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spirit of the times. An aged aunt, recently deceased, used to depict, with much vivacity, the scene of her father's setting out to join the Provincial army. All hands were busy in preparing for his departure; but it was a task of mingled fear and hope. The dread shadow of approaching war and revolution was resting upon every household in New England; and many a wife's, mother's, daughter's or sister's heart already presaged the agony that was to come! Neither mother nor daughter, on that night, gave slumber to her eyelids; long before daybreak the retreating footsteps died upon the ear, and the house was left solitary and desolate. How different was the scene, when her father and his fellow-townsmen returned home with the laurels of Bunker Hill still fresh upon their brows.

Among Major Lewis's intimate friends were his cousin, Hon. George Thacher,* of Biddeford; General Peleg Wadsworth; Judge Longfellow, of Gorham; and the late Hon. Prentiss Mellen, Chief-Justice of Maine. When visited by these friends, the state of the country was an invariable subject of discourse; and they would often sit up till after midnight, absorbed in warm political discussions. Major Lewis, as has been intimated, was a strong Federalist, of the school of Washington; and, like many others. of that school," hated" Mr. Jefferson "with perfect hatred.” To his boyish intercourse with his grandfather is to be

*Mr. Thacher died in 1824. He represented the District of Maine in Congress for several years, and was then appointed an Associate Judge of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. He continued on the Bench almost to the day of his death. He was a man of superior ability, gifted with the keenest wit, and endeared to all who knew him by his fine social qualities. While in Congress, he was challenged to fight a duel. His reply has passed into a proverb. It was to this effect, -that in matters of such gravity he always consulted his wife, then at home in Maine, and he should feel especially bound to do so in the present instance. In the meanwhile, if the other party would chalk out a man of just his size, and shooting at it according to the rules of the duello, should hit it, he (Judge T.) would cheerfully admit that, had he stood in the place of the chalk-man, the ball would have hit him too.

attributed much of the political spirit which marked Sear gent's mature years. Hardly a pleasant day passed, during the latter part of the venerable man's life, in which he failed to pay his daughter a visit. Seargent was a par ticular favorite with him, and, unconsciously, perhaps, was thus early imbibing principles and a habit of feeling in reference to public affairs, which underwent no essential change to the day of his death.

In this connection the name of his uncle, Hon. Lothrop Lewis, should not be omitted—a name still cherished by all who knew him with peculiar respect. For many years he was entrusted by his fellow-citizens with numerous important offices, and, but for his untimely decease, bid fair to reach the highest honors in the State. A man of eminent worth, mildness, and dignity of character-a model of public virtue -he was admirably fitted to inspire the young with just and honorable sentiments. Seargent was much in his family, and conceived for him the greatest regard and veneration.

Capt. Prentiss' farm was about half a mile from Major Lewis's, on the road to Standish. The old homestead, built on a gentle elevation, has a very pleasant outlook, while from a neighboring hill the eye rests on a landscape, or rather series of landscapes, of more than ordinary attraction.

Owing to his lameness, which precluded walking for several years after the removal to Gorham, Seargent passed the greater portion of his boyhood in-doors, and under the immediate eye of his mother. He was emphatically the son of her right hand. The sufferings of his infancy, long oscillating between life and death,* and his still crippled state,

* While his father was absent at sea, a sweet little sister, whose memory is still cherished in the family, died; but, by some mistake, the report reached his father that it was Seargent. He immediately wrote to the mother, congratulating her that it had pleased Providence to spare Caroline, and to take away the poor cripple, whose prospect for life seemed so hopeless. How little do we know when we are most blessed!

