Through the Gates of Old Romance — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Through the Gates of Old Romance
John Stuart Mill · en
The years flew by until after the battle of Bunker Hill, when most
of the inhabitants of Nantasket left their farms and fled to Boston.
It is recorded that the grain was left standing in the fields and
that the Haswell family were eventually left the sole occupants of
the place. Ex-Lieutenant Haswell was loyal to his king, and his house
was a constant resort for the British naval and military commanders.
Small skirmishes sometimes took place near the village, and one
day, during an action in the vicinity, a wounded redcoat, a member
of Major Tupper's brigade, was brought to the door on a stretcher by
some of his comrades, with the request that he be given shelter. Into
the southeast room the family had him carried and laid on the great
four-poster. There Susanna tended him through the morning hours,
bandaging his wounds with soft homespun and ministering to his wants.
It was a never-to-be-forgotten day, often referred to in after-years,
and it made a deep impression on the heart of the sensitive girl.
Bending over him, she received his last confidences. He was Daniel
Carnagon, twenty-six years old, the only son of a clergyman in the
north of England. When his breath grew feebler her stepmother brought
out the family Bible and read in a low voice words of comfort. Death
came to him as he dreamed of his native heath and a happy boyhood. When
the dusk began to fall Susanna helped her father dig a grave in the
garden. There they laid him to rest with the last sunbeams staining
his poor clay like a heavenly benediction. Some rose-bushes and an
apple-tree covered his resting-place. The latter is still standing
alone, a faithful watcher over dust neglected and forgotten. Little has
been written of Susanna's grenadier, but we know that she who made the
whole of her generation weep with "a tale of truth" wept over him in
the twilight of a long-dead day.
When the Revolution was nearing its close the Haswell family removed
from Massachusetts to Halifax, a favorite gathering-place for
loyalists. Susanna was then nearing womanhood, and, owing to the low
state of her father's pecuniary resources, she was forced to separate
from dearly loved brothers and sail for England. There she obtained a
situation as governess in a noble family, which she retained until her
health failed. In 1786 she married Mr. William Rowson in London. This
gentleman was then engaged in the hardware business and also acted as
trumpeter in the Royal Horse-Guards. He was the son of an armorer to
George III., and was noted for his personal beauty and accomplishments.
It has been recorded that no one who heard could ever forget "the
sublime and spirit-stirring tones" of his trumpet when he played for
the Boston Handel and Haydn Society. When he trumpeted "The trumpet
shall sound and the dead shall be raised" he thrilled his hearers into
imagining the last hour was close at hand.