An orphan of the Old Dominion. Her trials and travels. Embracing a history of her life, taken principally from her journals and letters

Front matter

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Preface

The only apology for putting forth this work is a desire to be useful. The author wishes to encourage the friendly, and cheer with hope even the helpless orphan. She also desires to impart useful and important information to any who may be possessed of a missionary spirit. This infor¬ mation relates to the manners, language, modes of living, and in fine everything that is peculiar to that great and wonderful nation who claim an origin far anterior to the recognized father of our race, Adam himself. The Chinese are certainly a remarkable people, and the reader of the following biography and travels will, it is hoped, find a faithful picture of a nation who may perhaps play an im¬ portant part in the future history of our own great and growing country. The greatest study of mankind is man, but to know one nation only is not to understand this sub¬ ject in half its breadth. Nothing so enlarges our ideas as foreign travel. To understand the peculiarities of the various nations and tribes of this babbling earth; to know what they eat and drink and how they sleep, for what they live and toil, and what are their hopes beyond the bounds of this transient scene ; to know all this, and to know it by seeing it, has been with the author a passion. What gives pleasure to us we naturally think will be interesting to others, and as but few can travel ex-

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I

PREFACE.

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tensively, the author hopes to give to the reader such a life-like view of the people with whom she lived and labored, that both profit and pleasure may result. The work lays no peculiar claims to literary excellence, and asks not for criticism; whilst it has at least one merit, the author has in nowise willfully deviated from the intent of true description, and the endeavor “to do good.”

L. S.

AN

ORPHAN OF THE OLD DOMINION.

Chapter I

During the summer vacation of the last year that the beautiful Mary Sterling spent at school she became ac¬ quainted with Mr. Samuel Hobyn, a handsome, accomplishedj and generous-hearted young gentleman, owning an estate in her father’s neighborhood, who had been en- ; gaged in business in a distant country, and having ob- , tained his majority, had returned home to enjoy his patri¬ mony. He sought to entangle Miss Sterling’s heart in the silken meshes of love, but was for a time unsuccessful, as she was “ too young to marry any one.” Mr. Hobyn’s home was beautiful, supplied with servants and many of ; the luxuries of life. Then he was “so noble and hand- I some,” and his heart the home of so many “ good moral ; qualities.”

Many young ladies set their caps, but without success,

I as Miss Sterling alone had made an indelible impression i upon his heart. He knew that the school of which she was a member would close on the first of December for their winter’s vacation, which she would spend at home. How often did he sigh for this wished-for period to arrive !

Many gay parties were given in the large circle of his acquaintances, to which he was always invited, and which j he frequently attended ; but his attentions were so general to the young ladies that no one felt that she was slighted, yet none could feel that he paid her special attention.

But in these festive times he felt that the angel of his

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AN ORPHAN OF THE OLD DOMINION.

happiness was far away at a boarding-school, poring over books, or might be “ alone with memory,” her bright blue eyes fixed with a vacant stare on the floor of her room ; sometimes raising her round, white arm, finished with a very pretty hand, with delicate, tapering fingers, to push aside the dark curl as it fell from her beautiful neck and intercepted her gaze for a moment; or perhaps she might be sitting busily engaged with her slate and pencil in mak¬ ing calculations down to the second of the time when she would return home, and finished by drawing a landscape picture of Mr. Hobyn’s residence. Although he did not appear in the pencil sketch, yet he was portrayed in loving colors as large as life in the foreground of the intangible picture sketched in her imagination.

Mr. Hobyn had never told her that he would wait until she had finished her course of studies; but she hoped that he would, and then her father could not possibly object to her being united to “ a gentleman with so many flattering prospects.”

Too brilliant or too sombre lines are often employed in painting pictures of the imagination, but in this Miss Sterling was true to life. She returned home at the time anticipated when she left in the summer, and as soon as an opportunity offered she inquired of her servant maid whether Mr. Hobyn was married, and to her girlhood’s joy she found that he was still single, and that he asked “ Uncle Phil,” who had often been there to get some of the fine peaches and apples that grew in his large orchard, when his young mistress was coming home.

The mirthful season of the Christmas holidays being over, and when all had entered upon the duties of the new year with a cheerful spirit and bright prospects for the future, Mr. Sterling informed his daughter that, as he then wished to enlarge the circle of her opportunities, in an educa¬ tional point of view, he had concluded to send her to one of the first female schools in the city of Richmond as soon as she could get her wardrobe prepared. This she ex¬ pedited in order to carry out her father’s wishes.

