The Romance of Old New England Rooftrees · Mary Caroline Crawford

Part 15

Chapter 15 of 15 · 12 min read

"I see the gray fort's broken wall, The boats that rock below; And, out at sea, the passing sails We saw so long ago, Rose-red in morning's glow.

"Thou art not here, thou art not there, Thy place I cannot see; I only know that where thou art The blessed angels be, And heaven is glad for thee.

"But turn to me thy dear girl-face Without the angel's crown, The wedded roses of thy lips, Thy loose hair rippling down In waves of golden brown.

"Look forth once more through space and time And let thy sweet shade fall In tenderest grace of soul and form On memory's frescoed wall,— A shadow, and yet all!"

Whittier, it will be seen, believed that the love of his youth was dead. He was soon to find out, in a very odd way, that this was not the case.

Early in the forties, Miss Bray became principal of the "female department" of the Benton School at St. Louis. In 1849, during the prevalence of a fearful epidemic, the school building was converted into a hospital, and one of the patients was an Episcopal clergyman, Reverend William S. Downey, an Englishman, claiming to be of noble birth. He recovered his health, but was entirely deaf, not being able to hear the loudest sound for the remainder of his life. Miss Bray married him, and for forty years endured martyrdom, for he was of a tyrannous disposition and disagreeably eccentric.

Mrs. Downey had never told her husband of her early acquaintance with Whittier, but he found it out by a singular chance. When Reverend S. F. Smith and his wife celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage the event was mentioned in the papers, and the fact that Mrs. Smith was a schoolmate of Whittier was chronicled. Mr. Downey had heard his wife speak of being a schoolmate of the wife of the author of "America," and, putting these two circumstances together, he concluded that his wife must also have known the Quaker poet in his youth. He said nothing to her about this, however, but wrote a letter to Whittier himself, and sent with it a tract he had written in severe denunciation of Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll. As a postscript to this letter he asked: "Did you ever know Evelina Bray?" Whittier at once replied, acknowledging the receipt of the tract, and making this characteristic comment upon it:

"It occurs to me to say, however, that in thy tract thee has hardly charity enough for that unfortunate man, Ingersoll, who, it seems to me, is much to be pitied for his darkness of unbelief. We must remember that one of the great causes of infidelity is the worldliness, selfishness, and evil dealing of professed Christians. An awful weight of responsibility rests upon the Christian church in this respect."

And to this letter Whittier added as a postscript: "Can you give me the address of Evelina Bray?" Mr. Downey at once wrote that he was her husband, told of his service of the Master, and indirectly begged for assistance in his work of spreading the gospel. At this time he was an evangelist of the Baptist church, having some time since abandoned the mother faith. And, though he was not reduced to poverty, he accepted alms, as if poor, thus trying sorely the proud spirit of his wife. So it was not an unwonted request.

Of course, the poet had no sympathy with the work of attack Mr. Downey was evidently engaged in. But he feared the girl friend of his youth might be in destitute circumstances, and, for her sake, he made a liberal remittance. All this the miserable husband tried to keep from his wife, who he knew would at once return the money, but she came upon the fact of the remittance by finding Whittier's letter in her husband's pocket.

Naturally, she was very indignant, but her letter to Whittier returning the money was couched in the most delicate terms, and gave no hint of the misery of her life. Until the year of his death she was an occasional correspondent with the poet, one of his last letters, written at Hampton Falls in the summer of 1892, being addressed to her. Their only meeting was at the Haverhill Academy reunion of 1885, fifty-eight years after the love episode of their school-days.

When they met at Haverhill the poet took the love of his youth apart from the other schoolmates, and they then exchanged souvenirs, he receiving her miniature painted on ivory, by Porter, the same artist who painted the first likeness ever taken of Whittier. This latter miniature is now in the possession of Mr. Pickard. The portrait of Miss Bray, representing her in the full flush of her girlish beauty, wearing as a crown a wreath of roses, was returned to Mrs. Downey after the poet's death, by the niece of Whittier, into whose possession it came.

