A memoir of Augustine Heard Amory

Front matter

(lass V ^

Book b

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Chapter I

In the latter part of the 17th Century, Jonathan Amory with his son Thomas appears to have settled in the West Indies. Thence he moved to Charleston, South Carolina, and about 1700 came north to Boston. James Sullivan left Limerick, Ireland, in 1723 for America, and made his home in Berwick, Maine. His son became prominent in affairs of statehood and law, being a Judge on the Massachusetts bench, and a delegate to Congress from Massachusetts in the year which saw the close of the Revolutionary War. He held the position of Attorney- General of Massachusetts, and was elected .to the highest honor Massachusetts can give, that of Governor, in 1807. His daughter married Jonathan Amory.

A son from this marriage was James Sullivan Amory, Augustine's father, one of Boston's successful merchants. He was a fine type of man, thoroughly religious, pre-eminently Christian, an Evengelical Churchman, of the kind that love the Bible and talk about it, believe in family worship and practice it, frequent and share their prosperity with the Church. As his son Augustine said once,

"My father loved his Church and his religion. It was real to him. I don't know any better Christian, or anyone whom I want more to be like than my father.' 7

In 1837 James Sullivan Amory married Mary Copley Greene, the youngest daughter of Gardiner Greene and Mrs. Elizabeth Clarke Copley. She was Augustine's mother and a granddaughter of John Singleton Copley, the brilliant portrait painter. Copley's son, born in Boston in 1772 became Lord Lyndhurst of whom it can be read that he was "possessed of a fine and noble presence, a ready wit, an unfailing sweetness of temper and a real kindness and charm of manner that moves the hearts of men/'

Mary Greene Amory was a woman of strong- Christian character and exquisite charm. "She had great modesty, simplicity and a sweet dignity of manner. She was very industrious, being constantly occupied with fine needlework, and taking painting lessons after she was sixty years old. Her loyalty to family and friends was no less marked than her strong faith and noble endurance of sorrow, which gave a special value to her sympathy for those in trouble."

Inheriting thus gentleness and taste, refinement and an energetic nobleness, Augustine Heard Amory was born on the twentieth of July in 1852. He was the eleventh child. The family home was in Brookline. It had always been their residence and was peculiarly adapted to the rearing of children, ministering as it did to the finer side of children's nature. There was the liberty of outdoor life ; there were wide reaches of well-laid landscape, long stretches of avenues, beautiful residences with large areas. Strong cultured families made up the neighborhood. With the exception of two months in the summer the Amorys lived there the year round. The long, low house in which they dwelt had grown in the process of time out of a small summer cottage. The grounds were extensive, comprising some twenty acres. It was a good place for children to spend their young years, and the boy's interests were largely centered here. He grew up here with his playmates. This was his home in the youthful years when he was playing ball, skating, and riding his pony over the roads and fields. This was his home when he was a student walking back and forth from school and college. This was his home whither when man grown and in his beloved work he would escape from his trying and perplexing labors, and rest awhile. Augustine made much of his young life. His younger brother was his chum and together they shared in the games and discussions of boys. But he was not as robust as some boys are and the sports which require strong physical powers he did not care to play. The gentler side, that which so marked his whole life, marked his boyhood. It was the gentleness, though, of a boy and of a man with a life purpose : it had energy. Energy was never lacking in Amory's life. His persistence was great. And these qualities were nourished in his boyhood, when, apart from other boys, he was obliged to remain in the house, and play and work there. Augustine (they called him Tiny) naturally turned to the things which he could best do. He was not shut off from the companionship of boys but he could not easily take part in their fun. Instead he devoted his time to books. He learned to play the piano; he learned to sing; he could even do fine needle work and worsted work ; he was clever at wax work. The ways of a boy were in him however. He liked nature and nature studies. He collected and classified butterflies. He built a house with a room and an attic in the woods near home, in his hours out of school.

Augustine's early schooling was obtained at Miss Hedge's school and at Miss Susan Hale's school. Miss Hedge was the daughter of Dr. Hedge, then pastor of the Unitarian Church in Brookline. Miss Hale was a sister of Edward Everett Hale. To these schools Augustine went until he was twelve years old. He was studious and well-behaved. Conscientious in every little thing, he worked at his lessons faithfully and tried to please his teachers. These were the troublous days when the nation was battling in Civil War. The youth though not vigorous in health and body was vigorous enough in ideas. One thing that stood out strongly in this boy in later years was his intense patriotism. It was a religious virtue with him. ... On the back leaf of a little diary which he received from the Sunday-school Christmas tree of 1864, the boy drew with his pencil the picture of a group of men apparently being shot to pieces by cannons. Across the page in large letters are the words, "Rebels! Rebels! So perish the Rebels!"

