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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0730e1c --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #56104 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/56104) diff --git a/old/56104-0.txt b/old/56104-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 429bc08..0000000 --- a/old/56104-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7171 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Walks About Washington, by Francis E. Leupp - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Walks About Washington - -Author: Francis E. Leupp - -Illustrator: Lester G. Hornby - -Release Date: December 2, 2017 [EBook #56104] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WALKS ABOUT WASHINGTON *** - - - - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - - _Walks About Washington_ - - [Illustration] - - [Illustration] - - [Illustration: _Where Lincoln Died_ - - FRONTISPIECE] - - - - - WALKS ABOUT - WASHINGTON - - BY - FRANCIS E. LEUPP - - WITH DRAWINGS BY - LESTER G. HORNBY - - [Illustration] - - BOSTON - LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY - 1915 - - - _Copyright, 1915_, - BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. - - _All rights reserved_ - - Published, September, 1915 - - - Set up and electrotyped by J. S. Cushing Co., Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. - Presswork by S. J. Parkhill & Co., Boston, Mass., U.S.A. - - - - - To - ADA, HAROLD, ETHEL, - CONSTANCE, KATHLEEN - AND THE - MEMORY OF GRAHAM - - - - -[Illustration] - -_Preface_ - - -This is not a history. It is not a guide-book. It is not an -encyclopedia. It is nothing more ambitious than the title would -indicate: a stroll about Washington with my arm through my reader’s, and -a bit of friendly chat by the way. Mr. Hornby, sketch-book in hand, will -accompany us, to give permanence to our impressions here and there. - -First, we will take a general look at the city and recall some of the -more interesting incidents connected with its century and a quarter of -growth. Next, we will walk at our leisure through its public places and -try to people them in imagination with the figures which once were so -much in evidence there. - -For the stories woven into our talk I make no further claim than that -they have come to me from a variety of sources--personal observation, -dinner-table gossip, old letters and diaries, and local tradition. A -few, which seemed rather too vague in detail, I have tried to verify. My -ardor for research, however, was dampened by the discovery of from two -to a dozen versions of every occurrence, so that I have been driven to -accepting those which appeared most probable or most picturesque, -falling back upon the plea of the Last Minstrel: - - “I cannot tell how the truth may be; - I say the tale as ’twas said to me.” - -And now, let us be off! - - F. E. L. - - -WASHINGTON, D.C., - - August 1, 1915. - - - - -[Illustration] - -_Contents_ - - - PAGE - -PREFACE vii - -CHAPTER - - I. A CAPITAL MADE TO ORDER 1 - - II. WAR TIMES AND THEIR SEQUEL 26 - - III. “ON THE HILL” 54 - - IV. THESE OUR LAWMAKERS 85 - - V. “THE OTHER END OF THE AVENUE” 114 - - VI. THROUGH MANY CHANGING YEARS 147 - - VII. “THE SPIRIT OF GREAT EVENTS” 177 - -VIII. NEW FACES IN OLD PLACES 207 - - IX. THE REGION ’ROUND ABOUT 235 - - X. MONUMENTS AND MEMORIES 261 - - -INDEX 287 - - - - -[Illustration] - -_List of Illustrations_ - - - PAGE - -White House, from the State Department i - -Where Lincoln Died _Frontispiece_ - -Down F Street to the Interior Department vii - -Old Mill, on Bladensburg Battlefield ix - -Washington, across the Potomac from Arlington xi - -Capitol, from Pennsylvania Avenue, West xiii - - FACING PAGE - -General Washington’s Office in Georgetown 8 - -George Washington Tavern, Bladensburg 18 - -Octagon House 30 - -Union Engine House of 1815 42 - -On the Ruins of Fort Stevens 50 - -Survivals from “Before the War” 62 - -Rock Creek 74 - -Capitol, from New Jersey Avenue 84 - -Where Dolly Madison Gave Her Farewell Ball 96 - -Lee Mansion at Arlington 108 - -Old Carlyle Mansion, Alexandria 120 - -Washington’s Pew in Christ Church, Alexandria 132 - -Mount Vernon 142 - -Tudor House, Georgetown 154 - -Bladensburg Duelling-Ground 156 - -Decatur House 170 - -Soldiers’ Home 180 - -Old City Hall 192 - -The “Old Capitol” 204 - -St. Paul’s, the Oldest Church in the District 218 - -St. John’s, “the President’s Church” 234 - -Ford’s Theatre, the Old Front 248 - -Stage Entrance through which Booth Escaped 260 - -Rendezvous of the Lincoln Conspirators 274 - -A Herdic Cab 286 - -[Illustration] - - - - -_Walks About Washington_ - - - - -CHAPTER I - -A CAPITAL MADE TO ORDER - - -With the possible exception of Petrograd, Washington is the only one of -the world’s great capitals that was deliberately created for its -purpose. Look for the origin of London, Paris, Berlin, or Rome, and you -find it enveloped in a cloud of myth and fable, from which, it appears, -the city emerged and took its place in history because certain -evolutionary forces had made it the nucleus of a nation and hence the -natural seat of government. Not so the capital of the United States. -Here the Government was already established and seeking a habitation; -and, since no existing city offered one that seemed generally -satisfactory, a new city was made to order, so that from the outset it -could be shaped as its tenant-master deemed best. - -The creative force at work in this instance found its outlet through a -dinner. Of the ready-made cities which had competed for the honor of -housing the Government, New York and Philadelphia were regarded by the -Southern members of Congress as too far north both geographically and in -sentiment, while the Northern members were equally unwilling to go far -south in view of the difficulties of travel. Another sectional -controversy broke out over the question whether the Federal Government, -since it owed its birth to the War for Independence, were not in honor -bound to assume the debts incurred by the several States in prosecuting -that war. The North, as the more serious sufferer, demanded that it -should, but the South insisted that every State should bear its own -burden. In the midst of the discussion, Thomas Jefferson, who happened -to be in a position to act as mediator, invited a few leaders of both -factions to meet at his table; there, under the influence of savory -viands and a bottle of port apiece, they arranged a compromise, whereby -the Southern members were to vote for the assumption of the debts, in -exchange for Northern votes for a southern site. The program went -through Congress by a small majority, and the site chosen was a tract -about ten miles square on both banks of the Potomac River, the land on -the upper shore being ceded by Maryland and that on the lower by -Virginia. The Virginia part was given back in 1846. - -As far as we know, the first map of this region was drawn by Captain -John Smith of Pocahontas fame and published in 1620 in his “Sixth Voyage -to that Part of Virginia now Planted by English Colonies, whom God -increase and preserve”; and the picturesque river which runs through it -was described by him as the “Patawomeke, navigable 140 myles, and fed -with many sweet rivers and springs which fall from the bordering hils. -The river exceedth with aboundance of fish.” - -When the Commissioners appointed by President Washington took it over as -a federal district, they changed its Indian name, Connogochegue, to the -Territory of Columbia; and the city which they laid out in it was by -universal acclaim called Washington, regardless of the modest protests -of the statesman thus honored. Georgetown, which is now a part of -Washington, was then a pretty, well-to-do, little Maryland town about a -hundred years old, and Alexandria, Virginia, included in the southern -end of the District as then bounded, was a shipping port of some -consequence. All the rest of the tract was forest and farm land. The -President felt a lively personal interest in the whole neighborhood. His -estate, Mount Vernon, lay only a short boat-ride down the Potomac; and -he had been instrumental in starting a project for the canal now known -as the Chesapeake and Ohio, connecting Georgetown with a bit of farming -country west of it, and had planned one from Alexandria which should -form part of the same system. During his activities on the Maryland side -of the river, he made his headquarters in a little stone house in -Georgetown which is still standing. - -It took time and diplomacy to induce some of the local landholders to -part with their acres to the Commissioners. There is an old story, good -enough to be true, of one David Burns, a canny Scot, who held out so -long that President Washington personally undertook his conversion. -After pointing out to the farmer what advantages he would reap from -having the Government for a neighbor, the great man concluded: - -“But for this opportunity, Mr. Burns, you might have died a poor -tobacco-planter.” - -“Aye, mon,” snapped Burns, “an’ had ye no married the widder Custis, wi’ -all her nagurs, ye’d ha’ been a land surveyor the noo, an’ a mighty poor -ane at that!” - -However, when he learned that, unless he accepted the liberal terms -offered him, his land would be condemned and seized at an appraisal -probably much lower, Burns met the President in quite another mood, and -to the final question, “Well, sir, what have you concluded to do?” -astonished every one by his prompt response: “Whate’er your excellency -wad ha’ me.” On one of his fields now stands the White House, and an -adjacent lot became Lafayette Square. By the sale of property adjoining -that which the Government bought, he amassed what for those days was an -enormous fortune. It is within our generation that his cottage was torn -down for the improvement of the neighborhood from which we enter Potomac -Park. Although a poor building in its old age, in its prime it had -sheltered many eminent men. Among them was Tom Moore, the Irish poet, -who was under its roof when he wrote his diatribe against-- - - “This fam’d metropolis where Fancy sees - Squares in morasses, obelisks in trees; - Which second-sighted seers, ev’n now, adorn - With shrines unbuilt and heroes yet unborn.” - -Little as we may relish such satire, we are bound to admit its modicum -of truthfulness, for the brave souls who founded Washington were given -to the grandiloquent habit of their day. They had called to their aid -Major Pierre Charles L’Enfant, a French military engineer who had served -in the patriot army of the Revolution, and who cherished brilliant -dreams of the future of his adopted country. To him they had committed -the preparation of a plan for the federal city, and he had laid it out -on the lines, not of an administrative center for a handful of newly -enfranchised colonies, but of a capital for a republic of fifty States -with five hundred million population. As he had lived in Versailles, he -is supposed to have taken that town as a general model in his -arrangement of streets and avenues, which some one has likened to “a -wheel laid on a gridiron.” - -Of course, it was the business of the Commissioners to advertise the -attractions of the federal city as effectively as possible, to promote -its early settlement; so perhaps we may forgive their taking a good deal -for granted, and permitting real estate speculation to go practically -unchecked. Congress for several years ignored their appeals for an -appropriation for the development of the city, and in the interval their -chief dependence for the funds necessary to spend for highways and -buildings was on the sale of lots, and on grants or loans obtained from -neighboring States. The most sightly hill was set apart for the Capitol, -and a beautiful bit of rising ground, overlooking a bend in the river, -for the President’s House. The two buildings had their corner-stones -laid with much ceremony, but progress on them was slow. Nevertheless, -their sites, as well as the spaces reserved in L’Enfant’s plan for -parks, fountains, and statuary, were always treated by the speculators, -in correspondence with prospective customers, as if the improvements -designed eventually to crown them were already installed. The outside -public manifested no undue eagerness to buy, and the auction sales of -lots proved very disappointing. Then a lottery was organized, with -tickets at seven dollars apiece, and for a first prize “a superb hotel” -with baths and other comforts, worth fifty thousand dollars; but that, -too, fell short of expectations, all the desirable prizes going to -persons who felt no concern for the city’s future, and the hotel, though -started, never being finished. It was a pretty discouraging prospect, -therefore, which confronted the officers of the Government when, on May -16, 1800, President John Adams issued his order for their removal from -their cozy quarters in old Philadelphia to what seemed to them, by -contrast, like a camp in the wilderness. - -The six Cabinet members, with their one hundred and thirty-two -subordinates, made the journey overland at various dates during the -summer, and in October the archives followed. These filled about a dozen -large boxes, which, with the office furniture, were brought down by sea -in a packet-boat and landed on a wharf at the mouth of Tiber Creek, a -tributary of the Potomac which then ran through the city but was later -converted into a sewer. All Washington, numbering perhaps three thousand -persons, turned out to greet the vessel; and amid cheers, ringing of -bells, and blasts from an antique cannon brought forth for the occasion, -its precious contents were carried ashore. “The Department buildings” to -which they were consigned were a wonderful assortment. The Treasury was -a two-story brick house at the southeast corner of the President’s -grounds, the War Office a still unfinished replica of it at the -southwest corner. The Post-office Department found shelter in a private -house in which only half the floors were laid and four rooms plastered; -while the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Navy, and the -Attorney-general had to direct their affairs from their lodgings. All -these temporary accommodations were sought as near as possible to the -President’s House. Congress had striven, for its greater ease of access, -to have the Departments quartered near the Capitol; but Washington had -set his face resolutely against every such proposal, citing the -experience of his own secretaries, who had been so pestered with -needless visits from Senators and Representatives that some of them “had -been obliged to go home and deny themselves, in order to transact -current business.” Which shows that one modern nuisance has a fairly -ancient precedent. - -Members of both houses of Congress came straggling in all through the -first three weeks of November, to - -[Illustration: _General Washington’s Office in Georgetown_] - -find most of the best rooms in the two or three hotels and the little -cluster of boarding-houses already occupied by the executive -functionaries and their families. President Adams, who had preceded them -by a few weeks, was not much better off even in the official abode -reserved for him, if we may call his wife as a witness. - -“The house is on a grand and superb scale,” she wrote to her daughter, -“requiring about thirty servants to attend and keep the apartments in -proper order, and perform the ordinary business of the house and -stables. The lighting the apartments, from the kitchen to the parlor and -chambers, is a tax indeed; and the fires we are obliged to keep, to -secure us from daily agues, is another very cheering comfort. Bells are -wholly wanting, not one single one being hung through the whole house, -and promises are all you can obtain. I could content myself almost -anywhere three months; but surrounded by forests, can you believe that -wood is not to be had, because people cannot be found to cut and cart -it! There is not a single apartment finished. We have not the least -fence or yard, or other convenience without; and the great unfinished -audience-room I make a drying-room of, to hang up the clothes in. The -principal stairs are not up, and will not be this winter. The ladies are -impatient for a drawing-room; I have no looking-glasses but dwarfs for -this house, not a twentieth part lamps enough to light it.” - -Mrs. Adams’s consolatory reflection that she would have to endure these -conditions only three months, was probably shared by many of the -thirty-two Senators and one hundred and five Representatives who, on the -high hill to the east, shivered and shook and passed unflattering -criticisms on everybody who had had a hand in the construction of the -Capitol. Only the old north wing was in condition for use, and not all -of that. The Senate met in what is now the Supreme Court chamber; the -House took its chances wherever there was room, ending its travels in an -uncomfortable box of a hall commonly styled “the oven.” Most of the -members had made some study of the L’Enfant chart before coming to -Washington. One of them put into writing his impressions as he looked -about and tried to identify the public improvements he had been led to -expect. None of the streets was recognizable, he said, with the possible -exception of a road having two buildings on each side of it, which was -called New Jersey Avenue. The “magnificent Pennsylvania Avenue,” -connecting the Capitol with the President’s House, was for nearly the -entire distance a deep morass covered with wild bushes, through which a -passage had been hewn. The roads in every direction were muddy and -unimproved. The only attempt at a sidewalk had been made with chips of -stone left from building the Capitol, and this was little used because -the sharp edges cut the walker’s shoes in dry weather, and in wet -weather covered them with white mortar. Another member declared that -there was nothing in sight in Washington but scrub oak, and that, since -there was “only one good tavern within a day’s march,” many members had -to live in Georgetown and drive to and from the daily sessions of -Congress in a rickety coach. And a particularly disgusted critic, not -content with recording that “there are but few houses in any place, and -most of them are small, miserable huts,” added: “The people are poor, -and, as far as I can judge, live like fishes, by eating each other.” - -Newspapers in all parts of the country echoed these depressing reports, -accompanying them with demands that the Government move again, this time -to some already well-populated and civilized region. Indeed, of several -resolutions to that end introduced in Congress, one was actually carried -to a vote and barely escaped passage. It may have been this accumulation -of discouraging elements which caused the delay in the arrival of the -Supreme Court from Philadelphia; or it may have been the paucity of -business before that tribunal, whose first Chief Justice, John Jay, had -resigned his commission to become Governor of New York, because he had -come to the conclusion that the Court could not command sufficient -support in the country at large to enforce its decisions! Whatever the -reason, the Justices did not find their way to Washington till well on -in the winter, or open their work there till February. They were -assigned the room in the basement of the Capitol now occupied by the -Supreme Court library. - -Even when the first acute discomforts incident to removal had passed -away, the general depression was little relieved. Most of the earlier -citizens of Washington had entertained hopes of its becoming a -commercial as well as a political center of importance. They reasoned -that since Alexandria and Georgetown had already built up some trade -with the outside world, Washington, much more eligibly situated than -either, ought to attract a correspondingly larger measure of profitable -business. But all these bright anticipations were doomed to -disappointment: the progress of the city was as inconsiderable as if its -feet had become mired in one of its own marshes. The Mall, which on -L’Enfant’s map appeared as a boulevard fringed with fine public -buildings, soon degenerated into a common for pasturing cows. There was -good fishing above the north side of Pennsylvania Avenue from Sixth -Street to Thirteenth. Wild ducks found a favorite haunt where the Center -Market now stands. The whole place wore an air of suspended vitality in -striking contrast with the generous face of nature. “I am,” wrote a -visiting New Yorker to his wife, “almost enchanted with it--I mean the -situation for a city, for there is nothing here yet constituting one. As -to houses, there are very few, and those very scattering; and as to -streets, there are none, except you would call common roads streets. The -site, however, for a city, is the most delightful that can be -imagined--far beyond my expectation.” - -“I took a hack after dinner to visit Nath’l Maxwell, and although he -lives near the center of the great city, yet such was the state of the -roads that I considered my life in danger. The distance on straight -lines does not exceed half a mile, but I had to ride up and down very -steep hills, with frightful gullies on almost every side.” And the -simplicity of life at the capital then is reflected in his statement -that after finishing his letters one night he was afraid to go out to -post them lest he lose his way in the dark, though he knew that the mail -would close at five in the morning. “After I had got comfortably into -bed,” he continued, “a watchman came past my window bawling out, ‘Past -one o’clock, and a very stormy night,’ on which I sprang out of bed and -called to him to take my letters to the post-office, which he consented -to do. I accordingly wrapped them in a sheet of paper to protect them -from the wet, and threw them out of the chamber window to him.” - -The declaration of war against Great Britain in June, 1812, for which -the country at large held President Madison chiefly responsible, and -which reduced considerably such measure of popularity as he still -retained, did not produce much effect on the pulses of the stagnant -city. The first hostilities occurred in the north and on the sea; and, -although the enemy threatened Washington for more than a year, Madison -and most of his advisers regarded an attack as highly improbable. When, -however, it became known in 1814 that a large body of Wellington’s -veterans were setting sail from England, under convoy of a powerful -fleet, for the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, every one suddenly awoke to the -impending peril. It was then too late. Thanks to the misjudgment of -General Armstrong, Secretary of War, or General Winder, who was in -charge of military affairs in the District, midsummer found the enemy in -Maryland, but the city still without an efficient defensive force, or -ammunition or provisions to equip one properly. Hurried efforts brought -together a first line of thirty-one hundred men, all raw recruits except -six hundred sailors and a couple of hundred soldiers. A second line, -almost equal in number, was formed, mostly of militia, and disposed for -use as a home guard. At Bladensburg, Maryland, five miles north of -Washington, the decisive battle occurred on the twenty-fourth of August, -from which the seamen led by Captain Joshua Barney were the only -contingent that emerged with extraordinary credit; but they did so well -that a grateful community has not yet raised a monument to them or their -leader. The battlefield was close enough to the old George Washington -tavern, of which Mr. Hornby gives us an intimate glimpse, for the -occupants to hear the rattle of musketry and see the cannon-smoke from -the upper windows. - -The outcome of the fight was that the British commanders, General Ross -and Admiral Cockburn, with six thousand men, drove the Americans back -and swept down upon the city, spreading ruin in their track. Ross had -his horse killed under him by a shot from a private house he was passing -and kept more in the background thereafter, but Cockburn was active in -the work of devastation. Tradition describes him as mounting the -Speaker’s dais in the Hall of Representatives, calling a burlesque -session of Congress to order, and putting the question: “Shall this -harbor of Yankee democracy be burned? All in favor will say, ‘Aye’!” -There was a roar of “Ayes” from the men, who at once set going a mammoth -bonfire of written records and volumes from the library of Congress, and -soon the whole Capitol was wrapped in flames. Thence the party proceeded -to the other public buildings, burning whatever was recognizable as the -property of the Government. Their progress was nearly everywhere -unopposed, the clerks in charge having gathered up such books and papers -as they could carry away, and transported them to the most convenient -hiding-places. - -The first break in this program occurred at the Patent Office, which was -under the superintendency of Doctor William Thornton, himself of English -birth. A neighbor having warned him at his home that his office was in -danger, he mounted his horse and galloped to the spot, where he arrived -just in time to see a squad of soldiers training a field-piece upon the -building. Leaping from the saddle and dramatically covering the muzzle -of the gun with his body, he reminded the artillerists that the -inventions they purposed destroying were monuments of human progress -which belonged to the whole civilized world, and denounced such -vandalism as a disgrace to the British uniform. His boldness had its -effect, and the Patent Office was spared. Another check came, in the -form of an accident of poetic justice, at Greenleaf’s Point, the present -site of the Army War College. This place had been used as an arsenal by -the defenders of the city, who, before deserting it, had secreted all -their surplus gunpowder in a dry well in the midst of the grounds. A -body of British troops undertook to destroy the American cannon they -found there by firing one gun directly into another, when a fragment of -burning wadding was blown into the well, causing an explosion that -killed twelve and wounded more than thirty of the party. - -President Madison, who had been at Bladensburg personally superintending -the placing of our troops, hastened southward when the rout began, and -took refuge among the hills of northern Virginia. There he was presently -joined by his wife, and both remained in seclusion till they received -word that the British had marched away. This message was preceded by the -news that the President’s House had been burned, with all its contents -except a few portable articles which could be gathered and put out of -harm’s reach at an hour’s notice. The property destroyed with absolute -wantonness in various parts of the city aggregated in value between two -and three million dollars--a heavy loss for a government which was just -managing to stagger along with its legitimate burdens, and in a capital -that could barely be kept from collapse under the most favoring -conditions. It is not wonderful that the British press was almost a unit -in condemning Cockburn’s vandalism, the London _Statesman_ saying: -“Willingly would we throw a veil of oblivion over the transactions at -Washington; the Cossacks spared Paris, but we spared not the capital of -America!” And the _Annual Register_: “The extent of the devastation -practised by the victors brought a heavy censure upon the British -character, not only in America, but on the Continent of Europe.” The -restoration of the President’s House alone, including the repainting of -its outside surface to remove the scars of the fire, consumed four -years, in the course of which President Madison made way for his -successor, Monroe, and the building had fastened to it, from its -freshened color, the title it has worn in popular speech from that day -to this. - -It was a sorry-looking Washington to which the Madisons came back. -Blackened ruins were everywhere; placards posted here and there -denounced the President as the author of the city’s misfortunes; -mournful streams of women, children, old men, and - -[Illustration: _George Washington Tavern, Bladensburg_] - -shamefaced stragglers from the defensive force, trickled in from the -woods in the suburban country where they had been hiding since the -battle; the streets were strewn with the wreckage of a cyclone which had -swept the valley almost simultaneously with the hostile troops, -unroofing houses, uprooting trees, demolishing chimneys, and generally -supplementing the disasters of warfare. Indeed, almost the only -potentiality of evil that had not come to pass was an uprising of the -slaves, which had been widely feared, as some of the restless spirits -among them had been overheard counseling their fellows to join the -British in looting the city and then make a break for freedom. The -Madisons, after a brief visit with friends, rented the Octagon house at -the corner of New York Avenue and Eighteenth Street, now the -headquarters of the American Institute of Architects. It was here that -President Madison signed the treaty of Ghent, binding Great Britain and -the United States to a peace which has remained for a whole century -unbroken. Here, too, Dolly Madison held her republican court, the most -famous since Martha Washington’s in New York, and far eclipsing that in -splendor. - -To provide a meeting-place for Congress till the Capitol could be -occupied once more, a building which stood at the corner of F and -Seventh Streets was made over for the purpose. It proved so -uncomfortable, however, as to revive with increased zest the discussion -whether, in view of the spread of population through the newly opened -West, it would not be wiser to remove the seat of government to some -fairly accessible point in that part of the country. The agitation -alarmed the more important property-owners in Washington, who, in order -to head it off before it had gone too far, hastily organized a company -to put up a temporary but better equipped substitute for the Capitol. -They chose a site a few hundred yards to the eastward of the burned -edifice, and there built a long house which is still standing, though -now divided into dwellings. The stratagem accomplished its aim, and -Congress stayed in its improvised domicile till 1819. This occupancy -gave the building the title, “the Old Capitol,” that clings to it to-day -in spite of the changes it has undergone in the interval. - -Washington was early supplied with a good general newspaper in the -_National Intelligencer_, and the social side of life presently found a -weekly interpreter in _The Huntress_, edited by Mrs. Ann Royall, whose -personality was so aggressive that John Quincy Adams described her as -going about “like a virago-errant in enchanted armor.” She said so much, -also, in disparagement of some of her neighbors, that she was indicted -by the grand jury as a common scold and threatened with a ducking in -accordance with an old English law in force in the District. But the -disseminators of information to whose coming the citizens looked forward -more eagerly than to any printed sheet, were two men who made their -rounds daily on horseback among the homes of the well-to-do. One was the -postman, delivering the mails that came in by stage-coach from the outer -world; the other was the barber, who, like an endless-chain letter, -picked up the latest gossip at every house he visited, and left in -exchange all the items he had picked up at previous stopping-places. - -During the next generation Washington saw, it is safe to say, more of -the ups and downs of fortune than any other American city. The reasons -were manifold. For one thing, the larger part of its population -consisted of persons whose permanent ties were elsewhere. As federal -officeholders they were residents of Washington, but they retained their -citizenship in the places from which they had been drawn. Under the -Constitution, moreover, Congress exercised supreme authority in the -District of Columbia, and every member of Congress had the interests of -his home constituency more at heart than those of the people who were -his neighbors for only a few months at a time. Nevertheless, the -population of the capital, which, when it rose from its ashes, numbered -between eight and nine thousand, more than doubled within the next -twenty years. Then came ten years of great uncertainty, during which -occurred the overwhelming business panic of 1837, that set awry nearly -everything in America, and for this period the increase averaged only -about five hundred souls annually. But another twenty years of forward -movement brought the total up to a little more than sixty thousand. - -In the meantime many things had happened, calculated to attract public -attention generally to Washington. President Monroe had proclaimed his -famous doctrine, warning Europe to keep its hands off this hemisphere. -President Jackson had made his fight upon the United States Bank and won -it, changing the whole financial outlook of the country. The Capitol had -been enlarged, and several new Government buildings started; the -Smithsonian Institution had begun to make its mark in the scientific -world, and the Washington Monument had risen nearly two hundred feet -into the air. The long-threatened war with Mexico had come and gone, -adding a rich area to our public domain. Steamships had crowded sailing -vessels off the highways of commerce and become the main dependence of -the Yankee navy. The Baltimore and Ohio Railway, the first successful -experiment in its field, had brought what we now call the Middle West, -with its grain and minerals, to within a day’s journey of the capital, -and this pioneer enterprise had been followed by the opening of other -rail facilities. The Fugitive Slave Law and the Kansas-Nebraska Act had -been passed, slavery had been abolished in the District of Columbia, the -Underground Railroad had begun to haul its daily consignment of runaway -negroes across the Canada border, the Supreme Court had rendered the -Dred Scott decision, and John Brown had led his raid in the mountain -country scarcely fifty miles from where the Court was sitting. Letter -postage, anywhere east of the Mississippi River, had come down to a -three-cent unit. The first telegraph message had been transmitted over a -wire connecting Baltimore with Washington, and out of this small -beginning had presently been developed a network of electric -communication covering all our more thickly populated territory; while -experimenters with a submarine line had effected an exchange of messages -between England and the United States which proved the practicability of -their enterprise. Last but not least, royalty had smiled upon us in the -person of the Prince of Wales, who had passed some days as the guest of -President Buchanan at the White House. - -Had Washington been situated elsewhere than on the border line between -two sections, neither of which felt any pride in its success, or had it -been governed by executives whose records were to be made or marred by -the faithfulness with which they turned every opportunity to account for -its welfare and reputation, we should probably have seen the capital -beginning then its career as the model city of the new world. Instead, -the dependence of its people, at every stage, on the favor of what was -practically an alien governing body, bore natural fruit in a feeble -community spirit. - -By 1860 Washington had reached the middle of its Slough of Despond. Not -a street was paved except for a patch here and there, and Pennsylvania -Avenue was the only one lighted after nightfall. Pigs roamed through the -less pretentious highways as freely as dogs. There was not a sewer -anywhere, a shallow, uncovered stream carrying off the common refuse to -the Potomac, which was held in its channel only by raw earthen bluffs. -Wells and springs furnished all the water, and the police and fire -departments were those of a village. The open squares, intended for -beauty spots, were densely overgrown with weeds. Except for an omnibus -line to Georgetown, not a public conveyance was running. Such permanent -Department buildings as had been started, though ambitious in design -and suggesting by their outlines a desire for something better than had -yet been accomplished, had not reached a habitable state. The Capitol -was in disorder, and still overrun with workmen who had been employed in -constructing the new wings and were preparing to raise the dome; the -White House had scarcely a fitter look, with its environment of stables -and shambling fences and its unkempt grounds. - -Nor was there any prospect of speedy improvement in municipal -conditions. Every considerable stride in that direction would mean -largely increased taxation, and the bulk of the taxable property had -drifted into the hands of unprogressive whites and ignorant negroes, who -were equally unwilling to pay the price. Upon this seemingly hopeless -chaos descended the cloud of civil war. - -It was a black cloud, but it had a sunlit lining. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -WAR TIMES AND THEIR SEQUEL - - -Three days after John Brown had been hanged for his Harper’s Ferry raid, -the Thirty-sixth Congress convened. Brown’s exploit had sent a wave of -excitement sweeping over the country, and the slavery controversy had -entered a phase of emotional acuteness it had never known before. There -was a strong Republican plurality in the new House of Representatives, -but it was by no means of one mind, most of its members still hoping to -avoid any action which might precipitate a dismemberment of the Union. -It took forty-four ballots, covering a period of eight weeks, for a -combination of Republicans with a few outsiders to choose a Speaker, and -the wrangling which preceded and followed the choice reached at times -the verge of bloodshed. A large majority of the Representatives from -both Northern and Southern constituencies attended the sessions armed. - -Before the end of June, 1860, four Presidential tickets were in the -field. The Republican ticket was headed by Abraham Lincoln of Illinois, -the Northern Democratic ticket by his old rival in State politics, -Stephen A. Douglas. The Southern Democrats had nominated John C. -Breckinridge of Kentucky, then Vice-president, and what was left of the -Whig party had united with the peacemakers generally in naming John Bell -of Tennessee. When Lincoln was elected in November, every one knew that -a crisis was at hand; for, although opposed to the use of violence for -the extinction of slavery, he disbelieved utterly in the system, and the -radical leaders in the South proceeded at once with their plans for -divorcing the slave States from the free States. - -South Carolina led the actual revolt by adopting an ordinance of -secession and withdrawing her delegation from Congress. Almost -simultaneously she sent three commissioners to Washington, “empowered to -treat with the Government of the United States for the delivery of the -forts, magazines, lighthouses and other real estate within the limits of -South Carolina” to the State authorities. President Buchanan, fearing -lest any discussion with them might be construed as a recognition of -their claim to an ambassadorial status, referred them to Congress, which -met the difficulty at the threshold by turning their case over to a -special committee, with the result that their demands were disregarded. -The committee, however, played a pretty important part in the activities -of the succeeding winter, for the Union men in its membership organized -themselves into a sort of subcommittee of safety, and opened -confidential channels of communication with men and women all over the -city who were in a position to tell them promptly what the enemies of -the Union were planning to do. These secret informers included all -classes of persons, from domestic servants to Cabinet officers. The -correspondence was conducted not through the post-office, but by cipher -notes hidden in out-of-the-way places, where the parties for whom they -were intended could safely look for them after nightfall. - -The militia and fire departments of the District of Columbia were modest -affairs then, but their members were alert to the growing possibilities -of trouble. Some who were secession sympathizers formed themselves into -rifle clubs and drilled privately at night; while the Unionists built up -a little body of minutemen, who elected their own officers and secreted -stands of arms at the Capitol and other convenient points, so that they -could respond instantly, wherever they chanced to be, to a summons for -emergency service. Day after day brought its budget of news from the -South, saddening or thrilling. Thomas and Floyd quitted the Cabinet, -Dix became Secretary of the Treasury, and Holt Secretary of War. In -January, 1861, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi -seceded, seizing all the forts, vessels, and other Government property -on which they could lay hands; and Dix put upon the wire his historic -despatch to his special agent at New Orleans, “If any one attempts to -haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot,” but it was -intercepted and never reached its destination. - -February witnessed the secession of Texas, the election of Jefferson -Davis as President and Alexander H. Stephens as Vice-president of the -Confederate States of America, and the withdrawal of several Senators -and Representatives from the United States Congress. The only cheering -news of the month was the refusal of Tennessee and Missouri to secede, -though both States contained a multitude of citizens who would have -preferred to do so. Daily the galleries of Congress were crowded with -spectators representing all shades of opinion and at times -uncontrollable in their expressions of approval or disapproval. When the -House voted to submit a Constitutional amendment forbidding the -interference of Congress with slavery or any other State institution, -one element in the gallery burst into deafening applause; the opposing -element in the Senate became equally boisterous in applauding a speech -by Andrew Johnson, denouncing as a traitor any man who should fire upon -the flag or conspire to take over Government property for the -Confederacy. The difference in the treatment of the two outbreaks was -significant: that in the House was merely rebuked in words, but in the -Senate the gallery was cleared and closed to spectators for the rest of -the day. - -In fairness it should be said that at this trying juncture several men -in positions of responsibility, who had made no secret of their interest -in the Southern cause, acted the honorable part when put to the test. -Vice-president Breckinridge was credited by current gossip with an -intention, at the official count of the electoral vote, to refuse to -declare Lincoln elected, or permit a mob to break up the session and -destroy the authenticated returns. On the contrary, he conducted the -count with as much scrupulousness in every detail as if his heart were -in the result. Equal praise is due to the chief of the Capitol police, -who, though bitterly hostile to Mr. Lincoln, took all the precautions -for his safety on the day of inauguration that his best friend could -have taken. - -Thus the Buchanan administration went out, and the Lincoln -administration came in. The persistent - -[Illustration: _Octagon House_] - -warnings of a plot to kill or kidnap the President-elect led to the -adoption of an extraordinary program for bringing him safely to -Washington. Under the escort of an experienced detective, he made the -journey from Harrisburg at high speed, in a special train provided by -the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, all the tracks having been previously -cleared, and the telegraph wires cut along the route. Meanwhile, a -sensational newspaper had published locally a story that Lincoln was -already in the city, having been smuggled through Baltimore in disguise -in order to elude the conspirators who were waiting there to assassinate -him. This fiction so incensed William H. Seward, who had been in -Washington preparing for the arrival of his future chief, that Lincoln -was not allowed to make a toilet after his night’s journey, but was -hurried, all unwashed and unshaven, to the Capitol, so that the members -of Congress could see him and satisfy themselves of the falsity of what -they had read. - -His immunity thus far did not quiet the apprehensions of Lincoln’s -friends, who took especial pains to prevent the interruption of his -inauguration at any point. A temporary fence was built around the space -immediately in front of the platform from which his address was to be -delivered, and an enclosed alley of boards was constructed from the -place where he would leave his carriage to the place where he would -pass into the Capitol. On the morning of the fourth of March, armed men -in citizen’s clothing were stationed on the roofs of all the buildings -overlooking the main east portico, and others on and under its platform, -while yet others mingled with the crowd of thirty thousand spectators -that early assembled on the plaza. Batteries of light artillery were -posted in commanding positions, with their cannon loaded and prepared to -sweep any of several converging streets on the approach of a mob. -Buchanan drove with Lincoln to the Capitol, and their carriage was -surrounded by a hollow square of regular troops, in formation so dense -that the occupants of the vehicle were scarcely visible from the -sidewalk. Hannibal Hamlin, the Vice-president-elect, walked up from -Willard’s Hotel, on purpose to hear what the people who lined the Avenue -were saying. Their comments were, as a rule, far from friendly to the -incoming administration, and some were distinctly ominous. - -Lincoln appeared very calm, in spite of the general atmosphere of -excitement. Buchanan’s face was graver than usual, and he spoke little -during the drive. When the party came upon the platform, Senator Baker -of Oregon stepped forward and said simply, “Fellow citizens, I introduce -to you Abraham Lincoln, President-elect of the United States”; and the -tall, ungainly hero of the day advanced to the rail. He laid his -manuscript, to which he had put the finishing touches at daybreak that -morning, upon the little desk with his cane for a paper-weight, and -looked about for somewhere to lay his high silk hat; Stephen A. Douglas, -who was sitting near, reached for the hat and held it throughout the -proceedings. Lincoln, after a brief pause, drew from his pocket a pair -of steel-bowed spectacles, which he adjusted very deliberately, and -began to read with a seriousness of manner that soon quenched all -disposition to frivolity in his audience. The address was a plea for the -preservation of that friendship between the North and the South which -had been hallowed by their united warfare in the past against the -enemies of their country, and ended thus: - -“Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of -affection. The mystic cords of memory, stretching from every battlefield -and patriot grave to every loving heart and hearthstone all over this -broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, -as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” - -When the last syllable had passed his lips, he stood still a moment, -slowly sweeping the multitude with his eyes. Then he bowed to Chief -Justice Taney, who, in a voice tremulous with emotion, administered the -oath of office. - -Within six weeks thereafter Fort Sumter had been fired upon, and the new -President had issued his call for seventy-five thousand volunteers to -maintain the laws of the United States, and summoned Congress to meet in -extra session on the fourth of July. Almost the first thing the Senate -did when it came together was to expel six of its members who had cast -their fortunes with the seceding States. Meanwhile, Washington had been -transformed from an outwardly peaceful town into a military camp. A home -defense corps was hurriedly enlisted by Cassius M. Clay of Kentucky and -James H. Lane of Kansas, and a guard was posted around the White House -every night. The minutemen were called out repeatedly for special -service. Once they seized a vessel which was about to sail from a -Potomac wharf for a southern port, laden with munitions of war alleged -to have been stolen from the Government. Again, they marched to -Georgetown and took forcible possession of the flour stored in a mill -there and reported to them as destined for the Confederate army; this, -by commandeering all the wagons in the neighborhood, they removed to the -Capitol and stowed away in the basement rooms. In the streets, all -strangers were eyed with suspicion. Signals to the police, the home -defense corps, and the minutemen were conveyed by certain tollings of -big bells; and, as every signal meant trouble either present or -imminent, the townspeople lived continually as if on the brink of a -volcano. - -Among the earliest State volunteers to reach the city were regiments -from Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania. The Massachusetts Sixth, -which had been fired on by a mob while passing through Baltimore, was -quartered in the Hall of the Senate, and the New York Seventh in the -Hall of Representatives; while bivouacked in other parts of the same -building were about five hundred Pennsylvanians and a company of United -States artillery, for there was general expectation of a Confederate -attack upon the Capitol. The New York Seventy-first was assigned to the -Washington Navy Yard, so as to be convenient for repelling approaches -from Alexandria by way of the river. - -The first incident of the war in which Alexandria figured, however, was -not a foray on Washington but a tragedy at home. Colonel Ephraim E. -Ellsworth, who had recruited a regiment of zouaves from New York City, -came to Washington at its head. He was young, handsome, soldierly in -bearing, and full of enthusiasm; but Mr. Lincoln, though greatly -attracted to him, felt some misgivings as to his ability to control his -zouaves, for the New York firemen of that period had a reputation for -turbulence. Hence, when arrangements were made for moving troops into -Virginia to occupy a region which must be held for the defense of the -capital, the President consented to let Ellsworth’s regiment go only on -condition that it should be instantly disbanded if its members committed -any breach of discipline. - -At two o’clock on the morning of May 24, 1861, the zouaves boarded two -Potomac steamboats, which before sunrise had dropped down to Alexandria. -Leaving most of his men on the wharf, Ellsworth started with a small -squad toward a telegraph office whence he could report to Washington by -wire. He observed a Confederate flag flying from the roof of a hotel -known as the Marshall House, and, realizing what might happen if his men -caught sight of it, entered with the purpose of directing its removal. -Jackson, the landlord, was abed, and the man in charge of the office -seemed irresponsible, so Ellsworth and his squad hauled down the flag -themselves. As they were descending with it, Jackson suddenly emerged -from his chamber in the second story and leveled a double-barreled -shotgun at Corporal Brownell, the soldier nearest him. Brownell, with -his rifle, struck Jackson’s gun just as its trigger was pulled, and the -shot went wild; but in an instant Jackson had aimed again and discharged -the contents of the second barrel into Ellsworth’s breast. The Colonel -fell dead, and Brownell, firing and using his bayonet almost -simultaneously, killed Jackson where he stood. - -Except one who had lost his life by an accident, Ellsworth was the first -Union soldier to fall in the Civil War. He was buried from the White -House by the President’s order; and the news of his death so aroused the -North that volunteers poured into Washington for a time faster than the -Government could arm and provision them. Mostly they were militia -regiments which had come on under their own officers. In Washington they -were united in brigades, with generals of some experience in command, -and sent into Virginia by way of the “Long Bridge,” which had its -terminus on the fringe of the Arlington estate; it was a wooden -structure, and the troops had to break step in crossing it. The first -battle between the two armies was at a point near Manassas, and took its -name, Bull Run, from a small stream which, about twenty-five miles -southwest of Washington, joins the Occoquan River. - -So little conception had the people at large of the actualities of war -that many Washingtonians and tourists, of all ages and sexes, drove down -in carriages to watch the battle from a safe position on the hillside. -Fighting began on the morning of Sunday, July 21, and the first reports -that reached the city described everything as going favorably to the -Union cause. The despatches sent to Northern newspapers all reflected -this view, and some went pretty elaborately into detail concerning -incidents on various parts of the field. But suddenly the tide turned, -and with a panicky force which started the whole body of Federal troops -on a pell-mell rush for Washington. The light-hearted spectators ran, -too, often impeding the retreat of the soldiers by getting their -carriages wedged together on a bridge or a narrow road, while the air -shook with mingled profanity and prayers, punctuated with hysterics. Not -a few of the carriage folk, as night drew near, became so terrified that -they cut their harness and rode their horses bareback, two sometimes -clinging to one animal. The Confederates, discovering the rout, were as -much surprised as the Federals. They set out to follow their foes, but, -not fully grasping the real conditions, stopped about fifteen miles -short of Washington and waited for morning, thus giving the fugitive -army a chance to recover from its first demoralization. Had they -pressed on, they might have taken possession of the capital that night, -captured the stored munitions, and looted the Treasury; and the record -of the next four years must have been written in a different vein. - -Meanwhile, the true story had been brought in by the fleeing -non-combatants, and the Associated Press attempted to send out a -correction of first reports, but discovered too late that the Government -had seized all the telegraph lines and established a temporary -censorship, postponing any further dissemination of news. As far as -known, only one prominent paper in the North was able to describe the -disaster in its Monday morning’s issue. That was a Philadelphia journal, -whose correspondent had taken to his heels as soon as the panic began. -By the time he reached Washington, he was so convinced that the -Confederates were going to capture the city at once, that he boarded a -train which was just pulling out for Philadelphia, and at his desk in -his home office dictated his observations of the battle and the -stampede. - -The President, having received only cheering bulletins in the earlier -part of Sunday, went out for his usual drive in the cool of the -afternoon. On his return, about half-past six o’clock, he found awaiting -him a request to come immediately to General Scott’s room at the War -Department. All his Cabinet had gathered there, and his hurried -consultation with them resulted in messages directing various movements -of troops in the field, and appeals to the Governors of the loyal States -for more men. When he came back to his office, he threw himself upon a -lounge, where he spent the night, not in sleep, but in listening to, and -closely catechising, parties of civilians who had made their way in from -Manassas and had hastened to the White House to pour their disjointed -narratives into his ear. By daylight the streets of Washington presented -a pitiful spectacle. Ordinary business was almost at a standstill; -excited citizens were gathered in knots at every corner; and a multitude -of disheartened soldiers, lacking leaders and organization, not knowing -where to look for their next orders and thinking with dread of the -effect the bad news would have upon their friends at home, were -wandering aimlessly about. The President, after twenty-four hours of -anxiety, was greatly relieved when the responses from the Northern -States began to reach him, showing that the shock had not broken the -faith of the people but had awakened them to the realities of the -situation. This change was reflected in the Cabinet councils, too, where -a sudden revision of opinion was observed on the part of those members -who had fancied that the war would be merely a three months’ holiday--a -triumphal march of a Northern army from Mason and Dixon’s line to the -Gulf of Mexico. - -This is not a history of the civil conflict; its beginnings have been -thus outlined only because they made so deep an impress on the future of -Washington, which, from being generally regarded by the American people -with comparative indifference, had become a center of interest for all -the world. The city was not again seriously threatened with capture till -July, 1864, when the Confederate General, Jubal A. Early, with a corps -of seasoned soldiers, had worked his way around so as to descend upon it -from the north. The news of his approach, spreading through the -community, did not cause the consternation which might have been -expected in view of the slight defensive preparation that had been made -in the menaced quarter. Requisitions were sent to the army in Northern -Virginia for such troops as could be spared. Wounded and discharged -Union veterans shouldered their guns once more. The male nurses in the -hospitals were drafted for active duty. A troop of cavalry was recruited -among the civilian teamsters at work in the city. From all the executive -Departments the able-bodied clerks were called out, armed with rifles or -muskets as far as possible, and for the rest with pistols, old -cutlasses, axes, shovels, and whatever other implements might be turned -to emergency use, and ranged up on the sidewalks for elementary -instruction and drill. Those who were least strong or most poorly armed -were organized into a home-guard, to act as a last reserve if the -Confederates succeeded in piercing a line of earthworks thrown out north -of the city. Some of these fortifications can still be identified, -though worn away by a half-century’s exposure to a variable climate, -overgrown with trees and vines, and at intervals used as building sites. -The most interesting of the chain is Fort Stevens, near the present -Seventh Street Road, for there President Lincoln stood for hours under -fire, refusing to go home as long as there seemed a chance that his -presence could lend any inspiration to the men. The invading force was -repulsed after a two days’ effort to break through, and Washington -breathed freely once more. - -We come now to the concluding stage of the great struggle. Mr. Lincoln -was reëlected in November, 1864, and inaugurated on the fourth of March, -1865, making the chief theme of his address a plea for generous -treatment of the South. Within a month Richmond fell, and five days -after that General Lee surrendered his army. There was great rejoicing -in Washington over both these portents of peace, and parties of men and -women paraded the streets after - -[Illustration: _Union Engine House of 1815_] - -nightfall, singing patriotic songs in front of the dwellings of -prominent Government officers. On the night of April 11 a great crowd -gathered in the White House yard, loudly cheering the President and -calling for a speech. Having been notified in advance, he had jotted -down a few remarks which he now read from manuscript. This memory of him -we shall take away with us, as he stood framed in an open window, with -one of his secretaries at his side holding a lighted candle for him to -see by, and his little son Tad taking from his hand the pages of -manuscript, one by one, as he finished reading them, while the rest of -his family, with radiant faces, were grouped where they could overlook -the scene. - -Three nights later, almost at the same hour, Booth’s bullet laid the -good man low in his box at Ford’s Theater; and in a little back hall -bedroom of the house across the street to which he was carried, he -breathed his last at an early hour on the following morning. -Simultaneously with the shooting of Mr. Lincoln, an attempt was made to -kill Secretary Seward, and the detectives unearthed evidence of a wide -conspiracy, which contemplated a simultaneous murder of the President, -the Vice-president, all the Cabinet, and General Grant. The conspirators -were soon tracked. Booth was shot in a Virginia barn in which he had -taken refuge from his pursuers; four others were tried by a military -commission and hanged. - -Andrew Johnson, the Vice-president, was not a tactful man, and had -already drawn upon himself the enmity of the radical wing of his party -in Congress, which was intensified by his first acts as President, -foreshadowing a considerate policy toward the South. A tiresome petty -warfare set in, Johnson vetoing bill after bill, only to see it repassed -over his veto. Of the members of the Lincoln Cabinet he had retained, -Secretary Stanton was the one with whom he had most friction, and in -August, 1867, he called for Stanton’s resignation, designating General -Grant to manage the War Department temporarily. On Stanton’s refusal to -resign, Johnson suspended him, and Grant took over the Department and -held it till the Senate adopted a resolution declaring its -non-concurrence in Stanton’s suspension. Then Grant stepped out, and -Stanton returned to duty. Johnson suspended him again, this time -designating General Lorenzo Thomas to act in his stead. Matters had now -reached a climax, and the House in 1868 impeached the President. His -trial by the Senate consumed nearly two months and ended in a failure to -convict. In view of this defeat, Stanton resigned, and from that time -till the close of his term President Johnson continued his quarrel with -the opponents of his policy, celebrating his last Christmas in the White -House by proclaiming a general pardon and amnesty, so framed as to -include all grades of political offenders. - -Johnson was President when the enlargement of the Capitol building was -finished, including the rearing of the present dome. While the -alterations were in progress, the grand two days’ parade of the -victorious armies took place on Pennsylvania Avenue, the President -reviewing it as it passed the White House. General Grant was elected by -the Republicans to succeed Johnson, taking office in March, 1869. During -the next sixteen years, divided between his two terms and the -administrations of Hayes, Garfield, and Arthur, Washington almost -doubled in population. While Grant was President, it was so constantly -in the public eye that many rich men discerned its future possibilities -and invested in real estate there. Army and navy officers, retired from -active duty, found it pleasant to settle down where they would be most -likely to meet their old comrades. A few scholars drifted in, so as to -have easy access to the Government libraries and records. Thus, in both -a material and a social way, Washington took a strong upward start. - -For the esthetic side of the general change, less can be said in -praise. Most of the dwellings built during this era can still be -distinguished by their gratuitous ugliness. The parks became strewn with -flower-beds of fantastic shape, overrun by a riot of inharmonious -colors. Statues sprang up like mushrooms, unrelated in size or style or -any other quality. Alterations of street grades left little houses -perched on bluffs and leaning against big neighbors built at the new -level, or sunk in dingy pits. All this contributed to give the city an -unfinished look, like that of a child growing out of its small clothes. -Over the whole process of transformation loomed its master figure, -Alexander R. Shepherd. - -No man of his day, unless it were Grant himself, endured more wholesale -denunciation or found more valiant defenders than he. Like Grant, who -believed in him thoroughly, he had an iron will which treated all -obstacles as negligible when he had set himself to accomplish a certain -end. As a plumber by trade and a very competent one, he had accumulated -a fortune before middle life. Early in his business career he had made -up his mind that Washington’s failure to fulfil L’Enfant’s ideal of a -beautiful capital was due to the sluggishness which pervaded it, and -this he resolved to dispel. Grant listened to his projects and -encouraged them. The first step was to abolish the existing form of -municipal government and to substitute a Territorial form, with a -Governor and a Board of Public Works. Shepherd was made vice-president -of the Board and virtually its dictator. - -What he had to face in his effort to launch the city afresh can hardly -be conceived by an observer of to-day. Although ten years had elapsed -since the outbreak of the great war of which Washington was the focal -center, local conditions had improved but slightly upon those described -toward the close of the previous chapter. The road-bed of Pennsylvania -Avenue had received a pavement of wood, which was fast going to pieces. -A single square in Vermont Avenue was surfaced with a coal-tar product -that had proved its unfitness. A few other streets had been spread with -a thick coat of gravel, which, as it was gradually ground down, filled -the air with fine grit whenever the wind blew. The rest of the highways -were either paved with cobblestones or left in their primitive dirt, -which became nearly impassable in very wet weather for mud, and in very -dry weather for dust. It was not uncommon for a heavy vehicle like a -fire-engine to get stalled when it most needed to hurry, and to avoid -this contingency the engines sometimes ran over the sidewalk. In the -northwestern quarter, now so attractive, the marshes were undrained, and -the people forced to live there suffered tortures from chills and -fever. There was no efficient system of scavenging, but swine were kept -in back yards of dwellings to devour the kitchen refuse. Poultry and -cattle roamed freely about the vacant lots in thinly settled -neighborhoods. There were several open sewers; and the street sweepings, -including offal of a highly offensive sort, were dumped on the common -south of Pennsylvania Avenue and strewn over the plots set apart for -lawns. - -Because Shepherd foresaw the hostility he would excite by his program of -reforms, and that what he did must therefore be done quickly, he crowded -into three years what might well have consumed twenty. To save time and -cut red tape, he awarded contracts to friends whom he believed to be as -much in earnest as he was--a practice which of course laid him open to -accusations of favoritism; he experimented with novel materials and -methods, many of which proved ill-adapted to his needs; and his -expenditures reached figures which surprised even him when he found -leisure to foot up his debit page. But he shirked nothing because of the -danger or trouble it might involve for himself, and his opponents had to -lie awake nights to outwit him. - -For instance, there stood on the present site of the Public Library in -Mount Vernon Square a ramshackle old market building, the owners of -which had contrived so to intrench themselves behind legal -technicalities that they could not be ousted by any ordinary process. -One evening, after the courts were closed, a platoon of brawny laborers -was marched up to the building, armed with battering-rams, axes, and -sledge-hammers, and, before proprietors or tenants could hunt up a judge -to interfere, the party had reduced the market to kindling wood and -prepared the ground for conversion into a public park. Again, when the -time came to improve the lower end of Pennsylvania Avenue, a railroad -crossing stood in the way. It had been laid during the war, with no -legal warrant but as a temporary military necessity, and the company had -repeatedly refused to remove it. So at one o’clock one Sunday morning, -when injunctions were out of the question, Shepherd brought down a gang -of trusty men and proceeded to tear up the rails, which could never -thereafter be replaced. - -The boldness of this performance so stirred the admiration of John W. -Garrett, one of the most powerful railway magnates of the day, that he -offered Shepherd a vice-presidency of the Baltimore and Ohio Company. -But Shepherd was not to be lured away. He was promoted by Grant from the -vice-presidency of the Board of Public Works to the Governorship of the -District, a move which, though flattering, made him all the more shining -a mark for attack; and a group of large landowners, shuddering at the -prospect of further increases in taxation, induced Congress to -reorganize the local government, wiping out entirely the Territorial -system and popular suffrage, and putting the administration of affairs -into the hands of three Commissioners to be appointed for limited terms -by the President. This plan has remained substantially unchanged for -more than forty years, to the satisfaction of the citizens who have most -at stake in the welfare of the city. - -Having entered office rich at the age of thirty, Shepherd quitted it at -thirty-three so poor that he had to begin life anew in the Mexican -mining country. He left as his monument a record expenditure of -twenty-six million dollars, about half that amount remaining as a bonded -debt; many miles of newly opened or extended streets; a splendid -achievement in shade-tree installation and parking improvement; modern -water, sanitation, and lighting plants; and, above all, an awakened -popular spirit as to civic advancement. Albeit his ways of working out -his plans often were so crude as to shock the sense of quieter people -and not to be commended as a continuing force for - -[Illustration: _On the Ruins of Fort Stevens_] - -good, they served their time, which needed the application of a crowbar -rather than a cambric needle. - -True to his human type, Shepherd was an odd mixture of incongruities. He -poured out public funds like water, yet profited never a cent himself. -In his own fashion he was pious, yet he could swear like a trooper when -aroused, and once halted in the midst of family prayers to order a -servant to “drive that damned cow out of the rose-bushes!” He was -overheard, after hurling imprecations at some contractor who had -mishandled a job, murmuring a prayer to the Almighty to forgive and -forget his momentary loss of temper. A lady who once engaged him as a -plumber to hang a chandelier in her parlor noticed that it swayed under -her touch, and sent for him again to make sure that it would not fall -upon the heads of her guests. His answer was to mount a chair on one -side of the room, pull the chandelier toward him till he could grasp it -with both hands, jump off, and swing his whole weight of two hundred and -twenty-five pounds across to a chair on the opposite side. This -exhibition of his confidence in his work completely restored hers. - -Little more need be told here. The sodden soil plowed up by Shepherd was -gradually harrowed and seeded, watched and watered, till it brought -forth a new city, which under later administrations, in spite of many -vicissitudes, has prospered in the main. Presidents Cleveland, Harrison, -and McKinley took an interest in it which, while kindly, had some of the -detached quality of their interest in any of the States or Territories; -under them, however, the beautiful Rock Creek National Park and its -neighbor the “Zoo” were planned and largely developed, and the -pleasure-ground and suburban expansion programs received a considerable -impetus. President Roosevelt felt a lively sense of the importance of -the city as the capital of a great nation. It was in his time that the -White House underwent its restoration, and the L’Enfant plan generally -was revived as a standard. He was responsible, also, for attracting to -Washington, as permanent residents, many literary and scientific workers -whom it had formerly welcomed only as visitors, and the foundation of -the Carnegie Institution went far to make this period notable in local -annals. Mr. Taft’s interest took more the neighborly bent, as if -Washington were his home. He bore an active part in the popular -movements for beautifying the city, not so much because it was a -capital, as because he wished to have a hand in the civic enterprises of -his fellow townsmen. - -President Wilson’s attitude has not thus far been so clearly defined as -that of his recent predecessors. Other pressing public concerns have -left him scant time for looking into municipal improvement projects. -Mrs. Wilson, however, gave them much attention; and a hope expressed -during her last illness so touched the heart of Congress as to bring -about the enactment of some long-delayed legislation to abate the use of -unwholesome alleys for the tenements of the poor. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -“ON THE HILL” - - -In the ordinary conversation of Washington, one rarely hears Congress -mentioned by name. The respective functions of its two chambers are so -generally understood that it is common to distinguish between them: the -Senate yesterday did so-and-so; something is about to occur in the House -of Representatives. In speaking of the lawmakers collectively, the -familiar phrase is “the gentlemen on the hill.” Washington has several -hills, but “the” hill is by universal consent the one on which the -Capitol stands. - -To the visitor who knows the city only in its present aspect, the choice -of this hill for the monumental building now crowning it seems most -natural. This is not, however, the place originally considered for the -purpose. James Madison favored Shuter’s Hill, an eminence a little west -of Alexandria, now embraced in the tract set apart for George Washington -Park. Thomas Jefferson supported Madison in this preference; but -President Washington, feeling that Virginia had already had her full -share of the honors in launching the new republic, insisted that the -most important architecture at the seat of government should stand on -the Maryland side of the Potomac. His view prevailed; and, when the -sites of the principal public buildings were marked on L’Enfant’s plan -of the city, that selected for the Capitol was the elevation which, -besides being fairly central, commanded in its outlook, and was -commanded by, the greatest area of country on both sides of the river. - -Like almost everything else architectural in Washington, the Capitol is -a pile of gradual growth, subjected to many changes of detail in the -plans. Sketches were submitted in competition for a prize; the two -competitors who came nearest to meeting the requirements, though adopted -citizens of the United States, were respectively of French and English -birth; and the drawings finally evolved from the general scheme of the -one modified by the more acceptable ideas of the other were turned over -to an Irishman to perfect and carry out. Most of the credit belongs, -undoubtedly, to Doctor William Thornton, a draftsman by profession, who -afterward became Superintendent of Patents. The material used was -freestone from a neighboring quarry. Only the north or Senate end was -far enough advanced by the autumn of 1800 to enable Congress to hold -its short session there, and the disputes which arose over the -succeeding stages of the work led President Jefferson to call in -Benjamin H. Latrobe of Richmond, the first architect of already -established rank who had had anything to do with it. Under his -direction, the south end was made habitable by 1811; and the House of -Representatives, which till then had been uncomfortably quartered in -such odd places as it could find, took possession. There was no central -structure connecting the Senate and House ends, but a roofed wooden -passageway led from the one to the other. In this condition was the -Capitol when, in 1814, the British invaders burned all of it that was -burnable. - -The heavier masonry, of course, was unaffected by the fire except for -the need of a little patchwork here and there; but in his task of -restoration Mr. Latrobe found himself so embarrassed by dissensions -between the dignitaries who gave him his orders that after three -vexatious years he resigned, and the celebrated Charles Bulfinch of -Boston took his place. In 1830 Mr. Bulfinch pronounced the building -finished and returned home, and for twenty years it remained -substantially as he left it. Then, the needs of Congress having outgrown -the space at their disposal, Thomas U. Walter of Philadelphia was -ordered to prepare plans for an enlargement, and he was far-sighted -enough to make the extension the vehicle for some other improvements. -The great wings attached to the northern and southern extremities were -built of white marble, which has rendered imperative the frequent -repainting of the old freestone surfaces to match; the dome was raised -proportionally; and additions made, then and since, to the surrounding -grounds, have given the building an appropriate setting and vastly -enhanced its beauty of approach. - -This is, in brief, the story of the Capitol as we find it to-day. A -stroll through it will call up other memories. As you look at the -building from the east, you will be struck by the difference in tint -between the painted main structure and the two marble wings. Imagine the -wings cut off and the dome reduced to about half its present height and -ended abruptly in a flat top, and you have in your mind’s eye a picture -of the Capitol as Bulfinch left it, and as it remained till shortly -before the Civil War. Its most conspicuous feature now is its towering -dome, surmounted by a bronze allegorical figure of American Freedom. As -the sculptor Crawford originally modeled the image, its head was crowned -with the conventional liberty-cap; but Jefferson Davis, then Secretary -of War, objected to this on the ground that it was the sign of a freed -slave, whereas Americans were born free. The cap was therefore discarded -in favor of the present helmet of eagle feathers. - -Filling the pediment over the main portico is a bit of sculpture which -enjoys the distinction of having been designed by John Quincy Adams, -because he could not find an artist who could draw him what he wished. -It consists of three figures: the Genius of America in the center and -Hope and Justice on either side, Justice appearing without her customary -blindfold. Flanking the main staircase are two groups of statuary. That -on our left is called “The Discovery”--Columbus holding aloft a globe, -while an Indian woman crouches at his feet. It was done by the Italian -sculptor Persico, who copied Columbus’s armor from the last suit -actually worn by him. And now comes a bit of politics; for Congress, -having awarded this work to a foreigner, was besieged by a demand that -the next order be given to an American, and accordingly engaged Horatio -Greenough to produce “The Rescue,” which stands on our right. It -represents a frontiersman saving his wife and child from capture by an -Indian. - -The portico has an historic association with another President besides -Adams, for it was here that an attempt was made upon the life of Andrew -Jackson. At the close of a funeral service in the House of -Representatives, he had just passed out of the rotunda to descend the -steps, when a demented mechanic named Lawrence sprang from a place of -hiding, aimed a pistol at him, and pulled the trigger. As they were less -than ten feet apart, the President was saved only by the failure of the -powder to explode. Lawrence instantly dropped the useless pistol and -tried another, with like effect. Jackson never could be talked out of -the idea that Lawrence was the tool of political conspirators who wished -to put some one else in his place as President. - -We enter the building between the bronze doors designed by Randolph -Rogers, commonly called the “Columbus doors” because they tell, in a -series of reliefs, the life story of the discoverer. In the rotunda, the -center of the building, we find ourselves surrounded by paintings and -sculpture dealing with historical subjects. Hung at even intervals are -eight large canvases, of which four are by John Trumbull, a portrait -painter who was also an officer of the patriot army in the Revolution. -For the one representing the signing of the Declaration of Independence, -old John Randolph could find no better designation than “the shin -piece,” because “such a collection of legs never before came together in -any one picture”; but a more friendly commentator has discovered by -actual count that, of the nearly fifty figures, only ten show either -legs or feet, the rest being relieved by drapery or deep shadows. In -another, the “Resignation of General Washington,” are the figures of two -girls, which have given rise to many a discussion among sightseers -because the pair seem to have five hands between them; I shall not -attempt to solve the problem. - -The paintings of the “Landing of Columbus,” “Discovery of the -Mississippi,” “Baptism of Pocahontas,” and “Embarkation of the Pilgrims” -are from the brushes of Vanderlyn, Powell, Chapman, and Weir -respectively. Their subjects permit of picturesque costumes and dramatic -groupings which Trumbull could not use. But whatever his limitations, we -owe to him, probably more than to any other one man, the rotunda as we -know it. Bulfinch had under consideration various schemes of treatment -for the center of the building, but Trumbull’s foremost thought was of a -good light for his pictures; and, as he was a valued friend of the -architect, the pertinacity with which he urged this design won the day. - -Four doors pierce the circular chamber, and over each is a rectangle of -sculpture in high relief. As works of art, the quartet are little short -of execrable, but as milestones on the path of esthetic development in -America they have a charm of their own. All were the work of Italian -sculptors, whose acquaintance with our domestic history and concerns was -presumptively scant; and when the tablet showing William Penn -negotiating his treaty with the Indians was first exhibited to the -public, the head of the gentle Quaker was adorned with a cocked hat and -military queue. It was necessary, therefore, to decapitate him and set -upon his shoulders the head he now wears. All four reliefs deal with our -aboriginal problem. In one, the Indians are welcoming the Pilgrim -Fathers with a gift of corn; in another, they are conveying to Penn the -land on which Philadelphia now stands; in a third, Pocahontas is saving -the life of Captain John Smith; while in the fourth, Caucasian -civilization, personified in Daniel Boone, has already killed one Indian -and is engaged in bloody combat with a second. The series drew from an -old chief the comment that they told the true story of the way the white -race had repaid the hospitality of the red race by exterminating it; and -another observer, pointing to the huddled-up body of the fallen Indian -under Boone’s foot, remarked: “The white man has not left the Indian -land enough even to die on!” - -Running all around the circular wall and immediately under the dome -opening, we note an unfinished frieze, so done in neutral tints as to -convey the suggestion of relief sculpture, depicting the most notable -events in the history of America from the landing of Columbus to the -discovery of gold in California. Six of the fourteen scenes were painted -by Constantino Brumidi, and the others after sketches left by him. It -was an ambitious design, in view of the rapidity with which history is -made now and the brevity of the space. Only a trifling gap is left for -all that has happened in the last sixty years or so, and Congress has -had more than one debate over what ought to be crowded into the record -of this interval. Among the subjects considered have been the -emancipation of the slaves, the completion of the first transcontinental -railroad, and the freeing of Cuba; but the proposal which has met with -most favor is a symbolic treatment of the Civil War, not as a breach -between the sections but as the cementing of a stronger bond. This was -set aside because the design outlined was a representation of Grant and -Lee clasping hands under the Appomattox apple tree--the objection being -based on the discovery that the apple tree existed only in fiction, and -that the real meeting-place of the two commanders was too unromantic for -artistic use. - -From the frieze our eyes ascend to the canopy, or inner lining of the -dome, which hangs above us like an - -[Illustration: _Survivals from “Before the War”_] - -inverted bowl enclosing an elaborate fresco in colors. This, too, is -from the brush of Brumidi. Although it is ostensibly allegorical, many -of its sixty-three human faces are recognizable portraits, including -those of Washington, Franklin, Hamilton, Robert Morris, Samuel F. B. -Morse, Robert Fulton, and Thomas U. Walter, who was architect of the -Capitol while the work was in progress. In a group representing War, -with an armed goddess of liberty for its center, are heads resembling -those of Jefferson Davis, Alexander H. Stephens, Robert E. Lee, and John -B. Floyd. Whether the likenesses are there by the deliberate intent of -the artist, or merely by accident, no one will ever know, as Brumidi -died in 1880. - -The door on our left leads, through a short corridor, into what was once -the Hall of Representatives. It is now known officially as the Hall of -Statuary, but to irreverent critics as the National Chamber of Horrors, -because of the varied assortment of marble and bronze images collected -there. The room is semicircular, with a domed ceiling, a great arch and -supporting pillars on its flat side, and a colonnade lining the -horseshoe. During the forty years that it was used for legislative -purposes, a rostrum holding the Speaker’s table and chair filled the -arch, and the desks of the Representatives were arranged in concentric -curves to face it. Overlooking the chamber, and following most of the -rear wall, ran a narrow gallery for visitors who did not enjoy the -privileges of the floor; it derived an air of comfort from curtains hung -between the columns of the colonnade and looped back so as to produce -the effect of a tier of opera-boxes. Stay in the room a while, and you -will understand why, for many years, the complaint of its acoustic -properties was so constant, and a demand for a better hall so strong: it -is a wonderful whispering gallery. There are spots in the tiled pavement -where you can stand and hear the slightest sound you make come back from -some point before or behind you, over your head, or under your feet. Go -to the place where the semicircle ends on one side of the room, and I -will go to the corresponding place on the other side, and, by speaking -into the vertical fissures between the wall and the pillars at the two -extremities of the great arch, we can converse in the lowest tones with -as much ease as if we were side by side instead of a hundred feet apart. - -A vivid imagination can people this hall with ghosts. Here some of the -fiercest forensic battles were fought in early days over protective -tariffs, internal improvements, and, above all, negro slavery. Here it -was that Randolph’s piping voice denounced the Northern “dough-faces,” -and here Wilmot launched his historic proviso. Here Alexander H. -Stephens made his last effort to resuscitate the moribund Whig party, -while Abraham Lincoln listened to his argument from a seat on the same -side of the chamber. Here John Quincy Adams drew upon himself the fire -of an incensed opposition by championing the people’s right to petition -Congress, and here he fell to the floor a dying paralytic. Here John -Marshall, the greatest of our Chief Justices, administered the oath of -office to two early Presidents. And here it was that Henry Clay, as -Speaker, delivered his address of welcome to Lafayette as the guest of -the nation, and listened with becoming gravity to the Marquis’s -response--which, as it afterward appeared, owed its excellent English to -the fact that Clay had composed it for the most part himself. - -The conversion of the hall from its former to its present uses was at -the instance of the late Senator Morrill of Vermont, who procured -legislation permitting every State in the Union to contribute two -statues of distinguished citizens to this temple of fame. No restriction -having been placed on the sizes of the figures, one result of his -well-meant effort is a grotesque array of pigmies and giants, some of -the personages biggest in life being most diminutive in effigy, while -others of comparatively insignificant stature are here given massive -proportions. Most of the notables thus immortalized are persons with -whose names we associate a story. Here stand, for example, Ethan Allen -as he may have looked when demanding the surrender of Fort Ticonderoga -“in the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress”; Charles -Carroll, who wrote Carrollton after his name so that the servants of the -King, when sent to hang him for signing the Declaration, would know -where to find him; sturdy John Stark, who snapped his fingers at -Congress and whipped the British at Bennington in his own fashion; -Muhlenberg, the patriot parson, throwing back his gown at the close of -his sermon and standing forth as a Continental soldier; and fiery Jim -Shields, who once challenged Lincoln to a duel, but was laughed out of -it when, arriving on the field, he found his adversary already there, -mowing the tall grass with a cutlass to make the fighting easier! - -Another corridor brings us to the present Hall of Representatives, which -has been in use since the latter part of 1857. It is a spacious -rectangular room, with a high ceiling chiefly of glass, through which it -is lighted in the daytime by the sun and after nightfall by the modified -glow of electric lamps in the attic. Its plan is that of an -amphitheater, the platform occupied by the Speaker being at the lowest -level in the middle of the long southern side. Facing this are the -concentric curved benches of the members. Formerly the body of the hall -was filled with desks but, as the membership increased with the -population of the country, these were found to take up too much room, -not to mention the temptation they offered for letter-writing and other -diversions. Back of the Speaker’s chair hang a full-length portrait of -Washington by Vanderlyn and one of Lafayette by Ary Schaeffer. The -Washington is the conventional portrait as far as the waist-line, but -the legs were borrowed from a prominent citizen of Maryland, who had a -better pair than the General, and who consented to pose them for the -benefit of posterity. - -Now let us go back to the north or Senate wing of the building. On our -way we swing around a little open air-well, through which we look down -into the corresponding corridor of the basement. The well is surrounded -by a colonnade supporting the base of a circular skylight. The columns -are worth noticing, because their capitals are of native design, using -the leaf of the tobacco plant somewhat conventionalized. They date from -the period when the clerk of the United States Supreme Court, whose -office is near by, used to receive a part of his compensation in -tobacco. - -A few steps more bring us to the Court itself, sitting in a chamber -considerably smaller than the Hall of Statuary, but laid out on the -same plan. This was the first legislative chamber ever occupied in the -Capitol, having been till 1859 the Hall of the Senate. Here it was that -Thomas Jefferson was twice inaugurated as President. Here Daniel Webster -pronounced the famous “reply to Hayne” which every boy orator once -learned to spout from the rostrum. Here Preston Brooks made his -murderous assault upon Charles Sumner, and here Henry Clay delivered the -farewell address which we used to find in all the school readers. On the -walls of this chamber once hung the life-size oil portraits of Louis -XVI. and Marie Antoinette, which were presented by the Government of -France to the Government of the United States just after our Revolution, -and which disappeared when the British burned the Capitol in 1814. The -room has always suffered from the same bad acoustic properties which -caused the House of Representatives to exchange its old hall for its new -one; and it has a similar whispering gallery, so that a court officer in -one corner can communicate with a colleague in the other in a tone so -low as to be inaudible to any one else. - -Since it took possession here, the Court has rendered its legal tender -and anti-trust decisions, and a number of others of historic importance. -In this room sat, in 1877, the Electoral Commission which decided that -Mr. Hayes was entitled to take office as President. Here occurs, every -day during a term, the one ancient and impressive ceremonial which can -be witnessed at our seat of government. At the stroke of noon there -appears at the right corner of the chamber the crier, who in a loud -voice announces: “The Honorable the Supreme Court of the United States!” -All present--attorneys, spectators, and minor functionaries--rise and -remain standing while the members of the Court enter in single file, the -Chief Justice leading. The lawyers bow to the Justices, who return the -bow before sinking into their chairs. Thereupon the crier makes his -second announcement: “Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! All persons having business with -the Honorable the Supreme Court of the United States are admonished to -draw near and give attention, as the Court is now sitting. God save the -United States and this Honorable Court!” - -All the Justices wear gowns of black silk. John Jay, the first Chief -Justice, relieved the somber monotony of his by adding a collar bound -with scarlet, but the precedent was not followed. The Court has -sometimes been styled the most dignified judicial tribunal in the world, -and doubtless it deserves the compliment. Certainly no American need -blush for its decorum. The whole atmosphere of its chamber is in -keeping with the fact, reverently voiced by one of its old colored -servitors, that “dey ain’t no appeal f’m dis yere Co’t ’xcep’ to God -Almighty.” The arguments made before it are confined to calm, -unemotional reasoning. The pleaders do not raise their voices, or forget -their manners, or indulge in personalities or oratory while debating: -and the opinions of the Court are recited with a quietness almost -conversational. These opinions are very carefully guarded up to the -moment they are read from the bench; but now and then, after a decision -has become history, there leaks out an entertaining story of how it came -to be rendered. - -One such instance was in the case of an imported delicacy which might -have been classed either as a preparation of fish or as a flavoring -sauce. The customs officers had levied duty on it as a sauce, and an -importer had appealed. The Justices, when they came to compare notes, -confessed themselves sorely puzzled, and one of them suggested that, -since the technical arguments were so well balanced, it might be wise to -fall back upon common sense. That evening he carried a sample of the -disputed substance home to his wife, who was an expert in culinary -matters. - -“There, my dear,” said he, “is a sauce for you to try.” - -With one look at the contents of the package, which she evidently -recognized, she exclaimed: “Pshaw! That’s no sauce; that’s fish--didn’t -you know it?” - -The next day the Court met again for consultation, and on the following -Monday handed down a decision overruling the customs officers and -sustaining the importer’s appeal. - -Leaving the court-room and continuing northward, we come to the present -Hall of the Senate. It is smaller than the present Hall of -Representatives and also cleaner looking and more comfortable. When -Congress is in full session, the contrast may be extended further so as -to include what we hear as well as what we see, for there is little -likeness between the two houses in the matter of orderliness of -procedure. But that’s another story, which will keep. It was from this -chamber that the Senators from the seceding States took their departure -in 1860 and 1861. For years afterward the first request of every -visiting stranger was to be shown the seats formerly occupied by these -men. As long as the old doorkeeper of the Senate, Captain Bassett, -lived, he was reputed to be the only person who knew the history of -every desk on the floor. Whether he transmitted this knowledge to any of -his assistants before his death, I cannot say; but more than once he -saved some of the furniture from injury at the hands of wanton vandals -or curio collectors. - -During the early days of the Civil War, a party of Northern zouaves, -passing through the city on their way to the front, entered the Senate -Hall during a recess and tried to identify Davis’s desk. They frankly -avowed their purpose of destroying, if possible, the last trace of the -Confederate President’s connection with the United States Government; -but Bassett refused to be coaxed, bribed, or bullied into revealing the -information they wished. Their persistency presently aroused his fears -lest they might come back later and renew their attempt in his absence; -so he resorted to diplomacy and made them a little speech, reminding -them that, no matter what Mr. Davis might have done to provoke their -indignation, the desk at which he had sat was not his property, but that -of the Government which they had come South to defend. His reasoning had -its effect, and, admitting that he was right, they went away peaceably. - -Back of the Senate chamber are two rooms set apart for the President and -Vice-president respectively. Till lately, the President’s room as a rule -has been occupied only during a few closing hours of a session, when the -President wishes to be readily accessible for the signing of such acts -as he approves. Sometimes he has spent the entire last night of a -Congress here, returning to the White House for breakfast and coming to -the Capitol again for an hour or two before noon. President Wilson has -used the room more than any of his recent predecessors, going there to -consult the leading members of his party in Congress while legislation -is in course of preparation or passage. - -The Vice-president’s room has been more constantly in use as a retiring -room for its occupant during the intervals when he is not presiding over -the sessions of the Senate. On its wall has hung for many years a little -gilt-framed mirror for which John Adams, while Vice-president, paid -forty dollars, and which was brought with the other appurtenances of the -Senate from Philadelphia when the Government removed its headquarters to -Washington. Many of the frugal founders of the republic were scandalized -at the extravagance of the purchase, and one gravely introduced in the -Senate a resolution censuring Adams for having drawn thus heavily upon -the public funds “to gratify his personal vanity.” What these good men -would say if they were to revisit the Capitol now and see in the same -room with the forty-dollar mirror a silver inkstand that cost two -hundred dollars and a clock that cost a thousand, we can only imagine. -It was in this room, by the way, that Vice-president Wilson died in -November, 1875, after an attack of illness which suddenly overcame him -at the Capitol and was too severe to justify his being carried to his -home. - -On the floor below are two other points of interest. We shall do well to -descend, not by the broad marble staircases in the north wing, but by an -old iron-railed and curved flight of stone steps a little south of the -Supreme Court. Note, in passing, its columns, as truly American in -design as those above-stairs to which attention has already been -directed; for they conventionalize our Indian corn, the stalks making -the body of a pillar and the leaves and ears the capital. The first -point we shall visit is the crypt, which is directly under the rotunda. -It is a vaulted chamber originally intended as a resting-place for the -body of George Washington. There was to have been a circular opening in -the ceiling, so that visitors in the rotunda could look down upon the -sarcophagus, above which a suspended taper was to be kept continually -burning. The light was duly hung there, and not extinguished for many -years; but as Washington’s heirs were unwilling to allow his remains to -leave Mount Vernon, the rest of the plan was abandoned. - -A little way north of the crypt we come to the room that the Supreme -Court occupied for about forty - -[Illustration: _Rock Creek_] - -years after the restoration of the Capitol. Out of it was sent the first -message with which Samuel F. B. Morse announced to the world the success -of his invention, the magnetic telegraph. Morse was perfectly convinced -that his device was workable, but he had exhausted his means before -being able to make a satisfactory experiment. He therefore asked -Congress for an appropriation to equip a trial line between Washington -and Baltimore. Some of the members scoffed at his appeal as visionary; -others intimated that he was trying to impose upon the Government; only -a handful seemed to feel enough confidence in him and his project to -vote for the appropriation. After a discouraging struggle lasting till -the third of March, 1843, Morse was at the Capitol watching the dying -hours of the Congress, when his friends advised him that his cause was -hopeless, and he returned to his hotel and went to bed. - -Before breakfast the next morning he received a call from Miss Annie -Ellsworth, daughter of the Commissioner of Patents, who brought him the -news that after he had left the Capitol his appropriation had gone -through, and the President had signed the bill just before midnight. To -reward her as the bearer of glad tidings, Morse invited her to frame the -first message to be sent to Baltimore. It took more than a year to -build the line and insure its successful operation; but on May 24, 1844, -in the presence of a gathering which filled the court chamber, the -inventor seated himself at the instrument, and Miss Ellsworth placed in -his hand a phrase she had selected from the twenty-third verse of the -twenty-third chapter of the Book of Numbers: “What hath God wrought!” In -less time than it takes to tell the facts, the operator in Baltimore had -received the message and ticked it back without an error. In that hour -of his triumph over skepticism and abuse, Morse could have asked almost -anything of Congress without fear of repulse. - -Not all the associations which cling about the Capitol are confined to -politics or legislation, science or business. The old Hall of -Representatives was, in the early days of the last century, long used -for religious meetings on Sundays, the Speaker’s desk being converted -temporarily into a pulpit. One of the first preachers who held stated -services there was a Swedenborgian. When the custom had become well -established, most of the clergymen of the city consented to take the -Sundays in a certain order of succession. Sir Augustus Foster, a -secretary of the British Legation during Jefferson’s administration, has -left us his impressions of the meetings: - -“A church service can certainly never be called an amusement; but, from -the variety of persons who were allowed to preach in the House of -Representatives, there doubtless was some alloy of curiosity in the -motives which led one to go there. Though the regular Chaplain was a -Presbyterian, sometimes a Methodist, a minister of the Church of -England, or a Quaker, sometimes even a woman, took the Speaker’s chair, -and I do not think there was much devotion among the majority. The New -Englanders, generally speaking, are very religious; but though there are -many exceptions, I cannot say so much for the Marylanders, and still -less for the Virginians.” - -Probably this comment on the worldly element entering into the meetings -was called forth by their gradual degeneration into a social function. -The hall came to be regarded as a pleasant Sunday gathering-place for -friends who were able to see little of one another during the secular -week. They clustered in knots around the open fireplaces, apparently -quite as interested in the intervals afforded for a bit of gossip as in -the sermon. The President was accustomed to attend from time to time; -and possibly it was by his order that the Marine Band, nearly one -hundred strong and attired in their brilliant red uniforms, were present -in the gallery and played the hymn tunes, as well as some stirring march -music. Their attendance was discontinued later, as their performances -attracted many common idlers to a hall already crowded almost to -suffocation with ladies and gentlemen of fashion, and thus increased the -confusion. - -Partly as a result of this use of the hall, the habit of treating Sunday -as a day for social festivities of all sorts reached a point where the -strict Sabbatarians felt called to remonstrate. One, a clergyman named -Breckenridge, preached a sermon denouncing the irreligious frivolities -of the time, which created a great sensation. He addressed his remarks -directly to Congress. “It is not the people,” said he, “who will suffer -for these enormities. It is the Government. As with Nineveh of old, your -temples and your palaces will be burned to the ground, for it is by fire -that this sin has usually been punished!” And he cited instance after -instance from Bible history, showing how cities, dwellings, and persons -had been burned for disrespect of divine law. - -One day in the fall of 1814, after the British had left the city scarred -with blackened ruins, Mr. Breckenridge was passing the Octagon house, -when he was hailed by Dolly Madison from the doorway. - -“When I listened to that threatening sermon of yours,” she exclaimed, “I -little thought that its warnings would be realized so soon.” - -“Oh, Madam,” he answered, “I trust that the chastening of the Lord may -not have been in vain!” - -It was, however, as far as any permanent change in the habits of the -people was concerned. There was a brief interval of greater sobriety due -to the sad plight of the community; then Sunday amusements resumed their -sway with as much vigor as of old. - -Although to the eye of the casual visitor the Capitol seems so quiet and -well-ordered a place that it practically takes care of itself, the truth -is that it is continually under pretty rigid surveillance. It has a -uniformed corps of special police, whose jurisdiction covers everything -within the limits of Capitol Park; besides this, the Superintendent of -the Capitol has general oversight of the building, and the officers of -the House and Senate look after their respective wings. When Thomas B. -Reed of Maine became Speaker, he found the House wing a squatting ground -for a small army of petty merchants who had crept in one by one and -established booths for the sale of sandwiches and pies, cigars, -periodicals, picture cards, and souvenirs, obstructing the highways of -communication between one part of the building and another. He proceeded -to sweep them all out. There was loud wailing among the ousted, and some -who could command a little political influence brought it to bear on -him, but in vain; and for more than twenty years thereafter the -corridors remained free from these intruders. With the incoming of the -Sixty-third Congress, however, discipline began to relax, and, unless -the House acquires another Speaker with Mr. Reed’s notions of propriety -and the force of will to compel obedience, we shall probably see the -hucksters camping once more on the old trail. - -Outside of the building the rules are as well enforced as inside. When -Coxey’s Army of the Commonweal marched upon Washington in 1894, its -leader advertised his intention to make a speech from the Capitol steps, -calling upon Congress to provide work and wages for all the idle -laborers in the country. Under the law, no harangue or oration may be -delivered anywhere on the Capitol grounds without the express consent of -the presiding officers of the two chambers of Congress. Remembering the -way the lawmakers had been intimidated by a mob at Philadelphia in the -early days of the republic, neither the Speaker nor the President of the -Senate was willing that Coxey should carry out his plan; and the Capitol -police, without violence or display of temper, made short work of the -proposed mass meeting. On another occasion, the performers for a -moving-picture show attempted to use the steps of the Capitol as a -background for a scene in which a man made up to resemble the President -of the United States was to play an undignified part; the police pounced -down upon the company, confiscating the apparatus and escorting the -actors to the nearest station-house. A like fate befel an automobilist -who, on a wager, tried to drive his machine up the steps of the main -portico. Occasionally a bicycler, ambitious to descend this staircase at -full speed, has proved too quick-witted for the officers, but as a rule -they are at hand when needed. - -Now that we are outside, let us look around. To the eastward lies the -part of the city broadly designated as Capitol Hill. As far as the eye -can reach, it is a beautiful, evenly graded plateau--an ideal residence -region as far as natural topography, verdure, sunshine, and pure air are -concerned. It is the part which George Washington and other promoters of -the federal city picked out for its residential end, and the Capitol was -built so as to face it. These circumstances made it a favorite locality -for speculative investment, and the prices at which early purchasers of -land held out against later comers sealed its fate: the tide of favor -turned toward the opposite end of the city, and the development of the -northwest quarter took a start which has never since halted. The first -plans of Capitol Park included on its eastern side a pretty little -fish-pond, circular in shape, which must have been about where the two -raised flower-beds with mottled marble copings now flank the driveway to -First Street. - -The west front of the Capitol overlooks a gentle slope pleasantly turfed -and shaded. The building itself descends the slope a little way by an -esplanade and a series of marble terraces, from which broad flights of -steps lead down nearly to the main street level. The perspective view of -the Capitol is much more impressive from this side than from the other, -thanks to an admirable piece of landscape gardening. In old times, the -lawns on the west side were used by the residents of the neighborhood -for croquet grounds, and the whole park was enclosed in an iron fence, -with gates that were shut by the watchmen at nine every evening against -pedestrians, and at a somewhat later hour against carriages. With -characteristic impatience of such restraints, sometimes a Congressman -who had stayed at the Capitol past the closing hour would save himself -the trouble of calling a guard to open the gate, by smashing the lock -with a stone. The increasing frequency of such incidents undoubtedly had -much to do with causing the removal of the fence. - -No point in the city affords so fine facilities for fixing L’Enfant’s -plan in the mind of the visitor and enabling him to find his way about -the older parts of Washington, as the Capitol dome. A spiral staircase, -the doors to which open from obscure parts of two corridors, leads first -to the inside circular balcony crowning the rotunda. This is worth a few -minutes’ delay to test its quality as a whispering gallery. The -attendant in charge will show you how, and, if you can lure him into -telling you some of the funny things he has seen and heard in his eyrie, -you will be well repaid. - -More climbing will bring you to an outside perch, which forms a sort of -collar for the lantern surmounting the dome. Now open a plainly printed -map of Washington and hold it so that the points of the compass on the -map correspond with those of the city below you. With a five minutes’ -walk around the base of the lantern, to give you the view from every -side, you will have mastered the whole scheme designed by L’Enfant. Here -are the four quarters--northeast, southeast, southwest, northwest--as -clearly spread before you on the surface of the earth as on the paper in -your hand. Here is the Mall, with its grass and trees, leading up to the -Washington Monument and abutting on the executive reservation where -stand the White House, the Treasury, and the State, War and Navy -Department buildings. Well out to the northward you can descry a tower -which fixes the site of the Soldiers’ Home, and to the southward the -Potomac, flowing past the War College and the Navy Yard. East of you -loom up the hills of Anacostia. On all sides you see the lettered -streets running east and west, intersected by the numbered streets -running north and south, while, cutting both diagonally at various -angles, but in pursuance of a systematic and easily grasped plan, are -the avenues named in honor of the various States of the Union. Once let -this chart fasten itself in your mind, and there is no reason why, total -stranger though you may be, you should have any difficulty in finding -your way about Washington. - -[Illustration: _Capitol, from New Jersey Avenue_] - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -THESE OUR LAWMAKERS - - -The House of Representatives, albeit presenting an average of conduct -equal to that of any corresponding chamber in the world, is a -rough-and-tumble body. It is apt to carry partisan antagonisms to -extremes and wrangle over anything that comes up, with accusations and -recriminations, and at rare intervals an exchange of blows. Repeatedly I -have seen the Sergeant-at-Arms lift his mace and march down one aisle -and up another, to compose disturbances which seemed to threaten a -sequel of riot, while the Speaker pounded his desk in an effort to -overcome the clamor of several members trying to talk at once. By laxity -of discipline and force of custom, there is a degree of freedom here, in -even a peaceful discussion, unknown to the Senate. Members will bring, -to exemplify their statements in a tariff debate, samples of -merchandise--a suit of clothes, a basket of fruit, a jar of sweetmeats, -perhaps. One day a debater, discussing olive oil, accidentally dropped -a bottle of it on the floor, and several of his colleagues lost their -footing in crossing the scene of the disaster. Another, who had a -pocketful of matches designed for illustrative purposes, suddenly found -his clothes ablaze and made a fiery bolt for a water-tank. Still -another, inflamed by his own eloquence in trying to show how Congress -ought to wring the life out of an odious monopoly, impetuously laid -hands upon a small and inoffensive fellow member who happened to sit -near and shook him till his teeth rattled, amid roars of delight from -every one except the victim. - -Usually, the Senate is as staid as the House is uproarious. All routine -business is transacted there “by unanimous consent”; it is only when -some really important issue arises that the Senators quarrel publicly. -When a serious debate is on, there is no commotion: every Senator who -wishes to speak sends his name to the presiding officer, or rises during -a lull and announces his purpose of addressing the Senate on a specified -day. The rest of the Senators respect his privilege, and, if he is a man -of consequence, a goodly proportion of them will be in their seats to -hear him. If a Senator is absent from the chamber when a matter arises -which might concern him, some one is apt to suggest deferring its -consideration till he can be present. It is the same way with -appointments to office which require confirmation by the Senate: a -Senator objecting to a candidate nominated from his State can count upon -abundant support from his fellow Senators, every one of whom realizes -that it may be his turn next to need support in a similar contingency. -This is what is called “Senatorial courtesy.” So well is it understood -that no unfair advantage will be taken of any one’s absence, that the -attendance in the chamber sometimes becomes very thin. An instance is -often cited when the Vice-president, discovering only one person on the -floor at the beginning of a day’s session, rapped with his gavel and -solemnly announced: “The Senator from Massachusetts will be in order!” - -The strong contrast between the two chambers has existed ever since the -creation of Congress. This is not wonderful when we reflect that the -Senate was for a long time made up of men chosen by the State -legislatures from a social class well removed from the masses of the -people, and that they held office for a six-year term, thus lording it -over the members of the House of Representatives, who, besides being -drawn directly from the rank and file of the body politic, had to -struggle for reëlection every two years. In the early days, the Senators -were noted for their rich attire and their great gravity of manner; -whereas most of the Representatives persisted, while sitting in the -House during the debates, in wearing their big cocked hats set “fore and -aft” on their heads. Whether the Senate sat covered or bareheaded for -the first few years of its existence, we have only indirect evidence, as -it then kept its doors closed against everybody, even members of the -House. Little by little a more liberal spirit asserted itself, until the -doors were opened to the public for a certain part of every morning, -with the proviso that they should be closed whenever the subjects of -discussion seemed to require secrecy. By common consent, these subjects -were limited to certain classes of business proposed by the President, -like the ratification of treaties and the confirmation of appointments -to office. Such matters remain confidential to this day, and the Senate -holds itself ready to exclude spectators and go into secret session at -any moment, on the request of a single Senator. - -As a secret session is always supposed to be for the purpose of -discussing a Presidential communication, the fiction is embalmed in the -form of a motion “that the Senate proceed to the consideration of -executive business.” This is the signal for the doorkeepers to evict the -occupants of the galleries and shut the doors leading into the -corridors; but sometimes the real reason for the request is widely -removed from its pretext. I have known it to be offered for the purpose -of cutting short the exhibition which a tipsy Senator was making of -himself; or to prevent a tedious airing of grievances by a Senator who -had quarreled with the President over the dispensation of patronage in -his State; or to silence a Senator who, objecting to the negotiation of -a certain treaty, kept referring to it in open debate while it was still -pending under the seal of confidence. In this last instance, the -offending Senator was so obstinate of purpose that the doors had to be -closed and reopened several times in a single day. - -On the face of things, there is no reason why the President should not -attend any session of the Senate at which business of his originating is -under debate. No President since the first, however, has made the -experiment. Washington attended three secret sessions, but was so -angered by the Senate’s referring to a committee sundry questions which -he insisted should be settled on the spot, that he quitted the chamber, -emphatically vowing that he would waste no more time on such trifling. -The Senators excused their conduct by saying that they were embarrassed -in talking about the President and his motives while he was sitting -there. - -The custom of wearing their hats while transacting business was -continued by the Representatives for fifty years or more. Even the -Speaker, as long as he sat in his chair, would keep his hat on, though -he was accustomed to remove it when he stood to address the House. The -Senators, whatever may have been their practice during the years of -their seclusion, distinguished themselves from the Representatives -immediately thereafter by sitting with bared heads. They also avoided -the habit, common in the House, of putting their feet up on the nearest -elevated object--usually a desk-lid--and lolling on their spines. -English visitors, though accustomed to the wearing of hats in their own -House of Commons, nevertheless found a text for criticism in the way the -American Representatives did it; and they all had something severe to -say of the prevalence of tobacco-chewing in the House, with its -accompaniment of spitting, as Mrs. Trollope put it, “to an excess that -decency forbids me to describe.” Less offensive to the taste of our -visitors from abroad was the indulgence in snuff-taking, which was so -general that boxes or jars were set up in convenient places inside of -both halls, and it was made the duty of certain employees to keep these -always filled with a fine brand of snuff. Any of the most eloquent -orators in Congress was liable to stop at regular intervals in a speech -to help himself to a large pinch, bury his face in a bandanna -handkerchief, and have it out with nature. A few of the lawmakers, -indeed, cultivated snuff-taking as a fine art, and were proud of their -reputations for dexterity in it. Henry Clay was one of the most skilful. - -While we are on the subject of indulgences, we must not overlook a drink -called switchel, which was very popular, being compounded of rum, -ginger, molasses, and water. Every member was allowed then, as now, in -addition to his salary and traveling expenses, a fixed supply of -“stationery”; and this term, which was elastic enough to include -everything from pens and paper to jack-knives and razors, was stretched -to cover the delectable switchel under the thin disguise of “sirup.” In -later years, when a wave of teetotalism had swept over Washington, and -the open sale of alcoholic drinks in the restaurants of the Capitol was -under a temporary ban, any member who wished a drink of whisky ordered -it as “cold tea,” and it was served to him in a china cup. This -stratagem fell into marked discredit when one of the most respectable -and abstemious members of the House, who had never tasted intoxicating -liquor of any sort, ordered cold tea in entire good faith to clear his -throat in the midst of a speech, and became maudlin before he was aware -that anything was amiss. - -Besides sprawling with their feet higher than their heads, and otherwise -airing their contempt for conventional etiquette, many of the old-time -Representatives felt free to read newspapers while debates were going on -around them, indifferent to their disturbance of both orators and -audience. The first pointed rebuke of this practice was administered by -James K. Polk when Speaker of the House. He noticed one morning that -substantially every Representative had a newspaper in hand when the -gavel fell for beginning the day’s session. The journal was read, but -nobody paid any attention to it, and then the Speaker made his usual -announcement that the House was ready for business. Still everybody -remained buried in the morning’s news. After another vain attempt to set -the machinery in motion, Mr. Polk quietly drew a newspaper from his own -pocket, seated himself with his back toward the House, spread the sheet -open before him, and ostentatiously immersed himself in its printed -contents. One by one the Representatives finished their reading, and -perhaps a quarter of an hour passed before there came from all sides an -irregular volley of calls: “Mr. Speaker!” “Mr. Speaker!” Mr. Polk -ignored them till one of the baffled members moved that the House -proceed to the election of a presiding officer, to take the place of the -Speaker, who appeared to be absent. This brought Mr. Polk to his feet -with the remark that he not only was present, but had notified the House -that it was ready for business and had received no response. The House -took the joke in good part and showed by its conduct thereafter that it -was not above profiting by the Speaker’s reproof. - -Although women were admitted as spectators to the sessions of both -chambers on the same terms as men, there was for many years an -undercurrent of feeling against their encroachments. There was limited -room in either hall for their accommodation behind the colonnade. In -this space--the original “lobby”--there was an open fireplace at each -end, and it soon became a common complaint among the Senators that the -feminine guests drew the sofas up in front of the fire and thus -effectually shut off the warmth from every one else. Aaron Burr, while -Vice-president, was the first person in authority to take cognizance of -this indictment. He notified the visiting women that after a certain -date they must cease coming into the lobby and find seats in the -gallery. They were appropriately indignant and declared an almost -unanimous boycott against the Senate. Vice-president Clinton was of a -different temper from his predecessor and let them all come back again. -By degrees, however, as the privileges of the floor became more and more -restricted in both chambers, the women were given a special gallery for -themselves. - -From the time they began coming to Congress in any multitude, the fair -visitors have made their presence felt. In the House one day John -Randolph drew attention to them by halting a debate to point a long, -skinny finger in their direction and snarl out: “Mr. Speaker, what, -pray, are all these women doing here, so out of place in this arena? -Sir, they had much better be at home attending to their knitting!” In -spite of that, they continued to come and to attract attention, till the -number of members who habitually quitted their seats to repair to the -gallery and pay their devoirs to their lady friends threatened to play -havoc with the roll-calls. This abuse did not last long, and nowadays -the visit of a member of either house to the gallery is an incident. - -So far from objecting to spectators, both House and Senate now offer -distinct encouragement to the public to come and hear the debates. To -this end, each chamber has a deep gallery completely surrounding it, -with cross partitions at intervals. One section is reserved for the -President and Cabinet and their families; another for the members of the -diplomatic circle; a third for the members of the press, and so forth. -Control of each press gallery is nominally retained by the chamber -concerned, but actually is left in the hands of a committee of newspaper -men, who enforce an exemplary discipline, so that a writer guilty of -misconduct would be excluded thenceforward from his privileges. On the -other hand, the newspaper men have always stood firmly for their right -to discuss the members and measures of Congress with all the freedom -consonant with truth. It has required a long and sometimes dramatic -struggle to bring about the present harmonious mutual understanding -between Congress and the press as to the legitimate preserves of each -body upon which the other must not trespass. - -Some of the battles leading to this result are entertaining to recall. -In the later forties, while members of the press were still permitted to -do their work at desks on the floor of the House, a correspondent of the -_New York Tribune_ named Robinson published an article about a certain -Representative named Sawyer, whose unappetizing personal habits he -thought it would be wise to break up. Among other things he described -the way Sawyer ate his luncheon: “Every day at two o’clock he feeds. -About that hour he is seen leaving his seat and taking a position in the -window back of the Speaker’s chair to the left. He unfolds a greasy -paper, in which is contained a chunk of bread and sausage, or some other -unctuous substance. He disposes of them rapidly, wipes his hands with -the greasy paper for a napkin, and throws it out of the window. What -little grease is left on his hands, he wipes on his almost bald head.” -There was more to the same effect, but this will suffice. When the paper -containing the article reached Washington, there was much laughing -behind hands in Congress; but, though most of the members rejoiced that -somebody should have told the truth for the dignity of the House, few -had the courage to come out boldly and say that the satire was deserved. - -One of Sawyer’s colleagues retaliated with a resolution that all writers -for the _Tribune_ be excluded thenceforward from the floor; after a -brief debate it was adopted, and the offending correspondent was obliged -to go up into the gallery and sit among the women. But his pursuers were -not satisfied with this measure of revenge; for, reviving a -half-forgotten rule that men were to be admitted to the gallery only -when accompanied by women, and then must be passed in by a member of the -House, they sent a doorkeeper to eject him even from his temporary -refuge. At once several ladies volunteered to accompany him for his -visits, and among the Congressmen who climbed the stairs from day to day -to pass him in was one not less distinguished than John Quincy Adams. -Nor - -[Illustration: _Where Dolly Madison Gave Her Farewell Ball_] - -was this the end. For the correspondent went home, ran for Congress and -was elected, while the wrathful Representative dropped into obscurity -under the nickname, which he was never able to shake off, of “Sausage -Sawyer.” - -Many newspaper publications have been made subjects of special -investigation by committees of Congress, but in no instance has a threat -of expulsion from the gallery or of prosecution in the courts produced -any practical results; and the locking up of recusant committee -witnesses has become a mere mockery. The most notable case on record was -that of Hallet Kilbourn, a former journalist who had become a real -estate broker and a leading participant in a local land syndicate which -the House undertook to investigate. Kilbourn was commanded to produce -certain account-books, as well as the names and addresses of sundry -persons who, not being members of Congress, he insisted were outside the -jurisdiction of that body. For his refusal to furnish the information -demanded he was thrown into jail and kept there nearly six weeks. From -the first, he had declared that he had no objection to opening his -accounts to the whole world or to publishing the data desired, as all -the transactions covered by the inquiry had been honorable; and this -assertion he proved later by voluntarily printing everything. But he -was resolved to make a legal test of the right of Congress to arrogate -to itself the arbitrary powers of a court of justice, and he got a good -deal of enjoyment out of the experience. - -For the whole period of his imprisonment he lived like a prince at the -expense of the contingent fund of the House; drove about the city at -will in a carriage, merely accompanied by a deputy sergeant-at-arms; and -entertained his friends at dinner within the jail walls. Of course, the -newspapers exploited the whole episode gladly, and when he had held his -prosecutors up to popular ridicule long enough, he sued out a writ of -habeas corpus and was released. Then he brought a suit for damages -against the Sergeant-at-Arms for false imprisonment and won it on appeal -after appeal, till the Supreme Court of the United States handed down a -sweeping decision that “there is not found in the Constitution any -general power vested in either house to punish for contempt.” In spite -of the efforts of all the judges in the lower courts to cut down the -damages granted by their juries, Congress was finally obliged to pay -Kilbourn twenty thousand dollars, or about five hundred dollars a day -for his forty days’ incarceration. It took him nine years to carry his -case through all its stages. - -Both chambers open their daily sessions with prayer. Clergymen of -nearly all denominations have served as Chaplains, including Father -Pise, a very eloquent Catholic priest who was a close friend of Henry -Clay and was invited at his instance to lead the devotions of the -Senate. As a rule, the prayers are extemporaneous, and it seems almost -inevitable that, in periods of political upheaval, some color of -partisanship should creep into them. Yet such slips have been very rare -indeed. The most startling was made by the late Doctor Byron Sunderland, -who was Chaplain of the Senate in 1862. He was the foremost Presbyterian -minister in Washington and a strong anti-slavery advocate. One day -Senator Saulsbury of Delaware, who was an accomplished biblical scholar, -made a speech reviewing the references in the Hebrew scriptures to human -servitude, as proof that slavery was of divine origin. Doctor -Sunderland, having left the hall, did not hear the speech made, but was -told about it when he arrived at the Capitol the next morning. He was -nettled by the news, and, before he was fairly conscious of it, he -caught himself saying something like this in his opening prayer: “Oh, -Lord God of Nations, teach this Senate and all the people of this -country that, if slavery is of divine institution, so is hell itself, -and by Thy grace help us to abolish the one and escape the other!” These -few words caused a great sensation, and later in the day Mr. Saulsbury -vented his indignation in a resolution to expel the offending clergyman -from the chaplaincy; but some quick-witted Senator on the opposite side -cut off debate by moving to adjourn, and the matter died there. - -Every day’s proceedings of Congress are published in a special journal -called the _Record_; but it must not be too lightly assumed that every -speech reported has been made in Congress. One of the rules of the House -of Representatives permits a member, with the consent of the House, to -be credited with having made remarks which, as a matter of fact, he has -only reduced to writing and handed to the Clerk. That is what is meant -by the “leave to print” privilege. Into the authorship of these -speeches, or even of some that are delivered, it is not wise to probe -too far. There are trained writers in Washington who earn a livelihood -by digging out statistics and other data and composing addresses on -various subjects for orators who are willing to pay for them, and -Congressmen are among their customers. Once in a while something happens -which casts a temporary shadow over this traffic. Several years ago, for -example, two Representatives from Ohio were credited in the _Record_ -with the same speech. Inquiry developed the fact that it had been -offered to one of them, who had refused either to pay the price -demanded for it or to give it back; so the author had sold a duplicate -copy to the other. But worse yet was the plight of two members who -delivered almost identical eulogies on a dead fellow member, having by -accident copied their material from the same ancient volume of “Rules -and Models for Public Speaking.” - -I have alluded to disorders which occasionally mar the course of -legislation, when members hurl ugly names at each other or even exchange -blows. While some such affrays have carried their high tension to the -end and sent the combatants to the dueling field to settle accounts, -others have taken a comical turn which decidedly relaxed the strain. -Perhaps the most picturesque incident of this kind was the historic -Keitt-Grow contest in February, 1858. The House had been engaged all -night in a wrangle over an acute phase of the slavery question, and two -o’clock in the morning found both the Northern and the Southern members -with their nerves on edge. Mr. Keitt of South Carolina, objecting to -something said by Mr. Grow of Pennsylvania, struck at him, but Grow -parried the blow, and a fellow member who sprang to his assistance -knocked Keitt down. From all sides came reinforcements, and in a few -minutes what started as a personal encounter of minor importance -developed into a general free fight. - -Potter of Wisconsin, a man of athletic build, whirled his fists right -and left, doing tremendous execution. Owen Lovejoy, seeing Lamar of -Mississippi striding toward a confused group, ran at him with arms -extended, resolved on pushing him back, while Lamar as vigorously -resisted the obstruction. Covode of Pennsylvania, fearing lest his -friend Grow might be overpowered by hostile numbers, picked up a big -stoneware spittoon and hurried forward, holding his improvised -projectile poised to hurl at the head where it would do most good; but -having no immediate need to use it, he set it on top of a convenient -desk. Everybody was too excited to pay any attention to the loud -pounding of the Speaker’s gavel, or to the advance of the -Sergeant-at-Arms with his mace held aloft. Even the unemotional John -Sherman and his gray-haired Quaker colleague Mott could not keep out of -the fray entirely. - -But Elihu Washburne of Illinois and his brother Cadwallader of Wisconsin -proved by all odds the heroes of the occasion. They were of modest -stature, but sturdy and full of energy. Elihu tackled Craig of North -Carolina, who was tall and had long arms, which he swung about him with -a flail-like motion; and it would have gone hard with the smaller man -had he not suddenly lowered his head and used it as a battering-ram, -aiming at the unprotected waist-line of his antagonist and doubling him -up with one irresistible rush. Just then Cadwallader, seeing Barksdale -of Mississippi about to strike Elihu, ran toward him; but being unable -to penetrate the crowd, he leaped forward and reached over the heads of -the intervening men to seize the Mississippian by the hair. Here came -the culmination; for Barksdale’s ambrosial locks, which were only a -lifelike wig worn to cover a pate as smooth as a soap-bubble, came off -in his assailant’s hand. The astonishment of the one man and the -consternation of the other were too much for the fighters, who, in spite -of themselves, united in wild peals of merriment; and their hilarity was -in no wise dampened when Barksdale, snatching at his wig, restored it to -his head hind side before, or when Covode, returning to his seat and -missing his spittoon, marched solemnly down the aisle and recovered it -from its temporary perch. - -This scene occurred in the old Hall of Representatives. The most -dramatic scene ever witnessed in the present hall was one which attended -the opening of the Fifty-first Congress, when the Republicans, who had -only an infinitesimal majority, had organized the House with Thomas B. -Reed as Speaker. Reed, who was a large, blond man with a Shakespearian -head and a high-pitched drawl, signalized his entrance upon his new -duties by announcing his purpose to preside over a lawmaking rather than -a do-nothing body. For several successive Congresses the House had found -itself crippled in its attempts to transact business by the dilatory -tactics of whichever party happened to be in the minority. Day after -day, even in a congested season, would be wasted in roll-calls -necessitated by some one’s raising the point of “no quorum,” although -everybody knew that a quorum was present, and that its apparent absence -was deliberately caused by the refusal of members of the opposition to -answer to their names. Reed had bent his mind to breaking up this -practice. - -Early in his Speakership a motion to take up a contested election case -was put to vote, and a roll-call demanded as usual by the minority. As -the House was then constituted, one hundred and sixty-six members were -necessary to a quorum, and four Republicans were unavoidably absent. -Following the old tactics, nearly all the Democrats abstained from -voting; but, as the call proceeded, Reed was observed making notes on a -sheet of paper which lay on his table. At the close, he rose and -announced the vote: yeas 162, nays 3, not voting 163. Mr. Crisp of -Georgia at once raised the point of no quorum. Reed ignored it, and, -lifting his memorandum, began, in measured tones and with no trace of -excitement or weakness: - -“The Chair directs the Clerk to record the following names of members -present and refusing to vote--” - -And then Bedlam broke loose. The Republicans applauded, and howls and -yells arose from the Democratic side. Above the din could be heard the -voice of Crisp: “I appeal from the decision of the Chair!” But the -Speaker, not having finished his statement, kept right on, oblivious of -the turmoil: - -“Mr. Blanchard, Mr. Bland, Mr. Blount, Mr. Breckinridge of Arkansas, Mr. -Breckinridge of Kentucky--” - -The Democrats generally had seemed stunned by the boldness of this move; -but the Kentucky Breckinridge, at the mention of his name, rushed down -the aisle, brandishing his fist and shaking his head so that its -straight white hair stood out from it. His face was aflame with anger, -and his voice quite beyond his control, as he shrieked: “I deny the -power of the Speaker--this is revolutionary!” The other Democrats, -inspired by his example and recovering from their stupefaction, poured -into the center aisle. They bore down in a mass upon the Speaker’s dais, -gesticulating wildly and all shouting at once, so that nothing could be -understood from the babel of voices save their desire to express their -scorn for the Speaker and their defiance of his authority. The -Republicans sat quiet, making no demonstration, but obviously prepared -to rush in if the trouble took on a more violent form. The Speaker stood -apparently unruffled, not even changing color, and only those who were -near enough to see every line in his face were aware of that slight -twitching of the muscles of his mouth which always indicated that his -outward composure was not due to insensibility. - -So furious was the clamor that he was compelled to desist from his -reading for a moment, while he pounded with his gavel to command order -on the floor. Then, as the remonstrants fell back a little, his nasal -tone was heard again, still reciting that momentous list: - -“Mr. Brookshire, Mr. Bullock, Mr. Bynum, Mr. Carlisle--” - -And so on down the roll, one member after another jumping up when he -heard his name called, but subsiding as the Speaker went imperturbably -ahead, much as might a schoolmaster with a roomful of refractory pupils. -Presently came the opportunity he had been waiting for. Mr. McCreary of -Kentucky, a very dignified, decorous-mannered gentleman on ordinary -occasions, had shown by his change of countenance and color that he was -repressing his emotions with difficulty; and, resolved not to be ridden -over ruthlessly as the rest had been, he had risen in his place and -stood there, holding before him an open book and waiting to hear his -name. The instant it was read out, he raised his disengaged hand and -shouted: “Mr. Speaker!” - -To every one’s astonishment, the Speaker paused, turning a look of -inquiry toward the interrupter, while the House held its breath. - -“I deny,” cried Mr. McCreary, in a voice which, in spite of his endeavor -to be calm, was trembling with agitation, “your right to count me as -present; and I desire to cite some parliamentary law in support of my -point!” - -Reed, wearing an air of entire seriousness, answered with his familiar -drawl: - -“The Chair is making a statement of fact that the gentleman is -present.” Then, with a significant emphasis on each word: -“Does--the--gentleman--deny--it?” - -The silence which had settled momentarily upon the chamber continued for -a few seconds more, to be succeeded by an outburst of laughter which -fairly shook the ceiling. The Republican side furnished most of it at -first, but those Democrats who possessed a keen sense of humor soon gave -way also. The Speaker, still grave as a statue, maintained the expectant -attitude of one awaiting the reply to a question. McCreary held his -ground for a few minutes, striving to make himself heard in reading a -passage from his book, while the gavel beat a tattoo on the desk as if -the Speaker were trying to aid him by restoring order; but he was -talking against a torrent, and had to realize his defeat and resume his -seat. - -When the last name on the written list had been read, the Speaker handed -the sheet to the Clerk for incorporation in the minutes, and, as coolly -as if nothing had happened, proceeded to set forth briefly the -precedents covering the case, including one ruling made by a very -distinguished Democrat who was at that hour the most conspicuous -candidate of his party for the Presidency. - -The fight was resumed the next day and continued to rage all through the -session, the foes of the Speaker constantly devising new stratagems to -outwit him, but in vain. Sometimes there were funny little developments, -as when, in a precipitate flight of the Democrats from the hall to -escape being counted, Mr. O’Ferrall of Virginia inadvertently left his -hat on his desk, and the Speaker jocosely threatened to count - -[Illustration: Lee Mansion at Arlington] - -that, on the theory that its habitual wearer was constructively present; -or when “Buck” Kilgore, a giant Democrat from Texas, refused to stay in -the hall after the Speaker had ordered the doors fastened, and kicked -one of them open with his Number 14 boot. Sometimes a tragic threat -would be uttered by a group of hot-headed enemies, and the galleries -would be thronged for several days with spectators expecting to see Reed -dragged out of the chair by force and arms. But, though every day -witnessed its parliamentary struggle, the bad blood aroused was never -actually spilled. What did happen was that, at the close of the -Congress, when it is customary for the opposition party to move a vote -of thanks to the Speaker, Reed went without the compliment. Something -far more flattering than thanks was in store for him, however; for in -the Fifty-third Congress, the House, which was then under Democratic -control, by a vote of nearly five to one adopted his quorum-counting -rule with only a technical modification. Since that day it has never -found itself in a condition of legislative paralysis. - -The communications in which the President, as required by the -Constitution, gives to Congress from time to time “information of the -state of the Union,” take the form of general and special messages. A -general message is sent at the beginning of every session and usually -reviews the relations of our Government with its citizens and with the -outside world. A special message is called forth by some particular -event or series of events requiring a union of counsels between the -legislative and executive branches of the Government. - -The formalities attending the presentation of general messages have -differed at various stages of our national history. John Adams, for -example, brought his in person to the Capitol. A military and civic -procession escorted him from his house to the Senate chamber, where the -Senators and Representatives were assembled in joint session. He was -attired with more elegance than was his wont and was accompanied by the -members of his Cabinet, the United States Marshal acting as usher; the -Vice-president surrendered to him the chair of honor and took a seat at -his right while he read his address aloud. In those days, each house -appointed a committee to consider the address of the President and to -draft a reply to it; when the reply was ready, a committee waited upon -him to inquire at what time it would be agreeable for him to receive it, -and on the day appointed, the members called upon him in a body to -present it. - -The message ceremonial was considerably shortened during the -administration of President Jefferson, who scandalized some of the -sticklers for propriety by reading his first address to Congress clad in -a plain blue coat with gilt buttons, blue breeches, woolen stockings, -and heavy shoes tied with leather strings. This democratic departure was -typical of the way a good many old customs died out. We find most of the -later Presidents, till the spring of 1913, rather studiously avoiding -the Capitol, meeting Congress seldom outside of the White House, and -confining their official communications to written messages presented in -duplicate at the doors of the two halls respectively by the hand of an -executive clerk. The response of each house, if any is deemed worth -while, now takes the form of the introduction of legislation on lines -suggested by the President. But the common practice is to cut a message -into parts, referring the passages which deal with one class of subjects -to one committee, and those which deal with another class to another -committee; and in most cases, unless an emergency arises to make further -consideration essential, little more is heard of them. - -President Wilson has revived the custom of visiting Congress in its own -home and there delivering his addresses directly to the lawmakers in a -body, assembled for the occasion in the Hall of Representatives. This -is a much more effective mode of approaching Congress than sending a -written document by messenger, to be drawled through in a singsong voice -by tired clerks, simultaneously in both halls, to a gathering of only -half-interested auditors. It is also a more certain means of -concentrating public attention upon the work of the session. There is a -subtle something in the very personality of a President which appeals to -the popular imagination. As the one high officer of state elected by the -votes of all the people, he stands in their minds as a conservator and -champion of their broadest ideals, as contrasted with the narrower -sectional interests represented by the members of Congress. When, -therefore, he takes his position face to face with the men who are to -frame whatever legislation grows out of his recommendations, the whole -country instinctively draws near and listens. - -It is hard to guess what might happen should it fall to the lot of -President Wilson to appear before Congress in person with such a -trumpet-call as was sounded in President Harrison’s message on the -maltreatment of our sailors in Chile, or President Cleveland’s on the -encroachments of England in Venezuela, or President McKinley’s on the -failure of his peaceful efforts for freeing Cuba. If the mere reading of -these formal messages was so impressive as to paint a vivid picture of -the attendant scenes on the memory of all who witnessed them, what an -extra touch of the dramatic would have been added had the chief -executive of the nation appeared at the Capitol to tell his story -himself! - - - - -CHAPTER V - -“THE OTHER END OF THE AVENUE” - - -Although Pennsylvania Avenue is several miles long, the mile that lies -between the hill on which Congress sits and the slope where the -President lives is called in local parlance “the Avenue.” Outside of -their formal speeches and documentary literature, members of Congress -are wont to refer to the White House and its surroundings as “the other -end of the Avenue.” This familiar phrase is, like the popular -designation of Congress as “the gentlemen on the hill,” a survival from -the period when only one hill in town was officially occupied, and the -strip of highway connecting it with the group of buildings used by the -executive branch of the Government was about the only thoroughfare -making any serious pretensions to street improvement. It was along this -line that President Jefferson planted the first shade trees; and -L’Enfant’s plan made the south side of it the northern boundary of the -Mall. - -The title which for almost a hundred years the American people have -given to the headquarters of their chief public servant is a fine -example of historic accident. The White House was not originally -intended to be a white house. It was built of a buff sandstone which -proved to be so affected by exposure to the weather that as an -afterthought it was covered with a thick coat of white paint. From its -nearness to several red brick buildings, many persons fell into the way -of distinguishing it by its color, and after its repainting to conceal -the stains of the fire of 1814 this practice became general. Presidents -have referred to it in their messages variously as the President’s -House, the Executive Mansion, and the White House. Among the people it -was also sometimes known, in the early days, as the Palace. The -Roosevelt administration made the White House both the official and the -social designation, and fastened the label so tight that there is little -reason to expect a change by any successor. - -The White House was born under the eye of Martha Washington, was nursed -into healthy babyhood by Abigail Adams, received its baptism of fire -under Dolly Madison, was popularly christened under Eliza Kortright -Monroe, and passed through numberless vicissitudes under a line of -foster-mothers stretching from that time to the end of the century, -every one carrying it a little further away from its original plan; -then Edith Kermit Roosevelt administered a restorative elixir which -started it upon a second youth. The evolution of the Capitol, described -in an earlier chapter, finds a parallel in the architectural genesis of -this building. Its drawings were made and its construction superintended -by James Hoban, an Irishman; but a distinguished critic has described it -as “designed on classic lines, modified by an English hand, at a time -when French art furnished the world’s models in interior detail.” That -accounts, of course, for its monumental and palatial features. - -But we must bear in mind that its sponsors intended it not only as an -official residence for the executive head of the Government, but as a -home for the foremost American citizen and his family, and that, in the -esthetics of domestic architecture, local influences were most potent. -All the Presidents except one, for the first thirty-six years of the -republic’s existence, were Virginia gentlemen; so, although broadly -following in treatment the Viceregal Lodge in Dublin, the President’s -House took on much of the character of the “great house” on a Virginia -plantation. This will explain why, in their work of restoration, when -the architects were confronted by some gap in their plans which could -not be filled by reference to the early records of the house itself, -they drew upon the material common to the Virginia mansions of the same -period. - -By no means the least notable of their revivals was the recognition of -the proper front of the building. For a half-century, and perhaps -longer, its back door had been used as its main entrance, and most -visitors had borne away the impression that that was the face its -designer had intended it to present to the world. Nearly all the -authoritative pictures helped to confirm this notion, by displaying the -north side as confidently as the photographers in Venice take San Marco -from the Piazza. The confusion of front and rear came about with other -changes wrought by the increase of facilities for land transportation. -The rural and suburban architecture of a century ago took great note of -watercourses; for in those days wheeled vehicles were rarer than now and -vastly less comfortable, the saddle was unsociable, and most travel was -by river and canal. Hence the finest houses were built, when -practicable, where they would not only command a pleasing view, but -present their most picturesque aspect to the passing boats. Doubtless -the site of the White House was chosen with reference to the bend which -the Potomac made opposite the center of the building, thus opening a -view down to Alexandria and beyond. The river was broader then, and -probably washed the outer edge of what was intended to be preserved -forever as the President’s Park. - -With the growing preference for land approaches, a good many Southern -houses of the colonial type altered their habits, the White House among -them; the side which faced the street offered the easier entrance, and -thus the back door gradually usurped the dignities of the front, and -accordingly the grounds on that side were laid out with lawns, trees, -and shrubbery. Its outlook, also, is upon Lafayette Park, which, if -sundry plans are carried through, will one day be faced on three sides -with stately buildings, housing those executive Departments with which -the President has to keep in closest touch. - -Though President Washington was never to occupy the White House, or even -to see it after it was nearly enough finished for occupancy, he took the -greatest interest in watching it go up, and, only a few weeks before his -death, went all over it with Mrs. Washington, thoroughly inspecting -every part then accessible. He had borne a share in the Masonic ceremony -of laying its corner-stone, and by his personal influence had induced -the State of Virginia to advance a large sum of money at one -particularly critical stage of the building operations; so the old -mansion may boast of having some honored association with every -President from the foundation of our Government till now. - -When John and Abigail Adams moved in, the scantiness of fuel and lights, -and the necessity for devoting the east room to the humblest of domestic -uses and converting an upstairs chamber into a salon, were not the only -shortcomings in their environment. Surface drainage water from a -considerable bit of high ground to the eastward had formed a turbid -little creek which almost surrounded the mansion. There was no water fit -to drink and of sufficient quantity to meet the daily needs of the -President’s family, short of a spring in an open tract which we now know -as Franklin Square, about half a mile away, whence it was brought down -in crude pipes. Beds of growing vegetables filled parts of the garden -area where to-day we find well-kept lawns and ornamental shrubbery. The -only way of reaching the south door from Pennsylvania Avenue was by a -narrow footpath, on which the pedestrian took a variety of chances after -dark. The streets surrounding the President’s grounds were so deep in -slush or mud for a large part of the year that, in order to keep their -clothing fairly presentable, visitors were obliged to come in closed -coaches; and when the Adamses gave their first New Year’s reception, -their guests, though so few that the oval room in the second story -accommodated them, could not obtain in Washington enough suitable -vehicles, and had to draw upon the livery stables in Baltimore. - -Adams was a well-bred and well-read man, reared in the best traditions -of New England, including the sanctity of a pledge; and, having promised -his friend and predecessor, Washington, to do what he could toward -building up a capital in fact as well as in name, he pocketed his petty -discomforts and made the best of things. Among his other efforts to -promote the popularity of the new city must be counted several dinners -of exceptional excellence, at which Mrs. Adams presided with -distinguished graciousness in a costume that, though it would strike us -now as rather prim, was in keeping with her age and antecedents. The -President, who was a rotund, florid man of middle height, appeared at -these entertainments in a richly embroidered coat, silk stockings, shoes -with huge silver buckles, and a powdered wig. These were concessions to -the general demand for elegance of attire on the part of the chief -magistrate, following the precedent established by Washington. They did -not at all reflect Mr. Adams’s preferences, for he was one of the -plainest of men in his tastes, and his ordinary course of domestic life -in the President’s House was to the last degree unpretentious; his -luncheon, for example, - -[Illustration: _Old Carlyle Mansion, Alexandria_] - -consisted usually of oatcake and lemonade, and one of his amusements was -to play horse with a little grandchild, who used to drive him up and -down the somber corridors with a switch. - -Albeit Adams and Jefferson became, late in life, the warmest of friends, -no love was lost between them during the period when both were active in -politics. Adams, who would have been gratified to receive, like -Washington, a second term, was not disposed to “enact the captive chief -in the procession of the victor,” so he did not stay to see Jefferson -inaugurated, but at daylight of the fourth of March, 1801, left -Washington for Boston. There was no need for such haste to escape, for -Jefferson, as the high priest of democratic simplicity, had no -procession; though the cheerful little fiction about his riding down -Pennsylvania Avenue alone, and hitching his horse to a sapling in front -of the Capitol while he went in to be sworn, received its death-blow -long ago. The truth is, he had no use for a horse. He was boarding in -New Jersey Avenue, where he had lived for the latter part of his term as -Vice-president. A few minutes before noon on inauguration day he set out -on foot, in company with several Congressmen who were his fellow -boarders, and walked the block or so to the Capitol, where he was -escorted by a committee to the Senate chamber and there took the oath -of office and delivered his address. Then he walked back again to his -boarding-house, and at dinner occupied his customary seat at the foot of -the table. A visitor from Baltimore complimented him on his address and -“wished him joy” as President. “I should advise you,” was his smiling -response, “to follow my example on nuptial occasions, when I always tell -the bridegroom that I will wait till the end of the year before offering -my congratulations.” - -The accommodations in the President’s House were somewhat better by the -time Mr. Jefferson moved in than they were when the Adams family opened -it, yet he seems to have been more or less cramped during most of his -two terms--owing, doubtless, to the continued presence of mechanics and -building materials in the incomplete parts of the house. When the -British Minister called in court costume to present his credentials, he -was received, with his convoy the Secretary of State, in a space so -narrow that he had to back out of one end of it to make room for the -President to enter at the other. One of the legation described Jefferson -as “a tall man, with a very red, freckled face and gray, neglected hair; -his manners were good natured and rather friendly, though he had -somewhat of a cynical expression of countenance. He wore a blue coat, a -thick, gray-colored hairy waistcoat with a red under-waistcoat lapped -over it, green velveteen breeches with pearl buttons, yarn stockings -with slippers down at the heels, his appearance being very much like -that of a tall, raw-boned farmer.” On the other hand, an admiring -contemporary insists that his dress was “plain, unstudied and sometimes -old-fashioned in its form,” but “always of the finest materials,” and -that “in his personal habits he was fastidious and neat.” So there you -are! - -A social being Jefferson certainly was. He liked company, and his former -residence in France had cultivated his taste for the good things of the -table, including light wines and olives. He once said that he considered -olives the most precious gift of heaven to man, and he had them on his -table whenever he could get them. He was also fond of figs and -mulberries, and his household records bristle with purchases of crabs, -pineapples, oysters, venison, partridges, and oranges--a pretty fair -list for a man devoted to plain living. One of his hobbies as a host at -very small and confidential dinners was to insure to his guests the -utmost privacy, so he devised a scheme for dispensing as far as -practicable with the presence of servants and avoiding the needless -opening and closing of doors. Beside every chair was placed a small -“dumb-waiter” containing all the desirable accessories, like fresh -plates and knives and forks and finger-bowls; while in a partition wall -was hung a bank of circular shelves, so pivoted as to reverse itself at -the pressure of a spring, the fresh viands entering the dining-room as -the emptied platters swung around into the pantry. The company at table -rarely exceeded four when this machinery was called into play. At big -state dinners the usual array of servants did the waiting. - -The first great reception in Jefferson’s administration occurred on the -fourth of July next following his inauguration. For some reason, -possibly because the novelty of his sweeping invitation prevented its -being generally understood by the populace, only about one hundred -persons presented themselves. A luncheon was served, in the midst of -which the Marine Band entered, playing the “President’s March,” or, as -we call it, “Hail Columbia.” The company fell in behind and joined in a -grand promenade, with many evolutions, through the rooms and corridors -of the ground floor, returning at last to the place whence they had -started and resuming their feast of good things. - -As he was a widower when he succeeded Adams at the head of the -Government, and it was not feasible, most of the time, for either of his -daughters to preside over his public hospitalities, Jefferson naturally -turned for aid to Mrs. James Madison, wife of his Secretary of State. -He despised empty precedent; and when, at a diplomatic dinner, he led -the way to the dining-room with Mrs. Madison instead of offering his arm -to Mrs. Merry, wife of the British Minister and dean of the corps, he -defied all the old-world canons. Mrs. Merry withdrew in high dudgeon, -and her husband made the incident the subject of a communication to the -Foreign Office in London. - -Dolly Madison’s fondness for society counterbalanced the indifference of -her husband--a little, apple-faced man with a large brain and pleasant -manners but no presence, of whom every one spoke by his nickname, -“Jemmy.” She is described as a “fine, portly, buxom dame” with plenty of -brisk small-talk. She knew little of books, but made a point of having -one in her hand when she received guests who were given to literature; -and she would have peeped enough into it to enable her to open -conversation with a reference to something she had found there. One of -the celebrities she entertained was Humboldt, the scientist, concerning -whom she wrote: “We have lately had a great treat in the company of a -charming Prussian baron. All the ladies say they are in love with him. -He is the most polite, modest, well-informed, and interesting traveler -we have ever met, and is much pleased with America.” Another was Tom -Moore, who, though embalming in verse some of the spiteful spirit he -had absorbed from the Merrys, in later years recanted these utterances. - -As she was praised everywhere for the beauty of her complexion, it is -disconcerting to learn from a candid biographer that Mrs. Madison was -wont to heighten her color by external applications, and now and then, -through an accident of the toilet, gave to her nose a rosy flush that -was meant for her cheeks. We are told also that she was addicted to the -fashionable snuff habit and kept always at hand a dainty little box made -of platinum and lava, filled with her favorite brand of “Scotch,” which -she would freely use at social gatherings and then pass around the -circle of diplomatists who assiduously danced attendance upon her. This -indulgence accounted for her carrying everywhere two handkerchiefs: one -a bandanna tucked away in her sleeve, whence she could draw it promptly -for what she called “rough work,” and the other a spider-web creation of -lawn and lace, which she styled her “polisher” and wore pinned to her -side. - -Besides the British Minister with his standing grievance, which he -advertised by never bringing Mrs. Merry to the President’s House after -the fateful dinner, we read of two other foreign envoys who used to -appear there spouseless. One was Sidi Mellanelli, who, Dr. Samuel -Mitchill tells us, “came from Tunis to settle some differences between -that regency and our Government. He is to all appearance upward of fifty -years old; wears his beard and shaves his head after the manner of his -country, and wears a turban instead of a hat. His dress consists simply -of a short jacket, large, loose drawers, stockings, and slippers. When -he goes abroad he throws a large hooded cloak over these garments; it is -of a peculiar cut and is called a bernous. The colors of his drawers and -bernous are commonly red. He seldom walks, but almost always appears on -horseback. He is a rigid Mohammedan; he fasts, prays, and observes the -precepts of the Koran. He talks much with the ladies, says he often -thinks about his consort in Africa, and wonders how Congressmen can live -a whole session without their wives.” - -The other unaccompanied diplomat was the French Minister, General -Turreau, a man of humble birth who had risen to some eminence during the -recent revolution in his country. Having once been imprisoned, he -improved the opportunity to make love to his jailer’s daughter and marry -her; but he appears to have tired of his bargain, and it was no secret -that they led a most inharmonious life. According to Sir Augustus -Foster, he was in the habit of horsewhipping her to the accompaniment -of a violoncello played by his secretary to drown her cries, and the -scandalized neighbors had finally to interfere. Doctor Mitchill’s -version of the affair is that the Minister tried to send his wife back -to France, and that, when she refused to leave and raised an outcry, a -mob gathered at their house and enabled her to escape and go to live in -peaceful poverty in Georgetown. The Doctor has little to say of -Turreau’s ability, but dwells impressively on “the uncommon size and -extent of his whiskers, which cover the greater part of his cheeks,” and -on the profusion of lace with which his full-dress coat was decorated. - -Jerome Bonaparte, a younger brother of the first Napoleon, passed a good -deal of time in Washington during the Jefferson administration and was -one of the lions at the parties in the President’s House. Meeting Miss -Elizabeth Patterson of Baltimore, he succumbed to her attractions and -lost no time in suing for her hand. Her father was a bank president and -one of the richest men in the United States, and the family, whose -social position was unexceptionable, were far from having their heads -turned by the proposed match, possibly feeling some misgivings as to -future complications; but the young people would listen to no argument -and were married. Mr. Jefferson wrote at once to the American Minister -at Paris, telling him to lay all the facts before the First Consul and -to make it plain that in the United States any marriage was lawful which -had been voluntarily entered into by two single parties of full age. -Nevertheless, the great Napoleon did not hesitate to treat the marriage -as void, and Jerome lacked manliness to defy his brother and fight the -matter out; but Mrs. Bonaparte, having spunk enough for two, stood up -firmly for her rights as a wife to the end of her days, and commanded -recognition for them everywhere outside of the imperial court. - -A friend of Jefferson’s who came to Washington during his -administration, and whose advent created not a little stir, was a man -about seventy years of age, described as having “a red and rugged face -which looks as if he had been much hackneyed in the service of the -world,” eyes “black and lively,” a nose “somewhat aquiline and pointing -downward” which “corresponds in color with the fiery appearance of his -cheeks,” and a marked fondness for talk and anecdote. This was none -other than Tom Paine, patriot, poet, political pamphleteer, and infidel. -He was favorably remembered all over the United States for his writings -in behalf of human rights, and for the leaflets and songs which had -cheered the hearts of the Continental soldiers at the most discouraging -pass in our War for Independence. After the Revolution, he had gone -abroad as an apostle of popular liberty, and, though outlawed in -England, had been permitted to cross to France to take his seat as a -deputy in the proletariat National Assembly. There, among other acts -which won him commendation, he raised his voice and cast his vote -against the resolution which sent Louis XVI to the guillotine. - -Appreciating his services to this country and also strongly sympathizing -with the French type of democracy, Jefferson had invited Paine to come -back to his native land in a United States war-ship; and the Federalist -newspapers seized their chance to make partisan capital by parading -Paine’s religious heterodoxy and charging Jefferson with having brought -him home to undermine the morals of our people. Jefferson had -considerable difficulty in counteracting the effects of the accusation, -for his own opinions had been for a good while under fire, and it was -not a day of nice distinctions. Probably in this more tolerant age a man -like Paine would be given due credit for his practical benevolence even -when mixed with a hatred of ecclesiasticism, and Jefferson would find -himself not out of place in the Unitarian fold. - -When Jefferson was not occupied with affairs of state or entertaining -visitors, he was fond of sitting in what he called his “cabinet”--a room -which he had fitted up to suit his own fancy. The rest of the house was -rather unhomelike. The east room was still unfinished, and through the -others were strewn articles of furniture which, though good in their -way, were not especially suggestive of comfort; many of them were relics -of the Washington régime, brought from Philadelphia. But in the cabinet -stood a long table with drawers on each side, filled with things dear to -their owner’s heart. One contained books with inscriptions from their -authors; another, letters and manuscripts; a third, a set of carpenter’s -tools for his amusement on rainy days; a fourth, some small gardening -implements, and so on. Around the walls were maps, charts, and shelves -laden with standard literature. Flowers and potted plants were -everywhere, and in the midst of a bower of these hung the cage of his -pet mockingbird; but the door of the cage was rarely shut when the -President was in the room, for he loved to have the bird fly about -freely, perch on his shoulder, and take its food from his lips. - -As may be guessed, the sponsor for this greenery was fond of all growing -things. Jefferson was often seen walking about the embryo city, watching -the workmen digging or building, but manifesting a special interest in -tree-planting and ornamental gardening. He tried to induce Congress to -vote enough money to beautify the grounds around the President’s House, -but in vain; the most he could do was to enclose the yard with a common -stone wall and seed it down to grass. Among the plans he prepared but -was obliged to abandon was the adornment of these grounds exclusively -with trees, shrubs, and flowers indigenous to American soil. He must be -credited with the first attempt ever made in Washington to establish a -zoölogical park; Lewis and Clarke, the explorers, brought him from the -West a few grizzly bears, for which he built a pen in the yard. He also -made the first move to furnish Pennsylvania Avenue with shade trees. His -preference was for willow-oaks; but he started four rows of Lombardy -poplars to take advantage of their rapid growth till the slower oaks -matured. One of his hobbies was to improve the market gardening of the -neighborhood by distributing new varieties of vegetable seeds obtained -through the American consuls in foreign countries, and instructing his -steward always to buy the best home-grown table delicacies at the -highest retail prices. - -At Madison’s inauguration in 1809, Jefferson not only did not imitate -the ungraciousness of Adams eight years before, but went to the opposite -extreme, declining - -[Illustration: _Washington’s Pew in Christ Church, Alexandria_] - -Madison’s invitation to drive to the Capitol in the Presidential coach -lest he might divide the honors which he felt belonged exclusively to -the President-elect. Madison had what was then deemed a wonderful -procession of military and civic organizations, and turned the occasion -into the first “made-in-America” gala day, wearing himself a complete -suit of clothing made by an American tailor, of cloth woven on American -looms from the wool of American sheep. Jefferson, clad in one like it, -modestly waited till the procession had passed and then rode to the -Capitol alone, not even a servant following to care for his horse. On -entering the Hall of Representatives, he declined the chair reserved for -him near Madison’s but joined the ordinary spectators, saying: “To-day I -return to the people, and my proper seat is among them.” At the close of -the ceremony, he mounted his horse again and rode up the Avenue -unattended, till George Custis, also mounted, joined him, and they went -together to the Madisons’ house. - -Here a crowd of friends had gathered to welcome in the new -administration. Mr. Madison’s emotions had been a good deal stirred by -what had passed at the Capitol, but his manner was affable. His wife was -all herself as usual. She was attired in a plain cambric dress with a -very long train, and a bonnet of purple velvet and white satin, adorned -with white plumes. Jefferson seems to have been, for such time as he -stayed, quite as much the lion of the occasion as his successor. -Presently he slipped quietly away and went over to the President’s -House, where the empty halls echoed to his footsteps; for he had given -all the servants a holiday so that they could see the show. But he did -not remain long alone; the news spread among his old friends that he had -gone back to bid his home of eight years farewell, and they followed him -after a little. In the evening he went to the inaugural ball--the first -ever held, and the only ball of any sort he had attended since his -return from France. - -From all accounts it was not a highly enjoyable affair. The room was so -crowded that it was difficult to elbow one’s way across it; nobody could -see what was going on without standing on a chair; the air became -stifling, and when an attempt was made to freshen it by letting down the -upper sashes of the windows, they would not move, so nothing was left -but to smash the glass. Mrs. Madison was almost crushed to death; -Madison was so tired that he confessed to a friend that he wished he -were abed; and as soon as supper was over, the Presidential party -withdrew. The younger set stayed and danced till midnight, when, at the -stroke, the music ceased and the attendants began to put out the lights. - -The social success achieved by Dolly Madison as official hostess through -so large a part of Jefferson’s administration did not wane when, with -the rise of her husband to the head of the Government, she came into her -own by right instead of by courtesy. Her first term as mistress of the -President’s House was a continuous blaze of gayety, in which we catch -fleeting glimpses of her in a variety of toilets, the most truly typical -being a buff velvet gown with pearl ornaments and a Paris turban topped -with a bird-of-paradise plume. Then came the second war with Great -Britain and the wrecking of the city. - -When the British approached Bladensburg, and the improvised home-guard -of Washington went out to engage them in battle, Mr. Madison permitted -his military advisers to persuade him that, after seeing the stiffness -of the American resistance, the British would withdraw. His wife caught -the infection of confidence, and together they planned to celebrate the -victory by a dinner to the officers on the evening after the battle. The -table was spread by three in the afternoon, when Mrs. Madison, who had -been listening with composure to the distant boom of cannon, was -dismayed to see a lot of demoralized American soldiers running in from -the north by twos and threes. Her sudden fears were confirmed when one -of her colored servants galloped up to the door, shouting: “Clear out! -Clear out! General Armstrong has ordered a retreat!” Then a few friends -came over to insist on her seeking safety in flight. They helped her to -fill a wagon with such valuables as were not too heavy; but she provoked -their indignation by waiting till the oil portrait of General Washington -attributed to Stuart, which hangs in the White House to-day, could be -cut out of its frame and “placed in the hands of two gentlemen from New -York for safe keeping.” - -We have already seen how the Capitol and other public buildings were -burned. A particularly vicious scheme was worked out to assure the -destruction of the President’s House, because of Mr. Madison’s personal -share in the dispute which led to the war. Indeed, it was the hope of -the invaders to find him and his wife at home and take them captive, so -as to humiliate the American Government and people and thus impress a -lesson for the future. By way of a reconnoiter, Admiral Cockburn went to -the mansion and looked through it, taking with him as a hostage a young -gentleman of the city, named Weightman. In the dining-room they found -everything prepared for the dinner of triumph, and Cockburn ordered his -companion to sit down with him and “drink Jemmy’s health.” Then he bade -Weightman help himself to a mantel ornament as a souvenir of the day. “I -must take something, too,” he added, and with great hilarity tucked -under his arm an old hat of the President’s and a cushion from Mrs. -Madison’s chair. - -When all was ready, a detachment of fifty sailors and marines were -marched in silence up Pennsylvania Avenue, every man carrying a long -pole with a ball of combustible material attached to the top of it. -Arrived at the mansion, the balls were lighted, and the poles rested -each against a window. At a command from their officer, the pole-bearers -struck their windows simultaneously a hard blow, smashing the glass and -hurling the fire-balls into the rooms with a single motion; and the -little group of lookers-on beheld an outburst of flame from every part -of the building at once. - -At the Octagon House, where they passed some months after their return -to Washington, the Madisons were surrounded by the same friends who had -enjoyed the hospitalities of the President’s House before the fire. It -was not, however, till they removed to the dwelling at the corner of -Pennsylvania Avenue and Nineteenth Street that Mrs. Madison was able to -entertain on the scale she desired. The house was one of the most -commodious in town, and for any fine function the whole of it was thrown -open. This was done on the occasion of the levee of February, 1816, -which was universally pronounced the most splendid witnessed in the -United States up to that time. The illumination extended from garret to -cellar, much of it coming from pine torches held aloft by slaves -specially drilled to maintain statuesque attitudes against the walls and -at the heads of staircases. Mrs. Madison’s toilet of rose-tinted satin -was set off with a girdle, necklace, and bracelets of gold, and a -gold-embroidered crown. It may have been this last adornment which -suggested to Sir George Bagot, the new British Minister, his comment -that “Mrs. Madison looks every inch a queen.” The compliment promptly -spread over Washington, where for some time thereafter the President’s -wife was constantly referred to as “the Queen.” - -This levee was in the nature of a farewell, for on the fourth of the -next month President Madison made way for his successor, James Monroe, -whose inauguration was the first ever held in the open air. The -innovation was due to a quarrel between the two chambers of Congress, -which was then occupying its temporary quarters opposite the east -grounds of the Capitol. Monroe had arranged to take the oath in the -Hall of Representatives; but the Senators found fault with the seats set -apart for them, the Representatives were stubborn, and a deadlock seemed -imminent, when Monroe suggested as a compromise that a platform be -raised in front of the building, and that the ceremony take place there, -where all the people could witness it. Thus began what came to be known -as “the era of good feeling.” - -How class consciousness prevailed in those days is amusingly illustrated -by Monroe’s resentment of the foreign conception of Americans. “People -in Europe,” he had once said to the French Minister, while Secretary of -State under Madison, “suppose us to be merchants occupied exclusively -with pepper and ginger. They are much deceived. The immense majority of -our citizens do not belong to this class, and are, as much as your -Europeans, controlled by principles of honor and dignity. I never knew -what trade was; the President was as much a stranger to it as I.” -Perhaps it was because he knew so little about trade that he took pains -to cultivate its acquaintance as soon as he became President. He made a -grand tour of the new West, staying away from Washington more than four -months and visiting especially the commercial centers, where he showed -himself to the people as much as possible. He invited some criticism by -making his tour in the buff-and-blue uniform of the Continental -soldiery of forty years before, cocked hat and all; but his friends -always contended that this appeal to patriotism vastly increased his -popularity and went far to account for his wonderful success in his -campaign for reëlection in 1820, when he captured all the electoral -votes except one. - -The period covered by the last few pages brought to Washington two great -men, whose share in shaping the history of the United States was such as -to warrant our pausing to take a closer look at them. These were Henry -Clay and Daniel Webster. Clay was probably the most popular man in our -public life from Washington’s time to Lincoln’s, and his legislative -career was unique both in its beginning and in its ending. He came to -Washington first to fill a vacancy caused by the death of a Kentucky -Senator, and held this position for several months while he was still -too young to be eligible under the Constitution, because nobody was -disposed to inquire into the years of one who possessed so mature a -mind. Both before and after this experience he served in the Kentucky -legislature, where, on account of an insult received in debate, he -challenged its author and “winged” him in a duel. When the Twelfth -Congress was about to meet, with every prospect that John Randolph and -his little coterie were going to make trouble in the House, a demand -arose for a Speaker who would be able to cope with the turbulent -element. Clay had just been elected a Representative, and his prowess as -a duelist drew all eyes in his direction. “Harry Clay can keep Randolph -in order,” declared his Kentucky neighbors, “and he is the only man who -can!” On this ground, then, he was elected Speaker before he had -actually taken his seat in the House. He was the first man ever thus -honored; and he was, I believe, the only one who ever made two formal -farewells to the Senate. The first, preliminary to his resignation in -1842, appears among the classics of American eloquence; but, as he was -sent back in 1849, he had the chance, rarely accorded any one except a -histrionic star, to bow himself off the stage a second time. - -During the years of his greatest activity, every announcement that he -was to speak made a gala day at the Capitol. “The gallery was full,” -wrote Margaret Bayard Smith of one such occasion, “to a degree that -endangered it; even the outer entries were thronged. The gentlemen are -grown very gallant and attentive, and, as it was impossible to reach the -ladies through the gallery, a new mode was invented for supplying them -with oranges, etc. They tied them up in handkerchiefs, to each of which -was fixed a note indicating for whom it was designed, and then fastened -to a long pole. This was taken on the floor of the house and handed up -to the ladies who sat in the front of the gallery. These presentations -were frequent and quite amusing, even in the midst of Mr. Clay’s speech. -I and the ladies near me divided what was brought with each other, and -were as social as if acquainted.” - -The orator who could hold his own against such a background of confusion -might well take pride in his powers; but the universal testimony was -that Clay’s wonderfully modulated voice and magnetic charm of -personality triumphed over everything. He was so attractive a man that -even Calhoun, with whom he was at swords-drawn in every forensic battle, -could not forbear wringing his hand with a “God bless you!” at their -final parting in the Senate chamber; and John Randolph, with whom he had -clashed repeatedly and whose coat he had punctured in a duel, insisted -on being carried to the Capitol, while dying, and laid on a couch where -Clay was going to deliver a much-heralded speech. Possibly one of the -secrets of Clay’s success in winning people was illustrated in his -quarrel with Senator King of Alabama, which began on the Senate floor -and led to the passage of a challenge. Friends interfered, and after -some days a peace was - -[Illustration: _Mount Vernon_] - -patched up, both men publicly withdrawing their offensive remarks, and a -brother Senator making some appropriate gratulatory observations on the -reconciliation. Then Clay gave the final dramatic touch to the scene by -crossing the chamber to where his late adversary sat, saying aloud: -“King, give me a pinch of your snuff!” King, surprised, sprang up and -held out both a snuff-box and an open hand, while Senators and -spectators applauded to the echo. - -Clay was a slimly built man who always appeared for action clad in a -solemn suit of black, with a claw-hammer coat, a stiff silk stock, and a -huge white “choker” with pointed ears. His face was spare and his -forehead high, his cheekbones were prominent, the nose between them was -slender and forceful, and the mouth wide, thin-lipped, and straight-cut. -His lank hair, naturally of a tawny hue, became early streaked with gray -and was worn long enough to fringe his coat collar. He was approachable -in manner, had a most genial smile, and was ready with a pleasant -response to every greeting, its effect being intensified by its musical -clarity of enunciation. He was distinctly fond of society and especially -enjoyed a game of cards. Although his wife accompanied him to -Washington, she appeared little with him in public. She was a good woman -with few gifts, but a devoted mother, and her chief joy in life was to -sew for her six children. Wherever he went, Mr. Clay was always -surrounded by a circle of adoring women, who hung upon every word of the -many he uttered as he talked in desultory style with his back against a -sofa-cushion. He followed a free fashion of his time in taking toll from -the lips of all the young and pretty maidens he met. The first time he -saw Dolly Madison, her youthful face and dainty dress misled him into -saluting her in this fashion. On discovering his mistake, “Ah, madam,” -he pleaded gallantly, “had I known you for whom you are, the coin would -have been larger!” - -I may add in passing that the American navy owes its monitor type of -fighting-craft largely to Henry Clay. Theodore Timby, who invented the -revolving turret which Ericsson used during the Civil War, came to -Washington bearing a letter of introduction to Clay, who became -interested in the idea and helped him get the patent without which it -might have been lost to the world. - -Webster was cast in quite a different mold from Clay. He was godlike -where Clay was human; his eloquence overwhelmed his hearers where Clay’s -fascinated them. He had a big head, a big frame, a big voice, a big -presence. Emerson speaks of his “awful charm.” Some one who heard him -condemn the dishonest gains of a certain financial institution, says -that the word “disgorge,” as he uttered it, “seemed to weigh about -twelve pounds.” Once Mrs. Webster brought their little son to hear his -father deliver an oration. Daniel began a sentence in his thunder-tone: -“Will any man dare say--” and the audience were waiting breathless to -hear what was coming next, when a wee, piping voice responded from the -gallery: “Oh, no, no, Papa!” - -His greatest effort in Congress, of course, was his reply to Hayne. -Everybody in Washington was eager to hear it, and galleries and floor, -including the platform on which the Vice-president sat, were crowded to -the last limit. Representative Lewis of Alabama, being unable to gain -access to the hall, climbed around behind the wooden framework which -flanked the platform and bored a hole through it with his pocket-knife -in order to get a view of the great expounder. At a levee that evening -at the White House, Webster was besieged by admirers offering -congratulations. Among the crowd that drew near him at one time happened -to be Hayne himself. “How are you, Colonel Hayne?” was Webster’s -greeting. “None the better for you, sir,” answered Hayne, good humoredly -but with sincere feeling. - -We are treated to another picture of him when he arrived late at a -concert given by Jenny Lind. For the benefit of the statesmen who were -present, Miss Lind, for an encore, sang “Hail Columbia.” Webster, who -had been dining, was on his feet in an instant and added his powerful -bass voice to hers in the chorus. Mrs. Webster did all she could to -induce him to sit down, but he repeated his effort at the close of every -verse, and with the last strain made the songstress a profound -obeisance, waving his hat at the same time. Miss Lind curtsyed in -return, Webster repeated his bow, and this little comedy of etiquette -was kept up for some minutes, to the delight of the audience. