An autobiography of William Russell
page: (TitlePage) [View Page (TitlePage) ]4 AN AUTOBLOGRAPHI Op ii tlliaur 12155r. III TilE AUTIIOR 01? CLINTON JIRADSIIAW, &c. p BALTIMORE: GOBRIGHT, THORNE .& CO. COR. GAY AND BALTIMORI3~ STR~RT$. 2, 11 ~jik~ ~' r ( 18~2. ~ * -1 -I, page: (Table of Contents) [View Page (Table of Contents) ] / / 11 THE YORK PG~1CLIBI~AaY I /~ AST~' 1FN0~(A~ I TILDL~ ~'cUil)ATION$. 1900. L G BROWN~OOOL ~ A j'~ I ' ~ ik~f "Still let thy spirit dwell on mine, 4nd teach it what to brave or brook." -4--- TO HER '4 ' " 'WHOSE GENTLE INFPJENCE HAS MADE ME A WISER AND A BETTER MAN, THAN WHEN I FIRST COMMENCED THESE PAGES, THIS NARRATION, ~H1CH HAS TOO MUCH TRUTH IN IT TO BE CALLED A FICTION, IS IIOST RESPEOTFUJJLY INSCRIBED. * ' '4 BsrrRRBn, according to the Act of Congress, in the year t851, by .JonN F. M'JILWozt, in the Clerk's 0111cc of' the District Court of Maryland. - 'j ~ '*' 5'; S ' '5 CHAPTER X.-My Friend Horsley-Cock Fight- ing-The Anti-gaff Man-Horsley Detected- The Deacon and Dad taI~e him at an Advantage -His Punishment-He Meditates Revenge. CHAPTER XI -Horsicy's Developments of Char- acter-He causes his Father's Clerk to Sneeze in Chu~ch-The Consequences.-.The Old Clerk's Love for him-Scene Between the Elder Horsley and the Clerk-The Father's Feelings Towards his Son-Reflections upon my Autobiography. CHAPTF~R 1.-Where Born-When Doubtful- Th~ Beach of Sullivan's Island-My Nurse and heA Marv~ils-~inbad and GuJliy~r-The City ~u~rds in Uharleston, S. C~-M~ Drearn-R~fleC on Com~r~encingmy Autol~ography.' CHA1~TER IL-My Grandfather-My Father adoped by a't~entlema~inamed Russell-i Thin- ble into th~ Water-My Aunt Betsy comes from Baltimore for me-Am taken to the Monumental * City~-Remember the Wb in BaItimore~.~Ml~ma the Buteli~r-Peace-~-The Illumination Therefor. CHAL'T~R ilL-My Aunt's Gossip-Mrs~'Clayton -1~b~ (lame oi~ 1-look-pin-flow I 6btainc4, my ~arge ~ns-AmOe4ected-Take Refug~i un~erthe Table-Pines~se again-The Consequences-Am taken at an Advantage by my Aunt Betsy-Woi~se than the Table Affair-I, %~apiWilate froxa under the,~B~d. OHAPTI~R IV.-The Discipline of Schools Chang- ed-Mis. %~raee, a School Mistress, visits my Aunt-~She Loses her Spectacles--Am sent to her School-My Coronation-Am sent to School in the Country-busby, the Teacher-~---Martha Jones, the Orphan-.'Wm.Booth--His Affray with Lusby. CHAPTER y.-Booth Arrested-Bound over to Keep the Peace-Calls at the $chool-Apologies -Seen in the Evening with busby at a Grocery- TheyDrink Together-Their Conversation-The School House Burns Down-Lusby 's Remains Found. CI4APTE1~ Vl.-My Aunt's Grief for the Death of' Lus'by-I am sent to 'a New School-Character of the Celebratid Joseph 1~'ancaster-IVly First Love-A Children's Party at Mrs. Clare's-Peter- Recitation-My Triumph over him. CHAPTER VII. My Rebellion against Mrs. Clay- ton-Exciting Rencontre-I am Carried into cap- ivity--A' Boi~uet sent me-The Arrival of my Aunt-I 'Prei~il.-.Pence Proclaimed. CHAPTER Vlll~~'-My Reflections-My Aunt's Note to "Old Lanky"-My Declamation Inter- rupted-Adventure at Mrs. ~Iilayton's School-I am Served Like Socrates-My Capture-Mrs. Clayton is Served Like Socrates too-I appear in the Police Reports. CHAPTER IX.-I have a Fellow Feeling in Love Matters-Jane Bennett's Love for her Teacher Hanson-Tuition, but not after the Laneasterian Plan-Its Results. 4'4~J' 1'~'~ QHAPTER~ XII.-R~trospection-Mill4%asa~Build- ing-Bird-Nesting-My Visits to Hori4ey-~Often Stay all Night with him-Conversation between him and the Old Clerk-Death of thefOld Clerk- ~ Its influence over Horsley. CHAPTEWXIII.-NTy A~trnf 1I~staken~- ~eX~# ferenee Between Preparin~ for ~Yoflege aild ~e- parin~ for Private Theatrical&.-fletrosp~ction of the First Performance I everWitnessed-Cooper -iBooth-~Alice h~irti~ith znii-Il~rsley and Igo to the Theatre Together-1 am Stage .~truek- Byron's Sardanapalus 'Adapted tq th~e~tageby Myself-Suggestions about Miss Watson. CHAPTER XIV-Horsley and I on our ~ i Miss Watson'a-Conversation about' 'the' Choice of a 'Profession-What Horsley says of th~ Stu~dy of Medicine and Law; &e.-~-Advis~is n~e to Turn Plante'-Arrive at Miss 'Watson's. CHAPTER XV.-Miss Wajson at Home~-4Ier Apartments-We Discuss he~ before she~Enter~- ~er~Appearance-She Coiiseats t~'14pp~ as Myrrha-We Study ~ur Parts Togetl~r~-Seenes Between us-Her Ambitioll-She 1~ifakes me get other People CflAPTER XVI.-Miss Watson and 1gb' into the Country-We visit the Deer Oak-Rehearse there -Martha Jones and Booth come upen ~us-*-They Promise to conye to the Performance--Miss Wa~t- son's Fears as the Night Approaches-TheNight Arrives-Alice Clare-Mrs.'Crompton, &e.-Mi~s Watson in the Character of Myrrha-~The Lust Scene-The Curtain Falls-KEJer, Jlmotion-The Conduct of.Mis. ~rom~pton~ CHAPTER XVII.-Ilorsley Appears on the Stage -His Announcement-A Scene witJ~ Ajicei- Horslcy's Motiye for 'his Announcemint.~-I gb Home with Mis~ Watson-What She Says.~-X1er Advice to me. CHAPTER XVHI.-Miss Watson's Benefit--Mrs. Crompton Writes a Prologue-I Deliver It-Miss Watson's Second Appearance-New Points made by her-Jumper's proposal-My confusion-Alice and I-Why Johnstone was not so goQd in Sale- menes the Second Time-The Press-The Result of Excitement and Dissipation. CHAPTER XIX.~-I Hasten to the Potomac-John- stone's Quarrel with Himself-High Words 13e- tween Johnstone and Horsley-Horsley's Resent- ment-The Result. CHAPTER XX.-A Duel on the Carpet-Jamper as Second-Scene Between Jumper and Myself- Jumper Suddenly Disappears from the Scene- Captain Merryman-Bladensburg-Conversation with Horsley-My Promise about Miss Watson. CHAPTER ~XI.-Washington-J go at Night to the Capitol Grounds---Refiections-Overhear a Conversation between Captain Merrymnan and Johnstone-Meet Them at Gadsby's-We Sup Together-What Happened between Johustorie and the C~ptain-I go to Bed thQugh not Coolly. ~'1 page: 4 (Table of Contents) -9[View Page 4 (Table of Contents) -9] ~& -~ - ORAI'TZflL XX3I.-CoRlversation between Waiter ~d J3oo* B1~ok, by w~xii~ti Z axx~ fl&hte~e&"-I t~r ~ ~-OvertaJcetht in~n~ 3ob~-4I~W easily one Maxii~i e ie14e~ ~r Another.' GHAFT$~R XXIfl~-Fa1l into Conversation with~ Oaptain.Wilson-41e crows very Talkative~-The bue~ between Colonel G. and Doctor B.-~BIoody ~ An~e~axi ~4k~J 1Wiex$~o~-Wdi~ ~i4Rea1f~ThI~b448Udd~fl ~a~Thei- ~ ~ ft ~la~ ~ ~ ~ Shot ~ be~ Way ~ bl~jiss~ ~ai~en~t~4A ~ fti 1hn~41ors1e ~i.nd I txt~I~shed' Charaeters~-1 Wai~t~ ~vsatiom with T1om~ev~~.Refieetlons.. ~ ~'v- ~ K ~V4~M1~&~lrgibia Upt~A great $~IlfrtM~ts~44it~-Her Oha~&~ter-.-- tieks f~*~*I~ ~ ~Atit 'l~ifft~i'estt from .~(~pJtIion ~asAo the Maw Catolina Thmuty-M~ ~Way~w~r4 41i~aghts ~f ~ s~SzngfetoiF-4ler mai~jAdin~rer~.- ~*~r Manner to Sangston~-His Feehtig-~More Ut~lR.~mines in Wahi~f~(M~ ~,t I I T~TS. lyandthe wherefore of the ehttn CHAPTEIt XXIX.-Sangstdki-Devote~ I*imsel to Miss gj4on4Uonversatioi~ with Him about JI~ OHAPTJ~ XX~.-~y Aunt Bet~ey...-StiU the HoteJ-C~onversatjon with Miss Upton bout ~ is Removed from Offiee~-4ts eels on ni~-~Miss Singleton sends me a Note I am b~~er-What She Says bout ~ailg~ten K ~digAt6nA4~is~ ~ ~i Bl~dex u~'g-~r~tm Sangston~ .~o~q4s~te We~w~th a~ Note fr~~s ~gl~tp~-44ic4 ~re in ~ gtoI~-Ix~e~Pt er-r~i~ t~tWI.j ~A~N~lfL XXXIk.~-~Am ~topped 'he~C~oW4'-. M~Op~rt~ ~apnver~atio1v Mr~Dud1ey miin~r-Oifr ~d~v ti~ZNoAr~J t~ro~Vdsfor ~n1tin~'~ Suit s~tL-Th~oe K ington 4 1 iety6~W~sh. 4 1 ClJAPTi~RXXXiJL-M~ss Sin~etsApi~ea~itr~ce and Beauty-'--Miss Upton's Style-.!-Alie~---?et& son byber ~ K .Atvtho Corner with Miss Upton 4Anii#ai Mag- ~ CktAPThlI~ XXXP/~-What Lbrd 1l~x~i)~ tv-: A~eflections upot niy F lin~s'~tAuld .4~~iie -Alice and I-My Opera Cap an l g-~-4Vir.' C6~sw~tLe~t~from M~Wttsond40ot~uCt 6f~Alide~Sn~stQI~*cited With l.tObIsv~r- 5@i(JiI With .Huil~gls~ ~Si U~t(~ii i am ~ft~lbn~ by 1~ii~ingtotoi~ *it~iIA~l ch. CHAPTER XXXV.*-The Member from CMin~cti- cut.-..The ~1on. Job Dt~14ingtoxi HisI3~aracter~- The Hon. Mr. Frisbie ~arrel in th~ house- 'tY~e Pitei-Mis~ Wa~s.ou ~ rvir~l Abc. Witi'ess- eW our Melt~ng-'hehtjtX6tic&- With ~Mis~ Wat~6i-~h~ ?roposes that I ~E~I1d Play Sai~dana~a]ii~'W1th Her DvX'~~ Uptdn-ihe Manager. ~. ~in~leton and ~ with Him2~is Love for i~1iss Singleton-Miss ~ Uoaelu~zon~ I, .1 -.4~ 4Ju144I~4 '~4I~1 431 I ,, a, 4 4 44 ii K ~.1I..,I1i$l.~444'' I .4 4~' 44 444' ~I/j/1 ~ 4.~ '~4~44K., I 1 I 1 , , , '3, A ~ 3 .KC A 141 ff~LI QI 22 -' 4~; .4,4 ; '~~Ll 14 CHAPTER I. WHERE BORN-WHEN DOUBTFUL-THE BEACH OF ~ ISLAND-MY NURSE AND HER MARVELS-SINBAD AND GULLiVER-THE CITY GUARDS IN CHARLESTON, S. 0.-MY DREAM- REFLECTIONS ON COMMENCING MY AUTOBIO- GRAPHY. Our family Bible has been lost, and there has been a dispute about my age. Phrenologically, I have no memory for dates and the chronological sequence of events; and if I had, I could not settle this point. At auiy rate, I was born many yeais within this century, in the city of Charleston, South Carolina. But my childhood has not many memories of my earliest home, though I am proud of it, and say of it as the poet said of his: fS With all thy faults, I love thee still." What I most remember is the beach of Sullivan's island, where we used to spend the summer for the sake of health. With a fascinated fear I loved to stand, when a very child, on the extremity of the beach, and behold the illimitable waves gamboll- ing before me like so many living beii~gs of the deep at play. I delighted to pick the shells strew- ed around, and marvel over their construction and beauty. And many a time have I set1 the mimic boat of my childish workmanship afioi~t upon the waters while I watched the wave, thinking it was coming at me as I advanced to its edge to launch my chip-built vessel. I can remember, too, the in- tense wish I had to send my vision far beneath the waves and discover the secrets of the deep below. What must have impressed this more upon me was the fact that I had often heard the nurse who attended me--a mulatto slave who had been taught to read-tell of the adventures of Sinbad the s~tilor and the equally miraculous ones of the reno~4 ned Gulliver. I do believe that the wish to get by myself and know all about these wonderful trav- ellers created my first desire to learn to read; for though my nurse often read the exploits of these worthies aloud to me, yet I was puzzled with parts of their narratives more than I thought I should have been if I could have read it myself. This was owning, no doubt, not only to my inability to comprehendd the meaning of many of the words, but also to the nurse's manner of pronouncing them, for they often puzzled her. In fact, when she came to a word that was at all a poser, she gener- ally took a flight over it, scorning such trammels to her comprehension of the story. If she confe3~d her ignorance to herself:, she certainly never con- fessed it to me. Whenever I asked an explana- tion of any part of the story she always rattled off with all the volubility of her race. Her commen- tary often puzzled me, by the by, more than the ~.A THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF W~LL~A RUSS~ELL~ 3 Y X . page: 10-11[View Page 10-11] 10 ~i'HE AUTOB] text itself. How I hive woi3d~ered over the confir- sion it created in my brain; graver commentators since, on more veracious books hawe reconciled me to such bewilderments. Whenever the nurse took me out walking in the city, I insisted upon going down by the wharf, for I loved to gaze at the shippirtgand wonder over the sailors-$inbad and Gulliver being all the while in my imagination. The old French ne- gresses who sold cakes at the corners,, often at- tracted my attention and my pennies-the last by the tempting display of their tables,' and the first by their confused babel of French, English and African phraseology combined. I used to marvel why I could not understand these cake sellers, who1 my nurse, to heighten herself in my eye, had told me could not read, and who were nothing but old women, when I could comprehend such wonderful men as Sinbad and Gulliver, and had painted in my mind's eye an exact piebure of overy thing they had seen and encountered. In Charleston, in those days, for I have never been there since, the guardians of the city-who in the eastern cities are called the watch, and who~ pass along through the streets in their daily citi- zen's dress unarmed, except with a spike-headed weapon-were denominated guards, and appeared in uniform, with muskets and music. At a certain hour each night they paraded from one guard hopse to the other, and well do I remember the first night I saw rhem pass, by the dim lights of the lamps. It was the first time that I had been awake till nine, (the hour they paraded) and thiC had happened in consequence of the indulgence of my nurse, who allowed me to sit up, as my parents were at a party and would not be home till after midnight. I had seen the volunteer companies through the day, when they were "playing soldiers," and I had heard them fire their guns, which I was in- formed had no ballets in them, as it was only "make believe," but these guards my nurse told me had bullets in their guns. and that they took evil doers, even boys when they were bad, and thrust them in a huge, dark cellar, which had iron bark across the windows. That huge, dark cellar and those iron bars kept me awake half the night. And when I fell asleep I thought myself a bad [OGRAPHY OF boys locked up in their durance, and guarded by a ferocioas soldier, who kept. continually pointing his gun at me. This was but a dream, a child's dream, yet its horrors live in my memory strong- er than m'an~ a stern reality. Frequently since have I looked back through the struggles of man- hood to that dream of my boyhood, and felt the con- viction that many a hard encounter with flesh and blood and stormy passions, had not half the fears of that night's fancies. ' "Is not the past all sha- dow?" asks the poet, and if it is not, the shadow, even when it gathers qver our manhood, is some- times more painful than the reality. I feel a strange waywardness' as I lift the pen te narrate my adventures. Shall I fully draw back the curtaia?-shalj 1 tell all'?-or shall I play and palter with the truth, heighten my good deeds with the meretricious adornments of the imagination, and lessen my evil ones by borrowing the same light, and when I tell them, interweaving apologising constructions with their guilt. Reader, you must bear with me. If a ~vild and way ward course has been mine, you must bear with me. Perhaps the best man, if he exposed thoroughly to human in- spection all his motives as well as actions, would startle you as much with the exposure of 'tempts tion; that he sometimes did not soon enough re- sist, as he would impress you with the admiration of his good deeds. When I contemplated these hurried sketches and threw my memory back to the past, a 'thousand dim and shadowy images presented themselves. Here and there a passion or event arose distinctly, but as 1 dwelt upon it, the wonder came that it was not of more importance in my history. Is it not strange that when we make the greatest effort to recall events, that we do not feel them half so viv- idly as at some seemingly mal-a-propos moment, when they flash upon us unbidden, and like the ghost of Banquo will not down. 11 CHAPTER II. an Irishman would say, before I had begun them. A pe~sQn passing snatched me from the waves. MY GRANDPATHEIt-MY FATHER ADOPTE]~ BY .A The result was a cold dnd subsequent fever, which GENTLEMAN NAMED RUSSELLI TUMBLE INTO so impaired my health, that Doctor Simmons, our THE WATItRAMY' AUNT BETSY COMES' FROM family physician, recommended my parents to send BALTIMORE FOR ME-AM ~AKEN TO THEMON- THE me to a more northern climate. MENTAL CITY-REMEMBER MOB IN BAL- TIMORE-MUMMA THE BUTCHER-PEACE-THE I had many relations by my mother's side living ILLUMINATION THEREFOIt. in and near Baltimore, and among them a maiden aunt, Miss Elizabeth, or as she was always called, Until I get into the full tide of ~ny not unevent- ful life, my reminiscences will be somewhat desul- tory, but I trust not indistinct. I mean to portray feelings as well as events, and my reader shall have them as they occurred, or rather as I remem- ber them in writing. Dear reader, for you shall be dear unto me 'as a friend, and with the unre- servedness of friendship, I will make you my con~ fidant, thinking that your sympathies will give me aid and countenance in my narration. My grandfather was named Antoine Berthold, and was a descendant of a French refugee, whose ancestors fled from France on the revocation of the edict of Nantz, and settled in South Carolina.. My grandfather brought with him considerable means, with which he purchased a plantation on the little 'Pedee, in conducting which he was unsuccessful. With the remnant of means left him, after paying his debts, with the mercurial adaptation of a French man, he rexnoved to Charleston, and became a commission merchant in King street. He soon took the "fever" and died, leaving my father a destituteorphan, for my paternal grandmother had died of the same disease a few months after their emigration. A Carolina gentleman, named John Russell, who was a great friend of my grandfather's, adopt- ed my father, upon the condition that he would take his name, promising, if he did so, to leave him his property, which at that time was ample. My father,' not without some hesitation, complied, for he had a crotchet in his head about family pride. 'In due time Mr. Russell set my father up in the hardware business, which was his choice. A short time after this my father married a Miss Huger- son, and I was their first and only son. One day when playing on the beach of Sulli- van's island, through the carelessness of rnj nurse, I fell in and 'like to have ended my adventures, as Miss Betsy Hugerson, who was written to on the subject, and the next packet brought her to Charles- ton to take charge of me on its return to Baltimore. She was a fat, solemn, gossiping old lady, who soon won my affections by gingerbread. sweetmeats and all sorts of kindness. Under her charge I was dispatched to Baltimore, not then the "Monumen- tal City." My father bid me a good bye without much emotion, but my dear mother wept over me again and again, went down with the nurse on board of the packet with us, and held' me on her lap weeping over me, until we got under way, when she blessed me with an overflowing heart and left me to the charge of aunt' Betsy, who had peremptorily refused to let my nurse go with us, saying to my mother, with much intended dignity: "I certainly consider myself old enough, and strong enough, and knowing enough' to take care of a child like William-Billy will ~be a~ good boy, I know." The poor lady little dreamed, of the re- spuasihility she 'was assuming. I was too young 'to observe much of the voyage,' and could not if .1 'had been older, for~I was sea sick all the time,' and confined closely to the cabin by my aunt, who seemed to think that fresh sea air was certain death. The United States wer~ just then on the eve of a war with Great Britain, and the indefinable dread of its horrors, which I caught from the con- versatien of the passengers, I r~rnember yet. Our captain was a great advocate for hostilities, as was also a French gentleman. There was a New Englander on board who took the other side, and remember well that the words federalist and democrat were hurled to and fro like bomb shells between belligerents, and 'they seemed, in a social point of view, to cause as much explosive an- noyance. We landed in Baltimore a feW days before the 'WILLIAM RUSSELL. page: 12-13[View Page 12-13] 12 THE AUTOBI celebrated mob tore down the office of the Federal Republican. A number of 4ie friends of Hanson and Wagner, the editors, defended the premises with great spirit from the popular fury, until the exasper- ation of the mob, occasioned by the death of a citi- zen, who was shot from one of the windows, burst all bounds, when the military were ordered out by the authorities, and the inmates of the office were taken to jail as the only place of security. The story of!the murder of several of them by the mob, who had gathered in the night and broken open the jail, is well known. I recollect seeing the defend- ers of that office taken to jail in a hollow square, surrounded by the volunteer companies, and fol- lowed by their yelling and howling assailants. My aunt held me by the skirts of my jacket to prevent me in my eagerness !from pitching out of4~e win- dow. Many of the prisoners, for such Hanson's friends might be called, had their coats off, with handkerchiefs tied round their heads. A day or two afterwards my aunt took me out into the coun- try to spend some time with a cousin of my mother's named Stetson, who happened to live in the neigh- borhood of one of the ringleaders of the mob named Mumma. The latter was a butcher, and lived in a red frame house near the road. He had a drum and fife playing the rogue's march at his establish- ment every' night for a weel~ or more. A federal gentleman, a friend of Mr. ~tetson, who had fled from the mob, left the city, and as Mr. Stetson was a democrat, came out for safety to his country- house. He welcomed' him warmly, but his lady was frightened into hysterics with the fear that Mumma and his friends would find out who their inmate was and inflict mob law upon them for har- boring him. When the gentleman saw this he was about taking his leave, butMr. Stetson peremptorily insisted upon his remaining, and he did so. That night Mumma came up to the house, but it was merely to know if Mr. Stetson, whom he sup- plied with meat, wanted any in the morning. 'He was a large, big-headed fellow, brim full of mob- ocracy, the rights of man, and proscription of the Federalists. Mr. Stetson was himself a great dem-, ~ ocrat, and hated Hanson, but he respected the laws, andtold Mamma to his face that he expected to see the slayers of General Lingan tried, found ~uUty, and executed for murder. Mumma mut- [OGRAPHY 01? tered surlily something or other to himself and walked off. Mrs. Stetson, who with my aunt had been a fearful listener at the window, called out to Mam- ma not to forget the meat in the morning. He re- plied in a pleased tone: "I'd do anything for you, Madam," and walked away more cheerfully. I knew this man in after years. I do not know whether it was ever proved conclusively that he was one of the slayers in the jail, but this I know, that if ever the mob was alluded to in his presence, he was always sure to scowl and walk away. Doubtless the old inhabitants of Baltimore, some of whom might say perchance- "All which I saw and part of which I was." remember the causes of this mob; while I, a little child, only caught a passing glimpse of some of its slight incidents. The violent course of the Fed- eral Republican in relation to the war, was the ex- citing cause of the mob. For vindictive assaults upon President Madison and other prominent states- men of that day, it surpassed every thing of the kind from that day to this. It excited the people to madness. On the Declaration of War against Great Britain, the Republican came out in hot haste against it, and its leader was headed: "Thou hast done a deed whereas valor will weep.~~ At the time of the war I was dwelling in the city with aunt Betsy, and when the bombardment of Fort Mdllenry "came ~ to use a phrase of the turf, Mr. Stetson invited us out to his farm, that we might be out of ~ way should. the foe suc- ceed in taking Baltimore. His country seat was some miles from the city, on the York road, and yet we could distinctly hear the "bombs bursting in air," the night of the attack. Miss Hugerson used to lead me down to the road side to see the volun- teers from the interior as they flocked in to the de- fence of the city; and it was glorious to hear their animated greetings as they passed. 0! how I longed to be a man and a soldier. After the British retreated from North Point, a party was made up to visit the battle ground, and my aunt, fearful that some accident might happen to me if she left me behind, took me with her. I remember nothing of the locality, except the meet- ing house; the trees and fence were filled with bul.~ U WILLIAM lets, and I shuddered beside the fresh and rudely made graves of the slain. The illumination for the victory of New Orleans and peace vividly impressed me. The streets were as light as day. 'A thot~and devices of a per- sonal as well as patriotic character blazed in the transparencies that were affixed to many of the pri- vate as well as public edifices. The streets were thronged with a rejoicing crowd, composed of the fashionable as well a~ the vulgar, who greeted each other gaily as they passed, for all seemed proud of their . country and her people. It seemed like a scene in the Arabian Nights entertainment. The earth lost its earthiness, and after I was put to bed I wondered and wondered over it until I was transported into the )and of dreams, the glitter- ing scenes of which, though full of Qriental niag- nificence, have never 'impressed me more than that illumination. CHAPTER III. MY AUNTS GOSSIP, MRS. CLAYTON-THE GAME OF' HOOK-PIN-HOW I OBTAINED MY HUGE PINS-AM DETECTED-TAKE REFUGE UNDER THE TABLE-FINESSE AGAIN-THE CONSE- q~TENCES-AM TAKEN AT AN ADVANTAGE BY NY' AUNT BETSY-WORSE THAN THE TABLE AFFAIR -1 CAPiTULATE FRQM UNDER THE BED. How strong is the love of woman! My aunt was upwards of fifty when she undertook the voy- age from Baltimore to Charleston for my sake; or rather it was for my mother's sake, to whom she was ardently attached. Me she had never seen, but she loved me extempore for my maternity. Instead of assuming any control over me, the good old lady generally gave me my own way in every thing, until some outrageous prank on my part, drove her beyond all forbearance, and then she belabored me with great zeal, puffing and wheezing the while, and sometimes weeping with very vexation. We lived in Calvert street at the time to which I allude, and my aunt had an ancient gossip named Clayton, who dwelt iii an old fashioned frame build- ing situated where the Athtmieum now stands. Mrs. Clayton was poor, and my aunt never made RUSSELL. 13 her a visit without taking her a present of some kind of other. Now my mother had given the old lady a quantity of imperial tea, which, chanced, a rare chance, to suit the old lady's palate exactly, and she had brought it all the way from Charleston with an especial eye to Mrs. Clayton and the talks she anticipated over it. One winter's evening, my aunt was seated by the fire snugly cogitating to herself, when all at once it occurred to her that she would take some of the tea on the morrow afternoon to her friend. Ac- cordingly she ordered the servant to hand her a large tea canister which contained it, and she fixed ~a newspaper on her lap ready to make up a pack- age of it. It was much the custom of the boys in my day, as I presume it is still, to play what they call hook pins, which was as follows: each put a pin itt the end of his jacket and bent it like a fish hook, he then hooked with his neighbor, and. the one who pulled the other's pin out had it. Of course large pins were in demand. My aunt had a quantity of them, that she "set great store by," to use her own expression, because they served her better than the smaller ones in fixing a cloth round a huge brick, which she warmed every night and took to bed with her to keep her feet warm. Be- sides, she would not let me have a single solitary pin, because it was a bad play, for the boys tore their jackets by it and wasted pins. At first I slyly took the pins from the drawer without saying by your leave, till she detected me and kept the drawer locked. My stock of large pins being exhausted, I had to practice a bit of diplomacy - I asserted that my feet were cold too, and insisted upon it that I must have a brick; ac- cordingly, one was got ready for rue, and the large pins were forthcoming. I occupied a small room next to aunt Betsy's. The second night of my feet warming, instead of sending the servant up ftr the light when I had gotten in bed, she came up herself to see that all was safe and tuck me in, and caught me with the denuded brick in the hearth and myself in the act of fixing a pin in my jacket. My hypocrisy was thus discovered, and I had a brick no more. The boys at school had all envied me my big~ pins. 1 was now pushed to my wit's ends t~ ob page: 14-15[View Page 14-15] 14 lain them, for I had driven with them many pro- 4 Iltable bargains in the apple and cake line. The old lady, on the evening above mentioned, had the cloth in which she wrapped her brick under her on the seat of her chair, and sticking in it were some half dozen of'these victorious pins. How to obtain one or two was the question. I had been looking out for an opportunityin vain. Strat- agem was my only resource. Had she gone to * the side board for the tea herself, I might have effected my purpose. Just at this moment Mrs. Boher, a Jewish lady who 'kept a boarding house in our neighborhood, came in with several acquain- tances. Now, thought 1, is my chance, the old' lady will ~arise to receive them and I can fitch a pretence or other, and disturbed me, proclaiming that if she did so again I would throw the contents of the tumbler over her. This was by way of getting out of the scrape. One night I lay awake for the coming of the old lady. She entered her room where she left her candle to discover, by en- tering mine in darkness, if there were sparks left from the candle, whereby I had gone to bed three hours before, and tuck mein. Through my opened door the light from her room shone, so that I saw her plain enough; and I am ashamed now, to say that taking deliberate aim, I threw the tumbler of water full upon her. She left my room after a sudden interjection without saying a word, and I thought she had retreated to bed, believing that I pin. But she apologised for not rising, upon the took her 'for the servant. I instantly covered my score of spilling the tea, but in fact to hide her head with the bed clothes to smother the sounds of brick, cover, while she poked it under her and call- ed the ladies round her' to examine the tea, in praise of which she grew most, eloquent. Foiled in this, I watched 'the Qpportunity while she was folding the parcel, to slip from her lap the twine, with which she was about tyingit. As she faced 'the ladies and they faced her, she could rise up and look for the twine at her feet without exposing to sight her burnt brick cover. She did so, When I sent my fingers upon 'a forlorn hope, and snamchd desperately at a shining pin head. I was too hasty, for I jerked out before the whole company the abominable burnt rags, which seemed glad to get loose, for they flew all about the room. Drop- ing her tea in 'a passionate. haste for vengeance, Aunt Betsy flew at we and boxed me soundly. I retreated under the 'table, but she made at ma with the hearth brush, poked me out upon ull fours, in which condition I hastily decamped from the parlor, but not without receiving several blows, without any power of playing th6 Parthian. All this before company galled me 'exceedingly,, and I determined to be avenged. My aunt was in the habit of coming into my room at night before retiring to her own, to see that all was safe, and tuck me, as I have said, which the servant always did two hours before. I complained of being thirsty during the evening, and had a tumbler of water placed by my bed head. ' I moreover alleged that the servant came into my room after' she put me to bed ander some the laughter. which I could not suppress. All at once the cover was jerked off of me and my laugh- ter broke forth. My tune, however, was suddenly changed, for the old lady fell foul of me in my cx posed state, with an immense corset bone, from the whacking application~ of which I had to take re-' fuge under the bed. .1 'had no idea of leaving this security as I did the table, but remained and begged lustily for quarter, until she consented, upon my often repeated parole of honor, that I should come forth' without a renewal of hostilities and retire peaceably to bed. THE DISCIPLINE OF SCHOOLS CHANGED-MRS. GRACE, A SCHOOL MISTRESS, VISITS MY AUNT -SHE LOSES 'HER 5PECTAGL~tS-:--AM SENT TO HER SCHOOL-MY CORONATION-AM SENT TO SCHOOL IN THE COUNTRY-LUSBY, THE TEACH- EL-MARTHA JONES, THE ORPHAN-WILLIAM BOOTH-HiS AFFRAY WITH LUSBY. CHAPTER IV. The discipline of schools has changed wonder- fully even in my short 'memory. In my boyhood it was the fashion to use the rod, and no teacher that I knew of was unfashionable. I was firs: sent by my aunt to an old woman round the 'cprner, named Grace, who taught a select number of en- breeched boys and as many little girls; meaning thereby as many as she could get. ' I recollect that before my aunt sent mc to her school, she invited the' school mistress to take tea with her, that she might see in his intellectual dishabille her fu- ture pupil. Mrs; Grace, a tall, spare old lady, with a toothless upper jaw, came accordingly. My aunt and she held a long discourse on the subject of education, the most material point of which to me was the averment on the part of Mrs. Grace that she was opposed to much corporal punishment. In speaking of the branches which she taught, Mrs. Grace, in allusion to the unfortunate loss of her upper teeth, said she did not pretend, in conse- quence, to teaclfvprononcation. While the old ladies were gossiping away in a style which in their opinion would have enlight- ened even my Lord Brougham upon the subject of education, I contrived to secret Mrs. Grace's shawl and spectacles under the sofa. When my future schoolmistress arose to depart their mutual aston- ishment at the d~sappearnuce of shawl and specta- cles would have been edifying to a physiognomist, i~nd instructive to an actress whose line was the personation of old women. "Could a thief have stepped in," asked the trem- ulous Mrs. Grace, terrified at her loss. "Do you believe in ghosts, marm," asked my aunt. Before either could answer the other, my aunt's black servant girl Sally dropped on her knees by the sofa and produced them, saying: "Mistus, I "Saw," said Mrs. Grace. "Any how, Mistus, Master Billy put 'em dar." I darted an angry look at ~aIIy, the black girl, while Mrs. Grace ~olemnly put on her spectacles; threw back her head, and took a minute survey of me. I had not been at Mrs. Grace's more then a week when the old lady put the fool's cap on me, because I would not learn my a b's, and stood me up near the door. 1 could have stood a florrging, hut I could not stand the indignity, young as I was, so I threw the fool's cap at the old lady's head, and flung myself out of the room. I had 'to stand a flogging too, for she sent her black girl' after me, who soon over took me, and in spite of my scratch- ing', kicking and yelling, bore me back to school, where she held me while Mrs. Grace, before the assembled urchins, inflicted summary punishment on me. I went home with my eyes all red; and in an- swer to the inquiry of my respectable relative, I at tribute all my grief to my coronation, and said I did not care for the whipping. The 'old lady was so indignant at my being thought a dunce, when as ~he said she knew better, that she took me away from school, by way, I suppose, of proving her own wisdom, if not to make me wise. At the invitation of Mr. Stetson, on ihe approach of summer, Aunt Betsy rented her house until fall, and took me into the country. After this, for several years we spent the summers in the country and the winters in the city. When I grew large efiough I was sent to a country school about three quarters of a mile off. The pedagogue's name was Lusby. His scholars ranged in years variously from twelve to twenty, and were of both sexes, and he used the rod upon all indiscriminately. The school house was a rough frame building, erected by the subscription of the neighbors. In' a log house beside it dwelt the teacher. He was a fat, sensual bachelor, of most ungovernable temper, when aroused, who avowed, we to the unlucky urchin who~brought his toys or marbles into the school. They were taken from him, and he was whipped as soundly as ever he whipped his top. Those who brought merely ap- ples and cakes in their pockets fared better, though not upon them, for if they escaped a whipping, a returnless transfer of the eatables was forthwith made to the desk of~ the master. Many were the propitiatory offering 0f apples, peaches, pears, &c., laid on the desk of Mr. Lusby. "Ah! that's a fine apple," said he one morning to Tommy Short, as Tommy took his seat after hav- ing placed a glorious pippin in his sweaty palm, '"Tommy, we won't say our dictionary lesson (Tommy never knew his dictionary lesson) this morning, you may go to your cyphering; Smith. those arc fine apples r~t your place, sir-you need riot gaze at this, sir-mind your ~ "Please, ~ said~ Smith, who was a simple hearted fellow, and not very bright, "I was going to bring you some, but brother won't let me." "Ah, won't let you, why, my boy," asked Lusby THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF U WILLIAM RUSSELL.' page: 16-17[View Page 16-17] 16 THE ATJTOBI in an insimmting tone, but with an eager eye glanc- ing at his rod. Peter hesitated-. "Tell me, Smith." "He says, sir, you ~ so"- "Spe&kit out, sir"-.-exclaimed Lusby, rising in wrath. "So hogish, sit," said Smith, drawing a long breath. "Hog j~s, hey-.you bring me impertinent mes sages; come here, sir." 'rhe trembling urchin obeyed, Lusby arose, took the boy by the collar of his jacket and drew him over the slanting leaf of his desk, then snatch- ing down his rod, he applied it might and main to the victim's back. "Oh! Lord, sir, dear Mr. Lusby, I'll biing you a hat full of them," screamed out Smith, as he writhed beneath the infliction. Whack, whack, whank. "You're bribing me with forbidden fruit, are you, sir. Never bring an apple here, sir.5~ Whack, whack, whack. "There, sir, take your seat now and consider this rod the flaming sword that keeps you from the garden-that forbids you to either touch or taste." Poor Smith hurried to his seat, while the pe'da- gogue cast a tyrannical eye round the school, like a Sultan midst his slaves. Losby called his lodg- ing place, ~his one roomed cabin, his office. ~ he exclaimed, "stop Smith, no rubbing your back, sir. Get your dictionary-miss just one word of it my boy, and I'll take you into my office and increase the intimacy between your back and my rod, sir-it shall be skin to skin. Martha Jones, what are you looking at," exclaimed Lusby, turning his eye on one of the girls, so named, in the other end of the school room. Martha was an~orphan child, whose mother had died in the hospital a short time after her birth. A blacksmith's wife, who was living in Baltimore, had employed the mother, who gave her name as Jones, until she found her ~eneiente. Not being able to maintain her in the, cares and expense of maternity, the blacksmith's wife, Mrs. Baltzell, had had her taken to the hospital, and notwith- standing her surmises against the poor girl's char- acter, she could not resist the charitable impulse which led her to visit the mother. Mrs. Baltzell ~OGRAPHY OF happened to call at the hospital one day, and was told that .Ml~s. Jones, (they called her so, because she was a mother-"a mother but no wife,") was dying. The good woman hastened to her bed aide. As soon as the dying mother saw Mrs. Baltzell her maternal feelings triumphed over the fears of death, and she implored the good lady to take her child. Mrs. Baltzell took the infant in her arms, but said: "Tell me about yourself and its father." "There, there, I know you'll be a mother to it, I'm not what I seem to be-yes, yes, you shall know all about its father. Holy father in heaven," she exclaimed, rising up, "sustain me;" but ex- hausted nature yielded, she fell back speechless, and lived for an hour afterwards, though she never spoke more. Mrs. Baltzell took the child, and a short time afterwards her husband removed to Baltimore County, and opened a smith's shop, about a mile from the school house. Martha had reached the age of twelve before it occurred to Mrs. Baltrell to send her to school. When it did, she sent her to an old woman, who taught a few children near by. Within a few months she had been a pupil of Mr. Lusby. He seemed to dislike her especially-I cannot tell why or wherefore-perhaps because she was his opposite, or may be because she was an orphan, and comparatively friendless. There are such natures. Martha was now nearly fourteen, and a very pretty, amiable girl. A youth named William Booth, of about eighteen years of age,' and who lived with his widowed mother near the blacksmith's, had, after refusing to go to school at all, lately, of his own accord, become one of Lusby's pupils. He was mi the habit of attending Martha to school, and carrying for her the little basket which contained her dinner. Booth was rather short in statue, but well made and active. He had small, regular features, and a pro- ~fusion of light hair, curling all over his head. He was a skilful pugilist. Martha made no reply to busby's inquiry, but turned trembling to her book. "What were you doing, Martha,~~ he thundered out again. "Nothing, sir," said Martha, in a tone scarcely audible, through fear. "Nothing, sirha, there's a falsehood; you were looking at Smith. I shall take you into my office WILLIAM RUSSELL. some of these days-bring me that rod"-and he threw the berch, which he had been using on Smith, at Martha. My seat was at the end of the boy's bench, near the girls, and Booth's was next to _ mine. I overheard him say to Martha, in a tone which did not reach the ear of Lusby: "Sit still-don't move.'~ "Ha! rebellion, hey," asked Lusby, as if glad of an opportunity that furnished him an apology for his favorite exercise. "Come, my lady, we won't settle this matter before the young gentlemen-I'll take the rod and you can take my arm, and we'll step into my office." As he spoke, with a gloating glance of sensual cruelty, he stepped towards Martha. Booth arose quickly, as if for some idle purpose or other, drew back his fist, and almost before bushy saw him, he planted a biow; with such scientific skill, between the peepers of the pedagogue, that he fell over like a log, and in his descent struck his head against a corner of the desk, and rolled corpse-like on the floor. Booth looked at him for a moment, as if waiting for him to arise, but finding that he did not, he handed to Martha her bonnet, took her basket in one hand, and herself by the other, and they left the school house. CHAPTER V. SOOTH ARRESTED-BOUND OVER To KEEP THE PEACE-CALLS AT THE SCHOOL-APOLOGIES- SEEN IN THE EVENING WITH LUSBY AT A CR0- CERY-THEY DRiNK TOGETHER-THEIR CON- VERSAi~ION-THE SCHOOL HOUSE BUKNS DOWN ~ REMAiNS FOUND. It was ten or fifteen minutes before busby re- covered himself. The boys alternately gazed at him and at each other, but not one spoke a word, I nor made an effort to assist him. By slow degrees he first rubbed his eyes, then felt his head, and at u last raised himself up on his elbow. He looked e round, and finding that Martha and Booth had left, r he assumed a sitting posture on the floor, as if his energies had not yet recovered from the effects of the injury, though aroused to the impulses of de- '1 feat, mortification and shame. n After a mo~xly meditation in that posture, he 3 17 sullenly resumed his feet, and dismissed the school, telling several of the boys, who were his tools, to. remain. In spite of all the entreaties of Booth's mother, Lusby, with well drilled witnesses, ~Ipplied *for a warrant against her son for the assault and battery, and moreover, had him bound over to keep the peace. Booth was known to be a reckless, uncon- trolable youth) and he lay in jail some two weeks, before, at the earnest solicitation of his mother, any one could be gotten to go his security, when two friends of her deceased husband took the re- sponsibility, upon her mortgaging her little property to them, which did not half cover the amount of bail required. When Booth' was bailed, he called on busby at the school, and expressed great contrition for his act, before the scholars, evidently to the surprise of those boys who were old enough to reflect, for they did not believe that he could feel it. He furthermore asserted that he had exerted his influ- ence with Martha Jones and Mrs. Baltzell, to in- duce the former to return again. Booth and busby held a~conversation upon the subject, and it was evidently Booth's object to have the matter termi- nate with his apology. To this Lusby would not consent, but said, he felt that for the dignity of his vocation, as well as an example, putting his own personal feelings out of the question, the press should make know the circumstances of the case. Booth, at this, broke out into a passion, and said Lh t if it were not for the sake of his securities he would pummel the pedagogue to death. At this, Lusby, in evident fear, cooled off apparently, and hey patched up peace between them, though Lus- ~y, we all observed, kept the ~chool in later than isual. Booth still, however, continued the con- Tersation, and when we were dismissed, remained vith him. That night they were seen together at a grocery in the road, ~inking, and the school-master was evidently intoxicated. The bar keeper afterwards reported the following as the conversation between hem. "Well," said Booth to Lusby, after they had sore than once replenished their cups, "you agree ow to forget and forgive." "I must think of that, Master Booth. Person' page: 18-19[View Page 18-19] 18 THE AtFTOBI ~lly, as I have said, when you called on me in my academy, I do, but I think that the dignity of my office requires some legal measures. Master Booth, it was an outrageous procedure. Miss Jones de- served punishment; that, by the bye, I suppose you admit." "That, by the bye, I don't admit," replied Booth. "Then, sir, there is an end to our colloquy; for, sir, to say that she did not deserve punishment is as much as to say that I was wrong and you were right." "What's that to do with it. I have told you was sorry-let that end it." "By no means, Master Booth, that begins it again. The vast difference in our years, the dig- nity of my station. my own personal dignity"- "Personal dignity," exclaimed Booth, in whom their potations had drowned the caution in which he had carried himself, "why, man, you're drunk now." "Drunk now," retorted Lusby, 'sir, our cob- quy has ended, and I regret that I ever suffered it to commence." "You be hanged. I tell you what it is, old fellow, I'll make it known, for the sake of your personal dignity, as you call it, that you are corned now, and its my opinion that you come it pretty often." At this hard thirst, Mr. Lusby turned away from Booth, and addressed himself to the barkeeper, as if it was beneath him to recognize the presence of his insulter. After walking two or three times up and down the bar room, Booth faced Lusby and observed: "Would'nt you like to have your will of me? 0! Lordy, how you would handle the nw hide, would'rit you? I suppose you think you could make me holler." "I think I could, sir," said Lusby, who could not resist making the remark. "You did'nt 'holler, though, when I floored you, did you." Again Lusby addressed the bar-keeper. Booth again walked about, every now and then eyeing his opponent with a fixed gaze. At last he stepped up to him and said: "You can handle the rod first rate, I admit. You [OGRAPHY OF ought to hire out as overseer for old R-, and then you would have your hands full. But no, I suppose you prefer having a boy or a delicate girl, that's it-a delicate girl-don't you now-say, don't you?" Lusby made no reply, and after another pause, Booth said: "Come, old fellow, say something, or treat." No reply being made, he continued: "Well, I'll stand treat myself. It can't hurt your dignity to tell you you're drunk, when I am drunk myself, and got drunk 'with you. Come, now, it shows malice-and I want to part friends with you. You don't think that I'd report such a thing of you, do you?" "I don't know what you may or will report, ~ said Lusby, who did not seem to relish the execution of the threat, "I bear you no malice, sir." "Well, then, will you drink with me?" "I thank. you, sir-no more for me." "Come, Mr. Lusby, it will be unkind if you do not. I respect you, sir, by earth I do, and we'll have a parting glass, at any rate. You may ap- pear against me or not-it can't ruin me anyhow, and if it does ruin the old woman, let the sin be yours.~~ "Let's drop the subject, Master Booth," said Lusby, rising, "but, sir, to show you that I bear no enmity, I'll drink with you." Again they drank together, after which, Booth said he must be off, and shaking Lusby by the hand cordially, he departed. Lusby~s house was about a mile through the fields from the grocery, which he left with a staggering step an hour afterwards. tn the midnight, the neighborhood was startled by a fire in the direction of the school-house. The people rushed to the spot, and found it and the ad- joining cabin in flames, and so far consumed as to make an attempt at an entrance extremely hazard- ous. In fact, the dwelling of Lusby was the most burnt. The conjecture was, that the fire was the work of an incendiary, and the inquiry ran round for the s~hoolmaster. He was not to be found. The lookers on, for they were all such, as they had no engines with which to work, and there was nothing of value that they could save, now gath ered closer to the flames and cinders, and attempted to pry through them, but in vain. WILLIAM As the dying conflagration flickered across the solemn shades of night, some mounted their horses, on which they had galloped to the place, and took their way home; ~while others, in scat- tered groups, discussed the cause of the fire and the probable fate of the master, and lingered about till day break. In the morning nothing but a smouldering mass of ashes was perceptible on the spot where the school-house had stood. On raking in their midst, the bones of Lushy were found. There was much wonder at first why thesehool- master did not make his escape, but it died away when the bar-keeper stated that Lusby was intoxi- cated that nbrht, which fact was corroborated by Booth. The schoolmaster's last night furnished the bar-keeper with a fund of gossip, and he often recounted the scene as I have recorded it. CHAPTER VI. MY A UNT ~s GRIEF FOR THE DEATH OF LUSEY- I AM SENT TO A NEW SCHOOL-CHARACTER OF THE CELEBRATED) JOSEPH LANCASTER- MY FIRST LOVE-A CHILDREN'S PARTY AT MRS. RECITATiON- MY TRI- UMPH OVER HIM. My good relative mourned much more for the loss 'of the school house than for the pedagogue-tern. ble as his death must have been. She reflected that if the school house still stood, that another teacher could soon be found, but the school house! who would rebuild that. To be sure, it would not cost a great deal, but the parents of Lusby's scholars were generally poor, and there was no one to step forward, (as there doubtless would have been had the conflagration occurred in Yankee land,) and rebuild the house, or at least raise a subscription among the neighbors, and have it done in that way. As Lusby had flattered my aunt's pride that I was a bright boy, she determined that I should not be idle. The question was, how could she pre- serve her health, and send nie to school in the city, where, during the summer, she was not in the habit of residing. She resolved to board me with her old friend, Mrs. Clayton. Accordingly, a~er many interviews ~nd negotiations between the two, RUSSELL. 19 I was packed off to Mrs. Clayton. Perhaps I should speak more in accordance with my relatives' kindness to me, to say, that with every care she herself took me to Mrs. Clayton's; and there sent for Joseph Lancaster, the celebrated founder of the Lancasterian system of education, under whose tui- tion she designed to place me. Lancaster, under, I believe, reverses of fortune, had left England and at the time I speak of had located in Baltimore. Well do I remember his pompous appearance be- fore my aunt, in a suit of drab, of the quaker cut, as prinky and particular in its adjustment as that of any Broadway or Chesnut street dandy whatever. "I~'riend Hugerson,~~ was his salutation to my aunt, "when I give thee my hand I give thee my heart also." Learnedly, as my aunt thought, the old peda- gogue went into an exposition of his plan of educa- tion, while he puffed and blew like a locomotive, only his respirations were at longer intervals. To Lancaster I went. I have forgotten all he ever attempted to learn me, but I have not forgotten the fact, that, young as I was, I soon learned to consider him a humbug. The old fellow was al- ways cramming himself, not with readingorscience, but with the nicest kind of sponge cakes, as puffy as himself. Lie was sparse of any distribution of these creature~omforts among the boys, but I have always thought he delighted to see our mouths water as he stowed away quantities of the cakes aforesaid. These sponge cakes were his standard refreshment, but he not infrequently slipped down to the confectioner's and regaled himself with other dainties, with divers and sundry glasses of wine to boot. Ah! my firatdream of love was learned, it not at his~school, nor after the Lancasterian or any other system, it was certainly in the natural way. After the conflagration of Lusby's, I missed much Martha Jones in our new school, for I had always a boyish penchant for her, and had ever done my boyish best to please her, not without effect. For when aunt sent for m~ to spend the holiday of Saturda~f and Sunday in the country, Martha, young as she waa, would frequently come over from Mrs. Baltzell's to see me, and the folks used to call her my sweet heart. But I heard an old family female slave say, "that it would not do no how-thQugh it was a page: 20-21[View Page 20-21] 20 pity there was such a dIfference in our stations," (Martha's and mine.) I did not know what~ she meant then by the remark, though I have learned since. Not far from Lancaster's school, Mrs. Grace kept hers, and it was in full operation. Among her scholars was a beautiful little girl, named Alice Clare. Her parents were very rich, and Alice was the admiration of all the boys at Lancaster's, and not the less of mine. Lancaster in the morn- ing of Saturday,,(for in the afternoon we had holi- day) taught elocution, or rather listened to our re- citations, for though he sometimes gave us a pre- cept or two, he never illustrated them by practice. I had a natural turn for speaking, as Lusby used to say, and I generally headed my class in elocu- tion, when the lines "You'll scarce expect one of my age," were certainly recited either by one 0" the small- est boys in downright earnest, or by one of the largest and most lubberly ones in sport. I always made earnest of my recitations, and was fond of a pathetic effusion, such as the "Exile of Erin," or a love matter, like "Byron's Dream," (I thought myself prodigious at this, or something from Shak- speare; Mark Antony~s oration, for instance, over Caesar, or Cassius to Brutus.) I never once at- tempted the comic, except Captain Bobadil's kill- ing off an army by computation, in Ben Jonson's "Every man in his humor." At a rival academy (Brown's,) a boy three or four yeare older than myself had won the prize in elocution; and young Mr. Peterson was proud in- deed of the award. I used to observe him with no little curiosity after I had heard of his success, and the more so, when I heard the girls talk about, and certain ones boast of him as their beau. My anx- iety to hear him was intense. He was great in I "Hohenlinden" it was observed; and some of the girls declared that they could almost see "-the brave, Who rush to glory or the grave," "rushing," when he recited the lines. At a girl's party in the neighborhood, Alice Clare had heard Peterson recite, and she was loud in his praise. The girls at Lancaster's, however, feeling a pride in their school, proclaimed my merits, and said that they believed I could beat him. In the midst of these earnest and emulous differences of opinion, quite as grave as differences upon graver matters, Alice Clare gave a party, to which both Peterson and myself were invited, Naturally of a sensitive nature, I felt more sensi- tive than ever, as I eyed the manlier proportions of Master Peterson, and observed how he lionized it among the fair. He had his collar turned over, quite in the Byronic way, and he wore a watch, a point of manly extravagance to which I was scarce- ly approximating. IMoreover, the whole appoint- ments of his toilet surpassed, not only mine, but those of every other boy in the room. His parents were rich, and very indulgent to him. Why, his every day clothes are as good as my Sunday clothes, I thought to myself, and surely the girls admire him very much, but I should like to hear his "Hohenlinden." I had an instinct that I could heat him. Be that as it might, my curiosity to hear him was in- tense. I was seated in the corner by Alice Clare, our little hostess, and I remember now her dancing, black eye, arid the abundant display of raven curls, which floated over her neck and shoulders, and over the little edging of her frock in front, where L..ove's pillows "were but scarcely spied, For yet their places were but signified." I remember it all well-and how pleasantly she chatted with me, and kept calling me "Willy" Rus- sell, while she always spoke of the distinguished elocutionist of Brown's as "Mr." Peterson. I was not old enough to know then, that "Willy Rus- sell," the way she pronounced it, had much more in it than "Mr. Peterson." I only thought that old Lancaster gave no prizes for elocution, and that Brown did, and Peterson had won the prize, and all the girls were admiring him. I glanced at Alice's glowing Gheek, and felt a strange, wild envy and emulation seize me. Hear him I must. Alice and I sat in the corner. "Do, Miss Alice, ask Mr. Peterson to recite," I said. "0! yes,~~ rejoined Alice, clapping her hands, "and, Willy Russell, you must recite too." I remarked 'with some hauteur, "I never won a prize for elocution." "But that old mean thing, Lancaster, don't give prizes at your school, Willy Russell, and if he did, somehow I think you might win it. I never heard you, but your school girls have, and I heard Martha Jones, when I was out to Mrs. Stetson's, ask you to repeat some poetry to her, and she says you can do it so well." "Mr. Peterson," she called out that individual, "do recite for us." But Mr. Peterson, a spoilt pet, required as much persuasion to get him on the floor as it would to have seated at the piano some celebrated song- stress. At last the honored winner of the prize took the floor, but without the least show of diffi- dence. He adjusted his Byronic collar, and dain- tily asked what Miss Alice Clare's commands were. "Do recite Hohenlinden," was the cry from all parts of the room. Mr. Peterson averred that Hohenlinden was not, by any means, his crack piece-but it was imma- terial to him, any thing to please the ladies, and particularly Miss Alice Clare. Though I was rather a precocious chap myself, the coolness and the style of Mr. Peterson aston- ished me. I thought his manner to the young la- dies, (ladies was the word that pressed itself upon my brain, and not girls,) was inimitable. If, thought I to myself, he recites as well as he said that, he deserved the prize, and my heart swelled as truth extorted the remark from envy. And Mr. Peterson did recite, and well. There was evidently too much study in his recitations, but there was evident also a great deal of taste. Bowing with the easy courtesy of some histrionic "particular star," who has been so long the light of the theatrical world, that men have become, as it were, astronomers of his fame, and he himself used to the thing - Mr. Peterson resumed his seat and his conversation with the young lady beside him at the same instant, as if he had been doing nothing but holding a quiet chat with her the whole evening. Again his coolness and manner provoked while it struck me, and I believe 1 envied him his nonchakrnt address, which was cotifoundedly taking after all, more than his powers of recitation. "Now, Willy Russell," said Alice in an under tone to rue, "yot~ must recite. Ladies and gentle- 21 nen," continued Mass Alice, with~quite a womanly ;elf-possession, (these things are catching,) "now ~dr. Russell will recite. Please, Mr. Russell, to recite the "Exile of Erin." I, however, could not catch Mr. Peterson's xiolness, for I shook all over. I glanced at Alice, her encouraging look nerved me, and I proceeded. I remember when I recited the verse: "Where is my cabin door fast by the wild wood, Sisters and sire did ye weep for its fall? Where is the mother that looked on my childhood, ~5nd where is the bosom friend dearer than all?" that I gave particular emphasis to the last line, looking with might and main at Alice, and doing my best to make actions speak even louder than words. Alice blushed crimson at this, and when I had concluded, Mr; Peterson declared, with an air of some pique, that I had made quite a declar- ation, as well as declamation. "I vow, Mr. Peterson," she said hastily, "VViI- ly Russell can beat you after all." Mr. Peterson's particular coolness forsook him at this remark, and he said hastily and abruptly, there was no accounting for taste. Dc gustibus, &c., and he quoted Latin, while I became in man- ner, at least, particularly cool, though my heart throbbed wildly at the praise of Alice. And I be- gan to feel, boy as I was, whenever Alice looked kindly on any other youth in the room, what the poet has since most beautifully illustrated: "The moon looks On many brooks- The brook can see no moon but one." CHAPTER VII. MY REBELLiON AGAINST MR5. CLAYTON-ExCIT- INC RENCONTRE-I AM CARRiED INTO CAP- TVViTY-A BOUQUET SENT ME-THE ARRIVAL OF MY AUNT-i PRRVAiL-PEACE PROCLAIMED. There was quite a rebellion in Mrs. Clayton's household in the morning after Alice Clare's party, at least on the part of one person. 