True Stories of History and Biography | Page 9

drive the poor woman into the woods?"
exclaimed little Alice, who contrived to feel a human interest even in
these discords of polemic divinity.
"They did, my darling," replied Grandfather; "and the end of her life
was so sad, you must not hear it. At her departure, it appears from the
best authorities, that she gave the great chair to her friend, Henry Vane.
He was a young man of wonderful talents and great learning, who had
imbibed the religious opinions of the Puritans, and left England with
the intention of spending his life in Massachusetts. The people chose
him governor; but the controversy about Mrs. Hutchinson, and other
troubles, caused him to leave the country in 1637. You may read the
subsequent events of his life in the History of England."
"Yes, Grandfather," cried Laurence; "and we may read them better in
Mr. Upham's biography of Vane. And what a beautiful death he died,
long afterwards! beautiful, though it was on a scaffold."
"Many of the most beautiful deaths have been there," said Grandfather.

"The enemies of a great and good man can in no other way make him
so glorious, as by giving him the crown of martyrdom."
In order that the children might fully understand the all-important
history of the chair, Grandfather now thought fit to speak of the
progress that was made in settling several colonies. The settlement of
Plymouth, in 1620, has already been mentioned. In 1635, Mr. Hooker
and Mr. Stone, two ministers, went on foot from Massachusetts to
Connecticut, through the pathless woods, taking their whole
congregation along with them. They founded the town of Hartford. In
1638, Mr. Davenport, a very celebrated minister, went, with other
people, and began a plantation at New Haven. In the same year, some
persons who had been persecuted in Massachusetts, went to the Isle of
Rhodes, since called Rhode Island, and settled there. About this time,
also, many settlers had gone to Maine, and were living without any
regular government. There were likewise settlers near Piscataqua River,
in the region which is now called New Hampshire.
Thus, at various points along the coast of New England, there were
communities of Englishmen. Though these communities were
independent of one another, yet they had a common dependence upon
England; and, at so vast a distance from their native home, the
inhabitants must all have felt like brethren. They were fitted to become
one united people, at a future period. Perhaps their feelings of
brotherhood were the stronger, because different nations had formed
settlements to the north and to the south. In Canada and Nova Scotia
were colonies of French. On the banks of the Hudson River was a
colony of Dutch, who had taken possession of that region many years
before, and called it New Netherlands.
Grandfather, for aught I know, might have gone on to speak of
Maryland and Virginia; for the good old gentleman really seemed to
suppose, that the whole surface of the United States was not too broad a
foundation to place the four legs of his chair upon. But, happening to
glance at Charley, he perceived that this naughty boy was growing
impatient, and meditating another ride upon a stick. So here, for the
present, Grandfather suspended the history of his chair.

Chapter V
The Children had now learned to look upon the chair with an interest,
which was almost the same as if it were a conscious being, and could
remember the many famous people whom it had held within its arms.
Even Charley, lawless as he was, seemed to feel that this venerable
chair must not be clambered upon nor overturned, although he had no
scruple in taking such liberties with every other chair in the house.
Clara treated it with still greater reverence, often taking occasion to
smooth its cushion, and to brush the dust from the carved flowers and
grotesque figures of its oaken back and arms. Laurence would
sometimes sit a whole hour, especially at twilight, gazing at the chair,
and, by the spell of his imaginations, summoning up its ancient
occupants to appear in it again.
Little Alice evidently employed herself in a similar way; for once,
when Grandfather had gone abroad, the child was heard talking with
the gentle Lady Arbella, as if she were still sitting in the chair. So sweet
a child as little Alice may fitly talk with angels, such as the Lady
Arbella had long since become.
Grandfather was soon importuned for more stories about the chair. He
had no difficulty in relating them; for it really seemed as if every
person, noted in our early history, had, on some occasion or other,
found repose within its comfortable arms. If Grandfather took pride in
any thing, it was in being the possessor of such