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Les dlagrammes suivants iilustrent la m^thode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 .* FIFTY YEABS' REMINISCENCES OF NEW-YORK; OR, FLOWERS FROM THE dARDEN OF LAURIE TODD. f^^^r)^ .^v^^--^^^/ ^^r<^^ ^^T^f^-^uA^rt^ Bl /^/ r*~ FIFTY YEARS' REMINISCENCES OF NEW-YORK OR, ^3.t>wmsiM wmm ^mm ©^m^mss OF r ^ LAURIE TODD:^ T^E NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS OF THE DAY FOR THE LAST THIRTY YEARS ; INCLUDING, iJ!.^ OF THE WAR OF THE RKVOLUTION &C. &C. &C. «fec. OBTAINED FROM ACTORS XN THE S .E8. BY GRANT THORBURN. NEW- YORK • pub;..shed..by daniei, ^nshaw, 575 broabwav OPPOSITE NIBIO'S OJ«DEN. D. FaoibaT? » I • Huicr. i^Hb" ^d .ccordtog to Act of Congren, to th, y.„ „f „„ 1,0^ 1845 t. •^, TO THE WIDOW 1 1845, by lie South- OF THE LATE MAJOR-GENERAL ALEXANDER HAMILTON. Respected Madam, Without thy knowledge, and without asking thy permis s.on, have I dedicated this book to thee. When I thin-: of thy late venerated husband (once mv personal faend) defending with his pen the right f Zl adopted countnr in the 1 7tT. ,r. ri,- ^ ^ dent in Tnl K I ?. ^ '' ''^ ^'' ^S^' ^^i^e yet a stu- aent m Columbia College TST v . i. t , . drnwm„ V,- . ^o^ege, j\. r. ;~when I think of him heard hi^ n ? '' °*^ '"'" ^ ^ h"™ s«en and qum i ,h ""' " *^ ^"' '^^^-'^ -"h his elo- Th^ I Tnl ;r' °' *^ '^^ ""'^ °^*« oppres^d;- When I thmk of him as the bosom friend of G J~. "A -*^ and John Jay-an honor in itself enough fJaly «x^ OXDJCATION. ""-I «ay, Madam, when I think of .!,.« .i.- . wa.to™ r T ^*' *' •'»»'"""' of thy youth --nent of do; L'^h*^: -" '"'"' "^ »""' *ee U.e give nor take awav ^S ^""'^^ "^^^ "««^w -.™. ca.t,nT plroH^h" "•; r ^'"'" '-• /fei».ror*,i,tAufuit, 1645. Qrawt TnoMURif. things, tho ars. at '^od if rough the ly youth, ^ he hae ) thee the ung days n neither vhen the ' in the lUKir. CONTENTS. Prefsce, . . Fifty year.' Wandering, of an Emigran't, No.' 1. Fifty year.' Wandering, of an Emignu.., No. 2. . A Funeral at Sea, Rjght.ofWomen, No. 1. Right, of Women, No. 2. The Devil'. Church, Reminiacence. of Thomaa Paln«, Cheap Time., ... The Horse and hi. Rider, The Gene.ee Giri and her little Red Boik, YeUow Fever from 1735 to 1822, Aunt Schuyler'. Grave. w»ham Bread again, Anecdote of Mr.. Baron Muie, * *. * ' Men and Manner, in England. * * " Obituary, . . . ' ' ' * Anecdote of George Thomp.on'the Aboliti^ni-t,' , . 13a On the U« of Tobacco, ... ,^ Reminiwence. of Trinity Church, The Grave in the Orchard, ' ' * ' ' ' The LoweU Offering, , Tale, of the Pri.on-Suear'houJ-T L ' * * * * dotcoftheRevolutiot ''•*^" "' ^• Letter of the Baron, and pLnU nf cu ", / * ' * "^ Man^aret and the Minister ZlI^':"^''' '' ^'^ ^'^' "2«' ''^ -founded on/Crrl'^^'"^^ -0 Scotch Storie., .185 Paf*. 9 . IS tr 4f .69 H .74 88 , 87 M tu 116 128 1S8 130 134 148 152 187 163 8 CONTENTS. Christmas and New Year's Day Reminiscences of the City-Hotei ' ' ' ' Oid Ws ; or Re„.iniscences of Nevv-York' ' * AV,sutoMrs.Grant,ofLa,,an, '' ' * The K,ng and his Scotch Cook, * ' * • ■Rtdes on Lona Island, . ' * ' • An Apology for the Friends or T*-k * ' ' ' Romance in Real Life, i:;';';^"'"^^^^-^^ • Romance in Real Life, No. 2. * ' * * • Traditions of the War of aL * • . ' ^ thew.ofa;itrr:;s^^^^^^ Solomon and the Queen of Sheba ^'"^^^' ' The Middle Dutch Church ' ' * • • Merchants of New-York, 1774 ' * ' * ' A Bone to Gnaw, . '**•.. John Gait, * * ' Diet and Health, . * * Stocking Knitting, '*'*•.. ^'*,7"="^«'»«"' Kxtraordinar, ' ' * ' ' • *«"t « Laurie Todd, . * * • . 201 . 209 212 . 215 • 219 . 224 226 . 230 234 from • 242 256 • 258 261 • 265 270 . 274 278 . 283 286, Page, 201 . 209 212 . 215 • 219 . 224 226 . 230 234 t from • 242 256 • 258 261 • 265 270 . 274 278 . 283 28G, 1:14 i'J '.« PREFACE. mirror r"^ ^""^ ^ """'' '"*» ™p°«»-ed by many [on whose opinion in tl,is matter I olace . o:^ti:r T" ^" -^ ^--^ ^^ -•>- *:^ -h XaTa .' ^ "'^ '^^ "^ "•«"«"« « *e peri- od, s ana pape. of the day for the pa.t tLty manvoffK^ i '"ence, i came m contact with eXhf:iraf:°r':::;rrr^'"^^'-^«^- ^iberty..ree, wher:rt:een nToLt ""T ^" and Broadway. I remain! f -S^"^-**"** there was not a s„T 1 "^ y^"^'' P"''''^ American Tr^sol^ Z *' "°"*'»^'" '^•■"^ *« «veyea:rosr;a^;'-;^-^orthe«„. monthly,, and as time wore oT the " '' "''° and far betw„„„. .:,. ? ^.°°' **"• '■«•«» were few •^'ween; till, durine the 1„. aiOiv^^«Fk — .^^. wvTTCM jrCiiTS 10 PREFACE. them as they deserr'dl the """''^ "^^^^ ^""^ lumber m some miserable garret nr K j pressed a *oM,-er', ^„^. _t „ ^*"^'' "'^ ^ad times from pity fforl , ^''^' ""''^'^' ""-"e- -.^ aometS £:::!;; 'J- -emaimedO w a civil way to rt<.- ^' '"""'"'"ce »yself 'ook them ilTp : :: 7-' "f S -angers. I their hattles over agaif.^::?/! ^^^ f '^'"'"/ But the Sugar-house is gone Z ^^^ ''"^"'^• generations unborn will sTarch 7 ' ' P"^'- -re than «„.,,„.„,, .^^^''J- /^^^ -tl foMd ; however, I can c^., '" °°' ''^ ^''^'^^.-Z,- have done 21 "^ •"'"''='^'"=« "^ 'he ''^''-;ietothrd?th::er"""'"''^^°'"~' p-.eroV;r:j;;^^^^^^ °f pains and sufferin '^""'''' '° ^''enes -»>.• forinstan e T """' '° '""" "^ '''^ -on in September , for 7 """'^ ""« ''°' «««- W* -ife and child all th ," '"^'' " '"^"' 'Wht the hours o/th p ;:; ' °" "^ ^^"^ ' Paients were numbered; as PREFACE. 11 Jed-the.r ,p,„.s had fled-the child striving to draw hfefro«theco,db™a.tofit.dead.other,.Lch;i was taken care of, and the parents buried- the BardofHealth did every thing in their pow rt r I st" " T '"""" '° *« ^"-^ °^ HeaJh. A«gu.e, ,8«. ^"^' TaoEBtmi,. HI g ''m REMINISCENCES OP GRANT THORBURN Fifty YeaM» WanderlnKS of an EmiRranl. No. 1. ^ " Experiencfl is hy industry achieved, *' And perfected by the swift course of time." This day completes fifty years since I first step- ped on shore, from the good ship Providence, lyine at the foot of Governeur's wharf. When we sailed from Scotland the mountains were covered with snow; when we dropped anchor T°^T, ! "''' Fly-market,footofMaiden.Iane, June 19, 1794, the small ferry boats were passing, filled to the gunwale with baskets of cherries. I thought I had dropped into a New World indeed. It was on a Monday moraing, 10 a. m. ; the sun shone bright I was wonderfully pleased with the clean appearance of the cartmen-having that morning put on their newly washed frocks. I thought these men must be we 1 paid for their labor, and know how to take care ot their money when earned. Their horses, too, in general, were more like the huntino. hr.r,«. T u.a -s. '2aiz 14 REMINISCENCES OF seen in Scotland, than liV^ ^ ">en at that ti«e were a 1^™^ '"'"^^ ^he car- number I observed on th tTrnt"- ^'u' '''«''^»' came to the cit,. .^s tl^ee "undre"" T^ ^''^" ' "nly one brick store nn fi, ""°ared. There was that stood on the corneVof T' ""' °^ *« "'y- -<» neurWane. South-s" re!t » ^"^""'■""' """^ ^over- ^harve, were 2;'^ tH ""' ""'''' ^ ^^'^ ^be -iled a few day^ ^ei'lT /"'" ""^^ "^'^ -ade the wL LirW^JrV "'"^ ^ previous to this, those v^n.^M ^" '-^ '^"^ '^®«'fs Dutch Church i; Nassau str, '''"' '"^^°"' "'■"'« were then about as thi^t "'^'^ ?'"'"«''• They ">onths- embargo iJ'irr'^'^'™-^ ^ '''^^^ 'he shipping wasr;rorraiw"«^.-''a« twenty-five dollars cer m^Tu ^t "^^S^^ ^ere were loaded S^^f p^°'' "'' *«' ^^'^^'^ The revolution ifprtTe wa^ ^1^ ^"^'^"''- " the war between Englandrd P,» ^ "^"y- """^ ed. But to return to W 16 fsZ'T "■"""""=- has happened to myself nr f . t^OMeth.ng notable on eve^y 16th ofTune ir;'^' °' '° *« ?""-' commission to hold the offi ; / ""Stance: My let's Cove is dated tnerfsa^T " «^' June, 1806. the almost tot»1 1 r^ *^ "* "^ place. Bonaparte hni v '^'^ °^ '^^ «un took day. and w^yTouSd "t" I ^ '^^^ '^' ""'^^ -efr-of ^J:/ - — nee at that - --"^ed by .J, t:2i„r/x^4;p GRANT THORBURN. jc inquiring for letters, friends, and servants. I asked torZ^LT^^"!- """^ '■'""■''''' sot up a machine tor cutting nails from iron hoops " ClUh!"! """ "" d/^'h-blow to my hopes at once. Clothing excepted, my stock in trade consisted only of my nail hammer in my clothes-chest, and an Eng- hsh sixpence ,„ my pocket. The captain and crew went on shore ,„ the boat, as likewise did all thi passengers, I only excepted; and not having ^y money to spend I thought I might as welf staj where I was. On the passage, having nothing wherewith to kill time, I was in'the habit'of aS •ng the steward, and thereby came in for a portion oScahnfare; thus I lived as well by paying six ^th h "■ . fi' ""P.""" ■""'""'^^ °° ^»^' bringing ToL^ V A " P'^'" °^ ^^^^' ^Wch he ordered cooked for dinner. While I sat on the deck, help. ng to get ready the vegetables, a boat came Sg One asked for a servant girl, another for a plough " I am a nail-maker, sir." •ny knlfs'T.r''' ''"=''' ^'* ' '"'•S" ^'«'" •'«'^««n 'ny Knees, peahng potatoes. ' x.e, iuOKiiig aown, nails ? can you make ■i-.TT' ■»'■ 16 REMINISCENCES OF that I would make more naL n^a h! Il "^ '""=''^ in the country." " ^"^ "•*" ^°y "»" in Itrotwhf "r"""^^' ^^' the gentleman card, and I weft f' TT'' ^' ^ave me his hour; thoreaC! "°* '"^ '"" "" '-"'yf-r «.ates in Lert^^^itd ir '^''"^r' '^"" covering prior to 'this. When th v w"" "'V'"-^ put on the slates thoy could nnffl, f '"'""'^ '" one who could make Te™ fort ,""''' ""^ ""^ fashion, and American „ Zs' Wwno: T" ""' ■"" slate nails • thev <"im„ , •, f ''"^ '° ""ake thought I vlXmr^' ""' ^ "''''<' '•'«"'• ^-w -a tit I n^igiir; sXTemnn"':, •''^ ^r- country. About twenty-fife years .i" ft ' ""'°''"" -g the hotel, I saw them remoWn' ^irl":' '" P"''" on a new roof: I went un n„ J ^ ! "'^^ '° P"' "f n,y nails, and nowL/them f^ "t' " '"'"'''' November it will be fiftV "? ''""'e- Next were made. aT thltflj 'T''' T"''' '""^^ "-"'« Ws Chapel was Z:^,::^ '"^ ^"^'"^ "^ «'■ -let: ,!:::'2 vs: ? t-^« -- - ^^ « ^^^h- Tho weather was ery .o."' d ! sT' '''"/'' '""' ^vith the window open Abnnf ? ,'" ""' S''^'-'"- •^-er and rain tre:enlt;;nSt,t:X^^^^ GRANT THORBURN. 17 IZf fr^K '" '^' "'^"^ Bhingles-the constant blazo of hghtmng-with the crashing roar of thun der, almost scared me to death. Before this I had never been twenty miles from the house in which I was born. In Scotland we have no shingle roofs, no such heavy rain, no such blazing lightning, loud thunder, or hot nights; besides, there were mos quitoes, bugs and fleas, with all the plagues of Egypt at their back. I wished myself /^ame again 1 slept no more that night, but kept tossing about on a straw bed spread out on some Albany boards, till daylight. When I arose, not wishing to disturb the family at 3 o'clock, I thought to while away the time by opening my large case of books. They had been three .months in the hold of the vessel, and I thought they might be mildewed. Having uncover- ed the case, on the top of the pile lay a small pocket Jiible m two volumes. It was placed there by the hands of my father— my mother I never knew I opened the book to see if it had sustained any dam- age on a three months' voyage ; my eyes fell on the words, ''My Son:* I was thinking of my father I read on with delight ; having finished the last verse I found I had been reading the third chapter of the' Proverbs of Solomon. I read it again. Now, gentle reader, get a Bible and read this chapter— then suppose yourself in my situation— sore in body, sick at heart, and commencing life among a world of strangers- and say if words more suitable could be put together to fit my case. You may think vr»ii 18 REMINISCENCES OP g "oul : my sick heJd aL «"« bon^f """«"' '" "' ^.e impression. I went ZlZ^XlT' '' "Oh !" said thev *']«f'c t "■ke a stroll in th7fields 0° 't ^°::^ ^''^'"^' """J ercise after being so lon^ . « !*'* '"■5"''''» «^- " You may go^where !n 1""^ °" «hip-boara." go to Church tITIT please," said I, "but I -e parted on the shore oS "^ "'""'' ^P°'"'' - ber the Sabbath day' ,lf'°"'*"'^' ^•«». 'Komem- his words I" ^" ^ '"""^ "°' so soon forgotten Some of them earL niC and^^ e^'dol''^ ^'^'^• ~l only received five and a hi Tl, ' ^ ""^"^ ^ '-ght wagon, drive off with L ^^ ""'"''' ^«' spend five or six dollars, ge tcauT '^"""l '''''^''• shower-fine clothes „^A u T '" « thunder- home half drunk rile at 8 n' ^i '" tP°''«'3-oome "g with aching hoZ Ml f 1 °" ^°"<^«y »orn. -J guiUy confience r;i 7o ^''°T-' 'oo^a went to Church, rose at 5 GRANT THORBURN. jn This summer the weather was very hot I vSe firr T' 'r ■" '"'^ oountri^wtrLg soon ^lTS° T"'"'^ '" ^""^ ^-""^ "g^i" "B soon as I had saved money enough to pay my pas- same place thr^! '^""' '"'"'■• '""^ "' "'« st'zr f :■ ^-^^™^ 3eti:„tfx Bome tir ^ ? '° ^""'y "" *« ""o^ing For Bome time I met her almost every other day L two to ..e™S';„d ir soir """''' '' '-'"^ - Shortly after this, the cut-nails cut down m V UrnnrAo :iO nBMINlscBNCBS OP sI'Ut "P, and then I hJ , ^° ''a'-'<"'are shops ing nai,: «>r t^e offintalrl "" ' "=°"" "» "■''^■ in Warren-streei mn. , f" ^ '='"T«'««'- residing fever prevai ed in ™ t^ ""' ^'"''^ "™« ^^^ile thf boards'^ HlhadalhTh? '"'"" '""'" ^'"'-P-e on which he p aoei hi c"! ""'^''?' ^""^ '"''" -''««'''. little boys Jsel ato Idt"'" " ''"" ^""'^ ''''' '-<> each;, topping le^e "„!'''" '"''^''' « fourdoil... ^ould sing „uf ''Co^'TnT °^'^' '"'««"'■ 'hey Remaining ; ehe ctv , ''"' °' ^" ''-» '" valence of th^e yel ow TverT^- '"'''" y^^"' P--^- Bights which well mlhr.h\ "'.""""^'' '"*'"" ""'l have seen the babT« the stoutest heart. I ;-st onts i"t:or;:i:;jr,r^ '-"" '"^ deserted dwellinc- an,l 4V , 7^ ^""^ entered a the corpses of Ser and T " '""' '" °"« '^"^ 'ay three children a ,ee„ ""'' '" """"-^^ ™<"" Prom July 29th t Nn '^' """""'^ous of their loss. «and seven hund,ld and"" " '''' "'^' '^^ 'hou- low fever. After all x„). *"^7 P""""^ ^ied ofyel- Health caused ;: eltrt ?'"'J'^'' "■« ^""^ "f found only fifteen thn?r 7 u^^ '"^^"^ ^^e™ it was In 1823, fronU ; ^h^o n1 ".'"' '^^'^ ''---''• 'ireda„, thirty-sirper^rof t^ "' ■''^^'"'=- About this timp L, • , of >eiH>w fever. ~ ofthe cut.ni; "ftardl"' Z"''"'"'"' ''^ ^» I generally attended to ^v „ ? ^™'="'"y' ^^J • ' • ■■ on in a thriving ,^1%;"'! "T' ^''"'^'^ ^ o "-ay. 1 h,s being observed by ORAI^T THOHBlTRJf. jj wenced the naimin™ J ^""'- '"'""com- "elling plant! asTn„, TA ""t"' ^"^ ""^ ""' "™e. like a^roso I ^d the^ "''^ °'' " '"^'■' " «-"«" T even know there was a geranium in , 7?"^' gave fifty cents for the nlnnt nil , """''''• ^ green fl„.er.p„ts, and se Tt on^h! " " """ "'"^ attention, not with thp in, • . "'""*"' '° •'raw however and tl p^ ^J^U a^d" '1'"' ' ' " ""''' I.nade twenty-riv": J t £ "jav T ^ T'"''"" plants, and sold those also tL i ^ ""-''" '"'» celling of flowers T,^v ,?' 7 ^ <"""•"«•" « "'""'e say- years ago. ° ""^ '''''" ^'-" P«<'l-'e. forty-nine 22 REMINISCENCES OF In the winter of 1794 fi,« q. ^ , their session i„ the oH Ci v H ',? tv^"''""« "'^''J Posite the head of Broli »,^ I '" W«"-«"-eet, op- who rowed the ferrvb„t/Vr^ "*'"'« ■»«" Brooklyn had grosSr^X tr^^^'^'-'^''^ »° «age. The man was tried l V ^'y°'" °" ''" P^"" -enty-five lashes ZTst^lTTlf " '^''"'^^ Kettlelass, or some suoh „„ ^ "^'wyer named before the House ofTssembT;' T^'' *^ '"^«- "ulted the house and Z, ^ '" ^'' 'P^^"^ ^^ i"" 'ogy; this hereLed a^l {7'""' '° "^''^ - "P"" f jail. A large mS hTa t ^ T ' '"r' ''™ front of the Hall, and the/ pTaeedT '""''^ "" bottomed chair, and earn J v^^,"" °" ^ ''»»''- o'djaii in ChatLam s ™ o'V • ^^^'^'^'^^ '" ">« Ped opposite the house of the Mlvor r '^ "'^ ^'"P" Jng> and yelling lite fl,„ T ' "^^'"^' ^hoop- "extprop'osed'tfset teTo^f r ■\^^™^ 4 Giles, and other revolutionl *^,'"'"^«- b"t General this time, by f.nZtT7aT'"^''°'"'"S-P'^^ -;^themfromtheir;u:;i~\rrm;;: in session at Philadplnl,- • ^°"S^ess then being before them. S fe " ^'';. >««ediataly laid ^''<' -jority of the 1: 3:;^'';:;?^"''""' '"' words and wiped the blon,) i'' ""^ "P ""'''• theirbrowsafteracherinj^ • " «"'' ^^^eat from "chiermg the.r country's independ- ^ ^/^j GRANT THOEBITRN. „ ence, thought the treaty was h.VJ,l„ ,j their country • but ,},. 7 ^ ^ adrantageous to and cartme/thoult th "'"'. ''°'''"'"' •^"'""«° ing was call d affou?;'■:T•/"°'■'';"^'y^"-*- deral Hall, on the hid f p T' °^ "'^ »" F«- -ate aga/nst th^ra^g 0^:^^ 0^"- '" ~- Long before the hour the broad „n»T '"'''^■ -otleygroup^therewas S^^ powdered with lime shirt ,!»», '^borer, his face to his shouldere_ri "rff^^^^^ torn or rolled up the boatmen were It "^T, "^'« '"-. -' there, and the cartmen w'e^i TdT".""' were there • and tl,« i,„ ' ° *""' ""owes g^titnde than"he J 1^^'' T""'^ '° P°««^^« ""re that fed them bu the ' ' f ""'^ "''^^'^ ""^ '•»»„i ™!.. ..^ °i WYorlj could not com- """"••" ^"""S" '« """^^ Ciinton's canal for one 24 REMINISCENCES OP hundred years. When they saw it finished in seven which his skill and perseverance had made Thev cared not though the State sank, provided they liZ rise on its ruins. I next saw them as drummer^ Zt ZZ « thtt '°- ^r "^''^'^ ''"' •'-"-i^-f reason, at the time she was trying to engage all the k.cfcmg all the poor old revolutionary officers and soldiers out of the Custom-house, Po'^^t-officr and every other office, that they and their ui^ political swindlers might eat a piece of bread" I wSrr. ' ^T"/^.""-' "^ *— for death ha woful y thmned their ranks-they were holding a repeal meeting in the Park, so thai they might calh a few Irish (not American) votes. Bm if fo'ow mfeting." ^"^""^ P°''""'"'' ^ ^'^^ ^'™°'' ^-5°' *«' A tall fellow got up-(I have known him ever er of public good)-and called the meeting to order He might as well have told Bunker's Hill to remove into the deep of Montague Point. He then pr"pos Tnt » u '^^""'"^"- ^"^^ "^'^ •>« •'"gan read- ing a paper but was neither heard or understood for some cried one thing, and some another, and the greater part knew not for what they had iome to! geher. In those days there stood an old Dutch house Its gable-end to the street, on the comer of Broad and Wall-streets. which had a lnr.<, =„.„!' GRANT THORBORM. 25 th.s stoop Gen Hamilton stood, and began to speak m defence of the treaty. His clear ful] voice sound ed 1 ke music over the heads of the rabble, and fora while they stood still. Lowering himself omewha! from h.s natural style of eloquence, he spoke in Ian guage pla,n and s.mple, suited to the capacities of h.s hearers. H^ words were true, and they under- stood them They were cut to the heart, and laTd violent hands upon him in the midst of hi^ speech and dragged him from the stoop and thrLl the' thel ;T"' "='%S^Sg«'J -'' dragged through the streets by a set of political renegadoes, the scum andoffscounng of a foreign kingdom ! I gotup amon^ he branches of a large buttonwood tfee, wl^h "f hat time stood in front of the old Dutch hous'tha might be out of harm's way. Looking down upon the ruffians from my tree of safety, I thought to my" self ' What a fine thing democracy is i! rAeor^r As said before death and the yellow fever have wofuUy thinned the ranks of those chaps since that day. While existing, they were scratching and scrambling over the shoulders of each othef each striving to be uppermost, and all grasping for the crown-each brother democrat snarling, growlin. snapping at the bone that another was gnfwin. at And this IS what they called the iea^ti^ sin^l of a Repubhcan government! Simple enough in In rrri.^B^^.'lT'" >^y"- »'eauty,/a„ /jj «i^*x., ^v^ «*»v«iM. nuL 1 must return. 26 KEMimsCENOES OF Mr. Longfellow roared out "All „„.. ■ to adjourn to Bowling-Green and I ^ wLo agree treaty, will say Av"^ Th„ /.. 1 "j ""^ ^""''' shook the watch house whihloL ''r "^''" co^er of Broad and Wall st eet« T • "°/''" '°""'' - the „oh ran. shoutf^r^X ^ t Tot^;: dampen, oystennen, and hoZt i^lw' "T' grog-shops around White wT ^T '» 'he horses retired tn tlT ^^ '-and the carmen and SHp; X a fel'VfTh Ir-^'T v""'"'""^^ aeiats and devil's journeymen r° .''f"\''P'"^- Hall, where they'ate. dCnk 2 , 1°^ ''"y- political farcethey had cfosed ^S so £ !• ^'^ tion to themselves Col R ^ satisfac- mind-next sorW H remarked. "Never iiexc sprmg the votes- of thein h^^,., i clammon will tnll ,.» i. Hodmen and 4 GRANT THORBURPf. 27 Fmy Y.„.. Wanaertn,,. Of .„ K«,^rant. No. 9. ;; He travels and expatiates, as the bee From floH^er to flower, so he from land to land." ;f the Puri... aU wrset?;;rre^ottr Wgnms; and besides that of 7» J ? '"' made such rapid advances I U,t r/: "'!, '^' ^io«a/ Reliirint, ti^of T .1, 7 . ^^®^ termed ra- that the m1 leni ""^""u'' ^''^ *^^« ''»<' ">«" Bunyan. J^'hT'^^o^r "ot tl^ pl "' '' ''"'^ about to commence T,t f P''gnms," was this peopIe-noTTo- takf ^ befX oT T' " ^^^ stalks, nor the diameter of ,1, • f ."■ "'"■°- among them, I thought Lfo t'f ^T\'''"' '"' tionof the Church^mCt andiT '.' P'^'"" sight so imposing. You wH L • u"^"^ '" '"« " sadly I was disajpoimed ' " ''^ ^^"l"^'' '"'- After'we passed the Gates nfHn f " ^""''^'■• HogVBack and F Jingt^ th^ ' T"' ^"' "''" *« herald, ^vith face as ^1^ I . ^ ^ /'"' '^"'' " like mountain snow ;„ , . ='' •=""'' ^""^ "'"h TinWe. tinkle Z I '" p"' !!!! ''^"'^ ^^ » ^"-r be.,. "JcciJH;ur3, piease step to de 28 REMINISCENCES OP ■1. % captain's office and pay your passage." Thou<.hf I hese Yankees have an office of deposit everywhere I was earned along with the crowd, and Cght up witl. ™y head under the port-hole, or office win' ahltnT 7 "T " '""^■'-'Sff^'l fe"ow. squeezing to 2" ^'^"^ ^'"''.' ''^ '^''" """"^^ ""^ '^i"' his pail to the pump, gets it first filled." ^ He looked down upon me, but that was all. He held between h.s thumb and finger, while it floated in the breeze, a $50 note, a., much as to say-You held <7 7" « °"^y '" ™y P""" *- -' in my head! Captain B. with one eye observed this ma n^uvre, whi^ with the other he gave chan^ Ja ten-dollar bill Said he to ,ne-"Mr. Todd, It's your turn next." [I wondered how he knew „; namej Mfl o?f^r""f TT"'^ """"S them large men." Mr. Longfellow looked as "flat asapan-cake" with- out yeast. This me Hi „' civUity Lm the captl gave me a good opinion of his heart and his hea7 prised o see a large number of men building some- tlnng hke a stone fence, with windows in it. I asked the c t,i„ , .. ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ .^ -J ask., of New"' "'"^''^'"^ fifty «"-> for the protection of Newport. As Newport appeared in my eyes from the water, I thought their property mfght be the. protection. This, thought ,. is LoLr fip-raj GRANT THORBURN. 29 We soon reached Providence, where coaches were ready to convey us to Boston. No rail-roads at that time. I stood by my trunk, observing the filling up of about thirty carriages with about two hundred men, women and children, with trunks, band-boxes, &c. when Capt. B., standing by a coach door, called out to me. On approaching him, he said— " This coach contains ladies only, but I have re- served a seat for you ; so you must take good care of them." " Thank you, sir," said I. " It's a precious charge, but I will do my best." There were fourteen of them, from twelve to fifty years of age, some very handsome, one homely, and some between the iwa. On the road I kept them awake with Sir Walter's Scotch tales and Hogg's stones ; and being in the rear, with the wind astern, we got along very comfortabIy_a cloud of dust go- ing ahead of us like a black thunder cloud. We arrived at the Eagle Hotel, in Boston, about sundown. The ladies' hats, cloaks, and dresses, which on the steamboat, showed colors enough to bedeck fifty rainbows, were now but one, viz. ashes on aslies, and dust on dust. The next day being Saturday and the anniversary of the Battle of Bunker-Hill, I visited the old batL- ground and monument ; and being alone, retraced in memory and imagination the scenes, consequences, and results of that sanguinary conflict, and, with my mind s eye, looked back, through the mists of six 3* ixty 30 r-i, |i l-i:.,- REMINISCENCES OF years, to the beautiful villao-p i„ c .i •, drew my first breath. / hhfk i twS^ !;:'' "'^^^ ' August, about eight o'clock on a fil " '"°""' °^ viliaffers stonrl ,„ ^ evening, that the driver threw r„ EdL 1 ^^*'"'™^^''- The group, and t^e: ho!:^:f„;;r^ ?r " '"^ on horseblock rp« but the and long ith anni- the field ly news- •ed upon flight, at protect, o break to know- father's 3) were tin side. rday or >ractfce •'clock, If GRANT THORBURN. oj on Sunday morning, resolving to examine the exteri- or and mtenor of their churches. Wherever I espied a steeple for a guide, thither I steered my course: and mto most of them I found access, as the sextons were either dustmg inside or sweeping outside. This might be rational enough, for ought I knew, but I bought It was hardly consistent with pure reli^^ion • they ought to give aman seventy cents a week more' on condition that he beat the cushions and swept the gutters on Saturday afternoon. I was struck wiih the grandeur of all of them: they beat our New^oJk churches all hollow I was pleased, too, that they did not let the house of God lie in ruins, while they themselves were living in ceiled palaces. I saw a church where the back of the pulpit was nearly as broad as the east end of our City-Hotel : high above IniriT ^"'' there hung a guilt anchor, large enough, from its appearance, to have served a seven ty-four ; and instead of tarred ropes, it was bound round the stock with thick scarlet ^Ik ^ordTand he wall covered with fine scarlet cloth. I should th„k here was a hundred yards of it, which hunginbeau ti tfll :r I '\' '"'^^ °^'^^ -^^- The ex. ton told me the cloth and anchor were presented to the church by a single (bachelor) gentleman, and cos' a thousand dollars. I thought he had better ^ven five hundred do lars to the Bible Society, and the^ bou/h! furniture with the other five hundL, and went to house-keeping with one of those l^onnie lasses I saw the day previous, walking round fh. Inr.. T7i^ ._ ; -•'•q'^ x:/iiii tlUt? ' 38 REMINISCENCES OF Whatever might bo his relirion I i thought llmttvouldhavebefra . ""'' '^"' ^ to lay out a thousand doLr! '" ""'"""' ^"^ ''reathe, got up and Iked ,L "^ ''^'"''' "> with him in Z.\Z to ,)!; '^''"e^gation ,o join "'"gmg to (lie praiso and clorv r.e n i &c. when up started a 1, ,„ strin,, „f i , ^°''' -ho sung out most Jus 1° to u"! •"''' ''"'* ''•'^''»' «m..;..,. I turned aro„:.W ''?"° ^"'' ^'"'7 "f broolced the affa r „, T .'^'' ''"^^ "'« -"'"i^ter Jo.' there l^etolZZZ CrtT''' '"™' -'-• psalm-book shut and n^^ 1 T """^y- ^"i" "-is pu.pit support-it roKrLT''^'^^'^^ w.th a complacent smile as he Zl'eTJr Tf'"" l>nms of the lasses' hats Cat ,hZ^ "f^erthe broad measured about three feet br "'' '''"^^' '"»" and seemed absorbed iteontm^w"'''."'''''''''-':* of their warbling throats B;ts X f'T glistening brow, I was sure Im ^ '^'"^^^ ^"^ doubt, that howeve^sat sfied h ! ""^ "''""^'- "^ God hy pro.,, in Ihe pu 1 1 ^-T^'" "^^ '" """^'"P ciple into the'ordinarrSs of ?ir'"r^""^P""- as eating and drinking Z ^' "' '^^''■> «o far to be an !ld .cot-htl.lTed^rC:;;. ^^-f '' were sno-intr- RnFor. i , ^^encft, which thev bacUoU.e"^miSrrhrr-a?''""^'^"i^ end of the hymn keeninl, ,' "'' ™"= 'o the The people Lk;d aroufd T"' "'"'-'^"P^'airs. said, "He's a Yorke ""an'l" '"T ™"^''' ^""'o ^o.ker, and some that I was daft Lll V not, but I 'ational way ch I had not g awhile to tion to join •ry of God, and lasses, md glory of he minister liim, when, Y> with his side of the e manth'no- o r the broad adies' hats d border,) sweetness lieeks and manner of y worship 'theprin- sf, so far found it hich they irned my ig to the Jp stairs, d, some 'as daft. GRANT THORBURN. 33 Thought I You may say what you please, but I have only jomed with them who sing praise, as the minis- ter requested ; so 'they may laugh who win.' " They called themselves rational Christians in this church, but I thought they had a queer way of showing their rationality. ° In tho afternoon I went to another church, to see if I could find anything more orthodox. The minister, after inviting the people to join with him in singing, read a hymn ; the organ then played a solo, after which a wo- man-dressed pretty enough, but I thought her cheek", were rather more ruddy than nature commonly paints in the month of June-got up and sang most sweetly, all alone by herself, praise and glory to tho whole congregation. I could not see that any person joined with her-nothing was to be heard but her sweet pipes and the tin pipes of the organ. After church was out, I asked a gentleman who she was that sanij or us and he told me that she belonged to the thea- tre; that she sung till past twelve o'clock on Satur- day night, on the stage, to the praise and glory of tho dev.l_that the rational church paid her three hundred dollars, and the devil's church six hundred dollars, p.Gtty bright figure. Said I to myself, "If one of those pilgrims who landed on Plymouth-rock, that cold frosty morning, with noses as red as a north-west moon was to look in upon these rational degenerates how they would sink into insignificance." And here let mo remark, that nenrlw nil fi.„ .„:_:- t , , ^ m boston, were readers, not preachers of the Gospel. 34 REMrNrSCENCES OP ^oTdX: saf ts «'t"^-. „„„, '^-0 places the „i„Ute^; "eTd 7'- ''" ""'' "' "" the people aang by proxv U " "''™°'". and and the weatbef verfwarm tT" """ '"'"«« '-«• a fine day for the farmersld T "'" ^'""^''''r was "f!''-. kept their ^ZTfj!'"' '"''■'"''''-■ "''^-y "■e.r oxen and their jackasTe?"; ""^ '""'''■servant,. "^ Sunday morning „„,;;?: ","'-fe '•'' one o'clock Sunday „„„,; ,f; «;' "f "» then- grain. &c. On !l'r ■>" thepeo;,e, who Ud""^ "f.'"' "''='-''' ''"^ The lads and lasses in the 1^^ ^''"'' ^o« to church. «<">cern, as usual. IZff;'^ """S «»• the whole ffan to read i,is sermon ^ T''' "'« ""inister be ••^^«>%."IlookedTrou„r^'^" '■« '''"J ^ot t„ «"'> found them all a i™; t"f° " t ■=°''g-/^'io ? 7«en Who sat undertl f ;S' "iT ^ f"- old have been asleep, but hivin!-^ ' ""'' they too would years under the dro;pi;:r ol" tr '"'/'"" """^»' ^orty -<^.forthelifooftir™.'f:ua„';:,- «■■• There were about ,„, , '^"P an hour long. scholars i„ the gallery altw"''" Sunday-scho!, selves by cuttint stid r. , ^ ''''""^ '""-^ing them. --Ws. male .^S: e":tt'^"^"'\-^'-'"- ter however, kept on readin. V ?' ^'"' "'■"■«- Before this, I was at a loslfo fv '^"'^'^ '«"-"'"'.-^. f-o'- of the dead Langu "et" ' in v fr^" "'"'P™- I now thought it raustLan tL f' ^""''^«'- hut ■oungYankees to read s"rmo' V''° 'r"'"> 'hose '"-'%«. thought I, whr";ey cr?"""'"- •^ can buy as many •,N "ffton, Hunt- c. and in all crmons, and [larvest time, Saturday wag '"oon, many lid-servants, «ne o'clock n. ' the pin-makers from London ^^7^^;'°^'*^^ '^'* have confessed that Nelpl I '""'' '^^^ ^°"'d "■uch as the parLr ot O "f "v'"'"'"^ ">« °'^«° left farnisaregootanTthe^S;/::? "' "T '"^ i.the^ow„e;:;'';?7thriirr&- ^-' GRANT THORBUHN. 3-7 CO mz^'rrir .^'"^'^-''--''^ g^^f" »; it" wSTthe schoo r '"'"^V''^ "^"-^ -nd under I fn„„^ u / ^^''"°^' »"<* sometimes a colleire I found abundance of Bibles everywhere • an.lV, if ' Wncal fact, that where BibieJ abound ses of Jearnmg much more abound Henr^ th! " • endeavors nf ri,= u • '"^ unremitt n? our schools Onc^r'TI'"^''"'^'' ""^ ^ible from other c:lry'Z'C:'XT^:ttt'' ^"- ??vS::dt^!:-S?S eastern and northpm «5fof^. -n '"" P^^P^e ot the uu norcnern States will stand like a wall r.f A^t ehCh 7iLri r^; ^"'''^"^^ ™- were well filler T l ''"'^'^"^ °° "''' Sabbath e™;yTtL?'homrH:me 'nZj^-'^ ^^^ other Deist says ernDtv^ J ? u "^' ''"'^ ^^^"^ ,.„ ,„,,, ^ ^^.,y_ .^ ^j^.^ situation. 38 REMINISCENCES OF ( . I founl'r ^''"<3«ring« through thk eastern country, I found the men kmd, sociable, sober and industri- natured ^'77'° '""''''""^' '"'^"'S^"'' -dgood- Bdtured. It s all we can want of them I mtht?°" '""'^.'7''^'^'' of discovery. Andfhat left S ^ ^ ',."'" "^y-^^y^ ^ ^«" ^' highways, I eft all my lumber at home. The histo^ of «;« steamboat voyage on our northern or eastern waters may answer for the history of a hundred at the same a Cll d'T ^"'-■'S*— when men, as well as birds, choose their mates, you may always observe a reasonable proportion of these two made frm°thor ,'■ '". ^? """y '"''"y <3'^'i''g"i«l> them aUrn^^r "'" ''""" ''•"='''"<' 'o^^*- i° holy ^hance for some years, provided you are a close ob server of human nature. You will see the fair new rf^"' ?! fast to the arm of her natural support, up stairs and down stairs, to the table, or promenade • always linked together as close as the bands of mat! rmiony can tie them. Even in a crowd where they cannot go abre^t, you may see her squeezing along sideways after him, still grasping his arm as if shf ^as afraid he might drop into oblivion. Supper ove. them St. pacing the deck, or sitting in a lonely corner, like two turtle doves on a leffless oak, re^ peatmg their tales of love; there they sit till Mid- night or till the cold northeast wind comes sweep- ing down from St. Anthony's Nose, or round the GRANT THORBURN. 39 following, I '. And that highways, I tory of one tem waters at the same when men, nay always two made Squish them ler in holy a close ob- le fair new il support, omenade ; is of mat- ^here they zing along I as if she )per over, will see a lonely i oak, re- till mid- js swoep- ound the comer of Point Judith, more like forming icicles than fanning the flame of love, admonishing them to re- tire ; they then walk to the door of the ladies' cabin, where the imperious law of the boat— in direct contradiction of the ceremony-parts those asunder whom God hath joined together. No more dare he set foot in there, than enter the harem of a Turk There with the pearly tears dancing in their eyes, they shake hands and part, as if for ever— she to sleep if she can, and he to the bar, to drown his sorrow, if he can, in a glass of mint-julep. I observed a pair of this kind now, whom I had seen on my former voyage. Then they were newly linked ; now they were settled down, with all the sober re- alities of life upon their backs. No squeezing side- ways, arm in arm, in a crowd— no leading down stairs, or pulling up stairs by the hand, or tips of the fingers, as you would pull a trout from the depths of a mill.pond-no snatching at a fan, glove, or handkerchief before it has reached the deck-but merely a very sedate ejaculation of « My dear, you have dropped your fan !" while he very quietly moved on, leaving his goddess of last summer to pick it up as best she could. I could but notice how much easier they then got along one before and the other behind, m all the composure of true Indian file. 5>hould any of my readers think these pictures are too highly colored, they have only to visit Albany or Boston by steam, and they will then see these comedies, or trarm/Wao «^*«J . ^. a^^tCLi III nature. 40 ■"^. .'-.if' REMINISCENCES OP Thought 1. 1 have been youlbu?! ^^ P'^™"'- I have never seen nn.ir^' ''"""Warn old, yet -proper coXt'SrfbaTr 'V'"^''^ the evil. The tenmnr "Ij'"^^^"'^ 'ay at the root of if a «a„ of LSI? LrtTad" r '^^^^ "^^^ no case is it the duty, business ^t: of 2 h '" band to drive his wif« ^i i i ""erest ot the hus- England. She wZteT °2^ "7 t" '' "^^ '"^ '" J^indness, gentlenl'Ir^pr^ti" ' '"^^"- ^^ her anywhere. Perauasion you may lead oftLf tZ:; "! T '^^^' '™^' -» - — husband S a 2 "f ^™«'"'''"» -"M- yet her very co^S;. Tisl^Z^' ^^ "'""^ -"•• W one day scolded Ul^^'t n^a^ltVa .^r ^ without beine- able tn a "*^'y "alf an hour him, and findL that l^ '" ^"^"^ """'^ fr°« feet upon WsTarid ^ ^°'''^' °f 'vind had no ef- to trv th« "^ ^ '^"P^""' '""^ bethought hereelf to try the power of water; accordin»^l» • • ▼essel from one of fi,., accordmgly, seizmg a rush to thTfront wbd "^r"" "'^l"''^"' '^^ ""^^ » quietly conVrrgti'a'ren?"' f "P'^"^ ''™ immediately emntid i« ? " *^ ""°P' ''nd with the e> u"S of "th "''°", '" •""'' ''-''• will make you sneak" '1 ^''«™' 'ake that ! That 'ns face, oCrTdt hiff ""'.2'"'^'^^'"^ may alwavs exn«., „ i . ^^^^ thunder, we y always expect a shower !" No doubt but this GRANT THORBURN. 41 sensible remark of the philosopher made the old lady draw in her head and smile; and, I dare say, when they met again on the stairs they were as .rood fnends as ever tl,ey had been since the first day they wore buckled together. Now had Socrates been as hot-headed as some fiery fools of husbands that I have known, he would pro- bably have ran up stairs and broke her china tea-pot, and perhaps drove the point of his cane through the heart of the looking-glass; while she, in refen^ would tear his portrait in strip,, and may be f^^ the throat of his favorite cat ; aid then a hellion earth would have been in the house. But, instead of this, he poured the soothing oil of forbearance upon her stormy pass.ons and soon the waves were srill Men are mighty kind, attentive, pliable and coh- do cendmg before and a short time after marriage • but soon they begin to show their teeth, and then hefairgtrl find, that, instead of her slave, she is buckled to one of the very lords of creation. hZ New-\ ork I have ever found the genuine, thoroueh- gou,g bawlers for the rights of men to be the most as tl.e.rbnef authority extended. Thomas Paine and still h.s wife got a divorce from him for crue treatment. With such facts before me, I would ad monish the young ladies to be verV circum.n.., ;„ lUeu- dealings with young men of infidelprinciples," 4* 42 REMINISCENCES OP for tihey will find some pretty stubborn articles among ecTJ'Z r'''' "" ^"^'"^ '°^«*"- *«y ™»»t draw equal, or they cannot get along with comfort. It isl man s busmess to stay at home, when not necessarily sures and sorrows of the family. A husband is not drawmg equally when he goes out, four or five niZ m a week to political or literary meetings, orTcS c ub, or theatre, leaving hi, wife at home? perhaps tumes of w.ne and smoke of cigars. A protty com pamon th.s, to be sure, for a sensible, delicl wo" fections and sour the temper. And in this as in al I remember hearing the eloquent Dr Maso^ t assert, from the pulpit, that there were ^e" C of^b^calung a woman's heart besides breakfng hT GRANT TnOBBURN. 43 A Fnneral at Sea. "'The plashiny water* mark his resting place, •' And fold hin round in one long, cold embrace; " Bright bubbles for a moment sparkle o'er, " And break, to be like him, beheld no more." One of our steerage passengers died last night, after being six days out; he was brought on board almost in the last gasp of consumption; he hoped his bones would moulder in his native soil, (Ireland ) but his grave is in the deep. None of the cabin pa^- sengers knew of his situation till two hours after his death : we had on board the Rev. Mr. B , an Epis- copal minister from England; he was in bed, and knew not there was a corpse on board till I informed him m the morning ; he seemed awfully struck when I asked if he had his prayer-book and canonicals in order, as there was to be a funeral at 9 a. m • he mustered the materials, and finding all in order, said he would perform the last office for the dead, pro- vided I would officiate as clerk pro tem, as he under- stood I had been clerk in a church in New- York lor some years. ^ I informed the captain of the arrangement, and re- quested he would order every thing to be conducted with decency and order. A«er receiving my short lesson from the minister, we repaired on deck. The scene was novel, solemn and imposing; the morn inrr ixrao f.*^ .^ 4.I 1 - . _ inrr ixrao the sun shone bright and mild, a 44 REMINISCENCES OP lowed m our wakp nn,l d • i ^ ' **^^" they looked and seia" ed arin„x°" "?'^ "''^P' meaning of this dance of death '° ''"" *^ oftheaeamen 4:^3;:^^^^^^^^^ carpenter and his mate a^llh.r T?'"'"''' ''' *« the captain on the It 'l l„t T <- '^^ """^ ^"'"'y' the beautiful service fortL I?,' °' ""^ '"'"'''^'■' the Resurrection and the Lfe" r™'"^".'-" ' '"" -.en,„. and clear accem o^ftei^b ^ f^^^^^- parson. The varinno « j • ^"^'''^"rea lorkshire fn the facl'yr ItW ZTotf"'' ''''"'''' gers, most of them Irlh afZv ?T"^ P'^'''"- hid the lifeless cUyZ' wild ^ '^ "'^ '=''"'' *" white sea-fowls aYc^^! ,T^"" "^ ""« "i"^" succession, fl td on the^ "^ t''"'"''"^ '" ""'"k dian angel read vt?. """'' *' """'&''' °fs»«'-- world, ff ;r C° '^ T' ^^"^""^-l ^PW' to "ght. We were 1,400 miles from l„„,i GRANT THORBITRN. 45 fiusponded as it were between heaven and the great deep, and only a four-inch plank between us and the gates of heaven or hell. When the minister came to the words, we " Com- mit the body to the deep," I sung out " Launch the Corpse," m a moment it was sinking in the mighty waters. " Lord, what is man /" exclaimed each think- ing soul ; we seemed alone as it were, shut out from all the world, and pausing on the brink of eternity • but the eye of Omnipotence was there : in the clear waters of the Atlantic I could see the white shrouded corpse smk, sink, sink, perhaps a thousand feet; I stood on the stem and watched its descent. The buoyancy of the plank, with the stone at the feet kept the body erect, it looked to me like a mortal of earth descending to the confines of eternal space- perhaps in a few moments the strips of the winding- sheet, with the tatters of the flesh, were lodged in monsters* jaws. To commit a body to the earth, seems like cancel- hng a debt of nature ; but though the flesh be as cold as the marble of Siberia, there is something revolting to the feelmgs when a human carcass is sunk in the cold green sea-but this sea must give up the dead that are m it. 46 REMINISCENCES OP Right. Of Women. No. I. •' Happy are they that hear their detraction., .„d can put the. f mending." bufrr™' ^T ^ ^f ^'^ <='»"'-"='!■'? the sequel, but being a subject of a rather delicate cast, I put in a demurrer, and came to a stand. An incident oc" curred, however, which turned the whole current of Mv^ir^Tt' "'' "" acquaintance, a bachelor of fifty-s X. Thirty years ago I advised him to form a copartnership, for bed and for board, with one of the ionnu lasse, whom he used to stand staring at as he barb r ^"f:*''""'' ™^^''"^ '="""'• --y Sab! S to L" T ' "°""' '"' ^''' " "'«• Now he says l.ri [""y^"'""- S'^y^I. "Sir,inacou„. try hke this, where more trees are growing than there are men to cut them down, no bachelor, over twenty! hve years ought to be tolerated." Says he, "A law "^^L f""' ^""''^ ''' ^ ^°°^ --" However! considermg h.s age and station, the chap looked ten yearB younger than he really is. He was disguised mos hateful article you meet in the street) were neatly polished with ivory, lamp, or some other sort of black; his cheeks, eyes, and forehead were nicely smoothed with violet soap, cream of roses, and some one of the sovereign restoratives for old age, speckled ORAiNT THORBURN. 47 t them t* 5 sequel ; • I put in ident oc- urrent of :helor of 3 form a le of the at as he Jiy Sab- he says a coun- m there twenty- "Alaw ►wever, «ed ten 'guised rs (the I were er sort nicely I some 3ckled faces, and wrinkled skin ; in short, he looked as if he might be good company yet for a spinster of forty- five. But, with all his fixing, there was still an air of solitary and wo-begoneness about his carcass. Ho looked like creation's blot— creation's blank ; for it was 10 A. M. and ho had just descended from his solitary roost ; and he had no pretty little bird of paradise to chirp and sing with him and for him. " But," says . e, "your speaking so highly in praise of the ladies reminds me of a soiree I attended in Bond-street, about three weeks ago, where some of the ladies were overhauling brother Benjamin. You, though, for writing, and he for printing, what some of them termed a libel, in the New World of Decem- ber 2, 1843. But," eays he, " you had all the young ladies on your side. They agreed that it's better to go to Hackensack, in the Jerseys, to learn common sense, than to be crammed into a nunnery and there shut up for life. But the matrons and old spinsters declared they would ne\ er forgive us for saying that they appeared in the Theatre, at Dickens's shearing ball, like old sheep dressed in lambs' wool." You will now see how a small matter may change the whole course of a man's thoughts. Had a tea- kettle never boiled, we would never have seen a steamboat ; and had I not met my friend aforesaid, this bill of rights never would have seen the light ; for hearing I had given offence, I thought to bring out their bill of rights by way of rejoinder : or rather. as aueen Vintnria oowl «.l -u- . •, . ^ . .