Chapter 6

Captain Abijah Willard. First Lieutenant "Haskal." [Henry Haskell ?] Second Lieutenant Willard. [Levi ?] Ensign Willard. [Aaron ?]

SERGEANTS.

Thomas Beman, husbandman, aged 25 James Houghton, " " 25

CORPORALS.

Jacob Willard, husbandman aged 31 Thomas Willard, " " 23

DRUMMERS.

Joseph Farnsworth, husbandman aged 20 Joseph Phelps, " " 21

PRIVATES,

Benjamin Atherton, laborer aged 20 Phineas Atherton, " " 16 Daniel Atherton, " " 21 Jonathan Brown, " " 17 Joseph Bailey, " " 30 Phineas Divoll, " " 22 Abel Farnsworth, husbandman " 22 John Farnsworth, laborer " 30 Jeremiah Field, " " 18 Ephraim Goss, " " 22 Thomas Henderson, " " 40 Daniel Harper, " " 21 Elias Haskell, cooper " 19 William Hutson, cordwainer " 22 John Johnson, laborer " 22 Samuel Kilham " " 20 Matthias Larkin," " 30 Joseph Metcalf, cooper " 21 Joseph Pratt, laborer " 30 Joseph Priest, " " 45 Daniel Sanders, " " 19 Isaac Sollendine, laborer " 21 Jacob Stiles, housewright " 19 Lemuel Turner, laborer " 18 Nathaniel Turner, " " 18 William Turner, " " 18 Aaron Wilder, " " 30 William Warner, " " 20 David Wilson, " " 18 Levi Woods, laborer aged 20 Silas Willard, " " 19 Uziah Wyman, apothecary " 21 John Warner, laborer " 20 James Willard, " " 18 John Wilson, " " 20

Besides the above forty-five, there were, in other companies, three natives of Lancaster:--

Nathaniel Johnson, yeoman aged 25 Jonas Moor, " " 32 John Rugg, husbandman " 31

What special part these men took in the investment and capture of the formidable fort of Beau Sejour, or in the assaults upon the minor forts, neither record nor tradition tell, and we are equally uninformed respecting their participation in the pitiable scenes enacted along the shores of Minas and Chignecto Bays. The Massachusetts Archives contain no pay-rolls of this expedition, and no papers of Captain Abijah Willard are known to exist throwing any light upon its history. That the service was not only inglorious in part, and ungrateful to the truly brave, but attended with much hardship, is attested by the following documents copied from Massachusetts Archives, lv, 62 and 63. They are there in the handwriting of Secretary Josiah Willard:--

"_Sir_: I have received your Letter giving me an acct. of the Hardships your poor Soldiers are exposed to. I sincerely Compassionate their unhappy case & I pray God to find out some Way for their Relief. The Governor is not expected here till the month of December. When he arrives I shall endeavour to mention the affair to him. In the mean time, I have written a Letter to Major General Winslow which I have left open, Leaving it with you to deliver it or not as you shall judge best, First sealing it before you deliver it The Council being informed that I had a Letter from you upon the subject of these Hardships of the Soldiers desired me to communicate it to them, which I did. What they will do upon it I know not.

"Octob'r 31, 1755.

To ABIJAH WILLARD."

"BOSTON, Oct. 31, 1755

"_Sir_: I have lately received a Letter from my Kinsman Cpt. Abijah Willard expressing his tender concern for his soldiers who are exposed to ly in Tents in this cold season now coming on and their cloath now worn out. I would fain use any Interest I could make that may contribute to the Relief of these and other the Provincial soldiers in Nova Scotia in the like circumstances, but I am a perfect stranger both to Governor Lawrence & Coll. Monkton. But the acquaintance I have of you & my knowledge of your compassionate spirit, especially towards the soldiers under your command in like circumstances, urges me to write to you on this occasion (not from any Distrust I have of your care in these matters, but possibly as your Distance from the Place where this Company is quartered may keep you in some Ignorance of the Difficulties these poor men labour under) to desire you would interpose your best offices for their Relief. It seems that these men can be of little service in act of Duty required of them while they are so destitute of the necessary. Comforts & Refreshments of Life. You will excuse this Freedom. With my earnest desires of the gracious Presence of God with you & particularly to prosper your enterprises for the Good of your nation & Countrey I am, Sir, Your very humble serv't,

"JOSIAH WILLARD."