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THROUGH MANY CHANGING YEARS - - -With the advent of the Monroes, social life at the President’s House -underwent a transformation. Its character could have been forecast from -the fact that, although for the six years Monroe had been at the head of -the Cabinet his family had been with him in Washington, they were as -nearly strangers to the great body of citizens as if they had been -living in New York or Boston. If a lady wished to call on Mrs. Monroe, -she had to apply for an appointment and have a day and hour fixed, -unless she were a member or intimate of some former Presidential family. -In this administration, too, was born to Washington its first formal -code of social precedence, which, with certain modifications in detail, -has remained unchanged to this day. It differs from the codes of other -American communities in having official rank as a basis. John Quincy -Adams, before becoming Secretary of State, had served at various times -as envoy to five European courts. He was therefore ripe with -information on the rules observed abroad and resolved on bringing -something of the same sort into operation at our capital. - -Mrs. Monroe and her daughters made it an absolute rule to pay no visits; -so calls made on them, no matter by whom, went unreturned. Their dislike -of the underbred caused them to take no part in the preparations for the -general levees, which were thronged with anybody and everybody; but -their invitation list for select receptions was cut down mercilessly, -and the reduced company were treated to supper, an innovation on recent -practices. At all such entertainments Mrs. Monroe was so exacting in her -demands as to dress that when one of her near relatives presented -himself in an informal costume which he had worn without criticism at -the best of the Jefferson and Madison functions, she refused him -admittance till he should don the regulation small-clothes and silk -hose. - -The Monroes renamed the east room “the banqueting hall” and had their -state dinners there, partly because of its spaciousness, and partly -because the dining-room had been so badly damaged in the fire that it -took a long time to rehabilitate. The table appointments included a -central oval “plateau” twelve feet long by two feet wide, composed of a -mirror “surrounded by gold females holding candlesticks.” The china was -highly gilt, and the dessert knives, forks, and spoons were of beaten -gold. All the plate was the private property of the family and bore the -initials “J. M.”; much of it was afterward purchased by the Government -and made a part of the official furnishing of the White House, where it -remained in use down to Van Buren’s day. - -A New York Representative went with some friends to dine with the -Monroes. Arriving at half-past five, his party were “ushered, Indian -file, into the drawing-room,” where they found “some twenty gentlemen -seated in a row in solemn state, mute as fishes, having already -undergone the ceremony of introduction.” And he goes on: - -“Mrs. Monroe was seated at the further end of the room, with other -ladies. On our approach, she rose and received us handsomely. After -being myself presented, I introduced the other gentlemen. I now expected -to be led to the President, but my pilot, the private secretary, had -vanished. We beat a retreat, each to his respective chair. Observing the -President sitting very demurely by the chimney-corner, I arose and -advanced to him. He got up and shook me by the hand, as he did the other -gentlemen. This second ceremony over, all again was silence, and each -once more moved to his seat. It was a period of great solemnity. Not a -whisper broke upon the ear to interrupt the silence of the place, and -every one looked as if the next moment would be his last. After a while -the President, in a grave manner, began conversation with some one that -sat near him, and directly the secretary ushered in some more victims, -who submitted to the same ordeal we had experienced. This continued for -fully half an hour, when dinner was announced. It became more lively as -the dishes rattled.” The party remained at table till about half-past -eight. - -The retirement of Monroe marked the end of “the Virginia dynasty.” It -had always been a sore point with John Adams that the highest office of -the Government should be passed from hand to hand in the Old Dominion, -and he once threw out the splenetic comment that not “until the last -Virginian was laid in the graveyard” would his son have a chance at the -Presidency. The son had been trained with reference to such an -inheritance, and, on becoming Monroe’s Secretary of State, regarded -himself as in the line of succession. His appearance as a Presidential -candidate, however, aroused no general enthusiasm, whereas General -Andrew Jackson, having given the finishing stroke to the defeat of the -British invaders by his victory over Pakenham, and acquired the -nickname “Old Hickory,” had become the idol of the multitude. In spite -of their approaching competition for the Presidency, Adams was obliged -to recognize Jackson’s prestige at every turn; and on the eighth of -January, 1824, Mrs. Adams gave a ball in the General’s honor which was -so grand that it was still talked of in Washington fifty years -afterward. - -The Adams house stood on the site now occupied by the Adams office -building in F Street near Fourteenth. On this occasion the floor of the -ballroom was decorated with pictures in colored chalks. The central -design, which portrayed an American eagle clutching a trophy of flags, -bore the legend: “Welcome to the Hero of New Orleans!” The pillars were -trimmed with laurel and other winter foliage, roses were scattered -everywhere, and the illumination was furnished by variegated lamps, with -a brilliant luster in the middle of the ceiling. There were eight pieces -of music. Mrs. Adams was seated in the center of the hall, with Jackson -standing at her side and a semicircle of distinguished guests behind -them. President Monroe and Mr. Adams attended, but both were conspicuous -for their sobriety of attire. It was this gathering which inspired a -tribute in verse by a local journalist, beginning: - - “Wend you with the world to-night? - Brown and fair, and wise and witty, - Eyes that float in seas of light, - Laughing mouths and dimples pretty, - Belles and matrons, maids and madams, - All are gone to Mrs. Adams!” - -Nine months later, Jackson polled a far larger popular vote for the -Presidency than Adams, and so distributed as to give him a lead in the -electoral colleges also. But as there were four candidates, none of whom -had a clear majority of the electoral vote, the decision was left to the -House of Representatives, where Henry Clay, the candidate at the bottom -of the list, threw his support to Adams, giving him the office. Adams -recognized his debt to Clay by appointing him Secretary of State, and -thus placing him in the line of promotion. Jackson never forgave Clay -for his share in electing Adams, and from that day forth had nothing to -do with him beyond the coolest exchange of civilities. In other respects -the General accepted defeat philosophically, attending the inaugural -ceremonies and promptly coming forward to congratulate the new -President, an act of grace that brought tears to the eyes of Adams. The -appearance of the two men together in public delighted the crowd, and -there was vociferous hurrahing for Jackson. Judged solely by -appearances, indeed, the day was a festival in honor of Jackson rather -than of Adams. Many of the General’s friends had come a long distance, -in an era when traveling was so slow that they had been obliged to leave -home before learning the final outcome of the election, and supposed -that they were to attend the inauguration of their favorite. They sought -solace for their disappointment in turbulent demonstrations. For the -whole afternoon the dramshops carried on a tremendous business, and all -night the streets were full of tramping men roaring out Jackson campaign -songs and silencing opposition with their fists. Pistol shots were heard -at frequent intervals, and a rumor spread that Henry Clay had been -killed. - -Whatever Adams may have thought of these exhibitions, he bore them with -a calm exterior. He was always indifferent to criticism, and became -famous as the most shabbily clad man who had ever occupied the -Presidential chair, being accused even of having worn the same hat for -ten years. He braved public opinion by setting up a billiard table in -the White House, which gave a North Carolina Representative a text for a -speech denouncing the expenditure of fifty dollars for the table and six -dollars for a set of balls as “alarming to the religious, the moral, and -the reflecting portion of the community.” The anti-administration -press, using the game of billiards as a theme, opened fire upon the -President as a gambler. For a fact, he never made but one bet in his -life. Clay had picked up at auction a picture which Adams tried to buy -of him. One day, in jest, Clay offered it as a stake for a game of -all-fours. To his astonishment, Adams, the supposed ascetic, took him -up, and won the game and the picture. - -It was a habit of Adams to take a plunge in the Potomac, at the foot of -his garden, every morning “between daybreak and sunrise,” the weather -permitting. Once he had all his clothing stolen, and had to catch a -passing boy and send him home for enough raiment to cover him. But this -was by no means his most embarrassing adventure. It was during his -administration that the first woman newspaper correspondent turned up in -Washington. She was resolved to procure an interview with the President, -who did not care to gratify her. So she rose early one morning and -repaired, notebook and pencil in hand, to the river bank, and planted -herself beside his clothes till he started to come out. Standing almost -neck-deep in the water, he tried first severity and then persuasion to -induce her to go away, but she held her ground till he surrendered and -answered her most important questions. - -[Illustration: _Tudor House, Georgetown_] - -The billiard table was not the only basis for charges of prodigal living -brought against Adams. When he ran for reëlection, his enemies made -effective use of a letter written by a member of Congress who had -attended a New Year’s reception at the White House and who mentioned the -“gorgeously furnished east room.” The truth was that the east room, -except for three marble-topped tables and a few mirrors, did not contain -fifty dollars’ worth of furniture of any sort. A Washingtonian of the -period has written that there were no chandeliers, and that the great -room depended for its lighting on candles held in tin candlesticks -nailed to the wall, which “dripped their sperm upon the clothes of those -who came under them, as I well know from experience.” - -Adams sometimes aroused personal hostility by his peppery temper. He had -to dine with him one evening a Southern Senator who was notorious for -his dislike of everything in New England but prided himself on his -knowledge of wines. The Senator had the bad manners to remark that he -had “never known a Unitarian who did not believe in the sea-serpent.” -This aroused the ire of Adams, who later, when his guest said that Tokay -and Rhine wine were somewhat alike, turned upon him with the -exclamation: “Sir, I do not believe that you ever drank a drop of Tokay -in your life!” He afterward apologized, but the Senator would not -accept the apology and became the implacable foe of his administration. - -Jackson’s election in 1828 was a foregone conclusion from the moment he -reappeared as a Presidential candidate; and, immediately upon the -announcement that he had won an electoral vote a good deal more than -double that of Adams, Washington became the Mecca of a hundred -pilgrimages. By the fourth of March, 1829, the city was so crowded with -worshipers of the President-elect that they overflowed the inns and -boarding-houses, and many were obliged to live in camp. Half the men -wore their trousers tucked into their boot-legs, and not a few carried -pistols openly in their belts. The hickory emblem was in evidence -everywhere: men wielded hickory canes and staffs, women wore bonnets -trimmed with hickory leaves and necklaces composed of hickory nuts -fancifully painted, and scores of horses were driven with bridles of -hickory bark. - -Like his father, Adams did not attend the inauguration of his successor; -he withdrew to a hired dwelling on the heights north of the city and -kept to himself till the flurry was over. Probably Jackson did not -regret his absence, for the campaign had been surcharged with bitter -personalities, into which the name - -[Illustration: _Bladensburg Duelling-Ground_] - -of Mrs. Jackson was remorselessly dragged. Mrs. Jackson had died since -election day, and the General believed her death the direct result of -calumny. - -Madison had set the fashion, and Monroe and Adams had improved upon it, -of having a formal escort to the Capitol on the way to inauguration. -Jackson, however, refused to follow custom. As the only militia -organization in the city was under command of a colonel who hated him, -he had no military display, but walked down the middle of Pennsylvania -Avenue with only a body-guard composed of veterans of the War of the -Revolution, then a half-century past. For any lack of enthusiasm on the -part of the resident population, that of the visiting Jacksonians more -than compensated. All the way the General and his little party were so -surrounded by a yelling, cheering crowd that they could advance only at -a snail’s pace. To watchers on Capitol Hill he was distinguishable from -the mob by being the one man in the midst of it who walked bareheaded. - -Jackson was the first President to take the oath of office on the east -portico of the Capitol, the place now generally used. He also was the -first to read his speech before being sworn. He wore two pairs of -spectacles,--a pair for looking at the crowd and a pair for reading; -when he was using one pair, the other was perched aloft on his -forehead. At the close of the exercises, he mounted a fine white horse -and rode to the White House, again having to make his way through a mass -of singing and shouting admirers. At the mansion a feast had been -provided, and the gates thrown open to every one. The building was soon -stuffed full; and, as the people waiting outside could hardly hope to -force their way in, negro servants came to the doors with buckets of -punch and salvers of cakes and ices and passed these out. Much of the -food and drink was wasted, and much china and glassware smashed. Women -fainted, men quarreled and bruised one another’s faces. At one stage the -doorways became so blocked that people coming out had to climb through -the windows and drop to the ground. The rabble inside, bent on shaking -the hand of the President, jammed him against a wall to the serious -peril of his ribs, till he succeeded in escaping through a back entry -and taking refuge in the hotel where he had lately had his lodgings. - -The boisterous incidents of his first day in office were only an earnest -of the stormy administration which lay before Jackson. Realizing how -much he was indebted to New York for his election, and that Martin Van -Buren had a powerful following there, he appointed Van Buren his -Secretary of State. This proved a pretty lucky investment in human -nature; for in the Peggy Eaton controversy, which broke out soon after -Jackson began his term, Van Buren was a valuable ally. General John H. -Eaton, a lifelong friend whom Jackson had appointed Secretary of War, -had been boarding for several years with a local tavern-keeper named -O’Neal. The publican’s daughter, Peggy, had grown up a pretty, but pert -and forward girl, who flirted with her father’s patrons and married one -of them, Purser Timberlake of the navy. Timberlake was addicted to -drink, and during one of his cruises he ended a spree by suicide, -leaving his wife and children destitute; and Eaton, whose name gossip -had already linked with the widow’s, came to the front with an offer of -marriage, which was accepted. - -The wedding followed so closely upon the tragedy as to cause wide -criticism, and this, together with her antecedents, condemned Mrs. Eaton -to social ostracism. Left to themselves, Eaton’s colleagues of the -Cabinet would have ignored the circumstances of his marriage, but the -ladies of their families declared that they would have nothing to do -with the bride. Van Buren, as a widower with no daughters, felt free to -act as he pleased; and Jackson, remembering what his own wife had -endured, gallantly espoused the cause of Mrs. Eaton and gave the hostile -Secretaries their choice between accepting her or resigning their -portfolios, whereupon the Cabinet went promptly to pieces. - -Being a man of means, Van Buren did a good deal of entertaining for Mrs. -Eaton’s benefit, and also inspired those members of the diplomatic corps -who were unaccompanied by ladies to join him in “floating” her. The -British Minister was a bachelor, so was the Russian Minister; but, -though the dinners and balls which they gave attracted many feminine -guests who were flattered by being invited, they were not wholly -successful. Madam Huygens, wife of the Dutch Minister, for instance, was -induced to attend a ball, but when escorted to the supper table found -that she was expected to sit next but one to Mrs. Eaton and would have -to exchange a few words with that lady. Instantly she placed her arm in -that of her husband and withdrew with him from the room. When the story -was told to Jackson, he rose in his wrath and declared that he would -send Huygens home to Holland; but he never carried out the threat. - -Viewed in historical perspective, Jackson appears to have been a man of -tremendous force, thoroughly patriotic, conscientious in even his most -wayward conceptions of duty, unlearned but not illiterate, and above all -things hating treachery. He handled the sword with more facility than -the pen, and some of his correspondence, reproduced with its crudities -of syntax and spelling, would make the better educated angels weep. -Conscious of his scholastic shortcomings, he rarely attempted anything -original in writing or speaking, except on public questions; and when -his autograph was sought in the albums which were the fashionable fad of -the day, he borrowed his sentiments from the Presbyterian hymn-book, -quoting, as Miss Martineau recalls, “stanzas of the most ominous import -from Dr. Watts.” - -Jackson usually flavored his dinners and receptions with a dash of the -unexpected. On one occasion he jostled the proprieties by singing “Auld -Lang Syne.” He ate sparingly at his own table but talked a great deal, -slowly and quietly, and, when women were present, with much real -kindliness of tone. He had a homely way of disposing of questions which -he regarded as not overimportant. At a dinner in honor of the marriage -of his adopted son, Andrew Jackson, Junior, he decided on an innovation -in etiquette by having his Secretary of State precede the diplomatic -corps, the rest of the Cabinet to follow the foreigners. This plan was -vigorously resisted by the Secretary of the Treasury, who argued that -the Cabinet was a unit, and that its members should therefore be -treated on an equal footing. “In that case,” said the President, “we -will put all the Cabinet ahead of the diplomats,” and he sent his -private secretary, Major Donelson, to make the announcement to the -guests. The French Minister at once stirred up the Dutch Minister, as -senior member of the corps, to prevent the threatened indignity. -Meanwhile, dinner had been announced, and every one was standing. -Donelson reported the strained situation to the President, who, instead -of vowing “by the Eternal” that his commands should be obeyed, smiled -good-naturedly and said: “Well, I will lead with the bride. It is a -family affair; so we’ll waive all difficulties, and the company will -please to follow as heretofore.” - -The first baby born in the White House probably was Mary Emily Donelson, -child of the private secretary. At her baptism in the east room the -President and Martin Van Buren stood as godfathers. Van Buren took her -in his arms when she was first brought in, but she squirmed and wriggled -so that Jackson reached out for her, whereat she cooed with delight, as -children always did at any attention from him. He held her throughout -the service, and, at the minister’s question, “Do you, in the name of -this child, renounce the devil and all his works?” he stiffened up as he -might have if confronted with a fresh machination of his enemies, and -declared with characteristic emphasis: “I do, sir; I renounce them all!” - -It was during Jackson’s administration that Harriet Martineau first -visited Washington. She was suffering from overwork and had been orderd -by her physician in England to cross the sea for a good rest. In spite -of that, people would not let her alone. It is said that within -twenty-four hours after her arrival in town more than six hundred -persons had called to pay their respects. Probably not fifty could have -told why they did so, except that she was a literary celebrity. One lady -was eager to learn “whether her novels were really very pretty,” and -most of the statesmen, when told that she was a political economist, -laughed outright. A social leader, desirous of giving her a dinner such -as she had been accustomed to at home, made the table groan under the -choicest things the market afforded, including eight different meats, -only to see the guest confine herself to a tiny slice of turkey-breast -and a nibble of ham. She was equally disconcerting with her other -simplicities, such as coming to a five o’clock dinner at a little after -three, clad in a walking suit in which she had been tramping about the -city, but bringing in her capacious pockets all the trappings necessary -for a presentable evening toilet. - -Notwithstanding her idiosyncrasies, Miss Martineau made a profoundly -pleasant impression wherever she went. Webster, Clay, and Calhoun would -desert their seats in the Senate to join her for a talk, and Chief -Justice Marshall would descend from the bench to greet her when she came -into his courtroom. She could take up her unpretentious position in the -corner of a sofa anywhere, and in a few minutes have a circle of the -country’s elect about her awaiting their turns for a chat; and this in -spite of the fact that she was very deaf and had to make use of an -ear-trumpet of an unfamiliar pattern, so that often a newcomer would -talk into the wrong aperture. She never made anything of her infirmity; -and, of all the poems, addresses, and letters of appreciation with which -she was showered, the production which gave her most delight was an ode -to her trumpet, beginning: “Beloved horn!” - -Early in this administration, the east room at the White House, which -had figured in the Democratic campaign speeches as an audience chamber -sumptuous enough for royalty, was discovered to be too shabby for a -President of Jackson’s simple habits. So four large mirrors, heavily -framed in gilt, were hung against its walls, their bases resting on -mantels of black Italian marble. Chandeliers gleaming with glass prisms -were suspended from the ceiling; damask-covered chairs, their woodwork -gilded like the mirror frames, were substituted for the worn-out -furniture which had sufficed for the Adams family; the windows were -richly curtained; a Brussels carpet, with the sprawling pattern then so -much admired, was stretched over the entire floor; and this array of -elegance was capped with bouquets of artificial flowers, in painted -china vases, distributed among the mantels and tables and in the window -recesses. - -These things did not long retain their freshness. Jackson’s dinners had -features quaint enough, but his receptions were little short of riots. A -literary visitor has left us the description of one where “generals, -commodores, foreign ministers and members of Congress” brushed elbows -with laborers who had come in their working clothes from a day of canal -digging, and “sooty artificers” direct from the forge. “There were -majors in broadcloth and corduroys, redolent of gin and tobacco, and -majors’ ladies in chintz or russet, with huge Paris earrings, and tawny -necks profusely decorated with beads of colored glass. There were -tailors from the board and judges from the bench; lawyers who opened -their mouths at one bar, and tapsters who closed theirs at another; and -one individual--either a miller or a baker--who, wherever he passed, -left marks of contact on the garments of the company.” Meanwhile, the -waiters who attempted to cross from the pantry to the east room with -cakes and punch were intercepted by a ravenous horde who emptied the -trays as fast as they could be refilled, so that little or nothing -reached the better-mannered guests. This went on till the Irish butler, -in exasperation, enlisted a dozen stalwart men and armed them with -billets of wood, to surround the waiters as a guard, and keep their -sticks swinging about the food so briskly that it could not be captured -except at the cost of a broken head. Of course the carpet, curtains, and -cushions were deluged with sticky refuse, and broken bits of china and -glass were ground into powder under foot. - -If it be possible to imagine anything worse in its way than this scene, -it was Jackson’s farewell entertainment, given on the twenty-second of -February, 1837. The chief feature was the cutting of a mammoth cheese -which had been sent to the President by admirers in a northern dairy -district. It weighed fourteen hundred pounds, and nothing would satisfy -Jackson but to give a piece to every man, woman, and child who would -come for it. As a result, the paths leading to the White House, and the -portico itself, were thronged that afternoon with people going in to -get their chunks and coming out with greasy parcels in their hands. “We -forced our way over the threshold,” wrote one of the adventurous souls, -“and encountered an atmosphere to which the mephitic gas over Avernus -must be faint and innocuous. On the side of the hall hung a rough -likeness of General Jackson, emblazoned with eagle and stars, and in the -center of the vestibule stood the fragrant gift, surrounded by a dense -crowd who had in two hours cut and purveyed away more than a half-ton of -horribly smelling ‘Testimonial to the Hero of New Orleans.’ A small -segment had been reserved for the President’s use, but it is doubtful if -he ever tasted it.” The cutting was done by two able-bodied laborers, -armed with big knives extemporized from hand-saws. - -In the White House, Jackson lived a good deal apart. He was always glad -to see any one who came on a friendly errand, and loved to frolic with -children; but one of his chief pleasures was sitting by himself in the -big south room of the second story and smoking. An aged friend who, as a -boy, visited the White House with his father while Jackson was there, -told me that the President bade them draw up with him by the fireside, -offered a clean clay pipe to the elder of the visitors, and, lighting -his own well-seasoned corn-cob, puffed the smoke up the chimney, -explaining that Emily Donelson--the wife of his secretary, who kept -house for him--disliked the smell of tobacco. - -The ghost of the Peggy Eaton affair could never be permanently -exorcised. Timberlake had not only died penniless and in debt but left -his official accounts in confusion, and a year or two later it was -discovered that he had been a defaulter. His bondsman resisted payment -of the shortage, accusing Lieutenant Robert B. Randolph, who had taken -over Timberlake’s papers, of the actual responsibility for it. Randolph, -in demanding a court-martial, committed a technical breach of discipline -for which the President dismissed him summarily from the service. One -day Jackson was a passenger on a river steamboat which stopped briefly -at a wharf in Alexandria. He was sitting alone, when a stranger -approached him as if to shake hands. Jackson, seeing him drawing off one -of his gloves, said amiably, “Never mind your glove, sir,” and stretched -out his own hand. But the stranger, instead of taking it, made a violent -lunge at Jackson’s face, exclaiming: “I am Lieutenant Randolph, whom you -have wronged and insulted, and I came here to pull your nose!” Startled -by the noise, two or three gentlemen ran forward and sprang upon -Randolph, who, in the struggle that followed, reached the gangplank and -freed himself. The President, convinced by later developments that the -Lieutenant had really suffered an injustice, offered to reinstate him if -he would apologize for the nose-pulling; but he scornfully rejected the -proposal. - -The Cabinet, as reorganized in consequence of pretty Peggy’s fight, did -not hang together long. Secretary Eaton intimated presently that he -would like to retire, Van Buren seemed of the same mind, so the -President appointed the former Governor of Florida and the latter -Minister to England. The Senate confirmed Eaton’s appointment with good -enough grace, but balked at that of Van Buren, who, having gone to -England in good faith to enter upon his duties, was put to the -humiliating necessity of coming home again. Jackson was angry, regarding -this as a blow at himself. “If they don’t want him for Minister,” he -thundered, “we’ll see if they like him any better as President!” He -therefore laid out a program beginning with his own reëlection with Van -Buren as his Vice-president, and ending with Van Buren’s election as his -successor. The plan carried; and, as Jackson’s affection for Van Buren -had grown largely out of the latter’s stanch loyalty in the Cabinet -quarrel, Mrs. Eaton may be said to have shaped American history for a -considerable term of years. - -Long after this lady ceased to hold the center of the national stage, -her career continued to be picturesque. Her husband, having retired from -the Governorship of Florida, was appointed Minister to Spain, and in -Madrid she appears to have made herself a great favorite at court. After -General Eaton’s death she returned to Washington, and was living down -much of the adverse sentiment of former days, when there appeared on the -scene an Italian dancing-master named Buchignani, whose dark, soulful -eyes and insinuating manners proved too much for even her experienced -heart. Although she was well advanced in years and he was young enough -to be her son, she not only became his wife, but let all her comfortable -fortune slip into his hands, and gradually gave him also the custody of -her grandchildren’s property, which she was holding in trust. He repaid -her kindness by eloping with her favorite granddaughter to Canada, where -he went into business as a saloon-keeper. Mrs. Buchignani died in 1879, -still glorying in the memory of her early activities. - -As Vice-president, Van Buren lived in the Decatur house, the big somber -brick dwelling on the corner of Jackson Place and H Street. Across the -park, just south of the present home of the Cosmos Club, lived Mr. and -Mrs. Ogle Tayloe, with whom it was his habit to pass his disengaged -evenings. Suddenly he ceased - -[Illustration: _Decatur House_] - -coming, and after some weeks Mr. Tayloe hunted him up to inquire what -was the matter. His only response was: “Mrs. Tayloe has things lying -about on her table which should not be there.” Van Buren had always -seemed interested in Mrs. Tayloe’s collection of contemporary -autographs; and, when husband and wife were searching there for the -possible cause of offense, they came upon a letter from a prominent New -York politician containing the passage: “What is little Matt doing? Some -dirty work, of course, as usual.” Mrs. Tayloe cut out the derogatory -paragraph and sent word to Van Buren that she had done so, and at once -he renewed his visits. - -Jackson escorted Van Buren to the Capitol, for his inauguration, in a -carriage widely celebrated as the “Constitution coach.” It was a present -to the General from citizens of New York and was built out of timbers -from the old war frigate _Constitution_, a picture of which was -emblazoned on one panel. Van Buren discovered, before he had been long -in office, that a thousand things which the people accepted without -question from a military hero they were prepared to criticize in a -civilian. Moreover, his son John, while in England some years before, -had danced with the Princess Victoria and thus acquired the nickname -“Prince John,” of which the enemies of the administration made use as a -political cudgel, declaring that the whole family were aping the foreign -aristocracy. Along came the financial panic of 1837, reducing thousands -of well-to-do persons to poverty, and this was fatuously laid to Van -Buren’s account when he stood for reëlection in 1840 against General -William Henry Harrison, affectionately styled “Old Tippecanoe” in memory -of one of his victories. - -Regardless of the fact that Jackson had refurnished the White House -expensively for those days and then given entertainments which spoiled -nearly everything spoilable, it was Van Buren who became the undeserving -target for attack on the ground that he maintained “a royal -establishment” in “a palace as splendid as that of the Cæsars, and as -richly adorned as the proudest Asiatic mansion.” The stump orators -harped on the use of gold and silver spoons at the White House table, -and on the excessive number of spittoons distributed in the parlors and -halls. Vainly did the President’s defenders show that the gold spoons -were mostly plated ware, and that the spittoons, like the other -furniture, were the property of the Government: the voters who ate their -porridge from wooden vessels and threw their quids into boxes of sawdust -were resolved upon putting into his place a man of different type. Henry -Clay, passing the White House one day when a blaze broke out in the -laundry, joined the firemen in helping to extinguish it, remarking -jocularly to the President: “Though we are bound to have you out of -here, Mr. Van Buren, we don’t want you burned out.” - -Harrison was elected. He was sixty-eight when he arrived in Washington -in February, 1841, and was in delicate health, but affected a vain -pretense of robustness. Though the day was chilly, with snow thinly -covering the streets and a cold rain falling, he declined to enter a -carriage, and walked half a mile to the City Hall with his hat in his -hand, bowing to the people on either side of the street. At the hall he -stood on the portico, still uncovered, while the Mayor made a speech of -welcome and he responded. His exposure gave him a cold which, following -his fatigues and excitement, brought on a serious nervous attack, and -this was not improved by the prospect of a wearisome inaugural ceremony. -He had only a common school education, but had read a good deal, -particularly ancient history. Mr. Webster, whom he had selected for -Secretary of State, recognizing his literary limitations, composed an -excellent inaugural address and carried it to him, saying in -explanation: “I feared lest, with all you are called upon to do just -now, you might not find time to do anything of this sort.” - -“Oh, yes,” answered Harrison, cheerfully, producing a packet of neatly -written sheets, “I attended to all that before leaving home.” - -Webster tactfully contrived to induce him to exchange manuscripts, “so -that each author could read the other’s production, and whichever proved -the better could be used.” - -But the next day Harrison handed back Webster’s paper with the remark: -“If I were to read your address, everybody would know you wrote it. Mine -is not so good, but at least it is mine, and I shall prefer my own poor -work to your brilliant one.” As a last resort Webster offered to revise -Harrison’s address, and Harrison consented, though very reluctantly. -Webster struggled with his task a whole day, chopping out paragraph -after paragraph of classical citations. When a lady that evening -inquired what he had been doing to make him look so ill, he exclaimed: -“You’d be ill, too, if you had committed all the crimes I have. Within -twelve hours I have killed seventeen Roman pro-consuls--dead as smelts, -every man of them!” - -Though compelled to sacrifice so much of his antique lore, Harrison was -not to be argued out of his resolve to ride a white horse to and from -his inauguration, having read of sundry great Romans who thus traversed -the Appian Way. He refused, too, to wear an overcoat on the fourth of -March, notwithstanding that he had a heavy cold, and that a stiff gale -was blowing which searched the vitals of most men in thick garments. Nor -would he consent to cover his head while delivering his address, which -was a protest against executive usurpation, the corruption of the press, -and the abuses of party spirit. Few who heard it realized how near they -had come to witnessing no inaugural ceremony that day. It had been -arranged that Harrison should join the procession for the Capitol at the -house of a friend whom he was visiting, but he was in such a state of -nervous exhaustion that he fainted twice before the time came to start. -His companions bathed his temples with brandy, and the physician they -called in forbade his going out of doors unless in a carriage; but he -would hear to no change of plans, and managed, by sheer force of will, -not only to perform his part at the Capitol, but to hold an afternoon -reception at the White House and in the evening to look in at two or -three balls with which the Whigs were celebrating their triumph. - -During the fortnight that followed, he did his best to conceal his -increasing feebleness, even going in person to market every morning when -he was able. But a succession of colds presently ran into pneumonia, and -the office-seekers hounded him not the less cruelly after this. Just -one month from the day of his inauguration, death came to his relief. -Mrs. Harrison, who had been too ill to accompany him to Washington, -never saw him from the day he parted with her in Ohio till his body was -brought back to her for burial. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -“THE SPIRIT OF GREAT EVENTS” - - -John Tyler, the first Vice-president to receive promotion to the -Presidency in mid-term, was at his home in Virginia when Harrison died. -He came to Washington at once and took lodgings at a hotel, where, two -days later, he was sworn in by Chief Judge Cranch of the Circuit Court -of the District. His administration was not picturesque in the usual -sense; the most it gave people to talk about was his narrow escape from -impeachment for deserting the party which elected him. But his -unpopularity bore valuable fruit for Washington. When the partisan -excitement was at its highest pitch, a company of local politicians went -to the White House one night and, drawn up in front of it, “groaned” -their disapproval of Tyler’s conduct. To protect the Presidential office -from further indignities of that sort, a bill was introduced in the -Senate to establish an “auxiliary guard” for the defense of the public -and private property against incendiaries, and “for the enforcement of -the police regulations of the city of Washington,” with an appropriation -of seven thousand dollars to equip a captain and fifteen men with the -proper implements to distinguish them in the discharge of their duty. -This was the foundation of the Metropolitan Police force, which now -numbers seventy-five officers and more than six hundred privates. - -Life at the White House was simple in Tyler’s time. The President was in -the habit of rising with the sun, lighting a fire that had been laid -overnight in his study, and working at his desk till breakfast was -served at eight o’clock. At this meal he insisted on having the ladies -of his family appear in calico frocks. In the evening all the household -would gather in the green parlor and pass an hour or two in entertaining -any visitors who happened in, interspersing conversation with piano -music and old-fashioned songs. It was Tyler who introduced the custom of -periodical open-air concerts by the Marine Band; and on warm Saturday -afternoons the garden south of the White House was a favorite resort of -the best people of the city, while the President would sit with his -family and a few invited guests on the porch, listening to the music and -responding to the salutations of his acquaintances. Tyler is rarely -suspected of possessing a strong sense of humor; but he must have smiled -when he signed an official letter to the Emperor of China, in which he -described himself as “President of the United States of America, which -States are Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, -Connecticut, Vermont, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, -Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, -Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, -Missouri, Arkansas, and Michigan”--an array which so impressed the mind -of the Celestial despot that the envoy who presented the missive got -everything he asked for. - -Tyler lost his wife soon after he entered the White House, and his -daughters presided over the domestic life there. He was fond of young -society, and one of the belles who appeared pretty regularly at his -parties was Miss Virginia Timberlake, daughter of the unfortunate naval -purser and the lady whose cause Jackson and Van Buren had championed. -Another was Miss Julia Gardiner of New York, who so captivated him that -at one of his receptions in the second year of his term he made her a -proposal of marriage. As she described it afterward, she was taken -wholly by surprise, and gave her “No, no, no!” such emphasis by shaking -her head that she whisked the tassel of her crimson Greek cap into his -face with every motion. The controlling reason for her refusal, she -explained, was her unwillingness to leave her father, to whom she was -devotedly attached; but an accident soon changed the whole face of -things. - -Captain Stockton of the navy invited a party of about four hundred -ladies and gentlemen to inspect the sloop-of-war _Princeton_, then lying -in the Potomac. President Tyler, the members of his Cabinet and their -families, and a good many Congressmen were among the guests. The vessel -had dropped down the river to a point near Mount Vernon, when some of -the party importuned Stockton to fire his big gun, nicknamed “the -peacemaker.” This was just at the close of the luncheon, and the ladies -had lingered at table while most of the gentlemen went on deck. One -lady, fortunately, had detained Tyler as he was about to leave, by -inducing him to listen to a song; for the gun exploded, killing Mr. -Upshur, Secretary of State, Mr. Gilmer, Secretary of the Navy, Commander -Kennon of the navy, Virgil Maxey, lately American Minister at the Hague, -and David Gardiner of New York, the father of Miss Julia. A day of -merrymaking was thus turned into one of mourning, as the vessel slowly -moved up the stream again, bearing the bodies of the dead, for whom -funeral services were held at the White House. After an interval the -President renewed his suit and found Miss Gardiner more pliant. When he - -[Illustration: _Soldiers’ Home_] - -had composed in her honor a serenade beginning, “Sweet lady, awake!” she -agreed to marry him if her mother would consent. Her mother did not -approve of a union between a man of fifty-six and a girl of twenty, but, -as she did not actually forbid it, they had a very quiet wedding. - -In spite of the enjoyment he took in social intercourse, Tyler was often -criticized for his frigid manners. A virulent type of influenza which -became epidemic during his administration received the name of “the -Tyler grip,” from the remark of a Boston man who fell ill a few hours -after being presented to him: “I probably caught cold from shaking hands -with the President.” A good deal was made of this in the campaign of -1844, and added point to John Quincy Adams’s denunciation of Tyler for -“performing with a young girl from New York the old fable of January and -May!” Tyler’s general unpopularity, and a deadlock between two other -prominent candidates, led the Democrats to nominate James K. Polk for -President. He was so little known to most of the voters that throughout -the campaign the Whigs, who were supporting Henry Clay, rang the changes -on the question, “Who _is_ James K. Polk?” thus contrasting his -obscurity with Clay’s eminence. The count of ballots showed that a -candidate of whom little was known might have certain advantages over -one long before the public eye; and as on inauguration day it rained -heavily, exultant Democrats kept themselves warm by hurling back at the -Whigs the familiar cry, “Who _is_ James K. Polk?” and then laughing -wildly at their own humor. It was on this occasion that the telegraph -first conveyed out of Washington the news that one President had retired -and another had come in--Professor Morse having set up an instrument at -the edge of the platform on which the President-elect stood, and ticked -off a report of the proceedings as they occurred. - -Mrs. Polk being a devoted church-member, of a school which disapproved -of dancing, the inaugural ball that evening shrank into a mere promenade -concert till after she and her husband had quitted the hall. The social -activities of the Polks, through the four years which followed, were -consistent with this beginning, all the functions at the White House -being too sober to suit the diplomats or the younger element among the -resident population. On its practical side, Polk’s term was perhaps the -most notable in that generation, including as it did the war with -Mexico, which resulted in the annexation of California and the great -southwestern area afterward carved into the States of Utah, Nevada, and -Arizona and parts of Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. This war, -moreover, furnished the usual crop of Presidential candidates, chief -among them General Zachary Taylor, who had led the first army across the -Rio Grande, and General Winfield Scott, who had wound up the invasion by -capturing the city of Mexico. - -Believing Taylor the easier to handle, the Whig managers fixed upon him, -although, having passed the larger part of his sixty-four years with the -army, he had never voted. Indeed, he had always expressed an aversion to -office-holding, and, when approached on the subject of the Presidency, -met the overture with frank disfavor, declaring that he had neither the -capacity nor the experience needed for such a position. But his -“availability” overcame the force of his protests, and the Whigs won -with him a sweeping victory at the polls. There is pathos in the story -of the break-up of the pleasant home in Baton Rouge, and the reluctant -removal of the family to Washington, taking with them only a faithful -negro servant, a favorite dog, and “Old Whitey,” the horse the General -had ridden through the Mexican war. Taylor was with difficulty dissuaded -from his purpose of imitating his military predecessors and riding “Old -Whitey” either to or from the Capitol on inauguration day. What his -friends most feared was his loss of dignity in the eyes of the crowd, -for his legs were so short that, in certain emergencies, an orderly had -to lift one of them over his horse’s flanks whenever he mounted or -dismounted. - -Taylor was as simple a soul as Harrison. His unostentatious ways in the -army had led the soldiers to dub him “Old Rough and Ready,” and this -title stuck to him always afterward. One of his favorite amusements was -to walk about Washington, chatting informally with people he met and -watching whatever was going on in the streets. His love of comfort was -such that he could never be induced to wear clothes that fitted him, but -his suits were always a size or two larger than his measure, and these, -with a black silk hat set far back on his head, made him recognizable at -any distance. His message at the opening of Congress contained one -announcement as voluminous as his costume: “We are at peace with all the -nations of the world, and the rest of mankind.” The bull was discovered -too late to prevent its going out in the original print; but in a -revised edition the sentence was made to end: “And seek to maintain our -cherished relations of amity with them.” - -The White House underwent another grand refurbishing while the Taylors -were in it. The east room was newly carpeted, its walls were decorated, -and gas replaced its candles and lamps. The ladies of the family were -good housekeepers--particularly the younger daughter, who made the old -place look actually homelike, and whom an appreciative guest described -as doing the honors “with the artlessness of a rustic belle and the -grace of a duchess.” But this pleasant picture was soon to be clouded -over. On the fourth of July, 1850, a patriotic meeting was held at the -base of the Washington National Monument, with long addresses by -prominent men. It lasted the whole of a very hot afternoon, and -President Taylor, as a guest of honor, felt bound to stay through it, -refreshing himself from time to time with copious drafts of ice-water. -He reached home in a state of some exhaustion and at once ate a -basketful of cherries and drank several glasses of iced milk. From a -party to which he had accepted an invitation for that evening he was -obliged to excuse himself at the last moment on the score of -indisposition. He was violently ill throughout the night, and five days -later he died. - -Millard Fillmore of New York, fifty years old, of moderate political -views and fair ability, was Vice-president at the time. Unlike Tyler, he -went to the Capitol to be sworn in the presence of a committee of the -two houses, but made no inaugural address. Mrs. Fillmore, who had -formerly been a teacher, cared little for society. She was of studious -habits and soon converted the oval sitting room in the second story of -the White House into a library, personally selecting the books. Her -taste ran chiefly to standard historical and classical works; and, as -the editions then available were generally not very good specimens of -the typographic art, most of her collection has disappeared. In this -administration the Fugitive Slave Act was passed, and Fillmore, by -signing it, alienated the North so largely that the Whig party refused -to nominate him for another term. General Scott, to whom it turned, did -precisely what most of the politicians had predicted he would: made a -number of public utterances which ruined his chances and thus gave the -election to his Democratic competitor, Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire. - -During Fillmore’s term Louis Kossuth visited Washington. The country was -just passing through one of its occasional periods of revolutionary -fervor, and Kossuth’s stand for the rights of Hungary against Austria -had aroused much sympathy here. Our public men were divided in opinion -as to how far to go with their demonstrations in his favor, wishing to -win the support of the Hungarians in the United States and of immigrants -who had fled from other countries to escape oppression, yet hoping to -keep clear of entanglements with Austria. As Kossuth had left home to -escape death for high treason and taken refuge in Constantinople, one of -our men-of-war was sent to the Dardanelles to bring him to America. He -did not then care to go further than England, whence, after an agreeable -visit, he came over, in the expectation of inducing our Government to -take up arms for Hungarian liberty. Henry Clay, who was already stricken -with his last illness, promptly put a damper upon that scheme; but -Kossuth remained the guest of the nation for a time and was dined and -fêted prodigiously. He maintained the state of a royal personage, -keeping a uniformed and armed guard about the door of his suite of -apartments at what is now the Metropolitan Hotel, and a lot of carousing -young subalterns always in his anteroom. He never appeared in public -except in full military uniform, with his cavalry sword, in its steel -scabbard, clanking by his side. Mrs. Kossuth, who accompanied him on his -tour, was unable to overcome her distrust of American cooking, and used -to scandalize her neighbors at table by ostentatiously smelling of every -new dish before tasting it. - -The inauguration of Pierce was marked by several innovations: he drove -to and from the Capitol standing up in his carriage, delivered his -address without notes, and made affirmation instead of taking the oath -of office. A tragic interest attaches itself to his administration, -because, just as he was preparing to remove to Washington, he lost his -only child, a boy of thirteen, in a railway accident. Mrs. Pierce, who -was an invalid, was terribly broken by this bereavement, and all social -festivities at the White House were abandoned till toward the close of -her stay there. The new Vice-president, William R. King, was not -inaugurated at the same time and place with the President. He had gone -to Cuba in January for his health, and, as he was not well enough to -come home, Congress passed a special act permitting him to take the oath -before the American Consul-general at Havana. Soon after his return to -the United States, in April, he died. - -Nathaniel Hawthorne, who was a college mate and intimate friend of -Pierce, was anxious to see something of Europe, but had not the means to -gratify his desire; so Pierce appointed him consul at Liverpool, where -he was able to live in comfort on his pay and save enough for a sojourn -on the Continent. To this experience American literature owes most of -his later work, including “The Marble Faun” and “Our Old Home.” In -Washington still linger stories of a visit Hawthorne paid the city about -the time of his appointment. Pierce tried to show him some informal -attentions; but Hawthorne’s shyness, which went to such an extreme that -he could not say anything to the lady next him at table without -trembling and blushing, prevented his making much headway socially. - -All through Pierce’s term, political conditions were working up to the -point which caused the irruption of a few years later. The habit of -carrying deadly weapons on the person became so common in Washington, -especially in Congress, that scarcely an altercation occurred between -two men without the exposure, if not the use, of a pistol or a dirk. The -newspapers in their serious columns treated such incidents severely, -while the comic paragraphers satirized them; and Preston Brooks, a -Representative from South Carolina, in a half-earnest, half-cynical -vein, gave notice one day of his intention to offer this amendment to -the rules of the House: “Any member who shall bring into the House a -concealed weapon, shall be expelled by a vote of two-thirds. The -Sergeant-at-Arms shall cause a suitable rack to be erected in the -rotunda, where members who are addicted to carrying concealed weapons -shall be required to place them for the inspection of the curious, so -long as the owners are employed in legislation.” - -Senator Sumner of Massachusetts having, a few days later, in a speech on -slavery, spoken disparagingly of a South Carolina Senator who was -absent, Brooks, on the twenty-second of May, 1856, entered the Senate -chamber when it was nearly deserted, and, with a heavy gutta-percha -cane, rained blows with all his strength upon the head of Sumner, who -was quietly writing at his desk. Sumner fell to the floor and for some -days thereafter hovered between life and death. He was three or four -years in recovering from the direct effects of the assault, and never -was entirely restored to health and strength. The incident excited -bitter feeling throughout both North and South. For denouncing the -assault as paralleling that of Cain upon Abel, Representative Anson -Burlingame of New York was challenged by Brooks; he accepted the -challenge, naming date, place, and weapons, but Brooks failed to appear -on the field. - -The next President was James Buchanan of Pennsylvania, also a Democrat. -The two incidents in his term which most impressed Washington were the -first successful experiments with the Atlantic cable in August, 1858, -and the visit to the White House of the Prince of Wales, who later -became King Edward VII. Cyrus W. Field, after a struggle as soul-wearing -as Morse’s over the introduction of the telegraph, succeeded in making -his submarine cable work and induced Queen Victoria to send the first -despatch, a message of greeting to President Buchanan, who was requested -to answer it in kind. The skepticism of the day toward all scientific -novelties was reflected in Buchanan’s summoning a newspaper -correspondent whom he trusted and begging to be told frankly whether he -were not the victim of a hoax. At the White House all the members of the -Cabinet were gathered, earnestly debating the same question. The most -stubborn disbeliever was the Secretary of the Treasury, Howell Cobb, who -jeered at the whole thing as a wild absurdity. In spite of Cobb’s -resistance, the correspondent persuaded the President to answer the -Queen’s message. As bad luck would have it, the cable parted in -mid-ocean soon thereafter and was not restored to working order for -several years; and in the interval the skeptics were appropriately -exultant. - -Buchanan, who was our first bachelor President, was sometimes slangily -called “the O. P. F.,” having once referred to himself in a message as -an “old public functionary.” The image of him carried in the popular -mind is derived from contemporaneous pictures, which show him as a -stiff, precise, ministerial-looking old man, wearing a black coat, a -high choker collar, and a spotless white neckerchief. But this was the -style of the day in portraiture and must not be accepted too literally. -The late Frederick O. Prince of Boston used to tell of a morning call he -paid Buchanan, whom he had imagined a model of formality and elegance, -and of his astonishment when the President entered the room clad in a -greenish figured dressing-gown, woolen socks, and carpet slippers, and, -to put the standing visitors at their ease, called to a servant: “Jeems, -sit some cheers!” - -When Buchanan came to Washington for his inauguration, attended by a -number of Pennsylvania friends, he took lodgings at the National Hotel, -where the whole party fell ill with symptoms which to-day we should -charge to ptomaine poisoning. One or two of the sufferers died. Buchanan -escaped with a comparatively light attack; but a rumor gained -circulation that the Free Soilers had tried to assassinate him because -of his conservative disposition toward slavery. For some time after he -entered the White House, therefore, the police kept a watch on his -movements, and one rough-looking Kansan was arrested on suspicion, -having bought an air-gun and engaged a room in a building which the -President was in the habit of passing every day when he went out for -exercise. - -The domestic accommodations at the White House were already so limited -that, when the Prince of Wales visited it in 1860, the President had to -give up his bedchamber to his guest and sleep on a cot in the anteroom -of his office. As I recall the Prince he was not - -[Illustration: _Old City Hall_] - -inordinately tall, but for some reason--possibly because the legs of -royalty were supposed to need more space than those of common folk--the -old bedstead in the President’s room was replaced by one of extra -length. Society in Washington was agog over the Prince’s advent, and the -reigning belles insisted that his entertainment must include a ball at -least as brilliant as that given in his honor in New York; but Mr. -Buchanan, whose ideas on certain subjects were rigid, would not listen -to the suggestion of dancing in the White House, and the ball was turned -over to the British legation. Miss Harriet Lane, the President’s niece, -who managed his household affairs, gave instead a large musicale, at -which was performed for the first time the once favorite song, “The -Mocking Bird,” its composer having dedicated it to her. - -Trained as attorney, diplomatist, and politician, to regard the letter -of the law rather than its spirit, Buchanan found himself in an unhappy -situation when the preliminary mutterings of sectional warfare grew -loud. In January, 1861, he was urged by some of the Cabinet to recall -Major Robert Anderson from Charleston Harbor as a rebuke for having -removed the Fort Moultrie garrison to the stronger Fort Sumter without -orders from Washington, and he was holding the matter under advisement -when Justice McLean of the Supreme Court came to dine with him one -evening. After the ladies had left the table, the Justice drew the -President aside and inquired what was going to be done about the Major. -“Anderson has exceeded his instructions,” answered Buchanan, “and must -be disciplined.” McLean raised his hand and fairly shook it in the -President’s face as he ejaculated: “You dare not do it, sir! You dare -not do it!” This unique defiance of the executive by the judiciary had -an immediate effect: Major Anderson was left undisturbed, to become -within a few weeks the first hero of the Civil War. - -General Scott, who filled a large place in national affairs from Polk’s -administration till the autumn of 1861, was a good officer and a pure -patriot but full of eccentricities. His love for military forms gave him -the nickname “Old Fuss and Feathers,” and a letter he wrote during the -Mexican war, excusing his absence from his headquarters when the -Secretary of War called there, on the plea that he had just stepped out -to get “a hasty plate of soup,” had won for him the punning title -“Marshal Turenne.” He was a good deal of a gourmet and did his family -marketing himself, especially delighting in the delicacy which he -persisted in calling “tarrapin,” and ordering his oysters by the barrel. -One of his favorite dishes was pork jowl, and once he told of having -eaten sauerkraut “with tears in his eyes.” He was a keen stickler for -the dignity due him on all occasions. Just after Taylor had been -inaugurated President, the two men met in Washington for the first time -since a somewhat acrimonious parting in Mexico. Taylor, passing over old -animosities, invited Scott to call. Scott did so the next day, and -Taylor, who was engaged with some other gentlemen in his office, sent -word that he would be down in a moment. Five minutes later, having cut -his business short, the President descended to the parlor, to find his -visitor already gone: Scott had waited two minutes by the clock and then -stalked in high dudgeon out of the door, not to come back again. - -The drama of the Lincoln administration, on which the curtain rose to a -bugle-blast and fell to the beat of muffled drums, deserves a volume to -itself; but in my limited space I have been able to outline only some of -its features directly related to the capital city. Lincoln’s first levee -was held not in the White House but at Willard’s Hotel, some days before -the inauguration. The higher public functionaries and their wives, and a -number of private citizens of prominence, had been notified rather than -invited to come to the hotel on a certain evening for a first glimpse of -the new chief magistrate. Into this presence stalked the lank, -loose-jointed, oddly clad “Old Abe,” with his little, simple, -white-shawled wife at his elbow, and the never failing jest on his lips -as he made his own announcement: “Ladies and gentlemen, let me present -to you the long and the short of the Presidency!” - -The Lincolns received several social courtesies from members of Congress -and others before the fourth of March, and on the evening of that day -the usual inaugural ball was given in their honor. It was plain from the -start that they had not made a favorable impression in their new -setting, for the ball was a failure in point of attendance; few ladies -wore fine costumes, and of the men the majority came in their business -clothes. As neither Mr. nor Mrs. Lincoln knew how to dance, or felt -enough confidence even to walk through a quadrille, the early part of -the evening was devoted to a handshaking performance which threw a chill -upon the rest. Mrs. Lincoln’s feminine instinct had led her to exchange -the stuffy frock and shawl of her first reception for a blue silk gown. -Mr. Buchanan had been expected but sent belated regrets; and Stephen A. -Douglas, the “Little Giant” who always became a big one in an emergency, -stepped into the breach as representative of the abdicating party, and -established himself as the personal escort and knight-in-waiting of Mrs. -Lincoln. - -In the White House, Lincoln took for his office the large square room in -the second story next the southeast corner, from the windows of which he -could look over at the Virginia hills. The room adjoining on the west -was assigned to his clerks and to visitors waiting for an interview. To -secure him a little privacy in passing between his office and the oval -library, a wooden screen was run across the south end of the waiting -room, and behind this he used to make the transit in fancied -invisibility, to the delight of the people sitting on the other side, to -whom, owing to his extraordinary height, the top locks of his hair and a -bit of his forehead were exposed above the partition. He was -persistently hounded by candidates for appointment to office; and it is -recalled that in one instance, where two competitors for a single place -had worn him out with their importunities, he sent for a pair of scales, -weighing all the petitions in favor of one candidate and then those of -the other, and giving the appointment to the man whose budget weighed -three-quarters of a pound more than his rival’s. - -Visitors admitted to his office usually found him very kind in manner, -though now and then a satirical impulse would give an edge to his humor. -When an irate citizen with a grievance called and poured it out upon -him, accompanied by a variegated assortment of profanity, Lincoln -waited patiently till the speaker halted to take breath, and then -inquired: “You’re an Episcopalian, aren’t you?” - -“Why do you ask that?” demanded the visitor, momentarily forgetting his -anger in his surprise. - -“Because,” answered Lincoln, “Seward’s an Episcopalian, and you swear -just like him.” - -The Reverend Doctor Bellows of New York, as chairman of the Sanitary -Commission, called once during the Civil War to tell Lincoln of a number -of things he ought to do. Lincoln listened with the most flattering -attention, slightly inclining his head in recognition of every separate -reminder of a duty left unperformed, and at the close of the catalogue -remained a minute or two in silent meditation. Then, throwing one of his -long legs over an arm of his chair, he looked up with a quizzical smile. -“Dominie,” said he, “how much will you take to swap jobs with me?” - -He could not always keep his humor out of his official communications, -as in this despatch to General Hooker in Virginia: “If the head of Lee’s -army is at Martinsburg, and the tail of it on the plank road between -Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, the animal must be pretty slim -somewhere. Couldn’t you break him?” - -Indeed, it was his instinctive discernment of the ridiculous side of -everything which, though it gave his enemies their chance to assail him -as a mountebank and a jester, undoubtedly served as a buffer to many a -heavy blow. Sometimes his laughs were at his own expense. About the -middle of the war a young man from a distant State procured an interview -with him, to expound a project for visiting Richmond in the disguise of -a wandering organ-grinder and making drawings of the defenses of the -city for the use of the Union commanders. Lincoln was so impressed that -he contributed one hundred and fifty dollars or more to purchase the -organ and pay other preliminary expenses. The young man disappeared for -some weeks and then returned with a thrilling account of his adventures, -and with plats and charts covering everything of military importance -around Richmond and at various points on the way thither. As a reward, -the President nominated him for a second lieutenancy in the army and -spurred some other patriot into sending him a brand new uniform and -sword. After a little, and by accident, it came out that the youth had -never been anywhere near Richmond, but had spent the President’s money -on a trip to his home, where, at his ease, he had prepared his -fictitious report and maps. Of course his nomination was at once -withdrawn; but Lincoln was so amused at his own childlike credulity -that he could not bring himself to punish the offense as it deserved. - -The Cabinet were often annoyed at the obtrusion of the President’s taste -for a joke at what seemed to them inopportune moments--especially -Secretary Stanton, whose sense of humor was not keen. On September 22, -1862, they were peremptorily summoned to a meeting at the White House. -They found the President reading a book, from which he barely looked up -till all were in their seats. Then he said: “Gentlemen, did you ever -read anything from Artemus Ward? Let me read you a chapter which is very -funny.” When the reading was finished, he laughed heartily, looking -around the circle for a response, but nobody even smiled; if any -countenance revealed anything, it was irritation. “Well,” said he, -“let’s have another chapter;” and he suited action to word. Finding his -listeners no more sympathetic than before, he threw the book down with a -deep sigh and exclaimed: “Gentlemen, why don’t you laugh? With the -fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh I should -die, and you need this medicine as much as I do.” With that, he ran his -hand down into his tall hat, which sat on the table near him, and drew -forth a sheet of paper, from which he read aloud, with the most -impressive emphasis, the first draft of the Emancipation Proclamation. -“If any of you have any suggestions to make as to the form of this paper -or its composition,” said he, “I shall be glad to hear them. But”--and -the deliberateness with which he pronounced the next words left no doubt -that the die had already been cast--“this paper is to issue!” - -The Lincolns brought two young children with them into the White House, -both boys. Of the elder, Willie, we hear little, except that he died -there, and that his loss added one more to the many lines which the war -had worn into the brow of his father. The younger boy, “Tad,” is better -known to the public through the exploitation of his juvenile pranks by -the newspapers and his appearance in some of the President’s portraits. -Many stories are told of his fondness for bringing ragged urchins from -the streets into the kitchen and feeding them, to the sore distress of -the cook and sometimes to the disturbance of the domestic routine in -other ways; but for whatever he wished to do in the charitable line he -found his father a faithful ally. There is a pretty tale of his having -espied in the lower corridor of the White House, one very rainy day, a -young man and woman, rather shabbily dressed, who seemed depressed in -spirits and anxious to consult with some one. Tad called his father’s -attention to them, and the President went up and asked them what they -wished. His sympathetic manner loosed their tongues and they told him -their story. - -It appeared that the girl was from Virginia and had run away from home -to marry her lover, an honorably discharged soldier from Indiana. They -had met by arrangement in Washington, but they were strangers there and -very unsophisticated, and had little money to pay a minister or spend on -hotel accommodations; so they had been wandering about the city for -hours, not knowing where to go, and had taken refuge in the White House -from the storm. They had no idea that they were talking to the President -till he made himself known. With characteristic directness, he sent for -a clergyman of his acquaintance and had the nuptial knot tied in his -presence. Then he invited bride and groom to remain as his guests till -the next day, when the weather cleared and they went their way -rejoicing. - -Although Mrs. Lincoln was the titular head of the President’s household, -the woman recognized as the social leader of the administration was Kate -Chase, daughter of the Secretary of the Treasury. She was handsome, -accomplished, and, after her marriage with William Sprague, the young -War Governor of Rhode Island, rich as well. Mrs. Lincoln never liked -her, but the President’s gift for peacemaking came into action here, -and there was no public display of the coolness of feeling between them. -Mrs. Sprague had a strong taste for politics, and her chief ambition was -to see her father President; but Lincoln cut off that chance at the -critical moment by making him Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Among -the young and rising Congressmen with whom Mrs. Sprague was brought into -contact during this period was Roscoe Conkling, a Representative from -New York, who later became a Senator. He was the pink of elegance in -person and attire, of stately and somewhat condescending manners, and -master of the arts of verbal expression. They formed a firm friendship -which lasted as long as both lived. Edgewood, the Chase home on the -northern border of the city, was for many years one of the show places -of Washington, and after Chase’s death Conkling procured from Congress -an act exempting it from taxation as a tribute to the public services of -its former owner. Another young Representative of whom Mrs. Sprague saw -almost as much as of Conkling, but liked less, was James G. Blaine of -Maine, a brilliant orator who in after years became Conkling’s most -powerful adversary. - -A warm friend of Chase’s who used to drop in at Edgewood whenever he was -in Washington was Horace Greeley, editor of the _New York Tribune_. He -was a quaint character, who wore his clothes awry and his hair long and -always tousled. His face he kept clean shaven, but raised a heavy blond -beard under his chin and jaws; and this, with his ruddy cheeks, blue -eyes, beaming spectacles, and generally bland aspect, made him look like -the typical back-country farmer of theatrical tradition. He accentuated -the peculiarities of his appearance by affecting a large soft hat and -not spotless white overcoat, the pockets of the latter habitually -bulging with newspapers. His handwriting was as unconventional as his -attire, and compositors in the _Tribune_ office had to be specially -trained in deciphering it, for Mr. Greeley was often unable to read it -himself after the subject-matter had grown cold in his mind. - -Greeley was an anti-slavery man, but not an aggressive abolitionist; -nevertheless he smiled benignantly upon the work of the Hutchinson -family and took some pains to introduce them in Washington wherever -their music would be likely to meet with a cordial reception. The -Hutchinsons were a Massachusetts family of sixteen brothers and sisters, -nearly all of them bearing Bible names given them by a deeply religious -mother. They learned as children to lead the singing in the Baptist -church attended by their parents, and, as their musical fame spread, one -of the - -[Illustration: _The “Old Capitol”_] - -brothers developed a talent as a versifier and began writing songs -adapted to their interpretation, breathing an earnest spirit of -patriotism and pleading for human freedom. From giving concerts in their -native town and neighborhood, they gradually essayed more and more -ambitious ventures, and with Greeley’s aid came under the favorable -notice of the administration. Lincoln, realizing the appeal their homely -entertainments would make to the Union volunteers, gave them a roving -commission to visit the camps of the Army of the Potomac and encouraged -them to take in the recruiting stations wherever they happened to be. -They mixed fun with their seriousness in such proportions as they -believed would please all classes in their audiences; and in their way -they did as much to keep the soldiers cheerful as Tom Paine had done -fourscore years before. - -So accustomed is the public mind to associating Lincoln and Grant as -coworkers for the Union cause that few persons suspect that the two men -never met till the Civil War was three-fourths over. Then, Congress -having revived the grade of Lieutenant-general of the Army, Grant was -ordered to Washington to receive his promotion. Arriving early in March, -1864, he went at once to the White House, where the President happened -to be holding a reception in the east room. He held back till most of -the people had passed, when Lincoln, recognizing him from his portraits, -turned to him with hand outstretched, saying: “This is General Grant, is -it not?” - -“It is, Mr. President,” answered Grant. And with this self-introduction, -fittingly simple, the two great figures of the war faced each other for -the first time. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -NEW FACES IN OLD PLACES - - -Although constantly urged to take precautions for his own safety, -Lincoln never did. He used to walk about the streets as freely as any -ordinary citizen; and night after night, during the darkest period of -the war, he would stroll across to Secretary Stanton’s office to talk -over the latest news from the front. Stanton’s remonstrances he would -dismiss with a weary smile, protesting that, as far as he was aware, he -had not an enemy in the world, but if he had, anybody who wished to kill -him had a hundred chances every day--so, why be uneasy? His second -inaugural address was shorter than the first; he wrote it about midnight -of the third of March, seated in an armchair where he was resting after -a hard day’s work, and holding the cardboard sheets in his lap. Its -concluding words were as memorable as those of four years before: “With -malice toward none, with charity for all, let us go forward with the -work we have to do: to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who -has borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, and to do all -things which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among -ourselves and with all nations.” - -Early on the fourth, he went to the Capitol quietly and devoted the -remaining hours of the morning to reading and signing bills. The -procession which had been arranged to escort him was formed at the White -House, with the President’s carriage at its head, occupied by Mrs. -Lincoln and Senators Harlan and Anthony. A platoon of marshals pioneered -it, and a detachment of the Union Light Guard surrounded it. The crowd, -recognizing the White House coachman on its box, but not seeing -distinctly who sat behind, cheered it all along the line under the -supposition that it held the President. Two companies of colored troops -and a lodge of colored Odd Fellows were among the marchers, this being -the first time that negroes ever took part in an inaugural pageant -except in some servile capacity. - -We have already seen how Washington received the news of the final -triumph of the Federal arms, and how Lincoln fell in the midst of the -general rejoicing. Many readers of his inaugural address of that year -have since professed to discern between its written lines a veiled -foreboding of the end. Certain it is that he was an habitual dreamer, -and that one dream, which came to him on the night before Fort Sumter -was bombarded, was repeated on the eve of the first battle of Bull Run, -and just before other important engagements. As he described it, he -seemed to be on the water in an unfamiliar boat, “moving rapidly toward -a dark, indefinite shore.” The last recurrence of the dream was in the -early morning hours of April 14, 1865. We shall never know, now, whether -it was this or some other portent that caused him to say to a trusted -companion, not long before his death: “I don’t think I shall live to see -the end of my term. I try to shake off the vision, but it still keeps -haunting me.” He had received several threatening letters, which he kept -in a separate file labeled: “Letters on Assassination.” After his death -there was found among these a note about the very plot in which Booth -was the chief actor. - -Fate plays strange tricks. For a few hours that spring, one friend in -Washington unconsciously held Lincoln’s life in his hand. Harriet -Riddle, since better known as Mrs. Davis, the novelist, was a pupil at a -local convent school. Shortly before the tragedy at Ford’s Theater, a -teacher who had been on a brief visit to a Southern town returned, -apparently laboring under some terrible excitement which she was trying -to suppress. At the session of her class immediately preceding their -separation for Good Friday, she suddenly fell upon her knees, bade them -all join her in prayer, and poured forth, in a voice and manner so -agonizing that the children were thrilled with a nameless horror, an -hysterical appeal for divine mercy on the souls who were soon to be -called before their Maker without warning. - -Harriet, who was an impressionable child, could hardly contain herself -till she reached home and sought her father, to whom she attempted to -relate the afternoon’s occurrence. He was the District-attorney, and an -intimate of the President’s, and was so immersed in the cares of office -that he put her off till he should have more leisure. When she was -awakened on Good Friday night by the noise of citizens and soldiers -hurrying through the streets and calling out the news of the -assassination, she uttered an exclamation which caught her father’s -attention, and then he listened to the tale which he had once waved -aside. “Why did you not tell me this before?” he demanded. It was then -too late to do more than collect such evidence as he might from the -pupils to aid the detectives; but the teacher who had uttered that awful -prayer had fled and could never be traced. No one could longer doubt her -guilty knowledge of the plot, probably acquired during her visit in the -South. - -The oath with which Vice-president Johnson took upon himself the -obligations of the Presidency was administered to him at his rooms in -the Kirkwood House, a hostelry on the Pennsylvania Avenue corner now -occupied by the Hotel Raleigh. Of his administration, the most broadly -interesting incident was the impeachment trial described in an earlier -chapter; and in our reflections on how history is shaped, another -personal anecdote seems worthy of a place. Its heroine was Miss Vinnie -Ream, the sculptor, who later became Mrs. Hoxie. - -As his trial drew near its close, and Johnson’s friends and enemies were -able to figure out pretty accurately how the Senate was going to divide, -it became plain that the issue would hang on a single vote. If all the -Senators counted against the President stood firm, he would be -convicted, thirty-six to eighteen; but Secretary Stanton insisted that -Ross of Kansas was preparing to go over from the majority to the -minority. Ross was occupying a room in the same house with Miss Ream on -Capitol Hill, and General Daniel E. Sickles, who was acquainted with -him, was deputed to see him on the night before the roll-call and try to -hold him fast against the President. Miss Ream happened to meet the -General at the door, ushered him into the parlor but refused to let him -see the Senator, and held him at bay till dawn the following morning, -when he gave up the effort as fruitless and went home. If she had -weakened for a moment, there is no telling what might have happened, for -Sickles was in a position to have brought very heavy pressure to bear -upon Ross. The roll-call showed thirty-five for conviction to nineteen -against--less than the two-thirds required to convict; and it was Ross’s -vote that saved Johnson. - -At the inauguration of Grant, the relations between him and the retiring -President were so strained, owing to the recent struggle at the War -Department, that Johnson refused to attend the ceremonies unless it -could be arranged that he and Grant should ride in separate carriages. -General Rawlins therefore acted as escort to Grant and Vice-president -Colfax. Grant was not much of a speaker, but the delivery of his -inaugural address is remembered for a pretty incident. His little -daughter Nellie, confused by the continuous bustle all about her, obeyed -on the platform the same childish impulse which moved her in any -exigency at home, and, running to his side, nestled against him, -clasping one of his hands in both of hers and holding it all the time he -was speaking. At the ball that evening, access to the supper-room and to -the cloak-room was by the same door, which caused a blockade in the -passage. The servants in charge of the wraps became hopelessly -demoralized, with the result that Horace Greeley had to wait two hours -to recover his white overcoat and lost his hat entirely. The torrent of -lurid expletives he let loose during his ordeal shared space and -importance, in the next day’s newspapers, with the thirty-five thousand -dollars’ worth of diamonds worn by Mrs. John Morrissey, wife of the -prize-fighter. - -Grant’s second inauguration began inauspiciously, his aged father -falling down a flight of stairs at the Capitol and suffering injuries -which finally caused his death. The day was stormy, and the evening the -coldest known in Washington for years. Unfortunately, the only place -where the ball could be held was an improvised wooden building, through -the crevices of which the icy wind blew a gale; and, to complete -everybody’s misery, the heating apparatus broke down, so that many of -the ladies who had come in conventional toilets had to protect their -shoulders with fur mantillas, while their escorts put on overcoats. The -President was so cold that he forgot the figures in the state quadrille -which he was to lead, and was obliged to depend on General Sherman to -push him through them. The supper was ruined, the meats and salads -competing in temperature with the ices; all that could be saved was the -coffee, which was kept hot over alcohol lamps. The breath of the members -of the band congealed in their instruments, and several hundred canaries -which were to sing in the intervals between band pieces shriveled into -little downy balls on the bottoms of their cages and uttered not a -trill. - -The key-note of Grant’s administration on its political side was his -steadfast faith that any friend of his was capable of filling any office -in his gift. He named Alexander T. Stewart, the New York dry-goods -merchant, for Secretary of the Treasury, but had to let him resign on -account of technical objections raised in the Senate. Wendell Phillips -having come to his defense at a hostile mass-meeting in Boston, Grant -wished to make him Minister to England, but the offer was declined -because Mrs. Phillips would not be able to go abroad at that time. Caleb -Cushing of Massachusetts, though a stanch Democrat before the war, had -become an “administration man” as soon as the Union was threatened, and -thereby aroused the admiration of Grant, who named him for Chief Justice -after Chase’s death; but the same political independence which so won -Grant had incensed a number of Senators, who caused the rejection of the -nomination. - -Later, however, Grant succeeded in sending Cushing as Minister to -Spain. Cushing was a man full of peculiarities, which strengthened with -his years. At an early age he discarded the umbrella as a nuisance and -braved storms unprotected. Naturally his hats suffered. At the time he -received his billet for Spain, he was wearing one of the chimney-pot -variety, which, from its appearance, he must have bought many years -before. The nap was a good deal worn, there was a slight bulge in the -top, and, thanks to the squareness of his head, he could wear it with -either side in front. When some one suggested that he had better buy a -new hat before presenting himself at the Spanish court, he considered -the question solemnly, turning the old hat around and examining it with -care before answering: “No, I think I shall wait and see what the -fashions are in Madrid.” Though ready to spend his money freely for any -public purpose, in private indulgences the frugal notions inherited from -his New England ancestry came to the front. Hardly anybody ever saw him -light a fresh cigar, but he used to carry about in his pocket a case -packed with partly consumed stumps, to one of which he would help -himself when he wished a smoke, only to let it die again as soon as he -had become interested in talking. - -It was because of his liking for both Blaine and Conkling that Grant -strove, as his last act in the White House, to reconcile the two men, -who were intensely hostile to each other. Their quarrel had grown out of -a passage in debate when Conkling had made some very sarcastic comments -on Blaine. The latter retorted in kind. “The contempt of that -large-minded gentleman,” said he, glancing toward Conkling, “is so -wilting, his haughty disdain, his grandiloquent swell, his majestic, -supereminent, overpowering, turkey-gobbler strut have been so crushing -to myself and all the members of this House, that I know it was an act -of temerity for me to venture upon a controversy with him.” Referring to -a recent newspaper article in which Conkling had been likened to the -late Henry Winter Davis, Blaine went on: “The gentleman took it -seriously, and it has given his strut additional pomposity. The -resemblance is great. It is striking. Hyperion to a satyr, Thersites to -Hercules, mud to marble, a dunghill to a diamond, a singed cat to a -Bengal tiger, a whining puppy to a roaring lion!” - -Conkling never forgave this attack. It seems like a small thing to -change the whole current of a nation’s history, but it probably cost -Blaine the Presidency; for in 1884 the disaffection of the Republicans -in Conkling’s old home in central New York gave the State to Cleveland. -President Grant’s effort to bring the foes together failed because -Blaine, though ready to make any ordinary concessions, balked when -Conkling demanded that he should confess his “mud to marble” speech to -have been “unqualifiedly and maliciously false.” - -In 1874, Miss Nellie Grant was married to Algernon Sartoris, a British -subject. She was her father’s pet. At her wedding, he stood beside his -wife to receive the guests, his face wearing a sphinx-like calm, though -every one knew how he would feel the parting soon to follow. His forced -composure continued till Nellie had left the house with her husband, and -then he disappeared. An old friend, seeking him up-stairs, tapped at his -chamber door, and, as there was no response, pushed it slightly ajar and -looked in. There, on the bed, face downward, his eyes buried in his -hands and his whole frame shaken with grief, lay the great soldier, -sobbing like a child. - -Throughout the Grant administration, the social arbiter for Washington -was Mrs. Hamilton Fish, wife of the Secretary of State. She was a woman -of the world, broad-minded and efficient, but the White House was not a -very ceremonious place in that era. When the new Danish Minister called, -for instance, in full regalia, to present his credentials, he found no -one prepared to receive him, even the negro boy who met him at the door -having to hurry into a coat before ushering him in. Persons who -attended the state dinners say that Grant often turned down his -wine-glasses. It was, as far as I have ever heard, the first instance of -a President’s doing this; and it paved the way for the reign of cold -water which came in with the next President, Rutherford B. Hayes. - -Hayes entered office under cloudy auspices. His competitor for the -Presidency was Samuel J. Tilden, a powerful Democratic leader. In some -of the Southern States which were still in the throes of reconstruction, -United States troops were doing police duty, the Governors were -appointees of a Republican President, and the election machinery was in -the hands of Republican office-holders, though the bulk of the white -voting population was Democratic. In these States the official -canvassers had reported the Republican electors chosen, the electors had -cast their ballots for Hayes, and the Governors had signed and forwarded -their certificates accordingly, in defiance of Democratic protests that -the returns were fictitious. Without these States, the Democratic -candidate had one hundred and eighty-four of the one hundred and -eighty-five electoral votes necessary to a choice, while the Republican -candidate could win only with their aid; so a single electoral vote -would tip the scale either way. The duty of opening the certificates -and - -[Illustration: _St. Paul’s, the Oldest Church in the District_] - -announcing the results devolved upon the President of the Senate, a -strong Republican. - -The Democrats made so serious charges of falsification of the records -that the whole country became much excited, and fears were entertained -in Congress that another civil war might be impending. In the midst of -the turmoil, a joint committee of both chambers worked out a plan for a -bi-partisan Electoral Commission, to consist of five Senators, five -Representatives, and five Justices of the Supreme Court, before whom all -the questions at issue should be argued by counsel, and whose decisions -should place the result beyond immediate appeal. The Commission, as made -up, contained eight Republicans and seven Democrats, and its decisions -were always given by a vote of eight to seven. It held its sessions in -the room now occupied by the Supreme Court, where it began its work on -February 1, 1877, and at the end of a month rendered its last ruling, -which gave the Presidency to Mr. Hayes. - -As the fourth of March was to fall on Sunday, President Grant had Hayes -meet Chief Justice Waite in the red parlor of the White House on the -evening of the third and take the oath privately. The inaugural ball was -omitted because the Electoral Commission had finished its work too late -to enable preparations to be made. President Hayes was not nearly so -conspicuous a figure during the following four years as his wife, who -was a woman of very positive convictions, especially on the subject of -alcoholic stimulants. At her instance, wines were banished from the -White House table, the only exception occurring when the Grand Dukes -Alexis and Constantin of Russia visited Washington. It is said to have -been some incident at the entertainment given in their honor which fixed -Mr. and Mrs. Hayes definitely in the determination not to depart again -from the rule of teetotalism. - -The newspapers poked a good deal of innocent fun at the Hayes parties on -the score that, though the ban was never lifted from the ordinary -intoxicants drunk from glasses, there was always plenty of strong Roman -punch served in orange-skins. The nickname which presently fastened -itself to this deceptive course was the “life-saving station.” In his -diary, however, Mr. Hayes has left us the statement: “The joke of the -Roman punch oranges was not on us, but on the drinking people. My orders -were to flavor them rather strongly with the same flavor that is found -in Jamaica rum. This took! It was refreshing to hear the drinkers say, -with a smack of their lips, ‘Would they were hot!’” I am bound to add -that, in spite of the good man’s enjoyment of his ruse, the suspicion -still survives that his steward used to put a private and particular -interpretation on his orders. - -Although Mr. Hayes was not a member of any church, his wife was an -ardent Methodist, and one marked feature of their life in Washington was -the Sunday evening sociables at the White House, when Cabinet officers -and other dignitaries would come in and pass a couple of hours singing -hymns, with light conversation between. Among the most interested -attendants at these gatherings was General Sherman, who used to join -vigorously in the singing--or try to. Another, who was destined to play -an independent part in history a few years afterward, was a clever young -Congressman from Ohio named William McKinley, Junior. He had been a -volunteer soldier in Hayes’s regiment early in the war, and they had -grown to be fast friends. At one of the first of the secular receptions -during the Hayes régime, the guest of honor was a budding celebrity, -Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii. She labored under the handicap of knowing -no English, and had to carry on most of her conversation through an -interpreter. - -President Hayes provoked a good deal of criticism among the Southerners -in Washington by appointing Frederick Douglass, the negro ex-slave and -orator, United States Marshal of the District, for the office had up to -that time carried with it the duties of a sort of majordomo at the -President’s receptions, including the presentation of the guests. A -visitor to Washington about these days who did not attend the state -receptions, but held some of his own in the open air, was a man of small -and unimpressive stature, with black hair and mustache and a rather -good-natured face, whose portrait appeared repeatedly in the illustrated -papers, and whose name carried with it a certain terror to timid souls -who expected to see him launch a social revolution. This was Dennis -Kearney, who had made himself notorious by his speeches in the sand-lots -of San Francisco, declaring that “the Chinese must go,” and denouncing -every one, regardless of race, who had been thrifty enough to accumulate -any of this world’s goods. His remarkable coinage of words and generally -unique English gave currency to a multitude of epigrammatic phrases, -which for several years were known as “Kearneyisms.” - -All through the campaign of 1880 a great deal was made of the sayings -and doings of “Grandma Garfield,” the mother of the Republican -candidate: an old lady of a type rarely seen now, who was not ashamed of -her years, wore her cap and spectacles as badges of distinction, and -never forgot that, however great he might have grown, her son was still -her son. Nor did he forget it; and on the east portico of the Capitol, -with his assent to the constitutional oath barely off his lips, his -first act as President was to bend down and kiss her. The inauguration -was notable, too, for the important part taken in the parade by the -defeated competitor for the Presidency, General Winfield S. Hancock. He -was a splendid-looking man and a superb horseman, and in his uniform as -a Major-general was the most imposing object in the procession. The -spectators, delighted with his sportsmanlike spirit, paid him as hearty -a tribute as they paid the President. - -A few weeks after the inauguration, a fierce quarrel broke out over the -distribution of federal patronage, splitting the Republican party into -two factions. The angry irruptions of the newspapers on both sides, -which would have passed with any normal mind for what they were worth, -made a more serious impression on that of Charles J. Guiteau, a -degenerate with a craving for self-advertisement; and, failing in his -attempt to obtain an office for himself, he saw in the controversy an -opportunity to pose as a hero by removing its cause. Garfield, as a -graduate of Williams College, had arranged to attend the next -commencement, and was in the railway station on the second of July, -1881, on the way to his train, when he was approached by Guiteau from -behind and shot. He lingered, first in the White House and later at -Elberon, New Jersey, whither he was taken after the weather became too -sultry in Washington, till the nineteenth of September. The assassin was -brought to trial at the winter term of the Supreme Court of the -District, convicted of murder, and hanged. - -On the evening of the day of Garfield’s death, the Vice-president, -Chester A. Arthur, was sworn in at his home in New York City, in the -presence of his son and a few personal friends, including Elihu Root. A -more formal administration of the oath took place in the -Vice-president’s room at the Capitol in Washington three days later, -Chief Justice Waite officiating, with Associate Justices Harlan and -Matthews, General Grant, and several Senators and Representatives as -witnesses. After signing the oath, Arthur read a brief address and -returned at once to his office. - -Arthur was a widower, and his only daughter was still too young to take -full charge of his household affairs, so his sister, Mrs. McElroy, -presided at all his social functions. He was very fond of music, and the -great operatic and concert stars were always sure of a warm welcome from -him when they passed through Washington. The finest of his dinners was -that which he gave for Christine Nilsson. As the company rose from the -table and he offered his arm to escort her back to the east room, the -Marine Band in the corridor, responding to a secret signal, began -playing one of her favorite airs, and, with the spontaneous delight of a -child, she fell to singing it, her voice soaring bird-like above the -instruments as she walked. This surprise for Miss Nilsson was typical of -the graceful things Arthur was fond of doing, and in which he set the -pace for the members of his official family. Ex-president Grant and his -wife, on their return from their tour of the world, dropped in upon -Washington, as it chanced, just when a reception was about to be held at -the White House. Arthur sent his carriage for them. Mrs. Frelinghuysen, -wife of the Secretary of State, was on that occasion filling Mrs. -McElroy’s accustomed station next to the President in the receiving -line; but on the entrance of the distinguished guests she withdrew, -gently pressing Mrs. Grant into her place as hostess of the evening. - -As the first Democratic President since the war, Grover Cleveland of New -York found a hard task laid out for him. He realized that he owed his -election chiefly to the reform element in both the great parties, yet it -was his own party that claimed him, and, having been out of power for a -quarter-century, it was not over-modest in its demands. His efforts at -tariff reduction stirred the protectionists to such activity in the -next campaign that Benjamin Harrison of Indiana, a Republican and a -grandson of “Old Tippecanoe,” was elected in November, 1888. When he -entered office, Cleveland was a bachelor forty-eight years old. In June, -1886, he married Miss Frances Folsom, the daughter of a former law -partner to whom he had been warmly attached. The wedding ceremony was -performed in the White House, only a small party of friends attending. -Mrs. Cleveland, who was young and of attractive presence, made friends -for herself on every side and did much to soften the antagonisms which -her husband’s course in office necessarily aroused. - -The clerk of the weather seemed to have been storing his rain for weeks -in order to let it all out upon Harrison’s inauguration, and the street -pageant was a drenched and draggled affair. The civilities of the -outgoing to the incoming President gave the day its one touch of -cheerfulness. Cleveland sat on the rear seat of the open landau which -bore them to the Capitol, the front seat being occupied by Senators Hoar -and Cockrell, acting as a committee of escort. In order to enable -Harrison to lift his hat to the people who cheered him from the -sidewalk, Cleveland raised his own umbrella and held it over his -companion. When Cockrell undertook to do the same for Hoar, his umbrella -broke. Cleveland at once borrowed an umbrella of his Secretary of the -Treasury in the next carriage, and, when Mr. Hoar demurred, reassured -him with a laugh: “Don’t be alarmed, Senator; we’re honest, and I’ll see -that it gets back!” As they drove down the Avenue, most of the applause, -naturally, was for the President-elect; but once in a while a spectator -would shout, “Good-by, Grover!” or something of the sort, and Cleveland -would return the greeting with a smile and a nod. So much kindly feeling -was manifested throughout the morning that Harrison, who was -temperamentally the least effusive of men, was deeply touched; and he -could not forbear referring in his inaugural address to the courtesy he -had received at Cleveland’s hands, adding that he should endeavor to -show like consideration to his successor four years later. - -And four years later Providence gave him the chance, which he improved -as far as in him lay. In the meantime he had passed through many sad -experiences. Factional divisions, almost as serious as those that -culminated in the assassination of Garfield, had broken up his party. -His Secretary of State, Mr. Blaine, had parted company with him on the -eve of the meeting of the Republican National Convention of 1892, become -his rival for the Presidential nomination, and died the following -winter. Two of Blaine’s sons and one of his daughters had already died. -Mr. Windom, Secretary of the Treasury, had fallen dead at a public -banquet, just after finishing a memorable speech in defense of the -administration. General Tracy, Secretary of the Navy, had lost his wife -and daughter in a fire which destroyed their Washington home. The wife -of the President’s secretary, Mr. Halford, had died; and to crown his -load of sorrows, Mr. Harrison lost his own wife and her father almost at -the time of his defeat for reëlection. - -On the other hand, he had enjoyed the presence in the White House of his -daughter, Mrs. McKee, with her two children, one of whom, a bright -little boy named in his honor, was his special favorite and playfellow -out of office hours. The south garden was the scene of many of their -frolics, which recalled the legends about John Adams and his juvenile -tyrant. One incident will never be forgotten by those who witnessed it. -“Baby McKee,” as Benjamin junior was commonly called, used to drive a -goat before his little wagon. This amusement was confined, as a rule, to -occasions when the President could be near at hand to watch proceedings, -for the goat was an erratic brute. One day it caught the President -napping and started at full gallop for an open gate. Mr. Harrison, -suddenly awakened to the situation, dashed after. The goat succeeded in -pulling the wagon through the narrow aperture without a collision, but, -once in the street, bolted straight for a trench in which workmen were -laying a pipe. By a succession of mighty leaps, such as probably no -dignitary of his rank had ever made before, Mr. Harrison contrived to -get in front of the animal, seize it by the bit, and swing it around in -the nick of time to prevent its jumping the excavation and tumbling -wagon and boy into the mud at the bottom. The President was puffing hard -as he returned triumphantly to the White House, dragging the reluctant -goat by the headstall, under a running fire of complaints from his -grandson for spoiling the morning ride. - -When Mr. and Mrs. Cleveland came back in 1893, they brought with them -their infant daughter Ruth, and open gates in the south garden of the -White House became at once a thing of the past; for the garden was the -child’s only playground, and an epidemic of kidnapping had recently -broken out. For further security, and in order to have one place where -his domestic hours would be free from business interruptions, the -President rented the small estate known as Woodley, in one of the -northwestern suburbs. Here he lived during the greater part of the year, -driving in daily to his work and spending a night in Washington now and -then if necessary. By that time the official encroachments on the family -space of the White House had reached a point where either the building -must be enlarged or a separate dwelling provided for the President. A -scheme of enlargement had been broached in Harrison’s term, but the -plans drawn under Mrs. Harrison’s direction changed the shape of the old -mansion in too many essential features to win the approval of the -architects consulted, and the matter was dropped. The Clevelands, by -living at Woodley, escaped some of the cramping the Harrisons had -suffered, and the McKinleys, who came in next, got along pretty well -because they had no children. - -As Senator La Follette once said, McKinley never had a fair chance as -President to show what was in him: his first term was broken into by the -Spanish War, and his second was cut off almost at its beginning by -assassination. He was sweet-natured and a born manager of men, and no -one who ever filled the Presidential chair left behind him a more -fragrant memory. As his murder occurred in Buffalo, and Czolgosz, who -killed him, was tried and put to death there, the episode serves our -present purpose only in leading up to the accession of Theodore -Roosevelt of New York, the Vice-president, who was recalled from a -summer vacation in the mountains to take the head of the state. His -inauguration was of the simplest sort, at the house of a friend in -Buffalo, where some members of the McKinley Cabinet and a few other -gentlemen met to witness the administration of the oath. - -His first few months in the White House convinced the new President that -something must be done without delay to relieve the building, which had -become not only inconvenient but dangerous. For several years, when -repairs had been found necessary, they had been made by temporary -patchwork, with little reference to their effect on anything else; not a -few of the floor timbers subject to most strain were badly rotted, and -others stood in so perilous relations to the lighting apparatus that -only by a miracle had the house escaped destruction by fire. Fortunately -Congress had begun to show some interest in a long-mooted project for -bringing the city back to the plan laid out by L’Enfant; and a generous -appropriation was procured for making over the White House to resemble -as nearly as practicable the President’s Palace built by Hoban. All the -latter half of 1902 was given to this work. The office was moved out of -the main building and planted in a little house of its own on the same -spot where Jefferson used to have his workroom, at the extremity of the -western terrace. The eastern terrace, of which nothing but the buried -foundations remained, was rebuilt, and so arranged as to afford an -entrance for guests at the larger receptions. - -Inside of the main house, the old lines were kept intact as far as the -comfort of its occupants would permit, though the restoration did work -some changes. The noble east room, which for many years was decorated in -the style of the saloon of a river steamboat, wears now the air of -simple elegance designed for it before steamboats were invented; and the -state dining-room has been so enlarged that future Presidents will not -be forced, on especially great occasions, to spread their tables in the -east room in order to spare the diners the annoyance of bumping elbows. -Upstairs the changes have been rather of function than of form. The room -which, from Grant’s day to McKinley’s, was used for Cabinet meetings, -and where our peace protocol with Spain was signed, is now a library; -that in which Lincoln read to his official family the first draft of his -Emancipation Proclamation is now a bedroom, and a like fate has befallen -the former library, where Cleveland penned his Venezuela message. The -old lines of partition, however, are all there. Logs still blaze and -crackle in the fireplace beside which Jackson puffed his corncob pipe. -The windows through which Lincoln looked over at the Virginia hills have -not changed even the shape or size of their old-fashioned panes. The -places where our first royal guest slept, and where Garfield passed his -long ordeal of suffering, remain bedchambers. - -Mrs. Roosevelt, who loved the White House and had made a study of its -architectural history, personally supervised every stage of its -restoration. When the alterations were finished, she took the same -interest in the process of refurnishing, so that the final product was, -as nearly as modern conditions would permit, the White House of a -century ago. The removal of needless obstructions was one of the most -successful elements in the renovation, as it made possible the handling -of a crowd of fifteen hundred or two thousand people without confusion. -Socially, the Roosevelt administration was in every way the most -brilliant Washington has ever known. Mrs. Roosevelt was a perfect -hostess, and the many-sided President drew about him the leaders in -every line of thought and action. In his democracy of companionship and -his forceful way of doing whatever he laid his hand to, he was another -Jackson; in his attraction for men of letters, students of statecraft, -artists, and scientific workers, he revived the best traditions of -Jefferson. - -The four years of Taft are too fresh in the public memory to call for -extended mention. Taft was forced to have his inauguration in the Senate -Chamber on account of the execrable weather, for the worst blizzard -prevailed on the fourth of March, 1909, that had visited Washington for -ten years. The railroads leading into the city were blockaded, so that -many passengers who had come from a distance to attend the ceremony were -compelled to forsake their trains a mile or more from their destination -and plow their own way in, as the sole alternative of camping in the -cars for an indefinite number of hours. Only by the utmost diligence on -the part of the municipal laborers were the streets kept in condition -for the parade to pass, and most of the spectators’ stands erected on -the sidewalks were utterly deserted. Mr. Roosevelt having announced, -some time before, his intention to leave for New York as soon as he had -seen his successor sworn in, Mrs. Taft made the drive between the -Capitol and the White House by her husband’s side. - -Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey, the next President, signalized his advent -by notifying the citizens of Washington that he did not wish any -inaugural ball, and the preparations already under way were abandoned. -His administration is still writing its own history. - -[Illustration: _St. John’s, “the President’s Church”_] - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -THE REGION ’ROUND ABOUT - - -No American city has suburbs more interesting than Washington’s. Those -that hold first rank, naturally, are on the Virginia side of the -Potomac, the region most redolent of the memory of the great patriot -whose name was given to the capital. The Arlington estate, which lies -nearest, was never the home of George Washington, but he visited it -often, for it belonged by inheritance to the grandson of his wife by her -earlier marriage; and George and Martha were so pleased with it that -they built a little summer-house about where the flagstaff now stands, -whence they could overlook the work going on in the new federal city -across the river. Young George Custis, owner of the place, built the -spacious dwelling substantially as we now find it, finishing it four -years after Washington’s death. He left the property to his daughter -Mary, who in 1831 became the wife of Robert E. Lee, then a lieutenant in -the regular army, but thirty years later commander-in-chief of the -Confederate forces. Their wedding took place in the old drawing-room, -where visitors now register their names. - -Lee had just reached colonel’s rank when the Civil War broke out. He was -opposed to secession, but, faithful to the traditions of State -sovereignty in which he had been trained, decided that it was his duty -to sacrifice all other ties and follow the fortunes of Virginia. After a -painful interview with General Scott, who strove vainly to shake his -resolution, he wrote, in the library across the hall from the -drawing-room, his resignation of his commission in the United States -army. Then, accompanied by his family, he set out for the South, never -to return. In a few days the Federal troops took possession of the -estate as important to the protection of Washington. Here McClellan -worked out his plans for the reorganization of the Union army following -the Bull Run disaster. A few years afterward, there being no one at hand -to pay the war-tax laid on the land, it was sold under the hammer, and -the Government bid it in. Before the sale had been definitely ordered, a -Northern relative of the Lees came forward with an offer to pay the levy -and costs, but the tax commissioners declined the tender on the ground -that the delinquent taxpayer had not made it in person. - -Meanwhile, the house had been turned into a military hospital, and the -patients who died there were buried close by. When it became necessary -to have a soldiers’ burial-ground near Washington, Quartermaster-general -Meigs was permitted to lay off two hundred acres of the estate for the -purpose. This was the beginning of the National Cemetery of to-day, -where about eighteen thousand soldiers and sailors have found a last -resting-place. - -Some time after the war, General Lee’s son brought suit for the recovery -of the property and won it, the Supreme Court holding that the tax -commissioners ought to have accepted the tender made them; but Mr. Lee -compromised with the Government, conveying to it his interest for one -hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Since then the house has been put -into excellent repair, and the land about it suitably enclosed and -improved. On the upper edge of the estate has been established the -military post known as Fort Myer, where cavalry-training is carried to a -high point, weather observations are made, and a wireless telegraph -station exchanges despatches with the Eiffel tower in Paris. Some of the -land down by the river has been made over into an experimental farm -under the auspices of the Department of Agriculture. - -Happily, the Cemetery has been kept free from tawdry memorials and -inconsequential ornament, and enveloped in an atmosphere of dignity -well fitting its sacred character. Its most impressive tomb is that -dedicated to the Unknown Dead, which contains the remains of more than -two thousand soldiers found on various battlefields but never -identified. “Their names and deaths,” says the inscription, “are -recorded in the archives of their country, and its grateful citizens -honor them as their noble army of martyrs.” Not far away is a fine -amphitheater with a carpet of turf and a canopy of trellised vines, -where memorial exercises are held annually on Decoration Day, the -President almost always taking part. There is also a Temple of Fame, -bearing the names of Washington and Lincoln, with those of the military -leaders who particularly distinguished themselves in the Civil War. An -extension has recently been made in the grounds devoted to sepulture, -where the most conspicuous monument is that which commemorates the -tragedy of the battleship _Maine_ in Havana harbor. The base is built to -represent a gun-turret on the deck of a man-of-war; on this are -inscribed the names of the victims, while from the center of the turret -rises a mast with a fighting-top. A larger and more ambitious -amphitheater, also, has been laid out in the extension. - -From Arlington we can go, by the same road that Washington trod on his -trips, to Alexandria, a town which fairly reeks with associations, from -the colonial names of some of its streets--King, Queen, Prince, -Princess, Duke, Duchess, Royal--to its remnants of cobblestone pavement -laid by the Hessian prisoners in the Revolution. Here is the old Carlyle -mansion, where General Braddock had his headquarters before starting on -his ill-fated expedition against the French and Indians. In its blue -drawing-room Washington, as a young surveyor ambitious to serve his -king, received the first rudiments of his military education; and at the -foot of yonder staircase one evening stood the same Washington, -expectant, while pretty Sally Fairfax tripped lightly down to join him -and be led through the opening cotillion at her coming-out ball. - -This must have been a splendid mansion in its time, with a terraced -garden descending to the river-bank, and a fountain in the midst of the -flower-beds. It was built on the ruins of a fort used by the early -settlers against the Indians; the living-rooms of the fort became the -cellar of the mansion, and the fort proper the plaza, upon which the -main hallway opens. You enter the house now through a cozy little -tea-room established by a group of young ladies of Alexandria; and it -may be your good fortune to be shown about the premises by one of them -who is herself a member of the historic Carlyle and Fairfax families -and familiar with all their ancestral tales. - -A prominent site in town is covered by Christ Church, where Washington -worshiped, and where you can see the square family pew for which he paid -the record price, thirty-six pounds and ten shillings. The church stands -in a large, old-fashioned yard, sprinkled with the gravestones of men -and women of local renown. Hither, on Sundays, drove the ladies from -Mount Vernon, seven miles away, in a chariot with a mahogany body, green -Venetian blinds, and pictured panels, drawn by four horses. The General -did not take kindly to the coach for himself, but rode beside it on his -favorite saddle-horse, followed at a respectful distance by Bishop, his -colored body-servant, in scarlet livery. After service he would linger -in the churchyard, chatting with his friends, till Bishop reminded him -of the flight of time by bringing up his horse and holding the stirrup -for him to mount. - -A spirited historical controversy has been waged over the question of -Washington’s attitude toward religion. The weight of evidence favors the -idea that, though not bound by dogma, he had a broad faith in the -philosophy of Christianity, always knelt with the rest of the -congregation and joined in the responses, and occasionally remained for -the communion. He certainly encouraged his slaves to believe in the -efficacy of prayer; for once, when a long-continued drought threatened -to ruin his crops, he called his farm-hands together on Sunday morning -and bade them put up their united supplication for rain. They did so, -and to their great delight the flood-gates of heaven suddenly opened and -deluged the earth; but the Washington family were caught in the storm on -their way home from church, and could not make shelter soon enough to -save Mrs. Washington’s best gown from serious damage or the General from -being soaked to the skin. - -In his younger days, Washington was fond of dancing, and used to come -into town to attend assemblies at Clagett’s Tavern. The assembly-hall -was up-stairs. It was afterward divided into three rooms, one of which, -having fallen into the hands of persons who respect its pedigree, has -been pretty well preserved. In the old times it had at one end a gallery -for the musicians, accessible only by a ladder, which was removed as -soon as they were all in their places. This arrangement was designed to -compel them to stay at their work till released, and to drink only what -was passed up to them with the approval of the floor-committee. - -Across the corridor from the old assembly-hall was a chamber that later -became interesting through its occupancy by an unknown woman who came to -the tavern one morning in 1816, plainly in ill health. She was -accompanied by a few servants, with whom she conversed only in French, -and neither she nor they could be drawn into any communication with -other persons, except what was necessary to engage accommodations and -order meals. On the fourth day of her stay, there appeared on the scene -a strange man, who from various indications was assumed to be her -husband. An hour after his arrival she died in his arms. He buried her -in St. Paul’s cemetery on the outskirts of the town, planting a -willow-tree over her grave, and raising at its head a stone inscribed to -the memory simply of “A Female Stranger,” with this stanza from Pope’s -“Unfortunate Lady”: - - “How loved, how honored once, avails thee not, - To whom related, or by whom begot. - A heap of dust alone remains of thee, - ’Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be.” - -And the Female Stranger remains a mystery to this day, though many -efforts have been made to discover her identity. A local suspicion that -she was Theodosia Allston, the daughter of Aaron Burr, seems to be -discredited by the fact that Theodosia’s disappearance occurred in 1812, -and that her husband was dead long before the Stranger came to -Clagett’s Tavern. - -How public-spirited a citizen Washington was is attested by his having -laid the foundation of Alexandria’s free-school system, presented the -town with its first fire-engine, organized its first militia company, -and got up a lottery to raise a fund for improving the country roads -thereabout. He was an earnest Freemason, and the lodge named for him -owns a number of relics like the chair in which he presided as Master, -his apron, his wedding gloves, his spurs, his pruning-knife, and a -penknife which his mother gave him when he was eleven years old and -which he carried till he died. It has also the last authentic portrait -of him taken from life, a pastel done by William Williams of -Philadelphia. - -In and around Alexandria are other points of interest, including the -house in which Colonel Ellsworth was killed, and one where, it is said, -Martha Washington secreted herself for a while during her widowhood for -fear of a slave uprising; a theological seminary which has graduated, -among other eminent divines, Bishops Phillips Brooks of Boston and Henry -C. Potter of New York; and the nearly obliterated remains of the road -which, in 1765, General Braddock began to build into the West. - -We can go to Mount Vernon by boat, or over a road which Congress has -repeatedly, but without effect, been petitioned to acquire and improve. -Already a trolley company has recognized a public demand and is running -cars on a regular schedule from the heart of the capital city to the -borders of Washington’s old estate. On the way down we pass Wellington, -once the home of Tobias Lear, whom General Washington hired for two -hundred dollars a year to act as tutor to the children at Mount Vernon, -promoting him later to the post of private secretary. In both -capacities, his employer provided, he “will sit at my table, will live -as I live, will mix with the company who resort to the house, and will -be treated in every respect with courtesy and proper attention.” Lear -married three wives, one of them a kinswoman of the General’s. He -acquired means, removed in later life to Washington, and became a -merchant with a warehouse on the river. His tombstone in the -Congressional Cemetery recites an overflowing list of his virtues and -honors, and posterity owes him a large debt for having preserved many of -the Washingtoniana most valued now by historians. - -Mount Vernon became the property of the Washington family by a grant -from Lord Culpepper in 1670 to John Washington, the great-grandfather of -George. It was christened in honor of Admiral Vernon, a friend of -Lawrence Washington, the half-brother who brought George up and -superintended his education. George, who received it by inheritance, -willed it to his nephew Bushrod, he to his nephew John, and John to a -son of the same name. Financial embarrassments led the last heir to part -with some of the land; but to an area of a few hundred acres, including -the mansion, the family tomb, and the wharf on the Potomac, he held fast -till arrangements could be made for its purchase by the Mount Vernon -Ladies’ Association, a society of patriotic women who, with money -privately raised, have restored the place and kept it in order ever -since. There is good reason to doubt whether this would ever have come -about but for the heroic energy of Miss Ann Pamela Cunningham of South -Carolina, who, though a confirmed invalid, devised and executed a plan -which saved the estate from being sold to a professional showman. - -Just as in Alexandria we found ourselves in touch with a George -Washington who was a flesh-and-blood Virginian as distinguished from the -colorless paragon of the standard histories, so at Mount Vernon we meet -the same Washington in his character of husband, farmer, and host. Even -here, however, we are not wholly beyond the penumbra of fiction; for -only five miles away is the town of Pohick, once the parish seat of -Parson Weems, the inventor of the cherry-tree myth on which my -generation were industriously fed. Although, of course, no one still -living in the region can remember Washington, there are not a few who -are familiar with the details of his daily life, handed down in their -families from ancestors who did remember him. These make him out a very -human country gentleman, who loved to ride, to shoot, to fence, and to -wrestle; who mixed business with pleasure in an occasional horse-race or -real estate speculation; who disbelieved in slavery, and was recognized -by his own two hundred bondmen as a kind master, yet was noted for -getting more work out of a negro than any other slaveholder in Virginia, -and for not hesitating to administer corporal punishment to one who -deserved it. - -We learn from these sources that he was “as straight as an Indian, and -as free in his walk”; that he was what the ladies of that day, in spite -of some marks left by the smallpox, styled “a pretty man”; that his -weight of two hundred and ten pounds was all bone and muscle; and that -he stood six feet and two inches tall in his shoes, which ranged in size -from Number eleven to Number thirteen. His hands seem to have been his -only physical deformity; they were so large as to attract attention and -required gloves made expressly for them, three sizes larger than -ordinary. His eyes are variously described as “blue,” as “of a bluish -cast and very lively,” as “a cold, light gray,” and as “so gray that -they looked almost white.” These alternatives may be reconciled, -perhaps, by Gilbert Stuart’s recollection that his eyes were “a light -grayish blue, deep sunken in their sockets, giving the expression of -gravity of thought.” His hair was originally dark brown and fairly -thick; his face was long, his nose prominent, his mouth large, and his -chin firm. He suffered a good deal with toothache, particularly after -his military service, and, as the rural remedy was the simplest known, -he passed his last years almost toothless. This drove at least one -portrait-painter into padding the front of his mouth with cotton wool, -to make his lips look more natural than they did when drawn over the -ill-fitting artificial teeth which he inserted for state occasions. - -The great man lived well, his principal meal being a three o’clock -dinner, which he washed down with five glasses of Madeira, taken with -dessert. This allowance he gradually increased toward the close of his -life till it reached two bottles. In sending away for sale a slave whom, -though troublesome, he guaranteed as “exceedingly healthy, strong and -good at the hoe,” he expressed his willingness to take in part payment -“a hogshead of the best rum” and an indefinite quantity of “good old -spirits.” In our gout-fearing era, these data have the ring of -immoderate indulgence, but measured by the standards of the eighteenth -century they were temperate enough. It must be said for the General, -also, that he was charitable in his judgment of the weaknesses of -others, as shown by his contract with an overseer, to whom he conceded -the privilege of getting drunk for a week once a year; and his campaign -expenses for election to the Virginia legislature embraced a hogshead -and a barrel of punch, thirty-five gallons of wine, and forty-three -gallons of strong cider. - -It makes us feel a little nearer to the Father of our Country to learn -that he was not immune to the influence of bright eyes and dainty -toilets; that he was in love, or fancied he was, with several different -damsels at as many different times; and that his self-surrender -occasionally declared itself in amatory verse too dreadful for belief. -His most serious infatuation seems to have been with a Miss Gary, whom -he courted fervently, only to be dismissed by her father with the sordid -reminder: “My daughter, sir, has been accustomed to ride in her own -coach!” As this was a knock-down argument for a stripling surveyor who - -[Illustration: _Ford’s Theatre, the Old Front_] - -was just struggling to raise his professional terms to twenty-five -dollars a day when employed, he went his way, but sought consolation in -winning Martha Custis, who resembled Miss Cary almost as a twin sister. - -Of Mary Washington, mother of George, we get glimpses in the familiar -chat of the vicinage. She appears as a rather difficult person, who -tried the methodical soul of her son by her thriftless habits and her -incessant complaints of being out of money. For years he did his utmost -to induce her to rent her plantation further down the State, hire out -her slaves, and live on her fixed income thus obtained, but to no -purpose. Yet after he had become so famous that he was obliged to -entertain at Mount Vernon all the traveling celebrities of two -hemispheres, she suddenly took it into her head that she would like to -come and live with him. In spite of his filial piety, candor compelled -him to show her the impracticability of her proposal; and, though he -tried to soften her disappointment by sending her the last seventy-five -dollars in his purse, she seems to have continued dissatisfied. - -George was not stingy. On the contrary, on each of three plantations -which he farmed he kept one crib of corn always set apart for free -distribution among the poor, and never let this fail, even if he had to -rob his own table supply or to buy corn at a dollar a bushel to make up -a deficit. He was not a rich man, but for sentimental reasons held on to -Mount Vernon after it had ceased to be profitable property. At his -death, he was worth only about seventy-five thousand dollars in his own -right, and, had he lived ten years longer at the same rate, he would -have died a bankrupt. It was his wife’s better investments that kept up -the expenses of their home. - -As we go over the old mansion, we are shown the various rooms associated -with Washington’s activities, and that in which his death occurred. -Notwithstanding his sturdy muscular development, his throat and chest -were always weak spots; and in 1799, after a soaking and chill from a -ride through a December storm, he went to bed with a cold which left him -unable to swallow. Soon he realized that the end was not far off. It was -characteristic of the man that he should then discharge the doctors from -further useless ministrations, give such directions about his burial as -he deemed important, and calmly proceed to watch the waning of his own -pulse. After a little the hand that held his wrist relaxed and dropped -upon the coverlet, and the friends gathered in the chamber knew that all -was over. - -On the Maryland side of the Potomac, the suburb most convenient of -access is Georgetown. In fact, it long ago ceased to be strictly a -suburb, by incorporation with the city of Washington, from which it was -separated only by Rock Creek, a narrow tributary of the Potomac. -Officially, it is now West Washington, and its streets have been renamed -and renumbered so as to conform as nearly as practicable to the system -in use in the capital. All the same, Georgetown has never lost its -identity. It had a life of its own before Washington was thought of; and -within my recollection the old society of Georgetown used to look -askance at the “new people” with whom Washington was filling up. It is -still sprinkled with hoary houses set in quaint ancestral gardens, -though modernism has touched the place at so many points that we can get -a glimpse of these survivals sometimes only through deep vistas lined -with the red brick side-walls of urban blocks. The most attractive of -the old mansions, and the best preserved, is the Tudor house, built by -Doctor William Thornton about 1810. It is a good specimen from the -Georgian epoch in architecture, standing fitly in the midst of a great -square of lawn, with shade trees and box hedges to correspond; and one -of its traditions is that pretty little Nellie Custis went there to her -first ball, though--but I leave others to struggle with the problem of -conflicting dates. One thing we do know, that the place has always been -in the possession of kinsfolk of the Mount Vernon family. - -Many amusing stories are told of Georgetown’s early days, when the -Scotch element were so strong in its population that a man could not be -appointed to the office of flour inspector without subscribing to a test -oath declaring his disbelief in the doctrine of “transsubstantiation in -the sacrament of the Lord’s supper”; when the city fathers sought to -save the expense of employing a surveyor to calculate the width of the -Potomac at a point where a bridge was to be built, by ordering out all -good citizens to pull at the opposite ends of a measuring-rope; and when -the big triangle which was pounded as an alarm of fire fell from the -belfry in which it hung, and fire-alarms were sounded thereafter by -blowing a fish-horn through the streets. But none of these tales will -have an interest for most visitors equal to the local version of the -origin of the “Star-Spangled Banner.” For Georgetown was Francis Scott -Key’s old home. - -As the story goes, part of the British forces which marched upon -Washington in the summer of 1814 passed through Upper Marlboro, -Maryland, on a day when Doctor William Beanes, a prominent physician, -was entertaining several friends at dinner. As the gentlemen talked, -they grew more and more indignant against the invaders, and, news being -brought to them at table that a few red-coated stragglers were still in -town committing depredations after the main body of their comrades had -passed on, some one suggested that the party go out and arrest these men -as disturbers of the peace. This was done, but to little effect; for as -soon as the stragglers got away, they hastened to catch up with the army -and lodge a complaint with their officers, who at once sent back a squad -of soldiers to arrest the arresters. Three of the dining party, -including Beanes, were carried off to Admiral Cockburn’s flagship, which -was lying in the Patuxent River. Cockburn, after administering a -disciplinary lecture to the trio, dismissed the others but took Beanes -as a prisoner on his ship to Baltimore. - -Key, who was Beanes’s nephew, hastened to Baltimore as soon as he heard -of the doctor’s plight, and under a flag of truce went aboard the vessel -to intercede with Cockburn for his uncle’s release. His plea was vain; -and Cockburn would not even let him go ashore again till after the -bombardment of Fort McHenry. When Key returned to Georgetown, he related -his adventures at the next meeting of the local glee-club, and his -fellow members urged him to put his narrative into verse. He read his -production at a later meeting, and the club introduced it to the -public, who adopted it as the national anthem. - -Among the noted names associated with Georgetown, outside of political -life, may be mentioned those of Joel Benton, the poet and essayist, who -bought a farm on the Washington side of Rock Creek, since famous as the -Kalorama estate; Robert Fulton, the pioneer in steam navigation, who -made some of his early experiments with water-craft and submarine -explosives on the small streams of the neighborhood; George Peabody, -financier and philanthropist, who came as a poor boy from Massachusetts -and worked as a clerk in a store in Bridge Street; William W. Corcoran, -whose later career somewhat resembled Peabody’s, and whose real start in -life dated from the failure of a little shop he kept in the heart of the -town; and, last but not least, a youthful belle whose romance demands a -paragraph or two of its own. - -Baron Bodisco, Russian Minister to the United States during the Van -Buren administration, lived, as did most of the foreign envoys of that -time, in Georgetown. He was a bachelor, well on toward sixty years of -age, uncompromisingly ugly, with a face covered with wrinkles, and a -bald head which he tried to conceal under a somewhat obtrusive wig. He -had for visitors one winter two young nephews, for whom he gave a -dancing party at the legation, inviting all the socially eligible boys -and girls in town. By some accident, one of his invitations miscarried -and failed to reach Harriet Beall Williams, a most attractive and -popular schoolgirl of sixteen. He hastened to repair his error as soon -as he discovered it, and on the evening of the party hunted her up to -make his apologies in person. It was a case of love at first sight. -After that he contrived to meet her occasionally on her way to or from -school, and ere long he became an avowed suitor for her hand. The -courtship, though not displeasing to the girl, was for some time -discouraged by her family. Finding her resolved to accept her elderly -lover, however, they withdrew their active opposition, and Beauty and -the Beast, as they were commonly called, were married in June. - -The Baron, who had excellent taste in everything except his own make-up, -superintended all the details of the affair, even to the costumes of the -bridal party. The bridesmaids were schoolmates of Miss Williams, one -being Jessie Benton, then aged fourteen, who afterward became the wife -of General John C. Fremont. The groomsmen were generally contemporaries -of the groom, so that the note of age disparity was uniform throughout. -President Van Buren and Henry Clay were conspicuous among the guests. -At the first opportunity, the Baron took his bride to Russia and -presented her at court, where she electrified the assembled nobility by -shaking the Czar’s hand in cordial American fashion. It delighted the -Czar, however, which was more to the point; and, although she did many -unusual things, like declining the Czarina’s invitation to a Sunday -function because she had been brought up to “keep the Sabbath,” she -became a great favorite in the inner imperial circle, and loved to dwell -on her foreign experiences after she came back to Georgetown to live. -The Bodisco house is still pointed out to strangers. - -Not all the historic associations of Georgetown and its neighborhood -have been so peaceful. For a few miles out of town the river’s edge is -dotted with sequestered nooks to which hot-brained gentlemen could -retire on occasion, to wipe out their grievances in one another’s blood. -The Little Falls bridge afforded such a retreat to Henry Clay and John -Randolph after Randolph’s speech declaring that the “alphabet that -writes the name of Thersites, of blackguard, of squalidity, refuses her -letters for” Clay. The combatants took the precaution to cross the -bridge far enough to avoid the jurisdiction of the District -authorities. Clay’s first shot cut Randolph’s coat near the hip, -Randolph’s did nothing. At the second word, Clay’s bullet went wild, and -Randolph deliberately sent his into the air, remarking: “I do not fire -at you, Mr. Clay!” At the same time he advanced with hand outstretched, -Clay meeting him halfway. Randolph, as they were leaving the