Page:Sketches of representative women of New England.djvu/183

136 Nathaniel White, Jr., of Concord, is general manager of the farm and other properties left by his father. He married Helen Eastman, and has two children, Nathaniel Aldrich and Charlotte.

Benjamin Cheney White is now a prominent business man of Concord. He married Mabel N. Chase, of Concord, and has had two children: James Chase, who died at the age of five years; and Rose Aldrich, born in Concord, June 5, 1895.

UNICE HALE WAITE COBB.—Eunice Hale Waite Cobb was born in Kennebunk. Me., January 27, 1803, the second child of Captain Hale Waite and his wife, Elizabeth Stanwood. Her father had removed to Kennebunk from old Ipswich, Mass., a short time before she was born, and he returned thither soon after her birth, so that Ipswich is ever associated with her earliest childhood. Captain Waite died when Eunice was in her fifth year, leaving a widowed mother and four children, two of whom died at a very early age.

After her father's death Eunice was cared for by her maternal grand-parents until she was ten years old, when her mother took for her second husband Samuel Locke, of Hallowell, Me., a man of liberal education, a school preceptor by profession. He had a strong, clear mind, and exerted an influence on the youthful mind of his stepdaughter for which she was ever grateful.

Thoroughly imbued with the Calvinistic doctrine by her grandparents, she became at an early age a prominent member of the Baptist church of Hallowell, her fervid and effective speech making her a religious power unusual for one so young. Her conversion to Universalism was remarkable. Her stepfather was a profound student of the Bible, and he could see naught else in its pages, as he declared, but evidences of the supreme and unchangeable love of God, whose divine fatherhood was one with his eternal being. Eunice was deeply distressed by this condition of her stepfather's mind, and finally prevailed upon her pastor, Mr. Moses, to visit him and bring him to the orthodox faith. Having brought them together, she sat back and listened with intense interest and anxiety. Her account of this interview, with the results that followed, given in her diary, presents an epitome of religious experience of the past century in a most interesting manner.

The discussion that followed left Eunice in dismay. After Mr. Locke had disposed of the final attack in the consideration of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, which her minister had brought forward with great confidence, he," we quote from Eunice's diary, "was going to explain further, when the minister's watch came out again, and he said he must go. I asked him to wait a moment and I would accompany him. I could not bear to be left alone, just then, with my father. On our way to the meeting-house we were mostly silent. Not a word was spoken in allusion to the late discussion. Arriving at the vestry, I took my seat with my sisters, and then gave myself up to thought. At this meeting, called for meditation and prayer, I was to relate my experience for the last time previous to my baptism and admission into the church. When I was called upon to speak I arose, and tremblingly (for my heart was painfully wrought upon) asked that my baptism might be suspended (that was the word used) ; and I further said that I made the request after serious deliberation. An old lady, sitting a few pews from me, spoke up quickly and excitedly, *Aha! I guess you have been taught in Master Locke's school since you were with us last.' This remark, so impudently uttered, gave me strength. 'No,' said I, firmly and steadily, 'I have been taught in Christ's school, and I will seek further instruction from the same divine and blessed source.'

"The minister said not a word: he only bowed acquiescence. He knew what I meant. I will only add that I went home and sought the instruction of which I had spoken. I sought it earnestly, humbly, and honestly; and, thank God! very soon my soul was basking in the full glory of my heavenly Father's boundless and answering love. I had become a Universalist."

The now declared she would marry a Universalist clergyman, and bring up twelve chil-