MISS LOIS AND SIXTY YEARS AGO
"Yes; come get out once in a while."
"I've no time to spare," said Mrs. Underhill. "Some one has to work or
you'd all be in a fine case. Here's Margaret spending her time drumming
on the piano and studying French and what not. I dare say you'll be
called upon some time to take your daughter to Paris to show off her
accomplishments."
"I hope we'll do credit to each other," he returned with a dry, humorous
laugh, as if amused.
"The world goes round so fast one can't keep up with it. If the work
only rushed on that way! Why don't some of you smart men who have plenty
of time to sit round, invent a machine to cook and sew and sweep the
house?"
"Martha's a pretty good housekeeping machine, I think. And you might
find another to sew."
She had no idea that Elias Howe was hard at work on a tireless iron and
steel sewing-woman and was puzzling his brains day and night to put an
eye in the needle that would be satisfactory.
"You'd need to be made of money to hire all these folks! Margaret ought
to be sewing this very minute, but she's fussing over those drawings of
John's. I've such a smart family I think they'll set me crazy. And what
you will do when I am gone----"
"We're not going to let you get away so easy. And if you would just go
out a bit now and then. Come, mother," with entreaty in his voice.
"Oh, 'Milyer," she said, touched by something in the tone, "I really
can't go to-day. I've all those shirts to cut out, and Miss Weir told me
of a girl who would be glad to come and sew for fifty cents a day. I
think I'll have her a few days. And you look up the poor old creatures
and see if they are in any want. Then if I really _can_ do them any good
I'll go."
She always softened in the end. She felt a little sore and touchy about
Steve's engagement, and proud, too, that Miss Beekman had accepted him.
Stephen had insisted some one must come in and help sew, and that his
mother must have a little time for herself. Seven men and boys to make
shirts for was no light matter. The little girl was learning to darn
stockings very nicely and helped her mother with those.
So father Underhill took the little girl and Dobbin and the ordinary
harness, for Steve had Prince and the silver-mounted trappings, and the
elders could guess where he had gone. Business was dull along in August,
so the men had some time for diversion, and the father always enjoyed
his little daughter. Her limited knowledge and quaint comments amused
him, and her sweet, innocent love touched the depths of his soul.
It was quite in the afternoon when they started. Dobbin was not as young
and frisky as Prince, so they jogged along, looking at the gardens, the
trees, the wild masses of vines and sumac, and then stretches of rocky
space interspersed with squatters' cabins and the goats, pigs, geese,
and chickens. Sometimes in after years when she rode through Central
Park, she wondered if she had not dreamed all this, instead of seeing it
with her own eyes.
They went over to Mr. Brockner's to inquire.
"Oh," he exclaimed, "Mrs. Brockner will be so sorry to miss you. She has
talked so much about your little girl, and threatened to hunt her up.
And now she's gone to Saratoga for a fortnight, to see the fashions. But
you must come up again."
Then he directed them, and they drove over in a westerly course and soon
came to the little stone house that bore evident marks of decay from
neglect as well as age. The first story was rough stone, the half-story
of shingles, that had once been painted red. There were two small
windows in the gable ends, but in front the eaves overhung the doorway
and the windows and were broken and moss-grown. There was a big flat
stone for the doorstep, a room on one side with two windows, and on the
other only one. The hall door was divided in the middle, the upper part
open. There was a queer brass knocker on this, and the lower part
fastened with an old-fashioned latch. The little courtyard looked tidy,
and there was a great row of sweet clover along the fence, but now and
then the goats would nibble it off.
When they stepped up on the stoop they saw an old lady sitting in a
rocking-chair, with a little table beside her, and some knitting in her
lap. She had evidently fallen into a doze. Hanny stretched up on tiptoe.
A great gray cat lay asleep also. There were some mats laid about the
floor, two very old arm-chairs with fine rush bottoms painted yellow, a
door open on either side of the hall, and a well-worn winding stairs
going up at the back.
Mr. Underhill reached over and gave a light knock. The cat lifted its
head and made a queer sound like a gentle call, then went to the old
lady and stretched up to her knees. She started and glanced toward the
door, then rose in a little confusion.
