my infant days were spent in north carolina among the kinsmen of my mother. i do not remember her, save that she was young and fair, being but twenty when she died. she was the twenty-fifth child of the family united under her father’s roof, which remarkable circumstance may be explained as follows:
my grandfather, general william arrington, who won his title in the revolutionary war, having been left a widower with twelve children, wearying of his solitude, mounted his horse and rode over to visit the comely widow battle, whose children also numbered twelve. the two plantations lay near together in the old “tar heel” state. my gallant ancestor was a successful wooer, and mrs. battle, née williams, soon became mrs. arrington. thus it happened that the little anne—my mother—the one daughter of this union, entered the world and simultaneously into the affections of one dozen half-brothers and sisters arrington, and as many of the battle blood. this was a fortunate prevision for me, for, though orphaned at the outset of my earthly pilgrimage—i was but three years old when my girl-mother passed away—i found myself by no means alone, though my dear father, dr. peyton randolph tunstall, grief-stricken and sorrowful, left my native state at the death 4of his wife, and i was a half-grown girl ere we met again and learned to know each other.
my recollections of those early days are necessarily few; yet, were i a painter, i might limn one awful figure that lingers in my memory. she was a mulatto, to whose care for some time i was nightly confided. this crafty maid, pleasant by name, though ’twas a misnomer, anxious to join in the diversions of the other domestics among the outlying cabins on the plantation, would no sooner tuck me into bed than she would begin to unfold to me blood-curdling stories of “sperrits an’ ghoses,” and of “old blue eyes an’ bloody bones” who would be sure to come out of the plum orchard and carry me to the graveyard if i did not go quickly to sleep. fortunately, old major drake, of whose family i was then a member, chanced one evening to overhear this soothing lullaby, and put an end to her stories ere serious harm had been done; yet so wonderful is the retentive power of the human mind that though seventy and more momentous years have passed since i, a little fearsome child, huddled under the coverings breathless in my dread of the “bogie man,” i still recall my heartless, or perhaps my thoughtless, nurse vividly.
at the age of six i was carried to tuscaloosa, then the capital of the young state of alabama, where i was placed in the care of my aunt, whose husband, henry w. collier, then a young lawyer, afterward became chief justice of the supreme court of his state, and its governor. that first journey stretches out in my memory as an interminable pilgrimage. mr. fort, of mississippi, his wife, my mother’s sister, and their two children, mary and martha, accompanied by a large following of negroes, being en route for their plantation in mississippi territory, i was given into their care for delivery to my kin in tuscaloosa. no palace-car of later days has ever eclipsed the wonders of the cavalcade our company 5made as we passed along through towns and villages and the occasional indian settlements that here and there dotted the untilled lands of those early nineteenth-century days!
my uncle drove in his gig at the head of the procession, while my aunt and the children made the journey in a big pudding-shaped carriage in charge of a trusty driver, beside whom my aunt’s maid sat. the carriage was built with windows at the sides, and adjustable steps, which were let down when we halted and secured in place by our negro attendants. these followed behind the vehicles and were at hand to serve us when need arose.
our cortege included several “dearborns,” similar in shape to the ambulances of the present, in which the old and ailing negroes were carried, and numerous wagons containing our household goods and provisions followed behind. at night, tents were pitched, in which my aunt and the children slept, unless by chance a storm arose, when the shelter of some hostelry or farmhouse was sought. the preparations for camping were altogether exciting, the erection of tents, the kindling of fires, the unharnessing and watering and feeding of the stock, and the eager industry of the cooks and their assistants in the midst of the array of shining utensils all combining to stamp the scene upon the mind of an impressionable child.
