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An Old Lady of Nantucket by Margaret Hosmer
DOWN IN INDEPENDENCE Lane, Nantucket Town, which now has its western end obliterated and blocked by buildings, there once stood a low, unpainted house with a green front door, ornamented with a large brass knocker. This was the home of Aunt Betsey, who, since the death of her-sea-captain husband, rented the lower part of her house and lived alone in the upper rooms, which consisted of two front rooms, a low kitchen at the back, and the tiny room where she slept. A large chimney and entry occupied the center of the house. In the south front chamber stood a 4-poster bedstead with a canopy and valance and counterpane of Aunt Betsey's own handiwork. Her husband, who had been a captain in the merchant service, had brought many curious things from abroad which lent an air of unusual interest to this unused guest chamber. The old lady wore silks brought by her husband from China and France. An embroidered muslin kerchief, folded and tucked into her belt, and a cap tied with "laylock ribbins," completed her attire. When she went out to spend the afternoon she folded over her shoulders a large white muslin shawl with deep embroidered border, and wore a drab shirred silk bonnet, or sometimes a huge green silk calash that could be drawn up close around her face by the proper pulling of adjacent strings. She carried her sewing materials in an oval basket, with a handle over the middle, and covers which could be lifted up at each end. The aunt's winter costume consisted of an enormous pelisse, a fur cape and a black velvet bonnet. On windy days, when she plodded along to the North Church, the cape annoyed her by persistent flapping, to prevent which she affixed a large hook-and-eye in the middle of the back; and on warmer days, when the cape was not needed, the pelisse flaunted the solitary eye with impunity. Aunt Betsey was a pillar of the church and never missed a Sunday service or a Friday evening "lecture". Once, while visiting in New York State, she and her friends attended a revival meeting. After the service, she was startled when the speaker came up to her, "stuck his head into my bunnit, and said:'Do you know the Lord?' I stared right back at him. 'Know the Lord,' I said, 'I knew him before you were born!"' The little grand-nieces of this strong-minded old lady liked to visit her in the house on Independence Lane. The afternoons passed quickly in
