brother of the Rev. Furman Gould, is doubtless well remembered by the older itinerant preachers, who labored in that section of the country, as for instance the Rev. Richard Barney and Bishop Wayman. He was a man of recognized worth, for many years chief steward of the church, of some literary culture, quite a wag, and very fond of practical jokes. He was a thrifty farmer for his times, and quite an extensive dealer in cordwood and hoppoles.

Phoebe Gould, his wife, was possessed of considerable intelligence and evinced a fondness for learning. Deeply pious, her mind was well stored with Bible truths and with choice hymns. She manifested a fondness for children, and could repeat from memory to their delight many long stories in verse; and she never failed to leave 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 glass doors and abundant carvings; in another the old clock, with its two brothers clasped in affectionate embrace on its front; the fire place and the innovation of a ten plate stove, occupied one side of the room; while opposite, stood the old table, with its legs terminating in dragon's feet, from which I have crept away in terror many times, imagining that the cloth concealed some hideous beast. A long settee and a few rush bottom chairs completed the furniture.

My earliest recollections carry me to this house; to the well that stood before it; to the old pear tree and apple tree near by. But clearest in my memory are the white bread, the rich butter and sweet milk, that "Grandmother" dealt out to her hungry juvenile visitors with such liberal hand. Oh, how peaceful and sweet appear the beginnings of life when we look back upon them from the smoking perilous battle field of manhoods labors.

At nineteen years of age, Rebecca Gould was sought and won in marriage by James Steward. He was then a young man of promise, a steady and thrifty mechanic, having worked nine years in the Cumberland Nail and Iron works. He had been reared practically an orphan, his mother having gone to San Domingo, doubtless with an intention of one day returning. She never returned; and thus his last earthly relative, so far as he knew, departed. Alone he battled his way up. Providence, however, ultimately gave him a home in the family of Elijah Gould, father of Rev. T. Gould, where he remained until twenty-one. At twenty-four years of age he took to his side Rebecca Gould and the twain became one.

Of James Steward and Rebecca, were born six children, viz: Margarette, William, Mary, Theophilus Gould, Alice, and Stephen Smith.

Permit me henceforth to speak of this couple as my father and mother, and I beg the reader to pardon me, if I should manifest a degree of love and respect, which may seem to him somewhat partial.

I write, I trust, as a man who feels that there can be no nobler sentiment than real filial love.

Neither my father or mother were Christians at the time of marriage. They commenced life in the town; but as children were born to them, although they had purchased a home in the village, they sold it and went to the country.

The principal object had in view in this matter, was to keep their children in a pure and health giving moral, as well as physical, atmosphere. I am not certain which took the lead in this change, father or mother; but it is presumable that as father had been reared in the town and mother in the country, it was done directly or indirectly through her influence.

Fortunately father and mother agreed on all principal matters relating to the government of their children. They both resolved to do the best possible, to give them a practical education, an education that would be of use; but mother being the better informed assumed the larger share in the direction of this education. She, to some extent, examined and encouraged the children even when in school, and kept the love of learning burning briskly all the time.

About seven years after marriage she became an active Christian, joining the African M. E. Church in Gouldtown, October 12, 1846, under Rev. now Bishop A. W. Wayman; and not long after my father followed her in a profession of faith.

My whole recollection of my mother is of a Christian. In my early childhood, I remember her as being much afflicted. During one of these long periods of sickness, I remember her requesting my father to sing the hymn:

I suppose she felt that her end was approaching. She had taken the book and found the hymn and requested my father to sing it. As soon as he saw the character of the hymn he bowed himself upon the bedside and wept. Though but a child scarcely above infancy, yet the scene is firmly photographed on my memory.

I also remember during one of these long periods of sickness, of receiving an impression that I had seen her walking out in the garden. I was so sure that she had been out, that the next day I asked her if she was going out again. She surprisingly asked "Going out again? why when have I been out?" "Why," said I "you were out in the garden yesterday." "No, I was not," she replied. I insisted that she had been out; but she thought I had dreamed it; and that disgusted me, when I was so sure I had seen her and talked with her in the garden. I carry to this day a distinct recollection