University of Virginia Library

6. CHAPTER VI.

A day or two after my return to Lilacsbush, was presented
one of those family scenes which are so common in
the genial month of June, on the shores of the glorious old
Hudson. I call the river the old Hudson, for it is quite as
old as the Tiber, though the world has not talked of it as
much, or as long. A thousand years hence, this stream
will be known over the whole earth; and men will speak
of it as they now speak of the Danube and the Rhine. As
good wine may not be made on its banks as is made on the
acclivities of the latter river; but, even to-day, better, both
as to quality and variety, is actually drunk. On this last
point, all intelligent travellers agree.

There stands a noble linden on the lawn of Lilacsbush,
at no great distance from the house, and necessarily within
a short distance of the water. The tree had been planted
there by my grandmother Mordaunt's father, to whom the
place once belonged; and it was admirably placed for the
purposes of an afternoon's lounge. Beneath its shade we
often took our dessert and wine, in the warm months; and
thither, since their return from the army, general Littlepage
and colonel Dirck Follock used to carry their pipes, and
smoke over a campaign, or a bottle, as chance directed the
discourse. For that matter, no battle-field had ever been so
veiled in smoke, as would have been the case with the linden
in question, could there have been a concentration of all
the vapour it had seen.

The afternoon of the day just mentioned, the whole family
were seated beneath the tree, scattered round, as shade and
inclination tempted; though a small table, holding fruits
and wine, showed that the usual business of the hour had
not been neglected. The wines were Madeira and claret,
those common beverages in the country; and the fruits were
strawberries, cherries, oranges and figs; the two last imported,
of course. It was a little too early for us to get
pines from the islands, a fruit which is so common in its
season as to be readily purchased in town at the rate of four
of a good size for a dollar. But, the abundance, and even
luxury, of a better sort of the common American tables, is
no news; viands, liquors and fruits appearing on them, that
are only known to the very rich and very luxurious in the
countries of Europe. If the service were only as tasteful,
and the cooking as good with us, as both are in France, for
instance, America would be the very paradise of the epicure,
let superficial travellers say what they please to the contrary.
I have been abroad in these later times, and speak
of what I know.

No one sat at the table, though my father, colonel Dirck,
and I were near enough to reach our glasses, at need. My
mother was next to me, and reasonably close; for I did not
not smoke while aunt Mary and Kate had taken post, just
without the influence of the tobacco. On the shore was a
large skiff, that contained a tolerably sized trunk or two,
and a sort of clothes-bag. In the first were a portion of
my clothes, while those of Jaap filled the bag. The negro
himself was stretched on the grass, about half-way between
the tree and the shore, with two or three of his grandchildren
rolling about, at his feet. In the skiff was his son,
seated in readiness to use the sculls, as soon as ordered.

All this arrangement denoted my approaching departure
for the north. The wind was at the south, and sloops of
various degrees of promise and speed were appearing round
the points, coming on one in the wake of another, as each
had been able to quit the wharves to profit by the breeze.
In that day, the river had not a tenth part of the craft it
now possesses; but still, it had enough to make a little fleet,
so near town, and at a moment when wind and tide both
became favourable. At that time, most of the craft on the

Hudson belonged up the river, and they partook largely of
the taste of our Dutch ancestors. Notable travellers before
the gales, they did very little with foul winds, generally
requiring from a week to a fortnight to tide it down from
Albany, with the wind at all from the south. Nevertheless,
few persons thought of making the journey between the two
largest towns of the State (York and Albany), without
having recourse to one of these sloops. I was at that moment
in waiting for the appearance of a certain “Eagle, of
Albany, captain Bogert,” which was to run in close to
Lilacsbush, and receive me on board, agreeably to an arrangement
previously made in town. I was induced to take
a passage in this vessel from the circumstance that she had
a sort of after-cabin that was screened by an ample green
curtain, an advantage that all the vessels which then plied
on the river did not possess; though great improvements
have been making ever since the period of which I am now
writing.

