New York (N.Y.) -- History -- 1775-1865 -- Fiction
"I had a very nice time in New York," she began, with grave approbation,
when she had considered for some seconds. "The museum was splendid! And
the houses seem sociable-like. Don't you suppose they nod to each other
when the folks are asleep? And the stores are so--so--" she tried to
think of the longest word she knew--"so magnificent? Aunt Patience and
Aunt Nancy were so nice. And the cat was perfectly white and sat in Aunt
Nancy's lap. There was a little girl next door who had a big doll and a
cradle and a set of dishes, and we had tea together. I'd like to have
some dishes. Do you think Uncle Faid is coming back?" she asked
suddenly.
"I believe he is, this time. And if we get very homesick we shall have
to come back and live with him."
"I shouldn't be homesick with you and mother and the boys, and Steve and
Joe. It would be nice to have Dobbin and Prince, but the stores are on
the corners instead of going to the village, and its nice and queer to
ride in the omnibuses and hand your money up through the roof. The
drivers must have an awful sight when night comes."
They even said "awful" in those far-back days, they truly did.
Father Underhill laughed and squeezed the little girl with a fondness
she understood very well.
Just then a voice called rather sharply: "'Milyer! 'Milyer!" and he sat
the little girl down on the stool as carefully as if she had been china.
He put another kiss in the little dent, and she gave him a tender smile.
His whole name was Vermilye Fowler Underhill. Everybody called him
Familiar, but Mrs. Underhill shortened it to 'Milyer.
The little girl's name was Hannah Ann. The school children called her
Han and Hanny. One grandmother always said Hanneran. But being the
youngest, the most natural name seemed "little girl."
There were three sons to lead off, Stephen Decatur, Joseph Bennett, and
John Fowler. Then a daughter was most welcome, and she was called
Margaret Hunter after her mother, and shortened to Peggy. They used
nicknames and diminutives, if they were not as fanciful as ours.
After Margaret came George Horton, Benny Franklin, and James Odell. The
poor mother gave a sigh of disappointment, she had so longed for another
girl. When Jim had outgrown babyhood altogether and was nearly five, the
desired blessing came.
There was a great discussion about her name. Grandmother Hunter had
married a second time and was a Van Kortlandt now. She had named her
only daughter after her mother and was a bit offended that Margaret was
not named for her. Now she came with a fairy god-mother's insistence,
and declared she would put a hundred dollars in the bank at once, and
remember the child in her will, besides giving her the old Hunter
tablespoons made in London more than a hundred years ago, with the crown
mark on them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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