Part 10 (1/2)

I am, sir, your obt etc

In 1831 the small but pretty Grales I have heard that this plot of ground was originally used as a burying ground by Trinity parish As I first recollect the spot, there were but four or five dwellings in its vicinity One of the earliest was built by Jaarded as a most venturesome pioneer to establish his residence in such a remote locality Next door to Mr Gerard, a few years later, lived George Belden, whose daughter Julia e died only a few years ago, highly respected and esteee circle of friends

In 1846 I was one of the guests at a fashi+onable wedding in a residence on the west side of this park, which was possibly the first cereion The bride's mother, theof Richard Armistead of New Bern, NC, who habitually spent her winters in New York, had purchased the house only a few months previously The bride, Susan Armistead, was an intimate friend of mine, and a well-known belle in both the North and the South The groom, a resident of New York, was John Still Winthrop, of the sauests coiround I s, Gracies, Winthrops and Rogers predominated Mrs De Witt Clinton honored the occasion, dressed in the fashi+on of a decade or two previous Her presence was a very graceful act as she then but seldo froard to dress was very e it with the prevailing style but clung tenaciously to the old-fashi+oned _modes_ to the end of her life Miss Ar tulle veil and carried, according to the custoe flat bouquet of white japonicas hite lace paper around the ste-roo cake at one end of the table and poranates, especially sent fro a part of the repast The health of the needded couple was drunk in chaood cheer prevailed on every side The whole house bore a happy aspect with its floral decorations and its bright Liverpool coal fires burning in the grates

Furnaces, by the ere then unknown In New York there was at that tiainst anthracite coal, and Liverpool coal was therefore generally used, the price of which was fifteen dollars a ton

I have many close and tender associations connected with this bride of so o, especially as our friendshi+p, formed in our early life, still extends to her descendants Soe, and in her earlier hood, four generations traveled together, and then, as at other times, dwelt under the same roof They were Mrs Nathaniel Smith, Mrs Richard Armistead, Mrs John S Winthrop and her son, John S Winthrop, ith his interesting family, now resides in Tallahassee

In 1841, Lord Morpeth, the seventh Earl of Carlisle and a worthy specilish nobility, visited the United States, and while here investigated the subject of the inheritance of slaves by English subjects His report seems to have been favorably received, as a laas passed subsequent to his return declaring it illegal for Englishland's sympathetic heart about this time was in a perennial throb for ”the poor Africans in chains,”

apparently quite oblivious to the fact that the ”chains” had been introduced and ce hand

I recall with unusual pleasure an entertainuest of honor, at the residence of Williae Place, at that time a fashi+onable street in the vicinity of old Colue I have always remembered the occasion as I was then introduced to Lord Morpeth and enjoyed a long and pleasant conversation with him

Our host was a son of Dr Sa the days when New York was the seat of government

[Illustration: MRS JOHN STILL WINTHROP, NeE ARMISTEAD, BY SULLY

_From a portrait owned by John Still Winthrop of Tallahassee_]

Mr and Mrs John Austin Stevens lived on Bleecker Street and had a nuhters They were an intellectual faiven by them in honor of Martin Farquhar Tupper, the author of ”Proverbial Philosophy” Mr Stevens' sister, Lucretia Ledyard Stevens, entlewoman of the sae Gibbs of Newport The first Oliver Wolcott, a Signer, Governor of Connecticut and General in the Revolutionary War, was her grandfather; while the second of the saton and Adae, was her father I a re her made at her funeral by the Rev Dr

Henry W Bellows: ”I confess I always felt in the presence of Mrs Gibbs as if I were talking with Oliver Wolcott hi and independent hly individual character, forged in the hottest fires of national struggle The intense individuality of her nature set her apart from others You felt that from the woinal granite on which the nation was built The force, the courage, the self-poise she exhibited in the ordinary concerns of our peaceful life would in a masculine frame have made, in tietic character--one able and willing to believe all things possible, and to make all the efforts and sacrifices by which impossibilities are accomplished”

Mrs Gibbs was literally steeped and moulded in the traditions of the past; in fact, she was a reminder of the noble women of the Revolutionary era, ifted with a keen sense of huh htful coreat resource to hter, the wife of Captain Theophile d'Oremieulx, USA, was particularly skilled in uished Professor of Harvard University, h intellectual standard of his ancestors He died several years ago I was informed by his e desired to secure his services as a professor, but that the Hon Ha Episcopalian, objected on the ground of his Unitarian faith and was sustained by the Board of Trustees It seemed a rather inconsistent act, as at another period of its history a Hebreas chosen as a member of the same faculty

