Was it an inheritance; or, Nannie Grant. A narrative

Front matter

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Preface

If this book — the result of earnest and honest effort, shall give courage to one fainting heart ; consolation to one wounded spirit ; nerve to one weary arm ; decision to one soul that stands faltering in the path of life; or awaken one individual to a sense of obligation to the generations present or to come, that shall declare itself in deeds ; then shall the highest remuneration be gratefully acknowledged by

The Author.

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Contents

CHAPTERS. PAGE.

I. — Introductions. .... 7

II. — Experience as Educator. . . .25

Chapter II. Experience As Educator

S the object of this narrative is to portray the

-jLJl. the origin, and some of the ramifications, relations, and culminations of certain wide-spread mental and physical conditions, let us go back to the generation preceding that to which our heroine belongs; and thus, by learning some of their antecedents, be the better prepared to understand her and her associates.

Captain Ross, the father of Mrs. Phelps, followed the sea, and there met his death. His ship was spoken near the Gulf of Mexico, and never seen afterwards. Mollie, his only child, was born four months after his young wife bade him adieu, and was nearly five years old when her mother became the wife of Judge Wentworth, a widower of three years standing, and the father of two sons, aged ten and thirteen years, respectively.

Mrs. Ross was an estimable woman, of highly religious nature, and whose early affliction wrought a remarkably refining and elevating influence upon her entire character.

She possessed, in large measure, what the people of New England call “ faculty,” and Western people call “ knack,” and had, in widowhood, succeeded in securing a comfortable and respectable maintenance for herself and child, though the possessions left her by Captain Ross were limited.

Judge Wentworth was a man of comparative wealth, and, upon his second marriage, the property left by Captain Ross, being of the kind legally denominated “ personal,” fell into his hands.

A friend suggested to the widow that the little estate should be settled upon her child, prior to her marriage; but she promptly repelled the idea. “ I would not trust my happiness in the hands of a man to whose honor I could not trust my property ,” she said;, and trusted both to the care of the highly respected, judge, who, although accounted an honorable man ambng his peers, as husband , soon disposed of her salable property, even without her consent or knowledge, and always gave but grudgingly for Mollie’s necessities.

When Mrs. Wentworth intimated that an equivolent to the captain’s property was due his child, he replied : “ If there is any property on the premises to which she can lay claim, it can be recovered at law ; not otherwise.”

As a step-mother, she was all to her husband’s sons that any but an own mother could have been ; but her labors of love were unavailing to win them to the noble standard of manhood she desired them to attain.

Of John, the elder, we need only say that he was his father’s namesake, became a man of average

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ability, and a successful manufacturer of cloths, an occupation then just commencing to pass from the hands of the wives and daughters at the domestic hearths.

The second son, James, was the superior of his brother in intellect, was comely in person, commanding in figure, inflexible in will, revengeful in disposition.

Not the least evidence of affection was ever visible between this father and his sons ; yet the influence James exerted over the judge was surprising ; especially in consideration of the superiority of the latter, both in years and ability ; and the son did not fail to use this power for his own interest.

Years sped on, and Mollie- ,Ross became a woman. James Wentworth had the good judgment to discern in her what appeared to him an assemblage of all womanly virtues, and sought to possess himself of them by making her his wife.

She failed to find her ideal in him ; and had too true a nature to deceive him, when she became aware of his sentiments ; but his dominative disposition could not yield to her decision. He persisted in his attentions and addresses, till her life, at her mother’s house, became so uncomfortable that she secured a position as teacher of a small school in an adjoining State, and removed herself from his vicinity, even at the cost of a painful separation from the society of her mother, whose health appeared to be slowly declining. But even there he followed her, their family relations being

Was it an Inheritance?

such as made it most difficult to effectually repulse him.

When at length, after months of persistent persecution in this wise, he ascertained that her affections were given to another, all the revengefulness of his disposition was aroused, and he resolved to blight her happiness if possible.

