History of Monterey County, California : with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, farms, residences, public buildings, factories, hotels, business houses, schools, churches, and mines : with biiographical sketches of prominent citizens, Part 32

Author: Elliott & Moore
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : Elliott & Moore, Publishers
Number of Pages: 304


USA > California > Monterey County > History of Monterey County, California : with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, farms, residences, public buildings, factories, hotels, business houses, schools, churches, and mines : with biiographical sketches of prominent citizens > Part 32


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39


RESIDENCE AND FARM OF CHARLES STRAUBE, NEAR HOLLISTER, SAN BENITO CO. CAL.


RANCH AND RESIDENCE OF L.M.LADO NEAR HOLLISTER, SAN BENITO CO. CAL.


155


RECORD OF ELECTIONS HELD IN THE COUNTY.


Votes Cast in San Benito County*


Since its Organization in 1874 to the Present Time, 1881.


Names and Politics of Candidates, Total Votes cast, and Majorities.


SPECIAL ELECTION TO CHOOSE COUNTY OFFICERS, HELD MARCH, 1874.


Officers.


Candidates.


Politics.


Votes.


Maj. or


Pluralities.


Sheriff.


G. B. Montgomery . D 225


.B. F. Ross


D


410


108


.J. D. Fowler


R 302


O. Lyon


R


93


Sec'y of State .. .. E. Hallett


Ind.


365


County Clerk .. . J. S. McConnell D


257


Thomas Beck D 592


227


.. . H. M. Hayes R


298


41


... W. T. Brown D


244


. B. H. Brotherton D 196


=


.. L. E. Cramm R


90


.L. V. Parsons R


27


. . J. Russell R


8


. T. L. Baldwin R


301


State Treasurer. . Wm. Beckman Ind.


323


. John Malcom D


D


353


52


.. F. Bachr R


98


.A. P. Boyd


R


18


R


631


287


... J. Hamilton


D 647


311


. . J. J. May


D


344


Surveyor Gen'l .. Robert Gardner Ind. 334


.. Wm. Minis


D 647 313


School Supt


. . H. Z. Morris D


304


59


.. E. Twitchell. R


89


. J. N. Thompson D


245


Cl'k Supm. Court. G. I. Taggart Ind. 347


D. B. Woolf D 643


296


A. Martin. D


Ind


92


Member Congress. S. O. Houghton R


317


J. M. Black


D


607


230


P. D. Wigginton


D 664


347


J. Clark


R


377


J. S. Thompson


Ind. 91


Senator


Thomas Flint


R


W. F. White


D 568 62


Assemblyman . John Breen


R 514


.. G. M. Roberts D 559


45


Sheriff J. D. Fowler R 422


B. F. Ross


D 636


214


No.2. Thomas Flint.


R 106


38


Co. Treasurer . C. W. Wentworth R


554


66


W. S. Letcher D


488


¥


No.3. D. J. Watson D


85


16


=


T. M. Davis


Ind. 34


County Clerk ... H. M. Hayes


. J. J. Hunt


D 621


165


Dist. Attorney .. . N. C. Briggs . J. J. May


D


474


Surveyor . F. P. McCray


D 634


194


. T. A. Talleyrand


R 440


·


School Supt


.H. Z. Morris


D 680


277


. John Edwards


R 403


Coroner J. M. Black D 716


357


=


F. O. Nash


R


359


*Prepared by the County Clerk.


SAN BENITO TOWNSHIP .- For license, 21; against license, 47 ; majority against license, 26.


PAICINES TOWNSHIP .- For license, 26; against license, 36; majority against license, 10.


The law under which the said elections were held, was sub- sequently held to be uuconstitutional, in ex parte Wall, 48 Cal., 279.


GENERAL STATE ELECTION, HELD SEPTEMBER, 1875.


Offices.


Candidates.


Politics. Votes. Majority.


Governor Win. Irwin D 643


358


. T. G. Phelps Ind. 285


. John Bid well. R 99


=


W. E. Lovett R


49


Lieut .- Governor. . J. A. Johnson D 639


337


J. M. Cavis Ind 302


R. Pacheco.


R 149


W. D. Hobson R


8


Wm. Rausch R = 104 State Controller. . J. J. Green Ind. 365


.. J. G. Estudillo


D


649 326


.. C. P. Thompson R 8


Att'y General


... E. D. Sawyer Ind. 336


Dist. Attorney. . N. C. Briggs


.. W. E. Lovett


R


51


... P. Van Cleif R 89


Surveyor . George Roberts


D


355


. F. P. McCray


D


664


309


. John Edwards


R


169


207


.J. T. Jones


.S. Allen


R


265


483


211


.J. G. Sanchez


D


272


. George Chalmers Ind .


