William Walter Phelps, his life and public services

Preface

IN this volume is told the story of the life of William Walter Phelps: of his surroundings of refinement and culture in his early years; his youthful training and devotion to study, fitting him for a career of renown as a lawyer, orator, and statesman; how it was his good fortune to be intimate with the most exalted men of his time and to become the compeer of the leading statesmen of the age ; how on attaining the highest rank in diplomacy he conferred, with honor to himself, notable and enduring benefits upon his country; how he took the joys of life sedately and endured its sufferings silently and heroically; how, after reaping the honor of many high stations, he died in the prime of his manhood, leaving no stain upon his private or public life.

If any explanation be needed of what might seem to be more than an amplitude of detail or appear to be an irrelevant digression in these annals, it may be said that there was available much tempting material that told of Judge Phelps's life and its manifold events, his wide surroundings and his striking personality, and that, even as it is, much had to be omitted ; yet the writer was willing to incur the charge of being tiresome rather than leave the record incomplete. Also, that the career of a public man of eminence cannot be thoroughly portrayed without flashing occasional side-lights upon travellers along the same roadway other than the main character.

There are numerous quotations from the newspapers of the land. Much of Judge Phelps's activities were

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IV

Preface chronicled in the newspapers because he was constantly within the focus of public observation and was continuously doing or saying something that editors thought worth telling to the world. The acts of few men in public life will bear close scrutiny; those of Judge Phelps's will; consequently he was seldom the subject of comments by the press which were not laudatorv'.

This memorial has been prepared for the family and descendants of Judge Phelps and for circulation among his friends. There was so much in his open life to praise and so little to blame that his biographer has given, largely upon the testimony of others, the praiseworthy record that he made, without any fear that he has overestimated the departed statesman's virtues. It has been written, therefore, in no spirit of criticism, but with the chief purpose of correctness of statement in the chronological arrangement of the occurrences and incidents of Judge Phelps's life, and with a desire to give them fully and completely.

It is also intended that this volume shall not only perpetuate Judge Phelps's memory with posterity, but be a reminder to his descendants of how their distinguished ancestor was honored among men in his day and generation, and inspire and guide them to an emulation of his industrious and useful life.

Chapter I Pagb

The Phelps Family in England — William Phelps, the Founder of the American Branch, Lands at Nantasket in 1630 — Settles at Simsbury, Conn. — A Race of Public-Spirited Men — John Jay Phelps ........... I

Chapter II

Early Life of William Walter Phelps — Enters Yale at Sixteen — Leaves College to Travel in Ireland for His Health — How He Acquired a Phenomenal Memory — Married on Evening of Graduation to Miss Ellen Maria Sheffield — The Sheffield Family — A Bridal Tour in Europe ...... 14

Chapter III

Studies Law at Columbia — His First Jury Case — A Successful Lawyer — Some of His Largest Cases — Declines a Seat on the New York Bench and Settles in New Jersey .... 23

Chapter IV

His Large Business Interests Compel Him to Give up His Law Practice — Builds Railroads and Acquires Land in Texas — Enters New Jersey Politics and Becomes a "Favorite Son" — Famous Paramus Convention — Elected to Congress . . . 31

Chapter V

Takes His Seat in the Forty-third Congress — A Personal Description — James G. Blaine Becomes His Friend — Comes quickly to the Front as a Parliamentary Orator and Debater — Denounces the Famous "Salary Grab" — Energetic Speech against the Franking Privilege Abuses — A Parliamentary Tilt with a Kansas Granger .......... 40

V vi Contents

Chapter VI Page

Takes a Leading Part on the Currency Question and Gains Fanie for His Clear Exposition of a False Currency — Opposes the Civil Rights Bill and Loses Caste with His Party— Urges the Repeal of the Infamous Moiety Law— Review of His First Session — Defeated for Re-election in a Democratic Tidal Wave — Felicitous Correspondence with His Successful Opponent . 50

CHAPTER Vn

His Second Session — Investigates Louisiana Affairs and Exposes the Carpet-baggers — Feted by New Orleans — Leaves Congress — His Love for Newspapers and Newspaper Men — Goes to Rescue of the New York Tridune—LUe at Teaneck— Travels for Health 62