Nannie Wentworth was eight years the junior of her half-sister — a wide interval to divide the sympathies of two sisters ; impassable in early life to the younger, but always capable of bridgement from the older’s side.

Nannie had slept in Mollie’s arms ever since she left those of her mother; and every childish or maidenly joy or grief of hers was shared by her older sister; though, alas! many a sorrow had her heart known that the younger could never understand. These she had confided to her mother, till warned by unmistakable symptoms that the disquietudes borne by that dear one must be lightened, or her sympathetic heart would cease to throb.

Reminded almost hourly of her dependence, Mollie painfully realized that the position of a daughter, which she nominally occupied in her step-father’s house, was no reality, and never felt the welcome so ostentatiously displayed in the presence of strangers ; hence an earnest desire for self-maintenance early took possession of her.

Industrious by nature, and gifted with taste and the power of construction well-nigh amounting to genius, and endowed with an aptness for teaching, she early managed, with tact and economy, to clothe herself in a style becoming the society in which she moved, though a full day at her needle brought her but twenty-five cents , and a hard week’s work in the school-room but seventy-five cents . Though her mother’s delicate health made her nimble fingers indispensable to the household’s comfort, that fact was never recognized or recompensed by the judge, after Mollie had reached her sixteenth year.

During the first summer of “ district-school ” teaching in Massachusetts, she made the acquaintance of a young lawyer, who won her affections and promise of marriage. Learning of this, James Wentworth took secret and circuitous measures to poison his mind with slanders of the basest sort. Not direct accusations, that might have been refuted, but hints and insidious intimations prejudicial to Mollie’s fair

fame. And when Mr. L , the young lawyer

referred to, traced the rumors to their true source, they were made to appear so specious and conclusive, that, failing to comprehend the baseness of such a nature, he mistook it for nobility that would not allow the sacrifice of an unsuspecting stranger, even at the risk of personal humiliation ; for was not the publicity of these things derogatory to the respectability of the whole family ?

These facts were conveyed to the young girl by a letter, signed by three of her most intimate female friends. How her heart leaped when she saw that the post-mark was B ; for Mr. L had not writ-

ten her in two months ; but the address was in an unfamiliar hand. She flew to her room, trembling, and overwhelmed with forebodings of calamity to him, and dropped upon her knees. Still in that attitude, she broke the seal and read, without a change of position, a sigh or a tear, to the concluding words, which were as follows :

“ We would not have written these things to you,

dear Mollie, but Mr. L says he has not done so,

and he is now, in this short time, paying very marked attention to a girl (we will not say lady) who was far from being your friend last summer ; and we thought if he is still keeping you in suspense, it is just too had. With all our hearts we are “Your true friends,

These were her mother’s relatives, and she had every reason to suppose they were what they professed to be — her true friends.

She dropped the sheet, folded her hands tightly across her brow, and gazed wildly about the room, then bowed her head, still covered by her hands, upon the floor. Then rising again, a vacant stare sat on her face, and she pressed her head tighter and tighter, as if to retain her senses. Then suddenly unclenching her fingers, and spreading her arms out wildly into the surrounding darkness, — darkness long e’er

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the sun had set, — she cried in the depth of her anguish, “My God! my God! hast thou forsaken me?”

She sallied oyer upon the floor, and lay in external quiet, but her soul was tossed and torn by the most exquisite torture. Love, hate, pride, shame, self-love, love of approbation, scorn, contempt, anger, and revenge held fearful combat. Such struggles come but once to any soul, and are always incomprehensible to many natures.

For nearly two hours she lay there so quietly that eight-year-old Nannie tiptoed to her side unheard, and, thinking her asleep, crept softly down-stairs again.

Yet amidst all this mental tumult, Faith stood with uplifted finger, waiting her opportunity to say, “All things shall work together for good to those that love the Lord.”

At length darkness really settled upon the earth, and Mollie Ross crept from the floor, and gazed out upon the stars, praying — oh, so earnestly ! — for death.

