| Notes |
- Daniel and Provided, a son and daughter of Lawrence Southwick, were fined 10 pounds for absence from church and for siding with the Quakers. Being unable to pay the fine, their parents' estates having been reduced by fines and distraints, they were ordered to be sold for bond-slaves, the county treasurer's being empowered " to sell the said persons to any of the English nation at Virginia or Barbadoes, to answer the fines." But no ship- master could be induced to take them. It was from this son, Daniel, that Mrs. Ayer was directly descended. Under the title of Cassandra Southwick, Whittier has described the sublime courage of Provided Southwick, which was born of faith that refused to yield to persecution and recant, and how she passed the night in prison before the day set for carrying out the diabolical sentence that had been passed upon her :' All night I sat unsleeping, for I knew that on the morrow The ruler and the cruel priest would mock me in my sorrow ; Dragged to their place of market and bargained for and sold, Like a lamb before the shambles, like a heifer from the fold ! " He tells what temptations beset her, alone in her wretched cell, to purchase freedom by renouncing what she had been taught was the way of salvation, and how these gathered force as she contemplated her future : " And what a fate awaits thee ! a sadly toiling slave, Dragging the slowly lengthening chain of bondage to the grave ! Think of thy woman's nature, subdued in hopeless thrall, The easy prey of any, the scoff and scorn of all ! " The poet describes how her faith finally triumphed over the weakness of the flesh : " Bless the Lord for all his mercies ! for the peace and love I felt, Like dew of Hermon holy hill, upon my spirit melt ; When ' Get behind me, Satan ! ' was the language of my heart, And I felt the evil tempter with all his doubts depart. In the morning her prison doors were opened, and with the sheriff at her side and a wondering throng at her heels, she was.marched down to the beach : " Then to the stout sea-captains the sheriff, turning, said, ' Which of ye, worthy seamen, will take this Quaker maid ? In the Isle of fair Barbadoes, or on Virginia's shore, You may hold her at a higher price than Indian girl or More.' " Grim and silent stood the captains ; and when again he cried, ' Speak out, my worthy seamen ! ' no voice, no sign replied ; But I felt a hard hand press my own, and kind words met my ear,' God bless thee and preserve thee, my gentle girl and dear ! ' " A weight seemed lifted from my heart, a pitying friend was nigh, I felt it in his hard right hand, and saw it in his eye ; And when again the sheriff spoke, that voice so kind to me, Growled back it's stormy answer like the roaring of the sea :" ' Pile my ship with bars of silver pack with coins of Spanish gold,From keel piece up to deck plank, the roomage of her hold- By the living God who made me I would sooner in your bay Sink ship and crew and cargo, than bear this child away ! ' " ' Well answered, worthy captain, shame on their cruel laws ! 'Ran through the crowd in murmurs loud the people's just applause. ' Like the herdsman of Tekoa, in Israel of old, Shall we see the poor and righteous again for silver sold ? ' "
|
1641 - 1728 (86 years)
[1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11] 
