Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 6.djvu/265

 JOHN SMITH WOODMAN.

��2 39

��man was a deputy to the General Court in 1636, '37, '39, and '43. In 1638, '41, '45, and '46, he was one of the three commissioners to end small causes in Newbury, and at various times held other offices of profit and trust in town and state. Among his other commissions he had one from the state 'to see people marry.' of which, in 1681, he thus speaks, — "an unprofitable commission ; I quickly laid aside the work, which has cost me many a bottle of sack and liquor, when friends and acquaintances have been concerned.' "

John, later known as ("apt. John, came to Oyster river, now Durham, in 1659. In 1694 five of the twelve garrison-houses located here were de- stroyed by the Indians,— Capt. Wood- man's being one of those that success- fully resisted the attack. For a period of almost fifty years the name of Capt. Woodman frequently appears in the provincial records, and in such connections as to show clearly that he had an active and honorable part in the defence and development of the colony.

Nathan, the father of Prof. Wood- man, was a sturdy farmer, as all his ancestors had been, noted for indus- trious and frugal habits and the strictest integrity. He was of an amiable dis- position, and had an open hand for every tale of distress, delighting espe- cially in rendering aid and encourage- ment to the young, and many owed to him, in large measure, their success in life. In his later years, his means having become ample, he grew more and more liberal, and contributed generously to the support of the gospel, and to a large number of worthy charities. Prof. Woodman's mother was a woman of great force of character, and large intellectual endow- ments. Fond of literature, she was heartily alive to the value of education, and ambitious for her family, and to her he was largely indebted for his love of literature and art, as well as his careful and pains-taking habits. From her he learned to read, and what-

��ever books suited to his age were to be had she put into his hands. When he was thirteen he had mastered the subjects taught in the district school, and went to the academy at South Berwick, Me. During a part of the next year he attended a private school in his native town taught by Dr. Timothy Hilliard, under whom he began the study of Latin, having already com- menced French at South Berwick. The good doctor seems to have had an especial horror of picture-drawing, and in yielding to his artistic tendencies the future professor brought himself several times into serious difficulty, and was once or twice severely punished. This however did not eradicate the strongly inherited tendency, and he continued to fill the odd moments with his pencil, covering the margins and fly leaves of his books with all sorts of pictures. In later life his pencil was his never failing companion, adding to his pleasure in his gayer moods, and affording solace in times of annoyance and vexation. That picture-drawing did not seriously interfere with his serious studies, may be- inferred from the following entry in his diary, made in November following his thirteenth birth-day. — "surveyed the farm and found it to contain fifty-one acres, twenty-nine rods."

In the autumn of 1835 young Woodman returned to South Berwick academy, where he remained for the next three years, being occupied a part of each year in teaching, or working on his father's farm, and toward the close of 1835 making a voyage from Boston to New Orleans and return. He had wanted for some time to give up his studies and go to sea. His friends tried in vain to dissuade him from this idea, and at length his father decided to give him a taste of sea life. He accordingly shipped him on a vessel bound for New Orleans. The voyage was long and stormy, the work hard and unromantic ; and our would- be sailor was glad to accept the cap- tain's offer, made in accordance with a previous understanding with the father,

�� �