Of course, the interval thus passed in waiting for the appearance
of the Eagle was filled up, more or less, by discourse.
Jaap, who was to accompany me in my journey to
Ravensnest, knew every vessel on the river, as soon as he
could see her, and we depended on him to let us know when
I was to embark, though the movements of the sloop herself
could not fail to give us timely notice of the necessity
of taking leave.

“I should like exceedingly to pay a visit to old Mrs.
Vander Heyden, at Kinderhook, Mordaunt,” said my mother,
after one of the frequent pauses that occurred in the
discourse. “She is a relation, and I feel a great regard for
her; so much the more, from the circumstance of her being
associated in my mind with that frightful night on the river,
of which you have heard me speak.”

As my mother ceased speaking, she glanced affectionately
towards the general, who returned the look, as he returned
all my mother's looks, with one filled with manly tenderness.
A more united couple than my parents never existed.
They seemed to me ordinarily to have but one mind between
them; and when there did occur any slight difference of
opinion, the question was not which should prevail, but
which should yield. Of the two, my mother may have had

the most native intellect, though the general was a fine,
manly, sensible person, and was very universally respected.

“It might be well, Anneke,” said my father, “if the
major were to pay a visit to poor Guert's grave, and see if
the stones are up, and that the place is kept as it should be.
I have not been there since the year '68, when it looked as
if a friendly eye might do some good at no distant day.”

This was said in a low voice, purposely to prevent aunt
Mary from hearing it; and, as she was a little deaf, it is
probable the intention was successful. Not so, however,
with colonel Dirck, who drew the pipe from his mouth, and
sat attentively listening, in the manner of one who felt great
interest in the subject. Another pause succeeded.

“T'en t'ere ist my Lort Howe, Corny,” observed the
colonel; “how is it wit' his grave?”

“Oh! the colony took good care of that. They buried
him in the main aisle of St. Peter's, I believe; and, no doubt,
all is right with him. As for the other, major, it might be
well to look at it.”

“Great changes have taken place at Albany, since we
were there as young people!” observed my mother, thoughtfully.
“The Cuylers are much broken up by the revolution,
while the Schuylers have grown greater than ever.
Poor aunt Schuyler, she is no longer living to welcome a
son of ours!”

“Time will bring about such changes, my love; and we
can only be thankful that so many of us remain, after so
long and bloody a war.”

I saw my mother's lips move, and I knew she was murmuring
a thanksgiving to the power which had preserved
her husband and son, through the late struggle.

“You will write as often as opportunities occur, Mordaunt,”
said that dear parent, after a longer pause than
usual. “Now there is peace, I can hope to get your letters
with some little regularity.”

“They tell me, cousin Anneke” — for so the colonel always
called my mother, when we were alone — “They tell
me, cousin Anneke,” said colonel Dirck, “t'at t'ey actually
mean to have a mail t'ree times a week petween Alpany
and York! T'ere ist no knowing, general, what t'is glorious
revolution will not do for us!”

“If it bring me letters three times a week from those I
love,” rejoined my mother, “I am sure my patriotism will
be greatly increased. How will letters get out from Ravensnest
to the older parts of the colony — I should say, State,
Mordaunt?”

“I must trust to the settlers for that. Hundreds of Yankees,
they tell me, are out looking for farms this summer.
I may use some of them for messengers.”

“Don't trust 'em too much, or too many” — growled
colonel Dirck, who had the old Dutch grudge against our
eastern brethren. “See how they behav't to Schuyler.”

“Yes,” said my father, replenishing his pipe, “they
might have manifested more justice and less prejudice to
wise Philip; but prejudices will exist, all over the world.
Even Washington has had his share.”

“T'at is a great man!” exclaimed colonel Dirck, with
emphasis, and in the manner of one who felt certain of his
point. “A ferry great man!”

