at last to the French explorer, and a more direct route to Canada and the Indies secured, it was believed, than that by the Ottawa and the northern lakes. If these Jesuit Fathers, said the policy of French statecraft, can tame the Iroquois into swinging censers rather than war clubs and tomahawks, it is best to give generous support to Canadian missions.

"The history of the Jesuit missions," says Bancroft, "is connected with the origin of every celebrated town in the annals of French America. Not a cape was turned, not a river entered, but a Jesuit led the way." "They had put forth exertions almost superhuman," says Parkman, “set at naught famine, disease, and death, lived with the self-abnegation of saints, and died with the devotion of martyrs; and the result of all had been a disastrous failure. What now remains

But can we assent to this statement, when we take into consideration the value of the annals of the Jesuit missions, as handed down in the Relations? As we turn their pages, the old Latin chant of the seventeenth century is borne in upon us, the exultant voices of the Fathers guiding their canoes on strange rivers and beaching them on inhospitable shores, the same inspiring chant they had learned in the cathedrals of old France, when they knew not the true meaning of the words:

Vexilla Regis prodeunt :
Fulget crucis mysterium.

The banners of Heaven's King advance,
The mystery of the Cross shines forth.

T

BIRTHPLACE OF HANNAH ADAMS,

MEDFIELD, MASS.

HROUGH a book called "Several Poems," published first in London in 1650, and in Boston twentyeight years later, Mrs. Anne Bradstreet became the first woman in America to win literary renown. Through some verses published in London in 1773, Phillis Wheatley, a negro slave, living in the family of her owner, John Wheatley of Boston, won distinction as a poet. But neither of these women were natives of America. Mrs. Bradstreet was born in England, and Phillis Wheatley in Africa. During the Revolutionary War, a native American, Mrs. Mercy Warren, published one or two plays and rhymes in Boston; but they were mere pamphlets, and bore no name. It remained, therefore, for Hannah Adams, born in 1755 in Medfield, within twenty miles of Boston, to become the first American woman to publish a book under her own name. This was in 1784, six years before Mercy Warren put her own name on cover, in her "Poems, Dramatic and Miscellaneous." Mrs. Warren, as the sister of James Otis, the wife of a prominent man, and the friend and adviser of most of the leading men of the day, was more or less known to the public, when at the age of sixty-two she published these "Poems." But Hannah Adams, an unusually retired young woman in private life, was never heard of in the great world until in bold letters appeared her name on her book.

But though unknown to the world, she belonged to a family which for generations had held important trusts in her native town. Her ancestor, Henry Adams, was one of the founders of the town. Her grandfather was one of the greatest land proprietors. Having prepared for college his only son Thomas Hannah's father-he strongly opposed his leaving him, desiring, as he had a delicate constitution, that he should settle upon his large farm. A student by nature, and not particularly fond of agricultural pursuits, Thomas somewhat appeased his disappointment, in yielding to this desire, by opening a shop for the sale of English books and goods. In 1750 he married Elizabeth Clark, an cellent woman, deservedly esteemed and beloved," who died when Hannah was eleven years of age, leaving five children. Upon this loss to the family, the care of Hannah and a younger sister fell particularly upon the eldest daughter Elizabeth, or "Betty," as the town records call her.

"ex

Hannah was an extremely timid child. Being delicate in health, she did not attend the neighborhood school, but, under the care of her father, learned at home all she could have learned there, namely, reading, writing and arithmetic. She was born with a great thirst for knowledge. She once said that her first idea of the happiness of heaven was of a place where she would find this thirst fully gratified. She was enthusiastic over poetry, committing much of the works of her favorite poets, Milton, Thomson, Young, and others. She did not neglect history or biography, in which she found, as she said, an inexhaustible fund to "feast her mind and gratify her taste." She was passionately fond of novels, the reading of which, in the seclusion of her early years, gave her, she afterwards said, false ideas of life, the "world her imagination made

In

being not what the real world was." deed, all her life she felt the lack of thorough training in her youth. By the time she was twenty years of age, few of her sex at that time had read more than she. Her chief delight being in literary pursuits, she eagerly accepted the offer of some gentlemen boarding at her father's house, to teach her Latin, Greek, geography and logic. In doing this she drew upon herself the ridicule of those around her. Her progress, however, leads one to wish she could have had the advantages now so easily obtained in Our women's colleges, then undreamed of.

Her father's business being good during her childhood, it was not supposed that she would ever be obliged to support herself. But a few years after her mother's death, he failed in business. Although blessed with the help of her sister Elizabeth, Hannah felt keenly the need of adding her share to the family support. She turned to sewing, knitting and spinning, finding the most profit, however, in weaving bobbin lace. But after the Revolutionary War, when lace was imported, this resource failed, and she was left in a desperate condition. It was at this time that she found a pecuniary help in teaching Greek and Latin to three young men living in the vicinity of her home. One of these, Pitt Clarke, was afterwards the pastor of the church at Norton, Mass., for over forty years. In his autobiography published in the "History of Norton," he says, in referring to Miss Adams: "Under her tuition principally I fitted for college, and was admitted into Cambridge University, July, 1786."

Until she was twenty years of age, Miss Adams's reading had been limited mostly to works of imagination and feeling. She had never been directed to those of a controversial nature, nor to a study of the disputed points between the various sects. Her curiosity being awakened by a small manuscript from Broughton's Dictionary, giving an account of some of the most common of the religious denominations, she began to read all she could find on the subject. Becoming disgusted with the intolerance and lack of candor of the authors, she decided to write out

for herself in a blank book what seemed to her to be the truth. In doing this she had no idea of publication. The work grew upon her hands and became known to her friends. Not being so ingenious with the needle as her sister, and sadly needing money, she was urged to publish it. But to find a printer to take it without immediate pay was the difficulty. Three hundred and ninety-five subscribers, twenty-eight of whom were women, were finally obtained, including such names as Rev. Nathaniel Emmons of Franklin (six copies), Rev. Charles Chauncy, D. D., Boston, Dr. James Manning, president of Rhode Island College, Edmund Quincy, Esq., Hon. Oliver Wendell, Nathaniel Appleton, Esq., and Samuel Adams, all of Boston.

