A B i o gr a p h i ca l $ u m b er We present a rarely interesting n umber of our l The l ittle quarter y , of a biographical character . i s s he . u subject cho en t famous Dr Cyr s Hamlin , one of the most uni queand ori ginal figures in the ' H n history of mi ssion s. e belongs in the front ra k of our American Board heroes . Many have read his autobiography and know of the charm of hi s hi s personality and the fascination of l ife story . But many have not; and for l ac k of time are not l ikely to peruse this volume from his own pen . R . We , therefore , have asked Dr . A Thain to fur ni sh our readers with a condensed account of Dr H h r k ll nd . e as a Hamlin . , done this with are s i places us all under ob ligation . We suspect our subscribers will wel come other biographi cal s i s i sketche from time to time , and it qu te pos sible we may be able to ac commodate them . Did you see that coin card which fell out when you opened this number $ A gentle hint that we woul d like very much to ha ve you insert a ten cent piece and send to us so that we may count l you as one of our circ e for another year . I PATTO$ COR$ E$ $ S . H , Home S ecretary . C y r u s Ha m l i n , D . D $ $ . D . B A Th i D D . a y R . n , . The Ameri can B oard and Cyrus Hamlin were i x born only s months ap art . The Board was 29 1 8 1 0 born at Bradford , Massachusetts , June , , C and yrus Hamlin was born at Waterford , 1 1 1 5 . Maine , January , 8 The infancy of the Board was very short . It drank of the brook in ’ the way God s brook l ifted up its head and l ooked on worl d - wi de fiel ds white already to b ar s vest , and ordained the first foreign missionarie ever sent out from Ameri ca , on the next day after the birth of Cyrus Hamlin . He had a l onger a infancy , but we shal l soon see that he showed genui s for doing things when he was quite young . If not a Hercules in the cradle , he was a Haml in , and earl y i n life as well as in his mature strength he coul d strangle the serpents of c. r umstan ce w c ith strong grip . Th e Ha m li n A n ce s tr y . The Haml ins were descended from the Hugue Y nots , and the Huguenots are the ankees of - France , skil lful , liberty l oving , and resourceful . Before the Revol utionary War the grandfather — of Cyrus Eleazer Hamlin , dwelt in Massa chusetts , a man of l arge family and l arge ideas . 3 nd He had seventeen children , a one by one as they were born he claimed the continents of the h i s earth for family , at least , in selecting names fi - for his sons . His rst born son was named Afri canus , the second Ameri cus , the third Asi at o 1 E uro us. i us , and the fou th p Having nominally conque red all the continents of the 1 worl d , he next began to name his sons afte fam w ous conquerors . T in sons invaded the world as though they coul d not wait for sep arat e sequen w tial births , and together they ent fort h to con quer , bearing the great names of Cyrus and w Hannibal . Of these t in brot hers Hannibal w served his generation in various honorable a y s , w but chiefly by giving to the orl d a son , that Cyrus wh o was destined to wi n inter - continental rep utation by eminent missionary l abors . ’ Three of Eleaz er s sons fought in the R ev olu ti on ar w y War to the end , and as a re ard for su ch faithful servi ce the Massachusetts legisl ature gave to the father a considerable t ra ct of l and in ” the Distri ct of Maine . B ut it proved t o be , l i ke the gifts of the Grecians , dangerous to deal w as w with . Though it not filled ith host ile men l ike the famous wooden horse — y et it abounded in predaceous bears . It was so w sterile , rocky , and il d , that it coul d produce nothing except Spruce trees and bears . But four of Eleazer Hamlin ’ s sons al so received t w grants of l and , in Wa erford , Maine . here t he w so soil was better , and the bears ere not numer ous ; and there Hannibal cleared a piece of l and 1 799 - 1 800 i n , and after buil ding a house and barn was went to Acton , Massachusetts , and j oined in marri age to Susan Faul kner , t he beautiful R daughter of Col onel Faul kner , a sol dier of evo l n r uti o a y fame . w $ Four chil dren ere born to t hem Susan . R . ebecca , Hannibal , and Cyrus When Cyrus wa a s seven months ol d his f ther died , leaving t o 1 w w two f a1 m s t\\ o 1 and the ca e of the ido , gi ls voun est hu two bo y s , the g having so ge a head comp a1 ed with his f 1 ail b od x that t he C assand ras of the n ei ghb m h ood a1 ned his mothe 1 t hat ” she must never expect to raise that chil d . But , l i ke that Cyrus named in the Bible . of w I whom G od said , hose right hand have holden ” n th e a to subdue ations before him , feeble inf nt born in Maine h ad been raised $ p for a special purpose , and during nine vi ctorious decades he w $ sho ed abil ity , God enabl ing him , to break in pieces the gates of brass , an d cut asunder the bars of i ron . E a r l y S ch o o li n g . w as Cyrus in s chool al l the time , ever learning , and ever able to come to the knowledge of the Hi was truth . s first school that Maine farm ; his first teacher was his moth er ; and his constant w as . teacher mother nature , stern yet kindly She taught him even h ow to fal l downstairs to his advant age . When he was between three and $ w four years ol d he rolled do nstairs one day , and - John Atherton , the fun loving hired man who had j ust come from the hay— field with a del icious bumblebee honeycomb in his hand , pi c ked up w the b a l ing , bl ack and bl ue boy , gave him the honeycomb , and tol d him that he coul d have another honeycomb if he shoul d fal l down that flight of stairs again . Whether intentional ly or - not , the boy took two p ost graduate courses down those stairs before sundown . He was w covered ith bruises , but he received as rewards the Homeri c l aughter of John Atherton , and three honeycombs . His falls from that time on were fal ls up stairs ; and that ful l hive of bitter $ ” sweet experiences , My Life and Times , shows that he coul d extract something sweeter than even the famed honey of Hymettus , from the wormwood and rue of Turkish dupli city . S u b $e cts f o r E cl o gu e s . A series of Ecl ogues , or B ucolics , might have been written on the fortunes of that Maine farm , if a Maine $ irgil had been there to put them into $ h ow h i s verse Cyrus and brother , with no better - tool than a homely horn handled j ackknife , made sleds for coasting and for drawing wood ; h ow w , in their early teens , ith a more varied but w still l imited kit of tools , they rene ed the worn ox - w out farm implements , making bo s , yokes , and tip - carts which c alled forth the admiration of the neighbors ; how Hannibal an d Cyrus con ducted campaign after campaign of cultivation over the fiel ds of that stony farm with a success whi ch did not sul ly the fame of the ancient con uerors h ow q whose names they bore ; , on a certain M r . training day , when s Haml in h ad given 5 ’ Cyrus seven cents with whi ch to b uy ginger bread , buns , or anything for whi ch his soul lusted with the suggestion that he might drop one or two cents of it into the missionary box kept by Mrs . Farrer he , after struggling with hunger and with a diffi cult problem for hours , finall y cast into the Lord ’ s treasury al l that he not w had , even al l his l iving , because he did kno how to divide seven cents equal ly ; and h ow but time woul d fail me to give al l the subj ects of the unwritten Eclogues , and it will be enough to say that the education of Cyrus was going on all of the time , in the district school part of the year , and on the farm al l the year , fitting him for that varied work which he accomplished in Turkey , when he turned his ready hand to what soever he found to do , with al l his might , and with astonishing success .