field, -pointed to the hole made by Clay’s first bullet, saying jocosely: “You -owe me a coat, Mr. Clay.” “I am glad, sir,” answered Clay, “that the -debt is no greater.” - -The subject of duels calls to mind another suburb, to wit, Bladensburg, -Maryland, where the defenders of Washington made their brief and -ineffectual stand against the invading British in 1814. Here, for sixty -years, in a green little dell about a mile out of town, all sorts of -personal and political feuds were settled with deadly weapons. The most -celebrated of these meetings was that of March 22, 1820, between two -Commodores of the American navy, Stephen Decatur and James Barren. Like -most duels, it was more the work of mischief-makers than of the -principals themselves. - -Decatur was at the height of his fame for achievements in the War of -1812 and against the Barbary pirates; he was a fine marksman with the -pistol, and had had several earlier experiences on the dueling-field. -Barren, on the other hand, was under a cloud for some professional -mistakes; he was six years Decatur’s senior, had no taste for dueling, -and was near-sighted. Down to the last, Barron was plainly disposed to -accept any reasonable concession and call the affair off; but Decatur -was in high spirits and full of confidence. - -Two shots rang out simultaneously, and both men fell. Decatur, who was -at first supposed to be dead, presently showed signs of returning -animation and was lifted to his feet, only to stagger a few paces toward -his antagonist and fall again. As the two men lay side by side, Barron -turned his face to say to Decatur that he hoped, when they met in -another world, they would be better friends than in this. Decatur -responded that he had never been Barren’s enemy, and, though he -cherished no animosity to Barron for killing him, he found it harder to -forgive the men who had goaded them into this quarrel. Both combatants -were carried back to Washington, where Barron slowly recovered from his -wound; but Decatur, after a day of intense suffering, died in the house -which still bears his name, at the corner of Jackson Place and H Street. - -So habitually was this one ravine chosen for the settlement of affairs -of honor that when two Representatives, Jonathan Cilley of Maine and -William J. Graves of Kentucky, decided in 1838 to end a dispute with -rifles, they outwitted pursuit by choosing for their fight the eastern -end of the Anacostia bridge on the high-road to Marlboro, Maryland; and -a posse who started out to stop them went to the accustomed ground only -to find it empty. This duel had naught of the dramatic quality of that -between Decatur and Barren, but its effect on the public mind proved -more far-reaching. Cilley was a young man of brilliant promise, highly -respected as well as popular, with a wife and three little children. The -quarrel was forced upon him because, in the interest of the proper -dignity of Congress, he objected to a proposed investigation by the -House of some vague and irresponsible insinuations made in a recent -newspaper letter against sundry members who were not named or otherwise -identified. Graves insisted that this speech was an insult to the author -of the article, whose championship he gratuitously undertook. - -The first two shots were thrown away on both sides. At the third fire, -Cilley fell upon his face, his adversary’s bullet having killed him -instantly. When the news of his death spread through Washington, -indignation against Graves rose to fever heat, and his public career -ended with that hour. The wantonness of such a sacrifice of a useful -life, where the writer who figured as the cause of the quarrel did not -even take a part in it, gave special point to the condemnation of the -false standard of honor set up by the “code.” The funeral services for -Cilley at the Capitol were attended by the President and Cabinet, in -testimony to the high esteem in which he had universally been held; -while the Supreme Court declined its invitation in a body, as the most -emphatic means of expressing its abhorrence of glossing murder with a -thin coat of etiquette. Ministers, not only in Washington but in all the -more highly civilized parts of the country, denounced dueling from the -pulpit, newspapers published editorials and associations adopted -resolutions against it, additional legislation for the abolition of the -practice was introduced in various legislatures, and Congress passed an -act to punish, with a term in the penitentiary, the sending or -acceptance of a challenge in the District of Columbia. - -[Illustration: _Stage Entrance through which Booth Escaped_] - - - - -CHAPTER X - -MONUMENTS AND MEMORIES - - -Among the projects in the minds of the founders of the federal city was -a monument to celebrate the success of the American Revolution. George -Washington personally selected the site for it, due south of the center -of the President’s House. Meanwhile the Continental Congress had -recommended the erection of an equestrian statue of General Washington, -and, immediately after his death, the Congress then in session resolved -to rear a monument under which his body should be entombed. But, though -resolutions were cheap, monuments were costly, and the project gradually -faded out of mind till revived in 1816 by a member of Congress from -South Carolina. Still nothing happened, till another generation devised -a plan for raising the money by popular subscription without waiting -longer for a Government appropriation. The Washington Monument Society -was organized with a membership fee of one dollar, so as to give every -American opportunity to subscribe. By 1848 a sufficient fund had been -collected to spur Congress into presenting a site; and the spot chosen -was that marked by Washington for the monument to the Revolution, thus -happily combining his plan with the nation’s tribute to himself. Tests -of the ground showed that, in order to get a safe footing, it would be -necessary to move a little further to the eastward, which accounts for -the present monument’s being not quite on the short axis of the White -House. - -For the original plan of a statue, an obelisk of granite and marble was -substituted, which by its simplicity of lines, its towering height, and -its purity of color, should symbolize the exceptional character and -services of the foremost American. The building fund held out pretty -well till a politico-religious quarrel arose over the acceptance, for -incorporation in the monument, of a fine block of African marble sent by -the Pope; and on Washington’s birthday, 1855, a Know-Nothing mob -descended upon the headquarters of the Society, seized its books and -papers, and took forcible possession of the monument. The Know-Nothing -party ended its political existence three years later, and the monument -went back to its former custodians; but the riotous demonstration had -checked the orderly progress of the work, and, as the Civil War was -imminent, the shaft, then one hundred seventy-eight feet high, was -roofed over to await the return of normal conditions. It was not till -1876 that, under the patriotic impetus of the centenary, Congress was -induced to coöperate. The work was vigorously pushed from 1880 to 1884; -and in the spring of 1885, when it had attained a height of five hundred -fifty-five feet and five and five-tenths inches, occurred the formal -dedication of the Washington National Monument as we see it to-day. - -For the benefit of any one whose pleasure in a masterpiece is measured -with a plummet, it may be noted that the Monument falls less than fifty -feet short of the Tower of Babel; to him who revels in terms of -distance, the glistening pile will appeal on the ground that it is -visible from a crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains, more than forty miles -away as the bee flies. But most of its neighbors in Washington find it -for other reasons an unceasing joy. To us it is more truly at the heart -of things than even the Capitol. It is the hoary sentinel at our -water-gate; or, spread the city out like a fan, and the Monument is the -pivot which holds the frame together. - -The visitor who has seen it once has just begun to see it. A -smooth-faced obelisk, devoid of ornament, it would appear the stolidest -object in the landscape; in truth, it is as versatile as the clouds. -Every change in your position reveals it in a new phase. Go close to it -and look up, and its walls seem to rise infinitely and dissolve into the -atmosphere; stand on the neighboring hills, and you are tempted to throw -a stone over its top; sail down the Potomac, and the slender white shaft -is still sending its farewells after you when the city has passed out of -sight. It plays chameleon to the weather. It may be gay one moment and -grave the next, like the world. Sometimes, in the varying lights, it -loses its perspective and becomes merely a flat blade struck against -space; an hour later, every line and seam is marked with the crispness -of chiseled sculpture. On a fair morning, it is radiant under the first -beams of the rising sun; in the full of the moon, it is like a thing -from another world--cold, shimmering, unreal. Often in the spring and -fall its peak is lost in vapor, and the shaft looks as if it were a -tall, thin Ossa penetrating the home of the gods. Again, with its base -wrapped in fog and its summit in cloud, it is a symbol of human destiny, -emerging from one mystery only to pass into another. Always the same, -yet never twice alike, it is to the old Washingtonian a being instinct -with life, a personality to be known and loved. It has relatively -little to tell the passing stranger, but many confidences for the friend -of years. - -To realize all that it is to us, you must see it on a changeable day. -Come with me then to the Capitol, whence, from an outlook on the western -terrace, we face a thick and troubled sky. The air is murky. Clouds -fringed with gray fleece, which have been hanging so low as to hide the -apex of the Monument, are folding back upon themselves in the southern -heavens, forming a rampart dark and forbidding. Against this the obelisk -is projected, having caught and held one ray of pure sunshine which has -found an opening and shot through like a searchlight. It is plain that -an atmospheric battle is at hand. The garrulous city seems struck dumb; -the timid trees are shivering with apprehension; the voice of the wind -is half sob and half warning. The search-ray vanishes as the door of the -cloud fort is closed and the rumbling of the bolts is heard behind it. -The landscape in the background is blotted from view by eddies of yellow -dust, as if a myriad of horsemen were making a tentative charge. Silent -and unmoved, the obelisk stands there, a white warrior bidding defiance -to the forces of sky and earth. As the subsiding dust marks the retreat -of the cavalry, the artillery opens fire. First one masked porthole and -then another belches flame, but the sharp crash or dull roar which -follows passes quite unnoticed by the champion. Then comes the rattle of -musketry, as a sheet of hail sweeps across the field. - -We are not watching a combat, only an assault, for these demonstrations -call forth no response. On the champion--taking everything, giving -nothing--the only effect they produce is a change of color from snowy -white to ashen gray. Even that is but for a moment. As the storm of hail -melts into a shower of limpid raindrops to which the relieved trees open -their palms, the wind ceases its wailing, and the wall of cloud falls -apart to let the sun’s rays through once more. - -The Monument is, of course, only one of many memorials to great men in -Washington. We have heroes and philanthropists, poets and physicians, -soldiers and men of science, mounted and afoot, standing and sitting. We -have horses in every posture that will hold a rider: Jackson’s balanced -on its hind legs like the toy charger on the nursery mantelpiece; -Washington’s getting ready to try the same trick; Sheridan’s dashing -along the line to the lilt of Buchanan Read’s poem; Pulaski’s, Greene’s -and McPherson’s, Hancock’s and McClellan’s and Logan’s, walking calmly -over the field; Scott’s and Sherman’s watching the parade. The best -equestrian statue is that of General George H. Thomas, by Quincy Ward, -at the junction of Massachusetts Avenue with Fourteenth Street. Here we -have the acme of art in treating such a subject: spirit coupled with -repose. The horse has been moving, but has been checked by the rider to -give him a chance to look about; they could go on the next moment if -need be, or they could stand indefinitely just as they are. - -The Scott statue, at Massachusetts Avenue and Sixteenth Street, is good -if we take it apart and examine it piecemeal; but the massive rider -threatens to break down his slender-limbed steed, which is, by some -mischance, of the mare’s build and not the stallion’s. General Sheridan, -who used to live within a stone’s throw of this statue, lay while ill in -a bedroom commanding a view of it. “I hope,” he remarked one day, “that -if a grateful country ever commemorates me in bronze, it will give me a -better mount than old Scott’s!” It is hard to find anything new to do -with a general officer and a horse without putting them into some -impossible attitude. A sculptor who attempts a reasonable innovation is -liable to be snubbed for it, as one was not long ago when he offered in -competition a statue of General Grant, dismounted, with his bridle -swung over one of his arms while he used the other hand to hold his -field-glass. - -Some of the best-known statues in the city have attracted as much -attention by their travels as by their artistic qualities. One of these -is Greenough’s colossal marble presentment of George Washington, which -visitors to the Capitol ten years ago will recall as standing in the -open space facing the main east portico. Greenough was in Italy in 1835, -when it was ordered, and spent eight years on its production. It shows -Washington seated, nude to the waist, and below that draped in a flowing -robe. It weighed, when finished, twelve tons without a pedestal, and -required twenty-two yoke of oxen to haul from Florence to Genoa. -Peasants who saw it on the way took it for the image of some mighty -saint, and dropped upon their knees and crossed themselves as it passed. -The man-of-war which was waiting for it at Genoa had no hatchway large -enough to take it in, so a merchant vessel had to be chartered for its -voyage to America. Arrived at the Capitol, where it was intended to -stand in the center of the rotunda, it could not be squeezed through the -doors, and the masonry had to be cut away. Then it was discovered that -it was causing the floor to settle, and a lot of shoring had to be done -in the crypt underneath. Finally, as it was not suited to its place, the -masonry around the doorway was ripped out again, and the statue was set -up in the plaza, where it remained till 1908, the sport of rains and -frosts and souvenir-maniacs, when it took what every one hopes will be -its last journey--to the National Museum. The original purpose of -Congress was to have a “pedestrian statue” costing, all told, five -thousand dollars. What has eventuated is Washington’s head set on a -torso of Jupiter Tonans, costing, with all its traveling expenses, more -than fifty thousand dollars. - -Another peregrinating statue is that of Thomas Jefferson, which stands -to-day against the east wall of the rotunda. In 1833 it occupied the -center of this room. When Greenough’s Washington was brought in, -Jefferson was removed to the Library of Congress, which was then housed -in the rooms of the west front of the Capitol. In 1850 it was carried up -to the White House and planted in the middle of the north garden. It -held that site for twenty-four years and then came back to the rotunda, -from which there is no reason to think it will be moved again. - -The only parallel to these instances of frequent shifts in the local art -world is the case of a painting entitled “Love and Life,” presented by -the English artist, George F. Watts, to our Government. Mr. Cleveland, -who was President at the time, hung it in the White House, but the -prudish comments passed upon it by visitors led to its transfer to the -Corcoran Gallery of Art. In the Roosevelt administration it made three -trips, first to the White House, then back to the Corcoran Gallery, and -then to the White House again, where it rested till President Taft came -in, only to be rebanished to the Corcoran Gallery. President Wilson had -it returned to the White House, and there it is at the present writing. - -Although there has never been in Washington a definite scheme for the -location of statues, which have been planted, hit or miss, wherever -space offered, accident has arranged a few of them so as to form a -rather remarkable historical series. Starting with the Washington -National Monument, in honor of the foremost figure in the Revolution and -the President who set in motion the machinery of the embryo republic, we -pass directly northward to the White House, home of all his successors -in the Presidency and emblematic of the civil government which emerged -from the War for Independence. A few hundred feet further northward -stands the statue of Andrew Jackson, the hero of the War of 1812, the -first fought by the United States as a nation. About a half-mile more -to the north we reach the statue of Winfield Scott, the general whose -capture of Mexico City ended the second foreign war in which the nation -engaged. All that is needed to complete this remarkable procession is a -memorial arch on Sixteenth Street heights, to the soldiers and sailors -on both sides of the Civil War which cemented the Union begun under -Washington. - -Strange to say, the city which best knew Lincoln and Grant has had, up -to this time, no out-of-doors statue whatever of Grant and no adequate -one of Lincoln. In Lincoln Park, about a mile east of the Capitol, is -the Emancipation statue, and in front of the City Hall there is an -insignificant standing figure of Lincoln, perched on a pillar so high -that the features can be seen only dimly. A statue of Grant will later -occupy the central pedestal of a group in the little park at the foot of -the western slope of the Capitol grounds, which it is proposed to call -Union Square. On either side of Grant, the plan originally was to place -Sherman and Sheridan; but as the Sherman and Sheridan statues already -set up elsewhere are so diverse in character, it has been questioned -whether they would fit into the Union Square group. After many -suggestions, controversies, and reports, Congress decided, a year or -two ago, upon a form of memorial for Lincoln, which is already under -way. It will be a marble temple, designed by Henry Bacon, in Potomac -Park, with a statue of the War President, by Daniel Chester French, -visible in the recesses of its dignified colonnade. - -Besides the scores of statues and miles of painted portraits which keep -vivid the memory of great and good men who are gone, Washington has many -institutions and buildings with personal associations that fulfil a -similar purpose. The Corcoran Gallery of Art, for instance, was the gift -of the late William W. Corcoran, the financier. The national deaf-mute -college at Kendall Green, on the northeastern edge of the city, recalls -its original benefactor, Amos Kendall, who was Postmaster-general under -Jackson, as well as the work of Doctor Edward M. Gallaudet in raising it -from its modest beginnings to its present eminence. The Pension Office, -in which eight inaugural balls have been held, takes first rank among -our public edifices for architectural ugliness. It is nevertheless an -honor to the memory of Quartermaster-general Meigs, who asked the -privilege of proving, in an era of extravagance, that a suitable -building could be reared for the money allotted to it, and who turned -back into the treasury a large slice of his appropriation after having -paid every bill. The present Library of Congress is, in a like manner, -a monument to the late Bernard R. Green, whose engineering skill and -administrative faculty performed a feat corresponding to General -Meigs’s; it reminds us, also, of Thomas Jefferson, whose private -library, purchased after the burning of the Capitol, formed the nucleus -of the present magnificent collection. The Soldiers’ Home, near the -north boundary of the city, commemorates General Scott’s success in -Mexico, the tribute he exacted there for a breach of truce being used in -founding this beautiful retreat, where veterans of the regular army may -pass their declining years in comfort. - -Few people, probably, are aware that the Smithsonian Institution, whose -fame is as wide as civilization, owes its origin to the rejection of a -manuscript prepared for publication. James Smithson, an Englishman of -means, who had been a frequent contributor to the Philosophical -Transactions of the Royal Society of London, sent in, a little less than -a century ago, a paper which the censors refused to print; and its -author avenged the affront by altering his will, in which he had -bequeathed his entire fortune to the Society, so as to throw the -reversion to the United States, a country he had never seen, to be used -for “an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among -men.” Congress had a long quibble about the disposal of the money, but -at last hit upon a plan, and since then has turned over much of the -public scientific research work to be performed “under the direction of -the Smithsonian Institution.” The accumulation of trophies of -exploration, historical relics, and gifts of objects of art and industry -from foreign potentates, presently overflowed the accommodations of the -Institution proper, and a National Museum was built to house these -treasures. The Smithsonian commemorates not only the beneficence of -Smithson, but the great achievements of its several executive heads, -like Joseph Henry’s in electromagnetism, Spencer F. Baird’s in the -culture of fish as a source of food-supply, and Samuel P. Langley’s in -aërial navigation and the standardization of time. - -The old City Hall, better known now as the District Court House, will be -remembered as the place where the first President Harrison probably -caught the cold which resulted in his death. It has a tragic association -with another President, also, for in one of its court-rooms was -conducted the trial of Guiteau for assassinating James A. Garfield. This -trial excited vigorous comment throughout the country by what seemed to -many critics an unwarrantable latitude allowed the defendant for -self-exploitation. - -[Illustration: _Rendezvous of the Lincoln Conspirators_] - -Judge Walter T. Cox, who presided, was one of the ablest and most -conscientious jurists who ever sat on the Supreme bench of the District. -From personal attendance on the trial, I feel sure that the course -pursued by him was the only one which could have given the jury a sure -ground for dooming the assassin to death; and it was doubtless a -realization of that fact which held in check the mob spirit that began -to show itself at one stage and threatened to save the Government the -trouble of putting up a gallows. The popular rancor against Guiteau was -so strong that in order to get him safely into the Court House from the -“black Maria” which brought him from the jail every morning, and to -reverse the operation at the close of every day’s session, the vehicle -was backed up within about twenty feet of one of the basement doors, and -a double file of police, standing shoulder to shoulder with clubs drawn, -made a narrow little lane through which he was rushed at a quickstep, -his face blanched with terror, and his furtive eyes fixed on the earth. - -Another historical incident is associated with the old building, to -which many attribute the final resolve of President Lincoln to issue his -Emancipation Proclamation. I refer to the abolition of slavery in the -District of Columbia. A bill to this end, introduced by Henry Wilson in -December, 1861, was hotly debated in Congress but finally passed, and -was signed on April 16, 1862. Only loyal owners were to be paid for -their slaves, and every applicant for compensation had to take an -iron-clad oath of allegiance to the Government. The whole business was -handled by a board of three commissioners, who employed for their -assistance an experienced slave-dealer imported from Baltimore. They met -in one of the court-rooms, and the dealer put the negroes through their -paces just as he had been accustomed to in the heyday of his trade, -making them dance to show their suppleness and bite various tough -substances as a test of the soundness of their teeth. Many of the black -men and women came into the room singing hosannas to glorify the dawn of -freedom. The highest appraisement of any slave was seven hundred and -eighty-eight dollars for a good blacksmith; the lowest was ten dollars -and ninety-five cents for a baby. These were about half the prices which -would have been brought but for the fact that only one million dollars -was appropriated, whereas the total estimated value of the slaves paid -for was nearer two million, and all payments had to be scaled -accordingly. - -A remarkable feature of this episode was the discovery of how many -slaveholders there were who were not white people. Now and then in the -past, when for some special reason a negro had been freed, he would save -his earnings till he had accumulated enough to buy his wife and -children, who still remained in bondage to him till he saw fit to -manumit them. One case which attracted wide attention was that of a -woman who had bought her husband, a graceless scamp who proceeded to -celebrate his good fortune by becoming an incorrigible drunkard. This -had so outraged the feelings of his wife that she had finally sold him -to a dealer who was picking up a boatload of cheap slaves to carry -south. From that hour she had lost sight of him; but she haunted the -commissioners’ sessions from day to day in the hope that the Government, -now that it was going into the slave-buying business, might give her a -little addition to the bargain price at which she had sold the old man. - -Judiciary Square, in which the Court House and the Pension Office stand, -was, when Chief Justice Taney lived in Indiana Avenue, a neighborhood of -consequence. Several of the older buildings thereabout exhale a flavor -of fifty or sixty years ago, and tradition connects them with such -personages as Rufus Choate, Caleb Cushing, Thomas H. Benton, Stephen A. -Douglas, John C. Fremont, and John A. Dix. - -Opposite the east park of the Capitol, as we have already seen, stands -the Old Capitol, a building with a variegated history. It was erected -for the accommodation of Congress after the burning of the Capitol by -the British. In it Henry Clay passed some years of his Speakership, and -till very lately there was a scar on the wall of one of the rooms which -was said to have been made by his desk. Under its roof the first -Senators from Indiana, Illinois, and Mississippi took their seats. In -front of it, President Monroe was inaugurated. After Congress left it to -return to the restored Capitol, it was rented for a boarding-house, -patronized chiefly by Senators and Representatives. Here John C. Calhoun -lived for some time, and here he died. In one of the rooms, Persico, the -Italian sculptor, worked out the model of his “Discoverer.” In another, -Ann Royall edited her _Huntress_. - -After the Civil War broke out, the Old Capitol was turned into a jail -for the confinement of military offenders who were awaiting trial by -court-martial, and for Confederate spies and other persons accused of -unlawfully giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Belle Boyd, who was -locked up there for a while, has left us her impressions of the place as -“a vast brick building, like all prisons, somber, chilling, and -repulsive.” She describes William P. Wood, who was superintendent of -the prison, as “having a humane heart beneath a rough exterior.” Every -Sunday he used to provide facilities for religious worship to his -compulsory guests, announcing the hours and forms in characteristic -fashion: “All you who want to hear the word of God preached according to -Jeff Davis, go down into the yard; and all of you who want to hear it -preached according to Abe Lincoln, go into No. 16.” In the jail yard -Henry Wirz, who had been the keeper of the Confederate military prison -at Andersonville, Georgia, where so many Union soldiers died of -starvation and disease, was hanged for murder. At the close of the war -the building was divided into a block of dwellings, of which the -southernmost was long the home of the late Justice Field of the Supreme -Court. The Justice used to enjoy telling his visitors about the -distinguished men from the South who, after dining at his table, had -roamed over the premises and located their one-time places of -confinement. - -The oldest house of worship in Washington is St. Paul’s, a spireless -Protestant Episcopal church not far from the Soldiers’ Home. It stands -well toward the rear of the Rock Creek Cemetery, which also contains the -world-famous bronze by St. Gaudens, in the Adams lot. This is a seated -female figure, in flowing classic drapery, to which no one has ventured -to attach a permanent title, though it has been variously known as -“Grief” and “The Peace of God.” St. Paul’s goes back to the colonial era -and was built of brick imported from England. A younger church, -nevertheless numbered among the oldest relics of its class within the -city proper, is St. John’s, at the corner of Sixteenth and H streets. It -was designed by Latrobe about the time he undertook the restoration of -the Capitol and was consecrated in 1816. It has long been called “the -President’s church” because so many tenants of the White House, just -across Lafayette Square, have worshiped in it. - -Madison and Monroe were the first, and the vestry soon set apart one pew -to be preserved always for the free use of the reigning Presidential -family. John Quincy Adams was a Unitarian, but came to the afternoon -services; and Jackson, though a Methodist, was frequently to be seen -there. Van Buren was a constant attendant both as Vice-president and as -President. William Henry Harrison, for the month he lived in Washington, -came regularly, regardless of the weather or his state of health; and he -was to have been confirmed the very week he died. Tyler was a member of -the congregation. Polk had other affiliations, but Taylor, Fillmore, -and Buchanan used the President’s pew. Then came a break in the line -till Arthur entered the White House; and his retirement appears to have -been followed by another lapse in the succession till Mrs. Roosevelt -revived it. Her husband used to accompany her from time to time, though -he retained his active connection with the Reformed (Dutch) communion. -Since the Roosevelts, the line has been broken again. John Quincy Adams -became so fond of St. John’s that, when he returned to Washington as a -Representative, he renewed his Sunday visits. He paid close attention to -the preliminary service but seemed to sleep through the sermon, though -he was usually able to repeat the next day, with considerable accuracy, -the main things the minister had said. - -This whole neighborhood bristles with memories of great people. The old -Tayloe mansion was styled, in its later years, “the Cream-white House,” -partly because of its color, and partly in jocose reference to its -occupancy by two or three Vice-presidents. The house on the corner north -of it, now owned by the Cosmos Club, was the home of Dolly Madison in -her widowhood. After her death it passed into the hands of Charles -Wilkes, the gallant naval officer who was for many years the -unrecognized discoverer of the Antarctic continent, and who, in the -early days of the Civil War, forcibly took two of his late Washington -neighbors, Messrs. Mason and Slidell, off the British steamer _Trent_, -which was conveying them to Europe on a diplomatic mission for the -Confederate Government. South of the Tayloe house is the Belasco -Theater, on the site of the old-fashioned red brick building in which -occurred the attempted assassination of Secretary Seward and where James -G. Blaine passed the last years of his life. On H Street, about a block -to the eastward, General McClellan made his headquarters in the -intervals between his commands of the Army of the Potomac; while in a -near cluster are former homes of Commodore Decatur, John Quincy Adams, -Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Montgomery Blair, Gideon Welles, George -Bancroft, and John Hay, as well as the house where the Ashburton treaty -was negotiated and where Owen Meredith wrote his “Lucile.” Edward -Everett, Jefferson Davis, and Tobias Lear lived, at various times, a -short distance away. - -One of my favorite excursions about the city with friends who revere the -memory of the War President is what I call my “Lincoln pilgrimage.” We -start at the White House, turn eastward and take F Street to Tenth, and -then southward a half-square. This brings us in front of the building -which once was Ford’s Theater, by the route taken by Lincoln on the -evening of Good Friday, 1865. Here are the arches which once opened into -the theater lobby but are now used for ground-floor windows; through one -of them he passed on his way to his box. Directly across the street is -the house to which he was carried to die. In it is preserved the Oldroyd -collection of Lincoln relics, a really remarkable array. After -inspecting it, we return to F Street and go eastward again to about the -middle of the block, where an alley emerges from a lower level south of -us. Down into this we dive, and, making a sharp right-angle turn, find -ourselves at the old stage-door of the theater, beside which Booth left -his horse, and through which he made his dash for liberty after his mad -deed. - -Back again up the alley we climb, through F Street to Ninth, through -Ninth to H, and eastward on H Street to Number 604, the house of Mrs. -Surratt, the rendezvous of the conspirators and the place where some of -them were captured. It looks to-day very much as it did on the night of -the assassination. Retracing our steps to Seventh Street, we board a -southbound car, which carries us to the gate of the reservation now -occupied by the Washington Barracks and the Army War College. Here, -within a few hundred feet of the entrance, used to stand the military -prison where the conspirators were confined, and in the yard of which -they paid the last penalty for their crime. - - * * * * * - -And here, dear reader, we come to the end of our present walks and talks -about Washington. As I warned you at the outset, I have treated our -wanderings as a pleasure-jaunt rather than as a medium of solid -instruction. When you find yourself thirsting for the severely -practical, you can come back and make the round again, if you choose, in -a sight-seeing car, and the megaphone-man will point out to you twice as -many objects of interest and give you three times as much information -about them--accurate or otherwise. He will take pains to show you all -the Government buildings and the hotels, the foreign legations and the -theaters, the millionaires’ houses, and parks and circles and statuary -which I have dismissed with a line or left unmentioned. He will tell you -how many tons every bronze weighs, how long every edifice took in -building, and how large a fortune every Senator amassed before crowning -his career with a tour of public service. I could have told you these -things, too, but, rather than force too fast a gait upon you, I have -left them for the megaphone-man and taken for my task some odds and -ends he could not take for his. I should have liked to tell you how the -Government swept all the electric wires out of the sky and hid them -underground; how it drained the marshes on the city’s western edge, -cleared the channels of the Potomac, and built out of the dredgings a -big pleasure-ground; and how it got rid of the annual inundations, in -one of which, just about a generation ago, I crossed the busiest part of -Pennsylvania Avenue in a rowboat. - -These improvements, and others in the same category, have been -paralleled by the changes in the architecture of the city, at the -expense of tearing down something old to make room for whatever new was -to go up. Touched by the spirit of progress, the face of Washington is -rapidly becoming as destitute of landmarks as its origin is destitute of -myths, and the artist who visits it in quest of the antique has a hunt -before him. Nevertheless, it has not lost its picturesque appeal for the -pencil guided by imagination, or its colorful legends for the memory -seeking relief from more serious things. - -Hence this book. - -[Illustration] - - - - -INDEX - - -Adams, Abigail, 9, 115, 119. - John, 7, 73, 110, 119, 150, 156, 228. - John Quincy, 20, 58, 65, 96, 147, 150, 151, 181, 280, 281, 282. - Mrs. John Quincy, 151. - -Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, 23, 192, 233. - -Alexandria, Va., 4, 12, 54, 238. - -Allston, Theodosia, 242. - -Anacostia, D.C., 84. - -Anderson, Major Robert, 193. - -Arlington Cemetery, 235. - -Army War College, 17, 283. - -Arthur, Chester A., 224, 281. - - -Bagot, Sir George, 138. - -Baird, Spencer F., 274. - -Bancroft, George, 282. - -Barksdale, William, 103. - -Barney, Joshua, 15. - -Barron, James, 257. - -Beanes, Dr. William, 252. - -Belasco Theater, 282. - -Bell, John, 27. - -Bellows, Rev. Dr. Henry W., 198. - -Benton, Joel, 254. - Thomas H., 277. - -Bladensburg, Md., 15, 135, 257. - -Blaine, James G., 203, 215, 227, 282. - -Blair, Montgomery, 282. - -Bodisco, Baron, 254. - Baroness, 255. - -Bonaparte, Jerome, 128. - -Booth, John Wilkes, 43. - -Boyd, Belle, 278. - -Braddock, Edward, 239, 243. - -Breckinridge, John C., 27, 30. - William C. P., 105. - -Brooks, Rt. Rev. Phillips, 243. - Preston, 68, 189. - -Buchanan, James, 30, 190, 196, 281. - -Buchignani, Mrs. (See MRS. JOHN H. EATON.) - -Bulfinch, Charles, 56, 57, 60. - -Bull Run, Battle of, 37, 236. - -Burlingame, Anson, 190. - -Burns, David, 4. - -Burr, Aaron, 93, 242. - - -Calhoun, John C., 164, 278. - -Capitol, 6, 15, 45, 54, 136. - -Cary, Mary, 248. - -Chase, Salmon P., 202. - -Choate, Rufus, 277. - -Cilley, Jonathan, 259. - -City Hall, 173, 271, 274, 277. - -Civil War, 25, 26, 194, 278. - -Clay, Henry, 65, 68, 140, 152, 164, 172, 181, 187, 256, 278, 282. - -Cleveland, Frances Folsom, 226, 229. - Grover, 112, 225, 229, 232. - -Clinton, George, 93. - -Cobb, Howell, 191. - -Cockburn, Sir George, 15, 253. - -Congress, 8, 19, 54, 82, 85, 138. - (See also SENATE and HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.) - -Conkling, Roscoe, 203, 215. - -Corcoran, William W., 254. - -Corcoran Gallery of Art, 270, 272. - -Cosmos Club, 281. - -Court House. (See CITY HALL.) - -Covode, John, 102. - -Cox, Judge Walter T., 275. - -Coxey’s Army, 80. - -Craig, Burton F., 102. - -Crawford, Thomas, 57. - -Crisp, Charles F., 104. - -Cunningham, Ann Pamela, 245. - -Gushing, Caleb, 214, 277. - -Custis, George, 133, 235. - Nellie, 251. - - -Davis, Harriet Riddle, 209. - Jefferson, 29, 57, 72, 282. - -Decatur, Stephen, 257, 282. - -Dix, John A., 29, 277. - -Donelson, Andrew J., 162. - Mary Emily, 162. - -Douglas, Stephen A., 27, 33, 196, 277. - -Douglass, Frederick, 221. - -Dreams, Strange, of Lincoln, 208. - -Dueling, Condemnation of, 260. - - -Early, Jubal A., 41. - -Eaton, John H., 159, 169. - Mrs. John H., 159, 168, 179. - -Electoral Commission, 68, 219. - -Ellsworth, Ephraim E., 35, 243. - -Emancipation Proclamation, 200, 275. - -Emancipation Statue, 271. - -Everett, Edward, 282. - - -Field, Cyrus W., 190. - Stephen J., 279. - -Fillmore, Millard, 185, 281. - -Ford’s Theater, 43, 209, 283. - -Fort McHenry, Md., 253. - -Fort Myer, Va., 237. - -Foster, Sir Augustus, 76, 127. - -Franklin Square, 119. - -Frelinghuysen, Mrs. Frederick T., 225. - -Fremont, Jessie Benton, 255. - John C., 255, 277. - -French, Daniel Chester, 272. - -Fulton, Robert, 254. - - -Gallaudet, Dr. Edward M., 272. - -Gardiner, David, 180. - Julia, 179. - -Garfield, “Grandma,” 222. - James A., 222, 233, 274. - -Georgetown, D.C., 3, 11, 12, 251. - -Grant, Nellie. (See NELLIE GRANT SARTORIS.) - Ulysses S., 43, 44, 45, 205, 212, 225, 232, 271. - Mrs. Ulysses S., 225. - -Graves, William J., 259. - -Greeley, Horace, 203, 213. - -Green, Bernard R., 273. - -Greenough, Horatio, 58, 268. - -Grow, Galusha A., 101. - -Guiteau, Charles J., 223, 274. - - -Halford, Elijah W., 228. - -Hamlin, Hannibal, 32. - -Hancock, Winfield S., 223, 266. - -Harrison, Benjamin, 112, 226. - William Henry, 172, 274, 280. - -Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 188. - -Hay, John, 282. - -Hayes, Lucy Webb, 220. - Rutherford B., 218. - -Henry, Joseph, 274. - -Hoban, James, 116, 231. - -House of Representatives, 10, 56, 63, 76, 85, 139. (See also CONGRESS.) - -Hoxie, Vinnie Ream, 211. - -Humboldt, Baron von, 125. - -Hutchinson Family, 204. - -Huygens, Bangeman, 160, 162. - - -Inaugural Balls, 134, 175, 212, 219. - - -Jackson, Andrew, 58, 150, 156, 232, 266, 270, 280. - Andrew, Jr., 161. - Mrs. Andrew, 157, 159. - -Jay, John, 12, 69. - -Jefferson, Thomas, 2, 54, 68, 111, 121, 231, 269. - -Johnson, Andrew, 44, 211. - -Judiciary Square, 277. - - -Kearney, Dennis, 222. - -Keitt, Lawrence M., 101. - -Kendall, Amos, 272. - -Key, Francis Scott, 252. - -Kilbourn, Hallet, 97. - -Kilgore, Constantine Buckley, 109. - -King, William R., 142, 188. - -Kossuth, Louis, 186. - - -Lafayette, Marquis de, 65. - -Lafayette Park, 5, 118. - -Lamar, Lucius Q. C., 102. - -Lane, Harriet, 193. - -Latrobe, Benjamin H., 56, 280. - -Lear, Tobias, 244, 282. - -Lee, Robert E., 42, 235. - -L’Enfant, Pierre Charles, 5, 83, 231. - -Library, Public, 49. - -Library of Congress, 273. - -Liliuokalani, Queen, 221. - -Lincoln, Abraham, 30, 65, 195, 232, 271, 275, 282. - Mary Todd, 196, 208. - “Tad,” 43, 201. - Willie, 201. - -Lind, Jennie, 146. - -Lovejoy, Owen, 102. - - -McClellan, George B., 236, 266, 282. - -McCreary, James B., 106. - -McElroy, Mrs. John, 224. - -McKee, “Baby,” 228. - -McKinley, William, Jr., 112, 221, 230, 232. - -McLean, John, 194. - -Madison, Dolly, 19, 78, 115, 124, 135, 144, 281. - James, 14, 54, 125, 132, 280. - -Mall, 12, 83, 114. - -Marine Band, 77, 124, 178, 225. - -Marshall, John, 65, 164. - -Martineau, Harriet, 161, 163. - -Meigs, Montgomery C., 237, 272. - -Mellanelli, Sidi, 127. - -Meredith, Owen, 282. - -Merry, Anthony, 125. - -Mexican War, 22, 182, 271, 273. - -Mitchill, Dr. Samuel, 127. - -Monroe, Eliza Kortright, 115, 147. - James, 18, 138, 147, 151, 278, 280. - -Moore, Thomas, 5, 125. - -Morrissey, Mrs. John, 213. - -Morse, Samuel F. B., 75, 182. - -Mott, Richard T., 102. - -Mount Vernon, Va., 244, 249. - - -Negroes, First, in Inaugural parade, 208. - -Nilsson, Christine, 224. - - -Octagon House, 19, 137. - -O’Ferrall, Charles T., 108. - -Old Capitol, 20, 278. - -O’Neil, “Peggy.” (See Mrs. JOHN H. EATON.) - - -Paine, Thomas, 129. - -Patterson, Elizabeth, 128. (See also JEROME BONAPARTE.) - -Peabody, George, 254. - -Pension Office, 272, 277. - -Pennsylvania Avenue, 10, 47, 49, 114, 285. - -Persico, Luigi, 58, 278. - -Phillips, Wendell, 214. - -Pierce, Franklin, 186. - Mrs. Franklin, 188. - -Pohick, Va., 246. - -Polk, James K., 182. - Sarah Childress, 182. - -Potter, Rt. Rev. Henry C., 243. - -Presidents, Deaths of, in office, 43, 176, 185, 208, 223, 230. - -Presidents and Congress, 72, 89, 109. - -Press, Congress and the, 94. - -Prince, Frederick O., 191. - -_Princeton_, Sloop-of-War, 180. - - -Randolph, John, 59, 64, 94, 140, 256. - Robert B., 168. - -Ream, Vinnie. (See HOXIE.) - -Reed, Thomas B., 79, 103. - -Religious Exercises in Congress, 77, 98. - -Robinson, William E., 95. - -Rock Creek Cemetery, 279. - -Rogers, Randolph, 59. - -Roosevelt, Edith Kermit, 116, 233, 281. - Theodore, 52, 230, 270, 281. - -Root, Elihu, 224. - -Ross, Edmund G., 211. - -Ross, Robert, 15. - -Royall, Ann, 20, 278. - - -Saint-Gaudens, Augustus, 279. - -Saint John’s Church, 280. - -Saint Paul’s Church, 279. - -Sartoris, Algernon, 217. - Nellie Grant, 212, 217. - -Scott, Winfield, 39, 183, 186, 194, 236, 266, 267, 271, 273. - -Secession, Progress of, movement, 27. - -Senate, United States, 10, 55, 68, 71, 86, 139. (See also CONGRESS.) - -Seward, William H., 31, 43, 198, 282. - -Shepherd, Alexander R., 46. - -Sheridan, Philip H., 267, 271. - -Sherman, John, 102. - William T., 213, 271. - -Shuter’s Hill, 54. - -Sickles, Daniel E., 211. - -Slavery, 23, 64, 99, 186, 275. (See also EMANCIPATION.) - -Smith, Capt. John, 3. - Margaret Bayard, 141. - -Smithsonian Institution, 273. - -Soldiers’ Home, 84, 273. - -Sprague, Kate Chase, 202. - William, 202. - -Stanton, Edwin M., 44, 200, 207, 211. - -“Star-Spangled Banner,” Song, 252. - -Statues of Celebrities, 266. - -Stephens, Alexander H., 29, 65. - -Stewart, Alexander T., 214. - -Stockton, Robert F., 180. - -Stranger, “The Female,” 242. - -Sumner, Charles, 68, 189. - -Sunderland, Rev. Dr. Byron, 99. - -Supreme Court of the United States, 11, 67, 74. - -Surratt, Mary E., 283. - - -Taft, William H., 52, 233, 270. - -Taney, Roger B., 34, 277. - -Tayloe, Mrs. Ogle, 170. - -Tayloe House, 281. - -Taylor, Zachary, 183, 195, 281. - -Telegraph, Atlantic, cable, 190. - First American, 75, 182. - -Thomas, George H., 267. - -Thornton, Dr. William, 16, 55, 251. - -Tilden, Samuel J., 218. - -Timberlake, Mrs. (See MRS. JOHN H. EATON.) - Purser, 159, 168. - Virginia, 179. - -Tracy, Benjamin F., 228. - -_Trent_ Affair, 282. - -Trumbull, John, 59. - -Turreau, Louis M., 127. - -Tyler, John, 177, 280. - - -Van Buren, John, 171. - Martin, 158, 162, 169, 176, 256, 280. - -Victoria, Queen, 190. - - -Walter, Thomas U., 56, 63. - -War of 1812, 14, 135, 270. - -Ward, Artemus, 200. - J. Q. A., 267. - -Washburn, Cadwallader, 102. - -Washburne, Elihu, 102. - -Washington, D.C., - Beginnings of, 1; - Captured by British in 1814, 15, 56, 278; - Growth of, 45; - In Civil War Times, 24, 26; - Journalism in Early Days, 20, 154; - Plan of, 5, 83, 114, 231; - Police Force, 178; - Removal of Government to, 7; - Suburbs of, 235; - Threatened by Gen. Early in 1864, 41; - Varying Fortunes of, 21. - -Washington, George, 3, 67, 74, 81, 89, 118, 235, 238, 239, 240, 243, 268. - Martha, 118, 235, 240, 243, 249. - Mary, 249. - -Washington National Monument, 261, 270. - -Watts, George F., 270. - -Webster, Daniel, 68, 140, 164, 173. - -Weems, Rev. Mason L., 246. - -Welles, Gideon, 282. - -White House, 6, 8, 17, 114, 118, 135, 147, 155, - 162, 164, 172, 178, 182, 184, 195, 197, 201, 219, 231. - -Wilkes, Charles, 281. - -Williams, Harriet Beall. (See BARONESS BODISCO.) - -Wilmot, David, 64. - -Wilson, Henry, 74, 276. - Woodrow, 52, 73, 112, 234, 270. - -Windom, William, 228. - -Wirz, Henry, 279. - -Women visiting Congress, 93, 141. - -Wood, William P., 279. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Walks About Washington, by Francis E. 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Leupp - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Walks About Washington - -Author: Francis E. Leupp - -Illustrator: Lester G. Hornby - -Release Date: December 2, 2017 [EBook #56104] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WALKS ABOUT WASHINGTON *** - - - - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) - - - - - - -</pre> - <hr class="full" /> - <p class="figcenter"> - <a href="images/cover_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="cover" /></a> - </p> - <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="" style="border: 2px black solid;margin:auto auto;max-width:50%; padding:1%;"> - <tr> - <td> - <p class="c"> - <a href="#CONTENTS">Contents.</a> - </p> - <p class="c"> - <a href="#LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS">List of Illustrations</a><br /> - <span class="nonvis">(In certain versions of this etext [in certain - browsers] clicking on the image will bring up a larger version.)</span> - </p> - <p class="c"> - (etext transcriber's note) - </p> - </td> - </tr> - </table> - <p> - <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_i" id="page_i"></a>{i}</span> - </p> - <p> - <i>Walks About Washington</i> - </p> - <div class="figcenter" style="width: 388px;"> - <a href="images/ill_002_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_002_sml.jpg" - class="gry" width="388" height="247" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - </div> - <p> - <a name="front" id="front"></a> - </p> - <div class="figcenter" style="width: 441px;"> - <a href="images/ill_003_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_003_sml.jpg" - width="441" height="593" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="c"> - <i>Where Lincoln Died</i> - </p> - <p class="r"> - <span class="smcap">Frontispiece</span> - </p> - </div> - </div> - <div class="bbox"> - <div class="bbox"> - <h1> - WALKS ABOUT<br /> WASHINGTON - </h1> - <p class="c"> - BY<br /> FRANCIS E. LEUPP<br /> <br /> <small>WITH DRAWINGS - BY</small><br /> LESTER G. HORNBY<br /> <br /><br /> <img - src="images/colophon.jpg" width="70" alt="colophon" /><br /> <br /><br /> - BOSTON<br /> LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY<br /> 1915 - </p> - </div> - </div> - <p> - - </p> - <p class="c"> - <small><i>Copyright, 1915</i>,<br /> <span class="smcap">By Little, Brown, - and Company</span>.<br /> ——<br /> <i>All rights reserved</i><br /> - <br /> Published, September, 1915<br /> <br /> <br /> Set up and electrotyped - by J. S. Cushing Co., Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.<br /> Presswork by S. J. - Parkhill & Co., Boston, Mass., U.S.A.</small> <br /><br /><br /><br /> - <span class="eng"><b>To</b></span><br /> ADA, HAROLD, ETHEL,<br /> - CONSTANCE, KATHLEEN<br /> AND THE<br /> MEMORY OF - GRAHAM<br /> - </p> - <p> - <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_vii" id="page_vii"></a>{vii}</span> - </p> - <h2> - <a href="images/ill_005_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_005_sml.jpg" - class="gry" width="359" height="258" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - <br /><br /><i><a name="Preface" id="Preface"></a>Preface</i> - </h2> - <p class="nind"> - <span class="letra">T</span>HIS is not a history. It is not a guide-book. - It is not an encyclopedia. It is nothing more ambitious than the title - would indicate: a stroll about Washington with my arm through my reader’s, - and a bit of friendly chat by the way. Mr. Hornby, sketch-book in hand, - will accompany us, to give permanence to our impressions here and there. - </p> - <p> - First, we will take a general look at the city and recall some of the more - interesting incidents connected with its century and a quarter of growth. - Next, we will walk at our leisure through its public places and try to - people them in imagination with the figures which once were so much in - evidence there. - </p> - <p> - For the stories woven into our talk I make no further claim than that they - have come to me from a variety of sources—personal observation, - dinner-table gossip, old letters and diaries, and local tradition. A few, - which seemed rather too vague in detail, I have tried to verify. My ardor - for research, however, was dampened by the discovery of from two to a - dozen versions of every occurrence, so that I have been driven to - accepting those which appeared most probable or most picturesque, falling - back upon the plea of the Last Minstrel: - </p> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <span class="i0">“I cannot tell how the truth may be;<br /></span> - <span class="i1">I say the tale as ’twas said to me.”<br /></span> - </div> - </div> - </div> - <p> - And now, let us be off! - </p> - <p class="r"> - F. E. L.<br /> - </p> - <p class="hang"> - <span class="smcap">Washington, D.C.</span>,<br /> August 1, 1915.<br /> - </p> - <p> - <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_viii" id="page_viii"></a>{viii}</span> - </p> - <p> - <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_ix" id="page_ix"></a>{ix}</span> - </p> - <h2> - <a href="images/ill_006_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_006_sml.jpg" - class="gry" width="376" height="226" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - <br /><br /><i><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>Contents</i> - </h2> - <table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""> - <tr> - <td colspan="2"> - - </td> - <td class="rt"> - <span class="smcap"><small>Page</small></span> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <span class="smcap"><a href="#Preface">Preface</a></span> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="rt"> - <span class="smcap"><small>Chapter</small></span> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="rt" valign="top"> - <a href="#CHAPTER_I">I.</a> - </td> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#CHAPTER_I"><span class="smcap">A Capital Made to Order</span></a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_001">1</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="rt" valign="top"> - <a href="#CHAPTER_II">II.</a> - </td> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#CHAPTER_II"><span class="smcap">War Times and Their Sequel</span></a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_026">26</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="rt" valign="top"> - <a href="#CHAPTER_III">III.</a> - </td> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#CHAPTER_III">“<span class="smcap">On the Hill</span>”</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_054">54</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="rt" valign="top"> - <a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV.</a> - </td> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><span class="smcap">These Our Lawmakers</span></a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_085">85</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="rt" valign="top"> - <a href="#CHAPTER_V">V.</a> - </td> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#CHAPTER_V">“<span class="smcap">The Other End of the Avenue</span>”</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_114">114</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="rt" valign="top"> - <a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI.</a> - </td> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><span class="smcap">Through Many Changing Years</span></a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_147">147</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="rt" valign="top"> - <a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII.</a> - </td> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#CHAPTER_VII">“<span class="smcap">The Spirit of Great Events</span>”</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_177">177</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="rt" valign="top"> - <a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII.</a> - </td> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><span class="smcap">New Faces in Old Places</span></a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_207">207</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="rt" valign="top"> - <a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX.</a> - </td> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><span class="smcap">The Region ’Round About</span></a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_235">235</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="rt" valign="top"> - <a href="#CHAPTER_X">X.</a> - </td> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#CHAPTER_X"><span class="smcap">Monuments and Memories</span></a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_261">261</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <span class="smcap"><a href="#INDEX">Index</a></span> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_287">287</a> - </td> - </tr> - </table> - <p> - <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_x" id="page_x"></a>{x}</span> - </p> - <h2> - <a href="images/ill_007_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_007_sml.jpg" - class="gry" width="375" height="275" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - <br /><br /><i><a name="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS" id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>List - of Illustrations</i> - </h2> - <p> - <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xi" id="page_xi"></a>{xi}</span> - </p> - <table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary=""> - <tr> - <td> - - </td> - <td class="rt"> - <span class="smcap"><small>Page</small></span> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#page_i">White House, from the State Department</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_i">i</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#front">Where Lincoln Died</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#front"><i>Frontispiece</i></a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#page_vii">Down F Street to the Interior Department</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_vii">vii</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#page_ix">Old Mill, on Bladensburg Battlefield</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_ix">ix</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#page_xi">Washington, across the Potomac from Arlington</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_xi">xi</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#page_xiii">Capitol, from Pennsylvania Avenue, West</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_xiii">xiii</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td> - - </td> - <td class="rt"> - <span class="smcap"><small>Facing Page</small></span> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#page_008">General Washington’s Office in Georgetown</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_008">8</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#page_018">George Washington Tavern, Bladensburg</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_018">18</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#page_030">Octagon House</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_030">30</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#page_042">Union Engine House of 1815</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_042">42</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#page_050">On the Ruins of Fort Stevens</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_050">50</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#page_062">Survivals from Before the War”</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_062">62</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#page_074">Rock Creek</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_074">74</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#page_084">Capitol, from New Jersey Avenue</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_084">84</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#page_096">Where Dolly Madison Gave Her Farewell Ball</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_096">96</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#page_108">Lee Mansion at Arlington</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_108">108</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#page_120">Old Carlyle Mansion, Alexandria</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_120">120</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#page_132">Washington’s Pew in Christ Church, Alexandria</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_132">132</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#page_142">Mount Vernon</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_142">142</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#page_154">Tudor House, Georgetown</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_154">154</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#page_156">Bladensburg Duelling-Ground</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_156">156</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#page_170">Decatur House</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_170">170</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#page_180">Soldiers’ Home</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_180">180</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#page_192">Old City Hall</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_192">192</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#page_204">The “Old Capitol”</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_204">204</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#page_218">St. Paul’s, the Oldest Church in the District</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_218">218</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#page_234">St. John’s, “the President’s Church”</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_234">234</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#page_248">Ford’s Theatre, the Old Front</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_248">248</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#page_260">Stage Entrance through which Booth Escaped</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_260">260</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#page_274">Rendezvous of the Lincoln Conspirators</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_274">274</a> - </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - <a href="#page_286">A Herdic Cab</a> - </td> - <td class="rt" valign="bottom"> - <a href="#page_286">286</a> - </td> - </tr> - </table> - <p> - <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xii" id="page_xii"></a>{xii}</span> - </p> - <p> - <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xiii" id="page_xiii"></a>{xiii}</span> - </p> - <div class="figcenter" style="width: 385px;"> - <a href="images/ill_008_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_008_sml.jpg" - class="gry" width="385" height="197" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - </div> - <p> - <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_001" id="page_001"></a>{1}</span> - </p> - <h1> - <i>Walks About Washington</i> - </h1> - <h2> - <a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<br /><br /> <small>A - CAPITAL MADE TO ORDER</small> - </h2> - <p class="nind"> - <span class="letra">W</span>ITH the possible exception of Petrograd, - Washington is the only one of the world’s great capitals that was - deliberately created for its purpose. Look for the origin of London, - Paris, Berlin, or Rome, and you find it enveloped in a cloud of myth and - fable, from which, it appears, the city emerged and took its place in - history because certain evolutionary forces had made it the nucleus of a - nation and hence the natural seat of government. Not so the capital of the - United States. Here the Government was already established and seeking a - habitation; and, since no existing city offered one that seemed generally - satisfactory, a new city was made to order, so that from the outset it - could be shaped as its tenant-master deemed best. - </p> - <p> - The creative force at work in this instance found its outlet through a - dinner. Of the ready-made cities which had competed for the honor of - housing the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_002" id="page_002"></a>{2}</span> - Government, New York and Philadelphia were regarded by the Southern - members of Congress as too far north both geographically and in sentiment, - while the Northern members were equally unwilling to go far south in view - of the difficulties of travel. Another sectional controversy broke out - over the question whether the Federal Government, since it owed its birth - to the War for Independence, were not in honor bound to assume the debts - incurred by the several States in prosecuting that war. The North, as the - more serious sufferer, demanded that it should, but the South insisted - that every State should bear its own burden. In the midst of the - discussion, Thomas Jefferson, who happened to be in a position to act as - mediator, invited a few leaders of both factions to meet at his table; - there, under the influence of savory viands and a bottle of port apiece, - they arranged a compromise, whereby the Southern members were to vote for - the assumption of the debts, in exchange for Northern votes for a southern - site. The program went through Congress by a small majority, and the site - chosen was a tract about ten miles square on both banks of the Potomac - River, the land on the upper shore being ceded by Maryland and that on the - lower by Virginia. The Virginia part was given back in 1846. - </p> - <p> - As far as we know, the first map of this region was<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_003" id="page_003"></a>{3}</span> drawn by Captain John Smith - of Pocahontas fame and published in 1620 in his “Sixth Voyage to that Part - of Virginia now Planted by English Colonies, whom God increase and - preserve”; and the picturesque river which runs through it was described - by him as the “Patawomeke, navigable 140 myles, and fed with many sweet - rivers and springs which fall from the bordering hils. The river exceedth - with aboundance of fish.” - </p> - <p> - When the Commissioners appointed by President Washington took it over as a - federal district, they changed its Indian name, Connogochegue, to the - Territory of Columbia; and the city which they laid out in it was by - universal acclaim called Washington, regardless of the modest protests of - the statesman thus honored. Georgetown, which is now a part of Washington, - was then a pretty, well-to-do, little Maryland town about a hundred years - old, and Alexandria, Virginia, included in the southern end of the - District as then bounded, was a shipping port of some consequence. All the - rest of the tract was forest and farm land. The President felt a lively - personal interest in the whole neighborhood. His estate, Mount Vernon, lay - only a short boat-ride down the Potomac; and he had been instrumental in - starting a project for the canal now known as the Chesapeake and Ohio,<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_004" id="page_004"></a>{4}</span> connecting - Georgetown with a bit of farming country west of it, and had planned one - from Alexandria which should form part of the same system. During his - activities on the Maryland side of the river, he made his headquarters in - a little stone house in Georgetown which is still standing. - </p> - <p> - It took time and diplomacy to induce some of the local landholders to part - with their acres to the Commissioners. There is an old story, good enough - to be true, of one David Burns, a canny Scot, who held out so long that - President Washington personally undertook his conversion. After pointing - out to the farmer what advantages he would reap from having the Government - for a neighbor, the great man concluded: - </p> - <p> - “But for this opportunity, Mr. Burns, you might have died a poor - tobacco-planter.” - </p> - <p> - “Aye, mon,” snapped Burns, “an’ had ye no married the widder Custis, wi’ - all her nagurs, ye’d ha’ been a land surveyor the noo, an’ a mighty poor - ane at that!” - </p> - <p> - However, when he learned that, unless he accepted the liberal terms - offered him, his land would be condemned and seized at an appraisal - probably much lower, Burns met the President in quite another mood, and to - the final question, “Well, sir, what have you concluded to do?” astonished - every one by his prompt<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_005" - id="page_005"></a>{5}</span> response: “Whate’er your excellency wad ha’ - me.” On one of his fields now stands the White House, and an adjacent lot - became Lafayette Square. By the sale of property adjoining that which the - Government bought, he amassed what for those days was an enormous fortune. - It is within our generation that his cottage was torn down for the - improvement of the neighborhood from which we enter Potomac Park. Although - a poor building in its old age, in its prime it had sheltered many eminent - men. Among them was Tom Moore, the Irish poet, who was under its roof when - he wrote his diatribe against— - </p> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <span class="i0">“This fam’d metropolis where Fancy sees<br /></span> - <span class="i1">Squares in morasses, obelisks in trees;<br /></span> - <span class="i1">Which second-sighted seers, ev’n now, adorn<br /></span> - <span class="i1">With shrines unbuilt and heroes yet unborn.”<br /></span> - </div> - </div> - </div> - <p> - Little as we may relish such satire, we are bound to admit its modicum of - truthfulness, for the brave souls who founded Washington were given to the - grandiloquent habit of their day. They had called to their aid Major - Pierre Charles L’Enfant, a French military engineer who had served in the - patriot army of the Revolution, and who cherished brilliant dreams of the - future of his adopted country. To him they had committed the preparation - of a plan for the federal city, and he had laid it out on the lines, not - of an<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_006" id="page_006"></a>{6}</span> - administrative center for a handful of newly enfranchised colonies, but of - a capital for a republic of fifty States with five hundred million - population. As he had lived in Versailles, he is supposed to have taken - that town as a general model in his arrangement of streets and avenues, - which some one has likened to “a wheel laid on a gridiron.” - </p> - <p> - Of course, it was the business of the Commissioners to advertise the - attractions of the federal city as effectively as possible, to promote its - early settlement; so perhaps we may forgive their taking a good deal for - granted, and permitting real estate speculation to go practically - unchecked. Congress for several years ignored their appeals for an - appropriation for the development of the city, and in the interval their - chief dependence for the funds necessary to spend for highways and - buildings was on the sale of lots, and on grants or loans obtained from - neighboring States. The most sightly hill was set apart for the Capitol, - and a beautiful bit of rising ground, overlooking a bend in the river, for - the President’s House. The two buildings had their corner-stones laid with - much ceremony, but progress on them was slow. Nevertheless, their sites, - as well as the spaces reserved in L’Enfant’s plan for parks, fountains, - and statuary, were always treated by the speculators, in correspondence - with prospective<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_007" id="page_007"></a>{7}</span> - customers, as if the improvements designed eventually to crown them were - already installed. The outside public manifested no undue eagerness to - buy, and the auction sales of lots proved very disappointing. Then a - lottery was organized, with tickets at seven dollars apiece, and for a - first prize “a superb hotel” with baths and other comforts, worth fifty - thousand dollars; but that, too, fell short of expectations, all the - desirable prizes going to persons who felt no concern for the city’s - future, and the hotel, though started, never being finished. It was a - pretty discouraging prospect, therefore, which confronted the officers of - the Government when, on May 16, 1800, President John Adams issued his - order for their removal from their cozy quarters in old Philadelphia to - what seemed to them, by contrast, like a camp in the wilderness. - </p> - <p> - The six Cabinet members, with their one hundred and thirty-two - subordinates, made the journey overland at various dates during the - summer, and in October the archives followed. These filled about a dozen - large boxes, which, with the office furniture, were brought down by sea in - a packet-boat and landed on a wharf at the mouth of Tiber Creek, a - tributary of the Potomac which then ran through the city but was later - converted into a sewer. All Washington, numbering perhaps three thousand - persons, turned out<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_008" id="page_008"></a>{8}</span> - to greet the vessel; and amid cheers, ringing of bells, and blasts from an - antique cannon brought forth for the occasion, its precious contents were - carried ashore. “The Department buildings” to which they were consigned - were a wonderful assortment. The Treasury was a two-story brick house at - the southeast corner of the President’s grounds, the War Office a still - unfinished replica of it at the southwest corner. The Post-office - Department found shelter in a private house in which only half the floors - were laid and four rooms plastered; while the Secretary of State, the - Secretary of the Navy, and the Attorney-general had to direct their - affairs from their lodgings. All these temporary accommodations were - sought as near as possible to the President’s House. Congress had striven, - for its greater ease of access, to have the Departments quartered near the - Capitol; but Washington had set his face resolutely against every such - proposal, citing the experience of his own secretaries, who had been so - pestered with needless visits from Senators and Representatives that some - of them “had been obliged to go home and deny themselves, in order to - transact current business.” Which shows that one modern nuisance has a - fairly ancient precedent. - </p> - <p> - Members of both houses of Congress came straggling in all through the - first three weeks of November, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_009" - id="page_009"></a>{9}</span> - </p> - <div class="figcenter" style="width: 442px;"> - <a href="images/ill_009_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_009_sml.jpg" - width="442" height="569" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="c"> - <i>General Washington’s Office in Georgetown</i> - </p> - </div> - </div> - <p class="nind"> - find most of the best rooms in the two or three hotels and the little - cluster of boarding-houses already occupied by the executive functionaries - and their families. President Adams, who had preceded them by a few weeks, - was not much better off even in the official abode reserved for him, if we - may call his wife as a witness. - </p> - <p> - “The house is on a grand and superb scale,” she wrote to her daughter, - “requiring about thirty servants to attend and keep the apartments in - proper order, and perform the ordinary business of the house and stables. - The lighting the apartments, from the kitchen to the parlor and chambers, - is a tax indeed; and the fires we are obliged to keep, to secure us from - daily agues, is another very cheering comfort. Bells are wholly wanting, - not one single one being hung through the whole house, and promises are - all you can obtain. I could content myself almost anywhere three months; - but surrounded by forests, can you believe that wood is not to be had, - because people cannot be found to cut and cart it! There is not a single - apartment finished. We have not the least fence or yard, or other - convenience without; and the great unfinished audience-room I make a - drying-room of, to hang up the clothes in. The principal stairs are not - up, and will not be this winter. The ladies are impatient<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_010" id="page_010"></a>{10}</span> for a - drawing-room; I have no looking-glasses but dwarfs for this house, not a - twentieth part lamps enough to light it.” - </p> - <p> - Mrs. Adams’s consolatory reflection that she would have to endure these - conditions only three months, was probably shared by many of the - thirty-two Senators and one hundred and five Representatives who, on the - high hill to the east, shivered and shook and passed unflattering - criticisms on everybody who had had a hand in the construction of the - Capitol. Only the old north wing was in condition for use, and not all of - that. The Senate met in what is now the Supreme Court chamber; the House - took its chances wherever there was room, ending its travels in an - uncomfortable box of a hall commonly styled “the oven.” Most of the - members had made some study of the L’Enfant chart before coming to - Washington. One of them put into writing his impressions as he looked - about and tried to identify the public improvements he had been led to - expect. None of the streets was recognizable, he said, with the possible - exception of a road having two buildings on each side of it, which was - called New Jersey Avenue. The “magnificent Pennsylvania Avenue,” - connecting the Capitol with the President’s House, was for nearly the - entire distance a deep morass covered with wild bushes,<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_011" id="page_011"></a>{11}</span> through - which a passage had been hewn. The roads in every direction were muddy and - unimproved. The only attempt at a sidewalk had been made with chips of - stone left from building the Capitol, and this was little used because the - sharp edges cut the walker’s shoes in dry weather, and in wet weather - covered them with white mortar. Another member declared that there was - nothing in sight in Washington but scrub oak, and that, since there was - “only one good tavern within a day’s march,” many members had to live in - Georgetown and drive to and from the daily sessions of Congress in a - rickety coach. And a particularly disgusted critic, not content with - recording that “there are but few houses in any place, and most of them - are small, miserable huts,” added: “The people are poor, and, as far as I - can judge, live like fishes, by eating each other.” - </p> - <p> - Newspapers in all parts of the country echoed these depressing reports, - accompanying them with demands that the Government move again, this time - to some already well-populated and civilized region. Indeed, of several - resolutions to that end introduced in Congress, one was actually carried - to a vote and barely escaped passage. It may have been this accumulation - of discouraging elements which caused the delay in the arrival of the - Supreme Court from Philadelphia; or<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_012" - id="page_012"></a>{12}</span> it may have been the paucity of business - before that tribunal, whose first Chief Justice, John Jay, had resigned - his commission to become Governor of New York, because he had come to the - conclusion that the Court could not command sufficient support in the - country at large to enforce its decisions! Whatever the reason, the - Justices did not find their way to Washington till well on in the winter, - or open their work there till February. They were assigned the room in the - basement of the Capitol now occupied by the Supreme Court library. - </p> - <p> - Even when the first acute discomforts incident to removal had passed away, - the general depression was little relieved. Most of the earlier citizens - of Washington had entertained hopes of its becoming a commercial as well - as a political center of importance. They reasoned that since Alexandria - and Georgetown had already built up some trade with the outside world, - Washington, much more eligibly situated than either, ought to attract a - correspondingly larger measure of profitable business. But all these - bright anticipations were doomed to disappointment: the progress of the - city was as inconsiderable as if its feet had become mired in one of its - own marshes. The Mall, which on L’Enfant’s map appeared as a boulevard - fringed with fine public buildings, soon degenerated<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_013" id="page_013"></a>{13}</span> into a common for pasturing - cows. There was good fishing above the north side of Pennsylvania Avenue - from Sixth Street to Thirteenth. Wild ducks found a favorite haunt where - the Center Market now stands. The whole place wore an air of suspended - vitality in striking contrast with the generous face of nature. “I am,” - wrote a visiting New Yorker to his wife, “almost enchanted with it—I - mean the situation for a city, for there is nothing here yet constituting - one. As to houses, there are very few, and those very scattering; and as - to streets, there are none, except you would call common roads streets. - The site, however, for a city, is the most delightful that can be imagined—far - beyond my expectation.” - </p> - <p> - “I took a hack after dinner to visit Nath’l Maxwell, and although he lives - near the center of the great city, yet such was the state of the roads - that I considered my life in danger. The distance on straight lines does - not exceed half a mile, but I had to ride up and down very steep hills, - with frightful gullies on almost every side.” And the simplicity of life - at the capital then is reflected in his statement that after finishing his - letters one night he was afraid to go out to post them lest he lose his - way in the dark, though he knew that the mail would close at five in the - morning. “After I had got comfortably into bed,” he continued, “a watchman<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_014" id="page_014"></a>{14}</span> came past - my window bawling out, ‘Past one o’clock, and a very stormy night,’ on - which I sprang out of bed and called to him to take my letters to the - post-office, which he consented to do. I accordingly wrapped them in a - sheet of paper to protect them from the wet, and threw them out of the - chamber window to him.” - </p> - <p> - The declaration of war against Great Britain in June, 1812, for which the - country at large held President Madison chiefly responsible, and which - reduced considerably such measure of popularity as he still retained, did - not produce much effect on the pulses of the stagnant city. The first - hostilities occurred in the north and on the sea; and, although the enemy - threatened Washington for more than a year, Madison and most of his - advisers regarded an attack as highly improbable. When, however, it became - known in 1814 that a large body of Wellington’s veterans were setting sail - from England, under convoy of a powerful fleet, for the mouth of - Chesapeake Bay, every one suddenly awoke to the impending peril. It was - then too late. Thanks to the misjudgment of General Armstrong, Secretary - of War, or General Winder, who was in charge of military affairs in the - District, midsummer found the enemy in Maryland, but the city still - without an efficient defensive force, or ammunition or provisions<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_015" id="page_015"></a>{15}</span> to equip - one properly. Hurried efforts brought together a first line of thirty-one - hundred men, all raw recruits except six hundred sailors and a couple of - hundred soldiers. A second line, almost equal in number, was formed, - mostly of militia, and disposed for use as a home guard. At Bladensburg, - Maryland, five miles north of Washington, the decisive battle occurred on - the twenty-fourth of August, from which the seamen led by Captain Joshua - Barney were the only contingent that emerged with extraordinary credit; - but they did so well that a grateful community has not yet raised a - monument to them or their leader. The battlefield was close enough to the - old George Washington tavern, of which Mr. Hornby gives us an intimate - glimpse, for the occupants to hear the rattle of musketry and see the - cannon-smoke from the upper windows. - </p> - <p> - The outcome of the fight was that the British commanders, General Ross and - Admiral Cockburn, with six thousand men, drove the Americans back and - swept down upon the city, spreading ruin in their track. Ross had his - horse killed under him by a shot from a private house he was passing and - kept more in the background thereafter, but Cockburn was active in the - work of devastation. Tradition describes him as mounting the Speaker’s - dais in the Hall of Representatives,<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_016" id="page_016"></a>{16}</span> calling a burlesque session - of Congress to order, and putting the question: “Shall this harbor of - Yankee democracy be burned? All in favor will say, ‘Aye’!” There was a - roar of “Ayes” from the men, who at once set going a mammoth bonfire of - written records and volumes from the library of Congress, and soon the - whole Capitol was wrapped in flames. Thence the party proceeded to the - other public buildings, burning whatever was recognizable as the property - of the Government. Their progress was nearly everywhere unopposed, the - clerks in charge having gathered up such books and papers as they could - carry away, and transported them to the most convenient hiding-places. - </p> - <p> - The first break in this program occurred at the Patent Office, which was - under the superintendency of Doctor William Thornton, himself of English - birth. A neighbor having warned him at his home that his office was in - danger, he mounted his horse and galloped to the spot, where he arrived - just in time to see a squad of soldiers training a field-piece upon the - building. Leaping from the saddle and dramatically covering the muzzle of - the gun with his body, he reminded the artillerists that the inventions - they purposed destroying were monuments of human progress which belonged - to the whole civilized world, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_017" - id="page_017"></a>{17}</span> denounced such vandalism as a disgrace to - the British uniform. His boldness had its effect, and the Patent Office - was spared. Another check came, in the form of an accident of poetic - justice, at Greenleaf’s Point, the present site of the Army War College. - This place had been used as an arsenal by the defenders of the city, who, - before deserting it, had secreted all their surplus gunpowder in a dry - well in the midst of the grounds. A body of British troops undertook to - destroy the American cannon they found there by firing one gun directly - into another, when a fragment of burning wadding was blown into the well, - causing an explosion that killed twelve and wounded more than thirty of - the party. - </p> - <p> - President Madison, who had been at Bladensburg personally superintending - the placing of our troops, hastened southward when the rout began, and - took refuge among the hills of northern Virginia. There he was presently - joined by his wife, and both remained in seclusion till they received word - that the British had marched away. This message was preceded by the news - that the President’s House had been burned, with all its contents except a - few portable articles which could be gathered and put out of harm’s reach - at an hour’s notice. The property destroyed with absolute wantonness in - various parts of the city<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_018" - id="page_018"></a>{18}</span> aggregated in value between two and three - million dollars—a heavy loss for a government which was just - managing to stagger along with its legitimate burdens, and in a capital - that could barely be kept from collapse under the most favoring - conditions. It is not wonderful that the British press was almost a unit - in condemning Cockburn’s vandalism, the London <i>Statesman</i> saying: - “Willingly would we throw a veil of oblivion over the transactions at - Washington; the Cossacks spared Paris, but we spared not the capital of - America!” And the <i>Annual Register</i>: “The extent of the devastation - practised by the victors brought a heavy censure upon the British - character, not only in America, but on the Continent of Europe.” The - restoration of the President’s House alone, including the repainting of - its outside surface to remove the scars of the fire, consumed four years, - in the course of which President Madison made way for his successor, - Monroe, and the building had fastened to it, from its freshened color, the - title it has worn in popular speech from that day to this. - </p> - <p> - It was a sorry-looking Washington to which the Madisons came back. - Blackened ruins were everywhere; placards posted here and there denounced - the President as the author of the city’s misfortunes; mournful streams of - women, children, old men, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_019" - id="page_019"></a>{19}</span> - </p> - <div class="figcenter" style="width: 454px;"> - <a href="images/ill_010_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_010_sml.jpg" - width="454" height="574" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="c"> - <i>George Washington Tavern, Bladensburg</i> - </p> - </div> - </div> - <p class="nind"> - shamefaced stragglers from the defensive force, trickled in from the woods - in the suburban country where they had been hiding since the battle; the - streets were strewn with the wreckage of a cyclone which had swept the - valley almost simultaneously with the hostile troops, unroofing houses, - uprooting trees, demolishing chimneys, and generally supplementing the - disasters of warfare. Indeed, almost the only potentiality of evil that - had not come to pass was an uprising of the slaves, which had been widely - feared, as some of the restless spirits among them had been overheard - counseling their fellows to join the British in looting the city and then - make a break for freedom. The Madisons, after a brief visit with friends, - rented the Octagon house at the corner of New York Avenue and Eighteenth - Street, now the headquarters of the American Institute of Architects. It - was here that President Madison signed the treaty of Ghent, binding Great - Britain and the United States to a peace which has remained for a whole - century unbroken. Here, too, Dolly Madison held her republican court, the - most famous since Martha Washington’s in New York, and far eclipsing that - in splendor. - </p> - <p> - To provide a meeting-place for Congress till the Capitol could be occupied - once more, a building which stood at the corner of F and Seventh Streets - was made<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_020" id="page_020"></a>{20}</span> - over for the purpose. It proved so uncomfortable, however, as to revive - with increased zest the discussion whether, in view of the spread of - population through the newly opened West, it would not be wiser to remove - the seat of government to some fairly accessible point in that part of the - country. The agitation alarmed the more important property-owners in - Washington, who, in order to head it off before it had gone too far, - hastily organized a company to put up a temporary but better equipped - substitute for the Capitol. They chose a site a few hundred yards to the - eastward of the burned edifice, and there built a long house which is - still standing, though now divided into dwellings. The stratagem - accomplished its aim, and Congress stayed in its improvised domicile till - 1819. This occupancy gave the building the title, “the Old Capitol,” that - clings to it to-day in spite of the changes it has undergone in the - interval. - </p> - <p> - Washington was early supplied with a good general newspaper in the <i>National - Intelligencer</i>, and the social side of life presently found a weekly - interpreter in <i>The Huntress</i>, edited by Mrs. Ann Royall, whose - personality was so aggressive that John Quincy Adams described her as - going about “like a virago-errant in enchanted armor.” She said so much, - also, in disparagement of some of her neighbors, that she was<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_021" id="page_021"></a>{21}</span> indicted - by the grand jury as a common scold and threatened with a ducking in - accordance with an old English law in force in the District. But the - disseminators of information to whose coming the citizens looked forward - more eagerly than to any printed sheet, were two men who made their rounds - daily on horseback among the homes of the well-to-do. One was the postman, - delivering the mails that came in by stage-coach from the outer world; the - other was the barber, who, like an endless-chain letter, picked up the - latest gossip at every house he visited, and left in exchange all the - items he had picked up at previous stopping-places. - </p> - <p> - During the next generation Washington saw, it is safe to say, more of the - ups and downs of fortune than any other American city. The reasons were - manifold. For one thing, the larger part of its population consisted of - persons whose permanent ties were elsewhere. As federal officeholders they - were residents of Washington, but they retained their citizenship in the - places from which they had been drawn. Under the Constitution, moreover, - Congress exercised supreme authority in the District of Columbia, and - every member of Congress had the interests of his home constituency more - at heart than those of the people who were his neighbors for only a few - months<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_022" id="page_022"></a>{22}</span> - at a time. Nevertheless, the population of the capital, which, when it - rose from its ashes, numbered between eight and nine thousand, more than - doubled within the next twenty years. Then came ten years of great - uncertainty, during which occurred the overwhelming business panic of - 1837, that set awry nearly everything in America, and for this period the - increase averaged only about five hundred souls annually. But another - twenty years of forward movement brought the total up to a little more - than sixty thousand. - </p> - <p> - In the meantime many things had happened, calculated to attract public - attention generally to Washington. President Monroe had proclaimed his - famous doctrine, warning Europe to keep its hands off this hemisphere. - President Jackson had made his fight upon the United States Bank and won - it, changing the whole financial outlook of the country. The Capitol had - been enlarged, and several new Government buildings started; the - Smithsonian Institution had begun to make its mark in the scientific - world, and the Washington Monument had risen nearly two hundred feet into - the air. The long-threatened war with Mexico had come and gone, adding a - rich area to our public domain. Steamships had crowded sailing vessels off - the highways of commerce and become the main dependence of the Yankee - navy. The Baltimore<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_023" id="page_023"></a>{23}</span> - and Ohio Railway, the first successful experiment in its field, had - brought what we now call the Middle West, with its grain and minerals, to - within a day’s journey of the capital, and this pioneer enterprise had - been followed by the opening of other rail facilities. The Fugitive Slave - Law and the Kansas-Nebraska Act had been passed, slavery had been - abolished in the District of Columbia, the Underground Railroad had begun - to haul its daily consignment of runaway negroes across the Canada border, - the Supreme Court had rendered the Dred Scott decision, and John Brown had - led his raid in the mountain country scarcely fifty miles from where the - Court was sitting. Letter postage, anywhere east of the Mississippi River, - had come down to a three-cent unit. The first telegraph message had been - transmitted over a wire connecting Baltimore with Washington, and out of - this small beginning had presently been developed a network of electric - communication covering all our more thickly populated territory; while - experimenters with a submarine line had effected an exchange of messages - between England and the United States which proved the practicability of - their enterprise. Last but not least, royalty had smiled upon us in the - person of the Prince of Wales, who had passed some days as the guest of - President Buchanan at the White House.<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_024" id="page_024"></a>{24}</span> - </p> - <p> - Had Washington been situated elsewhere than on the border line between two - sections, neither of which felt any pride in its success, or had it been - governed by executives whose records were to be made or marred by the - faithfulness with which they turned every opportunity to account for its - welfare and reputation, we should probably have seen the capital beginning - then its career as the model city of the new world. Instead, the - dependence of its people, at every stage, on the favor of what was - practically an alien governing body, bore natural fruit in a feeble - community spirit. - </p> - <p> - By 1860 Washington had reached the middle of its Slough of Despond. Not a - street was paved except for a patch here and there, and Pennsylvania - Avenue was the only one lighted after nightfall. Pigs roamed through the - less pretentious highways as freely as dogs. There was not a sewer - anywhere, a shallow, uncovered stream carrying off the common refuse to - the Potomac, which was held in its channel only by raw earthen bluffs. - Wells and springs furnished all the water, and the police and fire - departments were those of a village. The open squares, intended for beauty - spots, were densely overgrown with weeds. Except for an omnibus line to - Georgetown, not a public conveyance was running. Such permanent Department - buildings as had been started, though ambitious<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_025" id="page_025"></a>{25}</span> in design and suggesting by - their outlines a desire for something better than had yet been - accomplished, had not reached a habitable state. The Capitol was in - disorder, and still overrun with workmen who had been employed in - constructing the new wings and were preparing to raise the dome; the White - House had scarcely a fitter look, with its environment of stables and - shambling fences and its unkempt grounds. - </p> - <p> - Nor was there any prospect of speedy improvement in municipal conditions. - Every considerable stride in that direction would mean largely increased - taxation, and the bulk of the taxable property had drifted into the hands - of unprogressive whites and ignorant negroes, who were equally unwilling - to pay the price. Upon this seemingly hopeless chaos descended the cloud - of civil war. - </p> - <p> - It was a black cloud, but it had a sunlit lining.<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_026" id="page_026"></a>{26}</span> - </p> - <h2> - <a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<br /><br /> <small>WAR - TIMES AND THEIR SEQUEL</small> - </h2> - <p class="nind"> - <span class="letra">T</span>HREE days after John Brown had been hanged for - his Harper’s Ferry raid, the Thirty-sixth Congress convened. Brown’s - exploit had sent a wave of excitement sweeping over the country, and the - slavery controversy had entered a phase of emotional acuteness it had - never known before. There was a strong Republican plurality in the new - House of Representatives, but it was by no means of one mind, most of its - members still hoping to avoid any action which might precipitate a - dismemberment of the Union. It took forty-four ballots, covering a period - of eight weeks, for a combination of Republicans with a few outsiders to - choose a Speaker, and the wrangling which preceded and followed the choice - reached at times the verge of bloodshed. A large majority of the - Representatives from both Northern and Southern constituencies attended - the sessions armed. - </p> - <p> - Before the end of June, 1860, four Presidential tickets were in the field. - The Republican ticket was headed<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_027" - id="page_027"></a>{27}</span> by Abraham Lincoln of Illinois, the Northern - Democratic ticket by his old rival in State politics, Stephen A. Douglas. - The Southern Democrats had nominated John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, - then Vice-president, and what was left of the Whig party had united with - the peacemakers generally in naming John Bell of Tennessee. When Lincoln - was elected in November, every one knew that a crisis was at hand; for, - although opposed to the use of violence for the extinction of slavery, he - disbelieved utterly in the system, and the radical leaders in the South - proceeded at once with their plans for divorcing the slave States from the - free States. - </p> - <p> - South Carolina led the actual revolt by adopting an ordinance of secession - and withdrawing her delegation from Congress. Almost simultaneously she - sent three commissioners to Washington, “empowered to treat with the - Government of the United States for the delivery of the forts, magazines, - lighthouses and other real estate within the limits of South Carolina” to - the State authorities. President Buchanan, fearing lest any discussion - with them might be construed as a recognition of their claim to an - ambassadorial status, referred them to Congress, which met the difficulty - at the threshold by turning their case over to a special committee, with - the result that their demands<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_028" - id="page_028"></a>{28}</span> were disregarded. The committee, however, - played a pretty important part in the activities of the succeeding winter, - for the Union men in its membership organized themselves into a sort of - subcommittee of safety, and opened confidential channels of communication - with men and women all over the city who were in a position to tell them - promptly what the enemies of the Union were planning to do. These secret - informers included all classes of persons, from domestic servants to - Cabinet officers. The correspondence was conducted not through the - post-office, but by cipher notes hidden in out-of-the-way places, where - the parties for whom they were intended could safely look for them after - nightfall. - </p> - <p> - The militia and fire departments of the District of Columbia were modest - affairs then, but their members were alert to the growing possibilities of - trouble. Some who were secession sympathizers formed themselves into rifle - clubs and drilled privately at night; while the Unionists built up a - little body of minutemen, who elected their own officers and secreted - stands of arms at the Capitol and other convenient points, so that they - could respond instantly, wherever they chanced to be, to a summons for - emergency service. Day after day brought its budget of news from the - South, saddening or thrilling. Thomas and Floyd<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_029" id="page_029"></a>{29}</span> quitted the Cabinet, Dix - became Secretary of the Treasury, and Holt Secretary of War. In January, - 1861, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi seceded, - seizing all the forts, vessels, and other Government property on which - they could lay hands; and Dix put upon the wire his historic despatch to - his special agent at New Orleans, “If any one attempts to haul down the - American flag, shoot him on the spot,” but it was intercepted and never - reached its destination. - </p> - <p> - February witnessed the secession of Texas, the election of Jefferson Davis - as President and Alexander H. Stephens as Vice-president of the - Confederate States of America, and the withdrawal of several Senators and - Representatives from the United States Congress. The only cheering news of - the month was the refusal of Tennessee and Missouri to secede, though both - States contained a multitude of citizens who would have preferred to do - so. Daily the galleries of Congress were crowded with spectators - representing all shades of opinion and at times uncontrollable in their - expressions of approval or disapproval. When the House voted to submit a - Constitutional amendment forbidding the interference of Congress with - slavery or any other State institution, one element in the gallery burst - into deafening applause; the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_030" - id="page_030"></a>{30}</span> opposing element in the Senate became - equally boisterous in applauding a speech by Andrew Johnson, denouncing as - a traitor any man who should fire upon the flag or conspire to take over - Government property for the Confederacy. The difference in the treatment - of the two outbreaks was significant: that in the House was merely rebuked - in words, but in the Senate the gallery was cleared and closed to - spectators for the rest of the day. - </p> - <p> - In fairness it should be said that at this trying juncture several men in - positions of responsibility, who had made no secret of their interest in - the Southern cause, acted the honorable part when put to the test. - Vice-president Breckinridge was credited by current gossip with an - intention, at the official count of the electoral vote, to refuse to - declare Lincoln elected, or permit a mob to break up the session and - destroy the authenticated returns. On the contrary, he conducted the count - with as much scrupulousness in every detail as if his heart were in the - result. Equal praise is due to the chief of the Capitol police, who, - though bitterly hostile to Mr. Lincoln, took all the precautions for his - safety on the day of inauguration that his best friend could have taken. - </p> - <p> - Thus the Buchanan administration went out, and the Lincoln administration - came in. The persistent<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_031" - id="page_031"></a>{31}</span> - </p> - <div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"> - <a href="images/ill_011_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_011_sml.jpg" - width="450" height="576" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="c"> - <i>Octagon House</i> - </p> - </div> - </div> - <p class="nind"> - warnings of a plot to kill or kidnap the President-elect led to the - adoption of an extraordinary program for bringing him safely to - Washington. Under the escort of an experienced detective, he made the - journey from Harrisburg at high speed, in a special train provided by the - Pennsylvania Railroad Company, all the tracks having been previously - cleared, and the telegraph wires cut along the route. Meanwhile, a - sensational newspaper had published locally a story that Lincoln was - already in the city, having been smuggled through Baltimore in disguise in - order to elude the conspirators who were waiting there to assassinate him. - This fiction so incensed William H. Seward, who had been in Washington - preparing for the arrival of his future chief, that Lincoln was not - allowed to make a toilet after his night’s journey, but was hurried, all - unwashed and unshaven, to the Capitol, so that the members of Congress - could see him and satisfy themselves of the falsity of what they had read. - </p> - <p> - His immunity thus far did not quiet the apprehensions of Lincoln’s - friends, who took especial pains to prevent the interruption of his - inauguration at any point. A temporary fence was built around the space - immediately in front of the platform from which his address was to be - delivered, and an enclosed alley of boards was constructed from the place - where he<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_032" id="page_032"></a>{32}</span> - would leave his carriage to the place where he would pass into the - Capitol. On the morning of the fourth of March, armed men in citizen’s - clothing were stationed on the roofs of all the buildings overlooking the - main east portico, and others on and under its platform, while yet others - mingled with the crowd of thirty thousand spectators that early assembled - on the plaza. Batteries of light artillery were posted in commanding - positions, with their cannon loaded and prepared to sweep any of several - converging streets on the approach of a mob. Buchanan drove with Lincoln - to the Capitol, and their carriage was surrounded by a hollow square of - regular troops, in formation so dense that the occupants of the vehicle - were scarcely visible from the sidewalk. Hannibal Hamlin, the - Vice-president-elect, walked up from Willard’s Hotel, on purpose to hear - what the people who lined the Avenue were saying. Their comments were, as - a rule, far from friendly to the incoming administration, and some were - distinctly ominous. - </p> - <p> - Lincoln appeared very calm, in spite of the general atmosphere of - excitement. Buchanan’s face was graver than usual, and he spoke little - during the drive. When the party came upon the platform, Senator Baker of - Oregon stepped forward and said simply, “Fellow citizens, I introduce to - you Abraham Lincoln,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_033" id="page_033"></a>{33}</span> - President-elect of the United States”; and the tall, ungainly hero of the - day advanced to the rail. He laid his manuscript, to which he had put the - finishing touches at daybreak that morning, upon the little desk with his - cane for a paper-weight, and looked about for somewhere to lay his high - silk hat; Stephen A. Douglas, who was sitting near, reached for the hat - and held it throughout the proceedings. Lincoln, after a brief pause, drew - from his pocket a pair of steel-bowed spectacles, which he adjusted very - deliberately, and began to read with a seriousness of manner that soon - quenched all disposition to frivolity in his audience. The address was a - plea for the preservation of that friendship between the North and the - South which had been hallowed by their united warfare in the past against - the enemies of their country, and ended thus: - </p> - <p> - “Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of - affection. The mystic cords of memory, stretching from every battlefield - and patriot grave to every loving heart and hearthstone all over this - broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as - surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” - </p> - <p> - When the last syllable had passed his lips, he stood still a moment, - slowly sweeping the multitude with<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_034" - id="page_034"></a>{34}</span> his eyes. Then he bowed to Chief Justice - Taney, who, in a voice tremulous with emotion, administered the oath of - office. - </p> - <p> - Within six weeks thereafter Fort Sumter had been fired upon, and the new - President had issued his call for seventy-five thousand volunteers to - maintain the laws of the United States, and summoned Congress to meet in - extra session on the fourth of July. Almost the first thing the Senate did - when it came together was to expel six of its members who had cast their - fortunes with the seceding States. Meanwhile, Washington had been - transformed from an outwardly peaceful town into a military camp. A home - defense corps was hurriedly enlisted by Cassius M. Clay of Kentucky and - James H. Lane of Kansas, and a guard was posted around the White House - every night. The minutemen were called out repeatedly for special service. - Once they seized a vessel which was about to sail from a Potomac wharf for - a southern port, laden with munitions of war alleged to have been stolen - from the Government. Again, they marched to Georgetown and took forcible - possession of the flour stored in a mill there and reported to them as - destined for the Confederate army; this, by commandeering all the wagons - in the neighborhood, they removed to the Capitol and stowed away in the - basement rooms. In<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_035" id="page_035"></a>{35}</span> - the streets, all strangers were eyed with suspicion. Signals to the - police, the home defense corps, and the minutemen were conveyed by certain - tollings of big bells; and, as every signal meant trouble either present - or imminent, the townspeople lived continually as if on the brink of a - volcano. - </p> - <p> - Among the earliest State volunteers to reach the city were regiments from - Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania. The Massachusetts Sixth, which - had been fired on by a mob while passing through Baltimore, was quartered - in the Hall of the Senate, and the New York Seventh in the Hall of - Representatives; while bivouacked in other parts of the same building were - about five hundred Pennsylvanians and a company of United States - artillery, for there was general expectation of a Confederate attack upon - the Capitol. The New York Seventy-first was assigned to the Washington - Navy Yard, so as to be convenient for repelling approaches from Alexandria - by way of the river. - </p> - <p> - The first incident of the war in which Alexandria figured, however, was - not a foray on Washington but a tragedy at home. Colonel Ephraim E. - Ellsworth, who had recruited a regiment of zouaves from New York City, - came to Washington at its head. He was young, handsome, soldierly in - bearing, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_036" id="page_036"></a>{36}</span> - full of enthusiasm; but Mr. Lincoln, though greatly attracted to him, felt - some misgivings as to his ability to control his zouaves, for the New York - firemen of that period had a reputation for turbulence. Hence, when - arrangements were made for moving troops into Virginia to occupy a region - which must be held for the defense of the capital, the President consented - to let Ellsworth’s regiment go only on condition that it should be - instantly disbanded if its members committed any breach of discipline. - </p> - <p> - At two o’clock on the morning of May 24, 1861, the zouaves boarded two - Potomac steamboats, which before sunrise had dropped down to Alexandria. - Leaving most of his men on the wharf, Ellsworth started with a small squad - toward a telegraph office whence he could report to Washington by wire. He - observed a Confederate flag flying from the roof of a hotel known as the - Marshall House, and, realizing what might happen if his men caught sight - of it, entered with the purpose of directing its removal. Jackson, the - landlord, was abed, and the man in charge of the office seemed - irresponsible, so Ellsworth and his squad hauled down the flag themselves. - As they were descending with it, Jackson suddenly emerged from his chamber - in the second story and leveled a double-barreled shotgun at Corporal - Brownell, the soldier<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_037" id="page_037"></a>{37}</span> - nearest him. Brownell, with his rifle, struck Jackson’s gun just as its - trigger was pulled, and the shot went wild; but in an instant Jackson had - aimed again and discharged the contents of the second barrel into - Ellsworth’s breast. The Colonel fell dead, and Brownell, firing and using - his bayonet almost simultaneously, killed Jackson where he stood. - </p> - <p> - Except one who had lost his life by an accident, Ellsworth was the first - Union soldier to fall in the Civil War. He was buried from the White House - by the President’s order; and the news of his death so aroused the North - that volunteers poured into Washington for a time faster than the - Government could arm and provision them. Mostly they were militia - regiments which had come on under their own officers. In Washington they - were united in brigades, with generals of some experience in command, and - sent into Virginia by way of the “Long Bridge,” which had its terminus on - the fringe of the Arlington estate; it was a wooden structure, and the - troops had to break step in crossing it. The first battle between the two - armies was at a point near Manassas, and took its name, Bull Run, from a - small stream which, about twenty-five miles southwest of Washington, joins - the Occoquan River. - </p> - <p> - So little conception had the people at large of the<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_038" id="page_038"></a>{38}</span> actualities of war that many - Washingtonians and tourists, of all ages and sexes, drove down in - carriages to watch the battle from a safe position on the hillside. - Fighting began on the morning of Sunday, July 21, and the first reports - that reached the city described everything as going favorably to the Union - cause. The despatches sent to Northern newspapers all reflected this view, - and some went pretty elaborately into detail concerning incidents on - various parts of the field. But suddenly the tide turned, and with a - panicky force which started the whole body of Federal troops on a - pell-mell rush for Washington. The light-hearted spectators ran, too, - often impeding the retreat of the soldiers by getting their carriages - wedged together on a bridge or a narrow road, while the air shook with - mingled profanity and prayers, punctuated with hysterics. Not a few of the - carriage folk, as night drew near, became so terrified that they cut their - harness and rode their horses bareback, two sometimes clinging to one - animal. The Confederates, discovering the rout, were as much surprised as - the Federals. They set out to follow their foes, but, not fully grasping - the real conditions, stopped about fifteen miles short of Washington and - waited for morning, thus giving the fugitive army a chance to recover from - its first demoralization. Had they<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_039" - id="page_039"></a>{39}</span> pressed on, they might have taken possession - of the capital that night, captured the stored munitions, and looted the - Treasury; and the record of the next four years must have been written in - a different vein. - </p> - <p> - Meanwhile, the true story had been brought in by the fleeing - non-combatants, and the Associated Press attempted to send out a - correction of first reports, but discovered too late that the Government - had seized all the telegraph lines and established a temporary censorship, - postponing any further dissemination of news. As far as known, only one - prominent paper in the North was able to describe the disaster in its - Monday morning’s issue. That was a Philadelphia journal, whose - correspondent had taken to his heels as soon as the panic began. By the - time he reached Washington, he was so convinced that the Confederates were - going to capture the city at once, that he boarded a train which was just - pulling out for Philadelphia, and at his desk in his home office dictated - his observations of the battle and the stampede. - </p> - <p> - The President, having received only cheering bulletins in the earlier part - of Sunday, went out for his usual drive in the cool of the afternoon. On - his return, about half-past six o’clock, he found awaiting him a request - to come immediately to General Scott’s room at the War Department. All his - Cabinet had gathered<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_040" id="page_040"></a>{40}</span> - there, and his hurried consultation with them resulted in messages - directing various movements of troops in the field, and appeals to the - Governors of the loyal States for more men. When he came back to his - office, he threw himself upon a lounge, where he spent the night, not in - sleep, but in listening to, and closely catechising, parties of civilians - who had made their way in from Manassas and had hastened to the White - House to pour their disjointed narratives into his ear. By daylight the - streets of Washington presented a pitiful spectacle. Ordinary business was - almost at a standstill; excited citizens were gathered in knots at every - corner; and a multitude of disheartened soldiers, lacking leaders and - organization, not knowing where to look for their next orders and thinking - with dread of the effect the bad news would have upon their friends at - home, were wandering aimlessly about. The President, after twenty-four - hours of anxiety, was greatly relieved when the responses from the - Northern States began to reach him, showing that the shock had not broken - the faith of the people but had awakened them to the realities of the - situation. This change was reflected in the Cabinet councils, too, where a - sudden revision of opinion was observed on the part of those members who - had fancied that the war would be merely a three months’ holiday—a<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_041" id="page_041"></a>{41}</span> triumphal - march of a Northern army from Mason and Dixon’s line to the Gulf of - Mexico. - </p> - <p> - This is not a history of the civil conflict; its beginnings have been thus - outlined only because they made so deep an impress on the future of - Washington, which, from being generally regarded by the American people - with comparative indifference, had become a center of interest for all the - world. The city was not again seriously threatened with capture till July, - 1864, when the Confederate General, Jubal A. Early, with a corps of - seasoned soldiers, had worked his way around so as to descend upon it from - the north. The news of his approach, spreading through the community, did - not cause the consternation which might have been expected in view of the - slight defensive preparation that had been made in the menaced quarter. - Requisitions were sent to the army in Northern Virginia for such troops as - could be spared. Wounded and discharged Union veterans shouldered their - guns once more. The male nurses in the hospitals were drafted for active - duty. A troop of cavalry was recruited among the civilian teamsters at - work in the city. From all the executive Departments the able-bodied - clerks were called out, armed with rifles or muskets as far as possible, - and for the rest with pistols, old cutlasses, axes, shovels, and whatever<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_042" id="page_042"></a>{42}</span> other - implements might be turned to emergency use, and ranged up on the - sidewalks for elementary instruction and drill. Those who were least - strong or most poorly armed were organized into a home-guard, to act as a - last reserve if the Confederates succeeded in piercing a line of - earthworks thrown out north of the city. Some of these fortifications can - still be identified, though worn away by a half-century’s exposure to a - variable climate, overgrown with trees and vines, and at intervals used as - building sites. The most interesting of the chain is Fort Stevens, near - the present Seventh Street Road, for there President Lincoln stood for - hours under fire, refusing to go home as long as there seemed a chance - that his presence could lend any inspiration to the men. The invading - force was repulsed after a two days’ effort to break through, and - Washington breathed freely once more. - </p> - <p> - We come now to the concluding stage of the great struggle. Mr. Lincoln was - reëlected in November, 1864, and inaugurated on the fourth of March, 1865, - making the chief theme of his address a plea for generous treatment of the - South. Within a month Richmond fell, and five days after that General Lee - surrendered his army. There was great rejoicing in Washington over both - these portents of peace, and parties of men and women paraded the streets - after<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_043" id="page_043"></a>{43}</span> - </p> - <div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"> - <a href="images/ill_012_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_012_sml.jpg" - width="450" height="544" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="c"> - <i>Union Engine House of 1815</i> - </p> - </div> - </div> - <p class="nind"> - nightfall, singing patriotic songs in front of the dwellings of prominent - Government officers. On the night of April 11 a great crowd gathered in - the White House yard, loudly cheering the President and calling for a - speech. Having been notified in advance, he had jotted down a few remarks - which he now read from manuscript. This memory of him we shall take away - with us, as he stood framed in an open window, with one of his secretaries - at his side holding a lighted candle for him to see by, and his little son - Tad taking from his hand the pages of manuscript, one by one, as he - finished reading them, while the rest of his family, with radiant faces, - were grouped where they could overlook the scene. - </p> - <p> - Three nights later, almost at the same hour, Booth’s bullet laid the good - man low in his box at Ford’s Theater; and in a little back hall bedroom of - the house across the street to which he was carried, he breathed his last - at an early hour on the following morning. Simultaneously with the - shooting of Mr. Lincoln, an attempt was made to kill Secretary Seward, and - the detectives unearthed evidence of a wide conspiracy, which contemplated - a simultaneous murder of the President, the Vice-president, all the - Cabinet, and General Grant. The conspirators were soon tracked. Booth was - shot in a Virginia barn in which<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_044" - id="page_044"></a>{44}</span> he had taken refuge from his pursuers; four - others were tried by a military commission and hanged. - </p> - <p> - Andrew Johnson, the Vice-president, was not a tactful man, and had already - drawn upon himself the enmity of the radical wing of his party in - Congress, which was intensified by his first acts as President, - foreshadowing a considerate policy toward the South. A tiresome petty - warfare set in, Johnson vetoing bill after bill, only to see it repassed - over his veto. Of the members of the Lincoln Cabinet he had retained, - Secretary Stanton was the one with whom he had most friction, and in - August, 1867, he called for Stanton’s resignation, designating General - Grant to manage the War Department temporarily. On Stanton’s refusal to - resign, Johnson suspended him, and Grant took over the Department and held - it till the Senate adopted a resolution declaring its non-concurrence in - Stanton’s suspension. Then Grant stepped out, and Stanton returned to - duty. Johnson suspended him again, this time designating General Lorenzo - Thomas to act in his stead. Matters had now reached a climax, and the - House in 1868 impeached the President. His trial by the Senate consumed - nearly two months and ended in a failure to convict. In view of this - defeat, Stanton resigned, and from that time till the close of his term - President Johnson continued his quarrel<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_045" id="page_045"></a>{45}</span> with the opponents of his - policy, celebrating his last Christmas in the White House by proclaiming a - general pardon and amnesty, so framed as to include all grades of - political offenders. - </p> - <p> - Johnson was President when the enlargement of the Capitol building was - finished, including the rearing of the present dome. While the alterations - were in progress, the grand two days’ parade of the victorious armies took - place on Pennsylvania Avenue, the President reviewing it as it passed the - White House. General Grant was elected by the Republicans to succeed - Johnson, taking office in March, 1869. During the next sixteen years, - divided between his two terms and the administrations of Hayes, Garfield, - and Arthur, Washington almost doubled in population. While Grant was - President, it was so constantly in the public eye that many rich men - discerned its future possibilities and invested in real estate there. Army - and navy officers, retired from active duty, found it pleasant to settle - down where they would be most likely to meet their old comrades. A few - scholars drifted in, so as to have easy access to the Government libraries - and records. Thus, in both a material and a social way, Washington took a - strong upward start. - </p> - <p> - For the esthetic side of the general change, less can<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_046" id="page_046"></a>{46}</span> be said in praise. Most of - the dwellings built during this era can still be distinguished by their - gratuitous ugliness. The parks became strewn with flower-beds of fantastic - shape, overrun by a riot of inharmonious colors. Statues sprang up like - mushrooms, unrelated in size or style or any other quality. Alterations of - street grades left little houses perched on bluffs and leaning against big - neighbors built at the new level, or sunk in dingy pits. All this - contributed to give the city an unfinished look, like that of a child - growing out of its small clothes. Over the whole process of transformation - loomed its master figure, Alexander R. Shepherd. - </p> - <p> - No man of his day, unless it were Grant himself, endured more wholesale - denunciation or found more valiant defenders than he. Like Grant, who - believed in him thoroughly, he had an iron will which treated all - obstacles as negligible when he had set himself to accomplish a certain - end. As a plumber by trade and a very competent one, he had accumulated a - fortune before middle life. Early in his business career he had made up - his mind that Washington’s failure to fulfil L’Enfant’s ideal of a - beautiful capital was due to the sluggishness which pervaded it, and this - he resolved to dispel. Grant listened to his projects and encouraged them. - The first step was to abolish<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_047" - id="page_047"></a>{47}</span> the existing form of municipal government - and to substitute a Territorial form, with a Governor and a Board of - Public Works. Shepherd was made vice-president of the Board and virtually - its dictator. - </p> - <p> - What he had to face in his effort to launch the city afresh can hardly be - conceived by an observer of to-day. Although ten years had elapsed since - the outbreak of the great war of which Washington was the focal center, - local conditions had improved but slightly upon those described toward the - close of the previous chapter. The road-bed of Pennsylvania Avenue had - received a pavement of wood, which was fast going to pieces. A single - square in Vermont Avenue was surfaced with a coal-tar product that had - proved its unfitness. A few other streets had been spread with a thick - coat of gravel, which, as it was gradually ground down, filled the air - with fine grit whenever the wind blew. The rest of the highways were - either paved with cobblestones or left in their primitive dirt, which - became nearly impassable in very wet weather for mud, and in very dry - weather for dust. It was not uncommon for a heavy vehicle like a - fire-engine to get stalled when it most needed to hurry, and to avoid this - contingency the engines sometimes ran over the sidewalk. In the - northwestern quarter, now so attractive, the marshes were undrained, and - the people<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_048" id="page_048"></a>{48}</span> - forced to live there suffered tortures from chills and fever. There was no - efficient system of scavenging, but swine were kept in back yards of - dwellings to devour the kitchen refuse. Poultry and cattle roamed freely - about the vacant lots in thinly settled neighborhoods. There were several - open sewers; and the street sweepings, including offal of a highly - offensive sort, were dumped on the common south of Pennsylvania Avenue and - strewn over the plots set apart for lawns. - </p> - <p> - Because Shepherd foresaw the hostility he would excite by his program of - reforms, and that what he did must therefore be done quickly, he crowded - into three years what might well have consumed twenty. To save time and - cut red tape, he awarded contracts to friends whom he believed to be as - much in earnest as he was—a practice which of course laid him open - to accusations of favoritism; he experimented with novel materials and - methods, many of which proved ill-adapted to his needs; and his - expenditures reached figures which surprised even him when he found - leisure to foot up his debit page. But he shirked nothing because of the - danger or trouble it might involve for himself, and his opponents had to - lie awake nights to outwit him. - </p> - <p> - For instance, there stood on the present site of the<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_049" id="page_049"></a>{49}</span> Public Library in Mount - Vernon Square a ramshackle old market building, the owners of which had - contrived so to intrench themselves behind legal technicalities that they - could not be ousted by any ordinary process. One evening, after the courts - were closed, a platoon of brawny laborers was marched up to the building, - armed with battering-rams, axes, and sledge-hammers, and, before - proprietors or tenants could hunt up a judge to interfere, the party had - reduced the market to kindling wood and prepared the ground for conversion - into a public park. Again, when the time came to improve the lower end of - Pennsylvania Avenue, a railroad crossing stood in the way. It had been - laid during the war, with no legal warrant but as a temporary military - necessity, and the company had repeatedly refused to remove it. So at one - o’clock one Sunday morning, when injunctions were out of the question, - Shepherd brought down a gang of trusty men and proceeded to tear up the - rails, which could never thereafter be replaced. - </p> - <p> - The boldness of this performance so stirred the admiration of John W. - Garrett, one of the most powerful railway magnates of the day, that he - offered Shepherd a vice-presidency of the Baltimore and Ohio Company. But - Shepherd was not to be lured away. He was promoted by Grant from the - vice-presidency of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_050" id="page_050"></a>{50}</span> - the Board of Public Works to the Governorship of the District, a move - which, though flattering, made him all the more shining a mark for attack; - and a group of large landowners, shuddering at the prospect of further - increases in taxation, induced Congress to reorganize the local - government, wiping out entirely the Territorial system and popular - suffrage, and putting the administration of affairs into the hands of - three Commissioners to be appointed for limited terms by the President. - This plan has remained substantially unchanged for more than forty years, - to the satisfaction of the citizens who have most at stake in the welfare - of the city. - </p> - <p> - Having entered office rich at the age of thirty, Shepherd quitted it at - thirty-three so poor that he had to begin life anew in the Mexican mining - country. He left as his monument a record expenditure of twenty-six - million dollars, about half that amount remaining as a bonded debt; many - miles of newly opened or extended streets; a splendid achievement in - shade-tree installation and parking improvement; modern water, sanitation, - and lighting plants; and, above all, an awakened popular spirit as to - civic advancement. Albeit his ways of working out his plans often were so - crude as to shock the sense of quieter people and not to be commended as a - continuing force for<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_051" id="page_051"></a>{51}</span> - </p> - <div class="figcenter" style="width: 454px;"> - <a href="images/ill_013_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_013_sml.jpg" - width="454" height="562" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="c"> - <i>On the Ruins of Fort Stevens</i> - </p> - </div> - </div> - <p class="nind"> - good, they served their time, which needed the application of a crowbar - rather than a cambric needle. - </p> - <p> - True to his human type, Shepherd was an odd mixture of incongruities. He - poured out public funds like water, yet profited never a cent himself. In - his own fashion he was pious, yet he could swear like a trooper when - aroused, and once halted in the midst of family prayers to order a servant - to “drive that damned cow out of the rose-bushes!” He was overheard, after - hurling imprecations at some contractor who had mishandled a job, - murmuring a prayer to the Almighty to forgive and forget his momentary - loss of temper. A lady who once engaged him as a plumber to hang a - chandelier in her parlor noticed that it swayed under her touch, and sent - for him again to make sure that it would not fall upon the heads of her - guests. His answer was to mount a chair on one side of the room, pull the - chandelier toward him till he could grasp it with both hands, jump off, - and swing his whole weight of two hundred and twenty-five pounds across to - a chair on the opposite side. This exhibition of his confidence in his - work completely restored hers. - </p> - <p> - Little more need be told here. The sodden soil plowed up by Shepherd was - gradually harrowed and seeded, watched and watered, till it brought forth - a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_052" id="page_052"></a>{52}</span> - new city, which under later administrations, in spite of many - vicissitudes, has prospered in the main. Presidents Cleveland, Harrison, - and McKinley took an interest in it which, while kindly, had some of the - detached quality of their interest in any of the States or Territories; - under them, however, the beautiful Rock Creek National Park and its - neighbor the “Zoo” were planned and largely developed, and the - pleasure-ground and suburban expansion programs received a considerable - impetus. President Roosevelt felt a lively sense of the importance of the - city as the capital of a great nation. It was in his time that the White - House underwent its restoration, and the L’Enfant plan generally was - revived as a standard. He was responsible, also, for attracting to - Washington, as permanent residents, many literary and scientific workers - whom it had formerly welcomed only as visitors, and the foundation of the - Carnegie Institution went far to make this period notable in local annals. - Mr. Taft’s interest took more the neighborly bent, as if Washington were - his home. He bore an active part in the popular movements for beautifying - the city, not so much because it was a capital, as because he wished to - have a hand in the civic enterprises of his fellow townsmen. - </p> - <p> - President Wilson’s attitude has not thus far been<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_053" id="page_053"></a>{53}</span> so clearly defined as that - of his recent predecessors. Other pressing public concerns have left him - scant time for looking into municipal improvement projects. Mrs. Wilson, - however, gave them much attention; and a hope expressed during her last - illness so touched the heart of Congress as to bring about the enactment - of some long-delayed legislation to abate the use of unwholesome alleys - for the tenements of the poor.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_054" - id="page_054"></a>{54}</span> - </p> - <h2> - <a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<br /><br /> <small>“ON - THE HILL”</small> - </h2> - <p class="nind"> - <span class="letra">I</span>N the ordinary conversation of Washington, one - rarely hears Congress mentioned by name. The respective functions of its - two chambers are so generally understood that it is common to distinguish - between them: the Senate yesterday did so-and-so; something is about to - occur in the House of Representatives. In speaking of the lawmakers - collectively, the familiar phrase is “the gentlemen on the hill.” - Washington has several hills, but “the” hill is by universal consent the - one on which the Capitol stands. - </p> - <p> - To the visitor who knows the city only in its present aspect, the choice - of this hill for the monumental building now crowning it seems most - natural. This is not, however, the place originally considered for the - purpose. James Madison favored Shuter’s Hill, an eminence a little west of - Alexandria, now embraced in the tract set apart for George Washington - Park. Thomas Jefferson supported Madison in this preference; but President - Washington, feeling that Virginia<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_055" - id="page_055"></a>{55}</span> had already had her full share of the honors - in launching the new republic, insisted that the most important - architecture at the seat of government should stand on the Maryland side - of the Potomac. His view prevailed; and, when the sites of the principal - public buildings were marked on L’Enfant’s plan of the city, that selected - for the Capitol was the elevation which, besides being fairly central, - commanded in its outlook, and was commanded by, the greatest area of - country on both sides of the river. - </p> - <p> - Like almost everything else architectural in Washington, the Capitol is a - pile of gradual growth, subjected to many changes of detail in the plans. - Sketches were submitted in competition for a prize; the two competitors - who came nearest to meeting the requirements, though adopted citizens of - the United States, were respectively of French and English birth; and the - drawings finally evolved from the general scheme of the one modified by - the more acceptable ideas of the other were turned over to an Irishman to - perfect and carry out. Most of the credit belongs, undoubtedly, to Doctor - William Thornton, a draftsman by profession, who afterward became - Superintendent of Patents. The material used was freestone from a - neighboring quarry. Only the north or Senate end was far enough advanced - by the autumn of 1800 to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_056" - id="page_056"></a>{56}</span> enable Congress to hold its short session - there, and the disputes which arose over the succeeding stages of the work - led President Jefferson to call in Benjamin H. Latrobe of Richmond, the - first architect of already established rank who had had anything to do - with it. Under his direction, the south end was made habitable by 1811; - and the House of Representatives, which till then had been uncomfortably - quartered in such odd places as it could find, took possession. There was - no central structure connecting the Senate and House ends, but a roofed - wooden passageway led from the one to the other. In this condition was the - Capitol when, in 1814, the British invaders burned all of it that was - burnable. - </p> - <p> - The heavier masonry, of course, was unaffected by the fire except for the - need of a little patchwork here and there; but in his task of restoration - Mr. Latrobe found himself so embarrassed by dissensions between the - dignitaries who gave him his orders that after three vexatious years he - resigned, and the celebrated Charles Bulfinch of Boston took his place. In - 1830 Mr. Bulfinch pronounced the building finished and returned home, and - for twenty years it remained substantially as he left it. Then, the needs - of Congress having outgrown the space at their disposal, Thomas U. Walter - of Philadelphia was ordered to prepare plans<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_057" id="page_057"></a>{57}</span> for an enlargement, and he - was far-sighted enough to make the extension the vehicle for some other - improvements. The great wings attached to the northern and southern - extremities were built of white marble, which has rendered imperative the - frequent repainting of the old freestone surfaces to match; the dome was - raised proportionally; and additions made, then and since, to the - surrounding grounds, have given the building an appropriate setting and - vastly enhanced its beauty of approach. - </p> - <p> - This is, in brief, the story of the Capitol as we find it to-day. A stroll - through it will call up other memories. As you look at the building from - the east, you will be struck by the difference in tint between the painted - main structure and the two marble wings. Imagine the wings cut off and the - dome reduced to about half its present height and ended abruptly in a flat - top, and you have in your mind’s eye a picture of the Capitol as Bulfinch - left it, and as it remained till shortly before the Civil War. Its most - conspicuous feature now is its towering dome, surmounted by a bronze - allegorical figure of American Freedom. As the sculptor Crawford - originally modeled the image, its head was crowned with the conventional - liberty-cap; but Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War, objected to this - on the ground that it was the sign of a freed<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_058" id="page_058"></a>{58}</span> slave, whereas Americans - were born free. The cap was therefore discarded in favor of the present - helmet of eagle feathers. - </p> - <p> - Filling the pediment over the main portico is a bit of sculpture which - enjoys the distinction of having been designed by John Quincy Adams, - because he could not find an artist who could draw him what he wished. It - consists of three figures: the Genius of America in the center and Hope - and Justice on either side, Justice appearing without her customary - blindfold. Flanking the main staircase are two groups of statuary. That on - our left is called “The Discovery”—Columbus holding aloft a globe, - while an Indian woman crouches at his feet. It was done by the Italian - sculptor Persico, who copied Columbus’s armor from the last suit actually - worn by him. And now comes a bit of politics; for Congress, having awarded - this work to a foreigner, was besieged by a demand that the next order be - given to an American, and accordingly engaged Horatio Greenough to produce - “The Rescue,” which stands on our right. It represents a frontiersman - saving his wife and child from capture by an Indian. - </p> - <p> - The portico has an historic association with another President besides - Adams, for it was here that an attempt was made upon the life of Andrew - Jackson.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_059" id="page_059"></a>{59}</span> - At the close of a funeral service in the House of Representatives, he had - just passed out of the rotunda to descend the steps, when a demented - mechanic named Lawrence sprang from a place of hiding, aimed a pistol at - him, and pulled the trigger. As they were less than ten feet apart, the - President was saved only by the failure of the powder to explode. Lawrence - instantly dropped the useless pistol and tried another, with like effect. - Jackson never could be talked out of the idea that Lawrence was the tool - of political conspirators who wished to put some one else in his place as - President. - </p> - <p> - We enter the building between the bronze doors designed by Randolph - Rogers, commonly called the “Columbus doors” because they tell, in a - series of reliefs, the life story of the discoverer. In the rotunda, the - center of the building, we find ourselves surrounded by paintings and - sculpture dealing with historical subjects. Hung at even intervals are - eight large canvases, of which four are by John Trumbull, a portrait - painter who was also an officer of the patriot army in the Revolution. For - the one representing the signing of the Declaration of Independence, old - John Randolph could find no better designation than “the shin piece,” - because “such a collection of legs never before came together in any one - picture”; but a more<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_060" id="page_060"></a>{60}</span> - friendly commentator has discovered by actual count that, of the nearly - fifty figures, only ten show either legs or feet, the rest being relieved - by drapery or deep shadows. In another, the “Resignation of General - Washington,” are the figures of two girls, which have given rise to many a - discussion among sightseers because the pair seem to have five hands - between them; I shall not attempt to solve the problem. - </p> - <p> - The paintings of the “Landing of Columbus,” “Discovery of the - Mississippi,” “Baptism of Pocahontas,” and “Embarkation of the Pilgrims” - are from the brushes of Vanderlyn, Powell, Chapman, and Weir respectively. - Their subjects permit of picturesque costumes and dramatic groupings which - Trumbull could not use. But whatever his limitations, we owe to him, - probably more than to any other one man, the rotunda as we know it. - Bulfinch had under consideration various schemes of treatment for the - center of the building, but Trumbull’s foremost thought was of a good - light for his pictures; and, as he was a valued friend of the architect, - the pertinacity with which he urged this design won the day. - </p> - <p> - Four doors pierce the circular chamber, and over each is a rectangle of - sculpture in high relief. As works of art, the quartet are little short of - execrable, but as milestones on the path of esthetic development<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_061" id="page_061"></a>{61}</span> in - America they have a charm of their own. All were the work of Italian - sculptors, whose acquaintance with our domestic history and concerns was - presumptively scant; and when the tablet showing William Penn negotiating - his treaty with the Indians was first exhibited to the public, the head of - the gentle Quaker was adorned with a cocked hat and military queue. It was - necessary, therefore, to decapitate him and set upon his shoulders the - head he now wears. All four reliefs deal with our aboriginal problem. In - one, the Indians are welcoming the Pilgrim Fathers with a gift of corn; in - another, they are conveying to Penn the land on which Philadelphia now - stands; in a third, Pocahontas is saving the life of Captain John Smith; - while in the fourth, Caucasian civilization, personified in Daniel Boone, - has already killed one Indian and is engaged in bloody combat with a - second. The series drew from an old chief the comment that they told the - true story of the way the white race had repaid the hospitality of the red - race by exterminating it; and another observer, pointing to the huddled-up - body of the fallen Indian under Boone’s foot, remarked: “The white man has - not left the Indian land enough even to die on!” - </p> - <p> - Running all around the circular wall and immediately under the dome - opening, we note an unfinished frieze,<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_062" id="page_062"></a>{62}</span> so done in neutral tints as - to convey the suggestion of relief sculpture, depicting the most notable - events in the history of America from the landing of Columbus to the - discovery of gold in California. Six of the fourteen scenes were painted - by Constantino Brumidi, and the others after sketches left by him. It was - an ambitious design, in view of the rapidity with which history is made - now and the brevity of the space. Only a trifling gap is left for all that - has happened in the last sixty years or so, and Congress has had more than - one debate over what ought to be crowded into the record of this interval. - Among the subjects considered have been the emancipation of the slaves, - the completion of the first transcontinental railroad, and the freeing of - Cuba; but the proposal which has met with most favor is a symbolic - treatment of the Civil War, not as a breach between the sections but as - the cementing of a stronger bond. This was set aside because the design - outlined was a representation of Grant and Lee clasping hands under the - Appomattox apple tree—the objection being based on the discovery - that the apple tree existed only in fiction, and that the real - meeting-place of the two commanders was too unromantic for artistic use. - </p> - <p> - From the frieze our eyes ascend to the canopy, or inner lining of the - dome, which hangs above us like an<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_063" - id="page_063"></a>{63}</span> - </p> - <div class="figcenter" style="width: 452px;"> - <a href="images/ill_014_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_014_sml.jpg" - width="452" height="594" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="c"> - <i>Survivals from “Before the War”</i> - </p> - </div> - </div> - <p class="nind"> - inverted bowl enclosing an elaborate fresco in colors. This, too, is from - the brush of Brumidi. Although it is ostensibly allegorical, many of its - sixty-three human faces are recognizable portraits, including those of - Washington, Franklin, Hamilton, Robert Morris, Samuel F. B. Morse, Robert - Fulton, and Thomas U. Walter, who was architect of the Capitol while the - work was in progress. In a group representing War, with an armed goddess - of liberty for its center, are heads resembling those of Jefferson Davis, - Alexander H. Stephens, Robert E. Lee, and John B. Floyd. Whether the - likenesses are there by the deliberate intent of the artist, or merely by - accident, no one will ever know, as Brumidi died in 1880. - </p> - <p> - The door on our left leads, through a short corridor, into what was once - the Hall of Representatives. It is now known officially as the Hall of - Statuary, but to irreverent critics as the National Chamber of Horrors, - because of the varied assortment of marble and bronze images collected - there. The room is semicircular, with a domed ceiling, a great arch and - supporting pillars on its flat side, and a colonnade lining the horseshoe. - During the forty years that it was used for legislative purposes, a - rostrum holding the Speaker’s table and chair filled the arch, and the - desks of the Representatives were arranged in concentric curves to face<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_064" id="page_064"></a>{64}</span> it. - Overlooking the chamber, and following most of the rear wall, ran a narrow - gallery for visitors who did not enjoy the privileges of the floor; it - derived an air of comfort from curtains hung between the columns of the - colonnade and looped back so as to produce the effect of a tier of - opera-boxes. Stay in the room a while, and you will understand why, for - many years, the complaint of its acoustic properties was so constant, and - a demand for a better hall so strong: it is a wonderful whispering - gallery. There are spots in the tiled pavement where you can stand and - hear the slightest sound you make come back from some point before or - behind you, over your head, or under your feet. Go to the place where the - semicircle ends on one side of the room, and I will go to the - corresponding place on the other side, and, by speaking into the vertical - fissures between the wall and the pillars at the two extremities of the - great arch, we can converse in the lowest tones with as much ease as if we - were side by side instead of a hundred feet apart. - </p> - <p> - A vivid imagination can people this hall with ghosts. Here some of the - fiercest forensic battles were fought in early days over protective - tariffs, internal improvements, and, above all, negro slavery. Here it was - that Randolph’s piping voice denounced the Northern “dough-faces,” and - here Wilmot launched his historic<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_065" - id="page_065"></a>{65}</span> proviso. Here Alexander H. Stephens made his - last effort to resuscitate the moribund Whig party, while Abraham Lincoln - listened to his argument from a seat on the same side of the chamber. Here - John Quincy Adams drew upon himself the fire of an incensed opposition by - championing the people’s right to petition Congress, and here he fell to - the floor a dying paralytic. Here John Marshall, the greatest of our Chief - Justices, administered the oath of office to two early Presidents. And - here it was that Henry Clay, as Speaker, delivered his address of welcome - to Lafayette as the guest of the nation, and listened with becoming - gravity to the Marquis’s response—which, as it afterward appeared, - owed its excellent English to the fact that Clay had composed it for the - most part himself. - </p> - <p> - The conversion of the hall from its former to its present uses was at the - instance of the late Senator Morrill of Vermont, who procured legislation - permitting every State in the Union to contribute two statues of - distinguished citizens to this temple of fame. No restriction having been - placed on the sizes of the figures, one result of his well-meant effort is - a grotesque array of pigmies and giants, some of the personages biggest in - life being most diminutive in effigy, while others of comparatively - insignificant stature are here given massive proportions. Most of the - notables<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_066" id="page_066"></a>{66}</span> - thus immortalized are persons with whose names we associate a story. Here - stand, for example, Ethan Allen as he may have looked when demanding the - surrender of Fort Ticonderoga “in the name of the great Jehovah and the - Continental Congress”; Charles Carroll, who wrote Carrollton after his - name so that the servants of the King, when sent to hang him for signing - the Declaration, would know where to find him; sturdy John Stark, who - snapped his fingers at Congress and whipped the British at Bennington in - his own fashion; Muhlenberg, the patriot parson, throwing back his gown at - the close of his sermon and standing forth as a Continental soldier; and - fiery Jim Shields, who once challenged Lincoln to a duel, but was laughed - out of it when, arriving on the field, he found his adversary already - there, mowing the tall grass with a cutlass to make the fighting easier! - </p> - <p> - Another corridor brings us to the present Hall of Representatives, which - has been in use since the latter part of 1857. It is a spacious - rectangular room, with a high ceiling chiefly of glass, through which it - is lighted in the daytime by the sun and after nightfall by the modified - glow of electric lamps in the attic. Its plan is that of an amphitheater, - the platform occupied by the Speaker being at the lowest level in the - middle of the long southern side. Facing this<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_067" id="page_067"></a>{67}</span> are the concentric curved - benches of the members. Formerly the body of the hall was filled with - desks but, as the membership increased with the population of the country, - these were found to take up too much room, not to mention the temptation - they offered for letter-writing and other diversions. Back of the - Speaker’s chair hang a full-length portrait of Washington by Vanderlyn and - one of Lafayette by Ary Schaeffer. The Washington is the conventional - portrait as far as the waist-line, but the legs were borrowed from a - prominent citizen of Maryland, who had a better pair than the General, and - who consented to pose them for the benefit of posterity. - </p> - <p> - Now let us go back to the north or Senate wing of the building. On our way - we swing around a little open air-well, through which we look down into - the corresponding corridor of the basement. The well is surrounded by a - colonnade supporting the base of a circular skylight. The columns are - worth noticing, because their capitals are of native design, using the - leaf of the tobacco plant somewhat conventionalized. They date from the - period when the clerk of the United States Supreme Court, whose office is - near by, used to receive a part of his compensation in tobacco. - </p> - <p> - A few steps more bring us to the Court itself, sitting in a chamber - considerably smaller than the Hall of<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_068" id="page_068"></a>{68}</span> Statuary, but laid out on - the same plan. This was the first legislative chamber ever occupied in the - Capitol, having been till 1859 the Hall of the Senate. Here it was that - Thomas Jefferson was twice inaugurated as President. Here Daniel Webster - pronounced the famous “reply to Hayne” which every boy orator once learned - to spout from the rostrum. Here Preston Brooks made his murderous assault - upon Charles Sumner, and here Henry Clay delivered the farewell address - which we used to find in all the school readers. On the walls of this - chamber once hung the life-size oil portraits of Louis XVI. and Marie - Antoinette, which were presented by the Government of France to the - Government of the United States just after our Revolution, and which - disappeared when the British burned the Capitol in 1814. The room has - always suffered from the same bad acoustic properties which caused the - House of Representatives to exchange its old hall for its new one; and it - has a similar whispering gallery, so that a court officer in one corner - can communicate with a colleague in the other in a tone so low as to be - inaudible to any one else. - </p> - <p> - Since it took possession here, the Court has rendered its legal tender and - anti-trust decisions, and a number of others of historic importance. In - this room sat, in 1877, the Electoral Commission which decided that<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_069" id="page_069"></a>{69}</span> Mr. Hayes - was entitled to take office as President. Here occurs, every day during a - term, the one ancient and impressive ceremonial which can be witnessed at - our seat of government. At the stroke of noon there appears at the right - corner of the chamber the crier, who in a loud voice announces: “The - Honorable the Supreme Court of the United States!” All present—attorneys, - spectators, and minor functionaries—rise and remain standing while - the members of the Court enter in single file, the Chief Justice leading. - The lawyers bow to the Justices, who return the bow before sinking into - their chairs. Thereupon the crier makes his second announcement: “Oyez! - Oyez! Oyez! All persons having business with the Honorable the Supreme - Court of the United States are admonished to draw near and give attention, - as the Court is now sitting. God save the United States and this Honorable - Court!” - </p> - <p> - All the Justices wear gowns of black silk. John Jay, the first Chief - Justice, relieved the somber monotony of his by adding a collar bound with - scarlet, but the precedent was not followed. The Court has sometimes been - styled the most dignified judicial tribunal in the world, and doubtless it - deserves the compliment. Certainly no American need blush for its decorum. - The whole atmosphere of its chamber is in keeping<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_070" id="page_070"></a>{70}</span> with the fact, reverently - voiced by one of its old colored servitors, that “dey ain’t no appeal f’m - dis yere Co’t ’xcep’ to God Almighty.” The arguments made before it are - confined to calm, unemotional reasoning. The pleaders do not raise their - voices, or forget their manners, or indulge in personalities or oratory - while debating: and the opinions of the Court are recited with a quietness - almost conversational. These opinions are very carefully guarded up to the - moment they are read from the bench; but now and then, after a decision - has become history, there leaks out an entertaining story of how it came - to be rendered. - </p> - <p> - One such instance was in the case of an imported delicacy which might have - been classed either as a preparation of fish or as a flavoring sauce. The - customs officers had levied duty on it as a sauce, and an importer had - appealed. The Justices, when they came to compare notes, confessed - themselves sorely puzzled, and one of them suggested that, since the - technical arguments were so well balanced, it might be wise to fall back - upon common sense. That evening he carried a sample of the disputed - substance home to his wife, who was an expert in culinary matters. - </p> - <p> - “There, my dear,” said he, “is a sauce for you to try.” - </p> - <p> - With one look at the contents of the package,<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_071" id="page_071"></a>{71}</span> which she evidently - recognized, she exclaimed: “Pshaw! That’s no sauce; that’s fish—didn’t - you know it?” - </p> - <p> - The next day the Court met again for consultation, and on the following - Monday handed down a decision overruling the customs officers and - sustaining the importer’s appeal. - </p> - <p> - Leaving the court-room and continuing northward, we come to the present - Hall of the Senate. It is smaller than the present Hall of Representatives - and also cleaner looking and more comfortable. When Congress is in full - session, the contrast may be extended further so as to include what we - hear as well as what we see, for there is little likeness between the two - houses in the matter of orderliness of procedure. But that’s another - story, which will keep. It was from this chamber that the Senators from - the seceding States took their departure in 1860 and 1861. For years - afterward the first request of every visiting stranger was to be shown the - seats formerly occupied by these men. As long as the old doorkeeper of the - Senate, Captain Bassett, lived, he was reputed to be the only person who - knew the history of every desk on the floor. Whether he transmitted this - knowledge to any of his assistants before his death, I cannot say; but - more than once he saved some of the furniture<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_072" id="page_072"></a>{72}</span> from injury at the hands of - wanton vandals or curio collectors. - </p> - <p> - During the early days of the Civil War, a party of Northern zouaves, - passing through the city on their way to the front, entered the Senate - Hall during a recess and tried to identify Davis’s desk. They frankly - avowed their purpose of destroying, if possible, the last trace of the - Confederate President’s connection with the United States Government; but - Bassett refused to be coaxed, bribed, or bullied into revealing the - information they wished. Their persistency presently aroused his fears - lest they might come back later and renew their attempt in his absence; so - he resorted to diplomacy and made them a little speech, reminding them - that, no matter what Mr. Davis might have done to provoke their - indignation, the desk at which he had sat was not his property, but that - of the Government which they had come South to defend. His reasoning had - its effect, and, admitting that he was right, they went away peaceably. - </p> - <p> - Back of the Senate chamber are two rooms set apart for the President and - Vice-president respectively. Till lately, the President’s room as a rule - has been occupied only during a few closing hours of a session, when the - President wishes to be readily accessible for the signing of such acts as - he approves. Sometimes he<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_073" - id="page_073"></a>{73}</span> has spent the entire last night of a - Congress here, returning to the White House for breakfast and coming to - the Capitol again for an hour or two before noon. President Wilson has - used the room more than any of his recent predecessors, going there to - consult the leading members of his party in Congress while legislation is - in course of preparation or passage. - </p> - <p> - The Vice-president’s room has been more constantly in use as a retiring - room for its occupant during the intervals when he is not presiding over - the sessions of the Senate. On its wall has hung for many years a little - gilt-framed mirror for which John Adams, while Vice-president, paid forty - dollars, and which was brought with the other appurtenances of the Senate - from Philadelphia when the Government removed its headquarters to - Washington. Many of the frugal founders of the republic were scandalized - at the extravagance of the purchase, and one gravely introduced in the - Senate a resolution censuring Adams for having drawn thus heavily upon the - public funds “to gratify his personal vanity.” What these good men would - say if they were to revisit the Capitol now and see in the same room with - the forty-dollar mirror a silver inkstand that cost two hundred dollars - and a clock that cost a thousand, we can only imagine. It was in this - room, by the way, that Vice-president<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_074" id="page_074"></a>{74}</span> Wilson died in November, - 1875, after an attack of illness which suddenly overcame him at the - Capitol and was too severe to justify his being carried to his home. - </p> - <p> - On the floor below are two other points of interest. We shall do well to - descend, not by the broad marble staircases in the north wing, but by an - old iron-railed and curved flight of stone steps a little south of the - Supreme Court. Note, in passing, its columns, as truly American in design - as those above-stairs to which attention has already been directed; for - they conventionalize our Indian corn, the stalks making the body of a - pillar and the leaves and ears the capital. The first point we shall visit - is the crypt, which is directly under the rotunda. It is a vaulted chamber - originally intended as a resting-place for the body of George Washington. - There was to have been a circular opening in the ceiling, so that visitors - in the rotunda could look down upon the sarcophagus, above which a - suspended taper was to be kept continually burning. The light was duly - hung there, and not extinguished for many years; but as Washington’s heirs - were unwilling to allow his remains to leave Mount Vernon, the rest of the - plan was abandoned. - </p> - <p> - A little way north of the crypt we come to the room that the Supreme Court - occupied for about forty<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_075" - id="page_075"></a>{75}</span> - </p> - <div class="figcenter" style="width: 452px;"> - <a href="images/ill_015_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_015_sml.jpg" - width="452" height="578" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="c"> - <i>Rock Creek</i> - </p> - </div> - </div> - <p class="nind"> - years after the restoration of the Capitol. Out of it was sent the first - message with which Samuel F. B. Morse announced to the world the success - of his invention, the magnetic telegraph. Morse was perfectly convinced - that his device was workable, but he had exhausted his means before being - able to make a satisfactory experiment. He therefore asked Congress for an - appropriation to equip a trial line between Washington and Baltimore. Some - of the members scoffed at his appeal as visionary; others intimated that - he was trying to impose upon the Government; only a handful seemed to feel - enough confidence in him and his project to vote for the appropriation. - After a discouraging struggle lasting till the third of March, 1843, Morse - was at the Capitol watching the dying hours of the Congress, when his - friends advised him that his cause was hopeless, and he returned to his - hotel and went to bed. - </p> - <p> - Before breakfast the next morning he received a call from Miss Annie - Ellsworth, daughter of the Commissioner of Patents, who brought him the - news that after he had left the Capitol his appropriation had gone - through, and the President had signed the bill just before midnight. To - reward her as the bearer of glad tidings, Morse invited her to frame the - first message to be sent to Baltimore. It took more than a year to<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_076" id="page_076"></a>{76}</span> build the - line and insure its successful operation; but on May 24, 1844, in the - presence of a gathering which filled the court chamber, the inventor - seated himself at the instrument, and Miss Ellsworth placed in his hand a - phrase she had selected from the twenty-third verse of the twenty-third - chapter of the Book of Numbers: “What hath God wrought!” In less time than - it takes to tell the facts, the operator in Baltimore had received the - message and ticked it back without an error. In that hour of his triumph - over skepticism and abuse, Morse could have asked almost anything of - Congress without fear of repulse. - </p> - <p> - Not all the associations which cling about the Capitol are confined to - politics or legislation, science or business. The old Hall of - Representatives was, in the early days of the last century, long used for - religious meetings on Sundays, the Speaker’s desk being converted - temporarily into a pulpit. One of the first preachers who held stated - services there was a Swedenborgian. When the custom had become well - established, most of the clergymen of the city consented to take the - Sundays in a certain order of succession. Sir Augustus Foster, a secretary - of the British Legation during Jefferson’s administration, has left us his - impressions of the meetings: - </p> - <p> - “A church service can certainly never be called an<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_077" id="page_077"></a>{77}</span> amusement; but, from the - variety of persons who were allowed to preach in the House of - Representatives, there doubtless was some alloy of curiosity in the - motives which led one to go there. Though the regular Chaplain was a - Presbyterian, sometimes a Methodist, a minister of the Church of England, - or a Quaker, sometimes even a woman, took the Speaker’s chair, and I do - not think there was much devotion among the majority. The New Englanders, - generally speaking, are very religious; but though there are many - exceptions, I cannot say so much for the Marylanders, and still less for - the Virginians.” - </p> - <p> - Probably this comment on the worldly element entering into the meetings - was called forth by their gradual degeneration into a social function. The - hall came to be regarded as a pleasant Sunday gathering-place for friends - who were able to see little of one another during the secular week. They - clustered in knots around the open fireplaces, apparently quite as - interested in the intervals afforded for a bit of gossip as in the sermon. - The President was accustomed to attend from time to time; and possibly it - was by his order that the Marine Band, nearly one hundred strong and - attired in their brilliant red uniforms, were present in the gallery and - played the hymn tunes, as well as some stirring march music. Their - attendance was discontinued later, as<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_078" id="page_078"></a>{78}</span> their performances attracted - many common idlers to a hall already crowded almost to suffocation with - ladies and gentlemen of fashion, and thus increased the confusion. - </p> - <p> - Partly as a result of this use of the hall, the habit of treating Sunday - as a day for social festivities of all sorts reached a point where the - strict Sabbatarians felt called to remonstrate. One, a clergyman named - Breckenridge, preached a sermon denouncing the irreligious frivolities of - the time, which created a great sensation. He addressed his remarks - directly to Congress. “It is not the people,” said he, “who will suffer - for these enormities. It is the Government. As with Nineveh of old, your - temples and your palaces will be burned to the ground, for it is by fire - that this sin has usually been punished!” And he cited instance after - instance from Bible history, showing how cities, dwellings, and persons - had been burned for disrespect of divine law. - </p> - <p> - One day in the fall of 1814, after the British had left the city scarred - with blackened ruins, Mr. Breckenridge was passing the Octagon house, when - he was hailed by Dolly Madison from the doorway. - </p> - <p> - “When I listened to that threatening sermon of yours,” she exclaimed, “I - little thought that its warnings would be realized so soon.”