So nearly
do we either hit it, or miss it, all through life!
The only person who sympathized with him in his progressive views of
religion was Miss Abbie Smith, the daughter of an apothecary in
Newburyport, Massachusetts. She was visiting at the house of her brother
who was one of the instructors at the Seminary. That he should have
fallen in love with her, and soon become engaged to her is therefore not
surprising. They were married the year after his graduation, and she
continued a faithful, industrious and uncomplaining wife; his mainstay
in ill-health and misfortune till the end. They were not always happy
together; but it is a rare marriage where that is the case. Wasson's
struggle with the world was often reflected in his own family,
disturbing the harmony and comfort of it. His wife once said quite
gravely, that there were others from whom her husband would probably
have made a selection if he had not offered himself to her. He was
always a favorite with the other sex, and equally fond of their society.
As he never troubled himself much as to what people said of him, this
gave rise to a good deal of talk which his opponents took advantage of
to disparage his character. He was once a witness in a divorce case, and
a rather tricky lawyer who had a remarkable faculty for what Bacon calls
"turning the cat in the pan," succeeded in making him appear at a
disadvantage; but Mrs.
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