A messenger came to ask her assistance at a neighbor's house, where an infant, just beginning to taste the honey-laden dew on life's earliest flowers, had been snatched suddenly away and awarded its crown of life eternal. She obeyed the summons, but lagged behind her companions on the way, — so weak and weary, body, heart, and soul, that her anguish seemed an insupportable load — a hidden cross of which no kind Cyrenean might know, or relieve her.

Was it an Inheritance?

The day had been sultry, and there were at this time threatenings of rain. Down in the woods, at the left, the will-o’-the-wisp was dancing, rising sometimes to the height of the lower branches of full-grown trees, then suddenly dropping again and creeping along the ground, then sailing away back into the depths of the forest, and then floating to the edge bordering the open fields.

When they left the Wentworth mansion a goodly portion of the sky was clear, but a small black cloud was soon seen rising from the west. Gradually it spread, and others seemed to spring into existence, and spread themselves over the whole canopy.

When the young people reached their destination, not a star was visible, and the low mutterings of thunder had become loud peals, preceded by blinding flashes of lightning.

An instantaneous glare, followed quickly by a crash, that shook the house to its foundations, was their introduction to the chamber of death.

The form of the sweet little infant lay, with folded hands and a serene smile upon its lips, unconscious alike of earthly storm and calm, grief and joy, hope and despair.

' Mollie gazed long upon that lovely image of peaceful rest, and then went out and leaned against a pillar of “the back porch.”

Her tossed and troubled soul had much in sympathy with the storm. The lightning played with wonderful velocity and constancy down in the forest where she had before watched the will-o’-the-wisp, which had now assumed another form.

Fiery darts and chains followed each other in quick succession, and trees fell with every volley discharged by the celestial artillery.

The poisonous gases that had secretly lurked among the foliage of that swamp, had given birth to an element that had gathered into squads that flashed their blank cartridges as they drilled for the conflict between purity and poison, life and death ; and as the hosts were combined for the mighty battle, what wonder that the fiery bolts of heaven descended thick into the morasses that gave them birth, even though they smote to earth noble trees that had fostered their infancy. Those stately trees were the workmanship of the God of life and purity, and men had looked upon their height and symmetry, and, echoing the verdict of the Creator, had said, “ It is good yet, standing where He placed them, growing as He bade them, they had sheltered and fostered the accumulation of these destructive elements, by shutting out the sunlight and free atmosphere of day, and the very elements they had nurtured now “ smote them hip and thigh,” and laid their crowns in the filthy pools whose stagnant waters they had robbed of purifying influences. To-day that swamp was the chosen seat of malaria, to-morrow one may walk there in safety.

A dim, confused sense of all these facts wandered through poor Mollie’s brain as she clasped her hands and raised her eyes to the blackened heavens, behind 2* which she knew there was a Great Power controlling all these elements; and confidence in a God that could wisely wield these material forces, begat confidence in Him, as the Father of all souls , and prayer unlocked the fountain of. her tears, which spilled the surplus from her overburdened heart.

“ Oh, Father !” said she, “ was my love a will-o’- the-wisp, born in the morass of my heart, of stagnant pools that should have been healing streams, draining its soil of selfishness, till it should be a garden full of goodly fruit and fair to see ? Then, thanks for the lightning that smote me, and welcome the thunder’s roll that shook my frail habitation. I will henceforth remember that earth has many stagnant pools that need the light of the Son of God, and the opening of channels that shall convert them into life-bearing streams from which shall arise no storm-engendering miasms.”

Chapter III. A Wedding

EIGHT years had passed, and a girlish bride stood, surrounded by her maids, in the most delightful chamber in the new residence of Judge Wentworth, who had become the first man in wealth and political influence in his district, and in which his only daughter was the most beautiful maiden, and, though less than seventeen years of age, the reigning belle.

“ Oh, how lovely! Is she not charming? Was ever any one more beautiful ?” were the exclamations on every hand.

