University of Virginia Library

12. CHAPTER XII.
THE HISTORY OF MR. GIRARDEAU.

During the period of our Colonial existence, the
American Planters were in the practice of importing, not
black slaves from the coast of Guinea alone, but also white
servants from various parts of Europe. Among the proprietors
of the Simsbury Copper Mines in the State of
Connecticut were several Frenchmen, the wealthy, enterprising,
exiled Huguenots. It became an object with these
gentlemen to combine in their establishment those who
could speak their own tongue. About the year 1740, there
arrived in Norfolk, Virginia, a cargo of servants, and of the
number were some from Jersy, an island belonging to the
English Crown, but inhabited in good part by a French
population. A purchase was made, including a portion of
this last description of persons. In the lot were Jean
Waugh, and Marie his sister. Jean was a young man of
some ambition. He was ready to exchange poverty and
oppression in the Old World, for temporary vassalage in
the New, with the prospect of ultimate enfranchisement and
possessions. He threw himself, with his sister, into the
hands of an American shipmaster, consented to be advertised
with coals and salt in the public prints, to be knocked
off at public vendue, and for the consideration of twelve
pounds paid the importer became the subject of indentures
binding him to the Simsbury Company for six years, the
term affixed by law to those of his age. Jean was master
of the French and English languages; he could read and

write, he was spirited and active. He wheeled ore with
blacks, labored with the pickaxe, and drilled rocks. By
the regulations of the peculiar institution to which he was
subservient, he could not marry; none could trade or truck
with him; he could not leave the premises, nor was he
eligible to office. In the result he became tired of his condition,
one indeed not congenial with the spirit of the
present age, and the vestiges of which can only be traced
in an obscure antiquity. Adopting an obvious method of
deliverance, he ran away, a criminal offence, for which he was
publicly whipped. Returning a blow upon the executioner,
he became liable to two years' additional service. Again
contriving to escape, he joined a gang of counterfeiters, and
the Bills of Credit issued by the Provinces, in periods of
alarm, became encumbered and perplexed. He fled the
region, and a few years afterwards reappeared in New
York, associated with brokers, smugglers, and that class of
men who contrive to reap advantage from public distress or
private credulity. Here he took the name of Girardeau,
and, as such, has already been introduced to our readers.

It so happened that a little boy, who dwelt in the neighborhood
of the Mines, and often played about the grounds,
was a witness of Jean's punishment, and from a habit
peculiar to his nature, took sides with the delinquent; and
ultimately gave him essential support in his attempts to
escape. This was Didymus Hart, familiarly known in this
Memoir as Pluck. Marie, the sister of Mr. Girardeau,
seduced by an Overseer at the Mines, died in giving birth
to twin daughters, one of whom Didymus subsequently
married, and the other became the Mrs. Wiswall mentioned
in the foregoing chapter.

To digress a moment on the history of Pluck—after Mr.
Girardeau was in circumstances to recompense his benefactor,

as well as show his attachment to the child of his
sister, he made liberal grants to Mr. Hart, and even helped
establish him in some mercantile pursuit. But Pluck,
abandoning himself to his cups, dissipated at once his good
name and his estate; and for some misdemeanor, losing one
of his ears, he became still more reckless and improvident,
and finally succeeded in completely estranging the affection
of Mr. Girardeau, as he had already forfeited the respect of
his fellow-citizens. He removed to Livingston, where he
supported his family awhile by tending bar for Mr. Smith,
at No. 4, and at last took up his residence at the Pond.

Mr. Girardeau married a sister of the grandmother of
Rose. The acquisition of wealth became the engrossing
passion of this man, an object that he clutched with a
miserly and inextinguishable activity, and with a singleness
of aim and sagacity of calculation that rendered elusion
impossible. For this he sacrificed all generous impulses,
inflicted unhappiness on his family, sent his wife to a
premature grave, and would have wrecked the virtues, as he
finally contributed to the death, of his child. When imposts
were high he contrived to smuggle his commodities; when
premium was exorbitant, he had money to lend. If trade
was interrupted in one quarter, he opened channels for it
in another. As fortune is said to aid the bold, when the
ports were closed, what should happen but his own well-laden
ships were already in the offing. During the first
alarms of the War, when multitudes deserted the city, he
became chapman of their estates; confiscated property he
bid in for a trifle. He trafficked in public securities, and
realized much where many lost their all. Mr. Girardeau
was master of the German, either by an original acquisition,
or from intercourse with that portion of our immigrant
population; thus supplied with three important dialects, he