however, in the course of time the slow rolling of our carriage became monotonous to the restive children of the caravan, and the novelty of standing at the windows and gazing over the lifting hills soon wore off. my aunt felt the fatigue less, we thought, for she was a famous soliloquist, and often talked to herself as we rode, sometimes laughing aloud at her own good company. i think we children regarded her as deranged, if harmless, until one day she proved her sanity to our complete 6satisfaction. in a moment of insupportable tedium we conceived the idea of dropping the little tin cups, with which each was provided, in order to see if the wheels would run over them. one after another the vessels were lowered, and each, to our intense delight, was smashed flat as the proverbial pancake. when my aunt discovered our mischief, being a gentle soul, she merely reprimanded us, and at the next settlement purchased others; but when these and yet others followed the fate of the first, she became less indulgent. switches were cut from the forest trees, three pairs of pink palms tingled with the punishment then and there administered, and the remembrance thereof restrained my cousins’ and my own destructiveness for the remainder of the journey.
arrived at tuscaloosa, i spent four years in the shelter of the motherly affection of my aunt, mrs. collier, when, her health failing, i was placed in the home of my mother’s brother, alfred battle, a wealthy planter, residing a day’s journey from the little capital. my recollections of that early alabama life centre themselves about a great white house set in widening grounds, in the midst of which was a wondrous sloe-tree, white with blooms. many times i and my cousins played under it by moonlight, watching the shadows of the branches as they trembled on the white-sanded earth below, wondering at them, and not sure whether they were fairies’ or angels’ or witches’ shapes. around that tree, too, we played “chickamy, chickamy, craney crow,” and, at the climax, “what o’clock, old witch?” would scamper wildly to elude the pursuit of the imaginary old witch. here, a healthy and happy child, i pursued my studies. my uncle’s wife, a woman of marked domestic tastes, taught me to sew and knit and to make a buttonhole, and i made progress in books under the guidance of a visiting teacher; but, my task ended, i flew to the meadows and orchards and to 7the full-flowering clover-field, or to the plantation nursery to see the old mammies feed the babies with “clabber,” with bread well crumbed in it, or cush, made of bread soaked in gravy and softly mashed.
it was during this bucolic period of my life that the stars fell. i did not witness these celestial phenomena, being sound asleep as a child should be; but, for years afterward, time was marked from that great event. i remember perfectly my aunt’s description of it. people ran from their houses weeping and falling on their knees, praying for mercy and forgiveness. everywhere the terrifying belief spread that the day of judgment was at hand; and nights were made vocal with the exhortations of the black preachers who now became numerous upon the plantation. to very recent days old negroes have dated their calendar from “de year when de stars fell.”
ah, me! how long ago that time of childhood’s terrors and delights in that young open country! of all my early playmates, but one, my cousin william battle, remains, a twin relic of antiquity! from the first we were cronies; yet we had a memorable disagreement upon one occasion which caused a slight breach between us. we were both intensely fond of my aunt’s piano, but my cousin was compelled to satisfy his affection for music in secret; for uncle battle, who heartily encouraged my efforts, was positive in his disapproval of those of my cousin. he thought piano-playing in a man to be little short of a crime, and was quite resolved his son should not be guilty of it. my cousin and i, therefore, connived to arrange our practice in such a way as would allow him to finish his practice at the instrument before my uncle’s return from the day’s duties.
upon the fatal occasion of our disagreement, however, i refused, upon my cousin’s appearance, to yield my seat, whereupon, losing his temper, he gave me a tap on the cheek. in a moment the struggle was on! our 8tussle was at its height, i on top and pummelling with all my might, when, the door opening suddenly, a startled cousin appeared.
“la!” she exclaimed in terror, “cousin will and virginia are fighting!”
