As I Remember
Miss Lydia Kane, a sister of the elder De Lancey Kane and a noted wit of
the day, upon a certain occasion was showing some strangers the sights
of New York, and in passing these houses was asked by whom they were
occupied. "That one," she responded, indicating the one in which the
Pennimans themselves lived, "is occupied by one of the _illuminati_ of
the city."
Robert L. Stuart and his brother Alexander were proprietors of a large
candy store on the corner of Chambers and Greenwich Streets, under the
firm name of R. L. & A. Stuart. Their establishment was a favorite
resort of the children of the day, who were as much addicted to sweets
as are their more recent successors. "Broken candy" was a specialty of
this firm, and was sold at a very low price. Alexander Stuart frequently
waited upon customers, and as a child I have often chattered with him
over the counter. He never married.
The principal markets were Washington on the North River, and Fulton on
the east side. The marketing was always done by the mistress of each
house accompanied by a servant bearing a large basket. During the season
small girls carried strawberries from door to door, calling out as they
went along; and during the summer months hot corn, carried in closed
receptacles made for the purpose, was sold by colored men, whose cries
could be heard in every part of the city.
Mrs. Isaac Sayre's bakery was an important shop for all housewives, and
her homemade jumbles and pound cake were in great demand. Her plum cake,
too, was exceptionally good, and it is an interesting fact that it was
she who introduced cake in boxes for weddings. Her shop survived for an
extraordinary number of years and, as far as I know, may still exist and
be kept by some of her descendants.
I must not omit to speak of a peculiar custom which in this day of
grace, when there are no longer any old women, seems rather odd. A
woman immediately after her marriage wore a cap made of some light
material, which she invariably tied with strings under her chin. Most
older women were horrified at the thought of gray hairs, and immediately
following their appearance false fronts were purchased, over which caps
were worn. I well recall that some of the most prominent women of the
day concealed fine heads of hair in this grotesque fashion. Baldheaded
men were not tolerated, and "scratches" or wigs provided the remedy.
Marriage announcements were decidedly informal. When the proper time
arrived for the world to be taken into the confidence of a young couple,
they walked upon Broadway arm in arm, thus announcing that their
marriage was imminent.
A dinner given in my young days by my parents to Mr. and Mrs. William C.
Rives still lingers in my memory. Mr. Rives had just been appointed to
his second mission to France, and with his wife was upon the eve of
sailing for his new post of duty. I remember that it was a large
entertainment, but the only guests whom I recall in addition to the
guests of honor were Mr. and Mrs. James A. Hamilton. He was a son of
Alexander Hamilton, and was at the time United States District Attorney
in New York. It seems strange, indeed, that the other guests should have
escaped my memory, but a head-dress worn by Mrs. Hamilton struck my
young fancy and I have never forgotten it. As I recall that occasion I
can see her handsome face surmounted by a huge fluffy pink cap. This Mr.
and Mrs. Hamilton were the parents of Alexander Hamilton, the third, who
married Angelica, daughter of Maturin Livingston, and who, by the way,
as I remember, was one of the most graceful dancers and noted belles of
her day.
Thomas Morris, son of Robert Morris the great financier of the
Revolution, was my father's life-long friend. He was an able
_raconteur_, and I recall many conversations relating to his early
life, a portion of which had been spent in Paris at its celebrated
Polytechnic School. One incident connected with his career is especially
interesting. When the sordid Louis Philippe, then the Duke of Orleans,
was wandering in this country, teaching in his native tongue "the young
idea how to shoot," he was the guest for a time of Mr. Morris. Several
years later when John Greig, a Scotchman and prominent citizen of
Canandaigua, New York, was about to sail for France, Mr. Morris gave him
a letter of introduction to the Duke. Upon his arrival in Havre after a
lengthy voyage he found much to his surprise that Louis Philippe was
comfortably seated upon the throne of France. Under these altered
conditions he hesitated to present his letter, but after mature
consideration sought an audience with the new King; and it is a pleasing
commentary upon human nature to add that he was welcomed with open arms.
The King had by no means forgotten the hospitality he had received in
America, and especially the many favors extended by the Morris family.
Mr. Morris's wife was Miss Sarah Kane, daughter of Colonel John Kane,
and she was beautiful even in her declining years. She also possessed
the wit so characteristic of the Kanes, who, by the way, were of Celtic
origin, being descended from John Kane who came from Ireland in 1752.
She was the aunt of the first De Lancey Kane, who married the pretty
Louisa Langdon, the granddaughter of John Jacob Astor. Their daughter,
Emily Morris, made frequent visits to our house. She was renowned for
both beauty and wit. I remember seeing several verses addressed to her,
the only lines of which I recall are as follows:
That calm collected look,
As though her pulses beat by book.
