In Boston, at the age of twenty, she took lessons
in music and drawing, and became so proficient in these branches as to
secure a position as teacher in a young ladies' school, kept by a Rev.
Mr. Judd, an Episcopal clergyman, at New London, Conn. About this time
she formed the acquaintance of Professor Alexander Metcalf Fisher, of
Yale College, one of the most distinguished young men in New England.
In January of the year 1822 they became engaged, and the following
spring Professor Fisher sailed for Europe to purchase books and
scientific apparatus for the use of his department in the college.
In his last letter to Miss Beecher, dated March 31, 1822, he writes:--
"I set out at 10 precisely to-morrow, in the Albion for Liverpool; the
ship has no superior in the whole number of excellent vessels
belonging to this port, and Captain Williams is regarded as first on
their list of commanders. The accommodations are admirable--fare $140.
Unless our ship should speak some one bound to America on the passage,
you will probably not hear from me under two months."
Before two months had passed came vague rumors of a terrible shipwreck
on the coast of Ireland. Then the tidings that the Albion was lost.
Then came a letter from Mr. Pond, at Kinsale, Ireland, dated May 2,
1822:--
"You have doubtless heard of the shipwreck of the Albion packet of New
York, bound to Liverpool.
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