10


D


307


317


10


. T. N. Batty Ind.


9


John Brcen R


68


=


Thomas Butterfield R


69


J. V. Mathis


Ind .. 52


R


456


R 599


125


Record of the votes cast in San Benito county at a special election beld on June 6, 1874, in and for the townships of Hol- lister, Paicines and San Benito, whercat the question of licensing the sale of liquors was submitted to popular vote under the provisions of the " Local Option Law."


HOLLISTER TOWNSHIP .- For license, 233; against license, 293; majority against license, 60.


506


Assessor


. H. Dowley D


Supervisor, No.1. W. Triplett M. Pomeroy R


Paul Morrill. R 86


Coroner


.. J. W. Manderville D 615


Treasurer A. L. Smith R


184


178


. Thos. McMahon


156


SUPERVISORS, DISTRICT NO. 2.


Supervisor


C. E. Mitchell


R


88


19


J. G. Sanchez


D


69


Assessor


M. Pomeroy


R


423


=


A. Dowdy


D


649


226


FOR CONVENTION TO REVISE CONSTITUTION.


Yea. 120


22


98


JUDICIAL ELECTION HELD OCTOBER, 1875.


Supt. Pub. Instr'n. O. P. Fitzgerald D


Ezra S. Carr


R


284


County Judge . . . J. J. Harris


D


489


204


... W. E. Lovett


R


285


PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION HELD NOVEMBER, 1876.


President .S. J. Tilden D


664


230


. R. B. Hayes


R


434


Congress


.Romualdo Pacheco


R


424


P. D. Wigginton


D


668


244


State Controller. . D. M. Kenfield 432


. . Benjamin Casey


2


.. W. B. C. Brown 661


. . Romualdo Pacheco.


1


COUNTY OFFICE, SUPERVISOR, DISTRICT NO. 3.


Supervisor .T. J. Conkling D 143


G. W. Towle


R


83


GENERAL STATE ELECTION HELD SEPTEMBER, 1877.


Assemblyman .. . . Wm. Kelley


D


445


... J. F. Breen


R


524


79


FOR CONVENTION TO REVISE CONSTITUTION.


Convention .. . For 488 661


" .Against 173


Sheriff. Wm. T. Brown D 511 54


.. O. D. Peck


R


457


A. P. Boyd. R


1


County Clerk. . J. J. Hunt. D. 599


240


.. J. R. Eardly R 359


.. N. C. Briggs R.


1


22


District Att'y. .. J. J. May D. 489 N. C. Briggs R. 467


Treasurer.


A. L. Farish D 524


93


. C. W. Wentworth R .. 431


. B. W. Chappell


D


1


School Supt. . A. Martin. D 481


W. T. R. Helm


D ..


471


133


. T. A. Talleyrand. R. . 416


Coroner. L. R. Howard. R 520


. H. Crepin. . D. 439


Supervisor No.1.J. W. Hawkins D .. 549 549


SUPERVISORIAL ELECTION HELD SEPTEMBER, 1878.


Supervisor No.2.C. E. Mitchell R 68


«6 John Breen. R .. 53


15


CONSTITUTIONAL ELECTION HELD MAY, 1879.


For the New Constitution.


737


536


Against the New Constitution


201


GENERAL STATE ELECTION HELD SEPTEMBER, 1879.


Governor


.. Geo. C. Perkins


R ..


227


.. Wm. F. White.


W.


247


.Hugh J. Glenn


D.&N.C 621


R


243


Lieut-Governor. John Mansfield


W ..


174


W. R. Andrews


D. C. Reed


N. C ... 375


R


414


39


Sec'y of State .. . D. M. Burns


W


.. . A. A. Smith


N. C .. 383


67


State Controller.D. M. Kenfield.


Hugh L. Janes


N. C .. 375


57


State Treasurer.John Weil


=


L. B. Clark


Cyrus Jones


N. C .. 381


59


A. G. Escandon


R


322


699


460


of Equalization.


O. T. Chubb.


W


171


239


R. R. Commis'r.Geo. Stoneman.


R.&N.C 910


Chancy P. Phillips.


D


193


298


Rep. to Congr's. R. Pacheco.


R


Wallace Leach


D.


298


J. J. Ayres


W


400


102


Senator


A. Craig


D


.W. J. Hill.