Mrs. Downey spent her last days in the family of Judge Bradley, at West Newbury, Massachusetts. After her death some valuable china of hers was sold at auction, and several pieces were secured by a neighbour, Mrs. Ladd. The Ladd family has since taken charge of the Whittier birthplace at East Haverhill, and by this chain of circumstances Evelina Bray's china now rests on the Whittier shelves, together with the genuine Whittier china, put in its old place by Mrs. Pickard.

It was not because of destitution that Mrs. Downey made application to enter the Old Ladies' Home which Whittier endowed, but, because, cherishing until the day of her death her youthful fondness for the poet, she longed to live during the sunset time of her life near his grave. In all probability her request would have been granted, had not she, too, been suddenly called to the land where there is neither marriage nor giving in marriage.

THE END.

INDEX

Adams, John, 96.

Adams, Mrs. John, 111.

Adams, Samuel, 119.

Agassiz, Mrs., 290.

Alford, Mrs. A. G., 297.

Allston, 270.

Antigua merchant, 60.

Auburn, Mount, 323.

Bana, Doctor, discovers Deborah Sampson's secret, 181; sends letter to General Patterson, 188.

Bancroft, 309.

Barlow, Mrs., 301.

Barr, George L., buys Royall House, 72.

Bartley, Judge, 368.

Bath, 13; death of Frankland at, 55.

Beck, Doctor, 286.

Belem, Frankland sails from, 53.

Belknap, Jeremy, letter of, 265.

Berkeley, Bishop, 11; student at Dublin University, 12; fellow at Trinity College, 12; life as a tutor, 12; reception in London, 28: marriage, 29; sails for Rhode Island, 30; arrives at Newport, 30; writes "Minute Philosopher," 32; bequeaths books to Yale College, 33; dies at Oxford, 34; portrait by Smibert, 35.

Bermuda, proposed college at, 13.

"Blithedale Romance," 300, 307.

Bradley, Judge, 380.

Bray, Evelina, born at Marblehead, 368.

Brook Farm Institute of Agriculture and Education organised, 296.

"Brothers and Sisters" at Fay House, 292.

Brown, Rev. Arthur, 248.

Brownson, 301.

Brunswick, triumphs of Riedesels at, 145.

Burgevine, Henry, 346.

Burlingame, Anson, 355.

Burgoyne, 56, 136.

Burr, Aaron, 123.

Burr, Thaddeus, 120.

Bynner's story, Agnes Surriage, 45.

Cadenus and Vanessa, poem, 24.

Caldwell, Sir John, 305.

Carlyle visited by Ripley, 299.

Caroline, Queen (consort George Second), 29.

Carter, Madam, 135.

Cary Sisters, 367.

Channing, Ellery, 334.

Channing, Lucy, 282.

Channing, Mary, 281.

Channing, William Henry, 282, 314.

Chambly, Baroness Riedesel at, 131.

Charlestown City Hall, 270.

Chichester, Eng., 56.

Child, Professor, 286.

Christ Church, Boston, 104.

Church, Doctor, 122; fall of, 147; imprisoned, 150; education of, 151; delivers Old South Oration, 152; tried at Watertown, 154; confined in Norwich Jail, 155; lost at sea (?), 156.

Clark, Rev. Jonas, 111.

Clark, Mrs. Jonas, 118.

Clarke mansion purchased by Frankland, 54.

Clough, Capt. Stephen, 162.

Codman, Mrs. J. Amory, 261.

Codman, Martha, 261.

Columbian Centinel, 360.

Coolidge, J. Templeton, 247.

Corey, Giles, pressed to death, 238.

Corey, Mrs. Martha, condemned as witch, 234.

Corwin, Justice Jonathan, 226, 228.

Cotton, Rev. John, 212, 221.

Courier, New England, 30.

Congress, Continental, 120.

Copley, 270.

Crowninshield, Hannah, 85.

Curtis, George William, at Brook Farm, 303.

Dana, Charles, 303.

Dana, Dr. J. Freeman, 274.

Dana, Edmund, 281.

Dana, Sophia Willard, 281; marries George Ripley, 293; goes over to Rome, 299.

Danvers, 228.

Dawes at Lexington, 114.

Deerfield, 190.

