New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-12-20

LIFE IN COLONIAL AND REVOLUTIONARY
TIMES.

l2mo. PIP 3'l. Charles Scrihners SONS
MERCY WARREN BY Alice Browr. l2mo. PIP
81. Charles Scribncrs Sons.
DOLLY MADISON BY Maud Wilder Goodwin
12mo. PIP. 2s7. Charles Scrihnors sons
The three volumes under review belong to the
pleasant series of Women of Colonial ard Rev
olutionary Times" and essay TO present mol
only portraits of the ladies whose names they
bear but also careful pictures of the social If"
of their period In this effort Mrs Ravenel -
more successful than her coadjutors for. unlike
them she has been able 10 draw upon ar eX-
ceedingly interesting collection Of family letters
and a rich store of family legends for the do
nestle details which give color and movement
to her work. She has. moreover. simple.
agreeable unobtrusive literary style and TINS
is more than can be said of Mrs. Goodwin and
Miss Brown so far as these particular books of
theirs are concerned.
The three women who are the subjects of these
biographies of widely differing types MISS
Lucas was the daughter of an English officer
Royalist Governor and was educated IN Eng
land She was already well-bred young WON
an Of many accomplishments, carefully trained
in the WAYS of the social world when her
mothers delicate health led Lieutenant Colonel
Lucas to transfer his family from the trying
climate OF the West Indies to South Carolina
plantation. The girl might have been sister to
Harriet Byron or Clarissa Harowe except that
she had vigorous common-sense and an eX-
ecutive ability which those young ladies could
not boast. Mercy Otis Warren was the child of
several generations of New England Puritans.
one who had few social graces and little sys-
tematic training. but who had unusual intel
lectual power. and who lived in an atmosphere
Of respect for intellectual things and patriotic
Mo IA, ID, hp ~
Virginian who became Mrs Madison. the easy
way in which every body has called her Dolly
defines clearly enough perhaps, the kind of
woman she was A little Quaker a country
maiden. who had a trile Of reading. writing and
arithmetic, her patent Of ladyhood was based
on a sweet nature a kind heart and enviablc
gifts Of tact and manner.
The family records left by Mrs lucas, Pinck
rey contribute to form valuable record of life
in South Carolina in the eighteenth century.
The charming young English girl became the
mainstay of her mothers household ana es-
tates when Papa Lucas went to Antigua to
rule that island for the King. She made many
successful agricultural Observation-Disclosures
larly in indigo-and conducted in prompt and
thorough fashion the business Of three large
plantations worked by many slaves. She was
withal a gentle and very feminine creature. one
or the most obedient Of daughters. and later
a most reverential wife to the mddle-aged
widower whom, in her twenty-first year. she
married. Some of the most amusing passages
in the biography are taken from the notes she
wrote 20 him in the honeymoon-notes in which
she addresses her bridegroom Dear Sir"
and quotes highly didactic lines dutfully as
cribed to Pope" She was nothing If not liter
airy and instructive. When their irst-born had
in ba CHI
ordering pedagosic material from London. and
before he was two years old he knew all his
letters and had begun to spell In after years
General Charles COtesworth Pinckney declared
that this early teaching nearly made very
stupid fellow Of him; and it observed that
he never allowed his own children to be taught
until they attained a reasonable age.
An interesting portion of this book is that
dealing with the dscomforts and dangers in
Cured by his Spartan mother during the Revo-
luton. She had long Deen a widow. and had
managed most prudently for herself and her
children the large estate left by her husband
All her training had been that OF a loyalis
but she gave advice to her sons an! at
tempted no influence In political direction and
before the end Of the war. in which they both
fought on the American side she had made their
cause her own What of their property the
steal was hardly worth mention Even the
slaves disappeared. for be il remembered that
the Kings officers turned many pretty penny
by exporting American negroes to the West
Indies. Charleston was q very uncomfortable
place for the colonial gentry At that time
Charles Pinckney's wife and children were
turned out of their house. suffering thus with
the owners of many others OF the handsomest
dwellings.
one lady. whose sister was dying upstairs
refused to illuminate according to order and
found herself on the doorstep with her infant in
her arms. Others. for some sharp speech or
angry word natural enough. poor souls had
soldiers quartered in their best rooms while
they were sent to the garrets. Two sisters who
demonstrated against some order were thrown
into the dungeon under the old postoffice with
the worst feons OF the town. 1t was no worse
treatment than is met in other wars. but
these people had dwelt In peace for many years
and the cruelties were inflicted by men who but
short time before had been their friends and
countrymen-and 1t was hard
Worse still were the oVertures Of friendship
Ladies were literally "bidden to balls II their
refusal was too marked or persistent ingenious
ways of retaliation were found Policy com
PEELED a certain very carefully guarded ac-
ceptance Of cvties.
These sufferers were the true patriots"
Then there were open British sympat hizers
country. or them there little to he said
Their side had won. and they had right to re-
joice. But there were also those weak souls
who loved amusement and could not resis, "A
pretty fellow" whether he wore blue coat or
n red one. The contemptuous scorn for these
feeble folk lasted while they lived One old lady
who must have been near a hundred when she
died "a very respectable woman, used to be
pointed out to the young people: I'VE don't
think much OF Miss X y, my dear Quite
too fond Of the British offcers.'
The plantations near the city we're raided con-
tinually. and Of one Of these descents on Pinck-
rroperfy Eliza Plncknav's dau~htar Me-