1 made my ap- pearance at breakfast with the clothes which I had worn to the party, my best clothcs,(my Sunday-go-to meeting clothes.) to wear to school-a thing never tolerated, unless. my every day clothes were torn and were being mended. Mrs. Clayton looked at TflE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF WILLIAM RUSSELL.. page: 22-23[View Page 22-23] 22 THE AUTOB~O~RAPUY OF we with much surprise, and asked me why I did not wear ray school clothes? "Because they are not fit to wear," I replied. "Not fit to wear! are they torn, child? Gracious, I only mended them yesterday." That "child" I did'nt like, so I replied as much like a man as I could. "I don't know whether they are torn or not, but I won't wear them any more." "Not wear them any more," screamed the old lady, "why your dear aunt left express orders that you should never wear your Sunday clothes except on the blessed Sabbath, or on extra occasions, such as last night-this is her return for sending them into town. to you." I disdained a reply. I had been awake half the night, thinking over the party, what Alice had said about my beating Peterson, and particularly about that gentleman~s superior wardrobe appoint- ments, watch, &c., and I felt that I must do justice to myself and dress better thereafter. The old lady saw my stubbornness, but she was stubborn too, or rather, as she said, she was deter- mined to fulfill her dear friend Miss Ilugerson's desires to the very letter. Accordingly, I was trapp- ed, unawares, by herself and black girl, and in spite of all my efforts at kicking and scratching, I was carried screaming with passion to my room, and locked in. Notwithstanding portentous struggles on my part, against the combined forces of Mrs. Cla~rton and her black ally, I was stripped of my Sunday suit, the suit in which I had excelled Mr. Peterson, and I was peremptorily told by Mrs. Clayton, as she deposited my every day clothes beside my bed, into which she had thrust me, that until I put them on, she could not think of permitt- ing me to leave the room and go to school. Saying this she left the room, carefully locking the door after her. At first, from exhaustion, surprise, and indigna- tion, I was silent for some moments after the old lady left me, or my silence was only broken by sobs. But my wrath was soon aroused into activi- ty. I stamped and raved about the room; I jerked at the knob of the door, and dashed myself against its panels in a furious but impotent outbreak of the key hole and distinctly informed me, through it, that she would send for the constable if I made any more noise, that the people had collected out in the street, and that I should not have a mouth- ful until I behaved myself and put on my clothes. I looked out of the window and saw several per. sons looking up at it, and while I was wondering what& I should do, one of my schoolmates, who was in the habit of calling occasionally for me, made his appearance at the door below, with a bunch of flowers in his hand. My first impulse was hurniediy to dress myself and go wit to meet hini-but no, the idea of giving up to Mrs. Clayton could not be borne. So I stole away from the window, bun presently hearing the frontdoor open, I crept to it again and looked forth. I beheld Mrs. Clayton and my comrade talking together, and I saw him offer her the bunch of flowers, which she seemed to refuse, and at the same time pointed to my window. In my eagerness to see what was going on, for I could not hear, I had exposed my- self to the observation of the old lady. My school- mate burst into a laugh and called out loud enough for me to hear: "Bill, come down, old fellow-here's some flow- ers Alice sent you.~~ "Put on your clothes, as I bid you," screamed out Mrs. Clayton, "and come to your breakfast." At this moment Alice Clare passed by, on the other side of the street, and I heard Mrs. Clayton call her over. I heard no more. In an utter I agony of shame and rage I threw myself on the ~ bed. I believe I would willingly have set the ~. house on fire and perished in it, rather than the old lady should expose the cause of my rebellion, I and dwell upon my denuded state, locked up as I was in my room, to Alice. I really felt like dash- ing my brains out against the wall. I thought ~ that when Alice left, I would actually pitch my- self out of the window, in revenge upon every body about me. Strange-but wildly flitted through my mind Booth's revenge on Lusby, and for the first time, [wondered if Booth could have set fire to the school house and burnt the old rascal up? And then I wondered if he loved Martha Jones as much as I loved Alice Clare, and passion. The door gave not way, nor would Mrs. ~then I began to reflect that I loved Martha Jones Clayton give up, for she made her appearance at too, and that if Alice Clare should laugh at rue Martha Jones would not, as she had always taken my part. In the hurly-burly of such thoughts I fell a- sleep. I knew ~ot how long I had slept when I was aroused by Mrs. Clayton, who had entered the room without awaking mc. She told me I had better get up and have something to eat. I turned away from her without saying a word. She then began to remonstrate with me and said I would make myself sick. I only reflected that Alice knew all about my trouble, that the boys at school would laugh at me. I told Mrs. Clayton that I wouldn't wear my Sunday clothes, if she were to bring them to me, that I wanted to be sent home to my aunt. At this the old lady seemed non- plussed. She now began to coax. But this only made me more stubborn, like the "rude boy up the apple tree," when the farmer expostulated with him. At last the old lady left the room, and the door unlocked behind her, but that did no good. I felt my advantage. She even brought me, towards evening, something to eat, but I stubbornly re- fused it. She then brought me ipy Sunday clothes, averring that she could do nothing with me, and told me to put them on and do what I pleased. But I threw them from the bed on which she had placed them. The old lady left the room at this in a quandary. I glanced at the plate of fo6d which she had left behind her, and notwithstanding I was very hungry, I would not touch it. I looked at my Sunday clothes and thought I would put them on and go and see Alice, and that would show her at least I had triumphed over the old hag, for in such colors my indignation painted Mrs. Clayton, but then I reflected, Alice and the boys will laugh at me, notwithstanding, and maybe nickname mc "Sunday clothes!" 0! thought I, if I were only out an the country at Mr. Stetson's. 1 never want to see town again. I was oppressed with such reflections and over- whelrned with the ridiculous point of view in which Mrs. Clayton had doubtless placed me in the eyes of my schoolmate and Alice, when Mrs. Clayton entered my room, followed by my aunt. I was unconscious that hours had passed, and in the meantime Mrs. Clayton had sent for my aunt. Both the old ladies viewed and reviewed me, through their spectacles, as I lay doggedly in bed. My rebellion was a grave matter to arise from such a little matter as the wearing of a certain enit. But my ambition had been awakened, and there was something deeper in it than dandyistri. I have often thought since that it was a trait of character, which, at first blush, would seem born of the bio- graphy of beau Brummel. "My poor boy, what has come over you,~~ said my good aunt, in a kind tone. "Mrs. Clam rode out to Mr. Stetson's and gave such pleasing ac- counts of you; she said you recited better than Mr. Brown's scholar, who got the prize. And what gratified me more, she said you were the mast gentlemanly lad at the party." "Yes, but," I exclaimed, utterly subdued by my aunt's kindness, "Mrs. Clayton has gone and told Alice and Jim Johnson that she had locked me up like a baby, because I wouldn't wear my old clothes." "I never said such a word, Miss Huge~son,~~ ex- claimed Mrs. Clayton, "Alice, that beautiful little girl, had sent him a bouquet, and all I said was that Willy was in his room, and hadn't been to break- fast yet." "Then i'll wear my old clothes and be hanged to them, aunt," I exclaimed, as I stretched out my hand to take them, "but I don't see why, if I can beat Mr. Peterson, emphasisingg the Mr.) he should wear better clothes than I ~ "Well, Willy,~~ rejoined my aunt, "in consid- eration that you behaved so well at the party and did surpass Mr. Brown's scholar, (my aunt never liked Brown, he had corrected her pronunciation once,) you shall wear your Sunday suit daily--but you ought to have minded Mrs. Clayton." "I didn't mean to make Mrs. Clayton angry, aunt," said 1, "she has always been good to me," and I suspect that the fear Mrs. Clayton might tell Alice of the cause of my rebellion induced me to make thus much of an apology, rather than the fact that she had "always been good to me." But it will not do to analyze the motives too closely even of a boy. It was now nearly dark, and for the nonce I dressed myself in my old clothes, and went down stairs to take tea with the two old ladies, who, I believe, both looked on rae with admiring eyes. I consumed a considerable quantity of tea, toast WILLIAM RUSSELL. page: 24-25[View Page 24-25] 24 TEE AUTC and cold ham that night. While the old ladies ges siped away the hour, I laid myself at full length on the sofa and pursued a train of reflections, cloud: and bright by turns, but the bright predominated How much my passions expanded my mind in tha little hour! I began to think it was not very manl~ to make such a fuss about what clothes I wore, at I had often heard that many men who had become great or rich, had often been very poor boys. Thea the magnificently dressed Mr. Peterson and hit watch, and his address, and his coolness, came be- tween me and a reconciliation '~'to~my old suit. I remembered hearing Mr. Stetson tell a story of a veteran of the revolution, who, when General Wilkinson had issued anorder that queues should be abolished in the army, refused to comply and was court mar~ialed for it. I did not understand what court martial meant, but I understood the gist of it was, that the old officer continued to wear his queue, 42~eneral Wilkinson to the contrary, notwith- standing. Moreover, the officer had carried the matter of his personal rights so far that on his death bed he made a friend promise him that a hole should be bored in the head of his coffin, and the obnoxious queue should make its appearance there- from unshorn from his head~, or its honors, and newly dressed. Accordingly, it did appear, and the commanding general, who attended the funeral, as in etiquette he was bound, was not a little of- fended to see the pugnacious article in question, like a martinet doing duty by its master, and emu-~ lating Napoleon's guards, who refused to surren- der. Now, I said to myself, I always thought queues were ugly, and there are only one or two old men in the whole city that wear them; and if a brave soldier of the revolution ~vas determined to wear his queue, I do not see why I may not deter- mine to wear my best clothes. It seems that this old soldier, emulating in his maintenance of his personal rights Shakspeare's hero, in making a ~~bargain,~~ was determined to "cavil for the tythe part of an hair," and 1 suppose I mu~t have felt in his example a l)rccedent which upheld me, in my own opinion, at least, in "high- er matter," as Burke would say BIOGRAPHY OF CHAPTER VHll according to the best authority-funnily, I say, ran the poet's tines through my boyish brain: "And pray how was the devil dressed! Oh! of course in his Sunday's best, His coat it was black and his breeches were blue, With a hole behind where his tail went through." My spirits ran wild. [could scarcely comport myself with becoming propriety, considering my WILLIAM 3- h MY REFLECTIONS-My AUNT'S NOTE TO 'f-OLD LANKY "-MY DECLAMATION INTERRUPTED-... ADVENTURE AT MRS. CLAYTON'S SCROOL-t AM SERVED LIKE SOCRATES-MY CAPTURE-.. MRS. CLAYTON IS SERVED LIKE SOCRATES TOO-.- I APPEAR IN THE POLICE REPORTS. If, unlike him of the ballad, I did not arise a "sadder" boy on the morrow, I certainly arose a "wiser" one, and I thought, as I glanced at my reflection in the glass, after I had equipped myself in my best suit, a much better looking one than I should have been in my old and discarded suit- "For the apparel oft proclaims the man," said the wise Polonius to his son in that best of passages of advisement, to a youth, extant. Un- consciously caught by the quick suseptibilities of Love, quickened by 'Envy, I had adopted and acted upon it, thinking, foolishly, when my pas- sion, (against Mrs. Clayton, I mean,) had passed, that I had done something I should have been ashamed of, when in fact I had acted wisely. Old ladies, (unmarried, and who consequently have ro grandchildren that they can be proud of,) masters who furnish their apprentices clothing as well as food, and very economical timthers, might have some thing ~o say upon this subject, and quote Solomon upon 'vanity,' and 'sparing the rod and spoiling the child,'hut that would prove no more in my case than would the quotation to them from Shaksp~mare, about the "devil quoting scripture for his purpose," prove in theirs. I have a tale to tell, not as "'twas told to me," but as I acted and felt it, and I shall often leave the reader to his own reflections, without ob - truding mine. Funnily, through my boyish brain, kept running the lines of the poet upon thc adjust- ment of the devil's toilet, on the occasion of his taking his "Sunday morning" walk, for "The Prince of Darkness is a gentleman," offence and my aunt's forgiveness, as I made my appearance before her and requested a note of ex- cuse to "old ~anky~~ for my absence. Now my aunt never had had to write me a note of excuse before, as Lusby, my country schoolmaster, never required one, and Mr. Lancaster had never asked me for one, though his rules demanded it, and I had frequently transgressed them in this particular as well as others. "Willy, I don't know what to say," replied my aunt, to my request. "I'll tell you aunt," I rejoined, for I had seen many of the excuses of the boys, and I proceeded to dictate to my respectable relative: "Mr. Lancaster will please excuse my nephew for his unavoidable absence. ELIZAnETII HUGERSON." "Unavoidable?" queried my aunt, in a conscien- tious tone, though she seemed to admire my rapid dictation. "Unavoidable?" echoed Mrs. Clayton, asif her moral sense was startled. "Yes, that's the very ord," said I, "I've seen it in other boy's excuses." "But it was not unavoidable," exclaimed Mrs. Clayton. "Necessary absence ~ said I. "But it wasn't necessary," said Mrs. Clayton. "Well, I don't want to have another foss," said I, "so just put absence." Mrs. Clayton glanced at my aunt, who said' nothing, but wrote the note accordingly. With much elasticity of movement and spright- liness of step and spirit, I took my aunt's note, and~ put it in my jacket pocket, which I got my aunt carefully to pin, with the pin through the note, that I might make it as secure as possible. I then stole into Mrs. Clayton's bed-room, which contained a larger glass than did mine~, and took a minute and admiring survey of myselL I felt ora- torical-declamatory. I was in the act of declaim- ing my favorite passage from Byron's dream: "As the sweet moon onthe horizon's verge, The maid was on the eve of womanhood;" determining, in my own mind, that the next time Alice asked me to recite I would select the dream and look at her when I declaimed that passage, Just as I looked at her so effectually in the line 4 RUSSELL. 25 from the "Exile of Erin" at her party.-when lo! the two old ladies entered and caught me in the act. Didn't I slip sheepishly out of the room? I paused on the steps and heard Mrs. Clayton say, tt was wrong to cultivate vanity in a child. But I darted off, re-assured, when I heard my aunt reply "It is indeed wrong to cultivate vanity in a child; I am, therefore, glad that my nephew was only cultivating a talent for oratory, for which every body says he has wonderful gifts-indeed, I think he'll turn out something extraordinary.~~ Full of the conviction that I should turn out something extraordinary, I resolved to turn into the street where Mrs. Grace kept her school, in the hope of seeing Alice and being seen by her. Mrs. Grace, in teaching others, had taught hefacif, and had arrived to the dignity of an older grade of pupils than when I formed one of them. lint find- ing that this older grade, particularly those of the masculine gender, were harder to manage than the dunaller, she had resolved to have no more boys3 but open an academy "exclusively for young la- dies," as the gilt sign over her door way official- ly announced. Alice Glare had become one ot bet pupils under this new arrangement. Alice had expressed her indignation, as I had heard from a playmate, when she was told that in days gone by, Mrs. Grace had put a fool's cap on me, and after- wards whipped me before the whole school for throwing it indignantly, in her face and running away. Mrs. Grace's school was kept in a small house situated on the corner of an alley. The school room was on the first floor, and a low window opened from it into the alley, into which I buoy- antly entered, and seeing Alice Glare in the school room, an not seeing Mrs~ Grace, I took off my hat and made her my best bow with my best beaver. She was looking out of the window at the time, and involuntary exclaimed, when she saw me: "Why, Willy!" This attracted the attention of' the young Misses about her, and a buzz ran round the room. Mrs. Grace, it dppears. was up stairs in her chamber, so situated at the head of the stairs that she could comn~an(l a vieW of the school-room. Hearing the page: 26-27[View Page 26-27] THF~ AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF buzz, the old lady reconnoitered the school.roon Seeing the eyes of 'her pupils directed to the alle window, she naturally stepped to her window jum over it, and reconnoitered the premises within' She behold me infringing all her rules of propriety and decorum in making my third most decorous mind profound bow to the young ladies within. Mrs. Grace instantly resolved to put a stop my bowing, as they put out fires, and sometime put down mobs and other projects, and sometime don't, by throwing cold water on them. No soon er resolved than done. As I raised my head fron my fourth most profound bow, it was arrested ii its upward tendency, and suddenly thrown down wards with a jerk and shake, by a shower of dirtl water from a basin in the hands of Mrs. Grace who was acting with malice aforethought evidently for as I looked up naturally and impulsively to se what was the matter, jumping back at the saint instant, I received another shower full in my fac and eyes. I had opened my mouth involuntarily and that came in for more than its full share. Foi a moment the water, to say nothing 'of the shoch to my sensibilities and nerves, made me speechless, when a burst of laughter from the whole school stung ~ne to the qui&k. I retreated beyond the reach of at least another shower from my Xantippe, and shook my fist at her in a rage, and called her certain names, with bad words appended to them, which I need not repeat. She told me that I was born for the gallows, and that if I did not instantly leave she would send her black girl (my old arrester when I ran away from my coronation) after me, and whip me before the whole "academy." What a threat!-to be unbreeched before a whole "academy exclusively for young ladies," and Alice iii their midst. I de- fied her. I could not do less, and my wrath rose into manly imprecations. "Oh! Willy Russell, don't go on so-do go to school," said Alice to me. "Alice, I will, for you," I said, and just as [turn- ed to leave the alley, the black imp of Mrs. Grace darted thrciugh the back door at me. Horror, fear, ~nd indignation had me at once, and the black ttirl too had me at an advantage. I turned and ran to save my 'honor-if nothing else-tiH in say- . ing my back I saved certainly my honor itt the y premises, because, according to Hudibras. "A wourid in that place more Hurts honor than deep wounds before" Y "Run, Willy," irtvoluntarily exclaimed Alice 5 Glare. I did run. Being rather scant in the skirt~, o upon economical principles, the locomotion of the s black girl was somewhat impeded, and at first I 5 gained ground upon her. But she raised the cry - of stop thief after me, and a large man at the mouth ri of the alley seized me. "Let me go," I exclaimed, frantic with fright - ~and passion. "Bring him in,~' exclaimed Mrs. Grace, "if you please." I was accordingly forcibly taken by the collar by the individual addressed, and hauled into the presence of Mrs. Grace. My delinquency was stated by the lady to my captor, and she asserted, and was borne out in the assertion, that I had made "indecent mouths" at the young ladies, by several of them. Alice Clare had the courage to say that I was only bowing t', her. Mrs. Grace said that I should apologise, or be whipped before the whole academy. The black girl said: "Missus, he ought to do bofth. I can hold him spite of his kicking-I has held him 'afore." "She has no right, I don't belong to her school," I exclaimed to the man, "take me to Mr. Lancas- ter's, where I belong, or to my aunt." I could have stood a thousand whippings, but not before the girls. "Mr. Gunter, Willy was only bowing to me," said Alice Clare, who, it seems, knew the man, who had lately become her father's gardener, "take him home," and she burst into tears. "Silence, Miss Glare," exclaimed ~rs. Grace~ Gunter asked me what I had done. I told him that I had only bowed to Alice. He decided that I should be taken to my aunt, and Mrs. Grace hur- riedly equipped herself and accompanied us, fol- lowed by the black girl. I shall never forget the look of my aunt and Mrs. Clayton when Mrs. Grace told how I had in- merrupted her school, made indecent mouths at the girls, and how she had to throw water on me to WILLIAM ~UYSSI~LL. 21 make me desist, and how I had abused her in con- ~irace read these accounts the next morning. My sequence. Her black girl corroborated every name was not given in the papers "on account of word. Gunter repeated what Alice said, but the respectability of my connexions," but the whole said nothing more. of Lancaster's school got it, arid their narrations of The dignity of my indignation, I believe, made the affair were as various and conflicting as some me truly eloquent, and I told my aunt the matter of the readings of Skakspeare, and I was about to just as it occurred. Gunter said he thought that say the comments as different as the commentaries must have been the, way of it, and my aunt decided thereon; all, however, considered me a "broth of a that she would think over the affair, at which boy," or as the vulgar phrase ia now-a-days, "I was Mrs. Grace left the room in a towering passion. one of 'em." But my passion was up too, or rather I felt free to be revenged, sol ran up stairs, and up went the window as Mrs. Grace went out of the front door, CHAPTER IX. and down upon her head direct went Mrs. Clay- ton's best basin, summoned into use in consequence I HAVE A FELLOW FEELING IN LOVE MATTERS.-. of the presence of my aunt. Like Mrs. Grace's JANE JIENNET'S LOVE FOR HER TEACHER HAN- SON-TUITION, BUT NOT AFTER TIlE tiANCA5~ own basin, it happened to be filled with dirty TERIAN PLAN-ITS RESULTS. water, for the two old ladies had been gossiping away over my conduct, and Mrs. Clayton's only Time passed on. My boyish love affairs gave servant had been listening to the debates, to the me a fellow feeling in such matters. neglect of her duties, so Mrs. Grace got basin and "Oh! Willy Russell, when did you see Jane all direct upon her best bonnet. Bennet," asked Alice of me one evening. I was seized and locked in the garret. My aunt "She is out of town," I replied. averred she was going crazy. I believe she would In a neighboring school for young ladies was a have gone crazy if she had been left to herself, but very pretty girl, of wealthy and highly respectable I was summoned before a magistrate for an assault parents of this name, who was Alice's friend. and battery upon Mrs. Grace. A whole day was Alice was her confidant. What walks tkiey took 'i~onsumed by the worthy magistrate in the case. together! It was amusing to note the inclination of ~t was decided I was too young to be committed. Alice's, head and in fact whole person towards Jane, ~3ut I believe the respectability of my connexions while Jane would talk and gesticulate in the must caused the decision. My aunt, however, paid for earnest manner. She was in love with the usher Mrs. Grace's bonnet, but this did not keep the of the academy, Mr. Hanson, a nice, dapper little matter out of the papers, which contained an ac- man, and I knew him intimately, boy as I was, count in their police reports of a most atrocious for he taught elocution, and praised mine-my youthful offender, who had attacked, with brick- weak point-and I was his brag boy in that line. bats, the female academy of Mrs. Grace, a most We were accustomed to walk down the street respectable teacher of young ladies, arid who had together arm in arm, and I suppose 1 was as much nearly murdered that respectable lady by throwing envied by my school fellows as some who have' a huge iron tea kettle upon her head from the occupied much loftier positions have been envied upper story of a house where he lived, and where by their competitors. He would take me to the this lady had repaired to remonstrate with his confectioner's arid ice cream shops, where we would friends upon his conduct. It was averred that for sip lemonade and eat cake and ice cream. What some hours Mrs. Grace's physicians had given her a man I thought him! and now, when I look back over. She was now slowly recovering, the papers to those days, I can see that he had much address, stated, and it w~s hoped that in a few weeks she for how he would praise little Alice Glare to me. might be able to officiate in her academy, which But poor Jane Bennet. He showed her such is one of the best in the country. In her own a quiet preference in the school room. So earn- school room, in a perfect state of health, JVIrs, estly leaned over her, gave her the catch word page: 28-29[View Page 28-29] THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF WILLIAM RUSSELL 29 when she was faltering in her task, and such smile of encouragement, and so many words praise! Jane was about sixteen, quiet and sh with deep blue eyes, and she was graceful at womanly even at that age. I delighted to talk her about Hanson. And when I would tell h what he said of her, the delicate rose-tint won come to her cheek as you trace it in the rose wh the wind lifts its head to the light. I tell yor sir, or miss or madam, it is very much in ti power of a handsome, insinuating teacher, be 11 teacher of grammar or music, or what not, to teac young ladies other lore than is written. I ofte since, in looking at life, have seen this, as doubi less you have. Jane knew that her parents would object to he marriage with Hanson, but she loved him, neve theless, and it tore her very heart strings to giv him up. She grew thin, and that pallor about th temples which so strongly denotes mental suffering1 marked hers. I did not think that Hanson loved her over-much It was said that he was engaged. to a lady in Bos ton, and the day at last arrived' when he was ti leave for that plase. He had never said that h was to be married, but always after a fashion de nied it. He was popular with the scholars, and many or both sexes, from both schools, had agreed to mccl him in our school rcoin to say good bye Of course Alice, Jane, and myself were of the number. We had a nice little collation spread, and there was a great deal of fun and gayety among us, but, Jane's fair face was like the Death's head at a feast; a remembrancer that sorrow is everywhere. Hanson seemed quietly to watch her, though he often repeated gayly that he would soon return. When the good bye came, Hanson went to Jane first. He' took her hand and said: "Farewell......do~'t forget me." She silently took his hand, and he passed on to the rest. When he ha4 bade adieu to all and was leaving, ~vith a wild sob Jane threw herself into his arms. EC~IJ~Jfl said a funny fellow, ~named Horslcy, jumping up on to the table, "here's another new system of education-I prefer it to the Lancaster- jan plan." a At the remark Hanson started, and placing Jane of on a chair he whispered to me: y, "See her home, my young friend," and then rid suddenly departed. to There was quite a scene among us yoring ones er when the old one'had gone. ld The prudes, (even green girlhood has its prudes,) ~n were shocked, astonished, at Miss Bennet, and one ri, of them, ugly enough to confer no pleasure by such te an act, a Miss Blake, who by the bye, was one of ic Mrs. Grace's witnesses in my affair, said she .h ought to be turned out of school. n Alice Clare replied, that she was astonished that L- Miss Blake should make such a remark on such an occasion, and Miss Blake said Miss Clare had bet- r ter speak when she was spoken to, and not give herself airs. e "No," said Horaley, "ladies, you had better~give o all the air you can to Miss ~ ~ The hint was taken, though the poor girl was restored with difficulty. I complied with Han- son's request, and was at her side to take her home. - Several of the girls and boys left with us, sorise io~ ) violent conversation, others whispering apart. "Willy Russell," said Jane to me, "let ns wal out by the Belvidere bridge." As we walked along Jane leaned on Alice, with I' her veil over her face, w hich, when we got out town, s~he removed, and asked me timidly: "Willy Russell, are my eyes red." I told her "Not very." "Willy Russell, do you think he'll come back." 4 What could Willy Russell say? For the sake of true love, in which I proclaimed myself a be- liever, and for the sake of my departed friend, (I am alluding to his departure from the Monumental city, which, however, was final,) I had to say he would come back certainly. But I had a strange misgiving all the while. Still, I am told, is poor Jane single, and in her heart, as in a sepulchre, burns that flame of love which the false-hearted lighted to leave beside the monument Patience, of which she became the type, until the conviction came, in the announce- ment of his marriage to another, that she was de- ceived and forgotten, and then that form of Patience gradually' assumed that other of resigned Despair; but still.~ ~riat love-lighted torch horns on, is the sepulchre of her heart, for that false one dead to her. CHAPTER X. nv FRIEND UoRsLEY-cocK FIGaTING-TH~i ANTI'GAFF tuAD;.~-lIOasLEY DETECTED-TEE DEAcON AND DAD TAKE 1111W AT AN ADVANTAGE-HIS PUNISHMENT- HE MEDITATES REVENGE. Horaley was a character. A slim, sly fellow, with a face like a deacon's, and with as much fun in him as in Foote or Matthews. His name was Samuel, but he occasionally went by the name of "old floss," partly because it was a kind of play upon his name, but mostly because of his great ap- parent gravity and peculiar traits of character. He had a great deal of address and manner too, but he would have his joke upon all occasions, and almost every thing, grave or gay, furnished him with a jest, but he was gallant and true. His father was a bookseller, and a member of the church. There lived itear him a fancy store keep- er, who might be called a monomaniac on the sub- ject of cock-fighting, which, at the time I write of, was a sport a good deal indulged in, in Baltimore and its vicinity. I could* point out now, on the York road, (for I must review these old scenes again some of these days,) a house oa the right hand side, just above Jenkin's tan yard, where the sport was practiced. I remember riding out to Mr. Stetson's in a lime cart one Saturday, and stopping there with the driver, an old negro who belonged to Governor Ridgicy, of Hampton. I treated him for the ride, and he explained to me the art and mystery of cock-fighting, which was going on in a cock pit in the yard of the house, which was a road-side grocery. I liked not the sport, and I wondered how two fowls could fight each other for nothing; but after all there was something in the pitted courage of the two cocks, who fought for victory, unconscious that they had backers and that there were lookers on. No wonder then that men, who have backers and lookers on, should fight for victory without having at heart as much game as these cocks in the pit. Though the cocks, perchance, deserve more credit. as *their valor is of a more unadulterated and sophisticatedd character. I hope it is not so now,. hough John Randolph said th'at when there was ~ock fighting and horse racing in Virginia there were ~entIemen in Virginia, and the eccentric Virginian would doubtless apply the same remark to Mary- [and The fancy store keeper, in opposition to the ~entleman from Virginia, had such a hatred to the practice that he has been known to commit as- saults and batteries upon different persons who had presented themselves to his counter and asked for chicken gaffs, or gaffes, as others call them. Knowing this peculiarity of the store-keeper, Horsley sent a drayman to him with an order on him for a package of them, arid then watched from a hiding place the effect, thinking, (and here he was not as smart as usual,) that as he did not know the drayman, even by sight, that the dray- man did not know him. But when the enraged store wan asked the drayman who sent him for the article, that individual replied: "He didn't know his name, but that he had often seen him in Mr. ~orsley~s ~ "Was he a boy?" "Yes, sir, a slim chance of a stripling.' "Leave. sir," exclaimed the store-keeper. The drayman left in double quick time, and the store man, putting his hat on his head and hold- ing the order tightly in his fist, as though it was a bank note of great value, proceeded instantly to old Mr. Horsicy's store. The "old Ross" saw him go, and smelling a * rat, he followed at a respectful distance, to see where he was wending, and taking a spying posi- tion at the window, he saw him enter and show the note to his father, and he heard his father say: "I am afraid, neighbor, it is my son's hand write. I fear he is a wild youth." "I have no doubt of it, neighbor, and you know what the wisest man of the world has said about sparing the rod. Good morning, neighbor." The "old floss" further related that he saw his father show the note to a deacon, present. He dodged as the anti-gaff man left, and sat himself down to rumination. He knew that he must niect the responsibility some time or other, so he thought he would meet it then, and in he went. His father produced the order. LIe denied it. The old gentleman went to the desk with the note 29 page: 30-31[View Page 30-31] 30 THE AUTQ~OGRAPHY OF in his hand, and comparing it with the paper on proper place to flog me in a book store, where the desk, he found the identical sheet from which any one might look through from the public streets it had been torn, for on comparing the pieces of and make proclamation in the public papers of paper they fitted exactly. The "old Hoss" was what happened. It shall be there; it's no irreverence making for the door, but his father called out to his to the church, for none is meant, and it is only brother, the deacon, to stop him, and that worthy punishing two who deserve it.'~ did so eiThctually. We repaired, the moment the basement was re- "Shut the door,' neighbor, and lock it," said solved on as the place of operation, thither, that his father, and seizing a new riding whip, for at. Horsley might lay his plans. the book stores they were sold in that day, he gave "Fellows," he said, "we must not be about too "old Hess" as severe a fiaggelation, according to his much, for then we might be suspected, and you own account, but he may have exaggerated, as any would all catch it. You, yes, and me too. I verily "old hoss" ever got before or 5mev He came to a believe if it were only you, I'd let you take a little I number of us and told the story. I wish I &$uld for misery loves eompany~~ -. tell it like him. He could not refrain from joking Here he looked very solemn and said; at the way the deacon caught him, and he said he "Fellows, i'ts no go." was determined to catch his father and the deacon "No go!" we exclaimed. too. "Nogo. Don't you see that I have been practising ~ said he, showing the cross stripes on the blow gun all over town for these two weeks~ i his arms, "here are marks and remarks. I tell you Suppose they find me out, like that infernal paper what I am going to do, fellows; 1 fixed my plan matter, what would happen to this child-another when I was that long week in bed. You know edition to, not of, (I understandd these things from i that both dad arid the deacon are great on prayer, the bookstore,) the book of martrys. I should only they repeat too much, as I am a specimen. furnish another instance-book stor~ again-.-of a Well, I wished to carry the plan out at dad's, but I Brownrigg case-whipped to death. You ought can do it better at the deacon's. They hold conver- to see the picture of that poor girl, tied up by the old station and prayer meetings at each other's house, woman and undergoing punishment, as Tom and the deacon's opens on our alley." Jumper would say; I guess you'd stop joking "What deacon?" Boys, I read that Brownrigg case in bed, by way "Why, deacon Davis, up in the first ward. I consolation. I'll show you the picture-con have been practising the blow gun, and have ar- science, whipping to death must be awful. I have rived at perfection. I am as good as Captain been reading on this subject lately, and it don't Scott, who made the squirrel come down. I can take many blows with the Russian knout, and the hit a fly's eye-more, a mosquito's, and just when fellow don't suffer long. The whippings in the the worthy gentlemen are talking what a man British navy are some. They say that a man may V1 ought to do in the cause, aad just when they are be tickled to death. I wish dad and the deacon talking about martrydom, I mean to bring my blow had tried me in the tickling way. I'd let 'em off; gun to bear, and I'll see how they'll stand a little I'd had no proverb then on the matter, "You tickle bit of clay." me and i'll tickle you." We all laughed loud and long at this, and called We laughed at this and began to think the "old on him to practice, for we knew he was expert at Hoss" was right. it. He took his blow gun and tried upon our hands He burst into a laugh, and exclaimed: respectively, but he did not try but once, as we "You know that when they order a poor fellow collectively and singly declined, in the army or navy more licks than he can stand But it was suggested, why not take the basement at one time, that they give them to him in broken of the church to-morrow night? doses on different days. That is upon the same "Good," said he, "though it don't seem exactly principle of the Irishman with his dog-he want- right there. Yes, it shall be there. It was not a ed to nick the tail of his dog, and he nicked ott a little bit every day. because he didn't want to hurt him too much at a time. Ha! :ha! they are so merciful-they are-they have a doctor standing by to feel his pulse and see how much he can stand. Boys, dad and the deacon were not as merciful as the army and navy, there was no doctor standing by in my case, so then there was an over dose. I wonder if I could sue the deacon, Russell? Your friend Booth, who is studying law, must be consult- ed on this point. Booth's a smart fellow. I ought to study law-smart, smarter, smartest." "To smart, smarted, smarted." "No, my boys, I'm too smart to go-because I smarted. "Thus far into the bowels of the earth." If dad and the deacon had no bowels for me, I have some for myself, and what is more, my wor- thies, and therein is virtue, I have for you, and so ends this chapter-ye are OHPATER Xl. IIORSLEV'S J)EvELOPMENTS OF cHARAcTEIt-HE CAuSES HIS FAThER'S CLERK TO SNEEZE IN ct1UHCH-~THE CON- sEqUENCES-TIlE OLD cLERK'S LOVE FOR HIM-SCENE BETWEEN THE ELDER IIoRSLEY AND THE CLERK-THE FATHERS FEELiNGS TOWARDS HIS SON-REFLECTIONS UI'®N Mv AUT~BIO5RAFHY. Through all this liveliness in ~he tone of Horsley there was an evident bitterness. His father had always treated him with undue severity, for a harmless wit and drollery, which, it always struck me, resembled much the gentle Elm's idiosyncra- ems. Horsley had something of the look of Lamb in his features, but there was much more energy and force in his character, yet his jokes were often so strange and upon subjects which it seems almost forbidden to treat with levity. Being brought up in his father's book store, and kept under m'~ch re- straint there, and having a great fondness for read- ing, he was t~elebrated for his vast knowledge among the intelligent customers of his father's es- tablishment. Gentlemen who called in the store for a particular book, have often been keown to in- quire his opinion of it, and they would often refer to him as to where they could obtain a particular quotation. All this should have made his father 31 not only proud~ of him but extremely indulgent. ALnd though he may have been proud of him, yet he could not understand the original vein of mirth and strange remark which would startle the old man's notions of propriety. florsley, poor fellow, lost his mother at a very early age. He had only a slight remembrance of herand I have seenhim, with Cow- per's poems, on his knees, reading the poet's lines upon his ~ picture, while the tears rolled down his cheeks. He was a youth of true cour- age, but when the idea of some wild prank crossed his mind, it seemed that he could no more resist the playing it than could the starving man resist the taking of food if it were within his reach. It was believed that his father, with his rigid notions of things, could never get over a certain awful act on the part of his son, perpetrated one Sunday in the church, and that was no less a matter than the taking of a pinch of snuff from the box of an old clerk in the book store, who always came to church with old Mr. Horsley. and who always kept his snuff cox on the seat beside him, to keep himself awake; but the clerk falling asleep, the lad quietly applied the snuff to the sleeper's nose, which sud denly awakened him, and what was strange, with a fit of sneezing, which startled the whole congre- gation with its loudness and frequency. Many had observed the old clerk asleep, and as such a thing was not known in the memory of the oldest pew-holder, it had excited much attention; the con- sequence was that the confusion of the congrega- tion was complete. Deep was the love between the old clerk, Mr. Beazely, and the boy. The clerk understood his character, and loved him as a fond parent loves an only, sickly and gifted child. The old clerk took the child as his bed fellow after his mother's death, and absolutely nursed him with a woman's tender- ness. He used to take him into the book store with him, and show him pictures to amuse him, and every body who entered the book storo might see the old clerk, with the sickly boy in his arms, waiting on the customers. He had acquired such a habit of carrying the child on his left arm, and waiting on the customers with the right, that he could do anything necessary about the store just as well with the boy on his arm as without. And then the bright benevolence of the old clerk's face as he WILLIAM RUS$EIIL. page: 32-33[View Page 32-33] 32 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF looked at th8 child and suffered him to take off his its exhibition is improper, 'and, sir, if it were not spectacle~ and put them on again, and how he naturt~l infirmity, I should say unchristian. I hope would be amused when the child misplaced them, God will forgive me. Now, Mr. Horaley, you and how he would suffer him even to take out his have been an offender to-day yourself.....I fear a breast pin. Ta fact, the old gentleman had to dis- great offender. On God's day, a day consecrated to pense with his breast pin-a pin which he had worship and meditation,' to peacefulness and chari- worn from his boyhood-a gift from his mother; ty unto all men, you have exhibited an ungov- but he held neatness to be a virtue, and he discov- enable wrath, not only against me, but against ered that he could not comply with its requisitions this dear, motherless little boy, who is your if he permitted the child to play with the pin, and only child, the child of a saint in Heaven. Yes, as he could deny him nothing, he had to take it sir, I repeat, I fear you have been a great offender out. On the occasion of the child's administering to-day. And oh! I do indeed recommend you," and the snuff to him in the church, there arose quite a here his tone changed and his utterance was brok. scene between him and the father of the child on en, "my old master and friend, to an examination their return home. The child always walked of your heart in private." home holding the hand of Mr. Beazely, but as soon With hroken steps Mr. Hursley left the room, as they entered the house, the father was about to and the old clerk with crossed arms folded the child seize the son to whip him. Mr. Beazely asked to his bosom and burst into tears. him what he meant to do'? "Oh, my Pa Beazy," for so the child called his "I mean to whip him for his awful conduct." friend, "don't cry. Indeed Pa ain~t going to whip "Sir, you ought not to do it." ' me, I saw it in his eye when he went out. He "Ought not to (10 it? he is my child, sir-I will ain't gone for any switch, indeed he ain't; he has do it-Mr. Beazely, you have been in my employ gone to his o~u roor~ to sit and think just what forty years-you have been enabled to make a you told him to do;" and the little fellow took from handsome sum by your salary, which was and is his tiny pocket his tiny pocket handkerchief and large, sir. Sir, you have a handsome competency. wiped the old gentleman's eyes. Sir, such a scene as this has never happened be- As long as Mr. Beazely lived, Sammy had in tweca us before." him a strong protector. I do not know that I should "Yes, let father whip me," said the little fellow, exactly say protector, for the fact is that Sam- afraid that something worse than a mere whipping my did not tranrgress as much while Mr. Beazely was about to happen to his friend, lived as afterwards, not only because of his youth, "He'll have to whip me first, Suumy." but because of the fact that he was always with the Old Horsicy was unutterably astonished, old clerk arid away from his father. Beazely's "Yes, sir," continued the hitherto unoffending death made a difference; for Mr. Horslcy, who and obedient clerk for forty years, "whip me first. only thought of his son, and fejt that he was in Hear me, Mr. Horstey," continued the old clerk good company when he chanced to see him with with a dignity that was commanding, as with one the old clerk, after his ~ death was always arr~i he pressed the terrified Uttle boy to his heart, wondering where the son was whenever he chanced while the other was 'stretched out in the act of to be out of his sight. The father felt severely speaking, "this poor little fellow meant no harm~- the loss of a confidential clerk of forty years stand- he felt no sin-in the eye of God he has' com- ing, and would often forger that he was dead, and mitred no offence. He has seen me t'lte snuff in look around the store to speak to him, and missing the 'church, and when he asked me why I took So him, he would then feel that his son, if he were ~much snuff in church, I told him that it was to absent, which indeed was not often, was away at ~keep me awake, as people should not 3leep in some mischief. Whenever the son was away, .'hurch. I was asleep, and the child did that which mischief was of course the cause in the father's was natural. I was the sinner; if this dizziness opinion. .~cannot be controlled by me, I should not go where I trost that my ~ aders ~ ill lbve observed by WILLIAM RUSSELL. 38 this time, that I am 'not entirely like other auto- oak, and listened to his quaint advice to keep on: biographers,~ always wrapped up in myself, and "Go it, Bill, white you're young; ha, old feller. exhausting the printer's supply of the letter I you're as high up as you'll ever be." in hie case. I mean in tracing my adventures, Some days he would not go out at all, but take such as they are, and herein am I an egotist that ~ a book and ~it apart the whole day, maybe forget- have written at all-I mean not to be forgetful of ful of his meal, devouring the volume. I would my friends; I feel it would be an act of unkindness frequently go into the book store with him to look to them. And my reader too, whom I esteem my at the books, while old Beazely would stand by, 'friend, will perchance sometimes ask himself bow so much pleased. I delighted to go into the book the deuce, or where I could learn this or that? store with him, for he could explain most of the Yet he will please to be assured, being my friend, pictures to me, and then he did it so unconscious- that I do not always give him my authority, an ~ ly that I hardly remember I ever particularly feel in this regard that I am sustained by the au- was struck with his knowledge. It must have thority of Macaulay and others. But this is not been my impression that this knowledge came to it; I would not tire him with tediousness in say- Sammy as reading and writing d'o, according ing who told' me this or that. He may be assured to Dogherry, by nature. The old clerk always I have it from the best authority, welcomed me, and I was a sort of favorite even with old Horslcy himself. Another motive I had - ' for visiting Horslsy was the liberal distribution of confectioneries which Mr. Beazely generally made. CHAPTER xii. When I staid at my friend's over night) I was IIETRosPEcTIoN-MILL-PAM BUILDING-DIRD.NE5TING~"' amused at the perfect understanding in all matters lilY VISITS TO IIORSLEY--OFTEN STAY ALL NIGHT WiTH between them, like man and wife, without their HIM-cONvERsATION BETWEEN arM AND THE OLD misunderstandings. I had a bed in the room, cLERK-DEATH OF THE OLD CLERK-ITS INFLUENCE which was a very large one, and slept by myself, OVER HOR5LEY. while Horsley and the old gentleman occupied the Young Horslcy and I were early playmates. same bed. In a book store all his life, as was Mr. Together we played marbles; he was one of the Beazely, and having naturally a strong mind, the favored ones in the bestowal of my aunt's big pins, character of young Horsley's conversation, from as- and together have we gone bird-nesting out at Mr. association, was of a bookish cast, though it is curious Stetson's. Built in co-partnership was the mill- how, in spite of this, the propensity tojoke, and dam down in the woods, where, under the shade of for practical jokes too, should have been so strong the huge willows that overtopped the stream, we with Hurstey. The' old clerk was jocose, it is ttue, have labored for days, like beavers, in arranging but after a different manner from Samuel. They the various contrivances by which we made the would forget my presence as I lay in bed with the most of our water power. In aid of that gigantic candle out, and they would talk over the events of enterprise we were so, fortunate as to obtain the the day in the boQk store. The house did some loan, from Mr. Stetson's gardner, of a hoe arid publishing, but nothing like to the extent to which spade, and we were so unfortunate as to lose the publishing is carried on now-a-days. The penny spade, which lost us, forever after, similar favors, system among newspapers, prevalent now,, and the Ilorsley was my superior in the art of construe- cheap literature, in which, by the bye, this very tion, and I well remember how he has taktm the record appears, was not then known, so that their job out of my hands which I could not compass, customers were generally old dealers, and frequent- and constructed it, the while making such quaint re- ly on the appearance of some work admitted to be marks upon the art. But then I was his superior pre-eminent, they sent by their carrier a copy of it in climbing, being more agile and stronger. I have to a customer, known to be literary, without his seen him look up with wonder at me, as I called ordering it, pretty certain that he would do so, did out to him from the very highest point of some old he know of the publication, and mQreever, flattering 5 page: 34-35[View Page 34-35] 34 THE AhOBIOGRAPHY OF' his taste by so doing. Beazely had a keen eye him, or attempted to do so. I shall never forget the to the main chance, and his long practice as a intense anxiety with which my young friend looked salesman had made him observant of the characters for the flow of the blood. It came slowly, drop of men, and particularly where their literary tastes by drop at last; the doctor succeeding, the patient and propensities were concerned, was restored to a cloudy consciousness, lie opened "Mr. Simpkins, the flour merchant," said his eyes and looked heavily around, as if conscious Beazely one night when they were ensconced in of the happening of something which hccould not bed, sod the light out, and I was in bed on the entirely comprehend; at last he seemed to discern other side of the room, and they forgetful of my Sammy as one discerns an object afar off and longs presence, "always pronounces Byron Byrim.~~ for its approach. He stretched his hand towards "That's because he is a flour ~ re- his young friend, and seemed surprised that he was plied Samuel, "and was thinking of the rims of so near, and then saying distinctly, 'Sammy,' he barrels. I wonder he did not pronounce it Byflour. clasped his hand and shut his eyes, while through Ha, ha! You know that old Parson Trapper has their heavy and closed lids the big tears came. had a controversy with the Methodists upon free- When the physician did get the blood to flow, will, and he and Joe Shinn have a law-suit, and it seems that he bled the patient too profusely, for Shinn, it is said, ran at1~ay from the battle of North his constitution could not recuperate. But how Point. Well, he asked me the other day if he beautiful it was to observe the watching of Sammy was the same Shinn who wrote a book called by the eouch'of the invalid. Day in and day out 'Shin on Salvation.' I tol~i him I supposed so, he was there, hovering about him with a woman's as Shinn ran away from the battle aforesaid, shined care, and exercising 'so many little arts to cheer it. How the old fellow was tickled. He staid and soothe him. three hours, you remember, and bought fifty dol- "Well, you know that old edition of Bayle that lars' worth of books. I overheard him tell the old has been haiiging on the shelves so long?" the pa' gentleman that he thought [ had more wit than tient looked his remembrance, that was all-"well any man in town. The old gentleman replied to it's sold." him that wit was a dangerous weapon, and too apt The patient threw his arm outstretched on the to injure its possessor. Yo~ know what a pugna- bed. cious fellow Trapper is? lie replied that it cer- "Who do you think bought it?"-A look of in- tainly had not had that' effect in this case, as it quiry, no more. had caused him to buy t~fty dollars' worth 0i' "Why, old Bayle the grocer; he believes he is a books." descendant, because somebody told him he looked "Yes, but Sammy, how came you to send Par- like the portrait." A gentle ~mile from the patient. son P. Walter Scott's novels the other day when "He tried hard to buy only the first volume, but he sent for ~'Scott's works,' meaning the divines, he had to take the Set." and signed his name to the note? He returned Again the patient relapsed into almost uncon- them with a fiery answer, I assure you; but I sciousness. showed It to you." "What do you think the price was?" "I could'nt help it," was all the reply that Sam- "Price, price?" said the patient quickly, "five nel could make in his de~fence. per vol." In the middle of the night I was awakened by "Well, it sold for four per vol." Samuel, who said in a hurried manner that Mr. "Wrong, Sammy, wrong; invoice price four Beazely was sick, very sick, and would I please to twenty-five~" awaken his father, who slept in the room below, "It has been on hand so long, though." and hurry for ~the doctor. I instantly complied The old man nodded. with his request. In about half an hour I return- "They talk of making a change in the store-" ed with the physician, and found the father and son Here the patient roused himself. chafing his temples. The physician instantly bled "What change?" he asked. 36 "They're going to change the miscellaneous de- much of a one as to censure the theatre. With apartment to the left side, and put the law and so forth on the right." "No, Sammy, no change-no change till I come down. I'll see to it-no change. Yes, come here, 5ammy.~~ "Here I am, sir," said Sammy, giving the pa- tient, ou who.e features there was a fearful look of the passing away of the spirit, his hand. "Change, change, all change, Sammy, but you and I do not, even ~ the old clerk, in the effort to express himself, yielded his spirit to the better land, where, in the appearance of a new edition-to use an illustration from his craft-there will be the need of as few emendations and correc- tions as frail humanity generally allows. It was for the living that I grieved. I thought my poor friend would lose his reason. Indeed the physicians for a long time had fears that his mind was affected, and the peculiar idiosnycracics of his mind and character developed themselves so strong- ly that one was tempted sometimes to think so. At times Horsley was the gayest of the gay, but in its very midst, if anything called up the name of Beazely, he was all gloom for hours. Then he had moods of abstraction, interrupted by the strang- est pranks and contradictions. In fact, many per- sons thought him partially deranged. CHAPTER XIII. ~IY AUNT MISTAKEN-THE DIFFERENCE BETwEEN PRE- PARING FOR COLLEGE AND PREPARING FOR PRIVATE THSATRICALSRETRO5PECTION OF THE FIRST PERFOR- MANCE I EVER WITNESSEDCOOFER-BOOTRALICE HURT wiva ME-BORSLEY AND I GO TO THE THEATRE TOGETHER-I ~M STAGE ~mTRUCK-' -BYRON'S SARDANA- PALUS ADAPTED TO TIlE SYAGE BY MYSELF-SUGGES- TIONS ABOUT MISS WATSON. While my good aunt thought I was preparing for college, I was deep in private theatricals. Until Hanson, my tutor in elocution, left-to be sure 1 'vas then but a mere buy-I refrained, or rather was restrained, from going to the theatre more than two or three times by his influence, for he could be so little of a moralist as to half break a poor girl's heart, and that without any result to himself but the gratification of his vanity, while he could be s~ my aunt's permission lie had takemi me to the thea- tre three times, and without her permission or knowledge, after he left, I had gone a great many times more. I practiced much diplomacy with my aunt to get the needful upon such occasiOns, and I believe if' the old lady had not given it to me, that I would have stolen it from her-from no one else but from her; and as I felt myself to be her heir, 1 should not have thought it theft to take that which in course of time would naturally be mine. It is, however, with such sophistries that crime always begins. The very first performance I ever witnessed was Brutus, the part of Brutus by Thomas A.'Coopcr. 