Chapter 10: A Whole New World Out Yonder

Newport, along the coast, was another world I’d never known before. Large cottages lined up a street with red brick walls surrounding vast gardens in the back. Most of the servants were white and often from off the farm. Breakfast and supper were in the dining room. Only at supper did the footmen serve the meals. The married women ate their breakfast in their rooms, and we held dinner in the sitting room, except Cossette, who had dinner in the nursery. Mrs. Thompson was in her morning room until dinnertime. Cossette and Mabel enjoyed the peddlers walking along the streets in the morning. Neighbors and Cossette’s family paid social calls. Most of the people who visited had attended their church or the literary society that ran a member-only library in town. We viewed ballets, plays, and operas in the theaters. Mrs. Thompson made sure we had the most expensive box seats to assert our social status. I had never sat in a box before. Mabel gently whispered the storylines to me so I could follow along. We went sea bathing and yachting. They held yacht and horse races all summer. The women entered an archery contest. Mabel won a diamond brooch as a prize for winning first place in the archery contest. We rode horses on the beaches. I collected a few seashells in a cigar box to place in our parlor. After the Fourth of July celebrations, we boarded a ship to Europe. Amusing how our ancestors left Europe to settle in America and never saw it again, and here we are returning to visit it. Cossette visited an orphan school to select a governess. She visited her family, who ran the school. Enjoyed supper with the family and experienced French cuisine. Mabel particularly enjoyed the crepes at the inn. During the French Revolution, the new government remembered the family’s charity before the downfall of the monarchs to permit them to use their house as a school for orphans. Cossette selected Ainsley’s governess, Heloise Darbonne. We visited shops in Paris, and Mrs. Thompson purchased French silk for Mabel's wedding gown and going-away gown. More silk was purchased for the bridesmaids and flower girls. She purchased a silver tea set and many ceramic cups for a tea party. I purchased a ceramic dining dish set with flowers that met with Mabel’s approval.

We stopped at Brighton in England to shop for glassware and lace for Mabel’s veil. We returned to North Carolina, and our purchases were sent to Wiltshire Manor on Samuel’s steamship. I returned home to prepare for the harvest. My papa and family had the barn and the outbuildings finished. We next erected the house walls on the brick foundation when we finished the harvest. I missed the county fair, but heard my mama won a Second-Prize ribbon for her plum jam. Once Mabel and her family returned, the roof on the house had been nailed down. As winter arrived, my papa and I began work on the inside walls and floors. He carved beautiful pineapple and eagle newel posts on the staircase. We built a two-story front porch. We installed the pink granite mantels that came on the railway, and we used John’s yacht, then a wagon, to transport them to the house. Mabel’s family came for an inspection. We walked upstairs to the top-floor balcony used to cool the house in the summer by opening all the windows of the cupola. Mabel wanted a couch or bench up here to read books or sew while looking out the windows. We walked down to the upstairs rooms. I showed my room in a corner facing the front of the house. Mabel selected a room on the opposite corner facing the garden to be her bedchamber, and insisted on having a sitting room next to her chamber on the east side of the house that she would use as a morning room also. She wanted wallpaper of garden flowers and yellow upholstered furniture in her private rooms. She stood in the middle of her chosen bedchamber with a candle in wonder.

“You like the house, my darling?” I asked.

“I love it. I was just thinking that one year from now, I will be waking up in this room to prepare us for our first Christmastide and hopefully be carrying our eldest child. I waited a long time for that day to happen. I want to cherish every moment of our engagement.” she said.

“I love you, Mabel Thompson.” I blurted out with a kiss.

“I love you, Michael Tilby.” she said, pulling back before I kissed her again.

“Ahem,” interjected Mrs. Thompson.

“I think she likes the house,” I said, hearing Mabel giggle in embarrassment.

