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diff --git a/old/66318-0.txt b/old/66318-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index a6eee03..0000000 --- a/old/66318-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,18573 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Ten Years in Washington, by Mary -Clemmer - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Ten Years in Washington - or, Inside Life and Scenes in Our National Capital as a Woman - Sees Them - -Author: Mary Clemmer - -Release Date: September 16, 2021 [eBook #66318] - -Language: English - -Produced by: KD Weeks, Andrew Sly, MFR and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was - produced from images generously made available by The - Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TEN YEARS IN WASHINGTON *** - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - Transcriber’s Note: - -This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects. -Italics are delimited with the ‘_’ character as _italic_. - -Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please -see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details regarding -the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation. - - TEN YEARS IN WASHINGTON: - - OR, - - INSIDE LIFE AND SCENES - - IN - - OUR NATIONAL CAPITAL - - =As a Woman Sees Them.= - - EMBRACING - - A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE MANY MARVELS AND INTERESTING - SIGHTS OF WASHINGTON; OF THE DAILY LIFE AT THE WHITE HOUSE, BOTH PAST - AND PRESENT; OF THE WONDERS AND INSIDE WORKINGS OF ALL OUR - GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS; AND DESCRIPTIONS AND REVELATIONS - OF EVERY PHASE OF POLITICAL, PUBLIC, AND - SOCIAL LIFE AT THE NATION’S CAPITAL. - - BY MARY CLEMMER, - - AUTHOR OF “MEMORIALS OF ALICE AND PHŒBE CARY,” “A WOMAN’S LETTERS FROM - WASHINGTON,” ETC., ETC. - - -------------- - - TO WHICH IS ADDED A FULL ACCOUNT OF - - THE LIFE AND DEATH OF PRESIDENT JAMES A. GARFIELD, - - BY J. L. SHIPLEY, A. M. - - -------------- - - FULLY ILLUSTRATED - =With a Portrait of the Author on Steel, and Forty-Eight fine - Engravings on Wood.= - - -------------- - - [SOLD BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY.] - - -------------- - - HARTFORD, CONN.: - THE HARTFORD PUBLISHING COMPANY. - EXCELSIOR PUBLISHING CO., CHICAGO, ILL. - OHIO PUBLISHING CO., CLEVELAND, OHIO. - - 1882. - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1881, by - - THE HARTFORD PUBLISHING CO., - - In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - -[Illustration: List of Illustrations.] - - 1. FINE STEEL-PLATE PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR, [Frontispiece.] - 2. COLUMBIA SLAVE PEN, To face page 48 - 3. THE FREEDMAN’S SAVINGS BANK, 48 - 4. SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE, 48 - 5. MAJOR L’ENFANT’S RESTING PLACE, 48 - 6. THE NATIONAL CAPITOL—WASHINGTON, 72 - It covers more than three and a half acres. Over thirteen million - dollars have thus far been expended in its erection. - 7. THE MARBLE ROOM—INSIDE THE CAPITOL—WASHINGTON, 95 - 8. THE SENATE CHAMBER—INSIDE THE CAPITOL—WASHINGTON, 98 - 9. THE HALL OF REPRESENTATIVES—INSIDE THE CAPITOL—WASHINGTON, 100 - 10. THE LADIES’ RECEPTION ROOM—INSIDE THE CAPITOL—WASHINGTON, 120 - 11. THE CENTRAL ROOM, CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY—INSIDE THE 130 - CAPITOL—WASHINGTON, - 12. THE RED ROOM—INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE—WASHINGTON, 169 - 13. THE CONSERVATORY—INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE—WASHINGTON, 174 - 14. THE CABINET ROOM—INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE—WASHINGTON, 238 - 15. THE BLUE ROOM—INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE—WASHINGTON, 246 - 16. THE GREAT EAST ROOM—INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, 258 - 17. THE GREEN ROOM—INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE—WASHINGTON, 258 - 18. UNITED STATES TREASURY—WASHINGTON, 284 - 19. MAKING MONEY—THE ROOM IN THE TREASURY BUILDING WHERE THE 319 - GREENBACKS ARE PRINTED, - 20. AMONG THE GREENBACKS—THE CUTTING AND SEPARATING ROOM IN THE 322 - TREASURY BUILDING, - 21. BURNT TO ASHES—THE END OF UNCLE SAM’S GREENBACKS, 337 - The