“Come, let a proper text be read,
An' touch it aff wi' vigour,
How graceless Ham leugh at his dad,
Which made Canaan a nigger.”
BURNS.
Ten days after the departure of the ----th, Herman Mordaunt and his
family, with our own party, left Albany, on the summer's business. In that
interval, however, great changes had taken place in the military aspect of
things. Several regiments of King's troops ascended the Hudson, most of the
sloops on the river, of which there could not have been fewer than thirty
or forty, having been employed in transporting them and their stores. Two
or three corps came across the country, from the eastern colonies,
while several provincial regiments appeared; everything tending to a
concentration at this point, the head of navigation on the Hudson. Among
other men of mark, who accompanied the troops, was Lord Viscount Howe, the
nobleman of whom Herman Mordaunt had spoken. He bore the local rank of
Brigadier, [32] and seemed to be the very soul of the army. It was not his
personal consideration alone, that placed him so high in the estimation
of the public and of the troops, but his professional reputation, and
professional services. There were many young men of rank in the army
present; and, as for younger sons of peers, there were enough to make
honourables almost as plenty, at Albany, as they were at Boston. Most of
the colonial families of mark had sons in the service, too; those of the
middle and southern colonies bearing commissions in regular regiments,
while the provincial troops from the eastern were led, as was very usual,
in that quarter of the country, by men of the class of yeomen, in a great
degree; the habits of equality that prevailed in those provinces making few
distinctions, on the score of birth or fortune.
Yet it was said, I remember, that obedience was as marked, among the
provincials from Massachusetts and Connecticut, as among those that came
from farther south; the men deferring to authority, as the agent of the
laws. They were fine troops, too; better than our own colony regiments, I
must acknowledge; seeming to belong to a higher class of labourers; while,
it must be admitted, that most of their officers were no very brilliant
representatives of manners, acquirements, or habits, that would be likely
to qualify them for command. It must have been that the officers and men
suited each other; for, it was said all round, that they stood well, and
fought very bravely, whenever they were particularly well led, as did not
always happen to be the case. As a body of mere physical men, they were
universally allowed to be the finest corps in the army, regulars and all
included.
I saw Lord Howe two or three times, particularly at the residence of Madam
Schuyler, the lady I have already had occasion to mention, and to whom I
had given the letter of introduction procured by my mother, the Mordaunts
visiting her with great assiduity, and frequently taking me with them. As
for Lord Howe, himself, he almost lived under the roof of excellent Madam
Schuyler; where, indeed, all the good company assembled at Albany, was, at
times, to be seen.
Our party was a large one; and, it might have passed for a small corps of
the army itself, moving on in advance; as was the case with corps, or parts
of corps, now, almost daily. Herman Mordaunt had delayed our departure,
indeed, expressly with a view to render the country safe, by letting it
fill with detachments from the army; and our progress, when we were once in
motion, was literally from post to post; encampment to encampment. It may
be well to enumerate our force, and to relate the order of our march, that
the reader may better comprehend the sort of business we were on.
Herman Mordaunt took with him, in addition to the ladies, a black cook, and
a black serving-girl; a negro-man, to lake care of his horses, and another
as his house-servant. He had three white labourers, in addition--men
employed about the teams, and as axe-men, to clear the woods, bridge the
streams, and to do other work of that nature, as it might be required. On
our side, there were us three gentlemen, Yaap, my own faithful negro, Mr.
Traverse, the surveyor, two chain-bearers, and two axe-men. Guert Ten Eyck
carried with him, also, a negro-man, who was called Pete; it being contrary
to _bonos mores_ to style him Peter or Petrus; the latter being his true
appellation. This made us ten men strong, of whom eight were white, and two
black. Herman Mordaunt mustered, in all, just the same number, of which,
however, four were females. Thus, by uniting our forces, we made a party of
twenty souls, altogether. Of this number, all the males, black and white,
were well armed, each man owning a good rifle, and each of the gentlemen a
brace of pistols in addition. We carried the latter belted to our bodies,
with the weapons, which were small and fitted to the service, turned
behind, in such a way as to be concealed by our outer garments. The belts
were also hid by the flaps of our nether garments. By this arrangement, we
were well armed without seeming to be so; a precaution that is sometimes
useful in the woods.