We walked downstairs to the public rooms. We had walls up for a parlor, library, kitchen, dining room, study, and guest room. She stated what colors and furniture she wanted in each room. I had pocket doors separating the parlor and library that could be opened for a tea party. Another day, I took Mabel to the carpenter shops in every town to order furniture. My papa insisted on building a dining room table for us as a wedding gift. Mabel loved it so much that she requested he build a matching sideboard with a hutch. For the dining room, she wanted lily-of-the-valley wallpaper and green wainscot. In the parlor, she wanted red velvet curtains and approved of the parlor organ. Her grandfather ordered marble fireplace mantels for the parlor and library as his wedding gift. My family was invited to their Christmas Ball, and Mama was awestruck at the beautiful decorations. My sister Sarah made proper ball gowns and evening suits, so my family blended in with the other guests who half-expected us to wear our Sunday clothes to the ball. Christmas Day was celebrated with Mabel’s family after having dinner with my family. We exchanged gifts. I gave her a mother-of-pearl ring, and she gave me a tea chest. Mrs. Thompson gave me a new pair of linsey-woolsey stockings she had knitted. Cossette gave me a writing journal. After the New Year, her grandfather, who ordered the marble mantels, died to be given a grand military funeral for fighting in the Revolutionary War. She wore black mourning clothes for three months. She changed to half colors for the next three months. We finished building and painting the walls of the house, and I moved into the master bedchamber with a four-poster bed and dark blue bed curtains. I hired Cousin Betty Jo to be a maidservant until Mabel moved in. I paid her a dollar per week. I altered my cabin into a hog shed. She managed the household chores and fed the livestock by herself. I helped cook breakfast and left for the distillery. Once I returned home, I helped bring in the livestock from the grazing fields, cook supper, and do anything else that needed to be done. We sat in the parlor after the dishes were washed and put away. We played checkers or played music. She enjoyed Mabel’s Gothic novels. She told me she had a suitor who lived on a farm with his family, and he was working on the steamships to earn money to buy his own farm. He wanted to operate a dairy selling cheese and butter to the town shops. I explained getting a loan from the Building and Loan Association, which is how I got my farm.

After Easter, Mrs. Thompson held a quilting bee to create a wedding gift sewn by family members. They even signed their names on the orange peel quilt blocks. She next held a tea party to celebrate the impending wedding and received gifts. Her hope chest, European purchases, and other gifts were delivered to my new house. Betty Jo and I situated all the dishes, linens, paintings, books, and quilts in the rooms. Next came her fifteen slaves. The top floor servant quarters had been divided into eight rooms for the servants and fitted with heating stoves for them. The gardeners and laundry maids had cabins by the barn, and the coachmen, with a stableboy, had a room over the stables. Each room had a bed, two chairs, a small table, and hooks on the wall for their clothing. I let them wander around the house and outbuildings, learning where everything was located, and I learned their names and occupations. Billy the butler and Susanna the housekeeper were an old couple with grandchildren. Sadie was the cook, her daughter Elsie was the kitchen maid, and her granddaughter Naomi was the scullery maid. Paris and Hector were footmen and brothers. Daisy and Lily were the upstairs and downstairs maidservants and cousins. Daisy would be Mabel’s lady’s maid. Herman and Toby were the gardeners and fathers to Daisy and Lily. Ebenezer and his son Noah were the coachmen and stableboy. Julia and Cynthia were the laundry maids and sisters. I met with Billy and Susanna while they examined the kitchen and requested that they notify me if anything they needed was missing. Betty Jo just waxed the floors, so they won’t need to be done for another six months to a year. Mabel will be mostly in charge of their daily activities as mistress of the house.

I only requested a small breakfast of grits, fried eggs, toast, and sausage with coffee with maple syrup. For my lunch pail, I requested cornbread, potatoes, salted pork, and hard-boiled eggs to take to work in the morning. I usually get up before dawn so I can make my own breakfast and lunch pail if the cook isn’t awake yet. I ride my horse to the distillery and return home before suppertime at six o’clock. I know Mabel’s family eats later in the evening; I may need to adjust my suppertime when she arrives. I imagined I was not the master they expected Mabel to marry, so we simply need time to adjust to each other. I asked for forgiveness for any future missteps towards them since I am not accustomed to working with slaves and may appear brutish to them. I think they cracked a smile. I hoped they would not run away from us in the future and would loyally serve Mabel well. I explained that as planting and harvesting times arrived, I would need help in the fields planting and reaping my crops, and hoped they could assist in that for a few days, but most of their work would be in the house, stable, or gardens. Mabel failed to bring field hands, and an overseer is quite above my ability to pay. Mabel said something about a plot of land and livestock for the slaves to tend for themselves. I would let her make the decision on that and select the annual allotment of clothing that was expected at Christmas. Susanna asked if I needed a bed warmer at night. Planters often need company when their wives are pregnant or absent.

