The Bow of Orange Ribbon

The Bow of Orange Ribbon 1 A free download from http://manybooks.net Chapter heading Chapter heading Chapter heading Chapter heading Chapter heading Chapter heading Chapter heading Chapter heading Chapter heading Chapter heading Chapter heading Chapter heading Chapter heading Chapter heading Chapter heading The Bow of Orange Ribbon The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Bow of Orange Ribbon, by Amelia E. Barr This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Title: The Bow of Orange Ribbon A Romance of New York The Bow of Orange Ribbon 2 Author: Amelia E. Barr Illustrator: Theo. Hampe Release Date: November 28, 2005 [EBook #17173] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOW OF ORANGE RIBBON *** Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Paul Ereaut and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: Cover and spine] [Illustration: She was going down the steps with him] [Transcribers note: A title has been created for an unlisted illustration on p102 of the original text and inserted into the list of illustrations.] THE BOW OF ORANGE RIBBON A ROMANCE OF NEW YORK _BY AMELIA E. BARR AUTHOR OF "JAN VEDDER`S WIFE" "A DAUGHTER OF FIFE" ETC._ _WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY THEO. HAMPE_ _NEW YORK DODD, MEAD & COMPANY PUBLISHERS_ Copyright, 1886, 1893 BY DODD, MEAD & COMPANY All rights reserved Typography Presswork BY ROCKWELL AND CHURCHILL, BY JOHN WILSON AND SON, Boston Cambridge. BY PERMISSION This Book is Dedicated TO THE HOLLAND SOCIETY OF NEW YORK [Illustration: ILLUSTRATIONS:] She was going down the steps with him May in New York one hundred and twenty-one years ago Joris Van Heemskirk Locking-up the cupboards She was tying on her white apron "Come awa`, my bonnie lassie" Knitting Neil and Bram Tail-piece Chapter heading 3 Chapter heading With her spelling-book and Heidelberg The amber necklace In one of those tall-backed Dutch chairs Tail-piece Chapter heading He heard her calling him to breakfast The quill pens must be mended A Guelderland flagon "A very proper love-knot" Tail-piece Chapter heading Hyde flung off the touch with a passionate oath Batavius stood at the mainmast He took her in his arms A little black boy entered Tail-piece Chapter heading "Sir, you are very uncivil" "Listen to me, thy father!" He took his solitary tea On the steps of the houses Tail-piece Chapter heading "Katherine, I am in great earnest" "In the interim, at your service" "Why do you wait?" The swords of both men sprung from their hands Tail-piece Chapter heading Oh, how she wept! "O Bram! is he dead?" The streets were noisy with hawkers Katherine was close to his side Tail-piece Chapter heading In its satin depths Katherine knelt by Richard`s side "I am faint" "Don`t trouble yourself to come down" "Listen to me!" Tail-piece Chapter heading They stood together over the budding snowdrops His whole air and attitude had expressed delight "I am going to take the air this afternoon" "I will go with you, Richard" Tail-piece Chapter heading "Madam, I come not on courtesy" "O mother, my sister Katherine!" "Oh, my cheeny, my cheeny!" Plain and dark were her garments Tail-piece Chapter heading Katherine stood with her child in her arms The garden next fell under Katherine`s care "Thou has a grandson of thy own name" Plate old and new "Make me not to remember the past" With a great sob Bram laid his head against her breast Chapter heading 4 Chapter heading She spread out all her finery All kinds of frivolity and amusement "Dick, I am angry at you" She was softly singing to the drowsy child Chapter heading She was stretched upon a sofa She stood in the gray light by the window Chapter heading She knelt speechless and motionless Jane lifted her apron to her eyes "O Richard, my lover, my husband!" Chapter heading "One night in Rome, in a moment, the thing was altered," "I must draw my sword again" "We have closed his Majesty`s custom-house forever" "I am reading the Word" He was standing on the step of his high counting-desk. Chapter heading Lysbet and Catherine were unpacking He marshalled the six children in front of him The City Hall He swung a great axe Lysbet`s hands gave it to them Tail-piece THE BOW OF ORANGE RIBBON [Illustration: May in New York one hundred and twenty-one years ago] I. "_Love, that old song, of which the world is never weary_." It was one of those beautiful, lengthening days, when May was pressing back with both hands the shades of the morning and the evening; May in New York one hundred and twenty-one years ago, and yet the May of A.D. 1886,--the same clear air and wind, the same rarefied freshness, full of faint, passing aromas from the wet earth and the salt sea and the blossoming gardens. For on the shore of the East River the gardens still sloped down, even to below Peck Slip; and behind old Trinity the apple-trees blossomed like bridal nosegays, the pear-trees rose in immaculate pyramids, and here and there cows were coming up heavily to the scattered houses; the lazy, intermitting tinkle of