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New England Chattels; Or, Life In The Northern Poor-house

Creator: Samuel H. Elliot (author)
Date: 1858
Publisher: H. Dayton, New York
Source: Available at selected libraries
Figures From This Artifact: Figure 2  Figure 3  Figure 4  Figure 5  Figure 6  Figure 7

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In this situation, be made an effort to reach his native town. Enfeebled by disease, lame, wounded, destitute of money, be begged his way from town to town, or gladly received the aid that common humanity proffered him, gazing ever earnestly for a sight of his early home. A stranger told him, as be entered the town, that the poor-house was situated where be bad found it, and no one bad mentioned to him the name of the agent. (36)


(36) Appendix H.

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We have little more to say. The arrangements of the town for the support of the paupers gave almost, if not, universal satisfaction. The number of paupers diminished under the new treatment, as it was found to con- tribute largely to their elevation and improved condition generally. The effect on the funds of the town was such as to convince the most sceptical that it was pecuniarily a great gain.

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The good old widow Prescott, after a short time, died in an unexpected hour, her strength suddenly failing, as the very aged often die; but her mind failed not till near the last moment. Among her weeping companions, her head supported by James, while Rev. Mr. Rodman offered up a prayer for her departing spirit, Mr. and Mrs. Haddock, and one or two deacons and brethren of the church present, she closed her eyes on the world of trials, faith, and patience, and, as we believe, went home to the bright world of fruition, glory, and song. Every one of the paupers who was able went to her grave and saw her buried. This was a new thing to them. They began to see the difference in their condition, even at funerals; and being dressed like other people, they were not ashamed to walk among the graves, to answer questions, and to speak to those who accosted them. They could not avoid thinking it was a handsome thing to be decently buried; to see a good many people at your grave -- i.e., at your companion's grave; to be thought a human being worthy of a burial notice, and perhaps a marble slab in memory of one, as at least belonging to the great race -- the HUMAN people.

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Captain Bunce was employed by James and the overseers to assist in the care of the poor. He regained the confidence of all who had formerly known him, and became very useful in the position assigned him. Henrietta, failing day by day, yet rejoicing in the kind provision made for her father's comfort, at length found rest from all earthly sorrows in the grave.

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So, one after another, dropped from off the Life Book on earth these aged and infirm men and women -- with many it being true that their last were their best days. Pray God that they all -- yea, that we ourselves all -- may be found on the Book of Life Eternal in the Heavens -- our home there in that house not made with hands !

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The venerable Mr. Warren was, soon after the events we have now described, gathered to his fathers.

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* * * * * *

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"For the needy shall not always be forgotten; the expectation of the poor shall not perish forever." -- PSALM 9: 18.

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ITEM.

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MAG DAVIS -- One word about her and a singular coincidence. Interested in her personal character, my readers must devour with eagerness a precious morceau like this, which, I confess, should have appeared earlier in this little drama. Mag Davis -- don't deny it, ladies, and say that Queen Victoria, or the Empress Eugenia were the first to discover and apply them -- no such thing. Mag Davis, beyond all reasonable doubt, was the first one to discover and apply that world-renowned appendage to female attire, called hoops. The apparatus was of course in her hands, rude, consisting of wooden hoops from old casks. But it answered the object, and Mag adopting, Roxy imitated and pursued the fashion: SO IT SPREAD. The imitators and disciples of Miss Margaret Davis are now the universal daughterhood of Eve.

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This may seem to you, my readers, trifling with a serious, money-making business and custom, (and every body knows that hoops are the envy of all men!) but I mention it on account of a remarkable coincidence, which is, that this fashion (which now pervades the world, and has swept the hats of every gentleman, how fine soever the beaver, out of all the aisles of the churches in Christendom!) which will undoubtedly END in the poor-house, should have had its ORIGIN there.

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* * * When we last heard of Mag Davis she was in a brown study, moody, and complaining. She said she had long since lost sight of her own invention, and had altogether abandoned it. Alas! -- yet such is often the fate of Genius.

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APPENDIX

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CURIOUS FACTS.

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Certain inhabitants of Moretown, Vermont, says a Boston paper, in order to rid the town of the support of a pauper cripple, feeble in body and mind, induced a man to marry her by the payment of $60 in hand and the promise of $40 in addition. It appeared that the would-be, or hired husband professed to entertain a special spite against the town of his own legal settlement, and hoped that he should, by the marriage, impose the burden on them. The ceremony took place, and the parties lived together about three weeks, when the husband abandoned the wife, in consummation of his original purpose. On her petition for a decree of nullity, the Court held that the transaction was wanting in all the essentials of a valid marriage. It was a sham and pretence; and in regard to the petitioner, it was a most flagrant and disgraceful fraud. -- N.Y. Sun. Jan. 8. 1857.

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