„^,.„ „j^.„ Yiuxsii BUG vviJHc iO gee Kiiitr 48 ^mmsCENCHa OF f- illiterate of them dear 1T 'T """'"» '^e most •""iy and strength of mind ; """' '"'<^ ' '^''ff"' of oauae even to th! bootC 'if bT"^ "''" """'«- d>d at the battle of Wa„am j^ T*^' *' Bonaparte Austrian princess. ^^' '"'' ""^^^by mazried an fght«. Forth! Z sltJ V .' •"" ^ '"^ ""he kept in a continua tew by CeT f' "°''''' ""^ ''-« '^"e fools, and simple dr«»'"""P''""''°P''en,, theories, Cwbich ^H never rr'^' """"^ -'"«- of 'eaves, if but i„ stripe l!^?f '" '"■"«'"«') »* hose g'obe-and all this a-'-t^he l' "^"7 ^"^'"'' 'he -ord about the rigAts ./ J'llf t/"?- N°' « offreedom would not even Z7J J '^, champions the color of their own nilf" ^l ^"'' '° <=hoose 'he heads of the queen aS sT"?'' ""^^ <=« off P/ettiest women in l^anee b! "'""'^'"'^ "^ 'he 'hey could sleep better" « S 1"" l''^ ^'^'^ "«" a^«} whose ^jgate the ?«. iVota hampions to choose y cut off Js of the said that > than in ust have ■ats; for 5nce cut ►r at alJ. nerican just as indows beasts GIANT THOBBrRN. 49 Next came Thomas Paine, with a huge compound of abstract ideas entitled Rights of Man. He found time, however, while writing this collection, to mar- ry a respectable young woman in a small town in England : three years thereafter she obtained a di- vorce from him for hrutal usage, and this was his bill of rights, I knew another champion of freedom, in a small village some few miles south of Philadelphia, by trade an auctioneer. There he stood, with the Rights of Man in one hand, a cowskin in the other, and the Declaration of Independence pinned on his breast. He was selling a woman and her three chil- dren at vendue : and this was his bill of rights. But to bring the matter home to our own doors, and our own firesides— here I might fill a volume, were 1 only to give the names of a set of political jugglers whom I have knowi^ within the last half century. They were arriwd to some of the finest specimens of women that the world could produce. They swore at the altar to nourish and to cherish the Weaker vessels all the days of their lives ; but, within six months after marriage, should their better half be any way indisposed, away tliey go to some ward meeting, or card meeting ; or, may be, he takes some country cousin, and away they hie to Niblo's, the Park, or the Battery. She is sitting by the window, her pale cheek resting on her delicate hand— the tears, like drops of pearl trembling in her beautiful eyes, while he and his cousin descend the front steps with loud tiealv nf laiinrlifoi' air^r'^T ««« ^c i.:_i_ * 50 REMINISCENCES OF f to her hem like the sharp point of cold steel Per haps she sees no more of him till he mLlfZ/-' ready, at 8 ii. m nevf ™„ • L " """^^ '» ftce.^; this the7^ zzfJr'.\ '^"*?^- wifel You say 7o/left h u "1^ "^"^^ y""" nu«e. No doTbt yo„ dfd -tut'ex ' '''"'^ °''' ^°°<' consummate fool you m.i I ^^1^°" """•"<"" band makes the best nurt l"°"' !*"" " kind hus- and leaving ^ J ^^Z y ol^S :'-r '''''. ""J her medicine, carried the cup to her linsT' """''' hand the bitter druff would If ^ ' ^^°'" ^"""^ down beside her aTMnT '"'^^''^ *«» «« told her only 2 hV„f V/°" P'^'^^' ^"'^ '^ y" tell her three weeKl ' ^"^ ''°""' y°" »«ed to perfectly ™U Wore th '• "■'T''^"' =''« '-<'»''» "^e This is ^ 2laZ%l: r„7, r "' """'^^ ^'"'• spect it. There i« ;„, ^ "^ *'^°™ '° "-e- will see th/r u "P' "'"" «'^'«' astorm-you theCi^;'.*rrr''^^^'°^'*«HowS »andaHnst\SSro7a'"ririf "1'''^ ^oto^^rair^""^^^^^^^^ times between LeonaTa„TR''"f """^ ^P^' ^^y course of three hour^ t\ ^«'='°'^-«'^«ets in the tlaree hours. They generally hook arms, teel. Per- feoffee is Whisker- Jrish your of a good ire a most kind hus- aying out le, mixed com your then sat nd if you I used to t^ould be 'her sun. n to re- ige, out 1 fool or ho prey 'oadway >m. On n — you toward, like the ►u have 3u may iss fifty in the I arms. GRANT THORBITRN. 51 '^ and as they grin, look and talk in one another's faces, their motion has much of the swagger of the Siamese Twins. You may know them by the cut of their jib. They have beards like the goats on Mount St. Gothard— their slender waists (I am now speak- mg o^twa-legged animals, who call themselves men) are squeezed up and pressed up with whalebone, cord and buckram, till they look like a spider sus- pended between the heavens and the earth from the leaf of a peach tree. They also wear india-rubber suspenders, which are intended to act as preventors, (as the sailors say,) to stop the extremities from part- mg from the trunk. Now these insignificant simple sons of silly women do nothing else but go about among the weaker sexes seeking Whom they may devour, like the devil, their master, who first beguiled Eve. She having lost caste, is driven from society to the highways and hedges for food and shelter; while he, provided his brown hide is covered with black super^ne, is caressed, courted, and admitted into the best 8ociety-(the word ie.^ is too often misapplied m these ca8es)~fine carpets, damask curtains, and stately pariors, where such genteel dressed black- guards are introduced, turn that society into the very worst. " Fowls of a feather flock together." Some of our now State's Prison gentry formerly shone in these best societies. In the mean time the poor ruined fair one IS a stranger in the house of her friends. I was led to these reflections by a visit to the Pen- uenuary; where I saw among the women some of 52 REMINISCENCES OF my life, wa king two and two with other outcasteof savage-Iooking lord of creation. But aa I intend to mis i\o. 1 of the Rights of Wompn \^xr Vr.^- .l Astoria, December 21, 1843. th«v »i . "'■^«^'' « piece for the Mirror, which it this IS m season— and vou like if ,>'= .^ -o"aXrifi:~?-^^^^^^^ not belles letters and well turned periods. IfsS' I -ntend to contribute now and then, and whZ plo pie find my p.eces in your cheap pav.r I hoTe ^ ^ increase the subscription list. ^ "^^ Yours sincerely, Grant Thorburn. j.i I ever saw in f outcasts of ferocious, a I intend to ill conclude hoping that Ben and se- own before * 21, 3843. by request^ ror, which f the year. " t your ser- mmar and 1 my pro- em laugh, If spared, vhen peo- pe it may RBURN. @ OUANT THORBTTRN. 53 Riffbt* of IVomen. No. II. " Being a woman, I will not be slack •• To play my part la fortune's pageant." It is an opinion very current among us repub- licans, and probably firmly believed by three-fourths of the whole population, that all kings, princes and potentates are naturally bom fools. In viewing the aspect of things for some time past, I verily believe n' Lit the maxim, or proposition, is a true. one; for on i40 other principle can I account for the doings and sayings of the body politic for some years bygone. That we are all born sovereigns in this country is a fact -i politics as firmly fixed as the rock in Ply- mov ^he Pilgrims' stepping-stone, (and it only travt three miles during the last century, from its own bed-post;*) and that a king and a sovereign is exactly the same sort of article in all languages- heathen, Greek, or savage— is a problem as true as any in Euclid; so it just comes to this, that we are nothing else than a set of sovereign, blustering, con- summate fools. Were it not so, why is it that we act just the opposite to every principle of common jus- tice and common sense % If a poor Irishman steals a pair of pants to protect his hind-quarters from the *I am told that the caid rnrlr hfic Kaon ../^li<.4 :..«. «i i... place in the town of Plymouth. 5* 54 RBMINISCBNCBS OP to the panL^n/arfa ol ^r'f ; ''"''"''' '"' ^^ niony ; but thfl ml l ''"' ^^""y s»a" cere- office. b'an.rinrre^i;trr°"t' ^°^'- dom brought to trial • and if T "^ ''"' '«'■ «o meet this ordea th«vl ^^ "^^ '° ^"""""^ ^ -ey in theirtill1r/rero?tf Tr^ may have been born heirs to fhl ^, I «"^'' '^^^ not all; for, as thev TI , ^*"""'^- ^■" »Ws is sear (the people's iL!) oSa V V'"^ *^''«^» «lre» «ke%entle«en and ,n ot r' ^"^ '° :^n:rhrto^r"~ ^i-iiiaayii,.;i':stsrn£^--''-^'- manifest unto all men; a^d that t 7,77 " """'' disrespect that is paid to ,L \ ' . *'""*" 'otal history, sacred and'Jrtftn ItS;/"""^- '" "" their women are rrplt'd j!? ' " •'l"^'''^ "^ on Virginia, says that m„n •^'''^^"°»' « Ws Notes body and powe^ of ^ ^tl' "^* «'""^'h of direct md protect his Zl ^^ ""^ *>« "*"« to but, instead of d rtctil^ ^^ "'"'""°''' *« ''''--'• the cunning subtL ? ""^ P™tecting, he employ, and brutal stent?;/!"',"^; P°--« of his mind tion. But I cTnnot ^ ^^^ '° '^°* ''«'• "J^'fuc- cannot descnbe this on«r.Ho. v-„-._ to hide them ong, he goes y small cere- of thousands house, post- are but sel- fortunate as the people's :hough they But this is ir ill-gotten are able to isives, and » gives him cards with ^liy of the J is made most total en. In all a sure cri- 5 rights of his Notes rength of >e able to > woman; employs his mind destruc- »KANT THOBBURN. S5 than by quoting from Mrs. L. Maria Child's Letters from New-York. Mrs. Child is a lady of modest worth, and an eloquent writer; had she been an im- ported article she would have been extolled to the skies : " For many a flower is born to blush unseen, " And waste its sweetness on the desert air." She w«» Payng a visit to the penitentiary when the editor of the Weekly Rake" (a blackguard paper) was brought in. She asks, " Why should the ' Week- ly Kake ' be shut up, when daily rakes walk Broad- way in fine broadcloth and silk velvet 1" She adds— More than half of the inmates of the penitentiary were women; and, of course, a large proportion of them were taken up as ' street-walkers.' The men who made them such-who, perchance, caused the oveofahuman heart to be its ruin, and changed tenderness into sensuality and crime-these men live w the ceiled houses' of Broadway, and sit in coun- tt'"r , "{"'^'' ""-^ P«'« 'regulations' to clear he street they have filled with sin. And do you suppose their poor victims do not feel the injustice of society thus regulated V J '-o thl^'' "^ f ^" *^'""' "'^y ^° *■««' '' ' &■■ God made them angels-men made them devils. And as it is tvl? f/^l "'" "°^ """^ "'«" to kill offa tyrant, provided that therebv thev m.v ,„ ^.Z ju« and natural rights, so 1 wonderTot'wrenire:; 56 REMINISCENCES OP rep- *-• cS!.r;-^;',T " •Jay to see one of fL. ^ • I '^°"^^'" "«' °*er drag a usurper i^ '"•'""' "^•"" "^ <=<"»% an/make hfm strut tht! Ti °' ''" ^«'°^ «»"«« a gutter. Srved h m S ' m^f ."'"' " ""'^ '» their ^^, and wer" Sm„ ! ' '"'"^ ""'^ ^"^"^ own advantage thlvlu^- ""P™''^ '' f°'-"'«'- neration hR hre'a d of r°' "%"'°'« ""^^ ««- But, to be seri „sifo? hTsT"' """' '"^^"• whereof we treat f),= ° «^*^® ^u^ect -ronginreJrseltltaTe'or''-'" "" """""""g this matter. Why sho^dV """'^ '^* '"«"'' ^° into the wildenfess Se t' """""" ''^ ''""«" «^«y bearing away Wssb n \ P'^°" ^"^ "'^ '»'">' as shefs casTou and ° dd"" "'^ '^"^ ' '""^ ^ -°" courted by all, as if t^ saX ht wtloir v"' oTH^eTinTiar; r- *- ^-ve:";t be"! to visit :iTl:tX''X^-^ ;- daughter) to scatter about firebrands w T,"""" '='""'=« families. You may see £ w 1°" """^ ''""•" '" '^'" Broadway, with females Xethl" """"^ '"'' '" as pure as the mountainZw ITT "r """^ and receive the «»l..».ri„ ^' , . ^''° '"'i »eet ahiushforb*;:irr.i*!'^^^^^^^^ a blush for beir. seen n7\ ^"'"'^ '^'*°"' meet his victim" (who '"baW """^""^ ' """ '" *«« Will, v'^no probably was on/»ofK«;«r___ , ^ GRANT THORBUEN. 57 and they will shun her as they would the plague. Now, Miss Mock-Modesty, why shun your poor, young, blasted friend, when you are not ashamed, in the face of the sun, in the public street, to be seen hanging on the arm of the whiskered rascal who has ruined her 1 Here's something rotten in Denmark ! This is fashion ; and so is it the fashion in Turkey for a man to have six wives. I have thought of a remedy, and as our State legis- lators are now in session, if they have a mind to at- tend to it, well ; if not, I can't help it. Let there be a court established by the name and title of the Court of Conscimce. Let this court consist of three matrons not under forty, and not above fifty-five years of age bearing the title of Judges; also, twelve matrons, by way of a jury: all their appointments being perma- nent and for life. Then they will soon know how to do busmess ; for as one dies, her place being filled with a green-hand, the old ones will show her how matters are conducted. It is the curse of the repub- lic that our officers are all children and apprentices— ever learning, and never coming to the knowledge of their trust. Every change of president brings a change of the whole concern, down to the clerk of a dirt-cm. Just as they begin to know how to conduct the affairs of their office they are kicked out, and a new set of apprentices step in to learn. Instead of having mazier builders to conduct our affairs, we are not even allowed to have journeymen ; hence come uIunderinB-. defniilMnn- a,.,i«.n: i '^' o» """*viiiiig, unci every evii 58 REMINISCENCES OP Wv c™ *' '."' ^^'""'7 K^P"-^ to Congress ■CiVery Congress has to borrnw »«/ ^""gress. terese of thf^^oney wZd by th"r 17 "^ '"• and as we are nil L,r • ^ Predecessors; lend us. Ld the?rake th/ b"„e7. "? t"' """^ '° other unfortunate gentlemen. ' °' ""^ ""' '''''' But to return to the Courf nf n witnesses. Should ther,. h» » "^ '^""'^ e». let him make affidaWt LZr"?""'''' """«"■ for neither constable nor anv of th ^ ? """S*"'""* ' to enter these premises It is !, *" ' '='^'"''''" "" court always sifs X .osed doot 'uTt ""^^ that the court should f «t ^ "°^ intended defendant or deXe' asZ"cTH°''''t"'"' *« broken hu ward nlj ^ ? '"™ ■ ''e having Misdemeanors, have mulL/ ^m ? *^^ """"' ""'' third of his estate IZ T ° ^^^ "^e"" ""e- by way of indemni,^ T. ^R """!'' '° "^""^ M"-- 'he P4rty trdttely' if'^tretf! 7" r*" "» property send Mm f„ .T^ o defendant have no g gaiter deductmg maintenance) be paid over GRANT THORBUttN. 59 to Jane Maria during her life; at her death let him out of prison, that he may learn better manners. There can be no appeal from this to any court where the men wear wigs ; for, as the men have already trampled on all the rights of women, by refusing to enact laws for their protection in this and similar cases, it is but fair play and turn about, for the women to take the law in their own hands. That this may be carried into effect instanier let the women call a public meeting, to be held in the Park, on the 22d day of February, being Washington's birthday, and the birthday of liberty. Let our worthy friend the Mayor be requested by the ladies (and being a man of choice gallantry, he won't refuse their request) to turn out the whole posse of constables to guard the gates and perambulate the fences, that no male animal of any description may enter in by the gates, or climb over any other way, like thieves and robbers as they are. Let three of the ladies hold a caucus the night previous, and have all the resolutions and speeches cut and dried, so that when they get on the stage they have only to read them, and let all the wondering multitude say " Ay ! ay !" Thus having done their duty to their country and ihemselves, they can go home and eat their dinners with a calm mind and a quiet conscience, showing an example of mod- est worth to those would-be lords of the creation who hold meetings there, and who, before they break up, get all a-fighting, like the Democrats and their lead- ^v „„„ u,iwwijucii, piGUQuns ana wit- 60 M il I kl REMINISCENCES OF ne,se,. defendants and counsel, peace-keepers and head-breakers, pell-mell, all through each other. Th". they can/recdom of debate. Jl^^-^T V°""''"'"' ""^" "»• '■-ar ladies, to drop a hmt. You are to address the Senate and ho House (meaning the President) i„ Congress assem B Sit rVr ^'«° ^«^«'»'-«. or house oTZ- sembly, which I,ouse contains the Governor also; but observe you ^te not to petition ; for, as Park Benia' «.n to d the Moabites at the greaJ meeting of Z Office levellers, •• you are to rcmonstrate-Jt cithen jobbers and brokers." says he. " but fellow-craCe" hke myself, you are to remonstrate. What ! petition tell them at once that, whereas, in our days of igno ranee, you made us pay two shillings for a letter!^at was not worth tuppence, now, having opened our eyes Z ZVru T- ''"^ '° '"« 'rueVpublican ZJ: Zt'o/Zl^ ""' "'^"^ ""''' "^'f" ""-J "Other's Bonofye back to your native woods to grub trees besides, we will beptdiate the eight, six, or ten doll la™ per day, whereof you have been sha;ing the body fhiSVof r T*' "" ''-"^"Othinl-except the mumg of shng, playing billiards, and calling hard names may be called doing something." ^ of by my fnend Benjamin, but it is pretty nigh the meamng; however, if you would like to possess a t.mate a wish and he will furnish a certified Lv I. "«ce, lor i,e :s very accommodating in those maUe^: GRANT THORBURN. 61 I P. S. Since writing the above, I have cut out a plan virhich, if the ladies follow up with their wonted spirit and perseverance, will insure their complete success in regB.mmg their long-lost rigJits, viz. it will be abso- lutely necessary to send on a deputation to present the remonstrance aforesaid in person. I thought of re- commending six, and had almost gone on to name half-a-dozen of such startling beauties as would have turned the brains of all the old copper-heads on this side of the Rocky Mountains, but, thinks I to myself, where we have sixty thousand equally handsome within fifty square miles, distinctions would be invidi- ous ; and having seen by the commercial advertise- ments, that it is recommended to the young whigs in Pennsylvania to send on twenty thousand by way of a deputation to the convention, I thought the idea so bright it might well be imitated by the ladies. I there- fore recommend that twenty thousand go on forth- with, armed with their powerful remonstrance. Hav- ing refreshed themselves with a night's rest at Wash- ington, be up by times next morning, and bavins eaten a substantial breakfast . fill your reticules with crackers, cakes and dough-nuts, with a small vial of simple water by way of moistening the lips. Thus armed for a siege, repair to the Capitol and take pos- session before the drowsy isamsons have awoke from the lap of Delilah. Fill the gallery, pit and lobby, only reserving seats for John Adams and two dozen more of the members who are sworn champions of •Yc-^ei. „ ..-.,,,. ^cj, i.iii5 sitwug ue declared perma- 6 62 RBMINISCBNCES OF nent. (as the French Directory used to say in 1793 when at 10 ,. «. they had not got up Royalists' „„!! enough .0 keep the g„i„oti„e f„ jj^^^ eZl A. M ti 1 Bonaparte, fearing they would not leave h^ heads enough to shoot at, drove out the Cou„ch of Frve Hundred at the point of the bayonet!a„d sea ' your 2c:'Vr ""'""^ "' ^""^ > ^- >'^- your anting must be permanent, and you will soon bring the members to terms. They not b«W pared with the staff of life like you;",! l/u Z\ starve thtm out before morning ; for the hune^y dl "«t|n:" '•■"" '""-""- ^-H- of the Having now brought this matter to a happy con fusion, (as Daniel Webster said anent the B^u^a "j resr liVti^ i? t i |o-^ pat. pa, pat conSry Se /S°r; She had not yet become i?«// to Pharaoh I r,. her I intended snilmrr f« t • ^ -^naraoii.; I told and expected to be in Undr' '" « ^^^ «l='y». to the mantlr of ^.n " ' '^^ ^^^^"'^ * '«««r ° «iBu..ger ot the Covent-GHr/lon ti. • about three weeks thereafter T I ^^^"™ '' in the green-room Z ,\ ^""^ him the letter good success in WVor JX t 5^!'--' — 7 ' «.Iii gUiiig' GRANT THORBURN. 65 to play Richard the Third to-night," and then asked me to take a couple of tickets for a friend and my- self. I told him I had never seen a play. At this he broke out with a loud laugh for some minutes : *' Why," says he, " they tell me you have a good house in New- York, and you have had some good players there too, of late — what is your reason V* Says I, " I have one fundamental reason ; I always like to be in bed at half-past nine o'clock, and I would not break my regular rest for all the plays in the world ; besides, in Scotland! they say that the theatre is the * De'il's Kirk,' and the players * na better than they shu'd be.* " At this he sat down on a bench and laughed till his spacious sides heaved like a pair of bellows. When he had drawn his breath a little, " Well," says he, " take the tickets, be in the house at seven, call here at eleven to-morrow morning, and if you like the dose I will give you a pass to every theatre in London." I was in my box at the hour; I liked the play ; my friend said it was well per- formed. I was so pleased when Richmond killed Richard, that forgetting where I was, I sung out, " Well done, old troop !" this set the folks in the next boxes all laughing. The after-piece was the ** Maid and the Magpye," a nice article and a good moral. I remember a case of this sort which hap- pened in Scotland, about sixty years ago, in a gen- teel family. The silver spoons were diminishing con- tinually ; suspicion rested on a servant girl who was much esteemed in the house ; she was discharged 6* '"^W^ 66 I BEMmiSCENCES OF without a character whun ™- » in tea™. Twelve L^tZk^'T '"{'^'''^ P^^ed went up to repairTCtof r 'f ' ''^^'' *« »'««r were found in' » ^^^ ^07"?! "', ''/ 'P"- house immediately eem fn/j. x- '*''? °'" ">e twelve months' wages and '^'°'""^' ?"<> h«r same responsible situation .rdri'^'^'',''- - ""e not dead or married ' ''^''^ "^^ « yet, if p'ayrarrr^irr ^:^-'''^''ov,the thought all was over thTfiddr"^^ ' """'■ J"»' ^ I Scotch reel, when si;"trd7^"^ ^ ''^^'^ came scampering out from Tl f ' ^'^"'^ '"'''" hay-stack. The^lads wo"e bk\ T''"''"^ ''^^ - buckles, white silk stockW u, "^'"" """J ""^er white satin vest aadt " > u" ""'^"' ""-ee^hes, thought they looked 1 f"'^ '""""^ J««kets. I Ws were Vs2^t;,CT:hyr^-* ^^^^ dress at all; their hair w«» , L ''"''• "was no and lilies o^he valt^ "h" Ss^f' oT with roses P-nted so they looked ve'; ': " "''r"'''*^'^ -^ «'Ik jackets, i„ shape like a co™5\ ^ '^"''^ P'"'' cut down in front- whi, A . ? , ' *"" wonderfully what is worn b^ he ml X'" ""'''■ "°' '-S- than^ regiments of so[diera^S^o°an^T?'^«'^'''»<^ stockings, and pretty littleSeJatt;""'""' ""^ enough thought to squeeze orthSTiLT • Servants. GRANT THORBUHN. (57 id parted the slater be spoons ^y of the paid her r in the is yet, if •ove, the ^st as I a Jively 56 lasses ? h'ke a 3 silver eeches, ^ets. I * The ivas no h I'oses ed and e pink Brful]y r than rhland d silk small 'inde- ed as straight as a bean-pole. Well, the fiddlers bowed and at it they went, first kicking out ae Jit and then the tither; they louped, they jumped, they whirled and flang ; ay, man, but it was an aufu' sight in a Christian country. I thought o' Tam 6'Shanter and the witches dancing in Alloway's auld haunted kirk while the DeHl was playing the bagpipes. When the play was going on all was still — no ex- citement; now all was uproar and commotion; the men clapping hands and hallowing encore, encore ; scores of women laughing ; ladies with their hands on their faces. I thought if they did na like to see it they had no business there. Says I to myself, this is the secret, this is the grand attraction of the theatre. Next morning I called at the green-room: " Well," says Mr. Bertram, (I think was his name,) " how did you like it 1" " The play and the farce very much," says I ; " but the dancing girls were the fly in the ointment. I have heard your shop called a school for morals ; but if this is your standard, I think it's very much below par." He smiled and said, " It is true, but we are obliged to consult the public taste." Says I, *' I would rather hoe com in the month of July in America, than be a slave to the public." "But," says he, "you have had some first-rate fashionable dancers among yourselves of lale." " Yes, sir," says I, " but they are not Ameri- cans ; now and then we import a ship-load of Italian nddiers and rope-dancers ; men singers and women 68 REMINISCENCES OF Singers, live elephants and monkeys ; and the scum of society everywhere will wander after such beasts, but there is not a native born lady in America who rather than expose her person to the vulgar stare of a set of royal blackguards and noble fools, would not take a prayer-book in one hand and a wooden cross in the other and walk into the flames of mar- tyrdom. ' Says he, " I know you are a moral peo- ple, but you are making wide strides after us " He proffered me a pass to every Theatre and Opera in London. I thanked him, but I was engaged To dine at seven, eight and nine o'clock, and meet with Gar- dening and other Societies for ten nights a-head which I preferred to play-acting. I remember about forty-seven years ago, when the only play-house in the city stood on the premises in John-street now occupied by Thorburn's Seed- store. One night a fire broke out near by while they were playing : the house was emptied, the fire extmguished, the people returned, and the play went on in less than half an hour. Never having been mside of a play-house, I went in to see what they were about. They were busy with " The Devil to pay in the West Indies," a piece in high repute m those days. But as I could not understand what they were at on the stage, I took a look at the folks m the boxes, pit, and gallery. I saw respecta- ble women from Broadway and Pearl-street in the boxes— (no Jones or Bond-streets, no Park or Swamp.Place in those days,) men, women and chil- GKANT THORBTTEN. 69 he scum J beasts, ca who, ar stare (, would wooden of mar- 'al peo- s." He *pera in to dine th Gar- a-head, I when 'emises Seed- while d, the le play having 3 what > Devil repute what at the pecta- in the rk or dren in the pit, a motley group— and Blacksmiths* apprentices and Canvastown girls in the gallery. (No Church or Leonard-streets in those days. Can- vas-town, now Whitehall, manufactory is at present located in Walnut-steet.) I saw mothers of forty, with their daughters of twenty, sitting in all the im- modesty of undress. I knew many of them by name and number. Some were members of Churches. Said I to myself, " You dare not, for the life of you, be seen in church rigged out in that fashion." The next place I saw any of those ladies was in church, there they sat, in modest apparel and decorum of manner, reading their prayers and making their re- sponses with faces as long as their hat-bands. I thought they must have a conscience for Sundays, and 8, conscience for Mondays — a dress for the house of God, and an undress for the synagogue of Satan. There is something so fascinating in dramatic re- presentations to boys of from fourteen to twenty- two, that they will steal from parents, masters, su- periors or equals, or anywhere, so that they may gain admittance into this hot-bed of all iniquity. The records of our criminal courts well establish this fact. Colquhoun, who was many years at the head of the Police in London, and who published a history of that institution, remarks — •' I believe that more of the youths among the lower orders in London be- gin their career as thieves, in order that they may have the means of gratifying their penchant for the- -r 70 BEMINISCENCES OF nyd" Now don't you think that the youths in New-York are made exactly of n.„ that the youths in LoXlrf^lVT.T"'^ youths are W/... and many S.mt t^,: well tanght «« are the youths in J ...v,do\"nT' our youth being all born sovereigns thev IJT"""' quently cram.ned with an extra quantl of de.ee .d folly, ..kin, ..en. «t 1"S:2 ;// viorrirer tht; :r ■^, :f ^ '- --^ -"- "mediately there I^s I rirVnde' r'"""' a« oyM,.x.hou3o and a porterhouse T Jr' '""^• a pre. ,.i tutio'i-house Tl?« f ' ^amblmg and -...er.,y.he":;„S:uir::^jf,;;;^j::j n;„^/ r , waiKed the streets at a I hours nf th^ n ght, for doctors, nunes, &c. I have of^n (just as the streaks of light be,.a„ L Tu , '*^" s^^) young men and Ceme^ntte'' ITeT™ LilertyTrel hi''"''"-, .^^'"^^" «-'' «'l *i.jr streets 1 have counted from fiPv*»« *« * i J' ue piaying cards m Lerov-PJarP win, o «^re the wL^ t^^^^^^t^t-^ X^^' -d Long Island, when they send t^.^Z:!^ GRANT THORBURN. 71 youths in 3 material -Oasly our re not no Besitieg, re coiise- of . Tipu- for every ery other i> -house, its wing, )Iing and the first he other in New- s of the en seen eastern ores in E* which Bd and twelve entry. 3 hour I some -dollar aff be- Rhode New- J York to measure cloth and sell mousseline de laine, that they have pitched them into the mouth of the roaring lion— that he is dragging them along the road to ruin, and down to the chambers of black despair. This custom of boys and young men sleeping in the store is a sore evil under the sun ; and intrusting them with the frant door-key of the store is a sore temptation to steal from the till by day, that they may spend it in the houses aforesaid by night. Re- member— wj^fco murdered Ellen Jewett ! Beside, dramatic representations unfit the mind for the steady routine of business, and for all the sober realities of life. Let any one walk into the stores on Broadway or Pearl- street between the hours of three and four, while their employers are gone to their dmners, and the clerks will be seen standing in groups with pen stuck behind the ear, the bales, the bills, the day-book and ledgers all unstrung, while they are comparing notes about Celeste's dancing. Wood's singing, or Flynn's playing, Sfc. Should an undertaker step in at this moment and ask for black kid gloves, so engaged are they in this all-important discussion, and so loath are they to be interrupted m their favorite and all-engrossing subject, that the poor grave-digger is frowned from the threshold with an abrupt and surly No ! although the abomi- nable rascals know that they have fifty dozen of that self-same article lying on the shelf at that very moment. Self-interest and common sense make them keen flipir t*\raa rx-n 4-Ur^i.. 1 1 1 1 Ml 1 .- . . --_„ . ^-^- ._•:.. vii fciicii, uuua.s iiiiu Diiis Will ie their 72 REMINISCENCES OF employers are present, but even then the hand is often still and the eyes shut over the day-book while the mind is running riot over the wild intoxica- tmg scenes they have witnessed in the opera or play house the night previous ; in their sleep they talk and dream of nothing else, and at their desks they are still haunted by the same delusion. At one period of my life I was one of the helps in D. Dun- ham's large vendue concern in Pearl-street, and al- though he was the sharpest business man in the street, I often witnessed the above and similar blast- ing effects of dramatic representations, even among his clerks. Beside, it is an awful murder of time, to sit three nights in a week, from seven to eleven' learning nothing but what is worse than nothing: debasing and paralyzing the mind. If our city fathers, all over the continent, would close the theatres for only five yean by way of ex^ periment, they would find the candidates for the gal- lows, prison and penitentiaries, to diminish fifty-fold I don't ask whether you believe in tho Bible, in the devil or in hell, but you all profess to be promoters of the public good. Well then, if those who are guar- dians of the public weal would look on the thou- sands of boys and children of both sexes that beset the doors, obstruct the walks, and throng the streets m front of these temples of vanity, listen to their oaths and profane language, (God help the city when these boys are aldermen,) and say, if the causes of such gatherings are not a public nuisance. GRAiNT THORBUKN. 73 Twenty years ago there was no theatre in Roches- ter ; they were then a quiet, steady, sobersided fra- ternity of wheat flour grinders. There started from New- York a company of players ; they stopped at Albany to scratch up what they could catch ; (it was precious little;) they pushed through the canal with their kettle-drums and fiddlesticks, their bass-drums and clarionettes, their supernumeraries and door- keepers ; females and bottle-holders, broom-sweep- ers and candle-snuflers-a motley group : they enter- ed the town like Death on a paJe horse, and all hell followed after— and what is Rochester now I But to draw to a close, (as brother Miller said after a two hours' lecture on the propriety of burning the world last St. Patrick's day,) I would only remark, that for the three years just gone by theatricals are getting every day in less repute. There is one reason for this, as I think, and for which we have to thank the Harpers, Winchesters, Benjamins and others, VIZ. the cheapness of books. Young men are struck when they see a book that formerly used to sell for three dollars, now advertised for 25 cents— the title attracts them, they can purchase as many for what they formerly paid for a play ticket, as will keep them reading at night for a month ; thus the charm of the theatre is broken—the infatuation dispelled; he has time to think ; he has chanced on Astronomy, the sub- limest of all earthly sciences ; the more he reads the more he admires the wisdom and power of God ; he now looks bn^'ir ixrifU ^^,-«-.fc ^t-_ .• --va.fl !.„..,-. .,^^„ icgict uu iuu time auu money Miirnrtili'i l|»l^mMriri'Hi»i %i SJiV^ mmmmmmm n I ! R£Mlr4I8CBKC£3 OF he has spent for nothing, Ptid worse than nothing, and vanity r he sees he haa a part of his own to per- form 'ucu^ ( .3 fellows, and having buckled on his amiuf, ic resolved to play his part like a man. Remlnlscenoea of Thomas Palnet -" crone, whose hand, ■t I " Like the base Jodsean, threw a pearl away, * *• Richer thpji all his tribe." I think it was in 1801, when Mr. Jefferson, being firmly established iii the throne of his kingdom, dest patched a vessel of war to bring from i ranee the in- comparable Thomas Paine, author of the Rights of Man. Common Sense, &c. Mr. i^aine ha. jjst es- caped, as if by miracle, from he guillotine, wrought by the sturdy airas of the brethren of ms own cloth, who thought, as apj -ared by their deeds, that a man never md got his 11 s?w 'i of rights till t ice the had clipped the head from his shoulders. Ke came to New-y -"k and pnt up at the City Hotel. Next day, about 9 a. m. a gentleman came into ny store and reported that Mr, Paine was then standing on the steps of the 'tott door. With t\/o ge ulemen who happened t b i the stort we sail out to have a look at him ; bu just as wc came in view he had returned inside. While I stood considering how \i< \ epANT TIIORBURN. 75 nothing, n to per- ed on his m. >n, being om, des- e the in- sights of jdst es- wrought ra cloth, It a man ice the le came 1. Next ny store ^'' 3 on itlemen ii out to view he iner how to get a sight of him I saw Samuel Loudon, the printer, enter the hotel. This Samuel Loudon was a sober-oided old Scotchman, and a stanch Wliig. When Lord Howe took possession of New- York Samuel fled with his types, black-balls and prinung- devils, and joined the army under Washington. When Washington wrote a proclamation, Samuel was sure to print it. Dr. Rogers — who was many years minister in Wall-street — was there too, preach- ing about the sword of the Lord and of Washing- ton, till the fer ws fought like the Highlanders at the battle of W aterloo. Dr. Rogers' son was there too : he was a doctor of physic ; and when the sol- diers got their legs broke in the storming of batteries, he coopered them up, and set them a marching again as soon as possible. All this I learned while con- ersing with Mr. Loudon. But to return to Thomas I 'aine. As I knew that Mr. Loudon and he were co- patriots through the whole of the American revolu- 'oij r presumed Mr. L. was going to see his old a i d ; and if so, I could thus get an introduction to Mr. Paine. So in I went. A servant was sweeping the passage. "Is Mr. Paine at home?" said L *' Yes." " In . room 1" " Yes." - Alono V « Yes." Here I was p out— if he was alone, uadno intro- duction. But was determined now to see him. Come whnt will, thought I, he wrote the Rights of Man— he won't dei.y my rigiit to look upon his an gus ^jersoij, and being ^Ime I will introduce myself. ** Can I see li -n 1" "Foil v me," He u«l>ArA.l r«o ) 76 REMINISCENCES OP breakf J A "T' ^"^^^ "'^ '^"0 was set for breakfast. A gentleman was at the table writing anoI.er reading the newspaper, and at the farther Ind wartnT f °^'™S- >='"k. coarse-looking figure warming hMhmd-quarters before the fire. From the resemblance the latter person bore to por ra" I ha 1 seen .n his book, I knew it wu, Paine"^ WMe i fonn". ■' •^' ^ P'"'" '■"P-Wican «/„„.,. but when «°"ght I, I am in for it-get out as well as I can MrSTn'th" '"^ "''^'^"^ '' ''«-!eln B Mr.l'ame.n this roomV He stepped toward L and answered ..My name is Paine^-' I held o l^;' nand, anu taking h s, savs I '« Mv "Po- i ^ genUe^en, will ^pWs'e /l'. m ' abrT;* ^ .rf yourcSsitv r/^'-y ''^'PPy "' being able to satisfy ^-a;rdUS:L^7.rrtZ'^:s WM. sound :f\S^^^^^^ -TLlseen TL'r^P ■'' ''^^ '"^'^ '^"^h that win " OhTyes it's ?h T °r '■"" ""'" S™"«"^" ^" / awaytoa'coff \ "'*°'"'^^™«"-" They hied away to a coffee-house, then at the corner of Wall ORANT THORBUBN. 77 and Water-streefs ; they reported the matter, with additions and improvementB ; and as the story tra- veiled it grew larger with every version, till it became quite a farce at length. One said that I told Paine that he was a great muckle beast, and that it was for reading and lending his Rights of Man that I was compelled to leave my country, &c. &c. At that time I was clerk in the Scotch Presbyte- rian Church in Cedar-street. The kirk session took the alarm, an extra meeting was convened, and I was suspended from psalm-singing for three months, because I had shaken hands with Thomas Paine. A few years after this, when Mr. Paine had fallen into disrepute, and his company was shunned by the more respectable of his friends on account of his un- popular writings and hard drinking, he boarded in the house of William Carver, a blacksmith and horse- doctor. This Carver and I had been journeymen in the same shop ten years prior to this period ; so hav- ing free access to the house, I frequently called to converse with Mr. Paine. One evening he related the following anecdote. He said it was in the reign of Robespierre, when every republican that the mon- ster could get in his power was cut down by the knife of the guillotine, Paine was in the dungeon and his name was on the list, with twenty-four others' ordered for execution next morning. It was custom- ary for the clerk of the tribunal to go through the cells at night, and put a cross with chalk on the back Qi UiQ door of such as were to be guillotined. In the 7* 78 REMmiSCENCIS OF 11 mommg, w&en the executioner came 'vith his t mTn woman and child can and does read it." Ihlld lTCf\ "^^"•"-''I. "if the Bible we'ea bad book, those who used it most would be the worn people ; but the contrary, is the factlfor! rTe are fiVd" • f'"^"^"--' P"-"^ and penitentia: .Te B ble ! ""* '^""'l"' '"'■'^'Sners who never saw Jve .ike live with, and arett^nl'^p ^^2 brues that perish; in Scotland the peasantry are Sr ;." '^-- ;"<^---. -d live L coSaS st7u E L h ;';'\"'°'"'""' ^^ I stopped, the clock sto^f '«»-•'« 'fted one of the two candles that stood on the table, and without a word in replv or even a good night, walked up stairs to bed, £^1 h.s fronds and me to draw our own conclusion! ^ Snortly after this a man was hung for murder He walked with a steady step from the old Bridewellt the P„k to a hill which stood on the west Td" If Broadway, near the comer of Leonard-street, whJe the ga^ws was erected, a clergyman on each side of h.m-all three s.ng.ng a hymn. When anived at the ganows he mounted the cart and stood , n his coffin Before he left the prison a rope of about two fee long, havmg a small iron hook attached to it, was p« round h>s neck. From the gallows was .ZTJT. it— so, of was con- in Scot- ery man, lis he ac- B were a ! be the let — for, nitentia- )ver saw n one of Basantry bove the try are fortable »e clock les that 9ply, or leaving ns. 3r. He well in side of whore side of 1 at the coffin. vo feet ^as put i ORANT THOBBt^l^-. jj another rope, having a similar hook at the end of it Being told that the hour was expiring, he proved two — es, then took hold of the hook^'whifh hungZ h.8 back, gave it a catch on the hook suspended from the crostree of the gallows, the cart dnL from un der him, and he died without a struggle Being in company with Mr. Paine that same even- What thought you of the scene 1" " I thought th« man behaved with much fortitude." Said I ■' Mr Paine, what you call the delusion of the Bible wi his man's support in that trying hour." He ^d^ at the suk"e" ;7''\'^^*"<"'S while roasting "Bern, » - 1 r ^^ '' ^'^'"^i' "^ *« '»'"> did." Because, said I, "ho believes he is going to io n his kindred ,n the hunting grounds, where derCe rurk-at death he hopes to pass into elysian fields where he may pick up a dozen handsom'e Ws for nothing, and swallow flagons of wine for ever with out getting drunk. B,.t you have nn L chief ambjion is to live li/e :l'XVZT:Z7 and to find a dog's damnation, (viz. annihilation W would rather believe with a Turk o. an Ind Tnian •n your creed; but the christian's is a reasonable and rational hope-he trusts in no less a power" ha„ n Him who made the worlds above; who counts the number of the stars and calls them by their r^ht names; who counts the hairs on ourlad^ aTd wt takes noting nf th^ ^„li „r _ ' "" ^"" ^"- ^*" "^ « sparrow as much as he 82 REMINISCENCES OP does of the crash of an empire. Thus trusting, he is supported through the troubles of life. When he breaks an arm, he is thankful it was not his leg ; if he breaks a leg, he thanks God it was not his neck : this keeps him in perfect peace. But you have no peace or comfort in this life, and no hope in death. Besides, the christian has the advantage of you both ways ; he has a support here, which you are ignorant of; he has a hope beyond the grave, which you laugh at. If your creed is true, he hhs nothing to lose ; but if his creed is true, you lose your own soul." He looked earnestly in my face for a few mo- ments. "Why, Grant," said he, "thee* had better throw away thy hammer and turn preacher: thee would make a good Methodist parson." ^AAA^^^MM% , Cheap Times. " High-dreaming hards have told •• Of timet when worth was crown'd and faith was kept, " Ere Friendship grew a snare or Love waa'd cold— •• Those pure and happy Umes-tbe golden days of oU." December 2, 1843. Of late much has been read, said and sung about cheap pnnting and its moral t endency ; but, before we • In his youth he lived among the Friends clu father be- longed to the Society. GRANT THOBBURN. 83 analyze the subject, (as Dr. Chilton says, when he is hunting in an empty stomach in search of ratsbane,) we must first make a preface, as Dickens made his " Notes." I have hardly ever seen anything so ridi- culous as a book without a preface, except when we saw Dickens in the theatre, surrounded by lasses of sixteen and matrons of sixty — their gray locks shorn close to the skull, and their hoary scalps covered with a^black matting of maidens' hair — with needle- book and bodkin in one hand, and a pair of scissors in the other : all squeezing round to cut off a pinch of his gray English hair. So much for princesses in a country where all are sovereigns. But this is a digression, and you may look for more of them ; as I write for nothing and find myself, I am not bound to stick to one point. However, we will return to the cheap books. Every- thing is cheap in this country : we have flour at $3 per barrel in Michigan; potatoes at 75 cents per barrel at Buffalo ; beef at 3 cents and pork at 2h cents per pound at Cincinnati ; we have cheap to- bacco in Richmond, sweet potatoes in Carolina, cheap onions in Wethersfield, and cheap board in Albany. You may buy an oath in the Subterranean Court, or at some of the polls, for a dollar, and get shaved in Wall-street for two per cent, a month. In- deed, eTetything is cheap in this country, denio- cracj r^my excepted; and what with time andmoney ^ent at ward meetings, club meetings. Park and |e, handbille and advertising, polls, iliUliXliy lUViii . ^SSB'k 8« RKMINISCfiNCES OF elections &c. ; and then when seated i„ office thev become defaulters in the Custom-house th! R \ ^ house, the Post-office, the Wa^ot ^^ ^evS" office and place of trust-I verilv Cm.? '" ''"'^^y it.