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scars of the combat, with the savages on their front and flank, and the waters on their right and rear, they continued the work of death through the day.

The command had devolved on Ensign Wyman, after Lovell fell at the commencement of the engagement; and this officer discharged his duty with undaunted resolution. Imagination can form no picture of a condition more forlorn and hopeless than that of his small company. Hemmed in by an overwhelming force; at a distance from all friends precluding the possibility of succor or relief; without food or refreshment; for their provisions had been captured in the morning; yet they fought with desperation. The savages held up ropes and invited a surrender by the signs which told too plainly the luxuries of captivity. The proposal was answered by shots, sending to their last sleep, those who appeared in sight to offer such terms of capitulation.

Romantic incidents occurred to diversify the appalling scenes of carnage and slaughter. A sergeant named Fullam, and an Indian distinguished by his dress and activity, singled out each the other, and both fell, mutually slain by their antagonist's weapon. Chamberlain, a private, and Paugus, the Sachem, went down to the water's brink to wash their pieces, too foul from frequent firing for further service. They were so near as to exchange words of defiance, and proceeded in their operations with corresponding motions. Chamberlain anticipated his foe by a second only. The gun of the former, priming itself from the barrel, gave him an opportunity to bring it down more quickly to a fatal aim. Other accounts say that the ball of Paugus, lodging in its descent, forced him to draw his ramrod. The bullet of his opponent took effect, while the shot of the chieftain passed over its mark. It is stated on traditionary authority, that Paugus, observing his enemy omit the motion of priming, called out to warn him of the error; either influenced by a high magnanimity, or in the exultation of expected advantage, at a time when neglect could not be retrieved. The firelock, so fatal to the warrior, is preserved in the interesting collection connected with the Fryeburg Academy.

During the fight, the Indians raised frightful noises, imitating the voices of wild beasts and endeavoring to intimidate the English and keep up their own spirits. The hideous sounds were answered by loud huzzas. Once they retired from the margin of the pond to the spot where the battle commenced, and began, as is supposed, to elect a new chief and to invoke their War God

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with loud yells and strange ceremonies. Ensign Wyman, cautiously advancing, shot the principal performer and thus closed their mysterious rites.

The struggle for life on the one side and victory on the other, continued from ten o'clock of the morning until sunset. When the shadows of night closed, the Indians, discouraged by the stern resistance, by the loss of their leader and of three-fourths of their warriors, retired with furious and discordant howls, leaving the survivors of the white men masters of the spot deeply wet with blood. The mustering of the party was a fearful scene. Of the thirty four who had raised their voices in prayer at the dawn, nine only could return their evening thanksgivings that they were preserved unhurt through the tremendous perils. Nine were gone to their last account; four were groaning with the agony of mortal wounds; and many less severely suffering from their injuries; one only had been of feeble heart and fled. When the moon rose the remnant commenced their march, abandoning those who were unable to journey. Lieutenant Robbins, too much disabled to accompany the retreating party, asked that a loaded musket might be left with him, that he might kill one more Indian before he died: the report resounding through the forest, told to his comrades on the next day, that his sanguinary purpose had probably been accomplished. One of the men engaged in the fight, in after times stated, that two guns were loaded and placed by Robbins, and added that he heard three discharges in the direction of the pond, while pursuing his march the next morning. It is also asserted that the Indians, after the peace, confessed, that two of their number were killed and a third wounded, by the shots of the dying soldier before he was slain.

At midnight the survivors left the battle field, without interruption or pursuit by the routed foes. Lieut. Farwell, Chaplain Frye, Davis, and Jones, were supported by their comrades. After proceeding about a mile and a half they found themselves too much exhausted to go onward. They were, with their own consent deserted, and the others kept on their march, hoping to reach the fort and thence return to relieve the sufferers.

Jonathan Frye, of Andover, completed his collegiate education at Harvard University in 1723. Though mortally wounded in the afternoon, he continued his exertions until he fell, and then was heard in earnest prayer imploring the blessing of heaven for the preservation and success of those engaged in the dreadful encoun

ter. His amiable manners and superior gifts had ensured the esteem and commanded the respect of all: and it was with bitter regret he was abandoned. He died alone in the wilderness, and a journal of the expedition, perished with the unfortunate youth who had recorded the incidents. His body was never found. The engle and the wolf probably gorged themselves on the relics of one, with affections so generous, and a gallantry so devoted. He served in the capacity of Chaplain. Before he set forth on his last earthly march, he had been attached to a young lady, and romantic stories are told of his early love. An Elm, planted by his hand in his native town, and overshadowing his paternal mansion, was once rescued from the axe by Mr. Knapp, of Boston.

Lieutenant Farwell went on a short distance from the spot where Frye laid down to die, and was then left by Davis.

Eleazer Davis, and Josiah Jones, after a journey of excessive hardships, enduring the agony of wounds relieved by no surgical assistance, and the torments of hunger, came to the dwellings of their friends.

The escape of a private, named Kies, was most remarkable. Having received three wounds, fainting from extreme fatigue and loss of blood, and unable to sustain himself longer, he crawled to the brink of the pond. A canoe was providentially floating near. With the miserable hope of saving his remains, when life should have departed, from mutilation, he rolled into the frail vessel. Without sail or oar, he was drifted by the current and wafted by the winds beyond danger. Recovering from insensibility and feeling reviving strength, he travelled slowly on; and at length reached his home.

