One afternoon, about three weeks after her return from Washington, Alice
received a letter through the mail. The envelope bore the words "House
of Representatives" printed in one corner, and in the opposite corner,
in a bold running hand, a Congressman's frank, "Hamilton M. Brown, M.C."
The letter read as follows:----
House of Representatives,
Washington, D.C., March 30, 187-.
Miss Alice Clayton, Groveland.
Dear Friend (if I may be permitted to call you so after so brief an
acquaintance),--I remember with sincerest pleasure our recent meeting at
the inaugural ball, and the sensation created by your beauty, your
amiable manners, and your graceful dancing. Time has so strengthened the
impression I then received, that I should have felt inconsolable had I
thought it impossible ever to again behold the charms which had
brightened the occasion of our meeting and eclipsed by their brilliancy
the leading belles of the capital. I had hoped, however, to have the
pleasure of meeting you again, and circumstances have fortunately placed
it in my power to do so at an early date. You have doubtless learned
that the contest over the election in the Sixth Congressional District
of South Carolina has been decided in my favor, and that I now have the
honor of representing my native State at the national capital. I have
just been appointed a member of a special committee to visit and inspect
the Sault River and the Straits of Mackinac, with reference to the needs
of lake navigation. I have made arrangements to start a week ahead of
the other members of the committee, whom I am to meet in Detroit on the
20th. I shall leave here on the 2d, and will arrive in Groveland on the
3d, by the 7.30 evening express. I shall remain in Groveland several
days, in the course of which I shall be pleased to call, and renew the
acquaintance so auspiciously begun in Washington, which it is my fondest
hope may ripen into a warmer friendship.
If you do not regard my visit as presumptuous, and do not write me in
the mean while forbidding it, I shall do myself the pleasure of waiting
on you the morning after my arrival in Groveland.
With renewed expressions of my sincere admiration and profound esteem, I
remain,
Sincerely yours,
Hamilton M. Brown, M.C.
To Alice, and especially to her mother, this bold and flowery letter had
very nearly the force of a formal declaration. They read it over again
and again, and spent most of the afternoon discussing it. There were few
young men in Groveland eligible as husbands for so superior a person as
Alice Clayton, and an addition to the number would be very acceptable.
But the mere fact of his being a Congressman was not sufficient to
qualify him; there were other considerations.
"I 've never heard of this Honorable Hamilton M. Brown," said Mr.
Clayton. The letter had been laid before him at the supper-table. "It 's
strange, Alice, that you have n't said anything about him before. You
must have met lots of swell folks not to recollect a Congressman."
"But he was n't a Congressman then," answered Alice; "he was only a
claimant. I remember Senator Bruce, and Mr. Douglass; but there were so
many doctors and lawyers and politicians that I could n't keep track of
them all. Still I have a faint impression of a Mr. Brown who danced with
me."
She went into the parlor and brought out the dancing programme she had
used at the Washington ball. She had decorated it with a bow of blue
ribbon and preserved it as a souvenir of her visit.
"Yes," she said, after examining it, "I must have danced with him. Here
are the initials--'H.M.B.'"
"What color is he?" asked Mr. Clayton, as he plied his knife and fork.
"I have a notion that he was rather dark--darker than any one I had ever
danced with before."
"Why did you dance with him?" asked her father. "You were n't obliged to
go back on your principles because you were away from home."
"Well, father, 'when you 're in Rome'--you know the rest. Mrs.
Clearweather introduced me to several dark men, to him among others.
They were her friends, and common decency required me to be courteous."
"If this man is black, we don't want to encourage him. If he 's the
right sort, we 'll invite him to the house."
"And make him feel at home," added Mrs. Clayton, on hospitable thoughts
intent.
"We must ask Sadler about him to-morrow," said Mr. Clayton, when he had
drunk his coffee and lighted his cigar. "If he 's the right man he shall
have cause to remember his visit to Groveland. We 'll show him that
Washington is not the only town on earth."
The uncertainty of the family with regard to Mr. Brown was soon removed.
