The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1882-04-01
A Romance OF a Century Ago

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On the 23d of December, 1888, the
| floor of the Senate-chamber at Annapolis
was filled to oyerfiowing by stately danes
| and gentle maidens who had fiocked to
the Capitol rs if the weight of state ques-
tions had been for this one hour entrust-
ed to their wise deliberations. Washing
ton, the mighty yet unambitious hero of
the time, while yet the idol OF the pub
lie heart, was on this day to lay down his
laurels by resigning to Congress his
commission of commander-in-c chief OF the
brave little army whose triumphs he
had directed and whose sufferings he had
shared
Accompanied by his aides, Colonel
Benjamin Walker and Colonel David
Humphreys, and the officers appointed
as escort, Washington entered the hall
where the assem- bled Congress awaited
him, every manly voice among the spec
tators cheering, and every feminine ker-
chief waving an enthusiasm OF approval
and welcome; but the cheers were hushed
into breathless silence by the first words
of the great heros dignified address, to
which General Miffiin, as President of
the Senate, made an eloquent and ap-
propriate reply.
On Washington's left stood the valiant
soldier Colonel John Eeger Howard, of
Mary land, and facing Colonel Howard,
conspicuous among the foremost group
of Senators, was General Read, of South
Carolina, the hero of this short legend
of by-gone love. How little did either
of these young men, strangers to one
another, dream of the day to come when
81. <~E II. L., l.
come husband and wife to the daughter
and son of the other.
Many were the men whose names were
already distinguished, or to become his
toric, who were present, either as mem
bers of Congress or spectators of the i'm
pressive scene. Madison, Jefferson.
Monroe; Lee. of Virginia; Osgood, of
Massachusetts,; Morris, of Pennsylvania,
McComb, of Delaware, and General
Otho Williams, Generals Smith and
Swan, of Maryland The well-known
Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, was ac-
companied by his two daughters, one of
whom was afterward, as Mrs. Cation,
mother to the trio of celebrated beauties
who became respectively Lady Stafford
the Marchioness of Wellesley, and the
the Duchess of Leeds.
But absorbing as was the attention
given to Washington by the august as
semblage of heroes and patriots, who
recognized in him the greatest hero and
patriot of any, the young Cerolinian's
eyes wandered up to the gallery above,
where Mrs. Washington, with her grand
children at her knee, was seated in all
the dignity and Legitimate pride of the
wife who crowns herself with her hus.
bands glory.
Grouped around her were the three
Calvert sisters, Maryland's blood royal,
the family of Lord Baltimore; and never
was the fame OF Maryland beauty better
maintained than by the contrasting love-
illness of the youngest, Miss Ariana Call
vert, with the more brilliant charms of
her elder sisters, who had been espoused
during the perils of the war, both on the
same evening, the one by Washington's
step-son, Parke Curtis, and the other by
Mr.. George Stuart, of Maryland.
1t is told of these gentlemen that each
received the announcement of the birth
of son-born on the same day, year
after the marriages es-while on the battle
field.
But it was not the rich bloom or dark
eyes of the beautiful young matrons
which So riveted the attention of the
young Southerner that even the sublime
presence of Washington was for o time
forgotten. To his eyes the youngest sis
ter was much the fairest; and he gazed
up at the unconscious young girl until
the friend at his elbow, Mr.. James. Mon
roe-too thorough Virginian not to re-
cogniZe the phenomina of love at first
sight-whispered her name in his ear ,and
the offer to present him before the lady
quilted Annapolis town for home in the
country. The offer was gratefully &C,
cepted, and ere the winter was half over
Miss Calvert was affianced to her eager
and enraptured young lover; but not,
alasi with the entire consent and appro-
baton of her family and friends, and
thence arose the cloud which darkened
the horizon of this love legend.
AS usual, the passion youth deifes,
age coldly ignored. The CaroIinian was
wealthy, of prominent position and good
birth. and of distinguished education;
but the lady was threatened with de-
cline. She was also the youngest dar-
ling of the household; her sisters had
married so we'll, yet remained in their
midst; and her family grew more and
more reluctant that this comparative
stranger should bear away their tender
and fragile flower to his far-off Southern
home, to pine away, and die perhaps,
out of sight and hearing of those who
had loved her from her cradle; and the
angered lover saw the feeble health of
his ladylove give way under the conflict
of duty with feeling, until she became
indeed seriously i'll.
But the passionate Southerner was not
to have the woman of his heart granted
to his wishes. The sensibillty which
could doom the gentle Ariana Calvert to
an early death could not permit her to
sacrifice family affection to her own and
her lovers happiness. What bitter tears
and faltering words were exchanged in
their parting none can tell; but the min
iatures, given once as the fair tokens of
union, each still retained, to be sorrow
full consolation and reminder of q life
long separation.-E Elizabeth Read, in
Harper's Magazine for April.