USA > Connecticut > Colonial Days And Ways: As Gathered from Family Papers > Part 16
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As soon as the young folks were seated, black Phyllis and Chloe, dressed in butternut homespun with white kerchiefs over the shoulders, and wear- ing red-and-yellow plaided turbans, deftly handed . the candle rods, four or five to each person. From each rod were suspended the wicks of twisted cot- ton yarn which it had been the task of the young lady hostess and her friends to prepare during the previous afternoon.
The first dippings were rather solemn affairs. Much depended upon starting right. The least crook in the wick, if not straightened, insured a crooked candle; and crooked candles were drippy things, burning unevenly, and guttering in a way most vexatious to the good housewife. About six wicks were upon each rod. They must not hang too closely together, or, like too thickly planted trees, they would interfere with each other as they grew. They must not be too far apart, or there would not be room enough for all to be plunged evenly in the kettles. The wicks on each rod were dipped carefully their entire length in the kettle nearest to the right hand of the person dipping, the wicks necessarily passing through the melted tallow resting on top of the water, and acquiring with each dip a thin layer of the tallow. The tallow in the kettles was frequently replen- ished, that the wicks might never be allowed to touch the water, lest a spluttering candle should result. Candle-dipping must not be retarded, and
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it could not be hurried. Slowly the wicks were immersed in the tallow, and then the loaded rods were hung in the spaces between the kettles and over the empty pans to allow the growing candles to harden before being dipped again and again until the proper circumference had been attained.
Probably two pairs of industrious hands, having six kettles between them, could easily have com- pleted as many candles in three hours as six pairs could have done under the merrymaking conditions; but then, where would have been the fun of the thing ? There is an old Dutch proverb to the effect that "life's employments are life's enjoyments," and there is abundant proof that our happily constituted Dutch ancestors made enjoyments of the most pro- saic employments. Certainly there was pleasure enough at this candle-dipping frolic, in the house of a wealthy citizen, and attended by the youthful élite of the little city only one century ago. Their present-day successors can get no more at no matter what may be the chosen amusement of the hour.
It is not probable that candle-dipping bees were by any means a usual festivity in or very near New York city as late as the latter part of the eigh- teenth century. Rather should it be supposed that the evening at the Rhinelander mansion was a revival of an ancient custom, just as one occasion- ally hears in our day of some fashionable group of merrymakers holding a corn-husking bee in a barn
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which may be finer than the dwellings of their ancestors. Even so, it is a proof that when big New York was little New Amsterdam, candle- dipping had been one of its recognized festivities ; and it is for this reason that it is here introduced.
On this occasion each swain, as well as maiden, was provided with a huge apron of checked linen, and had full over-sleeves of the same material, closed at the wrists and above the elbows by draw- ing-strings, in order that no traces of soil might afterward be found upon the silken hose and the fine cloth knee-breeches of the young men, or on the soft hanging, somewhat scanty folds of the stuff gowns of the young women, or on the linen ruffles and delicate laces which were worn alike by both. At such industrial gatherings as this vel- vets and silks were worn by neither sex, but laces, being washable, were permitted.
Thirty-two couples took part in that evening's candle-dipping; and if my great-uncle's opinion was trustworthy, all the girls were beautiful and graceful, and all the youths were gallant and hand- some. A portrait of Mr. Codwise when a young man (taken by Earle) shows him as a very hand- some, dark-eyed youth. I used often to look up from the dear old face under an ugly wig, regard- ing me with such kindly eyes, to the bright-eyed, curly-headed portrait on the wall, and could find a trace of resemblance only in the lines of the brow and the aquiline nose with its strong sug-
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gestion of a terminating hook. In the eyes of youth there is something incredible in so great a change. To the dear old man, as he dwelt upon the pleasures and companions of his youth, all of them bore the same charms as in those happy days. Unfortunately, I did not record their names, but remember that there were Rutherfords, Mor- rises, Lawrences, Livingstons, Gracies, Stevenses, Stuyvesants, Schuylers, Evertsons, Beeckmans, Polhemuses, and Starrs among them, these names being impressed by associations of one sort or an- other, while others have escaped my memory.
