Oliver Ellsworth

“ Hoffman, (the attorney-general of New-York) contended that the notice was reasonable in relation to its present object; though it might not be sufficient for re-quiring the defendant to put in an answer, or demurrer, to the bill. The injunction prayed for, is not a perpetual one, but only till answer, and further order of the Court. Nor ought the section of the act of congress to be ex-tended by construction; for, a universal application of the rule, would be unreasonable, and, in many cases, enable the party to defeat the very purpose of an injunction. ”

“ The prohibition con-tained in the statute, that writs of injunction shall not be granted, without reasonable notice to the adverse party, or his attorney, extends to injunctions granted by the Supreme Court, or the Circuit Court, as well to those that may be granted by a single Judge. ”

“ It is a fundamental principle of the law of nature and of nations, that every government is bound to preserve peace and order, to protect individu-als, to indemnify those who trust to its faith, and to pre-vent a dismemberment of its territory. This political and moral obligation, enforced by a regard to her public im-provements, and fiscal operations, creates an interest of the highest character in the government of New-York; and such as the Court will cherish will all its benevo-lence and authority. ”

“ But this Court has a constitu-tional jurisdiction on a question of boundary between states; and, upon such an occasion, will be eager to exercise it. The interest of New-York, too, is sufficient to justify the exercise of it, upon her application. The right and possession of a sovereign state, are not to be treated like the usufructuary right, the possessio pedis, of a farmer. A sovereign state possesses what she governs. ”

“ The agreement, indeed, only gives the equitable title to New-York; while the plaintiffs below possess the legal title, and must, of course, recover in the ejectments. A specific performance of the agree-ment being decreed against Connecticut, would not be an adequate and complete remedy; and all parties in interest, however remote, must be brought before the court, or they cannot be affected by its proceedings. 2d. It will prevent a multiplicity of suits. The bill is emphatically a bill of peace ”

“ One party to the suit, does not require it from another; but a third person re-quires it, in a suit, to which he is not a party, and the de-cision in which cannot affect his right, whatever it may be.
n3 ELLSWORTH, Chief Justice. If the bill contains no averment of a right of soil in New-York, I think it must be defective, and lays no foundation for an injunction. To have the benefit of the agreement between the states, the defen-dants below (who are the settlers of New-York) must apply to a court of equity as well as the state herself ”

“ Olive and Ela said I had nothing fit to wear at Ellsworth."
"I have never seen a prettier or more becoming gown than the one you have on now," he replied, with an approving glance at her crisp, freshly laundered blue linen, while he added: "We have some very nice young men in the neighborhood of Ellsworth, and I am sure they will all fall in love with you at sight." ”

“ It is a bill for the dis-covery of title, which parties in interest, as well as parties in possession, may certainly maintain. 1 Vez. 249. n1 4th. It is a bill to [4 U.S. 4] settle a question of bound-ary between two states. ”

“ Ferris said very kindly.
“Then—I don't mind being teased.”
“Hear, hear!” cried a chorus. “Bravo!”
“But you, might mind your husband being teased, don't you see?” cried Elsie swiftly.
“No, no!”
I said. “That's all right.”
“Oh! You don't matter, you young reprobate!” said Villiers. “It's Mrs. Grant.”
“I am sure that Mr. Ferris would not write anything unkind,” said Omi; “and I—I expect Jimmy deserves it! Please!”
“Rule 1,” cried Mrs. Harraden, the authoress. She meant that Omi was nice; and they all clapped.
So Lanebury stole to the piano and played soft music, and Elsie stood up. ”

“ I claimed; and so did several others; but Elsie shook her head and whispered to Lanebury; and then she sat down and he stood up.
“I appeal to you, on behalf of my——” he paused.
“Client?” some one suggested.
“My Elsie,” he said, with the sudden smile that the critics praise. “She would very much like to give you the sketch, because she is exceedingly pleased with it; but she thinks that it would be a breach of Rule 2—that members should be nice to other members. I think so, too.”
“Rule 3 is against you, Ted,” Ferris observed. “'Members must put up with teasing,' you know.” ”