held a position superior to most of his contemporaries.
This language he also taught his daughter, who, it will be
recollected, was able to discourse with Brückmann, the
young Waldecker, in his own tongue. During the War,
for purposes humane or military, large quantities of gold
and silver were transported backwards and forwards between
the adjacent country and the city. Much of this
passed through the hands of Mr. Girardeau, who did not
fail to take due brokerage. He was a Patriot, or Tory, with
equal facility; and if he accommodated his coat to the hue
of the parties with whom he dealt, its facing retained but
one color, that of their common gold. In these negotiations
he also employed the services of his other twin niece,
Mrs. Wiswall, and her little boy, called Raxman, whom at
the close of the War, it has been related, Nimrod found on
the premises of Mr. Girardeau. The acquaintance of this
woman on both sides of the line, the protection afforded by
her sex, the harmlessness of the lad, were circumstances of
which he did not fail to avail himself. Introduced to the
secrets of the contending powers, he made adventures with
a safe foresight. The agent of factions and intrigues, he
never violated his trust except when driven to what is
termed the first law of nature, to which he had timely
recourse. The public good he satisfied himself he carried,
where others have borne important sections of the country,
in his breeches pocket. At the close of the War he
purchased city lands, which in the progress of time doubled
and quadrupled on his hands. In the game of public life,
leaving to others offices and honors, place and power, he
managed to sweep the banks into his own drawers. When
war threatened with France, he obtained foreign exchange
at a discount, and after the disturbance sold it at an advance.
He speculated in continental bills; he profited by
the wars of Europe. Such was Mr. Girardeau. At the
expiration of the century, the Jersey servant had arisen to a
fortune, estimated, at the time, as high as two millions of
dollars.

But old age had already overtaken him, and death was
not far off. Palsy, without a figure, loosened his hold of
his gains, and he could not be indifferent to the destination
of an estate amassed with so much painstaking. From
the depths of the ocean come up bubbles that sparkle on its
surface. In Mr. Girardeau appeared some symptoms of
an imperishable humanity. His daughter he had persecuted
even unto death. He began to refreshen his memory
with some thoughts of the grandchild. He discovered the
place of her abode, and, in an assumed costume, appeared at
the Pond. Having certified himself of her existence and
identity, he departed. Why did he not make himself known?
Nimrod, whose parentage was disguised, when he first
became the servant of Mr. Girardeau, exceedingly provoked
and irritated him. Pluck, having once pitied, he
could never forgive. To Brown Moll, his niece, he attributed
a share of her husband's misfortunes. But we cannot
explain what we do not understand, the labyrinths of
the human mind, nor can we relate all the operations of
that of Mr. Girardeau. It suffices to know that he did
relent, at least so far as his grandchild was concerned, and
embraced Margaret in his munificent intentions. Raxman
had continued in his grand-uncle's employ in the capacity
of a clerk, an office he fulfilled with the fidelity of a child
and the industry of a slave. But this young gentleman's
conduct with Rose, having reached the ears of Mr. Girardeau,
gave him great provocation. At length, however,
the apparent reformation of Raxman induced him to offer
him a liberal endowment if he would marry Margaret.

To effect this object Raxman made a journey to the
Pond, where his success has been related. Here, also, this
young man found an unexpected obstacle to his wishes
in the presence of Rose. It needs also to be told that he
applied to the Widow Wright, and sought, by means which
he found most acceptable with that lady, to gain her to his
purpose; which had now become twofold, that of securing
Margaret and withdrawing Rose. But the Widow, who
had her dreams about Margaret, when she found she was
likely to lose her to herself, immediately changed her tactics,
and endeavored to detain Margaret, and insisted that
he should marry Rose. Raxman left the Pond and
returned to New York, where he found Nimrod, to whose
assistance in this complicity of affair she appealed. But
Nimrod had no friendship for Raxman, and a very strong
one for Margaret.

