Burr
replied in a manner both venomous and insulting, and Hamilton called
upon Colonel Pendleton, General Greene's aide during the Revolution, and
asked him to act as his second. On the 23d he received a note from Van
Ness, inquiring when and where it would be most convenient for him to
receive a communication, and the correspondence thereafter was conducted
by the seconds.
It was Sunday, and Hamilton was at The Grange, when the note from Van
Ness arrived. He was swinging in a hammock, and he put the missive in
his pocket, shrugged his shoulders, and lifted himself on his elbow. His
entire family, with the exception of his wife and Angelica, were
shouting in the woods. The baby, a sturdy youngster of two, named for
the brother who had died shortly before his birth, emerged in a state of
fury. He had eighty-two years of vitality in him, and he roared like a
young bull. Hamilton's children inherited the tough fibre and the
longevity of the Schuylers. Of the seven who survived him all lived to
old age, and several were close to being centenarians.
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