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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Nathan Hale, by Jean Christie Root
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Nathan Hale
+
+Author: Jean Christie Root
+
+Release Date: March 15, 2010 [EBook #31650]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NATHAN HALE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreaders at
+http://www.fadedpage.com
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  TRUE STORIES OF GREAT AMERICANS
+
+  NATHAN HALE
+
+  BY
+
+  JEAN CHRISTIE ROOT
+
+
+  "O Beautiful! my Country! ...,
+    What were our lives without thee?
+    What all our lives to save thee?
+    We reck not what we gave thee;
+    We will not dare to doubt thee,
+  But ask whatever else, and we will dare!"
+
+  _Commemoration Ode_,
+  JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL
+
+
+  THE WORLD SYNDICATE PUBLISHING CO.
+  Cleveland, O.         New York, N. Y.
+
+  PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
+
+  COPYRIGHT, 1915,
+
+  BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
+
+  Set up and electrotyped. Published May, 1915. Reprinted
+  August, 1925; March, 1929.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+  CHAPTER I
+  NATHAN HALE'S EARLY YEARS                                            1
+
+  CHAPTER II
+  COLLEGE DAYS                                                        12
+
+  CHAPTER III
+  A CALL TO TEACH                                                     29
+
+  CHAPTER IV
+  A CALL TO ARMS                                                      44
+
+  CHAPTER V
+  HALE'S ZEAL AS A SOLDIER                                            60
+
+  CHAPTER VI
+  A PERILOUS SERVICE                                                  71
+
+  CHAPTER VII
+  GRIEF FOR THE YOUNG PATRIOT                                         91
+
+  CHAPTER VIII
+  TRIBUTES TO NATHAN HALE                                            103
+
+  CHAPTER IX
+  NATHAN HALE'S FRIENDS                                              114
+
+    THE REV. JOSEPH HUNTINGTON, D.D.                                 114
+    ALICE ADAMS                                                      118
+    BENJAMIN TALLMADGE                                               125
+    WILLIAM HULL                                                     129
+    STEPHEN HEMPSTEAD                                                133
+    ASHER WRIGHT                                                     136
+    ELISHA BOSTWICK                                                  137
+    EDWARD EVERETT HALE                                              140
+
+  CHAPTER X
+
+  ANCESTORS AND DESCENDANTS OF NATHAN HALE'S
+
+  PARENTS                                                            143
+
+  CHAPTER XI
+  ASSERTED BETRAYAL OF NATHAN HALE                                   147
+
+  CHAPTER XII
+  CONTRASTS BETWEEN HALE AND ANDRÉ                                   152
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+NATHAN HALE'S EARLY YEARS
+
+
+It is to-day a recognized fact that no life worthy of our reverence, or
+even a life calculated to awaken our fear, is the result of accident.
+Whatever may be the character, its basis has been the result of
+long-developing causes. This the life of Nathan Hale well illustrates.
+He was born at a time and under influences that were sure to develop the
+best qualities in him. He was an immediate descendant of the best of the
+Puritans on both sides of the sea. His great-grandfather, John Hale, was
+the son of Robert Hale, who came to America in 1632. John Hale graduated
+from Harvard in 1657 and was the first pastor settled in Beverly,
+Massachusetts, remaining there until he died, an aged man. An ardent
+patriot, this John Hale, in 1676, gave about one-twelfth of his salary,
+some seventy pounds, for defense in King Philip's War. When need arose
+in the French War, he went to Canada as a volunteer, for a threefold
+purpose,--so that he might accompany a number of his own parishioners,
+act as chaplain for one of the regiments, and fight when his aid was
+needed.
+
+Living during the witchcraft trials, he was one of the first to be
+convinced of the mistaken course pursued. We are not certain as to his
+approval or disapproval of the progress of the excitement in regard to
+witchcraft until it became intensely personal to his own family. His
+wife was, fortunately as the results proved, accused by some misguided
+person of being a witch. The well-known nobility of her life, and her
+lovely character, at once convinced all who knew the circumstances that
+some terrible mistake had been made by her accuser. And if a mistake had
+been made in her case, why not in others? At once the deadly power of
+the delusion was broken and, happily, the tide turned back forever.
+There was no question after this of the Rev. Mr. Hale's viewpoint as to
+witchcraft.
+
+In the very darkest depths of the witchcraft delusion, some
+illustrations of splendid courage and noble unselfishness were
+exhibited. Grewsome as it is, we cannot forbear quoting the example of
+one Giles Cory, condemned to die as a witch, who knew that if he did not
+confess he had bewitched people, his estate, which he wished his wife
+and family to inherit, would be forfeited, and that he would be pressed
+to death instead of being hanged.
+
+Being hanged is a comparatively brief experience, while the other way is
+prolonged and agonizing. But, for the sake of his family, brave old
+Giles Cory calmly faced this terrible, lingering death. He must have won
+from some, if not from all, the feeling that a stout-hearted and
+generous man had proved his love for his own as no mere words could have
+done.
+
+John Hale appears to have been a worthy ancestor of the youth Nathan
+Hale, who, a hundred years later, so freely made a sacrifice of his
+life.
+
+John Hale's son, Samuel, was Nathan's grandfather; he made his home in
+Portsmouth, New Hampshire. One of Samuel Hale's sons, bearing his own
+name, Samuel, was a Harvard man. Another son, Richard, Nathan's father,
+born February 28, 1717, looking about to find the best farming lands for
+the support of a future family, moved to Connecticut, and became a
+farmer in South Coventry, thirty miles east of Hartford. Distinguished
+from the beginning for his success in whatever he undertook in business
+affairs, and also as a man of singularly upright character, Deacon
+Richard Hale won the warmest regard of all who knew him. His advice and
+help were sought, both in political and religious affairs, to the full
+limit of the time at his command.
+
+His farm was among the best in that section. The house that he first
+occupied, probably one already on the place, was as comfortable and
+convenient as the usual homes of the earlier colonists. Later a larger
+house was built, big enough to accommodate a family of a dozen or more,
+and many guests as well. The house in which Nathan lived as a boy is
+still standing, and has fortunately come down to us with almost no
+mutilation.
+
+Though the forms and the voices of those who dwelt in them have long
+since vanished, there still linger about these vacant rooms the most
+tender and inspiring memories of the lives once developing there, now
+gone forward; nothing wasted or lost, as we will believe, of anything
+permanent they strove for or cared for in their dear, earthly home.
+
+To this home Richard Hale, married May 2, 1746, at the age of
+twenty-nine, brought his young bride, Elizabeth Strong. If Richard
+Hale's pedigree was a good one, his wife, Elizabeth Strong, came from a
+family even more finely endowed. The first of her ancestors who came to
+America was Elder John Strong. He was one of the founders of
+Dorchester, now a part of Boston; later he helped to found Northampton,
+Massachusetts.
+
+Mrs. Hale's grandfather, Joseph Strong, represented Coventry for
+sixty-five sessions in the General Assembly of Connecticut, and when he
+was ninety years of age he presided over the town meeting, suggesting by
+that deed a man of some vigor, for town meetings were no playdays in
+those early years. His descendants, active in whatever their hands found
+to do,--in the ministry, the law, business, or politics,--were long
+prominent in New England and New York, and doubtless many are to-day
+still helping to mold their country's future.
+
+The son of this Justice Joseph Strong was also named Joseph, and called
+Captain Joseph Strong. In 1724 he married his second cousin, Elizabeth
+Strong. He, too, was a noted man among the colonists. She, later, became
+the "grandmother" to whom Nathan so warmly alludes in one of his last
+letters to his brother. Captain Joseph Strong and his wife were the
+parents of Elizabeth Strong who, in her nineteenth year, married Richard
+Hale.
+
+To Elizabeth Strong Hale we can give but a passing notice. There is not,
+it is believed, one word that she wrote now in existence, nor any record
+left of that gracious womanhood, save a name on an obscure gravestone.
+But what brave-hearted mother would not count it well worth while to
+leave, for the coming years, the impress she left upon her many
+children; one of them alone destined to carry to coming generations of
+Americans the assurance that such a son could only have been borne by
+one of the noblest of mothers. Dying at the age of forty,--April 21,
+1767,--after a married life of twenty-one years, she had performed all
+the duties then expected from the mistress of a farmer's household in a
+section where the principal help that could be secured in any time of
+need came from the voluntary kindnesses of neighbors; for, like one
+large family, they felt it necessary to "lend a hand" whenever any one
+of their number was in need. Mrs. Hale had been the mother of twelve
+children when she died. Two of her children, named David and Jonathan,
+were twins. One of the twins, Jonathan, died when only a week old. David
+lived to be graduated from Yale and to become a minister at Lisbon,
+Connecticut. A little daughter, Susanna, lived but a month, but ten of
+Mrs. Hale's twelve children grew to maturity.
+
+Nathan, the sixth child, born June 6, 1755, was the first of the ten to
+die, leaving to his surviving brothers and sisters a memory that in
+later years must have been an unfailing inspiration. He was delicate at
+first, but owing to his mother's care he later became as robust in body
+as he was in mind. For an older brother, Enoch, the plan was formed of
+sending him to college to prepare for the ministry, a custom then
+prevalent among many of the large and prosperous families in New
+England. Nathan was at first destined for a business life; but because
+of the urgent desire of his mother, heartily seconded by that of his
+Grandmother Strong, he was allowed to enter college with his brother
+Enoch in 1769, when he was fourteen years old; this was two years after
+the death of his mother. Four of Mrs. Hale's immediate relatives were
+graduates of Yale,--a fine illustration of the value those progressive
+pioneers attached to education.
+
+As a boy Nathan was to his mother what he later became to all who knew
+him; and the bond between such a mother and such a son must have been
+very tender and strong. It is a comfort to those who know what such
+mothers desire for their children, to remember the gladness and hope
+with which this mother, overworked and dying long before her time,
+looked forward to the days coming to her children. For Nathan, through
+her influence, was to become one of Yale's noblest sons.
+
+As Nathan's mother died nine years before he did, we understand the full
+meaning of the line in Judge Finch's poem,
+
+  "The sad of Earth, the glad of Heaven,"
+
+written many years later in honoring Nathan's splendid sacrifice. The
+poem to which the line belongs, read more than sixty years ago on the
+one-hundredth anniversary of the Linonian Society, an organization of
+Yale College of which Nathan Hale had been an early and an active
+member, had much influence in rousing first Yale men, and then other
+patriotic Americans, to recognize Nathan Hale as one of America's
+bravest martyrs.
+
+Mrs. Hale died in 1767. About two years later Deacon Hale married again,
+bringing to his home this time a widow, Mrs. Abigail Adams, of
+Canterbury, who must have been well fitted to take her place as the new
+head of the family. No ignoble mother could rear such children as she
+had reared, and Deacon Hale's second choice of a wife proved a wise and
+happy one. Providence appears to have smiled upon him when he opened his
+doors and invited Mrs. Adams and her children to share his home, and
+even the affection of some of his sons. It is said that two of Deacon
+Hale's sons fell in love with her youngest daughter, Alice Adams, who,
+at Deacon Hale's desire, came to live permanently in the family in 1770
+or 1771, while his second son, John, married her eldest daughter, Sarah
+Adams, on December 19, 1770.
+
+The lives of both these women, Sarah and Alice Adams, are sufficient
+witnesses to the high character of the new mother added to the Hale
+household. To several of his biographers it has seemed quite probable
+that Nathan Hale wrote one of his last two letters to this mother. We
+grant that it may have been addressed to her, while intended for the
+reading of another. Of this, later.
+
+In regard to the marriage of John Hale and Sarah Adams it may be as well
+to state here that, after a married life of thirty-one years, John Hale
+died suddenly in December, 1802, his health probably undermined by his
+service in the Revolutionary War, where he held the rank of major. His
+widow, desiring to carry out what she believed would have been his
+wishes, "bequeathed £1000 to trustees as a fund, the income of which was
+to be used for the support of young men preparing for missionary
+service,"--probably among the Indians, as this was before the support of
+foreign missions was undertaken in America--"and in part for founding
+and supporting the Hale Library in Coventry, to be used by the ministers
+of Coventry and the neighboring towns." Included in the bequest for
+founding the still existing so-called "Hale Donation" was a portrait of
+the donor's husband, Major John Hale;--well painted, for the period, and
+now of great interest. Mrs. John Hale died a few months after her
+husband. It is easy to believe that, though born of different parents,
+the Hale and Adams families were congenial mentally and morally, and
+that Deacon Richard Hale was a wise and fortunate man in his choice of a
+second mother for his children.
+
+According to his mother's and grandmother's wishes, it was early decided
+that Nathan should be prepared to enter college. After the fashion of
+those times, he and two of his brothers began their preparatory studies
+under the direction of the Rev. Joseph Huntington, D.D., then pastor of
+the church in Nathan's native town. He is said to have been a man noted
+for his intellectual power, for his patriotism, and for his courteous
+manners.
+
+It may be well to say here that, in those early days, the New England
+ministers usually settled in one pastorate for life, and they were not
+only teachers in spiritual things, but were noted for their courteous
+and dignified manners; so that even before he entered college Nathan
+Hale must have had ample opportunities for the cultivation of the easy
+manners and courteous deportment which are said by all who knew him to
+have been so marked in him.
+
+Nathan Hale, as a boy, had one more asset that must have helped to
+insure his future success, and that did, as we believe, help him to die
+nobly. He was not overindulged; he had always the spur of effort to urge
+him forward. It was told of him, many years after his death, by the
+woman he had loved and who had known him well all his later years, Mrs.
+Alice Adams Lawrence, that whatever he did, even as boy, he did with all
+his heart, as if it engrossed his whole mind. Whether it was work, or
+study, or play, he gave all his energies to the doing of it. Such a
+disposition, together with his fine home training, must have helped to
+insure his success in Yale.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+COLLEGE DAYS
+
+
+In September, 1769, accompanied by Enoch, an older brother, Nathan Hale
+entered the Freshman class at Yale. His personal traits easily won the
+hearts of his classmates, while his quick understanding, his high
+scholarship, and his loyalty to the college standards made him as
+popular among tutors and professors as among his classmates. It is
+pleasant to know that, from the time we first learn of him until we see
+him standing beside the fatal tree, he appears to have won all hearts
+worth winning.
+
+But Nathan Hale had yet another gift that would surely endear him to
+college students of to-day as much as it doubtless did to his own
+classmates. He was a powerful athlete. So great was his skill in this
+line that, to successive generations of Yale men, the "broad jump" made
+by Nathan Hale remained unequaled. It is said to have taken place on
+what is now called "The Green" in New Haven, not far from the Old State
+House; and for many years the spot was marked to designate the length
+of the jump. Even during the years when his courageous death appeared to
+be well-nigh forgotten, "Hale's jump" was vividly remembered. But he not
+only "jumped," he excelled in all games then popular in college, besides
+being a capital shot with his rifle, as well as a fine swimmer.
+
+Hale could, it is said, lay one hand on the top of a six-foot fence and
+easily vault over it; and, though this astonishing feat is reported as
+occurring while he was a teacher, he used to delight his companions by
+showing them how to stand in a hogshead with his hands on his hips, leap
+over the first hogshead, land in a second, leap from that into a third,
+and from that out on to the ground,--all this before he was twenty.
+
+Imagine the delight of the "other fellows" standing around to watch Hale
+go through his various stunts in athletics! It almost makes one feel as
+if one had been a student and shared in the cheering when Hale did these
+things, so easy to himself, so difficult to the onlookers. Then fancy
+the talk at the supper tables, when the candles burned brightly and the
+eatables tasted twice as good because "old Hale" had won laurels for
+"old Yale" that afternoon by some "splendid" deed, as the boys called
+it. Whatever he did, we may be sure that it was done well and with all
+his might, and that nobody equaled him.
+
+This much for the athletic life of Hale in his student days. It was only
+natural to such a man that whatever he was--friend, student, teacher, or
+soldier--he should carry zest and earnestness to all his work, even as
+he carried his manliness, his courtesy, and his unquenchable spirit.
+
+Let us now turn to the record of his years of successful work at Yale.
+It has been said that whatever he did, he did with all his might, and
+his brain work was as notable in its results as were the strength and
+agility of his body. In those early days the college bell rang for
+prayers, as the beginning of the day's work, at half past four in summer
+and an hour later in winter; and there are men still living who
+remember, in later years and at later hours, the wild rushes
+half-dressed students used to make, adjusting what they could of their
+hastily donned clothing on their race to morning chapel.
+
+Hale, however, as well as his companions a hundred and forty years ago,
+were accustomed to early rising, and able to fill every hour of their
+long days with work or play. The course of study then was much shorter
+than it is now, but if lacking in quantity it certainly made up in some
+of its qualities. We doubt if Freshmen to-day would outshine their
+fellows of that very early time if their declamations on Fridays were
+required to be in Latin, Greek, or Hebrew, "no English being allowed
+save by special permission."
+
+Science as we now know it had not entered into the college course, but
+the little then known, and the other studies considered essential,
+comparatively limited as they must have been, were taught so thoroughly
+that the men who carried away a college diploma carried a sure guarantee
+that they had been carefully taught whatever was then considered
+essential to a college education.
+
+Although it is true that science was then in comparative infancy, it is
+also true that it was deeply absorbing to young Hale. Some of his most
+valued books were scientific, and, aside from the studies he was obliged
+to pursue, he eagerly absorbed educational theories and the best
+literary works then available. As a college student, he stood high; as a
+thinker and as one interested in the finest pursuits of his period, he
+ranked equally high. Before he was nineteen he had won the permanent
+friendship and ardent admiration of a man who was then his tutor,
+Timothy Dwight, later the renowned president of Yale College, and to
+the end of his long life a lover of his boy-friend, Nathan Hale.
+
+Another warm friend, a classmate, destined to be notable in future
+years, was James Hillhouse, later United States Senator, the first man
+to leave the stamp of beauty on his native city, New Haven, in the
+wonderful elms of his planting.
+
+In addition to these two noted men, many of Hale's warmest friendships
+were formed at college among the leading men of his own and of other
+classes. At least two or three of these were his companions in arms, to
+whom we may refer later. Of his scholarship, one sure test remains. At
+graduation, of the thirty-six men in his class, he ranked among the
+first thirteen.
+
+In one other important line Nathan Hale made a notable mark in college,
+namely, in his intense interest in Linonia. This society had been
+founded in 1753 "to promote in addition to the regular course of
+academic study, literary stimulus and rhetorical improvement to the
+undergraduates," and to create friendly relations among its members. The
+organization lived a long and honorable life, and did a most helpful
+work among its members. Nathan Hale was the first in his class to become
+its Chancellor, later styled President. He was for some time also its
+scribe, and many of his entries in the Linonian reports are still
+"clear throughout and well-preserved" as is his signature at the end,
+after the passing of more than a hundred years.
+
+During his college course his name occurs in the reports of almost every
+meeting of the society. At one time he delivered "a very interesting
+narration"; at another, "an eloquent extemporaneous address." On various
+occasions he is said to have taken part in some of the plays that were
+frequently acted, and to have proposed questions for discussion.
+
+Besides taking part in the society and college exercises, he enjoyed
+frequent correspondence with a number of his classmates on themes of
+taste and criticism and of grammar and philology.
+
+As incoming Chancellor at the end of the college year of 1772, Hale
+responded in behalf of Linonia to the parting address from one of the
+graduating class.
+
+Hale's farewell address to the Linonians of the class of 1772 is
+preserved to Yale College on the society records. In reading it one must
+remember that the speech was made by a boy of seventeen. The dignity of
+the address, the assured ease with which he speaks, the sense of the
+Yale bond, as strong then as it ever has been, all show the only boyish
+thing about the speaker, namely, his sense of the superiority of
+Linonia, then nearly twenty years old, to the struggling new society of
+"The Brothers," less than eight years old. All this brings before us
+very vividly a boy in years, but a man in thoughts and aspirations,
+ardent and scholarly, and full of a noble ambition that looked forward,
+as do all ambitious students in their college days, to years of generous
+life.
+
+A few paragraphs quoted from various parts of the quaintly courteous
+speech will illustrate alike the youth and the maturity of the speaker.
+He said:
+
+"The high opinion we ought to maintain of the ability of these worthy
+Gentlemen" [the retiring members of the Society] "as well as the regard
+they express for Linonia and her Sons, tends very much to increase our
+desire for their longer continuance. Under whatsoever character we
+consider them, we have the greatest reason to regret their departure. As
+our patrons, we have shared their utmost care and vigilance in
+supporting Linonia's cause, and protecting her from the malice of her
+insulting foes. As our benefactors, we have partaken of their
+liberality, not only in their rich and valuable donations to our
+library, but, what is still more, their amiable company and
+conversation."
+
+["This is a fine portrait of Hale painted by himself," says a friend of
+Hale to-day.]
+
+"But as our friends, what inexpressible happiness have we experienced in
+their disinterested love and cordial affection! We have lived together
+not as fellow students and members of the same college, but as brothers
+and children of the same family; not as superiors and inferiors, but
+rather as equals and companions. The only thing which hath given them
+the preëminence is their superior knowledge in those arts and sciences
+which are here cultivated, and their greater skill and prudence in the
+management of such important affairs as those which concern the good
+order and regularity of this Society. Under the prudent conduct of these
+our once worthy patrons, but now parting friends, things have been so
+wisely regulated, as that while we have been entertained with all the
+pleasures of familiar conversation, we have been no less profited by our
+improvements in useful knowledge and literature."
+
+Hale's direct address to the parting members is as follows:
+
+"Kind and generous Sirs, it is with the greatest reluctance that we are
+now all obliged to bid adieu to you, our dearest friends. Fain would we
+ask you longer to tarry--but it is otherwise determined, and we must
+comply. Accept then our sincerest thanks, as some poor return for your
+disinterested zeal in Linonia's cause, and your unwearied pains to
+suppress her opposers.... Be assured that we shall be spirited in
+Linonia's cause and with steadiness and resolution strive to make her
+shine with unparalleled luster.... Be assured that your memory will
+always be very dear to us; that though hundreds of miles should
+interfere, you will always be attended with our best wishes.
+
+"May Providence protect you in all your ways, and may you have
+prosperity in all your undertakings! May you live long and happily, and
+at last die satisfied with the pleasures of this world, and go hence to
+that world where joys shall never cease, and pleasures never end! Dear
+Gentlemen, farewell!"
+
+Not only in speeches but also in deeds Hale proved his love for Linonia.
+He is said to have contributed some of his own books to the library of
+the Society, and to have coöperated with Timothy Dwight and James
+Hillhouse in promoting its growth. In time the library owned more than
+thirteen thousand volumes. These three Linonians were always considered
+its real founders, and were so honored at the Society's centennial
+anniversary on July 27, 1853.
+
+Timothy Dwight, the first of that name to be president of Yale College,
+was, like Nathan Hale, a descendant of Elder Strong who founded
+Northampton, Massachusetts. Dwight graduated in 1769, the year Hale
+entered college. He then became a tutor and was a personal friend of
+Hale's. He was a teacher of extraordinary power and was made president
+of Yale in 1795. He was one of the most remarkable men of his time,
+molding the moral and religious, as well as intellectual, character of
+the college so that his influence extended not only over the whole state
+but, to a great degree, over the whole United States. He was a fine
+illustration of the great abilities that centered in so many of the
+leading families of the colonists. Such connections as this man add even
+a higher luster to the genealogy of Elizabeth Strong Hale, and lessen
+our wonder that a son of hers, while hardly more than a boy, could face
+the duty and calmly accept the responsibility that he felt rested upon
+him.
+
+As may easily be inferred, the Hale boys, Enoch and Nathan, were not
+forgotten by their home friends while making honorable records in
+college, and forming pleasant friendships outside the college
+walls--then the happy lot of all the best men in college--among the
+cultured families of what was then a small New England city.
+
+An instance of the friendships Nathan made in New Haven is shown by the
+words of Æneas Munson, M.D., formerly of that city. When an aged man he
+spoke in the warmest terms of Hale's fine qualities as he observed them
+when he was a boy in his father's house, and he treasured a letter to
+his father from Hale in 1774 which will be given farther on.
+
+Of home letters, happily a few from their father in Coventry to his two
+sons in college are still preserved; these prove, as no words of any
+stranger could, his constant and practical interest in all that
+concerned them. They show us how an upright father tried to influence
+his boys' religious characters while distant from them, and at the same
+time they show the economies which even well-to-do fathers then had to
+exercise in providing for their sons while at college. The first letter
+also shows that Nathan must have entered college when fourteen years and
+three months old, having been born in June, 1755, and entering college
+in September, 1769. We here give the first letter, with all its quaint
+old spelling, and after it two others written during successive years.
+We may smile at their old-time expressions, but we must own to a sincere
+admiration for the kind and thoughtful father, so interested in his
+boys, and so solicitous concerning their health "after the measles."
+
+
+     DEAR CHILDREN:
+
+     I Rec'd your Letter of the 7th instant and am glad to hear that you
+     are well suited with Living in College and would let you know that
+     wee are all well threw the Divine goodness, as I hope these lines
+     will find you. I hope you will carefully mind your studies that
+     your time be not Lost and that you will mind all the orders of
+     College with care.... I intend to send you some money the first
+     opportunity perhaps by Mr. Sherman when he Returns home from of the
+     surcit [circuit court] he is now on. If you can hire Horses at New
+     Haven to come home without too much trouble and cost I don't know
+     but it is best and should be glad to know how you can hire them and
+     send me word. If I don't here from you I shall depend upon sending
+     Horses to you by the 6th of May,--if I should have know opportunity
+     to send you any money till May and should then come to New Haven
+     and clear all of it would it not do? If not you will let me know
+     it. Your friends are all well at Coventry--your mother sends her
+     Regards to you--from your kind and loving
+
+     Father
+     RICHD HALE
+
+     COVENTRY Decr. 26th
+     A.D. 1769.
+
+
+     DEAR CHILDREN:
+
+     I have nothing spettial to write but would by all means desire you
+     to mind your Studies and carefully attend to the orders of Coledge.
+     Attend not only Prayers in the chapel but Secret Prayr carefully.
+     Shun all vice especially card Playing. Read your Bibles a chapter
+     night and morning. I cannot now send you much money but hope when
+     Sr Strong comes to Coventry to be able to send by him what you
+     want....
+
+     from your Loving Father
+     RICHD HALE
+
+     Coventry, Decr. 17th, 1770
+
+
+     LOVING CHILDREN--by a line would let you know that I with my family
+     threw the Divine Goodness are well as I hope these lines will find
+     you. I have heard that you are better of the measles. The Cloath
+     for your Coat is not Done. But will be Done next week I hope at
+     furthest. I know of no opportunity we shall have to send it to
+     Newhaven and have Laid in with Mr. Strong for his Horse which his
+     son will Ride down to New Haven for one of you to Ride home if you
+     can get Leave and have your close made at home. I sopose that one
+     measure will do for both of you. I am told that it is not good to
+     study hard after the measles--hope you will youse Prudance in that
+     afare. If you do not one of you come home I dont see but that you
+     must do with out any New Close till after Commensment. I send you
+     Eight Pound in cash by Mr. Strong--hope it will do for the
+     present--
+
+     Your Loving Father
+     RICHD HALE
+
+     COVENTRY August 13th, 1771
+
+
+Some students of to-day in college with elder brothers might protest
+vigorously at the idea of new suits provided for two boys of different
+sizes being fitted for the larger, though the younger might find some
+consolation in the fact that he would have plenty of room in which to
+grow! At all events, good Deacon Hale's kindly letters give us a very
+friendly feeling toward him, revealing as they do his love for his boys.
+The letters also suggest indirectly the happy home-coming of these
+college boys, riding thither on horseback over many miles, buoyed up by
+high spirits, college news, and the prospect of vacation.
+
+In their home, as time went by, they found the two new members of the
+family, their stepmother's daughters, Nathan to find in Alice Adams, the
+youngest, some of the happiest inspirations of his manly young life. It
+is pleasant to linger a moment and try to realize the pride Deacon Hale
+must have felt in his boys, and their delight in being once more home
+with him and with all the family circle. We can fancy them as they sat
+around that generous board--none the less generous, we are sure, because
+of the home-coming of the "Yale boys."
+
+Deacon Hale was a man of remarkable energy--"a driver," in other words.
+As a rule, in the busiest season of the year he would finish his meal
+before the family were half through theirs, rise, return thanks, and be
+off to the field, leaving the others to resume their seats around the
+table. Alice Adams used to say of him, "I never saw a man work so hard
+for both worlds as Deacon Hale."
+
+One amusing incident was long in circulation and laughed over by many
+who did not know the energetic haymaker by name. As it really happened
+to Deacon Hale, it is worth telling as an example of the energy that has
+characterized his descendants.
+
+One haying season Deacon Hale hired a tall, brawny countryman, of
+uncommon strength, to help him house his crop. While in the field he
+took upon himself the task of "packing" the load, the hired man's duty
+being to pitch it on to the cart. The man began his work too slowly to
+suit Deacon Hale, who soon called out, "More hay!" This call he repeated
+three or four times, as cock after cock of hay was still somewhat lazily
+pitched up to him. Finally his tardy helper, becoming sensible that his
+easy way of working was being rebuked, set himself to work with a will
+equal to the Deacon's, and at last pitched the hay up so rapidly that
+his employer was unable to "pack" it properly upon the cart. Very soon,
+therefore, to the dismay of both men, the whole load slipped off in one
+great mass on to the ground, carrying the Deacon along with it!
+
+"What do you want now, Deacon?" shouted the Hercules by his side with a
+satisfied grin.
+
+"_More hay!_" instantly replied the discomfited Deacon, nimbly
+scrambling back to his place on the cart.
+
+Despite this little accident at the beginning of the afternoon, it is
+safe to state that a generous storage of hay took place before sunset.
+
+But happy as were these college days and home-comings, and rich as were
+the harvests gleaned in them, the four years in college halls sped
+swiftly, and in 1773 Enoch Hale and Nathan turned their faces toward the
+future; the one to a long life and faithful Christian service, the other
+toward the briefest of mortal days, but to a service whose memory will
+not end till his college walls shall have crumbled, and the names of all
+its heroic sons faded from the earth. For even though stones may
+crumble, influence lives on.
+
+It has already been said that at graduation Nathan Hale stood among the
+first thirteen in a class of thirty-six. On Commencement Day, September
+3, 1773, he took part in a forensic debate on the question, "Whether the
+Education of Daughters be not, without any just reason, more neglected
+than that of Sons."
+
+In "Memories of a Hundred Years" Dr. Edward Everett Hale says: "As early
+as 1772 there appears at Yale College the first question ever debated
+by the Linonian Society. It was, 'Is it right to enslave the Affricans?'
+I think, by the way, that this record, bad spelling and all, is made by
+my great-uncle, Nathan Hale." These debates show how seriously, even in
+the colonial period, men were thinking of the urgent problems of later
+days.
+
+In the debate first mentioned, the others taking part in it were
+Benjamin Tallmadge, Ezra Samson, and William Robinson. Some account of
+Major Tallmadge's after life is given in later pages. Samson was, for a
+time, a clergyman, and then became an editor, first in Hudson, New York,
+and then of the _Courant_, at Hartford, Connecticut.
+
+William Robinson was a direct descendant of Pastor John Robinson of
+Leyden. He studied for the ministry and was ordained in 1780 at
+Southington, Connecticut. In the winter of that year--which was one of
+the coldest and most severe on record--he walked the whole distance from
+Windsor to Southington, about thirty miles, on snowshoes, to be
+installed as pastor, an office he held for forty-one years.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+A CALL TO TEACH
+
+
+College days behind them, Nathan, now eighteen years old, and Enoch
+pressed on toward their future. Here, to some extent, we part with
+Enoch, catching only occasional glimpses of him in a few straggling
+letters to his brother. It is probable that, as he intended to enter the
+ministry, he soon began his theological studies. In 1775 he was licensed
+to preach. Nathan, however, turned toward teaching as the next step in
+his career.
+
+In the meantime Nathan's love for Alice Adams had not prospered. An
+older brother, John, had married Alice Adams's elder sister Sarah, and
+the mother and sister of Alice thought that she should not wait four or
+five years for Nathan. Perhaps they decided that two intermarriages in
+one family were quite enough; anyway, they induced Alice to accept the
+offer of a prosperous merchant of Coventry, Mr. Elijah Ripley, and a
+short time before Nathan's graduation her marriage had apparently
+terminated their personal relations.
+
+Nathan Hale was at this time an unusually handsome young man, almost
+six feet in height, well proportioned, with broad chest, athletic, as we
+have seen, and with a handsome, intelligent face, blue eyes, light brown
+hair of a rich color, and a winning smile. These, added to a musical
+voice and gracious manners, gave him a personal charm that attracted all
+who saw him.
+
+As a teacher he combined unusual tact and manly dignity, making his
+discipline in school as effective as it was reasonable. He also proved
+to be as skillful in imparting knowledge as he had been in acquiring it,
+and his success as a teacher was assured from the outset.
+
+His first school was in East Haddam, Connecticut. There was then much
+wealth and business activity in the town, although, to a man fresh from
+college and the city, it appeared to be a very quiet place, as one or
+two of his early letters indicate. Yet there too he did with all his
+might what his hands found to do, and soon proved that not only his
+work, but his social qualities, were endearing him to new friends, some
+of whom remembered him with pleasure during their own long lives; one of
+them saying of Nathan Hale in her own old age, "Everybody loved him, he
+was so sprightly, intelligent, and kind," and, she added withal, "and
+_so_ handsome!" He had many correspondents among classmates and
+friends. Sometimes he was stimulated to put his thoughts into rhyme by
+some poetical epistle he received. One such was from Benjamin Tallmadge,
+then in Wethersfield.
+
+Tallmadge had apologized for his muse and Hale, in pure boyish fun, with
+a fine disregard of whether he was invoking the muse or mounting
+Pegasus, replied as follows:
+
+  "But here, I think you're wrong, to blame
+  Your gen'rous muse and call her lame,
+  For when arriv'd no mark was found
+  Of weakness, lameness, sprain or wound."
+
+Then, invoking her himself, he describes her as if she were indeed the
+wingèd steed,
+
+  "With me in charge (a grievous load!)
+  Along the way she lately trode,
+  In all, she gave no fear or pain,
+  Unless, at times, to hold the rein."
+
+At last, on his supposed arrival at Wethersfield, he invites Tallmadge's
+judgment on the appearance of the equine muse, thus:
+
+  "Now judge, unless entirely sound
+  If she could bear me such a round.
+  It's certain then your muse is heal'd,
+  Or else, came sound from Weathersfield."
+
+Before the end of the first term (October, 1773, to mid-March, 1774) in
+East Haddam, however, his work had aroused attention elsewhere, and in
+May, 1774, he took charge of a school in New London, called the "Union
+School,"--a larger school and a more lucrative position than that at
+East Haddam. In it Latin, English, arithmetic, and writing were taught.
+The salary was seventy pounds a year with a prospect of an increase, and
+he was allowed to teach private classes as well.
+
+It will not surprise those acquainted with human nature that, as we will
+allow him to tell in a letter to a relative, he soon had a class of some
+twenty young ladies between the unusual hours of five and seven in the
+morning! It does not take a very vivid imagination to picture the
+vivacity of these twenty young ladies, the becomingness of their simple
+but pretty gowns, and the zest with which each studied; nor, on the
+other hand, the ill-concealed, bantering interest of the big brothers of
+the same,--asking perhaps, now and then, with mock gravity, if mother
+thought Patty would be so prompt every morning at five o'clock if old
+Parson Browning were the teacher!
+
+But whatever might have been the dominant interest of the young ladies,
+"Master Hale" was quite as practical in his teaching in the early hours
+of the day as with the boys in the later classes. An uncle of his,
+Samuel Hale, was for many years at the head of the best private school
+in New Hampshire, numbering among his pupils some of the leaders in
+Revolutionary times. To him, September 24, 1774, Nathan wrote a letter
+from which we give the following extracts:
+
+     "My own employment is at present the same that you have spent your
+     days in. I have a school of thirty-two boys, about half Latin, the
+     rest English. The salary allowed me is 70 £ per annum. In addition
+     to this I have kept, during the summer, a morning school, between
+     the hours of five and seven, of about 20 young ladies for which I
+     have received 6s [shillings] a scholar, by the quarter. Many of the
+     people are gentleman of sense and merit. They are desirous that I
+     would continue and settle in the school, and propose a considerable
+     increase in wages. I am much at a loss whether to accept their
+     proposals. Your advice in this matter, coming from an uncle and
+     from a man who has spent his life in the business, would, I think,
+     be the best I could possibly receive. A few lines on this subject
+     and also to acquaint me with the welfare of your family ... will be
+     much to the satisfaction of
+
+     Your most dutiful Nephew,
+     NATHAN HALE."
+
+A letter to Enoch Hale, containing allusions to the excited feeling in
+the colony at this time, runs as follows:
+
+     NEW LONDON, Sept. 8th. 1774.
+
+     DEAR BROTHER.
+
+     I have a word to write and a moment to write it in. I received
+     yours of yesterday this morning. Agreeable to your desire I will
+     endeavour to get the cloth and carry it on Saturday. I have no
+     news. No liberty-pole is erected or erecting here; but the people
+     seem much more spirited than they did before the alarm. Parson
+     Peters of Hebron, I hear, has had a second visit paid him by the
+     sons of liberty in Windham. His treatment, and the concessions he
+     made I have not as yet heard. I have not heard from home since
+
+     I came from there.
+
+     MR. E. HALE.   LYME.
+
+     Your loving Brother
+     NATHAN HALE.
+
+A letter from Hale to his friend the senior Dr. Æneas Munson, of New
+Haven, has been mentioned. It runs as follows:
+
+     NEW LONDON, November 30, 1774
+
+     SIR: I am very happily situated here. I love my employment; find
+     many friends among strangers; have time for scientific study; and
+     seem to fill the place assigned me with satisfaction. I have a
+     school of more than thirty boys to instruct, about half of them in
+     Latin; and my salary is satisfactory. During the summer I had a
+     morning class of young ladies--about a score--from five to seven
+     o'clock; so you see my time is pretty fully occupied, profitably, I
+     hope to my pupils and to their teacher.
+
+     Please accept for yourself and Mrs. Munson the grateful thanks of
+     one who will always remember the kindness he ever experienced
+     whenever he visited your abode.
+
+     Your friend     NATHAN HALE.
+
+On one occasion, as Hale left his house after paying a visit, Dr. Munson
+observed, "That man is a diamond of the first water, calculated to excel
+in any station he assumes. He is a gentleman and a scholar, and last,
+though not least of his qualifications, a Christian."
+
+The son of Dr. Munson (who bore his father's name), when an aged man,
+said: "I was greatly impressed with Hale's scientific knowledge, evinced
+during his conversation with my father. I am sure he was equal to André
+in solid acquirements, and his taste for art and talents as an artist
+were quite remarkable. His personal appearance was as notable. He was
+almost six feet in height, perfectly proportioned, and in figure and
+deportment he was the most manly man I have ever met. His chest was
+broad; his muscles were firm; his face wore a most benign expression;
+his complexion was roseate; his eyes were light blue and beamed with
+intelligence; his hair was soft and light brown in color, and his speech
+was rather low, sweet, and musical. His personal beauty and grace of
+manner were most charming.
+
+"Why, all the girls in New Haven fell in love with him," continued Dr.
+Munson, "and wept tears of real sorrow when they heard of his sad fate.
+In dress he was always neat; he was quick to lend a helping hand to a
+being in distress, brute or human; was overflowing with good humor, and
+was the idol of all his acquaintances."
+
+Young masters of schools, public or private, unmarried and attractive,
+usually rank next in popularity to other professional men,--ministers,
+lawyers, or doctors, as the case may be,--and a boy of nineteen, the
+object of as much attention as Nathan Hale must have received, might
+well be pardoned if his head had been slightly turned, in thus becoming
+the admired teacher of a large class of young ladies. One special mark
+of stability of character appears to have characterized this young man
+in a greater degree than is always the case at the present day. Detached
+as he was, as he supposed irrevocably, from the woman he loved, he
+appears to have carried himself with almost middle-aged dignity, and,
+what is not a little to his credit, even his intimate friends among his
+classmates could not, by the most delicate cross-questioning, draw from
+him anything suggesting more than a pleasant interest in any of the
+young ladies with whom he was thrown in contact.
+
+A letter that will be given in its proper place shows his courteous and
+cordial interest in the little city he left when he entered the army;
+yet it is rather a noteworthy fact that one of his classmates, writing
+to him during his camp life, had to suggest that, as the young ladies he
+had taught were always inquiring when he had heard from "Master," it
+would doubtless give them pleasure if he could find time to write some
+one of them a note with friendly messages to others, to show that he
+still remembered them.
+
+Many young men would hardly have needed such a suggestion. But Nathan
+Hale, so far as we can learn, while given to warm friendships among his
+classmates, and to the cultivation, while in New Haven, Haddam, and New
+London, of the society of the best families, appears, from the
+beginning, to have taken life seriously. Disappointed in the love of the
+one woman for whom he cared, he had turned with sincere absorption to
+the work to which he felt himself called before entering on the
+theological course it is thought that his father had planned for him.
+
+There is further evidence of Hale's notable gifts as a teacher. Colonel
+Samuel Green, who had been a pupil of Hale in New London, said of him,
+in oldtime phrase: "Hale was a man peculiarly engaging in his
+manners--these were mild and genteel. The scholars, old and young, were
+attached to him. They loved him for his tact and amiability.
+
+"He was wholly without severity and had a wonderful control over boys.
+He was sprightly, ardent, and steady--bore a fine moral character and
+was respected highly by all his acquaintances. The school in which he
+taught was owned by the first gentlemen in New London, all of whom were
+exceedingly gratified by Hale's skill and assiduity."
+
+A lady of New London who was for some time an inmate of the same family
+with Hale, adds her testimony:
+
+"His capacity as a teacher was highly appreciated both by parents and
+pupils. His simple and unostentatious manner of imparting right views
+and feelings to less cultivated understandings was unsurpassed by any
+other person I have ever known."
+
+He was, as we see, a successful teacher, and, as we learn elsewhere, had
+serious thoughts of remaining a teacher.
+
+Unexpectedly, however, events verified the truth of the old adage, "Man
+proposes, God disposes." A great historical drama was to be enacted
+before the eyes of the wondering world, and events were ripening that
+were to form a great epoch in history.
+
+America was being led first to protest against the unjust exactions laid
+upon its people, and then to resist the oppressions that were being
+forced upon it. Gradually the idea prevailed that a taxation which might
+have been acceptable, if coupled with representation in Parliament, was
+absolutely intolerable without representation, and the Stamp Act in 1765
+struck the first note of intense opposition. Thenceforward the political
+clouds grew darker and the warning incidents multiplied.
+
+And yet, as a people, Americans were walking as if their personal plans
+lay easily in their own control. Scores of young men were fitting
+themselves for ordinary callings, Nathan Hale among them. His father's
+plans combining with his own appeared to be that he was to teach for a
+while, and then follow his brother Enoch into the ministry. As it
+proved, his days as a teacher were numbered. He was never to enter a
+pulpit, though he was to utter one sentence that, graven upon bronze or
+granite, will last while America lasts. He was to teach, by his last,
+unpremeditated words, and by an example more potent than any other in
+American history, what all generations of Americans must venerate--the
+sublimity of a complete sacrifice.
+
+Smoldering discontent on the part of the Americans, waxing stronger and
+stronger for a decade, and the aggressive course of action on the part
+of the British authorities, finally culminated in a sudden outbreak, as
+matches applied to gunpowder; and on the 19th of April, 1775, the first
+blood of the American Revolution was shed. Settlement after settlement,
+big and little, learned the facts as rapidly as couriers on horseback
+could carry them, and the thirteen colonies arrayed themselves against
+one of the most powerful monarchies of the world.
+
+The story is too well known to need recalling here, save as it draws
+Nathan Hale toward his doom. Within a few days after the fatal 19th of
+April, four thousand Connecticut volunteers were on their way to Boston
+to help Massachusetts in its earliest struggle with the English.
+Ununiformed, undisciplined, straight from whatever had been their
+ordinary vocation, with whatever they owned in the way of arms and
+ammunition, they went hurrying toward Boston. Israel Putnam, renowned
+veteran of the "Old French War," was plowing in his fields at Pomfret,
+Connecticut, when he heard the stirring news. Leaving his plow in the
+furrow, he hastened to his house, left a few orders for the management
+of his farm and the comfort of his family, and marched at the head of a
+body of volunteers toward the camp near Boston. We are told that, in
+some households, families sat up all night, the fathers melting their
+pewter plates into bullets for ammunition to be used by their sons, and
+the mothers and sisters fashioning for them, with all possible speed,
+the clothing they could not go without.
+
+
+On the arrival of the news from Boston, the people in New London at once
+held a meeting. Hon. Richard Law, District Judge of Connecticut and
+Chief Justice of the Superior Court, was chairman. Hale was one of the
+speakers.
+
+At that meeting a company was selected from the already existing militia
+and ordered to start for Boston the next morning. This company Nathan
+Hale, with his keen sense of duty, could not then join. But, for a few
+succeeding weeks, in addition to his regular work in school, he did all
+in his power to keep alive the interest of the young men in the town
+concerning their duties as Americans. With his enthusiastic nature, and
+broad comprehension of what might soon confront the country, it is
+probable that his seriousness and his activity were never greater than
+during the few weeks intervening between his speech at the political
+meeting and his departure from New London to enter the military service
+of his country.
+
+Of course his becoming a soldier would greatly interfere with the plans
+that his father had made for him, and he at once wrote home on the
+subject, stating that "a sense of duty urged him to sacrifice everything
+for his country"; but he added that as soon as the war was ended he
+would comply with his father's wishes in regard to a profession. The
+father was quite as patriotic as the son. He immediately assented to his
+son's desires. In those days, however, correspondence could not be
+conducted so swiftly as at present, and some time must have elapsed
+before this matter was positively settled between the two. As the war
+went on, and doubtless none the less whole-heartedly after the news of
+Nathan's death had been received, Mr. Hale did all he could for the
+comfort of passing soldiers. It is said of him that many a time he sat
+at the door of his hospitable home and watched for passing soldiers that
+he might take them in and feed them; and, if necessary, lodge and clothe
+them. He often forbade his household "to use the wool raised upon his
+farm for home purposes, that it might be woven into blankets for the
+army."
+
+Anxious as had been young Hale to join the army, he appears to have
+deferred making any decided plans until he had received the necessary
+permission from his father. Having received it, he at once took steps
+for securing his dismissal from his school and his admission into the
+army. During the weeks of waiting it had become known that he was
+anxious to enlist, and a military appointment was waiting his
+acceptance. To secure his dismissal, on July 7 he addressed the
+following letter to the proprietors of his school,--a letter that for a
+young man of twenty is as dignified as it is patriotic:
+
+     GENTLEMEN: Having received information that a place is allotted me
+     in the army, and being inclined, as I hope for good reasons, to
+     accept it, I am constrained to ask as a favor that which scarce
+     anything else would have induced me to, which is, to be excused
+     from keeping your school any longer. For the purpose of conversing
+     upon this and of procuring another master, some of your number
+     think it best there should be a general meeting of the proprietors.
+     The time talked of for holding it is six o'clock this afternoon, at
+     the schoolhouse. The year for which I engaged will expire within a
+     fortnight, so that my quitting a few days sooner, I hope, will
+     subject you to no great inconvenience.
+
+     School-keeping is a business of which I was always fond, but since
+     my residence in this town, everything has conspired to render it
+     more agreeable. I have thought much of never quitting it but with
+     life, but at present there seems an opportunity for more extended
+     public service.
+
+     The kindness expressed to me by the people of the place, but
+     especially the proprietors of the school, will always be very
+     gratefully remembered by, gentlemen, with respect, your humble
+     servant,
+
+     NATHAN HALE
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+A CALL TO ARMS
+
+
+The place "allotted" to him was that of lieutenant in the third company
+of the 7th Connecticut regiment, commanded by Colonel Charles Webb. No
+doubt exists that Lieutenant Nathan Hale was the same Nathan Hale who
+had won distinction in all his college work, in his subsequent teaching,
+and in all the events thus far associated with his early manhood, with
+this difference; he was now lifted to a line of service that in his
+opinion seemed the highest possible for him to follow, and no one who
+studies his subsequent course can question that in this following he
+found the loftiest consecration thus far possible to him. Perhaps
+unconsciously he was to verify the poet's assertion,
+
+  "So nigh is grandeur to our dust,
+    So near is God to man,
+  When Duty whispers low, _Thou must_,
+    The youth replies, _I can._"
+
+With no trace of merely personal ambition, but with that splendid power
+of absorption in duty as in work, Nathan Hale followed in the steps of
+those devoted American patriots whose blood, so freely shed at
+Lexington, was calling upon their countrymen to shed theirs as freely,
+should duty demand it.
+
+Dead almost one hundred and forty years, we still are thrilled by proofs
+of the splendid manhood henceforth to be so prominent in every remaining
+day of Hale's brief life. A few letters to friends, a fairly
+comprehensive diary for a few months, his camp-book, and the
+recollections of a few of the officers and of his body-servant, give a
+moderately complete picture of Nathan Hale for a few brief weeks, during
+which time he had been doing all in his power to perfect himself and the
+men under him in the duties of soldiers.
+
+By the middle of September the Connecticut troops, having received
+orders from General Washington to proceed to the camp near Boston, the
+7th Regiment, containing Lieutenant Hale's company, went to the spot
+appointed, remaining there during the winter, and leaving for New York,
+again by Washington's orders, in the spring. Of these intervening
+months, so momentous to the little army whose many members were
+impatient for the close of the war, Nathan Hale himself gives us vivid
+pictures; of the work he was trying to do; of the men he was meeting; of
+the religious life he was in no sense forgetting, and of his own
+deepening patriotism. Letters written to him show the attitude of
+friends at home, and their interest both in the affairs of the country
+and in him personally. The following letter from Gilbert Saltonstall, a
+young Harvard graduate and warm friend of Hale while in New London,
+shows how fully the men at home, as well as those in the army, entered
+into the anxieties of the times:
+
+     NEW LONDON, Octo. 9th, 1775.
+
+     DEAR SIR:
+
+     By yours of the 5th I see you're Stationd in the Mouth of Danger--I
+     look upon yr. Situation more Perilous than any other in the
+     Camp--Should have thought the new Recreuits would have been Posted
+     at some of the Outworks, & those that have been inured to Service
+     advanc'd to Defend the most exposed Places--But all Things are
+     concerted, and ordered with Wisdom no doubt--The affair of Dr.
+     Church[1] is truly amazing--from the acquaintance I have of his
+     publick Character I should as soon have suspected Mr. Hancock or
+     Adams as him.
+
+[Footnote 1: Of this Dr. Church, John Fiske writes: "In October, 1775,
+the American camp was thrown into great consternation by the discovery
+that Dr. Benjamin Church, one of the most conspicuous of the Boston
+leaders, had engaged in a secret correspondence with the enemy. Dr.
+Church was thrown into jail, but as the evidence of treasonable intent
+was not absolutely complete, he was set free in the following spring,
+and allowed to visit the West Indies for his health. The ship in which
+he sailed was never heard from again."]
+
+(Then follow accounts of an affair on Long Island Sound, and extracts
+from a paper two days old just brought from New York, describing army
+matters in the North.)
+
+     I have extracted all the material News--should have sent the Paper
+     but its the only one in Town and every one is Gaping for news.
+
+     Your sincere Friend
+     GILBERT SALTONSTALL.
+
+Another, also from Saltonstall, reads in part as follows:
+
+     ESTEEMED FRIEND
+
+     Doctor Church is in close Custody in Norwich Gaol, the windows
+     boarded up, and he deny'd the use of Pen, Ink, and Paper, to have
+     no converse with any Person but in presence of the Gaoler, and then
+     to Converse in no Language but English. ... what a fall ...
+
+     Yr &c
+     GILBERT SALTONSTALL.
+
+     Novr. 27th 1775
+
+A letter already referred to as showing Hale's interest in New London
+and its people, also his feeling as to camp life, is here given.
+"Betsey" was one of his pupils in his early-morning classes. We note the
+little touch of good-natured fun in the last paragraph.
+
+     CAMP WINTER HILL, Octr 19th 1775
+
+     DEAR BETSEY
+
+     I hope you will excuse my freedom in writing to you, as I cannot
+     have the pleasure of seeing and conversing with you. What is now a
+     letter would be a visit were I in New London but this being out of
+     my power, suffer me to make up the defect in the best manner I can.
+     I write not to give you any news or any pleasure in reading (though
+     I would heartily do it if in my power) but from the desire I have
+     of conversing with you in some form or other.
+
+     I once wanted to come here to see something extraordinary--my
+     curiosity is satisfied. I have now no more desire for seeing things
+     here, than for seeing what is in New London, no, nor half so much
+     neither. Not that I am discontented--so far from it, that in the
+     present situation of things I would not except a furlough were it
+     offered me. I would only observe that we often flatter ourselves
+     with great happiness could we see such and such things; but when we
+     actually come to the sight of them our solid satisfaction is really
+     no more than when we only had them in expectation.
+
+     All the news I had I wrote to John Hallam--if it be worth your
+     hearing he will be able to tell you when he delivers this. It will
+     therefore not (be) worth while for me to repeat.
+
+     I am a little at a loss how you carry at New London--Jared Starr I
+     hear is gone--The number of Gentlemen is now so few that I fear how
+     you will go through the winter but I hope for the best.
+
+     I remain with esteem
+     Yr Sincere Friend
+     & Hble Svt.
+     N. HALE
+
+     TO BETSEY CHRISTOPHERS
+     At New London
+
+The next letter refers to the time when, on account of their personal
+privations, the Connecticut troops were thinking seriously of
+withdrawing from the struggle, and returning to their homes:
+
+     DEAR SIR NEW LONDON Decr-4th 1775
+
+     The behaviour of our Connecticut Troops makes me Heart-sick--that
+     they who have stood foremost in the praises and good Wishes of
+     their Countrymen, as having distinguished themselves for their Zeal
+     & Public Spirit, should now shamefully desert the Cause; and at a
+     critical moment too, is really unaccountable--amazing. Those that
+     do return will meet with real Contempt, with deserv'd Reproach. It
+     gives great satisfaction that the Officers universally agree to
+     tarry--that is the Report, is it true or not?--May that God who has
+     signally appear'd for us since the Commencement of our troubles,
+     interpose, that no fatal or bad consequence may attend a dastardly
+     Desertion of his Cause.
+
+     I want much to have a more minute Acct. of the situation of the
+     Camp than I have been able to obtain. I rely wholly on you for
+     information.
+
+     Your
+     G. SALTONSTALL.
+
+To explain some of Saltonstal's references to the feelings of some of
+the Connecticut troops, we quote from Captain Hale's diary of October
+23:
+
+     "10 o'clock went to Cambridge with Field commission officers to
+     General Putman to let him know the state of the Regiment and that
+     it was through ill usage upon the Score of Provisions that they
+     would not extend their term of service to the 1st of January 1776."
+
+Other letters to Hale from New London friends, among them one from an
+officer absent on furlough, speak freely of the anxieties of those
+watching the progress of the reënlistments, and the home reception that
+would be given to any leaving the army.
+
+Another letter from Saltonstall reads as follows:
+
+     NEW LONDON Decr. 18th 1775
+
+     DR. SIR....
+
+     I wholly agree with you in ye. agreables of a Camp Life, and
+     should have try'd it in some Capacity or other before now, could my
+     Father carry on his Business without me. I proposed going with
+     Dudley, who is appointed to Commn. a Twenty-Gun Ship in the
+     Continental Navy, but my Father is not willing, and I can't
+     persuade myself to leave him in the eve of Life against his
+     consent....
+
+     Yesterday week the Town was in the greatest confusion imaginable;
+     Women wringing their Hands along Street, Children crying, Carts
+     loaded 'till nothing more would stick on, posting out of Town,
+     empty ones driving in, one Person running this way, another that,
+     some dull, some vex'd, more pleased, some flinging up an
+     Intrenchment, some at the Fort preparing ye Guns for Action, Drums
+     beating, Fifes playing; in short as great a Hubbub as at the
+     confusion of Tongues; all of this occasioned by the appearance of a
+     Ship and two Sloops off the Harbour, Suppos'd to be part of
+     Wallace's Fleet,--When they were found to be Friends, Vessels from
+     New Port with Passengers ye consternation abated....
+
+A postscript runs as follows:
+
+     The young girls, B. Coit, S. and P. Belden [Hale's pupils] have
+     frequently desired their Compliments to Master, but I've never
+     thought of mentioning it till now. You must write something in your
+     next by way of P.S. that I may shew it them.
+
+Favored by copies of these letters by Saltonstall, one must regret all
+the more that so few of Hale's own letters have been discovered, ten
+being the limit. Within a comparatively short period, however, some
+sixty more records--mostly letters written to Hale--have come to light,
+preserved, as it is now seen, by the same "orderly care" that marked his
+interest in all the correspondence of his friends.
+
+In them are expressed, in letter after letter, the affectionate interest
+and warm admiration of the writers. It is now said that Hale kept these
+letters with him down to the date of his tragic mission. We can easily
+imagine the glow of satisfaction that must have filled his brotherly
+soul in the few spare moments he could devote to these letters.
+
+Brief extracts are made from his diary, fortunately preserved for
+evidence as to his work and growing interest in the duties he had
+entered upon. The diary was found in the camp-book brought to his
+family by Asher Wright, Hale's attendant in camp before he left New
+York.
+
+In the diary, under date of November 19, 1775, this entry is made:
+
+     " ... Robert Latimer the Majrs Son went to Roxbury to day on his
+     way home. The Majr who went there to day and ... return'd this
+     eveng bt acts that the _Asia_ Man of War Station'd at N. York
+     was taken by a Schooner arm'd with Spear's &c.... This account not
+     creditted."
+
+A month after the return from camp mentioned above, Robert Latimer wrote
+to Captain Hale, his former teacher, the following interesting and
+diverting letter:
+
+     DR SIR,
+
+     As I think myself under the greatest obligations to you for your
+     care and kindness to me, I should think myself very ungrateful if I
+     neglected any oppertunity of expressing my gratitude to you for the
+     same. And I rely on that goodness, I have so often experienc'd to
+     overlook the deficiencies in my Letter, which I am sensible will be
+     many as maturity of Judgment is wanting, and tho' I have been so
+     happy as to be favour'd with your instructions, you can't Sir,
+     expect a finish'd letter from one who has as yet practis'd but very
+     little this way, especially with persons of your nice discernment.
+
+     Sir, I have had the pleasure of hearing by the soldiers, which is
+     come home, that you are in health, tho' likely to be deserted by
+     all the men you carried down with you, which I am very sorry for,
+     as I think no man of any spirit would desert a cause in which, we
+     are all so deeply interested. I am sure was my Mammy willing I
+     think I should prefer being with you, to all the pleasures which
+     the company of my Relations Can afford me.
+
+     I am Sir with respect yr Sincere friend
+     & very H'ble St
+     ROB'T LATIMER
+
+     Decbr 20th 1775--
+
+     P. S. My Mammy and aunt Lamb presents Complimts. My Mammy would
+     have wrote, but being very busy, tho't my writing would be
+     sufficient--my respects to Capt Hull. Addressed to Capt. Hale.
+
+Here is a second letter from the same ardent friend of Captain Hale. His
+admiration for his former teacher is evident in every line.
+
+     NEW LONDON, March 5th 1776
+
+     DEAR SIR,
+
+     as my letter meet with such kind reception from you, I still
+     continue writing & hope that the desire I have of improving, added
+     to the pleasure, I take in hearing often from so good a friend,
+     will sufficiently excuse me for writing so often--I Recd your kind
+     letter Sr pr the post & cant deny but your approbation, of my
+     writing, gives me the greatest pleasure, & should be afraid of its
+     raisg my pride; did I not consider that your intention in praising
+     my poor performance, must be with a design, of raising in me an
+     ambition, to endeavour to deserve your praise--& I hope that
+     instructions convey'd in such an agreeable manner, will not, be
+     thrown away upon me--You write Sr that you have got another Fifer,
+     & a very good one too, as I hear. Which I am very Glad to hear,
+     tho' I sincerely wish I was in his Place--
+
+     Have not any News.
+
+     So will Conclude--I am Sr
+     with Respect Yr friend & S't,
+
+     ROBERT LATIMER
+
+     P. S. My Mammy & Aunt
+     Present Compts &c--
+
+     CAPT. HALE.
+
+Only one thought dims the pleasure with which we read these two
+letters,--the consciousness of the depth of distress that must have
+filled that loyal boy's heart to overflowing when he learned of the
+tragic death of his hero friend.
+
+Two notable records from Captain Hale's diary are these:
+
+     November 6. It is of the utmost importance that an officer should
+     be anxious to know his duty, but of greater that he should
+     carefully perform what he does know. The present irregular state of
+     the army is owing to a capital neglect in both of these.
+
+     November 7. Studied ye best method of forming a Reg't for a review,
+     of arraying the Companies, also of marching round ye reviewing
+     Officer. A man ought never to lose a moment's time. If he put off a
+     thing from one minute to the next, his reluctance is but increased.
+
+Later in November, when the men in his company were unwilling to
+reënlist, this notable entry was made, signed with his full name:
+
+     28, Tuesday. Promised the men if they would tarry another month,
+     they should have my wages for that time.
+
+     NATHAN HALE.
+
+These brief quotations, proving as they do Hale's intense devotion to
+duty, and his practical efforts to hold his men to their duty, show how
+clearly he understood the tremendous responsibility resting upon the
+commander-in-chief as given in Washington's own words in letters to
+friends and to Congress, soon to be quoted; and that, known or unknown
+to Washington, there were men among his officers fully aware of the
+condition of the army, and as anxious to serve it as was their
+magnificent leader.
+
+We here quote from Washington's letters; the first one was written to a
+friend:
+
+     I know the unhappy predicament in which I stand; I know that much
+     is expected of me; I know that without men, without arms, without
+     ammunition, without anything fit for the accommodation of a
+     soldier, little is to be done, and what is mortifying, I know that
+     I cannot stand justified to the world without exposing my own
+     weakness, and injuring the cause, by declaring my wants which I am
+     determined not to do farther than unavoidable necessity brings
+     every man acquainted with them. My situation is so irksome to me at
+     times, that if I did not consult the public good more than my own
+     tranquillity, I should long ere this have put everything on the
+     cast of a die. So far from my having an army of twenty thousand
+     men, well armed, I have been here with less than half that number,
+     including sick, furloughed, and on command; and those neither armed
+     nor clothed as they should be. In short, my situation has been
+     such, that I have been obliged to conceal it from my own officers.
+
+The second letter was written to Congress:
+
+     To make men well acquainted with the duties of a soldier, requires
+     time. To bring them under proper discipline and subordination, not
+     only requires time, but is a work of great difficulty; and in this
+     army where there is so little distinction between officers and
+     soldiers, requires an uncommon degree of attention. To expect,
+     then, the same service from raw and undisciplined recruits, as from
+     veteran soldiers, is to expect what never did, and perhaps never
+     will happen.
+
+On the 23d of December, 1775, Hale began his first and only trip to
+Connecticut for the sake of securing additional enlistments. If on this
+one visit home he became engaged--as some have believed--to the woman he
+had so long loved, now a widow of about nineteen, Alice Adams Ripley, we
+may infer that love brightened his embassy even though patriotism
+inspired it. No record remains of the glorified hours he may have spent
+in Coventry. We have good reason to believe that, if he survived the
+war, he expected to marry the woman he had so faithfully loved. After a
+few brief days in his home, he left it, never to return, speeding on his
+way to serve his country's needs.
+
+If this new zest entered his life at this time, we can easily imagine as
+he fared on, striving to arouse his countrymen to their duty as
+patriots, that the happiest hours of his life were urging him forward to
+the most perfect service he could render in the present, and to
+unlimited hopes and ambitions for the future he might well expect was
+awaiting him. Crowned by human love, and with unlimited opportunities to
+serve his country, who can tell by what "vision splendid" he was "on his
+way attended"? Who can help rejoicing that such days, brief as they
+were, and uplifting as they must have been, were given to this man, now
+past twenty?
+
+Details concerning that trip are scanty. We know for a certainty that,
+starting from camp December 23, 1775, he returned to it the last week in
+January, 1776, having been in New London and other places seeking
+recruits, and going back with the recruits he himself had secured,
+joined by others coming from the various towns in Connecticut, and all
+heading toward the camp around Boston.
+
+He received his commission as captain in the new army in January, being
+still in Colonel Webb's regiment, which now became the Nineteenth of the
+Continental Army. For a few weeks he followed the routine of his earlier
+months there, doing all that was possible to assist his brother officers
+in perfecting the discipline of the raw troops, deepening their
+patriotism, and proving himself a soldier as devoid of fear as he was
+rich in all manly qualities. Not a word of regret can be found in his
+diary. Acknowledging in a letter to a former pupil, Miss Betsey
+Christophers of New London, that the novelty and glamour of camp life
+had worn off, he asserts, with intense ardor, that nothing would tempt
+him to "accept a furlough" or shrink in any manner from any of his
+duties as a soldier. And so the weeks passed on.
