F 104- Ti^ ^o!UJL.J2-cL fe^ Class FiO liB. scale of development. Tiie limbs of a Wend- ish woman are to the limbs of the Saxon as the King's Alder is to a common sajding. This mannnoth tree was saved from de- struction by the late King of Prussia. His Majesty once made a tour through the Spree- wald, and seeing this beautiful tree, redeem- ed it by a lilteral sum from its owner, who Avas about to cut it down. Hence its name, "Die Konigs Erie." It is held in great rev- erence by the peasantry, and they would re- sent the uses which, in the cause of pliysio- logical science,! was comjielled to make of it. A FOOT-HOLD. IIariii.y a steamer that crosises tlie sea But, carries one traveler more, For a little time, out on the shoreless sea, Than slie counted when leaving the shore. Blown far away from his mate where she sings, By the pitiless sea-bound gale, Lost, and plying his patient wings Till heart and courage fail ; Lost on the shoreless, unknown main, Blinded with salt white spray, Dazed with the endless, waving plain, Scared by the lengthening way ; Lost on the sea, and no land in sight ; Through the heavy and misty air Struggling on through the dark and the light To terror and mute despair; Till on the horizon a cloudy speck Clears to the mast, like a tree. Clears to the solid and giound-like deck. And he follows it wearily, And clings and crouches, a welcome guest, An eager and tremulous bird, VoT.. LIV^—No. 322.-33 I With the green and blue on his neck and breast By his heart's hard punting stirred. Then come pity, and food and drink to the brim, And shelter from wave and cold; But the quick head droops, and the bright eyes dim, And the story all is told! Pitiful comfort, yet comfort still Not to drop in the hungry sea. Keeling down out of the empty lieight To that terrible agony. Bitter and hard to be driven to roam Between the sea and the sky, To find a foot-hold and warmtli and homo, And then — only to die! Yet it was harder, God He knows, Who counts the sparrows that fall, For tlie birds that were lost wluui the wild winds rose, Wlien the sea and the sky were all ; Wlien the sky bent down to infold the sea, And the sea reached up to the sky. And between them only the wind blew free. And never a ship went by! ^^^ #• 514 HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. A LITCHFIELD HILL. . . ^ . , -',/,, BOUT one hmulred miles from New no exaggeration to say that tliis isolated L York city, perched among the hills of Northwestern Connecticut, at an elevation of more than twelve hundred feet ahove the level of the sea, lies one of the most pictur- esque of New England's villages, now cliief- ly known to the people of the nxitropolis as a place of sunnner residence, but whose New England town was at that time the centre of a cnlture unexcelled, and iu some respects nnequaled, in its day. The Rev. Dau Huntington, who was called in 1798 from a tutorship in Yale College to the pas- torate of the Congregational church, de- scribes it as "a delightful village on a fruit- crown of glory is its connection with the ful hill, richly endowed with its schools. past. Though much of the modern prosperity of the Hill is due to its improved means of communication with the outer world, its an- cient importance may be largely credited to its comparative isolation. On this account, probably, was it selected iu the war of the Revolution as one of the chief d6p6ts for military stores, and for the safe -keeping of royalist prisoners. When New York fell into the hands of the British, the road from Hartford through Litchfield became the principal high- way between New England and the West, and over it was hauled most of the provisions and munitions of war for the Continental forces beyond the Hudson. The village being far inland and away from any navi- gable river, i t became the army head-quar- ters in Western Con- necticut, and a place of considerable ac- tivity. Its workshops rang with tiie busy sounds of preparation, the lowing of beeves and the shouts of teamsters were often heard iu its streets, and its taverns bristled with military importance. Nearly all of the gen- eral ofticers of the Revolution visited it at various times, and although it was never the scene of great events, it bore its share of the burdens of the struggle, and its hos- pitable roofs doubtless witnessed numy a consultation which led to im])ortant results. But great as were the glories of the 1 1 ill in the Revolutionary times, they were fair- ly ccliiiscd iu the jK'riod succeeding them, when the <'elcl)r:itcd law scliool, and tlic no less famous female seminary which existed contenii)oran<'ously with it, attracted pui)ils from every Stale iu the Union. Tiiese ac;- eessions to its population coutribulcd large- ly to a society already brilliant, and wliich included iu its numbers a large proportion of highly educatetl men and wom<-n. It is TArVINO EKKVK. [FKO.M a I)U.V\V[N(! UV GKOI'.OK OATUNO.] both ))rofessiomil aiul scientitic, and their accomi>lished teachers, with its venerable Governors and judges, with its learned