I never
shall forget the pleasure and surprise which these two white horses
produced in my mind when I first saw them. One of the young men who
worked in the rear of the harness store had a most beautiful tenor
voice, and it was my delight to hear him singing in school hours :--
'When in cold oblivion's shade
Beauty, wealth, and power are laid,
When, around the sculptured shrine,
Moss shall cling and ivy twine,
Where immortal spirits reign,
There shall we all meet again.'
"As my father's salary was inadequate to the wants of his large
family, the expense of my board in Hartford was provided for by a
species of exchange. Mr. Isaac D. Bull sent a daughter to Miss
Pierce's seminary in Litchfield, and she boarded in my father's family
in exchange for my board in her father's family. If my good, refined,
neat, particular stepmother could have chosen, she could not have
found a family more exactly suited to her desires. The very soul of
neatness and order pervaded the whole establishment. Mr. I. D. Bull
was a fine, vigorous, white-haired man on the declining slope of life,
but full of energy and of kindness. Mr. Samuel Collins, a neighbor who
lived next door, used to frequently come in and make most impressive
and solemn calls on Miss Mary Anne Bull, who was a brunette and a
celebrated beauty of the day. I well remember her long raven curls
falling from the comb that held them up on the top of her head.
Pages:
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52