“What? No, I won’t need company in my bed. My heart and my bed belong to Mabel.” I reacted confused at the question.

Billy asked if I needed a valet to help me dress. I thanked them for the offer, but I can dress myself. Besides, I may wake up before they do and be uncomfortable with slaves viewing me naked. I confessed that I don’t have many clothes to wash. I had my frock coat, which I wore to the distillery, my evening coat for balls, and my Sunday morning coat. I had two waistcoats, two pairs of trousers, and three cravats. I had a top hat and a straw hat. Billy replied that Paris could manage my wardrobe, take dirty items to the laundry maids, mend my clothes, and polish my shoes without dressing me himself. I’m certain Mabel will be busy sewing new clothing for me or taking me to the tailor in town. She said once that having more than a dozen gowns was vanity. I was unsure how many suit coats and waistcoats a gentleman should have. Then Susanna mentioned that Julia and Elsie were pregnant to expect to become wet nurses to our future child. I wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so I replied to give them extra food as needed. Susanna assured me that she and Billy would keep our home running orderly, and I had nothing to worry about. The next morning, I woke up bright and early before dawn to wash and shave at my washstand, then dressed before going downstairs to light the kitchen stove to cook our breakfast. Betty Jo, shortly after, came downstairs. She went out to milk the cows and returned with a pitcher of cream for her coffee. I roasted the coffee beans. I cooked our breakfast of eggs, toast, and sausage, then added cream to the grits. Sadie came downstairs, apologizing for not getting up sooner. She failed to realize how early I got up to leave for the distillery. Planters don’t rise so early. I smiled and told her not to worry about it. I noticed the slaves can’t tell time other than by counting the grandfather clock's rings. I ground the coffee beans to soak in the percolator. I added maple syrup to my coffee mug. We prepared to eat in the kitchen, but Sadie instructed that we should eat in the dining room, for the slaves would eat in the kitchen. Betty Jo offered to review the food inventory to make sure I had enough food stores for everybody, then help make butter with the cream and cheese with the milk in the barn, showing the slaves where everything was located. I prepared to leave and saddled my horse. I waved farewell to Betty Jo, refilling the wood box for the kitchen.

I arrived at the distillery, silent as a tomb, unlocked the doors, and then walked up into my office to write down the expenses in the books and review orders that needed to be delivered. The workers arrived later to get out supplies from the storerooms to make the spirits placed in the storage barn for aging. Lunchtime came, and I heated the small potatoes in my lunch pail on the heating stove. In the afternoon, I made deliveries with my cousin Ridley. As closing time arrived, I reviewed the orders and what was aged enough to deliver. Workers cleaned up the floors and washed the cooking pots. They scooped up the ashes to make lye in a wood hopper to seep into a barrel to be mixed with tallow and made into soap used to scrub the distillery. I allowed the workers to take home some soap as part of their pay. Once the distillery was cleaned up, I paid all the workers and locked the doors. I came home to Betty Jo in the parlor reading a novel from the library. She showed the slaves where all the tools were, and I needed to purchase more corn flour to feed everyone cornbread until the harvest. We are also out of sugar, and the tea chest is empty. The cook, Sadie, was gathering supplies to make a new batch of soap and recommended purchasing Castile Soap along with rose water for Miss Mabel to use. I gave money to Betty Jo to shop in Lynnville, and she took the wagon to town the next day. The gardeners went fishing in the creek, and Sadie was happy to cook her fish stew for me. I told butler Billy that Sadie was an excellent cook and glad she was chosen by Mabel. Coming home, I saw coachman Ebenezer chopping wood for the wood box. I suppose they need more wood for their stoves upstairs. At the end of the month, our wedding day arrived. Betty Jo was prepared to move out the day before the wedding. I gave her my grandmother’s brooch to deliver to Mabel as her wedding gift. I told her to give the message that today was her last opportunity to change her mind about marrying me. We had the wedding rehearsal a few days ago and a wonderful supper in the dining room. Betty Jo returned with a note from Mabel stating, “Not a chance”. Betty Jo gave me Mabel’s gift of mother-of-pearl cuff links. Sadie heated water for me to take a bath in the washroom.