“no, we’re not!” i replied stoutly. “we’re just playing;” and i retired with tufts of reddish hair in both hands, but leaving redder spots on the face of my cousinly antagonist. he, thoroughly satisfied to be released, no longer desired to play the piano, nor with me. his head has long been innocent of hair, an hereditary development, but he has always asserted that his baldness is attributable to “my cousin, mrs. clay, who, in our youthful gambols, scalped me.”
during my twelfth year, my uncle removed to tuscaloosa, where my real school days began. it was the good fortune of the young state at that time to have in the neighbourhood of its capital many excellent teachers, among whom was my instructress at the school in tuscaloosa to which i now was sent. i cannot refrain from telling a strange incident in her altogether remarkable life. from the beginning it was full of unusual vicissitudes. by birth an english gentlewoman, her mother had died while she was yet an infant. in the care of a young aunt, the child was sent to america to be brought up by family connections residing here. on the long sailing voyage the infant sickened and, to all appearances, died. the ship was in midocean, and the young guardian, blaming her own inexperience, wept bitterly as preparations went on for the burial. at last, all else being ready, the captain himself came forward to sew the little body in the sack, which when weighted would sink the hapless baby into the sea. he bent over the little form, arranging it, when by some strange fortune a bottle of whisky, which he carried in his pocket, was spilled and the contents began to flow upon the child’s face. before an 9exclamation could be made the little one opened its eyes and gave so many evidences of life that restoratives were applied promptly. the infant recovered and grew to womanhood. she became, when widowed, the mistress of a school in our little capital, and her descendants, in many instances, have risen to places of distinction in public life.
an instructress of that period to whom the women of early alabama owed much was maria brewster brooks, who, as mrs. stafford, the wife of professor samuel m. stafford, became celebrated, and fills a page of conspicuous value in the educational history of the state. she was born on the banks of the merrimac and came to tuscaloosa in her freshest womanhood. first her pupil, and afterward her friend, our mutual affection, begun in the early thirties, continued until her demise in the eighties. many of her wards became in after years notable figures in the social life of the national capital, among them mrs. hilary herbert.
in tuscaloosa there resided, besides my aunt collier, few of my father’s and mother’s kin, and by a natural affinity i fell under the guardianship of my father’s brother, thomas b. tunstall, secretary of state of alabama. he was a bachelor; but all that i lacked in my separation from my father my uncle supplied, feeding the finer sides of my nature, and inspiring in me a love of things literary even at an age when i had scarce handled a book. my uncle’s influence began with my earliest days in alabama. my aunt, mrs. collier, was delicate, mrs. battle domestic; uncle battle was a famous business man; and uncle collier was immersed in law and increasing political interests; but my memory crowds with pictures of my uncle tom, walking slowly up and down, playing his violin, and interspersing his numbers with some wise counsel to the child beside him. he taught me orally of poetry, and music, of letters 10and philosophy, and of the great world’s great interests. he early instilled in me a pride of family, while reading to me scott’s fine tribute to brian tunstall, “the stainless knight,” or, as he rehearsed stories of sir cuthbert tunstall, knight of the garter, and bishop of london in the time of gentle queen anne; and it was in good uncle tom’s and my father’s company that the fascinations of the drama were first revealed to me.
while i was yet a schoolgirl, and so green that, had i not been protected by these two loving guardians, i would have been eaten up by the cows on the mobile meadows, i was taken to see “the gamester,” in which charles kean and ellen tree were playing. it was a remarkable and ever-remembered experience. as the play proceeded, i became so absorbed in the story, so real and so thrillingly portrayed, that from silent weeping i took to sniffling and from sniffling to ill-repressed sobbing. i leaned forward in my seat tensely, keeping my eyes upon the stage, and equally oblivious of my father and uncle and the strangers who were gazing at me on every side. now and then, as i sopped the briny outflow of my grief, realising in some mechanical manner that my handkerchief was wet, i would take it by two corners and wave it back and forth in an effort to dry it; but all the while the tears gushed from my eyes in rivulets. my guardians saw little of the play that night, for the amusement i afforded these experienced theatre-goers altogether exceeded in interest the mimic tragedy that so enthralled me.
when the curtain fell upon the death-scene i was exhausted; but another and counteracting experience awaited me, for the after-piece was “robert macaire,” and now, heartily as i had wept before, i became convulsed with laughter as i saw the deft pickpocket (impersonated by crisp, the comedian), courtly as a king, bowing in the dance, while removing from the unsuspecting ladies and gentlemen about him their brooches and 11jewels! my absorption in the performance was so great that i scarce heard the admonitions of my father and uncle, who begged me, in whispers, to control myself. nor did i realise there was another person in the house but the performers on the stage and myself.
years afterward, while travelling with my husband, he recognised in a fellow traveller a former friend from southern alabama, a mr. montague, and brought him to me to present him. to my chagrin, he had scarcely taken my hand when he burst into immoderate and inexplicable laughter.