law- yers, and Senators and Representatives both in the national and State departments, and with a jxipulation enlightened and respect- able." Of the heads of families resident there at this time, seventeen were gradu- ates of colleges, seven were captains in the Continental army, and four became gen- eral ofiQcers, four be- came menvbers of Congress, two Chief Justices, and two Governors of the State. An anecdote of the same period shows that the wom- en of the Hill were no less acconq)lish('d than their lords, and that they won ad- miration abroad as well as at luune. Among the ladies at the national (;ai)ital during the second administration of Washington, none was more noted for personal attractions than the wife of the Secretary of tlie Treas- ury. Said Mr. Listou, the British minis- ter, one day, to General Tracy, then United States Senator from Connecticut, " Your country-wonum, Mrs. Wolcott, would be ad- mired even at St. James's." " Sir," replietl {general Tracy, "she is admired even on Litchlield llili." It is no relied ion on the intelligence of summer visitors to the Hill to say that there are ])n)bably some among them who never heard of its chief claim to distinction, and who pass by the simple head -stone that marks the grave of Reeve and the more ambitious monument that commemorates in Latin the virtues of Gould, unconscious that through their efforts Litchfield became bet- ter known throughout the Union than any other i)lace of its population in the coun- try. Yet in nuuiy a distant State their memory is still green, and the writer has often been questioued concerning the law A LITCHFIELD HILL. >15 school, partic-ularly in tlio Soutli, by those whose fathers or fijrandfatliers had enjoyed its benelits, yet who had never heard of its diseontinuanee. It was in 1772 tliat Tapping Reeve, a young lawyer fresh from his studies, re- moved from Princeton, Ni!w Jersey, where he had for several years held a tntorshij) in the college, and begau the practice of law upon the Hill, then a ([uiet country village, Ijut already 1)eginniug to feel the leaven of The Revolution. With liiui canu^ his lu'wly married wife, born Sally Hiur, daughter of the Rev. Aaron Burr, president of the Col- lege of New Jersey, and granddaughter of •Jonathan Edwards. But a few years suf- ficed to give him a reputation for intellect and varied learning and a commanding po- sition among the lawyers of the State. Mr. Reeve was a remark- able man in many re- spects. " He was," says Hollister, " a man of ardent tem- perament, tender sensibilities, and of a nature deeply re- ligious He was the tirst eminent lawyer in this coun- try who dared to arraign the common law of England for its severity and re- fined cruelty in cut- ting off the natural rights of married women, and placing their property as well as their persons at the mercy of their husbands, who might sc^uander it or hoard it up at pleasure .\11 the mitigating (dumges in our juris- prudence wliich have been made to redeem helpless woman from the barbarities of lier legalized tyrant nuiy fairly be traced to th(> author of the; first American treatise on Tlie Domestic Relation)!.''' He is described by one who sat under his teachings as " a most ven- erable man in character and ap}iearance — his thick gray hair parted autl falling in pro- fusion upon his shoulders, his voice only a loud whisper, but distinctly heard by his •earnestly attentive! i)upils." Tin- accompa- nying portrait is from a ])encil drawing by George Catlin, the celeV>rated Indian jtaint- er, who executed it while attending his lectures. In 17H4 Mr. Reeve begau the instruction of legal students, and mot with such success that up to 1798 more than two liundred young men from his otlice had been admit- ted to the bar. lu this year he was chosen JAMKS OOUI.D. — [from A roKTKAIT liY VV.VI.DO.] a judge of the 8ui)erior Court, and he asso- ciated with himself in the conduct of the school Januvs Gould, one of his own gradu- ate's, and who had previously held a tutor- shii> in Vale College. Gould was a man of no less ability than Reeve, and perhaps a more profoundly philosophical lawyer. His treatise on I'leadiiif/ in Ciril Aciionn is re- markable for conciseness and logical rea- soning, and is still a standard text-book in the best law schools of the country. It is but an ei)itome of the work originally planned by its author, but the publication of Chitty's great work while Gould was preparing materials for his own induced s, , necessary to explain that the school was never an incorporated institu- tion, nor were any buildings ever erect- ed for its use. The instructors lectured each in his owu law ofitice, and the stu- dents boarded in the houses of the vil- lage. The office of Judge Reeve, which sto(»d in his own dooi'-yard, was removed several years ago to West Street, and transformed into a cottage. .Judge Gould's ofHce, which also stood near his dwelling, is now a cot- tage w ithont the village. During the half century of the school's existence more than one thousand students were graduated, ccmiprising