"I am looking for a Miss Underhill," began the visitor.
"Oh, pardon me." She unbolted the lower door. "I believe I had fallen
asleep. Miss Underhill?" in a sort of surprised inquiry. "I am--one of
the sisters. Walk in."
She pushed out one of the arm-chairs and gave her footstool to the
little girl.
"I am an Underhill myself, a sort of connection, I dare say. We heard of
you some time ago, but I have been much occupied with business, yet I
have intended all the time to call on you."
"You are very good, I am sure. We had some relations on Long Island, and
I think some here-about, but we lost sight of them long ago. We really
have no one now. My sister Jane is past eighty, and I am only three
years younger."
She was a slim, shrunken body and her hands were almost transparent, so
white was her skin. Her gown was gray, and she wore a white kerchief
crossed on her bosom like a Quakeress. Her fine muslin cap had the
narrow plain border of that denomination.
Mr. Underhill made a brief explanation of his antecedents, and his
removal to the city,--then mentioned hearing of them from Mr. Brockner.
"You are very good to hunt us up," she said, with a touching tremble in
her voice. "I don't think now I could tell anything about my father's
relatives. He was killed at the battle of Harlem Heights, and my only
brother was taken prisoner. The Ferrises, my mother's people, owned a
great farm here-about. But much of it was laid waste, and a little later
the old homestead burned down. This house was built for us before the
British evacuated the city. My brother had died in prison of a fever,
and there were only my mother and us two girls."
Hanny was sitting quite close by her. She reached over and took the
wrinkled hand gently.
"Do you mean you were alive then--a little girl in the Revolutionary
War?" she exclaimed in breathless surprise.
"Why, I was nine years old," and she gave a faded little smile. "I doubt
if you're more than that."
"I am a little past eight," said Hanny.
"And the battle was just over yonder," nodding her head. "We all hoped
so that General Washington would win. My father was very patriotic and
very much in earnest for the independence of the country. The armies
were separated by Harlem Plains, and General Howe pushed forward through
McGowan's Pass, the rocky gorge over yonder. But our men forced them
into the cleared field, and if it had not been for a troop of Hessians
they would have driven the British off the field. But I believe
Washington thought it best to retreat. I've heard it was almost a
victory, still it wasn't quite. But we were wild with apprehension, for
we could hear the noise and the firing. And then the awful word came
that father was killed."
"Oh!" cried the little girl, and she laid her soft cheek on the wrinkled
hand. What if she had been alive then!--and she looked over at _her_
father with tears in her eyes.
"It was a sad, sad time. Some of the Ferrises were on the King's side.
You know a great many people believed the rebels all wrong and said they
never could win. My Uncle Ferris was bitterly opposed to father's
espousing the Federalists' cause."
"But you didn't want England to win, did you?" inquired the little girl,
wide-eyed.
"We were so full of trouble. Mother was very bitter, I remember, and
folks called her a Tory. Then brother, who was only seventeen, was taken
prisoner. Uncle Ferris said it would be a good lesson for a hot-headed
young fellow, and that two or three months in prison would cool his
ardor. But he was taken sick and died before we knew he was really ill.
Then our house burned down. Mother thought it was set on fire. Oh, my
child, such quantities of things as were in it! My mother had never
gone away from the old house because grandmother was a widow. Then the
land was divided, and this smaller house built for mother and us. The
British took possession of the city, and it was said uncle made money
right along. But the English were very good to us, and no one ever
molested us after that. Dear, we used to think it almost a day's journey
to go down to the Bowling Green."
The little girl was listening wide-eyed, and drew a long breath.
"There have been many changes. But somehow we seem to have gone on until
most everybody has forgotten us. You might like to see sister Jane,
though she's quite deaf and hasn't her mind very clear. I don't
know,"--hesitatingly.
"Do you live all alone here?" Mr. Underhill asked.
"Not exactly alone; no. We sold the next-door lot four years ago to some
Germans, very nice people. The mother comes in and helps with our little
work and looks after our garden, and sleeps here at night. The doctor
thought it wasn't safe to be left here alone with sister Jane. It made
it easy for them to pay for the place. It's nearly all gone now. But
there'll be enough to last our time out," she commented with a soft sigh
of self-abnegation.
