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A  FAMILY  HISTORY 


xSl^o.  C^^-^'^-^ 


Tiric  Carroll  Record  Print, 

TANKYTOWN,    MI). 

1909. 


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Copyright.  1909,  by 
THE  CARROLL  RECORD  COMPANY 


S5."0§3 


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This  work  seems  trivial,  but  if  the  founders  of  the  family 
had  recorded  such  things,  the  record  would  now  be  of  interest, 
so />r^5<?rz;^  what  is  written  here.  While  writing,  I  kept  in 
mind  the  legend  on  an  old  sun-dial  of  Venice.  "I  count  only 
the  hours  that  are  serene." 


'^^< 


A  FAMILY  HISTORY. 


The  house  in  which  I  now  reside,  in  Uniontown,  Carroll  County, 
Maryland,  was  built  by  John  Hyder  in  1811,  on  a  lot  purchased  of 
Erhart  Cover.  This  lot  was  part  of  a  tract  of  land  called  The  Orchard, 
at  that  time  in  Frederick  County.  [Carroll  was  formed  from  part  of 
Frederick  Co.,  in  1837.]  John  Hyder  was  born  in  Frederick  County  in 
1787.  There  is  a  certificate  of  his  birth  in  this  house.  It  is  written  in 
German,  the  writing  and  ornamentation,  by  John  Wm.  Hyder,  father 
of  J.  H.  J.  W.  H.  was  from  Anspach,  Franconia,  Germany.  He  was 
a  very  pious  man.  He  was  a  school-teacher.  He  opened  his  school 
daily  with  prayer.  He  died  suddenly  one  day,  on  his  way  home  from 
school.  His  wife  was  Elizabeth  Stitely.  She  died  in  1854,  at  the  age 
of  85.  I  have  a  lock  of  her  hair,  cut  off  at  that  time.  It  is  a  beautiful 
brown.  They  said  she  had  not  a  gray  hair.  Besides  John,  were  two 
other  sons,  William  and  Jacob.  William  married  Eliza  Hoff,  York, 
Pa.  Their  only  child,  Quincy,  spent  a  day  or  two  here  in  the  early 
fifties,  when  I  was  a  child.  He  looked  like  the  framed  picture  of  Billy 
Hiteshu,  that  is  at  this  writing,  in  the  parlor  of  John  H.  Gehr,  Waynes- 
boro, Pa.  Quincy  had,  when  he  was  here,  lately  heard  Jenny  Lind, 
the  world-famed  singer.  He  said  she  looked  as  if  she  lived  upon  coarse 
fare.  There  is  a  letter  in  the  house,  written  by  him  in  1853,  on  board 
the  ship  Relief,  then  at  Rio  Janeiro,  S.  A.  He  was  in  the  pay-depart- 
ment, U.  S.  Navy.  He  died  unmarried,  at  U.  S.  Naval  Hospital,  War- 
rington, Fla. 

Of  Jacob  Hyder's  children,  Isaac  became  a  prosperous  merchant, 
of  Emmitsburg,  Md.,  where  he  died.  There  are  some  verses  in  the 
house,  written  by  him  on  the  death  of  his  grandmother,  E.  S.  H.,  1854. 
Isaac's  father,  Jacob  H.,  married  Sarah  Lightner. 

Margaret,  one  of  the  daughters,  married  Daniel  Rhinehart,  a  broth- 
er of  the  famous  Carroll  Co.,  Md.,  sculptor,  Wm.  Rhinehart— [At  the 
time  of  his  birth,  Carroll  formed  part  of  Frederick  Co.]  Wm.  Rhine- 
hart, the  sculptor,  died  at  Rome.  The  wreath  from  his  casket,  his 
artist  implements,  and  some  of  his  work,  notably  "Clytie,"  and  a  bust 


of  his  mother,  are  at  the  Peabody,  Baltimore,  Md.  He  completed  the 
bronze  doors  at  the  Capitol,  Washington,  D.  C.  There  is  some  of  his 
work  at  Greenmount  cemetery,  Baltimore,  where  he  lies,  his  life-size 
bronze  "Endymion,"  marking  the  spot.  Margaret's  daughter,  Olivia, 
inherits  her  uncle's  talent.  She  is,  at  this  writing.  Art  teacher  at 
Western  Md.  College,  Westminster.  She  studied  in  Paris, at  the  Julien 
studio.  I  read,  in  the  College  Journal,  a  very  pleasant  letter  written 
by  her  whilst  she  was  summering  near  Paris. 

John  Hyder  [born  1787]  married  Catharine  Delaplaine,  born  1788, 
near  the  village  of  Woodsboro,  Frederick,  Co.,  Md.  [Isaac  Renner 
afterwards  bought  the  home.]  Her  father's  name  was  John,  and  her 
mother  was  Sophia  Sheelar.  [The  mother  of  Sophia  Sheelar  was  Han- 
nah Chandler,  of  Germantown,  Pa.]  The  Delaplaines  were  Huguenots. 
From  my  infancy  I  was  told  that  they  came  over  at  the  time  of  the 
Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  1685.  [One  Delaplaine  accounts 
for  the  name  by  saying  that  they  formed  part  of  that  Greek  colony  that 
settled  near  Marseilles,  B.  C.  600.  That  they  were  from  the  plains  of 
Marathon:  De  la  Plaine.  But  history  says  that  those  Marseilles  settlers 
were  Phocians.]  A  sketch  of  the  Delaplaine  family,  written  by  Judge 
N.  Norris  Delaplaine,  of  Hillsboro,  Highland  Co.,  Ohio,  and  published 
in  the  county  paper,  says:  "The  traditional  history  of  this  family  goes 
back  to  the  crusaders,  and  the  shores  of  the  blue  Mediterranean,  and 
the  waters  of  the  Rhone,  where  their  ancestors  had  rich  possessions  in 
the  chivalric  days  of  France,  but  lost  their  estates  in  civic  and  religious 
revolutions."  [Judge  N.  N.  D.  was  nephew  of  C.  D.  H.]  Baird,  in 
his  history  of  the  Huguenots,  mentions  Marie  Delaplaine  (1692)  mar- 
ried to  Jean  Le  Chevalier,   New  York. 

October,  1895,  I  visited  Rocky  Hill  grave-yard,  near  Woodsboro, 
Frederick  Co.,  Md.,  where  I  saw  these  tombs:  [Father  of  Catharine 
Delaplaine  Hyder.]  In  memory  of  John  Delaplaine,  who  departed  this 
life  June  25,  1804,  in  the  63rd.  year  of  his  age.  [Brother  of  C.  D.  H.J 
Here  lies  the  body  of  Jeremiah  Delaplaine,  who  was  born  2nd.  of  April 
1781,  and  departed  this  life  12th.  of  November,  1800.  [Sister  and  broth- 
er of  C.  D.  H.]  Hannah  Delaplaine,  born  1768,  died  1772,  (and  on  the 
same  stone)  John  Delaplaine,  born  1772,  died  1772.  [Sister  ofC.  D.  H.] 
Mary  Delaplaine,  born  1767,  died  1772. 

C.  D.  H.  afterwards  had  another  sister  Mary,  married  to  John 
Carmack.  I  shall  speak  of  her  later.  [These  four  tombs  that  I  saw  at 
Rocky  Hill,  I  had  heard  of  from  my  infancy.] — "Aunt"  Betsy  Yingling* 
told  me  that  when  John  Hyder  brought  his  bride,  C.  D.  H.,  to  Union- 
town,  Md.,  she — Betsy — ran  down  the  hill,  to  a  fence  along  the  road, 
to  get  a  peep  at  the  newly-wed.  She  was  then  Betsy  Hiteshu,  and 
lived  at  hei  parents'  home,  a  beautiful  house,  surrounded  by  a  lawn,  on 
a  very  elevated  spot,  at  the  head  of  the  village.     It  afterward  became 


\'<>\Z 


\A 

the  home  of  Charles  Hiteshu,  Betsy's  brother,  and  Caroline,  his  wife, 
daughter  of  John  Hyder,  and  C.  D.  H. 

John  Hyder  and  his  wife  lived  while  their  house  in  Uniontown  was 
building,  at  a  place  called  the  Meadow,  a  little  way  out  of  the  village, 
and  directly  north  of  where  their  new  house  was  to  stand.  The  house 
at  the  Meadow  was  close  to  a  fine  spring,  and  the  lower  floor  was  af- 
terwards used  as  a  dairy.  The  owners  of  the  place  lived  in  a  house  a 
little  way  off  on  the  hillside. 

There  is,  at  this  writing,  an  unusually  large  and  spreading  walnut 
tree  standing  in  the  meadow  near  the  spring.  C.  D.  H.  used  to  tell 
me  that  as  a  young  wife  she  used  to  sit  often  under  this  tree  in  pleas- 
ant weather.  All  of  the  children  were  born  in  the  house  at  Uniontown. 
There  is  a  photo  of  C.  D.  H.  here,  in  an  oval  gilt  frame,  that  looks 
just  as  she  did  at  the  time  it  was  taken,  when  she  was  past  sixty,  but 
you  cannot  know  from  that,  about  her  pure  comple.x;ion,  like  a  china 
radish,  I  used  to  say.  She  was  tall,  and  of  a  remarkably  fine  and  com- 
manding presence.  She  attended  church  "down  below, "  as  we  vil- 
lagers termed  it.  A  small  white  frame  building  in  the  grave-yard. 
There  was  a  two-leaved  door,  with  a  flight  of  steps  running  up  to  it, 
in  the  gable-end,  facing  the  road,  but  she  always  went  around  to  the 
smaller,  side-door,  with  a  broad,  low  step,  and  in  my  memory  of  child- 
hood, a  peach  tree  overhanging  it.  Near  this  door,  within  the  church, 
was  her  accustomed  seat  during  service.  The  pulpit  was  like  a  half 
tub  (divided  vertically,  that  is)  set  into  the  wall  about  one-third  up 
from  the  floor.  It  was  painted  white,  with  yellow  panels,  and  had 
balustered  steps  leading  up  to  it  on  the  one  side  that  was  open.  Un- 
der, or  in  front  of  the  pulpit,  beneath,  was  a  table,  painted  a  sulphur 
yellow,  and  as  glos.sy  as  hard-wood  polished,  or  marble. 

There  was  another  church,  (in  the  village)  which  was  called  "up 
above,"  and  in  fact  it  was  on  such  an  elevated  point  that  it  was  one  of 
the  first  objects  seen  as  you  approached  Uniontown  from  any  direction. 
It  had  arched, two-leafed  doors  of  unpainted  oak  on  three  sides, and  aisles 
paved  with  brick.  On  the  fourth  .side,  within,  was  an  unpainted  oak 
tub-pulpit,  at  least  ten  feet  up,  and  over  it  hung,  suspended  from  an 
iron  rod  fa.stened  to  the  lofty,  vaulted  ceiling,  an  immense  "sounding 
board."  The  pews  were  also  of  oak  and  with  sides  so  high  that  as  a 
child  I  felt  walled  in  by  them.  Galleries  ran  around  the  church, 
lighted  by  a  second  row  of  windows,  arched  like  those  of  the  first  row. 
Both  churches  were  lighted  for  night  service  by  tallow  candles  set  in 
tin  sconces,  fastened  to  the  oaken  pillars  that  supported  the  galleries. 
For  the  pulpit,  were  lard-burning  lamps,  fastened  in  sockets.  For  the 
mid-week  prayer  service,  there  was  on  the  table  beneath  the  pulpit,  a 
candle-stick  with  a  broad  base  that  served  as  a  tray  for  the  snuffers. 
The    reading    of    the  chapter  had  numerous,  impressive  breaks  whilst 


these  instruments  were  in  action.  The  praise  of  both  night  and  da\- 
service  was  also  effectively  punctuated  by  the  "line-ing"  of  the  hymns. 
Two  lines  of  each  stanza  were  "given  out;"  that  is,  read,  then  sung, 
then  two  more,  and  so  continued  to  the  finish. 

The  reader,  "down-below"  was  often  one  Martin  IV/tiieleather ,  a 
layman.  Into  his  prayer  which  followed  the  chapter,  he  never  failed 
to  bring  the  phrase,  "this  onfriendly  world;"  words  without  meaning 
to  my  childish  perception.  The  invocation  of  another,  always  includ- 
ed a  petition  for,  "the  lost  sons  of  the  Adamic  race."  Who  will 
gainsay  me,  when  I  claim,  to  dub  this  last  withal,  the  titles,  "vast" 
and  "universal,"  aforetime  the  exclusive  property  of  one  Shakespeare. 

C.  D.  H.  had  a  friend  who  in  my  childhood,  came  to  see  her  for  a 
few  minutes  daily.  She  always  seated  herself  at  one  end  of  the  long 
"settle"  in  the  living-room,  its  arm  supporting  her  elbow.  She  always 
addressed  3'ou  as  "honey."  [Her  father  was  one  of  the  first  settlers 
of  "Baltimore  town."  One  of  its  lanes  bore  his  name.]  CD.  H. 
named  one  of  her  daughters  for  this  friend. 

John  Hyder  had  the  Uniontown  Postoffice  from  the  time  it  com- 
menced business,  1815,  until  his  death,  1848.  [There  is  a  post-office 
book  in  the  house  which  has  a  record  in  his  hand-writing:  Office  com- 
menced business  Nov.  15,  1815.]  Besides,  he  did  surveying  and  law- 
writing,  the  latter  in  both  English  and  German.  There  are,  in  the 
house,  parchments  with  seal,  1744,  course  book,  1762,  local  road-maps, 
made  by  J.  H.,  letters  from  Missouri  Territory,  1818,  copies  in  Ger- 
man, made  by  J.  H.,  of  letters  he  wrote  to  Germany,  &c.  His  books 
all  contain  his  name  and  the  price  he  paid  for  the  vol.,  in  his  own 
writing. 

I  remember  the  last  year  that  j.  H.  had  the  post-office.  A  yellow 
stage-coach,  like  those  described  by  Dickens,  ran  from  Baltimore  to 
Emmitsburg,  through  Uniontown.  I  know  the  coach  the  fairy  made 
out  of  a  pumpkin  for  Cinderella  was  exactly  like  it— pumpkin  shape, 
cushioned  within  with  figured  red  velvet,  a  seat  at  either  end,  and  a 
middle,  narrow  seat  with  only  a  strap  for  back.  Each  seat  was  ex- 
pected to  hold  three  pensons.  The  coachman's  seat,  built  against  the 
enclosed  front  of  the  coach,  was  far  above  the  level  of  the  horses.  On 
the  top  of  the  coach,  railed  in,  was  the  baggage. 

When  I  made  my  first  child- visit  to  Baltimore,  there  were  among 
the  passengers,  a  lady  and  her  daughter.  The  girl  had  been  at  school 
at  St.  Joseph's,  Emmitsburg.  They  were  going  home,  to  New  York 
City.  The  lady  got  sick  riding  backwards,  and  she  went  up  on  the 
box  beside  the  coachman.  What  a  heroine  she  was  to  me  !  I  pon- 
dered, how  she  got  up,  and  how  she  could  keep  from  tumbling  off. 
As  we  neared  the  city.  I  voiced  my  amazement  at  such  a  prodigious 
number  of  houses,  spread  far  and  wide.     Said  the  big  girl  to  the  little 

—  8  — 


one:  "You  ought  to  see  New  York!"     A  coach     started   from   Balti- 
more 8  a.  m.,  arriving  at  Uniontown  4.30  p.  m. 

C.  D.  H.  died  1863.  The  morning  of  the  day  she  died,  she  walked 
out  on  the  pavement.  Twilight  she  was  seized  with  a  violent  pain  in 
her  back,  and  went  to  lie  down.  The  doctor,  next  door,  who  was 
.summoned  at  once,  found  her  dead  when  he  arrived.  There  is  a  small, 
brown  willow  basket  here,  oval  and  without  a  cover.  Her  work- 
basket.  The  miniature,  oval  band-box  in  it,  is  where  she  kept  her 
thimble. 

July  following  her  death  was  the  battle  of  Gettysburg.  At  that 
time,  the  2nd.  Federal  army  corps,  Hancock's  division,  and  part  of 
another  corps,  were  around  Uniontown  for  several  days.  About  20,000. 
We  trembled  at  the  sound  of  their  tramp,  tramp  in  the  twilight, as  they 
arrived  tired,  hungry  and  thirsty.  We  carried  out  buckets  of  water, 
with  dippers,  and  nearly  all  of  the  bread  in  the  house.  We  had  some 
biscuit  which  happened  to  be  very  fine.  The  next  morning  a  soldier 
came  and  wanted  to  know  if  we  had  any  more  of  those  biscuits.  I 
shouldn't  wonder  if  he  was  "the  only  son  of  his  mother  and  she  a 
widow."  There  was  not  a  single  instance  of  damage  to  the  communi- 
ty during  their  stay.  There  were  soldiers  lying  thick  upon  our  front 
pavement  every  night,  some  with  their  horses  and  mules,  but  they 
never  entered  the  yard.  The  .sound  of  the  army  wagons  with  their 
wooden  axles,  I  shall  never  forget. 

A  boyish-looking  soldier  handed  Mary  Hyder  a  package  as  they 
passed,  declaring  he  was  too  tired  to  carry  it.  It  contained  a  port- 
folio and  some  candles.  She  found  an  address  and  wrote  to  the  lady, 
•Vfrs.  Jerome,  of  New  York  State.  The  lad  was  the  adopted  son  of  a 
clergyman  and  his  wife.  A  correspondence  ensued  between  M.  H. 
and  the  mother.  Subsequently  Mary  received  a  letter  from  young 
Walter  himself,  thanking  her  for  her  interest. 

The  parlor,  or  best  room  in  the  house  of  J.  H.,  fronted  the  street, 
and  opened  into  a  long,  narrow  entry.  It  had  two  windows  facing  the 
south.  I  do  not  remember  all  of  the  original  furniture, but  I  know  some 
of  it  from  hearsay-.  There  was  an  all-wool  "rainbow  carpet,"  alter- 
nate stripes,  four  inches  wide,  of  orange,  black,  red  and  green.  Wood- 
en chairs,  painted  yellow,  with  a  basket  of  flowers  design  on  the  back, 
were  later  replaced  by  chairs  ebonized  and  ornamented  with  a  gilt 
band.  There  were  in  the  house  also,  bent-wood  chairs  of  unpainted 
oak.  Swiss  muslin  curtains,  figured  in  a  rose  pattern,  draped  the  win- 
dows. The  wide,  open  fire-place  with  its  brass-tipped  irons  and  its 
high  mantelshelf,  was  across  one  corner.  Across  another  corner  was 
the  tall  clock,  still  preserved.  Above  the  dial,  with  its  Roman  hours,  is 
painted  a  ship  plowing  the  waves.  Against  this  appears  the  moon,  in 
full,  or  in  part,  according  to  its  phases.  The  clock's  striking-bell  rings 

—  9  - 


purest  melody.  In  other  corners  of  the  rooms,  on  the  edges  of  the 
chair-boards,  were  corner-boards,  with  grooved  edges  (they  are  yet  on 
the  garret)  useful  to  hold  articles  of  ornament  or  utility. 

