A Narragansett Elopement

A Narragansett Elopement by Alice Morse Earle

"A Narragansett Elopement" by Alice Morse Earle recounts the tragic true story of Hannah Robinson, the beautiful daughter of Rowland Robinson, a wealthy and imperious Narragansett planter of the eighteenth century, whose life was destroyed by a combination of a faithless husband and her father's unbending pride. The story is set primarily at the Robinson family estate on Boston Neck, a grand gambrel-roofed colonial house built in 1746, four miles north of Narragansett Pier. Earle describes the house in loving detail, noting its beautifully turned staircase, Dutch-tiled fireplaces, wainscoted rooms, a Lafayette Chamber where the Marquis de Lafayette once stayed, and an attic full of old domestic artifacts. The house is also home to a famous cupboard in Hannah's chamber, which she used to hide her lover when her father's footsteps were heard on the stairs. Rowland Robinson was a man of great wealth derived from dairy farming, grain production, shipping, and trade in Narragansett pacers, a distinctive and prized American breed of horse. He had once engaged in the slave trade but, moved to tears when his first cargo of enslaved Africans arrived, vowed never to sell any of them and never again sent a ship to Africa for that purpose. Among his enslaved household was Prince, the son of Queen Abigail, an African woman of royal birth who had returned to Africa with Robinson's assistance, found her son, and brought him back to serve in the Robinson household. Robinson had three children: a son, William, and two daughters, Mary and Hannah. Hannah was renowned throughout Narragansett for her extraordinary beauty and vivacity. She was sent to Newport to be educated at the school of Madame Osborne, where she fell deeply in love with Pierre Simond, known also as Peter Simons, a teacher of music and French who was the son of a French Huguenot family. Both understood that Hannah's proud and imperious father would never approve of such a match, and so they kept their love secret. When Hannah returned home, Peter Simons managed to secure a position as tutor in the household of Colonel Gardiner, Hannah's uncle, who lived only two miles away. With the tacit support of Hannah's mother and the sentimental assistance of Colonel Gardiner, the lovers continued to meet. Hannah concealed her lover in the famous cupboard when necessary, and Peter would stand beneath a great lilac bush outside her window to exchange whispered words and letters. Their secret was eventually discovered when Rowland Robinson, happening to open his front door one night, saw a letter dropped from a window into the darkness of the lilac bush and, thrusting his stick into it, drove out a man he recognized as the French music teacher. Robinson's fury was extreme. He subjected Hannah to constant surveillance, followed her on journeys, and compelled her return home on the mere suspicion that she might be meeting her lover. Despite this, with the help of sympathetic neighbors and her friend Miss Belden, a long-planned elopement was eventually carried out. Under the pretext of attending a grand ball at the home of their aunt, Mrs. Updike, Hannah and her sister Mary set out on horseback. In the thick woods on Ridge Hill, Hannah entered a waiting closed carriage with Peter Simons, despite her sister's tears and Prince's desperate appeals, and the couple rode to Providence, where they were married. Rowland Robinson disowned Hannah utterly and offered a reward for the names of those who had aided her escape, making their revelation the sole condition upon which he would take her back. Peter Simons, however, proved unworthy of the sacrifice Hannah had made. Disappointed in his hopes of obtaining any of Robinson's wealth, he neglected and eventually deserted her. Hannah fell into poverty, loneliness, and declining health in Providence, her only companion a dog secretly sent to her by her mother. A harrowing series of exchanges followed between the dying woman and her stubborn father, who rode repeatedly from Narragansett to Providence, knocked at her door to ask after her health, but refused to enter unless she would name those who had helped her elope. Hannah, demonstrating the same strength of character as her father, repeatedly refused to betray her friends. Only when those friends themselves insisted she reveal their names did she finally relent. When Robinson entered her wasted chamber, the sight of his once-beautiful daughter drove all thought of the secret from his mind. He knelt and wept, then immediately arranged for her to be brought home on a hand-litter carried by four of his enslaved men. The journey home through the blooming June countryside of Narragansett formed a painful contrast with Hannah's dying state. She wept when passing the spot on Ridge Hill where she had last seen her sister Mary, who had since died of consumption, and asked her father to place on her breast not a living flower but a withered sprig of life-everlasting. That night, a whip-poor-will, believed throughout Narragansett to be an omen of death, perched on the lilac bush beneath her window and called through the darkness. Hannah died the following day and was buried near the family home, her grave marked by a headstone that identifies her as Unfortunate Hannah Robinson.

By Alice Morse Earle · First published 1887 · Genre: Historical Romance, Tragedy, Historical Fiction · 4,004 words

First lines

Four miles north of Narragansett Pier lies the old South Ferry, from whence for over a century ran ferry-boats to a landing on Conanicut Island. About a mile farther north there stands on Boston Neck an ancient willow-shaded, gambrel-roofed, weather-beaten house which in the latter part of the eighteenth century was the scene of a sadly romantic event. It was built by Rowland Robinson in the first half of the century -- in 1746 -- and was originally one hundred and ten feet long, as the stone foundations still show. The kitchen and negro quarters have been demolished, and the present structure has a front of sixty feet. The rooms within are models of the simple style of architecture of that day. The staircase is specially beautiful with its gracefully turned balusters and curious drop ornaments, and its deep-worn steps of bass-wood. The walls of all the rooms are wainscoted in a substantial manner, and the fireplaces are ornamented with blue and white Dutch tiles. The heavy timbers and rafters -- all cut on the place -- have not sagged an inch with the weight of years. Over the fireplace in the dining-room is a panel bearing a smoke-darkened painting which represents a deer-hunt that occurred on the Robinson place while the house was being built.

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A Narragansett Elopement is listed on Textopian as a short story by Alice Morse Earle, dated 1887 CE.

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historical fiction · romance · elopement · Narragansett · Rhode Island · American literature · 19th century · colonial America · love story · adventure · Native American · cultural encounter

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