Customs and Fashions in Old New EnglandEarle, Alice Morse
History
Customs and Fashions in Old New England
Earle, Alice Morse
New England -- Social life and customs -- To 1775
"She ask'd pardon if she had affronted me.... Mr. Denison spake to
her after signing his will that he would not make her put all out
of her Hand and power but reserve something to bestow on her
friends that might want.... I could not observe that she made me
any offer all the while. She mentioned two Glass Bottles she had.
I told her they were hers and the other small things I had given
her only now they had not the same signification as before, I was
much concerned for her being in the cold, would fetch her a plate
of something warm; she refused. However I fetched a Tankard of
Cider and drank to her. She desired that nobody might know of her
being here. I told her they should not. She went away in the bitter
Cold, no moon being up, to my great pain. I Saluted her at
Parting."
With that parting kiss on that dark cold night, in "great pain," ended
the Judge's second wooing.
That he was sincerely in love with Widow Denison one cannot doubt,
though he loved his money more. Disappointed, he did not again turn to
courting until the following August--much longer than he had waited
after the death of his wife. He then proceeded in a matter-of-fact way
to visit Widow Tilley, whom he had early noted in meeting. He asked her,
at his third visit, to "come and live in his house." "She expressed her
unworthiness with much respect," and both agreed to consider it. He gave
her a little book called "Ornaments of Sion;" Mr. Pemberton applauded
his courtship; Mrs. Armitage said that Mrs. Tilley had been a great
blessing to them; the banns were published; and the Judge's third wooing
ended in a marriage on October 24th.
But the bride was very ill on her wedding night, and after several
slight sicknesses through the winter, died on May 20th, to her husband's
"great amazement." Again he was a-seeking a "dear Yoke fellow," and on
September 30th, "Daughter Sewall acquainted Madam Winthrop that if she
pleased to be within at 3 P.M. I would wait on her." This was the same
Madam Winthrop whose attractions had been so completely obscured by the
bright halo which encircled the much-longed-for Widow Denison.
"Madam Winthrop returning answer that she would be at home, I went
to her house and spake to her saying my loving wife died so soon
and suddenly 'twas hardly convenient for me to think of Marrying
again, however I came to this Resolution that I would not make my
Court to any person without first consulting with her. Had a
pleasant Discourse about Seven Single persons sitting in the
Fore-Seat. She propounded one after another to me but none would
do."
Now, I think the Judge was very graceful in approaching a proposal to
this widow, for on his next visit he asked to see her alone, and he
resumed the pleasant discourse about the seven widows on the fore seat,
and said:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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