Sophia  Hyder  upholstered  two  of  the  bent-wood  chairs.  They  are 
here  yet,  as  is  the  bent-wood  oaken  arm-chair  of  J.  H.  A  door  from 
this  best  room  led  to  the  postoffice,  now  used  as  a  library.  This  room 
had  a  door  and  window  facing  the  south  and  opening  on  the  street. 
The  second  door  to  the  left  as  you  entered  the  hall,  led  to  abed-room, 
now  used  as  a  dining-room.  A  door  opposite,  across  the  entry  led  to 
the  living-room,  which  was  also  the  kitchen  in  winter,  with  its  yawn- 
ing fire-place  in  which  was  hanger  for  the  dinner-pot,  and  ample  space 
besides,  for  the  "Dutch-oven,"  a  huge  iron  bowl,  with  a  dome  lid. 
There  was  also  a  summer- kitchen,  (with  a  wide  fire-place,)  leading 
from  the  back  entry.  The  four  brick  hearths  are  yet  before  the  four 
open  fire-places. 

Adeline  Delaplaine  H.  was  the  eldest  child  of  J.  H.  and  C.  D.  H. 
There  is  a  shopping-bag  here  done  by  her,  embroidered  with  beads  on 
fine  muslin.  A  half  wreath  of  flowers  upon  an  amber  ground.  The 
sweet-pea  and  morning-glory  are  especially  natural.  It  is  as  fresh  in 
color  as  when  made,  about  1830,  when  bead-work  was  the  rage.  She 
made  several  pieces  about  that  time,  several  smaller  reticules  (as  they 
were  called)  one  that  is  here,  is  party,  or  opera  bag  size.  The  beads 
which  are  tiny,  requiring  a  fine  needle,  are  all  intact.  There  are  here 
also,  some  specimens  of  her  embroidery,  on  fine  Swiss  muslin.  One 
piece,  an  infant's  cap,  is  now  used  as  a  sachet-cover.  After  a  brief 
married  life,  she  passed  her  remaining  days  here.  In  her  old  age,  she 
embroidered  a  number  of  rugs  on  burlap,  several  of  which  are  still 
here.     She  excelled  in  baking,  her  specialty  being  beaten  biscuit. 

She  was  paralyzed  about  eight  years  before  her  death,  but  re- 
covered so  nearly,  that  she  spent  a  peaceful  and  serenely  happy  old 
age,  always  busy  in  a  useful  way,  over  what  her  infirmities  allowed 
her  to  do,  or  reading  and  reciting  to  the  bed-ridden  sister.  Her  face, 
framed  in  its  white  cap,  made  a  sweet  picture.  She  lived  to  be  77. 
At  twenty-five  or  thirty,  her  brown  hair  was  abundant.  Part  of  it  was 
coiled  into  a  flat  ring  on  each  side  of  her  temples,  and  fastened  with 
shell  side-combs.  She  usually  wore  a  dress  brown  in  color,  with  a 
shoulder-cape  of  the  same  material  and  a  broad  collar  of  white  linen. 
"Blue-black"  silk  was  the  rage  in  her  day.  Hers  was  of  the  finest, 
softest  quality,  and  had  a  polka-dot  in  satin  of  the  same  shade.  It 
was  made  with  a  long,  full-gathered  stomacher,  and  elaborately 
trimmed  with  narrow  strips  of  the  silk,  tightly  plaited.  Her  bonnet 
was  commonly  Leghorn  straw,  of  a  form  similar  to  those  worn  by  the 
Shakers,  or  the  Salvation  Army  women.  It  was  stiffened  to  buckram, 
ironed  to  an  irreproachable  gloss,  and  ornamented  with  frill, bows,  and 

—  10  — 


strings    of    ribbon.     With    this  was  worn  a  Paisley,  or  broche,  shawl, 
folded  three-cornered. 

For  many  years  of  her  prime,  she  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  a  special 
friend,  Eliza  Hollingsworth  More,  who  lived  alone,  in  her  own  house, 
three  doors  off.  Eliza  was  very  deaf,  and  used  to  declare  laughingly 
that  she  was  glad  of  it.  She  was  born  in  Petersburg,  Va. ;  her  mother 
was  Miss  Hollingsworth.  Upon  the  death  of  her  parents,  she  came  to 
Md.,  as  her  father's  relatives  were  here.  The  sweet  expression  of  her 
blue  eyes,  her  musical  voice,  her  distinct  articulation,  the  elegance  of 
her  vocabulary,  her  erect  figure,  quaintly  costumed,  made  an  impres- 
sion upon  me  quite  distinct  from  that  which  I  received  from  others. 
One  of  her  costumes  was  a  cloak  of  salmon-colored  Merino,  made  full- 
gathered  to  a  yoke,  and  reaching  to  her  feet.  With  this  was  worn  a 
bonnet  of  steel-grey  satin,  Shaker-form  and  with  a  small,  circular  crown. 

She  had  her  father's  miniature,  painted  on  ivory.  On  the  reverse> 
was  the  figure  of  a  woman,  seated,  wrought  with  lovely,  golden  hair, 
her  deceased  sister's.  Among  her  treasures  was  a  diamond  ring,  the 
first  I  ever  saw,  and  my  acquaintance  with  such  an  article  continues 
rare.  She  M^as  never  hurried  of  speech,  and  one  never  wished  her  to 
be.  Her  reading  aloud  was  preciselj'  like  her  talking,  and  both  were 
to  me  a  source  of  pure  delight.  What  seemed  especially  adapted  to 
her  style,  was  the  passage  in  "Paradise  Lost,"  beginning:  "Now  came 
still  evening  on."  All  of  her  household  work  was  done  by  her  own 
hands,  (she  used  to  hold  them  up,  spread  out  her  fingers,  and  assert 
that  she  had  ten  servants.) 

Her  duties  included  washing,  ironing,  baking,  cooking,  gardening, 
sewing,  and  her  house  and  premises  were  ever  exqisitely  neat.  There 
appeared  to  be  nothing  that  she  hesitated  to  undertake.  There  was  a 
puzzle  called  The  Highlander  that  one  of  the  H.  family  once  brought 
on  her  return  from  the  city.  It  required  a  variety  of  material  and 
much  skill  in  the  making.  No  time  elapsed  before  Eliza  had  made  sev- 
eral, that  she  distributed  among  her  acquaintances.  A  daughter  of 
one  of  her, especial  friends  performed  with  rare  sweetness,  and  correct- 
ly, upon  the  melodeon,  a  result  of  Eliza's  teaching.  She  used  some- 
times to  dance  for  me,  to  my  unbounded  delight.  But  for  this  pas  seul 
(»f  Eliza's,  dancing  would  have  been  entirely  without  the  pale  of  my 
limited  sphere.  She  said  her  mother  had  her  ever  begin  a  new  copy- 
book with  these  lines: 

"Thy  credit  wary  keep;  'tis  quickly  gone; 
'Tis  got  in  many  actions;  lost  in  one." 

She  was  a  high-spirited  woman,  and  it  was  as  good  as  a  play  to 
see  Eliza  angry,  but  it  was  rare.     She  took  her  creed  from  Pope's  line: 

"Vital  spark  of  heavenly  flame," 
and  thought  that  all  souls  would  finally    be    one    with    the    Eternal. 

—  11  — 


When  she  became  enfeebled  by  age,  she  retired  to  the  house  of  a 
friend,  in  whose  familj^  she  was  thoroughly  appreciated,  and  passed 
the  rest  of  her  days  in  sweet  tranquility. 

Caroline  was  the  second  daughter  of  J.  H.  and  C.  D.  H.  vShe 
married  young,  before  I  was  born,  Charles  Hiteshu,  who  resided  in 
the  \allage.  They  say  she  was  a  particularly  pretty  girl,  and  I  well 
believe  it,  for  she  was  pretty,  even  in  my  day.  She  was  named  for 
that  friend  of  her  mother's  that  used  to  come  daily  to  the  house. 
There  is  a  set  of  dinner-plates  here,  and  a  large  bowl  to  match,  that 
were  bought  for  her  wedding.  White,  with  a  design  of  roses  and 
carnations  in  pale  blue.  C's  nose  was  decidedly  retrousse,  and  her 
hair  black  and  curly.  Her  eyes  were  dark  and  very  bright,  her  ex- 
pression, arch. 

This  type  of  face  shows  the  French  blood  in  the  family.  It  came 
out  in  the  faces  of  Caroline,  Sophia,  John  and  Anne.  Caroline  was 
very  vivacious  in  her  manner, — "fussy"  in    the    kindly    sense    of   the 

term.     She    won    my  childish  heart  completely.     "This  is  ,  the 

little  dear,"  she  would  sometimes  say  in  presenting  me  to  her  friends, 
with  her  arm  affectionately  round  me.  Her  husband  w^as  one  of 
Nature's  noblemen.  C's  family  could  never  talk  enough  of  what  a 
gentleman  "Charles"  was  in  his  house  and  particularly  at  his  table, 
with  the  old-time,  hearty  Maryland  politeness.  The  daguerreotype, 
in  the  family,  taken  in  his  prime,  is  just  like  him.  It  was  one  of  my 
greatest  childhood  pleasures  to  visit  them  in  Uniontown,  and  their 
children  were  the  companions  of  my  young  life. 

Their  home,  built  by  the  father  of  Charles,  was  delightfully  situ- 
ated at  the  head  of  the  village,  on  a  very  elevated  spot,  and  fronted 
by  a  well-shaded  lawn.  I  delighted  in  its  fine,  wide  hall,  and  its 
farm-like  surroundings.  Caroline  lived  to  be  68.  The  only  one  of 
their  sons  who  reached  manhood,  was  William.  When  a  boy,  if  he 
was  asked  what  calling  he  intended  to  pursue,  he  ever  replied,  "a 
peddler."  A  peddler  was  a  soinebody  in  those  days.  "Cheap  Jean," 
one  of  them,  came  to  us  regularly.  Jean  carried  fine  silks,  etc.,  in 
his  bales.  I  remember  a  cashmere  that  Mary  Hyder  bought  of  him, 
one  dollar  per  yard,  seal  brown,  with  the  figure  of  a  crimson  rose  with 
its  dark  green  leaves.  I  was  u.sually  treated  to  a  pair  of  liliputian  silk 
"mitts,"  frail,  but  gay  in  color. 

William  became  an  eminently  successful  merchant.  He  was  mar- 
ried and  conducting  a  wholesale  and  retail  establishment  in  Chambers- 
burg,  Pa.,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  1887,  in  the  prime  of  his  life.  He 
was  so  seriously  injured  in  attempting  to  check  a  runaway  horse  that 
he  died  in  a  few  days.  He  had  a  genius  for  conducting  business  on 
a  large  scale,  and  was  noted  for  his  fair  dealing.  His  demise  was  re- 
garded as  a  public  calamity.     He  was  one  of  the  most  genial  persons  I 

—  12  — 


ever  met.     There  is  in  the  family,  a  picture  of  him,  taken  when  he  was 
just  entering  manhood,  that  is  a  perfect  likeness. 

Sophia  Elizabeth  was  the  third  daughter  of  J.  H.  and  C.  D.  H. 
vShe  was  the  tallest  of  the  family.  I  judge  about  five  feet  eight,  and 
splendidly  proportioned,  inclining  to  embonpoint.  Her  shoulders  and 
arms  were  superb,  like  alabaster.  Her  hand  was  large,  but  a  model 
for  a  sculptor.  The  fingers  tapering.  One's  hand  is  charged  with  char- 
acter, which  no  freedom  from  toil  can  conceal  and  no  amount  of  labor 
can  wholly  obliterate.  The  hand  of  Sophia  proclaimed  her  to  be  that 
most  blest  of  all  beings,  the  cock-sure  person.  Her  hair  was  black  and 
glossy,  coiled  at  the  back,  with  thick  curls  in  front,  festooned  one 
over  the  other  across  her  ears  and  fastened  with  shell  side-combs. 
She  had  iine  white  teeth  and  a  good  complexion,  the  red  and  white 
well  blended.  Her  daguerreotype  here,  taken  in  her  prime,  is  very  like. 

I  have,  as  I  stated  a  few  pages  back,  a  photograph,  copied  from 
an  ancient  portrait,  of  one  Nicholas  De  La  Plaine,  a  dignitary  of 
France.  The  painting  represents  him  an  old  man;  the  inscription  says, 
one  hundred  and  four.  Any  one  would  concede  a  strong  resemblance 
between  the  photograph  of  N.  D.,  (16 — ,)  and  the  daguerreotype  of  S. 
E.  H.,  (18 — .)  One  of  Sophia's  costumes  was  a  diaphanous  material, 
white  with  a  large  polka  dot  of  violet.  It  was  made  decollete  with  a 
shoulder-cape  of  the  same  material.  Another,  was  of  mulberry  color- 
ed merino,  the  corsage  fitted  like  a  glove,  and  was  fastened  with  glo- 
bular silvered  buttons,  bullet  buttons,  they  were  styled.  I  see  her  yet, 
just  arrived  from  church,  as  I  was  standing  in  the  street  doorway,  one 
fine  Sunday;  a  dress  of  black  Satin  Turc,  (pronounced  Ture)  a  shawl 
of  silk  with  large  plaids  and  a  deep  fringe.  The  shawl  was  worn  tri- 
angular. A  bonnet  of  white  "horse  hair,"  or  Neapolitan,  with  strings 
and  bows  of  wide  orange  ribbon.  Tied  over  the  bonnet  and  thrown 
gracefully  to  one  side,  was  a  yard  long  veil  of  black  silk  net,  embroid- 
ered with  sprigs,  and  having  a  deep  border  of  richer  and  heavier  em- 
broidery. 

I  thought  when  I  was  assisting  in  shrouding  Sophia  that  she  seem- 
ed a  form  chiseled  from  the  finest  marble,  by  a  master  artist.  She  was 
the  oracle  of  the  house,  the  houseband.  She  was  one  of  the  handiest 
women  I  ever  saw,  and  the  best-tempered.  Every  woman  her  own 
shoemaker,  was  the  fad  for  awhile  in  her  day.  Sophia  made  a  num- 
ber of  pairs  out  and  out.  Got  lasts,  made  the  uppers,  and  soled  the 
shoes  herself.  I  remember  one  pair  of  tan  cloth,  with  tips  and  heel- 
pieces of  black  morocco — gaiters,  they  were  called — and  laced  at  the 
side.  Sophia  used  to  say  that  she  would  rather  sew  than  eat,  and  no 
wonder,  for  she  created  some  of  the  loveliest  gowns  and  bonnets.  In 
baking,  cooking,  preserving,  she  excelled.  The  taste  of  her  good 
things  will  always  linger  in  my  memory.     The  richest  marmalades, the 

—  13  — 


clearest  jellies.  She  sent  a  specimen  of  citron  preserve  to  the  Balti- 
more Fair.  It  was  in  a  glass  jar,  the  top  covered  with  white  paper  cut 
in  points,  which  were  outlined  with  gilt.  The  tie  was  of  blue  ribbon. 
The  citron,  translucent,  was  cut  into  various  shapes,  hands,  flowers, 
leaves,  hearts,  stars,  &c.,  floating  in  the  amber  syrup.  Self-sealing 
jars  were  as  yet  unknown. 

Sophia  ever  required  a  lackey  at  her  heels;  one  could  not  accom- 
plish all  she  did,  without  making  chips.  She  embroidered  a  large 
shoulder  cape  on  white  bobinet  with  linen  floss,  in  a  flower,  leaf  and 
scroll  pattern.  It  was  afterward  cut  into  a  fichu,  to  suit  the  style  of 
the  day.  Only  some  scraps  remain.  Of  the  several  patch-work  quilts 
that  she  made,  one  is  here  yet,  done  when  she  was  a  child,  of  bits  not 
more  than  one  inch  square  and  joined  with  the  greatest  exactness. 
Sophia  had  a  life-long  friend.  Miss  McMurray,  of  Baltimore,  who 
married  Mr.  Delinger,  and  at  his  death,  Mr.  Holden.  She,  Miss  McM., 
was  a  noted  beauty,  as  will  be  seen  from  her  daguerreotype  here. 
There  is  a  looped-back  crimson  curtain  for  a  back-ground.  The  dress 
is  of  black  velvet  cut  V-shape  at  the  throat,  and  with  elbow-sleeves 
edged  with  white  lace.  A  lace  veil  is  thrown  over  her  head  and  falls 
around  her  shoulders.  She  sits  with  her  exquisitely-formed  hands 
loosely  clasping  a  lace  handkerchief  in  her  lap.  Some  of  her  letters 
are  here  yet,  written  from  her  various  places  of  residence  or  sojourn, 
Baltimore,  Md.,  Portland,  Maine,  Cincinnati,  O.,  New  Orleans,  La. 

Some  of  the  letters  are  without  envelopes,  sealed  with  wafer  or 
wax,  and  ten  cents  postage.  The  letter  from  Portland  says  their 
house  had  rose-wood  balusters.  Sophia  had  one  offer  of  marriage  that 
I  know  of.  A  physician,  in  good  practice,  and  of  distinguished 
family.  But  he  was  a  widower,  and  his  numerous  children  had  been 
rearing  themselves  under  a  system  as  fortuitous  as  that  of  the  Jellabys. 
C.  D.  H.  shrank  from  having  her  daughter  subjected  to  such  an 
ordeal,  and  Sophia  dutifully  yielded.  There  are  friendly  letters  here  to 
her  from  another  gentleman.  He  with  quite  a  number  of  other  young 
men,  some  from  adjacent  States,  was  in  the  village,  availing  himself 
of  the  superior  advantages  that  the  Academy  here  at  that  time  offered. 
He  was  very  handsome  and  a  fine  young  man.  Sophia  died  of  heart 
disease  and  asthma,  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight.     Sweet,    gentle    spirit  ! 