“ She was on the stage to keep an invalid mother and an invalid sister; but she was a lady—and a little brick! There was only one man in the world to Elsie—and he wasn't I!—but Omi did not know that; and I believe now that her real objection to the clan was that Elsie called me “Jimmy”!
“You'd like them all when you knew them, Omi,” I declared; “and they were good to me—jolly good! If they thought I'd cut them, and didn't ask us again! You must go next time, Omi; there's a good girl!” ”

“ To Miss Ellsworth, who came in later, hurried and amazed, she was inexplicable. She had travelled much, this successful, ordinary woman, and she was well educated, as women count such matters to-day; but this quiet spinster, sitting out of the strong currents of life, alone in her quaint, old-time parlor with its rose-leaves and mahogany of another day, had somehow left her behind with all her experiences and acquisitions, and bade her good-by with a manner that obliterated forever from her friend's mind the image of deprecating gentleness she had so long patronized. ”

“ Ellsworth had had so many triumphs, that she regarded this one as only her due—a reward of her clever plotting, as it were.
The removal of Love to a sanitarium would be a great relief to her mind; and she jumped at the proposition with [198] alacrity, even twitting the old doctor with her superior judgment.
"I told you all along that you were foolish ever to expect his recovery, and you see I was right."
"The women are always right," he replied, gallantly, in his joy at having gained his point. ”

“ Her victim winced, and she saw that he felt the sting implied.
“Just now, with the omniscience of my fraternity, I am in a position to know the list of guests expected at Mrs. Ellison’s dinner for her débutante daughter to-night. Not only are Mr. and Mrs. Arden Farnsworth to be there, but Mr. Thomas Oliver himself, who is in town stopping with his sister for a few days.”
“The devil he is!” cried Carmichael, much perturbed. ”

“ I am proud of Oliver. He has made a place for himself in public life. Men like him—he has hosts of men friends; and his relatives are all suitable people. He has been able to provide amply and even lavishly for the comfort of his family, and has given us the advantage of years of foreign travel and residence. He cares a good deal for appearances; but so do I. He likes to live expensively; but he knows how to live. And he is never, like so many men with careers, too busy to live or to let other people live unless they can be swept into the stream of the monster’s ambition. ”

“ There was a chance this way ... one chance ... the only chance, not alone of saving his own life and clearing his own name, but of bringing to justice the inhuman fiends who had taken David Ellsworth’s life ... there was a chance ... one chance ... this way ... that someone would pay ... if he, Billy Kane, lived, that someone would pay!
There came a short, curt shout from behind him, an imperative order to halt. He had gained the courtyard now, and was running along the garage driveway, heading for the street. ”

“ Her first school! It does not, indeed, promise that wide field she has so long coveted; the conditions are straight, the capabilities rather narrow; but [120] after all, it will serve for a time. Why it served so short a time—but one school term, in all,—may be gleaned from the continuation of the correspondence:
"I confide in you," Oliver writes in September, "as I do in my own kin. The plain truth is that you seem much nearer to me than some of my kindred who are ever opposing my humble work. I am thankful that I ever met you, and that we have learned to sympathize with each other. ”

“ Both girls were handsome and stylish in their way—Olive, a tall, dark, haughty brunette of twenty-four, while Ela Craye was twenty-two, pretty and delicate-looking, with a waxen skin, thick brown hair, and limpid, long-lashed gray eyes. Each girl cherished a hope of winning the rich and handsome heir of Ellsworth, and they feared the rivalry of a girl as fresh and lovely as the morning, and with the rounded slenderness of eighteen, piquant features, rose-leaf complexion, delicious dimples, a wealth of curling golden hair, and large, deep, violet-blue eyes full of soul and tenderness. ”

“ So here at May's Lick is a battle for daily bread, while Oliver, at Harrodsburg, battles for daily Latin and Greek.
Nor is this time of stress without its element of heroism. One might pause in the narrative to show the young University student in danger of his life, on the occasion of one of his [83] home-comings. A drunken soldier, having robbed William Carr of his horse, is about to shoot the hotel-keeper because he is a "Southerner." Oliver leaps between, fastens his gaze upon the infuriated face, holds out his defenceless arms, and saves his father's life. ”