Of all who were present at this particular festi- val, "Gitty" (Gertrude) Rhinelander, the young hostess, seemed to have been the sweetest and the prettiest; and while the old gentleman always smiled as he spoke of her, there was often a tear in his faded eye while he sighed, "Poor Gitty!" Why she was thus pitied as well as admired I ever wondered, but had not the courage to inquire, fancying always that she had met an early death, and that a part of my good great-uncle's loyal heart had been buried with her.
An evening of this sort of combined work and fun began as early as six o'clock ; and even so the aprons and over-sleeves could not be doffed and the supper begin much before ten o'clock. Sub- stantial things were those Knickerbocker suppers ! Besides almost every seasonable variety of cold fowl and game, there were cold roasts of beef and
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spare-rib, and platters piled high with hot sausages and rollichies, while there was a great variety of pasties and boundless stores of sweetmeats and cake, placed all at once upon the big mahogany tables supported by many slender legs. Tea was never seen at late suppers, and coffee but rarely. Wines, principally Madeira, were plentifully served, though punch and egg-nog were the main reliance. General testimony seems to favor the tradition that while the Dutch were very generous providers of the wherewithal to make merry the hearts of the friends within their gates, neither they nor their guests of Dutch descent often be- came more than agreeably exhilarated. Mr. Cod- wise maintained that the same could not always be said of those of English, Scotch, or Irish birth or parentage.
After the supper came the dancing. There was no music save the fiddles of Castor and Pol- lux ; but was that not enough ? Have ever feet tripped more merrily than to the rollicking scrape of some inspired old wool-thatched fiddler, sway- ing to his own strains, and calling out the figures in clear, rich tones that harmonized with his wild dance measure as only his could do ?
The closing dance, which always began at mid- night, was perhaps brought from Holland by the first settlers. Mr. Codwise said that it was thought to be very old in his time, and considered to be the proper termination of festivities on all
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evening occasions. I am not aware of any exist- ing description of it save his own, as I took it from his lips. It was called the. " Fire Dance," and, if possible, was always "danced around a chimney."
In the Rhinelander house - which I imagine may have been the farmstead near the East River and the present Eighty-sixth Street and Second Avenue - there was then a central chimney-stack, which, on the ground floor, was triangular in shape. On one side of it the great kitchen and its pantries extended through the entire width of the house, the fireplace occupying the center of the inner wall. On the other side of the chimney the space was divided into two large connecting rooms, each having a fireplace across one corner. Any num- ber of couples, from four upward, might engage in this dance, according to the capacity of the room. On this occasion there were sixteen couples in the kitchen and eight couples in each of the other rooms. The partners were arranged in rows opposite to each other in alternating vis-à-vis, so that when the gentleman of one couple faced his partner on the north, he of the next couple would face his partner on the south. The leading couple of each room advanced between the other dancers, bowing or courtesying, and swinging alternately each other and every other gentleman and lady in turn as they went on between the files of dancers, with many stately steps and flourishes the while.
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The clasped right hands of the swinging couples were held as high as possible, the gentleman's left arm akimbo, and the lady's left hand holding her petticoats a little up, that her graceful steps and pretty ankles might be the better seen, until they reached the next room, where they became the " foot couple."
The dance lasted until each of the thirty-two couples had led in dancing round the chimney.
As each leading couple came opposite the fire- place in the room farthest from that in which they started, they courtesied and bowed and swung each other, reciting in Dutch some verses which were a sort of invocation to the spirit of friendship and good cheer. By this fireplace stood a tall and grinning Ganymede holding a very large tray filled with glasses of spiced punch - a beverage deemed to be a suitable preparation for a walk or a drive home over the snowy highways. After the invo- cation each lady was expected to taste and hand one of the glasses to her partner, while he - with- out tasting - handed her a smaller glass from the same tray.