"And you have no relatives, that is, no one to look after you a bit?"
"Well, you see grandmother made hard feelings with the relatives. She
didn't think the colonies had any right to go to war. And after father's
death mother felt a good deal that way. They dropped us out, and we
never took any pains to hunt them up. We never knew much about the
Underhills. I must say you are very kind to come," and her voice
trembled.
Just then the door opened and Miss Underhill sprang up to take her
sister's arm and lead her to a chair. She was taller and stouter, and
the little girl thought her the oldest-looking person she had ever seen.
Her cap was all awry, her shawl was slipping off of one shoulder, and
she had a sort of dishevelled appearance, as she looked curiously
around.
Lois straightened her up, seated her, and introduced her to the
visitors.
"I'm hungry. I want something to eat, Lois," she exclaimed in a whining,
tremulous tone, regardless of the strangers.
Miss Underhill begged to be excused, and went for a plate of bread and
butter and a cup of milk.
"Perhaps you'd like to see our old parlor," she said to her guests, and
opened the door.
There were two rooms on this side of the house. The back one was used
for a sleeping chamber. She threw the shutters wide open, and a little
late sunshine stole over the faded carpet that had once been such a
matter of pride with the two young women. There were some family
portraits, a man with a queue and a ruffled shirt-front, another with a
big curly white wig coming down over his shoulders, and several ladies
whose attire seemed very queer indeed. There was a black sofa studded
with brass nails that shone as if they had been lately polished, a tall
desk and bookcase going up to the ceiling, brass and silver candlesticks
and snuffers' tray, as well as a bright steel "tinder box" on the high,
narrow mantel. A big mahogany table stood in the centre of the room,
polished until you could see your face in it. But there was an odd tall
article in the corner, much tarnished now, but ornamented with gilt and
white vines that drooped and twisted about. Long wiry strings went from
top to bottom.
"I suppose you don't know what that is!" said Miss Lois, when she saw
the little girl inspecting it. "That's a harp. Young ladies played on it
when we were young ourselves. And they had a spinet. I believe it's
altered now and called a piano."
"A harp!" said the little girl in amaze. Her ideas of a harp were very
vague, but she thought it was something you carried around with you.
She had heard the children sing
"I want to be an angel
And with the angels stand;
A crown upon my forehead,
A harp within my hand,"
and the size of this confused her.
"But how could you play on it?" she asked.
"You stood this way. You could sit down, but it was considered more
graceful to stand. And you played in this manner."
She fingered the rusted strings. A few emitted a doleful sort of sound
almost like a cry.
"We've all grown old together," she said sorrowfully. "It was considered
a great accomplishment in my time. I believe people still play on the
harp. We had a great many curious things, but several years ago a
committee of some kind came and bought them. We needed the money sadly,
and we had no one to leave them to when we died. There was some
beautiful old china, and a lady bought the fan and handkerchief that my
grandmother carried at her wedding. The handkerchief was worked at some
convent in Italy and was fine as a cobweb. My mother used it, and then
it was laid by for us. But we never needed it," and she gave a soft
sigh.
She had glided out now and then to look after Jane, who was eating as
if she was starved. And in the broken bits of talk Mr. Underhill had
learned by indirect questioning that they had parted with their land by
degrees, and with some family valuables, until there was only this old
house and a small space of ground left.
Miss Jane was anxious now to see the visitors. But she was so deaf Lois
had to repeat everything, and she seemed to forget the moment a thing
was said. Dobbin whinnied as if he thought the call had been long
enough.
Mr. Underhill squeezed a bank-note into the hand of Miss Lois as he said
good-by. "Get some little luxury for your sister," he added.
"Thank you for all your friendliness," and the tears stood in her eyes.
"Come again and bring your sister Margaret," she said to the little
girl.
They drove over westward a short distance. The rocky gorge was still
there, and at its foot was one of the first battle-fields of this
vicinity. Hanny looked at it wonderingly.