This was the little diary which he conscientiously kept, when in the following year, his thirteenth, he went to Europe. The greater part of that year was spent in travel.

A note from this first diary is interesting : "Wednesday, Feb. 15, 1865. Pleasant: temperate. We are to be on board the Africa at 10 o'clock A. M. To sail at sharp 11 A. M. Parted with my friends with several tears, but felt a great deal better afterward.' ' The trip was a notable one for Augustine. He covered considerable ground and saw much. He saw the finest building he had ever seen at Siena, the Cathedral. He went through the British Museum. He saw the lion at Lucerne. He saw and heard the clock strike at Strasburg. He went blackberrying at Boulogne ; went to church at Westminster Abbey ; rode from Yevay and Dijon in a cattle train; took a row on the lake at Geneva; crossed the Wengern Alp ; went through the Black Forest ; spent Fourth of July on the Rhine, wearing a red, white and blue badge on his hat with ribbons on his j acket ; attended a grand concert at Mainz, of which the last number was an hour and a half long; went to church twice every Sunday ; saw the pictures in the great Galleries and brought fine presents home to his mother.

The next year Augustine began his school life at G. W. C. Noble's school. He did not complete his course here on account of ill health; but he always called himself one of Mr. Noble's boys. He was there one-half the year 1866-67, 1867-68, 1868-69, and one-half the year 1869-70. As in his former schools, so here: he was a devoted and faithful student. Sickness cut into his time and prevented him from doing what he would have done ; but when he could work he worked well. His reports were always good. " Augustine Amory" writes Mr. E~oble "was for some years a very dear pupil of mine, although for quite a portion of the time he was nominally under my charge he was absent by reason of sickness. While he was with me I was always impressed with the purity, — I may say the saintliness, — of his character. I never had a pupil whom I loved and respected more."

A little journal in boyish hand contains the following paragraphs:

This is a very disagreeable day, raining hard, and in every manner uncomfortable but somehow or other I rather like stormy weather. I trust that that does not in any way indicate a tendency to a stormy life.

This is the third Sunday of my life as a teacher in Sunday school. It is a very responsible duty when one comes to think about it, and I feel my inadequacy for the task but with God's help I will persevere. God has indeed blessed me so far on my pilgrimage of life but trials must come. Oh that I could trust God more, could go forth bravely to the battle, feeling sure that God would help me. How wicked I am, not to trust God when He has done so much for me and tokens of His love are evident wherever I look.

I went to church this morning. I do like our service so much, it is so grand, yet simple; father says he hopes that I never will have anything to do with the High Church, but that I am very fond of dress. I trust that I never shall.

How fearful are the works of God; I have just been looking at an Aurora Borealis and it fills my soul with fear, almost; but why should it, are not us miserable sinners ?

For four years, as constantly as possible, Augustine attended school. Noble's school was a preparatory school and the young man was getting himself ready for Harvard. He was to enter the University in the Fall of 1870. But here again sickness, or at least poor health, interfered. His course was interrupted, and he was taken South, to Aiken. The visit to Aiken was followed by another trip to Europe, with his father and mother. He was eighteen years old. This was his second journey abroad. Xo notes of this year were kept, though a considerable portion of the year was spent on the other side. The following year, 1871, found him still in a physical condition which prohibited his entrance into college. This year and the next year mark an eventful perioa m the young fellow's life. With cousins he went abroad again. These were days of interest and excitement to him. He was eager to be in college. It was painful to him to see his friends and schoolmates entering in ahead of him; but he knew it was wise for him not to go at this time. Instead, lie made the most of an inspiring journey. It was spent in Egypt and the Holy Land and along the Mediterranean. His journals of those months are full, and show him at twenty a conscientious and observing traveller. Conscientiousness was one of the marks of the man. Augustine felt that he must learn on this journey as much as could be learned ; that he must see as much as could be seen. It was a year taken from college. His father and mother had arranged this trip for him at a great expense. He felt that he owed it to them to spend these months in no mere lazy sightseeing, but rather in acquiring something which should be a part of his life. It became for the time being a sacred duty ; we read it in his journal. The little party of three, Augustine and two cousins, reached Alexandria, Egypt, on the first day of December, 1871.