All this while the steps and flourishes must not cease, and to succeed in draining the glasses with- out breaking the time-beat of the steps or spilling a drop of the liquor was the aim of each, a thing which could hardly have been achieved without sobriety and much previous practice. This practice all might easily attain, for traditions tell us that fami-
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lies of the better class among our Knickerbocker ancestors met at each other's houses almost every evening, save during the very longest days, for purposes of amusement, and that among amuse- ments dancing held the first place. Children were allowed to take part during the first hour or two. A healthy, hearty, happy people they seem to have been, doing as much good and as little harm as may be in an imperfect world, leaving to their fortunate descendants fine examples of family af- fection, productive industry, broad charity, and placid content.
CHAPTER XXI A MAN OF ENTERPRISE
CHAPTER XXI.
A MAN OF ENTERPRISE.
Medical Man and Merchant.
An Early Medical Con- vention.
A Captain of Volunteers. Advancing Money and Supplies.
A Solvent Debtor. Comparative Prices. Removal to Vermont.
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YING in files in the old garret, L carefully docketed, were several hundreds, perhaps more than a thousand, letters, all written in the same rather orderly-looking but very deceptive script; for it certainly is the most illegible hand I have ever undertaken to decipher, and my experience has not been small. In a prize contest it could no doubt hold its own against the worst chirography of Horace Greeley, or even that of Napoleon Bonaparte, which is usually conceded to be about on a par, for legibility, with the cunei- form characters of the Ninevites, in the eyes of the unlearned.
All these hundreds of old letters, stretching over a period of about fourteen years, were written by Simeon Smith, M.D., once of Sharon, Connecti- cut, but at the time that these were penned resid- ing at Westhaven, Vermont.
Had the word been then invented, Dr. Smith would certainly have been known as a " hustler," for he was a man of boundless energy, versatility, and resource. As a physician he practically mo-
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nopolized his immediate field, and was constantly called in consultation throughout a stretch of coun- try ranging from the Hudson on the west to the Connecticut on the east, and for about twenty miles each way north and south from Sharon. Besides this, he was a soldier, a wholesale and retail merchant, a heavy dealer in real estate, and ever engaged in every local enterprise demanding energy, courage, capital, and public spirit.
Simeon Smith was a younger brother of the Rev. C. M. Smith, and, like the latter, was born in Suffield, Connecticut. He came to practise in Sharon about 1759, when he was twenty-three or twenty-four years old. At that period the colonies afforded little opportunity for gaining a thorough medical education, the usual way be- ing for a young man to study with some elderly practitioner, whom he accompanied on his rounds, and for whom he ground, baked, and brewed the sometimes very queer decoctions which were pre- scribed for the unfortunate patients. How such a student got his degree I do not know. It is cer- tain that comparatively few of those who then practised medicine in country places, and were styled "doctor," appear to have been entitled to write the consequential M.D. after their names.
It is probable that Dr. Smith received his medi- cal education abroad ; at least, his niece, our oft- quoted diarist Juliana, speaks of her "Uncle Simeon" as entertaining a Thanksgiving party
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with anecdotes of "his student days in Edin- borough." Writing in 1802, Dr. Smith refers to a certain family event as having occurred when he " was in Edinborough in 1757," and there are traces extending through many years of a regular and for that day a frequent correspondence (that is to say, an exchange of letters as often as once or twice in two or three years) between Dr. Smith and two business firms, one in Edinburgh and one in London. From the first of these he received most of the new medical treatises as they appeared, and other books as well, for the doctor was evi- dently a lover of good literature; and from the second came surgical instruments, drugs, and all imaginable articles, from firearms to pins. In the letters from both of these parties there are references which would seem to prove the existence of a per- sonal acquaintance, while there is no evidence to show that either of the foreign correspondents had ever been in America.
Almost as soon as Dr. Smith arrived in Sharon he established there a drug store which is believed to have been one of the largest and best of its kind in the "Old Thirteen." All the more important drugs were imported by Dr. Smith directly from London and Amsterdam, and were by him sup- plied to smaller dealers in many places, including New Haven, Hartford, Albany, and Poughkeep- sie. The goods, of whatever sort, were first de- livered in the original packages at the latter place,
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and from thence were distributed by Dr. Smith's agent. Each year preceding 1775 the number and variety of the country doctor's orders in- creased, still importing directly from London, Amsterdam, and various ports in the West Indies, until almost every salable thing that could be found anywhere in the colonies could be obtained from this quaint, old-fashioned country store, situ- ated at such a distance from the centers of trade.
