is situated in Bennington county, about sixty miles from
Troy and twenty-five miles from Rutland. Its eastern portion lies in a
deep-cut valley along the western slope of the Green Mountain range, on
the line of the Bennington and Rutland railroad. Its western part--the
valley in which Mrs. Prentiss passed her summers--is separated from East
Dorset by Mt. Aeolus, Owl's Head, and a succession of maple-crested
hills, all belonging to the Taconic system of rocks, which contains the
rich marble, slate, and limestone quarries of Western Vermont. In the
north this range sweeps round toward the Equinox range, enclosing the
beautiful and fertile upland region called The Hollow. Dorset belonged
to the so-called New Hampshire Grants, and was organised into a township
shortly before the Revolutionary War. Its first settlers were largely
from Connecticut and Massachusetts. They were a hardy, intelligent,
liberty-loving race, and impressed upon the town a moral and religious
character, which remains to this day.

[2] Mrs. Arthur Bronson, of New York. A life of Mrs. Prentiss would
scarcely be complete without a grateful mention of this devoted friend
and true Christian lady. She was the centre of a wide family circle, to
all of whose members, both young and old, she was greatly endeared by
the beauty and excellence of her character. She died shortly after Mrs.
Prentiss.

[3] While supposing that her brothers had been burnt out and had,
perhaps, lost everything, she wrote to her husband with characteristic
generosity: "If they did not kill themselves working at the fire, they
will kill themselves trying to get on their feet again. Every cent I
have I think should be given them. My father's church and everything
associated with my youth, gone forever! I can't think of anything else."

[4] Mrs. McCurdy died at her home in New York in December, 1876. A few
sentences from a brief address at the funeral by her old pastor will not
be here out of place. "Her natural character was one of the loveliest
I have ever known. Its leading traits were as simple and clear as
daylight, while its cheering effect upon those who came under its
influence was like that of sunshine. She was not only very happy
herself--enjoying life to the last in her home and her friends--but she
was gifted with a disposition and power to make others happy such as
falls to the lot of only a select few of the race. Her domestic and
church ties brought her into relations o