CHAPTEE II

The next three months were to be spent upon the Nile, going up and down in a dahabieh. It was called Sirius, after the brilliant star which the travellers watched while crossing the Mediterranean. "We drove," he writes, "out to the old city Heliopolis of which nothing remains but an obelisk and the mounds. The obelisk stands in the centre of a great field. Here it was that Joseph married the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, and here Moses and Plato and Pythagoras must have studied. ... I tried to imagine Joseph as he led his bride past this obelisk, or Moses as he passed in and out beside it, but it is very difficult. . . . We stopped • a little nearer the city at the Holy Tree under which tradition says Joseph and Mary rested on their flight into Egypt. It is a very, very old tree, a sycamore, looking as if it might easily be 2000 years old, and near it is a beautiful old well. ... It is very likely they may have rested there, but whether under that particular tree is doubtful. However, it is well to believe as much as appears reasonable. Eor how much more one enjoys it.

. . . We got on to a common little ferry boat and crossed over to the Island of Roda. This was our first experience on the Father of Rivers, and it was beautiful. We passed through a little, narrow street and looking into a house saw two women grinding corn together. a The one shall be taken and the other left." When we reached the gate of the garden we were requested to wait as the ladies of the Harem were taking a walk. So we waited while the lovely ladies were shut up for fear they might see the face of a man. ... As we were about to descend the steps to cross the ferry, we encountered three lovely ladies of the Harem, dressed in bright silks and wearing the white muslin and black silk veils. One lovely creature dressed in pink favored me with a glance from her dark eyes. We enjoyed the privilege of going across in their boat which was brought back to us. I would like to think it had been sent by my angel in pink.

Dec. 8. In the evening we drove to the citidal to the Mosque of Mohammed Ali to see the dervishes. It was curious to look into the little shops as we passed along, and to see the people lighted up by a lantern, reminding one of Rembrandt's Interiors. As we approached the Mosque, we heard the sounds of drums and when we entered the Mosque, which was beautifully lighted up, the tumult and din were strange. We immediately walked up to the farther end where standing in a half circle were the dervishes, who looked very peculiar in their bright-colored dresses and long hair. They were bowing back and forth keeping time to the dreadful drums and going faster and faster and their hair flew all about. One man went into a fit and altogether it was the saddest thing I almost ever saw. Some of the men were very fine looking. After that they made a peculiar noise with their throat asthey bowed back and forth. I should think we must have watched them for half an hour. What a dreadful religion this is that can make such dreadful fanatics of its followers! I did not realize what a religion it was till I saw this part of it, and it made me feel very sad. I was so taken up with watching these dervishes that I could not sufficiently admire the beautiful lighting up of the noble building; but the effect was beautiful. It was a relief to get out under the starry sky and drive home.

. . . This voyage makes a heavy pull on one's pocket. I look forward to it with much pleasure. May God bless us in it. I went to the African bazaar where I bought a pair of the great yellow Turkish slippers that the people wear. I neglected to shake hands with the man who sold me the slippers after I had made my bargain, and I am afraid I hurt his feelings, for that is the usual custom. I was sorry not to have known it. We received letters in the afternoon and greedily devoured them. "As water to a thirsty soul so is good news in a strange country", as Solomon truly said. He must have travelled to find that out.

Dec. 16. Got on shore before breakfast for shooting. I shot my first bird, a horned plover or crocodile bird, grey and black, and conspicuous white around its neck. At the end of each wing is a little horn. Tradition says it enters the mouths of crocodiles to feed on flies and worms, and when it wishes to get out it flaps its wings and pricks the crocodile so that he opens his mouth. . . What happiness to be able to enjoy all this. May God bless it to me.

Dec. 18. Wind blew a gale all last night and kept us all more or less awake, and at about midnight I was awakened by Antonio who told me to get up for we were in a dangerous condition. The boat was tipping very much and as soon as I could collect my senses I found we were driving across the river, with the sail unfurled, wind blowing a gale, and very dark. Everyone was shouting out and Antonio was almost beside himself. But the only danger was in running on to a sand bank where we should probably have capsized, but God was gracious to us and mercifully saved us. And the anchor dragging, we did not rush on to the opposite high bank as hard as was feared. ... I had on my red dressing gown, yellow Turkish slippers, silk scarf and tarboosh.