+
+During the winter heavy cannon from Fort Ticonderoga had been brought
+through the snows over the Green Mountains. The cannon were placed on
+Dorchester Heights which commanded the British camp, thus compelling the
+British general to choose between attacking the American army and
+evacuating the city. In a letter written in April, 1776, to his
+half-brother, John Augustine, Washington wrote thus regarding this time:
+
+     The enemy ... apprehending great annoyance from our new works,
+     resolved upon a retreat, and accordingly, on the 17th (March)
+     embarked in as much hurry, precipitation and confusion as ever
+     troops did ... leaving the King's property in Boston to the amount,
+     as is supposed, of thirty or forty thousand pounds in provisions
+     and stores.
+
+Washington's victory in this maneuver, his first great success,
+tremendously cheered the hearts of all patriotic Americans. Congress
+gave him a vote of thanks, also a gold medal--"the first in the history
+of independent America"--in commemoration of the event. Here again we
+catch a glimpse of the delight that must have thrilled the hearts of all
+his officers, not least among them that of Nathan Hale. But Washington,
+proving himself in these earlier events, as he was to, year after year,
+through successive discouragements, "the first in war," turned toward
+New York as his next base.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+HALE'S ZEAL AS A SOLDIER
+
+
+In the letter just quoted, Washington wrote further:
+
+     "Whither they [the enemy] are now bound,... I know not, but as New
+     York and Hudson's River are the most important objects they can
+     have in view ... therefore as soon as they embarked, I detached a
+     brigade of six regiments to that government and when they sailed
+     another brigade composed of the same number, and tomorrow another
+     brigade of five regiments will march. In a day or two more, I shall
+     follow myself, and be in New York ready to receive all but the
+     first."
+
+Uncertain as to his power to hold New York, Washington promptly took the
+next step that appeared open to him, carrying in his heart a heavy
+weight of care, and realizing, as perhaps no other man did, that only
+divine assistance could give him final success. He was bent upon a
+desperate mission, but to it, with sublime patience, he gave every
+energy of his masterly mind, and the entire consecration of all that he
+possessed.
+
+Well was it for him that the power which controls nations was quietly
+working with him. Well, also, that in his army were men ready for any
+enterprise of danger, for any sacrifice that duty might demand.
+
+Washington proceeded to New York, to ultimate victory, to final and
+permanent fame. Nathan Hale went also, simply as a captain of a
+Connecticut company,--he not to victory, not to immediate fame, but to
+something higher in one sense than either victory or fame, and to a
+service well worth a man's doing.
+
+Nathan Hale belonged to the first brigade dispatched to New York--that
+of General Heath. After rapid marching, considering the state of the
+roads, "Hale found himself" (March 26th) "for the third time" among his
+New London friends. The next day they "embarked in high spirits on
+fifteen transports and sailed for New York." On March 30th the troops
+"disembarked at Turtle Bay, a convenient landing place" near what is now
+East 45th Street. Not far from that spot, within six months, Nathan Hale
+was to win a victory that time can never dim, even if, for a time, it
+appeared to have covered his memory with a pall. But in that landing-day
+no shadows were apparent,--only hope, and the zest inevitable in a
+soldier's life.
+
+A minor honor was soon to come to Nathan Hale. Late in 1775 Enoch Hale
+was licensed to preach. In the summer of 1776 he attended Commencement
+at New Haven, from July 23 to 26. He makes note in his diary of friends
+and classmates whom he saw; also that he obtained the degree of Master
+of Arts for Nathan and himself. Of the latter his record is, "Write to
+brother to tell him I have got him his degree."
+
+One or two more letters of Hale are extant from which only partial
+extracts have been made. One that was written on the 3d of June, 1776,
+we give with more fullness, omitting only some unimportant clauses. This
+letter has especial value as an illustration of the fact that most of us
+now and then have received letters that seemed casual in themselves, but
+have, to our surprise and often to our deep sadness, proved to be
+farewell letters.
+
+It is not probable that, in the hurried days that followed, further
+messages were sent to his grandmother, to his former pastor and
+beloved teacher, Mr. Huntington, and to his sister Rose and her family.
+In the late autumn of 1776, after they had learned his fate, and in the
+years that followed, one can easily imagine how precious seemed these
+appreciative words, embalming as it were the abiding affection of the
+man who wrote them. Hale's reference to "the Doctor" also recalls the
+fact that, from the immediate family of Deacon Richard Hale, five
+men--three sons, one stepson, and one son-in-law (Surgeon Rose)--entered
+the Revolutionary Army; one son dying in 1776, one son in 1784, his
+health having been ruined while in the service, and one son in 1802, his
+life perhaps shortened by his exposures. Whatever else may have been
+lacking in that one family, patriotism certainly was not deficient,--the
+patriotism that does not count the cost to one's self, but the gain to
+one's country.
+
+The following is the letter referred to, written to his brother Enoch:
+
+     DEAR BROTHER,
+     NEW YORK June 3d 1776
+
+     Your Favour of the 9th of May and another written at Norwich I have
+     received--the first mentioned one the 19th of May ult.
+
+     You complain of my neglecting you--It is not, I acknowledge, wholly
+     without reason--at the same time I am conscious to have written to
+     you more than once or twice within this half year. Perhaps my
+     letters have miscarried.
+
+     Continuance or removal here depends wholly upon the operations of
+     the war.
+
+     It gives pleasure to every friend of his country to observe the
+     health which prevails in our army. Dr. Eli (Surgeon of our Regt.)
+     told me a few days since, there was not a man in our Regt. but
+     might upon occasion go out with his Firelock. Much the same is said
+     of other Regiments.
+
+     The army is improving in discipline, and it is hoped will soon be
+     able to meet the enemy at any kind of play. My company which at
+     first was small, is now increased to eighty and there is a sergeant
+     recruiting who, I hope, has got the other ten which completes the
+     company. We are hardly able to judge as to the numbers the British
+     army for the Summer is to consist of--undoubtedly sufficient to
+     cause us too much bloodshed.
+
+     I had written you a complete letter in answer to your last, but
+     missed the opportunity of sending it.
+
+     This will find you in Coventry--if so remember me to all my
+     friends--particularly belonging to the Family. Forget not
+     frequently to visit and strongly to represent my duty to our good
+     Grandmother Strong. Has she not repeatedly favored us with her
+     tender, most important advice? The natural Tie is sufficient, but
+     increased by so much goodness, our gratitude cannot be too
+     sensible.
+
+     I always with respect remember Mr. Huntington and shall write to
+     him if time admits. Pay Mr. Wright a visit for me. Tell him Asher
+     is well--he has for some time lived with me as a waiter.... Asher
+     this moment told me that our brother Joseph Adams was here
+     yesterday to see me, when I happened to be out of the way. He is in
+     Col. Parson's Regt. I intend to see him to-day and if possible by
+     exchanging get him into my company.
+
+     Yours affectionately.
+     N. HALE.
+
+     P. S. Sister Rose talked of making me some Linen cloth similar to
+     Brown Holland for Summer wear. If she has made it, desire her to
+     keep it for me. My love to her, the Doctor, and little Joseph.
+
+As Washington had supposed probable, the English decided upon the
+occupation of New York. In July and August the largest army ever
+collected in one body upon the American continent prior to 1861, an
+English army numbering nearly thirty-two thousand men, with a formidable
+fleet and large munitions of war, gathered at Staten Island. Washington,
+in the meantime, was occupying a portion of Brooklyn and a portion of
+the city of New York, fortifying each place and preparing to defend it
+to the extent of his ability with his small army, never so well fed nor
+so thoroughly disciplined as that of the British.
+
+Human wisdom would have assumed that the British army would soon succeed
+in restoring English control; but the best-laid plans miscarry, and a
+power interposes that helps the weaker and hinders the stronger army.
+
+The English did their best to be ready for the coming conflict, and we
+know that Washington spared no pains in preparing for the worst that
+might come.
+
+On August 20, Nathan Hale wrote the following letter to his brother
+Enoch--the last letter that he ever wrote, so far as we know, to reach
+its destination. It shows that his heart was absorbed in the duties of
+the conflict he was sharing, and it also shows how wholly he was
+leaving the ultimate issue to a higher power.
+
+     NEW YORK, August 20, 1776.
+
+     DEAR BROTHER.
+
+     I have only time for a hasty letter. Our situation this fortnight
+     or more has been such as scarce to admit of writing. We have daily
+     expected an action--by which means, if any one was going and we had
+     letters written, orders were so strict for our tarrying in camp
+     that we could rarely get leave to go and deliver them. For about 6
+     or 8 days the enemy have been expected hourly, whenever the wind
+     and tide in the least favored. We keep a particular lookout for
+     them this morning. The place and manner of our attack time must
+     determine. The event we leave to Heaven. Thanks to God! We have had
+     time for completing our works and receiving our reinforcements. The
+     Militia of Connecticut ordered this way are mostly arrived. Col.
+     Ward's Regiment has got in. Troops from the southward are daily
+     coming. We hope under God to give account of the enemy whenever
+     they choose to make the last appeal.
+
+     Last Friday night, two of our fire vessels (a Sloop and Schooner)
+     made an attempt upon the shipping up the river. The night was too
+     dark, the wind too slack for the attempt. The Schooner which was
+     intended for one of the Ships had got by before she discovered
+     them; but as Providence would have it, she run athwart a
+     bomb-catch, which she quickly burned. The Sloop by the light of the
+     former discovered the _Ph[oe]nix_--but rather too late--however she
+     made shift to grapple her, but the wind not proving sufficient to
+     bring her close alongside, or drive the flames immediately on
+     board, the _Ph[oe]nix_ after much difficulty got her clear by
+     cutting her own rigging. Sergt. Fosdick, who commanded the above
+     sloop, and four of his hands were of my company, the remaining two
+     were of this Regt. The Genl. has been pleased to reward their
+     bravery with forty Dollars each, except the last man that quitted
+     the fire-sloop who had fifty. Those on board the Schooner received
+     the same.
+
+     I must write to some of my other brothers lest you should not be at
+     home. Remain
+
+     Your friend &c
+     BROTHER NA. HALE.
+
+     MR. ENOCH HALE.
+
+Aside from this letter, the following brief quotations from his diary
+are all that remain to us in the handwriting of Nathan Hale. Till he
+lays down his pen for the last time we see him absorbed in the cares and
+duties of the life about him, fearlessly facing whatever remains to him
+of life and service.
+
+     Aug. 21st. Heavy storm at Night. Much and heavy Thunder. Capt. Van
+     Wyke, and a Lieut, and Ens. of Colo. McDougall's Regt. killed by a
+     Shock. Likewise one man in town, belonging to a Militia Regt. of
+     Connecticut. The Storm continued for two or three hours, for the
+     greatest part of which time [there] was a perpetual Lightning, and
+     the sharpest I ever knew.
+
+     22d. Thursday. The enemy landed some troops down at the Narrows on
+     Long Island.
+
+     23d. Friday. Enemy landed more troops--News that they had marched
+     up and taken Station near Flatbush, their advce Gds [advance
+     guards] being on this side near the Woods--that some of our
+     Rifle-men attacked and drove them back from their post, burnt 2
+     stacks of hay, and it was thought killed some of them--this about
+     12 O'clock at Night. Our troops attacked them at their station near
+     Flatb. [Flatbush], routed and drove them back 1-1/2 mile.
+
+One of the facts most perplexing to General Washington was what appeared
+to be Sir William Howe's delay in making an attack. Indeed, to an
+outsider unfamiliar with military tactics, Howe's conduct resembles the
+cruel pleasure a cat sometimes takes in tormenting a mouse that it knows
+cannot escape. The uncertainty as to what the next British move might be
+caused much anxiety. Remembering that Howe's force had arrived the last
+of June, one sees how leisurely must have been his preparations for
+attack, and how assured his hope of victory.
+
+The expected attack occurred on August 27. The Americans were defeated
+and driven within their works, their losses being great, especially in
+prisoners. The Nineteenth Regiment was held in reserve, but Captain Hull
+wrote that they were near enough to witness the carnage among their
+fellow-soldiers.
+
+The night after the battle the enemy encamped within a few hundred yards
+of the defeated Americans. On the 29th Washington decided upon a retreat
+to New York, and it was effected that night. If the English had
+suspected that the Americans were withdrawing their forces from
+Brooklyn, it is easy to imagine the carnage that would have ensued. So
+great was Washington's anxiety at this time that he is said not to have
+slept during forty-eight hours, and rarely to have dismounted from his
+horse.
+
+One account of the retreat is as follows: "A disadvantageous wind and
+rain at first prevented the troops from embarking, and it was feared
+that the retreat could not be effected that night. But about eleven
+o'clock a favorable breeze sprung up, the tide turned in the right
+direction, and about two o'clock in the morning, a thick fog arose which
+hung over Long Island, while on the New York side it was clear. During
+the night, the whole American army, nine thousand in number, Washington
+embarking last of all, with all the artillery, such heavy ordnance as
+was of any value, ammunition, provision, cattle, horses, carts, and
+everything of importance, passed safely over.
+
+"All this was effected without the knowledge of the British, although
+the enemy were so nigh that they were heard at work with their pickaxes
+and shovels. In half an hour after the lines were finally abandoned, the
+fog cleared off and the enemy were seen taking possession of the
+American works. One boat on the river, ... within reach of the enemy's
+fire, was obliged to return; she had only three men in her, who had
+loitered behind to plunder."
+
+That opportune appearance of the fog must have seemed, to more than one
+devout heart, as helpful as some of the remarkable interpositions of
+Providence described in the old Biblical stories.
+
+Hale's company, with its many seamen, rendered effective service in this
+passage from Long Island. Every student of history, and especially of
+military history, can recall certain decisive hours in momentous battles
+when some utterly unforeseen event has entirely changed the face of
+affairs, and given the victory into unexpected hands; thus, a mistake in
+the understanding of a phrase used by his captors made André a prisoner,
+and saved the capture of West Point by the English; while Waterloo,
+Gettysburg, and many another decisive battle has hinged on seeming
+chance,--chance truly, if there is no power working for righteousness
+among the affairs of nations.
+
+The position of the American army, however, now appeared more perilous
+than ever. Two war vessels had moved up the East River and were followed
+by others. Active movements among the British troops were reported by
+all the scouts, but the enemy's designs could not be penetrated.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+A PERILOUS SERVICE
+
+
+Writing of these events afterward, Captain Hull said, "It was evident
+that the superior force of the British would soon give them possession
+of New York. The Commander-in-chief, therefore, took a position at Fort
+Washington at the other end of the island. To ascertain the further
+object of the enemy was now a subject of anxious inquiry with General
+Washington."
+
+In a letter to General Heath at this crisis Washington wrote as follows:
+"As everything in a manner depends upon obtaining intelligence of the
+enemy's motions, I do most earnestly entreat you and General Clinton to
+exert yourselves to accomplish this most desirable end. Leave no stone
+unturned, nor do not stick at expense, to bring this to pass, as I never
+was more uneasy than on account of my want of knowledge on this score."
+
+Johnston, in his valuable "Life of Nathan Hale," says: "If he
+[Washington] had been anxious to fathom Howe's plans before the latter
+began the campaign from Staten Island, he was infinitely more so now.
+It was not enough to keep a ceaseless watch across the East river....
+Like every other commander in history, all through the contest he came
+to depend much on intelligence gained through the 'secret service.'"
+
+Stuart, the earliest reliable biographer of Hale, in writing of spies
+says: "The exigency of the American army which we have just described,
+would not permit the employment, in the service proposed, of any
+ordinary soldier, unpracticed in military observation and without skill
+as a draughtsman,--least of all of the common mercenary, to whom,
+allured by the hope of a large reward, such tasks are usually assigned.
+Accurate estimates of the numbers of the enemy, of their distribution,
+of the form and position of their various encampments, of their
+marchings and countermarchings, of the concentration at one point or
+another, of the instruments of war, but more than all of their plan of
+attack, as derived from the open report or the unguarded whispers in
+camp of officers or men,--estimates of all these things, requiring a
+quick eye, a cool head, a practical pencil, military science, general
+intelligence, and pliable address, were to be made. The common soldier
+would not answer the purpose, and the mercenary might yield to the
+higher seductions of the enemy, and betray his employers."
+
+During the war with the French and Indians, American officers had
+learned the need of trained men who could keep the commanders informed
+both of the movements and of the plans of the opposing forces.
+Washington had learned this unforgetable lesson in Braddock's campaign,
+and, as full commander and wholly responsible not only for the immediate
+safety but for the future success of his little army, he realized the
+necessity of obtaining the most accurate information possible.
+
+A corps collected from the best men in the army was organized, and its
+command was given to Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Knowlton. He had gained
+experience as a ranger in the French and Indian War, and was noted for
+his coolness, skill, and bravery at Bunker Hill. One hundred and fifty
+men and twenty officers were considered sufficient for the work assigned
+to this special corps, known as Knowlton's Rangers. They were divided
+into four companies. Two of the captains of these men were chosen from
+Knowlton's own regiment; the other two--one of them Nathan Hale--were
+from other companies. There can be little doubt that Nathan Hale was
+proud of his enrollment in this brave corps.
+
+After Hale's services were ended, one brief record remained of "moneys
+due to the Company of Rangers commanded late by Captain Hale." After the
+1st of September, about which time this company of Rangers was
+organized, it was constantly on duty wherever its services were
+required, and one can easily imagine Nathan Hale's enthusiasm in his
+enlarged duties.
+
+Knowlton spoke to some of his officers of the wishes of the commanding
+general for some one to enter upon this special secret service,--wishes
+that so appealed to Hale that he at once seriously considered offering
+himself for the hazardous undertaking.
+
+Captain Hull, two years his senior in age, and one year in advance of
+him in Yale, a close friend while in college and during their subsequent
+days, shall describe the personal interview between himself and Captain
+Hale in regard to this matter. It is said that many remonstrated with
+Hale at his decision, but Hull's statement shows the arguments of a
+practical man against which Hale had to contend.
+
+In his memoirs Captain Hull writes thus of his last interview with
+Captain Hale:
+
+"After his interview with Col. Knowlton, he repaired to my quarters and
+informed me of what had passed. He remarked 'I think I owe to my
+country the accomplishment of an object so important, and so much
+desired by the commander of her armies--and I know of no other mode of
+obtaining the information than by assuming a disguise and passing into
+the enemy's camp.'
+
+"He asked my candid opinion. I replied that it was an act which involved
+serious consequences, and the propriety of it was doubtful; and though
+he viewed the business of a spy as a duty, yet he could not officially
+be required to perform it; that such a service was not claimed of the
+meanest soldier, though many might be willing, for a pecuniary
+compensation, to engage in it; and as for himself, the employment was
+not in keeping with his character. His nature was too frank and open for
+deceit and disguise, and he was incapable of acting a part equally
+foreign to his feelings and habits. Admitting that he was successful,
+who would wish success at such a price? Did his country demand the moral
+degradation of her sons, to advance her interests?
+
+"Stratagems are resorted to in war; they are feints and evasions,
+performed under no disguise; are familiar to commanders; form a part of
+their plans, and, considered in a military view, lawful and
+advantageous. The tact with which they are executed exacts admiration
+from the enemy. But who respects the character of a spy, assuming the
+garb of friendship but to betray? The very death assigned him is
+expressive of the estimation in which he is held. As soldiers, let us do
+our duty in the field; contend for our legitimate rights, and not stain
+our honor by the sacrifice of integrity. And when present events, with
+all their deep and exciting interests, shall have passed away, may the
+blush of shame never arise, by the remembrance of an unworthy though
+successful act, in the performance of which we were deceived by the
+belief that it was sanctioned by its object. I ended by saying that,
+should he undertake the enterprise, his short, bright career would close
+with an ignominious death.
+
+"He replied, 'I am fully sensible of the consequences of discovery and
+capture in such a situation. But for a year I have been attached to the
+army, and have not rendered any material service, while receiving a
+compensation for which I make no return. Yet,' he continued, 'I am not
+influenced by the expectation of promotion or pecuniary reward. I wish
+to be useful, and every kind of service necessary for the public good,
+becomes honorable by being necessary. If the exigencies of my country
+demand a peculiar service, its claims to perform that service are
+imperative!'
+
+"He spoke with warmth and decision. I replied, 'That such are your
+wishes cannot be doubted. But is this the most effectual mode of
+carrying them into execution? In the progress of the war there will be
+ample opportunity to give your talents and your life, should it be so
+ordered, to the sacred cause to which we are pledged. You can bestow
+upon your country the richest benefits, and win for yourself the highest
+honours. Your exertions for her interests will be daily felt, while, by
+one fatal act, you crush forever the power and opportunity Heaven offers
+for her glory and your happiness.'
+
+"I urged him for the love of country, for the love of kindred, to
+abandon an enterprise which would only end in the sacrifice of the
+dearest interests of both. He paused--then affectionately taking my
+hand, he said, 'I will reflect, and do nothing but what duty demands.'
+He was absent from the army, and I feared he had gone to the British
+lines to execute his fatal purpose."
+
+Just how soon after this conversation Captain Hale left camp on his
+perilous mission, cannot now be determined. We only know that it must
+have been early in September, during the first week or ten days. He
+proceeded with Sergeant Hempstead by the safest route, and reached
+Norwalk before finding a place to cross Long Island Sound.
+
+Sergeant Hempstead alone has furnished the few details of Captain Hale's
+final preparations. He had decided to assume civilian's dress, probably
+that of an educated man seeking employment as tutor among the Americans
+still living in New York. Hempstead says he was dressed in a brown suit
+of citizen's clothes, with a round, broad-brimmed hat. On parting he
+gave Hempstead his private papers and letters, and his silver
+shoebuckles, to take care of for him.
+
+It is, we think, not an undue inference that the letters and private
+papers he left in Hempstead's care were all to be sent to his family.
+These doubtless included personal letters to them, for no man such as we
+know Nathan Hale to have been would have faced a journey from which he
+might never return without some words of explanation, and possible
+farewell, to those he loved at home. There is one fact that all who
+believe in the sanctity of personal confidences and possible farewells
+will be glad to remember,--that not one private word from Nathan Hale to
+Alice Adams Ripley, or from her to him, has ever been exploited to
+satisfy the curiosity of those who have no right to share it.
+
+Hempstead left Captain Hale, who, now fully committed to his hazardous
+quest, set forth on the armed sloop _Schuyler_ with Captain Pond--one of
+the captains in the 19th Regiment--in command, across the Sound to Long
+Island. When he landed Captain Hale said farewell to the last American
+friend he was to be with, so far as we have any record.
+
+Assuming that he reached this point on or near the 15th of September,
+one or two other facts suggest themselves. It is known that the
+Declaration of Independence had been carried to the American camp as
+early as possible after its announcement in July, had been read to the
+troops assembled for that purpose, and had been received with unbounded
+enthusiasm. It is probable that both Colonel Knowlton, later in command
+of the Rangers, and Captain Hale, one of its officers, were present at
+that reading and joined in the huzzas. Singularly enough, neither one of
+these two men was a citizen of the United States for three months.
+
+Two months later Colonel Knowlton fell in the battle of Harlem Heights,
+on September 16th, six days before Nathan Hale's execution. Knowlton's
+last words are said to have been, "I do not care for my life, if we do
+but win the day."
+
+From the moment of his leaving New York, the mind of such a man as
+Nathan Hale must have had solemn foreshadowings of the possible result,
+of the tremendous risk he was facing. Men do not grow old by the passing
+of years so much as by the endurance of great experiences, and in the
+few brief days that were left to Nathan Hale we know really nothing of
+his whereabouts, of what risks he ran, of how often he barely escaped
+recognition as a spy, where he slept, of any possible friends whom he
+may have encountered, or of any moment when his very life seemed to hang
+on the accidental glance of an enemy's eye.
+
+Finally dawned the 21st of September. Hale had fully accomplished his
+mission.
+
+There are conflicting accounts as to what occurred on the last evening
+of Nathan Hale's life, some going into minute details of occurrences
+that were assumed to have taken place. One with considerable
+plausibility says that, as the time had elapsed which he had expected to
+spend among the British (at the end of which time a boat was to be sent
+across the Sound for him), Hale, having finished his quest, had entered
+a tavern kept by a certain widow Chichester. She was a stanch friend of
+the Tories, and her house was the constant resort of Tories and British
+men and officers. While Hale was sitting in the tavern, apparently at
+his ease among the men there assembled, some one passed him whose face
+he thought familiar,--a man who glanced at him sharply and then passed
+from the room. Later it was said to have been his own cousin who
+betrayed him. Fortunately, there is not a word of truth in the
+assertion.
+
+Although Deacon Hale writes that his son was undoubtedly betrayed by
+some one, it appears to have been effectually disproved that he was
+betrayed by a relative--a cousin who, it is stated, had never seen him,
+and therefore could not have recognized him. A much more probable rumor
+is that he was recognized by a loyalist woman who might easily have seen
+him before the American army retreated farther north on the island, and
+been impressed by his personal appearance and by his prowess in kicking
+the football over the trees in the Bowery. This feat Hale is said to
+have performed.
+
+The report goes on to say that a man suddenly entered saying that a boat
+was approaching, and that Hale, supposing this boat to have been sent
+for him, at once left the room and went to the shore. If there is any
+truth in this narrative, it is very possible that here Hale committed
+his one indiscretion. In his joy at seeing the friends who had been sent
+for him, he may have uttered words of such joyous welcome that the
+officer who heard them must have known that this was some one expecting
+a boat, and presumably a boat from the opposite shore. At all events, it
+is stated that Hale, seeing his mistake when several marines presented
+their guns, turned to fly, stopping only when told by the officer to
+stand or be shot. These events are said to have taken place at
+Huntington, Long Island, about forty miles from New York.
+
+But more than a century after Hale's death a British Orderly Book was
+found, containing the statement, dated September 22d, 1776, that
+follows:
+
+[Illustration: See footnote [2]]
+
+[Footnote 2: A spy fm the Enemy (by his own full Confession) Apprehended
+Last night, was this day Executed at 11 o'clock in front of the Artilery
+Park.
+
+From an Orderly Book of the British Guard. Reproduced from the original
+in possession of the New York Historical Society.]
+
+This, with other knowledge obtained about the position of the ship by
+whose crew he was said to have been taken, gives reason for believing
+that the arrest was not made at Huntington by the crew of that ship,
+but in the city of New York. The order proves also that, once
+apprehended, he made not the slightest attempt at concealment, nor any
+effort to escape his doom. The information gained by Hale's brother
+Enoch in New York supports this belief as to his capture.
+
+All that we actually know is, that he was captured while attempting to
+make his way back to his friends, and that this must have been the
+sharpest moment in his experience. Before it, he had hopes of escape;
+after his capture he knew that his doom was certain, and his splendid
+soul adapted itself quietly and bravely to the inevitable.
+
+That fatal night--the night of the 21st of September--was in many
+respects the most terrible that New York has ever passed through. A fire
+had broken out near the docks at two in the morning, and was spreading
+with fearful rapidity toward the upper part of the city, the blaze
+carried northward by a strong breeze. It looked at one time as if
+nothing could stop the conflagration, and that the whole city would be
+destroyed.
+
+For a time the enemy believed that the Americans had deliberately set
+fire to their own city in order to expel the hated British. Later this
+was found to be untrue, as the fire proved to have started in a low
+drinking house where several coarse fellows were carousing. The fire
+swept on, destroying more than five hundred houses, one fifth of all the
+buildings then in the city, and was stopped only near Barclay Street by
+a sudden sharp change in the wind, which blew the fire southward toward
+the already burning district.
+
+Report says that the provost marshal was given authority by Howe to
+dispose summarily, without the delay of a trial, of any Americans found
+rushing about the burning buildings, assuming, of course, that they were
+intent on the destruction of more buildings, rather than on the natural
+desire of saving what they could of their own property; and that as a
+result of this authority, more than one hapless householder was thrown
+into his own burning home.
+
+Up to this point, the early or late evening of the 21st, there is more
+or less of unsolvable mystery in regard to Nathan Hale's movements; but
+from the memoirs of Captain William Hull, Nathan Hale's college friend
+and companion in arms, we have what appears to be unimpeachable evidence
+as to Hale's arrest and being brought to General Howe's headquarters. We
+quote from Captain Hull the information he received from an English
+officer through a flag of truce:
+
+"I learned the melancholy particulars from this officer, who was present
+at Hale's execution and seemed touched by the circumstances attending
+it. He said that Captain Hale had passed through their army, both of
+Long Island and [New] York Island. That he had procured sketches of the
+fortifications, and made memoranda of their number and different
+positions. When apprehended, he was taken before Sir William Howe, and
+these papers, found concealed about his person, betrayed his intentions.
+He at once declared his name, his rank in the American army, and his
+object in coming within the British lines.
+
+"Sir William Howe, without the form of a trial, gave orders for his
+execution the following morning. He was placed in the custody of the
+provost marshal. Captain Hale asked for a clergyman to attend him. His
+request was refused. He then asked for a Bible; that too was refused.
+
+"'On the morning of his execution,' continued the officer, 'my station
+was near the fatal spot, and I requested the provost marshal to permit
+the prisoner to sit in my marquee while he was making the necessary
+preparations. Captain Hale entered; he was calm, and bore himself with
+gentle dignity. He asked for writing materials, which I furnished him;
+he wrote two letters, one to his mother and one to a brother officer.
+He was shortly summoned to the gallows. But a few persons were around
+him.'"
+
+He was condemned to die in the early morning of the 22d, but in the
+confusion prevailing throughout the city on account of the spreading
+fire, at one time threatening the whole town, Provost Marshal Cunningham
+must have been that morning very fully occupied, and it was late in the
+forenoon before he completed his preparations for Hale's execution.
+
+At eleven o'clock Cunningham was ready, and, as it proved, Nathan Hale
+was ready also. Quietly standing among the few who had gathered to see
+him die, and it is said in response to a taunt from Cunningham that if
+he had any confession to make now was the time to make it, Hale
+responded, glancing briefly at Cunningham and then calmly at the faces
+about him, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my
+country."
+
+For once in his life Cunningham must have been astounded. With no plea
+for mercy, no shrinking from the worst that Cunningham could do, this
+man, still almost a boy in years, had shown himself utterly beyond his
+power--had lifted himself forever from the doom of a victim to the grand
+estate of a victor. One sharp, brief struggle and Nathan Hale was
+free--dead, but victorious!
+
+Indefinite as are most of the details, there are some unwritten points
+that may confidently be assumed.
+
+That 22d of September was a Sabbath day, a day associated in Nathan
+Hale's mind with religious observances; prayers at the family altar,
+readings of the Bible, and gatherings of his friends within church
+walls. Whether or not his family knew the dangerous quest on which he
+had ventured, he knew that he was not absent from their memories, and
+that the family were bearing him in their thoughts that Sabbath morning.
+No other day could have made that assurance so real to him, and this
+thought was probably one of his strongest earthly consolations and
+inspirations while he was awaiting the slow but relentless preparations
+for his death.
+
+No wonder that he bore himself "calmly and with dignity," as Captain
+Montressor said of him. No wonder that he died bravely--seemingly
+without a tremor of soul. In his last words Nathan Hale, true and
+faithful in every relation and every act of his brief life, gave to his
+country more than his life, more than all the hopes he was relinquishing
+so freely for her sake. In one short, indomitable breath of patriotism,
+he uttered words that will be forgotten only when American history
+ceases to be read.
+
+William Cunningham, Provost Marshal of the English forces in America,
+murderer and inhuman jailer, would have laughed to scorn the idea that
+any being, human or divine, could preserve Nathan Hale's last words for
+the inspiration of coming generations, yet a kindly British officer,
+Captain John Montressor, carried them to Hale's friends.
+
+Cunningham has left a record of brutality unsurpassed in American
+history. He is himself said to have boasted that he had caused the death
+of two thousand American soldiers. We know that any reference to the
+prison ships in New York Harbor sets Cunningham before us as a cowardly
+murderer, starving men to death by depriving them of rations which the
+English supplied for them, and which he sold, pocketing the proceeds. He
+stands alone on a pedestal of infamy.
+
+The letters that Hale had written and left, as he hoped, to be delivered
+to his friends, Cunningham ruthlessly destroyed, giving as his reason
+that "the rebels should not know that they had a man in their army who
+could die with so much firmness." Though Hale's letters were destroyed,
+the English officer, John Montressor, aide to General Howe--a gentleman
+in whose presence we may safely assume that Cunningham, cowardly as all
+brutal men are, had not dared to maltreat Nathan Hale as he was known
+to maltreat other prisoners--that very Sunday evening spoke of Hale's
+death to General Putnam and Captain Alexander Hamilton at the American
+outposts where he had been sent with a flag of truce by General Howe to
+arrange for an exchange of prisoners. More was learned when a flag of
+truce was sent two days later to the British lines by General
+Washington, in answer to the one on September 22. Two friends of Hale,
+Captain Hull and Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Webb, were among those who
+went with the flag.
+
+Through these flags of truce--and perhaps others--were obtained all the
+positive knowledge that Hale's friends were ever able to secure; but the
+unvarnished story, told by Captain Montressor, gave all that was
+essential to reveal to his friends his manly attitude when in the
+presence of General Howe, and his calmness and dignity when he was
+awaiting execution; while his last unpremeditated but immortal words, in
+reply to Cunningham's taunt, proved to all his friends that he had died
+as he had lived--a Christian patriot, and a hero.
+
+We may suppose that Nathan Hale himself had not the remotest idea that
+anything concerning his death would ever be made known to his friends
+save that, detected as a spy, he had died as the penalty he had known
+would follow capture. The words spoken by Nathan Hale, as his last
+earthly thought, seem to prove that the thought, breathed from the
+depths of his fearless soul, shall live as long as pure patriotism
+thrills the souls of mortal men.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+GRIEF FOR THE YOUNG PATRIOT
+
+
+From Enoch Hale's diary, parts of which were first published by his
+famous grandson, Edward Everett Hale, we learn how the news reached the
+Hale family. Enoch writes as follows:
+
+     "September 30. Afternoon. Ride to Rev. Strong's [his uncle] Salmon
+     Brook [Connecticut]. Hear a rumor that Capt. Hale, belonging to the
+     east side of Connecticut River near Colchester, who was educated at
+     College, was sentenced to hang in the enemy's lines at New York,
+     being taken as a spy, or reconnoitering their camp. Hope it is
+     without foundation. Something troubled at it. Sleep not very
+     well.... October 15. Get a pass to ride to New York.... Accounts
+     from my brother Captain are indeed melancholy! That about the
+     second week of September, he went to Stamford, crossed to Long
+     Island (Dr. Waldo writes) and had finished his plans, but before he
+     could get off, was betrayed, taken, and hanged without ceremony....
+     Some entertain hopes that all this is not true, but it is a gloomy,
+     dejected hope. Time may determine. Conclude to go to the camp next
+     week."
+
+He afterwards wrote that Webb, one of Washington's staff, brought word
+to Washington that Nathan Hale, "being suspected by his movements that
+he wanted to get out of New York, was taken up and examined by the
+general [Howe] and some minutes being found upon him, orders were
+immediately given that he should be hanged. When at the gallows, he
+spoke and told that he was a Capt. in the Continental army, by name
+Nathan Hale."
+
+To those who have experienced the long weeks of distressing anxiety that
+often fall to the lot of those whose friends are in battle, or carried
+prisoners to unknown camps, no words are needed to depict the anxiety
+among Nathan Hale's family until particulars of his noble death were
+finally learned.
+
+It is a solemn but perhaps a comforting fact, that the deepest human
+distress seems, after a few generations have passed, to have been "writ
+in water." Bitter as must have been those early sorrowful hours, the
+only later reminder of the tears that then flowed is given in the
+statement that one who had loved him could not speak of him fifty years
+later without tears in her eyes.
+
+Of how many wept for him we can form no conception. Indeed, we should
+have pitied any warmhearted girl or young man who knew him, and had
+shared his joyous young life, who could have heard of his tragic death
+without tears almost as bitter as for one intensely loved.
+
+Duly Enoch Hale and his family learned all that ever will be known of
+the last days of their beloved, and now honored, dead.
+
+The following letter of Deacon Richard Hale's--good man and uncertain
+speller that he was!--was written to his brother Samuel at Portsmouth,
+New Hampshire, a few months after Nathan's death had become known:
+
+     DEAR BROTHER
+
+     I Recd your favor of the 17th of February Last and rejoce to
+     hear that you and your Famley ware well your obversation as to the
+     Diffulty of the times is very just. so gloomey a day wee niver saw
+     before but I trust our Cause is Just and for our Consolation in the
+     times of greatest destress we have this to sopert us that their is
+     a God that Jugeth in the earth if we can but take the comfort of
+     it. as to our being far advanced in life if it do but serve to wean
+     us from this presint troublesom world and stur us up to prepare for
+     a world of peace and Rest it is well. the calls in Providance are
+     loud to prepare to meet our God and O that he would prepare us. you
+     desired me to inform you about my son Nathan you have doutless seen
+     the Newberry Port paper that gives the acount of the conduct of our
+     kinsman Samll Hale toard him in New York as to our kinsman being
+     here in his way to York it is a mistake but as to his conduct tord
+     my son at York Mr. Cleveland of Capepan first reported it near us I
+     sopose when on his way from the Armey where he had been Chapling
+     home as was Probley true betraie'd he doubtless was by somebody. he
+     was executed about the 22nd of September last by the aconts we
+     have had. a child I sot much by but he is gone I think the second
+     trial I ever met with. my 3rd son Joseph is in the armey over in
+     the Jarsyes and was well the last we heard from him my other son
+     that was in the service belonged to the melishey and is now at
+     home. my son Enoch is gone to take the small pox by enoculation.
+     Brother Robinson and famley are well we are all threw the Divine
+     goodness well my wife joins in love to you and Mrs Hale and your
+     children
+
+     Your loving Brother
+     COVENTRY March 28th 1777
+     RICHARD HALE
+
+For a while after Nathan Hale's death, in the crowding events of the
+Revolution, his personal friends appear to have been his chief mourners.
+One lady is said to have told Professor Kingsley of New Haven that she
+had never seen greater anguish than that experienced by Deacon Hale and
+his family when they heard of Nathan's death.
+
+What the news meant to his "good grandmother Strong" we are not told.
+For her, so faithful and unselfish in her loving, we can but be glad
+that if she went home all the earlier for this blow, she must have gone
+all the more serenely; assured that if the earth was the poorer, heaven
+was the richer, because the grandson she had loved so truly was there
+awaiting her.
+
+Mrs. Abbot, daughter of Deacon Richard Hale's son, Joseph Hale, lived
+at her grandfather's from 1784 till her marriage in 1799. Many years ago
+she wrote to her cousin, "From my earliest recollection I have felt a
+deep interest in that unfortunate uncle. When his death or the manner of
+it was spoken of, my grief would come forth in tears. Living in the old
+homestead I frequently heard allusions to him by the neighbors and
+persons that worked in the family, much more so than by near relatives.
+It seemed the anguish they felt did not allow them to make it the
+subject of conversation. Was it not so with your mother?"
+
+Rev. Edward Everett Hale refers in a historical address to the fact that
+in his own early days the name of Nathan Hale was seldom mentioned in
+his presence. We of to-day can but wish that somewhat of the luster from
+the radiant halo that was to encircle his memory and to grow brighter as
+the years pass on, might have comforted them. Yet each one of that
+sorrowing family has long since learned to rejoice that, as nobly as any
+martyr has ever died for his country, their lad went forth into the
+eternities.
+
+The poem which follows was published in "Songs and Ballads of the
+Revolution," collected by Mr. Frank Moore. It is not known when these
+verses first appeared, but they are among the earliest tributes to Hale
+after his death. It is thought possible, by some students of
+Revolutionary history, that the lines may yet prove valuable in throwing
+light upon the manner of Hale's capture and death, as they are probably
+based on accounts current at that time of which records have not yet
+appeared.
+
+
+CAPTURE AND DEATH OF NATHAN HALE
+
+(By an unknown poet of 1776)
+
+  The breezes went steadily thro' the tall pines,
+  A-saying "oh! hu-sh!" a-saying "oh! hu-sh!"
+  As stilly stole by a bold legion of horse,
+  For Hale in the bush, for Hale in the bush.
+
+  "Keep still!" said the thrush as she nestled her young,
+  In a nest by the road; in a nest by the road;
+  "For the tyrants are near, and with them appear,
+  What bodes us no good, what bodes us no good."
+
+  The brave captain heard it, and thought of his home,
+  In a cot by the brook; in a cot by the brook.
+  With mother and sister and memories dear,
+  He so gaily forsook; he so gaily forsook.
+
+  Cooling shades of the night were coming apace,
+  The tattoo had beat; the tattoo had beat.
+  The noble one sprang from his dark lurking place
+  To make his retreat; to make his retreat.
+
+  He warily trod on the dry rustling leaves,
+  As he pass'd thro' the wood; as he pass'd thro' the wood;
+  And silently gain'd his rude launch on the shore,
+  As she play'd with the flood; as she play'd with the flood.
+
+  The guards of the camp, on that dark, dreary night,
+  Had a murderous will; had a murderous will.
+  They took him and bore him afar from the shore,
+  To a hut on the hill; to a hut on the hill.
+
+  No mother was there, nor a friend who could cheer,
+  In that little stone cell; in that little stone cell.
+  But he trusted in love from his father above,
+  In his heart all was well; in his heart all was well.
+
+  An ominous owl with his solemn bass voice
+  Sat moaning hard by; sat moaning hard by.
+  "The tyrant's proud minions most gladly rejoice,
+  For he must soon die; for he must soon die."
+
+  The brave fellow told them, no thing he restrained,
+  The cruel gen'ral; the cruel gen'ral;
+  His errand from camp, of the ends to be gained,
+  And said that was all; and said that was all.
+
+  They took him and bound him and bore him away,
+  Down the hill's grassy side; down the hill's grassy side.
+  'Twas there the base hirelings, in royal array,
+  His cause did deride; his cause did deride.
+
+  Five minutes were given, short moments, no more,
+  For him to repent; for him to repent;
+  He pray'd for his mother, he ask'd not another;
+  To Heaven he went; to Heaven he went.
+
+  The faith of a martyr, the tragedy shew'd,
+  As he trod the last stage; as he trod the last stage.
+  And Britons will shudder at gallant Hale's blood,
+  As his words do presage; as his words do presage.
+
+  "Thou pale king of terrors, thou life's gloomy foe,
+  Go frighten the slave; go frighten the slave;
+  Tell tyrants to you their allegiance they owe.
+  No fears for the brave; no fears for the brave."
+
+The body of the Martyr Spy was never found. For many years there appears
+to have been some interest, but little knowledge, as to the place of
+Nathan Hale's execution. During the last one hundred and thirty-eight
+years, writer after writer has described his life and all the events
+connected with it as they are believed to have occurred; and, as was
+inevitable under the circumstances, some things have been written that
+the critical historian cannot indorse.
+
+Until near the end of the nineteenth century no reliable information,
+even as to the place of his execution, had been gained. The late Mr.
+William Kelby, Librarian of the New York Historical Society, "an
+accepted authority on all subjects of this and kindred nature," is said
+to have undertaken to locate the exact spot where it occurred, and met
+with at least partial success.
+
+Writing on the subject in 1893 he says in substance: When the British
+took possession of New York in September, 1776, after the battle of Long
+Island, General Howe occupied the Beekman house on Fifty-first Street
+and First Avenue as his headquarters, while the army extended across the
+island to the north of him. The corps of Royal Artillery occupied part
+of the high ground between Sixty-sixth and Seventy-second Streets, where
+they parked their guns and formed a camp.
+
+Close to the camp were the old "five-mile stone" on the way to
+Kingsbridge, and a tavern long known as "The Sign of the Dove." The
+exact location of this tavern is shown from a survey of 1783 as being
+west of the post road on Third Avenue between Sixty-sixth and
+Sixty-seventh streets. It belonged, with four acres of land attached, to
+the City Corporation.
+
+The extract already shown on page 82 is from an Orderly Book (discovered
+by Mr. Kelby) kept by an officer of the British Foot-Guards. Other
+entries read as follows:
+
+"October 6. The effects of the late Lieutenant Lovell to be sold at the
+house near the Artillery Park.
+
+"October 11. Majors of Brigade to attend at the Artillery Park near the
+Dove at five this afternoon."
+
+The story of Hale's confinement in the Beekman greenhouse at Fifty-first
+Street and First Avenue on the night of September 21, 1776, is generally
+accepted. Former stories of the place of execution are disproved by the
+first extract from the Orderly Book, while the others indicate the
+location of the Artillery Park. It therefore appears that Hale was
+executed upon some part of this common land of the Corporation of the
+City of New York, and it is probable that his body was buried there.
+
+The tract is now covered mainly by buildings devoted to educational and
+philanthropic uses. Possibly the dust of the Martyr Spy may lie in the
+grounds of the Normal, or Hunter, College.
+
+Other materials, found since Mr. Kelby wrote, confirm his conclusions
+and make Third Avenue, not far north of Sixty-sixth Street, the most
+probable spot of Nathan Hale's death. The noblest educational
+institutions in New York City could have no more appropriate foundations
+than those laid above the bodies of patriots who have died, not only for
+the freedom of the city, but for that of the whole land.
+
+For a time, as was inevitable, a pall seemed thrown over the memory of
+Nathan Hale, and at first only the love of his own family strove to
+commemorate his life and death. A stone was erected to his memory in
+the cemetery at South Coventry, near the spot where his father expected
+to be buried. It still stands there and has been declared to be one of
+the best examples of the lettering of the times. It bears this
+inscription:
+
+"Durable stone preserve the monumental record. Nathan Hale Esq. a Capt.
+in the army of the United States, who was born June 6th, 1755, and
+received the first honors of Yale College, Sept. 1773, resigned his life
+a sacrifice to his country's liberty at New York, Sept. 22d, 1776,
+Etatis 22d."
+
+One by one were placed near his, his father's stone (his father died at
+eighty-five), and those of other members of his family. These graves are
+in a common burial lot near the Congregational Church in South Coventry
+where the family had worshiped.
+
+In November, 1837, the Hale Monument Association was formed for the
+purpose of erecting at Coventry a fitting memorial of the
+martyr-soldier. Congress was applied to for several years, but was slow
+in appropriating money to honor the dead,--strangely unlike England in
+honoring her martyrs, as will be seen later.
+
+Appeals were made to the State legislature, and Stuart, Hale's earliest
+biographer and sincere admirer, used his influence as a legislator in
+securing an appropriation of twelve hundred and fifty dollars. The
+women of Coventry redoubled their zeal, and by fairs, teas, etc., raised
+a sufficient sum, added to the grant from the legislature and
+contributions from some prominent men of the country, to pay for the
+cenotaph. It is a pyramidal shaft, resting on a base of steps, with a
+shelving projection one-third of the way up the pedestal. The material
+is of hewn Quincy granite. It was designed by Henry Austin of New Haven.
+It is fourteen feet square at the base and forty-five feet high. It was
+completed under the superintendence of Solomon Willard, architect of
+Bunker Hill Monument, at a cost of about four thousand dollars.
+
+The inscription on the north side is, "Captain Nathan Hale, 1776"; on
+the west, "Born at Coventry, June 6, 1755"; on the east, "Died at New
+York, Sept. 22, 1776"; on the south, "I only regret that I have but one
+life to lose for my country."
+
+The monument stands on elevated ground. "Its site is particularly
+fine;... on the north it overlooks a beautiful lake, while on the east
+it looks through a captivating natural vista to greet the sun."
+
+With the planning of this monument began the revival of interest in
+Nathan Hale's short but splendid career that is still gathering strength
+and will eventually establish his name among those of the bravest
+American patriots.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+TRIBUTES TO NATHAN HALE
+
+
+When Captain Montressor told Hale's dismayed friends of the terrible
+doom that had befallen their comrade, it must have seemed as if all the
+influence Hale might have had in a prolonged life, all that could come
+to such a man, had been sacrificed. We must not blame them if the
+question involuntarily rose in their hearts, "Why such waste? Why was
+such an influence so permanently destroyed?" Curiously enough, many
+years passed with little special notice by the public of Hale's death.
+But the leaven of patriotism works, even though slowly, and step by step
+Hale was coming to his own. Little by little the memory of his sacrifice
+for his country, and the fact that he had left words that should glow
+with increasing splendor, took possession of those who had ears to hear
+and hearts to remember.
+
+Old Linonia in Yale did not forget the splendid boy, once its
+Chancellor, who died as he had lived. Linonia's records still bear, in
+clear and perfect lines, reports his hand had written when he was its
+most assiduous member. Others might have forgotten him; Linonia had not.
+
+On its one-hundredth anniversary, July 27, 1853,--Commencement
+Week,--the poet of the occasion was Francis Miles Finch, Yale, 1846,
+later Judge of the New York Court of Appeals. As poet, Mr. Finch of
+course recalled many former members of the society. He ended with a poem
+on Nathan Hale in which he held his listeners spellbound as stanza after
+stanza, magnetic in proportion to their truthful beauty, fell from his
+lips.
+
+There has been a further service to his country by Judge Finch. His own
+character has been graven into two different poems,--the one just
+referred to, and one that he wrote later. The latter poem had,
+undoubtedly, a powerful influence in causing our national Decoration Day
+to be celebrated throughout the United States.
+
+The story of this poem is interesting. In a town in Mississippi certain
+Southern women went on a spring day, soon after the close of the Civil
+War, to cover with flowers the graves of their beloved dead. The
+gracious and tender thought must have come to them that in the graves of
+aliens buried among them lay those as deeply mourned in Northern homes
+as were those they themselves had loved.
+
+Certainly no sweeter suggestion could have been more tenderly carried
+out than that which led these bereaved women to spread flowers over the
+graves of those who were once their enemies. Mr. Finch was told of this
+incident, and the lines he wrote show his appreciation of the "generous
+deed." The poem, "The Blue and the Gray," did much to heal the wounds in
+both North and South.
+
+The two poems by Judge Francis Miles Finch are quoted here, the first
+with the drum-beat pulsing through it; the second in musical, flowing
+lines that carry in them sorrow, loyalty, and the community of a common
+bereavement.
+
+
+HALE'S FATE AND FAME
+
+  And one there was--his name immortal now--
+  Who dies not to the ring of rattling steel,
+  Or battle-march of spirit-stirring drum,
+  But, far from comrades and from friendly camp,
+  Alone upon the scaffold.
+
+        To drum-beat and heart-beat
+        A soldier marches by;
+        There is color in his cheek,
+        There is courage in his eye,
+        Yet to drum-beat and heart-beat
+        In a moment he must die.
+
+        By starlight and moonlight
+        He seeks the Briton's camp,
+        He hears the rustling flag,
+        And the armèd sentry's tramp.
+        And the starlight and moonlight
+        His silent wanderings lamp.
+
+        With slow tread and still tread
+        He scans the tented line,
+        And he counts the battery guns
+        By the gaunt and shadowy pine,
+        And his slow tread and still tread
+        Give no warning sign.
+
+        The dark wave, the plumed wave!
+        It meets his eager glance;
+        And it sparkles 'neath the stars
+        Like the glimmer of a lance:
+        A dark wave, a plumed wave,
+        On an emerald expanse.
+
+        A sharp clang, a steel clang!
+        And terror in the sound;
+        For the sentry, falcon-eyed,
+        In the camp a spy hath found;
+        With a sharp clang, a steel clang,
+        The patriot is bound.
+
+        With calm brow, steady brow,
+        He listens to his doom;
+        In his look there is no fear
+        Nor a shadow trace of gloom;
+        But with calm brow and steady brow
+        He robes him for the tomb.
+
+        In the long night, the still night,
+        He kneels upon the sod;
+        And the brutal guards withhold
+        E'en the solemn Word of God!
+        In the long night, the still night,
+        He walks where Christ hath trod.
+
+        'Neath the blue morn, the sunny morn,
+        He dies upon the tree;
+        And he mourns that he can lose
+        But one life for Liberty;
+        And in the blue morn, the sunny morn,
+        His spirit-wings are free.
+
+        His last words, his message words,
+        They burn, lest friendly eye
+        Should read how proud and calm
+        A patriot could die,
+        With his last words, his dying words,
+        A soldier's battle-cry!
+
+        From Fame-leaf and Angel-leaf,
+        From monument and urn,
+        The sad of Earth, the glad of Heaven,
+        His tragic fate shall learn;
+        And on Fame-leaf and Angel-leaf,
+        The name of HALE shall burn!
+
+
+THE BLUE AND THE GRAY
+
+  By the flow of the inland river,
+    Whence the fleets of iron had fled,
+  Where the blades of the grave-grass quiver,
+     Asleep are the ranks of the dead:
+      Under the sod and the dew;
+        Waiting the judgment-day;
+      Under the one the Blue;
+        Under the other, the Gray.
+
+  These in the robings of glory,
+    Those in the gloom of defeat,
+  All with the battle-blood gory,
+    In the dusk of eternity meet:
+      Under the sod and the dew,
+        Waiting the judgment-day;
+      Under the laurel, the Blue;
+        Under the willow, the Gray.
+
+  From the silence of sorrowful hours
+    The desolate mourners go,
+  Lovingly laden with flowers,
+    Alike for the friend and the foe:
+      Under the sod and the dew,
+        Waiting the judgment-day;
+      Under the roses, the Blue,
+        Under the lilies, the Gray.
+
+  So, with an equal splendor,
+    The morning sun-rays fall,
+  With a touch impartially tender,
+    On the blossoms blooming for all:
+      Under the sod and the dew,
+        Waiting the judgment-day;
+      Broidered with gold, the Blue;
+        Mellowed with gold, the Gray.
+
+  So, when the summer calleth
+    On forest and field of grain,
+  With an equal murmur falleth
+    The cooling drip of the rain:
+      Under the sod and the dew,
+        Waiting the judgment-day;
+      Wet with the rain, the Blue,
+        Wet with the rain, the Gray.
+
+  Sadly, but not with upbraiding,
+    The generous deed was done,
+  In the storm of the years that are fading
+    No braver battle was won:
+      Under the sod and the dew,
+        Waiting the judgment-day;
+      Under the blossoms, the Blue,
+        Under the garlands, the Gray.
+
+  No more shall the war cry sever,
+    Or the winding rivers be red;
+  They banish our anger forever
+    When they laurel the graves of our dead!
+      Under the sod and the dew,
+        Waiting the judgment-day;
+      Love and tears for the Blue;
+        Tears and love for the Gray.
+
+On the one hundred and tenth anniversary of the evacuation of New York
+by the British--November 25, 1893--a bronze statue of Nathan Hale was
+presented to the city of New York. It was given by the New York Society
+of the "Sons of the American Revolution," a society founded in 1876 to
+perpetuate the memory and deeds of the war for American independence.
+The presentation was made by the president of the society, Mr. Frederic
+Samuel Tallmadge, the grandson of Major Tallmadge, Hale's classmate and
+fellow-captain. The statue is of bronze and is by Frederick Macmonnies
+of Paris. It represents Hale bareheaded, bound about his arms and his
+ankles, ready for his death. It was placed in City Hall Park where Hale
+was, for a time, supposed to have been executed. On the pedestal are
+graven his last wonderful words.
+
+During the exercises at the unveiling of this statue Dr. Edward Everett
+Hale said: "The occasion, I suppose, is without a parallel in history.
+Certainly, I know of no other instance where, more than a century after
+the death of a boy of twenty-one, his countrymen assembled in such
+numbers as are here to do honor to his memory and to dedicate the statue
+which preserves it.
+
+"He died near this spot, saying, 'I am sorry that I have but one life to
+give for my country.' And because that boy said those words, and because
+he died, thousands of other young men have given their lives to his
+country; have served her as she bade them serve her, even though they
+died as she bade them die."
+
+The day's celebration was concluded by a dinner of the Society. Dr. Hale
+spoke on this occasion also. He said in part:
+
+"Let us never forget that this is the monument of a young man--that he
+is the young man's hero. Let us never forget how the country then
+trusted young men and how worthy they were of the trust. It was at the
+very time of which I spoke that Washington first knew Hamilton and asked
+him to his tent. Hamilton had already won the confidence of Greene.
+Hamilton was, I think, in his nineteenth year. Knox, who commanded
+Hamilton's regiment, was, I think, twenty-four. Webb, who commanded
+Hale's regiment, was twenty-two. When, the next year, Washington
+welcomed Lafayette, whom Congress appointed major-general, he
+[Lafayette] was not twenty. And Washington himself, before whom others
+stood abashed, had only attained the venerable age of forty-four. The
+country needed her young men. She called for them and she had them. It
+is one of those young men who, dying at twenty-one, leaves as his only
+word of regret that he has but one life to give to her."
+
+Although it is now known that Hale was not executed near City Hall Park,
+in some respects there could be no more fitting location for a monument
+to him than this, perhaps the busiest conflux of human beings that
+anywhere crowd this great city. Thousands pass this statue, learning
+from it their first lessons in American history. Hundreds have stopped,
+seeing this bareheaded, dauntless man, evidently doomed to die, to try
+to learn whence he came and why he stands there, appealing to the
+noblest patriotism--patriotism that must touch the heart of any man who
+knows the love of country.
+
+Since this statue was placed, memorials of various kinds to Nathan Hale
+have been erected in several parts of the country. The schoolhouses in
+which he taught, although not occupying their original sites, have been
+restored, and are in possession of patriotic societies.
+
+To-day Yale, endowed with buildings costing millions, is learning that
+stone and mortar, in edifices however beautiful, do not enshrine their
+noblest memories.
+
+Through a few friends of Yale, a statue of Nathan Hale by Bela Lyon
+Pratt has recently been placed near the oldest college building,
+Connecticut Hall. This building has been restored to the appearance it
+bore when Nathan Hale dwelt therein. Who shall say that the statue of
+the bound boy, facing death so manfully, will not prove one of Yale's
+noblest endowments?
+
+Still another beautiful statue of Nathan Hale by William Ordway
+Partridge may be seen in the city of St. Paul, Minn.
+
+Happily, Nathan Hale's ability to die for his country is but one side of
+a Yale shield from which gleam the names of hundreds of her sons, who,
+doubtless as ready to die for their country as he, had they been in his
+place, have proved their power to live for God and for their native
+land. Everywhere, in all quarters of the world, the Nathan Hale spirit
+of unselfish devotion has inspired the sons of Yale to the noblest
+service they could render; and every man, young or old, who passes the
+statue of Nathan Hale will realize that hosts have lived lives inspired
+by the same splendid spirit.
+
+Nathan Hale himself went forth from his alma mater filled with the
+joyous hopes and ambitions that have filled the souls of many other men,
+all unconscious of the fact that the finest heroism and the highest
+self-sacrifice lay just before him, but conscious that he meant to be
+ready for the best that life could give him. He was ready; and the best
+of life for him was the power to die as he died.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+NATHAN HALE'S FRIENDS
+
+
+(1) _Rev. Joseph Huntington, D.D._
+
+A somewhat full description of the Rev. Joseph Huntington, D.D., is well
+worth placing among the friends of Nathan Hale. It was impossible for
+such a boy as Nathan to have been under the care of such a man as Dr.
+Huntington, first as pastor and then as his private teacher in his
+preparation for college, without having been strongly influenced by him.
+Indeed, scanning these old records of a parish of a hundred and fifty
+years ago, we cannot help feeling a strong personal attraction toward
+the Rev. Joseph Huntington.
+
+Few men more fully prove the claim that many of the early New England
+pastors were eminently fitted to lead their people heavenward and also
+in the practical development of their daily lives.
+
+Dr. Huntington lived a life evidently inspired by the finest ideals, and
+also by shrewd common sense, always so dear to the heart of a New
+Englander. It is a pleasure to recall the story of this man's useful
+life, and realize that besides the reverence almost invariably accorded
+to "the minister" in those days, he must have held the everyday
+affection and wholesome trust of his people. Year by year he proved
+himself not only their pastor, but a friend full of all kindly
+sympathies, never above a hearty laugh when mirth was rampant, or a
+sympathetic tear for hearts wrung with anguish.
+
+He was born in Windham, Connecticut, in 1735. His ancestors came from
+England about 1640 and the family ultimately settled in Windham. His
+father, a man of somewhat arbitrary character, had determined that
+Joseph should be a clothier, and forced him to remain in that business
+until he was twenty-one. His intellectual ability was thought to be
+somewhat remarkable, and his moral character so good that his pastor
+advised him to begin a course of study for the ministry. He completed
+his preparation for Yale College in an unusually short time, and was
+graduated there in the year 1762.
+
+His call to be settled over the First Church in Coventry was received so
+soon after his graduation that we are forced to believe that his
+theological course must have been brief. The parish in Coventry had
+been greatly reduced in numbers. The meeting-house had been allowed to
+go to decay, and the religious life of the parish was in a corresponding
+state of depression. His ordination services were held out of
+doors,--whether because the assemblage was too large for the church, or
+because the building was too dilapidated, does not appear. The first
+thing Mr. Huntington did after his settlement was to urge upon his
+people the project of building a new meeting-house. They responded so
+heartily that in a short time they had built the best church in the
+whole region, having expended for it about five thousand dollars--a
+large sum in those days.
+
+Dr. Huntington does not appear to have been a laborious student. He had
+few books of his own, largely depending upon borrowing. But he had a
+remarkable memory and the power of so making his own whatever he read
+that his scholarship and his originality appear never to have been
+questioned. The Rev. Daniel Waldo says of him that he was rather above
+the middle height, slender and graceful in form, and that he seemed to
+have had an instinctive desire to make everybody around him happy. This,
+added to his uniform politeness, caused him to be very popular in
+general society.
+
+The Rev. Mr. Waldo adds that Dr. Huntington was fond of pleasantry and
+gives this instance:
+
+A very dull preacher who had studied theology with him was invited by
+his people to resign, and they paid him for his services chiefly in
+copper coin. On telling Dr. Huntington how he had been paid, he was
+advised to go back and preach a farewell sermon from the text,
+"Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil." Many such anecdotes and
+repartees of Dr. Huntington were current in Coventry for years after his
+death.
+
+This brief summary of Dr. Joseph Huntington's life shows that the men to
+whom Richard Hale intrusted the preparation of his three sons for
+entering Yale was not only a Christian, but a gentleman of the finest
+culture. He was able not only to impart to Enoch, Nathan and David Hale
+the rudiments of scholarship requisite for entering Yale, but to inspire
+such boys with the keenest appreciation of courtesy, broad mental
+endowments, and a wholesome zeal for high public service.
+
+The correspondence concerning the Union School in New London shows that
+Dr. Huntington gave Nathan Hale the necessary recommendation for the
+place. It is on record in Hale's diary that on December 27, 1775, the
+day after his arrival home from Camp Winter Hill, he visited Dr.
+Huntington; and in one of his New York letters he wrote, "I always with
+respect remember Mr. Huntington and shall write to him if time permits."
+
+Admitting that Nathan Hale's father and mother were his most important
+early friends, we believe that Dr. Huntington, as pastor, tutor, and
+friend during the six years before Nathan entered college, may have
+stood not far behind the parents in deep influence upon his
+character--that splendid character, destined to be one of the beacon
+lights of our country's history.
+
+
+(2) _Alice Adams_
+
+Studying the lives of the founders of our republic, we are interested in
+noting the early marriages that so often occurred, and which seem to
+have been justified by the early mental maturity of the young men and
+women in the eighteenth century.
+
+With early marriage, large families were the rule and not the exception;
+and eulogize the forefathers of New England as much as one may, no one
+at all familiar with the lives of the mothers of those generations can
+question the share that the foremothers had in broadening the lives
+and inspiring the characters of the husbands and sons in that early
+period. Nathan Hale showed the power of heredity, and Alice Adams, the
+woman he is said to have loved, proved well that she too had come of no
+unworthy stock.
+
+It has been given few women to be so worthily loved as was Alice Adams,
+from the time we catch our first glimpse of her till the last, in her
+eighty-ninth year. She was born in June, 1757. Her mother married Deacon
+Hale when Alice was in her thirteenth year. We do not know when Alice
+first met Nathan Hale; but we do know that while both were very young
+they found out that they loved each other, and proceeded to engage
+themselves without consulting their elders. Nathan had several years of
+work preparatory to his profession still before him, and, acting as they
+supposed in the best interests of both the boy and the girl, the mother
+and elder sister Sarah promptly discouraged the engagement and it was
+broken.
+
+In February, 1773, while Nathan was still at Yale and before she was
+sixteen, Alice was married to Elijah Ripley, a prosperous merchant at
+Coventry. Within two years Mr. Ripley died, aged twenty-eight, leaving
+behind him a little son, also named Elijah, who died in his second year.
