Swallow barn or a sojourn in the old dominion

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OHAPTER. PAGE A word in advance from the Author to the Reader, x y 4 Introductory Epistle, . : : : ' 5 . 13

I. Swallow Barn, ; ; < , ; 27

Ii. A Country Gentleman, 0 “ 0 3 31

Chapter I. A Country Gentleman

Tue master of this lordly domain is Frank Meriwether. He is now in the meridian of life—somewhere about forty-five. Good cheer and an easy temper tell well upon him. The first has given him a comfortable, portly figure, and the latter a contemplative turn of mind, which inclines him to be lazy and philosophical. He has some right to pride himself on his personal appearance, for he has a handsome face, with a dark blue eye and a fine intellectual brow. His head is growing scant of hair on the crown, which induces him to be somewhat particular in the management of his locks in that locality, and these are assuming a decided silvery hue. °

It is pleasant to see him when he is going to ride to the Court House on business occasions. He is then apt to make his appearance in a coat. of blue broadcloth, astonishingly glossy, and with an unusual amount of plaited ruffle strutting through the folds of a Marseilles waistcoat. A worshipful finish is given to this costume by a large straw hat, lined with green silk. There is a magisterial fulness in his garments which betokens condition in the world, and a heavy bunch of seals, suspended by a chain of gold, jingles as he moves, pronouncing him a man of superfluities.

It is considered rather extraordinary that he has never set up for Congress: but the truth is, he is an unambitious man, and has a great dislike to currying favor—as he calls it. And, besides, he is thoroughly conyinced that there will always be men chough in Virginia willing to serve the people, and therefore does not see why he should trouble his head about it. Some years ago, however, there was really an impression that he meant to come out. By some sudden whim, he took it into his head to | visit Washington during the session of Congress, and returned, — after a fortnight, very seriously distempered with polities. He told curious anecdotes of certain secret intrigues which had been — ‘discovered in the affairs of the capital, gave a clear insight into. the views of some deep-laid combinations, and became, all at once, painfully florid in his discourse, and dogmatical to a degree that made his wife stare. Fortunately, this orgasm soon subsided; and Frank relapsed into an indolent gentleman of the opposition ; but it had the effect to give a much more decided cast to his studies, for he forthwith discarded the “ Richmond Whig” from his newspaper subscription, and took to “The Enquirer,” like a man who was not to be disturbed by doubts. And as it was morally impossible to believe all that was written on both sides, to prevent his mind from being abused, he from this time forward took a stand against the re-election of Mr. Adams to the Presidency, and resolved to give an implicit faith to all alleged facts which set against his administration. The consequence of this straight-forward and confiding deportment was an unexpected complimentary notice of him by the Executive of the State. He was put into the commission of the peace, and having thus become a public man against his will, his opinions were observed to undergo some essential changes. He now thinks that a good citizen ought neither to solicit nor decline office; that the magistracy of Virginia is the sturdiest pillar which supports the fabric

_ of the Constitution ; and that the people, “ though in their opinions they may be mistaken, in their sentiments they are never wrong ;”—-with some such other dogmas as, a few years ago, he did not hold in very good repute. In this temper, he has of late embarked on the millpond of county affairs, and nothwithstanding his amiable character and his doctrinary republicanism, I am told he keeps the peace as if he commanded a garrison, and administers justice like a Cadi. :

He has some claim to supremacy in this last department ; for during three years he smoked segars in a lawyer’s office in Richmond, which enabled him to obtain a bird’s-eye view of Blackstone and the Revised Code. Besides this, he was a member of a Law Debating Society, which ate oysters once a week in a cellar; and he wore, in accordance with the usage of the most prom- _ ising law students of that day, six cravats, one over the other, and , yellow-topped boots, by which he was recognized as a blood of the metropolis. Having in this way qualified himself to assert and maintain his rights, he came to his estate, upon his arrival at age, avery model of landed gentlemen. Since that time his avocations have had a certain literary tincture; for having settled himself down as a married man, and got rid of his superfluous foppery, he rambled with wonderful assiduity through a wilderness of romances, poems, and dissertations, which are now collected in his library, and, with their battered blue covers, present a lively type of an army of continentals at the close of the war, or a hospital of invalids. These have all, at last, given way to the newspapers—a miscellaneous study very attractive and engrossing to country gentlemen. This line of study has rendered Meriwether a most perilous antagonist in the matter of legislative proceedings.