This was not Captain Willard's first experience of Nova Scotia, nor was it to be his last. Ten years before he enlisted in the expedition against Louisburg, being first lieutenant of Captain Joshua Pierce's company, in the Fourth Massachusetts Regiment, of which his father, Samuel Willard, was colonel. He was there promoted to a captaincy, July 31, 1745, three days after his twenty-first birthday. Little more than twenty years had passed from the time when he had assisted in forcing the broken-hearted Acadien farmers into exile, and again he sailed for Nova Scotia, himself a fugitive, proscribed as a Tory, his ample estate confiscated, and his name a reproach among his life-long neighbors. As thousands of French Neutrals from Georgia to Massachusetts Bay sighed away their lives with grieving for their lost Acadie, so we know Abijah Willard, so long as he lived, looked westward with yearning heart toward that elm-shaded home so familiar to all Lancastrians. On the coast of the Bay of Fundy, not far west of St. John, is a locality yet called _Lancaster_. Colonel Abijah Willard gave it the name. It was his retreat in exile, and there he died in 1789.

Of the thousand Acadiens apportioned to the Province of Massachusetts, the committee appointed by General Court for the duty of distributing them among the several towns, sent three families, consisting of twenty persons, to Lancaster. These were Benoni Melanson, his wife Mary, and children, Mary, Joseph, Simeon, John, Bezaleel, "Carre," and another daughter not named; Geoffroy Benway, Abigail, his wife, and children, John, Peter, Joseph, and Mary; Theal Forre, his wife Abigail, and children, Mary, Abigail, Margaret. The Forre family were soon transferred to Harvard. They arrived in February, 1756, and the accounts of the town's selectmen for their support were regularly rendered until February, 1761. They were destitute, sickly, and apparently utterly unable to support themselves, and were billeted now here, now there, among the farmers, at a fixed price of two shillings and eight-pence each per week for their board. Sometimes a house was hired for them, and, in addition to rent paid, we find in the selectmen's charges such items as these:--

_£ s d gr_

To cash pd for an Interpreter and paper, 3 4 To what Nessecareys we found them, 1 0 8 0 To 472 weight of Befe cost, 3 3 2 1 To Corn that they have had & yoused, with Sauss, 10 8 To one Bushel of Salt & Salting the Befe, 5 6 to one washing tub, 2 earthen pots & pail, 4 0 to wood for the winter season for the year 1757, 1 6 8

Direct evidence to the helpless condition of the two families of French Neutrals in Lancaster is given in a letter from the selectmen, dated January 24, 1757, found in Massachusetts Archives, xxiii, 330:--

"and here Foloweth an account of the curcumstances, age and sexes of those people, thare Is two famles Consisting of fifteen In Number, the whole to witt. Benoni Melanso with his wife of about fourty four or five years of age, and they have seven children thre Boyes and four Girlls, the Eldest Girl about 17 years old, the boye Next about 15 years old, Sickly. Can Do Nothing. ye Next Boy 12 years old. ye Next boy 10 years old, and ye four Girles all under them Down to two years old, and the woman almost a Criple....

The Name of the others Is Jefray--& his wife, he almost an Idot and aboute 46 years old, ... they have four children 3 Boyes & one Girll. ye Eldest Boye 10 yeares old & ye Rest Down to two years old.

"WM. RICHARDSON } "JOHN CARTER } Selectmen of Lancaster." "JOSHUA FAIRBANK}

Shortly after the date of the above, these unhappy people suddenly disappeared from their habitation. Reckless with homesickness, they had stolen away, and made a bold push for the sea, in the vain hope that on it they might float back to the Basin of Minas. This was in the depth of winter, February, 1757. They came to the coast at Weymouth. There they soon encountered the questioning of local authority, and to excuse their intrusion Melanson made complaint against his Lancaster guardians, the history of which is in Massachusetts Archives, xxiii, 356.

"The Committee to whom was referred the Petition of Benoni Melanzan in behalf of himself and sundrie other French People, Having met and heard the Petition and one of the Selectmen of Lancaster, relating to the several matters therein Complained of and also have heard the Representative of Weymouth where the French People mentioned in s d Petition at present reside: Beg leave to report as follows. Viz: That it doth not appear that ye Petitioner had any Grounds to complain of the selectmen of Lancaster or either of them relating the matter complained of, and therefore Beg leave further Report that the Committee are of oppinion that the said French People be ordered forthwith to Return to Lancaster from whence they in a disorderly manner withdrew themselves, all which is Humbly submited.

"pr order of the Comitte

"SILVANUS BOURN."

"In Council, February 24, 1757.

"Read and ordered that this Report be so far accepted as relates to the Petitioners Complaint of his Treatment at Lancaster being without Grounds, but inasmuch as the Petitioner offers to undertake for the support of himself and the other French removed from Lancaster except in the article of Firing and House Room, and is likewise willing that two of his sons be placed out in Families and inasmuch as the Petitioner is by employment a Fisherman, which cannot be exercised at Lancaster, therefore, Ordered that he have liberty to reside in the Town of Weymouth until this Court shall otherwise order, and the Selectmen of said Town are impowered to place two of his sons in English families for a reasonable term and to provide House Room for the Rest, & the liberty of cutting as much Firewood as is necessary in as convenient a Lot as can be procured. The account of the Charge of House Rent and Firewood to be allowed out of the Province Treasury.