^'=r-r:rr.;*— ■■■'- ..»';'.r;:"rTr:;3rs wo pints of bl?' '"r^ *^ "ewspaper.'drink -meCs staX; Imit ' M 'r^' ^^^^™' -"^ they spent S ^i^ , '''°''' ^' "'«'''• Thus fh s!^^ u P^"" '^^^''' (f<"- ^""ne of them put ttic oabbath evenino-« i« *i, • , "icax put «68 12i per annu^ u '=^'«'''S"«'.) making are wn.c *i "^^ ^^,®^ equal. Now, scores of them f GRANT THORBURN. 85 ixiliary om the iee the I litera- erance id rae- e their nigki : joum- drink s, and Thus n put akinar keep years > true them :e an him iano, n instead of making his shirts-shopping in Broadway, m place of mending his stockings -leaving cards in Bond-street, Ann-street, Park-place and Swamp- place, when they ought to be in the kitchen to see how the cook got the apple inside of the dumpling. Uut I have forgotten the cheap books again. Well to return to our mechanics. Now, when they come home at mght, having finished supper, they find on the mantel-piece a newspaper for a cent, and a his- tory of the stout barons in England, who compelled Kmg John to sign the ilf^,a CAarta, for twenty, five cents, this book cost thirty shillings sterling in London ) Indeed they can buy as many books for ten sbllrngs and sixpence, only one week's beer .core as W.11 keep them reading for a twelvemonth; be- books ..., ,ood for the mind. Formerly, they rose in the mornmg wah a sore head and a sick heart, their deasall..conlu.;,„ worse confounded," no^ they nse with the lark,^ .....ing ,. el,„ h^.j \^^ ^ fj conscience. Thev *>r ^ - . » .i, i i_ quiec Hl,»,i, ^ney e. ,H on the labors of the day like the sun gomg forth in his strength; and while their hands are employed in the he wing of wood and drawing of vvater, their thoughts are^fighting over again the battles of Wellington, which thf y refdTho night previous m Alison's Hiatory of Europe thus be sf BeL °"" "''''"" -^ -^■'-/ti- si- short. Besides, many young men who formerly •An European bird, 8 an pnvltr fL'An~. -o"*^** r-^r 86 REMINISCENCES OF spent their nights in that church of thed evil and road to hell—the theatre— now stay at home and read cheap books. N. B. I must add now, by way of postscript, friend Park, (and you must print every line of this rhap- sody, else don't print any,) that it has been said that some of your books are rather of a black concern. It maybe so, for I have not read the "Mysteries of Paris," and can't tell : and, if it is, you are no worse than your neighbors ; but as two blacks won't make a white, I advise you to mend your manners— you are not too old to learn. But, is it not enough to make the devil blush to hear men blame the Messrs. Har- pers and yourself for only printing the theory, while they themselves send or carry their sons and daugh- ters to Paris, where they may learn the same things in practice 1 And is it not strange to see these guardians of the public weal carry their sons, daughters and wives to the play-house, where they may see groups of French and Italian ny?nphs, dancing in frocks of the same longitude that they wore when only ten years old 1 There are some lordly democrats who send their daughters to Baltimore to finish their education in a nunnery : and a pretty sort of a finish they make of it ; better they had sent them to the female aca- demy at Hackensack, where they might learn some common sense among the Dutch laeses^-an article they can never acquire in a nunnery. GRANT THORBTTRN. 87 The Hone and his Rider. "Up hill, indulge hlm-down the deep descent, 'Spare-and don't urge him when hi. strength i. spent; Impel him briskly o'er the level earth, " But in his stable don't forget his worth." Many who keep horses are not aware that they are th.nk.ng ammals, and have feelings, passions and affections very much like human beings, although they cannot talk. People who do not appreciate the character of the horse, are apt to treat him without ove or mercy, and without any appeal to his natural int«ihgence. " The horse knoweth his owner," and much more: he knows when he is used as a horso should be; and in respect to treatment, the Turk and Arab have much the advantage of many christians I could name. The Pagans make friends of their horses ; they love each other, and on the sandy desert or the wild plain they lie down side by side, and each IS equally ready to resist the approach of an enemy. '^'^ A horse may be taught like a child by those who have won his affections; but the method of teaching .3 by showing distinctly what you wish him to do! not by beating him because he does not understand and perform at the outset all you desire. Hordes, like men, have very different intellectual capacities and tempers ; but all may be mastered by kindness, while t,.e best, the most high-spirited and the most ^ «„x ^^. ^.^.„c« uj uaroa treatment. iwiii»wi|impii 'MniwiiiinB 4mi*"«i ^ in 88 BEMINISCENCES OF At the circus you have ocular do .onstration that the horse uiulerstands the langunge of < >, and man may learn more virtues tlian one if he \' ill observe the habits of his horse. •• Ask tli beast, hi! will teach thee J" To illustrate the position that a horse, by kindness, may become as docile and as fond of hi maste as a dog, I will tell something of my horse Biiiy. I was out with iiim before a light wagon ; on a part of the way a fence was being made with lime, nnd the road was encumbered with large atones, lime, lim< unrrels carts, ox-chains, &:c. which rendered it almos* ' passable, even by daylight. I was detained be) id my expectations, and by the time I arrived t sis dangerous spot, on my return, it was so dark I could not Ai tinguish the head of my horse. I thought of getting out to lead himj but this was impossible, as the frost was coming out of the ground, and had I left the wagon I should have simk to the knees in mire. When we came to this spot Billy stopped of hia own accord. " Now, Billy," oaid I, ♦' I can't see, and can't walk ; you must try and not upset me." So saying, I slacked the reins, and gave him his own way. It was a ticklish job, but he mananfed- it nobly ; he stopped now and then and made a survey, as carefully as did the men who ran the boundary line two years ago; he turned, and tacked, and wore ship like an old seaman among breakers, and brought me out as safe as a steamer beyond the overslaugh. " Well done, Billy," said I. " You shall have a good I la ^il GRANT THOR ion that infl man observe ln! will in'ness, 'tc as a I was •t of the the road barrels lOS r be) id t'iis I could 3ught of sible, as d had I :nees in pped of m't see, St me." his own t nobly ; vey, as ary line d wore brought rslaugh. a good 89 bed ndfour ^jartsofoatsassoonas wegethome." While I kept talking, he walked at a slow pace as if liMenii ^. - Now, Billy," said I, " ye may gang yer atn gaU:* He clapped his feet to the ground— he is a racker— and in ten li, luten we were at home. As I was taking off his harne. ., T kept patting and praising him occasionally , „ made a comfort- able bed and gave him his br which he seemed more grateful than some < l,ose iwa legged gentry who scour the Third Avenue, for they neither thank Uod nor man. ^illy is a white Canadian pony. I have fed him for t. u years past with my own hands, and generally ca- ress and talk to him while feeding, so that now he seems to understand every word I say as well as if he had been bom in Scotland. I knew a gentleman who bought a number of cavalry horses at public sale shortly after the battle of Waterloo ; he turned them loose in a park near London. After being in the park a few weeks, there came up a thunder-storm ; at the time the horses were busily engaged eating the grass ; with the first flash of lightning the h .ses r ised their heads, pricked up their ears, and 8..,od in the act of listening j in a moment the sound of the thunder came rollirig from afar when every horse galloped, each faster than his neighbor, to the centre of the field, where they fell mto line as regularly as if backed by the most ex- penenced life-guards. In a few minutes, finding it a false alarm tTne^xr miiAfLr — •. i . .1 . y ^»^j tj«iwvxj ictuiiiuu CO ineir irrass 8* t> ^^a ^^. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 2.0 6" 1.8 11.25 ii.4 IIIIII.6 V] v: -^ Kiotographic Sdences Corporation ^v (0- n.^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET V'EBSTER.N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ^' k <^ .<"•' ^'^e 90 REMINISCENCES OP Where is the man, having a soul, that can abuse sucli an animal 1 I knew a gentleman who occasionally got intoxi- cated, whose horse knew when his master was drunk as well as he did himself, by his vacillating motions when mounted. Upon such occasions the horse would regulate his movements so as to prevent his master from falling, if possible. One moonlight evening he staggered out of Cato's, or some of the hell-holes near the Third Avenue, and was helped on the saddle ; but he fell off before he had gone a mile, and his foot hung in t|ie stirrup. His horse stopped and stood still. Her© was a theme for a picture — a comment upon the text : ** Ask the beast, he will teach thee." There stood the compassionate horse, the big tear rolling in his eye, looking with sorrow upon hi| drunken master, and revolving in his mind how best he should help him. At length he griped the brim of his hat with his teeth, but this gave way, and again the drunkard's head smote the ground. He then seized hold of the collar of his coat, and thus held him up till he was able to extricate his foot from the stirrup. His master having now become some- what sobered by the loss of blood and his fright, was able to mount again and keep his saddle, and arrived home safe. Soon after this the man joined the Temperance Society, and h now a useful and happy man. It is now more than ten years since this occurred, but the horse is still kept and treated like one of the family, and will be till he dies. use such t intoxi- as drunk motions je would 3 master 3ning he ell-holes on the a mile, stopped ;ture— a ill teach rse, the )w upon nd how pad the ve way, ground, md thus )ot from e some- j fright, lie, and 1 joined ful and 'S since treated GRANT THORBURN. 91 I have seen a horse at an exhibition, which, upon a watch being held before him, and he asked what time it was— happening to be four o'clock— struck the floor four times with his foot. A friend of mine in Brooklyn has a horse which when asked by his master to salute the company, will place himself against the wall, and standing upon his hmd feet, nod with his head to the company. A friend of mine had a valuable horse stolen from his stable, for which a large reward was offered and diligent search made, but to no purpose. Having changed masters several times, he was at length rode by a gentleman whose business led him through the place from which the horse had been stolen, and when 4ie came opposite his old master's house he marched directly up and put his head over the half- door, and commenced neighing. His rider kicked, spurred, coaxed and whipped, but to no purpose : to move him was impossible. A crowd gathered around him, and among these was his old master. They re- cognized each other immediately, the master by naming his horse, and the horse by laying his head on his master's shoulder. The rider gave a fair account of his purchase, and so did the next and the next, until it came to the thief, who was committed lor trial. Some years ago a favorite old hunter belonginrr to a gentleman in Somersetshire, England, being locked m the stable, and hearing the sound of a French „.orR and the cry of the houuds, became very restive. 92 REMINISCENCES OF I The hostler going into the stable thought the spirited animal wanted some sport, and instantly saddled him, and placing a large monkey upon the saddle, turned him loose. The horse following the sound soon joined the pack, and was one of the first in at the death of poor Reynard. But the amazement of the sporting gentlemen was greatly heightened by ob- serving the monkey holding the reins with all the dexterity of a true sportsman. A gentleman who owned a great many horses was m the habit of turning them loose in a field to graze, in the summer. Among them was a horse stone' blind. One of the horses attached himself to this blind horse, and whenever the blind one strayed from his companions, this good-tempered creature fallowed him, and by laying his head on his neck, and other signs which they perfectly understood, would lead him back to his comppmons. And fvbat is still more remarkable, this horse was so gentle and peaceable that he incurred the character of being a coward when only himself was concerned ; but if any of them made an attack upon his blind friend he would fly with such fury that not a horse in the field could stand before him. I thought the conduct of this horse might put man to the blush. One of the horses belonging to the Oxford dra- goons having got loose in the stable, marched up a crooked staircase into the hay-loft. When his rider came into the stable he was thunder-struck on mis- sing his hoi-se, and flew like a r-adman to inform an GBANT THOKBURN. 93 officer of his loss ; but he had scarcely got twenty yards when the animal put his head Arougrthe Tth? n and neighed aloud. The as.onista „! scnption Every stratagem that could be devised was made use of to lead or force him down, butln vam; he saw the danger and was obstinate. He kept trott ng and snorting round the large hay-loft for nearly two hours, until at last he stepped upon a trap-door, made of thin boards, which lit him do-™ upon the floor, about eight feet, without the slight- est injury. ° A few ye ,3 since, the servant of Mr. Walker led his ho«es to the comer of New and Broad-streets o drink and was always followed by a fine Scotch terrier dog, which had fondly attacLd himself to one of the horses, and always slept under the manger by the fore-feet of his favorite. On going to drink mastiff; (the prototype of Bonaparte, the great bull- dog of murderers,) and was in a fair way of beinl torn in pieces. The favorite horse seeing the unequal with his hind feet gave the tyrant a blow so well du^cted and powerful as to send him, i.ead over heels, across 'he street and down the steps of a cellar Having performed this act of justice, he re- turned to the well, finished his drinking, ai^d then « his canine friend to his soft bed'iinder Z 94. REMINISCENCES OF . Sir Walter Raleigh makes mention of a horse which liv6d in his time, belonging to a Mr. Banks, of whom it is related that he would restore a glove to its owner after his master had whispered the man's name in his ear. When shown a piece of money, and asked how many pence it contained—suppose it to be a shilling—he would strike the ground twelve times with his foot. This renowned horse is alluded to by Shakspeare, in " Love's Labor's Lost," Act 1, Scene 3. ' The following sublime description of the hoi-se is from the book of Job, chapter^, v. 19. God, speak- mg to Job, says: "Hast thou given the horse strength 1 Hast thou clothe^ his neck with thunder 1 canst thou majce him afraid as a grasshopper] The glory of his nostrils is terrible ; he paweth the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength ; he goeth on to meet the armed men, he mocketh at fear, and is not af- frighted ; neither turneth he back from the sword. The quiver resteth against him, the glittering spear and the shield. He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage ; neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet; he saith among the trumpets, ha, ha ; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting." This eloquent description of the horse was written about 5,000 years ago j yet no language could better portray his nature, though it were written on the day after the battle of Waterioo, where the British horse contributed so much to gain that splen * 'i f GRANT THORBUHN. 95 did victory over Bonaparte and his Invincibles. 1 might fill a volume with such anecdotes; but ^ 1 intend to continue the subject, I will conclude with a few hints on their treatment, which I have learned irom experience. When a horse shays, don^t beat him— that only makes him worse next time ; check him to a walk and give him time to see the object, and he will take little or no notice of it. Ifa horse stumbles, don't strike him for it~that will add the fault of springing forward; for the next trae he stumbles he will expect the lash to follow ind will naturally spring forward to be out of its way. The remedy is in keeping a good look-out; and when you come to a rough or stony part of the road, tighten the reins and enliven the horse by talking to him; but never strike him after an acci- lent. As you would save the strength and wind of your horse, dnve slow up a hill; and as you would save your own and your horse's limbs, drive slow down a h.Il. Do not feed with grain, especially con,, when your horse is warin or much fatigued; if you do you may founder and ruin him. Never wash your horse with cold water when he' .8 hot, or let him drink freely; but if the water is quite warm it will not hurt him. I,::: d6 BfiMINISCENCES OF * The Oeae,ee Girl and her HtUe Red Book. A STOBy, NOT FOUNDED ON, BUT ALL PACT. " Good 8he was, and fair in youth, " And her mind was seen to soar, "And her heart was wed to truth." One tremendously cold morning i„ ,he month of February, one thousand eight hundred and twenty, three or so_a month or a year, more or less, makes Irl? T' '"/'" '"""y " "^"^i"' «"« fashioned ten pKo ' '" ""^ "^^"""^ '"""» ^" "W" -enty .arge". t Xr;;"^^^^ ^ T '' (which was ve,y hot) stood a nuX; of nn^ T ers, mugs and jars of beer, ' ™dy a,e ^nd ' ^T some, running over with he ZIt made » b '' no.se, and the fumes which rose To Thf r"""! intermixed with cIond» r.F ■ , ''^''"'S^ ^''d bounded aedn on 1 t "J^^ """^ «egar-smoke. re- shotting Z7e l^ht :;r 1? V""'^"' "^"'^ the midnight revels „f M u l. ^""^"^ to mind around thfinfrrn%:7:„at^ ""^'^ ''"""« edgeofthecaMldr„„ ?' ? *° landing on the iatit:olr;;Sf;r^^^^^ oil and canvass of Ho^a^h- I t ''',\P'"^«"' P«- those fe«ows into iStSame """ """'' '"""^'^ ■p PHHi 98 REMINISCENCES OF ■> : We were now sent forward in the following order, viz. two in an open chair, or Hulkey, four in a light wagon, and eight in a common Jersey farming wagon, all the machines being without covers. It now com- menced raining; and, by the time we got to the next stage we looked like moving pillars of salt, our hats, cloaks and coats being covered to the thickness of one-eighth of an inch with ice transparent. At the town of we changed the mail, dried our clothes, and got something to warm us. As we went north the sleighing got better, and we were placed in a covered box with runners; but, alas! it was like the man's lantern without a candle — the cover was of white-wood boards, placed a quarter of an inch apart, without painty leather, or canvass ot protect it from the weather ! You will here observe, that se- venty-five cents* worth of canvass, twenty-five cents' worth of paint, and half an hour of time, would have made this machine both air and water-tight ; but in Jersey, time, cents, and every comfort, seemed all swallowed up with the rum-jugs and the ten-plate stoves. We travelled all night, the rain and snow descending through the roof; our hats were frozen to our capes, and our cloaks to one another. When we stopped at the village of for breakfast, we look- ed like mountains of ice moving down the gulf- stream. I thought the machine used at the Dry Dock would have been an excellent appendage here, to have lifted us bodily into the breakfast-room, and this is what the horse-flesh fraternity in New- York 't I GRANT TITORBURlf. 99 ing ortler, in a light ig wagon, now com- the next , our hats, ickness of t. At the ir clothes, ent north laced in a ,8 like the 3r was of an inch protect it , that se- ive cents* )uld have It ; but in 3emed all ten-plate ind snow frozen to iiVhen we we look- the gulf- )ry Dock here, to )om, and ew-York % $^^' t advertised as their xafe^ cheapo comfortable and ex- peditious winter establishment for Albany ! On the road I saw delicate women hewing wood and draw- ing water ; children in the snow, without shoes or stockings ; while the lazy, drunken husband and fa- ther was spending his time and money by the ten- plate stove. I thought the very brute creation of Jer- sey wore gi'oaning in pain under the wickedness of the men ; horses and cows stood trembling by the board-fence, their bones sticking through their hide- bound skins, without the slightest covering to pro- tect them from the piercing winds. Cedar poles and brush were there in abundance ; but the men were chained to the ten-plate stoves when they ought to have been raising a place of shelter for their dumb beasts. t^-. Among our passengers was a young woman, who, from her appearance, I thought must be about seven- teen. Having finished her education in New- York, she was returning to her friends in the West, and vfB" under the protection of a young man, who, from hii polite, yet cool attentions, I thought must be'nearer related to her than cousin. Had she been a witness at the Hall, the papers would have said that she was a very interesting young lady; but, as I do not quite understand the phrase in this connection, it is as well to say at once, that she was a handsome young wo- man. Most of this day's journey there sat on her right hand a respectable farmer from Ohio— a man of sound principles, and who, by his observations, 100 REMINISCENCES OP . vigor oflire JZllZl^tulZlir' V" '"t eye, (observe, this wal not her ! I tor To T^ n>er, in answer to a question hv . ' ""^ '^''■ speaking of the inhabitant offi.e ^""'7' "''^" observed that wherever tLrl "^"^ '^'''e-nents, stated n,i„ister, the peol f "°^ " "'""■'='' """^ "^ around, were mor„ r?'^'/'"' "^e or six miles than w;reThorwrot ^reZT "'"' f - This remark drew forth the to' uTL " ^""^'^': the eloquence of our young heT of thfTl""' He had been to ,.,.11^ ""g nero ot the whiskers. New.York he snokiT' ""^T' """^^'-^ '^^ '- and witchtaftVsS the ifwTo 1 '"°" ^"^"<=^'"* ter Aan the laws of Mose Ind fl ^R^Kr'.r^*' *'"'■ was better than thelT'oSr/pl^Lf ^^^71 the stories about hell and fh„ , P°"'^*- "« said vented to scare the iLrat a„dTh .T'7"'^ ""■ worst, was only a lea"aZ' S ah't '", "" m the dark' we 1,>m1 m, T ' ' ^'^' '^"^ ^®ap precipice, and Iha in a fe "" "'" '° "^^ *^ would be put to he test It ha^^'^'iT """"'•"^^ twelve hou'rs; the Sing g uT^td t'i '^ '"' swore he would take ?o tfe ri et \^:',J;J"r was in lest* hut «« r i • thought he the pas enJer" ;„e '"? 7 '"^ "' *"' •^'-«-". effect. At Ive'rv 1! ' r™°"«'-"«d, but to no drank waterhTarX^ '^^^' """^ "^^ "-- point of high pressure thT he decTa" dTe f '''I neither death nor the devil. '^"^'^ GRANT THORBUHN. lannei-s. On two, in tlie mouth and ••) Our far- tiger, when ettlements, irch and a six miles and sober, privilege, irning and whiskers, "g law in priestcraft were bet- Mahomet He said 9 only in- th, at the this leap near the courage the last 10 -driver 5ught he irection, ut to no horses at that feared 101 This scene took place between Newburgh and Catskill. We knew the ice was strong enough to bear a hundred sleighs, but the rain was running from the frozen hills on cnch side of the river, and the ice was now covered to the depth of at least two feet with water; thr wind was fresh, and the waves rolled as if no ice was under. Our a])prehensions arose from the danger of getting into air-holes, which I could not be seen, as all apj)eared but one sheet of water. At this juncture snow began to fall in broad flakes, so thick and so fast that the driver could g scarcely see the heads of his leaders ; and, to add to our fears, the banks were so steep that we could not effect a landing for nearly a mile ahead. I looked at our farmer; I thought he must, in his travels, have encountered many dangers by field and by flood ; his eye was uneasy, startled, and twinkling with some- thmg like fear. 1 asked him what he thought ; ho thought it was very unsafe, and very imprudent. I looked at the young woman ; she was pale, thought- ful and serious, but spoke not. On her lap she ear- ned a small willow basket, the lids opening to the handle. While I was watching the effects of fear on her countenance, she took from her baskt a /e«/e redhooh, about two and a half inches long, two broad and one thick; she opened the book, turned a few leaves, fixed her eyes, and read about a minute. As she shut and replaced the book in the basket, she turned her face toward the heavens ; she closed her eyes, and her lips moved. Nnw reader -^ 102 REMINISCENCES OF Stood at Werckmeister's window, corner of Broad- way and Liberty-street, you may have seen a paint- ingof a beautiful Italian nun at her devotions. Well if you have seen this, you may figure to yourself the countenance of this young woman in that tryin- mo- ment. As she opened her fine black eyes, the hue of fear, which for a moment had blanched her rosy cheeks, passed away like the shadow of a showery cloud on the side of a green hill, on an April morn- ing I knew not the book, nor what words she had read; but I was sure it must have been something that she took for inspiration, and that was enough for the present case. I thought how cruel would it have been in one of those hoary-headed philanthro- pists of the temple of reason to undeceive this youne woman at this critical moment, could such a tU^. have been possible. During the remainder of our perit ous ride she sat composed, but spoke not. I looked at the whiskered young man : he trembled in every limb; ten minutes before he looked stout enough and fierce enough to have made the passage of Lodi on the right hand of Bonaparte; but now he sat in dismay. This leap in the dark took him by surprise • he was like one without hope, while she placed her tender foot firmly on the Rock of Ages; with her band she took a grasp upon the skies, then bid the waves roll, nor feared their idle whirl. At this mo- ment I saw before me what I thought was Hope, and No Hope, personified-Hope, in the person of this voung female wjir* ^r..,^^ ^ i ^ J ,,i.^ vwu-ivt MUi, et> Jiiucfl as set her GRANT THORBURN. 103 foot upon the ground for very delicacy, yet she nei- ther screamed nor wrung her hands : she neither called for smelling-bottle nor hartshorn, but sat strong in the faitli of her little red hook ; and No Hope, in the person of this young man, wlio, from strength of body and vigor of mind might have passed for one of the very lords of the creation ; but now he sat un- strung and feeble as a child. They had taken from him his red book, and given him a hlank book in its place . e had no hope. At this juncture a passenger crept out of the sleigh and sat by the driver. What unanswerable argument he made use of I know not, but I suspect it was in the shape of a safettj-fund note, for in five minutes the driver and his horses returned to the earth from whence they had late- ly sprung. We stopped at the village of Catskill to dine. While they were placing the victuals on the table I asked Miss Campbell if she would be so good as to let me look at the little red book she carried in the basket; its title was, ''Daily Food for Christians^ being a portion of Scripture, and a hymn for every day in the year. I asked what portion seemed to please her so much while we were sleighing in the water? She said it was the text for the day-— the words, '' As the mountains are round about Jerusa- lem, so the Lord is round about his people," &c the hymn, " Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take," &c. As I returned the book, said I, '' Miss, there be many who say this book is all delusion." 104 REMINISCENCES OP And what if it is 1 It is, at least, a cheap, a com- Jftable, and a very innocent delusion !" says she. Ihey may call it what they please, but I intend to make ,t my companion through all my journeys in We arrived at Albany the next day. Miss Camp- bell, her protector and I, stopped that night at the same hotel. I then learned that she was the adopted daughter of the Hon. William Campbell, Surveyor- General to the State, a man of great wealth. She was married in April, 1835, to Dr. Grant, of Utica, JN. Y.j a few weeks thereafter they sailed from Bos- ton tor Constantinople, as missionaries to the Nesto- nans m Persia ; and there she died, I think, about two years ago. Tellow Fever, from 1735 to isaa. „, "I have seen In my n.ghf- course through the beleaguerd city Things whoge remembrance doth not pass away As vapors from the mountains." 26th July.--The alarm of fever was heard through the city like the rumbling of distant thunder 14th August.-At 5 o'clock this morning 'it com- menced rammg, not in large drops, like a thunder shower; but, as it were in floating sheets of trans- parent water. At 7 I stood in the shop of a black- smith; the rain poured down the chimney in .n.-v. '■'■i- SSiA\,il GRANT THOHBURN. 105 ^ap, a com- ' says she. I intend to ourneys in ■IBB Camp- i'ght at the le adopted Surveyor- alth. She , of Utica, from Bos- the Nesto- ink, about I through r. !" it com- L thunder of trans- ' a black- A£2 SUVXi quantities m completely extinguished his fire in the short period that the bellows stood still while he was forging a hone-nail. He was obliged to quit work. In Maiden-lane, from Gold to Pearl-streets, the water sTrl r t'v''"-- ^" ''^ ■=«""" ^~« Wiiur About T "'". ""™ '"'«'' ^'^ ««er. About 10 the rain ceased, but the sun showed not 15tb— Fourteen cases were this day reported to have died of the fever. ^ reported to 25th.-This day the report of fever was from everv rrd-ii^H^r^^-^'^'^-^-ewitrs .r^L-a-ts:'wtit\t7eSi-^^^ moving families, furniture and goods ; 'the oMm» of eighty with the stripling of one y;ar, the iZ 1 he halt and the blind, all crowding'^the boats the ! Jr S tTe" d "f °'" '"^ "''' ■• fe-Vickened Ihli pace, and the destroying angel at their heels. Hun- but not one instance occurred of any inhabitant of Albany, Bergen or Brooklyn ever being seized by his, as It was called, infectious disease. About this ume many instances like the following came „„d my notice: a respectable shoemaker, living at the corner of Pme and Front-streets, removed l,th ht wife and younger children h;. , . " ***= c^iif uuoui; twenty- 106 REMINIgCENCES OF ne, a confidential townsman and an old colored wo- man requested permission to stay, as they said they were not afraid of the fever. In a few days all three were taken sick. The journeyman was my towns- man—I was intimate in the families. I procured a doctor and nurse, and gave what attention I could. On the 5th day the son died j early next morning I found the house locked up and the key gone ; I made an entry through a lower window ; the nurse had fled, and took some of the small moveables by way of compensation. The black woman had rolled from her bed in the agonies of death, and was lying on the floor ; being unable to lift her, I put a pillow under her head, covered her body with a sheet, and entered the next room where my friend lay, his eyes closmg fast in the sleep of death : in two hours the woman died; I procured a hearse, and watched by my friend till 8 p. m., when he also died. At the same time a young man of my acquaintance lay at No. — Liberty street, in the same situation ; I nursed him— he recovered. Comer of Dover and Water-streets lay three brothers ; I procured a doctor, a nurse I could not find. When the doctor entered and saw one laid on a mattress on the floor, one on a cot in the same room, and one on a bed in another room, he seemed struck with fear; he asked if there was any fire m the house ? I procured some, he lit a se- gar and smoked most profusely-he proposed bleed- jng J I took the basin, but for some minutes his hand trembled so that he could not strike the vein. GRANT THOaBURN. 107 When finished I went with him to the door ; said h^. You run a great risk, — said I, There is no retreating. This was Monday the 17th September, — he called next day, Wednesday and Thursday he did not appear. I called at his house on Friday, about 10 o'clock, A. M. and was informed that his corpse was now on the road to Potter's-field. Next morning, the 22d September, the elder brother died, aged 22; the younger ones recovered. The Doctor's name was B s, and kept his office in Cherry-street. — Returning at 11 o'clock p.m. from visiting my pa- tients, the night was dark, a thick wetting mist was falling, the lamps twinkled just enough to show darkness visible. Descending the hill from the cor- ner of Dover-street in Pearl, I met two hearses with the dead, one was issuing out of Peck-slip the other coming out from Ferry-street. They turned up Pearl towards Chatham-street, on their way to Pot- ter's-field. Each hearse had a driver and an assist- ant, with a lantern between their feet sitting in front. Being heavily laden they drove slowly up the hill, the wheels and springs creaked and groaned under the weight of dead mortality. The drivers sat dumb as mutes, the pale light of their lanterns flickered across their stupjd, unmeaning countenan- ces; which looked as white as did the face of Samuel just peering out of the grave, when called by the witch of Endor from the mansions of the dead. I thought vrhoz a fin6 subject this for such a on the Pah Horse. >..ifir*'! f ! - « - w w 108 B£MIN18C£NCES OF Mr I I • Sabbath, 15th September. — All the churches down town, knovirn by the name of Orthodox and Reformed, being shut up, the poor who could not fly were very glad to pick what little crumbs of Gospel comfort they could find in the good old church of the Tri- nity, which was open every Sabbath. As the bell ^ was tolling for afternoon service, Mr. T and his (wife, and myself and wife, (we had all been married j within the year,) were walking among the tombs; \as we turned the east corner Mrs. T , who was ^ lively girl, turned her husband round and exclaim- ^ed, (in a sort of playful manner,) " T , if I die |of the fever you must bury me there," (pointing to 'the spot.) Next day she was reported, and on Fri- day, the 21st, he buried her there ! and where you may see her grave-stone until this day. I was told the other day, that it is in contemplation to run Pine-street through the church-yard to Greenwich- street ; if so, the grave, the story and the stone will be lost in eternal oblivion, except some good-ma- tured printer gives it a place. Very many fell a sa- crifice to the fever for want of proper attendance about this time, especially among those who were left in charge of their masters* houses. Relations and sometimes acquaintances >vould attend one another, but many died unknown and unlamented. At the corner of street and Broadway, a respectable family removed,- leaving a man-servant in charge of the house ; after some days it was noticed he did not appear in the street as usual : it wm siinnna«/i fiio«- GRANT TDORBUHN. 109 2hes down Reformed^ were very )1 comfort f the Tri- 3 the bell — and his n married le tombs ; , who was i exclaim- -, if I die ointing to id cm Fri- ^here you [ was told 3n to run reenwich- stone will good-jia- j fell a sa- ittendance who were ations and B another, I. At the 3spectable charge of he did not he had shut up the house and fled ; in a day or two afteni a person who had charge of a house whose win- dows looked into the yard of said house, observed the man sitting in a sort of arbor or summer-house ; he supposed the man had returned, took no more notice till next day, when seeing him still sitting for hours in the same position, he gave the alarm, the door was forced, and the man found dead, partly un- dressed. In this and subsequent fevers, cats, and in some cases dogs, were thoughtlessly left shut up to die a cruel death ; the streets also were swarming with famishing animala, whose piteous bowlings added much to the distress of the few inhabitants who were unable to leave the city. In these times that tried the souls as well as the bodies of men, I saw parents fly from their sick children, and children from their parents, husbands from their wives, but never, except in one solitary instance, did I see a woman desert her husband in distress. She, tobe 8ure, was married to a great lump of a fellow old enough to be her father, rather a sloven, and appa- rently a proper subject for the yellow fever. As soon as he was fairly reported, she snatched up her young- est child, got on board a potato sloop at Peck-slip and never stopped till she got out at Stonington light- house, or somewhere down east ; for in a few days thereafter I received a letter from her, wishing to be mformed if her husband was dead. From the tenor of her letter I expect she was wofully disap- pointed when fihft rAooitro/1 «»,. y/. , i t.._ — _^^^,.,„^ ,^^_ jjygyy^j.^ fior he 10 110 REMINISCENCES OP I ' '. . lived to lay her head very quietly in the grave about three years after.) She was a real Yankee, but I did not think she was a daughter of the Puritans. I rather supposed she must have sprung from them lang'Med, corn-fed wenches and whale-killing sailors who peopled all that country round Cape Cod,— [a full account of which you will find in Knick- erbocker's History of that period.] June 18th, 1832, the signs of the times induced me to search up my manuscripts. A morning paper ex- horts his readers to arm themselves against fear, — fear in many is constitutional, they cannot help it. But I think if the printers and doctors continue their alarms and nostrums one week longer, we will have amongst us the worst of all diseases, viz. the reign of terror. It is just now as it was in August, 1798,— one came out recommending beef and brr-^.d, another bread and milk for diet, some were floodea with the vinegar Oi four thieves, while multitudes were stuffed, with anti-bilious, anti -yellow-fever pills ; many I thought, very many, tortured their frames with medicine, pre- ventives, preparatives and terror, till they were so reduced as to fall an easy prey to the first attack. Fear is infectious, and those who are already afflicted with this worst of epidemics, will do well for them- selves and neighbors to leave the city immediately ; and if the disease does appear among us, I would advise (from former experience) all who have the means, to leave the city at once. With regard to eat- GRANT THORBUHN. Ill ing, dnnk.ng and exercise, I have found that the same moderation which kept my head cool and feet warm, was the cheapest and surest preventive I cannot see, for my part, a cause sufficient for so gt^eat tl^se whom >mpenous duty may prevent, let them only beheve m a particular Providence-De^tWs shafts may fly thick, but their aim is directed by Omnipotence. When the man drew the bow at a venture, the unerring eye of Him who alike views the fall of a sparrow and the crash of an empire, directed the shaft, it entered between the joinu of the harness, the proud mortal sunk down i„ his cha- death, the burstmg of a boiler, a slate from the roof or a crumb of the food that we swallow, can do death s busmess as quickly as the Cholera. <,„°^^'l"'^^?°"''""' '" "'« " ""« ''"o. the Vine- gar of Four Thieves ^^ the most soverei^; a story was t,ed to ,ts tail which insured its chaS^Jter Ja Marseilles, in France! VheT^J:' t^XZ tTrf 'L'/r ""^1"^'^" '^'--. -ho dafy?„ tered, robbed the houses and carried their plunder to the mountams. The astonished citizens, who had h,d themselves m the dens and caves of the earth for -"■ '" °"'^'^"" ^'^'^' an^ wondered most pro- 112 REMINISCENCES OF by some of the man-traps of those days: thev were just go.„g to break him on the whee./when h'e ea d mat7,r "^"Z"''" '"■" ^^ "°'''«J '^-'h them to they had escaped the plague when robbing the city H.S request was granted : and io! ir. New York we and nose of most of the men in the city, though manv of them were above five feet ten inches hS ^Td so powerful w^ its effects on some of the fende"" hat whereas formerly they were obliged to p^Td .he.r way through the lanes and streetf of the cky rfa^ a'iT'd '^ ^T "°" ^"'""^'^ *° «" - - «=- creepmg thmgs of the earth. Where they got so much of thts thievish vinegar I never could find om! but I strongly suspect it was made from crab apples by some of them Hackensack farme« in the Je^e™ Be th.s as « n.ay, you could hardly meet a manTn the street but had a bottle at his nose, till their nose sole of a new-made boot. As for the few women who were left, they contented themselves brs^uff" as good an effect m preventing the yellow fever. ^iff u ,. "'^'■^ "^^^ * ''«w°»« Mediciner in the c«y, by the name of Dr r ,„«ii , m,, fi™» 1 J- , • * ^®" remember on my first landmg. about four years previous, of im- im. In pro- 38 was taken ; they were hen he said ach them to ms of which ing the city. »w-York we ) the mouth lough many high; and le venders, 3d to plod of the city it in a car- beasts and hey got so tl find out ; Tab apples »e Jerseys. a man in their nose- )wn as the w women 3 by stuff- had quite fever, tier in the ember on as, of im- GRANT THOREITRN. 113 bibmg a wonderful antipathy against him and all patent medicines, their makers and their sellers throughout the world. The incident was this • I stepped from the good ship Providence, (in which 1 had crossed the Atlantic,) on shore at Governeur's wharf, about 7 a. m., came sauntering up the middle of Wall-street-there were few carts then to ob- struct the way-arriving at the old Federal Hall where now stands the Custom House, I observed a placard about a yard square and headed with let- ters as large as my hand~^co/c^ Ointment fm- the Itch. I was confounded ; I rubbed my eyes and read It agam :--8aid I, It's an abominable lie ; for I never heard of such an ointment in Scotland, nor did I ever see any use for it there. I stood and looked and reasoned more calmly on the matter. Said I to myself. Well, this man must make a living by selling this stuff to somebody ; but it is impossible he could In^e by rubbing the hides of what few Scotchmen aie here, for I have not met one to-day as I know of. I therefore concluded that here must be collected, whether homespun or imported, a group of dirt; fellows, al scratching and itching for something^ * otherwise he could not live amongst them So when the yellow fever commenced, and he amongst his nil "" 1 T ""^ '" ^P^^^«^^' ^- preventivL, his pdls and his purgatives, saidi, he shall neve; ge a cent of my money, die or live. I had not for- got the box of omtment I saw on the wall, but per- naps this premdice was fh^ r«^o«o ^c •_ _ _ A. 10^ % »"^ 114 HEMIIIISCENCM OF yss Jii for I v«r.Iy beheve, had I .walloweU one half of the .tuffi then recommended. I would not have lived half my day,. To conclude, this man died and wa. bur.e. : one of his countrymen (they were English- ™en) co„p d „ ^pi,^p^_ ^^ never pub. luhed.) part of it ran thus : ' "He cured a million of Scotchmen in his day • Death ilched for him and scratched the , ,,« away." kenr f "• "7 *^ P°"offi<=e 'vas removed, and kept dunng the fever i„ the house of Dr. James Tillery, corner of Broadway and Wall-street. The furTrl?. T """" '""'"^ ""' ^°°"> °f Edin- burgh College) gave « as his opinion that there was comtn? r '" !