Old family; or, The Setons of Scotland and America

284 AN OLD FAMILT. [a.d.
well-known device of the patriotic Livingstons, at the four corners of the
ornamental border of the invitation card, and a row of crescents, the equally
well-known device of the aristocratic Setons on the upper line. In con-
junction with these crescents are diminutive gilly-flowers, which strengthens
the opinion that the design of the invitation card was deliberately meant
to symbolize the social harmony which then began and has continued
ever since.
"Although a modern writer on the condition of the colonies says bitterly
that ' the upper classes were generally Tories,' I may add that those of
them who remained after the Revolution became thorough Americans.
Vet, whoever knows la vie intime of our most patriotic old New York
families knows also that, discreetly hidden away from the public, there
exists — merely as a matter of sentiment and purely from the social point of
view — a certain pride in a Loyalist ancestor, or a quiet appreciation of some
British connection in 1776 ; for it is undeniable that the Revolution intro-
duced a new set of people into New York society, just as, later, Money
introduced a still newer one."
A very sweet and enduring friendship sprang up between
Mrs. Seton and her sister-in-law, Rebecca, who was born on
December 20, 1780. She was a beautiful character, and I have
no doubt but that, had she lived, she would have entered the
Catholic Church too. Mrs. Seton, writing to a bosom friend
in 1798, savs of her: "Rebecca is without exception the
most truly amiable voung woman I ever knew, and does honor
to the memory of my poor father [in-law] who was her director
in evervthing. Her society is a source of pleasure to me,
such as is altogether new and unexpected; for until I was
under the same roof I always thought her an uninformed girl
with many good qualities verv much neglected. But I find
the contrary every day."
The following letter to Rebecca is interesting :
" Cragc.don, 3d August, 1799.
" I have often told you, my Rebecca, that I had determined never again
to allow myself the enjoyment of any affection beyond the bounds of mod-
eration, but, really, your loving letters, the remembrance of the past hours,
and the thousand thoughts of you that strike me every day at this place,
make it no easy matter to restrain ray expressions when I write to you. I
never busy about the house, or dress the flower-pots or walk in the garden,
but you are as much my companion as if you were actually near me ; and