After having completely disrobed I took the bath of the temperature of
milk that Nannette is accustomed to administer to me, inserted myself
in the very lovely 'wedding' garments for sleeping that Mr. G. Slade
had so admired, and sank into deep slumber upon the large bed with a
silk covering beflowered like the skirt of a lady's dress upon me.
"Well, well, you young sleepyhead, up and into your clothes, sir. We
are late for the Capitol now," were the words I heard in what seemed
almost the first moment after I had closed my eyes. Behold, my Uncle,
the General Robert, fully dressed, stood beside the bed and a morning
sun was shining through the windows. I had slept through a long night
like a small child upon the bosom of the bed of my beautiful
Grandmamma who smiled down upon me.
"Oh, my Uncle Robert, how much time is it that I have to make my
toilet?" I begged of him as I sat up and made a rubbing of my eyes.
"Less than an hour, sir, to get out of that heathenish toggery that
the men of your generation have substituted for the honest nightshirt,
into proper garments, and eat your breakfast. I'll call you when I am
ready to go."
It was very little more than the hour my Uncle, the General Robert,
had given to me, that I consumed in the accomplishment of a very
difficult toilet in a suit of very beautiful brown cheviot which the
good man in New York from whom I had procured it had said to be for
very especial morning wear. To my good Kizzie I gave a great
uneasiness that I did not consume the very elaborate meal that
resembled a dinner, which she had ready for the Bonbon to serve to me,
and desired only a cup of her coffee and two very small pieces of
white bread called biscuits.
"All the Carruthers men folks is friends with their food, they is,"
she admonished me.
"At luncheon, my Kizzie, just watch me," I said to her in nice United
States words as I departed with my Uncle, the General Robert, to the
Capitol of the State of Harpeth, which is a tall building set on an
equally tall hill.
I found much business awaiting me in the form of making a correct
translation of all of the letters in a very large portfolio, all of
which were pertaining to that very tiresome animal, the mule. But I
made not very much progress, for a very large number of gentlemen came
into the office of my Uncle, the General Robert, and to all of them I
must be presented.
In fact, in all of what remained of that entire week, for most of my
moments in the Capitol I was having very painful shakes of the hand
given to me and receiving assurances of my great resemblance to my
honored father.
All of which I did greatly enjoy, but nothing was of so much pleasure
to me as the visits I accomplished into the office of that Gouverneur
Faulkner with messages of importance from my Uncle, the General
Robert.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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