"MY DEAR MABEL" [wrote the lord of Ridgeley]--"I wish you, so soon

as yon receive this, to communicate with Jenkyns and Smythe

concerning the new parlor furniture I ordered from them. In talking

it over, Clara and I have decided that it had better be covered with

maroon, instead of green, as you advised. I enclose a sample of

damask which they must match exactly. I would I write direct to

them, but think it likely that Jenkyns, the managing man of the

firm, is in your neighborhood at this time. He told me, when I was

in town, of his intention to visit Mrs. Wilson, his sister, I

believe, who lives on the White Oak road, about three miles from

Ridgeley. Send for him, and put the samples into his hands. If he

cannot get the precise color in Richmond, let him order it from New

York.

"The carpets for the parlor, dining-room, and Clara's chamber I have

bought in Lowell. Clara accompanied me thither, and gave me the

benefit of her taste in the selection. I have resolved, also, to

purchase wallpaper in Boston to match these. Say as much to

Jenkyns. I shall have the boxes directed to his care and instruct

him further respecting making the carpets and hanging the paper when

I return.

"Ask Roberts (the mason) whether it will be practicable to build a

fire-place in the large lower hall. Another chimney would be an

unsightly appendage to the roof, but Clara agrees with me, since

studying the plan of the house I brought on for her inspection, that

a flue could be run through the closet in your room into the rear

one of the west chimneys. She thinks the hall must be freezing cold

in winter, and caught eagerly at my idea that a blazing fire at one

end would lighten the sombre effect of the oaken wainscot and lofty

ceiling. I proposed to tear down the panelling, but she was

horrified at the thought. I could not take more pride and interest

in preserving the antique character of the home of my forefathers

than does she. She will have it that the hall, thus improved, and

hung with a few old pictures, some bits of ancient armor, and

carpeted with maroon and green will be truly baronial. You and she

will agree admirably in your enthusiastic love of the venerable, and

in your aesthetic tastes. I congratulate myself hourly upon my good

fortune in securing such a companion for myself, and such an

instructress for yourself. You cannot fail to derive infinite

benefit from intercourse with her.




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