The Family Greene Read Online Free PDF Page B

ventured to the edge of the water, fallen in, and was being carried downstream.
    In a second Nathanael was off his horse, had torn off his boots and coat, dived in, and brought the boy out. I sat my horse, mesmerized by the sight of him so strong and dripping wet as he handed the boy back to his parents and lingered to make sure the child was all right.
    My Nathanael had dove into the river without a thought of his own safety at all! I was besotted with him, and the word
honorable
became more difficult by the day as our courtship went on.
    But if it was difficult for me, what was it for Nathanael?
    I saw the difficulty for him, as in winter he visited our cozy parlor regularly, as he took me to dances, concerts, fish fries, skating parties. Summertime we went picnicking, sailing, and riding—and more dancing. He was inordinately fond of dancing because when he was young, his Quaker father had never allowed him to dance.
    "Once I got beaten because my father was told that I was just
watching
a dance," he told me. So he constantly ran away from home to dance. And was often beaten for it.
    But much of the time in our courtship, we gathered in Uncle Greene's house with other Whigs and spoke of the rising rebellion, and many terrible things that happened after the Stamp Act was repealed, like the Boston Massacre in 1770.
    By this time, when we said good night, he kissed me, held me close, murmured my name, over and over, then pulled away abruptly. "God," he would say. "God." And I knew it was not an oath, that it was a prayer, as he would turn on his heel and walk away.
    It was in that year of 1770 that Nathanael's Quaker minister father died. And upon his death I learned he was not only a minister but a shrewd businessman who owned not only many forges and mills in the area but a merchant ship that was engaged in the Caribbean trade.
    The slave trade, Nathanael explained to me.
    Of course all of the fruits of his father's industry now went to Nathanael and his seven brothers.
    "The merchant ship is called the
Fortune,
" he told me, "and we've got to get out of that business soon. But it isn't so easy getting out, once you partake of it. Right now the
Fortune
is carrying fourteen hundred gallons of rum, a hogshead of brown sugar, and forty gallons of Jamaican spirits."
    "Who captains the
Fortune
?" I asked.
    "Our young cousin Rufus Greene."
    "There are Greenes all around me," I accused.
    "Yes, dear, and they are all watching how I treat you."
    We did not discuss marriage, though the word hung in the air between us, constantly. For, though we were courting, most of the time I did not have him to myself.
    It wasn't long before I decided that if I wanted Nathanael Greene at all, I would have to share him with his books, his work, and his politics.
    He always had a book in his hand. Heavy reading, I decided, too heavy for me. He read Frederick the Great's
Instructions to His Generals,
for instance. And
An Apology for the True Christian Divinity,
by Robert Barclay.
    Right after his father died, Nathanael moved into his own house in Coventry. With permission from Aunt Catharine and Uncle Greene, I helped him move. I assisted with the lighter household things—curtains and pots and dishes—although his brother Jacob's wife, Peggy, was really in charge.
    The house, called Spell Hall, was on a small hill overlooking the Pawtuxet River. The first and second floors had four rooms each, with hallways in the center. The third floor was a garret.
    In back, overlooking the river, on the first floor, Nathanael had his library. He had at least three hundred books lining the walls.
    I could fancy a rainy afternoon with a fire crackling in the hearth, a tray of tea sitting on a low table, and Nathanael sitting at his desk, while I, in that comfortable chair over there, sat reading. What a wonderful way it would be to start a marriage!
    Nathanael worked hard most days in the forge that was situated a short distance from the house. He often