A bargain having been made with the printer, the book appeared in 1784. A copy to-day in the Boston Athenæum, and also one in the Public Library, commands genuine interest. Its motto is, "Prove all things, hold fast that which is good." In the Advertisement at the beginning, the author says she intends to "avoid giving the least preference of one denomination above another, to give a few arguments of the principal sects from their own authors as far as possible, to endeavor to represent every sect, and be very careful to enter into the spirit of each author."

The condition of public opinion is seen when Thomas Prentiss, in the Preface, felt obliged to say: "The world has been absurdly accustomed to entertain but a moderate opinion of female abilities, and to associate their pretended productions to the craft and policy of designing men; either to excite their admiration or screen their weakness from censure; whereas unbiassed reason must allow, if an invidious comparison between the sexes is in any respect justifiable, it cannot be grounded upon a defect of natural ability, but upon the different and perhaps faulty mode of female education; for under similar culture and with equal advantages, it is far from being certain that the female mind would not admit a measure of improvement that would at least equal, and perhaps in many instances eclipse, the boasted glory of the other

sex." He refers to Miss Adams's knowledge; also, indirectly, to her great timidity of nature when he says that she had "done violence to her own inclination" in allowing her name on the book after having yielded to its publication at the urgent desire of judicious friends.

Though the book sold well, Miss Adams's profit was very small, owing to unfair dealings on the part of the printer. Out of respect to his descendants, she would not mention his name when speaking of the matter years afterwards in her autobiographical notes. To his request

for additions for a second edition which he was about to publish, she returned "a laconic answer forbidding him to reprint it." This she could do, having taken the precaution to secure the copyright in conformity to a recently passed law. But to reprint it herself was no easy thing. She was ignorant of business ways, destitute of influential friends, and without money. In the midst of this disappointment and struggle, her sister Elizabeth died, at the age of thirty-six. Hannah's grief was intense, for "Betty" had been "her guide, her friend, her earthly all."

66

Her father, with his other children, was living with a married son, to whom the home and property had been made over. Not wishing to add to the burden of her brother's increasing family expenses, Hannah found this the most trying time of her life, when, as she said, "it was a struggle to live." But though feeble in health, dependent upon herself for support, more or less alone in the world, she found in work her only remedy. She began to prepare additions for the second edition of her book. The task being completed, she applied to some printers for terms of publication. Though," she says, "I wrote nearly the same letter to all, consisting of a few direct questions, their answers were generally various, prolix and ambiguous." She finally accepted an offer of one hundred dollars in books for an edition of one thousand copies. Going to Boston to attend to the matter, a friend introduced her to the Rev. James Freeman, the newly ordained pastor of King's Chapel. He became interested, transacted the business with the printer, John West Folsom, and helped her obtain some new subscribers. For this generous, personal assistance in a time of need, Miss Adams was most grateful to the end of her life. Thus, in 1791, appeared under the title of "A View of Religions," the second edition of her book first published seven years before. It was enlarged to four hundred and ten pages. Part First treated of nearly three hundred different religious denominations which had appeared from the beginning of the Christian era; Part Second, of the worship of the Grand Lama, of Mahometans, Jews, Deists and Sceptics, followed by a short review of the religions of the people of the habitable world. Great industry and a discriminating judgment are noticeable in the work. This second edition was dedicated to John Adams, then VicePresident of the United States, a name, she said, "which excites the veneration and gratitude of fellow-citizens, the admiration and esteem of foreign nations." Thus the Vice-President of the United States was honored by woman's effort as the President had been the year before; for Mercy Warren had then dedicated her poems to "George Wash

ington, President of the United States of America."

Of the four hundred subscribers to this second edition - eighty-two of whom were clergymen and sixteen women John Adams headed the list with three copies. His Honor Samuel Adams, lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts, followed. Among the new names gained were those, now so well known, of His Excellency John Hancock, Esq., of Boston; Joseph Willard, D. D., president of Harvard College; Right Rev. John Caroll, D. D., Roman Catholic Bishop of Baltimore, Maryland; Hon. William Bradford, governor of Rhode Island; Rev. Henry Ware of Hingham; Christopher Gore, Esq., Boston; Mr. Harrison G. Otis, Boston; Rev. Adoniram Judson, Malden; Hon. Benjamin Greenleaf, Newburyport; and many others. Mr. Moses Brown, of Providence, took fifteen copies, and seven of the subscribers took six each.

Such distinguished names speak well for man's chivalry at the time, as well as for Miss Adams's literary ability. The book was pronounced the best of the kind ever written, possibly the first. From its profits, Miss Adams was enabled to pay the debts her sister's illness had contracted, and to put a small sum at interest. In its sale her father, who was called by the townspeople "Book Adams," was of much help. On horseback, with his saddle-bag full of the books, often with a volume before his eyes, he went from place to place, to sell or to distribute them. Of decided literary tastes himself, he was never happier than when making his frequent visits to the library of Harvard College. Once upon entering it he lifted up both hands and exclaimed in great earnestness, "I'd rather be librarian of Harvard College than Emperor of all the Russias !" Who knows but that if Thomas Adams could have followed out his early desires, be might have been librarian of Harvard College? Circumstances obliged him to go into business, and he made a failure of it.

After the publication of the second edition of her book, Miss Adams taught school, finding profit and entertainment in "boarding round by turns" in the