“No one will dispute with you, colonel, on that subject;
but, have you no message to send to our old comrade, Andries
Coejemans? He must have been at Mooseridge, with
his party of surveyors, now, near a twelvemonth, and I 'll
warrant you has thoroughly looked up the old boundaries,
so as to be ready for Mordaunt to start afresh, as soon as
the boy reaches the Patent.”

“I hope he hast not hiret a Yankee surveyor, Corny,”
put in the colonel, in some little alarm. “If one of t 'em
animals gets upon the tract, he will manage to carry off
half of the lant in his compass-box! I hope olt Andries
knows petter.”

“I dare say he 'll manage to keep all the land, as well as
to survey it. It is a thousand pities the captain has no head
for figures; for his honesty would have made his fortune.
But, I have seen him tried, and know it will not do. He
was a week once making up an account of some stores received
from head-quarters, and the nearest he could get to
the result was twenty-five per cent. out of the way.”

“I would sooner trust Andries Coejemans to survey my
property, figures or no figures,” cried colonel Dirck, positively,
“than any dominie in New England.”

“Well, that is as one thinks,” returned my father, tasting

the Madeira. “For my part, I shall be satisfied with the
surveyor he may happen to select, even though he should
be a Yankee. Andries is shrewd, if he be no calculator;
and I dare to say he has engaged a suitable man. Having
taken the job at a liberal price, he is too honest a fellow not
to hire a proper person to do the head-work. As for all the
rest, I would trust him as soon as I would trust any man in
America.”

“T'at is gospel. Mordaunt will haf an eye on matters
too, seein' he has so great an interest in the estate. T'ere
is one t'ing, major, you must not forget. Five hundred goot
acres must be surveyed off for sister Anneke, and five hundred
for pretty Kate, here. As soon as t'at is done, the
general and I will give each of the gals a deet.”

“Thank you, Dirck,” said my father, with feeling. “I'll
not refuse the land for the girls, who may be glad enough
to own it some time or other.”

“It 's no great matter now, Corny; put, as you say, it
may be of use one day. Suppose we make old Andries a
present of a farm, in his pargain.”

“With all my heart,” cried my father, quickly. “A
couple of hundred acres might make him comfortable for
the rest of his days. I thank you for the hint, Dirck, and
we will let Mordaunt choose the lot, and send us the description,
that we may prepare the deed.”

“You forget, general, that the Chainbearer has, or will
have his military lot, as a captain,” I ventured to remark.
“Besides, land will be of little use to him, unless it might
be to measure it. I doubt if the old man would not prefer
going without his dinner, to hoeing a hill of potatoes.”

“Andries had three slaves while he was with us; a man,
a woman, and their daughter,” returned my father. “He
would not sell them, he said, on any consideration; and I
have known him actually suffering for money when he was
too proud to accept it from his friends, and too benevolent
to part with family slaves, in order to raise it. `They were
born Coejemans,' he always said, `as much as I was born
one myself, and they shall die Coejemans.' He doubtless
has these people with him, at the Ridge, where you will
find them all encamped, near some spring, with garden-stuff
and other small things growing around him, if he can

find open land enough for such a purpose. He has permission
to cut and till at pleasure.”

“This is agreeable news to me, general,” I answered,
“since it promises a sort of home. If the Chainbearer has
really these blacks with him, and has hutted judiciously, I
dare say we shall have quite as comfortable a time as many
of those we passed together in camp. Then, I shall carry
my flute with me; for Miss Priscilla Bayard has given me
reason to expect a very wonderful creature in Dus, the
niece, of which old Andries used to talk so much. You
remember to have heard the Chainbearer speak of such a
person, I dare say, sir; for he was quite fond of mentioning
her.”

“Perfectly well; Dus Malbone was a sort of toast among
the young men of the regiment at one time, though no one
of them all ever could get a sight of her, by hook or by
crook.”