Mr. Hobyn, hearing that Miss Sterling would leave for her school in a short time, became fearful that his oppor¬ tunities for renewing his suit were rapidly passing away;

AN ORPHAN OF THE OLD DOMINION.

in consequence of which he pressed his overtures more zealously than ever, and ere her young heart was aware she pledged herself to become the plighted partner of his sorrows and his joys, for she loved him with unsophisti¬ cated devotion, and in accepting his heart she had given her own in return.

In order to put an end to her going to school again, Mr. Hobyn, with the consent of his affianced bride, asked Mr. Sterling for his beautiful daughter in marriage. To this he very reluctantly consented, on account of her being so young and inexperienced,—she had scarcely emerged from childhood, not having completed her fifteenth year,—and that both were too young to realize the great responsi¬ bility of the step they were about to take ; and so it proved in after-years, for after all life is a thing of solid realities, and not of bright visions, whose brilliant pictures grow sombre and repulsive as we approach them, or burst as beadlike bubbles on the receding wave.

For weeks Summerset Cottage (the name of Miss Ster¬ ling’s home) was a scene of preparation in some depart¬ ment or other for the approaching festival, as the marriage ceremony was always, in those days, celebrated at the house of the bride, and it would seem with great pro¬ priety. A wedding was something that attracted the atten¬ tion of the whole round of acquaintances, both old and young, as all expected to join in the dance, which usually continued for several successive days.

At last the appointed day arrived for young Ilobyn to lead his bride before the hymeneal altar. He appeared leading forward with graceful and manly air his young and lovely bride, who shone as bright and beauteous as a spring morning, and it was evident that she could not have proceeded had she not been supported by the arm of her tender lover. All arose as they entered the room, and (as there were just enough for an agreeable com¬ pany) formed a circle, and heard them exchange vows of love before the man of God, after which many congratu¬ lations were offered by the relatives and friends of the newly-wedded pair.

It was a bright and joyous time to all but the widowed father of the young bride of scarcely fifteen summers, the

AN ORPHAN OP THE OLD DOMINION.

charm of whose beauty was heightened by her childlike simplicity and frankness. The tears which she saw stand¬ ing on her loved father’s cheek caused a passing shadow over her joyous spirit.

In the rear portico all the servants had collected to “ wish much joy to the bride and bridegroom,” their “young mistress and master Hobyn,” which being over, the young couple returned to the parlor to join in the dance.

On the evening of the second day after the marriage Mr. Hobyn took his bride home, accompanied by a num¬ ber of invited guests. It was a handsome, large brick house with Venetian blinds, which was reached by pass¬ ing through an avenue of poplar- and locust-trees. In front of the building was a flower-garden laid out with much taste.

The rosebushes were notin bloom, but the bright tulips and gay honeysuckles presented a brilliant appearance, while the hyacinths, blue-bottles, and the lily of the valley were drooping their modest heads and perfuming the air with their delicious fragrance.

In the rear of the house was a number of fruit-trees of different kinds in full bloom, among which the peach-trees, with bright pink blossoms, shone in conspicuous and eclipsing beauty.

In front, without, and in the large quadrangular court¬ yard, grew many lovely trees, around which were cling¬ ing creepers of rich and luxuriant foliage adorned with crimson flowers and coral-like berries. In the centre of the circular grass-plot was a beautiful summer-house, em¬ bowered in the dense foliage of white and yellow jas¬ mine and woodbine in flower. Birds of variegated and lovely plumage were caroling sweet music from their leafy bowers, as if in keeping with the gala scene at the “ home,” for it seemed that the very genius of mirth had taken pos¬ session of it for the time; but even the season of mirth must have an end, and give place to the more sober, practical duties of life.

In the domestic department of the “home” Mrs. Hobyn had the assistance and advice of two of Mr. Hobyn’s sis¬ ters, who had been some time making preparations for the reception of the lovely bride of their youngest brother.

AN ORPHAN OF THE OLD DOMINION.

And no one had a higher claim on their time and attention than their brother and his young wife, who was ever ready and anxious to practice her newly-acquired lessons. Her rosy, smiling, dimpled face was seen in the culinary de¬ partment, as well as in the more refined and congenial circle of the parlor.

Often in the flower-garden were her tiny white hands busy in twining and interweaving the truant vines around their latticed home, or pruning the flowers of their exuber¬ ant growth (which would hasten premature decay) to effect a greater development of their natural beauty.

Mr. Hobyn looked with pride on his lovely wife when engaged in her domestic duties; but while in the flower-garden, her rosy, bright eyes appearing among the vines and flowers, he thought that they rivaled them in beauty.

