Mrs. Schuyler’s arrangements and conduct after the colonel’s death.
THE mind of our good aunt, which had never before yielded to calamity,
seemed altogether subdued by the painful separation from her husband.
Never having left her consort’s bedside, or known the refreshment of a
quiet sleep, during his illness, she sunk at first into a kind of
torpor, which her friends willingly mistook for the effects of
resignation. This was soon succeeded by the most acute sorrow, and a
dangerous illness, the consequence of her mental suffering. In spring
she slowly recovered, and endeavoured to find consolation in returning
to the regulation of her family, and the society of her friends, for
both of which she had been for some months disqualified. Her nieces, the
Miss Cuylers, were a great comfort to her, from their affectionate
attention, and the pleasure she took in seeing them growing up to be all
that her maternal affection could wish. In the social grief of
Pedrom[15] who gave all his time to her during the early part of her
widowhood, she also found consolation; and whenever she was able to
receive them, her friends came from all quarters to express their
sympathy and their respect. The colonel’s heir and her own eldest nephew
made, with one of her nieces, a part of her family; and the necessity of
attending to such affairs as formerly lay within the colonel’s province,
served further to occupy her mind; yet her thoughts continually recurred
to that loss, which she daily felt more and more. She buried the colonel
in a spot within a short distance of his own house, in which he had
formerly desired to repose, that his remains might not quit a scene so
dear to him; and that the place rendered sacred by his ashes, might in
future be a common sepulchre to his family; that he might in death, as
in life, be surrounded by the objects of his affection and beneficence.
This consecrated spot, about the size of a small flower garden, was
inclosed for this purpose, and a tombstone, with a suitable inscription,
erected over the grave, where this excellent person’s relict proposed
her ashes should mingle with his. In the mean time, though by
continually speaking of her deceased friend, she passed the day without
much visible agitation, she had fallen into a habit of vigilance—rarely
sleeping till morning, and suffering through the silent hours from a
periodical agony, for such it might be called, with which she was
regularly visited. She had a confidante in this secret suffering; a
decent and pious woman, who, on the death of her husband, a serjeant in
the army, had been received into this family as a kind of upper
domestic; and found herself so happy, and made herself so useful in
teaching, reading, and needle-work to the children, that she still
remained. This good woman slept in aunt’s room; and when all the family
were at rest, she used to accompany her to a small distance from the
tomb which contained those remains so dear to her. Madame, in the mean
time, entered alone into the hallowed inclosure, and there indulged her
unavailing sorrow. This she continued to do for some time, as she
thought, unobserved; but being very tall, and become large as she
advanced in life, her figure, arrayed in her night-clothes was very
conspicuous, and was, on different occasions, observed by neighbours,
who occasionally passed by at night; the consequence was, that it was
rumoured that an apparition was seen every night near the colonel’s
grave. This came to the ears of the people of the house, some of whom
had the curiosity to watch at a distance, and saw the dreaded form
appear, and, as they thought, vanish. This they carefully concealed from
their revered patroness. Every one else in the house, however, heard it,
and a pensive air of awe and mystery overspread the whole family. Her
confidante, however, told her of it; and the consequence of this
improper indulgence of sorrow greatly increased the dislike which madame
had always expressed for mystery and concealment. She was unwilling to
let a family, to whom she had always set such an example of
self-command, know of her indulging a weakness so unsuitable to her
character and time of life. At the same time, however, she was resolved
not to allow the belief of a supernatural appearance to fasten on their
minds: unwilling to mention the subject herself, she was forced to
submit to the humiliation of having it revealed by her confidante, to
quiet the minds of the children and domestics, and reconcile them to
solitude and moonlight.
Footnote 15:
The colonel’s brother Peter, so called.
Her mind was at this time roused from her own peculiar sorrows, by an
alarming event, which disturbed the public tranquillity, and awakened
the fears of the whole province, by laying open the western frontier.
This was the taking of Oswego by the French, which fortress was the only
barrier, except the valour and conduct of Sir William Johnson and his
Mohawk friends, by which the town was protected on that side. The poor
people, who were driven by the terror of this event from the settlements
in that quarter, excited the sympathy of liberal-minded persons; and the
interest which she took in their distresses, was one of the first things
that roused the attention of our good aunt to her wonted beneficent
exertions. General Bradstreet, who had a high respect for her
understanding, and consulted her on all emergencies, had a profound
reverence for the colonel’s memory, and continued his intimacy in the
family. The critical situation of things at this time occasioned Lord
Loudon to be sent out as commander of the forces in America. Madame
received this nobleman when he visited Albany, and gave him most useful
information.—He was introduced to her by General Bradstreet, whose power
and consequence might be said to increase with the disasters of the
country; his department was a very lucrative one, and enabled him,
first, greatly to enrich himself, and, in process of time, his friend
Philip Schuyler, who, from his deputy, became, in a manner, his
coadjutor. Albany now swarmed with engineers, planners, architects, and
boat-builders. Various military characters, since highly distinguished,
whose names I do not recollect, though once familiar to me, obtained
introductions to madame, who began once more to occupy her mind with
public matters, and to open her house to the more respected and well
known characters among the military. Her brother-in-law, whom I have so
often mentioned under the affectionate appellation of Pedrom, by which
he was known in the family, being within less than half an hour’s walk,
spent much of his time with her, and received her company. This he was
well qualified to do, being a person of a comely dignified appearance,
and frank, easy manners, inferior only to his late brother in depth of
reflection, and comprehension of mind.
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