Memoir of Anne Gorham Everett; with extracts from her correspondence and journal

Preface

The follomng Memoir is a tribute of affection to the memory of the beloved friend of the Author, seeking in this way to embalm the recollection of its cherished and lamented object.

I have cheerfully given my sanction to its preparation, by placing my daughter's journal and letter books in the hands of Mrs. Bush, and by revising the volume for the press ; in which, however, no further correction has been made by me, than what would naturally be required in the case of letters and diaries, dating some portion of them from early childhood, and all written without the remotest view to the press. It will be sufficiently apparent to the reader, that their character, as the productions of a youthful and artless writer, has been in no degree impaired by this revision.

I have sanctioned the preparation of this little volume mainly for tw^o reasons. One was to gratify the wish of the amiable author, (my daughter's earliest

VI PREFACE.

and most intimate friend,) to preserve in this form the memory of their affectionate attachment, which comimenced in the morning of their days, and continued unbroken to the premature close of my daughter's life.

My other reason was a wish to extend to a somewhat larger circle of relatives and friends the knowledge of what seemed to me, after endeavoring to make proper allowance for a parent's fondness, a sin- ;gularly pure and interesting character, and a life as nearly faultless as human frailty allows. Without pretension to dazzling qualities there was every thing about her to approve and love, — great maturity with .great simplicity, resolution and perseverance united with childlike playfulness and maidenly diffidence, unusual attainment with entire absence of display, .firmness of purpose with a disposition most gentle and •docile, the highest moral purity, and a never slumbering sense of religious obligation. I have thought that it was due to the memory of the departed, not to allow the recollection of such a life and character to pass at once into oblivion; and that I ought rather to avail myself gratefully of the kindly proffered and faithful pen of her chosen friend, in selecting from the great mass of my daughter's papers the materials of the present volume, and bringing them by her own conscientious and accurate narrative, into a connected form.

It has seemed to me, however, that this simple memorial, though possessed of a melancholy charm

PREFACE. Vll

for relations and friends, could be of little interest to the community. My daughter had certainly made acquisitions in various branches of knowledge not usual at her age. I daily resorted to her for names, dates, and other facts readily supplied by her fresher, accurate, and very extensive reading. She had laid, I think, a sm-e and deep foundation for future intellectual eminence. Her juvenile compositions, (none of which are included in this volume,) evince the germ of no ordinary inventive and constructive talent. But her mind had not yet attained that stage of its development, in which the imagination begins to act powerfully upon the materials stored in the memory ; and 1 feel that it would be unjust to expose these specimens of her correspondence and journal to the criticism of strangers. The volume, therefore, is intended for private circulation alone ; and it is particularly requested of those into whose hands it may fall, that no extract from it nor mention of it may find its way to the public press.

The volume not being intended for publication, less reserve has been practised in the introduction of names and domestic allusions than would otherwise have been thought proper.

I could have wished that the references to myself had been less frequent in its pages ; but the feelings of duty and affection which she cherished for her parents were among the most strongly marked traits of our daughter's character, and it would not have been possible to omit the passages in her correspondence

Vlll PREFACE.

and journals, in which those feelings are expressed, without materially changing their tone and spirit.

To those who knew and loved our precious child, to the kind and hospitable friends on the other side of the Atlantic, whose attentions cheered the weary hours of her suffering and decline, to the relatives and friends at home whose warm assurances of sympathy alleviated our sorrow at her loss, to the memory of her little sister, also a child of brightest promise, and who preceded her at a still earlier age to a better world, to her beloved sister, and brothers, and mother, the little volume is inscribed.

EDWAED EVERETT.

Boston, 1st January, 1857.

Chapter I

page: Birth and family — personal appearance — cheerful temper GRACE WEBSTER EVERETT — TRAITS OF ANNe's CHARAC- TER — HER VIVACITY — LOVE OF ORDER — CONSCIENTIOUSNESS — SINCERITY — ECONOMY — LOVE OF KNOWLEDGE . . . L

CHAPTER VI. Adieus — voyage — arrival at havre — rotten — paris

OBJECTS OF interest DESCRIBED IN HER CORRESPONDENCE . 70

CHAPTER YII.

Home in paris — more sight-seeing — Versailles — visit to the chateau op la grange — last letter from paris . 82

CHAPTER I. Birth and family — personal appearance — cheerful temper

GRACE WEBSTER EVERETT — TRAITS OF ANNe'S CHARACTER HEK;

VIVACITT — LOVE OF ORDER — CONSCIENTIOUSNESS — SINCERITY

ECONOMY — LOVE OF KNOWLEDGE.

