then they commenced those joint missionary labors, which were exceedingly successful until the preparations of the War for Independence were commenced. Those disturbances deranged their noble plans; and the growing insecurity of forest life caused Mr. Kirkland to fix the residence of his family at Stockbridge, in Western Massachusetts. Yet he did not desert his post, but labored on through all the dark scenes of the seven years' war that ensued, not only for the spiritual benefit of the dusky tribes, but in unceasing endeavors to keep the Six Nations' neutral. He succeeded with the Oneidas, only; the other tribes became active allies of the British, for the influence of Sir William Johnson and his family was greater than that of the missionary.

Mr. Kirkland was chaplain at Fort Schuyler (formerly Fort Stanwix, now Rome, in Oneida county) for some time, and in that capacity he accompanied General Sullivan in his expedition from Wyoming, against the Senecas, in 1778. After that, he was at Fort Schuyler and vicinity, or with his family at Stockbridge, until peace was declared. In subsequent treaties with the Indians, he was very active and useful; and when the field of his labors began again to whiten, under the blessed sun of peace, his family prepared to make their residence in the Indian country. It was never accomplished, for Mrs. Kirkland sickened at the close of 1787, and late in January following, she died. The bereaved missionary left her grave for his harvest field in the wilderness, and toiled

1. The Iroquois confederacy in the State of New York. It originally consisted of five tribes, namely, Onondaga, Seneca, Oneida, Mohawk, and Cayuga. These were joined by their kindred in language, the Tuscaroras of North Carolina, in the early part of the last century.

on, year after year, in civil and religious duties. He accompanied a delegation of Senecas to Philadelphia, in 1790, and was rewarded by the conversion to Christianity of the great chief, Cornplanter, with whom he travelled, instructed and convinced. In 1791, he made a census of the Six Nations, and at the same time he succeeded in establishing an institution of learning, which was incorporated in 1793, under the title of The Hamilton Oneida Academy. This was the origin of Hamilton College. Mr. Kirkland continued his labors among the Oneidas until his death, which occurred, after a brief illness, at his residence in Paris, Oneida county, on the 28th of February, 1808, in the sixty-seventh year of his age.

ANN LEE.

FOUNDERS of sects become famous by their fruits, whether they be good or evil; and in the consistent, upright character of followers, impostors have obtained canonization as saints. Of such as these was the immortal Ann Lee, the founder, in America, of the sect known as Shaking Quakers. She was born in Manchester, England, about the year 1736. Her father was a blacksmith, and she was taught the trade of cutting fur for hatters. She married young, and had four children, who all died in infancy. At the age of twenty-two years, she became a convert to the doctrines of James Wardley, a Quaker, who preached the holiness of celibacy, and the wickedness of marriage, and whose followers, because of the great agitations of their bodies when religiously exercised, were called Shakers. After nine years of discipline, she opened her mouth as a teacher; and in 1770, while confined in prison as a half-crazed fanatic, she pretended to have had a revelation of great spiritual gifts. She declared that in her dwelt the "Word;" and her followers say, "the man who was called Jesus, and the woman who was called Ann, are verily the two great pillars of the church." She was acknowledged to be a spiritual mother in Israel, and is known by the common appellation of “Mother Ann." She came to New York in 1774, with her brother and a few followers; and in the Spring of 1776, they settled at Niskayuna (now Watervliet, opposite Troy), where the sect still flourishes. Some charged Mother Ann with witchcraft; and vigilant Whigs, knowing that she preached against war in every shape, suspected her of secret correspondence with her countrymen, the British. A charge of high treason was preferred against her, and she was imprisoned in Albany during the Summer of 1776. In the Autumn she was sent as far as Poughkeepsie, with the intention of forwarding her to New York, within the British lines. She remained a prisoner at Poughkeepsie, until some time in 1777, when she was released by Governor Clinton. She then returned to Watervliet. Persecution had awakened sympathy for her, and her followers greatly increased. A wild revival movement in the vicinity, in 1780, poured a flood of converts into her lap, and she deluded the silly creatures with the assertion that she was the "woman clothed with the sun," mentioned in the Apocalypse. She told them that she daily judged the dead of all nations, who came to her, and that no favor could be had, except through a confession of sins to her. She became a Pontifix Maximus—a second Pope Joan-and under her directions, the faithful discarded all worldly things, and gave into her hands all their jewels, knee-buckles, money, and other valuables. She excited their fear and admiration by mutterings, groans, and strange

