JOHN ADAMS. and on that which prepared the address to JOHN ADAMS, the second President of the king. He also attended the next Con gress, in 1775, and was among the foremost the United States, was born in Braintree, Massachusetts, October 19, 1735. Af ter the usual preparatory studies he entered Harvard College, and was distinguished in his class for diligence in his studies and for originality and boldness of thought-qualities which shone most conspicuously in his after-piness and safety of their constituents and life. He graduated in 1755, and began the study of law with James Putnam, at Worcester. In 1764 he married Abigail Smith, daughter of Rev. William Smith of Weymouth, a lady of an excellent education and of uncommon natural endowments. In 1765 he removed to Boston. His legal practice soon became extensive, and it was soon seen that he was one to whom his fellow-citizens might confidently look as a champion of their rights against the encroachments and assump tions of the Crown. In 1769 he was chair man of the committee appointed by the town of Boston to draw up instructions to their representatives to resist the British encroachments. The next year he was chosen a member of the Legislature from Boston. In June, 1774, Mr. Adams was elected by the Assembly, together with Thomas Cushing, James Bowdoin, Samuel Adams and Robert T. Paine, to the first Continental Congress. To his friend Sewall, who endeavored to dissuade him from accepting the appointment, he replied, in his characteristic energy of language, "The die is cast: I have passed the Rubicon. Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, with my country, is my unalterable determination." He took his seat in Congress, September 5, 1774, and was on the committee which drew up the statement of the rights of the colonies, of America." This passed, after an earnest debate, on the 15th. On the 7th of June, Richard Henry Lee made the motion, which was seconded by Mr. Adams, "that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States." The debate continued to the 10th, and was then postponed to the 1st of July. A committee of five, consisting of Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Sherman and Livingston, was appointed to draw up a declaration of independence. At the request of Mr. Adams the instrument was written by Jefferson, and was adopted, as is known, on the 4th, but not without some strong opposition. The opposing arguments were met by Mr. Adams in a speech of unrivalled power. Of him Mr. Jefferson said, "The great pillar of support to the Declaration of Independence, and its ablest advocate and champion on the floor of the House, was John Adams. He was the colossus of that Congress: not graceful, not eloquent, not always fluent, in his public addresses, he yet came out with a power, both of thought and expression, which moved his hearers from their seats.". In 1779, Adams was appointed minister plenipotentiary to negotiate a peace with Great Britain, and had authority to form a commercial treaty with that nation. He was associated with Franklin, Jay and Lau rens, and the mission was successful in form- | o'clock, while Mr. Adams lingered till twenty minutes past six P. M. ing a definite treaty of peace, which was ratified January 14, 1784. He returned to Boston in 1788, after an absence of nine years. Congress had before passed a resolution of thanks for his able and faithful discharge of various important commissions. He was elected the first Vice-President of the United States in 1789, and was re-elected the second term; consequently, he was president of the Senate during the whole of the administration of Washington, whose confidence he enjoyed in the highest degree. Having been elected President to succeed Washington, he entered upon his duties March 4, 1797, and in 1801 he was succeeded by Mr. Jefferson. After March, 1801, Mr. Adams lived in retirement at Quincy, occupied in agricultural pursuits, though occasionally addressing various communications to the public. In 1820, at the age of eighty-five, he was chosen president of the convention for revising the constitution of Massachusetts, though he did not serve in that capacity. In 1825 he enjoyed the singular happiness of seeing his son, John Quincy Adams, elevated to the office of President of the United States. But he was now drawing near his end. On the morning of the 4th of July, 1826, he was roused by the ringing of bells and the firing of cannon; and when asked if he knew what day it was, he replied, "Oh yes! it is the glorious Fourth. God bless it! God bless you all!" In the course of the day he said, “It is a great and glorious day," and just before he expired exclaimed, "Jefferson survives!" showing that his thoughts were dwelling on the scenes of 1776. But Jefferson was then dead, having expired at one For purity of character, dauntless courage and true patriotism, Mr. Adams had no superior among his contemporaries, and his name will be held in veneration by all coming generations. CHARLES D. CLEVELAND. CAROLINE E. S. NORTON. THIS modern English poetess was one of the three daughters of Thomas Sheridan, son of the celebrated Richard Brinsley Sheridan. She was born in 1808. Her father dying while she was still very young, her care devolved upon her mother, who gave her a fine education. At the age of nineteen she became the wife of the Hon. George Chapple Norton. In 1829 she commenced her career of authorship by publishing anonymously the "Sorrows of Rosalie," a tale, and other poems. In the following year she achieved the greatest success as a poetess with the production of her "Undying One and other poems, which the Quarterly Review declared to be worthy of Lord Byron. The Child of the Islands, Aunt Carry's Ballads for Children and Stuart of Dunleath, a novel, were her subsequent works. In 1854 her warm sympathies with the social wrongs of her sex found expression in a work entitled English Laws for Women in the Nineteenth Century. This work was privately printed; but a very large circulation was obtained for a later effort of the same character, which was named A Letter to the Queen on Lord Chancellor Cranworth's Marriage and Divorce Bill. In 1862 she published a poem entitled "The Lady of Garaye," which met with considerable public favor. She died 1877. S. O. BEETON. And beckon and waver and toss and croon Round the dim and darksome Grange. What misty form on the threshold stands, Faltering in every gust, Moaning and wringing its ghostly hands, Leaving no track in the dust, "Oh, mother, there's one on the bleak, bare Coming and going with soundless tread In the gloaming across the marsh When the moon is up and the world's abed And the winds whistle loud and harsh? In the rusty grate there is not a spark, In and out at the door. Who calls, who calls through the frosty nights When the dusk-brown leaves grow thin? Who calls with a voice of grief and fear, "Oh, mother, pray let me in?" It comes from the mere like a wailing breeze, |