As I Remember
responded that "he had a bad eye," and then Lieutenant Morris recalled
that the unfortunate man had a cast in one eye.
A few years after his court-martial Mackenzie fell dead from his horse.
One of the wardroom officers of the _Somers_ was Adrian Deslonde of
Louisiana, whose sister married the Hon. John Slidell, of whom I have
already spoken as Commander Mackenzie's brother.
I seldom hear the name of John Slidell without being reminded of a
witticism which I heard from my mother's lips, the author of which was
Louisa Fairlie, a daughter of Major James Fairlie, who, during the War
of the Revolution, served upon General Steuben's staff. She was, I have
understood, a great belle with a power of repartee which bordered upon
genius. During the youth of John Slidell he attended a dinner at a
prominent New York residence and sat at the table next to Miss Fairlie.
In a tactless manner he made a pointedly unpleasant remark bearing upon
the marriage of her sister Mary to the distinguished actor, Thomas
Apthorpe Cooper, a subject upon which the Fairlie family was somewhat
sensitive. Miss Fairlie regarded Mr. Slidell for only a moment, and then
retorted: "Sir, you have been _dipped_ not _moulded_ into society"--an
incident which, by the way, I heard repeated many years later at a
dinner in China. To appreciate this witticism, one may refer to the New
York directory of 1789, which describes John Slidell, the father of the
Slidell of whom we are speaking, as "soap boiler and chandler, 104
Broadway." Miss Fairlie's pun seems to me to be quite equal to that of
Rufus Choate, who, when a certain Baptist minister described himself as
"a candle of the Lord," remarked, "Then you are a dipped, but I hope not
a wick-ed candle." It is said that upon another occasion, after the
return of Mr. Slidell from a foreign trip, he was asked by Miss Fairlie
whether he had been to Greece. He replied in the negative and asked the
reason for her query. "Oh, nothing," she said, "only it would have been
very natural for you to visit Greece in order to renew early
associations!" Many years thereafter Priscilla Cooper, the wife of
Robert Tyler and the daughter-in-law of President John Tyler, a daughter
of Thomas Apthorpe Cooper and his wife, Mary Fairlie, presided at the
White House during the widowhood of her distinguished father-in-law.
As has already been stated, the father of the Hon. John Slidell was a
chandler, and he conducted his business with such success that in time
he became prominent in mercantile and financial circles, and eventually
was made president of the Mechanics Bank and the Tradesmen's Insurance
Company. His son John, who at first engaged in his father's soap and
tallow business as an apprentice, finally succeeded him, and the
enterprise was continued under the firm name of "John Slidell, Jr. and
Company." The house failed, however, and it is said that this fact,
together with the scandal attending his duel with Stephen Price, manager
of the Park Theater, in which the latter was wounded, were the
controlling factors that led the future Hon. John Slidell to remove his
residence to New Orleans. In this place he became highly celebrated as a
lawyer, and his successful political career is well known. He married
Miss Marie Mathilde Deslonde, a member of a well-known Creole family,
and many persons still living will recall her grace and _savoir faire_
in Washington when her husband represented Louisiana in the United
States Senate. Miss Jane Slidell, a sister of the Hon. John Slidell,
married Commodore Matthew C. Perry, U.S.N., who opened the doors of
Japan to the trade of the world, and whose daughter, Caroline Slidell
Perry, became the wife of the late August Belmont of New York, while
Julia, another of Mr. Slidell's sisters, married the late Rear Admiral
C. R. P. Rodgers, U.S.N.
CHAPTER V
LONG BRANCH, NEWPORT AND ELSEWHERE
When I was about ten years of age, accompanied by my parents, I made a
visit to Long Branch, which was then one of the most fashionable summer
resorts for New Yorkers. As we made the journey by steamboat and the
water was rough we were the victims of a violent attack of seasickness
from which few of the passengers escaped. Many Philadelphians also spent
their summers at this resort, and there was naturally a fair sprinkling
of people from other large cities. At that time there were no hotels in
the place, but there was one commodious boarding house which
accommodated a large number of guests. It bore no name, but was
designated as "Mrs. Sairs'," from its proprietress. In this
establishment our whole family, by no means small, found accommodations.
I recall many pleasant acquaintances we made while there, especially
that of Miss Molly Hamilton of Philadelphia. She was a vivacious old
lady, and was accompanied by her nephew, Hamilton Beckett, in whom I
found a congenial playmate. His name made a strong impression upon my
memory, as I was then reading the history of Thomas a Becket, the
murdered Archbishop of Canterbury. I have heard that this friend of my
childhood went eventually to England to reside. The Penningtons of
Newark had a cottage near us. William Pennington subsequently became
Governor of New Jersey. I also enjoyed the youthful companionship of his
daughter Mary, whom many years later I met in Washington. In the
interval she had become a pronounced belle and the wife of Hugh A. Toler
of Newark.