N.C.&R. 495


63


Keating.


W


180


D


463


Assemblyman .. J. J. Harris


... M. Pomeroy


R.


362


. . C. Y. Hammond


N. C .. 278


=


Judge Sup.Co'rt . James F. Breen.


R. D. N.C. 1040 1027


AXD W.


R. H. Brotherton


Ind. .


13


Co. Treasurer .. . T. L. Baldwin


R.& N.C 540


141


.. A. L. Farrish.


D


.. 399


. . R. P. Lathrop.


Ind .... 163


County Clerk. .. H. B. Harris


N. C .. 478


41


=


. . J. J. Hunt


D.


437


. . S. T. Black.


R. .


.. 181


Sheriff.


Wm. T. Brown


D. .


. . 451


87


=


J. C. MeClure


R. .


. 281


. D. Hoffman.


N. C .. 364


District Att'y . .. J. J. May


D &N.C 606


117


N. C. Briggs


R.


.. 487


Assessor


. H. Dowdy


D ..


..


717 338


. E. B. Kent


N.C.&R 379


Surveyor.


. T. A. Talleyrand.


R.


592


85


=


. F. P. MeCray


D.


507


School Supt ..


.. J. N. Thompson


D.


685


271


W. H. Housh


R.


414


Coroner


. L. B. Howard.


R.


630


.. J. M. Black


D.


+74


Levi Chase.


R


241


169


. Lauren E. Crane


R ..


316


. W. J. Tinman


R.


245


W.


176


Hugh M. Larne


R


318


W. B. C. Brown.


R


232


180


=


Members of State BoardTyler D. Heyskell


D.


James A. Clayton


R. .


717


432


..


101


14


Surveyor . F. P. McCray D 549


81


374


156


RECORD OF ELECTIONS HELD IN THE COUNTY.


No


494


210


157


THE SAN JUSTO RANCHO AND ITS OWNERS.


Supervisor No. 2.R. Rucklidge. . D. 334


189


G. S. Nash. R 145


Supervisor No. 1.Jno. W. Hawkins


I.D. 21


John Breen. R.


140 137


C. E. Mitchell. R.


3


TO EXCLUDE IMMIGRATION OF CHINESE.


Chinese Imigrt'n. Against . 1026 1024


For


2


Supervisor No.3.F. B. Myer


D.


83


A. T. D. Bulten


R.


67


A. Leonard R. 123 40


PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION HELD NOVEMBER, 1880.


President


.W. S. Hancock D 645 218


=


J. A. Garfield


R 427


Congressman


. Romualdo Pacheco R 408


Wallace Leach. D 612


204


. John F Godfrey. N.(' 53


Assembly


. H. W. Cothran R 413


John H. Mathews. D 652 239


SUPERVISOR, DISTRICT NO. 1.


Supervisor


R. Rucklidge


442


441


T. L. Baldwin


1


.L. M. Ladd


1


San Justo Rancho.


THE San Justo Rancho, containing thirty-four thousand six hundred and nineteen acres, was granted by the Mexican Gov- ernment to General Jose Castro, and by him sold to Francisco Perez Pacheco, who conveyed it to Flint, Bixhy & Co., and they to Col. Wm. W. Hollister, the part occupied hy the Hollister Homestead Association, upon which the town of Hollister is located.


The firm of Flint, Bixby & Co., consisted of Thomas and Benjamin Flint and Lewellyn Bixby, wbo entered into co-part- nership in Terre Haute, Ind., March, 1853, to purchase stock and drive " across the plains " to California.


Having collected about two thousand four hundred head of sheep in the vicinity of Quincy, Ill., with an outfit, they drove across Iowa, crossed the Missouri river at Council Bluff's, thence followed up the North Platte by the emigrant trail via South Pass, Salt Lake City, Southern Utah, Los Angeles, and up the coast to the vicinity of San Jose. Thus ending the trip June, 1854. In October, 1855, they purchased the San Justo Rancho, using the part occupied by them for many years, almost exclu- sively for sheep-raising.


They were the first to introduce the Spanish Merino sheep from Vermont, and have since bred them continuously. They have been identified with many of the husiness interests of this part of the State, having heen partners in the firms of J. Bixhy & Co., Irvin, Flint & Co., B. P. Flint & Co., Coast Line Stage Co., California Beet Sugar Co., Cerro Benito Quicksilver Mining Co., ete.


HEAVIEST FLEECE.


