summer on the sea—school and della’s illness and trip abroad—papa elected governor
we went to our summer home on pawley’s island in june, and oh! the delight of the freedom of the life on the sea-beach after the city, and the happiness of being at home. the bathing in the glorious surf early in the morning—we often saw the sun rise while we were in the water, for we were a very early household, and had breakfast at what would now be thought an unearthly hour, but my father did a tremendous day’s work, which could only be accomplished by rising before the sun. and we children were by no means idle. we were required to read and write and practise every day. papa’s rules were strict: we could never go out to walk or play on the beach in the afternoon unless we had done our tasks. i was required to practise only half an hour, but it must be done. then i wrote a page in a blank book and showed it to mamma for correction. she had me to write a journal of all that had taken place the day before,{138} instead of writing in a copy-book. i have one of the little old books before me now, commonplace and dull, but it was a very good idea for a child, i think. i must have acquired the diary habit then, for all my life it has been a comfort to me to record my joys and my woes, when they were not too deep. then i read aloud to mamma from some classic for half an hour, so i did not go wild during the holidays. add to this that papa did not allow us to read a story-book or a novel before the three-o’clock dinner, so that i read by myself in the mornings motley’s “rise of the dutch republic” and prescott’s “philip ii”—only a little portion every day, but there is no telling how much my taste was formed by it.
there were three girls of my own age living on the island, and we met and walked together every afternoon. jane and rebecca alston were twins and exactly alike; there was a tale that their most competent elder sister had once given a dose of medicine to the well one when they were lying in bed together, unable absolutely to tell one from the other. this tale was a comfort to me, for though i was devoted to rebecca and did not like jane, when we met i could not possibly tell which was my friend until jane showed her haughty{139} nature in some way. they called each “sissy,” so there was no help from that. the third girl, kate la bruce, was devoted to jane and disliked rebecca, but she was as helpless at first as i was. they have all gone to the beyond before me.
madame had occupied a house in tradd street, two doors east of meeting, that first year; but when we returned in october to school she had moved into a very nice house in meeting street, with a delightful big garden full of rose-bushes and violets—such a joy to us, for we could roam about it during recess and in the afternoon. this year another boarder of my own age arrived, emma cheves. we looked at each other with suspicious scrutiny for a while, and then we became the most devoted friends. emma was my first friend and remained my best friend all her life. it was a great grief when she passed away a year ago. she, like myself, lived on a big rice-plantation, so we had much in common, only her beautiful home was very near savannah.
this winter my dear, sweet, beautiful sister, who never did anything wrong and to whom all the teachers were devoted, was taken ill. it proved to be inflammatory rheumatism, and she was desperately ill. at that day trained nurses{140} were unknown, and it seems a wonder that any one ever got over a desperate illness, but they did. madame moved della into her own large, airy room, and she nursed her herself, with the assistance of one of our very good negro servants that papa sent down for that purpose, and who was devoted and vigilant; and after a long illness della recovered. it was spring when she was able to leave the room. the doctor advised a sea-voyage for her, and papa determined to take mamma and herself abroad. my mother’s eldest sister, mrs. north, offered to take the younger children, with the nurse, mary o’shea, while they were gone, to her home, badwell, abbeville district, the original home of mamma’s people. this was very good of aunt jane, as it was quite an undertaking, and for six months.
i do not remember the stay there with any pleasure, though my aunt and cousins were very good to me. i was so miserable about those who had crossed the ocean. i never expected to see them again. the only thing i remember very clearly was dreadful. there was a big boy there who used to tease me and laugh at me. aunt jane’s coachman, joe, a very good man, was ill all summer, and i got into the habit of asking to
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mrs. r. f. w. allston (née adèle petigru).
portrait by flagg about 1850.
{141}
be allowed to take something nice from the dinner-table to him every day, which seemed to please my aunt, and was the thing in the day that gave me most pleasure. one day just before dinner-time this boy called to me: “come, bessie, quick. joe wants to speak to you.” i ran breathless, right up the steps, into the room, up to the bed. joe was just in the agonies of death; a silver dollar hung over each eye—the negro method of closing the eyes in death—his mouth open and teeth all exposed with the last struggle for breath, and the terrible rattle in his throat! no words can describe the effect it had upon me. day and night he was before my eyes, and the dread sound was in my ears. i became really ill nervously, and they had to pet me and feed me up, and dose me with stimulants.
i don’t remember anything more until i was back at home on the plantation with mamma and papa and della all there, and seeing the lovely things they had brought for us. then, too, i heard i was not to go to boarding-school again, but was to live with the family in the beautiful house papa had bought and given to mamma in meeting street, next to the scotch church.
papa brought with him from paris a beautiful{142} piano mechanique. it was an upright rosewood piano which could be played naturally like any other, but when you closed the lid on the keys you could open the top, and there was a tiny railroad-track on which you put wooden blocks about one-half inch thick, eight inches long and four wide, and having wires inserted into them much like a wool or cotton card. there was a handle which turned and carried these little flat cars along the track, but it took great skill to turn the handle evenly with the right hand and adjust the little flat cars with the left hand so that they would touch each other and make no break in the music. but dear nelson, our head house-servant, soon learned to do it beautifully, and it was the greatest delight to him and he was ready to play all the evening. now that there are so many inventions to give music this does not seem remarkable, but in 1855 it was most wonderful, and the greatest possible joy. we heard all the most beautiful operas and classical music that we never would have heard or known anything about. the music came in little wooden boxes about two feet long and six inches wide and high. they occupied a corner in the drawing-room, and when piled were about four feet high and four feet wide.{143} the dear little piano was moved during the war to the interior where we refugeed, and it is still in the family—very tired, but still sweet in tone. but the boxes of music were lost during the war. i have often regretted it greatly, because it seems to me it was quite as beautiful as any of the machines i have heard since, and the collection of music was so fine. this piano cost $1,000 in paris, besides the heavy expense of bringing it over to this country.
