ELIOT, THE INDIAN APOSTLE.

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2. One of the Mayhews had a church of one hundred communicants at Martha's Vineyard. His son, Experience Mayhew, besides having the charge of five or six congregations of Indians, learned their language, and translated portions of the Bible into it. He also wrote the lives of thirty native Indian preachers, and eighty pious Indian men, women, and children. He spent sixty-three years of his life in the ministry, chiefly among the Indians.

3. But no man was so greatly distinguished for his labors of love among the Indians as John Eliot. He was born in England, in 1604. In early life he was an usher in a grammar-school, under the Rev. Thomas Hooker, the celebrated individual who led sixty men, women, and children across the woods from Boston to Hartford, to settle Connecticut.

4. Mr. Eliot came to Boston in 1631, and was settled as a minister in Roxbury the next year, where he remained about sixty years, that is, until his death. He had not been in Roxbury long before he began to take a deep interest in the Indians, whom he believed to be the descendants of the lost tribes of Israel.

5. The first thing he did, in preparation for his work, was to learn their language. This occupied him several years. The translation of the Bible into the Indian language took up two years more. At the age of forty-two he found himself sufficiently acquainted with their language to converse with them and teach them both publicly and in private.

6. Soon he was found in their wigwams, teaching them and their children to read, praying with them, telling them about God, preaching short and plain sermons to them, discouraging the use of strong drinks, as well as all their favorite vices, instructing them in farming and gardening, and endeavoring in every possible way to make them wiser and better.

7. Mr. Eliot not only told them what to do, but he actually set them to work, and sometimes worked with them. He furnished the men with spades, shovels, crow-bars, etc., and the women with spinningwheels. He set up schools and churches among them, and prepared ministers and schoolmasters. So faithful and numerous were his labors, that he obtained the name of the Indian Apostle.

8. The following anecdote will serve to show the nature of Mr. Eliot's influence. One Sabbath evening, on returning from church, a converted Indian found his fire gone out, and, in order to kindle it, he split a little dry wood with his hatchet. This was thought by many

2. The Mayhews? 3. Eliot's early life? 4. Where was he settled? 5. What of his learn ing the Indian language? Translating the Bible? 6, 7. How did Eliot proceed with the Indians? S. Ancedote of un Indian?

of the Indians a breach of the Sabbath, and was, at their next meeting, taken up and discussed.

9. Mr. Eliot labored more particularly around Boston-in Roxbury, Dorchester, Newton, Watertown, and Natick. He was especially employed at a place called Nonantum, in the present town of Newton, and at Natick. But he also went abroad, and labored in the region about Lowell, Lancaster, Brookfield, Yarmouth, and elsewhere. He not only translated the Bible, but other books, into the Indian language.

10. In short, the good he did was incalculable. In 1660, there were ten towns near Boston in which the Indians were for the most part professedly pious, and were, till Philip's war, fast adopting the customs of civilization. After Mr. Eliot's death, the number of " Praying Indians," as they were called, was estimated at five thousand; and, in 1696, thirty Indian churches existed.

11. Mr. Eliot was regarded, in his day, as somewhat eccentric. He discouraged personal ornaments and useless expenditures. He was opposed to wigs, wine, and tobacco! He wished to have every thing so managed that it might accomplish the greatest good to mankind, and the greatest glory to God.

CHAPTER XLII.

Witchcraft in New England.

1. It was during the long period of peace which has been alluded to in the foregoing chapters that the troubles arose in Massachusetts about witchcraft, of which so much has been said in history, and on account of which such heavy charges have been made against our forefathers. 2. The first case of the kind occurred in Springfield, in 1645. In June, 1648, the charge of witchcraft was brought against Margaret Jones, of Charlestown, and `she was executed. Ann Hibbins, of Boston, came next; she was executed in 1656. Here the subject rested for about thirty years, when it was again revived; and there was one more execution in Boston.

3. Four years afterward, viz., in ́692, the supposed witchcraft broke out in Salem and Danvers. Here the nrst subjects of it were children. The disorder, whatever its character may have been, spread to the

9. Where did Eliot chiefly bestow his efforts? 10. What effect did Eliot's efforts produce? 11. Character of Eliot?

CHAP. XLII.-1. What of witchcraft? 2. What cases occurred prior to 1692? 3. What happened in 1692?

WITCHCRAFT IN NEW ENGLAND.

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neighboring country towns, particularly Andover, Ipswich, and Gloucester. At first it affected the lower classes only; but at length it pervaded all ranks and conditions.

4. Two daughters of a minister, in Salem, were strangely affected. Before this they had been quiet, happy children, but now they began to look wild, shriek, tell strange stories, sit barefoot among the ashes, or go abroad with their clothes and hair in great disorder, looking like insane people. Sometimes they were dumb; at others they would complain of being pricked severely with pins.

5. The madness continuing to spread, the charge of witchcraft was at length brought against one poor minister himself. All sorts of strange stories were told about him. It was especially said that he had intercourse with the devil; and the fact that he was an uncommonly athletic and strong man, may have favored this idea. He would not confess guilt, and was hanged. Those who confessed the crime of witchcraft, however, were not executed.

