“No,” replied Charlotte; “he would not profit by it; but I will tell it to my children, and teach them to train their beans in the good old-fashioned way, near the ground.”
Thus passed the autumn at Clyde; that period which every reflecting mind enjoys as a season of contemplation; that period when our
New England woods assume every variety of color, and shine forth with a splendor that indicates decay. Still the two families had much enjoyment together; the health of Frances and little Charlotte had decidedly improved; but when the leaves began to fall, and the wind to whistle through the branches, they quitted Clyde and returned to the city. Their new house was not ready for them, and they were obliged to take lodgings at one of the hotels.
Mr. Draper met Dr. B., their friend and physician, in his walks, and begged him to call and see his wife. “I rejoice to say,” said he, “that her health does not require any medical advice; she is quite well.”
Probably Dr. B. thought otherwise, for he suggested the advantage that both she and the little girl might derive from passing the winter in a warm climate. Never was there a fairer opportunity; they had no home to quit, and their residence at a hotel was one of necessity, not of choice. But Mr. Draper said it was quite impossible. What! leave his counting-room, State Street, India Wharf, the insurance offices! leave all in the full tide of speculation,
when he was near the El Dorado for which he had so long been toiling! when Eastern lands and Western lands, rail-roads and steam-boats, cotton, and manufactories, were in all their glory; when his own Clyde Mills were just going into operation! It was impossible, wholly impossible; and Frances would not go without him. The suggestion was given up, and she remained in the city almost wholly confined to the atmosphere of a small room with a coal fire. Unfortunately the measles appeared among the children at the hotel, and Mrs. Draper’s were taken sick before she knew that the epidemic was there. They had the best attendance, but nothing supersedes a mother’s devotion. Frances passed many a sleepless night in watching over them. With the eldest the disorder proved slight, but it was otherwise with the youngest; and when she began to grow better, the mother drooped. It was a dreary winter for poor Mrs. Draper, but not so for her husband. Never had there been a season of such profits, such glorious speculations! Some croakers said it could not last; and some of our gifted statesmen predicted that
an overwhelming blow must inevitably come. But all this was nothing to speculators; it certainly would not arrive till after they had made their millions.
Spring approached, with its uncertainty of climate; sometimes, the streets were in rivers, and the next day frozen in masses; then came volumes of east wind. Mrs. Draper’s cough returned more frequently than ever, and Charlotte looked too frail for earth. The physician informed Mr. Draper that he considered it positively necessary to remove the invalids to a milder climate, and mentioned Cuba. Mr. Draper, however, decided that an inland journey would be best, and, inconvenient as it was, determined to travel as far as some of the cotton-growing states. After the usual busy preparations, they set off, the wife fully realizing that she was blighting in the bud her husband’s projected speculations for a few weeks to come, and feeling that he was making what he considered great sacrifices.
Almost all invalids who have travelled on our continent in pursuit of uniformity of climate, have been disappointed. At
New York they were detained a week by a flight of snow and rain, shut up in dreary rooms; then came a glimmering of sunshine, and Philadelphia looked bright and serene; but at Baltimore the rain again descended. They were so near Washington, Mr. Draper thought it best to hurry on, with every precaution for the invalids. At Washington, they found the straw mattings had superseded woollen carpets, and the fire-places were ornamented with green branches. They continued their journey south till they at length arrived at Charleston. Here they found a milder climate, and a few days of sunshine. Mr. Draper was no longer restless; he had full employment in shipping cargoes of cotton, and making bargains, not only for what was in the market, but for a proportion of that which was yet to grow, as confidently as if he had previously secured the rain and sunshine of heaven. There is a constant change of weather on our coast—another storm came on. The little invalid evidently lost rather than gained. Discouraged and disheartened, Frances begged they might return. “One week at