38 JUKES ED WA RDti 



Mr. Edwards twenty, he wrote in a purely disinter- 

 ested way of the remarkable girl: "She is of a 

 wonderful sweetness, calmness, and universal benevo- 

 lence of mind. She will sometimes go about from 

 place to place singing sweetly; and seems to be 

 always full of joy and pleasure ; and no one knows 

 for what." 



Mr. Edwards was desirious of being married when 

 he went to Northampton as associate pastor with 

 his grandfather, Dr. Stoddard. Miss Pierrpont 

 was only sixteen years of age, and she declined to 

 be married until she was seventeen. He insisted, 

 but she persisted in her refusal. 



Mrs. Edwards lived in her children. To her hus- 

 band came honor and glory in his lifetime, but to 

 her came denial, toil and care. At eighteen, this 

 young, beautiful, brilliant wife became a mother, 

 and until she was forty, there was ntver a period 

 of two years in which a child was not born to them, 

 and no one of the eleven children died until after 

 the last child was born. It was a home of little 

 children. Her husband had no care for the house- 

 hold and she wished him to have none. It was her 

 insistence that he should have thirteen hours of 

 every twenty-four for his study. Whatever may 

 have been the contribution of Mr. Edwards to the 

 inheritance of the family, they owed the charming 

 environment of the home to their mother. 



This was a delightful home, as many persons have 

 testified who knew it. I saw recently the diary of 

 the famous George Whitefield, where he wrote that 