my sister took music lessons while in paris from m. lestoquoi, a distinguished pianist, and made great strides in her playing; she really was a beautiful musician.
my father was elected governor of the state the next year and as there would be necessarily a great deal of entertaining in which della would have to take part, papa decided that it would be best for her not to return to school, as it would be impossible for her to keep her mind on her studies. so, though she was only sixteen, she left school. there were balls and receptions and dinners, and though i had no part in them, it was hard for me to study.
all my sister’s ball dresses came from paris, and it was the most exciting thing to see her dress{144} for a ball. at that time they wore the most beautiful artificial flowers, and i especially remember della in a frock of tulle—little pleatings from waist to floor of white tulle and then pink tulle, and long garlands of apple-blossoms with silver stamen, and a light garland twined in her smooth, glossy brown hair. she was a picture, truly, and naturally she was a great belle and had many suitors. she did not care for attention at all, and i think that only made her the more attractive. she was not allowed to dance the “round dances,” as they were called—the waltz, the polka, and the mazurka—as only what was considered the fast set danced them; and a ring of spectators would form round the room to watch the eight or ten girls who were so bold as to dance them.
the proprieties were really worshipped at that time. i remember hearing della severely scolded for having answered a note from a young man asking her to ride on horseback with him, in the first person. poor della said: “but how else could i write, mamma?”
“you should have written: ‘miss allston regrets that she will not be able to ride with mr. blank this afternoon.’”
such a thing as driving with a young man was{145} not possible, though at that time all the men had fine horses and buggies. but my sister, being a very good horsewoman, was allowed to ride occasionally with a young man. girls were not allowed to receive visitors without a chaperon being in the room. mamma found this part of her duty very trying, so i was sent to study my lessons in the east drawing-room, where my sister received her visitors; and i certainly enjoyed the situation, if no one else did. there was a beautiful drop-light on the table by which i studied at one end of the room. i always murmured my lessons aloud as i swayed backward and forward, to give the impression that i was oblivious to all but my book. but little escaped my ears. as a rule i thought the conversation dull, but one night i heard the young man say, laying his hand on the marble table beside them: “have you ever seen any one as cold as this marble?”
della answered composedly: “no.”
then he said: “i am looking now at one whose heart is just as cold.” that rather pleased me, but as della seemed bored he did not proceed in that strain.
charleston was very gay for a few weeks in the winter at that time. there were three or four{146} balls every week. three balls given by the st. cecilia society took place at intervals of ten days, for everything had to be crowded in before lent came. these were the most exclusive and elegant balls of all; but the jockey club ball, which always ended the race week, was the largest and grandest—not so exclusive, because it included all the racing people. the races were the great excitement of the winter. every one went and every one bet. gloves and french sugar-plums came pouring in upon every girl who had any attention at all, for that was the only time that a girl could receive any offering from a man but flowers.
these last were terribly stiff bouquets made up by a florist, with rows of trite roses and pinks and other flowers all wired on to a stick, forming a pyramid with geranium-leaves around the base, surrounded with a white lace-paper frill and wrapped in silver paper. my sister had one suitor who had sense and, instead of sending these terrible stiff pyramids, used to send her little reed baskets filled with little white musk-roses picked by himself in his aunt’s garden. they were too sweet—no stems—just a quart of little darlings that you could put in your drawer, and be con{147}scious of, every time you took a garment out for weeks—and so recall the donor. alas, he was killed early in the war. this was pinckney alston, a gallant soldier and charming man. my father was very anxious for della to learn to sew, and she was at last spurred to the point of making a frock for herself. up to this time her only achievement in the way of sewing had been when she was about fourteen and we were at west point for brother’s graduation. our great hero, general robert e. lee, then colonel lee, was superintendent at that time, and paid della a great deal of attention, and one day when he was lamenting that he had no one to hem six new handkerchiefs, his wife being absent, mamma suggested to my sister that she should offer to hem them for him, which after much hesitation she did. she did not finish all of them before we left, and sent them with a little note when we reached home, and received from him the most charming letter of thanks, which della always treasured among her sacred things. the great success of this venture with her needle seemed to have completely satisfied her ambition, until papa, to whom she was perfectly devoted, roused her to attempt and accomplish the great feat of the frock. i well re{148}member her appearance when she put it on for the first time. she was very proud of it, and apparently perfectly content with it, but it was a sore trial to me. to begin with, the color displeased me. it was a yellow cambric with little black figures here and there. the skirt was very long and the waist very short and tight; the sleeves were meant to be long but failed of their intention, leaving about three inches of wrist unadorned. no one liked to discourage her first effort by any criticism. she had received from a young man the day before she first donned it, a note requesting an interview alone at twelve o’clock, which had been granted. it did not seem to excite her at all, but i was greatly excited, for this was a very good-looking man, and i had never realized that he was devoted to her, he was so quiet and undemonstrative; but i knew this must mean something, it was so unusual. and i know if he had not been the son of one of papa’s best friends, it would not have been permitted. what was my horror, then, when i saw della going into the drawing-room to this fateful meeting in the yellow cambric frock with its inadequate sleeves! the interview did not last very long, and della was sufficiently upset, when she rap{149}idly went to her own room, to satisfy even my ideas!
i did not ask any questions, but i gleaned from the family talk that the young man had come to say good-by, as he was to sail for new york on his way to europe the next day. just at the hour at which the steamer left a beautiful pyramidal bouquet arrived in a handsome silver bouquet-holder, with mr. blank’s card.