It is hardly necessary to say, that we did not plunge into the forest in
the attire in which we had been accustomed to appear in the streets of
New York and Albany. Cocked hats were laid aside altogether; forest caps,
resembling in form those we had worn in the winter, with the exception that
the fur had been removed, being substituted. The ladies wore light beavers,
suited to their sex; there being little occasion for any shade for the
face, under the dense canopies of the forest. Veils of green, however, were
added, as the customary American protection for the sex. Anneke and Mary
travelled in habits, made of light woman's cloth, and in a manner to fit
their exquisite forms like gloves. The skirts were short, to enable them to
walk with ease, in the event of being compelled to go a-foot. A feather
or two, in each hat, had not been forgotten--the offering of the natural
propensity of their sex, to please the eyes of men.
As for us men, buckskin formed the principal material of our garments.
We all wore buckskin breeches, and gaiters, and moccasins. The latter,
however, had the white-man's soles; though Guert took a pair or two with
him that were of the pure Indian manufacture. Each of us had a coatee, made
of common cloth; but we all carried hunting-shirts, to be worn as soon as
we entered the woods. These hunting-shirts, green in colour, fringed and
ornamented garments, of the form of shirts to be worn over all, were
exceedingly smart in appearance, and were admirably suited to the woods. It
was thought that the fringes, form, and colour, blended them so completely
with the foliage, as to render them in a manner invisible to one at a
distance; or at least, undistinguished. They were much in favour with all
the forest corps of America, and formed the usual uniform of the riflemen
of the woods, whether acting against man, or only against the wild beasts.
Neither Mr. Worden, nor Jason, moved with the main party; and it was
precisely on account of these distinctions of dress. As for the divine, he
was so good a stickler for appearances, he would have worn the gown
and surplice, even on a mission to the Indians; which, by-the-way, was
ostensibly his present business; and, at the several occasions, on which I
saw him at cock-fights, he kept on the clerical coat and shovel-hat. In a
word, Mr. Worden never neglected externals, so far as dress was concerned;
and, I much question, if he would have consented to read prayers without
the surplice, or to preach without the gown, let the desire for spiritual
provender be as great as it might. I very well remember to have heard my
father say, that, on one occasion, the parson had refused to officiate of
a Sunday, when travelling, rather than bring discredit on the church, by
appearing in the discharge of his holy office, without the appliances that
belonged to the clerical character.
“More harm than good is done to religion, Mr. Littlepage,” said the Rev.
Mr. Worden, on that occasion, “by thus lessening its rites in vulgar eyes.
The first thing is to teach men to respect holy things, my dear sir; and a
clergyman in his gown and surplice, commands threefold the respect of one
without them. I consider it, therefore, a sacred duty to uphold the dignity
of my office on all occasions.”
It was in consequence of these opinions, that the divine travelled in his
clerical hat, clerical coat, black breeches, and band, even when in pursuit
of the souls of red men among the wilds of North America! I will not take
it upon myself to say, these observances had not their use; but I am very
certain they put the reverend gentleman to a great deal of inconvenience.
As for Jason, he gave a Danbury reason for travelling in his best.
Everybody did so, in his quarter of the country; and, for his part, he
thought it disrespectful to strangers, to appear among them in old clothes!
There was, however, another and truer reason, and that was economy; for
the troops had so far raised the price of everything, that Jason did not
hesitate to pronounce Albany the dearest place he had ever been in. There
was some truth in this allegation; and the distance from New York, being no
less than one hundred and sixty miles--so reported--the reader will at once
see, it was the business of quite a month, or even more, to re-furnish the
shelves of the shop that had been emptied. The Dutch not only moved slow,
but they were methodical; and the shopkeeper whose stores were exhausted in
April, would not be apt to think of replenishing them, until the regular
time and season returned.