A landed proprietor, with a good house and a host of servants, is naturally a hospitable man. A guest is one of his daily wants. Q* a Rte (A COUNTRY GENTLEMAN.

A friendly face is a necessary of life, without which the heart is apt to starve, or a luxury without which it grows parsimonious. Men who are isolated from society by distance, feel these wants by an instinct, and are grateful for the opportunity to relieve them. In Meriwether, the sentiment goes beyond this. It has, besides, something dialectic in it. His house is open to every body, as freely almost as an inn. But to see him when he has had the good fortune to pick up an intelligent, educated gentleman,—and particularly one who listens well !—a respectable, assentatious stranger !—All the better if he has been in the Legislature, or better still, if in Congress. Such a person caught within the purlieus of Swallow Barn, may set down one week’s entertainment as certain—inevitable, and as many more as he likes—the more the merrier. He will know something of the quality of Meriwether’s rhetoric before he is gone.

Then again, it is very pleasant to see Frank’s kind and considerate’ bearing towards his servants and dependents. His slaves appreciate this, and hold him in most affectionate reverence, and, therefire, are not only contented, but happy under his dominion.

Meriwether is not much of a traveller. He has never been in New England, and very seldom beyond the confines of Virginia. He makes now and then a winter excursion to Richmond, which, I ratber think, he considers as the centre of civilization ; _ and towaris autumn, it is his custom to journey over the mountain to the Springs, which he is obliged to do to avoid the unhealthy season in the tide-water region. But the upper country is not much to his taste, and would not be endured by him if it were not for the crowds that resort there for the same reason which operates upon him ; and I may add,—though he would not confess it—for the opportunity this concourse affords him for discussion of opinions.

He thinks lightly of the mercantile interest, and, in fact, underyalues the manners of the large cities generally. He believes that those who live in them are hollow-hearted and insincere, and wanting in that substantial intelligence and virtue, which he affirms to be characteristic of the country. He is an ardent admirer of the genius of Virginia, and is frequent in his commendation of a toast in which the state is compared to the mother of

_ the Gracchi :—indeed, it is a familiar thing with him to speak of the aristocracy of talent as only inferior to that of the landed in-

_ terest,—the idea of a freeholder inferring to his mind a certain - constitutional pre-eminence in all the virtues of citizenship, as a matter of course.

The solitary elevation of a country gentleman, well to do in the world, begets some magnificent notions. He becomes as infallible as the Pope; gradually acquires a habit of making long speeches ; is apt to be impatient of contradiction, and is always very touchy on the point of honor. There is nothing more conclusive than a rich man’s logic any where, but in the country, amongst his dependents, it flows with the smooth and unresisted course of a full stream irrigating a meadow, and depositing its

- mud in fertilizing luxuriance. _ Meriwether’s sayings, about Swallow-Barn, import absolute verity. But I have discovered that they are not so current out of his jurisdiction. Indeed, every now and then, we have quite obstinate discussions when some of the neighboring potentates, who stand in the same sphere with Frank, come to the house; for these worthies have opinions of their own, and nothing can be more dogged than the conflict between them. They sometimes fire away at each other with a most amiable and unconvinceable hardihood for a whole evening, bandying interjections, and making hows, and saying shrewd things with all the courtesy imaginable. But for unextinguishable pertinacity in argument, and utter impregnability of belief, there is, no disputant like your country-gentleman who reads the newspapers. When one of these discussions fairly gets under weigh, it never comes to an anchor again of its own accord ;—it is either blown out so far to sea as to be given up for lost, or puts into port in distress for want of documents,—or is upset by a call for the boot-jack and slippers—which is something like the previous yaestion in Congress.

