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these and a little japanned snuff-box, which she presented a few days ago to the narrator of these incidents of her history.

In this settlement she also learned that a farmer who lived in the vicinity intended to remove with his family in the spring to the southwestern part of Virginia; and that his wife was in want of a "help" to spin, weave, and make up mens' and boys' clothing. This was good news indeed, and she lost no time in making application to be received in that capacity.

During the winter our heroine labored very assiduously, doing the washing of the family and milking the cows, in addition to the other employments for which her services had been engaged; thus leaving herself not a moment of relief from toil till late bedtime, and receiving in return only fifty cents a week, and but a small part of her wages in money.

When the family set out in the spring on their southward journey, she assisted in driving the stock, as well as in cooking and doing all kinds of work necessary in "camping out; " making almost the entire journey on foot, and being compensated for her laborious services with only food and lodging, and such protection as the company of those she attended, afforded her. Yet, throughout her life, she seemed to remember that family with warm affection, and spoke of them with gratitude; it was her first experience, since her doleful captivity, of human sympathy and home-feeling; and her generous heart overflowed towards those who gave it her labors to serve them being esteemed as nothing in the balance.

When they reached the Susquehanna river-where she was to pay her own ferriage such having been the agreement -she asked permission of the ferryman to paddle herself across in a small and leaky canoe lying on the shore near by. He consented, warning her, however, that it was unsafe; but she was an excellent swimmer and intent on saving her money, which she did, and crossed in safety. The people in the ferry-boat were less fortunate; when half way across, one of the cows, affrighted, jumped overboard and swam back to shore. The Dutch farmer requested Mary to return with him and bring the animal over; and she did so, getting her on board, holding her by the horn with the left hand, and having the thumb and finger of her right thrust into her nostrils; thus keeping the cow quiet for a distance of nearly a mile. A modern belle would laugh at such an instance of usefulness; but our grandmothers were more practical and would not have felt ashamed of it. Its happy conquences will soon be seen.

When the travellers arrived at their place of destination, Mary obtained employment for a few days in a family. It happened that a farmer by the name of Spears, who lived in the neighborhood, called in, and heard the girl's romantic history. His wife wanted some one to assist her in household duties, and Miss Nealy was recommended to the place; she accepted the proposal to go at once, and mounted behind her future father-in-law, rode to his house, where she remained some time waiting to find some party that might be going to Tennessee, for her fears of being recaptured by the Indians had grown stronger the farther she travelled westward.

We will now turn to another scene in this "ower true tale." When her family had ascertained beyond doubt that she had been captured by the Indians, they gave up all hope of ever seeing her again. They grieved as for one dead; but there was one whose sorrow was all too quickly banished; the betrothed lover of Mary, who, judging that the smiles of a new love was the best consolation for his loss, speedily transferred his vows to another comely maiden, and was by this time on the eve of marriage. It happened about this period that Mary's brother went on business into the interior of Kentucky. On the very night of his arrival, at a rustic tavern, he fell in with several travellers, who were relating their different adventures after an excellent supper. One of them had come all the way from Pennsylvania, and described with graphic glee, the scene of the crossing of the Susquehanna by the Dutch emigrant family, the escape of the cow, and her recapture and bringing over by the heroic young woman. That girl, he added, had been a captive among the Indians, and had escaped from them. To this account young Nealy listened with aroused attention. "Did you hear the young woman's name?" he eagerly asked. "They called her Polly" -answered the stranger, but I heard no other. "Did you observe that she was left-handed?" again the brother asked, "She certainly was"-was the reply; “I noticed it both in pulling her canoe, and in holding the cow." No farther infor mation could be given; but this was enough. The brother had no doubt that this was indeed his long-lost sister, and that her course had been directed homeward. And now, what was to be done? He was convinced that no family would be likely to emigrate in a southwest direction in that time of peril; she had no chance of an escort to return home; and through the vast wilderness that intervened, how could an unprotected girl

travel alone? He determined, therefore, himself to set out; go to the ferry on the Susquehanna, where the scene described was said to have taken place, and to trace his sister thence, if possible.

