Memoirs of William Nelson Pendleton, D.D., rector of Latimer parish, Lexington, Virginia; brigadier-general c.s.a.; chief of artillery, army of northern Virginia. |
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| VII. | CHAPTER VII. |
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 | CHAPTER VII. Memoirs of William Nelson Pendleton, D.D., |  |
CHAPTER VII.
MARRIAGE—PROFESSOR AT WEST POINT.
On the 15th of July, 1831, William Nelson Pendleton and
Anzolette Elizabeth Page were married at "Rugswamp," the
residence of the bride's father, by the Rev. John Cooke, of the
Episcopal Church. The wedding took place at four o'clock in
the afternoon, that the many friends and relations, who drove
eight, ten, fifteen miles to be present at it, might have time to
return home before being overtaken by the darkness of night.
No portraits of the young couple remain to set forth their appearance.
But the tradition among friends and servants told how
bravery of full uniform, made a sight remembered for many years.
The union thus begun was destined to be of long duration, of
singular closeness and devotion, and of great happiness, Mrs.
Pendleton identified herself, from the first, with her husband's interests
and occupations, and her ready sympathy and clear judgment
were always to be relied on. Her love of knowledge[1]
and
wonderful memory made her an invaluable companion for a student
of science; and when domestic duties prevented her carrying
on systematic study, she took unfailing interest in her husband's
pursuits, and was rarely at fault with a date, a chemical formula, a
scientific discovery, or an apt quotation when needed. Possessing
the faculty of true economy, which makes the most of everything,
she used their narrow means to the providing the utmost comfort of
which they were capable, avoiding wastefulness on the one hand
and niggardliness on the other. With an absolute purity of soul to
which no defilement of coarseness nor worldliness could cling, and
an earnest desire to serve God, she proved a true helpmate to her
husband. Writing of their union forty-six years later, he said,—
"In all that I am, and have been enabled to do, my heaven-favored
wife has been incalculably instrumental. To her more
than to me are due, I think, the inherited traits of our children,
and the excellencies acquired by example as a chief part of training.
And by her counsel and influence has been determined, in
great measure, any good the All-gracious Disposer of lots has
enabled me to do."
An incident illustrating the change in social customs wrought
by the lapse of time is not here inappropriate. The "wedding
dinner" was an occasion second only In importance to the wedding.
"Cook Billy," who had long presided in Mrs. General Nelson's
kitchen, had come to "Rugswamp" to superintend the cuisine for
this important banquet. When Mrs. Page gave him her orders for
the dinner she enumerated only thirteen different kinds of meats.
Old Billy found the dignity of his office insulted by this meagre detail
'thouten fo'teen dishes uv meat. Kyarn't cook no decent dinner
'ceptin' yo' has fo'teen dishes." Nor was his disgust allayed until
carte-blanche to provide the wanting viand was given him.
Had the bountiful list of edibles been preserved, we might learn
what an old Virginia cook thought worthy of his skill.
In September, 1831, Mr. Pendleton was ordered to West Point
as assistant professor of mathematics, and proceeded thither with
his young wife. There they found congenial society among the
families of the other professors. The beauty surrounding their
new home was a constant source of pleasure, and it became their
habit to take long rambles among the mountains to feast their
eyes upon the beautiful scenery of rock, peak, and river. Mrs.
Pendleton was especially fond of flowers, and on one occasion
they went on an excursion to Newburgh to procure some blooming
plants. Three dollars was all the money in hand until next
pay-day. One dollar paid their fare; another went for the tempting
flowers. They had not been so provident as to take a lunch
with them, and did not dare to spend their last dollar for dinner,
and went, fasting, home, carrying their precious plants.
At West Point Mr. Pendleton first exhibited the ability as a
teacher which so distinguished him and added so largely to his
influence throughout life. Peculiarly clear in his insight into the
truths placed before his mind, he seemed to have an intuitive
perception of the difficulties another might have in laying hold
of those truths, and a marvellous aptitude in throwing light upon
obscure points. No degree of dulness, no amount of mental
obtuseness, could ruffle the patience with which he would, step by
step, explain, again and again, anything—the most trivial—which
puzzled or baffled his pupils. Having in large measure that enthusiasm
for imparting knowledge which is the most essential attribute
for a successful teacher, his first effort was to gain the attention and
excite the interest of a scholar in the subject before him. When
once this was awakened in even a slight degree, and the learner's
mind brought into sympathy with his own, his power of stimulating
that interest and quickening that attention appeared to increase
with exercise, while his delight in the progress of a young
mind towards knowledge and enlightenment rarely failed to evoke
a responsive pleasure in acquiring information and making use of
he were guiding the tottering steps of a little child through the intricacies
of spelling-book and multiplication-table or demonstrating
to diligent students the problems of the higher mathematics.