" In that, thy natal hour, The angels who thy spirit bore, From the far-off eternal shore, Sought for their heavenly home no more,

But stayed to guard their flower."

Anne Gorham Everett, the subject of the present memoir, was the daughter of Mr. Edward Everett. Her mother, Charlotte Gray Brooks, was the daughter of Mr. Peter Chardon Brooks, one of the most distinguished and prosperous of the men of business of his day in Boston. Anne was the oldest child of her parents, and was born during their temporary residence in Boston, at the house of her grandfather in Atkinson street, on the 3d of March, 1823.

From her earliest childhood she possessed the graces of person and character which give interest to that period of life. Her pure, soft complexion, her clear, blue eye, and her delicate form, dressed characteristically with exquisite care and neatness, made her, as a little child, if not beautiful,, most attractive and pleasing. Even her playmates, forming their circle for the merry game, were eager to catch her small, fair hand, which retained through her life the rare delicacy of her childhood. Her manners were remarkably quiet and gentle. Although full of vivacity,. a>nd always ready for a laugh, or frolic, she was never boisterous. When the sports of her school mates gi'ew rude and noisy, she quietly withdrew from them. One day she ^^rrites in her journal with evident disappointment:- — "6th May, 1835. All the scholars, but one, staid at school to-day and dined; including Charlotte and myself. School was dismissed at a little past one, and we then ate our dinners. After dinner I took my ball and played some time with it; but the other girls played such noisy games that I did not wish to play with them. After I had played ball till I was tired, I took a book and read till it was nearly time to begin school again.'^

Rarely could there be found a happier child. Her early school mate and most intimate friend does not remember ever to have seen her brow clouded with a frown, or her eyes moistened with tears of vexation. It is true, earthly favors are seldom so lavishly bestowed as upon this fair child. Wherever we find her throughout her brief career, a bounteous, smiling fortune attends her; wreathing for her a chain of joys, one link added to another. One sorrow only clouded her early years. But as experience teaches us that happiness is not inseparably connected with outward advantages, her uni-

ANNE GORHAM EVERETT. d

form joyousness can be justly attributed, not alone to natural amiability or the gifts of fortune, but to equanimity of temper, and diligent and systematic employment of time, and to the conscientious desire to do right, which pervaded and regulated all her conduct.

Once only, as we have intimated, she tasted the bitterness of sorrow. It was at the death of her darling little sister Grace. It is a mournful pleasure to introduce here, a tribute to the memory of this sweet child.

Grace Webster Everett, so named for the wife of Mr, Daniel Webster, died at eight years of age, when Anne was twelve. Anne had been the dear child's teacher, and thus writes in her journal: — "10th December, 1835. Grace has not been to school for a great while ; she has not been well. But I instruct her at home, in French, geography, history, etc., and mamma attends to her reading, writing, and sewing. She gets on very well in her studies."

Such were the studies of a child, then seven years of age. And in letters to her father, Anne mentions her rapid progress, and her interest in her studies. January 10, 1835, she writes : " I am now teaching Grace French ; she is a very good scholar, and has already learned several pages in the little French book, out of which I first studied. I hope when you come home she will be able to repeat her French to you perfectly. She seems to like to leam it." And in another letter to her father : " Grace is studying the little French phrase book, that I studied first, and she gets along very well. Do you think she had better study the French grammar next?"

Anne frequently wrote in her journal during the last year of her little sister's life : " Grace read aloud to us this evening, while we sewed." Their mamma usually joined their evening circle ; and Grace's reading was such as to interest all.

But soon follows the brief account of her sickness and death ; although, abiding by the rules of her journal, of which we shall speak more particularly hereafter, Anne forbears making a record of her own feelings on the sad occasion : — " 3ist December, 1835. Poor little Grace I The doctor says she is sinking very fast. Before she w^as sick, I used to instruct her, but I never expect to do so again. She has suffered much during the first part of her illness, but she does not now seem to feel much pain."

The following day was New- Year's ; and Anne writes : " I had a very nice present for Daughter," (the endearing name by which Grace was called in the family,) " but the poor little girl could not receive it, for she is very low, though she has her consciousness."

" 3d January, 1836, Sunday. — Papa did not go to church to-day, but stayed at home w^ith little Daughter, who is very ill indeed, though she seemed to know me as I went to her bedside and kissed her."