among them the flower of the youth of the tinu>. There might have been seen Calliouu of South ("arolina, Woodbury of New Hampshire, Sey- mour of Vermont, Ellsworth and Hul)bard of Connecticut, Clayton of Delaware, Mason of \^irgiiiia, Morton and Mctcalf of Massa- chusetts, Cuthbert and Dawsou of (jeorgia. Ashley and Hunt of New York, Woodbridge of Ohio, and uuiny another whose name has beconui a i)art of tiie country's history. Of the graduates from 1798 to iH'Xi, whose names 516 HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. alone appear in the printed catalogue,* no register having been kept for the first four- teen years, sixteen became United States Senators, fifty mem- bers of Congress, for- ty judges of higher State courts, eight Chief Justices of States, two justices of the United States Supreme Court, ten Governors of States, five cabinet minis- ters, and several for- eign ministers, while very many were dis- tinguished at the bar. Like the law school. Miss Sarah Pierce's female sem- inary was the first institution of its kind in the United States, and, like it also, it was for maliy years pre-eminent in its sphere. It was begun in 1792, and during the uearlj-^ forty years of its existence more than fif- teen hundred young ladies were educated in its halls, and fitted for the elevated po- sitions which so many of them attained. Its fame still lives in the memory of many who shared its benefits ; but the visitor cu- rious in regard to its site is now pointed only to the great elms which once shaded its roof. To those who have the time and the in- clination to look them up, the Hill has many interesting local associations, and there are few American villages which i)ossess more centenary houses. Yet Litchfield is compar- atively a new town, even when measured in the scale of American anticiuity, for it can boast of only a century and a half of civilization. Perhaps this may partly ac- count for its flavor of the past. Its wooden dwellings, which in many of the older towns have succiiiubcd to the tooth of time, have not yet reached their prowler limit of decay. But it is also due in a measure to the con- servatism of its people, who have guarded these relics of their forefathers witli sacred care. When so much has been preserved, it is OLIVKR W [feom a ORAVON SKETCU OLOOTT. UY KEMISEANDT I'EAI.E.] * Thfire are 805 Damea of students in this catalogue, fliBtribiitcd ainont; the Statos as follows: Coiineotlciit, 200; New York, 125; Massacliucclts, 90; Georgia, 67 ; South Carolina, 45; Maryland, 36; Pennsylvania, i!0; Vermont, 26; Itliodc Island, 22; New llanipsliire, 21 ; Virginia, 21 ; North Carolina, 21 ; Delawan;, 15 ; New Jersey, 11 ; Kentucky, 9 ; and the remainder in smaller nninhers from oIIkm' States. Of the whole iiuniher more than 1.50 had previously heeii graduated at Yale College, and ninny others at other colleges. somewhat singular that none of the old-time churches remain. The building made fa- mous by the ministrations of Lyman Beech- er long ago crum- bled into dust, and the village liberty- pole now marks its site. The dwelling of Dr. Beecher, the birth-place of the most distinguished of his children, still exists, but, alas! torn from its ancient site, it now constitutes a wing of a i)rivate lu- natic asylum. The church which suc- ceeded Dr. Beecher's, diverted from sacred uses, is now a public hall, and the pres- ent Congregational church, a beautiful structure, but unfor- tunately of wood, is the growth of the present decade. The Episcopal church, St. Michael's, and those of the other denominations, are also of the present century. Among the more interesting of the dwell- ings is the W^olcott house, on South Street, built in 1753 by Oliver Wolcott, iifterward signer of the Declaration of Independence, major-general of the forces of Connecticut, and in his old age Governor of the State. Oliver Wolcott belonged to a race of states- men. His father, Roger Wolcott, and his son, Oliver Wolcott, Jun., were also Govern- tured by Paulding, Van Wart, and Williams, he was brought to the head-quarters of the Light Dragoons, then stationed at North Castle, and but for the earnest remojistrances of Major Tallmadge, wouhl have been sent back to Arnold. He was with the prisoner almost continuously, and was OOI.ONn, lll'N.IAMIN TAI.I.MAIKJK. [from a rENOII. 