Part 8

_The Suppliant_: I, thy servant, full of sin cry to thee. The sinner's earnest prayer thou dost accept, The man on whom thou lookest lives, Mistress of all, queen of mankind, Merciful one, to whom it is good to turn, Who acceptest the sigh of the heart.

_The Priest_: Because his god and his goddess are angry, he cries to thee. To him turn thy face, take his hand.

_The Suppliant_: Beside thee there is no god to guide me. Look in mercy on me, accept my sigh, Say why do I wait so long. Let thy face be softened! How long, O my lady! May thy kindness be turned to me! Like a dove I mourn, full of sighing.

_The Priest_: With sorrow and woe His soul is full of sighing, Tears he sheds, he pours out laments.

II

O mother of the gods, who performest the commands of Bel, Who makest the young grass sprout, queen of mankind, Creator of all, guide of every birth, Mother Ishtar, whose might no god approaches, Exalted mistress, mighty in command! A prayer I will utter, let her do what seems her good. O my lady, make me to know my doing, Food I have not eaten, weeping was my nourishment, Water I have not drunk, tears were my drink, My heart has not been joyful nor my spirits glad. Many are my sins, sorrowful my soul. O my lady, make me to know my doing, Make me a place of rest, Cleanse my sin, lift up my face. May my god, the lord of prayer, before thee set my prayer! May my goddess, the lady of supplication, before thee set my supplication! May the storm-god set my prayer before thee!

[The intercession of a number of gods is here invoked.]

Let thy eye rest graciously on me.... Turn thy face graciously to me.... Let thy heart be gentle, thy spirit mild....

III

O lady, in sorrow of heart sore oppressed I cry to thee. O lady, to thy servant favor show. Let thy heart be favorable, To thy servant full of sorrow show thy pity, Turn to him thy face, accept his prayer.

IV

To thy servant with whom thou art angry graciously turn. May the anger of my lord be appeased, Appeased the god I know not! The goddess I know, the goddess I know not, The god who was angry with me, The goddess who was angry with me be appeased! The sin which I have committed I know not. May my god name a gracious name, My goddess name a gracious name, The god I know, the god I know not Name a gracious name, The goddess I know, the goddess I know not Name a gracious name! Pure food I have not eaten, Pure water I have not drunk, The wrath of my god, though I knew it not, was my food, The anger of my goddess, though I knew it not, cast me down. O lord, many are my sins, great my misdeeds.

[These phrases are repeated many times.]

The lord has looked on me in anger, The god has punished me in wrath, The goddess was angry with me and hath brought me to sorrow. I sought for help, but no one took my hand, I wept, but no one to me came, I cry aloud, there is none that hears me, Sorrowful I lie on the ground, look not up. To my merciful god I turn, I sigh aloud, The feet of my goddess I kiss [.] To the known and unknown god I loud do sigh, To the known and unknown goddess I loud do sigh, O lord, look on me, hear my prayer, O goddess, look on me, hear my prayer.

* * * * *

Men are perverse, nothing they know. Men of every name, what do they know? Do they good or ill, nothing they know. O lord, cast not down thy servant! Him, plunged into the flood, seize by the hand! The sin I have committed turn thou to favor! The evil I have done may the wind carry it away! Tear in pieces my wrong-doings like a garment! My god, my sins are seven times seven--forgive my sins! My goddess, my sins are seven times seven--forgive my sins! Known and unknown god, my sins are seven times seven--forgive my sins! Known and unknown goddess, my sins are seven times seven--forgive my sins! Forgive my sins, and I will humbly bow before thee.

V

May the lord, the mighty ruler Adar, announce my prayer to thee! May the suppliant lady Nippur announce my prayer to thee! May the lord of heaven and earth, the lord of Eridu, announce my prayer to thee! The mother of the great house, the goddess Damkina, announce my prayer to thee! May Marduk, the lord of Babylon, announce my prayer to thee! May his consort, the exalted child of heaven and earth, announce my prayer to thee! May the exalted minister, the god who names the good name, announce my prayer to thee! May the bride, the first-born of the god, announce my prayer to thee! May the god of storm-flood, the lord Harsaga, announce my prayer to thee! May the gracious lady of the land announce my prayer to thee!

X. INSCRIPTION OF SENNACHERIB

(Taylor-cylinder, B.C. 701. Cf. 2 Kings xviii., xix.)

