patriotic course.

I have no acquaintance with Mr. Drake or with Messrs. Osgood & Co., and write without their solicitation or even their knowledge, simply in the interest of correct public education in American subjects.

REMARKS.-We omit a portion of this paper, rehearsing the story of Burgoyne's invasion, disasters and surrender, because our readers are mostly familiar with it, and we have much valuable matter demanding space, more in fact than we can command space for. We deem no apology requisite for inserting Mr. Carlyle's admirable commen dation of a most valuable volume which we think should be in every American's library.

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THAN Henry Wilson, late Vice-President, we have had few purer, wiser, more upright, more practical, more influential statesmen. In his death we have lost one of our model public men. He was proverbial for purity of life, for integrity of character, for devotion to principle, for unfaltering attachment to the cause of Human Freedom; for sympathy with the poor, the oppressed; for indefatigable, untiring labors in behalf of the downtrodden, the enslaved, and those "that had no helper;" for his unceasing efforts to ameliorate the condition of the desolate millions "that were dwellers in the house of bondage;" to mitigate

the woes of the unfortunate, sorrowing ones; to inspire with hope the despondent, the helpless; to relieve the sufferings of the friendless, to cheer the cheerless; to elevate, to improve, to benefit his fellow-men; to educate, to enlighten, to instruct, to raise to a higher plane the ignorant, the uneducated, the thoughtless, the impoverished. Civil and Religious Liberty have had no more sincere and faithful advocate-no more ardent and zealous friend than Henry Wilson; and Slavery has had no more determined and persevering opponent. Few, if any, have done more to "crush out" slavery and bring about the proclamation of

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Universal "Liberty throughout all the land than the late Vice-President. And it is also true that few men exerted a wider or more potent influence in bringing to a happy termination the late rebellion than Henry Wilson. As a political leader he was frank, courteous, and "without guile;" as a Statesman he was wise, able, practical far-seeing, liberal; as a Patriot he was trustworthy, ever true, unimpeachable; as a man he was sympathetic, pure-minded, without reproach; one indeed whom the people delighted to honor. Such was the confidence of the American people in Henry Wilson as to secure for him a majority of more than seven hundred thousand of the popular suffrage for the second place under our Government, three years ago, and it is now generally conceded that nothing but the protracted and steadily increasing impaired health to which he has been subjected prevented him from holding the attidude of a prospective candidate for President of the United States, at the next election, of the political party with which it had been his pride and pleasure to act, with the probabilities, to say the least, of an equal chance of success. In view, therefore, of the foregoing, there was eminent propriety, in the President's official announcement of the death of Henry Wilson, to allude to his "high station and character, to his long career in the service of his State and of the Union, to his devotion to the cause of freedom and to the ability which he brought to the discharge of every duty, all being conspicuous, and indelibly impressed upon the hearts and affections of the American people."

Henry Wilson was born at Farmington, New Hampshire, February 16, 1812, and died at Washington, D. C., November, 22, 1875, being in the sixty-fourth year of his age. His ancestors were originally from Argylshire, Scotland, but they settled in New Hampshire in the eighteenth century, having then come directly from the north of Ireland. His father was poor and in humble life. Henry Wilson had very much such a career in early life as Andrew Johnson and Abraham Lincoln. When a boy he was ambitious, and so industriously and persistently improved his very limited opportunities as to learn to read, write and cipher," before he was ten years old. At that age he was apprenticed for eleven years to a hard working farmer. This was done on account of the poverty and sometimes destitution of his father's family. In his youth he endured much

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privation. He said on one occasion: "Want sat by my cradle; I know what it is to ask a mother for bread when she has none to give." When replying in the Senate to Mr. Hammond of South Carolina, who had denounced Northern laborers as mud-sills, he said: "My father was a hireling laborer, and I too, have been a hireling manual laborer. Poverty cast its dark and chilling shadow over the home of my childhood, and want was there sometimes an unbidden guest. At the age of ten years, to aid him who gave me being, and to keep the gaunt spectre from the hearth of the mother who bore me, I left the home of my boyhood and went to earn my bread by daily labor."

He served out the full term of his indenture, doing all the work required of farm laborers, toiling from dawn to dark. All these years, however, he was studious, and being fond of books, he had read several hundred volumes before he had reached his majority. Most of his reading was done by firelight and under many disadvantages, and during hours that most young men devote to sleep and recreation. His reading was chiefly Biography, Philosophy and general Literature, being such works as British and American Statesmen and Historians, the tales of Irving, Scott and Cooper, and all the then published numbers of the North American Review.

For some months after he had passed through his apprenticeship, he traveled over the country with his pack on his back, seeking employment as a farm hand, but not meeting with much success he visited Natick, Massachusetts, walking the entire distance, and there found an opportunity to enter a shop to learn to make shoes. He soon became an expert and rapid workman, generally working sixteen hours a day, and often all night. Notwithstanding his severe toil at his trade, he still kept up the practice of reading.

"On the 19th of April, 1835, he went to Lexington to hear Edward Everett deliver his celebrated oration on that battle; and he walked to Boston to hear Daniel Webster's address on the occasion of the presentation of the Vase in the Odeon. The aspiration to be an orator, able to instruct, persuade and sway large audiences, was then strong in his breast." During the winter of 1835-36, thirteen young men, one of them being Henry Wilson, organized a debating club in Natick. His extensive reading and fine memory made him a conspicuous debater and efficient member. His

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