• Wjehended by persons out of town comtng or sending for their letters any time from ■me A. M. to eun-down. As almost every man at this t.me was h.s own letter-carrier, Broadway was pretty well frequented in the above hours by persons going o or returning from the Post-office. On Sabbath too^ the Episcopal m,n..,ters, who had removed to Green- wich and Bloomingdale, came down as the bell tolled on horse-back or in a chair, tied the howe to one of the trees, said ; »■ p^ayera and rear! their sermon., and so went J,...,, again- .hus they kept their churches openeu ail the fever of 1798 Dr PH more, too. stood like a son of thunder, and prea;=hed M^ZJ-"^ * ^V" '^' '=■'""='' ■" Ann-street. The Methodists too, ,„ John-street-these sober-sided old tellows who almost preach for nothing and -find f . "^selves, stood, as it were, between the living and OR ANT TRORBUKIV. 115 le half of the t have lived lied and was ere English- never pub- »» m away. moved, and Dr. James street. The •rs of Edin- t there was out of town ^ time from man at this ' was pretty csons going abbath too, 3 to Green- is the bell le horse to read their they kept 8. Dr. Pll- l preached reet. The -sided old and 'find living and -M the dead. Their church-doors were seldom oloied. In the quietness of the day and stillness of the night their notes of prayer and songs of praise could be heard for many blocks around. In this there w^s something soothing to the poor mortals ho were standing round the open graves, waiting till d»^ath came behind and pushed them in. But the refon ^ and orthodox churches were all shut up. I wondei d at tl e time, if the letters of the merchant, or th^ prayer-book of the Episcopal, was of more conse- quence to them than preachin ; to the dry bones anc dying mortals was to the oi hodox and reformed ministers. Now, you may observe, I am lot laying down any fundamental or fixed principle in this matter. I am telling you what I thought at the time. It brought to ray mind, and I could not help drawing a comparison with a story I read, I think it was in Harrison's Mu- seum, printed at No. 3 Peck-slip. It happened about twenty years before Bonaparte ei :ered Italy ; and showed to the world that the Pope in Rome had no more power in heaven and in earth, lor in the waters under the earth, than the most wee : and sickly of Adam's sons ; inasmuch as all the Bulls he could muster could not so much as stop the progress of a single French pistol-ball. I say it was at this time when the Bishops in France were believed to be something more than men — that the Bishop of Paris, after.being well fed, and well watered, (with wine,) took an English nobleman out to show him all his 116 REMINISCENCES OF kingdom and the glory thereof: he had fine ear- dens and fine green-houses, fine fountains, and fine baths Brussels carpets and beautiful parlors, a beau- tiful library and elegant pictures; but one thing needful was wanting which is a very essential article n comfortable housekeeping, viz. he had no beau- tifulwife-this the canons (these powerful engines of the church) forbid. Having seen all these pretty articles, ah ! exclaims the nobleman, what a pity : death will come and rob you of them all. Ah ! Li ed the Bishop, there's the rub; most willingly would I forego my seat in Paraduc, provided I could retain my place m Paris. Now, for the life of me, I could not help thinking that some of the shepherds of the flock at that time in New-York were exactly on this point of the same opinion with the Bishop of Paris Antit Schuyler's Grave. " Thou wilh familiar thing, arl gemly hid." It was about the twentieth of the hot month of July, when people who are at ease, eating, sitting or sleeping ,„ their spacious palaces in StJe-street and whose lofty rooms are cooled by the fresh breeze from the Atlantic with each returning tide when those who have ice to .nnl ,1..; i " ' GRANT THORBURN. 117 to cool their blood, and fans to cool their faces, and who leave all the sober realities of life which they enjoy in those mansions of health on the banks of our rivers, will dive into those hot-beds of perspira- tion, the after-cabins of line-boats on the Grand Canal, in search of bliss. It was at this season, having finished the business which called me west, I thought it would be more profitable and Tnore comfortable to adopt a retrograde rather than a for- ward movement; for, in the forward march, yoi ^e first in danger of suffocation in the cabin; or, i*a- condly, of having your head struck from your shoul- ders by one of those low-minded bridges which everywhere intersect the canal. Before setting my face to the east, however, I took a stand between the living mass on the canal- boats and the dead mass of trunks, bandboxes and other domestic lumber moving from the railroad- cars. One hoary-headed veteran had under his com- mand no less than twenty-two persons, consisting of wives, servants and children of the first and second crop ; the young ones crying, the old ones screaming, the servants swearing and the large drops of sweat rolling over the rubicund nose and cheeks of the veteran, made you think of a shower of red currants on a mountain of snow. I calculate the expense of this same caravan could not be less that thirty doUais per day ; to be sure at the Springs they expect to hear music and dancing; but I thought this was paying too dear for their whistle. 118 REMINISCENCES OP When th.V I ' "'''''''"^ y«' ■«»'•« ravage infanT„f /T "'"'' '""'•'^ P'-"^-! through the infant at the breast and entered the heart nf 7, mother. ^Vhen the knife of the Indian, t " t Ire rir TheTefe: ot^ r^T ^^-^ "^-"-^ Qiooa to drmk because they were worthy of it only I stood on the banks of the Mohawk River whole andthZ L tf ^ '• '"' *"' '''' ^"■^" "P *'' ^"0-. I met three squaws returning from the city • their neck 1! f "°''' ornaments on her feet and comelv thn '.""P'^'""" ""' countenance was comely, hough tinged with melancholy. I offered hem a putance, which they received witl. a couneTy I felt as an intruder on their soil. I looked on the movmg erowds in cars and carriages flying along with horse and steam, all catching folly as it flies and grasping at pleasure as it slipp^ed thro.lh .t,v I ed in one ^s, led on e savage, •ough the irt of its yet more e man of ► harrow- 'enger of e nation 111 shores fit only, r, whose >«es and e of the le ghost, Y; their ' a finer 3et and ce was offered )urtesy. on ihe ;■ along it flies, n tnoiT* GRANT THOKBUHM. Jjg Bngers. I thought it was better to go to the place of mourning, than the house of mirth, as the former IS the end of all things, and the living will lay it to l.ke thorns under the pot, and bent my steps to thf grave of Aunt Schuyler. This house of silence lies on the banks of the Hudson, between Albany and Troy, m view of the Isle of Swans, so beautifully described by Mrs. Grant in her History of an American Lady, lately republished. Here rests the : mortal part of those who belonged to that worthy I lamily, perhaps beginning with him whose moulder- ■ng clay first mingled with American soil ; and he-, lie unstrung the sturdy arms which first stemmed , stream and coursed the rapids of the broad-spre- J- mg Mohawk m search of Indian traffic. Whi e I stood by the grave (for reverence kept back .ny foot ) I thought how cold now was the warm heart of her who once spread pleasure all around; who poured balm on the wounds of the fallen Samaritan, from the highest officer of his majesty down to the hardy suckling of the ill-fated Indian squaw ^ .Ja^ r""^^'^ " ^"'•^'>'"'<'«d by a neat fence and Bhaded by ancent trees ; near by stands the manor style of Dutch comfort. It was in this abode of un- and had her being. It was nearly destroyed by fire m the summer of 1759. Madam was sitting under a ""^ "' -"""^^ "^^'^ ^° "Out oi the house, uncon- 120 BEMINISCENCES OF scious of the fire which was already making rapid progress in the garret. General Bradstreet, com- manding a British regiment then lying in the vi- cinity, was riding up to the house, and first observed the smoke ; he was afraid to alarm her, but when he told her she heard it with the utmost composure. Keeping her seat, she ordered every thing in the most composed manner, as if she had nothing to lose. It is rebuilt on the same plan, and part of the old wall incorporated in the building. It is now oc- cupied by a lineal descendant, a widow, a fine-look- ing, corpulent Dutch matron, of three-score years ; and, from Mrs. Grant's description of Madam, and during an hour's social conversation with this lady in Aunt Schuyler's room, I almost fancied I saw be- fore me the spirit and the person of her who sat there nearly a century ago, when directing the stu- dies and smiling on the playful sports of Mrs. Grant, the widow of General Hamilton, and other distin- guished relics of the days o' lang syne. I here flaw a full-length portrait of Mr. Philip Schuyler,* dressed as he appeared before Queen Anne in 1709, and painted by her request. The queen oflfered to make him a knight j he declined the honor by saying he had brothers in America not so rich as himself, and he did not wish to bear a higher title than they! ♦ For a very interesting history of this worthy gentleman, see Paulding's Dutchman's Fireside, and Mrs. Grant's history aforesaid. GRIWT THORbTJfiif. 121 core years j IVIadam, and th this lady d I saw be- i«r who sat ing the stu- Mrs. Grant, )ther distin- le. I here Schuyler,* me in 1709, I offered to or by saying as himself, e than they. ly gentleman, rant's history Ihe son and grandson of the present occupant very pohtely conducted me round the premises, pointing /out the spots and localities referred to in Mrs Grant's Amcrica?i Lady, I here enjoyed a feast of reason and a flow of soul not every day to be met with. Wo talked of Troy ; a gentleman in company knew It when it contained three houses. We talked of Albany as it looked in 1707, when, as soon as the sun had sunk behind the Catskill Mountains, you might have seen the whole population in the streets These primitive beings were seated in porches grouped together according to similarity of years or inclinations; at one door young matrons, at another the elders of the people, at a third the youths and maidens gayly chatting or singing toge- ther, while the children played around the trees, or waited by the cows for the chief ingredient of their , frugal support, which they generally ate sitting on the steps in the open air. Then there were no banks nor exchange-offices; no Eagle-Hotel nor lottery, office ; no opera nor playhouse ; no Italian rope nor etage-dancers ; no men singers nor women singers ; no live elephants and monkeys, which pick the pock- ets of simple men and silly women of their hard earn- ings, no, no, they were then unknown ; even the law- yer and doctor were obliged to hoe corn for a living, and the spade of the grave-digger was laid by to rust! Now I was induced to visit this venerated spot by a combination of recollections and reminiscences of »— ^- - o-"'- '^j- ■«■«' vTtto ill uie yejjTs wiieu tne yellow U 122 BEMINISCENCES OF fever annually swept our streets, and most of the in- habitants fled for refuge to the country. For reasons which satisfied myself, I always remained, and as I never got the fever, my neighbors used to think I never would. Therefore, when they shut up their houses, before going away they left their keys with me, to be ready in case of fire, or to air them occa- sionally, &c. Among them were the keys of several churches, the city library, &c. As I lived in what was termed the infected district during the fever of 1822, and as the board of health undertook to board in or to board out the fever with a few hundred of Albany boards, I of course was boarded in and boarded out also, and having nothing else to do, I spent my time among the sick, and among the books in the City Library. Then I used to roam through fields and floods of fancy, entirely forgetting the signs of the times. In one of these airy flights I laid my hand on the American Lady, printed by my late esteemed friend, Mr. Samuel Campbell, in 1809. (Mr. Campbell died a few years ago, perhaps the oldest book-publisher in America.) I had never heard of this book, and I read it with both pleasure and profit. In my late visit to Scotland I paid my respects to the worthy authoress of this book, the honorable Mrs. Grant, of Lagan, who, I understand, yet lives, enjoying health in body and mind, in the eighty-fifth year of her age. Conversing about the book, she assured me It was no romance, but a plain matter-of-fact GRANT THORBURN. >st of the in- For reasons 3d, and as I to think I ut up their r keys with • them occa- s of several ed in what the fever of ok to board hundred of ded in and ilse to do, I ig the books am through getting the band on the med friend, Tipbell died k-publisher J book, and In my late the worthy Irs. Grant, i, enjoying ifth year of he assured Itter-of-fart. 123 statement of events, to many of which she was an eye-witness. I was much pleased a few weeks ago to see this book republished. I would recommend to every man, woman and child, having a drop of New- York State blood in their veins, to get this book, to- gether with Paulding's Dutchman's Fireside, (which completes the history of the worthies referred to,) and if they can read without the blood dancing through their veins, their hearts must be as cold as the marble of Siberia. Graham's Bread Again. "Some men would wiaer be • Than Him who fom'd them; would eschew the good God gives to all so richly to enjoy," Fifteen more Lectures, to commence on Monday evenmg, forty-five on Sunday evenings of last year a letter to a late worthy Mayor of ours, as long as your arm, besides sundry essays to certain cholera doctors who had the impudence to say it was better tor a man to swallow six ounces of wheat kernels than to cram down a whole back-load of husks and cut straw, which are only fit for swine to eat-why the thmg is monstrous ;-sixty-five lectures on bread !~it s worse than the burying of 11,500 " pav- ing stones," which took place in Broadway about twenty years ago; and it^s worse than the fourteen 124, REMINISCENCES OP Tomes (every one of whicli was as large as the Dutch Church Bible) wrote by Father Ambrose in the thirteenth century, on the patience of Job. Now all this appears to me to be absurd nonsense— a wind of words—a loss of time. I will put it in three words, and prove it by experience (better than a thousand baseless theories) to be true— that J8--Ncver eat, enough. About forty years aero, hav- ing read the account of the mutiny on board of the I ship Bounty, Captain Bligh, when he and a number of his crew were set adrift in the middle of the ocean, with only a few bags of bread and a iew gal- Ions of water; how they lived many days on two or three ounces of biscuit and a few drops of water measured to them every twenty-four hours in a nut' shell ; how they at length made land, and were able to walk, &c. ; thinks I to myself, we surely eat and drmk more than is necessary to support our feeble frames. Next day at dinner 1 laid on my plate the usual number of slices of roast beef and bread; having demolished about one half, I arose, went quietly about my business, returned to the table fifteen minutes thereafter, tried to eat, but could not, my taste and appetite was gone-that afternoon I felt more light easy, comfortable, and more fit for business than 1 had done for many days previous, nor did I feel any wish to partake of my tea sooner than my usual hour ; next day I repeated the experiment with the same comfortable success, and so I have con- tmued until this day, going from my store, eating mv i^, GRANT THOHBURN. 135 victuals, and back.— I am never absent over twenty- five minutes ; four ounces of meat, boiled or roasted as many of the finest of wheat bread, with half a pint of coffee left from the morning, serves for my usual dinner-thus have I lived for thirty years with- out having to pay a doctor or apothecary one dollar for patchmg my own carcass. It is not by usincr the good things which a kind Providence has laid so bountifully to our hands, but by abusing them that men convert these into curses to themselves • after cramming for the space of twenty years, commenc- mg at eight in the morning and closing at midnight with smoked beef, Bologna sausages, turtle soup, and fned oysters, in such quantities that they can hardly nse from their seat ; by these means they destroy the powers of digestion, and then they complain of dyspepsia, and growl at their hard lot, after they have poisoned their frame by the abuse of the very means which God gave them for its support : now these men are past all remedy-they may eat bran or husks, or what they please, but they will never again have a proper relish for the good things of this life; but young men of twenty-two may avoid this rock. With regard to young and old 4omen, m all my practice I never found a case of dyspepsia among them ; it is only among those blustering, purse- proud, long-whiskered lords of the creation, who lower themselves beneath the beasts that perish I say again, that young men may avoid this rock : ihe "«^«. Z3 easily cnea. lou have no idea IV how 126 REMINISCENCES OF few ounces of good substantial food a man may go through the labors of a day. I am on my feet from five or six o'clock in the morning till nine o'clock in the evening, without sitting thirty minutes in all that time, yet I don't eat above twenty -four ounces of food in the t venty-four hours—but, then, it is sub- stantial food, which supports the body without over- loading the stomach. It is a fact well worth considering, that none of the colleges of physicians, from the days that Noah's ark was afloat, down to the i)re8ent time, have been able to tell what quantity of food is necessary to support human nature. With regard to Mr. Gra- ham, I have never seen him, to my knowledge, but I think he must b^ a small mortal ; for I have ever found that the litt-e dogs barked longest and loudest in the barn-yards— neither have I tasted his bread, though I have seen it on tables where I have dined. It looked to me very much like bran and brickbats pounded and compounded together, with perhaps a few ounces of conceit intermixed, to make people believe it would do them good whether they swal- lowed it or not. I always thought superfine wheat flour was preferable. Why, really, I do think it the very height of impudencp (I had almost said) to suppose that we, who have lived to see very near the middle of the nineteenth century, have so little common sense that wo are now to be lectured into the belief that chaff is better than wheat. You re- member it is mentioned in the old Book, as an in- GRANT THORBURN. 127 t none of lat Noah's have been cessary to Mr. Gra- ledge, bur. have ever nd loudest his bread, ave dined. brickbats perhaps a ke people hey swal- ine wheat link it the t said) to very near e so little tured into You re- aa an in- m m. "W' Ftanco of God's kindness to the children of Israel, that he fed them with the Jinest of the wheat. Now I am perfectly convinced, in my own mind, that Ca- naan never produced better wheat, nor the land of Goshen better flour, than what comes down the ca- nal from Buffalo and Rochester. And are wo now to be told, at our time of life, and in this age of dis- covery, that the children of the Yankees have not as good a right to eat of this fine wheat, as had the children of the /^;^g.im;YZc,7 fraternity a thousand years ago ? Besides, you don't read of any one feeding on husks, except it might be profligates and swine. Now surely you don't call our cold, calculating stock-job' bers profligates ; nor would you compare any of our imported patriots to s wine-notwithstanding their rolling in the gutter at election times, as though they were whole hogs. Now, in all this matter, I have no ill-will against brother Graham. I beheve he is a man of fine feelings, of fine speech, and of fine faste: but I have been thinking to what better account he might turn his powerful eloquence. We'll suppose, ^>r instance, that he and William Thompson, of Brooklyn, were to cast in their lots and go forth to- gether, declaring a most powerful crusade against all bachelors and rats' nests, and prosecuting this object with zeal and perseverance, there is no tellino- the amount of good that might accrue from theirloint labors over this wide-spread but thinly-populated ^,untr^y--and in their absence let the good folks in ..ew-xonv taKe charge of their own stomachs^ mm^mmmm 188 lEMINISCBNCEt OF Without any more lecturing— let one and all of them eat of the best that is set before them; but remem- ber, never eai enough. P. S. With regard to the drinkable part of soci- ety, Mr. G. is informed that he need not be uneasy on their accounts- that he need not distract his thoughts, which might mar his studies, an' so curtail the sphere of usefulness in his future labors of love as there is little doubt that as soon as the river opens to Albany, there will be a deputation from aome of the auxiliaries belonging to the Female Temperance Society in the city of Schenectady, which will take care of this department,of our State m his absence. Anecdote of Mrs. Baron Mure. "Alaa! that learning su profound, " And wit 10 exquisite, should meet a fate to baae " So galling to the pride of vanity." ' This lady resided in Edinburgh in 1774. In the acceptation of those days, she was accounted a great hlue-stocking-maintmmng, for instance, a constant correspondence with David Hume. On hearing of the death of that philosopher, she felicitated herself upon possessing so many of his epistolary composi- tions, as she expected that her letters of course ORANT THORBURN. 1S9 would make a most respectable appearance when his correspondence or biography came to be published. Q uotli she to some friends who were by her at the time ♦'I have most carefully preserved the letters c ** my il- lustrious friend-putting them all away in a drawer by themselves." She proposed going immediately to pro- duce them for the gratification of her friends ; but on opening the drawer, however, she recollected that some tnne previous, on its becoming too full, nhe had tied up the letters with tape and conveyed tliem to a general receptacle for loose papers in an upper chamber. It was some time before the exact location of the papers could be ascertained ; but they were not to be found Here the following dialogue ensued between her and her servant-maid : — "What has become, Jenny," said Mrs. Mure, " of the bundle tied up in a red tape, that I |>ut into that corner 1~-you must surely remember it: where do you think it is ?" '; Yon ma'am 1" cried Jenny, as if a sudden burst ot light had come in upon her—" vas't yon V' "Ay, it was yon, as you call it," responded the blue-stocking—" where is yon 1" " Lord bless me, ma'am !" cried J 3nny, - I've been Bingm * hens wi' them this ha'f year '" Such was the fate of one largo branch of the cor- respondence of this pride-puffed philosopher. As for Mis. Blue-Stocking, she never ceased to lament the ^ •Singin' hens [Scottish]-that is, singing fowk »A.. .vl a-amers are plucked oti, over a blaze of paper! *'' 130 REMINISCENCES OF catastrophe while life and reason remained. She was fi. freethinker like himself, and showed very little concern about his death ; but was mightily mortified that she could not shine in print as one of his corres- pondents. Men and Manners in England. " But where to find that happiest spot below, " Who ihall direct, when all pretend to know 7" On the evening of the twenty-second of Novem- ber, eleven years ago, I was at a party of respectables in London, consisting of some twenty or thirty gen- tlemen and ladies, and the principal subjects of con- versation were Mrs. Trollope and her book— I then learned for the first time, by the way, that such a woman really existed, and that she was actually resid- ing within a mile of the house at which I was. You may well suppose that I was astonished, for until that moment I had always supposed the author of the book to be one of the Quarterly Reviewers in disguise. I took a walk the next day to have a look at the old wo- man, but she was not at home, and I did not call again. But to return from this digression. As you have read her handiwork, you may easily imagine what sort of questions would be put, and I will tell you how I an- swered them. I observed, in the first place, that when Fiedlers and mountebanks spend forty days in trayel- fe<",,^ GRANT THOSBURN. 131 ling through a country so extensive as America, about fifteen of which, by the way, were spent in sleep, and then sit down to give an account of what they saw and did not see, they ought not to be branded as impos- tors because their information proves to be incorrect ; the public, if they think at all, ought not to expect correct information from such sources, respecting the character and manners of a people j and if they do, they richly deserve to be imposed on. But they are not imposed on; they buy these books as they do any other work of fiction, with their eyes wide open, eome to be amused, and some for the mere sake of knowing how great a lie a traveller can tell ; and of course the writers are quite consistent in exerting themselves with all their might to satisfy their readers. " Perhaps," said I, " there is no country upon earth where ladies are so highly respected as they are in America. I speak from forty years' experience— not that of forty days ; and if the writer of Mrs. TroUope'g book had really been a lady of taste, and delicacy, and feehng, she would have rejoiced to find at least one country under the sun where woman holds the exact place in society to which she is entitled, and for which • she was designed by her Creator— namely, the place of man's helpmate and companion, not his slave. Ihis consideration made me think the writer of the Trollope-book could be no lady— perhaps, I might say, no woman ; the fact of her travelling with Fanny Wright ought to expel her from the company of women. "' " '^ *^^^^y provoking to hear European writers e 138 REMINISCENCES OF comparing themselves with themsefves, exalting them- selves by themselves, and impeaching the Americans for want of refinement. It is like Cobbett teaching honor, or the devil preaching truth. The standard of refinement is, or ought to be, established by the place which woman holds in society, and the usage she receives from the falsely called ' lords of creation ;' and your writers have the confidence to make com'- parisons between Europe and America in this respect. I know," said I, "that God has made many of your women angels of beauty— the present company, for instance ; and among your actresses are some of the handsomest creatures in the world ; but the man- savage of the eastern hemisphere treats them as infe- rior beings. In Africa, women are his beasts of bur- den ; in Asia, the soulless instruments of his brutal pleasures, and articles of merchandise ; and in pro- portion as they excel in beauty, the more shameful is their treatment ; sold by one tyrant to another, with as little concern as would be felt in trafficing for an ass or a young camel. In Europe their degradation IS still deeper, for there they receive just education enough to know their rights and the place they ought to fill and to enjoy, and are thus made to feel more acutely the abject state in which they are plunged by the tyranny of man. Many of them, young, lovely, sensitive creatures, are shut up in monasteries, and this, too, by those who gave them birth ; or married, without consulting their own inclinations, to some old' ■M/rtf n.rti.*- 'mI^I. ^•„i 1-11 1 . _ . ' worn-out. rich or titlfid ^ohal^^h^^ fi,« i,:^ji.- ..._ GRANT TnORBURN. 133 pulses of their nature thwarted, and all the useful purposes for which they were created lost to the world and to themselves. Compared with this, the burning of a Hindoo widow is a tender mercy. " In our own day we have seen in France, that country of chivalry, gallantry, and refinement, young, learned, high-born and accomplished females led out by ruffians, whose hands yet smoked with blood—we have seen them tied in groups, after the manner of the savages in our western wilds—we have seen their heads roll in the basket of the guillotine till the arms of the executioner grew faint. In England, women are still seen exposed for sale in open market, with halters round their necks. Were such brutalities attempted in America on women, every rifle from Main to the Rocky Mountains would be raised in her defence, and yet your book-makers have the very great modesty to talk to Americans about refinement. " There is another source of misery to the ladies in Europe, (not known in America,) and which sours all the sweet charities of their lives : viz. their family distinctions, their bloods and their titles. Thousands of them are here sacrificed, like Jephtha's daughter ; hence the forced marriages, the unhappy marriages, the runaway marriages, the elopements, and finally, the crim. con. trials— words, the very meaning of which is unknown to the ladies of America. A gentleman remarked, " If you hold such senti- ments in your book, I fear it will meet a small sale amantrRt ua a-- — 12 , iiiCi c Is not a spot m iite 134 KEMINISCENCES OF world where liberty of speech and opinion (barring treason) is more tolerated than in London; my book contamsjust such a chapter, for the benefit of Fiedler Trollope, and Co. Besides, I observed in a window yesterday, a pamphlet in vindication of America agamst the aspirations of Trollope, by an Englishman,' and that pamphjet went into a second edition in six weeks. ' il i Obituary. "Letitgrrow Greener with years, and blossom through their flight." It has ever been the custom for man, whether in a tml or uncivilized state, to pay a decent respect to departed worth. The principle is honorable to human nature, and useful in society, inasmuch as it stimulates to the practice of whatsoever things are pure, honest, lovely, and of good report. It is not meant as a burlesque on this praiseworthy practice, that I now give you an obituary notice of a departed mansion ; but it is to keep up the re- membrance. Know then, that oa the 10th Septem- ber, 1835, the Friends' Meeting-house in Liberty- street vanished from out of the city. To say that it died a natural death would not be the fact, for the building was strong enough co have withstood the { t-i ORANT THORBURN. 125 blasts of centuries ; but of late it has been the pre- vailing disease to pluck up, pull down, and erase whatever is ancient in structure or honorable from age in this our swelling city. In 1794 stood a Ger- man church in Broadway; it was then used for a storehouse; on its site now stands Grace .durch. Public stores cover the spot where lately towered the weather-beaten steeple of the French Protestant church in Pine-street. In Cedar, between Nassau and William-streets, where stood the Presbyterian church, are now stores of cotton and bags of wool. The Lutheran, known by the name of Labagh's church, in Nassau, near Maiden-lane, is occupied by Dummer and his tea-pots of china. Already has commerce fix^d her Argus-eyes on the Middle Dutch and Scotch Presbyterian churches in Cedar-street ; and ere long (where the eloquent Dr. Masoa used to pour forth the thoughts that breathe and words that burn) nothing will be heard there but the song of the windlass and the black foot of the negio trampling over that consecrated spot; thanks for the hope of another and a better world, where turning and overturning is unknown. But to return to the meeting-house, where Joseph Delaplame, Anna Brathwait, and many, very many worthy brothers and sisters of that sect worshipped God m the small still voice of his word, and where Flora lately held her courts, smiling at Solomon and all his artificial glory. As my earliest and mnct ni^ioot^^ - ii-_^_'_ 136 REMINISCENCES OF i .are connected with that house and neighborhood, I will give you a few anecdotes of some characters and circumstances that have transpired within the last forty-one years of my residence in that street; but I cannot forego the pleasure of first calling to remem- brance the name of that upright merchant and finish- ed gentleman, the late Mr. Isaac Wright, who first advertised packets to sail at a stated hour; and how well he redeemed his pledge the public know and feel by profitable experience. I now hold in my hand Lang & Turner's New- York Trazette of Janu- ary 5th, 1818, in which the editor remarks, " This day will witness the commencement of the line of American packets between New- York and Liver- pool. The James Munro will take her departure this morning at 10 o'clock. What a striking evi- dence it furnishes of the growing commerce of our city, of the activity of her merchants, and the skill and intrepidity of her seamen. It is to be hoped that this arrangement will be completely successful as it promises to be of great public utility. It will be a sort of chain connecting the new and the old world," &c. From the sailing of this packet we may date the day from whence the commerce of New- York be- gan to increase seven-fold ; and as long as the waters of the lakes, the Hudson, and the ocean continue to ' amalgamate, the names of Fulton, Livingston, Clin- ton, and Isaac Wright will be held in remembrance by a grateful posterity. But in our dav. e-rahtn^^ i. GRANT THORBITRN. 137 a rare virtue indeed. By the way, for the pleasure and profit of these packets (for now they run to al- most every port in Europe and on our own conti- nent) we are indebted to Quaker punctuality ; and as you all acknowledge the fitness and beauty of the thing, why not go and do likewise. Is it not an in- sult to common sense to invite a man to attend the funeral of his brother at five, when he knows his ser- vices are not wanted till seven ? If time is worth twenty-five cents per hour, why keep fifty men wait- ing two hours, at a loss of fifty cents each, just be- cause you want nerve to carry forward your own ar- rangements. Look at the domestic economy of the Friends, their system and regularity in all things- it is thus they are able to give towards the support of the poor of other denominations, while they them- selves ask help from none. In 1794 there stood a small building in front of the house now removed; it was occupied as a school for the society, and by it stood a weeping- willow, which shaded the school and dropt its tears on the pavement opposite. If my memory serves, in 1802 or 3 the schoolhouse was taken down, and the pre- sent building set up ; the house was used as a place of worship, and the ground as a place of burial, till after the yellow-fever of 1822. Since then the meet- ings were only held on particular occasions, and, if I mistake not, there was only one interment since. In October^ 1826, I purchased the premises; the fol- lowing December the ground all around and under 12* 138 REMINISCENCES OP the meetiDg-house was trenched to the depth of seven feet; the bones carefully collected, packed in neat boxes, and deposited in a cemetery out of town In removng the bones we discovered some interest^ ing rehcs; among them was a leg and thigh bono, each of wlHch measured two inches more than the longest leg or thigh bones which we could select from a great number ; the man must have been a giant Another leg and thigh bone had been dis- eased m the knee-pan, the joint of the knee had grown «ol.d, the leg crooked out behind in the form of a two-ieet ,ron square ; the bones were large. In a coffin wh,ch was carefully opened, the bones lay n regular order; to the skull was attached a largo otL u ^ ''■■' "'""y ^"'''"'^ "P- ^''d bound together w.th a tortoise-shell comb. I washed th« hau- from the clods of the valley, which appeared al ow the head ; with p.ous care I then softly placed the bones and hair in a coffin, there it will rest till tTI /"^ T ^? "P ""^ •'"'"^ '^■''' "« in them. The comb when cleaned looked as fair as new, and |t hung by our desk for years, but lately disappeared. This house and us uses will probably be spoken of as ^ng as New-York endures-here was held the last Orthodox yearly meaing, according to the primitive pinciples of brotherly love, before the devil had thrown among them fire-brands, arrows and death It 18 a coincidence worth noticing, that I made the Lis Wnir.n ivoi^a im^.,] i-. «.l .• _^ i.* i . *0n Ui tOlB DUlidlDg J nails which were nar^A in tUo, «,«»«#.: o^i^- GBANT THORBURN. 139 from this, and many other pleasing recollections, the stone and dust about it are precious in my eyes. So, by way of ' salvo ' to my feelings, I have purchased all the timbers, including the roof, with which I intend (if spared) to make me a building in the Cove, wherein to dwell, if so Providence orders, till they place me in my own coffin. While I sit under the six pillars that supported the gallery, which I intend to place in front of the dwelling. [ can live (in imagination) my life over again, and commune with the spirits of the venerated dead. As most of the old buildings in the neighborhood are now levelling to the dust, per- haps when I have leisure I will give you a fewremi- niscences of them and some of their inhabitants. Ancedote of George Thompson the AbolitionUc. ••And hopett thou hence untcath'd to go, "No! by St. Bride of Bothwell, No!" i In January, 1834, I was sojourning in Dalkeith, my native village, in Scotland. A few days previous to my arrival, this man, who had been tuniing the question upside down, was there also. He had as- sc-fied among other things equally true, in a public 140 BEMINISCENCES OF \ i ecture that a colored person was never permitted lil 7"," '.'u"""" «=P"""""i<>n-table with the whites I denied the charge by saying that I had DuTch^R r ""? "r.'' "'" 'he same' table inihe Dutch Reformed and Presbyterian churches, and add- ed, that If he came there to lecture while I was in t.ad ct h,m in public. In a few days he advertised another lecture. He was then in Edinburgh; a ge„ few of his Edinburgh friends, together with a num- ber of clergymen and gentlemen from the neirh- bormg parishes, to a dinner at his house, on the day nv tf/ ,"" """ '? ^^ ''"''' " '"«••'• ^ "'-^ 'vas nvited and went. I think twenty-five sat round the table. I asked Mr. T. if he had made the above assertion. He said he had, because he was so in- formed. I told him he had been misinformed in this, as well as m many other very important points concerning slavery in America, &c.&c He said he certainly would not again make the assertion, as hi was now satisfied it was incorrect. From 3 P. M. till 7 (time of lecture) the subject defend myself agamst the fires of twenty frigates whose upper works were well stored with subtile earning and the logic of the schools. I told them hat their great zeal in the cause was no evidence of their being right; that Paul was as full of zeal as any of them, when he was hanlipcr n,»„ „„j GRANT THORBURN. 141 to the flames of raartrydom. I told them that slavery was first introduced into these States under the British government;' that when the United States had gained their independence they found themselves saddled with this curse, which had been entailed by the Defenders of the Faith, the Most Sacred Majesties and the Most Christian Majesties of Europe; thai the people in America most gladly would get clear of them if they knew how; but for my own part I could not see in what manner it can be accomplished, except they do as the philanthro- pic kings (white slav Th^„^t''^". "' ""°''« '»»"«''• on high Then thou behoM'H the vanity *' Of Worldly itu/r, Th... »!.• • ^'''« with a puff: Thus think, and sn,. i,e tobacco." Now, what do you think .f *u- ^ic and BrokenJi/e J 1^^';' H" ^f -^— stanzas are onlypa«of«r, ^^ above two I 144f BEMINISCENCES OF entitled, " Tobacco Spiritualized y* and published in Edinburgh, about the middle of the last century, with a number of recommenditions. Now, this same worthy divine used to compose his best sermons with a long pipe in his mouth, his person propped upright in an arm-chair, his left leg resting on a bunch of Scotch heather, with his face turned upwards, watch- ing the wreaths of smoke ascend on high. It was then that the young ideas shot up from the heart to the head. He would take his stand on a hill-side, with the sky for a canopy, and preach two hours on a stretch to an audience of more than five thousand, without a note to mar his eloquence, nor a written sernion within a mile of ^'im. But now we have a set of simple men, the sons of silly women — readers, not preachers of the Gospel — who fulminate their bulls or paper proclamations against this powerful weed. It is well these self-conceited mortals neither possess the spirit nor the power of pope Pius the Seventh ; otherwise our own and the heads of our pipes might be flying in the air, like the light shell of a Wethersficld onion. Have these men ever read of Sir Walter Raleigh, whose servant mistook the fumes of the pipe for the smoke of a volcano issuing from the throat of his master ] Have they never read of Sir Isaac Newton, who mistook the fore finger on the right hand of his mistress for the stopper of his pipe, as he blew the smoke at the moon, where his head had gone before 1 It is highly probable, had it not been for the ascending smoke, and for the con- ablished in intury, with this same rmotis with ped upright a bunch of ids, watch- jh. It was he heart to a hill-side, c) hours on e thousand, r a written we have a 11 — readers, inate their s powerful tals neither >e Pius the jads of our light shell n ever read nistook the ano issuing r never read 'e finger on pper of his where his >able, had it 3r the con- GRANT THORBURN. ^45 templations that thorefrom ensued, we never would W™ heard of the Newtonian sy.ten,. nor of the Z L arcana of lunar observations. I think it is a fact be- great, m all ages have been profound smokers. Co- umbus, Hudson and Americus were all welcomed to these shores by the ancient men of the tr^es beanng he calumet of peace. Butobserve: thelong-' 7Z If "" .«<""">"»ion with the whole fraternitl female ?r "«'"-''"°''«-' -Aether they be malei female. It was on one of those mild, calm, clear moonhght „,ghts, even as late as the eighth ;fD" cember, I was sitting on my stoop, enjoying the cheap and sober luxury of the pipe ; the river la/like a fieU of glass before me ; the full-orbed moon dancing „ the gentle npple of the ebbing tide ; the lights in^the many upper and lower chambe.^ in Ravenswood where, three years ago, there stood only one soZry n^ansion; the laugh and the sound of mirth from th^ vllage of Yorkville, which, ten years ago wrone hard, uncompromised rock of stone ; th! blaze fZ a thousand lamps on the Third Avenue, tretchW trod"tS "^ "--e'-f Harfem, whe;ebu at ^ casni of the Indian and the warlike tramp of the Hess:an sold.er. Apropos : in repairing my old farm house at the Cove, we found a canno.-ball which hTd been lodged between the clapboards and the lath and plaster. My next neighbor, now four-score and C informs iTiA th^t- u^ i: i • , ^^'^c una cwa, 13 1^ ush ; ihat crossed at :ish troops ross ; that ►rk Island •ed round tavern at re at the at he had [I have no 3 pounds ; rhatnip' Brs in ■■: i, ., while to they had 1 conquer iglyinvit- itersfrom ills, some ngly; the as better f course. ance with ng. Not le lap of ike; for, ivine and he was ' Morris- But to return to the lights on Hartem Heights, &c. 1 he night was bland , every thing spoke of life, peace and security Thinks I to myself, how kind is the Giver of al good. He tempers the winds to the strength of the shorn lamb. How much this second summer mitigates the pressure. If the times are hard the season is softer than usual. Banks and saiety-funds may evaporate in smoke ; but the bank ot Providence will never suspend payment as long as wood grows and Avater runs. By-the-by, of the season. The signs of the times were all in favor of a mild winter. The scarcity of wild fruit, as acorns, &c. 18 a sign that seldom or never fails. He that hangs creation on his arm and feeds her at his board, when he sees a long winter at hand, provides an ex- tra store of fruit in the woods, to supply the needs of the raven, the squiirel and the sparrow. Of how much more value, in his sight, is .man than many sparrows ! Yet man, to whom he has given reason, power and faculties above the brutes that perish is the only animal in all the creation of God that acts conrtary to nature, reason, religion and commonsense. Were men in the day of prosperity to look out for adversity, in the hey-day of summer to lay up for winter , were there no drunkards nor foolish spend- thrift, our world would soon lose the slanderous nick- name of being miserable. Were one-tenth of the money that is spent in buying and tuning piano-fortes laid out in knitting-needles, and one-fourth part of the time that is lost in iinri> nvA TniTii'ctoi<,'»< »r*« 0-B-* ^^^. '5 a^gCiO ''■^^J'S GRANT THORBITRN. 