<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_079" id="page_079"></a>{79}</span> - </p> - <p> - “Oh, Madam,” he answered, “I trust that the chastening of the Lord may not - have been in vain!” - </p> - <p> - It was, however, as far as any permanent change in the habits of the - people was concerned. There was a brief interval of greater sobriety due - to the sad plight of the community; then Sunday amusements resumed their - sway with as much vigor as of old. - </p> - <p> - Although to the eye of the casual visitor the Capitol seems so quiet and - well-ordered a place that it practically takes care of itself, the truth - is that it is continually under pretty rigid surveillance. It has a - uniformed corps of special police, whose jurisdiction covers everything - within the limits of Capitol Park; besides this, the Superintendent of the - Capitol has general oversight of the building, and the officers of the - House and Senate look after their respective wings. When Thomas B. Reed of - Maine became Speaker, he found the House wing a squatting ground for a - small army of petty merchants who had crept in one by one and established - booths for the sale of sandwiches and pies, cigars, periodicals, picture - cards, and souvenirs, obstructing the highways of communication between - one part of the building and another. He proceeded to sweep them all out. - There was loud wailing among the ousted, and some who could command a - little political influence brought it to bear on him, but in<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_080" id="page_080"></a>{80}</span> vain; and - for more than twenty years thereafter the corridors remained free from - these intruders. With the incoming of the Sixty-third Congress, however, - discipline began to relax, and, unless the House acquires another Speaker - with Mr. Reed’s notions of propriety and the force of will to compel - obedience, we shall probably see the hucksters camping once more on the - old trail. - </p> - <p> - Outside of the building the rules are as well enforced as inside. When - Coxey’s Army of the Commonweal marched upon Washington in 1894, its leader - advertised his intention to make a speech from the Capitol steps, calling - upon Congress to provide work and wages for all the idle laborers in the - country. Under the law, no harangue or oration may be delivered anywhere - on the Capitol grounds without the express consent of the presiding - officers of the two chambers of Congress. Remembering the way the - lawmakers had been intimidated by a mob at Philadelphia in the early days - of the republic, neither the Speaker nor the President of the Senate was - willing that Coxey should carry out his plan; and the Capitol police, - without violence or display of temper, made short work of the proposed - mass meeting. On another occasion, the performers for a moving-picture - show attempted to use the steps of the Capitol as a background for a scene - in which a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_081" id="page_081"></a>{81}</span> - man made up to resemble the President of the United States was to play an - undignified part; the police pounced down upon the company, confiscating - the apparatus and escorting the actors to the nearest station-house. A - like fate befel an automobilist who, on a wager, tried to drive his - machine up the steps of the main portico. Occasionally a bicycler, - ambitious to descend this staircase at full speed, has proved too - quick-witted for the officers, but as a rule they are at hand when needed. - </p> - <p> - Now that we are outside, let us look around. To the eastward lies the part - of the city broadly designated as Capitol Hill. As far as the eye can - reach, it is a beautiful, evenly graded plateau—an ideal residence - region as far as natural topography, verdure, sunshine, and pure air are - concerned. It is the part which George Washington and other promoters of - the federal city picked out for its residential end, and the Capitol was - built so as to face it. These circumstances made it a favorite locality - for speculative investment, and the prices at which early purchasers of - land held out against later comers sealed its fate: the tide of favor - turned toward the opposite end of the city, and the development of the - northwest quarter took a start which has never since halted. The first - plans of Capitol Park included on its eastern side a pretty<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_082" id="page_082"></a>{82}</span> little - fish-pond, circular in shape, which must have been about where the two - raised flower-beds with mottled marble copings now flank the driveway to - First Street. - </p> - <p> - The west front of the Capitol overlooks a gentle slope pleasantly turfed - and shaded. The building itself descends the slope a little way by an - esplanade and a series of marble terraces, from which broad flights of - steps lead down nearly to the main street level. The perspective view of - the Capitol is much more impressive from this side than from the other, - thanks to an admirable piece of landscape gardening. In old times, the - lawns on the west side were used by the residents of the neighborhood for - croquet grounds, and the whole park was enclosed in an iron fence, with - gates that were shut by the watchmen at nine every evening against - pedestrians, and at a somewhat later hour against carriages. With - characteristic impatience of such restraints, sometimes a Congressman who - had stayed at the Capitol past the closing hour would save himself the - trouble of calling a guard to open the gate, by smashing the lock with a - stone. The increasing frequency of such incidents undoubtedly had much to - do with causing the removal of the fence. - </p> - <p> - No point in the city affords so fine facilities for fixing L’Enfant’s plan - in the mind of the visitor and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_083" - id="page_083"></a>{83}</span> enabling him to find his way about the older - parts of Washington, as the Capitol dome. A spiral staircase, the doors to - which open from obscure parts of two corridors, leads first to the inside - circular balcony crowning the rotunda. This is worth a few minutes’ delay - to test its quality as a whispering gallery. The attendant in charge will - show you how, and, if you can lure him into telling you some of the funny - things he has seen and heard in his eyrie, you will be well repaid. - </p> - <p> - More climbing will bring you to an outside perch, which forms a sort of - collar for the lantern surmounting the dome. Now open a plainly printed - map of Washington and hold it so that the points of the compass on the map - correspond with those of the city below you. With a five minutes’ walk - around the base of the lantern, to give you the view from every side, you - will have mastered the whole scheme designed by L’Enfant. Here are the - four quarters—northeast, southeast, southwest, northwest—as - clearly spread before you on the surface of the earth as on the paper in - your hand. Here is the Mall, with its grass and trees, leading up to the - Washington Monument and abutting on the executive reservation where stand - the White House, the Treasury, and the State, War and Navy Department - buildings. Well out to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_084" - id="page_084"></a>{84}</span> northward you can descry a tower which fixes - the site of the Soldiers’ Home, and to the southward the Potomac, flowing - past the War College and the Navy Yard. East of you loom up the hills of - Anacostia. On all sides you see the lettered streets running east and - west, intersected by the numbered streets running north and south, while, - cutting both diagonally at various angles, but in pursuance of a - systematic and easily grasped plan, are the avenues named in honor of the - various States of the Union. Once let this chart fasten itself in your - mind, and there is no reason why, total stranger though you may be, you - should have any difficulty in finding your way about Washington.<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_085" id="page_085"></a>{85}</span> - </p> - <div class="figcenter" style="width: 448px;"> - <a href="images/ill_016_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_016_sml.jpg" - width="448" height="558" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="c"> - <i>Capitol, from New Jersey Avenue</i> - </p> - </div> - </div> - <h2> - <a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<br /><br /> <small>THESE - OUR LAWMAKERS</small> - </h2> - <p class="nind"> - <span class="letra">T</span>HE House of Representatives, albeit presenting - an average of conduct equal to that of any corresponding chamber in the - world, is a rough-and-tumble body. It is apt to carry partisan antagonisms - to extremes and wrangle over anything that comes up, with accusations and - recriminations, and at rare intervals an exchange of blows. Repeatedly I - have seen the Sergeant-at-Arms lift his mace and march down one aisle and - up another, to compose disturbances which seemed to threaten a sequel of - riot, while the Speaker pounded his desk in an effort to overcome the - clamor of several members trying to talk at once. By laxity of discipline - and force of custom, there is a degree of freedom here, in even a peaceful - discussion, unknown to the Senate. Members will bring, to exemplify their - statements in a tariff debate, samples of merchandise—a suit of - clothes, a basket of fruit, a jar of sweetmeats, perhaps. One day a - debater, discussing olive oil, accidentally<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_086" id="page_086"></a>{86}</span> dropped a bottle of it on - the floor, and several of his colleagues lost their footing in crossing - the scene of the disaster. Another, who had a pocketful of matches - designed for illustrative purposes, suddenly found his clothes ablaze and - made a fiery bolt for a water-tank. Still another, inflamed by his own - eloquence in trying to show how Congress ought to wring the life out of an - odious monopoly, impetuously laid hands upon a small and inoffensive - fellow member who happened to sit near and shook him till his teeth - rattled, amid roars of delight from every one except the victim. - </p> - <p> - Usually, the Senate is as staid as the House is uproarious. All routine - business is transacted there “by unanimous consent”; it is only when some - really important issue arises that the Senators quarrel publicly. When a - serious debate is on, there is no commotion: every Senator who wishes to - speak sends his name to the presiding officer, or rises during a lull and - announces his purpose of addressing the Senate on a specified day. The - rest of the Senators respect his privilege, and, if he is a man of - consequence, a goodly proportion of them will be in their seats to hear - him. If a Senator is absent from the chamber when a matter arises which - might concern him, some one is apt to suggest deferring its consideration - till he can be present.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_087" - id="page_087"></a>{87}</span> It is the same way with appointments to - office which require confirmation by the Senate: a Senator objecting to a - candidate nominated from his State can count upon abundant support from - his fellow Senators, every one of whom realizes that it may be his turn - next to need support in a similar contingency. This is what is called - “Senatorial courtesy.” So well is it understood that no unfair advantage - will be taken of any one’s absence, that the attendance in the chamber - sometimes becomes very thin. An instance is often cited when the - Vice-president, discovering only one person on the floor at the beginning - of a day’s session, rapped with his gavel and solemnly announced: “The - Senator from Massachusetts will be in order!” - </p> - <p> - The strong contrast between the two chambers has existed ever since the - creation of Congress. This is not wonderful when we reflect that the - Senate was for a long time made up of men chosen by the State legislatures - from a social class well removed from the masses of the people, and that - they held office for a six-year term, thus lording it over the members of - the House of Representatives, who, besides being drawn directly from the - rank and file of the body politic, had to struggle for reëlection every - two years. In the early days, the Senators were noted for their rich - attire and their<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_088" id="page_088"></a>{88}</span> - great gravity of manner; whereas most of the Representatives persisted, - while sitting in the House during the debates, in wearing their big cocked - hats set “fore and aft” on their heads. Whether the Senate sat covered or - bareheaded for the first few years of its existence, we have only indirect - evidence, as it then kept its doors closed against everybody, even members - of the House. Little by little a more liberal spirit asserted itself, - until the doors were opened to the public for a certain part of every - morning, with the proviso that they should be closed whenever the subjects - of discussion seemed to require secrecy. By common consent, these subjects - were limited to certain classes of business proposed by the President, - like the ratification of treaties and the confirmation of appointments to - office. Such matters remain confidential to this day, and the Senate holds - itself ready to exclude spectators and go into secret session at any - moment, on the request of a single Senator. - </p> - <p> - As a secret session is always supposed to be for the purpose of discussing - a Presidential communication, the fiction is embalmed in the form of a - motion “that the Senate proceed to the consideration of executive - business.” This is the signal for the doorkeepers to evict the occupants - of the galleries and shut the doors leading into the corridors; but - sometimes the real<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_089" id="page_089"></a>{89}</span> - reason for the request is widely removed from its pretext. I have known it - to be offered for the purpose of cutting short the exhibition which a - tipsy Senator was making of himself; or to prevent a tedious airing of - grievances by a Senator who had quarreled with the President over the - dispensation of patronage in his State; or to silence a Senator who, - objecting to the negotiation of a certain treaty, kept referring to it in - open debate while it was still pending under the seal of confidence. In - this last instance, the offending Senator was so obstinate of purpose that - the doors had to be closed and reopened several times in a single day. - </p> - <p> - On the face of things, there is no reason why the President should not - attend any session of the Senate at which business of his originating is - under debate. No President since the first, however, has made the - experiment. Washington attended three secret sessions, but was so angered - by the Senate’s referring to a committee sundry questions which he - insisted should be settled on the spot, that he quitted the chamber, - emphatically vowing that he would waste no more time on such trifling. The - Senators excused their conduct by saying that they were embarrassed in - talking about the President and his motives while he was sitting there. - </p> - <p> - The custom of wearing their hats while transacting<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_090" id="page_090"></a>{90}</span> business was continued by - the Representatives for fifty years or more. Even the Speaker, as long as - he sat in his chair, would keep his hat on, though he was accustomed to - remove it when he stood to address the House. The Senators, whatever may - have been their practice during the years of their seclusion, - distinguished themselves from the Representatives immediately thereafter - by sitting with bared heads. They also avoided the habit, common in the - House, of putting their feet up on the nearest elevated object—usually - a desk-lid—and lolling on their spines. English visitors, though - accustomed to the wearing of hats in their own House of Commons, - nevertheless found a text for criticism in the way the American - Representatives did it; and they all had something severe to say of the - prevalence of tobacco-chewing in the House, with its accompaniment of - spitting, as Mrs. Trollope put it, “to an excess that decency forbids me - to describe.” Less offensive to the taste of our visitors from abroad was - the indulgence in snuff-taking, which was so general that boxes or jars - were set up in convenient places inside of both halls, and it was made the - duty of certain employees to keep these always filled with a fine brand of - snuff. Any of the most eloquent orators in Congress was liable to stop at - regular intervals in a speech to help himself to a large<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_091" id="page_091"></a>{91}</span> pinch, - bury his face in a bandanna handkerchief, and have it out with nature. A - few of the lawmakers, indeed, cultivated snuff-taking as a fine art, and - were proud of their reputations for dexterity in it. Henry Clay was one of - the most skilful. - </p> - <p> - While we are on the subject of indulgences, we must not overlook a drink - called switchel, which was very popular, being compounded of rum, ginger, - molasses, and water. Every member was allowed then, as now, in addition to - his salary and traveling expenses, a fixed supply of “stationery”; and - this term, which was elastic enough to include everything from pens and - paper to jack-knives and razors, was stretched to cover the delectable - switchel under the thin disguise of “sirup.” In later years, when a wave - of teetotalism had swept over Washington, and the open sale of alcoholic - drinks in the restaurants of the Capitol was under a temporary ban, any - member who wished a drink of whisky ordered it as “cold tea,” and it was - served to him in a china cup. This stratagem fell into marked discredit - when one of the most respectable and abstemious members of the House, who - had never tasted intoxicating liquor of any sort, ordered cold tea in - entire good faith to clear his throat in the midst of a speech, and became - maudlin before he was aware that anything was amiss.<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_092" id="page_092"></a>{92}</span> - </p> - <p> - Besides sprawling with their feet higher than their heads, and otherwise - airing their contempt for conventional etiquette, many of the old-time - Representatives felt free to read newspapers while debates were going on - around them, indifferent to their disturbance of both orators and - audience. The first pointed rebuke of this practice was administered by - James K. Polk when Speaker of the House. He noticed one morning that - substantially every Representative had a newspaper in hand when the gavel - fell for beginning the day’s session. The journal was read, but nobody - paid any attention to it, and then the Speaker made his usual announcement - that the House was ready for business. Still everybody remained buried in - the morning’s news. After another vain attempt to set the machinery in - motion, Mr. Polk quietly drew a newspaper from his own pocket, seated - himself with his back toward the House, spread the sheet open before him, - and ostentatiously immersed himself in its printed contents. One by one - the Representatives finished their reading, and perhaps a quarter of an - hour passed before there came from all sides an irregular volley of calls: - “Mr. Speaker!” “Mr. Speaker!” Mr. Polk ignored them till one of the - baffled members moved that the House proceed to the election of a - presiding officer, to take the place of the Speaker, who appeared<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_093" id="page_093"></a>{93}</span> to be - absent. This brought Mr. Polk to his feet with the remark that he not only - was present, but had notified the House that it was ready for business and - had received no response. The House took the joke in good part and showed - by its conduct thereafter that it was not above profiting by the Speaker’s - reproof. - </p> - <p> - Although women were admitted as spectators to the sessions of both - chambers on the same terms as men, there was for many years an - undercurrent of feeling against their encroachments. There was limited - room in either hall for their accommodation behind the colonnade. In this - space—the original “lobby”—there was an open fireplace at each - end, and it soon became a common complaint among the Senators that the - feminine guests drew the sofas up in front of the fire and thus - effectually shut off the warmth from every one else. Aaron Burr, while - Vice-president, was the first person in authority to take cognizance of - this indictment. He notified the visiting women that after a certain date - they must cease coming into the lobby and find seats in the gallery. They - were appropriately indignant and declared an almost unanimous boycott - against the Senate. Vice-president Clinton was of a different temper from - his predecessor and let them all come back again. By degrees, however, as - the privileges of the floor became more and more restricted<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_094" id="page_094"></a>{94}</span> in both - chambers, the women were given a special gallery for themselves. - </p> - <p> - From the time they began coming to Congress in any multitude, the fair - visitors have made their presence felt. In the House one day John Randolph - drew attention to them by halting a debate to point a long, skinny finger - in their direction and snarl out: “Mr. Speaker, what, pray, are all these - women doing here, so out of place in this arena? Sir, they had much better - be at home attending to their knitting!” In spite of that, they continued - to come and to attract attention, till the number of members who - habitually quitted their seats to repair to the gallery and pay their - devoirs to their lady friends threatened to play havoc with the - roll-calls. This abuse did not last long, and nowadays the visit of a - member of either house to the gallery is an incident. - </p> - <p> - So far from objecting to spectators, both House and Senate now offer - distinct encouragement to the public to come and hear the debates. To this - end, each chamber has a deep gallery completely surrounding it, with cross - partitions at intervals. One section is reserved for the President and - Cabinet and their families; another for the members of the diplomatic - circle; a third for the members of the press, and so forth. Control of - each press gallery is nominally<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_095" - id="page_095"></a>{95}</span> retained by the chamber concerned, but - actually is left in the hands of a committee of newspaper men, who enforce - an exemplary discipline, so that a writer guilty of misconduct would be - excluded thenceforward from his privileges. On the other hand, the - newspaper men have always stood firmly for their right to discuss the - members and measures of Congress with all the freedom consonant with - truth. It has required a long and sometimes dramatic struggle to bring - about the present harmonious mutual understanding between Congress and the - press as to the legitimate preserves of each body upon which the other - must not trespass. - </p> - <p> - Some of the battles leading to this result are entertaining to recall. In - the later forties, while members of the press were still permitted to do - their work at desks on the floor of the House, a correspondent of the <i>New - York Tribune</i> named Robinson published an article about a certain - Representative named Sawyer, whose unappetizing personal habits he thought - it would be wise to break up. Among other things he described the way - Sawyer ate his luncheon: “Every day at two o’clock he feeds. About that - hour he is seen leaving his seat and taking a position in the window back - of the Speaker’s chair to the left. He unfolds a greasy paper, in which is - contained a chunk of bread and sausage, or some other unctuous substance. - He disposes<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_096" id="page_096"></a>{96}</span> - of them rapidly, wipes his hands with the greasy paper for a napkin, and - throws it out of the window. What little grease is left on his hands, he - wipes on his almost bald head.” There was more to the same effect, but - this will suffice. When the paper containing the article reached - Washington, there was much laughing behind hands in Congress; but, though - most of the members rejoiced that somebody should have told the truth for - the dignity of the House, few had the courage to come out boldly and say - that the satire was deserved. - </p> - <p> - One of Sawyer’s colleagues retaliated with a resolution that all writers - for the <i>Tribune</i> be excluded thenceforward from the floor; after a - brief debate it was adopted, and the offending correspondent was obliged - to go up into the gallery and sit among the women. But his pursuers were - not satisfied with this measure of revenge; for, reviving a half-forgotten - rule that men were to be admitted to the gallery only when accompanied by - women, and then must be passed in by a member of the House, they sent a - doorkeeper to eject him even from his temporary refuge. At once several - ladies volunteered to accompany him for his visits, and among the - Congressmen who climbed the stairs from day to day to pass him in was one - not less distinguished than John Quincy Adams. Nor<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_097" id="page_097"></a>{97}</span> - </p> - <div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"> - <a href="images/ill_017_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_017_sml.jpg" - width="450" height="580" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="c"> - <i>Where Dolly Madison Gave Her Farewell Ball</i> - </p> - </div> - </div> - <p class="nind"> - was this the end. For the correspondent went home, ran for Congress and - was elected, while the wrathful Representative dropped into obscurity - under the nickname, which he was never able to shake off, of “Sausage - Sawyer.” - </p> - <p> - Many newspaper publications have been made subjects of special - investigation by committees of Congress, but in no instance has a threat - of expulsion from the gallery or of prosecution in the courts produced any - practical results; and the locking up of recusant committee witnesses has - become a mere mockery. The most notable case on record was that of Hallet - Kilbourn, a former journalist who had become a real estate broker and a - leading participant in a local land syndicate which the House undertook to - investigate. Kilbourn was commanded to produce certain account-books, as - well as the names and addresses of sundry persons who, not being members - of Congress, he insisted were outside the jurisdiction of that body. For - his refusal to furnish the information demanded he was thrown into jail - and kept there nearly six weeks. From the first, he had declared that he - had no objection to opening his accounts to the whole world or to - publishing the data desired, as all the transactions covered by the - inquiry had been honorable; and this assertion he proved later by - voluntarily printing<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_098" id="page_098"></a>{98}</span> - everything. But he was resolved to make a legal test of the right of - Congress to arrogate to itself the arbitrary powers of a court of justice, - and he got a good deal of enjoyment out of the experience. - </p> - <p> - For the whole period of his imprisonment he lived like a prince at the - expense of the contingent fund of the House; drove about the city at will - in a carriage, merely accompanied by a deputy sergeant-at-arms; and - entertained his friends at dinner within the jail walls. Of course, the - newspapers exploited the whole episode gladly, and when he had held his - prosecutors up to popular ridicule long enough, he sued out a writ of - habeas corpus and was released. Then he brought a suit for damages against - the Sergeant-at-Arms for false imprisonment and won it on appeal after - appeal, till the Supreme Court of the United States handed down a sweeping - decision that “there is not found in the Constitution any general power - vested in either house to punish for contempt.” In spite of the efforts of - all the judges in the lower courts to cut down the damages granted by - their juries, Congress was finally obliged to pay Kilbourn twenty thousand - dollars, or about five hundred dollars a day for his forty days’ - incarceration. It took him nine years to carry his case through all its - stages. - </p> - <p> - Both chambers open their daily sessions with<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_099" id="page_099"></a>{99}</span> prayer. Clergymen of nearly - all denominations have served as Chaplains, including Father Pise, a very - eloquent Catholic priest who was a close friend of Henry Clay and was - invited at his instance to lead the devotions of the Senate. As a rule, - the prayers are extemporaneous, and it seems almost inevitable that, in - periods of political upheaval, some color of partisanship should creep - into them. Yet such slips have been very rare indeed. The most startling - was made by the late Doctor Byron Sunderland, who was Chaplain of the - Senate in 1862. He was the foremost Presbyterian minister in Washington - and a strong anti-slavery advocate. One day Senator Saulsbury of Delaware, - who was an accomplished biblical scholar, made a speech reviewing the - references in the Hebrew scriptures to human servitude, as proof that - slavery was of divine origin. Doctor Sunderland, having left the hall, did - not hear the speech made, but was told about it when he arrived at the - Capitol the next morning. He was nettled by the news, and, before he was - fairly conscious of it, he caught himself saying something like this in - his opening prayer: “Oh, Lord God of Nations, teach this Senate and all - the people of this country that, if slavery is of divine institution, so - is hell itself, and by Thy grace help us to abolish the one and escape the - other!” These few words<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_100" - id="page_100"></a>{100}</span> caused a great sensation, and later in the - day Mr. Saulsbury vented his indignation in a resolution to expel the - offending clergyman from the chaplaincy; but some quick-witted Senator on - the opposite side cut off debate by moving to adjourn, and the matter died - there. - </p> - <p> - Every day’s proceedings of Congress are published in a special journal - called the <i>Record</i>; but it must not be too lightly assumed that - every speech reported has been made in Congress. One of the rules of the - House of Representatives permits a member, with the consent of the House, - to be credited with having made remarks which, as a matter of fact, he has - only reduced to writing and handed to the Clerk. That is what is meant by - the “leave to print” privilege. Into the authorship of these speeches, or - even of some that are delivered, it is not wise to probe too far. There - are trained writers in Washington who earn a livelihood by digging out - statistics and other data and composing addresses on various subjects for - orators who are willing to pay for them, and Congressmen are among their - customers. Once in a while something happens which casts a temporary - shadow over this traffic. Several years ago, for example, two - Representatives from Ohio were credited in the <i>Record</i> with the same - speech. Inquiry developed the fact that it had been offered to one of - them, who had refused either to pay the price<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_101" id="page_101"></a>{101}</span> demanded for it or to give - it back; so the author had sold a duplicate copy to the other. But worse - yet was the plight of two members who delivered almost identical eulogies - on a dead fellow member, having by accident copied their material from the - same ancient volume of “Rules and Models for Public Speaking.” - </p> - <p> - I have alluded to disorders which occasionally mar the course of - legislation, when members hurl ugly names at each other or even exchange - blows. While some such affrays have carried their high tension to the end - and sent the combatants to the dueling field to settle accounts, others - have taken a comical turn which decidedly relaxed the strain. Perhaps the - most picturesque incident of this kind was the historic Keitt-Grow contest - in February, 1858. The House had been engaged all night in a wrangle over - an acute phase of the slavery question, and two o’clock in the morning - found both the Northern and the Southern members with their nerves on - edge. Mr. Keitt of South Carolina, objecting to something said by Mr. Grow - of Pennsylvania, struck at him, but Grow parried the blow, and a fellow - member who sprang to his assistance knocked Keitt down. From all sides - came reinforcements, and in a few minutes what started as a personal - encounter of minor importance developed into a general free fight.<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_102" id="page_102"></a>{102}</span> - </p> - <p> - Potter of Wisconsin, a man of athletic build, whirled his fists right and - left, doing tremendous execution. Owen Lovejoy, seeing Lamar of - Mississippi striding toward a confused group, ran at him with arms - extended, resolved on pushing him back, while Lamar as vigorously resisted - the obstruction. Covode of Pennsylvania, fearing lest his friend Grow - might be overpowered by hostile numbers, picked up a big stoneware - spittoon and hurried forward, holding his improvised projectile poised to - hurl at the head where it would do most good; but having no immediate need - to use it, he set it on top of a convenient desk. Everybody was too - excited to pay any attention to the loud pounding of the Speaker’s gavel, - or to the advance of the Sergeant-at-Arms with his mace held aloft. Even - the unemotional John Sherman and his gray-haired Quaker colleague Mott - could not keep out of the fray entirely. - </p> - <p> - But Elihu Washburne of Illinois and his brother Cadwallader of Wisconsin - proved by all odds the heroes of the occasion. They were of modest - stature, but sturdy and full of energy. Elihu tackled Craig of North - Carolina, who was tall and had long arms, which he swung about him with a - flail-like motion; and it would have gone hard with the smaller man had he - not suddenly lowered his head and used it as<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_103" id="page_103"></a>{103}</span> a battering-ram, aiming at - the unprotected waist-line of his antagonist and doubling him up with one - irresistible rush. Just then Cadwallader, seeing Barksdale of Mississippi - about to strike Elihu, ran toward him; but being unable to penetrate the - crowd, he leaped forward and reached over the heads of the intervening men - to seize the Mississippian by the hair. Here came the culmination; for - Barksdale’s ambrosial locks, which were only a lifelike wig worn to cover - a pate as smooth as a soap-bubble, came off in his assailant’s hand. The - astonishment of the one man and the consternation of the other were too - much for the fighters, who, in spite of themselves, united in wild peals - of merriment; and their hilarity was in no wise dampened when Barksdale, - snatching at his wig, restored it to his head hind side before, or when - Covode, returning to his seat and missing his spittoon, marched solemnly - down the aisle and recovered it from its temporary perch. - </p> - <p> - This scene occurred in the old Hall of Representatives. The most dramatic - scene ever witnessed in the present hall was one which attended the - opening of the Fifty-first Congress, when the Republicans, who had only an - infinitesimal majority, had organized the House with Thomas B. Reed as - Speaker. Reed, who was a large, blond man with a Shakespearian head<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_104" id="page_104"></a>{104}</span> and a - high-pitched drawl, signalized his entrance upon his new duties by - announcing his purpose to preside over a lawmaking rather than a - do-nothing body. For several successive Congresses the House had found - itself crippled in its attempts to transact business by the dilatory - tactics of whichever party happened to be in the minority. Day after day, - even in a congested season, would be wasted in roll-calls necessitated by - some one’s raising the point of “no quorum,” although everybody knew that - a quorum was present, and that its apparent absence was deliberately - caused by the refusal of members of the opposition to answer to their - names. Reed had bent his mind to breaking up this practice. - </p> - <p> - Early in his Speakership a motion to take up a contested election case was - put to vote, and a roll-call demanded as usual by the minority. As the - House was then constituted, one hundred and sixty-six members were - necessary to a quorum, and four Republicans were unavoidably absent. - Following the old tactics, nearly all the Democrats abstained from voting; - but, as the call proceeded, Reed was observed making notes on a sheet of - paper which lay on his table. At the close, he rose and announced the - vote: yeas 162, nays 3, not voting 163. Mr. Crisp of Georgia at once - raised the point of no quorum. Reed<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_105" - id="page_105"></a>{105}</span> ignored it, and, lifting his memorandum, - began, in measured tones and with no trace of excitement or weakness: - </p> - <p> - “The Chair directs the Clerk to record the following names of members - present and refusing to vote—” - </p> - <p> - And then Bedlam broke loose. The Republicans applauded, and howls and - yells arose from the Democratic side. Above the din could be heard the - voice of Crisp: “I appeal from the decision of the Chair!” But the - Speaker, not having finished his statement, kept right on, oblivious of - the turmoil: - </p> - <p> - “Mr. Blanchard, Mr. Bland, Mr. Blount, Mr. Breckinridge of Arkansas, Mr. - Breckinridge of Kentucky—” - </p> - <p> - The Democrats generally had seemed stunned by the boldness of this move; - but the Kentucky Breckinridge, at the mention of his name, rushed down the - aisle, brandishing his fist and shaking his head so that its straight - white hair stood out from it. His face was aflame with anger, and his - voice quite beyond his control, as he shrieked: “I deny the power of the - Speaker—this is revolutionary!” The other Democrats, inspired by his - example and recovering from their stupefaction, poured into the center - aisle. They bore down in a mass upon the Speaker’s dais, gesticulating - wildly and all shouting at once, so that nothing<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_106" id="page_106"></a>{106}</span> could be understood from - the babel of voices save their desire to express their scorn for the - Speaker and their defiance of his authority. The Republicans sat quiet, - making no demonstration, but obviously prepared to rush in if the trouble - took on a more violent form. The Speaker stood apparently unruffled, not - even changing color, and only those who were near enough to see every line - in his face were aware of that slight twitching of the muscles of his - mouth which always indicated that his outward composure was not due to - insensibility. - </p> - <p> - So furious was the clamor that he was compelled to desist from his reading - for a moment, while he pounded with his gavel to command order on the - floor. Then, as the remonstrants fell back a little, his nasal tone was - heard again, still reciting that momentous list: - </p> - <p> - “Mr. Brookshire, Mr. Bullock, Mr. Bynum, Mr. Carlisle—” - </p> - <p> - And so on down the roll, one member after another jumping up when he heard - his name called, but subsiding as the Speaker went imperturbably ahead, - much as might a schoolmaster with a roomful of refractory pupils. - Presently came the opportunity he had been waiting for. Mr. McCreary of - Kentucky, a very dignified, decorous-mannered gentleman on<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_107" id="page_107"></a>{107}</span> ordinary - occasions, had shown by his change of countenance and color that he was - repressing his emotions with difficulty; and, resolved not to be ridden - over ruthlessly as the rest had been, he had risen in his place and stood - there, holding before him an open book and waiting to hear his name. The - instant it was read out, he raised his disengaged hand and shouted: “Mr. - Speaker!” - </p> - <p> - To every one’s astonishment, the Speaker paused, turning a look of inquiry - toward the interrupter, while the House held its breath. - </p> - <p> - “I deny,” cried Mr. McCreary, in a voice which, in spite of his endeavor - to be calm, was trembling with agitation, “your right to count me as - present; and I desire to cite some parliamentary law in support of my - point!” - </p> - <p> - Reed, wearing an air of entire seriousness, answered with his familiar - drawl: - </p> - <p> - “The Chair is making a statement of fact that the gentleman is present.” - Then, with a significant emphasis on each word: “Does—the—gentleman—deny—it?” - </p> - <p> - The silence which had settled momentarily upon the chamber continued for a - few seconds more, to be succeeded by an outburst of laughter which fairly - shook the ceiling. The Republican side furnished most<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_108" id="page_108"></a>{108}</span> of it at first, but those - Democrats who possessed a keen sense of humor soon gave way also. The - Speaker, still grave as a statue, maintained the expectant attitude of one - awaiting the reply to a question. McCreary held his ground for a few - minutes, striving to make himself heard in reading a passage from his - book, while the gavel beat a tattoo on the desk as if the Speaker were - trying to aid him by restoring order; but he was talking against a - torrent, and had to realize his defeat and resume his seat. - </p> - <p> - When the last name on the written list had been read, the Speaker handed - the sheet to the Clerk for incorporation in the minutes, and, as coolly as - if nothing had happened, proceeded to set forth briefly the precedents - covering the case, including one ruling made by a very distinguished - Democrat who was at that hour the most conspicuous candidate of his party - for the Presidency. - </p> - <p> - The fight was resumed the next day and continued to rage all through the - session, the foes of the Speaker constantly devising new stratagems to - outwit him, but in vain. Sometimes there were funny little developments, - as when, in a precipitate flight of the Democrats from the hall to escape - being counted, Mr. O’Ferrall of Virginia inadvertently left his hat on his - desk, and the Speaker jocosely threatened to count<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_109" id="page_109"></a>{109}</span> - </p> - <div class="figcenter" style="width: 454px;"> - <a href="images/ill_018_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_018_sml.jpg" - width="454" height="590" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="c"> - Lee Mansion at Arlington - </p> - </div> - </div> - <p class="nind"> - that, on the theory that its habitual wearer was constructively present; - or when “Buck” Kilgore, a giant Democrat from Texas, refused to stay in - the hall after the Speaker had ordered the doors fastened, and kicked one - of them open with his Number 14 boot. Sometimes a tragic threat would be - uttered by a group of hot-headed enemies, and the galleries would be - thronged for several days with spectators expecting to see Reed dragged - out of the chair by force and arms. But, though every day witnessed its - parliamentary struggle, the bad blood aroused was never actually spilled. - What did happen was that, at the close of the Congress, when it is - customary for the opposition party to move a vote of thanks to the - Speaker, Reed went without the compliment. Something far more flattering - than thanks was in store for him, however; for in the Fifty-third - Congress, the House, which was then under Democratic control, by a vote of - nearly five to one adopted his quorum-counting rule with only a technical - modification. Since that day it has never found itself in a condition of - legislative paralysis. - </p> - <p> - The communications in which the President, as required by the - Constitution, gives to Congress from time to time “information of the - state of the Union,” take the form of general and special messages. A - general message is sent at the beginning of every session<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_110" id="page_110"></a>{110}</span> and - usually reviews the relations of our Government with its citizens and with - the outside world. A special message is called forth by some particular - event or series of events requiring a union of counsels between the - legislative and executive branches of the Government. - </p> - <p> - The formalities attending the presentation of general messages have - differed at various stages of our national history. John Adams, for - example, brought his in person to the Capitol. A military and civic - procession escorted him from his house to the Senate chamber, where the - Senators and Representatives were assembled in joint session. He was - attired with more elegance than was his wont and was accompanied by the - members of his Cabinet, the United States Marshal acting as usher; the - Vice-president surrendered to him the chair of honor and took a seat at - his right while he read his address aloud. In those days, each house - appointed a committee to consider the address of the President and to - draft a reply to it; when the reply was ready, a committee waited upon him - to inquire at what time it would be agreeable for him to receive it, and - on the day appointed, the members called upon him in a body to present it. - </p> - <p> - The message ceremonial was considerably shortened<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_111" id="page_111"></a>{111}</span> during the administration - of President Jefferson, who scandalized some of the sticklers for - propriety by reading his first address to Congress clad in a plain blue - coat with gilt buttons, blue breeches, woolen stockings, and heavy shoes - tied with leather strings. This democratic departure was typical of the - way a good many old customs died out. We find most of the later - Presidents, till the spring of 1913, rather studiously avoiding the - Capitol, meeting Congress seldom outside of the White House, and confining - their official communications to written messages presented in duplicate - at the doors of the two halls respectively by the hand of an executive - clerk. The response of each house, if any is deemed worth while, now takes - the form of the introduction of legislation on lines suggested by the - President. But the common practice is to cut a message into parts, - referring the passages which deal with one class of subjects to one - committee, and those which deal with another class to another committee; - and in most cases, unless an emergency arises to make further - consideration essential, little more is heard of them. - </p> - <p> - President Wilson has revived the custom of visiting Congress in its own - home and there delivering his addresses directly to the lawmakers in a - body, assembled for the occasion in the Hall of Representatives.<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_112" id="page_112"></a>{112}</span> This is - a much more effective mode of approaching Congress than sending a written - document by messenger, to be drawled through in a singsong voice by tired - clerks, simultaneously in both halls, to a gathering of only - half-interested auditors. It is also a more certain means of concentrating - public attention upon the work of the session. There is a subtle something - in the very personality of a President which appeals to the popular - imagination. As the one high officer of state elected by the votes of all - the people, he stands in their minds as a conservator and champion of - their broadest ideals, as contrasted with the narrower sectional interests - represented by the members of Congress. When, therefore, he takes his - position face to face with the men who are to frame whatever legislation - grows out of his recommendations, the whole country instinctively draws - near and listens. - </p> - <p> - It is hard to guess what might happen should it fall to the lot of - President Wilson to appear before Congress in person with such a - trumpet-call as was sounded in President Harrison’s message on the - maltreatment of our sailors in Chile, or President Cleveland’s on the - encroachments of England in Venezuela, or President McKinley’s on the - failure of his peaceful efforts for freeing Cuba. If the mere reading of - these formal messages was so impressive as to paint a vivid<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_113" id="page_113"></a>{113}</span> picture - of the attendant scenes on the memory of all who witnessed them, what an - extra touch of the dramatic would have been added had the chief executive - of the nation appeared at the Capitol to tell his story himself!<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_114" id="page_114"></a>{114}</span> - </p> - <h2> - <a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V<br /><br /> <small>“THE - OTHER END OF THE AVENUE”</small> - </h2> - <p class="nind"> - <span class="letra">A</span>LTHOUGH Pennsylvania Avenue is several miles - long, the mile that lies between the hill on which Congress sits and the - slope where the President lives is called in local parlance “the Avenue.” - Outside of their formal speeches and documentary literature, members of - Congress are wont to refer to the White House and its surroundings as “the - other end of the Avenue.” This familiar phrase is, like the popular - designation of Congress as “the gentlemen on the hill,” a survival from - the period when only one hill in town was officially occupied, and the - strip of highway connecting it with the group of buildings used by the - executive branch of the Government was about the only thoroughfare making - any serious pretensions to street improvement. It was along this line that - President Jefferson planted the first shade trees; and L’Enfant’s plan - made the south side of it the northern boundary of the Mall. - </p> - <p> - The title which for almost a hundred years the American<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_115" id="page_115"></a>{115}</span> people - have given to the headquarters of their chief public servant is a fine - example of historic accident. The White House was not originally intended - to be a white house. It was built of a buff sandstone which proved to be - so affected by exposure to the weather that as an afterthought it was - covered with a thick coat of white paint. From its nearness to several red - brick buildings, many persons fell into the way of distinguishing it by - its color, and after its repainting to conceal the stains of the fire of - 1814 this practice became general. Presidents have referred to it in their - messages variously as the President’s House, the Executive Mansion, and - the White House. Among the people it was also sometimes known, in the - early days, as the Palace. The Roosevelt administration made the White - House both the official and the social designation, and fastened the label - so tight that there is little reason to expect a change by any successor. - </p> - <p> - The White House was born under the eye of Martha Washington, was nursed - into healthy babyhood by Abigail Adams, received its baptism of fire under - Dolly Madison, was popularly christened under Eliza Kortright Monroe, and - passed through numberless vicissitudes under a line of foster-mothers - stretching from that time to the end of the century, every one carrying it - a little further away from its original plan;<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_116" id="page_116"></a>{116}</span> then Edith Kermit Roosevelt - administered a restorative elixir which started it upon a second youth. - The evolution of the Capitol, described in an earlier chapter, finds a - parallel in the architectural genesis of this building. Its drawings were - made and its construction superintended by James Hoban, an Irishman; but a - distinguished critic has described it as “designed on classic lines, - modified by an English hand, at a time when French art furnished the - world’s models in interior detail.” That accounts, of course, for its - monumental and palatial features. - </p> - <p> - But we must bear in mind that its sponsors intended it not only as an - official residence for the executive head of the Government, but as a home - for the foremost American citizen and his family, and that, in the - esthetics of domestic architecture, local influences were most potent. All - the Presidents except one, for the first thirty-six years of the - republic’s existence, were Virginia gentlemen; so, although broadly - following in treatment the Viceregal Lodge in Dublin, the President’s - House took on much of the character of the “great house” on a Virginia - plantation. This will explain why, in their work of restoration, when the - architects were confronted by some gap in their plans which could not be - filled by reference to the early records of the house itself, they drew - upon the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_117" id="page_117"></a>{117}</span> - material common to the Virginia mansions of the same period. - </p> - <p> - By no means the least notable of their revivals was the recognition of the - proper front of the building. For a half-century, and perhaps longer, its - back door had been used as its main entrance, and most visitors had borne - away the impression that that was the face its designer had intended it to - present to the world. Nearly all the authoritative pictures helped to - confirm this notion, by displaying the north side as confidently as the - photographers in Venice take San Marco from the Piazza. The confusion of - front and rear came about with other changes wrought by the increase of - facilities for land transportation. The rural and suburban architecture of - a century ago took great note of watercourses; for in those days wheeled - vehicles were rarer than now and vastly less comfortable, the saddle was - unsociable, and most travel was by river and canal. Hence the finest - houses were built, when practicable, where they would not only command a - pleasing view, but present their most picturesque aspect to the passing - boats. Doubtless the site of the White House was chosen with reference to - the bend which the Potomac made opposite the center of the building, thus - opening a view down to Alexandria and beyond. The river was broader then, - and probably washed the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_118" - id="page_118"></a>{118}</span> outer edge of what was intended to be - preserved forever as the President’s Park. - </p> - <p> - With the growing preference for land approaches, a good many Southern - houses of the colonial type altered their habits, the White House among - them; the side which faced the street offered the easier entrance, and - thus the back door gradually usurped the dignities of the front, and - accordingly the grounds on that side were laid out with lawns, trees, and - shrubbery. Its outlook, also, is upon Lafayette Park, which, if sundry - plans are carried through, will one day be faced on three sides with - stately buildings, housing those executive Departments with which the - President has to keep in closest touch. - </p> - <p> - Though President Washington was never to occupy the White House, or even - to see it after it was nearly enough finished for occupancy, he took the - greatest interest in watching it go up, and, only a few weeks before his - death, went all over it with Mrs. Washington, thoroughly inspecting every - part then accessible. He had borne a share in the Masonic ceremony of - laying its corner-stone, and by his personal influence had induced the - State of Virginia to advance a large sum of money at one particularly - critical stage of the building operations; so the old mansion may boast of - having some honored association with every President<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_119" id="page_119"></a>{119}</span> from the foundation of our - Government till now. - </p> - <p> - When John and Abigail Adams moved in, the scantiness of fuel and lights, - and the necessity for devoting the east room to the humblest of domestic - uses and converting an upstairs chamber into a salon, were not the only - shortcomings in their environment. Surface drainage water from a - considerable bit of high ground to the eastward had formed a turbid little - creek which almost surrounded the mansion. There was no water fit to drink - and of sufficient quantity to meet the daily needs of the President’s - family, short of a spring in an open tract which we now know as Franklin - Square, about half a mile away, whence it was brought down in crude pipes. - Beds of growing vegetables filled parts of the garden area where to-day we - find well-kept lawns and ornamental shrubbery. The only way of reaching - the south door from Pennsylvania Avenue was by a narrow footpath, on which - the pedestrian took a variety of chances after dark. The streets - surrounding the President’s grounds were so deep in slush or mud for a - large part of the year that, in order to keep their clothing fairly - presentable, visitors were obliged to come in closed coaches; and when the - Adamses gave their first New Year’s reception, their guests, though so few - that the oval room in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_120" id="page_120"></a>{120}</span> - the second story accommodated them, could not obtain in Washington enough - suitable vehicles, and had to draw upon the livery stables in Baltimore. - </p> - <p> - Adams was a well-bred and well-read man, reared in the best traditions of - New England, including the sanctity of a pledge; and, having promised his - friend and predecessor, Washington, to do what he could toward building up - a capital in fact as well as in name, he pocketed his petty discomforts - and made the best of things. Among his other efforts to promote the - popularity of the new city must be counted several dinners of exceptional - excellence, at which Mrs. Adams presided with distinguished graciousness - in a costume that, though it would strike us now as rather prim, was in - keeping with her age and antecedents. The President, who was a rotund, - florid man of middle height, appeared at these entertainments in a richly - embroidered coat, silk stockings, shoes with huge silver buckles, and a - powdered wig. These were concessions to the general demand for elegance of - attire on the part of the chief magistrate, following the precedent - established by Washington. They did not at all reflect Mr. Adams’s - preferences, for he was one of the plainest of men in his tastes, and his - ordinary course of domestic life in the President’s House was to the last - degree unpretentious; his luncheon, for example,<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_121" id="page_121"></a>{121}</span> - </p> - <div class="figcenter" style="width: 448px;"> - <a href="images/ill_019_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_019_sml.jpg" - width="448" height="570" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="c"> - <i>Old Carlyle Mansion, Alexandria</i> - </p> - </div> - </div> - <p class="nind"> - consisted usually of oatcake and lemonade, and one of his amusements was - to play horse with a little grandchild, who used to drive him up and down - the somber corridors with a switch. - </p> - <p> - Albeit Adams and Jefferson became, late in life, the warmest of friends, - no love was lost between them during the period when both were active in - politics. Adams, who would have been gratified to receive, like - Washington, a second term, was not disposed to “enact the captive chief in - the procession of the victor,” so he did not stay to see Jefferson - inaugurated, but at daylight of the fourth of March, 1801, left Washington - for Boston. There was no need for such haste to escape, for Jefferson, as - the high priest of democratic simplicity, had no procession; though the - cheerful little fiction about his riding down Pennsylvania Avenue alone, - and hitching his horse to a sapling in front of the Capitol while he went - in to be sworn, received its death-blow long ago. The truth is, he had no - use for a horse. He was boarding in New Jersey Avenue, where he had lived - for the latter part of his term as Vice-president. A few minutes before - noon on inauguration day he set out on foot, in company with several - Congressmen who were his fellow boarders, and walked the block or so to - the Capitol, where he was escorted by a committee to the Senate chamber - and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_122" id="page_122"></a>{122}</span> - there took the oath of office and delivered his address. Then he walked - back again to his boarding-house, and at dinner occupied his customary - seat at the foot of the table. A visitor from Baltimore complimented him - on his address and “wished him joy” as President. “I should advise you,” - was his smiling response, “to follow my example on nuptial occasions, when - I always tell the bridegroom that I will wait till the end of the year - before offering my congratulations.” - </p> - <p> - The accommodations in the President’s House were somewhat better by the - time Mr. Jefferson moved in than they were when the Adams family opened - it, yet he seems to have been more or less cramped during most of his two - terms—owing, doubtless, to the continued presence of mechanics and - building materials in the incomplete parts of the house. When the British - Minister called in court costume to present his credentials, he was - received, with his convoy the Secretary of State, in a space so narrow - that he had to back out of one end of it to make room for the President to - enter at the other. One of the legation described Jefferson as “a tall - man, with a very red, freckled face and gray, neglected hair; his manners - were good natured and rather friendly, though he had somewhat of a cynical - expression of countenance. He wore a blue coat, a thick, gray-colored - hairy waistcoat<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_123" id="page_123"></a>{123}</span> - with a red under-waistcoat lapped over it, green velveteen breeches with - pearl buttons, yarn stockings with slippers down at the heels, his - appearance being very much like that of a tall, raw-boned farmer.” On the - other hand, an admiring contemporary insists that his dress was “plain, - unstudied and sometimes old-fashioned in its form,” but “always of the - finest materials,” and that “in his personal habits he was fastidious and - neat.” So there you are! - </p> - <p> - A social being Jefferson certainly was. He liked company, and his former - residence in France had cultivated his taste for the good things of the - table, including light wines and olives. He once said that he considered - olives the most precious gift of heaven to man, and he had them on his - table whenever he could get them. He was also fond of figs and mulberries, - and his household records bristle with purchases of crabs, pineapples, - oysters, venison, partridges, and oranges—a pretty fair list for a - man devoted to plain living. One of his hobbies as a host at very small - and confidential dinners was to insure to his guests the utmost privacy, - so he devised a scheme for dispensing as far as practicable with the - presence of servants and avoiding the needless opening and closing of - doors. Beside every chair was placed a small “dumb-waiter” containing all - the desirable accessories, like fresh plates<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_124" id="page_124"></a>{124}</span> and knives and forks and - finger-bowls; while in a partition wall was hung a bank of circular - shelves, so pivoted as to reverse itself at the pressure of a spring, the - fresh viands entering the dining-room as the emptied platters swung around - into the pantry. The company at table rarely exceeded four when this - machinery was called into play. At big state dinners the usual array of - servants did the waiting. - </p> - <p> - The first great reception in Jefferson’s administration occurred on the - fourth of July next following his inauguration. For some reason, possibly - because the novelty of his sweeping invitation prevented its being - generally understood by the populace, only about one hundred persons - presented themselves. A luncheon was served, in the midst of which the - Marine Band entered, playing the “President’s March,” or, as we call it, - “Hail Columbia.” The company fell in behind and joined in a grand - promenade, with many evolutions, through the rooms and corridors of the - ground floor, returning at last to the place whence they had started and - resuming their feast of good things. - </p> - <p> - As he was a widower when he succeeded Adams at the head of the Government, - and it was not feasible, most of the time, for either of his daughters to - preside over his public hospitalities, Jefferson naturally turned for aid - to Mrs. James Madison, wife of his Secretary of<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_125" id="page_125"></a>{125}</span> State. He despised empty - precedent; and when, at a diplomatic dinner, he led the way to the - dining-room with Mrs. Madison instead of offering his arm to Mrs. Merry, - wife of the British Minister and dean of the corps, he defied all the - old-world canons. Mrs. Merry withdrew in high dudgeon, and her husband - made the incident the subject of a communication to the Foreign Office in - London. - </p> - <p> - Dolly Madison’s fondness for society counterbalanced the indifference of - her husband—a little, apple-faced man with a large brain and - pleasant manners but no presence, of whom every one spoke by his nickname, - “Jemmy.” She is described as a “fine, portly, buxom dame” with plenty of - brisk small-talk. She knew little of books, but made a point of having one - in her hand when she received guests who were given to literature; and she - would have peeped enough into it to enable her to open conversation with a - reference to something she had found there. One of the celebrities she - entertained was Humboldt, the scientist, concerning whom she wrote: “We - have lately had a great treat in the company of a charming Prussian baron. - All the ladies say they are in love with him. He is the most polite, - modest, well-informed, and interesting traveler we have ever met, and is - much pleased with America.” Another was Tom Moore, who, though<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_126" id="page_126"></a>{126}</span> - embalming in verse some of the spiteful spirit he had absorbed from the - Merrys, in later years recanted these utterances. - </p> - <p> - As she was praised everywhere for the beauty of her complexion, it is - disconcerting to learn from a candid biographer that Mrs. Madison was wont - to heighten her color by external applications, and now and then, through - an accident of the toilet, gave to her nose a rosy flush that was meant - for her cheeks. We are told also that she was addicted to the fashionable - snuff habit and kept always at hand a dainty little box made of platinum - and lava, filled with her favorite brand of “Scotch,” which she would - freely use at social gatherings and then pass around the circle of - diplomatists who assiduously danced attendance upon her. This indulgence - accounted for her carrying everywhere two handkerchiefs: one a bandanna - tucked away in her sleeve, whence she could draw it promptly for what she - called “rough work,” and the other a spider-web creation of lawn and lace, - which she styled her “polisher” and wore pinned to her side. - </p> - <p> - Besides the British Minister with his standing grievance, which he - advertised by never bringing Mrs. Merry to the President’s House after the - fateful dinner, we read of two other foreign envoys who used to<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_127" id="page_127"></a>{127}</span> appear - there spouseless. One was Sidi Mellanelli, who, Dr. Samuel Mitchill tells - us, “came from Tunis to settle some differences between that regency and - our Government. He is to all appearance upward of fifty years old; wears - his beard and shaves his head after the manner of his country, and wears a - turban instead of a hat. His dress consists simply of a short jacket, - large, loose drawers, stockings, and slippers. When he goes abroad he - throws a large hooded cloak over these garments; it is of a peculiar cut - and is called a bernous. The colors of his drawers and bernous are - commonly red. He seldom walks, but almost always appears on horseback. He - is a rigid Mohammedan; he fasts, prays, and observes the precepts of the - Koran. He talks much with the ladies, says he often thinks about his - consort in Africa, and wonders how Congressmen can live a whole session - without their wives.” - </p> - <p> - The other unaccompanied diplomat was the French Minister, General Turreau, - a man of humble birth who had risen to some eminence during the recent - revolution in his country. Having once been imprisoned, he improved the - opportunity to make love to his jailer’s daughter and marry her; but he - appears to have tired of his bargain, and it was no secret that they led a - most inharmonious life. According to Sir Augustus Foster, he was in the - habit of horsewhipping<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_128" - id="page_128"></a>{128}</span> her to the accompaniment of a violoncello - played by his secretary to drown her cries, and the scandalized neighbors - had finally to interfere. Doctor Mitchill’s version of the affair is that - the Minister tried to send his wife back to France, and that, when she - refused to leave and raised an outcry, a mob gathered at their house and - enabled her to escape and go to live in peaceful poverty in Georgetown. - The Doctor has little to say of Turreau’s ability, but dwells impressively - on “the uncommon size and extent of his whiskers, which cover the greater - part of his cheeks,” and on the profusion of lace with which his - full-dress coat was decorated. - </p> - <p> - Jerome Bonaparte, a younger brother of the first Napoleon, passed a good - deal of time in Washington during the Jefferson administration and was one - of the lions at the parties in the President’s House. Meeting Miss - Elizabeth Patterson of Baltimore, he succumbed to her attractions and lost - no time in suing for her hand. Her father was a bank president and one of - the richest men in the United States, and the family, whose social - position was unexceptionable, were far from having their heads turned by - the proposed match, possibly feeling some misgivings as to future - complications; but the young people would listen to no argument and were - married. Mr. Jefferson<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_129" - id="page_129"></a>{129}</span> wrote at once to the American Minister at - Paris, telling him to lay all the facts before the First Consul and to - make it plain that in the United States any marriage was lawful which had - been voluntarily entered into by two single parties of full age. - Nevertheless, the great Napoleon did not hesitate to treat the marriage as - void, and Jerome lacked manliness to defy his brother and fight the matter - out; but Mrs. Bonaparte, having spunk enough for two, stood up firmly for - her rights as a wife to the end of her days, and commanded recognition for - them everywhere outside of the imperial court. - </p> - <p> - A friend of Jefferson’s who came to Washington during his administration, - and whose advent created not a little stir, was a man about seventy years - of age, described as having “a red and rugged face which looks as if he - had been much hackneyed in the service of the world,” eyes “black and - lively,” a nose “somewhat aquiline and pointing downward” which - “corresponds in color with the fiery appearance of his cheeks,” and a - marked fondness for talk and anecdote. This was none other than Tom Paine, - patriot, poet, political pamphleteer, and infidel. He was favorably - remembered all over the United States for his writings in behalf of human - rights, and for the leaflets and songs which had cheered the hearts of the - Continental soldiers<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_130" id="page_130"></a>{130}</span> - at the most discouraging pass in our War for Independence. After the - Revolution, he had gone abroad as an apostle of popular liberty, and, - though outlawed in England, had been permitted to cross to France to take - his seat as a deputy in the proletariat National Assembly. There, among - other acts which won him commendation, he raised his voice and cast his - vote against the resolution which sent Louis XVI to the guillotine. - </p> - <p> - Appreciating his services to this country and also strongly sympathizing - with the French type of democracy, Jefferson had invited Paine to come - back to his native land in a United States war-ship; and the Federalist - newspapers seized their chance to make partisan capital by parading - Paine’s religious heterodoxy and charging Jefferson with having brought - him home to undermine the morals of our people. Jefferson had considerable - difficulty in counteracting the effects of the accusation, for his own - opinions had been for a good while under fire, and it was not a day of - nice distinctions. Probably in this more tolerant age a man like Paine - would be given due credit for his practical benevolence even when mixed - with a hatred of ecclesiasticism, and Jefferson would find himself not out - of place in the Unitarian fold. - </p> - <p> - When Jefferson was not occupied with affairs of state<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_131" id="page_131"></a>{131}</span> or entertaining visitors, - he was fond of sitting in what he called his “cabinet”—a room which - he had fitted up to suit his own fancy. The rest of the house was rather - unhomelike. The east room was still unfinished, and through the others - were strewn articles of furniture which, though good in their way, were - not especially suggestive of comfort; many of them were relics of the - Washington régime, brought from Philadelphia. But in the cabinet stood a - long table with drawers on each side, filled with things dear to their - owner’s heart. One contained books with inscriptions from their authors; - another, letters and manuscripts; a third, a set of carpenter’s tools for - his amusement on rainy days; a fourth, some small gardening implements, - and so on. Around the walls were maps, charts, and shelves laden with - standard literature. Flowers and potted plants were everywhere, and in the - midst of a bower of these hung the cage of his pet mockingbird; but the - door of the cage was rarely shut when the President was in the room, for - he loved to have the bird fly about freely, perch on his shoulder, and - take its food from his lips. - </p> - <p> - As may be guessed, the sponsor for this greenery was fond of all growing - things. Jefferson was often seen walking about the embryo city, watching - the workmen digging or building, but manifesting a special<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_132" id="page_132"></a>{132}</span> interest - in tree-planting and ornamental gardening. He tried to induce Congress to - vote enough money to beautify the grounds around the President’s House, - but in vain; the most he could do was to enclose the yard with a common - stone wall and seed it down to grass. Among the plans he prepared but was - obliged to abandon was the adornment of these grounds exclusively with - trees, shrubs, and flowers indigenous to American soil. He must be - credited with the first attempt ever made in Washington to establish a - zoölogical park; Lewis and Clarke, the explorers, brought him from the - West a few grizzly bears, for which he built a pen in the yard. He also - made the first move to furnish Pennsylvania Avenue with shade trees. His - preference was for willow-oaks; but he started four rows of Lombardy - poplars to take advantage of their rapid growth till the slower oaks - matured. One of his hobbies was to improve the market gardening of the - neighborhood by distributing new varieties of vegetable seeds obtained - through the American consuls in foreign countries, and instructing his - steward always to buy the best home-grown table delicacies at the highest - retail prices. - </p> - <p> - At Madison’s inauguration in 1809, Jefferson not only did not imitate the - ungraciousness of Adams eight years before, but went to the opposite - extreme, declining<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_133" id="page_133"></a>{133}</span> - </p> - <div class="figcenter" style="width: 452px;"> - <a href="images/ill_020_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_020_sml.jpg" - width="452" height="578" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="c"> - <i>Washington’s Pew in Christ Church, Alexandria</i> - </p> - </div> - </div> - <p> - Madison’s invitation to drive to the Capitol in the Presidential coach - lest he might divide the honors which he felt belonged exclusively to the - President-elect. Madison had what was then deemed a wonderful procession - of military and civic organizations, and turned the occasion into the - first “made-in-America” gala day, wearing himself a complete suit of - clothing made by an American tailor, of cloth woven on American looms from - the wool of American sheep. Jefferson, clad in one like it, modestly - waited till the procession had passed and then rode to the Capitol alone, - not even a servant following to care for his horse. On entering the Hall - of Representatives, he declined the chair reserved for him near Madison’s - but joined the ordinary spectators, saying: “To-day I return to the - people, and my proper seat is among them.” At the close of the ceremony, - he mounted his horse again and rode up the Avenue unattended, till George - Custis, also mounted, joined him, and they went together to the Madisons’ - house. - </p> - <p> - Here a crowd of friends had gathered to welcome in the new administration. - Mr. Madison’s emotions had been a good deal stirred by what had passed at - the Capitol, but his manner was affable. His wife was all herself as - usual. She was attired in a plain cambric dress with a very long train, - and a bonnet of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_134" id="page_134"></a>{134}</span> - purple velvet and white satin, adorned with white plumes. Jefferson seems - to have been, for such time as he stayed, quite as much the lion of the - occasion as his successor. Presently he slipped quietly away and went over - to the President’s House, where the empty halls echoed to his footsteps; - for he had given all the servants a holiday so that they could see the - show. But he did not remain long alone; the news spread among his old - friends that he had gone back to bid his home of eight years farewell, and - they followed him after a little. In the evening he went to the inaugural - ball—the first ever held, and the only ball of any sort he had - attended since his return from France. - </p> - <p> - From all accounts it was not a highly enjoyable affair. The room was so - crowded that it was difficult to elbow one’s way across it; nobody could - see what was going on without standing on a chair; the air became - stifling, and when an attempt was made to freshen it by letting down the - upper sashes of the windows, they would not move, so nothing was left but - to smash the glass. Mrs. Madison was almost crushed to death; Madison was - so tired that he confessed to a friend that he wished he were abed; and as - soon as supper was over, the Presidential party withdrew. The younger set - stayed and danced till midnight,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_135" - id="page_135"></a>{135}</span> when, at the stroke, the music ceased and - the attendants began to put out the lights. - </p> - <p> - The social success achieved by Dolly Madison as official hostess through - so large a part of Jefferson’s administration did not wane when, with the - rise of her husband to the head of the Government, she came into her own - by right instead of by courtesy. Her first term as mistress of the - President’s House was a continuous blaze of gayety, in which we catch - fleeting glimpses of her in a variety of toilets, the most truly typical - being a buff velvet gown with pearl ornaments and a Paris turban topped - with a bird-of-paradise plume. Then came the second war with Great Britain - and the wrecking of the city. - </p> - <p> - When the British approached Bladensburg, and the improvised home-guard of - Washington went out to engage them in battle, Mr. Madison permitted his - military advisers to persuade him that, after seeing the stiffness of the - American resistance, the British would withdraw. His wife caught the - infection of confidence, and together they planned to celebrate the - victory by a dinner to the officers on the evening after the battle. The - table was spread by three in the afternoon, when Mrs. Madison, who had - been listening with composure to the distant boom of cannon, was dismayed - to see a lot of demoralized American soldiers running in from<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_136" id="page_136"></a>{136}</span> the - north by twos and threes. Her sudden fears were confirmed when one of her - colored servants galloped up to the door, shouting: “Clear out! Clear out! - General Armstrong has ordered a retreat!” Then a few friends came over to - insist on her seeking safety in flight. They helped her to fill a wagon - with such valuables as were not too heavy; but she provoked their - indignation by waiting till the oil portrait of General Washington - attributed to Stuart, which hangs in the White House to-day, could be cut - out of its frame and “placed in the hands of two gentlemen from New York - for safe keeping.” - </p> - <p> - We have already seen how the Capitol and other public buildings were - burned. A particularly vicious scheme was worked out to assure the - destruction of the President’s House, because of Mr. Madison’s personal - share in the dispute which led to the war. Indeed, it was the hope of the - invaders to find him and his wife at home and take them captive, so as to - humiliate the American Government and people and thus impress a lesson for - the future. By way of a reconnoiter, Admiral Cockburn went to the mansion - and looked through it, taking with him as a hostage a young gentleman of - the city, named Weightman. In the dining-room they found everything - prepared for the dinner of triumph, and Cockburn ordered his companion<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_137" id="page_137"></a>{137}</span> to sit - down with him and “drink Jemmy’s health.” Then he bade Weightman help - himself to a mantel ornament as a souvenir of the day. “I must take - something, too,” he added, and with great hilarity tucked under his arm an - old hat of the President’s and a cushion from Mrs. Madison’s chair. - </p> - <p> - When all was ready, a detachment of fifty sailors and marines were marched - in silence up Pennsylvania Avenue, every man carrying a long pole with a - ball of combustible material attached to the top of it. Arrived at the - mansion, the balls were lighted, and the poles rested each against a - window. At a command from their officer, the pole-bearers struck their - windows simultaneously a hard blow, smashing the glass and hurling the - fire-balls into the rooms with a single motion; and the little group of - lookers-on beheld an outburst of flame from every part of the building at - once. - </p> - <p> - At the Octagon House, where they passed some months after their return to - Washington, the Madisons were surrounded by the same friends who had - enjoyed the hospitalities of the President’s House before the fire. It was - not, however, till they removed to the dwelling at the corner of - Pennsylvania Avenue and Nineteenth Street that Mrs. Madison was able to - entertain on the scale she desired. The house was<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_138" id="page_138"></a>{138}</span> one of the most commodious - in town, and for any fine function the whole of it was thrown open. This - was done on the occasion of the levee of February, 1816, which was - universally pronounced the most splendid witnessed in the United States up - to that time. The illumination extended from garret to cellar, much of it - coming from pine torches held aloft by slaves specially drilled to - maintain statuesque attitudes against the walls and at the heads of - staircases. Mrs. Madison’s toilet of rose-tinted satin was set off with a - girdle, necklace, and bracelets of gold, and a gold-embroidered crown. It - may have been this last adornment which suggested to Sir George Bagot, the - new British Minister, his comment that “Mrs. Madison looks every inch a - queen.” The compliment promptly spread over Washington, where for some - time thereafter the President’s wife was constantly referred to as “the - Queen.” - </p> - <p> - This levee was in the nature of a farewell, for on the fourth of the next - month President Madison made way for his successor, James Monroe, whose - inauguration was the first ever held in the open air. The innovation was - due to a quarrel between the two chambers of Congress, which was then - occupying its temporary quarters opposite the east grounds of the Capitol. - Monroe had arranged to take the oath in the<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_139" id="page_139"></a>{139}</span> Hall of Representatives; - but the Senators found fault with the seats set apart for them, the - Representatives were stubborn, and a deadlock seemed imminent, when Monroe - suggested as a compromise that a platform be raised in front of the - building, and that the ceremony take place there, where all the people - could witness it. Thus began what came to be known as “the era of good - feeling.” - </p> - <p> - How class consciousness prevailed in those days is amusingly illustrated - by Monroe’s resentment of the foreign conception of Americans. “People in - Europe,” he had once said to the French Minister, while Secretary of State - under Madison, “suppose us to be merchants occupied exclusively with - pepper and ginger. They are much deceived. The immense majority of our - citizens do not belong to this class, and are, as much as your Europeans, - controlled by principles of honor and dignity. I never knew what trade - was; the President was as much a stranger to it as I.” Perhaps it was - because he knew so little about trade that he took pains to cultivate its - acquaintance as soon as he became President. He made a grand tour of the - new West, staying away from Washington more than four months and visiting - especially the commercial centers, where he showed himself to the people - as much as possible. He invited some criticism by making his<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_140" id="page_140"></a>{140}</span> tour in - the buff-and-blue uniform of the Continental soldiery of forty years - before, cocked hat and all; but his friends always contended that this - appeal to patriotism vastly increased his popularity and went far to - account for his wonderful success in his campaign for reëlection in 1820, - when he captured all the electoral votes except one. - </p> - <p> - The period covered by the last few pages brought to Washington two great - men, whose share in shaping the history of the United States was such as - to warrant our pausing to take a closer look at them. These were Henry - Clay and Daniel Webster. Clay was probably the most popular man in our - public life from Washington’s time to Lincoln’s, and his legislative - career was unique both in its beginning and in its ending. He came to - Washington first to fill a vacancy caused by the death of a Kentucky - Senator, and held this position for several months while he was still too - young to be eligible under the Constitution, because nobody was disposed - to inquire into the years of one who possessed so mature a mind. Both - before and after this experience he served in the Kentucky legislature, - where, on account of an insult received in debate, he challenged its - author and “winged” him in a duel. When the Twelfth Congress was about to - meet, with every prospect that John Randolph and<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_141" id="page_141"></a>{141}</span> his little coterie were - going to make trouble in the House, a demand arose for a Speaker who would - be able to cope with the turbulent element. Clay had just been elected a - Representative, and his prowess as a duelist drew all eyes in his - direction. “Harry Clay can keep Randolph in order,” declared his Kentucky - neighbors, “and he is the only man who can!” On this ground, then, he was - elected Speaker before he had actually taken his seat in the House. He was - the first man ever thus honored; and he was, I believe, the only one who - ever made two formal farewells to the Senate. The first, preliminary to - his resignation in 1842, appears among the classics of American eloquence; - but, as he was sent back in 1849, he had the chance, rarely accorded any - one except a histrionic star, to bow himself off the stage a second time. - </p> - <p> - During the years of his greatest activity, every announcement that he was - to speak made a gala day at the Capitol. “The gallery was full,” wrote - Margaret Bayard Smith of one such occasion, “to a degree that endangered - it; even the outer entries were thronged. The gentlemen are grown very - gallant and attentive, and, as it was impossible to reach the ladies - through the gallery, a new mode was invented for supplying them with - oranges, etc. They tied them up in handkerchiefs, to each of which was - fixed a note<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_142" id="page_142"></a>{142}</span> - indicating for whom it was designed, and then fastened to a long pole. - This was taken on the floor of the house and handed up to the ladies who - sat in the front of the gallery. These presentations were frequent and - quite amusing, even in the midst of Mr. Clay’s speech. I and the ladies - near me divided what was brought with each other, and were as social as if - acquainted.” - </p> - <p> - The orator who could hold his own against such a background of confusion - might well take pride in his powers; but the universal testimony was that - Clay’s wonderfully modulated voice and magnetic charm of personality - triumphed over everything. He was so attractive a man that even Calhoun, - with whom he was at swords-drawn in every forensic battle, could not - forbear wringing his hand with a “God bless you!” at their final parting - in the Senate chamber; and John Randolph, with whom he had clashed - repeatedly and whose coat he had punctured in a duel, insisted on being - carried to the Capitol, while dying, and laid on a couch where Clay was - going to deliver a much-heralded speech. Possibly one of the secrets of - Clay’s success in winning people was illustrated in his quarrel with - Senator King of Alabama, which began on the Senate floor and led to the - passage of a challenge. Friends interfered, and after some days a peace - was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_143" id="page_143"></a>{143}</span> - </p> - <div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"> - <a href="images/ill_021_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_021_sml.jpg" - width="450" height="586" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="c"> - <i>Mount Vernon</i> - </p> - <p> - <i>Mount Vernon</i> - </p> - </div> - </div> - <p class="nind"> - patched up, both men publicly withdrawing their offensive remarks, and a - brother Senator making some appropriate gratulatory observations on the - reconciliation. Then Clay gave the final dramatic touch to the scene by - crossing the chamber to where his late adversary sat, saying aloud: “King, - give me a pinch of your snuff!” King, surprised, sprang up and held out - both a snuff-box and an open hand, while Senators and spectators applauded - to the echo. - </p> - <p> - Clay was a slimly built man who always appeared for action clad in a - solemn suit of black, with a claw-hammer coat, a stiff silk stock, and a - huge white “choker” with pointed ears. His face was spare and his forehead - high, his cheekbones were prominent, the nose between them was slender and - forceful, and the mouth wide, thin-lipped, and straight-cut. His lank - hair, naturally of a tawny hue, became early streaked with gray and was - worn long enough to fringe his coat collar. He was approachable in manner, - had a most genial smile, and was ready with a pleasant response to every - greeting, its effect being intensified by its musical clarity of - enunciation. He was distinctly fond of society and especially enjoyed a - game of cards. Although his wife accompanied him to Washington, she - appeared little with him in public. She was a good woman with few gifts, - but a devoted mother, and her<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_144" - id="page_144"></a>{144}</span> chief joy in life was to sew for her six - children. Wherever he went, Mr. Clay was always surrounded by a circle of - adoring women, who hung upon every word of the many he uttered as he - talked in desultory style with his back against a sofa-cushion. He - followed a free fashion of his time in taking toll from the lips of all - the young and pretty maidens he met. The first time he saw Dolly Madison, - her youthful face and dainty dress misled him into saluting her in this - fashion. On discovering his mistake, “Ah, madam,” he pleaded gallantly, - “had I known you for whom you are, the coin would have been larger!” - </p> - <p> - I may add in passing that the American navy owes its monitor type of - fighting-craft largely to Henry Clay. Theodore Timby, who invented the - revolving turret which Ericsson used during the Civil War, came to - Washington bearing a letter of introduction to Clay, who became interested - in the idea and helped him get the patent without which it might have been - lost to the world. - </p> - <p> - Webster was cast in quite a different mold from Clay. He was godlike where - Clay was human; his eloquence overwhelmed his hearers where Clay’s - fascinated them. He had a big head, a big frame, a big voice, a big - presence. Emerson speaks of his “awful charm.” Some one who heard him - condemn<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_145" id="page_145"></a>{145}</span> - the dishonest gains of a certain financial institution, says that the word - “disgorge,” as he uttered it, “seemed to weigh about twelve pounds.” Once - Mrs. Webster brought their little son to hear his father deliver an - oration. Daniel began a sentence in his thunder-tone: “Will any man dare - say—” and the audience were waiting breathless to hear what was - coming next, when a wee, piping voice responded from the gallery: “Oh, no, - no, Papa!” - </p> - <p> - His greatest effort in Congress, of course, was his reply to Hayne. - Everybody in Washington was eager to hear it, and galleries and floor, - including the platform on which the Vice-president sat, were crowded to - the last limit. Representative Lewis of Alabama, being unable to gain - access to the hall, climbed around behind the wooden framework which - flanked the platform and bored a hole through it with his pocket-knife in - order to get a view of the great expounder. At a levee that evening at the - White House, Webster was besieged by admirers offering congratulations. - Among the crowd that drew near him at one time happened to be Hayne - himself. “How are you, Colonel Hayne?” was Webster’s greeting. “None the - better for you, sir,” answered Hayne, good humoredly but with sincere - feeling. - </p> - <p> - We are treated to another picture of him when he<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_146" id="page_146"></a>{146}</span> arrived late at a concert - given by Jenny Lind. For the benefit of the statesmen who were present, - Miss Lind, for an encore, sang “Hail Columbia.” Webster, who had been - dining, was on his feet in an instant and added his powerful bass voice to - hers in the chorus. Mrs. Webster did all she could to induce him to sit - down, but he repeated his effort at the close of every verse, and with the - last strain made the songstress a profound obeisance, waving his hat at - the same time. Miss Lind curtsyed in return, Webster repeated his bow, and - this little comedy of etiquette was kept up for some minutes, to the - delight of the audience.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_147" - id="page_147"></a>{147}</span> - </p> - <h2> - <a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI<br /><br /> <small>THROUGH - MANY CHANGING YEARS</small> - </h2> - <p class="nind"> - <span class="letra">W</span>ITH the advent of the Monroes, social life at - the President’s House underwent a transformation. Its character could have - been forecast from the fact that, although for the six years Monroe had - been at the head of the Cabinet his family had been with him in - Washington, they were as nearly strangers to the great body of citizens as - if they had been living in New York or Boston. If a lady wished to call on - Mrs. Monroe, she had to apply for an appointment and have a day and hour - fixed, unless she were a member or intimate of some former Presidential - family. In this administration, too, was born to Washington its first - formal code of social precedence, which, with certain modifications in - detail, has remained unchanged to this day. It differs from the codes of - other American communities in having official rank as a basis. John Quincy - Adams, before becoming Secretary of State, had served at various times as - envoy to five European courts. He was therefore ripe with information<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_148" id="page_148"></a>{148}</span> on the - rules observed abroad and resolved on bringing something of the same sort - into operation at our capital. - </p> - <p> - Mrs. Monroe and her daughters made it an absolute rule to pay no visits; - so calls made on them, no matter by whom, went unreturned. Their dislike - of the underbred caused them to take no part in the preparations for the - general levees, which were thronged with anybody and everybody; but their - invitation list for select receptions was cut down mercilessly, and the - reduced company were treated to supper, an innovation on recent practices. - At all such entertainments Mrs. Monroe was so exacting in her demands as - to dress that when one of her near relatives presented himself in an - informal costume which he had worn without criticism at the best of the - Jefferson and Madison functions, she refused him admittance till he should - don the regulation small-clothes and silk hose. - </p> - <p> - The Monroes renamed the east room “the banqueting hall” and had their - state dinners there, partly because of its spaciousness, and partly - because the dining-room had been so badly damaged in the fire that it took - a long time to rehabilitate. The table appointments included a central - oval “plateau” twelve feet long by two feet wide, composed of a mirror<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_149" id="page_149"></a>{149}</span> - “surrounded by gold females holding candlesticks.” The china was highly - gilt, and the dessert knives, forks, and spoons were of beaten gold. All - the plate was the private property of the family and bore the initials “J. - M.”; much of it was afterward purchased by the Government and made a part - of the official furnishing of the White House, where it remained in use - down to Van Buren’s day. - </p> - <p> - A New York Representative went with some friends to dine with the Monroes. - Arriving at half-past five, his party were “ushered, Indian file, into the - drawing-room,” where they found “some twenty gentlemen seated in a row in - solemn state, mute as fishes, having already undergone the ceremony of - introduction.” And he goes on: - </p> - <p> - “Mrs. Monroe was seated at the further end of the room, with other ladies. - On our approach, she rose and received us handsomely. After being myself - presented, I introduced the other gentlemen. I now expected to be led to - the President, but my pilot, the private secretary, had vanished. We beat - a retreat, each to his respective chair. Observing the President sitting - very demurely by the chimney-corner, I arose and advanced to him. He got - up and shook me by the hand, as he did the other gentlemen. This second - ceremony over, all again was silence, and<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_150" id="page_150"></a>{150}</span> each once more moved to his - seat. It was a period of great solemnity. Not a whisper broke upon the ear - to interrupt the silence of the place, and every one looked as if the next - moment would be his last. After a while the President, in a grave manner, - began conversation with some one that sat near him, and directly the - secretary ushered in some more victims, who submitted to the same ordeal - we had experienced. This continued for fully half an hour, when dinner was - announced. It became more lively as the dishes rattled.” The party - remained at table till about half-past eight. - </p> - <p> - The retirement of Monroe marked the end of “the Virginia dynasty.” It had - always been a sore point with John Adams that the highest office of the - Government should be passed from hand to hand in the Old Dominion, and he - once threw out the splenetic comment that not “until the last Virginian - was laid in the graveyard” would his son have a chance at the Presidency. - The son had been trained with reference to such an inheritance, and, on - becoming Monroe’s Secretary of State, regarded himself as in the line of - succession. His appearance as a Presidential candidate, however, aroused - no general enthusiasm, whereas General Andrew Jackson, having given the - finishing stroke to the defeat of the British invaders<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_151" id="page_151"></a>{151}</span> by his victory over - Pakenham, and acquired the nickname “Old Hickory,” had become the idol of - the multitude. In spite of their approaching competition for the - Presidency, Adams was obliged to recognize Jackson’s prestige at every - turn; and on the eighth of January, 1824, Mrs. Adams gave a ball in the - General’s honor which was so grand that it was still talked of in - Washington fifty years afterward. - </p> - <p> - The Adams house stood on the site now occupied by the Adams office - building in F Street near Fourteenth. On this occasion the floor of the - ballroom was decorated with pictures in colored chalks. The central - design, which portrayed an American eagle clutching a trophy of flags, - bore the legend: “Welcome to the Hero of New Orleans!” The pillars were - trimmed with laurel and other winter foliage, roses were scattered - everywhere, and the illumination was furnished by variegated lamps, with a - brilliant luster in the middle of the ceiling. There were eight pieces of - music. Mrs. Adams was seated in the center of the hall, with Jackson - standing at her side and a semicircle of distinguished guests behind them. - President Monroe and Mr. Adams attended, but both were conspicuous for - their sobriety of attire. It was this gathering which inspired a tribute - in verse by a local journalist, beginning:<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_152" id="page_152"></a>{152}</span> - </p> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <span class="i0">“Wend you with the world to-night?<br /></span> <span - class="i3">Brown and fair, and wise and witty,<br /></span> <span - class="i1">Eyes that float in seas of light,<br /></span> <span - class="i3">Laughing mouths and dimples pretty,<br /></span> <span - class="i5">Belles and matrons, maids and madams,<br /></span> <span - class="i5">All are gone to Mrs. Adams!”<br /></span> - </div> - </div> - </div> - <p> - Nine months later, Jackson polled a far larger popular vote for the - Presidency than Adams, and so distributed as to give him a lead in the - electoral colleges also. But as there were four candidates, none of whom - had a clear majority of the electoral vote, the decision was left to the - House of Representatives, where Henry Clay, the candidate at the bottom of - the list, threw his support to Adams, giving him the office. Adams - recognized his debt to Clay by appointing him Secretary of State, and thus - placing him in the line of promotion. Jackson never forgave Clay for his - share in electing Adams, and from that day forth had nothing to do with - him beyond the coolest exchange of civilities. In other respects the - General accepted defeat philosophically, attending the inaugural - ceremonies and promptly coming forward to congratulate the new President, - an act of grace that brought tears to the eyes of Adams. The appearance of - the two men together in public delighted the crowd, and there was - vociferous hurrahing for Jackson. Judged solely<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_153" id="page_153"></a>{153}</span> by appearances, indeed, the - day was a festival in honor of Jackson rather than of Adams. Many of the - General’s friends had come a long distance, in an era when traveling was - so slow that they had been obliged to leave home before learning the final - outcome of the election, and supposed that they were to attend the - inauguration of their favorite. They sought solace for their - disappointment in turbulent demonstrations. For the whole afternoon the - dramshops carried on a tremendous business, and all night the streets were - full of tramping men roaring out Jackson campaign songs and silencing - opposition with their fists. Pistol shots were heard at frequent - intervals, and a rumor spread that Henry Clay had been killed. - </p> - <p> - Whatever Adams may have thought of these exhibitions, he bore them with a - calm exterior. He was always indifferent to criticism, and became famous - as the most shabbily clad man who had ever occupied the Presidential - chair, being accused even of having worn the same hat for ten years. He - braved public opinion by setting up a billiard table in the White House, - which gave a North Carolina Representative a text for a speech denouncing - the expenditure of fifty dollars for the table and six dollars for a set - of balls as “alarming to the religious, the moral, and the reflecting - portion of the community.” The anti-administration<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_154" id="page_154"></a>{154}</span> press, using the game of - billiards as a theme, opened fire upon the President as a gambler. For a - fact, he never made but one bet in his life. Clay had picked up at auction - a picture which Adams tried to buy of him. One day, in jest, Clay offered - it as a stake for a game of all-fours. To his astonishment, Adams, the - supposed ascetic, took him up, and won the game and the picture. - </p> - <p> - It was a habit of Adams to take a plunge in the Potomac, at the foot of - his garden, every morning “between daybreak and sunrise,” the weather - permitting. Once he had all his clothing stolen, and had to catch a - passing boy and send him home for enough raiment to cover him. But this - was by no means his most embarrassing adventure. It was during his - administration that the first woman newspaper correspondent turned up in - Washington. She was resolved to procure an interview with the President, - who did not care to gratify her. So she rose early one morning and - repaired, notebook and pencil in hand, to the river bank, and planted - herself beside his clothes till he started to come out. Standing almost - neck-deep in the water, he tried first severity and then persuasion to - induce her to go away, but she held her ground till he surrendered and - answered her most important questions.<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_155" id="page_155"></a>{155}</span> - </p> - <div class="figcenter" style="width: 446px;"> - <a href="images/ill_022_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_022_sml.jpg" - width="446" height="591" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="c"> - <i>Tudor House, Georgetown</i> - </p> - </div> - </div> - <p> - The billiard table was not the only basis for charges of prodigal living - brought against Adams. When he ran for reëlection, his enemies made - effective use of a letter written by a member of Congress who had attended - a New Year’s reception at the White House and who mentioned the - “gorgeously furnished east room.” The truth was that the east room, except - for three marble-topped tables and a few mirrors, did not contain fifty - dollars’ worth of furniture of any sort. A Washingtonian of the period has - written that there were no chandeliers, and that the great room depended - for its lighting on candles held in tin candlesticks nailed to the wall, - which “dripped their sperm upon the clothes of those who came under them, - as I well know from experience.” - </p> - <p> - Adams sometimes aroused personal hostility by his peppery temper. He had - to dine with him one evening a Southern Senator who was notorious for his - dislike of everything in New England but prided himself on his knowledge - of wines. The Senator had the bad manners to remark that he had “never - known a Unitarian who did not believe in the sea-serpent.” This aroused - the ire of Adams, who later, when his guest said that Tokay and Rhine wine - were somewhat alike, turned upon him with the exclamation: “Sir, I do not - believe that you ever drank a drop of Tokay in<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_156" id="page_156"></a>{156}</span> your life!” He afterward - apologized, but the Senator would not accept the apology and became the - implacable foe of his administration. - </p> - <p> - Jackson’s election in 1828 was a foregone conclusion from the moment he - reappeared as a Presidential candidate; and, immediately upon the - announcement that he had won an electoral vote a good deal more than - double that of Adams, Washington became the Mecca of a hundred - pilgrimages. By the fourth of March, 1829, the city was so crowded with - worshipers of the President-elect that they overflowed the inns and - boarding-houses, and many were obliged to live in camp. Half the men wore - their trousers tucked into their boot-legs, and not a few carried pistols - openly in their belts. The hickory emblem was in evidence everywhere: men - wielded hickory canes and staffs, women wore bonnets trimmed with hickory - leaves and necklaces composed of hickory nuts fancifully painted, and - scores of horses were driven with bridles of hickory bark. - </p> - <p> - Like his father, Adams did not attend the inauguration of his successor; - he withdrew to a hired dwelling on the heights north of the city and kept - to himself till the flurry was over. Probably Jackson did not regret his - absence, for the campaign had been surcharged with bitter personalities, - into which the name<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_157" id="page_157"></a>{157}</span> - </p> - <div class="figcenter" style="width: 448px;"> - <a href="images/ill_023_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_023_sml.jpg" - width="448" height="592" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="c"> - <i>Bladensburg Duelling-Ground</i> - </p> - </div> - </div> - <p class="nind"> - of Mrs. Jackson was remorselessly dragged. Mrs. Jackson had died since - election day, and the General believed her death the direct result of - calumny. - </p> - <p> - Madison had set the fashion, and Monroe and Adams had improved upon it, of - having a formal escort to the Capitol on the way to inauguration. Jackson, - however, refused to follow custom. As the only militia organization in the - city was under command of a colonel who hated him, he had no military - display, but walked down the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue with only a - body-guard composed of veterans of the War of the Revolution, then a - half-century past. For any lack of enthusiasm on the part of the resident - population, that of the visiting Jacksonians more than compensated. All - the way the General and his little party were so surrounded by a yelling, - cheering crowd that they could advance only at a snail’s pace. To watchers - on Capitol Hill he was distinguishable from the mob by being the one man - in the midst of it who walked bareheaded. - </p> - <p> - Jackson was the first President to take the oath of office on the east - portico of the Capitol, the place now generally used. He also was the - first to read his speech before being sworn. He wore two pairs of - spectacles,—a pair for looking at the crowd and a pair for reading; - when he was using one pair, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_158" - id="page_158"></a>{158}</span> other was perched aloft on his forehead. At - the close of the exercises, he mounted a fine white horse and rode to the - White House, again having to make his way through a mass of singing and - shouting admirers. At the mansion a feast had been provided, and the gates - thrown open to every one. The building was soon stuffed full; and, as the - people waiting outside could hardly hope to force their way in, negro - servants came to the doors with buckets of punch and salvers of cakes and - ices and passed these out. Much of the food and drink was wasted, and much - china and glassware smashed. Women fainted, men quarreled and bruised one - another’s faces. At one stage the doorways became so blocked that people - coming out had to climb through the windows and drop to the ground. The - rabble inside, bent on shaking the hand of the President, jammed him - against a wall to the serious peril of his ribs, till he succeeded in - escaping through a back entry and taking refuge in the hotel where he had - lately had his lodgings. - </p> - <p> - The boisterous incidents of his first day in office were only an earnest - of the stormy administration which lay before Jackson. Realizing how much - he was indebted to New York for his election, and that Martin Van Buren - had a powerful following there, he appointed Van Buren his Secretary of - State. This<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_159" id="page_159"></a>{159}</span> - proved a pretty lucky investment in human nature; for in the Peggy Eaton - controversy, which broke out soon after Jackson began his term, Van Buren - was a valuable ally. General John H. Eaton, a lifelong friend whom Jackson - had appointed Secretary of War, had been boarding for several years with a - local tavern-keeper named O’Neal. The publican’s daughter, Peggy, had - grown up a pretty, but pert and forward girl, who flirted with her - father’s patrons and married one of them, Purser Timberlake of the navy. - Timberlake was addicted to drink, and during one of his cruises he ended a - spree by suicide, leaving his wife and children destitute; and Eaton, - whose name gossip had already linked with the widow’s, came to the front - with an offer of marriage, which was accepted. - </p> - <p> - The wedding followed so closely upon the tragedy as to cause wide - criticism, and this, together with her antecedents, condemned Mrs. Eaton - to social ostracism. Left to themselves, Eaton’s colleagues of the Cabinet - would have ignored the circumstances of his marriage, but the ladies of - their families declared that they would have nothing to do with the bride. - Van Buren, as a widower with no daughters, felt free to act as he pleased; - and Jackson, remembering what his own wife had endured, gallantly espoused - the cause of Mrs. Eaton and gave the hostile Secretaries<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_160" id="page_160"></a>{160}</span> their - choice between accepting her or resigning their portfolios, whereupon the - Cabinet went promptly to pieces. - </p> - <p> - Being a man of means, Van Buren did a good deal of entertaining for Mrs. - Eaton’s benefit, and also inspired those members of the diplomatic corps - who were unaccompanied by ladies to join him in “floating” her. The - British Minister was a bachelor, so was the Russian Minister; but, though - the dinners and balls which they gave attracted many feminine guests who - were flattered by being invited, they were not wholly successful. Madam - Huygens, wife of the Dutch Minister, for instance, was induced to attend a - ball, but when escorted to the supper table found that she was expected to - sit next but one to Mrs. Eaton and would have to exchange a few words with - that lady. Instantly she placed her arm in that of her husband and - withdrew with him from the room. When the story was told to Jackson, he - rose in his wrath and declared that he would send Huygens home to Holland; - but he never carried out the threat. - </p> - <p> - Viewed in historical perspective, Jackson appears to have been a man of - tremendous force, thoroughly patriotic, conscientious in even his most - wayward conceptions of duty, unlearned but not illiterate, and above all - things hating treachery. He handled the<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_161" id="page_161"></a>{161}</span> sword with more facility - than the pen, and some of his correspondence, reproduced with its - crudities of syntax and spelling, would make the better educated angels - weep. Conscious of his scholastic shortcomings, he rarely attempted - anything original in writing or speaking, except on public questions; and - when his autograph was sought in the albums which were the fashionable fad - of the day, he borrowed his sentiments from the Presbyterian hymn-book, - quoting, as Miss Martineau recalls, “stanzas of the most ominous import - from Dr. Watts.” - </p> - <p> - Jackson usually flavored his dinners and receptions with a dash of the - unexpected. On one occasion he jostled the proprieties by singing “Auld - Lang Syne.” He ate sparingly at his own table but talked a great deal, - slowly and quietly, and, when women were present, with much real - kindliness of tone. He had a homely way of disposing of questions which he - regarded as not overimportant. At a dinner in honor of the marriage of his - adopted son, Andrew Jackson, Junior, he decided on an innovation in - etiquette by having his Secretary of State precede the diplomatic corps, - the rest of the Cabinet to follow the foreigners. This plan was vigorously - resisted by the Secretary of the Treasury, who argued that the Cabinet was - a unit, and that its members should therefore be treated<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_162" id="page_162"></a>{162}</span> on an - equal footing. “In that case,” said the President, “we will put all the - Cabinet ahead of the diplomats,” and he sent his private secretary, Major - Donelson, to make the announcement to the guests. The French Minister at - once stirred up the Dutch Minister, as senior member of the corps, to - prevent the threatened indignity. Meanwhile, dinner had been announced, - and every one was standing. Donelson reported the strained situation to - the President, who, instead of vowing “by the Eternal” that his commands - should be obeyed, smiled good-naturedly and said: “Well, I will lead with - the bride. It is a family affair; so we’ll waive all difficulties, and the - company will please to follow as heretofore.” - </p> - <p> - The first baby born in the White House probably was Mary Emily Donelson, - child of the private secretary. At her baptism in the east room the - President and Martin Van Buren stood as godfathers. Van Buren took her in - his arms when she was first brought in, but she squirmed and wriggled so - that Jackson reached out for her, whereat she cooed with delight, as - children always did at any attention from him. He held her throughout the - service, and, at the minister’s question, “Do you, in the name of this - child, renounce the devil and all his works?” he stiffened up as he might - have if confronted with a fresh machination<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_163" id="page_163"></a>{163}</span> of his enemies, and - declared with characteristic emphasis: “I do, sir; I renounce them all!” - </p> - <p> - It was during Jackson’s administration that Harriet Martineau first - visited Washington. She was suffering from overwork and had been orderd by - her physician in England to cross the sea for a good rest. In spite of - that, people would not let her alone. It is said that within twenty-four - hours after her arrival in town more than six hundred persons had called - to pay their respects. Probably not fifty could have told why they did so, - except that she was a literary celebrity. One lady was eager to learn - “whether her novels were really very pretty,” and most of the statesmen, - when told that she was a political economist, laughed outright. A social - leader, desirous of giving her a dinner such as she had been accustomed to - at home, made the table groan under the choicest things the market - afforded, including eight different meats, only to see the guest confine - herself to a tiny slice of turkey-breast and a nibble of ham. She was - equally disconcerting with her other simplicities, such as coming to a - five o’clock dinner at a little after three, clad in a walking suit in - which she had been tramping about the city, but bringing in her capacious - pockets all the trappings necessary for a presentable evening toilet.<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_164" id="page_164"></a>{164}</span> - </p> - <p> - Notwithstanding her idiosyncrasies, Miss Martineau made a profoundly - pleasant impression wherever she went. Webster, Clay, and Calhoun would - desert their seats in the Senate to join her for a talk, and Chief Justice - Marshall would descend from the bench to greet her when she came into his - courtroom. She could take up her unpretentious position in the corner of a - sofa anywhere, and in a few minutes have a circle of the country’s elect - about her awaiting their turns for a chat; and this in spite of the fact - that she was very deaf and had to make use of an ear-trumpet of an - unfamiliar pattern, so that often a newcomer would talk into the wrong - aperture. She never made anything of her infirmity; and, of all the poems, - addresses, and letters of appreciation with which she was showered, the - production which gave her most delight was an ode to her trumpet, - beginning: “Beloved horn!” - </p> - <p> - Early in this administration, the east room at the White House, which had - figured in the Democratic campaign speeches as an audience chamber - sumptuous enough for royalty, was discovered to be too shabby for a - President of Jackson’s simple habits. So four large mirrors, heavily - framed in gilt, were hung against its walls, their bases resting on - mantels of black Italian marble. Chandeliers gleaming with<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_165" id="page_165"></a>{165}</span> glass - prisms were suspended from the ceiling; damask-covered chairs, their - woodwork gilded like the mirror frames, were substituted for the worn-out - furniture which had sufficed for the Adams family; the windows were richly - curtained; a Brussels carpet, with the sprawling pattern then so much - admired, was stretched over the entire floor; and this array of elegance - was capped with bouquets of artificial flowers, in painted china vases, - distributed among the mantels and tables and in the window recesses. - </p> - <p> - These things did not long retain their freshness. Jackson’s dinners had - features quaint enough, but his receptions were little short of riots. A - literary visitor has left us the description of one where “generals, - commodores, foreign ministers and members of Congress” brushed elbows with - laborers who had come in their working clothes from a day of canal - digging, and “sooty artificers” direct from the forge. “There were majors - in broadcloth and corduroys, redolent of gin and tobacco, and majors’ - ladies in chintz or russet, with huge Paris earrings, and tawny necks - profusely decorated with beads of colored glass. There were tailors from - the board and judges from the bench; lawyers who opened their mouths at - one bar, and tapsters who closed theirs at another; and one individual—either - a miller or a baker—who,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_166" - id="page_166"></a>{166}</span> wherever he passed, left marks of contact - on the garments of the company.” Meanwhile, the waiters who attempted to - cross from the pantry to the east room with cakes and punch were - intercepted by a ravenous horde who emptied the trays as fast as they - could be refilled, so that little or nothing reached the better-mannered - guests. This went on till the Irish butler, in exasperation, enlisted a - dozen stalwart men and armed them with billets of wood, to surround the - waiters as a guard, and keep their sticks swinging about the food so - briskly that it could not be captured except at the cost of a broken head. - Of course the carpet, curtains, and cushions were deluged with sticky - refuse, and broken bits of china and glass were ground into powder under - foot. - </p> - <p> - If it be possible to imagine anything worse in its way than this scene, it - was Jackson’s farewell entertainment, given on the twenty-second of - February, 1837. The chief feature was the cutting of a mammoth cheese - which had been sent to the President by admirers in a northern dairy - district. It weighed fourteen hundred pounds, and nothing would satisfy - Jackson but to give a piece to every man, woman, and child who would come - for it. As a result, the paths leading to the White House, and the portico - itself, were thronged that afternoon with people going in to get<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_167" id="page_167"></a>{167}</span> their - chunks and coming out with greasy parcels in their hands. “We forced our - way over the threshold,” wrote one of the adventurous souls, “and - encountered an atmosphere to which the mephitic gas over Avernus must be - faint and innocuous. On the side of the hall hung a rough likeness of - General Jackson, emblazoned with eagle and stars, and in the center of the - vestibule stood the fragrant gift, surrounded by a dense crowd who had in - two hours cut and purveyed away more than a half-ton of horribly smelling - ‘Testimonial to the Hero of New Orleans.’ A small segment had been - reserved for the President’s use, but it is doubtful if he ever tasted - it.” The cutting was done by two able-bodied laborers, armed with big - knives extemporized from hand-saws. - </p> - <p> - In the White House, Jackson lived a good deal apart. He was always glad to - see any one who came on a friendly errand, and loved to frolic with - children; but one of his chief pleasures was sitting by himself in the big - south room of the second story and smoking. An aged friend who, as a boy, - visited the White House with his father while Jackson was there, told me - that the President bade them draw up with him by the fireside, offered a - clean clay pipe to the elder of the visitors, and, lighting his own - well-seasoned corn-cob, puffed the smoke up the chimney, explaining that - Emily<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_168" id="page_168"></a>{168}</span> - Donelson—the wife of his secretary, who kept house for him—disliked - the smell of tobacco. - </p> - <p> - The ghost of the Peggy Eaton affair could never be permanently exorcised. - Timberlake had not only died penniless and in debt but left his official - accounts in confusion, and a year or two later it was discovered that he - had been a defaulter. His bondsman resisted payment of the shortage, - accusing Lieutenant Robert B. Randolph, who had taken over Timberlake’s - papers, of the actual responsibility for it. Randolph, in demanding a - court-martial, committed a technical breach of discipline for which the - President dismissed him summarily from the service. One day Jackson was a - passenger on a river steamboat which stopped briefly at a wharf in - Alexandria. He was sitting alone, when a stranger approached him as if to - shake hands. Jackson, seeing him drawing off one of his gloves, said - amiably, “Never mind your glove, sir,” and stretched out his own hand. But - the stranger, instead of taking it, made a violent lunge at Jackson’s - face, exclaiming: “I am Lieutenant Randolph, whom you have wronged and - insulted, and I came here to pull your nose!” Startled by the noise, two - or three gentlemen ran forward and sprang upon Randolph, who, in the - struggle that followed, reached the gangplank and freed himself. The - President, convinced<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_169" id="page_169"></a>{169}</span> - by later developments that the Lieutenant had really suffered an - injustice, offered to reinstate him if he would apologize for the - nose-pulling; but he scornfully rejected the proposal. - </p> - <p> - The Cabinet, as reorganized in consequence of pretty Peggy’s fight, did - not hang together long. Secretary Eaton intimated presently that he would - like to retire, Van Buren seemed of the same mind, so the President - appointed the former Governor of Florida and the latter Minister to - England. The Senate confirmed Eaton’s appointment with good enough grace, - but balked at that of Van Buren, who, having gone to England in good faith - to enter upon his duties, was put to the humiliating necessity of coming - home again. Jackson was angry, regarding this as a blow at himself. “If - they don’t want him for Minister,” he thundered, “we’ll see if they like - him any better as President!” He therefore laid out a program beginning - with his own reëlection with Van Buren as his Vice-president, and ending - with Van Buren’s election as his successor. The plan carried; and, as - Jackson’s affection for Van Buren had grown largely out of the latter’s - stanch loyalty in the Cabinet quarrel, Mrs. Eaton may be said to have - shaped American history for a considerable term of years. - </p> - <p> - Long after this lady ceased to hold the center of the<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_170" id="page_170"></a>{170}</span> national stage, her career - continued to be picturesque. Her husband, having retired from the - Governorship of Florida, was appointed Minister to Spain, and in Madrid - she appears to have made herself a great favorite at court. After General - Eaton’s death she returned to Washington, and was living down much of the - adverse sentiment of former days, when there appeared on the scene an - Italian dancing-master named Buchignani, whose dark, soulful eyes and - insinuating manners proved too much for even her experienced heart. - Although she was well advanced in years and he was young enough to be her - son, she not only became his wife, but let all her comfortable fortune - slip into his hands, and gradually gave him also the custody of her - grandchildren’s property, which she was holding in trust. He repaid her - kindness by eloping with her favorite granddaughter to Canada, where he - went into business as a saloon-keeper. Mrs. Buchignani died in 1879, still - glorying in the memory of her early activities. - </p> - <p> - As Vice-president, Van Buren lived in the Decatur house, the big somber - brick dwelling on the corner of Jackson Place and H Street. Across the - park, just south of the present home of the Cosmos Club, lived Mr. and - Mrs. Ogle Tayloe, with whom it was his habit to pass his disengaged - evenings. Suddenly he ceased<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_171" - id="page_171"></a>{171}</span> - </p> - <div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"> - <a href="images/ill_024_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_024_sml.jpg" - width="450" height="594" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="c"> - <i>Decatur House</i> - </p> - </div> - </div> - <p class="nind"> - coming, and after some weeks Mr. Tayloe hunted him up to inquire what was - the matter. His only response was: “Mrs. Tayloe has things lying about on - her table which should not be there.” Van Buren had always seemed - interested in Mrs. Tayloe’s collection of contemporary autographs; and, - when husband and wife were searching there for the possible cause of - offense, they came upon a letter from a prominent New York politician - containing the passage: “What is little Matt doing? Some dirty work, of - course, as usual.” Mrs. Tayloe cut out the derogatory paragraph and sent - word to Van Buren that she had done so, and at once he renewed his visits. - </p> - <p> - Jackson escorted Van Buren to the Capitol, for his inauguration, in a - carriage widely celebrated as the “Constitution coach.” It was a present - to the General from citizens of New York and was built out of timbers from - the old war frigate <i>Constitution</i>, a picture of which was emblazoned - on one panel. Van Buren discovered, before he had been long in office, - that a thousand things which the people accepted without question from a - military hero they were prepared to criticize in a civilian. Moreover, his - son John, while in England some years before, had danced with the Princess - Victoria and thus acquired the nickname “Prince John,” of which the - enemies of the administration<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_172" - id="page_172"></a>{172}</span> made use as a political cudgel, declaring - that the whole family were aping the foreign aristocracy. Along came the - financial panic of 1837, reducing thousands of well-to-do persons to - poverty, and this was fatuously laid to Van Buren’s account when he stood - for reëlection in 1840 against General William Henry Harrison, - affectionately styled “Old Tippecanoe” in memory of one of his victories. - </p> - <p> - Regardless of the fact that Jackson had refurnished the White House - expensively for those days and then given entertainments which spoiled - nearly everything spoilable, it was Van Buren who became the undeserving - target for attack on the ground that he maintained “a royal establishment” - in “a palace as splendid as that of the Cæsars, and as richly adorned as - the proudest Asiatic mansion.” The stump orators harped on the use of gold - and silver spoons at the White House table, and on the excessive number of - spittoons distributed in the parlors and halls. Vainly did the President’s - defenders show that the gold spoons were mostly plated ware, and that the - spittoons, like the other furniture, were the property of the Government: - the voters who ate their porridge from wooden vessels and threw their - quids into boxes of sawdust were resolved upon putting into his place a - man of different type. Henry Clay, passing the White House one day when<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_173" id="page_173"></a>{173}</span> a blaze - broke out in the laundry, joined the firemen in helping to extinguish it, - remarking jocularly to the President: “Though we are bound to have you out - of here, Mr. Van Buren, we don’t want you burned out.” - </p> - <p> - Harrison was elected. He was sixty-eight when he arrived in Washington in - February, 1841, and was in delicate health, but affected a vain pretense - of robustness. Though the day was chilly, with snow thinly covering the - streets and a cold rain falling, he declined to enter a carriage, and - walked half a mile to the City Hall with his hat in his hand, bowing to - the people on either side of the street. At the hall he stood on the - portico, still uncovered, while the Mayor made a speech of welcome and he - responded. His exposure gave him a cold which, following his fatigues and - excitement, brought on a serious nervous attack, and this was not improved - by the prospect of a wearisome inaugural ceremony. He had only a common - school education, but had read a good deal, particularly ancient history. - Mr. Webster, whom he had selected for Secretary of State, recognizing his - literary limitations, composed an excellent inaugural address and carried - it to him, saying in explanation: “I feared lest, with all you are called - upon to do just now, you might not find time to do anything of this sort.”<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_174" id="page_174"></a>{174}</span> - </p> - <p> - “Oh, yes,” answered Harrison, cheerfully, producing a packet of neatly - written sheets, “I attended to all that before leaving home.” - </p> - <p> - Webster tactfully contrived to induce him to exchange manuscripts, “so - that each author could read the other’s production, and whichever proved - the better could be used.” - </p> - <p> - But the next day Harrison handed back Webster’s paper with the remark: “If - I were to read your address, everybody would know you wrote it. Mine is - not so good, but at least it is mine, and I shall prefer my own poor work - to your brilliant one.” As a last resort Webster offered to revise - Harrison’s address, and Harrison consented, though very reluctantly. - Webster struggled with his task a whole day, chopping out paragraph after - paragraph of classical citations. When a lady that evening inquired what - he had been doing to make him look so ill, he exclaimed: “You’d be ill, - too, if you had committed all the crimes I have. Within twelve hours I - have killed seventeen Roman pro-consuls—dead as smelts, every man of - them!” - </p> - <p> - Though compelled to sacrifice so much of his antique lore, Harrison was - not to be argued out of his resolve to ride a white horse to and from his - inauguration, having read of sundry great Romans who thus traversed the - Appian Way. He refused, too, to wear an<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_175" id="page_175"></a>{175}</span> overcoat on the fourth of - March, notwithstanding that he had a heavy cold, and that a stiff gale was - blowing which searched the vitals of most men in thick garments. Nor would - he consent to cover his head while delivering his address, which was a - protest against executive usurpation, the corruption of the press, and the - abuses of party spirit. Few who heard it realized how near they had come - to witnessing no inaugural ceremony that day. It had been arranged that - Harrison should join the procession for the Capitol at the house of a - friend whom he was visiting, but he was in such a state of nervous - exhaustion that he fainted twice before the time came to start. His - companions bathed his temples with brandy, and the physician they called - in forbade his going out of doors unless in a carriage; but he would hear - to no change of plans, and managed, by sheer force of will, not only to - perform his part at the Capitol, but to hold an afternoon reception at the - White House and in the evening to look in at two or three balls with which - the Whigs were celebrating their triumph. - </p> - <p> - During the fortnight that followed, he did his best to conceal his - increasing feebleness, even going in person to market every morning when - he was able. But a succession of colds presently ran into pneumonia, and - the office-seekers hounded him not the less cruelly<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_176" id="page_176"></a>{176}</span> after this. Just one month - from the day of his inauguration, death came to his relief. Mrs. Harrison, - who had been too ill to accompany him to Washington, never saw him from - the day he parted with her in Ohio till his body was brought back to her - for burial.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_177" id="page_177"></a>{177}</span> - </p> - <h2> - <a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII<br /><br /> <small>“THE - SPIRIT OF GREAT EVENTS”</small> - </h2> - <p class="nind"> - <span class="letra">J</span>OHN TYLER, the first Vice-president to receive - promotion to the Presidency in mid-term, was at his home in Virginia when - Harrison died. He came to Washington at once and took lodgings at a hotel, - where, two days later, he was sworn in by Chief Judge Cranch of the - Circuit Court of the District. His administration was not picturesque in - the usual sense; the most it gave people to talk about was his narrow - escape from impeachment for deserting the party which elected him. But his - unpopularity bore valuable fruit for Washington. When the partisan - excitement was at its highest pitch, a company of local politicians went - to the White House one night and, drawn up in front of it, “groaned” their - disapproval of Tyler’s conduct. To protect the Presidential office from - further indignities of that sort, a bill was introduced in the Senate to - establish an “auxiliary guard” for the defense of the public and private - property against incendiaries, and “for the enforcement<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_178" id="page_178"></a>{178}</span> of the - police regulations of the city of Washington,” with an appropriation of - seven thousand dollars to equip a captain and fifteen men with the proper - implements to distinguish them in the discharge of their duty. This was - the foundation of the Metropolitan Police force, which now numbers - seventy-five officers and more than six hundred privates. - </p> - <p> - Life at the White House was simple in Tyler’s time. The President was in - the habit of rising with the sun, lighting a fire that had been laid - overnight in his study, and working at his desk till breakfast was served - at eight o’clock. At this meal he insisted on having the ladies of his - family appear in calico frocks. In the evening all the household would - gather in the green parlor and pass an hour or two in entertaining any - visitors who happened in, interspersing conversation with piano music and - old-fashioned songs. It was Tyler who introduced the custom of periodical - open-air concerts by the Marine Band; and on warm Saturday afternoons the - garden south of the White House was a favorite resort of the best people - of the city, while the President would sit with his family and a few - invited guests on the porch, listening to the music and responding to the - salutations of his acquaintances. Tyler is rarely suspected of possessing - a strong sense of humor; but he must have smiled when he signed<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_179" id="page_179"></a>{179}</span> an - official letter to the Emperor of China, in which he described himself as - “President of the United States of America, which States are Maine, New - Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New York, - New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, - South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, - Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, Missouri, Arkansas, and Michigan”—an - array which so impressed the mind of the Celestial despot that the envoy - who presented the missive got everything he asked for. - </p> - <p> - Tyler lost his wife soon after he entered the White House, and his - daughters presided over the domestic life there. He was fond of young - society, and one of the belles who appeared pretty regularly at his - parties was Miss Virginia Timberlake, daughter of the unfortunate naval - purser and the lady whose cause Jackson and Van Buren had championed. - Another was Miss Julia Gardiner of New York, who so captivated him that at - one of his receptions in the second year of his term he made her a - proposal of marriage. As she described it afterward, she was taken wholly - by surprise, and gave her “No, no, no!” such emphasis by shaking her head - that she whisked the tassel of her crimson Greek cap into his face with - every motion. The controlling reason for her refusal, she explained,<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_180" id="page_180"></a>{180}</span> was her - unwillingness to leave her father, to whom she was devotedly attached; but - an accident soon changed the whole face of things. - </p> - <p> - Captain Stockton of the navy invited a party of about four hundred ladies - and gentlemen to inspect the sloop-of-war <i>Princeton</i>, then lying in - the Potomac. President Tyler, the members of his Cabinet and their - families, and a good many Congressmen were among the guests. The vessel - had dropped down the river to a point near Mount Vernon, when some of the - party importuned Stockton to fire his big gun, nicknamed “the peacemaker.” - This was just at the close of the luncheon, and the ladies had lingered at - table while most of the gentlemen went on deck. One lady, fortunately, had - detained Tyler as he was about to leave, by inducing him to listen to a - song; for the gun exploded, killing Mr. Upshur, Secretary of State, Mr. - Gilmer, Secretary of the Navy, Commander Kennon of the navy, Virgil Maxey, - lately American Minister at the Hague, and David Gardiner of New York, the - father of Miss Julia. A day of merrymaking was thus turned into one of - mourning, as the vessel slowly moved up the stream again, bearing the - bodies of the dead, for whom funeral services were held at the White - House. After an interval the President renewed his suit and found Miss - Gardiner more pliant. When he<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_181" - id="page_181"></a>{181}</span> - </p> - <div class="figcenter" style="width: 452px;"> - <a href="images/ill_025_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_025_sml.jpg" - width="452" height="594" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="c"> - <i>Soldiers’ Home</i> - </p> - </div> - </div> - <p class="nind"> - had composed in her honor a serenade beginning, “Sweet lady, awake!” she - agreed to marry him if her mother would consent. Her mother did not - approve of a union between a man of fifty-six and a girl of twenty, but, - as she did not actually forbid it, they had a very quiet wedding. - </p> - <p> - In spite of the enjoyment he took in social intercourse, Tyler was often - criticized for his frigid manners. A virulent type of influenza which - became epidemic during his administration received the name of “the Tyler - grip,” from the remark of a Boston man who fell ill a few hours after - being presented to him: “I probably caught cold from shaking hands with - the President.” A good deal was made of this in the campaign of 1844, and - added point to John Quincy Adams’s denunciation of Tyler for “performing - with a young girl from New York the old fable of January and May!” Tyler’s - general unpopularity, and a deadlock between two other prominent - candidates, led the Democrats to nominate James K. Polk for President. He - was so little known to most of the voters that throughout the campaign the - Whigs, who were supporting Henry Clay, rang the changes on the question, - “Who <i>is</i> James K. Polk?” thus contrasting his obscurity with Clay’s - eminence. The count of ballots showed that a candidate of whom little was - known<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_182" id="page_182"></a>{182}</span> - might have certain advantages over one long before the public eye; and as - on inauguration day it rained heavily, exultant Democrats kept themselves - warm by hurling back at the Whigs the familiar cry, “Who <i>is</i> James - K. Polk?” and then laughing wildly at their own humor. It was on this - occasion that the telegraph first conveyed out of Washington the news that - one President had retired and another had come in—Professor Morse - having set up an instrument at the edge of the platform on which the - President-elect stood, and ticked off a report of the proceedings as they - occurred. - </p> - <p> - Mrs. Polk being a devoted church-member, of a school which disapproved of - dancing, the inaugural ball that evening shrank into a mere promenade - concert till after she and her husband had quitted the hall. The social - activities of the Polks, through the four years which followed, were - consistent with this beginning, all the functions at the White House being - too sober to suit the diplomats or the younger element among the resident - population. On its practical side, Polk’s term was perhaps the most - notable in that generation, including as it did the war with Mexico, which - resulted in the annexation of California and the great southwestern area - afterward carved into the States of Utah, Nevada, and Arizona and parts of - Wyoming,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_183" id="page_183"></a>{183}</span> - Colorado, and New Mexico. This war, moreover, furnished the usual crop of - Presidential candidates, chief among them General Zachary Taylor, who had - led the first army across the Rio Grande, and General Winfield Scott, who - had wound up the invasion by capturing the city of Mexico. - </p> - <p> - Believing Taylor the easier to handle, the Whig managers fixed upon him, - although, having passed the larger part of his sixty-four years with the - army, he had never voted. Indeed, he had always expressed an aversion to - office-holding, and, when approached on the subject of the Presidency, met - the overture with frank disfavor, declaring that he had neither the - capacity nor the experience needed for such a position. But his - “availability” overcame the force of his protests, and the Whigs won with - him a sweeping victory at the polls. There is pathos in the story of the - break-up of the pleasant home in Baton Rouge, and the reluctant removal of - the family to Washington, taking with them only a faithful negro servant, - a favorite dog, and “Old Whitey,” the horse the General had ridden through - the Mexican war. Taylor was with difficulty dissuaded from his purpose of - imitating his military predecessors and riding “Old Whitey” either to or - from the Capitol on inauguration day. What his friends most feared was his - loss of dignity in the eyes<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_184" - id="page_184"></a>{184}</span> of the crowd, for his legs were so short - that, in certain emergencies, an orderly had to lift one of them over his - horse’s flanks whenever he mounted or dismounted. - </p> - <p> - Taylor was as simple a soul as Harrison. His unostentatious ways in the - army had led the soldiers to dub him “Old Rough and Ready,” and this title - stuck to him always afterward. One of his favorite amusements was to walk - about Washington, chatting informally with people he met and watching - whatever was going on in the streets. His love of comfort was such that he - could never be induced to wear clothes that fitted him, but his suits were - always a size or two larger than his measure, and these, with a black silk - hat set far back on his head, made him recognizable at any distance. His - message at the opening of Congress contained one announcement as - voluminous as his costume: “We are at peace with all the nations of the - world, and the rest of mankind.” The bull was discovered too late to - prevent its going out in the original print; but in a revised edition the - sentence was made to end: “And seek to maintain our cherished relations of - amity with them.” - </p> - <p> - The White House underwent another grand refurbishing while the Taylors - were in it. The east room was newly carpeted, its walls were decorated, - and gas replaced its candles and lamps. The ladies of the<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_185" id="page_185"></a>{185}</span> family - were good housekeepers—particularly the younger daughter, who made - the old place look actually homelike, and whom an appreciative guest - described as doing the honors “with the artlessness of a rustic belle and - the grace of a duchess.” But this pleasant picture was soon to be clouded - over. On the fourth of July, 1850, a patriotic meeting was held at the - base of the Washington National Monument, with long addresses by prominent - men. It lasted the whole of a very hot afternoon, and President Taylor, as - a guest of honor, felt bound to stay through it, refreshing himself from - time to time with copious drafts of ice-water. He reached home in a state - of some exhaustion and at once ate a basketful of cherries and drank - several glasses of iced milk. From a party to which he had accepted an - invitation for that evening he was obliged to excuse himself at the last - moment on the score of indisposition. He was violently ill throughout the - night, and five days later he died. - </p> - <p> - Millard Fillmore of New York, fifty years old, of moderate political views - and fair ability, was Vice-president at the time. Unlike Tyler, he went to - the Capitol to be sworn in the presence of a committee of the two houses, - but made no inaugural address. Mrs. Fillmore, who had formerly been a - teacher, cared little for society. She was of studious habits and soon<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_186" id="page_186"></a>{186}</span> - converted the oval sitting room in the second story of the White House - into a library, personally selecting the books. Her taste ran chiefly to - standard historical and classical works; and, as the editions then - available were generally not very good specimens of the typographic art, - most of her collection has disappeared. In this administration the - Fugitive Slave Act was passed, and Fillmore, by signing it, alienated the - North so largely that the Whig party refused to nominate him for another - term. General Scott, to whom it turned, did precisely what most of the - politicians had predicted he would: made a number of public utterances - which ruined his chances and thus gave the election to his Democratic - competitor, Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire. - </p> - <p> - During Fillmore’s term Louis Kossuth visited Washington. The country was - just passing through one of its occasional periods of revolutionary - fervor, and Kossuth’s stand for the rights of Hungary against Austria had - aroused much sympathy here. Our public men were divided in opinion as to - how far to go with their demonstrations in his favor, wishing to win the - support of the Hungarians in the United States and of immigrants who had - fled from other countries to escape oppression, yet hoping to keep clear - of entanglements with Austria. As Kossuth had left home to<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_187" id="page_187"></a>{187}</span> escape - death for high treason and taken refuge in Constantinople, one of our - men-of-war was sent to the Dardanelles to bring him to America. He did not - then care to go further than England, whence, after an agreeable visit, he - came over, in the expectation of inducing our Government to take up arms - for Hungarian liberty. Henry Clay, who was already stricken with his last - illness, promptly put a damper upon that scheme; but Kossuth remained the - guest of the nation for a time and was dined and fêted prodigiously. He - maintained the state of a royal personage, keeping a uniformed and armed - guard about the door of his suite of apartments at what is now the - Metropolitan Hotel, and a lot of carousing young subalterns always in his - anteroom. He never appeared in public except in full military uniform, - with his cavalry sword, in its steel scabbard, clanking by his side. Mrs. - Kossuth, who accompanied him on his tour, was unable to overcome her - distrust of American cooking, and used to scandalize her neighbors at - table by ostentatiously smelling of every new dish before tasting it. - </p> - <p> - The inauguration of Pierce was marked by several innovations: he drove to - and from the Capitol standing up in his carriage, delivered his address - without notes, and made affirmation instead of taking the oath of office. - A tragic interest attaches itself to his<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_188" id="page_188"></a>{188}</span> administration, because, - just as he was preparing to remove to Washington, he lost his only child, - a boy of thirteen, in a railway accident. Mrs. Pierce, who was an invalid, - was terribly broken by this bereavement, and all social festivities at the - White House were abandoned till toward the close of her stay there. The - new Vice-president, William R. King, was not inaugurated at the same time - and place with the President. He had gone to Cuba in January for his - health, and, as he was not well enough to come home, Congress passed a - special act permitting him to take the oath before the American - Consul-general at Havana. Soon after his return to the United States, in - April, he died. - </p> - <p> - Nathaniel Hawthorne, who was a college mate and intimate friend of Pierce, - was anxious to see something of Europe, but had not the means to gratify - his desire; so Pierce appointed him consul at Liverpool, where he was able - to live in comfort on his pay and save enough for a sojourn on the - Continent. To this experience American literature owes most of his later - work, including “The Marble Faun” and “Our Old Home.” In Washington still - linger stories of a visit Hawthorne paid the city about the time of his - appointment. Pierce tried to show him some informal attentions; but - Hawthorne’s shyness, which went to such an extreme that he could not say - anything to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_189" id="page_189"></a>{189}</span> - lady next him at table without trembling and blushing, prevented his - making much headway socially. - </p> - <p> - All through Pierce’s term, political conditions were working up to the - point which caused the irruption of a few years later. The habit of - carrying deadly weapons on the person became so common in Washington, - especially in Congress, that scarcely an altercation occurred between two - men without the exposure, if not the use, of a pistol or a dirk. The - newspapers in their serious columns treated such incidents severely, while - the comic paragraphers satirized them; and Preston Brooks, a - Representative from South Carolina, in a half-earnest, half-cynical vein, - gave notice one day of his intention to offer this amendment to the rules - of the House: “Any member who shall bring into the House a concealed - weapon, shall be expelled by a vote of two-thirds. The Sergeant-at-Arms - shall cause a suitable rack to be erected in the rotunda, where members - who are addicted to carrying concealed weapons shall be required to place - them for the inspection of the curious, so long as the owners are employed - in legislation.” - </p> - <p> - Senator Sumner of Massachusetts having, a few days later, in a speech on - slavery, spoken disparagingly of a South Carolina Senator who was absent, - Brooks, on the twenty-second of May, 1856, entered the Senate<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_190" id="page_190"></a>{190}</span> chamber - when it was nearly deserted, and, with a heavy gutta-percha cane, rained - blows with all his strength upon the head of Sumner, who was quietly - writing at his desk. Sumner fell to the floor and for some days thereafter - hovered between life and death. He was three or four years in recovering - from the direct effects of the assault, and never was entirely restored to - health and strength. The incident excited bitter feeling throughout both - North and South. For denouncing the assault as paralleling that of Cain - upon Abel, Representative Anson Burlingame of New York was challenged by - Brooks; he accepted the challenge, naming date, place, and weapons, but - Brooks failed to appear on the field. - </p> - <p> - The next President was James Buchanan of Pennsylvania, also a Democrat. - The two incidents in his term which most impressed Washington were the - first successful experiments with the Atlantic cable in August, 1858, and - the visit to the White House of the Prince of Wales, who later became King - Edward VII. Cyrus W. Field, after a struggle as soul-wearing as Morse’s - over the introduction of the telegraph, succeeded in making his submarine - cable work and induced Queen Victoria to send the first despatch, a - message of greeting to President Buchanan, who was requested to answer it - in kind. The skepticism of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_191" - id="page_191"></a>{191}</span> day toward all scientific novelties was - reflected in Buchanan’s summoning a newspaper correspondent whom he - trusted and begging to be told frankly whether he were not the victim of a - hoax. At the White House all the members of the Cabinet were gathered, - earnestly debating the same question. The most stubborn disbeliever was - the Secretary of the Treasury, Howell Cobb, who jeered at the whole thing - as a wild absurdity. In spite of Cobb’s resistance, the correspondent - persuaded the President to answer the Queen’s message. As bad luck would - have it, the cable parted in mid-ocean soon thereafter and was not - restored to working order for several years; and in the interval the - skeptics were appropriately exultant. - </p> - <p> - Buchanan, who was our first bachelor President, was sometimes slangily - called “the O. P. F.,” having once referred to himself in a message as an - “old public functionary.” The image of him carried in the popular mind is - derived from contemporaneous pictures, which show him as a stiff, precise, - ministerial-looking old man, wearing a black coat, a high choker collar, - and a spotless white neckerchief. But this was the style of the day in - portraiture and must not be accepted too literally. The late Frederick O. - Prince of Boston used to tell of a morning call he paid<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_192" id="page_192"></a>{192}</span> - Buchanan, whom he had imagined a model of formality and elegance, and of - his astonishment when the President entered the room clad in a greenish - figured dressing-gown, woolen socks, and carpet slippers, and, to put the - standing visitors at their ease, called to a servant: “Jeems, sit some - cheers!” - </p> - <p> - When Buchanan came to Washington for his inauguration, attended by a - number of Pennsylvania friends, he took lodgings at the National Hotel, - where the whole party fell ill with symptoms which to-day we should charge - to ptomaine poisoning. One or two of the sufferers died. Buchanan escaped - with a comparatively light attack; but a rumor gained circulation that the - Free Soilers had tried to assassinate him because of his conservative - disposition toward slavery. For some time after he entered the White - House, therefore, the police kept a watch on his movements, and one - rough-looking Kansan was arrested on suspicion, having bought an air-gun - and engaged a room in a building which the President was in the habit of - passing every day when he went out for exercise. - </p> - <p> - The domestic accommodations at the White House were already so limited - that, when the Prince of Wales visited it in 1860, the President had to - give up his bedchamber to his guest and sleep on a cot in the anteroom of - his office. As I recall the Prince he was not<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_193" id="page_193"></a>{193}</span> - </p> - <div class="figcenter" style="width: 448px;"> - <a href="images/ill_026_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_026_sml.jpg" - width="448" height="588" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="c"> - <i>Old City Hall</i> - </p> - </div> - </div> - <p class="nind"> - inordinately tall, but for some reason—possibly because the legs of - royalty were supposed to need more space than those of common folk—the - old bedstead in the President’s room was replaced by one of extra length. - Society in Washington was agog over the Prince’s advent, and the reigning - belles insisted that his entertainment must include a ball at least as - brilliant as that given in his honor in New York; but Mr. Buchanan, whose - ideas on certain subjects were rigid, would not listen to the suggestion - of dancing in the White House, and the ball was turned over to the British - legation. Miss Harriet Lane, the President’s niece, who managed his - household affairs, gave instead a large musicale, at which was performed - for the first time the once favorite song, “The Mocking Bird,” its - composer having dedicated it to her. - </p> - <p> - Trained as attorney, diplomatist, and politician, to regard the letter of - the law rather than its spirit, Buchanan found himself in an unhappy - situation when the preliminary mutterings of sectional warfare grew loud. - In January, 1861, he was urged by some of the Cabinet to recall Major - Robert Anderson from Charleston Harbor as a rebuke for having removed the - Fort Moultrie garrison to the stronger Fort Sumter without orders from - Washington, and he was holding the matter under advisement when Justice - McLean of the Supreme Court<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_194" - id="page_194"></a>{194}</span> came to dine with him one evening. After - the ladies had left the table, the Justice drew the President aside and - inquired what was going to be done about the Major. “Anderson has exceeded - his instructions,” answered Buchanan, “and must be disciplined.” McLean - raised his hand and fairly shook it in the President’s face as he - ejaculated: “You dare not do it, sir! You dare not do it!” This unique - defiance of the executive by the judiciary had an immediate effect: Major - Anderson was left undisturbed, to become within a few weeks the first hero - of the Civil War. - </p> - <p> - General Scott, who filled a large place in national affairs from Polk’s - administration till the autumn of 1861, was a good officer and a pure - patriot but full of eccentricities. His love for military forms gave him - the nickname “Old Fuss and Feathers,” and a letter he wrote during the - Mexican war, excusing his absence from his headquarters when the Secretary - of War called there, on the plea that he had just stepped out to get “a - hasty plate of soup,” had won for him the punning title “Marshal Turenne.” - He was a good deal of a gourmet and did his family marketing himself, - especially delighting in the delicacy which he persisted in calling - “tarrapin,” and ordering his oysters by the barrel. One of his favorite - dishes was pork jowl, and once he told of having eaten sauerkraut “with - tears<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_195" id="page_195"></a>{195}</span> - in his eyes.” He was a keen stickler for the dignity due him on all - occasions. Just after Taylor had been inaugurated President, the two men - met in Washington for the first time since a somewhat acrimonious parting - in Mexico. Taylor, passing over old animosities, invited Scott to call. - Scott did so the next day, and Taylor, who was engaged with some other - gentlemen in his office, sent word that he would be down in a moment. Five - minutes later, having cut his business short, the President descended to - the parlor, to find his visitor already gone: Scott had waited two minutes - by the clock and then stalked in high dudgeon out of the door, not to come - back again. - </p> - <p> - The drama of the Lincoln administration, on which the curtain rose to a - bugle-blast and fell to the beat of muffled drums, deserves a volume to - itself; but in my limited space I have been able to outline only some of - its features directly related to the capital city. Lincoln’s first levee - was held not in the White House but at Willard’s Hotel, some days before - the inauguration. The higher public functionaries and their wives, and a - number of private citizens of prominence, had been notified rather than - invited to come to the hotel on a certain evening for a first glimpse of - the new chief magistrate. Into this presence stalked the lank,<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_196" id="page_196"></a>{196}</span> - loose-jointed, oddly clad “Old Abe,” with his little, simple, - white-shawled wife at his elbow, and the never failing jest on his lips as - he made his own announcement: “Ladies and gentlemen, let me present to you - the long and the short of the Presidency!” - </p> - <p> - The Lincolns received several social courtesies from members of Congress - and others before the fourth of March, and on the evening of that day the - usual inaugural ball was given in their honor. It was plain from the start - that they had not made a favorable impression in their new setting, for - the ball was a failure in point of attendance; few ladies wore fine - costumes, and of the men the majority came in their business clothes. As - neither Mr. nor Mrs. Lincoln knew how to dance, or felt enough confidence - even to walk through a quadrille, the early part of the evening was - devoted to a handshaking performance which threw a chill upon the rest. - Mrs. Lincoln’s feminine instinct had led her to exchange the stuffy frock - and shawl of her first reception for a blue silk gown. Mr. Buchanan had - been expected but sent belated regrets; and Stephen A. Douglas, the - “Little Giant” who always became a big one in an emergency, stepped into - the breach as representative of the abdicating party, and established - himself as the personal escort and knight-in-waiting of Mrs. Lincoln.