The heaviest unwashed fleece on record is that of "Grizzly," a French Merino buck. The sheep was fourteen months old, and the fleece weighed forty-two pounds, and was sheared hy Flint, Bixby & Co., in San Juan, in 1859.


The climate of California is peculiarly favorable to the growth, increase and health of the sheep. Our mild winters permit them to grow throughout the year ; and it is an accepted principle among those familiar with the subject, that a sheep horn and bred in California is, at two years of age, usually as large and heavy as one of three years born and hred in the Atlantic States. The ewes produce twins and triplets more frequently here than east of the Rocky Mountains. The health of the herds is hetter. No fatal disease has ever prevailed to any serious extent. The " seab" exists in many herds, hut in a inild form, and few have died of it. It is the general opinion of sheep-breeders that the sheep bred in California will produce more wool than those of other States.


HON. THOMAS FLINT.


HON. THOMAS FLINT, son of Hon. Wm. R. Flint, now living in Anson, Maine, was born in New Vineyard, Somerset county, Maine, May 13, 1824. He belonged to the eighth generation from Thomas Flint, who settled in what is now South Danvers, Massachusetts, about the year 1642. His early life was spent on a farm-heing a farmer in summer and a student in winter. He was educated in the public schools and academies of his native State, studied medicine in Waterville, Maine, and graduated at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, in the class of 1849.


He came to California via Chagres and Panama in 1861, arriving in San Francisco July 7th, by steamship Northerner, and went to the mines at Coloma and Volcano. He returned East, and crossed the plains in 1858.


He has practiced his profession only incidentally. He was a member of the Board of Supervisors of Monterey county three years, and Supervisor for two years in San Benito county, from its organization. He is at present a member of the Board of that county.


He was elected State Senator for the Eight District, consist- ing of Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Benito counties, in 1876, which term expired in 1880.


He was one of the Commissioners appointed by the Courts iu the partition of the Ranchos Nativadad, Vergeles, San Antonio, and Jusistac.


Mr. Flint is a Royal Arch Mason, and present Master of Texas Lodge, F. & A. M., No. 46, and helongs to the Order of the Eastern Star. He is a Director of the Grangers' Business Association, of San Francisco, and of the California Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company. He has been a member of the Republican State Central, Third Congressional District, Monterey and San Benito County Committees.


+


158


THIS SECTION ADAPTED TO GRAPE GROWING.


Thomas Flint occupies a prominent place among the pioneers and influential citizens of California, and has had much to do with its growth and prosperity. He has honorably filled many places of responsibility and discharged the dutics con- nected therewith with fidelity. His public position has made his name generally known throughout the State. While scrv- ing as Senator for his district he showed himself possessed of tbe qualities of an able legislator who constantly sought the welfare of his constituents.


He is also a practical farmer, drawing his knowledge of farming from many years of practical experience. Since he came to California, he has taken an active interest in all pro- jects to advance and elevate farming pursuits, having the best of success in all his undertakings.


BENJAMIN FLINT.


BENJAMIN FLINT, brotlicr of Thomas, was born February 21, 1827. He also was raised on a farm, but studied medicine and graduated. He started for California, February 22, 1849; arrived on the somewhat noted ship Humboldt from Panama, August 29, 1849, after a very long, tedious passage, and went to the mines, and was moderately occupied in mining and in other occupations. He returned East in 1853 to make the over- land trip.


He was once a candidate for County Judge of Monterey county. He was Vice-President in the first organization of the Southern Pacific Railroad, and a Director in several corpo- rations. He was a member of the Society of California Pio- neers, and of Texas Lodge, F. & A. M.


LEWELLYN BIXBY.


LEWELLYN BIXBY was born October 4, 1825, in Norridge- wock, Maine; received his education in common high-schools in Somerset county-raised a farmer. He came to California in company with Dr. Flint, in 1851, and went to the mines. He returned East in company with T. and B. Flint. He is at present looking after the interests of Flint, Bixby & Co., in Los Angeles county.


INCIDENTS OF THE OVERLAND TRIP.


They arrived at San Jose with nearly three thousand head of sheep, including increase of the original. They started from the Mississippi river. They added to their stock one hundred and twenty-five head of cattle purchased in Utah.


The party used ox-teams and wagons for transportation aeross the plains, driving on an average about twelve miles daily. They had but little trouble while on the journey, and had only one man shot and killed while on guard, about midnight, by Indians who attempted to steal horses-having eut tbree horses from their stake-pins-when driving up the Platte river in the Pawnee country.


Grape Growing.


