The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 104, June, 1866: A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and PoliticsVarious
General
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 104, June, 1866: A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics
Various
American periodicals
A table, stationary ever since the house was built, extending the whole
length of a room. One end was raised two steps higher than the rest. The
Lady Ursula, an early Colonial heroine, was wont to dine at the upper
end, while her servants sat below. This was in the kitchen. An old
garden and summer-house, and roses, currant-bushes, and tulips, which
Lady Ursula had brought from Grondale Abbey in Old England. Although a
hundred and fifty years before, and though their roots were propagated
all over the country, they were still flourishing in the original
garden. This Lady Ursula was the daughter of Lord Thomas Cutts of
Grondale Abbey in England. She had been in love with an officer named
Fowler, who was supposed to have been slain in battle. After the death
of her father and mother, Lady Ursula came to Kittery, bringing twenty
men-servants and several women. After a time, a letter arrived from her
lover, who was not killed, but merely a prisoner to the French. He
announced his purpose to come to America, where he would arrive in
October. A few days after the letter came, she went out in a low
carriage to visit her work-people, and was blessing the food for their
luncheon, when she fell dead, struck by an Indian tomahawk, as did all
the rest save one. They were buried, where the massacre took place, and
a stone was erected, which (possibly) still remains. The lady's family
had a grant from Sir Ferdinando Gorges of the territory thereabout, and
her brother had likewise come over and settled in the vicinity. I
believe very little of this story. Long afterwards, at about the
commencement of the Revolution, a descendant of Fowler came from
England, and applied to the Judge of Probate to search the records for a
will, supposed to have been made by Lady Ursula in favor of her lover as
soon as she heard of his existence. In the mean time the estate had been
sold to Colonel Whipple. No will could be found. (Lady Ursula was old
Mrs. Cutts, widow of President Cutts.)
The mode of living of Lady Ursula's brother in Kittery. A drawbridge to
the house, which was raised every evening, and lowered in the morning,
for the laborers and the family to pass out. They kept thirty cows, a
hundred sheep, and several horses. The house spacious,--one room large
enough to contain forty or fifty guests. Two silver branches for
candles,--the walls ornamented with paintings and needlework. The floors
were daily rubbed with wax, and shone like a mahogany-table. A domestic
chaplain, who said prayers every morning and evening in a small
apartment called the chapel. Also a steward and butler. The family
attended the Episcopal Church at Christmas, Easter, and Good Friday, and
gave a grand entertainment once a year.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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