to Viscount Henry Gage, a
relative of the British General. The English nobleman who was familiar
with the Quaker poet seemed highly pleased to own the picture and
commented favorably upon the firm expression of the mouth and chin of
this celebrated woman.

Army officers were frequently stationed at Cold Spring to inspect the
guns cast at the Kemble foundry. Among these I recall with much pleasure
Major Alfred Mordecai of the Ordnance Corps. He was a highly efficient
officer and previous to the Civil War rendered conspicuous service to
his country. He was a Southerner and at the beginning of the war is said
to have requested the War Department to order him to some duty which did
not involve the killing of his kinsmen. His request was denied and his
resignation followed.

In the midst of the Civil War, after a protracted absence from the
country in China, I arrived in New York, and one of the first items of
news that was told me was that the West Point foundry was casting guns
for the Confederacy. I speedily learned that this rumor was altogether
unfounded. It seems that some time before the beginning of hostilities
the State of Georgia ordered some small rifled cannon from the West
Point foundry with the knowledge and consent of the Chief of the
Ordnance Department, General Alexander B. Dyer. Colonel William J.
Hardee, then Commandant-of-Cadets, was selected to inspect these guns
before delivery; but when they were finished the war-cloud had grown to
such proportions that Robert P. Parrott, the head of the foundry at the
time, Gouverneur Kemble having retired from active business eight or ten
years previously, refused to forward them. They lay at the foundry for
some time, and were afterwards bought by private parties from New York
City and presented to the government, thereby doing active service
against the Confederacy. In his interesting book recently published
entitled "Retrospections of an Active Life," Mr. John Bigelow refers to
this unfortunate rumor. He says: "On the 21st of January, 1861, I met
the venerable Professor Weir, of the West Point Military Academy, in the
cars on our way to New York, when he told me that Colonel Hardee, then
the Commandant-of-Cadets at the Academy, was buying arms for his native
state of Georgia, and that the Kembles, whose iron works were across the
river from West Point at Cold Spring, were filling a large order for
him." I knew Professor Weir very well, and Mr. Bigelow's statement