Mary  Carmack  was  the  fourth  daughter  of  J.  H.  and  C.  D.  H. 
There  is  a  framed  photograph  of  her  here,  taken  when  she  was  about 
twenty-five,  but  the  faithful  likeness  of  herself,  a  dagueiTeotype,  she 
sent  to  Judge  N.  Norris  Delaplaine,  her  first  cousin,  of  Hillsboro,  O. 
It  showed  well  her  fine,  dark  eyes.  Her  hair  curled  naturally,  lovely 
long,  thick  brown  curls,  on  either  side  of  her  rarely  intellectual  face. 
Her  nose  was  beautiful,  slightly  retrousse,  her  brow,  low  and  broad, 
her  eyebrows  finely  arched,  her  complexion,  dark,  but  clear.    She  had 

—  14  — 


a  perfect  foot,  the  instep,  arched,  that,  as  the  Spanish  say, water  would 
flow  under.  When  I  saw  the  silver  statuette  of  Nevada,  at  the  Chicago 
Exposition,  1893  (for  which  Ada  Rehan  posed)  I  said,  this  is  the  foot  of 
Mary  Hyder. 

One  day,  among  other  callers  at  the  house,  was  a  gentleman  from 
Ohio,  a  stranger.  He  was  seated  near  the  open  parlor  door  leading  to 
the  entry.  As  Mary  was  about  to  descend  the  stairway,  her  foot 
slipped,  and  she  slid  from  the  top  to  the  bottom.  She  laughed  it  off, 
telling  the  gentleman  that  was  the  way  Maryland  ladies  got  down 
stairs.  She  wore  at  the  time,  black  slippers,  crossed  over  the  instep 
with  black  ribbon,  showing  her  white  lace  stockings,  according  to  the 
style  of  the  daj^  Her  hand  was  plump  and  well-formed.  She  always 
wore  the  best  (Jouvin)  kid  gloves,  generally  light  tan  color,  some- 
times white.  She  was  medium  height  and  inclining  to  embonpoint. 
She  was  particularly  fond  of  dress,  and  always  contrived  to  have  sev- 
eral gowns  of  silk.  One  costume  was  a  black  Satut  Tiirc  (pronounced 
Ture)  and  a  cape  of  mauve  cloth,  formed  of  three  small  capes,  with 
pinked  edges.  A  bonnet  of  black  velvet  and  satin,  with  strings  of 
wide  black  ribbon  edged  with  scarlet  and  tied  in  an  ample  bow  under 
her  chin.  A  scarf,  or  muffler,  of  scarlet  cashmere  with  fringed  ends. 
Tan  kid  gloves.  Mary  was  very  fond  of  reading  and  especially  fond  of 
poetry.  She  wrote  sketches  for  the  country  papers,  sometimes  under 
the  signature  of  Flora.  Some  of  these  are  presei-ved.  Many  specimens 
of  her  fine  penmanship  remain.  When  I  was  a  child  she  took  great 
pains  to  have  me  read  and  recite  properly  some  of  her  favorite  poems. 
She  read  and  recited  beautifully  herself.  Among  her  favorites  were, 
"The  Sunbeam"  and  "The  Bended  Bow"  by  Mrs.  Hemans,  "The 
Admission  of  Michigan, "  "Napoleon,"  and  "Benevolence"  by  Mrs. 
Sigourney,  and  "Washington"  by  Eliza  Cook.  Her  copy  of  Shakes- 
peare was  well-thumbed.  At  one  time  a  colporteur  who  was  passing 
through  the  village  and  had  Shakespeare's  plays  in  his  stock,  was  told 
that  the  main  person  here,  interested  in  such  things  was  M.  Hyder. 
When  the  man  called,  Mary  was  busy  "doing  up"  some  of  her  precious 
finery.  Her  cousin.  Miss  Delaplaine,  of  Virginia,  was  visiting  her  at 
the  time,  and  laughed  at  the  idea  of  the  main  Shakesperean  reader 
here,  being  found  at  the  wash-tub. 

Mary  embroidered  beautifully  on  Swiss  muslin.  Some  of  this 
work  remains.  She  also  did  much  work  in  wools.  There  are  two  pieces 
of  her  tapestry  here,  framed,  that  were  done  in  the  early  fifties,  and 
are  almost  as  fresh  in  color  as  when  made.  The  remains  of  a  card- 
basket  that  was  very  pretty,  are  still  preserved.  It  was  made  of  pieces 
of  perforated  card-board  (Bristol-board)  octagon  in  shape,  bound  on 
the  edges  with  gilt  paper,  and  tied  with  green  chenille.  On  each  octa- 
gon was  worked  a  floral  design  in  very  fine  worsted    and    silk.     Each 

—  15  — 


flower  was  as  natural-looking  as  if  painted.  I  remember  among- others, 
the  purple  columbine  and  the  snow-drop.  She  pieced  a  number  of 
handsome  bed-quilts,  as  did  other  members  of  the  famih\  One  had 
for  center  a  large  star,  (pieced  of  lozenge-shaped  bits  of  red  oiled- 
calico)  on  a  white  ground.  In  the  corners,  were  four  white  squares 
having  for  center  each,  a  bouquet  cut  out  of  furniture-calico, and  sew- 
ed on.  Another  was  made  of  bits  of  all-wool  goods.  Two  diamond- 
shaped  pieces  of  bright  color  and  one  black  piece  were  basted  over  stiff 
paper.  When  the  three  were  joined,  the  whole  looked  like  a  cube, 
and  the  quilt,  on  the  bed,  (the  black  all  running  one  way)  looked  like 
a  stairs  of  cubes.  When  the  work  was  finished,  the  paper  was  pulled 
out.  Mary's  plain  sewing  on  underwear,  of  which  some  specimens 
remain,  was  a  marvel  of  beauty. 

She  was  talkative  and  witty,  had  many  gentlemen  callers,  and  the 
faster  she  talked,  the  more  swiftly  her  needle  flew.  She  had  a  number 
of  persistent  suitors.  Any  one  of  them,  from  a  worldly  point  of  view, 
would  have  been  considered  a  good  match,  and  yet  she  remained  un- 
married. She  used  to  declare  she  tired  of  them  after  a  while.  One  of 
them  became  a  succes.sful  man  of  business  in  the  South.  He  traveled 
for  awhile.  There  are  letters  here  of  his  from  London, England,  from 
Nassau,  New  Providence  Isle,  and  an  envelope  of  the  Stars  and  Bars 
of  the  Southern  Confederacy.  One  of  her  suitors  was  a  physician  who 
went  to  practice  in  California,  and  died  there.  One,  a  merchant  of 
Baltimore.     One,  a  farmer  of  Frederick  County,  Md. 

Mary  was  a  great  lover  of  flowers  and  remarkably  successful  in 
cultivating  them.  She  never  went  abroad  in  season  that  she  did  not 
bring  back  a  new  variety  or  two.  (The  clove  pink  and  thyme  were 
special  favorites  of  SophiaJ)  There  are  now  in  the  garden,  sprouts  of 
the  Provence,  or  hundred-leaf  rose,  that  C.  D.  H.  brought  from  her 
father's  home  in  1811.  Some  of  the  petals  were  dried  each  year,  and 
placed  among  the  household  linen,  or  used  for  Sipot  pourri.  The  per- 
fume is  said  to  resemble  that  of  the  famous  attar  of  roses.  The  English 
Daisy  was  my  favorite  in  M.'s  garden.  A  bloom  like  the  dandelion, 
but  a  size  smaller,  of  a  fine  rose  color,  on  stalks  three  or  four  inches 
high,  and  with  root  leaves  only.  English  violets,  white  and  violet^ 
dotted  the  grass  in  season.  The  English,  is  the  only /ra^rawi? variety. 
Violets  were  interspersed  with  the  bloom  of  the  Vinca,  or  periwinkle, 
familiarly  called  ground-myrtle.  Among  the  other  flowers  that  she 
grew  in  the  garden  or  yard  here,  at  different  periods,  were.  Mock 
orange-blossom,  Guelder-rose  (or  "snowball"),  Carolina  Shrub,  Lilac, 
Wygela,  varieties  of  honey-suckle,  including  the  coral,  china  Trumpet, 
Box,  (bush  and  tree),  varieties  of  the  Rose,  including  the  Moss, 
Sweet-pea,  Columbine,  Canterbury  Bell,  Mourning  Bride,  Globe 
Amaranth,  Fox-glove,  Tiger-J/owcr,  varieties  of  Lilies,    including    the 

—  16  — 


Tiger,  Heliotrope,  Verbena,  Salvia,  Sweet- Alyssum,  Mignonette,  &c. 
She  was  specially  fond  of  Spring  flowers,  and  had  Snow-drop, Hyacinth, 
Narcissus,  Jonquil,  Daffodil,  Bleeding-Heart,  &c. 

The  lot  on  which  the  house  was  built,  was  nearly  one  acre,  ad- 
mitting a  good-sized  yard  on  three  sides,  and  in  the  rear  a  vegetable 
garden.  (I  must  not  omit  the  grandiflora  Larkspur,  the  sky-blue 
Ragged  Robin  and  the  Tuberose,  for  the  three  were  held  in  special 
favor.)  She  took  a  belated  Tuberose  in,  one  autumn,  and  it  opened 
at  Christmas.  I  never  saw  more  profuse  and  perfect  bloom. 

Mary's  vegetable  garden  was  among  the  finest  and  earliest  in  the 
village.  She  and  Mr.  R.,  a  friend  of  the  family,  were  rivals  for  the 
first  early  potatoes.  In  cookery,  she  excelled  in  making  Sweet-cake, 
Flannel-cakes,  Beaten  Biscuit  and  Mince-meat.  Her  last  work,  before 
the  illness  that  resulted  in  her  death,  was  beaten-biscuit,  sent  to  an 
Oyster-Supper  for  a  charitable  purpose. 

There  are  numerous  flowers  that  she  grew  that  I  have  not  men- 
tioned. One,  the  Rose  Acacia,  a  small  shrub,  with  a  bloom  like  our 
common  Locust  tree,  but  three  or  four  sizes  larger,  and  of  a  fine  rose 
color.  Another  shrub  was  the  common  Corchorus,  or  Japan  Globe- 
Flower.  The  plant  died  after  her  death.  I  procured  another,  for  the 
reason  that  the  leaf  is  the  most  exquisitely  formed  of  any  that  I  know. 
It  resembles  the  leaf  of  the  Acanthus,  which  was  used  as  a  model  in 
Greek  architecture,  but  the  plants  are  quite  different  in  appearance, 
and  do  not  belong  to  the  same  family. 

I  did  not  say,  while  speaking  of  Mrs.  Hemans,  the  poet, that  I  saw 
recently  that  she  was  descended,  through  her  mother,  from  a  Doge  of 
Venice.  How  this  would  have  interested  Mary  !  Mrs.  Hemans'  poem, 
"The  Sunbeam,"  holds  a  place  among  the  finest,  and  yet  Byron 
damns  her  with  faint  praise. 

Mary  was  very  social  in  her  nature,  and  delighted  in  games  of  all 
kinds.  Nothing  pleased  her  better  than  to  have  a  merry  gathering  of 
young  people,  engaged  in  games  that  exercised  their  wits.  She  taught 
me,  as  a  child,  to  make  "enigmas,"  and  had  one  or  two  of  my  pro- 
ductions inserted  in  the  county  paper,  to  my  unbounded  delight.  She 
was  the  means  of  getting  more  than  one  promising  young  man  of  this 
neighborhood,  in  a  position  where  he  could  exercise  his  talents,  and 
who  rose  to  success  in  life.  They  had  for  her  ever  a  feeling  of  pro- 
found gratitude. 

One  of  her  costumes  was  a  Basque  of  black  net,  striped  with  nar- 
row velvet  ribbon,  and  bordered  with  deep  lace.  This  was  worn  over 
a  black  silk  waist  made  decollete  and  with  short  sleeves.  Flowing 
sleeves  were  much  in  vogue  in  her  day.  With  these  she  sometimes 
wore  an  undersleeve  of  tulle,  white,  with  two  great  puffs  made  by 
elastic  cord  and  finished  at  the  wrist  by  a  bow  of  blossom-colored    rib- 

—  17  — 


bon.  Mary's  face  was  much  like  her  father's,  and  j^et  she  also  strik- 
ingly resembled  her  first  cousin,  Sarah  CaiTnack,  who  was  of  the 
Delaplaine  side.  [I  like  to  think  of  the  Delaplaines  being  from 
Provence,  because  of  Eugenie  De  Guerin  and  her  Journal,  and  be- 
cause of  the  writings  of  Pierre  Loti— (M.  Viaud),  notably  ''  Matelot,'' — 
about  that  region.] 

Mary  Hyder  died  1890,  aged  si.x;ty-eight.  For  more  than  three 
years  before  her  death,  she  was  bed-ridden  and  almost  entirely  help- 
less, from  a  spinal  affection,  and  nearly  blind,  from  rheumatism  of  the 
eyes.  She  could  raise  her  head  but  a  little  way  from  the  pillow,  and 
had  to  be  fed  like  a  child.  This  seems  a  gloomy  picture,  and  yet  I 
aver  that  until  about  three  weeks  before  her  death,  she  seemed  to 
enjoy  life,  although  at  times,  suffering  greatly, — ami  around  her  was 
a  little  heaven.  It  was  my  blessed  privilege  to  be  her  nurse.  A  colored 
man  came  daily,  and  she  was  lifted  to  an  arm-chair,  for  a  change, and 
her  back  was  bathed.  Her  mental  faculties  were  unimpaired  and  her 
digestion  good.  Her  sick-room  was  on  the  first  floor.  She  was  visited, 
she  was  made  much  of.  Fine  readers  would  sometimes  come  and  read 
to  her,  her  favorite  poems,  and  other  selections  and  she  kept  pace 
with  the  news  of  the  day. 

The  late  Bishop  Nicholson,  of  Milwaukee,  formerly  rector  of  As- 
cension Church,  Westminster,  Md.,  said  of  Mary  Hyder,  that  she  had 
a  grand  face. 

Anne,  the  sister  of  Mary,  resided  in  Baltimore.  The  most  su- 
perior and  elevating  recreations  that  the  city  offered,  were  patronized 
by  Anne  and  her  husband,  in  the  days  of  their  prosperity,  and  they 
vied  with  each  other  in  their  efforts  to  give  their  guests  pleasure. 
Mary  gloried  in  the  number  of  times  she  had  seen  the  immortal 
Charlotte  Cushman,  in  Shakespeare's  plays,  &c.,  in  the  amount  of 
fun  she  extracted  from  the  performance  of  J.  E.  Owens,  the  comedian, 
in  the  numbers  of  fane  readings,  lectures,  sermons,  she  had  listened 
to.  Her  course  of  reading  in  an  obscure  village  had  made  her  ripe 
for  all  this.  Her  face  beaming  with  intelligence  and  vivacity,  her 
body  decked  with  the  costumes  of  Sophia's  handy  needle, — she  shone  ! 
S.  used  to  make  for  her,  the  lovehest  bonnets, — of  black  lace, 
trimmed  with  red  roses.  Mary  and  Sophia  had  each  a  costume  of 
de  beige  (pronounced  baije,  it  means,  the  natural  color  of  the  wool.) 
A  fine,  soft,  neutral-tinted  all  wool  goods.  It  was  made  up  with  a 
mantilla,  trimmed  with  rich  gimp,  two  inches  wide,  and  edged  with 
corded  fringe.  At  that  period,  a  mantilla  was  called  a  Visite,  (pro- 
nounced vezeet.) 

One  of  Mary's  silks  was  a  sage  color,  alternate  inch- wide  satin 
stripe,  and  stripe  of  flowering  vine,  all  sage  color.  It  was  made  with 
tight  sleeves,  the  corsage  (waist)  buttoned  in  the  back.     There  was  a 

—  18  — 


long,  pointed,  full-plaited  "stomacher."  Sometimes  these  were  made 
■separate,  and  tightly  laced  on  with  silk  cord  and  tassels.  Always 
there  was  the  busc,  of  wood  or  of  horn,  slipped  inside  the  corsage.  We 
now  have  the  corset-steel.  Another  silk  was  "changeable,"  blue  and 
gold.  A  scarf  of  the  same,  (2^  yds. xj^  yd.)  Another  was  a  China 
silk,  in  tiny  checks,  also  "changeable,"  Vestive  a.n&  Taupe.  Vesuve  is 
flame  color  and  taupe  is  mole  color.  She  wore  much  barege  (pronounc- 
ed baraije)  a  diaphanous,  all-wool  goods,  then  very  modish.  One  was 
violet  color,  with  a  large  pansy  in  white.  One  rose-color,  with  small 
vines  in  white,  another  a  white  ground,  nearly  covered  with  a  medley 
of  all  colors  in  a  small  flower  pattern.  Another,  brown,  with  flounces 
edged  with  silver  colored  satin.  One,  dimity,  pale  green,  was  dotted 
with  strawberries.  This  last,  I  do  not  remember,  except  by  some 
scraps  of  the  goods  in  a  patch-work  quilt.  Mantillas  or  Visites,  she 
wore  much:  A  cape  reaching  to  the  waist,  with  very  long,  rounded 
ends.  They  were  generally  of  black  silk  with  two  or  three  pinked 
ruffles. 

Every  lady  then  must  have  her  Scrap  Book.  There  are  four  in 
the  house.  Mary  had  two.  One  is  a  folio,  27  in.xlS, — she  had  it 
made  in  Fredericktown,  Md.  It  contains  many  fine  engravings  and 
much  reading  matter.  It  was  exhibited  at  the  county  Fair,  Westminster, 
as  was  one  of  her  tapestries,  which  took  a  premium.  The  folio  Scrap 
Book  was  made  in  the  early  fifties,  the  smaller  ones,  much  earlier. 
Every  other  leaf  of  the  folio  was  taken  out  blank.  A  smooth  flour 
paste  was  used.  The  damp  page  was  ironed  to  a  gloss,  over  blank 
paper.  [Speaking  of  Mrs.  Hemans,  the  poet, — Walter  Scott,  in  his 
Journal,  comments  on  her  beauty  and  youthful  appearance,  and  adds, 
"and  she  tells  me  she  is  the  mother  of  several  children."] 