I dressed in my gray morning coat, trousers, and top hat with a yellow waistcoat Mabel made for me. I buttoned my cufflinks from Mabel and a stick pin she gave me for my cravat. I met Daisy in the hall facing the wall as she arrived to make the bed for me. I asked if I resembled a gentleman who would not bring shame to Mabel’s wealthy planter wedding. She turned around and said I looked like a gentleman, though more polite than one. Coachman Ebenezer drove my carriage to Wiltshire Manor. The house was decorated with greenery and fresh garden flowers. Mr. Thompson welcomed me into the study. We drank mint juleps, and he straightened my cravat. Wedding guests began to arrive, and Mr. Thompson greeted them warmly. My mama was delighted walking into the foyer, saying the rooms resembled a fairyland. She wore a new morning gown she had made with calico cotton she purchased in town. Papa said he was proud of me to wish me happiness. Our pastor arrived with his family. The female members of her family wore silver silk in a break from their mourning dress. Once the clock struck at nine o’clock, we took our positions as we did during the rehearsal. The parlor organ began playing “Consider the Lilies” by the pastor’s wife. Mrs. Thompson, her friend Agnes, flower girl Paulette, and then Mabel came downstairs with her father. Mabel wore a yellow silk gown with lace and a train, with an ivory lace veil held in place with a wreath of orange blossoms. We said our vows, listened to “Abide with Me”, and prayed. And finally, I lifted her veil and kissed the bride. Our guests erupted with applause. We guided the guests to the ballroom for the wedding breakfast. Children ate in the dining room. We fed each other cake pieces and enjoyed a meal of filet mignon, sweet potatoes, roasted green beans, and biscuits with honey. The Smithfield Orchestra began to play a waltz. We danced our first dance, and Mabel danced with her father. We stood outside on the porch for a portrait with the photographer. During the festivities, I was asked to accompany her father into his study.

“We have business of a dowry to discuss. I am giving you two thousand dollars in cash and fifteen slaves, equaling eight thousand dollars, as Mabel’s dowry. I will announce to the guests that the land deed that holds your parents’ home and distillery will be given as a wedding gift in Mabel’s name. You may charge them rent as I did or simply let them live there for free.” Mr. Thompson declared.

“Thank you, sir. You have been generous.” I replied.

We left the study, and he tapped his champagne glass in the ballroom to announce his wedding gift to us. The guests applauded, and Mabel embraced her father. She went upstairs to change into her blue going-away gown. Ebenezer drove the carriage to our house, and I carried her over the threshold. The slaves had prepared dinner for us of smoked ham, buttered carrots, stuffed cabbage, and buttermilk biscuits with bilberry jam. In the parlor, we had apple pie and coffee. Later on, the shivaree arrived. I was forced to push Mabel in a wheelbarrow to my distillery a mile away, give them drinks of my whiskey, and push her back. We had afternoon tea and supper alone. When the dressing bell rang, Mabel insisted I change into my evening coat and trousers because the footmen would be serving them supper. Strangely, they never rang the dressing bell or served Betty Jo and me during supper before. We ate from the food trays set on the table. Mabel smiled to react to how serving Betty Jo and me dressed in day clothes would seem silly. True, Betty Jo only had two gowns. One she wore on Sunday while shopping in town, and the other she wore all week. We then enjoyed playing the parlor organ, and Mabel played her harp. We played cards and read poetry from Edgar Allan Poe that Mabel adored. We retired to her bedchamber for our wedding night. The next morning, we traveled to Smithfield to board a steamship to the coast for a honeymoon in New Orleans. Mr. Thompson and my papa promised to manage our farm and slaves until we returned. Mabel had organized the gardens where vegetables, herbs, and flax plants were to be planted the previous autumn. The slaves sheared the sheep and got to work on spinning and weaving. My papa organized where to plant the hops, barley, corn, rye, and wheat, plus which land to fallow for the livestock. Then my papa organized his fields. Our slaves worked in both fields since we owned both farms. Other family members and distillery workers came out to help plant and guide the plow. Mama arranged apple cider, cornbread, beans, potatoes, and salted pork to feed everyone during the lunch break. John gifted my papa’s rental land to Mabel also, and under the law, it fell under my ownership since married women had no property or income rights. Mr. Thompson brought over more slaves to help plant the fields. Papa said he guided the plow half the time, Cousin Ridley the other half, while Mr. Thompson directed the slaves where to plant the seeds. Then Mr. Thompson’s slaves went back to Wiltshire Manor to plant their crops and prepare tobacco seedlings.