The main party, divided into three companies. One of these little bands was followed by the Indians; but weak and disabled as they were, they contrived to elude the pursuit on arriving at the fort they found it abandoned. The single coward deserter, whose name has been considered too infamous to be associated with the brave, and is passed over with silent contempt by every historian, fled at the commencement of the engagement and reported the death of Lovell and the destruction of his force. The garrison, though amounting to ten, immediately forsook their post. Leaving the rude fort, they continued their course and arrived to the settlement in scattered bands. After an interval of some days, Col. Tyng of Massachusetts, went out to pay the last honors to the He found the bodies of the following on the place of action :

dead.

Captain John Lovell, Lieutenant Jonathan Robbins, Ensign Jonathan Woods, Ensign John Harwood, Robert Usher, Jacob Farrar, Jacob Fullam, Josiah Davis, Thomas Woods, Daniel Woods, John Jefts, Jonathan Kittridge, Ichabod Johnson. Their graves were made beneath the Pines where they fell, and their names inscribed on the trunks Lieutenant Farwell, Mr. Frye and Elias Barron perished on their attempted return. The destruction among the Indian warriors was great. It is said only twenty were unhurt. Beneath a mound was laid the huge form of the Sachem Paugus and the slain warriors.

The names of all who fought on the memorable 8th of May, 1725, are given below.

Capt. John Lovell, Lieut. Josiah Farwell, Lieut. Jonathan Robbins, Ens'n. John Harwood, Serg't. Noah Johnson, Robert Usher, Samuel Whiting, of Dunstable-Ens'n. Seth Wyman, Corp. Thomas Richardson, Timothy Richardson, Ichabod Johnson, Josiah Johnson, of Woburn-Eleazer Davis, Josiah Davis, Josiah Jones, David Melvin, Eleazer Melvin, Jacob Farrar, Joseph Farrar, of ConcordChaplain Jonathan Frye, of Andover-Serg't. Jacob Fullam, of Weston-Corp. Edward Lingfield, of Nutfield-Jonathan Kittridge, Solomon Kies, of Billerica-John Jefts, Daniel Woods, Thomas Woods, John Chamberlain, Elias Barron, Isaac Lakin, Joseph Gilson, of Groton-Ebenezer Ayer, Abiel Asten, of Haverhill.

The scene of this sanguinary encounter is in the township of Fryeburg, in the western part of Maine. The Lake is about the distance of a mile from the beautiful village, and is the resort of curious visitors. An hundred years have now gone by, and no enduring monument has been reared by the gratitude of posterity to perpetuate the memory of the spot, and identify the locality of the combat. The names carved upon the bark, have been obliterated: the scars of the bullets have become suspicious; the trees themselves have yielded to the storms; the memories of men grow indistinct as the mists of age come over them-and no marks will remain to distinguish the graves of the slain, who fell in the desperate fray, and to warn us that we do not profane with our footsteps the earth of their lowly beds.

In our own vicinity it has often been inquired "who was Lovell?" or "what were his actions worthy of celebration?" To answer these questions we have ventured on a narrative, which has before employed the pens of more able writers, and better instructed historians.

L.

ARTS AND SCIENCES.

ORIGINAL.

THE DIVINING ROD.

THE art of discovering streams of water or veins of minerals beneath the surface of the earth by the mysterious properties of the hazel wand, has been generally considered as resting on no better foundations than the credulity of the ignorant, or the delusions of the cunning. There have been periods, when an undoubting faith has prevailed in its singular processes, and when they have been extensively employed for determining the position of the subterraneous spring, or the hidden mine. Believers have not been confined to that class, interested in promoting deception, or those who could make gain to themselves by practising on the simplicity of others. Men of reputation and character, whose intelligence would prevent a deception upon their own minds, and whose known honesty forbids the suspicion of any attempt to lead others into érror, have used the art with success. A clergyman of our own neighborhood, of acknowledged uprightness and strict morality, but lately gathered to the sleep of his fathers at a venerable old age, is an example. The fact that some have possessed the power of employing the Divining Rod with advantage is supported by a mass of strong testimony. The principles upon which its operation depends have not been fully ascertained and developed. Sometimes, from unexplained causes, it has been capricious, and perversely remained stationary when it should have pointed downward. Often it has been, in the hands of the Money Digger, an instrument for draining gold from the purses of the infatuated schemers, who expected, by the help of the conjurer, to shovel treasures out from the earth, and aided by his magical ceremonies to riot in easily acquired affluence. Hence have arisen doubts. The abuse of what is good in itself affords no argument against its value. Nor are failures, even numerous and frequent, conclusive against the existence of any art. There is a degree of uncertainty hovering over all the sciences: and the defeat of experiments is more justly to be attributed to want of skill or of knowledge, than to any variations in the laws of nature. It has not been settled by philosophers, if the destructive effects of lightning are always produced by the descent of the fluid from the cloud, or sometimes by rushing upward from the ground-the metallic rods have not been always an effectual security to buildings defended in the most approved manner:

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