1 shall never forget it. Hanson took me. Three times the day it was agreed upon that I should go, I passed and repassed the Holliday street thei~tre, with a kind of glee and chuckle to myself at the idea, as I looked on its walls. "Ha, old boy! (how we personify everything,), you shall have glori- ous secrets from me no more." It was almost the feeling of the half angry lover who gazes upon the coquette who has at last named an early day.. It was something of Richard's, "I'll have her;" the "I'll not keep her long," I can't say I added in my imagination, for certainly I considered the histrionic art the art of arts, and myself gifted that way. Alice Clare had invited me to a little party that night, but I forgot Alice Clare and her party too. It was the theatre, "The play's the thing." I was as cager as Hamlet, but with a diffeicut impulse. I remember how inattentively I walk- ed that evening in 1-loward's woods by Alice's side. I mean how inattentively to her, and won-' dered if the sun would nevbr set. After school, of an afternoon, it was much the custom for oor school girls and others to stroll through those woods with some of us boys with them-arid there I was strolling with Alice and forgetting her presence. "Alice, I am going to the theatre to-night; I wish you were going." "Why I thought you were coming to my par- ty?" she said, in an offended ton". "I know, I know, I want to go, Alice, hut then ~ want to see Cooper's Brutus." WILLIAM RUSSELL. page: 36-37[View Page 36-37] 38 "Well," said she, "Mr. Peterson will be witi us-he sent. me a beautiful bouquet this morning from his father's garden-and he,! hope, will recitE for us." "I trust so, Alice, and as you think I can beat him already, I s~iall look on Cooper to-night and learn to leave him in the distance," said! proudly. "I don't think you can beat him in every piece," she said. "'~'hen, Alice, I will exert myself the more, and so you do not let him beat me with you I am con- tent. Don't, Alice, smile too much on him to- night." "I shall smile as I please,~~ exclaimed Alice, haughtily. "It is your right," I said, "Miss Clare," for I had learned the early art of understanding at least someof the sex. I remember well how eagerly I clung to Han- son's arm as we entered amid a crowd, for there was always a rush to see Cooper in those days. We had taken front seats, and I was no sooner seated than looking round the theatre I caught a glance of it all in a moment; How I should like, I thought. as I glanced at the stage, which Hanson wasexplaining to me, how ! should like to give them a touch of the Exile or Mark Antony; and I was already settling in my own mind what part I should play at my first appearance. If it were now or within a few months, I thought I might play young Norval-- "My name is Norval," no, I have outgrown him. Let me see, I said to myself, I shall be nearly six feet high, a well developed chest, neck well set upon my should- ers-but the curtain ros~ and I forgot everything. When Cooper entered the applause was great, and [did certainly think him the "noblest Roman of them all." hat a gilded memory I still have of that I consider Cooper one of the handsomest men I t~ver saw. ! may say the handsomest, though I think "Tiger Tail," the Indian, in some points his equal. ! got Brutus, which I hold to be an admirable play, the very next day, and went de- claiming its beautiful passages everywhere. After Air. Cooper's engagement was concluded, Liooth was immediately to appear, and I was hoard- ing my pocket money with Horsicy to see that great but eccentric actor. 1 was told that Booth, the morning of the evening in which he was to ap- pear in Richard, could be seen in the market place, selling his turnips, the produce of his farm near Bel Air, and ! remember that Horsley and 1 got up early and repaired to the market house to see him, but we could not get him pointed out to us. We went at night, Horsley and I. I was up to trap, having been, and Horsley was determined to go on my representation. He could command more pocket money than I could, owing to the unlimited indulgence of Mr. Beazely, who, Ishould have mentioned, left him his fortune, which was upwards of twenty-two thousand dollars, the pa- tient savings of fifty years as salesman in different bookstores, but mostly, as our readers are aware, in Horsley's father's, for in no other capacity than as salesman in a book store had he ever acted The pit was seventy five cents, boxes one dollar We were so far advanced toward manhood that the announcement, children half price, did not apply to us, though we would, in theatrical phrase, for that night only, willingly have consented that it should. We made the suggestion to the box keeper, chil- dren half price. "If your anxious mothers don't know you're our," said the crusty, but humorous old box keeper, taking what survey he could of us through the pigeon hole, for we presented ourselves before him half an hour before he had any other customer, "you had better go home, piy children." "But as 'yOu are all actors here, cannot we ap- pear as children for this night only?" inquired Hors- ley in his peculiar way. "No, you can disappear s children though,~~ re pJied he of the box office. So my lame duck of a fifty cents being eked out by twenty-five from Horsley's more abundant purse, we purchased our tickets, and sat down with them in our clasped hands by the pit door, against which we pressed every two minutes to test the strength of the door and know whether it was not open yet. Soon it was opened, and we descended into the pit in its emptiness. Here we debated with ourselves which were the best seats, and we ~1 changed them until the increasing crowd left no choice, and we kept our position by necessity. "Now is the winter of our discontent," certainly it was the evening of my absolute content. As characteristic I could not but smile at Horsicy, who certainly saw everything ridiculous about the play, and he was nt~t. unobservant of its beauties, but who, when a most miserable apology of an ac- tor announced: "My lord, the Duke of Buckiugham is taken," exclaimed, loud enorjgh for half the house to hear him, "I wish you had been taken, too." This created a shout of laughter in the pit, and made Horsley almost as much the observed of the, observers, as the proud representative of Shak- speare's heroes himself. But all this is of a date of earlier life than that period at which I Qpened this chapter by saying, while my good aunt thought I was preparing for college, I was preparing for private theatricals. Among the greatest events in a boy's life, at least to himself, are his changes front school to school, which like the passions he developes, are each of a higher and more permanent cast than the other, until he finds himself launched on the stream of manhood to act for himself. Some of us, however, are permitted t~ act for ourselves before we reach the port and stature of a man, and it not unfre- (luently proves sadly to our sorrow that we are- "Lord~ of ourselves, that heritage of wo." Yes, at the Pavilion theatre, vulgarly called the mud theatre, in consequence of its location in the meadows, there was a Thespian corps, of which I was the star, the "particular" if not the "bright star." We were making every preparation to brink out Byron~s Sardanapalus, at my suggestion, adapted to the stage also by myself, and of course I was to be the king. The great difficulty wasab )ut the femal characters. For though in England, up to Charles II. time, the female personations in the regular drama were bearded men, yet matters did not get on half so well aS when the bearded men were ex- cluded from playing women. 1 was about to say they might still appear in the parts of old women~ but I will not. At once the happy suggestion came from one of our number that probably Miss '~aria Watson, who had detached herself from the company when it left Washington, might be induced to play Myrrha for a small remuneration, as she was poor, and indeed it was hinted it would be a charity; and that her mother could easily be obtained to play the queen, it was also suggested. "But what kind of a looking personage is Miss Watson'?" I asked, though I knew very well, as I had secretly prompted the matter. "A cap-i-tal per-son," exclaimed my informer, who was himself an humble member of the same corps, whom we had gotten to speak to Miss Maira on the subject- This grave matter was the fruitful theme of three evenings' debate, and I believe that those of us who were in favor of having the sex legitimate ly represented would have been out voted had I not got Horslcy to make one of his droll speeches upon the subject. The fear on the part of the anti- Watsons was that our female acquaintances would not come if we had actresses. "Let them go then," exclaimed Horsley; "don't they go to the regular drama and witness females sustaining female characters? for my part, I've no desire to shave my beard-I have a beard, gentle- men-so close that it will never be heard of again, and make my appearance as "My own lonian Myrrha," There is a good deal of endearment between the king and his Greek slave, which, to say the truth, I would rather not enact, for instance: "the breath Of friends for truth, the lips of woman for My only guerdon-so they are my Myrrha's. Kiss me." Those who have oot looked into Byron will find, should they do so, that the noble poet here states in so many explicit words, "he kisses her"-so states the stage direction, and I suppose," he con- tinned, turning to me, "my friend means to com- ~ily 'with the stage directions." I bowed. "I presume, so it is to be presumed, that the fair. actress whoiu we propose having to honor us in this part on 'this interesting occasion, expects to comply with the stage directions also. I should THE AUTO~IOGRAPI1Y OF WILLIAM RUaSELL. page: 38-39[View Page 38-39] 38 THE ATJTO wish to comply with those directions aforesaid were I in n~y friend's place," bowing to me, "and doubt- less D*iss Watson may be also interested in that part of the stage directions, though I venture to say not so much so as my friend, as she is more familiar with such stage directions; but I am speaking for my friend; he certainI~' would not oe over much in earnest were either of us in the place of "My own lonian Myrrha," in the passage which I have already repeated. flow either of you, gentlemen, in that interesting passage would like to be in Myrrha's place I don't know-but I will suggest this to the imaginations of those who fancy the part, that my friend on the glorious histrionic occasion which we Thespians contemplate, is not unlikely to imitate in more respects than one those proud spirits who have so much awakened his and your emulation-those proud representatives of Shakspeare's heroes ~vho were very much in the habit of taking something to take-Cooke and Kean for instance, to say nothing of living worthies; and besides, I would suggest that he has also something to take on the part of the kingly Sardanapalus." It was voted to request Miss Watson to aid us on the occasion, and fifty dollars was also voted out of the general fund of the society to pay her, and myself and Horsley were appointed a commit- tee of two to confer with Miss Maria Watson in the premises. CHAPTER XIV. IJOESLEY AND I ON OUR WAY TO ~tI5S WATSON'S-CON- VERSATION AEOUT TH~ CHOICE OF A rROFESSION- wflAT IIORSLEY SAYS OF TIlE STUDY OF MEDICINE AND LA~v,4c.-ADvI3Es ME TO TURN PLANTa'R-ARRIYE AT MISS WATSON'S. I urged Horsley that night to meet me in the morning, that we might together Call U~Ofl Miss Watson and arrange matters, but it was not until the next day that I got him started. "Bjll," said he to me as we walked down Mar- ket street, (it was then called Market street but now Baltimore street,) what profession do you mean BIOGRAPHY OF to choose-law or medicine-or do you mean to he a gentleman at large?" "Well, what do you?" said I. "Th tt's Yankee, but I'll answer you; I don't know-I have a great attachment to books, and I also feel sometimesstirrings to mingle in the strife of the world. I rather presume, as I have a little competency, that I shall follow my whims, and in consequence make myself a very miserable fellow. What are you going to do? whim, it too-you are tolziming it now." "Really, you have me there-I thought of the law, but you see, Florsley, what an uphill work it is; there is a drag on the wheel even in its ascent, .-dook at the fellows we know-Johnson, Josephs, Wilminson, they do not earn their salt-absolutely do not earn their salt-yet! have some advantages for the law; I suppose my oratorical talent would aid me." "Yes, in frothy Fourth of July declamations- 'shine out, fair sun,' just one little day and clouds and darkness would be upon the rest of your year." "Why so?" I asked, yet I felt myself blush. "Why so? because so it will be. Now, Russell, I don't suppose you have any idea of turning doctor, the most abhorrent profession to me in the world. I reverence that man who undertakes it as a phi- lanthropist-I despise him who undertakes it for a livelihood, or rather I respect him just as much and no more, as I do the butcher who takes up a re- voltixig but necessary trade to live by it. But I repeat, the man who does it that he may do good has my profoundest homage. I take it you are not that man." "Thank you, Horsley." "For nothing. I am speaking seriously. If you 'read law,' as the phrase is, the law will be unread, while you will be 'reading the lore of ladies' eyes,' as Tom Moore or some other Tom says. You will just be among the host of idlers who dawdle their time away about the court house, and make reading law an excuse for idleness, which. they would dignify by seeming to be some- thing. You'll be of those whose name is legion. who may be seen around th~ bar whispering the last scandal, fitting themselves to be in the bar, talking of the last party or horse race, or pretty actress-I have you there-or maybe wading ankle WILLIAM RUSSELL. 39 deep into the great ocean of politics by acting as 1 "In contradistinction to a loafer! Well, you secretary of a ward meeting, held to consider the don't certainly mean to say that you mean to be a condition of the country, and so flinging away yqur existence upon follies and frivolities." "Why, what the deuce would you have me do?" I exclaimed. "I would not have you of such as I have describ- ed. If you 'read law,' you surely will be, unless you are born again-I do not meaii to speak ir- reverently-of the spirit of the law. You have tal- ents, quick perceptions, and a great deal of muscu- lar energy. You are of the temperament of actors and orators, 1 will admit, but you have strong passions which you have not learned to curb, and I am afraid you have a good many wild oats to sow, and if I could not break the stick as I choose, I would wear it gracefully and not give it to another to break my head with." "What are you driving at?" "Well, not exactly what you are driving at- an actress and private theatricals. I am thinking of your position on the public stage among real ac- ~ where we have no kings. Here, were you to attempt to play the part of a republican, a private Sardanapalus, you would meet the fate of the king- ly one. whose part you have yourself adapted to the stage, and who himself, talking of the life which he has led, speaks also of affording an ex- ample of warning to others, to "avoidthe life Which led to such a consummation." "Really, Horslcy, you have turned moralist." "Not a bit of it. I see your character-I am your friend-and I would, to use a phrase natu- rally arising in my mind, from our present mat- ters in hand, I would have you place yourself pro- perly and gracefully on the stage before the curtain moralist, a christian, and imitate 'The first true gentleman that ever lived,' as one of the poets has beautifully said of the Sa- viour?" "Why no, I expect not that," said I, somewhat. annoyed, for there was an earnest, searching man- ner about Horsley, which I could neither dodge nor laugh at. "There, here we are at a stand ~ said he, stopping in the street. "Stand still! why, man, we are going to see Miss Watson." "Yes, so we are, but you're not fitting yourself for college. I have been observing you some time, Russell-you are not fitting yourself for college- you are unfitting yourself for college and fitting yourself for anything else." "What would you have me do, I repeat'?" "There's the rub, I repeat. 'Tis decided you will not be a physician." "Certainly nut," I exclaimed. "You ~ be a lawyer?~~ "That's not so certain," I replied, "I certainly had notions that way, but say out your say, speak the speech, I pray you, not as I pronounced it to you of the law, but just as it would occur to you of your own advisement, like old Polonius to Laertes." "Well, well, I never was more serious, 1~us- sell. We fellows are leading very foolish lives lately, and I've been thinking of it. Do you know you drank five juleps last night, and did not get to bed until three this morning?" "I know it, but at the present writing I feel 'rises." like silk." "Well, you have not told me what part to place "Silk, you'll feel wor8ted before long-but blasl myself gracefully in, yet." a punster's tricks in serious matters. I drank but "There's the rub-merely from what I under-. three juleps, yet! feel them coursing in my blood stand to be your ~ means and your father's, to-day like lava." which I suppose will be yours, I trust you do not "But, 'old ~ you ate like an anaconda, atean to lead a life of utter idleness, or to use beef steak, oysters, turtle soup"- the new vulgar but more expressive word, be a "No such thing-I ate too much-but if I had loafer." eaten as much as you did it would have killed me' "Why, I trust not; I expect always to be i ~ Oh shade of temperance, you drank Scoteb ala tleman in contradistinction to a ~ besides." page: 40-41[View Page 40-41] 40 THE AUTOBIOORAPIIY 011' "1Vh~~, what are you sermonizing about, most wagnanimous, most worshipful, aud most moral Mr. Samuel Horsiey.~~ "About our way of life-we must break the stick straight in two, Bill-straight in two." "Not until we have played out the play," I ex- claimed. "Well, agreed. But as I was saying about your choosing a profe~sion-you have talent and all that enough, but your love of the sex, your high animal spirits, and your want of patient ap- plication, would prevent your applying yourself so as to give you any other than a nominal position at the bar. I tell you why I say all this. Old Gorum, the lawyer, was in the store the other day when you were, you remember. When you went out he spoke of you; he said you were a man of talent, that he was pleased with your conversa- tion, and he supposed you meant to read law and be of the mob of young briefless barristers who live at ease about the bar upon what money they have, and do nothing hut set a bad example to the poorer class, who can't afford to live as they do." "Well,, what would you have me do?" "Why, call yourself a farmer, live gracefully on your farm, and then you may do just as you choose; or you may call your farm a plantation, the estate which you will inherit will be large enough for such a cognomen, and then you can call yourself a planter; but to prevent being taken up under the vagrant act, you had better have some ostensible mode of livelihood. Then as it pleases you, you can cultivate pigs or politics, poultry or poetry, and you will be under your own vine and fig tree, and there will be no one to make you ~ "Good," said I, laughing, and in fact struck with the idea, "but here is the house of my 'own lortian Myrrha'-let us enter, and 'old Iloss,' asi am to 1o the acting with the lady, (10 you so net as to set me off." / CHAPTER XV. MISS WATSON A t HOME-HER APARTMENTS-wE DIscuss HER BEFORE SHE ENTERS-HER APPEARANCE-SHE CONSENTS TO APPEAR AS MYREHA-wE STUDY OUR PARTS TOGETHER-SCENES BETWEEN US-HER AlERT- TION-SEE MAKES ME FORGET OTHER PEOPLE. It was in Old Town, just over Market street bridge, that we found the abiding place of Miss Watson. A little black girl, who seemed to be what the New Englanders would call the "help" of the family, opened the door, and ushered us into a parlor, very plain, and with nothing notice. able about it. She announced to us that Miss Wat- Sun was in, and would be down presently. Miss Watson had been very much the admiration of our club for her performance in light comedy, and some of her characters in farces were admirable, but she had never found place yet in the higher walks of the drama, and the quere was, could she per- sonate such a character as Myrrha? I, who was anxious for the eclat of appearing with a real ac- tress, and Horsley, who seemed always, except when he had some wild prank in his head, to think of the fitness of things, and who seemed to yield to my humors that he might control me in higher matters, as I have suspected since, was decidedly for having her undertake the part if she felt dis- posed to do so. Miss ~ personations in the lighter drama had impressed me very favorably. There was an airy grace and naivete in her manner, which was very taking, and in those graver parts which came up, even in the lightest representations, there was an impresiveness and pathos which it seemed to me only wanted opportunities of development to cx- hibit tragic talent of a very high order. At least such was ray impression, and I had thought overt such mattOrs a great deal. There also was a strength of expression in her countenance, which' had been frequently remarked upon, and an energy~ in her look and hearing that seemed to promise~ something not yet fulfilled. This struck me-.-but~ the young lady was still only the queen of cham-~ her maids in comedies and the dashing second rater line of characters of farces. "~hc is keeping us waiting for an histrionic dis- plny in her toilet, I suspect," whispered Horsley 'C suppose she will enter gew-gawed to death and dressed within onc mortal half inch of her life.'~ But be had scarcely spoken when the doox opened, and Miss Watson made quite a dignified and at the same time easy entrance. She was dressed in a calico wrapper, of a plain and dark pattern, with a simple linen collar turned over and I confined with an ordinary broach, and I observed she wore quite a stout shoe, though it fit exquisite- ly, and the foot was very small, with a springing and high instep; her mouth was rather large, but she had beautiful teeth, and her chiseled nostril moved with every breath, which gave a look of passion to her face. Her brow was broad, not high, and the tern pies were accurately defined. with that look of genius about them of which Cole- ridge speaks-at least I thought so, for she was to play Myrrha to my Sardanapalus. "1 have made no toilet, because," said she, "I would not keep you waiting," and she requested us to be seated. I left llorsley to talk over the matter of our visit, the while my admiring eye was full upon the attracttve actress. CC I will be frank with you3 gentlemen,~~ she said, catching back her curls with the tortoise shell comb, such as were worn in those days, and speaking evidently without disguise, "I think my- self qualified to play such a part as Myrrha, though circumstances which I could not, of course, control, have kept me in a different line of characters. I am anxious to show that I can enact higher char- acters. Vou, I believe, Mr. Russell, play Sar- danapalus." "With you for a Myrrha I shall try-at least I may serve as a foil to you.~~ "I have often heard, Mr. Russell, of your taste for the drama, and of your skill in reading-have you ever played before?" "Never-this is my first atteral)t." "Do you think you can stand unnerved the au- dience, the array of lights, the music, the excite- ment?" "I am inclined to think so," I replied-"are you a physiognornisr-don't you think so?" "Well. I'm not a physiognornist, and there is no telling; the subsequently most suceessfui have failed at first" '3 41 "True," I said, "but we do not sell any tickets -we give them away to our friends, and there will be none hut friends there-so I hope to sus- tain myself." "Oh! there's no doubt about your sustaining yourself; as far as knowing his part and repeating it goes, I assure you, Miss Watson, he will be there. Eever since he was knee high to his aunt's footstool he has declaimed to the delight of every- body and to the especial delight of the declaimer- the experience of Dick, the apprentice, is nothing to Ilussell's-all I fear is that nothing mal-apropos ~rill happen to cure him of his stage mania. I charge you, on your conscience, do nothing to in. flame it, Miss W~~5~n?~ "On my conscience," replied the lady, "and I assure you, I know no amateur actor with whom I would so soon appear as with Mr. Russell-I have heard of his readings, and in fact I have heard him read." "No matter-I'll tell you some other time," re- torted the lady archly, "but I have little doubt of Mr. Russell's success if his nerve hold out- and"- "Speak out," I said. - "We only understood the stage effect. I feel, gentlemen, great solicitude in this matter~, for this reason, that should I make a hit as Myrrha, why the town will talk about it-that very portion which you represent, and who are the patrons of the drama; and I shall then have ~n opportunity of placing myself in proper position with the manager, therefore I am doubly anxious that everything should go off well. With you, Mr. Russell," she said, turning to me, "the affair is the eclat of a night, and your want of success would be nothing, for should you greatly succeed, you might be told, what Chesterfield-was it no ?-said to the gen- tlema' who danced remarkably well, that he danced too well ror a gentleman- so you may act too well-I mean in tee player's l)art-for a gen- tleman. With me it is different; I play profession- ally, and cannot play too ~vell for anl actress." "We have one of your corps who will assist in all matters whereof we are ignorant,~7 I remarked. "Yes," said the fair actress, "you must let me see the play as you have adapted it, Mr. Russell. WILLIAM RUSSELL. page: 42-43[View Page 42-43] 42 THE' AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF Do Crafts, (the man who was assisting us) has told me' that lie thought very highly of it. You must let me see it; I should like to read it with you several ~ "It will give me great 'pleasure. Really, if in our little corps you should make a' hit in a new line of acting, and so high a 'one, we shall deserve a place in theatrical history." The fair actress blushed; Ipromised to call on the morrow with the play. and we took our leave with the understanding that she was to appear in the part. To the forgetfulness of everything I studied my part with the fair actress. Morning, noon' and night was I strolling over into Old Town. I re- member now how I used to take a by street that I might rehearse my part a little tQ myself as I went along. And then the 'perfectly at home manner of the actress. She dwelt in a small two story house in Front street, which was very plainly furnished, and in which, as I have said before, there was nothing that marked the professional life of the indweller. The little black girl, who caine to the door, was their only servant, and ~liss Watson in- formed me that herself and mother painted'maps for the booksellers, or even took in sewing when not professionally engaged. She had been twice on a professional tour, but she did not like it, and she said she was not sorry when the present man- aglr had left without engaging them. Her mother was not at all remarkable as an actress, and just maintained the footing of always being letter per- feet in her part, and of performing it respectably.. "If you will stay and dine, I will give you a mutton chop and a potatoes " she would say, "and you'll excuse me if I set the table in your presence you can watch me and see if I don't do it well. Did you never observe that we theatrical people always have the manner of persons looked at; that is, we always sit with a grace, a consciousness, and stand with a consciousness, and live, and move an(l have our being with a consciousness-there," said she, bowing to me one evening when I was staying to tea, "and did I not, 0! kingly Sardana- piles, put that plate down with a grace?" "You did, my own lonian Myrrha. By the bye, look here, Miss Myrrha, Byron says here, in his dramatic persoute: 'Myrrha, an lonian female slave and the favorite of Sarditnapalds.' Thereby hang8 the wish tha~t Sardanapalus might be your favor- he-one good turn deserves another." "So you are my fayorit~, do 1 not love you-do 'I not say my 'la~t' thought is yo.nr's7 do I not *die fQr you--ia the play?" "But will you live, for me here?" "Come, King Sardanapalus, keep your love- making for the boards," said she, slightly blushing, "or carry it to the ears that should, properly listen to it." "Here, mon amje," she would say, "when you embrace me at that passage where yo~i tell me I embrace you: "Myrrba, embrace me; yet oace more, eace more! Love we whate'er'betide: My chiefest glory ~halI be to maice me worthier of thy love-" "Please put your'arm just so--and. I will so manage it that the ladies,' your dear friends, can not know whether there is any kissing or not. I foresee I shall get' you into trouble. I kiss profes- sionally.-. never at rehearsals, never-but on the stage, and there I have about as much feeling in the matter as Napoleoii's sister, Pauline, had, when she sat to Coiiova, and that was none at all, for the room was 'well aired.' lh fact, my feeling', is generally that of supreme disgust, to be breathed upon by the gin-blasted breath ot some poor drunken wretch, who is playing Paul to my Peggy ~n some farce or other. I assure you, my goid sir, 'us no farce to me. So even the quakers would pardon me as' they pardoned a 'Friend' who was caught kissing a simple sister, inasmuch a~ I 'kiss without an appetite.'" Sometimes Miss Watson' and I ~vould take a ride away into ihq country, andY wandering deep into the woods, we would rehearse our parts to- gether. She read beautifully, and how I delighted to lay my full length along at her feet and listen to the music of her voice. I believed myself a good reader, and she flattered me into the convie- tiofl that I was one, so I often took the book and w~td to her, arid we would talk together with soeb a warm sympathy, of poetry, literature, a~oing; an(l the passioris'too, we would discuss, and that of lpve was often in our rIa~egory. Miss Watson was certainly the announcer of hold opinions irt the matter 4~ the passions; hut he~ WILLIAM RU$SZLL. conduct seemed above rejroach, and I observed, in all her freedom of intercourse with me, no one seemed 'disposed' to scandalize her. I saw'in her a deep ambition, the deepest to become distinguished, as she felt convinced she bud the power to distin- guish.herself. We were full 'a month in prepara- tion for our play, and I observed that her enthusia- ism 'never abated for a moment. I was; though I saw her daily, frequently in the reception of notes from her about some matter pertaining to t~ae play, whitib she had forgotten in our last interview, ~nd though we. had again and again rehearsed ~ur parts together, she never seemed to tire of it, and I could not but think that she was about to make a decided hit. I felt my own courage mount, and the conviction came to me ~h'at I was not ~o fail, whenever we rehearsed together. 'She seemed to like me veiy much. She always ran up tome with so much joy in her countenance whenever I met her at rehearsal, y't she would say to me when we had been, for instance, rehaars- ing at night: "No,' you, shall nOt go home with me-'~is a ~terrible walk to Old Town-De Crafts can attend tee-call upon that beauty, that perfect beauty, Miss Clal c~[ do admire her so md'ch. Good night! Do not forget to-morrow. 0! King, and that you have an appointment with Myrrha,~~ and away she would hurry, leaning on the arm of this Mr. Do Crafts, as complete a puppy of a player as ever audience bore with, or as ever bored an audience. How it did annoy and pique me, and then [would stay aw'ay a day or two in spite of our rehearsals. "Oh, y m truant," she would 'exclaim, when :~he 'again saw me, "where have you been? gallant- ing the 'ladies and utterly forgetful of your 'own lonian Myrrha' 'and yot~r kingly duties-more- your theatrical oties-i sh~n't forgive, you-I shall" I positively quarrel with you if youtreat me so again. 0 Ho~v I hai(e missed you! no one to read to me, to talk to me about my glorious profession, for glorious it is, with all its tinsel and vagahoudism, full of glorious names too. No one to keep my spirits up about my new part, which is ot so much coose- qoence to me-your pastime. my earnest, my reality. 0! how I have oisSC(l you!" cumi that face of hers, which could express so fuocti, would exprcs'~ so much, and with a kind of magoe~ 43 ~tism thrilling through me f'roni her tones and pres- ence, and bewitching eye, I would take a seat be- side her and forget many persons and things which I should have remembered. CHAPTER Xvi. MISS WATSON AND I GO INTO THE COUNTRY-WE VISIT THE DEER' OAK-REHEARSE THERE-MARTHA JONES AND BOOTH COME UPON US-THEY PROMISE To COME TO THE PERFORMANcE-MISS WATSON'S FEARS AS THE NIGHT APPROACHES - THE NIGHT ARRIVES - ALICE CLARE--MES CROMPTON, &C.-HISS WATSON IN TH1~, CHARACTER 01' MYRRRA-THE LAST 5CENE~-THE CUR. TAIN FALLS-HER EMOTION-THE CONDUCT OF MRS~ CROMPTON. One, day, it was in the early fall, and the beau' ful trees of our Americanforest were just taking 'the tinge of the change which was coming upon theni, when Miss Watson and myself rode out into the country to enjoy the delicious weather and each other's society alone, and to rehearse together our parts. I left my horses and vehicle in charge of the boy who had driven us, and I proposed to her that we should take a stroll to a very romantic pldee called Oak Glen, about 'a mile and a half above Baltzell's blacksmith shop. She had often heard me speak of the glen~ aud was anxious to visit it. Accordin~r- ingly arm in arm we wended our way thither in the pleasante~t kind of chat-now repeating a' passage of poetry, now talking of some point made by some distiu~uished actress or actor, now discussing the different re'adiugs of Shakspeare, and now'givin~' our own readings of the l)assioiIs as to how they exhibited' themselves, and on my part, at least, mixing a~ little of the reality with the discussion. Our purpose wac to view ilie glen and not to enter it; so by an easy pathway we wound round a hill, an(l came to a point 'where a broad sheet of water was (ompreSsC(l between two hills,~ou~ of which~ the one on which we stood, was quite flat on top, with a precipitous tetininatiolt at the point wher& the stream passed through. Here, undei' an old oak called the Deer oak, from the fact that it was a Spot from which mauy deer had been killed, when thty were ku )wri in the neighborhood, we took a seat ~nd gazed in silence over t~'ie beautiful glen~ page: 44-45[View Page 44-45] 44 THF~ AUTOBI with the thread of silver water gleaming through' it. Only at this point could the glen be dis- tinctly seen, for at all others the oaks and un- derwood were so thick around as entirely to inter- cept the view. Here we sat, entirely secluded as it were from the world, at the foot of' the old oak, to which, I may observe, a path wound up more abruptly than the other, on the side of the hill by which we had ascended. After dwelling on the beauties of the scenery around us, I drew my MS of my adaptation of Sar- danapalus to the stage from my pocket, and began to read it. Almost unconsciously Miss Watson rose to her feet, and we rehearsed the most difficult scenes as they occurred to us. In the midst of our employment, who should come suddenly upon us but Booth and Martha Jones. I laughingly explainedeto them what we were doing, and made Booth promise that if I sent him tickets he would come and bring Martha with him, and I introduced them to Miss Watson. Martha had never been to a theatre, and Booth said that he would take her with' pleasure. Booth was a man of ability, but poor, and with hard scratching he was managing to live while he read law. There had been a great intimacy be- tween him and Martha ever since the affair at Lusby~s school, when Booth prevented her being punished by knocking down the teacher. Booth's position in life was an humble one, and I used to think at times there was a dogged discontent about him that made him very disagreeable. "I shall be so glad to go to the performance,~~ I said Martha, "1 have never been to a theatre, I and I know nothing of them, except that I have I heard you read and recite, and. talk of such things." C "Yes, Martha, you were among my first encour- agers, and 1 shall never forget it. I believe you were the very first. It is tho§e who first notice us, is it not," said I, turning to tli'e actress, "whom t' we longest remember, rather than those who chime' C in, be it ever so loudly, with the general voice?" d "I think so," she replied. "I shall never forget I~ the encouragement which old Burke, our prompter, 1~ t~ave me at my first rehearsal, when fright had xi made me utterly forgetful of ray part. Lie told me p to take courage, for he had observed that those who ut were panic-struck at first, often made the best tt OGRAPHY OF actors, r~nd that sensitiv~uess was a proof of arty thing but want of ability. Well, ['ye sensitiveness enough. Would you believe it, as the time ap- proaches, I shrink fearfully from attempting the character of Myrrha-one so much out of my' line." "You think I'm honest, don't you?" I asked. "Well, I do, except where women are concern- ed, as Addison would say." "Where you are concerned, in all respects hon- est. You have given me credit for some judgment and taste, in theatrical matters. I tell you, you will succeed-observe, all the parts will be respect. tably maintained. We have been rehearsing now for six weeks, by daylight and by candlelight, so every one knows his part. Remember, we have been rehearsing before a whole pit full of friends- 'twas like an audience-'twas an audience. I do not think any one Will be panic stricken, and if you just let yourself out, abandon yourself to your feel- ings, you'll make a hit, I feel convinced. Don't fear any fright on my part. I have declaimed a great deal in public, and I know that with von as Myrrha I can acquit myself pretty well for me." ~ curious, but' as the time approached I had to encourage the actress, but then she 'felt she had so much at stake. At length rlu~ important night arrived. The house was crowded by all the fashion and beauty, that could by any means obtain admission, and as ur tickets were given away to our friends, the hing was considered very select. Alice Clare ap- cared early in the stage box, attended by Mr. Peterson, who evidently had taken the greatest )ains with his toilet, and who evidently was taking very pains to make an impression. Booth was here, attending Martha Jones, and 1 was struck vith the expression of her subdued, earnest and beautiful countenance. There was Mrs. Cromp- on, the most aristocratic lady of the city, with a rowd of fitshionablen about her; she was a lady of decided poetical talent, and as heaotuful as Mrs. ~orton, who has so much. I had submitted ray IS of ~\'~y adaptation of th~ play to her, and had ~on h9r regard by following her advice in several particulars. There were a good many there who tmetosnfteratanyratE~, and a good many who came applaud at any rate, I 'lori't think I ever saw a WILLIAM RUSSEVL. more brilliant audience-every person in the house was well dressed, and held, at least, a respectable situation in society. I may say all the characters were well sustain- ed. Tom Johnstone, who played Salemenes, ac- quitted himself with great credit; he exhibited decided histrionic talent. I observed that Mr. Peterson was loud in his applause of him, partic- ularly in the scenes between Salemenes and Sar- danapalus-but I do not feel disposed to mention any particular one, except Miss Watson. I had gone after her myself, previous to dressing, and brought her dressed to the theatre; she looked the character admirably. But I was astonished at her nervousness. She put her hand in mine as we rode together to the theatre, and I remarked to myself its strange coldness, and that she never said a word. "My dear friend," said I, "what is the mat- ter?" "Oh!" said she, clasping my hand, "I have so panted to have an opportunity like this, to appear in a first rate part in tragedy, and here now that it is offered me under such happy auspices why should I feel so dreadful? this is just as bad as a first ap- pearance.~~ "The house was nearly full before I ca~e~you~ll have a brilliant audience. [ will do my best to sustain you. I think we'll-you'll coitie it-indeed I do-and then if you exhibit the talent I know you possess, your fortune ts made-for we'll make~ you the fashion." According to my adaptation, Sardanapalus enters in soliloquy, and is soon followed by My rrha. I say nothing of my greeting, but Miss Watson's was enthusiastic, and she looked the character so well, and bowed so gracefully to her greeting' that it was renewed again and again. The first scene, which is not very striking, Miss Watson got through well. It began to be whispered about the house, as she with dignity claimed to retire, saying: "My sovereigfi, I prdy, and thou too, good prince, permit my absence," that she was better in tragedy than comedy. But in the second scene hsr powers expanded, she be- gan to feel the fruition of her gifts. This passage drew down thunders of applause: 45 MYlUIHA. "Frown not upon use; you have smiled Too often on me not to make those frowns Bitterer to hear than any punishment Which they may augur. R'in~, 1 am your subject! Master, Jam your slave-Man, I have loved you- Loved you I know not by what fatal weakness, Although a Greek, and born a foe to monarchs- A slave and hating fetters-an Innian, Aad therefore when I love a stranger, more Degraded by that passion than by chains! Still I have loved you. If that love was strong Enough to overcome alt former nature, Shall it not claim the privilege to serve you?" The parts I have italicised were given with the highest effect; you could have heard the rustling of Mrs. Crompton's lilac satin. The following pas- sage was beautifully uttered. 0! her tones were so full of Woman's true tenWerness, and her eye filled and floated in a pearly tear, which, as she conclud- ed the sentence, stole out upon her cheek and glittered there a diamond of the purest water: MYRRUA. "The very first Of human lire must spring from woman's breast, Your first small ~vords are taught ~eu from her lips, Your first tears quenched by her, and your lastsighs Foe often breathed out in a woman's hearing; When men have shrunk from the ignoble care Of watching the last hour of him who led them," When Sardanapalus replies to this: My eloquent Joatan! thou speakest music,'~ the whole house thundered with applause. And further on, where the King refuses to yield to the entreaties of his warriors, and determines to go forth to the banquet- IIIYRRHA. ~sen thou wilt not yield, Even for the sake of all that ever stirred A monarch into action, to forego A trifling revel" SAROANArALUS. "No." AL~ RRItA. "Then yieldfor mine, For ray sake." This last line was uttered with such deep ten- (lerness ;hat no one wondered that the King yield- e(l for her sake. I know as I stood beside her, her tones thrilled to my very soul, and I verily believe the great credit I got for my acting was inspired by the magnetism of hers. The soliloquy of My rrha, which closes the first act, was given with great effect, and as the curtain "ent down page: 46-47[View Page 46-47] we met in the green-room. "How have I done?" said she, in a tremulou: whisper, as she grasped my hand. ~sGreatly,~~ I replied. "Fanny Kemble conk not equality, she has not your tones of tenderness.' She folded her arms upon her heart, and i'aic nothing,, but the quick breathing 6f her fram showed how much she felt. In the 2d act' Myrrha has nothing to do, except in the closing scehe, which she, gave with in- creased effect. In the 3d act, where she tells Sardanapalus to "Go forth and conquer," and where, When left alone, after soliloquizing, she draws forth the vial of "cunning Colchian poison," she was great. The "go forth and conquer" was uttered in tones which pealed through the whole house, and the audience fairly shouted their ap- probation. Where she tells Pania to go forth to the battle and to leave her, ~he was very powerful. This passage at her exit was very effective: "Nay then Iwill UO forth, A feeble f~mate 'n~idst thezr desperate strife, And bid thee guard ~ne tkqre-where thou shouldst shield Thy sovereign." . -. In the closing scene of this act (3d) where she as- sists Sardanapalus, who is wounded, off tIje stage, her tones of -tenderness were again' most taking. Her simple "pray lean on. me," touched all hearts. "I am making some of those fair gi4s jeal- ous,'~ she said to n~e -as w& teach ed th~ ~reerI room. 'What a gorgeous beauty that Miss Clare is-how she. watches us-she is in love with-you." "ha, do you think so-rather with the gentle- * man who is with her in the box." - "No, with you-'she feels so much, that she has ceased to plk~r him off on you. I (hin't wonder, indeed, 'you d~ look wall 'to tight. You are a very Sardanapalus in yotir nature, I fear." In act 4th, Myrrha~s manner in listening to the drearri of Sardanlipalos was anithir emsuuitOte i~i~'~e of acting. The ~hitting expre~simn of lt~r face was marvellom-.-.it was observed that the :~u~ 46 THE AUT4 the p~it rose in respect to her, and thundered thei approbation. I was struck with Miss Watson's manner whei WILLIAM RUSSELL. BIOGRAPHYY OF r dience rather looked at her to trace the effect of the dream on her than listened to Sardanapajus. ri Her mother as Zarina played with great spirit, owing no doubt to her daughter's success. s In the last act, where Myrrha fires the pile, she rose to the full sublimity of the tragic Muse. I Her farewell to lonia, which, with the aid of Mrs. Crompton, I had made longer than it is in the or I iginal, was uttered with an effect that drew tears from every eye. And her last words, ere she mounts the blazing pile: - - "'Tis fired, 1 come," were spoken in such a phrenzy of devotion, yet so caIrn withal, that when the ~urIain fell, the whole house, ladies and all, rose, and called for her again and again. - "You must go out," I said to her. "But what can I say-I cannot speak my gra- titude," and she shook in every fibre. 'You must bow in acknowledgment at least- crime my dear, my dearest friend," and I led her forth. Thunders of applause greeted her appearance, and then there was the deepest silence, while every person stood up. The fair actress looked round the house, as if she would. meet the eye of every person in it, and I was impressed with what I thought to .be her calmness, when laying her hand upon her heart, she burst into tears.. In a silence born of profound resliect, I led Miss Watson off the stage, and as soon as the Stage door closed upon us again, the theatre rc~echoed with deafening applaitse. While I was exchanging my kingly robes for republican ones-of Plain black, Horslcy, who, out of respect to his father, wotdd not take any part, though he would have shone in otte, came to itte with a message from Mrs. Grompton, saying site would be glad to see me in her box. "Wait for me a moment, Fitusley, and I'll go with you. What did you think of Miss Watson?" "Think of her! great, magnificent. Russell, our 'Ihespian COt~5 will have a place in history." "That's ins', what I have told her, und she bears it SO W(-lI.~ "B~antifnlly," said hlorsley, with enthusiasm, ''hcaiitifnlly." - 47 In a moment more, leaning on llorsl~y~s arm, I presented myself to Mrs. Crompton. "'Who is Miss 'Watson, Mr. Russell?' I told her.' "Ab, and has she to -paint maps and take in sewing for a living?" "She has, Madam, I have it from her own lips." "Mrs. Crompton looked at me with a searching eye. "Mi. Russell, is her character unimpeached?" "It is, Madam, on my honor, as far as I know, unimpeachable. I believe, Madam, the elevation of her character is equal to the greatness of her genius." "Do you think she has disrobed herself." "Yes, Madam, I left her in a plain black silk, in the green-room." "Can we easily get there?" "Easily, Madam." "I will take your arm, then, and call upon her and pay my respects to her. She is a brilliant creature. I never witnessed better acting, and I have seen muuh of it abroad as well a.~ at home." So saying, Mrs. Crompton took my arm, and making way for her through the crowd, we entered at the side door, and passed across the stage, the curtain being down, into the green-room. We foiind her surrounded by a crowd of adoring Thes- pians, attired in a plain black silk, her best and only dress gown in fact. I presented Mrs. Cromp- ton to her, and her manner, if possible, was better to the lady than it had been on the stage. "My dear." said Mrs. Crompton, "I cannot tell you how delighted I am-how delighted we all are. I have been partial to the theatre, and I have seen much acting. I never saw better; we have a jewel of therarest excellence in our midst, and knew it not until to-night. You seem tired?" "Thank you. 0! thank you for your kind words; yes, rather tied, Mrs. Crompton." "Come, take a seat in the box with me, my (lear and witness the far"e, and it 'A ill revive you the s:ime as to night; the part of Myrrha by Miss have ordered sotne refreshments - Maria Watson, (gr-at applause.) vj7he tickets on "But my dress," said Miss Watson, glancing at this occasion will be sold at one dollar each, the the lain hilack silk she had brottght with her from house rotted, the c~ntertainment being for the bene- borne, is not fit for the ~ress circle." fit of that brilliant star-no longer behind a cloud "My dear, you are radiant all over wtth your ---that has culroinated from our midst to-night. genius, ~ saying, Mrs. Crotupton, who could do such things with a grace equal to any one I ever saw, took Miss Watson's hand and placing her arm in her own, led the trem- bling actress to her box. It had been whispered through the whole house that Mrs. Crompton, the first lady of our city, had gone into the green- room to compliment Miss Watson, and when that lady appeared, leading her in, and ~gave her the front seat in her box and took a seat beside her, the whole house uncovered themselves in silent respect, and . ose until they were both seated.. CHAPTER XVII. HOR5LEY APPEARS ON THE STAGE-HIS ANNOUNcE- MENT-A 5CENE WITH ALJICE-HORSLEY S MO- TIVE FOR HiS ANNOUNCEMENT-I GO HONE WiTH MISS IyATSON-WHAT SHE SAYS- HER ADVICE TO ME. "Where's your mother," I whispered to Miss Watson. "Mother has gone home to get a little supper for you and, me," she replied, "when all this is ove;" Just at this moment the hell rang. I looked in wonder at the stage, knowing that the farce, which was 'Raising the Wind," could not come on so soon, as Jim Jumper had to dress far the principal female character, and he had not begun when I left the dressing room, when lo! who should make his appearance l)elore the foot lights but Horsley himself, in his plain citizen's dress; he was very popular with everybody, and so he was loudly ap- j)laude(l before they knew what he had to say. "Ladies and gentlemen," said he, with that naivete and attractiveness of manner for which he was remarkable, "I have the great gratification to inhirm you that the tragedy of Sardanapalns will he repeated on Thursday evening next, for the ~eco~'l and last time. The bill presented will be page: 48-49[View Page 48-49] "V. 'ED TIU~ AU TUb We are of opinion that the true way to acknow- ledge genius is to reward it." Thunders of applause greeted this announ~ie- ment; I felt a little nervous at the idea of playing for money, and I wondered that such an arrangement shotild be made without consulting me. In a few moments I withdrew from Mrs. Cromp- ton's box, and entered Mr. Peterson's, who did n~t wear the merriest f~tce in the world, and who kept his seat close by Miss Clare. I bowed. Mr. Peterson uttered some inane compliment to my Sardanapalus, and grew loud in the praise of Tom Johastone's Salemenes, but I grew louder and over topped him, and told him that Tom was greater in farce, if possible, than in tragedy. "Garrick," said I, "was painted between comedy and tragedy, with an inclination towards the comic muse, to show the tendency of his genius, and so our friend Johnstone might be painted. Though I don't know, perhaps his tragic powers are the gicater after all, and then ,the character of Salemenes is the most difficult in the play." Mr. Peterson was silent. "Well," said Alice, "I have been reading Sardanapalus repeatedly since you have had it in rehearsal. It is.a beautiful play. What made you select such a character?-it is a very odious one." "I don't think so." "Don't think so," echoed Alice, "what do you think of his treatment to his wife-it's almost a5 bad as Napoleon's treatment of Josephine. To think of a woman, and a wife too, flinging her love away on such a man." "Why; Miss Glare, that is a harsh censure." "It is just, Mr. Russell. I hope you don't jus- tify Sardanapalus, do you?" "I think he could not but love ~lyrrha, and we must think of the times in which he lived." "Well, who is Miss Watson?" "Alice, does she not play magnificently,.is she not superb?" "Yes, she plays beautifully, but I wonder a deli- cate woman can play such a part!" "Why not, Alice, you don't object to the King, do you, to your humble servant, King Sardanapa- Ins," said I, laughing. "Say Miss Glare, if you please. Mr. Russell-I object to the playing," said Alice, haughtily. [OGRAPUY QF I could not but observe the grim satisfaction which here sat upon Mr. Peterson's features. "A proper sentiment, Miss Glare," he remarked. "You don't object to the player, i~hough, Alice -Miss Glare-do you?" "I certainly do object to the player's playing such a parr-such sentiments." "My own Jonian Myrrha,~~~I exclaimed- "Alice, it was reality, it was no playing.". "Well, sir, there is your "own lonian ~yrrha~~ opposite, with Mrs. Crompton, who, I suppose, means to make a lioness of her. I advise you to take the reality to her, sir. I hope you'll meet with a return." "Thank you, Miss Glare, to obey your com- mand is but to follow my inclination," and bowing haughtily I withdrew. I entered the box where Martha Jones was seat- ed with Booth, feeling that I ought to speak to her, and yet shrinking at the idea that I might be thought fishing for compliments. "Martha, I trust you are well to-night--good evening, Mr. Booth." The gentleman bowed and offered me. a seat, but I declined it. "0! well,. I thank you, Mr. Russell, and so much gratified. I want you to promise me one thing." "What's that, you shall have it." "That ribbon which you wore with thoso flow- ers round your head. I have a fancy for them." "Certainly, you pay me a great compliment. I will go and get it now." And before she could prevent me I departed. In the grecit room I found Horsicy discussing his announcement of the second performance with a number of the Thespians. "Fellows, I did it myself," said he, "because I could not call you together. I gain no cuba by it~ I do not appear. but this lady is poor-what a magnificent actress she is!--. and this move will give her a thousand dollars-come, I'll ensure iL. No, some of you'might have objected to playing for the money; here's Russell, lie's just secli an individ- ual-tltough he'd play for idls vanity-old boy you played grenily; if it had nut been for the astounding hit of Miss VVatson you'd have been the talk. But, fellows, the bill is out, and you can't bncl out. I want it understood that I could have no motive hut WILLIA~V1 RUSSELL. a kind one towards Miss Watson, whom [scarcely know. I expect to get a thundering lecture as it is from the old gentleman. Some 'dear, good natur ed friend' will tell him, I don't doubt, that I made my appearance too, but he won't tell how or why." I hastened with my ribbon and flowers to Martha Jonas, who ~eeeived them with SO much real pleasure. "Now," said she, "the next time you come to see me I want you to read the play to me-will you not? I thought MissWatsort had a fine eye and face when you introduced me to her under the deer oak, but I had no idea that she could make me feel as I have felt to-night-my, my, but she is so gifted." "Yes," said Booth, "and she has been playing here for this year past in lhrces and not exhibiting any particular ~ "Foote made his first appearance in Othello," said I, "and he made a failure of course. And I believe Matthews thought his forte was tragedy. Unless we strike the vein of ore we work the mine in vain." Here I saw Miss Watson beckoning to mc, and I hastened to her side. "Indeed I feel so worn out," she whispered to me "I should like to go home; so many persons have been here to say pretty things to me, that 1 am quite exhausted. I exerted myself so "I whispered to Mrs. Crompton her condition, and she told me to use her carriage and escort her home. "Adieu, Miss Watson," she said, in her kindest tone, "we shall soc you at your benefit-every one now will appreciate your genius." Scarcely a word did either of us speak as we Tolled in Mrs. Crompton's stately carriage to the humble house of my fair companion, whither I had ordered, without her knowing it, a collation, that her mother might be spared the expense and trouble of getting one. Arrived there, Miss Watson walked to and fro two or, three times, and then, as if impelled by an impulse she cruld not resist, she threw herself ir. toy arms and exclaimed: "My more than lover, my true, disinterested if you had not whisper~1 so many words of ebeer- ing, I should have broken down at first and for- ever. Notv, now, I feel I ant5 pfe, 'tad I se~ a bright pathway before me. God forever bless you." I led her to the sofa, and seated upon it pbs rested her head upon my bosom, and I felt through the thin cambric her warm tears on my very heart, and I believe they awakened more than one ira- pulse there, dormant until then. Mrs. Watson's manner arrested my attention; she silently embraced her daughter when they met, and while she was arranging the table for our little feast of wine and birds, she could not take her eyes from her daughter, but seemed to look at her in a bewildered wonderment. I told Miss Watson of the scene between Alice and myself~ "Beware, my friend," said she, with great seriousness, "if you love her, beware-.-a jealous and proud woman will do anything. She is jeal- ous of me, perhaps; J told you so. ~he will en- gage herself to that Mr. Peterson, or that Mr. Any- body else, and marry him before you are aware. The heart, somebody says, is easiest caught in the rebound." CHAPTER XVIII. MiSS WAT5O~ 5 BENEFIT-MRS. GILOMPTON WRITES A P~OLOGUE-J DELIVER IT-MISS WATSON 'a SECOND APPEARANCE-NEW POINTS MADS DT HEEL-JUMPER'S PROPOSAL-MY CONFLYSIOM-.. ALICE AND I-WHY JoU$5TQNR WAS NOT so GOOD Ill SALEMENES TilE SECOND Tt~Z-.--2~ilZ PRESS-TI{E RESULT OF £XCITEMZNT AND P1*- SIPATION~ Miss:wat~n's benefit on Thursday night was, if possible, even more successful than her first appear- ance in Myrrha. Public curiosity was intense to see her, and as there was only a certain number of tickels issued, which eould not be obtained at the dier, being only taken in there, and which could only be gotten from the different members of the society, to each of whom a certain noinber was given for sale, the anxiety toobtain them wee very great. Each member was emulous of making the most by the sale of his share of tickets, so the re- friend. If you had not so well sustained me- I suIt was that many of them sold as high its llfteen 7 page: 50-51[View Page 50-51] THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF aild twenty 'dollars, and one gentleman, a merchant j looked at his neighbor to Bee the effect on him, and from Boston, who wished to he of Mrs. Crompton~s party, gave fifty dollars for, his ticket to that lady. I sent myself 'Martha Jones and Booth tickets. Alice Clare came attended by Mr. Peterson, who bad purchasedd from me tickets'f6r her, Miss Ben- net and1 himself. lie gave (wenty dollars a piece for them, and 1 did not fail to let it be known to the ladies.' Mrs. Cromapton wrote a prologue 'at my request, and 'a very neat one it Was, and I spoke it~ It was :up'on the promise that I would speak it 'that she wrote it.' She said she 'knew that my memory would soon get it and 'easily retain it---which was a fact-and she was pleased to'sa~ that she would not trust it to anybody's elocution bat mine. It went off well, and, 'strange thing for a prologue, it was encored, but that was in honor of Mrs. Crompton. / 'A~ for me I knew every line of' th0 whole play, at 'least a~ I had adapted it, and I trod the board~ likean old stager. I certaitfly did not pove easier to myself in Mrs. Crompton's' drawing room~ how the fellows envied me! for "~ny own lonian Myrrha," and I seemed to understand each other thoroughly, 'and the real King and his lonian scarcely could have moved more understandingly together. Miss Watson's acting. was magnificent. It was fullerof excellencies than at first, for she made se 'erni l)oirtt~ which escaped her in the first rcproscntatjon-l'or instance, where Sardans pains' speaks harshly to Myrrha'just after his affectionate ftnd forgiving wife has left him, under the sting of retn6se: sArttJANAPArjlJa. "It forms no portion otynurduries, To enter here till sought br," ~vRmttA. Though I moi~ht Perhaps recall home softer words of y~urs, (Althuotth they too were c/mi2i~ng) which reproved me. Jecm~u~p I ever 4rearled to intrude; Ue~istiug my own wish ain.t your iolunction 'l'e heed so time oar presence but aniir',aeh you Voeahted t'~y: Iretire." This was said with so much lovi~ and yet offend- I ed love, that irs the "I ~ arosh to wotnarily dignity, that the whole house was ClLctrttied, arid I each person reeling the effect of it in his own heart,' I then all burst out into a shout of applause. As they become reconciled, Sardanapalus kisses her and says: "Kiss me-now let them take my r~a1m and life! They shah have both but never thee." MYRRIIA. No, never! Man may dispoil his brother man of all That's great or glittering: kingdoms fall-hosts yield- Friends tail-slaves fly-and all betray-and, more Than all the most indebted-but a heart That loves without self love-'tis here-now prove it." There was a pathos in her tones that moved every heart. I glanced at Alice at the moment an4 caught her eye full upon mine., She was scarcely ten feet from me; there was something in its expression which 1 could not read-it seemed both cold and kind, reproachful and forgiving, Miss Watson noticed it to me after we left the stage, and said she thought Peterson was playing irte false in some wtiy or other. In the last act the curtain fell in a tempest of ap. please4 Miss Watson was called out, and I had the honor of presenting her to the audience. She had committed a, speech~ which I had prepared for he~r, but she could not utter it. "Spealc kir me, 0! speak for me," she said, "Ladies and gentle~en,~~ I remarked, "the lady who leans upon my arm has desired me to speak for bet. Though she had pri~meditated something to say in return jbr your kindness, she cannot give it utterance. 