163 sent forth to shed a gracious influence around the children of men 1 I have no fear of the visits of Buch disembodied agents. I have almost v^rished that one of the long-departed, whose bones are mouldering beneath my feet, would lift for me the veil and grant me a glimpse of the mysteries be- hind it. But we have Moses and the prophets, and let us be thankful for what we have. Yet a little while, and the things unknown shall be revealed to us, and we shall be as wise as those who have gone before. The I were he to read this book. For my own part, I verily believe that there is iiAore sound sense in hi- Lowell Offering than you GRANT TIIORBURN. 165 will find in the whole book of the Alkoran, or in all the ukases of the Bashaws with three tails ! I won- der what those Turks who infest the Astor-house, with beards as long as a Russian bear, would say. They, too, say the women have no souls, and think themselves the vfery lords of creation ; but take any of those chaps and shut them up in a room, with pen. ink and paper, and let them have nothing to eat or drink till they produce an essay equal to the poorest of those hi the Offering, and I really believe they would die with hunger before they accomplished their task. And I wonder what Madam TroUope and Parson Fiedler would say. I remember standing near one of the factories some years ago, and seeing the girls walk from the gate at dinner-hour, two and two, like a procession, with their handsome, happy faces, and clean, neat dresses, neatly put on ; and I wished that Madam Trollope and her Fiedler were there— each having a score or two of the pin and factory girls from Lon- don, Manchester and Birmingham at their backs just by way of contrast. Whatever they might say, I am sure they would think that New England had not degenerated. Every Yankee ought to be proud of this book, and subscribe for it. 166 REMINISCENCES OF T»les of the Prison— Suf(ar-liouie—Llberty-itrcet t OR, ANECDOTES OF THE REVOLUTION. •* Here many pine in want, and dungeon'i gloom ; *' Shut from the cummon air, and common use •• Of their own limbs."— Thomson. When ages shall have mingled with those which have gone before the flood, the spot on which stood this prison will bo sought for with more than anti- quarian interest. It was founded in 1689, and occu- pied as a sugar-refining manufactory till 1776, when Lord Howe converted it into a place of confinement for the American prisoners. At the conclusion of the war for Independence, the business of sugar refining was resumed, and continued till 1839 or '40, when it was levelled to the ground to make way for a block of buildings wherein to stow Yankee rum and New Orleans molasses. Pity it ever was demolished. With reasonable care it might have stood a thousand years, a monument to all ge.ierations of the pains, penalties, sufferings and deaths their fathers met in procuring the blessings they now inherit. It stood on the southeast corner and adjoining the graveyard around the Middle Dutch Church, said church being now bounded by Liberty, Nassau and Cedar-streets. But, as it is said, this church is soon to become a post-office. The levelling spirit of the day is rooting up and destroying every landmark and vestige of an- tiquity about the city, and it is probable that in the year two uiuusuuu u«u Lvvcjiit-j-uiiu mcxo mu iiuu GRANT THORBURW. 167 li be found a man in New- York who can point out the site whereon stood a prison whose history is so feel- ingly connected with our revolutionary traditions. On the 18th of June, 1794, I came to reside in Liberty-street, where, between Nassau-street and Broadway I dwelt forty years. As the events record- ed in this history had but recently transpired, I had frequent opportunities of seeing and conversing with the men who had been actors in the scenes. Some of the anecdotes I heard from the lips of Gen. Alex- ander Hamilton, Gen, Morgan Lewis, Col. Richard Varick, the venerable John Pintard, and other revo- lutionary worthies, then in the prime of life, but now all numbered with the dead. Till within a few years past, there stood in Liberty- street a dark stone building, grown gray and rusty with age, with small, deep windows, exhibiting a dungeon-like aspect, and transporting the memory to scenes of former days, when the revolution poured its desolating wavas over the fairest portion of our country. It was five stories high; and each story was divided into two dreary apartments, with ceilings so low, and the light from the windows so dim, that a stranger would readily take the place for a jail. On the stones in the walls, and on many of the bricks under the office-windows, were still to be seen initials and ancient dates, as if done with a penknife or nail ; this was the work of many of the American prisoners] who adopted this, among other means, to while aW/nV tllOIT* IxroAlra o^J ,»^^ _X* 1 J ,„-^,, TTwv;«.o aii« jcttio ui luijg monoiouous con- 168 REMINISCENCES OF \lro!nn5^t. There is a strong jail-liko door opening im ..i'.erty-street, and another on the southeast, de- scending into a dismal cellar, scarcely allowing the mid-day sun to peep through its wmdow-gratmgs. When I first saw this building-some fifty years ago-th. A) wd. u walk, nearly broad enough for a cart to trr.vel round it ; but. of late years, a wmg has been added to the northwest end, which shuts up this walk, where, for many long days and nights, two British or Hessian soldiers walked their weary rounds, guarding the American pnBoners. tor thir- ty years after I settled in Liberty-street this house waB often visited by one and another of those war- worn veterans-men of whom the present political worldlings are not worthy, i often heard them re- peat the story of their sufferings nnd sorrows, always with grateful acknowledg -i^nts to Hup wuo guidef^ the destinie.. ^f men as wcil as of nati.^us_ One morning, when returning from the old t market a' the foot of Maiden-lane, I noticed two ol those old soldier, in the Sugariio se-yarc^ : tlioy had only three legs between them— ono having a wooden leg. I stopped a moment to listen to their c onversa- tion, and as they were riowly moving from the yard, said I ^0 them— « G ntl' len, do e'^her of y >u remember this build j .1?? ,, ,.11, " Aye, indeed ; I shai never forget it,' replied he of the one leg. " For twelve months that dark hole, ° 1— l»^ lA Ann at. 1„ "U. .pointing to the cellar, '* waa my Oi"j liv- And at ■ GRANT THORBURN. 169 )pening last, de- ing the ^ratings. y years gh for a ^ing has ihuts up hts, two : weary F'or thir- lis house ose war- political them re- l)WS, iim w-iO ti aS. uld Fl )d twvj> oi tl y hL 1 X wooden ! onversa- the yard, nber this eplied he ^ ark hole," ■ \t\/{ at ■ that door I saw the corpse of my brother thrown into the dead-cart among a heap of others who had died in the night previous of tlic jail-fever. While the fever was raging, we were let out in con^nanies of twenty, for half-an-hour at a time, to breathe the fresh air ; and inside we were so crowded that wc divided our number into squads of rix each. Number one stood ten minutes as close U the window as they could crowd to catch the cool air, and then step- ped 1 k, when number two took their places ; and so on. Seats we had none ; and our beds were but straw on the floor, with vermin intermix »3d. And there," continued he, pointing with his cane to a brick in the wall, " is my kill-time work — * A. V. S. 1777,' viz. Abraham Van Sickler — which I scratched with an old nail. When peace came, some learned the fate of their fathers and brothers from such initials." My house being near by, I asked them to step in and take a bite. In answer to my inquiry as to how he lost his leg, he related the following circumstance : " In 1777," said he, " I was quartered at Belle- ville, N. J. with a part of the army under Col. Cort- laii^^ Gen. Howe had pussession of New-York at the ne time, and we evs moment expected an attack from Henry Clinton. Delay made us less vigi- lant, an i we were surprised, defeated, and many slain ndiiade prisoners. We marched frr a Newark, crossing the Passaick and Hackensack rivers in boats. Th road thrnu ' the swamp was a * corduroy,' that iir J 15 170 REMINISCENCES OP [In September, 1795, I travelled this road, and found it in the same condition.] *' We were confined," he continued, " in this Su- gu. -house, with hundreds who had entered before us. At that time the Brick Meeting-house, the North Dutch Church, the Protestant Church in Pine- street, were used as jails for the prisoners ; while the Scotch Presbyterian Church in Cedar-street, now a house of merchandise, " was occupied as an hospital for the Hessian soldiers, and the Middle Dutch Church for a riding-school for their cavalry. I well remember it was on a Sabbath morning — as if in contempt of Him whose house they were dese- crating — that they first commenced their riding ope- rations in said church. On that same day a vessel from England arrived, laden with powder, ball, and other munitions of war. She dropped anchor in the East River, opposite the foot of Maiden-lane. The weather was warm, and a thunder-storm came on in the afternoon. The ship was struck by a thunder- bolt from heaven. Not a vestige of the crew, stores, or equipment was ever seen after that. The good whigs and Americans, all over the country, said that the God of battle had pointed tha^ thunder-bolt. " We were crowded to excess," continued the old vefteran ; " our provisions bad, scanty and unwhole- some, an,d the fever raged like a pestilence. For many weeks the dead-cart visited us every morning, into which from eight to twelve corpses were thrown, piled un like sticks of wood, with the same clothes GRANT THORBURN. IV i Ihey had worn for months, and in which they had died, and often before the body was cold. Thus, every day expecting death, I made up my mind tci escape, or die in the attempt. The yard was sur- rounded by a close board-fence nine feet high. I in- formed my friend here of my intention, and he readi- ly agreed to follow my plan. The day previous, we placed an old barrel, which stood in the yard, against the fence, as if by accident. Seeing the barrel was not removed the next day, we resolved to make the attempt that afternoon. The fence we intended to scale was on the side of the yard nearest to the East River; and our intentions were, if we succeeded in getting over, to make for the river, seize the first boat we could find, and push for Long Island. '• Two sentries walked around the building day and night, always meeting and passing each other at the ends of the prison. They were only about one minute out of sight, and during this minute we mounted the barrel and cleared the fence. I drop- ped upon a stone and broke my leg, so that I lay still at the bottom of the fence outside. We were missed immediately, and pursued. They stopped a moment to examine my leg, and this saved my friend; for by the time they reached the water's edge at the foot of Maiden-lane, he was stepping on shore at Brookl -^ri, and thus got clear. I was carried into my old quarters, and rather thrown than laid on the floor, under a shower of curses. " Twenty.four hours elapsed ere I saw th luc xjQf^iuv. 172 RBMINTSCBNCCS OF l> i My leg by this time had become so much swollen that it could not be set. Mortification immediately commenced, and amputation soon followed. Thus, being disabled from serving either friend or foe, I was liberated, through the influence of a distant re- lative, a royalist. And now I live as I can, on my pension, and with the help of my friends." In 1812, Judge Schuyler, of Belleville, shelved me a musket ball which then lay imbedded in one of his inside window-shutters, which was lodged there on that fatal night, thirty-five years previous. Among the many who visited this prison forty years ago, I one day observed a tall, thin, but re- spectable-looking gentleman, on whose head was a cocked-hat — an article not entirely discarded in those days — and a few dozen snow-white hairs gathered behind and tied with a black ribband. On his arm hung — not a badge, or a cane, nor a dagger ; but a handsome young lady, who I learned from him was his daughter, whom he had brought two hundred miles to view the place of her father's sufferings. He walked erect, and had about him something of a mi- litary air. Being strangers, I asked them in ; and be- fore we parted I heard THE HISTORY OF THE PRISONER. " When the Americans," he began, " had posses- sion of Fort Washington, on the North River — it be- ing the only post they held at that time on York Island — I belonged to a company of light infantry GRANT THOBBURN. 173 stationed there on duty. The American army having retreated from New- York, Sir William Howe deter- mined to reduce that garrison to the subjection of the British, if possible. Our detachment at that time was short of provisions, and as General Washington was at Fort Lee, it was a difficult matter to supply ourselves from the distance without the hazard of in- terception from the enemy. There lived on the turn- pike, within a mile of our post, a Mr. J. B. This man kept a store well supplied with provisions and groceries, and contrived to keep himself neutral, sell- ing to both parties ; but he was strongly suspected of favoring the British, by giving them information, &c. Some of our officers resolved to satisfy them- selves ; and if they found their suspicions just, they thought it would be no harm to make a prize of his stores, especially as the troops were much in need of them. From prisoners, and clothes stripped from the slain, we had always a supply of British uniforms for officers and privates. Accordingly three of our officers put on the red coats and walked to friend B.'s, where they soon found that the color of their uniforms was a passport to his best affections and to his best wines. As the glass went round, his loyal ideas began to sho-t forth in royal toasts and senti- ments. Our officers being now sure of their man, I was one of a party who went with wagons and every thing necessary to ease him of his stores. ' " On the following evening, that matters might pass quietly, we nut on the British uniformp.. Ar. 15* 174 REMINISCENCES OF W i ') n riving at the house, we informed Mr. B. that the army were in want of all his store, but we had no time to make an inventory, being afraid we might be intercepted by the Americans ; but he must make out his bill from memory, carry it to the Commissary at New- York, and get his pay. The landlord looked rather serious at this wholesale mode of doing busi- ness, but, as the wagons were loading up, he found remonstrance would be in vain. In less than an hour his whole stock of eatables and drinkables was on the road to Fort Washington. By the direction we took, he suspected the trick, and alarmed the out- posts of the British army. In fifteen minutes we heard the sound of their horses' hoofs thundering along behind us; but they were too late, and we got in sa^ He got his revenge, however; for in three days thereafter our fortress was stormed by General Kniphausen on the north. General Matthews and Lord Cornwallis on the east, and Lords Percy and Sterling on the south. So fierce and successful was the attack, that twenty-seven hundred of us were taken prisoners, and numbers of them, with myself, marched to New- York, and lodged in the Crown- street [now Liberty-street] Sugar-house. " It is impossible," he continued, " to describe the horrors of that prison. It was like a healthy man be- ing tied to a putrid carcass. I -ade several attempts to escape, but always failed, and at last began to yield to despair. I caught the jail-fever, and was nigh unto death. At this time I became acquainted i{ (rRANT THORBUHN. 175 with a young man among the prisoners, the wretch- edness of whose lot tended by compprison to alle- viate my own. He was brave, intelligent and kind. Many a long and weary night he sat by the side of my bed of straw, consoling my sorrows and beguil- ing the dreary hours with his interesting history. He was the only child of his wealthy and doting parents, and had received a liberal education; but despite of their cries and tears he ran to the help of his coun- try against the mighty. He had never heard from his parents since the day he left their roof. They lay near to his heart, but there was one whose image was graven there as with the point of a diamond. He, too, had the fever in his turn ; and I then, as much as in me lay, paid back to him my debt of gra- titude. • My friend,' he would say to me, ' if you sur- vive this deadly hole, promise me you will go to the town of H . Tell my parents, and Eliza, I pe* rished here a captive, breathing the most fervent prayers for their happiness.' 1 tried to cheer him by hope, feeble as it was. ' Tell me not,' he would add, ♦ of the hopes of reunion ; there is ^nly one world where the ties of affection will never break ; and there, through the merits of Him who was taken from prison into judgme..t, for our sins, I hope to meet them.' " This crisis over, he began to revive, and in a few days was able to walk, by leaning on my arm. We were standing by one of the narrow windows, inhal- ing the fresh air. on a certain dav wi,«« „,^ ^-^:^j (i 176 REMINISCENCES Of a young woman trying to gain admittance. After parleying for some time, and placing something in the hand of the sentinel, she was permitted to enter this dreary abode. She was like an angel among the dead. After gazing eagerly around for a mo- ment, she flew to the arms of her recognized lover, pale and altered as he was. It was Eliza. The scene was affecting in the extreme. And while they wept, clasped in each others arms, the prisoners within, and even the iron-hearted Hessian at the door, caught the infection. She told him she received his letter, and informed his parents of its contents ; but not knowing how to return an answer with safety, she had travelled through perils by land and water to see her Henry. ** This same Hessian sentinel had served us our rations for months past, and from long intimacy with the prisoners was almost considered a friend. Eliza, who made her home with a relative in the city, was daily admitted, by the management of this kind- hearted man ; and the small nourishing notions she brought in her pockets, together with the light of her countenance, which caused his to brighten whenever she appeared, wrought a cure as if by miracle. His parents arrived, but were not admitted inside- In h. few days thereafter, however, by the help of an ounce or two of gold and the good feelings of our Hessian friend, a plan was concerted for meeting them. His turn of duty was from twelve till two o'clock that night. The signal, which was to lock and unlock a GRANT THORBURN. 177 certain door twice, being given, Henry and myself slipped out, and crept on our hands and knees along the back wall of the Middle Dutch Church, meeting the parents and Eliza by the Scotch Church in Cedar- street. As quick as thought, we were on board a boat, with two men and four oars, on the North River. Henry pulled for love, I for life, and the men for a purse ; so that in thirty minutes after leaving the Sugar-house we stood on Jersey shore. " In less than a month Eliza was rewarded for all her trials with the heart and hand of Henry. They now live not far from Elizabethtown, comfortable and happy, with a flock of olive-plants around their table. I spent a day and night at their house last week, re- counting our past sorrows and present joys." Thus the old man concluded ; simply adding that •he himself now enjoyed a full share of earthly bless- ings, with a grateful heart to the Giver of all good. Now, friend Mackay, should you think these sketches will amu>ie your readers, they are at your service. I have moro of them, which I may give you at a more convenient season. It is well to snatch from oblivion a spot so inte- resting in revolutionary tradition as was the Sugar- house prison in Liberty-street. Within fifty feet to the eastward of the Middle Dutch Church, is the a|. >t; on which stood this bastile, into which many entered, but from whence few returned. The bell which now calls you to church is the same by which those prisoners took their note of time. Many, very if %■ 178 KEMINISCENCES OF many, counted twelve as they lay on their bed of straw. It was the knell of their departing hour. Be- fore the bell again tolled for one they had gone to happier climes. P. S. Since writing the above the religious ser- vices in this church have come to a final close, and it has been fitted up for a Post-office. From the thick- ness of the walls, and the durable nature of the stone with which they are built, under the fostering care of the government the building may yet stand many centuries, as a landmark, wherein the English caval- ry kept a riding-school, and within fifty feet of which once stood the Sugar-house prison of revolutionary memory. lietter of the Barons and People of Scotland to the Pope, 13)90. "If bleak and barren Scotia's hilli arise, " Vet peaceful art the vales and pure the skies, "And freedom fires the soul and sparkles in the eyes." -»^. In January, 1834, I was shown the interior of the Register Office, Edinburgh ; among many very ancient and important national state papers, I saw there the original of a remonstrance from the nobles, earls, barons, &c. of the Scottish community to the Pope, dr';ed 6th April, 1320. It contained the sig- nature of each person whose] name is in the instru- GEANT THORBURN. 179 Ir bed of our. Be- l gone to fious ser- ie, and it he thick- tlie stone ring care nd many ish caval- of which lutionary he Popei eyes." erior of my very s, I saw i nobles, :y to tho the sig- B instru- ment, with his seal appended to each signature with a piece of riband; it is written in Latin, in a clear, plain hand, on a sheet of parchment, and is now 514 years old. It appears that King Edward of England, finding it impossible to conquer Scotland by the sword, applied to the Pope, (this same Edward must have been just such another poor milk-and- water-soul as the late King of Spain, whom, the papers inform us, spent all his time in doing nothing but sewing petticoats,) who issued his bull, com- manding all the people in Scotland to submit to the authority of Edward, under pain of excommunication, and that he would raise on them the French, the Ger- mans, the Danes, Swedes, English and Irish, and sweep them from the face of the earth, and send 'h:^m all to by the wholesale. The Scotch- i/j-n, in no way alarmed, coolly replied in substance, that as long as there were three hundred men in Scot- land whv) could wa^, 3 a sword over therr head, they would neit'ie< 8ub'«.iit to Edward, to the pope, nor to the devil. ' s & trait in the national character of the Scots, that even in the darkest times of popery the priests could never lead them so far by the nose as they did their more pliable neighbors, the French, Germans, English, Irish, dec. in their last twenty- eight years' struggle with the Stewarts to keep out Episcopacy. (You will observe that Episcopacy in England and America are entirely different articles no lords spiritual here.) They gained for their to be found, except in America. 180 H H. REMINISCENCES OF Through the politeness of one of the gentlemen in the office, I had it translated by one of the best Latin scholars in Edinburgh. Its age and authen'ti- city, with the simplicity of its style, make it alto- gether a historical curiosity. A free translation of a copy of the Letter of the Barons, Earls, Freemen, and of the Scottish Community, to the Pope, 6th April, 1320. * * " In the name of the Most Holy Father, Christ and Lord, we, the undersigned, (do hereby declare our- selves to be,) by God's providence, the humble ser- vants and children of lord John the high priest, and minister of sacred things at Rome, and of the Uni- versal Church. (Here follow the names of the Barons, Earls, Freemen, and many of the community of the king- dom of Scotland.) " Not only, oh most holy Father, do we know the filial respect with which devotees kiss the feet of Saints, but we also gather, both from the deeds and books of the ancients, that our nation, to wit, that of Scotland, has been illustrious for many great ex- ploits. (Our nation) coming into Scythia Major, passed the pillars of Hercules, and coming through Spain, resided for many years among very savage nations, and who were in subjection to no man. Then, after a lapse of twelve hundred years, they came (like the Israelites in their passage) and dwelt m those habitations now nossessed bv the p.Yil#»fi GRANT XnORBURlV. 181 ntlemen in r the best i authenti- ke it alto- the Barons, to the Pope, Christ and 3clare our- iimble ser- priest, and f the Uni- ons, Earls, the king- know the le feet of deeds and nt, that of gpeat ex- ia Major, g through ry savage no man. jars, they md dwelt 1A curt ^^A Britons and Picts, who are nevertheless nearly de- 8t.-, ed by the fierce engagements which they have had with the Norwegians, Dacians and English, by which they have acquired many victories and toils, and have showed that their children were free from ^11 slavery from their forefathers. Thus far does history bear on us. In this kingdom they had one hundred and thirty kings of their own, of the royal blood and no foreigner taking possession. But He, by whom nobles reign and others shine with great effulgence, even the King of kings, our Lord Jesus Christ, appointed by his most holy faith, after his passion and resurrection, that they should dwell in the uttermost parts of the earth, as if they had been the first inhabitants. Nor did he wish that they should be confirmed in their faith by any one but by their first Apostle, although second, or even third m rank, to wit, our most gracious Andrew the Ger- man whom He always wished to preside over them as their patron, instead of St. Peter. But your fore- lathers and most holy predecessors, thinking anx- lously that that kingdom (of Germany, to wit) be- longed by special right to St. Peter, sanctioned the same by many favors and innumerable privileges. Wherefore our nation had thus far led a quiet and peaceable life under their protection ; till that great prince, Edward king of the English, and father of him who IS hostilely (and yet under the appearance of a friend and an ally) infesting our (peaceful) bul- kincrrlr\m onA -^^^-^l— • « . _ — ,,.„..,„ „„^i i.-cwL.-it7- cunscious ot neither 16 [M ; I 182 REMINISCENCES OP If guilo nor mischief, and an-ccustomed to wars and insults, (at least at that Umt Edward (whon. we have mentioned above) rommUted damages, carnage and wrongs, plunder bt 1 incendiarism, has incar- cerated the prelates, burned the ieligioas monas- tones, spoilii- them as he laid th« .n in ruins; anu havmg committed other em rm<. s grievances, and among the rest, has among me common people spared neither age nor sex, religion nop rank. No pen is capable of writing noi is the imderstanu- mg capable of comprehending, i.ei^^er n experi- ence teach (to the full amount) the ainumerable evils m which he delights : but yet we ire delivered by our most vahant prince, king aad ord, Robert, Who, after he was cured and healed of his wounds, has, like another Maccabaus or Joshua, freed his people from the hands of his enemies, and has suf- fered labor.!, toils and troubles, and dangers, even bordering to death. He also has a benign dispo- sition, and is obedient to the laws and customs, which we will sustain even to death. The succession of the law, and the debt which we were all due, made us assent and agree that he should be our chief and king, as being the person through whom safety accrues to the people, and who is the defender of our liberty, alike by his kindness and by dint of force, and to whom we wish to adhere in every thing, and desist from undertakings with the English king and subjects, who, forsooth, wish that we and our kingdom be subject to them, and that we should in- wars and vhoh. wo }, carnage las incar- 8 monas- tins ; an* ices, and 1 people OP rank, lerstanu- n experi- imerable lelivered , Robert, wounds, reed his has suf- Jrs, even n dispo- 8, which ssion of e, made hief and I safety jnder of dint of 1 thing, ish king md our ould iTi- OlANT JRBUBN. 183 stanr - dethrone our kiug, as the subversor alike of their and our rights, and that we should choose another who is capable of our defence : but we de- clare that, as long as a hundred Scotsmen can be any where fourd to stand together, the English will never be our master for we do not fight for riches, glory nor honor, y for that liberty which no map loses exce )e accompanied by his life. Hence it is, oh re .end Father and Lord ! that we entreat your holiness, with all manner of supplica- lion, instance and bending of hearts and knees, and that we have thus far recited the vicissitudes of our nation, whose sojourning among the nations of the earth have neither been a grievance upon grievance, nor an honor. Jews and Greeks, Scotch or English, who look with a father's eye at the troubles and trials brought upon us and the Church of God by the English, will see that the English king ought to be sufficed with what he possesses, and will look back to the time when England was wont to be pleased with seven kings to warn and rebuke those who required it. But there now remains nothing for us Scotsmen, living as we do in exiled Scotland, beyond waich there is no habitation, there is nothing but for Edward to depart in peace, seeing that we desire it ; for it concerns him with respect to you, to grant, and it is our desire effectually to procure, the peace of the state, whatever way we can. O holy Father! we beg you to grant this— you who lookest at the ^ « - - • ^-•«v,ii^ vrt paj^aiio, Willi """ the existing .>i IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 ■" 1U 12.2 US u 14.0 2.0 U III 1.6 6" /l >*. /^ 7 Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 m \ iV \\ "^ .V -(y" V O^ 184 REMINISCENCES OP f faults of christians, and the servitude of christians. »ot iessemng the memory of your holiness, though your empire is bounded by the Indies. If ^ytX ot the English.) behold the ignominy and renroach this Thl'd't^ T"""" ""'°" " "•«'«' y--^- lol t ' '\ '^' ""' ^^ "" '""^"'"^ to arouse some christian chiefr, who make no pretext and rhr„ir°"^ ^t t "•" ^'^^ -« - --^' selvesTnf. K^'l^ *^^^ ^'"'"''^ »»' frame then*. llnT r '', '""'y *"■ "^« P^tection of the Holy th^v tlink' > " "'' ''''"^^ "' *'« P-'-- - that Aey hmk It requires less exertion to carry o^ war with their less powerful neighbors. But if the En^ lish king leave us in peace, we also will go and die m the Holy Land, if such be the will of our lord and sovereign. But the English king knows enough not he Vicar of Christ, and to the whole christian world, that If your holiness do not deal justly between them and us. confusion will inevitably take place-the destruction of our bodies-tho exit of our souls- ^nd the other inconvenient consequences which will follow and which we believe they have imputed to us. and which we have done to them. From what we are and will be. as well from the obedience with which we, as your children, keep our tenets, as from the good feeling' which exists between us and you our head and judge, we trust our cause will be looked after, thinking and hoping firmly that v„„ GRANT THORBURN. 185 instians, , though ny thing haracter eproach c times ; ) arouse QXt and ar with B them'- e Holy is, that on war le Eng- ^nd die >rcl and igh not jlare to world, n them 56 — the souls — ch will Jted to n what ;e with ts from id you, i^ill be at vnii will deal rightly with us, and will reduce our ene- mies to nothing, and will preserve the safety of your holiness, who hast been this good while the head of this holy church. This was dated at the monastery of Aberbrothoc, in Scotland, 6th April, 1320, and in the 1.5th year of our kingdom, under our king above mentioned." Margaret and tbe Minister, and Lady Jane. TWO SCOTCH STORIES, NOT FOUNDED ON, BUT ALL FACT. "The dinner comes, and down they •itj— " Were e'er such hungry folk ? "There's little talking, and no wit; *'It is no tiibe to joke." I spent a month in London in 1833. During this period I was engaged every night, Sundays except- ed, to some club, society, conversazione, or dinner party. Among the latter, from the peer ro the peas- ant. On one occasion I dined at Lord B 's. There were twelve at the table, and six servants in splendid uniform to wait upon them. I put on my best black, and went in a carriage to this important affair. I had got a few glimpses at high life previous to this, 80 that I felt some confidence in myself. The mis- tress of the feast sat at the head of the table, and on her right sat a young lady, a Miss C , at the right 0£ whom I WAR at>tttc^A txrl^il^ *l,^ -.IJ .. J r. /. 16» 186 KEAimiSCENCES OF ii i 1 the family, a fine young lady of seventeen, sat at my right hand. So I sat between the twa. When I look- ed at the servants, with their powdered heads and clothes of scarlet— at the vessels of gold and silver jars of China and platters of glass— at the lords and ladies, the sirs and counts-at the room, the seats sofas, ottomans and footstools which far outshone what I had read of Eastern luxury and splendor, and whose gas-lamps and chandeliers sent forth a blaze more brilliant than their winter sun— I thought 'his was rather going ahead of anything of the sort I had ever seen, and was afraid I might make some blun- der; however, I was resolved to maintain my confi- dence and make myself perfectly at home, like my worthy countryman. Sir Andrew Wyie, at a ball given by the Duchess of Dashingwell, in the next square to the one m which I was then partaking of London hos- pitdity. I soon found that Miss C w-^s a social, intelligent mortal, and felt myself at home at once "Miss," said I, " I have been at some fine parties in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Liverpool, but this is carrying the joke a little beyond anything I have before seen,. I am afraid I may go wrong, as I am somewhat like the old woman in Scotland, who went to dine with themimster ; so, ifl blunder, you must help me along." lo this she readily consented. " But what of the old lady m Scotland V* said she. ** I have heard my father," I replied, « relate the story some fifty years ago. It happened in the parish where he lives." ^ GRANT THORBURN. 187 She was much surprised to hear that he, my father, then lived, in his ninety-first year. *• On a certain market day," I continued, " Marga- ret, the wife of a neighboring farmer—in addition to her load of hens, geese, &c.— brought a small basket of oggs as a present to the minister. Having sold off her load of sundries, she wends her way to the parsonage. After inquiring how he, the wife, and aw the bairns did, she says " * I hue brought ye twa or three fresh eggs for the gude wife, to help in making her youl bannocks: (Christmas cakes.) " The eggs were kindly Tec&cid, and it being din- ner hour, she was invited to stop and take her kaU, (soup.) " * Nay, nay,' sa^, a Margaret, ' I dinna km hu to behaVe at great folks' tables.' " * Oh, never mind,' said the minister. * Just do as ye see me do.' " Margaret was finally persuaded, and sat down at the table. It so happened that the minister was old and well stricken with age, and had, with all, received a stroke of the palsy, so that, in conveying the spoon from the dish to his lips, the arm being unsteady, the soup was apt to spill ; therefore, to prevent damage befalling his clothes, it was his custom to fasten one end of the table-cloth to the top of his waistcoat, just under his chin. Margaret, who sat at the oppo- site corner of the table, watching his motions, pinned the other end of the table-cloth to a fltrnT»cr k„«,- 188 BEMINISCENCES OF Irl n tt I ?! ' 1 1 I shawl, linder her chin. She was attentive to every move. The minister deposited a quantity of mustard on the edge of his plate, and Margaret, not observinff thiB/ugal exactly, carried the spoon to her mouth. The mustard soon began to operate on the olfactory nerve. She had never seen mustard before, and did not know what it meant. She thought she was be- witched. To expectorate on the carpet wad be a sin She was almost crazy with pain. Just at this mo- ment the girl coming in with clean plates, opened the door near where Margaret sat. Margaret at once sprang for the door, upset the girl, plates and all, and fiweptthe table of all its contents, the crash of which lidded speed to her flight. Making two steps- at once m descendmg the stairs, the minister, being fast at the other end of the table-cloth, was compelled to follow as fast as his tottering limbs could move. He held to the banisters until the pins gave way, when away flew Margaret, who never again darkened the minis- ter s door." Mi88 B-_ startled the company with a loud laueh at the conclusion of the story. Having explained the cause of her m.rth, I was asked to repeat the story for the good of the whole, and the laugh which fol- lowed its repetition, I dare say, did them more good than their sumptuous dinner. Most of the gentlemen were conversing about a contested election on foot at that time As the ladies near me however, paid no attention to that subject, and I having no interest in the matter, we OUANT THOBBITRN. 189 had our own conversation among ourselves. MissC- remarked, that since she had read Sir Walter she was ahve to every thing Scotch ; and asked if I would the !:::/:; "°''" '""=' ^'°'^- ' *«" ""•^ "er LADY JANE. _^ The earl of Wigton, whose name figures in the Scottish annals during the reign of Charles II., had three daughters, named Lady Frances, Lady Grizel, and Lady Jane; the latter being the youngest by several years, and by many degrees the most beauti- , • ";" '.'?^ ""■«« "^"»"y resided with their mother, af the family-seat in Sterlingshire ; but the two eldest were occasionally permitted to attend their father in Edmburgh, in order that they might have a chance of obtaining lovers at the court held there by the Duke of Lauderdale; while Lady Jane was kept constantly at home, and debarred from the society of the capital, est her superior beauty might interfere with and foil the attractions of her sisters, who. ac cording to the notions of that age, had a sort of right of primogeniture in matrimony, as well as in what was called heirship. It may easily be imagined that Lady Jane spent no very pleasant life, shut up, as it were, in a splendid palace, to be sure, but having no company except her old cross mother and the serv^'ts. the palace being in a remote part of the country Besides, she was so very beautiful her parents were a^raiu tua; any gentleman should see her, and so take 190 REMINISCENCES OF the shine off her two eldest sisters, who were rather homely-looking articles, and older by eight or ten years. Jane was now in her seventeenth year. At the period when our history opens, Lady Jane's charmis, although never seen in Edinburgh, had be- gun to make some noise there. A young gentleman, one day passing the garden, espied what he termed an angel picking strawberries. After gazing till he saw her retreat under the guns of her father's castle, he inquired among the cottagers, and learned it was Jane, the youngest daughter of Lord Wigton. He rode on and reported the matter in the capital. The young gallants about the court were taken by surprise. Lord Wigton and his two daughters made quite a swell in Edinburgh at this time ; but no one ever heard of Lord Wigton having a third daughter. These reports induced Lord Wigton to confine het ladyship even more strictly than heretofore, lest perchance some gallant might make a pilgrimage to his country-seat, in order to steal a glimpse of his beautiful daughter ; he even sent an express to his wife, directing her to have Jane confined to the pre- cincts of the house and garden, and also to be at- tended by a trusty female servant. The consequence was, that the young lady complained most piteously to her mother of the tedium and listlessness of her life, and wished with all her heart that she was as ugly, as old, and happy as her sisters. Lord Wigton was not insensible to the cruelty of *ii3 pOiicy, iiowe ver well ho might be convinced of its GRANT THORBURN. 191 ) was as :ea oi lis necessity. He loved this beautiful daughter more than either of the others, and it was only in obedi- ence to what he conceived to be the commands of duty that he subjected her to this restraint ; his lord- ship therefore felt anxious to alleviate, in some mea- sure, the disagreement of her solitary confinement, and knowing her to be fond of music, he sent her by a messenger a theorbo, with which he thought she would be able to amuse herself in a way very much to her mind ; not considering that, as she could not play upon the instrument, it would be little better to her than an unme.aning toy. By the return of the messenger she sent a very affectionate letter to her father, thanking him for the instrument, but remind- ing him of the oversight, and begged him to send some person who could teach her to play upon it. The gentry of Scotland at that period were in the habit of engaging private teachers in their fami- lies. They were generally young men of tolerable education, who had visited the continent. A few v. vs after the receipt of his daughter's letter, it so hap- pened that he was applied to by one of those useful personages, wishing employment. He was a tall, handsome youth, apparently about twenty-five years of age. After several questions, his lordship was satisfied that he was just the person he was in quest of; as, in addition to many other accomplishments, he was particulariy well qualified to teach the the- orbo, and had no objection to enter the service, with the proviso that he was to be spared the disgrace of 192 REMINISCENCES OF wearing the family livery. The next day saw Rich^ ard (his name was Richard Livingston) on the road to Wigton palace, bearing a letter from Lord Wigton to his daughter Jane, setting forth the qualities of the young man, and hoping she would now be better con- tented with her present residence. It was Lady Jane's practice every day to take a walk, prescribed by her father, in the garden, on which occasions the countess conceived herself acting up to the letter of her husband's commands when she ordered Richard to attend his pupil. This ar- rangement was exceedingly agreeable to Lady Jane, as they sometimes took out the theorbo and added music to the other pleasures of the walk. However, to make a long story short, it would have been a new problem in nature could these youncr people have escaped from falling in lore. They were constantly together ; no company frequented the house J the mother was old and infirm, and per- fectly satisfied when she knew Lady Jane was within the limits prescribed by her father. Lady Jane was now in her eighteenth year, and probably never had Been, and certainly never conversed with any man having the education and polish of a gentleman. Although Richard had not yet told his tale of love his genteel deportment, handsome person, and certain sorts of attention which love only can dictate, had won her heart before she knew it; her only fear now was that she might betray herself; and the more she admired, thp more reserved she became towards him. LwRicfi- he road Wigton 58 of the ter con- take a den, on f acting s when rhis ar- !y Jj^ne, i added would 5 young They [uented tid per- 1 within ne was ^er had ly man tleman. )ve, his certain e, had arnow )re she ds him. GRANT THORBUEN. 