" 4th January. — We did not go to school to-day, for Daughter was so low we feared she was going. But she breathed easier after dinner, and before night she was quite strong, and was also rational, and seemed to know us all."

" 7th January. — Poor little Grace died last night, about half past twelve o'clock ; and this morning papa took me in to see her. I think the dear child is very much changed. I can hardly realize that I have lost her, and that I shall never teach her again. I have a comfort in thinking that she is now at rest from the sufferings she has had the last three weeks."

AXNE GORHAM EVERETT, O

"8th January. — Poor little Grace was boiried this afternoon. Some of our aunts and uncles came over to attend the service, as did also grandpapa. Dr. Walker made a beautiful and affecting prayer, ' Papa and grandpapa then took little Daughter up to Medford, where she was buried in gi*andpapa's tomb."

So this sweet bird of brightest promise withered, leaving only the perfume of her memory, which is still fondly cherished in the hearts of all who knew her.

" Early, bright, transient, chaste as morning dew, She sparkled, was exhaled, and went to heaven."

Dear little Grace ! The order of earth is reversed in heaven ; — and eight years after, when her beloved sister follow~ed her, may we not suppose Grace the teacher ?

" What a world were this.

How unendurable its weight, if they "Whom Death hath sundered did not meet again ! ^

To return to the immediate subject of our memoir. Among the traits of character developed by Anne even in her childhood, we are disposed to mention first her uniform viuacity^ the more remarkable in her case, because it was united with an early maturity of thought and unusual gentleness of manners. It was, however, shov/n in the spirit with which she entered into all the amusements of her playmates, often proposing little changes in the mode of procedure, or by a new game of her own invention giving fresh life to the sport The names which she gave to the domestic animals, about her father's house in the countiy, and to the walks and drives in the neighborhood, were full of sprightliness and originality.

1* b MEMOIR OF

In all girlish pastimes, she was commonly the leader ; and during her temporary absence from school, one of her companions writes : " 1 miss you so much ; and in recess, we all agree that there is no fun in playing ball without you." In a letter to her father, dated when she was ten years old, she says : " I intend on my next birthday, which comes very soon, to set up a school for the dolls ; and I have made some little maps for them ; all the books they study in, I am going to compose myself. I shall like such as those much better." Some of the little school-books of this juvenile compiler are still extant, and they present a very scholarlike appearance. When eleven years old, she issued a family newspaper, called " The Triangle ; " probably because there were three engaged in the editorial department ; contributions being received from her sister C, and from a favorite young cousin in Boston, to whom Anne often alludes in her journal. The name of the paper was afterwards changed to the " Fly-Trap." The Fly- Trap appeared once a month, and was neatly copied out in complete miniature newspaper form. It contained prettily composed stories, amusing anecdotes, and also advertisements. In one of the numbers, " Miss A. G. Everett informs her friends that a new term has begun at her .school, and that she will take either day scholars or boarders."

Anne was equally fond of the vigorous sports of childhood, and she freely indulged in them : the hoop, the ball, and jump-rope were alike used and enjoyed. At eight years of age, when under the care of her aunt in Boston, in the absence of her parents at Washington, Anne wrote a letter to her papa, which artlessly reveals her fondness for play : —

I

ANNE QORHAM EVERETT.

"Boston, 1 4th January, 1831.

" My dear Papa, — I have not written to you for a long time, and I am afraid that you think that 1 have forgotten you ; but I go to walk in the afternoon and play so much, that I have not time to write to you. I like Miss F.'s very much. I have been there since the first of January, and she says I am a very good scholar. I go to Mr. Papanti's, but I do not improve in my dancing so much as in my studies. He is going to move down into Bowdoin Square, and we shall have a long walk to take, but we shall not mind that, for I go out four times a day, and Aunt Ann says that I have got red cheeks now. We have a little game called loto, which we play every night ; we can beat in it ; the card is covered with figures, and the one that gets a line covered first beats.

" We have the new Robinson Crusoe, which 1 like very much, and the boys like it very much. 1 am glad that you are so much better, and I hope that soon you will be quite well. I have got into the last story in my French book, first volume, \vhich is called La petite Glaneuse, and it is a very pretty story.

" I am your most affectionate daughter,

" Anne G. Everett."

A few lines from her aunt, on the back of this letter, correspond with Anne's statement : —

" . . . I fear you see but little improvement in Anne's composition or writing. When at home she is so full of play, that it is quite difficult to get her attention long. I have good accounts of her from school ; — her lessons are never neglected, and she is certainly a very good child. She is quite a pleasure to me, and no more trouble to me than one of my own children. I give her a great deal of exercise ; and if she does not improve in manners under my hands, at least, her health is better than I have ever known it."