Sunday, Dec. 24. A beautiful day's sail. I read the service after breakfast, and a short meditation and it really seemed like Sunday. At about 3 o'clock passed the mountain of the birds, where all the birds assemble once a year to choose one of their number to mount guard till the end of the year. This long range of cliffs rises directly from the river. At the northern end is a convent, and as soon as we came in sight some of the lay brethren swam out to meet us and demand baksheesh. They were entirely destitute of clothing and looked like very rough specimens of Christians. We gave them a few coppers and putting them in their mouths they swam to the opposite bank. ... It did not seem like a home Xmas Eve, but it did seem like a real Eastern one. I thought very dearly of the loved ones at home. How many happy Xmas Eves I have had at home, and this is my first away. . . . This seems as if it might be like the same night as when shepherds of old were watching their nocks, when suddenly there appeared the angel with the heavenly host. What a glorious Eastern night that must have been.

Dec. 25. Longed very much for home. We exchanged our "Merrie Xmas" and a few very small gifts and tried to be as merry as possible. Made two or three shooting excursions. Our cook provided us with a very good dinner and I doubt not but that it was as tender and good as the one they have at home, but it needed the cranberry sauce. Had a naming plum pudding and a splendid tower of Nugat. In the morning I read our beautiful Xmas service. During dinner we heard the frogs sing, — imagine it at Xmas time! ... I have just finished Herodotus' account of Egypt which he visited about four or five hundred years before Christ. His theory of the sources of the Nile is very curious ; he also says that there are some people who think that he rises from snows, and he says any wise man will see the foolishness of such a theory, for how can there be snows in Ethiopia, the hottest part of the world. How he would pity our ignorance nowadays. His theory appears to me very fanciful. He thinks that as in winter the sun retires further south, so while there it must collect all the moisture it can from the rivers and marshes, and this moisture is given to the winds and melted into rain, so that during the winter the rivers of Ethiopia being swelled with these rains, the Nile on the contrary being low, attracts them, and so in replenishing it they cause the inundation. I have given this as I understand it. The more I read the more do I feel my ignorance.

Jan. 1, 1872. Here I am to commence my New Year on the Mle, in the land of the Ancient Pharaohs. May I be guided in all my ways by that Gracious Father who has watched over me all my life. During our walk we visited a sheikh, a great saint very much respected and an idiot. This reverence of idiots is a relic of barbarous nations and is the same with our ISTorth American Indians. A more disgusting man I think I never saw. He was sitting on the ground before the remains of a fire, surrounded b>y a circle of admiring friends and relatives who are supported by the presents he receives. He was perfectly naked and looked very much like an orangoutang, had a perfect mass of matted hair. We gave Mm some tobacco and a few piastres, two of which were given to him by his relatives and the rest retained. These two, he threw amongst a crowd of children who scrambled for them. What can be done for a people who have for saints such disgusting creatures as these !

Jan. 3. A pleasant day although overcast, a wonderful thing for the Thebaid. ... I caught a distant view of the great propylon of El Karnac, and then with a thrill felt that I was approaching Thebes. We reached there about 3 P. M. and there found several dahabiehs. We started out to see the Temple of Luxor, finished by Rameses II. who commenced to reign 1311 B. C. Some say that he was the Pharaoh who oppressed the Israelites but Miss Martineau fixes the Exodus at 1491 B. C. I don't know who is her authority. I think the other is right. How wonderstruck I felt as I felt I was in the great city of Thebes, which has stood so many thousands of years.

I was very much impressed with the temple of Luxor. The obelisk is so much more beautifully aud appropriately placed than its companion which stands in the Place de la Concorde, Paris.

Jan. 4. A most perfect day, a day ever to be remembered. Breakfasted at 8 and afterwards were rowed across in the small boat to the plain of Thebes. I cannot imagine a more beautiful site for a city and for such a city as Thebes with its one hundred gates. The mountains form, except in the North, a perfect amphitheatre; the mountains are quite varied, some going up in peaks, especially the cluster behind old Thebes which are particularly varied and beautiful. . . . We visited first the smaller temple. . . . Prom this we went to the great temple than which I can imagine nothing grander or more colossal. . . . We walked all around the great walls and got very good ideas of the courts within, and of the beautiful green plain beyond and of Luxor with its temple and the rosy gray hills fading away in the distance. We went up a curious staircase to the top of the Propylon, steps cut in the rock. The gateways are very beautiful and here there are some beautifully preserved pyla all covered with painted sculpture and having the winged globe emblem of life in immortality. One sees this beautiful symbol everywhere. I think there is something grand in this religion of the Egyptian, yet sadly degenerated from what it must have been, for a religion with so much in it must have descended from a purer of which Osiris their God must have represented to them the same God, the one true God whom we worship. E"o was to them the Messiah. But what a fearful fall for them to this superstitious idolatry. And yet we cannot judge for we know so little of them. . . . We rode to the great colossi representing Amunoph III sitting in peaceful grandeur overlooking the plain toward the river. I went to some distance behind them and climbed on the side of a prostrate column which was the same size as the great ones and from there the great colossi looked wonderfully grand and towering. There seems to be something very mysterious in these great statues, and as I rode away from them I watched them receding in the distance still grandly mysterious. I felt completely dazed with all that I had seen.