8KKT0II IIY OOI.ONKI, JOHN TBUMnUl-L.] il8 HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. led to suspect bis military character from his walk as lie paced the floor of his room. When Audr^ saw that his disguise had been jjeue- trated, be wrote the letter to Washington ac- knowledging bis rank, and handed it, open, to Major Tallmadge, who read it with emo- tions which he could not conceal. On the day of the execution he M'alked with the prisoner to the scuft'old. In after-years, says Kilbourne, he wrote : " I became so deeply attached to Major Andr^ that I can remem- ber no instance where my affections were 80 fully absorbed in any man. When I saw him swinging under the gibbet, it seemed for a time as if I could not support it. All the spectators seemed to be overwhelmed by the affecting spectacle, and the eyes of many were suffused with tears." Colonel Tallmadge was elected in 1801 to Congress, where he served for sixteen successive years. His residence is still in the possession of his descendants. Hard by the Tallmadge place is the Gould mansion, a remaikably well-preserved speci- men of the square gambrel-roofed house, cov- ered with shingles. It was erected in 1760 by the Hon. Elisha Sheldon, father of Colonel Sheldon of the famous dragoon regiment. It passed in 1802 into the hands of Judge Gould, who occupied it until his decease. Like sev- eral other houses in the village, it too claims to have entertained the father of his country. The old Seymour house, the birth-place of so many distinguished men of the name, was demolished in 1855, when considerably more than a century old, to make room for a more pretentious successor. Major Moses Sey- mour, who occupied it during the Revolu- tion, served throughout the war as captain in the Fifth Regiment of Connecticut cav- alry. During the greater part of the time he was stationed in Litchfield as connnissary of supplies for the army. In 1776 David Matthews, the royalist Mayor of New York, was arrested for tieasonable designs, and sent to Litchfield, where Captain Sejraour kept him under surveillance in his own house for several months. He was allowed the privileges of the village, but under certain restrictions. It appears from his own let- ters that he was suspected of being concern- ed in a plot "to assassinate General Wash- ington, and to blow up the magazine in New York." He seems to have entertained an idea that his life was in jeopardy, and he expresses a fear that ho may be " fired at from behind a barn or stone fence." In an- other letter he says : " They insist I can blow up this town. O, that I could ! I would soon leave them to themselves." Ti"a- dition says that, although he did not accom- plish his incendiary desires, he did "leave them to themselves," for while taking his customary walk for exercise one day, he for- got to return. A i)leasure carriage, the first ever brought into the town, was presented V U by him to Mrs. Seymour, and was in use as late as 1812. The Mayor's traveling trunk, left behind in his flight, is still in posses- sion of the Seymour family, and was exhib- ited in the collection of Revolutionary rel- ics shown in the village on the centennial Fourth of July. Among other prisoners sent to the Hill for safe-keeping during the war was William Franklin, son of Dr. Benjamin Franklin, and royalist Governor of New Jersey from 1763 to 1776. In the latter year Congress recom- mended the convention of New Jersey to im- prison him somewhere out of the State, and he was accordingly sent to Connecticut, and confined for a time at Wallingford and Mid- dletown. In 1777 a resolution was passed that Governor Trumbull be informed that it had undoubted information that Governor Franklin was employing himself in distrib- uting " the protections of Lord Howe and General Howe, styled the king's commis- sioners of granting pardons," and recom- mending that he be put into close confine- ment and prohibited the use of pen, ink, .and paper. He was removed under gnanl to Litchfield, and confined in the jail there until 1778, the year that his father was sent as minister to France, when he was ex- changed for Mr. M'Kinley, President of Del- aware. He afterward lived in New York until 1782, when he went to England, and spent there the remainder of his life, a pen- sioner of the British government. The Hill boasts other centenarj' buildings, and a few of even greater antiquity. It claims, too, to have been the birth-place of more noted men and Avomen than any other place of its population in the country. Both the east and the west burial-grounds are rich in the tombs of those who have been prominent in both civil and political life, but they are too numerous to permit even the bare mention of their names. We may be pardoned, however, for giving in full the inscription from the head-stone of one of the ancient mothers of Litchfield, who still lives in many distinguished descendants: " Here lies the body of Mrs. Mary, wife of Dea. John BuEL, Esq. She died November 4, 1768, aged go— hav- ing had 13 Children, loi Grand-Children, 247 Great- Grand-Children, and 49 Great-Great-Grand-Children ; total 410. Three hundred and thirty-six survived her." SELF-RECOMPENSED. Love me not best, O lender heart and true! I nin not fjood or frreat enougli to be God's ultimate and perfeet gift to thee; Yet thine I am, tlins aealiid through and through, And I will love thee in a way half new To this poor world, whe.'e love is seldom free; Not with a love which thou must share with me, But as the ministering angels do. Love me not best, for I am not thy mate, Yet I am all as rich with lesser gain ; Thou canst not give me, dear, a gift so small But that my glory in it shall he great. Oh, never be it said that love was vain! What if it hatli not, when itself is all!