Sennacherib, the great king, the powerful king, The king of the world, the king of Assyria, The king of the four zones, The wise shepherd, the favorite of the great gods, The protector of justice, the lover of righteousness, The giver of help, the aider of the weak, The perfect hero, the stalwart warrior, the first of princes, The destroyer of the rebellious, the destroyer of enemies, Assur, the mighty rock, a kingdom without rival has granted me. Over all who sit on sacred seats he has exalted my arms, From the upper sea of the setting sun To the lower sea of the rising sun, All the blackheaded people he has cast beneath my feet, The rebellious princes shun battle with me. They forsook their dwellings; like a falcon Which dwells in the clefts, they fled alone to an inaccessible place.

* * * * *

To the city of Ekron I went, The governors and princes who had done evil I slew, I bound their corpses to poles around the city. The inhabitants of the city who had done evil I reckoned as spoil; To the rest who had done no wrong I spoke peace. Padi, their king, I brought from Jerusalem, King over them I made him. The tribute of my lordship I laid upon him. Hezekiah of Judah, who had not submitted to me, Forty-six of his strong cities, small cities without number, I besieged. Casting down the walls, advancing engines, by assault I took them. Two hundred thousand, one hundred and fifty men and women, young and old, Horses, mules, asses, camels, oxen, sheep, I brought out and reckoned as spoil. Hezekiah himself I shut up like a caged bird In Jerusalem, his royal city, The walls I fortified against him, Whoever came out of the gates I turned him back. His cities which I had plundered I divided from his land And gave them to Mitinti, king of Ashdod, To Padi, king of Ekron, and to Silbal, king of Gaza. To the former tribute paid yearly I added the tribute of alliance of my lordship and Laid that upon him. Hezekiah himself Was overwhelmed by the fear of the brightness of my lordship. The Arabians and his other faithful warriors Whom, for the defence of Jerusalem, his royal city, He had brought in, fell into fear, With thirty talents of gold and eight hundred talents of silver, precious stones, Couches of ivory, thrones of ivory, And his daughters, his women of the palace, The young men and the young women, to Nineveh, the city of my lordship, I caused to be brought after me, and he sent his ambassadors To give tribute and to pay homage.

XI. INVOCATION TO THE GODDESS BELTIS

To Beltis, the great Lady, chief of heaven and earth, Queen of all the gods, mighty in all the lands. Honored is her festival among the Ishtars. She surpasses her offspring in power. She, the shining one, like her brother, the sun, Enlightens Heaven and earth, Mistress of the spirits of the underworld, First-born of Anu, great among the gods, Ruler over her enemies, The seas she stirs up, The wooded mountains tramples under foot. Mistress of the spirits of upper air, Goddess of battle and fight, Without whom the heavenly temple None would render obedience, She, the bestower of strength, grants the desire of the faithful, Prayers she hears, supplication receives, entreaty accepts. Ishtar, the perfect light, all-powerful, Who enlightens Heaven and earth, Her name is proclaimed throughout all the lands, Esarhaddon, king of lands, fear not. To her it is good to pray.

XII. ORACLES OF ISHTAR OF ARBELA (B.C. 680-668)

Esarhaddon, king of lands, fear not. The lord, the spirit who speaks to thee I speak to him, I have not kept it back. Thine enemies, like the floods of Sivan Before thee flee perpetually. I the great goddess, Ishtar of Arbela Have put thine enemies to flight. Where are the words I spake to thee? Thou hast not trusted them. I, Ishtar of Arbela, thy foes Into thy hands I give In the van and by thy side I go, fear not In the midst of thy princes thou art. In the midst of my host I advance and rest.

O Esarhaddon, fear not. Sixty great gods are with me to guard thee, The Moon-god on thy right, the Sun-god on thy left, Around thee stand the sixty great gods, And make the centre firm. Trust not to man, look thou to me Honor me and fear not. To Esarhaddon, my king, Long days and length of years I give. Thy throne beneath the heavens I have established; In a golden dwelling thee I will guard in heaven Guard like the diadem of my head. The former word which I spake thou didst not trust, But trust thou now this later word and glorify me, When the day dawns bright complete thy sacrifice. Pure food thou shalt eat, pure waters drink, In thy palace thou shalt be pure. Thy son, thy son's son the kingdom By the blessing of Nergal shall rule.

XIII. AN ERECHITE'S LAMENT

How long, O my Lady, shall the strong enemy hold thy sanctuary? There is want in Erech, thy principal city; Blood is flowing like water in Eulbar, the house of thy oracle; He has kindled and poured out fire like hailstones on all thy lands. My Lady, sorely am I fettered by misfortune; My Lady, thou hast surrounded me, and brought me to grief. The mighty enemy has smitten me down like a single reed. Not wise myself, I cannot take counsel; I mourn day and night like the fields. I, thy servant, pray to thee. Let thy heart take rest, let thy disposition be softened.

