On whom those truths do rest, Which we are toiling all our lives to find, Thou, over whom thy immortality Broods like the day, a master o'er a slave, Of heaven-born freedom on thy being's height. -Wordsworth. When twelve, Eddie started alone on a visiting trip in the old Bay State. It was a great occasion, and he locked his travelling bag and put the key in his pocket with a dignity amusing to behold. He was a little disturbed at learning that one of the professors was going on the same train, lest he might interfere with his prerogative, but a few reassuring words quieted him. Besides his frequent letters home, he was faithful to his journal, a thing not easy when travelling. In this way he gives a full account of his sight-seeing in Boston and other places, the Aquarial Gardens, where he shook hands with an alligator; the Navy Yard at Charlestown, going through the whole length of the rope-walk; the State Prison, where he picked up much information; the Blind Asylum at South Boston, where he talked with Catherine Hill and Laura Bridgman; the watch manufactory at Waltham, bringing away some of the spoils; then at the seaside in Marblehead, where he rowed and sailed to his heart's content. September. After I returned home, I applied for the situation of bell-ringer. As there was another applicant, it was decided that I should have the position for half the term, and the other applicant for the remaining half. On Monday, I took father and mother to Warehouse Point. On the way, we had a general talk about getting a horse, mother and I were pro and father was con. Finally he concluded to keep his eye on the lookout for a horse. And he wrote to Mr. Farrar to find one, and we soon got a letter telling us when it would come in the cars to Hartford. So we went down, and a saddle was put on him, and I rode up home, being pretty tired when we got there. We named the horse Cherry Lawrence, and not long after father went to Springfield on horseback and bought a nice carriage, in which he soon went to meet mother, which was a great surprise to her. In November, in acceptance of an invitation to pass Thanksgiving at Mount Holyoke Seminary, we all set forth in the new carriage. As we were approaching the building, Eddie, having learned that all the inmates were of the woman kind, gravely remarked, "Then father and I shall be the only gentlemen there." Of this visit, Mrs. Helen M. Gulliver writes: In memory I go back to 1859, when you all came to spend Thanksgiving with us at Mt. Holyoke Seminary. Edward impressed me then, and afterwards, when I visited you at East Windsor, as a lad of great promise. One could but admire his exquisite manners, his gentleness and sweetness, and his thoughtfulness for others. His conversation even then revealed his mental ability, and the habit of laying up stores of useful information. In his journal, he writes: On our return home I was left at Springfield, to make a visit at Dr. Rice's. While there I got what I had been desiring for a long time, a set of chessmen and a chess-board. Sunday morning, the minister in his sermon said that a person might go through a bright course, like that of Wilberforce, or a vapid, useless one, like that of John Brown. Instantly there came "Three cheers for John Brown!" I received a short time ago a fine chest of tools from Mr. Worthington of New York, and I am planning to do great things with them. (This chest of tools is still preserved.) Christmas, 1858. In the afternoon, just before supper, Uncle Leonard came in the stage from Hartford. Pretty soon, Mr. Painter, one of the students, came, and then mother and Mr. Bissell went with him into the parlor, and were there a long time, making him into Santa Claus. By and by they called me in and changed me into one of his imps. At length, Santa Claus began to make a loud noise and finally walked in, I following at his heels. Father inquired about Mrs. Santa Claus, and he replied that "he had lived 1700 years, and the reason was he had had no wife, and so been without cares." Feb., 1859. I got home about one o'clock. After dinner, I rubbed down Cherry, cut some hay, cleared out part of my shop, took the horse down to have his shoes sharpened, walked back, worked in my shop, and did some other things, walked again to the blacksmith's and brought the horse back, and finished my work. In the evening, I read aloud for a time, and then mother read, while I cut papers for pasting. March. Last night I received my fiftieth ticket, and with it a jack-knife mother promised me when I got fifty tickets. I was to have one every day that I controlled my temper. It is a splendid knife, sharp as can be. We have one horse, one cow, nine hens, one rooster, one cat, one pair of pigeons, one carriage, one wagon, one sleigh, one workshop, one box of tools, some hay, some straw, one ice boat, one pasture, one museum, one helper, two sisters, one garden, three stables, one barnyard, two arbors, some money, two parents, no brother, two yards, one bird cage, one bird, one set of chessmen, one chess-board, one chess-book, one magician's book, one