Mr. Solomon Sadler, who was supposed to know everything worth knowing
concerning the colored race, and everybody of importance connected with
it, dropped in after supper to make an evening call. Sadler was familiar
with the history of every man of negro ancestry who had distinguished
himself in any walk of life. He could give the pedigree of Alexander
Pushkin, the titles of scores of Dumas's novels (even Sadler had not
time to learn them all), and could recite the whole of Wendell
Phillips's lecture on Toussaint l'Ouverture. He claimed a personal
acquaintance with Mr. Frederick Douglass, and had been often in
Washington, where he was well known and well received in good colored
society.
"Let me see," he said reflectively, when asked for information about
the Honorable Hamilton M. Brown. "Yes, I think I know him. He studied at
Oberlin just after the war. He was about leaving there when I entered.
There were two H.M. Browns there--a Hamilton M. Brown and a Henry M.
Brown. One was stout and dark and the other was slim and quite light;
you could scarcely tell him from a dark white man. They used to call
them 'light Brown' and 'dark Brown.' I did n't know either of them
except by sight, for they were there only a few weeks after I went in.
As I remember them, Hamilton was the fair one--a very good-looking,
gentlemanly fellow, and, as I heard, a good student and a fine speaker."
"Do you remember what kind of hair he had?" asked Mr. Clayton.
"Very good indeed; straight, as I remember it. He looked something like
a Spaniard or a Portuguese."
"Now that you describe him," said Alice, "I remember quite well dancing
with such a gentleman; and I 'm wrong about my 'H.M.B.' The dark man
must have been some one else; there are two others on my card that I
can't remember distinctly, and he was probably one of those."
"I guess he 's all right, Alice," said her father when Sadler had gone
away. "He evidently means business, and we must treat him white. Of
course he must stay with us; there are no hotels in Groveland while he
is here. Let 's see--he 'll be here in three days. That is n't very
long, but I guess we can get ready. I 'll write a letter this
afternoon--or you write it, and invite him to the house, and say I 'll
meet him at the depot. And you may have _carte blanche_ for making the
preparations."
"We must have some people to meet him."
"Certainly; a reception is the proper thing. Sit down immediately and
write the letter and I 'll mail it first thing in the morning, so he 'll
get it before he has time to make other arrangements. And you and your
mother put your heads together and make out a list of guests, and I 'll
have the invitations printed to-morrow. We will show the darkeys of
Groveland how to entertain a Congressman."
It will be noted that in moments of abstraction or excitement Mr.
Clayton sometimes relapsed into forms of speech not entirely consistent
with his principles. But some allowance must be made for his
atmosphere; he could no more escape from it than the leopard can change
his spots, or the--In deference to Mr. Clayton's feelings the quotation
will be left incomplete.
Alice wrote the letter on the spot and it was duly mailed, and sped on
its winged way to Washington.
The preparations for the reception were made as thoroughly and
elaborately as possible on so short a notice. The invitations were
issued; the house was cleaned from attic to cellar; an orchestra was
engaged for the evening; elaborate floral decorations were planned and
the flowers ordered. Even the refreshments, which ordinarily, in the
household of a caterer, would be mere matter of familiar detail, became
a subject of serious consultation and study.
The approaching event was a matter of very much interest to the
fortunate ones who were honored with invitations, and this for several
reasons. They were anxious to meet this sole representative of their
race in the --th Congress, and as he was not one of the old-line colored
leaders, but a new star risen on the political horizon, there was a
special curiosity to see who he was and what he looked like. Moreover,
the Claytons did not often entertain a large company, but when they did,
it was on a scale commensurate with their means and position, and to be
present on such an occasion was a thing to remember and to talk about.
And, most important consideration of all, some remarks dropped by
members of the Clayton family had given rise to the rumor that the
Congressman was seeking a wife. This invested his visit with a romantic
interest, and gave the reception a practical value; for there were other
marriageable girls besides Miss Clayton, and if one was left another
might be taken.