boats. Mr. De Coudres continued with Mr. Allaire more than half a century, some of the time as su- perintendent of the iron-foundry, and all of the time in charge of the brass-casting department, in which art his reputation was pre-eminent. This branch of the Allaire works possessed for many years almost a monopoly in bell-castmg. The first great fire-alarm bells put up in the City Hall park were cast by Mr. De Coudres.
DEEMS, Charles Force, clergyman, b. in Bal- timore, Md., 4 Dec, 1820; d. in New York city, 18 Nov., 1893. lie was graduated at Dickinson col- lege, Carlisle, Pa., in 1839, and entered the Meth- odist ministry in New Jersey. Soon afterward he became general agent for the American Bible soci- ety in North Carolina. In 1841 he accepted the professorshif) of logic and rhetoric in the Univer- sity of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill, holding this office five years, after which he was for one year professor of natural sciences in Kandolph-^NIacon college at Ashland, Va. Returning to North Caro- lina, he was stationed as a Methodist pastor at New Berne, and in 1850 was a delegate to the gen- eral conference of the Methodist Episcopal church, south, which met in St. Louis. While there he was elected to the presidency of Greensboro, N. C, female college, and also to the presidency of Cen- tenary college, at Jac-kson, La. He chose the for- mer, and served till 1854. from which time he was engaged in tlie regular pastorate till 1858. After- ward he was the presiding elder of the Wilmington and New Berne districts of the North Carolina conference. At the close of 18G5 he went to New York, was occupied for a time in literary pursuits, and subsequently established the Church of the Strangers, of which he was the pastor till death. He was at one time president of Rutgers female college. New York city. He was the president of the American institute of Christian philosophy since 1881. and was also editor of " Christian Thought," a monthly magazine. He also edited Frank Les- lie's "Sunday Magazine." and five volumes of the "Southern Methodist Pulpit." and compiled three volumes of " Annals of Southern JMethodism." He received the degree of D. D. from Randolph-Macon college, and that of LL. D. from the University of North Carolina. Besides the publication of several volumes of sermons, and many addresses, he was a frequent contributor to periodical literature, and was the author of " Triumph of Peace and other Poems" (New York, 1840); "Lifeof Rev. Dr. Clarke" (1840); "Devotional Melodies" (1842); "Twelve CollegeSermo'ns"(1844); "The Home Altar"(1850); "What Now?"(l853); "Weights and Wings" (1874); " A Scotch Verdict in Re-Evolution " (1886) ; and " The Light of the Nations " (1808), in which the author did not attempt to present the biography of Christ, but took the records of the evangelists who write about the man Jesus, the Son of Mary, as he would the narratives of the classic authors, and strove to represent the consciousness of Jesus without reference to theological conclusions. He wrote with considerable force in opposition to the modern doctrine of evolution.
DEERING, Nathaniel, author, b. 35 June, 1791 ; d. near Portland, Me., in 1881. His grandfather was Nathaniel Deering, to whose energy and enter- prise Portland owes so much of its early prosperity. Mr. Deering studied at Phillips Exeter academy, and was graduated at Harvard in 1810. He en- tered the counting-house of Asa Clapp, in Port- land, but soon relinquished business pursuits for the law, and he was admitted to the bar in 1815, and practised in Canaan, and afterward in Milburn (now Skowhegan), Me. It was while Mr. Deering was living at Canaan that Lydia Maria Child wrote a well-known epigram upon his name :
" Whoever weds the young lawyer at C.
Will surely have prospects most cheering,
For what must his person and intellect be,
When even his name is N. Deering?"
He returned to Portland in 1836, devoted himself to literary pursuits, and was for some time editor of a political paper, the " Independent Statesman." While still at Milburn he published " Carabasset," a tragedy founded upon the story of the massacre of Father Rasle and the Norridgewock Indians by the British in 1720. This work was followed by " The Clairvoyants," a comedy, which has been several times produced upon the stage in Boston and Portland. His miscellaneous writings include humorous tales of " down-east " life. His most finished plav is " Bozzaris," a tragedy (1851).
DE FOREST, John William, author and sol- dier, b. in llumphreysville (now Seymour), Conn., 31 March, 1826. He attended no college, but pur- sued independent studies, mainly abroad, was a student in Latin, and became a fluent speaker of French, Italian, and Spanish. While yet a youth, he passed four years travelling in Europe, and two years in the "Levant, residing chiefly in Syria. Again, in 1850, he visited Europe, making exten- sive tours through Great Britain. France, Italy, Germany, Greece, and Asia Minor. From that time until the civil war began he wrote short stories for peri- odicals, having alreadybecome an author of several books. In 1861, as cap- tain, he re- cruited a com- pany for the 12th Connecti- cut volunteers, andserved con- stantly in the field till Janu- ary, 1865, tak- ing an active part imder Gens. Weitzel
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and Banks in the southwestern states, and under Gen. Sheridan in the Shenandoah valley, and leav- ing the army with the brevet of major. Graphic descriptions ' of battle-scenes in Louisiana, and of Sheridan's battles in the A'alley of the Shen- andoah, were published in " Harper's Monthly " during the war byMaj. De Forest, who was pres- ent on all the occasions thus mentioned, and was fortunate enough, while experiencing forty-six days under fire, to receive but one trifling wound. He was one of only two or three American literary men that laid down the pen for the sword. From 1865 till 1868 he remained in the army as adjutant- general of the veteran reserve corps, and after- ward as chief of a district under the Freedman's bureau. Since then he has resided in New Haven, except when travelling in Europe. The honorary degree of A. M. was conferred upon him by Am- herst college in 1859. Besides essays, a few po- ems, and about fifty short stories, numerous mili- tary sketches, and book-reviews, most of which were anonymous, he, in 1873, contributed to the "Atlantic Monthly" a short serial story, entitled "The Lauson Tragedy." He has published " The History of the Indians of Connecticut, from the