+
+After Mr. Ripley's death, Mrs. Ripley with her baby boy returned to
+Deacon Hale's home almost as an adopted daughter, comfortably provided
+for by the estate of her late husband. A member of the Hale family, she
+must have seen that whatever was true of Nathan Hale in the days when
+they were boy and girl together, he, now a Yale graduate and a man among
+men, first as teacher and then as soldier, was even more worthy of her
+love than in their early days. It is probable that they corresponded
+more or less, though happily none of the letters of either are preserved
+for the curious to delight in. All we know is that in December, 1775, a
+year after her husband's death, Nathan Hale stopped in Coventry while
+absent from camp on army business, and the broken engagement has been
+said to have been then renewed, this time without opposition.
+
+Having been married and widowed, and having lost her little son, Alice
+Adams Ripley was now free to listen to the claims of the first love that
+had entered her heart. What the few brief months that remained to Nathan
+Hale must have meant to Alice Ripley, believing in him and caring for
+him, only the noblest women can comprehend.
+
+In regard to the letters written by Nathan Hale on the morning of his
+execution, one of these letters is said to have been written to his
+mother. One or two of his biographers have inferred that this must be an
+error, and that it was written to his father or to a brother. With the
+natural delicacy always so conspicuous in him, a letter to his
+"mother," so called, in reality the mother of one whom we believe to
+have been his betrothed wife, Alice Adams Ripley, who would show it to
+Alice and undoubtedly give it to her, was probably what he would have
+written. The others would know what he had written, but Alice Adams
+would doubtless possess the letter.
+
+Alice Adams was to live many, many years, to become one of the most
+notable women in the city in which she dwelt; so honored that a copy of
+her portrait has long hung in the Athenæum, Hartford's finest shrine for
+such portraits.
+
+It was said of her that for several years after Nathan's death she had
+no intention of marrying, but, after a widowhood of ten years,
+events--some say changed circumstances--led her to accept an offer of
+marriage from William Lawrence, of Hartford, which was thenceforth her
+home. For many years she was naturally associated with the social life
+of that city.
+
+Whatever letters may have passed between Nathan Hale and Alice Adams
+Ripley, no trace of them remains to-day. For this we can only be
+grateful that, unlike other unfortunate lovers,--Robert Browning and
+Elizabeth Barrett Browing, for instance,--not one word remains of their
+correspondence. That belonged to him and to her alone. It is fortunate
+that no mere curiosity hunter can feast his eyes or gossip over the
+words these two people wrote to each other.
+
+To Alice's husband Nathan's father gave the powder horn she once spoke
+of as having seen Nathan working upon in his customary intense fashion,
+"doing that one thing as if there was nothing else to be thought of at
+that time." Its being given to Mr. Lawrence by Nathan's father, to whom
+it must have been dear, proves that Mr. Lawrence, as well as his wife,
+was a welcome addition to the Hale family. Mr. Lawrence in turn gave it
+to his son William, and it is now treasured by the Connecticut
+Historical Society.
+
+Mrs. Lawrence lived well into the nineteenth century, dying in 1845, in
+her eighty-ninth year. She was thoroughly appreciated in Hartford, but
+it is from the pen of a granddaughter, in a note written to the Hon. I.
+W. Stuart, that the best description of Mrs. Lawrence is given. Speaking
+of her grandmother she said: "In person she was rather below the middle
+height, with full, round figure, rather petite. She possessed a mild,
+amiable countenance in which was reflected that intelligent superiority
+which distinguished her even in the days of Dwight, Hopkins, and Barlow
+in Hartford--men who could appreciate her, who delighted in her wit and
+work, and who, with a coterie of others of that period who are still in
+remembrance, considered her one of the brightest ornaments of their
+society.
+
+"A fair, fresh complexion ... bright, intelligent, hazel eyes, and hair
+of a jetty blackness, will give you some idea of her looks--the crowning
+glory of which was the forehead that surpassed in beauty any I ever saw,
+and was the admiration of my mature years. I portray her, with the
+exception of the hair, as she appeared to me in her eighty-eighth year.
+I never tired of gazing on her youthful complexion--upon her eyes which
+retained their youthful luster unimpaired, and enabled her to read
+without any artificial aid; and upon her hand and arm, which, though
+shrunken much from age, must in her younger days have been fit study for
+a sculptor.
+
+"Her character was everything that was lovely. A lady who had known her
+many years, writing to me after her death, says, 'Never shall I forget
+her unceasing kindness to me, and her noble and generous disposition.
+From my first acquaintance with her, and amid all the varied trials
+through which she was called to pass, I had ever occasion to admire the
+calm and christian spirit she uniformly exhibited. To _you_ I will say
+it, I never knew so faultless a character--so gentle, so kind. That
+meek expression, that affectionate eye, are as present to my
+recollection now as though I had seen them but yesterday.'
+
+"Such is the language of one who had known her long and well and whose
+testimony would be considered more impartial than that of one who like
+myself had been the constant recipient of her unceasing kindness and
+affection."
+
+When she died, the story of the early home of the Hales found its
+completion. Shall we pity them or congratulate them that in those long
+ago days so many sorrows came to them?--testing their strength,
+developing their faith, and fitting them, as their days went by, for
+life and service beyond.
+
+The following chivalric poem was written by Nathan Hale--perhaps in
+camp. It expresses his mental as well as emotional appreciation of Alice
+Adams. It is here given exactly as it appears in the original
+manuscript, with almost no punctuation marks. It is probable that this
+is a first rough draft, intended to be improved at some future time.
+There are marks on the margin of the paper which show that the writer
+had possible alterations in mind.
+
+
+TO ALICIA
+
+  Alicia, born with every striking charm
+  The eye to ravish or the heart to warm
+  Fair in thy form, still fairer in thy mind
+  With beauty wisdom sense with sweetness join'd
+  Great without pride, & lovely without Art
+  Your looks good nature words good sense impart
+  Thus formed to charm Oh deign to hear my song
+  Whose best whose sweetest strains to you belong.
+
+  Let others toil amidst the lofty air
+  By fancy led through every cloud above
+  Let empty Follies build her castles there
+  My thoughts are settled on the friend I love.
+  Oh friend sincere of soul divinely great
+  Shedest thou for me a wretch the sorrowed tear
+  What thanks can I in this unhappy state
+  Return to you but Gratitude sincere
+  T'is friendship pure that now demand my lays
+  A theme sincere that Aid my feeble song
+  Raised by that theme I do not fear to praise
+  Since your the subject where due praise belong
+  Ah dearest girl in whom the gods have join'd
+  The real blessings, which themselves approve
+  Can mortals frown at such an heavenly mind
+  When Gods propitious shine on you they love
+  Far from the seat of pleasure now I roam
+  The pleasing landscape now no more I see
+  Yet absence ne'er shall take my thoughts from home
+  Nor time efface my due regards for thee.
+
+
+(3) _Benjamin Tallmadge_
+
+Benjamin Tallmadge, one year older than Nathan Hale, was Hale's
+classmate and one of his correspondents. Like Hale he became a teacher
+for a time, and then, entering the army, served with distinction
+throughout the war. He was intrusted by Washington with important
+services. In October, 1780, he was stationed with Col. Jameson at North
+Castle. He had been out on active service against the enemy and returned
+on the evening of the day when Major André had been brought there and
+had been started back to Arnold for explanations. This was four years
+after the death of Hale.
+
+Listening to the account of the capture, and the pass from Arnold,
+Tallmadge at once surmised the importance of retaining André and
+insisted upon his being brought back.
+
+When André was once more in American hands, Tallmadge is said to have
+been the first to suspect, from the prisoner's deportment as he walked
+to and fro and turned sharply upon his heel to retrace his steps, that
+he was bred to arms and was an important British officer. Major
+Tallmadge was charged with his custody, and was almost constantly with
+him until his execution. Tallmadge writes: "Major André became very
+inquisitive to know my opinion as to the result of his capture. In other
+words, he wished me to give him candidly my opinion as to the light in
+which he would be viewed by General Washington and a military tribunal
+if one should be ordered.
+
+"This was the most unpleasant question that had been propounded to me,
+and I endeavored to evade it, unwilling to give him a true answer. When
+I could no longer evade his importunity and put off a full reply, I
+remarked to him as follows: 'I had a much loved classmate in Yale
+College, by the name of Nathan Hale, who entered the army in the year
+1775. Immediately after the battle of Long Island, General Washington
+wanted information respecting the strength, position, and probable
+movements of the enemy.
+
+"'Captain Hale tendered his services, went over to Brooklyn, and was
+taken just as he was passing the outposts of the enemy on his return.'
+Said I with emphasis,
+
+"'Do you remember the sequel of this story?'
+
+"'Yes,' said André, 'he was hanged as a spy. But you surely do not
+consider his case and mine alike?'
+
+"I replied, 'Yes, precisely similar, and similar will be your fate.'
+
+"He endeavored to answer my remarks, but it was manifest he was more
+troubled in spirit than I had ever seen him before."
+
+Major Tallmadge walked with André from the Stone House where he had
+been confined to the place of execution, and parted with him under the
+gallows, "overwhelmed with grief," he says, "that so gallant an officer
+and so accomplished a gentleman should come to such an ignominious end."
+
+What would have occurred if André had not been recalled, but had reached
+Arnold--whether both could have escaped by boat to the _Vulture_ as did
+Arnold; whether Arnold, leaving André to his fate, could have escaped
+alone under these suspicious circumstances; or whether Hamilton and the
+others, who were dining with Arnold when the news of André's capture
+reached him, could have managed to hold both until Washington's arrival,
+cannot now be surmised. We only know that to Major Tallmadge belongs the
+credit of the recall and retention of André as a prisoner, thereby
+preventing the loss of West Point.
+
+Major Tallmadge remained in the army and was greatly trusted by
+Washington, rendering important assistance in the secret service. He
+took part in many battles and in time became a colonel. For sixteen
+years he was in Congress. He died at the age of eighty, leaving sons and
+grandsons who won honored names in various callings.
+
+
+(4) _William Hull_
+
+When Captain William Hull, impelled by a strong natural caution, spoke
+as forcibly as he could of the disastrous results that might follow
+Nathan Hale's acceptance of the office of a spy in his country's
+service, he described not only the result of the failure which seemed
+almost inevitable, and which would result in a disgraceful death, but
+also the contempt that would be felt among his fellow-officers should he
+be successful. Hale, as we have seen, deliberately chose these dangers
+that appeared so appalling, and lost his life in the manner predicted by
+Hull.
+
+Could Captain Hull, on that September day in 1776, have looked forward
+to other days in 1812, when, because of his surrender of Detroit, he
+himself would stand as the most disgraced man in the American army, he
+would have wondered what disastrous set of causes could have doomed him
+to lower depths of discredit than he had imagined possible for his
+friend Hale.
+
+This is the story of Captain Hull as told by his grandson, the Rev.
+James Freeman Clarke, a Unitarian clergyman, and an author of high
+repute.
+
+After remaining in the army throughout the Revolutionary War, where he
+distinguished himself on repeated occasions, constantly rising in rank,
+he settled in Massachusetts, practicing law, becoming prominent as a
+legislator, and finally as one of the Massachusetts judges. In 1805, as
+General Hull, he was appointed governor of the territory of Michigan by
+President Jefferson, and removed thither, stipulating that in case of
+war he should not be required to serve both as general and governor, as
+he did not believe the duties of both could be successfully administered
+by the same person.
+
+The outbreak of the war of 1812, which occurred while Madison was
+President, found what was then the northern frontier of America wholly
+unprepared for hostilities. The country was new, with dense forests and
+few roads. There were no adequate means of land defense, and no adequate
+navy to patrol the lakes.
+
+The British, as usual, had all the vessels needed, well-drilled
+soldiers, and, more terrible than all, more than a thousand Indians,
+ready to commit any atrocities upon defenseless white settlers. As Hull
+had insisted, another officer was appointed to command the troops, such
+as they were, but this officer became ill and Governor Hull was forced
+to take command.
+
+In the meantime, no amount of urgent entreaties could induce the
+authorities at Washington to send reënforcements to the assistance of
+the defenseless settlers. The American troops were unprepared to
+maintain their own position, and absolutely unable to conquer and annex
+Canada, as the government expected them to do. General Hull found
+himself with some eight hundred men facing more than fifteen hundred
+British regulars, and threatened in the rear by a thousand Indians.
+
+What President Madison or any of his officers would have done, we cannot
+say. They appear to have thought that it was General Hull's duty to
+annihilate the British army, effectually dispose of the Indians, and
+present Canada to the American government.
+
+General Hull, however, was a practical soldier. He knew the fate that
+would await the women and children in his territory, to say nothing of
+his small army, if he risked a battle and was defeated, as he surely
+would be; so he did what seemed to him the only possible thing to save
+the people of Michigan. He surrendered. Canada remained unannexed; the
+white settlers of Michigan were not delivered to the tender mercies of
+the Indians, and General Hull paid the penalty of the independent stand
+he had taken.
+
+He probably foresaw that he must face a terrible ordeal. The whole
+country appeared to be roused against him, and Hull at once became the
+best-hated man in America. A court-martial was appointed.
+
+At first it was hoped that he would be convicted of treason, but the
+evidence showed that this charge could not be sustained. He was tried
+for cowardice in face of the enemy, found guilty, and sentenced to be
+shot. The latter part of the sentence President Madison remitted, in
+consideration of his past eminent services in the army. So, stamped with
+indelible disgrace by all who did not know the facts, a ruined and
+dishonored man, in his sixty-first year General Hull went back to the
+farm in Newton that had come to him through his wife. Here, surrounded
+by the most devoted affection, he passed his few remaining years.
+
+A ruined and discredited man he truly was,--the reputation and the honor
+due him from his countrymen irrevocably lost and by no fault of his own.
+Yet his grandson, the Rev. James Freeman Clarke, asserts that he was not
+once heard to say an unkind word about the government that had treated
+him so cruelly.
+
+After his death, in 1825, one of his daughters wrote the story of his
+life from his own writings, and the Rev. James Freeman Clarke sketched
+for the world an outline of his grandfather's services in Michigan.
+This shows that the man who, in his youth, tried to dissuade his friend
+Nathan Hale from accepting the rôle of martyr, himself, in his old age,
+bravely and gently endured a martyrdom compared to which the ostracism
+he predicted for Hale, even if he succeeded in his mission, was but a
+passing dream.
+
+
+(5) _Stephen Hempstead_
+
+To Stephen Hempstead, a sergeant in Nathan Hale's company in 1776, we
+are indebted for the most reliable account that is known of Hale's
+movements after he left New York in the service from which he was not to
+return. Sergeant Hempstead removed to Missouri after the war, and this
+account was first published in the _Missouri Republican_ in 1827. His
+own words describing his last days with Hale are these:
+
+"Captain Hale was one of the most accomplished officers, of his grade
+and age, in the army. He was a native of the town of Coventry, state of
+Connecticut, and a graduate of Yale College--young, brave,
+honorable--and at the time of his death a Captain in Col. Webb's
+Regiment of Continental Troops. Having never seen a circumstantial
+account of his untimely and melancholy end, I will give it. I was
+attached to his company and in his confidence. After the retreat of our
+army from Long Island, he informed me, he was sent for to Head Quarters,
+and was solicited to go over to Long Island to discover the disposition
+of the enemy's camps, &c., expecting them to attack New York, but that
+he was too unwell to go, not having recovered from a recent illness;
+that upon a second application he had consented to go, and said I must
+go as far with him as I could, with safety, and wait for his return.
+
+"Accordingly, we left our Camp on Harlem Heights, with the intention of
+crossing over the first opportunity; but none offered until we arrived
+at Norwalk, fifty miles from New York. In that harbor there was an armed
+sloop and one or two row galleys. Capt. Hale had a general order to all
+armed vessels, to take him to any place he should designate: he was set
+across the Sound, in the sloop, at Huntington (Long Island) by Capt.
+Pond, who commanded the vessel. Capt. Hale had changed his uniform for a
+plain suit of citizen's brown clothes, with a round broad-brimmed hat,
+assuming the character of a Dutch schoolmaster, leaving all his other
+clothes, commission, public and private papers, with me, and also his
+silver shoebuckles, saying they would not comport with his character of
+schoolmaster, and retaining nothing but his College diploma, as an
+introduction to his assumed calling. Thus equipped, we parted for the
+last time in life. He went on his mission, and I returned back again to
+Norwalk, with orders to stop there until he should return, or hear from
+him, as he expected to return back again to cross the sound, if he
+succeeded in his object."
+
+So far as there is any other evidence, it tends to confirm this part of
+Sergeant Hempstead's report, and he is to-day considered one of the most
+valuable authorities on Hale's last intercourse with brother soldiers.
+
+Of the details of his captain's arrest and execution, which are told in
+the last part of the account, and of which Hempstead had no personal
+knowledge, he declares that he was "authentically informed" and did
+"most religiously believe" them. Some of the incidents he gives appear
+to have been proved since to have no basis in fact; others that vary
+from reports now accepted may yet, with more light gained, be found to
+be true.
+
+The second letter sent by Sergeant Hempstead to the _Republican_ deals
+with his experience in the army in 1781, when he was one of the victims
+of the brutalities inflicted upon the hapless prisoners of war at Fort
+Griswold, Groton, Connecticut. The injuries he received there were, as
+he tells us, so severe that his own wife, having searched for his body
+in the fort among the dead, scanned carefully the face of every wounded
+soldier sheltered by pitying neighbors, passing him twice without
+recognizing him--he too ill to make any sign--and then resuming her
+search among the dead.
+
+Later she found him, and after a time he regained sufficient strength to
+be carried to his home. He was, however, incapacitated by his injuries
+for service in the field, and was thenceforth able to perform only
+duties calling for honest watchfulness rather than personal labor. After
+the removal to Missouri the whole family prospered greatly. He settled
+on a farm near the city of St. Louis, where he lived many years,
+respected by all who knew him. He died in 1831.
+
+
+(6) _Asher Wright_
+
+Near the place where the Hale family lie buried is another grave
+covering the dust of Asher Wright, once Nathan Hale's attendant. He was
+so strongly attached to Hale that his tragic death is thought to have
+unsettled his mind so that he never was quite himself again, and never
+able to earn his own living. For several years after Nathan Hale's death
+Wright was not heard of in his early home. Then he came back to
+Coventry, bringing with him some of Nathan Hale's effects that he had
+doubtless carried with him in his wandering, giving them, on his return,
+to Deacon Hale's family.
+
+Asher Wright died in his ninetieth year, having lived all his later days
+in his house not far from the Hale home. His pension of ninety-six
+dollars a year was so supplemented by the Hale family, and by David Hale
+of New York, editor of the _Journal of Commerce_, that his last days
+were very comfortable. His grave is marked by a marble headstone giving
+his name, age, and former connection with Nathan Hale.
+
+His farm adjoined that of the Hale homestead and has now become a part
+of it.
+
+
+(7) _Elisha Bostwick_
+
+One letter concerning Nathan Hale comes to us with a curious and
+interesting history.
+
+Not long ago, while in the city of Washington, a loyal friend and warm
+admirer of Nathan Hale, George Dudley Seymour, Esq., of New Haven, had
+his attention called to a remarkable tribute to Hale. It proved to have
+been written by a fellow-soldier in the Revolutionary War, Captain
+Elisha Bostwick. This remarkable document was found in the musty records
+of a very old pension list, and the portion relating to Nathan Hale is
+here given. It came to light a hundred and thirty-five years after
+Hale's execution. We give this valuable record of Captain Bostwick's as
+it appeared in the _Hartford Courant_ of December 15th, 1914:
+
+"I will now make some observations upon the amiable & unfortunate Capt.
+Nathan Hale whose fate is so well known; for I was with him in the same
+Regt. both at Boston & New York & until the day of his tragical death; &
+although of inferior grade in office was always in the habits of
+friendship & intimacy with him: & my remembrance of his person, manners
+& character is so perfect that I feel inclined to make some remarks upon
+them: for I can now in imagination see his person & hear his voice--his
+person I should say was a little above the common stature in height, his
+shoulders of a moderate breadth, his limbs strait & very plump: regular
+features--very fair skin--blue eyes--flaxen or very light hair which was
+always kept short--his eyebrows a shade darker than his hair & his voice
+rather sharp or Piercing--his bodily agility was remarkable. I have seen
+him follow a football & kick it over the tops of the trees in the Bowery
+at New York (an exercise which he was fond of)--his mental powers seemed
+to be above the common sort--his mind of a sedate and sober cast, & he
+was undoubtedly Pious; for it was remarked that when any of the soldiers
+of his company were sick he always visited them & usually prayed for &
+with them in their sickness.--A little anecdote I will relate; one day
+he accidentally came across some of his men in a bye place playing
+cards--he spoke--what are you doing--this won't do,--give me your cards,
+they did so, & he chopd them to pieces, & it was done in such a manner
+that the men were rather pleased than otherwise--his activity on all
+occasions was wonderful--he would make a pen the quickest & best of any
+man--
+
+"Innumerable instances of occurrences which took place in the Army I
+could relate, but who would care for them: Perhaps it may be thought by
+some that I have already been at the expense of Prolixity. Nobody in
+these days feels as I do, left here alone, & they cannot if they would,
+but to me it is a melancholy pleasure to go back to those Scenes of fear
+& anguish & after the laps of 50 years (1826 was in my 78th year) to
+rumenate upon them which I think I can do with as bright a recollection
+as though they were present--One more reflection I will make--why is it
+that the delicious Capt. Hale should be left & lost in an unknown grave
+& forgotten!--
+
+"The foregoing Statements were made from Memory & recollection & from
+documents & Memorandoms which I kept.--ELISHA BOSTWICK."
+
+
+(8) _Edward Everett Hale_
+
+Of the subsequent records of the Hale family no trace remains that is
+not honorable. Nathan's brother Enoch was settled at Westhampton,
+Massachusetts, in 1777, where he remained a useful and beloved pastor
+for sixty years. Enoch's eldest son, Nathan, graduated at Williams
+College in 1804. He was editor-in-chief of the _Boston Daily Advertiser_
+for more than forty years. Nathan's son, Nathan, a Havard graduate,
+became associate editor of the _Boston Advertiser_.
+
+Lucretia Peabody Hale, a well-known writer in her day, whose delightful
+and amusing "Peterkin Papers" are still read and remembered, was a
+granddaughter of the Rev. Enoch Hale.
+
+Edward Everett Hale, a man beloved by every one who knew him, was the
+son of "a great journalist," Nathan, grandson of Enoch, and therefore
+grandnephew of Captain Nathan Hale. He, too, had a son Nathan who died
+in his early manhood. Edward Everett Hale was one of the most commanding
+and admired of men, with rare endowments as clergyman, author, editor,
+and patriot.
+
+Those interested in the study of his granduncle, Nathan, owe to him the
+preservation of many records of the Hale family, and an arrangement of
+the genealogy of the Hale family, made while he was a Unitarian minister
+in Worcester, Massachusetts, and kindly lent to the Hon. I. W. Stuart,
+one of Hale's early biographers.
+
+It will be long before some of Edward Everett Hale's vital words are
+forgotten; longer still before his marvelous story, "The Man Without a
+Country," shall cease to thrill its readers.
+
+The impassioned sentences in which he cites its unhappy hero as speaking
+to a boy--a midshipman--while under heavy stress, read, "For your
+country, boy, and for your flag, never dream a dream but of serving her
+as she bids you, though the service carry you through a thousand hells.
+No matter what happens to you, no matter who flatters you or who abuses
+you, never look at another flag, never let a night pass but you pray God
+to bless that flag. Remember, boy, that behind all these men you have to
+do with, behind officers, and government, and people even, there is the
+Country Herself, your Country, and that you belong to Her as you belong
+to your own mother."
+
+No one justly comprehending the bed rock of Edward Everett Hale's
+boundless patriotism can doubt that if the same call of duty had come
+to him that came in bygone days to his relative, young Nathan Hale, he
+would have done exactly as Nathan Hale did. That call did not come, but
+to the end of his days Edward Everett Hale lived for his country as
+nobly as Nathan Hale died for it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+ANCESTORS AND DESCENDANTS OF NATHAN HALE'S PARENTS
+
+
+Robert Hale arrived in Massachusetts in 1632. He was one of those sent
+from the first church in Boston to form the first church in Charlestown
+in 1632, and was a deacon of this church. He was a blacksmith by trade.
+He also had a gift for practical mathematics, being regularly employed
+by the General Court of Massachusetts as a surveyor of new plantations.
+His son John, of whom mention has been made in connection with the
+witchcraft delusion, was a graduate of Harvard in 1657. Samuel, the
+fourth son of John, was the father of Richard, father of Nathan Hale.
+
+Elizabeth Strong, wife of Deacon Richard Hale and mother of Nathan, came
+from a family more notable than that of her husband. Her grandfather,
+Joseph Strong, represented Coventry in the General Assembly of
+Connecticut for sixty-five sessions and presided over town-meeting in
+his ninetieth year.
+
+Mrs. Hale had four immediate relatives who were graduates of Yale
+college. Three of the sons of Deacon Richard Hale and Elizabeth Strong
+Hale graduated from Yale,--Enoch, the fourth son, Nathan, the sixth
+child, and David, the eighth son. Three of the sons were officers in the
+Revolutionary army, and the husband of a daughter was a surgeon there.
+John was a major; Joseph, who died as the result of the privations
+endured there, was a lieutenant; and Nathan was a captain. Elizabeth,
+daughter of Joseph, married Rev. Abiel Abbot, for many years minister in
+Coventry. Three of their sons were college graduates--two of Yale and
+one of Dartmouth. Rebekah, another daughter of Joseph, married Ezra
+Abbot of Wilton, N.H. Three sons were graduates of Bowdoin. One son, the
+Rev. Abiel Abbot, was settled in East Wilton.
+
+Two daughters also married clergymen. Another daughter of Joseph, Mary,
+married the Rev. Levi Nelson. For a man who died at the age of
+thirty-four, Lieutenant Joseph Hale appears to have been well
+represented by his descendants.
+
+Surgeon Rose of the Revolutionary army, and Elizabeth Hale, daughter of
+Deacon Richard Hale, were the grandparents of the distinguished lawyer
+and statesman, Washington Hunt, and of Lieutenant Edward Hunt, U.S.A.,
+first husband of the celebrated author, Helen Hunt.
+
+Enoch Hale, Deacon Richard Hale's fourth son, graduated in the same
+class with his brother Nathan, became a minister, and spent a long life
+in his first and only pastorate. One of his sons, Enoch, was educated at
+Yale and Harvard and became a noted physician. A son, Nathan, was a
+graduate of Williams College, and editor of the _Boston Advertiser_ for
+more than forty years. His son Nathan, a Harvard man, became coeditor
+with him. One of Enoch's granddaughters married a minister named
+Montague.
+
+David, another son of Deacon Richard Hale, graduated at Yale, and was
+settled in the ministry at Lisbon, Connecticut. Joanna, the second
+daughter of Richard Hale, married Dr. Nathan Howard.
+
+One of Enoch Hale's grandsons was president of the Continental Bank in
+New York City. The most noted of Enoch Hale's descendants was the Rev.
+Edward Everett Hale, clergyman, editor, and author, and a graduate of
+Harvard. The writer, Lucretia Peabody Hale, was one of Enoch Hale's
+grandchildren. David Hale, a grandson of Richard Hale, was long in
+control of the _Journal of Commerce_ in New York City and noted for his
+charities. Alexander and Charles, grandsons of Enoch, were graduates of
+Harvard.
+
+As this list of college graduates and professional men is not extended
+beyond the year 1850, a little past the limit of a century after the
+marriage of Richard Hale and Elizabeth Strong, one is inclined to wonder
+whether any other farmer's family within that, or any other, period in
+American history, can show a more remarkable record.
+
+One is impressed, too, most profoundly, by the realization that,
+although Elizabeth Strong Hale died so early, as lives are now
+measured,--she was only forty,--to few women in any land who have
+reached the appointed limit of human life have been given the remarkable
+power of leaving to so many descendants such warmth of feeling and such
+nobility of nature as passed through that century of her descendants.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+ASSERTED BETRAYAL OF NATHAN HALE
+
+
+For some time after the death of Nathan Hale a report was circulated,
+and apparently substantiated, that he had been betrayed into the hands
+of the British by a Tory cousin. Ultimately this report was printed in a
+Newburyport (Massachusetts) newspaper of the day, and read by Mr. Samuel
+Hale of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. This Mr. Hale was a prominent teacher
+and a strong friend of the American cause, and uncle both to Nathan Hale
+and to Samuel Hale, the cousin who was said to have betrayed Nathan.
+
+Mr. Samuel Hale never for a moment believed the report, and set himself
+at once to disprove it. This appears to have been done in the most
+effectual way by the combined efforts of Mr. Samuel Hale and Deacon
+Hale, who furnished proof that the supposed betrayer of Nathan Hale had
+never visited in Deacon Hale's family, and, not being in his uncle's
+house when Nathan visited there, had never so much as seen Nathan Hale.
+
+There were, of course, at the time, strong animosities existing between
+those who supported the British cause among the Americans, and the
+Americans who were opposing England. As at all such times, some members
+of each party were not only unjust but cruel to the other party; and in
+some respects this nephew of the teacher, Samuel Hale, and asserted
+betrayer of Nathan, paid very heavily for his loyalty to the English
+cause. We will let him tell his own story, only adding that when
+hostilities broke out he was a young and successful barrister practicing
+in Portsmouth, was married, and had one child.
+
+Unswerving in his loyalty to the English cause, he was soon obliged to
+leave New Hampshire, and eventually to go into English territory. He
+wrote to his uncle Samuel, in whose family he had been reared, and later
+to his wife; neither letter is dated, but it is probable that when the
+latter was written he was in Nova Scotia. His letter to his uncle runs
+in part as follows:
+
+"My affections as well as my allegiance are due to another nation. I
+love the British government with filial fondness. I have never been
+actuated by any political rancor towards the Americans. My conduct has
+always been fair, explicit, and open, and I may add, _some of your
+people have found it humane_ at a time when affairs on our side wore
+the most flattering appearances. My veneration is as high, my friendship
+as warm, and my attachment as great as ever it was for many characters
+among you, though I have differed much from them in politics. In the
+justness of the reasoning which led to the principles that have guided
+me through life, I can suppose myself mistaken. The same thing may have
+been the case with my opponents. Our powers are so limited, our means of
+information so inadequate to the end, that common decency requires we
+should forgive each other when we have every reason to think that each
+has acted honestly.
+
+"Sure I am, this is the case with me and I hope it is the same with some
+of you. My conduct during this unhappy contest has been invariably
+uniform. I can in no sense be called a traitor to your state. I never
+owed it any allegiance, because I left it before it had assumed the form
+or even the name of an independent state, and when I neither saw or felt
+any oppression. I must have been mad as well as wicked to have acted any
+other part than I did upon the principles I held. If I have been
+mistaken I am sorry for the error, and if it be error I still continue
+in it."
+
+This letter is certainly a good illustration of the truth that, in all
+great contests, perfectly honorable and consistent men are forced to
+take opposite sides, even at the cost of suffering heavy injustice. The
+letter to his wife is here given in full.
+
+     MY DEAR GIRL,--
+
+     This you will get by Mr. Hart's flag of Truce, who is coming to
+     Boston for his family. I know the disposition of the Leaders at
+     Boston so well, that I doubt not of his success. I would have come
+     for you and the boy, but I thought you would leave your father with
+     reluctance, nor am I sure that I could have obtained leave for you
+     to come away, if you were disposed. I fear the resentment of the
+     people against me may have injured you, but I hope not. I am sorry
+     such a prejudice has arisen.
+
+     Depend upon it, there never was the least truth in that infamous
+     newspaper publication charging me with ingratitude, etc. I am happy
+     that they have had [to have] recourse to falsehood to vilify my
+     character. Attachment to the old Constitution of my country is my
+     only crime with them--for which I have still the disposition of the
+     primitive martyr.
+
+     I hope and believe you want no pecuniary assistance. If you should
+     you may apply to some of my friends or your relations. You may then
+     use my name with confidence that they shall be amply satisfied. I
+     believe I shall have the power, I am sure I shall have the will, to
+     recompense them again.
+
+     I somewhat expect to see you in a few months--perhaps not before I
+     have seen England. In the meanwhile, my dear Girl, take care of
+     your own and the Boy's health. He may live to be serviceable to his
+     country in some distant period. Respect, Love, Duty, etc., await
+     all my inquiring and real friends.
+
+     I am, etc.
+     S. HALE.
+
+     TO MRS HALE
+
+These letters sufficiently attest the character of the man, and we can
+hope that in later days he was enabled to return to his family, and to
+prove that political differences of opinion had not changed the
+integrity of his life.
+
+Knowing nothing of his later days, we may rejoice that the base
+assertion that this own cousin had betrayed Nathan Hale was wholly
+without foundation; and that in him, also, the Hale trait of loyalty to
+honest opinions enabled him to make sacrifices as great in their way as
+those made by many of his kindred.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+CONTRASTS BETWEEN HALE AND ANDRÉ
+
+
+If Nathan Hale was in many respects the most notable American martyr,
+another man, in the English army, four years later met a doom that to
+the English appears to have exalted him to a rank corresponding to
+Nathan Hale's. For a long time there was a glamour about André that
+lifted him above the place to which, in the minds of many, he rightfully
+belonged, and comparisons have often been made between him and Hale, as
+if in reality their services and their characters justified such
+comparison.
+
+It has been our aim to describe Hale as accurately as possible. He has
+been presented as an educated, high-minded patriot, wholly intent upon
+serving his country to the full extent of his ability, ready to run any
+risk in her service, and fully comprehending, in his last supreme effort
+to serve her, that he was risking his life and facing the possibility of
+a dishonorable death. He expected no reward if he succeeded, save the
+consciousness of having done his duty. But fail he did, and we have seen
+how simply and bravely he accepted his doom. His grave is unknown to
+this day, and his country, as a country, has made no recognition
+whatever of his supreme sacrifice.
+
+In regard to André, we know that he was of foreign parentage, his father
+a Genevan Swiss, and his mother French. He had not inherited a drop of
+English blood. Born, however, after his parents removed to London, he
+was, in ordinary acceptance, English.
+
+His parents were able to educate him thoroughly, and to fit him for what
+they supposed would be a successful commercial career. A disappointment
+in love, however, led him to seek a change of scene, and he entered the
+English army.
+
+Personally he was most attractive, charming in his manners beyond the
+average man, a fine linguist, and a brave man. He soon attracted
+attention among the English officers engaged in the war against America,
+and was eventually made adjutant general of the English army. So far as
+can now be judged, his life as a soldier had been most agreeable, and he
+had made friends with all his associates. While Arnold was perfecting
+his designs to betray West Point into the hands of the English, and
+thus in effect terminate the war, André was appointed to act as the
+intermediary between Arnold and Sir Henry Clinton.
+
+André may have looked upon himself as an envoy from his own commander to
+an American commander, and he well knew that, if successful, high honor
+and a desirable command in the British army would be awarded him by the
+English government. He does not appear to have considered the fact that
+he was risking his life in the service of the English. Indeed, none of
+the English officers appear to have thought it possible that the
+Americans would dare to treat as a spy an English adjutant general who
+had been invited to his headquarters by General Arnold, and by him
+provided with safeguards for his return. So sure were they of André's
+safety that it is said the British officers treated with derision the
+suggestion that he was in danger, even after his capture.
+
+Once captured, they should not have been so sure of his safety. But
+neither they nor he had any idea that he would be captured. Indeed, we
+can hardly see how he could have been captured had he followed the
+instructions of Sir Henry Clinton, who strictly enjoined him not to go
+within the American lines, not to assume any disguise, and not to carry
+a scrap of writing.
+
+At first André had supposed that Arnold would meet him on the _Vulture_,
+and that all their negotiations would be completed there. But Arnold,
+too crafty to run any personal risk, or arouse any suspicion in his own
+officers, insisted upon André's landing and conferring with him at some
+little distance from his own headquarters. Disregarding, through
+Arnold's persuasions, Clinton's first order to remain upon the
+_Vulture_, André's other failures in obedience appear to have been
+inevitable, and taking the risks as they came, he went forward to his
+doom, to his death, to Arnold's ruin as an American citizen, and to the
+preservation of the infant republic.
+
+For the third time, Providence appears to have thwarted the shrewdest
+plans of the enemies of America. First came the fog in New York Bay,
+enabling Washington to withdraw his troops from Brooklyn without the
+knowledge of the British; second, the knowledge of Hale's fate and the
+preservation of his last words by a humane English officer, despite the
+malice of Provost Marshal Cunningham; third, and apparently most
+important of all, the capture of André, involving the defeat of Arnold's
+traitorous plans to ruin his country's cause.
+
+From the moment André fell into the hands of the Americans, he was
+treated with the utmost courtesy. Every possible opportunity for him to
+prove his innocence was given him, and an offer to exchange him for
+Arnold, who had fled to the British camp, was made to the commanders of
+the English. This, however, could not be done honorably by Sir Henry
+Clinton, and André had to face a fate he had not for a moment thought
+possible.
+
+He bore himself bravely, and he certainly won the hearts of those who
+held him prisoner. When he came to die in Tappan--not, as he had hoped,
+as a soldier, shot to death, but hanged as a spy--he seemed for a moment
+greatly affected. Then recovering himself before the fatal drop he said,
+"Gentlemen, I beg you all to bear witness that I die as a brave man."
+
+Self-pity, the desire to be honored despite the manner of his death,
+marked André's exit from the world. Hale had gone hence without one
+personal expression of regret save that he could not add to his service
+for his country.
+
+André had died pitied and lamented even by loyal Americans. England,
+remembering what he had done to serve her, and that he had died in her
+service, rendered his memory the highest honor. She conferred knighthood
+on his brother, and a pension of three hundred guineas a year on his
+mother and sisters, already well provided for.
+
+Forty years later she sent one of her war vessels to America to bring
+his body back to England; and then the doors of stately Westminster
+Abbey, in which lie buried the dust of those she most delights to honor,
+were opened to receive his remains; there they will lie till the old
+Abbey crumbles.
+
+Thus England honors the men who try to serve her in any line of heroic
+service, proving that if she "expects every man to do his duty," she, in
+her turn, expects to honor those who serve her, be they her own sons or
+the sons of strangers born "within her gates."
+
+October 2, 1879, the ninety-ninth anniversary of the execution of André,
+a monument, prepared by order of Cyrus W. Field and placed over the spot
+of André's execution, was unveiled. There were present members of
+historical societies, of the United States Army, of the newspapers, and
+various other persons. At noon, the hour of André's execution, the
+memorial was unveiled. There were no ceremonies on the occasion. The
+epitaph had been prepared by the Rev. Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, the
+beloved and honored Dean of Westminster, at whose suggestion Mr. Field
+had erected the memorial. It is inscribed as follows:
+
+          Here died, October 2, 1780
+      Major John André of the British Army,
+        Who, entering the American lines
+      On a secret mission to Benedict Arnold,
+        For the surrender of West Point,
+  Was taken prisoner, tried and condemned as a spy.
+                  His death
+      Though according to the stern rule of war,
+          Moved even his enemies to pity;
+          And both armies mourned the fate
+            Of one so young and so brave.
+  In 1821 his remains were removed to Westminster Abbey.
+        A hundred years after the execution
+      This stone was placed above the spot where he lay,
+      By a citizen of the United States against which he fought,
+          Not to perpetuate the record of strife,
+          But in token of those friendly feelings
+          Which have since united two nations,
+        One in race, in language, and in religion,
+        With the hope that this friendly union
+            Will never be broken.
+
+On the other side are these words of Washington:
+
+  "He was more unfortunate than criminal."
+  "An accomplished man and gallant officer."
+
+  --GEORGE WASHINGTON
+
+The first of the two lines was from a letter of Washington to Count de
+Rochambeau, dated October 10, 1780. The second is from a letter written
+by Washington to Colonel John Laurens on October 13 of the same year.
+
+In the year 1853 some Americans who believe that all historic spots in
+our land should be marked by permanent memorials, erected a monument at
+Tarrytown, New York, in honor of the captors of André. Hon. Henry J.
+Raymond made the address at its dedication. Mr. Raymond was born in 1820
+and was graduated from the University of Vermont in 1840. He assisted
+Horace Greeley in the conduct of the _Tribune_ and other newspapers. He
+founded the _New York Times_ in 1851 and died in 1869.
+
+In the address just mentioned, Mr. Raymond, contrasting the halo that
+surrounded André's name with the oblivion then seemingly the fate of
+Nathan Hale, closed with these impassioned words:
+
+"Where sleeps the Americanism of Americans, that their hearts are not
+stirred to solemn rapture at thought of the sublime love of country
+which buoyed him [Hale] not alone above 'the fear of death,' but far
+beyond all thought of himself, of his fate, and his fame, or of anything
+less than his country, and which shaped his dying breath into the sacred
+sentence which trembled at the last upon his unquivering lip?"
+
+With this tribute we close, believing that the tardy justice accorded to
+our martyr-hero is destined to become a nation-wide loyalty; that the
+day will yet come when our nation, as a nation, will recognize the
+nobility of nature displayed, and will assign a high place to the brave
+lad who so sublimely relinquished all that life held, and all that
+coming years might bring, to die for his country,--_our country_,--the
+high-souled Nathan Hale.
+
+
+
+
+
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of True Stories Of Great Americans, Nathan Hale, by Jean Christie Root.
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Nathan Hale, by Jean Christie Root
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Nathan Hale
+
+Author: Jean Christie Root
+
+Release Date: March 15, 2010 [EBook #31650]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NATHAN HALE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreaders at
+http://www.fadedpage.com
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h2>TRUE STORIES OF GREAT AMERICANS</h2>
+
+<h1>NATHAN HALE</h1>
+
+  <h4>BY</h4>
+  <h2>JEAN CHRISTIE ROOT</h2>
+
+<div class="centerbox">
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"O Beautiful! my Country! ...,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">What were our lives without thee?</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">What all our lives to save thee?</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">We reck not what we gave thee;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">We will not dare to doubt thee,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But ask whatever else, and we will dare!"</span><br />
+
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;"><i>Commemoration Ode</i>,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL</span><br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p class="center">
+THE WORLD SYNDICATE PUBLISHING CO.<br />
+Cleveland, O.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;  New York, N. Y.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA<br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap">Copyright, 1915,</span><br />
+
+<span class="smcap">By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.</span><br />
+<br />
+Set up and electrotyped. Published May, 1915. Reprinted<br />
+August, 1925; March, 1929.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" width="50%" cellspacing="0" summary="CONTENTS">
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right">PAGE</td></tr>
+<tr><th align="center">CHAPTER I</th></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Nathan Hale's Early Years</span></td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_1'>1</a></td></tr>
+<tr><th align="center">CHAPTER II</th></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">College Days</span></td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_12'>12</a></td></tr>
+<tr><th align="center">CHAPTER III</th></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Call to Teach</span></td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_29'>29</a></td></tr>
+<tr><th align="center">CHAPTER IV</th></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Call to Arms</span></td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_44'>44</a></td></tr>
+<tr><th align="center">CHAPTER V</th></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Hale's Zeal as a Soldier</span></td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_60'>60</a></td></tr>
+<tr><th align="center">CHAPTER VI</th></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Perilous Service</span></td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_71'>71</a></td></tr>
+<tr><th align="center">CHAPTER VII</th></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Grief for the Young Patriot</span></td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_91'>91</a></td></tr>
+<tr><th align="center">CHAPTER VIII</th></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Tributes to Nathan Hale</span></td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_103'>103</a></td></tr>
+<tr><th align="center">CHAPTER IX</th></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Nathan Hale's Friends</span></td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_114'>114</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">The Rev. Joseph Huntington</span></span>, D.D.</td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_114'>114</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Alice Adams</span></span></td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_118'>118</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Benjamin Tallmadge</span></span></td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_125'>125</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">William Hull</span></span></td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_129'>129</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Stephen Hempstead</span></span></td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_133'>133</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Asher Wright</span></span></td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_136'>136</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Elisha Bostwick</span></span></td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_137'>137</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap"><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Edward Everett Hale</span></span></td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_140'>140</a></td></tr>
+<tr><th align="center">CHAPTER X</th></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Ancestors and Descendants of Nathan Hale's Parents</span></td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_143'>143</a></td></tr>
+<tr><th align="center">CHAPTER XI</th></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Asserted Betrayal of Nathan Hale</span></td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_147'>147</a></td></tr>
+<tr><th align="center">CHAPTER XII</th></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Contrasts Between Hale and André</span></td><td align="right"><a href='#Page_152'>152</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Nathan Hale's Early Years</span></h3>
+
+
+<p>It is to-day a recognized fact that no life worthy of our reverence, or
+even a life calculated to awaken our fear, is the result of accident.
+Whatever may be the character, its basis has been the result of
+long-developing causes. This the life of Nathan Hale well illustrates.
+He was born at a time and under influences that were sure to develop the
+best qualities in him. He was an immediate descendant of the best of the
+Puritans on both sides of the sea. His great-grandfather, John Hale, was
+the son of Robert Hale, who came to America in 1632. John Hale graduated
+from Harvard in 1657 and was the first pastor settled in Beverly,
+Massachusetts, remaining there until he died, an aged man. An ardent
+patriot, this John Hale, in 1676, gave about one-twelfth of his salary,
+some seventy pounds, for defense in King Philip's War. When need arose
+in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> the French War, he went to Canada as a volunteer, for a threefold
+purpose,&mdash;so that he might accompany a number of his own parishioners,
+act as chaplain for one of the regiments, and fight when his aid was
+needed.</p>
+
+<p>Living during the witchcraft trials, he was one of the first to be
+convinced of the mistaken course pursued. We are not certain as to his
+approval or disapproval of the progress of the excitement in regard to
+witchcraft until it became intensely personal to his own family. His
+wife was, fortunately as the results proved, accused by some misguided
+person of being a witch. The well-known nobility of her life, and her
+lovely character, at once convinced all who knew the circumstances that
+some terrible mistake had been made by her accuser. And if a mistake had
+been made in her case, why not in others? At once the deadly power of
+the delusion was broken and, happily, the tide turned back forever.
+There was no question after this of the Rev. Mr. Hale's viewpoint as to
+witchcraft.</p>
+
+<p>In the very darkest depths of the witchcraft delusion, some
+illustrations of splendid courage and noble unselfishness were
+exhibited. Grewsome as it is, we cannot forbear quoting the example of
+one Giles Cory, condemned to die as a witch, who knew that if he did not
+confess he had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> bewitched people, his estate, which he wished his wife
+and family to inherit, would be forfeited, and that he would be pressed
+to death instead of being hanged.</p>
+
+<p>Being hanged is a comparatively brief experience, while the other way is
+prolonged and agonizing. But, for the sake of his family, brave old
+Giles Cory calmly faced this terrible, lingering death. He must have won
+from some, if not from all, the feeling that a stout-hearted and
+generous man had proved his love for his own as no mere words could have
+done.</p>
+
+<p>John Hale appears to have been a worthy ancestor of the youth Nathan
+Hale, who, a hundred years later, so freely made a sacrifice of his
+life.</p>
+
+<p>John Hale's son, Samuel, was Nathan's grandfather; he made his home in
+Portsmouth, New Hampshire. One of Samuel Hale's sons, bearing his own
+name, Samuel, was a Harvard man. Another son, Richard, Nathan's father,
+born February 28, 1717, looking about to find the best farming lands for
+the support of a future family, moved to Connecticut, and became a
+farmer in South Coventry, thirty miles east of Hartford. Distinguished
+from the beginning for his success in whatever he undertook in business
+affairs, and also as a man of singularly upright character,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> Deacon
+Richard Hale won the warmest regard of all who knew him. His advice and
+help were sought, both in political and religious affairs, to the full
+limit of the time at his command.</p>
+
+<p>His farm was among the best in that section. The house that he first
+occupied, probably one already on the place, was as comfortable and
+convenient as the usual homes of the earlier colonists. Later a larger
+house was built, big enough to accommodate a family of a dozen or more,
+and many guests as well. The house in which Nathan lived as a boy is
+still standing, and has fortunately come down to us with almost no
+mutilation.</p>
+
+<p>Though the forms and the voices of those who dwelt in them have long
+since vanished, there still linger about these vacant rooms the most
+tender and inspiring memories of the lives once developing there, now
+gone forward; nothing wasted or lost, as we will believe, of anything
+permanent they strove for or cared for in their dear, earthly home.</p>
+
+<p>To this home Richard Hale, married May 2, 1746, at the age of
+twenty-nine, brought his young bride, Elizabeth Strong. If Richard
+Hale's pedigree was a good one, his wife, Elizabeth Strong, came from a
+family even more finely endowed. The first of her ancestors who came to
+America was Elder John Strong. He was one of the found<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>ers of
+Dorchester, now a part of Boston; later he helped to found Northampton,
+Massachusetts.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Hale's grandfather, Joseph Strong, represented Coventry for
+sixty-five sessions in the General Assembly of Connecticut, and when he
+was ninety years of age he presided over the town meeting, suggesting by
+that deed a man of some vigor, for town meetings were no playdays in
+those early years. His descendants, active in whatever their hands found
+to do,&mdash;in the ministry, the law, business, or politics,&mdash;were long
+prominent in New England and New York, and doubtless many are to-day
+still helping to mold their country's future.</p>
+
+<p>The son of this Justice Joseph Strong was also named Joseph, and called
+Captain Joseph Strong. In 1724 he married his second cousin, Elizabeth
+Strong. He, too, was a noted man among the colonists. She, later, became
+the "grandmother" to whom Nathan so warmly alludes in one of his last
+letters to his brother. Captain Joseph Strong and his wife were the
+parents of Elizabeth Strong who, in her nineteenth year, married Richard
+Hale.</p>
+
+<p>To Elizabeth Strong Hale we can give but a passing notice. There is not,
+it is believed, one word that she wrote now in existence, nor any record
+left of that gracious womanhood, save a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> name on an obscure gravestone.
+But what brave-hearted mother would not count it well worth while to
+leave, for the coming years, the impress she left upon her many
+children; one of them alone destined to carry to coming generations of
+Americans the assurance that such a son could only have been borne by
+one of the noblest of mothers. Dying at the age of forty,&mdash;April 21,
+1767,&mdash;after a married life of twenty-one years, she had performed all
+the duties then expected from the mistress of a farmer's household in a
+section where the principal help that could be secured in any time of
+need came from the voluntary kindnesses of neighbors; for, like one
+large family, they felt it necessary to "lend a hand" whenever any one
+of their number was in need. Mrs. Hale had been the mother of twelve
+children when she died. Two of her children, named David and Jonathan,
+were twins. One of the twins, Jonathan, died when only a week old. David
+lived to be graduated from Yale and to become a minister at Lisbon,
+Connecticut. A little daughter, Susanna, lived but a month, but ten of
+Mrs. Hale's twelve children grew to maturity.</p>
+
+<p>Nathan, the sixth child, born June 6, 1755, was the first of the ten to
+die, leaving to his surviving brothers and sisters a memory that in
+later<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> years must have been an unfailing inspiration. He was delicate at
+first, but owing to his mother's care he later became as robust in body
+as he was in mind. For an older brother, Enoch, the plan was formed of
+sending him to college to prepare for the ministry, a custom then
+prevalent among many of the large and prosperous families in New
+England. Nathan was at first destined for a business life; but because
+of the urgent desire of his mother, heartily seconded by that of his
+Grandmother Strong, he was allowed to enter college with his brother
+Enoch in 1769, when he was fourteen years old; this was two years after
+the death of his mother. Four of Mrs. Hale's immediate relatives were
+graduates of Yale,&mdash;a fine illustration of the value those progressive
+pioneers attached to education.</p>
+
+<p>As a boy Nathan was to his mother what he later became to all who knew
+him; and the bond between such a mother and such a son must have been
+very tender and strong. It is a comfort to those who know what such
+mothers desire for their children, to remember the gladness and hope
+with which this mother, overworked and dying long before her time,
+looked forward to the days coming to her children. For Nathan, through
+her influence, was to become one of Yale's noblest sons.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>As Nathan's mother died nine years before he did, we understand the full
+meaning of the line in Judge Finch's poem,</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+"The sad of Earth, the glad of Heaven,"
+</p>
+
+<p>written many years later in honoring Nathan's splendid sacrifice. The
+poem to which the line belongs, read more than sixty years ago on the
+one-hundredth anniversary of the Linonian Society, an organization of
+Yale College of which Nathan Hale had been an early and an active
+member, had much influence in rousing first Yale men, and then other
+patriotic Americans, to recognize Nathan Hale as one of America's
+bravest martyrs.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Hale died in 1767. About two years later Deacon Hale married again,
+bringing to his home this time a widow, Mrs. Abigail Adams, of
+Canterbury, who must have been well fitted to take her place as the new
+head of the family. No ignoble mother could rear such children as she
+had reared, and Deacon Hale's second choice of a wife proved a wise and
+happy one. Providence appears to have smiled upon him when he opened his
+doors and invited Mrs. Adams and her children to share his home, and
+even the affection of some of his sons. It is said that two of Deacon
+Hale's sons fell in love with her youngest daughter, Alice<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> Adams, who,
+at Deacon Hale's desire, came to live permanently in the family in 1770
+or 1771, while his second son, John, married her eldest daughter, Sarah
+Adams, on December 19, 1770.</p>
+
+<p>The lives of both these women, Sarah and Alice Adams, are sufficient
+witnesses to the high character of the new mother added to the Hale
+household. To several of his biographers it has seemed quite probable
+that Nathan Hale wrote one of his last two letters to this mother. We
+grant that it may have been addressed to her, while intended for the
+reading of another. Of this, later.</p>
+
+<p>In regard to the marriage of John Hale and Sarah Adams it may be as well
+to state here that, after a married life of thirty-one years, John Hale
+died suddenly in December, 1802, his health probably undermined by his
+service in the Revolutionary War, where he held the rank of major. His
+widow, desiring to carry out what she believed would have been his
+wishes, "bequeathed £1000 to trustees as a fund, the income of which was
+to be used for the support of young men preparing for missionary
+service,"&mdash;probably among the Indians, as this was before the support of
+foreign missions was undertaken in America&mdash;"and in part for founding
+and supporting the Hale Library in Coventry, to be used by the ministers
+of Coventry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> and the neighboring towns." Included in the bequest for
+founding the still existing so-called "Hale Donation" was a portrait of
+the donor's husband, Major John Hale;&mdash;well painted, for the period, and
+now of great interest. Mrs. John Hale died a few months after her
+husband. It is easy to believe that, though born of different parents,
+the Hale and Adams families were congenial mentally and morally, and
+that Deacon Richard Hale was a wise and fortunate man in his choice of a
+second mother for his children.</p>
+
+<p>According to his mother's and grandmother's wishes, it was early decided
+that Nathan should be prepared to enter college. After the fashion of
+those times, he and two of his brothers began their preparatory studies
+under the direction of the Rev. Joseph Huntington, D.D., then pastor of
+the church in Nathan's native town. He is said to have been a man noted
+for his intellectual power, for his patriotism, and for his courteous
+manners.</p>
+
+<p>It may be well to say here that, in those early days, the New England
+ministers usually settled in one pastorate for life, and they were not
+only teachers in spiritual things, but were noted for their courteous
+and dignified manners; so that even before he entered college Nathan
+Hale must have had ample opportunities for the cultivation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> of the easy
+manners and courteous deportment which are said by all who knew him to
+have been so marked in him.</p>
+
+<p>Nathan Hale, as a boy, had one more asset that must have helped to
+insure his future success, and that did, as we believe, help him to die
+nobly. He was not overindulged; he had always the spur of effort to urge
+him forward. It was told of him, many years after his death, by the
+woman he had loved and who had known him well all his later years, Mrs.
+Alice Adams Lawrence, that whatever he did, even as boy, he did with all
+his heart, as if it engrossed his whole mind. Whether it was work, or
+study, or play, he gave all his energies to the doing of it. Such a
+disposition, together with his fine home training, must have helped to
+insure his success in Yale.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">College Days</span></h3>
+
+
+<p>In September, 1769, accompanied by Enoch, an older brother, Nathan Hale
+entered the Freshman class at Yale. His personal traits easily won the
+hearts of his classmates, while his quick understanding, his high
+scholarship, and his loyalty to the college standards made him as
+popular among tutors and professors as among his classmates. It is
+pleasant to know that, from the time we first learn of him until we see
+him standing beside the fatal tree, he appears to have won all hearts
+worth winning.</p>
+
+<p>But Nathan Hale had yet another gift that would surely endear him to
+college students of to-day as much as it doubtless did to his own
+classmates. He was a powerful athlete. So great was his skill in this
+line that, to successive generations of Yale men, the "broad jump" made
+by Nathan Hale remained unequaled. It is said to have taken place on
+what is now called "The Green" in New Haven, not far from the Old State
+House;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> and for many years the spot was marked to designate the length
+of the jump. Even during the years when his courageous death appeared to
+be well-nigh forgotten, "Hale's jump" was vividly remembered. But he not
+only "jumped," he excelled in all games then popular in college, besides
+being a capital shot with his rifle, as well as a fine swimmer.</p>
+
+<p>Hale could, it is said, lay one hand on the top of a six-foot fence and
+easily vault over it; and, though this astonishing feat is reported as
+occurring while he was a teacher, he used to delight his companions by
+showing them how to stand in a hogshead with his hands on his hips, leap
+over the first hogshead, land in a second, leap from that into a third,
+and from that out on to the ground,&mdash;all this before he was twenty.</p>
+
+<p>Imagine the delight of the "other fellows" standing around to watch Hale
+go through his various stunts in athletics! It almost makes one feel as
+if one had been a student and shared in the cheering when Hale did these
+things, so easy to himself, so difficult to the onlookers. Then fancy
+the talk at the supper tables, when the candles burned brightly and the
+eatables tasted twice as good because "old Hale" had won laurels for
+"old Yale" that afternoon by some "splendid" deed, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> the boys called
+it. Whatever he did, we may be sure that it was done well and with all
+his might, and that nobody equaled him.</p>
+
+<p>This much for the athletic life of Hale in his student days. It was only
+natural to such a man that whatever he was&mdash;friend, student, teacher, or
+soldier&mdash;he should carry zest and earnestness to all his work, even as
+he carried his manliness, his courtesy, and his unquenchable spirit.</p>
+
+<p>Let us now turn to the record of his years of successful work at Yale.
+It has been said that whatever he did, he did with all his might, and
+his brain work was as notable in its results as were the strength and
+agility of his body. In those early days the college bell rang for
+prayers, as the beginning of the day's work, at half past four in summer
+and an hour later in winter; and there are men still living who
+remember, in later years and at later hours, the wild rushes
+half-dressed students used to make, adjusting what they could of their
+hastily donned clothing on their race to morning chapel.</p>
+
+<p>Hale, however, as well as his companions a hundred and forty years ago,
+were accustomed to early rising, and able to fill every hour of their
+long days with work or play. The course of study then was much shorter
+than it is now, but if lack<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>ing in quantity it certainly made up in some
+of its qualities. We doubt if Freshmen to-day would outshine their
+fellows of that very early time if their declamations on Fridays were
+required to be in Latin, Greek, or Hebrew, "no English being allowed
+save by special permission."</p>
+
+<p>Science as we now know it had not entered into the college course, but
+the little then known, and the other studies considered essential,
+comparatively limited as they must have been, were taught so thoroughly
+that the men who carried away a college diploma carried a sure guarantee
+that they had been carefully taught whatever was then considered
+essential to a college education.</p>
+
+<p>Although it is true that science was then in comparative infancy, it is
+also true that it was deeply absorbing to young Hale. Some of his most
+valued books were scientific, and, aside from the studies he was obliged
+to pursue, he eagerly absorbed educational theories and the best
+literary works then available. As a college student, he stood high; as a
+thinker and as one interested in the finest pursuits of his period, he
+ranked equally high. Before he was nineteen he had won the permanent
+friendship and ardent admiration of a man who was then his tutor,
+Timothy Dwight, later the renowned president of Yale College, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> to
+the end of his long life a lover of his boy-friend, Nathan Hale.</p>
+
+<p>Another warm friend, a classmate, destined to be notable in future
+years, was James Hillhouse, later United States Senator, the first man
+to leave the stamp of beauty on his native city, New Haven, in the
+wonderful elms of his planting.</p>
+
+<p>In addition to these two noted men, many of Hale's warmest friendships
+were formed at college among the leading men of his own and of other
+classes. At least two or three of these were his companions in arms, to
+whom we may refer later. Of his scholarship, one sure test remains. At
+graduation, of the thirty-six men in his class, he ranked among the
+first thirteen.</p>
+
+<p>In one other important line Nathan Hale made a notable mark in college,
+namely, in his intense interest in Linonia. This society had been
+founded in 1753 "to promote in addition to the regular course of
+academic study, literary stimulus and rhetorical improvement to the
+undergraduates," and to create friendly relations among its members. The
+organization lived a long and honorable life, and did a most helpful
+work among its members. Nathan Hale was the first in his class to become
+its Chancellor, later styled President. He was for some time also its
+scribe, and many of his entries<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> in the Linonian reports are still
+"clear throughout and well-preserved" as is his signature at the end,
+after the passing of more than a hundred years.</p>
+
+<p>During his college course his name occurs in the reports of almost every
+meeting of the society. At one time he delivered "a very interesting
+narration"; at another, "an eloquent extemporaneous address." On various
+occasions he is said to have taken part in some of the plays that were
+frequently acted, and to have proposed questions for discussion.</p>
+
+<p>Besides taking part in the society and college exercises, he enjoyed
+frequent correspondence with a number of his classmates on themes of
+taste and criticism and of grammar and philology.</p>
+
+<p>As incoming Chancellor at the end of the college year of 1772, Hale
+responded in behalf of Linonia to the parting address from one of the
+graduating class.</p>
+
+<p>Hale's farewell address to the Linonians of the class of 1772 is
+preserved to Yale College on the society records. In reading it one must
+remember that the speech was made by a boy of seventeen. The dignity of
+the address, the assured ease with which he speaks, the sense of the
+Yale bond, as strong then as it ever has been, all show the only boyish
+thing about the speaker, namely, his sense<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> of the superiority of
+Linonia, then nearly twenty years old, to the struggling new society of
+"The Brothers," less than eight years old. All this brings before us
+very vividly a boy in years, but a man in thoughts and aspirations,
+ardent and scholarly, and full of a noble ambition that looked forward,
+as do all ambitious students in their college days, to years of generous
+life.</p>
+
+<p>A few paragraphs quoted from various parts of the quaintly courteous
+speech will illustrate alike the youth and the maturity of the speaker.
+He said:</p>
+
+<p>"The high opinion we ought to maintain of the ability of these worthy
+Gentlemen" [the retiring members of the Society] "as well as the regard
+they express for Linonia and her Sons, tends very much to increase our
+desire for their longer continuance. Under whatsoever character we
+consider them, we have the greatest reason to regret their departure. As
+our patrons, we have shared their utmost care and vigilance in
+supporting Linonia's cause, and protecting her from the malice of her
+insulting foes. As our benefactors, we have partaken of their
+liberality, not only in their rich and valuable donations to our
+library, but, what is still more, their amiable company and
+conversation."</p>
+
+<p>["This is a fine portrait of Hale painted by himself," says a friend of
+Hale to-day.]<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But as our friends, what inexpressible happiness have we experienced in
+their disinterested love and cordial affection! We have lived together
+not as fellow students and members of the same college, but as brothers
+and children of the same family; not as superiors and inferiors, but
+rather as equals and companions. The only thing which hath given them
+the preëminence is their superior knowledge in those arts and sciences
+which are here cultivated, and their greater skill and prudence in the
+management of such important affairs as those which concern the good
+order and regularity of this Society. Under the prudent conduct of these
+our once worthy patrons, but now parting friends, things have been so
+wisely regulated, as that while we have been entertained with all the
+pleasures of familiar conversation, we have been no less profited by our
+improvements in useful knowledge and literature."</p>
+
+<p>Hale's direct address to the parting members is as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"Kind and generous Sirs, it is with the greatest reluctance that we are
+now all obliged to bid adieu to you, our dearest friends. Fain would we
+ask you longer to tarry&mdash;but it is otherwise determined, and we must
+comply. Accept then our sincerest thanks, as some poor return for your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>
+disinterested zeal in Linonia's cause, and your unwearied pains to
+suppress her opposers.... Be assured that we shall be spirited in
+Linonia's cause and with steadiness and resolution strive to make her
+shine with unparalleled luster.... Be assured that your memory will
+always be very dear to us; that though hundreds of miles should
+interfere, you will always be attended with our best wishes.</p>
+
+<p>"May Providence protect you in all your ways, and may you have
+prosperity in all your undertakings! May you live long and happily, and
+at last die satisfied with the pleasures of this world, and go hence to
+that world where joys shall never cease, and pleasures never end! Dear
+Gentlemen, farewell!"</p>
+
+<p>Not only in speeches but also in deeds Hale proved his love for Linonia.