Chapter VIII

Great Love for Trees— Plants Six Hundred Thousand Trees on His Teaneck Estate — Studies Arboriculture in Many Lands — Supports Blaine in 18S0— Re-elected to Congress — Hackensack Savings Bank Fails— Generosity of Mr. Phelps ... 72

Chapter IX

Appointed Minister to Austria — His Real Estate in Washington — Assassination of President Garfield — Sympathy of the Austro- Hungarian Government and People— Generous Contribution to the Garfield Fund— A Tour in Oriental Lands— Resigns His Mission ........... 86

Chapter X

Discovers the Resting- Place of His Ancestor, John Phelps, at Vevey, Switzerland— Erects a Tablet to His Memory— Letter to His Children io3

Chapter XI

Urged to again Enter Congress— Pathetic Letter to a Friend— Consents to Be a Candidate— Elected to the Forty-eighth Congress, after a Vigorous Campaign, over a Popular Opponent . . 108

Chapter XII

His Road-Building around Teaneck— His Offers to Englewood Start the "Good Roads" Movement in Bergen County and over a Million Dollars is Spent as a Result . . . .116

Contents vii

CHAPTER Xni

PAGE

Re-enters Congress in 1883 and again Becomes Prominent in the House — Presents a Bill to Establish Civil Government in Alaska — First Appropriation for a National Building in Paterson — His Memorable Fight for the Relief of General Fitz-John Porter — Smooths out Troubles with Bismarck — Important Committee Work to Establish the Manufacture of Ordnance and Armor Plates in this Country — Famous Speech to New Jersey Farmers — Farming for One's Country . . . . . . .121

Chapter XIV

The Eno Embezzlement — Mr. Phelps's Successful Efforts to Save the Second National Bank of New York from Ruin — A Financial Panic Averted by his Skill and Energy .... 141

Chapter XV

The Blaine Presidential Campaign — Phelps's Brilliant Work for His Friend — Caricatured and Maligned — The Sealed Letter — Hard at Work in Congress — Recuperating in California . . .147

Chapter XVI

Elected to Forty-ninth Congress by Increased Plurality — First Efforts to Raise Embargo on American Pork in Europe — Arbitration in Labor Troubles — American Mail Steamship Appropriation — Favors Indemnity for Outrage on Chinese — Oleomargarine Campaign — He Champions the Cause of the Dairy Farmers — Declines to Become Candidate for Governor of New Jersey . . . . . . . . . .159

Chapter XVII

New Year's Reception at Teaneck Grange — Description of the Grand and Famous Mansion— The Art Gallery— Mr. Phelps's Marked Social Characteristics — A Most Pleasing Host — Unique Banquet to U. S. Senator Hiscock — Writes a Noted Biography of Garfield— Helps to Secure Sea Girt to the State— His Political Prominence in New Jersey — Friends Put forth His Claims for U. S. Senate — Speaks to the Manufacturing Jewellers' Association . . . . . . . .173

Chapter XVIII

A Member of the Fiftieth Congress— Takes an Active Part in the Debates — Opposes the Mills Tariff Bill — Able Defence of the Industrial Interests of the Country — Advocates a Fractional viii Contents

PACK

Paper Currency — Sharp Criticism of the Democratic Administration for Abandoning the Cause of American Fisheries — Aids a Political Opponent — State of New Jersey Presents Statues of Richard Stockton and General Philip Kearny to Congress — Mr. Phelps Makes an Eloquent Presentation Speech— His Views on Paternalism ........ 183

Chapter XIX

Destruction of Beautiful Teaneck Grange by Fire — Bears the Severe Loss with Calmness — The Picturesque Ruins to Remain Untouched — Stables and Out-Buildings Consumed Five Months Later — Family Move to a New Home ..... 193

Chapter XX

Declines to Continue in Congress — New Jersey Republicans Resolve to Name Him for the Presidency in the National Convention of 1888 — He Refuses to Have His Name Presented — Consents to Become a Candidate for the Vice-Presidential Nomination — Receives a Gratifying Support in the Convention, but the Claims of the Empire State are Paramount and a Combination Nominates Levi P. Morton — Active in the Presidential Campaign — Takes Part in Nomination of President Harrison — The Phelps Guards of Paterson, and Their Warm Reception in Washington — Mr, Blaine His Guest when Appointed Secretary of State ......... 200