<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_197" id="page_197"></a>{197}</span> - </p> - <p> - In the White House, Lincoln took for his office the large square room in - the second story next the southeast corner, from the windows of which he - could look over at the Virginia hills. The room adjoining on the west was - assigned to his clerks and to visitors waiting for an interview. To secure - him a little privacy in passing between his office and the oval library, a - wooden screen was run across the south end of the waiting room, and behind - this he used to make the transit in fancied invisibility, to the delight - of the people sitting on the other side, to whom, owing to his - extraordinary height, the top locks of his hair and a bit of his forehead - were exposed above the partition. He was persistently hounded by - candidates for appointment to office; and it is recalled that in one - instance, where two competitors for a single place had worn him out with - their importunities, he sent for a pair of scales, weighing all the - petitions in favor of one candidate and then those of the other, and - giving the appointment to the man whose budget weighed three-quarters of a - pound more than his rival’s. - </p> - <p> - Visitors admitted to his office usually found him very kind in manner, - though now and then a satirical impulse would give an edge to his humor. - When an irate citizen with a grievance called and poured it out upon him, - accompanied by a variegated assortment<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_198" id="page_198"></a>{198}</span> of profanity, Lincoln - waited patiently till the speaker halted to take breath, and then - inquired: “You’re an Episcopalian, aren’t you?” - </p> - <p> - “Why do you ask that?” demanded the visitor, momentarily forgetting his - anger in his surprise. - </p> - <p> - “Because,” answered Lincoln, “Seward’s an Episcopalian, and you swear just - like him.” - </p> - <p> - The Reverend Doctor Bellows of New York, as chairman of the Sanitary - Commission, called once during the Civil War to tell Lincoln of a number - of things he ought to do. Lincoln listened with the most flattering - attention, slightly inclining his head in recognition of every separate - reminder of a duty left unperformed, and at the close of the catalogue - remained a minute or two in silent meditation. Then, throwing one of his - long legs over an arm of his chair, he looked up with a quizzical smile. - “Dominie,” said he, “how much will you take to swap jobs with me?” - </p> - <p> - He could not always keep his humor out of his official communications, as - in this despatch to General Hooker in Virginia: “If the head of Lee’s army - is at Martinsburg, and the tail of it on the plank road between - Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, the animal must be pretty slim - somewhere. Couldn’t you break him?” - </p> - <p> - Indeed, it was his instinctive discernment of the<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_199" id="page_199"></a>{199}</span> ridiculous side of - everything which, though it gave his enemies their chance to assail him as - a mountebank and a jester, undoubtedly served as a buffer to many a heavy - blow. Sometimes his laughs were at his own expense. About the middle of - the war a young man from a distant State procured an interview with him, - to expound a project for visiting Richmond in the disguise of a wandering - organ-grinder and making drawings of the defenses of the city for the use - of the Union commanders. Lincoln was so impressed that he contributed one - hundred and fifty dollars or more to purchase the organ and pay other - preliminary expenses. The young man disappeared for some weeks and then - returned with a thrilling account of his adventures, and with plats and - charts covering everything of military importance around Richmond and at - various points on the way thither. As a reward, the President nominated - him for a second lieutenancy in the army and spurred some other patriot - into sending him a brand new uniform and sword. After a little, and by - accident, it came out that the youth had never been anywhere near - Richmond, but had spent the President’s money on a trip to his home, - where, at his ease, he had prepared his fictitious report and maps. Of - course his nomination was at once withdrawn; but Lincoln was so amused at - his own childlike credulity<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_200" - id="page_200"></a>{200}</span> that he could not bring himself to punish - the offense as it deserved. - </p> - <p> - The Cabinet were often annoyed at the obtrusion of the President’s taste - for a joke at what seemed to them inopportune moments—especially - Secretary Stanton, whose sense of humor was not keen. On September 22, - 1862, they were peremptorily summoned to a meeting at the White House. - They found the President reading a book, from which he barely looked up - till all were in their seats. Then he said: “Gentlemen, did you ever read - anything from Artemus Ward? Let me read you a chapter which is very - funny.” When the reading was finished, he laughed heartily, looking around - the circle for a response, but nobody even smiled; if any countenance - revealed anything, it was irritation. “Well,” said he, “let’s have another - chapter;” and he suited action to word. Finding his listeners no more - sympathetic than before, he threw the book down with a deep sigh and - exclaimed: “Gentlemen, why don’t you laugh? With the fearful strain that - is on me night and day, if I did not laugh I should die, and you need this - medicine as much as I do.” With that, he ran his hand down into his tall - hat, which sat on the table near him, and drew forth a sheet of paper, - from which he read aloud, with the most impressive emphasis, the first - draft of the Emancipation<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_201" - id="page_201"></a>{201}</span> Proclamation. “If any of you have any - suggestions to make as to the form of this paper or its composition,” said - he, “I shall be glad to hear them. But”—and the deliberateness with - which he pronounced the next words left no doubt that the die had already - been cast—“this paper is to issue!” - </p> - <p> - The Lincolns brought two young children with them into the White House, - both boys. Of the elder, Willie, we hear little, except that he died - there, and that his loss added one more to the many lines which the war - had worn into the brow of his father. The younger boy, “Tad,” is better - known to the public through the exploitation of his juvenile pranks by the - newspapers and his appearance in some of the President’s portraits. Many - stories are told of his fondness for bringing ragged urchins from the - streets into the kitchen and feeding them, to the sore distress of the - cook and sometimes to the disturbance of the domestic routine in other - ways; but for whatever he wished to do in the charitable line he found his - father a faithful ally. There is a pretty tale of his having espied in the - lower corridor of the White House, one very rainy day, a young man and - woman, rather shabbily dressed, who seemed depressed in spirits and anxious - to consult with some one. Tad called his father’s attention to them, and - the President went up and asked them what<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_202" id="page_202"></a>{202}</span> they wished. His - sympathetic manner loosed their tongues and they told him their story. - </p> - <p> - It appeared that the girl was from Virginia and had run away from home to - marry her lover, an honorably discharged soldier from Indiana. They had - met by arrangement in Washington, but they were strangers there and very - unsophisticated, and had little money to pay a minister or spend on hotel - accommodations; so they had been wandering about the city for hours, not - knowing where to go, and had taken refuge in the White House from the - storm. They had no idea that they were talking to the President till he - made himself known. With characteristic directness, he sent for a - clergyman of his acquaintance and had the nuptial knot tied in his - presence. Then he invited bride and groom to remain as his guests till the - next day, when the weather cleared and they went their way rejoicing. - </p> - <p> - Although Mrs. Lincoln was the titular head of the President’s household, - the woman recognized as the social leader of the administration was Kate - Chase, daughter of the Secretary of the Treasury. She was handsome, - accomplished, and, after her marriage with William Sprague, the young War - Governor of Rhode Island, rich as well. Mrs. Lincoln never liked her, but - the President’s gift for peacemaking came into<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_203" id="page_203"></a>{203}</span> action here, and there was - no public display of the coolness of feeling between them. Mrs. Sprague - had a strong taste for politics, and her chief ambition was to see her - father President; but Lincoln cut off that chance at the critical moment - by making him Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Among the young and - rising Congressmen with whom Mrs. Sprague was brought into contact during - this period was Roscoe Conkling, a Representative from New York, who later - became a Senator. He was the pink of elegance in person and attire, of - stately and somewhat condescending manners, and master of the arts of - verbal expression. They formed a firm friendship which lasted as long as - both lived. Edgewood, the Chase home on the northern border of the city, - was for many years one of the show places of Washington, and after Chase’s - death Conkling procured from Congress an act exempting it from taxation as - a tribute to the public services of its former owner. Another young - Representative of whom Mrs. Sprague saw almost as much as of Conkling, but - liked less, was James G. Blaine of Maine, a brilliant orator who in after - years became Conkling’s most powerful adversary. - </p> - <p> - A warm friend of Chase’s who used to drop in at Edgewood whenever he was - in Washington was Horace Greeley, editor of the <i>New York Tribune</i>. - He was a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_204" id="page_204"></a>{204}</span> - quaint character, who wore his clothes awry and his hair long and always - tousled. His face he kept clean shaven, but raised a heavy blond beard - under his chin and jaws; and this, with his ruddy cheeks, blue eyes, - beaming spectacles, and generally bland aspect, made him look like the - typical back-country farmer of theatrical tradition. He accentuated the - peculiarities of his appearance by affecting a large soft hat and not - spotless white overcoat, the pockets of the latter habitually bulging with - newspapers. His handwriting was as unconventional as his attire, and - compositors in the <i>Tribune</i> office had to be specially trained in - deciphering it, for Mr. Greeley was often unable to read it himself after - the subject-matter had grown cold in his mind. - </p> - <p> - Greeley was an anti-slavery man, but not an aggressive abolitionist; - nevertheless he smiled benignantly upon the work of the Hutchinson family - and took some pains to introduce them in Washington wherever their music - would be likely to meet with a cordial reception. The Hutchinsons were a - Massachusetts family of sixteen brothers and sisters, nearly all of them - bearing Bible names given them by a deeply religious mother. They learned - as children to lead the singing in the Baptist church attended by their - parents, and, as their musical fame spread, one of the<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_205" id="page_205"></a>{205}</span> - </p> - <div class="figcenter" style="width: 448px;"> - <a href="images/ill_027_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_027_sml.jpg" - width="448" height="594" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="c"> - <i>The “Old Capitol”</i> - </p> - </div> - </div> - <p class="nind"> - brothers developed a talent as a versifier and began writing songs adapted - to their interpretation, breathing an earnest spirit of patriotism and - pleading for human freedom. From giving concerts in their native town and - neighborhood, they gradually essayed more and more ambitious ventures, and - with Greeley’s aid came under the favorable notice of the administration. - Lincoln, realizing the appeal their homely entertainments would make to - the Union volunteers, gave them a roving commission to visit the camps of - the Army of the Potomac and encouraged them to take in the recruiting - stations wherever they happened to be. They mixed fun with their - seriousness in such proportions as they believed would please all classes - in their audiences; and in their way they did as much to keep the soldiers - cheerful as Tom Paine had done fourscore years before. - </p> - <p> - So accustomed is the public mind to associating Lincoln and Grant as - coworkers for the Union cause that few persons suspect that the two men - never met till the Civil War was three-fourths over. Then, Congress having - revived the grade of Lieutenant-general of the Army, Grant was ordered to - Washington to receive his promotion. Arriving early in March, 1864, he - went at once to the White House, where the President happened to be - holding a reception in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_206" - id="page_206"></a>{206}</span> east room. He held back till most of the - people had passed, when Lincoln, recognizing him from his portraits, - turned to him with hand outstretched, saying: “This is General Grant, is - it not?” - </p> - <p> - “It is, Mr. President,” answered Grant. And with this self-introduction, - fittingly simple, the two great figures of the war faced each other for - the first time.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_207" id="page_207"></a>{207}</span> - </p> - <h2> - <a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br /><br /> <small>NEW - FACES IN OLD PLACES</small> - </h2> - <p class="nind"> - <span class="letra">A</span>LTHOUGH constantly urged to take precautions - for his own safety, Lincoln never did. He used to walk about the streets - as freely as any ordinary citizen; and night after night, during the - darkest period of the war, he would stroll across to Secretary Stanton’s - office to talk over the latest news from the front. Stanton’s - remonstrances he would dismiss with a weary smile, protesting that, as far - as he was aware, he had not an enemy in the world, but if he had, anybody - who wished to kill him had a hundred chances every day—so, why be - uneasy? His second inaugural address was shorter than the first; he wrote - it about midnight of the third of March, seated in an armchair where he - was resting after a hard day’s work, and holding the cardboard sheets in - his lap. Its concluding words were as memorable as those of four years - before: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, let us go forward - with the work we have to do: to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for - him who has borne the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_208" id="page_208"></a>{208}</span> - battle and for his widow and his orphan, and to do all things which may - achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all - nations.” - </p> - <p> - Early on the fourth, he went to the Capitol quietly and devoted the - remaining hours of the morning to reading and signing bills. The - procession which had been arranged to escort him was formed at the White - House, with the President’s carriage at its head, occupied by Mrs. Lincoln - and Senators Harlan and Anthony. A platoon of marshals pioneered it, and a - detachment of the Union Light Guard surrounded it. The crowd, recognizing - the White House coachman on its box, but not seeing distinctly who sat - behind, cheered it all along the line under the supposition that it held - the President. Two companies of colored troops and a lodge of colored Odd - Fellows were among the marchers, this being the first time that negroes - ever took part in an inaugural pageant except in some servile capacity. - </p> - <p> - We have already seen how Washington received the news of the final triumph - of the Federal arms, and how Lincoln fell in the midst of the general - rejoicing. Many readers of his inaugural address of that year have since - professed to discern between its written lines a veiled foreboding of the - end. Certain it is that he was an habitual dreamer, and that one dream,<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_209" id="page_209"></a>{209}</span> which - came to him on the night before Fort Sumter was bombarded, was repeated on - the eve of the first battle of Bull Run, and just before other important - engagements. As he described it, he seemed to be on the water in an - unfamiliar boat, “moving rapidly toward a dark, indefinite shore.” The - last recurrence of the dream was in the early morning hours of April 14, - 1865. We shall never know, now, whether it was this or some other portent - that caused him to say to a trusted companion, not long before his death: - “I don’t think I shall live to see the end of my term. I try to shake off - the vision, but it still keeps haunting me.” He had received several - threatening letters, which he kept in a separate file labeled: “Letters on - Assassination.” After his death there was found among these a note about - the very plot in which Booth was the chief actor. - </p> - <p> - Fate plays strange tricks. For a few hours that spring, one friend in - Washington unconsciously held Lincoln’s life in his hand. Harriet Riddle, - since better known as Mrs. Davis, the novelist, was a pupil at a local - convent school. Shortly before the tragedy at Ford’s Theater, a teacher - who had been on a brief visit to a Southern town returned, apparently - laboring under some terrible excitement which she was trying to suppress. - At the session of her class immediately<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_210" id="page_210"></a>{210}</span> preceding their separation - for Good Friday, she suddenly fell upon her knees, bade them all join her - in prayer, and poured forth, in a voice and manner so agonizing that the - children were thrilled with a nameless horror, an hysterical appeal for - divine mercy on the souls who were soon to be called before their Maker - without warning. - </p> - <p> - Harriet, who was an impressionable child, could hardly contain herself - till she reached home and sought her father, to whom she attempted to - relate the afternoon’s occurrence. He was the District-attorney, and an - intimate of the President’s, and was so immersed in the cares of office - that he put her off till he should have more leisure. When she was - awakened on Good Friday night by the noise of citizens and soldiers - hurrying through the streets and calling out the news of the - assassination, she uttered an exclamation which caught her father’s - attention, and then he listened to the tale which he had once waved aside. - “Why did you not tell me this before?” he demanded. It was then too late - to do more than collect such evidence as he might from the pupils to aid - the detectives; but the teacher who had uttered that awful prayer had fled - and could never be traced. No one could longer doubt her guilty knowledge - of the plot, probably acquired during her visit in the South.<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_211" id="page_211"></a>{211}</span> - </p> - <p> - The oath with which Vice-president Johnson took upon himself the - obligations of the Presidency was administered to him at his rooms in the - Kirkwood House, a hostelry on the Pennsylvania Avenue corner now occupied - by the Hotel Raleigh. Of his administration, the most broadly interesting - incident was the impeachment trial described in an earlier chapter; and in - our reflections on how history is shaped, another personal anecdote seems - worthy of a place. Its heroine was Miss Vinnie Ream, the sculptor, who - later became Mrs. Hoxie. - </p> - <p> - As his trial drew near its close, and Johnson’s friends and enemies were - able to figure out pretty accurately how the Senate was going to divide, - it became plain that the issue would hang on a single vote. If all the - Senators counted against the President stood firm, he would be convicted, - thirty-six to eighteen; but Secretary Stanton insisted that Ross of Kansas - was preparing to go over from the majority to the minority. Ross was - occupying a room in the same house with Miss Ream on Capitol Hill, and - General Daniel E. Sickles, who was acquainted with him, was deputed to see - him on the night before the roll-call and try to hold him fast against the - President. Miss Ream happened to meet the General at the door, ushered him - into the parlor but refused to let him see the Senator,<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_212" id="page_212"></a>{212}</span> and held - him at bay till dawn the following morning, when he gave up the effort as - fruitless and went home. If she had weakened for a moment, there is no - telling what might have happened, for Sickles was in a position to have - brought very heavy pressure to bear upon Ross. The roll-call showed - thirty-five for conviction to nineteen against—less than the - two-thirds required to convict; and it was Ross’s vote that saved Johnson. - </p> - <p> - At the inauguration of Grant, the relations between him and the retiring - President were so strained, owing to the recent struggle at the War - Department, that Johnson refused to attend the ceremonies unless it could - be arranged that he and Grant should ride in separate carriages. General - Rawlins therefore acted as escort to Grant and Vice-president Colfax. - Grant was not much of a speaker, but the delivery of his inaugural address - is remembered for a pretty incident. His little daughter Nellie, confused - by the continuous bustle all about her, obeyed on the platform the same - childish impulse which moved her in any exigency at home, and, running to - his side, nestled against him, clasping one of his hands in both of hers - and holding it all the time he was speaking. At the ball that evening, - access to the supper-room and to the cloak-room was by the same door, - which caused a blockade in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_213" - id="page_213"></a>{213}</span> passage. The servants in charge of the - wraps became hopelessly demoralized, with the result that Horace Greeley - had to wait two hours to recover his white overcoat and lost his hat - entirely. The torrent of lurid expletives he let loose during his ordeal - shared space and importance, in the next day’s newspapers, with the - thirty-five thousand dollars’ worth of diamonds worn by Mrs. John - Morrissey, wife of the prize-fighter. - </p> - <p> - Grant’s second inauguration began inauspiciously, his aged father falling - down a flight of stairs at the Capitol and suffering injuries which - finally caused his death. The day was stormy, and the evening the coldest - known in Washington for years. Unfortunately, the only place where the - ball could be held was an improvised wooden building, through the crevices - of which the icy wind blew a gale; and, to complete everybody’s misery, - the heating apparatus broke down, so that many of the ladies who had come - in conventional toilets had to protect their shoulders with fur mantillas, - while their escorts put on overcoats. The President was so cold that he - forgot the figures in the state quadrille which he was to lead, and was - obliged to depend on General Sherman to push him through them. The supper - was ruined, the meats and salads competing in temperature with the ices; - all<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_214" id="page_214"></a>{214}</span> - that could be saved was the coffee, which was kept hot over alcohol lamps. - The breath of the members of the band congealed in their instruments, and - several hundred canaries which were to sing in the intervals between band - pieces shriveled into little downy balls on the bottoms of their cages and - uttered not a trill. - </p> - <p> - The key-note of Grant’s administration on its political side was his - steadfast faith that any friend of his was capable of filling any office - in his gift. He named Alexander T. Stewart, the New York dry-goods - merchant, for Secretary of the Treasury, but had to let him resign on - account of technical objections raised in the Senate. Wendell Phillips - having come to his defense at a hostile mass-meeting in Boston, Grant - wished to make him Minister to England, but the offer was declined because - Mrs. Phillips would not be able to go abroad at that time. Caleb Cushing - of Massachusetts, though a stanch Democrat before the war, had become an - “administration man” as soon as the Union was threatened, and thereby - aroused the admiration of Grant, who named him for Chief Justice after - Chase’s death; but the same political independence which so won Grant had - incensed a number of Senators, who caused the rejection of the nomination. - </p> - <p> - Later, however, Grant succeeded in sending Cushing<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_215" id="page_215"></a>{215}</span> as Minister to Spain. - Cushing was a man full of peculiarities, which strengthened with his - years. At an early age he discarded the umbrella as a nuisance and braved - storms unprotected. Naturally his hats suffered. At the time he received - his billet for Spain, he was wearing one of the chimney-pot variety, - which, from its appearance, he must have bought many years before. The nap - was a good deal worn, there was a slight bulge in the top, and, thanks to - the squareness of his head, he could wear it with either side in front. - When some one suggested that he had better buy a new hat before presenting - himself at the Spanish court, he considered the question solemnly, turning - the old hat around and examining it with care before answering: “No, I - think I shall wait and see what the fashions are in Madrid.” Though ready - to spend his money freely for any public purpose, in private indulgences - the frugal notions inherited from his New England ancestry came to the - front. Hardly anybody ever saw him light a fresh cigar, but he used to - carry about in his pocket a case packed with partly consumed stumps, to - one of which he would help himself when he wished a smoke, only to let it - die again as soon as he had become interested in talking. - </p> - <p> - It was because of his liking for both Blaine and Conkling that Grant - strove, as his last act in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_216" - id="page_216"></a>{216}</span> White House, to reconcile the two men, who - were intensely hostile to each other. Their quarrel had grown out of a - passage in debate when Conkling had made some very sarcastic comments on - Blaine. The latter retorted in kind. “The contempt of that large-minded - gentleman,” said he, glancing toward Conkling, “is so wilting, his haughty - disdain, his grandiloquent swell, his majestic, supereminent, - overpowering, turkey-gobbler strut have been so crushing to myself and all - the members of this House, that I know it was an act of temerity for me to - venture upon a controversy with him.” Referring to a recent newspaper - article in which Conkling had been likened to the late Henry Winter Davis, - Blaine went on: “The gentleman took it seriously, and it has given his - strut additional pomposity. The resemblance is great. It is striking. - Hyperion to a satyr, Thersites to Hercules, mud to marble, a dunghill to a - diamond, a singed cat to a Bengal tiger, a whining puppy to a roaring - lion!” - </p> - <p> - Conkling never forgave this attack. It seems like a small thing to change - the whole current of a nation’s history, but it probably cost Blaine the - Presidency; for in 1884 the disaffection of the Republicans in Conkling’s - old home in central New York gave the State to Cleveland. President - Grant’s effort to bring the foes together failed because Blaine, though - ready to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_217" id="page_217"></a>{217}</span> - make any ordinary concessions, balked when Conkling demanded that he - should confess his “mud to marble” speech to have been “unqualifiedly and - maliciously false.” - </p> - <p> - In 1874, Miss Nellie Grant was married to Algernon Sartoris, a British - subject. She was her father’s pet. At her wedding, he stood beside his - wife to receive the guests, his face wearing a sphinx-like calm, though - every one knew how he would feel the parting soon to follow. His forced - composure continued till Nellie had left the house with her husband, and - then he disappeared. An old friend, seeking him up-stairs, tapped at his - chamber door, and, as there was no response, pushed it slightly ajar and - looked in. There, on the bed, face downward, his eyes buried in his hands - and his whole frame shaken with grief, lay the great soldier, sobbing like - a child. - </p> - <p> - Throughout the Grant administration, the social arbiter for Washington was - Mrs. Hamilton Fish, wife of the Secretary of State. She was a woman of the - world, broad-minded and efficient, but the White House was not a very - ceremonious place in that era. When the new Danish Minister called, for - instance, in full regalia, to present his credentials, he found no one - prepared to receive him, even the negro boy who met him at the door having - to hurry into a coat before ushering<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_218" id="page_218"></a>{218}</span> him in. Persons who - attended the state dinners say that Grant often turned down his - wine-glasses. It was, as far as I have ever heard, the first instance of a - President’s doing this; and it paved the way for the reign of cold water - which came in with the next President, Rutherford B. Hayes. - </p> - <p> - Hayes entered office under cloudy auspices. His competitor for the - Presidency was Samuel J. Tilden, a powerful Democratic leader. In some of - the Southern States which were still in the throes of reconstruction, - United States troops were doing police duty, the Governors were appointees - of a Republican President, and the election machinery was in the hands of - Republican office-holders, though the bulk of the white voting population - was Democratic. In these States the official canvassers had reported the - Republican electors chosen, the electors had cast their ballots for Hayes, - and the Governors had signed and forwarded their certificates accordingly, - in defiance of Democratic protests that the returns were fictitious. - Without these States, the Democratic candidate had one hundred and - eighty-four of the one hundred and eighty-five electoral votes necessary - to a choice, while the Republican candidate could win only with their aid; - so a single electoral vote would tip the scale either way. The duty of - opening the certificates and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_219" - id="page_219"></a>{219}</span> - </p> - <div class="figcenter" style="width: 454px;"> - <a href="images/ill_028_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_028_sml.jpg" - width="454" height="580" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="c"> - <i>St. Paul’s, the Oldest Church in the District</i> - </p> - </div> - </div> - <p class="nind"> - announcing the results devolved upon the President of the Senate, a strong - Republican. - </p> - <p> - The Democrats made so serious charges of falsification of the records that - the whole country became much excited, and fears were entertained in - Congress that another civil war might be impending. In the midst of the - turmoil, a joint committee of both chambers worked out a plan for a - bi-partisan Electoral Commission, to consist of five Senators, five - Representatives, and five Justices of the Supreme Court, before whom all - the questions at issue should be argued by counsel, and whose decisions - should place the result beyond immediate appeal. The Commission, as made - up, contained eight Republicans and seven Democrats, and its decisions - were always given by a vote of eight to seven. It held its sessions in the - room now occupied by the Supreme Court, where it began its work on - February 1, 1877, and at the end of a month rendered its last ruling, - which gave the Presidency to Mr. Hayes. - </p> - <p> - As the fourth of March was to fall on Sunday, President Grant had Hayes - meet Chief Justice Waite in the red parlor of the White House on the - evening of the third and take the oath privately. The inaugural ball was - omitted because the Electoral Commission had finished its work too late to - enable preparations<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_220" id="page_220"></a>{220}</span> - to be made. President Hayes was not nearly so conspicuous a figure during - the following four years as his wife, who was a woman of very positive - convictions, especially on the subject of alcoholic stimulants. At her - instance, wines were banished from the White House table, the only - exception occurring when the Grand Dukes Alexis and Constantin of Russia - visited Washington. It is said to have been some incident at the - entertainment given in their honor which fixed Mr. and Mrs. Hayes - definitely in the determination not to depart again from the rule of - teetotalism. - </p> - <p> - The newspapers poked a good deal of innocent fun at the Hayes parties on - the score that, though the ban was never lifted from the ordinary - intoxicants drunk from glasses, there was always plenty of strong Roman - punch served in orange-skins. The nickname which presently fastened itself - to this deceptive course was the “life-saving station.” In his diary, - however, Mr. Hayes has left us the statement: “The joke of the Roman punch - oranges was not on us, but on the drinking people. My orders were to - flavor them rather strongly with the same flavor that is found in Jamaica - rum. This took! It was refreshing to hear the drinkers say, with a smack - of their lips, ‘Would they were hot!’” I am bound to add that, in spite of - the good man’s enjoyment of his ruse, the suspicion still<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_221" id="page_221"></a>{221}</span> survives - that his steward used to put a private and particular interpretation on - his orders. - </p> - <p> - Although Mr. Hayes was not a member of any church, his wife was an ardent - Methodist, and one marked feature of their life in Washington was the - Sunday evening sociables at the White House, when Cabinet officers and - other dignitaries would come in and pass a couple of hours singing hymns, - with light conversation between. Among the most interested attendants at - these gatherings was General Sherman, who used to join vigorously in the - singing—or try to. Another, who was destined to play an independent - part in history a few years afterward, was a clever young Congressman from - Ohio named William McKinley, Junior. He had been a volunteer soldier in - Hayes’s regiment early in the war, and they had grown to be fast friends. - At one of the first of the secular receptions during the Hayes régime, the - guest of honor was a budding celebrity, Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii. She - labored under the handicap of knowing no English, and had to carry on most - of her conversation through an interpreter. - </p> - <p> - President Hayes provoked a good deal of criticism among the Southerners in - Washington by appointing Frederick Douglass, the negro ex-slave and - orator, United States Marshal of the District, for the office<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_222" id="page_222"></a>{222}</span> had up - to that time carried with it the duties of a sort of majordomo at the - President’s receptions, including the presentation of the guests. A - visitor to Washington about these days who did not attend the state - receptions, but held some of his own in the open air, was a man of small - and unimpressive stature, with black hair and mustache and a rather - good-natured face, whose portrait appeared repeatedly in the illustrated - papers, and whose name carried with it a certain terror to timid souls who - expected to see him launch a social revolution. This was Dennis Kearney, - who had made himself notorious by his speeches in the sand-lots of San - Francisco, declaring that “the Chinese must go,” and denouncing every one, - regardless of race, who had been thrifty enough to accumulate any of this - world’s goods. His remarkable coinage of words and generally unique - English gave currency to a multitude of epigrammatic phrases, which for - several years were known as “Kearneyisms.” - </p> - <p> - All through the campaign of 1880 a great deal was made of the sayings and - doings of “Grandma Garfield,” the mother of the Republican candidate: an - old lady of a type rarely seen now, who was not ashamed of her years, wore - her cap and spectacles as badges of distinction, and never forgot that, - however great he might have grown, her son was still her son. Nor did<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_223" id="page_223"></a>{223}</span> he - forget it; and on the east portico of the Capitol, with his assent to the - constitutional oath barely off his lips, his first act as President was to - bend down and kiss her. The inauguration was notable, too, for the - important part taken in the parade by the defeated competitor for the - Presidency, General Winfield S. Hancock. He was a splendid-looking man and - a superb horseman, and in his uniform as a Major-general was the most - imposing object in the procession. The spectators, delighted with his - sportsmanlike spirit, paid him as hearty a tribute as they paid the - President. - </p> - <p> - A few weeks after the inauguration, a fierce quarrel broke out over the - distribution of federal patronage, splitting the Republican party into two - factions. The angry irruptions of the newspapers on both sides, which - would have passed with any normal mind for what they were worth, made a - more serious impression on that of Charles J. Guiteau, a degenerate with a - craving for self-advertisement; and, failing in his attempt to obtain an - office for himself, he saw in the controversy an opportunity to pose as a - hero by removing its cause. Garfield, as a graduate of Williams College, - had arranged to attend the next commencement, and was in the railway - station on the second of July, 1881, on the way to his train, when he was - approached by Guiteau from behind and shot.<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_224" id="page_224"></a>{224}</span> He lingered, first in the - White House and later at Elberon, New Jersey, whither he was taken after - the weather became too sultry in Washington, till the nineteenth of - September. The assassin was brought to trial at the winter term of the - Supreme Court of the District, convicted of murder, and hanged. - </p> - <p> - On the evening of the day of Garfield’s death, the Vice-president, Chester - A. Arthur, was sworn in at his home in New York City, in the presence of - his son and a few personal friends, including Elihu Root. A more formal - administration of the oath took place in the Vice-president’s room at the - Capitol in Washington three days later, Chief Justice Waite officiating, - with Associate Justices Harlan and Matthews, General Grant, and several - Senators and Representatives as witnesses. After signing the oath, Arthur - read a brief address and returned at once to his office. - </p> - <p> - Arthur was a widower, and his only daughter was still too young to take - full charge of his household affairs, so his sister, Mrs. McElroy, - presided at all his social functions. He was very fond of music, and the - great operatic and concert stars were always sure of a warm welcome from - him when they passed through Washington. The finest of his dinners was - that which he gave for Christine Nilsson. As the company rose from the - table and he offered his arm to escort<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_225" id="page_225"></a>{225}</span> her back to the east room, - the Marine Band in the corridor, responding to a secret signal, began - playing one of her favorite airs, and, with the spontaneous delight of a - child, she fell to singing it, her voice soaring bird-like above the - instruments as she walked. This surprise for Miss Nilsson was typical of - the graceful things Arthur was fond of doing, and in which he set the pace - for the members of his official family. Ex-president Grant and his wife, - on their return from their tour of the world, dropped in upon Washington, - as it chanced, just when a reception was about to be held at the White - House. Arthur sent his carriage for them. Mrs. Frelinghuysen, wife of the - Secretary of State, was on that occasion filling Mrs. McElroy’s accustomed - station next to the President in the receiving line; but on the entrance - of the distinguished guests she withdrew, gently pressing Mrs. Grant into - her place as hostess of the evening. - </p> - <p> - As the first Democratic President since the war, Grover Cleveland of New - York found a hard task laid out for him. He realized that he owed his - election chiefly to the reform element in both the great parties, yet it - was his own party that claimed him, and, having been out of power for a - quarter-century, it was not over-modest in its demands. His efforts at - tariff reduction stirred the protectionists to such activity in<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_226" id="page_226"></a>{226}</span> the next - campaign that Benjamin Harrison of Indiana, a Republican and a grandson of - “Old Tippecanoe,” was elected in November, 1888. When he entered office, - Cleveland was a bachelor forty-eight years old. In June, 1886, he married - Miss Frances Folsom, the daughter of a former law partner to whom he had - been warmly attached. The wedding ceremony was performed in the White - House, only a small party of friends attending. Mrs. Cleveland, who was - young and of attractive presence, made friends for herself on every side - and did much to soften the antagonisms which her husband’s course in - office necessarily aroused. - </p> - <p> - The clerk of the weather seemed to have been storing his rain for weeks in - order to let it all out upon Harrison’s inauguration, and the street - pageant was a drenched and draggled affair. The civilities of the outgoing - to the incoming President gave the day its one touch of cheerfulness. - Cleveland sat on the rear seat of the open landau which bore them to the - Capitol, the front seat being occupied by Senators Hoar and Cockrell, - acting as a committee of escort. In order to enable Harrison to lift his - hat to the people who cheered him from the sidewalk, Cleveland raised his - own umbrella and held it over his companion. When Cockrell undertook to do - the same for Hoar, his umbrella broke. Cleveland at once borrowed an - umbrella<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_227" id="page_227"></a>{227}</span> - of his Secretary of the Treasury in the next carriage, and, when Mr. Hoar - demurred, reassured him with a laugh: “Don’t be alarmed, Senator; we’re - honest, and I’ll see that it gets back!” As they drove down the Avenue, - most of the applause, naturally, was for the President-elect; but once in - a while a spectator would shout, “Good-by, Grover!” or something of the - sort, and Cleveland would return the greeting with a smile and a nod. So - much kindly feeling was manifested throughout the morning that Harrison, - who was temperamentally the least effusive of men, was deeply touched; and - he could not forbear referring in his inaugural address to the courtesy he - had received at Cleveland’s hands, adding that he should endeavor to show - like consideration to his successor four years later. - </p> - <p> - And four years later Providence gave him the chance, which he improved as - far as in him lay. In the meantime he had passed through many sad - experiences. Factional divisions, almost as serious as those that - culminated in the assassination of Garfield, had broken up his party. His - Secretary of State, Mr. Blaine, had parted company with him on the eve of - the meeting of the Republican National Convention of 1892, become his - rival for the Presidential nomination, and died the following winter. Two - of Blaine’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_228" id="page_228"></a>{228}</span> - sons and one of his daughters had already died. Mr. Windom, Secretary of - the Treasury, had fallen dead at a public banquet, just after finishing a - memorable speech in defense of the administration. General Tracy, - Secretary of the Navy, had lost his wife and daughter in a fire which - destroyed their Washington home. The wife of the President’s secretary, - Mr. Halford, had died; and to crown his load of sorrows, Mr. Harrison lost - his own wife and her father almost at the time of his defeat for - reëlection. - </p> - <p> - On the other hand, he had enjoyed the presence in the White House of his - daughter, Mrs. McKee, with her two children, one of whom, a bright little - boy named in his honor, was his special favorite and playfellow out of - office hours. The south garden was the scene of many of their frolics, - which recalled the legends about John Adams and his juvenile tyrant. One - incident will never be forgotten by those who witnessed it. “Baby McKee,” - as Benjamin junior was commonly called, used to drive a goat before his - little wagon. This amusement was confined, as a rule, to occasions when - the President could be near at hand to watch proceedings, for the goat was - an erratic brute. One day it caught the President napping and started at - full gallop for an open gate. Mr. Harrison, suddenly awakened to the - situation, dashed<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_229" id="page_229"></a>{229}</span> - after. The goat succeeded in pulling the wagon through the narrow aperture - without a collision, but, once in the street, bolted straight for a trench - in which workmen were laying a pipe. By a succession of mighty leaps, such - as probably no dignitary of his rank had ever made before, Mr. Harrison - contrived to get in front of the animal, seize it by the bit, and swing it - around in the nick of time to prevent its jumping the excavation and - tumbling wagon and boy into the mud at the bottom. The President was - puffing hard as he returned triumphantly to the White House, dragging the - reluctant goat by the headstall, under a running fire of complaints from - his grandson for spoiling the morning ride. - </p> - <p> - When Mr. and Mrs. Cleveland came back in 1893, they brought with them - their infant daughter Ruth, and open gates in the south garden of the - White House became at once a thing of the past; for the garden was the - child’s only playground, and an epidemic of kidnapping had recently broken - out. For further security, and in order to have one place where his - domestic hours would be free from business interruptions, the President - rented the small estate known as Woodley, in one of the northwestern - suburbs. Here he lived during the greater part of the year, driving in - daily to his work and spending a night in Washington<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_230" id="page_230"></a>{230}</span> now and then if necessary. - By that time the official encroachments on the family space of the White - House had reached a point where either the building must be enlarged or a - separate dwelling provided for the President. A scheme of enlargement had - been broached in Harrison’s term, but the plans drawn under Mrs. - Harrison’s direction changed the shape of the old mansion in too many - essential features to win the approval of the architects consulted, and - the matter was dropped. The Clevelands, by living at Woodley, escaped some - of the cramping the Harrisons had suffered, and the McKinleys, who came in - next, got along pretty well because they had no children. - </p> - <p> - As Senator La Follette once said, McKinley never had a fair chance as - President to show what was in him: his first term was broken into by the - Spanish War, and his second was cut off almost at its beginning by - assassination. He was sweet-natured and a born manager of men, and no one - who ever filled the Presidential chair left behind him a more fragrant - memory. As his murder occurred in Buffalo, and Czolgosz, who killed him, - was tried and put to death there, the episode serves our present purpose - only in leading up to the accession of Theodore Roosevelt of New York, the - Vice-president, who was recalled from a summer vacation in the mountains - to take the head of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_231" - id="page_231"></a>{231}</span> state. His inauguration was of the simplest - sort, at the house of a friend in Buffalo, where some members of the - McKinley Cabinet and a few other gentlemen met to witness the - administration of the oath. - </p> - <p> - His first few months in the White House convinced the new President that - something must be done without delay to relieve the building, which had - become not only inconvenient but dangerous. For several years, when - repairs had been found necessary, they had been made by temporary - patchwork, with little reference to their effect on anything else; not a - few of the floor timbers subject to most strain were badly rotted, and - others stood in so perilous relations to the lighting apparatus that only - by a miracle had the house escaped destruction by fire. Fortunately - Congress had begun to show some interest in a long-mooted project for - bringing the city back to the plan laid out by L’Enfant; and a generous - appropriation was procured for making over the White House to resemble as - nearly as practicable the President’s Palace built by Hoban. All the - latter half of 1902 was given to this work. The office was moved out of - the main building and planted in a little house of its own on the same - spot where Jefferson used to have his workroom, at the extremity of the - western terrace. The eastern terrace, of which nothing but the buried - foundations remained, was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_232" - id="page_232"></a>{232}</span> rebuilt, and so arranged as to afford an - entrance for guests at the larger receptions. - </p> - <p> - Inside of the main house, the old lines were kept intact as far as the - comfort of its occupants would permit, though the restoration did work - some changes. The noble east room, which for many years was decorated in - the style of the saloon of a river steamboat, wears now the air of simple - elegance designed for it before steamboats were invented; and the state - dining-room has been so enlarged that future Presidents will not be - forced, on especially great occasions, to spread their tables in the east - room in order to spare the diners the annoyance of bumping elbows. - Upstairs the changes have been rather of function than of form. The room - which, from Grant’s day to McKinley’s, was used for Cabinet meetings, and - where our peace protocol with Spain was signed, is now a library; that in - which Lincoln read to his official family the first draft of his - Emancipation Proclamation is now a bedroom, and a like fate has befallen - the former library, where Cleveland penned his Venezuela message. The old - lines of partition, however, are all there. Logs still blaze and crackle - in the fireplace beside which Jackson puffed his corncob pipe. The windows - through which Lincoln looked over at the Virginia hills have not changed - even the shape or size of their old-fashioned<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_233" id="page_233"></a>{233}</span> panes. The places where our - first royal guest slept, and where Garfield passed his long ordeal of - suffering, remain bedchambers. - </p> - <p> - Mrs. Roosevelt, who loved the White House and had made a study of its - architectural history, personally supervised every stage of its - restoration. When the alterations were finished, she took the same - interest in the process of refurnishing, so that the final product was, as - nearly as modern conditions would permit, the White House of a century - ago. The removal of needless obstructions was one of the most successful - elements in the renovation, as it made possible the handling of a crowd of - fifteen hundred or two thousand people without confusion. Socially, the - Roosevelt administration was in every way the most brilliant Washington - has ever known. Mrs. Roosevelt was a perfect hostess, and the many-sided - President drew about him the leaders in every line of thought and action. - In his democracy of companionship and his forceful way of doing whatever - he laid his hand to, he was another Jackson; in his attraction for men of - letters, students of statecraft, artists, and scientific workers, he - revived the best traditions of Jefferson. - </p> - <p> - The four years of Taft are too fresh in the public memory to call for - extended mention. Taft was forced to have his inauguration in the Senate - Chamber on<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_234" id="page_234"></a>{234}</span> - account of the execrable weather, for the worst blizzard prevailed on the - fourth of March, 1909, that had visited Washington for ten years. The - railroads leading into the city were blockaded, so that many passengers - who had come from a distance to attend the ceremony were compelled to - forsake their trains a mile or more from their destination and plow their - own way in, as the sole alternative of camping in the cars for an - indefinite number of hours. Only by the utmost diligence on the part of - the municipal laborers were the streets kept in condition for the parade - to pass, and most of the spectators’ stands erected on the sidewalks were - utterly deserted. Mr. Roosevelt having announced, some time before, his - intention to leave for New York as soon as he had seen his successor sworn - in, Mrs. Taft made the drive between the Capitol and the White House by - her husband’s side. - </p> - <p> - Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey, the next President, signalized his advent by - notifying the citizens of Washington that he did not wish any inaugural - ball, and the preparations already under way were abandoned. His - administration is still writing its own history.<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_235" id="page_235"></a>{235}</span> - </p> - <div class="figcenter" style="width: 456px;"> - <a href="images/ill_029_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_029_sml.jpg" - width="456" height="588" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="c"> - <i>St. John’s, “the President’s Church”</i> - </p> - </div> - </div> - <h2> - <a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX<br /><br /> <small>THE - REGION ’ROUND ABOUT</small> - </h2> - <p class="nind"> - <span class="letra">N</span>O American city has suburbs more interesting - than Washington’s. Those that hold first rank, naturally, are on the - Virginia side of the Potomac, the region most redolent of the memory of - the great patriot whose name was given to the capital. The Arlington - estate, which lies nearest, was never the home of George Washington, but - he visited it often, for it belonged by inheritance to the grandson of his - wife by her earlier marriage; and George and Martha were so pleased with - it that they built a little summer-house about where the flagstaff now - stands, whence they could overlook the work going on in the new federal - city across the river. Young George Custis, owner of the place, built the - spacious dwelling substantially as we now find it, finishing it four years - after Washington’s death. He left the property to his daughter Mary, who - in 1831 became the wife of Robert E. Lee, then a lieutenant in the regular - army, but thirty years later commander-in-chief of the Confederate<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_236" id="page_236"></a>{236}</span> forces. - Their wedding took place in the old drawing-room, where visitors now - register their names. - </p> - <p> - Lee had just reached colonel’s rank when the Civil War broke out. He was - opposed to secession, but, faithful to the traditions of State sovereignty - in which he had been trained, decided that it was his duty to sacrifice - all other ties and follow the fortunes of Virginia. After a painful - interview with General Scott, who strove vainly to shake his resolution, - he wrote, in the library across the hall from the drawing-room, his - resignation of his commission in the United States army. Then, accompanied - by his family, he set out for the South, never to return. In a few days - the Federal troops took possession of the estate as important to the - protection of Washington. Here McClellan worked out his plans for the - reorganization of the Union army following the Bull Run disaster. A few - years afterward, there being no one at hand to pay the war-tax laid on the - land, it was sold under the hammer, and the Government bid it in. Before - the sale had been definitely ordered, a Northern relative of the Lees came - forward with an offer to pay the levy and costs, but the tax commissioners - declined the tender on the ground that the delinquent taxpayer had not - made it in person. - </p> - <p> - Meanwhile, the house had been turned into a military<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_237" id="page_237"></a>{237}</span> hospital, and the patients - who died there were buried close by. When it became necessary to have a - soldiers’ burial-ground near Washington, Quartermaster-general Meigs was - permitted to lay off two hundred acres of the estate for the purpose. This - was the beginning of the National Cemetery of to-day, where about eighteen - thousand soldiers and sailors have found a last resting-place. - </p> - <p> - Some time after the war, General Lee’s son brought suit for the recovery - of the property and won it, the Supreme Court holding that the tax - commissioners ought to have accepted the tender made them; but Mr. Lee - compromised with the Government, conveying to it his interest for one - hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Since then the house has been put into - excellent repair, and the land about it suitably enclosed and improved. On - the upper edge of the estate has been established the military post known - as Fort Myer, where cavalry-training is carried to a high point, weather - observations are made, and a wireless telegraph station exchanges - despatches with the Eiffel tower in Paris. Some of the land down by the - river has been made over into an experimental farm under the auspices of - the Department of Agriculture. - </p> - <p> - Happily, the Cemetery has been kept free from tawdry memorials and - inconsequential ornament, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_238" - id="page_238"></a>{238}</span> enveloped in an atmosphere of dignity well - fitting its sacred character. Its most impressive tomb is that dedicated - to the Unknown Dead, which contains the remains of more than two thousand - soldiers found on various battlefields but never identified. “Their names - and deaths,” says the inscription, “are recorded in the archives of their - country, and its grateful citizens honor them as their noble army of - martyrs.” Not far away is a fine amphitheater with a carpet of turf and a - canopy of trellised vines, where memorial exercises are held annually on - Decoration Day, the President almost always taking part. There is also a - Temple of Fame, bearing the names of Washington and Lincoln, with those of - the military leaders who particularly distinguished themselves in the - Civil War. An extension has recently been made in the grounds devoted to - sepulture, where the most conspicuous monument is that which commemorates - the tragedy of the battleship <i>Maine</i> in Havana harbor. The base is - built to represent a gun-turret on the deck of a man-of-war; on this are - inscribed the names of the victims, while from the center of the turret - rises a mast with a fighting-top. A larger and more ambitious - amphitheater, also, has been laid out in the extension. - </p> - <p> - From Arlington we can go, by the same road that Washington trod on his - trips, to Alexandria, a town<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_239" - id="page_239"></a>{239}</span> which fairly reeks with associations, from - the colonial names of some of its streets—King, Queen, Prince, - Princess, Duke, Duchess, Royal—to its remnants of cobblestone - pavement laid by the Hessian prisoners in the Revolution. Here is the old - Carlyle mansion, where General Braddock had his headquarters before - starting on his ill-fated expedition against the French and Indians. In - its blue drawing-room Washington, as a young surveyor ambitious to serve - his king, received the first rudiments of his military education; and at - the foot of yonder staircase one evening stood the same Washington, - expectant, while pretty Sally Fairfax tripped lightly down to join him and - be led through the opening cotillion at her coming-out ball. - </p> - <p> - This must have been a splendid mansion in its time, with a terraced garden - descending to the river-bank, and a fountain in the midst of the - flower-beds. It was built on the ruins of a fort used by the early - settlers against the Indians; the living-rooms of the fort became the - cellar of the mansion, and the fort proper the plaza, upon which the main - hallway opens. You enter the house now through a cozy little tea-room - established by a group of young ladies of Alexandria; and it may be your - good fortune to be shown about the premises by one of them who is herself - a member<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_240" id="page_240"></a>{240}</span> - of the historic Carlyle and Fairfax families and familiar with all their - ancestral tales. - </p> - <p> - A prominent site in town is covered by Christ Church, where Washington - worshiped, and where you can see the square family pew for which he paid - the record price, thirty-six pounds and ten shillings. The church stands - in a large, old-fashioned yard, sprinkled with the gravestones of men and - women of local renown. Hither, on Sundays, drove the ladies from Mount - Vernon, seven miles away, in a chariot with a mahogany body, green - Venetian blinds, and pictured panels, drawn by four horses. The General - did not take kindly to the coach for himself, but rode beside it on his - favorite saddle-horse, followed at a respectful distance by Bishop, his - colored body-servant, in scarlet livery. After service he would linger in - the churchyard, chatting with his friends, till Bishop reminded him of the - flight of time by bringing up his horse and holding the stirrup for him to - mount. - </p> - <p> - A spirited historical controversy has been waged over the question of - Washington’s attitude toward religion. The weight of evidence favors the - idea that, though not bound by dogma, he had a broad faith in the - philosophy of Christianity, always knelt with the rest of the congregation - and joined in the responses, and occasionally remained for the communion. - He<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_241" id="page_241"></a>{241}</span> - certainly encouraged his slaves to believe in the efficacy of prayer; for - once, when a long-continued drought threatened to ruin his crops, he - called his farm-hands together on Sunday morning and bade them put up - their united supplication for rain. They did so, and to their great - delight the flood-gates of heaven suddenly opened and deluged the earth; - but the Washington family were caught in the storm on their way home from - church, and could not make shelter soon enough to save Mrs. Washington’s - best gown from serious damage or the General from being soaked to the - skin. - </p> - <p> - In his younger days, Washington was fond of dancing, and used to come into - town to attend assemblies at Clagett’s Tavern. The assembly-hall was - up-stairs. It was afterward divided into three rooms, one of which, having - fallen into the hands of persons who respect its pedigree, has been pretty - well preserved. In the old times it had at one end a gallery for the - musicians, accessible only by a ladder, which was removed as soon as they - were all in their places. This arrangement was designed to compel them to - stay at their work till released, and to drink only what was passed up to - them with the approval of the floor-committee. - </p> - <p> - Across the corridor from the old assembly-hall was<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_242" id="page_242"></a>{242}</span> a chamber that later became - interesting through its occupancy by an unknown woman who came to the - tavern one morning in 1816, plainly in ill health. She was accompanied by - a few servants, with whom she conversed only in French, and neither she - nor they could be drawn into any communication with other persons, except - what was necessary to engage accommodations and order meals. On the fourth - day of her stay, there appeared on the scene a strange man, who from - various indications was assumed to be her husband. An hour after his - arrival she died in his arms. He buried her in St. Paul’s cemetery on the - outskirts of the town, planting a willow-tree over her grave, and raising - at its head a stone inscribed to the memory simply of “A Female Stranger,” - with this stanza from Pope’s “Unfortunate Lady”: - </p> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <span class="i0">“How loved, how honored once, avails thee not,<br /></span> - <span class="i1">To whom related, or by whom begot.<br /></span> <span - class="i1">A heap of dust alone remains of thee,<br /></span> <span - class="i1">’Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be.”<br /></span> - </div> - </div> - </div> - <p class="nind"> - And the Female Stranger remains a mystery to this day, though many efforts - have been made to discover her identity. A local suspicion that she was - Theodosia Allston, the daughter of Aaron Burr, seems to be discredited by - the fact that Theodosia’s disappearance occurred in 1812, and that her - husband was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_243" id="page_243"></a>{243}</span> - dead long before the Stranger came to Clagett’s Tavern. - </p> - <p> - How public-spirited a citizen Washington was is attested by his having - laid the foundation of Alexandria’s free-school system, presented the town - with its first fire-engine, organized its first militia company, and got - up a lottery to raise a fund for improving the country roads thereabout. - He was an earnest Freemason, and the lodge named for him owns a number of - relics like the chair in which he presided as Master, his apron, his - wedding gloves, his spurs, his pruning-knife, and a penknife which his - mother gave him when he was eleven years old and which he carried till he - died. It has also the last authentic portrait of him taken from life, a - pastel done by William Williams of Philadelphia. - </p> - <p> - In and around Alexandria are other points of interest, including the house - in which Colonel Ellsworth was killed, and one where, it is said, Martha - Washington secreted herself for a while during her widowhood for fear of a - slave uprising; a theological seminary which has graduated, among other - eminent divines, Bishops Phillips Brooks of Boston and Henry C. Potter of - New York; and the nearly obliterated remains of the road which, in 1765, - General Braddock began to build into the West.<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_244" id="page_244"></a>{244}</span> - </p> - <p> - We can go to Mount Vernon by boat, or over a road which Congress has - repeatedly, but without effect, been petitioned to acquire and improve. - Already a trolley company has recognized a public demand and is running - cars on a regular schedule from the heart of the capital city to the - borders of Washington’s old estate. On the way down we pass Wellington, - once the home of Tobias Lear, whom General Washington hired for two - hundred dollars a year to act as tutor to the children at Mount Vernon, - promoting him later to the post of private secretary. In both capacities, - his employer provided, he “will sit at my table, will live as I live, will - mix with the company who resort to the house, and will be treated in every - respect with courtesy and proper attention.” Lear married three wives, one - of them a kinswoman of the General’s. He acquired means, removed in later - life to Washington, and became a merchant with a warehouse on the river. - His tombstone in the Congressional Cemetery recites an overflowing list of - his virtues and honors, and posterity owes him a large debt for having - preserved many of the Washingtoniana most valued now by historians. - </p> - <p> - Mount Vernon became the property of the Washington family by a grant from - Lord Culpepper in 1670 to John Washington, the great-grandfather of - George.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_245" id="page_245"></a>{245}</span> - It was christened in honor of Admiral Vernon, a friend of Lawrence - Washington, the half-brother who brought George up and superintended his - education. George, who received it by inheritance, willed it to his nephew - Bushrod, he to his nephew John, and John to a son of the same name. - Financial embarrassments led the last heir to part with some of the land; - but to an area of a few hundred acres, including the mansion, the family - tomb, and the wharf on the Potomac, he held fast till arrangements could - be made for its purchase by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, a - society of patriotic women who, with money privately raised, have restored - the place and kept it in order ever since. There is good reason to doubt - whether this would ever have come about but for the heroic energy of Miss - Ann Pamela Cunningham of South Carolina, who, though a confirmed invalid, - devised and executed a plan which saved the estate from being sold to a - professional showman. - </p> - <p> - Just as in Alexandria we found ourselves in touch with a George Washington - who was a flesh-and-blood Virginian as distinguished from the colorless - paragon of the standard histories, so at Mount Vernon we meet the same - Washington in his character of husband, farmer, and host. Even here, - however, we are not wholly beyond the penumbra of fiction; for only five<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_246" id="page_246"></a>{246}</span> miles - away is the town of Pohick, once the parish seat of Parson Weems, the - inventor of the cherry-tree myth on which my generation were industriously - fed. Although, of course, no one still living in the region can remember - Washington, there are not a few who are familiar with the details of his - daily life, handed down in their families from ancestors who did remember - him. These make him out a very human country gentleman, who loved to ride, - to shoot, to fence, and to wrestle; who mixed business with pleasure in an - occasional horse-race or real estate speculation; who disbelieved in - slavery, and was recognized by his own two hundred bondmen as a kind - master, yet was noted for getting more work out of a negro than any other - slaveholder in Virginia, and for not hesitating to administer corporal - punishment to one who deserved it. - </p> - <p> - We learn from these sources that he was “as straight as an Indian, and as - free in his walk”; that he was what the ladies of that day, in spite of - some marks left by the smallpox, styled “a pretty man”; that his weight of - two hundred and ten pounds was all bone and muscle; and that he stood six - feet and two inches tall in his shoes, which ranged in size from Number - eleven to Number thirteen. His hands seem to have been his only physical - deformity; they were so large<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_247" - id="page_247"></a>{247}</span> as to attract attention and required gloves - made expressly for them, three sizes larger than ordinary. His eyes are - variously described as “blue,” as “of a bluish cast and very lively,” as - “a cold, light gray,” and as “so gray that they looked almost white.” - These alternatives may be reconciled, perhaps, by Gilbert Stuart’s - recollection that his eyes were “a light grayish blue, deep sunken in - their sockets, giving the expression of gravity of thought.” His hair was - originally dark brown and fairly thick; his face was long, his nose - prominent, his mouth large, and his chin firm. He suffered a good deal - with toothache, particularly after his military service, and, as the rural - remedy was the simplest known, he passed his last years almost toothless. - This drove at least one portrait-painter into padding the front of his - mouth with cotton wool, to make his lips look more natural than they did - when drawn over the ill-fitting artificial teeth which he inserted for - state occasions. - </p> - <p> - The great man lived well, his principal meal being a three o’clock dinner, - which he washed down with five glasses of Madeira, taken with dessert. - This allowance he gradually increased toward the close of his life till it - reached two bottles. In sending away for sale a slave whom, though - troublesome, he guaranteed as “exceedingly healthy, strong and good at<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_248" id="page_248"></a>{248}</span> the - hoe,” he expressed his willingness to take in part payment “a hogshead of - the best rum” and an indefinite quantity of “good old spirits.” In our - gout-fearing era, these data have the ring of immoderate indulgence, but - measured by the standards of the eighteenth century they were temperate - enough. It must be said for the General, also, that he was charitable in - his judgment of the weaknesses of others, as shown by his contract with an - overseer, to whom he conceded the privilege of getting drunk for a week - once a year; and his campaign expenses for election to the Virginia - legislature embraced a hogshead and a barrel of punch, thirty-five gallons - of wine, and forty-three gallons of strong cider. - </p> - <p> - It makes us feel a little nearer to the Father of our Country to learn - that he was not immune to the influence of bright eyes and dainty toilets; - that he was in love, or fancied he was, with several different damsels at - as many different times; and that his self-surrender occasionally declared - itself in amatory verse too dreadful for belief. His most serious - infatuation seems to have been with a Miss Gary, whom he courted - fervently, only to be dismissed by her father with the sordid reminder: - “My daughter, sir, has been accustomed to ride in her own coach!” As this - was a knock-down argument for a stripling surveyor who<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_249" id="page_249"></a>{249}</span> - </p> - <div class="figcenter" style="width: 448px;"> - <a href="images/ill_030_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_030_sml.jpg" - width="448" height="614" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="c"> - <i>Ford’s Theatre, the Old Front</i> - </p> - </div> - </div> - <p class="nind"> - was just struggling to raise his professional terms to twenty-five dollars - a day when employed, he went his way, but sought consolation in winning - Martha Custis, who resembled Miss Cary almost as a twin sister. - </p> - <p> - Of Mary Washington, mother of George, we get glimpses in the familiar chat - of the vicinage. She appears as a rather difficult person, who tried the - methodical soul of her son by her thriftless habits and her incessant - complaints of being out of money. For years he did his utmost to induce - her to rent her plantation further down the State, hire out her slaves, - and live on her fixed income thus obtained, but to no purpose. Yet after - he had become so famous that he was obliged to entertain at Mount Vernon - all the traveling celebrities of two hemispheres, she suddenly took it - into her head that she would like to come and live with him. In spite of - his filial piety, candor compelled him to show her the impracticability of - her proposal; and, though he tried to soften her disappointment by sending - her the last seventy-five dollars in his purse, she seems to have - continued dissatisfied. - </p> - <p> - George was not stingy. On the contrary, on each of three plantations which - he farmed he kept one crib of corn always set apart for free distribution - among the poor, and never let this fail, even if he had to rob<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_250" id="page_250"></a>{250}</span> his own - table supply or to buy corn at a dollar a bushel to make up a deficit. He - was not a rich man, but for sentimental reasons held on to Mount Vernon - after it had ceased to be profitable property. At his death, he was worth - only about seventy-five thousand dollars in his own right, and, had he - lived ten years longer at the same rate, he would have died a bankrupt. It - was his wife’s better investments that kept up the expenses of their home. - </p> - <p> - As we go over the old mansion, we are shown the various rooms associated - with Washington’s activities, and that in which his death occurred. - Notwithstanding his sturdy muscular development, his throat and chest were - always weak spots; and in 1799, after a soaking and chill from a ride - through a December storm, he went to bed with a cold which left him unable - to swallow. Soon he realized that the end was not far off. It was - characteristic of the man that he should then discharge the doctors from - further useless ministrations, give such directions about his burial as he - deemed important, and calmly proceed to watch the waning of his own pulse. - After a little the hand that held his wrist relaxed and dropped upon the - coverlet, and the friends gathered in the chamber knew that all was over. - </p> - <p> - On the Maryland side of the Potomac, the suburb<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_251" id="page_251"></a>{251}</span> most convenient of access - is Georgetown. In fact, it long ago ceased to be strictly a suburb, by - incorporation with the city of Washington, from which it was separated - only by Rock Creek, a narrow tributary of the Potomac. Officially, it is - now West Washington, and its streets have been renamed and renumbered so - as to conform as nearly as practicable to the system in use in the - capital. All the same, Georgetown has never lost its identity. It had a - life of its own before Washington was thought of; and within my - recollection the old society of Georgetown used to look askance at the - “new people” with whom Washington was filling up. It is still sprinkled - with hoary houses set in quaint ancestral gardens, though modernism has - touched the place at so many points that we can get a glimpse of these - survivals sometimes only through deep vistas lined with the red brick - side-walls of urban blocks. The most attractive of the old mansions, and - the best preserved, is the Tudor house, built by Doctor William Thornton - about 1810. It is a good specimen from the Georgian epoch in architecture, - standing fitly in the midst of a great square of lawn, with shade trees - and box hedges to correspond; and one of its traditions is that pretty - little Nellie Custis went there to her first ball, though—but I - leave others to struggle with the problem of conflicting dates. One<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_252" id="page_252"></a>{252}</span> thing we - do know, that the place has always been in the possession of kinsfolk of - the Mount Vernon family. - </p> - <p> - Many amusing stories are told of Georgetown’s early days, when the Scotch - element were so strong in its population that a man could not be appointed - to the office of flour inspector without subscribing to a test oath - declaring his disbelief in the doctrine of “transsubstantiation in the - sacrament of the Lord’s supper”; when the city fathers sought to save the - expense of employing a surveyor to calculate the width of the Potomac at a - point where a bridge was to be built, by ordering out all good citizens to - pull at the opposite ends of a measuring-rope; and when the big triangle - which was pounded as an alarm of fire fell from the belfry in which it - hung, and fire-alarms were sounded thereafter by blowing a fish-horn - through the streets. But none of these tales will have an interest for - most visitors equal to the local version of the origin of the - “Star-Spangled Banner.” For Georgetown was Francis Scott Key’s old home. - </p> - <p> - As the story goes, part of the British forces which marched upon - Washington in the summer of 1814 passed through Upper Marlboro, Maryland, - on a day when Doctor William Beanes, a prominent physician, was - entertaining several friends at dinner. As the gentlemen talked, they grew - more and more<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_253" id="page_253"></a>{253}</span> - indignant against the invaders, and, news being brought to them at table - that a few red-coated stragglers were still in town committing - depredations after the main body of their comrades had passed on, some one - suggested that the party go out and arrest these men as disturbers of the - peace. This was done, but to little effect; for as soon as the stragglers - got away, they hastened to catch up with the army and lodge a complaint - with their officers, who at once sent back a squad of soldiers to arrest - the arresters. Three of the dining party, including Beanes, were carried - off to Admiral Cockburn’s flagship, which was lying in the Patuxent River. - Cockburn, after administering a disciplinary lecture to the trio, - dismissed the others but took Beanes as a prisoner on his ship to - Baltimore. - </p> - <p> - Key, who was Beanes’s nephew, hastened to Baltimore as soon as he heard of - the doctor’s plight, and under a flag of truce went aboard the vessel to - intercede with Cockburn for his uncle’s release. His plea was vain; and - Cockburn would not even let him go ashore again till after the bombardment - of Fort McHenry. When Key returned to Georgetown, he related his - adventures at the next meeting of the local glee-club, and his fellow - members urged him to put his narrative into verse. He read his production<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_254" id="page_254"></a>{254}</span> at a - later meeting, and the club introduced it to the public, who adopted it as - the national anthem. - </p> - <p> - Among the noted names associated with Georgetown, outside of political - life, may be mentioned those of Joel Benton, the poet and essayist, who - bought a farm on the Washington side of Rock Creek, since famous as the - Kalorama estate; Robert Fulton, the pioneer in steam navigation, who made - some of his early experiments with water-craft and submarine explosives on - the small streams of the neighborhood; George Peabody, financier and - philanthropist, who came as a poor boy from Massachusetts and worked as a - clerk in a store in Bridge Street; William W. Corcoran, whose later career - somewhat resembled Peabody’s, and whose real start in life dated from the - failure of a little shop he kept in the heart of the town; and, last but - not least, a youthful belle whose romance demands a paragraph or two of - its own. - </p> - <p> - Baron Bodisco, Russian Minister to the United States during the Van Buren - administration, lived, as did most of the foreign envoys of that time, in - Georgetown. He was a bachelor, well on toward sixty years of age, - uncompromisingly ugly, with a face covered with wrinkles, and a bald head - which he tried to conceal under a somewhat obtrusive wig. He had for - visitors one winter two young nephews,<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_255" id="page_255"></a>{255}</span> for whom he gave a dancing - party at the legation, inviting all the socially eligible boys and girls - in town. By some accident, one of his invitations miscarried and failed to - reach Harriet Beall Williams, a most attractive and popular schoolgirl of - sixteen. He hastened to repair his error as soon as he discovered it, and - on the evening of the party hunted her up to make his apologies in person. - It was a case of love at first sight. After that he contrived to meet her - occasionally on her way to or from school, and ere long he became an - avowed suitor for her hand. The courtship, though not displeasing to the - girl, was for some time discouraged by her family. Finding her resolved to - accept her elderly lover, however, they withdrew their active opposition, - and Beauty and the Beast, as they were commonly called, were married in - June. - </p> - <p> - The Baron, who had excellent taste in everything except his own make-up, - superintended all the details of the affair, even to the costumes of the - bridal party. The bridesmaids were schoolmates of Miss Williams, one being - Jessie Benton, then aged fourteen, who afterward became the wife of - General John C. Fremont. The groomsmen were generally contemporaries of - the groom, so that the note of age disparity was uniform throughout. - President<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_256" id="page_256"></a>{256}</span> - Van Buren and Henry Clay were conspicuous among the guests. At the first - opportunity, the Baron took his bride to Russia and presented her at - court, where she electrified the assembled nobility by shaking the Czar’s - hand in cordial American fashion. It delighted the Czar, however, which - was more to the point; and, although she did many unusual things, like - declining the Czarina’s invitation to a Sunday function because she had - been brought up to “keep the Sabbath,” she became a great favorite in the - inner imperial circle, and loved to dwell on her foreign experiences after - she came back to Georgetown to live. The Bodisco house is still pointed - out to strangers. - </p> - <p> - Not all the historic associations of Georgetown and its neighborhood have - been so peaceful. For a few miles out of town the river’s edge is dotted - with sequestered nooks to which hot-brained gentlemen could retire on - occasion, to wipe out their grievances in one another’s blood. The Little - Falls bridge afforded such a retreat to Henry Clay and John Randolph after - Randolph’s speech declaring that the “alphabet that writes the name of - Thersites, of blackguard, of squalidity, refuses her letters for” Clay. - The combatants took the precaution to cross the bridge far enough to avoid - the jurisdiction of the District authorities.<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_257" id="page_257"></a>{257}</span> Clay’s first shot cut - Randolph’s coat near the hip, Randolph’s did nothing. At the second word, - Clay’s bullet went wild, and Randolph deliberately sent his into the air, - remarking: “I do not fire at you, Mr. Clay!” At the same time he advanced - with hand outstretched, Clay meeting him halfway. Randolph, as they were - leaving the field, pointed to the hole made by Clay’s first bullet, saying - jocosely: “You owe me a coat, Mr. Clay.” “I am glad, sir,” answered Clay, - “that the debt is no greater.” - </p> - <p> - The subject of duels calls to mind another suburb, to wit, Bladensburg, - Maryland, where the defenders of Washington made their brief and - ineffectual stand against the invading British in 1814. Here, for sixty - years, in a green little dell about a mile out of town, all sorts of - personal and political feuds were settled with deadly weapons. The most - celebrated of these meetings was that of March 22, 1820, between two - Commodores of the American navy, Stephen Decatur and James Barren. Like - most duels, it was more the work of mischief-makers than of the principals - themselves. - </p> - <p> - Decatur was at the height of his fame for achievements in the War of 1812 - and against the Barbary pirates; he was a fine marksman with the pistol, - and had had several earlier experiences on the dueling<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_258" id="page_258"></a>{258}</span>-field. Barren, on the other - hand, was under a cloud for some professional mistakes; he was six years - Decatur’s senior, had no taste for dueling, and was near-sighted. Down to - the last, Barron was plainly disposed to accept any reasonable concession - and call the affair off; but Decatur was in high spirits and full of - confidence. - </p> - <p> - Two shots rang out simultaneously, and both men fell. Decatur, who was at - first supposed to be dead, presently showed signs of returning animation - and was lifted to his feet, only to stagger a few paces toward his - antagonist and fall again. As the two men lay side by side, Barron turned - his face to say to Decatur that he hoped, when they met in another world, - they would be better friends than in this. Decatur responded that he had - never been Barren’s enemy, and, though he cherished no animosity to Barron - for killing him, he found it harder to forgive the men who had goaded them - into this quarrel. Both combatants were carried back to Washington, where - Barron slowly recovered from his wound; but Decatur, after a day of - intense suffering, died in the house which still bears his name, at the - corner of Jackson Place and H Street. - </p> - <p> - So habitually was this one ravine chosen for the settlement of affairs of - honor that when two Representatives,<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_259" id="page_259"></a>{259}</span> Jonathan Cilley of Maine - and William J. Graves of Kentucky, decided in 1838 to end a dispute with - rifles, they outwitted pursuit by choosing for their fight the eastern end - of the Anacostia bridge on the high-road to Marlboro, Maryland; and a - posse who started out to stop them went to the accustomed ground only to - find it empty. This duel had naught of the dramatic quality of that - between Decatur and Barren, but its effect on the public mind proved more - far-reaching. Cilley was a young man of brilliant promise, highly - respected as well as popular, with a wife and three little children. The - quarrel was forced upon him because, in the interest of the proper dignity - of Congress, he objected to a proposed investigation by the House of some - vague and irresponsible insinuations made in a recent newspaper letter - against sundry members who were not named or otherwise identified. Graves - insisted that this speech was an insult to the author of the article, - whose championship he gratuitously undertook. - </p> - <p> - The first two shots were thrown away on both sides. At the third fire, - Cilley fell upon his face, his adversary’s bullet having killed him - instantly. When the news of his death spread through Washington, - indignation against Graves rose to fever heat, and his public career ended - with that hour. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_260" id="page_260"></a>{260}</span> - wantonness of such a sacrifice of a useful life, where the writer who - figured as the cause of the quarrel did not even take a part in it, gave - special point to the condemnation of the false standard of honor set up by - the “code.” The funeral services for Cilley at the Capitol were attended - by the President and Cabinet, in testimony to the high esteem in which he - had universally been held; while the Supreme Court declined its invitation - in a body, as the most emphatic means of expressing its abhorrence of - glossing murder with a thin coat of etiquette. Ministers, not only in - Washington but in all the more highly civilized parts of the country, - denounced dueling from the pulpit, newspapers published editorials and - associations adopted resolutions against it, additional legislation for - the abolition of the practice was introduced in various legislatures, and - Congress passed an act to punish, with a term in the penitentiary, the - sending or acceptance of a challenge in the District of Columbia.<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_261" id="page_261"></a>{261}</span> - </p> - <div class="figcenter" style="width: 448px;"> - <a href="images/ill_031_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_031_sml.jpg" - width="448" height="574" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="c"> - <i>Stage Entrance through which Booth Escaped</i> - </p> - </div> - </div> - <h2> - <a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X<br /><br /> <small>MONUMENTS - AND MEMORIES</small> - </h2> - <p class="nind"> - <span class="letra">A</span>MONG the projects in the minds of the founders - of the federal city was a monument to celebrate the success of the - American Revolution. George Washington personally selected the site for - it, due south of the center of the President’s House. Meanwhile the - Continental Congress had recommended the erection of an equestrian statue - of General Washington, and, immediately after his death, the Congress then - in session resolved to rear a monument under which his body should be - entombed. But, though resolutions were cheap, monuments were costly, and - the project gradually faded out of mind till revived in 1816 by a member - of Congress from South Carolina. Still nothing happened, till another - generation devised a plan for raising the money by popular subscription - without waiting longer for a Government appropriation. The Washington - Monument Society was organized with a membership fee of one dollar, so as - to give every American opportunity<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_262" - id="page_262"></a>{262}</span> to subscribe. By 1848 a sufficient fund had - been collected to spur Congress into presenting a site; and the spot - chosen was that marked by Washington for the monument to the Revolution, - thus happily combining his plan with the nation’s tribute to himself. - Tests of the ground showed that, in order to get a safe footing, it would - be necessary to move a little further to the eastward, which accounts for - the present monument’s being not quite on the short axis of the White - House. - </p> - <p> - For the original plan of a statue, an obelisk of granite and marble was - substituted, which by its simplicity of lines, its towering height, and - its purity of color, should symbolize the exceptional character and - services of the foremost American. The building fund held out pretty well - till a politico-religious quarrel arose over the acceptance, for - incorporation in the monument, of a fine block of African marble sent by - the Pope; and on Washington’s birthday, 1855, a Know-Nothing mob descended - upon the headquarters of the Society, seized its books and papers, and - took forcible possession of the monument. The Know-Nothing party ended its - political existence three years later, and the monument went back to its - former custodians; but the riotous demonstration had checked the orderly - progress of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_263" id="page_263"></a>{263}</span> - work, and, as the Civil War was imminent, the shaft, then one hundred - seventy-eight feet high, was roofed over to await the return of normal - conditions. It was not till 1876 that, under the patriotic impetus of the - centenary, Congress was induced to coöperate. The work was vigorously - pushed from 1880 to 1884; and in the spring of 1885, when it had attained - a height of five hundred fifty-five feet and five and five-tenths inches, - occurred the formal dedication of the Washington National Monument as we - see it to-day. - </p> - <p> - For the benefit of any one whose pleasure in a masterpiece is measured - with a plummet, it may be noted that the Monument falls less than fifty - feet short of the Tower of Babel; to him who revels in terms of distance, - the glistening pile will appeal on the ground that it is visible from a - crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains, more than forty miles away as the bee - flies. But most of its neighbors in Washington find it for other reasons - an unceasing joy. To us it is more truly at the heart of things than even - the Capitol. It is the hoary sentinel at our water-gate; or, spread the - city out like a fan, and the Monument is the pivot which holds the frame - together. - </p> - <p> - The visitor who has seen it once has just begun to see it. A smooth-faced - obelisk, devoid of ornament,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_264" - id="page_264"></a>{264}</span> it would appear the stolidest object in the - landscape; in truth, it is as versatile as the clouds. Every change in - your position reveals it in a new phase. Go close to it and look up, and - its walls seem to rise infinitely and dissolve into the atmosphere; stand - on the neighboring hills, and you are tempted to throw a stone over its - top; sail down the Potomac, and the slender white shaft is still sending - its farewells after you when the city has passed out of sight. It plays - chameleon to the weather. It may be gay one moment and grave the next, - like the world. Sometimes, in the varying lights, it loses its perspective - and becomes merely a flat blade struck against space; an hour later, every - line and seam is marked with the crispness of chiseled sculpture. On a - fair morning, it is radiant under the first beams of the rising sun; in - the full of the moon, it is like a thing from another world—cold, - shimmering, unreal. Often in the spring and fall its peak is lost in - vapor, and the shaft looks as if it were a tall, thin Ossa penetrating the - home of the gods. Again, with its base wrapped in fog and its summit in - cloud, it is a symbol of human destiny, emerging from one mystery only to - pass into another. Always the same, yet never twice alike, it is to the - old Washingtonian a being instinct with life, a personality to be known - and loved. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_265" id="page_265"></a>{265}</span> - has relatively little to tell the passing stranger, but many confidences - for the friend of years. - </p> - <p> - To realize all that it is to us, you must see it on a changeable day. Come - with me then to the Capitol, whence, from an outlook on the western - terrace, we face a thick and troubled sky. The air is murky. Clouds - fringed with gray fleece, which have been hanging so low as to hide the - apex of the Monument, are folding back upon themselves in the southern - heavens, forming a rampart dark and forbidding. Against this the obelisk - is projected, having caught and held one ray of pure sunshine which has - found an opening and shot through like a searchlight. It is plain that an - atmospheric battle is at hand. The garrulous city seems struck dumb; the - timid trees are shivering with apprehension; the voice of the wind is half - sob and half warning. The search-ray vanishes as the door of the cloud - fort is closed and the rumbling of the bolts is heard behind it. The - landscape in the background is blotted from view by eddies of yellow dust, - as if a myriad of horsemen were making a tentative charge. Silent and - unmoved, the obelisk stands there, a white warrior bidding defiance to the - forces of sky and earth. As the subsiding dust marks the retreat of the - cavalry, the artillery opens fire. First one masked porthole<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_266" id="page_266"></a>{266}</span> and then - another belches flame, but the sharp crash or dull roar which follows - passes quite unnoticed by the champion. Then comes the rattle of musketry, - as a sheet of hail sweeps across the field. - </p> - <p> - We are not watching a combat, only an assault, for these demonstrations - call forth no response. On the champion—taking everything, giving - nothing—the only effect they produce is a change of color from snowy - white to ashen gray. Even that is but for a moment. As the storm of hail - melts into a shower of limpid raindrops to which the relieved trees open - their palms, the wind ceases its wailing, and the wall of cloud falls - apart to let the sun’s rays through once more. - </p> - <p> - The Monument is, of course, only one of many memorials to great men in - Washington. We have heroes and philanthropists, poets and physicians, - soldiers and men of science, mounted and afoot, standing and sitting. We - have horses in every posture that will hold a rider: Jackson’s balanced on - its hind legs like the toy charger on the nursery mantelpiece; - Washington’s getting ready to try the same trick; Sheridan’s dashing along - the line to the lilt of Buchanan Read’s poem; Pulaski’s, Greene’s and - McPherson’s, Hancock’s and McClellan’s and Logan’s, walking calmly over - the field; Scott’s and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_267" - id="page_267"></a>{267}</span> Sherman’s watching the parade. The best - equestrian statue is that of General George H. Thomas, by Quincy Ward, at - the junction of Massachusetts Avenue with Fourteenth Street. Here we have - the acme of art in treating such a subject: spirit coupled with repose. - The horse has been moving, but has been checked by the rider to give him a - chance to look about; they could go on the next moment if need be, or they - could stand indefinitely just as they are. - </p> - <p> - The Scott statue, at Massachusetts Avenue and Sixteenth Street, is good if - we take it apart and examine it piecemeal; but the massive rider threatens - to break down his slender-limbed steed, which is, by some mischance, of - the mare’s build and not the stallion’s. General Sheridan, who used to - live within a stone’s throw of this statue, lay while ill in a bedroom - commanding a view of it. “I hope,” he remarked one day, “that if a - grateful country ever commemorates me in bronze, it will give me a better - mount than old Scott’s!” It is hard to find anything new to do with a - general officer and a horse without putting them into some impossible - attitude. A sculptor who attempts a reasonable innovation is liable to be - snubbed for it, as one was not long ago when he offered in competition a - statue of General<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_268" id="page_268"></a>{268}</span> - Grant, dismounted, with his bridle swung over one of his arms while he - used the other hand to hold his field-glass. - </p> - <p> - Some of the best-known statues in the city have attracted as much - attention by their travels as by their artistic qualities. One of these is - Greenough’s colossal marble presentment of George Washington, which - visitors to the Capitol ten years ago will recall as standing in the open - space facing the main east portico. Greenough was in Italy in 1835, when - it was ordered, and spent eight years on its production. It shows - Washington seated, nude to the waist, and below that draped in a flowing - robe. It weighed, when finished, twelve tons without a pedestal, and - required twenty-two yoke of oxen to haul from Florence to Genoa. Peasants - who saw it on the way took it for the image of some mighty saint, and - dropped upon their knees and crossed themselves as it passed. The - man-of-war which was waiting for it at Genoa had no hatchway large enough - to take it in, so a merchant vessel had to be chartered for its voyage to - America. Arrived at the Capitol, where it was intended to stand in the - center of the rotunda, it could not be squeezed through the doors, and the - masonry had to be cut away. Then it was discovered that it was causing the - floor to settle, and a lot of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_269" - id="page_269"></a>{269}</span> shoring had to be done in the crypt - underneath. Finally, as it was not suited to its place, the masonry around - the doorway was ripped out again, and the statue was set up in the plaza, - where it remained till 1908, the sport of rains and frosts and - souvenir-maniacs, when it took what every one hopes will be its last - journey—to the National Museum. The original purpose of Congress was - to have a “pedestrian statue” costing, all told, five thousand dollars. - What has eventuated is Washington’s head set on a torso of Jupiter Tonans, - costing, with all its traveling expenses, more than fifty thousand - dollars. - </p> - <p> - Another peregrinating statue is that of Thomas Jefferson, which stands - to-day against the east wall of the rotunda. In 1833 it occupied the - center of this room. When Greenough’s Washington was brought in, Jefferson - was removed to the Library of Congress, which was then housed in the rooms - of the west front of the Capitol. In 1850 it was carried up to the White - House and planted in the middle of the north garden. It held that site for - twenty-four years and then came back to the rotunda, from which there is - no reason to think it will be moved again. - </p> - <p> - The only parallel to these instances of frequent shifts in the local art - world is the case of a painting entitled “Love and Life,” presented by the - English<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_270" id="page_270"></a>{270}</span> - artist, George F. Watts, to our Government. Mr. Cleveland, who was - President at the time, hung it in the White House, but the prudish - comments passed upon it by visitors led to its transfer to the Corcoran - Gallery of Art. In the Roosevelt administration it made three trips, first - to the White House, then back to the Corcoran Gallery, and then to the - White House again, where it rested till President Taft came in, only to be - rebanished to the Corcoran Gallery. President Wilson had it returned to - the White House, and there it is at the present writing. - </p> - <p> - Although there has never been in Washington a definite scheme for the - location of statues, which have been planted, hit or miss, wherever space - offered, accident has arranged a few of them so as to form a rather - remarkable historical series. Starting with the Washington National - Monument, in honor of the foremost figure in the Revolution and the - President who set in motion the machinery of the embryo republic, we pass - directly northward to the White House, home of all his successors in the - Presidency and emblematic of the civil government which emerged from the - War for Independence. A few hundred feet further northward stands the - statue of Andrew Jackson, the hero of the War of 1812, the first fought by - the United States as a nation. About<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_271" id="page_271"></a>{271}</span> a half-mile more to the - north we reach the statue of Winfield Scott, the general whose capture of - Mexico City ended the second foreign war in which the nation engaged. All - that is needed to complete this remarkable procession is a memorial arch - on Sixteenth Street heights, to the soldiers and sailors on both sides of - the Civil War which cemented the Union begun under Washington. - </p> - <p> - Strange to say, the city which best knew Lincoln and Grant has had, up to - this time, no out-of-doors statue whatever of Grant and no adequate one of - Lincoln. In Lincoln Park, about a mile east of the Capitol, is the - Emancipation statue, and in front of the City Hall there is an - insignificant standing figure of Lincoln, perched on a pillar so high that - the features can be seen only dimly. A statue of Grant will later occupy - the central pedestal of a group in the little park at the foot of the - western slope of the Capitol grounds, which it is proposed to call Union - Square. On either side of Grant, the plan originally was to place Sherman - and Sheridan; but as the Sherman and Sheridan statues already set up - elsewhere are so diverse in character, it has been questioned whether they - would fit into the Union Square group. After many suggestions, - controversies, and reports, Congress decided, a year or<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_272" id="page_272"></a>{272}</span> two ago, - upon a form of memorial for Lincoln, which is already under way. It will - be a marble temple, designed by Henry Bacon, in Potomac Park, with a - statue of the War President, by Daniel Chester French, visible in the - recesses of its dignified colonnade. - </p> - <p> - Besides the scores of statues and miles of painted portraits which keep - vivid the memory of great and good men who are gone, Washington has many - institutions and buildings with personal associations that fulfil a - similar purpose. The Corcoran Gallery of Art, for instance, was the gift - of the late William W. Corcoran, the financier. The national deaf-mute - college at Kendall Green, on the northeastern edge of the city, recalls - its original benefactor, Amos Kendall, who was Postmaster-general under - Jackson, as well as the work of Doctor Edward M. Gallaudet in raising it - from its modest beginnings to its present eminence. The Pension Office, in - which eight inaugural balls have been held, takes first rank among our - public edifices for architectural ugliness. It is nevertheless an honor to - the memory of Quartermaster-general Meigs, who asked the privilege of - proving, in an era of extravagance, that a suitable building could be - reared for the money allotted to it, and who turned back into the treasury - a large slice of his appropriation after having paid every<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_273" id="page_273"></a>{273}</span> bill. - The present Library of Congress is, in a like manner, a monument to the - late Bernard R. Green, whose engineering skill and administrative faculty - performed a feat corresponding to General Meigs’s; it reminds us, also, of - Thomas Jefferson, whose private library, purchased after the burning of - the Capitol, formed the nucleus of the present magnificent collection. The - Soldiers’ Home, near the north boundary of the city, commemorates General - Scott’s success in Mexico, the tribute he exacted there for a breach of - truce being used in founding this beautiful retreat, where veterans of the - regular army may pass their declining years in comfort. - </p> - <p> - Few people, probably, are aware that the Smithsonian Institution, whose - fame is as wide as civilization, owes its origin to the rejection of a - manuscript prepared for publication. James Smithson, an Englishman of - means, who had been a frequent contributor to the Philosophical - Transactions of the Royal Society of London, sent in, a little less than a - century ago, a paper which the censors refused to print; and its author - avenged the affront by altering his will, in which he had bequeathed his - entire fortune to the Society, so as to throw the reversion to the United - States, a country he had never seen, to be used for “an establishment for - the increase and diffusion of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_274" - id="page_274"></a>{274}</span> knowledge among men.” Congress had a long - quibble about the disposal of the money, but at last hit upon a plan, and - since then has turned over much of the public scientific research work to - be performed “under the direction of the Smithsonian Institution.” The - accumulation of trophies of exploration, historical relics, and gifts of - objects of art and industry from foreign potentates, presently overflowed - the accommodations of the Institution proper, and a National Museum was - built to house these treasures. The Smithsonian commemorates not only the - beneficence of Smithson, but the great achievements of its several - executive heads, like Joseph Henry’s in electromagnetism, Spencer F. - Baird’s in the culture of fish as a source of food-supply, and Samuel P. - Langley’s in aërial navigation and the standardization of time. - </p> - <p> - The old City Hall, better known now as the District Court House, will be - remembered as the place where the first President Harrison probably caught - the cold which resulted in his death. It has a tragic association with - another President, also, for in one of its court-rooms was conducted the - trial of Guiteau for assassinating James A. Garfield. This trial excited - vigorous comment throughout the country by what seemed to many critics an - unwarrantable latitude allowed the defendant for self-exploitation.<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_275" id="page_275"></a>{275}</span> - </p> - <div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;"> - <a href="images/ill_032_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_032_sml.jpg" - width="450" height="592" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - <div class="caption"> - <p class="c"> - <i>Rendezvous of the Lincoln Conspirators</i> - </p> - </div> - </div> - <p> - Judge Walter T. Cox, who presided, was one of the ablest and most - conscientious jurists who ever sat on the Supreme bench of the District. - From personal attendance on the trial, I feel sure that the course pursued - by him was the only one which could have given the jury a sure ground for - dooming the assassin to death; and it was doubtless a realization of that - fact which held in check the mob spirit that began to show itself at one - stage and threatened to save the Government the trouble of putting up a - gallows. The popular rancor against Guiteau was so strong that in order to - get him safely into the Court House from the “black Maria” which brought - him from the jail every morning, and to reverse the operation at the close - of every day’s session, the vehicle was backed up within about twenty feet - of one of the basement doors, and a double file of police, standing - shoulder to shoulder with clubs drawn, made a narrow little lane through - which he was rushed at a quickstep, his face blanched with terror, and his - furtive eyes fixed on the earth. - </p> - <p> - Another historical incident is associated with the old building, to which - many attribute the final resolve of President Lincoln to issue his - Emancipation Proclamation. I refer to the abolition of slavery in the - District of Columbia. A bill to this end, introduced<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_276" id="page_276"></a>{276}</span> by Henry Wilson in - December, 1861, was hotly debated in Congress but finally passed, and was - signed on April 16, 1862. Only loyal owners were to be paid for their - slaves, and every applicant for compensation had to take an iron-clad oath - of allegiance to the Government. The whole business was handled by a board - of three commissioners, who employed for their assistance an experienced - slave-dealer imported from Baltimore. They met in one of the court-rooms, - and the dealer put the negroes through their paces just as he had been - accustomed to in the heyday of his trade, making them dance to show their - suppleness and bite various tough substances as a test of the soundness of - their teeth. Many of the black men and women came into the room singing - hosannas to glorify the dawn of freedom. The highest appraisement of any - slave was seven hundred and eighty-eight dollars for a good blacksmith; - the lowest was ten dollars and ninety-five cents for a baby. These were - about half the prices which would have been brought but for the fact that - only one million dollars was appropriated, whereas the total estimated - value of the slaves paid for was nearer two million, and all payments had - to be scaled accordingly. - </p> - <p> - A remarkable feature of this episode was the discovery <span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_277" id="page_277"></a>{277}</span>of how - many slaveholders there were who were not white people. Now and then in - the past, when for some special reason a negro had been freed, he would - save his earnings till he had accumulated enough to buy his wife and - children, who still remained in bondage to him till he saw fit to manumit - them. One case which attracted wide attention was that of a woman who had - bought her husband, a graceless scamp who proceeded to celebrate his good - fortune by becoming an incorrigible drunkard. This had so outraged the - feelings of his wife that she had finally sold him to a dealer who was - picking up a boatload of cheap slaves to carry south. From that hour she - had lost sight of him; but she haunted the commissioners’ sessions from - day to day in the hope that the Government, now that it was going into the - slave-buying business, might give her a little addition to the bargain - price at which she had sold the old man. - </p> - <p> - Judiciary Square, in which the Court House and the Pension Office stand, - was, when Chief Justice Taney lived in Indiana Avenue, a neighborhood of - consequence. Several of the older buildings thereabout exhale a flavor of - fifty or sixty years ago, and tradition connects them with such personages - as Rufus Choate, Caleb Cushing, Thomas H. Benton, Stephen A. Douglas, John - C. Fremont, and John A. Dix.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_278" - id="page_278"></a>{278}</span> - </p> - <p> - Opposite the east park of the Capitol, as we have already seen, stands the - Old Capitol, a building with a variegated history. It was erected for the - accommodation of Congress after the burning of the Capitol by the British. - In it Henry Clay passed some years of his Speakership, and till very - lately there was a scar on the wall of one of the rooms which was said to - have been made by his desk. Under its roof the first Senators from - Indiana, Illinois, and Mississippi took their seats. In front of it, - President Monroe was inaugurated. After Congress left it to return to the - restored Capitol, it was rented for a boarding-house, patronized chiefly - by Senators and Representatives. Here John C. Calhoun lived for some time, - and here he died. In one of the rooms, Persico, the Italian sculptor, - worked out the model of his “Discoverer.” In another, Ann Royall edited - her <i>Huntress</i>. - </p> - <p> - After the Civil War broke out, the Old Capitol was turned into a jail for - the confinement of military offenders who were awaiting trial by - court-martial, and for Confederate spies and other persons accused of - unlawfully giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Belle Boyd, who was locked - up there for a while, has left us her impressions of the place as “a vast - brick building, like all prisons, somber, chilling, and repulsive.<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_279" id="page_279"></a>{279}</span>” She - describes William P. Wood, who was superintendent of the prison, as - “having a humane heart beneath a rough exterior.” Every Sunday he used to - provide facilities for religious worship to his compulsory guests, - announcing the hours and forms in characteristic fashion: “All you who - want to hear the word of God preached according to Jeff Davis, go down - into the yard; and all of you who want to hear it preached according to - Abe Lincoln, go into No. 16.” In the jail yard Henry Wirz, who had been - the keeper of the Confederate military prison at Andersonville, Georgia, - where so many Union soldiers died of starvation and disease, was hanged - for murder. At the close of the war the building was divided into a block - of dwellings, of which the southernmost was long the home of the late - Justice Field of the Supreme Court. The Justice used to enjoy telling his - visitors about the distinguished men from the South who, after dining at - his table, had roamed over the premises and located their one-time places - of confinement. - </p> - <p> - The oldest house of worship in Washington is St. Paul’s, a spireless - Protestant Episcopal church not far from the Soldiers’ Home. It stands - well toward the rear of the Rock Creek Cemetery, which also contains the - world-famous bronze by St. Gaudens,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_280" - id="page_280"></a>{280}</span> in the Adams lot. This is a seated female - figure, in flowing classic drapery, to which no one has ventured to attach - a permanent title, though it has been variously known as “Grief” and “The - Peace of God.” St. Paul’s goes back to the colonial era and was built of - brick imported from England. A younger church, nevertheless numbered among - the oldest relics of its class within the city proper, is St. John’s, at - the corner of Sixteenth and H streets. It was designed by Latrobe about - the time he undertook the restoration of the Capitol and was consecrated - in 1816. It has long been called “the President’s church” because so many - tenants of the White House, just across Lafayette Square, have worshiped - in it. - </p> - <p> - Madison and Monroe were the first, and the vestry soon set apart one pew - to be preserved always for the free use of the reigning Presidential - family. John Quincy Adams was a Unitarian, but came to the afternoon - services; and Jackson, though a Methodist, was frequently to be seen - there. Van Buren was a constant attendant both as Vice-president and as - President. William Henry Harrison, for the month he lived in Washington, - came regularly, regardless of the weather or his state of health; and he - was to have been confirmed the very week he died. Tyler was a member of - the congregation. Polk had other<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_281" - id="page_281"></a>{281}</span> affiliations, but Taylor, Fillmore, and - Buchanan used the President’s pew. Then came a break in the line till - Arthur entered the White House; and his retirement appears to have been - followed by another lapse in the succession till Mrs. Roosevelt revived - it. Her husband used to accompany her from time to time, though he - retained his active connection with the Reformed (Dutch) communion. Since - the Roosevelts, the line has been broken again. John Quincy Adams became - so fond of St. John’s that, when he returned to Washington as a - Representative, he renewed his Sunday visits. He paid close attention to - the preliminary service but seemed to sleep through the sermon, though he - was usually able to repeat the next day, with considerable accuracy, the - main things the minister had said. - </p> - <p> - This whole neighborhood bristles with memories of great people. The old - Tayloe mansion was styled, in its later years, “the Cream-white House,” - partly because of its color, and partly in jocose reference to its - occupancy by two or three Vice-presidents. The house on the corner north - of it, now owned by the Cosmos Club, was the home of Dolly Madison in her - widowhood. After her death it passed into the hands of Charles Wilkes, the - gallant naval officer who was for many years the unrecognized discoverer<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_282" id="page_282"></a>{282}</span> of the - Antarctic continent, and who, in the early days of the Civil War, forcibly - took two of his late Washington neighbors, Messrs. Mason and Slidell, off - the British steamer <i>Trent</i>, which was conveying them to Europe on a - diplomatic mission for the Confederate Government. South of the Tayloe - house is the Belasco Theater, on the site of the old-fashioned red brick - building in which occurred the attempted assassination of Secretary Seward - and where James G. Blaine passed the last years of his life. On H Street, - about a block to the eastward, General McClellan made his headquarters in - the intervals between his commands of the Army of the Potomac; while in a - near cluster are former homes of Commodore Decatur, John Quincy Adams, - Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Montgomery Blair, Gideon Welles, George - Bancroft, and John Hay, as well as the house where the Ashburton treaty - was negotiated and where Owen Meredith wrote his “Lucile.” Edward Everett, - Jefferson Davis, and Tobias Lear lived, at various times, a short distance - away. - </p> - <p> - One of my favorite excursions about the city with friends who revere the - memory of the War President is what I call my “Lincoln pilgrimage.” We - start at the White House, turn eastward and take F Street to Tenth, and - then southward a half-square. This<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_283" - id="page_283"></a>{283}</span> brings us in front of the building which - once was Ford’s Theater, by the route taken by Lincoln on the evening of - Good Friday, 1865. Here are the arches which once opened into the theater - lobby but are now used for ground-floor windows; through one of them he - passed on his way to his box. Directly across the street is the house to - which he was carried to die. In it is preserved the Oldroyd collection of - Lincoln relics, a really remarkable array. After inspecting it, we return - to F Street and go eastward again to about the middle of the block, where - an alley emerges from a lower level south of us. Down into this we dive, - and, making a sharp right-angle turn, find ourselves at the old stage-door - of the theater, beside which Booth left his horse, and through which he - made his dash for liberty after his mad deed. - </p> - <p> - Back again up the alley we climb, through F Street to Ninth, through Ninth - to H, and eastward on H Street to Number 604, the house of Mrs. Surratt, - the rendezvous of the conspirators and the place where some of them were - captured. It looks to-day very much as it did on the night of the - assassination. Retracing our steps to Seventh Street, we board a - southbound car, which carries us to the gate of the reservation now - occupied by the Washington Barracks and the Army War College. Here, within - a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_284" id="page_284"></a>{284}</span> - few hundred feet of the entrance, used to stand the military prison where - the conspirators were confined, and in the yard of which they paid the - last penalty for their crime. - </p> - <p> - - </p> - <p> - And here, dear reader, we come to the end of our present walks and talks - about Washington. As I warned you at the outset, I have treated our - wanderings as a pleasure-jaunt rather than as a medium of solid - instruction. When you find yourself thirsting for the severely practical, - you can come back and make the round again, if you choose, in a - sight-seeing car, and the megaphone-man will point out to you twice as - many objects of interest and give you three times as much information - about them—accurate or otherwise. He will take pains to show you all - the Government buildings and the hotels, the foreign legations and the - theaters, the millionaires’ houses, and parks and circles and statuary - which I have dismissed with a line or left unmentioned. He will tell you - how many tons every bronze weighs, how long every edifice took in - building, and how large a fortune every Senator amassed before crowning - his career with a tour of public service. I could have told you these - things, too, but, rather than force too fast a gait upon you, I have left - them<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_285" id="page_285"></a>{285}</span> - for the megaphone-man and taken for my task some odds and ends he could - not take for his. I should have liked to tell you how the Government swept - all the electric wires out of the sky and hid them underground; how it - drained the marshes on the city’s western edge, cleared the channels of - the Potomac, and built out of the dredgings a big pleasure-ground; and how - it got rid of the annual inundations, in one of which, just about a - generation ago, I crossed the busiest part of Pennsylvania Avenue in a - rowboat. - </p> - <p> - These improvements, and others in the same category, have been paralleled - by the changes in the architecture of the city, at the expense of tearing - down something old to make room for whatever new was to go up. Touched by - the spirit of progress, the face of Washington is rapidly becoming as - destitute of landmarks as its origin is destitute of myths, and the artist - who visits it in quest of the antique has a hunt before him. Nevertheless, - it has not lost its picturesque appeal for the pencil guided by - imagination, or its colorful legends for the memory seeking relief from - more serious things. - </p> - <p> - Hence this book.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_286" id="page_286"></a>{286}</span> - </p> - <div class="figcenter" style="width: 215px;"> - <a href="images/ill_033_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_033_sml.jpg" - class="gry" width="215" height="333" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> - </div> - <p> - <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_287" id="page_287"></a>{287}</span> - </p> - <h2> - <a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX - </h2> - <p class="c"> - <a href="#A">A</a>, <a href="#B">B</a>, <a href="#C">C</a>, <a href="#D">D</a>, - <a href="#E">E</a>, <a href="#F">F</a>, <a href="#G">G</a>, <a href="#H">H</a>, - <a href="#I-i">I</a>, <a href="#J">J</a>, <a href="#K">K</a>, <a href="#L">L</a>, - <a href="#M">M</a>, <a href="#N">N</a>, <a href="#O">O</a>, <a href="#P">P</a>, - <a href="#R">R</a>, <a href="#S">S</a>, <a href="#T">T</a>, <a href="#V-i">V</a>, - <a href="#W">W</a>. - </p> - <p class="nind"> - <a name="A" id="A"></a>Adams, Abigail, <a href="#page_009">9</a>, <a - href="#page_115">115</a>, <a href="#page_119">119</a>.<br /> <span - style="margin-left: 1em;">John, <a href="#page_007">7</a>, <a - href="#page_073">73</a>, <a href="#page_110">110</a>, <a href="#page_119">119</a>, - <a href="#page_150">150</a>, <a href="#page_156">156</a>, <a - href="#page_228">228</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">John - Quincy, <a href="#page_020">20</a>, <a href="#page_058">58</a>, <a - href="#page_065">65</a>, <a href="#page_096">96</a>, <a href="#page_147">147</a>, - <a href="#page_150">150</a>, <a href="#page_151">151</a>, <a - href="#page_181">181</a>, <a href="#page_280">280</a>, <a href="#page_281">281</a>, - <a href="#page_282">282</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mrs. - John Quincy, <a href="#page_151">151</a>.</span><br /> Albert Edward, - Prince of Wales, <a href="#page_023">23</a>, <a href="#page_192">192</a>, - <a href="#page_233">233</a>.<br /> Alexandria, Va., <a href="#page_004">4</a>, - <a href="#page_012">12</a>, <a href="#page_054">54</a>, <a href="#page_238">238</a>.<br /> - Allston, Theodosia, <a href="#page_242">242</a>.<br /> Anacostia, D.C., <a - href="#page_084">84</a>.<br /> Anderson, Major Robert, <a href="#page_193">193</a>.<br /> - Arlington Cemetery, <a href="#page_235">235</a>.<br /> Army War College, <a - href="#page_017">17</a>, <a href="#page_283">283</a>.<br /> Arthur, Chester - A., <a href="#page_224">224</a>, <a href="#page_281">281</a>.<br /> <br /> - <a name="B" id="B"></a>Bagot, Sir George, <a href="#page_138">138</a>.<br /> - Baird, Spencer F., <a href="#page_274">274</a>.<br /> Bancroft, George, <a - href="#page_282">282</a>.<br /> Barksdale, William, <a href="#page_103">103</a>.<br /> - Barney, Joshua, <a href="#page_015">15</a>.<br /> Barron, James, <a - href="#page_257">257</a>.<br /> Beanes, Dr. William, <a href="#page_252">252</a>.<br /> - Belasco Theater, <a href="#page_282">282</a>.<br /> Bell, John, <a - href="#page_027">27</a>.<br /> Bellows, Rev. Dr. Henry W., <a - href="#page_198">198</a>.<br /> Benton, Joel, <a href="#page_254">254</a>.<br /> - <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thomas H., <a href="#page_277">277</a>.</span><br /> - Bladensburg, Md., <a href="#page_015">15</a>, <a href="#page_135">135</a>, - <a href="#page_257">257</a>.<br /> Blaine, James G., <a href="#page_203">203</a>, - <a href="#page_215">215</a>, <a href="#page_227">227</a>, <a - href="#page_282">282</a>.<br /> Blair, Montgomery, <a href="#page_282">282</a>.<br /> - Bodisco, Baron, <a href="#page_254">254</a>.<br /> <span - style="margin-left: 1em;">Baroness, <a href="#page_255">255</a>.</span><br /> - Bonaparte, Jerome, <a href="#page_128">128</a>.<br /> Booth, John Wilkes, - <a href="#page_043">43</a>.<br /> Boyd, Belle, <a href="#page_278">278</a>.<br /> - Braddock, Edward, <a href="#page_239">239</a>, <a href="#page_243">243</a>.<br /> - Breckinridge, John C., <a href="#page_027">27</a>, <a href="#page_030">30</a>.<br /> - <span style="margin-left: 1em;">William C. P., <a href="#page_105">105</a>.</span><br /> - Brooks, Rt. Rev. Phillips, <a href="#page_243">243</a>.<br /> <span - style="margin-left: 1em;">Preston, <a href="#page_068">68</a>, <a - href="#page_189">189</a>.</span><br /> Buchanan, James, <a href="#page_030">30</a>, - <a href="#page_190">190</a>, <a href="#page_196">196</a>, <a - href="#page_281">281</a>.<br /> Buchignani, Mrs. (See <span class="smcap">Mrs. - John H. Eaton</span>.)<br /> Bulfinch, Charles, <a href="#page_056">56</a>, - <a href="#page_057">57</a>, <a href="#page_060">60</a>.<br /> Bull Run, - Battle of, <a href="#page_037">37</a>, <a href="#page_236">236</a>.<br /> - Burlingame, Anson, <a href="#page_190">190</a>.<br /> Burns, David, <a - href="#page_004">4</a>.<br /> Burr, Aaron, <a href="#page_093">93</a>, <a - href="#page_242">242</a>.<br /> <br /> <a name="C" id="C"></a>Calhoun, John - C., <a href="#page_164">164</a>, <a href="#page_278">278</a>.<br /> - Capitol, <a href="#page_006">6</a>, <a href="#page_015">15</a>, <a - href="#page_045">45</a>, <a href="#page_054">54</a>, <a href="#page_136">136</a>.<br /> - Cary, Mary, <a href="#page_248">248</a>.<br /> Chase, Salmon P., <a - href="#page_202">202</a>.<br /> Choate, Rufus, <a href="#page_277">277</a>.<br /> - Cilley, Jonathan, <a href="#page_259">259</a>.<br /> City Hall, <a - href="#page_173">173</a>, <a href="#page_271">271</a>, <a href="#page_274">274</a>, - <a href="#page_277">277</a>.<br /> Civil War, <a href="#page_025">25</a>, - <a href="#page_026">26</a>, <a href="#page_194">194</a>, <a - href="#page_278">278</a>.<br /> Clay, Henry, <a href="#page_065">65</a>, <a - href="#page_068">68</a>, <a href="#page_140">140</a>, <a href="#page_152">152</a>, - <a href="#page_164">164</a>, <a href="#page_172">172</a>, <a - href="#page_181">181</a>, <a href="#page_187">187</a>, <a href="#page_256">256</a>, - <a href="#page_278">278</a>, <a href="#page_282">282</a>.<br /> Cleveland, - Frances Folsom, <a href="#page_226">226</a>, <a href="#page_229">229</a>.<br /> - <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Grover, <a href="#page_112">112</a>, <a - href="#page_225">225</a>, <a href="#page_229">229</a>, <a href="#page_232">232</a>.</span><br /> - Clinton, George, <a href="#page_093">93</a>.<br /> Cobb, Howell, <a - href="#page_191">191</a>.<br /> Cockburn, Sir George,<span class="pagenum"><a - name="page_288" id="page_288"></a>{288}</span> <a href="#page_015">15</a>, - <a href="#page_253">253</a>.<br /> Congress, <a href="#page_008">8</a>, <a - href="#page_019">19</a>, <a href="#page_054">54</a>, <a href="#page_082">82</a>, - <a href="#page_085">85</a>, <a href="#page_138">138</a>. (See also <span - class="smcap">Senate</span> and <span class="smcap">House of - Representatives</span>.)<br /> Conkling, Roscoe, <a href="#page_203">203</a>, - <a href="#page_215">215</a>.<br /> Corcoran, William W., <a href="#page_254">254</a>.<br /> - Corcoran Gallery of Art, <a href="#page_270">270</a>, <a href="#page_272">272</a>.<br /> - Cosmos Club, <a href="#page_281">281</a>.<br /> Court House. (See <span - class="smcap">City Hall</span>.)<br /> Covode, John, <a href="#page_102">102</a>.<br /> - Cox, Judge Walter T., <a href="#page_275">275</a>.<br /> Coxey’s Army, <a - href="#page_080">80</a>.<br /> Craig, Burton F., <a href="#page_102">102</a>.<br /> - Crawford, Thomas, <a href="#page_057">57</a>.<br /> Crisp, Charles F., <a - href="#page_104">104</a>.<br /> Cunningham, Ann Pamela, <a href="#page_245">245</a>.<br /> - Gushing, Caleb, <a href="#page_214">214</a>, <a href="#page_277">277</a>.<br /> - Custis, George, <a href="#page_133">133</a>, <a href="#page_235">235</a>.<br /> - <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nellie, <a href="#page_251">251</a>.</span><br /> - <br /> <a name="D" id="D"></a>Davis, Harriet Riddle, <a href="#page_209">209</a>.<br /> - <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jefferson, <a href="#page_029">29</a>, <a - href="#page_057">57</a>, <a href="#page_072">72</a>, <a href="#page_282">282</a>.</span><br /> - Decatur, Stephen, <a href="#page_257">257</a>, <a href="#page_282">282</a>.<br /> - Dix, John A., <a href="#page_029">29</a>, <a href="#page_277">277</a>.<br /> - Donelson, Andrew J., <a href="#page_162">162</a>.<br /> <span - style="margin-left: 1em;">Mary Emily, <a href="#page_162">162</a>.</span><br /> - Douglas, Stephen A., <a href="#page_027">27</a>, <a href="#page_033">33</a>, - <a href="#page_196">196</a>, <a href="#page_277">277</a>.<br /> Douglass, - Frederick, <a href="#page_221">221</a>.<br /> Dreams, Strange, of Lincoln, - <a href="#page_208">208</a>.<br /> Dueling, Condemnation of, <a - href="#page_260">260</a>.<br /> <br /> <a name="E" id="E"></a>Early, Jubal - A., <a href="#page_041">41</a>.<br /> Eaton, John H., <a href="#page_159">159</a>, - <a href="#page_169">169</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mrs. - John H., <a href="#page_159">159</a>, <a href="#page_168">168</a>, <a - href="#page_179">179</a>.</span><br /> Electoral Commission, <a - href="#page_068">68</a>, <a href="#page_219">219</a>.<br /> Ellsworth, - Ephraim E., <a href="#page_035">35</a>, <a href="#page_243">243</a>.<br /> - Emancipation Proclamation, <a href="#page_200">200</a>, <a href="#page_275">275</a>.<br /> - Emancipation Statue, <a href="#page_271">271</a>.<br /> Everett, Edward, <a - href="#page_282">282</a>.<br /> <br /> <a name="F" id="F"></a>Field, Cyrus - W., <a href="#page_190">190</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Stephen - J., <a href="#page_279">279</a>.</span><br /> Fillmore, Millard, <a - href="#page_185">185</a>, <a href="#page_281">281</a>.<br /> Ford’s - Theater, <a href="#page_043">43</a>, <a href="#page_209">209</a>, <a - href="#page_283">283</a>.<br /> Fort McHenry, Md., <a href="#page_253">253</a>.<br /> - Fort Myer, Va., <a href="#page_237">237</a>.<br /> Foster, Sir Augustus, <a - href="#page_076">76</a>, <a href="#page_127">127</a>.<br /> Franklin - Square, <a href="#page_119">119</a>.<br /> Frelinghuysen, Mrs. Frederick - T., <a href="#page_225">225</a>.<br /> Fremont, Jessie Benton, <a - href="#page_255">255</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">John C., <a - href="#page_255">255</a>, <a href="#page_277">277</a>.</span><br /> French, - Daniel Chester, <a href="#page_272">272</a>.<br /> Fulton, Robert, <a - href="#page_254">254</a>.<br /> <br /> <a name="G" id="G"></a>Gallaudet, Dr. - Edward M., <a href="#page_272">272</a>.<br /> Gardiner, David, <a - href="#page_180">180</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Julia, <a - href="#page_179">179</a>.</span><br /> Garfield, “Grandma,” <a - href="#page_222">222</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">James A., - <a href="#page_222">222</a>, <a href="#page_233">233</a>, <a - href="#page_274">274</a>.</span><br /> Georgetown, D.C., <a href="#page_003">3</a>, - <a href="#page_011">11</a>, <a href="#page_012">12</a>, <a href="#page_251">251</a>.<br /> - Grant, Nellie. (See <span class="smcap">Nellie Grant Sartoris</span>.)<br /> - <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ulysses S., <a href="#page_043">43</a>, <a - href="#page_044">44</a>, <a href="#page_045">45</a>, <a href="#page_205">205</a>, - <a href="#page_212">212</a>, <a href="#page_225">225</a>, <a - href="#page_232">232</a>, <a href="#page_271">271</a>.</span><br /> <span - style="margin-left: 1em;">Mrs. Ulysses S., <a href="#page_225">225</a>.</span><br /> - Graves, William J., <a href="#page_259">259</a>.<br /> Greeley, Horace, <a - href="#page_203">203</a>, <a href="#page_213">213</a>.<br /> Green, Bernard - R., <a href="#page_273">273</a>.<br /> Greenough, Horatio, <a - href="#page_058">58</a>, <a href="#page_268">268</a>.<br /> Grow, Galusha - A., <a href="#page_101">101</a>.<br /> Guiteau, Charles J., <a - href="#page_223">223</a>, <a href="#page_274">274</a>.<br /> <br /> <a - name="H" id="H"></a>Halford, Elijah W., <a href="#page_228">228</a>.<br /> - Hamlin, Hannibal, <a href="#page_032">32</a>.<br /> Hancock, Winfield S., - <a href="#page_223">223</a>, <a href="#page_266">266</a>.<br /> Harrison, - Benjamin, <a href="#page_112">112</a>, <a href="#page_226">226</a>.<br /> - <span style="margin-left: 1em;">William Henry, <a href="#page_172">172</a>, - <a href="#page_274">274</a>, <a href="#page_280">280</a>.</span><br /> - Hawthorne, Nathaniel, <a href="#page_188">188</a>.<br /> Hay, John, <a - href="#page_282">282</a>.<br /> Hayes, Lucy Webb, <a href="#page_220">220</a>.<br /> - <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rutherford B., <a href="#page_218">218</a>.</span><br /> - Henry, Joseph, <a href="#page_274">274</a>.<br /> Hoban, James, <a - href="#page_116">116</a>, <a href="#page_231">231</a>.<br /> House of - Representatives, <a href="#page_010">10</a>, <a href="#page_056">56</a>, - <a href="#page_063">63</a>, <a href="#page_076">76</a>, <a href="#page_085">85</a>, - <a href="#page_139">139</a>. (See also <span class="smcap">Congress</span>.)<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_289" id="page_289"></a>{289}</span><br /> - Hoxie, Vinnie Ream, <a href="#page_211">211</a>.<br /> Humboldt, Baron von, - <a href="#page_125">125</a>.<br /> Hutchinson Family, <a href="#page_204">204</a>.<br /> - Huygens, Bangeman, <a href="#page_160">160</a>, <a href="#page_162">162</a>.<br /> - <br /> <a name="I-i" id="I-i"></a>Inaugural Balls, <a href="#page_134">134</a>, - <a href="#page_175">175</a>, <a href="#page_212">212</a>, <a - href="#page_219">219</a>.<br /> <br /> <a name="J" id="J"></a>Jackson, - Andrew, <a href="#page_058">58</a>, <a href="#page_150">150</a>, <a - href="#page_156">156</a>, <a href="#page_232">232</a>, <a href="#page_266">266</a>, - <a href="#page_270">270</a>, <a href="#page_280">280</a>.<br /> <span - style="margin-left: 1em;">Andrew, Jr., <a href="#page_161">161</a>.</span><br /> - <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mrs. Andrew, <a href="#page_157">157</a>, - <a href="#page_159">159</a>.</span><br /> Jay, John, <a href="#page_012">12</a>, - <a href="#page_069">69</a>.<br /> Jefferson, Thomas, <a href="#page_002">2</a>, - <a href="#page_054">54</a>, <a href="#page_068">68</a>, <a href="#page_111">111</a>, - <a href="#page_121">121</a>, <a href="#page_231">231</a>, <a - href="#page_269">269</a>.<br /> Johnson, Andrew, <a href="#page_044">44</a>, - <a href="#page_211">211</a>.<br /> Judiciary Square, <a href="#page_277">277</a>.<br /> - <br /> <a name="K" id="K"></a>Kearney, Dennis, <a href="#page_222">222</a>.<br /> - Keitt, Lawrence M., <a href="#page_101">101</a>.<br /> Kendall, Amos, <a - href="#page_272">272</a>.<br /> Key, Francis Scott, <a href="#page_252">252</a>.<br /> - Kilbourn, Hallet, <a href="#page_097">97</a>.<br /> Kilgore, Constantine - Buckley, <a href="#page_109">109</a>.<br /> King, William R., <a - href="#page_142">142</a>, <a href="#page_188">188</a>.<br /> Kossuth, - Louis, <a href="#page_186">186</a>.<br /> <br /> <a name="L" id="L"></a>Lafayette, - Marquis de, <a href="#page_065">65</a>.<br /> Lafayette Park, <a - href="#page_005">5</a>, <a href="#page_118">118</a>.<br /> Lamar, Lucius Q. - C., <a href="#page_102">102</a>.<br /> Lane, Harriet, <a href="#page_193">193</a>.<br /> - Latrobe, Benjamin H., <a href="#page_056">56</a>, <a href="#page_280">280</a>.<br /> - Lear, Tobias, <a href="#page_244">244</a>, <a href="#page_282">282</a>.<br /> - Lee, Robert E., <a href="#page_042">42</a>, <a href="#page_235">235</a>.<br /> - L’Enfant, Pierre Charles, <a href="#page_005">5</a>, <a href="#page_083">83</a>, - <a href="#page_231">231</a>.<br /> Library, Public, <a href="#page_049">49</a>.<br /> - Library of Congress, <a href="#page_273">273</a>.<br /> Liliuokalani, - Queen, <a href="#page_221">221</a>.<br /> Lincoln, Abraham, <a - href="#page_030">30</a>, <a href="#page_065">65</a>, <a href="#page_195">195</a>, - <a href="#page_232">232</a>, <a href="#page_271">271</a>, <a - href="#page_275">275</a>, <a href="#page_282">282</a>.<br /> <span - style="margin-left: 1em;">Mary Todd, <a href="#page_196">196</a>, <a - href="#page_208">208</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">“Tad,” - <a href="#page_043">43</a>, <a href="#page_201">201</a>.</span><br /> <span - style="margin-left: 1em;">Willie, <a href="#page_201">201</a>.</span><br /> - Lind, Jennie, <a href="#page_146">146</a>.<br /> Lovejoy, Owen, <a - href="#page_102">102</a>.<br /> <br /> <a name="M" id="M"></a>McClellan, - George B., <a href="#page_236">236</a>, <a href="#page_266">266</a>, <a - href="#page_282">282</a>.<br /> McCreary, James B., <a href="#page_106">106</a>.<br /> - McElroy, Mrs. John, <a href="#page_224">224</a>.<br /> McKee, “Baby,” <a - href="#page_228">228</a>.<br /> McKinley, William, Jr., <a href="#page_112">112</a>, - <a href="#page_221">221</a>, <a href="#page_230">230</a>, <a - href="#page_232">232</a>.<br /> McLean, John, <a href="#page_194">194</a>.<br /> - Madison, Dolly, <a href="#page_019">19</a>, <a href="#page_078">78</a>, <a - href="#page_115">115</a>, <a href="#page_124">124</a>, <a href="#page_135">135</a>, - <a href="#page_144">144</a>, <a href="#page_281">281</a>.<br /> <span - style="margin-left: 1em;">James, <a href="#page_014">14</a>, <a - href="#page_054">54</a>, <a href="#page_125">125</a>, <a href="#page_132">132</a>, - <a href="#page_280">280</a>.</span><br /> Mall, <a href="#page_012">12</a>, - <a href="#page_083">83</a>, <a href="#page_114">114</a>.<br /> Marine Band, - <a href="#page_077">77</a>, <a href="#page_124">124</a>, <a - href="#page_178">178</a>, <a href="#page_225">225</a>.<br /> Marshall, - John, <a href="#page_065">65</a>, <a href="#page_164">164</a>.<br /> - Martineau, Harriet, <a href="#page_161">161</a>, <a href="#page_163">163</a>.<br /> - Meigs, Montgomery C., <a href="#page_237">237</a>, <a href="#page_272">272</a>.<br /> - Mellanelli, Sidi, <a href="#page_127">127</a>.<br /> Meredith, Owen, <a - href="#page_282">282</a>.<br /> Merry, Anthony, <a href="#page_125">125</a>.<br /> - Mexican War, <a href="#page_022">22</a>, <a href="#page_182">182</a>, <a - href="#page_271">271</a>, <a href="#page_273">273</a>.<br /> Mitchill, Dr. - Samuel, <a href="#page_127">127</a>.<br /> Monroe, Eliza Kortright, <a - href="#page_115">115</a>, <a href="#page_147">147</a>.<br /> <span - style="margin-left: 1em;">James, <a href="#page_018">18</a>, <a - href="#page_138">138</a>, <a href="#page_147">147</a>, <a href="#page_151">151</a>, - <a href="#page_278">278</a>, <a href="#page_280">280</a>.</span><br /> - Moore, Thomas, <a href="#page_005">5</a>, <a href="#page_125">125</a>.<br /> - Morrissey, Mrs. John, <a href="#page_213">213</a>.<br /> Morse, Samuel F. - B., <a href="#page_075">75</a>, <a href="#page_182">182</a>.<br /> Mott, - Richard T., <a href="#page_102">102</a>.<br /> Mount Vernon, Va., <a - href="#page_244">244</a>, <a href="#page_249">249</a>.<br /> <br /> <a - name="N" id="N"></a>Negroes, First, in Inaugural parade, <a - href="#page_208">208</a>.<br /> Nilsson, Christine, <a href="#page_224">224</a>.<br /> - <br /> <a name="O" id="O"></a>Octagon House, <a href="#page_019">19</a>, <a - href="#page_137">137</a>.<br /> O’Ferrall, Charles T., <a href="#page_108">108</a>.<br /> - Old Capitol, <a href="#page_020">20</a>, <a href="#page_278">278</a>.<br /> - O’Neil, “Peggy.” (See Mrs. <span class="smcap">John H. Eaton</span>.)<br /> - <br /> <a name="P" id="P"></a>Paine, Thomas, <a href="#page_129">129</a>.<br /> - Patterson, Elizabeth, <a href="#page_128">128</a>. (See also <span - class="smcap">Jerome Bonaparte</span>.)<br /> Peabody, George,<span - class="pagenum"><a name="page_290" id="page_290"></a>{290}</span> <a - href="#page_254">254</a>.<br /> Pension Office, <a href="#page_272">272</a>, - <a href="#page_277">277</a>.<br /> Pennsylvania Avenue, <a href="#page_010">10</a>, - <a href="#page_047">47</a>, <a href="#page_049">49</a>, <a href="#page_114">114</a>, - <a href="#page_285">285</a>.<br /> Persico, Luigi, <a href="#page_058">58</a>, - <a href="#page_278">278</a>.<br /> Phillips, Wendell, <a href="#page_214">214</a>.<br /> - Pierce, Franklin, <a href="#page_186">186</a>.<br /> <span - style="margin-left: 1em;">Mrs. Franklin, <a href="#page_188">188</a>.</span><br /> - Pohick, Va., <a href="#page_246">246</a>.<br /> Polk, James K., <a - href="#page_182">182</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sarah - Childress, <a href="#page_182">182</a>.</span><br /> Potter, Rt. Rev. Henry - C., <a href="#page_243">243</a>.<br /> Presidents, Deaths of, in office, <a - href="#page_043">43</a>, <a href="#page_176">176</a>, <a href="#page_185">185</a>, - <a href="#page_208">208</a>, <a href="#page_223">223</a>, <a - href="#page_230">230</a>.<br /> Presidents and Congress, <a href="#page_072">72</a>, - <a href="#page_089">89</a>, <a href="#page_109">109</a>.<br /> Press, - Congress and the, <a href="#page_094">94</a>.<br /> Prince, Frederick O., - <a href="#page_191">191</a>.<br /> <i>Princeton</i>, Sloop-of-War, <a - href="#page_180">180</a>.<br /> <br /> <a name="R" id="R"></a>Randolph, - John, <a href="#page_059">59</a>, <a href="#page_064">64</a>, <a - href="#page_094">94</a>, <a href="#page_140">140</a>, <a href="#page_256">256</a>.<br /> - <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Robert B., <a href="#page_168">168</a>.</span><br /> - Ream, Vinnie. (See <span class="smcap">Hoxie</span>.)<br /> Reed, Thomas - B., <a href="#page_079">79</a>, <a href="#page_103">103</a>.<br /> - Religious Exercises in Congress, <a href="#page_077">77</a>, <a - href="#page_098">98</a>.<br /> Robinson, William E., <a href="#page_095">95</a>.<br /> - Rock Creek Cemetery, <a href="#page_279">279</a>.<br /> Rogers, Randolph, - <a href="#page_059">59</a>.<br /> Roosevelt, Edith Kermit, <a - href="#page_116">116</a>, <a href="#page_233">233</a>, <a href="#page_281">281</a>.<br /> - <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Theodore, <a href="#page_052">52</a>, <a - href="#page_230">230</a>, <a href="#page_270">270</a>, <a href="#page_281">281</a>.</span><br /> - Root, Elihu, <a href="#page_224">224</a>.<br /> Ross, Edmund G., <a - href="#page_211">211</a>.<br /> Ross, Robert, <a href="#page_015">15</a>.<br /> - Royall, Ann, <a href="#page_020">20</a>, <a href="#page_278">278</a>.<br /> - <br /> <a name="S" id="S"></a>Saint-Gaudens, Augustus, <a href="#page_279">279</a>.<br /> - Saint John’s Church, <a href="#page_280">280</a>.<br /> Saint Paul’s - Church, <a href="#page_279">279</a>.<br /> Sartoris, Algernon, <a - href="#page_217">217</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nellie - Grant, <a href="#page_212">212</a>, <a href="#page_217">217</a>.</span><br /> - Scott, Winfield, <a href="#page_039">39</a>, <a href="#page_183">183</a>, - <a href="#page_186">186</a>, <a href="#page_194">194</a>, <a - href="#page_236">236</a>, <a href="#page_266">266</a>, <a href="#page_267">267</a>, - <a href="#page_271">271</a>, <a href="#page_273">273</a>.<br /> Secession, - Progress of, movement, <a href="#page_027">27</a>.<br /> Senate, United - States, <a href="#page_010">10</a>, <a href="#page_055">55</a>, <a - href="#page_068">68</a>, <a href="#page_071">71</a>, <a href="#page_086">86</a>, - <a href="#page_139">139</a>. (See also <span class="smcap">Congress</span>.)<br /> - Seward, William H., <a href="#page_031">31</a>, <a href="#page_043">43</a>, - <a href="#page_198">198</a>, <a href="#page_282">282</a>.<br /> Shepherd, - Alexander R., <a href="#page_046">46</a>.<br /> Sheridan, Philip H., <a - href="#page_267">267</a>, <a href="#page_271">271</a>.<br /> Sherman, John, - <a href="#page_102">102</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">William - T., <a href="#page_213">213</a>, <a href="#page_271">271</a>.</span><br /> - Shuter’s Hill, <a href="#page_054">54</a>.<br /> Sickles, Daniel E., <a - href="#page_211">211</a>.<br /> Slavery, <a href="#page_023">23</a>, <a - href="#page_064">64</a>, <a href="#page_099">99</a>, <a href="#page_186">186</a>, - <a href="#page_275">275</a>. (See also <span class="smcap">Emancipation</span>.)<br /> - Smith, Capt. John, <a href="#page_003">3</a>.<br /> <span - style="margin-left: 1em;">Margaret Bayard, <a href="#page_141">141</a>.</span><br /> - Smithsonian Institution, <a href="#page_273">273</a>.<br /> Soldiers’ Home, - <a href="#page_084">84</a>, <a href="#page_273">273</a>.<br /> Sprague, - Kate Chase, <a href="#page_202">202</a>.<br /> <span - style="margin-left: 1em;">William, <a href="#page_202">202</a>.</span><br /> - Stanton, Edwin M., <a href="#page_044">44</a>, <a href="#page_200">200</a>, - <a href="#page_207">207</a>, <a href="#page_211">211</a>.<br /> - “Star-Spangled Banner,” Song, <a href="#page_252">252</a>.<br /> Statues of - Celebrities, <a href="#page_266">266</a>.<br /> Stephens, Alexander H., <a - href="#page_029">29</a>, <a href="#page_065">65</a>.<br /> Stewart, - Alexander T., <a href="#page_214">214</a>.<br /> Stockton, Robert F., <a - href="#page_180">180</a>.<br /> Stranger, “The Female,” <a href="#page_242">242</a>.<br /> - Sumner, Charles, <a href="#page_068">68</a>, <a href="#page_189">189</a>.<br /> - Sunderland, Rev. Dr. Byron, <a href="#page_099">99</a>.<br /> Supreme Court - of the United States, <a href="#page_011">11</a>, <a href="#page_067">67</a>, - <a href="#page_074">74</a>.<br /> Surratt, Mary E., <a href="#page_283">283</a>.<br /> - <br /> <a name="T" id="T"></a>Taft, William H., <a href="#page_052">52</a>, - <a href="#page_233">233</a>, <a href="#page_270">270</a>.<br /> Taney, - Roger B., <a href="#page_034">34</a>, <a href="#page_277">277</a>.<br /> - Tayloe, Mrs. Ogle, <a href="#page_170">170</a>.<br /> Tayloe House, <a - href="#page_281">281</a>.<br /> Taylor, Zachary, <a href="#page_183">183</a>, - <a href="#page_195">195</a>, <a href="#page_281">281</a>.<br /> Telegraph, - Atlantic, cable, <a href="#page_190">190</a>.<br /> <span - style="margin-left: 1em;">First American, <a href="#page_075">75</a>, <a - href="#page_182">182</a>.</span><br /> Thomas, George H., <a - href="#page_267">267</a>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_291" - id="page_291"></a>{291}</span><br /> Thornton, Dr. William, <a - href="#page_016">16</a>, <a href="#page_055">55</a>, <a href="#page_251">251</a>.<br /> - Tilden, Samuel J., <a href="#page_218">218</a>.<br /> Timberlake, Mrs. (See - <span class="smcap">Mrs. John H. Eaton</span>.)<br /> <span - style="margin-left: 1em;">Purser, <a href="#page_159">159</a>, <a - href="#page_168">168</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Virginia, - <a href="#page_179">179</a>.</span><br /> Tracy, Benjamin F., <a - href="#page_228">228</a>.<br /> <i>Trent</i> Affair, <a href="#page_282">282</a>.<br /> - Trumbull, John, <a href="#page_059">59</a>.<br /> Turreau, Louis M., <a - href="#page_127">127</a>.<br /> Tyler, John, <a href="#page_177">177</a>, - <a href="#page_280">280</a>.<br /> <br /> <a name="V-i" id="V-i"></a>Van - Buren, John, <a href="#page_171">171</a>.<br /> <span - style="margin-left: 1em;">Martin, <a href="#page_158">158</a>, <a - href="#page_162">162</a>, <a href="#page_169">169</a>, <a href="#page_176">176</a>, - <a href="#page_256">256</a>, <a href="#page_280">280</a>.</span><br /> - Victoria, Queen, <a href="#page_190">190</a>.<br /> <br /> <a name="W" id="W"></a>Walter, - Thomas U., <a href="#page_056">56</a>, <a href="#page_063">63</a>.<br /> - War of 1812, <a href="#page_014">14</a>, <a href="#page_135">135</a>, <a - href="#page_270">270</a>.<br /> Ward, Artemus, <a href="#page_200">200</a>.<br /> - <span style="margin-left: 1em;">J. Q. A., <a href="#page_267">267</a>.</span><br /> - Washburn, Cadwallader, <a href="#page_102">102</a>.<br /> Washburne, Elihu, - <a href="#page_102">102</a>.<br /> Washington, D.C.,<br /> <span - style="margin-left: 1em;">Beginnings of, <a href="#page_001">1</a>;</span><br /> - <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Captured by British in 1814, <a - href="#page_015">15</a>, <a href="#page_056">56</a>, <a href="#page_278">278</a>;</span><br /> - <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Growth of, <a href="#page_045">45</a>;</span><br /> - <span style="margin-left: 1em;">In Civil War Times, <a href="#page_024">24</a>, - <a href="#page_026">26</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Journalism - in Early Days, <a href="#page_020">20</a>, <a href="#page_154">154</a>;</span><br /> - <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Plan of, <a href="#page_005">5</a>, <a - href="#page_083">83</a>, <a href="#page_114">114</a>, <a href="#page_231">231</a>;</span><br /> - <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Police Force, <a href="#page_178">178</a>;</span><br /> - <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Removal of Government to, <a - href="#page_007">7</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Suburbs - of, <a href="#page_235">235</a>;</span><br /> <span - style="margin-left: 1em;">Threatened by Gen. Early in 1864, <a - href="#page_041">41</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Varying - Fortunes of, <a href="#page_021">21</a>.</span><br /> Washington, George, - <a href="#page_003">3</a>, <a href="#page_067">67</a>, <a href="#page_074">74</a>, - <a href="#page_081">81</a>, <a href="#page_089">89</a>, <a href="#page_118">118</a>, - <a href="#page_235">235</a>, <a href="#page_238">238</a>, <a - href="#page_239">239</a>, <a href="#page_240">240</a>, <a href="#page_243">243</a>, - <a href="#page_268">268</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Martha, - <a href="#page_118">118</a>, <a href="#page_235">235</a>, <a - href="#page_240">240</a>, <a href="#page_243">243</a>, <a href="#page_249">249</a>.</span><br /> - <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mary, <a href="#page_249">249</a>.</span><br /> - Washington National Monument, <a href="#page_261">261</a>, <a - href="#page_270">270</a>.<br /> Watts, George F., <a href="#page_270">270</a>.<br /> - Webster, Daniel, <a href="#page_068">68</a>, <a href="#page_140">140</a>, - <a href="#page_164">164</a>, <a href="#page_173">173</a>.<br /> Weems, Rev. - Mason L., <a href="#page_246">246</a>.<br /> Welles, Gideon, <a - href="#page_282">282</a>.<br /> White House, <a href="#page_006">6</a>, <a - href="#page_008">8</a>, <a href="#page_017">17</a>, <a href="#page_114">114</a>, - <a href="#page_118">118</a>, <a href="#page_135">135</a>, <a - href="#page_147">147</a>, <a href="#page_155">155</a>, <a href="#page_162">162</a>, - <a href="#page_164">164</a>, <a href="#page_172">172</a>, <a - href="#page_178">178</a>, <a href="#page_182">182</a>, <a href="#page_184">184</a>, - <a href="#page_195">195</a>, <a href="#page_197">197</a>, <a - href="#page_201">201</a>, <a href="#page_219">219</a>, <a href="#page_231">231</a>.<br /> - Wilkes, Charles, <a href="#page_281">281</a>.<br /> Williams, Harriet - Beall. (See <span class="smcap">Baroness Bodisco</span>.)<br /> Wilmot, - David, <a href="#page_064">64</a>.<br /> Wilson, Henry, <a href="#page_074">74</a>, - <a href="#page_276">276</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Woodrow, - <a href="#page_052">52</a>, <a href="#page_073">73</a>, <a href="#page_112">112</a>, - <a href="#page_234">234</a>, <a href="#page_270">270</a>.</span><br /> - Windom, William, <a href="#page_228">228</a>.<br /> Wirz, Henry, <a - href="#page_279">279</a>.<br /> Women visiting Congress, <a href="#page_093">93</a>, - <a href="#page_141">141</a>.<br /> Wood, William P., <a href="#page_279">279</a>.<br /> - </p> - <div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/back.jpg" width="318" height="500" - alt="[Image unavailable.]" /> - </div> - <hr class="full" /> -<pre xml:space="preserve"> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Walks About Washington, by Francis E. 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- The Project Gutenberg eBook of Walks About Washington, by Francis E.