As a consequence of these views and motives, the Rev. Mr. Worden and Mr.
Jason Newcome left Albany twenty-four hours in advance of the rest of our
party, with the understanding they were to join us at a point where the
road led into the woods, and where it was thought the cocked hat and the
skin cap might travel in company harmoniously. There was, however, a reason
for the separation I have not yet named, in the fact that all of my own set
travelled on foot, three or four pack-horses carrying our necessaries. Now
Mr. Worden had been offered a seat in a government conveyance, and Jason
managed to worm himself into the party, in some way that to me was ever
inexplicable. It is, however, due to Mr. Newcome to confess that his
faculty of obtaining favours of all sorts, was of a most extraordinary
character; and he certainly never lost any chance of preferment for want
of asking. In this respect, Jason was always a moral enigma, to me; there
being an absolute absence, in his mind, of everything like a perception
of the fitness of things, so far as the claims and rights of persons
were connected with rank, education, birth, and experience. Rank, in the
official sense, once possessed, he understood and respected; but of the
claims to entitle one to its enjoyment, he seemed to have no sort of
notion. For property he had a profound deference, so far as that deference
extended to its importance and influence; but it would have caused him not
the slightest qualm, either in the way of conscience or feeling, to find
himself suddenly installed in the mansion of the patroons, for instance,
and placed in possession of their estates, provided only he fancied he
could maintain his position. The circumstance that he was dwelling under
the roof that was erected by another man's ancestors, for instance, and
that others were living who had a better moral right to it, would give him
no sort of trouble, so long as any quirk of the law would sustain him in
possession. In a word, all that was allied to sentiment, in matters of this
nature, was totally lost on Jason Newcome, who lived and acted, from the
hour he first came among us, as if the game of life were merely a game
of puss in the corner, in which he who inadvertently left his own post
unprotected, would be certain to find another filling his place as speedily
as possible. I have mentioned this propensity of Jason's at some little
length, as I feel certain, should this history be carried down by my own
posterity, as I hope and design, it will be seen that this disposition to
regard the whole human family as so many tenants in common, of the estate
left by Adam, will lead, in the end, to something extraordinary. But,
leaving the Rev. Mr. Worden and Mr. Jason Newcome to journey in their
public conveyance, I must return to our own party.
All of us men, with the exception of those who drove the two wagons of
Herman Mordaunt, marched a-foot. Each of us carried a knapsack, in addition
to his rifle and ammunition; and, it will be imagined, that our day's work
was not a very long one. The first day, we halted at Madam Schuyler's, by
invitation, where we all dined; including the surveyor. Lord Howe was among
the guests, that day, and he appeared to admire the spirit of Anneke and
Mary Wallace greatly, in attempting such an expedition, at such a time.
“You need have no fears, however, ladies, as we shall keep up strong
detachments between you and the French,” he said, more gravely, after some
pleasant trifling on the subject. “Last summer's work, and the disgraceful
manner in which poor Munro was abandoned to his fate, has rendered us all
keenly alive to the importance of compelling the enemy to remain at the
north end of Lake George; too many battles having already been fought on
this side it, for the credit of the British arms. We pledge ourselves to
your safety.”
Anneke thanked him for this pledge, and the conversation changed. There
was a young man present, who bore the name of Schuyler, and who was nearly
related to Madam, with whose air, manner and appearance I was much struck.
His aunt called him 'Philip;' and, being about my own age, during this
visit I got into conversation with him. He told me he was attached to the
commissariat under Gen. Bradstreet, and that he should move on with the
army, as soon as the preparations for its marching were completed. He
then entered into a clear, simple explanation of the supposed plan of the
approaching campaign.
“We shall see you and your friends among us, then, I hope,” he added, as
we were walking on the lawn together, previously to the summons to dinner;
“for, to own to you the truth, Mr. Littlepage, I do not half like the
necessity of our having so many eastern troops among us, to clear this
colony of its enemies. It is true, a nation must fight its foes wherever
they may happen to be found; but there is so little in common, between us
and the Yankees, that I could wish we were strong enough to beat back the
French alone.”