1. For a similar reason, George Fox (the founder of the Society of Friends) and his followers were called Quakers. See note on page 62.

gestures; and introduced dancing, whirling, hopping, and other eccentricities, into the ceremonials of pretended worship. Mother Ann declared to her deluded followers that she would not die, but be suddenly translated into heaven like Enoch and Elijah. Notwithstanding she did actually die at Watervliet, on the 8th of September, 1784, her followers believe that it was not real death. In a poetic "Memorial to Mother Ann," written by one of them, occurs the stanza:

"How much they are mistaken, who think that Mother 's dead,
When through her ministrations so many souls are saved.

In union with the Father, she is the second Eve,

Dispensing full salvation to all who do believe."

THOMAS GODFREY.

A PLAIN mechanic was one day replacing a pane of glass in a window on the

north side of Arch Street, Philadelphia, opposite a pump, when a girl, after filling her pail with water, placed it on the side walk. The mechanic observed the rays of the sun reflected from the window, into the pail of water. This circumstance produced a train of reflections in a highly mathematical mind, and led to an important discovery. That mechanic was Thomas Godfrey, who was born about a mile from Germantown, in Pennsylvania, in the year 1704.

Godfrey's early education was limited; and at a proper age he was apprenticed to a glazier, in Philadelphia. He entered into the business on his own account in 1725, and was employed in glazing Christ Church and the State House,' both of which are yet standing in the old part of Philadelphia. From early boyhood Godfrey exhibited great taste for figures; and, like Rittenhouse, he often exhibited his diagrams in his place of labor. A work on mathematics having fallen into his hands, he soon mastered the science, and then he learned the Latin language, so as to read the works of the best writers upon his favorite subject.

In the Summer of 1729, Godfrey was employed by James Logan to glaze some windows in his library, and there he first saw Newton's Principia. He borrowed the work; and early in 1730, he communicated his invention of the Quadrant (an astronomical and nautical instrument, of great value) to that gentleman. His reflections on the Arch Street incident, with the perusal of Newton's work, had resulted in this invention. Mr. Logan took great interest in the matter, and conveyed information of the invention to the Royal Society of London, through his friend, Sir Hans Sloane. That institution rewarded Mr. Godfrey for his ingenuity, by presenting to him a quantity of household furniture, valued at one thousand dollars, but divided the honor of first discoverer equally between him and John Hadley, then vice-president of the institution. That the sole honor was justly due to Godfrey, there can be no doubt, for the fact appears to be well authenticated, that the first instrument made of brass, from Godfrey's wooden model, was taken by the inventor's brother, captain of a vessel in the West India trade, to the island of Jamaica, and there exhibited to some English naval officers. Among these was a nephew of John Hadley. He purchased the instrument of Captain Godfrey for a large sum of money, and took it to his uncle, in London, who was a mathematical instrument maker. That gentleman made another instrument like it, except a few alterations, and presented it to the Royal Society, with an explanatory paper, as his invention.

1. Independence Hall, wherein Congress was assembled when the Declaration of Independence was adopted on the 4th of July, 1776, is in this State House. The exterior of the building has been somewhat changed since then.

That presentation occurred on the 13th of May, 1731, just about the time that Sir Hans Sloane called the attention of the Society to Godfrey's invention. The American inventor, like Columbus, lost the honor of having his name identified with the discovery, and the instrument is known as Hadley's Quadrant. Mr. Godfrey died in Philadelphia, in December, 1749, at the age of forty-five years.