She stood in the centre of the room, wearing a robe of elegant white satin, whose rich folds lay in an ornamented trail full a yard upon the carpet. Her figure was small, almost child-like, and very neat and trim. Her dancing black eyes, and hair of the same hue, heightened, by contrast, the pearly lustre of her complexion, and her smiling, cherry lips revealed the most perfect teeth. Her hair was dressed high, with puffs and rolls, and on either temple clustered a knot of curls. Her corsage was low, and the rich old lace gathered about its top, and held by an invisible thread along its upper edge, seemed to caress the dimples in her plump shoulders, for the fair departed ancestors it had graced on similar occasions in the long ago.

Her cheeks had no need of rouge, foh nature’s own carmine glowed there, soft and rosy as the blush of morn. Bracelets of the most costly pearls clasped her shapely arms. Over all this beauty flowed the Mechlin veil the bridegroom brought when he returned from his last voyage ; and her brow was crowned with the indispensable wreath of orange-flowers.

Lizzie Rae, one of the chosen bridesmaids, walked slowly around her friend, deliberately surveying each article of her dress, and taking the exquisite veil in her cold fingers, liberated an entangled orange-bud from its folds; then whispering in the bride’s ear, “You are beautiful! God bless you always!” she kissed her cheek.

Ah! little knew sweet Nannie Wentworth the heroism in that caress. Little knew she that one year ago William Grant was the plighted lover of this girl, and but for the weight of Judge Wentworth’s purse, she would to-day have been his wife.

“Beauty’s bower,” said Lizzie, as she sauntered about the room. All nature was lovely, and the air that breathed softly in at the window came laden with the fragrance of flowers. A carpet of bright stripes lay upon the floor ; furniture of mahogany, black with age, stood against the deep-paneled wainscoting ; two lovely nosegays in antique vases, and delicate shells upon soft, exquisite mats, were upon the high mantle ; wreaths of jasmine surrounded the picture-frames

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and mirrors, and were festooned above the daintymuslin curtains ; and numberless fancy articles, such as young girls usually surround themselves with, were on every hand. No elegant paintings or graceful statues or statuettes, with their refining and ennobling influences, were there; for these were the early days of the young republic, and the fine-arts were luxuries the heavily-taxed people could not yet afford.

The view from the windows was charming. The hills in front were clad in the sober gray of their granite, relieved by the brilliant green of June foliage, and the fields and gardens were in holiday attire. At the right, the waters of the ocean lay panting beside the shore.

The outlook was broken by morning-glory vines, intertwined with sweet-scented honeysuckles, which clambered over and around the window. What beautiful trumpets they bore ! — pure as the snow, and veined with the faintest blush ; purple, as delicately veined with pure white ; and violet, seamed also with white ; and that again with a line of pink tracery as dainty as the vein upon the hand of a fairy.

Mrs. Wentworth entered with a quiet, constrained air, which, though usual with her, seemed unnatural. She smiled pleasantly, though her eyes were moist with tears.

Her daughter was joyous and hopeful, seeing only God’s radiant bow of promise arching the long vista before her, down which she should walk on dewy flowers, leaning on “ Willie’s ” arm, and plucking the delicious fruits that clustered on either hand.

But the mother had long ago stood where she now did, and had seen that bow recede again and again, and finally melt away; had been wounded by the thorns hidden beneath the flowers, and torn by the brambles whose scanty fruit she had essayed to pluck.

William Grant, though boasting neither pedigree, nor purse, nor expectations, was a respectable and promising youth, and the choice of Nannie’s heart ; but Mrs. Wentworth knew that this day marked an era in the lives of both the young people. Their mutual influence must materially change the character of both ; and she foresaw that her daughter’s would yield most. What had the future in store for them ? Long life, peace and plenty, or the reverse ? They loved each other. Would that continue? Would the years lead them hand in hand ? or would the fair young flower, now blooming before her, wither in early morning, or bend and pour out the fragrance of its early bloom over the blighted form of him who called its breath of sweetness forth ?