He set off accordingly, taking the precaution to make inquiry at every cabin, and of every person whom he met, lest he should pass her on the way. When in Virginia, he stopped one day to feed his horse, and make the usual inquiries at a farm-house, and was told that a young woman who had been in captivity among the Indians, and had recently come into the country, was living in a family some six miles distant. Nealy lost not a moment; but flinging the saddle on his horse before he had tasted his corn, rode off in the direction pointed out. Before he had reached the house, he met his sister. What pen can describe that meeting!* We shall not attempt it.

Mary made immediate preparations to return home, but suffered many hardships, and was exposed to many dangers on their way through the almost trackless wild. The howling of wolves, the screams of panthers, and the low growl of bears were familiar sounds in her ears; but nothing daunted her save the fearful thought of again falling into the hands of merciless savages. Even after her reunion with her family, this terror so preyed on her mind that she had no peace, and her widowed mother yielded to her entreaties, and removed to a more secure home in Kentucky.

The story of Miss Nealy's return to Tennessee, and her strange adventures, was soon noised abroad, and her former lover, repenting his infidelity, came once more to prefer his claim to her favor. It may be conceived with what scorn she spurned the addresses of a man who had not only lacked the energy to attempt her rescue from the Indians, and had soon forgotten her, but who was now crowning his perfidy by the basest falsehood towards the other fair one to whom his faith was pledged.

Mary Nealy was united in marriage to George Spears, on the 27th of February, 1785, at her new home in Lincoln County, Kentucky. After her marriage, her mother returned with the rest of her family to Tennessee. Mrs. Spears and her husband continued to reside for two years near Carpenter's Station, in Lincoln County; and during the three succeeding years at or near Grey's Station, in Greene County, Kentucky. While living here, it was her custom to accompany her hus

band to the field, sometimes in the capacity of guard, sometimes to help him hoe the corn; and always carrying her children with her. On one occasion, while thus occupied, they heard a whistle like the note of a wild turkey. One of their neighbors, an old hunter, cautioned them against following the sound, which he knew to be made by an Indian, whom he resolved to ferret out. He accordingly crept noiselessly along the ground, like one hunting the bird, till close to the spot whence the whistle came, when he fired, and an Indian fell.

On one occasion strange sounds were heard close to the dwelling at night, and Mrs. Spears, looking through a "chink" in the cabin, saw the shadow of a man stealthily moving around the house. She awoke her husband; he climbed the ladder to the loft, and putting his gun through an aperture in the roof, fired upon the savage. Five Indians started up and ran off; but he continued firing till the alarm was given at the fort, and aid was sent. A company of soldiers followed the trail for several miles, and judged the number of the savages to have been about fifty. While residing here, Mrs. Spears received intelligence of the murder of one of her brothers by the Indians.

Mr. Spears, who had no fear of them. was in the habit of going to the fort to try his skill in shooting at a target; and when he did not return by dusk, his wife would leave the cabin and betake herself with the child to the woods for safety, for her terror of the lurking enemies, whose cruelty she had so bitterly experienced, was very great. One night, having thus left her home, she was standing with her infant in her arms, under a wide spreading tree, awaiting the return of her husband, when she heard the shrill note of a screech-owl, directly over her head, and fell to the ground as if shot. She often described, in after life, the mortification she felt, on recovering from her fright; but excused herself by pleading that the fears which so overcame her, were for the little helpless child. In times of peculiar danger, she was accustomed to do sewing and washing for two young men at the fort, in return for their coming home every night with her husband, and lodging in the cabin.

On another occasion, when they had reason to believe a large body of Indians were in the neighborhood, and were warned to leave the cabin without loss of time, Mrs. Spears hastily buried her dishes, and emptying out part of the feathers from her

This noble brother died about five years ago, at his residence near Nashville, Tennessee. + Date copied from Mrs. Spears' family Bible. VOL. L-18

bed, put it on her horse, with such other articles of household service as she could carry, mounted, taking her child in her lap-though within two weeks of her second confinement-and assisted in driving away the stock. The alarm was given that the Indians were near and they must ride for their lives, and she urged her horse at full speed a mile and a half, with all her incumbrances. A party of soldiers was sent out from the fort to reconnoitre the enemy, and struck the trail of some forty savages, but did not venture to follow them more than a few miles.