If my worthy cousin be somewhat over-argumentative as a politician, he restores the equilibrium of his character by a considerate coolness in religious matters. He piques himself upon being a high-churchman, but is not the most diligent frequenter of places of worship, and very seldom permits himself to get into a dispute upon points of faith. If Mr. Chub, the Presbyterian tutor in the family, ever succeeds in drawing him into this field, as he occasionally has the address to do, Meriwether is sure to fly the course; he gets puzzled with scripture names, and makes some odd mistakes between Peter and Paul, and then generally turns the parson over to his wife, who, he says, has an astonishing memory.

He is somewhat distinguished as a breeder of blooded horses ; and, ever since the celebrated race between Nclipse and Henry, has taken to this occupation with a renewed zeal, as a matter affecting the reputation of the state. It is delightful to hear him expatiate upon the value, importance, and patriotic bearing of this employment, and to listen to all his technical lore touching the mystery of horse-craft. He has some fine colts in training, which are committed to the care of a pragmatical old negro, named Carey, who, in his reverence for the occupation, is the perfect shadow of his master. He and Frank hold graye and momentous consultations upon the affairs of the stable, in such a sagacious strain of equal debate, that it would puzzle a spectator to tell which was the leading member in the council. Carey thinks he yes knows a great deal more upon the subject than his master, and their frequent intercourse has begot a familiarity in the old negro which is almost fatal to Meriwether’s supremacy. The old man feels himself authorized to maintain his positions according to the freest parliamentary form, and sometimes with a violence of asseveration that compels his master to abandon his ground, purely out of faint-heartedness. Meriwether gets a little nettled

_ by Carey’s doggedness, but generally turns it off ina laugh. I was in the stable with him, a few mornings after my arrival, when he ventured to expostulate with the venerable groom upon a@ pro- _ fessional point, but the controversy terminated in its customary way. “ Who sot you up, Master Frank, to tell me how to fodder that ’ere cretur, when I as good as nursed you on my knee?”

_& Well, tie up your tongue, you old mastiff,” replied Frank, as he walked out of the stable, “and cease growling, since you will have it your own way ;’—and then, as we left the old man’s presence, he added, with an affectionate chuckle— a faithful old cur, too, that snaps at me out of pure honesty ; he has not many years left, and it does no harm to humor him !”

Chapter III. Family Portraits

Wuitsr Frank Meriwether amuses himself with his quiddities, and floats through life upon the current of his humor, his dame, my excellent cousin Lucretia, takes charge of the household affairs, as one who has a reputation to stake upon her administration. She has made it a perfect science, and great is her fame in the dispensation thereof!

Those who have visited Swallow Barn will long remember the morning stir, of which the murmurs arose even unto the chambers, and fell upon the ears of the sleepers ;—the dry-rubbing of floors, and even the waxing of the same until they were like ice ;— and the grinding of coffee-mills ;—and the gibber of ducks, and chickens, and turkeys; and all the multitudinous concert of homely sounds. And then, her breakfasts! I do not wish to be counted extravagant, but a small regiment might march in upon her without disappointment; and I would put them for excellence and variety against any thing that ever was served upon platter. Moreover, all things go like clock-work. She rises with the lark, and infuses an early vigor into the whole household. And yet she is a thin woman to look upon, and a feeble; with a sallow complexion, and a pair of animated black eyes which impart a portion of fire to a countenance otherwise demure from the paths

FAMILY PORTRAITS. ~ 39 worn across it, in the frequent travel of a low-country ague. But, although her life has been somewhat saddened by such visitations, my cousin is too spirited a woman to give up to them; for sheis therapeutical in her constitution, and considers herself a full match for any reasonable tertian in the world. Indeed, I have sometimes thought that she took more pride in her leech craft than becomes a Christian woman: she is even a little vain-glorious. For, to say nothing of her skill in compounding simples, she has occasionally brought down upon her head the’ sober remonstrances of her husband, by her pertinacious faith in - the efficacy of certain spells in cases of intermittent. But there is no reasoning against her experience. She can enumerate the cases—* and men may say what they choose about its being contrary to reason, and all that:—it is their way! But seeing is believing—nine scoops of water in the hollow of the hand, from the sycamore spring, for three mornings, before sunrise, and a cup of strong coffee with lemon-juice, will break an ague, try it when you will.” In short, as Frank says, “ Lucretia will die in that creed.”