ABIGAIL ADAMS (1744-1818)

BY LUCIA GILBERT RUNKLE

The Constitution of the State of Massachusetts, adopted in the year 1780, contains an article for the Encouragement of Literature, which, it declares, should be fostered because its influence is "to countenance and inculcate the principles of humanity and general benevolence, public and private charity, industry and frugality, honesty and punctuality in dealings, sincerity and good humor, and all social affections and generous sentiments among the people." In these words, as in a mirror, is reflected the Massachusetts of the eighteenth century, where households like the Adamses', the Warrens', the Otises', made the standard of citizenship. Six years before this remarkable document was framed, Abigail Adams had written to her husband, then engaged in nation-making in Philadelphia:--"I most sincerely wish that some more liberal plan might be laid and executed for the benefit of the rising generation, and that our new Constitution may be distinguished for encouraging learning and virtue." And he, spending his days and nights for his country, sacrificing his profession, giving up the hope of wealth, writes her:--"I believe my children will think that I might as well have labored a little, night and day, for their benefit. But I will tell them that I studied and labored to procure a free constitution of government for them to solace themselves under; and if they do not prefer this to ample fortune, to ease and elegance, they are not my children. They shall live upon thin diet, wear mean clothes, and work hard with cheerful hearts and free spirits, or they may be the children of the earth, or of no one, for me."

[Illustration: ABIGAIL ADAMS]

In old Weymouth, one of those quiet Massachusetts towns, half-hidden among the umbrageous hills, where the meeting-house and the school-house rose before the settlers' cabins were built, where the one elm-shaded main street stretches its breadth between two lines of self-respecting, isolated frame houses, each with its grassy dooryard, its lilac bushes, its fresh-painted offices, its decorous wood-pile laid with architectural balance and symmetry,--there, in the dignified parsonage, on the 11th of November, 1744, was born to Parson William Smith and Elizabeth his wife, Abigail, the second of three beautiful daughters. Her mother was a Quincy, of a distinguished line, and _her_ mother was a Norton, of a strain not less honorable. Nor were the Smiths unimportant.

In that day girls had little instruction. Abigail says of herself, in one of her letters:--"I never was sent to any school. Female education, in the best families, went no further than writing and arithmetic; in some few and rare instances, music and dancing. It was fashionable to ridicule female learning." But the household was bookish. Her mother knew the "British Poets" and all the literature of Queen Anne's Augustan age. Her beloved grandmother Quincy, at Mount Wollaston, seems to have had both learning and wisdom, and to her father she owed the sense of fun, the shrewdness, the clever way of putting things which make her letters so delightful.

The good parson was skillful in adapting Scripture to special exigencies, and throughout the Revolution he astonished his hearers by the peculiar fitness of his texts to political uses. It is related of him that when his eldest daughter married Richard Cranch, he preached to his people from Luke, tenth chapter, forty-second verse: "And Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her." When, a year later, young John Adams came courting the brilliant Abigail, the parish, which assumed a right to be heard on the question of the destiny of the minister's daughter, grimly objected. He was upright, singularly abstemious, studious; but he was poor, he was the son of a small farmer, and she was of the gentry. He was hot-headed and somewhat tactless, and offended his critics. Worst of all, he was a lawyer, and the prejudice of colonial society reckoned a lawyer hardly honest. He won this most important of his cases, however, and Parson Smith's marriage sermon for the bride of nineteen was preached from the text, "For John came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and ye say, He hath a devil."

For ten years Mrs. Adams seems to have lived a most happy life, either in Boston or Braintree, her greatest grief being the frequent absences of her husband on circuit. His letters to her are many and delightful, expressing again and again, in the somewhat formal phrases of the period, his affection and admiration. She wrote seldom, her household duties and the care of the children, of whom there were four in ten years, occupying her busy hands.

Meanwhile, the clouds were growing black in the political sky. Mr. Adams wrote arguments and appeals in the news journals over Latin signatures, papers of instructions to Representatives to the General Court, and legal portions of the controversy between the delegates and Governor Hutchinson. In all this work Mrs. Adams constantly sympathized and advised. In August, 1774, he went to Philadelphia as a delegate to a general council of the colonies called to concert measures for united action. And now begins the famous correspondence, which goes on for a period of nine years, which was intended to be seen only by the eyes of her husband, which she begs him, again and again, to destroy as not worth the keeping, yet which has given her a name and place among the world's most charming letter-writers.

