The palmetto herald. (Port Royal, S.C.) 1864-1864, December 29, 1864, Image 1
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A NEW ANECDOTE OF WASHINGTON.
It is well known that Col Seth Warner,
of revolurionary memory, who, with
his noted regiment of Qreen Mountain
Boys, as rear guard of St. Clair's retreating
army, after the evacuation of Ticonderoga,
beat back a whole brigade of the
hotly-pursuing British, in the battle of
Hubbardstown, and thus saved, probably,
that luckless General's entire forces,
hurrying on just iu front, from rout or
capture?who came down like a thunderbolt
on the flushed foe in mid-battle at
Bennington, and secured the victory for
the wavering and half-beaten Stark, and
who finally was every wuere &uunu ?
one of the* best-looking, most heroic and
accomplished officers of the Cumberland
Army?that Col. Warner was an especial
favorite of Gen. Washington. ?
The preliminary, however, Is here intwduced
less on account of any particu*
~ tar pertinancy most of it may have to Um
subject than for for the purpose of expTa?
nation, and securing a readier apprecia- j
tion and credence of the interesting personal
anecdote which is about to be rela1
1 ?it Sa nnnfirlantiv lv>lipri>H.
i cu, auu nuibu, tv to wiu.v.v?.v ?,
has never before appeared in print.
One son of Col. Warner still survives,
or was surviving a few years ago, an unpretending
resident of* Lower Canada,
from which?though then seventv-five
years old, but very active, and in full possession
of all his strong native faculties
?he came to the capital of Vermont
with the object of petitioning the Legislature
for compensation for some lands
formerly granted to the heirs of Col. Warner,
but unwittingly trenched upon by
subsequent grants ; and it was there and
then that the writer of this reminiscence
was introduced to him, and held several
very interesting conversations.
In one of these conversations, while
speaking of the private affairs of his'fath- er,
Colonel Warner, he frankly said that
the Colonel was very thoughtless about
pecuniary matters; that he not only expended
In the cause of the country, or
aiding the needy families of his soldiers,
ail Ms available property, but contracting
many debts, which finally compelled him
a short time before his death, to place a
mortgage on his homestead, amounting
at least to over nine hundred dollars, and
causing the family a great deal of depression
and uneasiness. But of this depressing
load "they were at length suddenly
relieved in the occurrence of a most unexpected
incident, and one which formed,
as well it might, quite an era in the family
history. But we will let Mr. Warner,
whose Christian name, we believe, was
that of his father, Seth, relate the memo
Ll* twm. AHAatSnn in Kia Atirn lrtn_
rtlDie iUCIUCUl 1U 4UCMIVM iu Uli vnu muguage;
which, by the aid of the minute*
before us, we know we carf repeat substantially,
and we think very near literally,
as he made use of it.
"It was," he said, "in the month of
September, 1789, the fall that General
Washington made his tour through the
Eastern States. We had kept ourselves
tolerably well posted about the progres#
of this tour, and heard that he was to be
in New Haven or Hartford, Connecticut,
somewhere near the time at which the
event I am going to relate to you took
place. Bat as either of those places was
quite a number of utiles from Woodbury,
1
|) ;tl m (
ROYAL, S. C., THUI
where he lived, we had no more idea of
s> t ng him than the man in the moor.
My elder brother, Israel Putnam Warner,
; then a mail grown, and myselt, a laa or
! twelre or thirteen,* were both living with
I my mother at t|aat time. And at the
particular time of the day I refer to,
Israel was in the yard grooming father's
old war-h$r?e, which he had been compelled
to go with father through all his
campaigns to take charge of; for the fiery
and proud old fellow would never let
anybody but his masterrthe Colonel, and
his son Israel mount or come near him,
though he had now got so much tamed
down by old age that he would behave
quite decently with me or anybody. I
was in the house with mother, who happened
to be unusally downcast that day,
and was brooding over our lamuy embarrassments,
and bad just been saying:
"Oh, no, Seth, I can never pay, nor,
with our means, hardly begin to pay this
dreadful mortgage. And, as I hear it is
about to be foreclosed, we must now soon
be driven from our pleasant home, where
we have lived so long, and, until your
father's death, so happily. My husband,
the Colonel, fought as well as the bravest
of them, and did all he could, and more
than his part, for the good cause, they
are willing to allow; and I know very
well that he irtire himself out in the service,
and was brought to a premature
flT;ive. And vet here is his familv al
most on the verge of beggary."