In New Orleans, we enjoyed the theater, a symphony concert, our grand hotel's tearoom scones, and danced at a public assembly. We rented a yacht to sail around the Gulf of Mexico. We took a paddleboat up the Mississippi River, and I played card games to win a healthy pot. We reached Baton Rouge and checked into a hotel. Mabel shopped for gifts for family and friends. We paid for a photographer to take our daguerreotype portrait. I stopped by a jeweler and purchased a ruby and diamond parure for my bride. For the house, she purchased porcelain teacups with bayou images. We returned to New Orleans to witness politicians' speeches campaigning to get reelected in the autumn. I thought of getting involved again in the next election, like passing out votes for the Whig Party. Mabel admired my wish to be more involved with politics. She championed the public-school movement in the 1830’s and was proud of her efforts, writing to politicians and writing opinion articles for magazines to promote her values. We said farewell to New Orleans and journeyed to Newport, where Mabel’s family had arrived a couple of weeks ago. Again, we enjoyed the ballet, opera, and symphony performances. Mabel enjoyed walking through the park and watching children play with shuttlecocks or horseshoes. Mr. Thompson raced his yacht and took us around the bay to view the dolphins. We took many walks around the cottage gardens. Cossette welcomed the children into the upstairs sitting room while she did needlepoint or embroidered pillowcases. Little Paulette often picked flowers for her mother. Ainsley enjoyed playing tricks on the nursemaid. Before I knew it, Mabel announced she thought she was pregnant. She wanted to keep it secret until she was certain. In another month, she should be certain. We celebrated Paulette’s third birthday and had a small party in the parlor. Mabel played the piano so we could dance a Virginia Reel. On the Fourth of July, Mabel formally announced her pregnancy to the family. Her mother burst into tears of joy. Mabel said that next year, we should journey to Europe. We returned home to bring in the harvest and enter the county fair. I won the Second-Place ribbon for my steer and the First-Place ribbon for my lamb. My pumpkin won an honorable mention. Mabel entered the county fair to receive a Third-Place ribbon for her roses and a Second-Place Ribbon for her carrots. My mama came to us excited; she won a First-Place Ribbon for her pickles. I raced my horse, but only came in fifth place. We replaced the straw in the straw ticks for all the slave beds. Our Spanish Moss-filled ticks didn’t need to be changed. Next, straw hats were made for everyone, and the rest of the straw was stored in the barn for the livestock. Butler Billy thanked me for the new goose feather pillows they finished making for their beds. Mabel embroidered new pillowcases for our beds, and Daisy put them on when she changed the linens.