“We have the same sovereign and the same allegiance,” I answered; “if you
can call that something in common.”
“That is true; yet, I think you must have enough Dutch blood about you to
understand me. My duty calls me much among the different regiments; and, I
will own, that I find more trouble with one New England regiment, than with
a whole brigade of the other troops. They have generals, and colonels, and
majors, enough for the army of the Duke of Marlborough!”
“It is certain, there is no want of military rank among them--and they are
particularly fond of referring to it.”
“Quite true,” answered young Schuyler, smiling. “You will hear the word
'general' or 'colonel' oftener used, in one of their cantonments, in a
day, than you shall hear it at Head Quarters in a month. They have capital
points about them, too; yet, somehow or other, we do not like each other.”
Twenty years later in life, I had reason to remember this remark, as well
as to reflect on the character of the man who had uttered it. I, or my
successors, will probably have occasion to advert to matters connected with
this feeling, in the later passages of this record.
I had also a little conversation with Lord Howe, who complimented me on
what had passed on the river. He had evidently received an account of that
affair from some one who was much my friend, and saw fit to allude to the
subject in a way that was very agreeable to myself. This short conversation
was not worth repeating, but it opened the way to an acquaintance that
subsequently was connected with some events of interest.
About an hour after dinner, our party took its leave of Madam Schuyler, and
moved on. The day's march was intended to be short, though by this time the
roads were settled, and tolerably good. Of roads, however, we were not long
to enjoy the advantages, for they extended only some thirty miles to the
north of Albany, in our direction. With the exception of the military
route, which led direct to the head-waters of Lake Champlain, this was
about the extent of all the avenues that penetrated the interior, in that
quarter of the country. Our direction was to the northward and eastward,
both Ravensnest and Mooseridge lying slightly in the direction of the
Hampshire Grants.
As soon as we reached the point on the great northern road, or that which
led towards Skeenesborough, Herman Mordaunt was obliged to quit his wagons,
and to put all the females on horseback. The most necessary of the stores
were placed on pack-horses; and, after a delay of half a day, time lost in
making these arrangements, we proceeded. The wagons were to follow, but at
a slow pace, the ladies being compelled to abandon them on account of the
ruggedness of the ways, which would have rendered their motion not easy to
be borne. Our cavalcade and train of footmen made a respectable display
along the uneven road, which soon became very little more than a line cut
through the forest, with an occasional wheel-track, but without the least
attempt to level the surface of the ground by any artificial means. This
was the place where we were to overtake Mr. Worden and Jason, and where we
did find their effects; the owners themselves having gone on in advance,
leaving word that we should fall in with them somewhere on the route.
Guert and I marched in front, our youth and vigour enabling us to do this
with great ease to ourselves. Knowing that the ladies were well cared for,
on horseback, we pushed on, in order to make provision for their reception,
at a house a few miles distant, where we were to pass the night. This
building was of logs, of course, and stood quite alone in the wilderness,
having, however, some twenty or thirty acres of cleared land around it; and
it would not do to pass it, at that time of the day. The distance from this
solitary dwelling to the first habitation on Herman Mordaunt's property,
was eighteen miles; and that was a length of road that would require the
whole of a long May day to overcome, under our circumstances.
Guert and myself might have been about a mile in advance of the rest of the
party, when we saw a sort of semi-clearing before us, that we mistook at
first for our resting-place. A few acres had been chopped over, letting in
the light of the day upon the gloom of the forest, but the second growth
was already shooting up, covering the area with high bushes. As we drew
nearer, we saw it was a small, abandoned clearing. Entering it, voices were
heard at no great distance, and we stopped; for the human voice is not
heard, in such a place, without causing the traveller to pause, and stand
to his arms. This we did; after which we listened with some curiosity and
caution.
