As I Remember
together with her husband, Charles Berault, who taught dancing, and
their three daughters, resided with her. The oldest, Madame Vincente
Rose Ameline (Madame George R. A. Chaulet), taught music for her aunt;
the second niece, Marie-Louise Josephine Laure, married Joseph U. F.
d'Hervilly, a Frenchman, and in after life established a school in
Philadelphia which she named Chegaray Institute; while the youngest,
Pauline, married a gentleman from Cuba, named de Ruiz, and now resides
in Paris.
CHAPTER IV
LIFE AND EXPERIENCES IN THE METROPOLIS
My health was somewhat impaired by an attack of chills and fever while I
was still a pupil at Madame Chegaray's school. Long Island was
especially affected with this malady, and even certain locations on the
Hudson were on this account regarded with disfavor. In subsequent years,
when the building operations of the Hudson River railroad cut off the
water in many places and formed stagnant pools, it became much worse. As
I began to convalesce, Dr. John W. Francis prescribed a change of air,
and I was accordingly sent to Saratoga to be under the care of my
friend, Mrs. Richard Armistead of North Carolina. A few days after my
arrival we were joined by Mrs. De Witt Clinton and her attractive
step-daughter, Julia Clinton. The United States Hotel, where we stayed,
was thronged with visitors, but as I was only a young girl my
observation of social life was naturally limited and I knew but few
persons. Mrs. Clinton was a granddaughter of Philip Livingston, the
Signer, and married at a mature age. She had a natural and most profound
admiration for the memory of her illustrious husband, whom I have heard
her describe as "a prince among men," and she cherished an undying
resentment for any of his political antagonists.
While we were still at the United States Hotel, Martin Van Buren, at
that time President of the United States, arrived in Saratoga and
sojourned at the same hotel with us. His visit made an indelible
impression upon my memory owing to a highly sensational incident. During
the evening of the President's arrival Mrs. Clinton was promenading in
the large parlor of the hotel, leaning upon the arm of the Portuguese
_Charge d'Affaires_, Senhor Joaquim Cesar de Figaniere, when Mr. Van
Buren espying her advanced with his usual suavity of manner to meet her.
With a smile upon his face, he extended his hand, whereupon Mrs. Clinton
immediately turned her back and compelled her escort to imitate her,
apparently ignoring the fact that he was a foreign diplomat and that his
conduct might subsequently be resented by the authorities in Washington.
This incident, occurring as it did in a crowded room, was observed by
many of the guests and naturally created much comment. In talking over
the incident the next day Mrs. Clinton told me she was under the
impression that Mr. Van Buren clearly understood her feelings in regard
to him, as some years previous, when he and General Andrew Jackson
called upon her together, she had declined to see him, although Jackson
had been admitted. This act was characteristic of the woman. It was the
expression of a resentment which she had harbored against Mr. Van Buren
for years and which she was only abiding her time to display. I was
standing at Mrs. Clinton's side during this dramatic episode, and to my
youthful fancy she seemed, indeed, a heroine!
Mrs. Clinton was a social leader in Gotham before the days of the
_nouveaux riches_, and her sway was that of an autocrat. Her presence
was in every way imposing. She possessed many charming characteristics
and was in more respects than one an uncrowned queen, retaining her
wonderful tact and social power until the day of her death. I love to
dwell upon Mrs. Clinton because, apart from her remarkable personal
characteristics, she was the friend of my earlier life. Possessed as she
was of many eccentricities, her excellencies far counterbalanced them.
Of the latter, I recall especially the unusual ability and care she
displayed in housekeeping, which at that time was regarded as an
accomplishment in which every woman took particular pride. To be still
more specific, she apparently had a much greater horror of dirt than the
average housewife, and carried her antipathy to such an extent that she
tolerated but few fires in her University Place establishment in New
York, as she seriously objected to the uncleanness caused by the dust
and ashes! No matter how cold her house nor how frigid the day, she
never seemed to suffer but, on the contrary, complained that her home
was overheated. Her guests frequently commented upon "the nipping and
eager air" which Shakespeare's Horatio speaks of, but it made no
apparent impression upon their hostess.
Mrs. Clinton's articulation was affected by a slight stammer, which, in
my opinion, but added piquancy to her epigrammatic sayings. She once
remarked to me, "I shall never be c-c-cold until I'm dead." An impulse
took possession of me which somehow, in spite of the great difference in
our ages, I seemed unable to resist, and I retorted, "We are not all
assured of our temperatures at that period." She regarded me for a few
moments with unfeigned astonishment, but said nothing. I did not suffer
for my temerity at that moment, but later I was chagrined to learn she
had remarked that I was the most impertinent girl she had ever known. I
remember that upon another occasion she told me that one of Governor
Clinton's grandchildren, Augusta Clinton, was about to leave school at a
very early age. "Doesn't she intend to finish her education?" I
inquired. "No," was the quick and emphatic but stuttering reply, "she's
had sufficient education. I was at school only two months, and I'm sure
I'm smart enough." Her niece, Margaret Gelston, who was present and was
remarkable for her clear wits, retorted: "Only think how much smarter
you'd have been if you had remained longer." In an angry tone Mrs.