'There are thoughts that lie too deep for' words,' we are told, and so it is with her gratitude. She feels that this is the proudest hour of her existence, and she bids rue say that it shall 1)0 the effort, the ta8k of her life, to show herself worthy of your kindness to-night." As I was riiakin~, what I took to he a must dig- 4 nithid exit, with Miss Watson on my aria, my par- ticnlar~ friend, James Jumper, Esq., who had rriade~ himsolt' ttis~nanimously tipsy in honor of the occa- sion, arose in the pit and proposed "th~ee cheers br !$ilI i~ussell, by -'..'.-...--," The three cheers were given 'apparently wrth great good will, but I' bad to slip Miss ~Vatson through the stage door, and return to make my host how, and I could have kicked Mr. .Jumper with all my heart, rtotwithstartditig lie looked at me as if be thought he was doing the very thing, as he stood swaying his body to and fro, leading the cheering. The U( notable Lorane Dudley, attached to the English embassy at Washington, and a gentleman of noble descent and heir to an earldom, who had seen the best actors of the age, and who was es- teemed a person of taste in theatricals, averred to me that he had never seen better 'acting on either the French or English stage. After the play' was over, I escorted Miss Watson to Mrs. Crompton's box, at that lady's request, and the whole house rose and uncovered as she entered. 'Mr. Dudley asked Mrs. (3rompton to present him to Miss Wat- son, and he advised her by all means to go abroad. tie said, and lie would endorse it, that she would succeed in Diury Lane, and he promised, if she would~ go, to give her such letters as would ensure her an appearance in whatever character she might select. Through the whole evening Miss Clare and I only spoke to each 6ther at ~ distance. I called on Martha Jones'and had a pleasant talk with her and others of my acquaintance. I observed how very attentive Mr. Peterson was to Alice the whole' evening; and whenever his thoughts wandered, as I thought they did sometirifes wander, I felt satis-, fled that he was thinking of starting a new Thes- pian society. "My friend," said Miss Watson to me that tiight as we were seated together in her happy home, "rn~ke up your mind in your love matters to act at once; remember what Sardanapalus nays:~ "To what gujfs A single deviation from the track Of human duties leads e~ en those who claim The homage of mankind as their born due, And find it tilt they forfeit It themselves." The proceeds of Miss Watson's heueflt were just eighteen hundred and t~n dollars, The money, in gold, was put in a beautiful purse, and Mrs. Crorap- ton was s~ kind as to undertake the delicate duuty of presenting it to her, which she did, as Mt~s Watson told me, with all becoming graciousness. TJie press was loud in praise of Mise Watson's acting. 11cr Myrrha was pronounced oti all ha~ds one of t~e most pert'eet representation ever seen. Full of the e~citernent ol' success, arid the way- ward feeling arising from my misunderstanding with Alice, and the new impulses springing front 514 my intimacy with. Miss 'Watson, I attended a sup- per given by our Thespian corps in honor of our triumph. My brain was in a perfect, whirl. I was possessed with such a spirit of restlessness that I could not keep still a moment, and every body was askitug me what was the matter for days before our performance. The fact is, the excite~ mont of the circumstances by which I was ~tur~' rounded was enough, without any extraneous ex~ excitement3 to throw me out of the even:tenor of my way, had it ever been very even; but as it was, our late suppers, dinners, and deep drinking, threw me entirely off my balance, and the night of our Thespian supper, above mentioned, I was little bet- ter than one crazed. I was crazed, for I knew not what I did or where I was. Somebody says that the ~assiov~ for excitement is a six sense. We smell, taste, feel, hear, see, and then we have this passion for excitement, arid happy is the man who can put mete~ and br~unds to it. Legitimately aroused, it is time impulse which has ~hieved all the great deeds of the world. What a passion for excitement Napofeoti had!'..-though I have often thought that cancer in hi~ stomach bad a great deal to do with it. 1 doubt very touch if he would have marched against Moscow had, not that spirit of unrest-the spirit of e~citemnent.-. possessed him. Why intellectual men-riot that I claim particularly to belong to the order-should be' So P~0~ tO inmlulge this craving for'exoitement, is a question often asked. The reply, that th~ fool- ish ~an ask questisna which the wise cannot ans- wer, naturally occtas to one in this category. But wild, wild, wild was I, and it seemed to trio that a new being wa~ horn tlrit(i roe. I dreamed of every thing. Strange and disjointed phantoms arose to my imagitiatioti. sometimes I thought that Alice Clare and I had quarreled; then I thought that I had reproached her with her partiality for Peter- son. ~~oinietimes it occurred to roe-'-Iike ~tha dim qickering of the sun through a cloudy day-that we had spoken together, ~nd thst she Jiad tolrl t~e she scorned I'et~rson, and then again I thoright I saw him received with all tendertiess by her. 01 whar a curse the un"errainty ot' these iselings aroused itt rniy mind. ~oohd I but hare ~eprrrar~rh the reality from the fancy. [dire the shifting eul- ors in a changeable silk or ~n g rainbow, or like the WILLIAM ~IJSS~LL. page: 52-53[View Page 52-53] THF~ ALY POJ3tOGRAPHY OF evanescent impression which the stone cast into the *ater makes, that widens and is lost ere you say there it is, my mind ran here and there over what I had done and what I had not done, until ~ fancy and fact were test together, and there was scarcely a "fixed ~ in my memory. What a terrible sensation all this produced. I awoke about four o'clock in the morning and knew not where I was. I gazed wildly round the room and knew not of my locality. Presently a gentle foot- step came to my bedside, and I asked who is it'? where am I? A gentle voice replied~ "'Tis I, Mr. Russell."~ "And who is I?" I asked. "'I'is your friend, Maria ~ "~y God! Maria, am I in your house?" "You are, 5j~*~~ "How came I here?" "You came of you~'self, sir." "Came of myself! Did I offer you any un~ civility?" "No, indeed-but you are unwell-can I do anything for you'?" "Maria, I have been dissipating so much lately ...my nerves are perfectly unstrung-have I done anything uncivil-anything wrong?" "Indeed you have not, unless corning here be wrong. YOu came here about three o'clock yes- terday, and said you were very ill, said you did not know What was the matter with you; you have been subjected to too much excitement lately. I '. insisted upon it that you should rest yourself. I went over to the apothecary~s and got you an opiate, and here you are. I have been hitting by your bedside ever ~ "My God, tell me what I have done?" "Nothing that I know of, but you must keep quiet." "Keep quiet, how wretched I ~ "I do not wonder at it-you have been so much excited of late. My dear friend, what has come over you'?~~ "I know not-I know not-who brought me here?" "You promised me to come-how strangely you acted-you came by yourself.~~ "I have offered you no indignity, have I'?" "None, none-compose yourself" "Good God, I have had all sortsof'dreams. I know not what I have done, or what I have not done. God bless you, Maria-God forever bless you." "I trust God will, and you too.~~ "I trust he will, though I do not deserve it-how wretched I am." "That you must expect-you have been to~ much excited lately." "Well, well, give me some more of that opiate, and let me sleep awhile." And awhile I did sleep, but it was only a little while. I was soon awake and aroused to deeper agonies. "My dear Maria, but I ~m miserable, most mis- erable-don't leav~ ~ "Mr. Russell, I do not mean to leave." "I am sorrowful and forlorn-I do not know why I should feel so." "Why, it is natural, you have been under s1' much excitement of late, and then your tempera- ment is naturally one prone to the wildest, the deepest excitement." "My best friend, I wonder if Alice Clare know it." S "I cannot tell, I fear to~ many of your fiends know it. A day has worn away under this fitful and strange excitement of yours; several of your friends have called to ask how you were." "Did you let any of them see me. Wild, wild,. don't I repeat myself a great deal. My God, 'but I must have drank terribly~" "Indeed you have, I have sent for three bottles of brandy within these twenty-four hours, and you have drank every drop of them." "But how came I here?" "Oh King! I have told you, but you must ral1y~ -come, you must be bright-you must be your- self." "Maria, I believe that fellow Peterson is head- ing me with Alice Clare.' "1 should not wonder-you know her father drinks too much. She must naturally have a re- pugnance to the vice of drinking." "Great Providence, but you did acquit yourself beautifully as Myrrha, indeed you did." "So they say, but why should you mar my er~ joyment of my success." WILLIAM "Why should fl-but my dear Maria don't leave me, I am so wretched." "I will not leave you, let me repeat to you; though my character should be at stake in keeping you here, I will not leave you." This stung me, and I said, arising, in the calm- est tone possible: "Oh! I forgot, I promised to meet old Hess-.-- Horsley-among the Thespians to-night." "But you must not ~ she said, "you are not I sprang from my bed, and before her feeble arms could arrest me, I was dressed and away. CHAPTER XIX. C I HASTEN TO THE POTOMAC-JOHN5TONE '5 QUAR- EEL WITH HIMSELF-HIGH WORDS BETWEEN JOHNSTONE AND uoltsLEy-IIoRSLEy's RESENT- MENT-THE RESULT. I hurried to the Potomac establishment, and who should I find there but Horsicy, Jim Jumper and Johnstone, as excited as I was, though certainly not possessed of such a spirit of wild and ungovern- able melancholy. They began instantly to joke me about the pret- ty actress. Taking it as no joke I indignantly re- p~lled their insinuations, which only made them- in their excited condition-worse. I told Horaley that I thought better of him. "Hang your picture," said he, "I thought better of you. Why, old fellow, you have been on the tallest kind of a spree." "My sprecing is my own look out," I replied. ~ he rejoined, "but you had better look in, and ask yourself if you are doing right." "What are you doing?" I asked. "Doing-I am done f~'r-I am on a regular heat- The old man and I have had it hip and thigh. I have done myself the distinguished honor to quit the parental roof. The ol~l gentleman heard I had been on the stage, and without condescending to ask me any questions he broke upon me, and I ~broke away from the lecture and the house to- g~ther.~~ "Good !" exclaimed Jim Jumper, "I would ~have done that long ago." RUSSELL. 53 "Yes," retorted Horsley, "you would do any- thing that was lawless and rascally,~) "Thank you, old Hoss, I would but hdve been following your example," rejoined Jim Jumper. "Good!" was the cry around the board. "You'll follow any bad example set you," ex- claimed Horsley. "Good examples are to you like holy water to Satan; you shun them as soixiething that is not in your vocation." Tom Johostone, in his second representation of Salemenes, had not been as successful as at ljrst, and Mr. Tom was provoked threat. The fact was, that he had had a quarrel with himself upon the subject, the very worst person to quarrel with in the ~vorld, as the world always says that it is a just quarrel, and - that the individual is his owa worst enemy. Tom, to use the fashionable phrase of later days, had got "tight" on the occasion of the last representation, and several times he not only articulated his sentences with much thickness of utterance, but twice he forgot his part entirely, and the voice of Mr. Dc Crafts-the prompter..-. was heard all over the house, reminding Mr. Sale- ruenes, alias Mr. Tom Johnstone, of his forgotten part. How Tom hated it! for he had acquitted himself with much eclat upon the first represents.. tion, and the consequence was, that he had been * drinking deep ever since the evening of Miss Watson's benefit, by way of drowning his humili- ation. Humiliation is a fish that can sometimes swim in very deep waters, and like the ghost of Banquo, will not down. "Damn you," exclaimed Johnstone to Horaley, "you talking of vocations; wh'~ gave you the au- thority to order a second perfurmatice of the play?~~ "Authority! On my conscience, Salemenes, if I had known that you would have made such an awful failure in the part on its second representatiuu, I would almost have seen myself in Tophet-aye, in hell-before I would have suffered you to appear- you ure a disgraced man "You are a fool forever," retorted Johnston.. "A fool forever--you're a born fool, sir, and therefore you are the one to whom the epithet should apply of a fool forever. Johnstone, you have no idea of what a granny you made of your. self in your last appearance. Why, man, you began tight, and you got tighter, and you concluded tight' page: 54-55[View Page 54-55] 54 THE AUTO eet~ Your last scene, where, according to the stage directions, you 'draw out the weapon from the wound,' beat anything that I ever saw. You must have had the colic-you could not have act- ed it. How you twisted-I thought of having you painted, and putting you in the museum as the dying gladiator." "Dying gladiator! You are a dying fool." "Sir, you insult me-better, however, a live dog than dead lion. What a fool you would have been without me-nobody to keep you in counte- nance, 'alone in your glory.' " "Fool without you,~~ (how maudlin these fel- lows were,) "I am a fool with you, and two fools never made a wise man yet, did they?" "I don't know, suppose you and Russell try it." "No, you and ~ "Thank you, sir, I am not so great a fool as you take me "Well, I did take you for the greatest fool I ever saw-1-the greatest-and if you have any thing to say why judgment should not be rendered in the premises, I pray you speak now or hold your peace forever more." "Hold my peace forever more; I have a great mind to kick you." "Kick mel Actions speak louder than words- suppose you try it. There's a christening to your courage if you can get anybody to stand sponsor," continued Horslcy in the calmest manner in the world, throwing his glass of brandy and water full in Johnstone's face. Johnstone was a tall, fine looking fellow, weigh- ing one hundred and eighty-four pounds. Horslcy weighed one hundred and fifteen, and was delicate and sickly, and certainly with the aid of another of his size, Johnstone could have over matched them. But Horsley was spunk all over. John- stone sprang to his feet, and seizing a decanter was about to hurl it at Horslcy's head, when I seized him and said: "Johustone, this won't do~ you are a gentleman, iiot a bully of the causeway-a thing of physical strength-you must settle it like a gentleman.'' "True, true," said Iohnstone, taking hold of my hand, "I. forgot myself, Russell. Gentlemen, I 'bid you good night." "Good night,~~ we rejoined, all but.Horsley, un- BIOGRAPHY OF consciously, while Johnstone left the room before any one thought of stopping him and insisting upon an explanation. "Here's a ~ said Horsley, the only one who did not start from his chair as Johustone left the room, "exit Prince Salemenes-in the words of that illustrious Prince, whom Johnston. murdered the other night, when the King orders his cup- bearer: "'Tis the first time he Eser had such order: and I Your most austere of couneillors, would now Suggest a purple beverage." "Did not his exit, gentlemen, 'st~ggest a pur- ple beverage?' it did-well, here's to him. By conscience, he is a grand marksman, hut what he gains as a marksman I equal in the comparison of our sizes, for F ought to hit a barn door as easily as he can hit a lath. 'My father shot a good bow at Hearings,~ as he, the yeoman, says in Ivanhoe, but he could not hit the willow wand. Well, I suppose my good father will think me gone beyond all power of grace, unless it is miraculously ex- erted, to behold n~e enacting the histrionic of the stage and going the duello at Bladens~urg. This is a world of tribulation, and the old gentleman, if he did not feel tribulated, might forget the fact, as I am certain he would, but alas, that the tact should be fixed on him. Now I suppose Prince Salemenes thinks that he will make a hit in my case, but we shall see- "To be or not to be, that is the guestien," said Hamlet." "To hit or not to hit, that is the question." "'rhat is the question," said I. ~'The sacred lows of wed placed love, Luxuriantly indulge it- But never tempt the illicit rove, Though nothing should divulge it: I waive the quantum of the am, The hazaid of concealing, But 0! it hardens a' within, And petrifies the ti.'eliiig, "There's a hit, and into RusslI too. Bill, I claim you as my friend on this ioteresting occasion. When Mr. Johostone's friend calls on nec I shall send him to you. s~ mind the laws of the duello, coffee and pistols tbr iwo. There is less of the brute about Johustone than I thought there was. By all the odds, I would rather he should fire at 'U WILLIAM me with a pistol at a good gentlemanly distance than blaze at me with that decanter. This is a very pretty quarrel as it stands, as O'Trigger 5ay5.~~ After a few more remarks on different~ subjects a half hour wore ~away, and we all gradually drop- ped off to our lodgings. CHAPTER XX. A DUEL ON THE CARPET-JUMPER AS SECOND- SCaNS BETWEEN JUMPER AND MYSELF-JUMPER SUDDENLY DISAPPEARS FROM THE SCENE-CAP- TAIN MERRYMAN~BLADENSBURG-CONVERSA TION WITH HORSLEY-MY PROMISE ABOUT MiSS WATSON. Johnstone's friend, no less a person and no other than Mr. James Jumper, called on Horsicy the next morning, and was by him referred to me. Jumper was angry with me for certain remarks which it was reported to him I had made with regard to his proposing six cheers for me in the theatre, but I had regarded his coldness with per- fect indifference, which nettled him the more. Jumper was full of the importance of being se- cond in an affair of honor, and I nra satisfied that if it were not for this feeling many duels would have been amicably arranged which have had a fatal termination. The eclat, without any risk, has a great deal of fascination in it. Jumper was very dignified when he called on me. For the first time I believe in his life he called rue Mr. Russell. "Take a seat, Jjrnmy,~~ said I, handing him a chair in Mrs. Watson's little parlor, for that lady had insisted upon it that I should occupy her rooms while I was sick, (she wanted me to marry her daughter) and Miss Watson's company was so agreeable that I never thought of declining. "Take a seat, Jimmy," said I. Jimmy looked dignified, and said he had waited on me at the request of his friend, Mr. Johustons, who had sent him to 1-loreley, who sent him to inc. %~Ji~my,~~ said I, "are you fond of fighting?" "Never, Mr. Russell, but when my honor is RUSSELL. 55 "Your honor concerned! Suppose I was to pull your nose until it profusely bled, would you think / your honor concerned, or would you merely soap your nose?" "Mr. Russell, you and I are old friends. I am sent here on the business of Mr. Johusrone." "Mr. .Johnstone! Suppose I was to pull your nose and kick you, what would you do?" My readers must remember that all this time I was under the strongest excitement, and what is strange, I can remember such scenes much more vividly than I can those of ordinary occurrences. I mean generally I can, for sometimes I cannot re- member anything that has occurred, or if I do,, mine is like Cassio'~ memory after his excess. "Well," said I, ".Mr. Jumper. I expect we'll all have to fight. I feel like fighting; what say you?~~ "I don't tbel like fighting, ~ Russell, but my principal does." "Hang your principal. My question is, will you fight me? I feel like it." "Mr. Russell," rejoined Mr. Jumper, "I have no reason to fight with you." "To fight with me! Suppose I say that John- stone is not a gentleman, what will you do then, ac- cording to the laws of the duello? You have got yourself, Jumper, into an awful fix, and I have a great mind to blow your brains out." "Blow my brains out! Sir, Mr. Russell, I came here peaceably.~~ "Came here peaceably! Why, you craven cow- ard, you bring my friend a challenge-do you call that peaceably. I have a great mind to kick you. What would you say if I were to kick you-kick you fearfully?" "Mr. Russell, I am here for my friend, Mr. Johnstone." "Suppose yon are, sir, and suppose I chose to kick you." "Sir, Mr. Russell, you would 'not offer me such an Qutr5gO.~~ "Outrage! if Johustone and Horeley fight.-you know what a shot I am-I have pledged Horsley, whatever the result my be, to kill you on the spot." "Kill mc on the spot! Sir, that would be murder." page: 56-57[View Page 56-57] "I know it would, to look at it calmly, but I tnean to kill you ht hot blood, and put in the plea of insanity. By Jove, old fellow, I will walk over your grave, not that I will plant flowers there, but I shall contemplate your final resting place with much satisfaction." "1 ~m much obliged to you, sir," exclaimed Jumper, who seemed to think that the plea of in- sanity was good in the premises. "Obliged to me-a bullet in your brains certainly confers a great obligation on the head where such a substance finds a lodgment- "Ashes to dabes, why not lead to lead?" "Jumper. Horsley is my friend. This business must be settled-must be. Johnstone is a good shot, so am I, better than you are. It is the fool- ishness of intoxication, and I do not mean to let it end in murder. Not a bit of it. Horslcy is a pe- culiar man, very; it is his temperament, his nature, and he is as brave as Cmsar-I don't doubt John- stoue's courage-it's a foolish affair." "I think so myself," said Jumper. "Then let's end it-you have Johastone's char- acter in your hands." "Hang ~ exclaimed Jumper, "but you know what a stubborn fellow he is. But I will go and see him," and so speaking, and before I could make any reply, Jumper hastily withdrew. The next morning who should call on me but Captain Merryman, of the Navy, a regular fire eater, who said that Mr. .Jumper had suddenly left town on pressing business, and that hi 4 friend, Mr. Johustone, had called on him to ask him to see me in the unfortunate and delicate affair be- tween himself and Mr. Horsley. "I am sorry to say to you, Mr. Russell," he continued, "that unless an unqualified and ample apology is made by Mr. Horsley, a meeting must be had between them." He handed me Mr. Johnstone's note, which ran explicitly to that effect. It was most peremptory. I koew that Horeley would not apologize, for he had told me so, and [knew the fighting propensi ties ef iVierryman, so all I could do was to arrange a meeting three days thereafter near Bladensburg. When we got to Bladensburg we found at the hotel, where, we stopped, that .Johnstone and Capt. Merrymart had got there before us, and had gone on to Washington. In conversation, floreley told me that he meant to fire in the air, and see thereafter if the matter could not besettled. We went to his room. "I have never had, as you know, ~ said he, "an affair of honor, and as I do not feel, 50 1 must not show the shadow of a shade of the white feather." "The terms ~ said I, "as you know, ten paces with pistols. One, two, three, fire, and to fire at any time between one and the word. When we get on the ground and toss up for the word, if I get it I shalt give it very deliberately; so--one-- two-three-fire. 1 suspect Johustone, who is a good shot, very good, will fire quickly, and that is your chance. But, Horsicy, don't you think that you ought to fire at him'?-it's throwing your life away.'? "Well, it ain't worth much, still I have no desire to die, yet I have a presentiment of that "But hang presenitments, they are like old wo- men's dreams, foregone conclusions upon fixed facts, 'Cowards die many deaths, the brave but once.' "But you had better, Russell, go on to the cap- itol, and get the physician to whom we were re- commended. I should hate, if I get a limb broken, to have it badly set and limp for life. You can just write him a note if you do not feel like going. Now, my friend, I should like to be left alone; I have some letters to write and other matters to at- tend to. if you stay all night in Washington, don't fail to be out here early. Wake me, should I be asleep, for I may be up late writing, and, when I fall to sleep, sleep longer than is my wont. Take every explanation, my dear friend, should I fall, to my father. Do your best, Russell-practice your utmost address to relieve his feelings. The old gentleman's religious notions will be terribly shock- ed-maybe he will congratulate himself that I am gone and out of sin's way for the future. Russell. there's one thing I want you to promise me." "It is promised," I replied, "what is it'?" "The a~tress-that beautiful and most gifted crea- ture, Miss Watson," "She can take care of herself," I said. I WILLIAIVI RUSSELL. 57 "Yes, but you shall not evade it. Promise me that I am a man of courage, when I would show in the emphatic word that you will not wrong much more courage by defying its law of honor and her." resting upon the law of God." I know not why-I entertained no design of such a character against Miss Watson, yet I hesitated. Alas, I fear my owe. heart recoiled upon itself at having a promise fixed there to a friend who might be no more to-morrow-when I did not know what that to-morrow-what the future might bring to me and others in the wild career of human passions that seemed bursting on me in my opening manhood. "Will you not promise me, Russell'?" exclaimed Horslcy, in tones that startled me, "shall I leave life to-morrow, and with it the only faith that I have ever had in any man's friendship?" "But, my dear Horslcy, this is not friendship, it is all nonsense. What has Miss Watson to do with any friendship between you and me'?" "Nothing, only I want you to pledge me upon the faith of that friendship that you will not wrong her." "Horaley, my friend," I exclaimed, "you are morbid-indeed you are. What has any little matter that is-" "Russell, that is a foul insinuation." I laughed, though I felt annoyed. "Well, really Horslcy, what are you driving at.' "Russell, you know how long we have been friends. I know I am about to do a foolish act to- morrow, because the world and the world's law require it, and I have not courage enough to suf- fer under the imputation of the want of courage.~~ "Have you not? [ should have thought, from my knowledge of your character, that you had," "Well, be satisfied, I have not. I am like the Roman Lucretia; she suffered herself to be used and abused by Tnrquin, rather than have the inn- puration-though she should die in her purity- rest upon her memory, that she had been used by her slave and was slain in his arms. A christian woman would have died in the pride of her purity -less, a Jewish maiden would so have died. Scott's Rebecca, for instance. No, sir, Lucretia was prouder of the reputation of her chastity than ~he was of her chastity itself. So I am going to (10 what I know to be wrong, to keep myself from being wronged. I am going to satisfy the world S "Well, but Horsley, if you have such conscien- tious compunction against duelling, why should you fight?" "Sir," said Horsicy, "would you have me com- promise my honor?" 'Indeed I would not-~.-but if you have done wrong, why not apologize?" "Apologize, and at this point of the game? No, I shall not apologize. Russell, this is trifling I came here to meet .Johnstone and give him gentle- manly satisfaction, and I have no other desire, though I want you to repeat this conversation to my father, and that- will let him know that I am not altogether recreant to the principles of my education," "I feel that, my friend; be assured, should the event you anticipate occur, which I don't believe will, I will certainly say all to your father that I can to reconcile him to it." "It is strange how often my old friend Beazely has bech in my mind- of late. He would have justified me, Russell." "I have, no doubt he would," I replied, but I had many doubts, as doubtless my readers have. I understood Horsl es's feelings exactly. In a just cause no man would go further than would he, and he would have given anything if such were the case now. Lie was trying to reconcile himself to himself. a very fruitless effort sometimes. "Let me repeat to you, Russell," he remarked, "in the account you give of this affair to the old gentleman, save his feelings all you can. And now promise me on your honor, that you will neith- er entertain nor practice any evil designs upon Miss Watson, and then leave me." "I promise you," I said solemnly, giving him my hand; "strange that I should quarrel with you fellows in the Potomac for such an insinuation, now you should be so anxious to get me to and that promise that I would not attempt to do the very thing I got angry with you for insinuating that I had the intention of doing." ~~Enough,~~ said liorslcy, "we have high au- thority for knowing that the heart of man is deceit- ful and wicked above all things. But your word THII AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF page: 58-59[View Page 58-59] THE A1JTOBIO~4RAPHY OF is better than your bond. Miss Watson likes you; think you she would have attended you so-" "Stop, Horsley, for God's sake--do you know how yon tempt a man when you t61i him that a woman likes him-how you tempt him to seek to err if that ~voman be not in his sphere of life?" "As to what you call sphere of life, Russell, I don't very particularly regard between the sexes, for I would marry any woman who was respect a- ble, whom I loved. But the night wears, my friend, and I must write some letters." I left Horsley, and obtaining a horse from my landlord, I took the road for Washington. By way ofrehef to my feelings, which were not of the hap- piest, and to my reflections, which were not at all of a complimentary cast to myself, I put my horse to his mettle, and dashed rapidly on. CIIAP'I'ER XXI. WAStiiN(*TON-i (10 AT NiOHT TO THE CAPITOL (1RO1~ND5 -xEPI~RcTisNS~oVEEIJEAfl A CONVERSATION HE- TWItEN CAPTAIN ?iEilitVN AN AN!) JOIiNSTIINE-MEET THEM AT (.+Ansliv's-wE Sill' TOrlILTItElt-wliAT tEAl'- l'ENEi) JIETWEEN JOi~Nt(i(iNE iNtl TILE CAl'TAIN-I 51, TO 1)511 vaotir~n NOT rOOtfY. Arrived at Washington, I inquired the way to Gadeby's-for I had never been in the capitol he fore, though brought up so near to it -and there learning the residence of l)r. Lock we A I repaired thither and found the Doctor at home. I explain ed to him the nature of my business. - "Cannot this affair be settled, Mr. Russelt," he asked of irue. "% f~ar Oot, l)oetor," I replied, and stated to 1dm the cireittttstances. "IA' by, it is a very fool isli eloise of ti I itil , aml p'e~ha~is of (lea tb," lie remark('d. I told him I thought so too, and idler eoiisolting for a long time together, I feared without much avail, I left him with thin understanding that we were to meet itt liladenabtirg early in the IiiOmOii~g. It was in the early fhll, arid a tiew mooti was touching wit Ii its silver light the (lottie of the ea)ot(,I as I left the door of the 'loetor, anil having no acquniniance tO the city, I t~r~ed my steps to the capitol grounds, which I htol miuderstonut were highly cultivated. On visiting a strange city, one is attracted first to the scene which he had heard most of therein, and being laden with gloomy re- flections and presemitiments, it was natural that I should stray thitherward. I must confess I had gloomy forebodings of the fate of my friend. John stone was of a reckless and revengeful disposition. and Merryman I knew was too fond of being in his element, a duel, willingly to get out of' it with- out bloodshed. Horsicy I loved more than a brother, but he was of so 0(1(1 and strange a nature that I did not know, to use a western phrase, which way the stick would break with him. his fearless and (lesperate- courage I had semi tested in a thousand scenes of boyish sport arid adventure, but then he had so runny whimsical notions that there was no knowing when he would he active or l)it55lVc. I tried to take my mind from the present by calling up the associations (if the h)ast as I gazed at the capitol, and in speculations as to the future, hut in vain, Like the ghost of B anrino, the cir- ertrrmstanecs that surroundetl mc would muot down in m.~t busy reflectiotis, :01(1 1 thought of Horsley, ainl his prmbalinlc utitimely death, with bitterness aull soriow. I took a seat in a (lark recess un(ler a tree. rlitiriaing for a mnonient uneoiiscioiisly from I lorslcy, for wit Ii nIl imiy efforts 1 could riot drive Imirn froiti my mimid whueti I endeavored to do so, I thomighit of i lie few weeks that had p1)5t4(l , arid of how much ehi:ir:tcfer and purpose for gmstd or bad they Ittd dtivelt~ped iii me. Altilt Claw! as that sweet tam mc aitd thiat tlt vi ite fitrin flit ted across mc, what a crowd of utuetutories arose hot iltere 5tood Peterson by her side ---how thtt long Itt galled me. ''I have il:tyeml toy cards worst,''. saith I to myself, wltemi my smalo' was dcepesi~- -wimmi toy heart's lifi wan itt the die '' A itd then I thought itt Miss Watnoit , antI I o ortelerud it sIte really loved me as I htttsby seettit I tim Itittl: she did A It, she ha~ tictell love sit httig tmjtott tInt stage mIami she might pltty a pa mm still. Hut thtemi olic hiss plytl no part with moe. Kindly itii(l fmankly4 atid ettitfidiugly, alto has ionic with my uhissipatittit , and has ulorte all she c(tiilml to hide it front Pt~ pimlmlie tiaze. Thiemi -- for I atn I mnthifbl in these my reveha I I thmoitgltt of lVltirthtt I omt a; tmd hicre. 1 1W m * at least is omie being who, Ibm soy very ~eff, is not in I WILLIAM RUSSELL. 59 different to me-the one who looked on me in my very childhood with so much tenderness and pride. While I was contemplating all this in her charac- ter, between me and the light of her beautiful nature came the dark form of Booth; and while I was trying to scrutinize his conduct towards her, and recalled their being together at the deer oak, ray attention was arrested keenly by voices near me.. I was in the deep shadow of a large tree, reclining on one of the numerous seats which have been placed in the public grounds, and I was con- scions that I must be entirely unseen, even though an observer but a few feet off was trying to scruti - nize my locality. One of the persons, for there were two of theni approaching, whom I recognized in a moment by his Voice as Johustone, sai(l: "Captain Merryman, I am detern~ined to have satisfactory~; if t~1r. Horshey is not careful his indicr- nity to me will cost him his life; he is one of your gentlemen who is proud of his eccentricities, and who thinks hr may insult with impunity whoever he pleases-he can't do that with me, 'Tis said he is a little cracked, h)ut a more deliberate, eon - ning fellow I never saw. 1 mean to punish him if luck don't run very strangely." "Are you a good ~ asked ~lerrysoari. 'The world has so accounted YaP, c4taiu.'' ''XVeIl. sir, to be frank with you, I ant one of those who have looked on blood and carnage wih composure, ~vlinott the poor devils who fell get only their six p~iwt a day, and I (toti't value the life of a man who i osol ute to the amount of the powder and ball that it taLes in revenge me.'' ''I a~1ree with you in sent noen , 5jf.)~ and you may tire any time between the number one and fire. ~f the lot is mine to give the word, I shall speak the first word, the one, very quickly, as if I were going to make short work of it; this ~vill probably startle my gentleman, and he will make a hurried and random shot; do you take good aim, and pink him. Take his life or lame him for life just as you feel in the humor. I could do either, I am satisfied, for I am a tolerable shot. To-morrow morning early we'll practice a little. I have heard of yoer skill." "Practice a little," 1 thought to myself, "what a green horn I am, never to have thought of getting ilorsley to practice, and tlieii I consoled inyscW in remembering that I had heard Horsisy say that if he ever was engaged in a duel, he would never think of practicing, for it would see'~s like n~alice aforethought, and morally eonstit~'te mur- der should his aim prove fatal to his adversary. I. had a long argument with him on the subject, without moving hini. While these reflections were passing through my nii.nd, the I)arties passed on out of hearin~4. After stroliin~ suinetinie through iho grounds in not very pleasant reflections on the morrow, I be- took myself to my hotel, trusting that by supply- ic' the inner man with certain apl)lianees of bar and larder there to he found, that I might raise my pit its to a somewhat more cheerful view of things. A-s I entered the establishment I beheld two per- Sons at the bat with their backs~towards me, in the act of ordering something to (Irink, and I hoard one of I loot say: "'1 hat's right, ,Johustuue, go the he~ionade, and ''I know oithi:iig ot V~ r. Iltostey save that tee beep yourself cool for to~ntorrow; bitt we'll have met mutt :mi dine-i mat t~ , and I was astontalted am a little somoethmimig to eat, a b~t of beef' steak, that Itis i osolettee, ii - I e jm- -ten, sir, at 000- obsen tatOt butt yout: it will tathier tiervo you, if you vane ~ laVa I it ot i-Itt t ty ~; s-ti, I oil simouhti ticel it, which I see you don't." It im op di, Wit-n I U U me-, -~ o -t em ~ my 0! drimikitig don't afThet my nerves," replied ~vtrd-, than Itt- etid toed lItti tity tue cit tme~ Inn - tIme oilier, whom 1 recognized am the instant to be merisities air- on p teat timi I. I me mmmi mmd time ~a aa ,iohti~,tmitie, wi thu his liiemmd Captain Merrymail, cold Ito tXtltii us-it Ii ni, he i Itirtiti , ~- mm Ii-, but attll I will, to he stire of my 101111." ant a Pri~b} cumin. lie xt mimI, ml -nemim-- lii ~ an It Was meanly one o'clock itt the iiioriiiiig. I betnoitti, off Wi 11 Ii - Jolmojommi-, I au lid v~ em aw tom othmem hitarsoils ill tIme room huf these gentle- have Itmni miii lime t iplit iit)l)lt ml last,'' to mm aitd mIte bin Iteeltem', who c. mis jtmst hastening "I ihtitik we ha VP," t ejottied inhimniommi - immin a ide ioowi for a bottle of Londomt porter, h4ei ole seetm1 al id t lie emapta tint, aft cm a aiteo, which Captain Meiiyinaatt Itad ordered, when that ''let inc see, the atnitigememit is cite, two, mhireetirmm, genthemtiamt m'etmmz;rked: page: 60-61[View Page 60-61] TI4J~ APTOF ~'I don't see why a gentleman should not train for the duello just as boxers train for their vulgar fistl.euffs. Their plan is admirable, the trainer gives the trainee just so much to eat and just so much to drink, and exercises him just so much, so that his frame, and consequently his nerves, reach thair highest point of physical power. .Just so it might be in duelling; I have often thought of it. In fact, I always train myself on such occasions, and it has enabled me three several times to drop my man without my receiving so much as a scratch. To be sure Plumboy~s ball went through my pants near the ankle, but his pistol went off in the spasmodic itimp which he gave as my bullet struck him mortally. I'd bet a thousand dollars on it, sir, if the truth could be ascertained, that he was stone (lead before his bullet reached me, for mine struck him directly in the hea4. I had prac- tie~d, Mr. Johnstone, I had practiced at a figure- I have an accurate eye-the very size of Plureboy, which I made myself, and I marked out a heart on it just where Plumboy's heart should be, and by - I used to put my bullet in the centre of It every elip. Mr. Johnston, the thing had he- enme so much a habit with me that I could not have missed it had I been blind fi~ldcd. The papers made a furious noise about it, you remem- her, but trifles don't easily ~carc me. IC a man crosses my path with a woman he' (rot to taie the responsibility." [had taken a newspaper from the table and held it before my face as if in the act of reading it, while this conversation was going on, when at this point tl~e bar keeper returned with the porter, and apologized for detaining Captain Mer rywan so long, saying that he was searching for a pi~rticuIar ha. portation, which ~as said to he retnakably fi~ I put down the newspaper and stoppeti towards the stitad whero the night lanips were placed, when the bar koeporotliciously came tot)Od tO wait OH me, and Captain Merryman turne(I and recognized rae. "Ah," said he, in the franlost tone imaginal~lo, though tt~e hurry of his manner showed that l~, suspected that their conversation had been over- heard by me ''well met, Mr. Russell, will you not take sottiething to drink with ~ Not to he out done by the ~ssptain, i t~s cordially ~ZGGRAPIIY OF saluted him, and said with pleasure, far I was just thinking of taking a night cap, and turning to Mr. Johastone I remarked it was a beautif~il night, and asked if they had been walking? Johastone was quite confused, and seemed eu- dently at a loss to know whether I had overheard his lemonade resolution or nat. "What did you say you'd take, sir?" inquired the bar keeper of Johnstone. This reassured Itim, for he seemed to reflect that if the bar keeper had not heard him order lemonade, I, who was much farther off, could not have over- heard him, and he replied: "I said I would take lemonade with the privi- lege-make it a punch at once-give me the palo brandy-when I help myself and pour in on the lemonade I always give myself an overdose, as I judge the quantity oy the color, and your pale brandy is as pale as the lemonade itself." It instantly occurred to me that Mr. Johnstone was an~cious to bear himself as if he did not think of the business of the morrow, and I thought I would get theum both drunk if I could, if it cost me a fiend ache in the meriting' and a week's drink- ing to taper off. Xler~ynman had the reputation of' loving his cups, and the training which he had been boasting of, which he had compelled himself to undergo, I stispected at the time, was needful - now-a-tlays with him to restore the former accura- cy of his aim, for which Ito was celebrated. 'rIte (ICairO to see Johnstone drunk that night had flash- ed through niy mind from the very moment I heard him give his reason for drinking lemonade only. I ordered brandy and water, helped myself and took a ~tromtg pull. "1 feel htn~gry,~~ sai(l I, smacking tny lips after the (fraught, ''will you not join me in a snack, gust tlemuen?" "We were jmtst talking about it before you en- tered,' replieti Captain Werrytitait. ''I have ami ~itormoos appet ite-ri(ling in the witud, like the salt air, always makes ate ('eel a desiree t~r tiny Very soon I uttaisted upoit it that the gentleinneit shommld (Irink avith toe, which they did, going it rather deeply, amid .Johnstotme taking this titime l)ale brandy and water. ''Alt, bar keeper," Ito t~xciaittiod, "this is the same stuff that I drank here last weQk. Gadsbv is the prince of landlords, he always keeps good liquor; whet' he was in our city he kept the best there. I believe my taste was acquired at his bar." "We always try to keep the best, sir," remarked the bar keeper, and before our supper was announc- ed as ready, that individual had helped us all again at the instance of Mr. Johnstone, who swore we should all now drink with him. At supper we ate very heartily, and various kinds of wines were ordered in. 1 cotild plainly see that both gentlemen, and particularly John- stone, were determined to make the impression on my mind that they had forgotten the anticipated meeting in the morning. And I was determined to be just as forgetful as they were. In fact Cap- tain Merryman did soon actually forget it, and as he was to run no risk and had no ~training~~ to undergo himself, he soon forgot all about training his principal. We drank bottle after bottle of champagne, and by a strong exercise of the will, though seemingly as far gone as either of my com- panions, I kept myself "right side up with care" all the time, as is written on the boxes which con- tain glass. Reflecting on die superscription on he boxes aforesaid, and that tlmose who live in glass houses should not throw stones, and furthermore, impressed with the dangerous position of my friend Horaley, I dId nothing to mar the eonvivktlity of' the evening, bitt all I could to advatice amid contin- ue it, by way of testing ~ nerves, while Merryman more than once talked tipon topics likely to make his companion drink deeper. Merryman got. talking about on r perforuxtauce of "Sarda napa- ~ and asked itt his eop~', whiny the deuce it was that .Johnstone slid imot play as well time last tunic as the first? lie find evid"ntiy forgotten it, his objurgations that it was the veiny cause of the 'lmal- lenge. .Johustoute filled hinaself a bomoper auid swore he did. "1mb! why, man, you nut aground repeatedly," 61R three several times. I'll leave it to Mr. Russell." Mr. Russell not being at all disposed to become a peace maker on the occasion, replied that "he was so busy with his own part when on the stage that he had no time to think of others, and that when not on, he was in the green room waiting his call; though," I said, "that I thought Mr. John- stone had acquitted himself remarkably to his credit, and so I believed thought the public." "That aint the point," said Merryintin. "I don't care that about the public-they have found fault with me when I should have been praised and praised me when I should have been censured -but the paint is, can a mart miss his part again and again, as Johnstone (lid, and be said to play well." Captain ~erryman,~~ exclaimed Johnstone, "I tell you that I (lid not miss my part," and as he pushed himself back in an energetic effort to strike the table with more force, his chair slipped from the equilibrium of its hind legs, on which he was ballancing himself, and its occupant tumbled over with great force, striking the baca ~f his head on the floor, after a manner that made him "see the stars." I have no doubt I could have caught him, btit it was not part of my syste'~u for the evcnin~. it is a rule when a civilized nation meets a sav- age (nine iii warfare, that the law of retaliation ap~ titles, and if they use tlte tornahawk~ scalping krtif~ artd poisoned arrows, yott may use them too, trod I felt in this case that ~be rule applied. I, however, with much alacrity and seeming sympa' tlmy, assisted .Johtmstoite to rise, while Merryman's uproarious laughter rang mAt rough time wlmolo house. "Captain Merryman,~~ exclaimed Joltestone, maddened with pain and wine, and staggering to- wards the table where time Captain sat, iti rather a menacmrtg way, "I tltoughint yen were my friend, sir." "So I stint, sir, in the toatter ot to-morrow, drunk or sober, bet you are drunk, my good ~ and roundly asserted Merrymanm. his own tongue was ttmmei~ trout itmo cattle cause, "U.anm aground, sir! I knew every litme of my "umit you are drimuik, Johustono, very drunk. part, trotnin first to last , l)y thuntler." Yotm 're a man of no re~olntion, sir, not a whit-- wltete' g-youtr lemonade? Have Mr. .Joltnstooe's toettiory was t'videtttly tract syottr trainits you crusts again. got dmimmuk ott lemuonade?'~ "$ir, you spoilt the entire effect of the ~ilay "I ant oot drunk, sit. I'll leave it to Itussell it WILLIAM RUSS~LL page: 62-63[View Page 62-63] 62 THE At~TO]~1OGRAPHY OF your~re not more drunk than I am-you can't ar- C IJAPTER XXII. tioulate the commonest English in the very acca- CONVERSATION BETWEEN WAITER AND BOOT BLACK, BY station you make against me of not knowing my WElCH I AM ENLIGflTENl~l-l START FOIL BLADENS. part. I've mistook my man, sir. 'You are no BURG-OVERTAKE THE CAPTAIN AND 3OHNSTONE- officer of mute.'" 110W EASILY ONE MAN MAY lIE MISTAKEN FOR AN- exclaimed Merryrnan, with the utmost insolenc~, "so have I; blast your training, sir, in all regards-your training as a gentleman is about in keeping with your training for the duello-lem- onade, by - there's no spirit in it." "Captain Merryman," shouted the infuriate Johustone, ~'d you nean to insult roe." "I have done it, sir, 1 take it, if you know wilat insult means. Mr. Johnstone"--observing the threatening attitude of Johustone, who advanced towards him with clenched fist-Merryman con- ttnued with sudden cahaness, "you know my horror of fisti-euffs. I am a gertileman and al- ways use gentleman's weapons. I'm your man, sir. I take it we are the two best shots in the ten miles square, and I want to test you. It would be a mortal shame to shoot that Presbyterian you are to meet to-morrow-it won't be a utan before you. it will be an emasculated psalm singer. I'nt your man, sir. Let me hear from you to-morrow. I advise you to go into training. Lemonade--- lemonade." ,Johnstone was about to reply, when several gen tlemen entered, for we wcre itt tt~e dining room, and Merryman said, in a subdued tone, for his passion seemed somewhat to Itave sobered hito: "This is no place for controversy: to-luorrov., sir. By the bye, I may say to you that I'll act itt the Horeley matter, if you will, and meet you af terwards-it's a game I cart always take a hattd 111, Let me hear from you early. Adieu, gentlemen," and the renowned duellist left the roont. Johostone looked at me for a nIolItent as if about te say something, but without doing so he abruptly left tite room by tether door tItan that takert by Merryman, artd evidently much en raged. OTHES. 1 thought a moment with some self satisf~etion over the scene which had just occuffed, wonder- ing what would he the upshot of the matter, and whether Johnstone would challenge Merryman and light htrn before he met ilorsley, and thus in all probably prevent their meeting, or whether they would eousider the affair as the emanation of s drunken frolic and be friends in the morning; and so occupied, mentally, I retired to my room, leav- ing orders at the i~ar that I was to be calle at five o'elO(k, and .vislied to have my horse in readiness. At first I thought I had better ride out to Bladena- burg and tell l4orsley of all that had passed; then it occurred to me it would be of no use, and 1 had also a great desire to remain in the city that I might l~arn the result of matters between the prin- cipal and his second in the morning. I was edld according to order early in the morning, and the first tortes which saluted my ear after tie negro's rap, was the voice of his ac quaintance, the hoot black, who ~vas engaged in his Ycotioo at the ind of the passage, and ~vh6 said: "I eay, Saut." ''Well,'' said 8a111. "1 say, these here geotlentans what Wears these 'crc hoots, spect is high 'uns." "Why (10, darkey?" asked Sam. "Why, cause the lOud 00 these here boots aint aVellue mod---tt'~i yellow mud from the common, he, he. One of I hem gals was here yesterday cvenin~ arter that old left M. C., understand, member" ''Lie ofl't pay no 'on,'' replied Sam. ''I aiot seed the color of his ttlOltc~ this many a (lay, and J has worn out two pair 0~ loots running errands fo~ ltirtt. lie uses IJucle Sant'~. flote paper, and I ~;ue s ii lIe couldn't there wouldn't be 'o many love let tern written all liver town. I Ic's always sonic gent! man, when he L~0OS to tIlO poSt lIflite, to ask for him. lie's ;t buster busted. I tell you, Cokely, ub'- people what sends these rnem bern here ought to be responsible for their debts. They gets trusted all around cause they're M. C's, and the next thing you knows their 'stitutents, the peoples, has let' 'em oat, and the consekence is the M. C. is busted. Always 'member, Onkely, they're only in for two years when they're elected , and there is very few of 'em as comes back, and so keep your eye skinned on 'em at the end of the session. If they drinks and gets that yellow mud on their boots, you may be sure, Cokely, you'll be a loser by 'em." "Old boy," exclaimed Cokely, in a tone of admiration of his advice, "you've been here so long you is a kind of up to every thing and down to eVery thing; but I tell you this child is getting Ilis eye skinned very fast, he is, he! he! he's cutting his eye tooth, he is." When I descended to the bar, I asked the bar keeper if the gentlemen who were with me last nigltt had left yet? "About a quarter of an hour ago," he replied. "Did they go together?" '0! yes, sir, they made friends after tileir fuss last night, and they went off in a fast carriage a quarter of an hour ago." "Made friends-did they take a drink together?" "Oh yes, sir, and Captain t4crrymnan asked for you, and tilat put me in mind of waking you. Mr. Russell." Itrittioted my horse, provoked, firstly, wib these geoth rico, and secondly that they lIdli got the start of mc, and I darted ahead with right good will, and with a kind of fierce feeling of determi- 63 Threat he was very profane, and it occurred to me, though indistinctly, that some of his profanity lla(l a personal application to myself, but thought I, my bold Captain, we are both of us influenced by last night's supper and extraK, and if you want a fuss with me you can have it when both of us are cooler; at least the greater interest of my friend is on hand, and I will out general you yet, sir cap- tain. As I entered Bladensburg I saw a horseman by the woodside just where you enter from Wash- ington, who, eyeing me with much keenness, that had the look of a- right to do it, said: "One moment, sir." "Not a moment," I replied, "business presses OH me," "BIll I've got a right," said he, "and I corn roand you in tht' name of the lrt~v." So speaking he turned upon rae, and two others on horseback, who were behind a bush beside the road, and whom I had not seen, advanced. I stopped and asked them what they meant? "Ain't your name liorsicy?" ask~~ my first in~- terrupter. In a utomertt I saw wltat was out. Somebody (the doctor I presumed) had given information of the intended duel, and a writ Itad been issued to arrest Johestone artd ilorslcy. - "That is my natrte," mid I. "f know it ia, Mr. Horslcy," replied the first person "answers the description," said he, turn~ ilIg to one of his empaltions-."sorry, sir, but there is a duel on hand. an'~ 5ave orders to arrest yout nation to pass them and gem into Bladenshurg be- as one of the principals." fore them. "Ab, then I must go with you." Still, what I should say to Ilorslcy was tln- I knew nothing about the law of arrest in these settled in toy mind, and, thought I Could not help triatters, or whether I was iti Maryland, t)r witat toWing the matter over atid over, I resolved to let effect uty arrest ill the ten tiles square would have. itopulse dictate my course to hint whit ~ e met. 1 otthv thought of tossing for [hirshey and getting Thus engaged mentally, 1 did not see a earria' ~ Ott otit of the 5-rape. I acetirdingly aecompan- before me until I was wiUtirt a fow yards of it ied dte officers ott thte way to Washington, as I when suddenly being nti(he aware of its petxi mit' rimittated it what I shoutld do in the titatter, It I reeo5llised Merrymnat and Joltustone looking onin Witltotut hetrayin" the deception to the officers of of tlte side windows, evident hy attraered by ~ t he law, I hi' w ttot how I woltId get information furious driving. I bowed ltasdily to titeti , and It isv frietl(l of toy predicatnettt. All at once spurred toy ltor~e a fob g:i lop post Ilteto t e(it med to nw, as I saw a negro ad vatoiing to Merryntart's ~udc, ray hioe~ flitigtrtg I he to mid from warts is ott Itorse ack, that I won II write a httr his heels directly in the fie eater's fiiee. tied lotte with utty petted to 1 loesley (itt a scrap of WILLIAM RUSSELL. page: 64-65[View Page 64-65] THE AUTO~3IO~RAPHY O~ WILLIAM RUSSELL. 65 paper, could I procure it, and advise him of m arrest for him. This would apprise him of tL cause of my absence and leave him free to 'act. I stopped the negro and told him II wished send a message to Bladensburg by him to in tavern keeper, and asked him if he would carry if I paid him well for it. "I won't do anything else master, sartain, for lives dar," replied the African, delighted at th reward. I felt in vain in my pockets for a scrap of paper I had none. "Gentlemen," said I, turning to my attendants "I want a bit of paper on which to write a noti to my landlord about my baggage in Bladensburg have you a bit of blank paper about you." "If you say it is riot to let your second knovi anything of the matter, certainly," said Captair Wilson, who was the person who arrested me, and who commanded the party. "I have no second in my matters yet, gentle- men, I assure you,~~ said I, glad of the chance of a prevarication, which looked free of falsehood, though evidently it was meant to deceive, and therefore was not so pure as might be. The leaf of a letter, blank all but its superscrip- tion, for there did not exist then the universal system of envelopes, was handed to me by:Captain Wilsonand in a very careless way, on the top of my hat, I wrote a hasty note to Horsley. I gave it to the boy and told him aside to ask the landlord of th~ hotel to have it sent with the note to the room of the gentleman to whom it was directed. "No," said I, ~ as a brighter thought struck me. "There"-giving him Horsicy's di- rection on a piece of paper-"ask the landlord to show you to that gentleman's room, and when you see the gentleman give hi1n that note. Do you hear'?" "Yes, ~ and he hesitated. "Ah, and here's a dollar for y~u; tell the gentle- man when you give him the note that I said he twist give you another dollar." "What brought your name be, master?" "I-Iorsley-Mr. Horsley-arid when you see me again I'll give you another ~ "Whar does you think 1 shall see you, was ter?" iy "In Bladensburg, to-morrow; don't forget I me f owe you another dollar," The blackey's eyes goggled at the idea of his ,o forgetting it, and then he ha-hawed right out, as y the humor of the thing struck him, and he started, t off briskly on his way, holding his dollar in his clenched fist as if he meant to feel that it was safe. I The negro was not out of sight, when who e should our cavalcade meet but the carriage con- taining .Johnstone and his friend the captain. They were evidently taking it leisurely, under the cap- tain's directions. To be in a hurry even to show one's courage would not haye been cool enough for ~ the gallant captain. They evidently were talking very pleasantly, the captain appeared anecdotical, for .Johnstone laughed loud at something or other his companion was telling, though there was some- thing in the ring of his laugh which was not all merriment. As we advanced to the side of the carriage I - could see Johnstone in the act of relighting his cigar, which had gone out, maybe during his hearty laugh. Jolinstone was laying back apparently at his ease, while Merryman was evidently so, for his feet were protruded voluptuously on the seat in front of him, and he was pleasantly watching the escape of the smoke from his lips, which he had retained there for his amusement, while Johnstone relighted his cigar. Johastone was the first to see me, and he bolted into an upright position and unconsciously repeated my name: "Mr. Russell!" The officers started and looked at each other, while I, without seeming to notice them, said: "Horslcy, if you please, sir." "Ha, Mr. Horslcy," exclaimed Captain Merry- man, with a coolness which reminded me of Peterson's at our first juvenile rivalry in recitation, "ab, glad to see you, sir; we are on a little gunning excursion after wild fowl, we trust that the game is not scared offi" "Scared off!" I exclaimed, losing for a moment my self' possession, and about to utter that which might have betrayed the real state of the case, "0! no, sir, I'~~ left game enough there for you yet-at least for a shot or two." The officers of the law whispered apart and 9 looked suspicious, but said nothing, while the car- riage, the driver of which had slackened his horses to a walk during our short colloquy, now started into a quicker pace. "One moment, captain, let me say a word to you," I called out, when the carriage had passed out of hearing of the officers. "Excuse me a moment, gentlemen," I said to Captain Wilson and his party, and imitating the coolness of Captain Merryrnan, I rode up to his carriage, and told him, in a low tone, that I had been arrested in mistake for Horsley, and that I would not undeceive the officers until I heard from i-Iorsley. "I have sent a black boy with a note to my friend explaining matters, Captain Merryman." "It's a mere circumstance, sir," replied the gal- lant Captain, "a mere circumstance. Your friend is our man, sir. Pardon me, sir, I say it as a matter of congratulation, not of reproach; your friend will find some one more familiar with these matters than you are." I felt my cheek tinge at his matter of conirratu- lation, which was meant for insult, and replied: "Yes, you are right, captain, religious people call these matters murders, as you know, (he had been called repeatedly a murderer in the j)apers) but you gentlemen who perpetrate them in an honora- ble way, think nothing of' them, though morally, as second, if you cause a death you are as much of a murderer as though you~were the principal." "Ha, ha, quite sevc.me, sir. Doubtless your ar- rest has then relieved you h~oin anxiety. But, sir, we must hasten on," and he raised his hat and told the boy 'to drive on.' I raised mine also and felt very much like flinging it in his face, at the same time I doubted very much whether I had spoken in good taste. I could not but smile, however, as I joined Cap- tain Wilson and his companions, to mark how moucil their suspicion of something wnng was~ aroused, and 110W completely they were at fault a- to the existing state of things. CHAPTER XXIII. FALL INTO CONVERSATION WITh CAPTAIN WILSON-HE OROWS VERY TALKATIVE-TIlE DUEL BETWEEN COLO- NET. U. AND DOCTOR 13.