I am occasionally up early enough to be witness to her morning regimen, which, to my mind, is rather tyrannically enforced against the youngsters of her numerous family, both white and black. She is in the habit of preparing some death-routing decoction for them, in a small pitcher, and administering it to the whole squadron in succession, who severally swallow the dose with a most ineffectual effort at repudiation, and gallop off, with faces all rue and wormwood.

Every thing at Swallow Barn, that falls within the superintendence of my cousin Lucretia isa pattern of industry. In fact, I consider her the very priestess of the American system, for, with her, the protection of manufactures is even more of a passion than a principle. Every here and there, over the estate, may be

40 FAMILY PORTRAITS.

seen, rising in humble guise above the shrubbery, the rude chim ney of a log cabin, where all the livelong day the plaintive moaning of the spinning-wheel rises fitfully upon the breeze, like the fancied notes of a hobgoblin, as they are sometimes imitated in the stories with which we frighten children. In these laboratories the negro women are employed in preparing yarn for the loom, from which is produced not only a comfortable supply of winter :

clothing for the working people, but some excellent carpets for the house.

It is refreshing to behold how affectionately vain our good Lostess is of Frank, and what deference she shows to his judgment in all matters, except those that belong to the home department ; --for there she is confessedly and without appeal, the paramount power. It seems to bea dogma with her, that he is the very “first man in Virginia,’ an expression which in this region has

grown into an emphatic provincialism. Frank, in return, is a - devout admirer of her accomplishments, and although he does not pretend to an ear for music, he is in raptures at her skill on the harpsichord, when she plays at night for the children te dance; and he sometimes sets her to singing ‘The Twins of Latona,’ and ‘ Old Towler,’ and ‘The Rose-Tree in Full Bearing’ (she does not study the modern music), for the entertainment of his company. On these occasions he stands by the instrument, and nods his head, as if he comprehended the airs.

She is a fruitful vessel, and seldom fails in her annual tribute to the honors of the family ; and, sooth to say, Frank is reputed to be somewhat restiff under these multiplying blessings. ‘hey have two lovely girls, just verging towards womanhood, who attract a supreme regard in the household, and to whom Frank is perfectly devoted. Next te these is a boy,—a shrewd, misehievous imp, who curvets about the house,‘a chartered libertine’ He is a little wiry fellow near thirteen, known altogether.

FAMILY PORTRAITS. AY by the nick-name of Rip, and has a scapegrace countenance, full of freckles and devilry; the eyes are somewhat greenish, and _the mouth opens alarmingly wide upon a tumultuous array of discolored teeth. His whole air is that of an untrimmed colt, torn down and disorderly ; and I most usually find him with the bosom of his shirt bagged out, so as to forma great pocket, where he carries apples or green walnuts, and sometimes pebbles, with which he is famous for pelting the fowls.

I must digress, to say a word about Rip’s head-gear. He wears a nondescript skull-eap, which, I conjecture from some equivocal signs, had once been a fur hat, but which must have — taken a degree in fifty other callings; for I see it daily employed in the most foreign services. Sometimes it is a drinking-vessel, and then Rip pinches it up like a cocked hat; sometimes it is deyoted to push-pin, and then it is cuffed cruelly on both sides ; and sometimes it is turned into a basket, to carry eggs from the hen-roosts. It finds hard service at hat-ball, where, like a plastic statesman, it is popular for its pliability. It is tossed in the air on all occasions of rejoicing ; and now and then serves for a gauntlet—and is flung with energy upon the ground, on the eve of a battle; and it is kicked occasionally through the schoolyard, after the fashion of a bladder. It wears a singular exterior, haying a row of holes cut below the crown, or rather the apex, (for it is pyramidal in shape,) to make it cool, as Rip explains it, in hot weather. The only rest that it enjoys through the day, as far as I have been able to perceive, is during schoolhours, and then it is thrust between a desk and a bulkhead, three inches apart, where it generally envelopes in its folds a handful of hickory-nuts or marbles. This covering falls down—- for it has no lining—like an extinguisher over Rip’s head. To prevent the recurrence of this accident, he has tied it up with a hat-band of twine.

