Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-07-16

his oath to his king. He had taken an oath to
support the British government and could not
foreswear himself, and the Calvert family were
essentially In all generations peace-oving race
and their dealings with all were characterized
BY the strictest equity and Justice. Maryland
was almost the only state whose early settle
ment was not stained with the blood of the I'M
fortunate natives. They offered a peaceful asy-
lum to the Friends when in England, Massachu-
sett: and even in Virginia the pillory and stake
awaited them
His manor Of Anne Arundel. consisting Of
1900 acres which his father had left him, was
confscated and never recovered.
THE YOUNGEST DAUaHrER's ROMANCE
And here during this war grew to womanhood
the youngest. and many thought the loveliest,
Of the daughters, Ariana, whose fate was to be
sadder, more tragic, than her sisters. During
her childhood there had lived much at Mt
Airy two maiden sisters named Read from
South Carolina-Miss Kittie and Miss Mollie
Read. Their young brother, Jacob Read, had
occasionally visited them there and had in that
way first met Ariana. He was a handsome.
accomplished man, with a strong personality
and becoming infatuated with her soon taught her
young heart to reciprocate his passion. When
he sought her fathers sanction to his addresses,
he was met by firm and obstinate refusal
In vain the daughter pleaded with her father
for her love and her young lover. She was her
fathers youngest, his darling. Firmly, though
gently, he told her that she must be brave, must
love and marry In her own sphere.
Unwilling to grieve the heart Of the parent
who had always been SO loving and tender to
her, she allowed young Read to return to South
Carolina and hope, with that glamour which al
ways surrounds the vista that youth opens to
us, that time and her steadfast love would ulti-
mately overcome her fathers opposition. 1t
was in vain that he lavished every indulgence
upon her. The American revolution was over
and she became a favorite young guest Of Gen.
oroIo rd M~1 CHI nrvf An He rrha
for the moment gsyety reigned supreme. She
accompanied her brilliant sisters to every fete
In town and country. Many suitors presented
their claims for the beautiful girls hand
but for all she had a gentle refusal
Her love for her first lover was strong.
She began to fade and droop and her health
rapidly failed. just then her father died, and
soon afterward her mother, seeing that her
child was doomed to early death. gave her con-
sent to the engagement. Hope sprang up anew
in the young girls heart and became the foun-
tain Of renewed strength and health. The
miniature was painted at that time, and one
seems to read love and hope in its every Inca
ment, but all soon realized that the struggle
between body and soul was growing weaker and
weaker and that it could not long continue.
Gently the angel of death bore her away. Mr.
Read afterward married Miss Van Horn of
New York and many years later his miniature
was sent by my aunt to his grandson. And
they laid this lovely girl in the churchyard, be-
side her father.
THE FAMILY CHURCH.
This little church of St. Thomas was the fam
ily church, and is still standing. 1t is about five
miles from Mount Airy and was built long be-
fore the revolution of brick all brought from
England. Here the young people of the coun-
try were baptized married and buried. and as
the new generations came they filled the old
pews, while tender memories of those lost and
IQd thpi 20 aud
often girl have sat in the same seat once
occupied by my beautiful great aunts and in
this charmed silence, with the subdued color
ing and pale golden shadows memory opened
wide the storehouses of heart and brain and
the phantoms of the past seemed to speak to
me, recalling in gentle tones these stories of my
ancestral home, dear to every young girls
heart.
THE MT. AIRY ESTATE.
When Benedict Calvert died. in 1885, he be-
queathed this estate Of Mt Airy to his older
son. Edward Henry, with the understanding
that il the manor of Anne Arundel. which had
been confscated in 1776, could be recovered
Mt. Airy was to be given to the younger son,
George. Suit was brought for its recovery, but
the legislature passed law prohibiting all such
suits as conducive of dissension and complicated
litigation.
In 1896 Edward Henry Calvert married
Elizabeth Biscoe, also a beauty and heress.
and Mt Airy became their permanent home
During the war Of 1912 when Admiral Cockburn
came up the Patuxent river hs sent
my grandfather q letter of protection,
which he at once sent to Gen. Mclean,
commanding the American forces. The gem
eral read 1t and returned it, writing my grand
father to keep it by all means; that it could GER
tainly do him no harm. After the war the
British minister urged my grandfather to re-
turn to England. saving that if he would do SO
he would insure him the restoration Of the title
in his favor, but he said that his ties were all
here in America, and he did not care for it,
NEW GENERATIONS.
And as the years went by new generation of
boys and girls rambled through this beautiful
home and gathered the flowers that year by
year blossoned anew in these lovely gardens.
A new generation made the park merry with
their joyous laughter and cong. The same
monster oaks and elms sheltered their foot
steps; nothing seemed to change only the
foliage grew little darker and denser, the Old
servants passed away and were replaced by
younger ones, IS three more little girls grew
to the dignity OF young womanhood. Eliza,
Juliana and Eleanora. The first two died carly
and the last is unmarried and the present owner
Of this beautiful old homestead
THE PRESENT OWNER OF MT. AIRY
Although she has been for some years, counting
her years by winters rather than by summers,
she is still handsome and intellectual woman
With her lives the last surviving of nine broth
ers, Cecilius Baltimore Calvert, q gray-haired
octogenarian, who owns an adjoining estate
My father, William, the youngest of these
nine sons, was the first to bring his young
bride, according to the custom of the day, to
this old house, and here my sister and l were
born and still another generation OF little girls
chased the butterflies from flower to flower,
hunted the birds in their nests and the woods
sent back the echoes Of merry prattle and joy-
Gus song once more. We were not so decorous
and we'll disciplined, fear. as the former gen.
erations of little people had been. for we had SO
many indulgent bachelor uncles here to spoil u.s.
Hand in hand they would walk with us every
morning through the ORCHARD, gathering for US
the choicest fruits, such delicious peaches,
grapes and pears and great red-cheeked apples.
OLD AUNT POLLY.
How well now remember old "Aurt Polly"
the octogenarian negress, who had nursed or
assisted in the nursing of these other little
girls, often reducing us to order by saying:
my little misses never did So they were little
ladies'"
$50 are we, Aunt Polly" we would indig-
nantly reply.
"Then you must behave like them"
was always "Aunt Polly's' strong argu-
ment. She was at that time too old
for actual service, SO with a silk
cloth In her hand she passed from room to
room removing any dust that had settled upon
the handsome ma hoOapy furpitura nooaoio,