expressed in the adage--

"Whom the Gods love, die young,"

those that live commonly disappoint the hopes of partial friends, who
watched their infancy with wonder and expectation.

There are certain qualities, however, which we shall rarely miss even in
the childhood of those who attain eminence by a wise employment of their
talents and acquirements. These are: firmness of purpose, industry and
application, and an ardent, and sometimes enthusiastic temperament.
These qualities were possessed in no common degree by Ann Hasseltine,
the subject of this memoir. She was born in Bradford, Massachusetts, on
the 22d of December, 1789. In a sketch which she has given of her life,
between twelve and seventeen years of age, we find evidence of an
active, ardent, and social disposition, gay and buoyant spirits,
persevering industry, and great decision of character.

Whatever engaged her attention, whether study or amusement, was pursued
with an ardor that excited the sympathy and love both of her teachers
and schoolfellows. Though little of her writing at this period is
preserved, and the generation that knew her personally is mostly passed
away, yet her whole subsequent career gives evidence of an intellect of
a very high order, carefully cultivated by study and reflection.

She seems scarcely to have been the subject of serious impressions
before her seventeenth year. Until that time she enjoyed the pleasures
of the world with few misgivings and with a keenness of relish which
led her to think herself, as she says, "the happiest creature on earth."
She adds, "I so far surpassed my friends in gayety and mirth, that some