k upon worthy and useful lives. And if any of these, my old
playmates, could read this manuscript, perchance they might feel a
tingle of recollection of Children's Day, when Maryland was a province.
We rarely had snow; sometimes a crust upon the ground that was melted
into paste by the noonday sun, but more frequently, so it seems to me, a
foggy, drizzly Christmas, with the fires crackling in saloon and lady's
chamber. And when my grandfather and the ladies and gentlemen, his
guests, came down the curving stairs, there were the broadly smiling
servants drawn up in the wide hall,--all who could gather there,--and
the rest on the lawn outside, to wish "Merry Chris'mas" to "de quality."
The redemptioners in front, headed by Ivie and Jonas Tree, tho' they had
long served their terms, and with them old Harvey and his son; next the
house blacks and the outside liveries, and then the oldest slaves from
the quarters. This line reached the door, which Scipio would throw open
at "de quality's" appearance, disclosing the rest of the field servants,
in bright-coloured gowns, and the little negroes on the green. Then Mr.
Carvel would make them a little speech of thanks and of good-will,
and white-haired Johnson of the senior quarters, who had been with my
great-grandfather, would start the carol in a quaver. How clear and
sweet the melody of those negro voices comes back to me through
the generations! And the picture of the hall, loaded with holly and
mistletoe even to the great arch that spanned it, with the generous
bowls of egg-nog and punch on the mahogany by the wall! And the ladies
our guests, in cap and apron, joining in the swelling hymn; ay, and the
men, too. And then, after the breakfast of sweet ham and venison, and
hot bread and sausage, made under Mrs. Willis, and tea and coffee and
chocolate steaming in the silver, and ale for the gentlemen if they
preferred, came the prayers and more carols in the big drawing-room.
And then music in the big house, or perhaps a ride afield to greet the
neighbours, and fiddling and dancing in the two big quarters, Hank's and
Johnson's, when the tables were cleared after the bountiful feast Mr.
Carvel was wont to give them. There was no stint, my dears,--naught but
good cheer and praising God in sheer happiness at Carvel Hall.

At night there was always a ball, sometimes at Wilmot House, sometimes
at Colonel Lloyd's or Mr. Bordley's, and sometimes at Carvel Hall, for
my grandfather dearly