In her journal she names many of her favorite games, such as " French Roll " and " Still Palm," and she was one of the active parties, when she was about twelve years of age, in performing the play of" The Grinding Organ," which was acted successfully several times, under the direction of her beloved teacher, Mrs. D., at Charlestown.

This animated interest in all kinds of diversion, is mentioned for the encouragement of youthful readers, as evincing the happy influence of a combination of sprightliness with uncommonly studious and industrious habits. Anne's vivacity entered into every thing she undertook, whether work or play ; she literally obeyed the injunction of the wise man, "whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might."

Not less conspicuous was her love of order. " Her love of order," writes her father, "was the most ardent and resolute, I have ever witnessed. She seemed really to look upon it as Pope describes it: ' Heaven's first law.' " This beautiful sentiment of the poet was early familiar to her. In her journal under the date of Sunday, 15th of March, 1835, she wrote : " Mr. L. made an address at Sunday school to-day, about order. He began by telling us there was a saying, ' Order is heaven's first law ; ' and then told us, that we at Sunday school were divided into classes, and given to the care of teachers, who did all they could for our improvement. He said that we were like a solar system, each having two duties to perform, one to our teacher, and the other in common with the whole school. He also said, that

I we each had our business assigned to us, and that if we did not perform it, we deranged order as much as if the sun thought he would rise an hour or two later than usual, and make up, by uncommon diligence, the time he had lost."

This beautiful trait characterized in the most striking manner all her conduct and all her possessions. The nice arrangement of her desk at school, with its contrivances for the convenient keeping of her various books, papers, and writing apparatus ; and the habitual precision in which all were kept in their allotted place, is no small proof of a powerful systematic principle operating in a school-girl. Order reigned in her plays, her studies, her division of time, and in the minute care of her wardrobe ; and it was conspicuously the ornament of her handwriting and her needle-work, in both which accomplishments she excelled.

This quality rendered her a favorite with her teachers, but it was too rare, perhaps, to be appreciated by all her school mates. To the careless and indolent it often seemed needless precision. It will not be supposed that Anne gave heed to such critics, — if, indeed, she ever heard of them. She never suffered herself to be deterred from carrying out her conscientious principles ; and here it will be appropriate to notice the foundation which supported the symmetrical framework of her character, namely, her conscientiousness.

" It was founded on a religious basis," writes one, who, of all others, knew her best ; " and of all the persons I have ever known, she possessed the liveliest and steadiest conviction of an all-surrounding Divine presence. She read the Scriptures with unwearied diligence, retiring every day to a part of the house where she could do it unobserved. She wrote down texts for every day in the year, and at a very early age, for such a step, connected herself with her uncle Frothingham's church."

The rules which she made, when about eleven years of age, for her daily use, appoint the reading of the Bible as her first morning exercise. Her journal shows how faithfully it was observed. Every day, in which are enumerated merely the occupations of her time, commences with something similar to the following: — " Rose this morning at half past five o'clock, — made my bed, and then went down stairs and read my Bible." " I rose this morning at a little past five o'clock ; dressed myself, and then came down and read a chapter in the Bible." She read every day both in the Old and New Testament, and in a text-book, made by herself, with a verse for every day in the year, chosen promiscuously, from all parts of the Bible ; thus testifying that she esteemed the whole Word of God alike precious and inspired.

On Sunday she was constant at church, and a devout listener. Usually she gives in her Sabbath journal an abstract of one discourse, and very often the address heard at Sunday school. She loved the Sunday school, and was never absent from it but from necessity. In the summer of 1835, after a visit to Medford, she writes in her journal on her return, " We were rejoiced to get home ; I had not been to Sunday school for two Sundays, and I was very glad to get back to it."

A few extracts from her journal in 1834-1835, will show her interest in the exercises of the Sabbath.

"19th April, 1835. — Mr. Walker,* made an address

Now President of Harvard College.

to the Sunday school to-day. I will put down what I can remember.

" Bad children often advise other children who are younger than themselves, to do bad actions, and they use a great many arguments to persuade them to do what they wish. One of the first arguments is, ' Nobody will know it.' Let us consider this expression. There is a God who knows every thing which human beings do, even though it is concealed from every one in the world. And he knows when you do wrong. So that if a bad child asks a younger one to do a bad action, and says, that nobody will know it, he does not speak truth, for God will know it. Besides, when we do any good action, we are always pleased to have it known, because we think it will do us credit, and we are equally unwilling to have a bad action known. Therefore, when a boy says, nobody will know it, you may be sure that he washes you to do something wrong, or he would not wish it to be concealed.

