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AFLOAT AND ASHORE
which was getting to be very dull, and everybody, Rupert excepted, seemed anxious to go up the river. I had invited the
Mertons to pass part of the summer at the farm, moreover, and
it was time the invitation should be renewed, for the Major’s
physicians had advised him to choose some cooler residence
than the streets of a hot close town could furnish, during the
summer months. Emily had been so much engrossed with the
set into which she had fallen, since her landing, and which it
was easy for me to see was altogether superior to that in which
she had lived at home, that I was surprised at the readiness
with which she urged her father to redeem his promise.
“Mr. Hardinge tells me, sir, that Clawbonny is really a pretty spot,” she said, “and the country around it is thought to be
very healthy. You cannot get answers from home (she meant
England) for several months, and I know Captain Wallingford
will be happy to receive us. Besides, we are pledged to accept
this additional favour from him.”
I thought Major Merton felt some of my own surprise at
Emily’s earnestness and manner, but his resistance was very
feeble. The old gentleman’s health, indeed, was pretty thoroughly undermined, and I began to have serious doubts of his
living even to return to Europe. He had some relatives in Boston, and had opened a correspondence with them, and I had
thought, more than once, of the expediency of apprising them
of his situation. At present however nothing better could be
done than to get him into the country.
Having made all the arrangements with the others, I went
to persuade Rupert to be of the party, for I thought it would
make both Grace and Lucy so much the happier.
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
“Miles, my dear fellow,” said the young student, gaping,
“Clawbonny is certainly a capitalish place, but, you will admit
it is somewhat stupid after New York. My good kinswoman,
Mrs. Bradfort, has taken such a fancy to us all, and has made
me so comfortable – would you believe it, boy, she has actually given me six hundred a year, for the last two years, besides
making Lucy presents fit for a queen. A sterling woman is she,
this cousin Margaret of ours!”
I heard this, truly, not without surprise; for, in settling with
my owners, I found Rupert had drawn every cent to which he
was entitled, under the orders I had left when I last went to
sea.
As Mrs. Bradfort was more than at her ease, however, had
no nearer relative than Mr. Hardinge, and was much attached
to the family, I had no difficulty in believing it true, so far as
the lady’s liberality was concerned. I heartily wished Rupert
had possessed more self-respect; but he was, as he was!
“I am sorry you cannot go with us,” I answered, “for I counted on you to help amuse the Mertons – ”
“The Mertons! – Why, surely, they are not going to pass the
summer at Clawbonny!”
“They quit town with us, to-morrow. Why should not the
Mertons pass the summer at Clawbonny?”
“Why, Miles, my dear boy, you know how it is with the
world – how it is with these English, in particular. They think
everything of rank, you know, and are devotees of style and
appearance, and all that sort of thing, you know, as no one
understands better than myself; for I pass most of my time in
the English set, you know.”
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AFLOAT AND ASHORE
I did not then understand what had come over Rupert,
though it is all plain enough to me, now. He had, truly enough,
got into what was then called the English set. Now, there is
no question, that, so far as the natives, themselves, were concerned, this was as good a set as ever existed in his country;
and, it is also beyond all cavil, that many respectable English
persons, of both sexes, were occasionally found in it; but, it
had this great defect: – every Englishman who wore a good
coat, and had any of the slang of society, made his way into
the outskirts, at least, of this set; and Rupert, whose own position was not yet thoroughly confirmed, had fallen a great deal
into the association of these accidental comers and goers. They
talked large, drank deep, and had a lofty disdain for everything
in the country, though it was very certain they were just then
in much better company where they were, than they had ever
been at home. Like most tyroes, Rupert fancied these blustering gentry persons to imitate; and, as they seldom conversed
ten minutes without having something to say of my Lord A –
– or Sir John B – – , persons they had read of, or seen in the
streets, he was weak enough to imagine they knew all about
the dignitaries of the British Empire. As Rupert was really a
gentleman, and had good manners naturally, it was a grievous
thing to see him fashioning himself anew, as it might be, on
such very questionable models,
“Clawbonny is not a stylish place, I am ready to allow,” I
answered, after a moment of hesitation; “still it is respectable.
There is a good farm, a valuable mill, and a good, old, comfortable, straggling, stone house.”
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
“Very true, Miles, my dear fellow, and all as dear to me, you
know, as the apple of my eye – but farmish – young ladies like
the good things that comes from farms, but do not admire the
homeliness of the residence. I speak of young English ladies,
in particular. Now, you see, Major Merton is a field-officer,
and that is having good rank in a respectable profession, you
know – I suppose you understand, Miles, that the king puts
most of his sons into the army, or navy – all this makes a difference, you understand?”