The guests of the boarding house were inclined to complain that the
beach was too exclusively appropriated by two acquaintances of ours who
were living in the same house with us, Mrs. G. W. Featherstonhaugh and
Mrs. Thomas M. Willing, and their train of admirers. They were sprightly
young women and daughters of Bernard Moore Carter of Virginia. I
remember it was the gossip of the place that both of them could count
their offers of marriage by the score. Mrs. Willing was a skilled
performer upon the harp, an instrument then much in vogue, but whose
silvery tones are now, alas, only memory's echo. Mr. Featherstonhaugh,
who was by birth an Englishman, after residing in the United States a
few years, wrote in 1847 a book entitled "Excursion through the Slave
States from Washington on the Potomac to the Frontier of Mexico." I
recall that in this volume he spoke with enthusiasm of the _agrements_
of the palate which he enjoyed during a few days' sojourn at Barnum's
Hotel in Baltimore. He dwelt particularly, with gastronomic ecstasy,
upon the canvas-back duck and soft-shell crab upon which he feasted, and
was inclined to draw an unfavorable comparison between the former hotel
and Gadsby's, the well-known Washington hostelry. Upon his journey he
visited Monticello, the former home of Thomas Jefferson. His encomium on
this distinguished man appealed to me as I am sure it does to others; he
spoke of him as the "Confucius of his country." Altogether, Mr.
Featherstonhaugh's experiences in America were as novel and entertaining
as a sojourn with Aborigines.
Just off the beach at Long Branch was a high bluff which descended
gradually to the sea, and at this point were several primitive bath
houses belonging to Mrs. Sairs' establishment. Following the prevalent
custom, we wore no bathing shoes and stockings, but, accompanied by a
stalwart bathing master, we enjoyed many dips in the briny deep, and
were brought safely back by him to our bath house. There was no
immodest lingering on the beach; this privilege was reserved for the
advanced civilization of a later day.
While I was still a young child, and some years after our visit to Long
Branch, my infant brother Malcolm became seriously ill. Dr. John W.
Francis, our family physician, prescribed a change of air for him, and
my parents took him to Newport. We found pleasant accommodations for our
family in a fashionable boarding house on Thames Street, the guests of
which were composed almost exclusively of Southern families. Newport was
then in an exceedingly primitive state and I have no recollection of
seeing either cottages or hotels, while modern improvements were
unknown. We led a simple outdoor life, taking our breakfast at eight,
dining at two and supping at six. It was indeed "early to bed and early
to rise."
As I recall these early days in Newport, two fascinating old ladies,
typical Southern gentlewomen, the Misses Philippa and Hetty Minus of
Savannah, present themselves vividly to my memory. After we returned to
our New York home we had the pleasure of meeting them again and
entertaining them. Another charming guest of our establishment was the
wife of James L. Pettigru, an eminent citizen of South Carolina. She was
the first woman of fashion presented to my girlish vision, and her mode
of life was a revelation. She kept very late hours, often lingering in
her room the next morning until midday. As I was then familiar with Miss
Edgeworth's books for young people, which all judicious parents
purchased for their children, I immediately designated Mrs. Pettigru as
"Lady Delacour," whose habits and fashions are so pleasingly described
in that admirable novel, "Belinda." Although born and bred in South
Carolina, Mr. Pettigru remained loyal to the Union, and after his death
his valuable library was purchased by Congress. The members of another
representative South Carolina family, the Allstons, were also among our
fellow boarders at Long Branch. This name always brings to mind the
pathetic history of Theodosia Burr, Aaron Burr's only child, and her sad
death; while the name of Washington Allston, the artist, is too well
known to be dwelt upon.
After a month's pleasant sojourn in Newport my brother's health had
materially improved and we returned to our New York home by the way of
Boston, where we were guests at the Tremont House. I blush to
acknowledge to the Bostonians who may peruse these pages that my chief
recollection of this visit is that I was standing on the steps of the
hotel, when I was accosted by a gentleman, who exclaimed: "You are a
Campbell, I'll bet ten thousand dollars!" I apologize for writing such a
personal reminiscence of such an historic town, but such are the freaks
of memory. This was prior to the maturer days of William Lloyd Garrison,
Wendell Phillips and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Before passing on to other subjects I must not omit mentioning that at
this period the currency used in the New England States differed from
that of New York. This fact was brought vividly before me in Newport
when I made an outlay of a shilling at a candy store. In return for my
Mexican quarter of a dollar I was handed a small amount of change. I
left the shop fully convinced that I was a victim of sharp practice, but
learned later that there was a slight difference between the shilling
used in New York and that used in New England.
Many years later I visited Boston again, this time as the guest of Mr.
and Mrs. Robert C. Winthrop at their superb Brookline home; and,
escorted by Mr. Winthrop and Mr. and Mrs. Jabez L. M. Curry of Alabama,
who were also their house-guests, I visited all the points of historical
interest. Both Mr. Winthrop and Mr. Curry were then trustees of the
Peabody Fund. A few years after we separated in Boston Mr. and Mrs.
Curry went to Spain to reside, where, as American Minister, he was
present at the birth of King Alfonso of Spain.
About fifteen years later I again visited Newport, but this time I was a
full-fledged young woman. During my absence a large number of hotels and
cottages had been erected, many of which were occupied by Southern
families who still continued to regard this Rhode Island resort as
almost exclusively their own. I recall the names of many of them, all of
whom were conspicuous in social life in the South. Among them were the