The school-boy, hesitating and disheartened before the ever-accumulating
troubles of his Latin grammar, found the same willingness
to bear with his ignorance, and the same pains taken to make
plain to his bewilderment the differences of genders, cases, declensions,
and conjugations, as did the young investigator of the occult
processes of nature who sought to follow the planets in their
courses or discover the ultimate atoms of material things. His
sympathy and forbearance, his ability to help and encourage, were
felt by whoever came in contact with him, from his early manhood
to the hour of his death.
The year spent at West Point Lieutenant Pendleton devoted
to diligent study. Not yet sufficiently settled in his views of
religion to make a public acknowledgment of his faith, he manifested
in his daily life the controlling influence of that faith, and
in his studies seems ever to have kept in view the possibility of
ultimately becoming a clergyman. He now began the study of
Hebrew, and kept up that of Latin and Greek. Extracts from
letters to his wife, absent on a visit to her father, give interesting
insight into his life and habits:
". . . I stayed in Washington till two o'clock Friday, having
ascertained that travel with what speed I would Philadelphia
must be my limit Saturday; and since no boat leaves Philadelphia
for the North on Sunday, I could not in any event get on until
Monday. A young Mr. L—, from Richmond, had travelled
with me, and finding out who I was, introduced himself to me.
We walked about together, and then went to the Capitol, and
visited both Houses. Did not stay long enough in the House of
Representatives to hear anything said, but in the Senate we were
more fortunate. Mr. Dickerson, of New Jersey, as chairman of
the Committee on Manufactures, made a report on the tariff, and
then arose Mr. Hayne, and for about ten or fifteen minutes proceeded
in the most impassioned but happy eloquence I ever
heard. General Smith, of Maryland, said something, and so did
Governor Miller, of South Carolina, At last rose Mr. Clay;
not think I ever heard him surpassed, though this was seemingly
but a minor occasion. Mr. Hayne had made some tough charges
against the committee reporting the bill. Mr. Clay was one of
that committee, and it was with fine effect he stepped forward
from his seat, and, as he said, repelled them with indignation.
With Mr. Hayne I was captivated; with Mr. Clay I was charmed:
the one all sincerity and fire, the other all learning and force.
"We arrived in Baltimore about eight, and came on the next
morning for this place. I tried to divert myself by reading
'Rob Roy.' . . . It is now one o'clock, and I have just returned
from Dr. Bedell's church. His sermon was on high doctrinal
points, yet completely practical in tendency. . . .
"I will go on with the history of my journey after writing
Sunday from Philadelphia. Monday morning at half-past six
came up the river in the boat. The tide was so low that we had
to take the stages seven miles below Trenton, and on the opposite
side of the river. Fifteen stages were crowded to overflowing,
averaging eleven or twelve passengers; and then after crossing
New Jersey to Brunswick, the Raritan was so low we had to go
on in the stages across a bridge, and seven or eight miles down
the river. Soon after starting the steamboat ran aground and
stuck there for one or two hours; so that it was fully nine o'clock
before we reached New York."
Fifteen hours and a half between Philadelphia and New York!
In these days of rapid transit we marvel at the patience which
could endure such delays.
". . . I must tell you of a great gratification I had in New York,
and one which I hope you may one day have,—in seeing the
steam printing-presses at the house of the Bible Society, and the
great number of cheap Bibles produced there. The house of the
Tract Society is also very gratifying. It would do your heart
good, and your mamma would be delighted to see the air of
Christian benevolence about everything, and the extreme neatness
of the little girls and the numerous women engaged there. It is
curious to see the great rapidity of execution in every department
of both institutions,—printing, folding, stitching, pasting,
two mules stabled in the fourth or fifth story of the Tract Society
house. They were raised up by ropes and pulleys through trapdoors,
for the purpose of working the presses, and, poor animals,—
or fat animals, for they were very fat,—they are doomed to feel
what many biped asses have felt before them,—the miseries of an
elevated station in life. . . . My expenses coming on were more
than I expected,—twenty-six dollars."
". . . I have arranged with Mr. Ross[2]
to take charge of his
scholars[3]
on Monday, and am to have them exclusively. There
are now four, and it is probable will be more, I can now tell you
the arrangement of my hours. I rise in time to be dressed by
sunrise, when I study my Bible and say my prayers. These
things I have not more than done before breakfast-time,—seven
o'clock. At eight I go to my section, and remain there until eleven.
Hereafter the next hour is to be devoted to the scholars Mr. Ross
gives up. One is, you know, the dinner-hour. From two to four
I intend devoting to Greek; from four to six reading, and the
night to mathematics. Day before yesterday I called to ask Mr.
Harris to lend me Doddridge, which he did, and offered at the
same time Bickerslith, recommending it to me. I brought it to
my room, and this morning find in your letter a desire I should
get it. I do not feel fit for the sacrament at this time. It shall
be my endeavor to cultivate the requisite temper and dispositions.
