father, and his mother come of a good family, but he
died in debt; drank like a fish. Yes, 'twas a shame, nice woman; good
consistent church-member; always been respected; useful among the sick."
_Deephaven Society_
It was curious to notice, in this quaint little fishing-village by the
sea, how clearly the gradations of society were defined. The place
prided itself most upon having been long ago the residence of one
Governor Chantrey, who was a rich shipowner and East India merchant, and
whose fame and magnificence were almost fabulous. It was a never-ceasing
regret that his house should have burned down after he died, and there
is no doubt that if it were still standing it would rival any ruin of
the Old World.
The elderly people, though laying claim to no slight degree of present
consequence, modestly ignored it, and spoke with pride of the grand way
in which life was carried on by their ancestors, the Deephaven families
of old times. I think Kate and I were assured at least a hundred times
that Governor Chantrey kept a valet, and his wife, Lady Chantrey, kept a
maid, and that the governor had an uncle in England who was a baronet;
and I believe this must have been why our friends felt so deep an
interest in the affairs of the English nobility: they no doubt felt
themselves entitled to seats near the throne itself. There were formerly
five families who kept their coaches in Deephaven; there were balls at
the governor's, and regal entertainments at other of the grand mansions;
there is not a really distinguished person in the country who will not
prove to have been directly or indirectly connected with Deephaven. We
were shown the cellar of the Chantrey house, and the terraces, and a few
clumps of lilacs, and the grand rows of elms. There are still two of the
governor's warehouses left, but his ruined wharves are fast
disappearing, and are almost deserted, except by small barefooted boys
who sit on the edges to fish for sea-perch when the tide comes in. There
is an imposing monument in the burying-ground to the great man and his
amiable consort. I am sure that if there were any surviving relatives of
the governor they would receive in Deephaven far more deference than is
consistent with the principles of a republican government; but the
family became extinct long since, and I have heard, though it is not a
subject that one may speak of lightly, that the sons were unworthy their
noble descent and came to in
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