PONTIAC.

SAVAGE and treacherous as he is, the native Indian, in his forest home, has many generous and noble qualities, such as we have been taught to admire when displayed by Roman warrior or Greek law-giver. Pontiac, the great chief of the Ottawa tribe a hundred years ago, possessed these in an eminent degree; and had his natural endowments been nurtured under the warm sun of civilization, no doubt his name would have been high among the great ones of earth. But he was forest born, and forest bred, and history speaks of him only as a great chief, filled with deadly hatred of the white man, and renowned for bloody deeds and bloodier intentions.

Pontiac, when he first became known to the white man, was ruler of the whole north-west portion of our present domain. Where Cleveland now stands in its pride, Major Rogers first met the great chief, one bright morning in the Autumn of 1760. He informed Pontiac that the English had taken Canada from the French, and then made a treaty of friendship with him. Though Pontiac had been the fast friend of the French during the war just ended, he now appeared upon the field of history, for the first time, in the full strength of mature manhood. He was doubtless sincere in his treaty with the English, but the non-fulfilment of their promises, and the influence of French emissaries, soon made him trample all compacts beneath his feet. He did more, far more than any North American Indian ever effected before or since. He confederated all the Indian tribes of the North-west to utterly exterminate the English, or drive them from all their posts on the great lakes, and in the country around the head waters of the Ohio. Like Philip of Mount Hope, Pontiac viewed the approach of white settlements with jealousy and alarm. He saw, in the future, visions of the displacement, perhaps destruction, of his race, by the pale-faces; and he determined to strike a blow for life and country. So adroitly were his plans matured, that the commanders of the western forts had no suspicion of his conspiracy until it was ripe, and the first blow had been struck. Early in the Summer of 1763, within a fortnight, all of the posts in possession of the English, west of Oswego, fell into his hands, except Niagara. Fort Pitt, and Detroit. Early the following Spring, Colonel Bradstreet penetrated the country to Detroit, with a strong force. The Indians were speedily subdued, their power was broken, and the hostile tribes sent their chiefs to ask for pardon and peace. The haughty Pontiac refused to bow. He went to the country of the Illinois tribe, where he was basely murdered, in 1769, by a Peoria Indian, who was bribed by an English trader to do the deed, for a barrel of rum. The place of his murder was at Cahokia, on the east side of the Mississippi, a little below St. Louis. A great man fell, when Pontiac died. He was the greatest of all chiefs known to the white men, and deserved a better fate. It is said that during his operations in 1763, he appointed a commissary, and even issued bills of credit, which passed current among the French inhabitants of the North-west. When he died, he wore a uniform presented to him by Montcalm, who esteemed him highly. Pontiac was an actor in the last scene in the drama of the French and Indian War.

"HA

APPILY he did not need the smart of guilt to make him virtuous, nor the regret of folly to make him wise," were the words uttered by one who knew Fisher Ames well, and appreciated his noble character. He was a son of Dr. Ames, a physician and a wit,' of Dedham, Massachusetts, where he was born on the 9th of April, 1756. He was a delicate child; and so precocious was he in the acquirement of knowledge, that at six years of age he commenced the study of Latin. At the age of twelve he was admitted to Harvard College, where he was graduated in 1774. That was a year of great gloom in Massachusetts, and indeed throughout the whole country; and as young Ames' mother was poor, and the times made a choice of business difficult, he taught a common school for awhile. He read and studied incessantly, and, finally, prepared for the profession of the law, under William Tudor, in Boston. He commenced its

1. He kept a public-house at Dedham, and or one occasion, the colonial judges having, as he thought, decided a case against him unlawfully, he sketched their honors upon a sign-board in front of his tavern, in their full-bottomed wigs, tippling, with their backs to an open volume, labelled "Province Law." The Boston authorities sent some officers to Dedham, to remove the sign. The doctor was prepared for them; and when they arrived, they found nothing hanging but a board, on which was inscribed, "A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh for a sign, but no sign shall be given them."