I met with Mr. Warner[4]
on Friday as I was walking for exercise.
We had a long talk as to the religious principles of many of the
young officers here, and as to the tendency to infidelity in all
young men, and particularly in the corps of cadets. I suggested
the possible advantages to be derived from his trying to introduce
'Gregory's Letters' as a part of the studies of his course. But
he seems to think the view the young men would get of Christianity
in so short a time would be so superficial as to do more
harm than good. It is, indeed, alarming here. R—came to
see us the other evening, and, as he usually does, got on the
subject of religion. I, of course, tried to defend Christianity, and
one side—till eleven o'clock. He treats the Christian religion
with the most supreme contempt, and you may judge of the pain
it gives one feeling the greatest reverence towards Christianity
to hear it and the Bible laughed at. R—has read a good
deal among the infidel writers, but I have read more on the
Evidences of Christianity than he has, and, therefore, his assertions
were less dangerous to me than they would be to many
others; but how melancholy it is that a man should thus try
to ruin his fellow-men! I have felt badly ever since. What
would become of our happiness, the confidence we have in the
death and resurrection of our Saviour being taken away?
Thanks to a merciful God, no earthly power can destroy the
ground on which that confidence rests; and how delightful it is
to the heart, when distressed, to trust in the sure promises of
a religion whose evidences have stood the test of eighteen
centuries, and still convince every fair mind! . . .
"Drills and parades are very abundant now, and there is, of
course, plenty of music; but I feel so little inclined to anything
of the sort that I scarcely hear it. . . . On Friday evening I
passed Mr. Courtenay's,[5]
and he called me to walk in and
admire his improvements (a miracle almost for him to be gardening).
It was soon tea-time, and I took tea with them.
Mrs. Courtenay inquired very particularly after you, and desired
me to give you her love. All our friends send kind messages
whenever I meet them."
Too close application to books, insufficient exercise, the loneliness
and anxiety resulting from his wife's absence, and a return
of the malaria which had made him so ill in South Carolina
combined at this time to produce some derangement of health.
Passages in his letters show that the depression and unhappiness
on religious subjects experienced a year before in Augusta,
Georgia, had returned upon him.
". . . Do not let my saying that my spirits are not very good
mar your happiness. What I feel of depression is in a good degree
owing to the want of regular exercise, which I am going to
subject of religion in my mind, arising from arguments with
some of the atheists, semi-atheists, and deists here. There
seems to be a sort of ferment on the subject now, and I am
obnoxious to the secret dislike and open attacks of them, on
account of my defending Christianity.
"Maynadier came to the Point yesterday to see about the
position offered him. He told me to-day he would not accept it
on account of the indifferent quarters. He is adjutant of his
regiment at Old Point Comfort, and thinks that situation better
than this, quarters and all considered. He told me he left Bob
Lee[6]
at Old Point leading a bachelor's life, his wife having gone
to her father's, near Washington. Mrs. Courtenay told me to say
to you how sweet the Point is looking now, with the grass,
flowers, and trees. Everything is beautiful at this season. The
clouds about sunset are the most splendid you ever saw. Last
evening, while the battalion was at parade, I was standing near
the corner of the south barrack gazing at the glory spread around
the sun as he sank behind the mountain, when Mr. Harris came
up and joined me. I pointed out the object of my attention, and
he characteristically alluded therefrom to the glory of the scene
continually beheld in heaven by those who have been faithful to
the end."
". . . After no little bustle and show I sit down to write again.
It is getting late on Monday evening. The examinations did not
begin to-day, as I had hoped, on account of the necessity for a
review by General Macomb, and because the Board of Visitors
had to be organized.
"Saturday we had to collect at the colonel's[7]
quarters to pay
our respects to General Santander, President of Colombia, and
follow him around the battalion. To-day we have been honored
by an introduction to the members of the Board, and I have just
returned from waiting on a daughter of General Preston, of
Virginia, this falling to my lot as a Virginian. Do not be
jealous. She is a married lady,—a minister's wife,—Mrs. Breckenridge,
to-morrow week I leave for Virginia, if it be the will of heaven."
Before leaving West Point, Mr. Pendleton received tidings of
the birth of a little daughter in Hanover County, Virginia. After
giving free expression to his gratitude for the preservation of
his wife, and expressing much love for the little stranger, he
further wrote:
". . . As you may suppose, I have received congratulations
from everybody. All the ladies send you love and joy. Mrs.
Courtenay hopes you will give our daughter a pretty name. An
occurrence which I imagine will hardly be over before I have the
happiness to see the little stranger. But do not understand me as
having the slightest wish to participate in the responsibility of
such nomination, provided the solemn appellations of Hope,
Patience, Charity, etc., be avoided."
| CHAPTER VII. Memoirs of William Nelson Pendleton, D.D., | |