collection of puzzles. About this time Eddie got up a panorama, as he called it, on what seemed an interminable roll of paper, which he exhibited to interested spectators with an enthusiasm pleasant to behold. The programme was prepared at his dictation: The following are extracts from his journal: There is a poor prospect for next term, as a number of the scholars have to stay at home and water that odious, noxious, de testable, hateful, baneful, injurious, harmful, low, mean, dirty weed that the worms love so well-Tobacco-which I hate in every form. I am now making a collection of autographs, cents of every year, postage stamps and a small block of wood of every kind. I have the bark on one side as it has been split, on another, planed, on another, smoothed, and polished on still another. I have cents of thirty-four different years, I believe. A few days ago, when at Hartford, I visited Mrs. Sigourney, and she gave me her autograph. Then I have set thirteen traps for-alas! don't think hard of mefor the poor, innocent birds! One day at the breakfast table, father and mother said they were going to Hartford. As Thomas Corwin, the senator from Ohio, was going to lecture in the evening, I asked mother if I might go down with them and stop at Mr. Bird's and hear him. At last, she said I might. . . In the evening, after an address from Senator Wilson of Massachusetts, Thomas Corwin, the wagonboy of Missouri, was introduced with great applause. His speech was very witty. He said it had been found that, instead of God's making man to earn bread by the sweat of his brow, he made the nigger to sweat for him. Afterwards we followed the torchlight procession, about 3,000 people, and a mile and a half long. We reached Mr. Bird's at about half past eleven, and then I went to bed. The subject for the Clio, this week, was, "Resolved, that the Democratic party ought to be sustained." One of the disputants remarked that the African would never be equal to the white man, and said several things against the Africans. So, upsprang I, on the other side-for I am bound to defend the African race-and spoke concerning the equality of men, &c., &c. The question was finally decided on my side. The week after, he writes: I just got home in time for the Clio. "Is the raising of tobacco morally wrong?" I spoke in the affirmative. The president did not decide the question. I was appointed orator for the next week. In the summer of 1860, he left home to spend a few weeks in Massachusetts. He had made several pleasant visits, when, as he writes in his journal,— I received a letter from mother, saying that, if I wished, I might go to New York and see the Great Eastern. I instantly replied that I would go, giving up the rest of my visits. I went by Fall River to New York, where Mr. Worthington met me, taking me at night to his house in Brooklyn. Dr. Field, of the Evangelist, gave me free tickets, and also kindly arranged to have his nephew take me to Central Park and High Bridge. Mr. Worthington went with me to the Great Eastern. It was not till I had been all over her, and had nearly been lost in her, that I had any idea of her size. He describes his visits to Barnum's Museum, Niblo's Gardens and other places, and his attendance, Sunday, at Henry Ward Beecher's and Trinity Church, "having learned more about New York," as Mr. Worthington wrote me, "than many who had lived there all their lives." However the mother-heart would delay it, the time comes when it seems best that the child should leave the homenest. It is a sad hour to the departing one, but far more so to those who remain and who know that it is probably the beginning of years of absence. He When Edward was thirteen it was decided to send him away, mainly for the study of French and German. writes, in his journal, August 26th, 1860: This is the last Sunday I shall spend at home for some time, as I am going away to school at Easthampton. I must study hard. I must try to do right, and to resist the many temptations I shall meet. I must go to church regularly, and not forget my Bible and prayers. In his first letter, he says: "There is one thing I miss here, and that is family prayers. Some of the boys, I am sorry to say, I do not like, for they use bad language. Indeed, you can hardly go along the street without hearing some one swear. I try to keep a watch over my tongue, and also to reprove them when I get a chance. I sometimes ask them to go out of my room, if they want to swear." Then follow extracts written all along: Oh, I wish the time would fly faster! I like to go to the prayermeeting, Sunday night, partly, I am afraid, because I should be more homesick in my room. I don't think I have forgotten the Bible and my prayers but once, and I hope it will be the last time. Father said, truly, that mother knew how to make up a bundle. The grapes I have shared with my friends, the apples I have put in my trunk. I have never spent a single cent for confectionery, and don't intend to. During all his school and his college days his washing was sent home, giving an opportunity to return welcome parcels. |