Roses and flowers do not bloom incessantly, so earthly happiness must come to an end. Mrs. Hobyn buried her eldest child in the family graveyard. Thus did one dark messenger of affliction flit across their pathway of life, so recently tinged with golden-hued promises of continued happiness; but promises, like sunshine, are often suc¬ ceeded by shadows.

This season of gloom was soon followed by others, until a dark cloud arose above the horizon of their domestic bliss, ere long to overcast the sky of their earthly prospects and burst in a merciless storm on the frail bark in which, with swelling sails, and wafted by sweet, balmy breezes athwart the silvery expanse, they had so lately entered upon the sea of life, spanned by rainbow hopes. Friends ashore—not seeing the storm, shoals, and breakers ahead—cheer them on until words are exhausted in wishing them a prosperous voyage and a safe and happy arrival in their destined port.

In a few short months Mrs. Hobyn is clad in deep mourning for her devoted and much-loved and only parent. Her father, though apparently in perfect health, did not live long to give happiness to her auspicious commence¬ ment of life. To be deprived of his paternal love and counsels for awhile overwhelmed the natural gayety of her spirits.

Almost as soon as the funeral obsequies were over, the young, brave, and generous Mr. Hobyn was called to the

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AN ORPHAN OF THE OLD DOMINION.

battle-field to fight for his country. He hesitated not, but joined a large company of volunteers then waiting to per¬ form the line of march to the camp near the town of Hampton.

On account of the depressing influence the sight of so many soldiers might have on the spirits of his young wife, Mr. Hobyn sent a request to the captain of the company to pass by his house as quietly as possible, under the cover and silence of the night, politely stating his reason for so doing, and that he would meet them at seven o’clock next morning in the grove in front of Colonel Callum’s residence.

Clad in his gay regimentals, with his warlike, capari¬ soned steed before the gate of the paternal mansion, Mr. Hobyn, with a firm step, but heaving bosom, and many big, burning tears crossing his youthful, but manly, cheeks, took leave of his agonized, weeping wife. What volumes rushed through the thoughts of that moment I will not attempt to describe. This might be the last time those eyes, telegraphing with the illumined characters of love, might meet again on earth.

Ere an hour’s ride, Mr. Hobyn joined the cavalcade of brave soldiers. Many were sitting with sad faces and down¬ cast eyes, from which the dewdrops of sorrow were falling in silent, but quick, succession. They had parted with all they held dear on earth for a term of hardship and toil in the service of their country.

Colonel Callum, who had been an officer in the Revolu¬ tion, came with his two sons and son-in-law to join this youthful cavalcade, composed of the flower and first-ripe fruit of their country, wept when he saw them, and wished that all of that chivalrous band were his own sons, that he might send forth a full regiment to fight for his country.

Onward and onward they moved, with their gay plumes waving in the gentle morning breezes, whose low, faint moans seemed so dirgelike. Each carried his sorrows locked up in his own bosom, for they were too sacred to be imparted to stranger ears.

The day closed with a glorious sunset, and the cavalcade struck their tents for the night. Many hands were busy in penning, in black and white, the brilliant hopes of a speedy

AN ORTH AN OF TIIE OLD DOMINION.

termination of the war, and their return to loved ones at home. Loved forms and faces, which passed before them in their day-dreams, in their lonely, but not solitary, travel, were the last images that faded from consciousness, and appeared again as soon as their weary limbs, and still more weary minds, were composed on the couch which mother earth ever affords her toilworn children.

Nothirfg unusual occurred to relieve the dull monotony of their tedious journey over a long dusty road in hot weather.

Soon after reaching a station for soldiers, not far from Hampton, they heard the most welcome of all intelligence, from friend to friend, that all was well at home, save the vacuum produced by the absence of a husband, son, or brother.

At this camp they were not able to obtain food for them¬ selves, or anything for their horses but dried grass, for three days. The weather was excessively hot, as no rain had fallen for some time, in consequence of which drink¬ able water, to allay their increasing thirst, was with diffi¬ culty obtained. Their sufferings were most intense, but on the evening of the third day’s suffering a grateful and copious shower fell upon the parched and cracked earth, and rain fell successively for several days, reviving nature and causing the barren fields to wear a smiling and beauti¬ ful appearance. These privations and trials endured by the young volunteers rather enhanced than diminished their zeal in the defense of their country, and cheered them onward to the performance of new duties.

Their being ordered to stop at this camp was what they did not anticipate on leaving home. In time they were ordered to repair, with all possible speed, to Hampton ; but before they had remained long at this place, peace was proclaimed,—the cannon’s roar, the clash of arms, the din and cry of battle was hushed to silence, and the sol¬ diers discharged.