“High!” exclaimed some one, very distinctly, in English.
“Jack!” said another voice, in a sort of answering second that could not
well be mistaken.
“There's three for low;--is that good?” put in the first speaker.
“It will do, sir; but here are a ten and an ace. Ten and three, and four
and two make nineteen;--I'm game.”
“High, low, Jack and game!” whispered Guert; “here are fellows playing at
cards, near us; let us go on and beat up their quarters.”
We did so; and, pushing aside some bushes, broke, quite unexpectedly to all
parties, on the Rev. Mr. Worden and Jason Newcome, playing the game of 'All
Fours on a stump;' or, if not literally in the classic position of using
'the stump,' substituting the trunk of a fallen tree for their table. As we
broke suddenly in upon the card-players, Jason gave unequivocal signs of a
disposition to conceal his hand, by thrusting the cards he held into his
bosom, while he rapidly put the remainder of the pack under his thigh,
pressing it down in a way completely to conceal it. This sudden movement
was merely the effect of a puritanical education, which, having taught him
to consider that as a sin which was not necessarily a sin at all, exacted
from him that hypocrisy which is the tribute that vice pays to virtue! Very
different was the conduct of the Rev. Mr. Worden. Taught to discriminate
better, and unaccustomed to set up arbitrary rules of his own as the law of
God, this loose observer of his professional obligations is other matters,
made a very proper distinction in this. Instead of giving the least
manifestation of confusion or alarm, the log on which he was seated was not
more unmoved than he remained, at our sudden appearance at his side.
“I hope, Corny, my dear boy,” Mr. Worden cried, “that you did not forget
to purchase a few packs of cards; which I plainly see, will be a great
resource for us, in this woody region. These cards of Jason's are so
thumbed and handled, that they are not fit to be touched by a gentleman, as
I will show you.--Why, what has become of the pack, Master Newcome?--It was
on the log but a minute ago!”
Jason actually blushed! Yes, for a wonder, shame induced Jason Newcome to
change colour! The cards were reluctantly produced from beneath his leg,
and there the schoolmaster sat, as it might be in presence of his school
actually convicted of being engaged in the damning sin of handling certain
spotted pieces of paper, invented for, and used in the combinations of a
game played for amusement.
“Had it been push-pin, now,” Guert whispered, “it would give Mr. Newcome
no trouble at all; but he does not admire the idea of being caught at
'All Fours, on a stump.' We must say a word to relieve the poor sinner's
distress. I have cards, Mr. Worden, and they shall be much at your service,
as soon as we can come at our effects. There is one pack in my knapsack,
but it is a little soiled by use, though somewhat cleaner than that. If you
wish it, I will hand it to you. I never travel without carrying one or two
clean packs with me.”
“Not just now, sir, I thank you. I love a game of Whist, or Picquet, but
cannot say I am an admirer of All Fours. As Mr. Newcome knows no other, we
were merely killing half an hour, at that game; but I have enough of it
to last me for the summer. I am glad that cards have not been forgotten,
however; for, I dare say, we can make up a very respectable party at Whist,
when we all meet.”
“That we can, sir, and a party that shall have its good players. Miss Mary
Wallace plays as good a hand at Whist, as a woman should, Mr. Worden; and
a very pretty accomplishment it is, for a lady to possess; useful, sir, as
well as entertaining; for anything is preferable to dummy. I do not think a
woman should play quite as well as a man, our sex having a natural claim to
lead, in all such things; but it is very convenient, sometimes, to find a
lady who can hold her hand with coolness and skill.”
“I would not marry a woman who did not understand Picquet,” exclaimed the
Rev. Mr. Worden; “to say nothing of Whist, and one or two other games. But,
let us be moving, since the hour is getting late.”
Move on we did, and in due time we all reached the place at which we were
to halt for the night. This looked like plunging into the wilderness
indeed; for the house had but two rooms, one of which was appropriated to
the use of the females, while most of us men took up our lodgings in
the barn. Anneke and Mary Wallace, however, showed the most perfect
good-humour; and our dinner, or supper might better be the name, was
composed of deliciously fat and tender broiled pigeons. It was the pigeon
season, the woods being full of the birds; and we were told, we might
expect to feast on the young to satiety.