As nearly as I can remember, it was in the suuest of the financier and author, Alexander B

Johnson, in Utica, New York Mrs Johnson's ail Louisa Shter of Charles Ada my sojourn there her uncle, John Quincy Adams, came to Utica to visit his relatives, and I had the pleasure of being a guest of the family at the sahter-in-law, Mrs Charles Francis Adarandson whose name I do not recall, and the father of Mrs Adahters was the wife of Edward Everett Upon their arrival in Utica, the greatest enthusiasm prevailed, and the elderly ex-President elcoht procession In response to ent requests, Mr Adams made an impromptu speech from the steps of the Johnson house, and proved hih he was not far fro in either mental or physical vitality Mrs Charles Francis Adams impressed me as a woman of unusual culture and intellectuality, while her father, Peter C Brooks, was a genial old gentlereet He was at that time one of Boston's randson, the late Henry Sidney Everett, of Washi+ngton, son of Edward Everett, say of him that when he first arrived in Boston he was a youth with little or no means

After the Adams party had rested for a few days a pleasure trip to Trenton Falls, in Oneida County, was proposed A few prominent citizens of Utica were invited by the Johnsons to acco them several well-knoyers whose careers won for the these I may especially mention the handsome Horatio Seymour, then in his pri ue of the trip reth seehter-in-law remained constantly beside him while at the Falls to administer to his comfort and attend to his wants; in fact, she was so solicitous concerning hi, occupy a carriage as near hiard her as a eneration who fail to be deeply impressed by either uests, and I have always felt that I was highly privileged to visit under the same roof with them, and especially to listen to the words of wisdom of the venerable ex-President I have heard it stated, by the way, that during his official life in Washi+ngton, Mr Adams took a daily bath in the Potomac This luxury he must have missed in Utica, as at this tiing canal” Mrs Charles Francis Ada our Civil War, to represent the United States at the Court of St James The consummate manner in which he conducted our relations with Great Britain at that critical period marked him as an accomplished statesman and a diplomatist of the rarest skill The nature of his task was one of extrehly probable that, but for his nized the independence of the Southern Confederacy The energy and fidelity hich he met the require to this country, he retired to his old home in Quincy

While in Utica I drove in the fae with Mrs Johnson and her sister, Mrs John W King, to Peterboro, about twenty-five miles distant, to visit Mr and Mrs Gerrit Sainst slavery, and the fa that two of his nieces, sisters of General John Cochrane, who later became President of the Society of the Cincinnati, refused to wear dresses made of cotton because it was a Southern staple As I reitator, he was a remarkably handsome man with an air of enthusias Froress, and I had the pleasure of listening to one of his scathing speeches on the floor of the House of Representatives in denunciation of slavery I recall his unusual felicity in the use of Scriptural quotations, one of which still lingers in my ears: ”Where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty”

His daughter Elizabeth married Charles Dudley Miller, a prominent citizen of Utica She was a woed, in part, by the fact that soton, I met her by accident one day at the Capitol and tobloo to my home in New York from another visit to the Johnsons in Utica, when, upon the invitation of Mrs

Hamilton Fish, whose husband was then Governor of the Empire State, I stopped in Albany and visited theubernatorial mansion, but its exact location I cannot exactly recall

Life was exceedingly simple in the middle of the last century, even in the wealthiest fah all these years I seele incident connected with the family life of these early friends--the trivial fact that the breakfast hour was seven o'clock

Mrs Fish was afahly prominent people of the present ti story is told of the keen sense of humor of the late William M Evarts, who presented in every-day life such a stern exterior When, on one occasion, he was a guest of the Fish family at their sue and beautifully executed painting of a group of children which, as was quite apparent, was greatly treasured by the ex-Governor

Mr Evarts gazed upon the portrait for some minutes in silence and then exclaiuest but, not catching the exact drift of his reht response was: ”Yes, I said little fishes, _sardines_,”--re one of Artemus Ward's definition of sardines, ”little fishes biled in ile”

Another witticis of preservation is said to have been uttered during his residence in Washi+ngton, when he was Secretary of State under President Hayes A party of distinguished English the National Capital and Mr Evarts escorted it to Mount Vernon After inspecting the ton the party walked to the end of the lawn to view the attractive scenery of the Potolishmen who seemed decidedly more conversant with certain phases of American history than the others asked Mr Evarts whether it were really true that Washi+ngton could throw a shi+lling across the Potomac ”Yes,” said Mr Evarts, in a diplo at a dinner, the Secretary of State repeated the conversation to a mutual friend and added: ”He could do even better than that; he could toss a Sovereign across the Atlantic!”