" Another argument used to persuade children to do wrong is this : ' you are afraid.' Many a child's virtue has yielded to this argument. An older boy tells a younger one to do something wrong. The child says, ' I can't do it, it is wrong.' The other boy says, ' but nobody will know it.' The little boy still persists in his refusal, till at last come the words, ' you are afraid.' And then he generally yields. He is afraid of being thought a coward if he does not do it, and so he consents to do it, though he knows it is wrong.

" Another argument used is, ' it is only this once.' A child says to himself, ' it is only once, and once is not much, and I' 11 never do it again.' But how does he know it is only once ? If a boy asks him to tell a lie for him, and says it is only once^ he is easily persuaded, but if the boy comes again the next day, and asks him to tell another lie, it is a great deal easier to yield a second time, for the very reason that he has yielded once. So that what began in a small sin, ends in a very great one, and destroys his character entirely. If, therefore, you would not wish to be discovered in great sins, do not begin by committing small ones."

" 7th June, 1835. Sunday. — Mr. F. made an address at Sunday school to-day. I will write what I remember of it. ' When we wish to judge of an artist's taste, we examine some of his works ; thus we judge of the carpenter by the house he builds ; of the watchmaker by the watch he makes. So we judge of the power, wisdom, and goodness of God, by his great works, one of the most wonderful of which is the human mind. If it is properly employed it will bring us great good. The mind has all the materials for action, and it is only necessity to put them in motion. Thus two men set out on a journey together. One observes the scenery and country he passes through, and the manners and customs of the inhabitants of these countries, and returns home a wise man. The other man has the same advantages, and travels over the same space, and does not profit at all by it. The reason is, that he does not pay any attention to the things around him. The same materials are presented to his mind as are presented to the mind of the other man, but he does not put his mind in motion.' " " 28th. Sunday. — Mr. Y. of Boston preached to-day. His text was from the ninth chapter of John, 31st verse. * If any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.' He said when the soul has any desire or wish, it pours itself out to God ; or when it is oppressed with guilt; and this is prayer. Prayer is communion with God; and is like passing a moment ill heaven. The sermon reminded me of a beautiful hymn I once heard." Montgomery's hymn on prayer is here copied in full in her journal, beginning

" Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, Unuttered or expressed."

Other interesting abstracts might be given ; but these, which are among the earlier records of her journal, will suffice to show how attentively she listened to instruction, and her interest at eleven years of age, in the services of the sanctuary. Another Sabbath employment which she speaks of with interest, was the study of a hymn ; and the recital of it to her father, formed one of the pleasures of the day.

Her sweet dutifulness to her parents was obviously the result of conscientious principle as well as ardent, filial affection. One or two of her earliest letters, written, as will be observed, when she was six years of age,, pleasantly illustrate this.

"Medford, January 1, 1830.

" My dear Papa, — I want to see you very much.. As it is New- Year's day, I will write you a short letter.. I hope you are well. I wish you a happy New- Year. I hope you will be made very happy this year by the good improvement, and sweet manners of your little daughters. I intend to be very attentive to my studies., and all Mrs. S. wishes me to do. I am attending togeography, arithmetic, writing, spelling, and have begun my little Grammarian. I have had the medal two days :, but I missed a word to-day, and so lost it, but hope tO' obtain it again to-morrow. Mrs. S. sends her respectsto you. I past the last Sabbath at grandpapa's and left them all very well on Monday morning. Accept, dear papa, the best love of your affectionate daughter,

" Anne G. Everett."

"Medford, March 26, 1830.

" Dear Papa, — I write to thank you for being so kind as to send me so many nice letters. I think you are very good to give so much of your time to your little daughter. I am sure I ought to be the best child in the world to so good a papa. I thank you very much indeed, for your last kind letter, and hope I shall never forget what you wrote to me. I will try to be every thing you wish. I should be very sorry, my dear papa, to set a bad example to my sisters, who are such dear little girls, or to give you and dear mamma so much sorrow. I should have written you before, but Mrs. S. has been sick, and I staid at grandpapa's two weeks. Mrs. S. requests me to give her respects to you. Please, my dear papa, to accept the best love of your very affectionate daughter,