Her courage, her cheerfulness, her patriotism, her patience never fail her. Braintree, where, with her little brood, she is to stay, is close to the British lines. Raids and foraging expeditions are imminent. Hopes of a peaceful settlement grow dim. "What course you can or will take," she writes her husband, "is all wrapped in the bosom of futurity. Uncertainty and expectation leave the mind great scope. Did ever any kingdom or State regain its liberty, when once it was invaded, without bloodshed? I cannot think of it without horror. Yet we are told that all the misfortunes of Sparta were occasioned by their too great solicitude for present tranquillity, and, from an excessive love of peace, they neglected the means of making it sure and lasting. They ought to have reflected, says Polybius, that, 'as there is nothing more desirable or advantageous than peace, when founded in justice and honor, so there is nothing more shameful, and at the same time more pernicious, when attained by bad measures, and purchased at the price of liberty.'"

Thus in the high Roman fashion she faces danger; yet her sense of fun never deserts her, and in the very next letter she writes, parodying her husband's documents:--"The drouth has been very severe. My poor cows will certainly prefer a petition to you, setting forth their grievances, and informing you that they have been deprived of their ancient privileges, whereby they are become great sufferers, and desiring that these may be restored to them. More especially as their living, by reason of the drouth, is all taken from them, and their property which they hold elsewhere is decaying, they humbly pray that you would consider them, lest hunger should break through stone walls."

By midsummer the small hardships entailed by the British occupation of Boston were most vexatious. "We shall very soon have no coffee, nor sugar, nor pepper, but whortleberries and milk we are not obliged to commerce for," she writes, and in letter after letter she begs for pins. Needles are desperately needed, but without pins how can domestic life go on, and not a pin in the province!

On the 14th of September she describes the excitement in Boston, the Governor mounting cannon on Beacon Hill, digging intrenchments on the Neck, planting guns, throwing up breastworks, encamping a regiment. In consequence of the powder being taken from Charlestown, she goes on to say, a general alarm spread through all the towns and was soon caught in Braintree. And then she describes one of the most extraordinary scenes in history. About eight o'clock on Sunday evening, she writes to her husband, at least two hundred men, preceded by a horse-cart, passed by her door in dead silence, and marched down to the powder-house, whence they took out the town's powder, because they dared not trust it where there were so many Tories, carried it into the other parish, and there secreted it. On their way they captured a notorious "King's man," and found on him two warrants aimed at the Commonwealth. When their patriotic trust was discharged, they turned their attention to the trembling Briton. Profoundly excited and indignant though they were, they never thought of mob violence, but, true to the inherited instincts of their race, they resolved themselves into a public meeting! The hostile warrants being produced and exhibited, it was put to a vote whether they should be burned or preserved. The majority voted for burning them. Then the two hundred gathered in a circle round the single lantern, and maintained a rigid silence while the offending papers were consumed. That done--the blazing eyes in that grim circle of patriots watching the blazing writs--"they called a vote whether they should huzza; but, it being Sunday evening, it passed in the negative!"

Only in the New England of John Winthrop and the Mathers, of John Quincy and the Adamses, would such a scene have been possible: a land of self-conquest and self-control, of a deep love of the public welfare and a willingness to take trouble for a public object.

A little later Mrs. Adams writes her husband that there has been a conspiracy among the negroes, though it has been kept quiet, "I wish most sincerely," she adds, "that there was not a slave in the province. It always appeared a most iniquitous scheme to me--to fight ourselves for what we are daily robbing and plundering from those who have as good a right to freedom as we have."

Nor were the sympathies of this clever logician confined to the slaves. A month or two before the Declaration of Independence was made she writes her constructive statesman:--"I long to hear that you have declared an independence. And by the way, in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands! Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could! If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation. That your sex are naturally tyrannical is a truth so thoroughly established as to admit of no dispute; but such of you as wish to be happy willingly give up the harsh title of master for the more tender and endearing one of friend. Why, then, not put it out of the power of the vicious and the lawless to use us with cruelty and indignity with impunity? Men of sense in all ages abhor those customs which treat us only as the vassals of your sex. Regard us, then, as being placed by Providence under your protection; and in imitation of the Supreme Being, make use of that power only for our happiness."--a declaration of principles which the practical housewife follows up by saying:--"I have not yet attempted making salt-petre, but after soap-making, believe I shall make the experiment. I find as much as I can do to manufacture clothing for my family, which would else be naked. I have lately seen a small manuscript describing the proportions of the various sorts of powder fit for cannon, small arms, and pistols. If it would be of any service your way, I will get it transcribed and send it to you."

She is interested in everything, and she writes about everything in the same whole-hearted way,--farming, paper money, the making of molasses from corn-stalks, the new remedy of inoculation, 'Common Sense' and its author, the children's handwriting, the state of Harvard College, the rate of taxes, the most helpful methods of enlistment, Chesterfield's Letters, the town elections, the higher education of women, and the getting of homespun enough for Mr. Adams's new suit.