HIS VIEWS OF FEMALE EDUCATION.

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with himself, and were liable to the same sense of humiliation which he might have suffered in their place. I think, also, that he always remembered that Christ had died alike for all, and that all were bound to the same eternity.

"As my father had so many daughters, he had, of course, decided views in regard to the education and career of women. In some respects, his opinions were conservative on these points, because he adhered closely to the Bible. But although he did not wish them to become public characters, he desired that they should be highly intellectual, and that they should cultivate in themselves such aims and purposes as were worthy of their immortal nature. He could not endure to hear women commended merely for beauty or personal adornment. This he considered degrading to them, and savoring more of the Mahometan than the Christian. In the later years of his life he sympathized with the trials of women more than ever, and in ope of his last conversations with my brother expressed this sympathy in his own earnest way.

"There are many things,' he said, 'that men can do, which are unsuitable for women, so that they are necessarily more helpless; but,' he added, with vivacity, 'they are just as smart.'

"He once told me, I thought with unusual candor, that his sister had as much strength of mind as any member of the family.

"In the division of property, he thought, with his father, that helpless daughters should be first provided for, after the mother; and acted upon that principle. 1

'Believing, as he did, the Bible assertion that human nature in its present condition is very bad, he sought to deliver his children from the miseries of dependence.

"Solomon has declared that wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence;' and the barbarian legislators of an earlier age understood this when, in seeking to enslave women, they deprived them of both these advantages. To such a lawmaker we might properly apply the language of Holy Writ: Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they who pass by the way do pluck her?'

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"It must be confessed, my child,' said my father to one of my sisters, that women have rather a hard lot in this world; but perhaps,' he continued, it is more than made up to them hereafter; for I think it probable that there will be more women in heaven than men.'

"But I pass to other themes. As the larger part of our family circle were after a time married and separated from each other, the old homestead became a place of rendezvous. In summer the house was generally crowded with children and grandchildren. And what a buzzing of voices! what animated looks and gestures, what lively sallies were called forth!

"Our father often looked around the large circle with an air of satisfaction, and exclaimed, 'Is it possible that all these are my posterity?'

To which mamma once made answer, With my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands.'

"One Sabbath morning, when several branches of the family were represented in the church, papa preached from this text: 'I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.'

"In speaking of the Sabbath, I would here say, that there is a peculiar interest connected with that holy day, as it was spent in my early childhood.

"Some of the old Puritan customs were then retained, which were afterwards abandoned; and as the congregation then gathered from all parts of the town, it was a pleasant sight to see them meet in God's house. These Sabbaths were days to be long remembered. Let me recall them.

"On the twilight of Saturday the children were all bathed, and clean garments were laid beside their beds for the next morning.

"All kinds of work were then put out of sight, and the evening was spent in the old Puritan fashion, as holy time. It was the hour of preparation, and the Sabbath drew on.'

"How pleasantly and solemnly the sound of the church-bell fell on the ear, on the morning of the holy day. The green common was then covered with people from all parts of the town, who flocked together to the house of God. The children followed our mother to the ample pew beneath the pulpit, which had been set apart for the minister's family.

"At the close of the morning service, many of the people who lived at a distance, came to our house to rest during the intermission. On summer days the doors were all thrown open, and groups of old and young persons collected in the parlor, the kitchen, and on the doorsteps.

"How gravely they sat and talked, eating at the same time the cake and cheese which they had brought in their red silk handkerchiefs. Even the children seemed to remember the fourth commandment, and were quiet and orderly.

"The old people (I remember studying the lines in their faces with childish wonder), how pious was their discourse!

"From room to room, in the midst of these various groups, my mother walked about, with pleasant and cordial greetings, inquiring of one after an absent child; of another, after a sick parent or friend; towards all, manifesting that kindly interest which she constantly felt and cherished.

"When the public services of the Sabbath were over, all the family were brought together in the parlor, to be taught the Assembly's Catechism, or listen to loud reading. Sometimes our mother read one of Jay's sermons, of which she was very fond; sometimes a selection was made by our father, keeping in view instruction rather than amusement.

A PLEASANT PICTURE.

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The day was closed with prayer at the going down of the sun; after which we were permitted to roam in the garden or orchard, before retiring.

"We children were often seriously affected during our childhood and youth. It could not be otherwise in such an atmosphere. Several members of the family made a profession of religion early, and all at length became members of the visible church. If any of us fail of heaven, it will not be the fault of those who were the guardians of our infancy.