Happening to turn my head at that moment, I found my
dear mother's eyes turned curiously on me; brought there,
I fancy, by the allusion to Tom's sister.

“What does Priscilla Bayard know of this Chainbearer's
niece?” that beloved parent asked, as soon as she perceived
that her look had attracted my attention.

“A great deal, it would seem; since she tells me they
are fast friends: quite as great, I should judge from Miss
Bayard's language and manner, as Kate and herself.”

“That can scarcely be,” returned my mother, slightly
smiling, “since there the principal reason must be wanting.
Then, this Dus can hardly be Priscilla Bayard's equal.”

“One never knows such a thing, mother, until he has
had an opportunity of making comparisons; though Miss
Bayard, herself, says Dus is much her superior in many
things. I am sure her uncle is my superior in some respects;
in carrying chain, particularly so.”

“Ay, but scarcely in station, Mordaunt.”

“He was the senior captain of the regiment.”

“True; but revolutions are revolutions. What I mean
is, that your Chainbearer can hardly be a gentleman.”

“That is a point not to be decided in a breath. He is,
and he is not. Old Andries is of a respectable family,
though but indifferently educated. Men vastly his inferiors

in birth, in habits, in the general notions of the easte, in the
New England States, are greatly his superiors in knowledge.
Nevertheless, while we must all admit how necessary
a certain amount of education has become, at the present
time, to make a gentleman, I think every gentleman will
allow hundreds among us have degrees in their pockets with
small claims to belong to the class. Three or four centuries
ago, I should have answered that old Andries was a gentleman,
though he had to bite the wax with his teeth and make
a cross, for want of a better signature.”

“And he, what you call a chainbearer, Mordaunt!” exclaimed
my sister.

“As well as late senior captain in your father's regiment,
Miss Littlepage. But, no matter, Andries and Dus are such
as they are, and I shall be glad to have them for companions
this summer. Jaap is making signals, and I must quit you
all. Heigho! It is very pleasant here, under this linden,
and home begins to entwine its fibres around my heart.
Never mind; it will soon be autumn, and I shall see the
whole of you, I trust, as I leave you, well and happy in
town.”

My dear, dear mother had tears in her eyes, when she
embraced me; so had Kate, who, though she did love Tom
Bayard most, loved me very warmly too. Aunt Mary
kissed me, in her quiet but affectionate way; and I shook
hands with the gentlemen, who accompanied me down to
the boat. I could see that my father was affected. Had
the war still continued, he would have thought nothing of
the separation; but in that piping time of peace, it seemed
to come unseasonably.

“Now, don't forget the great lots for Anneke and Katrinke,”
said colonel Dirck, as we descended to the shore.
“Let Andries pick out some of the best of the lant, t'at is
well watered and timbered, and we 'll call the lots after the
gals; that is a goot idea, Corny.”

“Excellent, my friend. Mordaunt, my son, if you come
across any places that look like graves, I wish you would
set up marks by which they may be known. It is true, a
quarter of a century or more makes many changes in the
woods; and it is quite likely no such remains will be
found.”

“A quarter of a century in the American forest, sir,” I
answered, “is somewhat like the same period in the wanderings
of a comet; lost, in the numberless years of its
growth. A single tree will sometimes outlast the generations
of an entire nation.”

“You wilt rememper, Mordaunt, that I wilt haf no Yankee
tenants on my estate. Your father may lease 'em one-half
of a lot, if he please; but I will not lease t'other.”

“As you are tenants in common, gentlemen,” I answered,
smiling, “it will not be easy to separate the interests in this
manner. I believe I understand you, however; I am to sell
the lands of Mooseridge, or covenant to sell, as your attorney,
while I follow out my grandfather Mordaunt's ideas,
and lease those that are not yet leased, on my own estate.
This will at least give the settlers a choice, and those who
do not like one plan of obtaining their farms, may adopt the
other.”