-BLOODY I5I.AND-THE AD VENTURE OF THE hEAR-AMERICAN ANt) FRENCHMAN -A DUEL THE CONSEQUENCE-WILSON '5 REASONS FOE 1115 DUEL-SUDDEN ANI) UNEXPECTED INTERRUPTION. Not meaning to~commit myself any fotl~r in deception than was necessary to accomplish my purpose, (the way with most deceivers, by the bye,) and perchance fearing that something I might let slip might betray me, I said nothing to my ar- resters upon the subject of my arrest. In fact they had deceived themselves in their eagerness to ar- rest Horsicy, betraying themselves to me in a way which I thought justified me in playing Elorsley, for the sake of the honor of my friend. Yet as we rode along, several times it occurred to me that I bad better tell Captain Wilson who I was, and without advising him to do so, contrive that he should return to Bladenshurg and arrest Ilorsley, for when I reflected upon Merryman's coolness and the aid his previous knowledge of duelling matters and so fbrth would give .lohnstone, I trembled for my friend, who I had no donot would easily get another secon(l. But I said to myself I am bound to guard the honor of Horsicy, who has l)tlt his trust in Toe, and I asked Captain Wilson: "Have you made many arrests aftcr this fashion, sir?" "Why yes, sir--but not so many as formerly sAving your preserlee, sir, the thing~~ not as fluili- joriable as it used to he. Members of Congress ain't as high flown as they used to be-they dun't stand o4 pints as they used to--though when we get some of the Southern liotspurs here, they are very bilious towards Northern men, and flares up easily." "I fave you witnessed mimany duels'?" I asked. ~ you think th~ sw~onds eoull generally settle it?" "Almost always. sir, except in a case like that of Burr and I larnilton, when Burr was hound to fight. lie was all fitrht, -sir game all over-Ifam- ilton knowed jt-J have always thought he knowed that Burr meant to kill hits, and he kind of pre 65 page: 66-67[View Page 66-67] 66 pared himself for it. He said duelling waswrong, but he couldn't stand the public opinion." "I remember," I replied, "reading the corres- pondence between Burr and Hamilton-I agree with you-I always thought that Hamilton antici- pated his fate." "Yes, sir," replied Captain Wilson, "and there- fore two men so notoriously brave to go out to prove their courage, strikes me as great foolishness. Saving your presence, it's a very foolish business any how." "Yes, it is a very foolish business any how, but yet two such wise men as Burr and Hamilton fought, to say nothing of a thousand others as wise me to be on the ground. The colonel thought it would be a Street fight-he had pluck and pre. pared himself accordingly-but the doctor said that if lie had introduced the colonel to his wife, and ~ut confidence in him and given him in that way endorsement in his family, he would have shot him down like a dog, but that was not the thing; the lady was the colonel's casual acquaintance, !made at a ball, and she had encouraged his attentions from the first." "Hair-splitting casuistry," I said. 'Well, I don't know, sir, but so said the doc- tor. The colonel," he said, "ought to have re~ spected his honor, be the lady what she might, but and as brave." the colonel had not violated his friendship or be- "But you look very young,~~ remarked Captain traded his confidence." Wilson. "Ha!" said I, "Othello says that Desdemona "I am young, sir, and therefore with not much must die- experience to make me discreet-Hamilton and Burr were both middle aged men, yet they fought, 'Else sbe'll betray more men."' and their courage was unquestioned.~~ "I don't know about that," replied the captain. ~.rI7rue, sir, but it was the fashion them days," "but at any rate the doctor was determined to kill replied Captain Wilson. thecolonel, if he could, for the sake of his honor, "You've seen a good many duels, have you, sir?" but he said under the eireumstances it should be 1 asked. done in a fair field." "Yes, sir! About the keenest I ever saw was "Ah, so the doctor thought it was a fair field, between two gentlemen in the North state, that is, was it, when the colonel eloped with his lady?" North Carolina~-one of them was from South Car- "Can't say, sir; you have me there. My notions alma. They went on the ground feeling deadly is that if a woman is good she is good, and if she against each other. One of them had run away means to play the deuce she'll play the deuce with the other's wife; he was a single man, and any how." the married man was bent on vengeance. Maybe "You have experience of the sex, Captain Wil- you~ve heard of the story?~~ son," I remarked. "Not that I know of." "Some, sir, some. But these pints of honor "Well, one, the single man, was a M. C. from is monstrous nice, so nice I never could get the the North state, Col. G., and the married man hang of them. Sir, we have five senses, we taste, was Dr. B. The lady had gone off to St. Louis smell, see, hear and feel, and then we have a sixth with the colonel. I was traveling round then- sense, sir, the sense of honor, but to my mind it's 4 it's been many years ago-to see whar to settle, an acquired sense, sir, like the acquired appetite and I ~vent up the river with the doctor, who was for cigars, tobacco and Jiquor-the last, though, on his way to St. Louis in pursuit of her. My comes pretty easy after while. I goes the whole mind is, if a woman won't stay with me, she can on 'em. But, sir, they goes out on Bloody Island go; I don't mean to make my crime equal to her's in the river, opposite St. Louis, that is, the colonel by committing murder-but many men, many and the doctor did-they call it Bloody Island he~ minds. The doctor was bent on killing the col., cause of the many duels fought there-and they and he said he would do it in a fair fight-he was went it at ten paces-both dead shots. Well~ a great shot. He liked me, and though lie held sir, the first fire the colonel hits the right arm, the himself high up in society, lie said he would like pistol arm, of the doctor, and the ball broke hi~ I WILLIAM arm, glanced and went into his heart. As the doctor fell over, for I was near h~m and saw the expression of hi~ eye, he kind of kicked his arm up with his knee-mind I saw it-and off went his pistol. The colonel never kicked afterwards. The doctor fell, rested on his left arm, looked stern at the colonel, and when he saw he was dead, he stretched himself out, and died a kind of content- edly as I thought. He had hit the colonel plum in the head, and it was the doctor's opiniou it was done after the doctor was hit in the heart, for they probed the wound and found the bullet in his heart. You look unbelieving." "Why, no, it is said of General Jackson," I re- plied, "that he was wounded by his antagonist, and did not know it until after he had killed him and he was leaving the ground with one of his seconds, who showed him the marks of blood on his clothes. Sir, said the general, as he examined the wound, I should have killed him, sir; I had made up my mind: I should have killed him if his bullet had gone into my brain. It's merely show- ing what resolution will do." "Fact, sir," replied Captain Wilson," ha! ha! I heard tell on a fellow that went away up en the V~ellow Stone a hunting with a Frenchman. They left their canoe-the American and the French- man did-on the new banks, and they went two days travel into the wilderness, when one day an- beknowns-" "Where are you from?" said I, struck with his pronunciation. "Why I'm from everywhere, but I was born in Tennessee, got a place here from the Mayor and City Council appointments," winking hard at me, "though I'm in general politics, not the right side up either. But as I was saying, unbe- knowus to him, the American, he falls into a fight with a barr and the animal tears him a~vfully- however, he happens to give him a mortal dig at last with his knife and laW Mr. Bruin out. There's a good many kind of di ~ls: some is fashionable and some is unfashionable, but the American's was in an awful case." "Most brutally treated," I interposed. "Yes, sir, bearishly, but that ain't the ~vorst of it nor the best of it. The Frenchman carried his friend on his back, after he had helped him to dress THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF RUSSELL. 67 his wounds, the better part of the day, towards the river where the canoe was, and there being more than a day~s travel to reach the canoe, he concluded-the Frenchman did-that he could'nt take the American-he was a Tennesseean-any further, so he put him down." "What, left him!" I exclaimed. "He put him down, but the American reasoned with him and begged that he would no~ leave him* to die there. The Frenchman said he would have to do it, as Indians were on their track, and he started to leave. The American begged him for God's sake to load his rifle for him and leave it by his side; yon know, says he, I can u~e one hand, and maybe it may save my life from Indians, or get me some game. Just load me my rifle-~if my bruised legs won't let me walk, I can crawl, maybe after awhile. Just leave my bowie knife too, near by in trim. 'So to this the Frenchman consent- ed, glad to make some kind of excuse to himself for nor deserting his friend without some hope for him, and he accordingly loaded his rifle, placed it by him, and took an affectionate leave of Monsieur friend, the American, but the American couldn't stand it, so lie made one desperate effort, raised his rifle, and said to the Freriichman, promise to take me on your back to the canoe or I'll shoot you on the spot. That was a dead fall to the Frenchman, I tell you. He had to do it. He took the American on his back, with the American holding the bowie knife right at his throat all the way to the canoe. When they got there the American made Monsieur Frog seat him in the canoe, and he held a bee line on him with his rifle till the Frenchman paddled him all the way to the settlements." I could not but laugh heartily at the story, and I thought Captain Wilson was certainly a green chap for the captain of the watch of the metropo- lis of the nation, but then I reflected that politics, like poverty, makes us acquainted with strange bed fellows, and I concluded that under some hocus pocus or other of political transmutation, the cap- tain was where he was. He seemed infinitely more disposed to talk than at first, and I began to think how much I had been mistaken in his charac- ter in taking him, its I did, for a sedate personage. "That was'nt all of it," he continued, after a page: 68-69[View Page 68-69] 68 pause. "The Frenchman, when he afterwards met the American in St. Louis, challenged him, I was informed, and they went out and faught on Bloody Island, and the American served him worse than the bear served the American himself, for he shot his nose off, and it's a~vful to hear a French- man speak broken English through a brokeui nose?' I could not but laugh heartily at this. "The joke of it was that the Frenchman had told how he had helped the American all through friendship and politeness, and the American had contradicted the story. The American said he rode him like the man of the mountain rode Sin- bad the sailor, or Sinbad the sailor rode the man of the mountain, I forget which." ~ strange," said I, "that the Frenchman did not refuse at first outright." "Why, he would have got killed outright." "Well, but it occurs to me, he, in the long time the American was on his back, or while they were in the boat, might have got rid of him, or got away from hire." "Ah, the American was holding on for his life, and he had the Frenchman under cow." "That's true." "True, it's everything-when you get a fellow under cow he's gone. There ain't nothing left of him but fever and ague. The Frenchman was so laughed at when the story got told 'round that he grew as brave as a lion, and wanted to fiuht after he had his nose shot off, but his seconds wouldn't let him." "You believe the story,~~ I said. "Why not? it's as good a story as the next one, and first rate grounds for a dueWain't it. If that ain't putting upon a man I don't know. It was one hundred and sixty pounds of human nature, and the Frenchman was small at that-his consti- tution, like his character, never recovered. ~ said I to myself, "the character of Captain Wilson, like the unfolding of some curious toy, is opening out." "You would not, 1 suppose, Mr. 1-lorslcy, now, considering my present position, take rue for an arusrocrat, would you?" "Why not?" I asked. "Why nut? hecause appearances are against me -hut I am an aruntocrat -.1 am descended from one of the F. F. V.-one of the first families in Virginia." "Yes, sir, fact, one of the first families in Vir- ginia. I am descended from the Monboddoes. You've hearn tell of Lord Mouboddo, who wrote a book to prove that men were monkeys all but the tails?" "Yes," I replied, smiling. "Well, sir, I am descended from that family- I'm one of the tails. We changed our names to Wilson in the revolutionary war by act of the le- gislature, because the old branch took the tory side. But talking about duels, my family pride like to have cost me my life-it did cost me a duel.". "Yes, sir-the Wilsons, my ancestors, emigrated to Tennessee, disgusted' with the toryism of their ancestors, and though we hated the tory notions of the old branch, we were proud of the blood. Well, I had some little money in my younger days and so I went down to New Orleans, a good looking fellow, though I say it myself, just six foot in my stocking feet, and well proportioned, and about the best blood in my veins, if you were there just to analyse it, as far as healthy blood goes, tn-the country, and as far as family goes, the best blood on top of the ground throughout the States. Do yqu know, Mr. elorsley, where the best mint in the world growsI~ "No," I said, wondering what was coming next. "Well, it grows in the grave yards of old Vir- ginay-it grows our of the best blood too, of the old families, in consequence of their drinking so many mint tulips, and it sprouts spontaneous!" "It does?" "Yes, sir, and I can prove it any day in any of the old Episcopal grave yards in old Vmrginav." "But the duel," I said, and as we rode side by side, the others in the rear, tho captain talked on in the glibest fhsbion, our horses' hoofs making bait very little inte~ruptiou as they fell on the unpaved road. "Well, sir, I was (lown in New Orleans, and in full feather I wont to a hall iii the tipper teti, tletei mined to show them a touch of something. I win not one of your (lancers that just mninues along in boots, and steps iraincing about as though treading WILLIAM on eggs. I used to go the double shuffle in high style, with nothing on the light fantastic roe but a silk stocking and the tightest kin dof pomp. Iliad ordered a julip; had to send out to get the mint, for though it was winter, it was as hot as mid sum- mer in Tennessee; it was my second, and I had been dancing with a Creole girl, who owned a plantation and five hundred nigga rs, and she aljind of looked mender on me. She was a dark brunette, with eyes like living coaW. and she sailed along like a swallow over lake Ponchartrain, and then, said I to myself, that pocket full of rocks she has! I thought thus while I was taking my julip, mean- ing to slip right hack to her side, for I t(,ld her I was earning. When I get' back, tiere was a taIl fellow, a mighty slick looking fellow, doing the soft nonsense in a way that absolutely frightened me-i was terrified-I sa~ the thing was op with me. Why, sir, he smelt like a locomotive per- fumery shop, with all steam up-with his hair all parted on the side and so slicked down that you could'nt see a single particular hair. they were conglomerated into a perfect democracy on his arustocratic head. How I felt! 1 would have beeu willing to bet any kind of fellow the biggest kind of odds that I could fling him out of the window " Here 'he captain paused a motracut in his narra- THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF tave~ attracted by a most ungraceful end aged overheard mc, and shaking himself free of the horseman, who, attended by a black tom, was sand pretty much after the f~.shion of a cur dog evidently wanting to aovanco to~x ards us at a shaking himacif free of rhG water into which he aster Ia:c than he dared to pt the no til' of his {h as been soused against his will, he htlt his dertud- horse to, and who proved to be another person ~ j ed head, stamped his feet, and exclaimed: old .\I n. Iloraley bitn~ett. - "Where's my son-that prodigal-i say where is be? Au, you viper, I'll have you ha the peniten- tiary." CHAPTER xxiv. i "Look here, individual, I thought you belonged to the ehuob,'' ~-ai(l Captain Wilson. A' Ar '~ENI I 7 5.-A TAIS wu, r~ its- "Belonged t~ the church," shouted Iloraley, I 0 H' I P A51 A ~110CII I' JJUF' .a1, Sr., staring at him. 551 01/ T'ON' t (7 J~A 0151' Art ~0 JO 3 '' ~"e~ and I'll have you turned out; what are 1.1 Yi 5-A. 1ABO A'- 'PitH 'ttO~Jt50 ('F I Jib JAIl- you carrying 'in sO ibout; ain't this your son?~~ aooiraN OP-I HI' PA A rJb\'iO'''3 if "'I I OPW) I) ''Xl) sod no. sir, In-avon flirbid--noy son is nitil A ii liLt 1ST 1. NO IM'tAOOOI'1ab----1'O5I'J'IoN a 1rod igdl i oded , sir, hut. not such an outcast as I Jut: RA('Ett-t IINPEc 7t itS FAMLO e its- baa fellow is -he ba~ been the ruin of' may boy.7~ -~ r. Honley. St , r it honso op t~ ith -ucla I wa~ it) ito Itaste ii) make any explanation, hi rce *''rk a l' eatut bolt a ~m u~ and ob J While Captain XV il/on and I lorslcy, Sr., looked id toe in the act of drawing op a'~ it were to oaeh other. RUSSELL. 69 receive hire, which I did involuntarily by stir- prise, that the sudden stoppage of his steed flung him directly over the head of the animal, while his spectacles, hat and wig flew off, and he went into a sand bank head foremost up to his chin. The poor gentleman struggled there with hands and feet very much like an adv~~irous swimmer who has gone out too far to sea, and who, in his mortal agony, is going down with his eyes, nose, ears and mouth full of water. I was the first to throw myself from my horse, and with the assis- tance of Captain Wilson, dragged the old gentle- man oot, and pot him upon his feet. The captain then turned to catch the horse, and I drew forth my handkerchief and wiped the sold gentleman's head and eyes, for he was yet blinded with the san&. though he did not appear to he hurt much. "Where is my son~-too late-let me alone, let me die, you viper!" ho exclaimed, as he dis- covered who it was that was releasing hi[n. "'A here is my son, I day?" "Ain't this him?" asked Captain Wilson- "cool yourself, old gentleman; that sand bank saved you.~~ '-And the fall on his head," I could not but say aside to the captain, to whom I felt somehow as an old acAjuaintance, forgetting the position we occupied towards each other. The old gentleman page: 70-71[View Page 70-71] 10 THE AtTTO] "There's a mistake," exclaimed Wilson at last, "this is not your son?" "~y cost no, sir, this is William Russell-the individual who has got my son into all his diffi- culties~-seduced him into the profanity of play aciing-.got him to disobey me and made me turn him out of my house-is now getting him to spend his means-got him into this duel-where is my son?" he said, advancing towards me in a half angry, half beseeching tone. "Captain Wilson, then I am no longer your prisoner," I said. "No, sir," he replied, looking foolish. "Then, sir, I have my action of false imprison- ment against you, and you shall hear from me, sir," and I turned my ~ head towards Bla- densburg. "Stop, Mr. Russell," called out Horslcy, Sr., "my son-for God's sake, sir-" "I don't know you, sir," I said to the old man, "I don't know you, sir-I won't say mend your morals, they are past mending; I merely say mend your manners, and if your son's slain, sir, do not flatter yourself with the idea that I did it. 'Shake not your gory locks at me,' old man; I say it not as it is said in the play, but I say it in truth, 'shake not your gory locks at me,' but look home, and reflect that your harsh and unfatherly treat- ment of a sensitive and proud son, and more gifted than any man 1 know, has been the cas~e of all 'this. 'Lay not the flattering unction' (I believe I quoted plays to the old man on purpose) 'to your soul,' old man, that it is anybody's fault but yours -you are reversing the position of old Lear, old boy, and teaching a child how 'sharper than a serperlt'5 tooth it is' to have just such a father as you are. 1 fear your cant is more, sir, than mere outside-that it is a natural and not an ac- quired habit, caught at 'conventicle'-that it is in- grained and born of your cold, selfish and sordid nature. If it were not for the purity of his mother, whom he loved so much, and whom the late la- mented Mr. Beazely respected so much and talked of so often with over flowing eyes, I should be willing to swear that you were not his father. It is proper for rue now, sir, to inform you, if he has fallen in this duel, that he forgave you, and I do not tell it to you in any pity; I tell it to you by I BIOGRAPHY OF way of fulfilling the scripture, which you have so often misquoted, by quoting it aright and applying it aright. I do it, sir, to heap the living coals upon your head. There's your wig, sir, you had better put it on-get to your false covering again -you have shown your denuded head as you have shown a momentary spark of feeling for your son, very unexpectedly to yourself and much to the surprise of others. Get to your false covering again, or rather I should advise you, bare-headed and bare-hearted, and bad-hearted, (I liked that al- literation, and irave it effectively, emphasizing both the words 'bare,' and uprising in tone with a low- ering brow upon 'bad,') as you are, get down on your knees while it is to-day, for it will soon be night with you, old man, and pray God to give you grace to mend your conduct to your noble son." I certainly thought myself not only histrionic but decidedly oratorical, when I delivered this ex- temporaneous reproof and exhortation to Horslcy, Sr. It runs as glibly from my pen as I record it -I remember it so distinctly-as it came from my tongue when I pronounced it. I held through my kimboed left arm the loosened rein of my horse, whose head I had turned towards Bladensburg, when about to leave the party, and outstretched the other with my riding whip in hand, in a man- ner which. I confess, I took the hint of from what I h d rend of John Randolph and seen of him in the prints-a manner appropriate to a moral cas- tigation illustrated by the position of inflicting a physical one-and I made the very wavy point of that delicate riding whip tell on the old man. To say the truth I felt very much like obeying Ham- ~ advice to the players, "suiting the action to the word," and I never felt before so truthfully the force of the Athenian's remark, when in answer to the question as to what constituted oratory, he re- plied, three things: "Action-Action-Action." Then Mark Antony's disclaimer over C~sar, that he, Antony, had "Neither wit nor worlds nor worth, Action nor utterance, nor the power or speech To stir men's blood," occurred if) me, and 1 thought I had them even better than the Roman, and particularly the "power to stir men's blood," as I marked how WILLIAP well I made the very point-the delicate tracery of the tip end of my riding whip-illustrate the glori- ous action of oratory. We formed a tableau decidedly. 1 thought of it at the time. First, I was the chief figure on horseback, with the outstretched riding whip, ut- tering those "Thoughts that breathed and words that burned;" then old Horaley, wigless and speechless, staring at me, with the astonished negro at his side-- then Captain Wilson looking at the old gentle- man as if he thought he deserved it-and Cap- tain Wilson's two attendants, who had all the day been mute, and who were mute still, but spectators of the graphic leading figures, and par- ticularly of the leading figure, myself. I paused awhile. The lonely road on which we stood, the dark back ground of woods, relieved by an opening to the left of a rudely ploughed field, with a small rural tenement at its edge, the morning sun flashing through dark clouds with a wandering and uncertain light, all combined to give effect to the scene. Thinks I to myself 1 wish we had an audience here, such as one of the old Roman amphitheatre would have held- this is all lost. All at once through this reckless- ness of conduct, which had bitterness in it, never- theless, flashed wild and heart-piercing fears for my friend, aud without saying another word I put whip to my horse and (lashed towards Bla- densburg. "Halloa!" after a half minute's passe, I heard, Captain Wilson bawl out after me, "I've got a writ for you, too." Over my shoulder like Mazzeppa I threw back my defiance. I told the late party which had formed so interesting a tableau, that they might go to the devil, and renewed the application of my whip to my bounding steed. in another instant I heard them galloping after me. We had gotten four miles from Bladensburg, and therefore we had a four mile heat of it, and I had the start.. "Well, if my steed holds out," thought I, "I'll be in Bladensburg time enough to warn Horeley to leave before they can reach him, for I reflected lie was probably there, unable as yet to get a second." ~1 RUSSELL. 71 "Ha!" thought 1, as my good steed bounded ahead, "Bladensburg is famous for its races, but its most famous race was from it, not to it, ( I did not know then that I should write my memoirs) and here goes." Full of wild excitement I gave a whoop that would have done justice to a Texan ranger flying, but bravely, from a host of Mexi- cans, any two or three of whom he would more willingly have met than have eaten his breakfast, though he had had a long morning's ride without it. Captain Wilson echoed my shout after me in a tone that seemed to have real earnestness as well as fun in it, and I just then came to a bend in the road, which, after I turned, had a long stretch of level pathway before me, of which I was anxious to avail myself while out of sight of my pursuers. The consciousness of being unseen made me think that I could go ahead the faster, while I felt if they should turn the bend and find that I had gained on them they would give over the pursuit, I had in fact nobody to fear but Wilson, and I felt with a writ in his pocket and the law to back him he was an individual towards whom discretion, which would be another word for surrender, would be the better part of valor. In another moment I heard a wild yell from Captain Wilson, (and I thought how well he gave it,) behind me, and I looked anxiously over my shoulder to see if I had gained en him. I had evidently. How this inspired me. I arose in my stirrups and felt the safety and the swiftness of my steed with a gladness that made me pat his neck gently with my hand instead of applying my whip to his flaming flank. How cleanly, if I may so speak, he threw the dirt from his clattering hoofs. "There was racing and chasing onCannobie lea," I said to myself. Hurra for the Bladensburg races redivivus. "They'll have fleet steeds that follow," was the cry that day, and how craven fear made the cowards scamper, but 1 go it bravely. I'll meet yoo yet, Sir Thomas .Johnstone and Captain Merryman. Perchance l'll exchange a shot or two with you myself~ "They'll have fleet steeds that follow quo~h young Loehinvar." page: 72-73[View Page 72-73] 72 THE ATJTOB] I felt like riding through Bladensburg as Dick Turpin rode through the English village, with the reins in my mouth and a pistol in each hand. "Go K it my old fellow," said Ito my horse, "and if you take me through, though I cannot make you Con- sul, as the Roman made his steed, yet your stall shall have an abundant rack and a luxuriant trough, arid you shall have a wide pasture~for your range, and no one shall put saddle or briole on you except on a gala day, when I bestride you to escort a lady or play soldiers, when bright eyes look on. "Ha! the- turnpike gates flew open for John Gilpin; they don't fly open in this country for fly- ing men, and therefore j~~5 lucky there are no gates between me and the city of the races. I wish there had been a broader turnpike than that of the (leep shatne which they made so light of when they broke all bounds-thbse racers of Bladens burg. I wish there had been some high wall that had held them to the slaughtering as they fled as they did, that they might have been slain in the ditch, and then, though they would have died as inglorious as was their flight, history might have been apocryphal on the matter, and they might have won another name than that of craven. Like the wife whose fidelity the husband doubts not, though circumstances look, awry, yet she is bol steered up by the fact that she is trusted by the one I most concerned in her being true. Othello would have been 'happy,' so he says, if he had 'nothing known'-aIaS all's known-and in the very shadow of Mount Vernon the rascals ran and betrayed the capital, though bearing the name of him whose ashes repose so near it. Why did not the sleeper arise like Samuel to Saul, 'an old i~an covered with his mantle,' and rebuke them. But they won the race. I wonder shall I win this race of Bladensburg." With this change of thought to the pressing pre- sent frorti the past, I s~ fixed myself on my sad- dIe as to look around without abating the speed of roy horse, and truly, except that the numbers were less, I fancy that pursuers aid pursued looked very much like tire Bladensburg racers. Captain Wilson was decidedly ahead, and h~ urge'1 on his steel gallantly. Behind him were his two ~flicial' si~le by side, and [thought lanolin. ing at the spectacle before and behind them, and WILLIAM RUSSELL. 71 [OGRAPHY OF especially the latter. For there was old Horaley remounted and trying to hold in hiro steed, that had more bottom than either of the other horses, while his black man was spurring up to keep his ~ company. I so shook with laughter that I could scarcely keep my seat. I thought Elorslcy, Sr., must look something like John (iilpin. I wanted to have a near view of him and see how he looked when I thought of the lines- "Away went Gilpin, and away Went Gilpin's hat and wig." "The Iblks at Bladenshuig," I said aloud, in lnmmny colloquy with myself, "will be as much sur- prised as were the Ibiks along the road that Gil- phin scared up. Zounds, it it were midnight now- "Tramp, tramp, along the sand they rode, Splash, splash, along the sea," as we went it through the burg illustrious in the history of races, they might take us for the ghosts of those citizen soldiers, who 'ran away' and 'lived,' but not 'to fight another day,' who were buried among their kindred, but as it might be sup- posed doomed to the purgatory of an occasional ride over the course where their living flesh did so outrage manhood." "stop, I tell you," shouted Captain Wilson when he saw me looking back at them. I thought of the old soldier's remark when he was ordered by the foe to surrender his arms, and who replied, "come an(1 take them," and I bel- lowed back- "Catch me." "Shoot him down," shouted out Horsley, in I screaming tone that struck distinctly on my ear. 1 could not but think of his christian spirit as I turned my back again to the foe to put my steed to his mettle, when lo! I found myself in the out- skirts, (if outskirts it might be called) of Bladens- burg, the winner of the race, thouiih not by many lengths, and f-ill in view ot the Bladensburg hotel, at which, at that very moment, I saw the carriage which contained Captain Merryman and his friend Thomas Johnstone, Esq., drive up in a very dig- nified mariner. 6 I I the road, coming to reclaim his 'prodigal,' as he its force, and threw him on his back, in which calls him, and we shall have quite a scene, as I am position, throwing out his arms on either side, he told the young gentleman has pious tendencies and went faster than a locomotive down an inclined no doubt is full of filial piety-at least may be so plane, for he had nothing to stay his headway, for the nonce.'~ Off went his hat, and his full neck and, cheek, The insolence of this speech stirred every drop bloated with his habits and rage, grew J)urp1e~.-I 10 CHAPTER XXV. SCENE IN THE BLADENSBHRG IIOTEL'-MY iNTERVIEW WITH HOUSLEY, JR.-CAPTAIN IIERRYMAN 'S RATiD DE- SCENT OF THE STAIR CASE-TWO MEN SHOT WITHOUT A DUEL-PERCHANCE THE ItIOlIT ONES-OLD HORSLEY REVOKES HIS WILL I resolved at once what I was to do. Dashing up to the carriage, I flung myself from my horse, throwing the bridle to the hackman, who was obse- quiously awaiting with open door the descent of Johostone and his friend. I sprang past them into the bar room and asked where Horsley was? "Not up yet, sir," was the reply of the bar keeper. I darted up stairs and found him getting up, awakened, as he afterwards told me, by the clatter of my horse's hoofs. In an instant I explained to him the state of affairs. "I must be off," said he, "that fellow, Merry- man, would say, should I be arrested, that I had time to dodge and didn't, and then I'd have to challenge him. And to tell you the truth, Russell," he continued, as he drew on his boots, "I would rather that Johnstone should have two shots at me than that Merryman should have one. Ha, I hear tl~em on the steps; well, I'll through this door," hE~ continued, turning to one which evidently let into another room, "though it opened into my lady's chamber." As he opened the door I passed out into the entry and there met Captain Merryman. The captain's manner was cautious, profoundly so; cool as possible, cool to insolence, which was sharpened by the very slightest shadow of a smile, which played about his eye among the crow feet, and looked as devilish as a brutal, bloody and brandy lighted eye well could. "They've found out their mistake, Mr. Russell, so ~Oll had better adrn9nish Mr. Horslcy to save himself from arrest by escape, or it will all end in child's play, and we've had enough of it already. I arc told that the yonng gentleman~~ father is on of angry blood in me, but I determined to imitate the captains coolness as I replied: "Yes, captain, I never learned but that Mr. 1-lorslcy had these virtues, and I consider him equal to any gentleman, wears he the button or not, who has the reputation of having most of the vices." "Sir, I never dodge an insult. I am not like the Frenchman, sir, who, when a thing is said to him of doubtful import, takes the buttered side." "There is no buttered side that I know of in what I said," I replied scornfully. "None to me, sir, at least. We understand I each other, Mr. Russell. Dr. Clark, I have heard my pious mother say-was it not Dr. Clark, Sir? -Dr. Adam Clark"-I looked at him without saying a word-"You don't recollect-yes, it was Dr. Adam Clark-he used to say that a man could not have too many irons in the fire at once-doubt- ful that-but, sir, understand: my shooting irons are always ready on such an oc~asionZyon under- stand, sir-mum's the word. I trust Mr. Horslcy has made his escape-he is a gentleman of small proportions, and our landlady here is a large wo~inan; ho could easily hide under her petticoats, ~'hich I dare say she will let him do, when I assure her he is quite harmless- though that position might not quite suit his own notions." [looked hard at the captain again, and my first reflection was that as I had gotten into a difficulty with him at any rate, the best thing I could do would be to pitch him down stairs. We are ph~r- siognomnists of the passions, though the quieter emotions maybe are often misunderstood. Their lines are not so legible. My angry stare put the' captain on his guard, for he placed himself 1n an attitude of defence. Thin (is it strange?) fixed my purpose, and with my clenched fists I struck him as he stood on the edge of the stair way, with my whole strength, and over lie went, raking an in-- effectual grasp at the railing as he fell. He, how- ever, struck the banister in his fall, which broke 71 page: 72-73[View Page 72-73] THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF might say black. I stood at the head of the stairs without moving, and saw* the gallant captain launched into the bar room, just as he has seen many a gallant vessel giveti to the deep-both launched into their native elements. "Thunder!" exclaimed Captain Wilson, who was standing in conversation with the bar keeper below, "what's out now?" And as he spoke Cap- tain Merryman tumbled at his feet. Wilson, im- mediately ran to his assistance, and lifted him up as I descended the steps into the bar room. Cap- tain Merryman was not apparently the least hurt. but he was evidently choked with rage and blind with passion. He shook himself free from Wilson, which, however, he could not have done easily had the former been disposed to hold him, and he stamped about the room in an effort' to catch his breath and see distinctlyy. As [glanced fiom the stamping captain round the room, there was Wilson's two silent attendants apart in the window, while old [lorslcy, with his black attendant behind him, was gazing intently at the captain. "What's the matter'?" "I knocked him down stairs," I said. When a child gives the string which controls he limbs of his move able man-toy a jerk, at once up goes its arms and out goes its legs, and so went old Horsley's as he bent his body down and threw his arms up oyer his head, shuddering all over as he muttered with white lips: "Murder." "Not exactly murder," said Captain Merry- man, who had now come to himself, and whose coolness, so suddenly resumed, was remarkable, "not exactly murder, but merely an attempt at it," "Get out of the way, Mr. Constable, I corn- mand you; sir. It is no use to remonstrate or to. command the pea~e," exclaimed Captain Merry-' man, changing his position so as to get a fire at me,.while I stood stock still, though I must con- fess I was glad to be sheltered by the broad chest of Captain Wilson. "Look here, I tell you," said Wilson, "I have seen a thousand such fusses as these. If you 'm~ist fight let's have it fair, I've got a pair of pistols." "You're a pretty officer of the law to iii- stigat'- a duel. No, that individual is without the pale of honorable warfare. 1 consider him an as- sasin and he must suffer as such. Get out ot the way sir, or 'you may catch it yourself." "Look here," said Captain Wilson, producing a stout pistol from away in next to his skin, as I thought, "here's 'Polly my darling,' and you've my word for it, and I never break my word, if you shoot the young tuan I'll shoot you.~~ In the act of getting out his pistol, Captaiti Wil- son exposed part of my person to the aim of Cap- tain Merryman, who took advantage of it and pull- ed the trigger. I saw that his aim was upon me in a mortal manner, but his pistol snapped, or in all human probability I should not be writing this. Quick as thought, Captain Merryman cocked his pistol again and pointed at me. "This is fooling," exclaimed Captain Wilson, enraged, and before even I was aware of his in- tention, so quick was his sight and so keen was his aitn, he discharged his weapon. Captain Merryman started at the shot and as his broken right arm fell at his side, his pistol went off and one long howl of "murder" from old Horsley directed our attention to that gentleman, who was prostrated and he put his hand in his breast and drew out a on the floor, and the same moment Johostone en- pocket pistol, "in such murderous assaults as this tered and lifted him up. tt is proper that a gentleman should take the law I looked towards C~'ptain Merryman to see what intohisownhandsand anticipateitstardierjustice.~~ his intentions were, but he. in apparently great I seized up a chair as well as I might to defend agony, the expression of which he was trying to myself from his fire, while Captain Wilson placed control, seated himself on a chair, and was hold. himself between me and Captain Merryman, and is!g hi~ arm as delicately as a another would r asked: child. I stepped to Mr. Horslcy's side, ~.. d as "What are you going to do, sir?" sister by Johnstone and the bar keeper, we placed "Shdot the scoundrel." ' him on the sofa. "Shoot-you shan't shoot here, sir. 1 am an "Are you hurt much, Mr. Horslcy?" I asked. officer of the law, sir; I command the peace." "Here, sir, here," said he, putting his hand to WILLIAM RUSSELL. his side. "This is downright murder-Lord be mez~iful to me." We stripped off his ciat and vest, and his bloody shirt betrayed the fact that he was indeed wound- 'ed and I feared* mortally. Everything was xjn- fusion. "Gentlemen," said Captain Wilson, "listen to me." All were still, flow a commanding spirit will exhibit itself in an emergency. "Have you a doctor in the burg'?" Captain Wilson asked. "Yes." "Then go for him." Turning to his mute at- tendants he said, "Mr. Munson and friend Pettit, start at once for Washington and bring doctors here. You had better get fresh horses." '"I'll go," said the hackman, "and bring them out if you'll pay me." "I'll ride in the hack," said Captain Merry-. man, "bar keeper, mix me a glass of brandy and water. Who are you and what are you?" said he, addressing himself to Captain Wilson. "There's no time to talk about that, sir-no time. I'm responsible both to you and the law. *B~~t I tell you what it is, I don't want you to die before your time. You had better let that liquor alone-you live too high now--that liquor will inflame' your blood. Your arm's broke, I see, and the present state you are in will make it go hard with you; you may lose your arm, perhaps your life. I'm familiar with wounds, stranger." What a horrible expression of despair and hate passed over Captain Merryman~s countenance, though' h~ said nothing; while in the silence, which for a moment occurred, old llorsley ejacu- lated: "Send for a 'dozen doctors, gentlemen-I'll pay the expertise. 0 Lord! be merciful-this is tnur- dcr-a little Water-a little drop of water." I turned to 'him and found he had fainted away. Captain Merryman seemed, after a moment's re- flection, to consider the advice of Captain Wilson as .the best he could take in the premises, and while some were assisting him off with his coat, others of us were attending to Mr. Horslcy, while all were impatiently awaiting the arrivalot the doctor of Bladensburg~ whose residence we were 13 informed was not far off, and who'at that early hour of the morning had not probably gone out. Before noon we had six doctors from Wasnington and three from Bladensburg, in attendance on the wounded men. Captain Merryman's arm was set, but he was suffering in his room alone, for John- stone had gone to Washington for the physicians, but had not returned with them. The wound of Mr. Horslcy was cot as bad as was at first anticipated. The bullet 'had struck a rib, and as. is frequently the case, passed around the body and was extracted from his back. He wa~ pronounced out of all danger, taken up stairs and comfortably lodged in bed, and I could not but give l~m my attendance, for though I had 'not the least respect for himself, knowing the manner in which he had treated his son, yet I could not but sympathize with his sufferings and rc~pect hts age. By way of satisfying the old gentleman of his son's proper conduct, for to do him justice he was greatly distressed upon the subject, I gave him a full account of the whole affair of the duel, saying nothing about myself but when I could not help it, and doing all I could to soften away his asperi- ties towards his son. "Yes, yes, Mr. Russell, I want you to get me a pen and paper. I had been so outraged, sir, by Samuel's conduct, that I had left all my property to an asylum for destitute children, and, for fear of a turn-you don't think there's any fear, though?~~ "No, sir, the doctors think not." "Ab, my young friend, but they're uncertain. Holy Providence, how suddenly my old clerk, that respectable but I must say wilful man, the, late lamented Mr. Beazely, how suddenly he was called off-for fear of a turn I'll right things at once. Let me be propped up in bed, I will write immedi- ately to Balttmore and have my will destroyed. My mind misgave me about disinheriting Sammy, when I thought myself in a mortal condition, but I must say it would have been much better if Mr. Beazely had left his property to me, I should then have had much more control over him. He would not have broken loose in this way." Fearful that the old gentleman's situation might take a "turn," as he was pleased to express it, whereby my friend, had it proved fatal, would have lost what was justly his inheritance, I propped page: 74-75[View Page 74-75] 14 THE AUTOJ the patient up in his bed, and aided him in writing an explicit order to his lawyer to burn the papers in the sealed package he had placed in his care. CHAPTER XXVI. THE RESUf~T OF THE AFFAIa BETWEEN HOESLEY AND [ JEJENSTONE-CAPTAiN NLAtRYMAN-..-aIY 1'AIIENTS-ltE- FIECTI0~S UPON TEE RESULT OF BRINGING UP A CHILD ley had got well enough to return to Baltimore. Johustone and Lioreley were reconciled through my exertions, in Washington, where L went after my friend to inform him of the condition of his father, and where I met both him and Johustone in a proper mood for a reconciliation after what had occurred. I found iorsley in disguise, with a big pair of false whiskers on, in an old grocery eway over by the Potomac bridge. I held a long conversation with him before I found out who he was. Captain Merryman was the greatest sufferer. His arm threatened mortifi~ation, and he was com- pelled to have it amputated. It did one good thing though, it put him on the temperance list, lie, however, cut the whole party of us, though he remained true to his ruling passion, for I under- stood that he had learned to fire with his left hand, and had become as good a shot with it as he had been with his right. I could not but think e~Y now and then, when the Bladensburg scene flasbe4~OVer my memory, that the captain's ac- quireme'ii~of such consummate skill with his left hand had soipething to do with the future in my history, (at lea§lin the intention of Captain Mer ryman) and mayb~end it. Such thoughts, under such circumstances, of&~n startled me into anger or gloom, ahd when I thou~t of Peters6n and Alice, combined them with n~ ~nialL admixture in a way which was not likely to improve my way of life. BIOGRAPHY OF My readers are perchance surprised that I have said nothing of my parents since I left Charleston. In fact I scarcely ever thought of them in the stir- ring scenes whicir I am recording. I certainly thought more of my Aunt Betsy than either of them, if I except at times the inexpressible feel- ings of tenderness which came over me when I thought of my mother, and of her last farewell. Parents who wish to retain the affections of their children should not send them away from the parental roof, particularly when it becomes but the light of a distant memory (if I may use the expression) which lessens every day. No, we are such creatures of habit that we fall into the habit of thinking about and loving those with whom we are associated, particularly if they have authority over us and treat us kindly, and out of the habit of regarding the ties of nature; in fact, as the proverb goes, the habit makes the second attire. My parents had written periodically to me ever since my childhood, my mother expressing a great deal of affection for me, at which I began to wonder, and they were always telling me how much I ought to love "Aunt Betsy," which I certainty felt to be a fact wheneverthe old lady petted me. 'and which I quarreled with myself 1~r feeling whenever she refused to pet me, or crossed me in any way. L was twice arranged that I should go to Charleston and see m~ l)arents, but then when I was young I could not go without my aunt Betsy. for she would not l~et me leave her sight, arid she had terrors of another sea voyage not to be over- come, and her fear of land travel, (not then what it is now) was immoderate; so that I entered manhood and did not go to see my parents. Some- times, too, my mother would write that she was coming on to see us~ but then my father, whose health was failing, was loth to move abopt much, and my mother would not leave him, and in the meantime these visits were often spoken of and arranged, but were not made by either party. And thus and thus we go through life. The truth is, that my father had a notion that 1 'vas getting ott better with my aunt than I po~si bly could with my mother. He always fancied, so I learned from aunt Betsy, that my mother would indulge m~ ever much. This in fact is what my good aunt did her best to impress upon E him herself, she holding the opinion, I suspect, I that she was sometimes rather too rigid with me. This I felt was the fact ever since the Sunday suit matter in the Peterson affair. But when my iunt was struck with this notion of her severity it was marvellous how she would relax her discip- line, or rather how her indulgence would not only become indiscriminate but lavish. And I used often to think to myself if the world were my aunt Betsy, that is, if things in particular and things in general in this world, were like my aunt Betsy~ how I would "come ~ No! parents who wish their children to love them, should leara them that love; that is, should keep their children by their side and let them feel their childish dependence upon parental cate. But enough of this. It maybe all hollow apology for myself. But I commenced this chapter by saying it was a bright day in Washington. Quite a flattering account of our intended duel and the circumstances pertaining titereto, had gotten into the papers, and our Bladensburg race was told by the letter writers in a much more graphic manner than I have given it, from the fact that I confined myself to the truth. If our names had not been given I should not have known myself in the affair at all; I figured so heroically, as taking the responsibility of life and limb in the place of my friend, while Horsicy figured aslargely, and quite an unique account of his character and oddities was given by the leading correspondent of a New York paper, which was written so well as to attract universal attention, and to he generally copied throughout the whole union. Even the dignified and most courteous as well as most able editor of the National Intelligencer, (it would be well for the land if there were more like him at the helm of the press) gave it place, as he said, for the exquisite skill at narration which the writer, who, the editor asserted, would not be long unknown to fame if he wrote much, had exhibited, as well as for the strange, and as far as Captain Wilson and Mr. Horsley, Sr., were concerned, sad manner in which the affair ended. Horsley and I became distinguishedd" characters. This was just at the time when the nullification '15 lazonry was coming up in Congress, a matter that had not thought about, for all I cared for politics was the politics of the green room of the IJollid~y street Theatre and our own little Thespian corps, md, it made the Southern men, and particularly he South Carolinians, "cotton" to me in a way hat made rue a great favorite among them, when hey came to know who I was. And this cordial- ty on their part was increased from the fact that ferrymann at a public dinner had drank a drunken oast in opposition to the palmetto state. There were fire caters in Congress in those days, and they rentedd me, a Southern youth from the Monumen. tal city, with an all hail that was certainly grati- fying, gentle reader, to your autobiographer, though it certainly gave my phrenological development of self-esteem more sail than ballast. I could not, however, but wish (seing how the affair ended,) that I had boldly stepped out from behind Captain Wilson and defied Captain Merryman to fire, and I rejoiced exceedingly that that part of my adven- ture was not chronicled. On the contrary, I was represented as advancing with uplifted chair on the cocked pistol of Captain Merryman, whose life was saved by the breaking of his arm from the fire of a friend ol' mine who stood by, the account stated, for had it not been for that fact, "Mr. L~tis- sell would certainly have brained the gallant captain with the chair." I certainly blushed a kind of sneaking blush, when I read this in the privacy of my own room, but unless my reader has been similarly situated, he can have no idea what a face I put on in public, making that very blush seem an effusion of youthful and native modesty, as though I had periled my life without thinking any body saw me, as the man of Ross "Did good by stealth and blushed to find it fame." Again, I repeat, it was a bright day in Washing- ton. It was not only bright in itself, but it was bright because I was bright, and there's the rub. The bright and the dark day is more in our feel- ings than anywhere else, as Hamlet, in his moody fit, well shows. That was a dark day to Cassius, certainly not exactly a dull one to his designing and active spirit, when he told Brutus that "This world, was made for CHsar," no matter how brilliantly the sunlight looked forth WILLIAM RUSSELL. page: 76-77[View Page 76-77] 16 TIlE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF upon the eternal city. And it was a bright day I turn necessary for a man of my position and ox-. to him when he thought himself a successful con- f pectancy." aspirator aud called himself a devoted patriot, though the natural world might be decidedly cloudy. Did not Mark Antony feel that "the world was made" for Cmsar's successors, but alas! he met with the Egyptian witch. But Horsley and I did certainly enjoy that bright day in Washington, as we strolled arm in arm down the sunny side of Pennsylvania Avenue, and did the Washington public, a very motley public, the honor of gratifying their desire to see us, and our own to see them- they having the most for theii penny, I thought, and so I told Horeley. "Ha, ha," and he laughed heartily in his own peculiar way, but his brow saddened as he said, "but, Russell, 1 am sorry for Merryman." "It's more than I am," I replied. "Why, 'old floss,' he's practising the duello with his left hand, and has gotten to be as perfect with it as he was with his right-he has designs on me certainly- and I tell you what it is, I'll have to go to the pistol gallery and keep myself in constant practice, for I am certain that he'll send me an invitation some of these days, and I can tell you it's no joke to have a fellow pointing a pistol at you with the mortal aim of Captain Merryman." I left Horaley to conclude that there I stood breasting this same mortal aim with no intervening chair and no protecting Captain Wilson. "Fact," replied Horsley, "when a man in cold blood looks over these matters, he wonders how he could do such things in the sight of God; we all understand that he can't well do anything else in the sight of rnan-lut I really, old acquaintances as we were, felt so indignant towards Johnstone for his pertinacity, that though I had resolved not to shoot at him, I don't kn6w but what, when we got on the ground, I would have shot, nevertheless, if I had seen him pointing at me with a deadly aim and revengeful eye." "I tell you what it is, 'old floss,' 1 am out of funds-now's my time with my good aunt, she thinks I'm here learning statesmanship, and making myself popular with the distinguished sons (if my native state, and hang me if 1 know what nullifi- cation means. You must goto Baltimore for me, see her and set forth my need and the expendi- "flow much do you want?" "Why, I want four or five hundred dollars; be particular to impress upon the old lady that I never play cards-state to her, 'old floss,' that it is a singular fact that whenever 1 see a card I ana seized with such a moral revulsion that my physi- cal man gives way, and I have quite a spell of "It would be well if I could say as much for you on your seeing a bottle of wine-but there your appetite grows by what it feeds on." "That's natural-all artificial excitements grow by their use-a child eats a piece of bread to-day and don't want a larger piece to-morrow, but a boy who is made sick when he first smokes or chews or drinks, in his determination to be a man, soon ac- quires such an appetite for the segar, quid or dram, that he is wretched without it, and he continues to devote himself to its use with a growing propensity until he becomes a victim, especially the devotee of the dram." Ah, it was a beautiful afternoon in Washing- ton. The crowded avenue was full of gaily dress- ed people, and though it was now winter, the air was spring-like and delicious, and except the leaf- less trees ~n the avenue, there was nothing to de- note that spring was not upon us. The golden sun hid his broad disk, as John Randolph would say, behind the Virginia hills, and threw his parting rays on the dome of the capitol, and all was gaiety and gladness (at least to the eye) with the crowd of well dressed and distinguished people, who thronged the avenue. "Ha, ha" laughed Horsley, with that quizical, peculiar, knowing laugh of his, "it was Jeines, whose conscience smote him, and he went straight, when he reflected upon the fire eating propensities of Captain Merryman and my innocence of any experience, to say nothing of my courage in the matter, and blew the affair to the old gentleman. The old gentleman shoWed more affection for me thati I thought he would; he was very kind to rue in his confinement to his room." "So 1w diould have been." Horsley looked at me. "The fact is, Horsley, that I have been brought up away from my parents, and therefore I think that as we are not consulted in the matter of our coming into this breathing world, that those who place us here are at least bound to take care of us until we can take care of ourselves, and if any peculiar rash passion attaches to our clay because of kinship, those who gave it to us ought to suffer it in our own persons, inasmuch as they bear with it in their own." "Well, I don't know," said Horsley, musingly. "This Captain Wilson," I said, "I have new seen him since. I described the captain of the city watch here to a friend, and he is just the op- posite in personal description to the one who ar- rested me according to him. You would'nt like to ask your father about it?" "Well, indeed I would'ut. lie ha~ been very kind to me." "You owe it to me," said I to Horslcy, stopping him and facing him on the corner. "I am satisfied that I have oratorical as well as histrionic talent. I say nothing of the scene between the old gentle man and myself at the Bladensburg races, though as orator Phillips says of the character of Napo- leon, it was 'grand, gloomy and peculiar,' but when your governor was lying stretched out there at Bladensburg with that bullet in his side and his fears for his life fiercely wrought upon, I read the good book to him; I tell you, with emotion. It's lucky for you I am a good reader; 1 made every word tell-every word-one particularly -l watch- ed the process-he was uncommonly down-hearted and he felt himself to be a sinner, for he kept making the remark to himself, not aware that I overheard him, and I introduced the subject of your last message to him when you had that pro- found presentiment that you were to be shot in the morning. Well, I gave it the greatest effect; if the reading told on old loss, Sr., there is no tell- ing what my manner of narrating your message had on him. I tell you, sir. I drew copious tears fiom the old gentleman, and what's more, I dr~w~ tears from myself, and made him draw up a revo- cation of his will-why the old gentleman told me he was worth two hundred thousand dollars, that he was about endowing destitute children, as much 77 only tears from my aunt in describing my friend- ship for you, my valor, and my popularity here, but, "old loss," you must draw five hundred do!