Page:Autobiography of Rear Admiral Charles Wilkes.djvu/33

Rh Vegetables, as well as clothes; she alone escaped & she always spoke kindly of the treatment the officers & soldiers gave her. She was a harmless witch to them, and if they were deterred through fear of her powers, it was a happy circumstance for her.

When we parted with Mammy White, it was difficult to know what to do with me. My Sister was too much engaged at her lessons and [had] too much to do as the head of my father's house to take charge of me and no faithful nurse offered, indeed one such as Mammy White could not be found and her increasing family and occupation prevented her longer continuance in the care of me. I was just passed four years. My brothers Jno., Henry, & Ed. were at Mr Striker's school at Belleville, N.J. and it was determined that I should be put there to be under their care and that of Mrs Stryker. The Holidays had passed & they were to return. My father determined to take me himself with my brothers, and I was to be left; for a long time before, I had been always with him, taking me to his office, and there I played all day contentedly and watched for all his friends who called almost daily to see him and they always showed me attentions & brought me bonbons and Candies. I supposed I was in a fair way of being Spoilt by the notice and idleness and caused my father no little anxiety to have the care of me & greatly in his way at times. When we went home at dinner time I was then in charge of the Man Servant, Peter, who had a great penchant for teasing me. I was a round fat chubby boy with a round distended Stomach and it was one of his delights to bribe me to let him feel it, for which he was in the habit of offering me lumps of sugar. Why he took delight in this novel mode of teasing I never could understand, but I recollect I often treated him to a box on the ear or slap in the face and made a run to my father or sister for protection.

Well, it was determined that I should be of the party to take the boys to school some nine miles from New York on the Pasaic River and as I always clung to my father I was truly happy to go. We all started bag & baggage & in due time, the same day, reached Mr Stryker's. My Brothers had been there before and were warmly welcomed by their school fellows who came to greet them — but I did not like the appearance of things, not that of Mr Stryker or his wife. Mr S. was tall & spare looking and dreadfully marked with the confluent small pox and very uninviting to my eye. There were certain ominous movements that I did not quite understand, but every endeavor to get me away from my father was resisted by me and I clung to his leg with my little clasped arms. I suppose I must have begun to fear a separation from what a child would naturally observe going on around him. A great many inducements were held out to me to get me away from my father but all failed; and when I saw my father take off his gold spectacles, wipe his eyes and the glasses, my fears were aroused and it was impossible to quiet me. Finally it was held out to me that there was a blue calf in the Barn to be seen, and so pretty, it would take only a moment to go there. This staggered me, and the urging of my father induced me to go with my brother Jack to see it. I did & although it was but for a short