time. One of her children by her first husband, sucked until it was five years old. Her menses appeared between her nineteenth and twentieth years and continued without any intermission, except during her pregnancy and eleven months after the birth of each of her children, until she was eighty years of age. At the time I saw her, she heard tolerably well, but her sight was lost in one eye, and was weak in the other. She lost all her teeth when she was between fifty and sixty years of age. Her hair became grey when she was between forty and fifty. Her sleep was not sound, owing to her having been afflicted with the Rheumatism, a disease which was brought on her by the alternate heat and cold to which she had exposed herself, by following the business of a washer woman for many years. She had had several attacks of the Intermitting Fever and of the Pleurisy, in the course of her life, and was much afflicted with the Head-Ache, after her menses ceased. She had been frequently bled while afflicted with the above diseases. Her diet was simple, consisting chiefly of weak tea, milk, cheese, butter and vegetables, Meat of all kinds, except veal, disagreed with her stomach. She found great benefit from frequently changing her aliment. Her drinks were water, cyder and water, molasses and vinegar in water. She had never used spirits. Her memory was but little impaired. She was cheerful and thankful that her condition in life was happier than hundreds of other old people.

From the history of this old woman's constitution and manner of life, the following observations will naturally occur to the reader.

1. That there is a great latitude in the time in which the menses cease. It is more common for them in their excen

tricities, to disappear at the usual time, and to return in extreme old age. In the year 1795, I saw a case of this kind in a woman of seventy years of age in the Pennsylvania Hospital.

2. There is a great latitude in the time in which women bear children. Many children are born between fifty and sixty, but very few I believe beyond sixty.

3. It appears from the history that has been given, that acute and chronic diseases if opposed by temperance and suitable remedies, do not necessarily shorten the duration of human life.

4. That child-bearing, and suckling children, do not materially affect health, or longevity, where their effects are opposed by temperance and moderate labour.

5. That the evils of life are seldom so numerous, as not to leave room for thankfulness for an exemption from a great deal of misery. This poor woman did not complain of her weakness, pains or poverty. On the contrary, she appeared thanful under all the afflictions of her life. While the indolent are commanded by the wise man to go to the ant to learn industry, those persons who abound with all the external means of happiness, and at the same time complain of the moral government of our world, may be invited to sit down by the side of Ann Woods, and learn from the example of her gratitude to heaven, for a single drop of divine goodness, to render unceasing thanks for the ocean of blessings they derive from the same source.

BIOGRAPHICAL ANECDOTES OF BENJAMIN LAY.

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HERE was a time when the name of this celebrated Christian Philosopher, was familiar to every man, woman and to nearly every child, in Pennsylvania. His size, which was not much above four feet, his dress, which was always the same, consisting of light coloured plain clothes, a white hat, and half-boots;-his milk-white beard, which hung upon his breast; and, above all, his peculiar principles and conduct, rendered him to many, an object of admiration, and to all, the subject of conversation.

He was born in England, and spent the early part of his life at sea. His first settlement was in Barbadoes, as a merchant, where he was soon convinced of the iniquity of the slave trade. He bore an open testimony against it, in all companies, by which means he rendered himself so unpopular, that he left the island in disgust, and settled in the then province of Pennsylvania. He fixed his home at Abington, ten miles from Philadelphia, from whence he made frequent excursions to the city, and to different parts of the country.

At the time of his arrival in Pennsylvania, he found many of his brethren, the people called Quakers, had fallen so far from their original principles, as to keep negro slaves. He remonstrated with them, both publickly and privately, against the practice; but frequently with so much indiscreet zeal, as

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to give great offence. He often disturbed their public meetings, by interrupting or opposing their preachers, for which he was once carried out of a meeting-house, by two or three friends. Upon this occasion he submitted with patience to what he considered a species of persecution. He lay down at the door of the meeting-house, in a shower of rain, till divine worship was ended; nor could he be prevailed upon to rise, till the whole congregation had stepped over him in their way to their respective homes.

To shew his indignation against the practice of slavekeeping, he once carried a bladder filled with blood into a meeting; and, in the presence of the whole congregation, thrust á sword, which he had concealed under his coat, into the bladder, exclaiming, at the same time, "Thus shall God shed the blood of those persons who enslave their fellow creatures." The terror of this extravagant and unexpected act, produced swoonings in several of the women of the congregation.

He once went into the house of a friend in Philadelphia, and found him seated at breakfast, with his family around him. Being asked by him to sit down and breakfast with them, he said, "Dost thou keep slaves in thy house?" Upon being answered in the affirmative, he said, “Then I will not partake with thee, of the fruits of thy unrighteousness."

He took great pains to convince a farmer and his wife, in Chester county, of the iniquity of keeping negro slaves, but to no purpose. They not only kept their slaves, but defended the practice. One day he went into their house, and after a short discourse with them upon the wickedness, and particularly the inhumanity of seperating children from their parents, which was involved in the slave trade, he seized the only

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child of the family, (a little girl about three years old) and pretended to run away with her. The child cried bitterly, "I will be good, I will be good," and the parents shewed signs of being alarmed. Upon observing this scene, Mr. Lay said, very emphatically," You see, and feel now, a little of the distress you occasion every day, by the inhuman practice of slave-keeping."

This singular philosopher did not limit his pious testimony against vice, to slave-keeping alone. He was opposed to every species of extravagance. Upon the introduction of tea, as an article of diet, into Pennsylvania, his wife bought a small quantity of it, with a sett of cups and saucers, and brought them home with her. Mr. Lay took them from her, brought them back again to the city, and from the balcony of the court-house scattered the tea, and broke the cups and saucers, in the presence of many hundred spectators, delivering, at the same time, a striking lecture upon, the folly of preferring that foreign herb, with its expensive appurtenances, to the simple and wholesome diet of our country.

He possessed a good deal of wit, and was quick at repartee." A citizen of Philadelphia, who knew his peculiarities, once met him in a croud, at a funeral, in Germantown. Being desirous of entering into a conversation with him that should divert the company, the citizen accosted him, with the most respectful ceremony, and declared himself to be "his most humble servant.' "Art thou my servant." said Mr. Lay, "Yes I am" said the citizen. "Then, said Mr. Lay, (holding up his foot towards him,) clean this shoe."-This unexpected reply turned the laugh upon the citizen. Being desirous of recovering himself in the opinion of the company, he asked him to instruct him in the way to heaven.

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