A Plague Tale Innocence Cheat Engine

[Tracee Hsiang]

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True, the fathers told it to the generation following, andthe generation has been faithful to the traditions committedto it. What I have to say in the aforesaid gossip over theconfidential fire is of what I saw and heard and did - andwas in that hoary Long Ago.

It was my lot to know the Old South in her prime, and to seeher downfall. Mine to witness the throes that racked herduring four black and bitter years. Mine to watch the dawnof a new and vigorous life and the full glory of a restoredUnion. I shall tell of nothing that my eyes did not see, anddepict neither tragedy nor comedy in which I was not castfor a part.

For three years after the elopement the name of hisdaughter's husband was never uttered in his hearing. Nordid she enter the house, until at twenty, her proud spiritbowed but not broken by sorrows she never retailed, shecame back to the old roof-tree on the eve of her confinementwith her first and only child. He was born there andreceived the grandfather's name in full. From that hour hewas adopted as a son of the house by the stern old Puritan,and brought up at his knees.

With the shrewd sense and sturdy independencecharacteristic of the true New-Englander, the mother wasnever forgetful of the fact that her boy was half-orphanedand dependent upon his grandfather's bounty, and beganearly to equip him for a single-handed fight with the world.

Within a decade I have studied an authentic and detailedgenealogy of the Hawes stock from which my grandfathersprang. It is a fine old English family, and the Americanbranch, in which appear the birth and death of JesseHawes, of Maine, numbers many men of distinction invarious professions. It is a comfort to a believer in heredityto be assured that the tree was sound at heart, in spite ofthe warped and severed bough.

At twenty-five he was an active member of the FirstPresbyterian Church in Richmond, established and built upby Rev. John Holt Rice, D. D., who was also the founder ofUnion Theological Seminary, now situated in Richmond.The young New-Englander was, likewise, a teacher in theSunday school - the first of its kind in Virginia, conductedunder the auspices of Doctor Rice's church - a partner in aflourishing mercantile house, and engaged to be married toMiss Judith Anna Smith, of Olney, a plantation on theChickahominy, five miles from the city.

I have a miniature of my father, painted upon ivory a fewyears after his marriage. It is that of a handsome man, withdeeply set gray eyes, very dark hair, and a well-cut, resolutemouth. The head is nobly shaped, the forehead full andbroad. His face was singularly mobile, and deeply lined, evenin youth.

Doctor Rice, whose wife was my mother's first cousin,appreciated young Hawes's character and ability; theparsonage was thrown open to him at all times, and withinthe hospitable precincts he first met his future wife.

Late in the seventeenth century, William Smith, ofDevonshire, a lineal descendant of the brother and heir ofCapt. John Smith of Pocahontas fame, married Ann Sterlingin England, and, emigrating to America, pitched his movingtent, first in Gloucester, then in Henrico County. His cousin,bearing the same name, took up land in Powhatan, naminghis homestead for the hapless Earl of Montrose. Thequestionable custom of the intermarriage of cousinsprevailed in the clan, as among other old Virginia families.

My maternal grandmother was petite, refined in feature,bearing, and speech, and remarkable in her day forintellectual vivacity and moral graces. Her chief associatesof the other sex were men of profound learning,distinguished for services done to Church and State. Amongthem were the founders of the Presbyterian Church inVirginia. The Smiths had seceded from the EstablishedChurch of England before Thomas Jefferson rent it fromthe State.

Her husband was the proprietor of broad acres, a man ofbirth and fair education, high-minded, honorable, anddevoted to his delicate wife. Nevertheless, the daintychtelaine must, sometimes, have missed her eruditeadmirers, and wished in her heart that the worthy planterwere, intellectually, more in tune with herself.

In the shade of the bower formed by these, Mrs. JudithSmith sat with her embroidery on summer days, her littlename-daughter upon a cricket beside her, reading aloudby the hour. It was rather startling to me to learn that atthirteen, the precocious child read thus Pamela, TheChildren of the Abbey, and Clarissa to the sweet-facedwhite-souled matron. Likewise The Rambler, Rasselas,Shakespeare, and The Spectator (unexpurgated). ButYoung's Night Thoughts, Thomson's Seasons, ParadiseLost, Pope's Essays, and the Book of Books qualifiedwhatever of evil might have crept into the tender imaginationfrom the strong meat, spiced. Cowper was a living presenceto mother and girl. My mother could repeat pages of TheTas from memory fifty years after she recited them to hergentle teacher, and his hymns were the daily food of thetwain.