“never,” said he to mr. clay, “shall i forget the time when i first saw your wife! we went to see tree; but, sir, not half the house knew what was going on on the stage for watching the little girl in the auditorium! never till then had i imagined the full power of the drama! her delight, her tears and laughter, i am sure, were remembered by the mobilians long after the ‘stars’ acting was forgotten.”
that visit to mobile was my first flight into the beautiful world that lay beyond the horizon of my school life. in the enjoyments devised for me by my father in those few charmed days, i saw, if not clearly, at least prophetically, what of beauty and joy life might hold for me. upon our arrival in the lovely little bay city, my father, learning of a ball for which preparations were on foot, determined i should attend it. guided perhaps in his choice of colour by the tints of health that lay in his little daughter’s cheeks, he selected for me a gown of peach-blossom silk, which all my life i have remembered as the most beautiful of dresses, and one which transformed me, heretofore confined to brown holland gowns by my prudent aunt, mrs. battle, as truly as cinderella was changed into a princess.
upon the evening of that never-to-be-forgotten boat club ball, blushing and happy, eager, with delightful 12anticipations, yet timorous, too, for my guardians, the battles, had disapproved of dancing and had rigorously excluded this and other worldly pleasures from their ward’s accomplishments, i was conducted by my father to the ball. in my heart lay the fear that i would be, after all, a mere looker-on, or appear awkward if i should venture to dance as did the others; but neither of these misgivings proved to have been well founded.
my father led me at once to mme. le vert, then the reigning queen of every gathering at which she appeared, and in her safe hands every fear vanished. i had heard my elders speak frequently of her beauty, and somehow had imagined her tall. she was less so than i had pictured, but so winning and cordial to me, a timid child, that i at once capitulated before the charm she cast over everyone who came into conversation with her. i thought her face the sweetest i had ever seen. she had a grace and frankness which made everyone with whom she talked feel that he or she alone commanded her attention. i do not recall her making a single bon mot, but she was vivacious and smiling. her charm, it seemed to me, lay in her lovely manners and person and her permeating intellectuality.
i remember mme. le vert’s appearance on that occasion distinctly, though to describe it now seems garish. to see her then was bewildering, and all her colour was harmony. she wore a gown of golden satin, and on her hair a wreath of coral flowers, which her morocco shoes matched in hue. in the dance she moved like a bird on the wing. i can see her now in her shining robe, as she swayed and glided, holding the shimmering gown aside as she floated through the “ladies’ chain.” the first dance of my life was a quadrille, vis-à-vis with this renowned beauty, who took me under her protection and encouraged me from time to time.
“don’t be afraid, my dear,” she would sweetly say, 13“do just as i do,” and i glided after my wonderful instructress like one enchanted, with never a mishap.
mme. le vert, who in years to come became internationally celebrated, was a kinswoman of clement claiborne clay, and in after times, when i became his wife, i often met her, but throughout my long life i have remembered that first meeting in mobile, and her charm and grace have remained a prized picture in my memory. it was of this exquisite belle that washington irving remarked: “but one such woman is born in the course of an empire.”
it was to my uncle tom that i owed the one love sorrow of my life. it was an affair of the greatest intensity while it endured, and was attended by the utmost anguish for some twelve or fourteen hours. during that space of time i endured all the hopes and fears, the yearnings and despairs to which the human heart is victim.