"Then Washington retreated up to Kingsbridge," began her father. "They
found they could not hold that, and so went on to White Plains, followed
by some Hessian troops. They didn't seem very fortunate at first, for
they were beaten again. Grandmother can tell you a good deal about that.
And a great-uncle had his house burned down and they were forced to fly
to a little old house on top of a hill. My father was a little boy
then."
The little girl looked amazed. Did he know about the war?
"It seems such a long, long time ago--like the flood and the selling of
Joseph. And was grandmother really alive?"
"Grandmother is about as old as Miss Lois."
"Miss Lois doesn't look so awful old, but the other lady does. I felt
afraid of her."
"Don't think of her, pussy. It's very sad to lose your senses and be a
trouble."
"You couldn't," was the confident reply after much consideration. She
didn't see how such a thing could happen to him.
"I hope I never shall," he returned, with an earnest prayer just under
his breath.
Dobbin insisted upon going home briskly. He was thinking of his supper.
The little girl was so sorry not to have Benny Frank to talk over her
adventures with. Margaret and her mother were basting shirts; John was
drawing plans on the dining-room table. He had found a place to work at
house-building and was studying architecture and draughting. A man had
come in to see her father, so she was left quite alone. The Deans and
several of the little girls on the block had gone visiting. She walked
up and down a while, thinking how strange the world was, and what
wonderful things had happened, vaguely feeling that there couldn't be
any to come in the future.
At the end of the week she and Margaret went up to White Plains, as
grandmother was anxious to see them.
Her grandmother was invested with a curious new interest in her eyes.
That any one belonging to her should have lived in the Revolutionary War
seemed a real stretch of the imagination for a little girl eight years
old. Grandmother considered _her_ wonderful also. She wasn't so much in
favor of short frocks and pantalets that came down to your ankles, but
the little girl did look pretty in them. And when she found how neatly
she could hemstitch and do such beautiful featherstitch, and darn, and
read so plainly that it was a pleasure to listen to her, she had to
admit that Hannah Ann was a real credit, and, she confessed in her
secret heart, a very sweet little girl.
"I've begun your new Irish chain patchwork," she said. "I've made one
block for a pattern, and cut out quite a pile. Aunt Eunice lighted upon
some beautiful green calico. I was upon a stand whether to have green or
red, but an Irish chain generally is pieced of green. It seems more
appropriate."
And yet people had not begun to sing "The Wearing of the Green."
"I declare," said Cousin Ann, "you're such an old-fashioned little thing
one can hardly tell which is the oldest, you or grandmother."
"Is it anything"--what should she say?--wrong or bad seemed too
forcible--"queer to be old-fashioned?"
"Well, yes, _queer_. But you're awful sweet and cunning, Hannah Ann, and
we'd just like to keep you forever."
With that she almost squeezed the breath out of the little girl and
kissed her a dozen times.
Grandmother could tell such wonderful stories as they sat and sewed. All
the glories of the old Underhill house, and the silver and plate that
had come over from England, and the set of real china that a sea
captain, one of the Underhills, had brought from China and how it had
taken three years to go there and come back. And the beautiful India
shawl it had taken seven years to make, and the Persian silk gown that
had been bought of some great chief or Mogul--grandmother wasn't quite
sure, but she thought they had a king or emperor in those countries. She
had a little piece of the silk that she showed Hanny, and a waist ribbon
that came from Paris, "For you see," said she, "we were so angry with
England that we wouldn't buy anything of her if we could help it. And
the French people came over and helped us."
"What did they fight about, grandmother?"
"Oh, child, a great many things. You can't understand them all now, but
you'll learn about them presently. The people who came here and settled
the country wanted the right to govern themselves. They thought a king,
thousands of miles away, couldn't know what was best for them. And
England sent over things and we had to pay for them whether we wanted
them or not. And it was a long struggle, but we won, and the British had
to go back to their own country. Why, if we hadn't fought, we wouldn't
have had any country," and grandmother's old face flushed.
The little girl thinks it would be dreadful not to have a country, but
her mind is quite chaotic on the subject. She is glad, however, to have
been on the winning side.