I  remember  of  Mary's  a  fan  of  carved  sandal-wood,  and  one  of 
carved  ivory  and  white  feathers.  Painted  on  the  feathers,  at  the  edge, 
was  a  row  of  tiny  pink  rcses, the  whole  \vith  a  finish  of  swan's-down.  It 
was  a  folding  fan.  A  port-monnaie  of  chased  silver,  encircling  her 
name,  and  lined  with  rose-colored  silk.  A  bracelet  of  gold,  beaten  to 
imitate  seed-pearls,  another,  of  hair-work,  with  a  heavy  clasp  of  gold. 
A  long,  slender  gold  chain,  to  be  worn  round  the  neck,  with  a  slide  of 
blue  enamel,  a  gold-pencil,  with  a  head-setting  of  topaz,  an  open-face 
gold  watch,  the  back  with  a  landscape,  carved, — the  gold-colored  dial, 
having  inside  or  within  the  Roman  hours,  a  smaller  landscape.  A 
third  bracelet,  called  amulet,  dusky  beads,  quaintly  carved  and  strung 
on  elastic  cord.  The  beads  were  the  size  of  a  Malaga  grape.  As  a 
pendant  was  a  dusky  Greek  cross,  carved.  The  whole  emitted  an 
exquisite  perfume.  Cuflf-pins,  gold,  enameled.  Gold  studs,  for  her 
chemisettes,  that  she  embroidered  on  Swiss  muslin.  A  stick-pin  with 
a  ruby  setting,  and  one  with  a  topaz,  surrounded  with  seed-pearls. 

—  19  - 


The  following  is  from  an  article  written  by  Mary  Carmack  Hyder, 
daughter  of  John  and  Catharine  Delaplaine  Hyder,  for  the  Westmin- 
ster, Md.,  Carrolltonian ,  of  Oct.  20,  1854. — "I  have  often  wondered 
why  the  death  of  the  poet  Moore  excited  so  little  attention  in  the  lit- 
erary world.  No  name  in  English  literature  has  been  more  widely 
known  than  that  of  the  author  of  'Lallah  Rookh.'  He  was  not  only 
a  poet  of  the  first-class,  but  he  was  a  writer  on  Religions,  a  novelist 
and  a  biographer.  Lallah  Rookh  is  conceded  to  be  a  perfect  oriental 
poem, that  does  not  contain  anything  incongruous  in  its  descriptions  of 
Eastern  life.  There  is  a  richness,  a  luxuriance,  in  that  poem,  which 
renders  it  precious  to  those  who  love  to  connect  thoughts  of  mysterj'^ 
and  magnificence  with  the  Orient.  And  what  a  world  of  beauty, what 
an  Elysium  of  melody,  what  a  vista  of  all  that  is  lovely,  is  presented 
to  the  eye  of  Fancy,  at  the  mere  mention  of  the  words,  'Moore's 
Irish  Melodies.'  " 

"O,  glorious  Tom  Moore,  no  wonder  that  Byron  loved  you  so.  No 
wonder  that  for  so  many  years,  you  trod  the  gorgeous  carpets    of   the 
high-born  and  refined,  without  a  rival  and  beyond  compare,    the   lord 
of  the  marriage  of  Poetry  to  Music.  Alas!  that  splendid  temple  where- 
in such  children  as  thine  were  conceived  and  born  for    all    time,    that 
'palace   of  the  soul,'    is  down  in  the  dust,    forever.     The    spirit    that 
seemed    born  of  the  sunlight,  the  spirit  that  flashed  wit,  love  and  me- 
lodious fancies,  from  one  end  of  the  earth  to  the  other,  though  it   has 
left    us    the  priceless  legacy  of  its  immortal  offspring,  has  left  us  sad, 
because  it  has  gone,  and  we  shall  know  of  it  no  more,  until  we    follow 
on,  and  o'ertake  it  beyond  the  dark  borders  of  the    grave.     How    in- 
stantly when  the  intelligence  of  his  death  came  to  us  across  the  waves, 
rushed  to  mind  his  own  exquisite  song,  'The  Harp  that  once   through 
Tara's   halls.'     We  all  felt  affection  for  Moore,  for,  from  our  youth  he 
sang  to  us  like  some  heavenly  bird,  sent  by  a  kind  angel,  to  cheer  the 
soul  when  deserted  by  the  smiles  of  Fortune  and   oppressed    by    woes 
and  cares.     Moore's  last  year,  like  those  of  Southey,  were    passed   in 
mental  night.     It  was  a  melancholy  close  to  a  brilliant    career.     It   is 
said  that  although  he  knew  personally  almost  every  person  of    distinc- 
tion in  England,  neither  his  death  nor  his  funeral  was  marked  by    the 
attendance  of  any  notable.     Every  one  remembers  what    Moore    him- 
self said  about  the  neglect  experienced  by  Sheridan  in  his    last    days. 
He  was,  by  anticipation,  describing  what  was    to    be    his    own    fate. 
Shakespeare  wrote  truly,  alas,  when  he  said, 
'Prosperity,  the  very  bond  of  love, 
Whose  fresh  complexion  and  whose  heart  together 
Affliction  alters.'  " 
Anne  Lucinda  was  the  youngest  daughter  of  J.  H.  and  C.  D.    H., 
and  the  acknowledged  beauty  of  the  family.    Her  artlessness  added  to 

—  20  — 


her  charm.  Her  hair  was  black  and  would  do  nothing-  bufcnv\.  It  was 
not  long,  but  abundant,  the  curls  all  around  her  head  and  scarce  reach- 
ing her  shoulders.  Her  no.se  was  Grecian,  her  teeth,  small  and  pearly, 
her  complexion,  good.  She  had  a  turn  for  drawing,  but  I  think  none 
of  her  work  remains.  She  marked  on  linen  beautifully,  with  indelible 
ink.  The  name,  encircled  with  a  wreath  of  roses  with  their  leaves, 
and  doves  hovering  round.  I  think  one  piece  marked  by  her,  remains. 
After  she  married  and  went  to  Baltimore  to  reside,  members  of  her 
family  here  passed  many  happy  days  in  that  city,  at  various  times,  as 
her  visitors.  [I  have  referred  to  this,  when  speaking  of  Mary,  a  few 
pages  back.]  As  a  guest  of  Anne  and  her  husband,  I  heard  Charles 
Dickens  read  from  his  works.  The  fresh  complexioned  English  gentle- 
man, the  immortal,  whom  I  almost  expected  to  see  metamorphosed  into 
Tony  Welier,  as  I  heard  the  wheezy,  "Put  it  down  with  a  we,  Samivel. 
put  it  down  with  a  we."  Anne  had  a  special  friend,  Helen  Jo.sephine 
Swope,  of  Taneytown,  Md.  She  became  a  Sister  of  Charity.  [Anne 
married  when  I  was  a  very  small  child.]  I  remember  her  taking  me 
with  her  in  Baltimore  when  she  went  to  see  this  Sister,  and  how  en- 
thused I  became  over  the  white  bonnet.  They  had  not  been  intro- 
duced from  France  very  long.  The  Sisters  here  had  been  wearing  a 
small  black  bonnet.  I  always  wished  there  might  be  Sisters  in  the 
Stage  going  through  Uniontown  to  St.  Joseph's,  Emmitsburg,  so  that 
I  could  see  them  in  those  bonnets.  The  pretty  faces  look  prettier  in 
them,  and  the  plain  ones,  pretty. 

Anne  lived  to  be  seventy-six,  and  although  she  passed  through  al- 
most crushing  sorrow,  she  retained  much  of  her  beauty  and  many  of 
her  curls  to  the  last.  In  her  old  age  she  wore  her  hair,  which  was  but 
sparsely  streaked  with  grey,  coiled  at  the  back  and  a  cluster  of  curls 
on  either  side  of  her  temples.  Her  beauty,  as  her  husband  said,  was 
of  the  spirituelle  type,  which  neither  withers  nor  coarsens.  Being  in 
her  usual  health,  ex:;epting  a  cold,  she  fell  unconscious  one  morning 
after  rising  and  expired  almost  immediately.  Anne,  like  Sophia,  was 
not  only  good,  but  pious.  A  member  of  the  family,  still  living,  re- 
marked, and  with  truth,  that  in  their  relation  of  marriage,  Anne  and 
her  husband  were  a  model  couple. 

Anne,  like  Mary,  did  much  work  in  wools;  some  remains,  among 
other  pieces,  a  pair  of  ottoman  covers,  in  tufted  work.  She  worked 
with  wools,  rich  cluster  of  flowers  on  a  basket  of  fine  willow  and  artis- 
tic form,  it  was  lined  with  lemon-colored  satin,  the  edges  finished  with 
a  blossom  colored  cord,  with  two  pendent  rings,  covered  in  button-hole 
stitch  with  the  same  color.  Mary  worked  a  pair  of  slippers  on  blue 
cloth,  with  silk  and  fine  wool,  over  very  close  canvas,  and  when  done, 
the  threads  were  drawn  out.  A  rich  bouquet  for  the  front  and  a  spray 
for  the  heel.     Sophia  soled  them. 

—  21  — 


Anne  had  two  sons.  The  younger,  as  an  infant,  had  a  face  perfect 
in  feature  and  almost  divine  in  expression.  One  thought  it  a  fit  type  for 
the  child  in  a  Madonna  picture.  In  early  boyhood,  he  was  kicked  on 
the  head  by  a  horse.     The  years  of  his  sad  life  were  but  nineteen. 

There  are  many  photographs  here  of  Anne's  eldest  son,  taken  at 
various  periods  of  his  brief  life  and  which  give  a  correct  idea  of  his 
manly  beauty.  When,  late  in  life,  I  read  "Vanity  Fair/'  I  instantly 
thought  of  Anne,  when  I  came  to  Amelia  and  her  labors  of  love  for 
Georgy.  What  exquisite  child-dresses  Anne  contrived  for  her  first- 
born, by  her  combined  sense  of  the  artistic  and  her  mother-love.  I 
remember  one  of  .scarlet  China  crape,  and  another  of  water-melon  pink 
fine  wool,  trimmed  with  white  silk  cord.  She  used  to  tell  with  pride 
that  one  day  her  pastor,  seeing  the  child  for  the  fir.st  time,  exclaimed, 
"Well  that  is  a  perfect  specimen  of  humanity  !"  From  the  very  be- 
ginning, this  son  seemed  to  love  the  true  and  the  beautiful.  He  had 
exalted  ideals  which  he  strove  to  express  by  his  life.  He  played  the 
violin  well,  and  sang  with  expression.  He  seemed  to  have  an  intuitive 
perception  of  what  was  truly  fine  in  music,  art  and  literature.  His 
school  life  was  brief,  owing  to  pecuniary  reverses  in  the  family.  He 
became  a  merchant's  clerk  when  yet  a  boy  and  subsequently  clerk  in  a 
Book-store.  He  scrupulously  performed  the  duties  demanded  by  these 
positions  yet  so  industrious  was  he,  so  indefatigable,  that  as  a  mere 
boy  he  contributed  articles  on  various  questions  of  the  day  to  some  of 
the  journals  of  his  community.  Much  of  his  writing  and  his  Mss.  are 
carefully  preserved  in  the  family,  and  a  handsome  blank-book, special- 
ly bound  for  the  purpose,  and  with  gilt  lettering,  "Writings  of  S.  H. 
J."  In  this  he  pasted  many  of  his  contributions  that  he  had  clipped 
from  the  journals.  His  ms.  includes  some  plays  that  he  wrote  when  a 
child  and  that  show  promise.  He  contemplated  giving  his  whole  at- 
tention to  journalism,  and  was  under  contract  to  write  a  series  of  ar- 
ticles for  the  newspaper,  "Public  Opinion"  Chambersburg,  Pa.,  and 
had  started  and  issued  the  first  copies  of  a  little  paper  of  his  own, 
called  "The  Bell,"  when  death  from  typhoid  fever  cut  him  off  at  the 
age  of  twenty-three,  in  Chambersburg,  Pa.  There  is  here,  carefully 
preserved,  a  beautiful  obituary  of  him,  written  by  one  of  his  Cham- 
bersburg comrades.  In  his  hours  of  recreation,  he  was  overflowing 
with  animal  spirits,  a  merry,  frolicsome  youth.  He  passed  away  in  the 
open  daylight  of  his  life;  no  chill  evening  froze  the  genial  current  of 
his  soul.     Copies  of  his  little  journal,  "The  Bell,"  are  preserved. 

When  I  began  these  reminiscences,  I  resolved  to  take  for  my  motto 
that  of  the  old  Venetian  sun-dial:  "I  count  only  the  hours  that  are 
serene,"  but  I  shall  refer  briefly  to  some  that  were  otherv/ise. 

The  eldest  son  and  second  child  of  John  and  C.  Delaplaine  Hyder 
was  a  beautiful, promising  boy, but  a  severe  attack  of  measles  rendered 

—  22  — 


him  leeble-minded.   He  lived  and  died  quietly,  but  amid  the  shadows. 

In  the  "Boolv  of  Pearls"  here,  that  belonged  to  Mary  Hyder,  is  a 
picture  of  Lord  Byron.  It  strikingly  resembles  the  second  son  and 
youngest  child  of  J.  and  C.  Delaplaine  Hyder,  as  I  remember  him. 
His  black  hair  was  like  Anne's,  it  would  do  nothing  but  curl.  He  was 
a  bright,  studious  youth.  He  was  nearly  six  feet  in  height  and  of 
splendid  physique.  His  manuscripts  here,  of  Mathematics  and  Geom- 
etry, show  his  neat  work,  his  clever  drawing,  &c.  There  are  also 
books  here  of  his  original  "compositions,"  as  a  boy.  He  learned 
much,  off-hours,  from,  his  father,  and  the  Academy'  of  the  village  was 
at  that  time,  in  the  hands  of  a  first-class  teacher.  Many  young  men 
outside  of  the  community  and  even  from  the  adjacent  States,  board- 
ed in  the  village  in  order  to  avail  themselves  of  the  superior  educa- 
tional advantages  that  this  place  then  offered.  This  son  went  to 
Gettysburg,  Pa.,  to  learn  the  trade  of  a  printer.  There,  alas,  he  con- 
tracted the  drink  habit.  It  cut  him  off  at  twenty-six.  He  was  popu- 
lar and  had  many  warm  friends  among  the  most  intelligent  and  influ- 
ential men  of  the  community.  Some  of  their  letters  to  him  remain. 
Like  Mary,  he  was  a  frequent  contributor  to  the  county  papers,  gen- 
erally under  the  name  of  Hyder  Ali  (pronounced  Heeder  Awl-ee). 
He  also  declaimed  well,  especially  passages  from  Byron.  He  traveled 
as  far  as  Texas  and  Mexico.  His  mother  received  letters  from  perfect 
strangers  there,  during  that  time,  relating  how  they  were  charmed 
with  his  personality  and  thrilled  by  the  beauty  of  his  poetical  recitals, 
and  how  they  tenderly  cared  for  him  in  his  hours  of  weakness.  In  his 
day,  gentlemen  wore,  instead  of  overcoats,  cloaks.  They  were  of 
cloth,  lined  with  flannel  of  some  bright  color.  They  were  full-gath-  , 
ered  to  a  narrow  yoke  and  reached  the  ankles.  They  were  fastened 
at  the  throat  by  a  metal  clasp  and  a  long,  heavy  cord  finished  with 
rich  tassels.  The  cloak  of  John  Franklin  H..  was  heavy  blue  cloth, 
lined  with  flannel  of  a  gay  plaid.  In  it,  he  looked  princely.  Some 
were  lined  with  scarlet. 

C.  Delaplaine  Hyder,  when  I  remember  her,  wore  her  dresses  of 
a  uniform  pattern.  They  were  double-breasted,  with  a  quite  wide 
rolling  collar,  which  left  them  open  at  the  throat.  Inside,  she  wore  a 
handkerchief  of  fine  muslin,  white,  folded  three-cornered,  and  crossed 
over  her  breast.  The  sleeve  was  leg  o'  mutton.  I  cannot  remember 
her  when  her  hair  was  not  sparse  and  grey.  As  a  child,  it  used  to 
entertain  me  to  watch  her  at  her  toilette.  Her  own  hair  was  combed 
stright  back  and  coiled  into  a  small  knot.  Then  came  the  false 
"front,"  a  braid  of  natural  hair  of  a  beautiful  auburn.  Midway  it  was 
glued  to  a  foundation  of  silk  and  a  straight  line  simulated  the  parting 
in  a  natural  head  of  hair.  Strings  were  attached  to  tie  the  braid  on 
the  head.     Each  half    was   brought   carefully    over    the    temples    in 

—  23  — 


"tubers,"  the  ends  tucked  behind  the  ears.  Over  the  back  part  of  her 
head  she  then  drew  a  cap  of  black  silk  with  a  removable  "wash" 
lining  of  thin  white  muslin.  Lastly,  the  outer  cap  of  dotted  Swiss 
muslin,  made  \vith  a  full,  high  crown  and  a  wide  border.  The  border 
was  of  plain  Swiss,  sewed  on  without  any  fullness  at  the  top  but 
gathered  at  the  sides.  When  the  cap  was  laundered,  she  would 
crimp  the  fullness  at  the  sides  very  fine  with  a  tiny-blade  pen-knife 
which  she  kept  in  the  miniature  band-box  in  her  work-basket  for  that 
purpose.     Strings  of  wide  ribbon. 

C.  D.  H.  had  her  day  when  the  world  was  brand-new  to  me  and 
each  hour  held  out  sweet  surprises.  I  was  ever  at  her  heels.  I  watched 
the  annual  or  semi-annual  soap-making.  The  ashes,  mostly  of 
hickory  wood,  placed  in  a  great  V-shaped  vessel  and  kept  damp. 
There  was  a  smaller  vessel  beneath  to  catch  the  drip.  The  soap  when 
boiled  was  placed  in  deep  vessels  to  cool.  The  cutting  it  into  bars  was 
a  crucial  moment.  Anything  less  than  "soap  to  the  bottom,"  was 
held  in  high  disdain. 

I  watched  the  weekly  brush-wood  fire  crackling  in  the  huge  stone 
oven,  just  outside  the  kitchen,  the  dragging  forth  with  a  soaking  wet 
long-handled  mop,  of  the  beautiful,  glowing  coals,  the  shoving  in,  on 
the  broad-palmed,  far-reaching  oven-peel,  of  the  immense  loaves. 

I  always  had  a  "finger"  in  the  pie  making.  The  kind,  as  a  staple, 
was  dried-apples.  The  supply  of  that  commodity  seemed  inexhausti- 
ble. Crimping  the  pie  was  to  me  the  special  feature.  Setting  the  tip 
of  the  left-hand  little  finger  against  the  plate  edge,  and  pinching  the 
dough  with  the  left-hand  thumb  and  fore-finger,  or  else,  turning  the 
dough  over,  dog-ear  fashion,  and  adding  further  ornament  by  means 
of  a  door-key.     I  was  provided  with  a  half- moon  pie  to  practice  on. 