Diaz, Abby Morton, 304.

Dorothy Q. at Lexington, 112, 117; marries John Hancock, 123; marries Captain Scott, 128; receives Lafayette, 129.

Downey, Evelina Bray, 367.

Downey, Rev. William S., 375, 376.

Drew, Mr. John, 56.

Duse, Eleanora, at Fay House, 290.

Dunbarton, Stark House at, 74.

Dwight, John, 303.

Dwight, Marianne, 303.

Dwight, President of Yale College, 269.

Edmonston, Captain, 140.

Elizabeth, loss of the Ossolis on, 322.

Eliot, John, at Deerfield, 190.

Ellsworth, Annie G., 275.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, at The Manse, 325; Hawthorne and, 337.

Emerson, William, at The Manse, 325.

Endicott, Governor, 227.

Erving, George, at Medford, 63.

Essex Institute, 67; Ward bequest to, 355.

Eustis, Madam, 46.

Everett, Edward, 281.

Fairbanks, Jason, 252; trial of, 258; escape of, 259; hanging of, 259.

Fairbanks, Jonathan, 260.

Fairbanks, Rebecca, 260.

Fairbanks, Chapter D. R., 260.

"Fair Harvard" written in Fay House, 289.

Fales, Elizabeth, 252; murder of, 257.

Fay House, 279.

Fay, Maria Denny, 283.

Fay, P. P., 283.

Felton, President, 286.

Fielding, Henry, describes Lisbon, 50.

Fire Island Beach, loss of the Ossolis off, 323.

Fountain Inn, Marblehead, 58.

Frankland, Charles Henry, 39; born in Bengal, 39; collector of Boston port, 39; meets Agnes Surriage, 43; adopts Agnes Surriage, 44; builds home at Hopkinton, 48; dies at Lisbon, 55.

Franks, Miss, 100.

Fuller, Margaret, at Brook Farm, 301; born in Cambridge, 312; joins Tribune staff, 316; at Concord, 338; goes abroad, 317; marries Ossoli, 320; is lost at sea, 322.

Fuller, Timothy, 312.

Gage, General, at Boston, 107; in correspondence with Church, 149.

Geer, Mr., present owner Royall House, 73.

George First, 29.

George Third entertains the Riedesels, 142; West's anecdote of, 271.

Gilman, Arthur, 287.

Gilman, Dr. Samuel, 289.

Goldsmith, 357.

Gordon, "Chinese", 341.

Greeley, Horace, 316.

Greenough, Lily, 288.

Greenough, Mrs., 288.

Griswold, Sarah E., 276.

Hamilton, Gail, 367.

Hancock, John, at Lexington, 111; letters of, 120, 122; marries Miss Quincy, 123; occupies home on Beacon Street, 125; dies, 128.

Hancock, Lydia, at Lexington, 118.

Hartford, Conn., Riedesels entertain Lafayette at, 140.

Haverhill Academy, 368.

Haverhill Gazette, 369.

Hawthorne writes of Sir Wm. Pepperell, 67; goes to Brook Farm, 295; writes of Margaret Fuller, 310; at The Manse, 324.

Higginson, Col. Thomas Wentworth, 281; writes of Margaret Fuller, 314.

Hilliard at The Manse, 333.

Hilton, Martha, 242; marries Governor Wentworth, 248.

Hobgoblin Hall, 72.

Hollingsworth, 301.

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 280.

Honeyman's Hill (Newport, R. I.), 16.

Hopkinton (Mass.), 48; home of Frankland burned, 57; residence of Frankland, 55; Agnes Surriage at, 55.

Howard, Lady, 142.

Howe, Sir William, 99, 136, 138.

Hutchinson, Ann, Mrs., 210; arrives in Boston, 214; holds meetings, 216; accused of heresy, 219: sentenced, 220; banished, 222; murdered, 224.

Hutchinson, Governor, 222, 230.

Inman's Farm, 326.

Ireland, Nathaniel, 279.

Isle of Shoals, 66.

James, Professor William, 232.

Johnson, Doctor, 20, 24.

Kittery Point, 66.

Ladd, Mrs., 380.