Tears here started in mother's eyes,
which so touched me that I rose ana
went and looked out of the window,
when, to my surprise, I saw entering the
yard two well-mounted stranger gentlemen,
whom, from something about their
general appearance, I took to be old military
offlceis of pretty high rank?or at
least one of them, who was large and had
a very commanding look. Having significantly
beckoned mother to my side,
she eagerly gazed out at the newcomers
a moment in silence, when she suddenly
gave a start, and, with an excited air, exclaimed
:
44 S^th t tnat tnkf? nofirv? of that noble
looking one! Why, he looks e?er so
much like the.picture I once saw of ??
But no; that surely can't be!"
" Well, at any rate, mother, he must
be a man of some consequence; for, see!
brother Israel, who acts as if he knew
him, is swinging his hat from his head
clear away at arms length, and bowing
lower than he would to a king; Israel is
quite too stiff-necked to do that for any
common man. But they are beginning
to talk; I will just open the door here a
little mife, and perhaps we may hear i
wuai uivy turn imjuig*
I did so, and the first words I distinKished
were those of the personage who
d so attracted our attention, and who,
addressing my brother, and pointed to
the horse, by the side of which he was
standing, asked;
" Is not that the horse Col. Warner
used to ride in the war ?"
"It is, your Excellency," replied Israel,
again bowing low and very respectfully.
19
"Ah yes, I thought so," resumed the
former turning to nis companion, or oftac/is,
and pointing to the old war steed
with that interest with which he was
known ever to regard fine horses. " I
thought it could be no other. Just glance
at his leading points?shapely head,
arched neck,- deep chest, haunches, and
limbs. I have seen Colonel Warner riding
him on parade, when I noted him as
a rare animal, and thought the rider,
taken together?for Warner was a model
of a figure, and several inches taller than
I am?made a military appearance second
to none in the Continental aamy.
But my business is with your mother, my
young friend, and I will, if you will take
charge of my horse a lew minutes, go in
at once to see her." . . .
Hearing this announcement, mother
and I hastily retreated to our loriuer 1
) ?
ttfl JN
LSDA^, DECEMBER 1
Beats, and, vrith the curiosity and excitement
which what we had witnessed naturally
ra'sed in us, silently awaited the
entry* of the expected visitors. We had
been thus seated but two or three minutes
before he came in, and, bowing graciously
to my mother, said:
" I take this to be Mistress Warner,^
the widow of my much esteemed friend, f
the late Col. Warner, of the Continential
army ?"
"It is sir," she replied tremulously.
44 Will you permit me to introduce myself
to you, madam ? be resumed, with
that winning sort of dignity I had noticed
in him, from the first; " I am den. Washington.
And atter I arrived in this section
of the country, a few days ago, I
m _ _ J !_
made,?and i nope you wm para >u me
the liberty J took with your private affairs?I
made some inquiries about you
and the situation of your family: when
learning to my deep regret, that your
late husband, in consequence of bif longcontinued
absence from his home and
business, while in the service of his country,
and his subsequent shattered health,
resulting from the hardships of war, left
you laboring under pecuniary embarrassments,
I was prompted to come and see
you."
" I had little dreamed of such an honor
and such kindness. General," she responded,
nearly overpowered by her emotions
n/1 ?ho lmiwalntr nrpwnrH of her ftmniat
UUlft WV r- ? a
visitor. q
44 There is a mortgage," he rejoined,
without responding in any way to her
last remarks, " a rather heavy mortgage
on your homestead." .
*** I am sony," she replied sadly, very
sorry to be compelled to say there is ; a
much heavier one than I can ever pa v."
44So I had ascertained,"he proceeded;
" and I have also, before coming here,
been at the pains of ascertaining the exact
amount now due, and required to
cancel this, to you, doubtless, ruinous in!
cumbrance, and I propose now to leave
with you the sum of money vou will need
for effecting that desirable object."
| 44 Does the money cojie from Government,
sir?" she asked, doubtfully, and
i with a look that seemed to say, 44 If it
does, then all right." ~ !Washington
looked at her, and hesitated
a little at first, but soon, while taking
up the valise he had brought in with him,
slowly responded:
" In one sense it does, I may say, madam,
if ^'ou have delicacies on the subject,
I am in receipt of a liberal yearly salary
from Government, from which it is dis
?- ?ni/4 OAma.
| ereuunary wnu me impan oumv
times to'deserving objects; and I certainly
know of none more so than one
which will relieve the family of so meritorious
an officer as your late self-sacrificed
husband."