- lars at least from her pocket.i~ "Well, I'll take the stage to-morrow." "Certainly, I have sent, franked by Calhoun himself, the papers containing the last Bladensburg races to my dear good aunt, and you must be sure and let her know that Calhoun sent them out of respect for her. You must furthermore let her know he means to mention her in his memoirs as the paragon of aunts, as I shall rank as the paragon of nephews. Horsicy, if I were in your place and' you in mine, I believe I could get five thousand dollars for you." "Well, there's one thing you may be assured of." ~6 .AThat's that?" "Why, if I had the power to get five thousand dollars for you I would not, for you are certainly going it rather strong already. I expect. to hear of your losing everything at gambling yet." "Thank you for nothing-you know my opinion of gamblers and gambling." "Yes, I know your opinion of a good many mat- ters and things, and I know how a~ertain place is paved." "Ab, I say Horaley," I exclaimed, turning the subject, "if you see Jemes, fernes Jumper, Esq., do bring him down. I should like to see him again nod inquire into the whole of this affair, for hang me if I have the hang of it yet." "I will; but why not go down to Baltimore your- self, and see all your friends?" "That 1 might do," I replied, but then if my- good aunt was to hear that I was on hand there, she would grow angry with me for my want of respect for her. And the 'put money in thy purse, ptt money in thy purse, Roderigo,' of Ingo, where would I find a chance to fulfill that wise injunc- tion, more to he treasured thait woman's warmest promises. No, sir, read Lord Bacon's essay on friendship, arid there learn what offices a friend may perform for us better than we can for our- selves. I cosid not with any face recouut to my as if you were not a destitute child-which I saved' crood aunt my many hair hreadth escapes to save you. So you must to Baltimore and draw, not' alive your honor and yourself, but you can-you WILLIAM RUSSELL. page: 78-79[View Page 78-79] OGUAPHY OF 18 THE AUTOBI can do it pathetically, I know you can-I depend upon you~ hang, it Horsley, "Were I Brutus and Brutus Antony," that is, were I Horsley and Horsicy Russell, it would put a tQngue in every hole in William Rus- sell's pocket, that 'would wove the diamonds from the old lady's stomacher to the pawn broker's shop itt pledge for the amount necessary for the aid and comfort of' V~ illiam Russell, Esq., now often unfortunately dunned for certain bills which he does not like to leave unpaid." "I understand, all this comes of out private the- atricals, and my appearance, though with an intent good as the good Samaritan's, nearly lost me a for- tune, to say nothing of what my life's worth." "You don't view things right, Horsley. 'Time and chance happen to all men,~ says the wisest of men. You have gained an eclat, Mr. liorsicy, though you did take the back door for it, that will be remarkable as long as the letters of the illustri- ous letter writers of hosts of journals have a place in the memory of the present generation. * "A place in thy memory, dearest," You have it." "What a rattle of a fellow you are, Russell; it's my private opinion you were meant for the 5tage.~~ "Well, here's a stage-this city of Washing- ton-why not play a part in it. All the world's a stage.~~ "What shall I say to your 'own honian Myrrha, and what to Alice Clare, should she ask for you. But there's the Wallangfords. You have another engagement and I'll see you to-night." 'Ah, how that word Alice struck upon my heart. I felt one of' those strong revulsion of feeling which come over such a temperament as mine even when its possessor has learned to regulate it. It was with a darkened brow I turned into Fourteenth street, and I forgot the avenue and its busy way- farers, and my jealous thoughts wandered away to Baltimore, and II thought Peterson 4was probably promenading Baltimore street with Alice Clare; and she may be hanging on his arm; no, I said to myself, that's not the fashion in a thoroughfare at least: well, well, what's almost he came, feeling~ her shawl, her shoulder touch his at every in- WILLIAM equality of the pavement, at every step .if they so choose-does she choose? I asked myself, and the bright day in Washington was cloudy to me, CHAPTER XXVIl. MISS VIRGINIA UPTON-A GREAT BELLE-HER FLIRTA- TIONS- -HIT-HER CHARACTER-MY ADMIRATION FOR THE 5EX-AJ~t DIFFERENT FROM MOST MEN-Mv IIUN. BLE OPINION AS TO THE MANNER IN WHIOII DIFFERENT BEAUTIES SHOULD WEAR THEIR HAIR-.-CONvERSATIoN WITH MiSS VIRGINIA-THE CAROLINA BEAUTY-Nv WAYWARD THOUGHTS OF ALICIL My engagement was to take a drive with a dis- tinguished belle, who was then in the height of her bellehood. She had been educated on the continent of Europe. Her father had been our minister abroad to one of the first courts of the con- tinent, and there, at a very early age, she had figured most extensively. Her love affairs were as numerous as the affairs of some successful duel- ist-for she came off, at least in all instances but one, unharmed, and she had hit her man, I know not how often. In the case in which she was hit herself, she suffered, it was said, much both in her vanity and in her affections. ~he met a young sprig of nobility, Lord Light- ner, at some watering place or other, and set out with the intention of catching him. They had ample leisure to play upon each other, and the lady who had always before come off conqueror, now found her match. Like one who wilfully dares their companion to a trial of skill in some game where a missive is thrown to and fro, which each party expects to catch and throw back again, she received a wound whieb she did not expect, and like the conquering gladitor, who calls out in the lists before an am- phitheatre 'habet'-he has it-the nobleman un- harmed in the strife went forth and boasted of his conquest. And ii was a conquest; for everybody saw how much the lady suffered. The nobleman was of mature age, thirty-three, at least, it was said; and when she talked of her girlish penchant for the Lord, which was not very otten, though sometimes it bubbled up in its bit- terness, though it seemed to be the very lightest thing in her memory when she alluded to him, she confessed herself at the period of her acquain- tance with him a girl not seventeen-others said she was out of her teens-but vanity of vanities, says Soloman, who can fix the sliding scale of a woman's age. However, when I knew her she was still in her beauty's bloom-but she affected the company of young men or very old ones, and to me she had taken an especial liking, if I might judge from the pretty things she said to me, and in the glibest way imaginable. I have had some credit for understanding women, and I think I do, where roy own feelings are not involved; but this knowledge has come after much travail and experience, and was not at this time very clear in its conceptions or deductions. I took more of Miss Virginia Upton's compliments for tenderness then than I should now, at least at first-but ~ve soon became fast friends. I must be permitted to say, that I have one per- sonal peculiarity different from most men who have come under my knowledge-I am shy of men, but not of won~en. I never meet a man more than half way, rarely even half way, unless I thoroughly know my man before hand and like him upon in- stinct. Not so with a woman. I think I can say that from my early recollections, provided I was not at all smitten with gill or woman, that I could al- ways approach her unembarrassed. In fact, I mean to say, with a conviction that there was no fear of being repulsed-I mean in the ordinary courtesies of life. That thing called sheepishness, which haunts some men all their lives, I never had anything to do with, except in my childhood, perhaps. So that while I could laugh and chat with women (I like the word woman more than that of lady; a'nd I remember that Mr. John Quincy Adams told me once always to use it when I could in speaking of the sex,) with gaiety and pleasure, and without the least morbid feeling, in the corn- pany of men I often found myself morbid t:ntil warmed with wine, and then I was often savage, and, to tell the plain truth of myself, sometiiries insulting. Beautiful was this fair lady of my liking, (I use the word lady here for the alliteration,) and well she knew how to manage all the artillery of Ii RUSSELL. 79 her charms. Oh! that deep blue eye of hers, how it flashed through its long fringes! She had a small head and the most exquisitely chisselled tem- ples I ever saw; and then having classic features, she had the taste to weat her hair parted plain, and having beautiful ears she had the sense to show them. I do abomina'te this fashion which many of our wome~i have now-a-days of hiding the ears en- tirely. The fashion must have been invented by some woman who bad been cropped; or, for that's harsh, it must have been invented by some res- plendent and capricious and false beauty who had had that delicate organ bitten off by some jealous lover, whoin pretending to whisper love, revenged himself upon her over-credulous ear for putting faith in his rival's promises. Yes, where a woman has classic features she should always wear her hair plain. Where her features are not classic, regular if you please, and their beauty depends upon their lighting up, and the variety of their expression, then she should wear curls, for they give an archness and win- ninguess to her glancing and flashing eye. These form the ambush from which cupid in such a coun- tenance shoots his keenest arrows. There are some women, however7, who attract with either toilette. t have a fair cousin, that I may write about some of these days, when I wish to speak of the holier influences of life, who presents an equal attraction in either toilette. But then it is the mind and purity and heart that shine forth in all her actions, look forth from her bright face alike in the brilliant toilette of the gay saloon, or in the simple one of her rural home, that gives her such influence over all and wins so surely all hearts. But I was speaking of my friend Virginia. I found her at honie per appointment. The stately carriage was dnwn up before her abode, and, as the waiter, who stood in careless chat on the door step with the driver on the coach box, lifted his hat and told me his mistress ~vas in and really, 1 thought I saw on the features of the liveryied lackey a knowing smile as he glanced at my well appoint- ed habiliments, and detected in them a wish to please, which he seemed to pity, (the rascal, so I thought,) as he had every reason to believe it would di~d in discomfiture, a defeat like the efforts of my predecessors. page: 80-81[View Page 80-81] 80 Now, what made me think that? Gentle read ers have you any idea? Knowing that the lad; had proved invulnerable save to one, and that ni more that sutor was in the field and wac perchanc even forgetful of his triumph-knowing this, dii my vanity feel a spur at the lackey's grin'? Did h4 grin with any thought at all, or was it merely th~ same kind of smile he flung at the feet of ever~ visitor, young or old? My barber had told me tha this same lackey had boasted of his mi5tres55 con- quests, and had said (the barber had a peculiar: smile I thought, too, when he told it,) that I ofter visited her-and the barber scrutinized my faee a~ he held my nose, and an involuntary movement or my luart had caused him to give me a cut, the only unseemly appurtenance to my physiognomy, which was coat-plastered, yet-. Now the quere is, had all these circumstances made me more anxious to please than was my wont, as I pauaiud a iiiu meni to glance over my person and see that all was right, and given m'a a consciousness of a nervous desire tc please as I glided into the lady's presence? You dissectors of the human heart, analize it. "AhI you traitor, yo5!~~ she exclaimed, hall rising from her chair and giving me her hand- not her "jewelled hand" as the novelists say, for there was no jewel on it, and only the ornament of a plain go~d ring on the middle finger-a ring that had a history I thought, "How dare you keep a lady so? You are old enough to know better." I felt myself blush, (how I hated it,) while the lady's merry laugh started her mocking bird in the next room to an envious imitation of it. "Oh you creature, why did not you keep your appointment and come to the very mor1ient? Why, don't you know that you should have been seen walking up and down on the other side of the street impatiently awaiting the hour which you dared not anticipate." Piqued at the allusion to my age, (for I shaved twice every day, besides using bear's grease and macasser in aid of a mustache which I was deter- mined to bring to life on my upper lip,) I said, as I took her hand, which I half elevated to my lips as I bowed over it- "I was detained (false, every bit of it,) in alle- giance to a beauty of my native State." "Allegiance to a beauty of your native State!" I- exclaimed Miss Virginia, with some sharpness...... y "And who is she that takes your allegiance from a your plighted engagement?" "Miss Singleton,~l I said. I "Miss Singleton! Your dancing-master, Mr. a Russel, should have taught you more than the a making a pretty bow." "AhI Miss Virginia, my reverence for beauty, like my obedience, is an instinct. Miss Singleton claimed my attendance to a portrait painters, and r I could not leave her in the midst, when the artist said he was in the vein, and meant to paint the most beautiful woman in the United States-of course that means the world-! could not leave her-you would have banished me from your side, had I dared to do such a thing. Reverence for all your sex proves one capable of adoring one. My allegiance is due to Carolina, but I thought, to be honest, that if the artist should claim you for his canvass too, by the right that artists have to claim the beautiful for sitters, that the "ripe and real" may live upon the canvass and outshine the "ideal." The 1 ady looked nettled for a moment at the - slight allusion that the quotation might make to her own age, and exclaimed, interrupting me, "Upon my word, sir, you are a bold speech- maker." "f-lear me out-and I am sorry that I have to confess it-but my allegiance to Carolina shall not be broken-and this treason against her, if 'tis told upon me, I shall deny-yet I must confess that I am aware that if the artist I have named should claim you as a sitter by the prescriptive right I have recited, Carolina in the encounter will meet with a rivalry as fearful as that which her noblest son has to maintain in the Senate." "Rivalry in the Senate," lisped the proud beau- ty, while her bust heaved with pride, "Say inns- teu~', sir." - "No. I have denied my allegiance to 'the 'nost beautiful woman of my State, and the force of trea- son like the force of nature, in making Milton a poet, can no further ~ "You think her beautiful?" said Miss Upton. "Beautiful!" I exclaimed, echoing her. "By this fair hand," and I took her hand again in one of mine, as she half raised it as I made the vow- THE A~YTOllIOGRApHy OF WJLLIA1M "By this fair hand, I know but one inure fair, more beautiful." "You are a "I have not uttered who." Ah, but my heart was no traitor if my lips had beca-for the lady of the Monumental City, the fair Alice, came to my lips, and I almost felt will- ful enough to pronounce it. I would have done so if I had not thought of Peterson; but I bowed again and said, "I am no flatterer-pardon me." I raised Miss Upton from her chair, and handed her to her carriage. On we rolled, and I felt a kind of exulting proud wish-as if I had been injured by her-to meet Alice Clare as I chatted to the fair lady by my side. We swept into the avenue on a drive to the Navy Yard, where Miss Upton meant to call, to in- troduce me to a friend, and I was particularly pleased with the attention which the handsome equipage of Miss Virginia, and, I thought, to say nothing of herself, the distingue appearance of the gentleman beside her attracted. Happily, the reflection occurred to me at this very moment that I was becoming a puppy; and then while 1 still wished that Alice Clare could see me (oh! how I wanted to see her, though,) a rush of sadness and sorrow broke over my heart. "Something that's bitter will arise, Even amidst our jollities," and we suffer our passions to make sad wreck of all that is noble in our nature. "A h!" I thought to myself, "I wonder if Alice has as much of the heart-ache as I have." "Pray, what are you so abstracted about?" said Miss Virginia. "Thinking that this pleasure must so scion end; that you think of so many, wh('n so many think of only you." And then, in a most rascally way, I made the quotation whieh 1 had often made to Alice- "The nsooa looks On many brooks, The brook can see no moon but one." And I made my voice, in uttering it, catch a tone of tenderness from the well-spring of my heart, where the memory of Alice was stirring its foun- RUSSELL. 81 tains at that very moment-like some fugitive poet-fugitive I mean from true sentiment as well as in rhyme-who kills two birds with one stone, and makes the verses, the inspiration of which he had caught from one woman, do execution on an- other. Miss Upton smiled. "You'll do," she said, "but oh, you prodigal, why waste your geld so lavishly? Why fling it away with so profuse a hand?-have you none for Miss Singleton? "Why, if you refuse it I can gather it again," I replied, "for Miss Singleton or Miss Anybody else.' "You mean to say its a charitable gift, and not my deservings?~~ I smiled, and she continued- "Ali! there's Miss Singleton. Who's that young gentleman with her?" CHAPTER XXVIII. YOUNG SANGSTON WiTh MISS SINGLETON-ms FATflEE- 1115 MOTECIt'S PRESENT FOSlTlO~-MlSS SINGLETON- hER SlANT ADNIREItS-IIER MANNER TO 5ANGSTON- Ills FEELiNGS-MORE THAN POLITICAL RiVALRIES iN wAShINGTON-NOT CONFINED TO POLITICIANS. I turned in my lolling posture beside Miss Upton, for we were riding towards the Capitol and I wan seated at her left, so that she commanded the view of that side of the avenue which is frequented by the fashionable wayfarers, and I incl;ning to her, could not so easily observe the crowd-I turned, and there was Miss Singleton with young Sangs- ton, an official in the - Department. "lie was the only son of his mother, and she a widow." 11cr history is a very common one in Washirt~ton. Her husband, Jamc~Sangston, was from Alabama, which State lie had represented in Congress for several years. Afierwards, in Mr. Monroe's administration, lie had taken office as an auditor-which Ilosition is a most respectable one, with a handsome salary attached, which salary Mr. Sangaton more than expended in the profuse enter- tainment of his friends-for he had many, and lie thought he had more than he really possessed, for, there were few who failed to accept his invitations; "The heartless parasites of present cheer." page: 82-83[View Page 82-83] His wife was from the State of New York. Sh was devoted to her husband, and she tried in van to check his lavish expenditure. With tl~e fre impulses of the South, Mr. Sangston had exprosset his political preferences; and on the accession o General Jackson to the presidency he was removed His habits, never good even while in office, (the~ formed the ostensible grounds for hi~ removal,; became worse when he found himself pennyless, and incapable of earning a livelihood for his wife His son, the young gentleman with Miss Sange. ton, had held a subordinate clerkship under his father before he was of age, and he shared the of- ficial fate of the old gentleman. They certainly were two helpless men-father and son. Mrs. Sangs~on~s only resource was to open a boarding house, (this is a very common case in Washington) and while she was toiling along, sor- rowfully indeed, half of her time being devoted to her husband in his fits of intemperance, or in his illness consequent upon his recovery front them- he suddenly died. All at once great compassion was felt for the widow, who was more to be pitied as a wife, and young Sangston was restored to the clerkship which he had held under his father. At the time of which I speak the mother was keeping boarders; a small number, but her's was the fashionable boarding house of the city, and her son, Henry Sangston, was in office, boarding with her. He had been restored to his place, as it was said, to aid his mother with his salary; but I fear the fa0t was that his mother aided him. She cer- tainly had, for her means, heavy debts to pay for him, for he had all the prodigality of his father, and lie also inherited his father's fondness for con- vivality, (for a vice is sometimes an inheritance--- and this is one .f the ways in which the sins of the father are visited upon his children.) I made Henry Sangston's acquaintances at the time of Horsiey senior's removal front Bladensbnrg. That worthy gentleman had a great regard even for the smallest current coin of Uncle Sam, and he therefore, before he would suffer himself to be re- moved from Bladensburg, made arrangements to be tdken to a private house, dreading the over-charg- i~g of the hotels. He grumbled at Mrs. Sangston's price to me-but she had known his wife, and he felt if his wound should take a "turn,'~ that she e would attend him with more than a mercenary care, ra and a care above a mercenary one he did not think a himself likely to receive any where else-for he I had an awful opinion of matters, morals and things f kn Washington. In waiting on Horslcy senior, and in calling up- on his son, at Mrs. Sangston~s, I made the intimate acquaintance of her son, who knew all the "ropes" of Washington life; and I became there, too, ac- qunin ted with Miss Sallie Singleton, who was a beauty, belle'and fortune, from my native State.- She was a boarder in the house. Repeatedly Horsley had pressed me to come to Mrs. Sangs- ton's, but I did not like to leav't my hotel without paying my bill; and I did not choose to ask even Horslcy to lend me the money, as I was actually ashamed of the amount I owed,-my wine bill, to say nothing of extras, amounting to twice as much as my board bill. Painters talk about having certain persons or pictures for a study. So had I studies-studies that had my heart in them-and among those choicest of the gallery was Miss Virginia Upton and Miss Sallie Singleton. 1 don't know but what my heart was at times emulous of a Turk's harem- that is full of many beauties at once. For though Martha Jones, "my own lonian Myrrha,~~ and those later beauties of my acquaintance sometimes took strong hold of my imagination, and particular- ly "my own lonian Myrrha;" yet, the full tide of my feelings was like that of the Mississippi, which in its many findings seems to run to all the differ- ent points of the compass, but which yet finds the Gulf of Mexico-growing the stronger and the straighter the nearer it approaches its absorbing ocean. Miss Singleton was beautiful. She had the dark eye and the complexion of one "whose blood is all ~ but then there was a subdued gentleness and truthfulness in all she said that con- trasted very much with the badinage and dash of Miss Upton. Yet there was, perchance, a deeper spring of pride in the heart of Miss Sallie than intliat of Miss Virginia. The Carolinian had spent mu~,h of her time on a retired plantation, where the a~m of every one was to please her; and what she h ~ad seen of society had been calculated further to im- I I THE AUTOI3IOGRAPHY OF 83 press her with the conviction that she was to have her own way. Yet she was subdued and gentle, not only because it was in some Measure her na- ture, but also because she had been brought up af- ter the fashion that to seem subdued and gentle was to be what a fair Carolinian of her fortune and beauty ought to be. Her's was a different beauty from Miss Upton's. The deep tint on her cheek sometimes wore a hectic look, and there was a brightness in her eye then that startled you with its dazzling brilliance. Her tones, as soft as ever woman uttered, came from lips tremulous with a shrinking ~ensitiveness, unless their possessor was aroused; and then, if she felt at all aggrieved, her voice became commanding, and her rather slight figure assumed a quiet majesty that was the more impressive because it was so entirely natural and so entirely the type of her emotions. A great many lovers, men of position, wealth and intellect, had approached Miss Singleton with every homage,~ but she had, according to report, turned a deaf ear upon all of them. I was popular with he~, I flattered myself, for nore reasons than from the fact that I was a Caro- linian. And the truth is, that not having any de- sign upon the ladies, and being, as I have said be- fore, from my soul devoted to female society, I had entirely a frank, cordial, off-hand, and at the same time attached manner to them, that I may be al- lowed to say was taking-I do not mcan to say in a lover, but in an acquaintance-and likely to win him the confidence and friendship of the lady to whom he might devote himself though her feelings towards him might not wear the least of a warmer tinge. - Crowds of admirers, flatterers and lovers, crowd- ed the very handsome private parlors of Miss Sin- gleton to ~ay their court to the Carolina belle.- Sometimes she was fitful and abstracted, and re- ceived them like a queen tired of state-and then she ~vould deny herself, and in the afternoon, when Sangston was free of his official duties--in fact he was very often free of them in the morning, as he was not very steady in his attendance-she would ask him to read to her, and sit and listen to him for hours, watching the play of his finn feat urea, as full of emotion and diffident homage he obeyed her WILLIAM RUSSELL. every wish and Watched her every motion, that he might anticipate her wishes. He could not bear to be teased about her. lie did not seem to aspire to her hand, but he seemed hopelessly, and yet with a happy forgetfulness of all but the present, to haunt her presence. Some- times she would show him a thousand delicate lit- tle attentions, and ask him for a book, or to mend a pen, or "please, Mr. Sangston;to ring the hell," in a way that made the men of the world and sen- sualists about her, who loved her all the more be- cause her glorious beauty had so many golden charms and whose eagerness in the pursuit had a double spur, fix their eyes keenly on the two and -den exchange glances with each other, and scan the points of their boots, or perchance the spots on the carpet, when in all probability the least adven- turous spirit among them would take his leave in an abrupt manner. At other times, Miss Singleton would languishingly or abstractedly pass through the room where Sangston was without apparently noticing him, to take a loitering ~troll with some attached of some of the foreign ministers, or with some idler about town who was seeking office or a fortune, whichever he could get, a ad staving off his promises to pay to his landlord and tailor by the promises of office, which he would assert was to be fulfilled at the firbt of the next week. It is aston- ishing how many sets off of this kind, promises against promises, there are in Washington. Poor Sangston, if 1 met him at night, I could always tell what had been the course of Miss Sangston's conduct through the day. If she had not noticed him, and had promenaded with one of those personages, or had gone to a baIl or party with one of them, he was sure to indulge himself at night; and more than once I have taken him to my hotel when he could not take himsclt'homc. All the above of this chapter has been written for ray reader, in answe to Miss Upton's remark that there was Miss Singleton, and her inquiry as to who that young gentleman was with her? I did not tell any of it to Miss Upton, for they were ahead of us on the avenue, and as we drove along Miss Upton answered her own question- "Oh! it's young Sangston." And then she pull- ed the check string and said to me, "Please tell page: 84-85[View Page 84-85] TH1~ AUTOBI4 Duston (the coaohr~saa) to drive very slow. Am so you men all admire Miss Singleton?" And the one beauty, with her keen and scrutiny zing eye dissected the other, as only one womat can another-attire, walk, air, form, limb, soul am body, finger tips and ringlets, every point to thi * very shoe tie There be many rivalries in Washington, gentle reader, many, very many. Subtle and powerful politicians struggling for place and popularity am power, as low down as a petty clerkship for them- selves, driven to the wall at last, if not for others; and as high up as the presidential chair in all thc potency of the White House. Yes, there be man~ rivalries in Washington-and among them not th( least and not the least bitter are some that I ma~ tell of among fair and beauteous women I hav known. But "nous verrons," as Father Ritchic says. CHAPTER XXIX. SANG5TON-DEVOTES HIMSELF TO MISS UFTON-CONvER- * STATION WITH HIM ABOUT HER-MISS SINGLETON ANt TIlE WHEREFORE OF TILE CHANGE. A few days after this delightful drive with Miss Upton, Sangston called on me late in the evening, and expressed himself in the most exaggerated terms of admiration of that lady. I had known that ol late he frequently visited her; in fact, I had met him at her house, and I thought the lady was more than usually kind to him. Miss Singleton I found was growing cold apparently, and at times haugh- ty, even supercilious; and Sangston evidently was surprised at her changed deportment sustaining itself so long, under which he began to grc~w very moody. At first, his frequent visited ~o Miss Upton and her open encouragement of him gave him the highest spirits, though they were evidently of a wild and reckless character. lie had the feelings of a gentleman, and such a delicate sense of the proprieties of life that, when excited with wine, he usually hurried away from the presence of the ladies~though I have known him, when very much depressed in spirits, t( resort to stimulants before he went to a party. )GRAPJIY OF tI How ill at ease he was with all his gay badinage about the beauteous Miss Upton. I had some ex- - perience, and I read him easier than he thought I a did. My theatrical adventures connected with I Miss Watson's name, had given, and continued to 3 give me a tremendous eclat among the young men, and, in fact, it had created no little talk among the a ladies; while a good many of them believed that 1 there existed an attachment between Alice Clare I and myself, the impression was that I Jiad behaved - badly to Alice, and some of the ladies took her part fiercely, though I never knew that she thank- ed them for it or ajspreciated it,-nevertheless it gave me as much eclat with the women as my re- 3 ported deportment with Capt. Merrymen did with the men. Knowing how sensitive Sangston Was about the sex, and particularly about Miss Single- tin, I felt a delicacy in speaking to him as to my view of matters, but I thought I would talk at him a little one evening, so I said: "That Upton girl is a character!~~ "Oh! great, great! magnificent! "lie exclaimed. "You've heard her history?" "Oh yes. The tale is here that she fell in love with some puppy of a lord abroad, but 1 don't be- lieve a word of it." "Oh! those who are not up to matters and things are of the impression that she was desperately in love with him, but Clements, who was abroad at the time, tells me it is no such thing; he was inti- mate with her at that very time-in fact, they say she was once not indifferent to hjm." "They say," said [to myself. "1 tell you, Sangston," I continued aloud, "don't tell on me." "I will not, on my word," he exclaimed, look- ing earnestly at me. "Well, Miss Upton has no particular quantity of heart to be impressed by any body-she's a flirt -and all's fish that comes to her net." "Oh! Russell-what makes you think she's a flirt?" "These and these!'1 I exclaimed, putting my hands to my eyes and ears. "You don't pretend to say she' has flirted you?3~ "Nc~, sir," 1 replied, provoked: "that's not in her power-beautiful and fascinating and hewitch ing as she is. Love's a foregone conclusion with me.'1 And I sighed, half from my heart and half in vanity. "Yes, the actress?" "No, no, sir. In this world we never appreciate, until it is' too late, the character of the woman who really regards us. some Delilah of our imagina- tion, or Delilah in fact, plays the deuce with us- reduces us to as blind and as desperate a condition as Samson, and ' yes us as much." "I don't understand you." "It's true," I said-arid then bolted out the in- quiry: "How get you on with my fair sister of Carolina-.-.the lady of the Palmetto State-the eclipsing star in all this constellation of beauty here in Washington, where beauties most do con- gregare?~~ A crimson flush passed over Sangstoa's face and he said, "I don't get on with her at all-don't talk about her. Let's drink something-pardon me ifI order it in your room." I bowed. "Well, the Upton is a glorious girl, that's a fact. She says she likes you very much." "Yes- she says you have a magnetic way with women, and that you have stood fire so often that she suspects you think you have a charmed life- a charmed heart-and she quoted something from somebody, which I forget." "Well, she certainly has never tried any spell upon me, yet am I often spell-hound by her neyer- theless,-but I think the Palmetto lady is the eclip- sing one, 5angston.3~ "Many think so," he said, looking down. There was a pause, and he continued: "That Englishman, the Mr. Dudley that I have seen you with, he has almost entirely quit going to sue Miss Upton and devotes hi:nself entirely to Miss Singleton. I tell you, i{ ussel," and he tried to laugh-oh! what a hollow laugh it was-"She used to keep entirely to her private parlor, and sometimes would not see any body for days, at least in the afternoon; and she spent most of her evenings there, at the harp or piano, and now she spends all' her indoor hours in the public parlor-has had her harp brought down there, and your humble ~ here he bit his lips-"is not even noticed by her as she passes through the room or takes a seat to enter- tain the crowd of gentlemen bowing around her." "Have you piqued her in any way?" "Piqued her!" and here he stopped, having, I thought, at first the impulse from wounded feelings to insinuate he had, and thus account for her change of manner, but the truth asserted its right and he said, filling ,his glass with the sparkling liquid which had been introduced at his request-"No; piqued her-if any thing I have been her slave to fetch arid carry, and she asked me the other day- I blush to tell it, but she did-she asked me the other day if I Was now going of errands for Miss Upton." "How came you to be so intimate with Miss Upton all at once? you have cut me out there de- cidedly" "Ah! Russell, every body knows that you don't care a fig ahnut any of our ladies here. You're a fortune-my father squandered oner and I am a poor clerk, worse than a beggar. What care you for any of the women here, with the love of that glorious actress, who outshines them all?" "No, Sangston, she does not outshine them all, not even as an actress-at least in private theatri- cals and private acting. My dear fellow, all the world's a stage, and all the men and women mere- ly players. I'm not speaking of Miss Watson, mark you,-who is siincerely my friend, and whom I respect profoundly-but hang me if I mean to let any of these women play upon me, if I can help it." "Nor 1, nor I," exclaimed Sangston, and then his voice sunk to a tone of touching despondency as he remarked, "but what woman would care to play upon me?" I wanted from my soul to tell him that Miss Up- ton might care, for the frolic of the thing; but I reflected it would only wound his feeling~ in the mood he was in, and I forbore; but I determined to devote myself more particularly to Miss Singleton, and .1 thought, when Horslcy returned with remit- tances from my aunt so that I could settle my bill, that I ~vould take rooms at Mrs. Sangston's. WILLIAM RUSSELL. page: 86-87[View Page 86-87] 86 THE AUTOBI S CHAPTER XXX. MY AUNT BETSET-STILL AT TIlE EOTEL-CONVERSA- TION WITH MiSS UFTON ABOUT SANOSTON-BE IS RE- MOVED FROM OFFIcE-ITS EFFECTS ON IIIM-MIsS SiN- OLETON SENDS ME A NOTE-i AM COMI'LIMENTED BY HER-WHAT sun SAYS ABOUT SANOSTON, AND WHAT SItE DOES. 4 'I'ime, that: never plays truant from his duty, kept on his way. My remittances came through Florsely, who wrote me a laconic note, saying that my aunt Betsy had "forked ovet" without com- plaint the five hundred dollars, (I was provoked with myself that I did not get him so ask for a thousand) and that he would write at length soon, or see but still staid the hotel, meaning' me; I at to take rooms at Mrs. S~ngstoa's some time or other. But I frequently called upon Miss Single- ton, and Miss Upton, with some temper, had jested me more than once upon my increasing admiration for the fair Carolinian. "She'll fling you off as she did poor Saugston," she remarked with a peculiar smile. "I'm told that you took him off from the fair Carolinian," I said, "if he was ever on with her- or rather that you attempted to console him for her cruelty, and grew tired of the care of a broken heart which you could not mend." "Tired! poor fellow, he is like a battle-door among the ladies-driven from one to the other-because no one receives him but to show the skill with which site can throw him back again. 1 understand he was turned out of office last week-I hope it is not so. He used to visit me a great deal in office hours, but when I suspected that he might be neg- lecting his official ditties I discouraged his visits. Indeed, to speak out, Mr. Russell, I hear and .1 fear that his habits are very bad." And this was the way poor Sangston's ruisfor- tunes and faults were disc~issed by two who were his intimates, arid one of them at least, his well- wisher and friend. It was true that he had been dismissed f~onn his OGRAPHY OF ton I had not seen but once since his dismissal, when he was much excited; tind day after day passed away and I did not see him, though 1 often wondered where he was, and I expected certainly to meet him. Some new acquaintances, to whom I felt myself bound to attend, had engrossed hit visiting hours, and I had not seen Miss Singleton since Sangston's removal-when one day I receiv- ed an urgent note from her requesting that I would call and see her as soon as possible. I accordingly betook myself to Mrs. Sangaton's boarding house, wondering what Miss Singleton could want with me, and was shown into her pri- vate parlor. There was the harp over which I had seen her so frequently bend, and I noticed the many little evidences, even in the very placing of the smallest ornaments, which showed that the presiding ge nius of the Itlace was a refined and intellectual wo- man. This matter of love, thought I, is a mar- vellous matter, for I certainly feel not the least trepidation ta awaiting the entrance of this most celebrated belle of the South; wlten, were it Alice Clare whom I expected, ~r Miss Watson, or even Martha Booth 1 am satisfied that by its increased pulsation I should certainly feel that I had a heart. While I was reflecting in this way, proud of the self-possession I felt and of the fact that Miss Sin- gleton could raise no thrill in my tumultuous tem- perament, which I could not, like a skillful mana- ger of fiery steeds control to my advantage, t4e lady entereil the room. I certainly was struck with art altered look in her. Though not a cold morning, (the winters are never severe in Wash- ington,) she was closely wrapped in a large shawl, and her quiet manner had a subdued and earnest look about it that I thought indicated some peculiar state of feeling in the lady. "It is a cold rooming, NIr. Russell," she said, as I rose at her entrance; "You are a stray from yooi allegarice to South Carolina, if we may jttdge front your visits to the daughters of your native State." "No! I acknowledge~ you as my fair representa- office by the auditor who held his father'splace, live-as the fairest representative that my native thought no cause was assigned. It was said that Slate has iii all this wide confederacy-but I have his friend~ and the friends of his hither, were ma- had some duntics to attend to, duties to strangers, king interest with the Secretary to have hint rein- which hail I neglected you would have disowned states, bitt I cotild not learn much about it. Sangs- n~a." WI~ALIAM RUSSELL. 87 "Hospitality is our virtue, Mr. Russell." Elere with whom your heart is-just as your ambition Miss Singleton paused a moment, and adjusted, should be given to one nobler object. But pardon though abstractedly, her shawl, f~dded it closely me, sir," and she blushed scarlet, 'I did not send around her, and looking me calmly in the fa~e she for yoti to lecture you-yet I do not know exactly asked- how to approach the suhj~ct that is upon my mind." "Mr. RusselF, where is Henry Sangston2" "1 will tell you how, Miss Singleton-speak as "Not irreverently to quote," I replied, made can- frankly on that subject as you are 1,0W speaking to tious by her manner-"I ~rn not my brother's keep- me. You have sent fur me in a matter which you seem to esteem of some mome[tt be assured that 'Mr. Russell, I have a deep interest in-in Mrs. that ji enough to make it of moment to toe-and I Sangston-aid since Mr. Sangston's removal from need not, I trust, tell you that any matter v~ hich office he has not beea here but once, arid his moth- you deem a secret and confide to me, I shall keep er is distressed almost to death about him." sacredly. It shall be "in my memory locked," as 'q heard so," I replied. m-ismlet says, "and you shall keep the key." Bab! "Yes, sir," and her face flushed, "he has aban- I tt.oujht to myself, I must quit this awful habit, doned himself to the most onirageous and sinful the triuk of a play actor, of quoting plays petpetu- course of dissipation-I speak strongly, I feel ally. I ect~ ally was confused at this refl~crion, stroagly-and here is his poor mother toiling and "Well) :e~'Aned Miss Singleton, "I am physi- toiling, to be heart broken at last," urruomist enough Ky that-and yet I hesitate. Why "Not so bad as that I hope," I replied. "I should not my glor5~e.s native State scorn the unjust wonder why he was removed?" trammels of the Un~te~3 S'etes and why should not "Why?" exclaimed Miss Singleton, "because - I scorn the unjust tramm&t~ of whatever conven- of his habits-as you ought to know. tionalisms I may think w~en~" "1 ought to know, Miss Singleton?" is your f saio, "one with your "It prerogative," "Pardon me, sir. I am making no reproach rank and position in society has the ~i~ht to rriake upon your habits, Mr. Russell, ard if I thought or break the laws of caere they deserved any 1 should riot have sent for ~oi. "Ah un. ~ No woman ca'~ break cert~i~t cnn- I ouwed-what next, thought I. ventionaYrns and pass ttie ~i~ry ordeal 4 cen u ~e "You have influence with Henry Sangsron, Mr. rtrsoa~'ued. But the long ano ~he short of i~uy 't- Ru~setl-he thinks very highly of you, a~ you can trusiori tpon your known obedience o my &~ is see from his imitation ot you in many thint~-you are greatly admired here-and, viii you paudori this, Mr. Ros~ell-Oh my, but I feel toy w~f blu~, me, I am pro nd of Carolina, wrien yo. hsve sown why should l?-Mrs. Sangatori is rriny friend, she has been vein kind to me-arid she is so desolate. your wild oats gracefolly, I expect to -~ee you orace- Vellshe other niuht Mr. Sa fully lead in a nobler field than that of mne:e , ngstori, having some Washington fashionable life." two hundred d~,llars of his mother's in his po~ses- I boved, arid I felt myself thrill and blush. ion, went to a gaming table and lust it,*wlien in ~ she continued 2'yors have not made love a state of intoxication. I want you, sir, with what to rite-i urtderetartd you mJte love to all the Ia- add ret-s you rriay, to convey that amount to him, dies, and you have fa~huoried for me no particular and tell himni to COtttC home and give it to his moth- compliments; but, William Ru~sell, if you are not er--that there is every hope that he will be res- proud of me I am of you-you have tal~rts that toned to his place~ I feel like doing a bold act my- you are wasting; addr'-ss, that ritight accomplish ~lf" she blushed here very much. "I am so sit- high and noble purposes-you are devoting to bellee uated as not to he disposed to ask favors of tie and beaux and to the achievement of success in Secretary, but I'll go to the old chief, General frivolities;-ert marty women you a~ tittering as~ay Jackson, myself, riullilier as I am, and have this attentions, shall I say regards-I know something thing righted-have Mr. Sang-ton restor'-d to I is of your hustury-which should be given to her office, for his mnother'.~ sake at least. You think I 12 page: 88-89[View Page 88-89] $8 THE AtYTO~1OGRAPHY OF ~peai loId)y, but there is something which I can- uot exactly tell you." "Vet' cannot tell me all," I said, looking at her In a sertutenizing manner. "Why try to divine that which I will not tell, then, Mr. Russell?" "1 will not. It will be my greatest pleasure to serve you-and only what you would have me know would I ~ and I could not but smile again. "I understand your smile, sir." "Indeed then you understand more than I do." "Enough,"-but she looked annoyed, and a little of the self-will of a petted woman came to her brow as she said, almost in a peremptory tone- "Will you do what I ask, Mr. Russell?" Certainly-as I have said, any thing that you ask I will do." "A thought strikes me. Suppose you send it in an anonymous letter-say that the party writing the letter felt himself indebted that much to his father and sent it to him. Cannot you manage then to see him when he gets the letter; or, if von please, get it for hint from the posi-uffice, carry it to him, and see that in his recklessness Ite does not spend that too, but takes it to his mother, brings it here and reforms his habits. I wonder if he re- rnetnbers he was to go with me to the next levee?" "Doubiless he does, Miss Singleton.' You know what your influence is over hint-exert it, will you not?" "Mr. Russell-how can 1, a young lady, exert it properly?" I smiled again as I replied, "Easily, Miss Single- ton-speak to ~Sangston with the frankness you have spoken to me." She arose, and walking to the window looked out into the street, and then turning to me she said: "Here, here's pen ink and paper, write the let- ter, 1 pray 3Oti, and enclose these notes to'Mr. Sttngston. I utteant to buy a fbolish otrttament with this '~ hich I saw In the jeweler's window but yes tarolay. ' It ~&as a single stat of silver with a beau- tiful diamond in its centre. I thought it' wotild ettit Carolina, my bold native State, and that I would ~ ear it to tue levee and niake it flesh in old Bickory's eyes." "If you flash it in old Hickory's eyes," I said, "I fear you will only make them flash with anger when you call on him." Miss Singleton replied, looking at me with a dignity and an earnestness which surprised me- "Over brave natures a woman always exerts an influence. It is to me a salient point in the old chief's character that he pays so much respect to my sex, and always has paid it. His wife, who was quite a common-place person, he treated with every kindness, with devoted tenderness, and it is to) his honor. Too many of the great men here, who pretend to think very harshly of the old chief and of his private character, might do well to imi- tate him in this." "Well, Miss Singleton," I said with emphasis, "Do you not feel that the lesson-pardon me, let me say lesson-..-you read me just now upon devo- ting myself to fashionable frivolities might have a little of a moral in them for the fair speaker her- self?" "Well ~'uut, sir. Yes, I deserve it-I came home from a heartless party last night-.-.and felt that I deserved it. Oh! the frivolities, the follies, to say nothing of the vices herel-but the letter, Mr. Russell." I took my seat at her table. As I arranged the paper to write, she threw herself back in a rocking chair and took up one of Scott's novels, which lay on the table. I wrote as follows: "Sir: I feel myself to be indebted to your late father some two hundred dollars. 1 have heard that you have been removed from office, and I sup- pose you need the money. I tlterefore return it to you, glad that I can relieve nty cotiscience by so doing, arid happy that I have it to send to you in an emergency. It is not necessary for you to know who 1 am; be satisfied that I am, though I say so aronymously, Youa ~ "Will that olo'?" said I, reading it aloud to Miss 'Singleton; "or shall I tell him to devote it to the specific ofiico'.-.-to, give it to his mother in payment of the sum he has lost at the gaming table?" "As you think best," she replied. Alter a nioment's reflection, I remarked: "I will setod titis, and put it in the post office, so Lhat it utay have the postmark. I will contrive to e with htirn"'when he gets it." WILLIAM RUSSELL. I enclosed the notes which Miss Singleton hand- ed me,(confusedly, I don't know why. unless I thought that men should do such things for men, and not wait for women to do them,) and sealed aoddireeted the letter. I now took up my hat to depart, when Miss Singleton said- "I have paid you a great compliment-do you know it?" "In the deepest recesses of my soid, where the fact of this interview lives in silence, I know it," I replied. She gave me her hand-to her infinite surprise I bowed low and kissed it as I took it. "Pardon me, Miss Singleton," I said with dig- nity, "it was not the beautiful hand which I kiss- ed, but the charity and mercy enshrined there." "Ab! but you can say pretty things, Mr. Wil- liam Russell," exclaimed Miss Singleton, as she gently withdrew her hand so lingeringly that I hardly felt it leave mine, as her surprise gave place is a blush and a smile. And Mr. William Russell thought so too, as the proud girl looked after him kindly as he withdrew. Then the image of Alice Clare flashed through my mind. "Yes," said Ito myself, descending at once from the sublime to the ridiculous, ("there is but one step" said Napolean, and ridicule is the test of truth,) the proverb says "there are as good fish in the sea as were ever caught"-and so there be doubtless; but Mrs. Glass, in her renowned cookery book, ere she begins to expatiate upon cooking the individual of the finny tribe upon which you mean to gratify your refined and luxurious appetite, says: "First catch your fi~~*~) Here was a thought for me that saddened my steps. "These women," said I to myself "what enigmas they are. This Miss Singleton is a magnificent girl-I wonder if I could please her. Whyshe must be a little in for it with Sangston;" and then, in such an event, for the first time the great alteration which would take place in the Poor fellow's earthly condition in bed and board occurred to me in its full force, and I hastened to find him and fulfil my errand. CHAPTER XXXI~ I FIND SANOBTON-HIS RELIEF.-REFLECTIONS UPOkJ WHAT MISS SINGLETON SAID-REGSETS-ThE STIRR- INGS OF AMBITION-I RIDE OUT T') BbADE~tbBURGMT DREAM-SANG-TI'S COMES TO ME WITH A NOTE FRM MISS SINGLETON-ALICE CLARE iN WASIIINGTOW-I MEET HER-MISS UPTON. On inquiry, I found that Sangston had been dis- 3ipating all the week, and was then sick at the bachelor establishment of some of his friends-a number of young officials. Woro and wan and wasted, I found him in bed, agonized at his condi- tion and foil of remorse for his conduct. I did my best to cheer him, asked him what the news was, and, quick as thought, he ordered the boy to go to the post office, observing, "Maybe th~ re's a letter for me. A man in my condition is al~a3s appre- hending that something has happened to him and wishes to know the worst." The letter came. So overjoyed was Sangston, that he leaped from his bed, and, without scarcely saying a word to me, except to mention that a debt had been paid him, which was a great relief in his present condition, he asked me to excuse him, and hurriedly departed, shaking all over with ner- vous anxiety to be a~ay. Poor fellow! I thought, I ought to say something to him, but in his then condition I reflected it would be of no use-and especially as his mind appeared tobe absorbed in the one idea of the "relief" which the reception of the money had given him. After he left, and I sat alone in the bachelor apartment of the luxurious young officials of the "Hall," who were at their duties or elsewhere, it occurred to me that he might be infatuated with the idea that as he had had one streak of luck in receiving the money, that Fortune, the jade, was now at last about to take his side, and he had gone to a gaming house. I entered the street, and learned from a mutual acquaintance that Sangston had gone home. Re- lieved in my mind, I returned to my hotel, and found an invitation to dino witji a "mess" of South- ern members, who were all quartering together. At the appointed hour I went. What Miss Singleton had said to me about my wasting my energies and talents in frivolities had page: 90-91[View Page 90-91] 90 made a deep impression on me. Every moment when I was n~t thinking of Sangston her remarks were in my mind; and when I thought of Alice Clare, I had the feeling that should I win high position, she would surely and willingly and proud- ly be mine. Ambition, a giant in my nature, that had been slumbering for years, began to stir me to nobler ef- foits than that of histrionic representations or tri- umphs in socie:y. Oh! I began to think now most seriously of what Moore has said of his own gifts: "'1~aients made Hap'ly for pure and high designs, But oft, like Israel's incense, laid Upon unholy earthly shrines." and thought how natural it was for the idle and the voluptuous Ciesar, the "loose girdled boyS~ to don me, dear reader, but the "spilt milk" of the past-the recollection of misspent hours, to say no- thing of vicious ones-how they haunted me. I felt myself in the ac omplishments of the speaker, in the outward graces, and even in the gifts of language and illustration and adornment, to be in- finitely superior to many of the men around me who had won famous positions as politicians, law- yers and statesmen-and here, I thought, am I, as idler-and worse, nut even trying to win the only woman I have ever deeply loved, so as to secure myself domestic enjoyment and happiness, though I have no other. How these revulsion of feeling pressed upon my brain arid he;;rt as I trod the avenue and hur- ried to the Capitol to listen to one of those stirring debates which the nullification movements of some of the Southern States was then arousing, and in weep over the victories of Alexander. who, at his j which the champion of South Carolina stood alone age, had accomplished empire, when he had ac- complishied nothing but debts which he could not pay. Often and often had these reflections flashed over my mind like a dark cloud, and as often did I dis- pel them by plunging into society, and flattering myself that I was playing the epicurean philoso- pher, and carrying out the true aims of life by liv- ing according to the saying, "While we live let us live." Mingling infmately with the stirring politicians and statesmen about me, and flattered by many of them for the eclat which I had in refined society, a matter which some of them did not understand and all men more or less envy, and particularly men of the world,! at first mistook my position for one (if real importance to more than the mere butterflies of fashion and excitement which a winter in Wash- ington never fails to bring together. But itarinoy- ed rae deeply, and the annoyance Qhough not on- mixed wit Ii a certain gratification) struck still deep- er when not only the men but the women told me that I was wasting my talents. I began to find out that the very idlest and most fashionable of the women themselves would appreciate me more; in- finitely more indeed, did I hold the same rank in the s'ri~e of men in the sterner struggles of life which I he'd in the drawing room a rid the saloon. Ahi how I began to curse say wasted hours! Par- like Ivanhoe in the lists at Ashby, with no Black sluggard to cry to the rescue. I should nor be particular in dates were they all before me, when, indeed, I have no memory for them, as I tell stern truths in my reminiscences, that might offend; l.'et I well remember the keen encounters between Mr. Webster and more than one of the southerners, and although my heart went in many things with the nullifiers, I must say that my convictions went then, as they go now, with the Union, heart and soul, whenever that question was touched upon in debate. Chataufiri and says in his memoirs, that although he was a Bourbonist and hated Napoleon, yet, when he heard the thunder of the allied armies at Waterloo piercing his retirement, that after listening to the contending hosts for awhile, his love for France prevailed and he could not but pray that her sons night triumph let who would lead them At first I had sonic sich feelings as these, yet I always looked upon tile Union as such a sacred institution, that it was her bravery and prowess rather than her supposed or real injuries which made me t)f ten, at least in the badinage of conversatit)n, side with Soulla Carolina as to her right to secede. Yes, I began indeed to feel that amy life was "idleness alt;~~ and more than once I found myself wide and restlessly awake in the dearest hour of the night, alternately reprox~hing myself for throw~ ing away my time, or forming some scheme of study and ambition. Yes, I said, I must break this thraldom of society and dissipation which surrounds rae-I must act, act-do something-and I must devote myself to hard study. If I had been desperately poor, and poverty had been pressing me on with this necessity as well as a feverish and I began to fear morbid ambition, how soon I should have seized the oar-and for a good reason, tor it then would have been a struggle for life as well as for fame. But as it was, in these alternations of feeling, made the more turbid by my thoughts of Alice Clare, I gave myself up too often to wild company and late hours, and had, of course, to suffer all the pangs of consequent physical wretchedness and re- morse. I am among the breakers yet, rho~ght I, as one day I flung myself on my horse and galloped to- wards Bladensburg to see my old landlord there, and spend a day or two away from the excitement of the city and recruit a little, for I was really worn out and sick. Yes, I am among the breakers yet-I live without an object in life, and I shall be a wreck if I do not have an object-for be the day ever so bright and the sky ever so clear, whither am I steering, whither am I steering-the cloud must come at last, arid what aim have I, what ob- ject? where is my port? With head ache and heart ache, I reached the Bladensburg hotel, and asking for a room, I threw myself upon the bed, and was soon in a wild and dreamy sleep. The agony of that dream I remember now. I saw Alice Clare walking arm in arm with Peter- son. I said to myself, why do you idle away your time here-hir in my dream I seemed to recognize the facts of my oWn position just as they were- when your heart's hope is at stake. Oh! what an agony was it for me to feel that she had a prefer- ence fo0r L1eterson! I thought she avowed it to me- [thought, while she was walking with him, she avowed it to me-it seemed to me th~r her look had a voice, an audible voice, and told it to me.