Lafayette entertained by Starks, 80; on Washington and Lee, 90; entertained by John Hancock, 128; received by Madame Scott, 129; dines with Baroness Riedesel, 140; visits George Third, 142.

Lane, Professor, 286.

Larcom, Lucy, 367.

Larned, "Sam," 304.

Lauterbach, family vault of Riedesels at, 145.

Lee, General, at Royall House, 71.

Lee, General, in British army, 90; arrives in New York, 92; at Medford, 94; at Somerville, 95; dies in Virginia, 103.

Lee, Sydney, 103.

Lexington, affair at, 110.

Lindencrone, De Hegermann, 288.

Lisbon, Frankland at, 50; earthquake at, 51; Agnes Surriage's experience at, 56; Frankland consul-general at, 55.

Longfellow, 286.

Louisburg, 67.

Lowell, James Russell, 281.

Lowell, John, 257.

Luther, Martin, Orphan Home, 297.

Macdonald, George, 367.

Marblehead, Maid of, 37; Town House, 39; Fountain Inn, 42; Whittier at, 371.

Marie Antoinette, plot to rescue, 163.

Marley Abbey (residence of "Vanessa"), 22.

Marshall, Judge, 23.

Massachusetts Historical Society, 53.

Mather, Rev. Cotton, 233.

McKean, Elizabeth, 282.

McKean, Joseph, 280.

McKinstrey, Sarah, marries Caleb Stark, 79; portrait of, 84.

McNeil, Gen. John, 83.

Michelet, 231.

Minot, Captain, 327.

Morris, Robert, 82.

Morse, Rev. Jedediah, 265.

Morse, Samuel F. B., 83; birthplace of, 264; student at Yale, 269; studies painting in Europe, 270; returns to America, 272; paints Lafayette, 272; invents the telegraph, 273.

Moulton, Mr. Charles, 288.

Moulton, Suzanne, 289.

Nason, Rev. Elias, 41.

Newman, Robert, 106, 110.

Nichols, George C., buys Royall House, 72.

Norris, Miss, 287.

Nourse, Rebecca, 228.

"Old Oaken Bucket," 356.

Orvis, John, marries Marianne Dwight, 303.

Ossoli, Angelo, Marchese d', 320.

Ossoli, Marchesa d' (See Margaret Fuller).

Otis, Harrison Gray, 257.

Oxford, death of Berkeley at, 34.

Page, Capt. Caleb, 76.

Pennsylvania Freeman, 372.

Pepperell, Sir William, 1st, 66.

Pepperell, Sir William, 2d, at Medford, 63; graduated, 68; marries Miss Royall, 68; denounced, 68; sails for England, 68; dies, 69.

Pepperell, Lady, 85.

Pepperell House built, 66.

Percival, Lord, 13; letter from Walpole, 33.

Phips, Governor, 233.

Pickard, Elizabeth W., 366.

Pickard, Samuel, 374.

Pierce, Professor, 286.

Porter House in Medford, 111.

Prescott, Doctor, at Lexington, 114, 326.

Price, Rev. Roger, 48.

Quebec, Baroness Riedesel at, 131.

Quincy, Miss, 120; marries John Hancock, 123.

Raben-Levetzan, Suzanne, 289.

Radcliffe College, 279.

Radcliffe Magazine, 287.

Revere, Paul, 104, 110, 111; writes of Church, 156.

Revolution, Agnes Surriage in, 56.

Riedesel, Baron, 130; entertains Lafayette, 140; visits George Third, 142; returns to Brunswick, 145; dies at Brunswick, 145.

Riedesel, Baroness, 130; letters of, 131; lands in America, 131; reaches Cambridge, 134; dies at Berlin, 145; Cambridge street named for, 146.

Ripley, Doctor, 331.

Ripley, George, 281; marries Sophia Dana, 293; goes to Brook Farm, 295; visits Carlyle, 299.

Rouville, Maj. Hertel de, 192.

Royall House visited by Frankland, 45; built at Medford, 60.

Royall, Isaac, the nabob, 61.

Royall, Col. Isaac, proscribed, 69; leaves land to Harvard, 70.

Russell, Major, 360.