As a medical practitioner Dr. Smith was highly esteemed, though he did not prescribe as powerful doses as were then customary, and did not apply the lancet with the appalling frequency that was then habitual.
A subject which occupied much of Dr. Smith's thought for many years, though he was unable to carry out his plans, was the establishment of a school of medicine in his native State, which should be the equal of any in the New World. This project was not forgotten even during the stress of the War of the Revolution. In February, 1780, what was proudly announced as the " First Medi- cal Society in The Thirteen United States of America since Their Independence " held a con- vention at Sharon by the invitation of Dr. Smith, the members being entertained principally at his house and those of his two brothers, the parson and " Deacon Paul." The establishment of such a school was a prominent topic before the conven- tion, but nothing could be done to forward the
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execution of the plan, either then or for many years later, on account of the disturbed condition of finances all through the country.
In the old garret remains a copy of " AN ORA- TION ON THE RISE and PROGRESS of PHYSIC IN AMERICA, pronounced before the FIRST MEDICAL SOCIETY in the THIRTEEN UNITED STATES of AMERICA, since their INDEPENDENCE, At their CONVENTION held at SHARON, on the last Day of February, 1780." This was printed in Hartford, by Hudson & Goodwin, in 1781, in ac- cordance with a vote of the aforesaid society.
In real estate Dr. Smith's transactions were, for his day, extensive, embracing large tracts in Dutch- ess and Columbia counties in New York, in Litch- field County, Connecticut, in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, in almost the whole line of western Vermont, and also in Canada. At the outbreak of the Revolution Dr. Smith's many pecuniary interests might be supposed to have rendered him likely to adopt the conservative side -that is, if there had been any truth in the allegation of the Tory party that the Whigs numbered in their ranks " only those who had nothing to lose." But the doctor was as active in politics as he was in everything else, and in 1776 he headed a company of Sharon men, who were with General Wash- ington throughout his unfortunate Long Island cam- paign. This company was, with the exception of a few men who furnished their own outfits, equipped
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at Dr. Smith's expense. In 1777 he raised and partly equipped another company of volunteers to resist the advance of Burgoyne, but breaking his leg by an untimely accident, he was not able to head his company this time as he had done the previous year.
Dr. Smith never for one instant despaired of the ultimate success of our arms, and never hesitated to fill any orders for provisions, clothing, or medi- cal stores sent to him from the State government, buying on his own personal security, which in his own region was more potent than that of the State, and taking the promissory notes of the State in compensation.
Dr. Smith's readiness to manifest his abiding faith in the eventual triumph of the revolting col- onies had one result which, at the time and for a good many years afterward, caused him no little embarrassment.
In the struggling colony of Connecticut five thousand pounds had meant a very large sum of money even before the war; and during the war, before the Dutch loans and the French assistance had come to our financial aid, the value of such a sum was greater than ever. The State of Connec- ticut had voted to issue State bonds to what was then considered by many to be a rash amount. It is quite possible that the doctor had been one of those who had voted for this bond issue, for he represented his town in the Connecticut legislature
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for a good many sessions. If so, he was willing to give practical support to his vote, and had signi- fied his readiness to take five thousand pounds, pro- posing to pay for the bonds in neat cattle or in other provision supplies for the troops. Gold and silver being at a premium, and Continental currency being at a very low valuation, this was but an extension of the prevailing system of barter.
His proposal to this effect was despatched by a messenger, who was expected to reach Hart- ford and return in about forty-eight hours, if no- thing went amiss. But so much usually went amiss in even so short a journey as thirty or forty miles that no surprise would have been felt had the time been twice as long. The surprise came when, early in the morning of the second day, not the messenger, but two other men on horse- back presented themselves at the wrought-iron gate before the big stone house, bringing a letter from Governor Trumbull to the effect that the horse of Dr. Smith's messenger having fallen lame, the governor had thought best to keep the man over for a day or two in Hartford, while, as the matter was urgent, he sent two confidential offi- cials who were empowered to negotiate the whole affair with his friend the doctor.