One day, a man named Fisher came from the fort to Mr. Spears's field, to bring a message to him. On his return he was pursued by Indians, and shot down and scalped in the sight of Mrs. Spears, before a gun could be brought to bear on the fierce assailants. Such incidents kept our pioneers in a continual state of suspense and dread, and during the time they were living in the fort for greater safety, their condition was but little more comfortable. Their cattle were continually driven off, and their hunters, as well as those who ventured out to till the ground, murdered by stealthy foes; so that they suffered terribly for want of provisions. While in the fort, Mrs. Spears heard of two more of her relations being killed by the Indians; five of her family in all, fell victims to savage fury.

The three oldest children of Mrs. Spears were born during those years of terror, when the border settlers suffered so severely. Mr. Spears was a man of intelligence and sincere piety; he was a kind husband, and as they were blest with health and competence, their home was a' happy one. Mrs. Spears was gentle and amiable in her manners, and affectionate in her nature, with a warm and generous heart; always modest and yielding, except when sterner qualities were in requisition, when the strength and firmness of her nature were apparent. She made no attempt at any time to divest herself of early habits, in conformity to the improvements of the time, or changing fashions. A carriage was always at her disposal, yet she preferred riding on horseback when the journey was not too long; and in such cases she used a large covered farm wagon. Always charitable to the poor, and liberal to all with whom she had dealings, her industry and systematic housewifery were admirable, and not a moment of her time was ever wasted. Besides being engaged in weaving, sewing, and other domestic employments, she made salves, ointments, and decoctions continually, for all the afflicted of her acquaintance. Her knowledge of medicine was made available

to her friends and neighbors, and to the poor generally, gratuitously; while she accepted compensation from such as came from a distance and were able to offer it. It was a desire to do good which first induced her to undertake the most laborious duties of a physician among her own sex, medical practitioners being very scarce in that region; and her success soon made her so celebrated, that her aid was sought from every direction. She became fond of the practice, and continued to ride her circuit till a few months before her death.

There were some incidents in her experience, even after the cessation of Indian hostilities, which are highly illustrative. One morning, her husband went out a short distance, taking his gun, and bidding her to follow him with his knife, if she heard firing. Hearing a report soon after, she ran with the knife in the direction of the sound, and heard soon after a second shot. Mr. Spears snatched the knife from her hands, and plunged it to the handle into -a monstrous bear, "which" Mrs. Spears used to say, "had in its embrace our biggest and best sow. was some time before the sow recovered her breath, as each shot caused the bear to hug the tighter; though not a bone was broken."

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Mrs. Spears was fond of high-mettled horses, and was accustomed to ride a very spirited one. Her husband warned her that the animal was apt to run away; but our heroine declared she would cure the propensity, which she did one day, when the mare had run about a mile with her, by suddenly checking, so as to cause the animal to dash its head against the trunk of a beech-tree by the roadside, while the fearless rider sprang off in time to save herself.

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At one time Mrs. Spears was sent for in great haste to attend a woman living on the opposite side of Green river, several miles distant. Her own babe was too young to leave, and she set off on horseback carrying it in her arms. riving at the river, she found that the ferry boat had just pushed from shore. She called to the man to return, urging the necessity of the case, but the man replied that his load was too heavy. On this the spirited matron urged her mare into the river, swam her past the ferryboat, reached the opposite bank first, and was in time to thank the ferryman for his humanity before his boat touched the landing. The child she carried on this occasion was accustomed to relate this anecdote, and its truth was confirmed by the old neighbors in Kentucky, among whom the lady to whom we are indebted

for this memoir, travelled a little more than a year ago.

