Part 7 (1/2)

I seldo reminded of a witticism which I heard from my hter of Major Ja the War of the Revolution, served upon General Steuben's staff She was, I have understood, a great belle with a power of repartee which bordered upon genius During the youth of John Slidell he attended a dinner at a prominent New York residence and sat at the table next to Miss Fairlie

In a tactlessupon the uished actor, Thomas Apthorpe Cooper, a subject upon which the Fairlie faarded Mr Slidell for only a moment, and then retorted: ”Sir, you have been _dipped_ not _moulded_ into society”--an incident which, by the way, I heard repeated many years later at a dinner in China To appreciate this witticism, one may refer to the New York directory of 1789, which describes John Slidell, the father of the Slidell of e are speaking, as ”soap boiler and chandler, 104 Broadway” Miss Fairlie's pun seems to me to be quite equal to that of Rufus Choate, hen a certain Baptist minister described himself as ”a candle of the Lord,” remarked, ”Then you are a dipped, but I hope not a wick-ed candle” It is said that upon another occasion, after the return of Mr Slidell fron trip, he was asked by Miss Fairlie whether he had been to Greece He replied in the negative and asked the reason for her query ”Oh, nothing,” she said, ”only it would have been very natural for you to visit Greece in order to renew early associations!” Many years thereafter Priscilla Cooper, the wife of Robert Tyler and the daughter-in-law of President John Tyler, a daughter of Thomas Apthorpe Cooper and his wife, Mary Fairlie, presided at the White House during the hood of her distinguished father-in-law

As has already been stated, the father of the Hon John Slidell was a chandler, and he conducted his business with such success that in time he became prominent in mercantile and financial circles, and eventually was made president of the Mechanics Bank and the Tradesed in his father's soap and tallow business as an apprentice, finally succeeded him, and the enterprise was continued under the firm name of ”John Slidell, Jr and Company” The house failed, however, and it is said that this fact, together with the scandal attending his duel with Stephen Price, er of the Park Theater, in which the latter ounded, were the controlling factors that led the future Hon John Slidell to rehly celebrated as a lawyer, and his successful political career is well known He married Miss Marie Mathilde Deslonde, a member of a well-known Creole farace and _savoir faire_ in Washi+ngton when her husband represented Louisiana in the United States Senate Miss Jane Slidell, a sister of the Hon John Slidell, married Commodore Matthew C Perry, USN, who opened the doors of japan to the trade of the world, and whose daughter, Caroline Slidell Perry, becaust Belmont of New York, while Julia, another of Mr Slidell's sisters, ers, USN

CHAPTER V

LONG BRANCH, NEWPORT AND ELSEWHERE

When I was about ten years of age, acco Branch, which was then one of the most fashi+onable summer resorts for New Yorkers As we h ere the victims of a violent attack of seasickness froers escaped Many Philadelphians also spent their sum of people froe cities At that time there were no hotels in the place, but there was one couests It bore no nanated as ”Mrs Sairs',” from its proprietress In this establishment our whole family, by no means small, found accommodations

I recall many pleasant acquaintances we made while there, especially that of Miss Molly Hamilton of Philadelphia She was a vivacious old lady, and was accompanied by her nephew, Haenial play i the history of Thomas a Becket, the murdered Archbishop of Canterbury I have heard that this friend of tons of Newark had a cottage near us Williaton subsequently became Governor of New Jersey I also enjoyed the youthful cohter Mary, whoton In the interval she had becoh A Toler of Newark

The guests of the boarding house were inclined to complain that the beach was too exclusively appropriated by two acquaintances of ours ere living in the sah and Mrs Thohtly young woinia I reossip of the place that both of thee by the score Mrs Willing was a skilled perforue, but whose silvery tones are now, alas, only lish in the United States a few years, wrote in 1847 a book entitled ”Excursion through the Slave States froton on the Potomac to the Frontier of Mexico” I recall that in this volure a few days' sojourn at Barnuastronomic ecstasy, upon the canvas-back duck and soft-shell crab upon which he feasted, and was inclined to draw an unfavorable comparison between the forton hostelry Upon his journey he visited Monticello, the foruished man appealed to me as I am sure it does to others; he spoke of hiether, Mr

Featherstonhaugh's experiences in Aines

Just off the beach at Long Branch was a high bluff which descended gradually to the sea, and at this point were several pri to Mrs Sairs' establish shoes and stockings, but, acco ht safely back by hi on the beach; this privilege was reserved for the advanced civilization of a later day

While I was still a young child, and so Branch, my infant brother Malcolm became seriously ill Dr John W