would of themselves have especially endeared him to herfor what touches the maternal heart like a sick, unfortunate child?—but he was endeared to her yet more by his extreme beauty, sprightliness of mind, and affectionate disposition. Everybody was struck with his noble forehead, fine eye, and frank, open countenance; a countenance beaming, even in its dawn, with that intellectual fire which, in later years, was wont to shine with such lightning brightness. Everybody, too, noted his mental forwardness, and predicted that he would one day be heard of in the world. The tradition of him and his witty sayings is still fresh among the old neighbors and his playmates at school. But more than by his beauty, or his wit, was the little cripple endeared to his mother by his sweet disposition. From the first, he was a tender-hearted, generous, loving boy; singularly free from that selfish petulance and illnature which too often cast a shadow over the face of childhood; and all these fine qualities crystallized, as it were, into devotion to his mother. Never was he so happy as when sitting by her side or nestling in her bosom. When, according to the good old Christian custom, she on Sabbath evening retired with the younger children to pray with and for them, he always insisted upon kneeling beside the same chair with his mother. What began in weakness and suffering, grew into a habit, a necessity, and

"A joy for ever."

His in-door life afforded excellent opportunity for reading. There were few Puritan families of New England in which one might not meet, in whole or in part, the writings of John Newton, Baxter's Saint's Rest, Bunyan's Holy War and Pilgrim's Progress, Edwards On the Affections, Milton's Paradise Lost, Young's Night Thoughts, and similar works. The list would have now to be greatly enlarged. In many

a plain, rural household, may be found a select library of the best poets, historians, essayists, and divines of England and America. The sons and daughters of the intelligent New England farmers are early initiated into the noblest literature of their mother tongue. Before reaching his tenth year, Seargent was master of every book upon which he could lay his hand. The Bible, in particular, he read and re-read, until his acquaintance with its contents was astonishing. He would repeat large portions from memory. When no one else could " find the text" on Sabbath evening, he was seldom appealed to in vain. Next to the Bible, his greatest favorite was the Pilgrim's Progress. Over this matchless allegory he pored with unceasing delight; he knew by heart every step which Christian travelled from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. The copy used by him was full of pictures, of the Palace Beautiful, Vanity Fair, the Cave of Pope and Pagan, Giant Despair, Doubting Castle, and the Delectable Mountains; and so deeply were the scenes, thus graphically depicted by pen and pencil, engraven upon his fancy, that in after years Pilgrim's Progress, like the Bible, was to him a neverfailing treasury of felicitous allusion and illustration.

Thus passed away the first ten years of his life ; the season of budding to the intellect and the affections. No feature of his mature character was wanting in that of his boyhood. Those who knew him, from the cradle to the grave, recognized the same high-souled, genial, and affec tionate being at ten and at forty.

"The Child was Father of the man."

CHAPTER II.

The District School-house-His fondness for Gunning and Fishing-It is decided that he shall go to College-Preparatory Studies at Gorham Academy-Rev. Reuben Nason-Anecdotes of his boyish Wit and Oratory-Enters Bowdoin College-Reminiscences of him at this period-Graduates, and commences the Study of Law-Judge Pierce's Recollections of him-Letters. from his Friend Appleton.

ET. 11-18. 1818-1827.

AT a little distance from Captain Prentiss's farm stood, and still stands, the district school-house. It was thus described by his son, more than a quarter of a century later :

Behold yonder simple building near the crossing of the village roads! It is of small and rude construction, but stands in a pleasant and quiet spot. A magnificent old elm spreads its broad arms above, and seems to lean towards it, as a strong man bends to shelter and protect a child. A brook runs through the meadow near, and, hard by, there is an orchard; but the trees have suffered much, and bear no fruit except upon the most remote and inaccessible branches. From within its walls comes a busy hum, such as you may hear in a disturbed bee-hive. Now peep through yonder window, and you will see a hundred children, with rosy cheeks, mischievous eyes, and demure faces, all engaged, or pretending to be engaged, in their little lessons. It is the public school-the free, the common school,-provided by law; open to all; claimed from the community as a right, not accepted as a bounty. Here the children of the rich and poor, high and low, meet upon perfect equality, and commence under the same auspices the race of life. Here the sustenance

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