Mrs. Adams

“ But she disclaimed the fact with some heat.
"I was simply there," she explained. "When the crisis came, when this young creature learned that her husband had left suddenly for New York in the company of two men, then—why then, it became apparent to every one that a woman should be at her side who understood her case and the extremity in which she found herself. And I was that woman."
"You are always that woman," he gallantly replied, "if by the phrase you mean being in the right place at the right time. So you are already acquainted with Mrs. Adams's story?" ”

“ To avoid being dependent on the man, who was often away driving the doctor upon his rounds, Mrs. Adams had learned to harness Job herself, and nearly every pleasant day she could be seen buckling the straps and fastening him into the carriage, while the old creature stood quiet, rubbing his head against her shoulder, now and then, with a gentle, caressing motion, or turning suddenly to pretend to snap at Polly, who was much in awe of him, and then throwing up his head and showing his teeth, in a scornful laugh at her fear. ”

“ This work exhibits her as a writer in advance of her age. Its sound judgment and careful research, with its vigorous style, give it a high and lasting value. Her portraiture of Mr. Adams gave offense to the great statesman, which, for a time, threatened to interrupt the affectionate relations between the two families. But after a sharp correspondence, it was amicably settled, and as a token of reconciliation, Mrs. Adams sent her friend a ring containing her own and her husband's hair. This is now in possession of one of Mrs. Warren's descendants. ”

“ Adams; he was alone in the midst of a large circle which was formed around him. His countenance was as open and modest as usual. Every instant persons pressed through the crowd to offer him their congratulations, which he received without embarrassment, and replied to by a cordial shake of the hand. At some distance, in the midst of a group of ladies, was Mrs. Adams. She appeared to be radiant with joy; but it was easy to be seen that she was more pleased at the personal triumph of her husband than for the advantages or pleasures that would result to herself. ”

“ This would not have suited either Abigail or John Adams. Their tastes were simple, their minds set on far other things than clothes. Mrs. Adams was always neat and trim in her dress, never extravagant or ostentatious. Whether in the little Braintree farmhouse, at the Court of St. James, or as Lady of the White House, she was always the same—simple, modest, dignified: an example and an inspiration to all around her.
The first ten years of her married life were passed happily and quietly, partly in Braintree, partly in Boston, whither Mr. Adams' increasing law practice often called him. ”

“ Praise from one of your skill and standing is more worth having than anything else I can think of."
Her words carried fresh doubt and despair to Adams's heart. "It can't be possible," he thought, "that such a woman would care, could care, for me and my love. And yet, I must know, I must know before this day ends."
They returned to their car and found it deserted. Adams waited while Elizabeth went to the dressing-room to remove the stains of her afternoon's work. ”

“ CHAPTER VIII.
_A discourse which happened between Mr Adams, Mrs Adams, Joseph, and
Fanny; with some behaviour of Mr Adams which will be called by some few
readers very low, absurd, and unnatural._
The parson and his wife had just ended a long dispute when the lovers
came to the door. Indeed, this young couple had been the subject of the
dispute; for Mrs Adams was one of those prudent people who never do
anything to injure their families, or, perhaps, one of those good
mothers who would even stretch their conscience to serve their children. ”

“ She was silently gazing before her. 'Rosy,' I said, 'Rosebud,' rubbing my cheek softly against hers, 'I would do anything, if it were only true, to make you happy. I would marry you tomorrow if it were not for those ... those words that would be so false in my mouth, that I could not utter them. I could not do that. But there are other ways of marrying people, now I think of it. I will find out about them. Then, you see, you would be my wife: I mean, as far as having my name; so that no one could think or say anything against you.' (She was shaking her head.) ”

“ She’s the lady that’s going to marry Doctor Waring, the new President. And Pinckney Payne, her cousin, is a mighty nice boy.”
Mrs. Adams thought she detected an expression of wavering on the girl’s face, and she followed up her advantage.
“Yes, he’s an awfully nice chap and just about your age, I should judge.”
“I’ll go down,” said Miss Austin, briefly, and Mrs. Adams indulged in a sly smile of satisfaction.
“It’s Pinky that fetched her,” she thought to herself. “Young folks are young folks, the world over.”
Triumphantly, Mrs. Adams ushered Anita into the small parlor. ”