+He is said to have contributed some of his own books to the library of
+the Society, and to have coöperated with Timothy Dwight and James
+Hillhouse in promoting its growth. In time the library owned more than
+thirteen thousand volumes. These three Linonians were always considered
+its real founders, and were so honored at the Society's centennial
+anniversary on July 27, 1853.</p>
+
+<p>Timothy Dwight, the first of that name to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> president of Yale College,
+was, like Nathan Hale, a descendant of Elder Strong who founded
+Northampton, Massachusetts. Dwight graduated in 1769, the year Hale
+entered college. He then became a tutor and was a personal friend of
+Hale's. He was a teacher of extraordinary power and was made president
+of Yale in 1795. He was one of the most remarkable men of his time,
+molding the moral and religious, as well as intellectual, character of
+the college so that his influence extended not only over the whole state
+but, to a great degree, over the whole United States. He was a fine
+illustration of the great abilities that centered in so many of the
+leading families of the colonists. Such connections as this man add even
+a higher luster to the genealogy of Elizabeth Strong Hale, and lessen
+our wonder that a son of hers, while hardly more than a boy, could face
+the duty and calmly accept the responsibility that he felt rested upon
+him.</p>
+
+<p>As may easily be inferred, the Hale boys, Enoch and Nathan, were not
+forgotten by their home friends while making honorable records in
+college, and forming pleasant friendships outside the college
+walls&mdash;then the happy lot of all the best men in college&mdash;among the
+cultured families of what was then a small New England city.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>An instance of the friendships Nathan made in New Haven is shown by the
+words of Æneas Munson, M.D., formerly of that city. When an aged man he
+spoke in the warmest terms of Hale's fine qualities as he observed them
+when he was a boy in his father's house, and he treasured a letter to
+his father from Hale in 1774 which will be given farther on.</p>
+
+<p>Of home letters, happily a few from their father in Coventry to his two
+sons in college are still preserved; these prove, as no words of any
+stranger could, his constant and practical interest in all that
+concerned them. They show us how an upright father tried to influence
+his boys' religious characters while distant from them, and at the same
+time they show the economies which even well-to-do fathers then had to
+exercise in providing for their sons while at college. The first letter
+also shows that Nathan must have entered college when fourteen years and
+three months old, having been born in June, 1755, and entering college
+in September, 1769. We here give the first letter, with all its quaint
+old spelling, and after it two others written during successive years.
+We may smile at their old-time expressions, but we must own to a sincere
+admiration for the kind and thoughtful father, so interested in his
+boys, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> so solicitous concerning their health "after the measles."</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Dear Children:</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>I Rec'd your Letter of the 7th instant and am glad to hear that you
+are well suited with Living in College and would let you know that
+wee are all well threw the Divine goodness, as I hope these lines
+will find you. I hope you will carefully mind your studies that
+your time be not Lost and that you will mind all the orders of
+College with care.... I intend to send you some money the first
+opportunity perhaps by Mr. Sherman when he Returns home from of the
+surcit [circuit court] he is now on. If you can hire Horses at New
+Haven to come home without too much trouble and cost I don't know
+but it is best and should be glad to know how you can hire them and
+send me word. If I don't here from you I shall depend upon sending
+Horses to you by the 6th of May,&mdash;if I should have know opportunity
+to send you any money till May and should then come to New Haven
+and clear all of it would it not do? If not you will let me know
+it. Your friends are all well at Coventry&mdash;your mother sends her
+Regards to you&mdash;from your kind and loving</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+Father<br />
+<span class="smcap">Rich<sup>d</sup> Hale</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Coventry</span> Dec<sup>r</sup>. 26th<br />
+A.D. 1769.<br />
+</p>
+
+</blockquote>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Dear Children:</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>I have nothing spettial to write but would by all means desire you
+to mind your Studies and carefully attend to the orders of Coledge.
+Attend not only Prayers in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> chapel but Secret Prayr carefully.
+Shun all vice especially card Playing. Read your Bibles a chapter
+night and morning. I cannot now send you much money but hope when
+S<sup>r</sup> Strong comes to Coventry to be able to send by him what you
+want....</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+from your Loving Father<br />
+<span class="smcap">Rich<sup>d</sup> Hale</span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Coventry, Dec<sup>r.</sup> 17th, 1770<br />
+
+
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Loving Children</span>&mdash;by a line would let you know that I with my family
+threw the Divine Goodness are well as I hope these lines will find
+you. I have heard that you are better of the measles. The Cloath
+for your Coat is not Done. But will be Done next week I hope at
+furthest. I know of no opportunity we shall have to send it to
+Newhaven and have Laid in with Mr. Strong for his Horse which his
+son will Ride down to New Haven for one of you to Ride home if you
+can get Leave and have your close made at home. I sopose that one
+measure will do for both of you. I am told that it is not good to
+study hard after the measles&mdash;hope you will youse Prudance in that
+afare. If you do not one of you come home I dont see but that you
+must do with out any New Close till after Commensment. I send you
+Eight Pound in cash by Mr. Strong&mdash;hope it will do for the
+present&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+Your Loving Father<br />
+<span class="smcap">Rich<sup>d</sup> Hale</span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Coventry</span> August 13th, 1771<br />
+</p>
+
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Some students of to-day in college with elder brothers might protest
+vigorously at the idea of new suits provided for two boys of different
+sizes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> being fitted for the larger, though the younger might find some
+consolation in the fact that he would have plenty of room in which to
+grow! At all events, good Deacon Hale's kindly letters give us a very
+friendly feeling toward him, revealing as they do his love for his boys.
+The letters also suggest indirectly the happy home-coming of these
+college boys, riding thither on horseback over many miles, buoyed up by
+high spirits, college news, and the prospect of vacation.</p>
+
+<p>In their home, as time went by, they found the two new members of the
+family, their stepmother's daughters, Nathan to find in Alice Adams, the
+youngest, some of the happiest inspirations of his manly young life. It
+is pleasant to linger a moment and try to realize the pride Deacon Hale
+must have felt in his boys, and their delight in being once more home
+with him and with all the family circle. We can fancy them as they sat
+around that generous board&mdash;none the less generous, we are sure, because
+of the home-coming of the "Yale boys."</p>
+
+<p>Deacon Hale was a man of remarkable energy&mdash;"a driver," in other words.
+As a rule, in the busiest season of the year he would finish his meal
+before the family were half through theirs, rise, return thanks, and be
+off to the field, leaving the others to resume their seats around the
+table. Alice<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> Adams used to say of him, "I never saw a man work so hard
+for both worlds as Deacon Hale."</p>
+
+<p>One amusing incident was long in circulation and laughed over by many
+who did not know the energetic haymaker by name. As it really happened
+to Deacon Hale, it is worth telling as an example of the energy that has
+characterized his descendants.</p>
+
+<p>One haying season Deacon Hale hired a tall, brawny countryman, of
+uncommon strength, to help him house his crop. While in the field he
+took upon himself the task of "packing" the load, the hired man's duty
+being to pitch it on to the cart. The man began his work too slowly to
+suit Deacon Hale, who soon called out, "More hay!" This call he repeated
+three or four times, as cock after cock of hay was still somewhat lazily
+pitched up to him. Finally his tardy helper, becoming sensible that his
+easy way of working was being rebuked, set himself to work with a will
+equal to the Deacon's, and at last pitched the hay up so rapidly that
+his employer was unable to "pack" it properly upon the cart. Very soon,
+therefore, to the dismay of both men, the whole load slipped off in one
+great mass on to the ground, carrying the Deacon along with it!</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want now, Deacon?" shouted the Hercules by his side with a
+satisfied grin.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"<i>More hay!</i>" instantly replied the discomfited Deacon, nimbly
+scrambling back to his place on the cart.</p>
+
+<p>Despite this little accident at the beginning of the afternoon, it is
+safe to state that a generous storage of hay took place before sunset.</p>
+
+<p>But happy as were these college days and home-comings, and rich as were
+the harvests gleaned in them, the four years in college halls sped
+swiftly, and in 1773 Enoch Hale and Nathan turned their faces toward the
+future; the one to a long life and faithful Christian service, the other
+toward the briefest of mortal days, but to a service whose memory will
+not end till his college walls shall have crumbled, and the names of all
+its heroic sons faded from the earth. For even though stones may
+crumble, influence lives on.</p>
+
+<p>It has already been said that at graduation Nathan Hale stood among the
+first thirteen in a class of thirty-six. On Commencement Day, September
+3, 1773, he took part in a forensic debate on the question, "Whether the
+Education of Daughters be not, without any just reason, more neglected
+than that of Sons."</p>
+
+<p>In "Memories of a Hundred Years" Dr. Edward Everett Hale says: "As early
+as 1772 there appears at Yale College the first question ever de<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>bated
+by the Linonian Society. It was, 'Is it right to enslave the Affricans?'
+I think, by the way, that this record, bad spelling and all, is made by
+my great-uncle, Nathan Hale." These debates show how seriously, even in
+the colonial period, men were thinking of the urgent problems of later
+days.</p>
+
+<p>In the debate first mentioned, the others taking part in it were
+Benjamin Tallmadge, Ezra Samson, and William Robinson. Some account of
+Major Tallmadge's after life is given in later pages. Samson was, for a
+time, a clergyman, and then became an editor, first in Hudson, New York,
+and then of the <i>Courant</i>, at Hartford, Connecticut.</p>
+
+<p>William Robinson was a direct descendant of Pastor John Robinson of
+Leyden. He studied for the ministry and was ordained in 1780 at
+Southington, Connecticut. In the winter of that year&mdash;which was one of
+the coldest and most severe on record&mdash;he walked the whole distance from
+Windsor to Southington, about thirty miles, on snowshoes, to be
+installed as pastor, an office he held for forty-one years.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">A Call to Teach</span></h3>
+
+
+<p>College days behind them, Nathan, now eighteen years old, and Enoch
+pressed on toward their future. Here, to some extent, we part with
+Enoch, catching only occasional glimpses of him in a few straggling
+letters to his brother. It is probable that, as he intended to enter the
+ministry, he soon began his theological studies. In 1775 he was licensed
+to preach. Nathan, however, turned toward teaching as the next step in
+his career.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime Nathan's love for Alice Adams had not prospered. An
+older brother, John, had married Alice Adams's elder sister Sarah, and
+the mother and sister of Alice thought that she should not wait four or
+five years for Nathan. Perhaps they decided that two intermarriages in
+one family were quite enough; anyway, they induced Alice to accept the
+offer of a prosperous merchant of Coventry, Mr. Elijah Ripley, and a
+short time before Nathan's graduation her marriage had apparently
+terminated their personal relations.</p>
+
+<p>Nathan Hale was at this time an unusually hand<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>some young man, almost
+six feet in height, well proportioned, with broad chest, athletic, as we
+have seen, and with a handsome, intelligent face, blue eyes, light brown
+hair of a rich color, and a winning smile. These, added to a musical
+voice and gracious manners, gave him a personal charm that attracted all
+who saw him.</p>
+
+<p>As a teacher he combined unusual tact and manly dignity, making his
+discipline in school as effective as it was reasonable. He also proved
+to be as skillful in imparting knowledge as he had been in acquiring it,
+and his success as a teacher was assured from the outset.</p>
+
+<p>His first school was in East Haddam, Connecticut. There was then much
+wealth and business activity in the town, although, to a man fresh from
+college and the city, it appeared to be a very quiet place, as one or
+two of his early letters indicate. Yet there too he did with all his
+might what his hands found to do, and soon proved that not only his
+work, but his social qualities, were endearing him to new friends, some
+of whom remembered him with pleasure during their own long lives; one of
+them saying of Nathan Hale in her own old age, "Everybody loved him, he
+was so sprightly, intelligent, and kind," and, she added withal, "and
+<i>so</i> handsome!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> He had many correspondents among classmates and
+friends. Sometimes he was stimulated to put his thoughts into rhyme by
+some poetical epistle he received. One such was from Benjamin Tallmadge,
+then in Wethersfield.</p>
+
+<p>Tallmadge had apologized for his muse and Hale, in pure boyish fun, with
+a fine disregard of whether he was invoking the muse or mounting
+Pegasus, replied as follows:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"But here, I think you're wrong, to blame</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Your gen'rous muse and call her lame,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For when arriv'd no mark was found</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of weakness, lameness, sprain or wound."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Then, invoking her himself, he describes her as if she were indeed the
+wingèd steed,</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"With me in charge (a grievous load!)</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Along the way she lately trode,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In all, she gave no fear or pain,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Unless, at times, to hold the rein."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>At last, on his supposed arrival at Wethersfield, he invites Tallmadge's
+judgment on the appearance of the equine muse, thus:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Now judge, unless entirely sound</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">If she could bear me such a round.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">It's certain then your muse is heal'd,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or else, came sound from Weathersfield."</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Before the end of the first term (October, 1773, to mid-March, 1774) in
+East Haddam, however, his work had aroused attention elsewhere, and in
+May, 1774, he took charge of a school in New London, called the "Union
+School,"&mdash;a larger school and a more lucrative position than that at
+East Haddam. In it Latin, English, arithmetic, and writing were taught.
+The salary was seventy pounds a year with a prospect of an increase, and
+he was allowed to teach private classes as well.</p>
+
+<p>It will not surprise those acquainted with human nature that, as we will
+allow him to tell in a letter to a relative, he soon had a class of some
+twenty young ladies between the unusual hours of five and seven in the
+morning! It does not take a very vivid imagination to picture the
+vivacity of these twenty young ladies, the becomingness of their simple
+but pretty gowns, and the zest with which each studied; nor, on the
+other hand, the ill-concealed, bantering interest of the big brothers of
+the same,&mdash;asking perhaps, now and then, with mock gravity, if mother
+thought Patty would be so prompt every morning at five o'clock if old
+Parson Browning were the teacher!</p>
+
+<p>But whatever might have been the dominant interest of the young ladies,
+"Master Hale" was quite as practical in his teaching in the early hours<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>
+of the day as with the boys in the later classes. An uncle of his,
+Samuel Hale, was for many years at the head of the best private school
+in New Hampshire, numbering among his pupils some of the leaders in
+Revolutionary times. To him, September 24, 1774, Nathan wrote a letter
+from which we give the following extracts:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"My own employment is at present the same that you have spent your
+days in. I have a school of thirty-two boys, about half Latin, the
+rest English. The salary allowed me is 70 £ per annum. In addition
+to this I have kept, during the summer, a morning school, between
+the hours of five and seven, of about 20 young ladies for which I
+have received 6s [shillings] a scholar, by the quarter. Many of the
+people are gentleman of sense and merit. They are desirous that I
+would continue and settle in the school, and propose a considerable
+increase in wages. I am much at a loss whether to accept their
+proposals. Your advice in this matter, coming from an uncle and
+from a man who has spent his life in the business, would, I think,
+be the best I could possibly receive. A few lines on this subject
+and also to acquaint me with the welfare of your family ... will be
+much to the satisfaction of</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+Your most dutiful Nephew,<br />
+<span class="smcap">Nathan Hale."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>A letter to Enoch Hale, containing allusions to the excited feeling in
+the colony at this time, runs as follows:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class="author">
+<span class="smcap">New London</span>, Sept. <sup>8th.</sup> 1774.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Dear Brother.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>I have a word to write and a moment to write it in. I received
+yours of yesterday this morning. Agreeable to your desire I will
+endeavour to get the cloth and carry it on Saturday. I have no
+news. No liberty-pole is erected or erecting here; but the people
+seem much more spirited than they did before the alarm. Parson
+Peters of Hebron, I hear, has had a second visit paid him by the
+sons of liberty in Windham. His treatment, and the concessions he
+made I have not as yet heard. I have not heard from home since</p>
+
+<p>I came from there.</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+Your loving Brother<br />
+<span class="smcap">Nathan Hale.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">M<sup>r.</sup> E. Hale.   Lyme.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>A letter from Hale to his friend the senior Dr. Æneas Munson, of New
+Haven, has been mentioned. It runs as follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class="author">
+<span class="smcap">New London</span>, November 30, 1774<br />
+</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Sir:</span> I am very happily situated here. I love my employment; find
+many friends among strangers; have time for scientific study; and
+seem to fill the place assigned me with satisfaction. I have a
+school of more than thirty boys to instruct, about half of them in
+Latin; and my salary is satisfactory. During the summer I had a
+morning class of young ladies&mdash;about a score&mdash;from five to seven
+o'clock; so you see my time is pretty fully occupied, profitably, I
+hope to my pupils and to their teacher.</p>
+
+<p>Please accept for yourself and Mrs. Munson the grateful thanks of
+one who will always remember the kindness he ever experienced
+whenever he visited your abode.</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+Your friend<br /><span class="smcap">Nathan Hale.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+</blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>On one occasion, as Hale left his house after paying a visit, Dr. Munson
+observed, "That man is a diamond of the first water, calculated to excel
+in any station he assumes. He is a gentleman and a scholar, and last,
+though not least of his qualifications, a Christian."</p>
+
+<p>The son of Dr. Munson (who bore his father's name), when an aged man,
+said: "I was greatly impressed with Hale's scientific knowledge, evinced
+during his conversation with my father. I am sure he was equal to André
+in solid acquirements, and his taste for art and talents as an artist
+were quite remarkable. His personal appearance was as notable. He was
+almost six feet in height, perfectly proportioned, and in figure and
+deportment he was the most manly man I have ever met. His chest was
+broad; his muscles were firm; his face wore a most benign expression;
+his complexion was roseate; his eyes were light blue and beamed with
+intelligence; his hair was soft and light brown in color, and his speech
+was rather low, sweet, and musical. His personal beauty and grace of
+manner were most charming.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, all the girls in New Haven fell in love with him," continued Dr.
+Munson, "and wept tears of real sorrow when they heard of his sad fate.
+In dress he was always neat; he was quick to lend<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> a helping hand to a
+being in distress, brute or human; was overflowing with good humor, and
+was the idol of all his acquaintances."</p>
+
+<p>Young masters of schools, public or private, unmarried and attractive,
+usually rank next in popularity to other professional men,&mdash;ministers,
+lawyers, or doctors, as the case may be,&mdash;and a boy of nineteen, the
+object of as much attention as Nathan Hale must have received, might
+well be pardoned if his head had been slightly turned, in thus becoming
+the admired teacher of a large class of young ladies. One special mark
+of stability of character appears to have characterized this young man
+in a greater degree than is always the case at the present day. Detached
+as he was, as he supposed irrevocably, from the woman he loved, he
+appears to have carried himself with almost middle-aged dignity, and,
+what is not a little to his credit, even his intimate friends among his
+classmates could not, by the most delicate cross-questioning, draw from
+him anything suggesting more than a pleasant interest in any of the
+young ladies with whom he was thrown in contact.</p>
+
+<p>A letter that will be given in its proper place shows his courteous and
+cordial interest in the little city he left when he entered the army;
+yet it is rather a noteworthy fact that one of his class<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>mates, writing
+to him during his camp life, had to suggest that, as the young ladies he
+had taught were always inquiring when he had heard from "Master," it
+would doubtless give them pleasure if he could find time to write some
+one of them a note with friendly messages to others, to show that he
+still remembered them.</p>
+
+<p>Many young men would hardly have needed such a suggestion. But Nathan
+Hale, so far as we can learn, while given to warm friendships among his
+classmates, and to the cultivation, while in New Haven, Haddam, and New
+London, of the society of the best families, appears, from the
+beginning, to have taken life seriously. Disappointed in the love of the
+one woman for whom he cared, he had turned with sincere absorption to
+the work to which he felt himself called before entering on the
+theological course it is thought that his father had planned for him.</p>
+
+<p>There is further evidence of Hale's notable gifts as a teacher. Colonel
+Samuel Green, who had been a pupil of Hale in New London, said of him,
+in oldtime phrase: "Hale was a man peculiarly engaging in his
+manners&mdash;these were mild and genteel. The scholars, old and young, were
+attached to him. They loved him for his tact and amiability.</p>
+
+<p>"He was wholly without severity and had a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> wonderful control over boys.
+He was sprightly, ardent, and steady&mdash;bore a fine moral character and
+was respected highly by all his acquaintances. The school in which he
+taught was owned by the first gentlemen in New London, all of whom were
+exceedingly gratified by Hale's skill and assiduity."</p>
+
+<p>A lady of New London who was for some time an inmate of the same family
+with Hale, adds her testimony:</p>
+
+<p>"His capacity as a teacher was highly appreciated both by parents and
+pupils. His simple and unostentatious manner of imparting right views
+and feelings to less cultivated understandings was unsurpassed by any
+other person I have ever known."</p>
+
+<p>He was, as we see, a successful teacher, and, as we learn elsewhere, had
+serious thoughts of remaining a teacher.</p>
+
+<p>Unexpectedly, however, events verified the truth of the old adage, "Man
+proposes, God disposes." A great historical drama was to be enacted
+before the eyes of the wondering world, and events were ripening that
+were to form a great epoch in history.</p>
+
+<p>America was being led first to protest against the unjust exactions laid
+upon its people, and then to resist the oppressions that were being
+forced upon it. Gradually the idea prevailed that a taxation which might
+have been acceptable, if coupled with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> representation in Parliament, was
+absolutely intolerable without representation, and the Stamp Act in 1765
+struck the first note of intense opposition. Thenceforward the political
+clouds grew darker and the warning incidents multiplied.</p>
+
+<p>And yet, as a people, Americans were walking as if their personal plans
+lay easily in their own control. Scores of young men were fitting
+themselves for ordinary callings, Nathan Hale among them. His father's
+plans combining with his own appeared to be that he was to teach for a
+while, and then follow his brother Enoch into the ministry. As it
+proved, his days as a teacher were numbered. He was never to enter a
+pulpit, though he was to utter one sentence that, graven upon bronze or
+granite, will last while America lasts. He was to teach, by his last,
+unpremeditated words, and by an example more potent than any other in
+American history, what all generations of Americans must venerate&mdash;the
+sublimity of a complete sacrifice.</p>
+
+<p>Smoldering discontent on the part of the Americans, waxing stronger and
+stronger for a decade, and the aggressive course of action on the part
+of the British authorities, finally culminated in a sudden outbreak, as
+matches applied to gunpowder; and on the 19th of April, 1775, the first
+blood of the American Revolution was shed. Settlement after<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> settlement,
+big and little, learned the facts as rapidly as couriers on horseback
+could carry them, and the thirteen colonies arrayed themselves against
+one of the most powerful monarchies of the world.</p>
+
+<p>The story is too well known to need recalling here, save as it draws
+Nathan Hale toward his doom. Within a few days after the fatal 19th of
+April, four thousand Connecticut volunteers were on their way to Boston
+to help Massachusetts in its earliest struggle with the English.
+Ununiformed, undisciplined, straight from whatever had been their
+ordinary vocation, with whatever they owned in the way of arms and
+ammunition, they went hurrying toward Boston. Israel Putnam, renowned
+veteran of the "Old French War," was plowing in his fields at Pomfret,
+Connecticut, when he heard the stirring news. Leaving his plow in the
+furrow, he hastened to his house, left a few orders for the management
+of his farm and the comfort of his family, and marched at the head of a
+body of volunteers toward the camp near Boston. We are told that, in
+some households, families sat up all night, the fathers melting their
+pewter plates into bullets for ammunition to be used by their sons, and
+the mothers and sisters fashioning for them, with all possible speed,
+the clothing they could not go without.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>On the arrival of the news from Boston, the people in New London at once
+held a meeting. Hon. Richard Law, District Judge of Connecticut and
+Chief Justice of the Superior Court, was chairman. Hale was one of the
+speakers.</p>
+
+<p>At that meeting a company was selected from the already existing militia
+and ordered to start for Boston the next morning. This company Nathan
+Hale, with his keen sense of duty, could not then join. But, for a few
+succeeding weeks, in addition to his regular work in school, he did all
+in his power to keep alive the interest of the young men in the town
+concerning their duties as Americans. With his enthusiastic nature, and
+broad comprehension of what might soon confront the country, it is
+probable that his seriousness and his activity were never greater than
+during the few weeks intervening between his speech at the political
+meeting and his departure from New London to enter the military service
+of his country.</p>
+
+<p>Of course his becoming a soldier would greatly interfere with the plans
+that his father had made for him, and he at once wrote home on the
+subject, stating that "a sense of duty urged him to sacrifice everything
+for his country"; but he added that as soon as the war was ended he
+would comply with his father's wishes in regard to a profession.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> The
+father was quite as patriotic as the son. He immediately assented to his
+son's desires. In those days, however, correspondence could not be
+conducted so swiftly as at present, and some time must have elapsed
+before this matter was positively settled between the two. As the war
+went on, and doubtless none the less whole-heartedly after the news of
+Nathan's death had been received, Mr. Hale did all he could for the
+comfort of passing soldiers. It is said of him that many a time he sat
+at the door of his hospitable home and watched for passing soldiers that
+he might take them in and feed them; and, if necessary, lodge and clothe
+them. He often forbade his household "to use the wool raised upon his
+farm for home purposes, that it might be woven into blankets for the
+army."</p>
+
+<p>Anxious as had been young Hale to join the army, he appears to have
+deferred making any decided plans until he had received the necessary
+permission from his father. Having received it, he at once took steps
+for securing his dismissal from his school and his admission into the
+army. During the weeks of waiting it had become known that he was
+anxious to enlist, and a military appointment was waiting his
+acceptance. To secure his dismissal, on July 7 he addressed the
+following letter to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> proprietors of his school,&mdash;a letter that for a
+young man of twenty is as dignified as it is patriotic:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Gentlemen:</span> Having received information that a place is allotted me
+in the army, and being inclined, as I hope for good reasons, to
+accept it, I am constrained to ask as a favor that which scarce
+anything else would have induced me to, which is, to be excused
+from keeping your school any longer. For the purpose of conversing
+upon this and of procuring another master, some of your number
+think it best there should be a general meeting of the proprietors.
+The time talked of for holding it is six o'clock this afternoon, at
+the schoolhouse. The year for which I engaged will expire within a
+fortnight, so that my quitting a few days sooner, I hope, will
+subject you to no great inconvenience.</p>
+
+<p>School-keeping is a business of which I was always fond, but since
+my residence in this town, everything has conspired to render it
+more agreeable. I have thought much of never quitting it but with
+life, but at present there seems an opportunity for more extended
+public service.</p>
+
+<p>The kindness expressed to me by the people of the place, but
+especially the proprietors of the school, will always be very
+gratefully remembered by, gentlemen, with respect, your humble
+servant,</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+<span class="smcap">Nathan Hale</span><br />
+</p>
+
+</blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">A Call to Arms</span></h3>
+
+
+<p>The place "allotted" to him was that of lieutenant in the third company
+of the 7th Connecticut regiment, commanded by Colonel Charles Webb. No
+doubt exists that Lieutenant Nathan Hale was the same Nathan Hale who
+had won distinction in all his college work, in his subsequent teaching,
+and in all the events thus far associated with his early manhood, with
+this difference; he was now lifted to a line of service that in his
+opinion seemed the highest possible for him to follow, and no one who
+studies his subsequent course can question that in this following he
+found the loftiest consecration thus far possible to him. Perhaps
+unconsciously he was to verify the poet's assertion,</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"So nigh is grandeur to our dust,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">So near is God to man,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When Duty whispers low, <i>Thou must</i>,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The youth replies, <i>I can.</i>"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>With no trace of merely personal ambition, but with that splendid power
+of absorption in duty as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> in work, Nathan Hale followed in the steps of
+those devoted American patriots whose blood, so freely shed at
+Lexington, was calling upon their countrymen to shed theirs as freely,
+should duty demand it.</p>
+
+<p>Dead almost one hundred and forty years, we still are thrilled by proofs
+of the splendid manhood henceforth to be so prominent in every remaining
+day of Hale's brief life. A few letters to friends, a fairly
+comprehensive diary for a few months, his camp-book, and the
+recollections of a few of the officers and of his body-servant, give a
+moderately complete picture of Nathan Hale for a few brief weeks, during
+which time he had been doing all in his power to perfect himself and the
+men under him in the duties of soldiers.</p>
+
+<p>By the middle of September the Connecticut troops, having received
+orders from General Washington to proceed to the camp near Boston, the
+7th Regiment, containing Lieutenant Hale's company, went to the spot
+appointed, remaining there during the winter, and leaving for New York,
+again by Washington's orders, in the spring. Of these intervening
+months, so momentous to the little army whose many members were
+impatient for the close of the war, Nathan Hale himself gives us vivid
+pictures; of the work he was trying to do; of the men he was meeting; of
+the religious life<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> he was in no sense forgetting, and of his own
+deepening patriotism. Letters written to him show the attitude of
+friends at home, and their interest both in the affairs of the country
+and in him personally. The following letter from Gilbert Saltonstall, a
+young Harvard graduate and warm friend of Hale while in New London,
+shows how fully the men at home, as well as those in the army, entered
+into the anxieties of the times:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class="author">
+<span class="smcap">New London</span>, Octo. 9th, 1775.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Dear Sir:</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>By yours of the 5th I see you're Stationd in the Mouth of Danger&mdash;I
+look upon yr. Situation more Perilous than any other in the
+Camp&mdash;Should have thought the new Recreuits would have been Posted
+at some of the Outworks, &amp; those that have been inured to Service
+advanc'd to Defend the most exposed Places&mdash;But all Things are
+concerted, and ordered with Wisdom no doubt&mdash;The affair of Dr.
+Church<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> is truly amazing&mdash;from the acquaintance I have of his
+publick Character I should as soon have suspected Mr. Hancock or
+Adams as him.</p></blockquote>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Of this Dr. Church, John Fiske writes: "In October, 1775,
+the American camp was thrown into great consternation by the discovery
+that Dr. Benjamin Church, one of the most conspicuous of the Boston
+leaders, had engaged in a secret correspondence with the enemy. Dr.
+Church was thrown into jail, but as the evidence of treasonable intent
+was not absolutely complete, he was set free in the following spring,
+and allowed to visit the West Indies for his health. The ship in which
+he sailed was never heard from again."</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>(Then follow accounts of an affair on Long Island Sound, and extracts
+from a paper two days old just brought from New York, describing army
+matters in the North.)</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>I have extracted all the material News&mdash;should have sent the Paper
+but its the only one in Town and every one is Gaping for news.</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+Your sincere Friend<br />
+<span class="smcap">Gilbert Saltonstall.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Another, also from Saltonstall, reads in part as follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Esteemed Friend</span></p>
+
+<p>Doctor Church is in close Custody in Norwich Gaol, the windows
+boarded up, and he deny'd the use of Pen, Ink, and Paper, to have
+no converse with any Person but in presence of the Gaoler, and then
+to Converse in no Language but English. ... what a fall ...</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+Yr &amp;c<br />
+<span class="smcap">Gilbert Saltonstall.</span></p>
+
+<p>
+Novr. 27th 1775<br />
+</p>
+
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>A letter already referred to as showing Hale's interest in New London
+and its people, also his feeling as to camp life, is here given.
+"Betsey" was one of his pupils in his early-morning classes. We note the
+little touch of good-natured fun in the last paragraph.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class="author">
+<span class="smcap">Camp Winter Hill</span>, Oct<sup>r</sup> 19th 1775</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Dear Betsey</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>I hope you will excuse my freedom in writing to you, as I cannot
+have the pleasure of seeing and conversing with you. What is now a
+letter would be a visit were I in New London but this being out of
+my power, suffer me to make up the defect in the best manner I can.
+I write not to give you any news or any pleasure in reading (though
+I would heartily do it if in my power) but from the desire I have
+of conversing with you in some form or other.</p>
+
+<p>I once wanted to come here to see something extraordinary&mdash;my
+curiosity is satisfied. I have now no more desire for seeing things
+here, than for seeing what is in New London, no, nor half so much
+neither. Not that I am discontented&mdash;so far from it, that in the
+present situation of things I would not except a furlough were it
+offered me. I would only observe that we often flatter ourselves
+with great happiness could we see such and such things; but when we
+actually come to the sight of them our solid satisfaction is really
+no more than when we only had them in expectation.</p>
+
+<p>All the news I had I wrote to John Hallam&mdash;if it be worth your
+hearing he will be able to tell you when he delivers this. It will
+therefore not (be) worth while for me to repeat.</p>
+
+<p>I am a little at a loss how you carry at New London&mdash;Jared Starr I
+hear is gone&mdash;The number of Gentlemen is now so few that I fear how
+you will go through the winter but I hope for the best.</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+I remain with esteem<br />
+Y<sup>r</sup> Sincere Friend<br />
+&amp; Hble Svt.<br />
+<span class="smcap">N. Hale</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">To Betsey Christophers</span><br />
+At New London<br />
+</p>
+
+</blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The next letter refers to the time when, on account of their personal
+privations, the Connecticut troops were thinking seriously of
+withdrawing from the struggle, and returning to their homes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p class="author"><span class="smcap">New London</span> Decr-4th 1775</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span></p>
+
+
+<p>The behaviour of our Connecticut Troops makes me Heart-sick&mdash;that
+they who have stood foremost in the praises and good Wishes of
+their Countrymen, as having distinguished themselves for their Zeal
+&amp; Public Spirit, should now shamefully desert the Cause; and at a
+critical moment too, is really unaccountable&mdash;amazing. Those that
+do return will meet with real Contempt, with deserv'd Reproach. It
+gives great satisfaction that the Officers universally agree to
+tarry&mdash;that is the Report, is it true or not?&mdash;May that God who has
+signally appear'd for us since the Commencement of our troubles,
+interpose, that no fatal or bad consequence may attend a dastardly
+Desertion of his Cause.</p>
+
+<p>I want much to have a more minute Acct. of the situation of the
+Camp than I have been able to obtain. I rely wholly on you for
+information.</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+Your&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
+<span class="smcap">G. Saltonstall.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>To explain some of Saltonstal's references to the feelings of some of
+the Connecticut troops, we quote from Captain Hale's diary of October
+23:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"10 o'clock went to Cambridge with Field commission officers to
+General Putman to let him know the state of the Regiment and that
+it was through ill usage upon the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> Score of Provisions that they
+would not extend their term of service to the 1st of January 1776."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Other letters to Hale from New London friends, among them one from an
+officer absent on furlough, speak freely of the anxieties of those
+watching the progress of the reënlistments, and the home reception that
+would be given to any leaving the army.</p>
+
+<p>Another letter from Saltonstall reads as follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class="author">
+<span class="smcap">New London</span> Decr. 18th 1775</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Dr.</span> <span class="smcap">Sir</span>....<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>I wholly agree with you in y<sup>e.</sup> agreables of a Camp Life, and
+should have try'd it in some Capacity or other before now, could my
+Father carry on his Business without me. I proposed going with
+Dudley, who is appointed to Commn. a Twenty-Gun Ship in the
+Continental Navy, but my Father is not willing, and I can't
+persuade myself to leave him in the eve of Life against his
+consent....</p>
+
+<p>Yesterday week the Town was in the greatest confusion imaginable;
+Women wringing their Hands along Street, Children crying, Carts
+loaded 'till nothing more would stick on, posting out of Town,
+empty ones driving in, one Person running this way, another that,
+some dull, some vex'd, more pleased, some flinging up an
+Intrenchment, some at the Fort preparing ye Guns for Action, Drums
+beating, Fifes playing; in short as great a Hubbub as at the
+confusion of Tongues; all of this occasioned by the appearance of a
+Ship and two Sloops off the Harbour, Suppos'd to be part of
+Wallace's Fleet,&mdash;When they were found to be Friends, Vessels from
+New Port with Passengers ye consternation abated....</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A postscript runs as follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>The young girls, B. Coit, S. and P. Belden [Hale's pupils] have
+frequently desired their Compliments to Master, but I've never
+thought of mentioning it till now. You must write something in your
+next by way of P.S. that I may shew it them.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Favored by copies of these letters by Saltonstall, one must regret all
+the more that so few of Hale's own letters have been discovered, ten
+being the limit. Within a comparatively short period, however, some
+sixty more records&mdash;mostly letters written to Hale&mdash;have come to light,
+preserved, as it is now seen, by the same "orderly care" that marked his
+interest in all the correspondence of his friends.</p>
+
+<p>In them are expressed, in letter after letter, the affectionate interest
+and warm admiration of the writers. It is now said that Hale kept these
+letters with him down to the date of his tragic mission. We can easily
+imagine the glow of satisfaction that must have filled his brotherly
+soul in the few spare moments he could devote to these letters.</p>
+
+<p>Brief extracts are made from his diary, fortunately preserved for
+evidence as to his work and growing interest in the duties he had
+entered upon. The diary was found in the camp-book brought to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> his
+family by Asher Wright, Hale's attendant in camp before he left New
+York.</p>
+
+<p>In the diary, under date of November 19, 1775, this entry is made:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>" ... Robert Latimer the Maj<sup>rs</sup> Son went to Roxbury to day on his
+way home. The Maj<sup>r</sup> who went there to day and ... return'd this
+even<sup>g</sup> b<sup>t</sup> ac<sup>ts</sup> that the <i>Asia</i> Man of War Station'd at N. York
+was taken by a Schooner arm'd with Spear's &amp;c.... This account not
+creditted."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>A month after the return from camp mentioned above, Robert Latimer wrote
+to Captain Hale, his former teacher, the following interesting and
+diverting letter:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Dr Sir</span>,</p>
+
+<p>As I think myself under the greatest obligations to you for your
+care and kindness to me, I should think myself very ungrateful if I
+neglected any oppertunity of expressing my gratitude to you for the
+same. And I rely on that goodness, I have so often experienc'd to
+overlook the deficiencies in my Letter, which I am sensible will be
+many as maturity of Judgment is wanting, and tho' I have been so
+happy as to be favour'd with your instructions, you can't Sir,
+expect a finish'd letter from one who has as yet practis'd but very
+little this way, especially with persons of your nice discernment.</p>
+
+<p>Sir, I have had the pleasure of hearing by the soldiers, which is
+come home, that you are in health, tho' likely to be deserted by
+all the men you carried down with you,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> which I am very sorry for,
+as I think no man of any spirit would desert a cause in which, we
+are all so deeply interested. I am sure was my Mammy willing I
+think I should prefer being with you, to all the pleasures which
+the company of my Relations Can afford me.</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+I am Sir with respect y<sup>r</sup> Sincere friend<br />
+&amp; very H'ble S<sup>t</sup><br />
+<span class="smcap">Rob't Latimer</span></p>
+
+<p>
+Dec<sup>br</sup> 20th 1775&mdash;<br />
+</p>
+
+<p style="margin-top: -1em;">P. S. My Mammy and aunt Lamb presents Complim<sup>ts</sup>. My Mammy would
+have wrote, but being very busy, tho't my writing would be
+sufficient&mdash;my respects to Cap<sup>t</sup> Hull. Addressed to Capt. Hale.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Here is a second letter from the same ardent friend of Captain Hale. His
+admiration for his former teacher is evident in every line.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class="author">
+<span class="smcap">New London</span>, March 5th 1776</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>,<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>as my letter meet with such kind reception from you, I still
+continue writing &amp; hope that the desire I have of improving, added
+to the pleasure, I take in hearing often from so good a friend,
+will sufficiently excuse me for writing so often&mdash;I Rec<sup>d</sup> your kind
+letter S<sup>r</sup> pr the post &amp; cant deny but your approbation, of my
+writing, gives me the greatest pleasure, &amp; should be afraid of its
+rais<sup>g</sup> my pride; did I not consider that your intention in praising
+my poor performance, must be with a design, of raising in me an
+ambition, to endeavour to deserve your praise&mdash;&amp; I hope that
+instructions convey'd in such an agreeable manner, will not, be
+thrown away upon me&mdash;You write S<sup>r</sup> that you have got another Fifer,
+&amp; a very good one too, as I hear.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> Which I am very Glad to hear,
+tho' I sincerely wish I was in his Place&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Have not any News.</p>
+
+<p>
+So will Conclude&mdash;I am S<sup>r</sup><br />
+with Respect Y<sup>r</sup> friend &amp; S't,</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+<span class="smcap">Robert Latimer</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+P. S. My Mammy &amp; Aunt<br />
+Present Comp<sup>ts</sup> &amp;c&mdash;<br />
+<br />
+<span class="smcap">Capt. Hale.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Only one thought dims the pleasure with which we read these two
+letters,&mdash;the consciousness of the depth of distress that must have
+filled that loyal boy's heart to overflowing when he learned of the
+tragic death of his hero friend.</p>
+
+<p>Two notable records from Captain Hale's diary are these:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>November 6. It is of the utmost importance that an officer should
+be anxious to know his duty, but of greater that he should
+carefully perform what he does know. The present irregular state of
+the army is owing to a capital neglect in both of these.</p>
+
+<p>November 7. Studied ye best method of forming a Reg't for a review,
+of arraying the Companies, also of marching round ye reviewing
+Officer. A man ought never to lose a moment's time. If he put off a
+thing from one minute to the next, his reluctance is but increased.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Later in November, when the men in his company were unwilling to
+reënlist, this notable entry was made, signed with his full name:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p>
+
+<blockquote><p>28, Tuesday. Promised the men if they would tarry another month,
+they should have my wages for that time.</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+<span class="smcap">Nathan Hale.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>These brief quotations, proving as they do Hale's intense devotion to
+duty, and his practical efforts to hold his men to their duty, show how
+clearly he understood the tremendous responsibility resting upon the
+commander-in-chief as given in Washington's own words in letters to
+friends and to Congress, soon to be quoted; and that, known or unknown
+to Washington, there were men among his officers fully aware of the
+condition of the army, and as anxious to serve it as was their
+magnificent leader.</p>
+
+<p>We here quote from Washington's letters; the first one was written to a
+friend:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>I know the unhappy predicament in which I stand; I know that much
+is expected of me; I know that without men, without arms, without
+ammunition, without anything fit for the accommodation of a
+soldier, little is to be done, and what is mortifying, I know that
+I cannot stand justified to the world without exposing my own
+weakness, and injuring the cause, by declaring my wants which I am
+determined not to do farther than unavoidable necessity brings
+every man acquainted with them. My situation is so irksome to me at
+times, that if I did not consult the public good more than my own
+tranquillity, I should long ere this have put everything on the
+cast of a die. So far<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> from my having an army of twenty thousand
+men, well armed, I have been here with less than half that number,
+including sick, furloughed, and on command; and those neither armed
+nor clothed as they should be. In short, my situation has been
+such, that I have been obliged to conceal it from my own officers.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The second letter was written to Congress:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>To make men well acquainted with the duties of a soldier, requires
+time. To bring them under proper discipline and subordination, not
+only requires time, but is a work of great difficulty; and in this
+army where there is so little distinction between officers and
+soldiers, requires an uncommon degree of attention. To expect,
+then, the same service from raw and undisciplined recruits, as from
+veteran soldiers, is to expect what never did, and perhaps never
+will happen.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>On the 23d of December, 1775, Hale began his first and only trip to
+Connecticut for the sake of securing additional enlistments. If on this
+one visit home he became engaged&mdash;as some have believed&mdash;to the woman he
+had so long loved, now a widow of about nineteen, Alice Adams Ripley, we
+may infer that love brightened his embassy even though patriotism
+inspired it. No record remains of the glorified hours he may have spent
+in Coventry. We have good reason to believe that, if he survived the
+war, he expected to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> marry the woman he had so faithfully loved. After a
+few brief days in his home, he left it, never to return, speeding on his
+way to serve his country's needs.</p>
+
+<p>If this new zest entered his life at this time, we can easily imagine as
+he fared on, striving to arouse his countrymen to their duty as
+patriots, that the happiest hours of his life were urging him forward to
+the most perfect service he could render in the present, and to
+unlimited hopes and ambitions for the future he might well expect was
+awaiting him. Crowned by human love, and with unlimited opportunities to
+serve his country, who can tell by what "vision splendid" he was "on his
+way attended"? Who can help rejoicing that such days, brief as they
+were, and uplifting as they must have been, were given to this man, now
+past twenty?</p>
+
+<p>Details concerning that trip are scanty. We know for a certainty that,
+starting from camp December 23, 1775, he returned to it the last week in
+January, 1776, having been in New London and other places seeking
+recruits, and going back with the recruits he himself had secured,
+joined by others coming from the various towns in Connecticut, and all
+heading toward the camp around Boston.</p>
+
+<p>He received his commission as captain in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> new army in January, being
+still in Colonel Webb's regiment, which now became the Nineteenth of the
+Continental Army. For a few weeks he followed the routine of his earlier
+months there, doing all that was possible to assist his brother officers
+in perfecting the discipline of the raw troops, deepening their
+patriotism, and proving himself a soldier as devoid of fear as he was
+rich in all manly qualities. Not a word of regret can be found in his
+diary. Acknowledging in a letter to a former pupil, Miss Betsey
+Christophers of New London, that the novelty and glamour of camp life
+had worn off, he asserts, with intense ardor, that nothing would tempt
+him to "accept a furlough" or shrink in any manner from any of his
+duties as a soldier. And so the weeks passed on.</p>
+
+<p>During the winter heavy cannon from Fort Ticonderoga had been brought
+through the snows over the Green Mountains. The cannon were placed on
+Dorchester Heights which commanded the British camp, thus compelling the
+British general to choose between attacking the American army and
+evacuating the city. In a letter written in April, 1776, to his
+half-brother, John Augustine, Washington wrote thus regarding this time:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>The enemy ... apprehending great annoyance from our new works,
+resolved upon a retreat, and accordingly,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> on the 17th (March)
+embarked in as much hurry, precipitation and confusion as ever
+troops did ... leaving the King's property in Boston to the amount,
+as is supposed, of thirty or forty thousand pounds in provisions
+and stores.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Washington's victory in this maneuver, his first great success,
+tremendously cheered the hearts of all patriotic Americans. Congress
+gave him a vote of thanks, also a gold medal&mdash;"the first in the history
+of independent America"&mdash;in commemoration of the event. Here again we
+catch a glimpse of the delight that must have thrilled the hearts of all
+his officers, not least among them that of Nathan Hale. But Washington,
+proving himself in these earlier events, as he was to, year after year,
+through successive discouragements, "the first in war," turned toward
+New York as his next base.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Hale's Zeal as a Soldier</span></h3>
+
+
+<p>In the letter just quoted, Washington wrote further:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"Whither they [the enemy] are now bound,... I know not, but as New
+York and Hudson's River are the most important objects they can
+have in view ... therefore as soon as they embarked, I detached a
+brigade of six regiments to that government and when they sailed
+another brigade composed of the same number, and tomorrow another
+brigade of five regiments will march. In a day or two more, I shall
+follow myself, and be in New York ready to receive all but the
+first."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Uncertain as to his power to hold New York, Washington promptly took the
+next step that appeared open to him, carrying in his heart a heavy
+weight of care, and realizing, as perhaps no other man did, that only
+divine assistance could give him final success. He was bent upon a
+desperate mission, but to it, with sublime patience, he gave every
+energy of his masterly mind, and the entire consecration of all that he
+possessed.</p>
+
+<p>Well was it for him that the power which con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>trols nations was quietly
+working with him. Well, also, that in his army were men ready for any
+enterprise of danger, for any sacrifice that duty might demand.</p>
+
+<p>Washington proceeded to New York, to ultimate victory, to final and
+permanent fame. Nathan Hale went also, simply as a captain of a
+Connecticut company,&mdash;he not to victory, not to immediate fame, but to
+something higher in one sense than either victory or fame, and to a
+service well worth a man's doing.</p>
+
+<p>Nathan Hale belonged to the first brigade dispatched to New York&mdash;that
+of General Heath. After rapid marching, considering the state of the
+roads, "Hale found himself" (March 26th) "for the third time" among his
+New London friends. The next day they "embarked in high spirits on
+fifteen transports and sailed for New York." On March 30th the troops
+"disembarked at Turtle Bay, a convenient landing place" near what is now
+East 45th Street. Not far from that spot, within six months, Nathan Hale
+was to win a victory that time can never dim, even if, for a time, it
+appeared to have covered his memory with a pall. But in that landing-day
+no shadows were apparent,&mdash;only hope, and the zest inevitable in a
+soldier's life.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A minor honor was soon to come to Nathan Hale. Late in 1775 Enoch Hale
+was licensed to preach. In the summer of 1776 he attended Commencement
+at New Haven, from July 23 to 26. He makes note in his diary of friends
+and classmates whom he saw; also that he obtained the degree of Master
+of Arts for Nathan and himself. Of the latter his record is, "Write to
+brother to tell him I have got him his degree."</p>
+
+<p>One or two more letters of Hale are extant from which only partial
+extracts have been made. One that was written on the 3d of June, 1776,
+we give with more fullness, omitting only some unimportant clauses. This
+letter has especial value as an illustration of the fact that most of us
+now and then have received letters that seemed casual in themselves, but
+have, to our surprise and often to our deep sadness, proved to be
+farewell letters.</p>
+
+<p>It is not probable that, in the hurried days that followed, further
+messages were sent to his grandmother, to his former pastor and
+beloved teacher, Mr. Huntington, and to his sister Rose and her family.
+In the late autumn of 1776, after they had learned his fate, and in the
+years that followed, one can easily imagine how precious seemed these
+appreciative words, embalming as it were the abiding affection of the
+man who wrote them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> Hale's reference to "the Doctor" also recalls the
+fact that, from the immediate family of Deacon Richard Hale, five
+men&mdash;three sons, one stepson, and one son-in-law (Surgeon Rose)&mdash;entered
+the Revolutionary Army; one son dying in 1776, one son in 1784, his
+health having been ruined while in the service, and one son in 1802, his
+life perhaps shortened by his exposures. Whatever else may have been
+lacking in that one family, patriotism certainly was not deficient,&mdash;the
+patriotism that does not count the cost to one's self, but the gain to
+one's country.</p>
+
+<p>The following is the letter referred to, written to his brother Enoch:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+<span class="smcap">Dear Brother</span>,</p>
+<p class="author">
+<span class="smcap">New York</span> June 3d 1776<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Your Favour of the 9th of May and another written at Norwich I have
+received&mdash;the first mentioned one the 19th of May ult.</p>
+
+<p>You complain of my neglecting you&mdash;It is not, I acknowledge, wholly
+without reason&mdash;at the same time I am conscious to have written to
+you more than once or twice within this half year. Perhaps my
+letters have miscarried.</p>
+
+<p>Continuance or removal here depends wholly upon the operations of
+the war.</p>
+
+<p>It gives pleasure to every friend of his country to observe the
+health which prevails in our army. Dr. Eli (Surgeon of our Regt.)
+told me a few days since, there was not a man in our Regt. but
+might upon occasion go out with his Firelock. Much the same is said
+of other Regiments.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The army is improving in discipline, and it is hoped will soon be
+able to meet the enemy at any kind of play. My company which at
+first was small, is now increased to eighty and there is a sergeant
+recruiting who, I hope, has got the other ten which completes the
+company. We are hardly able to judge as to the numbers the British
+army for the Summer is to consist of&mdash;undoubtedly sufficient to
+cause us too much bloodshed.</p>
+
+<p>I had written you a complete letter in answer to your last, but
+missed the opportunity of sending it.</p>
+
+<p>This will find you in Coventry&mdash;if so remember me to all my
+friends&mdash;particularly belonging to the Family. Forget not
+frequently to visit and strongly to represent my duty to our good
+Grandmother Strong. Has she not repeatedly favored us with her
+tender, most important advice? The natural Tie is sufficient, but
+increased by so much goodness, our gratitude cannot be too
+sensible.</p>
+
+<p>I always with respect remember Mr. Huntington and shall write to
+him if time admits. Pay Mr. Wright a visit for me. Tell him Asher
+is well&mdash;he has for some time lived with me as a waiter.... Asher
+this moment told me that our brother Joseph Adams was here
+yesterday to see me, when I happened to be out of the way. He is in
+Col. Parson's Regt. I intend to see him to-day and if possible by
+exchanging get him into my company.</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+Yours affectionately.<br />
+<span class="smcap">N. Hale.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>P. S. Sister Rose talked of making me some Linen cloth similar to
+Brown Holland for Summer wear. If she has made it, desire her to
+keep it for me. My love to her, the Doctor, and little Joseph.</p></blockquote><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>As Washington had supposed probable, the English decided upon the
+occupation of New York. In July and August the largest army ever
+collected in one body upon the American continent prior to 1861, an
+English army numbering nearly thirty-two thousand men, with a formidable
+fleet and large munitions of war, gathered at Staten Island. Washington,
+in the meantime, was occupying a portion of Brooklyn and a portion of
+the city of New York, fortifying each place and preparing to defend it
+to the extent of his ability with his small army, never so well fed nor
+so thoroughly disciplined as that of the British.</p>
+
+<p>Human wisdom would have assumed that the British army would soon succeed
+in restoring English control; but the best-laid plans miscarry, and a
+power interposes that helps the weaker and hinders the stronger army.</p>
+
+<p>The English did their best to be ready for the coming conflict, and we
+know that Washington spared no pains in preparing for the worst that
+might come.</p>
+
+<p>On August 20, Nathan Hale wrote the following letter to his brother
+Enoch&mdash;the last letter that he ever wrote, so far as we know, to reach
+its destination. It shows that his heart was absorbed in the duties of
+the conflict he was sharing, and it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> also shows how wholly he was
+leaving the ultimate issue to a higher power.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class="author">
+<span class="smcap">New York</span>, August 20, 1776.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Dear Brother.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>I have only time for a hasty letter. Our situation this fortnight
+or more has been such as scarce to admit of writing. We have daily
+expected an action&mdash;by which means, if any one was going and we had
+letters written, orders were so strict for our tarrying in camp
+that we could rarely get leave to go and deliver them. For about 6
+or 8 days the enemy have been expected hourly, whenever the wind
+and tide in the least favored. We keep a particular lookout for
+them this morning. The place and manner of our attack time must
+determine. The event we leave to Heaven. Thanks to God! We have had
+time for completing our works and receiving our reinforcements. The
+Militia of Connecticut ordered this way are mostly arrived. Col.
+Ward's Regiment has got in. Troops from the southward are daily
+coming. We hope under God to give account of the enemy whenever
+they choose to make the last appeal.</p>
+
+<p>Last Friday night, two of our fire vessels (a Sloop and Schooner)
+made an attempt upon the shipping up the river. The night was too
+dark, the wind too slack for the attempt. The Schooner which was
+intended for one of the Ships had got by before she discovered
+them; but as Providence would have it, she run athwart a
+bomb-catch, which she quickly burned. The Sloop by the light of the
+former discovered the <i>Ph[oe]nix</i>&mdash;but rather too late&mdash;however she
+made shift to grapple her, but the wind not proving sufficient to
+bring her close alongside, or drive the flames immediately on
+board, the <i>Ph[oe]nix</i> after much difficulty got her clear by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>
+cutting her own rigging. Sergt. Fosdick, who commanded the above
+sloop, and four of his hands were of my company, the remaining two
+were of this Regt. The Genl. has been pleased to reward their
+bravery with forty Dollars each, except the last man that quitted
+the fire-sloop who had fifty. Those on board the Schooner received
+the same.</p>
+
+<p>I must write to some of my other brothers lest you should not be at
+home. Remain</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+Your friend &amp;c<br />
+<span class="smcap">Brother Na. Hale.</span></p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">Mr. Enoch Hale.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Aside from this letter, the following brief quotations from his diary
+are all that remain to us in the handwriting of Nathan Hale. Till he
+lays down his pen for the last time we see him absorbed in the cares and
+duties of the life about him, fearlessly facing whatever remains to him
+of life and service.</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>Aug. 21st. Heavy storm at Night. Much and heavy Thunder. Capt. Van
+Wyke, and a Lieut, and Ens. of Colo. McDougall's Regt. killed by a
+Shock. Likewise one man in town, belonging to a Militia Regt. of
+Connecticut. The Storm continued for two or three hours, for the
+greatest part of which time [there] was a perpetual Lightning, and
+the sharpest I ever knew.</p>
+
+<p>22d. Thursday. The enemy landed some troops down at the Narrows on
+Long Island.</p>
+
+<p>23d. Friday. Enemy landed more troops&mdash;News that they had marched
+up and taken Station near Flatbush, their advce Gds [advance
+guards] being on this side near the Woods&mdash;that some of our
+Rifle-men attacked and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> drove them back from their post, burnt 2
+stacks of hay, and it was thought killed some of them&mdash;this about
+12 O'clock at Night. Our troops attacked them at their station near
+Flatb. [Flatbush], routed and drove them back 1&frac12; mile.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>One of the facts most perplexing to General Washington was what appeared
+to be Sir William Howe's delay in making an attack. Indeed, to an
+outsider unfamiliar with military tactics, Howe's conduct resembles the
+cruel pleasure a cat sometimes takes in tormenting a mouse that it knows
+cannot escape. The uncertainty as to what the next British move might be
+caused much anxiety. Remembering that Howe's force had arrived the last
+of June, one sees how leisurely must have been his preparations for
+attack, and how assured his hope of victory.</p>
+
+<p>The expected attack occurred on August 27. The Americans were defeated
+and driven within their works, their losses being great, especially in
+prisoners. The Nineteenth Regiment was held in reserve, but Captain Hull
+wrote that they were near enough to witness the carnage among their
+fellow-soldiers.</p>
+
+<p>The night after the battle the enemy encamped within a few hundred yards
+of the defeated Americans. On the 29th Washington decided upon a retreat
+to New York, and it was effected that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> night. If the English had
+suspected that the Americans were withdrawing their forces from
+Brooklyn, it is easy to imagine the carnage that would have ensued. So
+great was Washington's anxiety at this time that he is said not to have
+slept during forty-eight hours, and rarely to have dismounted from his
+horse.</p>
+
+<p>One account of the retreat is as follows: "A disadvantageous wind and
+rain at first prevented the troops from embarking, and it was feared
+that the retreat could not be effected that night. But about eleven
+o'clock a favorable breeze sprung up, the tide turned in the right
+direction, and about two o'clock in the morning, a thick fog arose which
+hung over Long Island, while on the New York side it was clear. During
+the night, the whole American army, nine thousand in number, Washington
+embarking last of all, with all the artillery, such heavy ordnance as
+was of any value, ammunition, provision, cattle, horses, carts, and
+everything of importance, passed safely over.</p>
+
+<p>"All this was effected without the knowledge of the British, although
+the enemy were so nigh that they were heard at work with their pickaxes
+and shovels. In half an hour after the lines were finally abandoned, the
+fog cleared off and the enemy were seen taking possession of the
+American works. One<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> boat on the river, ... within reach of the enemy's
+fire, was obliged to return; she had only three men in her, who had
+loitered behind to plunder."</p>
+
+<p>That opportune appearance of the fog must have seemed, to more than one
+devout heart, as helpful as some of the remarkable interpositions of
+Providence described in the old Biblical stories.</p>
+
+<p>Hale's company, with its many seamen, rendered effective service in this
+passage from Long Island. Every student of history, and especially of
+military history, can recall certain decisive hours in momentous battles
+when some utterly unforeseen event has entirely changed the face of
+affairs, and given the victory into unexpected hands; thus, a mistake in
+the understanding of a phrase used by his captors made André a prisoner,
+and saved the capture of West Point by the English; while Waterloo,
+Gettysburg, and many another decisive battle has hinged on seeming
+chance,&mdash;chance truly, if there is no power working for righteousness
+among the affairs of nations.</p>
+
+<p>The position of the American army, however, now appeared more perilous
+than ever. Two war vessels had moved up the East River and were followed
+by others. Active movements among the British troops were reported by
+all the scouts, but the enemy's designs could not be penetrated.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">A Perilous Service</span></h3>
+
+
+<p>Writing of these events afterward, Captain Hull said, "It was evident
+that the superior force of the British would soon give them possession
+of New York. The Commander-in-chief, therefore, took a position at Fort
+Washington at the other end of the island. To ascertain the further
+object of the enemy was now a subject of anxious inquiry with General
+Washington."</p>
+
+<p>In a letter to General Heath at this crisis Washington wrote as follows:
+"As everything in a manner depends upon obtaining intelligence of the
+enemy's motions, I do most earnestly entreat you and General Clinton to
+exert yourselves to accomplish this most desirable end. Leave no stone
+unturned, nor do not stick at expense, to bring this to pass, as I never
+was more uneasy than on account of my want of knowledge on this score."</p>
+
+<p>Johnston, in his valuable "Life of Nathan Hale," says: "If he
+[Washington] had been anxious to fathom Howe's plans before the latter
+began the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> campaign from Staten Island, he was infinitely more so now.
+It was not enough to keep a ceaseless watch across the East river....
+Like every other commander in history, all through the contest he came
+to depend much on intelligence gained through the 'secret service.'"</p>
+
+<p>Stuart, the earliest reliable biographer of Hale, in writing of spies
+says: "The exigency of the American army which we have just described,
+would not permit the employment, in the service proposed, of any
+ordinary soldier, unpracticed in military observation and without skill
+as a draughtsman,&mdash;least of all of the common mercenary, to whom,
+allured by the hope of a large reward, such tasks are usually assigned.
+Accurate estimates of the numbers of the enemy, of their distribution,
+of the form and position of their various encampments, of their
+marchings and countermarchings, of the concentration at one point or
+another, of the instruments of war, but more than all of their plan of
+attack, as derived from the open report or the unguarded whispers in
+camp of officers or men,&mdash;estimates of all these things, requiring a
+quick eye, a cool head, a practical pencil, military science, general
+intelligence, and pliable address, were to be made. The common soldier
+would not answer the purpose, and the mercenary might yield to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>
+higher seductions of the enemy, and betray his employers."</p>
+
+<p>During the war with the French and Indians, American officers had
+learned the need of trained men who could keep the commanders informed
+both of the movements and of the plans of the opposing forces.
+Washington had learned this unforgetable lesson in Braddock's campaign,
+and, as full commander and wholly responsible not only for the immediate
+safety but for the future success of his little army, he realized the
+necessity of obtaining the most accurate information possible.</p>
+
+<p>A corps collected from the best men in the army was organized, and its
+command was given to Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Knowlton. He had gained
+experience as a ranger in the French and Indian War, and was noted for
+his coolness, skill, and bravery at Bunker Hill. One hundred and fifty
+men and twenty officers were considered sufficient for the work assigned
+to this special corps, known as Knowlton's Rangers. They were divided
+into four companies. Two of the captains of these men were chosen from
+Knowlton's own regiment; the other two&mdash;one of them Nathan Hale&mdash;were
+from other companies. There can be little doubt that Nathan Hale was
+proud of his enrollment in this brave corps.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>After Hale's services were ended, one brief record remained of "moneys
+due to the Company of Rangers commanded late by Captain Hale." After the
+1st of September, about which time this company of Rangers was
+organized, it was constantly on duty wherever its services were
+required, and one can easily imagine Nathan Hale's enthusiasm in his
+enlarged duties.</p>
+
+<p>Knowlton spoke to some of his officers of the wishes of the commanding
+general for some one to enter upon this special secret service,&mdash;wishes
+that so appealed to Hale that he at once seriously considered offering
+himself for the hazardous undertaking.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Hull, two years his senior in age, and one year in advance of
+him in Yale, a close friend while in college and during their subsequent
+days, shall describe the personal interview between himself and Captain
+Hale in regard to this matter. It is said that many remonstrated with
+Hale at his decision, but Hull's statement shows the arguments of a
+practical man against which Hale had to contend.</p>
+
+<p>In his memoirs Captain Hull writes thus of his last interview with
+Captain Hale:</p>
+
+<p>"After his interview with Col. Knowlton, he repaired to my quarters and
+informed me of what had passed. He remarked 'I think I owe to my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>
+country the accomplishment of an object so important, and so much
+desired by the commander of her armies&mdash;and I know of no other mode of
+obtaining the information than by assuming a disguise and passing into
+the enemy's camp.'</p>
+
+<p>"He asked my candid opinion. I replied that it was an act which involved
+serious consequences, and the propriety of it was doubtful; and though
+he viewed the business of a spy as a duty, yet he could not officially
+be required to perform it; that such a service was not claimed of the
+meanest soldier, though many might be willing, for a pecuniary
+compensation, to engage in it; and as for himself, the employment was
+not in keeping with his character. His nature was too frank and open for
+deceit and disguise, and he was incapable of acting a part equally
+foreign to his feelings and habits. Admitting that he was successful,
+who would wish success at such a price? Did his country demand the moral
+degradation of her sons, to advance her interests?</p>
+
+<p>"Stratagems are resorted to in war; they are feints and evasions,
+performed under no disguise; are familiar to commanders; form a part of
+their plans, and, considered in a military view, lawful and
+advantageous. The tact with which they are executed exacts admiration
+from the enemy. But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> who respects the character of a spy, assuming the
+garb of friendship but to betray? The very death assigned him is
+expressive of the estimation in which he is held. As soldiers, let us do
+our duty in the field; contend for our legitimate rights, and not stain
+our honor by the sacrifice of integrity. And when present events, with
+all their deep and exciting interests, shall have passed away, may the
+blush of shame never arise, by the remembrance of an unworthy though
+successful act, in the performance of which we were deceived by the
+belief that it was sanctioned by its object. I ended by saying that,
+should he undertake the enterprise, his short, bright career would close
+with an ignominious death.</p>
+
+<p>"He replied, 'I am fully sensible of the consequences of discovery and
+capture in such a situation. But for a year I have been attached to the
+army, and have not rendered any material service, while receiving a
+compensation for which I make no return. Yet,' he continued, 'I am not
+influenced by the expectation of promotion or pecuniary reward. I wish
+to be useful, and every kind of service necessary for the public good,
+becomes honorable by being necessary. If the exigencies of my country
+demand a peculiar service, its claims to perform that service are
+imperative!'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"He spoke with warmth and decision. I replied, 'That such are your
+wishes cannot be doubted. But is this the most effectual mode of
+carrying them into execution? In the progress of the war there will be
+ample opportunity to give your talents and your life, should it be so
+ordered, to the sacred cause to which we are pledged. You can bestow
+upon your country the richest benefits, and win for yourself the highest
+honours. Your exertions for her interests will be daily felt, while, by
+one fatal act, you crush forever the power and opportunity Heaven offers
+for her glory and your happiness.'</p>
+
+<p>"I urged him for the love of country, for the love of kindred, to
+abandon an enterprise which would only end in the sacrifice of the
+dearest interests of both. He paused&mdash;then affectionately taking my
+hand, he said, 'I will reflect, and do nothing but what duty demands.'