THEOPHILUS VACHE has about twenty-five varieties of grapes, all doing well." He raises the Muscat of Alexandria, Black Hamburg, Elaming Tokay and other choice varieties for table usc, and uses tbe product of French vines for wine-making. He makes from ten to fifteen thousand gallons of wine per year, most of which be retails at his wine depot in Hollister.


Mr. Vache has also a large variety of fruits on his ranch, including dates, figs, mulberries, plums, peaches, pears, apples, apricots, etc., but makes a specialty of his vineyard. Every variety of grapes that has been tried, flourishes and yields hand- somely in this county. One thousand vines will grow on an acre, and after coming to maturity, will yield at least twenty- five pounds to tbe vine.


The Gabilan mountains, which border tbe valley on the west, are particularly adapted, not only to grape culture, but to the culture of all kinds of fruit.


Desirable spots for vineyards in the Gabilan mountains can be obtained for a small consideration, and with a little additional expenditure, in a few years a person can have a never failing source of revenue, besides contributing materially to the growth and prosperity of the county. There is no reason wby San . Benito county should not be famned for its vineyards.


THEOPHILUS VACHE.


THEOPHILUS VACHE is a native of France, where he was born January 10, 1814. He learned of his father the baker's trade and followed it while iu France, and part of the time since he came to America.


He came to New Orleans in 1840, and remained tbere only six months, thence to Santa Fé, New Mexico. In 1842 he was living in Chihuahua, Mexico, following the business of baking. After a year he returned to Santa Fe and remained until 1845, wben he returned to France via New Orleans. After remain- ing at home a few months he sailed for Peru, arriving in 1846. He remained tbere until 1849, when a lour months voyage brought him to San Francisco, at which port he arrived July 8, 1849, and at first worked in a bakery.


In 1850 he came to this county, and engaged in dairying and sheep raising. In 1854 he located bis present vineyard and farm, which consists of three hundred and twenty acres, some eight miles from Hollister and about four miles from the railroad.


The farm is foot-hill land with a good sand soil. It is of the very best kind for grapes, and produces all kinds of vegetables and cereals. He has a splendid orchard of all kinds of fruits. He also keeps twenty-five cattle, twelve horses and other stoek.


Mr. Vache is tho happy possessor of the only vineyard of any particular importance or pretensions in the county.


RESIDENCE OF G. S. HARMON, NEAR SAN JUAN SAN BENITO CO, CAL ..


RESIDENCE DF EDWARD WILLCOX, ALAMEDA STREET, SAN JUAN, SAN BENITO CO, CAL.


011804.7.2


159


BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF RESIDENTS.


Biographical.


HON. J. F. BREEN.


HON. J. F. BREEN, Superior Judge of San Benito county, is one of the most earnest men in law or literature in the State. He is one of the survivors of the ill-fated Donner party.


He was born on the 21st of January, 1841, near Keokuk, Iowa. His father, with his family consisting of his wife and seven children, emigrated to California in 1846. After heing relieved from Donner Lake, in 1847, his father located perma- nently in San Juan, in the year 1848.


Judge Breen graduated at Santa Clara College in the year 1861, studied law with Clark & Carpentier, in San Francisco, and was hy the Supreme Court licensed as an attorney and counsellor-at-law, in April, 1862.


He engaged in the practice of the profession at San Juan, Monterey county, and has continued to do so, without inter- mission, excepting the times when on the hench, or ahsent on legislative duties. In 1864, he was elected to the office of District Attorney of Monterey county. In 1866 he was re-elected.


In 1868 he received his first and only political defeat at the polls, having, in 1868, accepted from the Republican party of Monterey county, the nomination for Assemblyman, on a plat- form pledged to the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Federal constitution. The county heing Democratic in politics, tbe platform of equality of all men was not strong enough to resist the waves, and the ehhing tides hore him to the classic shades of "Salt river," where he landed with colors nailed to the mast.


In 1870, he was elected County Judge of Monterey county, which position he resigned when the county was divided by the erection of San Benito county.


On the erection of the county of San Benito, in 1874, he was appointed County Judge of the new county, which position be filled for the term of four years.


In 1877, he was elected to represent the county of San Benito in the lower branch of the Legislature. He there served on Committees on Judiciary and Public Lands, and also on the special Committee on Labor Investigation. The purpose of which was to inquire into the cause of the lahor riots in San Francisco.


It is believed that some of his votes in the Assembly (he was one of the hopeless minority of fifteen who voted against the Incendiary Act) so favorably commended him to the "Work- ingmen's party" that he was hy that party nominated as one of the delegates at large. Together with his co-nominees, he was defeated, hut scored the highest vote of any one on the ticket.


