Page:The Poets and Poetry of the West.djvu/59

 JULIA L. DUMONT. Julia L. Dumont, the earliest female writer in the West whose poems, tales and sketches have been preserved, was the daughter of Ebenezer and Martha D. Corey. Her parents emigrated from Rhode Island to Marietta, Ohio, with the "Ohio Com- pany," which settled at that place. She was born at Waterford, "Washington county, Ohio, on the Muskingum River, in October, 1794. Her parents returned to Rhode Island during her infancy, and while she was yet a mere babe, her father died. Her mother removed to Greenfield, Saratoga county. New York, and married the second time. They then had their residence on the Kayaderosseras Mountain, in Greenfield. With her mother, I had the pleasure of an acquaintance during the closing years of her life. From her, doubtless, Mrs. Dumont inherited her delicate organism and strong emo- tional nature, her large-heartedness, united with shrinking sensibility. And in that mountain home her soul learned communion with nature in its noble forms — learned to love the mountain, with its beetling brow, and the gentle hyacinth, which blos- somed at its base. She sjient some time in the Milton Academy, in Saratoga county, where she gave unmistakable evidence of superior mental powers. In 1811 she taught a school in Greenfield, and in 1812 in Cambridge, Washington county. New York. In August of the last named year, she was married to John Dumont, and the following October they removed to Ohio. The -illage of Vevay, Indiana, is on a beautiful site. The river has a majestic curve, and the level plateau on the shore corresponds to its semicircular sweep, while around its periphery stands, like guardian sentinels, a range of noble hills. There settled a colony of Swiss, designing to engage in the culture of the grape. To this locality Mr. and Mrs. Dumont went in 1814, in the gloomy month of March, and there was her home tUl death. There were the struggles incident to a new country. Her husband being a lawyer, was, according to the custom of those times, much from home, attending the courts of other counties. The care of the family was upon her, and she met it nobly. Schools were scarce and poor. Her own children were to be instructed, and she determined to do the work herself She opened a school, and thenceforward much of her life was spent in the school-room. For this she was pecuharly fitted by her sympathy and keen intuition. Indeed, we may claim for her a high position among western pioneer teachers. She had a lofty idea of the mission of the instructor, and if she did not attain it, 'twas because she placed it above what a mind of far more than ordinary abihties, tireless effort, and a loving heart could reach. She was successful in imparting what she knew. A dear friend of hers, who often saw her in the school-room, said, " How faithfully did she obey the command, ' Say to them that are of fearful heart, be strong ! ' How zealously did she labor to confirm the feeble ! Was there one in her school particularly unfortunate, that one (43)