Part 5 (1/2)

I have heard it stated that during Virginia Scott's residence in Paris there existed a deep attachn birth The story goes that in the course of tiion as he had hitherto been to the beautiful Areed between them that they should both consecrate thely entered at once upon a religious life I have heard that they afterwards nition As intimate as I became with the members of the Scott family in subsequent years, I never heard any allusion to this incident in their family history, and I can readily understand that it was a subject upon which they were too sensitive to dwell

Father Connelly, whom I have an his career as an Episcopal clergy a Roman Catholic priest, as he was ious ardor, and when he entered the priesthood she becaious views, and was subsequently received again into the Episcopal Church It was his desire that his wife should at once join him but she refused to leave the Convent, and she finally became the founder of the Order of the ”Sisters of the Holy Child” I have heard that he took legal measures to obtain possession of her, but if so he was unsuccessful in his efforts

Another one of Madauished pupils was Martha Pierce of Louisville As she attended this school some years before I entered, I knew of her in these days only by reputation But so her quite intiard to her eventful life She told me that upon a certain occasion in the days o to Kentucky under the care of Henry Clay, and stopped in Washi+ngton long enough to visit the Capitol Upon its steps she was introduced to Robert Craig Stanard of Richmond, upon whom she apparentlySoutherner carried the Kentucky girl, at the age of sixteen, back to Virginia as his bride During her long life in Richmond her home, now the Westmoreland Club, was a notable _salon_, where the _beaux esprits_ of the South gathered She survived Mr Stanard ifted and cultivated, her attractions of face and intellect paled before her inexpressible charland A proton Irving say that Mrs Stanard received lish society than any other American woman he had ever known She corresponded for ton and lishuished In the course of one of our numerous conversations she told rapher the letters she had received fro the latter part of her life she gave up her house in Richton to reside, where she remained until the end of her life She left no descendants Her husband'sof Richar Allan Poe, who, fictitiously na tribute to her char:

Helen, thy beauty is to ently, o'er a perfumed sea, The weary, anderer bore To his own native shore

Aaray's were Susan Maria Clarkson de Peyster, a daughter of Jauson de Peyster, who subsequently hter of Judge Josiah Masters of Troy, New York, and the wife of John W King; Virginia Beverly Wood, a daughter of Silas Wood of New York, who becaers; and Elizabeth MacNiel, daughter of General John MacNiel of the Arineer Corps

After a nuave up her New York school and moved to Madison, New Jersey (at one ti the remainder of her life in retire alh a relative her affairs had becoe at once opened a school in Madison in the house which she had purchased with the view of spending there the declining years of her life Previous to this time I had been one of her day scholars; I entered the second school as a boarding pupil Once a ere driven threeincident connected with this weekly visit to that place One Sunday a fellow boarder, thinking that perhaps she ht find some leisure before the service to perfect herself in her lesson for the following day, thoughtlessly took along with her a volu the service someone in a near pew observed the author's name upon the book, and forthwith the Morristown populace was startled to hear that aaray's pupils was a follower of the noted infidel It took some time to convince the public that this book was carried to church by irl was horrified to learn that she was unintentionally to blaaray's I owned a schoolbook entitled ”Shelley, Coleridge and Keats”

I brought it home with me one day, but my father took it away fro to his detestation of Shelley's moral character On one occasion he quoted in court some extracts from Shelley as illustrative of the poet's character, but I cannot recall the passage

After two years spent in Madison, Madaaray returned to New York and reopened her school on the corner of Union Square and Fifteenth Street in three houses built for her by Sa only to Fourteenth Street, but, out of courtesy to this noble woman, their route was extended to Fifteenth Street, where a laaray taught here for many years, but finally moved to 78 Madison Avenue, where she reive up her teaching

While I was still attending Madaaray's school, my father, under the impression that I was not quite as proficient in mathematics and astronomy as it was his desire and ambition that I should be, eive me private instruction in my own ho the firmament I was always faithful to the planet Venus, whose beauty was to ht In those youthful days my proprietorshi+p in this heavenly body seemed to me as well established as in a Fifth Avenue lot, and was quite as tangible I regarded ht of an individual proprietor, and, like Alexander Selkirk in his far away island of the sea, ht to this celestial doht of so many years, and in view, also, of the fact that sometimes the world seems to us older women to be al to speak of so my school days One of the first I ever read was ”Clarissa Harlowe” by Samuel Richardson ”Cecilia,” by Frances Burney, was another well-known book of the day Mrs Amelia Opie was also a popular authoress, and her novel entitled ”White Lies” should, in eworth and Mrs Ann Eliza Bray, the latter of wholish life, were popular authoresses in my earlier days in New York

Many years later some of the books I have mentioned were republished by the Harpers ”Gil Blas,” whose author, Le Sage, was the skilful delineator of human nature, its attributes and its frailties, was h life, certain portions of this book have often been recalled to me by my many and varied experiences I ina M

