The Von Toodleburgs; Or, The History of a Very Distinguished Family — John Shaqi
The Von Toodleburgs; Or, The History of a Very Distinguished FamilyAdams, F. Colburn (Francis Colburn)
General
The Von Toodleburgs; Or, The History of a Very Distinguished Family
Adams, F. Colburn (Francis Colburn)
Families -- Fiction; New York (State) -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Treasure troves -- Fiction
There was a heart that fluttered, and a hand that waved signals, from a
point on the shore recognized by Tite, and responded to, but not seen by
the little sorrowing group waiting the return of the boat. It was
Mattie's heart that fluttered, and it was her hand that waved the last
adieu as the ship passed out of sight. There she stood, a touching
picture of truth and love, shedding her tears and waving a last farewell
to the object of her heart, and whom she might never see again.
Such are the transmutations of commerce that it would be a curious sight
at this day to see a whaleship, under full sail, proceeding up or down
the Hudson river. It was no uncommon sight then. The enterprising people
of Hudson shared the whale-fishery business with New Bedford and
Nantucket; their fleet of ships were fitted out in the very best manner,
and some of the most famous whaling captains sailed from that port.
CHAPTER X.
MR. AND MRS. CHAPMAN DISAGREE FOR THE FIRST TIME.
A bright light burned in Chapman's parlor that night, and the ponderous
Mrs. Chapman sat nursing her dignity in a great new rocking-chair. Her
little pale-faced husband, with keen eyes, and his hair somewhat longer
than usual, sat beside the lamp on the round table pouring over a book.
There was an air of improvement about the parlor, an evidence, indeed,
that the Chapmans had renounced their Dogtown habits, and were bent on
getting up in the world. New carpets, new mirrors, new furniture, and
window-curtains such as had not been seen in Nyack before, had been got
from New York. You must make your style of living, Mrs. Chapman said,
keep pace with the progress of the family. And it would not do to let
those new, rich, and stylish people who were coming up from New York get
ahead of you in the way of elegance.
Mrs. Chapman no longer condescended to prepare the sausage meat and
pumpkin pies; in a word, to do the work of her own kitchen. She could
afford, she said, to keep two "helps," a cook and a chambermaid, to take
it easy and put on the lady, and to give evening parties that quite
outdid in the way of nice little suppers anything their neighbors could
give. There was, however, a number of people in Nyack who shook their
heads at the pretensions of the Chapmans; said they were putting on too
many airs, and made no response to Mrs. Chapman's invitations. Others,
when a little scandal was necessary to keep up the interest of an
evening, would insinuate that they had "originally" been very common and
vulgar people. But now, like most New England people of that class, they
were not only trying to force their opinions down other and honester
people's throats, but had a way of meddling with business that did'nt
concern them, and making themselves disagreeable generally. When
Holbrook disappeared in disgrace, there were persons malicious enough to
say that the Chapmans had better mend their own morals before they went
to patching other people's up.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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