Mr. and Mrs. Spears removed with their servants-a negro boy and girl-to Illinois in 1824. Their three surviving children, all of whom had families, accompanied them. All had prospered and were comfortable in their worldly circumstances. They settled at Claray's Grove, in Merard county. The parents were blessed in their children, and had "godliness with contentment." Mrs. Spears' solicitous care for her servants, in regard not only to bodily comfort, but moral and religious culture, equalled that she had bestowed on her own children, and it was returned by the most devoted affection and willing obedience.

When the boy-Jem-became of age, his mistress gave him a liberal outfit, with liberty to depart if he chose to do so; but he preferred remaining with her. By thrifty increase of his store, Jem was enabled afterwards to purchase both his parents, who belonged to a relative of Mrs. Spears, then residing in Missouri. They were redeemed by the dutiful son, and brought to Claray's Grove but a very short time since. The sympathy and aid given by Jem's mistress to this cherished project, may throw additional light on her most lovely and christian character.

At a very advanced age-between eighty and ninety-Mrs. Spears visited her brother in Tennessee. This brother in the time of the Indian war was riding in company with her mother when she was wounded by a shot from an Indian. He killed the assailant, but while attempting to place his mother again in the saddle, received a shot from another lurking savage. A man who accompanied them helped him to mount his horse, and the party made good their escape. On her way to visit this brother, Mrs. Spears travelled in a large covered wagon, and was accompanied by her grandson, a boy about fourteen years of age. They camped out every night. During one day Mrs. Spears had noticed a horseman pass them several times, and attentively mark, as she thought, one of her best horses.

Apprehensive of thievish intent, she had her bed laid that night upon the ground, that her quick ear might catch the sound of approaching footsteps. In the dead silence of the night she heard the sound, and raising herself with a loud voice, demanded who was there? The intruder retired without making any answer; but in the space of an hour or two returned, with the same stealthy step, which was again detected by the watchful matron. Starting up, she repeated her question, and when no reply came, charged the man with his nefarious design, and threatened punishment if he dared to come again. The thief did not seem inclined to give up his prey, but came the third time on horseback. The matron, aware of his approach, prepared herself for him, and as he came near, suddenly sprang towards him, holding a large article of dress, which she flapped in his horse's face with such a report that the animal wheeled round in affright, and bounded swiftly out of her sight. Then the thought struck her, perhaps the rider had been thrown and killed; and she was uneasy, till by laying her ear to the ground she could hear the regular receding tramp of the horse, showing that the man had escaped without injury.

Mrs. Spears died at her residence at Claray's Grove, on the 26th January, 1852, surrounded by affectionate children and grandchildren, who still reverently cherish the memory of her virtues, and look to the example of her well-spent and useful life. The times of trial which nurtured such noble natures, by developing their strength and power of endurance, may never return in our powerful and prosperous country; yet have we all work to do in the great battle of life, and not without lasting benefit may we contemplate the character of those heroic matrons who bore so much of the burden in our struggle for independence, and whose influence was so controlling and extensive, though unacknowledged in the history, which deals only with the actions of men.

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ROBINSON CRUSOE'S ISLAND.

is a remarkable fact in literary history, or, perhaps, we should rather say, in literary criticism, that for more than a hundred years an unquestioned connection has been maintained in popular opinion between Robinson Crusoe and Juan Fer

nandez; so that in school geographies, books of voyages, and the like, wherever it becomes necessary to mention the island, an allusion to the hero of Defoe's romance is sure to follow, while yet the slightest examination of an unabridged copy of

Robinson Crusoe will show that it contains no reference whatever to Juan Fernandez, but that, on the contrary, a very well-defined locality in another part of the Western Hemisphere, is assigned to the imaginary island. Undoubtedly this delusion originated in the charge against Defoe that he had derived the idea, and many of the details of his fiction, from the well-known story of Alexander Selkirk's residence on Juan Fernandez, though it can be easily proved that Defoe was under little or no obligation to the Scotchman's narrative.