above is a graphic sketch of the destruction of the worn and - defaced currency constantly being redeemed by the Government, - which is here burned every day at 12 o’clock. On one occasion - considerably more than one hundred million dollars’ worth of - bonds and greenbacks were destroyed in this furnace, and the - burning of from fifty to seventy-five millions at a time is a - matter of ordinary occurrence. - 22. THE NEW MARBLE CASH-ROOM, UNITED STATES TREASURY, 340 - The most costly and magnificent room of its kind in the world. - 23. COUNTING WORN AND DEFACED GREENBACKS AND DETECTING 354 - COUNTERFEITS, - This room is in the Redemption Bureau, Treasury-Building. Over One - Hundred Thousand Dollars’ worth of Fractional Currency alone is - here daily received for redemption: out of which about Three - Hundred and Fifty Dollars’ worth of counterfeit money is - detected, stamped, and returned. - 24. THE LOBBY OF THE SENATE—INSIDE THE CAPITOL—WASHINGTON, 382 - 25. DEAD-LETTER OFFICE, U. S. GENERAL POST-OFFICE—WASHINGTON, 398 - 26. THE MODEL-ROOM—PATENT OFFICE—WASHINGTON, 438 - This room contains the fruits of the inventive genius of the whole - nation. More than 160,000 models are here deposited. - 27. BLOOD-STAINED CONFEDERATE BATTLE-FLAGS, CAPTURED DURING THE 462 - WAR, - Sketched by permission of the Government from the large collection - in possession of the War Department, at Washington. - - 1. Black Flag. 4. State and Regiment unknown. [Captured - at the Battle of Gettysburg, by the 60th - Regiment of New York Volunteers.] - 2. Alabama Flag. - 3. Palmetto Flag. 5. State Colors of North Carolina. - - 28. THE NEW BUILDING NOW BEING CONSTRUCTED FOR DEPARTMENTS OF 466 - STATE, ARMY, AND NAVY—WASHINGTON, - 29. THE MAIN HALL OF THE ARMY MEDICAL MUSEUM—WASHINGTON, 476 - This Museum occupies the scene of the assassination of President - Lincoln, in Ford’s Theatre, which after that date became the - property of the Government. It contains a collection of upwards - of twenty thousand rare, curious and interesting objects, - surpassing any similar collection in the world. It is visited - annually by upwards of twenty-five thousand persons. - 30. CURIOSITIES FROM THE ARMY MEDICAL MUSEUM, 482 - 31. A WITHERED ARM, 482 - Skin, flesh, and bones complete. Amputated by a cannon-shot on the - battle-field of Gettysburg. The shot carried the severed limb up - into the high branches of a tree, where it was subsequently - found, completely air and sun-dried. - 32. SKULL OF A MAN, 482 - Who received an arrow-wound in the head, three gun-shot - flesh-wounds, one in the arm, another in the breast, and a third - in the leg. Seven days afterwards he was admitted to the - hospital at Fort Concha, Texas, (where he subsequently died,) - after having travelled above 160 miles on the barren plains, - mostly on foot. - 33. APACHE INDIAN ARROW-HEAD, 482 - Of soft hoop-iron. These arrows will perforate a bone without - causing the slightest fracture, where a rifle or musket-ball - will flatten; and will make a cut as clean as the finest - surgical instrument. - 34. SKULL OF LITTLE BEAR’S SQUAW, 482 - Perforated by seven bullet-holes. Killed in Wyoming Territory. - 35. ALL THAT REMAINS ABOVE GROUND OF JOHN WILKES BOOTH, 482 - Being part of the Vertebræ penetrated [A] by the bullet of Boston - Corbett. Strange freak of fate that the remains of Booth should - find a resting-place under the same roof, and but a few feet - from the spot where the fatal shot was fired. - 36. SKULL OF A SOLDIER, 482 - Wounded at Spottsylvania; showing the splitting of a - rifle-ball—one portion being buried deep in the brain, and the - other between the scalp and the skull. He lived twenty-three - days. - 37. A SIOUX PAPPOOSE, 482 - Or Indian infant, found in a tree near Fort Laramie, where it had - been buried (?) according to the custom of this tribe. - 38. SKULL OF AN INDIAN, 482 - Showing nine distinct sabre wounds. - 39. “OLD PROBABILITIES’” INSTRUMENT ROOM, 504 - Storm and Weather Signal Service Bureau—Washington. - 40. TROPICAL FRUITS—INSIDE THE GOVERNMENT 545 - CONSERVATORY—WASHINGTON, - 41. THE DOME AND SPIRAL STAIRCASE; RARE PLANTS AND FLOWERS—INSIDE 546 - THE GOVERNMENT CONSERVATORY—WASHINGTON, - 42. TROPICAL PLANTS AND FLOWERS—INSIDE THE GOVERNMENT 548 - CONSERVATORY—WASHINGTON, - 43. THE VAN NESS MANSION, AND DAVY BURNS’ COTTAGE, 550 - 44. THE CAPITOL AS SEEN FROM PENNSYLVANIA AVE.