i was nearing the age of fifteen when my uncle one evening bade me put on my prettiest frock and accompany him to the home of a friend, where a dance was to be given. i was dressed with all the alacrity my old mammy was capable of summoning, and was soon ensconced in the carriage and on my way to the hospitable scene. en route we stopped at the hotel, where my uncle alighted, reappearing in a moment with a very handsome young man, who entered the carriage with him and drove with us to the house, where he, too, was to be a guest.
never had my eyes beheld so pleasing a masculine wonder! he was the personification of manly beauty! his head was shapely as tasso’s (in after life i often heard the comparison made), and in his eyes there burned a romantic fire that enslaved me from the moment their gaze rested upon me. at their warmth all the ardour, all the ideals upon which a romantic heart had fed rose in recognition of their realisation in him. during the evening he paid me some pretty compliments, remarking 14upon my hazel eyes and the gleam of gold in my hair, and he touched my curls admiringly, as if they were revered by him.
my head swam! lohengrin never dazzled elsa more completely than did this knight of the poet’s head charm the maiden that was i! we danced together frequently throughout the evening, and my hero rendered me every attention a kind man may offer to the little daughter of a valued friend. when at last we stepped into the carriage and turned homeward, the whole world was changed for me.
my first apprehension of approaching sorrow came as we neared the hotel. to my surprise, the knight was willing, nay, desired to be set down there. a dark suspicion crept into my mind that perhaps, after all, my hero might be less gallant than i had supposed, else why did he not seek this opportunity of riding home with me? if this wonderful emotion that possessed me also had actuated him—and how could i doubt it after his devotion throughout the evening?—how could he bear to part from me in this way without a single word or look of tenderness?
as the door closed behind him i leaned back in the darkest corner of the carriage and thought hard, though not hardly of him. after a little my uncle roused me by saying, “did my little daughter enjoy this evening?”
i responded enthusiastically.
“and was i not kind to provide you with such a gallant cavalier? isn’t colonel jere clemens a handsome man?”
ah, was he not? my full heart sang out his praises with an unmistakable note. my uncle listened sympathetically. then he continued, “yes, he’s a fine fellow! a fine fellow, virginia, and he has a nice little wife and baby!”
no thunderbolt ever fell more crushingly upon the unsuspecting than did these awful words from the lips of my uncle! i know not how i reached my room, but 15once there i wept passionately throughout the night and much of the following morning. within my own heart i accused my erstwhile hero of the rankest perfidy; of villainy of every imaginable quality; and in this recoil of injured pride perished my first love dream, vanished the heroic wrappings of my quondam knight!
having finished the curriculum of the institute presided over by miss brooks, i was sent to the “female academy” at nashville, tennessee, to perfect my studies in music and literature, whence i returned to tuscaloosa all but betrothed to alexander keith mcclung, already a famous duellist. i met him during a visit to my uncle fort’s home, in columbus, mississippi, and the colonel’s devotion to me for many months was the talk of two states. he was the gallantest lover that ever knelt at a lady’s feet! many a winsome girl admired him, and my sweet cousin, martha fort, was wont to say she would “rather marry colonel mcclung than any man alive”; but i—i loved him madly while with him, but feared him when away from him; for he was a man of fitful, uncertain moods and given to periods of the deepest melancholy. at such times he would mount his horse “rob roy,” wild and untamable as himself, and dash to the cemetery, where he would throw himself down on a convenient grave and stare like a madman into the sky for hours. a man of reckless bravery, in after years he was the first to mount the ramparts of monterey shouting victory. as he ran, carrying his country’s flag in his right hand, a shot whizzing by took off two fingers of his left.
i was thrown much in the company of colonel mcclung while at my uncle’s home, but resisted his pleading for a binding engagement, telling him with a strange courage and frankness, ere i left columbus, my reason for this persistent indecision. before leaving for the academy at nashville, i had met, at my uncle collier’s, in tuscaloosa, the young legislator, clement c. clay, jr., and had 16then had a premonition that if we should meet when i returned from school i would marry him. at that time i was an unformed girl, and he, mr. clay, was devoted to a young lady of the capital; but this, as i knew, was a matter of the past. i would surely meet him again at uncle collier’s (i told mr. mcclung), and, if the attraction continued, i felt sure i would marry him. if not, i would marry him, colonel mcclung. so we parted, and, though at that time the colonel did not doubt but that mine was a dreaming girl’s talk, my premonitions were promptly realised.
