all possibility of there being any difficulty in reference to her rights, or of her ever suffering want or neglect.  He gives to her, absolutely and for her own disposal, the residue of his books and all his “movable estate” in the house and out of it, including all “cattle, sheep, swine,” the whole stock of the homestead farm, agricultural implements, and carriages.  He makes it the duty of one of his sons to furnish her with all the “firewood” she may want, with ten bushels of corn-meal, two bushels of English meal, four bushels of ground malt, four barrels of good cider,—­he to find the barrels—­as many apples “as she shall see cause,” and nine or ten score weight of good pork, annually:  he was to “keep for her two cows, winter and summer,” and generally to provide all “things needful.”  The will specifies, apartment by apartment, from cellar to garret, one-half of the house, to be for her accommodation, use, and exclusive control, and half of the garden.  The sons were to pay, in specified proportions, all his funeral charges.  One of the sons was to pay her forthwith four pounds in money; and they were severally to deliver to her annually, in proportions expressly stated, ten pounds for pocket money.  When the relative value of money at that time is considered, and the other particulars above named taken into account, it will be allowed that he was faithful and wise in caring for the wife of his youth and the companion of his long life.  There is no better criterion of the good sense and good feeling of a person than his last will and testament.  The result of a quite extensive examination is a conviction that the application of this test to the early inhabitants of Salem Village is most creditable to them, particularly in the tender but judicious and effectual manner in which the rights, comfort, independence, and security of their wives were provided for.

In the third generation, the three Putnam families began to give their sons to the general service of the country in conspicuous public stations, and in the professional walks of life.  Their names appear on the page of history and in the catalogues of colleges.  Major-General Israel Putnam was a grandson of the first Thomas.  On the 14th of May, 1718, Archelaus, a grandson of John, and son of James, died at Cambridge, while an undergraduate.  Benjamin, a son of Nathaniel, in his will, presented for Probate, April 25, 1715, says, “I give my son Daniel one hundred and fifty pounds for his learning.”  Daniel lived and died in the ministry, at North Reading.  His name heads the list of more than thirty—­all, it is probable, of this family—­in the last Triennial Catalogue of Harvard University.

The brightest name in the annals of Salem Village, though frequently referred to, has not yet been presented for your contemplation.  I shall hold it up and keep it in your view by a somewhat detailed description, not only because it is necessary to a full understanding of our subject, but because it is good to gaze upon a life of virtue; to pause while beholding a portrait beaming with beneficence, and radiant with all excellent, beautiful, and attractive affections.