The "confidential friends" explained that cash in hand-solid cash, golden guineas, or Spanish silver dollars - was the pressing need of the State,
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and to get this they were empowered to offer a considerable premium. Now, it so happened that the doctor had a neighbor - as neighbors were then counted; this one lived about five miles away - who had just inherited the accumulated stockingfuls of a miserly uncle. To this neigh- bor the doctor forthwith betook himself, and upon his personal note borrowed £3330, for which sum the governor's "friends " delivered a handsomely executed and duly signed State bond for £5000.
On the afternoon of the third day after his de- parture the doctor's own messenger returned with a sorry horse and a sorrier tale. To avoid the inconvenience of leaving this messenger without a designation we will call him X.
When X had reached Hartford he proceeded directly to the governor's office, where he was re- ceived by two men, who, after closely question- ing him and reading the letter, as they said they had a right to do, being the governor's deputies, explained that the governor was out of town for a few days, but they could attend to everything during his absence. Meanwhile they treated X with a pleasing cordiality. Taking him to a cer- tain tavern, which they assured him was the best in the country, they saw that he had a good supper and left him there to wait. This he did very will- ingly, waits of three or four days being the cus- tomary thing in the days when an absent person could only be summoned by a messenger on horse-
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back. Poor X did not remember how or when he went to bed that night, but he was certain that he did not awake till a very late hour the next afternoon. When his head was finally clear enough to enable him to think about it, he went out to the stables, only to find that his fine horse had gone very lame. Taking him to a farrier was impossible, so the farrier was brought to the horse, and discovered that a long and rusty nail had been driven up into the horse's foot, causing a severe if not permanent injury. In the course of their talk X asked the farrier if he knew when the governor might be expected to return.
It then appeared that the governor had not been out of town at all. The farrier knew, because he had seen him every day, and sometimes three or four times a day, as he had to pass the governor's house on his way to and from his own.
Petty frauds were frequent enough in colonial and Revolutionary days, but frauds which might involve those who were nearly connected with af- fairs of state were not often heard of, and to the bucolic mind were almost inconceivable ; yet some- thing flickered through the poor messenger's brain. The lateness of the hour, his own condition, that of his horse, and the obvious lie told by the two so friendly clerks - perhaps all these things taken together might mean something? If so, that mean- ing could bode no good to his errand, though what shape the evil might take he could not guess.
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Proceeding to the governor's house as speedily as he might, X found his Excellency already in a greatly perturbed state of mind. Two men who had long been employed by him in confidential business, and especially in business relating to the State bonds, had suddenly disappeared. They had been seen late on the previous evening, well mounted and carrying full saddle-bags, going west- ward. With them had also disappeared the entire issue of State bonds, lacking the governor's signa- ture, but otherwise quite correct. Constables had been sent in pursuit, but the forgers had about sixteen hours the start of them, and in preelectric days that was usually equivalent to an escape, es- pecially as the constables had started on the theory that if the men were seen going westward they must have intended going in the opposite direc- tion, and some of the pursuers had gone down the Connecticut River, and some had turned northward.
After many a long day - not until about 1794, in fact- one of the forgers was apprehended and brought back to Connecticut for trial, but what the result was the old letters do not inform us. Two other would-be supporters of the State's fi- nances, in addition to Dr. Smith, had been vic- timized before the forgeries had become known, but neither of the two rendered any aid to the doctor or the State in their persistent pursuit of the criminals. In the end only one was appre-
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hended. He was discovered among the refugee Tories in New Brunswick by Dr. Smith himself, while on a prospecting tour he was making, on the outlook for mines of coal or of iron ore.
The forgeries were said to have been singularly perfect. Dr. Smith was well acquainted with the handwriting of Governor Trumbull, and the forged letter, when compared with the undoubted letters of the governor which Dr. Smith had received at various times, though it might have excited the suspicions of a modern chirographic expert, was acknowledged by the governor to be perfect enough to have deceived himself. For a time the existence of these forged bonds caused much per- plexity to the State government, and would have caused still more had intelligence concerning them been published through the length and breadth of the land, as it would now be. There were a few advantages to be derived from the slow methods of the time.
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