I now shook hands again with the gentlemen, and stepping
into the skiff, we pulled away from the shore. Jaap
had made this movement in good season, and we were compelled
to row a quarter of a mile down the river to meet the
sloop. Although the wind was perfectly fair, it was not so
fresh as to induce Mr. Bogert to round-to; but throwing us
a rope, it was caught, when we were safely transferred, bag
and baggage, to the decks of the Eagle.

Captain Bogert was smoking at the helm, when he returned
my salute. Removing the pipe, after a puff or two,
he pointed with the stem towards the group on the shore,
and inquired if I wished to say “good-bye.”

“Allponny”—so the Dutch were wont to pronounce the
name of their town in the last century, “is a long way off,”
he said, “and maype you woult like to see the frients ag'in.”

This business of waving hats and handkerchiefs is a regular
thing on the Hudson, and I expressed my willingness
to comply with the usage, as a matter of course.[1] In consequence,

Mr. Bogert deliberately sheared in towards the
shore, and I saw the whole family collecting on a low rock,
near the water, to take the final look. In the back-ground
stood the Satanstoes, a dark, woolly group, including Mrs.
Jaap, and two generations of descendants. The whites were
weeping; that is to say, my dear mother and Kate; and the
blacks were laughing, though the old lady kept her teeth to
herself about as much as she exposed them. A sensation
almost invariably produces laughter with a negro, the only
exceptions being on occasions of singular gravity.

I believe, if the truth were known, Mr. Bogert greatly
exulted in the stately movement of his sloop, as she brushed
along the shore, at no great distance from the rocks, with
her main-boom guyed out to starboard, and studdingsailboom
to port. The flying-topsail, too, was set; and the Eagle
might be said to be moving in all her glory. She went so
near the rocks, too, as if she despised danger! Those were
not the days of close calculations that have succeeded.
Then, an Albany skipper did not mind losing a hundred or
two feet of distance in making his run; whereas, now, it
would not be an easy matter to persuade a Liverpool trader
to turn as much aside in order to speak a stranger in the
centre of the Atlantic; unless, indeed, he happened to want
to get the other's longitude.

As the sloop swept past the rocks, I got bows, waving of
hats and handkerchiefs, and good wishes enough to last the
whole voyage. Even Jaap had his share; and “good-bye,
Jaap,” came to my ears, from even the sweet voice of Kate.
Away we went, in stately Dutch movement, slow but sure.
In ten minutes Lilacsbush was behind us, and I was once
more alone in the world, for months to come.

There was now time to look about me, and to ascertain
who were my companions in this voyage. The skipper and
crew were as usual the masters; and the pilots, both whites,

and both of Dutch extraction, an old wrinkled negro, who
had passed his life on the Hudson as a foremast-hand, and
two younger blacks, one of whom was what was dignified
with the name of cabin-steward. Then, there were numerous
passengers; some of whom appeared to belong to the
upper classes. They were of both sexes, but all were
strangers to me. On the main-deck were six or eight sturdy,
decent, quiet, respectable-looking labourers, who were evidently
of the class of husbandmen. Their packs were lying
in a pile, near the foot of the mast, and I did not fail to observe
that there were as many axes as there were packs.

The American axe! It has made more real and lasting
conquests than the sword of any warlike people that ever
lived; but, they have been conquests that have left civilization
in their train, instead of havoc and desolation. More
than a million of square miles of territory[2] have been opened
up from the shades of the virgin forest, to admit the
warmth of the sun; and culture and abundance have been
spread where the beast of the forest so lately roamed, hunted
by the savage. Most of this, too, has been effected between
the day when I went on board the Eagle, and that on which
I am now writing. A brief quarter of a century has seen
these wonderful changes wrought; and at the bottom of
them all lies this beautiful, well-prized, ready, and efficient
implement, the American axe!