Chapter XXI

Commissioner to Samoan Conference — His First Meeting with Bismarck — Interesting Extract from His Diary — Has English Adopted as Language of Conference — Dubbed the "Peacemaker" — Splendid Diplomatic Success — Returns with "Peace and Honor" Treaty — Warmly Received by the President, Who Presents Him with a Commission as Minister to Berlin — Declines Receptions ....... . . 207

Chapter XXII

Minister to Germany — The Appointment Popular in the United States and in Germany — Cordial Reception at the Berlin Court — The Emperor's Friendly Speech at the Presentation — Search for a Residence — His First Thanksgiving Dinner at Which Many Americans Were Present — Reception by the Empress — The Life of a Diplomat — Its Varied Duties and Many Social Obligations .......... 223

Contents ix

Chapter XXIII Pagb

The Phelps Home in Berlin — Mr. and Mrs. Phelps Dine with the German Chancellor — Fall of Bismarck — Intimate Friendship of the Iron Chancellor and the American Minister — Begins the Struggle for the Introduction of American Pork into Germany — American Rifle Teams in Germany — International Medical Conference — Fourth of July Celebrated at the Kaiserhof — The American Minister Presides and Makes a Notable Speech — A Trip Home Creates a Political Sensation — Newspaper Interviews — Speech on Irish Home Rule in Paterson — Visits His Ancestral Home in Connecticut — A Reception by the Union League Club of Hudson County — Interview with President Harrison and Secretary Blaine — Given Dinner at the Union League Club, New York — Returns to Berlin . . . 235

Chapter XXIV

Koch's Lymph — Phelps's Social Fame in Germany — Hoyt Extradition Case — Chicago World's Fair — Takes the Homburg Water Treatment, and Meets the Prince of Wales .... 249

Chapter XXV

American Pork — Grand Official Dinners with Homely American Products on the Table — Persistent Work by Phelps Wins Success, but the Closing Negotiations Taken from Him — Newspaper Canards — Another Trip to Egypt — Relinquishes His Office to His Democratic Successor — Appointed Judge of New Jersey Court of Errors and Appeals ....... 254

Chapter XXVI

Reasons for His Appointment to the Bench — His Commission — Return to New Jersey — Tells of His Parting Interview with the (ierman Emperor — Sworn in as Judge of the New Jersey Court of Errors and Appeals — An Impressive Ceremony . . 265

Chapter XXVII

Mr. Phelps's Interest in Englewood — Some of the Things He Did for the Township — Honored by His Neighbors — A Warm " Welcome Home " from Them on His Return from Germany . 270

Chapter XXVIII

Yale Makes Him a Doctor of Laws — His Continuous and Important Work for that University — His Many other Benefactions to His Alma Mater — Leader of the "Young Vale" .Movement — The Charter Amended — He is Elected a Fellow and Serves on the Board for Twenty Years ...... 280

X Contents

Chapter XXIX Pagb

Koppay's Historical Painting of Phelps and Bismarck — The Minister also Depicted on Canvas by Carl Gutherz — His Work on the Bench — Dedication of Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument at New Brunswick — His Reception at the Hamilton Club — Elected an Honorary Member of the Chamber of Commerce — His Portrait in the New Jersey Capitol .... 301

Chapter XXX

His Last Illness — Seeks Rest in the South — He Ends His Diary- Resigns His Last Public Appointment — His Fortitude in Sickness — His Daughter Hurries across the Ocean to His Bedside — A Peaceful Death ........ 316

Chapter XXXI

His Funeral — A Day of Mourning in Englewood — Church Filled with People from All Ranks of Life — The Sermon — Estimates of His Life and Work by Many W'riters ..... 321

SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES

Sound Currency .......... 339

Against the Franking Privilege ....... 360

In Behalf of Fitz-John Porter 373

International Commerce ......... 393

Interstate Commerce ......... 396

Increasing Subsidies to Mail-Carrying Steamers .... 402

Chinese Indemnity .......... 405

Post-Office Appropriation Bill ....... 409

Presenting the Statues of Stockton and Kearny to Congress by the

State of New Jersey ......... 416

Speech of Mr. Phelps before the New Jersey State Board of Agriculture, February 5, 1884 420

Grand Army of the Republic ........ 442

Honoring a Dead Soldier ........ 454

At a New England Dinner ........ 456

. As this memorial is printed for private distribution, it is possible that some who are desirous of possessing the volume may not be reached, in which case a limited number of copies may be obtained, at the cost price of publication, from The Knickerbocker Press, 27-29 West Twenty-third Street, New York.

