The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1866-04-27
Mrs. SigOurney.
by JAMES PARTON.

0OuhtltSS Dic9aihE IVY 'hN "a Bcttd-
ton or desert. y Behind me
stretch the green pastures and still
waters by which | have been led all
my days. Around is the lingering of
hardy flowers and fruits that bide the
winter. Before stretches the shining
shore"
These are Mrs. Sigourney's words,
written near the close Of life Of sew
cnty-four years. All who have much
observed human life will agree that
the rarest achievement Of man or wo-
man on this earth, is solid aud con-
tinuous happiness. There arc very
few persons past seventy who can
calmly look back upon their lives, and
sincerely say that they would live
their lives over again. Mrs. Sigour-
ney, however, was one Of this happy
few.
She was born at Norwich, Connect
icut, on the first day Of September,
1871 Her father was Ezekiel Hunt
ley, an exceedingly gentle, ailectionate
man, of Scotch parontage, who had MS
little of the Yankee in him as any man
in Connecticut Unlike n Yankee, he
never attempted to set up in business
for himself, but spent the whole of the
active part of his life III the services
Of the man TO whom he was appren-
ticed in his youth His employer was
q druggist of great note in his day,
who made large fortune IN his bust
ness, and built one of the most ele-
giant mansions in the State On his
retirement from business his old clerk
continued to reside under his roof,
and to assist IN the management Of
his estate; and even when he died,
Mr. Huntly did not change his abode,
but remained to conduct the affairs Of
the widow In the service of this FAM
lily he saved a competence for his old
age, and he lived to eighty-seven, a
most happy, serene, old man, delight
ing chiefly in his garden and his only
child He survived as late as 1889.
Owing to the peculiar relations sus-
tanned by her father to a wealthy FAM
lily living too, in a wing Of their
stately mansion and having the free
range of the extensive grounds Lyd-
in Huntly enjoyed in her youth ali the
substantial advantages OF wealth, whit
ont encountering It's perils. She was
surrounded by objects pleasing on
beautiful, but no mental pampered
her pride or robbed her of her right
ful share Of household labor. As soon
as she was old enough to toddle about
tho grounds, her father delighted to
have her hold the trees which he was
planting, aud drop the seed into the
little furrow prepared for it, and never
was she better pleasodf tAan when
giving him the aid of her tiny fingers
Her parents never kept a servant, and
She was brought up to do her part in
the house Living on plain, substan-
tial fare inspired to labor, and dressed
so MS to allow free play to every limb
and muscle, she laid in a stock Of
health, strength and good temper that
lasted her down 20 the last year of her
life. She never knew what dyspepsia
was. She never possessed costly
toy, non "a doll that was not made at
home, but she passed childhood that
was scarcely anything but Joy She
was an only child, and She was the pet
of two families, yet was not spoiled,
She was one of those children who
take naturally to all kinds of culture.
Without ever having had cbild's
book, she sought out, in the old-fash-
toned library of the house, everything
that child could understand.
Chance threw novel in her way,
Mysteries Of Udolpho) which she de-
voured with rapture, and soon after,
when she WAS but eight years of age,
she began to write n novel. Poetry,
too, she read with singular interest,
never weary of repeating her fayorite
pieces. But the passion of her child
hood was painting pictures. Almost
in her infancy she began to draw with
pin and lilac leaf, and advanced
from that to slate and pencil, and by
and by, TO lead pencil and the backs
of letters. When she had learned to
draw pretty well, she was on fire to
paint her pictures, but was long puz-
lied to procure the colors. Having
obtained some way a cake of gamboge,
she begged of washerwoman a
piece of indigo, and by combining
these two ingredients she could
make different shades of yellow,
blue and green. The trunks OF
her trees she painted with coffee
grounds, and n mixture OF India ink
and indigo, answered tolerably for sky
and water She afterwards discov-
cred that the pink juice of the skoke-
berry did very well for lips, cheeks
and gay dresses. Mixed with little
indigo it made very bad purple
which the young artist, for want of d
better, was obliged to use for her roy
al robes. In sore distress for better
purple, she squeezed the purple flow
ers of the garden and the field for the
desired tint but nothing answered the
purpose, until, at dinner one day, she
found the very hue for which she
longed in the juice of currant-and-
whortleberry tart She hastoned tc
try it, and it made II truly gorgeous
purple, but the sugar in it caused 1T t
come off in fakes from her kings ano
emperors, leaving them in IA sorry
plghS At length, to her boundless
, inexpressible, and lasting joy, all hel