Reuben Hyde Walworth. Cooper, William L. Stone, Catherine Sedgwick, Mrs. Sigourney, Edward C. Delavan, Gerrit Smith, Generals Scott, Wool, Worth; Gottschalk, the pianist, and a host of others, governors, senators and congressmen, celebrated authors and soldiers, who have chatted in its parlors, dined at its table, and walked about under the shade of its pines. The Chancellor never forgot an acquaintance, and was fond of bringing everyone to his house. Every morning during the summer season he looked carefully over the lists of arrivals at the hotels, and hastened to call upon everyone he knew. The Grove has known the portly form of Joseph Bonaparte in tights, and the quaint figure of Mar Yohannan in multitudinous folds of cloth. Clergymen always found a welcome there, what ever their type of faith or form of worship. Its traditions array such names as Eliphalet Nott, Lyman Beecher, William B. Sprague, George W. Bethune, Samuel H. Cox, Francis Wayland, James Milner, Archbishops Hughes, McCloskey, Purcell, Kenrick, and Spalding, Cardinal Bedini, and Bishop Alonzo Potter. Methodist bishops have visited there whose names I do not know, and at a very early date a Catholic bishop from Canada, in quaint knee-breeches and large buckled shoes, whose zeal in the cause of temperance brought him in connection with the Chancellor. Thither also came, at various times, innumerable mission aries from foreign parts, and now and then a russet-coated elder from the Shaker settlements. "Lewis J. Papineau, Dr. E. B. O'Callaghan, and Marshall S. Bidwell, exiled from Canada by the unsuccessful rebellion of 1837, found here a hearty welcome, and always remained on terms of the most intimate friendship with the Chancellor. "The front room in the north wing was the Chancellor's office for forty-three years. Any one passing the house, on entering by the north piazza, might see him hard at work throughout the day, and his lamp was burning there still un til two, three and often four o'clock in the morn ing. His constitution was of iron, and his capa city for labor was enormous, and yet he loved recreation, and no man could enjoy society better. He loved to spend the hours of his evening with his family at games of chess, backgammon or whist, or in lively conversation, until all the rest had retired.to bed, when he returned to his office, and to his solitary labors of the night. From these habits it may easily be inferred that he was not
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an early riser. And yet he often rose early in the summer time, when the Congress Spring was crowded with visitors, and the desire to meet his friends would bring him there among the rest. "He was a great talker and a lively one, and when a good story was told by himself or others, would throw his head forward, rub his hands to gether and laugh until the walls rang again. He never stood upon his dignity, but was always ready for any fun, even to the latest years of his life. "In the same ' office ' aforesaid the Chancellor held his ' motion courts.' This was not only a convenience for himself, but generally agreeable to the members of the Bar. By going there, in stead of to Albany, they were able to combine a little business with a trip to the Springs. A woodbox being covered with a carpet, an armchair was placed upon it, and a high, light, long-legged desk before it, and the little office was thus converted into a court-room. Here, during a long course of years, distinguished counsel came to make, defend and argue motions in chancery. Hither came Ambrose Spencer, Chief Justice of New York; John C. Spencer, Joshua Spencer, Charles O'Conor, Samuel Stevens, Mark Reynolds, Benj. F. Butler of New York; Daniel Lord, Wm. H. Seward, David Graham, and many other men of equal mark, though of a later generation. Here once William Kent and George Griffin were pitted against Daniel Webster, in some case involving the Illinois State bonds, which crowded the room, piazza, and sidewalk with anxious listeners, until out of consideration for these the Chancellor adjourned to the Universalist Church. "To this same office came the new aspirants to chancery practice, and signed their names to the roll of counselors. This was a veritable roll made of strong parchment, piece added to piece as the list increased. It holds the names of almost all the distinguished lawyers of New York now living. It is at present in the possession of William A. Beach, a resident of New York City, but a native of Saratoga, and one of the honored names on the roll." It seems that not all the lawyers liked to go to Saratoga to attend the Chancellor's court. Among these was Ambrose L. Jor dan, once attorney-general of the State — but then he rarely liked anything. In the de bates in the Constitutional Convention of
