ve upon them an
impression for good. She seemed to live in a very holy frame, and did
not fail to bless all who came near her.

Benjamin Gould, the father of Rebecca Steward, passed away on the 18th
of May 1851, and twenty-six years after on the same day of the month
and at the same hour in the day, viz., May 18th 1877, Phoebe Gould,
the mother, followed him to that better land. The heads of the family
are gone over, and one by one the children who have walked in the
footsteps of their parents are being gathered home after them. The
latest grave is that which contains the precious dust of REBECCA
STEWARD, fifth daughter of Benjamin and Phoebe Gould.




CHAPTER II.

BIRTH, HOME, MARRIAGE, CONVERSION.


Rebecca Gould, afterwards Rebecca Steward, was born in Gouldtown on
the 2d of May, 1820. But Gouldtown a half century ago was not what it
is now. It was then almost unbroken forest. The early childhood of
this family was passed in a rude little log house, in which one room
answered for kitchen, dining-room, parlor and bed-room for eleven
souls.

A brave and stalwart father, a slight and sickly mother, seven girls,
and two boys, made up that household. A little uncomfortable school
house, answering on the Sabbath for church, was the only public
building known. In such circumstances, grew up this family; the
children early learning to work in the fields and in the woods, girls
and boys, very much alike, getting now and then a few months in
school, and working occasionally in other families. Thus they learned
quite early the stern realities of life.

This home, though rude, was the abode of good cheer, in which the
wayworn traveler and especially the minister of the gospel, always
found a welcome.

Let me picture it as it lives in my earliest recollections. The
log-house had then given way to one of frame scarcely larger, and
this was old. The heavy oaken door painted red swung lazily on its
hinges, and the leather latch string answered for a knob. In one
corner of the room stood an ancient corner cupboard, with its g