Francis, our fae of air for him, and my parents took him to Newport We found pleasant acco house on Thauests of which were composed almost exclusively of Southern faly pri either cottages or hotels, while modern i our breakfast at eight, dining at two and supping at six It was indeed ”early to bed and early to rise”

As I recall these early days in Newport, two fascinating old ladies, typical Southern gentlewomen, the Misses Philippa and Hetty Minus of Savannah, present themselves vividly to my memory After we returned to our New York ho theuest of our establishru, an eminent citizen of South Carolina She was the first woirlish vision, and her mode of life was a revelation She kept very late hours, often lingering in her roo until eworth's books for young people, which all judicious parents purchased for their children, I iru as ”Lady Delacour,” whose habits and fashi+ons are so pleasingly described in that adh born and bred in South Carolina, Mr Pettigru remained loyal to the Union, and after his death his valuable library was purchased by Congress The members of another representative South Carolina fa our fellow boarders at Long Branch This nas to mind the pathetic history of Theodosia Burr, Aaron Burr's only child, and her sad death; while the naton Allston, the artist, is too well known to be dwelt upon

After a month's pleasant sojourn in Newport my brother's health had materially improved and we returned to our New York houests at the Tree to the Bostonians who es thaton the steps of the hotel, when I was accosted by a gentleman, who exclaimed: ”You are a Caize for writing such a personal reminiscence of such an historic town, but such are the freaks of memory This was prior to the maturer days of William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips and Ralph Waldo E on to other subjects Ithat at this period the currency used in the New England States differed froht vividly beforeat a candy store In return for my Mexican quarter of a dollar I was handed a se I left the shop fully convinced that I was a victiht difference between the shi+lling used in New York and that used in New England

Many years later I visited Boston again, this tiuest of Mr

and Mrs Robert C Winthrop at their superb Brookline home; and, escorted by Mr Winthrop and Mr and Mrs Jabez L M Curry of Alabauests, I visited all the points of historical interest Both Mr Winthrop and Mr Curry were then trustees of the Peabody Fund A few years after we separated in Boston Mr and Mrs

Curry went to Spain to reside, where, as A Alfonso of Spain

About fifteen years later I again visited Newport, but this tie nues had been erected, many of which were occupied by Southern faard this Rhode Island resort as almost exclusively their own I recall the names of many of them, all of ere conspicuous in social life in the South A them were the Middletons, whose ancestors were historically prominent; the Pinckneys, descended from the illustrious Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, who uttered the well-known maxim, ”Millions for defense but not one cent for tribute;” the Izards; the Draytons, of South Carolina; and the Habershauest, at their su friends, the Misses Mary and Margaret Gelston, daughters of Maltby Gelston, former President of the Manhattan Bank of New York Not far from the Gelstons resided what Sam Weller would call three ”widder wohters of Ralph Izard of Dorchester, SC, and bore distinguished South Carolina names; Mrs Poinsett who had been the wife of Joel Roberts Poinsett, the well-known statesman and Secretary of War under Van Buren, Mrs Eustis, theof Gen Abram Eustis, USA, who had served in the War of 1812, and Mrs Thomas Pinckney, whose husband, the nephew of General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, had been a wealthy rice planter in South Carolina The beautiful Christmas flower, the poinsettia, was na wo what they called their ”Carolina”

home for a summer sojourn at Newport, where their house was one of the social centers of attraction With their graceful bearing, gentle voices and cordial randes dames_ now so seldoe lived the daughter of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, as also theof Robert Goodloe Harper, a pro the administrations of Madison and Monroe

Mrs Harper's sister hters uished British hter, Emily Harper, upon whose personality I love to dwell, was froious traits Her gentle Christian character exeh to come within the radius of her influence She was in every sense of the word a deeply religious woman, and her influence upon those around her was of thecharacter

I shall always remember with the keenest enjoyment some of the pleasant teas at this hospitable home of the Harpers in Newport All sects elcomed, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Hebrews, Unitarians, and I doubt not that an equally cordial reception would have awaited Mahommedans or Hindoos I once heard Miss Harper say that she shared with Chateaubriand the ennobling sentiment that the salvation of one soul was of doe was the rendezvous for Southerners and its hospitable roof sheltered uests from Maryland Mr Maltby Gelston told me at the tiner then living It is probable that he spoke froe, as he was an authority upon the subject, having ner A few years later, when I was ratified when Miss Harper ca The , then Attorney-General under President Pierce, were the source of ossip, but she seemed entirely indifferent to his devotion I once heard hireat annoyance after a trip to Baltimore because he failed to see her on account of a headache hich she was said to be suffering, and he inquired of me in a petulant manner whether headaches were an universal feminine e and when she departed this life the world lost one of its saintliest characters