Nearly every day Uncle David took her out driving. They saw the old
house on the hill in a half-hidden, woody section where the family had
to live until the new house was built. They went round the battlefield,
but sixty years of peace had made great changes, and the next fifty
years was to see a beautiful town and many-storied palaces all about.
She dipped into the history of New Amsterdam again and began to
understand it better, though she did mistrust that Mr. Dederich
Knickerbocker now and then "made fun," not unlike her father.
The visit came to an end quite too soon, grandmother thought, and she
was very sorry to part with the little girl. She thought she would try
and come down when the fall work was done, and she gave Hanny only four
blocks of patchwork, for if she went to school there wouldn't be much
time to sew.
They stopped at Yonkers two days and picked up the boys, who were brown
and rosy. Aunt Crete was much better and did not have to go about with
her face tied up. She said there was no place like Yonkers, after all.
Retty seemed happy and jolly, but there was a new girl in the kitchen,
for Aunt Mary had gone to live with her children. George said he should
come down a while when the crops were in.
School commenced the 1st of September sharp. It was hot, of course.
Summer generally does lap over. The boys who had shouted themselves
hoarse with joy when school closed, made the street and the playground
ring with delight again. If they were not so fond of studying they liked
the fun and good-fellowship. And when they marched up and down the long
aisles singing:
"Hail Columbia, happy land;
Hail ye heroes, heaven-born band.
Who fought and bled in freedom's cause!"
you could feel assured another generation of patriots was being raised
for some future emergency. Oh, what throats and lungs they had!
Mrs. Underhill had been around to see Mrs. Craven, and liked her very
well indeed. So the little girl was to go to school with Josie and Tudie
Dean.
Some new people had come in the street two doors below. Among the
members was a little girl of seven, the child of the oldest son, and a
large girl of fourteen or so, two young ladies, one of whom was teaching
school, and the other making artificial flowers in a factory down-town,
and two sons. The eldest one was connected with a newspaper, and was in
quite poor health. His wife, the little girl's mother, had been dead
some years. The child was rather pale and thin, with large, dark eyes,
and a face too old for her years and rather pathetic. And when Mrs.
Whitney came in a few days later to inquire where Mrs. Underhill sent
her little girl to school, she decided to let her grandchild go to Mrs.
Craven's also.
"She's quite a delicate little thing and takes after her mother. I tell
my son, she wants to company with other children and not sit around
nursing the cat. But Ophelia, that's my daughter who teaches down-town,
where we used to live, says the public school is no place for her. And
your little girl seems so nice and quiet like."
Nora, as they called her, was very shy at first. Hanny went after her,
and found the Deans waiting on their stoop. Nora never uttered a word,
but looked as if she would cry the next moment. Mrs. Craven took her in
charge in a motherly fashion, but it seemed very hard for her to
fraternize with the children.
Mrs. Craven lived in a corner house. The entrance to the school was on
Third Street, and the schoolroom was built off the back parlor, which
was used as a recitation-room for the older class. There were about
twenty little girls, none of them older than twelve. At the end of the
yard was a vacant lot, fenced in, which made a beautiful playground.
There were numbers of such schools at that period, but they were mostly
for little girls. Hanny liked it very much. On Wednesday afternoon they
had drawing, and reading aloud, when the girls could make their own
selections, which were sometimes very amusing. On Friday afternoon they
sewed and embroidered and did worsted work. There was quite a rage about
this. One girl had a large piece in a frame--"Joseph Sold by his
Brethren." Hanny never tired of the beautiful blue and red and orange
costumes. Another girl was working a chair seat. And still another had
begun to embroider a black silk apron with a soft shade of red. Then
they hemstitched handkerchiefs, they marked towels and napkins with
ornate letters, and really were a busy lot. Little Eleanora Whitney
couldn't sew a stitch, and some of the girls thought it "just dreadful."
Friday from half-past three until five Miss Helen Craven gave the
children, whose parents desired it, a dancing lesson. If Nora couldn't
sew, she could dance like a fairy. Her education was a curious
conglomeration. She could read and declaim, but spelling was quite
beyond her, and her attempts at it made a titter through the room. She
could talk a little French, and she had crossed the ocean to England
with her papa. So she wasn't to be despised altogether.