The story of Selkirk is briefly this: He was the sailing-master of an English privateer, commanded by Captain Stradling, which was cruising in the South Seas, and which stopped at Juan Fernandez in 1704, for supplies and repairs, that island being then as well known, and almost as frequently visited by French, Spanish and English vessels, as it is now. In consequence of a violent quarrel with his commander, Selkirk resolved to leave the vessel, and accordingly, in September, 1704, he was set ashore at his own request, being supplied with a sea-chest, his wearing clothes, and bedding, a firelock, a pound of gunpowder, a large quantity of bullets, a flint and steel, a few pounds of tobacco, a hatchet, a knife, a kettle, a Bible, and other books of devotion, together with books of navigation and his mathematical instruments. He remained upon the island four years and four months, until he was taken off in February, 1709, by Captain Woodes Rogers, commander of the Duke, a British privateer, in which vessel Selkirk shipped himself as a mate, and after a long cruise returned to England in October, 1711, eight years before the publication of Robinson Crusoe.

Selkirk, it will be observed, voluntarily went ashore, well supplied with arms, tools, clothes, and books, upon an island that for two centuries had been the resort of ships of various nations. Robinson Crusoe, on the contrary, as every boy knows, was shipwrecked, and escaped by swimming to a desolate island, not laid down upon the maps. Juan Fernandez is in the Pacific Ocean, about 34 degrees, or more than 2000 miles, south of the Equator, and 400 miles from the southwest coast of South America. Let us now see where Robinson Crusoe's island is situated, according to his own veracious and explicit narrative.

He relates that he had been living for some years as a planter in Brazil, and being "straitened" for want of slaves, was induced to go on an expedition to the opposite coast of Africa for the purpose of

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procuring negroes. From St. Salvador or Bahia, on the east coast of Brazil,

"We set sail," he says; "standing away to the northward upon our own coast, with design to stretch over for the African coast."

When they came to about ten or twelve degrees of northern latitude, which, it seems, was the manner of their course in those days:

"We had very good weather, only excessive hot all the way upon our own coast, till we came to the height of Cape St. Augustino, from whence, keeping farther off at sea, we lost sight of land, and steered as if we were bound for the isle Fernando de Brouha, holding our course northeast by north, and leaving those isles on the east. In this course, we passed the line in about twelve days' time, and were, by our last observation, in seven degrees twenty-two minutes northern latitude, when a violent tornado, or hurricane, took us quite out of our knowledge. It began from the southeast, came about tc the northwest, and then settled in the northeast; from whence it blew in such a terrible manner, that for twelve days together, we could do nothing but drive, and scudding away before it, let it carry us whither ever fate and the fury of the winds directed.

"About the twelfth day, the weather abating a little, the master made an observation as well as he could, and found that he was in eleven degrees north latitude, but that he was twenty-two degrees of longitude difference west, from Cape St. Augustino; so that he found he was got upon the coast of Guiana, or the north part of Brazil, beyond the River Amazon, towards that of the River Oroonoque, commonly called the Great River. **** Looking over the charts of the sea coast of America, we concluded there was no inhabited country for us to have recourse to, till we came within the circle of the Carribbee islands, and therefore resolved to stand away for Barbadoes, which, by keeping off to sea, to avoid the in-draft of the Gulf of Mexico, we might easily perform, as we hoped, in about fifteen days' sail. With this design, we changed our course, and steered away northwest by west, in order to reach some of our English islands, where I hoped for relief; but our voyage was otherwise determined; for being in the latitude of twelve degrees, eighteen minutes, a second storm came upon us, which carried us away with the same impetuosity westward, and drove us so out of the very way of all human commerce, that, had all our lives been saved, as to the sea, we were rather in danger of being devoured by savages than ever returning to our own country. In this distress, the wind still blowing very hard, one of our men, early in the morning, cried out, Land! and we had no sooner run out of the cabin to look out, in hopes of seeing whereabouts in the world we were, but the ship struck upon a sand, and in a moment, her motion being so stopped, the sea broke over her in such

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