- I gazed at Peterson, and thought I saw his look of triumph, a~ud I writhed in jealous madness as I thought I saw him press her lip and hold her to his heart, while she, all coynesh gone, looked into 91 his face and returned his caress with interest! Yes, with interest, I said to myself, so full of an over- flowing fondness is her heart for him. And I have been a fool from my very childhood-a fool. How many stolen hours have they had together that I knew nothing of? I was aroused with a suffocating sensation in my throat. Ha! thought I, this is all a dream;-my neck-cloth was only too tight-"Pray you, undo this button"-in my mad trick of quoting theatri- cals quoting old Lear. And then I threw myself down on my face, with my hands over it, on the bed, while scalding and big tears came to my relief, and trickled through my fingers. Resolve me this again, ye who have skill in these matters. I was aroused from my burst of emotion by a rap at my door. The broad red sun was just set- ting, and it had been shining in my face. That, with my buttoned collar, had as much to do ~rirh my dream, maybe, as anything else. There is no telling-I have puzzled over such things often, but could never make anything out of them after all. Yet a kind of superstition within us tells us that the "stuff" they are made of has something of life's hues and mortal destiny in them, in spite of the poet 'a reasoning: are but interludes which Fancy makes; IV lion nionarch reason sleeps this mimic wakes, )ontounds a medley of' disjointed things, I~ court of' coblee; cud a mob or kings." "Is [lot the past all shadow?" says a less reason- ing but not less imaginative poet. Yes, but can the future be foreshadowed? or have our dreams anything to do with realities except that they are the objectless vagaries born of them? But as I was saying, I was interrupted by a rap at my door. I called out, as I took rime to recover myself- "in (me moment-who's that?" And the voice of Sangston cheerfully sounded in reply: "'Tis I, Hamlet the Dane." In a moment more I flung the door open, and shook Sangston cordially by the hand. He looked a little worn, but his smile had no sadness in it. "I have," he explained, "a missive for you from Miss Singleton, who bids you to a partV to-night, and she bade me find you arid deliver h in person. Heariug that you had ridden out her., and not THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF WILLIAM RUSSELL. page: 92-93[View Page 92-93] 92 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF knowing when you would return, I have speeded to fulfil Miss Singleton's commands. Here is her note." I broke the seal and read: Ma. RtrssaLL:-As you have more than once announced that you owe your allegiance to Caroli- na, and particularly to her representative, ourself, therefore be it known to you, that you are bidden to-night to present yourself at our rooms, that you may meet there a lady of the Monumental City, not unknown to you-Miss Alice Clare-to whom you have been recreant, if report says true, and to whom we now give you an opportunity to present yourself at a meeting of our mutual friends to be holden in our parlor to-night. Itis proper for us to saythat we have not told the lady of our inten- tion to bid you to our presence; so you may fashion for yourself your own mode of presenting yourself to her-an opportunity which, maybe, her know- ledge of your coming would not give you. We have hopes that our indiscretion will not shatter into fragments your flinty and false heart-and if it does, Miss Upton and other ladies that you and we know of, ourselves of course being omitted in the mention, shall do their best, under our com- mands, to gather together the fragments and so to reunite them that they shall be broken never again, at least by the same person. Given under our hand and seal, this - day of -- SALLIE S1NGLETOr~. By our trusty and well beloved messenger Hen~. ry Sangston- I read and re-read the note, while Sangeton amused himself with brushing the dust from his clothes with a whisp which he had taker1 from the table. "Alice Clare in Washington!" I said to myself, "and what of W?-is Washington so very far frem Baltimore-but a few hour's ride, and I months in~ Washington without seeking once to see her! But we have quarrelled-at least we parted coldly.- What could have brought her here?" As I asked n~yself this question I turned to Sangaton and en- quired: "When did Miss Clare come to Washington, Sangston?~~ "The day before yesterday." "Where is she?" "At my ~ "Who's with her'?" "Two or ,three ladies-they have come to Mrs. P-'s party." "Any gentlemen?" "Yes: a Mr. Peterson and Mr. J~mper.~~ "Peterson! Perterson! What kind of a looking fellow is he?" "0! he's all the go with the women-he's a first rate looking fellow-he knows you-..-I heard him talking with Miss Clare about you, and regret you were so wild." "Regret I was so wild?" "Yes, he said it, for I heard him. Miss Single- ton joked Miss Clare about you, hut she made no reply. She drew on her gloves and went sailing down the avenue yesterday afternoon; didn't you see them?" "See them! No, I was in Alexandria. Where do they stop?" "At my mother's. Faith, I don't in fact un- derstand hese women, at least those who think the most of themselves; but I tell you Russell, she is very sweet on Mr. Peterson. You should have seen them yesterday afternoon walking down the' broad avenue-the whole crowd gazed after them in ad~riiration-they were considered the hand- somest couple in Washington." 'ro cool the pressure on ~my brain of conflicting passions and hot blood, for it seemed, as 1 lifted a glass of water to my lips, to be bursting with its load of agonizing reflections-aroused jealousy and unrequited love,.-.-I plunged my head into a basin of water, and laved tiiy brow and chest before I suffered myself to say a word. "Yes! and he was sweet upon her, you say?~~ "Indeed he was. Ye little fishes! hut Russell, she is beautiful [tell you now; she slew the fel- lows right and loft as she walked down the avenue. And she kept a keen look out-maybe she was looking for you. I have heard Miss Singleton jest you about her; and that-yes, this is the very lady ~-.and that she understood she liked you. It was on account of this very lady she called you a gay Lothario, was it not?" "Not that I remember. What! do you mean to say that she looked about, looked around, as if she was looking for some one?" WILLIAM "No-but every body was looking at hex4~, that's certain, and she could not be unconscious of it.- How she laughed and chatted with that Mr. Peter- son. But he's a fine looking fellow. Russell, he's older than you-he would give his two eyes for her. These women, for the soul of me, 1 can't understand them." "They don't understand themselves" I exclaim- with a certain stiff-necked puritanical kind of pre- ed~ with an additional phrase which it is not ne- cessary to repeat. "They don't understand them- selves, or wont. And as for their constancy and truthfulness-I don't believe they know the mean- ing of the words, unless they see it illustrated in the lives of their lovers. Coquetry and deceit they understand though.~~ "Why, Russell, is this your opinion of women?" I remained silent, and Sangston continued: "I tell you what it is, in my opinion there is no~ judging of women at all-no knowing what they do. Russell, I want to have a talk with you to- night after the party." "Agreed, agreed,~~ said I. Come, let's to horse." "Let's drink 5o~~thing,~~ said Sangston, as we descended to the bar-room, and eur horses were brought out to our orders. "Not a drop, not a drop,~~ I exclaimed. I thought of what Peterson had said of my dis- sipated habits. and the desire to drink was crushed in me as you would crush a serpentA~as you would strike life out of it with your heel. "Yes," thought I to myself, as we pitt spur to our horses and darted ahead side by side in silence, each occupied with his own thoughts-~Sangston thinking of Miss Singleton and I of Alice Clare- "Yes, Mr. Peterson, I flung you once sky high. when I was a tx~y-yes, "Willie Russell" did, "Mr. Peterson"-and why cannot he do it again? 0! 1 was a fresh-lipped innocent boy then-what am I now? But what if I am changed; the change has been the change to knowledge if it has been to sin-and why may I not win her yet?" Here my thoughts took wildest flight, and I thought of all that had ever passed between Alice and myself, and the suspicion haunted me that I had fatally fooled away the greatest chance of being most blest in a beautiful wojnan's love that ever a man had; and oh the bitterness of the self-reproach that seemed like fiery serpents to coil about my' vision which held me just so in collar and neck- cloth, and which annoyed me exceedingly. How these little matters put one out! and, when great matters have already tost us into a tempest, how we strive to give vent to these feelings in this shallow brook of little things which overflows it. self and shows how deeply our souls are moved, and that these minor matters are b~t straws. Worn and experienced as 1 had been of late in fashionable parties, I thought the fashionable hour, (9 o'clock) for going would never come; and when it did come, I thought what a flurry I was in, and wondered it had come so soon! These confessions may seem strange, but they are true; and a person of calm and quiet temperament cannot, maybe, un- derstand why I should have been so moved,-but those of the more fiery clay will understand all about it. But to the party. As I approached the lodgings of Miss Singleton, in the hack which I had ordered, I saw . the house all lighted up, and a crowd of carriages were be- fore the door and some distance beyond it, waiting their turn to be delivered of their burdens. My impatience would tiot let me wait, so I alighted,. and proceeded to Mrs. Sang~ton~s front door. lust as I reached it a coachman was hurriedly throwing down the steps of his vehicle, and a gentleman de. ascended therefrom whom I instantly recognized to be Peterson. A laughing voice within said merri- ly-oh, how that light tone brought sorrow to my heart- "Be not in such a hurry, driver;-for mercy's sake, Mr. Peterson, give me your attention; Miss Upton has not come yet, and Miss Singleton can be seen all the evening. I declare, I have got my dress entangled in these odious steps." "Go ahead!" shouted out the driver of the car- riage immediately behind that of'Peterson's; "what are you blocking up the way for?" "Wait a motqent," e~c~aimed Peterson, ttirning to RUSSELL. 93 he~rt and knot and gender there with passions that Were maddening. I never was fastidious in tile adjustment of my toilette, but I certainly expended more than my usual care upon it, and my hand was tremulous with emotion as I arranged and re-arranged differ- ent portions of my dress, and found particular fault page: 94-95[View Page 94-95] ~94 the map, who, seated on his coach-box, was crack ing his whip impatiently. A~ he turned, the horse~ in his carriage pranced wildly, and Alice at rh~ same moment made a step down. She missed catching his hand which was held out to her, with his head turned towards the carriage behind, and she would have been thrown on her face on the pavement had I not sprang to her assistance and caught her completely in my arms as she fell heav- ily towards me. £ forgot everything but that it was "my beauti- ful my own" Alice Clare whom I had caught in my arms; and as her calash fell from her brow and her shawl from her dazzling shoulders, which, in the low drees for the evening, threw back the lights like glittering marble, I pressed her to my heart and felt that I at least then possessed her, if but for a moment, in spite of Mr. Peterson. "That person has insulted me!" exclaimed Alice, springing away from me-and at this in slant, as we stood full in the~blaze of the light from the front door, we all recognized each other, ~nd Alice exclaimed "William Russell!" "William Russell," I said, "is incapable of in- suIting any lady, and is answerable to any gentle- man in the premises!" Alice half raised her hand I thought, perchance to shake hands with me; but Peterson took it, placed it under his arm, and taking her calash and shawl from the driver, who had picked them up, they entered the house. I stood on the spot for some moments, with a glow of impulses strangely mixed, and I wished from my soul that Peterson would take it up. "Ha! perhaps," I said to myself, "Alice, for sake of his safety, not for mine, may make him promise not to notice my remark, and he will save his courage and his carcass together." Just then the next carriage drove up, and Miss Upton called out; "Is that you, Mr. Russell'? And whe was the lady whom you caught so tenderly in your arms? I was looking at you! I fear my impatience in telling my driver ~o make haste caused her some inconvenience, though your natural gallantry cer- tainly availed yourself of it-her little misstep.- You gentlemen always avail yourselves of our - missteps!" and she laughed knowingly and mis- s chievously. "Po you speak from experience, Miss Upton?" I could not but enquirer. "Oh! you rude creature-no! How many mtre I ladies do you mean to insult to-night, sir? Wait, driver; let the persons behind wait-yoi see what has arisen already from over haste. It is a pity, Mr. Russell~ that you could not do with the lady what the sailor did with the one who was crossing the muddy street, and whom he picked up and carried over: 'Oh! you rude brute,' she exclaimed, 'let me alone!' 'Certainly, madam,' he replied; and he bore her back again, and placed her where he found her." "I would willingly bear her back again for the sake of the burden, and return with her again and again, like the repetition of Juliet's "good night," I replied. "You most extravagant inns, you," exclaimed Miss Upton, laughing heartily: "The girls must vote you a medal made from the fragments ef the broken hearts which your-compliments have shat- tered, and each of them must contribute a lock of hair wherewith you may wear it gracefully round your neck and next your heart." Her sarcastic and ringing laugh stung me a lit- tIe, but I called dandyism and nonchalance to my aid, and said: "That would be a cruelty-I should be killed by the quantity,-smorhered by i~he weight of the medal and the hair, as Tarpeia was by the jewelry of the soldiery. Will you contribute?" The lady had, in the meanwhile, in the most leisurely way, descended from her carriage and halted on the pavement by the side 6f the gentle. man who attended her, whom I did not recognize. In the meanwhile, the carriage behind discharge!.' three gentlemen, and she turned to them and said:' "Am I not as impartial as justice herself? If there had only been two of you gentlemen, you should have ridden with me; but there being three, and I not having had the pleasure of your acqunin. tance until this evening, I could not tell whose de- votion entitled him to a preference, ~e-l repeat, I had to bid you all to Miss Singleton's party, and treat you all alike. I have a carte blanche from iVliss Singleton to invite whom 11 will-and 1 shall WILLIAM I THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF make a sensation in your presentation to the great- est heiress and beauty of the South. Come," she continued, ascending the steps, surrounded by the strangers,,for such I took them to be: "Coiitrib tile!" she exclaimed, turning to me, "Oh! yes, I would contribute, but no~ to your vanity. My lock should go to make a chain of another character, you false one-it would vulgarly be called a rope-and you merit a hempen one, you traitor to true hearts! ~ And'she disengaged herself from the gentlemen, and tripping up to rue she whispered, "Why have you not been to see me? Miss Clare will be here to-night;" and again joining the group of gentle- men; she entered the hall. "Well," thought I, as I compressed my lips. half in wrath and half in vanity, "How matters and things are misunderstood in this world." Yet do I confess it, the misunderstanding of matters and things relative to myself gave a spur to my pride and a momentary gaiety to my spirit, which, like the stimulus of alcohol, I feared and in part felt, could not be kept up; but which made me drink the deeper of the 'draught, nevertheless;-and so I too entered the brilliant assemblage, where, I doubt not, there were more mashers than one. CHAPTER XXXII. AM STOTFED BY TUE CROWD-MY OTERA 0A1'-CoNVER- SATION WITH MR. DUDLEY ABOUT MISS SINGLETON- WE GO INTO TEE STREET-MRS. COMMODoRE DIXLEY- I MEET MR. JEMES JUMFER--OUR COBVERSATION- NOVEL GROUNDS FOR INSTITUTING A SUIT AT LAW- THE SOCIETY OFVIASHiNGTON. The crowd was so great within that it was with difficulty one could make any headway whatever. It was a perfect squeeze-a jam. I asked where Miss Singleton was, and was informed that the far- thestroom held the cynosure of the evening. I4ook- ed around for Miss Upton; but, with that ready tact for which she was remarkable, she had made the crowd give way to her and her attendants, and she had, doubtless, already reached the inner sanctua- ry. I stood twirling about my opera Cal) and glancing 13 RUSSELL. 95 at my gloves, in the most nonchalent way imagi- nable, but it was merely exciteau3flt letting o2~ steam, and pretending to be perfectly up to things, and too patrician to be annoyed by such matters. My opera cap, by the by, let me say, was a "thing of beauty." It was fashioned by the deli- cate hand of Miss Singleton herself, audi presented to me as a token of her regard and recognition of me as a South Carolinian. It was of beautiful black velvet, with the Palmetto wrought on it in gold, and a single star rising over it in glittering silver. Proud was I of that opera cap, for not a man in Washington, and I was not slow to believe in the wide world, could boast of a similar favor from her fair hand. It touched my pride of heart too deeply to talk about, but as the "fellows" ad-~ mired it, who were waiting entrance like myself, it was a delight of mine to answer their eager in- quiries as to where I got it in a way that had an histrionic effect in it, from which I have thought the happiest producer of "points" might catch a hint. "Miss Singleton made it for me." "What! the 'Carolina star~~your fair representa- tive, as you call her, Russell?" said the Honorable Mr. Dudley. "Where did she get it? It is beautiful." "Get it? Miss Singleton made and presented it to me," I replied, holding it carelessly in my hand, almost a~ if it would fall from it, and yet as firmly and as dearly as 1 held my heart's blood. "You are a lucky fellow, Russell." "Men have so accounted me, Mr. Dudley, more than once-yet,. if put upon my oath," I said, and here I spoke from my heart, "I do not know that I should so account myself." The calm Englishman, who had seen the best society of the world, and who, doubtless, had ex- perienced the play and the storm of the passions, looked at me with a quiet smile, that had a sly meaning in i~, I thought, and said: "Every heart knoweth its own bitterness." ~ Not expecting such a reply, I felt myself blush for the moment, knowing the "bitterness" of mine, and said "True, sir. A lady's favors are sometimes like a child's gifts, given and taken back again." page: 96-97[View Page 96-97] 98 THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF "Yes," replied the Englishman, "but Miss Sin- Woman, who, by the by, had made a great pet and gleton is not of that character, is she?" lioii of him, and to whom he owed at least that "She is a Carolinian, and they, both men and much courtesy. women, generally act as they, feel-therefore," i walked to the corner of the street, which was said I, "am I proud of my favor." near by, and throwing back my coat let the cold, The Englishman fixed his eye for a moment, keen air strike my brow and chest, while I wrestled and said: with the wild emotions that were throbbing at my "Your gay and beautiful friend, Miss IJptonjust heart. Just at this time, with a whistle, skip and passed in. She reminds me a great deal of more jump, who should come bolt round the corner but than one lady 11 have met on the continent abroad." my particular friend, Mr. Jemes Jumper, whom "You have met her there, have you not?" I I knew at a glance ~the moment the light at the asked. . corner fell upon his person, and who nearly fell "Yes." over me as he took the air on his way to Miss Sin- "Do tell me," I said, speaking apart to Mr. gleton's. Dudley, "what was the love affair between her Jumper stared amazed when he saw who it was and Lord Lightner.~I who he Jiad' so unceremoniously encountered, Re took my arm and we walked to the ~treet door together. He remarked: thinking, perhaps, of another affair of'honor, when I burst into a laugh, and exclaimed, "What a crowd-one will scarcely he able to "Jumper! my old friend!" get in." "Ah! Russell !-how do you do?-'pon my word "Yes," I replied, "but there is a party at the I am glad to see you." Secretary of the Treasury's to-night, and soon the "No more glad than I am." politicians, M. C.'s and strangers will flock there." "Infernal disagreeable circumstances these, to "I never enjoyed these squeezes much, yet a man spring out of nothing-gad, I got thin on it-only of the world is not content j~f he is not in them, weigh one hundred and sixty-three and a half and he is certainly not content when he is-let's now, once I was rising one hundred and seventy." breathe the fresh air." "I am glad you have fallen off." We according stepped into the street. It was "Yes, so am 1. This fat is'nt very intellectual, a clear, bracing night, and the bright stars above is it Russell?" looked in calmness down upon the busy' streets, "Not very; though 'Webster is fat." where the hurrying carriages seemed to be viewing "Yes, but Clay and Calhoun are thin, and old with each other in their discordant rattling.' Cer- Hickory is a lath. I am glad to see you. That tainly the public hacks of Washington, at 'the time duel 'business reconciled I speak of, were public nuisances; and the few pri- "Jumper, my friend, let by-gones be by-gones. vate carriages that contrasted with them only made What brought you to the Capital?" the nuisance more apparent. ' An invitation to Miss Singleton's party. We "Yes," Mr. Dudley continued, "Miss Upton made' up quite a set-Miss Clare would come.~' was a great belle abroad, and-" "And Peterson?" "What! not leaving," exclaimed old Mrs. Coin- "1-Je did'nt want to come at first, but you know modore Dixlcy, who had just alighted from her he is her shadow." carriage, and who had proclaimed every where "Is he?" that Mr. Dudley was her relative: "Not leaving. "Certainly. They 'are engaged, every body You know you told me to send in f6r you when I says." arrived-how could Jeremiah have found you-.. how lucky-I suppose you were looking for me?" "Yes. I thought you were in for it there, Rus- "Pinned, ain't I," said Mr. Dudley in a whis- sell; but I suppose Miss XVatson -.-." per to me. "Yes, madam, looking for you," he "Miss Watson," [ remarked, interrupting him, ~aid as he offered his arm to his respectable kins- "is starring it in New York; she is drawing im- m~nse houses-I heard from her yesterday. When are-when does report say that Alice, that Miss a Clare is to marry Peterson?" in "I don't know." "What do you think about it Jumper?" "Me! I think! I confess my utter ignorance of ~z women! He's always with her, at any rate-and if she don't mean to accept him I don't see why ai she should accept his attentions-but that's just the way with these women, Russell. You know h how I took to Jane Bradley? Well, it was a mis- if take, that's all. She never took to me, though a she took me in! It cost me four hundred dollars a running moufld to the springs with her and I don't know what all; and hang me if she ever even in- li vited me to her wedding when she married old a Post;-the most preposterous thing I ever heard of. a I tell you what it is-I have consulted counsel e about suing her-recovering back that money s which she got me to spend under false pretences." i I burst into a laugh. "By gracious it's a fact-under false pretences 1 -under the pretence of receiving my attentions, and then flinging me high and dry. I can't afford to lose the money, Russell. I believe I could re- cover it, though she is a ferne concert, as you call it-could'nt I?" "I'm no lawyer," I replied; "I can't tell;~~ and [laughed heartily. "How came you to be all\ alone, walking to the paxty?" "Why, Peterson was engaged to attend Miss Clare, and he did'nt want any body with him of course, you know, and I never interfere. The fact is that my face is awfully flushed, and I thought I'd get the redness out of it by walking in the open air. Russell, it is actually awful to have one of your flushing faces-it is a providential visitation." "It is a wino and brandy visitation you mean," 1 replied. "No,. I assure you not. I scarcely ever take any thing now-a-days. To be sure my face is a little flushed here in Washington, but it is the change of climate! "' Change of climate between this and Baltimore! It's a change of drinks, from three or four to a do- zen." "Well, suppose we step in here and take some- thing." 97 "Not a drop. 1 know enough to know that, to man of ray temperament, it is a deadly poison- fact that it would soon put rue in a mad ~ "Why, you~re changed.~~ "Changed-yes. Jumper, I have. I've done itli loving my enemies-" "Russell, you always knew I was your friend, 3d I'm glad you've quit-you should do so." I could not but smile at Jumper, who evidently ad no intention of quitting himself. But so it is ithis world; we can all see over our own faults nd vices most distinctly the vices and faults of ur friends. "Yes," said I to myself, as I walked to and fro, - olding Jumper's arm, while the fresh, keen, night ir cooled my excited frame, "Yes, I have been a l~jve of passion and the follower of frivolities long nough. My histrionic mania and consequent dis- ipation nearly wrecked me-and here, in Wash- ngton, my vanity and indulgences have brought ne nothing but remorse; while men, and women oo, wonder why William Russell does not achieve something for himself besides the hollow applause 3f mere butterfly worldlings whom he despises.- Oh! if Alice Clare were only mine, I thought, with her "fair spirit for my minister" and her pure bosom for my pillow', how I should despise and loathe the life I've led, which will not bear the record. Strange, I thought to myself, as we passed to and fro, that Jumper is so silent." And then, as the sound of music came. upon m~ ear from the ball room, I thought that Alice was dan- cing with Peterson, perchance, or telling some one that I insulted bet. No, no, not that; she certain- ly was not angry when she discovered that it was I who caught her. What are you thinking aboUt, Jumper?" "About you, Russell-you have a big reputa- tion here." "Aye!" "Fact, indeed. Miss Singleton took Miss Clare, Peterson and myself to call upon Mrs. Madison. yesterday, and the old lady asked after you,~and said you were the best mannered man in Wash- ington. F-, of Georgia, was by and endor- sed it, and said that he wondered a young man so gifted as you are should live apparently so much without an object." WILLIAM RUSSELL. page: 98-99[View Page 98-99] 98 TEE AUTO: "Ii~ did, ha!" and I felt myself blush. * "He did--and that quick 'Carolina' girl, Mis * Singleton, arched her neck like a swan in th water, and flashing her eye on him, asked him he did not think that there were older men ii Washington than'Mr. Russell who were frivolous and worse?" "She did, ha!-~ hurra for 'Carolina!"' "1 tell you, Russell, polished and proud a ma as he is, he squirmed under it. He said he did no think it frivolity to admire her sex. 'I consider Miss Singleton,~ he said, 'that to win the womar one loves is the true business of life, which makea what you call frivolities a labor of love. Whai men call business-.-that is politics and speech-ma. king.-lias riot half the pleasure in its triumphs.' ' "She looked at him, and said, 'You had better tell that to Mrs. F .'" "I tell you, Russell, if you were to arouse his Satanic majesty in Miss Singleton's nature she'd break things, and come nullification and disunion on the biggest man in the States." "Yes, I think she would; and I-like her for it." "Do you?~~ exclaimed Jumper in surprise. "I tell you, Russell, you would not like her for it if she was operating on you. She put me in mind of a game chicken, the way she gave it to the old fel- "Certainly," I exclaimed, "your similies are curious if not various or select. First, Miss Sin- gleton arched her neck like a swan, and then she reminded you of a game chicken." "Fact!" exclaimed Jumper; "and hang me if she didn't look like a blooded horse-a young fil- ly!" "Ha! ha! Do you know that the word 'filly' has various meanings-and among others means a wanton and a flirt?" "No! Does it?" "It does; and I ask you to reflect what the result would be should Miss Singleton or some of her hot southern friends heard that you had made such a speech about th~ feireaL flower of the t5outh." "Russell, I am speaking in the greatest confi- dence to you." "1 know you are, Jumper, and so am I speaking to you. Does she seem to be intimate with Miss BIOGRAPHY OF "Very. They met at the Springs! have heard, s last summer, and they are sworn a "You think Miss Clare has made Miss Single- f ton her confidant, do you?~~ "Well, I don't know much what to think about it." "What did Miss Clare say when Mrs Madison and old F--.- were talking about me?" a "Not a word. Miss Singleton spoke up, as I told you, but Miss Clare said not a word- and it surprised me, for I always thought that she was a great friend of yours.~~ "Things looked so once." "It's pretty much your own fault, Russell; you - went figuring and flirting away with the Watson, and I don't blame you either for it. Miss Clare came the pie-crust game, that is, she was pretty short with me on that very matter once." "What matter?" "Why you and Miss Watson. When our the- atrical mania first seized us, Miss Watson and you made a deal of talk, and Miss Clare grew furious about it to me one day when I said I thought you liked the Watson." "Ab! did she?" 'Well, she did'nt do anything else! She did not speak to me for some time, but as I never heard that she said~any thing about it, you may be as- sured I never said any thing about it myself." "It's a glorious night-how merrily the music sounds-let's go in. 1 judge by this time that many of the M. C.'s and the office seekers have gone to the Secretary's, and we shall find an easier opportunity of presenting ourselves to Miss Single- ton." It W2\S indeed a brilliant assembly. The crowd taken off by the Secretary's party had just thinned enough to give one an opportunity of passing through it with case; and the first l)eople in Wash- ington, strangers and citizens, had congregated there. There a~ something exceedingly attractive in Washington society. It has been very much the fashion with persons who know nothing about it to speak very much against it. And so they should if their judgment of Washington society is formed from an intercourse with its floating population- the host of gamblers,. office seekers, idlers and the other varieties of the genus loafer who congre- gate about the hotels on Pennsylvania avenue and press to all places of public resort. And here, for a moment, I must be allowed to repeat what 1 have said of Washington society, and I speak after an intimate acquaintance with it. A purer, more refined and more sympathizing population than the resident population of Wash- ington, i do not believe exists anywhere in the country. It is the floating population of office hun- tars, gamblers and loafers who have given such an evil name abroad to Washington society. They crowd the streets, hotels, coffee houses, gambling establishments, and if possible, more disreputable abodes, and the careless looker-on takes them for the people of Washington. They on the contrary belong every where through the country, from New Orleans to Maine, from New York to Cali- fornia. If they are claimants, they have to wait the adjustment of their claims, if they are seeking office, they have to wait its bestowment, if they are gamblers they have to wait the report of the stool pigeon, and the presence of their victim, and if they are mere followers of pleasure, they have idle rime enough--so that the recklessness of an uncertain future unprovided for, and the need 0f bread which one does not earn, is rife in Washing- ton. Men go there, for instance, to get an office, with a few dollars in their pockets. They spend their money anyhow, whether they obtain place or not-and if they fail in the attainment of office, too often fall into loaferism, vagabondism, and be- come emphatically "used up." They are Fals- tiff's [ "Cankers of a calm world and a long peace." They are fit to be of the regiment with which he refused to march through Coventry. The observer of human character who visits Washington, and forms his opinion of the place from the population he meets with in the coffee houses, gambling saloons, and about the corners of streets on Pennsylvania avenue, will come to about as just conclusions as would he who made the Five 1 Points in New York, or the Causeway in Balti- 99 are residents, and who with very, few exceptions, have nothing to do with office-seeking or this float- ing population, except in the way of business, who should be looked to for the true character of tho place. And I venture to say, a kinder, more coa- siderate, more humane and courteous people cannot be found in our country-they are as religious too, as their many churches and benevolent institutions will bear witness. "The Ladies' Benevolent Society of Washing- ton," which is composed of benevolent ladies from various denominations, and in the most respectable portion of society, proves how year after year those who from position might devote themselves to mere fashion, have devoted themselves to practical be- nevolence. It is said that Congress in its capacity represents the wisdom of the country. Be that as it may.-.-. It is certain that the vices of the country find rep- resentatives in Washington also. And often the more vicious the party, the more inclined they are to seek the focus. Excitement!-Washingron is full of excitemeat, and those who need its stimu- lus, know where to find it. Again, Washington' is like a great hotel to this transient population. They never expect to return to it again, and they use and abuse every thing just as it 'pleases them, from the boarding-house where they lodge to the inmates, if they would suffer it. We venture to say that there are more bad debts owing in Washington to boarding-house keepers. tailors, shop keepers, &c. than ia any other city of its size or travel in the United States. Again, there ~rc citizens of Washington, who, winter after winter, throw opei their houses in the hospitable entertainment of visitors, for which they never receive any return. But I must not enlarge upon this subject, though it is suggestive of a vol- ume. more, the test of the morals of the people. No, it is that portion of the population of Washington who K WILLIAM RUSSELL. page: 100-101[View Page 100-101] THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF WILLIAM RUSSELL. 101 CHAPTER XXXIII. MISS SINGLETON'S APPEARANCE AND EEAI!TY-5OIISS tJl' T0N~S STYLE-~ALICEPETEES0N BY HER SIDE-CON" VERSATION WITH MR. DUDLEY-IN THE CORNER WITH MISS PTON-.ANIMAL MAGNHTISDI-.-PETERSON'5 AP PROACH-ALICE AND 1. Proud in her pale beauty, dressed in a plain black velvet, with a japonica in her bosom, how like a queen, more, how like the beauty of 'Caro- lina,' Miss Singleton, my fair representative, stood amidst the crowd of wealthy, distinguished, am- bitious and fashionable people who thronged to her party, and did the honors of the occasion- That sweet smile, like moonlight upon marble, how it lived all over her bright face as she gave her wel- come to the very humblest of her guests! I thought I never saw her look so well, as with her dark hair parted plain and caught in a graceful twist, seem- ingly almost careless, with a silver comb, she stood by the fire-place not far from the mirror, which reflected back more dignity and womanly grace thaR ever before had crossed its surface. The word "loveable," I was about to say, applied to her more entirely than to any other woman I have ever known, (save one,) except perhaps that the desire to be near her and press her snowy hand was chastened by an awe, which I, not celebrated for such emotions where women are concernedcould not repress. I have seen it make other and even courtly men awkward. Her lips were tremulous with kindness and fascination as she spoke, and her nose, slightly aquiline, with her remarkably arched biows, formed, together with a figure which seemed modelled to show what dignified graceful- ness wasa combination of female attractions which, like the glorious picture of some old master, was a wonder and a despair to all other women and would have been a passion and a madness'to all men who beheld her, but for that undefiriable awe with which her presence impressed almost every man who approached her. I had often heard this re- marked by my acquaintances airoong the gentlemen. young and old; and, when in their cups, late at night, after such a scene, they discussed the ladies in a way in which gentlemen never should disCuss ladies, not even in their cups, I have often thought that I never heard one disrespectful word or one improper allusion or slighting remark made upon Miss Singleton. By the side of Miss Singleton, laughing and chatting with her, stood Miss Upton, whose gay and sparkling glance flashed round the room, and seemed to court the admiration which she was conscious of receiving from all. Her melting blue eye was radiant with the consciousness of health, position, wealth, power and beauty, and she only seemed to a careless observer, in her joyousness, anxious, perhaps too anxious, to please all; but a keener one could at once detect the purpose of one who had the desire to win without any idea of be. ing won. With facile and easy movement she re- minded one of an accomplished actress (she was an actress) who felt that she had trod the boards is triumph, and who, whenever her glance, or her tone, or her position made a "hit," expected the applause which was bound to follow. It must be confessed, also, that if that applause came not the lady was angry, and sometimes felt disposed to re- sent as art injury any stint or stay in the acknow- ledgment of attractions which she had been long taught to believe deserved and received universal homage. Something of a queenly feeling, like a real queen's thirst fin power, was this feeling for universal admiration in the heart of Miss Upton. Having made a conquest, she cared nothing for it except to display the trophies of her victory, and she turned to another to receive his attentions and his worship and to leave him where she round him, except for the wounds which his vanity and his heart were suffering. Miss Watson ("my own lonian Myrrah!" am I forgetting her?) was not a more consummate actress on the stage than was Miss Upton in society. have you ever, gentle reader, bid farewell to many dear friends who were all bound together in the same hark on some long and perilous voyage? And amidst those friends was there one whose im- age you cherished in your inmost heart with a holy and an abiding love? Then, after your many farewells with the c~hers, how to hint or to her you went last, but you had thought all the while of that last one, and how your soul travailed as with a death agony when that word that "must be and bath been" spoke only in that long, straining, absorbing embrace which would unite two souls, though their clayey tenements were doomed to of his ample neck-cloth which came down in front separation. So felt I' all the while towards Alice Glare-so thought I all the while-so my ardent eye (seemingly a careless glance) had seen her all the while; and there she stood, silent and apparent- ly absorbed, near Miss Singleton, also. What a trio! Attired in simple white, (1 think it was lace over satin, but my emotions would not let me scan her mere attire as I did her rival's) Alice looked rtore lovely than I had ever seen her. If in Miss Singleton you saw the dignified and winning wo- nan, and even to a man of the world, in Miss Up- ton the attractii.re one in spite of yourself, in Alice you saw (at least I did) the entirely loveable wo- nan, without the impression of that awe which 1 aid modified the word "loveable" in applying- it to Miss Singleton. There, ripened into beautiful womanhood, was the being who had awakened my first ambition when .1 was an innocent boy, and those sweet lips which in girlhood had said "Willie Russell" with such endearing true-heartedness and lianor preference--there they wet-c, and the last words I heard them utter was the charge that had insulted her. And so I find, were I not the same Willie Russell-and so I would not, I would fain believe, even though I had acted as [did act, had she have known the actor. I have heard men say, who, have been in battle, in fact I know the impulse myself, that they felt in spite ofihemselves a certain misgiving of cow- ardace. if 'I may so express myself, on the first thought of the encounter before them. One pas- sion in its operations illustrates duother, and there- tore let me say that in spite of my manhood and ny pride in my address, that I fiolt a strange mis- giving as I looked at Alice. "Willie Russell," i said to myself, be a luau; now, when you should sho~v no morbid beingg and no thing but address and ease, what has come over you.~~ There stood Peterson, not far front Alice; and, to (10 him no nore than justice, lie was the finest lookimt~ man a the room. Every care~ had been bestowed upon his toilette, and as thr as the simple adornments of our country allow he was attired magnificently.- Too much elaboration, I said to myself, as I scm- tenised his silk stockings curiously ribbed, and his ~tent pimps, and Itis gay ~est, :ott(l the infoldin" like a waterfall, in which a large diamond breast- pin was stuck like a skewer. But another glance satisfied me that this description, which I ran over in my mind to myself was caricature-and the more so when I heard several parsons, and p~rtic- ularly the ladiesadmit'ing him. I thoughtof my own plain attire, and was provoked with myself that I had not bestowed more care upon it. At this moment Mr. Dudley, who was at my shoulder with- out my observing it, whispered me: "A fine person has Mr. Peterson, but he evinces the consciousness of it too much." I am almost ashamed to record that this remark gave me anything but displeasure. Mr. liudley continued: "The lady beside him is of herself the most beautiful person here; but there is a nameless some- thing about our fair hostess which has a gift of the spirit about it surpassing that of any other woman I have ever known." I bowed acquiescence and passed on to pay my respects to tlte lady. "You are late, Mr. Russell," she said, "consid- ering 'the pains I took to give you a bidding." "I was in the country," I replied; "when I re- ceived your invitation, and I hurried to town." "You look pale: have you not been well?" At this moment we stood alone, and I replied: "Yes, oh yes. But, Miss Singleton, since your flattering words to me, I acknowledge the truth of a new inipulse-of ambition-and I had just gone into die country to rusticate andreflect when your invitation reached me. I am here, may it please you, to do you Itontage." "Alt!" said she, giving me her hand with great~ cordiality, '~l am so glad to hear it." She was about to add something, when the approach of Mr. l)ndley interrupted her, and she turned t~ him, though her Itand limigered a moment in mine, and 1 saw the observant Englisltman noticed it. "Have you no bow for me, Mr. Russell?" ox- claimed Miss Uotoit, disengaging herself from the cooV.'d of gentlemen about her and giving me her hand. "I have something to tell you;" and so saying she put her arm itt mine, artd before I well knew what I was about, she led me to a corner of the reont. I glanced at Alice Glare amtd caught her eye, but it drol)ped the monoent she met my 101 page: 102-103[View Page 102-103] 102 THE AUTC( glance, and she blushed exceedingly and seeer much confused. I made an attempt to make bow to her, and as her eye fell I erected mys suddenly like a bent sapling, I said to myself as reflected upon it afterwards indignantly, that covers its erectness with a jerk. Arrived in the corner, and taking a seat as s motioned me to one, Miss Upton asked, Rave you heard the newsy" "Whatnews'?" I rejoined. "They say that Miss Glare is to marry Mr. F person." Now, it is a singular fact, that while the me meeting with Alice and Peterson threw me from ii self-possession, (there is certainly some reason wi it should have done so from my scene with Alice the carriage, and would have done so, perhaps, mo or less under any circumstances,) yet Miss Upton announcement of a report with regard to them, ti truth of which would have blasted my happiness fell on the ears of as self-possessed a man as an in the crowded rooms of Miss Singleton. Is there something in animal magnetism? Oi rather, as I believe it is said, animal magnetism makes one spirit charm another and bends it to ii will, did my nature take its hue from the sell command of Miss Upton as men gather coning from one another in battle'? I know not. It certain Miss Upton had no wish to inspire me-witi her spirit of self-command; and, after all, I may without remembering the fact now, myself hav4 resolved as she led me to the corner, to betray rn emotion to her artful scrutiny, whatever it' migh: be. Be this as it may, I fancy that if a physician had felt my pulse he would hav~ found' it some pulsations less violent than the moment before.- This analysis of our emotions after all, like travel. ing in a circle, ends where it begins. Yet I ima- gine from the quick susceptibilities of my nature, which, as I think I have said before, had something womanly in them, it may be that my temperament is somewhat of the chamelion character, that is, takes its hue, from its association~ with others. This is more or less all men's natures, except those who are decided idiocyncracies; but it is certainly mine, and I suppose predominates in those natures thaL have a turn for poetry, and particularly for acting and oratory. 4 there stands Miss Glare, the fairest flower fron~j a city famous for its surpassing beauty." And ho~1 I )J3JOGRAPHY OF ied My quiet reception of Miss Upton's information a of the report of the marriage of Alice and Peterson elf evidently surprised her, but one of her determined I self-command is not slow to believe that others re- have the like quality; so to my reply, "Yes, I have heard so," she asked in an earnest and as I thought he alTheted tone of sympathy. "But can itbe true'?" "You know your sex better than 11 do," I repli- ed. "Look at Mr. Peterson-he is the admiration e- of every woman here; to my certain knowledge, from his boyhood he has been devoted to her. l'll re tell you a secret, but you mus'at tell any ~ ~ "Certainly not." ty "I-Ic cut inc out!" at "You cut yourself out, you naughty man, you; re turning play actor and falling in love with pretty 's actresses. F'or my part, if I had been Miss Glare, ic I would have gotten up some plan or other to in- s, volve you in a duel which should have cost you y your life. She is a beautiful creature,--infinitely more beautiful than M[iss Singleton, whose corn- r, plexion sometimes is absolutely yellow." n "Pardon me, it is not in Miss Singleton's cons- s plexion but in your jaundiced eye, I fear, Miss Up- ton" e "Thank you sir-you certainly have a deal of s impudence-hut I thank you sir, I am a blonde, i and there is no jaundice about me." , granteded of your face. I admit the lady's coin- ~ plexion sometimes is too much tinged, but you should imitate Desdemona and see her "visage in her mind." "How you pervert things-sometimes you ~ really annoy inc. Do you know that you are a provoking l)CrSon? I merely said that I considered Miss Glare more beautiful than Miss Singleton..-:- what do you say, come sir." "I am on the fence-I'm non-committal." "I understand you are all devotion to Miss Sin- gleton." "Ah! did you'? My allegiance, my native born allegiance is to South Carolina-therefore, in this representation of beauty from a~l the States, Miss Singleton is my fair representative-but then the Monumental city is the city of my adoption, an4 103 my face flashed forth my admiration as I suited the action to the word, and felt myself gaze on Alice with a glance of admiration and tenderness which my best moods in Sardanapalus, even with my "own lonian Myrrha," and Byron's language to aid me, did not touch. (~7iMisstant Alice's eyes and mine met. Could there have been animal magnetism in mine? To me there was in her's; for our long and deep glances met each other and each seemed to look into the other's soul, yet was there no recognition in our manner save that.- Alice was the first to withdraw her glance, as she raised it quietly up to Peterson in answer to some remark that he was evidently making to her. Miss Upton's eye was full upon me as I turned to her, while she for a moment delicately with the tip of her fan touched her lip, and then suddenly resuming her gay and careless tone, she asked: "And Mr. Peterson? I have heard of him often before, but never met him until yesterday, when he called on me-he is certainly a very handsome man." "Very," I said, as a sudden thought struck me. "Yes, very. Certainly his devotion to Miss Glare merits a reward. lie's older than I am, but at a child's party years ago there was quite a rivalry between us for the smile of that same fair Miss Alice, theh an artless and beautiful little girl- saving your presence and Miss Singleton's-and much superior to her sex around her as she is to- night. I bel eve I rather was more in favor with her then than Peterson, but you see how it is now. She was my first love, and I believe she is Peter- son's first and last. I don'i~ believe it is in the power of any woman to get him away from her." "Don't you?" replied Miss Upton, hastily. The medicine is working, thought I. ~ "I don't. Steady as the si~n's rising and as regular, has been his devotion to Alice, to Miss Glare." "You say Miss Glare now, do you'?" "Certainly-and Pet~rson is perhaps the wealth- iest young man in Baltimore." "Is he'? I never heard that." "Yes, the wealthiest-of one of the first fami~ lies, as the Virginians say -without vices, that I have ever heard of, and with a personal beauty that draws admiration from every body." 14 WILLIAM RUSSELL. "There," thought ~ to myself, "I have done justice to my rival; but it was not for the sake of justice." "And you certainly think they will make a match'?" said Miss Upton, musingly. "Why, as the old ~vomen say, everything seems agreeable.~~ "Tell me something about Mr. Peterson, now do-what kind of a person is he'?" "You see, Miss Upton." "Yes, yes, but let me know his character; you know," she said playfully, "you and I like to dis- sect character, when there is no scandal in it." "You see his character in his looks-he feels he is attractive to your sex. The artillery of many a glance has played on him without touching him- and he laughs at all women's power except Miss Clare's, and he feels that too deeply to say any- thing about it. I dare be sworn now, that he would give a look of wonder if any one were to tell him of the conquests you have made." "Upon my word then he is adamant to all but to one, and to her he is wax. Ah! Miss Glare and he are in close conversation Now she turns away from him to say something to Mr. Jumper-queer person that Mr. Jumper.~~ "My particular friend," I said, "who has got me into more difficulties than any body else-it is a way particular friends have though. On my word, Mr. Peterson looks this way as if he were attracted. Well, if you can put a spell upon him it is what no other woman but Miss Glare has done, to my certain knowledge." "Let me say, Mr. Russell," replied Miss Upton, "that your knowledge can't be certain on that point. A man's wounded vanity scarcely ever tells of its aiflictioris-he oftener, like the Spartan boy when the fox was gnawing at his heart, hides the wound and denies the suffering. There isP no- thing in losing one's heart, but there is a great deal in having it found out-at least when we get ao other in return." Self-possessed as she was Miss Upton blushed under my searching glance, and passing quickly her delicate finger along the line of the hair on her forehead she observed: "You have a very impudent way of lowung at a lady at times which you should abolish; it is in page: 104-105[View Page 104-105] 104 THE AUTOBIOGRAPhY OF bad taste. We ought to be the greatest friends in dollars, and got it for him, to have been alone with the world-but be assured you are too young to Alice when she uttered these words. I felt I could read anything in me, less than anything, which ~ have held her closer to my heart than I did when did not mean to let you read." I caught her in her faIl, and for the instant I was "You do not mean to say that you are too old to almost tempted to do it in spite of our surroundings. be read? only that I am too young to read you, is "I should have had a terrible fall," she contin- that it?" ned, "but for you. Did you know who I was?" "Both, if you please," replied Miss Upton, re- "I knew nothing else-I thought of nothing covering her momentary emotion, and looking at else," I said. Peterson, who had left the side of Alice and was "I never for a moment dreamed it was you. I advancing towards us. On reaching us, Mr. Pe- had been here some days, and you had not paid person, somewhat to my surprise, gave me his hand me tl~ honor of a call." and said he was glad to see me with an air of seem~ "I was in the country, Alice-Miss Glare," I ingly great cordiality. I confess I took his hand said, correcting my familiarity. with an ill grace, yet I could not have given any "Gall me Alice, Willie, Russell," she said, satisfactory explanation to a sensible man why I smiling and blushing, and I led her to a seat. did so. I felt that I should have been much more content if Mr. Peterson had played the reserved and dignified, or even assumed to defend Miss CHAPTER XXXIV. Glare from her insulterr." As it was, it occurred to me that maybe Peterson, feeling his position WHAT LORD BACON SAYS--IIEFLECTION5 uro~ ~iv with Alice, was taking that of high and conde- FEELINGS-AULD LANG SYNE-ALICE AND i-arv ore. COTESWORTH-LETTER FROM sending courtesy, because she had commanded him RA CAP AND RING-MR.0 HISS WATSON-CONDUCT OF ALICE-SAI~G5~'Q~ EXCI.. to do so-she being anxious for his sake that no misunderstanding should occur between us. Oh! TED WITH WINE-CONVERSATION WITH mM-MISS SINGLETON INTERRUPTS US-I AM LEFT ALONE By when we look through the spectacles of the pas- MISS SINGLEToN WITH ALICE. sbus, what distorted views we take of life in every phase in which it may present itself. As I shook Lord Bacon says that few men of the highest Peterson's hand he said: order of character and intellect become slaves to "Miss Glare has commanded me to say to you, love. That may be, and it would be vanity in me Mr. Russell, that she wishes to speak to you." to rank myself any where in the range of Lord "Go, you false ~ exclaimed Miss Upton Bacon's category. Yet have I always been es- to me: "Go and make your peace with Miss Clare. teemed a proud man-a very proud man-by some She is too easy of forgiveness." folks; and my successes, hereafter to be recorded, I drew myself up, for Miss Upton's remark gave in sterner arenas than those of the drawing room me pleasure in the presence of Peterson, and bowed and the boudoir, will show I am above him who, graciously to the lady and to him as he Look the according to Shakspeare, merely in "the catalogue" seat beside her, she being evidently not at all dis- will pass foreman." Yet must I say, that all I have posed to leave the corner. accomplished in battle, statesmanship, oratory and I advanced quickly to Alice (I could not help it) authorship, has been owing morq or less to the in- and she gave me her hand in the old welcoming fluence of woman. In this series of my autobiog- way and said: raphy, these sterner strife will not be recorded, "I thought it was a stranger who had too famil~ for as yet I am but writing with the impetuosity, iarly caught me in my fall. I could not, would almost in which I felt them, the emotions and pas- not say that ugly word to Willie Russell. Forgive sions of my early manhood. Yet I revel in them with that kind of keen enjoyment with which the I would have promised any man at that instant warrior-the man of the ono passion-mine have my aunt Betsey's endorsement for ten thousand been many-tells of battles lost and won, That party of Miss Singleton's lives upon my brain, some4mes like a rolling and fiery flame; then in a kind of quietness remembered aspirations of high and holy thoughts arise with it, and then lu- rid Ilashes, that seem to light but a darkness that threatened to be Egyptian, flickers over me, and the night of despair closes above me once more like engulphing waters. Then all is bright again. All my impetuous passions were concentrated into one absorbing one. I never shall forget how proudly and contentedly I seated myself in the vo- luptuous French chair by the side of Alice, and looked around me on the brilliant scene There was in it the deep enjoyment of the present, and the anticipation of victory in the future. "I re- mounted the river of my years," and I Pemembered that night at Alice Glare's party, and the "1 vow, Mr. Peterson, Willie Russell can beat you after all," which was engraved on my heart at our child's party in characters of adamant, lived now in every pulse there in characters of flame. I leaned my elbow on the broad and cushioned 'elbow of the chair beside me, and as I looked down at my plain boot I thought.I had as good a foot as Mr. Peterson, if he did wear a ribbed stocking on his. Now this thought of manhood no doubt was horn of the auld lang syne envy of Peterson's better toilette at Alice's party, and of my~many difficulties with Mrs. Clayton arising therefrom. And [looked at Peterson as he sat apparently ab- sorbed in coiversat:on with Miss Upton, and won- dered if it were possible that she could catch him. And then I said 'to myself "Why should I care? I only ask a fair field and no favor, with Alice." - How my airy castles mounted as Alice and I sat side by side, scarcely exchanging a word with each other-I believing that our full hearts were content with the silent welling of cur mutual passion.- Alice certainly was thinking of me in her silence~ for I remember now how her person was inclined towards me, and experience has taught me that th unconscious inclination of a woman's person to wards him whom she thinks the most of in a corn pany, always betrays her to a scrutinizing eye. I never saw Alice look so well; and with trembling but earnest tone I told her so. Let also be confessed that I did my best (n9t forgetting to do it with tact) to display my opera cap in thi 105 eyes of Alice. I did so wish her to notice it, that I might expatiate upon the fascinations of Miss Sin- gleton-and be it further confessed that the deli- cate diamond ring which I wore on my little finger (the only finger I could get it on) was Miss Up- ton's. I glanced at Alice's hand-she had one suspicious-looking ring on her finger, only one.- and I could not but ask her where she got it. "I understand you, Mr. Willie Russell, you want me to ask you where your diamond sparkler came from, but I know-I can tell you, sir." "From whom, Alice'?" "From Miss Upton. I do not know how many gentlemen have worn it for a season." "Yes," I said, "and from appearances I should not be surprised if Mr. Peterson was the next to wear it for a season." "Well, let him. She is certainly very beauti- ful, and I suppose you will beartestimony that she is very captivating." "That's the universal testimony-- "But what care I how kind she be, If she be not kind to me." "Oh! you are an affected person, Willie Russell, and I do believe that ~ ashington life will spoil you. You believe she has been as kind to you as to anybody-I know you do. Where did you get that beautiful opera cap?" "Saving your presence, the fairest woman that I know of wrought it for me with her own fair hand-one to whom, next to yourself, Alice, I owe more homage than to any other woman." "I do not know that you owe any homage to me," said Alice, blushing, but speaking seriously, "Who gave you the cap? the person that you play- ed Sardanapalus with?" "No, indeed! Miss Sallie Singleton, my fair representative." "You have many fair representatives." "Granted, but " "No compliments if you please; you always ut- - ter them as it you were on the stage and were re- plying to an actress. 