Then,  the  candle-moulding.  The  tin  moulds  are  on  the  garret 
yet.  Threading  the  moulds  with  ^vick,  tying  the  upper  ends  over  a 
slender  stick,  pouring  in  the  melted  tallow.  This  last,  would  seem  to 
me  to-day,  rather  a  repulsive  task.  I  watched  it  then  with  the  great- 
est complacency.  The  hum  of  C.  D.  H.'s  small  wheel,  as  I  sat  at  her 
feet,  was  music  to  my  ears.  The  wheel  was  even  in  that  day  dark  and 
glossy  with  age.  I  can  hear  the  click  of  her  knitting-needles.  She 
always  used  a  sheath,  pinned  against  her  left  side,  to  steady  the  main 
needle.  Some  were  of  black  velvet,  cut  butterfly  shape,  and  orna- 
mented, with  bright-colored  silk  floss,  after  nature.  Through  the  hol- 
low body  was  thrust  a  quill  or  tin  tube,  to  hold  the  end  of  the  needle. 
I  sent  to  some  younger  members  of  the  family,  part  of  a  white  lamb's- 
wool  stocking,  to  show  the  fineness  and  precision  of  her  work.  She 
knitted  two  pairs  of  finest  lamb's-wool,  one  pair  of  white  and  one  of 
dark  grey,  on  very  small  needles,  for  the  Industrial  Fair,  Baltimore, 
Md.     She  won  a  premium  for  both.     For  one  pair,  an   exquisite    little 

—  24  — 


silver  tea-strainer  and  for  the  other,  a  silver  fruit-knife.  They  are  yet 
preserved.  The  old  carding- machines  are  on  the  garret  yet.  Happy 
the  da}'  to  me  when  a  bed-comfort  needed  renovating.  The  cotton- 
wool, which  had  become  matted  and  heavy  by  washing  and  wear,  was 
deftly  carded,  bits  at  a  time,  and  the  layers,  flaky  as  if  just  from  the 
boll,  were  piled  loosely  in  an  immense  basket.  The  machines  are  like 
two  curry-combs,  one  for  each  hand.  A  bit  of  the  matted  cotton  was 
laid  between  and  combed,  this  way  and  that,  to  make  it  fluffy. 

We  often  and  often,  had  a  bed-quilt  "in."  It  was  to  me  like  a 
voyage  to  a  strange  country  to  see  the  prim  furniture  of  the  living 
room  unceremoniously  pushed  out  of  its  accustomed  place,  that  place 
which,  excepting  at  such  times,  it  held  as  tenaciously  as  a  soldier  on 
drill.  The  room,  of  moderate  dimensions,  was  for  the  time  being, 
transformed  in  my  eyes,  into  a  vast  domain,  divided  into  numerous 
quaint  nooks,  one  as  charming  as  the  other,  and  into  each  I  retreated 
by  turns,  with  my  doll,  my  book,  or  my  patch-work,  sometimes  with 
nothing  but  my  own  thoughts,  listening  while  the  momentous  question 
of  what  design  should  be  quilted  in,  was  under  discussion.  Should  it 
be  feathers,  diamonds,  or  waves  ?  To  mark  it  off,  a  lead-pencil  served 
for  the  white  squares,  but  for  the  colored  squares  they  had  recourse  to 
a  cord  dipped  in  weak  starch  and  held  taut  over  the  piece,  then  snap- 
ped. To  be  called  upon  for  the  performance  of  this  last,  was  my 
crowning  joy.  The  day  that  I  was  five  years  old,  we  had  a  quilt  in. 
It  was  early  in  February,  but  such  delightful  weather  that  the  outer, 
as  well  as  inner  doors  stood  wide  open.  Delicious  sunshine  flooded  the 
front  entry. 

The  spectacles  of  C.  D.  H.  are  here  j'et,  German  silver,  now  yel- 
low, the  glasses,  round.  The  frames,  by  a  slide,  could  be  doubled  half 
their  length  for  folding.  Parasols,  too,  had  a  hinge  midway  in  the 
stick,  with  a  sliding  cylinder  of  brass,  to  stay  it  when  not  doubled. 
Mary  Hyder's  was  apple-green  silk,  fringed.  On  the  garret,  is  a  child's 
parasol,  (hinged  stick)  size  of  breakfast-plate,  of  striped  silk,  mauve 
and  pale  rose,  with  pinked  edges,  also  a  tiny  muff,  knitted.  A  band  of 
black,  figured  with  orange,  and  bordered  on  either  side  with  a  band  of 
bright  green,  edged  with  white,  tufted  wool,  to  simulate  swansdown, 
and  lined  with  white  silk. 

Loaf  sugar,  now  bought  in  small  cubes,  came  them,  in  conical 
blocks,  one  foot  high,  wrapped  in  slate-colored  paper.  Silver  sugar- 
tongs,  marked  H.,  are  yet  preserved. 

Things  were  a  "leven-pence,"  or  a  "fip  and  a  bit"  a  yard,  or  a 
pound.  To  pay,  were  small  silver  coins.  The  "levy"  was  twelve  and 
a  half  cents,  or  one-eighth  of  a  dollar.  The  "fip"  was  six  and  a  quar- 
ter cents,  or  one  sixteenth  of  a  dollar,  ["leven  pence"  means  eleven 
pence,  and  "fip  and  a  bit"  means  five  pence  and  a  bit.] 

—  25  — 


I  do  not  know  the  order  of  the  family  record  of  John  Delaplaine 
and  Sophia  Sheelar  D.,  his  wife,  but  here  are  the  names:— 1,  Jacob; 
2,  Joseph;  3,  Daniel;  4,  Joshua;  5,  WilUam;  6,  Frederick;  7,  Jeremiah; 
8,  John;  9,  Elizabeth;  10,  Catharine;  11,  Margaret;  12,  Hannah;  13, 
Mary;  14,  Maxy," 

John  died  in  infancy;  so  did  Hannah,  and  the  first  Mary.  Eliza- 
beth was  the  oldest  daughter.  She  married  Mr.  Beale.  The  second 
Mary  was  called  Polly  and  married  John  Carmack.  [This  history  treats 
specially  of  Catharine  and  her  children,  and  she  married,  as  I  have 
said,  John  Hyder.] 

Jacob  Delaplaine,  brother  of  C.  D.  Hyder,  married  his  first  cousin, 
Catharine  Miller.  They  hved  and  died  at  Kinsley  Mills,  near  Buck- 
land,  Prince  William  county,  Virginia.  Their  burial-lot  was  in  their 
garden.  There  are  old  letters  here  from  different  members  of  the 
family,  and  a  photograph  of  Jacob,  one  of  the  sons.  Mary,  the  oldest 
daughter,  visited  here  in  the  fifties.  She  arrived  on  one  of  the  coldest 
and  most  snowy  of  winter  days.  At  first  sight,  I  thought  her  one  of 
the  plainest  women  I  ever  set  my  eyes  upon,  but  when  she  donned  a 
becoming  gown  and  began  to  talk,  I  changed  my  mind  completely. 
Some  of  the  family  said  her  face  had  the  Dutchcontour  of  the  Millers'. 
Be  that  as  it  may,  the  French  shone  out,  too.  She  had  sparkling  black 
eyes  and  wore  her  black  hair  in  a  cluster  of  curls  on  either  side  of  her 
face. 

She  was  tall,  inclining  to  enbonpoint,  and  had  a  fine,  healthy 
complexion,  and  perfect  teeth.  These  last  were  almost  constantly  in 
evidence,  for  she  was  not  only  talkative  but  merry,  one  of  the  most 
agreeable  women  I  ever  met.  The  gown  that  suited  her  style  best  was 
a  wine-colored  reps,  trimmed  with  velvet  a  shade  darker.  Her  best 
bonnet  was  white,  then  very  much  the  mode,  of  uncut  velvet,  and 
adorned  with  white  feathers.  She  was  handy  with  the  needle,  and 
while  here,  remodeled  some  of  her  dresses  to  suit  the  Maryland  styles. 
She  also  made  a  double  wrapper  for  Sophia,  broad  striped,  dark  crim- 
son, lined  with  large  plaid  buff  goods.  Sophia,  as  you  have  seen,  was 
not  much  given  to  lounging.  The  wrapper  was  folded  away  for  many 
years.  In  her  last  sickness,  it  was  got  out,  and  she  died  in  it.  Mary 
D.  could  keep  pace  with  her  aunt  Hyder  in  knitting.  How  the  needles 
flashed  !  She  was  at  a  pair  of  stockings,  of  fine,  indigo  wool,  for  her 
little  nephew,  Jakie. 

The  winter  she  was  here,  the  sleighing  was  ideal.  Horses  had  to 
be  rough-shod,  the  roads  were  hard  and  smooth.  Billy  Hiteshu  took 
her  several  sleigh-rides,  in  her  red  dress  and  white  bonnet;  one,  three 
miles,  to  "Trevanion, "  the  show  country-seat  of  the  neighborhood. 
She  was  invited  out  to  many  teas.  The  teas  were  in  reality,  good, 
bountiful  suppers.     One  of  the  best  was  at  Mr.  R's,    a   widower-beau 

—  26  — 


ol'   this   village,    whose  house,  from  the  color  of  its  bricks,  she  named 
the  calomel  and  jalap  house. 

Her  brother,  Daniel,  was  at  that  time  Flour-inspector  in  Rich- 
mond, Va.  There  was  a  numerous  family.  Several  of  the  brothers 
settled  at  Circleville,  Ohio.  Tom  was  the  miller  at  Kinsley.  His  wife 
was  named  Mildred.  I  heard  that  name  for  the  first  time  when  she 
was  spoken  of,  and  1  remember  how  it  caught  my  childish  fancy. 

Delaplane  Station,  Fauquier  Co.,  Va.,  takes  it  name  from  some 
members  of  this  Kinsley  Mills  family  who  settled  there.  A  Miss  D.  of 
that  place  married  H.  S.  Ashby,  a  near  relative  of  Gen.  Turner  Ash- 
by,  C.  S.  A.  Of  the  original  Kinsley  family,  Lossie  married  Mr. 
Glascock.  I  am  told  her  son  is  a  Hopkins  graduate,  and  a  good  Ger- 
man scholar.  Julia  was  considered  a  beauty.  Maggie  was  at  Staun- 
ton, Va.,  at  school  when  her  sister  Mary  was  here. 

During  the  Civil  War,  the  Kinsley  family  sympathized  with  the 
North.  Jacob,  one  of  the  sons,  in  a  letter  that  is  still  here,  speaks  of 
going  during  the  War  from  Circleville,  Ohio,  to  see  his  folks  at 
Kinsley,  Va.,  and  said  that  their  cries  of  .surprise  and  joy  would  be 
ever  remembered  by  him.  Travel  along  certain  lines  was  then  a  diffi- 
cult and  risky  business.  He  says,  in  one  of  his  letters:  "In  one  re- 
spect I  am  long  for  this  life,  as  I  am  over  six  feet  tall."  Upon  the 
death  of  Jacob,  the  father,  the  family  regretted  that  they  had  no 
portait  of  him.  They  procured  pictiires  of  all  his  sisters  and  brothers 
that  were  then  living  and  told  the  artist  which  features  of  each  re- 
sembled their  father's,  and  where  the  expression  was  like  his.  The 
portrait  made,  was,  I  heard,  to  some  degree,  satisfactory.  His  sister, 
C.  D.  Hyder,  sent  her  picture  on. 

Daniel,  brother  of  C.  D.  Hyder,  married  the  first  time,  Sophia 
Dern.  I  visited  Haugh's  [Hawk]  church  grave-yard  near  Middle- 
burg,  Carroll  Co.,  Md.,  in  1896,  and  saw  this  inscription  on  a  tomb: 
"Sophia,  wife  of  Daniel  Delaplaine,  and  daughter  of  Frederick  and 
Sophia  Dern,  died  July  28,  1804."  They  had  sons,  Frederick,  who 
died,  unmarried,  in  Wheeling,  Va.,  and  John,  who  became  rector  of 
St.  Thomas  Episcopal  church,  Hancock,  Md.,  and  married  Miss 
Breathed.  There  is  a  memorial  window  to  his  honor,  in  that  church. 
[I  saw  in  Baltimore  Sun,  that  John  Hays  Hammond,  the  wealthy 
mining  expert,  was  married  in  that  church,  in  1881,  to  Miss  Harris, 
who  was  visiting  the  famih'  of  Dr.  Delaplaine,  Hancock,  at  the  time 
of  her  marriage.]  [I  have  a  picture  of  the  church.  It  was  .sent  to 
me  by  my  friend  and  correspondent,  (Mrs.)  Isabel  S.  Ma.son,  Clear- 
spring,  Md.,  author  of  "Songs  By  The  Way,"  and  a  contributor  to 
LippincoWs  and  other  periodicals.] 

The  second  wife  of  Daniel  Delaplaine,  brother  of  C.  D.  Hyder, 
was  Catharine  Norris,  whose  ancestors  gave  name  to  Norristown,  Pa. 

—  27  — 


She  died  in  1875,  at  the  residence  of  her  son,  Judge  N.  N.  Delaplaine, 
near  Hillsboro,  Ohio,  aged  93.  A  son  of  Daniel  and  his  second  wife, 
came  here  to  visit  about  1870,  Joshua,  of  Hamilton,  Ohio.  One  of  his 
daughters,  Jane,  became  the  -wife  of  Judge  Wilson,  and  resides  at 
Edina,  Missouri.  Her  grandson,  Vernon  Armstrong,  is  a  music  com- 
poser of  New  York  city.  I  have  a  Magazine  of  Poetry  containing 
several  of  Jane's  poems  and  her  picture.  She  also  sent  me  a  booklet 
of  hers,  "Lady  Judith's  Vision."  Her  poems  were  published  in  book 
form.     She  used  to  contribute  short  stories  to  McClure's  Magazine . 

HIS  MOTHER'S  SONGS. 


By  Jane  Delaplaine  Wilson,  grand-niece  of  C.  D.  Hyder. 

Beneath  the  hot  mid-summer  sun 
The  men  had  marched  all  day, 
And  now  beside  a  rippling  stream 
Upon  the  grass  they  lay. 

Tiring  of  games  and  idle  jests, 

As  swept  the  hours  along. 

They  called  to  one  who  mused  apart, 

"Come  friend,  give  us  a  song." 

He  answered,  "Nay,  I  cannot  please; 
The  only  songs  I  know 
Are  those  my  mother  used  to  sing 
At  home,  long  years  ago." 

"Sing  one  of  those,"  a  rough  voice  cried, 
"We  all  are  true  men  here, 
And  to  each  mother's  son  of  us 
A  mother's  songs  are  dear." 

Then  sweetly  sang  the  strong,  clear  voice 

Amid  unwonted  calm; 

"Am  I  a  soldier  of  the  cross, 

A  follower  of  the  Lamb." 

The  trees  hushed  all  their  whispering  leaves, 
The  very  stream  was  stilled, 
And  hearts  that  never  throbbed  with  fear 
With  tender  memories  thrilled. 

Ended  the  song,  the  singer  said. 

As  to  his  feet  he  rose, 

"Thanks  to  you  all,  good-night,  my  friends, 

God  grant  you  sweet  repose." 

Out  spake  the  captain;  "sing  one  more." 
The  soldier  bent  his  head. 
Then,  smiling  as  he  glanced  around, 
"You'll  join  with  me"  he  said, 

—  28  — 


"In  singing  this  familiar  air, 

Sweet  as  a  bugle  call, 
'All  hail,  the  power  of  Jesus'  name. 

Let  angels  'prostrate  fall.'  " 

Wondrous  the  spell  the  old  tune  wrought; 

As  on  and  on  he  sang, 
Man  after  man  fell  into  line, 

And  loud  their  voices  rang. 

The  night  winds  bore  the  grand  refrain 

Above  the  tree-tops  tall. 
The  "everlasting  hills"  called  back, 

In  answer  "Lord  of  all." 

.  The  songs  are  done,  the  camp  is  still, 
Naught  but  the  stream  is  heard, 
But  ah  !  the  depth  of  every  soul 
By  those  old  hymns  was  stirred. 

And  up  from  many  a  bearded  lip 

Rises  in  murmurs  low. 
The  prayer  the  mother  taught  her  boy 

At  home  long  years  ago. 

The  author  of  the  above  poem  was  the  mother  of  twelve  children. 

The  late  Judge  Nat  Norris  Delaplaine,  son  of  Daniel  D.  and  there- 
fore, nephew  of  C.  D.  Hyder, corresponded  with  his  cousin, Mary  Hyder, 
from  1847  until  the  death  of  both  in  1890.  Many  of  those  letters  re- 
main. I  get  much  of  what  I  am  writing  here,  from  them.  Chirography 
is  one  of  my  hobbies.  Nat  wrote  what  I  consider  an  ideal  hand.  His 
first  wife  was  Miss  Miller,  his  cousin.  His  second  wife,  by  whom  he 
had  no  family,  survived  him.  Nat's  daughter,  Mary,  visited  Europe. 
Her  photograph,  taken  at  sixteen,  is  here.  She  became  Mrs.  Judge 
Huggins.  His  photograph  is  here,  a  fine  face.  In  Baltimore  Sun  of 
Nov.  21,  1906,  I  saw  an  allusion  to  "Judge  Huggins,  an  eminent  law- 
yer of  Hillsboro,  Ohio."  Two  pictures  of  Nat  are  here.  A  daguer- 
reotype, in  his  prime,  and  a  photograph  in  his  old  age,  with  his  little 
grand-daughter.  All  are  splendid  faces.  The  names  are  attached  to 
all  the  family  likenesses  here. 

Joseph  D.,  brother  of  C.  D.  Hyder,  visited  here  from  Ohio,  in  the 
fifties.  It  was  fine  sleighing  at  the  time.  He  greatly  resembled  his 
sister,  but  was  more  spare.  He  had  the  China  radish  complexion,  and 
was  merry  and  agreeable.  Some  of  his  letters  are  here.  His  first  wife 
was  Miss  Crist.  Theodore,  their  son,  resided  at  a  mill  near  Frederick, 
Md.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Md.  House  of  Delegates  in  1872.  He 
died  in  1900,  aged  ninety,  in  health  to  the  last,  or  nearly.  His  son, 
Wm.  T.,  died  in  1895,  aged  thirty-five.  The  Baltimore  Sun  clipping- 
calls  him,  the  son,  one  of  Frederick's  foremost  citizens.  President  and 
general  manager  of  the  News  Pub.  Co.,  the  largest    newspaper    plant 

—  29  — 


in  Md.,  outside  of  Baltimore.     An  active  worker  in  behalf  of  the  need}-. 