“ When she left New York, she had meant to be a mere spectator in Washington. Had it entered her head that she could be drawn into any project of a second marriage, she never would have come at all, for she was proud of her loyalty to her husband's memory, and second marriages were her abhorrence. In her restlessness and solitude, she had forgotten this; she had only asked whether any life was worth living for a woman who had neither husband nor children. Was the family all that life had to offer? could she find no interest outside the household? ”

“ Adams was her own model for the numerous illustrations used in the volume, and in this, as throughout the work, she had an invaluable critic in the person of her mother, who is also a graduate of the Boston School of Oratory. One distinguishing trait of Mrs. Adams' character is her great love for animals, not confined to a few pampered pets, but extended to the whole brute creation. Her personal appearance is pleasing. She is youthful looking and is fond of society in which she has ever been a general favorite. ”

“ And kiss the one he loves best.'"
Like most sensible mothers, Mrs. Adams had a horror of anything like kissing games; and now she frowned a little, in spite of herself. No one of the V, she felt sure, would have pronounced this fine. She turned to glance at Alan who stood for a moment, blushing as his eye moved over the group. Then he walked up to Polly and bowed low, passed on to Katharine's chair where he dropped on one knee, and then, walking straight to Mrs. Adams, he bent down and kissed her cheek with a heartiness which was not all play. ”

“ A strong fit of hysterics, into which Mary Charles worked herself, was terminated by a scene of the most painful kind, her father being upbraided by her mother with "loving other people's children better than his own," while the curate himself knelt by the side of his betrothed, assuring her of his unaltered affection. From such a scene Miss Adams hastened with a throbbing brow and a bursting heart. She had no one to counsel or console her; no one to whom she could apply for aid. ”

“ The ordinary occupations of the female sex are necessarily of a kind which must ever prevent it from partaking largely of the action of life. However keenly women may think or feel, there is seldom an occasion when the sphere of their exertions can with propriety be extended much beyond the domestic hearth or the social circle. Exactly here are they to be seen most in their glory. Three or four years passed whilst Mrs. Adams was living in the utmost seclusion of country life, during which, on account of the increasing vigilance of British cruisers, she very seldom heard from her husband. ”

“ Robert Morris, and Mrs. Adams,—while in a younger group were Mrs. Rufus King, who is described as singularly handsome, Mrs. Gerry, Mrs. George Clinton, Mrs. William Smith, John Adams’s daughter, Mrs. Walter Livingston, whom General Washington had once entertained, in rustic style, when encamped near New York, and, not the least attractive among these lovely dames, Mrs. John Jay, a daughter of Governor Livingston, who shared with Mrs. William Bingham, of Philadelphia, the distinction of being called the most beautiful and charming woman in America. ”

“ The maternal solicitude of Mrs. Adams relieved itself in part by writing letters to her son filled with the warmest affection and the most wise counsel. She urges it upon him “to adhere to those religious sentiments and principles which were early instilled into your mind, and remember that you are accountable to your Maker for all your words and actions. Great learning and superior abilities, should you ever possess them, will be of little value and small estimation, unless virtue, honor, truth, and integrity, are added to them. ”

“ Mrs Adams, however, does not join. Besides being considerably older than her husband, that good woman has become prematurely short-sighted and deaf. This being so, she sits in a corner, not inappropriately, to act the part of grandmother to the players, and to serve as an occasional buffer to such of the children as are hurled against her. ”

“ When Adams saw her in the autumn, he discovered the change almost with the first touch of her hand. Not only the outward form, but the indwelling intellect was alive again, and all that reminded him of her past anguish were a deeper earnestness in her smile and a faint powdering of silver on the dark wing-like waves of her hair. That veiled joy which is the expression of the soul that has found peace shone in her face with a radiance which if less bright was to him more beautiful than the sparkling energy she had lost. ”