- Leupp.
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-
-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Walks About Washington, by Francis E. Leupp
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
-almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license
-
-
-Title: Walks About Washington
-
-Author: Francis E. Leupp
-
-Illustrator: Lester G. Hornby
-
-Release Date: December 2, 2017 [EBook #56104]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WALKS ABOUT WASHINGTON ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
-produced from images available at The Internet Archive)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-</pre>
- <hr class="full" />
- <p class="figcenter">
- <a href="images/cover_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="cover" /></a>
- </p>
- <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="" style="border: 2px black solid;margin:auto auto;max-width:50%; padding:1%;">
- <tr>
- <td>
- <p class="c">
- <a href="#CONTENTS">Contents.</a>
- </p>
- <p class="c">
- <a href="#LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS">List of Illustrations</a><br />
- <span class="nonvis">(In certain versions of this etext [in certain
- browsers] clicking on the image will bring up a larger version.)</span>
- </p>
- <p class="c">
- (etext transcriber's note)
- </p>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- <p>
- <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_i" id="page_i"></a>{i}</span>
- </p>
- <p>
- <i>Walks About Washington</i>
- </p>
- <div class="figcenter" style="width: 388px;">
- <a href="images/ill_002_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_002_sml.jpg"
- class="gry" width="388" height="247" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- </div>
- <p>
- <a name="front" id="front"></a>
- </p>
- <div class="figcenter" style="width: 441px;">
- <a href="images/ill_003_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_003_sml.jpg"
- width="441" height="593" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- <div class="caption">
- <p class="c">
- <i>Where Lincoln Died</i>
- </p>
- <p class="r">
- <span class="smcap">Frontispiece</span>
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- <div class="bbox">
- <div class="bbox">
- <h1>
- WALKS ABOUT<br /> WASHINGTON
- </h1>
- <p class="c">
- BY<br /> FRANCIS E. LEUPP<br /> <br /> <small>WITH DRAWINGS
- BY</small><br /> LESTER G. HORNBY<br /> <br /><br /> <img
- src="images/colophon.jpg" width="70" alt="colophon" /><br /> <br /><br />
- BOSTON<br /> LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY<br /> 1915
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p>
-
- </p>
- <p class="c">
- <small><i>Copyright, 1915</i>,<br /> <span class="smcap">By Little, Brown,
- and Company</span>.<br /> ——<br /> <i>All rights reserved</i><br />
- <br /> Published, September, 1915<br /> <br /> <br /> Set up and electrotyped
- by J. S. Cushing Co., Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.<br /> Presswork by S. J.
- Parkhill & Co., Boston, Mass., U.S.A.</small> <br /><br /><br /><br />
- <span class="eng"><b>To</b></span><br /> ADA, HAROLD, ETHEL,<br />
- CONSTANCE, KATHLEEN<br /> AND THE<br /> MEMORY OF
- GRAHAM<br />
- </p>
- <p>
- <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_vii" id="page_vii"></a>{vii}</span>
- </p>
- <h2>
- <a href="images/ill_005_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_005_sml.jpg"
- class="gry" width="359" height="258" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- <br /><br /><i><a name="Preface" id="Preface"></a>Preface</i>
- </h2>
- <p class="nind">
- <span class="letra">T</span>HIS is not a history. It is not a guide-book.
- It is not an encyclopedia. It is nothing more ambitious than the title
- would indicate: a stroll about Washington with my arm through my reader’s,
- and a bit of friendly chat by the way. Mr. Hornby, sketch-book in hand,
- will accompany us, to give permanence to our impressions here and there.
- </p>
- <p>
- First, we will take a general look at the city and recall some of the more
- interesting incidents connected with its century and a quarter of growth.
- Next, we will walk at our leisure through its public places and try to
- people them in imagination with the figures which once were so much in
- evidence there.
- </p>
- <p>
- For the stories woven into our talk I make no further claim than that they
- have come to me from a variety of sources—personal observation,
- dinner-table gossip, old letters and diaries, and local tradition. A few,
- which seemed rather too vague in detail, I have tried to verify. My ardor
- for research, however, was dampened by the discovery of from two to a
- dozen versions of every occurrence, so that I have been driven to
- accepting those which appeared most probable or most picturesque, falling
- back upon the plea of the Last Minstrel:
- </p>
- <div class="poetry">
- <div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
- <span class="i0">“I cannot tell how the truth may be;<br /></span>
- <span class="i1">I say the tale as ’twas said to me.”<br /></span>
- </div>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p>
- And now, let us be off!
- </p>
- <p class="r">
- F. E. L.<br />
- </p>
- <p class="hang">
- <span class="smcap">Washington, D.C.</span>,<br /> August 1, 1915.<br />
- </p>
- <p>
- <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_viii" id="page_viii"></a>{viii}</span>
- </p>
- <p>
- <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_ix" id="page_ix"></a>{ix}</span>
- </p>
- <h2>
- <a href="images/ill_006_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_006_sml.jpg"
- class="gry" width="376" height="226" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- <br /><br /><i><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>Contents</i>
- </h2>
- <table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="">
- <tr>
- <td colspan="2">
-
- </td>
- <td class="rt">
- <span class="smcap"><small>Page</small></span>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <span class="smcap"><a href="#Preface">Preface</a></span>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="rt">
- <span class="smcap"><small>Chapter</small></span>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="rt" valign="top">
- <a href="#CHAPTER_I">I.</a>
- </td>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#CHAPTER_I"><span class="smcap">A Capital Made to Order</span></a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_001">1</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="rt" valign="top">
- <a href="#CHAPTER_II">II.</a>
- </td>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#CHAPTER_II"><span class="smcap">War Times and Their Sequel</span></a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_026">26</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="rt" valign="top">
- <a href="#CHAPTER_III">III.</a>
- </td>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#CHAPTER_III">“<span class="smcap">On the Hill</span>”</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_054">54</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="rt" valign="top">
- <a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV.</a>
- </td>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><span class="smcap">These Our Lawmakers</span></a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_085">85</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="rt" valign="top">
- <a href="#CHAPTER_V">V.</a>
- </td>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#CHAPTER_V">“<span class="smcap">The Other End of the Avenue</span>”</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_114">114</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="rt" valign="top">
- <a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI.</a>
- </td>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><span class="smcap">Through Many Changing Years</span></a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_147">147</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="rt" valign="top">
- <a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII.</a>
- </td>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#CHAPTER_VII">“<span class="smcap">The Spirit of Great Events</span>”</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_177">177</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="rt" valign="top">
- <a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII.</a>
- </td>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><span class="smcap">New Faces in Old Places</span></a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_207">207</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="rt" valign="top">
- <a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX.</a>
- </td>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><span class="smcap">The Region ’Round About</span></a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_235">235</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="rt" valign="top">
- <a href="#CHAPTER_X">X.</a>
- </td>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#CHAPTER_X"><span class="smcap">Monuments and Memories</span></a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_261">261</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <span class="smcap"><a href="#INDEX">Index</a></span>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_287">287</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- <p>
- <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_x" id="page_x"></a>{x}</span>
- </p>
- <h2>
- <a href="images/ill_007_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_007_sml.jpg"
- class="gry" width="375" height="275" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- <br /><br /><i><a name="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS" id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>List
- of Illustrations</i>
- </h2>
- <p>
- <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xi" id="page_xi"></a>{xi}</span>
- </p>
- <table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="">
- <tr>
- <td>
-
- </td>
- <td class="rt">
- <span class="smcap"><small>Page</small></span>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#page_i">White House, from the State Department</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_i">i</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#front">Where Lincoln Died</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#front"><i>Frontispiece</i></a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#page_vii">Down F Street to the Interior Department</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_vii">vii</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#page_ix">Old Mill, on Bladensburg Battlefield</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_ix">ix</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#page_xi">Washington, across the Potomac from Arlington</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_xi">xi</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#page_xiii">Capitol, from Pennsylvania Avenue, West</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_xiii">xiii</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td>
-
- </td>
- <td class="rt">
- <span class="smcap"><small>Facing Page</small></span>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#page_008">General Washington’s Office in Georgetown</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_008">8</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#page_018">George Washington Tavern, Bladensburg</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_018">18</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#page_030">Octagon House</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_030">30</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#page_042">Union Engine House of 1815</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_042">42</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#page_050">On the Ruins of Fort Stevens</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_050">50</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#page_062">Survivals from Before the War”</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_062">62</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#page_074">Rock Creek</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_074">74</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#page_084">Capitol, from New Jersey Avenue</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_084">84</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#page_096">Where Dolly Madison Gave Her Farewell Ball</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_096">96</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#page_108">Lee Mansion at Arlington</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_108">108</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#page_120">Old Carlyle Mansion, Alexandria</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_120">120</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#page_132">Washington’s Pew in Christ Church, Alexandria</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_132">132</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#page_142">Mount Vernon</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_142">142</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#page_154">Tudor House, Georgetown</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_154">154</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#page_156">Bladensburg Duelling-Ground</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_156">156</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#page_170">Decatur House</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_170">170</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#page_180">Soldiers’ Home</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_180">180</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#page_192">Old City Hall</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_192">192</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#page_204">The “Old Capitol”</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_204">204</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#page_218">St. Paul’s, the Oldest Church in the District</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_218">218</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#page_234">St. John’s, “the President’s Church”</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_234">234</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#page_248">Ford’s Theatre, the Old Front</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_248">248</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#page_260">Stage Entrance through which Booth Escaped</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_260">260</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#page_274">Rendezvous of the Lincoln Conspirators</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_274">274</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- <tr>
- <td valign="top">
- <a href="#page_286">A Herdic Cab</a>
- </td>
- <td class="rt" valign="bottom">
- <a href="#page_286">286</a>
- </td>
- </tr>
- </table>
- <p>
- <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xii" id="page_xii"></a>{xii}</span>
- </p>
- <p>
- <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xiii" id="page_xiii"></a>{xiii}</span>
- </p>
- <div class="figcenter" style="width: 385px;">
- <a href="images/ill_008_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_008_sml.jpg"
- class="gry" width="385" height="197" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- </div>
- <p>
- <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_001" id="page_001"></a>{1}</span>
- </p>
- <h1>
- <i>Walks About Washington</i>
- </h1>
- <h2>
- <a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<br /><br /> <small>A
- CAPITAL MADE TO ORDER</small>
- </h2>
- <p class="nind">
- <span class="letra">W</span>ITH the possible exception of Petrograd,
- Washington is the only one of the world’s great capitals that was
- deliberately created for its purpose. Look for the origin of London,
- Paris, Berlin, or Rome, and you find it enveloped in a cloud of myth and
- fable, from which, it appears, the city emerged and took its place in
- history because certain evolutionary forces had made it the nucleus of a
- nation and hence the natural seat of government. Not so the capital of the
- United States. Here the Government was already established and seeking a
- habitation; and, since no existing city offered one that seemed generally
- satisfactory, a new city was made to order, so that from the outset it
- could be shaped as its tenant-master deemed best.
- </p>
- <p>
- The creative force at work in this instance found its outlet through a
- dinner. Of the ready-made cities which had competed for the honor of
- housing the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_002" id="page_002"></a>{2}</span>
- Government, New York and Philadelphia were regarded by the Southern
- members of Congress as too far north both geographically and in sentiment,
- while the Northern members were equally unwilling to go far south in view
- of the difficulties of travel. Another sectional controversy broke out
- over the question whether the Federal Government, since it owed its birth
- to the War for Independence, were not in honor bound to assume the debts
- incurred by the several States in prosecuting that war. The North, as the
- more serious sufferer, demanded that it should, but the South insisted
- that every State should bear its own burden. In the midst of the
- discussion, Thomas Jefferson, who happened to be in a position to act as
- mediator, invited a few leaders of both factions to meet at his table;
- there, under the influence of savory viands and a bottle of port apiece,
- they arranged a compromise, whereby the Southern members were to vote for
- the assumption of the debts, in exchange for Northern votes for a southern
- site. The program went through Congress by a small majority, and the site
- chosen was a tract about ten miles square on both banks of the Potomac
- River, the land on the upper shore being ceded by Maryland and that on the
- lower by Virginia. The Virginia part was given back in 1846.
- </p>
- <p>
- As far as we know, the first map of this region was<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_003" id="page_003"></a>{3}</span> drawn by Captain John Smith
- of Pocahontas fame and published in 1620 in his “Sixth Voyage to that Part
- of Virginia now Planted by English Colonies, whom God increase and
- preserve”; and the picturesque river which runs through it was described
- by him as the “Patawomeke, navigable 140 myles, and fed with many sweet
- rivers and springs which fall from the bordering hils. The river exceedth
- with aboundance of fish.”
- </p>
- <p>
- When the Commissioners appointed by President Washington took it over as a
- federal district, they changed its Indian name, Connogochegue, to the
- Territory of Columbia; and the city which they laid out in it was by
- universal acclaim called Washington, regardless of the modest protests of
- the statesman thus honored. Georgetown, which is now a part of Washington,
- was then a pretty, well-to-do, little Maryland town about a hundred years
- old, and Alexandria, Virginia, included in the southern end of the
- District as then bounded, was a shipping port of some consequence. All the
- rest of the tract was forest and farm land. The President felt a lively
- personal interest in the whole neighborhood. His estate, Mount Vernon, lay
- only a short boat-ride down the Potomac; and he had been instrumental in
- starting a project for the canal now known as the Chesapeake and Ohio,<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_004" id="page_004"></a>{4}</span> connecting
- Georgetown with a bit of farming country west of it, and had planned one
- from Alexandria which should form part of the same system. During his
- activities on the Maryland side of the river, he made his headquarters in
- a little stone house in Georgetown which is still standing.
- </p>
- <p>
- It took time and diplomacy to induce some of the local landholders to part
- with their acres to the Commissioners. There is an old story, good enough
- to be true, of one David Burns, a canny Scot, who held out so long that
- President Washington personally undertook his conversion. After pointing
- out to the farmer what advantages he would reap from having the Government
- for a neighbor, the great man concluded:
- </p>
- <p>
- “But for this opportunity, Mr. Burns, you might have died a poor
- tobacco-planter.”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Aye, mon,” snapped Burns, “an’ had ye no married the widder Custis, wi’
- all her nagurs, ye’d ha’ been a land surveyor the noo, an’ a mighty poor
- ane at that!”
- </p>
- <p>
- However, when he learned that, unless he accepted the liberal terms
- offered him, his land would be condemned and seized at an appraisal
- probably much lower, Burns met the President in quite another mood, and to
- the final question, “Well, sir, what have you concluded to do?” astonished
- every one by his prompt<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_005"
- id="page_005"></a>{5}</span> response: “Whate’er your excellency wad ha’
- me.” On one of his fields now stands the White House, and an adjacent lot
- became Lafayette Square. By the sale of property adjoining that which the
- Government bought, he amassed what for those days was an enormous fortune.
- It is within our generation that his cottage was torn down for the
- improvement of the neighborhood from which we enter Potomac Park. Although
- a poor building in its old age, in its prime it had sheltered many eminent
- men. Among them was Tom Moore, the Irish poet, who was under its roof when
- he wrote his diatribe against—
- </p>
- <div class="poetry">
- <div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
- <span class="i0">“This fam’d metropolis where Fancy sees<br /></span>
- <span class="i1">Squares in morasses, obelisks in trees;<br /></span>
- <span class="i1">Which second-sighted seers, ev’n now, adorn<br /></span>
- <span class="i1">With shrines unbuilt and heroes yet unborn.”<br /></span>
- </div>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p>
- Little as we may relish such satire, we are bound to admit its modicum of
- truthfulness, for the brave souls who founded Washington were given to the
- grandiloquent habit of their day. They had called to their aid Major
- Pierre Charles L’Enfant, a French military engineer who had served in the
- patriot army of the Revolution, and who cherished brilliant dreams of the
- future of his adopted country. To him they had committed the preparation
- of a plan for the federal city, and he had laid it out on the lines, not
- of an<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_006" id="page_006"></a>{6}</span>
- administrative center for a handful of newly enfranchised colonies, but of
- a capital for a republic of fifty States with five hundred million
- population. As he had lived in Versailles, he is supposed to have taken
- that town as a general model in his arrangement of streets and avenues,
- which some one has likened to “a wheel laid on a gridiron.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Of course, it was the business of the Commissioners to advertise the
- attractions of the federal city as effectively as possible, to promote its
- early settlement; so perhaps we may forgive their taking a good deal for
- granted, and permitting real estate speculation to go practically
- unchecked. Congress for several years ignored their appeals for an
- appropriation for the development of the city, and in the interval their
- chief dependence for the funds necessary to spend for highways and
- buildings was on the sale of lots, and on grants or loans obtained from
- neighboring States. The most sightly hill was set apart for the Capitol,
- and a beautiful bit of rising ground, overlooking a bend in the river, for
- the President’s House. The two buildings had their corner-stones laid with
- much ceremony, but progress on them was slow. Nevertheless, their sites,
- as well as the spaces reserved in L’Enfant’s plan for parks, fountains,
- and statuary, were always treated by the speculators, in correspondence
- with prospective<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_007" id="page_007"></a>{7}</span>
- customers, as if the improvements designed eventually to crown them were
- already installed. The outside public manifested no undue eagerness to
- buy, and the auction sales of lots proved very disappointing. Then a
- lottery was organized, with tickets at seven dollars apiece, and for a
- first prize “a superb hotel” with baths and other comforts, worth fifty
- thousand dollars; but that, too, fell short of expectations, all the
- desirable prizes going to persons who felt no concern for the city’s
- future, and the hotel, though started, never being finished. It was a
- pretty discouraging prospect, therefore, which confronted the officers of
- the Government when, on May 16, 1800, President John Adams issued his
- order for their removal from their cozy quarters in old Philadelphia to
- what seemed to them, by contrast, like a camp in the wilderness.
- </p>
- <p>
- The six Cabinet members, with their one hundred and thirty-two
- subordinates, made the journey overland at various dates during the
- summer, and in October the archives followed. These filled about a dozen
- large boxes, which, with the office furniture, were brought down by sea in
- a packet-boat and landed on a wharf at the mouth of Tiber Creek, a
- tributary of the Potomac which then ran through the city but was later
- converted into a sewer. All Washington, numbering perhaps three thousand
- persons, turned out<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_008" id="page_008"></a>{8}</span>
- to greet the vessel; and amid cheers, ringing of bells, and blasts from an
- antique cannon brought forth for the occasion, its precious contents were
- carried ashore. “The Department buildings” to which they were consigned
- were a wonderful assortment. The Treasury was a two-story brick house at
- the southeast corner of the President’s grounds, the War Office a still
- unfinished replica of it at the southwest corner. The Post-office
- Department found shelter in a private house in which only half the floors
- were laid and four rooms plastered; while the Secretary of State, the
- Secretary of the Navy, and the Attorney-general had to direct their
- affairs from their lodgings. All these temporary accommodations were
- sought as near as possible to the President’s House. Congress had striven,
- for its greater ease of access, to have the Departments quartered near the
- Capitol; but Washington had set his face resolutely against every such
- proposal, citing the experience of his own secretaries, who had been so
- pestered with needless visits from Senators and Representatives that some
- of them “had been obliged to go home and deny themselves, in order to
- transact current business.” Which shows that one modern nuisance has a
- fairly ancient precedent.
- </p>
- <p>
- Members of both houses of Congress came straggling in all through the
- first three weeks of November, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_009"
- id="page_009"></a>{9}</span>
- </p>
- <div class="figcenter" style="width: 442px;">
- <a href="images/ill_009_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_009_sml.jpg"
- width="442" height="569" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- <div class="caption">
- <p class="c">
- <i>General Washington’s Office in Georgetown</i>
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p class="nind">
- find most of the best rooms in the two or three hotels and the little
- cluster of boarding-houses already occupied by the executive functionaries
- and their families. President Adams, who had preceded them by a few weeks,
- was not much better off even in the official abode reserved for him, if we
- may call his wife as a witness.
- </p>
- <p>
- “The house is on a grand and superb scale,” she wrote to her daughter,
- “requiring about thirty servants to attend and keep the apartments in
- proper order, and perform the ordinary business of the house and stables.
- The lighting the apartments, from the kitchen to the parlor and chambers,
- is a tax indeed; and the fires we are obliged to keep, to secure us from
- daily agues, is another very cheering comfort. Bells are wholly wanting,
- not one single one being hung through the whole house, and promises are
- all you can obtain. I could content myself almost anywhere three months;
- but surrounded by forests, can you believe that wood is not to be had,
- because people cannot be found to cut and cart it! There is not a single
- apartment finished. We have not the least fence or yard, or other
- convenience without; and the great unfinished audience-room I make a
- drying-room of, to hang up the clothes in. The principal stairs are not
- up, and will not be this winter. The ladies are impatient<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_010" id="page_010"></a>{10}</span> for a
- drawing-room; I have no looking-glasses but dwarfs for this house, not a
- twentieth part lamps enough to light it.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Mrs. Adams’s consolatory reflection that she would have to endure these
- conditions only three months, was probably shared by many of the
- thirty-two Senators and one hundred and five Representatives who, on the
- high hill to the east, shivered and shook and passed unflattering
- criticisms on everybody who had had a hand in the construction of the
- Capitol. Only the old north wing was in condition for use, and not all of
- that. The Senate met in what is now the Supreme Court chamber; the House
- took its chances wherever there was room, ending its travels in an
- uncomfortable box of a hall commonly styled “the oven.” Most of the
- members had made some study of the L’Enfant chart before coming to
- Washington. One of them put into writing his impressions as he looked
- about and tried to identify the public improvements he had been led to
- expect. None of the streets was recognizable, he said, with the possible
- exception of a road having two buildings on each side of it, which was
- called New Jersey Avenue. The “magnificent Pennsylvania Avenue,”
- connecting the Capitol with the President’s House, was for nearly the
- entire distance a deep morass covered with wild bushes,<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_011" id="page_011"></a>{11}</span> through
- which a passage had been hewn. The roads in every direction were muddy and
- unimproved. The only attempt at a sidewalk had been made with chips of
- stone left from building the Capitol, and this was little used because the
- sharp edges cut the walker’s shoes in dry weather, and in wet weather
- covered them with white mortar. Another member declared that there was
- nothing in sight in Washington but scrub oak, and that, since there was
- “only one good tavern within a day’s march,” many members had to live in
- Georgetown and drive to and from the daily sessions of Congress in a
- rickety coach. And a particularly disgusted critic, not content with
- recording that “there are but few houses in any place, and most of them
- are small, miserable huts,” added: “The people are poor, and, as far as I
- can judge, live like fishes, by eating each other.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Newspapers in all parts of the country echoed these depressing reports,
- accompanying them with demands that the Government move again, this time
- to some already well-populated and civilized region. Indeed, of several
- resolutions to that end introduced in Congress, one was actually carried
- to a vote and barely escaped passage. It may have been this accumulation
- of discouraging elements which caused the delay in the arrival of the
- Supreme Court from Philadelphia; or<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_012"
- id="page_012"></a>{12}</span> it may have been the paucity of business
- before that tribunal, whose first Chief Justice, John Jay, had resigned
- his commission to become Governor of New York, because he had come to the
- conclusion that the Court could not command sufficient support in the
- country at large to enforce its decisions! Whatever the reason, the
- Justices did not find their way to Washington till well on in the winter,
- or open their work there till February. They were assigned the room in the
- basement of the Capitol now occupied by the Supreme Court library.
- </p>
- <p>
- Even when the first acute discomforts incident to removal had passed away,
- the general depression was little relieved. Most of the earlier citizens
- of Washington had entertained hopes of its becoming a commercial as well
- as a political center of importance. They reasoned that since Alexandria
- and Georgetown had already built up some trade with the outside world,
- Washington, much more eligibly situated than either, ought to attract a
- correspondingly larger measure of profitable business. But all these
- bright anticipations were doomed to disappointment: the progress of the
- city was as inconsiderable as if its feet had become mired in one of its
- own marshes. The Mall, which on L’Enfant’s map appeared as a boulevard
- fringed with fine public buildings, soon degenerated<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_013" id="page_013"></a>{13}</span> into a common for pasturing
- cows. There was good fishing above the north side of Pennsylvania Avenue
- from Sixth Street to Thirteenth. Wild ducks found a favorite haunt where
- the Center Market now stands. The whole place wore an air of suspended
- vitality in striking contrast with the generous face of nature. “I am,”
- wrote a visiting New Yorker to his wife, “almost enchanted with it—I
- mean the situation for a city, for there is nothing here yet constituting
- one. As to houses, there are very few, and those very scattering; and as
- to streets, there are none, except you would call common roads streets.
- The site, however, for a city, is the most delightful that can be imagined—far
- beyond my expectation.”
- </p>
- <p>
- “I took a hack after dinner to visit Nath’l Maxwell, and although he lives
- near the center of the great city, yet such was the state of the roads
- that I considered my life in danger. The distance on straight lines does
- not exceed half a mile, but I had to ride up and down very steep hills,
- with frightful gullies on almost every side.” And the simplicity of life
- at the capital then is reflected in his statement that after finishing his
- letters one night he was afraid to go out to post them lest he lose his
- way in the dark, though he knew that the mail would close at five in the
- morning. “After I had got comfortably into bed,” he continued, “a watchman<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_014" id="page_014"></a>{14}</span> came past
- my window bawling out, ‘Past one o’clock, and a very stormy night,’ on
- which I sprang out of bed and called to him to take my letters to the
- post-office, which he consented to do. I accordingly wrapped them in a
- sheet of paper to protect them from the wet, and threw them out of the
- chamber window to him.”
- </p>
- <p>
- The declaration of war against Great Britain in June, 1812, for which the
- country at large held President Madison chiefly responsible, and which
- reduced considerably such measure of popularity as he still retained, did
- not produce much effect on the pulses of the stagnant city. The first
- hostilities occurred in the north and on the sea; and, although the enemy
- threatened Washington for more than a year, Madison and most of his
- advisers regarded an attack as highly improbable. When, however, it became
- known in 1814 that a large body of Wellington’s veterans were setting sail
- from England, under convoy of a powerful fleet, for the mouth of
- Chesapeake Bay, every one suddenly awoke to the impending peril. It was
- then too late. Thanks to the misjudgment of General Armstrong, Secretary
- of War, or General Winder, who was in charge of military affairs in the
- District, midsummer found the enemy in Maryland, but the city still
- without an efficient defensive force, or ammunition or provisions<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_015" id="page_015"></a>{15}</span> to equip
- one properly. Hurried efforts brought together a first line of thirty-one
- hundred men, all raw recruits except six hundred sailors and a couple of
- hundred soldiers. A second line, almost equal in number, was formed,
- mostly of militia, and disposed for use as a home guard. At Bladensburg,
- Maryland, five miles north of Washington, the decisive battle occurred on
- the twenty-fourth of August, from which the seamen led by Captain Joshua
- Barney were the only contingent that emerged with extraordinary credit;
- but they did so well that a grateful community has not yet raised a
- monument to them or their leader. The battlefield was close enough to the
- old George Washington tavern, of which Mr. Hornby gives us an intimate
- glimpse, for the occupants to hear the rattle of musketry and see the
- cannon-smoke from the upper windows.
- </p>
- <p>
- The outcome of the fight was that the British commanders, General Ross and
- Admiral Cockburn, with six thousand men, drove the Americans back and
- swept down upon the city, spreading ruin in their track. Ross had his
- horse killed under him by a shot from a private house he was passing and
- kept more in the background thereafter, but Cockburn was active in the
- work of devastation. Tradition describes him as mounting the Speaker’s
- dais in the Hall of Representatives,<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_016" id="page_016"></a>{16}</span> calling a burlesque session
- of Congress to order, and putting the question: “Shall this harbor of
- Yankee democracy be burned? All in favor will say, ‘Aye’!” There was a
- roar of “Ayes” from the men, who at once set going a mammoth bonfire of
- written records and volumes from the library of Congress, and soon the
- whole Capitol was wrapped in flames. Thence the party proceeded to the
- other public buildings, burning whatever was recognizable as the property
- of the Government. Their progress was nearly everywhere unopposed, the
- clerks in charge having gathered up such books and papers as they could
- carry away, and transported them to the most convenient hiding-places.
- </p>
- <p>
- The first break in this program occurred at the Patent Office, which was
- under the superintendency of Doctor William Thornton, himself of English
- birth. A neighbor having warned him at his home that his office was in
- danger, he mounted his horse and galloped to the spot, where he arrived
- just in time to see a squad of soldiers training a field-piece upon the
- building. Leaping from the saddle and dramatically covering the muzzle of
- the gun with his body, he reminded the artillerists that the inventions
- they purposed destroying were monuments of human progress which belonged
- to the whole civilized world, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_017"
- id="page_017"></a>{17}</span> denounced such vandalism as a disgrace to
- the British uniform. His boldness had its effect, and the Patent Office
- was spared. Another check came, in the form of an accident of poetic
- justice, at Greenleaf’s Point, the present site of the Army War College.
- This place had been used as an arsenal by the defenders of the city, who,
- before deserting it, had secreted all their surplus gunpowder in a dry
- well in the midst of the grounds. A body of British troops undertook to
- destroy the American cannon they found there by firing one gun directly
- into another, when a fragment of burning wadding was blown into the well,
- causing an explosion that killed twelve and wounded more than thirty of
- the party.
- </p>
- <p>
- President Madison, who had been at Bladensburg personally superintending
- the placing of our troops, hastened southward when the rout began, and
- took refuge among the hills of northern Virginia. There he was presently
- joined by his wife, and both remained in seclusion till they received word
- that the British had marched away. This message was preceded by the news
- that the President’s House had been burned, with all its contents except a
- few portable articles which could be gathered and put out of harm’s reach
- at an hour’s notice. The property destroyed with absolute wantonness in
- various parts of the city<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_018"
- id="page_018"></a>{18}</span> aggregated in value between two and three
- million dollars—a heavy loss for a government which was just
- managing to stagger along with its legitimate burdens, and in a capital
- that could barely be kept from collapse under the most favoring
- conditions. It is not wonderful that the British press was almost a unit
- in condemning Cockburn’s vandalism, the London <i>Statesman</i> saying:
- “Willingly would we throw a veil of oblivion over the transactions at
- Washington; the Cossacks spared Paris, but we spared not the capital of
- America!” And the <i>Annual Register</i>: “The extent of the devastation
- practised by the victors brought a heavy censure upon the British
- character, not only in America, but on the Continent of Europe.” The
- restoration of the President’s House alone, including the repainting of
- its outside surface to remove the scars of the fire, consumed four years,
- in the course of which President Madison made way for his successor,
- Monroe, and the building had fastened to it, from its freshened color, the
- title it has worn in popular speech from that day to this.
- </p>
- <p>
- It was a sorry-looking Washington to which the Madisons came back.
- Blackened ruins were everywhere; placards posted here and there denounced
- the President as the author of the city’s misfortunes; mournful streams of
- women, children, old men, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_019"
- id="page_019"></a>{19}</span>
- </p>
- <div class="figcenter" style="width: 454px;">
- <a href="images/ill_010_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_010_sml.jpg"
- width="454" height="574" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- <div class="caption">
- <p class="c">
- <i>George Washington Tavern, Bladensburg</i>
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p class="nind">
- shamefaced stragglers from the defensive force, trickled in from the woods
- in the suburban country where they had been hiding since the battle; the
- streets were strewn with the wreckage of a cyclone which had swept the
- valley almost simultaneously with the hostile troops, unroofing houses,
- uprooting trees, demolishing chimneys, and generally supplementing the
- disasters of warfare. Indeed, almost the only potentiality of evil that
- had not come to pass was an uprising of the slaves, which had been widely
- feared, as some of the restless spirits among them had been overheard
- counseling their fellows to join the British in looting the city and then
- make a break for freedom. The Madisons, after a brief visit with friends,
- rented the Octagon house at the corner of New York Avenue and Eighteenth
- Street, now the headquarters of the American Institute of Architects. It
- was here that President Madison signed the treaty of Ghent, binding Great
- Britain and the United States to a peace which has remained for a whole
- century unbroken. Here, too, Dolly Madison held her republican court, the
- most famous since Martha Washington’s in New York, and far eclipsing that
- in splendor.
- </p>
- <p>
- To provide a meeting-place for Congress till the Capitol could be occupied
- once more, a building which stood at the corner of F and Seventh Streets
- was made<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_020" id="page_020"></a>{20}</span>
- over for the purpose. It proved so uncomfortable, however, as to revive
- with increased zest the discussion whether, in view of the spread of
- population through the newly opened West, it would not be wiser to remove
- the seat of government to some fairly accessible point in that part of the
- country. The agitation alarmed the more important property-owners in
- Washington, who, in order to head it off before it had gone too far,
- hastily organized a company to put up a temporary but better equipped
- substitute for the Capitol. They chose a site a few hundred yards to the
- eastward of the burned edifice, and there built a long house which is
- still standing, though now divided into dwellings. The stratagem
- accomplished its aim, and Congress stayed in its improvised domicile till
- 1819. This occupancy gave the building the title, “the Old Capitol,” that
- clings to it to-day in spite of the changes it has undergone in the
- interval.
- </p>
- <p>
- Washington was early supplied with a good general newspaper in the <i>National
- Intelligencer</i>, and the social side of life presently found a weekly
- interpreter in <i>The Huntress</i>, edited by Mrs. Ann Royall, whose
- personality was so aggressive that John Quincy Adams described her as
- going about “like a virago-errant in enchanted armor.” She said so much,
- also, in disparagement of some of her neighbors, that she was<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_021" id="page_021"></a>{21}</span> indicted
- by the grand jury as a common scold and threatened with a ducking in
- accordance with an old English law in force in the District. But the
- disseminators of information to whose coming the citizens looked forward
- more eagerly than to any printed sheet, were two men who made their rounds
- daily on horseback among the homes of the well-to-do. One was the postman,
- delivering the mails that came in by stage-coach from the outer world; the
- other was the barber, who, like an endless-chain letter, picked up the
- latest gossip at every house he visited, and left in exchange all the
- items he had picked up at previous stopping-places.
- </p>
- <p>
- During the next generation Washington saw, it is safe to say, more of the
- ups and downs of fortune than any other American city. The reasons were
- manifold. For one thing, the larger part of its population consisted of
- persons whose permanent ties were elsewhere. As federal officeholders they
- were residents of Washington, but they retained their citizenship in the
- places from which they had been drawn. Under the Constitution, moreover,
- Congress exercised supreme authority in the District of Columbia, and
- every member of Congress had the interests of his home constituency more
- at heart than those of the people who were his neighbors for only a few
- months<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_022" id="page_022"></a>{22}</span>
- at a time. Nevertheless, the population of the capital, which, when it
- rose from its ashes, numbered between eight and nine thousand, more than
- doubled within the next twenty years. Then came ten years of great
- uncertainty, during which occurred the overwhelming business panic of
- 1837, that set awry nearly everything in America, and for this period the
- increase averaged only about five hundred souls annually. But another
- twenty years of forward movement brought the total up to a little more
- than sixty thousand.
- </p>
- <p>
- In the meantime many things had happened, calculated to attract public
- attention generally to Washington. President Monroe had proclaimed his
- famous doctrine, warning Europe to keep its hands off this hemisphere.
- President Jackson had made his fight upon the United States Bank and won
- it, changing the whole financial outlook of the country. The Capitol had
- been enlarged, and several new Government buildings started; the
- Smithsonian Institution had begun to make its mark in the scientific
- world, and the Washington Monument had risen nearly two hundred feet into
- the air. The long-threatened war with Mexico had come and gone, adding a
- rich area to our public domain. Steamships had crowded sailing vessels off
- the highways of commerce and become the main dependence of the Yankee
- navy. The Baltimore<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_023" id="page_023"></a>{23}</span>
- and Ohio Railway, the first successful experiment in its field, had
- brought what we now call the Middle West, with its grain and minerals, to
- within a day’s journey of the capital, and this pioneer enterprise had
- been followed by the opening of other rail facilities. The Fugitive Slave
- Law and the Kansas-Nebraska Act had been passed, slavery had been
- abolished in the District of Columbia, the Underground Railroad had begun
- to haul its daily consignment of runaway negroes across the Canada border,
- the Supreme Court had rendered the Dred Scott decision, and John Brown had
- led his raid in the mountain country scarcely fifty miles from where the
- Court was sitting. Letter postage, anywhere east of the Mississippi River,
- had come down to a three-cent unit. The first telegraph message had been
- transmitted over a wire connecting Baltimore with Washington, and out of
- this small beginning had presently been developed a network of electric
- communication covering all our more thickly populated territory; while
- experimenters with a submarine line had effected an exchange of messages
- between England and the United States which proved the practicability of
- their enterprise. Last but not least, royalty had smiled upon us in the
- person of the Prince of Wales, who had passed some days as the guest of
- President Buchanan at the White House.<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_024" id="page_024"></a>{24}</span>
- </p>
- <p>
- Had Washington been situated elsewhere than on the border line between two
- sections, neither of which felt any pride in its success, or had it been
- governed by executives whose records were to be made or marred by the
- faithfulness with which they turned every opportunity to account for its
- welfare and reputation, we should probably have seen the capital beginning
- then its career as the model city of the new world. Instead, the
- dependence of its people, at every stage, on the favor of what was
- practically an alien governing body, bore natural fruit in a feeble
- community spirit.
- </p>
- <p>
- By 1860 Washington had reached the middle of its Slough of Despond. Not a
- street was paved except for a patch here and there, and Pennsylvania
- Avenue was the only one lighted after nightfall. Pigs roamed through the
- less pretentious highways as freely as dogs. There was not a sewer
- anywhere, a shallow, uncovered stream carrying off the common refuse to
- the Potomac, which was held in its channel only by raw earthen bluffs.
- Wells and springs furnished all the water, and the police and fire
- departments were those of a village. The open squares, intended for beauty
- spots, were densely overgrown with weeds. Except for an omnibus line to
- Georgetown, not a public conveyance was running. Such permanent Department
- buildings as had been started, though ambitious<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_025" id="page_025"></a>{25}</span> in design and suggesting by
- their outlines a desire for something better than had yet been
- accomplished, had not reached a habitable state. The Capitol was in
- disorder, and still overrun with workmen who had been employed in
- constructing the new wings and were preparing to raise the dome; the White
- House had scarcely a fitter look, with its environment of stables and
- shambling fences and its unkempt grounds.
- </p>
- <p>
- Nor was there any prospect of speedy improvement in municipal conditions.
- Every considerable stride in that direction would mean largely increased
- taxation, and the bulk of the taxable property had drifted into the hands
- of unprogressive whites and ignorant negroes, who were equally unwilling
- to pay the price. Upon this seemingly hopeless chaos descended the cloud
- of civil war.
- </p>
- <p>
- It was a black cloud, but it had a sunlit lining.<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_026" id="page_026"></a>{26}</span>
- </p>
- <h2>
- <a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<br /><br /> <small>WAR
- TIMES AND THEIR SEQUEL</small>
- </h2>
- <p class="nind">
- <span class="letra">T</span>HREE days after John Brown had been hanged for
- his Harper’s Ferry raid, the Thirty-sixth Congress convened. Brown’s
- exploit had sent a wave of excitement sweeping over the country, and the
- slavery controversy had entered a phase of emotional acuteness it had
- never known before. There was a strong Republican plurality in the new
- House of Representatives, but it was by no means of one mind, most of its
- members still hoping to avoid any action which might precipitate a
- dismemberment of the Union. It took forty-four ballots, covering a period
- of eight weeks, for a combination of Republicans with a few outsiders to
- choose a Speaker, and the wrangling which preceded and followed the choice
- reached at times the verge of bloodshed. A large majority of the
- Representatives from both Northern and Southern constituencies attended
- the sessions armed.
- </p>
- <p>
- Before the end of June, 1860, four Presidential tickets were in the field.
- The Republican ticket was headed<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_027"
- id="page_027"></a>{27}</span> by Abraham Lincoln of Illinois, the Northern
- Democratic ticket by his old rival in State politics, Stephen A. Douglas.
- The Southern Democrats had nominated John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky,
- then Vice-president, and what was left of the Whig party had united with
- the peacemakers generally in naming John Bell of Tennessee. When Lincoln
- was elected in November, every one knew that a crisis was at hand; for,
- although opposed to the use of violence for the extinction of slavery, he
- disbelieved utterly in the system, and the radical leaders in the South
- proceeded at once with their plans for divorcing the slave States from the
- free States.
- </p>
- <p>
- South Carolina led the actual revolt by adopting an ordinance of secession
- and withdrawing her delegation from Congress. Almost simultaneously she
- sent three commissioners to Washington, “empowered to treat with the
- Government of the United States for the delivery of the forts, magazines,
- lighthouses and other real estate within the limits of South Carolina” to
- the State authorities. President Buchanan, fearing lest any discussion
- with them might be construed as a recognition of their claim to an
- ambassadorial status, referred them to Congress, which met the difficulty
- at the threshold by turning their case over to a special committee, with
- the result that their demands<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_028"
- id="page_028"></a>{28}</span> were disregarded. The committee, however,
- played a pretty important part in the activities of the succeeding winter,
- for the Union men in its membership organized themselves into a sort of
- subcommittee of safety, and opened confidential channels of communication
- with men and women all over the city who were in a position to tell them
- promptly what the enemies of the Union were planning to do. These secret
- informers included all classes of persons, from domestic servants to
- Cabinet officers. The correspondence was conducted not through the
- post-office, but by cipher notes hidden in out-of-the-way places, where
- the parties for whom they were intended could safely look for them after
- nightfall.
- </p>
- <p>
- The militia and fire departments of the District of Columbia were modest
- affairs then, but their members were alert to the growing possibilities of
- trouble. Some who were secession sympathizers formed themselves into rifle
- clubs and drilled privately at night; while the Unionists built up a
- little body of minutemen, who elected their own officers and secreted
- stands of arms at the Capitol and other convenient points, so that they
- could respond instantly, wherever they chanced to be, to a summons for
- emergency service. Day after day brought its budget of news from the
- South, saddening or thrilling. Thomas and Floyd<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_029" id="page_029"></a>{29}</span> quitted the Cabinet, Dix
- became Secretary of the Treasury, and Holt Secretary of War. In January,
- 1861, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi seceded,
- seizing all the forts, vessels, and other Government property on which
- they could lay hands; and Dix put upon the wire his historic despatch to
- his special agent at New Orleans, “If any one attempts to haul down the
- American flag, shoot him on the spot,” but it was intercepted and never
- reached its destination.
- </p>
- <p>
- February witnessed the secession of Texas, the election of Jefferson Davis
- as President and Alexander H. Stephens as Vice-president of the
- Confederate States of America, and the withdrawal of several Senators and
- Representatives from the United States Congress. The only cheering news of
- the month was the refusal of Tennessee and Missouri to secede, though both
- States contained a multitude of citizens who would have preferred to do
- so. Daily the galleries of Congress were crowded with spectators
- representing all shades of opinion and at times uncontrollable in their
- expressions of approval or disapproval. When the House voted to submit a
- Constitutional amendment forbidding the interference of Congress with
- slavery or any other State institution, one element in the gallery burst
- into deafening applause; the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_030"
- id="page_030"></a>{30}</span> opposing element in the Senate became
- equally boisterous in applauding a speech by Andrew Johnson, denouncing as
- a traitor any man who should fire upon the flag or conspire to take over
- Government property for the Confederacy. The difference in the treatment
- of the two outbreaks was significant: that in the House was merely rebuked
- in words, but in the Senate the gallery was cleared and closed to
- spectators for the rest of the day.
- </p>
- <p>
- In fairness it should be said that at this trying juncture several men in
- positions of responsibility, who had made no secret of their interest in
- the Southern cause, acted the honorable part when put to the test.
- Vice-president Breckinridge was credited by current gossip with an
- intention, at the official count of the electoral vote, to refuse to
- declare Lincoln elected, or permit a mob to break up the session and
- destroy the authenticated returns. On the contrary, he conducted the count
- with as much scrupulousness in every detail as if his heart were in the
- result. Equal praise is due to the chief of the Capitol police, who,
- though bitterly hostile to Mr. Lincoln, took all the precautions for his
- safety on the day of inauguration that his best friend could have taken.
- </p>
- <p>
- Thus the Buchanan administration went out, and the Lincoln administration
- came in. The persistent<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_031"
- id="page_031"></a>{31}</span>
- </p>
- <div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
- <a href="images/ill_011_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_011_sml.jpg"
- width="450" height="576" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- <div class="caption">
- <p class="c">
- <i>Octagon House</i>
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p class="nind">
- warnings of a plot to kill or kidnap the President-elect led to the
- adoption of an extraordinary program for bringing him safely to
- Washington. Under the escort of an experienced detective, he made the
- journey from Harrisburg at high speed, in a special train provided by the
- Pennsylvania Railroad Company, all the tracks having been previously
- cleared, and the telegraph wires cut along the route. Meanwhile, a
- sensational newspaper had published locally a story that Lincoln was
- already in the city, having been smuggled through Baltimore in disguise in
- order to elude the conspirators who were waiting there to assassinate him.
- This fiction so incensed William H. Seward, who had been in Washington
- preparing for the arrival of his future chief, that Lincoln was not
- allowed to make a toilet after his night’s journey, but was hurried, all
- unwashed and unshaven, to the Capitol, so that the members of Congress
- could see him and satisfy themselves of the falsity of what they had read.
- </p>
- <p>
- His immunity thus far did not quiet the apprehensions of Lincoln’s
- friends, who took especial pains to prevent the interruption of his
- inauguration at any point. A temporary fence was built around the space
- immediately in front of the platform from which his address was to be
- delivered, and an enclosed alley of boards was constructed from the place
- where he<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_032" id="page_032"></a>{32}</span>
- would leave his carriage to the place where he would pass into the
- Capitol. On the morning of the fourth of March, armed men in citizen’s
- clothing were stationed on the roofs of all the buildings overlooking the
- main east portico, and others on and under its platform, while yet others
- mingled with the crowd of thirty thousand spectators that early assembled
- on the plaza. Batteries of light artillery were posted in commanding
- positions, with their cannon loaded and prepared to sweep any of several
- converging streets on the approach of a mob. Buchanan drove with Lincoln
- to the Capitol, and their carriage was surrounded by a hollow square of
- regular troops, in formation so dense that the occupants of the vehicle
- were scarcely visible from the sidewalk. Hannibal Hamlin, the
- Vice-president-elect, walked up from Willard’s Hotel, on purpose to hear
- what the people who lined the Avenue were saying. Their comments were, as
- a rule, far from friendly to the incoming administration, and some were
- distinctly ominous.
- </p>
- <p>
- Lincoln appeared very calm, in spite of the general atmosphere of
- excitement. Buchanan’s face was graver than usual, and he spoke little
- during the drive. When the party came upon the platform, Senator Baker of
- Oregon stepped forward and said simply, “Fellow citizens, I introduce to
- you Abraham Lincoln,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_033" id="page_033"></a>{33}</span>
- President-elect of the United States”; and the tall, ungainly hero of the
- day advanced to the rail. He laid his manuscript, to which he had put the
- finishing touches at daybreak that morning, upon the little desk with his
- cane for a paper-weight, and looked about for somewhere to lay his high
- silk hat; Stephen A. Douglas, who was sitting near, reached for the hat
- and held it throughout the proceedings. Lincoln, after a brief pause, drew
- from his pocket a pair of steel-bowed spectacles, which he adjusted very
- deliberately, and began to read with a seriousness of manner that soon
- quenched all disposition to frivolity in his audience. The address was a
- plea for the preservation of that friendship between the North and the
- South which had been hallowed by their united warfare in the past against
- the enemies of their country, and ended thus:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of
- affection. The mystic cords of memory, stretching from every battlefield
- and patriot grave to every loving heart and hearthstone all over this
- broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as
- surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”
- </p>
- <p>
- When the last syllable had passed his lips, he stood still a moment,
- slowly sweeping the multitude with<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_034"
- id="page_034"></a>{34}</span> his eyes. Then he bowed to Chief Justice
- Taney, who, in a voice tremulous with emotion, administered the oath of
- office.
- </p>
- <p>
- Within six weeks thereafter Fort Sumter had been fired upon, and the new
- President had issued his call for seventy-five thousand volunteers to
- maintain the laws of the United States, and summoned Congress to meet in
- extra session on the fourth of July. Almost the first thing the Senate did
- when it came together was to expel six of its members who had cast their
- fortunes with the seceding States. Meanwhile, Washington had been
- transformed from an outwardly peaceful town into a military camp. A home
- defense corps was hurriedly enlisted by Cassius M. Clay of Kentucky and
- James H. Lane of Kansas, and a guard was posted around the White House
- every night. The minutemen were called out repeatedly for special service.
- Once they seized a vessel which was about to sail from a Potomac wharf for
- a southern port, laden with munitions of war alleged to have been stolen
- from the Government. Again, they marched to Georgetown and took forcible
- possession of the flour stored in a mill there and reported to them as
- destined for the Confederate army; this, by commandeering all the wagons
- in the neighborhood, they removed to the Capitol and stowed away in the
- basement rooms. In<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_035" id="page_035"></a>{35}</span>
- the streets, all strangers were eyed with suspicion. Signals to the
- police, the home defense corps, and the minutemen were conveyed by certain
- tollings of big bells; and, as every signal meant trouble either present
- or imminent, the townspeople lived continually as if on the brink of a
- volcano.
- </p>
- <p>
- Among the earliest State volunteers to reach the city were regiments from
- Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania. The Massachusetts Sixth, which
- had been fired on by a mob while passing through Baltimore, was quartered
- in the Hall of the Senate, and the New York Seventh in the Hall of
- Representatives; while bivouacked in other parts of the same building were
- about five hundred Pennsylvanians and a company of United States
- artillery, for there was general expectation of a Confederate attack upon
- the Capitol. The New York Seventy-first was assigned to the Washington
- Navy Yard, so as to be convenient for repelling approaches from Alexandria
- by way of the river.
- </p>
- <p>
- The first incident of the war in which Alexandria figured, however, was
- not a foray on Washington but a tragedy at home. Colonel Ephraim E.
- Ellsworth, who had recruited a regiment of zouaves from New York City,
- came to Washington at its head. He was young, handsome, soldierly in
- bearing, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_036" id="page_036"></a>{36}</span>
- full of enthusiasm; but Mr. Lincoln, though greatly attracted to him, felt
- some misgivings as to his ability to control his zouaves, for the New York
- firemen of that period had a reputation for turbulence. Hence, when
- arrangements were made for moving troops into Virginia to occupy a region
- which must be held for the defense of the capital, the President consented
- to let Ellsworth’s regiment go only on condition that it should be
- instantly disbanded if its members committed any breach of discipline.
- </p>
- <p>
- At two o’clock on the morning of May 24, 1861, the zouaves boarded two
- Potomac steamboats, which before sunrise had dropped down to Alexandria.
- Leaving most of his men on the wharf, Ellsworth started with a small squad
- toward a telegraph office whence he could report to Washington by wire. He
- observed a Confederate flag flying from the roof of a hotel known as the
- Marshall House, and, realizing what might happen if his men caught sight
- of it, entered with the purpose of directing its removal. Jackson, the
- landlord, was abed, and the man in charge of the office seemed
- irresponsible, so Ellsworth and his squad hauled down the flag themselves.
- As they were descending with it, Jackson suddenly emerged from his chamber
- in the second story and leveled a double-barreled shotgun at Corporal
- Brownell, the soldier<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_037" id="page_037"></a>{37}</span>
- nearest him. Brownell, with his rifle, struck Jackson’s gun just as its
- trigger was pulled, and the shot went wild; but in an instant Jackson had
- aimed again and discharged the contents of the second barrel into
- Ellsworth’s breast. The Colonel fell dead, and Brownell, firing and using
- his bayonet almost simultaneously, killed Jackson where he stood.
- </p>
- <p>
- Except one who had lost his life by an accident, Ellsworth was the first
- Union soldier to fall in the Civil War. He was buried from the White House
- by the President’s order; and the news of his death so aroused the North
- that volunteers poured into Washington for a time faster than the
- Government could arm and provision them. Mostly they were militia
- regiments which had come on under their own officers. In Washington they
- were united in brigades, with generals of some experience in command, and
- sent into Virginia by way of the “Long Bridge,” which had its terminus on
- the fringe of the Arlington estate; it was a wooden structure, and the
- troops had to break step in crossing it. The first battle between the two
- armies was at a point near Manassas, and took its name, Bull Run, from a
- small stream which, about twenty-five miles southwest of Washington, joins
- the Occoquan River.
- </p>
- <p>
- So little conception had the people at large of the<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_038" id="page_038"></a>{38}</span> actualities of war that many
- Washingtonians and tourists, of all ages and sexes, drove down in
- carriages to watch the battle from a safe position on the hillside.
- Fighting began on the morning of Sunday, July 21, and the first reports
- that reached the city described everything as going favorably to the Union
- cause. The despatches sent to Northern newspapers all reflected this view,
- and some went pretty elaborately into detail concerning incidents on
- various parts of the field. But suddenly the tide turned, and with a
- panicky force which started the whole body of Federal troops on a
- pell-mell rush for Washington. The light-hearted spectators ran, too,
- often impeding the retreat of the soldiers by getting their carriages
- wedged together on a bridge or a narrow road, while the air shook with
- mingled profanity and prayers, punctuated with hysterics. Not a few of the
- carriage folk, as night drew near, became so terrified that they cut their
- harness and rode their horses bareback, two sometimes clinging to one
- animal. The Confederates, discovering the rout, were as much surprised as
- the Federals. They set out to follow their foes, but, not fully grasping
- the real conditions, stopped about fifteen miles short of Washington and
- waited for morning, thus giving the fugitive army a chance to recover from
- its first demoralization. Had they<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_039"
- id="page_039"></a>{39}</span> pressed on, they might have taken possession
- of the capital that night, captured the stored munitions, and looted the
- Treasury; and the record of the next four years must have been written in
- a different vein.
- </p>
- <p>
- Meanwhile, the true story had been brought in by the fleeing
- non-combatants, and the Associated Press attempted to send out a
- correction of first reports, but discovered too late that the Government
- had seized all the telegraph lines and established a temporary censorship,
- postponing any further dissemination of news. As far as known, only one
- prominent paper in the North was able to describe the disaster in its
- Monday morning’s issue. That was a Philadelphia journal, whose
- correspondent had taken to his heels as soon as the panic began. By the
- time he reached Washington, he was so convinced that the Confederates were
- going to capture the city at once, that he boarded a train which was just
- pulling out for Philadelphia, and at his desk in his home office dictated
- his observations of the battle and the stampede.
- </p>
- <p>
- The President, having received only cheering bulletins in the earlier part
- of Sunday, went out for his usual drive in the cool of the afternoon. On
- his return, about half-past six o’clock, he found awaiting him a request
- to come immediately to General Scott’s room at the War Department. All his
- Cabinet had gathered<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_040" id="page_040"></a>{40}</span>
- there, and his hurried consultation with them resulted in messages
- directing various movements of troops in the field, and appeals to the
- Governors of the loyal States for more men. When he came back to his
- office, he threw himself upon a lounge, where he spent the night, not in
- sleep, but in listening to, and closely catechising, parties of civilians
- who had made their way in from Manassas and had hastened to the White
- House to pour their disjointed narratives into his ear. By daylight the
- streets of Washington presented a pitiful spectacle. Ordinary business was
- almost at a standstill; excited citizens were gathered in knots at every
- corner; and a multitude of disheartened soldiers, lacking leaders and
- organization, not knowing where to look for their next orders and thinking
- with dread of the effect the bad news would have upon their friends at
- home, were wandering aimlessly about. The President, after twenty-four
- hours of anxiety, was greatly relieved when the responses from the
- Northern States began to reach him, showing that the shock had not broken
- the faith of the people but had awakened them to the realities of the
- situation. This change was reflected in the Cabinet councils, too, where a
- sudden revision of opinion was observed on the part of those members who
- had fancied that the war would be merely a three months’ holiday—a<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_041" id="page_041"></a>{41}</span> triumphal
- march of a Northern army from Mason and Dixon’s line to the Gulf of
- Mexico.
- </p>
- <p>
- This is not a history of the civil conflict; its beginnings have been thus
- outlined only because they made so deep an impress on the future of
- Washington, which, from being generally regarded by the American people
- with comparative indifference, had become a center of interest for all the
- world. The city was not again seriously threatened with capture till July,
- 1864, when the Confederate General, Jubal A. Early, with a corps of
- seasoned soldiers, had worked his way around so as to descend upon it from
- the north. The news of his approach, spreading through the community, did
- not cause the consternation which might have been expected in view of the
- slight defensive preparation that had been made in the menaced quarter.
- Requisitions were sent to the army in Northern Virginia for such troops as
- could be spared. Wounded and discharged Union veterans shouldered their
- guns once more. The male nurses in the hospitals were drafted for active
- duty. A troop of cavalry was recruited among the civilian teamsters at
- work in the city. From all the executive Departments the able-bodied
- clerks were called out, armed with rifles or muskets as far as possible,
- and for the rest with pistols, old cutlasses, axes, shovels, and whatever<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_042" id="page_042"></a>{42}</span> other
- implements might be turned to emergency use, and ranged up on the
- sidewalks for elementary instruction and drill. Those who were least
- strong or most poorly armed were organized into a home-guard, to act as a
- last reserve if the Confederates succeeded in piercing a line of
- earthworks thrown out north of the city. Some of these fortifications can
- still be identified, though worn away by a half-century’s exposure to a
- variable climate, overgrown with trees and vines, and at intervals used as
- building sites. The most interesting of the chain is Fort Stevens, near
- the present Seventh Street Road, for there President Lincoln stood for
- hours under fire, refusing to go home as long as there seemed a chance
- that his presence could lend any inspiration to the men. The invading
- force was repulsed after a two days’ effort to break through, and
- Washington breathed freely once more.
- </p>
- <p>
- We come now to the concluding stage of the great struggle. Mr. Lincoln was
- reëlected in November, 1864, and inaugurated on the fourth of March, 1865,
- making the chief theme of his address a plea for generous treatment of the
- South. Within a month Richmond fell, and five days after that General Lee
- surrendered his army. There was great rejoicing in Washington over both
- these portents of peace, and parties of men and women paraded the streets
- after<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_043" id="page_043"></a>{43}</span>
- </p>
- <div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
- <a href="images/ill_012_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_012_sml.jpg"
- width="450" height="544" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- <div class="caption">
- <p class="c">
- <i>Union Engine House of 1815</i>
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p class="nind">
- nightfall, singing patriotic songs in front of the dwellings of prominent
- Government officers. On the night of April 11 a great crowd gathered in
- the White House yard, loudly cheering the President and calling for a
- speech. Having been notified in advance, he had jotted down a few remarks
- which he now read from manuscript. This memory of him we shall take away
- with us, as he stood framed in an open window, with one of his secretaries
- at his side holding a lighted candle for him to see by, and his little son
- Tad taking from his hand the pages of manuscript, one by one, as he
- finished reading them, while the rest of his family, with radiant faces,
- were grouped where they could overlook the scene.
- </p>
- <p>
- Three nights later, almost at the same hour, Booth’s bullet laid the good
- man low in his box at Ford’s Theater; and in a little back hall bedroom of
- the house across the street to which he was carried, he breathed his last
- at an early hour on the following morning. Simultaneously with the
- shooting of Mr. Lincoln, an attempt was made to kill Secretary Seward, and
- the detectives unearthed evidence of a wide conspiracy, which contemplated
- a simultaneous murder of the President, the Vice-president, all the
- Cabinet, and General Grant. The conspirators were soon tracked. Booth was
- shot in a Virginia barn in which<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_044"
- id="page_044"></a>{44}</span> he had taken refuge from his pursuers; four
- others were tried by a military commission and hanged.
- </p>
- <p>
- Andrew Johnson, the Vice-president, was not a tactful man, and had already
- drawn upon himself the enmity of the radical wing of his party in
- Congress, which was intensified by his first acts as President,
- foreshadowing a considerate policy toward the South. A tiresome petty
- warfare set in, Johnson vetoing bill after bill, only to see it repassed
- over his veto. Of the members of the Lincoln Cabinet he had retained,
- Secretary Stanton was the one with whom he had most friction, and in
- August, 1867, he called for Stanton’s resignation, designating General
- Grant to manage the War Department temporarily. On Stanton’s refusal to
- resign, Johnson suspended him, and Grant took over the Department and held
- it till the Senate adopted a resolution declaring its non-concurrence in
- Stanton’s suspension. Then Grant stepped out, and Stanton returned to
- duty. Johnson suspended him again, this time designating General Lorenzo
- Thomas to act in his stead. Matters had now reached a climax, and the
- House in 1868 impeached the President. His trial by the Senate consumed
- nearly two months and ended in a failure to convict. In view of this
- defeat, Stanton resigned, and from that time till the close of his term
- President Johnson continued his quarrel<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_045" id="page_045"></a>{45}</span> with the opponents of his
- policy, celebrating his last Christmas in the White House by proclaiming a
- general pardon and amnesty, so framed as to include all grades of
- political offenders.
- </p>
- <p>
- Johnson was President when the enlargement of the Capitol building was
- finished, including the rearing of the present dome. While the alterations
- were in progress, the grand two days’ parade of the victorious armies took
- place on Pennsylvania Avenue, the President reviewing it as it passed the
- White House. General Grant was elected by the Republicans to succeed
- Johnson, taking office in March, 1869. During the next sixteen years,
- divided between his two terms and the administrations of Hayes, Garfield,
- and Arthur, Washington almost doubled in population. While Grant was
- President, it was so constantly in the public eye that many rich men
- discerned its future possibilities and invested in real estate there. Army
- and navy officers, retired from active duty, found it pleasant to settle
- down where they would be most likely to meet their old comrades. A few
- scholars drifted in, so as to have easy access to the Government libraries
- and records. Thus, in both a material and a social way, Washington took a
- strong upward start.
- </p>
- <p>
- For the esthetic side of the general change, less can<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_046" id="page_046"></a>{46}</span> be said in praise. Most of
- the dwellings built during this era can still be distinguished by their
- gratuitous ugliness. The parks became strewn with flower-beds of fantastic
- shape, overrun by a riot of inharmonious colors. Statues sprang up like
- mushrooms, unrelated in size or style or any other quality. Alterations of
- street grades left little houses perched on bluffs and leaning against big
- neighbors built at the new level, or sunk in dingy pits. All this
- contributed to give the city an unfinished look, like that of a child
- growing out of its small clothes. Over the whole process of transformation
- loomed its master figure, Alexander R. Shepherd.
- </p>
- <p>
- No man of his day, unless it were Grant himself, endured more wholesale
- denunciation or found more valiant defenders than he. Like Grant, who
- believed in him thoroughly, he had an iron will which treated all
- obstacles as negligible when he had set himself to accomplish a certain
- end. As a plumber by trade and a very competent one, he had accumulated a
- fortune before middle life. Early in his business career he had made up
- his mind that Washington’s failure to fulfil L’Enfant’s ideal of a
- beautiful capital was due to the sluggishness which pervaded it, and this
- he resolved to dispel. Grant listened to his projects and encouraged them.
- The first step was to abolish<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_047"
- id="page_047"></a>{47}</span> the existing form of municipal government
- and to substitute a Territorial form, with a Governor and a Board of
- Public Works. Shepherd was made vice-president of the Board and virtually
- its dictator.
- </p>
- <p>
- What he had to face in his effort to launch the city afresh can hardly be
- conceived by an observer of to-day. Although ten years had elapsed since
- the outbreak of the great war of which Washington was the focal center,
- local conditions had improved but slightly upon those described toward the
- close of the previous chapter. The road-bed of Pennsylvania Avenue had
- received a pavement of wood, which was fast going to pieces. A single
- square in Vermont Avenue was surfaced with a coal-tar product that had
- proved its unfitness. A few other streets had been spread with a thick
- coat of gravel, which, as it was gradually ground down, filled the air
- with fine grit whenever the wind blew. The rest of the highways were
- either paved with cobblestones or left in their primitive dirt, which
- became nearly impassable in very wet weather for mud, and in very dry
- weather for dust. It was not uncommon for a heavy vehicle like a
- fire-engine to get stalled when it most needed to hurry, and to avoid this
- contingency the engines sometimes ran over the sidewalk. In the
- northwestern quarter, now so attractive, the marshes were undrained, and
- the people<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_048" id="page_048"></a>{48}</span>
- forced to live there suffered tortures from chills and fever. There was no
- efficient system of scavenging, but swine were kept in back yards of
- dwellings to devour the kitchen refuse. Poultry and cattle roamed freely
- about the vacant lots in thinly settled neighborhoods. There were several
- open sewers; and the street sweepings, including offal of a highly
- offensive sort, were dumped on the common south of Pennsylvania Avenue and
- strewn over the plots set apart for lawns.
- </p>
- <p>
- Because Shepherd foresaw the hostility he would excite by his program of
- reforms, and that what he did must therefore be done quickly, he crowded
- into three years what might well have consumed twenty. To save time and
- cut red tape, he awarded contracts to friends whom he believed to be as
- much in earnest as he was—a practice which of course laid him open
- to accusations of favoritism; he experimented with novel materials and
- methods, many of which proved ill-adapted to his needs; and his
- expenditures reached figures which surprised even him when he found
- leisure to foot up his debit page. But he shirked nothing because of the
- danger or trouble it might involve for himself, and his opponents had to
- lie awake nights to outwit him.
- </p>
- <p>
- For instance, there stood on the present site of the<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_049" id="page_049"></a>{49}</span> Public Library in Mount
- Vernon Square a ramshackle old market building, the owners of which had
- contrived so to intrench themselves behind legal technicalities that they
- could not be ousted by any ordinary process. One evening, after the courts
- were closed, a platoon of brawny laborers was marched up to the building,
- armed with battering-rams, axes, and sledge-hammers, and, before
- proprietors or tenants could hunt up a judge to interfere, the party had
- reduced the market to kindling wood and prepared the ground for conversion
- into a public park. Again, when the time came to improve the lower end of
- Pennsylvania Avenue, a railroad crossing stood in the way. It had been
- laid during the war, with no legal warrant but as a temporary military
- necessity, and the company had repeatedly refused to remove it. So at one
- o’clock one Sunday morning, when injunctions were out of the question,
- Shepherd brought down a gang of trusty men and proceeded to tear up the
- rails, which could never thereafter be replaced.
- </p>
- <p>
- The boldness of this performance so stirred the admiration of John W.
- Garrett, one of the most powerful railway magnates of the day, that he
- offered Shepherd a vice-presidency of the Baltimore and Ohio Company. But
- Shepherd was not to be lured away. He was promoted by Grant from the
- vice-presidency of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_050" id="page_050"></a>{50}</span>
- the Board of Public Works to the Governorship of the District, a move
- which, though flattering, made him all the more shining a mark for attack;
- and a group of large landowners, shuddering at the prospect of further
- increases in taxation, induced Congress to reorganize the local
- government, wiping out entirely the Territorial system and popular
- suffrage, and putting the administration of affairs into the hands of
- three Commissioners to be appointed for limited terms by the President.
- This plan has remained substantially unchanged for more than forty years,
- to the satisfaction of the citizens who have most at stake in the welfare
- of the city.
- </p>
- <p>
- Having entered office rich at the age of thirty, Shepherd quitted it at
- thirty-three so poor that he had to begin life anew in the Mexican mining
- country. He left as his monument a record expenditure of twenty-six
- million dollars, about half that amount remaining as a bonded debt; many
- miles of newly opened or extended streets; a splendid achievement in
- shade-tree installation and parking improvement; modern water, sanitation,
- and lighting plants; and, above all, an awakened popular spirit as to
- civic advancement. Albeit his ways of working out his plans often were so
- crude as to shock the sense of quieter people and not to be commended as a
- continuing force for<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_051" id="page_051"></a>{51}</span>
- </p>
- <div class="figcenter" style="width: 454px;">
- <a href="images/ill_013_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_013_sml.jpg"
- width="454" height="562" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- <div class="caption">
- <p class="c">
- <i>On the Ruins of Fort Stevens</i>
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p class="nind">
- good, they served their time, which needed the application of a crowbar
- rather than a cambric needle.
- </p>
- <p>
- True to his human type, Shepherd was an odd mixture of incongruities. He
- poured out public funds like water, yet profited never a cent himself. In
- his own fashion he was pious, yet he could swear like a trooper when
- aroused, and once halted in the midst of family prayers to order a servant
- to “drive that damned cow out of the rose-bushes!” He was overheard, after
- hurling imprecations at some contractor who had mishandled a job,
- murmuring a prayer to the Almighty to forgive and forget his momentary
- loss of temper. A lady who once engaged him as a plumber to hang a
- chandelier in her parlor noticed that it swayed under her touch, and sent
- for him again to make sure that it would not fall upon the heads of her
- guests. His answer was to mount a chair on one side of the room, pull the
- chandelier toward him till he could grasp it with both hands, jump off,
- and swing his whole weight of two hundred and twenty-five pounds across to
- a chair on the opposite side. This exhibition of his confidence in his
- work completely restored hers.
- </p>
- <p>
- Little more need be told here. The sodden soil plowed up by Shepherd was
- gradually harrowed and seeded, watched and watered, till it brought forth
- a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_052" id="page_052"></a>{52}</span>
- new city, which under later administrations, in spite of many
- vicissitudes, has prospered in the main. Presidents Cleveland, Harrison,
- and McKinley took an interest in it which, while kindly, had some of the
- detached quality of their interest in any of the States or Territories;
- under them, however, the beautiful Rock Creek National Park and its
- neighbor the “Zoo” were planned and largely developed, and the
- pleasure-ground and suburban expansion programs received a considerable
- impetus. President Roosevelt felt a lively sense of the importance of the
- city as the capital of a great nation. It was in his time that the White
- House underwent its restoration, and the L’Enfant plan generally was
- revived as a standard. He was responsible, also, for attracting to
- Washington, as permanent residents, many literary and scientific workers
- whom it had formerly welcomed only as visitors, and the foundation of the
- Carnegie Institution went far to make this period notable in local annals.
- Mr. Taft’s interest took more the neighborly bent, as if Washington were
- his home. He bore an active part in the popular movements for beautifying
- the city, not so much because it was a capital, as because he wished to
- have a hand in the civic enterprises of his fellow townsmen.
- </p>
- <p>
- President Wilson’s attitude has not thus far been<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_053" id="page_053"></a>{53}</span> so clearly defined as that
- of his recent predecessors. Other pressing public concerns have left him
- scant time for looking into municipal improvement projects. Mrs. Wilson,
- however, gave them much attention; and a hope expressed during her last
- illness so touched the heart of Congress as to bring about the enactment
- of some long-delayed legislation to abate the use of unwholesome alleys
- for the tenements of the poor.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_054"
- id="page_054"></a>{54}</span>
- </p>
- <h2>
- <a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<br /><br /> <small>“ON
- THE HILL”</small>
- </h2>
- <p class="nind">
- <span class="letra">I</span>N the ordinary conversation of Washington, one
- rarely hears Congress mentioned by name. The respective functions of its
- two chambers are so generally understood that it is common to distinguish
- between them: the Senate yesterday did so-and-so; something is about to
- occur in the House of Representatives. In speaking of the lawmakers
- collectively, the familiar phrase is “the gentlemen on the hill.”
- Washington has several hills, but “the” hill is by universal consent the
- one on which the Capitol stands.
- </p>
- <p>
- To the visitor who knows the city only in its present aspect, the choice
- of this hill for the monumental building now crowning it seems most
- natural. This is not, however, the place originally considered for the
- purpose. James Madison favored Shuter’s Hill, an eminence a little west of
- Alexandria, now embraced in the tract set apart for George Washington
- Park. Thomas Jefferson supported Madison in this preference; but President
- Washington, feeling that Virginia<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_055"
- id="page_055"></a>{55}</span> had already had her full share of the honors
- in launching the new republic, insisted that the most important
- architecture at the seat of government should stand on the Maryland side
- of the Potomac. His view prevailed; and, when the sites of the principal
- public buildings were marked on L’Enfant’s plan of the city, that selected
- for the Capitol was the elevation which, besides being fairly central,
- commanded in its outlook, and was commanded by, the greatest area of
- country on both sides of the river.
- </p>
- <p>
- Like almost everything else architectural in Washington, the Capitol is a
- pile of gradual growth, subjected to many changes of detail in the plans.
- Sketches were submitted in competition for a prize; the two competitors
- who came nearest to meeting the requirements, though adopted citizens of
- the United States, were respectively of French and English birth; and the
- drawings finally evolved from the general scheme of the one modified by
- the more acceptable ideas of the other were turned over to an Irishman to
- perfect and carry out. Most of the credit belongs, undoubtedly, to Doctor
- William Thornton, a draftsman by profession, who afterward became
- Superintendent of Patents. The material used was freestone from a
- neighboring quarry. Only the north or Senate end was far enough advanced
- by the autumn of 1800 to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_056"
- id="page_056"></a>{56}</span> enable Congress to hold its short session
- there, and the disputes which arose over the succeeding stages of the work
- led President Jefferson to call in Benjamin H. Latrobe of Richmond, the
- first architect of already established rank who had had anything to do
- with it. Under his direction, the south end was made habitable by 1811;
- and the House of Representatives, which till then had been uncomfortably
- quartered in such odd places as it could find, took possession. There was
- no central structure connecting the Senate and House ends, but a roofed
- wooden passageway led from the one to the other. In this condition was the
- Capitol when, in 1814, the British invaders burned all of it that was
- burnable.
- </p>
- <p>
- The heavier masonry, of course, was unaffected by the fire except for the
- need of a little patchwork here and there; but in his task of restoration
- Mr. Latrobe found himself so embarrassed by dissensions between the
- dignitaries who gave him his orders that after three vexatious years he
- resigned, and the celebrated Charles Bulfinch of Boston took his place. In
- 1830 Mr. Bulfinch pronounced the building finished and returned home, and
- for twenty years it remained substantially as he left it. Then, the needs
- of Congress having outgrown the space at their disposal, Thomas U. Walter
- of Philadelphia was ordered to prepare plans<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_057" id="page_057"></a>{57}</span> for an enlargement, and he
- was far-sighted enough to make the extension the vehicle for some other
- improvements. The great wings attached to the northern and southern
- extremities were built of white marble, which has rendered imperative the
- frequent repainting of the old freestone surfaces to match; the dome was
- raised proportionally; and additions made, then and since, to the
- surrounding grounds, have given the building an appropriate setting and
- vastly enhanced its beauty of approach.
- </p>
- <p>
- This is, in brief, the story of the Capitol as we find it to-day. A stroll
- through it will call up other memories. As you look at the building from
- the east, you will be struck by the difference in tint between the painted
- main structure and the two marble wings. Imagine the wings cut off and the
- dome reduced to about half its present height and ended abruptly in a flat
- top, and you have in your mind’s eye a picture of the Capitol as Bulfinch
- left it, and as it remained till shortly before the Civil War. Its most
- conspicuous feature now is its towering dome, surmounted by a bronze
- allegorical figure of American Freedom. As the sculptor Crawford
- originally modeled the image, its head was crowned with the conventional
- liberty-cap; but Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War, objected to this
- on the ground that it was the sign of a freed<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_058" id="page_058"></a>{58}</span> slave, whereas Americans
- were born free. The cap was therefore discarded in favor of the present
- helmet of eagle feathers.
- </p>
- <p>
- Filling the pediment over the main portico is a bit of sculpture which
- enjoys the distinction of having been designed by John Quincy Adams,
- because he could not find an artist who could draw him what he wished. It
- consists of three figures: the Genius of America in the center and Hope
- and Justice on either side, Justice appearing without her customary
- blindfold. Flanking the main staircase are two groups of statuary. That on
- our left is called “The Discovery”—Columbus holding aloft a globe,
- while an Indian woman crouches at his feet. It was done by the Italian
- sculptor Persico, who copied Columbus’s armor from the last suit actually
- worn by him. And now comes a bit of politics; for Congress, having awarded
- this work to a foreigner, was besieged by a demand that the next order be
- given to an American, and accordingly engaged Horatio Greenough to produce
- “The Rescue,” which stands on our right. It represents a frontiersman
- saving his wife and child from capture by an Indian.
- </p>
- <p>
- The portico has an historic association with another President besides
- Adams, for it was here that an attempt was made upon the life of Andrew
- Jackson.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_059" id="page_059"></a>{59}</span>
- At the close of a funeral service in the House of Representatives, he had
- just passed out of the rotunda to descend the steps, when a demented
- mechanic named Lawrence sprang from a place of hiding, aimed a pistol at
- him, and pulled the trigger. As they were less than ten feet apart, the
- President was saved only by the failure of the powder to explode. Lawrence
- instantly dropped the useless pistol and tried another, with like effect.
- Jackson never could be talked out of the idea that Lawrence was the tool
- of political conspirators who wished to put some one else in his place as
- President.
- </p>
- <p>
- We enter the building between the bronze doors designed by Randolph
- Rogers, commonly called the “Columbus doors” because they tell, in a
- series of reliefs, the life story of the discoverer. In the rotunda, the
- center of the building, we find ourselves surrounded by paintings and
- sculpture dealing with historical subjects. Hung at even intervals are
- eight large canvases, of which four are by John Trumbull, a portrait
- painter who was also an officer of the patriot army in the Revolution. For
- the one representing the signing of the Declaration of Independence, old
- John Randolph could find no better designation than “the shin piece,”
- because “such a collection of legs never before came together in any one
- picture”; but a more<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_060" id="page_060"></a>{60}</span>
- friendly commentator has discovered by actual count that, of the nearly
- fifty figures, only ten show either legs or feet, the rest being relieved
- by drapery or deep shadows. In another, the “Resignation of General
- Washington,” are the figures of two girls, which have given rise to many a
- discussion among sightseers because the pair seem to have five hands
- between them; I shall not attempt to solve the problem.
- </p>
- <p>
- The paintings of the “Landing of Columbus,” “Discovery of the
- Mississippi,” “Baptism of Pocahontas,” and “Embarkation of the Pilgrims”
- are from the brushes of Vanderlyn, Powell, Chapman, and Weir respectively.
- Their subjects permit of picturesque costumes and dramatic groupings which
- Trumbull could not use. But whatever his limitations, we owe to him,
- probably more than to any other one man, the rotunda as we know it.
- Bulfinch had under consideration various schemes of treatment for the
- center of the building, but Trumbull’s foremost thought was of a good
- light for his pictures; and, as he was a valued friend of the architect,
- the pertinacity with which he urged this design won the day.
- </p>
- <p>
- Four doors pierce the circular chamber, and over each is a rectangle of
- sculpture in high relief. As works of art, the quartet are little short of
- execrable, but as milestones on the path of esthetic development<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_061" id="page_061"></a>{61}</span> in
- America they have a charm of their own. All were the work of Italian
- sculptors, whose acquaintance with our domestic history and concerns was
- presumptively scant; and when the tablet showing William Penn negotiating
- his treaty with the Indians was first exhibited to the public, the head of
- the gentle Quaker was adorned with a cocked hat and military queue. It was
- necessary, therefore, to decapitate him and set upon his shoulders the
- head he now wears. All four reliefs deal with our aboriginal problem. In
- one, the Indians are welcoming the Pilgrim Fathers with a gift of corn; in
- another, they are conveying to Penn the land on which Philadelphia now
- stands; in a third, Pocahontas is saving the life of Captain John Smith;
- while in the fourth, Caucasian civilization, personified in Daniel Boone,
- has already killed one Indian and is engaged in bloody combat with a
- second. The series drew from an old chief the comment that they told the
- true story of the way the white race had repaid the hospitality of the red
- race by exterminating it; and another observer, pointing to the huddled-up
- body of the fallen Indian under Boone’s foot, remarked: “The white man has
- not left the Indian land enough even to die on!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Running all around the circular wall and immediately under the dome
- opening, we note an unfinished frieze,<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_062" id="page_062"></a>{62}</span> so done in neutral tints as
- to convey the suggestion of relief sculpture, depicting the most notable
- events in the history of America from the landing of Columbus to the
- discovery of gold in California. Six of the fourteen scenes were painted
- by Constantino Brumidi, and the others after sketches left by him. It was
- an ambitious design, in view of the rapidity with which history is made
- now and the brevity of the space. Only a trifling gap is left for all that
- has happened in the last sixty years or so, and Congress has had more than
- one debate over what ought to be crowded into the record of this interval.
- Among the subjects considered have been the emancipation of the slaves,
- the completion of the first transcontinental railroad, and the freeing of
- Cuba; but the proposal which has met with most favor is a symbolic
- treatment of the Civil War, not as a breach between the sections but as
- the cementing of a stronger bond. This was set aside because the design
- outlined was a representation of Grant and Lee clasping hands under the
- Appomattox apple tree—the objection being based on the discovery
- that the apple tree existed only in fiction, and that the real
- meeting-place of the two commanders was too unromantic for artistic use.
- </p>
- <p>
- From the frieze our eyes ascend to the canopy, or inner lining of the
- dome, which hangs above us like an<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_063"
- id="page_063"></a>{63}</span>
- </p>
- <div class="figcenter" style="width: 452px;">
- <a href="images/ill_014_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_014_sml.jpg"
- width="452" height="594" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- <div class="caption">
- <p class="c">
- <i>Survivals from “Before the War”</i>
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p class="nind">
- inverted bowl enclosing an elaborate fresco in colors. This, too, is from
- the brush of Brumidi. Although it is ostensibly allegorical, many of its
- sixty-three human faces are recognizable portraits, including those of
- Washington, Franklin, Hamilton, Robert Morris, Samuel F. B. Morse, Robert
- Fulton, and Thomas U. Walter, who was architect of the Capitol while the
- work was in progress. In a group representing War, with an armed goddess
- of liberty for its center, are heads resembling those of Jefferson Davis,
- Alexander H. Stephens, Robert E. Lee, and John B. Floyd. Whether the
- likenesses are there by the deliberate intent of the artist, or merely by
- accident, no one will ever know, as Brumidi died in 1880.
- </p>
- <p>
- The door on our left leads, through a short corridor, into what was once
- the Hall of Representatives. It is now known officially as the Hall of
- Statuary, but to irreverent critics as the National Chamber of Horrors,
- because of the varied assortment of marble and bronze images collected
- there. The room is semicircular, with a domed ceiling, a great arch and
- supporting pillars on its flat side, and a colonnade lining the horseshoe.
- During the forty years that it was used for legislative purposes, a
- rostrum holding the Speaker’s table and chair filled the arch, and the
- desks of the Representatives were arranged in concentric curves to face<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_064" id="page_064"></a>{64}</span> it.
- Overlooking the chamber, and following most of the rear wall, ran a narrow
- gallery for visitors who did not enjoy the privileges of the floor; it
- derived an air of comfort from curtains hung between the columns of the
- colonnade and looped back so as to produce the effect of a tier of
- opera-boxes. Stay in the room a while, and you will understand why, for
- many years, the complaint of its acoustic properties was so constant, and
- a demand for a better hall so strong: it is a wonderful whispering
- gallery. There are spots in the tiled pavement where you can stand and
- hear the slightest sound you make come back from some point before or
- behind you, over your head, or under your feet. Go to the place where the
- semicircle ends on one side of the room, and I will go to the
- corresponding place on the other side, and, by speaking into the vertical
- fissures between the wall and the pillars at the two extremities of the
- great arch, we can converse in the lowest tones with as much ease as if we
- were side by side instead of a hundred feet apart.
- </p>
- <p>
- A vivid imagination can people this hall with ghosts. Here some of the
- fiercest forensic battles were fought in early days over protective
- tariffs, internal improvements, and, above all, negro slavery. Here it was
- that Randolph’s piping voice denounced the Northern “dough-faces,” and
- here Wilmot launched his historic<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_065"
- id="page_065"></a>{65}</span> proviso. Here Alexander H. Stephens made his
- last effort to resuscitate the moribund Whig party, while Abraham Lincoln
- listened to his argument from a seat on the same side of the chamber. Here
- John Quincy Adams drew upon himself the fire of an incensed opposition by
- championing the people’s right to petition Congress, and here he fell to
- the floor a dying paralytic. Here John Marshall, the greatest of our Chief
- Justices, administered the oath of office to two early Presidents. And
- here it was that Henry Clay, as Speaker, delivered his address of welcome
- to Lafayette as the guest of the nation, and listened with becoming
- gravity to the Marquis’s response—which, as it afterward appeared,
- owed its excellent English to the fact that Clay had composed it for the
- most part himself.
- </p>
- <p>
- The conversion of the hall from its former to its present uses was at the
- instance of the late Senator Morrill of Vermont, who procured legislation
- permitting every State in the Union to contribute two statues of
- distinguished citizens to this temple of fame. No restriction having been
- placed on the sizes of the figures, one result of his well-meant effort is
- a grotesque array of pigmies and giants, some of the personages biggest in
- life being most diminutive in effigy, while others of comparatively
- insignificant stature are here given massive proportions. Most of the
- notables<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_066" id="page_066"></a>{66}</span>
- thus immortalized are persons with whose names we associate a story. Here
- stand, for example, Ethan Allen as he may have looked when demanding the
- surrender of Fort Ticonderoga “in the name of the great Jehovah and the
- Continental Congress”; Charles Carroll, who wrote Carrollton after his
- name so that the servants of the King, when sent to hang him for signing
- the Declaration, would know where to find him; sturdy John Stark, who
- snapped his fingers at Congress and whipped the British at Bennington in
- his own fashion; Muhlenberg, the patriot parson, throwing back his gown at
- the close of his sermon and standing forth as a Continental soldier; and
- fiery Jim Shields, who once challenged Lincoln to a duel, but was laughed
- out of it when, arriving on the field, he found his adversary already
- there, mowing the tall grass with a cutlass to make the fighting easier!
- </p>
- <p>
- Another corridor brings us to the present Hall of Representatives, which
- has been in use since the latter part of 1857. It is a spacious
- rectangular room, with a high ceiling chiefly of glass, through which it
- is lighted in the daytime by the sun and after nightfall by the modified
- glow of electric lamps in the attic. Its plan is that of an amphitheater,
- the platform occupied by the Speaker being at the lowest level in the
- middle of the long southern side. Facing this<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_067" id="page_067"></a>{67}</span> are the concentric curved
- benches of the members. Formerly the body of the hall was filled with
- desks but, as the membership increased with the population of the country,
- these were found to take up too much room, not to mention the temptation
- they offered for letter-writing and other diversions. Back of the
- Speaker’s chair hang a full-length portrait of Washington by Vanderlyn and
- one of Lafayette by Ary Schaeffer. The Washington is the conventional
- portrait as far as the waist-line, but the legs were borrowed from a
- prominent citizen of Maryland, who had a better pair than the General, and
- who consented to pose them for the benefit of posterity.
- </p>
- <p>
- Now let us go back to the north or Senate wing of the building. On our way
- we swing around a little open air-well, through which we look down into
- the corresponding corridor of the basement. The well is surrounded by a
- colonnade supporting the base of a circular skylight. The columns are
- worth noticing, because their capitals are of native design, using the
- leaf of the tobacco plant somewhat conventionalized. They date from the
- period when the clerk of the United States Supreme Court, whose office is
- near by, used to receive a part of his compensation in tobacco.
- </p>
- <p>
- A few steps more bring us to the Court itself, sitting in a chamber
- considerably smaller than the Hall of<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_068" id="page_068"></a>{68}</span> Statuary, but laid out on
- the same plan. This was the first legislative chamber ever occupied in the
- Capitol, having been till 1859 the Hall of the Senate. Here it was that
- Thomas Jefferson was twice inaugurated as President. Here Daniel Webster
- pronounced the famous “reply to Hayne” which every boy orator once learned
- to spout from the rostrum. Here Preston Brooks made his murderous assault
- upon Charles Sumner, and here Henry Clay delivered the farewell address
- which we used to find in all the school readers. On the walls of this
- chamber once hung the life-size oil portraits of Louis XVI. and Marie
- Antoinette, which were presented by the Government of France to the
- Government of the United States just after our Revolution, and which
- disappeared when the British burned the Capitol in 1814. The room has
- always suffered from the same bad acoustic properties which caused the
- House of Representatives to exchange its old hall for its new one; and it
- has a similar whispering gallery, so that a court officer in one corner
- can communicate with a colleague in the other in a tone so low as to be
- inaudible to any one else.
- </p>
- <p>
- Since it took possession here, the Court has rendered its legal tender and
- anti-trust decisions, and a number of others of historic importance. In
- this room sat, in 1877, the Electoral Commission which decided that<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_069" id="page_069"></a>{69}</span> Mr. Hayes
- was entitled to take office as President. Here occurs, every day during a
- term, the one ancient and impressive ceremonial which can be witnessed at
- our seat of government. At the stroke of noon there appears at the right
- corner of the chamber the crier, who in a loud voice announces: “The
- Honorable the Supreme Court of the United States!” All present—attorneys,
- spectators, and minor functionaries—rise and remain standing while
- the members of the Court enter in single file, the Chief Justice leading.
- The lawyers bow to the Justices, who return the bow before sinking into
- their chairs. Thereupon the crier makes his second announcement: “Oyez!
- Oyez! Oyez! All persons having business with the Honorable the Supreme
- Court of the United States are admonished to draw near and give attention,
- as the Court is now sitting. God save the United States and this Honorable
- Court!”
- </p>
- <p>
- All the Justices wear gowns of black silk. John Jay, the first Chief
- Justice, relieved the somber monotony of his by adding a collar bound with
- scarlet, but the precedent was not followed. The Court has sometimes been
- styled the most dignified judicial tribunal in the world, and doubtless it
- deserves the compliment. Certainly no American need blush for its decorum.
- The whole atmosphere of its chamber is in keeping<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_070" id="page_070"></a>{70}</span> with the fact, reverently
- voiced by one of its old colored servitors, that “dey ain’t no appeal f’m
- dis yere Co’t ’xcep’ to God Almighty.” The arguments made before it are
- confined to calm, unemotional reasoning. The pleaders do not raise their
- voices, or forget their manners, or indulge in personalities or oratory
- while debating: and the opinions of the Court are recited with a quietness
- almost conversational. These opinions are very carefully guarded up to the
- moment they are read from the bench; but now and then, after a decision
- has become history, there leaks out an entertaining story of how it came
- to be rendered.
- </p>
- <p>
- One such instance was in the case of an imported delicacy which might have
- been classed either as a preparation of fish or as a flavoring sauce. The
- customs officers had levied duty on it as a sauce, and an importer had
- appealed. The Justices, when they came to compare notes, confessed
- themselves sorely puzzled, and one of them suggested that, since the
- technical arguments were so well balanced, it might be wise to fall back
- upon common sense. That evening he carried a sample of the disputed
- substance home to his wife, who was an expert in culinary matters.
- </p>
- <p>
- “There, my dear,” said he, “is a sauce for you to try.”
- </p>
- <p>
- With one look at the contents of the package,<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_071" id="page_071"></a>{71}</span> which she evidently
- recognized, she exclaimed: “Pshaw! That’s no sauce; that’s fish—didn’t
- you know it?”
- </p>
- <p>
- The next day the Court met again for consultation, and on the following
- Monday handed down a decision overruling the customs officers and
- sustaining the importer’s appeal.
- </p>
- <p>
- Leaving the court-room and continuing northward, we come to the present
- Hall of the Senate. It is smaller than the present Hall of Representatives
- and also cleaner looking and more comfortable. When Congress is in full
- session, the contrast may be extended further so as to include what we
- hear as well as what we see, for there is little likeness between the two
- houses in the matter of orderliness of procedure. But that’s another
- story, which will keep. It was from this chamber that the Senators from
- the seceding States took their departure in 1860 and 1861. For years
- afterward the first request of every visiting stranger was to be shown the
- seats formerly occupied by these men. As long as the old doorkeeper of the
- Senate, Captain Bassett, lived, he was reputed to be the only person who
- knew the history of every desk on the floor. Whether he transmitted this
- knowledge to any of his assistants before his death, I cannot say; but
- more than once he saved some of the furniture<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_072" id="page_072"></a>{72}</span> from injury at the hands of
- wanton vandals or curio collectors.
- </p>
- <p>
- During the early days of the Civil War, a party of Northern zouaves,
- passing through the city on their way to the front, entered the Senate
- Hall during a recess and tried to identify Davis’s desk. They frankly
- avowed their purpose of destroying, if possible, the last trace of the
- Confederate President’s connection with the United States Government; but
- Bassett refused to be coaxed, bribed, or bullied into revealing the
- information they wished. Their persistency presently aroused his fears
- lest they might come back later and renew their attempt in his absence; so
- he resorted to diplomacy and made them a little speech, reminding them
- that, no matter what Mr. Davis might have done to provoke their
- indignation, the desk at which he had sat was not his property, but that
- of the Government which they had come South to defend. His reasoning had
- its effect, and, admitting that he was right, they went away peaceably.
- </p>
- <p>
- Back of the Senate chamber are two rooms set apart for the President and
- Vice-president respectively. Till lately, the President’s room as a rule
- has been occupied only during a few closing hours of a session, when the
- President wishes to be readily accessible for the signing of such acts as
- he approves. Sometimes he<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_073"
- id="page_073"></a>{73}</span> has spent the entire last night of a
- Congress here, returning to the White House for breakfast and coming to
- the Capitol again for an hour or two before noon. President Wilson has
- used the room more than any of his recent predecessors, going there to
- consult the leading members of his party in Congress while legislation is
- in course of preparation or passage.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Vice-president’s room has been more constantly in use as a retiring
- room for its occupant during the intervals when he is not presiding over
- the sessions of the Senate. On its wall has hung for many years a little
- gilt-framed mirror for which John Adams, while Vice-president, paid forty
- dollars, and which was brought with the other appurtenances of the Senate
- from Philadelphia when the Government removed its headquarters to
- Washington. Many of the frugal founders of the republic were scandalized
- at the extravagance of the purchase, and one gravely introduced in the
- Senate a resolution censuring Adams for having drawn thus heavily upon the
- public funds “to gratify his personal vanity.” What these good men would
- say if they were to revisit the Capitol now and see in the same room with
- the forty-dollar mirror a silver inkstand that cost two hundred dollars
- and a clock that cost a thousand, we can only imagine. It was in this
- room, by the way, that Vice-president<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_074" id="page_074"></a>{74}</span> Wilson died in November,
- 1875, after an attack of illness which suddenly overcame him at the
- Capitol and was too severe to justify his being carried to his home.
- </p>
- <p>
- On the floor below are two other points of interest. We shall do well to
- descend, not by the broad marble staircases in the north wing, but by an
- old iron-railed and curved flight of stone steps a little south of the
- Supreme Court. Note, in passing, its columns, as truly American in design
- as those above-stairs to which attention has already been directed; for
- they conventionalize our Indian corn, the stalks making the body of a
- pillar and the leaves and ears the capital. The first point we shall visit
- is the crypt, which is directly under the rotunda. It is a vaulted chamber
- originally intended as a resting-place for the body of George Washington.
- There was to have been a circular opening in the ceiling, so that visitors
- in the rotunda could look down upon the sarcophagus, above which a
- suspended taper was to be kept continually burning. The light was duly
- hung there, and not extinguished for many years; but as Washington’s heirs
- were unwilling to allow his remains to leave Mount Vernon, the rest of the
- plan was abandoned.
- </p>
- <p>
- A little way north of the crypt we come to the room that the Supreme Court
- occupied for about forty<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_075"
- id="page_075"></a>{75}</span>
- </p>
- <div class="figcenter" style="width: 452px;">
- <a href="images/ill_015_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_015_sml.jpg"
- width="452" height="578" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- <div class="caption">
- <p class="c">
- <i>Rock Creek</i>
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p class="nind">
- years after the restoration of the Capitol. Out of it was sent the first
- message with which Samuel F. B. Morse announced to the world the success
- of his invention, the magnetic telegraph. Morse was perfectly convinced
- that his device was workable, but he had exhausted his means before being
- able to make a satisfactory experiment. He therefore asked Congress for an
- appropriation to equip a trial line between Washington and Baltimore. Some
- of the members scoffed at his appeal as visionary; others intimated that
- he was trying to impose upon the Government; only a handful seemed to feel
- enough confidence in him and his project to vote for the appropriation.
- After a discouraging struggle lasting till the third of March, 1843, Morse
- was at the Capitol watching the dying hours of the Congress, when his
- friends advised him that his cause was hopeless, and he returned to his
- hotel and went to bed.
- </p>
- <p>
- Before breakfast the next morning he received a call from Miss Annie
- Ellsworth, daughter of the Commissioner of Patents, who brought him the
- news that after he had left the Capitol his appropriation had gone
- through, and the President had signed the bill just before midnight. To
- reward her as the bearer of glad tidings, Morse invited her to frame the
- first message to be sent to Baltimore. It took more than a year to<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_076" id="page_076"></a>{76}</span> build the
- line and insure its successful operation; but on May 24, 1844, in the
- presence of a gathering which filled the court chamber, the inventor
- seated himself at the instrument, and Miss Ellsworth placed in his hand a
- phrase she had selected from the twenty-third verse of the twenty-third
- chapter of the Book of Numbers: “What hath God wrought!” In less time than
- it takes to tell the facts, the operator in Baltimore had received the
- message and ticked it back without an error. In that hour of his triumph
- over skepticism and abuse, Morse could have asked almost anything of
- Congress without fear of repulse.
- </p>
- <p>
- Not all the associations which cling about the Capitol are confined to
- politics or legislation, science or business. The old Hall of
- Representatives was, in the early days of the last century, long used for
- religious meetings on Sundays, the Speaker’s desk being converted
- temporarily into a pulpit. One of the first preachers who held stated
- services there was a Swedenborgian. When the custom had become well
- established, most of the clergymen of the city consented to take the
- Sundays in a certain order of succession. Sir Augustus Foster, a secretary
- of the British Legation during Jefferson’s administration, has left us his
- impressions of the meetings:
- </p>
- <p>
- “A church service can certainly never be called an<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_077" id="page_077"></a>{77}</span> amusement; but, from the
- variety of persons who were allowed to preach in the House of
- Representatives, there doubtless was some alloy of curiosity in the
- motives which led one to go there. Though the regular Chaplain was a
- Presbyterian, sometimes a Methodist, a minister of the Church of England,
- or a Quaker, sometimes even a woman, took the Speaker’s chair, and I do
- not think there was much devotion among the majority. The New Englanders,
- generally speaking, are very religious; but though there are many
- exceptions, I cannot say so much for the Marylanders, and still less for
- the Virginians.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Probably this comment on the worldly element entering into the meetings
- was called forth by their gradual degeneration into a social function. The
- hall came to be regarded as a pleasant Sunday gathering-place for friends
- who were able to see little of one another during the secular week. They
- clustered in knots around the open fireplaces, apparently quite as
- interested in the intervals afforded for a bit of gossip as in the sermon.
- The President was accustomed to attend from time to time; and possibly it
- was by his order that the Marine Band, nearly one hundred strong and
- attired in their brilliant red uniforms, were present in the gallery and
- played the hymn tunes, as well as some stirring march music. Their
- attendance was discontinued later, as<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_078" id="page_078"></a>{78}</span> their performances attracted
- many common idlers to a hall already crowded almost to suffocation with
- ladies and gentlemen of fashion, and thus increased the confusion.
- </p>
- <p>
- Partly as a result of this use of the hall, the habit of treating Sunday
- as a day for social festivities of all sorts reached a point where the
- strict Sabbatarians felt called to remonstrate. One, a clergyman named
- Breckenridge, preached a sermon denouncing the irreligious frivolities of
- the time, which created a great sensation. He addressed his remarks
- directly to Congress. “It is not the people,” said he, “who will suffer
- for these enormities. It is the Government. As with Nineveh of old, your
- temples and your palaces will be burned to the ground, for it is by fire
- that this sin has usually been punished!” And he cited instance after
- instance from Bible history, showing how cities, dwellings, and persons
- had been burned for disrespect of divine law.
- </p>
- <p>
- One day in the fall of 1814, after the British had left the city scarred
- with blackened ruins, Mr. Breckenridge was passing the Octagon house, when
- he was hailed by Dolly Madison from the doorway.
- </p>
- <p>
- “When I listened to that threatening sermon of yours,” she exclaimed, “I
- little thought that its warnings would be realized so soon.”<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_079" id="page_079"></a>{79}</span>
- </p>
- <p>
- “Oh, Madam,” he answered, “I trust that the chastening of the Lord may not
- have been in vain!”
- </p>
- <p>
- It was, however, as far as any permanent change in the habits of the
- people was concerned. There was a brief interval of greater sobriety due
- to the sad plight of the community; then Sunday amusements resumed their
- sway with as much vigor as of old.
- </p>
- <p>
- Although to the eye of the casual visitor the Capitol seems so quiet and
- well-ordered a place that it practically takes care of itself, the truth
- is that it is continually under pretty rigid surveillance. It has a
- uniformed corps of special police, whose jurisdiction covers everything
- within the limits of Capitol Park; besides this, the Superintendent of the
- Capitol has general oversight of the building, and the officers of the
- House and Senate look after their respective wings. When Thomas B. Reed of
- Maine became Speaker, he found the House wing a squatting ground for a
- small army of petty merchants who had crept in one by one and established
- booths for the sale of sandwiches and pies, cigars, periodicals, picture
- cards, and souvenirs, obstructing the highways of communication between
- one part of the building and another. He proceeded to sweep them all out.
- There was loud wailing among the ousted, and some who could command a
- little political influence brought it to bear on him, but in<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_080" id="page_080"></a>{80}</span> vain; and
- for more than twenty years thereafter the corridors remained free from
- these intruders. With the incoming of the Sixty-third Congress, however,
- discipline began to relax, and, unless the House acquires another Speaker
- with Mr. Reed’s notions of propriety and the force of will to compel
- obedience, we shall probably see the hucksters camping once more on the
- old trail.
- </p>
- <p>
- Outside of the building the rules are as well enforced as inside. When
- Coxey’s Army of the Commonweal marched upon Washington in 1894, its leader
- advertised his intention to make a speech from the Capitol steps, calling
- upon Congress to provide work and wages for all the idle laborers in the
- country. Under the law, no harangue or oration may be delivered anywhere
- on the Capitol grounds without the express consent of the presiding
- officers of the two chambers of Congress. Remembering the way the
- lawmakers had been intimidated by a mob at Philadelphia in the early days
- of the republic, neither the Speaker nor the President of the Senate was
- willing that Coxey should carry out his plan; and the Capitol police,
- without violence or display of temper, made short work of the proposed
- mass meeting. On another occasion, the performers for a moving-picture
- show attempted to use the steps of the Capitol as a background for a scene
- in which a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_081" id="page_081"></a>{81}</span>
- man made up to resemble the President of the United States was to play an
- undignified part; the police pounced down upon the company, confiscating
- the apparatus and escorting the actors to the nearest station-house. A
- like fate befel an automobilist who, on a wager, tried to drive his
- machine up the steps of the main portico. Occasionally a bicycler,
- ambitious to descend this staircase at full speed, has proved too
- quick-witted for the officers, but as a rule they are at hand when needed.
- </p>
- <p>
- Now that we are outside, let us look around. To the eastward lies the part
- of the city broadly designated as Capitol Hill. As far as the eye can
- reach, it is a beautiful, evenly graded plateau—an ideal residence
- region as far as natural topography, verdure, sunshine, and pure air are
- concerned. It is the part which George Washington and other promoters of
- the federal city picked out for its residential end, and the Capitol was
- built so as to face it. These circumstances made it a favorite locality
- for speculative investment, and the prices at which early purchasers of
- land held out against later comers sealed its fate: the tide of favor
- turned toward the opposite end of the city, and the development of the
- northwest quarter took a start which has never since halted. The first
- plans of Capitol Park included on its eastern side a pretty<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_082" id="page_082"></a>{82}</span> little
- fish-pond, circular in shape, which must have been about where the two
- raised flower-beds with mottled marble copings now flank the driveway to
- First Street.
- </p>
- <p>
- The west front of the Capitol overlooks a gentle slope pleasantly turfed
- and shaded. The building itself descends the slope a little way by an
- esplanade and a series of marble terraces, from which broad flights of
- steps lead down nearly to the main street level. The perspective view of
- the Capitol is much more impressive from this side than from the other,
- thanks to an admirable piece of landscape gardening. In old times, the
- lawns on the west side were used by the residents of the neighborhood for
- croquet grounds, and the whole park was enclosed in an iron fence, with
- gates that were shut by the watchmen at nine every evening against
- pedestrians, and at a somewhat later hour against carriages. With
- characteristic impatience of such restraints, sometimes a Congressman who
- had stayed at the Capitol past the closing hour would save himself the
- trouble of calling a guard to open the gate, by smashing the lock with a
- stone. The increasing frequency of such incidents undoubtedly had much to
- do with causing the removal of the fence.
- </p>
- <p>
- No point in the city affords so fine facilities for fixing L’Enfant’s plan
- in the mind of the visitor and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_083"
- id="page_083"></a>{83}</span> enabling him to find his way about the older
- parts of Washington, as the Capitol dome. A spiral staircase, the doors to
- which open from obscure parts of two corridors, leads first to the inside
- circular balcony crowning the rotunda. This is worth a few minutes’ delay
- to test its quality as a whispering gallery. The attendant in charge will
- show you how, and, if you can lure him into telling you some of the funny
- things he has seen and heard in his eyrie, you will be well repaid.
- </p>
- <p>
- More climbing will bring you to an outside perch, which forms a sort of
- collar for the lantern surmounting the dome. Now open a plainly printed
- map of Washington and hold it so that the points of the compass on the map
- correspond with those of the city below you. With a five minutes’ walk
- around the base of the lantern, to give you the view from every side, you
- will have mastered the whole scheme designed by L’Enfant. Here are the
- four quarters—northeast, southeast, southwest, northwest—as
- clearly spread before you on the surface of the earth as on the paper in
- your hand. Here is the Mall, with its grass and trees, leading up to the
- Washington Monument and abutting on the executive reservation where stand
- the White House, the Treasury, and the State, War and Navy Department
- buildings. Well out to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_084"
- id="page_084"></a>{84}</span> northward you can descry a tower which fixes
- the site of the Soldiers’ Home, and to the southward the Potomac, flowing
- past the War College and the Navy Yard. East of you loom up the hills of
- Anacostia. On all sides you see the lettered streets running east and
- west, intersected by the numbered streets running north and south, while,
- cutting both diagonally at various angles, but in pursuance of a
- systematic and easily grasped plan, are the avenues named in honor of the
- various States of the Union. Once let this chart fasten itself in your
- mind, and there is no reason why, total stranger though you may be, you
- should have any difficulty in finding your way about Washington.<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_085" id="page_085"></a>{85}</span>
- </p>
- <div class="figcenter" style="width: 448px;">
- <a href="images/ill_016_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_016_sml.jpg"
- width="448" height="558" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- <div class="caption">
- <p class="c">
- <i>Capitol, from New Jersey Avenue</i>
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- <h2>
- <a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<br /><br /> <small>THESE
- OUR LAWMAKERS</small>
- </h2>
- <p class="nind">
- <span class="letra">T</span>HE House of Representatives, albeit presenting
- an average of conduct equal to that of any corresponding chamber in the
- world, is a rough-and-tumble body. It is apt to carry partisan antagonisms
- to extremes and wrangle over anything that comes up, with accusations and
- recriminations, and at rare intervals an exchange of blows. Repeatedly I
- have seen the Sergeant-at-Arms lift his mace and march down one aisle and
- up another, to compose disturbances which seemed to threaten a sequel of
- riot, while the Speaker pounded his desk in an effort to overcome the
- clamor of several members trying to talk at once. By laxity of discipline
- and force of custom, there is a degree of freedom here, in even a peaceful
- discussion, unknown to the Senate. Members will bring, to exemplify their
- statements in a tariff debate, samples of merchandise—a suit of
- clothes, a basket of fruit, a jar of sweetmeats, perhaps. One day a
- debater, discussing olive oil, accidentally<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_086" id="page_086"></a>{86}</span> dropped a bottle of it on
- the floor, and several of his colleagues lost their footing in crossing
- the scene of the disaster. Another, who had a pocketful of matches
- designed for illustrative purposes, suddenly found his clothes ablaze and
- made a fiery bolt for a water-tank. Still another, inflamed by his own
- eloquence in trying to show how Congress ought to wring the life out of an
- odious monopoly, impetuously laid hands upon a small and inoffensive
- fellow member who happened to sit near and shook him till his teeth
- rattled, amid roars of delight from every one except the victim.
- </p>
- <p>
- Usually, the Senate is as staid as the House is uproarious. All routine
- business is transacted there “by unanimous consent”; it is only when some
- really important issue arises that the Senators quarrel publicly. When a
- serious debate is on, there is no commotion: every Senator who wishes to
- speak sends his name to the presiding officer, or rises during a lull and
- announces his purpose of addressing the Senate on a specified day. The
- rest of the Senators respect his privilege, and, if he is a man of
- consequence, a goodly proportion of them will be in their seats to hear
- him. If a Senator is absent from the chamber when a matter arises which
- might concern him, some one is apt to suggest deferring its consideration
- till he can be present.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_087"
- id="page_087"></a>{87}</span> It is the same way with appointments to
- office which require confirmation by the Senate: a Senator objecting to a
- candidate nominated from his State can count upon abundant support from
- his fellow Senators, every one of whom realizes that it may be his turn
- next to need support in a similar contingency. This is what is called
- “Senatorial courtesy.” So well is it understood that no unfair advantage
- will be taken of any one’s absence, that the attendance in the chamber
- sometimes becomes very thin. An instance is often cited when the
- Vice-president, discovering only one person on the floor at the beginning
- of a day’s session, rapped with his gavel and solemnly announced: “The
- Senator from Massachusetts will be in order!”
- </p>
- <p>
- The strong contrast between the two chambers has existed ever since the
- creation of Congress. This is not wonderful when we reflect that the
- Senate was for a long time made up of men chosen by the State legislatures
- from a social class well removed from the masses of the people, and that
- they held office for a six-year term, thus lording it over the members of
- the House of Representatives, who, besides being drawn directly from the
- rank and file of the body politic, had to struggle for reëlection every
- two years. In the early days, the Senators were noted for their rich
- attire and their<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_088" id="page_088"></a>{88}</span>
- great gravity of manner; whereas most of the Representatives persisted,
- while sitting in the House during the debates, in wearing their big cocked
- hats set “fore and aft” on their heads. Whether the Senate sat covered or
- bareheaded for the first few years of its existence, we have only indirect
- evidence, as it then kept its doors closed against everybody, even members
- of the House. Little by little a more liberal spirit asserted itself,
- until the doors were opened to the public for a certain part of every
- morning, with the proviso that they should be closed whenever the subjects
- of discussion seemed to require secrecy. By common consent, these subjects
- were limited to certain classes of business proposed by the President,
- like the ratification of treaties and the confirmation of appointments to
- office. Such matters remain confidential to this day, and the Senate holds
- itself ready to exclude spectators and go into secret session at any
- moment, on the request of a single Senator.
- </p>
- <p>
- As a secret session is always supposed to be for the purpose of discussing
- a Presidential communication, the fiction is embalmed in the form of a
- motion “that the Senate proceed to the consideration of executive
- business.” This is the signal for the doorkeepers to evict the occupants
- of the galleries and shut the doors leading into the corridors; but
- sometimes the real<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_089" id="page_089"></a>{89}</span>
- reason for the request is widely removed from its pretext. I have known it
- to be offered for the purpose of cutting short the exhibition which a
- tipsy Senator was making of himself; or to prevent a tedious airing of
- grievances by a Senator who had quarreled with the President over the
- dispensation of patronage in his State; or to silence a Senator who,
- objecting to the negotiation of a certain treaty, kept referring to it in
- open debate while it was still pending under the seal of confidence. In
- this last instance, the offending Senator was so obstinate of purpose that
- the doors had to be closed and reopened several times in a single day.
- </p>
- <p>
- On the face of things, there is no reason why the President should not
- attend any session of the Senate at which business of his originating is
- under debate. No President since the first, however, has made the
- experiment. Washington attended three secret sessions, but was so angered
- by the Senate’s referring to a committee sundry questions which he
- insisted should be settled on the spot, that he quitted the chamber,
- emphatically vowing that he would waste no more time on such trifling. The
- Senators excused their conduct by saying that they were embarrassed in
- talking about the President and his motives while he was sitting there.
- </p>
- <p>
- The custom of wearing their hats while transacting<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_090" id="page_090"></a>{90}</span> business was continued by
- the Representatives for fifty years or more. Even the Speaker, as long as
- he sat in his chair, would keep his hat on, though he was accustomed to
- remove it when he stood to address the House. The Senators, whatever may
- have been their practice during the years of their seclusion,
- distinguished themselves from the Representatives immediately thereafter
- by sitting with bared heads. They also avoided the habit, common in the
- House, of putting their feet up on the nearest elevated object—usually
- a desk-lid—and lolling on their spines. English visitors, though
- accustomed to the wearing of hats in their own House of Commons,
- nevertheless found a text for criticism in the way the American
- Representatives did it; and they all had something severe to say of the
- prevalence of tobacco-chewing in the House, with its accompaniment of
- spitting, as Mrs. Trollope put it, “to an excess that decency forbids me
- to describe.” Less offensive to the taste of our visitors from abroad was
- the indulgence in snuff-taking, which was so general that boxes or jars
- were set up in convenient places inside of both halls, and it was made the
- duty of certain employees to keep these always filled with a fine brand of
- snuff. Any of the most eloquent orators in Congress was liable to stop at
- regular intervals in a speech to help himself to a large<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_091" id="page_091"></a>{91}</span> pinch,
- bury his face in a bandanna handkerchief, and have it out with nature. A
- few of the lawmakers, indeed, cultivated snuff-taking as a fine art, and
- were proud of their reputations for dexterity in it. Henry Clay was one of
- the most skilful.
- </p>
- <p>
- While we are on the subject of indulgences, we must not overlook a drink
- called switchel, which was very popular, being compounded of rum, ginger,
- molasses, and water. Every member was allowed then, as now, in addition to
- his salary and traveling expenses, a fixed supply of “stationery”; and
- this term, which was elastic enough to include everything from pens and
- paper to jack-knives and razors, was stretched to cover the delectable
- switchel under the thin disguise of “sirup.” In later years, when a wave
- of teetotalism had swept over Washington, and the open sale of alcoholic
- drinks in the restaurants of the Capitol was under a temporary ban, any
- member who wished a drink of whisky ordered it as “cold tea,” and it was
- served to him in a china cup. This stratagem fell into marked discredit
- when one of the most respectable and abstemious members of the House, who
- had never tasted intoxicating liquor of any sort, ordered cold tea in
- entire good faith to clear his throat in the midst of a speech, and became
- maudlin before he was aware that anything was amiss.<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_092" id="page_092"></a>{92}</span>
- </p>
- <p>
- Besides sprawling with their feet higher than their heads, and otherwise
- airing their contempt for conventional etiquette, many of the old-time
- Representatives felt free to read newspapers while debates were going on
- around them, indifferent to their disturbance of both orators and
- audience. The first pointed rebuke of this practice was administered by
- James K. Polk when Speaker of the House. He noticed one morning that
- substantially every Representative had a newspaper in hand when the gavel
- fell for beginning the day’s session. The journal was read, but nobody
- paid any attention to it, and then the Speaker made his usual announcement
- that the House was ready for business. Still everybody remained buried in
- the morning’s news. After another vain attempt to set the machinery in
- motion, Mr. Polk quietly drew a newspaper from his own pocket, seated
- himself with his back toward the House, spread the sheet open before him,
- and ostentatiously immersed himself in its printed contents. One by one
- the Representatives finished their reading, and perhaps a quarter of an
- hour passed before there came from all sides an irregular volley of calls:
- “Mr. Speaker!” “Mr. Speaker!” Mr. Polk ignored them till one of the
- baffled members moved that the House proceed to the election of a
- presiding officer, to take the place of the Speaker, who appeared<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_093" id="page_093"></a>{93}</span> to be
- absent. This brought Mr. Polk to his feet with the remark that he not only
- was present, but had notified the House that it was ready for business and
- had received no response. The House took the joke in good part and showed
- by its conduct thereafter that it was not above profiting by the Speaker’s
- reproof.
