My mother did not always attend the May Conventions, but whenever she
went, she took one of us children with her. My first visit to New York
was made as an unqualified member of the Albany delegation to something
or other, I forget what. One thing I do not forget, however, and that is
hearing Horace Greeley make an address, and afterward being puffed up
with pride when the orator chatted familiarly with his small admirer at
dinner in our hotel on Barclay Street.
When my mother was absent from home, the family was left in charge of
our courtesy Aunt Catholina Van Olinda who kept the house with my elder
sister Althea, while I was dispatched for the time to my grandfather's
farm. I was very much at home on the farm and spent many happy days
there in early childhood, being regarded as a sort of heir apparent by
the principal personages there, namely, my grandfather, John Van Der Zee
the elder, and Tone and Cleo. The last named, Antony and Cleopatra, to
speak properly, were ancient negroes born and brought up on the farm and
rarely leaving it in all their long lives.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25