Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 7.djvu/27

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CORRECTION.

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��watchetl at her bedside for three weeks, during which her strength insensibly lessened, and her flesh wasted away, though she suffered little pain. I have before me four little notes which the afflicted husband wrote on the day of her death, which tell the story of her departure in an affecting manner. Monday Morning, January 21st.

" Dear Brother : Mrs. Webster still lives, but is evidently near her end. We did not expect her continuance yesterday from hour to hour.

Yours, affectionately, D. W."

This was written at daylight, in the morning. At nine o'clock he wrote to an old friend :

"Mrs. Webster still lives, but can not possibly remain long with us. We ex- pected her decease yesterday from hour to hour."

At half past two that afternoon he wrote :

" Dear Brother : Poor Grace has gone to Heaven. She has just now breathed her last breath. I shall go with her forthwith to Boston, and, on receipt of this, I hope you will come there if you can. I shall stay there some days. j\Iay God bless you and yours."

At the same hour he wrote the fol- lowing to the lady quoted above :

" Mv dear Eliza : The scene is ended, and Mrs. Webster has gofie to

��God. She has just breathed her last breath. How she died — with what cheerfulness and submission, with what hopes and what happiness, how kindly she remembered her friends, and how often and affectionately she spoke of you, I hope soon to be able to tell you ; till then, adieu."

Her husband mourned her depart- ure sincerely and long. And well he might, for she was his guardian angel. After her death he was drawn more and more into politics, and gave way at length into an ambition for political place and distinction, which lessened his usefulness, impaired his dignity, and embittered his closing years.

Upon the summit of a commanding hill, in Marshfield, which overlooks the ocean, is the spot prepared by Daniel Webster for the burial place of his family. There his own remains repose, and there, also, those of his three children. There, too, he erected a marble column to the memory of their mother, which bears the follow- ing inscription :

Grace Webster,

Wife of Daniel Webster,

Born Januai-y the i6th, iy82 ;

Died January the 2 1st, 1828.

" Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

— Concord Paper.

��CORRECTION.

��On page 112, Granite Monthly for April, 1883, " Methodism in Ports- mouth," read " Samuel Hutchings, the grandfather of the late Dr. Brackett Hutchings," not great grandfather.

Dr. Brackett Hutchings was a well- known apothecary and pharmacist of

��Portsmouth. His father, Capt. Sam- uel Hutchings, jr., after retiring from the sea, pursued the same business ; and his father Samuel Hutchings, who resided on Washington street, was also a compounder of medicines.

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