"Sent down for concurrence.

"THOS. CLARKE, Dpty. Secy.

"Feb. 25, 1757."

"In the House of Representatives. Read and unanimously non concurred, and ordered that Report of the Com'tee be accepted & ye the said French Neutrals so called be directed to return forthwith to ye Town of Lancaster accordingly.

"Sent up for Concurrence.

"T. HUBBARD, Spk'r."

"In Council, Feb. 25, 1757.

"Read & Concurred. A. OLIVER, Secy.

"Consented to S. PHIPS."

They were soon again in the quarters whence they fled. In June, 1760, the Melanson family were divided between Lunenburg, Leominister, and Hardwick, while the Benways remained. Among the petitioners for leave to go to "Old France," a little later, appear "Benoni Melanson and Marie, with family of seven," and from that date the waifs from Acadie appear no more in the annals of Lancaster.

* * * * *

GIFTS TO COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES.

BY CHARLES F. THWING.

The generosity of the American people, in the making of gifts to their institutions of learning, is munificent. The generosity is keeping pace with the increase of wealth. In 1847, Abbott Lawrence gave fifty thousand dollars to Harvard University, to found the school of science which now bears his name. This gift is declared to be "the largest amount ever given at one time, during the lifetime of the donor, to any public institution in this country." But since the year 1847, it is probable that not less than fifty millions of dollars have been donated by individuals to educational institutions. In several instances, gifts, each approaching, or even exceeding, a million of dollars, have been bestowed. The Baltimore merchant, Johns Hopkins, gave not less than three millions of dollars to a great university, which, like Harvard, bears the name of its founder. Henry W. Sage and Ezra Cornell contributed more than a million to the endowment of Cornell University. The gifts of Amasa Stone to the Adelbert University at Cleveland aggregate more than half a million. Since 1864, Ario Pardee has given to Lafayette College more than five hundred thousand dollars; and the donations of John C. Green to Princeton aggregate toward a million of dollars. Alexander Agassiz, worthy son of a worthy father, has donated more than a quarter of a million of dollars to the equipment of the Museum of Comparative Zoology and Anatomy which his father founded. Joseph E. Sheffield endowed the scientific school at New Haven which bears his name. The late Nathaniel Thayer, of Boston, contributed about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to Harvard. Among various institutions in the West, South, and North, Mrs. Valeria G. Stone, of Maiden, Massachusetts, has, within the last five years, distributed more than a million of dollars. George Peabody's benevolences amount to eight millions of dollars, about one fourth of which forms the Southern Educational Fund, and about one eighth endowed the Peabody Institute at Baltimore. John F. Slater gave a million of dollars to the cause of Southern education. The amounts contributed to college and university education in the last ten years may be thus summarized:[A]

1872 $6,282,461 1873 8,238,141 1874 1,845,354 1875 2,703,650 1876 2,743,348 1877 1,273,991 1878 1,389,633 1879 3,878,648 1880 2,666,571 1881 4,601,069

[Footnote A: Compiled from various Reports of the United States Commissioner of Education.]

In the nineteen years since the close of the war, many institutions have been founded with munificent endowments, as Johns Hopkins, Smith at Northampton, Wellesley; and many more institutions have vastly increased their resources. Harvard's property has perhaps tripled in amount; Princeton's income, under the presidency of Dr. McCosh, has greatly enlarged; Yale's revenue has also received large additions. Colleges in every State have been the recipients of munificent gifts. Notwithstanding, however, these benevolences, most colleges are in a constant state of poverty. Indeed, it may be said that every college ought to be poor; that is, it ought to have needs far outrunning its immediate means of supplying them. Harvard is frequently making applications for funds, which appear to be needed quite as much in Cambridge, as in the new college of a new town of a new State. At the present time, colleges stand in peculiar need of gifts for general purposes of administration. Funds are frequently given for a special object, as the foundation of a professorship. But the amount may be inadequate. It is not expedient to decline the gift. Properly to endow the new chair, therefore, revenue must be drawn from the general funds, which thus suffer diminution. Donations are of the greatest advantage to a college, which are free from conditions relative to their use.

The demand of institutions of learning for endowment receives special emphasis at the present by the decreasing rate of interest. It is difficult, every college treasurer knows well, so to invest funds with safety as to cause them to return more than five per cent, interest. Ten years ago in the East it was as easy to secure seven, as it is now to secure five, per cent. In one year one college saw its income decrease many thousand dollars by reason of this decrease in the rate of interest. Bowdoin College is distinguished for the success with which its funds are administered. At the present these funds are said to pay about six per cent, interest, but it is a rate higher than many colleges are able to gain. By this decrease the salaries of professors, the income of scholarships, and the entire revenue, suffer.