42. s FAMILY PORTRAITS,

From Rip the rest of the progeny descend on the scale, in . regular gradations, like the keys of a Pandean pipe, and with — the same variety of intonations, until the series is terminated in n chubby, dough-faced infant, not above three months old. This little infantry is under the care of mistress Barbara

Winkle, an antique retainer of the family, who attends them at bed and board,—and every morning, I am told, plunges the whole bevy, one by one, into a tub of cold water, at which they make terrible wry faces.

This mistress Barbara is a functionary of high rank in the family, and of great privileges, from haying exercised her office through a preceding generation at Swallow Barn. She is quite remarkable at that time of day when festive preparations are in progress. A dinner-party calls forth all her energy, and exhibits her to great advantage as an effective woman. She glides up and down stairs like a phantom, and you are aware of her coming py a low jingle of keys. One moment she is whipping cream, and the next threatening the same operation on some unlucky youngster of the kitchen who chances to meddle with her labors. You may hear her clattering eggs in a bowl, scolding servants, and screaming at Rip, who is perpetually in her way, amongst the sweetmeats: all of which matters, though enacted with a vinegar aspect, it is easy to see are very agreeable to her self-love.

There is no reyerence like that of children for potentates of this description. Her very glance has in it something disconcerting to the young fry; and they will twist their dumpling faces into every conceivable expression of grief, before they will | dare to squall out in her presence, Even Rip is afraid of her. “When the old woman’s mad, she is a horse to whip!” he told Ned and myself one morning, upon our questioning him as to the particulars of an uproar in which he had been the principal actor.

en eee - hes eat E i)

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FAMILY PORTRAITS. 43

_ These exercises on the part of the old lady are neither rare nor unwholesome, and are winked at by the higher authorities. .

Mrs. Winkle’s complexion is the true parchment, and her voice is somewhat cracked. She takes Scotch snuff from a silver box, and wears a pair of horn spectacles, which give effect to the peculiar peakedness of her nose. On days of state she appears in all the rich coxcombry of the olden time; her gown being of an obsolete fashion, sprinkled with roses and sun-flowers, and her lizard arms encased in tight sleeves as far as the elbow, where they are met by silken gloves without fingers. A starched tucker is pinned, with a pedantic precision, across her breast; and a prim cap of muslin, puckered into a point with a grotesque conceit, adorns her head.—Take her altogether, she looks very stately and bitter, Then, when she walks, it is inconceivable how aristocratically she rustles,—especially on a Sunday.

Chapter IV Family Paragons

My picture of the family at Swallow Barn would be incomplete if I did not give a conspicuous place to my two young cousins, Lucy and Victorine. It is true they are cousins only in the second remove, but I have become sufficiently naturalized to the soil to perceive the full value of the relation; and as they acknowledge it very affectionately to me—for I was promoted to ~

“Cousin Mark” almost in the first hour after my arrival—I should be unreasonably reluctant if I did not assert the full right of blood. Lucy tells me she is on/y fifteen, and that she is one year and one month older than Vic, “for all that Vie is taller than she.” Now, Lucy is a little fairy with blue eyes and - light hair, and partially freckled and sun-burnt—being a very pretty likeness of Rip, who, I have said, is an imp of homeliness; a fact which all experience shows to be quite consistent with the highest beauty. Victorine is almost a head taller, and possesses a stronger frame. She differs, too, from her sister by her jet-black eyes and dark hair; though they resemble each other in the wholesome tan which exposure tothe atmosphere has spread alike over the cheeks of both.