Roche, where the fascinations of Lord Leicester are so vividly portrayed; nor of another book entitled ”The Three Spaniards,” by George Walker, which used to strike terror to aray retired temporarily from her school life and ht drawing for her, established a school of his own in New York which becahter, whoend On her way to a ball, in coirl friends, Charlotte Canda was thrown froe, and when picked up her life was extinct As there were no injuries found upon her body, it was generally supposed that the shock brought on an attack of heart-failure

Subsequently the disconsolate parents ordered fro a fabulous surave of their only daughter in Greenwood Cemetery, where it still continues to coic incident occurred in February, 1845, on the eve of the victiaray wasFrench society in New York, her house being the rendezvous of this interesting social circle I recall with much pleasure the naiere Madaether with her husband, Charles Berault, who taught dancing, and their three daughters, resided with her The oldest, Madaht music for her aunt; the second niece, Marie-Louise Josephine Laure, married Joseph U F

d'Hervilly, a Frenchman, and in after life established a school in Philadelphia which she naest, Pauline, entleman from Cuba, named de Ruiz, and now resides in Paris

CHAPTER IV

LIFE AND EXPERIENCES IN THE METROPOLIS

My health was somewhat impaired by an attack of chills and fever while I was still a pupil at Mada Island was especially affected with this malady, and even certain locations on the Hudson were on this account regarded with disfavor In subsequent years, when the building operations of the Hudson River railroad cut off the water in nant pools, it becaan to convalesce, Dr John W Francis prescribed a change of air, and I was accordingly sent to Saratoga to be under the care of my friend, Mrs Richard Armistead of North Carolina A few days after my arrival ere joined by Mrs De Witt Clinton and her attractive step-daughter, Julia Clinton The United States Hotel, where we stayed, was thronged with visitors, but as I was only a young girl my observation of social life was naturally lihter of Philip Livingston, the Signer, and e She had a natural and most profound admiration for the memory of her illustrious husband, whoresentonists

While ere still at the United States Hotel, Martin Van Buren, at that tia and sojourned at the same hotel with us His visit hly sensational incident During the evening of the President's arrival Mrs Clinton was pro upon the are d'Affaires_, Senhor Joaqui her advanced with his usual suavity of manner to meet her

With a smile upon his face, he extended his hand, whereupon Mrs Clinton immediately turned her back and co the fact that he was a foreign diploht subsequently be resented by the authorities in Washi+ngton

This incident, occurring as it did in a crowded roouests and naturally createdover the incident the next day Mrs Clinton told me she was under the is in regard to him, as some years previous, when he and General Andrew Jackson called upon her together, she had declined to see hih Jackson had been admitted This act was characteristic of the woman It was the expression of a resentainst Mr Van Buren for years and which she was only abiding her ti this dramatic episode, and to my youthful fancy she seemed, indeed, a heroine!

Mrs Clinton was a social leader in Gotham before the days of the _nouveaux riches_, and her sas that of an autocrat Her presence was in every way i characteristics and was inher wonderful tact and social power until the day of her death I love to dwell upon Mrs Clinton because, apart from her remarkable personal characteristics, she was the friend of my earlier life Possessed as she was of many eccentricities, her excellencies far counterbalanced them

Of the latter, I recall especially the unusual ability and care she displayed in housekeeping, which at that tiarded as an accomplishment in which every woman took particular pride To be still reater horror of dirt than the average housewife, and carried her antipathy to such an extent that she tolerated but few fires in her University Place establishment in New York, as she seriously objected to the uncleanness caused by the dust and ashes! No id the day, she never seemed to suffer but, on the contrary, couests frequently coer air” which Shakespeare's Horatio speaks of, but it made no apparent impression upon their hostess

Mrs Clinton's articulation was affected by a slight staras She once remarked to me, ”I shall never be c-c-cold until I'm dead” An ireat difference in our ages, I seemed unable to resist, and I retorted, ”We are not all assured of our tearded ned astonish I did not suffer for rined to learn she had reirl she had ever known I remember that upon another occasion she told usta Clinton, was about to leave school at a very early age ”Doesn't she intend to finish her education?” I inquired ”No,” was the quick and e reply, ”she's had sufficient education I was at school only two aret Gelston, as present and was remarkable for her clear wits, retorted: ”Only think how er” In an angry tone Mrs

Clinton replied, ”I don't want to be any sh”

Mrs Clinton's two nieces, the Misses Mary and Margaret Gelston, were a my earliest and most intimate friends They occupied a prominent social position in New York and both ell known for their unusual intellectuality They were daughters of Maltby Gelston, President of the Manhattan Bank, and granddaughters of David Gelston, as appointed Collector of the Port of New York by Jefferson and retained that position for twenty years Late in life Mary Gelston married Henry R