MEMORIALS OF THE LIFE OF NATHANIEL CHEEVER, M. D. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY SKETCHES OF EARLY HISTORY, SUFFERINGS, AND TRAITS OF CHARACTER. But though life's valley be a vale of tears, Whose glory, with a light that never fades, Shoots between scattered rocks and opening shades; The language of the land she seeks inspires. COWPER. IN arranging the papers, and preparing a memorial of our cherished brother, we are actuated by a double motive. First-We wish to bring up distinctly to our own recollection, and to that of an honored circle of warm, personal friends, the virtues and graces of character, by reason of which we and they loved the departed so deeply. Second-We have thought that such a character and life as his, short as was its earthly career, and limited, so to speak, as was its first living edition, should be lived over again in his published biography, for the use of the universal church to which he belonged, and for the wide world of struggling humanity, which characters like that herein portrayed do at once illustrate and adorn. It is through the published memorials of a good man's deeds, words, and example, that "being dead he yet speaketh." Our care will therefore be, as editor and compiler, to let the endeared subject of these memorials speak for himself. Links that Links that may be wanting in the chain of facts, binding together the different passages of his life, we shall supply; and the testimony of congenial minds, familiar with the character herein exhibited, we shall not exclude. But our aim will be, through the original letters and journals of the deceased, to present rather an autobiography than a history, and to make the character daguerreotype itself on the mind of the reader, rather than ourselves to execute a portrait of it. After a few items of his birth and boyhood in the present chapter, we shall have recourse to original papers and relics, as the only material for future sections, wherein it will be our endeavor to reflect the grace of Christ, as mirrored in the experience of one of his loveliest disciples, both in the blade, the ear, and the full corn in the ear. Wordsworth, with true insight, justly remarks that 86 the character of a deceased friend or beloved kinsman is not seen-no, nor ought to be seen, otherwise than as a tree through a tender haze, or a luminous mist, that spiritualizes and beautifies it; that takes away, indeed, but only to the end that the parts which are not abstracted may appear more dignified and lovely-may impress and affect the more. Shall we say, then, that this is not truth-not a faithful image; and that, accordingly, the purposes of commemoration cannot be answered? It is truth, and of the highest order; for though, doubtless, things are not apparent which did exist, yet the object being looked at through this medium, parts and proportions are brought into distinct view, which before had been imperfectly or unconsciously seen. It is truth hallowed by love-the joint offspring of the worth of the dead and affections of the living. The composition and quality of the mind of a virtuous man, contemplated by the side of the grave where his body is mouldering, ought to appear and be felt as something midway between what he was on earth, walking about with his living frailties, and what he may be presumed to be as a spirit in heaven." The subject of this memoir was born at Hallowell, Maine, on the 29th of March, 1816, being the sixth child of Charlotte Barrell and Nathaniel Cheever. He was one of a family of four sons and three daughters, of whom only four arrived at adult years. His grandmother, by the father's side, was sister of the Rev. Dr. Aaron Bancroft, of Worcester, Massachusetts-a woman of a strong mind and true piety. His paternal grandfather, Nathaniel Cheever, of Salem, Massachusetts, died early, but was noted among his townsmen as a man that "feared God and eschewed evil." His maternal ancestors were of the Barrell and Sayward family, of York, Maine, the grandmother being the only daughter of Jonathan Sayward, and eminent for her virtues as a woman and a Christian; and as the mother of eleven children, nine of whom were successfully reared to adult life, blessed with a numerous posterity. His grandfather, Nathaniel Barrell, Esq., was the eldest of twelve sons, and for several years before the American revolution, was one of the councillors of Governor Wentworth, of New Hampshire. After embracing Christianity, he adopted the religious views of Robert Sandiman, which he practically exemplified, and held with inflexible tenacity to the close of life, at the advanced age of ninety-nine. The father of Nathaniel died at the early age of forty, of pulmonary consumption, in the hopes of the gospel, at Augusta, Georgia, where he had gone in pursuit of health, his youngest son, the subject of this memoir, being but three years of age. He had acquired an honorable competence for the support and education of his family, in the industrious exercise of his profession as printer, editor, publisher, and bookseller; and he had won among his fellow citizens a worthy repute for high integrity, energy, and public. spirit. As an infant, Nathaniel is said to have been marked by uncommon intelligence and sweetness of temper, always waking from his cradle with a sunny smile. He was born just three months after his parents had lost their eldest child, a noble boy of eleven, by drowning, while skating upon the Kennebec. The resemblance to him of the new-born was so striking in every respect, as to have been noticed as a remarkable fact in physiology. He bore his name, his form, his features and lineaments of countenance; and in the mental and moral structure of the two, the correspondence was deemed equally explicit and peculiar, doubtless through the force of the maternal imagination, prepossessed as it must have been with the image of the eldest-born, so suddenly snatched from her sight. His characteristics as a child were a very strong affection for all about him, but especially for his mother, extreme conscientiousness and regard for the truth, and uncommon susceptibility to religious impressions. Such was his uniform out-gushing cheerfulness, and so inexhaustible was his faculty of ex-. tracting happiness from everything, that by guests in the family he was named "SUNSHINE;" and they used to say it was enough to make a person happy to look at him. When he was nine or ten years of age, perfectly healthy, buoyant, and beautiful, those that beheld him felt unwilling he should grow any older. His relish was keen for all the sports and recreations of childhood, and his amiable temper, joined with his love for making others happy, made all his mates his friends. One summer evening, after school, he was tempted to indulge in sailing along shore, without the consent of his mother, on a little flotilla, with his elder brother, who was most to blame in the matter. |