1 think Miss Singleton has done you great honor. And now I understand why, with your jewelled finger, you have been playing with your opera cap. You have }een crazy to tell a it all the time-flow ~~y~nt you?" WILLIAM RUSSELL. page: 106-107[View Page 106-107] '106 "Alice, I am not indifferent to the fact that I have kind friends among your sex. And, Alice, you know ~ "Don't speak so that every body can hear you, for gracious sake. The whole room is looking at us, and you remind me exactly of your manner when you were playing Sardanapalus with that actress. Don't you mean to ask me to dance?" "I do, if you prefer it to sitting here." "Certainly. The eyes of all the room are up- on us-and Miss tTptoa is looking at me like a witch." I led her to the dance, where we could have very little conversation, and at its conclusion Mr. Dudley can~e up and engaged her for the next set. While we were grouped together, chatting, Mr Cotesworth, a member of Congress from South Carolina, (a little elated with winy,) advanced to us; and, after making his bow to Alice, said: "Miss Glare, wherever the most beautiful wo- men are, there I find my friend Russell. When you are not h~re, I find him with Miss Singleton or Miss Uptor~, and when you are, it seems to me he is with all of you at once, as an Irishman would say. The other day, in New York, fascinated by the acting of the new star, Miss Watson, and charmed with what I had heard of her character, I sought an introduction to her, and the first ques- tion she asked me was of my friend herefor whom she professed the wildest kind of friendship. And to show you how much you attract even your own se~, she told me that she had marked you as the beauty of the monumental city, even in a crowded theatre." "You report, ~ exclaimed Alice, blushing and with some pique, "bold compliments in a bold way, Mr. ~ "Truth is always bold," replied Mr. Cotes- worth. "And so are actresses, it appears, and the gen- tlemen who court their society." "You are sharp on me," exclaimed Mr. Cotes- worth, good-humoredly. "Well, I Iconfess to all the sin and shame of a profound admiration of Miss Watson. Russell, she had a crowd of admirers about her, and when I told her that I knew you well, and was to leave the xwxt morning early, she asked us to excuse her while she wrote a note to you, her best friend, as she called ~you; and she said to me 'you must tell him, Mr. Cotesworth, that, though I am always talking about him, he is even yet more in my heart than on my lips.' She assured me that you would make the best actor of the day. Ah, and I have your note. I inquired for you on my arrival, supposing that you would be most willing to receive Miss ~ missive; and hearing that you weze out of town, and know- ing that you would, of course, be here at Miss Sin- gleton's to-night, if you were within hailing dis~ tance, I have brought it to you, and you owe me one." With a mixed feeling of gratification and annoy- ance, 1 received it as I remarked: "I trust Miss Watson is well~" "Very well-and looking most beautiful, and playing more beautifully than she looks, if that were possible,~~ replied Mr. Cotesworth. "She said she had received very flattering offers from the manager to play an engagement here, and that she had written to ask your advice upon accepting it-of course you will advise her to come, though she might not make as much as in New York-it is something to play here to the magnates of the land. MIss Clare, I pray you, whatever his judg- ment may urge him to do, that you put your com- mands upon him by all m~Nans to bring the lady here." "Mr. Russell, I fancy," exclaimed Alice in an excited, sarcastic tone,"needs no commands to that effect, and no commands to the contrary would in- duce him to give any other." Apd so saying, she took Mr. Dudley's arm and walked away. "Why, Russell," whispered Mr. Cotesworth, the l3altimore beauty was hard on me." I forced a laugh and said: "Miss Clare had to pretend a little anger to hide maybe the gratifica- tion your repetition of the compliment gave her." "No, that ain't it. It's bad policy to praise one woman to another. Better luck next time," he added as he lounged off to another part of the ~oom. I withdrew to a corner, knowing that each and ill were so much occupied with themselves or heir partners as not to notice me, and read Miss ~Vatson's letter. She complained with some se- rerity that I had not answered her last letter, and told me of the proffer of a lucrative engagement on the part of the manager for her to appear in Wash- ington, and she added that she meant to accept it if it was only that the poor "Greek Slave" might see once more her kingly Sardanapalus. I felt my face brighten-my heart burned wildly toward my "own lonian Myrrha," and I forgot my locality and read over arid over again her interes- ting letter, which was so, exquisitely expressed, though written amidst the crowd of admirers and flatterers around her. As I gazed at her signature, and threw my delighted glance across the room~ in the effort of memory to place most vividly before me her glorious personation of the loving Jonian, I caught the eye of Alice full upon me, with a pained and searching expression, which caused me to dangle in seeming carelessness the letter in my hand as I walked away. in I felt a kind of gratification I must confess, yet spite of myself I was growing dull, and but for my fixed resolution to abstain frogi wine, I should willingly have joined Sangston, who at that mo- ment came up and said: "Russell, ain't you going to drink the health of your fair representative in some of her own wine. She sent all the way to Charleston for it; and, like herself, it intoxicates without " "Any head nolan?" I asked. "Yes,'yes, but there's the heart ache afterwards, Russell." I saw in a moment 'that Sangston had drank too much-and just as I vas about to propose it he took my arm and we stepped into another room, less heated, and which was nearly deserted in con- sequence of many having gone to the other party, and the dance commanding the attention of the rest. "Russell," he said, h a gloomy tone, "I shall not be restored to my place. Time Secr~ tary abso- lately refuses it, and says it is on account of rmiy habits. Cotesworth, who you know is a great friend of mine-and you know what a blunt, open fellow he is-has just returned. Well, he saw the Secaet~ry to-day, and he 1)ositively refused to re- instate me. I have lived upon the hope." "Don't give up yet. He is in for it, I suspect, with Miss Singleton, the Secretary is, I think- and I certainly think there can be no impropriety - in asking her to use her influence with him." 107 "Not for the world, Russell. I'll tell you something-I got it all from Cotesworth-the Sec- retary has courted her again and again-he thinks I am in his way: if 1 were I should not want office long. He says he can give me an office in the New Orleans Custom House, but not here. He wants to kill me off with fever. His insincerity is apparent-for if my habits keep me out of office here they ought to keep me out of office there. "But why not go there'?" "Go thexe!" he said almost wildly. "San gston, pardon me-but you love Miss Sin- gleton'?" "Love her!" he half whispered as he grasped my baud wildly: "that's no word for it I adore her-but its no use; I'm a wreck amidst the breakers. Sometimes when I look at her and think that I shall never possess her, and that another may, I cannot tell you what fierce, stern, diabolical thoughts arise in my heart. But she flung the honorable secretaryy sky high." "1-low old is G.-, the secretary'?~~ "I don't know-torty-five or fifty, I suppose. He has address, position, every thing; and he does not lool~ as old as he is. But she flung him; and he thinks I am the cause of it. I would rather be the cause of it than he a king." "That is, you wouhi rather possess Mi~s Single- ton." "Faint heart never won fair lady,~~ I remarked. "Yes, but such a fair lady, Russell. Her fath- er was intemperate. Not ten minutes ago I heard her say that her greatest objection to giving a par- ty was the idea ofl so many persons exciting them- selves~by wine. She is a monomaniac on the sub- ject in consequence ot her father's habits; and she said she was determined at least that her guests should not be poisoned with bad xvine, so she had her wines from Charleston-they were her 1~ther's. Cotesworth, who loves his glass dearly; told her she was too rigid; and she replied, with that awing dignity of her's which awed even him, 'No, sir.' Lie said, 'SuPPOSe your lover was fond of his glass and sometimes took tuo much, what then, Miss Singleton?' "Lover, sir! Mr. Cotesworth, 1 pledge you my word that no man whom I had seen intoxicated would I suffer to address me. ~ THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF' WILLIAM RUSSELL. page: 108-109[View Page 108-109] ii JOGRAPHY OF 108 THE AUTOB would not suffer myself to think of him;' and somehow I thought she glanced at me." "A guilty conscience, Sangston," I said. "Do I seem to have been drinking? Well, well. Coteewortli remarked: 'I fear, Miss Singleton, you will die a maidor marry a fanatic.' 'I may do neither,' she replied, 'though I think the first fate is the likeliest.' My mother, I suppose, has beert making Miss Singleton her confidant. You don't know what these mothers are who love you over much, and make peopl&their confidant about you. And then to make Miss Singleton her confidant about me. I suppose she has told her of all my scrapes-women and all." There was a pause in the conversation. Sang- ston resumed: "Yes, Ru~seVl, I will tell you-she said you were not a fanatic, and that you drank no wine; and Cotesworth swjue that you deserved no credit for it; that you could not drink. 'Not without be- coming, like other gentlemen, excited from drink- ing!' ~aid Miss Singleton, in her keen way. lie colored, and said he would make you drink before the evening was over." "Well, I don't deserve any credit for it, for I cannot drink without becoming very much excited. Sangeton, you must not get on a frolic now, my good fellow. Reform it altogether1 and tell Miss Singleton it is for her sake that you have done it." "Oh! God! for the will, Russell.- the purpose. But what would Miss Singleton do for my sake." "You do not know what she might do, indeed you do not. 1 know Miss Singleton has a deep interest in you.~~ "Yes, my mother must tell her every thie:g about me-I know she did. That's the interest- the interest which a proud, rich, patrician woman takes in a petty ex-official like me-a beggar. But there's one thing certain, and ~ have been brooding over it for days." "What's that?" "Why, I can give Mr. Secretary almost as high a toss as he gave me. I think I can, if reports be true I can." "How?" I asked, with much interest. This seemed to recall Sangstora to himself; and, after a pause, he said; WILLIAM RUSSELL. 109 stay all night with me-I shall feel lonely after "You two have tortured each otherlongenough," the excitement, and we'll have such a talk." I'e-f and without uttering another word she entered her "Russell, if I tell you something, you will nos say a word. "Not a word," I said. Here Miss Singleton entered the room, and coming up to us, said, "Is this the way, gentlemen, you make your. selves agreeable~.certainly ~o each other you are very agreeable; but I want you to be agreeable to my company." Sangston and I both rose, and he turned aside when Miss Singleton took my arm, and we prom. ended for a few moments up and down the room, while Sangston silently withdrew, and Ijudged from the direction which he took as he passed out of the door that he was going to the supper room. More wine, I feared. Miss Singleton looked after Sangston and un. consciously heaved a sigh; and after two or three steps she asked: "Has Mr. Coeesworth grown eloquent to you yet over my wine." "No, he has not." "He threatened to do so don't let him be your Comus." "No, he shall not. You, Miss Singleton, might tempt me with the Circean cup-th~i honorable member from South Carolina certainly cannot-..- none but you.~~ "Ah! am I the only one? Miss Upton, more, Miss Clare, sir, is here." "StillAnone but you. You have the power, ~Miss ~'"ngleton, to make men obey you as well as love you.~~ "Oh! you traitor to true love! Dare you tell Alice Clare that?" "'What man dare, I dare,' though my gallantry would not let me say that of one lady to another-.- it would be in bad taste, would it nut'? And yet I think I might say it of you, and have all acknow- ledge its truthfulness as well as appropriateness." It wan now long after midnight. l steod by Miss Singleton's side as her guests were making their good-night bows to her. Miss Upton joined us when Alice came up oa Mr. Peterson's arm to say good-night. She but glanced at me with a cold bow as she gave her hand to Miss Singleton. I returned it profoundly on my part. "No, Alice," said Miss Singleton, "you must terson said n~ver a word, bur stood as if obedient to Miss Singleton's behest. She continued: "Mr. Peterson, as Miss Upton cannot go home with all those gentlemen she has made my company so gay with to-night, and for which I owe her so much, you, I know, will see that she gets home safely." "Ah!" said Miss Upton, quickly, and with more earnestness than she would willingly have betray- ed, as I thought: "Then, sir, that you may not prove recreant, I'll go at once-secure you while the command of Miss Singleton is upon you." And gaily taking Mr. Peterson's arm, which Alice had resigned upon the invitation of Miss Singleton to spend the night with her, Miss Upton dropped her prettiest curtsey, Mr. Peterson made his best bow, and they withdrew. "Alice, you have lost your beau," said Miss Singleton to her as she placed herself at her side. "She is welcome," said Alice. "Just like our sex," said Miss Singleton; "they never value true devotion; they are always follow- ing the ignis fatuns somewhere." Alice said she liked Mr. Petorson well enough; and there was a silence. Soon all the company withdrew, and Miss Singleton, Alice and myself were left alone. "I must bid you good night, Miss Singleton," I said. "Not yet," said she. "Come with us into my private parlor-it is nex to my chamber-and when we ladies get tired of you we will give yoa the hint, and be in the land of dreams very soon ~ So saying, she took my arm-I of- fered Alice the other and we repaired thither.- When we entered we found- no person there but Janet, a bright-eyed quadroon, who was the wait- ing maid of Miss Singleton. "I shall not want you, .Janet; you may go to bed; shut the door after you." Janet courtsied, asked her mistress if she night send some cake to Miss Upton's Mary, and receiving a ~certainlyI~ for answer, withdrew. I don't know why, but I felt awkward; so evi- dently did Alice. Miss Singleton looked at us both with deep interest as we three stood together by the fire place. There was the silence of a min- ute, when, taking Alice's hand, she placed it in mine and said: * chamber and closed the door after her. I looked at Alice for a moment-she held down her head and said not a word. In a instant more I clasped in my arms the , the yielding Alice Clare ....and, in words that came from my very soul, I told her how long and how earnestly I had loved her. All at once she burst into tearsand exclaimed' "If you love me so much., if you have loved me so long, explain to me-yes, I will ask it-explain to me what is there between you and Miss Wat~ son'?" Ah! but I felt that I loved Alice the dearer for this question-for I thought I felt how dearly she loved me. I was a long time in the explanation, for I told Alice everything-tiny frolic, Miss Wat- son's care of me and all; and as I saw it heightened her interest in me, I did not coldly expatiate upon Miss Watson's noble character; but I did full jus- tice to her attractions, and frankly told Alice that but for my love for her, I certainly should have flung caste and family considerations tQ the winds and have made love to Miss Watson-if, I contin- ued, I had not met with Miss Singleton in the meantime. I then retaliated by asking her about Peterson, but I soon found that she had never par- ticularly cared for him. Oh! long remembered night! CHAPTER XXXV. THE MEMBER FROM .CONNECTICUT-THE HON. JOB DARL1NGTON-HXS CHARACTER-THE HON. MR. FRI5BiE-QUARREr~ IN THE HOUSE-THE DUEL-MISS WATsoN'S ARRIvAL-ALICE WIT- NESSES OUR MEETING-THE CONSEQUENCE- CONVERSATION WITH MISS WATSON-SHE PRO- POSES THAT I SHOULD PLAY SARDANAPALUS WITH HER-MnSs UPTON-THE MANAGER. Among my acquaintances was a member from Connecticut; one of the quaintest arid most unique persons I have ever known. His name was Job Darlington-or, to give him his full title in the premises, in which he seemed to rejoice very much, the Honorable Job Darlington. Keenness and page: 110-111[View Page 110-111] 1 110 quaintness stuck out all over him, and you won] think, to look at him, that such a quality as cou age, if he ever had it, had, to use a Westex ii! phrase, "caved in with him long ago.~~ He was ii offensive and kind, and so shrewd withal, that ~j I delighte~l to chat with him; and though ther seemed to be no points of afiioity between us w agreed t~mazingly-par4cularly upon the subject the Union and political abolitionism. In debate. one of the Southern members-pre suing, I shrewdly suspect, upon the forhearanc and peace-loving qualities of the gentleman fron the Puritan State-gro~sIy insulted him by mon than insinuating that he was a trickster and coward, and one of the manufacturers of wooden nutmegs with which they had sprinkled the brands tijddies of the South, much to the injury of South em digestive organs. The Yankee replied that bran bread was much better than brandy toddies for weak stomachs and weak brains, and that the wooden nutmeg had the effect of bran bread, and he therefore recommended the continued use of them to his opponent, partic- ularly if he continued his toddies, and his digestion continued impaired; (a hard hit, for the gentleman * was in both categories, that is, weak in digestion and given to toddies;) and he of Connecticut more- over proceeded to say that if they did manufacture wooden nutmeg in his State, there were no such fools as to buy them in it, and they therefore had to resort to the constituents of the gentleman, and the gentleman himself, for purchasers. My friend Job's decidedly funny manner con- vulsed the House with laughter; but none of the patience of his namesake pertained to the member from the South, who applied' as many ill-names to the gentleman from Connecticut, and as volubly, as could any fish-woman in any fish-market of the world. Job laid back and laughed heartily at his opponent-one of those honest and true laughs which are contagious, and the whole house caught it, and laughed again, until the member's tones of rage were drowned in the echoes of the laughter at him. After repeati'd calls to t)rder it was at last obtained-the member of' the South frowning fierce defiance, with war on his very brows,-and the member from Connecticut looking meek as Moses and as pleasant as a ripple in the sunshine. I saw 111 d it all, and I must say that the bearing of "Connecti- r- cut" pleased me very much, for I saw character and n courage sticking out all over him; besides, I had a t- grudge against the Southern man for something ho i had said about myself and Miss Watson, and I e rejoiced in his discomfiture. e As the Honorable Job came laughing out of the jf Hall of the House I met him and congratulated him on his success in flooring the Hon. Mr. Fris bie. "But, my dear 5ir," said I, "he is a perfect e fire-eater." ~ "I've heard ~ exclaimed the meek-looking Job, ~ while a 9ast of serious thought dispelled the smile whnch played upon his features as he met me.- "I've heard so; but there's one thing certain, he may eat fire, and he's got to eat his words, tu6, - before I'll eat mine. How shall 1 proceed? Tin fact is that if he challenges me in my own name I can't accept it. It ~vill kill tue with my constitu- ents stone dead-I shall be honorable no longer, whether I fight or not. You know if I challenge him I'll have to sign my name to it-that won't do with my constituents-they are almost all church members. If he challenges me I have the choice of weapons-that's one advantage- and yet I wish I could have an alias like other folks, (not very honorable, by the bye, but law-breakers, nev- ertheless,) then I could satisfy the fire-eater, and my constituents wouldn't know anything about it, unless I am shot, and then there'll be an end of the matter-but I have a craving desire to gratify the gentleman. I have written him a note to that ef feet, but I have begged that he would challenge me under an alias, here's the note-you are my very man; I know you understand these things, and you'll suit me to a 'I'." I could not but laugh heartily, but my friend Darlington assured me that it was no joking mat-1 ter with him, for it would lose him his re-election to a certainty if he fought, and that he could not afford to do. as the per diem was ~vorth more than his practice, to say nothing of the honor. Now Frisbie was a starch, precise individual, and I had reason to believe, notwithstanding the airs he gave himself, that be was not the bravest man in the world after all. "Give me the note," said I, "I'll hand it to him and make the explanation,~~ THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF WILLIAM RUSSELL. "Do," replied Darlington, "and Russell, yot must see me through." [left him, and immediately sent my card int'~ the ball by one of the pages~ with the request t see the Honorable Win. Frisbie as soon as conve- nient, as I was in waiting. He made his appear- ance, and I presented him the note, saying it wa~ from Mr. Darlington. "I have challenged him myself, sir, I have the right of challenge," he remarked, with some sur- prise as he took the note and proceeded to read it. "This is trifling, sir," he exclaimed, as he tore the note to tatters~ "trifling sir! I don't allow any dodge like this-can't be re-elected if his con- stituents know he fights-wants me to challenge him under an alias-he had better get me to fight him by an alias too, by another-its no go sir, he mL~st take the responsibility." "Certainly he must, or I must for him, Mr. Frisbie, as I am acting as his friend." Mr. Frisbie looked perplexed and amazed. I remarked that there was no doubt, truth in what Mr. Darlington said-that they could easily meet without any formal challenge in the matter.- "You had better send your friend to me, Mr. ~ I said, "and we can arrange matters without any formality of this kind." "Sir, the laws of honor are laws of etiqnette,~~re~ joined Mr. Frisbie, "and this is a perplexing posi- tion-in fact sir, Mr. Darlington will find it's no jesting." "He is an eccentric person I know Mr. Fris- bie, but [asmre you that he is entirely in earnest." "Well, sir, I must consult a friend upon this ~most preposterous ~)roposition.~~ "If you plcase,~~ I said, as I made him my obeisance and withdrew, "1 shall remain at my lodgings to-day, expecting some friend's call." As I entered the rotunda of the Capitol J found Darlington quietly talking and laughing with some of his acquaintances, and telling him what had passed, I withdrew. Within an hour 14'risbie's friend, Dr. Merrill, called on me, and we made the arrange nent that without any formal challenge the parties should meet near Bladensburg at a certain place indicated that afternoon, at five o'clock-quick work. That day Darlington dined with me. Like 15 myself he drank no wine, and his tall, awkward form and awkward manner, with his quiet, dry hu- mor, and yet apparent nervous sensitiveness, amused me very much. I made some allusion to * the meeting. * "We won't talk about that," said he, "'suffi- cient to the day is the evil thereof.' ~' I can't stand being called a coward you know; for though we are right straight-in a direct line I mean-from the Puritans, yet, believe me, 1 have not the mor- al courage necessary to resist meeting Frisbie. That which he calls courage, is not confined exclu- sively to the South. To tell you the truth, I mean to receive his first fire, and fire in the air. It would be firing in the air any how, should I shoot at him, for 1 have no practice with the pistol or any other carnal weapon that flesh is heir to ex- cept a knife and fork." 1 remonstrated with him earnestly, but it was of no use. He laughed heartily. "He wont hit me I tell you,~~ he remarked. "At least there are many chances in my favor. Don't you kn iW it'? Did you never hear the story of the old Chief (General Jackson he meant) and Grundy'?" "Never," I replied. "Well, as I have heard it, somebody challenged Grundy, who being a member of the church, and not very valorous, as the old Chief knew, went to him to consult him as to his acceptance of it. The old Chief heard him patiently. 'Mr. Grun- dy,' he rejoined, 'you must accept. Quit the church for the occasion, like the Quaker throw by your coat. If you accept, sir, there are ten chan-. ces to one that you (loU't meet; if you do meet there are ten chances to one that you don't fight. If you do fight, there are ten chances to one that he don't hit you. If hedoes hit you, there are ten chances to one that it aint mortal, and if it is mortal, Mr. Grundy, by the Eternal, sir, we must all die.'" That afternoon found us on the ground. Pistols and ten paces was the arrangement. Patiently as his namesake, and as coolly as the old Chieftain possibly could have acted i~ the matter, Darling~ ton received the fire of Fri;bie and fired in the air. Frisbie demanded another shot, hut I Peremptorily interfered, and Dr. Merrill, who was disposed to adjust matters, said that his principal ought to be satisfied, and so the parties shook hands; Darling- page: 112-113[View Page 112-113] 112 tori making us promise never to mention itand w all rode into thecity and supped together. This wa the beginning of a fast friendship between 'Connec ticut~ and myself, as ~e used to call Darlington and I record the incident to show that we should no always judge from appearances; for if a cowan had been sent into a crowd to insult some one, h certainly, if Darlington had been there, would hay selected him as the one who would have suffenem him to escape with impunity. A few days after this, my friend Job entered m~ room to say that Cotesworth was sick after an over indulgence, and had sent him to me with a letter. "Which," said Job, laughing as he handed it t me, "came directed to Coresworth. He says it h from a magnificent creature-the actress-the Mist Watson who is making such a talk, and whc Cotesworth is talking about all the time. He callt me Connecticut and I call him South Carolina, and I think South Carolina has as many notions at Connecticut, only after a different fashion." ~ ~ said I, laughing, "are women and wine. What are Connecticut's?" The Honorable Job laughed his peculiarly ho. amorous laugh, atid replied- "The language of Cowper, with the exception of one word, 'just expresses it-I mean the character. istics of my folks- "Various. That the mind of Southern men, Studious of change and pleased with novelty. May be indulged." "Duped you mean," said I, joking him. "Well, duped if you please," he exclaimed, "in any way you choose, caveat emptoF. Let the buyer look out to translate it into the vernacular. Who in the deuce is this 'glorious woman' that 'South Carolina' is always talking about?" "You must excuse me my friend," I said, "this short note is from that 'glorious creature,' and I must hasten to meet her on h~r arrival. Excuse me." "Certainly, but look here, don't you get enamor- ed too," called out Connecticut after me. "If you do, I shall have to stand by you as you stood by me in the Frisbie affair." As I hastened down to the stage office (shall I confess it) I folt annoyed that Miss Watson should write~to me, under cover e to Cotesworth, and I puzzled myself much over the s inquiry whether there was anything peculiar in his manner when he handed me Miss Watson's letter ~ at Miss Singleton's party. t As I thus hurried down the avenue and cogitated, LI I heard a violent rap at the window of the fashion. e able boarding house of Mrs. Sands, and looking up a I beheld Miss Watson trying to raise the window I dnd call to me. Quick as thought I darted up the broad stair. way into the front room, and before I thought any. thing of my whereabouts-except that I had met Miss Watson-or who might be looking~ on, I caught her in an eager embrace as she exclaimed "my kingly Sardanapalus,~~ and I rejoined "my own lonian Myrrha," and our lips met ~shall' 1 say as warmly) as ev~r the kings aforesaid met the lips of his devoted lonian. Steps in the next room-for the folding doors were open-I had not thought there was a aexi room until that moment-arrested my 'attention, and who should I see leaving it with a tread of the haughtiest scorn and dignity hot Alice Clare. "Pardon me one moment," I said, as I handed Miss Watson to the sofa and sprang after Alice, whom I did not overtake until she had gotten to the front door. "Good morning, Alice," 1 said.- She turned on me, and her brow wore an offended dignity that was regal. Miss Watson could not have personated it as well, nor Miss Singleton have looked it better. "Leave me," she exclaim- ed, and she stamped sternly with her foot, and beckoning to the footman of Miss Singleton, whose carriage I had not noticed when I entered the house, she plhccd herself within it and ordered the coachman to drive on, before I could say a word. I looked after her a moment, and scarcely knowing what I did re-entered the house. On the steps 1 met Miss Upton, who pettishly inquired: "have you seen Alice Clare? What in the world has become of her? Shine started out early to do some shopping. She would get out of the carriage to wait in the' parlor for me, and now she has gone off in a pet-.~astouishing." As I did not choose to make any explanation to Miss Upton, and merely made the remarim "I don't know," she hastened out ma l)et too, and I return- ed to the side of Miss Watson. WILLIAM The lovely actress had greatly improved since I n last saw her. What an air success gives one, gen- t] tie reader. I remember some one says that the first t time he saw Cromwell was before that personage ( had arisen to power, and when he was only a member of parliament, and theta the observer was only struck with his slovenly appearance, his ple- beian look and his red nose, but he goes on to say that he lived to see him protector of England, and to consider him a person of distinguished bearing and presence. Always Miss Watson was at- tractive in my eyes, from my first interview with ( her, when I was accompanied by Horsley, to the present moment, but there was an air of hilarity I and happiness about her now, which gave fell de- velopment to her cheerful and self-sustained na- ture. She took my hand as I returned to her side and said so brightly and with such a joyous tone "You look well-I have heard such bright ac- counts of you-but why are you not' a controlling spirit among those higher spirits, as well as among the merely fashionable." "Like Miss Singleton," I thought to myselfand was about to reply when she asked- "And how is your lady love?-you scarcely mentioned her in your letter, except that she was here. Did you want me to come-say, now tell the truth, did you riot think that she would get jealous of me?" Pleased and perplexed, yet struck with a kind of histrionic impression of the scene between Alice and myself, I told Miss Wa son what had jast oc- curr~d. She looked serious. "Indeed, I am sorry," she said. "There seems to be some fatality that thrusts me between the fair Baltimorean and yourself. Go after her and make the explanation. I don't wonder that she dismissed you with so much dignity. Our greet- ing, you must remember, was not a mere rehearsal -it was a reality. Long ago, Miss Clare, as I told you at the time, liked not our mere stage play embracing. This tenderness in our private theat- ricals must, of course, touch her." "Private theatricals," exclaimed I, piqued. "I assure you, Miss Watson, I was not acming.~~ "Acting!" she said seriously. "No, toy dear Russell, you are more of an actor in the THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF RUSSELL. 113 matter than I am, except the kissing necessary Ott he stage, and that is harmless, for I never kiss here with an appetite. I can say to you what ~oriolanus said to Virgilia: 'Now, by the jealous Queen of Heaven, that kiss I carried from thee, love, and my true lip Hath virgined it e'er since.'" If the truth must be told, I was about to enact lardanapalus or Coriolanus, whichever the reader )leases, with the lip of the actress again, when, at he moment, Miss Upton entered the room, and ~ame directly upon us. "Goodness, gracious!" she exclaimed, putting ~er hands before her eyes in affected blushing.- 'Excuse rue, IV~r. Russell," and in affected shame rhe glided our of the room. Really amazed I left Miss Watson, wh~ laughed heartily, saying, "Miss Upton would make a good actress," and went to find the manager, whom she was anxious to see. As I descended the steps she called after me:- "I-low would you like~ oh King, to play Sarda- napalus with me once more? and astonish these Washingtonians more than you ever astonished the Baltimoreans." "1 should like to do it," I called back6 "Wait till we see the jnanager,~~ "it would be first ~ said I to myself as I passed up street. "First rate-~--it seems to me I could play the King better than ever." In half an hour I was conducting ti4~ manager, Mr. Simpson, to Miss Watson, an(l as I left the door of the theatre with him (for we were great friends) Miss Singleton's carriage passed by, with Miss Upton and Alice itt earnest conversation in it. They both, I thought, looked at me, but when I raised ray hat they made no return to my salutation. CHAPTER XXXVL. EEFLECTfOttB-JANET-MtSS SINOLEToN AND WATSON'- 5ANG5TON~~~CoNVERSAil' wtTtS rirM-ilts toys FOit 51155 5INGLETON-*51155 UFTON""- TIfF. ~uicjns-'iiia CONCLTttION. "Now address aid me," I exclain~ed, after a restless night, starting from my pillow late in the page: 114-115[View Page 114-115] 114 I must accomplish two things," I said to myself; "reconcile Alice to me and appear as the kingly Sardanapalus on the Washington boards. Hard task. Yet why not accomplish it?" Ill at ease-yet with a kind of not unpleasant excitement either-I put on and put aside almost every neckcloth and vest in my wardrobe before I contented myself as to my toilette, and then it was not contentment, it was resignation; and at the u~naI hour. for calling I sauntered towards Mrs. ~ boarding house, to call upon Miss Sin- gleton. As I approached Miss Singleton's parlor I heard her voice in earnest reprehension, and she was saying: "How dare you, Janet, hold conversation at the corners of the streets with any of these persons who call themselves gentemen?~~ "They asked me about you, mistress." "How dare they to ask ~rou about me? flush, I don't care to know what their asking might have been. Take' care of yourself, Janet; if you mis- behaVe here, after all the confidence I have placed in you, I'll have nothing more to do with you- you shall o about your business-I won't own you!" A little bit of a prude thought I, is Miss Single- ton, and 1 suppose should she hear about Alice and myself and Miss Watson-especially should she hear it through Miss Upton-she will take fierce part against me, and the women here will cut me. At this moment Janet came into the passage, and I asked her if her mistress was' in, as I en- tered her parlor. Without the least perturbation of manner my fair representative received me and bade me be seated. "A boon," I said, "Miss Singleton, a boon. I crave it on bended knee," and so saying, and suit- ing the action to the word, I threw myself on my knee before her, with bowed head. "You did that gracefully," said she. "What is the boon? I grant it if it is such as a lady may grant.~~ "I want you, I said, to call upon my friend Miss Watson, the celebrated actress." "Why?" she asked. morning full of the events recorded in the last chap- ter-"Now address aid me, or I am a gone man! WILLIAM RUSSEtL. 115 1 replied, "you give cast to every thing here. Miss Watson is a woman of genius-.. of great genius-and worthy of your ~ "I have heard so. It is my purpose to call-. will you go with me?" "With the greatest pleasure," 1 said. "I have heard of you two and the freak of your playing Sardanapalus with her," said she. "Ay!" said I. "She wants me to play the king with her-Sardanapalus to her Myrrha" "What! here on the Washington boards?" "Here on the Washington boards!" "Well," said she. "What do you think of it?" said I. "That you should be acting in a higher theatre." "But just for the fun and excitement," I said. "No, sir; there is no fun and excitement in such a thing fbr a gentleman like you, Mr. Russell. If you were poor, had a talent for the stage, and meant to make it your profession, then it were well enough. But I will call upon Miss Watson, for I know I shall like her from what Mrs. Cromp- ton told me. Where is Mr. Sangston?" Miss Sin- gleton asked, after a moments pause. "1 know not," I replied; and at this moment Mr. Dudley and Cotesworth called, and I with- drew. As I was walking along F street in irres- olution as to what I should do, I saw Sangston enter a celebrated Restaurant's, and I stepped in after him. He seemed annoyed when he saw me, but rallying, said: * "Russell, you don't drink?" I shook my head. "Let's step into a private room," said he, and we accordingly did so. Sangston looked sadly, yet there was a defiant air about him, and something which I could not understand. "Do you know that the President has nomina- ted G-, the Secretary, as minister to "I have heard so," I replied. "My time of triumph has conic. If I cannot please Miss Singleton in her pride and power I can at least please some women-I mean there have been women-yes, there are women-at least one woman who has shown a disinterestedness for me; md that is Miss Molesby, the actress with whom ~ld Senator Cambden is so desperately in love and ~f whom he is so jeal~u~.~~ she is no better than she should be." word for it she tells her mistress everything." "What do I care for that?" rejoined Sarigston, "Sangston," 1 replied, "you are excited, or you upon whom his 'drink' had began to operate: "I would not say such a thing of Miss Singleton; and am going to see her this morning-she P my best I am sorry to hear you say it excited or.not-she friend-yes, I say, my best friend. Old Camb- is your best friend." den would gladly send G. to England, or to the -'Friend!" exclaimed Sangston, bitterly. "No, devil, to get him away from Miss Moletby; but he I have only one friend, and that's Miss Molesby- hates the idea of his getting the appointment, be- mean female friend." cause G. is set anxious for it. Now I can make After much discussion, I got Sangston togo with her fool him to the full bent of voting against G." me to my room, and there I left him, he promising 'Do you think that is right, Sangs tori?" I asked to wait until I returned. I went to M~s Watson's "Right! Russell, I am losing the distinctions lodgings to apprise her of Miss Singleton's inten- of right, I have been so wronged. Yes, it's right. tion to call upon her, as I wanted her to make the G. is a scoundrel, as he has shown by his treat- cest impression upon that lady. She was out, so ment of me-and I'll foil him in his~ heart's hope left a note for her, and determined to call upon in this minister business-by a wornari-this Miss Alice. "She is out,~' I thoughts I entered Penn- Molesby-why, you like act esses-though she is sylvania Avenue, "and Miss UptonI suspect, will no better than she should be. They're all alike. I prejudice her against me." As these reflections tell you, Russell, she likes me as much as Miss crossed my mind I looked up, and who should I Watson likes you." see tripping towards roe but Miss Upton herself. "More, I replied, if you can induce her to tell "0! you false creature," she exclaimed, as she an untruth and do such a thing as you suggest." advanced towards me. "I ought not to speak to "I can, Rus-~ell." you. I told Alice you were only rehersing yester- "If you can, then she is not to be named in the day, but -" and she paused. same day with Miss Watson." "Well?" I said. "I don't care how she is named;" and he rapped "Oh! nothing. But you should not make love on the table and ordered some thing more to drink, to actresses in the public parlors of boarding houses. I remonstrated with him, telling him if he got upon Really I like Mr. Peterson very much. Are you a frolic how it would distre-s his mother, arid that intimate?" Miss Singlet6n would certainly hear of it." j "We have been more so of late than formerly. "Hari~ Miss ~ingleton,'7 he exclaimed. "What He talks a great deal about you." do I care for Miss Singleton!" "Ab! doc s he?" she said quickly. "He's a THE AUTOUJOGRAPIIY OF "You don't think the old fellow will marry her, "I don't know, I said; but yo~i ought to care for do you?"l asked. her, as she is very much your friend." "I don't know; that's what she's after. He "Do you think so, Russell? Oh! God! if she squanders cords of money on her, and he hates G, would only give me encouragement she might save the Secretary." me soul and body. But I think she has heard "Then 11 suppose he would favor G's mission?" something ahout Miss Molesby and I-her maid, "That's the point. I want to be rev2nged on Janet, I ~hink has told her." G. I can be revengcd-yes, Russell, I will be "I don't believe Miss Singleton would listen to revenged-I'll get her to tell old Cambden that G. such a thing from her servant." has made love to her, and ridiculed him. .Camb- "You don't, hey! Ha, ha! Russell, you don't den holds the casting vote on G's nomination in know any thing about women-indeed you don't. the Senate-as a good many even of his own party You friend Miss Clare has m~de you believeI dare dislike him-and hang roe if she was to tell Ihe swear, that she don't care for Peterson. You old fellow what I could get her to tell him, if it ought to see them togETher as I have seen them. would not fling th~ Secretary. Yes, sir, that Janet tells her mistress everything- "You know it is seriously suspected, 1 said, that she'd die for hei rni~tress, I know-but take my page: 116-117[View Page 116-117] 118 THE AUTO: great spec, the girls say. Where are you going? "To call upon Miss Clare," I said. "I don't know how you have stood in Alice estimation, Mr. Russell, but my opinion is th you are now among the has beens;-and if I w~ Alice, and you had made love to me, I would ri jeer you with ~ "I suppose you told her so." "1 did, but she made me no reply. Poot thini I think you behave awfully to her. I told Alit that she ought to tell Miss Singleton, and that th girls ought to make common cause against you. declare you are a very Turk." "I thank you for your good offices," I said, in tone of provocation I could not suppress. "Suppos I retaliate, and get the men to make common caus against you for your flirtations-yes, your down Aight heartlessness to your lovers." "AhI that would be discourteous-besides, wi women can~t help it, if men will fall in love witi us, can we?-how often must I tell you that'?". Here a hack driver, who was driving rapidly down the street, leaped from his box, and rushing up to me exclaimed: "Mr. Russell, Mr. Sangston has shot himself!" "Shot himself!" I exclaimed. "Is he dead?" "Dying, sir, dying!" Miss Upton uttered a loud shriek and would have fallen had I exhibited the least hint of an in- tention to catch her; as I did not, s" '~"covered. "Shot himself! dying!" she exclaime& "Ev- erybody will say its on account of Miss Singleton's treatment of him." Without pausing to say a word to her, I asked the driver where Sangston was. "At your room, sir," he replied. "Drive me there," I said, leaping into his hack. There was a crowd around my hotel, and in it, and all the way up the steps into the room, which was filled almost to suffocation. With, great diffi- culty I pushed through. Sangston was lying gasp- ing on the bed, while the crowd in unthinking and brutal curiosity were hanging so eagerly over him as to take the very breath away from him. With a feeble hand he waved them off. The bar-keepdr, half drunk, with the assistance of some others, had taken off his coat and vest, and the wound, a deli- cate one, in which you could not have inserted your BIOGRAPHY' OF !" little finger apparently, was exposed, as the bar- keeper was uselessly bathing it with water, for 's the bleeding was inwardly. I pushed the crowd at away in that determined manner which is so effi- as cient in crowds, and reached the side ot poor Sangs- ~.. ton. He gave me his hand, and made an effort to speak, but his voice was too weak for me to hear him. He made an effort to raise up, but I bent ~! my ear to him, and he said: e "Pardon me, Russell-in your room to do this e -it was desperation. Get them out." ~ "Gentlemen!" I said, "every one must leave the room." a A few made a move to the door; The rest see~ned e determined to remain. The criminal, morbid and e discourteous curiosity of many people under such circumstances is astonishing. "Gentlemen," ex- claimed I, in a tone of indignation, "this is my room and this gentleman is my friend; you must leave the room, every one of you." My determined manner produced the effect, but they left with reluctance. I locked the door after the last man, nobody remaining but the bar-keeper and myself. "Have you sent for a physician?~~ I asked. "Yes, sir,"said the bar.keeper.-"three of 'em.~ Poor Sangston asked for water, and I gave him some. "Its no u~e, Russell," he said. "Its rio use- its mortal-my poor mother-but I was only a tax on her." "Are you in much pain?" I asked. "No, no, not much. Miss Singleton-I should like to see her-my poor mother." Here there was a rap at the door, and a doctor entered; he had scarcely done so when there came another and another. They probed the wound, and their looks plainly betokened a sad result.- Sangston, with feeble breath, asked to be taken to his mother's. "Break it to her as gently as you can, Russell. [am easier-I can stand it-yes, oh take me there~ Gentlemen, I am easy now-let me speak to Rus- sell alone-I would be alone with him," he said impatiently. The doctors consulted apart for a moment, and aCte~ leaving some directions which seemed to be of no moment, they withdrew. I 117 I followed them into the passage, where the crowd stUl pressed, and conducted them into a va- cant room to ask their opinion. They said, what I had easily surmised, that they could not extract the ball and that the wound was, in all probability, mortal. "Can he be removed to his ~ I asked. "He waists so much to be taken there-it will ease his mind." The physicians thought not now; they would call in the afternoon and decide. "Break it to my mother easily," he said to me, in quite an audible voice, as I re-entered his room "Go, Russell, go yourself and tall her, won't you? Some 'one may blab it out to her, and make it worse." He beckoned me to him. "Put your ear ~ he said, as he waved the bar-keeper away from his bed. "Tell Miss Singleton-you promise me?" "'I promise you," I said, deeply moved. "Tell Miss Singleton that I loved her more than my own soul--that I was not worthy of her. On your honor will you tell her so as soon as you see her? I c6uld die easy could I see her bright face once more, with the smiles on it it used to wear when I was more than her slave! Go, Russell, I proceeded to the bar room to get some proper person to remain with him, and there found Dr. Lockwood. Glad was I of his presence, and at my request he went to the room 'of Sangston, for he was well acquainted with him. Dr. Lockwood, with all his talents, was one of y our ceremonious observers of etiquette. As he had not been sent ftsr-though in a desperate ease, and that in an at- tempt at suicide-he refrained from entering the patients room without being requested to do so, though he had evidently conie to the hotel in his anxiety to know how he was, and the nature of his self-inflicted wounds. It seems that Dr. Lock- wood was not on speaking terms with one of the physicians who had been called, like the others, indiscriminately in, and upon a point of professional feeling, or rather, we should say of professional etiquette as he esteemed it, arising, it may be, out of a misunderstanding as to the administering of a pill in some consultation or other. It appears strange how. such a man could stand aloof from a fellow creature's bed, when his superior skill, as well known to himself as to others, could relieve his pain, perchance save his life. But this was an after reflection; for I threw myself into a hack and drove with all speed to Mrs Sangstoa's. I was spared the pain of communicating the sad intelli- gence to her. Some thoughtless wretchin the fright of the moment, had rushed in and told her that her son had shot himself dead. The bearer of many troubles as she had been, this was too much for her, and she had fainted so lifelessly away that fears for her own life were entertained. I found Miss Singleton and Alice contributing all they could, with-the aid of the servants, to restore her. I offered roy hand to both. Alice seemed to take it mechanically; she seemed so overcome by her feelings. Miss Singleton was calm but white as marble. When Mrs. Sangston at last came to her- self, it was in a kind of stupefaction that she aeked to see Henry, and kept exclaiming "my poor boy my poor boy." With some difficulty 1 placed the afflicted wid- ow, maybe now childless, in the hack, and Miss Singleton with Alice attended her to the hotel- I following in another hack. As I was assisting Mrs. Sangston out, I thought she had recovered very much of her usual energy, for she stepped without assistance into the, hotel. Miss Singleton anti Alice remained in the ladies' parlor, and I at- tended the mother to the bedside of her son. "My dear mother, forgive me," he said, stretch- ing his hand feebly out totake hers. "Oh! Henry, Henry, why did you do this," she said, in tenderness rather than in reproach, as she placed herself beside him. Sangston glanced at the Doctor and his attend- a~it. Dr. Lockwood's quick sense instantly per- ceived that Sangston wished to be left alone with his mother, and making a sign to his attendant, he remarked, "I will return in an instant," and they withdrew. I followed them, Sangeton seeming to wish me to rernainbut his mother desiredI thought. to be alone with him, and I took no notice of his dissent as lie glanced towards the door. In the passage I found Dr. Lockwood. he told me that Sangeton could not possibly live. "I am familiar with gun-shot wounds," said he, "he bleeds inwardly; he suffers little or no painbu WILLIAM RUSSELL. page: 118[View Page 118] THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF toe boast die-I pity his' poor mother-I knew his father well-of a noble nature is Henry, but the example set him here he has followed to his de- struction. It's his mother who is to be pitied." I I found Miss Sangston alohe in he parlor. "How is he?" she asked. I told her what the Doctor had said, and asked for Alice. "Alice ha~ stepped out to make arrangements for returning with some friends to Baltimore. I fear she has heard bad news. She did not tell me so, but she seetus so sad. She looks ten years older in a day," A pang, keen as that which from his own hand, the pistol gave to my friend up stairs, pierced my heart for my own folly, or rather I should ~ay vain and giddy recklessness of the feelings of a loving, sensitive and confiding woman. Let me say it- as we sat in silence together, I forgot San gston aud Miss Singleton and thought only of Alice. In five words I told Miss Singleton what had transpired between Alice and myself, and asked what I should do? "Do?" said she, in an almost vehemen t manner; "How dare you act so after all that had passed be- tween you and Alice? How dare you? Poor thing, sh~ slept in my arms that night of my party, and told tne every word that you had said to her- your full explanation of your intimacy with Miss Watson, which had so much grieved her. 1 be' lived your explanation-I believe it now-but think what this poor, dear child has suffered from her impression of your attachment to Miss Watson which grown up with her. Shame on you, sir. She had so frankly consented to marry you, and that so soon-every thing yielded to your impatient and restless spirit-and you to make herso unhappy- when you love her so-oh! shame, shame. Our torture is but your amusement, is that it sir!" Miss Singleton spoke this in such a tone of re- proach that it stung me. and I could not tut reply: "W bile you are heaping such reproaches on me for my levity and recklessness or' the feelings of one who loves me, have you no self-reproaches over the condition of Henry Sangston?" quick by my' own conscience as well as by her words, I could not but make it. She started as if a bullet had reached her heart too, and covering her face with her hands, she ejaculated to h herself in a fearful tone: "My God, my God! Did he send me any word? Tell me everything." I told her every word that he had uttered. She ke1ot her face buried in her hands until I concluded, then tossing back her somewhat disordered hair, airid calming herself, she said: "No, it could not be-he wanted energy-he wanted character--yet his attentions-yes, let me say it, his deep devotion to me, won me into ten- derness at times, whieh. I own, I should not have exhibited-and tIten his dissipation extorted scorn -not to say a loathing from me which I could not at times repress -which, I fear, I did not choose to repress. But I am a monomaniac, it may be, on this vice of intemperance-a monomaniac. I saw my father-a born gentleman man of the noblest impulses and loftiest talents and unbounded wealth -I saw him the victim of this vice-made by it cruel to his sla~;es and unkind to his wife-the murderer of his friend in an unrighteous duel and a death untd him self. Were Henry Sangston now all my father wa s in intellect, in address, in wealth, and in position, and had he this vice, I would not, I could not, so help me heaven, have married him. My t~ain ted mot her, who is in heaven, forbids me. But without thi s vice, humlAe as Henry Sangston is in this ~vorld' s goods, and in this world's honors, I would have gi yen ~iim my hand with my heart in it. DAy' friend,'' she said, "I honor your resolute nature. You an d Alice must not torture each oth- er any more," sh e exclaimed vehemently. At this moth ent Mrs. Sangeton entered the room. She said that Henry wanted to see me. "If my poor boy' should grow worse let me know, I charge you," she said. As I left the roowl I heard her say: "Oh, Miss Single ton, if you knew how my poor boy Loved you." I found Sangston astonishingly calm. He showed mor e character with tI ic hand of death on him than I h ad ever known him exhibit before. He spoke iiiz.~ ~ne u~t..~ knew 1.i~ hrnirs were niimhered. and I own that this was a most unkind and improper ~ve me but few; and as Ii seated myself on the bed inquiry under the circumstances, but stung to the~~~de him, and todk this hand, as Dr. Lockwood, page: -119[View Page -119] WILLIAM KU~SJI1L. who seemed to have an instinct in such matters, left the room and closed the door after him, he said: "Russell, it is easier t& die than you think for," -and a smile of bitterness passed over his face, as he contiuued:-"when you have nothing to live for. After you left me here I saw Miss Molesby- I told her to get Cambden to vote against the see- retary-I told her how she could do it. She likes me-there is at least one woman that likes me- but she is jealous of Miss Singleton-she thinks as she likes me that other women must like me also. 2 She refused to do what I asked her most perempto- rily-we quarrelled-I drank, drank, drank, when I returned to your room-knew where your pistols were-and this is the result." It was deep in the night of this same day.- ~Sangston had insisted, upon being removed to his mother's, and his mother had resolved to gratify him, though the physicians had advised to the con trary~ Miss Singleton had prevailed on Alice to remain, and Sangaton had expressed the wish to see Miss Singleton before he died; and she had ta- ken Alice with her into his room. lie was too weak to speak when Miss Singleton entered, but he took her hand and held it close in his, while the unut.. terable longing and tenderness with which ho gazed with hi~ glazing eye into her face is daguer- reotyped on my memory now. The Rev. Mr. F- of the Episcopal Church, had impressively prayed beside him; and, raising himself up, he took his mother's hand and placing it in that of Miss Single- ton, he closed his eyes in his last sleep so gently that we knew not at first that his spirit had departed. That night I was setting up wit~ the corpse of the poor suicide. It was after midnight. Alice was staying with Miss Singleton, and the whole house had retired to rest except the watcher with me and myself, when Janet entered the room in which we were sitting, next to that in which the body was laid out, and said that she had heurd the bell and had stepped to the door and that there was a lady in the passage who wanted to see me. Wondering who it could be, I passed into the pas.. sage. A thickly-veiled lady st~od before mewhom I knew at a glance to be Miss Molesby. but as her disguise showed that she did not wish to be recog- nized, I merely bowed to her and asked her com- inands. I friend of Mr. Sangaton's, sir-I disturb his family or friends-but I should like the way by the passage door so as not to my friend in the next room, and entering that where the body lay, I pointed to it without saying a word. She spoke not, but uncovering the face she gazed on it earnestly, and, as I thought, with a look of resolution which surprised me. Taking a pair of scissors from her bosom she cut a lock of his hair and withdraw before I could step to her side to open the door for her. The next day, in the afternoon, Sangston was buried in the Congress burying ground. I rode out with Mr. Cotcsworth and another. The chat about worldly matters which is always rife at fun- erals-mayhe we would drive away the sadness of the occasion-was on this occasion about the mm- isterial nomination of G-. as minister abroad..-.. N "I understand old Cambden made a glorious speech against him this morning-glorious," said Cotes- 2 worth. "He got him rejected. The old fellow, for one of his years, is too much of roue, I admit; but we all have our faults and he is a true patriot." When we reached the ground I saw a solitary carriage nol far from the gate, in which was a sol- itary female. I surmised who it was. As the pro- 3ession was forming to go to the grave she beck- oned to me. I stepped for a moment to the side of the carriage which was not far off. "Mr. Russell," she said with a look almost of exultation, "I have revenged your friend-a proper part for me one would say-I trust Miss Singleton will perform her part and support the poor widow. whose son's heart she has broken." Sadder and wiser grew one and all under this affliction. Alice and I were entirely reconciled, and I returned with her and Miss Singleton to Bal- timore, where, aided by the powerful influence of that lady, Alice was persuaded upon to give me her hand "before the holy man" within a week after our arrival. Gentle reader, we part now, but I trust only for a season. Dangers and deaths and temptations and trials and triumphs are before me, should I ever recount them to you;-but until I can take up my pen with less interruption than now, I must bid you adieu. page: 120 (Advertisement) [View Page 120 (Advertisement) ] GOBRIGHT, THORNE & 00. Corner of Gay and Baltimore Streets ,~ W~f$3A~Z ~ NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES AND ~ I ~ G., rf* & Co. have every facility for supplying the trade and the public in general, with every thing connected with the Newspaper and Periodical Busi ness ; their arrangements for the reeej)tiQfl and transmission of Packages hem Coin )lCtC. They are a1~o Agents, and receive subscriptions for all the New York, Boston, and Philadelphia Papers and Monthly Magazines, which they receive as early, if not earlier, than any other house in Baltimore. 'l'he New York Daily Herald, Tribune and 'L'hnes, received every evening / at 7 o'clock. 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