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His daily life held much of ceremony as befitted his admiral's rank. At four o'clock the husband and wife dined with the family and the frequent guests. The dinner of four courses was served in silver and gold lined dishes, with wines from Jersey and game from the Provinces. Silver candelabras shone upon the table. After the dinner of an hour came tea at seven and a family rubber till nine; then Scripture reading and worship, when the ladies and servants retired, leaving the Admiral and his gentlemen friends, fortified with cigars, whiskey, and water, to relate naval stories and discuss religious themes till two or three o'clock in the morning. Methodism and Romanism were alike hateful to the hermit admiral, who, in quoting from Holy Writ, always rendered "the wiles" as "the methoddisms" of the devil. Every week he read to his neighbors two lectures "from unexceptionable sources, yet so modified as to contain all that was expedient to explain of his peculiar opinions." Often he held church service in what was almost a shanty, omitting from the liturgy whatsoever he might chance to dislike on any special Sunday.

The day began and ended with prayers which all the household servants attended, the "maids," as the Admiral called them,—"for we are all servants of God,"—bringing their work and sewing throughout the service, except when the prayer itself was said. If some one occasionally was disinclined to such steady improvement of the devotional hour, the Admiral, with a benevolent smile, inquired, "My dear, do you feel lazy to-night?"

Breakfast was served at nine. After that, Lady Owen, clad in an enormous apron, entered the kitchen and taught the mysteries of salads and jellies. Lady Owen was queen as he was king; and never did a lady rule more gently over store-room and parlor, over Sunday-school and sewing school, fitting the dresses of her domestics or of the island children. She was a handsome woman, with silver hair, and a pink and white complexion, who, like her daughters,