Washington,  (the  second  of  the  two  sons  of  Joseph  D.  and  his  first 
wife,)  I  met.  He  had  the  fine  complexion.  He  was,  unlike  his  father 
Joseph,  grave  in  his  demeanor.  He  and  his  wife  lived  to  an  advanced 
age.  They  had  no  children,  Both  were  prominent  in  the  Episcopa- 
lian church,  Frederick,  Md. 

The  first  wife  of  Joseph  D.,  brother  of  C.  D.  Hyder,  as  I  said,  was 
Miss  Crist.  He  was  a  prosperous  miller  on  the  Potomac,  and  in  the 
war  of  1812,  suffered  loss  by  the  exploits  of  Com.  Cockburn's  fleet, 
when  Washington  city  was  taken.  He  moved  to  Ohio.  By  his  second 
wife  there,  he  had  a  numerous  family.  He  was  ninety-two  at  the  time 
of  his  death,  1875,  at  his  daughter's,  Mrs.  Virginia  Vest,  Tipton, Iowa. 
One  of  his  daughters,  he  named  Sophia  Sheelar.  His  son,  Sam,  mar- 
ried Margaret,  sister  of  Nat  N.  D.  At  Sam's  death,  Margaret  married 
Mr.  Wolfeley. 

Joshua  D.,  brother  of  C.  D.  Hyder,  owned  the  land  and  vicinity, 
about  600  acres,  called  "Prosperity,"  on  which  the  village  of  Double 
Pipe  Creek  now  stands,  in  Middleburg  District,  Carroll  Co.,  Md.,then, 
1794,  Frederick  County.  He,  Joshua  Delaplaine, founded  there  a  large 
grist  mill,  with  a  capacity  of  100  barrels  of  flour  per  day.  He  was  a 
manufacturer  of  some  note  in  his  day,  and  carried  on  not  only  the  grist 
mill  but  a  woolen  mill,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  creek,  with  saw  mill 
attached  to  said  woolen  mill.  The  woolen  mill  was  still  standing  in 
1895,  but  was  last  used  in  1849.  I  remember  hearing  the  family  say 
that  Joshua  was  pleasure-loving,  fond  of  fox-hunting,  and  that  his 
daughters  were  beautiful.  He  married  Mary  Dern.  I  saw  his  grave 
in  1896,  at  Haugh's  [Hawk]  graveyard,  near  Middleburg,  Md.  He 
died  1838,  aged  sixty-seven.  His  wife,  I  saw,  shortly  before  her  death- 
at  an  advanced  age,  at  her  son,  John's,  Middleburg,  Md. 

Of  Joshua's  daughters,  Eliza  was  educated  at  Liditz  Moravian 
School,  Bethlehem,  Pa.  There  is  a  water-color  painting  by  her  here, 
in  the  scrap-book  of  Adeline,  daughter  of  J.  H.  and  C.  D.  H.  A 
daughter  of  [oshua  D.,  and  niece  of  C.  D.  Hyder,  married  Washington 
Clabaugh.  After  her  death  he  married  Miss  Evans.  Of  this  marriage 
is  Harry  M.  Clabaugh,  Chief  Justice,  Supreme  Court,  D.  C.  Mary,  a 
third  daughter  of  Joshua  D.,and  niece  of  C.  D.  Hyder,married  Thomas 
Metcalfe.  They  had  no  children.  They  lived  at  their  farm,  about 
half  mile  east  of  Uniontown,  Md.  The  place  was  afterwards  owned  by 
John  Smith  and  then  by  John  Babylon.  Thomas  Metcalfe  owned 
slaves  for  farm  and  house-work.  There  is  a  brick  building  still  stand- 
ing, (1909)  near  the  main  house,  that  was  part  of  their  "quarters."  I 
used  to  hear  C.  D.  Hyder's  family  say  that  Thomas  Metcalfe's  mother 
was  born  in  the  West  Indies,  (a  Creole)  and  that  she  resided  in  Union- 
town,  Md.,  in  a  house  afterwards  owned  by  John  Roberts. 

—  30  — 


John  Delaplaine,  was  son  of  Joshua  D.,  and  therefore  nephew  of 
C.  D.  Hyder,  but  they  were  nearly  of  the  same  age,  and  they  resem- 
bled so  strongly  that  they  looked  like  sister  and  brother.  He  lived  in 
Middleburg,  Md. ,  six  miles  from  Uniontown,  Md.  He  married  Sophia 
Charlton,  a  first  cousin  of  Frank  Key,  who  wrote  "The  Star-Spangled 
Banner,"  "Lord,  with  glowing  heart  I  praise  Thee,"  and  many  other 
poems.  Key's  mother  was  Anne  Phoebie  Charlton.  I  .saw  his  grave 
in  the  Cemetery  at  Frederick,  Md. 

One  daughter  of  John  D.,  son  of  Joshua,  was  Sophia.  I  often 
heard  Mary  Hyder  speak  of  her  intelligence  and  vivacity.  Sophia 
married  Dr.  Aiken,  but  died  soon  after  her  marriage. 

The  oldest  daughter  of  John  D.,  son  of  Joshua,  was  Elizabeth. 
She  married  Edwin  Clabaugh,  of  Cloverbrook  farm,  near  Middleburg, 
Md.  It  is  now  part  of  the  celebrated  Stock  Farm,  Bolingbrook,  (or 
Bowlingbrook,)  owned  by  the  Waldens,  a  full  description  of  which  I 
have  from  the  Baltimore  Sun.  I  visited  the  place,  .saw  "Tom  Ochil- 
tree" and  other  noted  racers,  the  fine  residences  and  stables,  the 
school  buildings,  where  is  held  a  night  school  for  the  employees,  the 
beautiful  Althea  hedge,  &c.  [This  was  the  second  Althea  hedge  I  had 
the  pleasure  of  seeing.  The  first,  I  saw  at  St.  Jo.seph*s  School,  ]i)m- 
mitsburg,  Md.,  and  at  the  time  it  was  in  full  bloom,  and  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  things  I  ever  beheld.  The  plant  is  the  Hibiscus  Syri- 
acus.] 

Elizabeth  Delaplaine  Clabaugh,  daughterof  John  D.,  wasdazzling- 
ly  beautiful.  Above  medium  height;  Of  superb  physique;  Glossy  black 
hair  which  had  the  appearance  of  being  arranged  by  a  French  hair- 
dresser. A  perfect  complexion.  LallahRookh  eyes, black  and  velvety, 
with  long,  silky  lashes.  Her  face  recalled  what  one  reads  in  Moore 
and  Byron  of  the  beauties  of  the  Orient.  The  nose  and  mouth  might 
have  served  as  models  for  an  artist.  I  saw  a  life-size  portrait  in  oils 
of  her,  in  a  decollete  costume,  with  a  fur  boa  around  her  exquisite 
shoulders,  but  it  was  not  a  success.  The  artist  had  made  her  merely 
a  fine-looking  woman.  She  had  one  son,  Usher,  who  married  and  died 
young.  He  was  educated  at  Heidelburg,  Germany.  Two  of  his 
daughters  are  yet  living. 

All  the  good  fairies  must  have  conspired  at  the  birth  of  Elizabeth 
D.  Clabaugh.  She  had  a  cultivated  mind,  was  fond  of  reading.  A 
skilful  hand  at  whatever  she  undertook,  and  was  amiable  and  pious. 
She  resided  nearly  all  her  life  in  Baltimore,  Md.  Her  husband  was  a 
millionaire.  She  was  always  splendidly  gowned.  She  attended  an 
Episcopal,  High  Church.  I  used  to  say  that  it  seemed  fitting  that  she 
should  glide  in  trailing  silks  down  richly-carpeted  church  aisles,  the 
organ  pealing,  the  air  odorous  with  incense,  in  a  "dim,  religious  light." 
I  saw  her  a  short  time  before  her  death  at   sixty-eight,     and    she    was 

—  31  — 


still  beautiful.  The  clergyman  who  officiated  at  her  burial  exclaimed, 
"And  this  glorious  workmanship  must  mingle  with  the  dust!"  She 
had  many  sisters  and  they  were  all  considered  pretty.  They  had  the 
French  art  of  knowing  how  to  put  on  their  clothing.  (Apropos  of  this, 
a  dressmaker  once  said  to  me,  "Miss  X.  is  my  best  advertisement.  I 
do  not  toil  in  vain  over  her  gowns,  for  she  knows  how  to  wear  'em.") 
They  were  fond  of  playing  chess.  Some  of  their  gentlemen  friends 
used  to  say,  because  the  game  was  calculated  to  show  to  advantage 
their  well-formed,  white  hands. 

They  had  Tilly  and  Jane,  faithful  slaves.  I  remember  one  of  their 
toothsome  suppers, — Broiled  partridges,  hot  beaten  biscuit,  chocolate 
with  whipped  cream  on.  When  Tilly  had  gone  to  slave-heaven,  and 
Jane  went  off,  after  Emancipation,  to  taste  the  sweets  of  Freedom  by 
hiring  out,  these  girls,  although  they  had  been  trained  to  being  serv- 
ed, stepped  into  the  kitchen,  and  concocted  dishes  equally  as  savory 
as  those  of  the  dusky  departed,  performing  their  duties  with  a  light- 
ness of  touch,  and  that  apparent  freedom  from  painful  effort  which 
betokens  skilled  labor  and  rejoices  the  eye  of  the  beholder. 

One  of  these  pretty  sisters  was  named,  Cornelia  Rochester  [Dela- 
plaine.]  Appellation  as  high-sounding  as  Charlemagne  Tower,  over 
which  Dooley  raved,  in  one  of  his  best  essays.  Nathaniel  Rochester, 
founder  of  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  in  early  life  was  associated  in  business  at 
Hagerstown,  Md.,  with  Mr.  Hart,  father  of  Lucretia  Hart,  wife  of 
Henry  Clay.  Nathaniel  Rochester  married  Miss  Beatty,aunt  of  Sophia 
Charlton,  wife  of  John  Delaplaine.  The  late  John  Usher  Markell, 
National  Bank  Examiner,  was  a  son  of  one  of  these  pretty  sisters.  The 
daughter  of  one  of  them  is  a  Society  girl  in  Baltimore,  Maryland. 
The  Sun  often  describes  her  costumes,  as  she  appeared  at  the  Opera, 
or  on  Charles  Street,  the  promenade.  It  is  from  one  of  them  that  I  re- 
ceived my  copy  of  the  portrait  of  Nicholas  Delaplaine,  died,  1696. 
One  of  the  sisters  has  a  pair  of  knitting  needles  made  of  part  of  the 
stairway  railing  of  an  old  Delaplaine  house,  commemorated  by  a 
bronze  tablet  on  the  Mutual  Fire  Insurance  Co.  building.  Main  Street 
and  School  lane,  Germantown,  Pa.  In  its  cellar,  during  the  battle  of 
Germantown,  many  women  and  children  found  refuge.  James  De  La 
Plaine  owned  two  lots,  66 X  acres.  Market  Square  was  taken  from 
one  of  these  lots.  During  the  Revolution  the  house  whose  .site  is 
commemorated  by  a  bronze  tablet,  was  occupied  by  Squire  Joseph 
Ferree,  "a  man  of  wealth  and  position."  He  married  Miss  Dela- 
plaine. A  picture  was  taken  of  this  old  house  before  it  was  demolish- 
ed in  1885.  I  saw  a  picture  of  the  house  in  two  Phila.  papers,  1905. 
(Two  story  and  attic  with  dormer  windows.) 

William  and  Frederick,  brothers  of  C.  D.  Hyder,  died  unmarried. 
I  always  heard  it  said  in  the  family,  that  Elizabeth,  who  married  Mr. 

—  32  — 


Beale,  was  the  oldest  sister  of  C.  D.  Hyder.  Elizabeth's  grandson, 
Wm.  Beale  corresponded  with  Mary  Hyder.  There  are  letters  here  writ- 
ten from  his  farm  at  Sand  Hill,  Scotland  Co.,  Missouri,  and  one,  en- 
closing- his  photograph,  was  written  fi-om  Jefferson  City,  when  he  was 
a  member  of  the  Mo.  Legislature.  When  his  daughter  was  born,  Ma- 
ry Hyder  sent  a  name  for  her,  Portia.  The  little  girl  was  called  Ma- 
rj'  Portia.  He  speaks  in  his  letters  of  the  piety  of  his  grandmother, 
Elizabeth,  and  that  she  used  to  take  him  to  her  room  for  private 
prayer.  Her  solicitude  bore  good  fruit,  for  Mrs.  Jane  D.  Wilson,  the 
poet,  in  a  letter  to  me,  about  1896,  speaks  of  the  death  of  Wm.  Beale 
and  of  his  eminent  piety. 

One  of  Elizabeth  Beale's  daughters,  Sophia,  married  Mr.  McGuin- 
ness.  There  is  a  letter  here  from  their  son,  written  in  Camp  from 
Mexico,  after  the  battle  of  Cerro  Gordo,  1847.  It  is  written  to  his 
father  in  Crawfordsville,  Indiana.  A  letter  from  Wm.  Beale,  1853, 
speaks  of  his  grandmother,  Elizabeth,  being  with  her  daughter,  Sophia, 
Madison  Co.,  Iowa.  A  letter  from  him  in  1858,  tells  of  his  grand- 
mother's death.  He  says  in  this  1858  letter  that  he  has  one  of  the 
tinest  farms  in  that  part  of  Missouri,  (the  northern). 

C.  D.  Hyder's  sister,  Margaret,  "Peggy,"  they  called  her,  mar- 
ried Peter  Miller.  They  resided  in  Va.  I  remember  hearing  C.  D. 
Hyder  speak  of  her  sister,  Peggy  Miller,  riding  horseback  from  Cul- 
pepper, Va.,  to  Uniontown,  Md.,  to  visit  her.  Joshua,  the  only  son 
of  Peter  and  Margaret  Miller,  went  to  Madison  Co.,  Va.,  to  reside. 
During  the  Civil  War,  that  part  of  the  State  was  directly  in  the  march 
of  the  armies.  In  1852,  Nat  Delaplaine,  from  his  farm,  near  Hillsboro, 
Ohio,  writes  to  Mary  Hyder  that  Peter  Miller's,  at  that  time,  resided 
in  Ohio,  and  mentions  two  of  the  Miller  daughters,  Eliza,  a  widow, 
and  Mary,  wife  of  Mr.   Brown. 

As  I  have  said,  Mary,  aged  five,  .sister  of  C.  D.  Hyder,  is  buried  at 
Rocky  Hill  graveyard,  Fred'k  Co.,  Md.  A  second  sister  Mary,  Polly, 
they  called  her,  became  the  wife  of  John  Carmack.  Her  grave  is  at 
Haugh's — (Hawk)  graveyard,  near  Middleburg,  Carroll  Co.,  Md. 
She  died  in  1838,  aged  48.  Polly  was  a  sister  very  dear  to  C.  D.  Hy- 
der. She  always  spoke  of  her  with  the  greatest  affection.  C.  D.  Hy- 
der had  a  dream  just  previous  to  the  most  severe  trial  of  her  life. 
She  was  with  Polly,  then  deceased.  A  dazzling  vi.sion  flitted  across  the 
gieat  apartment  where  they  were.  Both  exclaimed,  in  transport,— 
"There  is  the  Saviour?  "  To  Polly's  home  in  Frederick  Co.,  Md., 
C.  D.  Hyder's  children  paid  many  visits.  The  children  used  to  come 
in  winter  from  their  uncle  John  Carmack's,  and  say  that  no  matter 
what  else  was  served  for  breakfast  there,  the  yeast-raised  buckwheat 
cake  never  failed  to  appear  also. 

John    and    Mary    (Polly)    Carmack,  had  a  numerous  family.     A 

—  33  - 


daughter,  Sophia,  married  George  Landers,  of  Scotch  descent.  Her 
grandson  graduated  at  West  Point.  Another,  Margaret,  married  John 
Baker,  of  Woodsboro,  Md.  Another  daughter  of  Polly  Carmack,  sis- 
ter of  C.  D.  Hyder,  was  Sarah.  She  married  John  Fulton,  a  widower, 
with  two  young  children,  a  boy,  Henry,  and  a  girl,  Barbara.  Henry's 
daughter,  I  heard  spoken  of  as  being  one  of  the  belles  of  Frederick 
City,  Md.  She  is  now  the  wife  of  Fred.  Miller,  Westminster,  Md. 
John  and  Sarah  Carmack  Fulton  resided  at  their  farm,  near  the 
pike  leading  from  Woodsboro  to  Frederick,  Md.,  eight  miles  from  the 
latter  place.  Their  residence  was  fronted  by  a  well-shaded  and  well- 
kept  lawn. 

The  mother  of  Charles  Broadway  Rouss,  the  Winchester,  Va. 
multi-millionaire,  was  a  first  cousin  of  John  Fulton.  Mary  Hyder 
once  went  in  a  sleigh,  with  John  and  Sarah  Fulton,  from  Frederick 
Co.,  Md.,  to  visit  the  Rouss  family  at  "Shannon  Hill,"  on  the  Shen- 
andoah River,  Va.,  opposite  Shannon  Springs.  Mary  described  the 
residence,  "Shannon  Hill,"  as  palatial.  I  spent,  once,  some  time  at 
the  Fulton's  with  Mrs.  Rouss,  a  beautiful  and  refined  woman.  Sarah 
Fulton  had  the  same  love  of  flowers  that  her  first  cousin  Mary  Hyder 
had,  and  was  equally  successful  in  cultivating  them.  She  and  Mary 
seemed  like  sisters,  and  there  was  great  personal  resemblance  between 
them.  Mary,  for  a  while,  taught  in  Frederick  Co.,  and  made 
Sarah's  house  her  home.  They  had  .slaves  both  for  farm  and  house 
work.  Jim,  one  of  them,  used,  occasionally,  to  come  to  Mary  Hyder 
and  say,  "Miss  Mary,  I'se  gwine  to  a  party  to-night,  please'm  gimme 
some  big  words  to  use."  The  farming  and  house-keeping  there  were 
ideal,  combining  the  advantages  of  trained  labor  with  genuine  Yan- 
kee thrift.  The  house  and  premises  were  always  spotless.  I  was 
there  often  during  my  youth  and  that  of  Sarah's  children.  Aunt  Nel- 
ly, a  superannuated  slave,  lived  in  a  cottage  on  the  farm,  and  her 
home  was  spotless,  too.  The  memory  of  that  walk  to  it  in  pleasant 
weather,— a  "toe-path"  diagonally  across  a  fine  orchard,  and  through 
a  pleasant  field,  is  to  me  as  the  fragrance  of  roses.  Mary  Hyder  used 
to  laugh  and  say  old  Nell  would  have  to  knit  to  the  middle  of  her 
"seam-needle,"  before  laying  aside  her  work,  if  the  house  was    afire. 

