To rouse our stagnant hearts,
And leave the sense of new-born powers,
Which never more departs.

We thank him in the name
Of One who sits on high,
And aye abides in every fame
Which makes a brighter sky.

* * * * *




IV.

ABIGAIL ADAMS

(BORN 1744--DIED 1818.)


THE WIFE OF OUR SECOND PRESIDENT--THE MOTHER OF OUR SIXTH.


Abigail Smith, the daughter of a Congregational minister, of Weymouth,
Massachusetts, was one of the most noted women of our early history. She
left a record of her heart and character, and to some extent a picture
of the stirring times in which she lived, in the shape of letters which
are of perennial value, especially to the young. "It was fashionable to
ridicule female learning" in her day; and she says of herself in one of