Clinton replied, "I don't want to be any smarter, I'm smart enough."
Mrs. Clinton's two nieces, the Misses Mary and Margaret Gelston, were
among my earliest and most intimate friends. They occupied a prominent
social position in New York and both were well known for their unusual
intellectuality. They were daughters of Maltby Gelston, President of the
Manhattan Bank, and granddaughters of David Gelston, who was appointed
Collector of the Port of New York by Jefferson and retained that
position for twenty years. Late in life Mary Gelston married Henry R.
Winthrop of New York. She died a few years ago leaving an immense estate
to Princeton Theological Seminary. "I pray," reads her will, "that the
Trustees of this Institution may make such use of this bequest as that
the extension of the Church of Christ on earth and the glory of God may
be promoted thereby." In the same instrument she adds: "As a similar
bequest would have been made by my deceased sister, Margaret L. Gelston,
had she survived me, I desire that the said Trustees should regard it as
given jointly by my said sister and by me." Some distant relatives,
thinking that her money could be more satisfactorily employed than in
the manner indicated, contested the will, and the Seminary finally
received, as the result of a compromise, between $1,600,000 and
$1,700,000.
One of my earliest recollections is of John Jacob Astor, a feeble old
man descending the doorsteps of his home on Broadway near Houston Street
to enter his carriage. His house was exceedingly plain and was one of a
row owned by him. His son, William Backhouse Astor, who married a
daughter of General John Armstrong, Secretary of War under President
Madison, during at least a portion of his father's life lived in a fine
house on Lafayette Place. I have attended evening parties there that
were exceedingly simple in character, and at which Mrs. Astor was always
plainly dressed and wore no jewels. I have a very distinct recollection
of one of these parties owing to a ludicrous incident connected with
myself. My mother was a woman of decidedly domestic tastes, whose whole
life was so immersed in her large family of children that she never
allowed an event of a social character to interfere with what she
regarded as her household or maternal duties. We older children were
therefore much thrown upon our own resources from a social point of
view, and when I grew into womanhood and entered society I was usually
accompanied to entertainments by my father. Sometimes, however, I went
with my lifelong friend, Margaret Tillotson Kemble, a daughter of
William Kemble, of whom I shall speak hereafter. Upon this particular
occasion I had gone early in the day to the Kembles preparatory to
spending the night there, with the intention of attending a ball at the
Astors'. Having dined, supped, and dressed myself for the occasion, in
company with Miss Kemble and her father I reached the Astor residence,
where I found on the doorstep an Irish maid from my own home awaiting my
arrival. In her hand she held an exquisite bouquet of pink and white
japonicas which had been sent to me by John Still Winthrop, the _fiance_
of Susan Armistead, another of my intimate friends. The bouquet had
arrived just after my departure from home and, quite unknown to my
family, the Irish maid out of the goodness of her heart had taken it
upon herself to see that it was placed in my hands. I learned later
that, much to the amusement of many of the guests, she had been awaiting
my arrival for several hours. It seems almost needless to add that I
carried my flowers throughout the evening with much girlish pride and
pleasure.
Among the guests at this ball was Mrs. Francis R. Boreel, the young and
beautiful daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Langdon, who wore in her dark
hair a diamond necklace, a recent gift from her grandfather, John Jacob
Astor. It was currently rumored at the time that it cost twenty thousand
dollars, which was then a very large amount to invest in a single
article of that character. Mrs. Langdon's two other daughters were Mrs.
Matthew Wilks, who married abroad and spent her life there, and the
first Mrs. De Lancey Kane, who made a runaway match, and both of whom
left descendants in New York. All three women were celebrated for their
beauty, but Mrs. Boreel was usually regarded as the handsomest of the
trio. Mrs. Walter Langdon was Dorothea Astor, a daughter of John Jacob
Astor, and her husband was a grandson of Judge John Langdon of New
Hampshire, who equipped Stark's regiment for the battle of Bennington,
and who for twelve years was a member of the United States Senate and
was present as President _pro tempore_ of that body at the first
inauguration of Washington.
Another society woman whose presence at this ball I recall, and without
whom no entertainment was regarded as complete, was Mrs. Charles
Augustus Davis, wife of the author of the well-known "Jack Downing
Letters." Indeed, the name "Jack Downing" seemed so much a part of the
Davis family that in after years I have often heard Mrs. Davis called
"Mrs. Jack Downing." The Davises had a handsome daughter who married a
gentleman of French descent, but neither of them long survived the
marriage.
In an old newspaper of 1807 I came across the following marriage notice,
which was the first Astor wedding to occur in this country:
BENTZON--ASTOR. Married, on Monday morning, the 14th ult.
[September], by the Rev. Mr. [Ralph] Williston, Adrian B.
Bentzon, Esq., of the Isle of St. Croix, to Miss Magdalen
Astor, daughter of John Jacob Astor of this city.
It was while on a cruise among the West Indies that Miss Astor met Mr.
Bentzon, a Danish gentleman of good family but moderate fortune. In the
early part of the last century many ambitious foreigners went to that