Without waiting for any rejoinder to
these remarks, he opened his valise and
took from it a bag of silver money, and
deliberately proceeded to draw out and
count from it till he had reached the sum
of nine hundred and some odd dollars,
which afterwards proved to be precisely
the sum demanded, in principal, interest,
and fees, for the discharge of the mortgage
on our place. He then, after returning
the money to the bag, and setting
it aside for the purpose he had designated,
and taking the band of my mother,
who seemed inclined to remonstrate, but
could not force the words for it from her
quivering lips, tenderly, but with an air
that seemed to forbid any attempt at refusal,
said to her:
44 Accept it, dont hesitate to accept it
?Cake it and get tiie mortgage uiscnarg- i
ed at once: aud then all your Immediate- j
ly pressing anxieties will be relieved, and j
soon you will find those brighter days j
the God of the widow has kept in store
for you. And now, as my time is quite
i limited, it only remains for me to say, as
j I do most sincerely and kindly, Heaven
I bless yon, 'dear mgdam, Heaven bless
'youI "Farewell!" "
raid*
29, 1861 { F iv? Cents,
I was present during the whole of this
Interview between Gen. Washington and
my mother,?heard eveiy word they both
said, and saw all the money counted
down on the table, and feel confident that
I have neither taken from nor added to
anything that there took place
^On leaving the house, Washington im ediately
mounted his horse and rode
wway, leaving us quite unable for a v h le
to realize this unexpected visit and the
still more unexnected henedirth.n nf-th?
iliustrioils visitor.
As Mr. Warner wa9 ascertained to have
been a man of integrity, and of an unbroken
memory, there need be tut little
doubt respecting ine truth and authenticity
of the above related incident, which,
while it involves testimony liiguly honorable
to the heroic lefiler ot the Green
Mountain Boys, furnishes a new aud
beautiful illustration of the elevated and
benevolent charaeter of Washington.
A Novel "Dead Head.'?On Conductor
KincaWe's train, on the New York
Central last night, a lady with a vast circumference
ot hoop, occupied a whole
seat as the cars went out of this city.
Taking up tickets the conductor evidently
suspected something when he came to
this lady, and politely requested her to
rise, as he thought she was sitting on
something which had been left on tho
seat. She demurred and he insisted. She
flAirl ?he vnnMn f nnrl hp n net
and finally she did, and not only that but
she stepped out into the aisle, blushii g
tremendously and insisting that she
"didn't know it," when, lo and beheld!
a bouncing babe of the male persuasion,
only sixteen years old, was discovered
curled up on the floor! How the delightful
oeature had got there was a mystery
to her, of course?as much so as was the
Sresence, to Joseph, of a chicken in
oseph's bat. The lady was about to
anathematize the young gentleman in the
most approved manner of injuied virtue,
but he took the words out of her mouth
by pleading piteously, " Please now,
Auntie, pay my tare." Auntie did.?
Schenectady Star. %
Lorenzo Dow was an eccentric preacher.
On one occasion he commenced his
sermon by reading from St. Paul: " I
can do all thines." The oreacber Daused.
took out bis spectacles, laid tbem on the
Bible and said, " No, Paul, you're mistaken
for once, I'll bet you five dollars
you can't and stake the money."
At the same time putting bis hand in
his pocket, he took out a five dollar bill,
laid it on the Bible, took up his spectacles
again jmd read, " Through Jesus
Christ our Lord."
"Ah, Paul,"exclaimed the preaAer,
snatching up the five dollar bill and returning
it to his pocket, "that s a differ
eat matter; the bet is withdrawn."
It is reported that Stephen R, Mallory,
ex-United States Senator and the head
man of Jeff Davis' Bureau of Piracy or
(in rebel parlance) "Navy Department,"
has absconded from the Confederacy and
is in Paris.
" I sat, old f 'low, what are your politics?'*
said one friend, quizzing anotaer.
"Democrat; my father was democrat,"
he replied. "And what is your religion ?"
continued the other. " Protestant; my
; father was Protestaht," was the answer.
And trKw ova vnfte Ko/^hulnr Vn atIH flic*
*XliU HUT 04 O jvpa U0VUV4V4 4 VfiiiU W4V
other. " Because my father was a?oh
confound it! don t bother uie with your
stupid questions."
Ma. Jenkins was dining at a very
frugal table, and a piece of bacon near
him was so very small that the lady < f
th^ouse remarked to him, " Pray, Mr.
JenKins, help yourselfto the bacon. "Don't
be afraid of it." "No, indeed, madam?
1 ve seen a piece twice as large, and it
did not ecarcc me a bit."