upon my return to our provincial little capital, then a community of six thousand souls, i found it thronging with gallants from every county in the state. the belles of the town, in preparation for the gayety of the legislative “season” of two months, were resplendent in fresh and fashionable toilettes. escritoires were stocked with stationery suitable for the billet-doux that were sure to be required; and there, too, were the little boxes of glazed mottoed wafers, then all the fashion, with which to seal the pretty missives. all the swains of that day wrote in verse to the ladies they admired, and each tender rhyme required a suitably presented acknowledgment. i remember, though i have preserved none save those my husband wrote me, several creditable effusions by colonel mcclung, one of which began:
“fearful and green your breathless poet stands,” etc.
shortly after my return from columbus, i attended a ball where i danced with william l. yancey, even then recognised for the splendour of his intellectual powers and his eloquence in the forum. i had heard him speak, and thought his address superb, and i told him so.
“ah,” he answered gayly, “if it had not been for one pair of hazel eyes i should have been submerged in a mere sea of rhetoric!”
on the night of my dance with him i wore a white 17feather in my hair, and on the morrow a messenger from mr. yancey bore me some charming verses, addressed “to the lady with the snow-white plume!”
i have said my strange premonitions regarding mr. clay were realised. ten days after we met we were affianced. there was a hastily gathered trousseau selected in part by mme. levert in mobile, and hurried on to my aunt’s home. a month later, and our marriage was celebrated with all the éclat our little city could provide, and the congratulations of a circle of friends that included half the inhabitants. it is sixty years since that wonderful wedding day, and of the maidens who attended me—there were six—and the happy company that thronged judge collier’s home on that crisp february morning when i crossed the rubicon of life, all—even the bridegroom—have passed long since into the shadowy company of memory and the dead.
that marriage feast in the morn of my life was beautiful; the low, spacious house of primitive architecture was white with hyacinths, and foliage decorated every available space. the legislature came in a body, solons of the state, and young aspirants for fame; the president and faculty of the state university, of which mr. clay was a favoured son; dr. capers, afterward bishop of south carolina, officiated, and, in that glorious company of old alabamians, my identity as virginia tunstall was merged forever with that of the rising young statesman, clement c. clay, jr.
a week of festivity followed the ceremony, and then my husband took me to my future home, among his people, in the northern part of the state. there being no railroad connection between tuscaloosa and huntsville in those days (the early forties), we made the journey from the capital in a big four-wheeled stage-coach. the stretch of country now comprised in the active city of birmingham, the southern pittsburg, was then a rugged 18place of rocks and boulders over which our vehicle pitched perilously. stone mountain reached, we were obliged to descend and pick our way on foot, the roughness of the road making the passage of the coach a very dangerous one. but these difficulties only lent a charm to us, for the whole world was enwrapped in the glamour of our youthful joys. the sunsets, blazing crimson on the horizon, seemed gloriously to proclaim the sunrise of our life.
we arrived in huntsville on the evening of the second day of our journey. our driver, enthusiastically proud of his part in the home-bringing of the bride, touched up the spirited horses as we crossed the public square and blew a bugle blast as we wheeled round the corner; when, fairly dashing down clinton street, he pulled up in masterly style in front of “clay castle.” it was wide and low and spacious, as were all the affluent homes of that day, and now was ablaze with candles to welcome the travellers. all along the streets friendly hands and kerchiefs had waved a welcome to us. here, within, awaited a great gathering of family and friends eager to see the chosen bride of a well-loved son. this was my home-coming to huntsville, thereafter to be my haven for all time, though called in a few years by my husband’s growing reputation to take my place beside him in congressional circles at washington.