Salem, Isaac Royall to sail from, 65.

Saltonstall, 285.

Sampson, Deborah (Gannett), 170; early life, 172; enlists in Continental Army, 174; writes her mother, 176; in battle of White Plains, 179; sex discovered by physician, 181; receives love letter, 182; returns to her home, 188; marries, 188; conducts lecture tour, 189.

Savage, 347.

Scituate, 358.

Scott, Sir Walter, 340.

Schuyler, General, at Saratoga, 132; daughter of, 135

Sewall, Judge, 239.

Shirley, governor Massachusetts, 41.

Shirley House, 45.

Shurtleff, Robert (See Deborah Sampson).

Sleepy Hollow, 338, 339.

Smibert paints Berkeley, 35; paints Sir Wm. Pepperell, 1st, 67.

Smith, Mary, 368; marries S. F. Smith, 369.

Sophia, Princess, and Madame Riedesel, 144.

Sophocles, Evangelinus Apostolides, 287.

Sparhawk, Colonel, 66.

Stark, General, at Royall House, 71.

Stark, Archibald, 75.

Stark, Caleb, born at Dunbarton, 77; marries Miss McKinstrey, 79; entertains Lafayette, 80.

Stark, Charlotte, 82.

Stark, Harriett, 82.

Stark, Charles F. Morris, 82.

Stark Burying-ground, 88.

Stella, journal of, 17; marriage to Swift, 20.

Story, Capt. William, 368.

Story, Judge, 286.

Story, Mary, 285.

Story, William, 285.

Sully steamship, 273.

Surriage, Agnes, 37.

Swan, Col. James, 159; member Sons of Liberty, 160; at Bunker Hill, 160; secretary Mass. Board of War, 161; makes fortune, 161; loses fortune, 161; secures government contracts, 162; returns to America, 164; arrested at Paris, 165; confined in St. Pelagie, 166; dies, 168.

Swift, Dean, friend to Berkeley, 16; at lodging in Bury Street, 17; letter to Vanessa, 21; letter to Lord Carteret, 27.

Swift, Lindsay, 301.

Tai-Ping Rebellion, 346.

Thayer, Abijah W., 369.

Thaxter, Celia, 285.

Thaxter, Levi, 285.

Thoreau and Hawthorne, 335; grave of, 339.

Three Rivers, Baroness Riedesel at, 131.

Tidd, Jacob, buys Royall House, 72.

Tituba, the Indian slave, 229.

Titus, Mrs. Nelson V., 261.

Tremont House, 305.

Ursuline Convent, 284.

Vane, Sir Harry, 215.

Vanessa (Cadenus and Vanessa), 19; goes to Ireland, 20; letter to Swift, 21; letter to Stella, 22; legacy to Berkeley, 23; death of, 25.

Vanhomrigh, Esther (See Vanessa), 17.

Vassall House, 148; becomes hospital, 149; Doctor Church there confined, 150.

Vaudreuil, Governor, 200.

Walker, Lucretia P., 272.

Walpole, Sir Robert, 28; writes to Lord Percival, 33.

Ward, Elizabeth C., founds Chinese library, 355.

Ward, Frederick Townsend, born at Salem, 342; enters French army, 343; enlists in Nicaraguan expedition, 344; arrives at Shanghai, 344; defeats Tai-Pings, 347; is made a mandarin, 349; organises Ever-Victorious Army, 350; marries Changmei, 350; buried at Ning Po, 352; is made a god, 352.

Warren, Doctor, and Church, 157.

Warren, Mrs. Mercy, 100.

Washington, George, letter of, 88.

Wayside Inn, 49, 241.

Wentworth, Governor, marriage of, 248.

Wentworth, Michael, 249.

West, Benjamin, 270.

West Indies, proposed seminary at, 14.

Whitehall (built at Newport, R. I.), 11; made over to Yale College, 33.

White, Maria, 285, 286.

Whitman, Mrs. Sarah, 290.

Whittier at Marblehead, 371; at Philadelphia, 372; "A Sea Dream," written by, 374; at Haverhill Seminary reunion, 379; endows Amesbury Home, 366.