Schools for 
the education 
of 
their 
children ; 
and 
some of the first characters among 
volunteered to superintend the course 
themselves 
of instruc- 
tion. 
VII. 
of 
In the autumn 
1738, 
Ed m und 
Peck- 
over, a celebrated Urator am ong the Quakers, came 
to the neighbourhood of Springfield, and on the 
28th of September preached in a meeting-house 
erected by the father of Mrs. West at the distance 
of 
about 
a mile 
and 
half 
from 
his 
residence. 
mother of 
Mrs. West was then the 
nine children, 
in her pregnancy with Benjamin. 
and far advanced 
--Peckover possessed the most essential 
qualities 
of 
an 
impressive 
sp8ak9r: 
and 
OH 
this 
occasion 
the 
subject of 
his 
address 
WHS 
of 
extraordinary 
interest 
t0 
his 
auditors. 
He 
re viewed 
the 
rise 
and 
Progress 
of 
society 
in 
America, 
and 
with 
enthusiastic 
eloquence 
which 
the 
partook of 
sublimity and vehemence of the prophetic spirit, 
he predicted the future greatness of the country. 
He described the condition of the European na- 
tions, decrepid in 
in their morality, 
their institutions, and corrupt 
and contrasted them with the 
young and Hourishing establishments of 
the New