ty. Mr. William Kemble, apart from his
artistic tastes, owned a number of fine pictures, among which was a
Sappho by a Spanish master. It was given to Mrs. Kemble by the
grandfather of the late Rear Admiral Richard W. Meade, U.S.N. When the
Kemble family left Beach Street and moved to West Twenty-fifth Street
this picture was sold to Gouverneur Kemble for $5,000, and placed in his
extensive picture gallery at Cold Spring.

Mrs. William Kemble was a woman of marked ability and an able
_raconteurse_. Early in life she had been left an orphan and was brought
up by her maternal uncle, Dr. Thomas Tillotson of the Eastern shore of
Maryland, whose wife was Margaret Livingston, a daughter of Judge Robert
R. Livingston and a sister of Chancellor Robert R. Livingston. Another
sister of Mrs. Tillotson was the widow of General Richard Montgomery, of
the Revolutionary War, who fell at the battle of Quebec. The Tillotsons,
Livingstons and Montgomerys all owned fine residences near Hyde Park on
the Hudson; and a close intimacy existed between the Tillotsons and the
Kembles owing to the fact that Mr. Kemble's first cousin, Emily
Gouverneur, married Mrs. Kemble's first cousin, Robert Livingston
Tillotson. William Kemble's younger brother, Richard Frederick, married
Miss Charlotte Morris, daughter of James Morris of Morrisania, N.Y.

The summer home of William Kemble was in a large grove of trees at Cold
Spring and life under its roof was indeed an ideal existence. I was
their constant guest and although it was a simple life it teemed with
beauty and interest. Our days were spent principally out of doors and
the sources of amusement were always near at hand. As all of the Kembles
were experts with the oar, we frequently spent many hours on the Hudson.
Another unfailing source of pleasure was a frequent visit to West Point
to witness the evening parade. As we knew many of the cadets they
frequently crossed the river to take an informal meal or enjoy an hour's
talk on the attractive lawn. Lieutenant Colonel (subsequently General)
William J. Hardee, who for a long time was Commandant of Cadets at West
Point, I knew quite well. Later in his career he was ordered to
Washington, where as a widower he became a social lion, devoting himself
chiefly to Isabella Cass, a daughter of General Lewis Cass. His career
in the Confederate Army is too well known for me to relate. After the
Civil War I never saw him again, as he lived in the South. During o