193 As for Richard, it was no wonder that he should be deeply smitten with the charms of his mistress ; for ever, as he stole a long furtive glance at her graceful form, he thought he had never seen, in Spain or Italy any such specimens of female loveliness ; and the admiration with which she knew he beheld her, hia musical accomplishments which had given her so much pleasure, all conspired to render him precious in her sight. The habit of contemplating her lover every day, and that in the dignified character of an instructor, gradually blinded her to his humble quality, and to the probable sentiments of her father and the world upon the subject of her passion ; besides, she often thought that Richard was not what he seemed to be ! She had heard of Lord Belhaven, who, in the period immediately preceding, had taken refuge from the fury of Cromwell in the service of the English nobleman whose daughter's heart he had won under the hum- ble disguise of a gardener, and whom, on the recur- rence of better times, he carried home to Scotland as his lady. Things continued in tiiis way during the greater part of the summer without the lovers coming to an eclaircissement, when the Earl of Home, a gay young nobleman, hearing of the beauty of Lady Jane, left Edinburgh and took the way to Lord Wigton's pal- ace, resolving first to see, then to love, and finally to run away with the young lady. He skulked about for several days, and at last got a sight of the hidden beauty over the garden wall, ^ she was talking with 17 194 BKMiMisciMC£s or 1 1 Richard. He thought he had never seen a lady so beautiful before, and, as a matter of course, resolved to make her his own. He watched next day, and meeting Richard on the outside of the premises, pro- posed by a bribe to secure his services in procuring him an interview with Lady Jane. Richard prompt- ly rejected the offer, but upon a second thought saw fit to accept it. On the afternoon of the second day he was to meet Lord Home, and report progress. With this they parted — Richard to muse on this un- expected circumstance, which he saw would blast all his hopes unless he should resolve upon prompt mea- sures ; and the Earl to the humble village inn, where he had for the last few days acted the character of " the daft ladfrae Edinburgh, wha seemed to hd'e mair siller than sense." What passed between Jane and Richard that after- noon and evening my informant does not say ; early the next morning, however, Richard might have been seen jogging swiftly along the road to Edinburgh, mounted on a stout nag, with the fair Lady Jane com- fortably seated on a pillion behind him. It was mar- ket day in Edinburgh, and the lanes and streets, on entering the city, were crowded with carts, &c. so that they were compelled to slacken their pace, and were thus exposed to the scrutinizing gaze of the inhabitants. • Both had endeavored to disguise every thing re- markable in their appearance, so far as dress and TVb; SU3 Ai>aVS.j VUlU-V ■UViAiV. ORANT THORBURN. 195 not conceal her extraordinary beauty, and Richard had not found it possible to part with a sly and dearly be- loved mustache, it naturally followed that they were honored with a great deal of staring, and many an urchin upon the street threw up his arms as they passed along, exclaiming, '*Ohi the black bearded man!" or "Oh the bonnie ladie !" The men all admired Lady Jane, the women Richard. The lovers had thus to run a sort of gauntlet of admiration till they reached the house of a friend, when the minis- ter being sent for, in a few minutes Richard and Lady Jane were united in the holy bands of matrimony. In Scotland, the promise of the man and woman before witnesses constitutes a lawful marriage. When the ceremony was concluded, and the cler- gyman and witnesse ssatisfied and dismissed, the lovers left the house, with the design of walking in to the city. Lady Jane had heard much from her sisters in praise of Edinburgh, but had never seen that gude toon until that day. In conformity with a previous arrangement. Lady Jane walked first, like a lady of honor, and Richard followed close behind, with the dress and deportment of a servant; her ladyship was dressed in her finest suit, and adorned with her finest jewels, all which she had brought with her on pur- pose in a small bundle, which she bore on her lap as she rode behind Richard. Her step was light and her bearing gay. As she moved along the crowd in the streets gave way on both sides, and wherever she ration and confusion. 196 BEMINISCENCE8 OF It 80 happened that on this day the Parliament of Scotland was going to adjourn, a day on which there ■was always a general turn out among the gentry, and a grand procession. Hichard and his lady now directed their steps to the Parliament Square. Here all was bustle and magnificence ; dukes and lords, ladies and gentlemen, all in the most splendid attire, threading their way among the motley crowd. Some smart, well-dressed gentlemen were arranging their cloaks and swords by the passage-way which had given entry to Richard and Jane, most of whom, at the sight of our heroine, stood still in admiration; one of them, however, with the trained assurance of a rake, ob- serving her to be very beautiful, and a stranger, with only one attendant, accosted her in language which made her blush aad tremble. Richard's brow red- dened with anger as he commanded the offender to leave the lady alone. ** And who are you, my brave fellow?" said the youth, with bold assurance. "Sirrah !" exclaimed Richard, forgetting his livery, " I am that lady's husband — her servant, I mean — ;" and here he stopped short in confusion. "Admirable!" exclaimed the intruder. "Ha, ha, ha ! Here, sirs, is a lady's lackey who does not know whether he is his mistress's servant or husband. Let U» give him up to the tovni guard." So sayiag he attempted to push Richard aaide and take hold of the lady; but he had not time to touch her garments with even a finger before her protector I ORANT THORBURN. 197 had a rapier gleaming before his eyes, and threatening him with instant death if he laid a hand upon his mis- tress. At sight of the steel, the bold youth stepped back, drew his sword, and was preparing to fight when a crowd collected. His Majesty's representative was at this moment stepping out of the Parliament- House, who ordered the officer of his guard to bring the parties before him. This order obeyed, he in- quired the reason of this disgraceful occurrence. •' Why, here is a fellow, ny lord," answered the youth who had insulted the lady, ** who says ho is the husband of a lady whom he attends as a liveryman, and a lady too, the bonniest, I dare say, that has been seen in Scotland since the days of Queen Magdaline." "And what matters it to you," said the officer, "in what relation this man stands to his lady ? Let the parties come forward and tell their own story." The lords in attendance were now gathering around, all eager to see the bonnie lady. Lord Wigton was in the number. When he saw his daughter in this unex- pected place, he was so astounded that he came near to fainting and falling from his horse. It was some minutes before he could speak, and his first ejaculation was — "OJane! Jane! whB.t*a thiB ye^ve been aboot? and what's brocht ye here 1" •' Oh Heaven Tia'e a care o' us !" exclaimed another venerable peer at this juncture, who had just como up, " and what's brocht my sonsie son Richard Liv- ingston to Edinburgh, when he should have been fecht. — if en the Dutch in Pennsylvania]" 17* r 198 ESBIINISCENCES OF And here suffer me to remark, that this same Rich- ard Livingston (a progenitor of the respectable fami- lies who bear his name in this State) was the second son of Robert, Earl of Linlithgow. Of course, having nothing to depend on but his bead and his sword, he had joined a regiment under orders for America; but hearing the fame of Jane's beauty, by bribing a servant who concealed him in the garden, got sight of her as she was watering her pots of Primrose and Polyanthus. He immediately left the army and as- sumed the disguise by which he insinuated himself into the good graces of her father. The two lovers being thus recognized by both their parents, stood, with downcast eyes, perfectly silent, while all was buzz and confusion around them; for those concerned were not more surprised at the as- pect of their affairs than were all the rest at the beauty of the far-famed but hitherto unseen Lady Jane Fleming. The Earl of Linlithgow, Richard's father, was the first to speak aloud; and this he did in a laconic though important query, which he couched in the simple words — "Are you married, hairnsV* *• 1 es, dearest father," said his son, gathering cou- rage and going up close to his saddle-bow, "and I beseech you to extricate us from this crowd, and I "will tell you all when we are alone.'* "A pretty man ye are, truly," said his father, "to be staying at home and getting married, when you should have been abroad winning honors and wealth, GRANT THORBURIf. 199 as your gallant grand-uncle did with Gustavus, king of Sweden. However, since better may na* be, I maun try and console my Lord Wigton, who I doot not has the warst o' the bargain, ye ne*er-do-weel !" He then went up to Lady Jane's father and shaking him by the hand, said — " Though we have been made relatives against our will, yet I hope we may continue good friends. The young folks," he continued, "are not ill matched either. At any rat^, my lord, let us put a good face on the matter before these gentle folks. I'll get horses for the two, and they'll join the procession ; and the de^il ha*e me if Lady Jane dis na outshine the hale 6' them" "My Lord Linlithgow," responded the graver and more implacable Earl Wigton, '* it may suit you to take this matter blithely, but let me tell you it's a much more serious affair for me. What think ye am I to do with Kate and Grizzy now]" " Hoot toot, my lord," said Linlithgow, with a smile, ** their chances are as gudc as ever, i>assure you, and aae will everybody think who kens them." The cavalcade soon reached the court-yard of Holy- rood-House, where the duke and duchess invited the company to a ball, which they designed to give that evening in the hall of the palace. When the com- pany dispersed, Lords Linlithgow and Wigton took their young friends under their own protection, and after a little explanation, both parties were reconciled. The report of Lady Jane's singular marriage having 200 BEMINISCBNCSS OF now spread abroad, the walk from the gate to the palace was lined with noblemen an hour before the time for assembling, all anxious to see Lady Jane. At length the object of all their anxiety and attention came tripping along, hand in hand with her father-in- law. A buzz of admiration was heard around; and when they entered the ball-room, the duke and duchess arose and gave them a welcome, hoping they would often adorn the circle at Holyrood-palace. In a short time the dancing commenced, and amid all the ladies who exhibited their charms and magnificent attire in that captivating exercise, none was, either in person or dress, half so brilliant as Lady Jane. Let me add in conclusion, that this story is a histori- cal fact, confiimed by tradition. It occurred within SIX miles of my birth-place. I have heard my grand- father, whodiedat the age of ninety-six, and my father, who died in his ninety-third year, each relate it m an undisputed fact. The posterity of Jane and Richard occupy the same lands and palaoes at the present day. It is a name revered and held in high estimation all over Scotland, and I might add, wherever the name is known Wit- ness the venerable Chancellor Livingston, who admin- istered the oath of office to Washington, the first and best of Presidents, and who cheered the heart and strengthened the hands of Fulton by his counsel and money, till through their united exertions the first steamboat furrowed the waters of the Hudson. Co- temporary with him was Rev. Dr. Livingston, of New- GRANT THOHBUaW. 201 York, whose praise is in all the churches. It is a name (If my memory of the last fifty years serves me) that never was sullied by any of the political rascality which has kept our State in a Hew ever since 1797. About that period Brokholst, Peter R. and a few more of the Livingstons, arjayed themselves under the Tammany flag; but finding they must associate with Burr, &c. &c. &c. they left their ranks while yet their garments were clean and their honor unstained. These men are the lineal descendants of Richard and Lany Jane, the heroes of our tale. Some of the fami- ly fled from Scotland at the time of the persecution • and from Holland they emigrated to this State, and settled on "Livingston's Manor." Clirlstinas and New Year's Day. "Bid the morn of youth "Rise to new light, and beam afresh the days " Of innoceuce, simplicity and truth." This day, fifty years ago, I first saw the Christmas sun gild the steeple of old Trinity. On each return of the day, I have lived over again, in memory, the pleasures in which I that day participated. I am not going to write a funeral tale, because all whom I then knew, of my own age, are slumbering in the tomb—the^r spirits returned to Him who gave them. God i§ Lovs. Solomoii says (and he was the wisest 02 ^ *EMINI8CBNCES OF king that ever lived, not even excepting King John the sad. This being the case, why should men brood commually upon the dark side of the cloudTfor as will tollow. The press, .the pulpit and the bar re sound with the bugbear of " «Lr«W. «,„r W .- Thev are a set of miserable fools that say so. We could not m d the world, even if. ekne^ how Lhai' tul man is a happy man ; and we have always reason ^ be thankful. When you break your armf yr^re glad It was not your leg; when you break ^our lee temporal blessings, a sober man-no matter how poor-ought to be thankful that he don't get drunk Bu rrdt '•""f°^r"'- ^-ingor receiving pSll thankful that his lot is cast in this plentiful country • for even though he may not have risen higher thl^a jounieyman, if he has a wife who is a good manager! h^ a good temper and is a good cook, (and I co^uli N t Y ,l?r""' T"" "''"'' amongihe lasses in New-York ) he may live as sumptuously every day as do the httle princes in Germany who live 7n the sweat a„d blood of their white slav'es. B^Zisl nlfye "L" f^V^ °""'" "^"^ ^''"«""«'. 'hough not yet so far off the road ; for Christmas would be a poor concern without a goo.,e, or New Year with- out a turkey ; for even in the hard times of '35, '36 and 37, when friend Andrew Jackson spnine a GSAKT THORBURN. 203 mine on the Banks, Bonds and Currency, we could buy a turkey for fifty cents, and a goose for thirty- seven cents. But to return to Christmas, 1794. The morning was calm, mild, and bland, as in the month of May. In my mind's eye, I yet see every scene as they were shifting on that pleasant day. My young friend asked me to accompany her to the Methodist Chapel in John-street. I loved to follow where she led. I coul^ give you the hymn and the text, if necessary. I see the preacher as he stood in the pulpit, and fancy I hear his voice. At the corner of Nassau-street and M^iiden-lane, in a one-and-a-half story wooden shell, lived Alexan- der Cuthill. His business was to clothe the naked ; but his chief hobby (for every man has his hobby) consisted in a large thermometer. Wishing to know the state of the weather, we stepped in. His mer- cury indicated fifty-nine. His window was open on the street along which the people were crowding to the Middle Dutch Church. The bell was tolling half past ten, and at this moment a large blue fly, a common harbinger of summer, came buzzing in at the window. I mention this to let you see that, although we had no steam-boats in those days, yet we had such Christmas days as we have not seen since. But apropos of Mr. Cuthill : he was a man of notions, but bis grand lever was the thermometer. By than he would have moved the world, provided he could have fouud a nlanet whArAon tn H-r )tU 204 aEMINlSClNCBS OF t Jnachine. He nevAr ua *u reasons that the yelLtv ""^.'''''^''ff 'he twelve when I w«s <>Clf:7jllTr''f' •"" '" '822. comprised all that pa t of th"' ^'''"'"- ^h'<=h "treet, fro„..ri,: rw:'; ;rr°"''i'''i'''«''y- Health put up a board f^e ^tZ uJT' "' of drawmg a line between fh» T • ^ ' "^^ '^"X -J also set a watch by nS-'aT/r' "^ '^«»''' any one from venturin7on li , "^ '" P™^«" Cuthill forced an Z^^ Z^Z'^J ,^' ^^^'^^-^ Mr. >f I was dead or alivn • n„7 , ^ '" ''• "• '» »ee Ws thermometerrtZid gl'^'rrif ■» '"^ ""«« ^^ number of new cases tW f . ^"^'^ =^ '° *e day. In winter hTtore a ^?'" .'' '"''P''^^'' ""at gloves to keep out tre col/'"'/^ ""'•"' '»"='»«'' gloves in summer to kef- *'"\«"«>y ">« same neat and cleanTn his" r!,!^ °1 ""« "'««• »« was in a drab-colored ZuT "'"'iPP^'-^'' »d dressed down vest, black cS^Xlh""' f '"^ '"'"'» on the knees, cotton Tfnt^^"' "'^^'" ''""'Wos shoes shining w^hMST Z "'"^ "' ™°-' brushed as brighllTd T r'''"^' """^ ''"''kles of the cocked-ht fraSity ^ N^' i^r^'-'^i a wife, but no family • so «L , / ' "° '"^ powers to the coS.f^ Z?"'^"^ ''^'" ^•'"le his person neat ::5X; it . Tn' '^^P'"^ "^ she looked upon her sll'X H^ f"' "T :7i:\::re;m^~^^^^ --nallchHstejrth^^r;-td GRANT THORBURN. oqj mu™'! rr '°°'' "P°" "'^'^ "'^<' "««"'• So w, return to Cbnstmag, 1794. On that day the stores and work-shops were nearly 111: "^' " 'r ^^'""^'-S '" "■« Friends in PeS God ; now they have only time to worship Maramoni hat golden ca^i„ Wall-street. Then we had only banks and ten fmes ten ,«>re of brokers. Then the floor, were scrubbed and sprinkled with white sand from Coney Island .- now they are covered with doth from Brussels and carpets from Turkey. Thla mise'r Th::" ^P^J T ""^y «^<' '" 'p'-'li'J tT^T A I ^^^"^ "" '"^'^^ «« ">« headache and were cured ; now they pour out a bottle of Co- logne water, to the cost of fifty cents, and yet the told thi? ^^r T"" *'"'■"«'" ">« ^'r, now I am told that two hundred thousand dollars are spent daughters of able merchants and thriving mechanic^ tTetorTlT'V'! "P--^-"-'. an'd weavTo" was a g,rl ,„d Jacob stood by his mother's knee • now they sit humming French airs and jingling i p.ano unt.1 they get the vapo« in their head Id SoSr,;" ''"'\^r'^- Then the lasses w^re to be elhtf '"^^ "f double-aoled shoes, and lived TO De eighty J now thev wApr oiiu .*^.i.-._ , •^ — ' ="«• «"'"«&wigs ana datm 18 sBm 206 REMINIfCfiMCES OF shoes ; and before they live half their days the doc- tor and grave-digger ride riot over their graves. Then if we took a notion to get married, we finished our day's work at 7 p. m. as usual, got supper at 8, put on our Sunday coat, and the lassie her summer iiat, and at 9 we walked to Rev. Dr. John Rogers in Pine-street, or Rev. Bishop Provost in Vesey- street. The Bishop or the Doctor's man-servant and maid-servant were alwa|9 dressed by eight p. m. and ready to officiate as bride's-maid and groom's-man, and from their long experience in such matters they could act their part up to nature. A Spanish dollar was the regular fee. We then walked home alone. Having caught the bird, we took her to the nest we had provided for her. Perhaps we began with three rush-bottomed chairs, at 25 cents each ; it was one more than we wanted ; and we had our room, though small, to ourselves ; our hearts knew their own hap- piness, and ho stranger intermeddled with our joys. Now the bachelor of thirty- five takes his bird of fif- teen to the public table of Madame B 's board- ing-house, or the promiscuous group in Howard's Hotel, where she suffers from the stare of some im- pudent, brainless blockhead, or is put to the blush by the insolent titter of a set of black-whiskered, most consummate fools ; and this is the refinement of the nineteenth century. Now, my young friends, don't you think our old sober-sided mode of doing this business was more natural, more pleasant, and more economical than ORINT THOHBURlf. 207 ays the doc- heir graves. , we finished supper at 8, her summer Fohn Bogers t in Vesey- -servant and ght p. M. and jroom's-man, matters they panish dollar home alone, the nest we in with three ; it was one room, though eir own hap- ith our joys, is bird of M- *8 board- in Howard's of some im- to the blush k-whiskered, e refinement think our old ss was more lomical than the present bombast and jingle fashion ? Why, I have known a parson get a check for $500 for buck- ling a couple together. Fifty years ago we got mar. ned at night, went to work at six in the momine with all the sober realities of life on our backs, and at eight found our breakfast made ready, for the first time, by the hands of her we loved best. In this tiiere was a pleasure unspeakable and sublime. On Wednesday we changed our nether frock, soiled with brick-dust, coal-smoke, or the labor of the plane, and perhaps a rent in the sleeve or a button g-one astray. On Saturday night we found th'e shirt clean and neatly folded, the rent mended, making . them look a'maisi aagude as new. This was the labor of love. A bachelor has this done for money, but the wash-woman embezzles his stockings, tears his collars, and throws his vest to the wind, because she IS a hireling. The money spent by our young clerks and mechanics for board, washing, mending, tear, wear and cabbaging, political clubs and smoking fepamsh cigars, is more than sufficient to support himself and an industrious wife. Fifty years ago Mrs. Washington knit stockings for her general- now there is not fifty ladies in the city who can play that part; and hundreds know not how the apple gets into the heart of the dumpling. On New Year's day, as soon as service was over m the Middle Dutch Church, you might see the whole company of elders and deacons adjourn to the house of the worthv Dutch mnvnr t?j«i,o*j \t^^i^\. Sdi icmmccsiccBi or ^1' corner of PinVstreet and Broadway: thara tli*f these le rules d upon. in those :iety in \ tell of rtain it rk lived no aiti' note — )!?, otto- *ot sii^ 1 to ser- ubbing, litufe — see and ReminUeenee oftha City Hot«l. " SninetimM in hand th« tpada or plough Hh caught, " Forth calling all with which the earth ii fraught i— "Sumatimea he plied the itrong mecbaoic tool." The City Hotel in Broadway was built in the bummer and autumn of 1794, and is the first house in the city, and also in America, whose roof was covered with slates. Having set up the timbers for the roof, and nailed the rough planks whereon to lay the slates, they camo to a dead stand for 1: ck of nails to fasten on the slates. Every hardware .-tore in the city was ransacked in vain, as prior to thi h no slates had been used on the continent ; therefore no one imported any of the nails. There were nail- makers in New-York and Philadelphia enough, but they could only make shingle nails. T^ere is a cer- tain art in forming the head of the slate-nail, which only nail-makers from Europe are up to. In this dilemma they applied to me, who at that time was hammering ten-penny nails at No. 55 Liberty-street, wishing to know, first, if I could make the nails. Being answered in the affirmative, they inquired, secondly, how much per thousand I asked for making, they finding coal and iron 1 I promised to give them an answer in the morning ; this was at 4 P. M. From tnis time till next day at noon I de- bated ill my own mind whether to charge one dollar for making a thousand, or ninety-four cents. I have 18» -'•^«*»>*"«W^ «10 RfiMtNtflCEKCfilft 6f f often laughed since at my own simplicity. Had I charged two dollars per thousand it would have bean but a moderate compensation ; ten hours is a lawful day's work, for which a laborer who never served an apprenticeship receives a dollar. I had served seven years in learning to make these nails, and by close attention could make 100 per hour ; nearly two nails per minute. I have made 120 of these nails in one hour. But very few men belonging to the same craft could make as many : the nail is one and a half inches long, having a head as broad and as flat as a ten-cent piece. I knew, had I asked three dollars for making a thousand, they would have been com- pelled to give it, for they could not put the slates oii the roof till I made the nails for them. One dollar and fifty cents, however, would have been but a fair compensation ; but until I came to America I had never been seventeen miles from the house in which I was born ; and as I had only been five months in this country, I was as ignorant of men and their manners as they who are born on the high- est peak of the Rocky mountains. Besides, my father was a genuine conscientious Scotch Presbyterian of the old school. He taught his children never to take advantage of their neigh- bor's necessity, and to love our neighbor as our- selves. I thought, when I came to reconsider, (as they say in Congress,) I had loved my neighbors of the Hotel better than myself, (thus steering on the wrong side of ths Con*mandment,) inasmuch as I GRANT THORBFRN. 211 Had I ive bean a lawful jrved an )d seven by close wo nails is in one le same id a half flat as a e dollars jen corn- slates on le dollar )ut a fair ca I had lOuse in )een five of men the high- cientious [e taught ir neigh- as our- jider, (as >hbors of ig on the mch as 1 did not charge them a sufficient compensation for my time and labor. I had not yet learned that every man had his price. I knew not then that the time was at hand when the bawling, pretending friends of the people would get into power — would loosen the purse-strings, and shave the country, even to the bone. Washington, Jay, Hamilton and others, all honest men, were at the head. Defaulters were unknown at that time ; but presently there marched in a troop of the pure Democracy, with Aaron Burr at their head ; and then commenced the tug at the purse-strings. Every office, from the treasury at Washington down to the revenue boat-office on the south point of Whitehall, New- York, sent forth defaulters ; and so it continues to the present day. But this is digression* I think it was twenty-five years after the Hotel was finished, that happening to pass that way, I observed the slaters stripping the roof, preparatory to raising the building another story. I climbed up stairs, got on the roof, and gathered a handful of my nails, which I put in a bottle, pouring wine and oil among them to keep them from rust; and they are now as fresh as the hand that made them fifty years ago. lii »12 REMINISCENCES OF - i 1 Old Times { or RemtuUooncea of New- York. " Babylon of old " Not more the glory of the earth than the, " A more accomplish'd world'* chief glory now." When I first saw New- York in 1794, there lived an old man on the south corner of Pine and Nassau- streets. His hair, beard and eyebrows were whitened by the frosts of one hundred winters ; he sat on the stoop of an old Dutch house, and all that went by looked on and passed orer on the other side. He seemed the one man in creation unknown and un- knowing. With this man I loved to converse about the men and scenes of a by-gone century. He re- membered the negro-plot, he saw the ferry-boats land their passengers from Paulushook, (now Jersey City,) at the ferry-house, corner of Broad and Gar- den, now Exchange-street; he assisted the fishermen to draw their seines on the beach where now stands Greenwich-street ; he remembered ihe ground from Pine-street to Maiden-lane, and from Nassau-street to the East river one field of corn ; he had seen a mill whose wheel was turned by the waters from a spring near the head of Ooenties-slip. Mill-street took its name from this circumstance. (Since the fire of 1835, I believe Mill-street is struck out from the map of the city.) The first synagogue for the Jews in this city was erected in Mill-street ; the reason as- signed, because of its vicinity to the waters of this spring — water being much used on their days of puri- OR AWT THORBtTRN. 213 irk. re lived Nassau- vhitened It on the went by ide. He and un- se about He re- ry-boats V Jersey ind Gar- shermen >v stands nd from iu-street 1 seen a 3 from a ill-street > the fire from the Jews in ason as- } of this of puri- fication. So deep was Water-street covered with water in his time, he told me he could point out the spot where a vessel was sunk, and now lies buried deep underground. Roach and sun-fish were caught in the Collect-pond, now a part of Elm and Centre- streets, as late as 1793. He remembered the ancient City Hall, (Stadt- Huys,) at the head of Coenties-slip ; said it had often been used as a fort in Leister's civil wars, against the real fort at the battery. A ball there shot at it lodged in the side wall of the house belonging to Tunis Quick, at the head of Coenties-slip. This house was taken down in 1827 ; it stood on the south-west cor- ner of Pearl-street and Coenties-slip. That ball was given to Doctor Mitchell as a relic. There were markets at every slip on the East riv- er. The one at the foot of Wall-street was called the Meal-market. There were no slips on the north side of the city. But few of the streets were paved i Broadway, and other streets, all had their gutter- ways in the middle. ^ He remembered seeing the blockhouses in a line of palisades quite across the island. They went in a line from the back of Chambers-street. They were built of logs, about one story high ; and being unoc- cupied, the Indians used to take up their abode, and make and sell baskets there. In 1772 Broadway extended no farther up than the Hospital, at that time the ground whereon it now stands was an apple orchard belonging to the Rut- 214 REMINISCENCES OF gers family. There was a rope-walk a little north of Courtland-street, running from Broadway to the North river ; another ran parallel to it from opposite the present Bridewell prison. The City Hall at the head of Broad-street, besides holding the Courts, was also a prison ; in front of which he remembered seeing a whipping-post t pillory and stocks. He remembered Lindley Murray, the grammarian. He lived near Peck-slip, and when on his way to and returning from the Fly-market, foot of Maiden- lane, he used to leap across Burling-slip (a distance of twenty-one feet) with a pair of fowls in his hands. To his efforts on these occasions was attributed his lameness in after-life. He remembered ship-yards between Beekman and Burling-slips. The Bear, now Washington market* was the only one on the North river side, and took its name from the fact of the first meat ever sold in it having been Bear's flesh. In my own time I remember the old Tea-water pump, which stood between Centre and the rear of the lots on Chatham-street ; which was then, in 1794» considered the only water we could obtain fit for drawing tea. It was brought to our doors, and sold for a penny-bill per gallon. It has long been out of use, and was, I believe, filled up about eighteen years ago. I found the water brought by a pipe into a li" quor store, in the house No. 126 Chatham-street. I drank of it to revive recolleeiious. GRANT THOBBDRN. 215 north of to the opposite besides front of , pillory imarian. I way to Maiden- distance is hands. lUted his man and market* md took sold in it In 1798, when they were digging in Broadway to lay the Manhattan pipes, by the south corner of Wall- street they dug up a large square post ; from the guage of ray eye, I think it contained about ten solid feet. It was in a good state of preservation, and as the yellow fever was raging at the time, and very few pedestrians in the street, it was laid on the pavement for the inspection of the Board of Health, their depu- ties and officers, hearsemen and grave-diggers, with a few solitary mortals who found it inconvenient to leave the city. Many came to look on it, but none could conjecture what might have been its use. At last a very old man, who said he was born in 1695 in New- York, came to view it. He remembered seeing one of the city gate-posts stand there, and said, this was the bottom of the post. He added, that a stockado ten or twelve feet high ran from the East river up Wall-street and down to the North river, to keep out the Indians. ea-water 3 rear of in 1794, n fit for and sold jn out of sen years into a li- itreet. I A vlBlt to Mm. Grant, of LaKipan. " E'en age itself teems privileg'd in her w'*"* '^^^" exeniplion from iia own defecU. •'With youthful smilei, she goes toward the grave oi rightly, and almost without decay." Mrs. Grant was the daughter of Duncan M'Vicar and was born in 1755. Her father came out to this -^«x,«jr *« z.u/, unaer me patronage of Col. Archi- - i,0JUMi»'>tmM.^,.^i^^i««'^m.-<"'-m.. i 1 ! 216 EEMtNISCENCSS OF bald Montgomery, afterward Earl of Eglinton, and was an officer in the 55th regiment of the line. In the following year Mrs. M'Vicar and her infant daugh- ter also came to New- York, and in 1758 moved to Claverack, where they remained while Mr. M'Vicar was absent with the army ; the family then went to Albany, and from thence to Oswego. The description of this romantic journey, in boatf , from Schenectady, is one of Mrs. Grant's most plea- sing efforts. In 1808 she published, in London, her youthful reminiscenses, in the work entitled ^'Me" moirs of an American Lady:* This attracted great attention in London, and rendered her extensively known in this country. It is the only work of the kind which gives us a faithful picture of the manners of the early settlers of the province of New- York. In- deed, but for this, there would be a complete chasm in our social history of those times. The state of so- ciety and manners in the province of New- York, and particularly in Albany— her anecdotes of the Schuy- lers, Van Rensselaers, Cuylers, and other distinguish- ed families of that city— gave popularity and interest to the Memoirs. In 1810 she removed from London to Edinburgh, where, for 30 years, her house was the resort of the best society of the place. The Americans who visited Scotland considered it quite a duty to pay their re- spects to Mrs. Grant ; and she always received them witJi marked attention. She died in 1838, calm and .A. >.1- . .^ ^m^.^ ^^C O.^ W^tfftVMi uui; e^c v& w jT ssAa* OaANT THORBURN. 217 JP* on, and . In the ; daugh- loved to VI'Vicar went to in boatf, )8t plea- Ion, her d *'Me^ ed great ensively the kind nners of 3rk. In- \A chasm ite of so- ork, and e Schuy- tinguish- 1 interest linburgh, irt of the lo visited their re- sred them calm and r was in Edinburgh in 1834. On the 5th of Febru- ary, at 11 o'clock in the morning, I called to see this venerable lady. The bell was answered by a neat and tidy Scotch lassie. " Is Mrs. Grant at homel" I inquired. "She is," answered the lassie, "but never sees company till after two o'clock !" As she was then in her eightieth year, I thought perhaps she was still in bed. " Is she up ]*' I asked again. " She is." " Is she dressed ?" " She is." You know,^ that among the ladies, being dressed means more than merely throwing a gown over the shoulders. I had travelled a long way through the Scotch mist, and was loth to lose this opportunity, which I knew would never return. I took out my card, saying — " Please give this to your mistress, and say to her that I shall consider it a particular favor if she will GRANT me only three minutes' conversation." The girl returned immediately, saying — " Will you pleasf to walk up stairs, sir ]" In the middle of an elegant parlor sat the old lady, her back to the fire ; and before her a large desk, cov- ered with books and writing materials. " Be so good, sir," said she, ** as to help yourself to a chair and sit down by me. I am not now so able to wait UDon mv friends as I was sixty years aeo.'* 19 218 REMINISCSNCES OF I was going to apologise for intruding upon her hours of seclusion, when she interrupted me, by — " Stop, if you please, sir !" Then raising my card, which was printed, ** Grant Thorburn, New- York," and placing her finger upon the word " New- York," said : ** That is a passport to me, at any hour." We sat and conversed for hours, which seemed but as minutes. She spoke of the time when Niagara was the only fort on the northern frontier — she refer- red to the times when the Van Rensselaers, Schuy- lers, Van Cortlands and Cuylers were her playmates at school. Gen. Hamilton's wife, (a Schuyler) who yet lives in the enjoyment of a vigorous old age, was among the number. When I told her I had the plea- sure of being personally acquainted with many of the descendeuts of these worthies, and that they were in no wise degenerated, her eyes glistened with pleasure. Mrs. Grant's "American Lady" was republished about eight years ago, I think, by Dearborn. This book should be in the library of every member of the Empire State, and in the hands of every man, woman and child who have a drop of Dutch blood in their veins. ^ «RANT THORBURIf. 219 The Klt&y «nd hia Scotch Cook* " He doubtless is in sport, and does but droll, " Assuminf thus a ranli unlcnown berore— " Grand caterer and dry-aurse of the church." The witty earl of Rochester being in company with king Charles II. his queen, chaplain, and some ministers of state, after they had been discoursing on business, the king suddenly exclaimed — ** Let our thoughts be unbended from the cares of state, and give us a generous glass of wine, t/iat ckeeretk, as the Scripture saith, God and man.'* The queen hearing this, modestly said she thought there could be no such text in the Scriptures, and that the idea was but little else than blasphemy. The king replied that he was not prepared to turn to the chapter and verse, but was sure he had met with it in his Scrip- ture reading. The chaplain was applied to, and he was of the same opinion as the queen. Rochester, suspecting the king to be right, and being no friend to the clergy,* slipped out of the room, to inquire among the servants for a Bible. [A pretty king, by the grace of God, and defender of the faith ! and a pretty chaplain to a king that could not muster a Bible between them!] The servants named David, the * The majority of them, at that day, were a disgrace to their pro- fession. They are not much better now. In the Commercial Adver- tisei is an account of a curate, the Rev. H. M , prosecuting his kept mistress for extorting money from him, after he had thrown her off ttud takea up with two or three others of those frail sisters. 220 REMINISCENCES OP Scotch cook, who they said always carried a Bible about him. David being called, recollected both the text and where to find it. Rochester told David to be in waiting, and returned to the king. This text was still the topic of conversation, and Rochester proposed to call in David, who he said, he found was well acquainted with the Scriptures. David was called, and being asked the question, produced his Bible and read the text ; it was from the parable of the trees in the wood going forth to appoint a king over them — Judges, 9th chapter and 13th verse — *• And ilie vine said unto thenit should I leave my wine, which cheer eth God a?id man^ and go to be pro- moted over the trees V The king smiled, the queen asked pardon, and the chaplain blushed. Rochester then asked this Doctor of Divinity if iie could inter- pret the text, now it was produced "? The chaplain was mute. The earl therefore applied to David for the exposition. The cook immediately replied, "How much wine cheereth man" — looking Rochester in his eyes, who perhaps David had seen Jbu before — ••your lordship knoweth; and that it cheereth God, I beg leave to say, that under the Old Testament dis- pensation there were meat-offerings and drink-offer- ings ; the latter consisted of wine, which was typical of the blood of the Mediator, which, by a metaphor, was said to cheer God, as he was well pleased in the way of salvation that he had appointed, whereby his justice was satisfied, his law fulfilled — his mercy Feigned, his gi'ace triuiripheu, an uib peiioetions uaV- GRANT THORBURlf. 221 monized, the sinner was saved, and God in Christ glorified.'* The king looked astonished — the queen shed tears -—the chaplain looked confounded— and Rochester applauded. After some very severe reflections upon the doctor, Rochester gravely moved that his majesty would be pleased to send the chaplain into the kitch- en to turn cook, and that he would make this cook his chaplain. Now, by way of conclusion to this historical fact, I will only remark that this same cook is a just spe- cimen of what the great majority of the Scottish pea- santry are at this present day. Few of them learn more at school than to read the Bible and write their own name. But the beautiful and sublime language in which the narrative is conveyed — the concise yet true descriptions of men and matter, &c. — make those whose Bible was their school-book, and who have made it their companion by the way, to be wiser than their teachers — to be honest inquirers after the truth, and to thirst after scientific knowledge, as the stricken deer pants for the cooling stream. Hence, in the heather hills among the shepherds, and in the lowlands among the ploughmen of Scotland, you will find thousands deeply read in almost every science and language. They dive into the bowels of every science in which they engage. They are the most profound engineers, the most scientific garden- ers and botanists, the most learned physicians, sur- geons and anatomists, profound scholars, learned in- 19* 222 REMINISCENCES OF dependent, and conscientious preachers of righteous- ness. Look how they stand at the present day. They are not priests for tithes, and bishops for pro- motion ; for by them the Gospel is preached— almost exclusively— only to the poor. Now I challenge all the popes, cardinals and deists on earth to produce as many Bibles in any country in Europe as there are to be found in twenty miles square of Scotland ; it is, therefore, a fair inference that the Bibic only makes them differ from the ferocious Spaniard, the German serf, and the Russian boor. The present policy of the crowned heads, popes, bishops and prelates of Europe, is to blot the nape of republic from the earth. This government being destroyed, their end is accomplished. For this pur- pose, the church of Rome— always the right hand agent of tyrants— is engaged, and is now in the full tide of successful experiment. The majority formed our government, and the majority can destroy it. From present appearances this majority will soon be Romanists. Our political aspirants will join the pope, or the devil, provided he secures for them a score of votes. Our Judas Americans will help to drive the Bible from the Protestant, schools ; and as one good turn deserves another, the whole fraternity of Jesu- its, friars, cardinals, capuchins, confessors, curates, priests and pretenders, with the lazzaroni at their backs, will join to raise these Judases aforesaid to the highest offices in the church and state. Besides, the iirnorant Deasantrv from Catholic countries are GIANT TI». .uffBW. 