HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY FROM THE BEQUEST OF 1918 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. THE BOOK OF BROTHERS. TEN years having elapsed since the first series of this narrative was published, and much having occurred with relation to the Hutchinson Family in the interim, it has been thought advisable to bring down their history to the present period. The account of their visit to Washington, and of their Camp Concerts, will be read with peculiar interest; and the public will now have a faithful account of their doings among the Army of the Potomac. Many garbled statements with reference to this affair have been made, but how destitute of truth nearly all of them were, the following truthful narrative will show. We now, then, resume our history: In December, of the year 1855, Judson, John, and Asa Hutchinson resolved, after due deliberation, to visit the Great West, and accordingly they proceeded to the new territory of Minnesota, where the fertility of the land and the beauty of the country · as well as the advantageous prospects then held out to settlers -induced them to take up some prairie lands to the west of the Mississippi river, about sixty-five miles from the city of St. Paul. Here they founded a settlement, which they called after their own name; and the town of "HUTCHINSON" was added to the many others that were constantly springing up on the prairie and in the wilderness of the West. At that time Minnesota was considered as not only the land of aspirations and dreams, but the land where aspira tions and dreams were realized. Fact, poetry, and romance all combined to lavish eulogy upon the growing territory, whose healthful atmosphere seemed to resemble the fabled fountain, which restored the youth of man; and whose generous soil, to use Douglas Jerrold's pithy expression with reference to that of Australia, was so rich, that earth there would, if you tickled her with a hoe, laugh with a harvest. The Falls of Minnehaha had been immortalized in flowing verse, while the beautiful Indian maiden, Winona, like the New England Madawiska, was honored by tradition, as an Indian heroine. John W. Hutchinson cut the first tree that had ever fallen by the hand of the white man in those regions, and it was used in the construction of their log cabin. Around this nucleus of a settlement, other cabins arose, and the town of "Hutchinson" continued to gradually grow and extend until 1857,- in fact, at that time, it was becoming quite a large settlement. A hotel, that almost first want of a new settlement, early provided "good entertainment" for travellers. Farms appeared one after another, and all, in that productive section, soon were in a thriving condition. The Hutchinsons worked with untiring energy, and corn and grain of all kinds were extensively cultivated by them, and also by the other settlers. Sheep and cattle dotted the pastures, and the vocalists became successful farmers. But, notwithstanding their agricultural avocations, they did not altogether abandon singing—having quite too much "music in their souls" for that. So they started off occasionally to give concerts, and exchange the music of the flail for that of the platform. And while they were thus singing, the crops were growing! They had taken with them to the West a super-abundance of Yankee energy, and it found vent in vocalism. The soil and climate of Minnesota amply fulfilled all the expectations they had formed of it. In their opinion, it is the State to go to for those who are industrious, and desire to have all the romance connected with active life. The climate is very fine somewhat cold, certainly, but positive, - that is, by no means so changeable as that of their own native New England. Here, then, for some time the Hutchinson's remained with the laudable intention of building up a permanent home for the little ones who were growing up around them. But, as will be presently seen, the French saying was verified - -"Man proposes, God disposes." Glowing as were their prospects, all pleasant anticipations concerning them, so far as Minnesota was concerned, were doomed to end in disappointment. When a hive becomes too full, the bees "swarm," and new colonies or settlements are formed. So it is with the human families so was it with the Hutchinsons. Asa had a little swarm of "olive-branches" growing up-John, also, had gathered round him, a healthful tribe; and they agreed to divide, as it were, the trunk of the "Family" tree, and separate into two companies. Sister Abby, as we have seen in the first part of these memoirs, was already married, and had retired into the privacy of domestic life in New York. Leaving, therefore, their Minnesota property in the hands of agents, Asa, with his family, and John with his also, started off in different directions, "concerting." Shortly after their separation, another, and a larger one occurred. Judson Hutchinson, who had for years previously formed one of the original "Family" of singers, after a season of affliction passed away to the silent land. Judson was much beloved by the thousands who knew him, for the genuine simplicity and honest whole-heartedness of his character. Our friend now lies in that quiet town (Milford, N. H.) for which, during a well-spent life he had often expressed a desire, there to remain "till through the sky The Angel of the Resurrection flies." This brings us to the year 1858. The reader must now be kind enough to follow with us the fortunes of Mr. John W. Hutchinson and his family, consisting of his wife and two children - a son and daughternamed respectively, Henry and Viola. It is to their adventures we shall now confine ourselves. On leaving Minnesota, this family travelled by team through the New England States, in the various cities and towns in which they were warmly welcomed by their old friends, and enthusiastically received by thousands who now heard them for the first time. Their popularity, instead of diminishing, was greatly increased; and the younger Hutchinsons were hailed with delight, as choice melodious additions to the already numerous and famous "Family." The new generation were not, however, dependent altogether on the reputation of the preceding one, for Henry and Viola possessed talents exclusively their own, and it is by no means to be wondered at, that, under such training as they were privileged with, they were already accomplished singers. Henry, aged eighteen, has a fine tenor voice, capable of great modulation, and of extraordinary compass and volume. They who remember his lamented and gifted uncle Jesse, will not fail to recognize many points of similarity between them. His voice, in some degree, resembles Judson's. Viola, who is now sixteen years of age, has a fascinating alto voice, of a similar calibre to Abby's, whose delicious warblings those who once heard them can never forget. Both their voices, blending with that of their father's, who can sing in almost |