Another intimate friend of my father was Frederick de Peyster, who at a
later day became President of the New York Historical Society. He
habitually took Sunday tea with us, and always received a warm welcome
from the juvenile members of the family with whom he was a great
favorite. He was devoted to children, and delighted our young hearts by
occasional presents of game-chickens which at once became family pets.
In 1823 and 1824 my father's sympathies were deeply enlisted in behalf
of the Greeks in their struggles for independence from the Turkish rule.
It will be remembered that this was the cause to which Byron devoted his
last energies. The public sentiment of the whole country was aroused to
a high pitch of excitement, and meetings were held not only for the
purpose of lending moral support and encouragement to the Greeks, but
also for raising funds for their assistance. Among those to whom my
father appealed was his friend, Rudolph Bunner, a highly prominent
citizen of Oswego, N.Y. Although a lawyer he did not practice his
profession, but devoted himself chiefly to his extensive landed estates
in Oswego county. He was wealthy and generous, a good liver and an
eloquent political speaker. He served one term in Congress where, as
elsewhere, he was regarded as a man of decided ability. He died about
1833 at the age of nearly seventy. The distinguished New York lawyer,
John Duer, married his daughter Anne, by whom he had thirteen children,
one of whom, Anna Henrietta, married the late Pierre Paris Irving, a
nephew of Washington Irving and at one time rector of the Episcopal
church at New Brighton, Staten Island. Mr. Bunner's letter in response
to my father's appeal is not devoid of interest, and is as follows:
OSWEGO, 12 Jan'y 1824.
My dear Sir,
Though I have not written to you yet you were not so soon
forgotten. Nor can you so easily be erased from my memory as
my negligence might seem to imply. In truth few persons
have impressed my mind with a deeper sentiment of respect
than yourself; you have that of open and frank in your
character which if not in my own, is yet so congenial to my
feelings that I shall much regret if my habitual indolence
can lose me such a friend. Your request in favor of the
Greeks will be hard to comply with. If I can be a
contributor in a humble way to their success by my exertions
here they shall not want them, but I fear the _angusta res
domi_ may press too heavily upon us to permit of an
effectual benevolence. If you wanted five hundred men six
feet high with sinewy arms and case hardened constitutions,
bold spirits and daring adventurers who would travel upon a
bushel of corn and a gallon of whiskey per man from the
extreme point of the world to Constantinople we could
furnish you with them, but I doubt whether they could raise
the money to pay their passage from the gut of Gibraltar
upwards. The effort however shall be made and if we can not
shew ourselves rich we will at least manifest our good will.
Though Greece touches few Yankee settlers thro the medium of
classical associations yet a people struggling to free
themselves from foreign bondage is sure to find warm hearts
in every native of the wilderness. We admire your noble
efforts and if we do not imitate you it is because our
purses are as empty as a Boetian's skull is thick. We know
so little of what is _really_ projecting in the cabinets of
Europe that we are obliged to believe implicitly in
newspaper reports, and we are perhaps foolish in hoping that
the Holy Alliance intends to take the Spanish part of the
New World under their protection. In such an event our
backwoodsmen would spring with the activity of squirrels to
the assistance of the regenerated Spaniards and perhaps
_there_ we might fight more effectually the battle for
universal Freedom than either at Thermopylae or Marathon.
There indeed we might strike a blow that would break up the
deep foundations of despotic power so as that neither art or
force could again collect and cement the scattered elements.
We are too distant from Greece to make the Turks feel our
physical strength and what we can do thro money and
sympathy is little in comparison with what we could if they
were so near as that we might in addition pour out the tide
of an armed northern population to sweep their shores and
overcome the tyrants like one of their pestilential winds.
Nevertheless, sympathy is a wonderful power and the sympathy
of a free nation like our own will not lose its moral
effect. I calculate strongly on this. It is a more refined
and rational kind of chivalry--this interest and activity in
the fate of nations struggling to break the oppressor's rod,
and it should be encouraged even where it is not directed so
as to give it all adequate force. They who would chill it,
who would reason about the why and the wherefore ought to
recollect that such things can not be called forth by the
art of man--they must burst spontaneously from his nature
and be directed by his wisdom for the benefit of his
kind.... We are all here real Radical Democrats and though
some of us came in at the eleventh hour we will not go back,
but on--on--on though certain of missing the penny fee. In
truth this is the difference between real conviction and the
calculating policy which takes sides according to what it
conceives the vantage ground. A converted politician is as
obstinate in his belief as one born in the faith. The man of
craft changes his position according to the varying aspect
of the political heavens. The one plays a game--the other
sees as much of reality (or thinks he sees) in politicks as
he does in his domestic affairs and is as earnest in the one
as the other.
Salve--[Greek: Kai Chaire]
R. BUNNER.
8 o'clock.
I have had a full meeting for your Greeks--and found my men