+He was absent from the army, and I feared he had gone to the British
+lines to execute his fatal purpose."</p>
+
+<p>Just how soon after this conversation Captain Hale left camp on his
+perilous mission, cannot now be determined. We only know that it must
+have been early in September, during the first week or ten days. He
+proceeded with Sergeant Hempstead by the safest route, and reached
+Nor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>walk before finding a place to cross Long Island Sound.</p>
+
+<p>Sergeant Hempstead alone has furnished the few details of Captain Hale's
+final preparations. He had decided to assume civilian's dress, probably
+that of an educated man seeking employment as tutor among the Americans
+still living in New York. Hempstead says he was dressed in a brown suit
+of citizen's clothes, with a round, broad-brimmed hat. On parting he
+gave Hempstead his private papers and letters, and his silver
+shoebuckles, to take care of for him.</p>
+
+<p>It is, we think, not an undue inference that the letters and private
+papers he left in Hempstead's care were all to be sent to his family.
+These doubtless included personal letters to them, for no man such as we
+know Nathan Hale to have been would have faced a journey from which he
+might never return without some words of explanation, and possible
+farewell, to those he loved at home. There is one fact that all who
+believe in the sanctity of personal confidences and possible farewells
+will be glad to remember,&mdash;that not one private word from Nathan Hale to
+Alice Adams Ripley, or from her to him, has ever been exploited to
+satisfy the curiosity of those who have no right to share it.</p>
+
+<p>Hempstead left Captain Hale, who, now fully<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> committed to his hazardous
+quest, set forth on the armed sloop <i>Schuyler</i> with Captain Pond&mdash;one of
+the captains in the 19th Regiment&mdash;in command, across the Sound to Long
+Island. When he landed Captain Hale said farewell to the last American
+friend he was to be with, so far as we have any record.</p>
+
+<p>Assuming that he reached this point on or near the 15th of September,
+one or two other facts suggest themselves. It is known that the
+Declaration of Independence had been carried to the American camp as
+early as possible after its announcement in July, had been read to the
+troops assembled for that purpose, and had been received with unbounded
+enthusiasm. It is probable that both Colonel Knowlton, later in command
+of the Rangers, and Captain Hale, one of its officers, were present at
+that reading and joined in the huzzas. Singularly enough, neither one of
+these two men was a citizen of the United States for three months.</p>
+
+<p>Two months later Colonel Knowlton fell in the battle of Harlem Heights,
+on September 16th, six days before Nathan Hale's execution. Knowlton's
+last words are said to have been, "I do not care for my life, if we do
+but win the day."</p>
+
+<p>From the moment of his leaving New York, the mind of such a man as
+Nathan Hale must have had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> solemn foreshadowings of the possible result,
+of the tremendous risk he was facing. Men do not grow old by the passing
+of years so much as by the endurance of great experiences, and in the
+few brief days that were left to Nathan Hale we know really nothing of
+his whereabouts, of what risks he ran, of how often he barely escaped
+recognition as a spy, where he slept, of any possible friends whom he
+may have encountered, or of any moment when his very life seemed to hang
+on the accidental glance of an enemy's eye.</p>
+
+<p>Finally dawned the 21st of September. Hale had fully accomplished his
+mission.</p>
+
+<p>There are conflicting accounts as to what occurred on the last evening
+of Nathan Hale's life, some going into minute details of occurrences
+that were assumed to have taken place. One with considerable
+plausibility says that, as the time had elapsed which he had expected to
+spend among the British (at the end of which time a boat was to be sent
+across the Sound for him), Hale, having finished his quest, had entered
+a tavern kept by a certain widow Chichester. She was a stanch friend of
+the Tories, and her house was the constant resort of Tories and British
+men and officers. While Hale was sitting in the tavern, apparently at
+his ease among the men there assembled, some one passed him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> whose face
+he thought familiar,&mdash;a man who glanced at him sharply and then passed
+from the room. Later it was said to have been his own cousin who
+betrayed him. Fortunately, there is not a word of truth in the
+assertion.</p>
+
+<p>Although Deacon Hale writes that his son was undoubtedly betrayed by
+some one, it appears to have been effectually disproved that he was
+betrayed by a relative&mdash;a cousin who, it is stated, had never seen him,
+and therefore could not have recognized him. A much more probable rumor
+is that he was recognized by a loyalist woman who might easily have seen
+him before the American army retreated farther north on the island, and
+been impressed by his personal appearance and by his prowess in kicking
+the football over the trees in the Bowery. This feat Hale is said to
+have performed.</p>
+
+<p>The report goes on to say that a man suddenly entered saying that a boat
+was approaching, and that Hale, supposing this boat to have been sent
+for him, at once left the room and went to the shore. If there is any
+truth in this narrative, it is very possible that here Hale committed
+his one indiscretion. In his joy at seeing the friends who had been sent
+for him, he may have uttered words of such joyous welcome that the
+officer who heard<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> them must have known that this was some one expecting
+a boat, and presumably a boat from the opposite shore. At all events, it
+is stated that Hale, seeing his mistake when several marines presented
+their guns, turned to fly, stopping only when told by the officer to
+stand or be shot. These events are said to have taken place at
+Huntington, Long Island, about forty miles from New York.</p>
+
+<p>But more than a century after Hale's death a British Orderly Book was
+found, containing the statement, dated September 22d, 1776, that
+follows:</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;">
+<img src="images/illus-082.jpg" width="650" height="246" alt="" title="See footnote 1" />
+
+</div>
+
+
+<blockquote><p><b>Footnote [1]</b> A spy fm the Enemy (by his own full Confession) Apprehended
+Last night, was this day Executed at 11 o'clock in front of the Artilery
+Park.
+</p><p>
+From an Orderly Book of the British Guard. Reproduced from the original
+in possession of the New York Historical Society.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>This, with other knowledge obtained about the position of the ship by
+whose crew he was said to have been taken, gives reason for believing
+that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> the arrest was not made at Huntington by the crew of that ship,
+but in the city of New York. The order proves also that, once
+apprehended, he made not the slightest attempt at concealment, nor any
+effort to escape his doom. The information gained by Hale's brother
+Enoch in New York supports this belief as to his capture.</p>
+
+<p>All that we actually know is, that he was captured while attempting to
+make his way back to his friends, and that this must have been the
+sharpest moment in his experience. Before it, he had hopes of escape;
+after his capture he knew that his doom was certain, and his splendid
+soul adapted itself quietly and bravely to the inevitable.</p>
+
+<p>That fatal night&mdash;the night of the 21st of September&mdash;was in many
+respects the most terrible that New York has ever passed through. A fire
+had broken out near the docks at two in the morning, and was spreading
+with fearful rapidity toward the upper part of the city, the blaze
+carried northward by a strong breeze. It looked at one time as if
+nothing could stop the conflagration, and that the whole city would be
+destroyed.</p>
+
+<p>For a time the enemy believed that the Americans had deliberately set
+fire to their own city in order to expel the hated British. Later this
+was found to be untrue, as the fire proved to have started in a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> low
+drinking house where several coarse fellows were carousing. The fire
+swept on, destroying more than five hundred houses, one fifth of all the
+buildings then in the city, and was stopped only near Barclay Street by
+a sudden sharp change in the wind, which blew the fire southward toward
+the already burning district.</p>
+
+<p>Report says that the provost marshal was given authority by Howe to
+dispose summarily, without the delay of a trial, of any Americans found
+rushing about the burning buildings, assuming, of course, that they were
+intent on the destruction of more buildings, rather than on the natural
+desire of saving what they could of their own property; and that as a
+result of this authority, more than one hapless householder was thrown
+into his own burning home.</p>
+
+<p>Up to this point, the early or late evening of the 21st, there is more
+or less of unsolvable mystery in regard to Nathan Hale's movements; but
+from the memoirs of Captain William Hull, Nathan Hale's college friend
+and companion in arms, we have what appears to be unimpeachable evidence
+as to Hale's arrest and being brought to General Howe's headquarters. We
+quote from Captain Hull the information he received from an English
+officer through a flag of truce:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I learned the melancholy particulars from this officer, who was present
+at Hale's execution and seemed touched by the circumstances attending
+it. He said that Captain Hale had passed through their army, both of
+Long Island and [New] York Island. That he had procured sketches of the
+fortifications, and made memoranda of their number and different
+positions. When apprehended, he was taken before Sir William Howe, and
+these papers, found concealed about his person, betrayed his intentions.
+He at once declared his name, his rank in the American army, and his
+object in coming within the British lines.</p>
+
+<p>"Sir William Howe, without the form of a trial, gave orders for his
+execution the following morning. He was placed in the custody of the
+provost marshal. Captain Hale asked for a clergyman to attend him. His
+request was refused. He then asked for a Bible; that too was refused.</p>
+
+<p>"'On the morning of his execution,' continued the officer, 'my station
+was near the fatal spot, and I requested the provost marshal to permit
+the prisoner to sit in my marquee while he was making the necessary
+preparations. Captain Hale entered; he was calm, and bore himself with
+gentle dignity. He asked for writing materials, which I furnished him;
+he wrote two letters, one to his mother and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> one to a brother officer.
+He was shortly summoned to the gallows. But a few persons were around
+him.'"</p>
+
+<p>He was condemned to die in the early morning of the 22d, but in the
+confusion prevailing throughout the city on account of the spreading
+fire, at one time threatening the whole town, Provost Marshal Cunningham
+must have been that morning very fully occupied, and it was late in the
+forenoon before he completed his preparations for Hale's execution.</p>
+
+<p>At eleven o'clock Cunningham was ready, and, as it proved, Nathan Hale
+was ready also. Quietly standing among the few who had gathered to see
+him die, and it is said in response to a taunt from Cunningham that if
+he had any confession to make now was the time to make it, Hale
+responded, glancing briefly at Cunningham and then calmly at the faces
+about him, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my
+country."</p>
+
+<p>For once in his life Cunningham must have been astounded. With no plea
+for mercy, no shrinking from the worst that Cunningham could do, this
+man, still almost a boy in years, had shown himself utterly beyond his
+power&mdash;had lifted himself forever from the doom of a victim to the grand
+estate of a victor. One sharp, brief struggle and Nathan Hale was
+free&mdash;dead, but victorious!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Indefinite as are most of the details, there are some unwritten points
+that may confidently be assumed.</p>
+
+<p>That 22d of September was a Sabbath day, a day associated in Nathan
+Hale's mind with religious observances; prayers at the family altar,
+readings of the Bible, and gatherings of his friends within church
+walls. Whether or not his family knew the dangerous quest on which he
+had ventured, he knew that he was not absent from their memories, and
+that the family were bearing him in their thoughts that Sabbath morning.
+No other day could have made that assurance so real to him, and this
+thought was probably one of his strongest earthly consolations and
+inspirations while he was awaiting the slow but relentless preparations
+for his death.</p>
+
+<p>No wonder that he bore himself "calmly and with dignity," as Captain
+Montressor said of him. No wonder that he died bravely&mdash;seemingly
+without a tremor of soul. In his last words Nathan Hale, true and
+faithful in every relation and every act of his brief life, gave to his
+country more than his life, more than all the hopes he was relinquishing
+so freely for her sake. In one short, indomitable breath of patriotism,
+he uttered words that will be forgotten only when American history
+ceases to be read.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>William Cunningham, Provost Marshal of the English forces in America,
+murderer and inhuman jailer, would have laughed to scorn the idea that
+any being, human or divine, could preserve Nathan Hale's last words for
+the inspiration of coming generations, yet a kindly British officer,
+Captain John Montressor, carried them to Hale's friends.</p>
+
+<p>Cunningham has left a record of brutality unsurpassed in American
+history. He is himself said to have boasted that he had caused the death
+of two thousand American soldiers. We know that any reference to the
+prison ships in New York Harbor sets Cunningham before us as a cowardly
+murderer, starving men to death by depriving them of rations which the
+English supplied for them, and which he sold, pocketing the proceeds. He
+stands alone on a pedestal of infamy.</p>
+
+<p>The letters that Hale had written and left, as he hoped, to be delivered
+to his friends, Cunningham ruthlessly destroyed, giving as his reason
+that "the rebels should not know that they had a man in their army who
+could die with so much firmness." Though Hale's letters were destroyed,
+the English officer, John Montressor, aide to General Howe&mdash;a gentleman
+in whose presence we may safely assume that Cunningham, cowardly as all
+brutal men are, had not dared to maltreat Nathan<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> Hale as he was known
+to maltreat other prisoners&mdash;that very Sunday evening spoke of Hale's
+death to General Putnam and Captain Alexander Hamilton at the American
+outposts where he had been sent with a flag of truce by General Howe to
+arrange for an exchange of prisoners. More was learned when a flag of
+truce was sent two days later to the British lines by General
+Washington, in answer to the one on September 22. Two friends of Hale,
+Captain Hull and Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Webb, were among those who
+went with the flag.</p>
+
+<p>Through these flags of truce&mdash;and perhaps others&mdash;were obtained all the
+positive knowledge that Hale's friends were ever able to secure; but the
+unvarnished story, told by Captain Montressor, gave all that was
+essential to reveal to his friends his manly attitude when in the
+presence of General Howe, and his calmness and dignity when he was
+awaiting execution; while his last unpremeditated but immortal words, in
+reply to Cunningham's taunt, proved to all his friends that he had died
+as he had lived&mdash;a Christian patriot, and a hero.</p>
+
+<p>We may suppose that Nathan Hale himself had not the remotest idea that
+anything concerning his death would ever be made known to his friends
+save that, detected as a spy, he had died<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> as the penalty he had known
+would follow capture. The words spoken by Nathan Hale, as his last
+earthly thought, seem to prove that the thought, breathed from the
+depths of his fearless soul, shall live as long as pure patriotism
+thrills the souls of mortal men.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Grief for the Young Patriot</span></h3>
+
+
+<p>From Enoch Hale's diary, parts of which were first published by his
+famous grandson, Edward Everett Hale, we learn how the news reached the
+Hale family. Enoch writes as follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"September 30. Afternoon. Ride to Rev. Strong's [his uncle] Salmon
+Brook [Connecticut]. Hear a rumor that Capt. Hale, belonging to the
+east side of Connecticut River near Colchester, who was educated at
+College, was sentenced to hang in the enemy's lines at New York,
+being taken as a spy, or reconnoitering their camp. Hope it is
+without foundation. Something troubled at it. Sleep not very
+well.... October 15. Get a pass to ride to New York.... Accounts
+from my brother Captain are indeed melancholy! That about the
+second week of September, he went to Stamford, crossed to Long
+Island (Dr. Waldo writes) and had finished his plans, but before he
+could get off, was betrayed, taken, and hanged without ceremony....
+Some entertain hopes that all this is not true, but it is a gloomy,
+dejected hope. Time may determine. Conclude to go to the camp next
+week."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>He afterwards wrote that Webb, one of Washington's staff, brought word
+to Washington that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> Nathan Hale, "being suspected by his movements that
+he wanted to get out of New York, was taken up and examined by the
+general [Howe] and some minutes being found upon him, orders were
+immediately given that he should be hanged. When at the gallows, he
+spoke and told that he was a Capt. in the Continental army, by name
+Nathan Hale."</p>
+
+<p>To those who have experienced the long weeks of distressing anxiety that
+often fall to the lot of those whose friends are in battle, or carried
+prisoners to unknown camps, no words are needed to depict the anxiety
+among Nathan Hale's family until particulars of his noble death were
+finally learned.</p>
+
+<p>It is a solemn but perhaps a comforting fact, that the deepest human
+distress seems, after a few generations have passed, to have been "writ
+in water." Bitter as must have been those early sorrowful hours, the
+only later reminder of the tears that then flowed is given in the
+statement that one who had loved him could not speak of him fifty years
+later without tears in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Of how many wept for him we can form no conception. Indeed, we should
+have pitied any warmhearted girl or young man who knew him, and had
+shared his joyous young life, who could have heard of his tragic death
+without tears almost as bitter as for one intensely loved.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Duly Enoch Hale and his family learned all that ever will be known of
+the last days of their beloved, and now honored, dead.</p>
+
+<p>The following letter of Deacon Richard Hale's&mdash;good man and uncertain
+speller that he was!&mdash;was written to his brother Samuel at Portsmouth,
+New Hampshire, a few months after Nathan's death had become known:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+<span class="smcap">Dear Brother</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>I Rec<sup>d</sup> your favor of the 17<sup>th</sup> of February Last and rejoce to
+hear that you and your Famley ware well your obversation as to the
+Diffulty of the times is very just. so gloomey a day wee niver saw
+before but I trust our Cause is Just and for our Consolation in the
+times of greatest destress we have this to sopert us that their is
+a God that Jugeth in the earth if we can but take the comfort of
+it. as to our being far advanced in life if it do but serve to wean
+us from this presint troublesom world and stur us up to prepare for
+a world of peace and Rest it is well. the calls in Providance are
+loud to prepare to meet our God and O that he would prepare us. you
+desired me to inform you about my son Nathan you have doutless seen
+the Newberry Port paper that gives the acount of the conduct of our
+kinsman Sam<sup>ll</sup> Hale toard him in New York as to our kinsman being
+here in his way to York it is a mistake but as to his conduct tord
+my son at York Mr. Cleveland of Capepan first reported it near us I
+sopose when on his way from the Armey where he had been Chapling
+home as was Probley true betraie'd he doubtless was by somebody. he
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>was executed about the 22<sup>nd</sup> of September last by the aconts we
+have had. a child I sot much by but he is gone I think the second
+trial I ever met with. my 3<sup>rd</sup> son Joseph is in the armey over in
+the Jarsyes and was well the last we heard from him my other son
+that was in the service belonged to the melishey and is now at
+home. my son Enoch is gone to take the small pox by enoculation.
+Brother Robinson and famley are well we are all threw the Divine
+goodness well my wife joins in love to you and Mrs Hale and your
+children</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+Your loving Brother<br />
+<span class="smcap">Richard Hale</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Coventry</span> March 28th 1777</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>For a while after Nathan Hale's death, in the crowding events of the
+Revolution, his personal friends appear to have been his chief mourners.
+One lady is said to have told Professor Kingsley of New Haven that she
+had never seen greater anguish than that experienced by Deacon Hale and
+his family when they heard of Nathan's death.</p>
+
+<p>What the news meant to his "good grandmother Strong" we are not told.
+For her, so faithful and unselfish in her loving, we can but be glad
+that if she went home all the earlier for this blow, she must have gone
+all the more serenely; assured that if the earth was the poorer, heaven
+was the richer, because the grandson she had loved so truly was there
+awaiting her.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Abbot, daughter of Deacon Richard Hale's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> son, Joseph Hale, lived
+at her grandfather's from 1784 till her marriage in 1799. Many years ago
+she wrote to her cousin, "From my earliest recollection I have felt a
+deep interest in that unfortunate uncle. When his death or the manner of
+it was spoken of, my grief would come forth in tears. Living in the old
+homestead I frequently heard allusions to him by the neighbors and
+persons that worked in the family, much more so than by near relatives.
+It seemed the anguish they felt did not allow them to make it the
+subject of conversation. Was it not so with your mother?"</p>
+
+<p>Rev. Edward Everett Hale refers in a historical address to the fact that
+in his own early days the name of Nathan Hale was seldom mentioned in
+his presence. We of to-day can but wish that somewhat of the luster from
+the radiant halo that was to encircle his memory and to grow brighter as
+the years pass on, might have comforted them. Yet each one of that
+sorrowing family has long since learned to rejoice that, as nobly as any
+martyr has ever died for his country, their lad went forth into the
+eternities.</p>
+
+<p>The poem which follows was published in "Songs and Ballads of the
+Revolution," collected by Mr. Frank Moore. It is not known when these
+verses first appeared, but they are among the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> earliest tributes to Hale
+after his death. It is thought possible, by some students of
+Revolutionary history, that the lines may yet prove valuable in throwing
+light upon the manner of Hale's capture and death, as they are probably
+based on accounts current at that time of which records have not yet
+appeared.</p>
+
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Capture and Death of Nathan Hale</span></h4>
+
+<p class="center">(By an unknown poet of 1776)</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The breezes went steadily thro' the tall pines,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A-saying "oh! hu-sh!" a-saying "oh! hu-sh!"</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As stilly stole by a bold legion of horse,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For Hale in the bush, for Hale in the bush.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Keep still!" said the thrush as she nestled her young,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In a nest by the road; in a nest by the road;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"For the tyrants are near, and with them appear,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What bodes us no good, what bodes us no good."</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The brave captain heard it, and thought of his home,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In a cot by the brook; in a cot by the brook.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With mother and sister and memories dear,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He so gaily forsook; he so gaily forsook.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cooling shades of the night were coming apace,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The tattoo had beat; the tattoo had beat.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The noble one sprang from his dark lurking place</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">To make his retreat; to make his retreat.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He warily trod on the dry rustling leaves,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As he pass'd thro' the wood; as he pass'd thro' the wood;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And silently gain'd his rude launch on the shore,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As she play'd with the flood; as she play'd with the flood.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The guards of the camp, on that dark, dreary night,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Had a murderous will; had a murderous will.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">They took him and bore him afar from the shore,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To a hut on the hill; to a hut on the hill.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">No mother was there, nor a friend who could cheer,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In that little stone cell; in that little stone cell.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But he trusted in love from his father above,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In his heart all was well; in his heart all was well.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">An ominous owl with his solemn bass voice</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sat moaning hard by; sat moaning hard by.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"The tyrant's proud minions most gladly rejoice,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For he must soon die; for he must soon die."</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The brave fellow told them, no thing he restrained,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The cruel gen'ral; the cruel gen'ral;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">His errand from camp, of the ends to be gained,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And said that was all; and said that was all.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">They took him and bound him and bore him away,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Down the hill's grassy side; down the hill's grassy side.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Twas there the base hirelings, in royal array,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">His cause did deride; his cause did deride.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Five minutes were given, short moments, no more,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For him to repent; for him to repent;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He pray'd for his mother, he ask'd not another;</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">To Heaven he went; to Heaven he went.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The faith of a martyr, the tragedy shew'd,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As he trod the last stage; as he trod the last stage.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And Britons will shudder at gallant Hale's blood,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As his words do presage; as his words do presage.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Thou pale king of terrors, thou life's gloomy foe,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Go frighten the slave; go frighten the slave;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tell tyrants to you their allegiance they owe.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">No fears for the brave; no fears for the brave."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>The body of the Martyr Spy was never found. For many years there appears
+to have been some interest, but little knowledge, as to the place of
+Nathan Hale's execution. During the last one hundred and thirty-eight
+years, writer after writer has described his life and all the events
+connected with it as they are believed to have occurred; and, as was
+inevitable under the circumstances, some things have been written that
+the critical historian cannot indorse.</p>
+
+<p>Until near the end of the nineteenth century no reliable information,
+even as to the place of his execution, had been gained. The late Mr.
+William Kelby, Librarian of the New York Historical Society, "an
+accepted authority on all subjects of this and kindred nature," is said
+to have undertaken to locate the exact spot where it occurred, and met
+with at least partial success.</p>
+
+<p>Writing on the subject in 1893 he says in sub<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>stance: When the British
+took possession of New York in September, 1776, after the battle of Long
+Island, General Howe occupied the Beekman house on Fifty-first Street
+and First Avenue as his headquarters, while the army extended across the
+island to the north of him. The corps of Royal Artillery occupied part
+of the high ground between Sixty-sixth and Seventy-second Streets, where
+they parked their guns and formed a camp.</p>
+
+<p>Close to the camp were the old "five-mile stone" on the way to
+Kingsbridge, and a tavern long known as "The Sign of the Dove." The
+exact location of this tavern is shown from a survey of 1783 as being
+west of the post road on Third Avenue between Sixty-sixth and
+Sixty-seventh streets. It belonged, with four acres of land attached, to
+the City Corporation.</p>
+
+<p>The extract already shown on page 82 is from an Orderly Book (discovered
+by Mr. Kelby) kept by an officer of the British Foot-Guards. Other
+entries read as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"October 6. The effects of the late Lieutenant Lovell to be sold at the
+house near the Artillery Park.</p>
+
+<p>"October 11. Majors of Brigade to attend at the Artillery Park near the
+Dove at five this afternoon."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The story of Hale's confinement in the Beekman greenhouse at Fifty-first
+Street and First Avenue on the night of September 21, 1776, is generally
+accepted. Former stories of the place of execution are disproved by the
+first extract from the Orderly Book, while the others indicate the
+location of the Artillery Park. It therefore appears that Hale was
+executed upon some part of this common land of the Corporation of the
+City of New York, and it is probable that his body was buried there.</p>
+
+<p>The tract is now covered mainly by buildings devoted to educational and
+philanthropic uses. Possibly the dust of the Martyr Spy may lie in the
+grounds of the Normal, or Hunter, College.</p>
+
+<p>Other materials, found since Mr. Kelby wrote, confirm his conclusions
+and make Third Avenue, not far north of Sixty-sixth Street, the most
+probable spot of Nathan Hale's death. The noblest educational
+institutions in New York City could have no more appropriate foundations
+than those laid above the bodies of patriots who have died, not only for
+the freedom of the city, but for that of the whole land.</p>
+
+<p>For a time, as was inevitable, a pall seemed thrown over the memory of
+Nathan Hale, and at first only the love of his own family strove to
+commemorate his life and death. A stone was erected<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> to his memory in
+the cemetery at South Coventry, near the spot where his father expected
+to be buried. It still stands there and has been declared to be one of
+the best examples of the lettering of the times. It bears this
+inscription:</p>
+
+<p>"Durable stone preserve the monumental record. Nathan Hale Esq. a Capt.
+in the army of the United States, who was born June 6th, 1755, and
+received the first honors of Yale College, Sept. 1773, resigned his life
+a sacrifice to his country's liberty at New York, Sept. 22d, 1776,
+Etatis 22d."</p>
+
+<p>One by one were placed near his, his father's stone (his father died at
+eighty-five), and those of other members of his family. These graves are
+in a common burial lot near the Congregational Church in South Coventry
+where the family had worshiped.</p>
+
+<p>In November, 1837, the Hale Monument Association was formed for the
+purpose of erecting at Coventry a fitting memorial of the
+martyr-soldier. Congress was applied to for several years, but was slow
+in appropriating money to honor the dead,&mdash;strangely unlike England in
+honoring her martyrs, as will be seen later.</p>
+
+<p>Appeals were made to the State legislature, and Stuart, Hale's earliest
+biographer and sincere admirer, used his influence as a legislator in
+securing an appropriation of twelve hundred and fifty dol<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>lars. The
+women of Coventry redoubled their zeal, and by fairs, teas, etc., raised
+a sufficient sum, added to the grant from the legislature and
+contributions from some prominent men of the country, to pay for the
+cenotaph. It is a pyramidal shaft, resting on a base of steps, with a
+shelving projection one-third of the way up the pedestal. The material
+is of hewn Quincy granite. It was designed by Henry Austin of New Haven.
+It is fourteen feet square at the base and forty-five feet high. It was
+completed under the superintendence of Solomon Willard, architect of
+Bunker Hill Monument, at a cost of about four thousand dollars.</p>
+
+<p>The inscription on the north side is, "Captain Nathan Hale, 1776"; on
+the west, "Born at Coventry, June 6, 1755"; on the east, "Died at New
+York, Sept. 22, 1776"; on the south, "I only regret that I have but one
+life to lose for my country."</p>
+
+<p>The monument stands on elevated ground. "Its site is particularly
+fine;... on the north it overlooks a beautiful lake, while on the east
+it looks through a captivating natural vista to greet the sun."</p>
+
+<p>With the planning of this monument began the revival of interest in
+Nathan Hale's short but splendid career that is still gathering strength
+and will eventually establish his name among those of the bravest
+American patriots.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Tributes to Nathan Hale</span></h3>
+
+
+<p>When Captain Montressor told Hale's dismayed friends of the terrible
+doom that had befallen their comrade, it must have seemed as if all the
+influence Hale might have had in a prolonged life, all that could come
+to such a man, had been sacrificed. We must not blame them if the
+question involuntarily rose in their hearts, "Why such waste? Why was
+such an influence so permanently destroyed?" Curiously enough, many
+years passed with little special notice by the public of Hale's death.
+But the leaven of patriotism works, even though slowly, and step by step
+Hale was coming to his own. Little by little the memory of his sacrifice
+for his country, and the fact that he had left words that should glow
+with increasing splendor, took possession of those who had ears to hear
+and hearts to remember.</p>
+
+<p>Old Linonia in Yale did not forget the splendid boy, once its
+Chancellor, who died as he had lived. Linonia's records still bear, in
+clear and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> perfect lines, reports his hand had written when he was its
+most assiduous member. Others might have forgotten him; Linonia had not.</p>
+
+<p>On its one-hundredth anniversary, July 27, 1853,&mdash;Commencement
+Week,&mdash;the poet of the occasion was Francis Miles Finch, Yale, 1846,
+later Judge of the New York Court of Appeals. As poet, Mr. Finch of
+course recalled many former members of the society. He ended with a poem
+on Nathan Hale in which he held his listeners spellbound as stanza after
+stanza, magnetic in proportion to their truthful beauty, fell from his
+lips.</p>
+
+<p>There has been a further service to his country by Judge Finch. His own
+character has been graven into two different poems,&mdash;the one just
+referred to, and one that he wrote later. The latter poem had,
+undoubtedly, a powerful influence in causing our national Decoration Day
+to be celebrated throughout the United States.</p>
+
+<p>The story of this poem is interesting. In a town in Mississippi certain
+Southern women went on a spring day, soon after the close of the Civil
+War, to cover with flowers the graves of their beloved dead. The
+gracious and tender thought must have come to them that in the graves of
+aliens buried among them lay those as deeply mourned in North<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>ern homes
+as were those they themselves had loved.</p>
+
+<p>Certainly no sweeter suggestion could have been more tenderly carried
+out than that which led these bereaved women to spread flowers over the
+graves of those who were once their enemies. Mr. Finch was told of this
+incident, and the lines he wrote show his appreciation of the "generous
+deed." The poem, "The Blue and the Gray," did much to heal the wounds in
+both North and South.</p>
+
+<p>The two poems by Judge Francis Miles Finch are quoted here, the first
+with the drum-beat pulsing through it; the second in musical, flowing
+lines that carry in them sorrow, loyalty, and the community of a common
+bereavement.</p>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Hale's Fate and Fame</span></h4>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And one there was&mdash;his name immortal now&mdash;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who dies not to the ring of rattling steel,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or battle-march of spirit-stirring drum,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But, far from comrades and from friendly camp,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Alone upon the scaffold.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">To drum-beat and heart-beat</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">A soldier marches by;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">There is color in his cheek,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">There is courage in his eye,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Yet to drum-beat and heart-beat</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 4em;">In a moment he must die.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">By starlight and moonlight</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">He seeks the Briton's camp,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">He hears the rustling flag,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">And the armèd sentry's tramp.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">And the starlight and moonlight</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">His silent wanderings lamp.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">With slow tread and still tread</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">He scans the tented line,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">And he counts the battery guns</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">By the gaunt and shadowy pine,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">And his slow tread and still tread</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Give no warning sign.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">The dark wave, the plumed wave!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">It meets his eager glance;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">And it sparkles 'neath the stars</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Like the glimmer of a lance:</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">A dark wave, a plumed wave,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">On an emerald expanse.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">A sharp clang, a steel clang!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">And terror in the sound;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">For the sentry, falcon-eyed,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">In the camp a spy hath found;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">With a sharp clang, a steel clang,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">The patriot is bound.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">With calm brow, steady brow,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">He listens to his doom;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">In his look there is no fear</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Nor a shadow trace of gloom;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">But with calm brow and steady brow</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 4em;">He robes him for the tomb.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">In the long night, the still night,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">He kneels upon the sod;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">And the brutal guards withhold</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">E'en the solemn Word of God!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">In the long night, the still night,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">He walks where Christ hath trod.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">'Neath the blue morn, the sunny morn,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">He dies upon the tree;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">And he mourns that he can lose</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">But one life for Liberty;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">And in the blue morn, the sunny morn,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">His spirit-wings are free.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">His last words, his message words,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">They burn, lest friendly eye</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Should read how proud and calm</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">A patriot could die,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">With his last words, his dying words,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">A soldier's battle-cry!</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">From Fame-leaf and Angel-leaf,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">From monument and urn,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">The sad of Earth, the glad of Heaven,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">His tragic fate shall learn;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">And on Fame-leaf and Angel-leaf,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">The name of <span class="smcap">Hale</span> shall burn!</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">The Blue and the Gray</span></h4>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By the flow of the inland river,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Whence the fleets of iron had fled,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where the blades of the grave-grass quiver,</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Asleep are the ranks of the dead:</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Under the sod and the dew;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Waiting the judgment-day;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Under the one the Blue;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Under the other, the Gray.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">These in the robings of glory,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Those in the gloom of defeat,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All with the battle-blood gory,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">In the dusk of eternity meet:</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Under the sod and the dew,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Waiting the judgment-day;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Under the laurel, the Blue;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Under the willow, the Gray.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">From the silence of sorrowful hours</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The desolate mourners go,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lovingly laden with flowers,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Alike for the friend and the foe:</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Under the sod and the dew,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Waiting the judgment-day;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Under the roses, the Blue,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Under the lilies, the Gray.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">So, with an equal splendor,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The morning sun-rays fall,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With a touch impartially tender,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">On the blossoms blooming for all:</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Under the sod and the dew,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Waiting the judgment-day;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Broidered with gold, the Blue;</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 4em;">Mellowed with gold, the Gray.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">So, when the summer calleth</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">On forest and field of grain,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With an equal murmur falleth</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The cooling drip of the rain:</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Under the sod and the dew,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Waiting the judgment-day;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Wet with the rain, the Blue,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Wet with the rain, the Gray.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sadly, but not with upbraiding,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">The generous deed was done,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In the storm of the years that are fading</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">No braver battle was won:</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Under the sod and the dew,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Waiting the judgment-day;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Under the blossoms, the Blue,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Under the garlands, the Gray.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">No more shall the war cry sever,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Or the winding rivers be red;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">They banish our anger forever</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">When they laurel the graves of our dead!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Under the sod and the dew,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Waiting the judgment-day;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Love and tears for the Blue;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Tears and love for the Gray.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>On the one hundred and tenth anniversary of the evacuation of New York
+by the British&mdash;November 25, 1893&mdash;a bronze statue of Nathan Hale was
+presented to the city of New York. It was given by the New York Society
+of the "Sons of the American Rev<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>olution," a society founded in 1876 to
+perpetuate the memory and deeds of the war for American independence.
+The presentation was made by the president of the society, Mr. Frederic
+Samuel Tallmadge, the grandson of Major Tallmadge, Hale's classmate and
+fellow-captain. The statue is of bronze and is by Frederick Macmonnies
+of Paris. It represents Hale bareheaded, bound about his arms and his
+ankles, ready for his death. It was placed in City Hall Park where Hale
+was, for a time, supposed to have been executed. On the pedestal are
+graven his last wonderful words.</p>
+
+<p>During the exercises at the unveiling of this statue Dr. Edward Everett
+Hale said: "The occasion, I suppose, is without a parallel in history.
+Certainly, I know of no other instance where, more than a century after
+the death of a boy of twenty-one, his countrymen assembled in such
+numbers as are here to do honor to his memory and to dedicate the statue
+which preserves it.</p>
+
+<p>"He died near this spot, saying, 'I am sorry that I have but one life to
+give for my country.' And because that boy said those words, and because
+he died, thousands of other young men have given their lives to his
+country; have served her as she bade them serve her, even though they
+died as she bade them die."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The day's celebration was concluded by a dinner of the Society. Dr. Hale
+spoke on this occasion also. He said in part:</p>
+
+<p>"Let us never forget that this is the monument of a young man&mdash;that he
+is the young man's hero. Let us never forget how the country then
+trusted young men and how worthy they were of the trust. It was at the
+very time of which I spoke that Washington first knew Hamilton and asked
+him to his tent. Hamilton had already won the confidence of Greene.
+Hamilton was, I think, in his nineteenth year. Knox, who commanded
+Hamilton's regiment, was, I think, twenty-four. Webb, who commanded
+Hale's regiment, was twenty-two. When, the next year, Washington
+welcomed Lafayette, whom Congress appointed major-general, he
+[Lafayette] was not twenty. And Washington himself, before whom others
+stood abashed, had only attained the venerable age of forty-four. The
+country needed her young men. She called for them and she had them. It
+is one of those young men who, dying at twenty-one, leaves as his only
+word of regret that he has but one life to give to her."</p>
+
+<p>Although it is now known that Hale was not executed near City Hall Park,
+in some respects there could be no more fitting location for a monument
+to him than this, perhaps the busiest con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>flux of human beings that
+anywhere crowd this great city. Thousands pass this statue, learning
+from it their first lessons in American history. Hundreds have stopped,
+seeing this bareheaded, dauntless man, evidently doomed to die, to try
+to learn whence he came and why he stands there, appealing to the
+noblest patriotism&mdash;patriotism that must touch the heart of any man who
+knows the love of country.</p>
+
+<p>Since this statue was placed, memorials of various kinds to Nathan Hale
+have been erected in several parts of the country. The schoolhouses in
+which he taught, although not occupying their original sites, have been
+restored, and are in possession of patriotic societies.</p>
+
+<p>To-day Yale, endowed with buildings costing millions, is learning that
+stone and mortar, in edifices however beautiful, do not enshrine their
+noblest memories.</p>
+
+<p>Through a few friends of Yale, a statue of Nathan Hale by Bela Lyon
+Pratt has recently been placed near the oldest college building,
+Connecticut Hall. This building has been restored to the appearance it
+bore when Nathan Hale dwelt therein. Who shall say that the statue of
+the bound boy, facing death so manfully, will not prove one of Yale's
+noblest endowments?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Still another beautiful statue of Nathan Hale by William Ordway
+Partridge may be seen in the city of St. Paul, Minn.</p>
+
+<p>Happily, Nathan Hale's ability to die for his country is but one side of
+a Yale shield from which gleam the names of hundreds of her sons, who,
+doubtless as ready to die for their country as he, had they been in his
+place, have proved their power to live for God and for their native
+land. Everywhere, in all quarters of the world, the Nathan Hale spirit
+of unselfish devotion has inspired the sons of Yale to the noblest
+service they could render; and every man, young or old, who passes the
+statue of Nathan Hale will realize that hosts have lived lives inspired
+by the same splendid spirit.</p>
+
+<p>Nathan Hale himself went forth from his alma mater filled with the
+joyous hopes and ambitions that have filled the souls of many other men,
+all unconscious of the fact that the finest heroism and the highest
+self-sacrifice lay just before him, but conscious that he meant to be
+ready for the best that life could give him. He was ready; and the best
+of life for him was the power to die as he died.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Nathan Hale's Friends</span></h3>
+
+
+<p class="center">(1) <i>Rev. Joseph Huntington, D.D.</i></p>
+
+<p>A somewhat full description of the Rev. Joseph Huntington, D.D., is well
+worth placing among the friends of Nathan Hale. It was impossible for
+such a boy as Nathan to have been under the care of such a man as Dr.
+Huntington, first as pastor and then as his private teacher in his
+preparation for college, without having been strongly influenced by him.
+Indeed, scanning these old records of a parish of a hundred and fifty
+years ago, we cannot help feeling a strong personal attraction toward
+the Rev. Joseph Huntington.</p>
+
+<p>Few men more fully prove the claim that many of the early New England
+pastors were eminently fitted to lead their people heavenward and also
+in the practical development of their daily lives.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Huntington lived a life evidently inspired by the finest ideals, and
+also by shrewd common sense, always so dear to the heart of a New<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>
+Englander. It is a pleasure to recall the story of this man's useful
+life, and realize that besides the reverence almost invariably accorded
+to "the minister" in those days, he must have held the everyday
+affection and wholesome trust of his people. Year by year he proved
+himself not only their pastor, but a friend full of all kindly
+sympathies, never above a hearty laugh when mirth was rampant, or a
+sympathetic tear for hearts wrung with anguish.</p>
+
+<p>He was born in Windham, Connecticut, in 1735. His ancestors came from
+England about 1640 and the family ultimately settled in Windham. His
+father, a man of somewhat arbitrary character, had determined that
+Joseph should be a clothier, and forced him to remain in that business
+until he was twenty-one. His intellectual ability was thought to be
+somewhat remarkable, and his moral character so good that his pastor
+advised him to begin a course of study for the ministry. He completed
+his preparation for Yale College in an unusually short time, and was
+graduated there in the year 1762.</p>
+
+<p>His call to be settled over the First Church in Coventry was received so
+soon after his graduation that we are forced to believe that his
+theological course must have been brief. The parish in Coven<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>try had
+been greatly reduced in numbers. The meeting-house had been allowed to
+go to decay, and the religious life of the parish was in a corresponding
+state of depression. His ordination services were held out of
+doors,&mdash;whether because the assemblage was too large for the church, or
+because the building was too dilapidated, does not appear. The first
+thing Mr. Huntington did after his settlement was to urge upon his
+people the project of building a new meeting-house. They responded so
+heartily that in a short time they had built the best church in the
+whole region, having expended for it about five thousand dollars&mdash;a
+large sum in those days.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Huntington does not appear to have been a laborious student. He had
+few books of his own, largely depending upon borrowing. But he had a
+remarkable memory and the power of so making his own whatever he read
+that his scholarship and his originality appear never to have been
+questioned. The Rev. Daniel Waldo says of him that he was rather above
+the middle height, slender and graceful in form, and that he seemed to
+have had an instinctive desire to make everybody around him happy. This,
+added to his uniform politeness, caused him to be very popular in
+general society.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The Rev. Mr. Waldo adds that Dr. Huntington was fond of pleasantry and
+gives this instance:</p>
+
+<p>A very dull preacher who had studied theology with him was invited by
+his people to resign, and they paid him for his services chiefly in
+copper coin. On telling Dr. Huntington how he had been paid, he was
+advised to go back and preach a farewell sermon from the text,
+"Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil." Many such anecdotes and
+repartees of Dr. Huntington were current in Coventry for years after his
+death.</p>
+
+<p>This brief summary of Dr. Joseph Huntington's life shows that the men to
+whom Richard Hale intrusted the preparation of his three sons for
+entering Yale was not only a Christian, but a gentleman of the finest
+culture. He was able not only to impart to Enoch, Nathan and David Hale
+the rudiments of scholarship requisite for entering Yale, but to inspire
+such boys with the keenest appreciation of courtesy, broad mental
+endowments, and a wholesome zeal for high public service.</p>
+
+<p>The correspondence concerning the Union School in New London shows that
+Dr. Huntington gave Nathan Hale the necessary recommendation for the
+place. It is on record in Hale's diary that on December 27, 1775, the
+day after his arrival home from Camp Winter Hill, he visited Dr.
+Huntington;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> and in one of his New York letters he wrote, "I always with
+respect remember Mr. Huntington and shall write to him if time permits."</p>
+
+<p>Admitting that Nathan Hale's father and mother were his most important
+early friends, we believe that Dr. Huntington, as pastor, tutor, and
+friend during the six years before Nathan entered college, may have
+stood not far behind the parents in deep influence upon his
+character&mdash;that splendid character, destined to be one of the beacon
+lights of our country's history.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center">(2) <i>Alice Adams</i></p>
+
+<p>Studying the lives of the founders of our republic, we are interested in
+noting the early marriages that so often occurred, and which seem to
+have been justified by the early mental maturity of the young men and
+women in the eighteenth century.</p>
+
+<p>With early marriage, large families were the rule and not the exception;
+and eulogize the forefathers of New England as much as one may, no one
+at all familiar with the lives of the mothers of those generations can
+question the share that the foremothers had in broadening the lives
+and inspiring the characters of the husbands and sons in that early
+period. Nathan Hale showed the power of heredity, and Alice Adams, the
+woman he is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> said to have loved, proved well that she too had come of no
+unworthy stock.</p>
+
+<p>It has been given few women to be so worthily loved as was Alice Adams,
+from the time we catch our first glimpse of her till the last, in her
+eighty-ninth year. She was born in June, 1757. Her mother married Deacon
+Hale when Alice was in her thirteenth year. We do not know when Alice
+first met Nathan Hale; but we do know that while both were very young
+they found out that they loved each other, and proceeded to engage
+themselves without consulting their elders. Nathan had several years of
+work preparatory to his profession still before him, and, acting as they
+supposed in the best interests of both the boy and the girl, the mother
+and elder sister Sarah promptly discouraged the engagement and it was
+broken.</p>
+
+<p>In February, 1773, while Nathan was still at Yale and before she was
+sixteen, Alice was married to Elijah Ripley, a prosperous merchant at
+Coventry. Within two years Mr. Ripley died, aged twenty-eight, leaving
+behind him a little son, also named Elijah, who died in his second year.</p>
+
+<p>After Mr. Ripley's death, Mrs. Ripley with her baby boy returned to
+Deacon Hale's home almost as an adopted daughter, comfortably provided
+for by the estate of her late husband. A member of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> the Hale family, she
+must have seen that whatever was true of Nathan Hale in the days when
+they were boy and girl together, he, now a Yale graduate and a man among
+men, first as teacher and then as soldier, was even more worthy of her
+love than in their early days. It is probable that they corresponded
+more or less, though happily none of the letters of either are preserved
+for the curious to delight in. All we know is that in December, 1775, a
+year after her husband's death, Nathan Hale stopped in Coventry while
+absent from camp on army business, and the broken engagement has been
+said to have been then renewed, this time without opposition.</p>
+
+<p>Having been married and widowed, and having lost her little son, Alice
+Adams Ripley was now free to listen to the claims of the first love that
+had entered her heart. What the few brief months that remained to Nathan
+Hale must have meant to Alice Ripley, believing in him and caring for
+him, only the noblest women can comprehend.</p>
+
+<p>In regard to the letters written by Nathan Hale on the morning of his
+execution, one of these letters is said to have been written to his
+mother. One or two of his biographers have inferred that this must be an
+error, and that it was written to his father or to a brother. With the
+natural delicacy always so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> conspicuous in him, a letter to his
+"mother," so called, in reality the mother of one whom we believe to
+have been his betrothed wife, Alice Adams Ripley, who would show it to
+Alice and undoubtedly give it to her, was probably what he would have
+written. The others would know what he had written, but Alice Adams
+would doubtless possess the letter.</p>
+
+<p>Alice Adams was to live many, many years, to become one of the most
+notable women in the city in which she dwelt; so honored that a copy of
+her portrait has long hung in the Athenæum, Hartford's finest shrine for
+such portraits.</p>
+
+<p>It was said of her that for several years after Nathan's death she had
+no intention of marrying, but, after a widowhood of ten years,
+events&mdash;some say changed circumstances&mdash;led her to accept an offer of
+marriage from William Lawrence, of Hartford, which was thenceforth her
+home. For many years she was naturally associated with the social life
+of that city.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever letters may have passed between Nathan Hale and Alice Adams
+Ripley, no trace of them remains to-day. For this we can only be
+grateful that, unlike other unfortunate lovers,&mdash;Robert Browning and
+Elizabeth Barrett Browing, for instance,&mdash;not one word remains of their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>
+correspondence. That belonged to him and to her alone. It is fortunate
+that no mere curiosity hunter can feast his eyes or gossip over the
+words these two people wrote to each other.</p>
+
+<p>To Alice's husband Nathan's father gave the powder horn she once spoke
+of as having seen Nathan working upon in his customary intense fashion,
+"doing that one thing as if there was nothing else to be thought of at
+that time." Its being given to Mr. Lawrence by Nathan's father, to whom
+it must have been dear, proves that Mr. Lawrence, as well as his wife,
+was a welcome addition to the Hale family. Mr. Lawrence in turn gave it
+to his son William, and it is now treasured by the Connecticut
+Historical Society.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Lawrence lived well into the nineteenth century, dying in 1845, in
+her eighty-ninth year. She was thoroughly appreciated in Hartford, but
+it is from the pen of a granddaughter, in a note written to the Hon. I.
+W. Stuart, that the best description of Mrs. Lawrence is given. Speaking
+of her grandmother she said: "In person she was rather below the middle
+height, with full, round figure, rather petite. She possessed a mild,
+amiable countenance in which was reflected that intelligent superiority
+which distinguished her even in the days of Dwight, Hopkins, and Barlow
+in Hartford&mdash;men who could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> appreciate her, who delighted in her wit and
+work, and who, with a coterie of others of that period who are still in
+remembrance, considered her one of the brightest ornaments of their
+society.</p>
+
+<p>"A fair, fresh complexion ... bright, intelligent, hazel eyes, and hair
+of a jetty blackness, will give you some idea of her looks&mdash;the crowning
+glory of which was the forehead that surpassed in beauty any I ever saw,
+and was the admiration of my mature years. I portray her, with the
+exception of the hair, as she appeared to me in her eighty-eighth year.
+I never tired of gazing on her youthful complexion&mdash;upon her eyes which
+retained their youthful luster unimpaired, and enabled her to read
+without any artificial aid; and upon her hand and arm, which, though
+shrunken much from age, must in her younger days have been fit study for
+a sculptor.</p>
+
+<p>"Her character was everything that was lovely. A lady who had known her
+many years, writing to me after her death, says, 'Never shall I forget
+her unceasing kindness to me, and her noble and generous disposition.
+From my first acquaintance with her, and amid all the varied trials
+through which she was called to pass, I had ever occasion to admire the
+calm and christian spirit she uniformly exhibited. To <i>you</i> I will say
+it, I never knew so faultless a character&mdash;so gentle, so kind. That<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>
+meek expression, that affectionate eye, are as present to my
+recollection now as though I had seen them but yesterday.'</p>
+
+<p>"Such is the language of one who had known her long and well and whose
+testimony would be considered more impartial than that of one who like
+myself had been the constant recipient of her unceasing kindness and
+affection."</p>
+
+<p>When she died, the story of the early home of the Hales found its
+completion. Shall we pity them or congratulate them that in those long
+ago days so many sorrows came to them?&mdash;testing their strength,
+developing their faith, and fitting them, as their days went by, for
+life and service beyond.</p>
+
+<p>The following chivalric poem was written by Nathan Hale&mdash;perhaps in
+camp. It expresses his mental as well as emotional appreciation of Alice
+Adams. It is here given exactly as it appears in the original
+manuscript, with almost no punctuation marks. It is probable that this
+is a first rough draft, intended to be improved at some future time.
+There are marks on the margin of the paper which show that the writer
+had possible alterations in mind.</p>
+
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">To Alicia</span></h4>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Alicia, born with every striking charm</span><br />
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">The eye to ravish or the heart to warm</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fair in thy form, still fairer in thy mind</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With beauty wisdom sense with sweetness join'd</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Great without pride, &amp; lovely without Art</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Your looks good nature words good sense impart</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thus formed to charm Oh deign to hear my song</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whose best whose sweetest strains to you belong.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Let others toil amidst the lofty air</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By fancy led through every cloud above</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Let empty Follies build her castles there</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">My thoughts are settled on the friend I love.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oh friend sincere of soul divinely great</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shedest thou for me a wretch the sorrowed tear</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">What thanks can I in this unhappy state</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Return to you but Gratitude sincere</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">T'is friendship pure that now demand my lays</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A theme sincere that Aid my feeble song</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Raised by that theme I do not fear to praise</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Since your the subject where due praise belong</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ah dearest girl in whom the gods have join'd</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The real blessings, which themselves approve</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Can mortals frown at such an heavenly mind</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When Gods propitious shine on you they love</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Far from the seat of pleasure now I roam</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The pleasing landscape now no more I see</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Yet absence ne'er shall take my thoughts from home</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nor time efface my due regards for thee.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p class="center">(3) <i>Benjamin Tallmadge</i></p>
+
+<p>Benjamin Tallmadge, one year older than Nathan Hale, was Hale's
+classmate and one of his cor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>respondents. Like Hale he became a teacher
+for a time, and then, entering the army, served with distinction
+throughout the war. He was intrusted by Washington with important
+services. In October, 1780, he was stationed with Col. Jameson at North
+Castle. He had been out on active service against the enemy and returned
+on the evening of the day when Major André had been brought there and
+had been started back to Arnold for explanations. This was four years
+after the death of Hale.</p>
+
+<p>Listening to the account of the capture, and the pass from Arnold,
+Tallmadge at once surmised the importance of retaining André and
+insisted upon his being brought back.</p>
+
+<p>When André was once more in American hands, Tallmadge is said to have
+been the first to suspect, from the prisoner's deportment as he walked
+to and fro and turned sharply upon his heel to retrace his steps, that
+he was bred to arms and was an important British officer. Major
+Tallmadge was charged with his custody, and was almost constantly with
+him until his execution. Tallmadge writes: "Major André became very
+inquisitive to know my opinion as to the result of his capture. In other
+words, he wished me to give him candidly my opinion as to the light in
+which he would be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> viewed by General Washington and a military tribunal
+if one should be ordered.</p>
+
+<p>"This was the most unpleasant question that had been propounded to me,
+and I endeavored to evade it, unwilling to give him a true answer. When
+I could no longer evade his importunity and put off a full reply, I
+remarked to him as follows: 'I had a much loved classmate in Yale
+College, by the name of Nathan Hale, who entered the army in the year
+1775. Immediately after the battle of Long Island, General Washington
+wanted information respecting the strength, position, and probable
+movements of the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>"'Captain Hale tendered his services, went over to Brooklyn, and was
+taken just as he was passing the outposts of the enemy on his return.'
+Said I with emphasis,</p>
+
+<p>"'Do you remember the sequel of this story?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Yes,' said André, 'he was hanged as a spy. But you surely do not
+consider his case and mine alike?'</p>
+
+<p>"I replied, 'Yes, precisely similar, and similar will be your fate.'</p>
+
+<p>"He endeavored to answer my remarks, but it was manifest he was more
+troubled in spirit than I had ever seen him before."</p>
+
+<p>Major Tallmadge walked with André from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> Stone House where he had
+been confined to the place of execution, and parted with him under the
+gallows, "overwhelmed with grief," he says, "that so gallant an officer
+and so accomplished a gentleman should come to such an ignominious end."</p>
+
+<p>What would have occurred if André had not been recalled, but had reached
+Arnold&mdash;whether both could have escaped by boat to the <i>Vulture</i> as did
+Arnold; whether Arnold, leaving André to his fate, could have escaped
+alone under these suspicious circumstances; or whether Hamilton and the
+others, who were dining with Arnold when the news of André's capture
+reached him, could have managed to hold both until Washington's arrival,
+cannot now be surmised. We only know that to Major Tallmadge belongs the
+credit of the recall and retention of André as a prisoner, thereby
+preventing the loss of West Point.</p>
+
+<p>Major Tallmadge remained in the army and was greatly trusted by
+Washington, rendering important assistance in the secret service. He
+took part in many battles and in time became a colonel. For sixteen
+years he was in Congress. He died at the age of eighty, leaving sons and
+grandsons who won honored names in various callings.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p class="center">(4) <i>William Hull</i></p>
+
+<p>When Captain William Hull, impelled by a strong natural caution, spoke
+as forcibly as he could of the disastrous results that might follow
+Nathan Hale's acceptance of the office of a spy in his country's
+service, he described not only the result of the failure which seemed
+almost inevitable, and which would result in a disgraceful death, but
+also the contempt that would be felt among his fellow-officers should he
+be successful. Hale, as we have seen, deliberately chose these dangers
+that appeared so appalling, and lost his life in the manner predicted by
+Hull.</p>
+
+<p>Could Captain Hull, on that September day in 1776, have looked forward
+to other days in 1812, when, because of his surrender of Detroit, he
+himself would stand as the most disgraced man in the American army, he
+would have wondered what disastrous set of causes could have doomed him
+to lower depths of discredit than he had imagined possible for his
+friend Hale.</p>
+
+<p>This is the story of Captain Hull as told by his grandson, the Rev.
+James Freeman Clarke, a Unitarian clergyman, and an author of high
+repute.</p>
+
+<p>After remaining in the army throughout the Revolutionary War, where he
+distinguished him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>self on repeated occasions, constantly rising in rank,
+he settled in Massachusetts, practicing law, becoming prominent as a
+legislator, and finally as one of the Massachusetts judges. In 1805, as
+General Hull, he was appointed governor of the territory of Michigan by
+President Jefferson, and removed thither, stipulating that in case of
+war he should not be required to serve both as general and governor, as
+he did not believe the duties of both could be successfully administered
+by the same person.</p>
+
+<p>The outbreak of the war of 1812, which occurred while Madison was
+President, found what was then the northern frontier of America wholly
+unprepared for hostilities. The country was new, with dense forests and
+few roads. There were no adequate means of land defense, and no adequate
+navy to patrol the lakes.</p>
+
+<p>The British, as usual, had all the vessels needed, well-drilled
+soldiers, and, more terrible than all, more than a thousand Indians,
+ready to commit any atrocities upon defenseless white settlers. As Hull
+had insisted, another officer was appointed to command the troops, such
+as they were, but this officer became ill and Governor Hull was forced
+to take command.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, no amount of urgent entreaties<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> could induce the
+authorities at Washington to send reënforcements to the assistance of
+the defenseless settlers. The American troops were unprepared to
+maintain their own position, and absolutely unable to conquer and annex
+Canada, as the government expected them to do. General Hull found
+himself with some eight hundred men facing more than fifteen hundred
+British regulars, and threatened in the rear by a thousand Indians.</p>
+
+<p>What President Madison or any of his officers would have done, we cannot
+say. They appear to have thought that it was General Hull's duty to
+annihilate the British army, effectually dispose of the Indians, and
+present Canada to the American government.</p>
+
+<p>General Hull, however, was a practical soldier. He knew the fate that
+would await the women and children in his territory, to say nothing of
+his small army, if he risked a battle and was defeated, as he surely
+would be; so he did what seemed to him the only possible thing to save
+the people of Michigan. He surrendered. Canada remained unannexed; the
+white settlers of Michigan were not delivered to the tender mercies of
+the Indians, and General Hull paid the penalty of the independent stand
+he had taken.</p>
+
+<p>He probably foresaw that he must face a terrible<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> ordeal. The whole
+country appeared to be roused against him, and Hull at once became the
+best-hated man in America. A court-martial was appointed.</p>
+
+<p>At first it was hoped that he would be convicted of treason, but the
+evidence showed that this charge could not be sustained. He was tried
+for cowardice in face of the enemy, found guilty, and sentenced to be
+shot. The latter part of the sentence President Madison remitted, in
+consideration of his past eminent services in the army. So, stamped with
+indelible disgrace by all who did not know the facts, a ruined and
+dishonored man, in his sixty-first year General Hull went back to the
+farm in Newton that had come to him through his wife. Here, surrounded
+by the most devoted affection, he passed his few remaining years.</p>
+
+<p>A ruined and discredited man he truly was,&mdash;the reputation and the honor
+due him from his countrymen irrevocably lost and by no fault of his own.
+Yet his grandson, the Rev. James Freeman Clarke, asserts that he was not
+once heard to say an unkind word about the government that had treated
+him so cruelly.</p>
+
+<p>After his death, in 1825, one of his daughters wrote the story of his
+life from his own writings, and the Rev. James Freeman Clarke sketched
+for the world an outline of his grandfather's services in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> Michigan.
+This shows that the man who, in his youth, tried to dissuade his friend
+Nathan Hale from accepting the rôle of martyr, himself, in his old age,
+bravely and gently endured a martyrdom compared to which the ostracism
+he predicted for Hale, even if he succeeded in his mission, was but a
+passing dream.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center">(5) <i>Stephen Hempstead</i></p>
+
+<p>To Stephen Hempstead, a sergeant in Nathan Hale's company in 1776, we
+are indebted for the most reliable account that is known of Hale's
+movements after he left New York in the service from which he was not to
+return. Sergeant Hempstead removed to Missouri after the war, and this
+account was first published in the <i>Missouri Republican</i> in 1827. His
+own words describing his last days with Hale are these:</p>
+
+<p>"Captain Hale was one of the most accomplished officers, of his grade
+and age, in the army. He was a native of the town of Coventry, state of
+Connecticut, and a graduate of Yale College&mdash;young, brave,
+honorable&mdash;and at the time of his death a Captain in Col. Webb's
+Regiment of Continental Troops. Having never seen a circumstantial
+account of his untimely and melancholy end, I will give it. I was
+attached to his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> company and in his confidence. After the retreat of our
+army from Long Island, he informed me, he was sent for to Head Quarters,
+and was solicited to go over to Long Island to discover the disposition
+of the enemy's camps, &amp;c., expecting them to attack New York, but that
+he was too unwell to go, not having recovered from a recent illness;
+that upon a second application he had consented to go, and said I must
+go as far with him as I could, with safety, and wait for his return.</p>
+
+<p>"Accordingly, we left our Camp on Harlem Heights, with the intention of
+crossing over the first opportunity; but none offered until we arrived
+at Norwalk, fifty miles from New York. In that harbor there was an armed
+sloop and one or two row galleys. Capt. Hale had a general order to all
+armed vessels, to take him to any place he should designate: he was set
+across the Sound, in the sloop, at Huntington (Long Island) by Capt.
+Pond, who commanded the vessel. Capt. Hale had changed his uniform for a
+plain suit of citizen's brown clothes, with a round broad-brimmed hat,
+assuming the character of a Dutch schoolmaster, leaving all his other
+clothes, commission, public and private papers, with me, and also his
+silver shoebuckles, saying they would not comport with his character of
+schoolmaster, and retaining noth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>ing but his College diploma, as an
+introduction to his assumed calling. Thus equipped, we parted for the
+last time in life. He went on his mission, and I returned back again to
+Norwalk, with orders to stop there until he should return, or hear from
+him, as he expected to return back again to cross the sound, if he
+succeeded in his object."</p>
+
+<p>So far as there is any other evidence, it tends to confirm this part of
+Sergeant Hempstead's report, and he is to-day considered one of the most
+valuable authorities on Hale's last intercourse with brother soldiers.</p>
+
+<p>Of the details of his captain's arrest and execution, which are told in
+the last part of the account, and of which Hempstead had no personal
+knowledge, he declares that he was "authentically informed" and did
+"most religiously believe" them. Some of the incidents he gives appear
+to have been proved since to have no basis in fact; others that vary
+from reports now accepted may yet, with more light gained, be found to
+be true.</p>
+
+<p>The second letter sent by Sergeant Hempstead to the <i>Republican</i> deals
+with his experience in the army in 1781, when he was one of the victims
+of the brutalities inflicted upon the hapless prisoners of war at Fort
+Griswold, Groton, Connecticut. The injuries he received there were, as
+he tells<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> us, so severe that his own wife, having searched for his body
+in the fort among the dead, scanned carefully the face of every wounded
+soldier sheltered by pitying neighbors, passing him twice without
+recognizing him&mdash;he too ill to make any sign&mdash;and then resuming her
+search among the dead.</p>
+
+<p>Later she found him, and after a time he regained sufficient strength to
+be carried to his home. He was, however, incapacitated by his injuries
+for service in the field, and was thenceforth able to perform only
+duties calling for honest watchfulness rather than personal labor. After
+the removal to Missouri the whole family prospered greatly. He settled
+on a farm near the city of St. Louis, where he lived many years,
+respected by all who knew him. He died in 1831.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center">(6) <i>Asher Wright</i></p>
+
+<p>Near the place where the Hale family lie buried is another grave
+covering the dust of Asher Wright, once Nathan Hale's attendant. He was
+so strongly attached to Hale that his tragic death is thought to have
+unsettled his mind so that he never was quite himself again, and never
+able to earn his own living. For several years after Nathan Hale's death
+Wright was not heard of in his early home. Then he came back to
+Coventry, bringing with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> him some of Nathan Hale's effects that he had
+doubtless carried with him in his wandering, giving them, on his return,
+to Deacon Hale's family.</p>
+
+<p>Asher Wright died in his ninetieth year, having lived all his later days
+in his house not far from the Hale home. His pension of ninety-six
+dollars a year was so supplemented by the Hale family, and by David Hale
+of New York, editor of the <i>Journal of Commerce</i>, that his last days
+were very comfortable. His grave is marked by a marble headstone giving
+his name, age, and former connection with Nathan Hale.</p>
+
+<p>His farm adjoined that of the Hale homestead and has now become a part
+of it.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center">(7) <i>Elisha Bostwick</i></p>
+
+<p>One letter concerning Nathan Hale comes to us with a curious and
+interesting history.</p>
+
+<p>Not long ago, while in the city of Washington, a loyal friend and warm
+admirer of Nathan Hale, George Dudley Seymour, Esq., of New Haven, had
+his attention called to a remarkable tribute to Hale. It proved to have
+been written by a fellow-soldier in the Revolutionary War, Captain
+Elisha Bostwick. This remarkable document was found in the musty records
+of a very old pension list,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> and the portion relating to Nathan Hale is
+here given. It came to light a hundred and thirty-five years after
+Hale's execution. We give this valuable record of Captain Bostwick's as
+it appeared in the <i>Hartford Courant</i> of December 15th, 1914:</p>
+
+<p>"I will now make some observations upon the amiable &amp; unfortunate Capt.
