“But, no, P. Crandall was a husband and father; so when he was drafted, I fell upon his neck and wept.  ‘How can I give you up?’ was all I could utter through my tears.  Touched by my grief, my husband refused to be torn from me, and magnanimously renounced all the honors that crowded thick and fast upon his unwilling brow.  ‘Enough,’ he answered, ’Isabella, I will stay by your side.  Duty never points two ways, and my duty is to stay with my family.  I will give up all for your sake, and though I may never realize the happiness my fond fancy painted; though I may never enter the crowded ball-room, with my proud and happy wife leaning confidingly upon my arm, while a band, concealed amid flowers, plays in a spirited manner, ’See, the conquering hero comes,’—­though I see the flattering ovations, the substantial dinners, the moonlight serenades, the waiting crowd shouting my name impatiently:  ’Crane!  Crane! let us have a speech from the gallant General P. Crandall!’—­yes, even though the aristocratic brown-stone mansion, which was to have been a testimonial of esteem from admiring friends; though all these fade before me like the beautiful mirage that proves only an illusion of the senses, yet I am equal to this act of self-denial, and submit to pass my life in obscurity, unknown and unappreciated.’”

* * * * *

“Overcome by such magnanimity, I fainted upon his bosom.  After that my dreams were haunted by gory battle-fields, in which P. Crandall figured in every imaginable scene of suffering and danger.  My delicate nerves had received a severe shock, and yet I did not mean to be weak, in the hour of trial, for it is the duty of a faithful wife, such as I sought to be, to sustain her partner in the hour of adversity.”

* * * * *

“My companion, meanwhile, was not inactive.  He sought out the obscure retreat of a distant branch of our family, a poor widow, who lived with her only son, an active and industrious mechanic.  He renewed the acquaintance which we had allowed to drop some years before, and set before her in glowing colors the chance that opened for the young man to achieve a high and glorious destiny.  Fired with patriotic zeal, he even went so far as to promise to take the support of the mother upon himself, while her son was absent working for the cause of liberty, and making for himself an honorable name, and succeeded so well, that he was thus enabled to send a substitute in his place to represent the family, so to speak.  Nor did he stop here.  Not contented with these efforts, he set about finding some other way in which he could show his zeal for the cause.  At length a bright thought struck him.  He became an Army Contractor.”