“Give not way to idle grief at our parting,” her mother had admonished her. “Thee will have need of all thy fortitude to attend thy cousin, and ’twere sinful to waste thy strength in weeping.”
With this counsel in mind the girl struggled bravely against her emotion, and presently, wiping her eyes, turned toward the nurse. For youth is ever buoyant, and it is not natural for it to give way long to sadness. They had passed the Bettering House by this time and were well on their way toward the lower ferry.
“Thee will think me but a dull companion, I fear, friend nurse,” she said. “But I grieve to leave my mother even for so short a time. In truth, I have but recently returned home after a long absence.”
“Partings are always sad, my child, even when they are but for a few days,” replied Nurse Johnson sympathetically. “I felt just so when I bade my sister farewell this morning. We had not seen each other for ten years until I came for this visit, and ’tis like to be as long again before we get another glimpse of each other if this fearful war continues. In times such as these separation from loved ones is fraught with more than the usual sorrow; for one never knows what will happen. But you have borne up bravely, child. I feared a scene. Most girls would have treated me to such. You have the making of a good nurse, Peggy, with such control.”
“’Tis another time that I merit not thy praise,” explained the maiden. “’Tis all due to mother. She cautioned me about giving way to my feelings, thinking that I would need my strength for the journey.”
“Your mother is right,” said Nurse Johnson soberly. “The way is long and we shall have much ado to beguile the tediousness of it. As a beginning, can you tell me if those earthworks yonder are the remains of British entrenchments?”
“Yes,” answered the girl. “Traces of their lines are still discoverable in many places about the city. If thee rode out the Bristol road at all thee must have seen a large redoubt which commands the Delaware. Its parapet is considered of great elegance, though there are those that contend that the parapet was constructed with more regard to ornament than for fortification. Just this side of the battery are the barracks they built.”
“And were you in the city when they held possession?”
“No. Mother and I were at Strawberry Hill, our farm on the Wissahickon. Thee should have seen our city before the enemy held it, friend nurse. There were great trees all along the banks of the Schuylkill here which were called the Governor’s Woods. The English cut them down for fire-wood, and to help build their fortifications. And so many of our beautiful country places were burned.”
“’Tis so all over the land, my child,” returned the nurse sadly. “War leaves a train of wrecked and desolated homes wherever it is waged. We of Virginia have been fortunate so far to escape a wholesale ravage of the state. True, there have been some predatory incursions, but the state as a whole has not been overrun by the enemy. If General Greene can continue to hold Lord Cornwallis’ attention in the Carolinas we may not suffer as those states have.”