I had a nice little farm with cattle, hogs, chickens, geese, goats, and sheep. I was offered a couple of English Sheepdog pups from my friend Herbert Sheffield as a wedding gift to guide and guard the livestock. I trained them with whistles and words, guiding the sheep and goats to the land left fallow following the three-year crop rotation cycle. Fences went around the crops while the livestock ran loose on the farm, with fences along the property lines. When darkness approached, we traveled around the farm, calling them back to the barn where we fed them corn and hay. The pups slept in a shelter with a straw floor by the chicken coop to guard against foxes and raccoons. Usually, they enjoyed sleeping on the back porch. Often during thunderstorms, Mabel let them in the hall, and they relaxed in the parlor. The cook, Sadie, gave them meat and vegetable scraps after meals. Every afternoon when I came home from the distillery and rode my horse to the barn, they came out to greet me. I explained to Mabel that my family could never afford to feed dogs due to our poverty, but my uncles and grandparents had dogs on their farms. The pups learned quickly, and soon the slaves enjoyed watching me give them baths in the washtubs, establishing to the pups that I am the master. I fed them beef jerky when training them and tossed sticks for them to fetch. I went fishing with the gardeners and caught several to fry for Sadie to fry and put in her fish stew. The slaves were fairly quiet around me, and they faced the wall if I entered the hall. Mabel said they faced the wall to be invisible to the master and mistress. They made the beds when we were outside the bedchamber. They cleaned the rooms and hall while she was in her morning room. Interaction was supposed to be minimal. The butler, housekeeper, coachman, and her lady’s maid were the only ones who should be talking to the master or mistress of the house. No servant should be addressing the master or mistress unless we speak to them first. I observed that the rule was already broken. Mama mentioned a line drawn between the rich and the poor. I noticed a line drawn between slave and master. When Mabel interacted with them, she was giving orders. She chose the land for the slave plot and chose livestock for them to have. I allowed them to use seeds from my stores for their slave plot until they had seeds of their own.

Mabel invited my family to tea and hosted a supper party with dancing in the parlor during the early autumn. Many of her plantation friends were away on the coast, in the Caribbean, or in Europe, so merchants and farmers she knew were invited. She visited my distillery once a week on Saturday to review the accounting books. Then she was off to whatever party or literary salon she was invited to attend. There were plenty of middle-class farmers and town professionals for her to visit for social calls. The planter’s wives she knew to be at home were either pregnant or had returned from their journeys. She visited my mama for mint tea and cake. She said my mama made shortbread and brought back a tin of cookies for me. She made a few livestock purchases with her money to add a couple of barn cats, cows, horses, mules, and ducks to our farm. She checked chicken eggs once a week with a candle for fertilized eggs, to remove the unfertilized ones to cook with. Slaves made cheese, butter, candles, soap, and tools without much supervision. As late autumn arrived, she began pickling eggs in jars to store in the cellar to use during the winter months. She completed an inventory of the cellar, granary, corn crib, and root cellar by the barn to reassure us that we would survive until the next harvest. She purchased a tea brick, a sugar loaf, and wheat flour sacks in Smithfield to host a tea party during Christmastide. I went hunting with my relatives and shot several birds, squirrels, and rabbits. I was delighted to find turkeys and shot a couple. I gave one to my papa for Christmas dinner. I took the geese to the smokehouse to remove all the feathers. Papa shot a deer and shared the sausages with us. I told Susanna the goose feathers from the geese could be used for new pillows, and they could use the flour sack cloth to make new pillows.

The larger feathers I gave to Mabel to attach to her bonnets. She preserved them by pressing them between sheets of paper and tying them to a bonnet she wore on Sundays. Laundry maid Julia had twin girls named Lilah and Lydia by Mabel, whose births were recorded in the livestock records book. A month later, kitchen maid Elsie delivered a boy named Leonidas by Mabel. I never witnessed a naming ceremony before. We attended the Harvest Barn Dance organized by the church. Mabel danced to a Virginia Reel with me. As a married woman, she danced with married men instead of the younger single men. I respectfully danced with married women, including Mabel’s friends, who remained wary of my ill breeding from their snobbery. They naturally had no issues ordering spirits from me. I joined many supper parties and barbecue balls with Mabel. We went to the Smithfield Opera for a play and watched Cossette act in the lead role. She enjoyed acting, singing, and dancing in her youth in Raleigh. In between pregnancies, she would act, make costumes, and perform during fundraisers.