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My father had not such constant delight in the beautiful and sublime in nature as many have, his mind was so often absorbed with abstract thought. But occasionally it seemed as if he had just opened his eyes to such scenes, and took them in, for the first time, with a rapt surprise. Whenever that occurred, we saw all objects as he saw them. The flash of joy passed from his mind to ours. The awe which he felt was communicated to us. It was that prophetic look which seemed to have penetrated to the inner shrine of nature, and reflected all it had seen. I remember once, in the early summer, when my mother with several daughters had gone into the garden to trim the shrubbery, papa soon joined us, and as the morning was uncommonly lovely, the peace of nature seemed to enter his soul.

"The old place was very beautiful at that season of the year. The cone-shaped pear-trees were white with blossoms to their topmost boughs. The cherry-trees were also in full bloom. The tulips and white lilies were near their time of glory; and little brown birds were building their nests in mamma's favorite elm-tree, at the north-west corner of the house.

"How sweetly our dear father then talked with us about the innocent nature of the employment in which we were engaged! 'It was,' he said, the natural and appropriate occupation of the human race, as it was that of our first parents before the fall in Eden.'

"At another time he had gone with my mother on a short journey in a private carriage. Returning, a storm overtook them on the further side of Westfield Plains. They went into a house for shelter, and late in the afternoon, as the storm had passed, they again took their carriage and started for home. But lo! as they rode forward, a wonderful rainbow was right before them, on the opposite side of the plain. Both extremities of the arch seemed to touch the earth, and the rich grass covered with raindrops reflected its brilliant hues. A moist radiance from the skies' filled the atmosphere. It was, they said, like nothing terrestrial, but seemed the very gate of heaven. They returned home glowing, yet solemnized with the unwonted splendor of the scene, and their description was so vivid as to leave on one mind, at least, a permanent impression.

"That picture holds a sacred place in the chambers of imagery, which I approach with reverence in thoughtful moments, and reverently

unveil. There it is before me, in the fading light of that summer afternoon, the broad, green plain sparkling with raindrops, and my father and mother passing onward toward the beautiful arch. Is it a picture, or a reality? Is it not a type, at least, of that golden portal through which, after the storms of life, they have passed so safely, to the home of the happy and pure in heart?"

In training with Christian fidelity his numerous family, Dr. Woodbridge was opening rich sources of intellectual and religious enjoyment for himself in advancing years; creating a genial Christian society to relieve the gathering sorrows of decrepitude, when the pleasures of home become almost one of the necessities of life. Professor Tyler remarks: "His afternoons and evenings he gave to his family and friends, and my most delightful associations with him are in the midst of his hospitable and happy family, with his excellent wife and accomplished daughters around him, at the tea-table and the fireside, in an old-fashioned evening visit. He was interested in all that concerned his family, his friends, the community, the country, the church, and the world. But even at home in a social visit, it might be said, literally and with emphasis, that his conversation was in heaven. The word of God, the doctrines of the gospel, the experience of the Christian, the joys and glories of heaven - these were his favorite themes. For example, he once remarked of the Psalms of David, that however deep the lamentation and wail with which they may begin, they are sure to end with a song of triumph and exultation. It was a remark which interested me at the time as characteristic of the piety of the Doctor's old age, and my wife has always remembered it, and often spoken of it since in connection with her reading of the Psalms. I have never been in any circle, in which the conversation so fully answered to Cowper's ideal and description of that between Christ and his disciples on the way to Emmaus."

This filial love was especially tender and assiduous after the wife and mother had gone to her rest, and the father was

HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE.

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left to travel the weariest part of his journey without her supporting hand and cheering smile. At that lonely period, while varying in light and shade according to character, yet blending like the soft and delicate tints of the rainbow, it shone forth with peculiar loveliness, strengthening his trembling footsteps; son and daughters alike vied with each other in offices of regard and kindness to soothe the last ebbings of a life so precious to them all.

In personal appearance Dr. Woodbridge, in the maturity. of life, was rather striking, and fitted to draw the attention even of strangers. He was about the medium height; his frame was firmly knit, round and full, though never corpulent. His form was erect; some used pleasantly to say, symbolizing the perpendicularity of his character. His head was large, his intellectual powers finely developing themselves in his massive forehead; his comparison preponderating over his causality; his ideality and benevolence were noticeably prominent. His eyes were light-blue, large and keen, varying with his changing thoughts and emotions; and when animated in conversation, or kindled with the excitement of public address, shone as if enwrapping hidden fire. His countenance, when not clouded with thought or sombre with care, was full of vivacity, open as the day; no one looking into it would ever suspect that treachery or intrigue could lurk there; while its lines of thought indicated the scholar, it was alive with energy, and the occasionally compressed lips bespoke a firmness and decision which could not be easily subdued or resisted. When not walking slowly in a muse, his step was strong and quick, and his general movement indicative of a live man. stranger would say of him, "That man has a purpose, and what he undertakes will be accomplished." His hair early turned gray, which gave him an appearance of venerableness when but little past the meridian. His dress showed neatness and propriety, and yet not seldom carelessness;

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