+Nathan Hale whose fate is so well known; for I was with him in the same
+Regt. both at Boston &amp; New York &amp; until the day of his tragical death; &amp;
+although of inferior grade in office was always in the habits of
+friendship &amp; intimacy with him: &amp; my remembrance of his person, manners
+&amp; character is so perfect that I feel inclined to make some remarks upon
+them: for I can now in imagination see his person &amp; hear his voice&mdash;his
+person I should say was a little above the common stature in height, his
+shoulders of a moderate breadth, his limbs strait &amp; very plump: regular
+features&mdash;very fair skin&mdash;blue eyes&mdash;flaxen or very light hair which was
+always kept short&mdash;his eyebrows a shade darker than his hair &amp; his voice
+rather sharp or Piercing&mdash;his bodily agility was remarkable. I have seen
+him follow a football &amp; kick it over the tops of the trees in the Bowery
+at New York (an exercise which he was fond of)&mdash;his mental powers seemed
+to be above the common sort&mdash;his mind of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> sedate and sober cast, &amp; he
+was undoubtedly Pious; for it was remarked that when any of the soldiers
+of his company were sick he always visited them &amp; usually prayed for &amp;
+with them in their sickness.&mdash;A little anecdote I will relate; one day
+he accidentally came across some of his men in a bye place playing
+cards&mdash;he spoke&mdash;what are you doing&mdash;this won't do,&mdash;give me your cards,
+they did so, &amp; he chopd them to pieces, &amp; it was done in such a manner
+that the men were rather pleased than otherwise&mdash;his activity on all
+occasions was wonderful&mdash;he would make a pen the quickest &amp; best of any
+man&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Innumerable instances of occurrences which took place in the Army I
+could relate, but who would care for them: Perhaps it may be thought by
+some that I have already been at the expense of Prolixity. Nobody in
+these days feels as I do, left here alone, &amp; they cannot if they would,
+but to me it is a melancholy pleasure to go back to those Scenes of fear
+&amp; anguish &amp; after the laps of 50 years (1826 was in my 78th year) to
+rumenate upon them which I think I can do with as bright a recollection
+as though they were present&mdash;One more reflection I will make&mdash;why is it
+that the delicious Capt. Hale should be left &amp; lost in an unknown grave
+&amp; forgotten!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The foregoing Statements were made from Memory &amp; recollection &amp; from
+documents &amp; Memorandoms which I kept.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Elisha Bostwick</span>."</p>
+
+
+<p class="center">(8) <i>Edward Everett Hale</i></p>
+
+<p>Of the subsequent records of the Hale family no trace remains that is
+not honorable. Nathan's brother Enoch was settled at Westhampton,
+Massachusetts, in 1777, where he remained a useful and beloved pastor
+for sixty years. Enoch's eldest son, Nathan, graduated at Williams
+College in 1804. He was editor-in-chief of the <i>Boston Daily Advertiser</i>
+for more than forty years. Nathan's son, Nathan, a Havard graduate,
+became associate editor of the <i>Boston Advertiser</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Lucretia Peabody Hale, a well-known writer in her day, whose delightful
+and amusing "Peterkin Papers" are still read and remembered, was a
+granddaughter of the Rev. Enoch Hale.</p>
+
+<p>Edward Everett Hale, a man beloved by every one who knew him, was the
+son of "a great journalist," Nathan, grandson of Enoch, and therefore
+grandnephew of Captain Nathan Hale. He, too, had a son Nathan who died
+in his early manhood. Edward Everett Hale was one of the most commanding
+and admired of men, with rare endowments as clergyman, author, editor,
+and patriot.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Those interested in the study of his granduncle, Nathan, owe to him the
+preservation of many records of the Hale family, and an arrangement of
+the genealogy of the Hale family, made while he was a Unitarian minister
+in Worcester, Massachusetts, and kindly lent to the Hon. I. W. Stuart,
+one of Hale's early biographers.</p>
+
+<p>It will be long before some of Edward Everett Hale's vital words are
+forgotten; longer still before his marvelous story, "The Man Without a
+Country," shall cease to thrill its readers.</p>
+
+<p>The impassioned sentences in which he cites its unhappy hero as speaking
+to a boy&mdash;a midshipman&mdash;while under heavy stress, read, "For your
+country, boy, and for your flag, never dream a dream but of serving her
+as she bids you, though the service carry you through a thousand hells.
+No matter what happens to you, no matter who flatters you or who abuses
+you, never look at another flag, never let a night pass but you pray God
+to bless that flag. Remember, boy, that behind all these men you have to
+do with, behind officers, and government, and people even, there is the
+Country Herself, your Country, and that you belong to Her as you belong
+to your own mother."</p>
+
+<p>No one justly comprehending the bed rock of Edward Everett Hale's
+boundless patriotism can<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> doubt that if the same call of duty had come
+to him that came in bygone days to his relative, young Nathan Hale, he
+would have done exactly as Nathan Hale did. That call did not come, but
+to the end of his days Edward Everett Hale lived for his country as
+nobly as Nathan Hale died for it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Ancestors and Descendants of Nathan Hale's Parents</span></h3>
+
+
+<p>Robert Hale arrived in Massachusetts in 1632. He was one of those sent
+from the first church in Boston to form the first church in Charlestown
+in 1632, and was a deacon of this church. He was a blacksmith by trade.
+He also had a gift for practical mathematics, being regularly employed
+by the General Court of Massachusetts as a surveyor of new plantations.
+His son John, of whom mention has been made in connection with the
+witchcraft delusion, was a graduate of Harvard in 1657. Samuel, the
+fourth son of John, was the father of Richard, father of Nathan Hale.</p>
+
+<p>Elizabeth Strong, wife of Deacon Richard Hale and mother of Nathan, came
+from a family more notable than that of her husband. Her grandfather,
+Joseph Strong, represented Coventry in the General Assembly of
+Connecticut for sixty-five sessions and presided over town-meeting in
+his ninetieth year.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Hale had four immediate relatives who were graduates of Yale
+college. Three of the sons of Deacon Richard Hale and Elizabeth Strong
+Hale graduated from Yale,&mdash;Enoch, the fourth son, Nathan, the sixth
+child, and David, the eighth son. Three of the sons were officers in the
+Revolutionary army, and the husband of a daughter was a surgeon there.
+John was a major; Joseph, who died as the result of the privations
+endured there, was a lieutenant; and Nathan was a captain. Elizabeth,
+daughter of Joseph, married Rev. Abiel Abbot, for many years minister in
+Coventry. Three of their sons were college graduates&mdash;two of Yale and
+one of Dartmouth. Rebekah, another daughter of Joseph, married Ezra
+Abbot of Wilton, N.H. Three sons were graduates of Bowdoin. One son, the
+Rev. Abiel Abbot, was settled in East Wilton.</p>
+
+<p>Two daughters also married clergymen. Another daughter of Joseph, Mary,
+married the Rev. Levi Nelson. For a man who died at the age of
+thirty-four, Lieutenant Joseph Hale appears to have been well
+represented by his descendants.</p>
+
+<p>Surgeon Rose of the Revolutionary army, and Elizabeth Hale, daughter of
+Deacon Richard Hale, were the grandparents of the distinguished lawyer
+and statesman, Washington Hunt, and of Lieuten<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>ant Edward Hunt, U.S.A.,
+first husband of the celebrated author, Helen Hunt.</p>
+
+<p>Enoch Hale, Deacon Richard Hale's fourth son, graduated in the same
+class with his brother Nathan, became a minister, and spent a long life
+in his first and only pastorate. One of his sons, Enoch, was educated at
+Yale and Harvard and became a noted physician. A son, Nathan, was a
+graduate of Williams College, and editor of the <i>Boston Advertiser</i> for
+more than forty years. His son Nathan, a Harvard man, became coeditor
+with him. One of Enoch's granddaughters married a minister named
+Montague.</p>
+
+<p>David, another son of Deacon Richard Hale, graduated at Yale, and was
+settled in the ministry at Lisbon, Connecticut. Joanna, the second
+daughter of Richard Hale, married Dr. Nathan Howard.</p>
+
+<p>One of Enoch Hale's grandsons was president of the Continental Bank in
+New York City. The most noted of Enoch Hale's descendants was the Rev.
+Edward Everett Hale, clergyman, editor, and author, and a graduate of
+Harvard. The writer, Lucretia Peabody Hale, was one of Enoch Hale's
+grandchildren. David Hale, a grandson of Richard Hale, was long in
+control of the <i>Journal of Commerce</i> in New York City and noted for his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>
+charities. Alexander and Charles, grandsons of Enoch, were graduates of
+Harvard.</p>
+
+<p>As this list of college graduates and professional men is not extended
+beyond the year 1850, a little past the limit of a century after the
+marriage of Richard Hale and Elizabeth Strong, one is inclined to wonder
+whether any other farmer's family within that, or any other, period in
+American history, can show a more remarkable record.</p>
+
+<p>One is impressed, too, most profoundly, by the realization that,
+although Elizabeth Strong Hale died so early, as lives are now
+measured,&mdash;she was only forty,&mdash;to few women in any land who have
+reached the appointed limit of human life have been given the remarkable
+power of leaving to so many descendants such warmth of feeling and such
+nobility of nature as passed through that century of her descendants.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Asserted Betrayal of Nathan Hale</span></h3>
+
+
+<p>For some time after the death of Nathan Hale a report was circulated,
+and apparently substantiated, that he had been betrayed into the hands
+of the British by a Tory cousin. Ultimately this report was printed in a
+Newburyport (Massachusetts) newspaper of the day, and read by Mr. Samuel
+Hale of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. This Mr. Hale was a prominent teacher
+and a strong friend of the American cause, and uncle both to Nathan Hale
+and to Samuel Hale, the cousin who was said to have betrayed Nathan.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Samuel Hale never for a moment believed the report, and set himself
+at once to disprove it. This appears to have been done in the most
+effectual way by the combined efforts of Mr. Samuel Hale and Deacon
+Hale, who furnished proof that the supposed betrayer of Nathan Hale had
+never visited in Deacon Hale's family, and, not being in his uncle's
+house when Nathan visited there, had never so much as seen Nathan Hale.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>There were, of course, at the time, strong animosities existing between
+those who supported the British cause among the Americans, and the
+Americans who were opposing England. As at all such times, some members
+of each party were not only unjust but cruel to the other party; and in
+some respects this nephew of the teacher, Samuel Hale, and asserted
+betrayer of Nathan, paid very heavily for his loyalty to the English
+cause. We will let him tell his own story, only adding that when
+hostilities broke out he was a young and successful barrister practicing
+in Portsmouth, was married, and had one child.</p>
+
+<p>Unswerving in his loyalty to the English cause, he was soon obliged to
+leave New Hampshire, and eventually to go into English territory. He
+wrote to his uncle Samuel, in whose family he had been reared, and later
+to his wife; neither letter is dated, but it is probable that when the
+latter was written he was in Nova Scotia. His letter to his uncle runs
+in part as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"My affections as well as my allegiance are due to another nation. I
+love the British government with filial fondness. I have never been
+actuated by any political rancor towards the Americans. My conduct has
+always been fair, explicit, and open, and I may add, <i>some of your
+people have found it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> humane</i> at a time when affairs on our side wore
+the most flattering appearances. My veneration is as high, my friendship
+as warm, and my attachment as great as ever it was for many characters
+among you, though I have differed much from them in politics. In the
+justness of the reasoning which led to the principles that have guided
+me through life, I can suppose myself mistaken. The same thing may have
+been the case with my opponents. Our powers are so limited, our means of
+information so inadequate to the end, that common decency requires we
+should forgive each other when we have every reason to think that each
+has acted honestly.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure I am, this is the case with me and I hope it is the same with some
+of you. My conduct during this unhappy contest has been invariably
+uniform. I can in no sense be called a traitor to your state. I never
+owed it any allegiance, because I left it before it had assumed the form
+or even the name of an independent state, and when I neither saw or felt
+any oppression. I must have been mad as well as wicked to have acted any
+other part than I did upon the principles I held. If I have been
+mistaken I am sorry for the error, and if it be error I still continue
+in it."</p>
+
+<p>This letter is certainly a good illustration of the truth that, in all
+great contests, perfectly honorable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> and consistent men are forced to
+take opposite sides, even at the cost of suffering heavy injustice. The
+letter to his wife is here given in full.</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>
+<span class="smcap">My Dear Girl</span>,&mdash;<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>This you will get by Mr. Hart's flag of Truce, who is coming to
+Boston for his family. I know the disposition of the Leaders at
+Boston so well, that I doubt not of his success. I would have come
+for you and the boy, but I thought you would leave your father with
+reluctance, nor am I sure that I could have obtained leave for you
+to come away, if you were disposed. I fear the resentment of the
+people against me may have injured you, but I hope not. I am sorry
+such a prejudice has arisen.</p>
+
+<p>Depend upon it, there never was the least truth in that infamous
+newspaper publication charging me with ingratitude, etc. I am happy
+that they have had [to have] recourse to falsehood to vilify my
+character. Attachment to the old Constitution of my country is my
+only crime with them&mdash;for which I have still the disposition of the
+primitive martyr.</p>
+
+<p>I hope and believe you want no pecuniary assistance. If you should
+you may apply to some of my friends or your relations. You may then
+use my name with confidence that they shall be amply satisfied. I
+believe I shall have the power, I am sure I shall have the will, to
+recompense them again.</p>
+
+<p>I somewhat expect to see you in a few months&mdash;perhaps not before I
+have seen England. In the meanwhile, my dear Girl, take care of
+your own and the Boy's health. He may live to be serviceable to his
+country in some distant period.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> Respect, Love, Duty, etc., await
+all my inquiring and real friends.</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+I am, etc.<br />
+<span class="smcap">S. Hale.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="smcap">To Mrs Hale</span><br />
+</p>
+
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>These letters sufficiently attest the character of the man, and we can
+hope that in later days he was enabled to return to his family, and to
+prove that political differences of opinion had not changed the
+integrity of his life.</p>
+
+<p>Knowing nothing of his later days, we may rejoice that the base
+assertion that this own cousin had betrayed Nathan Hale was wholly
+without foundation; and that in him, also, the Hale trait of loyalty to
+honest opinions enabled him to make sacrifices as great in their way as
+those made by many of his kindred.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Contrasts Between Hale and André</span></h3>
+
+
+<p>If Nathan Hale was in many respects the most notable American martyr,
+another man, in the English army, four years later met a doom that to
+the English appears to have exalted him to a rank corresponding to
+Nathan Hale's. For a long time there was a glamour about André that
+lifted him above the place to which, in the minds of many, he rightfully
+belonged, and comparisons have often been made between him and Hale, as
+if in reality their services and their characters justified such
+comparison.</p>
+
+<p>It has been our aim to describe Hale as accurately as possible. He has
+been presented as an educated, high-minded patriot, wholly intent upon
+serving his country to the full extent of his ability, ready to run any
+risk in her service, and fully comprehending, in his last supreme effort
+to serve her, that he was risking his life and facing the possibility of
+a dishonorable death. He expected no reward if he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> succeeded, save the
+consciousness of having done his duty. But fail he did, and we have seen
+how simply and bravely he accepted his doom. His grave is unknown to
+this day, and his country, as a country, has made no recognition
+whatever of his supreme sacrifice.</p>
+
+<p>In regard to André, we know that he was of foreign parentage, his father
+a Genevan Swiss, and his mother French. He had not inherited a drop of
+English blood. Born, however, after his parents removed to London, he
+was, in ordinary acceptance, English.</p>
+
+<p>His parents were able to educate him thoroughly, and to fit him for what
+they supposed would be a successful commercial career. A disappointment
+in love, however, led him to seek a change of scene, and he entered the
+English army.</p>
+
+<p>Personally he was most attractive, charming in his manners beyond the
+average man, a fine linguist, and a brave man. He soon attracted
+attention among the English officers engaged in the war against America,
+and was eventually made adjutant general of the English army. So far as
+can now be judged, his life as a soldier had been most agreeable, and he
+had made friends with all his associates. While Arnold was perfecting
+his designs to betray West Point into the hands of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> English, and
+thus in effect terminate the war, André was appointed to act as the
+intermediary between Arnold and Sir Henry Clinton.</p>
+
+<p>André may have looked upon himself as an envoy from his own commander to
+an American commander, and he well knew that, if successful, high honor
+and a desirable command in the British army would be awarded him by the
+English government. He does not appear to have considered the fact that
+he was risking his life in the service of the English. Indeed, none of
+the English officers appear to have thought it possible that the
+Americans would dare to treat as a spy an English adjutant general who
+had been invited to his headquarters by General Arnold, and by him
+provided with safeguards for his return. So sure were they of André's
+safety that it is said the British officers treated with derision the
+suggestion that he was in danger, even after his capture.</p>
+
+<p>Once captured, they should not have been so sure of his safety. But
+neither they nor he had any idea that he would be captured. Indeed, we
+can hardly see how he could have been captured had he followed the
+instructions of Sir Henry Clinton, who strictly enjoined him not to go
+within the American lines, not to assume any disguise, and not to carry
+a scrap of writing.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At first André had supposed that Arnold would meet him on the <i>Vulture</i>,
+and that all their negotiations would be completed there. But Arnold,
+too crafty to run any personal risk, or arouse any suspicion in his own
+officers, insisted upon André's landing and conferring with him at some
+little distance from his own headquarters. Disregarding, through
+Arnold's persuasions, Clinton's first order to remain upon the
+<i>Vulture</i>, André's other failures in obedience appear to have been
+inevitable, and taking the risks as they came, he went forward to his
+doom, to his death, to Arnold's ruin as an American citizen, and to the
+preservation of the infant republic.</p>
+
+<p>For the third time, Providence appears to have thwarted the shrewdest
+plans of the enemies of America. First came the fog in New York Bay,
+enabling Washington to withdraw his troops from Brooklyn without the
+knowledge of the British; second, the knowledge of Hale's fate and the
+preservation of his last words by a humane English officer, despite the
+malice of Provost Marshal Cunningham; third, and apparently most
+important of all, the capture of André, involving the defeat of Arnold's
+traitorous plans to ruin his country's cause.</p>
+
+<p>From the moment André fell into the hands of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> the Americans, he was
+treated with the utmost courtesy. Every possible opportunity for him to
+prove his innocence was given him, and an offer to exchange him for
+Arnold, who had fled to the British camp, was made to the commanders of
+the English. This, however, could not be done honorably by Sir Henry
+Clinton, and André had to face a fate he had not for a moment thought
+possible.</p>
+
+<p>He bore himself bravely, and he certainly won the hearts of those who
+held him prisoner. When he came to die in Tappan&mdash;not, as he had hoped,
+as a soldier, shot to death, but hanged as a spy&mdash;he seemed for a moment
+greatly affected. Then recovering himself before the fatal drop he said,
+"Gentlemen, I beg you all to bear witness that I die as a brave man."</p>
+
+<p>Self-pity, the desire to be honored despite the manner of his death,
+marked André's exit from the world. Hale had gone hence without one
+personal expression of regret save that he could not add to his service
+for his country.</p>
+
+<p>André had died pitied and lamented even by loyal Americans. England,
+remembering what he had done to serve her, and that he had died in her
+service, rendered his memory the highest honor. She conferred knighthood
+on his brother, and a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> pension of three hundred guineas a year on his
+mother and sisters, already well provided for.</p>
+
+<p>Forty years later she sent one of her war vessels to America to bring
+his body back to England; and then the doors of stately Westminster
+Abbey, in which lie buried the dust of those she most delights to honor,
+were opened to receive his remains; there they will lie till the old
+Abbey crumbles.</p>
+
+<p>Thus England honors the men who try to serve her in any line of heroic
+service, proving that if she "expects every man to do his duty," she, in
+her turn, expects to honor those who serve her, be they her own sons or
+the sons of strangers born "within her gates."</p>
+
+<p>October 2, 1879, the ninety-ninth anniversary of the execution of André,
+a monument, prepared by order of Cyrus W. Field and placed over the spot
+of André's execution, was unveiled. There were present members of
+historical societies, of the United States Army, of the newspapers, and
+various other persons. At noon, the hour of André's execution, the
+memorial was unveiled. There were no ceremonies on the occasion. The
+epitaph had been prepared by the Rev. Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, the
+beloved and honored Dean of Westminster, at whose suggestion Mr. Field
+had erected the memorial. It is inscribed as follows:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Here died, October 2, 1780</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Major John André of the British Army,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Who, entering the American lines</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">On a secret mission to Benedict Arnold,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">For the surrender of West Point,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Was taken prisoner, tried and condemned as a spy.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 9em;">His death</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Though according to the stern rule of war,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Moved even his enemies to pity;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">And both armies mourned the fate</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Of one so young and so brave.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In 1821 his remains were removed to Westminster Abbey.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">A hundred years after the execution</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">This stone was placed above the spot where he lay,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">By a citizen of the United States against which he fought,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Not to perpetuate the record of strife,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">But in token of those friendly feelings</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Which have since united two nations,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">One in race, in language, and in religion,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">With the hope that this friendly union</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Will never be broken.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>On the other side are these words of Washington:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"He was more unfortunate than criminal."</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"An accomplished man and gallant officer."</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">&mdash;<span class="smcap">George Washington</span></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>The first of the two lines was from a letter of Washington to Count de
+Rochambeau, dated October 10, 1780. The second is from a letter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> written
+by Washington to Colonel John Laurens on October 13 of the same year.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1853 some Americans who believe that all historic spots in
+our land should be marked by permanent memorials, erected a monument at
+Tarrytown, New York, in honor of the captors of André. Hon. Henry J.
+Raymond made the address at its dedication. Mr. Raymond was born in 1820
+and was graduated from the University of Vermont in 1840. He assisted
+Horace Greeley in the conduct of the <i>Tribune</i> and other newspapers. He
+founded the <i>New York Times</i> in 1851 and died in 1869.</p>
+
+<p>In the address just mentioned, Mr. Raymond, contrasting the halo that
+surrounded André's name with the oblivion then seemingly the fate of
+Nathan Hale, closed with these impassioned words:</p>
+
+<p>"Where sleeps the Americanism of Americans, that their hearts are not
+stirred to solemn rapture at thought of the sublime love of country
+which buoyed him [Hale] not alone above 'the fear of death,' but far
+beyond all thought of himself, of his fate, and his fame, or of anything
+less than his country, and which shaped his dying breath into the sacred
+sentence which trembled at the last upon his unquivering lip?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>With this tribute we close, believing that the tardy justice accorded to
+our martyr-hero is destined to become a nation-wide loyalty; that the
+day will yet come when our nation, as a nation, will recognize the
+nobility of nature displayed, and will assign a high place to the brave
+lad who so sublimely relinquished all that life held, and all that
+coming years might bring, to die for his country,&mdash;<i>our country</i>,&mdash;the
+high-souled Nathan Hale.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Nathan Hale, by Jean Christie Root
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Nathan Hale, by Jean Christie Root
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Nathan Hale
+
+Author: Jean Christie Root
+
+Release Date: March 15, 2010 [EBook #31650]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NATHAN HALE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreaders at
+http://www.fadedpage.com
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  TRUE STORIES OF GREAT AMERICANS
+
+  NATHAN HALE
+
+  BY
+
+  JEAN CHRISTIE ROOT
+
+
+  "O Beautiful! my Country! ...,
+    What were our lives without thee?
+    What all our lives to save thee?
+    We reck not what we gave thee;
+    We will not dare to doubt thee,
+  But ask whatever else, and we will dare!"
+
+  _Commemoration Ode_,
+  JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL
+
+
+  THE WORLD SYNDICATE PUBLISHING CO.
+  Cleveland, O.         New York, N. Y.
+
+  PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
+
+  COPYRIGHT, 1915,
+
+  BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
+
+  Set up and electrotyped. Published May, 1915. Reprinted
+  August, 1925; March, 1929.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+  CHAPTER I
+  NATHAN HALE'S EARLY YEARS                                            1
+
+  CHAPTER II
+  COLLEGE DAYS                                                        12
+
+  CHAPTER III
+  A CALL TO TEACH                                                     29
+
+  CHAPTER IV
+  A CALL TO ARMS                                                      44
+
+  CHAPTER V
+  HALE'S ZEAL AS A SOLDIER                                            60
+
+  CHAPTER VI
+  A PERILOUS SERVICE                                                  71
+
+  CHAPTER VII
+  GRIEF FOR THE YOUNG PATRIOT                                         91
+
+  CHAPTER VIII
+  TRIBUTES TO NATHAN HALE                                            103
+
+  CHAPTER IX
+  NATHAN HALE'S FRIENDS                                              114
+
+    THE REV. JOSEPH HUNTINGTON, D.D.                                 114
+    ALICE ADAMS                                                      118
+    BENJAMIN TALLMADGE                                               125
+    WILLIAM HULL                                                     129
+    STEPHEN HEMPSTEAD                                                133
+    ASHER WRIGHT                                                     136
+    ELISHA BOSTWICK                                                  137
+    EDWARD EVERETT HALE                                              140
+
+  CHAPTER X
+
+  ANCESTORS AND DESCENDANTS OF NATHAN HALE'S
+
+  PARENTS                                                            143
+
+  CHAPTER XI
+  ASSERTED BETRAYAL OF NATHAN HALE                                   147
+
+  CHAPTER XII
+  CONTRASTS BETWEEN HALE AND ANDRE                                   152
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+NATHAN HALE'S EARLY YEARS
+
+
+It is to-day a recognized fact that no life worthy of our reverence, or
+even a life calculated to awaken our fear, is the result of accident.
+Whatever may be the character, its basis has been the result of
+long-developing causes. This the life of Nathan Hale well illustrates.
+He was born at a time and under influences that were sure to develop the
+best qualities in him. He was an immediate descendant of the best of the
+Puritans on both sides of the sea. His great-grandfather, John Hale, was
+the son of Robert Hale, who came to America in 1632. John Hale graduated
+from Harvard in 1657 and was the first pastor settled in Beverly,
+Massachusetts, remaining there until he died, an aged man. An ardent
+patriot, this John Hale, in 1676, gave about one-twelfth of his salary,
+some seventy pounds, for defense in King Philip's War. When need arose
+in the French War, he went to Canada as a volunteer, for a threefold
+purpose,--so that he might accompany a number of his own parishioners,
+act as chaplain for one of the regiments, and fight when his aid was
+needed.
+
+Living during the witchcraft trials, he was one of the first to be
+convinced of the mistaken course pursued. We are not certain as to his
+approval or disapproval of the progress of the excitement in regard to
+witchcraft until it became intensely personal to his own family. His
+wife was, fortunately as the results proved, accused by some misguided
+person of being a witch. The well-known nobility of her life, and her
+lovely character, at once convinced all who knew the circumstances that
+some terrible mistake had been made by her accuser. And if a mistake had
+been made in her case, why not in others? At once the deadly power of
+the delusion was broken and, happily, the tide turned back forever.
+There was no question after this of the Rev. Mr. Hale's viewpoint as to
+witchcraft.
+
+In the very darkest depths of the witchcraft delusion, some
+illustrations of splendid courage and noble unselfishness were
+exhibited. Grewsome as it is, we cannot forbear quoting the example of
+one Giles Cory, condemned to die as a witch, who knew that if he did not
+confess he had bewitched people, his estate, which he wished his wife
+and family to inherit, would be forfeited, and that he would be pressed
+to death instead of being hanged.
+
+Being hanged is a comparatively brief experience, while the other way is
+prolonged and agonizing. But, for the sake of his family, brave old
+Giles Cory calmly faced this terrible, lingering death. He must have won
+from some, if not from all, the feeling that a stout-hearted and
+generous man had proved his love for his own as no mere words could have
+done.
+
+John Hale appears to have been a worthy ancestor of the youth Nathan
+Hale, who, a hundred years later, so freely made a sacrifice of his
+life.
+
+John Hale's son, Samuel, was Nathan's grandfather; he made his home in
+Portsmouth, New Hampshire. One of Samuel Hale's sons, bearing his own
+name, Samuel, was a Harvard man. Another son, Richard, Nathan's father,
+born February 28, 1717, looking about to find the best farming lands for
+the support of a future family, moved to Connecticut, and became a
+farmer in South Coventry, thirty miles east of Hartford. Distinguished
+from the beginning for his success in whatever he undertook in business
+affairs, and also as a man of singularly upright character, Deacon
+Richard Hale won the warmest regard of all who knew him. His advice and
+help were sought, both in political and religious affairs, to the full
+limit of the time at his command.
+
+His farm was among the best in that section. The house that he first
+occupied, probably one already on the place, was as comfortable and
+convenient as the usual homes of the earlier colonists. Later a larger
+house was built, big enough to accommodate a family of a dozen or more,
+and many guests as well. The house in which Nathan lived as a boy is
+still standing, and has fortunately come down to us with almost no
+mutilation.
+
+Though the forms and the voices of those who dwelt in them have long
+since vanished, there still linger about these vacant rooms the most
+tender and inspiring memories of the lives once developing there, now
+gone forward; nothing wasted or lost, as we will believe, of anything
+permanent they strove for or cared for in their dear, earthly home.
+
+To this home Richard Hale, married May 2, 1746, at the age of
+twenty-nine, brought his young bride, Elizabeth Strong. If Richard
+Hale's pedigree was a good one, his wife, Elizabeth Strong, came from a
+family even more finely endowed. The first of her ancestors who came to
+America was Elder John Strong. He was one of the founders of
+Dorchester, now a part of Boston; later he helped to found Northampton,
+Massachusetts.
+
+Mrs. Hale's grandfather, Joseph Strong, represented Coventry for
+sixty-five sessions in the General Assembly of Connecticut, and when he
+was ninety years of age he presided over the town meeting, suggesting by
+that deed a man of some vigor, for town meetings were no playdays in
+those early years. His descendants, active in whatever their hands found
+to do,--in the ministry, the law, business, or politics,--were long
+prominent in New England and New York, and doubtless many are to-day
+still helping to mold their country's future.
+
+The son of this Justice Joseph Strong was also named Joseph, and called
+Captain Joseph Strong. In 1724 he married his second cousin, Elizabeth
+Strong. He, too, was a noted man among the colonists. She, later, became
+the "grandmother" to whom Nathan so warmly alludes in one of his last
+letters to his brother. Captain Joseph Strong and his wife were the
+parents of Elizabeth Strong who, in her nineteenth year, married Richard
+Hale.
+
+To Elizabeth Strong Hale we can give but a passing notice. There is not,
+it is believed, one word that she wrote now in existence, nor any record
+left of that gracious womanhood, save a name on an obscure gravestone.
+But what brave-hearted mother would not count it well worth while to
+leave, for the coming years, the impress she left upon her many
+children; one of them alone destined to carry to coming generations of
+Americans the assurance that such a son could only have been borne by
+one of the noblest of mothers. Dying at the age of forty,--April 21,
+1767,--after a married life of twenty-one years, she had performed all
+the duties then expected from the mistress of a farmer's household in a
+section where the principal help that could be secured in any time of
+need came from the voluntary kindnesses of neighbors; for, like one
+large family, they felt it necessary to "lend a hand" whenever any one
+of their number was in need. Mrs. Hale had been the mother of twelve
+children when she died. Two of her children, named David and Jonathan,
+were twins. One of the twins, Jonathan, died when only a week old. David
+lived to be graduated from Yale and to become a minister at Lisbon,
+Connecticut. A little daughter, Susanna, lived but a month, but ten of
+Mrs. Hale's twelve children grew to maturity.
+
+Nathan, the sixth child, born June 6, 1755, was the first of the ten to
+die, leaving to his surviving brothers and sisters a memory that in
+later years must have been an unfailing inspiration. He was delicate at
+first, but owing to his mother's care he later became as robust in body
+as he was in mind. For an older brother, Enoch, the plan was formed of
+sending him to college to prepare for the ministry, a custom then
+prevalent among many of the large and prosperous families in New
+England. Nathan was at first destined for a business life; but because
+of the urgent desire of his mother, heartily seconded by that of his
+Grandmother Strong, he was allowed to enter college with his brother
+Enoch in 1769, when he was fourteen years old; this was two years after
+the death of his mother. Four of Mrs. Hale's immediate relatives were
+graduates of Yale,--a fine illustration of the value those progressive
+pioneers attached to education.
+
+As a boy Nathan was to his mother what he later became to all who knew
+him; and the bond between such a mother and such a son must have been
+very tender and strong. It is a comfort to those who know what such
+mothers desire for their children, to remember the gladness and hope
+with which this mother, overworked and dying long before her time,
+looked forward to the days coming to her children. For Nathan, through
+her influence, was to become one of Yale's noblest sons.
+
+As Nathan's mother died nine years before he did, we understand the full
+meaning of the line in Judge Finch's poem,
+
+  "The sad of Earth, the glad of Heaven,"
+
+written many years later in honoring Nathan's splendid sacrifice. The
+poem to which the line belongs, read more than sixty years ago on the
+one-hundredth anniversary of the Linonian Society, an organization of
+Yale College of which Nathan Hale had been an early and an active
+member, had much influence in rousing first Yale men, and then other
+patriotic Americans, to recognize Nathan Hale as one of America's
+bravest martyrs.
+
+Mrs. Hale died in 1767. About two years later Deacon Hale married again,
+bringing to his home this time a widow, Mrs. Abigail Adams, of
+Canterbury, who must have been well fitted to take her place as the new
+head of the family. No ignoble mother could rear such children as she
+had reared, and Deacon Hale's second choice of a wife proved a wise and
+happy one. Providence appears to have smiled upon him when he opened his
+doors and invited Mrs. Adams and her children to share his home, and
+even the affection of some of his sons. It is said that two of Deacon
+Hale's sons fell in love with her youngest daughter, Alice Adams, who,
+at Deacon Hale's desire, came to live permanently in the family in 1770
+or 1771, while his second son, John, married her eldest daughter, Sarah
+Adams, on December 19, 1770.
+
+The lives of both these women, Sarah and Alice Adams, are sufficient
+witnesses to the high character of the new mother added to the Hale
+household. To several of his biographers it has seemed quite probable
+that Nathan Hale wrote one of his last two letters to this mother. We
+grant that it may have been addressed to her, while intended for the
+reading of another. Of this, later.
+
+In regard to the marriage of John Hale and Sarah Adams it may be as well
+to state here that, after a married life of thirty-one years, John Hale
+died suddenly in December, 1802, his health probably undermined by his
+service in the Revolutionary War, where he held the rank of major. His
+widow, desiring to carry out what she believed would have been his
+wishes, "bequeathed L1000 to trustees as a fund, the income of which was
+to be used for the support of young men preparing for missionary
+service,"--probably among the Indians, as this was before the support of
+foreign missions was undertaken in America--"and in part for founding
+and supporting the Hale Library in Coventry, to be used by the ministers
+of Coventry and the neighboring towns." Included in the bequest for
+founding the still existing so-called "Hale Donation" was a portrait of
+the donor's husband, Major John Hale;--well painted, for the period, and
+now of great interest. Mrs. John Hale died a few months after her
+husband. It is easy to believe that, though born of different parents,
+the Hale and Adams families were congenial mentally and morally, and
+that Deacon Richard Hale was a wise and fortunate man in his choice of a
+second mother for his children.
+
+According to his mother's and grandmother's wishes, it was early decided
+that Nathan should be prepared to enter college. After the fashion of
+those times, he and two of his brothers began their preparatory studies
+under the direction of the Rev. Joseph Huntington, D.D., then pastor of
+the church in Nathan's native town. He is said to have been a man noted
+for his intellectual power, for his patriotism, and for his courteous
+manners.
+
+It may be well to say here that, in those early days, the New England
+ministers usually settled in one pastorate for life, and they were not
+only teachers in spiritual things, but were noted for their courteous
+and dignified manners; so that even before he entered college Nathan
+Hale must have had ample opportunities for the cultivation of the easy
+manners and courteous deportment which are said by all who knew him to
+have been so marked in him.
+
+Nathan Hale, as a boy, had one more asset that must have helped to
+insure his future success, and that did, as we believe, help him to die
+nobly. He was not overindulged; he had always the spur of effort to urge
+him forward. It was told of him, many years after his death, by the
+woman he had loved and who had known him well all his later years, Mrs.
+Alice Adams Lawrence, that whatever he did, even as boy, he did with all
+his heart, as if it engrossed his whole mind. Whether it was work, or
+study, or play, he gave all his energies to the doing of it. Such a
+disposition, together with his fine home training, must have helped to
+insure his success in Yale.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+COLLEGE DAYS
+
+
+In September, 1769, accompanied by Enoch, an older brother, Nathan Hale
+entered the Freshman class at Yale. His personal traits easily won the
+hearts of his classmates, while his quick understanding, his high
+scholarship, and his loyalty to the college standards made him as
+popular among tutors and professors as among his classmates. It is
+pleasant to know that, from the time we first learn of him until we see
+him standing beside the fatal tree, he appears to have won all hearts
+worth winning.
+
+But Nathan Hale had yet another gift that would surely endear him to
+college students of to-day as much as it doubtless did to his own
+classmates. He was a powerful athlete. So great was his skill in this
+line that, to successive generations of Yale men, the "broad jump" made
+by Nathan Hale remained unequaled. It is said to have taken place on
+what is now called "The Green" in New Haven, not far from the Old State
+House; and for many years the spot was marked to designate the length
+of the jump. Even during the years when his courageous death appeared to
+be well-nigh forgotten, "Hale's jump" was vividly remembered. But he not
+only "jumped," he excelled in all games then popular in college, besides
+being a capital shot with his rifle, as well as a fine swimmer.
+
+Hale could, it is said, lay one hand on the top of a six-foot fence and
+easily vault over it; and, though this astonishing feat is reported as
+occurring while he was a teacher, he used to delight his companions by
+showing them how to stand in a hogshead with his hands on his hips, leap
+over the first hogshead, land in a second, leap from that into a third,
+and from that out on to the ground,--all this before he was twenty.
+
+Imagine the delight of the "other fellows" standing around to watch Hale
+go through his various stunts in athletics! It almost makes one feel as
+if one had been a student and shared in the cheering when Hale did these
+things, so easy to himself, so difficult to the onlookers. Then fancy
+the talk at the supper tables, when the candles burned brightly and the
+eatables tasted twice as good because "old Hale" had won laurels for
+"old Yale" that afternoon by some "splendid" deed, as the boys called
+it. Whatever he did, we may be sure that it was done well and with all
+his might, and that nobody equaled him.
+
+This much for the athletic life of Hale in his student days. It was only
+natural to such a man that whatever he was--friend, student, teacher, or
+soldier--he should carry zest and earnestness to all his work, even as
+he carried his manliness, his courtesy, and his unquenchable spirit.
+
+Let us now turn to the record of his years of successful work at Yale.
+It has been said that whatever he did, he did with all his might, and
+his brain work was as notable in its results as were the strength and
+agility of his body. In those early days the college bell rang for
+prayers, as the beginning of the day's work, at half past four in summer
+and an hour later in winter; and there are men still living who
+remember, in later years and at later hours, the wild rushes
+half-dressed students used to make, adjusting what they could of their
+hastily donned clothing on their race to morning chapel.
+
+Hale, however, as well as his companions a hundred and forty years ago,
+were accustomed to early rising, and able to fill every hour of their
+long days with work or play. The course of study then was much shorter
+than it is now, but if lacking in quantity it certainly made up in some
+of its qualities. We doubt if Freshmen to-day would outshine their
+fellows of that very early time if their declamations on Fridays were
+required to be in Latin, Greek, or Hebrew, "no English being allowed
+save by special permission."
+
+Science as we now know it had not entered into the college course, but
+the little then known, and the other studies considered essential,
+comparatively limited as they must have been, were taught so thoroughly
+that the men who carried away a college diploma carried a sure guarantee
+that they had been carefully taught whatever was then considered
+essential to a college education.
+
+Although it is true that science was then in comparative infancy, it is
+also true that it was deeply absorbing to young Hale. Some of his most
+valued books were scientific, and, aside from the studies he was obliged
+to pursue, he eagerly absorbed educational theories and the best
+literary works then available. As a college student, he stood high; as a
+thinker and as one interested in the finest pursuits of his period, he
+ranked equally high. Before he was nineteen he had won the permanent
+friendship and ardent admiration of a man who was then his tutor,
+Timothy Dwight, later the renowned president of Yale College, and to
+the end of his long life a lover of his boy-friend, Nathan Hale.
+
+Another warm friend, a classmate, destined to be notable in future
+years, was James Hillhouse, later United States Senator, the first man
+to leave the stamp of beauty on his native city, New Haven, in the
+wonderful elms of his planting.
+
+In addition to these two noted men, many of Hale's warmest friendships
+were formed at college among the leading men of his own and of other
+classes. At least two or three of these were his companions in arms, to
+whom we may refer later. Of his scholarship, one sure test remains. At
+graduation, of the thirty-six men in his class, he ranked among the
+first thirteen.
+
+In one other important line Nathan Hale made a notable mark in college,
+namely, in his intense interest in Linonia. This society had been
+founded in 1753 "to promote in addition to the regular course of
+academic study, literary stimulus and rhetorical improvement to the
+undergraduates," and to create friendly relations among its members. The
+organization lived a long and honorable life, and did a most helpful
+work among its members. Nathan Hale was the first in his class to become
+its Chancellor, later styled President. He was for some time also its
+scribe, and many of his entries in the Linonian reports are still
+"clear throughout and well-preserved" as is his signature at the end,
+after the passing of more than a hundred years.
+
+During his college course his name occurs in the reports of almost every
+meeting of the society. At one time he delivered "a very interesting
+narration"; at another, "an eloquent extemporaneous address." On various
+occasions he is said to have taken part in some of the plays that were
+frequently acted, and to have proposed questions for discussion.
+
+Besides taking part in the society and college exercises, he enjoyed
+frequent correspondence with a number of his classmates on themes of
+taste and criticism and of grammar and philology.
+
+As incoming Chancellor at the end of the college year of 1772, Hale
+responded in behalf of Linonia to the parting address from one of the
+graduating class.
+
+Hale's farewell address to the Linonians of the class of 1772 is
+preserved to Yale College on the society records. In reading it one must
+remember that the speech was made by a boy of seventeen. The dignity of
+the address, the assured ease with which he speaks, the sense of the
+Yale bond, as strong then as it ever has been, all show the only boyish
+thing about the speaker, namely, his sense of the superiority of
+Linonia, then nearly twenty years old, to the struggling new society of
+"The Brothers," less than eight years old. All this brings before us
+very vividly a boy in years, but a man in thoughts and aspirations,
+ardent and scholarly, and full of a noble ambition that looked forward,
+as do all ambitious students in their college days, to years of generous
+life.
+
+A few paragraphs quoted from various parts of the quaintly courteous
+speech will illustrate alike the youth and the maturity of the speaker.
+He said:
+
+"The high opinion we ought to maintain of the ability of these worthy
+Gentlemen" [the retiring members of the Society] "as well as the regard
+they express for Linonia and her Sons, tends very much to increase our
+desire for their longer continuance. Under whatsoever character we
+consider them, we have the greatest reason to regret their departure. As
+our patrons, we have shared their utmost care and vigilance in
+supporting Linonia's cause, and protecting her from the malice of her
+insulting foes. As our benefactors, we have partaken of their
+liberality, not only in their rich and valuable donations to our
+library, but, what is still more, their amiable company and
+conversation."
+
+["This is a fine portrait of Hale painted by himself," says a friend of
+Hale to-day.]
+
+"But as our friends, what inexpressible happiness have we experienced in
+their disinterested love and cordial affection! We have lived together
+not as fellow students and members of the same college, but as brothers
+and children of the same family; not as superiors and inferiors, but
+rather as equals and companions. The only thing which hath given them
+the preeminence is their superior knowledge in those arts and sciences
+which are here cultivated, and their greater skill and prudence in the
+management of such important affairs as those which concern the good
+order and regularity of this Society. Under the prudent conduct of these
+our once worthy patrons, but now parting friends, things have been so
+wisely regulated, as that while we have been entertained with all the
+pleasures of familiar conversation, we have been no less profited by our
+improvements in useful knowledge and literature."
+
+Hale's direct address to the parting members is as follows:
+
+"Kind and generous Sirs, it is with the greatest reluctance that we are
+now all obliged to bid adieu to you, our dearest friends. Fain would we
+ask you longer to tarry--but it is otherwise determined, and we must
+comply. Accept then our sincerest thanks, as some poor return for your
+disinterested zeal in Linonia's cause, and your unwearied pains to
+suppress her opposers.... Be assured that we shall be spirited in
+Linonia's cause and with steadiness and resolution strive to make her
+shine with unparalleled luster.... Be assured that your memory will
+always be very dear to us; that though hundreds of miles should
+interfere, you will always be attended with our best wishes.
+
+"May Providence protect you in all your ways, and may you have
+prosperity in all your undertakings! May you live long and happily, and
+at last die satisfied with the pleasures of this world, and go hence to
+that world where joys shall never cease, and pleasures never end! Dear
+Gentlemen, farewell!"
+
+Not only in speeches but also in deeds Hale proved his love for Linonia.
+He is said to have contributed some of his own books to the library of
+the Society, and to have cooeperated with Timothy Dwight and James
+Hillhouse in promoting its growth. In time the library owned more than
+thirteen thousand volumes. These three Linonians were always considered
+its real founders, and were so honored at the Society's centennial
+anniversary on July 27, 1853.
+
+Timothy Dwight, the first of that name to be president of Yale College,
+was, like Nathan Hale, a descendant of Elder Strong who founded
+Northampton, Massachusetts. Dwight graduated in 1769, the year Hale
+entered college. He then became a tutor and was a personal friend of
+Hale's. He was a teacher of extraordinary power and was made president
+of Yale in 1795. He was one of the most remarkable men of his time,
+molding the moral and religious, as well as intellectual, character of
+the college so that his influence extended not only over the whole state
+but, to a great degree, over the whole United States. He was a fine
+illustration of the great abilities that centered in so many of the
+leading families of the colonists. Such connections as this man add even
+a higher luster to the genealogy of Elizabeth Strong Hale, and lessen
+our wonder that a son of hers, while hardly more than a boy, could face
+the duty and calmly accept the responsibility that he felt rested upon
+him.
+
+As may easily be inferred, the Hale boys, Enoch and Nathan, were not
+forgotten by their home friends while making honorable records in
+college, and forming pleasant friendships outside the college
+walls--then the happy lot of all the best men in college--among the
+cultured families of what was then a small New England city.
+
+An instance of the friendships Nathan made in New Haven is shown by the
+words of AEneas Munson, M.D., formerly of that city. When an aged man he
+spoke in the warmest terms of Hale's fine qualities as he observed them
+when he was a boy in his father's house, and he treasured a letter to
+his father from Hale in 1774 which will be given farther on.
+
+Of home letters, happily a few from their father in Coventry to his two
+sons in college are still preserved; these prove, as no words of any
+stranger could, his constant and practical interest in all that
+concerned them. They show us how an upright father tried to influence
+his boys' religious characters while distant from them, and at the same
+time they show the economies which even well-to-do fathers then had to
+exercise in providing for their sons while at college. The first letter
+also shows that Nathan must have entered college when fourteen years and
+three months old, having been born in June, 1755, and entering college
+in September, 1769. We here give the first letter, with all its quaint
+old spelling, and after it two others written during successive years.
+We may smile at their old-time expressions, but we must own to a sincere
+admiration for the kind and thoughtful father, so interested in his
+boys, and so solicitous concerning their health "after the measles."
+
+
+     DEAR CHILDREN:
+
+     I Rec'd your Letter of the 7th instant and am glad to hear that you
+     are well suited with Living in College and would let you know that
+     wee are all well threw the Divine goodness, as I hope these lines
+     will find you. I hope you will carefully mind your studies that
+     your time be not Lost and that you will mind all the orders of
+     College with care.... I intend to send you some money the first
+     opportunity perhaps by Mr. Sherman when he Returns home from of the
+     surcit [circuit court] he is now on. If you can hire Horses at New
+     Haven to come home without too much trouble and cost I don't know
+     but it is best and should be glad to know how you can hire them and
+     send me word. If I don't here from you I shall depend upon sending
+     Horses to you by the 6th of May,--if I should have know opportunity
+     to send you any money till May and should then come to New Haven
+     and clear all of it would it not do? If not you will let me know
+     it. Your friends are all well at Coventry--your mother sends her
+     Regards to you--from your kind and loving
+
+     Father
+     RICHD HALE
+
+     COVENTRY Decr. 26th
+     A.D. 1769.
+
+
+     DEAR CHILDREN:
+
+     I have nothing spettial to write but would by all means desire you
+     to mind your Studies and carefully attend to the orders of Coledge.
+     Attend not only Prayers in the chapel but Secret Prayr carefully.
+     Shun all vice especially card Playing. Read your Bibles a chapter
+     night and morning. I cannot now send you much money but hope when
+     Sr Strong comes to Coventry to be able to send by him what you
+     want....
+
+     from your Loving Father
+     RICHD HALE
+
+     Coventry, Decr. 17th, 1770
+
+
+     LOVING CHILDREN--by a line would let you know that I with my family
+     threw the Divine Goodness are well as I hope these lines will find
+     you. I have heard that you are better of the measles. The Cloath
+     for your Coat is not Done. But will be Done next week I hope at
+     furthest. I know of no opportunity we shall have to send it to
+     Newhaven and have Laid in with Mr. Strong for his Horse which his
+     son will Ride down to New Haven for one of you to Ride home if you
+     can get Leave and have your close made at home. I sopose that one
+     measure will do for both of you. I am told that it is not good to
+     study hard after the measles--hope you will youse Prudance in that
+     afare. If you do not one of you come home I dont see but that you
+     must do with out any New Close till after Commensment. I send you
+     Eight Pound in cash by Mr. Strong--hope it will do for the
+     present--
+
+     Your Loving Father
+     RICHD HALE
+
+     COVENTRY August 13th, 1771
+
+
+Some students of to-day in college with elder brothers might protest
+vigorously at the idea of new suits provided for two boys of different
+sizes being fitted for the larger, though the younger might find some
+consolation in the fact that he would have plenty of room in which to
+grow! At all events, good Deacon Hale's kindly letters give us a very
+friendly feeling toward him, revealing as they do his love for his boys.
+The letters also suggest indirectly the happy home-coming of these
+college boys, riding thither on horseback over many miles, buoyed up by
+high spirits, college news, and the prospect of vacation.
+
+In their home, as time went by, they found the two new members of the
+family, their stepmother's daughters, Nathan to find in Alice Adams, the
+youngest, some of the happiest inspirations of his manly young life. It
+is pleasant to linger a moment and try to realize the pride Deacon Hale
+must have felt in his boys, and their delight in being once more home
+with him and with all the family circle. We can fancy them as they sat
+around that generous board--none the less generous, we are sure, because
+of the home-coming of the "Yale boys."
+
+Deacon Hale was a man of remarkable energy--"a driver," in other words.
+As a rule, in the busiest season of the year he would finish his meal
+before the family were half through theirs, rise, return thanks, and be
+off to the field, leaving the others to resume their seats around the
+table. Alice Adams used to say of him, "I never saw a man work so hard
+for both worlds as Deacon Hale."
+
+One amusing incident was long in circulation and laughed over by many
+who did not know the energetic haymaker by name. As it really happened
+to Deacon Hale, it is worth telling as an example of the energy that has
+characterized his descendants.
+
+One haying season Deacon Hale hired a tall, brawny countryman, of
+uncommon strength, to help him house his crop. While in the field he
+took upon himself the task of "packing" the load, the hired man's duty
+being to pitch it on to the cart. The man began his work too slowly to
+suit Deacon Hale, who soon called out, "More hay!" This call he repeated
+three or four times, as cock after cock of hay was still somewhat lazily
+pitched up to him. Finally his tardy helper, becoming sensible that his
+easy way of working was being rebuked, set himself to work with a will
+equal to the Deacon's, and at last pitched the hay up so rapidly that
+his employer was unable to "pack" it properly upon the cart. Very soon,
+therefore, to the dismay of both men, the whole load slipped off in one
+great mass on to the ground, carrying the Deacon along with it!
+
+"What do you want now, Deacon?" shouted the Hercules by his side with a
+satisfied grin.
+
+"_More hay!_" instantly replied the discomfited Deacon, nimbly
+scrambling back to his place on the cart.
+
+Despite this little accident at the beginning of the afternoon, it is
+safe to state that a generous storage of hay took place before sunset.
+
+But happy as were these college days and home-comings, and rich as were
+the harvests gleaned in them, the four years in college halls sped
+swiftly, and in 1773 Enoch Hale and Nathan turned their faces toward the
+future; the one to a long life and faithful Christian service, the other
+toward the briefest of mortal days, but to a service whose memory will
+not end till his college walls shall have crumbled, and the names of all
+its heroic sons faded from the earth. For even though stones may
+crumble, influence lives on.
+
+It has already been said that at graduation Nathan Hale stood among the
+first thirteen in a class of thirty-six. On Commencement Day, September
+3, 1773, he took part in a forensic debate on the question, "Whether the
+Education of Daughters be not, without any just reason, more neglected
+than that of Sons."
+
+In "Memories of a Hundred Years" Dr. Edward Everett Hale says: "As early
+as 1772 there appears at Yale College the first question ever debated
+by the Linonian Society. It was, 'Is it right to enslave the Affricans?'
+I think, by the way, that this record, bad spelling and all, is made by
+my great-uncle, Nathan Hale." These debates show how seriously, even in
+the colonial period, men were thinking of the urgent problems of later
+days.
+
+In the debate first mentioned, the others taking part in it were
+Benjamin Tallmadge, Ezra Samson, and William Robinson. Some account of
+Major Tallmadge's after life is given in later pages. Samson was, for a
+time, a clergyman, and then became an editor, first in Hudson, New York,
+and then of the _Courant_, at Hartford, Connecticut.
+
+William Robinson was a direct descendant of Pastor John Robinson of
+Leyden. He studied for the ministry and was ordained in 1780 at
+Southington, Connecticut. In the winter of that year--which was one of
+the coldest and most severe on record--he walked the whole distance from
+Windsor to Southington, about thirty miles, on snowshoes, to be
+installed as pastor, an office he held for forty-one years.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+A CALL TO TEACH
+
+
+College days behind them, Nathan, now eighteen years old, and Enoch
+pressed on toward their future. Here, to some extent, we part with
+Enoch, catching only occasional glimpses of him in a few straggling
+letters to his brother. It is probable that, as he intended to enter the
+ministry, he soon began his theological studies. In 1775 he was licensed
+to preach. Nathan, however, turned toward teaching as the next step in
+his career.
+
+In the meantime Nathan's love for Alice Adams had not prospered. An
+older brother, John, had married Alice Adams's elder sister Sarah, and
+the mother and sister of Alice thought that she should not wait four or
+five years for Nathan. Perhaps they decided that two intermarriages in
+one family were quite enough; anyway, they induced Alice to accept the
+offer of a prosperous merchant of Coventry, Mr. Elijah Ripley, and a
+short time before Nathan's graduation her marriage had apparently
+terminated their personal relations.
+
+Nathan Hale was at this time an unusually handsome young man, almost
+six feet in height, well proportioned, with broad chest, athletic, as we
+have seen, and with a handsome, intelligent face, blue eyes, light brown
+hair of a rich color, and a winning smile. These, added to a musical
+voice and gracious manners, gave him a personal charm that attracted all
+who saw him.
+
+As a teacher he combined unusual tact and manly dignity, making his
+discipline in school as effective as it was reasonable. He also proved
+to be as skillful in imparting knowledge as he had been in acquiring it,
+and his success as a teacher was assured from the outset.
+
+His first school was in East Haddam, Connecticut. There was then much
+wealth and business activity in the town, although, to a man fresh from
+college and the city, it appeared to be a very quiet place, as one or
+two of his early letters indicate. Yet there too he did with all his
+might what his hands found to do, and soon proved that not only his
+work, but his social qualities, were endearing him to new friends, some
+of whom remembered him with pleasure during their own long lives; one of
+them saying of Nathan Hale in her own old age, "Everybody loved him, he
+was so sprightly, intelligent, and kind," and, she added withal, "and
+_so_ handsome!" He had many correspondents among classmates and
+friends. Sometimes he was stimulated to put his thoughts into rhyme by
+some poetical epistle he received. One such was from Benjamin Tallmadge,
+then in Wethersfield.
+
+Tallmadge had apologized for his muse and Hale, in pure boyish fun, with
+a fine disregard of whether he was invoking the muse or mounting
+Pegasus, replied as follows:
+
+  "But here, I think you're wrong, to blame
+  Your gen'rous muse and call her lame,
+  For when arriv'd no mark was found
+  Of weakness, lameness, sprain or wound."
+
+Then, invoking her himself, he describes her as if she were indeed the
+winged steed,
+
+  "With me in charge (a grievous load!)
+  Along the way she lately trode,
+  In all, she gave no fear or pain,
+  Unless, at times, to hold the rein."
+
+At last, on his supposed arrival at Wethersfield, he invites Tallmadge's
+judgment on the appearance of the equine muse, thus:
+
+  "Now judge, unless entirely sound
+  If she could bear me such a round.
+  It's certain then your muse is heal'd,
+  Or else, came sound from Weathersfield."
+
+Before the end of the first term (October, 1773, to mid-March, 1774) in
+East Haddam, however, his work had aroused attention elsewhere, and in
+May, 1774, he took charge of a school in New London, called the "Union
+School,"--a larger school and a more lucrative position than that at
+East Haddam. In it Latin, English, arithmetic, and writing were taught.
+The salary was seventy pounds a year with a prospect of an increase, and
+he was allowed to teach private classes as well.
+
+It will not surprise those acquainted with human nature that, as we will
+allow him to tell in a letter to a relative, he soon had a class of some
+twenty young ladies between the unusual hours of five and seven in the
+morning! It does not take a very vivid imagination to picture the
+vivacity of these twenty young ladies, the becomingness of their simple
+but pretty gowns, and the zest with which each studied; nor, on the
+other hand, the ill-concealed, bantering interest of the big brothers of
+the same,--asking perhaps, now and then, with mock gravity, if mother
+thought Patty would be so prompt every morning at five o'clock if old
+Parson Browning were the teacher!
+
+But whatever might have been the dominant interest of the young ladies,
+"Master Hale" was quite as practical in his teaching in the early hours
+of the day as with the boys in the later classes. An uncle of his,
+Samuel Hale, was for many years at the head of the best private school
+in New Hampshire, numbering among his pupils some of the leaders in
+Revolutionary times. To him, September 24, 1774, Nathan wrote a letter
+from which we give the following extracts:
+
+     "My own employment is at present the same that you have spent your
+     days in. I have a school of thirty-two boys, about half Latin, the
+     rest English. The salary allowed me is 70 L per annum. In addition
+     to this I have kept, during the summer, a morning school, between
+     the hours of five and seven, of about 20 young ladies for which I
+     have received 6s [shillings] a scholar, by the quarter. Many of the
+     people are gentleman of sense and merit. They are desirous that I
+     would continue and settle in the school, and propose a considerable
+     increase in wages. I am much at a loss whether to accept their
+     proposals. Your advice in this matter, coming from an uncle and
+     from a man who has spent his life in the business, would, I think,
+     be the best I could possibly receive. A few lines on this subject
+     and also to acquaint me with the welfare of your family ... will be
+     much to the satisfaction of
+
+     Your most dutiful Nephew,
+     NATHAN HALE."
+
+A letter to Enoch Hale, containing allusions to the excited feeling in
+the colony at this time, runs as follows:
+
+     NEW LONDON, Sept. 8th. 1774.
+
+     DEAR BROTHER.
+
+     I have a word to write and a moment to write it in. I received
+     yours of yesterday this morning. Agreeable to your desire I will
+     endeavour to get the cloth and carry it on Saturday. I have no
+     news. No liberty-pole is erected or erecting here; but the people
+     seem much more spirited than they did before the alarm. Parson
+     Peters of Hebron, I hear, has had a second visit paid him by the
+     sons of liberty in Windham. His treatment, and the concessions he
+     made I have not as yet heard. I have not heard from home since
+
+     I came from there.
+
+     MR. E. HALE.   LYME.
+
+     Your loving Brother
+     NATHAN HALE.
+
+A letter from Hale to his friend the senior Dr. AEneas Munson, of New
+Haven, has been mentioned. It runs as follows:
+
+     NEW LONDON, November 30, 1774
+
+     SIR: I am very happily situated here. I love my employment; find
+     many friends among strangers; have time for scientific study; and
+     seem to fill the place assigned me with satisfaction. I have a
+     school of more than thirty boys to instruct, about half of them in
+     Latin; and my salary is satisfactory. During the summer I had a
+     morning class of young ladies--about a score--from five to seven
+     o'clock; so you see my time is pretty fully occupied, profitably, I
+     hope to my pupils and to their teacher.
+
+     Please accept for yourself and Mrs. Munson the grateful thanks of
+     one who will always remember the kindness he ever experienced
+     whenever he visited your abode.
+
+     Your friend     NATHAN HALE.
+
+On one occasion, as Hale left his house after paying a visit, Dr. Munson
+observed, "That man is a diamond of the first water, calculated to excel
+in any station he assumes. He is a gentleman and a scholar, and last,
+though not least of his qualifications, a Christian."
+
+The son of Dr. Munson (who bore his father's name), when an aged man,
+said: "I was greatly impressed with Hale's scientific knowledge, evinced
+during his conversation with my father. I am sure he was equal to Andre
+in solid acquirements, and his taste for art and talents as an artist
+were quite remarkable. His personal appearance was as notable. He was
+almost six feet in height, perfectly proportioned, and in figure and
+deportment he was the most manly man I have ever met. His chest was
+broad; his muscles were firm; his face wore a most benign expression;
+his complexion was roseate; his eyes were light blue and beamed with
+intelligence; his hair was soft and light brown in color, and his speech
+was rather low, sweet, and musical. His personal beauty and grace of
+manner were most charming.
+
+"Why, all the girls in New Haven fell in love with him," continued Dr.
+Munson, "and wept tears of real sorrow when they heard of his sad fate.
+In dress he was always neat; he was quick to lend a helping hand to a
+being in distress, brute or human; was overflowing with good humor, and
+was the idol of all his acquaintances."
+
+Young masters of schools, public or private, unmarried and attractive,
+usually rank next in popularity to other professional men,--ministers,
+lawyers, or doctors, as the case may be,--and a boy of nineteen, the
+object of as much attention as Nathan Hale must have received, might
+well be pardoned if his head had been slightly turned, in thus becoming
+the admired teacher of a large class of young ladies. One special mark
+of stability of character appears to have characterized this young man
+in a greater degree than is always the case at the present day. Detached
+as he was, as he supposed irrevocably, from the woman he loved, he
+appears to have carried himself with almost middle-aged dignity, and,
+what is not a little to his credit, even his intimate friends among his
+classmates could not, by the most delicate cross-questioning, draw from
+him anything suggesting more than a pleasant interest in any of the
+young ladies with whom he was thrown in contact.
+
+A letter that will be given in its proper place shows his courteous and
+cordial interest in the little city he left when he entered the army;
+yet it is rather a noteworthy fact that one of his classmates, writing
+to him during his camp life, had to suggest that, as the young ladies he
+had taught were always inquiring when he had heard from "Master," it
+would doubtless give them pleasure if he could find time to write some
+one of them a note with friendly messages to others, to show that he
+still remembered them.
+
+Many young men would hardly have needed such a suggestion. But Nathan
+Hale, so far as we can learn, while given to warm friendships among his
+classmates, and to the cultivation, while in New Haven, Haddam, and New
+London, of the society of the best families, appears, from the
+beginning, to have taken life seriously. Disappointed in the love of the
+one woman for whom he cared, he had turned with sincere absorption to
+the work to which he felt himself called before entering on the
+theological course it is thought that his father had planned for him.