“ She stood, with her hands joined in front of her, holding the bag, and looked down at me.
'You've been very ill, sir,' she said, and gave her head a shake.
'I assure you, madam, that you are mistaken. I have just woken up.—"Abou ben Adhem, may his tribe increase," and so on.'
'You have been insensible for on two days,' she said.
I stared at her round shadowed eyes. She nodded her head, and, I saw, smiled at me.
'—Insensible?... Why I have never fainted in my life.' I saw an open letter on the table-cloth in that dusky light. ”

“ I feared so this morning.' What sorrow was in me for her was given in the words here.
'And where have you been all this while?' she said, looking up,—'if I may ask?'
I bowed my head.
'I left Glastonbury last February. I was in London for a little, and then in Paris for a little, and then in London again till now.'
'Perhaps,' he said, 'Mr. Leicester would go with you? You must have a great deal to say to one another after so long and so silent a separation?' I saw, or thought I saw, that she did not desire that I should go with her. Half-hesitation of hers was not enough to entice me. ”

“ Do not tell him this, but tell him the impression he has made on Adams" (Adams was the manager at Ingleby) "is not a satisfactory one; and Adams is a man whose opinions I hold very high. Tell him he is having the chance of his life; warn him not to abuse it."
He was still trampling the poor woman's heart beneath the prancings of his own eloquence, when the ringing of the street-door bell created a diversion.
Downstairs went Miss Bessie, her fair hair ruffled, her cheek flushed from its pressure upon her pillow, to take in, as she imagined, in the absence of Emily, the afternoon's milk. ”

“ Beside spinning, weaving and making all the clothing, Mrs. Adams and her maids must make all the soap for the family; this was a regular part of the housewife's duty, and a disagreeable part it was.
"You inquire of me," she writes, "whether I am making saltpetre. I have not yet attempted it, but after soap-making believe I shall make the experiment. I find as much as I can do to manufacture clothing for my family, which would else be naked."
Many women were making saltpetre for the gunpowder; let us hope they had fewer other necessary occupations than Mrs. Adams. ”

“ Adams returned to Quincy, Massachusetts, where she lived in retirement, surrounded by her children and relatives, until her death, on the 14th of May, 1852. She was buried beside her husband in the family burying place. She is remembered as one of the most remarkable women who has ever graced the White House and other exalted positions as a fine representative American woman. ”

“ Adams resided at Quincy. Cheerful and retaining the possession of her faculties to the last, she enlivened the social circle about her, and solaced the solitary hours of her husband. She lived long enough to see the seeds of virtue and knowledge which she had planted in the minds of her children, spring up and ripen into maturity; to receive a recompense, in addition to the consciousness of duty performed, for her anxiety and labors, in the respect and honors which her eldest son received from his countrymen. ”

“ These papers, doubtless, Portia sent regularly to her John, who received them as often as Fate or the enemy allowed.
Now and then Mrs. Adams took her chaise and went into town to make some visits in Boston or Cambridge.
"Present my compliments to Mr. Dana," she writes. "Tell him I have called upon his lady, and we enjoyed an afternoon of sweet communion. I find she would not be averse to taking a voyage, should he be continued abroad. She groans most bitterly, and is irreconcilable to his absence. I am a mere philosopher to her. I am inured, but not hardened, to the painful portion. ”

“ I’m not a marrying man—now. I had my dream;—you’ll not think the worse of me, Mrs. Morland,—it’s over. But I can fancy what a difference it would make out yonder, if there were a kindly, gracious gentlewoman in authority. As for Miss Frances, she’d just be the light of the place. Last of all, I’d like to say that our exile—for so it is to every son of Old England—needn’t be for always. When Jim and I had made our pile,—and we’d try to be quick about it,—we’d all come home again; in time, maybe, for Austin to keep his terms at Oxford. ”