Many reasons might be urged in behalf of benevolence to institutions of learning. Funds thus given are as a rule administered with extraordinary financial skill. Their permanence is greater than the permanence of funds in trust companies and savings banks. Harvard, the oldest college, Yale, the next to the oldest (with the exception of William and Mary), have funds still unimpaired, still applied to the designs of those who gave them in the first years of their incorporation.

Gifts to a college are, moreover, an application of the right principle of benevolence of helping those who help themselves. The trustees, the professors, are, in proportion to their income, the most generous. Not seldom do they pledge a year's salary for the benefit of the institutions which they officially serve. The first nineteen donors to Tabor College, Iowa, several of whom were its officers, gave no less than _sixty per cent._ of the assessed value of their property. The efficient president of Colorado College has been engaged in making money for his college in legitimate business, in preference to making his own fortune. The students, as well as the officers, of colleges endeavor to help themselves to an education in all fitting ways. The keeping of school, the doing of chores, the running of errands, the tutoring of fellow-students, suggest the various ways in which they endeavor to work their way through college.

Those who thus donate their money, in amounts either large or small, foster the highest interests of the nation. From institutions of learning flow the best forces of the national life. Literature, the fine arts, patriotism, philanthrophy, and religion, thus receive their strongest motives. The higher education in the United States is most intimately related to the master-minds of American literature. Longfellow, Hawthorne, Lowell, Holmes, were in part created by Bowdoin and Harvard. Among the most efficient officers of the late war were the graduates of the colleges. Without the college the ministry would become a "sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal" indeed, and without a learned ministry the church would languish. In the early years of the century, Mr. John Norris, of Salem, proposed to give a large sum of money to the cause of foreign missions. He was persuaded, however, to transfer the gift to the foundation of the Andover Theological Seminary, assured that thus he was really giving it to the missionary cause. So the event proved. For the first American missionaries were trained at Andover. Thus, he who gives his money to the college, gives it to the fostering of the highest and best forces in American thought and character.

* * * * *

SONG OF THE WINDS.

BY HENRY B. CARRINGTON.

I.

Thin as the viewless air, Swifter than dreams can be, Above, around, and everywhere, We speed with pinions free. No barrier bounds our path, But, ever, to and fro, Angels of mercy and of wrath. Onward, in haste we go.

II.

Our birth, mid Chaos rude, Ere Earth had formed its shell; And nursed we were, in solitude, Where hoary night did dwell. We tossed her raven hair, Ere sun began to glow, And whirled the atoms through the air, To form the moon, I trow.

III.

We heard the Eternal Voice Pronounce, "Let there be Light!" And, shrieking, fled, beneath the wings Of the escaping Night. We saw the earth arise, Childlike, from Nature's womb, And flew to it, with joyous cries,-- We knew it was our home.

IV.

How brilliant, then, its dyes, O'er past we could not grieve;-- We rocked the trees of Paradise, And whisked the locks of Eve. Mid things so gay and calm, With wings, as those of doves, We floated o'er those fields of balm, As lightest zephyr roves.

V.

All changed from peace to wrath When stern Archangel came And drove that pair from garden path, With sword of lambent flame. Our wings grew strong and broad, Our anger burst on high, We tore huge trees,--we dashed along, Our shadows gloomed the sky.

VI.

Our home, the boundless air Or Ocean's surging breast,-- We meet the lightnings' lurid glare, Or hang on rainbow's crest; At touch, the forests bow, The lake uplifts its voice, The long grass hums its anthem low, And ocean waves rejoice.

VII.

Our flocks, the drifting clouds That sweep across the plain, Like vessels seen, with netted shrouds, At rest upon the main. We laugh to see them spread With darkened fleece, afar,-- While thunders mutter, overhead, Like trumpet notes of war.

VIII.

We scorn the pride of man, With us he dare not cope, Build vessel strong as e'er he can, We shiver mast and rope. Too long we tarry now-- Away,--with speed, away, More than a thousand miles we go, To sink a ship to-day.

* * * * *

BRITISH LOSSES IN THE REVOLUTION.

FROM APRIL 19, 1775, TO THE SURRENDER OF GENERAL BURGOYNE,

OCTOBER 17, 1777

[The following account of the losses of the British in the Revolution, for the first thirty months of the war, is taken from The London Magazine of February, 1778, and is interesting in that it differs from all the statements that appear in our United States Histories of that portion of the war.--ED.]

In March, 1776, the Parliament of Great Britain Voted 42,390 Men for the Service of America; These troops Landed Accordingly, And have Lost agreeable to their Returns as Followeth:--