With how much zeal did they return to enjoy the com¬ forts and fireside pleasures of their own homes ! How happy the return to those that were left! No doubt the incense of many a prayer was offered up from the altar of grateful hearts for the safe return of those whose faces they feared that they would see no more this side eternity.

an orphan of the old dominion.

During the absence of the stronger sex a portion of the colored population had begun to be very menacing in their manners to the unprotected and defenseless white families; and had it not been for their timely return, which put an end to the impending insurrection, all of their families would have been murdered. One of Mr. Hobyn’s servants told Mrs. Hobyn that there were only three old white men in the county, and what could they do with so many to fight against them ? And as for his own master, it would be a long time before he would be allowed to come home, if he did not get killed in the war. This naturally threw the whole defenseless community in a panic. What a pro¬ pitious providence that their husbands, sons, and brothers were released from the duties which their country claimed from them, to repel the more sanguinary war, which threat¬ ened their loved and defenseless ones in their domestic circle, around their own hearthstones, to which the im¬ minent one at South Hampton would scarcely have been a prelude !

It was afterwards ascertained that the idea of massa¬ cring all the defenseless white females did not originate with the negroes, but that they were instigated by fiends incarnate, clad in the livery of respectable citizens, to take this diabolical step as soon as an opportunity should offer; these promised the poor, deluded wretches a share of the spoils for the performance of the horrid deed, when they really intended to pillage the houses of all the money, jewels, and other valuables, leaving the poor, duped sables to reap the bitter fruits which credulity had sown, by losing their own lives. It is consoling to the Christian philoso¬ pher, that the “Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.”

AN ORPHAN OF THE OLD DOMINION.

IT

Chapter II

Mr. Hobyn had been left, by his father-in-law, chief executor to his large estate, which required much time to settle up in the way demanded by the testator, whose some¬ what unexpected death left his pecuniary matters in a rather unsettled condition.

Mr. Sterling hoped to the last few days of his life that he would recover, and be able to adjust squarely his own accounts with his debtors. In consequence of this pro¬ crastination much money was lost which was justly due to the estate.

The deceased was a man of temperate habits, just in all his dealings with his fellow-citizens. The genius of hos¬ pitality reigned in his domicile, at whose board the worthy poor always found themselves on an equality with the rich in participating of the bounties which were spread before them. So that he had universally the name of a kind neighbor and a good man ; so regular in his attend¬ ance at church on the Sabbath, and upright in his walk through life, that by many, especially by his own servants, he was esteemed a Christian, though he never made an open profession of religion.

The Hobyns returned to the “home” until Mr. Hobyn was able to adjust the business to which he had been ap¬ pointed by his late father-in-law, which was difficult to do without seeking legal advice. Mr. Sterling said, on his dying bed, that "a gentleman in Richmond owed him several thousand dollars, for which he at the time took a bond without security, as the money was promised to be re¬ turned in a few days ; and being taken sick the day after, he wrote the creditor to come and see him in order to arrange matters, but that he had never received a line from him. This money, with other important sums and landed property, after several years of perplexity and anxiety, Mr. Hobyn was not able to recover even by a legal process.

A little bright, rosy-cheeked, cherub boy completed the

AN ORPHAN OF TIIE OLD DOMINION.

trio of this afflicted family; his advent was like a ray of sunshine through the dark cloud which had so long hung j over them at the “home.” His infantile smiles and his | cooings fell on Mrs. Hobyn’s ear with softer than dovelike accents, and rivaled in sweetness the fragrance, which was wafted by the breezes, from the rich festoons of gay flowers as they hung in magnificence from their parent stems, or the warbling of the feathered songsters in the vine-clad bowers, the shrubbery, or the more densely foliaged trees. She now felt less intensely the separation from her orphan sisters and brother, as the happy expression of her face was more than thrice reflected by that of her darling j little boy, whose dimpled cheeks were like the sparkling | ripples of a placid lake.

Mr. Hobyn thought he was a perfect prodigy ; and he, i with his wife, began to lay plans for his education, and i heard, in the distant future, the thunder of his eloquence, as it burst from his lips in the halls of our national Con- | gress, its fame filling the length and breadth of the land, j Thus did young hope spread her balmy wings over the f gayly-painted picture before them, but not the “ hope which \ is anchor to the soul, both sure and steadfast,” and maketh !■ not ashamed.

Both parents thought there never was a home so happy f as theirs. Little Willie’s intellect began to expand almost * to precociousness as he grew in stature and physical f strength. He could run without nurse’s assistance to meet his papa at the yard gate, to get a ride around the !° lawn with him, and tell him, in his childish glee, about his j 11 pet kitten that Aunt Walton had given him, and his little r dog Hido, and all the little ducks and chickens that mamma f 1 had said that he might have, and his little colt that was l E almost big enough for him to ride, and that he “ was to ride f! a big horse when he was a man like papa.”

