MRS. LUCY GAYLORD POMEROY.

N 1803, some families from Bristol and Meriden, Connecticut, removed to the wilderness of New York, and settled in what is now Otisco, Onondaga County.

Among these were Chauncey Gaylord, a sturdy, athletic young man, just arrived at the age of twenty-one, and "a little, quiet, black-eyed girl, with a sunny, thoughtful face, only eleven years old." Her name was Dema Cowles. So the young man and the little girl became acquaintances, and friends, and in after years lovers. In 1817 they were married. Their first home was of logs, containing one room, with a rude loft above, and an excavation beneath for a cellar.

In this humble abode was born Lucy Ann Gaylord, the subject of this sketch, who afterwards became the wife of Samuel C. Pomeroy, United States Senator from Kansas.

Plain and humble as was this home, it was a consecrated one, where God was worshipped, and the purest religious lessons taught. Mrs. Gaylord was a woman of remarkable strength of character and principles, one who carried her religion into all the acts of daily life, and taught by a consistent example, no less than by a wise precept. Her mother had early been widowed, and had afterwards married Mr. Eliakim Clark, from Massachusetts, and had become the mother of the well-known twin-brothers, Lewis Gaylord, and Willis Gaylord Clark, destined to develope into scholars and poets, and to leave their mark upon the literature of America. She had been entrusted with the care

of these beautiful and noble boys for some years, and was already experienced in duties of that kind, before children of her own were given her. Doubtless to her high order of intellect, refined taste, amiable disposition, and sterling good sense, all the children who shared her care are indebted to a great extent for the noble qualities they possess.

Other children succeeded Lucy, and as the elder sister, she shared, in their primitive mode of life, her mother's cares and duties. Her character developed and expanded, and she grew in mental grace as in stature, loving all beautiful things and noble thoughts, and early making a profession of religion.

By this time the family occupied a handsome rural homestead, where neatness, order, regularity, industry and kindness reigned, and where a liberal hospitality was always practiced. Here gathered all the large group of family relatives, here the aged grandmother Clark lived, and hither came her gifted twin sons, from time to time, as to their home. The most beautiful scenery surrounded this homestead; peace, order, intelligence, truth and godliness abounded there, and amidst such influences Lucy Gaylord had the training which led to the future usefulness of her life. Even in her youth she was the friend and safe counsellor of her brothers, as in her maturer years she was of her gifted husband.

At eighteen she made a public profession of religion, and soon after the thought of consecrating herself to the missionary work took possession of her mind. To this end she labored and studied for several years, steadfastly educating herself for a vocation to which she believed herself called, though often afflicted with serious doubts as to whether she, being an only daughter, could leave her parents.

In early life she became an earnest and efficient teacher in Sunday-schools, her intellectual pursuits furnishing her with ever fresh means of rendering her instruction interesting and useful to her classes. She undoubtedly at the first considered

this as a training for the work to which, in time, she hoped to devote herself.

But this hope was destined to disappointment. One violent illness after another finally destroyed her health, and she never quite recovered the early tone of her system. Yet she worked on, doing good wherever the means presented.

Soon afterwards she met with the great sorrow of her life. The young man to whom she was soon to be married, between whom and herself the strongest attachment existed, cemented by a mutual knowledge of noble qualities, was suddenly snatched from her, and she became a widow in all but the name.

This sorrow still more refined and beautified her character. By degrees the sharpness of the grief wore away, and it became a sweet, though saddened memory. Eight years after her loss, she became the wife of Samuel C. Pomeroy, of Southampton, Massachusetts. "They were of kindred feelings in life's great work, had suffered alike by early bereavement, and were drawn together by that natural affinity which unites two lives in one."

He had given up mercantile business in Western New York · not long before, and had returned to his early home to care for the declining years of his aged parents. And this was the missionary work to which Mrs. Pomeroy found herself appointed. She was welcomed heartily, and found her duties rendered light by appreciation and affection.

Here, as elsewhere, Mrs. Pomeroy made herself actively useful beyond, as well as within, her home. She performed duties of Sabbath School and general religious instruction, that might be called arduous, especially when added to her domestic cares and occupations. These, with other labors, exhausted her strength, and a protracted season of illness followed.

From that time, 1850, for five or six years, she continued to suffer, being most of the time very ill, her life often despaired of. During all this season of peculiar trial she never lost her faith and courage, even when her physicians gave no hope of her reco

very, being contented to abide by the will of Providence, convinced that if God had any work for her to do He would spare her life. During this time her husband was often absent, being first in the Massachusetts Legislature, and afterwards sent out as Agent by the Northeastern Aid Society to Kansas, which they were desirous to settle as a free State. Into this last duty she insisted with energy that he should enter. During his absence she experienced other afflictions, but her health notwithstanding rallied, and as soon as possible she made preparations to remove to Kansas where Mr. Pomeroy wished to make a home. In the spring of 1857 she finally arrived there, and there she remained until the spring of 1861, when she accompanied her husband to Washington, when he went thither to take his seat in the Senate.

The hardships and the usefulness of her life in Kansas are matters of history, and it is truly surprising to read how one so long an invalid was enabled to perform such protracted and exhausted labors. All who knew her there bear ample and enthusiastic testimony to the usefulness of her life. To the whites she was friend, hostess, counsellor, assistant, in sickness and in health. To the poor and despised blacks, striving to find freedom, she was friend and teacher, even at the time when her near neighborhood to the slave State of Missouri, made the service most dangerous. Then followed the terrible famine year of 1860. During all that time she freely gave her services in the work of providing for the sufferers. Mr. Pomeroy, aided by the knowledge he had acquired in his experience as Agent of Emigration, was able at once to put the machinery in motion for obtaining supplies from the East, and Mrs. Pomeroy transformed her home into an office of distribution, of which she was superintendent and chief clerk. It was a year that taxed far too heavily her already much exhausted strength.

When she accompanied her husband to Washington in the spring, her health failed, cough and hoarseness troubled her, and

she was obliged to leave for visits in her native air, and for a stay of some months at Geneva Water Cure.

From the breaking out of the war Mrs. Pomeroy, on all occasions, proved herself desirous of the welfare of our soldiers. The record of her deeds of kindness in their behalf is not as ample as that of some others, for her health forbade the active nursing, and visiting of the sick in hospitals, which is the most showy part of the work. But her contributions of supplies were always large; and she had always a peculiar care and interest in the religious and moral welfare of the volunteers, who, far from the influences of home, and exposed to new and numerous temptations, were, she felt, in more than one sense encircled by peculiar dangers.

Only once did she revisit her Kansas home, and in the autumn of 1862 spent some months there. There was at that time a regiment in camp at Atchison, and she was enabled to do great good to the sick in hospital, not only with supplies, but by her own personal efforts for their physical and spiritual welfare.

On her return to Washington she there entered as actively as possible into this work. Her form became known in the hospitals, and many a suffering man hailed her coming with a new light kindling his dimmed eyes. She brought them comforts and delicacies, and she added her prayers and her precious instructions. She cared both for souls and bodies, and earned the immortal gratitude of those to whom she ministered.

In January, 1863, her last active benevolent work was commenced, namely the foundation of an asylum at the National Capital for the freed orphans and destitute aged colored women whom the war, and the Proclamation of Emancipation, had thrown upon the care of the benevolent. For several months she was actively engaged in this enterprise. A charter was immediately obtained, and when the Association was organized, Mrs. Pomeroy was chosen President.

Almost entirely by her exertions, a building for the Asylum