- </p>
- <p>
- Although women were admitted as spectators to the sessions of both
- chambers on the same terms as men, there was for many years an
- undercurrent of feeling against their encroachments. There was limited
- room in either hall for their accommodation behind the colonnade. In this
- space—the original “lobby”—there was an open fireplace at each
- end, and it soon became a common complaint among the Senators that the
- feminine guests drew the sofas up in front of the fire and thus
- effectually shut off the warmth from every one else. Aaron Burr, while
- Vice-president, was the first person in authority to take cognizance of
- this indictment. He notified the visiting women that after a certain date
- they must cease coming into the lobby and find seats in the gallery. They
- were appropriately indignant and declared an almost unanimous boycott
- against the Senate. Vice-president Clinton was of a different temper from
- his predecessor and let them all come back again. By degrees, however, as
- the privileges of the floor became more and more restricted<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_094" id="page_094"></a>{94}</span> in both
- chambers, the women were given a special gallery for themselves.
- </p>
- <p>
- From the time they began coming to Congress in any multitude, the fair
- visitors have made their presence felt. In the House one day John Randolph
- drew attention to them by halting a debate to point a long, skinny finger
- in their direction and snarl out: “Mr. Speaker, what, pray, are all these
- women doing here, so out of place in this arena? Sir, they had much better
- be at home attending to their knitting!” In spite of that, they continued
- to come and to attract attention, till the number of members who
- habitually quitted their seats to repair to the gallery and pay their
- devoirs to their lady friends threatened to play havoc with the
- roll-calls. This abuse did not last long, and nowadays the visit of a
- member of either house to the gallery is an incident.
- </p>
- <p>
- So far from objecting to spectators, both House and Senate now offer
- distinct encouragement to the public to come and hear the debates. To this
- end, each chamber has a deep gallery completely surrounding it, with cross
- partitions at intervals. One section is reserved for the President and
- Cabinet and their families; another for the members of the diplomatic
- circle; a third for the members of the press, and so forth. Control of
- each press gallery is nominally<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_095"
- id="page_095"></a>{95}</span> retained by the chamber concerned, but
- actually is left in the hands of a committee of newspaper men, who enforce
- an exemplary discipline, so that a writer guilty of misconduct would be
- excluded thenceforward from his privileges. On the other hand, the
- newspaper men have always stood firmly for their right to discuss the
- members and measures of Congress with all the freedom consonant with
- truth. It has required a long and sometimes dramatic struggle to bring
- about the present harmonious mutual understanding between Congress and the
- press as to the legitimate preserves of each body upon which the other
- must not trespass.
- </p>
- <p>
- Some of the battles leading to this result are entertaining to recall. In
- the later forties, while members of the press were still permitted to do
- their work at desks on the floor of the House, a correspondent of the <i>New
- York Tribune</i> named Robinson published an article about a certain
- Representative named Sawyer, whose unappetizing personal habits he thought
- it would be wise to break up. Among other things he described the way
- Sawyer ate his luncheon: “Every day at two o’clock he feeds. About that
- hour he is seen leaving his seat and taking a position in the window back
- of the Speaker’s chair to the left. He unfolds a greasy paper, in which is
- contained a chunk of bread and sausage, or some other unctuous substance.
- He disposes<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_096" id="page_096"></a>{96}</span>
- of them rapidly, wipes his hands with the greasy paper for a napkin, and
- throws it out of the window. What little grease is left on his hands, he
- wipes on his almost bald head.” There was more to the same effect, but
- this will suffice. When the paper containing the article reached
- Washington, there was much laughing behind hands in Congress; but, though
- most of the members rejoiced that somebody should have told the truth for
- the dignity of the House, few had the courage to come out boldly and say
- that the satire was deserved.
- </p>
- <p>
- One of Sawyer’s colleagues retaliated with a resolution that all writers
- for the <i>Tribune</i> be excluded thenceforward from the floor; after a
- brief debate it was adopted, and the offending correspondent was obliged
- to go up into the gallery and sit among the women. But his pursuers were
- not satisfied with this measure of revenge; for, reviving a half-forgotten
- rule that men were to be admitted to the gallery only when accompanied by
- women, and then must be passed in by a member of the House, they sent a
- doorkeeper to eject him even from his temporary refuge. At once several
- ladies volunteered to accompany him for his visits, and among the
- Congressmen who climbed the stairs from day to day to pass him in was one
- not less distinguished than John Quincy Adams. Nor<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_097" id="page_097"></a>{97}</span>
- </p>
- <div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
- <a href="images/ill_017_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_017_sml.jpg"
- width="450" height="580" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- <div class="caption">
- <p class="c">
- <i>Where Dolly Madison Gave Her Farewell Ball</i>
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p class="nind">
- was this the end. For the correspondent went home, ran for Congress and
- was elected, while the wrathful Representative dropped into obscurity
- under the nickname, which he was never able to shake off, of “Sausage
- Sawyer.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Many newspaper publications have been made subjects of special
- investigation by committees of Congress, but in no instance has a threat
- of expulsion from the gallery or of prosecution in the courts produced any
- practical results; and the locking up of recusant committee witnesses has
- become a mere mockery. The most notable case on record was that of Hallet
- Kilbourn, a former journalist who had become a real estate broker and a
- leading participant in a local land syndicate which the House undertook to
- investigate. Kilbourn was commanded to produce certain account-books, as
- well as the names and addresses of sundry persons who, not being members
- of Congress, he insisted were outside the jurisdiction of that body. For
- his refusal to furnish the information demanded he was thrown into jail
- and kept there nearly six weeks. From the first, he had declared that he
- had no objection to opening his accounts to the whole world or to
- publishing the data desired, as all the transactions covered by the
- inquiry had been honorable; and this assertion he proved later by
- voluntarily printing<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_098" id="page_098"></a>{98}</span>
- everything. But he was resolved to make a legal test of the right of
- Congress to arrogate to itself the arbitrary powers of a court of justice,
- and he got a good deal of enjoyment out of the experience.
- </p>
- <p>
- For the whole period of his imprisonment he lived like a prince at the
- expense of the contingent fund of the House; drove about the city at will
- in a carriage, merely accompanied by a deputy sergeant-at-arms; and
- entertained his friends at dinner within the jail walls. Of course, the
- newspapers exploited the whole episode gladly, and when he had held his
- prosecutors up to popular ridicule long enough, he sued out a writ of
- habeas corpus and was released. Then he brought a suit for damages against
- the Sergeant-at-Arms for false imprisonment and won it on appeal after
- appeal, till the Supreme Court of the United States handed down a sweeping
- decision that “there is not found in the Constitution any general power
- vested in either house to punish for contempt.” In spite of the efforts of
- all the judges in the lower courts to cut down the damages granted by
- their juries, Congress was finally obliged to pay Kilbourn twenty thousand
- dollars, or about five hundred dollars a day for his forty days’
- incarceration. It took him nine years to carry his case through all its
- stages.
- </p>
- <p>
- Both chambers open their daily sessions with<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_099" id="page_099"></a>{99}</span> prayer. Clergymen of nearly
- all denominations have served as Chaplains, including Father Pise, a very
- eloquent Catholic priest who was a close friend of Henry Clay and was
- invited at his instance to lead the devotions of the Senate. As a rule,
- the prayers are extemporaneous, and it seems almost inevitable that, in
- periods of political upheaval, some color of partisanship should creep
- into them. Yet such slips have been very rare indeed. The most startling
- was made by the late Doctor Byron Sunderland, who was Chaplain of the
- Senate in 1862. He was the foremost Presbyterian minister in Washington
- and a strong anti-slavery advocate. One day Senator Saulsbury of Delaware,
- who was an accomplished biblical scholar, made a speech reviewing the
- references in the Hebrew scriptures to human servitude, as proof that
- slavery was of divine origin. Doctor Sunderland, having left the hall, did
- not hear the speech made, but was told about it when he arrived at the
- Capitol the next morning. He was nettled by the news, and, before he was
- fairly conscious of it, he caught himself saying something like this in
- his opening prayer: “Oh, Lord God of Nations, teach this Senate and all
- the people of this country that, if slavery is of divine institution, so
- is hell itself, and by Thy grace help us to abolish the one and escape the
- other!” These few words<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_100"
- id="page_100"></a>{100}</span> caused a great sensation, and later in the
- day Mr. Saulsbury vented his indignation in a resolution to expel the
- offending clergyman from the chaplaincy; but some quick-witted Senator on
- the opposite side cut off debate by moving to adjourn, and the matter died
- there.
- </p>
- <p>
- Every day’s proceedings of Congress are published in a special journal
- called the <i>Record</i>; but it must not be too lightly assumed that
- every speech reported has been made in Congress. One of the rules of the
- House of Representatives permits a member, with the consent of the House,
- to be credited with having made remarks which, as a matter of fact, he has
- only reduced to writing and handed to the Clerk. That is what is meant by
- the “leave to print” privilege. Into the authorship of these speeches, or
- even of some that are delivered, it is not wise to probe too far. There
- are trained writers in Washington who earn a livelihood by digging out
- statistics and other data and composing addresses on various subjects for
- orators who are willing to pay for them, and Congressmen are among their
- customers. Once in a while something happens which casts a temporary
- shadow over this traffic. Several years ago, for example, two
- Representatives from Ohio were credited in the <i>Record</i> with the same
- speech. Inquiry developed the fact that it had been offered to one of
- them, who had refused either to pay the price<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_101" id="page_101"></a>{101}</span> demanded for it or to give
- it back; so the author had sold a duplicate copy to the other. But worse
- yet was the plight of two members who delivered almost identical eulogies
- on a dead fellow member, having by accident copied their material from the
- same ancient volume of “Rules and Models for Public Speaking.”
- </p>
- <p>
- I have alluded to disorders which occasionally mar the course of
- legislation, when members hurl ugly names at each other or even exchange
- blows. While some such affrays have carried their high tension to the end
- and sent the combatants to the dueling field to settle accounts, others
- have taken a comical turn which decidedly relaxed the strain. Perhaps the
- most picturesque incident of this kind was the historic Keitt-Grow contest
- in February, 1858. The House had been engaged all night in a wrangle over
- an acute phase of the slavery question, and two o’clock in the morning
- found both the Northern and the Southern members with their nerves on
- edge. Mr. Keitt of South Carolina, objecting to something said by Mr. Grow
- of Pennsylvania, struck at him, but Grow parried the blow, and a fellow
- member who sprang to his assistance knocked Keitt down. From all sides
- came reinforcements, and in a few minutes what started as a personal
- encounter of minor importance developed into a general free fight.<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_102" id="page_102"></a>{102}</span>
- </p>
- <p>
- Potter of Wisconsin, a man of athletic build, whirled his fists right and
- left, doing tremendous execution. Owen Lovejoy, seeing Lamar of
- Mississippi striding toward a confused group, ran at him with arms
- extended, resolved on pushing him back, while Lamar as vigorously resisted
- the obstruction. Covode of Pennsylvania, fearing lest his friend Grow
- might be overpowered by hostile numbers, picked up a big stoneware
- spittoon and hurried forward, holding his improvised projectile poised to
- hurl at the head where it would do most good; but having no immediate need
- to use it, he set it on top of a convenient desk. Everybody was too
- excited to pay any attention to the loud pounding of the Speaker’s gavel,
- or to the advance of the Sergeant-at-Arms with his mace held aloft. Even
- the unemotional John Sherman and his gray-haired Quaker colleague Mott
- could not keep out of the fray entirely.
- </p>
- <p>
- But Elihu Washburne of Illinois and his brother Cadwallader of Wisconsin
- proved by all odds the heroes of the occasion. They were of modest
- stature, but sturdy and full of energy. Elihu tackled Craig of North
- Carolina, who was tall and had long arms, which he swung about him with a
- flail-like motion; and it would have gone hard with the smaller man had he
- not suddenly lowered his head and used it as<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_103" id="page_103"></a>{103}</span> a battering-ram, aiming at
- the unprotected waist-line of his antagonist and doubling him up with one
- irresistible rush. Just then Cadwallader, seeing Barksdale of Mississippi
- about to strike Elihu, ran toward him; but being unable to penetrate the
- crowd, he leaped forward and reached over the heads of the intervening men
- to seize the Mississippian by the hair. Here came the culmination; for
- Barksdale’s ambrosial locks, which were only a lifelike wig worn to cover
- a pate as smooth as a soap-bubble, came off in his assailant’s hand. The
- astonishment of the one man and the consternation of the other were too
- much for the fighters, who, in spite of themselves, united in wild peals
- of merriment; and their hilarity was in no wise dampened when Barksdale,
- snatching at his wig, restored it to his head hind side before, or when
- Covode, returning to his seat and missing his spittoon, marched solemnly
- down the aisle and recovered it from its temporary perch.
- </p>
- <p>
- This scene occurred in the old Hall of Representatives. The most dramatic
- scene ever witnessed in the present hall was one which attended the
- opening of the Fifty-first Congress, when the Republicans, who had only an
- infinitesimal majority, had organized the House with Thomas B. Reed as
- Speaker. Reed, who was a large, blond man with a Shakespearian head<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_104" id="page_104"></a>{104}</span> and a
- high-pitched drawl, signalized his entrance upon his new duties by
- announcing his purpose to preside over a lawmaking rather than a
- do-nothing body. For several successive Congresses the House had found
- itself crippled in its attempts to transact business by the dilatory
- tactics of whichever party happened to be in the minority. Day after day,
- even in a congested season, would be wasted in roll-calls necessitated by
- some one’s raising the point of “no quorum,” although everybody knew that
- a quorum was present, and that its apparent absence was deliberately
- caused by the refusal of members of the opposition to answer to their
- names. Reed had bent his mind to breaking up this practice.
- </p>
- <p>
- Early in his Speakership a motion to take up a contested election case was
- put to vote, and a roll-call demanded as usual by the minority. As the
- House was then constituted, one hundred and sixty-six members were
- necessary to a quorum, and four Republicans were unavoidably absent.
- Following the old tactics, nearly all the Democrats abstained from voting;
- but, as the call proceeded, Reed was observed making notes on a sheet of
- paper which lay on his table. At the close, he rose and announced the
- vote: yeas 162, nays 3, not voting 163. Mr. Crisp of Georgia at once
- raised the point of no quorum. Reed<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_105"
- id="page_105"></a>{105}</span> ignored it, and, lifting his memorandum,
- began, in measured tones and with no trace of excitement or weakness:
- </p>
- <p>
- “The Chair directs the Clerk to record the following names of members
- present and refusing to vote—”
- </p>
- <p>
- And then Bedlam broke loose. The Republicans applauded, and howls and
- yells arose from the Democratic side. Above the din could be heard the
- voice of Crisp: “I appeal from the decision of the Chair!” But the
- Speaker, not having finished his statement, kept right on, oblivious of
- the turmoil:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Mr. Blanchard, Mr. Bland, Mr. Blount, Mr. Breckinridge of Arkansas, Mr.
- Breckinridge of Kentucky—”
- </p>
- <p>
- The Democrats generally had seemed stunned by the boldness of this move;
- but the Kentucky Breckinridge, at the mention of his name, rushed down the
- aisle, brandishing his fist and shaking his head so that its straight
- white hair stood out from it. His face was aflame with anger, and his
- voice quite beyond his control, as he shrieked: “I deny the power of the
- Speaker—this is revolutionary!” The other Democrats, inspired by his
- example and recovering from their stupefaction, poured into the center
- aisle. They bore down in a mass upon the Speaker’s dais, gesticulating
- wildly and all shouting at once, so that nothing<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_106" id="page_106"></a>{106}</span> could be understood from
- the babel of voices save their desire to express their scorn for the
- Speaker and their defiance of his authority. The Republicans sat quiet,
- making no demonstration, but obviously prepared to rush in if the trouble
- took on a more violent form. The Speaker stood apparently unruffled, not
- even changing color, and only those who were near enough to see every line
- in his face were aware of that slight twitching of the muscles of his
- mouth which always indicated that his outward composure was not due to
- insensibility.
- </p>
- <p>
- So furious was the clamor that he was compelled to desist from his reading
- for a moment, while he pounded with his gavel to command order on the
- floor. Then, as the remonstrants fell back a little, his nasal tone was
- heard again, still reciting that momentous list:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Mr. Brookshire, Mr. Bullock, Mr. Bynum, Mr. Carlisle—”
- </p>
- <p>
- And so on down the roll, one member after another jumping up when he heard
- his name called, but subsiding as the Speaker went imperturbably ahead,
- much as might a schoolmaster with a roomful of refractory pupils.
- Presently came the opportunity he had been waiting for. Mr. McCreary of
- Kentucky, a very dignified, decorous-mannered gentleman on<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_107" id="page_107"></a>{107}</span> ordinary
- occasions, had shown by his change of countenance and color that he was
- repressing his emotions with difficulty; and, resolved not to be ridden
- over ruthlessly as the rest had been, he had risen in his place and stood
- there, holding before him an open book and waiting to hear his name. The
- instant it was read out, he raised his disengaged hand and shouted: “Mr.
- Speaker!”
- </p>
- <p>
- To every one’s astonishment, the Speaker paused, turning a look of inquiry
- toward the interrupter, while the House held its breath.
- </p>
- <p>
- “I deny,” cried Mr. McCreary, in a voice which, in spite of his endeavor
- to be calm, was trembling with agitation, “your right to count me as
- present; and I desire to cite some parliamentary law in support of my
- point!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Reed, wearing an air of entire seriousness, answered with his familiar
- drawl:
- </p>
- <p>
- “The Chair is making a statement of fact that the gentleman is present.”
- Then, with a significant emphasis on each word: “Does—the—gentleman—deny—it?”
- </p>
- <p>
- The silence which had settled momentarily upon the chamber continued for a
- few seconds more, to be succeeded by an outburst of laughter which fairly
- shook the ceiling. The Republican side furnished most<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_108" id="page_108"></a>{108}</span> of it at first, but those
- Democrats who possessed a keen sense of humor soon gave way also. The
- Speaker, still grave as a statue, maintained the expectant attitude of one
- awaiting the reply to a question. McCreary held his ground for a few
- minutes, striving to make himself heard in reading a passage from his
- book, while the gavel beat a tattoo on the desk as if the Speaker were
- trying to aid him by restoring order; but he was talking against a
- torrent, and had to realize his defeat and resume his seat.
- </p>
- <p>
- When the last name on the written list had been read, the Speaker handed
- the sheet to the Clerk for incorporation in the minutes, and, as coolly as
- if nothing had happened, proceeded to set forth briefly the precedents
- covering the case, including one ruling made by a very distinguished
- Democrat who was at that hour the most conspicuous candidate of his party
- for the Presidency.
- </p>
- <p>
- The fight was resumed the next day and continued to rage all through the
- session, the foes of the Speaker constantly devising new stratagems to
- outwit him, but in vain. Sometimes there were funny little developments,
- as when, in a precipitate flight of the Democrats from the hall to escape
- being counted, Mr. O’Ferrall of Virginia inadvertently left his hat on his
- desk, and the Speaker jocosely threatened to count<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_109" id="page_109"></a>{109}</span>
- </p>
- <div class="figcenter" style="width: 454px;">
- <a href="images/ill_018_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_018_sml.jpg"
- width="454" height="590" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- <div class="caption">
- <p class="c">
- Lee Mansion at Arlington
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p class="nind">
- that, on the theory that its habitual wearer was constructively present;
- or when “Buck” Kilgore, a giant Democrat from Texas, refused to stay in
- the hall after the Speaker had ordered the doors fastened, and kicked one
- of them open with his Number 14 boot. Sometimes a tragic threat would be
- uttered by a group of hot-headed enemies, and the galleries would be
- thronged for several days with spectators expecting to see Reed dragged
- out of the chair by force and arms. But, though every day witnessed its
- parliamentary struggle, the bad blood aroused was never actually spilled.
- What did happen was that, at the close of the Congress, when it is
- customary for the opposition party to move a vote of thanks to the
- Speaker, Reed went without the compliment. Something far more flattering
- than thanks was in store for him, however; for in the Fifty-third
- Congress, the House, which was then under Democratic control, by a vote of
- nearly five to one adopted his quorum-counting rule with only a technical
- modification. Since that day it has never found itself in a condition of
- legislative paralysis.
- </p>
- <p>
- The communications in which the President, as required by the
- Constitution, gives to Congress from time to time “information of the
- state of the Union,” take the form of general and special messages. A
- general message is sent at the beginning of every session<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_110" id="page_110"></a>{110}</span> and
- usually reviews the relations of our Government with its citizens and with
- the outside world. A special message is called forth by some particular
- event or series of events requiring a union of counsels between the
- legislative and executive branches of the Government.
- </p>
- <p>
- The formalities attending the presentation of general messages have
- differed at various stages of our national history. John Adams, for
- example, brought his in person to the Capitol. A military and civic
- procession escorted him from his house to the Senate chamber, where the
- Senators and Representatives were assembled in joint session. He was
- attired with more elegance than was his wont and was accompanied by the
- members of his Cabinet, the United States Marshal acting as usher; the
- Vice-president surrendered to him the chair of honor and took a seat at
- his right while he read his address aloud. In those days, each house
- appointed a committee to consider the address of the President and to
- draft a reply to it; when the reply was ready, a committee waited upon him
- to inquire at what time it would be agreeable for him to receive it, and
- on the day appointed, the members called upon him in a body to present it.
- </p>
- <p>
- The message ceremonial was considerably shortened<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_111" id="page_111"></a>{111}</span> during the administration
- of President Jefferson, who scandalized some of the sticklers for
- propriety by reading his first address to Congress clad in a plain blue
- coat with gilt buttons, blue breeches, woolen stockings, and heavy shoes
- tied with leather strings. This democratic departure was typical of the
- way a good many old customs died out. We find most of the later
- Presidents, till the spring of 1913, rather studiously avoiding the
- Capitol, meeting Congress seldom outside of the White House, and confining
- their official communications to written messages presented in duplicate
- at the doors of the two halls respectively by the hand of an executive
- clerk. The response of each house, if any is deemed worth while, now takes
- the form of the introduction of legislation on lines suggested by the
- President. But the common practice is to cut a message into parts,
- referring the passages which deal with one class of subjects to one
- committee, and those which deal with another class to another committee;
- and in most cases, unless an emergency arises to make further
- consideration essential, little more is heard of them.
- </p>
- <p>
- President Wilson has revived the custom of visiting Congress in its own
- home and there delivering his addresses directly to the lawmakers in a
- body, assembled for the occasion in the Hall of Representatives.<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_112" id="page_112"></a>{112}</span> This is
- a much more effective mode of approaching Congress than sending a written
- document by messenger, to be drawled through in a singsong voice by tired
- clerks, simultaneously in both halls, to a gathering of only
- half-interested auditors. It is also a more certain means of concentrating
- public attention upon the work of the session. There is a subtle something
- in the very personality of a President which appeals to the popular
- imagination. As the one high officer of state elected by the votes of all
- the people, he stands in their minds as a conservator and champion of
- their broadest ideals, as contrasted with the narrower sectional interests
- represented by the members of Congress. When, therefore, he takes his
- position face to face with the men who are to frame whatever legislation
- grows out of his recommendations, the whole country instinctively draws
- near and listens.
- </p>
- <p>
- It is hard to guess what might happen should it fall to the lot of
- President Wilson to appear before Congress in person with such a
- trumpet-call as was sounded in President Harrison’s message on the
- maltreatment of our sailors in Chile, or President Cleveland’s on the
- encroachments of England in Venezuela, or President McKinley’s on the
- failure of his peaceful efforts for freeing Cuba. If the mere reading of
- these formal messages was so impressive as to paint a vivid<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_113" id="page_113"></a>{113}</span> picture
- of the attendant scenes on the memory of all who witnessed them, what an
- extra touch of the dramatic would have been added had the chief executive
- of the nation appeared at the Capitol to tell his story himself!<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_114" id="page_114"></a>{114}</span>
- </p>
- <h2>
- <a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V<br /><br /> <small>“THE
- OTHER END OF THE AVENUE”</small>
- </h2>
- <p class="nind">
- <span class="letra">A</span>LTHOUGH Pennsylvania Avenue is several miles
- long, the mile that lies between the hill on which Congress sits and the
- slope where the President lives is called in local parlance “the Avenue.”
- Outside of their formal speeches and documentary literature, members of
- Congress are wont to refer to the White House and its surroundings as “the
- other end of the Avenue.” This familiar phrase is, like the popular
- designation of Congress as “the gentlemen on the hill,” a survival from
- the period when only one hill in town was officially occupied, and the
- strip of highway connecting it with the group of buildings used by the
- executive branch of the Government was about the only thoroughfare making
- any serious pretensions to street improvement. It was along this line that
- President Jefferson planted the first shade trees; and L’Enfant’s plan
- made the south side of it the northern boundary of the Mall.
- </p>
- <p>
- The title which for almost a hundred years the American<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_115" id="page_115"></a>{115}</span> people
- have given to the headquarters of their chief public servant is a fine
- example of historic accident. The White House was not originally intended
- to be a white house. It was built of a buff sandstone which proved to be
- so affected by exposure to the weather that as an afterthought it was
- covered with a thick coat of white paint. From its nearness to several red
- brick buildings, many persons fell into the way of distinguishing it by
- its color, and after its repainting to conceal the stains of the fire of
- 1814 this practice became general. Presidents have referred to it in their
- messages variously as the President’s House, the Executive Mansion, and
- the White House. Among the people it was also sometimes known, in the
- early days, as the Palace. The Roosevelt administration made the White
- House both the official and the social designation, and fastened the label
- so tight that there is little reason to expect a change by any successor.
- </p>
- <p>
- The White House was born under the eye of Martha Washington, was nursed
- into healthy babyhood by Abigail Adams, received its baptism of fire under
- Dolly Madison, was popularly christened under Eliza Kortright Monroe, and
- passed through numberless vicissitudes under a line of foster-mothers
- stretching from that time to the end of the century, every one carrying it
- a little further away from its original plan;<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_116" id="page_116"></a>{116}</span> then Edith Kermit Roosevelt
- administered a restorative elixir which started it upon a second youth.
- The evolution of the Capitol, described in an earlier chapter, finds a
- parallel in the architectural genesis of this building. Its drawings were
- made and its construction superintended by James Hoban, an Irishman; but a
- distinguished critic has described it as “designed on classic lines,
- modified by an English hand, at a time when French art furnished the
- world’s models in interior detail.” That accounts, of course, for its
- monumental and palatial features.
- </p>
- <p>
- But we must bear in mind that its sponsors intended it not only as an
- official residence for the executive head of the Government, but as a home
- for the foremost American citizen and his family, and that, in the
- esthetics of domestic architecture, local influences were most potent. All
- the Presidents except one, for the first thirty-six years of the
- republic’s existence, were Virginia gentlemen; so, although broadly
- following in treatment the Viceregal Lodge in Dublin, the President’s
- House took on much of the character of the “great house” on a Virginia
- plantation. This will explain why, in their work of restoration, when the
- architects were confronted by some gap in their plans which could not be
- filled by reference to the early records of the house itself, they drew
- upon the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_117" id="page_117"></a>{117}</span>
- material common to the Virginia mansions of the same period.
- </p>
- <p>
- By no means the least notable of their revivals was the recognition of the
- proper front of the building. For a half-century, and perhaps longer, its
- back door had been used as its main entrance, and most visitors had borne
- away the impression that that was the face its designer had intended it to
- present to the world. Nearly all the authoritative pictures helped to
- confirm this notion, by displaying the north side as confidently as the
- photographers in Venice take San Marco from the Piazza. The confusion of
- front and rear came about with other changes wrought by the increase of
- facilities for land transportation. The rural and suburban architecture of
- a century ago took great note of watercourses; for in those days wheeled
- vehicles were rarer than now and vastly less comfortable, the saddle was
- unsociable, and most travel was by river and canal. Hence the finest
- houses were built, when practicable, where they would not only command a
- pleasing view, but present their most picturesque aspect to the passing
- boats. Doubtless the site of the White House was chosen with reference to
- the bend which the Potomac made opposite the center of the building, thus
- opening a view down to Alexandria and beyond. The river was broader then,
- and probably washed the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_118"
- id="page_118"></a>{118}</span> outer edge of what was intended to be
- preserved forever as the President’s Park.
- </p>
- <p>
- With the growing preference for land approaches, a good many Southern
- houses of the colonial type altered their habits, the White House among
- them; the side which faced the street offered the easier entrance, and
- thus the back door gradually usurped the dignities of the front, and
- accordingly the grounds on that side were laid out with lawns, trees, and
- shrubbery. Its outlook, also, is upon Lafayette Park, which, if sundry
- plans are carried through, will one day be faced on three sides with
- stately buildings, housing those executive Departments with which the
- President has to keep in closest touch.
- </p>
- <p>
- Though President Washington was never to occupy the White House, or even
- to see it after it was nearly enough finished for occupancy, he took the
- greatest interest in watching it go up, and, only a few weeks before his
- death, went all over it with Mrs. Washington, thoroughly inspecting every
- part then accessible. He had borne a share in the Masonic ceremony of
- laying its corner-stone, and by his personal influence had induced the
- State of Virginia to advance a large sum of money at one particularly
- critical stage of the building operations; so the old mansion may boast of
- having some honored association with every President<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_119" id="page_119"></a>{119}</span> from the foundation of our
- Government till now.
- </p>
- <p>
- When John and Abigail Adams moved in, the scantiness of fuel and lights,
- and the necessity for devoting the east room to the humblest of domestic
- uses and converting an upstairs chamber into a salon, were not the only
- shortcomings in their environment. Surface drainage water from a
- considerable bit of high ground to the eastward had formed a turbid little
- creek which almost surrounded the mansion. There was no water fit to drink
- and of sufficient quantity to meet the daily needs of the President’s
- family, short of a spring in an open tract which we now know as Franklin
- Square, about half a mile away, whence it was brought down in crude pipes.
- Beds of growing vegetables filled parts of the garden area where to-day we
- find well-kept lawns and ornamental shrubbery. The only way of reaching
- the south door from Pennsylvania Avenue was by a narrow footpath, on which
- the pedestrian took a variety of chances after dark. The streets
- surrounding the President’s grounds were so deep in slush or mud for a
- large part of the year that, in order to keep their clothing fairly
- presentable, visitors were obliged to come in closed coaches; and when the
- Adamses gave their first New Year’s reception, their guests, though so few
- that the oval room in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_120" id="page_120"></a>{120}</span>
- the second story accommodated them, could not obtain in Washington enough
- suitable vehicles, and had to draw upon the livery stables in Baltimore.
- </p>
- <p>
- Adams was a well-bred and well-read man, reared in the best traditions of
- New England, including the sanctity of a pledge; and, having promised his
- friend and predecessor, Washington, to do what he could toward building up
- a capital in fact as well as in name, he pocketed his petty discomforts
- and made the best of things. Among his other efforts to promote the
- popularity of the new city must be counted several dinners of exceptional
- excellence, at which Mrs. Adams presided with distinguished graciousness
- in a costume that, though it would strike us now as rather prim, was in
- keeping with her age and antecedents. The President, who was a rotund,
- florid man of middle height, appeared at these entertainments in a richly
- embroidered coat, silk stockings, shoes with huge silver buckles, and a
- powdered wig. These were concessions to the general demand for elegance of
- attire on the part of the chief magistrate, following the precedent
- established by Washington. They did not at all reflect Mr. Adams’s
- preferences, for he was one of the plainest of men in his tastes, and his
- ordinary course of domestic life in the President’s House was to the last
- degree unpretentious; his luncheon, for example,<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_121" id="page_121"></a>{121}</span>
- </p>
- <div class="figcenter" style="width: 448px;">
- <a href="images/ill_019_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_019_sml.jpg"
- width="448" height="570" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- <div class="caption">
- <p class="c">
- <i>Old Carlyle Mansion, Alexandria</i>
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p class="nind">
- consisted usually of oatcake and lemonade, and one of his amusements was
- to play horse with a little grandchild, who used to drive him up and down
- the somber corridors with a switch.
- </p>
- <p>
- Albeit Adams and Jefferson became, late in life, the warmest of friends,
- no love was lost between them during the period when both were active in
- politics. Adams, who would have been gratified to receive, like
- Washington, a second term, was not disposed to “enact the captive chief in
- the procession of the victor,” so he did not stay to see Jefferson
- inaugurated, but at daylight of the fourth of March, 1801, left Washington
- for Boston. There was no need for such haste to escape, for Jefferson, as
- the high priest of democratic simplicity, had no procession; though the
- cheerful little fiction about his riding down Pennsylvania Avenue alone,
- and hitching his horse to a sapling in front of the Capitol while he went
- in to be sworn, received its death-blow long ago. The truth is, he had no
- use for a horse. He was boarding in New Jersey Avenue, where he had lived
- for the latter part of his term as Vice-president. A few minutes before
- noon on inauguration day he set out on foot, in company with several
- Congressmen who were his fellow boarders, and walked the block or so to
- the Capitol, where he was escorted by a committee to the Senate chamber
- and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_122" id="page_122"></a>{122}</span>
- there took the oath of office and delivered his address. Then he walked
- back again to his boarding-house, and at dinner occupied his customary
- seat at the foot of the table. A visitor from Baltimore complimented him
- on his address and “wished him joy” as President. “I should advise you,”
- was his smiling response, “to follow my example on nuptial occasions, when
- I always tell the bridegroom that I will wait till the end of the year
- before offering my congratulations.”
- </p>
- <p>
- The accommodations in the President’s House were somewhat better by the
- time Mr. Jefferson moved in than they were when the Adams family opened
- it, yet he seems to have been more or less cramped during most of his two
- terms—owing, doubtless, to the continued presence of mechanics and
- building materials in the incomplete parts of the house. When the British
- Minister called in court costume to present his credentials, he was
- received, with his convoy the Secretary of State, in a space so narrow
- that he had to back out of one end of it to make room for the President to
- enter at the other. One of the legation described Jefferson as “a tall
- man, with a very red, freckled face and gray, neglected hair; his manners
- were good natured and rather friendly, though he had somewhat of a cynical
- expression of countenance. He wore a blue coat, a thick, gray-colored
- hairy waistcoat<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_123" id="page_123"></a>{123}</span>
- with a red under-waistcoat lapped over it, green velveteen breeches with
- pearl buttons, yarn stockings with slippers down at the heels, his
- appearance being very much like that of a tall, raw-boned farmer.” On the
- other hand, an admiring contemporary insists that his dress was “plain,
- unstudied and sometimes old-fashioned in its form,” but “always of the
- finest materials,” and that “in his personal habits he was fastidious and
- neat.” So there you are!
- </p>
- <p>
- A social being Jefferson certainly was. He liked company, and his former
- residence in France had cultivated his taste for the good things of the
- table, including light wines and olives. He once said that he considered
- olives the most precious gift of heaven to man, and he had them on his
- table whenever he could get them. He was also fond of figs and mulberries,
- and his household records bristle with purchases of crabs, pineapples,
- oysters, venison, partridges, and oranges—a pretty fair list for a
- man devoted to plain living. One of his hobbies as a host at very small
- and confidential dinners was to insure to his guests the utmost privacy,
- so he devised a scheme for dispensing as far as practicable with the
- presence of servants and avoiding the needless opening and closing of
- doors. Beside every chair was placed a small “dumb-waiter” containing all
- the desirable accessories, like fresh plates<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_124" id="page_124"></a>{124}</span> and knives and forks and
- finger-bowls; while in a partition wall was hung a bank of circular
- shelves, so pivoted as to reverse itself at the pressure of a spring, the
- fresh viands entering the dining-room as the emptied platters swung around
- into the pantry. The company at table rarely exceeded four when this
- machinery was called into play. At big state dinners the usual array of
- servants did the waiting.
- </p>
- <p>
- The first great reception in Jefferson’s administration occurred on the
- fourth of July next following his inauguration. For some reason, possibly
- because the novelty of his sweeping invitation prevented its being
- generally understood by the populace, only about one hundred persons
- presented themselves. A luncheon was served, in the midst of which the
- Marine Band entered, playing the “President’s March,” or, as we call it,
- “Hail Columbia.” The company fell in behind and joined in a grand
- promenade, with many evolutions, through the rooms and corridors of the
- ground floor, returning at last to the place whence they had started and
- resuming their feast of good things.
- </p>
- <p>
- As he was a widower when he succeeded Adams at the head of the Government,
- and it was not feasible, most of the time, for either of his daughters to
- preside over his public hospitalities, Jefferson naturally turned for aid
- to Mrs. James Madison, wife of his Secretary of<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_125" id="page_125"></a>{125}</span> State. He despised empty
- precedent; and when, at a diplomatic dinner, he led the way to the
- dining-room with Mrs. Madison instead of offering his arm to Mrs. Merry,
- wife of the British Minister and dean of the corps, he defied all the
- old-world canons. Mrs. Merry withdrew in high dudgeon, and her husband
- made the incident the subject of a communication to the Foreign Office in
- London.
- </p>
- <p>
- Dolly Madison’s fondness for society counterbalanced the indifference of
- her husband—a little, apple-faced man with a large brain and
- pleasant manners but no presence, of whom every one spoke by his nickname,
- “Jemmy.” She is described as a “fine, portly, buxom dame” with plenty of
- brisk small-talk. She knew little of books, but made a point of having one
- in her hand when she received guests who were given to literature; and she
- would have peeped enough into it to enable her to open conversation with a
- reference to something she had found there. One of the celebrities she
- entertained was Humboldt, the scientist, concerning whom she wrote: “We
- have lately had a great treat in the company of a charming Prussian baron.
- All the ladies say they are in love with him. He is the most polite,
- modest, well-informed, and interesting traveler we have ever met, and is
- much pleased with America.” Another was Tom Moore, who, though<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_126" id="page_126"></a>{126}</span>
- embalming in verse some of the spiteful spirit he had absorbed from the
- Merrys, in later years recanted these utterances.
- </p>
- <p>
- As she was praised everywhere for the beauty of her complexion, it is
- disconcerting to learn from a candid biographer that Mrs. Madison was wont
- to heighten her color by external applications, and now and then, through
- an accident of the toilet, gave to her nose a rosy flush that was meant
- for her cheeks. We are told also that she was addicted to the fashionable
- snuff habit and kept always at hand a dainty little box made of platinum
- and lava, filled with her favorite brand of “Scotch,” which she would
- freely use at social gatherings and then pass around the circle of
- diplomatists who assiduously danced attendance upon her. This indulgence
- accounted for her carrying everywhere two handkerchiefs: one a bandanna
- tucked away in her sleeve, whence she could draw it promptly for what she
- called “rough work,” and the other a spider-web creation of lawn and lace,
- which she styled her “polisher” and wore pinned to her side.
- </p>
- <p>
- Besides the British Minister with his standing grievance, which he
- advertised by never bringing Mrs. Merry to the President’s House after the
- fateful dinner, we read of two other foreign envoys who used to<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_127" id="page_127"></a>{127}</span> appear
- there spouseless. One was Sidi Mellanelli, who, Dr. Samuel Mitchill tells
- us, “came from Tunis to settle some differences between that regency and
- our Government. He is to all appearance upward of fifty years old; wears
- his beard and shaves his head after the manner of his country, and wears a
- turban instead of a hat. His dress consists simply of a short jacket,
- large, loose drawers, stockings, and slippers. When he goes abroad he
- throws a large hooded cloak over these garments; it is of a peculiar cut
- and is called a bernous. The colors of his drawers and bernous are
- commonly red. He seldom walks, but almost always appears on horseback. He
- is a rigid Mohammedan; he fasts, prays, and observes the precepts of the
- Koran. He talks much with the ladies, says he often thinks about his
- consort in Africa, and wonders how Congressmen can live a whole session
- without their wives.”
- </p>
- <p>
- The other unaccompanied diplomat was the French Minister, General Turreau,
- a man of humble birth who had risen to some eminence during the recent
- revolution in his country. Having once been imprisoned, he improved the
- opportunity to make love to his jailer’s daughter and marry her; but he
- appears to have tired of his bargain, and it was no secret that they led a
- most inharmonious life. According to Sir Augustus Foster, he was in the
- habit of horsewhipping<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_128"
- id="page_128"></a>{128}</span> her to the accompaniment of a violoncello
- played by his secretary to drown her cries, and the scandalized neighbors
- had finally to interfere. Doctor Mitchill’s version of the affair is that
- the Minister tried to send his wife back to France, and that, when she
- refused to leave and raised an outcry, a mob gathered at their house and
- enabled her to escape and go to live in peaceful poverty in Georgetown.
- The Doctor has little to say of Turreau’s ability, but dwells impressively
- on “the uncommon size and extent of his whiskers, which cover the greater
- part of his cheeks,” and on the profusion of lace with which his
- full-dress coat was decorated.
- </p>
- <p>
- Jerome Bonaparte, a younger brother of the first Napoleon, passed a good
- deal of time in Washington during the Jefferson administration and was one
- of the lions at the parties in the President’s House. Meeting Miss
- Elizabeth Patterson of Baltimore, he succumbed to her attractions and lost
- no time in suing for her hand. Her father was a bank president and one of
- the richest men in the United States, and the family, whose social
- position was unexceptionable, were far from having their heads turned by
- the proposed match, possibly feeling some misgivings as to future
- complications; but the young people would listen to no argument and were
- married. Mr. Jefferson<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_129"
- id="page_129"></a>{129}</span> wrote at once to the American Minister at
- Paris, telling him to lay all the facts before the First Consul and to
- make it plain that in the United States any marriage was lawful which had
- been voluntarily entered into by two single parties of full age.
- Nevertheless, the great Napoleon did not hesitate to treat the marriage as
- void, and Jerome lacked manliness to defy his brother and fight the matter
- out; but Mrs. Bonaparte, having spunk enough for two, stood up firmly for
- her rights as a wife to the end of her days, and commanded recognition for
- them everywhere outside of the imperial court.
- </p>
- <p>
- A friend of Jefferson’s who came to Washington during his administration,
- and whose advent created not a little stir, was a man about seventy years
- of age, described as having “a red and rugged face which looks as if he
- had been much hackneyed in the service of the world,” eyes “black and
- lively,” a nose “somewhat aquiline and pointing downward” which
- “corresponds in color with the fiery appearance of his cheeks,” and a
- marked fondness for talk and anecdote. This was none other than Tom Paine,
- patriot, poet, political pamphleteer, and infidel. He was favorably
- remembered all over the United States for his writings in behalf of human
- rights, and for the leaflets and songs which had cheered the hearts of the
- Continental soldiers<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_130" id="page_130"></a>{130}</span>
- at the most discouraging pass in our War for Independence. After the
- Revolution, he had gone abroad as an apostle of popular liberty, and,
- though outlawed in England, had been permitted to cross to France to take
- his seat as a deputy in the proletariat National Assembly. There, among
- other acts which won him commendation, he raised his voice and cast his
- vote against the resolution which sent Louis XVI to the guillotine.
- </p>
- <p>
- Appreciating his services to this country and also strongly sympathizing
- with the French type of democracy, Jefferson had invited Paine to come
- back to his native land in a United States war-ship; and the Federalist
- newspapers seized their chance to make partisan capital by parading
- Paine’s religious heterodoxy and charging Jefferson with having brought
- him home to undermine the morals of our people. Jefferson had considerable
- difficulty in counteracting the effects of the accusation, for his own
- opinions had been for a good while under fire, and it was not a day of
- nice distinctions. Probably in this more tolerant age a man like Paine
- would be given due credit for his practical benevolence even when mixed
- with a hatred of ecclesiasticism, and Jefferson would find himself not out
- of place in the Unitarian fold.
- </p>
- <p>
- When Jefferson was not occupied with affairs of state<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_131" id="page_131"></a>{131}</span> or entertaining visitors,
- he was fond of sitting in what he called his “cabinet”—a room which
- he had fitted up to suit his own fancy. The rest of the house was rather
- unhomelike. The east room was still unfinished, and through the others
- were strewn articles of furniture which, though good in their way, were
- not especially suggestive of comfort; many of them were relics of the
- Washington régime, brought from Philadelphia. But in the cabinet stood a
- long table with drawers on each side, filled with things dear to their
- owner’s heart. One contained books with inscriptions from their authors;
- another, letters and manuscripts; a third, a set of carpenter’s tools for
- his amusement on rainy days; a fourth, some small gardening implements,
- and so on. Around the walls were maps, charts, and shelves laden with
- standard literature. Flowers and potted plants were everywhere, and in the
- midst of a bower of these hung the cage of his pet mockingbird; but the
- door of the cage was rarely shut when the President was in the room, for
- he loved to have the bird fly about freely, perch on his shoulder, and
- take its food from his lips.
- </p>
- <p>
- As may be guessed, the sponsor for this greenery was fond of all growing
- things. Jefferson was often seen walking about the embryo city, watching
- the workmen digging or building, but manifesting a special<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_132" id="page_132"></a>{132}</span> interest
- in tree-planting and ornamental gardening. He tried to induce Congress to
- vote enough money to beautify the grounds around the President’s House,
- but in vain; the most he could do was to enclose the yard with a common
- stone wall and seed it down to grass. Among the plans he prepared but was
- obliged to abandon was the adornment of these grounds exclusively with
- trees, shrubs, and flowers indigenous to American soil. He must be
- credited with the first attempt ever made in Washington to establish a
- zoölogical park; Lewis and Clarke, the explorers, brought him from the
- West a few grizzly bears, for which he built a pen in the yard. He also
- made the first move to furnish Pennsylvania Avenue with shade trees. His
- preference was for willow-oaks; but he started four rows of Lombardy
- poplars to take advantage of their rapid growth till the slower oaks
- matured. One of his hobbies was to improve the market gardening of the
- neighborhood by distributing new varieties of vegetable seeds obtained
- through the American consuls in foreign countries, and instructing his
- steward always to buy the best home-grown table delicacies at the highest
- retail prices.
- </p>
- <p>
- At Madison’s inauguration in 1809, Jefferson not only did not imitate the
- ungraciousness of Adams eight years before, but went to the opposite
- extreme, declining<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_133" id="page_133"></a>{133}</span>
- </p>
- <div class="figcenter" style="width: 452px;">
- <a href="images/ill_020_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_020_sml.jpg"
- width="452" height="578" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- <div class="caption">
- <p class="c">
- <i>Washington’s Pew in Christ Church, Alexandria</i>
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p>
- Madison’s invitation to drive to the Capitol in the Presidential coach
- lest he might divide the honors which he felt belonged exclusively to the
- President-elect. Madison had what was then deemed a wonderful procession
- of military and civic organizations, and turned the occasion into the
- first “made-in-America” gala day, wearing himself a complete suit of
- clothing made by an American tailor, of cloth woven on American looms from
- the wool of American sheep. Jefferson, clad in one like it, modestly
- waited till the procession had passed and then rode to the Capitol alone,
- not even a servant following to care for his horse. On entering the Hall
- of Representatives, he declined the chair reserved for him near Madison’s
- but joined the ordinary spectators, saying: “To-day I return to the
- people, and my proper seat is among them.” At the close of the ceremony,
- he mounted his horse again and rode up the Avenue unattended, till George
- Custis, also mounted, joined him, and they went together to the Madisons’
- house.
- </p>
- <p>
- Here a crowd of friends had gathered to welcome in the new administration.
- Mr. Madison’s emotions had been a good deal stirred by what had passed at
- the Capitol, but his manner was affable. His wife was all herself as
- usual. She was attired in a plain cambric dress with a very long train,
- and a bonnet of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_134" id="page_134"></a>{134}</span>
- purple velvet and white satin, adorned with white plumes. Jefferson seems
- to have been, for such time as he stayed, quite as much the lion of the
- occasion as his successor. Presently he slipped quietly away and went over
- to the President’s House, where the empty halls echoed to his footsteps;
- for he had given all the servants a holiday so that they could see the
- show. But he did not remain long alone; the news spread among his old
- friends that he had gone back to bid his home of eight years farewell, and
- they followed him after a little. In the evening he went to the inaugural
- ball—the first ever held, and the only ball of any sort he had
- attended since his return from France.
- </p>
- <p>
- From all accounts it was not a highly enjoyable affair. The room was so
- crowded that it was difficult to elbow one’s way across it; nobody could
- see what was going on without standing on a chair; the air became
- stifling, and when an attempt was made to freshen it by letting down the
- upper sashes of the windows, they would not move, so nothing was left but
- to smash the glass. Mrs. Madison was almost crushed to death; Madison was
- so tired that he confessed to a friend that he wished he were abed; and as
- soon as supper was over, the Presidential party withdrew. The younger set
- stayed and danced till midnight,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_135"
- id="page_135"></a>{135}</span> when, at the stroke, the music ceased and
- the attendants began to put out the lights.
- </p>
- <p>
- The social success achieved by Dolly Madison as official hostess through
- so large a part of Jefferson’s administration did not wane when, with the
- rise of her husband to the head of the Government, she came into her own
- by right instead of by courtesy. Her first term as mistress of the
- President’s House was a continuous blaze of gayety, in which we catch
- fleeting glimpses of her in a variety of toilets, the most truly typical
- being a buff velvet gown with pearl ornaments and a Paris turban topped
- with a bird-of-paradise plume. Then came the second war with Great Britain
- and the wrecking of the city.
- </p>
- <p>
- When the British approached Bladensburg, and the improvised home-guard of
- Washington went out to engage them in battle, Mr. Madison permitted his
- military advisers to persuade him that, after seeing the stiffness of the
- American resistance, the British would withdraw. His wife caught the
- infection of confidence, and together they planned to celebrate the
- victory by a dinner to the officers on the evening after the battle. The
- table was spread by three in the afternoon, when Mrs. Madison, who had
- been listening with composure to the distant boom of cannon, was dismayed
- to see a lot of demoralized American soldiers running in from<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_136" id="page_136"></a>{136}</span> the
- north by twos and threes. Her sudden fears were confirmed when one of her
- colored servants galloped up to the door, shouting: “Clear out! Clear out!
- General Armstrong has ordered a retreat!” Then a few friends came over to
- insist on her seeking safety in flight. They helped her to fill a wagon
- with such valuables as were not too heavy; but she provoked their
- indignation by waiting till the oil portrait of General Washington
- attributed to Stuart, which hangs in the White House to-day, could be cut
- out of its frame and “placed in the hands of two gentlemen from New York
- for safe keeping.”
- </p>
- <p>
- We have already seen how the Capitol and other public buildings were
- burned. A particularly vicious scheme was worked out to assure the
- destruction of the President’s House, because of Mr. Madison’s personal
- share in the dispute which led to the war. Indeed, it was the hope of the
- invaders to find him and his wife at home and take them captive, so as to
- humiliate the American Government and people and thus impress a lesson for
- the future. By way of a reconnoiter, Admiral Cockburn went to the mansion
- and looked through it, taking with him as a hostage a young gentleman of
- the city, named Weightman. In the dining-room they found everything
- prepared for the dinner of triumph, and Cockburn ordered his companion<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_137" id="page_137"></a>{137}</span> to sit
- down with him and “drink Jemmy’s health.” Then he bade Weightman help
- himself to a mantel ornament as a souvenir of the day. “I must take
- something, too,” he added, and with great hilarity tucked under his arm an
- old hat of the President’s and a cushion from Mrs. Madison’s chair.
- </p>
- <p>
- When all was ready, a detachment of fifty sailors and marines were marched
- in silence up Pennsylvania Avenue, every man carrying a long pole with a
- ball of combustible material attached to the top of it. Arrived at the
- mansion, the balls were lighted, and the poles rested each against a
- window. At a command from their officer, the pole-bearers struck their
- windows simultaneously a hard blow, smashing the glass and hurling the
- fire-balls into the rooms with a single motion; and the little group of
- lookers-on beheld an outburst of flame from every part of the building at
- once.
- </p>
- <p>
- At the Octagon House, where they passed some months after their return to
- Washington, the Madisons were surrounded by the same friends who had
- enjoyed the hospitalities of the President’s House before the fire. It was
- not, however, till they removed to the dwelling at the corner of
- Pennsylvania Avenue and Nineteenth Street that Mrs. Madison was able to
- entertain on the scale she desired. The house was<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_138" id="page_138"></a>{138}</span> one of the most commodious
- in town, and for any fine function the whole of it was thrown open. This
- was done on the occasion of the levee of February, 1816, which was
- universally pronounced the most splendid witnessed in the United States up
- to that time. The illumination extended from garret to cellar, much of it
- coming from pine torches held aloft by slaves specially drilled to
- maintain statuesque attitudes against the walls and at the heads of
- staircases. Mrs. Madison’s toilet of rose-tinted satin was set off with a
- girdle, necklace, and bracelets of gold, and a gold-embroidered crown. It
- may have been this last adornment which suggested to Sir George Bagot, the
- new British Minister, his comment that “Mrs. Madison looks every inch a
- queen.” The compliment promptly spread over Washington, where for some
- time thereafter the President’s wife was constantly referred to as “the
- Queen.”
- </p>
- <p>
- This levee was in the nature of a farewell, for on the fourth of the next
- month President Madison made way for his successor, James Monroe, whose
- inauguration was the first ever held in the open air. The innovation was
- due to a quarrel between the two chambers of Congress, which was then
- occupying its temporary quarters opposite the east grounds of the Capitol.
- Monroe had arranged to take the oath in the<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_139" id="page_139"></a>{139}</span> Hall of Representatives;
- but the Senators found fault with the seats set apart for them, the
- Representatives were stubborn, and a deadlock seemed imminent, when Monroe
- suggested as a compromise that a platform be raised in front of the
- building, and that the ceremony take place there, where all the people
- could witness it. Thus began what came to be known as “the era of good
- feeling.”
- </p>
- <p>
- How class consciousness prevailed in those days is amusingly illustrated
- by Monroe’s resentment of the foreign conception of Americans. “People in
- Europe,” he had once said to the French Minister, while Secretary of State
- under Madison, “suppose us to be merchants occupied exclusively with
- pepper and ginger. They are much deceived. The immense majority of our
- citizens do not belong to this class, and are, as much as your Europeans,
- controlled by principles of honor and dignity. I never knew what trade
- was; the President was as much a stranger to it as I.” Perhaps it was
- because he knew so little about trade that he took pains to cultivate its
- acquaintance as soon as he became President. He made a grand tour of the
- new West, staying away from Washington more than four months and visiting
- especially the commercial centers, where he showed himself to the people
- as much as possible. He invited some criticism by making his<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_140" id="page_140"></a>{140}</span> tour in
- the buff-and-blue uniform of the Continental soldiery of forty years
- before, cocked hat and all; but his friends always contended that this
- appeal to patriotism vastly increased his popularity and went far to
- account for his wonderful success in his campaign for reëlection in 1820,
- when he captured all the electoral votes except one.
- </p>
- <p>
- The period covered by the last few pages brought to Washington two great
- men, whose share in shaping the history of the United States was such as
- to warrant our pausing to take a closer look at them. These were Henry
- Clay and Daniel Webster. Clay was probably the most popular man in our
- public life from Washington’s time to Lincoln’s, and his legislative
- career was unique both in its beginning and in its ending. He came to
- Washington first to fill a vacancy caused by the death of a Kentucky
- Senator, and held this position for several months while he was still too
- young to be eligible under the Constitution, because nobody was disposed
- to inquire into the years of one who possessed so mature a mind. Both
- before and after this experience he served in the Kentucky legislature,
- where, on account of an insult received in debate, he challenged its
- author and “winged” him in a duel. When the Twelfth Congress was about to
- meet, with every prospect that John Randolph and<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_141" id="page_141"></a>{141}</span> his little coterie were
- going to make trouble in the House, a demand arose for a Speaker who would
- be able to cope with the turbulent element. Clay had just been elected a
- Representative, and his prowess as a duelist drew all eyes in his
- direction. “Harry Clay can keep Randolph in order,” declared his Kentucky
- neighbors, “and he is the only man who can!” On this ground, then, he was
- elected Speaker before he had actually taken his seat in the House. He was
- the first man ever thus honored; and he was, I believe, the only one who
- ever made two formal farewells to the Senate. The first, preliminary to
- his resignation in 1842, appears among the classics of American eloquence;
- but, as he was sent back in 1849, he had the chance, rarely accorded any
- one except a histrionic star, to bow himself off the stage a second time.
- </p>
- <p>
- During the years of his greatest activity, every announcement that he was
- to speak made a gala day at the Capitol. “The gallery was full,” wrote
- Margaret Bayard Smith of one such occasion, “to a degree that endangered
- it; even the outer entries were thronged. The gentlemen are grown very
- gallant and attentive, and, as it was impossible to reach the ladies
- through the gallery, a new mode was invented for supplying them with
- oranges, etc. They tied them up in handkerchiefs, to each of which was
- fixed a note<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_142" id="page_142"></a>{142}</span>
- indicating for whom it was designed, and then fastened to a long pole.
- This was taken on the floor of the house and handed up to the ladies who
- sat in the front of the gallery. These presentations were frequent and
- quite amusing, even in the midst of Mr. Clay’s speech. I and the ladies
- near me divided what was brought with each other, and were as social as if
- acquainted.”
- </p>
- <p>
- The orator who could hold his own against such a background of confusion
- might well take pride in his powers; but the universal testimony was that
- Clay’s wonderfully modulated voice and magnetic charm of personality
- triumphed over everything. He was so attractive a man that even Calhoun,
- with whom he was at swords-drawn in every forensic battle, could not
- forbear wringing his hand with a “God bless you!” at their final parting
- in the Senate chamber; and John Randolph, with whom he had clashed
- repeatedly and whose coat he had punctured in a duel, insisted on being
- carried to the Capitol, while dying, and laid on a couch where Clay was
- going to deliver a much-heralded speech. Possibly one of the secrets of
- Clay’s success in winning people was illustrated in his quarrel with
- Senator King of Alabama, which began on the Senate floor and led to the
- passage of a challenge. Friends interfered, and after some days a peace
- was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_143" id="page_143"></a>{143}</span>
- </p>
- <div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
- <a href="images/ill_021_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_021_sml.jpg"
- width="450" height="586" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- <div class="caption">
- <p class="c">
- <i>Mount Vernon</i>
- </p>
- <p>
- <i>Mount Vernon</i>
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p class="nind">
- patched up, both men publicly withdrawing their offensive remarks, and a
- brother Senator making some appropriate gratulatory observations on the
- reconciliation. Then Clay gave the final dramatic touch to the scene by
- crossing the chamber to where his late adversary sat, saying aloud: “King,
- give me a pinch of your snuff!” King, surprised, sprang up and held out
- both a snuff-box and an open hand, while Senators and spectators applauded
- to the echo.
- </p>
- <p>
- Clay was a slimly built man who always appeared for action clad in a
- solemn suit of black, with a claw-hammer coat, a stiff silk stock, and a
- huge white “choker” with pointed ears. His face was spare and his forehead
- high, his cheekbones were prominent, the nose between them was slender and
- forceful, and the mouth wide, thin-lipped, and straight-cut. His lank
- hair, naturally of a tawny hue, became early streaked with gray and was
- worn long enough to fringe his coat collar. He was approachable in manner,
- had a most genial smile, and was ready with a pleasant response to every
- greeting, its effect being intensified by its musical clarity of
- enunciation. He was distinctly fond of society and especially enjoyed a
- game of cards. Although his wife accompanied him to Washington, she
- appeared little with him in public. She was a good woman with few gifts,
- but a devoted mother, and her<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_144"
- id="page_144"></a>{144}</span> chief joy in life was to sew for her six
- children. Wherever he went, Mr. Clay was always surrounded by a circle of
- adoring women, who hung upon every word of the many he uttered as he
- talked in desultory style with his back against a sofa-cushion. He
- followed a free fashion of his time in taking toll from the lips of all
- the young and pretty maidens he met. The first time he saw Dolly Madison,
- her youthful face and dainty dress misled him into saluting her in this
- fashion. On discovering his mistake, “Ah, madam,” he pleaded gallantly,
- “had I known you for whom you are, the coin would have been larger!”
- </p>
- <p>
- I may add in passing that the American navy owes its monitor type of
- fighting-craft largely to Henry Clay. Theodore Timby, who invented the
- revolving turret which Ericsson used during the Civil War, came to
- Washington bearing a letter of introduction to Clay, who became interested
- in the idea and helped him get the patent without which it might have been
- lost to the world.
- </p>
- <p>
- Webster was cast in quite a different mold from Clay. He was godlike where
- Clay was human; his eloquence overwhelmed his hearers where Clay’s
- fascinated them. He had a big head, a big frame, a big voice, a big
- presence. Emerson speaks of his “awful charm.” Some one who heard him
- condemn<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_145" id="page_145"></a>{145}</span>
- the dishonest gains of a certain financial institution, says that the word
- “disgorge,” as he uttered it, “seemed to weigh about twelve pounds.” Once
- Mrs. Webster brought their little son to hear his father deliver an
- oration. Daniel began a sentence in his thunder-tone: “Will any man dare
- say—” and the audience were waiting breathless to hear what was
- coming next, when a wee, piping voice responded from the gallery: “Oh, no,
- no, Papa!”
- </p>
- <p>
- His greatest effort in Congress, of course, was his reply to Hayne.
- Everybody in Washington was eager to hear it, and galleries and floor,
- including the platform on which the Vice-president sat, were crowded to
- the last limit. Representative Lewis of Alabama, being unable to gain
- access to the hall, climbed around behind the wooden framework which
- flanked the platform and bored a hole through it with his pocket-knife in
- order to get a view of the great expounder. At a levee that evening at the
- White House, Webster was besieged by admirers offering congratulations.
- Among the crowd that drew near him at one time happened to be Hayne
- himself. “How are you, Colonel Hayne?” was Webster’s greeting. “None the
- better for you, sir,” answered Hayne, good humoredly but with sincere
- feeling.
- </p>
- <p>
- We are treated to another picture of him when he<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_146" id="page_146"></a>{146}</span> arrived late at a concert
- given by Jenny Lind. For the benefit of the statesmen who were present,
- Miss Lind, for an encore, sang “Hail Columbia.” Webster, who had been
- dining, was on his feet in an instant and added his powerful bass voice to
- hers in the chorus. Mrs. Webster did all she could to induce him to sit
- down, but he repeated his effort at the close of every verse, and with the
- last strain made the songstress a profound obeisance, waving his hat at
- the same time. Miss Lind curtsyed in return, Webster repeated his bow, and
- this little comedy of etiquette was kept up for some minutes, to the
- delight of the audience.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_147"
- id="page_147"></a>{147}</span>
- </p>
- <h2>
- <a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI<br /><br /> <small>THROUGH
- MANY CHANGING YEARS</small>
- </h2>
- <p class="nind">
- <span class="letra">W</span>ITH the advent of the Monroes, social life at
- the President’s House underwent a transformation. Its character could have
- been forecast from the fact that, although for the six years Monroe had
- been at the head of the Cabinet his family had been with him in
- Washington, they were as nearly strangers to the great body of citizens as
- if they had been living in New York or Boston. If a lady wished to call on
- Mrs. Monroe, she had to apply for an appointment and have a day and hour
- fixed, unless she were a member or intimate of some former Presidential
- family. In this administration, too, was born to Washington its first
- formal code of social precedence, which, with certain modifications in
- detail, has remained unchanged to this day. It differs from the codes of
- other American communities in having official rank as a basis. John Quincy
- Adams, before becoming Secretary of State, had served at various times as
- envoy to five European courts. He was therefore ripe with information<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_148" id="page_148"></a>{148}</span> on the
- rules observed abroad and resolved on bringing something of the same sort
- into operation at our capital.
- </p>
- <p>
- Mrs. Monroe and her daughters made it an absolute rule to pay no visits;
- so calls made on them, no matter by whom, went unreturned. Their dislike
- of the underbred caused them to take no part in the preparations for the
- general levees, which were thronged with anybody and everybody; but their
- invitation list for select receptions was cut down mercilessly, and the
- reduced company were treated to supper, an innovation on recent practices.
- At all such entertainments Mrs. Monroe was so exacting in her demands as
- to dress that when one of her near relatives presented himself in an
- informal costume which he had worn without criticism at the best of the
- Jefferson and Madison functions, she refused him admittance till he should
- don the regulation small-clothes and silk hose.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Monroes renamed the east room “the banqueting hall” and had their
- state dinners there, partly because of its spaciousness, and partly
- because the dining-room had been so badly damaged in the fire that it took
- a long time to rehabilitate. The table appointments included a central
- oval “plateau” twelve feet long by two feet wide, composed of a mirror<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_149" id="page_149"></a>{149}</span>
- “surrounded by gold females holding candlesticks.” The china was highly
- gilt, and the dessert knives, forks, and spoons were of beaten gold. All
- the plate was the private property of the family and bore the initials “J.
- M.”; much of it was afterward purchased by the Government and made a part
- of the official furnishing of the White House, where it remained in use
- down to Van Buren’s day.
- </p>
- <p>
- A New York Representative went with some friends to dine with the Monroes.
- Arriving at half-past five, his party were “ushered, Indian file, into the
- drawing-room,” where they found “some twenty gentlemen seated in a row in
- solemn state, mute as fishes, having already undergone the ceremony of
- introduction.” And he goes on:
- </p>
- <p>
- “Mrs. Monroe was seated at the further end of the room, with other ladies.
- On our approach, she rose and received us handsomely. After being myself
- presented, I introduced the other gentlemen. I now expected to be led to
- the President, but my pilot, the private secretary, had vanished. We beat
- a retreat, each to his respective chair. Observing the President sitting
- very demurely by the chimney-corner, I arose and advanced to him. He got
- up and shook me by the hand, as he did the other gentlemen. This second
- ceremony over, all again was silence, and<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_150" id="page_150"></a>{150}</span> each once more moved to his
- seat. It was a period of great solemnity. Not a whisper broke upon the ear
- to interrupt the silence of the place, and every one looked as if the next
- moment would be his last. After a while the President, in a grave manner,
- began conversation with some one that sat near him, and directly the
- secretary ushered in some more victims, who submitted to the same ordeal
- we had experienced. This continued for fully half an hour, when dinner was
- announced. It became more lively as the dishes rattled.” The party
- remained at table till about half-past eight.
- </p>
- <p>
- The retirement of Monroe marked the end of “the Virginia dynasty.” It had
- always been a sore point with John Adams that the highest office of the
- Government should be passed from hand to hand in the Old Dominion, and he
- once threw out the splenetic comment that not “until the last Virginian
- was laid in the graveyard” would his son have a chance at the Presidency.
- The son had been trained with reference to such an inheritance, and, on
- becoming Monroe’s Secretary of State, regarded himself as in the line of
- succession. His appearance as a Presidential candidate, however, aroused
- no general enthusiasm, whereas General Andrew Jackson, having given the
- finishing stroke to the defeat of the British invaders<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_151" id="page_151"></a>{151}</span> by his victory over
- Pakenham, and acquired the nickname “Old Hickory,” had become the idol of
- the multitude. In spite of their approaching competition for the
- Presidency, Adams was obliged to recognize Jackson’s prestige at every
- turn; and on the eighth of January, 1824, Mrs. Adams gave a ball in the
- General’s honor which was so grand that it was still talked of in
- Washington fifty years afterward.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Adams house stood on the site now occupied by the Adams office
- building in F Street near Fourteenth. On this occasion the floor of the
- ballroom was decorated with pictures in colored chalks. The central
- design, which portrayed an American eagle clutching a trophy of flags,
- bore the legend: “Welcome to the Hero of New Orleans!” The pillars were
- trimmed with laurel and other winter foliage, roses were scattered
- everywhere, and the illumination was furnished by variegated lamps, with a
- brilliant luster in the middle of the ceiling. There were eight pieces of
- music. Mrs. Adams was seated in the center of the hall, with Jackson
- standing at her side and a semicircle of distinguished guests behind them.
- President Monroe and Mr. Adams attended, but both were conspicuous for
- their sobriety of attire. It was this gathering which inspired a tribute
- in verse by a local journalist, beginning:<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_152" id="page_152"></a>{152}</span>
- </p>
- <div class="poetry">
- <div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
- <span class="i0">“Wend you with the world to-night?<br /></span> <span
- class="i3">Brown and fair, and wise and witty,<br /></span> <span
- class="i1">Eyes that float in seas of light,<br /></span> <span
- class="i3">Laughing mouths and dimples pretty,<br /></span> <span
- class="i5">Belles and matrons, maids and madams,<br /></span> <span
- class="i5">All are gone to Mrs. Adams!”<br /></span>
- </div>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p>
- Nine months later, Jackson polled a far larger popular vote for the
- Presidency than Adams, and so distributed as to give him a lead in the
- electoral colleges also. But as there were four candidates, none of whom
- had a clear majority of the electoral vote, the decision was left to the
- House of Representatives, where Henry Clay, the candidate at the bottom of
- the list, threw his support to Adams, giving him the office. Adams
- recognized his debt to Clay by appointing him Secretary of State, and thus
- placing him in the line of promotion. Jackson never forgave Clay for his
- share in electing Adams, and from that day forth had nothing to do with
- him beyond the coolest exchange of civilities. In other respects the
- General accepted defeat philosophically, attending the inaugural
- ceremonies and promptly coming forward to congratulate the new President,
- an act of grace that brought tears to the eyes of Adams. The appearance of
- the two men together in public delighted the crowd, and there was
- vociferous hurrahing for Jackson. Judged solely<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_153" id="page_153"></a>{153}</span> by appearances, indeed, the
- day was a festival in honor of Jackson rather than of Adams. Many of the
- General’s friends had come a long distance, in an era when traveling was
- so slow that they had been obliged to leave home before learning the final
- outcome of the election, and supposed that they were to attend the
- inauguration of their favorite. They sought solace for their
- disappointment in turbulent demonstrations. For the whole afternoon the
- dramshops carried on a tremendous business, and all night the streets were
- full of tramping men roaring out Jackson campaign songs and silencing
- opposition with their fists. Pistol shots were heard at frequent
- intervals, and a rumor spread that Henry Clay had been killed.
- </p>
- <p>
- Whatever Adams may have thought of these exhibitions, he bore them with a
- calm exterior. He was always indifferent to criticism, and became famous
- as the most shabbily clad man who had ever occupied the Presidential
- chair, being accused even of having worn the same hat for ten years. He
- braved public opinion by setting up a billiard table in the White House,
- which gave a North Carolina Representative a text for a speech denouncing
- the expenditure of fifty dollars for the table and six dollars for a set
- of balls as “alarming to the religious, the moral, and the reflecting
- portion of the community.” The anti-administration<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_154" id="page_154"></a>{154}</span> press, using the game of
- billiards as a theme, opened fire upon the President as a gambler. For a
- fact, he never made but one bet in his life. Clay had picked up at auction
- a picture which Adams tried to buy of him. One day, in jest, Clay offered
- it as a stake for a game of all-fours. To his astonishment, Adams, the
- supposed ascetic, took him up, and won the game and the picture.
- </p>
- <p>
- It was a habit of Adams to take a plunge in the Potomac, at the foot of
- his garden, every morning “between daybreak and sunrise,” the weather
- permitting. Once he had all his clothing stolen, and had to catch a
- passing boy and send him home for enough raiment to cover him. But this
- was by no means his most embarrassing adventure. It was during his
- administration that the first woman newspaper correspondent turned up in
- Washington. She was resolved to procure an interview with the President,
- who did not care to gratify her. So she rose early one morning and
- repaired, notebook and pencil in hand, to the river bank, and planted
- herself beside his clothes till he started to come out. Standing almost
- neck-deep in the water, he tried first severity and then persuasion to
- induce her to go away, but she held her ground till he surrendered and
- answered her most important questions.<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_155" id="page_155"></a>{155}</span>
- </p>
- <div class="figcenter" style="width: 446px;">
- <a href="images/ill_022_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_022_sml.jpg"
- width="446" height="591" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- <div class="caption">
- <p class="c">
- <i>Tudor House, Georgetown</i>
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p>
- The billiard table was not the only basis for charges of prodigal living
- brought against Adams. When he ran for reëlection, his enemies made
- effective use of a letter written by a member of Congress who had attended
- a New Year’s reception at the White House and who mentioned the
- “gorgeously furnished east room.” The truth was that the east room, except
- for three marble-topped tables and a few mirrors, did not contain fifty
- dollars’ worth of furniture of any sort. A Washingtonian of the period has
- written that there were no chandeliers, and that the great room depended
- for its lighting on candles held in tin candlesticks nailed to the wall,
- which “dripped their sperm upon the clothes of those who came under them,
- as I well know from experience.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Adams sometimes aroused personal hostility by his peppery temper. He had
- to dine with him one evening a Southern Senator who was notorious for his
- dislike of everything in New England but prided himself on his knowledge
- of wines. The Senator had the bad manners to remark that he had “never
- known a Unitarian who did not believe in the sea-serpent.” This aroused
- the ire of Adams, who later, when his guest said that Tokay and Rhine wine
- were somewhat alike, turned upon him with the exclamation: “Sir, I do not
- believe that you ever drank a drop of Tokay in<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_156" id="page_156"></a>{156}</span> your life!” He afterward
- apologized, but the Senator would not accept the apology and became the
- implacable foe of his administration.
- </p>
- <p>
- Jackson’s election in 1828 was a foregone conclusion from the moment he
- reappeared as a Presidential candidate; and, immediately upon the
- announcement that he had won an electoral vote a good deal more than
- double that of Adams, Washington became the Mecca of a hundred
- pilgrimages. By the fourth of March, 1829, the city was so crowded with
- worshipers of the President-elect that they overflowed the inns and
- boarding-houses, and many were obliged to live in camp. Half the men wore
- their trousers tucked into their boot-legs, and not a few carried pistols
- openly in their belts. The hickory emblem was in evidence everywhere: men
- wielded hickory canes and staffs, women wore bonnets trimmed with hickory
- leaves and necklaces composed of hickory nuts fancifully painted, and
- scores of horses were driven with bridles of hickory bark.
- </p>
- <p>
- Like his father, Adams did not attend the inauguration of his successor;
- he withdrew to a hired dwelling on the heights north of the city and kept
- to himself till the flurry was over. Probably Jackson did not regret his
- absence, for the campaign had been surcharged with bitter personalities,
- into which the name<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_157" id="page_157"></a>{157}</span>
- </p>
- <div class="figcenter" style="width: 448px;">
- <a href="images/ill_023_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_023_sml.jpg"
- width="448" height="592" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- <div class="caption">
- <p class="c">
- <i>Bladensburg Duelling-Ground</i>
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p class="nind">
- of Mrs. Jackson was remorselessly dragged. Mrs. Jackson had died since
- election day, and the General believed her death the direct result of
- calumny.
- </p>
- <p>
- Madison had set the fashion, and Monroe and Adams had improved upon it, of
- having a formal escort to the Capitol on the way to inauguration. Jackson,
- however, refused to follow custom. As the only militia organization in the
- city was under command of a colonel who hated him, he had no military
- display, but walked down the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue with only a
- body-guard composed of veterans of the War of the Revolution, then a
- half-century past. For any lack of enthusiasm on the part of the resident
- population, that of the visiting Jacksonians more than compensated. All
- the way the General and his little party were so surrounded by a yelling,
- cheering crowd that they could advance only at a snail’s pace. To watchers
- on Capitol Hill he was distinguishable from the mob by being the one man
- in the midst of it who walked bareheaded.
- </p>
- <p>
- Jackson was the first President to take the oath of office on the east
- portico of the Capitol, the place now generally used. He also was the
- first to read his speech before being sworn. He wore two pairs of
- spectacles,—a pair for looking at the crowd and a pair for reading;
- when he was using one pair, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_158"
- id="page_158"></a>{158}</span> other was perched aloft on his forehead. At
- the close of the exercises, he mounted a fine white horse and rode to the
- White House, again having to make his way through a mass of singing and
- shouting admirers. At the mansion a feast had been provided, and the gates
- thrown open to every one. The building was soon stuffed full; and, as the
- people waiting outside could hardly hope to force their way in, negro
- servants came to the doors with buckets of punch and salvers of cakes and
- ices and passed these out. Much of the food and drink was wasted, and much
- china and glassware smashed. Women fainted, men quarreled and bruised one
- another’s faces. At one stage the doorways became so blocked that people
- coming out had to climb through the windows and drop to the ground. The
- rabble inside, bent on shaking the hand of the President, jammed him
- against a wall to the serious peril of his ribs, till he succeeded in
- escaping through a back entry and taking refuge in the hotel where he had
- lately had his lodgings.
- </p>
- <p>
- The boisterous incidents of his first day in office were only an earnest
- of the stormy administration which lay before Jackson. Realizing how much
- he was indebted to New York for his election, and that Martin Van Buren
- had a powerful following there, he appointed Van Buren his Secretary of
- State. This<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_159" id="page_159"></a>{159}</span>
- proved a pretty lucky investment in human nature; for in the Peggy Eaton
- controversy, which broke out soon after Jackson began his term, Van Buren
- was a valuable ally. General John H. Eaton, a lifelong friend whom Jackson
- had appointed Secretary of War, had been boarding for several years with a
- local tavern-keeper named O’Neal. The publican’s daughter, Peggy, had
- grown up a pretty, but pert and forward girl, who flirted with her
- father’s patrons and married one of them, Purser Timberlake of the navy.
- Timberlake was addicted to drink, and during one of his cruises he ended a
- spree by suicide, leaving his wife and children destitute; and Eaton,
- whose name gossip had already linked with the widow’s, came to the front
- with an offer of marriage, which was accepted.
- </p>
- <p>
- The wedding followed so closely upon the tragedy as to cause wide
- criticism, and this, together with her antecedents, condemned Mrs. Eaton
- to social ostracism. Left to themselves, Eaton’s colleagues of the Cabinet
- would have ignored the circumstances of his marriage, but the ladies of
- their families declared that they would have nothing to do with the bride.
- Van Buren, as a widower with no daughters, felt free to act as he pleased;
- and Jackson, remembering what his own wife had endured, gallantly espoused
- the cause of Mrs. Eaton and gave the hostile Secretaries<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_160" id="page_160"></a>{160}</span> their
- choice between accepting her or resigning their portfolios, whereupon the
- Cabinet went promptly to pieces.
- </p>
- <p>
- Being a man of means, Van Buren did a good deal of entertaining for Mrs.
- Eaton’s benefit, and also inspired those members of the diplomatic corps
- who were unaccompanied by ladies to join him in “floating” her. The
- British Minister was a bachelor, so was the Russian Minister; but, though
- the dinners and balls which they gave attracted many feminine guests who
- were flattered by being invited, they were not wholly successful. Madam
- Huygens, wife of the Dutch Minister, for instance, was induced to attend a
- ball, but when escorted to the supper table found that she was expected to
- sit next but one to Mrs. Eaton and would have to exchange a few words with
- that lady. Instantly she placed her arm in that of her husband and
- withdrew with him from the room. When the story was told to Jackson, he
- rose in his wrath and declared that he would send Huygens home to Holland;
- but he never carried out the threat.
- </p>
- <p>
- Viewed in historical perspective, Jackson appears to have been a man of
- tremendous force, thoroughly patriotic, conscientious in even his most
- wayward conceptions of duty, unlearned but not illiterate, and above all
- things hating treachery. He handled the<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_161" id="page_161"></a>{161}</span> sword with more facility
- than the pen, and some of his correspondence, reproduced with its
- crudities of syntax and spelling, would make the better educated angels
- weep. Conscious of his scholastic shortcomings, he rarely attempted
- anything original in writing or speaking, except on public questions; and
- when his autograph was sought in the albums which were the fashionable fad
- of the day, he borrowed his sentiments from the Presbyterian hymn-book,
- quoting, as Miss Martineau recalls, “stanzas of the most ominous import
- from Dr. Watts.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Jackson usually flavored his dinners and receptions with a dash of the
- unexpected. On one occasion he jostled the proprieties by singing “Auld
- Lang Syne.” He ate sparingly at his own table but talked a great deal,
- slowly and quietly, and, when women were present, with much real
- kindliness of tone. He had a homely way of disposing of questions which he
- regarded as not overimportant. At a dinner in honor of the marriage of his
- adopted son, Andrew Jackson, Junior, he decided on an innovation in
- etiquette by having his Secretary of State precede the diplomatic corps,
- the rest of the Cabinet to follow the foreigners. This plan was vigorously
- resisted by the Secretary of the Treasury, who argued that the Cabinet was
- a unit, and that its members should therefore be treated<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_162" id="page_162"></a>{162}</span> on an
- equal footing. “In that case,” said the President, “we will put all the
- Cabinet ahead of the diplomats,” and he sent his private secretary, Major
- Donelson, to make the announcement to the guests. The French Minister at
- once stirred up the Dutch Minister, as senior member of the corps, to
- prevent the threatened indignity. Meanwhile, dinner had been announced,
- and every one was standing. Donelson reported the strained situation to
- the President, who, instead of vowing “by the Eternal” that his commands
- should be obeyed, smiled good-naturedly and said: “Well, I will lead with
- the bride. It is a family affair; so we’ll waive all difficulties, and the
- company will please to follow as heretofore.”
- </p>
- <p>
- The first baby born in the White House probably was Mary Emily Donelson,
- child of the private secretary. At her baptism in the east room the
- President and Martin Van Buren stood as godfathers. Van Buren took her in
- his arms when she was first brought in, but she squirmed and wriggled so
- that Jackson reached out for her, whereat she cooed with delight, as
- children always did at any attention from him. He held her throughout the
- service, and, at the minister’s question, “Do you, in the name of this
- child, renounce the devil and all his works?” he stiffened up as he might
- have if confronted with a fresh machination<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_163" id="page_163"></a>{163}</span> of his enemies, and
- declared with characteristic emphasis: “I do, sir; I renounce them all!”
- </p>
- <p>
- It was during Jackson’s administration that Harriet Martineau first
- visited Washington. She was suffering from overwork and had been orderd by
- her physician in England to cross the sea for a good rest. In spite of
- that, people would not let her alone. It is said that within twenty-four
- hours after her arrival in town more than six hundred persons had called
- to pay their respects. Probably not fifty could have told why they did so,
- except that she was a literary celebrity. One lady was eager to learn
- “whether her novels were really very pretty,” and most of the statesmen,
- when told that she was a political economist, laughed outright. A social
- leader, desirous of giving her a dinner such as she had been accustomed to
- at home, made the table groan under the choicest things the market
- afforded, including eight different meats, only to see the guest confine
- herself to a tiny slice of turkey-breast and a nibble of ham. She was
- equally disconcerting with her other simplicities, such as coming to a
- five o’clock dinner at a little after three, clad in a walking suit in
- which she had been tramping about the city, but bringing in her capacious
- pockets all the trappings necessary for a presentable evening toilet.<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_164" id="page_164"></a>{164}</span>
- </p>
- <p>
- Notwithstanding her idiosyncrasies, Miss Martineau made a profoundly
- pleasant impression wherever she went. Webster, Clay, and Calhoun would
- desert their seats in the Senate to join her for a talk, and Chief Justice
- Marshall would descend from the bench to greet her when she came into his
- courtroom. She could take up her unpretentious position in the corner of a
- sofa anywhere, and in a few minutes have a circle of the country’s elect
- about her awaiting their turns for a chat; and this in spite of the fact
- that she was very deaf and had to make use of an ear-trumpet of an
- unfamiliar pattern, so that often a newcomer would talk into the wrong
- aperture. She never made anything of her infirmity; and, of all the poems,
- addresses, and letters of appreciation with which she was showered, the
- production which gave her most delight was an ode to her trumpet,
- beginning: “Beloved horn!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Early in this administration, the east room at the White House, which had
- figured in the Democratic campaign speeches as an audience chamber
- sumptuous enough for royalty, was discovered to be too shabby for a
- President of Jackson’s simple habits. So four large mirrors, heavily
- framed in gilt, were hung against its walls, their bases resting on
- mantels of black Italian marble. Chandeliers gleaming with<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_165" id="page_165"></a>{165}</span> glass
- prisms were suspended from the ceiling; damask-covered chairs, their
- woodwork gilded like the mirror frames, were substituted for the worn-out
- furniture which had sufficed for the Adams family; the windows were richly
- curtained; a Brussels carpet, with the sprawling pattern then so much
- admired, was stretched over the entire floor; and this array of elegance
- was capped with bouquets of artificial flowers, in painted china vases,
- distributed among the mantels and tables and in the window recesses.
- </p>
- <p>
- These things did not long retain their freshness. Jackson’s dinners had
- features quaint enough, but his receptions were little short of riots. A
- literary visitor has left us the description of one where “generals,
- commodores, foreign ministers and members of Congress” brushed elbows with
- laborers who had come in their working clothes from a day of canal
- digging, and “sooty artificers” direct from the forge. “There were majors
- in broadcloth and corduroys, redolent of gin and tobacco, and majors’
- ladies in chintz or russet, with huge Paris earrings, and tawny necks
- profusely decorated with beads of colored glass. There were tailors from
- the board and judges from the bench; lawyers who opened their mouths at
- one bar, and tapsters who closed theirs at another; and one individual—either
- a miller or a baker—who,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_166"
- id="page_166"></a>{166}</span> wherever he passed, left marks of contact
- on the garments of the company.” Meanwhile, the waiters who attempted to
- cross from the pantry to the east room with cakes and punch were
- intercepted by a ravenous horde who emptied the trays as fast as they
- could be refilled, so that little or nothing reached the better-mannered
- guests. This went on till the Irish butler, in exasperation, enlisted a
- dozen stalwart men and armed them with billets of wood, to surround the
- waiters as a guard, and keep their sticks swinging about the food so
- briskly that it could not be captured except at the cost of a broken head.
- Of course the carpet, curtains, and cushions were deluged with sticky
- refuse, and broken bits of china and glass were ground into powder under
- foot.
- </p>
- <p>
- If it be possible to imagine anything worse in its way than this scene, it
- was Jackson’s farewell entertainment, given on the twenty-second of
- February, 1837. The chief feature was the cutting of a mammoth cheese
- which had been sent to the President by admirers in a northern dairy
- district. It weighed fourteen hundred pounds, and nothing would satisfy
- Jackson but to give a piece to every man, woman, and child who would come
- for it. As a result, the paths leading to the White House, and the portico
- itself, were thronged that afternoon with people going in to get<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_167" id="page_167"></a>{167}</span> their
- chunks and coming out with greasy parcels in their hands. “We forced our
- way over the threshold,” wrote one of the adventurous souls, “and
- encountered an atmosphere to which the mephitic gas over Avernus must be
- faint and innocuous. On the side of the hall hung a rough likeness of
- General Jackson, emblazoned with eagle and stars, and in the center of the
- vestibule stood the fragrant gift, surrounded by a dense crowd who had in
- two hours cut and purveyed away more than a half-ton of horribly smelling
- ‘Testimonial to the Hero of New Orleans.’ A small segment had been
- reserved for the President’s use, but it is doubtful if he ever tasted
- it.” The cutting was done by two able-bodied laborers, armed with big
- knives extemporized from hand-saws.
- </p>
- <p>
- In the White House, Jackson lived a good deal apart. He was always glad to
- see any one who came on a friendly errand, and loved to frolic with
- children; but one of his chief pleasures was sitting by himself in the big
- south room of the second story and smoking. An aged friend who, as a boy,
- visited the White House with his father while Jackson was there, told me
- that the President bade them draw up with him by the fireside, offered a
- clean clay pipe to the elder of the visitors, and, lighting his own
- well-seasoned corn-cob, puffed the smoke up the chimney, explaining that
- Emily<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_168" id="page_168"></a>{168}</span>
- Donelson—the wife of his secretary, who kept house for him—disliked
- the smell of tobacco.
- </p>
- <p>
- The ghost of the Peggy Eaton affair could never be permanently exorcised.
- Timberlake had not only died penniless and in debt but left his official
- accounts in confusion, and a year or two later it was discovered that he
- had been a defaulter. His bondsman resisted payment of the shortage,
- accusing Lieutenant Robert B. Randolph, who had taken over Timberlake’s
- papers, of the actual responsibility for it. Randolph, in demanding a
- court-martial, committed a technical breach of discipline for which the
- President dismissed him summarily from the service. One day Jackson was a
- passenger on a river steamboat which stopped briefly at a wharf in
- Alexandria. He was sitting alone, when a stranger approached him as if to
- shake hands. Jackson, seeing him drawing off one of his gloves, said
- amiably, “Never mind your glove, sir,” and stretched out his own hand. But
- the stranger, instead of taking it, made a violent lunge at Jackson’s
- face, exclaiming: “I am Lieutenant Randolph, whom you have wronged and
- insulted, and I came here to pull your nose!” Startled by the noise, two
- or three gentlemen ran forward and sprang upon Randolph, who, in the
- struggle that followed, reached the gangplank and freed himself. The
- President, convinced<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_169" id="page_169"></a>{169}</span>
- by later developments that the Lieutenant had really suffered an
- injustice, offered to reinstate him if he would apologize for the
- nose-pulling; but he scornfully rejected the proposal.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Cabinet, as reorganized in consequence of pretty Peggy’s fight, did
- not hang together long. Secretary Eaton intimated presently that he would
- like to retire, Van Buren seemed of the same mind, so the President
- appointed the former Governor of Florida and the latter Minister to
- England. The Senate confirmed Eaton’s appointment with good enough grace,
- but balked at that of Van Buren, who, having gone to England in good faith
- to enter upon his duties, was put to the humiliating necessity of coming
- home again. Jackson was angry, regarding this as a blow at himself. “If
- they don’t want him for Minister,” he thundered, “we’ll see if they like
- him any better as President!” He therefore laid out a program beginning
- with his own reëlection with Van Buren as his Vice-president, and ending
- with Van Buren’s election as his successor. The plan carried; and, as
- Jackson’s affection for Van Buren had grown largely out of the latter’s
- stanch loyalty in the Cabinet quarrel, Mrs. Eaton may be said to have
- shaped American history for a considerable term of years.
- </p>
- <p>
- Long after this lady ceased to hold the center of the<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_170" id="page_170"></a>{170}</span> national stage, her career
- continued to be picturesque. Her husband, having retired from the
- Governorship of Florida, was appointed Minister to Spain, and in Madrid
- she appears to have made herself a great favorite at court. After General
- Eaton’s death she returned to Washington, and was living down much of the
- adverse sentiment of former days, when there appeared on the scene an
- Italian dancing-master named Buchignani, whose dark, soulful eyes and
- insinuating manners proved too much for even her experienced heart.
- Although she was well advanced in years and he was young enough to be her
- son, she not only became his wife, but let all her comfortable fortune
- slip into his hands, and gradually gave him also the custody of her
- grandchildren’s property, which she was holding in trust. He repaid her
- kindness by eloping with her favorite granddaughter to Canada, where he
- went into business as a saloon-keeper. Mrs. Buchignani died in 1879, still
- glorying in the memory of her early activities.
- </p>
- <p>
- As Vice-president, Van Buren lived in the Decatur house, the big somber
- brick dwelling on the corner of Jackson Place and H Street. Across the
- park, just south of the present home of the Cosmos Club, lived Mr. and
- Mrs. Ogle Tayloe, with whom it was his habit to pass his disengaged
- evenings. Suddenly he ceased<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_171"
- id="page_171"></a>{171}</span>
- </p>
- <div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
- <a href="images/ill_024_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_024_sml.jpg"
- width="450" height="594" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- <div class="caption">
- <p class="c">
- <i>Decatur House</i>
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p class="nind">
- coming, and after some weeks Mr. Tayloe hunted him up to inquire what was
- the matter. His only response was: “Mrs. Tayloe has things lying about on
- her table which should not be there.” Van Buren had always seemed
- interested in Mrs. Tayloe’s collection of contemporary autographs; and,
- when husband and wife were searching there for the possible cause of
- offense, they came upon a letter from a prominent New York politician
- containing the passage: “What is little Matt doing? Some dirty work, of
- course, as usual.” Mrs. Tayloe cut out the derogatory paragraph and sent
- word to Van Buren that she had done so, and at once he renewed his visits.
- </p>
- <p>
- Jackson escorted Van Buren to the Capitol, for his inauguration, in a
- carriage widely celebrated as the “Constitution coach.” It was a present
- to the General from citizens of New York and was built out of timbers from
- the old war frigate <i>Constitution</i>, a picture of which was emblazoned
- on one panel. Van Buren discovered, before he had been long in office,
- that a thousand things which the people accepted without question from a
- military hero they were prepared to criticize in a civilian. Moreover, his
- son John, while in England some years before, had danced with the Princess
- Victoria and thus acquired the nickname “Prince John,” of which the
- enemies of the administration<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_172"
- id="page_172"></a>{172}</span> made use as a political cudgel, declaring
- that the whole family were aping the foreign aristocracy. Along came the
- financial panic of 1837, reducing thousands of well-to-do persons to
- poverty, and this was fatuously laid to Van Buren’s account when he stood
- for reëlection in 1840 against General William Henry Harrison,
- affectionately styled “Old Tippecanoe” in memory of one of his victories.
- </p>
- <p>
- Regardless of the fact that Jackson had refurnished the White House
- expensively for those days and then given entertainments which spoiled
- nearly everything spoilable, it was Van Buren who became the undeserving
- target for attack on the ground that he maintained “a royal establishment”
- in “a palace as splendid as that of the Cæsars, and as richly adorned as
- the proudest Asiatic mansion.” The stump orators harped on the use of gold
- and silver spoons at the White House table, and on the excessive number of
- spittoons distributed in the parlors and halls. Vainly did the President’s
- defenders show that the gold spoons were mostly plated ware, and that the
- spittoons, like the other furniture, were the property of the Government:
- the voters who ate their porridge from wooden vessels and threw their
- quids into boxes of sawdust were resolved upon putting into his place a
- man of different type. Henry Clay, passing the White House one day when<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_173" id="page_173"></a>{173}</span> a blaze
- broke out in the laundry, joined the firemen in helping to extinguish it,
- remarking jocularly to the President: “Though we are bound to have you out
- of here, Mr. Van Buren, we don’t want you burned out.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Harrison was elected. He was sixty-eight when he arrived in Washington in
- February, 1841, and was in delicate health, but affected a vain pretense
- of robustness. Though the day was chilly, with snow thinly covering the
- streets and a cold rain falling, he declined to enter a carriage, and
- walked half a mile to the City Hall with his hat in his hand, bowing to
- the people on either side of the street. At the hall he stood on the
- portico, still uncovered, while the Mayor made a speech of welcome and he
- responded. His exposure gave him a cold which, following his fatigues and
- excitement, brought on a serious nervous attack, and this was not improved
- by the prospect of a wearisome inaugural ceremony. He had only a common
- school education, but had read a good deal, particularly ancient history.
- Mr. Webster, whom he had selected for Secretary of State, recognizing his
- literary limitations, composed an excellent inaugural address and carried
- it to him, saying in explanation: “I feared lest, with all you are called
- upon to do just now, you might not find time to do anything of this sort.”<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_174" id="page_174"></a>{174}</span>
- </p>
- <p>
- “Oh, yes,” answered Harrison, cheerfully, producing a packet of neatly
- written sheets, “I attended to all that before leaving home.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Webster tactfully contrived to induce him to exchange manuscripts, “so
- that each author could read the other’s production, and whichever proved
- the better could be used.”
- </p>
- <p>
- But the next day Harrison handed back Webster’s paper with the remark: “If
- I were to read your address, everybody would know you wrote it. Mine is
- not so good, but at least it is mine, and I shall prefer my own poor work
- to your brilliant one.” As a last resort Webster offered to revise
- Harrison’s address, and Harrison consented, though very reluctantly.
- Webster struggled with his task a whole day, chopping out paragraph after
- paragraph of classical citations. When a lady that evening inquired what
- he had been doing to make him look so ill, he exclaimed: “You’d be ill,
- too, if you had committed all the crimes I have. Within twelve hours I
- have killed seventeen Roman pro-consuls—dead as smelts, every man of
- them!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Though compelled to sacrifice so much of his antique lore, Harrison was
- not to be argued out of his resolve to ride a white horse to and from his
- inauguration, having read of sundry great Romans who thus traversed the
- Appian Way. He refused, too, to wear an<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_175" id="page_175"></a>{175}</span> overcoat on the fourth of
- March, notwithstanding that he had a heavy cold, and that a stiff gale was
- blowing which searched the vitals of most men in thick garments. Nor would
- he consent to cover his head while delivering his address, which was a
- protest against executive usurpation, the corruption of the press, and the
- abuses of party spirit. Few who heard it realized how near they had come
- to witnessing no inaugural ceremony that day. It had been arranged that
- Harrison should join the procession for the Capitol at the house of a
- friend whom he was visiting, but he was in such a state of nervous
- exhaustion that he fainted twice before the time came to start. His
- companions bathed his temples with brandy, and the physician they called
- in forbade his going out of doors unless in a carriage; but he would hear
- to no change of plans, and managed, by sheer force of will, not only to
- perform his part at the Capitol, but to hold an afternoon reception at the
- White House and in the evening to look in at two or three balls with which
- the Whigs were celebrating their triumph.
- </p>
- <p>
- During the fortnight that followed, he did his best to conceal his
- increasing feebleness, even going in person to market every morning when
- he was able. But a succession of colds presently ran into pneumonia, and
- the office-seekers hounded him not the less cruelly<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_176" id="page_176"></a>{176}</span> after this. Just one month
- from the day of his inauguration, death came to his relief. Mrs. Harrison,
- who had been too ill to accompany him to Washington, never saw him from
- the day he parted with her in Ohio till his body was brought back to her
- for burial.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_177" id="page_177"></a>{177}</span>
- </p>
- <h2>
- <a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII<br /><br /> <small>“THE
- SPIRIT OF GREAT EVENTS”</small>
- </h2>
- <p class="nind">
- <span class="letra">J</span>OHN TYLER, the first Vice-president to receive
- promotion to the Presidency in mid-term, was at his home in Virginia when
- Harrison died. He came to Washington at once and took lodgings at a hotel,
- where, two days later, he was sworn in by Chief Judge Cranch of the
- Circuit Court of the District. His administration was not picturesque in
- the usual sense; the most it gave people to talk about was his narrow
- escape from impeachment for deserting the party which elected him. But his
- unpopularity bore valuable fruit for Washington. When the partisan
- excitement was at its highest pitch, a company of local politicians went
- to the White House one night and, drawn up in front of it, “groaned” their
- disapproval of Tyler’s conduct. To protect the Presidential office from
- further indignities of that sort, a bill was introduced in the Senate to
- establish an “auxiliary guard” for the defense of the public and private
- property against incendiaries, and “for the enforcement<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_178" id="page_178"></a>{178}</span> of the
- police regulations of the city of Washington,” with an appropriation of
- seven thousand dollars to equip a captain and fifteen men with the proper
- implements to distinguish them in the discharge of their duty. This was
- the foundation of the Metropolitan Police force, which now numbers
- seventy-five officers and more than six hundred privates.
- </p>
- <p>
- Life at the White House was simple in Tyler’s time. The President was in
- the habit of rising with the sun, lighting a fire that had been laid
- overnight in his study, and working at his desk till breakfast was served
- at eight o’clock. At this meal he insisted on having the ladies of his
- family appear in calico frocks. In the evening all the household would
- gather in the green parlor and pass an hour or two in entertaining any
- visitors who happened in, interspersing conversation with piano music and
- old-fashioned songs. It was Tyler who introduced the custom of periodical
- open-air concerts by the Marine Band; and on warm Saturday afternoons the
- garden south of the White House was a favorite resort of the best people
- of the city, while the President would sit with his family and a few
- invited guests on the porch, listening to the music and responding to the
- salutations of his acquaintances. Tyler is rarely suspected of possessing
- a strong sense of humor; but he must have smiled when he signed<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_179" id="page_179"></a>{179}</span> an
- official letter to the Emperor of China, in which he described himself as
- “President of the United States of America, which States are Maine, New
- Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, New York,
- New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina,
- South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana,
- Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, Missouri, Arkansas, and Michigan”—an
- array which so impressed the mind of the Celestial despot that the envoy
- who presented the missive got everything he asked for.
- </p>
- <p>
- Tyler lost his wife soon after he entered the White House, and his
- daughters presided over the domestic life there. He was fond of young
- society, and one of the belles who appeared pretty regularly at his
- parties was Miss Virginia Timberlake, daughter of the unfortunate naval
- purser and the lady whose cause Jackson and Van Buren had championed.
- Another was Miss Julia Gardiner of New York, who so captivated him that at
- one of his receptions in the second year of his term he made her a
- proposal of marriage. As she described it afterward, she was taken wholly
- by surprise, and gave her “No, no, no!” such emphasis by shaking her head
- that she whisked the tassel of her crimson Greek cap into his face with
- every motion. The controlling reason for her refusal, she explained,<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_180" id="page_180"></a>{180}</span> was her
- unwillingness to leave her father, to whom she was devotedly attached; but
- an accident soon changed the whole face of things.
- </p>
- <p>
- Captain Stockton of the navy invited a party of about four hundred ladies
- and gentlemen to inspect the sloop-of-war <i>Princeton</i>, then lying in
- the Potomac. President Tyler, the members of his Cabinet and their
- families, and a good many Congressmen were among the guests. The vessel
- had dropped down the river to a point near Mount Vernon, when some of the
- party importuned Stockton to fire his big gun, nicknamed “the peacemaker.”
- This was just at the close of the luncheon, and the ladies had lingered at
- table while most of the gentlemen went on deck. One lady, fortunately, had
- detained Tyler as he was about to leave, by inducing him to listen to a
- song; for the gun exploded, killing Mr. Upshur, Secretary of State, Mr.
- Gilmer, Secretary of the Navy, Commander Kennon of the navy, Virgil Maxey,
- lately American Minister at the Hague, and David Gardiner of New York, the
- father of Miss Julia. A day of merrymaking was thus turned into one of
- mourning, as the vessel slowly moved up the stream again, bearing the
- bodies of the dead, for whom funeral services were held at the White
- House. After an interval the President renewed his suit and found Miss
- Gardiner more pliant. When he<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_181"
- id="page_181"></a>{181}</span>
- </p>
- <div class="figcenter" style="width: 452px;">
- <a href="images/ill_025_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_025_sml.jpg"
- width="452" height="594" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- <div class="caption">
- <p class="c">
- <i>Soldiers’ Home</i>
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p class="nind">
- had composed in her honor a serenade beginning, “Sweet lady, awake!” she
- agreed to marry him if her mother would consent. Her mother did not
- approve of a union between a man of fifty-six and a girl of twenty, but,
- as she did not actually forbid it, they had a very quiet wedding.
- </p>
- <p>
- In spite of the enjoyment he took in social intercourse, Tyler was often
- criticized for his frigid manners. A virulent type of influenza which
- became epidemic during his administration received the name of “the Tyler
- grip,” from the remark of a Boston man who fell ill a few hours after
- being presented to him: “I probably caught cold from shaking hands with
- the President.” A good deal was made of this in the campaign of 1844, and
- added point to John Quincy Adams’s denunciation of Tyler for “performing
- with a young girl from New York the old fable of January and May!” Tyler’s
- general unpopularity, and a deadlock between two other prominent
- candidates, led the Democrats to nominate James K. Polk for President. He
- was so little known to most of the voters that throughout the campaign the
- Whigs, who were supporting Henry Clay, rang the changes on the question,
- “Who <i>is</i> James K. Polk?” thus contrasting his obscurity with Clay’s
- eminence. The count of ballots showed that a candidate of whom little was
- known<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_182" id="page_182"></a>{182}</span>
- might have certain advantages over one long before the public eye; and as
- on inauguration day it rained heavily, exultant Democrats kept themselves
- warm by hurling back at the Whigs the familiar cry, “Who <i>is</i> James
- K. Polk?” and then laughing wildly at their own humor. It was on this
- occasion that the telegraph first conveyed out of Washington the news that
- one President had retired and another had come in—Professor Morse
- having set up an instrument at the edge of the platform on which the
- President-elect stood, and ticked off a report of the proceedings as they
- occurred.
- </p>
- <p>
- Mrs. Polk being a devoted church-member, of a school which disapproved of
- dancing, the inaugural ball that evening shrank into a mere promenade
- concert till after she and her husband had quitted the hall. The social
- activities of the Polks, through the four years which followed, were
- consistent with this beginning, all the functions at the White House being
- too sober to suit the diplomats or the younger element among the resident
- population. On its practical side, Polk’s term was perhaps the most
- notable in that generation, including as it did the war with Mexico, which
- resulted in the annexation of California and the great southwestern area
- afterward carved into the States of Utah, Nevada, and Arizona and parts of
- Wyoming,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_183" id="page_183"></a>{183}</span>
- Colorado, and New Mexico. This war, moreover, furnished the usual crop of
- Presidential candidates, chief among them General Zachary Taylor, who had
- led the first army across the Rio Grande, and General Winfield Scott, who
- had wound up the invasion by capturing the city of Mexico.
- </p>
- <p>
- Believing Taylor the easier to handle, the Whig managers fixed upon him,
- although, having passed the larger part of his sixty-four years with the
- army, he had never voted. Indeed, he had always expressed an aversion to
- office-holding, and, when approached on the subject of the Presidency, met
- the overture with frank disfavor, declaring that he had neither the
- capacity nor the experience needed for such a position. But his
- “availability” overcame the force of his protests, and the Whigs won with
- him a sweeping victory at the polls. There is pathos in the story of the
- break-up of the pleasant home in Baton Rouge, and the reluctant removal of
- the family to Washington, taking with them only a faithful negro servant,
- a favorite dog, and “Old Whitey,” the horse the General had ridden through
- the Mexican war. Taylor was with difficulty dissuaded from his purpose of
- imitating his military predecessors and riding “Old Whitey” either to or
- from the Capitol on inauguration day. What his friends most feared was his
- loss of dignity in the eyes<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_184"
- id="page_184"></a>{184}</span> of the crowd, for his legs were so short
- that, in certain emergencies, an orderly had to lift one of them over his
- horse’s flanks whenever he mounted or dismounted.
- </p>
- <p>
- Taylor was as simple a soul as Harrison. His unostentatious ways in the
- army had led the soldiers to dub him “Old Rough and Ready,” and this title
- stuck to him always afterward. One of his favorite amusements was to walk
- about Washington, chatting informally with people he met and watching
- whatever was going on in the streets. His love of comfort was such that he
- could never be induced to wear clothes that fitted him, but his suits were
- always a size or two larger than his measure, and these, with a black silk
- hat set far back on his head, made him recognizable at any distance. His
- message at the opening of Congress contained one announcement as
- voluminous as his costume: “We are at peace with all the nations of the
- world, and the rest of mankind.” The bull was discovered too late to
- prevent its going out in the original print; but in a revised edition the
- sentence was made to end: “And seek to maintain our cherished relations of
- amity with them.”
- </p>
- <p>
- The White House underwent another grand refurbishing while the Taylors
- were in it. The east room was newly carpeted, its walls were decorated,
- and gas replaced its candles and lamps. The ladies of the<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_185" id="page_185"></a>{185}</span> family
- were good housekeepers—particularly the younger daughter, who made
- the old place look actually homelike, and whom an appreciative guest
- described as doing the honors “with the artlessness of a rustic belle and
- the grace of a duchess.” But this pleasant picture was soon to be clouded
- over. On the fourth of July, 1850, a patriotic meeting was held at the
- base of the Washington National Monument, with long addresses by prominent
- men. It lasted the whole of a very hot afternoon, and President Taylor, as
- a guest of honor, felt bound to stay through it, refreshing himself from
- time to time with copious drafts of ice-water. He reached home in a state
- of some exhaustion and at once ate a basketful of cherries and drank
- several glasses of iced milk. From a party to which he had accepted an
- invitation for that evening he was obliged to excuse himself at the last
- moment on the score of indisposition. He was violently ill throughout the
- night, and five days later he died.
- </p>
- <p>
- Millard Fillmore of New York, fifty years old, of moderate political views
- and fair ability, was Vice-president at the time. Unlike Tyler, he went to
- the Capitol to be sworn in the presence of a committee of the two houses,
- but made no inaugural address. Mrs. Fillmore, who had formerly been a
- teacher, cared little for society. She was of studious habits and soon<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_186" id="page_186"></a>{186}</span>
- converted the oval sitting room in the second story of the White House
- into a library, personally selecting the books. Her taste ran chiefly to
- standard historical and classical works; and, as the editions then
- available were generally not very good specimens of the typographic art,
- most of her collection has disappeared. In this administration the
- Fugitive Slave Act was passed, and Fillmore, by signing it, alienated the
- North so largely that the Whig party refused to nominate him for another
- term. General Scott, to whom it turned, did precisely what most of the
- politicians had predicted he would: made a number of public utterances
- which ruined his chances and thus gave the election to his Democratic
- competitor, Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire.
- </p>
- <p>
- During Fillmore’s term Louis Kossuth visited Washington. The country was
- just passing through one of its occasional periods of revolutionary
- fervor, and Kossuth’s stand for the rights of Hungary against Austria had
- aroused much sympathy here. Our public men were divided in opinion as to
- how far to go with their demonstrations in his favor, wishing to win the
- support of the Hungarians in the United States and of immigrants who had
- fled from other countries to escape oppression, yet hoping to keep clear
- of entanglements with Austria. As Kossuth had left home to<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_187" id="page_187"></a>{187}</span> escape
- death for high treason and taken refuge in Constantinople, one of our
- men-of-war was sent to the Dardanelles to bring him to America. He did not
- then care to go further than England, whence, after an agreeable visit, he
- came over, in the expectation of inducing our Government to take up arms
- for Hungarian liberty. Henry Clay, who was already stricken with his last
- illness, promptly put a damper upon that scheme; but Kossuth remained the
- guest of the nation for a time and was dined and fêted prodigiously. He
- maintained the state of a royal personage, keeping a uniformed and armed
- guard about the door of his suite of apartments at what is now the
- Metropolitan Hotel, and a lot of carousing young subalterns always in his
- anteroom. He never appeared in public except in full military uniform,
- with his cavalry sword, in its steel scabbard, clanking by his side. Mrs.
- Kossuth, who accompanied him on his tour, was unable to overcome her
- distrust of American cooking, and used to scandalize her neighbors at
- table by ostentatiously smelling of every new dish before tasting it.
- </p>
- <p>
- The inauguration of Pierce was marked by several innovations: he drove to
- and from the Capitol standing up in his carriage, delivered his address
- without notes, and made affirmation instead of taking the oath of office.
- A tragic interest attaches itself to his<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_188" id="page_188"></a>{188}</span> administration, because,
- just as he was preparing to remove to Washington, he lost his only child,
- a boy of thirteen, in a railway accident. Mrs. Pierce, who was an invalid,
- was terribly broken by this bereavement, and all social festivities at the
- White House were abandoned till toward the close of her stay there. The
- new Vice-president, William R. King, was not inaugurated at the same time
- and place with the President. He had gone to Cuba in January for his
- health, and, as he was not well enough to come home, Congress passed a
- special act permitting him to take the oath before the American
- Consul-general at Havana. Soon after his return to the United States, in
- April, he died.
- </p>
- <p>
- Nathaniel Hawthorne, who was a college mate and intimate friend of Pierce,
- was anxious to see something of Europe, but had not the means to gratify
- his desire; so Pierce appointed him consul at Liverpool, where he was able
- to live in comfort on his pay and save enough for a sojourn on the
- Continent. To this experience American literature owes most of his later
- work, including “The Marble Faun” and “Our Old Home.” In Washington still
- linger stories of a visit Hawthorne paid the city about the time of his
- appointment. Pierce tried to show him some informal attentions; but
- Hawthorne’s shyness, which went to such an extreme that he could not say
- anything to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_189" id="page_189"></a>{189}</span>
- lady next him at table without trembling and blushing, prevented his
- making much headway socially.
- </p>
- <p>
- All through Pierce’s term, political conditions were working up to the
- point which caused the irruption of a few years later. The habit of
- carrying deadly weapons on the person became so common in Washington,
- especially in Congress, that scarcely an altercation occurred between two
- men without the exposure, if not the use, of a pistol or a dirk. The
- newspapers in their serious columns treated such incidents severely, while
- the comic paragraphers satirized them; and Preston Brooks, a
- Representative from South Carolina, in a half-earnest, half-cynical vein,
- gave notice one day of his intention to offer this amendment to the rules
- of the House: “Any member who shall bring into the House a concealed
- weapon, shall be expelled by a vote of two-thirds. The Sergeant-at-Arms
- shall cause a suitable rack to be erected in the rotunda, where members
- who are addicted to carrying concealed weapons shall be required to place
- them for the inspection of the curious, so long as the owners are employed
- in legislation.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Senator Sumner of Massachusetts having, a few days later, in a speech on
- slavery, spoken disparagingly of a South Carolina Senator who was absent,
- Brooks, on the twenty-second of May, 1856, entered the Senate<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_190" id="page_190"></a>{190}</span> chamber
- when it was nearly deserted, and, with a heavy gutta-percha cane, rained
- blows with all his strength upon the head of Sumner, who was quietly
- writing at his desk. Sumner fell to the floor and for some days thereafter
- hovered between life and death. He was three or four years in recovering
- from the direct effects of the assault, and never was entirely restored to
- health and strength. The incident excited bitter feeling throughout both
- North and South. For denouncing the assault as paralleling that of Cain
- upon Abel, Representative Anson Burlingame of New York was challenged by
- Brooks; he accepted the challenge, naming date, place, and weapons, but
- Brooks failed to appear on the field.
- </p>
- <p>
- The next President was James Buchanan of Pennsylvania, also a Democrat.
- The two incidents in his term which most impressed Washington were the
- first successful experiments with the Atlantic cable in August, 1858, and
- the visit to the White House of the Prince of Wales, who later became King
- Edward VII. Cyrus W. Field, after a struggle as soul-wearing as Morse’s
- over the introduction of the telegraph, succeeded in making his submarine
- cable work and induced Queen Victoria to send the first despatch, a
- message of greeting to President Buchanan, who was requested to answer it
- in kind. The skepticism of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_191"
- id="page_191"></a>{191}</span> day toward all scientific novelties was
- reflected in Buchanan’s summoning a newspaper correspondent whom he
- trusted and begging to be told frankly whether he were not the victim of a
- hoax. At the White House all the members of the Cabinet were gathered,
- earnestly debating the same question. The most stubborn disbeliever was
- the Secretary of the Treasury, Howell Cobb, who jeered at the whole thing
- as a wild absurdity. In spite of Cobb’s resistance, the correspondent
- persuaded the President to answer the Queen’s message. As bad luck would
- have it, the cable parted in mid-ocean soon thereafter and was not
- restored to working order for several years; and in the interval the
- skeptics were appropriately exultant.
- </p>
- <p>
- Buchanan, who was our first bachelor President, was sometimes slangily
- called “the O. P. F.,” having once referred to himself in a message as an
- “old public functionary.” The image of him carried in the popular mind is
- derived from contemporaneous pictures, which show him as a stiff, precise,
- ministerial-looking old man, wearing a black coat, a high choker collar,
- and a spotless white neckerchief. But this was the style of the day in
- portraiture and must not be accepted too literally. The late Frederick O.
- Prince of Boston used to tell of a morning call he paid<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_192" id="page_192"></a>{192}</span>
- Buchanan, whom he had imagined a model of formality and elegance, and of
- his astonishment when the President entered the room clad in a greenish
- figured dressing-gown, woolen socks, and carpet slippers, and, to put the
- standing visitors at their ease, called to a servant: “Jeems, sit some
- cheers!”
- </p>
- <p>
- When Buchanan came to Washington for his inauguration, attended by a
- number of Pennsylvania friends, he took lodgings at the National Hotel,
- where the whole party fell ill with symptoms which to-day we should charge
- to ptomaine poisoning. One or two of the sufferers died. Buchanan escaped
- with a comparatively light attack; but a rumor gained circulation that the
- Free Soilers had tried to assassinate him because of his conservative
- disposition toward slavery. For some time after he entered the White
- House, therefore, the police kept a watch on his movements, and one
- rough-looking Kansan was arrested on suspicion, having bought an air-gun
- and engaged a room in a building which the President was in the habit of
- passing every day when he went out for exercise.
- </p>
- <p>
- The domestic accommodations at the White House were already so limited
- that, when the Prince of Wales visited it in 1860, the President had to
- give up his bedchamber to his guest and sleep on a cot in the anteroom of
- his office. As I recall the Prince he was not<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_193" id="page_193"></a>{193}</span>
- </p>
- <div class="figcenter" style="width: 448px;">
- <a href="images/ill_026_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_026_sml.jpg"
- width="448" height="588" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- <div class="caption">
- <p class="c">
- <i>Old City Hall</i>
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p class="nind">
- inordinately tall, but for some reason—possibly because the legs of
- royalty were supposed to need more space than those of common folk—the
- old bedstead in the President’s room was replaced by one of extra length.
- Society in Washington was agog over the Prince’s advent, and the reigning
- belles insisted that his entertainment must include a ball at least as
- brilliant as that given in his honor in New York; but Mr. Buchanan, whose
- ideas on certain subjects were rigid, would not listen to the suggestion
- of dancing in the White House, and the ball was turned over to the British
- legation. Miss Harriet Lane, the President’s niece, who managed his
- household affairs, gave instead a large musicale, at which was performed
- for the first time the once favorite song, “The Mocking Bird,” its
- composer having dedicated it to her.
- </p>
- <p>
- Trained as attorney, diplomatist, and politician, to regard the letter of
- the law rather than its spirit, Buchanan found himself in an unhappy
- situation when the preliminary mutterings of sectional warfare grew loud.
- In January, 1861, he was urged by some of the Cabinet to recall Major
- Robert Anderson from Charleston Harbor as a rebuke for having removed the
- Fort Moultrie garrison to the stronger Fort Sumter without orders from
- Washington, and he was holding the matter under advisement when Justice
- McLean of the Supreme Court<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_194"
- id="page_194"></a>{194}</span> came to dine with him one evening. After
- the ladies had left the table, the Justice drew the President aside and
- inquired what was going to be done about the Major. “Anderson has exceeded
- his instructions,” answered Buchanan, “and must be disciplined.” McLean
- raised his hand and fairly shook it in the President’s face as he
- ejaculated: “You dare not do it, sir! You dare not do it!” This unique
- defiance of the executive by the judiciary had an immediate effect: Major
- Anderson was left undisturbed, to become within a few weeks the first hero
- of the Civil War.
- </p>
- <p>
- General Scott, who filled a large place in national affairs from Polk’s
- administration till the autumn of 1861, was a good officer and a pure
- patriot but full of eccentricities. His love for military forms gave him
- the nickname “Old Fuss and Feathers,” and a letter he wrote during the
- Mexican war, excusing his absence from his headquarters when the Secretary
- of War called there, on the plea that he had just stepped out to get “a
- hasty plate of soup,” had won for him the punning title “Marshal Turenne.”
- He was a good deal of a gourmet and did his family marketing himself,
- especially delighting in the delicacy which he persisted in calling
- “tarrapin,” and ordering his oysters by the barrel. One of his favorite
- dishes was pork jowl, and once he told of having eaten sauerkraut “with
- tears<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_195" id="page_195"></a>{195}</span>
- in his eyes.” He was a keen stickler for the dignity due him on all
- occasions. Just after Taylor had been inaugurated President, the two men
- met in Washington for the first time since a somewhat acrimonious parting
- in Mexico. Taylor, passing over old animosities, invited Scott to call.
- Scott did so the next day, and Taylor, who was engaged with some other
- gentlemen in his office, sent word that he would be down in a moment. Five
- minutes later, having cut his business short, the President descended to
- the parlor, to find his visitor already gone: Scott had waited two minutes
- by the clock and then stalked in high dudgeon out of the door, not to come
- back again.
- </p>
- <p>
- The drama of the Lincoln administration, on which the curtain rose to a
- bugle-blast and fell to the beat of muffled drums, deserves a volume to
- itself; but in my limited space I have been able to outline only some of
- its features directly related to the capital city. Lincoln’s first levee
- was held not in the White House but at Willard’s Hotel, some days before
- the inauguration. The higher public functionaries and their wives, and a
- number of private citizens of prominence, had been notified rather than
- invited to come to the hotel on a certain evening for a first glimpse of
- the new chief magistrate. Into this presence stalked the lank,<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_196" id="page_196"></a>{196}</span>
- loose-jointed, oddly clad “Old Abe,” with his little, simple,
- white-shawled wife at his elbow, and the never failing jest on his lips as
- he made his own announcement: “Ladies and gentlemen, let me present to you
- the long and the short of the Presidency!”
- </p>
- <p>
- The Lincolns received several social courtesies from members of Congress
- and others before the fourth of March, and on the evening of that day the
- usual inaugural ball was given in their honor. It was plain from the start
- that they had not made a favorable impression in their new setting, for
- the ball was a failure in point of attendance; few ladies wore fine
- costumes, and of the men the majority came in their business clothes. As
- neither Mr. nor Mrs. Lincoln knew how to dance, or felt enough confidence
- even to walk through a quadrille, the early part of the evening was
- devoted to a handshaking performance which threw a chill upon the rest.
- Mrs. Lincoln’s feminine instinct had led her to exchange the stuffy frock
- and shawl of her first reception for a blue silk gown. Mr. Buchanan had
- been expected but sent belated regrets; and Stephen A. Douglas, the
- “Little Giant” who always became a big one in an emergency, stepped into
- the breach as representative of the abdicating party, and established
- himself as the personal escort and knight-in-waiting of Mrs. Lincoln.<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_197" id="page_197"></a>{197}</span>
- </p>
- <p>
- In the White House, Lincoln took for his office the large square room in
- the second story next the southeast corner, from the windows of which he
- could look over at the Virginia hills. The room adjoining on the west was
- assigned to his clerks and to visitors waiting for an interview. To secure
- him a little privacy in passing between his office and the oval library, a
- wooden screen was run across the south end of the waiting room, and behind
- this he used to make the transit in fancied invisibility, to the delight
- of the people sitting on the other side, to whom, owing to his
- extraordinary height, the top locks of his hair and a bit of his forehead
- were exposed above the partition. He was persistently hounded by
- candidates for appointment to office; and it is recalled that in one
- instance, where two competitors for a single place had worn him out with
- their importunities, he sent for a pair of scales, weighing all the
- petitions in favor of one candidate and then those of the other, and
- giving the appointment to the man whose budget weighed three-quarters of a
- pound more than his rival’s.
- </p>
- <p>
- Visitors admitted to his office usually found him very kind in manner,
- though now and then a satirical impulse would give an edge to his humor.
- When an irate citizen with a grievance called and poured it out upon him,
- accompanied by a variegated assortment<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_198" id="page_198"></a>{198}</span> of profanity, Lincoln
- waited patiently till the speaker halted to take breath, and then
- inquired: “You’re an Episcopalian, aren’t you?”
- </p>
- <p>
- “Why do you ask that?” demanded the visitor, momentarily forgetting his
- anger in his surprise.
- </p>
- <p>
- “Because,” answered Lincoln, “Seward’s an Episcopalian, and you swear just
- like him.”
- </p>
- <p>
- The Reverend Doctor Bellows of New York, as chairman of the Sanitary
- Commission, called once during the Civil War to tell Lincoln of a number
- of things he ought to do. Lincoln listened with the most flattering
- attention, slightly inclining his head in recognition of every separate
- reminder of a duty left unperformed, and at the close of the catalogue
- remained a minute or two in silent meditation. Then, throwing one of his
- long legs over an arm of his chair, he looked up with a quizzical smile.
- “Dominie,” said he, “how much will you take to swap jobs with me?”
- </p>
- <p>
- He could not always keep his humor out of his official communications, as
- in this despatch to General Hooker in Virginia: “If the head of Lee’s army
- is at Martinsburg, and the tail of it on the plank road between
- Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, the animal must be pretty slim
- somewhere. Couldn’t you break him?”
- </p>
- <p>
- Indeed, it was his instinctive discernment of the<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_199" id="page_199"></a>{199}</span> ridiculous side of
- everything which, though it gave his enemies their chance to assail him as
- a mountebank and a jester, undoubtedly served as a buffer to many a heavy
- blow. Sometimes his laughs were at his own expense. About the middle of
- the war a young man from a distant State procured an interview with him,
- to expound a project for visiting Richmond in the disguise of a wandering
- organ-grinder and making drawings of the defenses of the city for the use
- of the Union commanders. Lincoln was so impressed that he contributed one
- hundred and fifty dollars or more to purchase the organ and pay other
- preliminary expenses. The young man disappeared for some weeks and then
- returned with a thrilling account of his adventures, and with plats and
- charts covering everything of military importance around Richmond and at
- various points on the way thither. As a reward, the President nominated
- him for a second lieutenancy in the army and spurred some other patriot
- into sending him a brand new uniform and sword. After a little, and by
- accident, it came out that the youth had never been anywhere near
- Richmond, but had spent the President’s money on a trip to his home,
- where, at his ease, he had prepared his fictitious report and maps. Of
- course his nomination was at once withdrawn; but Lincoln was so amused at
- his own childlike credulity<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_200"
- id="page_200"></a>{200}</span> that he could not bring himself to punish
- the offense as it deserved.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Cabinet were often annoyed at the obtrusion of the President’s taste
- for a joke at what seemed to them inopportune moments—especially
- Secretary Stanton, whose sense of humor was not keen. On September 22,
- 1862, they were peremptorily summoned to a meeting at the White House.
- They found the President reading a book, from which he barely looked up
- till all were in their seats. Then he said: “Gentlemen, did you ever read
- anything from Artemus Ward? Let me read you a chapter which is very
- funny.” When the reading was finished, he laughed heartily, looking around
- the circle for a response, but nobody even smiled; if any countenance
- revealed anything, it was irritation. “Well,” said he, “let’s have another
- chapter;” and he suited action to word. Finding his listeners no more
- sympathetic than before, he threw the book down with a deep sigh and
- exclaimed: “Gentlemen, why don’t you laugh? With the fearful strain that
- is on me night and day, if I did not laugh I should die, and you need this
- medicine as much as I do.” With that, he ran his hand down into his tall
- hat, which sat on the table near him, and drew forth a sheet of paper,
- from which he read aloud, with the most impressive emphasis, the first
- draft of the Emancipation<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_201"
- id="page_201"></a>{201}</span> Proclamation. “If any of you have any
- suggestions to make as to the form of this paper or its composition,” said
- he, “I shall be glad to hear them. But”—and the deliberateness with
- which he pronounced the next words left no doubt that the die had already
- been cast—“this paper is to issue!”
- </p>
- <p>
- The Lincolns brought two young children with them into the White House,
- both boys. Of the elder, Willie, we hear little, except that he died
- there, and that his loss added one more to the many lines which the war
- had worn into the brow of his father. The younger boy, “Tad,” is better
- known to the public through the exploitation of his juvenile pranks by the
- newspapers and his appearance in some of the President’s portraits. Many
- stories are told of his fondness for bringing ragged urchins from the
- streets into the kitchen and feeding them, to the sore distress of the
- cook and sometimes to the disturbance of the domestic routine in other
- ways; but for whatever he wished to do in the charitable line he found his
- father a faithful ally. There is a pretty tale of his having espied in the
- lower corridor of the White House, one very rainy day, a young man and
- woman, rather shabbily dressed, who seemed depressed in spirits and anxious
- to consult with some one. Tad called his father’s attention to them, and
- the President went up and asked them what<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_202" id="page_202"></a>{202}</span> they wished. His
- sympathetic manner loosed their tongues and they told him their story.
- </p>
- <p>
- It appeared that the girl was from Virginia and had run away from home to
- marry her lover, an honorably discharged soldier from Indiana. They had
- met by arrangement in Washington, but they were strangers there and very
- unsophisticated, and had little money to pay a minister or spend on hotel
- accommodations; so they had been wandering about the city for hours, not
- knowing where to go, and had taken refuge in the White House from the
- storm. They had no idea that they were talking to the President till he
- made himself known. With characteristic directness, he sent for a
- clergyman of his acquaintance and had the nuptial knot tied in his
- presence. Then he invited bride and groom to remain as his guests till the
- next day, when the weather cleared and they went their way rejoicing.
- </p>
- <p>
- Although Mrs. Lincoln was the titular head of the President’s household,
- the woman recognized as the social leader of the administration was Kate
- Chase, daughter of the Secretary of the Treasury. She was handsome,
- accomplished, and, after her marriage with William Sprague, the young War
- Governor of Rhode Island, rich as well. Mrs. Lincoln never liked her, but
- the President’s gift for peacemaking came into<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_203" id="page_203"></a>{203}</span> action here, and there was
- no public display of the coolness of feeling between them. Mrs. Sprague
- had a strong taste for politics, and her chief ambition was to see her
- father President; but Lincoln cut off that chance at the critical moment
- by making him Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Among the young and
- rising Congressmen with whom Mrs. Sprague was brought into contact during
- this period was Roscoe Conkling, a Representative from New York, who later
- became a Senator. He was the pink of elegance in person and attire, of
- stately and somewhat condescending manners, and master of the arts of
- verbal expression. They formed a firm friendship which lasted as long as
- both lived. Edgewood, the Chase home on the northern border of the city,
- was for many years one of the show places of Washington, and after Chase’s
- death Conkling procured from Congress an act exempting it from taxation as
- a tribute to the public services of its former owner. Another young
- Representative of whom Mrs. Sprague saw almost as much as of Conkling, but
- liked less, was James G. Blaine of Maine, a brilliant orator who in after
- years became Conkling’s most powerful adversary.
- </p>
- <p>
- A warm friend of Chase’s who used to drop in at Edgewood whenever he was
- in Washington was Horace Greeley, editor of the <i>New York Tribune</i>.
- He was a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_204" id="page_204"></a>{204}</span>
- quaint character, who wore his clothes awry and his hair long and always
- tousled. His face he kept clean shaven, but raised a heavy blond beard
- under his chin and jaws; and this, with his ruddy cheeks, blue eyes,
- beaming spectacles, and generally bland aspect, made him look like the
- typical back-country farmer of theatrical tradition. He accentuated the
- peculiarities of his appearance by affecting a large soft hat and not
- spotless white overcoat, the pockets of the latter habitually bulging with
- newspapers. His handwriting was as unconventional as his attire, and
- compositors in the <i>Tribune</i> office had to be specially trained in
- deciphering it, for Mr. Greeley was often unable to read it himself after
- the subject-matter had grown cold in his mind.
- </p>
- <p>
- Greeley was an anti-slavery man, but not an aggressive abolitionist;
- nevertheless he smiled benignantly upon the work of the Hutchinson family
- and took some pains to introduce them in Washington wherever their music
- would be likely to meet with a cordial reception. The Hutchinsons were a
- Massachusetts family of sixteen brothers and sisters, nearly all of them
- bearing Bible names given them by a deeply religious mother. They learned
- as children to lead the singing in the Baptist church attended by their
- parents, and, as their musical fame spread, one of the<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_205" id="page_205"></a>{205}</span>
- </p>
- <div class="figcenter" style="width: 448px;">
- <a href="images/ill_027_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_027_sml.jpg"
- width="448" height="594" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- <div class="caption">
- <p class="c">
- <i>The “Old Capitol”</i>
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p class="nind">
- brothers developed a talent as a versifier and began writing songs adapted
- to their interpretation, breathing an earnest spirit of patriotism and
- pleading for human freedom. From giving concerts in their native town and
- neighborhood, they gradually essayed more and more ambitious ventures, and
- with Greeley’s aid came under the favorable notice of the administration.