It would not be easy to give the reader a clear notion of
the manner in which the young men and men of all ages of
the older portions of the new republic poured into the woods
to commence the business of felling the forests, and laying
bare the secrets of nature, as soon as the nation rose from
beneath the pressure of war, to enjoy the freedom of peace.
The history of that day in New York, which State led the
van in the righteous strife of improvement, and has ever
since so nobly maintained its vantage-ground, has not yet
been written. When it is properly recorded, names will be
rescued from oblivion that better deserve statues and niches
in the temple of national glory, than those of many who have
merely got the start of them by means of the greater facility
with which the public mind is led away in the train of

brilliant exploits, than it is made sensible of the merits of
those that are humane and useful.

It was not usual for settlers, as it has become the practice
to term those who first take up and establish themselves on
new lands, to make their journeys from the neighbourhood
of the sea to the interior, other than by land; but a few
passed out of Connecticut, by the way of New York, and
thence up the river in the sloops. Of this character were
those I found on board the Eagle. In all, we had seven of
these men, who got into discourse with me the first day of
our passage, and I was a little surprised at discovering how
much they already knew of me, and of my movements.
Jaap, however, soon suggested himself to my mind, as the
probable means of the intelligence they had gleaned; and,
on inquiry, such I ascertained was the fact.

The curiosity and the questioning propensities of the people
of New England, have been so generally admitted by
writers and commentators on American character, that I
suppose one has a right to assume the truth of the characteristics.
I have heard various ways of accounting for
them; and, among others, the circumstance of their disposition
to emigrate, which brings with it the necessity of inquiring
after the welfare of friends at a distance. It appears
to me, however, this is taking a very narrow view of the
cause, which I attribute to the general activity of mind
among a people little restrained by the conventional usages
of more sophisticated conditions of society. The practice
of referring so much to the common mind, too, has a great
influence on all the opinions of this peculiar portion of the
American population, seeming to confer the right to inquire
into matters that are elsewhere protected by the sacred feeling
of individual privacy.

Let this be as it might, my axe-men had contrived to get
out of Jaap all he knew about Ravensnest and Mooseridge,
as well as my motives in making the present journey. This
information obtained, they were not slow in introducing
themselves to me, and of asking the questions that were
uppermost in their minds. Of course, I made such answers
as were called for by the case, and we established a sort
of business acquaintance between us, the very first day.
The voyage lasting several days, by the time we reached

Albany, pretty much all that could be said on such a subject
had been uttered by one side or the other.

As respected Ravensnest, my own property, my grandfather
had requested in his will that the farms might be
leased, having an eye to my children's profit, rather than
to mine. His request was a law to me, and I had fully determined
to offer the unoccupied lands of that estate, or
quite three-fourths of the whole patent, on leases similar in
their conditions to those which had already been granted.
On the other hand, it was the intention to part with the lots
of Mooseridge, in fee. These conditions were made known
to the axe-men, as my first essay in settling a new country;
and contrary to what had been my expectation, I soon discovered
that these adventurers inclined more to the leases
than to the deeds. It is true, I expected a small payment
down, in the case of each absolute sale, while I was prepared
to grant leases, for three lives, at very low rents at
the best; and in the cases of a large proportion of the lots,
those that were the least eligible by situation, or through
their quality, to grant them leases without any rent at all,
for the few first years of their occupation. These last advantages,
and the opportunity of possessing lands a goodly
term of years, for rents that were put as low as a shilling
an acre, were strong inducements, as I soon discovered,
with those who carried all they were worth in their packs,
and who thus reserved the little money they possessed to
supply the wants of their future husbandry.

We talked these matters over during the week we were
on board the sloop; and by the time we came in sight of the
steeples of Albany, my men's minds were made up to follow
me to the Nest. These steeples were then two in number,
viz: that of the English church, that stood near the margin
of the town, against the hill; and that of the Dutch church,
which occupied an humbler site, on the low land, and could
scarcely be seen rising above the pointed roofs of the adjacent
houses; though these last, themselves, were neither
particularly high, nor particularly imposing.