Eighty Years and More | Page 8

deeds there enacted. For all the
calamities of the nation I believed King George responsible. At home
and at school we were educated to hate the English. When we
remember that, every Fourth of July, the Declaration was read with
emphasis, and the orator of the day rounded all his glowing periods
with denunciations of the mother country, we need not wonder at the
national hatred of everything English. Our patriotism in those early
days was measured by our dislike of Great Britain.
In September occurred the great event, the review of the county militia,
popularly called "Training Day." Then everybody went to the race
course to see the troops and buy what the farmers had brought in their
wagons. There was a peculiar kind of gingerbread and molasses candy
to which we were treated on those occasions, associated in my mind to

this day with military reviews and standing armies.
Other pleasures were, roaming in the forests and sailing on the mill
pond. One day, when there were no boys at hand and several girls were
impatiently waiting for a sail on a raft, my sister and I volunteered to
man the expedition. We always acted on the assumption that what we
had seen done, we could do. Accordingly we all jumped on the raft,
loosened it from its moorings, and away we went with the current.
Navigation on that mill pond was performed with long poles, but,
unfortunately, we could not lift the poles, and we soon saw we were
drifting toward the dam. But we had the presence of mind to sit down
and hold fast to the raft. Fortunately, we went over right side up and
gracefully glided down the stream, until rescued by the ever watchful
Peter. I did not hear the last of that voyage for a long time. I was called
the captain of the expedition, and one of the boys wrote a composition,
which he read in school, describing the adventure and emphasizing the
ignorance of the laws of navigation shown by the officers in command.
I shed tears many times over that performance.
CHAPTER II.
SCHOOL DAYS.
When I was eleven years old, two events occurred which changed
considerably the current of my life. My only brother, who had just
graduated from Union College, came home to die. A young man of
great talent and promise, he was the pride of my father's heart. We
early felt that this son filled a larger place in our father's affections and
future plans than the five daughters together. Well do I remember how
tenderly he watched my brother in his last illness, the sighs and tears he
gave vent to as he slowly walked up and down the hall, and, when the
last sad moment came, and we were all assembled to say farewell in the
silent chamber of death, how broken were his utterances as he knelt and
prayed for comfort and support. I still recall, too, going into the large
darkened parlor to see my brother, and finding the casket, mirrors, and
pictures all draped in white, and my father seated by his side, pale and
immovable. As he took no notice of me, after standing a long while, I

climbed upon his knee, when he mechanically put his arm about me
and, with my head resting against his beating heart, we both sat in
silence, he thinking of the wreck of all his hopes in the loss of a dear
son, and I wondering what could be said or done to fill the void in his
breast. At length he heaved a deep sigh and said: "Oh, my daughter, I
wish you were a boy!" Throwing my arms about his neck, I replied: "I
will try to be all my brother was."
[Illustration: MARGARET LIVINGSTON CADY.] [Illustration:
JUDGE DANIEL CADY.] Then and there I resolved that I would not
give so much time as heretofore to play, but would study and strive to
be at the head of all my classes and thus delight my father's heart. All
that day and far into the night I pondered the problem of boyhood. I
thought that the chief thing to be done in order to equal boys was to be
learned and courageous. So I decided to study Greek and learn to
manage a horse. Having formed this conclusion I fell asleep. My
resolutions, unlike many such made at night, did not vanish with the
coming light. I arose early and hastened to put them into execution.
They were resolutions never to be forgotten--destined to mold my
character anew. As soon as I was dressed I hastened to our good pastor,
Rev. Simon Hosack, who was always early at work in his garden.
"Doctor," said I, "which do you like best, boys or girls?"