One of the es in Newport at the time of my second visit was occupied by Mr and Mrs Henry Casimir de Rharaceful silver-maple trees Mr de Rham was a prosperous merchant of Swiss extraction, whose as Miss Maria Theresa Moore, a member of one of New York's most prominent families and a niece of Bishop Benjamin Moore of New York

The social leaders of Newport at this period were Mr and Mrs Robert Morgan Gibbes, whose winter horeat-uncle of William Waldorf Astor, was a South Carolinian by birth and had married Miss Emily Oliver of Paterson, New Jersey They lived in a handsoave suhters, several of who I attended a party at their house which was regarded as the social affair of the season Itto a trivial circu It was the first time I had ever seen mottoes used at entertainments, and at this party they were exceptionally handsome The one which fell to my share, and which I treasured for soe bunch of red currants These favors were always imported, and a few years later becaarded as quite the proper thing without thein of the gereneral use

In 1853 I uest of Mrs Winfield Scott General Scott's headquarters were then in Washi+ngton, but, as his ent from those of Jefferson Davis, President Pierce's Secretary of War, he was urging the President to transfer him to New York I have frequently heard the General jocosely reed for a Secretary of War ould not ” their winters in Washi+ngton and their sunition of his distinguished services, presented him with a house on West Twelfth Street which was occupied by him and his family after his transfer to New York The principal donor of this residence was the Hon Ha sojourn of several weeks in Newport, I was about returning to hter, Marcella (”Ella”), then only a schoolgirl, to accoood-bye Upon entering the drawing-roouest of Miss Harper's, Charles Carroll McTavish of Howard County, Maryland, appeared upon the threshold and was introduced to us He was then approaching middle life and I learned later that he had served some years in the Russian Army Marcella Scott's appearance apparently fascinated hian to be devotedly attentive to her Mrs Scott, however, entirely disapproved of Mr McTavish's attentions to her daughter on account of her extrearay's school, where she beca pupil and was not allowed to see visitors The follointer she was taken ill with typhoid fever, and, when convalescent enough to be ht to my home in Houston Street, New York, to recuperate, as the Scotts were still living in Washi+ngton and the journey was considered too long and arduous to be taken by an invalid Meanwhile, Mr McTavish renewed his attentions to Miss Scott and the i fancy for in the following June they were married in the Twelfth Street house of which I have already spoken, General Scott having in the interi his headquarters re present at this wedding, which, in spite of a warm day in June and the many absentees from the city, was one of exceptional brilliancy The Army and Navy ell represented, the officers of both branches of the service appearing in full-dress uniforh noon, but an aible ardless of every sense of propriety, failed to send home the bridal dress at the appointed ti, but the guests were informed of the cause of the delay and patiently awaited developments Behind the scenes, however, quite a different spectacle was presented, while a hurriedly prepared After an hour's delay, however, the belated garment arrived, when the bride-elect was quickly dressed and walked into the large drawing-roo, as was then the custohes conducted the wedding service, and seized upon the auspicious occasion to th Previous to the cere bride's older sister, Cornelia Scott, who a few years previous had become while in Rome a convert to Catholicism, asked me with much earnestness of ht, in her kind way, that he ht be soe and fashi+onable asse task, as it enabled ifted prelate The only room's family present at this ceremony was his handsome brother, Alexander S McTavish, who cae to say, in view of the many presents usually displayed upon such occasions nowadays, I do not re of a single bridal gift, but so the, the fore and an intimate friend of General Scott's; Mr and Mrs Robert Ray, whose daughter Cornelia married Major Schuyler Ha the Mexican war; Prof Clehter Theresa; Mr and Mrs Edward Mayo of Elizabeth, NJ, the former of as Mrs Scott's brother; Mrs Robert Henry Cabell, a sister of Mrs Scott's from Richmond; Major Tho the Civil War; and Major Henry L

Scott, aide and son-in-law of General Scott

The saain reigned supreme in the household, I went to Mrs Scott's room to sit with her, as she seemed sad and lonely, and at the same time to talk over with her, womanlike, the events of the day In our quiet conversation I reroom, and asked her if she had observed that he had dwelt upon the bride ”being taken fro nored Mrs Scott i said that she had noticed the omission and believed that the action of the Archbishop was premeditated Just here was an undercurrent which as an intiinia Scott's death at the Georgetown Convent Mrs Scott was most outspoken in her denunciation of the Rohter