About noon the next day, we reached the first clearing on the estate of
Ravensnest. The country through which we were travelling was rolling rather
than bold; but it possessed a feature of grandeur in its boundless forests.
Our route, that day, lay under lofty arches of young leaves, the buds just
breaking into the first green of the foliage, tall, straight columns,
sixty, eighty, and sometimes a hundred feet of the trunks of the trees,
rising almost without a branch. The pines, in particular, were really
majestic, most of them being a hundred and fifty feet in height, and a few,
as I should think, nearly if not quite two hundred. As everything grows
towards the upper light, in the forest, this ought not to surprise those
who are accustomed to see vegetation expand its powers in wide-spreading
tops, and low, gnarled branches that almost touch the ground, as is the
case in the open fields, and on the lawns of the older regions. As is usual
in the American virgin forest, there was very little underbrush; and we
could see frequently a considerable distance through these long vistas of
trees; or, indeed, until the number of the stems intercepted the sight.
The clearings of Ravensnest were neither very large nor very inviting. In
that day, the settlement of new lands was a slow and painful operation, and
was generally made at a great outlay to the proprietor. Various expedients
were adopted to free the earth from its load of trees; [33] for, at that
time, the commerce of the colonies did not reward the toil of the settler
in the same liberal manner as has since occurred. Herman Mordaunt, as we
moved along, related to me the cost and trouble he had been at already, in
getting the ten or fifteen families who were on his property, in the first
place, to the spot itself; and, in the second place, to induce them to
remain there. Not only was he obliged to grant leases for three lives,
or, in some cases, for thirty or forty years, at rents that were merely
nominal, but, as a rule, the first six or eight years the tenants were to
pay no rent at all. On the contrary, he was obliged to extend to them many
favours, in various ways, that cost no inconsiderable sum in the course of
the year. Among other things, his agent kept a small shop, that contained
the most ordinary supplies used by families of the class of the settler,
and these he sold at little more than cost, for their accommodation,
receiving his pay in such articles as they could raise from their
half-tilled fields, or their sugar-bushes, and turning those again into
money, only after they were transported to Albany, at the end of a
considerable period. In a word, the commencement of such a settlement was
an arduous undertaking, and the experiment was not very likely to succeed,
unless the landlord had both capital and patience.
The political economist can have no difficulty in discovering the causes of
the circumstances just mentioned. They were to be found in the fact that
people were scarce, while land was superabundant. In such a condition of
society, the tenant had the choice of his farm, instead of the landlord's
having a selection of his tenants, and the latter were to be bought only on
such conditions as suited themselves.
“You see,” continued Herman Mordaunt, as we walked together, conversing on
this subject, “that my twenty thousand acres are not likely to be of much
use to myself, even should they prove to be of any to my daughter. A
century hence, indeed, my descendants may benefit from all this outlay of
money and trouble; but it is not probable that either I or Anneke will ever
see the principal and interest of the sums that will be expended in the way
of roads, bridges, mills, and other things of that sort. Years must go
by, before the light rents which will only begin to be paid a year or two
hence, and then only by a very few tenants, can amount to a sufficient sum
to meet the expenses of keeping up the settlement, to say nothing of the
quit-rents to be paid to the crown.”
“This is not very encouraging to a new beginner in the occupation of a
landlord,” I answered; “and, when I look into the facts, I confess, I am
surprised that so many gentlemen in the colony are willing to invest the
sums they annually do in wild lands.”
“Every man who is at his ease in his moneyed affairs, Corny, feels a
disposition to make some provision for his posterity. This estate, if kept
together, and in single hands may make some descendant of mine a man of
fortune. Half a century will produce a great change in this colony; at the
end of that period, a child of Anneke's may be thankful that his mother
had a father who was willing to throw away a few thousands of his own, the
surplus of a fortune that was sufficient for his wants without them, in
order his grandson may see them converted into tens, or possibly into
hundreds of thousands.”