- Lincoln, realizing the appeal their homely entertainments would make to
- the Union volunteers, gave them a roving commission to visit the camps of
- the Army of the Potomac and encouraged them to take in the recruiting
- stations wherever they happened to be. They mixed fun with their
- seriousness in such proportions as they believed would please all classes
- in their audiences; and in their way they did as much to keep the soldiers
- cheerful as Tom Paine had done fourscore years before.
- </p>
- <p>
- So accustomed is the public mind to associating Lincoln and Grant as
- coworkers for the Union cause that few persons suspect that the two men
- never met till the Civil War was three-fourths over. Then, Congress having
- revived the grade of Lieutenant-general of the Army, Grant was ordered to
- Washington to receive his promotion. Arriving early in March, 1864, he
- went at once to the White House, where the President happened to be
- holding a reception in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_206"
- id="page_206"></a>{206}</span> east room. He held back till most of the
- people had passed, when Lincoln, recognizing him from his portraits,
- turned to him with hand outstretched, saying: “This is General Grant, is
- it not?”
- </p>
- <p>
- “It is, Mr. President,” answered Grant. And with this self-introduction,
- fittingly simple, the two great figures of the war faced each other for
- the first time.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_207" id="page_207"></a>{207}</span>
- </p>
- <h2>
- <a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br /><br /> <small>NEW
- FACES IN OLD PLACES</small>
- </h2>
- <p class="nind">
- <span class="letra">A</span>LTHOUGH constantly urged to take precautions
- for his own safety, Lincoln never did. He used to walk about the streets
- as freely as any ordinary citizen; and night after night, during the
- darkest period of the war, he would stroll across to Secretary Stanton’s
- office to talk over the latest news from the front. Stanton’s
- remonstrances he would dismiss with a weary smile, protesting that, as far
- as he was aware, he had not an enemy in the world, but if he had, anybody
- who wished to kill him had a hundred chances every day—so, why be
- uneasy? His second inaugural address was shorter than the first; he wrote
- it about midnight of the third of March, seated in an armchair where he
- was resting after a hard day’s work, and holding the cardboard sheets in
- his lap. Its concluding words were as memorable as those of four years
- before: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, let us go forward
- with the work we have to do: to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for
- him who has borne the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_208" id="page_208"></a>{208}</span>
- battle and for his widow and his orphan, and to do all things which may
- achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all
- nations.”
- </p>
- <p>
- Early on the fourth, he went to the Capitol quietly and devoted the
- remaining hours of the morning to reading and signing bills. The
- procession which had been arranged to escort him was formed at the White
- House, with the President’s carriage at its head, occupied by Mrs. Lincoln
- and Senators Harlan and Anthony. A platoon of marshals pioneered it, and a
- detachment of the Union Light Guard surrounded it. The crowd, recognizing
- the White House coachman on its box, but not seeing distinctly who sat
- behind, cheered it all along the line under the supposition that it held
- the President. Two companies of colored troops and a lodge of colored Odd
- Fellows were among the marchers, this being the first time that negroes
- ever took part in an inaugural pageant except in some servile capacity.
- </p>
- <p>
- We have already seen how Washington received the news of the final triumph
- of the Federal arms, and how Lincoln fell in the midst of the general
- rejoicing. Many readers of his inaugural address of that year have since
- professed to discern between its written lines a veiled foreboding of the
- end. Certain it is that he was an habitual dreamer, and that one dream,<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_209" id="page_209"></a>{209}</span> which
- came to him on the night before Fort Sumter was bombarded, was repeated on
- the eve of the first battle of Bull Run, and just before other important
- engagements. As he described it, he seemed to be on the water in an
- unfamiliar boat, “moving rapidly toward a dark, indefinite shore.” The
- last recurrence of the dream was in the early morning hours of April 14,
- 1865. We shall never know, now, whether it was this or some other portent
- that caused him to say to a trusted companion, not long before his death:
- “I don’t think I shall live to see the end of my term. I try to shake off
- the vision, but it still keeps haunting me.” He had received several
- threatening letters, which he kept in a separate file labeled: “Letters on
- Assassination.” After his death there was found among these a note about
- the very plot in which Booth was the chief actor.
- </p>
- <p>
- Fate plays strange tricks. For a few hours that spring, one friend in
- Washington unconsciously held Lincoln’s life in his hand. Harriet Riddle,
- since better known as Mrs. Davis, the novelist, was a pupil at a local
- convent school. Shortly before the tragedy at Ford’s Theater, a teacher
- who had been on a brief visit to a Southern town returned, apparently
- laboring under some terrible excitement which she was trying to suppress.
- At the session of her class immediately<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_210" id="page_210"></a>{210}</span> preceding their separation
- for Good Friday, she suddenly fell upon her knees, bade them all join her
- in prayer, and poured forth, in a voice and manner so agonizing that the
- children were thrilled with a nameless horror, an hysterical appeal for
- divine mercy on the souls who were soon to be called before their Maker
- without warning.
- </p>
- <p>
- Harriet, who was an impressionable child, could hardly contain herself
- till she reached home and sought her father, to whom she attempted to
- relate the afternoon’s occurrence. He was the District-attorney, and an
- intimate of the President’s, and was so immersed in the cares of office
- that he put her off till he should have more leisure. When she was
- awakened on Good Friday night by the noise of citizens and soldiers
- hurrying through the streets and calling out the news of the
- assassination, she uttered an exclamation which caught her father’s
- attention, and then he listened to the tale which he had once waved aside.
- “Why did you not tell me this before?” he demanded. It was then too late
- to do more than collect such evidence as he might from the pupils to aid
- the detectives; but the teacher who had uttered that awful prayer had fled
- and could never be traced. No one could longer doubt her guilty knowledge
- of the plot, probably acquired during her visit in the South.<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_211" id="page_211"></a>{211}</span>
- </p>
- <p>
- The oath with which Vice-president Johnson took upon himself the
- obligations of the Presidency was administered to him at his rooms in the
- Kirkwood House, a hostelry on the Pennsylvania Avenue corner now occupied
- by the Hotel Raleigh. Of his administration, the most broadly interesting
- incident was the impeachment trial described in an earlier chapter; and in
- our reflections on how history is shaped, another personal anecdote seems
- worthy of a place. Its heroine was Miss Vinnie Ream, the sculptor, who
- later became Mrs. Hoxie.
- </p>
- <p>
- As his trial drew near its close, and Johnson’s friends and enemies were
- able to figure out pretty accurately how the Senate was going to divide,
- it became plain that the issue would hang on a single vote. If all the
- Senators counted against the President stood firm, he would be convicted,
- thirty-six to eighteen; but Secretary Stanton insisted that Ross of Kansas
- was preparing to go over from the majority to the minority. Ross was
- occupying a room in the same house with Miss Ream on Capitol Hill, and
- General Daniel E. Sickles, who was acquainted with him, was deputed to see
- him on the night before the roll-call and try to hold him fast against the
- President. Miss Ream happened to meet the General at the door, ushered him
- into the parlor but refused to let him see the Senator,<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_212" id="page_212"></a>{212}</span> and held
- him at bay till dawn the following morning, when he gave up the effort as
- fruitless and went home. If she had weakened for a moment, there is no
- telling what might have happened, for Sickles was in a position to have
- brought very heavy pressure to bear upon Ross. The roll-call showed
- thirty-five for conviction to nineteen against—less than the
- two-thirds required to convict; and it was Ross’s vote that saved Johnson.
- </p>
- <p>
- At the inauguration of Grant, the relations between him and the retiring
- President were so strained, owing to the recent struggle at the War
- Department, that Johnson refused to attend the ceremonies unless it could
- be arranged that he and Grant should ride in separate carriages. General
- Rawlins therefore acted as escort to Grant and Vice-president Colfax.
- Grant was not much of a speaker, but the delivery of his inaugural address
- is remembered for a pretty incident. His little daughter Nellie, confused
- by the continuous bustle all about her, obeyed on the platform the same
- childish impulse which moved her in any exigency at home, and, running to
- his side, nestled against him, clasping one of his hands in both of hers
- and holding it all the time he was speaking. At the ball that evening,
- access to the supper-room and to the cloak-room was by the same door,
- which caused a blockade in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_213"
- id="page_213"></a>{213}</span> passage. The servants in charge of the
- wraps became hopelessly demoralized, with the result that Horace Greeley
- had to wait two hours to recover his white overcoat and lost his hat
- entirely. The torrent of lurid expletives he let loose during his ordeal
- shared space and importance, in the next day’s newspapers, with the
- thirty-five thousand dollars’ worth of diamonds worn by Mrs. John
- Morrissey, wife of the prize-fighter.
- </p>
- <p>
- Grant’s second inauguration began inauspiciously, his aged father falling
- down a flight of stairs at the Capitol and suffering injuries which
- finally caused his death. The day was stormy, and the evening the coldest
- known in Washington for years. Unfortunately, the only place where the
- ball could be held was an improvised wooden building, through the crevices
- of which the icy wind blew a gale; and, to complete everybody’s misery,
- the heating apparatus broke down, so that many of the ladies who had come
- in conventional toilets had to protect their shoulders with fur mantillas,
- while their escorts put on overcoats. The President was so cold that he
- forgot the figures in the state quadrille which he was to lead, and was
- obliged to depend on General Sherman to push him through them. The supper
- was ruined, the meats and salads competing in temperature with the ices;
- all<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_214" id="page_214"></a>{214}</span>
- that could be saved was the coffee, which was kept hot over alcohol lamps.
- The breath of the members of the band congealed in their instruments, and
- several hundred canaries which were to sing in the intervals between band
- pieces shriveled into little downy balls on the bottoms of their cages and
- uttered not a trill.
- </p>
- <p>
- The key-note of Grant’s administration on its political side was his
- steadfast faith that any friend of his was capable of filling any office
- in his gift. He named Alexander T. Stewart, the New York dry-goods
- merchant, for Secretary of the Treasury, but had to let him resign on
- account of technical objections raised in the Senate. Wendell Phillips
- having come to his defense at a hostile mass-meeting in Boston, Grant
- wished to make him Minister to England, but the offer was declined because
- Mrs. Phillips would not be able to go abroad at that time. Caleb Cushing
- of Massachusetts, though a stanch Democrat before the war, had become an
- “administration man” as soon as the Union was threatened, and thereby
- aroused the admiration of Grant, who named him for Chief Justice after
- Chase’s death; but the same political independence which so won Grant had
- incensed a number of Senators, who caused the rejection of the nomination.
- </p>
- <p>
- Later, however, Grant succeeded in sending Cushing<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_215" id="page_215"></a>{215}</span> as Minister to Spain.
- Cushing was a man full of peculiarities, which strengthened with his
- years. At an early age he discarded the umbrella as a nuisance and braved
- storms unprotected. Naturally his hats suffered. At the time he received
- his billet for Spain, he was wearing one of the chimney-pot variety,
- which, from its appearance, he must have bought many years before. The nap
- was a good deal worn, there was a slight bulge in the top, and, thanks to
- the squareness of his head, he could wear it with either side in front.
- When some one suggested that he had better buy a new hat before presenting
- himself at the Spanish court, he considered the question solemnly, turning
- the old hat around and examining it with care before answering: “No, I
- think I shall wait and see what the fashions are in Madrid.” Though ready
- to spend his money freely for any public purpose, in private indulgences
- the frugal notions inherited from his New England ancestry came to the
- front. Hardly anybody ever saw him light a fresh cigar, but he used to
- carry about in his pocket a case packed with partly consumed stumps, to
- one of which he would help himself when he wished a smoke, only to let it
- die again as soon as he had become interested in talking.
- </p>
- <p>
- It was because of his liking for both Blaine and Conkling that Grant
- strove, as his last act in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_216"
- id="page_216"></a>{216}</span> White House, to reconcile the two men, who
- were intensely hostile to each other. Their quarrel had grown out of a
- passage in debate when Conkling had made some very sarcastic comments on
- Blaine. The latter retorted in kind. “The contempt of that large-minded
- gentleman,” said he, glancing toward Conkling, “is so wilting, his haughty
- disdain, his grandiloquent swell, his majestic, supereminent,
- overpowering, turkey-gobbler strut have been so crushing to myself and all
- the members of this House, that I know it was an act of temerity for me to
- venture upon a controversy with him.” Referring to a recent newspaper
- article in which Conkling had been likened to the late Henry Winter Davis,
- Blaine went on: “The gentleman took it seriously, and it has given his
- strut additional pomposity. The resemblance is great. It is striking.
- Hyperion to a satyr, Thersites to Hercules, mud to marble, a dunghill to a
- diamond, a singed cat to a Bengal tiger, a whining puppy to a roaring
- lion!”
- </p>
- <p>
- Conkling never forgave this attack. It seems like a small thing to change
- the whole current of a nation’s history, but it probably cost Blaine the
- Presidency; for in 1884 the disaffection of the Republicans in Conkling’s
- old home in central New York gave the State to Cleveland. President
- Grant’s effort to bring the foes together failed because Blaine, though
- ready to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_217" id="page_217"></a>{217}</span>
- make any ordinary concessions, balked when Conkling demanded that he
- should confess his “mud to marble” speech to have been “unqualifiedly and
- maliciously false.”
- </p>
- <p>
- In 1874, Miss Nellie Grant was married to Algernon Sartoris, a British
- subject. She was her father’s pet. At her wedding, he stood beside his
- wife to receive the guests, his face wearing a sphinx-like calm, though
- every one knew how he would feel the parting soon to follow. His forced
- composure continued till Nellie had left the house with her husband, and
- then he disappeared. An old friend, seeking him up-stairs, tapped at his
- chamber door, and, as there was no response, pushed it slightly ajar and
- looked in. There, on the bed, face downward, his eyes buried in his hands
- and his whole frame shaken with grief, lay the great soldier, sobbing like
- a child.
- </p>
- <p>
- Throughout the Grant administration, the social arbiter for Washington was
- Mrs. Hamilton Fish, wife of the Secretary of State. She was a woman of the
- world, broad-minded and efficient, but the White House was not a very
- ceremonious place in that era. When the new Danish Minister called, for
- instance, in full regalia, to present his credentials, he found no one
- prepared to receive him, even the negro boy who met him at the door having
- to hurry into a coat before ushering<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_218" id="page_218"></a>{218}</span> him in. Persons who
- attended the state dinners say that Grant often turned down his
- wine-glasses. It was, as far as I have ever heard, the first instance of a
- President’s doing this; and it paved the way for the reign of cold water
- which came in with the next President, Rutherford B. Hayes.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hayes entered office under cloudy auspices. His competitor for the
- Presidency was Samuel J. Tilden, a powerful Democratic leader. In some of
- the Southern States which were still in the throes of reconstruction,
- United States troops were doing police duty, the Governors were appointees
- of a Republican President, and the election machinery was in the hands of
- Republican office-holders, though the bulk of the white voting population
- was Democratic. In these States the official canvassers had reported the
- Republican electors chosen, the electors had cast their ballots for Hayes,
- and the Governors had signed and forwarded their certificates accordingly,
- in defiance of Democratic protests that the returns were fictitious.
- Without these States, the Democratic candidate had one hundred and
- eighty-four of the one hundred and eighty-five electoral votes necessary
- to a choice, while the Republican candidate could win only with their aid;
- so a single electoral vote would tip the scale either way. The duty of
- opening the certificates and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_219"
- id="page_219"></a>{219}</span>
- </p>
- <div class="figcenter" style="width: 454px;">
- <a href="images/ill_028_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_028_sml.jpg"
- width="454" height="580" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- <div class="caption">
- <p class="c">
- <i>St. Paul’s, the Oldest Church in the District</i>
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p class="nind">
- announcing the results devolved upon the President of the Senate, a strong
- Republican.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Democrats made so serious charges of falsification of the records that
- the whole country became much excited, and fears were entertained in
- Congress that another civil war might be impending. In the midst of the
- turmoil, a joint committee of both chambers worked out a plan for a
- bi-partisan Electoral Commission, to consist of five Senators, five
- Representatives, and five Justices of the Supreme Court, before whom all
- the questions at issue should be argued by counsel, and whose decisions
- should place the result beyond immediate appeal. The Commission, as made
- up, contained eight Republicans and seven Democrats, and its decisions
- were always given by a vote of eight to seven. It held its sessions in the
- room now occupied by the Supreme Court, where it began its work on
- February 1, 1877, and at the end of a month rendered its last ruling,
- which gave the Presidency to Mr. Hayes.
- </p>
- <p>
- As the fourth of March was to fall on Sunday, President Grant had Hayes
- meet Chief Justice Waite in the red parlor of the White House on the
- evening of the third and take the oath privately. The inaugural ball was
- omitted because the Electoral Commission had finished its work too late to
- enable preparations<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_220" id="page_220"></a>{220}</span>
- to be made. President Hayes was not nearly so conspicuous a figure during
- the following four years as his wife, who was a woman of very positive
- convictions, especially on the subject of alcoholic stimulants. At her
- instance, wines were banished from the White House table, the only
- exception occurring when the Grand Dukes Alexis and Constantin of Russia
- visited Washington. It is said to have been some incident at the
- entertainment given in their honor which fixed Mr. and Mrs. Hayes
- definitely in the determination not to depart again from the rule of
- teetotalism.
- </p>
- <p>
- The newspapers poked a good deal of innocent fun at the Hayes parties on
- the score that, though the ban was never lifted from the ordinary
- intoxicants drunk from glasses, there was always plenty of strong Roman
- punch served in orange-skins. The nickname which presently fastened itself
- to this deceptive course was the “life-saving station.” In his diary,
- however, Mr. Hayes has left us the statement: “The joke of the Roman punch
- oranges was not on us, but on the drinking people. My orders were to
- flavor them rather strongly with the same flavor that is found in Jamaica
- rum. This took! It was refreshing to hear the drinkers say, with a smack
- of their lips, ‘Would they were hot!’” I am bound to add that, in spite of
- the good man’s enjoyment of his ruse, the suspicion still<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_221" id="page_221"></a>{221}</span> survives
- that his steward used to put a private and particular interpretation on
- his orders.
- </p>
- <p>
- Although Mr. Hayes was not a member of any church, his wife was an ardent
- Methodist, and one marked feature of their life in Washington was the
- Sunday evening sociables at the White House, when Cabinet officers and
- other dignitaries would come in and pass a couple of hours singing hymns,
- with light conversation between. Among the most interested attendants at
- these gatherings was General Sherman, who used to join vigorously in the
- singing—or try to. Another, who was destined to play an independent
- part in history a few years afterward, was a clever young Congressman from
- Ohio named William McKinley, Junior. He had been a volunteer soldier in
- Hayes’s regiment early in the war, and they had grown to be fast friends.
- At one of the first of the secular receptions during the Hayes régime, the
- guest of honor was a budding celebrity, Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii. She
- labored under the handicap of knowing no English, and had to carry on most
- of her conversation through an interpreter.
- </p>
- <p>
- President Hayes provoked a good deal of criticism among the Southerners in
- Washington by appointing Frederick Douglass, the negro ex-slave and
- orator, United States Marshal of the District, for the office<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_222" id="page_222"></a>{222}</span> had up
- to that time carried with it the duties of a sort of majordomo at the
- President’s receptions, including the presentation of the guests. A
- visitor to Washington about these days who did not attend the state
- receptions, but held some of his own in the open air, was a man of small
- and unimpressive stature, with black hair and mustache and a rather
- good-natured face, whose portrait appeared repeatedly in the illustrated
- papers, and whose name carried with it a certain terror to timid souls who
- expected to see him launch a social revolution. This was Dennis Kearney,
- who had made himself notorious by his speeches in the sand-lots of San
- Francisco, declaring that “the Chinese must go,” and denouncing every one,
- regardless of race, who had been thrifty enough to accumulate any of this
- world’s goods. His remarkable coinage of words and generally unique
- English gave currency to a multitude of epigrammatic phrases, which for
- several years were known as “Kearneyisms.”
- </p>
- <p>
- All through the campaign of 1880 a great deal was made of the sayings and
- doings of “Grandma Garfield,” the mother of the Republican candidate: an
- old lady of a type rarely seen now, who was not ashamed of her years, wore
- her cap and spectacles as badges of distinction, and never forgot that,
- however great he might have grown, her son was still her son. Nor did<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_223" id="page_223"></a>{223}</span> he
- forget it; and on the east portico of the Capitol, with his assent to the
- constitutional oath barely off his lips, his first act as President was to
- bend down and kiss her. The inauguration was notable, too, for the
- important part taken in the parade by the defeated competitor for the
- Presidency, General Winfield S. Hancock. He was a splendid-looking man and
- a superb horseman, and in his uniform as a Major-general was the most
- imposing object in the procession. The spectators, delighted with his
- sportsmanlike spirit, paid him as hearty a tribute as they paid the
- President.
- </p>
- <p>
- A few weeks after the inauguration, a fierce quarrel broke out over the
- distribution of federal patronage, splitting the Republican party into two
- factions. The angry irruptions of the newspapers on both sides, which
- would have passed with any normal mind for what they were worth, made a
- more serious impression on that of Charles J. Guiteau, a degenerate with a
- craving for self-advertisement; and, failing in his attempt to obtain an
- office for himself, he saw in the controversy an opportunity to pose as a
- hero by removing its cause. Garfield, as a graduate of Williams College,
- had arranged to attend the next commencement, and was in the railway
- station on the second of July, 1881, on the way to his train, when he was
- approached by Guiteau from behind and shot.<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_224" id="page_224"></a>{224}</span> He lingered, first in the
- White House and later at Elberon, New Jersey, whither he was taken after
- the weather became too sultry in Washington, till the nineteenth of
- September. The assassin was brought to trial at the winter term of the
- Supreme Court of the District, convicted of murder, and hanged.
- </p>
- <p>
- On the evening of the day of Garfield’s death, the Vice-president, Chester
- A. Arthur, was sworn in at his home in New York City, in the presence of
- his son and a few personal friends, including Elihu Root. A more formal
- administration of the oath took place in the Vice-president’s room at the
- Capitol in Washington three days later, Chief Justice Waite officiating,
- with Associate Justices Harlan and Matthews, General Grant, and several
- Senators and Representatives as witnesses. After signing the oath, Arthur
- read a brief address and returned at once to his office.
- </p>
- <p>
- Arthur was a widower, and his only daughter was still too young to take
- full charge of his household affairs, so his sister, Mrs. McElroy,
- presided at all his social functions. He was very fond of music, and the
- great operatic and concert stars were always sure of a warm welcome from
- him when they passed through Washington. The finest of his dinners was
- that which he gave for Christine Nilsson. As the company rose from the
- table and he offered his arm to escort<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_225" id="page_225"></a>{225}</span> her back to the east room,
- the Marine Band in the corridor, responding to a secret signal, began
- playing one of her favorite airs, and, with the spontaneous delight of a
- child, she fell to singing it, her voice soaring bird-like above the
- instruments as she walked. This surprise for Miss Nilsson was typical of
- the graceful things Arthur was fond of doing, and in which he set the pace
- for the members of his official family. Ex-president Grant and his wife,
- on their return from their tour of the world, dropped in upon Washington,
- as it chanced, just when a reception was about to be held at the White
- House. Arthur sent his carriage for them. Mrs. Frelinghuysen, wife of the
- Secretary of State, was on that occasion filling Mrs. McElroy’s accustomed
- station next to the President in the receiving line; but on the entrance
- of the distinguished guests she withdrew, gently pressing Mrs. Grant into
- her place as hostess of the evening.
- </p>
- <p>
- As the first Democratic President since the war, Grover Cleveland of New
- York found a hard task laid out for him. He realized that he owed his
- election chiefly to the reform element in both the great parties, yet it
- was his own party that claimed him, and, having been out of power for a
- quarter-century, it was not over-modest in its demands. His efforts at
- tariff reduction stirred the protectionists to such activity in<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_226" id="page_226"></a>{226}</span> the next
- campaign that Benjamin Harrison of Indiana, a Republican and a grandson of
- “Old Tippecanoe,” was elected in November, 1888. When he entered office,
- Cleveland was a bachelor forty-eight years old. In June, 1886, he married
- Miss Frances Folsom, the daughter of a former law partner to whom he had
- been warmly attached. The wedding ceremony was performed in the White
- House, only a small party of friends attending. Mrs. Cleveland, who was
- young and of attractive presence, made friends for herself on every side
- and did much to soften the antagonisms which her husband’s course in
- office necessarily aroused.
- </p>
- <p>
- The clerk of the weather seemed to have been storing his rain for weeks in
- order to let it all out upon Harrison’s inauguration, and the street
- pageant was a drenched and draggled affair. The civilities of the outgoing
- to the incoming President gave the day its one touch of cheerfulness.
- Cleveland sat on the rear seat of the open landau which bore them to the
- Capitol, the front seat being occupied by Senators Hoar and Cockrell,
- acting as a committee of escort. In order to enable Harrison to lift his
- hat to the people who cheered him from the sidewalk, Cleveland raised his
- own umbrella and held it over his companion. When Cockrell undertook to do
- the same for Hoar, his umbrella broke. Cleveland at once borrowed an
- umbrella<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_227" id="page_227"></a>{227}</span>
- of his Secretary of the Treasury in the next carriage, and, when Mr. Hoar
- demurred, reassured him with a laugh: “Don’t be alarmed, Senator; we’re
- honest, and I’ll see that it gets back!” As they drove down the Avenue,
- most of the applause, naturally, was for the President-elect; but once in
- a while a spectator would shout, “Good-by, Grover!” or something of the
- sort, and Cleveland would return the greeting with a smile and a nod. So
- much kindly feeling was manifested throughout the morning that Harrison,
- who was temperamentally the least effusive of men, was deeply touched; and
- he could not forbear referring in his inaugural address to the courtesy he
- had received at Cleveland’s hands, adding that he should endeavor to show
- like consideration to his successor four years later.
- </p>
- <p>
- And four years later Providence gave him the chance, which he improved as
- far as in him lay. In the meantime he had passed through many sad
- experiences. Factional divisions, almost as serious as those that
- culminated in the assassination of Garfield, had broken up his party. His
- Secretary of State, Mr. Blaine, had parted company with him on the eve of
- the meeting of the Republican National Convention of 1892, become his
- rival for the Presidential nomination, and died the following winter. Two
- of Blaine’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_228" id="page_228"></a>{228}</span>
- sons and one of his daughters had already died. Mr. Windom, Secretary of
- the Treasury, had fallen dead at a public banquet, just after finishing a
- memorable speech in defense of the administration. General Tracy,
- Secretary of the Navy, had lost his wife and daughter in a fire which
- destroyed their Washington home. The wife of the President’s secretary,
- Mr. Halford, had died; and to crown his load of sorrows, Mr. Harrison lost
- his own wife and her father almost at the time of his defeat for
- reëlection.
- </p>
- <p>
- On the other hand, he had enjoyed the presence in the White House of his
- daughter, Mrs. McKee, with her two children, one of whom, a bright little
- boy named in his honor, was his special favorite and playfellow out of
- office hours. The south garden was the scene of many of their frolics,
- which recalled the legends about John Adams and his juvenile tyrant. One
- incident will never be forgotten by those who witnessed it. “Baby McKee,”
- as Benjamin junior was commonly called, used to drive a goat before his
- little wagon. This amusement was confined, as a rule, to occasions when
- the President could be near at hand to watch proceedings, for the goat was
- an erratic brute. One day it caught the President napping and started at
- full gallop for an open gate. Mr. Harrison, suddenly awakened to the
- situation, dashed<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_229" id="page_229"></a>{229}</span>
- after. The goat succeeded in pulling the wagon through the narrow aperture
- without a collision, but, once in the street, bolted straight for a trench
- in which workmen were laying a pipe. By a succession of mighty leaps, such
- as probably no dignitary of his rank had ever made before, Mr. Harrison
- contrived to get in front of the animal, seize it by the bit, and swing it
- around in the nick of time to prevent its jumping the excavation and
- tumbling wagon and boy into the mud at the bottom. The President was
- puffing hard as he returned triumphantly to the White House, dragging the
- reluctant goat by the headstall, under a running fire of complaints from
- his grandson for spoiling the morning ride.
- </p>
- <p>
- When Mr. and Mrs. Cleveland came back in 1893, they brought with them
- their infant daughter Ruth, and open gates in the south garden of the
- White House became at once a thing of the past; for the garden was the
- child’s only playground, and an epidemic of kidnapping had recently broken
- out. For further security, and in order to have one place where his
- domestic hours would be free from business interruptions, the President
- rented the small estate known as Woodley, in one of the northwestern
- suburbs. Here he lived during the greater part of the year, driving in
- daily to his work and spending a night in Washington<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_230" id="page_230"></a>{230}</span> now and then if necessary.
- By that time the official encroachments on the family space of the White
- House had reached a point where either the building must be enlarged or a
- separate dwelling provided for the President. A scheme of enlargement had
- been broached in Harrison’s term, but the plans drawn under Mrs.
- Harrison’s direction changed the shape of the old mansion in too many
- essential features to win the approval of the architects consulted, and
- the matter was dropped. The Clevelands, by living at Woodley, escaped some
- of the cramping the Harrisons had suffered, and the McKinleys, who came in
- next, got along pretty well because they had no children.
- </p>
- <p>
- As Senator La Follette once said, McKinley never had a fair chance as
- President to show what was in him: his first term was broken into by the
- Spanish War, and his second was cut off almost at its beginning by
- assassination. He was sweet-natured and a born manager of men, and no one
- who ever filled the Presidential chair left behind him a more fragrant
- memory. As his murder occurred in Buffalo, and Czolgosz, who killed him,
- was tried and put to death there, the episode serves our present purpose
- only in leading up to the accession of Theodore Roosevelt of New York, the
- Vice-president, who was recalled from a summer vacation in the mountains
- to take the head of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_231"
- id="page_231"></a>{231}</span> state. His inauguration was of the simplest
- sort, at the house of a friend in Buffalo, where some members of the
- McKinley Cabinet and a few other gentlemen met to witness the
- administration of the oath.
- </p>
- <p>
- His first few months in the White House convinced the new President that
- something must be done without delay to relieve the building, which had
- become not only inconvenient but dangerous. For several years, when
- repairs had been found necessary, they had been made by temporary
- patchwork, with little reference to their effect on anything else; not a
- few of the floor timbers subject to most strain were badly rotted, and
- others stood in so perilous relations to the lighting apparatus that only
- by a miracle had the house escaped destruction by fire. Fortunately
- Congress had begun to show some interest in a long-mooted project for
- bringing the city back to the plan laid out by L’Enfant; and a generous
- appropriation was procured for making over the White House to resemble as
- nearly as practicable the President’s Palace built by Hoban. All the
- latter half of 1902 was given to this work. The office was moved out of
- the main building and planted in a little house of its own on the same
- spot where Jefferson used to have his workroom, at the extremity of the
- western terrace. The eastern terrace, of which nothing but the buried
- foundations remained, was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_232"
- id="page_232"></a>{232}</span> rebuilt, and so arranged as to afford an
- entrance for guests at the larger receptions.
- </p>
- <p>
- Inside of the main house, the old lines were kept intact as far as the
- comfort of its occupants would permit, though the restoration did work
- some changes. The noble east room, which for many years was decorated in
- the style of the saloon of a river steamboat, wears now the air of simple
- elegance designed for it before steamboats were invented; and the state
- dining-room has been so enlarged that future Presidents will not be
- forced, on especially great occasions, to spread their tables in the east
- room in order to spare the diners the annoyance of bumping elbows.
- Upstairs the changes have been rather of function than of form. The room
- which, from Grant’s day to McKinley’s, was used for Cabinet meetings, and
- where our peace protocol with Spain was signed, is now a library; that in
- which Lincoln read to his official family the first draft of his
- Emancipation Proclamation is now a bedroom, and a like fate has befallen
- the former library, where Cleveland penned his Venezuela message. The old
- lines of partition, however, are all there. Logs still blaze and crackle
- in the fireplace beside which Jackson puffed his corncob pipe. The windows
- through which Lincoln looked over at the Virginia hills have not changed
- even the shape or size of their old-fashioned<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_233" id="page_233"></a>{233}</span> panes. The places where our
- first royal guest slept, and where Garfield passed his long ordeal of
- suffering, remain bedchambers.
- </p>
- <p>
- Mrs. Roosevelt, who loved the White House and had made a study of its
- architectural history, personally supervised every stage of its
- restoration. When the alterations were finished, she took the same
- interest in the process of refurnishing, so that the final product was, as
- nearly as modern conditions would permit, the White House of a century
- ago. The removal of needless obstructions was one of the most successful
- elements in the renovation, as it made possible the handling of a crowd of
- fifteen hundred or two thousand people without confusion. Socially, the
- Roosevelt administration was in every way the most brilliant Washington
- has ever known. Mrs. Roosevelt was a perfect hostess, and the many-sided
- President drew about him the leaders in every line of thought and action.
- In his democracy of companionship and his forceful way of doing whatever
- he laid his hand to, he was another Jackson; in his attraction for men of
- letters, students of statecraft, artists, and scientific workers, he
- revived the best traditions of Jefferson.
- </p>
- <p>
- The four years of Taft are too fresh in the public memory to call for
- extended mention. Taft was forced to have his inauguration in the Senate
- Chamber on<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_234" id="page_234"></a>{234}</span>
- account of the execrable weather, for the worst blizzard prevailed on the
- fourth of March, 1909, that had visited Washington for ten years. The
- railroads leading into the city were blockaded, so that many passengers
- who had come from a distance to attend the ceremony were compelled to
- forsake their trains a mile or more from their destination and plow their
- own way in, as the sole alternative of camping in the cars for an
- indefinite number of hours. Only by the utmost diligence on the part of
- the municipal laborers were the streets kept in condition for the parade
- to pass, and most of the spectators’ stands erected on the sidewalks were
- utterly deserted. Mr. Roosevelt having announced, some time before, his
- intention to leave for New York as soon as he had seen his successor sworn
- in, Mrs. Taft made the drive between the Capitol and the White House by
- her husband’s side.
- </p>
- <p>
- Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey, the next President, signalized his advent by
- notifying the citizens of Washington that he did not wish any inaugural
- ball, and the preparations already under way were abandoned. His
- administration is still writing its own history.<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_235" id="page_235"></a>{235}</span>
- </p>
- <div class="figcenter" style="width: 456px;">
- <a href="images/ill_029_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_029_sml.jpg"
- width="456" height="588" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- <div class="caption">
- <p class="c">
- <i>St. John’s, “the President’s Church”</i>
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- <h2>
- <a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX<br /><br /> <small>THE
- REGION ’ROUND ABOUT</small>
- </h2>
- <p class="nind">
- <span class="letra">N</span>O American city has suburbs more interesting
- than Washington’s. Those that hold first rank, naturally, are on the
- Virginia side of the Potomac, the region most redolent of the memory of
- the great patriot whose name was given to the capital. The Arlington
- estate, which lies nearest, was never the home of George Washington, but
- he visited it often, for it belonged by inheritance to the grandson of his
- wife by her earlier marriage; and George and Martha were so pleased with
- it that they built a little summer-house about where the flagstaff now
- stands, whence they could overlook the work going on in the new federal
- city across the river. Young George Custis, owner of the place, built the
- spacious dwelling substantially as we now find it, finishing it four years
- after Washington’s death. He left the property to his daughter Mary, who
- in 1831 became the wife of Robert E. Lee, then a lieutenant in the regular
- army, but thirty years later commander-in-chief of the Confederate<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_236" id="page_236"></a>{236}</span> forces.
- Their wedding took place in the old drawing-room, where visitors now
- register their names.
- </p>
- <p>
- Lee had just reached colonel’s rank when the Civil War broke out. He was
- opposed to secession, but, faithful to the traditions of State sovereignty
- in which he had been trained, decided that it was his duty to sacrifice
- all other ties and follow the fortunes of Virginia. After a painful
- interview with General Scott, who strove vainly to shake his resolution,
- he wrote, in the library across the hall from the drawing-room, his
- resignation of his commission in the United States army. Then, accompanied
- by his family, he set out for the South, never to return. In a few days
- the Federal troops took possession of the estate as important to the
- protection of Washington. Here McClellan worked out his plans for the
- reorganization of the Union army following the Bull Run disaster. A few
- years afterward, there being no one at hand to pay the war-tax laid on the
- land, it was sold under the hammer, and the Government bid it in. Before
- the sale had been definitely ordered, a Northern relative of the Lees came
- forward with an offer to pay the levy and costs, but the tax commissioners
- declined the tender on the ground that the delinquent taxpayer had not
- made it in person.
- </p>
- <p>
- Meanwhile, the house had been turned into a military<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_237" id="page_237"></a>{237}</span> hospital, and the patients
- who died there were buried close by. When it became necessary to have a
- soldiers’ burial-ground near Washington, Quartermaster-general Meigs was
- permitted to lay off two hundred acres of the estate for the purpose. This
- was the beginning of the National Cemetery of to-day, where about eighteen
- thousand soldiers and sailors have found a last resting-place.
- </p>
- <p>
- Some time after the war, General Lee’s son brought suit for the recovery
- of the property and won it, the Supreme Court holding that the tax
- commissioners ought to have accepted the tender made them; but Mr. Lee
- compromised with the Government, conveying to it his interest for one
- hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Since then the house has been put into
- excellent repair, and the land about it suitably enclosed and improved. On
- the upper edge of the estate has been established the military post known
- as Fort Myer, where cavalry-training is carried to a high point, weather
- observations are made, and a wireless telegraph station exchanges
- despatches with the Eiffel tower in Paris. Some of the land down by the
- river has been made over into an experimental farm under the auspices of
- the Department of Agriculture.
- </p>
- <p>
- Happily, the Cemetery has been kept free from tawdry memorials and
- inconsequential ornament, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_238"
- id="page_238"></a>{238}</span> enveloped in an atmosphere of dignity well
- fitting its sacred character. Its most impressive tomb is that dedicated
- to the Unknown Dead, which contains the remains of more than two thousand
- soldiers found on various battlefields but never identified. “Their names
- and deaths,” says the inscription, “are recorded in the archives of their
- country, and its grateful citizens honor them as their noble army of
- martyrs.” Not far away is a fine amphitheater with a carpet of turf and a
- canopy of trellised vines, where memorial exercises are held annually on
- Decoration Day, the President almost always taking part. There is also a
- Temple of Fame, bearing the names of Washington and Lincoln, with those of
- the military leaders who particularly distinguished themselves in the
- Civil War. An extension has recently been made in the grounds devoted to
- sepulture, where the most conspicuous monument is that which commemorates
- the tragedy of the battleship <i>Maine</i> in Havana harbor. The base is
- built to represent a gun-turret on the deck of a man-of-war; on this are
- inscribed the names of the victims, while from the center of the turret
- rises a mast with a fighting-top. A larger and more ambitious
- amphitheater, also, has been laid out in the extension.
- </p>
- <p>
- From Arlington we can go, by the same road that Washington trod on his
- trips, to Alexandria, a town<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_239"
- id="page_239"></a>{239}</span> which fairly reeks with associations, from
- the colonial names of some of its streets—King, Queen, Prince,
- Princess, Duke, Duchess, Royal—to its remnants of cobblestone
- pavement laid by the Hessian prisoners in the Revolution. Here is the old
- Carlyle mansion, where General Braddock had his headquarters before
- starting on his ill-fated expedition against the French and Indians. In
- its blue drawing-room Washington, as a young surveyor ambitious to serve
- his king, received the first rudiments of his military education; and at
- the foot of yonder staircase one evening stood the same Washington,
- expectant, while pretty Sally Fairfax tripped lightly down to join him and
- be led through the opening cotillion at her coming-out ball.
- </p>
- <p>
- This must have been a splendid mansion in its time, with a terraced garden
- descending to the river-bank, and a fountain in the midst of the
- flower-beds. It was built on the ruins of a fort used by the early
- settlers against the Indians; the living-rooms of the fort became the
- cellar of the mansion, and the fort proper the plaza, upon which the main
- hallway opens. You enter the house now through a cozy little tea-room
- established by a group of young ladies of Alexandria; and it may be your
- good fortune to be shown about the premises by one of them who is herself
- a member<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_240" id="page_240"></a>{240}</span>
- of the historic Carlyle and Fairfax families and familiar with all their
- ancestral tales.
- </p>
- <p>
- A prominent site in town is covered by Christ Church, where Washington
- worshiped, and where you can see the square family pew for which he paid
- the record price, thirty-six pounds and ten shillings. The church stands
- in a large, old-fashioned yard, sprinkled with the gravestones of men and
- women of local renown. Hither, on Sundays, drove the ladies from Mount
- Vernon, seven miles away, in a chariot with a mahogany body, green
- Venetian blinds, and pictured panels, drawn by four horses. The General
- did not take kindly to the coach for himself, but rode beside it on his
- favorite saddle-horse, followed at a respectful distance by Bishop, his
- colored body-servant, in scarlet livery. After service he would linger in
- the churchyard, chatting with his friends, till Bishop reminded him of the
- flight of time by bringing up his horse and holding the stirrup for him to
- mount.
- </p>
- <p>
- A spirited historical controversy has been waged over the question of
- Washington’s attitude toward religion. The weight of evidence favors the
- idea that, though not bound by dogma, he had a broad faith in the
- philosophy of Christianity, always knelt with the rest of the congregation
- and joined in the responses, and occasionally remained for the communion.
- He<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_241" id="page_241"></a>{241}</span>
- certainly encouraged his slaves to believe in the efficacy of prayer; for
- once, when a long-continued drought threatened to ruin his crops, he
- called his farm-hands together on Sunday morning and bade them put up
- their united supplication for rain. They did so, and to their great
- delight the flood-gates of heaven suddenly opened and deluged the earth;
- but the Washington family were caught in the storm on their way home from
- church, and could not make shelter soon enough to save Mrs. Washington’s
- best gown from serious damage or the General from being soaked to the
- skin.
- </p>
- <p>
- In his younger days, Washington was fond of dancing, and used to come into
- town to attend assemblies at Clagett’s Tavern. The assembly-hall was
- up-stairs. It was afterward divided into three rooms, one of which, having
- fallen into the hands of persons who respect its pedigree, has been pretty
- well preserved. In the old times it had at one end a gallery for the
- musicians, accessible only by a ladder, which was removed as soon as they
- were all in their places. This arrangement was designed to compel them to
- stay at their work till released, and to drink only what was passed up to
- them with the approval of the floor-committee.
- </p>
- <p>
- Across the corridor from the old assembly-hall was<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_242" id="page_242"></a>{242}</span> a chamber that later became
- interesting through its occupancy by an unknown woman who came to the
- tavern one morning in 1816, plainly in ill health. She was accompanied by
- a few servants, with whom she conversed only in French, and neither she
- nor they could be drawn into any communication with other persons, except
- what was necessary to engage accommodations and order meals. On the fourth
- day of her stay, there appeared on the scene a strange man, who from
- various indications was assumed to be her husband. An hour after his
- arrival she died in his arms. He buried her in St. Paul’s cemetery on the
- outskirts of the town, planting a willow-tree over her grave, and raising
- at its head a stone inscribed to the memory simply of “A Female Stranger,”
- with this stanza from Pope’s “Unfortunate Lady”:
- </p>
- <div class="poetry">
- <div class="poem">
- <div class="stanza">
- <span class="i0">“How loved, how honored once, avails thee not,<br /></span>
- <span class="i1">To whom related, or by whom begot.<br /></span> <span
- class="i1">A heap of dust alone remains of thee,<br /></span> <span
- class="i1">’Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be.”<br /></span>
- </div>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p class="nind">
- And the Female Stranger remains a mystery to this day, though many efforts
- have been made to discover her identity. A local suspicion that she was
- Theodosia Allston, the daughter of Aaron Burr, seems to be discredited by
- the fact that Theodosia’s disappearance occurred in 1812, and that her
- husband was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_243" id="page_243"></a>{243}</span>
- dead long before the Stranger came to Clagett’s Tavern.
- </p>
- <p>
- How public-spirited a citizen Washington was is attested by his having
- laid the foundation of Alexandria’s free-school system, presented the town
- with its first fire-engine, organized its first militia company, and got
- up a lottery to raise a fund for improving the country roads thereabout.
- He was an earnest Freemason, and the lodge named for him owns a number of
- relics like the chair in which he presided as Master, his apron, his
- wedding gloves, his spurs, his pruning-knife, and a penknife which his
- mother gave him when he was eleven years old and which he carried till he
- died. It has also the last authentic portrait of him taken from life, a
- pastel done by William Williams of Philadelphia.
- </p>
- <p>
- In and around Alexandria are other points of interest, including the house
- in which Colonel Ellsworth was killed, and one where, it is said, Martha
- Washington secreted herself for a while during her widowhood for fear of a
- slave uprising; a theological seminary which has graduated, among other
- eminent divines, Bishops Phillips Brooks of Boston and Henry C. Potter of
- New York; and the nearly obliterated remains of the road which, in 1765,
- General Braddock began to build into the West.<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_244" id="page_244"></a>{244}</span>
- </p>
- <p>
- We can go to Mount Vernon by boat, or over a road which Congress has
- repeatedly, but without effect, been petitioned to acquire and improve.
- Already a trolley company has recognized a public demand and is running
- cars on a regular schedule from the heart of the capital city to the
- borders of Washington’s old estate. On the way down we pass Wellington,
- once the home of Tobias Lear, whom General Washington hired for two
- hundred dollars a year to act as tutor to the children at Mount Vernon,
- promoting him later to the post of private secretary. In both capacities,
- his employer provided, he “will sit at my table, will live as I live, will
- mix with the company who resort to the house, and will be treated in every
- respect with courtesy and proper attention.” Lear married three wives, one
- of them a kinswoman of the General’s. He acquired means, removed in later
- life to Washington, and became a merchant with a warehouse on the river.
- His tombstone in the Congressional Cemetery recites an overflowing list of
- his virtues and honors, and posterity owes him a large debt for having
- preserved many of the Washingtoniana most valued now by historians.
- </p>
- <p>
- Mount Vernon became the property of the Washington family by a grant from
- Lord Culpepper in 1670 to John Washington, the great-grandfather of
- George.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_245" id="page_245"></a>{245}</span>
- It was christened in honor of Admiral Vernon, a friend of Lawrence
- Washington, the half-brother who brought George up and superintended his
- education. George, who received it by inheritance, willed it to his nephew
- Bushrod, he to his nephew John, and John to a son of the same name.
- Financial embarrassments led the last heir to part with some of the land;
- but to an area of a few hundred acres, including the mansion, the family
- tomb, and the wharf on the Potomac, he held fast till arrangements could
- be made for its purchase by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, a
- society of patriotic women who, with money privately raised, have restored
- the place and kept it in order ever since. There is good reason to doubt
- whether this would ever have come about but for the heroic energy of Miss
- Ann Pamela Cunningham of South Carolina, who, though a confirmed invalid,
- devised and executed a plan which saved the estate from being sold to a
- professional showman.
- </p>
- <p>
- Just as in Alexandria we found ourselves in touch with a George Washington
- who was a flesh-and-blood Virginian as distinguished from the colorless
- paragon of the standard histories, so at Mount Vernon we meet the same
- Washington in his character of husband, farmer, and host. Even here,
- however, we are not wholly beyond the penumbra of fiction; for only five<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_246" id="page_246"></a>{246}</span> miles
- away is the town of Pohick, once the parish seat of Parson Weems, the
- inventor of the cherry-tree myth on which my generation were industriously
- fed. Although, of course, no one still living in the region can remember
- Washington, there are not a few who are familiar with the details of his
- daily life, handed down in their families from ancestors who did remember
- him. These make him out a very human country gentleman, who loved to ride,
- to shoot, to fence, and to wrestle; who mixed business with pleasure in an
- occasional horse-race or real estate speculation; who disbelieved in
- slavery, and was recognized by his own two hundred bondmen as a kind
- master, yet was noted for getting more work out of a negro than any other
- slaveholder in Virginia, and for not hesitating to administer corporal
- punishment to one who deserved it.
- </p>
- <p>
- We learn from these sources that he was “as straight as an Indian, and as
- free in his walk”; that he was what the ladies of that day, in spite of
- some marks left by the smallpox, styled “a pretty man”; that his weight of
- two hundred and ten pounds was all bone and muscle; and that he stood six
- feet and two inches tall in his shoes, which ranged in size from Number
- eleven to Number thirteen. His hands seem to have been his only physical
- deformity; they were so large<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_247"
- id="page_247"></a>{247}</span> as to attract attention and required gloves
- made expressly for them, three sizes larger than ordinary. His eyes are
- variously described as “blue,” as “of a bluish cast and very lively,” as
- “a cold, light gray,” and as “so gray that they looked almost white.”
- These alternatives may be reconciled, perhaps, by Gilbert Stuart’s
- recollection that his eyes were “a light grayish blue, deep sunken in
- their sockets, giving the expression of gravity of thought.” His hair was
- originally dark brown and fairly thick; his face was long, his nose
- prominent, his mouth large, and his chin firm. He suffered a good deal
- with toothache, particularly after his military service, and, as the rural
- remedy was the simplest known, he passed his last years almost toothless.
- This drove at least one portrait-painter into padding the front of his
- mouth with cotton wool, to make his lips look more natural than they did
- when drawn over the ill-fitting artificial teeth which he inserted for
- state occasions.
- </p>
- <p>
- The great man lived well, his principal meal being a three o’clock dinner,
- which he washed down with five glasses of Madeira, taken with dessert.
- This allowance he gradually increased toward the close of his life till it
- reached two bottles. In sending away for sale a slave whom, though
- troublesome, he guaranteed as “exceedingly healthy, strong and good at<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_248" id="page_248"></a>{248}</span> the
- hoe,” he expressed his willingness to take in part payment “a hogshead of
- the best rum” and an indefinite quantity of “good old spirits.” In our
- gout-fearing era, these data have the ring of immoderate indulgence, but
- measured by the standards of the eighteenth century they were temperate
- enough. It must be said for the General, also, that he was charitable in
- his judgment of the weaknesses of others, as shown by his contract with an
- overseer, to whom he conceded the privilege of getting drunk for a week
- once a year; and his campaign expenses for election to the Virginia
- legislature embraced a hogshead and a barrel of punch, thirty-five gallons
- of wine, and forty-three gallons of strong cider.
- </p>
- <p>
- It makes us feel a little nearer to the Father of our Country to learn
- that he was not immune to the influence of bright eyes and dainty toilets;
- that he was in love, or fancied he was, with several different damsels at
- as many different times; and that his self-surrender occasionally declared
- itself in amatory verse too dreadful for belief. His most serious
- infatuation seems to have been with a Miss Gary, whom he courted
- fervently, only to be dismissed by her father with the sordid reminder:
- “My daughter, sir, has been accustomed to ride in her own coach!” As this
- was a knock-down argument for a stripling surveyor who<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_249" id="page_249"></a>{249}</span>
- </p>
- <div class="figcenter" style="width: 448px;">
- <a href="images/ill_030_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_030_sml.jpg"
- width="448" height="614" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- <div class="caption">
- <p class="c">
- <i>Ford’s Theatre, the Old Front</i>
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p class="nind">
- was just struggling to raise his professional terms to twenty-five dollars
- a day when employed, he went his way, but sought consolation in winning
- Martha Custis, who resembled Miss Cary almost as a twin sister.
- </p>
- <p>
- Of Mary Washington, mother of George, we get glimpses in the familiar chat
- of the vicinage. She appears as a rather difficult person, who tried the
- methodical soul of her son by her thriftless habits and her incessant
- complaints of being out of money. For years he did his utmost to induce
- her to rent her plantation further down the State, hire out her slaves,
- and live on her fixed income thus obtained, but to no purpose. Yet after
- he had become so famous that he was obliged to entertain at Mount Vernon
- all the traveling celebrities of two hemispheres, she suddenly took it
- into her head that she would like to come and live with him. In spite of
- his filial piety, candor compelled him to show her the impracticability of
- her proposal; and, though he tried to soften her disappointment by sending
- her the last seventy-five dollars in his purse, she seems to have
- continued dissatisfied.
- </p>
- <p>
- George was not stingy. On the contrary, on each of three plantations which
- he farmed he kept one crib of corn always set apart for free distribution
- among the poor, and never let this fail, even if he had to rob<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_250" id="page_250"></a>{250}</span> his own
- table supply or to buy corn at a dollar a bushel to make up a deficit. He
- was not a rich man, but for sentimental reasons held on to Mount Vernon
- after it had ceased to be profitable property. At his death, he was worth
- only about seventy-five thousand dollars in his own right, and, had he
- lived ten years longer at the same rate, he would have died a bankrupt. It
- was his wife’s better investments that kept up the expenses of their home.
- </p>
- <p>
- As we go over the old mansion, we are shown the various rooms associated
- with Washington’s activities, and that in which his death occurred.
- Notwithstanding his sturdy muscular development, his throat and chest were
- always weak spots; and in 1799, after a soaking and chill from a ride
- through a December storm, he went to bed with a cold which left him unable
- to swallow. Soon he realized that the end was not far off. It was
- characteristic of the man that he should then discharge the doctors from
- further useless ministrations, give such directions about his burial as he
- deemed important, and calmly proceed to watch the waning of his own pulse.
- After a little the hand that held his wrist relaxed and dropped upon the
- coverlet, and the friends gathered in the chamber knew that all was over.
- </p>
- <p>
- On the Maryland side of the Potomac, the suburb<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_251" id="page_251"></a>{251}</span> most convenient of access
- is Georgetown. In fact, it long ago ceased to be strictly a suburb, by
- incorporation with the city of Washington, from which it was separated
- only by Rock Creek, a narrow tributary of the Potomac. Officially, it is
- now West Washington, and its streets have been renamed and renumbered so
- as to conform as nearly as practicable to the system in use in the
- capital. All the same, Georgetown has never lost its identity. It had a
- life of its own before Washington was thought of; and within my
- recollection the old society of Georgetown used to look askance at the
- “new people” with whom Washington was filling up. It is still sprinkled
- with hoary houses set in quaint ancestral gardens, though modernism has
- touched the place at so many points that we can get a glimpse of these
- survivals sometimes only through deep vistas lined with the red brick
- side-walls of urban blocks. The most attractive of the old mansions, and
- the best preserved, is the Tudor house, built by Doctor William Thornton
- about 1810. It is a good specimen from the Georgian epoch in architecture,
- standing fitly in the midst of a great square of lawn, with shade trees
- and box hedges to correspond; and one of its traditions is that pretty
- little Nellie Custis went there to her first ball, though—but I
- leave others to struggle with the problem of conflicting dates. One<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_252" id="page_252"></a>{252}</span> thing we
- do know, that the place has always been in the possession of kinsfolk of
- the Mount Vernon family.
- </p>
- <p>
- Many amusing stories are told of Georgetown’s early days, when the Scotch
- element were so strong in its population that a man could not be appointed
- to the office of flour inspector without subscribing to a test oath
- declaring his disbelief in the doctrine of “transsubstantiation in the
- sacrament of the Lord’s supper”; when the city fathers sought to save the
- expense of employing a surveyor to calculate the width of the Potomac at a
- point where a bridge was to be built, by ordering out all good citizens to
- pull at the opposite ends of a measuring-rope; and when the big triangle
- which was pounded as an alarm of fire fell from the belfry in which it
- hung, and fire-alarms were sounded thereafter by blowing a fish-horn
- through the streets. But none of these tales will have an interest for
- most visitors equal to the local version of the origin of the
- “Star-Spangled Banner.” For Georgetown was Francis Scott Key’s old home.
- </p>
- <p>
- As the story goes, part of the British forces which marched upon
- Washington in the summer of 1814 passed through Upper Marlboro, Maryland,
- on a day when Doctor William Beanes, a prominent physician, was
- entertaining several friends at dinner. As the gentlemen talked, they grew
- more and more<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_253" id="page_253"></a>{253}</span>
- indignant against the invaders, and, news being brought to them at table
- that a few red-coated stragglers were still in town committing
- depredations after the main body of their comrades had passed on, some one
- suggested that the party go out and arrest these men as disturbers of the
- peace. This was done, but to little effect; for as soon as the stragglers
- got away, they hastened to catch up with the army and lodge a complaint
- with their officers, who at once sent back a squad of soldiers to arrest
- the arresters. Three of the dining party, including Beanes, were carried
- off to Admiral Cockburn’s flagship, which was lying in the Patuxent River.
- Cockburn, after administering a disciplinary lecture to the trio,
- dismissed the others but took Beanes as a prisoner on his ship to
- Baltimore.
- </p>
- <p>
- Key, who was Beanes’s nephew, hastened to Baltimore as soon as he heard of
- the doctor’s plight, and under a flag of truce went aboard the vessel to
- intercede with Cockburn for his uncle’s release. His plea was vain; and
- Cockburn would not even let him go ashore again till after the bombardment
- of Fort McHenry. When Key returned to Georgetown, he related his
- adventures at the next meeting of the local glee-club, and his fellow
- members urged him to put his narrative into verse. He read his production<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_254" id="page_254"></a>{254}</span> at a
- later meeting, and the club introduced it to the public, who adopted it as
- the national anthem.
- </p>
- <p>
- Among the noted names associated with Georgetown, outside of political
- life, may be mentioned those of Joel Benton, the poet and essayist, who
- bought a farm on the Washington side of Rock Creek, since famous as the
- Kalorama estate; Robert Fulton, the pioneer in steam navigation, who made
- some of his early experiments with water-craft and submarine explosives on
- the small streams of the neighborhood; George Peabody, financier and
- philanthropist, who came as a poor boy from Massachusetts and worked as a
- clerk in a store in Bridge Street; William W. Corcoran, whose later career
- somewhat resembled Peabody’s, and whose real start in life dated from the
- failure of a little shop he kept in the heart of the town; and, last but
- not least, a youthful belle whose romance demands a paragraph or two of
- its own.
- </p>
- <p>
- Baron Bodisco, Russian Minister to the United States during the Van Buren
- administration, lived, as did most of the foreign envoys of that time, in
- Georgetown. He was a bachelor, well on toward sixty years of age,
- uncompromisingly ugly, with a face covered with wrinkles, and a bald head
- which he tried to conceal under a somewhat obtrusive wig. He had for
- visitors one winter two young nephews,<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_255" id="page_255"></a>{255}</span> for whom he gave a dancing
- party at the legation, inviting all the socially eligible boys and girls
- in town. By some accident, one of his invitations miscarried and failed to
- reach Harriet Beall Williams, a most attractive and popular schoolgirl of
- sixteen. He hastened to repair his error as soon as he discovered it, and
- on the evening of the party hunted her up to make his apologies in person.
- It was a case of love at first sight. After that he contrived to meet her
- occasionally on her way to or from school, and ere long he became an
- avowed suitor for her hand. The courtship, though not displeasing to the
- girl, was for some time discouraged by her family. Finding her resolved to
- accept her elderly lover, however, they withdrew their active opposition,
- and Beauty and the Beast, as they were commonly called, were married in
- June.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Baron, who had excellent taste in everything except his own make-up,
- superintended all the details of the affair, even to the costumes of the
- bridal party. The bridesmaids were schoolmates of Miss Williams, one being
- Jessie Benton, then aged fourteen, who afterward became the wife of
- General John C. Fremont. The groomsmen were generally contemporaries of
- the groom, so that the note of age disparity was uniform throughout.
- President<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_256" id="page_256"></a>{256}</span>
- Van Buren and Henry Clay were conspicuous among the guests. At the first
- opportunity, the Baron took his bride to Russia and presented her at
- court, where she electrified the assembled nobility by shaking the Czar’s
- hand in cordial American fashion. It delighted the Czar, however, which
- was more to the point; and, although she did many unusual things, like
- declining the Czarina’s invitation to a Sunday function because she had
- been brought up to “keep the Sabbath,” she became a great favorite in the
- inner imperial circle, and loved to dwell on her foreign experiences after
- she came back to Georgetown to live. The Bodisco house is still pointed
- out to strangers.
- </p>
- <p>
- Not all the historic associations of Georgetown and its neighborhood have
- been so peaceful. For a few miles out of town the river’s edge is dotted
- with sequestered nooks to which hot-brained gentlemen could retire on
- occasion, to wipe out their grievances in one another’s blood. The Little
- Falls bridge afforded such a retreat to Henry Clay and John Randolph after
- Randolph’s speech declaring that the “alphabet that writes the name of
- Thersites, of blackguard, of squalidity, refuses her letters for” Clay.
- The combatants took the precaution to cross the bridge far enough to avoid
- the jurisdiction of the District authorities.<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_257" id="page_257"></a>{257}</span> Clay’s first shot cut
- Randolph’s coat near the hip, Randolph’s did nothing. At the second word,
- Clay’s bullet went wild, and Randolph deliberately sent his into the air,
- remarking: “I do not fire at you, Mr. Clay!” At the same time he advanced
- with hand outstretched, Clay meeting him halfway. Randolph, as they were
- leaving the field, pointed to the hole made by Clay’s first bullet, saying
- jocosely: “You owe me a coat, Mr. Clay.” “I am glad, sir,” answered Clay,
- “that the debt is no greater.”
- </p>
- <p>
- The subject of duels calls to mind another suburb, to wit, Bladensburg,
- Maryland, where the defenders of Washington made their brief and
- ineffectual stand against the invading British in 1814. Here, for sixty
- years, in a green little dell about a mile out of town, all sorts of
- personal and political feuds were settled with deadly weapons. The most
- celebrated of these meetings was that of March 22, 1820, between two
- Commodores of the American navy, Stephen Decatur and James Barren. Like
- most duels, it was more the work of mischief-makers than of the principals
- themselves.
- </p>
- <p>
- Decatur was at the height of his fame for achievements in the War of 1812
- and against the Barbary pirates; he was a fine marksman with the pistol,
- and had had several earlier experiences on the dueling<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_258" id="page_258"></a>{258}</span>-field. Barren, on the other
- hand, was under a cloud for some professional mistakes; he was six years
- Decatur’s senior, had no taste for dueling, and was near-sighted. Down to
- the last, Barron was plainly disposed to accept any reasonable concession
- and call the affair off; but Decatur was in high spirits and full of
- confidence.
- </p>
- <p>
- Two shots rang out simultaneously, and both men fell. Decatur, who was at
- first supposed to be dead, presently showed signs of returning animation
- and was lifted to his feet, only to stagger a few paces toward his
- antagonist and fall again. As the two men lay side by side, Barron turned
- his face to say to Decatur that he hoped, when they met in another world,
- they would be better friends than in this. Decatur responded that he had
- never been Barren’s enemy, and, though he cherished no animosity to Barron
- for killing him, he found it harder to forgive the men who had goaded them
- into this quarrel. Both combatants were carried back to Washington, where
- Barron slowly recovered from his wound; but Decatur, after a day of
- intense suffering, died in the house which still bears his name, at the
- corner of Jackson Place and H Street.
- </p>
- <p>
- So habitually was this one ravine chosen for the settlement of affairs of
- honor that when two Representatives,<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_259" id="page_259"></a>{259}</span> Jonathan Cilley of Maine
- and William J. Graves of Kentucky, decided in 1838 to end a dispute with
- rifles, they outwitted pursuit by choosing for their fight the eastern end
- of the Anacostia bridge on the high-road to Marlboro, Maryland; and a
- posse who started out to stop them went to the accustomed ground only to
- find it empty. This duel had naught of the dramatic quality of that
- between Decatur and Barren, but its effect on the public mind proved more
- far-reaching. Cilley was a young man of brilliant promise, highly
- respected as well as popular, with a wife and three little children. The
- quarrel was forced upon him because, in the interest of the proper dignity
- of Congress, he objected to a proposed investigation by the House of some
- vague and irresponsible insinuations made in a recent newspaper letter
- against sundry members who were not named or otherwise identified. Graves
- insisted that this speech was an insult to the author of the article,
- whose championship he gratuitously undertook.
- </p>
- <p>
- The first two shots were thrown away on both sides. At the third fire,
- Cilley fell upon his face, his adversary’s bullet having killed him
- instantly. When the news of his death spread through Washington,
- indignation against Graves rose to fever heat, and his public career ended
- with that hour. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_260" id="page_260"></a>{260}</span>
- wantonness of such a sacrifice of a useful life, where the writer who
- figured as the cause of the quarrel did not even take a part in it, gave
- special point to the condemnation of the false standard of honor set up by
- the “code.” The funeral services for Cilley at the Capitol were attended
- by the President and Cabinet, in testimony to the high esteem in which he
- had universally been held; while the Supreme Court declined its invitation
- in a body, as the most emphatic means of expressing its abhorrence of
- glossing murder with a thin coat of etiquette. Ministers, not only in
- Washington but in all the more highly civilized parts of the country,
- denounced dueling from the pulpit, newspapers published editorials and
- associations adopted resolutions against it, additional legislation for
- the abolition of the practice was introduced in various legislatures, and
- Congress passed an act to punish, with a term in the penitentiary, the
- sending or acceptance of a challenge in the District of Columbia.<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_261" id="page_261"></a>{261}</span>
- </p>
- <div class="figcenter" style="width: 448px;">
- <a href="images/ill_031_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_031_sml.jpg"
- width="448" height="574" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- <div class="caption">
- <p class="c">
- <i>Stage Entrance through which Booth Escaped</i>
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- <h2>
- <a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X<br /><br /> <small>MONUMENTS
- AND MEMORIES</small>
- </h2>
- <p class="nind">
- <span class="letra">A</span>MONG the projects in the minds of the founders
- of the federal city was a monument to celebrate the success of the
- American Revolution. George Washington personally selected the site for
- it, due south of the center of the President’s House. Meanwhile the
- Continental Congress had recommended the erection of an equestrian statue
- of General Washington, and, immediately after his death, the Congress then
- in session resolved to rear a monument under which his body should be
- entombed. But, though resolutions were cheap, monuments were costly, and
- the project gradually faded out of mind till revived in 1816 by a member
- of Congress from South Carolina. Still nothing happened, till another
- generation devised a plan for raising the money by popular subscription
- without waiting longer for a Government appropriation. The Washington
- Monument Society was organized with a membership fee of one dollar, so as
- to give every American opportunity<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_262"
- id="page_262"></a>{262}</span> to subscribe. By 1848 a sufficient fund had
- been collected to spur Congress into presenting a site; and the spot
- chosen was that marked by Washington for the monument to the Revolution,
- thus happily combining his plan with the nation’s tribute to himself.
- Tests of the ground showed that, in order to get a safe footing, it would
- be necessary to move a little further to the eastward, which accounts for
- the present monument’s being not quite on the short axis of the White
- House.
- </p>
- <p>
- For the original plan of a statue, an obelisk of granite and marble was
- substituted, which by its simplicity of lines, its towering height, and
- its purity of color, should symbolize the exceptional character and
- services of the foremost American. The building fund held out pretty well
- till a politico-religious quarrel arose over the acceptance, for
- incorporation in the monument, of a fine block of African marble sent by
- the Pope; and on Washington’s birthday, 1855, a Know-Nothing mob descended
- upon the headquarters of the Society, seized its books and papers, and
- took forcible possession of the monument. The Know-Nothing party ended its
- political existence three years later, and the monument went back to its
- former custodians; but the riotous demonstration had checked the orderly
- progress of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_263" id="page_263"></a>{263}</span>
- work, and, as the Civil War was imminent, the shaft, then one hundred
- seventy-eight feet high, was roofed over to await the return of normal
- conditions. It was not till 1876 that, under the patriotic impetus of the
- centenary, Congress was induced to coöperate. The work was vigorously
- pushed from 1880 to 1884; and in the spring of 1885, when it had attained
- a height of five hundred fifty-five feet and five and five-tenths inches,
- occurred the formal dedication of the Washington National Monument as we
- see it to-day.
- </p>
- <p>
- For the benefit of any one whose pleasure in a masterpiece is measured
- with a plummet, it may be noted that the Monument falls less than fifty
- feet short of the Tower of Babel; to him who revels in terms of distance,
- the glistening pile will appeal on the ground that it is visible from a
- crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains, more than forty miles away as the bee
- flies. But most of its neighbors in Washington find it for other reasons
- an unceasing joy. To us it is more truly at the heart of things than even
- the Capitol. It is the hoary sentinel at our water-gate; or, spread the
- city out like a fan, and the Monument is the pivot which holds the frame
- together.
- </p>
- <p>
- The visitor who has seen it once has just begun to see it. A smooth-faced
- obelisk, devoid of ornament,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_264"
- id="page_264"></a>{264}</span> it would appear the stolidest object in the
- landscape; in truth, it is as versatile as the clouds. Every change in
- your position reveals it in a new phase. Go close to it and look up, and
- its walls seem to rise infinitely and dissolve into the atmosphere; stand
- on the neighboring hills, and you are tempted to throw a stone over its
- top; sail down the Potomac, and the slender white shaft is still sending
- its farewells after you when the city has passed out of sight. It plays
- chameleon to the weather. It may be gay one moment and grave the next,
- like the world. Sometimes, in the varying lights, it loses its perspective
- and becomes merely a flat blade struck against space; an hour later, every
- line and seam is marked with the crispness of chiseled sculpture. On a
- fair morning, it is radiant under the first beams of the rising sun; in
- the full of the moon, it is like a thing from another world—cold,
- shimmering, unreal. Often in the spring and fall its peak is lost in
- vapor, and the shaft looks as if it were a tall, thin Ossa penetrating the
- home of the gods. Again, with its base wrapped in fog and its summit in
- cloud, it is a symbol of human destiny, emerging from one mystery only to
- pass into another. Always the same, yet never twice alike, it is to the
- old Washingtonian a being instinct with life, a personality to be known
- and loved. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_265" id="page_265"></a>{265}</span>
- has relatively little to tell the passing stranger, but many confidences
- for the friend of years.
- </p>
- <p>
- To realize all that it is to us, you must see it on a changeable day. Come
- with me then to the Capitol, whence, from an outlook on the western
- terrace, we face a thick and troubled sky. The air is murky. Clouds
- fringed with gray fleece, which have been hanging so low as to hide the
- apex of the Monument, are folding back upon themselves in the southern
- heavens, forming a rampart dark and forbidding. Against this the obelisk
- is projected, having caught and held one ray of pure sunshine which has
- found an opening and shot through like a searchlight. It is plain that an
- atmospheric battle is at hand. The garrulous city seems struck dumb; the
- timid trees are shivering with apprehension; the voice of the wind is half
- sob and half warning. The search-ray vanishes as the door of the cloud
- fort is closed and the rumbling of the bolts is heard behind it. The
- landscape in the background is blotted from view by eddies of yellow dust,
- as if a myriad of horsemen were making a tentative charge. Silent and
- unmoved, the obelisk stands there, a white warrior bidding defiance to the
- forces of sky and earth. As the subsiding dust marks the retreat of the
- cavalry, the artillery opens fire. First one masked porthole<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_266" id="page_266"></a>{266}</span> and then
- another belches flame, but the sharp crash or dull roar which follows
- passes quite unnoticed by the champion. Then comes the rattle of musketry,
- as a sheet of hail sweeps across the field.
- </p>
- <p>
- We are not watching a combat, only an assault, for these demonstrations
- call forth no response. On the champion—taking everything, giving
- nothing—the only effect they produce is a change of color from snowy
- white to ashen gray. Even that is but for a moment. As the storm of hail
- melts into a shower of limpid raindrops to which the relieved trees open
- their palms, the wind ceases its wailing, and the wall of cloud falls
- apart to let the sun’s rays through once more.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Monument is, of course, only one of many memorials to great men in
- Washington. We have heroes and philanthropists, poets and physicians,
- soldiers and men of science, mounted and afoot, standing and sitting. We
- have horses in every posture that will hold a rider: Jackson’s balanced on
- its hind legs like the toy charger on the nursery mantelpiece;
- Washington’s getting ready to try the same trick; Sheridan’s dashing along
- the line to the lilt of Buchanan Read’s poem; Pulaski’s, Greene’s and
- McPherson’s, Hancock’s and McClellan’s and Logan’s, walking calmly over
- the field; Scott’s and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_267"
- id="page_267"></a>{267}</span> Sherman’s watching the parade. The best
- equestrian statue is that of General George H. Thomas, by Quincy Ward, at
- the junction of Massachusetts Avenue with Fourteenth Street. Here we have
- the acme of art in treating such a subject: spirit coupled with repose.
- The horse has been moving, but has been checked by the rider to give him a
- chance to look about; they could go on the next moment if need be, or they
- could stand indefinitely just as they are.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Scott statue, at Massachusetts Avenue and Sixteenth Street, is good if
- we take it apart and examine it piecemeal; but the massive rider threatens
- to break down his slender-limbed steed, which is, by some mischance, of
- the mare’s build and not the stallion’s. General Sheridan, who used to
- live within a stone’s throw of this statue, lay while ill in a bedroom
- commanding a view of it. “I hope,” he remarked one day, “that if a
- grateful country ever commemorates me in bronze, it will give me a better
- mount than old Scott’s!” It is hard to find anything new to do with a
- general officer and a horse without putting them into some impossible
- attitude. A sculptor who attempts a reasonable innovation is liable to be
- snubbed for it, as one was not long ago when he offered in competition a
- statue of General<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_268" id="page_268"></a>{268}</span>
- Grant, dismounted, with his bridle swung over one of his arms while he
- used the other hand to hold his field-glass.
- </p>
- <p>
- Some of the best-known statues in the city have attracted as much
- attention by their travels as by their artistic qualities. One of these is
- Greenough’s colossal marble presentment of George Washington, which
- visitors to the Capitol ten years ago will recall as standing in the open
- space facing the main east portico. Greenough was in Italy in 1835, when
- it was ordered, and spent eight years on its production. It shows
- Washington seated, nude to the waist, and below that draped in a flowing
- robe. It weighed, when finished, twelve tons without a pedestal, and
- required twenty-two yoke of oxen to haul from Florence to Genoa. Peasants
- who saw it on the way took it for the image of some mighty saint, and
- dropped upon their knees and crossed themselves as it passed. The
- man-of-war which was waiting for it at Genoa had no hatchway large enough
- to take it in, so a merchant vessel had to be chartered for its voyage to
- America. Arrived at the Capitol, where it was intended to stand in the
- center of the rotunda, it could not be squeezed through the doors, and the
- masonry had to be cut away. Then it was discovered that it was causing the
- floor to settle, and a lot of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_269"
- id="page_269"></a>{269}</span> shoring had to be done in the crypt
- underneath. Finally, as it was not suited to its place, the masonry around
- the doorway was ripped out again, and the statue was set up in the plaza,
- where it remained till 1908, the sport of rains and frosts and
- souvenir-maniacs, when it took what every one hopes will be its last
- journey—to the National Museum. The original purpose of Congress was
- to have a “pedestrian statue” costing, all told, five thousand dollars.
- What has eventuated is Washington’s head set on a torso of Jupiter Tonans,
- costing, with all its traveling expenses, more than fifty thousand
- dollars.
- </p>
- <p>
- Another peregrinating statue is that of Thomas Jefferson, which stands
- to-day against the east wall of the rotunda. In 1833 it occupied the
- center of this room. When Greenough’s Washington was brought in, Jefferson
- was removed to the Library of Congress, which was then housed in the rooms
- of the west front of the Capitol. In 1850 it was carried up to the White
- House and planted in the middle of the north garden. It held that site for
- twenty-four years and then came back to the rotunda, from which there is
- no reason to think it will be moved again.
- </p>
- <p>
- The only parallel to these instances of frequent shifts in the local art
- world is the case of a painting entitled “Love and Life,” presented by the
- English<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_270" id="page_270"></a>{270}</span>
- artist, George F. Watts, to our Government. Mr. Cleveland, who was
- President at the time, hung it in the White House, but the prudish
- comments passed upon it by visitors led to its transfer to the Corcoran
- Gallery of Art. In the Roosevelt administration it made three trips, first
- to the White House, then back to the Corcoran Gallery, and then to the
- White House again, where it rested till President Taft came in, only to be
- rebanished to the Corcoran Gallery. President Wilson had it returned to
- the White House, and there it is at the present writing.
- </p>
- <p>
- Although there has never been in Washington a definite scheme for the
- location of statues, which have been planted, hit or miss, wherever space
- offered, accident has arranged a few of them so as to form a rather
- remarkable historical series. Starting with the Washington National
- Monument, in honor of the foremost figure in the Revolution and the
- President who set in motion the machinery of the embryo republic, we pass
- directly northward to the White House, home of all his successors in the
- Presidency and emblematic of the civil government which emerged from the
- War for Independence. A few hundred feet further northward stands the
- statue of Andrew Jackson, the hero of the War of 1812, the first fought by
- the United States as a nation. About<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_271" id="page_271"></a>{271}</span> a half-mile more to the
- north we reach the statue of Winfield Scott, the general whose capture of
- Mexico City ended the second foreign war in which the nation engaged. All
- that is needed to complete this remarkable procession is a memorial arch
- on Sixteenth Street heights, to the soldiers and sailors on both sides of
- the Civil War which cemented the Union begun under Washington.
- </p>
- <p>
- Strange to say, the city which best knew Lincoln and Grant has had, up to
- this time, no out-of-doors statue whatever of Grant and no adequate one of
- Lincoln. In Lincoln Park, about a mile east of the Capitol, is the
- Emancipation statue, and in front of the City Hall there is an
- insignificant standing figure of Lincoln, perched on a pillar so high that
- the features can be seen only dimly. A statue of Grant will later occupy
- the central pedestal of a group in the little park at the foot of the
- western slope of the Capitol grounds, which it is proposed to call Union
- Square. On either side of Grant, the plan originally was to place Sherman
- and Sheridan; but as the Sherman and Sheridan statues already set up
- elsewhere are so diverse in character, it has been questioned whether they
- would fit into the Union Square group. After many suggestions,
- controversies, and reports, Congress decided, a year or<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_272" id="page_272"></a>{272}</span> two ago,
- upon a form of memorial for Lincoln, which is already under way. It will
- be a marble temple, designed by Henry Bacon, in Potomac Park, with a
- statue of the War President, by Daniel Chester French, visible in the
- recesses of its dignified colonnade.
- </p>
- <p>
- Besides the scores of statues and miles of painted portraits which keep
- vivid the memory of great and good men who are gone, Washington has many
- institutions and buildings with personal associations that fulfil a
- similar purpose. The Corcoran Gallery of Art, for instance, was the gift
- of the late William W. Corcoran, the financier. The national deaf-mute
- college at Kendall Green, on the northeastern edge of the city, recalls
- its original benefactor, Amos Kendall, who was Postmaster-general under
- Jackson, as well as the work of Doctor Edward M. Gallaudet in raising it
- from its modest beginnings to its present eminence. The Pension Office, in
- which eight inaugural balls have been held, takes first rank among our
- public edifices for architectural ugliness. It is nevertheless an honor to
- the memory of Quartermaster-general Meigs, who asked the privilege of
- proving, in an era of extravagance, that a suitable building could be
- reared for the money allotted to it, and who turned back into the treasury
- a large slice of his appropriation after having paid every<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_273" id="page_273"></a>{273}</span> bill.
- The present Library of Congress is, in a like manner, a monument to the
- late Bernard R. Green, whose engineering skill and administrative faculty
- performed a feat corresponding to General Meigs’s; it reminds us, also, of
- Thomas Jefferson, whose private library, purchased after the burning of
- the Capitol, formed the nucleus of the present magnificent collection. The
- Soldiers’ Home, near the north boundary of the city, commemorates General
- Scott’s success in Mexico, the tribute he exacted there for a breach of
- truce being used in founding this beautiful retreat, where veterans of the
- regular army may pass their declining years in comfort.
- </p>
- <p>
- Few people, probably, are aware that the Smithsonian Institution, whose
- fame is as wide as civilization, owes its origin to the rejection of a
- manuscript prepared for publication. James Smithson, an Englishman of
- means, who had been a frequent contributor to the Philosophical
- Transactions of the Royal Society of London, sent in, a little less than a
- century ago, a paper which the censors refused to print; and its author
- avenged the affront by altering his will, in which he had bequeathed his
- entire fortune to the Society, so as to throw the reversion to the United
- States, a country he had never seen, to be used for “an establishment for
- the increase and diffusion of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_274"
- id="page_274"></a>{274}</span> knowledge among men.” Congress had a long
- quibble about the disposal of the money, but at last hit upon a plan, and
- since then has turned over much of the public scientific research work to
- be performed “under the direction of the Smithsonian Institution.” The
- accumulation of trophies of exploration, historical relics, and gifts of
- objects of art and industry from foreign potentates, presently overflowed
- the accommodations of the Institution proper, and a National Museum was
- built to house these treasures. The Smithsonian commemorates not only the
- beneficence of Smithson, but the great achievements of its several
- executive heads, like Joseph Henry’s in electromagnetism, Spencer F.
- Baird’s in the culture of fish as a source of food-supply, and Samuel P.
- Langley’s in aërial navigation and the standardization of time.
- </p>
- <p>
- The old City Hall, better known now as the District Court House, will be
- remembered as the place where the first President Harrison probably caught
- the cold which resulted in his death. It has a tragic association with
- another President, also, for in one of its court-rooms was conducted the
- trial of Guiteau for assassinating James A. Garfield. This trial excited
- vigorous comment throughout the country by what seemed to many critics an
- unwarrantable latitude allowed the defendant for self-exploitation.<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_275" id="page_275"></a>{275}</span>
- </p>
- <div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
- <a href="images/ill_032_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_032_sml.jpg"
- width="450" height="592" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- <div class="caption">
- <p class="c">
- <i>Rendezvous of the Lincoln Conspirators</i>
- </p>
- </div>
- </div>
- <p>
- Judge Walter T. Cox, who presided, was one of the ablest and most
- conscientious jurists who ever sat on the Supreme bench of the District.
- From personal attendance on the trial, I feel sure that the course pursued
- by him was the only one which could have given the jury a sure ground for
- dooming the assassin to death; and it was doubtless a realization of that
- fact which held in check the mob spirit that began to show itself at one
- stage and threatened to save the Government the trouble of putting up a
- gallows. The popular rancor against Guiteau was so strong that in order to
- get him safely into the Court House from the “black Maria” which brought
- him from the jail every morning, and to reverse the operation at the close
- of every day’s session, the vehicle was backed up within about twenty feet
- of one of the basement doors, and a double file of police, standing
- shoulder to shoulder with clubs drawn, made a narrow little lane through
- which he was rushed at a quickstep, his face blanched with terror, and his
- furtive eyes fixed on the earth.
- </p>
- <p>
- Another historical incident is associated with the old building, to which
- many attribute the final resolve of President Lincoln to issue his
- Emancipation Proclamation. I refer to the abolition of slavery in the
- District of Columbia. A bill to this end, introduced<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_276" id="page_276"></a>{276}</span> by Henry Wilson in
- December, 1861, was hotly debated in Congress but finally passed, and was
- signed on April 16, 1862. Only loyal owners were to be paid for their
- slaves, and every applicant for compensation had to take an iron-clad oath
- of allegiance to the Government. The whole business was handled by a board
- of three commissioners, who employed for their assistance an experienced
- slave-dealer imported from Baltimore. They met in one of the court-rooms,
- and the dealer put the negroes through their paces just as he had been
- accustomed to in the heyday of his trade, making them dance to show their
- suppleness and bite various tough substances as a test of the soundness of
- their teeth. Many of the black men and women came into the room singing
- hosannas to glorify the dawn of freedom. The highest appraisement of any
- slave was seven hundred and eighty-eight dollars for a good blacksmith;
- the lowest was ten dollars and ninety-five cents for a baby. These were
- about half the prices which would have been brought but for the fact that
- only one million dollars was appropriated, whereas the total estimated
- value of the slaves paid for was nearer two million, and all payments had
- to be scaled accordingly.
- </p>
- <p>
- A remarkable feature of this episode was the discovery <span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_277" id="page_277"></a>{277}</span>of how
- many slaveholders there were who were not white people. Now and then in
- the past, when for some special reason a negro had been freed, he would
- save his earnings till he had accumulated enough to buy his wife and
- children, who still remained in bondage to him till he saw fit to manumit
- them. One case which attracted wide attention was that of a woman who had
- bought her husband, a graceless scamp who proceeded to celebrate his good
- fortune by becoming an incorrigible drunkard. This had so outraged the
- feelings of his wife that she had finally sold him to a dealer who was
- picking up a boatload of cheap slaves to carry south. From that hour she
- had lost sight of him; but she haunted the commissioners’ sessions from
- day to day in the hope that the Government, now that it was going into the
- slave-buying business, might give her a little addition to the bargain
- price at which she had sold the old man.
- </p>
- <p>
- Judiciary Square, in which the Court House and the Pension Office stand,
- was, when Chief Justice Taney lived in Indiana Avenue, a neighborhood of
- consequence. Several of the older buildings thereabout exhale a flavor of
- fifty or sixty years ago, and tradition connects them with such personages
- as Rufus Choate, Caleb Cushing, Thomas H. Benton, Stephen A. Douglas, John
- C. Fremont, and John A. Dix.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_278"
- id="page_278"></a>{278}</span>
- </p>
- <p>
- Opposite the east park of the Capitol, as we have already seen, stands the
- Old Capitol, a building with a variegated history. It was erected for the
- accommodation of Congress after the burning of the Capitol by the British.
- In it Henry Clay passed some years of his Speakership, and till very
- lately there was a scar on the wall of one of the rooms which was said to
- have been made by his desk. Under its roof the first Senators from
- Indiana, Illinois, and Mississippi took their seats. In front of it,
- President Monroe was inaugurated. After Congress left it to return to the
- restored Capitol, it was rented for a boarding-house, patronized chiefly
- by Senators and Representatives. Here John C. Calhoun lived for some time,
- and here he died. In one of the rooms, Persico, the Italian sculptor,
- worked out the model of his “Discoverer.” In another, Ann Royall edited
- her <i>Huntress</i>.
- </p>
- <p>
- After the Civil War broke out, the Old Capitol was turned into a jail for
- the confinement of military offenders who were awaiting trial by
- court-martial, and for Confederate spies and other persons accused of
- unlawfully giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Belle Boyd, who was locked
- up there for a while, has left us her impressions of the place as “a vast
- brick building, like all prisons, somber, chilling, and repulsive.<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_279" id="page_279"></a>{279}</span>” She
- describes William P. Wood, who was superintendent of the prison, as
- “having a humane heart beneath a rough exterior.” Every Sunday he used to
- provide facilities for religious worship to his compulsory guests,
- announcing the hours and forms in characteristic fashion: “All you who
- want to hear the word of God preached according to Jeff Davis, go down
- into the yard; and all of you who want to hear it preached according to
- Abe Lincoln, go into No. 16.” In the jail yard Henry Wirz, who had been
- the keeper of the Confederate military prison at Andersonville, Georgia,
- where so many Union soldiers died of starvation and disease, was hanged
- for murder. At the close of the war the building was divided into a block
- of dwellings, of which the southernmost was long the home of the late
- Justice Field of the Supreme Court. The Justice used to enjoy telling his
- visitors about the distinguished men from the South who, after dining at
- his table, had roamed over the premises and located their one-time places
- of confinement.
- </p>
- <p>
- The oldest house of worship in Washington is St. Paul’s, a spireless
- Protestant Episcopal church not far from the Soldiers’ Home. It stands
- well toward the rear of the Rock Creek Cemetery, which also contains the
- world-famous bronze by St. Gaudens,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_280"
- id="page_280"></a>{280}</span> in the Adams lot. This is a seated female
- figure, in flowing classic drapery, to which no one has ventured to attach
- a permanent title, though it has been variously known as “Grief” and “The
- Peace of God.” St. Paul’s goes back to the colonial era and was built of
- brick imported from England. A younger church, nevertheless numbered among
- the oldest relics of its class within the city proper, is St. John’s, at
- the corner of Sixteenth and H streets. It was designed by Latrobe about
- the time he undertook the restoration of the Capitol and was consecrated
- in 1816. It has long been called “the President’s church” because so many
- tenants of the White House, just across Lafayette Square, have worshiped
- in it.
- </p>
- <p>
- Madison and Monroe were the first, and the vestry soon set apart one pew
- to be preserved always for the free use of the reigning Presidential
- family. John Quincy Adams was a Unitarian, but came to the afternoon
- services; and Jackson, though a Methodist, was frequently to be seen
- there. Van Buren was a constant attendant both as Vice-president and as
- President. William Henry Harrison, for the month he lived in Washington,
- came regularly, regardless of the weather or his state of health; and he
- was to have been confirmed the very week he died. Tyler was a member of
- the congregation. Polk had other<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_281"
- id="page_281"></a>{281}</span> affiliations, but Taylor, Fillmore, and
- Buchanan used the President’s pew. Then came a break in the line till
- Arthur entered the White House; and his retirement appears to have been
- followed by another lapse in the succession till Mrs. Roosevelt revived
- it. Her husband used to accompany her from time to time, though he
- retained his active connection with the Reformed (Dutch) communion. Since
- the Roosevelts, the line has been broken again. John Quincy Adams became
- so fond of St. John’s that, when he returned to Washington as a
- Representative, he renewed his Sunday visits. He paid close attention to
- the preliminary service but seemed to sleep through the sermon, though he
- was usually able to repeat the next day, with considerable accuracy, the
- main things the minister had said.
- </p>
- <p>
- This whole neighborhood bristles with memories of great people. The old
- Tayloe mansion was styled, in its later years, “the Cream-white House,”
- partly because of its color, and partly in jocose reference to its
- occupancy by two or three Vice-presidents. The house on the corner north
- of it, now owned by the Cosmos Club, was the home of Dolly Madison in her
- widowhood. After her death it passed into the hands of Charles Wilkes, the
- gallant naval officer who was for many years the unrecognized discoverer<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_282" id="page_282"></a>{282}</span> of the
- Antarctic continent, and who, in the early days of the Civil War, forcibly
- took two of his late Washington neighbors, Messrs. Mason and Slidell, off
- the British steamer <i>Trent</i>, which was conveying them to Europe on a
- diplomatic mission for the Confederate Government. South of the Tayloe
- house is the Belasco Theater, on the site of the old-fashioned red brick
- building in which occurred the attempted assassination of Secretary Seward
- and where James G. Blaine passed the last years of his life. On H Street,
- about a block to the eastward, General McClellan made his headquarters in
- the intervals between his commands of the Army of the Potomac; while in a
- near cluster are former homes of Commodore Decatur, John Quincy Adams,
- Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Montgomery Blair, Gideon Welles, George
- Bancroft, and John Hay, as well as the house where the Ashburton treaty
- was negotiated and where Owen Meredith wrote his “Lucile.” Edward Everett,
- Jefferson Davis, and Tobias Lear lived, at various times, a short distance
- away.
- </p>
- <p>
- One of my favorite excursions about the city with friends who revere the
- memory of the War President is what I call my “Lincoln pilgrimage.” We
- start at the White House, turn eastward and take F Street to Tenth, and
- then southward a half-square. This<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_283"
- id="page_283"></a>{283}</span> brings us in front of the building which
- once was Ford’s Theater, by the route taken by Lincoln on the evening of
- Good Friday, 1865. Here are the arches which once opened into the theater
- lobby but are now used for ground-floor windows; through one of them he
- passed on his way to his box. Directly across the street is the house to
- which he was carried to die. In it is preserved the Oldroyd collection of
- Lincoln relics, a really remarkable array. After inspecting it, we return
- to F Street and go eastward again to about the middle of the block, where
- an alley emerges from a lower level south of us. Down into this we dive,
- and, making a sharp right-angle turn, find ourselves at the old stage-door
- of the theater, beside which Booth left his horse, and through which he
- made his dash for liberty after his mad deed.
- </p>
- <p>
- Back again up the alley we climb, through F Street to Ninth, through Ninth
- to H, and eastward on H Street to Number 604, the house of Mrs. Surratt,
- the rendezvous of the conspirators and the place where some of them were
- captured. It looks to-day very much as it did on the night of the
- assassination. Retracing our steps to Seventh Street, we board a
- southbound car, which carries us to the gate of the reservation now
- occupied by the Washington Barracks and the Army War College. Here, within
- a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_284" id="page_284"></a>{284}</span>
- few hundred feet of the entrance, used to stand the military prison where
- the conspirators were confined, and in the yard of which they paid the
- last penalty for their crime.
- </p>
- <p>
-
- </p>
- <p>
- And here, dear reader, we come to the end of our present walks and talks
- about Washington. As I warned you at the outset, I have treated our
- wanderings as a pleasure-jaunt rather than as a medium of solid
- instruction. When you find yourself thirsting for the severely practical,
- you can come back and make the round again, if you choose, in a
- sight-seeing car, and the megaphone-man will point out to you twice as
- many objects of interest and give you three times as much information
- about them—accurate or otherwise. He will take pains to show you all
- the Government buildings and the hotels, the foreign legations and the
- theaters, the millionaires’ houses, and parks and circles and statuary
- which I have dismissed with a line or left unmentioned. He will tell you
- how many tons every bronze weighs, how long every edifice took in
- building, and how large a fortune every Senator amassed before crowning
- his career with a tour of public service. I could have told you these
- things, too, but, rather than force too fast a gait upon you, I have left
- them<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_285" id="page_285"></a>{285}</span>
- for the megaphone-man and taken for my task some odds and ends he could
- not take for his. I should have liked to tell you how the Government swept
- all the electric wires out of the sky and hid them underground; how it
- drained the marshes on the city’s western edge, cleared the channels of
- the Potomac, and built out of the dredgings a big pleasure-ground; and how
- it got rid of the annual inundations, in one of which, just about a
- generation ago, I crossed the busiest part of Pennsylvania Avenue in a
- rowboat.
- </p>
- <p>
- These improvements, and others in the same category, have been paralleled
- by the changes in the architecture of the city, at the expense of tearing
- down something old to make room for whatever new was to go up. Touched by
- the spirit of progress, the face of Washington is rapidly becoming as
- destitute of landmarks as its origin is destitute of myths, and the artist
- who visits it in quest of the antique has a hunt before him. Nevertheless,
- it has not lost its picturesque appeal for the pencil guided by
- imagination, or its colorful legends for the memory seeking relief from
- more serious things.
- </p>
- <p>
- Hence this book.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_286" id="page_286"></a>{286}</span>
- </p>
- <div class="figcenter" style="width: 215px;">
- <a href="images/ill_033_lg.jpg"> <img src="images/ill_033_sml.jpg"
- class="gry" width="215" height="333" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a>
- </div>
- <p>
- <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_287" id="page_287"></a>{287}</span>
- </p>
- <h2>
- <a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX
- </h2>
- <p class="c">
- <a href="#A">A</a>, <a href="#B">B</a>, <a href="#C">C</a>, <a href="#D">D</a>,
- <a href="#E">E</a>, <a href="#F">F</a>, <a href="#G">G</a>, <a href="#H">H</a>,
- <a href="#I-i">I</a>, <a href="#J">J</a>, <a href="#K">K</a>, <a href="#L">L</a>,
- <a href="#M">M</a>, <a href="#N">N</a>, <a href="#O">O</a>, <a href="#P">P</a>,
- <a href="#R">R</a>, <a href="#S">S</a>, <a href="#T">T</a>, <a href="#V-i">V</a>,
- <a href="#W">W</a>.
- </p>
- <p class="nind">
- <a name="A" id="A"></a>Adams, Abigail, <a href="#page_009">9</a>, <a
- href="#page_115">115</a>, <a href="#page_119">119</a>.<br /> <span
- style="margin-left: 1em;">John, <a href="#page_007">7</a>, <a
- href="#page_073">73</a>, <a href="#page_110">110</a>, <a href="#page_119">119</a>,
- <a href="#page_150">150</a>, <a href="#page_156">156</a>, <a
- href="#page_228">228</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">John
- Quincy, <a href="#page_020">20</a>, <a href="#page_058">58</a>, <a
- href="#page_065">65</a>, <a href="#page_096">96</a>, <a href="#page_147">147</a>,
- <a href="#page_150">150</a>, <a href="#page_151">151</a>, <a
- href="#page_181">181</a>, <a href="#page_280">280</a>, <a href="#page_281">281</a>,
- <a href="#page_282">282</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mrs.
- John Quincy, <a href="#page_151">151</a>.</span><br /> Albert Edward,
- Prince of Wales, <a href="#page_023">23</a>, <a href="#page_192">192</a>,
- <a href="#page_233">233</a>.<br /> Alexandria, Va., <a href="#page_004">4</a>,
- <a href="#page_012">12</a>, <a href="#page_054">54</a>, <a href="#page_238">238</a>.<br />
- Allston, Theodosia, <a href="#page_242">242</a>.<br /> Anacostia, D.C., <a
- href="#page_084">84</a>.<br /> Anderson, Major Robert, <a href="#page_193">193</a>.<br />
- Arlington Cemetery, <a href="#page_235">235</a>.<br /> Army War College, <a
- href="#page_017">17</a>, <a href="#page_283">283</a>.<br /> Arthur, Chester
- A., <a href="#page_224">224</a>, <a href="#page_281">281</a>.<br /> <br />
- <a name="B" id="B"></a>Bagot, Sir George, <a href="#page_138">138</a>.<br />
- Baird, Spencer F., <a href="#page_274">274</a>.<br /> Bancroft, George, <a
- href="#page_282">282</a>.<br /> Barksdale, William, <a href="#page_103">103</a>.<br />
- Barney, Joshua, <a href="#page_015">15</a>.<br /> Barron, James, <a
- href="#page_257">257</a>.<br /> Beanes, Dr. William, <a href="#page_252">252</a>.<br />
- Belasco Theater, <a href="#page_282">282</a>.<br /> Bell, John, <a
- href="#page_027">27</a>.<br /> Bellows, Rev. Dr. Henry W., <a
- href="#page_198">198</a>.<br /> Benton, Joel, <a href="#page_254">254</a>.<br />
- <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thomas H., <a href="#page_277">277</a>.</span><br />
- Bladensburg, Md., <a href="#page_015">15</a>, <a href="#page_135">135</a>,
- <a href="#page_257">257</a>.<br /> Blaine, James G., <a href="#page_203">203</a>,
- <a href="#page_215">215</a>, <a href="#page_227">227</a>, <a
- href="#page_282">282</a>.<br /> Blair, Montgomery, <a href="#page_282">282</a>.<br />
- Bodisco, Baron, <a href="#page_254">254</a>.<br /> <span
- style="margin-left: 1em;">Baroness, <a href="#page_255">255</a>.</span><br />
- Bonaparte, Jerome, <a href="#page_128">128</a>.<br /> Booth, John Wilkes,
- <a href="#page_043">43</a>.<br /> Boyd, Belle, <a href="#page_278">278</a>.<br />
- Braddock, Edward, <a href="#page_239">239</a>, <a href="#page_243">243</a>.<br />
- Breckinridge, John C., <a href="#page_027">27</a>, <a href="#page_030">30</a>.<br />
- <span style="margin-left: 1em;">William C. P., <a href="#page_105">105</a>.</span><br />
- Brooks, Rt. Rev. Phillips, <a href="#page_243">243</a>.<br /> <span
- style="margin-left: 1em;">Preston, <a href="#page_068">68</a>, <a
- href="#page_189">189</a>.</span><br /> Buchanan, James, <a href="#page_030">30</a>,
- <a href="#page_190">190</a>, <a href="#page_196">196</a>, <a
- href="#page_281">281</a>.<br /> Buchignani, Mrs. (See <span class="smcap">Mrs.
- John H. Eaton</span>.)<br /> Bulfinch, Charles, <a href="#page_056">56</a>,
- <a href="#page_057">57</a>, <a href="#page_060">60</a>.<br /> Bull Run,
- Battle of, <a href="#page_037">37</a>, <a href="#page_236">236</a>.<br />
- Burlingame, Anson, <a href="#page_190">190</a>.<br /> Burns, David, <a
- href="#page_004">4</a>.<br /> Burr, Aaron, <a href="#page_093">93</a>, <a
- href="#page_242">242</a>.<br /> <br /> <a name="C" id="C"></a>Calhoun, John
- C., <a href="#page_164">164</a>, <a href="#page_278">278</a>.<br />
- Capitol, <a href="#page_006">6</a>, <a href="#page_015">15</a>, <a
- href="#page_045">45</a>, <a href="#page_054">54</a>, <a href="#page_136">136</a>.<br />
- Cary, Mary, <a href="#page_248">248</a>.<br /> Chase, Salmon P., <a
- href="#page_202">202</a>.<br /> Choate, Rufus, <a href="#page_277">277</a>.<br />
- Cilley, Jonathan, <a href="#page_259">259</a>.<br /> City Hall, <a
- href="#page_173">173</a>, <a href="#page_271">271</a>, <a href="#page_274">274</a>,
- <a href="#page_277">277</a>.<br /> Civil War, <a href="#page_025">25</a>,
- <a href="#page_026">26</a>, <a href="#page_194">194</a>, <a
- href="#page_278">278</a>.<br /> Clay, Henry, <a href="#page_065">65</a>, <a
- href="#page_068">68</a>, <a href="#page_140">140</a>, <a href="#page_152">152</a>,
- <a href="#page_164">164</a>, <a href="#page_172">172</a>, <a
- href="#page_181">181</a>, <a href="#page_187">187</a>, <a href="#page_256">256</a>,
- <a href="#page_278">278</a>, <a href="#page_282">282</a>.<br /> Cleveland,
- Frances Folsom, <a href="#page_226">226</a>, <a href="#page_229">229</a>.<br />
- <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Grover, <a href="#page_112">112</a>, <a
- href="#page_225">225</a>, <a href="#page_229">229</a>, <a href="#page_232">232</a>.</span><br />
- Clinton, George, <a href="#page_093">93</a>.<br /> Cobb, Howell, <a
- href="#page_191">191</a>.<br /> Cockburn, Sir George,<span class="pagenum"><a
- name="page_288" id="page_288"></a>{288}</span> <a href="#page_015">15</a>,
- <a href="#page_253">253</a>.<br /> Congress, <a href="#page_008">8</a>, <a
- href="#page_019">19</a>, <a href="#page_054">54</a>, <a href="#page_082">82</a>,
- <a href="#page_085">85</a>, <a href="#page_138">138</a>. (See also <span
- class="smcap">Senate</span> and <span class="smcap">House of
- Representatives</span>.)<br /> Conkling, Roscoe, <a href="#page_203">203</a>,
- <a href="#page_215">215</a>.<br /> Corcoran, William W., <a href="#page_254">254</a>.<br />
- Corcoran Gallery of Art, <a href="#page_270">270</a>, <a href="#page_272">272</a>.<br />
- Cosmos Club, <a href="#page_281">281</a>.<br /> Court House. (See <span
- class="smcap">City Hall</span>.)<br /> Covode, John, <a href="#page_102">102</a>.<br />
- Cox, Judge Walter T., <a href="#page_275">275</a>.<br /> Coxey’s Army, <a
- href="#page_080">80</a>.<br /> Craig, Burton F., <a href="#page_102">102</a>.<br />
- Crawford, Thomas, <a href="#page_057">57</a>.<br /> Crisp, Charles F., <a
- href="#page_104">104</a>.<br /> Cunningham, Ann Pamela, <a href="#page_245">245</a>.<br />
- Gushing, Caleb, <a href="#page_214">214</a>, <a href="#page_277">277</a>.<br />
- Custis, George, <a href="#page_133">133</a>, <a href="#page_235">235</a>.<br />
- <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nellie, <a href="#page_251">251</a>.</span><br />
- <br /> <a name="D" id="D"></a>Davis, Harriet Riddle, <a href="#page_209">209</a>.<br />
- <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jefferson, <a href="#page_029">29</a>, <a
- href="#page_057">57</a>, <a href="#page_072">72</a>, <a href="#page_282">282</a>.</span><br />
- Decatur, Stephen, <a href="#page_257">257</a>, <a href="#page_282">282</a>.<br />
- Dix, John A., <a href="#page_029">29</a>, <a href="#page_277">277</a>.<br />
- Donelson, Andrew J., <a href="#page_162">162</a>.<br /> <span
- style="margin-left: 1em;">Mary Emily, <a href="#page_162">162</a>.</span><br />
- Douglas, Stephen A., <a href="#page_027">27</a>, <a href="#page_033">33</a>,
- <a href="#page_196">196</a>, <a href="#page_277">277</a>.<br /> Douglass,
- Frederick, <a href="#page_221">221</a>.<br /> Dreams, Strange, of Lincoln,
- <a href="#page_208">208</a>.<br /> Dueling, Condemnation of, <a
- href="#page_260">260</a>.<br /> <br /> <a name="E" id="E"></a>Early, Jubal
- A., <a href="#page_041">41</a>.<br /> Eaton, John H., <a href="#page_159">159</a>,
- <a href="#page_169">169</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mrs.
- John H., <a href="#page_159">159</a>, <a href="#page_168">168</a>, <a
- href="#page_179">179</a>.</span><br /> Electoral Commission, <a
- href="#page_068">68</a>, <a href="#page_219">219</a>.<br /> Ellsworth,
- Ephraim E., <a href="#page_035">35</a>, <a href="#page_243">243</a>.<br />
- Emancipation Proclamation, <a href="#page_200">200</a>, <a href="#page_275">275</a>.<br />
- Emancipation Statue, <a href="#page_271">271</a>.<br /> Everett, Edward, <a
- href="#page_282">282</a>.<br /> <br /> <a name="F" id="F"></a>Field, Cyrus
- W., <a href="#page_190">190</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Stephen
- J., <a href="#page_279">279</a>.</span><br /> Fillmore, Millard, <a
- href="#page_185">185</a>, <a href="#page_281">281</a>.<br /> Ford’s
- Theater, <a href="#page_043">43</a>, <a href="#page_209">209</a>, <a
- href="#page_283">283</a>.<br /> Fort McHenry, Md., <a href="#page_253">253</a>.<br />
- Fort Myer, Va., <a href="#page_237">237</a>.<br /> Foster, Sir Augustus, <a
- href="#page_076">76</a>, <a href="#page_127">127</a>.<br /> Franklin
- Square, <a href="#page_119">119</a>.<br /> Frelinghuysen, Mrs. Frederick
- T., <a href="#page_225">225</a>.<br /> Fremont, Jessie Benton, <a
- href="#page_255">255</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">John C., <a
- href="#page_255">255</a>, <a href="#page_277">277</a>.</span><br /> French,
- Daniel Chester, <a href="#page_272">272</a>.<br /> Fulton, Robert, <a
- href="#page_254">254</a>.<br /> <br /> <a name="G" id="G"></a>Gallaudet, Dr.
- Edward M., <a href="#page_272">272</a>.<br /> Gardiner, David, <a
- href="#page_180">180</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Julia, <a
- href="#page_179">179</a>.</span><br /> Garfield, “Grandma,” <a
- href="#page_222">222</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">James A.,
- <a href="#page_222">222</a>, <a href="#page_233">233</a>, <a
- href="#page_274">274</a>.</span><br /> Georgetown, D.C., <a href="#page_003">3</a>,
- <a href="#page_011">11</a>, <a href="#page_012">12</a>, <a href="#page_251">251</a>.<br />
- Grant, Nellie. (See <span class="smcap">Nellie Grant Sartoris</span>.)<br />
- <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ulysses S., <a href="#page_043">43</a>, <a
- href="#page_044">44</a>, <a href="#page_045">45</a>, <a href="#page_205">205</a>,
- <a href="#page_212">212</a>, <a href="#page_225">225</a>, <a
- href="#page_232">232</a>, <a href="#page_271">271</a>.</span><br /> <span
- style="margin-left: 1em;">Mrs. Ulysses S., <a href="#page_225">225</a>.</span><br />
- Graves, William J., <a href="#page_259">259</a>.<br /> Greeley, Horace, <a
- href="#page_203">203</a>, <a href="#page_213">213</a>.<br /> Green, Bernard
- R., <a href="#page_273">273</a>.<br /> Greenough, Horatio, <a
- href="#page_058">58</a>, <a href="#page_268">268</a>.<br /> Grow, Galusha
- A., <a href="#page_101">101</a>.<br /> Guiteau, Charles J., <a
- href="#page_223">223</a>, <a href="#page_274">274</a>.<br /> <br /> <a
- name="H" id="H"></a>Halford, Elijah W., <a href="#page_228">228</a>.<br />
- Hamlin, Hannibal, <a href="#page_032">32</a>.<br /> Hancock, Winfield S.,
- <a href="#page_223">223</a>, <a href="#page_266">266</a>.<br /> Harrison,
- Benjamin, <a href="#page_112">112</a>, <a href="#page_226">226</a>.<br />
- <span style="margin-left: 1em;">William Henry, <a href="#page_172">172</a>,
- <a href="#page_274">274</a>, <a href="#page_280">280</a>.</span><br />
- Hawthorne, Nathaniel, <a href="#page_188">188</a>.<br /> Hay, John, <a
- href="#page_282">282</a>.<br /> Hayes, Lucy Webb, <a href="#page_220">220</a>.<br />
- <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rutherford B., <a href="#page_218">218</a>.</span><br />
- Henry, Joseph, <a href="#page_274">274</a>.<br /> Hoban, James, <a
- href="#page_116">116</a>, <a href="#page_231">231</a>.<br /> House of
- Representatives, <a href="#page_010">10</a>, <a href="#page_056">56</a>,
- <a href="#page_063">63</a>, <a href="#page_076">76</a>, <a href="#page_085">85</a>,
- <a href="#page_139">139</a>. (See also <span class="smcap">Congress</span>.)<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_289" id="page_289"></a>{289}</span><br />
- Hoxie, Vinnie Ream, <a href="#page_211">211</a>.<br /> Humboldt, Baron von,
- <a href="#page_125">125</a>.<br /> Hutchinson Family, <a href="#page_204">204</a>.<br />
- Huygens, Bangeman, <a href="#page_160">160</a>, <a href="#page_162">162</a>.<br />
- <br /> <a name="I-i" id="I-i"></a>Inaugural Balls, <a href="#page_134">134</a>,
- <a href="#page_175">175</a>, <a href="#page_212">212</a>, <a
- href="#page_219">219</a>.<br /> <br /> <a name="J" id="J"></a>Jackson,
- Andrew, <a href="#page_058">58</a>, <a href="#page_150">150</a>, <a
- href="#page_156">156</a>, <a href="#page_232">232</a>, <a href="#page_266">266</a>,
- <a href="#page_270">270</a>, <a href="#page_280">280</a>.<br /> <span
- style="margin-left: 1em;">Andrew, Jr., <a href="#page_161">161</a>.</span><br />
- <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mrs. Andrew, <a href="#page_157">157</a>,
- <a href="#page_159">159</a>.</span><br /> Jay, John, <a href="#page_012">12</a>,
- <a href="#page_069">69</a>.<br /> Jefferson, Thomas, <a href="#page_002">2</a>,
- <a href="#page_054">54</a>, <a href="#page_068">68</a>, <a href="#page_111">111</a>,
- <a href="#page_121">121</a>, <a href="#page_231">231</a>, <a
- href="#page_269">269</a>.<br /> Johnson, Andrew, <a href="#page_044">44</a>,
- <a href="#page_211">211</a>.<br /> Judiciary Square, <a href="#page_277">277</a>.<br />
- <br /> <a name="K" id="K"></a>Kearney, Dennis, <a href="#page_222">222</a>.<br />
- Keitt, Lawrence M., <a href="#page_101">101</a>.<br /> Kendall, Amos, <a
- href="#page_272">272</a>.<br /> Key, Francis Scott, <a href="#page_252">252</a>.<br />
- Kilbourn, Hallet, <a href="#page_097">97</a>.<br /> Kilgore, Constantine
- Buckley, <a href="#page_109">109</a>.<br /> King, William R., <a
- href="#page_142">142</a>, <a href="#page_188">188</a>.<br /> Kossuth,
- Louis, <a href="#page_186">186</a>.<br /> <br /> <a name="L" id="L"></a>Lafayette,
- Marquis de, <a href="#page_065">65</a>.<br /> Lafayette Park, <a
- href="#page_005">5</a>, <a href="#page_118">118</a>.<br /> Lamar, Lucius Q.
- C., <a href="#page_102">102</a>.<br /> Lane, Harriet, <a href="#page_193">193</a>.<br />
- Latrobe, Benjamin H., <a href="#page_056">56</a>, <a href="#page_280">280</a>.<br />
- Lear, Tobias, <a href="#page_244">244</a>, <a href="#page_282">282</a>.<br />
- Lee, Robert E., <a href="#page_042">42</a>, <a href="#page_235">235</a>.<br />
- L’Enfant, Pierre Charles, <a href="#page_005">5</a>, <a href="#page_083">83</a>,
- <a href="#page_231">231</a>.<br /> Library, Public, <a href="#page_049">49</a>.<br />
- Library of Congress, <a href="#page_273">273</a>.<br /> Liliuokalani,
- Queen, <a href="#page_221">221</a>.<br /> Lincoln, Abraham, <a
- href="#page_030">30</a>, <a href="#page_065">65</a>, <a href="#page_195">195</a>,
- <a href="#page_232">232</a>, <a href="#page_271">271</a>, <a
- href="#page_275">275</a>, <a href="#page_282">282</a>.<br /> <span
- style="margin-left: 1em;">Mary Todd, <a href="#page_196">196</a>, <a
- href="#page_208">208</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">“Tad,”
- <a href="#page_043">43</a>, <a href="#page_201">201</a>.</span><br /> <span
- style="margin-left: 1em;">Willie, <a href="#page_201">201</a>.</span><br />
- Lind, Jennie, <a href="#page_146">146</a>.<br /> Lovejoy, Owen, <a
- href="#page_102">102</a>.<br /> <br /> <a name="M" id="M"></a>McClellan,
- George B., <a href="#page_236">236</a>, <a href="#page_266">266</a>, <a
- href="#page_282">282</a>.<br /> McCreary, James B., <a href="#page_106">106</a>.<br />
- McElroy, Mrs. John, <a href="#page_224">224</a>.<br /> McKee, “Baby,” <a
- href="#page_228">228</a>.<br /> McKinley, William, Jr., <a href="#page_112">112</a>,
- <a href="#page_221">221</a>, <a href="#page_230">230</a>, <a
- href="#page_232">232</a>.<br /> McLean, John, <a href="#page_194">194</a>.<br />
- Madison, Dolly, <a href="#page_019">19</a>, <a href="#page_078">78</a>, <a
- href="#page_115">115</a>, <a href="#page_124">124</a>, <a href="#page_135">135</a>,
- <a href="#page_144">144</a>, <a href="#page_281">281</a>.<br /> <span
- style="margin-left: 1em;">James, <a href="#page_014">14</a>, <a
- href="#page_054">54</a>, <a href="#page_125">125</a>, <a href="#page_132">132</a>,
- <a href="#page_280">280</a>.</span><br /> Mall, <a href="#page_012">12</a>,
- <a href="#page_083">83</a>, <a href="#page_114">114</a>.<br /> Marine Band,
- <a href="#page_077">77</a>, <a href="#page_124">124</a>, <a
- href="#page_178">178</a>, <a href="#page_225">225</a>.<br /> Marshall,
- John, <a href="#page_065">65</a>, <a href="#page_164">164</a>.<br />
- Martineau, Harriet, <a href="#page_161">161</a>, <a href="#page_163">163</a>.<br />
- Meigs, Montgomery C., <a href="#page_237">237</a>, <a href="#page_272">272</a>.<br />
- Mellanelli, Sidi, <a href="#page_127">127</a>.<br /> Meredith, Owen, <a
- href="#page_282">282</a>.<br /> Merry, Anthony, <a href="#page_125">125</a>.<br />
- Mexican War, <a href="#page_022">22</a>, <a href="#page_182">182</a>, <a
- href="#page_271">271</a>, <a href="#page_273">273</a>.<br /> Mitchill, Dr.
- Samuel, <a href="#page_127">127</a>.<br /> Monroe, Eliza Kortright, <a
- href="#page_115">115</a>, <a href="#page_147">147</a>.<br /> <span
- style="margin-left: 1em;">James, <a href="#page_018">18</a>, <a
- href="#page_138">138</a>, <a href="#page_147">147</a>, <a href="#page_151">151</a>,
- <a href="#page_278">278</a>, <a href="#page_280">280</a>.</span><br />
- Moore, Thomas, <a href="#page_005">5</a>, <a href="#page_125">125</a>.<br />
- Morrissey, Mrs. John, <a href="#page_213">213</a>.<br /> Morse, Samuel F.
- B., <a href="#page_075">75</a>, <a href="#page_182">182</a>.<br /> Mott,
- Richard T., <a href="#page_102">102</a>.<br /> Mount Vernon, Va., <a
- href="#page_244">244</a>, <a href="#page_249">249</a>.<br /> <br /> <a
- name="N" id="N"></a>Negroes, First, in Inaugural parade, <a
- href="#page_208">208</a>.<br /> Nilsson, Christine, <a href="#page_224">224</a>.<br />
- <br /> <a name="O" id="O"></a>Octagon House, <a href="#page_019">19</a>, <a
- href="#page_137">137</a>.<br /> O’Ferrall, Charles T., <a href="#page_108">108</a>.<br />
- Old Capitol, <a href="#page_020">20</a>, <a href="#page_278">278</a>.<br />
- O’Neil, “Peggy.” (See Mrs. <span class="smcap">John H. Eaton</span>.)<br />
- <br /> <a name="P" id="P"></a>Paine, Thomas, <a href="#page_129">129</a>.<br />
- Patterson, Elizabeth, <a href="#page_128">128</a>. (See also <span
- class="smcap">Jerome Bonaparte</span>.)<br /> Peabody, George,<span
- class="pagenum"><a name="page_290" id="page_290"></a>{290}</span> <a
- href="#page_254">254</a>.<br /> Pension Office, <a href="#page_272">272</a>,
- <a href="#page_277">277</a>.<br /> Pennsylvania Avenue, <a href="#page_010">10</a>,
- <a href="#page_047">47</a>, <a href="#page_049">49</a>, <a href="#page_114">114</a>,
- <a href="#page_285">285</a>.<br /> Persico, Luigi, <a href="#page_058">58</a>,
- <a href="#page_278">278</a>.<br /> Phillips, Wendell, <a href="#page_214">214</a>.<br />
- Pierce, Franklin, <a href="#page_186">186</a>.<br /> <span
- style="margin-left: 1em;">Mrs. Franklin, <a href="#page_188">188</a>.</span><br />
- Pohick, Va., <a href="#page_246">246</a>.<br /> Polk, James K., <a
- href="#page_182">182</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sarah
- Childress, <a href="#page_182">182</a>.</span><br /> Potter, Rt. Rev. Henry
- C., <a href="#page_243">243</a>.<br /> Presidents, Deaths of, in office, <a
- href="#page_043">43</a>, <a href="#page_176">176</a>, <a href="#page_185">185</a>,
- <a href="#page_208">208</a>, <a href="#page_223">223</a>, <a
- href="#page_230">230</a>.<br /> Presidents and Congress, <a href="#page_072">72</a>,
- <a href="#page_089">89</a>, <a href="#page_109">109</a>.<br /> Press,
- Congress and the, <a href="#page_094">94</a>.<br /> Prince, Frederick O.,
- <a href="#page_191">191</a>.<br /> <i>Princeton</i>, Sloop-of-War, <a
- href="#page_180">180</a>.<br /> <br /> <a name="R" id="R"></a>Randolph,
- John, <a href="#page_059">59</a>, <a href="#page_064">64</a>, <a
- href="#page_094">94</a>, <a href="#page_140">140</a>, <a href="#page_256">256</a>.<br />
- <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Robert B., <a href="#page_168">168</a>.</span><br />
- Ream, Vinnie. (See <span class="smcap">Hoxie</span>.)<br /> Reed, Thomas
- B., <a href="#page_079">79</a>, <a href="#page_103">103</a>.<br />
- Religious Exercises in Congress, <a href="#page_077">77</a>, <a
- href="#page_098">98</a>.<br /> Robinson, William E., <a href="#page_095">95</a>.<br />
- Rock Creek Cemetery, <a href="#page_279">279</a>.<br /> Rogers, Randolph,
- <a href="#page_059">59</a>.<br /> Roosevelt, Edith Kermit, <a
- href="#page_116">116</a>, <a href="#page_233">233</a>, <a href="#page_281">281</a>.<br />
- <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Theodore, <a href="#page_052">52</a>, <a
- href="#page_230">230</a>, <a href="#page_270">270</a>, <a href="#page_281">281</a>.</span><br />
- Root, Elihu, <a href="#page_224">224</a>.<br /> Ross, Edmund G., <a
- href="#page_211">211</a>.<br /> Ross, Robert, <a href="#page_015">15</a>.<br />
- Royall, Ann, <a href="#page_020">20</a>, <a href="#page_278">278</a>.<br />
- <br /> <a name="S" id="S"></a>Saint-Gaudens, Augustus, <a href="#page_279">279</a>.<br />
- Saint John’s Church, <a href="#page_280">280</a>.<br /> Saint Paul’s
- Church, <a href="#page_279">279</a>.<br /> Sartoris, Algernon, <a
- href="#page_217">217</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nellie
- Grant, <a href="#page_212">212</a>, <a href="#page_217">217</a>.</span><br />
- Scott, Winfield, <a href="#page_039">39</a>, <a href="#page_183">183</a>,
- <a href="#page_186">186</a>, <a href="#page_194">194</a>, <a
- href="#page_236">236</a>, <a href="#page_266">266</a>, <a href="#page_267">267</a>,
- <a href="#page_271">271</a>, <a href="#page_273">273</a>.<br /> Secession,
- Progress of, movement, <a href="#page_027">27</a>.<br /> Senate, United
- States, <a href="#page_010">10</a>, <a href="#page_055">55</a>, <a
- href="#page_068">68</a>, <a href="#page_071">71</a>, <a href="#page_086">86</a>,
- <a href="#page_139">139</a>. (See also <span class="smcap">Congress</span>.)<br />
- Seward, William H., <a href="#page_031">31</a>, <a href="#page_043">43</a>,
- <a href="#page_198">198</a>, <a href="#page_282">282</a>.<br /> Shepherd,
- Alexander R., <a href="#page_046">46</a>.<br /> Sheridan, Philip H., <a
- href="#page_267">267</a>, <a href="#page_271">271</a>.<br /> Sherman, John,
- <a href="#page_102">102</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">William
- T., <a href="#page_213">213</a>, <a href="#page_271">271</a>.</span><br />
- Shuter’s Hill, <a href="#page_054">54</a>.<br /> Sickles, Daniel E., <a
- href="#page_211">211</a>.<br /> Slavery, <a href="#page_023">23</a>, <a
- href="#page_064">64</a>, <a href="#page_099">99</a>, <a href="#page_186">186</a>,
- <a href="#page_275">275</a>. (See also <span class="smcap">Emancipation</span>.)<br />
- Smith, Capt. John, <a href="#page_003">3</a>.<br /> <span
- style="margin-left: 1em;">Margaret Bayard, <a href="#page_141">141</a>.</span><br />
- Smithsonian Institution, <a href="#page_273">273</a>.<br /> Soldiers’ Home,
- <a href="#page_084">84</a>, <a href="#page_273">273</a>.<br /> Sprague,
- Kate Chase, <a href="#page_202">202</a>.<br /> <span
- style="margin-left: 1em;">William, <a href="#page_202">202</a>.</span><br />
- Stanton, Edwin M., <a href="#page_044">44</a>, <a href="#page_200">200</a>,
- <a href="#page_207">207</a>, <a href="#page_211">211</a>.<br />
- “Star-Spangled Banner,” Song, <a href="#page_252">252</a>.<br /> Statues of
- Celebrities, <a href="#page_266">266</a>.<br /> Stephens, Alexander H., <a
- href="#page_029">29</a>, <a href="#page_065">65</a>.<br /> Stewart,
- Alexander T., <a href="#page_214">214</a>.<br /> Stockton, Robert F., <a
- href="#page_180">180</a>.<br /> Stranger, “The Female,” <a href="#page_242">242</a>.<br />
- Sumner, Charles, <a href="#page_068">68</a>, <a href="#page_189">189</a>.<br />
- Sunderland, Rev. Dr. Byron, <a href="#page_099">99</a>.<br /> Supreme Court
- of the United States, <a href="#page_011">11</a>, <a href="#page_067">67</a>,
- <a href="#page_074">74</a>.<br /> Surratt, Mary E., <a href="#page_283">283</a>.<br />
- <br /> <a name="T" id="T"></a>Taft, William H., <a href="#page_052">52</a>,
- <a href="#page_233">233</a>, <a href="#page_270">270</a>.<br /> Taney,
- Roger B., <a href="#page_034">34</a>, <a href="#page_277">277</a>.<br />
- Tayloe, Mrs. Ogle, <a href="#page_170">170</a>.<br /> Tayloe House, <a
- href="#page_281">281</a>.<br /> Taylor, Zachary, <a href="#page_183">183</a>,
- <a href="#page_195">195</a>, <a href="#page_281">281</a>.<br /> Telegraph,
- Atlantic, cable, <a href="#page_190">190</a>.<br /> <span
- style="margin-left: 1em;">First American, <a href="#page_075">75</a>, <a
- href="#page_182">182</a>.</span><br /> Thomas, George H., <a
- href="#page_267">267</a>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_291"
- id="page_291"></a>{291}</span><br /> Thornton, Dr. William, <a
- href="#page_016">16</a>, <a href="#page_055">55</a>, <a href="#page_251">251</a>.<br />
- Tilden, Samuel J., <a href="#page_218">218</a>.<br /> Timberlake, Mrs. (See
- <span class="smcap">Mrs. John H. Eaton</span>.)<br /> <span
- style="margin-left: 1em;">Purser, <a href="#page_159">159</a>, <a
- href="#page_168">168</a>.</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Virginia,
- <a href="#page_179">179</a>.</span><br /> Tracy, Benjamin F., <a
- href="#page_228">228</a>.<br /> <i>Trent</i> Affair, <a href="#page_282">282</a>.<br />
- Trumbull, John, <a href="#page_059">59</a>.<br /> Turreau, Louis M., <a
- href="#page_127">127</a>.<br /> Tyler, John, <a href="#page_177">177</a>,
- <a href="#page_280">280</a>.<br /> <br /> <a name="V-i" id="V-i"></a>Van
- Buren, John, <a href="#page_171">171</a>.<br /> <span
- style="margin-left: 1em;">Martin, <a href="#page_158">158</a>, <a
- href="#page_162">162</a>, <a href="#page_169">169</a>, <a href="#page_176">176</a>,
- <a href="#page_256">256</a>, <a href="#page_280">280</a>.</span><br />
- Victoria, Queen, <a href="#page_190">190</a>.<br /> <br /> <a name="W" id="W"></a>Walter,
- Thomas U., <a href="#page_056">56</a>, <a href="#page_063">63</a>.<br />
- War of 1812, <a href="#page_014">14</a>, <a href="#page_135">135</a>, <a
- href="#page_270">270</a>.<br /> Ward, Artemus, <a href="#page_200">200</a>.<br />
- <span style="margin-left: 1em;">J. Q. A., <a href="#page_267">267</a>.</span><br />
- Washburn, Cadwallader, <a href="#page_102">102</a>.<br /> Washburne, Elihu,
- <a href="#page_102">102</a>.<br /> Washington, D.C.,<br /> <span
- style="margin-left: 1em;">Beginnings of, <a href="#page_001">1</a>;</span><br />
- <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Captured by British in 1814, <a
- href="#page_015">15</a>, <a href="#page_056">56</a>, <a href="#page_278">278</a>;</span><br />
- <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Growth of, <a href="#page_045">45</a>;</span><br />
- <span style="margin-left: 1em;">In Civil War Times, <a href="#page_024">24</a>,
- <a href="#page_026">26</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Journalism
- in Early Days, <a href="#page_020">20</a>, <a href="#page_154">154</a>;</span><br />
- <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Plan of, <a href="#page_005">5</a>, <a
- href="#page_083">83</a>, <a href="#page_114">114</a>, <a href="#page_231">231</a>;</span><br />
- <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Police Force, <a href="#page_178">178</a>;</span><br />
- <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Removal of Government to, <a
- href="#page_007">7</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Suburbs
- of, <a href="#page_235">235</a>;</span><br /> <span
- style="margin-left: 1em;">Threatened by Gen. Early in 1864, <a
- href="#page_041">41</a>;</span><br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Varying
- Fortunes of, <a href="#page_021">21</a>.</span><br /> Washington, George,
- <a href="#page_003">3</a>, <a href="#page_067">67</a>, <a href="#page_074">74</a>,
- <a href="#page_081">81</a>, <a href="#page_089">89</a>, <a href="#page_118">118</a>,
- <a href="#page_235">235</a>, <a href="#page_238">238</a>, <a
- href="#page_239">239</a>, <a href="#page_240">240</a>, <a href="#page_243">243</a>,
- <a href="#page_268">268</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Martha,
- <a href="#page_118">118</a>, <a href="#page_235">235</a>, <a
- href="#page_240">240</a>, <a href="#page_243">243</a>, <a href="#page_249">249</a>.</span><br />
- <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mary, <a href="#page_249">249</a>.</span><br />
- Washington National Monument, <a href="#page_261">261</a>, <a
- href="#page_270">270</a>.<br /> Watts, George F., <a href="#page_270">270</a>.<br />
- Webster, Daniel, <a href="#page_068">68</a>, <a href="#page_140">140</a>,
- <a href="#page_164">164</a>, <a href="#page_173">173</a>.<br /> Weems, Rev.
- Mason L., <a href="#page_246">246</a>.<br /> Welles, Gideon, <a
- href="#page_282">282</a>.<br /> White House, <a href="#page_006">6</a>, <a
- href="#page_008">8</a>, <a href="#page_017">17</a>, <a href="#page_114">114</a>,
- <a href="#page_118">118</a>, <a href="#page_135">135</a>, <a
- href="#page_147">147</a>, <a href="#page_155">155</a>, <a href="#page_162">162</a>,
- <a href="#page_164">164</a>, <a href="#page_172">172</a>, <a
- href="#page_178">178</a>, <a href="#page_182">182</a>, <a href="#page_184">184</a>,
- <a href="#page_195">195</a>, <a href="#page_197">197</a>, <a
- href="#page_201">201</a>, <a href="#page_219">219</a>, <a href="#page_231">231</a>.<br />
- Wilkes, Charles, <a href="#page_281">281</a>.<br /> Williams, Harriet
- Beall. (See <span class="smcap">Baroness Bodisco</span>.)<br /> Wilmot,
- David, <a href="#page_064">64</a>.<br /> Wilson, Henry, <a href="#page_074">74</a>,
- <a href="#page_276">276</a>.<br /> <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Woodrow,
- <a href="#page_052">52</a>, <a href="#page_073">73</a>, <a href="#page_112">112</a>,
- <a href="#page_234">234</a>, <a href="#page_270">270</a>.</span><br />
- Windom, William, <a href="#page_228">228</a>.<br /> Wirz, Henry, <a
- href="#page_279">279</a>.<br /> Women visiting Congress, <a href="#page_093">93</a>,
- <a href="#page_141">141</a>.<br /> Wood, William P., <a href="#page_279">279</a>.<br />
- </p>
- <div class="figcenter">
- <img src="images/back.jpg" width="318" height="500"
- alt="[Image unavailable.]" />
- </div>
- <hr class="full" />
-<pre xml:space="preserve">
-
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