223 iteous- it day. jr pro- almost nge all Toduce ere are i; it is, makes vennan popes, e nape It being bis pur- ht hand the full formed itroy it. soon be le pope, score of [rive the me good of jesu- curates, at their resaid to Besides, tries are landing on our shores at the rate of nearly one thou- sand per day, nnd, by means of perjury and political swindling, get naturalized in three months ; then the votes of these poor ignorant emigrants toll as much at an election as the votes of the native bom Ameri- cans ; and unless the natives unite and bestir them- selves they will soon be in the minority. Let every man, then, who wishes to perpetuate our institutions, support the native ticket. If every city, town and village could boast a James Harper at its head, we should soon have less of the ten-days-citizen making. I suppose now some of my readers will smile, and say. Why, he talks like an American, while he was imported from Scotland himself All true, but while Washington was President I became a citizen ; be- sides, in the interim I have married two yankee girls, and that's being naturalized enough, I think, in all conscience. And, if I can help it, I don't wish to see this beautiful country — where I have eaten so many pumpkin pies — turned into a habitation for devils, where the priests, like the locusts of Egypt and Italy, eat up every green thing. In Ireland, the soil and climate are good ; the pea- santry are ignorant, and live miserably. In Scotland the soil is poor, the climate indifferent ; the pea- santry are intelligent, and live comfortably. What maketh them to differ] In knowledge there lieth strength. 224 BEMimSCENCES OF Rid«8 on liOng-Tsland* "Scenes muct be beautiful, which, daily view'dt " Please daily, and whose novelty survives ** Long knowledge and the scrutiny of yaars ; ''Praise jusdy du^ to those that 1 describe*" Cross at Peck-slip, Grand-street, or any of the fer- ries to Williamsburg ; turn your horse with his head to the northeast, go ahead, keeping the river on your left hand, and a smooth, quiet and beautiful road will open to your view, whereon you may ride to Astoria in forty minutes. On the way you will pass many thriving farms, gardens cultivated by Germans, men, women and children in the same costume in which they were imported fifty years ago. You cross the Corporation farms, within a few yards of the Asylum, where you may see six hundred orphans, from one to twelve years of age — all neat, clean, happy and or- derly : this is the most interesting spectacle to be seen in America. You then go through Ravens- wood, and a quarter-of-a-mile farther brings you to Thorbum's Garden. There every one who wears a clean shirt, and is not drunk, has free access ; and there, among plants foreign and exotic, you may find your old friend Grant, who made bouquets for some of your grandmothers when they used to dance in the City Assembly-Room in the City Hotel, Broadway, forty-four years ago. There I have seen them spin round the chalk circles on the floor like beautiful birds of Paradise, whose gravity seemed too light to keep them on the earth j but now they are as old and GRANT THORBURN. 225 Btiffas myself, and what's worse, some of the foolish I among them wear flaxen wigs, like old sheep dressed in lambs' wool. But this is a digression, and we re- turn to the road. Leaving the green-house, dahlias, and sensitive plants, continue your course northeast, which will bring you straight through the main street of Astoria ; from thence lies before you a new, level, straight, and beautiful road to Flushing toll-gate ; but don't enter Flushing, for this will cost you four or five shillings, which is absolutely more than some of their apple-trees are worth. Tack about just this side of the toll-gate, keep a southwest course — it's a fine road — and an hour's easy drive will bring you up at the Dutch Church in Newtown, then keep to the northwest, which will bring you on a good road to Williamsburgh. These roads v/hich I have described are now lite- rally strewed with flowers from the cherry, peach, and apple-trees with which they are lined. How much more sociable, comfortable and reasonable is a drive on these roads, than going up the Third Ave- nue to HarlsBm, where you encounter meat-carts, dirt-carts, brick-carts, and hog-carts, with wild horses driven by savage men, members of the Spartan band, and of the honorable fraternity of high-binders in the Bowery, running foul, locking wheels, upsetting and downsetting the whole family compact — besides dust, flies, musquitoes, sheep, goats, and oxen, with all the plagues of Egypt at their back. Here you may drive seven miles without even meeting a sober-sided old Dutch wagon, ^ 226 RBUnmSCENCES OF An Apology for the Friends, or Tribute to IVorih* "Are domestic comforts dead? "Are all the nameleu sweets of A-iendship fled? ** Has time worn out, or fashion put to shame "Good sense, good health, good conscience and good fame?'* The following just eulogy on the Society of Friends I read from Chambers* Edinburgh Journal: — "In days gone by," says he, •' if I wished to point to a model where wealth seems to have been accumu- lated for the sole purpose of doing good, I would hold up to admiration the people called Quakers. They are wealthy, almost to a man; and where, throughout Christendom, in its various ramifications, is there a body of people who have done so much good, and with so much disinterestedness, not choos- ing their own connections as the sole recipients of their bounty, but extending it to every shade of reli- gious creed. In the proper and legitimate uses of wealth, I present this people as a model worthy of general imitation. The late venerated Richard Rey- nolds, of Bristol, who had amassed a princely for- tune in the iron trade, looked upon himself merely as the agent of the Almighty. His entire income, after deducting the moderate expenses of his family, was devoted to benevolence : and he thought his round of duty still incomplete, unless he devoted his time also. He deprived himself of slumber, to watch the bed of sickness and pain, and to administer con- solation to the heart bruised with affliction. On one GRANT THORBUBN. 227 * occasion he wrote to a friend in London, requesting to know what object of charity remained, stating that he had not spent the whole of his income. His friend informed him of a number of persons confined in prison for small debts. He paid the whole, and swept the miserable mansion of its distressed ten- ants. Most of his donations were enclosed in a blank cover, bearing the modest signature of *A Friend.' A lady once applied to him on behalf of an orphan, saying, 'When he is old enough, I will teach him to name and thank his benefactor.* * Nay, friend,' replied the good man, * thou art wrong ; we do not thank the clouds for rain. Teach him to look higher, and to thank Him who giveth both the clouds and the rain. My talent is the meanest of all talents — a little sordid dust ; but as the man in the parable was accountable for his one talent, so am I accountable to the grestl Lord of all.'" A FRIENDLY HINT. An elderly gentleman, accustomed to indulge in frequent potations of brandy, entered the bar-room , of an inn in the pleasant city of Hudson, where sat a grave Quaker warming his feet by the fire. The old toper, lifting a pair of green spectacles on his forehead, rubbing his infirm eyes, and calling for a hot brandy toddy, remarked to the Quaker, as he seated himself by the fire, that his eyes were getting weaker, and that even his spectacles didn't seem to do 'em any good. '• I'li tell thee, friend," replied the 228 HEMINISCEMCES OF Quaker, "what I think; if thee was to wear thy spectacles over thy mouth for a few months thy eyes would get sound again." Speaking of the Friends reminds me of a remark which fell from the lips of Judge M'Lain, of Penn- sylvania, some twenty years ago. On his retiring from the bench he delivered a valedictory address, in which he remarked that, during sixty years he had stood at the bar and sat on the bench, only one case in which the parties belonged to the Society of Friends had come before him. It has been remark- ed of them, that they feed the poor of all religious sects, while they themselves neither ask, need, nor receive assistance from any. For the past fifty years the world has been flood- ed with new systems of domestic and political eco- nomy, all professing to improve and ameliorate the condition of society. Witness Fanny Wright and Robert Owen. Why do not these reformers make short work of it, and just hold up to the gaping throng, as worthy of their imitation, and of all their acceptation, the beautiful system of punctuality, simplicity and domestic economy as practised by the Society of Friends? Theirs is not now an expe- riment ; it has been in practical operation for cen- ^wUries, and it now works as well as it did in the days of Barkley and George Fox. The works of God, in all places of his dominions, are governed by the laws of punctuality. We cannot deviate from this law •-1 ^ 1 • J —^ -I*— ^^ ^■.■.■.. V.^r.Aa T^Viia. GRANT THORBURN. 229 children of the Friends, from the breast to their bu- rial, are nurtured in the rules of punctuality. As it grows with their growth, it requires no extra effort to lead them in the right path. For instance, if a child IS trained to retire at 8 a. m. it soon becomes a habit. It IS owing to this principle of punctuality m the domestip circle that every member of the family must be home, and retire at a stated hour—that they are not exposed to the temptations of the thea- tre, the brawls of the tavern, or the damnation of the gambhng-table. The instances are very rare, in- deed, of a young man belonging to the Societ'y of Friends being caught in a street brawl. I remember, when I came first to New- York in 1794, that the only watch-house then in the city waa kept in the basement of the house on the south cor- ner of Broad and Wall-streets. As I lived in the neighborhood for many years, and as I had never seen a watch-house in Scotland, I used to go of an evening, now and then, after I quitted work, to view human nature in all its wild und frantic tricks when left to its own guidance. The captain of the watch was a sober-sided old Dutchman, and as he under- stood Scotch, he and I got warm friends. Conversing about the characters which were nightly brought in by his scouts, he remarked that during eighteen years he had been captain of the watch he never saw a man, either old or young, belonging to the Society of Fnends ,brought into the watch-house, except only i« one solitary instance; and, on investigation, it 20 230 REMINISCENCES OF turned out that he was seized on by mistake, and was discharged immediately. And these are the mild, peaceful and unassuming mortals whom the pilgrim fathers saw fit to perse- cute even unto death. Having themselves fled from persecution in England, and thus having learned the art, they thought they would try their hand on their peace-loving neighbors the Quakers. I wonder not at their burning the ugly old women for witches ; for, if fame speaks true, the Yankees are mighty fond of the young and the bonnie onest and may be they resolved in town meeting that no other should flourish on their soil; and I verily believe this must be the fundamental reason why there are so many honnie lasses about the Lowell factories at the present day. Romanoe in Real I perse- ed from •ned the Dn their ider not vitches ; mighty may be • should jve this i are so s at the (V. Wm. both of this city thereby hangs a tale of the marvellous. Mr. Mowitt was a respectable shoemaker, who kept several men era- ployed, and among the rest was John Felsing, who had ingratiated himself so much in his favor by his faithfulness, industry and sobriety, that he took him in partnership about three years since, and had no cause to regret his kindness. From that time Mr. Mowitt and Mr. Pelsing were constant friends and companions, and boarded in the same house, until about twelve months ago, when one day they were subpoBnaed on a Coroner's jury, about to be held over the body of a man that had been taken out of the river at the foot of Maiden-lane. The deceased had all the appearance of haying been a regular dock loafer, and it was the opinion of all present that he had fallen into the slip while in a state of intoxica- tion ; but the verdict which was presently given was merely " Found drowned." The jury being dismissed, Mr. Mowitt turned round to look for his friend and fellow juror, who had been at his side till that moment; but he was gone, and he thought he saw him running at full speed up Maiden- lane. This struck him as being curious, and also re- minded him of another curious fact — at least curious as connected with his sudden flight — namely,, that when Mr. Pelsing had first glanced at the face of the corpse, he started and turned deadly pale. Mr. M. then proceeded to his boarding-house, and thence to the store to look for his partner, but he had not been to either, nor did he return; and nothing could be 232 REMINISCENCES OF n heard of or from him. Mr. M. gave up all further inquiries, thinking there must have been some myste- rious connection between Mr. Pelsing and the man that was found drowned; and that in consequence thereof Mr. Pelsing had, in all probability, made away with himself. So matters rested till a certain day last summer, when a lady called on Mr. Mowitt at his store, and asked for Mr. Pelsing. She was told the particulars ot his story. "And has he not been here since 1" she inquired. "Not since," was the reply. "I know he has!" returned the lady. "He has not, I assure you— at least not to my knowledge," replied Mr. Mowitt. ^'But I am positive !" said the lady. ^* What proof have you of it V ' inquired Mr. M. "The best in the world!" returned the lady "for I am here, and Mr. Pelsing and myself are one and the same person !" And, strange as it may seem, such was the fact. The question then was, whether Mr. Pelsing was a gentleman or a lady; and it turned out that she was a lady, and that her name was Charlotte Conroy; and furthermore, that she was the widow of the man' who was found drowned. She then stated that her husband was a shoemaker in Philadelphia ; that she had been two years married ; that her husband, whose name was Conroy, took to drinking and treated her badly ; having no children she usfld to a^on^ k«^ i^:«.,_i ■^^j.-,. .^.Mi^i^'-^^^.^.-^ GRANT THORBTJRN. 233 hours sitting by and stitching shoes for her husband intending, as soon as she could finish a shoe, to leave the drunken man and work her way through the world alone. Having equiped herself in men's clothes, she left her lord and master and soon arrived in New- York. Her success as journeyman, foreman and partner, we have seen above. As soon as the Coron- er's inquest was finished, she started for Philadelphia, where she learned that her husband— who had be- come a wandering loafer— had, a week before, set out for New- York, where, instead of finding an injured wife, he found a v/atery grave. The finale of this romantic affair was, that Mr. Mowitt requested Mrs. C. to make his house her home; and finding that he loved Mrs. Conroy even better than Mr. Pelsing, he proposed a partnership for life, which treaty was ratified by their becoming man and wife in a few days thereafter. This is perhaps the first instance on record wherein a wife performed the oflice of a Coroner's juryman on the body of her own husband. The lady, by the way, is very goodl-ooking, and still on the safe side of thirty. 20* 234 XEMIMI8CBNCES OF Rom«n«» In Real Lift. No. a. " From Suaquehannah'i utmost springs, '* Where sav«f e tribes pursue tlieir game, " His blanliet tied with yellow strings, " A shepherd of the forest came."— Fkbnxav. Having spent an hour in company with the hero- ine of this story on the day of her arriral in New- York, and being privy to some of the facts, 1 think they are worth preserving. On a certain fine Sabbath evening we were wit- nesses of an incident equally interesting and painful. Many people have denounced Shakespeare's Othello as too unnatural for probability. It can hardly be credited that such a fair, beautiful and accomplished woman as Desdemona is represented to have been, could have deliberately wedded such a blackamoor as Othello ; but if we ever entertained any incredulity upon the subject, it has all been dissipated by the occurrence of which we are about to speak. About two years ago, an Indian of the Chippewa nation—formerly said to have been a man of some rank among his tribe, but now a missionary of the Methodist Church among his red brethren—was sent to England to obtain pecuniary aid for the Indian mission cause in Upper Canada. What was his na- tive cognomen— whether it was "Red Lightning," "Storm King," or '* Walk-in-the- Water,"— we know tr\f\t- I «w.,, wwfc in j^iaiii iiuguBii iio is jKnowTi as reter Junes. m "n~pf GRANT THORBURN. 235 V. the liero- 1 in New- ts, I think were wil- id painful. 3's Othello hardly be oraplished lave been, kamoor as ncredulity Bd by the • Chippewa n of some iry of the —was sent he Indian as his na- ightning," ■we know iter Junes. An Indian is a rare spectacle in England. Poets and romancers have alike invested the primitive sons of the American forest with noble and exalted charac- teristics, which are seldom discernible to the duller perceptions of plain matter-of-fact people, and which English eyes could alone discover in the hero of the present story. But no matter. Mr. Peter Jones was not only a missionary from the wilderness, and, we doubt not, a pious and useful man among his own peo- ple, but he was a bona fide Indian, and of course was made a lion of in London. He was feasted by the rich and the great; carriages and servants in livery awaited his pleasure and bright eyes sparkled when he was named ; he was looked upon as a great chief -—a prince— an Indian King; and many young ladies who had never passed beyond the sound of Bow- bells, dreamed of the charms of solitude amid the great wilds — "the antres vast and desolate wilds" of the roaring of the mighty cataracts and the bound- ing of buffaloes over the illimitable prairies — of noble chieftains leading armies of plumed and lofty war- riors, dusky as the proud forms of giants in t vilight — of forays and stag-hunts, and bows and arrows, and the wild notes of the piercing war-hoop in those hal- cyon days when, unsophisticated by contact with the pale face, "Wild iu wouds the noble savage ran," and all that sort of thing, as Matthews would most unpoetically have wound offs uch a flourishing sentence. "I t: ^^^ REMINISCENCES OF " In crowd* tb« ladiei to hit leveea ran— " All wished to gnze upon the tawny man f •• Happy were those who saw his atatwly itridji— " Thrice happy thoae who iripp'd it at hia side." • ' Among Others who may have thought of kings' bar- baric pearls and gold, was the charming daughter of a gentleman of Lambeth, near London, of wealth and respectability J but she thought not of wedding an Indian, even though he were a great chief, or half a king-not she! But Peter Jones saw, or thought he saw^for Indian Cupids are not blind-that the lady had a susceptible heart. Availing himself, therefore of a rido with this fair creature, he said something to' her which she then chose not to understand, but told It to her mother. He also sought other opportunities of saying similar things, which the damsel could not comprehend -ie/brc ;*m— but she continued to re- peat them to her mother. Peter sought an interview with the mother, but it was refused j he repeated the request, but was still refused, although in a less positive manner. Finally an interview was grant- ed him with the mother, the result of which was, that before Jones embtrked on his return tr his native woods, it was ag. >ed that they might l.eathe .heir thoughts to each other across the water on paper Thus was another point gained. But-to make a long story short-a meeting was agreed upon to take place m this city with a view of marriage. The idea is very unpleasant with us of such ill-sorted mixtures of colors; but prejudices against red and dusky skins are not so strong in Europe as they are here: the--' do not believe in England th^t "^ " "^ mmmmim. GRANT THORBURN. " TlioM brown tribes who luuff the do*«rt air, "Are eoutin-formao to the wolf and bear." 221 The proud Britons, moreover, when conquered by Juhos Cffisar, were red men. What harm in their becommg so again] But we must hasten our story. On a fine August morning, a beautiful young lady with fairy form, "grace in her step and heaven in her eye," stepped on shore at one of our docks, from the packet-ship United States, attended by two cler- ical friends of high respectability, who, by the way, were no friends of her romantic enterprise. She waited with impatience for the arrival of her prince- ly lover till the end of the week; but he came not. Still she doubted not his faith; and as the result proved, she had no reason to doubt. On Sabbath morning Peter Jones arrived, and presented himself before his mistress. The meeting was affectionate, though becoming d the day was passed by them together in the interchange of conversation, thoughts and emotions, which we leave t > those better skilled m the romance of love than ourselves tu imagine. Though n. Chippewa, Peter Jones was nevertheless a man of business, and had a just notion of the value and importance of time. He might have ueard of the old adage, "There's many a slip," &c. or of another, A bird m the hand," &c. but that matters not. He took part with much propriety in the religious exer- cises of the John-street Church where he happened to be present, which services were ended at nine O clock liv n-n im«>*.<-vr.<,^..^ ?^_,' n — •> -, --- **«^ic=oivc icciCtttiua 01 liie juord's REMINISCENCES OF Prayer in the Chippewa dialect. Stepping into the house of a friend near by, we remarked a very unu- sual ingathering of clergymen and divers ladies and gentlemen. We asked a reverend friend if there was to be another religious meeting there. "No," he replied, "it is a wedding." A wedding!" we exclaimed with surprise. "Pray, who are the parties'?" "Peter Jones, the Indian missionary," he replied, "and a sweet girl from England !" It was then evident to our previously unsuspecting eyes that au unwonted degree of anxious and curious interest prevaded the countenances of the assembled group. In a short time chairs were placed in a sus- picious position at the head of the drawing-- om, their backs to the pier-table. A movement was next percep- tible at the door, which instantly drew all eyes to the spot; and who should enter but the same tall Indian whom we had recently seen in the pulpit, bearing upon his arm the light, fragile and delicate form of the young lady before mentioned, her eyes dropping modestly upon the carpet and her face fair as a lily. Upon their entrance a distinguished clergyman rose up and ad- dressed the parties upon the subject of marriage— its propriety, convenience and necessity to the welfare of society and human happiness. This brief and per- tinent address being ended, the reverend gentleman stated the purpose for which the couple had presented themselves and demanded if any person or persons l^reSe^t C^^l^ aVmiXr /lailOA IxrVlir tVlA ■r\-r»r\-,-^n.a^A n-.-^X^^ i — - -- -T «,.,.^,jj-^, yy ^. - till** iJl.'^ \J\Jt2Xi\i *Jiiil\Jlit if^-'t" fgtfSfir' GRANT THORBURN. 239 Uliii^ji should not take place : if so, they were requested to make their objections then, or for ever after hold their peace. A solemn pause ensued; but nothing was heard save a few smothered sighs. There they stood, the objects of deep and universal interest— indeed, we may add of commiseration. Our emotions were tremulous and painful. A stronger contrast was never seen. She was dressed in white and adorned with the sweetest simplicity; her face as white as the dress and gloves she wore, rendering her ebon tresses —placed a la Madonna on her fair forehead— still darker. He in rather a common attire, a tall, dark, high- boned, muscular Indian; she a little, delicate European lady. He a hardy son of the forest; she accustomed to every luxury and indulgence— well educated, ac- complished and well beloved at home— possessing a handsome income-leaving her comforts, the charms of civihzed and cultivated society, and sacrificing them all for the cause she had espoused. The fair damsel was now ajout to make a self-immolation, and far away from country and kindred and all the endear- ments of a fond father's home, to resign herself into the arms of a man of the woods who could not appro- ciate the sacrifice. A sweeter bride we never saw • we almost grew wild. The remembrance of Othello of Hyperion and the Satyr, and the bright-eyed Hin- doo and the Funeral Pile, now flashed across our mind with renewed horror. She looked like a drooping flower beside a rugged hemlock! and we longed to "iterpose ana rescue her. But it was none of our ^ !■: I 240. BEMINISCENCE3 OF business; she was in the situation by choice, and was among her friends. The ceremony went on. She promised to " love, honor, and obey" the Chippewa; and all tremulous as she stood, we heard the Indian and herself pro- nounced " man and wife !" It w:as the first time we ever heard those words sound hateful to our ears. All, however, knelt down and united with the cler- gyman in a prayer for blessings upon her, that she might be sustained in her undertaking, and have health and strength to endure her destined hardships and privations. The room resounded with the deep- toned, heartfeU, and tearful response of " Amen." The audience then rose, and after attempting, with moistened eyeS; to extend their congratulations to the happy pair, slowly and pensively retired. In a few days the sweet creature was on her way to the wilds of Upper Canada — the Indian's bride! Sur.h is the history of a case of manifest and pal- pable delusion. Peter Jones cannot say with Othello, that " she loved him for the dangers he had passed." The young lady was not blinded by the trappings of military costume, or the glare of martial glory ; but she was a very pious girl, whose whole heart and soul had been devoted to the cause of heathen mis- sions, and she thus threw herself into the cause, and resolved to love the Indian for the work in which he was engaged. For our own part, we must say we wish he had ^V7JSSi. V&V/SBwU i^ ^^iaacaio. Afut. yilC UiC ia wOSb. ce, and was d to " love, 1 tremulous herself pro- rat time yre our ears, th the cler- ler, that she , and have d hardships h the deop- r " Amen." ipting, with tulations to jtired. In a way to the de! est and pal- ith Othello, ad passed." Tappings of glory ; but heart and eathen mis- 1 cause, and n which he vish he had • • *. If GRANt THORBURN. 241 and the late comely and accomplished Miss F ~ of London, is now the wife of Peter Jones, of the Chippewas. But that she was deluded, and knew nothmg of the life she was to encounter, there can be no doubt. As an evidence of this, she brought out furniture sufficient for an elegant household estab- hshment. China vases for an Indian lodge! and lurkey carpets to spread on the morasses of the Ca- nadian forest ! Instead of a mansion we fear she found the wigwam; and the manufacture of brooms and baskets instead of embroidery. In lustice to the witnesses of the scene, however, It >per to state that a few of her real friends iii this city— those into whose immediate society she was cast— labored diligently to open her eyes to the real state of the case, and the life of hardship and trial whi-^ .,he was inevitably destined to lead. Poor girl ! we he was by her father in Lambeth, sin- gle, and r Jones preaching to the Chippewas, with the prettiest squaw among them for his wife. It may be satisfactory to the reader, however, to' be informed, that Mrs. Jones is now living in a very comfortable framed house, within thirteen miles of Toronto, Upper Canada, with a family of three or four little ones about her, seemingly contented and happy, assisting her husband in his labors of love among their Indian neighbors. 21 |; i 242 BEMINISCENCES OF Tradition* of iUe IVar of American Independence* Extract from the Journal of a Britith Officer. THEDESERTEB. * *' The men who, on the battled plain and raging flood, *' Went forth to vindicate the right, their blood " Pour'd forth like water, that they might maintain " Of truth and honor'd purity the reign." Buring the summer of 1780, when, in spite of the failure of Burgoyne's expedition, hopes were still entertained of a successful termination of the strug- gle, it was customary for certain galleys and other armed vessels to keep guard in the channel of the North River, as far from the out- works of New- York as Elizabethtown Point in one direction, and King's Bridge in another. It chanced upon a certain day, in the month of September, that two of these vessels lay at single anchor about four miles from the vil- lage of Bergen. They had been stationed there ever since the news of Andre's capture reached us; whether with the view of facilitating his chance of escape, or as a point of communication, I know not ; but in either case they had achieved but little, when on the morning of the 25th of September an event occurred which relieved the crew for a moment from the tedium of a profitless watch. It was about nine o'clock of this morning that the look-out seaman called the attention of one of the officers to what was passing on shore. The officer immediately turned his glass in the specified direction and beheld GRANT THORBITRN. 243 endenc«« .d, >ite of the were still ;he strug- md other I el of the ^ew-York nd King's rtain day, se vessels n the vil- here ever ched us; chance of now not ; tie, vtrhen an event nent from 30ut nine t seaman 3 to vehat mediately ad beheld coming from Bergen a single horseman, who rode as If for life and death, and was directed toward the river. He was dressed in the well-known uniform of Lee's Legion-one of the best equipped and most efiicient corps in the American service— and his va- lise being strapped at the croop of the saddle, and his sword hung by his side, it-was evident that some cause more urgent than caprice drove him on. When first discovered, he was in the act of rounding a corner in the woods, so as to enter upon a broad and straight road which had been cut through their centre, and leading directly to the water's edge, or rather to the edge of a reedy swamp which at this particular point girded in the Hudson, and branch- ing off to the right and left, followed up and down the tortuosities of the stream. The horseman rode furiously on till he had left the comer of the wood about three hundred yards be- hmd, when he suddenly pulled up. He then un- buckled his valise and strapped it across his shoul- ders, unslung his sword, drew out the weapon, and cast the scabbard and belt from him, and casting trom time to time an anxious glance to the rear, seemed to brace himself, as it were, for some des- perate hazard; nor did many minutes elapse ere the cause of his apparent anxiety became manifest. His preparations were m yet incomplete, when a party ot dragoons, perhaps twelve or fourteen in number made their appearance, rounding the same angle „-.,„ „^,^,, ,,^ „^^ emerged, iiiey were too far dis- 244 REMINISCENCES OF tant to permit the sound of tbeir voices to be heard, but nothing could be more remarkable than the effect produced on all parties by so sudden a recognition. The fugitive plunged his spurs into the flanks of his charger and set off again at the top of his speed. The troopers pressed their animals in renewed ex- ertion ; and the latter being, as it seemed, more fresh than the former, the distance between them was certainly not increased ; on the contrary, they gained upon him so fast that when he reached the margin of the swamp not more than sixty or seventy yards divided them. A^d now the seamen, who had watched the pro- ceedings with feelings not unlike those which are ex- perienced by the spectators of a coursing match, found themselves called upon to play a part in this strange drama. The fugitive threw himself from his saddle, rushed into the morass, and shouting aloud for help, made at once for the water's edge. Pressed as he was, moreover, he did not hesitate to plunge into the river and to strike out lustily toward the anchorage. In a word, he was a deserter ; and as both policy and justice required, it became neces- sary to afford him every facility of escape. Accord- ingly both vessels opened a fire of grape upon the dragoons, and a boat was likewise pushed off which soon picked up the swimmer, and conveyed him safely on board of the nearest galley. Having given his name and assigned the common reason for such dishonorable conduct as his — that is, that he had been GRANT THORBITEN. 245 9 heard, he effect )gnition. Sankf* of s speed, wed ex- ►re fresh em was y^ gained margin ty yards the pro- b are ex- r match* I in this from his ig aloud Pressed » plunge ^ard the ; and as e neces- Accord- ipon the flf which yed him ng given for such had been ill treated by his officers, and was weary of so bad a service— he expressed a wish to be passed on to New- York ; and he was immediately sent forward in a row-boat, under an escort, with a letter from the captain testifying to the manner of his arrival. There were many circumstances which concurred at this time to give every individual instance of de- sertion more than its common interest in the eyes of the commander-in-chief. In the first place, his cor- respondence with Gen. Arnold had led him for some time to believe that much dissatisfaction prevailed in Washington's army. In the next place, the failure of Arnold's plot, and the arrest of Andr^, rendered him peculiarly sensitive, and induced him to listen with credulous anxiety to every tale or rumor which might tven seem to confirm hopes which had in re- ality no foundation. The fugitive was consequently conducted to head-quarters, where he was closely in- terrogated as to the disposition of the American troops, and above all, concerning the tempers of cer- tain officers, of whose fidelity to the Republican cause our chiefs had learned to think lightly. The new comer was honored with a private interview, during which he underwent a long and rigid exami- nation. Of this examination nothing was known, except that its result was highly favorable to the de- serter. The general spoke of him publicly as an in- telligent and prudent person, and made no secret of his wish to enlist talents so valuable into the service of h lis fin'''P'*f»icrn. 21 246 KSMINISCBNCE8 OF this proposition. He professed to be tired of war, and reminded Sir Henry, not unfairly, that from the moment he assumed the king's uniform he put a halter around his own neck. But the importunities of those in power at length prevailed, and he consent- ed to accept the same rank in the royal army which he had borne in the army of the States. He was accordingly attached to a corps, of which Arnold took the command, conposed exclusively of native Americans, most of whom were deserters; and being strongly recommended to Arnold, as well by his own personal demeanor as by the commander-in- chief, he became an orderly-sergeant in that offi- cer's family. Time passed on, and the melancholy news arrived that neither entreaties nor threats of retaliation, nor offers of exchange, had availed to save the life of Andre. He died a traitor's death. It was a hard case. Washington, to be sure, offered to exchange Andre for Arnold, but this they could not do. There was general lamentation throughout the ranks, min- gled with an eager longing for revenge, in which no man appeared more earnestly to participate than Gen. Arnold. And partly with the view of indulg- ing the humor, and partly to effect a diversion in favor of Lord Cornwallis, then actively engaged in the Carolinas, it was determined to send Arnold's legion, together with a few battalions of British re- gulars, on an expedition to Virginia. This resolu- tion, which was come to at a late hour or the nisrht. I d of war, I: from the he put a tortunities e consent- my which , He was h Arnold of native tars ; and s well by lander-in- that offi- V8 arrived ation, nor the life of as a hard exchange lo. There inks, min- which no pate than of indulg- iTersion in ngaged in [ Arnold's British re- lis resolu- the night. GRANT THOBBURN. f47 was announced early next morning in general or. ders; and the order itself was obeyed with such re- markable promptness, that the men went on board without having time to make any preparations what- ever, yet the transports lay at their moorings for many days ; nor was it until late in October that the troops made good their landing, and opened a brief and profitless campaign on the shores of the Chesa- peake. I often thought that the States had more friends than foes among certain officers. Fortune so ordered that there was given to me— - then a very young man— a company in Arnold's le- gion, and that the deserter John Champe was at- tached to it. I found him to be, as others had repre- sented, a remarkably intelligent person. At first, in- deed, he proved singularly grave and taciturn ; nay, his manner appeared at times to indicate so much of moroseness and ill-humor, that I could not avoid harboring a suspicion that he already repented of the step he had taken. But having been warned of the reluctance which accompanied his enlistment, I took no notice of his humor ; and as I treated him through- out as kindly as circumstances would allow, I flatter- ed myself that I had at last succeeded in gaining his confidence. It is true that he never evinced a symp- tom of cheerfulness, and bis dark and saturnine com- plexion seemed to mark him as a man naturally thoughtful, perhaps designing, yet he was a gpjjd soldier in his outward appearance at least, and I put full confidence in him. Hnw fo.. •«« «.. *_-..• 248 REMINISCENCES OF had or had not been well founded an opportunity of determining was never afforded, inasmuch as, the second night after the disembarkation, Sergeant Champe disappeared. He was souglit far and near. His arms and knapsack weie found, but no one had seen him quit the lines; yet he was gone; and ne- ver again, during the remainder of the- war, was so much as a trace of him discovered. At last peace camo ; and I, having married into a respectable Republican family in Virginia, received permission to remain in the country atter my regi- ment had quitted it, for the purpose of settling my affairs. I was journeying for this purpose through Loudon county, attended by a single servant, on horseback, when, toward the close of a summer's day I found myself unexpectedly brought to a stand-still by the occurrence of three roads leading as many different ways. As there was no board or sign-post erected for the guidance of travellers, I felt as a stranger so circumstanced i§ apt to feeka good deal puzzled. I looked to the heavens, but ^d not succeed in ascertaining, by any sign afforded there, in which direction I ought to turn. After he- sitating some time, I finally struck into one of the paths which appeared to be somewhat more inviting than the rest, and followed it for a while, if not with- out misgivings, at all events in good hope that I had done right. But the road began by degrees to twist and turn, carrying me deeply into the heart of a for- est ; and the night was coming on, with every ap- GRANT TIIORBTTRN. 249 aortunity :h as, the Sergeant ind near, one had and ne- p, was 80 sd into a received my regi- :ling my through vant, on ummer's ht to a leading board or ellers, I > feehm but did afforded fter he- 3 of the inviting ot with- at I had to twist 3f a for- gery ap- pearance of a thunder-storm. I began to grow im- patient and uneasy, and pressed my jaded beast into a trot. But we had made very little progress when darkness closed around us-darkness so dense that to discern objects at a yard's distance was impossi- ble I What was now to be done ? I called my ser- vant to consult. We finally concluded to remain where we were ; and having fastened our horses to a huge tree, we sat down with our backs against its trunk. ° We had not yet finished our preparations for spendmg the night under this tree, when the rain be- gan to descend in torrents; the thunder rolled through the woods like a thousand cannon firing in platoon, and the blaze of lightning was almost inces- sant. I turned round in endeavoring to find a bet- ter shelter, but had scarcely done so when I beheld, by a flash of lightning, an opening in the forest, at the extremity of which stood a house surrounded by a patch of cultivated ground. We untied our horses and guided by the lightning began to advance with the utmost caution. We tad not proceeded many yards ere our course was stopp. d by a deep ravine m front ; and the roaring of the water indicated that It was traversed by a river of no inconsiderable force. I gave my horse to the servant and set out alone. Having reached the margin of the river, with the lightning for a lamp, I found it traversed by a rude bridge. I made toward it, and committing my- self to the care of a kind Providfinc«- rTa^^^A ^«1« pw^^ mmmm - '"'"■^ * " "J^'lii' TW'l^ ^^W 250 REMINISCENCES OF Upon my hands and knees. I found myself in an open field, in which was a log-house with some rude out-building9 clustered about it. As the inmates were moving about in the house, my cries soon at- tracted their notice, and they hastened to render every assistance. The door was immediately opened, and a man hurried out with a torch in each hand, who requested me to lead in the direction where I had left the horses. My new acquaintance crossed the bridge, and in less than half an hour returned with man and horses, both wet and weary. If the exertions of the stranger had been worthy of praise, his hospitality, now the danger was over, fully corresponded with them. He could not allow master or man to touch the horses, but insisted that we should enter the house, where a fire and changes of raiment awaited us. He himself led the jaded animals to a shed, rubbed them down, and provided them with forage. It would have been affectation of the worst kind to dispute his pleasure in this in- stance ; so I readily sought the shelter of his roof, to which a comely dame made me welcome, and busied herself in preventing my wishes. Our drenched clothes were soon exchanged for suites of my host's apparel, and we soon found ourselves seated by a blazing fire, by the light of which our hostess laid out a well stocked supper-table. I need not say that all this was in the highest degree comfortable. Yet I was not destined to sit down to supper without » ^/-t^v-^'x ^-'tE^SJ.r^,' TTV?iiv:-_i , OBANT THORBDRN. jjjj In due time our host came in, and the first dance I caat toward him satisfied me that he was n„ stran- ger; the second glance set every thing like d ubt at rest, bergeant Champe stood before me ! I cannot say that my sensations on rec( .nizinc mv ci-devant sergeant were altogether agroable. The mysterious ma ,ner in which he both came and went -the success with which he bad thrown a veil over his movements-and •!.« recollection that I was the guest of a man wh- vai. f rather doubtful princi- pies excited in ™, va, e and undefined alarm, which I found u .mp. x!K,, on the instant to . ,nceal. I started, and the movement was not lost „p„„ Champe. lie examined my wee closely, and a lieht appearing to burst in all at once URon his memm^y he ran toward the spot where I sat, exclaiminR— "Welcome, welcome. Captain Cameron ! You are a thousand times welcome to my roof. You beha- ved well to me while under your command, and de- serve more hospitality than I possess the power to give ; but what I do possess is at your service : ,d happy am I that Providence has brought us together. You have doubtless looked upon me as a two-fold traitor, and I cannot blame you, yet I wish to stand well in your est mation, and will, if you please, give a faithful narration of the causes which led to nly ar- nval in New- York, and to my abandonment of the British army But you are tired, from your journey. Ea and drink, I pray you, and having slept soundly on the morrow I will endeavor to n1,t „,,. .y.