It is said that the portrait of Ellen Conover, by the elder Jarvis,
in a white empire gown against a dull pink background, was more like
a caricature of her than a faithful rendering of her charms. Her eyes
were deep blue, her hair of a gold-brown color, and her complexion had
that fresh soft tint only to be compared to wild roses. Clement Moore,
a son of Bishop Moore, who wrote "'Twas the Night before Christmas," a
poem which has delighted so many generations of children, used to dwell
with rapture on the beauty of her arms and neck. He was one of the gay
young city sparks who looked with favor on the little country girl
when she first appeared in town, and lost his heart in the bargain,
too, if tradition does not err. This we know, that the Knickerbocker
belles were palling upon him at that period, and his muse hurled fiery
diatribes at the modish nakedness of his young country-women.
After the stately dinners were over in the Moore mansion, and the hour
for stray patients past, the parlors became scenes of revelry. Eight
o'clock was then the usual calling time in the city, and when the voice
of the old clock had finished welcoming in that portion of the evening
dear to feminine hearts, Thomas had answered the knock of many a
beau. These were the good old days when jolly Colonel Marinus Willet,
the city's mayor, was the model of every smooth-faced buck, and sweet
Anne Bankhead, coming to town with her fair tresses arranged in the
Paris mode resembling the comb of a rooster, started a fashion which
made the fortune of the "Empereur des Barbieres Frizzing Palace on de
Brudeway." We know the names of many of the Moore girls' callers. Among
the favored were Henry Major, who married Jane Moore on August 2, 1808,
in St. John's Church, still standing on Varick Street. Then there was
Henry de Rham, who married her sister Maria; John Titus, engaged in
business with Mr. Major; John Swartwout, the loyal friend of Colonel
Burr; Theodore Frelinghuysen, and many others.
On the Orleans claw-footed sofas, then humiliated by chintz covering
depicting the Corsican's bees, the Misses Moore would sit with their
swains. There were four of these ponderous pieces of furniture in the
large room, so that there was never any danger of crowding. We can
picture to ourselves Ellen and her lover taking part in the gayety and
longing to be by themselves in some quieter spot. In Monmouth her heart
would not tell her that she loved him, but here she had discovered the
sweet secret.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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