Mabel swelled in her condition as many of the plantation families returned in November for the coming-out balls. She arranged for her mama to stay with us after the Twelve Days of Christmas, as she was due by the end of January, and some babies (especially girls) are born early. She kept to the house to protect the child and entertained visitors in her sitting room. She hosted her tea party in early December with family and friends. Usually, pregnant women do not attend social gatherings, but a private tea party with female family and friends was viewed as proper. The guests took the opportunity to present her with Christmas gifts when they arrived. We received many gingerbread cookies, fruit cakes, and peach cobblers. Mrs. Thompson and my cousin Betty Jo played the parlor organ to entertain the guests. My mama enjoyed the ginger cakes. I attended the Thompson Christmas Ball alone and enjoyed a dance with Cossette. I told everyone my wife was well and knitting baby booties. She just finished crocheting a baby blanket. My papa had carved a wooden cradle, sitting in the room we decided would be the nursery. A slave who had recently given birth to twins in the autumn was planned to be a wet nurse. Mabel purchased a few glass bottles to feed our child cow’s milk when she had Sunday off. The butler Billy approached me during my breakfast in the dining room about the upstairs maid Julia being concerned about being the wet nurse when she had twins, and worried about her babies starving because she couldn’t produce enough milk for them all. Even with help from Elsie, it will be hard to feed four babies between the two of them. I was confused about why she was sharing her concern with me instead of Mabel. She explained that Mabel was reluctant to let them touch the new glass bottles she bought for our children.

“For goodness’ sake. Use a pap boat or a spoon with cow’s or goat’s milk. The last thing I want is starving babies. Ask Sadie to come in.” I said to her.

“Yessur, you’s asks fo me?” replied Sadie.

“Yes, I did. Make sure Julia and Elsie eat well. I can’t have starving wet nurses when my wife gives birth. You may use the milk from the cows or the goats for feeding the slave babies if necessary. There is a pap boat in the dishes we bought in England. I can’t understand why plantation wives would forbid feeding slave babies cow’s or goat’s milk. You think I can just buy more slaves if you all died from the pox? Well, perhaps they can, but I can’t, so get back to work in the kitchen.” I explained.

“Yessur,” they replied and returned to the kitchen.

Mabel explained that the slaves give cow’s milk to slave babies because the goats they own on the plantation are usually meat goats, not dairy goats. She explained that what Julia really wanted was to use her new glass bottles, not permission to use cow’s milk for the slave babies. She had Julia’s hands struck with a switch for bothering me when she had already given her orders, and it was not her place to question her authority in her own house. Mabel said it was a good decision to have both mothers provide milk for the babies. I hosted a Christmas Eve party in the distillery for the workers, friends, and family as the sun began to set around half past four in the afternoon. I gave the workers five dollars for their Christmas bonus. A local farmer’s family played the music, and everyone danced with delight. My heavily pregnant wife arrived in a sleigh to sit in a chair and clapped along. My parents enjoyed a dance together, and Papa toasted my success along with his newest grandchild, about to be born. He especially singled out Mabel, bringing joy to my life, and our family was blessed when we exchanged vows. Mabel smiled, and everyone cheered. After the party concluded around seven, everyone left for the church service. A couple of workers stayed behind to clean up from the party before locking the doors for those who attended midnight mass. The distillery would be closed until after New Year’s Day. We left for the Christmas Eve church service and returned home to enjoy a late Christmas Eve supper of smoked ham, rice pudding, buttermilk biscuits with honey, and buttered carrots with fruitcake in the parlor. Christmas morning arrived with a bright sunrise. We came downstairs to view a fine breakfast with hotcakes, buttermilk biscuits, sausages, eggs, and bacon. Mabel gave me a new frock coat and a waistcoat that she had made.

I gave her diamond earbobs. We left for the church service and returned to present gifts to the slaves. We gave the slaves wool yarn or candy, then the annual allotment of fabric to make their clothing. She had purchased boots from her papa’s plantation to give to them. We left together for Wiltshire Manor to spend Christmas Day with her family. I visited my parents’ house for dinner while Mabel watched the slaves dance in the parlor. I wore the clothing she gave me during breakfast. Papa drank a toast for my first child. Papa gifted me a tin box of chocolates from Philadelphia to share with Mabel. Mama gifted me a woolen waistcoat and a pelerine for Mabel. I gave them mufflers that Mabel knitted and a stationery set of printed paper with their monograms, pen nibs, and a bottle of ink. I returned to Wiltshire Manor for teatime and supper. We spent the night in her old bedchamber, altered into a guest room since her marriage. I wondered how the slaves spent Christmas Day at my house alone. Mabel said they would have had a dance in the parlor and eaten meals in the kitchen. I guessed they had their Christmas meals in the dining room using our China from Europe. She smiled and guessed they probably did. They better not be sleeping in our beds. In the morning, we had breakfast in the dining room and returned home.

