Page:Letters of Life.djvu/168

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156
LETTERS OF LIFE.

spicuous in him, and unimpaired by age. He was the father of a numerous family, and a gentleman of extensive influence.

General Zachariah Huntington was a model of manly symmetry and beauty. He was tall, with noble features, a pure complexion, and a fresh color upon cheek and lip. Though more intimate in his family than in that of any of the other brothers, his daughter being my schoolmate and friend, I always felt afraid of him. To my childish fancy he seemed like one of the chieftains of the old Douglas blood, who ruled the Scottish kings.

With this remarkable brotherhood were two sisters—Elizabeth, the wife of Colonel John Chester, of Wethersfield, the mother of many children, richly gifted both in person and mind; and Mary, the help-meet of our excellent pastor, the Rev. Dr. Joseph Strong. A mistress was she of the minutiæ of that domestic science which promotes household comfort and happiness. Proverbially plain was she in dress and manner, condescending to the lowliest, and of so easy and cheerful a temperament that her words were always mingled with smiles. In those days a minister and his consort were expected to be patterns in all things to all people, and the closest critic perceived in her only those quiet, unambitious virtues that pertain to woman's true sphere, and a cloudless piety. Her husband had erected a handsome parsonage within the