DIVINE PROTECTION
Dinah W. Goff --CONTINUED -- 2
Two Roman Catholic men-servants, belonging to
our family, and lodging in the house, were compelled
to join the rebels to save their lives: and were
armed with pikes-the first we had seen. On my dear
mother’s hearing of their having brought these weapons,
she sent to let them know she could not allow any-
thing of the kind to be brought into her house; so
each night they left them outside the door. They
behaved quietly and respectfully throughout, generally
returning home at the close of the day.
The rebels set fire to the houses of many Pro-
testants; and in the morning after the general
rising, a Roman Catholic family, seven in number,
came from Enniscorthy, apparently in great distress,
saying they left the town on fire. They received
shelter and hospitable entertainment from my dear
parents, and remained with us the whole time. My
mother often remarked, with reference to her large
family, that provisions from day to day were so
wonderfully granted, that it seemed, like the cruise
of oil and the barrel of meal, never-failing.
About twenty persons surrounded out dinner
table each day, beside those in the kitchen, four
of whom were members of our society; which my
mother considered a great advantage at that awful
period. She frequently said that "hinds’ feet"
appeared to be given her, in being enabled with
extraordinary ease to get through the numerous
household duties that then devolved upon her.
Thus the gracious promise was verified in her
experience: "As thy days so shall thy strength
be."
A rebel once inquired of her, "Madam, do you
think we shall gain the day?" Feeling it to be a
serious question, after a pause she replied, "The
Almighty only knows." He answered, "You are right
madam; have a good heart, not a hair of your head
shall be hurt; but when this business is over,
the Quakers are all to be driven down into Connaught,
where the land is worth about twopence an acre, and
you will have to till that, and live on it as you
can." My mother smiled and said, "Give us a good
portion, for we have a large family.
Hannah and Arabella (afterwards Fennell) with
Dinah W. Goff, aged about thirty, nineteen and
fourteen, were the only daughters at home at this
time. The two former usually walked three miles
on First-days to the Meeting-house at Forrest,
accompanied by two of the women servants, though
they met with many interruptions on the way.
One day some of the people said, as they passed
the Roman Catholic chapel, "How they dare us by
going through the streets! If they persist, they
shall be taken and dragged to the altar of the
chapel, and suffer the penalty of their ‘obstinacy.’
But my sisters passed quietly on. On one of these
occasions, they remarked that a strange dog accom-
panied them: it followed them for some miles, and
when they got safe home could not be induced to
enter the house, but went away. This circumstance,
though simple, seemed remarkable at the time. I
fully believe that their minds were not resting on
outward help, but on that omnipotent arm which was
mercifully underneath to sustain. They were enabled
regularly to pursue their way, and to unite with
the few Friends that were permitted to meet, remark-
ing those opportunities as being peculiarly solemn.
Our dear parents would gladly have joined them, but
were unable from the infirmities of age to walk so
far, and had no horses left to draw a carriage.
The family were always assembled for the pur-
pose of reading the Scriptures, after the fatigues
of the day were over; and one evening, a priest
coming in, as he often did at other times, perhaps
to see what we were doing, remarked on the quietude
which prevailed. My mother said it was usually the
case when the hurry of household cares had ceased.
He said he came with good news – that we were now
all of one religion the world over. My mother
then inquired what it was, as she believed there
was only one true religion! He replied, that an
edict from the Pope had arrived, and that it pro-
claimed the universal Roman Catholic religion,
adding that it was high time for her to put up
the cross. She asked what he meant by the cross.
He said, "Put up the outward sign on yourself and
your children." She answered, That they should
never do; but she was thankful in believing that
her Heavenly Father was enabling her to bear the
cross, and that she trusted He might be pleased to
continue to do so to the end. I was standing near
him at the time, when he put his arms round me and
said, "My dear child, we shall have you all to our-
selves:" and, placing his hand on my father’s should-
er, he said, "Mr. Goff, you shall be one of our
head senators." This unhappy man, we afterwards
heard, lost his life in attacking a Protestant gentle-
man, on whose kindness and hospitality he had
thrown himself, when his own house was burnt down
by the English troops. To us he was uniformly kind,
and we thought his attention might, under Providence,
have had some influence on the minds of the rebels.
Many hundreds were daily on our lawn, and our
business was to hand them food as they demanded it.
Their fatigue and the heat of summer being exhaust-
ing, large tubs of milk and water were placed at
the hail and back doors, with great quantities of
bread and cheese. The servants were frequently ob-
liged to stay up all night to bake bread for them,
and my mother and sisters often made their hands
bleed in cutting the bread and cheese; if not
cut up, they would carry off whole loaves and
cheeses at the ends of their pikes. They took
carving-knives and others of large size from the
pantry to fasten on poles, thus converting them
into destructive weapons: on seeing which, my
mother had the remainder carefully locked up
after the meals. At times they gave us dreadful
details of their own cruelty, and of the agonies
of the sufferers, to the great distress of my
sisters and myself. One day after a battle they
related many such acts, and said they had had
good fun the day before with the fine young
officers, by tickling them under the short ribs
with their pikes, making them writhe and cry out
bitterly. I was handing them food at the time,
and could not refrain from bursting into tears
throwing down what I had in my hand, and running
away into the house.
QUEST, P.O. Box 82, Bellefonte PA 16823
E-mail: quest@quaker.org