I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago,
whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the
body, I cannot tell; God knoweth; such an one caught
up to the third heaven. . . . How that he was caught up
into paradise and heard unspeakable words, which it is
not lawful for a man to utter. -II COR. 12:2-4

MISS HARRIET A. HOLTON was an orphan, born in Spring-
field, Vermont, November 28, 1808, almost three years before
Noyes. She was adopted by her maternal grandparents, who lived
at Westminster.

Her grandfather, the Hon. Mark Richards, had been a Con-
gressman and Lieutenant-Governor of Vermont, and was greatly
respected in his neighborhood. He was also a nephew of the New
England theologian, Dr. Samuel Hopkins. William Czar Bradley,
Harriet's uncle by marriage, was distinguished in Brattleboro as a
scholar, statesman, lawyer. He eventually became the law partner
of Larkin G. Mead, Mary Noyes's husband.

The Richards were the aristocrats of Westminster. Heiress of
a considerable fortune, and fastidiously brought up, Harriet was
looked upon as an ideal match by ambitious young Vermonters.

True, Harriet was neither pretty nor brilliant; but she did
possess a good mind-cool and perspicacious, according to the
approved Vermont model, and she was the very incarnation of
feminine industry. Edmund Burke, a law student in her uncle
William Bradley's office in Brattleboro, soon recognized the advan-
tages of an alliance with her.

During the bitter Adams-Jackson campaign, young Burke was
drawn into a political discussion with the Hon. Mark Richards and,
before he knew it, had been peremptorily shown the door. While
Burke stood staring at the house, Mr. Richards announced to
Harriet that he would disinherit her if ever she dared marry
Edmund Burke. She could never let money or the prospect of
money govern her affections, Harriet coolly replied, and refused
to break off the betrothal.

But in 1831, Harriet suddenly felt the imperious call of reli-
gion, and was converted. "In a protracted meeting I came to the
conclusion to devote my life to God," she confided to her diary.
Therefore, she promptly announced to Edmund Burke that she
had given her heart to God and wished to be released from her
promise to him.

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