Hugh Wynne, Free Quaker

den stretched down to the water, and before the door were still left on either side two great hemlock-spruces, which must have been part of the noble woods under which the fi

her in one of my father's ships. Herbs and simples were not wanting, nor berries, for all good housewives in those days were expected to be

the governor's woods. I have heard her regret that the most delicious of all the growths of spring,

d, too, of ready hospitality, which was due, I think, to the upper half of the door being open a good part of the year. I recall also the bull's-eye of thick glass in the upper half-door, and below it a great brass knocker. In the white s

ad in gray homespun, with breeches, low shoes, and a low, flat beaver hat. I can hear my mother say, "Here are two big apples for thy mas

r thou wilt be late." And she clapped her hands as I

ssociate events with persons, and my mother stood leaning on the half-door as I came running back. She was s

all very silken, and so curly that it was ever in rebellion against the custom of Friends, which would have had it flat on the temples. Indeed, I never saw it so, for, whether at the back or at the front, it was wont to escape in large curls. Nor do I think she disliked this worldly wilfulness, for which nature had provided an unanswerable excuse. She had serious blue eyes, very large and wi

se from excess of loving and of noble moods. She would be lavish where she had better have been merely generous, or rash where some would have lacked ev

hildlike eyes on me, and opening

let us see thy little book. And did they praise thy reading? Didst thou tell them I taught thee? The

three long, weary hours, from eight to eleven, I dropped my mother's hand, and, running a little, slid down the long entry over the thinly sanded floor, and then slipping, came down with a rueful

grief, my friends, in

g most odious to Friends. As I smiled, hearing her, I was aware of my father in the open doorway of the sitting-room, tall, strong, with much iron-gray hair. Within I saw several Friends, large rosy men in drab, with

disturbs us, wife. Thou shouldst know better. A committee of overseers is with me." He

ong the hall with me, while my father closed the door. "Come," she added, "and

in the corners. A bare table of well-rubbed mahogany stood in the middle, with a thin board or two laid on the sand, that the table might be set without disturbing the patter

id naughty words, oh, very! Come out; I will find thee some ripe damsons, and save thee cake for thy supper, if Friend Warder does not eat it all. He is a little man, and eats much. A solicitous man," and she became o

o-solicito

, Hugh!" And with this she fled away, under the back stoop and through the trees, light and active, her curls tumbling out, w

s! None was like you, and none as dear, save one wh

aydon, who wrote certain memoirs long after. His mother, a widow, kept boarders in the great Slate-roof House near by; for in those days this was a common resource of decayed gentlewomen, and by no means affected their social position. Here came many officers to stay, and their red coats used to please my eyes as I went by the porch, where at evening I saw them smoking long pipes, and saying not very nice things of the local gentry, or

ad to do with the choice in my case, and was influenced by the fact that Dove rarely used the birch, but had a queer fancy for setting culprits on a stool, with the birch switch stuck in the

knowledge, enough of Latin and Greek to fit me for entrance at the academy, which Dr. Fr

emed fitting by Friends, and hence we were somewhat limited in our resources; but to fish in the creek we were free; also to haunt the ships and hear sea yarns, and to skate in winter, were not forbi

f my mother. Other lads thought it singular that in peril I became strangely vivacious; but underneath I had a share of the relentless firmness of my father, and of his vast dislike of failure, an

green apples, I was met by four older boys. One had a lantern, which, with much laughter, he tied about my neck, and one, marching before, rang a bell. I had seen this queer punishment fall on others, and certainly the amusement shown by people in the

r's tears, and was sent at once to confess to Friend James Pemberton. The good man said I was a naughty boy, but must come later when the apples were red ripe, and I

ndship, in place of laughing, as did the rest, for some reason began to cry. This angered the master, who had the lack of self-control often seen in eccentric people. He asked why she cried, and on her sobb

sat with my head in my hands, and my fingers in my ears lest I should hear her weeping. After school that evening, when all but Warder and I had

an any man I have ever known. Therefore it did not surprise us next morning that the earlier scholars were lookin

signal of coming violence. Then he stood up, and asked who had written the opprobrious epithet on the wall. As no one replied, he asked several in turn, but l

-desired books, for now this latter temptation was upon me, as it has been ever since. As I sat, and Dove thundered, I remembered how, when one Stacy, with an oath, assured my father that his word was as good as his bond, my parent said dry

hand, and the master

should tell thee wouldst

ed "Shame!" thinki

I, overbold, said, "Master, I did it, and now wil

ruel that at last the girls cried aloud, and he let me drop on the floor, sore and angry. I lay still awhile, and then went to

my poor little bruised body as I best could. Now this being a Saturda

asy movements, said, "Hast thou been

ave no fear." And this gentleness being too much for me

me, saying, "No! no! Look, John! see his poor neck and his wrist! What a brute! I tell thee,

nded for a time. I learned that, after all, the woman's was the stronger will. I was put to bed and declared to ha

e all busy, about ten o'clock, I was amazed to hear my father's voice. He stood before the d

As for his sin, he has suffered enough {I felt glad of this final opinion}; but a bargain was made. He, on his part, for a consideration of one pound sterling, was to tell thee who wr

silent a moment, and then answered that there was no law to make him pay, and that he had spoke

As thou art Master to punish boys, so will I, David, use thy birch on th

for interest" (a guinea being a shilling over a king's pound). After this, turning to me, he said, "Come with me, Hugh," and went out of the school-house, I following after, very well pleased, and thinking of my guinea. I dared not ask for it, and I think he forgot it. He went along homeward, with hi

t more interest? My father used to say they had a proverb in the Midi, 'If the devil owe thee money it were best to lose it.' Le diable! Oh, wh

I had seen him then, or this time. I like sometimes to see a strong man in just anger. Oh, mon Dieu! what did I say! I am but half a

on the cheek for my badness, and always come to me with all thy troubles.

e maker of the mischief which had tempted him for a moment to forget himself, and for many a day his unjust severity proved that he did not readily forgive. But so it was always. My mother never failed to understand me, which my father seemed rarely able to do. If I did ill he used the strap

-that it was a slippery tongue, in which it was easy to lie. A proud, strong man he was in those days, of fixed beliefs, and of unchanging loyalty to the king. In his

, and as willing, to help with a free hand whatever cause was of interest to Friends. My Aunt Gainor, a little his senior, was one of t

had also been removed from Dove's dominion because of what my father said to Joseph, a man always pliable, and advised to do what larger men thought good. Thus it came about that my friend Jack and I were by good fortune kept in constant relation. Our schoolmate, the small maid so slight of limb, s