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Chapter I

The Phelps Family in England— William Phelps, the Founder of the American Branch, Lands at Nantasket in 1630 — Settles at Simsbury, Conn.— A Race of Public-Spirited Men— John Jay Phelps

WILLIAM WALTER PHELPS was born at Dundaff, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, August 24, 1839. His father was John Jay Phelps, one of the most successful and distinguished merchants and financiers of New York City. The progenitor of the Phelpses in this country came from England. The ancestry of this branch of the Phelps family has been traced back to the eleventh century.

It is recorded that the Phelps family originally came from Northern Italy, in the Middle Ages, the name then being Guelph. In the early part of the eleventh century some of the family emigrated to Germany, where the name was spelled P^lps, Velps, or Vulps. Some of these who emigrated to Germany went in after-years to England, where the name in time became Phellyppes. but always pronounced Phelps. The superfluous letters were dropped during the reign of Edward VI., in the middle of the sixteenth century. The race became numerous in Somersetshire and Gloucestershire and for several hundred years furnished many personages of celebrity in English history.

The founder of the family in America from which William Walter Phelps descended was William Phelps of Tewkesbury, England, who came to this country in the ship called the Mary and John, which sailed from Plymouth in 1630. He and his children landed at Nantasket (now Hull, Massachusetts), and lived at Dorchester, near Boston, for five years, when they moved to Windsor, Connecticut. In those days geographical lines were not very closely drawn in the colonies, and what was afterward known as Simsbury was considered by general consent as a part of Windsor, but in fact it was outlying and unsurveyed land under Indian titles, and was known as Massacoe. Connecticut, however, acquired these lands from the Indians, and made a grant of them under certain conditions to inhabitants of Windsor. Among those who took up land under this grant was Joseph Phelps, the son of William Phelps, and he removed there with the other grantees before 1669. In 1670 petition was made to the General Court of Connecticut for township privileges, and the court ordered that the plantation at Massacoe be incorporated as the township of Simsbury.

The Indian neighborhood where Joseph Phelps located his lands was called Weatogue, and that is now the name of a railroad station about a mile from the first Phelps settlement, which of late years has been known as Bushy Hill. It is eleven miles from Hartford and two miles or more from the present village of Simsbury. The original Phelps homestead at this place is still the home of descendants of the pioneer. A few acres and the old farmhouse built by Alexander Phelps, who came in a direct line from Joseph, and who was John Jay Phelps's father, are an inheritance of Captain John J. Phelps, ason of William Walter Phelps, but the remainder of the original Phelps estate at Bushy Hill has been acquired by the Rev. D. Stuart Dodge, D.D., President of the Board of

Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America, who married Ellen Ada, the only daughter of John Jay Phelps, and the large stone mansion on this beautiful spot is the country home of Mr. Dodge and his family.

George Phelps, a brother of the first William, also settled at Windsor and Simsbury, but later removed to Wcstfield, Massachusetts. P>om this branch of the family sprang Anson G. Phelps, the widely known New York merchant of the firm of Phelps, Dodge & Co.

Simsbur>' is pleasantly situated on the Farmington River, which winds down from tl^e Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts and enters the Connecticut River above Hartford, and following the course of the waters, many of the descendants of the original settlers went to the metropolis, and they and their children became scattered all over the country, even to the Pacific States.

The Phelps family in this country seems always to have taken very readily to politics and public affairs, perhaps having inherited that propensity from its English ancestors and the pioneer William, for the latter, as soon as he made his home in Connecticut, began to be interested in the politics and public questions of the day. He held various offices high and low and was the first Judge of the Circuit Court of the State. Not only was he the ancestor of a line of thrifty farmers, but many of his descendants have been distinguished throughout the Union as soldiers, scholars, jurists, governors, diplomatists. State and national legislators. William Walter Phelps's great-grandfather represented the town of Simsbury for thirty successive years in the Legislative Assembly of Connecticut, and the name of Phelps is found all through the roster of the congresses.

