WOMAN IN ART
purity of air, exercise, and principles, but when the pressure came from George III and his Parliament across the sea, the people were ready with needed brain and brawn that brooked no interference or injustice so far as their independence was concerned. They made that emphatic. Character, love of liberty, Independence, and Loyalty, never took deeper root than in that period of American history.
The portrait of Abigail Smith Adams recalls two volumes of her life and letters that the writer read aloud to her mother when twelve years old[1] Her letters reveal much of daily life not to be found in history, illustrating the naturalness of preparation for service; how necessities of the moment opened the door to positions undreamed of by the man who was equipped to serve his country at its most crucial moments.
Abigail Smith was born in Weyworth, Massachusetts, November 11, 1744. Her father, Parson William Smith, was a notable figure of the times, a man of character, intelligence and cultivation. In the process of time his daughter became the wife of John Adams, then a young barrister. From the year of their marriage, 1764, to the day of her death, she was in every relation of life a pattern of filial, conjugal, maternal and social virtue.
Within the period of her life occurred the most vital and crucial events that led to the War of the Revolution, the Declaration of Independence, the formation of the government of the United States of America, the acknowledgment of the new nation by foreign powers, the naval warfare of 1812,—and in all these formative events John Adams was often called in council, was a member of the Continental Congress which convened at Philadelphia, and by Congress was sent twice to France on State business, and to England as the first ambassador from the United States. He was the first to serve the country as Vice-President, and was inaugurated second president February 8, 1797, Thomas Jefferson becoming Vice-President.
Abigail Adams was not well and could not attend that inauguration, but wrote a letter to her husband on that day which has become a classic. A copy of it here will speak for the wife:
"The sun is dressed in brightest beams,
To give thy honors to the day."
"And may it prove an auspicious prelude to each ensuing season. You have this day to declare yourself head of a nation. 'And now, O Lord, my God,
- ↑ A more recent work by Laura E. Richards is in one volume.
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