“I understand nothing about it; what is it to me where the
king of England puts his sons?”
“I wish, my dear Miles, if the truth must be said, that you
and I had been a little less boyish, when we were boys, than
happened to be the case. It would have been all the better for
us both.”
“Well, I wish no such thing. A boy should be a boy, and a
man a man. I am content to have been a boy, while I was a boy.
It is a fault in this country, that boys fancy themselves men too
soon.”
“Ah! my dear fellow, you will not, or do not understand me.
What I mean is, that we were both precipitate in the choice of
a profession – I retired in time, but you persevere; that is all.”
“You did retire in season, my lad, if truth is what you are
after; for, had you staid a hundred years on board ship, you
never would have made a sailor.”
When I said this, I fancied I had uttered a pretty severe
thing. Rupert took it so coolly, however, as to satisfy me at
once, that he thought differently on the subject.
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AFLOAT AND ASHORE
“Clearly, it is not my vocation. Nature intended me for
something better, I trust, and I mistook a boyish inclination
for a taste. A little experience taught me better, and I am now
where I feel I ought to be. I wish, Miles, you had come to the
study of the law, at the time you went to sea. You would have
been, by this time, at the bar, and would have had a definite
position in society.”
“I am very glad I did not. What the deuce should I have
done as a lawyer – or what advantage would it have been to
me, to be admitted to the bar?”
“Advantage! – Why, my dear fellow, every advantage in the
world. You know how it is, in this country, I suppose, in the
way of society, my dear Miles?”
“Not I – and, by the little I glean from the manner you
sheer about in your discourse, I wish to know nothing. Do
young men study law merely to be genteel?”
“Do not despise knowledge, my boy; it is of use, even in
trifles. Now, in this country, you know, we have very few men
of mere leisure – heirs of estates, to live on their incomes, as is
done in Europe; but, nine-tenths of us must follow professions,
of which there are only half-a-dozen suitable for a gentleman.
The army and navy are nothing, you know; two or three regiments scattered about in the woods, and half-a-dozen vessels.
After these, there remain the three learned professions, divinity, law and physic. In our family, divinity has run out, I fear. As
for physic, ‘throw physic to the dogs,’ as Miss Merton says – ”
“Who?” I exclaimed, in surprise. “‘Throw physic to the
dogs’ – why that is Shakspeare, man!”
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
“I know it, and it is Miss Emily Merlon’s, too. You have
made us acquainted with a charming creature, at least, Miles,
by this going to sea. Her notions on such subjects are as accurate as a sun-dial.”
“And, has Miss Emily Merton ever conversed with you, on
the subject of my profession, Rupert?”
“Indeed, she has; and regretted it, again and again. You
know as well as I do, Miles, to be a sailor, other than in a navy,
is not a genteel profession!”
I broke out into a fit of laughter, at this remark. It struck
me as infinitely droll, and as somewhat silly. I knew my precise
position in society, perfectly; had none of the silly swaggering about personal merit, and of “one man’s being as good as
another,” that has since got into such general use among us;
and understood perfectly the useful and unavoidable classifications that take place in all civilized communities, and which,
while they are attended by certain disadvantages as exceptions,
produce great benefits as a whole, and was not disposed at all
to exaggerate my claims, or to deny my deficiencies. But, the
idea of attaching any considerations of gentility to my noble,
manly, daring profession, sounded so absurd, I could not avoid
laughing. In a few moments, however, I became grave.
“Harkee, Rupert,” said I: “I trust Miss Merton does not
think I endeavoured to mislead her as to my true position, or
to make her think I was a greater personage than I truly am?”
“I’ll not answer for that. When we were first acquainted, I
found she had certain notions about Clawbonny, and your es-
tate, and all that, which were rather English, you know. Now,
in England an estate gives a man a certain consideration,
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AFLOAT AND ASHORE
whereas land is so plenty with us, that we think nothing of
the man who happens to own a little of it. Stock, in America, as
it is so much nearer ready-money, is a better thing than land,
you know.”
How true was this, even ten years since; how false is it today! The proprietor of tens of thousands of acres, was, indeed,
under the paper-money regime, a less important man than
the owner of a handful of scrip, which has had all its value
squeezed out of it, little by little. That was truly the age when
the representative of property was of far more importance
than the property itself; and all because the country existed in
a fever, that set everything in motion. We shall see just such
times, again, I fear.
“But what had Emily Merton to do with all this?”
“Miss Merton? Oh! she is English, you know, and felt as
English persons always do, at the sound of acres. I set it all
right, however, and you need be under no concern.”
“The devil you did! And, pray, in what manner was this
done? How was the matter set right?”
