Excerpt from Memorial of Mrs. Lucy E. Hartwell of the American Board Mission at Foochow, China It is right to commend the virtues of the good. To do so during their lives, may not only give proper encouragement and pleasure to the individuals themselves, but be a source of benefit to others. And to speak of their virtues after death is a most profitable way of stimulating other persons to imitate their noble examples. It is especially fitting, too, that children should not only honor their parents while they live, but cherish their memory after they are dead. So also is it fitting that husbands should testify to the noble character of departed wives, and thus afford both pleasure and profit to relatives and sympathizing friends. In view of the precious sympathy which has been shown me in my late bereavement, and in view of the long and faithful service which my late wife rendered in 'the missionary cause at Foochow, I will attempt today the sad but pleasant duty of giving a brief sketch of her life and labors, which, as I trust, may not only gratify the laudable desire of some to know more of her personal history, and of the natural causes which helped to mould her character, but furnish facts to illustrate the divine guidance in her life and suggest thoughts to stimulate us in the Master's service. Perhaps also it may serve to contribute a little to our knowledge of the missionary work about Foochow. In this memorial of. Her, if there shall prove to be anything seeming like a partial husband's praise, I feel sure that those who knew her most intimately will know better than others how justly such praise was merited. Lucy Estabrook Stearns was born in New Ipswich, New Hamp shire, U. S. A., on the 13th of April, 1827. She was the youngest but one of seven children, all of whom lived to middle life. Her parents were Jesse Stearns and Lucinda Davis. They were both persons of decided piety and forward to engage in every good work. They also were persons of marked conscientiousness, executive ability and fore thought, qualities which were so prominent in the character of their daughter. At the funeral of her father, his pastor in speaking of his character remarked that in his case every duty was always attended to in time and done thoroughly. He had noticed that his house every year was the first one in the village to be banked up with earth, as was customary for protection against the cold of winter. Her parents, too, were persons of much intelligence. Her father though a farmer had quite a reputation as a teacher, and taught the ordinary schools in his own and neighboring towns from four to six months annually for over twenty years. So much were his services in demand that the people in difierent neighborhoods arranged to have the usual short winter term then provided for in that region, either in certain cases begin early in the Fall or else extend late into the Spring, so that he could teach their schools one after the other. In this way he always taught two and often three different schools of eight or nine weeks duration, in the same year. If memory is not at fault, he used to state that in all he had taught fifty. One schools. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.