their bells giving a pleasant notice of their approach to the waiting milking-women. In the city the business of the day was over; but at the open doors of many of the shops, little groups of apprentices in leather aprons were talking, and on the broad steps of the City Hall a number of grave-looking men were slowly separating after a very satisfactory civic session. They had been discussing the marvellous increase of the export trade of New York; and some vision of their city`s future greatness may have appeared to them, for they held themselves with the lofty and confident air of wealthy merchants and "members of his Majesty`s Council for the Province of New York." [Illustration: Joris Van Heemskirk] Chapter heading 5 They were all noticeable men, but Joris Van Heemskirk specially so. His bulk was so great that it seemed as if he must have been built up: it was too much to expect that he had ever been a baby. He had a fair, ruddy face, and large, firm eyes, and a mouth that was at once strong and sweet. And he was also very handsomely dressed. The long, stiff skirts of his dark-blue coat were lined with satin, his breeches were black velvet, his ruffles edged with Flemish lace, his shoes clasped with silver buckles, his cocked hat made of the finest beaver. With his head a little forward, and his right arm across his back, he walked slowly up Wall Street into Broadway, and then took a north-westerly direction toward the river-bank. His home was on the outskirts of the city, but not far away; and his face lightened as he approached it. It was a handsome house, built of yellow bricks, two stories high, with windows in the roof, and gables sending up sharp points skyward. There were weather-cocks on the gables, and little round holes below the weather-cocks, and small iron cranes below the holes, and little windows below the cranes,--all perfectly useless, but also perfectly picturesque and perfectly Dutch. The rooms were large and airy, and the garden sloped down to the river-side. It had paths bordered by clipped box, and shaded by holly and yew trees cut in fantastic shapes. In the spring this garden was a wonder of tulips and hyacinths and lilacs, of sweet daffodils and white lilies. In the summer it was ruddy with roses, and blazing with verbenas, and gay with the laburnum`s gold cascade. Then the musk carnations and the pale slashed pinks exhaled a fragrance that made the heart dream idyls. In the autumn there was the warm, sweet smell of peaches and pears and apples. There were morning-glories in riotous profusion, tall hollyhocks, and wonderful dahlias. In winter it still had charms,--the white snow, and the green box and cedar and holly, and the sharp descent of its frozen paths to the frozen river. Councillor Van Heemskirk`s father had built the house and planted the garden, and he had the Dutch reverence for a good ancestry. Often he sent his thoughts backward to remember how he walked by his father`s side, or leaned against his mother`s chair, as they told him the tragic tales of the old Barneveldt and the hapless De Witts; or how his young heart glowed to their memories of the dear fatherland, and the proud march of the Batavian republic. But this night the mournful glamour of the past caught a fresh glory from the dawn of a grander day forespoken. "More than three hundred vessels may leave the port of New York this same year," he thought. "It is the truth; every man of standing says so. Good-evening, Mr. Justice. Good-evening, neighbours;" and he stood a minute, with his hands on his garden-gate, to bow to Justice Van Gaasbeeck and to Peter Sluyter, who, with their wives, were going to spend an hour or two at Christopher Laer`s garden. There the women would have chocolate and hot waffles, and discuss the new camblets and shoes just arrived from England, and to be bought at Jacob Kip`s store; and the men would have a pipe of Virginia and a glass of hot Hollands, and fight over again the quarrel pending between the governor and the Assembly. "Men can bear all things but good days," said Peter Sluyter, when they had gone a dozen yards in silence; "since Van Heemskirk has a seat in the council-room, it is a long way to his hat." "Come, now, he was very civil, Sluyter. He bows like a man not used to make a low bow, that is all." "Well, well! with time, every one gets into his right place. In the City Hall, I may yet put my chair beside his, Van Gaasbeeck." "So say I, Sluyter; and, for the present, it is all well as it is." This little envious fret of his neighbour lost itself outside Joris Van Heemskirk`s home. Within it, all was love and content. He quickly divested himself of his fine coat and ruffles, and in a long scarlet vest, and a little skull-cap made of orange silk, sat down to smoke. He had talked a good deal in the City Hall, and he was now chewing deliberately the cud of his wisdom over again. Madam Van Heemskirk understood that, and she let the good man reconsider himself in peace. Besides, this was her busy hour. She was giving out the food for ... - tailieumienphi.vn