“Posterity will, at least, owe us a debt of gratitude, Mr. Mordaunt; for I
now see that Mooseridge is not likely to make either Dirck or myself very
affluent patroons.”
“On that you may rely. Satanstoe will produce you more than the large
tracts you possess in this quarter.”
“Do you no longer fear, sir, that the war, and apprehension of Indian
ravages, may drive your people off?”
“Not much at present, though the danger was great at one time. The war
_may_ do me good, as well as harm. The armies consume everything they can
get--soldiers resembling locusts, in this respect. My tenants have had the
commissaries among them; and, I am told, every blade of grass they can
spare--all their surplus grain, potatoes, butter, cheese, and, in a word,
everything that can be eaten, and with which they are willing to part, has
been contracted for at the top of the market. The King pays in gold, and
the sight of the precious metals will keep even a Yankee from moving.”
About the time this was said, we came in sight of the spot Herman Mordaunt
had christened Ravensnest; a name that had since been applied to the whole
property. It was a log building, that stood on the verge of a low cliff of
rocks, at a point where a bird of that appellation had originally a nest on
the uppermost branches of a dead hemlock. The building had been placed, and
erected, with a view to defence, having served for some time as a sort of
rallying point to the families of the tenantry, in the event of an Indian
alarm. At the commencement of the present war, taking into view the exposed
position of his possessions on that frontier,--frontier as to settlement,
if not as to territorial limits,--Herman Mordaunt had caused some attention
to be paid to his fortifications; which, though they might not have
satisfied Mons. Vauban, were not altogether without merit, considered in
reference to their use in case of a surprise.
The house formed three sides of a parallelogram, the open portion of the
court in the centre, facing the cliff. A strong picket served to make a
defence against bullets on that side; while the dead walls of solid logs
were quite impregnable against any assault known in forest warfare, but
that of fire. All the windows opened on the court; while the single outer
door was picketed, and otherwise protected by the coverings of plank. I was
glad to see by the extent of this rude structure, which was a hundred feet
long by fifty in depth, that Anneke and Mary Wallace would not be likely to
be straitened for room. Such proved to be the fact; Herman Mordaunt's agent
having prepared four or five apartments for the family, that rendered them
as comfortable as people could well expect to be in such a situation.
Everything was plain, and many things were rude; but shelter, warmth and
security had not been neglected.
[Footnote 32: The ordinary American reader may not know that the rank
of Brigadier, in the British army, is not a step in the regular line of
promotion, as with us. In England, the regular military gradations are from
Colonel to Major-general, Lieut. General, General, and Field Marshal. The
rank of Brigadier is barely recognised, like that of Commodore, in the
navy, to be used on emergencies; usually as brevet, _local_ rank, to enable
the government to employ clever colonels at need.]
[Footnote 33: The late venerable Hendrick Frey was a man well known to all
who dwelt in the valley of the Mohawk. He had been a friend, contemporary,
and it is believed an executor of the celebrated Sir William Johnson, Bart.
Thirty years since, he related to the writer the following anecdote. Young
Johnson first appeared in the valley as the agent of a property belonging
to his kinsman, Admiral Sir Peter Warren, K. B.; who, having married in
the colony, had acquired several estates in it. Among other tracts was one
called Warrens-bush, on the Mohawk, on which young Johnson first resided.
Finding it difficult to get rid of the trees around his dwelling, Johnson
sent down to the admiral, at New York, to provide some purchases with which
to haul the trees down to the earth, after grubbing and cutting the roots
on one side. An acre was lowered in this manner, each tree necessarily
lying at a larger angle to the earth than the next beneath it. An easterly
wind came one night, and, to Johnson's surprise, he found half his trees
erect again, on rising in the morning! The mode of clearing lands by
'purchases' was then abandoned.--EDITOR.]