+
+There is further evidence of Hale's notable gifts as a teacher. Colonel
+Samuel Green, who had been a pupil of Hale in New London, said of him,
+in oldtime phrase: "Hale was a man peculiarly engaging in his
+manners--these were mild and genteel. The scholars, old and young, were
+attached to him. They loved him for his tact and amiability.
+
+"He was wholly without severity and had a wonderful control over boys.
+He was sprightly, ardent, and steady--bore a fine moral character and
+was respected highly by all his acquaintances. The school in which he
+taught was owned by the first gentlemen in New London, all of whom were
+exceedingly gratified by Hale's skill and assiduity."
+
+A lady of New London who was for some time an inmate of the same family
+with Hale, adds her testimony:
+
+"His capacity as a teacher was highly appreciated both by parents and
+pupils. His simple and unostentatious manner of imparting right views
+and feelings to less cultivated understandings was unsurpassed by any
+other person I have ever known."
+
+He was, as we see, a successful teacher, and, as we learn elsewhere, had
+serious thoughts of remaining a teacher.
+
+Unexpectedly, however, events verified the truth of the old adage, "Man
+proposes, God disposes." A great historical drama was to be enacted
+before the eyes of the wondering world, and events were ripening that
+were to form a great epoch in history.
+
+America was being led first to protest against the unjust exactions laid
+upon its people, and then to resist the oppressions that were being
+forced upon it. Gradually the idea prevailed that a taxation which might
+have been acceptable, if coupled with representation in Parliament, was
+absolutely intolerable without representation, and the Stamp Act in 1765
+struck the first note of intense opposition. Thenceforward the political
+clouds grew darker and the warning incidents multiplied.
+
+And yet, as a people, Americans were walking as if their personal plans
+lay easily in their own control. Scores of young men were fitting
+themselves for ordinary callings, Nathan Hale among them. His father's
+plans combining with his own appeared to be that he was to teach for a
+while, and then follow his brother Enoch into the ministry. As it
+proved, his days as a teacher were numbered. He was never to enter a
+pulpit, though he was to utter one sentence that, graven upon bronze or
+granite, will last while America lasts. He was to teach, by his last,
+unpremeditated words, and by an example more potent than any other in
+American history, what all generations of Americans must venerate--the
+sublimity of a complete sacrifice.
+
+Smoldering discontent on the part of the Americans, waxing stronger and
+stronger for a decade, and the aggressive course of action on the part
+of the British authorities, finally culminated in a sudden outbreak, as
+matches applied to gunpowder; and on the 19th of April, 1775, the first
+blood of the American Revolution was shed. Settlement after settlement,
+big and little, learned the facts as rapidly as couriers on horseback
+could carry them, and the thirteen colonies arrayed themselves against
+one of the most powerful monarchies of the world.
+
+The story is too well known to need recalling here, save as it draws
+Nathan Hale toward his doom. Within a few days after the fatal 19th of
+April, four thousand Connecticut volunteers were on their way to Boston
+to help Massachusetts in its earliest struggle with the English.
+Ununiformed, undisciplined, straight from whatever had been their
+ordinary vocation, with whatever they owned in the way of arms and
+ammunition, they went hurrying toward Boston. Israel Putnam, renowned
+veteran of the "Old French War," was plowing in his fields at Pomfret,
+Connecticut, when he heard the stirring news. Leaving his plow in the
+furrow, he hastened to his house, left a few orders for the management
+of his farm and the comfort of his family, and marched at the head of a
+body of volunteers toward the camp near Boston. We are told that, in
+some households, families sat up all night, the fathers melting their
+pewter plates into bullets for ammunition to be used by their sons, and
+the mothers and sisters fashioning for them, with all possible speed,
+the clothing they could not go without.
+
+
+On the arrival of the news from Boston, the people in New London at once
+held a meeting. Hon. Richard Law, District Judge of Connecticut and
+Chief Justice of the Superior Court, was chairman. Hale was one of the
+speakers.
+
+At that meeting a company was selected from the already existing militia
+and ordered to start for Boston the next morning. This company Nathan
+Hale, with his keen sense of duty, could not then join. But, for a few
+succeeding weeks, in addition to his regular work in school, he did all
+in his power to keep alive the interest of the young men in the town
+concerning their duties as Americans. With his enthusiastic nature, and
+broad comprehension of what might soon confront the country, it is
+probable that his seriousness and his activity were never greater than
+during the few weeks intervening between his speech at the political
+meeting and his departure from New London to enter the military service
+of his country.
+
+Of course his becoming a soldier would greatly interfere with the plans
+that his father had made for him, and he at once wrote home on the
+subject, stating that "a sense of duty urged him to sacrifice everything
+for his country"; but he added that as soon as the war was ended he
+would comply with his father's wishes in regard to a profession. The
+father was quite as patriotic as the son. He immediately assented to his
+son's desires. In those days, however, correspondence could not be
+conducted so swiftly as at present, and some time must have elapsed
+before this matter was positively settled between the two. As the war
+went on, and doubtless none the less whole-heartedly after the news of
+Nathan's death had been received, Mr. Hale did all he could for the
+comfort of passing soldiers. It is said of him that many a time he sat
+at the door of his hospitable home and watched for passing soldiers that
+he might take them in and feed them; and, if necessary, lodge and clothe
+them. He often forbade his household "to use the wool raised upon his
+farm for home purposes, that it might be woven into blankets for the
+army."
+
+Anxious as had been young Hale to join the army, he appears to have
+deferred making any decided plans until he had received the necessary
+permission from his father. Having received it, he at once took steps
+for securing his dismissal from his school and his admission into the
+army. During the weeks of waiting it had become known that he was
+anxious to enlist, and a military appointment was waiting his
+acceptance. To secure his dismissal, on July 7 he addressed the
+following letter to the proprietors of his school,--a letter that for a
+young man of twenty is as dignified as it is patriotic:
+
+     GENTLEMEN: Having received information that a place is allotted me
+     in the army, and being inclined, as I hope for good reasons, to
+     accept it, I am constrained to ask as a favor that which scarce
+     anything else would have induced me to, which is, to be excused
+     from keeping your school any longer. For the purpose of conversing
+     upon this and of procuring another master, some of your number
+     think it best there should be a general meeting of the proprietors.
+     The time talked of for holding it is six o'clock this afternoon, at
+     the schoolhouse. The year for which I engaged will expire within a
+     fortnight, so that my quitting a few days sooner, I hope, will
+     subject you to no great inconvenience.
+
+     School-keeping is a business of which I was always fond, but since
+     my residence in this town, everything has conspired to render it
+     more agreeable. I have thought much of never quitting it but with
+     life, but at present there seems an opportunity for more extended
+     public service.
+
+     The kindness expressed to me by the people of the place, but
+     especially the proprietors of the school, will always be very
+     gratefully remembered by, gentlemen, with respect, your humble
+     servant,
+
+     NATHAN HALE
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+A CALL TO ARMS
+
+
+The place "allotted" to him was that of lieutenant in the third company
+of the 7th Connecticut regiment, commanded by Colonel Charles Webb. No
+doubt exists that Lieutenant Nathan Hale was the same Nathan Hale who
+had won distinction in all his college work, in his subsequent teaching,
+and in all the events thus far associated with his early manhood, with
+this difference; he was now lifted to a line of service that in his
+opinion seemed the highest possible for him to follow, and no one who
+studies his subsequent course can question that in this following he
+found the loftiest consecration thus far possible to him. Perhaps
+unconsciously he was to verify the poet's assertion,
+
+  "So nigh is grandeur to our dust,
+    So near is God to man,
+  When Duty whispers low, _Thou must_,
+    The youth replies, _I can._"
+
+With no trace of merely personal ambition, but with that splendid power
+of absorption in duty as in work, Nathan Hale followed in the steps of
+those devoted American patriots whose blood, so freely shed at
+Lexington, was calling upon their countrymen to shed theirs as freely,
+should duty demand it.
+
+Dead almost one hundred and forty years, we still are thrilled by proofs
+of the splendid manhood henceforth to be so prominent in every remaining
+day of Hale's brief life. A few letters to friends, a fairly
+comprehensive diary for a few months, his camp-book, and the
+recollections of a few of the officers and of his body-servant, give a
+moderately complete picture of Nathan Hale for a few brief weeks, during
+which time he had been doing all in his power to perfect himself and the
+men under him in the duties of soldiers.
+
+By the middle of September the Connecticut troops, having received
+orders from General Washington to proceed to the camp near Boston, the
+7th Regiment, containing Lieutenant Hale's company, went to the spot
+appointed, remaining there during the winter, and leaving for New York,
+again by Washington's orders, in the spring. Of these intervening
+months, so momentous to the little army whose many members were
+impatient for the close of the war, Nathan Hale himself gives us vivid
+pictures; of the work he was trying to do; of the men he was meeting; of
+the religious life he was in no sense forgetting, and of his own
+deepening patriotism. Letters written to him show the attitude of
+friends at home, and their interest both in the affairs of the country
+and in him personally. The following letter from Gilbert Saltonstall, a
+young Harvard graduate and warm friend of Hale while in New London,
+shows how fully the men at home, as well as those in the army, entered
+into the anxieties of the times:
+
+     NEW LONDON, Octo. 9th, 1775.
+
+     DEAR SIR:
+
+     By yours of the 5th I see you're Stationd in the Mouth of Danger--I
+     look upon yr. Situation more Perilous than any other in the
+     Camp--Should have thought the new Recreuits would have been Posted
+     at some of the Outworks, & those that have been inured to Service
+     advanc'd to Defend the most exposed Places--But all Things are
+     concerted, and ordered with Wisdom no doubt--The affair of Dr.
+     Church[1] is truly amazing--from the acquaintance I have of his
+     publick Character I should as soon have suspected Mr. Hancock or
+     Adams as him.
+
+[Footnote 1: Of this Dr. Church, John Fiske writes: "In October, 1775,
+the American camp was thrown into great consternation by the discovery
+that Dr. Benjamin Church, one of the most conspicuous of the Boston
+leaders, had engaged in a secret correspondence with the enemy. Dr.
+Church was thrown into jail, but as the evidence of treasonable intent
+was not absolutely complete, he was set free in the following spring,
+and allowed to visit the West Indies for his health. The ship in which
+he sailed was never heard from again."]
+
+(Then follow accounts of an affair on Long Island Sound, and extracts
+from a paper two days old just brought from New York, describing army
+matters in the North.)
+
+     I have extracted all the material News--should have sent the Paper
+     but its the only one in Town and every one is Gaping for news.
+
+     Your sincere Friend
+     GILBERT SALTONSTALL.
+
+Another, also from Saltonstall, reads in part as follows:
+
+     ESTEEMED FRIEND
+
+     Doctor Church is in close Custody in Norwich Gaol, the windows
+     boarded up, and he deny'd the use of Pen, Ink, and Paper, to have
+     no converse with any Person but in presence of the Gaoler, and then
+     to Converse in no Language but English. ... what a fall ...
+
+     Yr &c
+     GILBERT SALTONSTALL.
+
+     Novr. 27th 1775
+
+A letter already referred to as showing Hale's interest in New London
+and its people, also his feeling as to camp life, is here given.
+"Betsey" was one of his pupils in his early-morning classes. We note the
+little touch of good-natured fun in the last paragraph.
+
+     CAMP WINTER HILL, Octr 19th 1775
+
+     DEAR BETSEY
+
+     I hope you will excuse my freedom in writing to you, as I cannot
+     have the pleasure of seeing and conversing with you. What is now a
+     letter would be a visit were I in New London but this being out of
+     my power, suffer me to make up the defect in the best manner I can.
+     I write not to give you any news or any pleasure in reading (though
+     I would heartily do it if in my power) but from the desire I have
+     of conversing with you in some form or other.
+
+     I once wanted to come here to see something extraordinary--my
+     curiosity is satisfied. I have now no more desire for seeing things
+     here, than for seeing what is in New London, no, nor half so much
+     neither. Not that I am discontented--so far from it, that in the
+     present situation of things I would not except a furlough were it
+     offered me. I would only observe that we often flatter ourselves
+     with great happiness could we see such and such things; but when we
+     actually come to the sight of them our solid satisfaction is really
+     no more than when we only had them in expectation.
+
+     All the news I had I wrote to John Hallam--if it be worth your
+     hearing he will be able to tell you when he delivers this. It will
+     therefore not (be) worth while for me to repeat.
+
+     I am a little at a loss how you carry at New London--Jared Starr I
+     hear is gone--The number of Gentlemen is now so few that I fear how
+     you will go through the winter but I hope for the best.
+
+     I remain with esteem
+     Yr Sincere Friend
+     & Hble Svt.
+     N. HALE
+
+     TO BETSEY CHRISTOPHERS
+     At New London
+
+The next letter refers to the time when, on account of their personal
+privations, the Connecticut troops were thinking seriously of
+withdrawing from the struggle, and returning to their homes:
+
+     DEAR SIR NEW LONDON Decr-4th 1775
+
+     The behaviour of our Connecticut Troops makes me Heart-sick--that
+     they who have stood foremost in the praises and good Wishes of
+     their Countrymen, as having distinguished themselves for their Zeal
+     & Public Spirit, should now shamefully desert the Cause; and at a
+     critical moment too, is really unaccountable--amazing. Those that
+     do return will meet with real Contempt, with deserv'd Reproach. It
+     gives great satisfaction that the Officers universally agree to
+     tarry--that is the Report, is it true or not?--May that God who has
+     signally appear'd for us since the Commencement of our troubles,
+     interpose, that no fatal or bad consequence may attend a dastardly
+     Desertion of his Cause.
+
+     I want much to have a more minute Acct. of the situation of the
+     Camp than I have been able to obtain. I rely wholly on you for
+     information.
+
+     Your
+     G. SALTONSTALL.
+
+To explain some of Saltonstal's references to the feelings of some of
+the Connecticut troops, we quote from Captain Hale's diary of October
+23:
+
+     "10 o'clock went to Cambridge with Field commission officers to
+     General Putman to let him know the state of the Regiment and that
+     it was through ill usage upon the Score of Provisions that they
+     would not extend their term of service to the 1st of January 1776."
+
+Other letters to Hale from New London friends, among them one from an
+officer absent on furlough, speak freely of the anxieties of those
+watching the progress of the reenlistments, and the home reception that
+would be given to any leaving the army.
+
+Another letter from Saltonstall reads as follows:
+
+     NEW LONDON Decr. 18th 1775
+
+     DR. SIR....
+
+     I wholly agree with you in ye. agreables of a Camp Life, and
+     should have try'd it in some Capacity or other before now, could my
+     Father carry on his Business without me. I proposed going with
+     Dudley, who is appointed to Commn. a Twenty-Gun Ship in the
+     Continental Navy, but my Father is not willing, and I can't
+     persuade myself to leave him in the eve of Life against his
+     consent....
+
+     Yesterday week the Town was in the greatest confusion imaginable;
+     Women wringing their Hands along Street, Children crying, Carts
+     loaded 'till nothing more would stick on, posting out of Town,
+     empty ones driving in, one Person running this way, another that,
+     some dull, some vex'd, more pleased, some flinging up an
+     Intrenchment, some at the Fort preparing ye Guns for Action, Drums
+     beating, Fifes playing; in short as great a Hubbub as at the
+     confusion of Tongues; all of this occasioned by the appearance of a
+     Ship and two Sloops off the Harbour, Suppos'd to be part of
+     Wallace's Fleet,--When they were found to be Friends, Vessels from
+     New Port with Passengers ye consternation abated....
+
+A postscript runs as follows:
+
+     The young girls, B. Coit, S. and P. Belden [Hale's pupils] have
+     frequently desired their Compliments to Master, but I've never
+     thought of mentioning it till now. You must write something in your
+     next by way of P.S. that I may shew it them.
+
+Favored by copies of these letters by Saltonstall, one must regret all
+the more that so few of Hale's own letters have been discovered, ten
+being the limit. Within a comparatively short period, however, some
+sixty more records--mostly letters written to Hale--have come to light,
+preserved, as it is now seen, by the same "orderly care" that marked his
+interest in all the correspondence of his friends.
+
+In them are expressed, in letter after letter, the affectionate interest
+and warm admiration of the writers. It is now said that Hale kept these
+letters with him down to the date of his tragic mission. We can easily
+imagine the glow of satisfaction that must have filled his brotherly
+soul in the few spare moments he could devote to these letters.
+
+Brief extracts are made from his diary, fortunately preserved for
+evidence as to his work and growing interest in the duties he had
+entered upon. The diary was found in the camp-book brought to his
+family by Asher Wright, Hale's attendant in camp before he left New
+York.
+
+In the diary, under date of November 19, 1775, this entry is made:
+
+     " ... Robert Latimer the Majrs Son went to Roxbury to day on his
+     way home. The Majr who went there to day and ... return'd this
+     eveng bt acts that the _Asia_ Man of War Station'd at N. York
+     was taken by a Schooner arm'd with Spear's &c.... This account not
+     creditted."
+
+A month after the return from camp mentioned above, Robert Latimer wrote
+to Captain Hale, his former teacher, the following interesting and
+diverting letter:
+
+     DR SIR,
+
+     As I think myself under the greatest obligations to you for your
+     care and kindness to me, I should think myself very ungrateful if I
+     neglected any oppertunity of expressing my gratitude to you for the
+     same. And I rely on that goodness, I have so often experienc'd to
+     overlook the deficiencies in my Letter, which I am sensible will be
+     many as maturity of Judgment is wanting, and tho' I have been so
+     happy as to be favour'd with your instructions, you can't Sir,
+     expect a finish'd letter from one who has as yet practis'd but very
+     little this way, especially with persons of your nice discernment.
+
+     Sir, I have had the pleasure of hearing by the soldiers, which is
+     come home, that you are in health, tho' likely to be deserted by
+     all the men you carried down with you, which I am very sorry for,
+     as I think no man of any spirit would desert a cause in which, we
+     are all so deeply interested. I am sure was my Mammy willing I
+     think I should prefer being with you, to all the pleasures which
+     the company of my Relations Can afford me.
+
+     I am Sir with respect yr Sincere friend
+     & very H'ble St
+     ROB'T LATIMER
+
+     Decbr 20th 1775--
+
+     P. S. My Mammy and aunt Lamb presents Complimts. My Mammy would
+     have wrote, but being very busy, tho't my writing would be
+     sufficient--my respects to Capt Hull. Addressed to Capt. Hale.
+
+Here is a second letter from the same ardent friend of Captain Hale. His
+admiration for his former teacher is evident in every line.
+
+     NEW LONDON, March 5th 1776
+
+     DEAR SIR,
+
+     as my letter meet with such kind reception from you, I still
+     continue writing & hope that the desire I have of improving, added
+     to the pleasure, I take in hearing often from so good a friend,
+     will sufficiently excuse me for writing so often--I Recd your kind
+     letter Sr pr the post & cant deny but your approbation, of my
+     writing, gives me the greatest pleasure, & should be afraid of its
+     raisg my pride; did I not consider that your intention in praising
+     my poor performance, must be with a design, of raising in me an
+     ambition, to endeavour to deserve your praise--& I hope that
+     instructions convey'd in such an agreeable manner, will not, be
+     thrown away upon me--You write Sr that you have got another Fifer,
+     & a very good one too, as I hear. Which I am very Glad to hear,
+     tho' I sincerely wish I was in his Place--
+
+     Have not any News.
+
+     So will Conclude--I am Sr
+     with Respect Yr friend & S't,
+
+     ROBERT LATIMER
+
+     P. S. My Mammy & Aunt
+     Present Compts &c--
+
+     CAPT. HALE.
+
+Only one thought dims the pleasure with which we read these two
+letters,--the consciousness of the depth of distress that must have
+filled that loyal boy's heart to overflowing when he learned of the
+tragic death of his hero friend.
+
+Two notable records from Captain Hale's diary are these:
+
+     November 6. It is of the utmost importance that an officer should
+     be anxious to know his duty, but of greater that he should
+     carefully perform what he does know. The present irregular state of
+     the army is owing to a capital neglect in both of these.
+
+     November 7. Studied ye best method of forming a Reg't for a review,
+     of arraying the Companies, also of marching round ye reviewing
+     Officer. A man ought never to lose a moment's time. If he put off a
+     thing from one minute to the next, his reluctance is but increased.
+
+Later in November, when the men in his company were unwilling to
+reenlist, this notable entry was made, signed with his full name:
+
+     28, Tuesday. Promised the men if they would tarry another month,
+     they should have my wages for that time.
+
+     NATHAN HALE.
+
+These brief quotations, proving as they do Hale's intense devotion to
+duty, and his practical efforts to hold his men to their duty, show how
+clearly he understood the tremendous responsibility resting upon the
+commander-in-chief as given in Washington's own words in letters to
+friends and to Congress, soon to be quoted; and that, known or unknown
+to Washington, there were men among his officers fully aware of the
+condition of the army, and as anxious to serve it as was their
+magnificent leader.
+
+We here quote from Washington's letters; the first one was written to a
+friend:
+
+     I know the unhappy predicament in which I stand; I know that much
+     is expected of me; I know that without men, without arms, without
+     ammunition, without anything fit for the accommodation of a
+     soldier, little is to be done, and what is mortifying, I know that
+     I cannot stand justified to the world without exposing my own
+     weakness, and injuring the cause, by declaring my wants which I am
+     determined not to do farther than unavoidable necessity brings
+     every man acquainted with them. My situation is so irksome to me at
+     times, that if I did not consult the public good more than my own
+     tranquillity, I should long ere this have put everything on the
+     cast of a die. So far from my having an army of twenty thousand
+     men, well armed, I have been here with less than half that number,
+     including sick, furloughed, and on command; and those neither armed
+     nor clothed as they should be. In short, my situation has been
+     such, that I have been obliged to conceal it from my own officers.
+
+The second letter was written to Congress:
+
+     To make men well acquainted with the duties of a soldier, requires
+     time. To bring them under proper discipline and subordination, not
+     only requires time, but is a work of great difficulty; and in this
+     army where there is so little distinction between officers and
+     soldiers, requires an uncommon degree of attention. To expect,
+     then, the same service from raw and undisciplined recruits, as from
+     veteran soldiers, is to expect what never did, and perhaps never
+     will happen.
+
+On the 23d of December, 1775, Hale began his first and only trip to
+Connecticut for the sake of securing additional enlistments. If on this
+one visit home he became engaged--as some have believed--to the woman he
+had so long loved, now a widow of about nineteen, Alice Adams Ripley, we
+may infer that love brightened his embassy even though patriotism
+inspired it. No record remains of the glorified hours he may have spent
+in Coventry. We have good reason to believe that, if he survived the
+war, he expected to marry the woman he had so faithfully loved. After a
+few brief days in his home, he left it, never to return, speeding on his
+way to serve his country's needs.
+
+If this new zest entered his life at this time, we can easily imagine as
+he fared on, striving to arouse his countrymen to their duty as
+patriots, that the happiest hours of his life were urging him forward to
+the most perfect service he could render in the present, and to
+unlimited hopes and ambitions for the future he might well expect was
+awaiting him. Crowned by human love, and with unlimited opportunities to
+serve his country, who can tell by what "vision splendid" he was "on his
+way attended"? Who can help rejoicing that such days, brief as they
+were, and uplifting as they must have been, were given to this man, now
+past twenty?
+
+Details concerning that trip are scanty. We know for a certainty that,
+starting from camp December 23, 1775, he returned to it the last week in
+January, 1776, having been in New London and other places seeking
+recruits, and going back with the recruits he himself had secured,
+joined by others coming from the various towns in Connecticut, and all
+heading toward the camp around Boston.
+
+He received his commission as captain in the new army in January, being
+still in Colonel Webb's regiment, which now became the Nineteenth of the
+Continental Army. For a few weeks he followed the routine of his earlier
+months there, doing all that was possible to assist his brother officers
+in perfecting the discipline of the raw troops, deepening their
+patriotism, and proving himself a soldier as devoid of fear as he was
+rich in all manly qualities. Not a word of regret can be found in his
+diary. Acknowledging in a letter to a former pupil, Miss Betsey
+Christophers of New London, that the novelty and glamour of camp life
+had worn off, he asserts, with intense ardor, that nothing would tempt
+him to "accept a furlough" or shrink in any manner from any of his
+duties as a soldier. And so the weeks passed on.
+
+During the winter heavy cannon from Fort Ticonderoga had been brought
+through the snows over the Green Mountains. The cannon were placed on
+Dorchester Heights which commanded the British camp, thus compelling the
+British general to choose between attacking the American army and
+evacuating the city. In a letter written in April, 1776, to his
+half-brother, John Augustine, Washington wrote thus regarding this time:
+
+     The enemy ... apprehending great annoyance from our new works,
+     resolved upon a retreat, and accordingly, on the 17th (March)
+     embarked in as much hurry, precipitation and confusion as ever
+     troops did ... leaving the King's property in Boston to the amount,
+     as is supposed, of thirty or forty thousand pounds in provisions
+     and stores.
+
+Washington's victory in this maneuver, his first great success,
+tremendously cheered the hearts of all patriotic Americans. Congress
+gave him a vote of thanks, also a gold medal--"the first in the history
+of independent America"--in commemoration of the event. Here again we
+catch a glimpse of the delight that must have thrilled the hearts of all
+his officers, not least among them that of Nathan Hale. But Washington,
+proving himself in these earlier events, as he was to, year after year,
+through successive discouragements, "the first in war," turned toward
+New York as his next base.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+HALE'S ZEAL AS A SOLDIER
+
+
+In the letter just quoted, Washington wrote further:
+
+     "Whither they [the enemy] are now bound,... I know not, but as New
+     York and Hudson's River are the most important objects they can
+     have in view ... therefore as soon as they embarked, I detached a
+     brigade of six regiments to that government and when they sailed
+     another brigade composed of the same number, and tomorrow another
+     brigade of five regiments will march. In a day or two more, I shall
+     follow myself, and be in New York ready to receive all but the
+     first."
+
+Uncertain as to his power to hold New York, Washington promptly took the
+next step that appeared open to him, carrying in his heart a heavy
+weight of care, and realizing, as perhaps no other man did, that only
+divine assistance could give him final success. He was bent upon a
+desperate mission, but to it, with sublime patience, he gave every
+energy of his masterly mind, and the entire consecration of all that he
+possessed.
+
+Well was it for him that the power which controls nations was quietly
+working with him. Well, also, that in his army were men ready for any
+enterprise of danger, for any sacrifice that duty might demand.
+
+Washington proceeded to New York, to ultimate victory, to final and
+permanent fame. Nathan Hale went also, simply as a captain of a
+Connecticut company,--he not to victory, not to immediate fame, but to
+something higher in one sense than either victory or fame, and to a
+service well worth a man's doing.
+
+Nathan Hale belonged to the first brigade dispatched to New York--that
+of General Heath. After rapid marching, considering the state of the
+roads, "Hale found himself" (March 26th) "for the third time" among his
+New London friends. The next day they "embarked in high spirits on
+fifteen transports and sailed for New York." On March 30th the troops
+"disembarked at Turtle Bay, a convenient landing place" near what is now
+East 45th Street. Not far from that spot, within six months, Nathan Hale
+was to win a victory that time can never dim, even if, for a time, it
+appeared to have covered his memory with a pall. But in that landing-day
+no shadows were apparent,--only hope, and the zest inevitable in a
+soldier's life.
+
+A minor honor was soon to come to Nathan Hale. Late in 1775 Enoch Hale
+was licensed to preach. In the summer of 1776 he attended Commencement
+at New Haven, from July 23 to 26. He makes note in his diary of friends
+and classmates whom he saw; also that he obtained the degree of Master
+of Arts for Nathan and himself. Of the latter his record is, "Write to
+brother to tell him I have got him his degree."
+
+One or two more letters of Hale are extant from which only partial
+extracts have been made. One that was written on the 3d of June, 1776,
+we give with more fullness, omitting only some unimportant clauses. This
+letter has especial value as an illustration of the fact that most of us
+now and then have received letters that seemed casual in themselves, but
+have, to our surprise and often to our deep sadness, proved to be
+farewell letters.
+
+It is not probable that, in the hurried days that followed, further
+messages were sent to his grandmother, to his former pastor and
+beloved teacher, Mr. Huntington, and to his sister Rose and her family.
+In the late autumn of 1776, after they had learned his fate, and in the
+years that followed, one can easily imagine how precious seemed these
+appreciative words, embalming as it were the abiding affection of the
+man who wrote them. Hale's reference to "the Doctor" also recalls the
+fact that, from the immediate family of Deacon Richard Hale, five
+men--three sons, one stepson, and one son-in-law (Surgeon Rose)--entered
+the Revolutionary Army; one son dying in 1776, one son in 1784, his
+health having been ruined while in the service, and one son in 1802, his
+life perhaps shortened by his exposures. Whatever else may have been
+lacking in that one family, patriotism certainly was not deficient,--the
+patriotism that does not count the cost to one's self, but the gain to
+one's country.
+
+The following is the letter referred to, written to his brother Enoch:
+
+     DEAR BROTHER,
+     NEW YORK June 3d 1776
+
+     Your Favour of the 9th of May and another written at Norwich I have
+     received--the first mentioned one the 19th of May ult.
+
+     You complain of my neglecting you--It is not, I acknowledge, wholly
+     without reason--at the same time I am conscious to have written to
+     you more than once or twice within this half year. Perhaps my
+     letters have miscarried.
+
+     Continuance or removal here depends wholly upon the operations of
+     the war.
+
+     It gives pleasure to every friend of his country to observe the
+     health which prevails in our army. Dr. Eli (Surgeon of our Regt.)
+     told me a few days since, there was not a man in our Regt. but
+     might upon occasion go out with his Firelock. Much the same is said
+     of other Regiments.
+
+     The army is improving in discipline, and it is hoped will soon be
+     able to meet the enemy at any kind of play. My company which at
+     first was small, is now increased to eighty and there is a sergeant
+     recruiting who, I hope, has got the other ten which completes the
+     company. We are hardly able to judge as to the numbers the British
+     army for the Summer is to consist of--undoubtedly sufficient to
+     cause us too much bloodshed.
+
+     I had written you a complete letter in answer to your last, but
+     missed the opportunity of sending it.
+
+     This will find you in Coventry--if so remember me to all my
+     friends--particularly belonging to the Family. Forget not
+     frequently to visit and strongly to represent my duty to our good
+     Grandmother Strong. Has she not repeatedly favored us with her
+     tender, most important advice? The natural Tie is sufficient, but
+     increased by so much goodness, our gratitude cannot be too
+     sensible.
+
+     I always with respect remember Mr. Huntington and shall write to
+     him if time admits. Pay Mr. Wright a visit for me. Tell him Asher
+     is well--he has for some time lived with me as a waiter.... Asher
+     this moment told me that our brother Joseph Adams was here
+     yesterday to see me, when I happened to be out of the way. He is in
+     Col. Parson's Regt. I intend to see him to-day and if possible by
+     exchanging get him into my company.
+
+     Yours affectionately.
+     N. HALE.
+
+     P. S. Sister Rose talked of making me some Linen cloth similar to
+     Brown Holland for Summer wear. If she has made it, desire her to
+     keep it for me. My love to her, the Doctor, and little Joseph.
+
+As Washington had supposed probable, the English decided upon the
+occupation of New York. In July and August the largest army ever
+collected in one body upon the American continent prior to 1861, an
+English army numbering nearly thirty-two thousand men, with a formidable
+fleet and large munitions of war, gathered at Staten Island. Washington,
+in the meantime, was occupying a portion of Brooklyn and a portion of
+the city of New York, fortifying each place and preparing to defend it
+to the extent of his ability with his small army, never so well fed nor
+so thoroughly disciplined as that of the British.
+
+Human wisdom would have assumed that the British army would soon succeed
+in restoring English control; but the best-laid plans miscarry, and a
+power interposes that helps the weaker and hinders the stronger army.
+
+The English did their best to be ready for the coming conflict, and we
+know that Washington spared no pains in preparing for the worst that
+might come.
+
+On August 20, Nathan Hale wrote the following letter to his brother
+Enoch--the last letter that he ever wrote, so far as we know, to reach
+its destination. It shows that his heart was absorbed in the duties of
+the conflict he was sharing, and it also shows how wholly he was
+leaving the ultimate issue to a higher power.
+
+     NEW YORK, August 20, 1776.
+
+     DEAR BROTHER.
+
+     I have only time for a hasty letter. Our situation this fortnight
+     or more has been such as scarce to admit of writing. We have daily
+     expected an action--by which means, if any one was going and we had
+     letters written, orders were so strict for our tarrying in camp
+     that we could rarely get leave to go and deliver them. For about 6
+     or 8 days the enemy have been expected hourly, whenever the wind
+     and tide in the least favored. We keep a particular lookout for
+     them this morning. The place and manner of our attack time must
+     determine. The event we leave to Heaven. Thanks to God! We have had
+     time for completing our works and receiving our reinforcements. The
+     Militia of Connecticut ordered this way are mostly arrived. Col.
+     Ward's Regiment has got in. Troops from the southward are daily
+     coming. We hope under God to give account of the enemy whenever
+     they choose to make the last appeal.
+
+     Last Friday night, two of our fire vessels (a Sloop and Schooner)
+     made an attempt upon the shipping up the river. The night was too
+     dark, the wind too slack for the attempt. The Schooner which was
+     intended for one of the Ships had got by before she discovered
+     them; but as Providence would have it, she run athwart a
+     bomb-catch, which she quickly burned. The Sloop by the light of the
+     former discovered the _Ph[oe]nix_--but rather too late--however she
+     made shift to grapple her, but the wind not proving sufficient to
+     bring her close alongside, or drive the flames immediately on
+     board, the _Ph[oe]nix_ after much difficulty got her clear by
+     cutting her own rigging. Sergt. Fosdick, who commanded the above
+     sloop, and four of his hands were of my company, the remaining two
+     were of this Regt. The Genl. has been pleased to reward their
+     bravery with forty Dollars each, except the last man that quitted
+     the fire-sloop who had fifty. Those on board the Schooner received
+     the same.
+
+     I must write to some of my other brothers lest you should not be at
+     home. Remain
+
+     Your friend &c
+     BROTHER NA. HALE.
+
+     MR. ENOCH HALE.
+
+Aside from this letter, the following brief quotations from his diary
+are all that remain to us in the handwriting of Nathan Hale. Till he
+lays down his pen for the last time we see him absorbed in the cares and
+duties of the life about him, fearlessly facing whatever remains to him
+of life and service.
+
+     Aug. 21st. Heavy storm at Night. Much and heavy Thunder. Capt. Van
+     Wyke, and a Lieut, and Ens. of Colo. McDougall's Regt. killed by a
+     Shock. Likewise one man in town, belonging to a Militia Regt. of
+     Connecticut. The Storm continued for two or three hours, for the
+     greatest part of which time [there] was a perpetual Lightning, and
+     the sharpest I ever knew.
+
+     22d. Thursday. The enemy landed some troops down at the Narrows on
+     Long Island.
+
+     23d. Friday. Enemy landed more troops--News that they had marched
+     up and taken Station near Flatbush, their advce Gds [advance
+     guards] being on this side near the Woods--that some of our
+     Rifle-men attacked and drove them back from their post, burnt 2
+     stacks of hay, and it was thought killed some of them--this about
+     12 O'clock at Night. Our troops attacked them at their station near
+     Flatb. [Flatbush], routed and drove them back 1-1/2 mile.
+
+One of the facts most perplexing to General Washington was what appeared
+to be Sir William Howe's delay in making an attack. Indeed, to an
+outsider unfamiliar with military tactics, Howe's conduct resembles the
+cruel pleasure a cat sometimes takes in tormenting a mouse that it knows
+cannot escape. The uncertainty as to what the next British move might be
+caused much anxiety. Remembering that Howe's force had arrived the last
+of June, one sees how leisurely must have been his preparations for
+attack, and how assured his hope of victory.
+
+The expected attack occurred on August 27. The Americans were defeated
+and driven within their works, their losses being great, especially in
+prisoners. The Nineteenth Regiment was held in reserve, but Captain Hull
+wrote that they were near enough to witness the carnage among their
+fellow-soldiers.
+
+The night after the battle the enemy encamped within a few hundred yards
+of the defeated Americans. On the 29th Washington decided upon a retreat
+to New York, and it was effected that night. If the English had
+suspected that the Americans were withdrawing their forces from
+Brooklyn, it is easy to imagine the carnage that would have ensued. So
+great was Washington's anxiety at this time that he is said not to have
+slept during forty-eight hours, and rarely to have dismounted from his
+horse.
+
+One account of the retreat is as follows: "A disadvantageous wind and
+rain at first prevented the troops from embarking, and it was feared
+that the retreat could not be effected that night. But about eleven
+o'clock a favorable breeze sprung up, the tide turned in the right
+direction, and about two o'clock in the morning, a thick fog arose which
+hung over Long Island, while on the New York side it was clear. During
+the night, the whole American army, nine thousand in number, Washington
+embarking last of all, with all the artillery, such heavy ordnance as
+was of any value, ammunition, provision, cattle, horses, carts, and
+everything of importance, passed safely over.
+
+"All this was effected without the knowledge of the British, although
+the enemy were so nigh that they were heard at work with their pickaxes
+and shovels. In half an hour after the lines were finally abandoned, the
+fog cleared off and the enemy were seen taking possession of the
+American works. One boat on the river, ... within reach of the enemy's
+fire, was obliged to return; she had only three men in her, who had
+loitered behind to plunder."
+
+That opportune appearance of the fog must have seemed, to more than one
+devout heart, as helpful as some of the remarkable interpositions of
+Providence described in the old Biblical stories.
+
+Hale's company, with its many seamen, rendered effective service in this
+passage from Long Island. Every student of history, and especially of
+military history, can recall certain decisive hours in momentous battles
+when some utterly unforeseen event has entirely changed the face of
+affairs, and given the victory into unexpected hands; thus, a mistake in
+the understanding of a phrase used by his captors made Andre a prisoner,
+and saved the capture of West Point by the English; while Waterloo,
+Gettysburg, and many another decisive battle has hinged on seeming
+chance,--chance truly, if there is no power working for righteousness
+among the affairs of nations.
+
+The position of the American army, however, now appeared more perilous
+than ever. Two war vessels had moved up the East River and were followed
+by others. Active movements among the British troops were reported by
+all the scouts, but the enemy's designs could not be penetrated.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+A PERILOUS SERVICE
+
+
+Writing of these events afterward, Captain Hull said, "It was evident
+that the superior force of the British would soon give them possession
+of New York. The Commander-in-chief, therefore, took a position at Fort
+Washington at the other end of the island. To ascertain the further
+object of the enemy was now a subject of anxious inquiry with General
+Washington."
+
+In a letter to General Heath at this crisis Washington wrote as follows:
+"As everything in a manner depends upon obtaining intelligence of the
+enemy's motions, I do most earnestly entreat you and General Clinton to
+exert yourselves to accomplish this most desirable end. Leave no stone
+unturned, nor do not stick at expense, to bring this to pass, as I never
+was more uneasy than on account of my want of knowledge on this score."
+
+Johnston, in his valuable "Life of Nathan Hale," says: "If he
+[Washington] had been anxious to fathom Howe's plans before the latter
+began the campaign from Staten Island, he was infinitely more so now.
+It was not enough to keep a ceaseless watch across the East river....
+Like every other commander in history, all through the contest he came
+to depend much on intelligence gained through the 'secret service.'"
+
+Stuart, the earliest reliable biographer of Hale, in writing of spies
+says: "The exigency of the American army which we have just described,
+would not permit the employment, in the service proposed, of any
+ordinary soldier, unpracticed in military observation and without skill
+as a draughtsman,--least of all of the common mercenary, to whom,
+allured by the hope of a large reward, such tasks are usually assigned.
+Accurate estimates of the numbers of the enemy, of their distribution,
+of the form and position of their various encampments, of their
+marchings and countermarchings, of the concentration at one point or
+another, of the instruments of war, but more than all of their plan of
+attack, as derived from the open report or the unguarded whispers in
+camp of officers or men,--estimates of all these things, requiring a
+quick eye, a cool head, a practical pencil, military science, general
+intelligence, and pliable address, were to be made. The common soldier
+would not answer the purpose, and the mercenary might yield to the
+higher seductions of the enemy, and betray his employers."
+
+During the war with the French and Indians, American officers had
+learned the need of trained men who could keep the commanders informed
+both of the movements and of the plans of the opposing forces.
+Washington had learned this unforgetable lesson in Braddock's campaign,
+and, as full commander and wholly responsible not only for the immediate
+safety but for the future success of his little army, he realized the
+necessity of obtaining the most accurate information possible.
+
+A corps collected from the best men in the army was organized, and its
+command was given to Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Knowlton. He had gained
+experience as a ranger in the French and Indian War, and was noted for
+his coolness, skill, and bravery at Bunker Hill. One hundred and fifty
+men and twenty officers were considered sufficient for the work assigned
+to this special corps, known as Knowlton's Rangers. They were divided
+into four companies. Two of the captains of these men were chosen from
+Knowlton's own regiment; the other two--one of them Nathan Hale--were
+from other companies. There can be little doubt that Nathan Hale was
+proud of his enrollment in this brave corps.
+
+After Hale's services were ended, one brief record remained of "moneys
+due to the Company of Rangers commanded late by Captain Hale." After the
+1st of September, about which time this company of Rangers was
+organized, it was constantly on duty wherever its services were
+required, and one can easily imagine Nathan Hale's enthusiasm in his
+enlarged duties.
+
+Knowlton spoke to some of his officers of the wishes of the commanding
+general for some one to enter upon this special secret service,--wishes
+that so appealed to Hale that he at once seriously considered offering
+himself for the hazardous undertaking.
+
+Captain Hull, two years his senior in age, and one year in advance of
+him in Yale, a close friend while in college and during their subsequent
+days, shall describe the personal interview between himself and Captain
+Hale in regard to this matter. It is said that many remonstrated with
+Hale at his decision, but Hull's statement shows the arguments of a
+practical man against which Hale had to contend.
+
+In his memoirs Captain Hull writes thus of his last interview with
+Captain Hale:
+
+"After his interview with Col. Knowlton, he repaired to my quarters and
+informed me of what had passed. He remarked 'I think I owe to my
+country the accomplishment of an object so important, and so much
+desired by the commander of her armies--and I know of no other mode of
+obtaining the information than by assuming a disguise and passing into
+the enemy's camp.'
+
+"He asked my candid opinion. I replied that it was an act which involved
+serious consequences, and the propriety of it was doubtful; and though
+he viewed the business of a spy as a duty, yet he could not officially
+be required to perform it; that such a service was not claimed of the
+meanest soldier, though many might be willing, for a pecuniary
+compensation, to engage in it; and as for himself, the employment was
+not in keeping with his character. His nature was too frank and open for
+deceit and disguise, and he was incapable of acting a part equally
+foreign to his feelings and habits. Admitting that he was successful,
+who would wish success at such a price? Did his country demand the moral
+degradation of her sons, to advance her interests?
+
+"Stratagems are resorted to in war; they are feints and evasions,
+performed under no disguise; are familiar to commanders; form a part of
+their plans, and, considered in a military view, lawful and
+advantageous. The tact with which they are executed exacts admiration
+from the enemy. But who respects the character of a spy, assuming the
+garb of friendship but to betray? The very death assigned him is
+expressive of the estimation in which he is held. As soldiers, let us do
+our duty in the field; contend for our legitimate rights, and not stain
+our honor by the sacrifice of integrity. And when present events, with
+all their deep and exciting interests, shall have passed away, may the
+blush of shame never arise, by the remembrance of an unworthy though
+successful act, in the performance of which we were deceived by the
+belief that it was sanctioned by its object. I ended by saying that,
+should he undertake the enterprise, his short, bright career would close
+with an ignominious death.
+
+"He replied, 'I am fully sensible of the consequences of discovery and
+capture in such a situation. But for a year I have been attached to the
+army, and have not rendered any material service, while receiving a
+compensation for which I make no return. Yet,' he continued, 'I am not
+influenced by the expectation of promotion or pecuniary reward. I wish
+to be useful, and every kind of service necessary for the public good,
+becomes honorable by being necessary. If the exigencies of my country
+demand a peculiar service, its claims to perform that service are
+imperative!'
+
+"He spoke with warmth and decision. I replied, 'That such are your
+wishes cannot be doubted. But is this the most effectual mode of
+carrying them into execution? In the progress of the war there will be
+ample opportunity to give your talents and your life, should it be so
+ordered, to the sacred cause to which we are pledged. You can bestow
+upon your country the richest benefits, and win for yourself the highest
+honours. Your exertions for her interests will be daily felt, while, by
+one fatal act, you crush forever the power and opportunity Heaven offers
+for her glory and your happiness.'
+
+"I urged him for the love of country, for the love of kindred, to
+abandon an enterprise which would only end in the sacrifice of the
+dearest interests of both. He paused--then affectionately taking my
+hand, he said, 'I will reflect, and do nothing but what duty demands.'
+He was absent from the army, and I feared he had gone to the British
+lines to execute his fatal purpose."
+
+Just how soon after this conversation Captain Hale left camp on his
+perilous mission, cannot now be determined. We only know that it must
+have been early in September, during the first week or ten days. He
+proceeded with Sergeant Hempstead by the safest route, and reached
+Norwalk before finding a place to cross Long Island Sound.
+
+Sergeant Hempstead alone has furnished the few details of Captain Hale's
+final preparations. He had decided to assume civilian's dress, probably
+that of an educated man seeking employment as tutor among the Americans
+still living in New York. Hempstead says he was dressed in a brown suit
+of citizen's clothes, with a round, broad-brimmed hat. On parting he
+gave Hempstead his private papers and letters, and his silver
+shoebuckles, to take care of for him.
+
+It is, we think, not an undue inference that the letters and private
+papers he left in Hempstead's care were all to be sent to his family.
+These doubtless included personal letters to them, for no man such as we
+know Nathan Hale to have been would have faced a journey from which he
+might never return without some words of explanation, and possible
+farewell, to those he loved at home. There is one fact that all who
+believe in the sanctity of personal confidences and possible farewells
+will be glad to remember,--that not one private word from Nathan Hale to
+Alice Adams Ripley, or from her to him, has ever been exploited to
+satisfy the curiosity of those who have no right to share it.
+
+Hempstead left Captain Hale, who, now fully committed to his hazardous
+quest, set forth on the armed sloop _Schuyler_ with Captain Pond--one of
+the captains in the 19th Regiment--in command, across the Sound to Long
+Island. When he landed Captain Hale said farewell to the last American
+friend he was to be with, so far as we have any record.
+
+Assuming that he reached this point on or near the 15th of September,
+one or two other facts suggest themselves. It is known that the
+Declaration of Independence had been carried to the American camp as
+early as possible after its announcement in July, had been read to the
+troops assembled for that purpose, and had been received with unbounded
+enthusiasm. It is probable that both Colonel Knowlton, later in command
+of the Rangers, and Captain Hale, one of its officers, were present at
+that reading and joined in the huzzas. Singularly enough, neither one of
+these two men was a citizen of the United States for three months.
+
+Two months later Colonel Knowlton fell in the battle of Harlem Heights,
+on September 16th, six days before Nathan Hale's execution. Knowlton's
+last words are said to have been, "I do not care for my life, if we do
+but win the day."
+
+From the moment of his leaving New York, the mind of such a man as
+Nathan Hale must have had solemn foreshadowings of the possible result,
+of the tremendous risk he was facing. Men do not grow old by the passing
+of years so much as by the endurance of great experiences, and in the
+few brief days that were left to Nathan Hale we know really nothing of
+his whereabouts, of what risks he ran, of how often he barely escaped
+recognition as a spy, where he slept, of any possible friends whom he
+may have encountered, or of any moment when his very life seemed to hang
+on the accidental glance of an enemy's eye.
+
+Finally dawned the 21st of September. Hale had fully accomplished his
+mission.
+
+There are conflicting accounts as to what occurred on the last evening
+of Nathan Hale's life, some going into minute details of occurrences
+that were assumed to have taken place. One with considerable
+plausibility says that, as the time had elapsed which he had expected to
+spend among the British (at the end of which time a boat was to be sent
+across the Sound for him), Hale, having finished his quest, had entered
+a tavern kept by a certain widow Chichester. She was a stanch friend of
+the Tories, and her house was the constant resort of Tories and British
+men and officers. While Hale was sitting in the tavern, apparently at
+his ease among the men there assembled, some one passed him whose face
+he thought familiar,--a man who glanced at him sharply and then passed
+from the room. Later it was said to have been his own cousin who
+betrayed him. Fortunately, there is not a word of truth in the
+assertion.
+
+Although Deacon Hale writes that his son was undoubtedly betrayed by
+some one, it appears to have been effectually disproved that he was
+betrayed by a relative--a cousin who, it is stated, had never seen him,
+and therefore could not have recognized him. A much more probable rumor
+is that he was recognized by a loyalist woman who might easily have seen
+him before the American army retreated farther north on the island, and
+been impressed by his personal appearance and by his prowess in kicking
+the football over the trees in the Bowery. This feat Hale is said to
+have performed.
+
+The report goes on to say that a man suddenly entered saying that a boat
+was approaching, and that Hale, supposing this boat to have been sent
+for him, at once left the room and went to the shore. If there is any
+truth in this narrative, it is very possible that here Hale committed
+his one indiscretion. In his joy at seeing the friends who had been sent
+for him, he may have uttered words of such joyous welcome that the
+officer who heard them must have known that this was some one expecting
+a boat, and presumably a boat from the opposite shore. At all events, it
+is stated that Hale, seeing his mistake when several marines presented
+their guns, turned to fly, stopping only when told by the officer to
+stand or be shot. These events are said to have taken place at
+Huntington, Long Island, about forty miles from New York.
+
+But more than a century after Hale's death a British Orderly Book was
+found, containing the statement, dated September 22d, 1776, that
+follows:
+
+[Illustration: See footnote [2]]
+
+[Footnote 2: A spy fm the Enemy (by his own full Confession) Apprehended
+Last night, was this day Executed at 11 o'clock in front of the Artilery
+Park.
+
+From an Orderly Book of the British Guard. Reproduced from the original
+in possession of the New York Historical Society.]
+
+This, with other knowledge obtained about the position of the ship by
+whose crew he was said to have been taken, gives reason for believing
+that the arrest was not made at Huntington by the crew of that ship,
+but in the city of New York. The order proves also that, once
+apprehended, he made not the slightest attempt at concealment, nor any
+effort to escape his doom. The information gained by Hale's brother
+Enoch in New York supports this belief as to his capture.
+
+All that we actually know is, that he was captured while attempting to
+make his way back to his friends, and that this must have been the
+sharpest moment in his experience. Before it, he had hopes of escape;
+after his capture he knew that his doom was certain, and his splendid
+soul adapted itself quietly and bravely to the inevitable.
+
+That fatal night--the night of the 21st of September--was in many
+respects the most terrible that New York has ever passed through. A fire
+had broken out near the docks at two in the morning, and was spreading
+with fearful rapidity toward the upper part of the city, the blaze
+carried northward by a strong breeze. It looked at one time as if
+nothing could stop the conflagration, and that the whole city would be
+destroyed.
+
+For a time the enemy believed that the Americans had deliberately set
+fire to their own city in order to expel the hated British. Later this
+was found to be untrue, as the fire proved to have started in a low
+drinking house where several coarse fellows were carousing. The fire
+swept on, destroying more than five hundred houses, one fifth of all the
+buildings then in the city, and was stopped only near Barclay Street by
+a sudden sharp change in the wind, which blew the fire southward toward
+the already burning district.
+
+Report says that the provost marshal was given authority by Howe to
+dispose summarily, without the delay of a trial, of any Americans found
+rushing about the burning buildings, assuming, of course, that they were
+intent on the destruction of more buildings, rather than on the natural
+desire of saving what they could of their own property; and that as a
+result of this authority, more than one hapless householder was thrown
+into his own burning home.
+
+Up to this point, the early or late evening of the 21st, there is more
+or less of unsolvable mystery in regard to Nathan Hale's movements; but
+from the memoirs of Captain William Hull, Nathan Hale's college friend
+and companion in arms, we have what appears to be unimpeachable evidence
+as to Hale's arrest and being brought to General Howe's headquarters. We
+quote from Captain Hull the information he received from an English
+officer through a flag of truce:
+
+"I learned the melancholy particulars from this officer, who was present
+at Hale's execution and seemed touched by the circumstances attending
+it. He said that Captain Hale had passed through their army, both of
+Long Island and [New] York Island. That he had procured sketches of the
+fortifications, and made memoranda of their number and different
+positions. When apprehended, he was taken before Sir William Howe, and
+these papers, found concealed about his person, betrayed his intentions.
+He at once declared his name, his rank in the American army, and his
+object in coming within the British lines.
+
+"Sir William Howe, without the form of a trial, gave orders for his
+execution the following morning. He was placed in the custody of the
+provost marshal. Captain Hale asked for a clergyman to attend him. His
+request was refused. He then asked for a Bible; that too was refused.
+
+"'On the morning of his execution,' continued the officer, 'my station
+was near the fatal spot, and I requested the provost marshal to permit
+the prisoner to sit in my marquee while he was making the necessary
+preparations. Captain Hale entered; he was calm, and bore himself with
+gentle dignity. He asked for writing materials, which I furnished him;
+he wrote two letters, one to his mother and one to a brother officer.
+He was shortly summoned to the gallows. But a few persons were around
+him.'"
+
+He was condemned to die in the early morning of the 22d, but in the
+confusion prevailing throughout the city on account of the spreading
+fire, at one time threatening the whole town, Provost Marshal Cunningham
+must have been that morning very fully occupied, and it was late in the
+forenoon before he completed his preparations for Hale's execution.
+
+At eleven o'clock Cunningham was ready, and, as it proved, Nathan Hale
+was ready also. Quietly standing among the few who had gathered to see
+him die, and it is said in response to a taunt from Cunningham that if
+he had any confession to make now was the time to make it, Hale
+responded, glancing briefly at Cunningham and then calmly at the faces
+about him, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my
+country."
+
+For once in his life Cunningham must have been astounded. With no plea
+for mercy, no shrinking from the worst that Cunningham could do, this
+man, still almost a boy in years, had shown himself utterly beyond his
+power--had lifted himself forever from the doom of a victim to the grand
+estate of a victor. One sharp, brief struggle and Nathan Hale was
+free--dead, but victorious!
+
+Indefinite as are most of the details, there are some unwritten points
+that may confidently be assumed.
+
+That 22d of September was a Sabbath day, a day associated in Nathan
+Hale's mind with religious observances; prayers at the family altar,
+readings of the Bible, and gatherings of his friends within church
+walls. Whether or not his family knew the dangerous quest on which he
+had ventured, he knew that he was not absent from their memories, and
+that the family were bearing him in their thoughts that Sabbath morning.
+No other day could have made that assurance so real to him, and this
+thought was probably one of his strongest earthly consolations and
+inspirations while he was awaiting the slow but relentless preparations
+for his death.
+
+No wonder that he bore himself "calmly and with dignity," as Captain
+Montressor said of him. No wonder that he died bravely--seemingly
+without a tremor of soul. In his last words Nathan Hale, true and
+faithful in every relation and every act of his brief life, gave to his
+country more than his life, more than all the hopes he was relinquishing
+so freely for her sake. In one short, indomitable breath of patriotism,
+he uttered words that will be forgotten only when American history
+ceases to be read.
+
+William Cunningham, Provost Marshal of the English forces in America,
+murderer and inhuman jailer, would have laughed to scorn the idea that
+any being, human or divine, could preserve Nathan Hale's last words for
+the inspiration of coming generations, yet a kindly British officer,
+Captain John Montressor, carried them to Hale's friends.
+
+Cunningham has left a record of brutality unsurpassed in American
+history. He is himself said to have boasted that he had caused the death
+of two thousand American soldiers. We know that any reference to the
+prison ships in New York Harbor sets Cunningham before us as a cowardly
+murderer, starving men to death by depriving them of rations which the
+English supplied for them, and which he sold, pocketing the proceeds. He
+stands alone on a pedestal of infamy.
+
+The letters that Hale had written and left, as he hoped, to be delivered
+to his friends, Cunningham ruthlessly destroyed, giving as his reason
+that "the rebels should not know that they had a man in their army who
+could die with so much firmness." Though Hale's letters were destroyed,
+the English officer, John Montressor, aide to General Howe--a gentleman
+in whose presence we may safely assume that Cunningham, cowardly as all
+brutal men are, had not dared to maltreat Nathan Hale as he was known
+to maltreat other prisoners--that very Sunday evening spoke of Hale's
+death to General Putnam and Captain Alexander Hamilton at the American
+outposts where he had been sent with a flag of truce by General Howe to
+arrange for an exchange of prisoners. More was learned when a flag of
+truce was sent two days later to the British lines by General
+Washington, in answer to the one on September 22. Two friends of Hale,
+Captain Hull and Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Webb, were among those who
+went with the flag.
+
+Through these flags of truce--and perhaps others--were obtained all the
+positive knowledge that Hale's friends were ever able to secure; but the
+unvarnished story, told by Captain Montressor, gave all that was
+essential to reveal to his friends his manly attitude when in the
+presence of General Howe, and his calmness and dignity when he was
+awaiting execution; while his last unpremeditated but immortal words, in
+reply to Cunningham's taunt, proved to all his friends that he had died
+as he had lived--a Christian patriot, and a hero.
+
+We may suppose that Nathan Hale himself had not the remotest idea that
+anything concerning his death would ever be made known to his friends
+save that, detected as a spy, he had died as the penalty he had known
+would follow capture. The words spoken by Nathan Hale, as his last
+earthly thought, seem to prove that the thought, breathed from the
+depths of his fearless soul, shall live as long as pure patriotism
+thrills the souls of mortal men.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+GRIEF FOR THE YOUNG PATRIOT
+
+
+From Enoch Hale's diary, parts of which were first published by his
+famous grandson, Edward Everett Hale, we learn how the news reached the
+Hale family. Enoch writes as follows:
+
+     "September 30. Afternoon. Ride to Rev. Strong's [his uncle] Salmon
+     Brook [Connecticut]. Hear a rumor that Capt. Hale, belonging to the
+     east side of Connecticut River near Colchester, who was educated at
+     College, was sentenced to hang in the enemy's lines at New York,
+     being taken as a spy, or reconnoitering their camp. Hope it is
+     without foundation. Something troubled at it. Sleep not very
+     well.... October 15. Get a pass to ride to New York.... Accounts
+     from my brother Captain are indeed melancholy! That about the
+     second week of September, he went to Stamford, crossed to Long
+     Island (Dr. Waldo writes) and had finished his plans, but before he
+     could get off, was betrayed, taken, and hanged without ceremony....
+     Some entertain hopes that all this is not true, but it is a gloomy,
+     dejected hope. Time may determine. Conclude to go to the camp next
+     week."
+
+He afterwards wrote that Webb, one of Washington's staff, brought word
+to Washington that Nathan Hale, "being suspected by his movements that
+he wanted to get out of New York, was taken up and examined by the
+general [Howe] and some minutes being found upon him, orders were
+immediately given that he should be hanged. When at the gallows, he
+spoke and told that he was a Capt. in the Continental army, by name
+Nathan Hale."
+
+To those who have experienced the long weeks of distressing anxiety that
+often fall to the lot of those whose friends are in battle, or carried
+prisoners to unknown camps, no words are needed to depict the anxiety
+among Nathan Hale's family until particulars of his noble death were
+finally learned.
+
+It is a solemn but perhaps a comforting fact, that the deepest human
+distress seems, after a few generations have passed, to have been "writ
+in water." Bitter as must have been those early sorrowful hours, the
+only later reminder of the tears that then flowed is given in the
+statement that one who had loved him could not speak of him fifty years
+later without tears in her eyes.
+
+Of how many wept for him we can form no conception. Indeed, we should
+have pitied any warmhearted girl or young man who knew him, and had
+shared his joyous young life, who could have heard of his tragic death
+without tears almost as bitter as for one intensely loved.
+
+Duly Enoch Hale and his family learned all that ever will be known of
+the last days of their beloved, and now honored, dead.
+
+The following letter of Deacon Richard Hale's--good man and uncertain
+speller that he was!--was written to his brother Samuel at Portsmouth,
+New Hampshire, a few months after Nathan's death had become known:
+
+     DEAR BROTHER
+
+     I Recd your favor of the 17th of February Last and rejoce to
+     hear that you and your Famley ware well your obversation as to the
+     Diffulty of the times is very just. so gloomey a day wee niver saw
+     before but I trust our Cause is Just and for our Consolation in the
+     times of greatest destress we have this to sopert us that their is
+     a God that Jugeth in the earth if we can but take the comfort of
+     it. as to our being far advanced in life if it do but serve to wean
+     us from this presint troublesom world and stur us up to prepare for
+     a world of peace and Rest it is well. the calls in Providance are
+     loud to prepare to meet our God and O that he would prepare us. you
+     desired me to inform you about my son Nathan you have doutless seen
+     the Newberry Port paper that gives the acount of the conduct of our
+     kinsman Samll Hale toard him in New York as to our kinsman being
+     here in his way to York it is a mistake but as to his conduct tord
+     my son at York Mr. Cleveland of Capepan first reported it near us I
+     sopose when on his way from the Armey where he had been Chapling
+     home as was Probley true betraie'd he doubtless was by somebody. he
+     was executed about the 22nd of September last by the aconts we
+     have had. a child I sot much by but he is gone I think the second
+     trial I ever met with. my 3rd son Joseph is in the armey over in
+     the Jarsyes and was well the last we heard from him my other son
+     that was in the service belonged to the melishey and is now at
+     home. my son Enoch is gone to take the small pox by enoculation.
+     Brother Robinson and famley are well we are all threw the Divine
+     goodness well my wife joins in love to you and Mrs Hale and your
+     children
+
+     Your loving Brother
+     COVENTRY March 28th 1777
+     RICHARD HALE
+
+For a while after Nathan Hale's death, in the crowding events of the
+Revolution, his personal friends appear to have been his chief mourners.
+One lady is said to have told Professor Kingsley of New Haven that she
+had never seen greater anguish than that experienced by Deacon Hale and
+his family when they heard of Nathan's death.
+
+What the news meant to his "good grandmother Strong" we are not told.
+For her, so faithful and unselfish in her loving, we can but be glad
+that if she went home all the earlier for this blow, she must have gone
+all the more serenely; assured that if the earth was the poorer, heaven
+was the richer, because the grandson she had loved so truly was there
+awaiting her.
+
+Mrs. Abbot, daughter of Deacon Richard Hale's son, Joseph Hale, lived
+at her grandfather's from 1784 till her marriage in 1799. Many years ago
+she wrote to her cousin, "From my earliest recollection I have felt a
+deep interest in that unfortunate uncle. When his death or the manner of
+it was spoken of, my grief would come forth in tears. Living in the old
+homestead I frequently heard allusions to him by the neighbors and
+persons that worked in the family, much more so than by near relatives.
+It seemed the anguish they felt did not allow them to make it the
+subject of conversation. Was it not so with your mother?"
+
+Rev. Edward Everett Hale refers in a historical address to the fact that
+in his own early days the name of Nathan Hale was seldom mentioned in
+his presence. We of to-day can but wish that somewhat of the luster from
+the radiant halo that was to encircle his memory and to grow brighter as
+the years pass on, might have comforted them. Yet each one of that
+sorrowing family has long since learned to rejoice that, as nobly as any
+martyr has ever died for his country, their lad went forth into the
+eternities.
+
+The poem which follows was published in "Songs and Ballads of the
+Revolution," collected by Mr. Frank Moore. It is not known when these
+verses first appeared, but they are among the earliest tributes to Hale
+after his death. It is thought possible, by some students of
+Revolutionary history, that the lines may yet prove valuable in throwing
+light upon the manner of Hale's capture and death, as they are probably
+based on accounts current at that time of which records have not yet
+appeared.
+
+
+CAPTURE AND DEATH OF NATHAN HALE
+
+(By an unknown poet of 1776)
+
+  The breezes went steadily thro' the tall pines,
+  A-saying "oh! hu-sh!" a-saying "oh! hu-sh!"
+  As stilly stole by a bold legion of horse,
+  For Hale in the bush, for Hale in the bush.
+
+  "Keep still!" said the thrush as she nestled her young,
+  In a nest by the road; in a nest by the road;
+  "For the tyrants are near, and with them appear,
+  What bodes us no good, what bodes us no good."
+
+  The brave captain heard it, and thought of his home,
+  In a cot by the brook; in a cot by the brook.
+  With mother and sister and memories dear,
+  He so gaily forsook; he so gaily forsook.
+
+  Cooling shades of the night were coming apace,
+  The tattoo had beat; the tattoo had beat.
+  The noble one sprang from his dark lurking place
+  To make his retreat; to make his retreat.
+
+  He warily trod on the dry rustling leaves,
+  As he pass'd thro' the wood; as he pass'd thro' the wood;
+  And silently gain'd his rude launch on the shore,
+  As she play'd with the flood; as she play'd with the flood.
+
+  The guards of the camp, on that dark, dreary night,
+  Had a murderous will; had a murderous will.