Such queries filled that mother’s mind ; for, through all the sad hours of that day, before her had arisen the face of her early love — Captain Boss ; and William Grant was, after the expiration of two weeks, to resume his occupation on the same treacherous element that had widowed her ; though only Mollie seemed to remember her past experiences.

“ O mother !” said Nannie, hastening to embrace

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her, “ I am not going to leave you ; so don’t look so sad. We shall always live near you. Willie has promised me. You try so hard to look cheerful, though I know you don’t feel so ; but I’m not going away from you ; and I love you better now than I did before I loved Willie so much.”

u My little girl scarcely compliments her mother in supposing her so selfish in her affections,” said Mrs. Wentworth, gently folding her to her heart. “ I hope always to have you and Mollie near me,” and she extended her disengaged hand to her eldest daughter, who entered at that moment, and, as was her habit, patted her sister affectionately upon the cheek. “ Marriage,” she resumed, " appears to those who love each other to be the consummation of bliss ; but life is but a series of consummations. We strive, and succeed, or fail, as we think ; but, viewed aright, what we count failures are often our highest successes; and the consummation of each endeavor* but prepares us for a new one. I do not wish to sadden you, my dear, but I would warn you that life’s flowers are armed with thorns, and she who would pluck them must pluck with care; and that skill attained is far more valuable than the flowers, because immortal ; and as I would have you return to the Master heavy-ladened with the fruits of grace, I would have you arm yourself with caution and courage that can defy the brambles. So i be of good courage and a strong heart,’ and forget not the Source from whence all true strength comes. But

I see that not all the young ladies are ready to go down.”

“ Certainly ! certainly ! I should think not,” said Miss Monson, the village dressmaker and factotum ; and she flew from one young lady to another, adjusting a tucker here, a sash there, and a puff for a third.

A rap was heard at the door, and a tall, dark-eyed youth stood before it, dressed in the height of fashion — long waistcoat, ruffled shirt, immense gold buckles glistening upon his knee-breeches, with polished shoes, and silk stockings well padded out.

“ Aren’t you girls ready yet? We are all tired out with waiting on the other side of the hall, long ago. W-h-h-w ! whew! whew! Zounds! Oh! please excuse me, ladies, but — well, Nannie, you never looked so well before, and Fm afraid you never will again.”

“ Oh, now, now, Ben "Wentworth, you didn’t come over here just on purpose to see your sister, did you ? Oh, no ! oh, no ! we understand,” said Miss Monson, waving him away with both her hands, and turning her face from him ; by which last movement she discovered that the minute-hand of the clock upon the centre of the mantle lacked just five minutes of an upright position, at which precise hour “the ceremony was to be performed.”

“ My son, just tell the gentlemen that the ladies are ready,” said Mrs. Wentworth, and kissing her daughter she descended to the parlor.

“ Mollie Boss, I must say I never saw you look

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better dressed,” said Miss Monson ; “ but you are like an iceberg, while the other girls, who, to be sure, are younger than you, are all excitement. What ails you, girl f You’re perfectly frigid /”

“ Am I ? I did not know I was,” said Mollie, smiling. “ Isn’t it just as well to have something cool in this warm room, where but one window is open to this delightful breeze? There, that will make it more comfortable,” throwing up the sash.

The gentlemen made their appearance at this juncture, and William Grant took the hand of his bride, and four other young beaux took those of the four bridesmaids, and all passed down the broad stairs, through the spacious hall, and on to the commodious parlor, which was already well-filled with guests.

The ceremony was conducted in good orthodox congregational style, and the occasion dignified by the presence of all the most distinguished people of the vicinity. The last prayer and remarks were at length concluded, and the solemn words, “ what God hath joined let no man put asunder,” were pronounced, when good old Parson Brownson raised his wrinkled hands and tremulous voice in a benediction upon all present, and “ especially the young persons who had just taken upon themselves the holy vows of wedlock.”