Mr.  Fulton's  sister  "Aunt  Meely,"  Hved  near  them.  She  had  a 
son  called  Thee,  for  short.  (The  Th,  pronounced  as  the  Th  in  Theo- 
dore.) This  young  man  was  handiness  itself.  His  work-shop  was  a 
boon  to  the  community.  It  seemed  to  meet  all  wants,  like  patent 
medicine.  Mary  Hyder  brought  home  a  checker-board  and  a  set  of 
checkers,  beautifully  made,— The's  work,— a  lovely  work-box,  of 
Southern  Maple,  with  divisions  for  spools,  &c.;  several  pairs  of  wooden 
knitting-needles,  graded  sizes,  beautifully  polished  and  with  bone 
finishings,    used    for   wools;  bases,  covered  with  gilt  and  mounted  on 

—  34  — 


gilded  feet,  for  cigar-cases,  which  were  worked  in  a  floral  design,  with 
Zephyr  wool,  on  perforated  card-board.  "Aunt  Meely"  had  a  slave 
too,  Mary.  I  do  not  know  whether  she  sat  at  table  with  the  family  or 
not,  but  I  am  sure  she  was  tidy  and  refined  enough,  to  have  done  so. 
A  colored  lady,  in  fact.  She  was  the  constant  companion  of  her  mis- 
tress, as  well  when  the  needle  was  being  plied  in  the  house,  as  in  the 
more  active  duties  of  the  kitchen.  Aunt  Meely  used  to  say  that  she 
never  ate  mince-pie  or  hash  away  from  home. 

Some  of  her  neighbors,  whose  house-keeping  did  not  conform  to  her 
ideals,  were  described  as  "hoodley."  I  must  spell  the  word  upon 
phonetic  principles,  as  I  have  never  seen  it  in  print.  There  2vere 
families  in  the  neighborhood,  whose  names,  both  of  master  and  mis- 
tress, were  I  to  breathe  them,  would  announce  the  almost  princely 
lineage  of  their  bearers,  and  yet  these  folks  were  absohitely  guiltless 
of  a  "nose  for  dirt,"  which  some  of  us  Border  State  people  have  in 
common  with  the  Yankees. 

I  remember  a  rutty  lane,  the  entrance  to  the  residence  of  one  of 
these  F.  F's.  Seated  on  the  tottering  post-and-rail  fence  which 
bordered  it,  in  their  shirt-sleeves,  and  bent  almost  double,  like  fowls 
on  a  perch,  were  the  masters  of  the  house,  father  and  several  sons, 
.sunning  themselves.  The  hou.se  appeared  to  be  all  rear,  at  least  we 
were  u.shered  in  through  the  kitchen,  whose  floor  was  uncarpeted  and 
not  over  neat.  The  "quarters,"  nearly  always  a  separate  building, 
seemed  attached  to  the  main  dwelling,  for,  in  perspective  was  a 
pickaninny  lying  in  a  cradle,  placidly  sucking  a  lump  of  sugar  tied  in 
a  rag.  The  housefly,  in  large  numbers,  was  al-so  present, — and  placid. 
Hostilities  against  this  pest  were  in  that  day  limited  to  a  mild  protest 
in  the  shape  of  a  handsomely-mounted  bunch  of  peacock  feathers,  or 
in  the  absence  of  this,  a  brush  made  of  strips  of  curled  paper  tied  to  a 
rod.  Then,  to  "mind  the  flies  ofl^  the  table,"  was  no  sinecure  office, 
as  it  would  be  tiow. 

The  community  was  one  of  much  merry-making  especially  in  win- 
ter, when  a  snow-fall  would  make  the  sleighing  on  the  Frederick  pike 
very  fine.  The  entertainment  was  of  that  style  which  has  caused  the 
word  Maryland  to  be  so  often  associated  with  the  idea  of  good  cheer. 
Among  the  many  things  at  the  Fulton  home  to  excite  my  childish  ad- 
miration was  the  large  spinning-wheel,  for  wool.  C.  D.  Hyder  had 
only  the  small  wheel,  for  flax  or  cotton.  The  spacious  living-room, 
with  its  generous  chimney-place,  at  one  end,  two  deep  windows,  at 
the  opposite,  a  window,  also  a  door,  opening  on  a  wide  porch, — seemed 
a  fit  setting  for  the  scene.  The  great  wheel,  five  or  six  feet  in 
diameter,  stood  in  the  center  of  the  apartment,  the  mi-stress  pacing  to 
and  fro,  to  and  fro,  its  whole  length,  as  she  held  the  thread,  a  picka- 
ninny following  closely  at  her  heels;  the  wee  daughters  of   the    house, 

—  35  — 


each,  in  her  little  rocking-chair,  industriously  knitting.  Click,  click, 
went  the  flashing  needles,  and  the  ball,  held  in  a  liliputian  reticule, 
hung  on  the  chair-knob,  had  much  ado  to  give  out,  from  its  gay-print 
receptacle,  the  bright  wool,  or  the  silk-like  thread,  fast  enough. 

Two  of  the  girls  attended  school  at  the  Convent  of  the  Visitation, 
Frederick,  Md.  All  of  them  married;  one,  a  physician  of  the  neigh- 
borhood. Mary  Hyder  often  spoke  of  the  pride  with  which  Maggie 
conducted  her  through  the  new,  daintily-furnished  home,  the  keys 
jingling  in  a  little  basket  on  her  arm.  Alas,  death  snatched  the  littl^ 
wife,  in  the  bloom  of  her  first  year  of  married  life.  Another,  married 
her  first  cousin,  Dr.  Fulton,  and  is  noted  for  her  exquisite  work  in 
embroidery.  Another,  like  C.  D.  Hyder,  and  the  Va.  Mary  Dela- 
plaine,  is  a  beautiful  knitter.  Another,  the  youngest,  who  seemed 
born  only  for  the  sunshine,  went  with  her  husband  to  Nebraska,  when 
it  was  comparatively  a  new  land,  and  so,  in  the  beginning,  had  some 
experience  of  life  on  the  frontier,  but  she  "took"  to  it  kindly — was 
even  enthusiastic,  writing  home,  —  "Mother,  it  is  lovely  to  keep  grow- 
ing with  the  country. ' '  Her  husband  was  a  nephew  of  John  McCreary . 
The  latter,  a  youth  from  this  part  of  Md.,  amassed  a  million  in  the  coal 
regions  of  Pa. 

As  I  write,  there  comes  to  my  mind  the  memory  of  a  bright  winter 
day  at  the  Fultons,  when  we  were  all  assembled  in  the  pleasant  living- 
room.  One  daughter  was  lining  her  new  wicker  work-basket  with 
scarlet  merino,  adding  pockets,  for  spools,  &c.  Another,  was  making 
the  latest  style  of  lingerie  trimming;  row  after  row  of  fine  cords,  held 
in  place  by  stitching,  the  whole,  finished  with  an  edging  of  thread  lace. 
I  was  reading  aloud,  from  "Coelebes  in  search  of  a  Wife,"  by  Hannah 
More,  a  book  which  I  suppose  is  now  out  of  print. 

If  I  mistake  not,  there  are  two  silhouette  likenesses  in  the  Hyder 
house  here.  One  of  Adeline,  and  one  of  an  infant  son  of  Caroline: 
Profiles  cut  out  of  black  paper,  and  fastened  on  white  cards.  They 
were  taken  before  my  day.  I  think  the  persons  who  made  them, 
traveled  from  point  to  point,  periodically. 

M.  de  Silhouette  was  minister  of  finance,  under  Louis  XV,  1762  or 
3.  The  plans  that  he  adopted  to  rid  the  country  of  certain  embarrass- 
ments, were  so  absurd  as  to  make  him  an  object  of  ridicule,  in  the  eyes 
of  the  lively  Parisians.  Portraits  in  the  Silhouette  style  became  all 
the  rage.  The  wit  consisted  in  the  lineaments  being  traced  on  a 
shadow. 

Envelopes  began  in  my  day,  and  steel  pens.  Most  of  the  old  let- 
ters here,  have  no  covers.  Quills  were  sold  by  the  pack.  A  school- 
teacher, or  any  scribe,  must  know  how  to  make  a  pen.  In  school,  the 
pens  were  made,  or  mended,  during  certain  recitations.  Standing 
around    the    teacher,    we  were  like  a  little  army  of  lancers,  points  all 

—  36  — 


heading  for  him,  first  come,  first  served.  Copies  were  "set"  by  the 
teacher,  in  books  made  by  the  pupils  at  home.  The  teacher's  hand- 
writing was,  as  a  rule,  never  copied.  The  copy  was  writing,  what  went 
under  it  was  writing.  Nomenclature  covered  both.  Classification  in- 
cluded both.  But  in  points  of  resemblance,  they  were  wide  as  the 
poles  asunder.  For  sealing,  there  were  wafers  and  wax.  Wafers  boxes 
are  here  j^et,  miniature  cheese-boxes,  2)4-m.  in  diameter.  Wafers 
were  round,  half  inch  in  diameter,  inore  or  less,  and  variously  colored, 
mostly  vermilion.  Sticks  of  sealing-wax,  here  yet,  variously  colored. 
Mary  Hyder  doated  upon  golden  bronze.  Seals  are  here  yet,  of  glass. 
One,  blue  glass,  "Mary;"  one,  two  doves,  white  glass;  another,  "A 
letter  softens  the  pains  of  absence."  There  is  also  one  of  fretted  wood, 
for  business  letters.  Sand-boxes  are  here  yet.  Black  sand,  not  blot- 
ters, dried  writing. 

One  piece  of  C.  D.  Hyder's  first  china  remains,  a  salad-dish,  wild" 
honey-suckle  pattern.  The  second  set  of  French  china  is  white,  with 
blue  flower,  raised.  Also  other  old  table-ware.  There  is  a  large  Tray. 
36x18,  black  lacquer,  with  a  border  of  roses,  in  gilt.  A  coffee-pot,  in 
white,  flowered  in  brown,  about  fifteen  inches  high,  including  the 
dome  lid.  Two  decanters,  one  came  through  Anne's  husband,  as  did 
the  walnut  escritoire,  bound  in  brass.  [The  old  way  of  spelling  this 
term  for  a  writing-desk,  is  with  thes.]  Two  coverlets,  blue  and  white, 
with  a  border  in  floral  design.  For  these,  C.  D.  Hyder  spun  the  cot- 
ton and  wool.  She  took  a  premium  for  them,  at  Md.  Institute  Fair, 
Baltimore.  It  is  a  Breast-pin,  gold  bar,  entwined  with  three  vine 
leaves,  of  thin,  crusted  gold,  their  veins  beautifully  distinct.  The 
breast-pin  here,  of  white  china,  with  two  angel  faces,  belonged  to 
Sophia  Hyder.  The  gold  and  black  enamel  one,  was  given  to  Adeline 
by  Sophia  Charlton  Delaplaine.  The  first  tea-spoons  of  C.  D.  Hyder 
are  worn  down  to  the  size  of  after-dinner  coffee-spoons,  though  theH. 
is  yet  distinct. 

The  oak  bent-wood  arm-chair  is  here  yet,  that  I  spoke  of  some 
pages  back,  as  belonging  to  John  Hyder,  as  are  the  two  bent-wood 
chairs  that  Sophia  H.  upholstered.  There  is  here  an  Easter-egg  of 
1836,  and  one  of  1852.  Both  are  elegantly  "marked"  in  a  floral  design, 
by  a  friend  of  the  Hyder  family  who  attended  Liditz  Moravian  School, 
Bethlehem,  Pa.  There  is  a  portiere  here  of  a  Pai.sley  or  broche  shawl 
that  belonged  to  Adeline  H.  Another  of  a  large  shawl  of  silk  in  wide 
plaids,  that  was  worn  by  Sophia  H.  A  book-case  drapery  was  worn 
by  C.  D.  Hyder.  It  is  an  all-wool  shawl,  buff,  with  a  gay-colored  set- 
flower.  A  window-drapery,  fine,  silk-like  organdie,  was  a  gown  worn 
by  Sophia  H.  Another  window-drapery  was  a  shawl  of  white  cash- 
mere with  an  oriental  border,  worn  by  Adeline.  Two  old  shoulder- 
shawls  joined,  make  another  window  drapery.  They  are  of  silk,  white, 

—  37  — 


with  figures  in  gay  colors.  A  window-lambrequin,  all-wool,  white, 
with  green  figures,  was  a  shoulder-shawl  worn  by  Eliza  H.  More.  A 
lemon-colored  fichu,  of  chiffon  with  the  figure  of  a  rose  in  the  corners, 
belonged  to  Mary  H.  Another  lemon-colored  fichu,  of  chiffon,  be- 
longed to  Sophia  H.  One  mantel  lambrequin  is  a  blue  and  gold 
changeable  silk  of  M.  Hyder's.  Another  Mantel  lambrequin  is  the 
wide  broche  border  of  a  "Stella"  shawl  worn  by  Sophia  H.  One  sofa 
cushion,  foulard  silk,  black  ground,  figured  with  a  red  rose,  was  a 
gown  of  Mary  Hyder's.  Another  sofa  cushion  is  made  of  some  bits  of 
a  shawl  that  was  so  much  admired,  it  was  nearly  worn  out.  It  was  one 
of  the  prettiest  shawls  I  ever  saw, — large,  of  scarlet  cashmere,  with  a 
border  about  six  inches  wide,  of />z«^  roses.  The  brocade  silk  cover, 
of  the  card-table,  violet  and  fawn  color,  was  a  silk  apron,  prosented  to 
one  of  the  H.  family  by  Laura,  daughter  of  Sarah  Carmack  Fulton. 
The  apron  was  trimmed  with  bands  of  black  velvet  baby  ribbon,  and 
had  cunning  little  pockets  of  black  net,  crossed  in  lozenge  shapes, with 
the  same  ribbon.  The  gimp  and  fringe  finishing  on  the  card- table, 
once  adorned  the  lovely  suits  of  de  beige  (baije)  worn  by  Mary  and 
Sophia  H.  The  hearth-rug,  with  a  yellow  chain  as  border,  was  made 
by  C.  D.  Hyder  in  her  old  age.  She  called  the  border,  Lorenza  Dow's 
chain  of  life. 

In  C.  D.  Hyder's  day,  and  later,  besides  the  flowers  that  I  have 
been  able  to  remember,  and  that  I  have  set  down,  there  grew  in  the 
garden  here,  many  "herbs,"  as  we  call  them.  Lavender, sage,  cham- 
omile, mint,  thyme,  rue,  sweet  marjoram,  wormwood, anise.  Lavender 
was  the  most  prized.  I  must  add,  elecampane  and  comfrey.  The  two 
Box  bushes  here  are  at  least  seventy  years  old  now,  1909.  And  I  be- 
lieve them  to  be  several  years  older.  They  have  preserved  their  sym" 
metry  very  well,  considering  that  this  variety  of  Box,  unlike  the 
pyramidal  Box,  is  apt  to  become  unsightly  with  age.  The  mock  orange- 
blo.ssom  bush  here,  is  also  seventy,  or  more.  I  spoke,  some  pages  back 
of  the  Provence  rose-bush  here,  that  is  ninety-eight.  The  Sofrana 
rose-bush,  by  the  Box,  is  smartly  over  fifty  years  old,  and  the  pink 
roses,  nearly  that  age.  About  1866,  (forty-three  years  ago,)  some 
slips  of  oak-leaf  honeysuckle  were  planted  at  the  picket  fence  in  the 
yard,  with  result  that,  spite  of  the  anathemas  of  the  neighbors,  (on 
account  of  the  seed,)  there  is  now,  1909,  a  fine  hedge,  completely 
covering  the  uninteresting  pickets. 

In  the  Hyder  cemetery  lot,  Uniontown,  Md.,  which  lot  is  covered 
with  Vinca,  locally  known  as  ground-myrtle,  a  luxuriant  evergreen, 
there  are  two  well-preserved  and  symmetrical  Box  bushes,  planted 
there  by  C.  D.  Hyer,  sixty  years  ago;  two  pyramidal  arbor-vitae,  fifty 
years  old;  two  pyramidal  Boxes,  twenty  years  old;  all  still  symmetrical 
and  well-preserved.     Within  a  few  feet  of  the  lot,     are    twin    cedars, 

—  38  — 


Jimiperus  Virginiaua,  over  forty  years  old  now,  1909. 

The  hat-rack,  in  the  front  entry,  is  made  of  a  reel  used  by  C.  D. 
Hyder,  about  one  hundred  years  old,  the /raw<?  of  the  glass  in  it,  is 
over  seventy,  but  the  glass  had  to  be  replaced.  The  bureau  with 
hanging  handles  of  brass,  and  the  walnut  candle-stand,  were  C.  D. 
Kyder's.  The  book-case,  with  brass  hinges  on  the  doors,  was  John 
Hyder 's.  The  red  and  white  "compass-work"  bed-quilt  was  made  by 
Adeline.  The  mirror  with  brass  frame  is  at  least,  over  seventy,  like- 
ly much  older.  The  papers  in  a  canvas  bag  on  the  garret,  should  be 
preserved  by  the  people  of  Uniontown,  Md.  They  contain  much 
writing,  by  John  Hyder  and  others,  pertaining  to  the  village.  They 
are  of  no  special  value,  but  the  older  they  get,  the  more  interesting 
they  will  be.  The  Hyder  letters,  &c.,  are  in  a  walnut  box  and  a  brass- 
marked  box  that  belonged  to  the  family. 