Now at this time Mr. Girardeau himself began to exhibit
signs of penitence; he avowed a most benevolent interest in
his grandchild; and assured Nimrod that every thing should
be done for the good and felicity of Margaret, if he would
render aid to Raxman. Accordingly he was hired to take
her away from the Pond, a measure which he undertook in
the manner described. He was to meet Raxman at Hartford;
great was the disappointment of the young man to
find Rose of the company. He suggested the continuation
of the journey to Boston. He hastened on before and
acquainted his mother with his designs. He was in Cambridge
when the party arrived there; he had intelligence
conveyed to the girls of the imprisonment of Nimrod and
Obed; he hovered on their steps as they entered the city;
he knew of the letter to the sister of the Deacon; he came
up with them as they parted with Edward Jones; and
muffled in a cloak, disguising his voice, he conducted them

to his mother's; who, in truth, was sometimes called Wiswall.
He remained about the house, but was not seen in
it. The attachment of Margaret and Rose was a difficulty
not easily surmounted; various methods were taken to
divide them, but all failed. At length the accidental withdrawal
occured as they returned from the Theatre. Raxman
sought to improve the moment; but a new balk to his
projects offered itself in the person of Ben Bolter. The
result is known. Tim, whom the sailor sported on all
occasions, dealt the young man a mortal blow. It might
appear that Ben Bolter himself had some secret antipathy
to Raxman; but of this we have no further knowledge
that his owm words imply. Mr. Girardeau, learning what
had befallen his relative, immediately came to Boston.

Such is the narrative to which the preceding chapter has
given rise; and now, whatever relates to these accidental
personages having been told, and the thread of the story
evolved, let us return to the principal subject of this Tale.

A new sphere of interest was open to Margaret, and one
in which, notwithstanding her need of quiet and repose, she
set herself to making immediate exploration; we refer to
the circumstances of her own birth, and the history of her
father and mother, Gottfried Brückmann and Jane Girardeau.
Sedulous and minute were her inquiries on these
points; and she found her grandfather, as well as Nimrod,
disposed to communicate whatever they knew. Edward
Jones, then in correspondence with Mr. Evelyn, wrote his
friend, who was expecting to visit Germany, to make
inquiries concerning Brückmann and Margaret Bruneau,
in Pyrmont and Rubillaud. Mr. Girardeau had religiously
preserved the relics of his daughter and her husband, and
said he had in his possession the flute, books, and sundry
papers which they left. The bulk of his estate he made

over to Margaret, reserving annuities for his niece and her
daughter, Mrs. Wiswall and Bertha, in amount sufficient
to rescue them from their present mode of life; Rose also
received a gratuity equal to a moderate fortune. They
were summoned ere long to fulfil the last duties of humanity
upon Raxman.

It was decided that Margaret and Rose should spend the
winter in Boston. Deacon Ramsdill, Nimrod and Obed, returned
to Livingston; the latter handsomely laden with
gifts, and the profits of his enterprise; Nimrod furnished
with the means of redeeming the estate at the Pond, and
also of executing his proposed marriage. The father of
Margaret being a German, and having left books and
manuscripts in that tongue, in which also her mother was
skilled, she must also attempt its acquisition; an exercise
in which she was assisted by Edward Jones. She devoted
some time every day to music, that of the piano and
guitar. There were not wanting benevolent persons in the
city, who, apprised of her good fortune, endeavored that she
should turn it to the best account. New bonnets, new
ribbons, the latest style of dresses, were topics on which
she was duly enlightened. To balls, theatres, routs, card-parties
she was duly invited; but this proved an attention
it was not in her power to answer.

A concession on the part of Rose afforded Margaret unmingled
pleasure; she agreed to go with her to Church;
and having gone half a day they went a whole day; and
from going occasionally they went constantly. Spring
came at last; and Margaret and Rose, with Edward Jones
in company, started on horseback for Livingston. The
sadness with which they approached the town did not
abate as they entered the still desolate Green. They

returned the greetings of their old friends, and hastened to
the Pond. The whole family came out to welcome them,
Bull, and all. Chilion was not there! Here the compiler
takes leave of Margaret, submitting, to such as would
pursue the sequel of her life, the Part which follows.