“The Deposition of Thos:  Wilder aged 37 years sworn say’th that being with Jno:  Prescott Sen’r About six hours before he died he ye s’d Jno.  Prescott gaue to his eldest sonn Jno:  Presscott his house lott with all belonging to ye same & ye two mills, corn mill & saw mill with ye land belonging thereto & three scor Acors of land nere South medow and fourty Acors of land nere Wonchesix & a pece of enteruile caled Johns Jump & Bridge medow on both sids ye Brook.  Cyprian Steevens Testifieth to all ye truth Aboue writen.

     DECEM. 20. 81.

     Sworn in Court.  J.R.C.”

Though two or more years short of fourscore at the time of his death he was Lancaster’s oldest inhabitant.  His fellow pioneer, Lawrence Waters, who was the elder by perhaps a years, till survived, though blind and helpless; but he dwelt with a son in Charlestown, after the destruction of his home, and never returned to Lancaster.  John and Ralph Houghton, much younger men, were now the veterans of the town.

* * * * *

A GLIMPSE.

BY MARY H. WHEELER.

  We met but once; ’twas many years ago. 
      I walked, with others, idly through the grounds
    Where thou did’st minister in daily rounds. 
  I knew thee by thy garb, all I might know,
  Sister of Charity, in hood like snow. 
    My heart was weary with the sight and sounds
  Of sick and suffering soldiers in the wards below. 
    Disgusted with my thoughts of war and wounds. 
  ’Twas then, by sudden chance, I met thine eyes,
    What saw I there?  A light from heaven above,
    A gleam of calm, self-sacrificing love,
  A smile that fill’d my heart with glad surprise,
    Reflected in my breast an answering glow,
    And haunts me still, wherever I may go.

* * * * *

EARLY HISTORY OF THE BERMUDA ISLANDS.

By JAMES H. STARK.

The singular collection of islands known as the Bermudas are situated about seven hundred miles from Boston, in a southeast direction, and about the same distance from Halifax, or Florida.  The nearest land to Bermuda is Cape Hatteras, distant 625 miles.

Within sixty-five hours’ sail from New York it is hardly possible to find so complete a change in government, climate, scenery and vegetation, as Bermuda offers; and yet these islands are strangely unfamiliar to most well-informed Americans.

Speaking our own language, having the same origin, with manners, which in many ways illustrate those prevalent in New England a century ago, the people are bound to us by many natural ties; and it is only now that these islands, having come to the front as a winter resort, have led us to inquire into their history and resources.  Settled in 1612, Virginia only of the English colonies outdating it, life in Bermuda has been as placid as its lovely waters on a summer day; no agitation of sufficient occurrence having occurred to attract the attention of the outside world, from which it is so absolutely isolated.