Marquis de Lafayette (Library of Congress)
That thing that Henry Brother said about wanting to avoid girls with buck teeth, that one time he used Mary Ann Pratt to avoid the ugly girls—well he regretted it, years later, as a man. This was because of his beloved sister, Belinda, who was the aunt of Civil War Marine Charles Brother.
Belinda was not an ugly girl at all, but she felt that way and carried herself that way, for she never had suitors and her sisters, both more extroverted and strategic about when they applied rogue or pink.
Belinda was bookish, thinking she might have a chance with the young soldiers if she studied war or military advancements. Perhaps she might find a schoolmaster to marry, and if that approach was a bust, she’d settle for a preacher.
When Henry was 24 years old in 1825, he watched with terrific pride as Belinda was one of the thirteen girls from Geneva’s William Plum school selected to represent the 13 original states when Gen. Lafayette's visited.
The girls arranged flowers in his pathway when he stepped out of his carriage, which arrived on June 8th, pulled by six horses. A signal gun’s firing announced his arrival and nearly a dozen military companies marched to the tree, the light infantry and artillery troops all in full uniform. He admired Seneca Lake and stood there on the shore a long time with his traveling party.
Afterwards Belinda ran up to Henry and jumped in his arms. She didn’t need any rogue or pink at all and he spun her around, caught up in the excitement himself.
She shouted, “All those handsome soldiers! I shall swoon for the rest of the year!”
Years later when her drop-dead gorgeous sister died, quickly followed by her husband, Belinda found at her feet six under drop-dead terrified young children looking up to her and her older sister.
Both ladies set aside all romance and set down to educate and rear these young people, all who became very successful and loyal admirers of their aunts, but especially Belinda, who told wonderful stories of military battles, beautiful horses, and dramatic entrances.