The Olney family drove in the heavy coach over heavyroads five miles in all weathers to the First PresbyterianChurch of Richmond. My grandfather had helped raise themoney for the building, as his letters show, and was one ofthe elders ordained soon after the church was organized.

MY DEAR MR. SMITH, - I am sitting by my dear Josiah,who continues ill. His fever rises about dark. The chills areless severe, and the fever does not last as long as it did aweek ago. Still, he suffers much, and is very weak. He hastaken a great deal of medicine with very little benefit. Hisgums are sore. The doctor thinks they are touched by thecalomel. He was here this morning, and advised some oiland then the bark.

We have been looking for you ever since yesterday.Poor fellow! He longs to see you - and so do I! I was up lastnight, and I have been to-night very often - indeed, almostconstantly - at the door and the window, listening for thesound of your horse's feet. I have written by post, by JohnMorton, and by Mr. Mosby. I think if you had receivedeither of the notes I should see you to-night, unlesssomething serious is the matter. I am so much afraid thatyou are ill as to be quite unhappy.

My love to my dear girls and all the family. My dear!My heart is sore! Pray that God may support me. I amtoo easily depressed - particularly when you are not withme. I long to see you! I hope I shall before you receivethis. God bless you!

The few letters written by my grandfather that havebeen preserved until now show him to have been a manof sincere piety, sterling sense, and affectionatedisposition. One herewith given betrays what a wealthof tenderness was poured out upon his fairy-like wife. Itlikewise offers a fair sketch of the life of a well-to-doVirginia planter of that date.

I hope that you will not be uneasy about my lonelysituation. Every one must know that it cannot be agreeable,but when I consider that you may be benefited by it, andeven that your health may be restored (which we havereason to hope for), what would I not forego to secure sogreat a blessing!

I have kept close at home, except when I went tomeeting on Sabbath, and to town to-day to hear from you.During the day I have been busy, and at night have enjoyedthe company of good books until ten or eleven o'clock, thengone to bed and slept tolerably well. I eat at the usual times,and have as good health as usual. Thus situated, I will tryto be as comfortable as I can until God shall be pleased tobring us together again.

Some of our black people are still sick. Amy is muchbetter, and speaks plainly. Rose is but poorly, yet no worse.Nanny is in appearance no better. Becky has been reallysick, but seems comfortable this evening. The doctor hasordered medicine which will, I hope, restore her to health.Oba was a little while in the garden on Monday, but hasbeen closely housed ever since. His cough is very bad, and Isuppose him unable to labor.

I wish to come for you as soon as possible, and I would,if I could, rejoin you to-morrow. The election would notkeep me, but I have business I wish to attend to this week,and also to attend the meeting of the Bible Society at theCapitol on Tuesday. I hope to see you on Wednesday. Iwish you to be prepared to come home with me soon afterthat. With regard to Betsy, I don't expect she will be readyto come home with us, and, if she could, I dread riding anill-gaited horse thirty miles. Mr. Mosby's carriage is to go toLynchburg in a few days, and he talks of returning home byway of Prince Edward, and bringing the two Betsies home.The carriage will be empty. I shall persuade him to be inearnest about it.

Now, my dear, I must conclude with committing you tothe care of our Heavenly Father. May He keep you fromevery evil! Give my love to the dear family you are with.May you be a comfort to them, and an instrument in thehands of God to do them good! Kiss my little ones for meand tell them I love them!

I have dwelt at length upon the character and life of mymaternal grandmother because of my solemn convictionthat I inherit what humble talent is mine from her. I cannotrecall the time when everything connected with her did notpossess for me a sweet and weird charm; when the fancythat this petite woman, with a heart and soul too great forher physique, was my guardian angel, did not staymy soul and renew my courage in all good emprises.

Her profiled portrait hangs before me as I write. Thefeatures are finely chiselled and high-bred; the expressionis sweet. She wears a close cap with a lace border (she wasbut fifty-three at death!), and a crimped frill stands upabout a slender neck.

My fantasy may be a figment of the imagination. I cherishit with a tenacity that tells me it is more. That my mothershared it was proved by her legacy to me of all the books andother relics of her mother she possessed at time of her owndecease, and the richer legacy of tales that mother's life andwords, her deeds of mercy and love which cannot but makeme a better woman.

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