During the Twelve Days of Christmas, the slaves were given passes written by Mabel, and they visited Wilshire Manor and the town parks on Sundays. Cousin Betty Jo came over to help me with the house chores. Mabel asked Betty Jo for lessons in caring for the house. She learned to make butter, make candles, cook meals, make soap, and do the laundry. We ran into a problem when Mabel wanted us to make hot chocolate. We never made hot chocolate before because our parents could never afford to buy chocolate bricks. She visited the pastor to get the recipe for the hot chocolate he served at Sunday School. Milk was heated in a pot and poured into the chocolate pot. A bit of sugar and a small piece of chocolate were mixed in the chocolate pot by stirring with the stick. Mabel was proud of herself for making her first hot chocolate. It was an experience drinking Chinese tea every day when I returned from work. On Sundays, she made mint tea, which I was accustomed to. It was a relief to no longer pay social calls to maidens on New Year’s Day. I gave Mabel ribbons and books, while she gave me socks and gloves she had knitted. She wore the diamond earbobs I gave her on Christmas Day during the New Year’s Eve church service. We were certain her father was hosting a grand New Year’s Eve supper party celebration for the birth of his grandchild. On New Year’s Day, men paid social calls to Betty Jo. I returned to work at the distillery the next day and came home to Betty Jo’s supper, which she had cooked for us with Mabel’s help.

Mabel’s mother moved into the house as Mabel drew near the birth of our first child. Mabel remained upstairs in her sitting room or bedchamber. The pastor came by to give her communion and said a prayer for her health. I was told girls are usually born early, and boys are born on time. While in my office at the distillery, the gardener Toby came by, instructing me to come home. With joy and yearning in my heart, I rode my horse home to wait in the parlor for a baby's cry. I had to wait a few hours with John Thompson, whose wife was upstairs with Mabel. Mabel’s papa, along with my family, arrived for the birth. At long last, we heard a baby cry. I ran upstairs to Mabel’s room. I cried tears of joy, holding my son. Mabel’s mama and Cossette tended to Mabel.

“I want to name him after my papa. Next son, we can name after your father.” Mabel said.

“We could use my name for the middle name, my love.” I replied.

“Then we shall call him Phineas Michael,” Mabel announced.

“I will have Papa put that down in the Family Bible,” said Mrs. Thompson.

“I will bring the baby to see the family downstairs,” said Cossette.

She took Phineas downstairs to meet the family, and I sat next to Mabel to dab her sweaty forehead.

“You still have my mama’s handkerchiefs I gave you,” I noted.

“How could I toss them? Your mama stitched them.” she replied.

I kissed her and placed my arm around her shoulders. I looked up at her mama, glowing with a smile, observing us. She said it reminded her of the days she gave birth to her children. Cossette returned with Phineas. She rang the bell to summon the wet nurse. I left to let her rest and had supper prepared for the family. Her mama presented the baptismal gown that all her children and grandchildren had worn. Her mother had sewn it when her elder brother was born. I thanked her for the heirloom and will be certain to return it after the baptism. Our families left to spread the good news, and Mabel’s parents settled into the guest room downstairs. I brought up a bottle of red wine to toast our first son, Finn, asleep in his cradle in the nursery with Julia and Lydia. We stood by the fireplace, clinking our wine glasses in celebration.

“Here’s to a dozen children, my love. May we remain in good health and prosper to give the distillery to Finn when he is all grown up.” I toasted.

“I’ll drink to that,” Mabel replied, tapping my glass.

Then we slept in her bed and let her rest ten days before arranging the baptism in the parlor, for it was too cold for Finn to be baptized at church. Our parents gave gifts of clothing and a crocheted blanket. Her mama hosted a tea party in our parlor, and all the lady guests brought gifts for the baby. The pastor came by to give her communion. The day of the baptism, the pastor arrived with baptismal water and a shell. John and Cossette Thompson were named as godparents. Our church celebrated with a bowl of punch and pound cake for the congregation. Life was perfect, and I could not ask for any better.

THE END