“ It is difficult for those of the present day to understand what a wave of intense emotion spread over the land when Ellsworth was killed, but they can secure some idea of it by observing what a number of living men bear the name Elmer E. He was young, courageous and attractive, and became one of the earliest sacrifices offered up to the moloch of slavery. ”

“ This grandson of Evart J., the father of Oliver, was placed, while in his minority, under the care of Mr. John Mico, an eminent merchant in Boston, and was trained up to mercantile business. He afterwards became settled in Boston as a merchant, and was very prosperous. He was highly respected in the town and province; and, among other offices, was repeatedly employed by the government in the negotiation of treaties, and exchange of prisoners, with the Indians. He married Sarah Oliver, the daughter of Dr. James Oliver of Cambridge, and lived in School street, near the Episcopal church. ”

“ Back at the workhouse, old Mrs. Thingummy, the only one who remembers the death of Oliver's mother, is herself dying.
"In this very bed, a woman gave birth to a boy. He was called Oliver."
"I stole this locket. The only thing she had. Gold it is."
Mrs. Corney realizes that the gold locket may have belonged to a wealthy lady.
He hopes to find a hiding place where nobody, not even Mr. Bumble, could ever find him.
LONDON
75-M
The passing stranger tempts Oliver to see how far this idle young drudge can run for a ha'penny. ”

“ One night I must have died of cold (for my watchcoat was frozen like a deal board, and the flesh of my fingers stuck to the barrel of my firelock) , but for your father, Master Oliver. He gave me his blanket to wrap round me, and shared with me the contents of a canteen, as I to-day am proud to do with you. God bless him, he had the heart to feel for a poor comrade. I remember the storming of Skenesborough, when he got that ugly knock on the head. We were in brigade with the old '9th and 20th.' I volunteered for the forlorn hope; for being a bit of a devil, I always went for anything desperate ”

“ Then Oliver rose. At last, at last! the privilege was his to speak to these dear people, words of eternal life. As he looked into their kindly faces, he too, was overcome by emotion. Minute after minute passed by, and he could but weep, while the faces of his audience, bathed in tears, told him that the yearning of his heart was understood. It seems wonderful when a celebrated man rises to address an audience, and, for ten minutes, stands dumb before tireless applause. ”

“ Presently they pass the little school-house where Oliver learned his first lesson, his a b c's the first day; the second day it was a-b ab, and the University student sees himself, barefoot and tiny, trudging up to the doorway that looked so large to him then. It is hard for him to believe that little boy himself. The years at May's Lick Academy have come since then, and the years at Harrodsburg, and now the prospect of years at Lexington. He is already so removed from that little boy, and all the world of that little boy, so removed in life-purposes, in eternal desires! ”

“ And, like a man of honor, he proposes to stand by his engagement--unless, of course, you release him.
"Now, if I were in your place, I should expect to consider such a matter not as affecting myself only, but in its relation to society--and the community. Our first duty is to Society. We owe it everything, and we must not act selfishly toward it. Consider Oliver's position. He has his foot on the political ladder. Every session his influence in Parliament increases. His speech to-night was--as I hear from a man who has just come from the debate--the most brilliant he has yet made. ”

“ I wish sumpin' could be done to git that poor young wife her rights, and I'm willin' to spend time and money helpin' ef I only knew which end to begin at! Them wimmen at Ellsworth ought to be tarred and feathered and rid on a fence rail, I swow! But likely they'll make it hot for any one as tries to bring home their sins to 'em. ”

“ He led the way into the suite and struck a match. One solitary candle had been left upon the mantel shelf. Ralph thought that this had been overlooked, but his mother afterwards set him right about that. Mrs. Van Kamp had cleverly left it so that the Ellsworths could see how dreadfully bare the place was. One candle in three rooms is drearier than darkness anyhow.
Mrs. Ellsworth took in all the desolation, the dismal expanse of the now enormous apartments, the shabby walls, the hideous bright spots where pictures had hung, the splintered flooring, the great, gaunt windows—and she gave in. ”