- 7' mi. ax mmm. mmm 252 REMINISCENCES OF in an honorable light in the estimation of the only British officer of whose good opinion I am covetous.** I found my host the next morning the same open, candid and hospitable man that he had shown himself on first recognizing me. At breakfast he made no al- lusion to our conversation of the previous evening; but when he heard me speak of getting our horses ready, h** begged to have a few minutes* conversa- tion with me ; upon which, taking a seat beside me, he began : " You remember under what circumstances I came te you in New- York. I came as a deserter ; but, sir, I was no deserter ! Mine was a deed unusual, I allow, and most suspicious in its coloring ; but it was performed not only with the sanction of Gen. "Wash- ington, but at his positive desire ! Listen, and I will tell you all, sir. " You will be at no loss to imagine that the disco- very of Arnold's treason created a great sensation throughout our army. No man could trust his bro- ther. That the general shared in this uneasiness, all ranks acknowledged ; but the extent to which this feeling, on his part, was carried, remained a secret to all, till to me, and me alone, it was communicated. I will tell you. how this happened, at least, how I my- self came to be honored with Washington's con- fidence. ** While Arnold and your commander-in-chief were carrying on their infamous correspondence, our army, as you doubtless recollect, occupied a po- f the only ;ovetou8.'* ime open, 'n himself ade no al- 1 evening; )ur horses conversa- »eside me, :es I came ; but, sir, unusual, I but it was an. Wash- and I will the disco- ; sensation Jt his bro- isinesB, all which this a secret to nicated. I low I my- ton's con- er-in-chief pondence, pied a po- mon. leen of flowers ; artificial 3ath had variega- itance it of the ecide — natural Jolomon )ugh in pride — id been quizzed by the ladies,— the son of David— he who had written treatises on the vegetable productions from the cedar to the hyssop,' to acknowledge him- self outwitted by a woman, with shreds of papers and glazed paintings ! The honor of the Monarch's reputation for divine sagacity seemed diminished ; and the whole Jewish court looked solemn and mel- ancholy. At length an expedient presented itself to the king ; and it must be confessed, worthy of the Natural Philosopher. Observing a cluster of bees hovering about a window, he commanded that it should be opened ; it was opened ; the bees rushed mto the court and lighted immediately on one of the wreaths, while not a single one fixed on the other. I he decision was not then difficult: the learned Rabbins shook their heads in rapture, and the baffled :Mieba had one more reason to be astonished at the wisdom of Solomon. This would make a pretty poetical tale. It would yield an elegant description and a pleasing moral- that the bee only rests on the natural beauties, and never^m on the painted flowers, however inimita- bly the colors may be laid on. This, applied to the ladies, would give it pungency. 22' 9M REMINISCENCES OF 'M^he Blldflle Dutch Chv* v(t;l|. ••Trt spare thee now is pa«t my power, " 'I'hou bonnie gem."—.. — In a brief paragraph yesterday momiirg, we spoke of the ceremonies which rook place at the Middle Dutch Ohurc^h on Sunday evening, upon die cccasion of ^-xm final withdrawing of tlxe congregation from tht, vv^iitmbie I le, and its being about to become the ij'nv pcst-office. A.^ .7 ? have already said, the church was full to overfiowing. Circumstances of iniirest will always draw together in New-York a large number of persons. The exercises were commenced with a psalm, which was accompanied by the organ, and executed with solemnity by the choir. A chapter in the Bible was read by the Rev. Dr. Knox. The Rev. Dr. De Witt then prayed, and in a most feeling and elo- quent manner returned thanks to the Almighty for the protection he had vouchsafed to the church and congregation for so many years—for the good ex- amples set by its deceased fathers, for the prosperi- ty which had attended that denomination of Chris- tians, and for the many streams which had flowed from it as a fountain-head. Dr. Knox then preached from tJ^- Gospel of St. John, takii^ those passages frori d «» fnnrth nh^r^t^J we spoke le Middle :* cccaaion tion from > become as full to 11 always mber of a psalm, executed :he Bible r. Dr. De and elo- ighty for urch and jood ex- jrosperi- )f Chris- 1 flowed j1 of St. r»nnrkf £•»• OBANT THORBURN. 269 StmllSt*' "«"%"«— °- Savior and tne woman of Samaria at Jacob's well. The particu- - H;nhrFX?wh^ '™^ -"' we™ sCa titv i^hl ' , T'"''^' '"■^^'^ *«^« ^'^ "0 sane- sertafon on the Spirit, and elueidated iij^ ta character as displayed in humanity. showW hTw :rs:d.^"ihrrrthTth?sor"'^^^/^^^^^^ this. "' ^"^ evident from A brief sketch of the church about to be closed The discussion was concise and well written t}.« The Rev. Dr. De Witt followed in a brief addr«.« vrbch seemed to come from his inmost soul it^' pea« from the statements made by him ^at Z bufldmg was commenced in 1726 anH^^ I } wcT^h-.r. ,v ,^oQ „ , . . ^'■'°' and opened for 260 REMINISCENCES OF which were first erected. At the beginning it had no gallery; two doors were on the west side, and the pulpit was on the east. For the first thirty years the Dutch language had been exclusively employed in its services, and fi^r some years subsequently was used one half the time with the English. A large number of clergymen, all of them able and devoted men, had officiated there, who now slept with their fathers, and others of the connec- tion who had succeeded them, and whose praise was in all the churches, still survived. The venerable building had thus passed through many and great changes of government, of laws, 'and language, and thousands of redeemed souls had there in times past worshipped the Father in spirit and in truth. Some passages of this address were highly touching and eloquent, and drew tears from many eyes. Had it been possible, said Dr. De Witt, to have retained a congiegation in that part of t^e town, the building would not now be forsaken ; but the com- mercial improvements which were constantly occur- ring in this great commercial city had occasioned a great change of residence, and scarcely any of the former worshippers in that house remained behind. An opportunity had now offered of disposing of, for a time at least, the venerable building, without doing the structure any essential injury, and with- out disturbing the hallowed remains which rested in the vaults around. it had no , and the i^ears the loyed in itly was em able i^ho now connec- e praise through of laws, d souls ather in address w tears to have ►wn, the he com- r occur- iioned a f of the behind, sin^ of, without 3 with- ested in , GRANT THORBURK. ggj Dutch :fttte%c:roTi^V" '="^'"' -^ -rda pronounced frot ^e p ,ptt ^ ' ,*« I"' been the firat }^«,n« *u i I'^'F"* as tney had also of the fatSr^a'd^ ' ''^''^-''f ■» *« I'-guage We believe one fact connected wit), ,i,- i. •, ,. "» not generally know. In^^ T ''"''*"« thelsteeple was str^rV r u • """^ ^^^^ "*« but some reslltfj ^X J'ffhtning and took fire, and sor iT^dZT '"'^ "^°"«'' *«> -!-<"« p;re it! ^jio^rfcLt""^"' '^» -- reception. " *"" "'^ Prepared for its Vwehaao or New. York ta 1»74. • . , "The race of yore ■■ Ho. Ikey .„ u„„^ ,^*,j^ _^'.__^^ ^ ^^ oth'eVCm;::!??, '"-- ^^ ^y s-p-book the dum. The Tr ^^ ^ "P°" *" ^°"°^'"ff ""emoran- fou^dintere ;%rir:t.tr '°'"" ^" "« Importing Merchant ^filSfr"" f^' ''^ of 1774,'75 • ^ew-lTork during the yeara -, MX — ., ^-v«uc, vreorge iionne, Thomas '^rtfi'di' i u« 262 REMINISCENCES OF Buchanan, Walter Buchanan, William Butler, Samuel Broome, John Broome, Jam« 3 Beekmaii, Joseph Bull, Derick iirinckarijoof, Ever at Brancker, Richard Brancivtjr, .Da-viu Beekman, Benjamin Booth, Garret Beok 'ian, sen. Garret Beekman, jun. Henry Brevooit, Gerardus Beekman, Everet Byvanch, Isaac Corsa, Comeiius Cloper, Pe^^- r^-,r)Gr, Peter T. Curtenius, Elias Desbrossus, J ames Desbrossus, William Down- ing, Abraham Duryee, Gerardus Dinking, Thomas Ellison ; Walter, John, Samuel, James, and Thomas Franklin; George Folloitt, Gilbert Forbes, Edward Gould, Ennis Graliam, Patrick Gorlat, Joseph Hal- lett, Nicholas Hoofman, Andrew Hamersby, Henry Haydock, Ebenezer Hazard, Jacob Leroy, Jacob Lcfferts, Francis Lewis, Gabriel H. Ludlow, William Ludlow, Isaac Low, Nicholas Low, Ger/,v^e Ludlow, Philip Livingston, Edward Laight, Robert Murray, Jamea Morton, Charles McEvers, Thomas 7ore, Peter Messier, William Nelst n. Garret Not , Jere- miah Piatt, Daniel Phoenix, James ^arr ns, Thomas Pearsall, Lewis Pinrird, John J. Roosevelt, Alexan- der Rol (Qson & Co. lenry TJamsen, Thorn ; Rand- all, John Reade, Richard Ray, Johu Ray, amuel Ray, Isaac Soars, Comfort Sands, Christopher Smith, Solomon Simpson, James Seagrove, Oliver Temple- ton, Williani W. Stick, Henry Van Vleek, ^atrick Vandevoort,'Jaco^ Var Voorliis, Samu« , Ver anck, Jacobus Vanzand' a onv Van D m, John ^ ander- belt, Hubert Van W c<,^ner, Hei White, Huge Wallace, John Watts, Jacob Watson, Alexander Br, Samuel •sephBulI, , Richard th, Garret Brevoort, lac Corsa, Curtenius, am Down- j, Thomas a Thomas 8, Edward seph Hal- by, Henry oy, Jacob r, William 3 Ludlow, t Murray, Eus :)ore, 0( , Jere- 3, Thomas t, Alexan- nas Rand- ff amuel ler Smith, • Temple- k, Patrick er ianck, n % ander- te, Hrge \lexandei GRiNT HORBURN. 2G3 nil. j;:rr;: rr :it '^^z ' not of them '" ^ perceived it I tS:rr„teTe™ air TT -^ "« '''«•'' to carry ,nto execution .he non^™portl _ ! ment; and he was also the last survivor of a cl„ the Jiattle of Lexington-the last survivor of Twen ty-on . members of the Provincial Congress chle'' m November 1775-and the last su^vor of h" Comm«,ee of Safety, chosen in December, 1775 I knew h,m in 1794 I think he held an ofBce i„ " . ''°™:H°r,:t that time, which was kept in a Zl '"''''"^. '" MiU-street. The memory of this jeer. ^„,, ,^ .^^ ^^ ^^^^ J t h,s aft' e ^. at conflag,-ation, I believe is blotted ou. a.^ He records of this changeable city Thf <.nlj public monument to this sturdy patriot k to b! found on the walls of every comer-housr t S^<^ *eet, Brooklyn. I .now of no monument ' ' W to, and of course lo t.m. tn attend to our own W« fri:toT'V° """'^"■"=^' -^T^g. and sympathTz 1 M « ; '" '"'"^ '^'" ^ ^^^ '° become free -^e could find mo, ,- (if Mike 'alsh sne»Ic, ,,„!! 264, REMINISCENCCS OP to send the Mobiles and Dorrites to sink, bum, and destroy Providence—we can And money for the buy- ing of fuel to keep the Irish Repeal pot boiling, and to help King 0*Connel to live sumptuously every day, with ^is crimson cloak and scarlet crown, •queezing the last herring from the peasant's child, and compelling them to live on salt and potatoes alone — we can find money in New- York for all th-^se things, but none to raise a Monument to Washington. Thus has the world been gulled for sixty-six years pMt. First it had Wilkes and Liberty, Lord George Gordon and Popery, in England, Sacheverell and th© Bishops, Burdett, Hunts, Cobbett, O'Connell, &c. all political swindlers, and full-blooded tyrants as far as their little brief authority went. Some of them I knew personally. And we ourselves have a pretty parcel of political quacks, gouging the flats and living on the fools ; speaking greats welling words — ^like a Kentucky stump-orator — and promising men Liberty, while they themielves are the slaves of the DeviL * I burn, and r the buy- iling, and sly every >t crown, nt's child, potatoes k for all iiment to -six years d George n and the ill, &c. all as far as f them I a pretty flats and ig words ising men e» of the «IIANT THORBUIIW. 205 Prom tks LvDdom Moroioff IlaraM. A. Bone to Ona-«v. He Ilk d the venluot hilki ond flowory plaiw. " Nor lik'd ka iMi III. ,enl,. of tks laoj." There was among us here in London some short time ago a queer little man, by name Grant Thor- burn ; who though he for many years of bis boyhood, as he himself tells us, swallowed half a pint of snails boiled m new milk with a due proportion of oatmeal for his breakfast, yet his height was ouh four feet ten tnche,, and his weight not more than ninetyeight pounds; and yet he became an object of dread to the Wntish government as one of "the friends of the people; ' the founder and proprietor of a very pros- perous seed-store in New-Yorkj the father of many talented and fine grown young men and women ; and the veritable original from whom Mr. Gait took his notion of "Laurie Todd J" in fine, the Grant Thorburn who was raised in bonnie Scotland, located m Yankee-land, immortalized in Fraser's Magazine l'h'T, u°"""" """"'y- i-'heye^rofour Lord 1833. He was poking about here among all sorts of parties and public places for many months; he was looked upon generally in all parties whither- m A- '^^"'. '^ " ' ™"y considerably interesting, though dimmutive Lion, and he published his bio- graphy m one volume small taxrr* 23 't rTii,u. a iiiii 266 REMINISCENCES OF ength #^yof his own peculiar person enveloped m all Its manifold and many-folded double-milled woollen envelopements. Since that time the queer little man has wandered back again across the wild Atlantic, to his seed-store m New-York; and there overhauling his note-book and recollections, he has published an account of what he saw amongst us, and his own opinions there ■ upon, under the queer title of " Men and Manners in Britain~or a Bone to Gnaw for the Trollopes and Fiedlers." Much of what he saw evidently met with his most cordial approval, mixed with a pretty con- siderable modicum of genuine admiration. The general post-office and its vast machinery ex- cited his wonder-he calls it "one of those tremen- dous concerns with which this world of a city alounds » The custom-house he says is another mammoth concern; ^nd after noticing with astonishment its magnitude and its multitude of clerics and tide wait- ers, he adds-- They have a comfortahle arrange- mmt here :~just as the clock struck one I observed a number of small boys come in with four raw oys- ters and a piece of bread on a plate, and set it down on the desk by each clerk; and I thought this was preterable to running out to an eating-house." No doubt he did ; for it was founded on the verv prin- ciples upon which he, the outcast son of a poor nail- er became a wealthy citizen--viz. a saving of Urne and pence. Republican and economist as he is, he nevertheless mentions with particular laudation the BRANT TnoRBITEN. 267 cept foi bad behavior, and that when they have Ll ^ ''"^ngement. But in ^^enc« (ho his t'7f 'r''""''^'^"^'''^' no matter though hn. goods have been pillaged, his dwelling burnfd and h,s w.fe and children driven to look for shel through the freezing s„ow of a winter's ni^ht no matter though he has served the public withii^; and honesty smce h.s appointment in the days of Washmgton ; no matter though his salary is barely suffic,ent to keep soul and bpdy togetherfhe is re"^ /aomfe This .s a pretty considerable unkind cut at the best of all possible republics, by one of hre specially adopted and most republican children- and It IS the more unkind for being too true In reference to the many charities of the British metropolis, he says: "I saw nothing in London that pleased me so much as the charitable benevolent in- stitutmns; and then having enumerated the hos- pitals and schools, and the var sums voluntarily given for their maintenance, he adds :— "But independent of these sixteen thousand chil- dren who are fed, clothed and taught, you may see forty thousand Sunday scholars every Sabbath picked -^ .^^.1^ j,iicii are nrty-tsix thousand 268 REMINISCENCES OF I children, who might otherwise be prowling about this mighty Babylon and learning the road to the gallows, snatched as it were from destruction by these friends of Christianity, and their feet directed into the paths of peace and usefulness !" In looking at this statement, which is rather under than over the truth, we may see what a large amount of52/;ee/ is in London thrown into the bitter cup of human wo. "Never was there found in any of the cities in the world, ancient or modern, so many asy- lums for alleviating the miseries of man as are to be found in London. I saw much in London to please the eye and instruct the mind, but nothing gave me such a feast of reason, and such a flow of soul, as to walk out just as the last bell commenced ringing on a Sabbath morning, and to meet in almost every street, at almos' *^very comer, some free, parish, some charity or some Sunday school ; to see them m dresses which were the fashions of the days in which their schools were founded, many centuries ago ; their broad-skirted long coats of mixed gray cloth, their red jerkins, their buff leather breeches, their blue worsted stockings, their well-blacked shoes and polished brass buckles, and white bands under their chins like little ministers, all neat and clean, hand in hand, with smiling happy faces, some- times 500 in a line!" The police of London also comes in foi i share of his especial praise. He says " I have heard much and read more about the f about to the tion by lirected r under amount cup of of the ny asy- ) to be please ive me oul, as ringing every parish, s them ays in ituries 1 gray 3ches, lacked bands It and some- are of it the GRANT THORBURN. 269 wickedness of Londen; about sharpers and uick de"t?'^'T ^f ^'^" ^^^^^^«' -'^- -^ -- stree?'^/^^^^^ ^"^ ^ ^^^« ^^^^^^ in almost every soZr' 1 '^"^"'^ ^'^'^ ^^"^ ^f ^h- day and nighT er received an uncivil word or met an int-rrun- object. I found the policemen to be very obIid„/ "he oHher""? ' ''''^" accompanied V oL l^ other of them, nearly a quarter of a mile to show me the street I wanted." ' ^ He also bestows much laudation on our cabs and omnibuses, as cheap convenient and appendats"o oc,ety; fr«m all which we may lea^Tarhf v I not only m London but in luck. S» far Mr. Grant Thorburn's book is " all tarfs and .,.,,., ,, g„^^^^^^ ^^ Barataria U Id ha^e sa,d; and now com.s the " /.o».," which he hrows orth for Mrs. TroUope and the Rev. Mr Fid Z^fT'' -'^r^'-'y-' wil, require much gnavMug before it can be swallowed :_ " Nothing can exceed the good-natured humility many Iad.es and gentlemen of the British met 1"^ P0.s; for.mstead of employing their coachmen and glooms to dnve, they mount the coach-box or dick ey themselves, while the servants ..r. l,...„„-„„ , . 270 REMINISCENCES OF their sides or lolling within the carriage. The coach-box tile-d-tcte between ladies and their grooms has a most engaging effect in the crowded streets of London ! The drive in Hyde-park, and that noisy crowded thoroughfare Bond-street, that puppet-show stage of fashion, presento many scenes of this kind. Here may often be seen a femalo-flogging driver (improperly called a lady) dashing along in her lof- ty curricle with one lounging groom at her side, and two others in the dickey behind; thereby creating wonder, fear and pity in a gaping multitude." This is severe enough — if not particularly true ; but it is nothing to the epigrammatic severity of the queer little republican's peroration ; for says he — "I believe London is the only place in the world where men and women of fashion have raised them- selves to a level with their coachmen and postillions !" John Gait. "Unbroken epirits, cheer! Btill, still remuisit " Th' Eternal Patron, Liberty ; whoso flame " While she protects, inspires the noblest strains, ** The ' 3«t, and sweetest far, are toil-created gains." On my return from Europe I was assailed on all sides, lengthwise and sidewise, on highways and by- ways, with the questions, " Did you see Mr, Gait ? Where is Mr. Gait ? Do you know a?iy thing of Mr- Gait ?" Now, (as they say at the Hall,) to put the GRANT THOHBURN. 271 matter for ever at rest, I will tell what I saw, heard, and know of him, and also (as he has given his opi- nion pretty freely about me) I will tell what I think of him. I saw him in his own house, and a snug little one it was, at Barn Cottage, near London, in November, 1833; he looked then as if he had been blown about in a whirlwind, having just escaped from a violent attack o£ paralysis, or some such outlandish name given by the doctors ; it was in the morning, as they say in London, or eleven o'clock a. m. I thought he had not been at the toilet, as he had not shaved, and his hair was all in an uproar ; his spirits, however, were good, and his countenance lit up when he saw me ; he said, " the chirp of the bird was not more gladsome to the prisoner of Chillon than my pre- sence to him when I entered his room ;" the disease had sunk to his feet, and it was with difficulty he could walk from the fire to the sofa, but his mind was as bright and his hand and hin pen as quick as ever ; his conversation is both amusing and instruc- tive, and his plain, honest, broad Scottish tongue sang like music in mine ear. I called on him frequently ; he was always cheery and seemingly happy, and his health was good, though his countenance was pale, the effect of confinement. Mr. Gait was b..ru at Irvine, in Scotland, second of May, IV/:i he is six jears younger than myself, but I tl«.ini, he looks old enough to be my grand- father. Kis father was a merchant, and in pretty good 272 TIEMINISCENCES OP circumstances; he received a liberal education, al- though it does not appear that he distinguished him- self at school, for his mother, who was a woman of strong mind, used to say of him, - my Johnny is but a dull and sleepy scholar." He entered a counting- house in Greenock, where he continued for several years. A circumstance much to his praise occurred at this period of his life. Being eldest son, he was, of course, heir-at-law; his father died, leaving a will by which he intended to make his widow independ- ent, but, owing to some informality, the property fell into the hands of John, who instantly executed a deed in favor of his mother, thus f.diilliag the inten- tions of his father. In 1801 or 2 we find him writing miscellaneous articles for the Greenock Advertiser. In a few years after he was engaged in a mercantile career, in company with a Mr. McLaughlan, in Lon- don, which blew up at the end of three years. In 1809 he was at Gibraltar, in company with Lord By- ron and Mr. Hobhouse, from whence they sailed for Sicily. We next find them, like three old fools, run- ning aboot the hraes and burns of Greece, spending timo and money for nothing, for I cannot find that either they or he wrote five grains of common sense on the subject, whereby the public might be bene- fited; while at Tripolizza he conceived a scheme for forming a mercantile establishment in the Levant to counteract the Berlin and Milan decrees of Napo- leon— (stupendous !) This castle in the air, like the war-proclamations of Governor Van Twiller, soon ^•A^^^Sl^&i . GRANT THOEBURN. 273 evaporated into smoke. The first decidedly success- ful appearance which Mr. Gait made as an author, was m a series of articles that appeared in Black- wood's Magazine, styled - the Ayrshire Legatees ;" this was in 1820; he afterwards published "The Annals of the Parish," and other popular works ; but, in my opinion, Sir Andrew Wylie was his c/iefd'cmvre. From 1824 to '30 he was occupied as acting manager and superintendent of an emigration company in Up- per Canada, which appears to have yielded him a thousand pounds per annum. It appears he managed the concern with a great deal of activity, and no small success ; the company, however, did not pro's- per ; whether he was in fault, or whether the compa- ny needed a scapegoat, I know not, but he was dis- charged at last, in what appears to have been a very 7mrs?i mc n-er. In London he again commenced the busmess o^ .,n author, and in quick succession produced seven or eight successful works. In the midst of these honorr.ble exerti. ns for the supoort of his family and the dis bu.ae of Kis debts— for both objects were in his view , nd the latter, to a certain extent, accomplished— he was, in July, 1832, struck with paralysis, which confined him to his. room for many months, and has left him as he mournfully ex- pressed it, three parts dead. From all I could discern in conversation, however, his mind still retains its wonted vigor, which shows that soul is superior to matter; the boiler of the steamer may be smind, but, if the machinery gets crazed and out of order, it will 274 HEMINISCENCKS OF not work to the impulse of the first moving cause, namely, the steam. But to return to Mr. Gait— he like most men of genius, has more wit than money;' he has earned large sums, but knows not how to take care of it; so it was with Walter Scott, and so it was with several great men that we have known in this same State of New- York ; but all of them showed their honesty by giving their all to pay their debts. I was informed, by those who knew Mr. Gait, while I was in London, that he had paid his debts till he had almost made himself a beggar. My readers are aware that Mr. Gait is now dead. From the Boston Courier of March 15, 1815. Diet and Health. «• In my youth I never did apply " Hot and rebellious liquors to my blood : " Tijerefore my age is as a lusty winter, ** Frosty, but kindly." Mf/ esteemed friend Buckingkam-^By the by, your name reminds me of a story I heard my father relate sixty-five years ago. There's little doubt but you have heard it-but no matter, a good story and a good sermon are nothing worse of being repeated. Jiuckingham was a deist, Lord Eochester a profligate, and an aufu' hand amang the lassies. They were walking in a field where a boy was herding sheep ; coming up, Buckingham accosts the boy with RRANT THORBUnN. 275 My pretty boy, pray can you tell Which is the nearest way to hell ? The boy replied : By Rochester, as some do say ; But Buckingham's the nearest way. year) added God made this rebuke th^ means of his becornxng a humble christian. But this is a digre ; I w " ™'" """" "'^' '''''''^ »>« begin! hi. tSthe ^"'"^ '". =<=''"«-'-'&« the friendly no- tookl V "^" T '"' ""^^'^ '"Jvenisemenlyou °5, "/ P'P'"^ '^'' "^«''' ^"<'' f"^ fear I forget. I will now request you to send me two copies of tha same paper. The one I saw was sent me by friena Hall of the Commercial. I gave it to my .rrd o send : l"T "^"'''-i ^ ^^""^'"- -1"-t» one ^send to London, and another to send to Edin- SLu S '" V'" ""'' '"" '=''P'- ■" «-•> a way at a' widLr^^t^' r "^^^^ ' ^'" ^-- Garden A n7 Broadway, next to Niblo's uaraen. And now, mv frieHiI R, „ think I have received m^-^^' - ° ^ "^ """"P"'' ^ H.„,^ „^ ^^,^. ^,jjjj mercies of a ^ • # « % 276 REMINISCENCES OF bountiful providence than falls to the lot of most men. During fifty years I have been in America, I have not been confined by sickness one t '. I have three sons and three daughters, not one of whom has given me a sore heart; I have tw uty-six giund- children, tu^o of them married. I am now in my seventy-third year; my 'health as good, ny per . ^nal feelings as comfortable, and my heart i Ih^ht aS it was when in my twentieth year. I read without spec- tacles. In fact, my spirits at times are so buoyant that I am obliged to let off steam by \\ ritir^ some abstract, unconnected and incoherent ide like Cobbett and his pigs, for instance ; else I think ^ ;^ times that the boiler in my small carcass would bu ^t with pure delight. There is another item amoii^ i y raercip«, on which I (though old) look back with de- light 'hiS is, the pretty Yankee girl who became my wife, wm the first young woman in whose private coinpu 1} I had spent ten minutes; yes — and the first whose lips I ever tasted. You will laugh at this ; be it so, better laugh than cry — the merry man lives as long as the sad — so says Solomon ; and were I to begin my life anew, I would just manage my treaty of peace with the lasses after the same mode and form. This little soul of ours is a curious little ar- ticle ; heart and flesh may fail ; (though in my case I feel it not,) yet in the pleasures of memory the soul is as much alive in retrospect as it was fifty years ago. In my mind I have sometimes compared the soul to the boiler, and the limbs, eyes and ears to GRANT THORBITRN. 277 f most rica, I I have om has g.and- in my 3rb nal ht j.a it it spec- luoyant -T some s- -like [Soar d bu it oi^o I y ^ith de- ime my ■private. he first lis ; be lives as re I to ' treaty de and ttle ar- r case I he soul y years red the ears to the mach lery ; ^ e machinery wc at by using, and won' answei the impulse of ' first moving cause ; yut the fire and the steam are the same ; the miJi of eigh'^y, whose eyes are dim, whose ears are r 'lut, and wiiose arm has been struck with palsy ; by the impulse of the soul he may try to raise his arm ; it on't answer to the moti ns o the soul, because the machinery of the arm is d^-p M *hough the soul is as much alive as when first -.d into the car- cass of clay. Seeing me as a , ively and young appearance as I was forty rs ago, I am asked by my friends how I live 1 I never was drunk in my life, d I never eat enough ; I seldom sit ten minutes at t8 and could eat as much more were I to sit till my appetite was cloyed. But enough of this he- terogeneous compound. If your business call you here, I would be glad to see you — partly for pleasure and partly for profit. I have commenced business anew. I can't live without employment, and country work is not to my taste ; besides, I was followed in my retreat by all the world oi fashion, not only on the continent, but many from Europe ; six pound- cakes and six glasses of wine (first cost one dollar) may do very well once week, but when it comes three times a day for ' ree m»,nths, it won't pay ; be- sides, I was not master of my own time for a day. Now, when they come to see Niblo's Italian fiddlers and rope-dancers, men-singers and women-singers, live elephants and monkeys, they can see Laurie rifrVi#%ii#- Ar\ . rf^ ^-\«« ii*r^%nr _ r%-wf\ • l'ftj:!kciij^i 4 z^x^iss.'^^^mti^ ^ 24 ii:^^.:!.i:l-^;.. : ->. ^*- ^\a> IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ^ 1.0 I.I Hi 1^ III 2.2 I 40 2.0 1.8 1.25 1.4 ||.6 4 6" ► vl 7] ^ 5 ;?^ f '*> y Photographic Sdences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 m ,\ ^s % .V 1^ ^.^^ \ __ -^ 1^78 XEMINI8CENCE8 OF am ten thousand dollars lighter than I was seven years ago ; but it went, neither by speculation, gam- bling, nor drinking, but purely by the visitation of God, (as the coroners say ;) therefore it never lost "ine an hour's sleep. stocking Knittings "Should they a vain show of wofk assume, " Alas ! and well-a-day ! what can it be ? , "To knot, to twist, to rango the vernal bloom ; « But far are cant the distbff, *pinning -wheel, and loom." Going up and down the canal I was sensibly struck With the unhappy situation of the lady passengers durmg our voyage. They altogether consisted (from appearances) of traders' and farmers* wives and daughters j indeed on the whole route I saw but one solitary pair of what might be c^W^d. fashimahhs, and this was a man and his wife who had been fifteen years married, and having no children, but plenty of money, were tying to kill time, tod run away from themselves by posting to the springs, and wnen they got to the springs behold the fountains ot pleasure were dry, no music nor dancing, no cards nor whist, back nor forb gammon, no courting nor scandal, no marrying nor giving in marriage, no nothinff. for mirth wa« ciiiar^«*.^^j -_j ^i__ 1.. „. .,„^ w«.cpw4i-ucu, uuu iiie outer 5 GRANT THORBURN. 279 18 Boven >n, gam- tation of )ver lost r struck lengei's 1 (from es and aw but ynahleSf i been 3n, but id run gfs, and mtains ng, no )urting ^g^Jj no bitter waters of Mara were flowing alone in tbeir down- ward and solitary course; our friends therefor© turned the faces of their steeds to the falls of Ni- agara, to try if the rushing of its waters would drown the voice of imaginary care. But to return to the women in the cabin ; there they sat from sunrise to sunset, from breakfast to dinner, from dinner to tea, from tea till the suspen- sion of hammocks, in all the torture of splendid misery ; at home their hands had never been idle, here they could find nothing to do ; there were se- veral entertaining volumes on the table, but these ladies did not belong to the reading community. (Now you observe, that a great many hours are lost in a voyage from Buffalo to Schenectady in a canal boat.) One day I took a book and sat down just on the line between the ladies' and gertlemen's cabin ; all doors were open ; I looked on the book, and list- ened to a dish of small talk which was soon emptied ; hearing all still and some of them beginning to nod on their chairs, said I, ladies, how much happier than you were your mothers and grand-mothers, w^hen they took a voyage through the Tappan sea to Newburgh, Wappengers creek, Catskill or Albany ; they always had their knitting along ; time was no burthen on their shoulders ; their fingers, their needles and their tongues kept pace ; they laughed and they sang, they were happy ; as they were im- proving time they had no wish to kill time, as he new fast and easily away of himself; they said it 280 REMINISCENCES OF was true, but times are altered, it's not fashionable now-a-days. This is the fact, and more the pity. It is one of the evils which we have seen under the sun of our past twenty years' unexampled prosperity. We have seen the daughters of purseproud mechanics and purseproud merchants jingling a Jew's harp and a Turk's harp, a spinnet and a piano ; but they never saw a knitting-needle; they cannot mix a pot of buckwheat cakes ; they know not how to mend a stocking, or to put the apple in the heart of the dumpling. You may say to them, as captain Van- derdonk said to the young lady you read of in Paul- ding's Dutchman's Fireside, when she said she was tired doing nothing; said he, go knit stockings ; said she, I know not how ; said he, what then are you good for ? Forty years ago wo could get wives by paying the minister two dollars, that corJd cook, wash, knit, make, mend, and do a great many etceteras too te- dious to mention. Now they sometimes pay the minister $500 for getting a wife, and what is she good for 1 As she cannot knit, you must pay $300 for a piano, to help her to kill time ; $500 for pin money, to play baby-house ; $200 to a cook to make her victuals ; $200 to a woman to wash her clothes; $200 to servants to sweep the rooms, and $700 per annum for a cage wherein to keep this sweet sing- ing bird. There stands an immoveable table in the centre of a large parlor; on the centre of this table — — " -7 ...VI.--I1.- -J* j-ficuiwuo wwUf ciiiiio, or net- GRANT THORBURN. 231 bionable I one of 1 of our V^e have lies and p and a ly never pot of mend a of the tin Van- in Paul- she was ^s; said 3u good paying ih, knit, too te- 3ay the is she ly 1^300 for pin make slothes ; 00 per >t sing- in the is table or net- ted silver ; in this bowl are deposited pieces of gilt paper, which denote that Mrs. A. B. and Miss C. D., not having any employment at home, are compelled to go round the streets to distribute scraps of paper, and make a little small talk. Among them you may find these words ; " Mrs. Whitesmith's compliments to Mrs. Blacksmith, will be at home on Friday even- ing, 7th July, at 8 o'clock." Flatt. This is what you may call the beautiful simplicity of republicans. But to return to the system of stocking knitting. I verily believe that if all the idle women in town and in country, in steamboats, tow-boats and canal- ,boats, were immediately to commence the-knitting of etockings, before seven months the balance of trade would be in our favor. Now I think the sus- pension of stocking knitting lies deep at the root of this evil. In the good old federal times, when Washington was President, his lady was not too proud to knit stockings for her general. Then, if I remember right, we had only two hosiery stores in New- York, one kept by Mr. Winslow, No. 9 Wall- street, and one by Gibson, hosier, shaver and hair dresser, Maiden-lane. Now look at this picture and at that ; here we have upward of 2,000 stocking shops, in which, by moderate calculation, three hundred thousand pairs of stockings are sold, on an average, every week in the year. Now, is not this same stocking concern sufficient of itself to kick both the beam and the balance of trade in our faces, and to counteract the whole exportation of rice, snulF and 282 'EEMINISCENCBS OP tobacco, and every other product of that hot-headed clime ? In the unsophisticated times of federalism, Washington and Adams, the balance of trade was in our favor ; bills on London could then be bought at 15 per cent, below par, making a broad difference of 30 per cent, between the federal and democratic reigns. Then we sent our flour to Europe by the hundred thousand barrels per annum, since that time we have begged from the hungry Hessian a bushel of wheat or a chaldron of rye. "When Washington was president in 1794, he told Congress that the best way to preserve peace was to be always prepared for war. Acting on this sound policy, he, Adams and the federal Congress, had pro- cured a few frigates and sloops of war; in one of them, Commodore Truxton in the West Indies, and Decator at Tripoli, let the world see that America could not only build and sail ships equal to any, but in fighting them she was second to none. The year 1801 was the first year of the reign of democracy, and emphatically the first year of the age of experi- ments ; a set of fellows who had never seen any thing larger than a birch canoe, sat dreaming and drinking, and smoking and sipping, till they finally came to the conclusion that a coast of ten thousand miles and ten millions of tonnage would be cheap- er, safer and more easily protected by a few gun- boats, than they could by a dozen of frigates and sixteen seventy-fours. Well, the frigates were sold— - gun-boats built and sent to buffet the mighty waves 0«ANT THOSBURN. 283 t-headed leralism, e was in ought at ifference mocratic 3 by the ICO that essian a , he told ace was is sound had pro- 1 one of lies, and America any, but he year [jocracy, ' experi- 3en any ing and y finally bousand > cheap- 3W gun- tes and 3 sold — r waves of the Atlantic, some of them and their crews met a watery grave, and thus ended the first experiment. The next experiment was to destroy the old United States Bank, that the people might have leisure to live by catching fish on the banks of the rivers. The same experiment is now in the full tide of suc- cessful operation, and thousands of our population are catching shrimps. The next experiment Was a metallic currency ; this might be intended to give employment to all the mules and jack-asses on the continent, in carrying bags of dollars and panniers filled with gold, by W-ay of saving the expense of re- mitting by mail. - From the Botton Courier. Adrertlsemeut BxtraordlnaiT. Graitt Thorburn— an old acquaintance— of whom we have heard nothing for some years, has an adveitisement in the New- York Commercial Advertiser, which is as good as an auto-biography. It delighted us to see tho honest little Scotchman once more in print. Pleasant reminiscences of the evening and the morning which he once spent with us were awakened, and imagination brought back the tones of the old gentleman's voice, as he sung Elgin, Martyrs, and Dundee. It is not our custom to advertise gratii, but there is something so truly characteristic in his advertisement, imd something so pleasant withal in preservins: a memorial nf »n clever a specimen of humanity, that we copy it without further preface. 284 BEMINI8CBNCB8 OF ADVERTISEMENT. In 1799 the subscriber commenced business with three pots of geraniums, a monthly rose, and 16 dollars' worth of seed. The seeds grew till they fill- ed the whole continent— the rose blossomed till it spread into a tree, and the little birds formed their nests under its branches. Presently there came forth a host of pretenders, boasting of what they could do; they did nothing. In 1818 appeared William Cob- bett. This same Cobbeft in 1793, '4 and '5, publish- ed the Porcupine's Gazette in Philadelphia ; its ob- ject waa to prove to a demonstration that all repub- lics were humbugs— that kings only had a divine right to reign— and that the Americans were a set of consummate rebels. The mob tore down his office, made pi of his types, and scattered his porcu- pine quills in their native air. He fled to England, returned to New- York a full-blooded radical Demo- crat, and opened a seed-shop at 62 Pulton-street, where he sold ruta baga at one dollar per pound, and black pigs for ten dollars each. For a long space of time you could.hear nothing in Wall or Exchange- streets but Cobbett and his black pigs— Cobbett and his ruta baga. The consternation was similar to that at Frankfort when the man rode through the streets with the long nose, and still the wonder grew whether the nose was a paper or Bftimmer (wooden) nose. Ko vowed be would drive Thorburn from the GRANT TRORBURNi 285 boarda with his black pigs and ruta baga in less than six months. Before twelve he closed the concern, and again sailed for England. Naked he came into America, and naked he returned from thence; his whole goods and chattels (a few minor articles ex- cepted) consisting only of ruta baga and smoked hams from the hind quarters of his black pigs ; he shipped one case, however, which by some estima- tion was beyond all price, viz. a rough Albany deal board, formed into a square box, and in this box was deposited the profound skull and dry bones of the venerated Thomas Paine, author of "Common Sense." &c. Out of these bones Cobbett meant to have made political capital, but they were seized by the custom- house at London for duty, and sunk (if report speaks true) in the deep green sea. From this subject it may be profitable to observe how similar are the movements of political quacks in all countries and at all periods. 1 is but a few years since that our political jugglerd turned the world upside down about Morgan, his dry bones and split skull ; Louis Philip, too, and his French rad- icals, must needs parade the bones of Bonaparte wherewith to make a bank political. But enough of this long preamble. It is only meant to let his friends know that Grant yet lives his eye as clear, his head as sound, and his health as good as in 1801— and this being the first day of Spring, he is provided with the usual supply of goods (as they say in Pearl-street) to accommodate his 286 BBVINISCBNCEfl OF friends ; and his being only a branch from the tree at 15 John-street, the seeds, on trial, will prove good. American and European Flower-seeds just received. Bouquets prepared for the ladies in the neatest order. Catalogues gratis. Gentlemen sup- plied with Gardeners, &c. Grant Thobburn. 4 , From the Philadelphia Courier. Oa1t*a liAurle Todd. We understand that a new edition of Gait's " Lau- rie Todd " will be published in a day or two, with explanatory notes, by Grant Thobburn, the well known model from which this admirable work was wrought. In relation to Grant Thobburn, we were recently indulged with the perusal of a letter written by him to a friend in this cityj and we were delighted v/ith the spirit of pious thankfulness for the good he has received, it breathes throughout ; and no less so by the cheerfulness and kind-heartedness also exhibited by this venerable philanthropist. He writes that " during fifty years and six months 1 have been in America, I have not been confined by sickness one day. If I live to see the 18th February next I will nave COmpletAd (tiv at*ye»nf\T.ao,f*ry.r%A -.^^^m. >~J ^^.^ 91ANT TBOIBUBN. 287 *, my bodily feelings are as comfortable as they were on the€ay I first saw America." Truly the way^ of the righteous are paths of peace. And long may his days be on the land he has adorned as well by pre- cept as by example. VHK END.