John Jay Phelps, father of William Walter Phelps, was born in 1810, at Bushy Hill. The line of descent from the pioneer William Phelps was this: I. William Phelps; II. Joseph, m. Hannah Newton; HI. Joseph, b. 1667, m. Mary Collier, Sarah Case, and Mary Case; IV. Ensign David, m. Abigail Pettibone; V. Captain David, b. 1773, m. Abigail, daughter of Edward Griswold ; VI. Alexander, m. Elizabeth Eno; VII. John J. Phelps.

The father of John Jay Phelps, although the farmer of many acres, had many sons and little wealth. He could not give his boys a fine education, but in their home they were taught to be industrious, frugal, persevering, and honest, and thus was laid in the character of John Jay Phelps the foundation upon which he built a great fame as a successful merchant and foremost man of affairs. He had the usual life of toil as a farmer's boy on stubborn New England soil, a few months' schooling in the short days of the winter, and hard work during the long hours of the summer. He followed the plough before he was twelve years old, and treading the furrows, there begun in his heart a feeling of unrest and a longing for the greater knowledge and the greater life beyond the farm. His entreaties to be allowed to go out and make "a struggle with the world " were finally yielded to by his father and mother, and at the age of fourteen, without resources except a "brave spirit," he left his country home, as many other New England boys have done, to seek his future in the world, and, like many other boys to whom a college course was impossible, he sought a printing-ofifice education. He became an apprentice in a newspaper office in New Haven. His progress was varied, but he worked so assiduoush* that several years before he attained his majority he was the owner of the New England Rcviciv, published at Hartford, which was then his home. He had George D. Prentice, who later became the famous editor of the Louisville Journal, as his partner, and the afterwards distinguished poet Whittier as his apprentice. A memoir of him by his gifted son said :

He longed for a wider field, for action, for wealth that should spare his children the sacrifices of poverty. In the romances he sometimes penned for his country circulation it was easy to see the influence of a metropolitan splendor, of a successful New York life upon his imagination. His heroes were merchant princes, their mansions were rich with the refinement of European civilization, paintings, statues, books, all the api)liances of art exercised a softening influence upon their homes; and in the midst of this material splendor, they ruled a household growing up in the practice of every New England virtue — integrity, charity, public spirit, and patriotism. To believe that capital had more influence than a country editor was for him to seek capital. Action immediately followed conception.

The newspaper was sold. He set out to seek increased fortune and prominence, going into a new country which was then the wilds of Pennsylvania, but which has since become the best known "coal region" of the world. There, in the little village of Dundaff, he went into the service of Col. Gould S. Phinney, a glass manufacturer. His services were so valuable that he soon became a partner in the business, and then married, in 1835, Rachel Badgerly Phinney, his partner's daughter. He strove to become a successful manufacturer and accomplished his Durpose. The future possibilities of a country business did not satisfy his restless ambition. He sold out his interests in Dundaff, and with the profits he went to New York, where he was joined by his cousin of the same age, Amos R. Eno, They began business in a humble way, but in a few years Eno & Phelps were among the leading merchants of that city. After ten years of business success, they dissolved partnership and each established new firms. There sprung from the Eno & Phelps concern a number of most noted and prosperous mercantile houses of New York, among which were Phelps, Chittenden & Bliss, S. B. Chittenden & Co., George Bliss & Co., in all of which John Jay Phelps was financially interested. His energy and indisputable uprightness, and his unerring judgment, which was unsurpassed, were the causes of his unprecedented success.

Gradually he retired from the mercantile business, became an operator in real estate, and made large sums of money. He erected blocks of business buildings in New York, and was also then one of the very largest owners of personal property in the whole country. He was also an investor in many other business enterprises, in which he was invariably successful, and was in the vanguard of the great railroad progress of his time.

It was through his business foresight in regard to the development of the Pennsylvania coal regions that what is now known as the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad was constructed. He was its largest stockholder and first President, and was one of its Boards of managers to the close of his life. He was a director in other railroads in which he was a stockholder. During the latter part of his life he gave his whole time and attention, outside of his real-estate demands, to the management of railways, banks, trust companies, and other corporations in each of which he was a director, and in all of which it was said "his will was always the

It » aw.

The next day after this man of power and eminence was laid in his grave, William Walter Phelps, in order that his children, when they should grow up, might have a true knowledge of their grandfather's character and great worth, wrote a letter addressed to his infant daughter, Marian, containing a memoir of his father's life, a writing which was unexcelled in its tender expressions of filial affection, its beauty of thought, the simplicit\- and true eloquence of its diction. From this beautiful tribute by the son has been derived most of the history of John Jay Phelps that will be found recorded in this book.