Congratulations ensued, the judge unbending his dignity to dispute the first kiss with the new-made husband, and consoling himself for its loss by giving his daughter a hearty hug.

Then followed a general “good time;” jokes, tricks and amusements of various kinds, and a sumptuous dinner, served beneath the shade of the immense trees in the spacious lawn beside the house.

We cannot enumerate one-half the good things that were provided to tempt the appetite or grace the feast. Nothing that the climate and season could produce, or wealth could purchase, was missing there ; and gayer, happier guests never surrounded the festal board. They sat long, feasting and chatting, till the sun sunk so low that he peeped slantwise beneath the sturdy branches that at first forbade him a glance.

The viands removed, four huge, silver punchbowls, with their steaming contents, were placed before the guests ; and as many foaming with eggnog ; with numerous bottles of sherry, old port and various kinds of wine, of which the guests all partook in moderate freedom ; for, in those days, clergy and laymen took “ the good creature of God ” as he listed.

Sometimes it occurred, as at the present day, that some “weak-minded individual,” or it may have been occasionally one of parts, gave way to excess ; but this was comparatively a rare occurrence, and they at most but a foible.

On this occasion, though the company was large, and great liberality was exhibited in the supply of drinks to suit all tastes — from tea to New England, rum, simon pure — poor old Joe Cone was the only person whose legs refused to do service ; and but few gave evidence that “ the spirits ” had disturbed their

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normal state; and these “ misfortunes ” were attributed to lack of caution in the admixture of varieties. The • hostess had not partaken of any drinks stronger than tea, till Dr. Willis expressed surprise that she did not take wine at least.

“ A feeble woman like you,” said he, “ positively needs this ‘old port/ if not a stronger stimulant, especially under the excitements and fatigues of to-day. As a medical man, I beg you to take some.”

Thus advised, she joined in the toasts to “the newly-wedded pair ;” “ the new government ;” “ the young sisterhood of States, who had so recently and gallantly won their independence ;” to “the health of the President of the United States ;” to “ the success of the judge at the next election ;” to “ the memories of old times, and the victories over the hardships of the early settlement of Connecticut.” To all these she sipped sparingly of the lighter beverages.

The remainder of the day was spent in gayety — games and frolic of various kinds on the part of the young ; and in jokes and pleasant stories and reminiscences by the older people — till the signal of separation was given by the tall clock in the hall, as it struck nine hesitating strokes.

Soon the guests, having drank a parting toast to the good health of all, took their departure ; a few only, whose homes were too remote to be reached in seasonable hours that night, remained till the morning.

Chapter IV. Guests, Unwelcome And Welcome

FTER the departure of her guests, Mrs. Wenti\ worth, being very weary, quietly withdrew to her own room in the rear of the back parlor, and her eldest daughter sat beside the couch on which she reclined, while the family worshipped in the adjoining room, the door being ajar

Mollie took her mother’s hand between both her own, and pressing its cool fingers to her cheek, held it thus during all the unusually long and fervent prayer of her step-father. He had just read the beautiful thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, probably deeming sweet charity the lesson best suited to him who now held in keeping the happiness of the only being to whom the judge had ever given the affection that should always temper authority (to the exercise of which he was especially given), and, indeed, that should be its sole occasion. He had found it hard that his only pet should love another better than himself (as he thought) ; and so the struggle between self and reason had waxed sore as this day advanced ; and its hours, which had been a season of merriment and joy to his guests, had proved a season of higher education to him than he had ever known before. And now, in prayer, he seemed to take his poverty of soul and present it at the very footstool of the All-merciful ; and as from that height he looked down upon his former self, he saw that hitherto he had despised the foundation and the top-stone of all the graces — the root and crown. When at length he pronounced the fervent amen, the old clock indicated that he had spoken with God a full half-hour.

At the close of his prayer, Mollie heard a whisper : “ Like as a father pitieth — ”