12 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ 



Downstairs on the piano nobile on our right as we 

 came down into the hall, was the dining-room, its 

 walls hung with rare engravings. Here at two long 

 tables we used to have our Thanksgiving dinner when 

 most of us were children or very young men and 

 maidens. The little people were at a long side-table 

 with Aunt Sally and my mother to preside. The elders, 

 however, sat at the table of ceremony where grand- 

 father and grandmother presided in state. How 

 gravely John Tevin served us young folks, though 

 ready enough to crack a joke with us on ordinary occa- 

 sions ! How the tables groaned under the glorious pro- 

 ductions of Hannah Allen's genius, who was surely a 

 high priestess in the culinary art, of which we young- 

 sters were devotees! In later years the Thanksgiving 

 feast was spread in the two large drawing rooms with 

 folding doors that stood always open. They were 

 handsome, spacious rooms, hung with interesting 

 paintings, chiefly of the English school and strongly 

 influenced by the genius of Constable. There were 

 two beautiful bas-reliefs by Thorwaldsen, and some 

 exquisite ornaments in Sevres and other precious 

 materials, but the furniture was of the plainest, 

 covered with horsehair and the carpet was of sober 

 brown Brussels. Two relics of a departed glory we 

 regarded with awe: an armchair of Napoleon that he 

 sat in at St. Helena, gnawing his heart out, one may 

 guess, also a small copy of his tomb with sword and 

 chapeau bas laid upon it. 



Next to this pleasant mansion was the smaller 

 house where Thomas Graves Gary was watching over 