Before he was forty years of age he retired from active business with every wish gratified. He was a strong man ; to those who knew him but slightly he might have seemed a hard man. Having made up his mind to a proper course he was indifferent to public comment. He did not despise it: he was independent of it. I can look back to infancy, boyhood, early manhood, and through all the scenes of these varied stages, recognize the shadow of his presence ever with me; in them all— school, college, political and professional life, I knew his eye was on me, his watchful sympathy mine. In them, all through these thirty years of life was no declaration of sorrow when defeat came to me, or of joy when success crowned my efforts. He was an iron furnace so hermetically sealed that the seven-fold fire within exhibited no gleam. I never knew the philosophy of this strange reticence; probably the lonesome hours of boyhood on the Simsbury Hills, the more lonesome hours of the fierce struggle he waged for wealth and position in youth aided in developing a natural tendency to this self-restraint.

But this man, so apparently cold and austere, was really capable of the warmest friendships and the kindest interest in those whom he thought worthy of his intimacy and regard, as letters from him in his early manhood most plainly show. Not long after he was settled in business at Dundaff, which he then called "The West," and when not quite twenty years old and unmarried, he wrote to Nathan C. Ely, a young man who had been one of his associates in Hartford, as follows:

As I hear nothing from you I am beginning to believe that you consider me minus a letter. If so, here goes. By the way, I should like to make such a bargain with you as I endeavored to make with Eno when I lived in Hartford, /. c, I offered to go and spend one night in four with him, in return for which he was to spend the remaining three with me. To bring the matter about, I argued that my accommodations were so much superior to his, that they stood respectively as one to four. Now what I wish to make of this, is — that you in consideration of the abundance of your materials shall furnish me with three letters, while I return one. Not that this arrangement would be perfectly just — but fact is, Ely, this is a woful barren country in incident, and 't would be worse than horrible to make one out of such " measley " materials. However, I will do as you direct in this matter.

Well, my good friend, how do you flourish? How prospering? Like the " green bay tree " I trust. But how can you content yourself in that psalm-singing city of yours? Hast no desire to go out from among the heathen and make a way for yourself in the wilderness regions of the West ? Can you content yourself there, treading the same road and pursuing the same track with those who are at least twenty-five years behind the balance of our people in industry and enterprise? They tell me, however, that Hartford is improving— that a new era is commencing— that the citadel of Aristocracy has been stormed, and its inmates made to "hide their diminished heads "—that Jacksonism has disappeared from your borders, and that nothing is left of the foul monster but a kind of sulphurous smell, which would seem to insinuate that the old fellow had gone to " his own place."

Well, go on; there is a power which can " change the skin of the Ethiop " and the spots of the leopard. That and that only, will change Hartford this century.

But come to think again, Hartford is not such a bad place as many would suppose, and come to reflect again, I am almost inclined to rub out every unkind word I have written over the leaf. 'T is even so; when I think a second time of the many kindnesses I experienced there— of the many pleasant associations connected with my sojourn there — of its city associations for improvement and its country advantages for recreation — I can say in reference to Boston, New York, New Haven, etc., etc. — Many cities have done nobly, but thou, Hartford, excellest them all. There, when you read my first opinion of Hartford, read the above codicil annexed and say it is like the politician's course, on both sides of the fence.

This woody, hilly country of railroads and canals — of anthracite coal and " Bitumenous " Irishmen to dig it— of Mynhers Dutchmen— of fair weather and pretty girls— is improving wonderfully. The ojierations made by the Delaware & Hudson Canal Co. six miles from us, at Carbondale, are really astonishing. They are expecting to send down by the canal this season ten thousand tons of coal for the New York market.

They have excavated the banks to the distance of more than four hundred feet in several places, — having small railroads entering the mines on which the coal is brought out. Ely, come out here this fall, will ye, and see me. A visit from you will be like the consolations of religion to a dying man — of extreme unction to the soul of a buried Catholic — for know ye that I am in a scripture sense dead to the world — having renounced it — that is, till I go to New York or Hartford, which latter place I am making calculations to visit some four weeks hence.