At the election held in 1879, under the New Constitution, he was unanimously, as far as different political organiza- tions were concerned, nominated for Superior Judge of the county. He was elected without opposition. He now holds the office.


Judge Breen is Republican in politics. He is very popular at home, as is shown by repeated elections in a Democratic county. He is pleasant in his intercourse with the people, and is a cultured student, a keen ohserver, and quick to discern and weigh the facts presented before him in a judicial capacity.


Some account of the Donner party, of which Mr. Breen was one, is given on page fifty-three. But we cannot close this article without giving some extracts from a work entitled " History of the Donner Party."


SUFFERINGS OF THE BREEN FAMILY.


The following extract refers to the mother of Judge Breen :-


Very noble was tbe part wbich Mrs. Margaret Breen performed in this Donner tragedy, and very beautifully has that part heen recorded hy a woman's hand. It is written so tenderly, so delicately, and with so much reverence for the maternal love which alone sustained Mrs. Breen, that it can hardly be improved. This account was publisbed hy its author, Mrs. Farnham, in 1849, and is made the basis of the following sketch. With alterations here and there, made for the sake of brevity, the article is as it was written :


There was no food in Starved Camp. There was nothing to eat save a few seeds, tied in hits of clotb, that had been brought along hy some one, and the precious lump of sugar. There were also a few teaspoonfuls of tea. They sat and lay hy the fire most of the day, with what heavy hearts, who shall know! They were upon ahout thirty feet of snow. The dead lay before them, a ghastlier sigbt in the sunshine that succeeded the storm, than when the dark clouds overhung them. They had no words of cbeer to speak to each other, no courage nor hope to share, hut those which pointed to a life where hunger and cold could never come, and their benumhed faculties were scarcely able to sieze upon a consolation so remote from the thoughts and wants that absorbed their whole being.


A. situation like this will not awaken in common natures religious trust. Under such protracted suffering the animal outgrows the spiritual in frightful disproportion. Yet the mother's sublime faith, which had brought her thus far through her agonies, with a heart still warm to those who shared them, did not fail her now. She spoke gently to one and another ; asked her husband to repeat the litany, and the children to join her in the responses; and endeavored to fix their minds upon the time when relief would probably come. Nature, as unerringly as philosophy could have done, taught her that the only hope of sustaining those ahout ber, was to set before them a termination to their sufferings.


160


BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF RESIDENTS.


Wbat days and nights were those that went by while they waited! Life waning vieibly in those about ber ; not a morsel of food to offer them ; her own infant, and the little one that had been cherished and saved through all hy the mother now dead, wasting hourly into the more perfect image of death ; her husband worn to a skeleton; it needed the fullest measure of exalted faith, of womanly tenderness and self-sac- rifice, to sustain her through such a season. She watched by night as well as by day. She gathered wood to keep them warm. She hoiled the handful of tea and dispensed it to them, and when she found one sunken and speechless, she broke with her teeth a morsel of the precious sugar, and put it in his lips. Sbe fed her babe freely on snow-water, and scanty as was the wardrobe she had, sbe managed to get fresh cloth- ing next to its skin two or three times a week. Where, one asks in wonder and reverence, did she get the strength and courage for all this ? She sat all night by her family, her elbows on her knees, brooding over the meek little victim that lay there, watching those who slept, and occasionally dozing with a fearful consciousness of their terrible condition always upon her. The sense of peril never slumhered. Many times during the night she went to the sleepers to ascertain if they all still breathed. She put her hand under their blankets, and beld it before the mouth. In this way she assured herself that they were yet alive. But once her blood curdled to find, on approaching her hand to the lips of one of her own children, that there was no warm breath upon it. She tried to open bis mouth and found the jaws set. She roused her hus- hand, "Oh! Patrick, man, arise and help me! James is dying." "Let him die !" said the miserable father, " he will he better off tban any of us." She was terribly sbocked by this reply. In her own expressive language, her heart stood still when she heard it. She was bewildered and knew not where to set her weary hands to work, but she recovered in a few moments and began to cbafe the breast and hands of the per- ishing boy. Sbe broke a hit of sugar, and with considerable effort forced it between his teeth with a few drops of snow- water. She saw bim swallow, then a slight convulsive motion stirred his features, he stretched bis limbs feebly, and in a moment more opened his eyes and looked upon her. How fer- vent were her thanks to the Great Father, whom she forgot not, day or night.




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