6. It was, indeed, a fearful time. Multitudes were suspected and accused, and at one period no less than one hundred and fifty were in prison for witchcraft. What number were actually executed, while "the fever lasted," is not quite certain. It is generally said that two hundred were accused, one hundred and fifty imprisoned, twenty-eight condemned, nineteen hanged, and one pressed to death.

7. But the excitement at length passed away; and the more rapidly in proportion as the criminals were treated with clemency. Multitudes owned, at length, that they confessed their guilt to save their lives! For a century past little has been said of witchcraft in the United States, and few believe in its existence. The events we have narrated are supposed to have been the result of delusion.

8. Nor was this disease, or delusion, much known in this country, even in its day, out of New England. One old woman was indeed ac-. cused of the crime in Pennsylvania. Penn himself happened to be the judge, and gave the charge to the jury. They brought in a verdict that her friends should be bound for her to keep the peace, which put an end to witchcraft in that province.

9. Supposed cases of witchcraft had been common in Europe for centuries, and, about the time of the excitement in New England, thousands were executed in England and other countries there.

4. What of two daughters of a minister? 5. What of the mania? A poor minister? 6. What of the state of things during the excitement? How many were imprisoned? How many accused? How many executed? 7. What of the passing away of the excitement? 8. What of the delusion elsewhere? 9. In Europe?

9*

CHAPTER XLIII.

History of New York from 1640 to the French and Indian War.

1. WE have seen how the Dutch had effected settlements on the Hudson River, they having given the name of New Netherlands to the lands which they claimed, including not only the present territory of New York, but that of Connecticut, and also of New Jersey. Their title to Connecticut was soon terminated by the occupation of the New England settlers, but their claims to New Jersey continued till they were obliged to yield their whole settlements in this quarter to the English in 1664.

2. The country around the rising town of New Amsterdam, on the island of Manhattan, was peopled with numerous tribes of Indians, who were generally hostile, and who inflicted great injuries upon the colonists. The Dutch governors of New Netherlands had almost constant occupation in defending the settlements from these savages, though they also found time to attack and drive off European colonists who established themselves in different places upon the territories they claimed.

3. About the year 1640, the Indians of Long Island and New Jersey, enraged at being cheated by dishonest traders, and still further excited by rum, broke out into open war. They attacked the settlers on Staten Island, and threatened New Amsterdam itself. William Klieft was then governor of New Netherlands, and though he displayed the utmost cruelty toward the Indians, he had little success in subduing them.

4. In 1643, however, he employed an Englishman named Underhill, who had been distinguished in the conflicts with the Indians of New England, to command a considerable body of men, who attacked and defeated the tribes of Long Island, and, crossing over to the mainland, inflicted the same chastisement on the tribes at Horseneck. Peace was Consequently proposed and gladly accepted by both parties.

5. Klieft, however, was exceedingly unpopular, and his recall was demanded by the colonists; he set out to return to Holland with a ship richly laden, but he never reached his destination. His vessel was wrecked on the coast of Wales, and the governor perished.

CHAP. XLIII.-1. How was the Dutch title to Connecticut terminated? What of their claim to New Jersey? 2. What of the Indians? 8. What of the Indians in 1640? 4. In 1643? 5. What of Governor Klieft?

GOVERNOR STUYVESANT.

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6. The most celebrated of the Dutch governors was Peter Stuyvesant, who arrived in the colony in 1647. By judicious management, he conciliated the Indians, and thus converted dangerous foes into friends. IIe settled the dispute as to boundary which had continued for several years with the neighboring colony of Connecticut, and also, in 1655, subdued and took possession of the Swedish colony of New Sweden, consisting of several small settlements on the Delaware River, near its mouth.

7. In 1663, the Indians again became inflamed with hostility. They nade a sudden attack on the settlement of Esopus, now Kingston, and a number of the inhabitants were either killed or carried into captivity. A severe chastisement, however, speedily followed this act of barbarity. A force dispatched from New Amsterdam pursued the savages to their villages, laying waste their fields, killing numbers of their warriors, and releasing the captives they had taken. These vigorous measures resulted in peace May, 1664.

8. The province of New Netherlands, however, had still many difficulties to contend with. It had serious disputes as to territory with Lord Baltimore, the proprietor of Maryland, and the governor of Virginia at the south, and with the colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut, the latter laying claim to the eastern part of Long Island.

9. In these adverse circumstances Governor Stuyvesant conducted with wisdom and ability: but events of a still more serious nature, and quite beyond his control, were now approaching. The government of the colony, under a company in Holland, was in the highest degree arbitrary, allowing the people no voice whatever in the management of affairs. In New England the colonists formed and conducted the government, subject only to certain general regulations from the mother country.

10. The Dutch colonists, observing these facts, became dissatisfied with their situation, and now, as rumors of an English invasion began to be circulated among them, they were actually prepared to welcome such an event. In 1664, at a time of peace between England and Holland, Charles II., king of England, proceeding upon claims which had been maintained from the beginning, granted to his brother, James, Duke of York, the whole territory from the mouth of the Connecticut to the shores of the Delaware River.

11. The Duke soon after caused a squadron to be fitted out, com

6. What of Governor Stuyvesant? 7. What occurred to the Indians in 1663? 8. What other difficulties attended the province of New Netherlands? 9. What of the government of the colony at that period? How did the government of New England differ from the Dutch of New Netherlands? 10. What ideas had the Dutch colonists derived from New England? What occurred in 1661?