mpatient for the close of the war, Nathan Hale himself gives us vivid
pictures; of the work he was trying to do; of the men he was meeting; of
the religious life he was in no sense forgetting, and of his own
deepening patriotism. Letters written to him show the attitude of
friends at home, and their interest both in the affairs of the country
and in him personally. The following letter from Gilbert Saltonstall, a
young Harvard graduate and warm friend of Hale while in New London,
shows how fully the men at home, as well as those in the army, entered
into the anxieties of the times:

NEW LONDON, Octo. 9th, 1775.

DEAR SIR:

By yours of the 5th I see you're Stationd in the Mouth of Danger--I
look upon yr. Situation more Perilous than any other in the
Camp--Should have thought the new Recreuits would have been Posted
at some of the Outworks, & those that have been inured to Service
advanc'd to Defend the most exposed Places--But all Things are
concerted, and ordered with Wisdom no doubt--The affair of Dr.
Church[1] is truly amazing--from the acquaintance I have of his
publick Character I should as soon have suspected Mr. Hancock or
Adams as him.

[Footnote 1: Of this Dr. Church, John Fiske writes: "In October, 1775,
the American camp was thrown into great consternation by the discovery
that Dr. Benjamin Church, one of the most conspicuous of the Boston
leaders, had engaged in a secret correspondence with the enemy. Dr.
Church was thrown into jail, but as the evidence of treasonable intent
was not absolutely complete, he was set free in the following spring,
and allowed to visit the West Indies for his health. The ship in which
he sailed was never heard from again."]

(Then follow accounts of an affair on Long Island Sound, and extracts
from a paper two days old just brought from New York, describing army
matters in the North.)

I have extracted all the material News--should have sent the Paper
but its the only one in Town and every one is Gaping for news.

Your sincere Friend
GILBERT SALTONSTALL.

Another, also from Saltonstall, reads in part as follows:

ESTEEMED FRIEND

Doctor Church is in close Custody in Norwich Gaol, the windows
boarded up, and he deny'd the use of Pen, Ink, and Paper, to have
no converse with any Person but in presence of the Gaoler, and then
to Converse in no Language but English. ... wha