These two girls are educated entirely at home, and are growing up together in the most confiding mutual affection. There

Cigtmeun nts sale is nothing more lovely than two sisters in this relation, tranquilly and unconsciously gliding onwards to womanhood amongst the familiar images and gentle influences of the household circle; their kindly impulses set in motion by the caresses of friends ; their tastes directed by the simple and pure enjoyments of a _ refined home in the country, where nature supplies so many beau tiful objects to attract the eye, and affection so much pleasant guidance to inform the heart; where lessons of love are received from parental teaching, or absorbed, rather, from looks that are more eloquent than words; where useful instruction loses all its weariness in the encouragement of that fond applause which is assiduous to reward patient toil or to cheer the effort which has paused in the fear of failure. No over-stimulated ambition is likely there to taint the mind with those vices of rivalry which, in schools, often render youth selfish and unamiable, and suggest thoughts of concealment and stratagem as aids in the race of pre- _ eminence. Home, to a young girl, is a world peopled with kindly faces and filled only with virtues. She does not know, even by report, the impure things of life. She has heard and read of its miseries, for which her heart melts in charity, and she grows up in the faith that she was born to love the good and render kind offices to the wretched; but she conceives nothing of the wickedness of a world which she has never seen, and lives on to womanhood ina happy and guarded ignorance, which is not broken until her mind has acquired a strength sufficient to discern and repel whatever there may be dangerous in knowledge.

“ Affections are as thoughts to her, A

The measures of her hours”. \

Poh !—bless me !—These children have actually brought me to lecturing and quoting verse. Let me get back to my appropriate function of narrative,

Lucy is rather meditative for her age--calm and almost matronly. She is a little housekeeper, and affects to have cares. Victorine is more intrepid, and attracts universal regard by the jollity of her temperament, which is equally the index of her innocence and her healthful organization. They pursue the same

“studies, and I see them every morning at their tasks, often reading from the same book with their arms around each other’s waist. They have profound confidences in which they think themselves very secure and exclusive; but I can often tell them their whole secret by watching their by-play ;—which shrewdness of mine is so inexplicable to them, that they think I am scme- — thing of a conjurer. I frequently walk with them in the evening on the river bank. They are invariably attended upon these rambles by two large white pointers, who gambol around them with a most affectionate playfulness, and are constantly soliciting the applause of their pretty mistresses by the gallant assiduities which are characteristic of this race of faithful animals.

Meriwether is accustomed to have these girls read to him some portion of every day. By this requisition, which he puts upon the ground of an amusement for himself, he has beguiled them into graver studies than are generally pursued at that time of life. It is quite charming to notice the unwearying devotion they bestow upon this labor, which they think gives pleasure to their father. He, of course, looks upon them as the most gifted creatures in existence. And truly, they have gained so much upon me, that I don’t think he is far wrong.

A window in the upper story of one of the wings of the building overlooks a flower-garden, and around this window grows a profusion of creeping vine which is trained with architectural precision along the wall to the roof. It is a prim, decorous plant, with icy leaves of perdurable green, without a flower of its own to give variety to its staid drapery. Here and there, however, an intruding rose has stolen a nest’ amongst its plexures, and looks pleasantly forth from this sober tapestry. In this ‘window, about noon-tide, may be daily seen the profuse tresses of a head of flaxen hair scrupulously adjusted in glossy volume ; : and ever and anon, as it moves to some thoughtful impulse, is disclosed a studious brow of fairest white. And sometimes, more fully revealed, may be seen the entire head of the lady as she sits intent upon the perusal of a book. The lady Prudence is in her bower, and pursues some theme of fancy in the delicious realm of poesy, or with pencil and brush shapes and gilds the wings of gaudy butterflies, or, peradventure, enricheth her album with dainty sonnets. And sometimes, in listless musing, she rests her chin upon her gem-bedizened hand, and fixes her soft blue eye upon the flower-beds where the humming-bird is poised before the honeysuckle. But howsoever engaged, it is a dedicated hour. I have said profanely, once before, that “a tall spinster” sat at the family board, and now here she sits in her morning guise, silent and alone, pondering over the creations of genius and the dreams of art.