THROUGH COLONIAL DOORWAYS SEVENTEENTH EDITION [Illustration] [Illustration: THROUGH COLONIAL DOORWAYS BY ANNE HOLLINGSWORTH WHARTON [Illustration] PHILADELPHIA J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY MDCCCC] COPYRIGHT, 1893, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA TO THE MEMORY OF MARGARET N. CARTER, WHOSE LIVING AND LOVING PRESENCE WAS AN INSPIRATION DURING THE PREPARATION OF THESE CHAPTERS, AND WHOSE SKETCHES ARE AMONG THOSE THAT ADORN ITS PAGES, THIS LITTLE VOLUME IS Dedicated. [Illustration: PREFACE] The revival of interest in Colonial and Revolutionary times has become a marked feature of the life of to-day. Its manifestations are to be found in the literature which has grown up around these periods, and in the painstaking individual research being made among documents and records of the past with genealogical and historical intent. Not only has a desire been shown to learn more of the great events of the last century, but with it has come an altogether natural curiosity to gain some insight into the social and domestic life of Colonial days. To read of councils, congresses, and battles is not enough: men and women wish to know something more intimate and personal of the life of the past, of how their ancestors lived and loved as well of how they wrought, suffered, and died. With some thought of gratifying this desire, by sounding the heavy brass knocker, and inviting the reader to enter with us through the broad doorways of some Colonial homes into the hospitable life within, have these pages been written. For original material placed at my disposal, in the form of letters and manuscripts, I am indebted to numerous friends, among these to Mrs. Oliver Hopkinson, the Misses Sharples, Miss Anna E. Peale, Miss F. A. Logan, Mrs. Edward Wetherill, Mr. C. R. Hildeburn, and Mr. Edward Shippen. To the Editors of the _Atlantic Monthly_, the _Lippincott’s Magazine_, and the _Philadelphia Ledger_ and _Times_, I wish to express my appreciation of their courtesy in allowing me to use in some of these chapters material to which they first gave place in their columns. A. H. W. PHILADELPHIA, March, 1893. CONTENTS. THROUGH COLONIAL DOORWAYS 7 THE MESCHIANZA 23 NEW YORK BALLS AND RECEPTIONS 65 THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 97 THE WISTAR PARTIES 147 A BUNDLE OF OLD LOVE LETTERS 177 THE PHILADELPHIA DANCING ASSEMBLIES 197 [Illustration: THROUGH COLONIAL DOORWAYS]