The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-06-08

ed Girls by Their Dearest Friend.
Clovernook, the home of the poet sis
ters, Alice and Phoebe Cary, near Gin
cinnati, has been purchased by their
life long friend, Mrs. M. Louise Thomas,
Of No. $50 Lexington avenue. New York.
1t will be preserved in the family as
Gary memorial, going down in the line
Of Mrs. Thomas's children. Her son, Abb
ner @. Thomas, we'll known lawyer OF
New York, married a niece of Alice
Gary.
1t is the plan of Mrs. Thomas to pre-
serve all the old time loveliness OF Clio
vernook by placing in it her century old
mahogany furniture, blue china, books,
revolutionary relics Of priceless value,
and making it the occasional home OF
the family.
The grandfather of Alice and Phoebe
Cary was Captain Christopher Cary. a
soldier of the Revolution who served un.
der Colonel Waite of New Hampshire.
Early in the century he emigrated to the
West, and settled upon the quarter Sec
ton of land which his grand daughters
were to make famous as "Clovernook."
the original deed from the government
is still in the possession of the family.
OF her grandfather Phoebe wrote when
she spoke of him "who shouldered his
gun when the news was heard from Lex.
ington, and laid it down when peace was
won." He was of most restless dispo-
sition, and lived for many months at
time among the Indians. His grave is
in the Cary plot in the beautiful ceme-
terry of Spring Grove, marked by the old
and the rude stone on which the quaint
epitaph he himself composed is clearly
legible:
"Stoop down my friend and view the dust
or one who turned out with the first,
To maintain the rights you hold in trust"
1t is not improbable that in him was
the talent, crude and rough, which devel-
oped in his grandchildren.
The Clovernook of today, which is an
nually visited by hundreds of the admir-
ers of the gifted poets, contains twenty
six acres, on which is substantial brick
house, to which Robert Gary, son Of
Christopher and father Of Alice and
Phoebe, removed his family when fortune
began to smile. 1t is not the "old home
stead" where the cherry trees cast their
fruitage on the roof" That was the orig
inal frame house, built in 1872, when
Robert Gary married Elizabeth Jessup,
and in which all of their nine children
were born. This was removed some years
ago to Mount Healthy, village mile
north of Clovernook, and can still be
seen there in good state of preserva-
ton.
The present home is unchanged since
the early days when the death of two
sisters and her mother cast gloom over
the spirit of Alice which she was never
able to throw aside. Some trees have
grown older, some have fallen, new ones
have been planted; but the graceful pill
lars that form porch at the south side
Of the house are as erect as ever, and the
old we'll has perennial supply of water.
Only the oaken bucket has been changed,
and Mrs. Thomas intends to replace the
sweep. 1t is her hope that another cen.
fury will still see it in its place.
The arrangements of the interior are
unaltered. Lovers of Alice Cary's verse
will involuntarily repeat as they mount
the steps to the room which was spec
tally hers:
"Im going up the winding stairs,
I'm counting all the vacant chairs.
And sadly saying they were theirs;
The brothers and sisters who no more,
Go in and OUT at the open door"
In this house the first words of en-
couragement from kindred spirits were
spoken to the young writers. Here Hor-
ace Greeley and others came to touch
their hands and bid them God speed.
Here Mrs. Thomas made their acquain-
lance in 1845 when she was living in Gin
cinnati. Here she learned to love Clo-
vernook and the sisters. They were
drawn together first by religious sympa-
thies being members of the same church.
1t is Mrs. Thomas's purpose to place in
the library many of the religious books
which they read in those early days.
A few years later. in 1851. Alice Cary
came to New York to make new home
for herself, and year later her sister
Phoebe followed. But they did not for
get the old place, and on almost every
page of their writings are references to
it. John G. Whittier remembered this