Jan. 12. A fresh north wind and so we looked for the sheikhs of the cataracts. ., . .At two o'clock the cataract people appeared. The entrance to the cataract was strikingly picturesque, — such high piles of rock. Here the river runs around and between little islets of black granite worn by the water into all sorts of fantastic shapes. . . . Finally our turn came for ascending this rapid and ropes were fastened to the rocks and the top and we shoved off. I should think that there were as many as forty or fifty people interested in pulling us up. And we had on board two or three sheikhs who all gave orders at the same time, and the noise and confusion were indescribable, everyone screaming and making such frantic gesticulations. Slowly but surely we passed up and went through two more in the same way with many delays. . . . After the crowd had dispersed I went on shore and climbed on the top of some rocks where I had a beautiful and curious view of the cataracts and in the south at their head Philae, the holy island, the burying place of the great Osiris. It looked beautifully green and was all covered with masses of grand ruins. While I was vainly trying to sketch it the sun set in unclouded glory and I saw Philae by sunset. How beautiful were the colorings all around. May I never forget it. Saw the new moon, an exquisite silver thread of a crescent and we watched the stars, appear one by one. How many beautiful spots there are in the world.

Jan. 20. . . . We caught a last glimpse of the Nile before it entered the cataracts passing under a cliff, — that was the highest part of it we saw or probably ever shall see. We lunched here and I tried sketching but I was very unsuccessful. I walked ahead of the others coming back, and afterwards geting on my donkey kept out of sight all the way. And what a strange ride it was alone in the great desert with only an Arabic donkey boy. I wish I could bring out in water colors the real coloring of the desert. "And the desert shall blossom as a rose." There was not a trace of vegetation. Footprints of hyenas, and skeletons of camels and some black crows circling around. How suggestive of the deadly power of the desert ! And how refreshing and beautiful the Nile looked with its fringe of palm trees when it burst m my sight so blue and full of life. I thought "And thy peace shall be as a river — a joyous peace." Now we have to busy ourselves with seeing and studying temples. We went to the greater and grand one of Abou Simbel with its four great colossi guarding the entrance and they looked so kind and benignant and pleasant as if glad that I had come to see the wonders over which they have guarded so long. . . . It is wonderful how much beauty and delicacy of expression can be produced in a colossus of such size. Their total height without the pedestal is 66 feet. The children of Rameses stand between his legs, and comparing my height with theirs, the top of my head could not quite reach up to their chin. They look like mere dolls. . . . Entering through a doorway eighteen feet deep, we came upon the great hall supported by eight grand colossal Osirides representing, as do the colossi, the great Rameses. These Osirides .are wonderfully beautiful. ... I passed through this hall with these wonderful Osirides looking down upon us, through the next and smaller hall supported by four square columns across the corridor to the adytum in the center of which stands the altar and at the farthest end ranged against the wall are seated three deities and the King who is here associated with the Gods. . . . This is a wonderfully wellpreserved temple, and one cannot help feeling the solemnizing effect, especially when one thinks that the Egyptian religion had so much in it, and that they worshipped the one supreme God. I was very much impressed with it and I hope I may never get over the solemnizing effect.

Jan. 22. This morning we got up early and went to the great temple which was lighted up beautifully by the morning sun. I went through the whole, groping my way from sculpture to sculpture with a candle followed by one of our crew. ... I very sadly took my leave of these beautiful and grand colossi who still looked so pleasant and benignant. I have really gotten to love them. T do not wonder the Egyptians worshipped their Gods although it was no less sin because they were beautiful. In the beginning their religion must have been pure and simple. I left sadly and got on to the dahabieh at about 10 for breakfast and then we cast off and commenced floating down stream. I watched the colossi fade out of sight hoping yet scarcely believing to see them again. However, I believe that he who once tastes the water of the 'Nile is sure to taste it again and to long for it. I ought to be and am very grateful for the wonderful opportunity of seeing. all this.