During  the  Ci\nl  War,  about  300  Confederate  Cavalry,  Col.  Ros- 
ser,  passed  through  Uniontown,  Md.  Mary  Hyder  was  a  "Southern 
sympathizer,"  so  was  M.  A.  W.,  a  girl-friend  of  mine,  living  near  the 
village.  [For  m^^self,  living  in  Maryland,  a  Border  State,  I  did  not 
know  then,  I  do  not  know  now,  which  side  I  was  on,  I  swaA'ed].  It 
was  a  fine,  sunny  day,  when  the  cavalry,  C.  S.  A.,  passed.  Mary  Hy- 
der, M.  A.  W.,  and  myself,  were  on  the  Hyder  stone  pavement.  M. 
A.  W.  wore  a  "duster,"  the  latest  style  of  wrap,  a  circular  cape, 
three-quarters  long,  of  black  and  white  Scotch  plaid,  with  a  hood  of 
the  same,  attached,  that  could  be  drawn  over  the  head.  In  the  most 
cautious  way,  she  lifted  a  tiny  end  of  her  duster  a  tiny  way,  and  waved 
it.  A  handsome  young  cavalryman,  they  were  riding  very  near  the 
curb,  bent  low  in  his  saddle,  and  said  smilingly,  in  a  stage  whisper, — 
"Three  cheers  for  the  ladies  of  Md. " 

When  the  Federals  were  in  Uniontown,  Md.,  a  blind  man,  his  son, 
and  daughter,  were  summering  in  the  village.  They  had  been  travel- 
ing in  Europe.  He,  the  father,  was  treated  for  his  eyes  in  Holland. 
The  son  had  got  in  Europe,  a  shawl,  or  handkerchief,  over  four  feet 
square,  of  white  silk,  ^Anth  the  flags  of  England  and  of  the  Southern 
Confederacy  of  America,  in  their  colors,  crossed  in  each  corner.  The 
handkerchief  was  unfolded  and  supported  outspread,  by  a  circle  of  ad- 
miring young  people,  in  the  parlor  of  a  house  next  the  Hyders. 
Though  the  shutters  had  been  carefully  closed,  next  day  an  officer 
demanded  the  handkerchief  of  the  son,  and  ran  his  sword  through  it. 
The  son  was  carried  off  to  camp,  (on  horseback,  behind  the  officer)  a 
prisoner,  but  was  released,  upon  taking  the  "oath  of  allegiance." 
Some  boys  took  it  with  "a  mental  reservation." 

Mary  Hyder  had  a  valued  collection  of  photographs,  of  officers  of 
C.  S.  A.,  which  .she  hid  in  the  garret,  when  the  Federals  were  here. 

There  is  a  small  photograph  here  of  Sophia,  youngest  daughter  of 

-  39  - 


Caroline  Hyder,  that  is  so  fine,  I  should  like  to  have  a  life-size  oil- 
painting  of  it,  by  a  good  artist.  That  is  an  iridescent  dream  of  mine. 
But,  at  least,  I  should  Hke  to  see  the  photo  enlarged.  It  represents  a 
girl  of  nineteen,  or  about,  and  reminds  me  of  those  pictures  that  ap- 
pear in  The  Century  and  other  standard  periodicals,  copies  of  portraits, 
by  celebrated  artists. 

"A  Collection  of  Epitaphs  and  Inscriptions,  with  occasional 
Notes,"  by  Rev.  T.  Alden,  A.  M.,  says  that  Nicholas  Delaplaine  was 
a  dignitary  of  France,  as  I  have  stated  some  pages  back,  and  that  he 
died  at  the  uncommon  age  of  105  years,  that  an  original  painting  of 
this  remote  ancestor  still  exists,  that  it  represents  him  as  having  a 
remarkably  long  and  thick  beard,  and  with  a  solemn  and  most  vener- 
able aspect. 

The  Pennsylvania  Magazine,  Vol.  4,  says  that  one  Nicholas  Dela- 
plaine was  a  Huguenot,  who  went  to  England,  1643,  thence  to  New 
Netherlands.  His  marriage,  1658,  to  Susannah  Cresson,  of  Ryswich, 
is  recorded  in  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church,  New  York  city,  and  the 
baptism  of  their  children  is  also  recorded  there.  The  practice  of  con- 
tinuing given  names  from  one  generation  to  the  other,  prevails  much 
in  this  family. 

I  have  mentioned,  a  few  pages  back,  an  old  Delaplaine  house, 
Philad.,  Pa.  The  Pennsylvania  Magazine,  Vol.  4,  says  that  James 
Delaplaine,  of  New  York,  settled  in  Germantown,  Pa.,  1692,  on  a  tract 
of  land  including  Market  Square,  which  was  conveyed  by  him,  in  1704, 
as  a  gift  to  the  borough.  Alden,  whom  I  have  already  quoted,  speaks 
of  this  J.  D.,  as  a  man  of  wealth.  James  Delaplaine  married  Hannah 
Cocke,  of  Long  Island,  Aug.  28,  1692.  He  was  bailiff  of  Germantown. 
He  died,  Apr.  12,  1750,  and  is  buried  at  Christ  Church,  Philad.,  Pa. 
The  old  Delaplaine  house,  as  I  have  said,  was  taken  down,  1885,  but  a 
picture  of  it  was  first  taken.  A  copy  of  it  was  made,  1905,  in  two 
newspapers  of  Philadelphia.  It  was  two-story,  and  attic  with  dormer 
windows.  The  account,  1905,  said  that  a  bronze  tablet  on  Mutual  Fire 
Insurance  Bldg.,  Main  Street  &  School  Lane,  Germantown,  Pa., 
marked  the  site.  The  account  said  further,  that  James  Delaplaine 
owned  two  lots,  66X  acres,  and  that  Market  Square  was  taken  from 
one  lot,  that  during  the  Revolution,  Squire  Ferree,  who  married  Miss 
Delaplaine,  and  who  was  a  man  of  wealth  and  position,  had  occupied 
the  old  house. 

The  will  of  Joshua  D.,  (one  of  the  sons  of  this  James  D.,)  was 
probated,  at  Philadelphia,  Feb.  15,  1788,  and  bequeaths  to  one  of  his 
children, — "my  plantation  in  Earle  township,  (Berks  Co.,  Pa.)  on 
which  I  now  reside." 

Judge  N.  N.  Delaplaine,  Hillsboro,  Ohio,  in  a  letter  to  his  first 
cousin,  Mary  Hyder  (daughter  of  C.  D.  Hyder)  speaks  of  Gen.  Geo.  P. 

—  40  — 


Delaplaine,  saying, — "the  grand-father  of  Gen.  D,  was  a  brother  of 
our  grand-father."  He,  Nat,  gives  quite  an  interesting  account  of 
this  kinsman.  The  grand-father  of  Gen.  Geo.  P.  Delaplaine  was 
private  secretary  to  President  Jefferson.  Gen.  D.,  himself  was  secre- 
tary to  Gov.  Dewey,  the  first  Gov.  of  Wisconsin.  Gen.  D.  bought  the 
property,  in  Madison,  Wis.,  that  afterwards  was  the  Governor's  man- 
sion. Senator  Thorpe,  a  millionaire,  bought  the  property  from 
Gen.  D.,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  60s.  Senator  Thorpe's  daughter 
married,  1870,  Ole  Bull,  the  celebrated  Norway  violinist.  [Ole,  it 
seems,  is  pronounced  oley.]  Mrs.  Thorpe  was  a  friend  of  Longfellow. 
Governor  Rusk  bought  the  residence  from  the  Thorpes.  Joseph 
Thorpe  married  a  daughter  of  Longfellow.  Nat  writes,  of  Gen. 
Geo.  P.  Delaplaine,  that  he  is  an  extensive  traveler  and  an  antiquari- 
an. He  once  sent  a  newspaper  clipping  which  stated,  at  some  length, 
that  Gen.  D.  was,  at  that  time,  in  the  island  of  Madagascar. 

John  F.  Delaplaine,  who  died  in  1885,  was  Secretary  of  the  Le- 
gation at  Vienna.  He  left  an  estate  of  one  million,  half  of  which  was 
to  be  divided  among  certain  organizations  named. 

InBalto.,  Md.,  Sun,  Sep.  11,  1902,  among  other  Book  Notices, 
was    a   Book,    from  the  Publisher,  Paul  Delaplaine,  Paris,  France. 

I  have  on  file,  a  copy  of  the  voucher  as  to  the  authenticity  of  the 
photographs  made  from  the  original  oil-painting  portrait  of  Nicholas 
Delaplaine,  also  files  of  the  clippings  and  letters  from  which  part  of 
what  I  have  written  here  is  gathered. 

Notice,  that  now,  1909,  the  house  in  Uniontown,  Md.,  built  for 
John  Hyder,  and  occupied  by  him  and  his  family,  is  ninety-eight  years 
old.  That  the  house  has  not  been  materially  changed.  That  the  four 
open  fire-places,  with  brick  hearths  extending  some  distance  out  in 
the  rooms,  still  remain.  That  much  of  the  furniture,  &c.,  is  one  hun- 
dred years  old,  most  likely,  much  over. 


41  — 


SUPPLEMENT. 


The  following  [epitomized]  letters  were  written  to  me,  1907,  by  J. 

Albert  Beam,  M.  D.,  practising  medicine    at    Yochow    City,     Hunan, 

China.     His  father,  Rev.  S.  Z.  Beam,  D.  D.,  CarroUton,  Ohio,    is   my 

first  cousin. 

Miss  Ella  Beam, 

Uniontown,  Mar^dand. 

♦        *        *        ♦ 

I  dined,  by  invitation,  with  the  Taotai.  [Tao  is  pronounced  as 
tow  in  towel,  tai  is  pronounced  as  tie]  The  taotai  is  the  chief  civil 
official  of  Yochow,  or  rather  of  the  prefecture.  About  11.30  a.  m.,our 
chairs  arrived.  Two  soldiers  in  uniform  headed  the  procession,  which 
brought  us  to  the  Yamen,  or  official  residence.  Here,  one  could  im- 
agine himself  playing  a  part  in  a  story,  such  as,  "The  Prince  of  India," 
for  when  we  reached  the  Yamen,  we  passed,  through  a  large  gate  in  a 
high  wall,  into  an  open  space,  and  saw,  ahead  of  us,  another  entrance- 
around  which  were  painted  fantastic  forms,  dragons,  &c.,  and  large 
Chinese  characters.  This  was  opened  for  us  without  question,  and 
we  entered  the  first  court.  Here  was  a  broad  granite  pavement,  with 
a  wide  green  lawn  on  either  side.  One  hundred  feet  farther,  we  came 
to  a  terrace,  and  passing  up  this,  were  brought  to  a  stand-still,  before 
a  large,  closed  entrance  under  a  long  Porch,  decorated  with  lanterns, 
and  old-fashioned  arms.  We  sat  here,  while  our  men  went  in,  by  a 
side  way,  and  presented  our  invitations  to  the  host.  Finally,  we  heard 
some  orders  given,  and  the  great  doors  swung  open.  We  were  carried 
into  the  second  court,  at  the  end  of  which  is  the  judgment  hall.  We 
got  out  of  our  chairs  and  were  escorted  by  a  servant  into  the  inner  or 
private  court.  Just  as  we  entered,  the  Taotai  himself  appeared  at  an 
entrance,  and  shook  hands  with  us.  We  sat  in  the  guest-room,  talk- 
ing and  drinking  tea,  until  dinner  was  announced.  In  the  banquet- 
hall,  imagine  our  surprise  at  seeing  a  foreign-laid  table;  that  is, foreign 
to  China.  White  table-cloth  and  napkins,  silver  forks,  knives  and 
spoons.  Also,  neat  floral  decorations,  roses,  and  a  little  row  of  flowers 
around  the  table,  inside  the  plate-line.  The  niejiu  card  was  written  in 
Chinese  and  English.  There  was  soup,  fish,  ham,  eggs,  baked  pigs 
kidney,  pressed  chicken,  toasted  bread,  and  lemon  wafers.  At  the  end, 
sponge-cake,  and  coffee.     Finger-bowls,  with  tooth-picks    floating    on 

the  water,  were  passed. 

*        *        *        * 

June  16,  1907.  In  the  Lu  Shaii  mountain  range  just  south  of 
Kiukiang  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  east  of  this  place,  is  a 
Sanatorium  called  Ruling,  where  many  hundreds  go  every  summer  for 

—  42  — 


recuperation  and  recreation.  The  climate  of  the  valley  is  wearing  on 
all  foreigners,  especially  so  on  women  and  children.  Three  years  ago, 
when  I  was  at  the  Kuling  mountain-resort,  I  made  over  one  hundred 
professional  calls,  on  foreigners  spending  the  summer  there.  When  I 
went  away,  I  was  not  quite  sure  that  I  had  a  vacation,  except  for  the 
change  of  scene.  Our  dispensary,  or  out-patient  work,  has  been  car- 
ried on  with  few  interruptions  since  the  spring  of  1903.  All  classes  of 
society  are  found  among  tho.se  who  apply  to  us  for  assistance.  We 
have  been  called  to  the  homes  of  the  highest  civil  and  military  officials, 
and  have  given  aid  to  the  vilest  of  beggars.  On  dispensary  days  we 
see  anywhere  from  twenty  to  fifty  patients  bringing  complaints  rang- 
ing from  the  clearly  imaginary  to  the  most  pitiful  and  distressing  con- 
ditions ever  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  medical  profession. 

Of  my  dwelling-house,  began  the  fall  of  1903,  I  was  architect,  con- 
tractor, and  master-builder.  This  was  the  first  foreign  house  erected 
in  Yochow  city,  so  the  workman  had  to  be  taught  our  methods  of  con- 
struction. When  I  was  settled  in  the  house,  my  home,  trying  to  do 
hard  work  on  the  language,  I  was  called  upon  in  the  erection  of  a  dis- 
pensary building  and  hospital.  So  again  I  became  architect  and  build- 
er. Result:-  "The  David  Schneder  Hay  Memorial  Hospital,"  and 
"The  Frantz  Dispensary."  Parts  of  the  hospital  plant  are,  a  home 
for  native  hospital  assistants,  and  other  necessary  features,  as  laundry, 
kitchen,  and  store-rooms.  Next  began  the  erection  of  guest-rooms, 
for  the  reception  and  entertainment  of  those  Chinese  who  come  here 
dailJ^  some  in  a  social  way  and  others,  to  learn  something  of  our  re- 
ligion. According  to  Chinese  custom,  there  must  be  separate  recep- 
tion-rooms for  the  men  and  women.  In  the  last  four  years,  we  have 
erected  a  church,  a  boy's  school,  four  dwellings,  and  the  above-men- 
tioned buildings. 

On  the  fourth  of  March,  our  hospital  was  formally  opened.  It  was 
a  red-letter  day  in  the  history  of  our  work.  In  response  to  invitations 
issued,  over  twenty  of  the  civil  and  military  officials,  Chinese,  attend- 
ed, attired  in  their  gorgeous  robes  of  office.  Of  the  Chinese  literary, 
gentry,  and  merchant  classes,  some  two  hundred  were  present.  The 
Hsieu,  or  city  mayor  was  present,  and  made  an  address.  Of  patients 
treated  since  that  time,  only  about  ten  per-cent.  were  women. 

As  best  we  can,  we  are  trying  to  relieve  suffering,  and  break  down 
some  of  the  prejudice  against  all  things  foreign. 

I  am  enclosing  a  copy  of  the  souvenir  given  to  all  the  guests,  at 
the  opening  of  the  hospital  at  Yochow  city,  Hunan,  China.  As  you 
see,  the  souvenir  is  a  folio,  on  scarlet  paper,  with  a  velvet  finish, 
4/^x5 >^.  The  photograph  on  the  cover,  shows  the  hospital,  the  roof  of 
the  dispensary  building,  at  the  foot  of  the  Pagoda,  and  the  church- 
tower  in  the    background.     The    first    page,    inside,    announces,    in 

—  43  — 


Chinese,  the  opening  of  the  hospital.     The  second    page,    quotes,    in 

Chinese,  St.  John,  3,  16. 

»        *        *        ♦ 

[Description  accompanying  a  set  of  exquisite  photographs  of  China, 
which  came  with  one  of  the  letters.] 

1 — The  Trumpet-Lilies  were  found  growing  wild,  on  the  Kuling 
mountains,  China,  where  people  resort  during  the  heat  of  the  valley, 
in  July  and  August.  The  stalks  are  from  3  to  4  ft.,  and  the  blooms, 
from  5  to  7  inches  long.     I  never  saw  their  equal  for  beauty. 

2 — Baby  Robertson'' s  name  is  Helen.  She  crossed  the  Pacific  with 
us,  and  met  us  in  the  mountains  this  summer. 

3—77/1?  Taotai.  [Tao,  as  tow,  in  tower,  tai,  as  tie]  Is  the  highest 
civil  official  in  the  city.  He  is  very  friendly  to  me,  has  called  a  num- 
ber of  times,  and  I  dined,  by  invitation,  with  him  once. 

^— Junks  on  the  Yangtse.  Between  Shanghai  and  Hankow.  There 
are  thousands  of  these  junks,  sailing  on  the  river.  Their  main  busi- 
ness is  the  transporting  of  rice. 

5— The  Life-Boats.  Belong  to  the  city.  They  stay  in  the  harbor, 
on  a  sort  of  life  and  patrol  duty.  One  day,  they  sent  two,  to  take  a 
party  of  students  over  to  a  beautiful  island  in  the  lake.  The  photo- 
graph is  the  start. 

6 — Ploughing  the  Rice-Fields.  The  rice-field  is  a  mud-hole.  The 
plough  is  a  one-handled  implement,  with  a  point  like  a  cultivator  at 
home.     The  animal  is  the  water-buffalo. 

1  — The  Chinese  Shoemaker.  Goes  from  house  to  house  with  his 
box  of  tools.  He  makes  and  repairs  the  soles  only.  The  women  of 
every  household  make  the  tops  of  cloth,  in  many  instances,  beautifully 
embroidered.  The  soles  are  .sometimes  many  layers  of  cloth,  pasted 
together. 

8 —  Yochow  City  Harbor, 


[From  Rt.  Rev.  I.  L.  Nicholson,  Bishop  of  Milwaukee,  died,  Oct.  1906.] 

Feb.  20,  1906. 
I  well  remember  you,  and  so  many  others  of  my  dear  Maryland 
Mission  life  and  experience.  The  years  have  passed  rapidly,  and  I  am 
now  old  and  broken  down.  It  is  not  likely  that  I  have  much  longer 
to  live  on  this  side  of  the  Great  Mysterious  River  of  God.  I  read  ev- 
ery line  of  your  Memorials,  [A  Family  History]  and  with  pleasure. 
How  well  I  recall  the  strong  and  striking  face  of  dear  Miss  Mary  Hy- 
der !  And  the  Delaplaine's,  I  was  wondering  but  the  other  day, 
whether  this  life  still  held  those  true  and  devoted  souls,  or  whether 
the  other  life  was  nourishing  them.  I  am  allowed  to  write  but  little. 
God's  peace  be  with  you.         Aflfectionately  your  Friend, 

I.  L.  Nicholson. 


-  44 


LBFe'lO 


A  Jamtlg  I|t0tflrg