Rupert took the segar from his mouth, suffered the smoke
to issue, by a small, deliberate jet, cocking his nose up at the
same time as if observing the stars, and then deigned to give
me an answer. Your smokers have such a disdainful, ultraphilosophical manner, sometimes!
“Why, just in this way, my fine fellow. I told her Clawbonny
was a farm, and not an estate, you know; that did a good deal, of
itself. Then, I entered into an explanation of the consideration
of farmers in this country, you know, and made it all as plain
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
as A B C. She is a quick girl, is Emily, and takes a thing remarkably soon.”
“Did Miss Merton say anything to induce you to suppose
she thought the less of me, for these explanations.”
“Of course not – she values you, amazingly – quite worships you, as a sailor – thinks you a sort of merchant-captain
Nelson, or Blake, or Truxtun, and all that sort of thing. All
young ladies, however, are exceedingly particular about professions, I suppose you know, Miles, as well as I do myself.”
“What, Lucy, Rupert? – Do you imagine Lucy cares a straw
about my not being a lawyer, for instance?”
“Do I? – out of all question. Don’t you remember how the
girls wept – Grace as well as Lucy – when we went to sea, boy.
It was all on account of the ungentility of the profession, if a
fellow can use such a word.”
I did not believe this, for I knew Grace better, to say the
least; and thought I understood Lucy sufficiently, at that time,
to know she wept because she was sorry to see me go away.
Still, Lucy had grown from a very young girl, since I sailed in
the Crisis, into a young woman, and might view things differently, now, from what she had done three years before. I had
not time, however, for further discussion at that moment, and
I cut the matter short.
“Well, Rupert, what am I to expect?” I asked; “Clawbonny,
or no Clawbonny?”
“Why, now you say the Mertons are to be of the party I suppose I shall have to go; it would be inhospitable else. I do wish,
Miles, you would manage to establish visiting relations with
some of the families on the other side of the river. There are
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AFLOAT AND ASHORE
plenty of respectable people within a few hours’ sail of Clawbonny.”
“My father, and my grandfather, and my great-grand-father, managed, as you call it, to get along, for the last hundred
years, well enough on the west side; and, although we are not
quite as genteel as the east, we will do well enough. The Wallingford sails early in the morning, to save the tide; and I hope
your lordship will turn out in season, and not keep us waiting.
If you do, I shall be ungenteel enough to leave you behind.”
I left Rupert with a feeling in which disgust and anger were
blended. I wish to be understood, more particularly as I know I
am writing for a stiff-necked generation. I never was guilty of
the weakness of decrying a thing because I did not happen to
possess it myself. I knew my own place in the social scale perfectly; nor was I, as I have just said, in the least inclined to fancy that one man was as good as another. I knew very well that
this was not true, either in nature or in the social relations; in
political axioms, any more than in political truths. At the same
time, I did not believe nature had created men unequal, in the
order of primogeniture from male to male. Keeping in view
all the facts, I was perfectly disposed to admit that habits, education, association, and sometimes chance and caprice, drew
distinctions that produced great benefits, as a whole; in some
small degree qualified, perhaps, by cases of individual injustice.
This last exception, however, being applicable to all things human, it had no influence on my opinions, which were sound
and healthful on all these points; practical, common-senselike, and in conformity with the decisions of the world from
the time of Moses down to our own, or, I dare say, of Adam
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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
himself, if the truth could be known; and, as I have said more
than once in these rambling memoir’s, I was not disposed to
take a false view of my own social position. I belonged, at most,
to the class of small proprietors, as they existed in the last century, and filled a very useful and respectable niche between
the yeoman and gentleman, considering the last strictly in reference to the upper class of that day. Now, it struck me that
Emily Merton, with her English notions, might very well draw
the distinctions Rupert had mentioned; nor am I conscious of
having cared much about it, though she did. If I were a less important person on terra firma, with all the usages and notions
of ordinary society producing their influence, than I had been
when in command of the Crisis, in the centre of the Pacific, so
was Miss Merton a less important young lady, in the midst of
the beauty of New York, than she had been in the isolation
of Marble Land. This I could feel very distinctly. But Lucy’s
supposed defection did more than annoy me. I felt humbled,
mortified, grieved. I had always known that Lucy was better
connected than I was myself, and I had ever given Rupert and
her the benefit of this advantage, as some offset to my own and
Grace’s larger means; but it had never struck me that either
the brother or sister would be disposed to look down upon us
in consequence. The world is everywhere – and America, on
account of its social vicissitudes, more than most other countries – constantly exhibiting pictures of the struggles between
fallen consequence and rising wealth. The last may, and does
have the best of it, in the mere physical part of the strife; but
in the more moral, if such a word can be used, the quiet ascendency of better manners and ancient recollections is very apt to
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