When the little fellow entered his mother’s chamber, he j had to tell her all that papa had said to him and all that I" he had told papa; and then requested nurse to hang up P his little red cap, like papa did his, in the hall. “ Please, | ( nurse ! will, will you?” This he said so coaxingly that f nurse could not help attending immediately to his request, f

He often asked his papa who made the pretty candles ! 1

AN ORPHAN OF THE OLD DOMINION.

so high up in the sky, and what God made them for ; and a number of such questions, which are “simple in their nature, but ill to solve,” and many in which there was a mixture of the sublime and the ridiculous. But Willie’s parents were like Gallio, in St. Paul’s day, “ cared for none of these things,” though they labored for the riches “ which perish in the using.”

It was often remarked by Mr. Hobyn’s pious acquaint¬ ances that it was a pity that a man of such noble qualities and lofty aspirations was not a Christian. There was so much practical magnanimity in his every-day life that, had he been a Christian, he would have been a demonstration of that charity (the climax of Christian virtues) which “suffereth long and is kind,” and which “rendereth unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s.”

Mrs. Hobyn frequently felt that this world often prom<- ises, but never satisfies, the soul which seeks its happiness* in the brilliant display of the ball-room or the whist-party. But these feelings were like the “morning cloud and early dew,”—the “ baseless fabric of a vision,” which leaves “not a rack behind.”

Though not entirely to his satisfaction, Mr. Hobyn had completed the settlement of his late father-in-law’s estate and received his wife’s patrimony. He also resigned the guardianship of the youngest daughter, and began to make arrangements for moving to Alabama.

The first step was to sell the “home,”—the place of so many pleasant and melancholy memories, where he was born and spent the early years of his childhood with his devoted I parents aud a large circle of alfectionate brothers and sisters, ^and where his parents died and he had spent several happy ; years with his young, beautiful, and loving wife; where lay the mouldering remains of his infant daughter beside those of his lamented parents; where his little darling Willie first heard parental voices breathing into his ears their affectionate solicitude for the little stranger’s comfort. These reflections, like dark shadows, passed through Mr. Hobyn’s mind, and touched a thousand tender chords. He 'wept when he thought that many of those loved ones were either dead or far away, and that the scenes of his child¬ hood, hallowed by a host of tender associations, could not an orphan of the old dominion.

return. He thought it would be best for the pecuniary interest of his family, and that his servants would not have to work so hard, and he could succeed much better every way, in a new country.

Another light sprang up in their dwelling; a little daughter, though not so physically beautiful as her brother, was in every way his equal in mind and heart, and her history will stand in bold relief in the subsequent pages of this narrative.

The “ home,” being disposed of, was legally transferred to its newly-installed owner, a plain-looking man, who had acquired much money by hard labor, and wished to be in possession of a home that was showy in its exterior, that it might be apparent to the world that he was a rich man, and advance his tall, gawky-looking daughters (to his limited ideas the acme of elegance), through the golden charms of their father’s large possessions, who looked upon mental cultivation as worse than nothing, as it brought no money to the possessors, but made them averse to work, and inclined them to talk about things that he neither knew nor cared about; and as to himself, he had made as pretty a fortune as any man need to want without learning, and his children could do the same. Such is the picture of those who succeeded the late refined and cultivated inmates of the “ home.” Those lovely walks and shades are trodden by unknown feet; and flowers, beauteous and rare, if reared at all, are reared by stranger hands.

To the neighbors there seemed a funeral-like gloom to hang over the whole premises, and they remarked while passing by, how sad it made them feel to think that they should see the loved family no more !

Mr. and Mrs. Hobyn had been very kind to the poor in their vicinity, and of course had friends among them as well as among the opulent.

They had now taken leave of their relatives, acquaint¬ ances, and familiar scenes of by-gone days, to seek a home and friends among those that were unknown and untried. Doubtless they had, notwithstanding the buoyancy of their youthful and hopeful minds, some misgivings about the untried future. They had passed the Rubicon, and had but to go forward, or, in the language of the ingenious

AN ORPHAN OF THE OLD DOMINION.

dreamer of Bedford jail, “ address themselves to their

InnWLf i he wh 0 ]e land was before th bnt th ooked forward to a home on the Tennessee, somewhere

Bntti k A i a , bama ' as a terminu 3 of their wanderings. B“t the breath of disappointment often chills the heart, and they had not learned to trust “in the Lord with all their heart,” and to be “ careful for nothin^ ”

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