+  They took him and bore him afar from the shore,
+  To a hut on the hill; to a hut on the hill.
+
+  No mother was there, nor a friend who could cheer,
+  In that little stone cell; in that little stone cell.
+  But he trusted in love from his father above,
+  In his heart all was well; in his heart all was well.
+
+  An ominous owl with his solemn bass voice
+  Sat moaning hard by; sat moaning hard by.
+  "The tyrant's proud minions most gladly rejoice,
+  For he must soon die; for he must soon die."
+
+  The brave fellow told them, no thing he restrained,
+  The cruel gen'ral; the cruel gen'ral;
+  His errand from camp, of the ends to be gained,
+  And said that was all; and said that was all.
+
+  They took him and bound him and bore him away,
+  Down the hill's grassy side; down the hill's grassy side.
+  'Twas there the base hirelings, in royal array,
+  His cause did deride; his cause did deride.
+
+  Five minutes were given, short moments, no more,
+  For him to repent; for him to repent;
+  He pray'd for his mother, he ask'd not another;
+  To Heaven he went; to Heaven he went.
+
+  The faith of a martyr, the tragedy shew'd,
+  As he trod the last stage; as he trod the last stage.
+  And Britons will shudder at gallant Hale's blood,
+  As his words do presage; as his words do presage.
+
+  "Thou pale king of terrors, thou life's gloomy foe,
+  Go frighten the slave; go frighten the slave;
+  Tell tyrants to you their allegiance they owe.
+  No fears for the brave; no fears for the brave."
+
+The body of the Martyr Spy was never found. For many years there appears
+to have been some interest, but little knowledge, as to the place of
+Nathan Hale's execution. During the last one hundred and thirty-eight
+years, writer after writer has described his life and all the events
+connected with it as they are believed to have occurred; and, as was
+inevitable under the circumstances, some things have been written that
+the critical historian cannot indorse.
+
+Until near the end of the nineteenth century no reliable information,
+even as to the place of his execution, had been gained. The late Mr.
+William Kelby, Librarian of the New York Historical Society, "an
+accepted authority on all subjects of this and kindred nature," is said
+to have undertaken to locate the exact spot where it occurred, and met
+with at least partial success.
+
+Writing on the subject in 1893 he says in substance: When the British
+took possession of New York in September, 1776, after the battle of Long
+Island, General Howe occupied the Beekman house on Fifty-first Street
+and First Avenue as his headquarters, while the army extended across the
+island to the north of him. The corps of Royal Artillery occupied part
+of the high ground between Sixty-sixth and Seventy-second Streets, where
+they parked their guns and formed a camp.
+
+Close to the camp were the old "five-mile stone" on the way to
+Kingsbridge, and a tavern long known as "The Sign of the Dove." The
+exact location of this tavern is shown from a survey of 1783 as being
+west of the post road on Third Avenue between Sixty-sixth and
+Sixty-seventh streets. It belonged, with four acres of land attached, to
+the City Corporation.
+
+The extract already shown on page 82 is from an Orderly Book (discovered
+by Mr. Kelby) kept by an officer of the British Foot-Guards. Other
+entries read as follows:
+
+"October 6. The effects of the late Lieutenant Lovell to be sold at the
+house near the Artillery Park.
+
+"October 11. Majors of Brigade to attend at the Artillery Park near the
+Dove at five this afternoon."
+
+The story of Hale's confinement in the Beekman greenhouse at Fifty-first
+Street and First Avenue on the night of September 21, 1776, is generally
+accepted. Former stories of the place of execution are disproved by the
+first extract from the Orderly Book, while the others indicate the
+location of the Artillery Park. It therefore appears that Hale was
+executed upon some part of this common land of the Corporation of the
+City of New York, and it is probable that his body was buried there.
+
+The tract is now covered mainly by buildings devoted to educational and
+philanthropic uses. Possibly the dust of the Martyr Spy may lie in the
+grounds of the Normal, or Hunter, College.
+
+Other materials, found since Mr. Kelby wrote, confirm his conclusions
+and make Third Avenue, not far north of Sixty-sixth Street, the most
+probable spot of Nathan Hale's death. The noblest educational
+institutions in New York City could have no more appropriate foundations
+than those laid above the bodies of patriots who have died, not only for
+the freedom of the city, but for that of the whole land.
+
+For a time, as was inevitable, a pall seemed thrown over the memory of
+Nathan Hale, and at first only the love of his own family strove to
+commemorate his life and death. A stone was erected to his memory in
+the cemetery at South Coventry, near the spot where his father expected
+to be buried. It still stands there and has been declared to be one of
+the best examples of the lettering of the times. It bears this
+inscription:
+
+"Durable stone preserve the monumental record. Nathan Hale Esq. a Capt.
+in the army of the United States, who was born June 6th, 1755, and
+received the first honors of Yale College, Sept. 1773, resigned his life
+a sacrifice to his country's liberty at New York, Sept. 22d, 1776,
+Etatis 22d."
+
+One by one were placed near his, his father's stone (his father died at
+eighty-five), and those of other members of his family. These graves are
+in a common burial lot near the Congregational Church in South Coventry
+where the family had worshiped.
+
+In November, 1837, the Hale Monument Association was formed for the
+purpose of erecting at Coventry a fitting memorial of the
+martyr-soldier. Congress was applied to for several years, but was slow
+in appropriating money to honor the dead,--strangely unlike England in
+honoring her martyrs, as will be seen later.
+
+Appeals were made to the State legislature, and Stuart, Hale's earliest
+biographer and sincere admirer, used his influence as a legislator in
+securing an appropriation of twelve hundred and fifty dollars. The
+women of Coventry redoubled their zeal, and by fairs, teas, etc., raised
+a sufficient sum, added to the grant from the legislature and
+contributions from some prominent men of the country, to pay for the
+cenotaph. It is a pyramidal shaft, resting on a base of steps, with a
+shelving projection one-third of the way up the pedestal. The material
+is of hewn Quincy granite. It was designed by Henry Austin of New Haven.
+It is fourteen feet square at the base and forty-five feet high. It was
+completed under the superintendence of Solomon Willard, architect of
+Bunker Hill Monument, at a cost of about four thousand dollars.
+
+The inscription on the north side is, "Captain Nathan Hale, 1776"; on
+the west, "Born at Coventry, June 6, 1755"; on the east, "Died at New
+York, Sept. 22, 1776"; on the south, "I only regret that I have but one
+life to lose for my country."
+
+The monument stands on elevated ground. "Its site is particularly
+fine;... on the north it overlooks a beautiful lake, while on the east
+it looks through a captivating natural vista to greet the sun."
+
+With the planning of this monument began the revival of interest in
+Nathan Hale's short but splendid career that is still gathering strength
+and will eventually establish his name among those of the bravest
+American patriots.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+TRIBUTES TO NATHAN HALE
+
+
+When Captain Montressor told Hale's dismayed friends of the terrible
+doom that had befallen their comrade, it must have seemed as if all the
+influence Hale might have had in a prolonged life, all that could come
+to such a man, had been sacrificed. We must not blame them if the
+question involuntarily rose in their hearts, "Why such waste? Why was
+such an influence so permanently destroyed?" Curiously enough, many
+years passed with little special notice by the public of Hale's death.
+But the leaven of patriotism works, even though slowly, and step by step
+Hale was coming to his own. Little by little the memory of his sacrifice
+for his country, and the fact that he had left words that should glow
+with increasing splendor, took possession of those who had ears to hear
+and hearts to remember.
+
+Old Linonia in Yale did not forget the splendid boy, once its
+Chancellor, who died as he had lived. Linonia's records still bear, in
+clear and perfect lines, reports his hand had written when he was its
+most assiduous member. Others might have forgotten him; Linonia had not.
+
+On its one-hundredth anniversary, July 27, 1853,--Commencement
+Week,--the poet of the occasion was Francis Miles Finch, Yale, 1846,
+later Judge of the New York Court of Appeals. As poet, Mr. Finch of
+course recalled many former members of the society. He ended with a poem
+on Nathan Hale in which he held his listeners spellbound as stanza after
+stanza, magnetic in proportion to their truthful beauty, fell from his
+lips.
+
+There has been a further service to his country by Judge Finch. His own
+character has been graven into two different poems,--the one just
+referred to, and one that he wrote later. The latter poem had,
+undoubtedly, a powerful influence in causing our national Decoration Day
+to be celebrated throughout the United States.
+
+The story of this poem is interesting. In a town in Mississippi certain
+Southern women went on a spring day, soon after the close of the Civil
+War, to cover with flowers the graves of their beloved dead. The
+gracious and tender thought must have come to them that in the graves of
+aliens buried among them lay those as deeply mourned in Northern homes
+as were those they themselves had loved.
+
+Certainly no sweeter suggestion could have been more tenderly carried
+out than that which led these bereaved women to spread flowers over the
+graves of those who were once their enemies. Mr. Finch was told of this
+incident, and the lines he wrote show his appreciation of the "generous
+deed." The poem, "The Blue and the Gray," did much to heal the wounds in
+both North and South.
+
+The two poems by Judge Francis Miles Finch are quoted here, the first
+with the drum-beat pulsing through it; the second in musical, flowing
+lines that carry in them sorrow, loyalty, and the community of a common
+bereavement.
+
+
+HALE'S FATE AND FAME
+
+  And one there was--his name immortal now--
+  Who dies not to the ring of rattling steel,
+  Or battle-march of spirit-stirring drum,
+  But, far from comrades and from friendly camp,
+  Alone upon the scaffold.
+
+        To drum-beat and heart-beat
+        A soldier marches by;
+        There is color in his cheek,
+        There is courage in his eye,
+        Yet to drum-beat and heart-beat
+        In a moment he must die.
+
+        By starlight and moonlight
+        He seeks the Briton's camp,
+        He hears the rustling flag,
+        And the armed sentry's tramp.
+        And the starlight and moonlight
+        His silent wanderings lamp.
+
+        With slow tread and still tread
+        He scans the tented line,
+        And he counts the battery guns
+        By the gaunt and shadowy pine,
+        And his slow tread and still tread
+        Give no warning sign.
+
+        The dark wave, the plumed wave!
+        It meets his eager glance;
+        And it sparkles 'neath the stars
+        Like the glimmer of a lance:
+        A dark wave, a plumed wave,
+        On an emerald expanse.
+
+        A sharp clang, a steel clang!
+        And terror in the sound;
+        For the sentry, falcon-eyed,
+        In the camp a spy hath found;
+        With a sharp clang, a steel clang,
+        The patriot is bound.
+
+        With calm brow, steady brow,
+        He listens to his doom;
+        In his look there is no fear
+        Nor a shadow trace of gloom;
+        But with calm brow and steady brow
+        He robes him for the tomb.
+
+        In the long night, the still night,
+        He kneels upon the sod;
+        And the brutal guards withhold
+        E'en the solemn Word of God!
+        In the long night, the still night,
+        He walks where Christ hath trod.
+
+        'Neath the blue morn, the sunny morn,
+        He dies upon the tree;
+        And he mourns that he can lose
+        But one life for Liberty;
+        And in the blue morn, the sunny morn,
+        His spirit-wings are free.
+
+        His last words, his message words,
+        They burn, lest friendly eye
+        Should read how proud and calm
+        A patriot could die,
+        With his last words, his dying words,
+        A soldier's battle-cry!
+
+        From Fame-leaf and Angel-leaf,
+        From monument and urn,
+        The sad of Earth, the glad of Heaven,
+        His tragic fate shall learn;
+        And on Fame-leaf and Angel-leaf,
+        The name of HALE shall burn!
+
+
+THE BLUE AND THE GRAY
+
+  By the flow of the inland river,
+    Whence the fleets of iron had fled,
+  Where the blades of the grave-grass quiver,
+     Asleep are the ranks of the dead:
+      Under the sod and the dew;
+        Waiting the judgment-day;
+      Under the one the Blue;
+        Under the other, the Gray.
+
+  These in the robings of glory,
+    Those in the gloom of defeat,
+  All with the battle-blood gory,
+    In the dusk of eternity meet:
+      Under the sod and the dew,
+        Waiting the judgment-day;
+      Under the laurel, the Blue;
+        Under the willow, the Gray.
+
+  From the silence of sorrowful hours
+    The desolate mourners go,
+  Lovingly laden with flowers,
+    Alike for the friend and the foe:
+      Under the sod and the dew,
+        Waiting the judgment-day;
+      Under the roses, the Blue,
+        Under the lilies, the Gray.
+
+  So, with an equal splendor,
+    The morning sun-rays fall,
+  With a touch impartially tender,
+    On the blossoms blooming for all:
+      Under the sod and the dew,
+        Waiting the judgment-day;
+      Broidered with gold, the Blue;
+        Mellowed with gold, the Gray.
+
+  So, when the summer calleth
+    On forest and field of grain,
+  With an equal murmur falleth
+    The cooling drip of the rain:
+      Under the sod and the dew,
+        Waiting the judgment-day;
+      Wet with the rain, the Blue,
+        Wet with the rain, the Gray.
+
+  Sadly, but not with upbraiding,
+    The generous deed was done,
+  In the storm of the years that are fading
+    No braver battle was won:
+      Under the sod and the dew,
+        Waiting the judgment-day;
+      Under the blossoms, the Blue,
+        Under the garlands, the Gray.
+
+  No more shall the war cry sever,
+    Or the winding rivers be red;
+  They banish our anger forever
+    When they laurel the graves of our dead!
+      Under the sod and the dew,
+        Waiting the judgment-day;
+      Love and tears for the Blue;
+        Tears and love for the Gray.
+
+On the one hundred and tenth anniversary of the evacuation of New York
+by the British--November 25, 1893--a bronze statue of Nathan Hale was
+presented to the city of New York. It was given by the New York Society
+of the "Sons of the American Revolution," a society founded in 1876 to
+perpetuate the memory and deeds of the war for American independence.
+The presentation was made by the president of the society, Mr. Frederic
+Samuel Tallmadge, the grandson of Major Tallmadge, Hale's classmate and
+fellow-captain. The statue is of bronze and is by Frederick Macmonnies
+of Paris. It represents Hale bareheaded, bound about his arms and his
+ankles, ready for his death. It was placed in City Hall Park where Hale
+was, for a time, supposed to have been executed. On the pedestal are
+graven his last wonderful words.
+
+During the exercises at the unveiling of this statue Dr. Edward Everett
+Hale said: "The occasion, I suppose, is without a parallel in history.
+Certainly, I know of no other instance where, more than a century after
+the death of a boy of twenty-one, his countrymen assembled in such
+numbers as are here to do honor to his memory and to dedicate the statue
+which preserves it.
+
+"He died near this spot, saying, 'I am sorry that I have but one life to
+give for my country.' And because that boy said those words, and because
+he died, thousands of other young men have given their lives to his
+country; have served her as she bade them serve her, even though they
+died as she bade them die."
+
+The day's celebration was concluded by a dinner of the Society. Dr. Hale
+spoke on this occasion also. He said in part:
+
+"Let us never forget that this is the monument of a young man--that he
+is the young man's hero. Let us never forget how the country then
+trusted young men and how worthy they were of the trust. It was at the
+very time of which I spoke that Washington first knew Hamilton and asked
+him to his tent. Hamilton had already won the confidence of Greene.
+Hamilton was, I think, in his nineteenth year. Knox, who commanded
+Hamilton's regiment, was, I think, twenty-four. Webb, who commanded
+Hale's regiment, was twenty-two. When, the next year, Washington
+welcomed Lafayette, whom Congress appointed major-general, he
+[Lafayette] was not twenty. And Washington himself, before whom others
+stood abashed, had only attained the venerable age of forty-four. The
+country needed her young men. She called for them and she had them. It
+is one of those young men who, dying at twenty-one, leaves as his only
+word of regret that he has but one life to give to her."
+
+Although it is now known that Hale was not executed near City Hall Park,
+in some respects there could be no more fitting location for a monument
+to him than this, perhaps the busiest conflux of human beings that
+anywhere crowd this great city. Thousands pass this statue, learning
+from it their first lessons in American history. Hundreds have stopped,
+seeing this bareheaded, dauntless man, evidently doomed to die, to try
+to learn whence he came and why he stands there, appealing to the
+noblest patriotism--patriotism that must touch the heart of any man who
+knows the love of country.
+
+Since this statue was placed, memorials of various kinds to Nathan Hale
+have been erected in several parts of the country. The schoolhouses in
+which he taught, although not occupying their original sites, have been
+restored, and are in possession of patriotic societies.
+
+To-day Yale, endowed with buildings costing millions, is learning that
+stone and mortar, in edifices however beautiful, do not enshrine their
+noblest memories.
+
+Through a few friends of Yale, a statue of Nathan Hale by Bela Lyon
+Pratt has recently been placed near the oldest college building,
+Connecticut Hall. This building has been restored to the appearance it
+bore when Nathan Hale dwelt therein. Who shall say that the statue of
+the bound boy, facing death so manfully, will not prove one of Yale's
+noblest endowments?
+
+Still another beautiful statue of Nathan Hale by William Ordway
+Partridge may be seen in the city of St. Paul, Minn.
+
+Happily, Nathan Hale's ability to die for his country is but one side of
+a Yale shield from which gleam the names of hundreds of her sons, who,
+doubtless as ready to die for their country as he, had they been in his
+place, have proved their power to live for God and for their native
+land. Everywhere, in all quarters of the world, the Nathan Hale spirit
+of unselfish devotion has inspired the sons of Yale to the noblest
+service they could render; and every man, young or old, who passes the
+statue of Nathan Hale will realize that hosts have lived lives inspired
+by the same splendid spirit.
+
+Nathan Hale himself went forth from his alma mater filled with the
+joyous hopes and ambitions that have filled the souls of many other men,
+all unconscious of the fact that the finest heroism and the highest
+self-sacrifice lay just before him, but conscious that he meant to be
+ready for the best that life could give him. He was ready; and the best
+of life for him was the power to die as he died.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+NATHAN HALE'S FRIENDS
+
+
+(1) _Rev. Joseph Huntington, D.D._
+
+A somewhat full description of the Rev. Joseph Huntington, D.D., is well
+worth placing among the friends of Nathan Hale. It was impossible for
+such a boy as Nathan to have been under the care of such a man as Dr.
+Huntington, first as pastor and then as his private teacher in his
+preparation for college, without having been strongly influenced by him.
+Indeed, scanning these old records of a parish of a hundred and fifty
+years ago, we cannot help feeling a strong personal attraction toward
+the Rev. Joseph Huntington.
+
+Few men more fully prove the claim that many of the early New England
+pastors were eminently fitted to lead their people heavenward and also
+in the practical development of their daily lives.
+
+Dr. Huntington lived a life evidently inspired by the finest ideals, and
+also by shrewd common sense, always so dear to the heart of a New
+Englander. It is a pleasure to recall the story of this man's useful
+life, and realize that besides the reverence almost invariably accorded
+to "the minister" in those days, he must have held the everyday
+affection and wholesome trust of his people. Year by year he proved
+himself not only their pastor, but a friend full of all kindly
+sympathies, never above a hearty laugh when mirth was rampant, or a
+sympathetic tear for hearts wrung with anguish.
+
+He was born in Windham, Connecticut, in 1735. His ancestors came from
+England about 1640 and the family ultimately settled in Windham. His
+father, a man of somewhat arbitrary character, had determined that
+Joseph should be a clothier, and forced him to remain in that business
+until he was twenty-one. His intellectual ability was thought to be
+somewhat remarkable, and his moral character so good that his pastor
+advised him to begin a course of study for the ministry. He completed
+his preparation for Yale College in an unusually short time, and was
+graduated there in the year 1762.
+
+His call to be settled over the First Church in Coventry was received so
+soon after his graduation that we are forced to believe that his
+theological course must have been brief. The parish in Coventry had
+been greatly reduced in numbers. The meeting-house had been allowed to
+go to decay, and the religious life of the parish was in a corresponding
+state of depression. His ordination services were held out of
+doors,--whether because the assemblage was too large for the church, or
+because the building was too dilapidated, does not appear. The first
+thing Mr. Huntington did after his settlement was to urge upon his
+people the project of building a new meeting-house. They responded so
+heartily that in a short time they had built the best church in the
+whole region, having expended for it about five thousand dollars--a
+large sum in those days.
+
+Dr. Huntington does not appear to have been a laborious student. He had
+few books of his own, largely depending upon borrowing. But he had a
+remarkable memory and the power of so making his own whatever he read
+that his scholarship and his originality appear never to have been
+questioned. The Rev. Daniel Waldo says of him that he was rather above
+the middle height, slender and graceful in form, and that he seemed to
+have had an instinctive desire to make everybody around him happy. This,
+added to his uniform politeness, caused him to be very popular in
+general society.
+
+The Rev. Mr. Waldo adds that Dr. Huntington was fond of pleasantry and
+gives this instance:
+
+A very dull preacher who had studied theology with him was invited by
+his people to resign, and they paid him for his services chiefly in
+copper coin. On telling Dr. Huntington how he had been paid, he was
+advised to go back and preach a farewell sermon from the text,
+"Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil." Many such anecdotes and
+repartees of Dr. Huntington were current in Coventry for years after his
+death.
+
+This brief summary of Dr. Joseph Huntington's life shows that the men to
+whom Richard Hale intrusted the preparation of his three sons for
+entering Yale was not only a Christian, but a gentleman of the finest
+culture. He was able not only to impart to Enoch, Nathan and David Hale
+the rudiments of scholarship requisite for entering Yale, but to inspire
+such boys with the keenest appreciation of courtesy, broad mental
+endowments, and a wholesome zeal for high public service.
+
+The correspondence concerning the Union School in New London shows that
+Dr. Huntington gave Nathan Hale the necessary recommendation for the
+place. It is on record in Hale's diary that on December 27, 1775, the
+day after his arrival home from Camp Winter Hill, he visited Dr.
+Huntington; and in one of his New York letters he wrote, "I always with
+respect remember Mr. Huntington and shall write to him if time permits."
+
+Admitting that Nathan Hale's father and mother were his most important
+early friends, we believe that Dr. Huntington, as pastor, tutor, and
+friend during the six years before Nathan entered college, may have
+stood not far behind the parents in deep influence upon his
+character--that splendid character, destined to be one of the beacon
+lights of our country's history.
+
+
+(2) _Alice Adams_
+
+Studying the lives of the founders of our republic, we are interested in
+noting the early marriages that so often occurred, and which seem to
+have been justified by the early mental maturity of the young men and
+women in the eighteenth century.
+
+With early marriage, large families were the rule and not the exception;
+and eulogize the forefathers of New England as much as one may, no one
+at all familiar with the lives of the mothers of those generations can
+question the share that the foremothers had in broadening the lives
+and inspiring the characters of the husbands and sons in that early
+period. Nathan Hale showed the power of heredity, and Alice Adams, the
+woman he is said to have loved, proved well that she too had come of no
+unworthy stock.
+
+It has been given few women to be so worthily loved as was Alice Adams,
+from the time we catch our first glimpse of her till the last, in her
+eighty-ninth year. She was born in June, 1757. Her mother married Deacon
+Hale when Alice was in her thirteenth year. We do not know when Alice
+first met Nathan Hale; but we do know that while both were very young
+they found out that they loved each other, and proceeded to engage
+themselves without consulting their elders. Nathan had several years of
+work preparatory to his profession still before him, and, acting as they
+supposed in the best interests of both the boy and the girl, the mother
+and elder sister Sarah promptly discouraged the engagement and it was
+broken.
+
+In February, 1773, while Nathan was still at Yale and before she was
+sixteen, Alice was married to Elijah Ripley, a prosperous merchant at
+Coventry. Within two years Mr. Ripley died, aged twenty-eight, leaving
+behind him a little son, also named Elijah, who died in his second year.
+
+After Mr. Ripley's death, Mrs. Ripley with her baby boy returned to
+Deacon Hale's home almost as an adopted daughter, comfortably provided
+for by the estate of her late husband. A member of the Hale family, she
+must have seen that whatever was true of Nathan Hale in the days when
+they were boy and girl together, he, now a Yale graduate and a man among
+men, first as teacher and then as soldier, was even more worthy of her
+love than in their early days. It is probable that they corresponded
+more or less, though happily none of the letters of either are preserved
+for the curious to delight in. All we know is that in December, 1775, a
+year after her husband's death, Nathan Hale stopped in Coventry while
+absent from camp on army business, and the broken engagement has been
+said to have been then renewed, this time without opposition.
+
+Having been married and widowed, and having lost her little son, Alice
+Adams Ripley was now free to listen to the claims of the first love that
+had entered her heart. What the few brief months that remained to Nathan
+Hale must have meant to Alice Ripley, believing in him and caring for
+him, only the noblest women can comprehend.
+
+In regard to the letters written by Nathan Hale on the morning of his
+execution, one of these letters is said to have been written to his
+mother. One or two of his biographers have inferred that this must be an
+error, and that it was written to his father or to a brother. With the
+natural delicacy always so conspicuous in him, a letter to his
+"mother," so called, in reality the mother of one whom we believe to
+have been his betrothed wife, Alice Adams Ripley, who would show it to
+Alice and undoubtedly give it to her, was probably what he would have
+written. The others would know what he had written, but Alice Adams
+would doubtless possess the letter.
+
+Alice Adams was to live many, many years, to become one of the most
+notable women in the city in which she dwelt; so honored that a copy of
+her portrait has long hung in the Athenaeum, Hartford's finest shrine for
+such portraits.
+
+It was said of her that for several years after Nathan's death she had
+no intention of marrying, but, after a widowhood of ten years,
+events--some say changed circumstances--led her to accept an offer of
+marriage from William Lawrence, of Hartford, which was thenceforth her
+home. For many years she was naturally associated with the social life
+of that city.
+
+Whatever letters may have passed between Nathan Hale and Alice Adams
+Ripley, no trace of them remains to-day. For this we can only be
+grateful that, unlike other unfortunate lovers,--Robert Browning and
+Elizabeth Barrett Browing, for instance,--not one word remains of their
+correspondence. That belonged to him and to her alone. It is fortunate
+that no mere curiosity hunter can feast his eyes or gossip over the
+words these two people wrote to each other.
+
+To Alice's husband Nathan's father gave the powder horn she once spoke
+of as having seen Nathan working upon in his customary intense fashion,
+"doing that one thing as if there was nothing else to be thought of at
+that time." Its being given to Mr. Lawrence by Nathan's father, to whom
+it must have been dear, proves that Mr. Lawrence, as well as his wife,
+was a welcome addition to the Hale family. Mr. Lawrence in turn gave it
+to his son William, and it is now treasured by the Connecticut
+Historical Society.
+
+Mrs. Lawrence lived well into the nineteenth century, dying in 1845, in
+her eighty-ninth year. She was thoroughly appreciated in Hartford, but
+it is from the pen of a granddaughter, in a note written to the Hon. I.
+W. Stuart, that the best description of Mrs. Lawrence is given. Speaking
+of her grandmother she said: "In person she was rather below the middle
+height, with full, round figure, rather petite. She possessed a mild,
+amiable countenance in which was reflected that intelligent superiority
+which distinguished her even in the days of Dwight, Hopkins, and Barlow
+in Hartford--men who could appreciate her, who delighted in her wit and
+work, and who, with a coterie of others of that period who are still in
+remembrance, considered her one of the brightest ornaments of their
+society.
+
+"A fair, fresh complexion ... bright, intelligent, hazel eyes, and hair
+of a jetty blackness, will give you some idea of her looks--the crowning
+glory of which was the forehead that surpassed in beauty any I ever saw,
+and was the admiration of my mature years. I portray her, with the
+exception of the hair, as she appeared to me in her eighty-eighth year.
+I never tired of gazing on her youthful complexion--upon her eyes which
+retained their youthful luster unimpaired, and enabled her to read
+without any artificial aid; and upon her hand and arm, which, though
+shrunken much from age, must in her younger days have been fit study for
+a sculptor.
+
+"Her character was everything that was lovely. A lady who had known her
+many years, writing to me after her death, says, 'Never shall I forget
+her unceasing kindness to me, and her noble and generous disposition.
+From my first acquaintance with her, and amid all the varied trials
+through which she was called to pass, I had ever occasion to admire the
+calm and christian spirit she uniformly exhibited. To _you_ I will say
+it, I never knew so faultless a character--so gentle, so kind. That
+meek expression, that affectionate eye, are as present to my
+recollection now as though I had seen them but yesterday.'
+
+"Such is the language of one who had known her long and well and whose
+testimony would be considered more impartial than that of one who like
+myself had been the constant recipient of her unceasing kindness and
+affection."
+
+When she died, the story of the early home of the Hales found its
+completion. Shall we pity them or congratulate them that in those long
+ago days so many sorrows came to them?--testing their strength,
+developing their faith, and fitting them, as their days went by, for
+life and service beyond.
+
+The following chivalric poem was written by Nathan Hale--perhaps in
+camp. It expresses his mental as well as emotional appreciation of Alice
+Adams. It is here given exactly as it appears in the original
+manuscript, with almost no punctuation marks. It is probable that this
+is a first rough draft, intended to be improved at some future time.
+There are marks on the margin of the paper which show that the writer
+had possible alterations in mind.
+
+
+TO ALICIA
+
+  Alicia, born with every striking charm
+  The eye to ravish or the heart to warm
+  Fair in thy form, still fairer in thy mind
+  With beauty wisdom sense with sweetness join'd
+  Great without pride, & lovely without Art
+  Your looks good nature words good sense impart
+  Thus formed to charm Oh deign to hear my song
+  Whose best whose sweetest strains to you belong.
+
+  Let others toil amidst the lofty air
+  By fancy led through every cloud above
+  Let empty Follies build her castles there
+  My thoughts are settled on the friend I love.
+  Oh friend sincere of soul divinely great
+  Shedest thou for me a wretch the sorrowed tear
+  What thanks can I in this unhappy state
+  Return to you but Gratitude sincere
+  T'is friendship pure that now demand my lays
+  A theme sincere that Aid my feeble song
+  Raised by that theme I do not fear to praise
+  Since your the subject where due praise belong
+  Ah dearest girl in whom the gods have join'd
+  The real blessings, which themselves approve
+  Can mortals frown at such an heavenly mind
+  When Gods propitious shine on you they love
+  Far from the seat of pleasure now I roam
+  The pleasing landscape now no more I see
+  Yet absence ne'er shall take my thoughts from home
+  Nor time efface my due regards for thee.
+
+
+(3) _Benjamin Tallmadge_
+
+Benjamin Tallmadge, one year older than Nathan Hale, was Hale's
+classmate and one of his correspondents. Like Hale he became a teacher
+for a time, and then, entering the army, served with distinction
+throughout the war. He was intrusted by Washington with important
+services. In October, 1780, he was stationed with Col. Jameson at North
+Castle. He had been out on active service against the enemy and returned
+on the evening of the day when Major Andre had been brought there and
+had been started back to Arnold for explanations. This was four years
+after the death of Hale.
+
+Listening to the account of the capture, and the pass from Arnold,
+Tallmadge at once surmised the importance of retaining Andre and
+insisted upon his being brought back.
+
+When Andre was once more in American hands, Tallmadge is said to have
+been the first to suspect, from the prisoner's deportment as he walked
+to and fro and turned sharply upon his heel to retrace his steps, that
+he was bred to arms and was an important British officer. Major
+Tallmadge was charged with his custody, and was almost constantly with
+him until his execution. Tallmadge writes: "Major Andre became very
+inquisitive to know my opinion as to the result of his capture. In other
+words, he wished me to give him candidly my opinion as to the light in
+which he would be viewed by General Washington and a military tribunal
+if one should be ordered.
+
+"This was the most unpleasant question that had been propounded to me,
+and I endeavored to evade it, unwilling to give him a true answer. When
+I could no longer evade his importunity and put off a full reply, I
+remarked to him as follows: 'I had a much loved classmate in Yale
+College, by the name of Nathan Hale, who entered the army in the year
+1775. Immediately after the battle of Long Island, General Washington
+wanted information respecting the strength, position, and probable
+movements of the enemy.
+
+"'Captain Hale tendered his services, went over to Brooklyn, and was
+taken just as he was passing the outposts of the enemy on his return.'
+Said I with emphasis,
+
+"'Do you remember the sequel of this story?'
+
+"'Yes,' said Andre, 'he was hanged as a spy. But you surely do not
+consider his case and mine alike?'
+
+"I replied, 'Yes, precisely similar, and similar will be your fate.'
+
+"He endeavored to answer my remarks, but it was manifest he was more
+troubled in spirit than I had ever seen him before."
+
+Major Tallmadge walked with Andre from the Stone House where he had
+been confined to the place of execution, and parted with him under the
+gallows, "overwhelmed with grief," he says, "that so gallant an officer
+and so accomplished a gentleman should come to such an ignominious end."
+
+What would have occurred if Andre had not been recalled, but had reached
+Arnold--whether both could have escaped by boat to the _Vulture_ as did
+Arnold; whether Arnold, leaving Andre to his fate, could have escaped
+alone under these suspicious circumstances; or whether Hamilton and the
+others, who were dining with Arnold when the news of Andre's capture
+reached him, could have managed to hold both until Washington's arrival,
+cannot now be surmised. We only know that to Major Tallmadge belongs the
+credit of the recall and retention of Andre as a prisoner, thereby
+preventing the loss of West Point.
+
+Major Tallmadge remained in the army and was greatly trusted by
+Washington, rendering important assistance in the secret service. He
+took part in many battles and in time became a colonel. For sixteen
+years he was in Congress. He died at the age of eighty, leaving sons and
+grandsons who won honored names in various callings.
+
+
+(4) _William Hull_
+
+When Captain William Hull, impelled by a strong natural caution, spoke
+as forcibly as he could of the disastrous results that might follow
+Nathan Hale's acceptance of the office of a spy in his country's
+service, he described not only the result of the failure which seemed
+almost inevitable, and which would result in a disgraceful death, but
+also the contempt that would be felt among his fellow-officers should he
+be successful. Hale, as we have seen, deliberately chose these dangers
+that appeared so appalling, and lost his life in the manner predicted by
+Hull.
+
+Could Captain Hull, on that September day in 1776, have looked forward
+to other days in 1812, when, because of his surrender of Detroit, he
+himself would stand as the most disgraced man in the American army, he
+would have wondered what disastrous set of causes could have doomed him
+to lower depths of discredit than he had imagined possible for his
+friend Hale.
+
+This is the story of Captain Hull as told by his grandson, the Rev.
+James Freeman Clarke, a Unitarian clergyman, and an author of high
+repute.
+
+After remaining in the army throughout the Revolutionary War, where he
+distinguished himself on repeated occasions, constantly rising in rank,
+he settled in Massachusetts, practicing law, becoming prominent as a
+legislator, and finally as one of the Massachusetts judges. In 1805, as
+General Hull, he was appointed governor of the territory of Michigan by
+President Jefferson, and removed thither, stipulating that in case of
+war he should not be required to serve both as general and governor, as
+he did not believe the duties of both could be successfully administered
+by the same person.
+
+The outbreak of the war of 1812, which occurred while Madison was
+President, found what was then the northern frontier of America wholly
+unprepared for hostilities. The country was new, with dense forests and
+few roads. There were no adequate means of land defense, and no adequate
+navy to patrol the lakes.
+
+The British, as usual, had all the vessels needed, well-drilled
+soldiers, and, more terrible than all, more than a thousand Indians,
+ready to commit any atrocities upon defenseless white settlers. As Hull
+had insisted, another officer was appointed to command the troops, such
+as they were, but this officer became ill and Governor Hull was forced
+to take command.
+
+In the meantime, no amount of urgent entreaties could induce the
+authorities at Washington to send reenforcements to the assistance of
+the defenseless settlers. The American troops were unprepared to
+maintain their own position, and absolutely unable to conquer and annex
+Canada, as the government expected them to do. General Hull found
+himself with some eight hundred men facing more than fifteen hundred
+British regulars, and threatened in the rear by a thousand Indians.
+
+What President Madison or any of his officers would have done, we cannot
+say. They appear to have thought that it was General Hull's duty to
+annihilate the British army, effectually dispose of the Indians, and
+present Canada to the American government.
+
+General Hull, however, was a practical soldier. He knew the fate that
+would await the women and children in his territory, to say nothing of
+his small army, if he risked a battle and was defeated, as he surely
+would be; so he did what seemed to him the only possible thing to save
+the people of Michigan. He surrendered. Canada remained unannexed; the
+white settlers of Michigan were not delivered to the tender mercies of
+the Indians, and General Hull paid the penalty of the independent stand
+he had taken.
+
+He probably foresaw that he must face a terrible ordeal. The whole
+country appeared to be roused against him, and Hull at once became the
+best-hated man in America. A court-martial was appointed.
+
+At first it was hoped that he would be convicted of treason, but the
+evidence showed that this charge could not be sustained. He was tried
+for cowardice in face of the enemy, found guilty, and sentenced to be
+shot. The latter part of the sentence President Madison remitted, in
+consideration of his past eminent services in the army. So, stamped with
+indelible disgrace by all who did not know the facts, a ruined and
+dishonored man, in his sixty-first year General Hull went back to the
+farm in Newton that had come to him through his wife. Here, surrounded
+by the most devoted affection, he passed his few remaining years.
+
+A ruined and discredited man he truly was,--the reputation and the honor
+due him from his countrymen irrevocably lost and by no fault of his own.
+Yet his grandson, the Rev. James Freeman Clarke, asserts that he was not
+once heard to say an unkind word about the government that had treated
+him so cruelly.
+
+After his death, in 1825, one of his daughters wrote the story of his
+life from his own writings, and the Rev. James Freeman Clarke sketched
+for the world an outline of his grandfather's services in Michigan.
+This shows that the man who, in his youth, tried to dissuade his friend
+Nathan Hale from accepting the role of martyr, himself, in his old age,
+bravely and gently endured a martyrdom compared to which the ostracism
+he predicted for Hale, even if he succeeded in his mission, was but a
+passing dream.
+
+
+(5) _Stephen Hempstead_
+
+To Stephen Hempstead, a sergeant in Nathan Hale's company in 1776, we
+are indebted for the most reliable account that is known of Hale's
+movements after he left New York in the service from which he was not to
+return. Sergeant Hempstead removed to Missouri after the war, and this
+account was first published in the _Missouri Republican_ in 1827. His
+own words describing his last days with Hale are these:
+
+"Captain Hale was one of the most accomplished officers, of his grade
+and age, in the army. He was a native of the town of Coventry, state of
+Connecticut, and a graduate of Yale College--young, brave,
+honorable--and at the time of his death a Captain in Col. Webb's
+Regiment of Continental Troops. Having never seen a circumstantial
+account of his untimely and melancholy end, I will give it. I was
+attached to his company and in his confidence. After the retreat of our
+army from Long Island, he informed me, he was sent for to Head Quarters,
+and was solicited to go over to Long Island to discover the disposition
+of the enemy's camps, &c., expecting them to attack New York, but that
+he was too unwell to go, not having recovered from a recent illness;
+that upon a second application he had consented to go, and said I must
+go as far with him as I could, with safety, and wait for his return.
+
+"Accordingly, we left our Camp on Harlem Heights, with the intention of
+crossing over the first opportunity; but none offered until we arrived
+at Norwalk, fifty miles from New York. In that harbor there was an armed
+sloop and one or two row galleys. Capt. Hale had a general order to all
+armed vessels, to take him to any place he should designate: he was set
+across the Sound, in the sloop, at Huntington (Long Island) by Capt.
+Pond, who commanded the vessel. Capt. Hale had changed his uniform for a
+plain suit of citizen's brown clothes, with a round broad-brimmed hat,
+assuming the character of a Dutch schoolmaster, leaving all his other
+clothes, commission, public and private papers, with me, and also his
+silver shoebuckles, saying they would not comport with his character of
+schoolmaster, and retaining nothing but his College diploma, as an
+introduction to his assumed calling. Thus equipped, we parted for the
+last time in life. He went on his mission, and I returned back again to
+Norwalk, with orders to stop there until he should return, or hear from
+him, as he expected to return back again to cross the sound, if he
+succeeded in his object."
+
+So far as there is any other evidence, it tends to confirm this part of
+Sergeant Hempstead's report, and he is to-day considered one of the most
+valuable authorities on Hale's last intercourse with brother soldiers.
+
+Of the details of his captain's arrest and execution, which are told in
+the last part of the account, and of which Hempstead had no personal
+knowledge, he declares that he was "authentically informed" and did
+"most religiously believe" them. Some of the incidents he gives appear
+to have been proved since to have no basis in fact; others that vary
+from reports now accepted may yet, with more light gained, be found to
+be true.
+
+The second letter sent by Sergeant Hempstead to the _Republican_ deals
+with his experience in the army in 1781, when he was one of the victims
+of the brutalities inflicted upon the hapless prisoners of war at Fort
+Griswold, Groton, Connecticut. The injuries he received there were, as
+he tells us, so severe that his own wife, having searched for his body
+in the fort among the dead, scanned carefully the face of every wounded
+soldier sheltered by pitying neighbors, passing him twice without
+recognizing him--he too ill to make any sign--and then resuming her
+search among the dead.
+
+Later she found him, and after a time he regained sufficient strength to
+be carried to his home. He was, however, incapacitated by his injuries
+for service in the field, and was thenceforth able to perform only
+duties calling for honest watchfulness rather than personal labor. After
+the removal to Missouri the whole family prospered greatly. He settled
+on a farm near the city of St. Louis, where he lived many years,
+respected by all who knew him. He died in 1831.
+
+
+(6) _Asher Wright_
+
+Near the place where the Hale family lie buried is another grave
+covering the dust of Asher Wright, once Nathan Hale's attendant. He was
+so strongly attached to Hale that his tragic death is thought to have
+unsettled his mind so that he never was quite himself again, and never
+able to earn his own living. For several years after Nathan Hale's death
+Wright was not heard of in his early home. Then he came back to
+Coventry, bringing with him some of Nathan Hale's effects that he had
+doubtless carried with him in his wandering, giving them, on his return,
+to Deacon Hale's family.
+
+Asher Wright died in his ninetieth year, having lived all his later days
+in his house not far from the Hale home. His pension of ninety-six
+dollars a year was so supplemented by the Hale family, and by David Hale
+of New York, editor of the _Journal of Commerce_, that his last days
+were very comfortable. His grave is marked by a marble headstone giving
+his name, age, and former connection with Nathan Hale.
+
+His farm adjoined that of the Hale homestead and has now become a part
+of it.
+
+
+(7) _Elisha Bostwick_
+
+One letter concerning Nathan Hale comes to us with a curious and
+interesting history.
+
+Not long ago, while in the city of Washington, a loyal friend and warm
+admirer of Nathan Hale, George Dudley Seymour, Esq., of New Haven, had
+his attention called to a remarkable tribute to Hale. It proved to have
+been written by a fellow-soldier in the Revolutionary War, Captain
+Elisha Bostwick. This remarkable document was found in the musty records
+of a very old pension list, and the portion relating to Nathan Hale is
+here given. It came to light a hundred and thirty-five years after
+Hale's execution. We give this valuable record of Captain Bostwick's as
+it appeared in the _Hartford Courant_ of December 15th, 1914:
+
+"I will now make some observations upon the amiable & unfortunate Capt.
+Nathan Hale whose fate is so well known; for I was with him in the same
+Regt. both at Boston & New York & until the day of his tragical death; &
+although of inferior grade in office was always in the habits of
+friendship & intimacy with him: & my remembrance of his person, manners
+& character is so perfect that I feel inclined to make some remarks upon
+them: for I can now in imagination see his person & hear his voice--his
+person I should say was a little above the common stature in height, his
+shoulders of a moderate breadth, his limbs strait & very plump: regular
+features--very fair skin--blue eyes--flaxen or very light hair which was
+always kept short--his eyebrows a shade darker than his hair & his voice
+rather sharp or Piercing--his bodily agility was remarkable. I have seen
+him follow a football & kick it over the tops of the trees in the Bowery
+at New York (an exercise which he was fond of)--his mental powers seemed
+to be above the common sort--his mind of a sedate and sober cast, & he
+was undoubtedly Pious; for it was remarked that when any of the soldiers
+of his company were sick he always visited them & usually prayed for &
+with them in their sickness.--A little anecdote I will relate; one day
+he accidentally came across some of his men in a bye place playing
+cards--he spoke--what are you doing--this won't do,--give me your cards,
+they did so, & he chopd them to pieces, & it was done in such a manner
+that the men were rather pleased than otherwise--his activity on all
+occasions was wonderful--he would make a pen the quickest & best of any
+man--
+
+"Innumerable instances of occurrences which took place in the Army I
+could relate, but who would care for them: Perhaps it may be thought by
+some that I have already been at the expense of Prolixity. Nobody in
+these days feels as I do, left here alone, & they cannot if they would,
+but to me it is a melancholy pleasure to go back to those Scenes of fear
+& anguish & after the laps of 50 years (1826 was in my 78th year) to
+rumenate upon them which I think I can do with as bright a recollection
+as though they were present--One more reflection I will make--why is it
+that the delicious Capt. Hale should be left & lost in an unknown grave
+& forgotten!--
+
+"The foregoing Statements were made from Memory & recollection & from
+documents & Memorandoms which I kept.--ELISHA BOSTWICK."
+
+
+(8) _Edward Everett Hale_
+
+Of the subsequent records of the Hale family no trace remains that is
+not honorable. Nathan's brother Enoch was settled at Westhampton,
+Massachusetts, in 1777, where he remained a useful and beloved pastor
+for sixty years. Enoch's eldest son, Nathan, graduated at Williams
+College in 1804. He was editor-in-chief of the _Boston Daily Advertiser_
+for more than forty years. Nathan's son, Nathan, a Havard graduate,
+became associate editor of the _Boston Advertiser_.
+
+Lucretia Peabody Hale, a well-known writer in her day, whose delightful
+and amusing "Peterkin Papers" are still read and remembered, was a
+granddaughter of the Rev. Enoch Hale.
+
+Edward Everett Hale, a man beloved by every one who knew him, was the
+son of "a great journalist," Nathan, grandson of Enoch, and therefore
+grandnephew of Captain Nathan Hale. He, too, had a son Nathan who died
+in his early manhood. Edward Everett Hale was one of the most commanding
+and admired of men, with rare endowments as clergyman, author, editor,
+and patriot.
+
+Those interested in the study of his granduncle, Nathan, owe to him the
+preservation of many records of the Hale family, and an arrangement of
+the genealogy of the Hale family, made while he was a Unitarian minister
+in Worcester, Massachusetts, and kindly lent to the Hon. I. W. Stuart,
+one of Hale's early biographers.
+
+It will be long before some of Edward Everett Hale's vital words are
+forgotten; longer still before his marvelous story, "The Man Without a
+Country," shall cease to thrill its readers.
+
+The impassioned sentences in which he cites its unhappy hero as speaking
+to a boy--a midshipman--while under heavy stress, read, "For your
+country, boy, and for your flag, never dream a dream but of serving her
+as she bids you, though the service carry you through a thousand hells.
+No matter what happens to you, no matter who flatters you or who abuses
+you, never look at another flag, never let a night pass but you pray God
+to bless that flag. Remember, boy, that behind all these men you have to
+do with, behind officers, and government, and people even, there is the
+Country Herself, your Country, and that you belong to Her as you belong
+to your own mother."
+
+No one justly comprehending the bed rock of Edward Everett Hale's
+boundless patriotism can doubt that if the same call of duty had come
+to him that came in bygone days to his relative, young Nathan Hale, he
+would have done exactly as Nathan Hale did. That call did not come, but
+to the end of his days Edward Everett Hale lived for his country as
+nobly as Nathan Hale died for it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+ANCESTORS AND DESCENDANTS OF NATHAN HALE'S PARENTS
+
+
+Robert Hale arrived in Massachusetts in 1632. He was one of those sent
+from the first church in Boston to form the first church in Charlestown
+in 1632, and was a deacon of this church. He was a blacksmith by trade.
+He also had a gift for practical mathematics, being regularly employed
+by the General Court of Massachusetts as a surveyor of new plantations.
+His son John, of whom mention has been made in connection with the
+witchcraft delusion, was a graduate of Harvard in 1657. Samuel, the
+fourth son of John, was the father of Richard, father of Nathan Hale.
+
+Elizabeth Strong, wife of Deacon Richard Hale and mother of Nathan, came
+from a family more notable than that of her husband. Her grandfather,
+Joseph Strong, represented Coventry in the General Assembly of
+Connecticut for sixty-five sessions and presided over town-meeting in
+his ninetieth year.
+
+Mrs. Hale had four immediate relatives who were graduates of Yale
+college. Three of the sons of Deacon Richard Hale and Elizabeth Strong
+Hale graduated from Yale,--Enoch, the fourth son, Nathan, the sixth
+child, and David, the eighth son. Three of the sons were officers in the
+Revolutionary army, and the husband of a daughter was a surgeon there.
+John was a major; Joseph, who died as the result of the privations
+endured there, was a lieutenant; and Nathan was a captain. Elizabeth,
+daughter of Joseph, married Rev. Abiel Abbot, for many years minister in
+Coventry. Three of their sons were college graduates--two of Yale and
+one of Dartmouth. Rebekah, another daughter of Joseph, married Ezra
+Abbot of Wilton, N.H. Three sons were graduates of Bowdoin. One son, the
+Rev. Abiel Abbot, was settled in East Wilton.
+
+Two daughters also married clergymen. Another daughter of Joseph, Mary,
+married the Rev. Levi Nelson. For a man who died at the age of
+thirty-four, Lieutenant Joseph Hale appears to have been well
+represented by his descendants.
+
+Surgeon Rose of the Revolutionary army, and Elizabeth Hale, daughter of
+Deacon Richard Hale, were the grandparents of the distinguished lawyer
+and statesman, Washington Hunt, and of Lieutenant Edward Hunt, U.S.A.,
+first husband of the celebrated author, Helen Hunt.
+
+Enoch Hale, Deacon Richard Hale's fourth son, graduated in the same
+class with his brother Nathan, became a minister, and spent a long life
+in his first and only pastorate. One of his sons, Enoch, was educated at
+Yale and Harvard and became a noted physician. A son, Nathan, was a
+graduate of Williams College, and editor of the _Boston Advertiser_ for
+more than forty years. His son Nathan, a Harvard man, became coeditor
+with him. One of Enoch's granddaughters married a minister named
+Montague.
+
+David, another son of Deacon Richard Hale, graduated at Yale, and was
+settled in the ministry at Lisbon, Connecticut. Joanna, the second
+daughter of Richard Hale, married Dr. Nathan Howard.
+
+One of Enoch Hale's grandsons was president of the Continental Bank in
+New York City. The most noted of Enoch Hale's descendants was the Rev.
+Edward Everett Hale, clergyman, editor, and author, and a graduate of
+Harvard. The writer, Lucretia Peabody Hale, was one of Enoch Hale's
+grandchildren. David Hale, a grandson of Richard Hale, was long in
+control of the _Journal of Commerce_ in New York City and noted for his
+charities. Alexander and Charles, grandsons of Enoch, were graduates of
+Harvard.
+
+As this list of college graduates and professional men is not extended
+beyond the year 1850, a little past the limit of a century after the
+marriage of Richard Hale and Elizabeth Strong, one is inclined to wonder
+whether any other farmer's family within that, or any other, period in
+American history, can show a more remarkable record.
+
+One is impressed, too, most profoundly, by the realization that,
+although Elizabeth Strong Hale died so early, as lives are now
+measured,--she was only forty,--to few women in any land who have
+reached the appointed limit of human life have been given the remarkable
+power of leaving to so many descendants such warmth of feeling and such
+nobility of nature as passed through that century of her descendants.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+ASSERTED BETRAYAL OF NATHAN HALE
+
+
+For some time after the death of Nathan Hale a report was circulated,
+and apparently substantiated, that he had been betrayed into the hands
+of the British by a Tory cousin. Ultimately this report was printed in a
+Newburyport (Massachusetts) newspaper of the day, and read by Mr. Samuel
+Hale of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. This Mr. Hale was a prominent teacher
+and a strong friend of the American cause, and uncle both to Nathan Hale
+and to Samuel Hale, the cousin who was said to have betrayed Nathan.
+
+Mr. Samuel Hale never for a moment believed the report, and set himself
+at once to disprove it. This appears to have been done in the most
+effectual way by the combined efforts of Mr. Samuel Hale and Deacon
+Hale, who furnished proof that the supposed betrayer of Nathan Hale had
+never visited in Deacon Hale's family, and, not being in his uncle's
+house when Nathan visited there, had never so much as seen Nathan Hale.
+
+There were, of course, at the time, strong animosities existing between
+those who supported the British cause among the Americans, and the
+Americans who were opposing England. As at all such times, some members
+of each party were not only unjust but cruel to the other party; and in
+some respects this nephew of the teacher, Samuel Hale, and asserted
+betrayer of Nathan, paid very heavily for his loyalty to the English
+cause. We will let him tell his own story, only adding that when
+hostilities broke out he was a young and successful barrister practicing
+in Portsmouth, was married, and had one child.
+
+Unswerving in his loyalty to the English cause, he was soon obliged to
+leave New Hampshire, and eventually to go into English territory. He
+wrote to his uncle Samuel, in whose family he had been reared, and later
+to his wife; neither letter is dated, but it is probable that when the
+latter was written he was in Nova Scotia. His letter to his uncle runs
+in part as follows:
+
+"My affections as well as my allegiance are due to another nation. I
+love the British government with filial fondness. I have never been
+actuated by any political rancor towards the Americans. My conduct has
+always been fair, explicit, and open, and I may add, _some of your
+people have found it humane_ at a time when affairs on our side wore
+the most flattering appearances. My veneration is as high, my friendship
+as warm, and my attachment as great as ever it was for many characters
+among you, though I have differed much from them in politics. In the
+justness of the reasoning which led to the principles that have guided
+me through life, I can suppose myself mistaken. The same thing may have
+been the case with my opponents. Our powers are so limited, our means of
+information so inadequate to the end, that common decency requires we
+should forgive each other when we have every reason to think that each
+has acted honestly.
+
+"Sure I am, this is the case with me and I hope it is the same with some
+of you. My conduct during this unhappy contest has been invariably
+uniform. I can in no sense be called a traitor to your state. I never
+owed it any allegiance, because I left it before it had assumed the form
+or even the name of an independent state, and when I neither saw or felt
+any oppression. I must have been mad as well as wicked to have acted any
+other part than I did upon the principles I held. If I have been
+mistaken I am sorry for the error, and if it be error I still continue
+in it."
+
+This letter is certainly a good illustration of the truth that, in all
+great contests, perfectly honorable and consistent men are forced to
+take opposite sides, even at the cost of suffering heavy injustice. The
+letter to his wife is here given in full.
+
+     MY DEAR GIRL,--
+
+     This you will get by Mr. Hart's flag of Truce, who is coming to
+     Boston for his family. I know the disposition of the Leaders at
+     Boston so well, that I doubt not of his success. I would have come
+     for you and the boy, but I thought you would leave your father with
+     reluctance, nor am I sure that I could have obtained leave for you
+     to come away, if you were disposed. I fear the resentment of the
+     people against me may have injured you, but I hope not. I am sorry
+     such a prejudice has arisen.
+
+     Depend upon it, there never was the least truth in that infamous
+     newspaper publication charging me with ingratitude, etc. I am happy
+     that they have had [to have] recourse to falsehood to vilify my
+     character. Attachment to the old Constitution of my country is my
+     only crime with them--for which I have still the disposition of the
+     primitive martyr.
+
+     I hope and believe you want no pecuniary assistance. If you should
+     you may apply to some of my friends or your relations. You may then
+     use my name with confidence that they shall be amply satisfied. I
+     believe I shall have the power, I am sure I shall have the will, to
+     recompense them again.
+
+     I somewhat expect to see you in a few months--perhaps not before I
+     have seen England. In the meanwhile, my dear Girl, take care of
+     your own and the Boy's health. He may live to be serviceable to his
+     country in some distant period. Respect, Love, Duty, etc., await
+     all my inquiring and real friends.
+
+     I am, etc.
+     S. HALE.
+
+     TO MRS HALE
+
+These letters sufficiently attest the character of the man, and we can
+hope that in later days he was enabled to return to his family, and to
+prove that political differences of opinion had not changed the
+integrity of his life.
+
+Knowing nothing of his later days, we may rejoice that the base
+assertion that this own cousin had betrayed Nathan Hale was wholly
+without foundation; and that in him, also, the Hale trait of loyalty to
+honest opinions enabled him to make sacrifices as great in their way as
+those made by many of his kindred.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+CONTRASTS BETWEEN HALE AND ANDRE
+
+
+If Nathan Hale was in many respects the most notable American martyr,
+another man, in the English army, four years later met a doom that to
+the English appears to have exalted him to a rank corresponding to
+Nathan Hale's. For a long time there was a glamour about Andre that
+lifted him above the place to which, in the minds of many, he rightfully
+belonged, and comparisons have often been made between him and Hale, as
+if in reality their services and their characters justified such
+comparison.
+
+It has been our aim to describe Hale as accurately as possible. He has
+been presented as an educated, high-minded patriot, wholly intent upon
+serving his country to the full extent of his ability, ready to run any
+risk in her service, and fully comprehending, in his last supreme effort
+to serve her, that he was risking his life and facing the possibility of
+a dishonorable death. He expected no reward if he succeeded, save the
+consciousness of having done his duty. But fail he did, and we have seen
+how simply and bravely he accepted his doom. His grave is unknown to
+this day, and his country, as a country, has made no recognition
+whatever of his supreme sacrifice.
+
+In regard to Andre, we know that he was of foreign parentage, his father
+a Genevan Swiss, and his mother French. He had not inherited a drop of
+English blood. Born, however, after his parents removed to London, he
+was, in ordinary acceptance, English.
+
+His parents were able to educate him thoroughly, and to fit him for what
+they supposed would be a successful commercial career. A disappointment
+in love, however, led him to seek a change of scene, and he entered the
+English army.
+
+Personally he was most attractive, charming in his manners beyond the
+average man, a fine linguist, and a brave man. He soon attracted
+attention among the English officers engaged in the war against America,
+and was eventually made adjutant general of the English army. So far as
+can now be judged, his life as a soldier had been most agreeable, and he
+had made friends with all his associates. While Arnold was perfecting
+his designs to betray West Point into the hands of the English, and
+thus in effect terminate the war, Andre was appointed to act as the
+intermediary between Arnold and Sir Henry Clinton.
+
+Andre may have looked upon himself as an envoy from his own commander to
+an American commander, and he well knew that, if successful, high honor
+and a desirable command in the British army would be awarded him by the
+English government. He does not appear to have considered the fact that
+he was risking his life in the service of the English. Indeed, none of
+the English officers appear to have thought it possible that the
+Americans would dare to treat as a spy an English adjutant general who
+had been invited to his headquarters by General Arnold, and by him
+provided with safeguards for his return. So sure were they of Andre's
+safety that it is said the British officers treated with derision the
+suggestion that he was in danger, even after his capture.
+
+Once captured, they should not have been so sure of his safety. But
+neither they nor he had any idea that he would be captured. Indeed, we
+can hardly see how he could have been captured had he followed the
+instructions of Sir Henry Clinton, who strictly enjoined him not to go
+within the American lines, not to assume any disguise, and not to carry
+a scrap of writing.
+
+At first Andre had supposed that Arnold would meet him on the _Vulture_,
+and that all their negotiations would be completed there. But Arnold,
+too crafty to run any personal risk, or arouse any suspicion in his own
+officers, insisted upon Andre's landing and conferring with him at some
+little distance from his own headquarters. Disregarding, through
+Arnold's persuasions, Clinton's first order to remain upon the
+_Vulture_, Andre's other failures in obedience appear to have been
+inevitable, and taking the risks as they came, he went forward to his
+doom, to his death, to Arnold's ruin as an American citizen, and to the
+preservation of the infant republic.
+
+For the third time, Providence appears to have thwarted the shrewdest
+plans of the enemies of America. First came the fog in New York Bay,
+enabling Washington to withdraw his troops from Brooklyn without the
+knowledge of the British; second, the knowledge of Hale's fate and the
+preservation of his last words by a humane English officer, despite the
+malice of Provost Marshal Cunningham; third, and apparently most
+important of all, the capture of Andre, involving the defeat of Arnold's
+traitorous plans to ruin his country's cause.
+
+From the moment Andre fell into the hands of the Americans, he was
+treated with the utmost courtesy. Every possible opportunity for him to
+prove his innocence was given him, and an offer to exchange him for
+Arnold, who had fled to the British camp, was made to the commanders of
+the English. This, however, could not be done honorably by Sir Henry
+Clinton, and Andre had to face a fate he had not for a moment thought
+possible.
+
+He bore himself bravely, and he certainly won the hearts of those who
+held him prisoner. When he came to die in Tappan--not, as he had hoped,
+as a soldier, shot to death, but hanged as a spy--he seemed for a moment
+greatly affected. Then recovering himself before the fatal drop he said,
+"Gentlemen, I beg you all to bear witness that I die as a brave man."
+
+Self-pity, the desire to be honored despite the manner of his death,
+marked Andre's exit from the world. Hale had gone hence without one
+personal expression of regret save that he could not add to his service
+for his country.
+
+Andre had died pitied and lamented even by loyal Americans. England,
+remembering what he had done to serve her, and that he had died in her
+service, rendered his memory the highest honor. She conferred knighthood
+on his brother, and a pension of three hundred guineas a year on his
+mother and sisters, already well provided for.
+
+Forty years later she sent one of her war vessels to America to bring
+his body back to England; and then the doors of stately Westminster
+Abbey, in which lie buried the dust of those she most delights to honor,
+were opened to receive his remains; there they will lie till the old
+Abbey crumbles.
+
+Thus England honors the men who try to serve her in any line of heroic
+service, proving that if she "expects every man to do his duty," she, in
+her turn, expects to honor those who serve her, be they her own sons or
+the sons of strangers born "within her gates."
+
+October 2, 1879, the ninety-ninth anniversary of the execution of Andre,
+a monument, prepared by order of Cyrus W. Field and placed over the spot
+of Andre's execution, was unveiled. There were present members of
+historical societies, of the United States Army, of the newspapers, and
+various other persons. At noon, the hour of Andre's execution, the
+memorial was unveiled. There were no ceremonies on the occasion. The
+epitaph had been prepared by the Rev. Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, the
+beloved and honored Dean of Westminster, at whose suggestion Mr. Field
+had erected the memorial. It is inscribed as follows:
+
+          Here died, October 2, 1780
+      Major John Andre of the British Army,
+        Who, entering the American lines
+      On a secret mission to Benedict Arnold,
+        For the surrender of West Point,
+  Was taken prisoner, tried and condemned as a spy.
+                  His death
+      Though according to the stern rule of war,
+          Moved even his enemies to pity;
+          And both armies mourned the fate
+            Of one so young and so brave.
+  In 1821 his remains were removed to Westminster Abbey.
+        A hundred years after the execution
+      This stone was placed above the spot where he lay,
+      By a citizen of the United States against which he fought,
+          Not to perpetuate the record of strife,
+          But in token of those friendly feelings
+          Which have since united two nations,
+        One in race, in language, and in religion,
+        With the hope that this friendly union
+            Will never be broken.
+
+On the other side are these words of Washington:
+
+  "He was more unfortunate than criminal."
+  "An accomplished man and gallant officer."
+
+  --GEORGE WASHINGTON
+
+The first of the two lines was from a letter of Washington to Count de
+Rochambeau, dated October 10, 1780. The second is from a letter written
+by Washington to Colonel John Laurens on October 13 of the same year.
+
+In the year 1853 some Americans who believe that all historic spots in
+our land should be marked by permanent memorials, erected a monument at
+Tarrytown, New York, in honor of the captors of Andre. Hon. Henry J.
+Raymond made the address at its dedication. Mr. Raymond was born in 1820
+and was graduated from the University of Vermont in 1840. He assisted
+Horace Greeley in the conduct of the _Tribune_ and other newspapers. He
+founded the _New York Times_ in 1851 and died in 1869.
+
+In the address just mentioned, Mr. Raymond, contrasting the halo that
+surrounded Andre's name with the oblivion then seemingly the fate of
+Nathan Hale, closed with these impassioned words:
+
+"Where sleeps the Americanism of Americans, that their hearts are not
+stirred to solemn rapture at thought of the sublime love of country
+which buoyed him [Hale] not alone above 'the fear of death,' but far
+beyond all thought of himself, of his fate, and his fame, or of anything
+less than his country, and which shaped his dying breath into the sacred
+sentence which trembled at the last upon his unquivering lip?"
+
+With this tribute we close, believing that the tardy justice accorded to
+our martyr-hero is destined to become a nation-wide loyalty; that the
+day will yet come when our nation, as a nation, will recognize the
+nobility of nature displayed, and will assign a high place to the brave
+lad who so sublimely relinquished all that life held, and all that
+coming years might bring, to die for his country,--_our country_,--the
+high-souled Nathan Hale.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Nathan Hale, by Jean Christie Root
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