—WASHINGTON, 550 - 45. VIEW OF THE “CITY OF THE SLAIN”—ARLINGTON, 582 - The remains of over 8,000 soldiers, killed during the war, lie - buried in this Cemetery—the name, regiment, and date of death of - each is painted on a wooden head-board. - 46. THE TOMB OF “THE UNKNOWN”—ARLINGTON, 586 - Erected by the Government to the memory of Unknown Soldiers killed - during the War. It bears the following inscription: - “Beneath this stone - repose the bones of Two Thousand One Hundred and Eleven unknown - soldiers, gathered after the war, - from the fields of Bull Run and the _route_ to the Rappahannock. - Their remains could not be identified; but their names and deaths are - recorded in the archives of their country, and its grateful citizens - honor them as of their noble army of Martyrs. May they rest in peace! - September, A. D. 1866.” - 47. PORTRAIT OF JAMES A. GARFIELD, THE MARTYR PRESIDENT, 588 - Engraved from a recent photograph. - 48. PORTRAIT OF MRS. JAMES A. GARFIELD, WIFE OF THE MARTYR 600 - PRESIDENT, - Engraved from a recent photograph. - - - - - CONTENTS. - -[Illustration] - - CHAPTER I. - - FROM THE VERY BEGINNING. PAGE. - - The Young Surveyor’s Dream—A Vision of the Future Capital—The - United States Government on Wheels—Ambitious Offers—The Rival - Rivers—Temporary Lodgings for Eleven Years—Old-Fashioned - Simplicity—A Great Man’s Modesty—Conflicting Claims—A - Convincing Fact—The Dreadful Quakers—A Condescending Party—A - Slight Amendment—An Old Bill Brought to Light Again—The Future - Strangely Foreshadowed—A Dinner of Some Consequence—How it was - Done—Really a Stranger—A Nice Proposal—Sweetening the Pill—A - “Revulsion of Stomach,” 21 - - CHAPTER II. - - CROSS PURPOSES AND QUEER SPECULATIONS. - - Born of Much Bother—Undefined Apprehensions—Debates on the Coming - City—Old World Examples—Sir James Expresses an Opinion—A Dream - of the Distant West—An Old-time Want—A Curious Statement of - Fact—Where is the Center of Population—An Important - Proclamation—Original Land Owners—Well-worn Patents—Getting on - with Pugnacious Planters—Obstinate David Burns—A “Widow’s Mite” - of Some Magnitude—How the Scotchman was Subjugated—A Rather - “Forcible Argument,” 31 - - CHAPTER III. - - THE WORK BEGUN IN EARNEST. - - Washington’s Faith in the Future—Mr. Sparks is “Inclined to - Think”—A Slight Miscalculation—Theoretical Spartans—Clinging to - Old World Glories—Jefferson Acts the Critic—He Communicates - Some Ideas—Models of Antiquity—Babylon Revived—Difficulty in - Satisfying a Frenchman’s Soul—The Man Who Planned the - Capital—Who Was L’Enfant?—His Troubles—His Dismissal—His - Personal Appearance, Old Age, Death, and Burial Place—His - Successor—A Magnificent Plan—A Record Which Can Never Perish—An - Overpaid Quaker—Jefferson Expresses His Sentiments—A Sable - Franklin—The Negro Engineer, Benjamin Bancker—A Chance for a - Monument, 38 - - CHAPTER IV. - - OLD WASHINGTON. - - How the City Was Built—“A Matter of Moonshine”—Calls for - Paper—Besieging Congressmen—How They Raised the Money—The - Government Requires Sponsors—Birth of the Nation’s - Capital—Seventy Years Ago in Washington—Graphic Picture of - Early Times—A Much-Marrying City—Unwashed Virginian - Belles—Stuck in the Mud—Extraordinary Religious Services, 51 - - CHAPTER V. - - THE CAPITAL OF THE NATION. - - Expectations Disappointed—Funds Low and People Few—Slow Progress - of the City—A Question of Importance Discussed—Generous - Proposition of George Washington—Faith Under - Difficulties—Transplanting an Entire College—An Old Proposition - in a New Shape—What Washington “Society” Lacks—Perils of the - Way—A Long Plain of Mud—Egyptian Dreariness—The End of an - Expensive Canal—The Water of Tiber Creek—Divided Allegiance of - Old—The Stirring of a Nation’s Heart—A Personal Interest, 62 - - CHAPTER VI. - - THE WASHINGTON OF THE PRESENT DAY. - - Hopes Realized—Washington in 1873—Major L’Enfant’s Dream—Old and - New—“Modern Improvements”—A City of Palaces—The Capital in all - its Glory—Traces of the War—Flowers on the Ramparts—Under the - Oaks of Arlington—Ten Years Ago—The Birth of a Century—The - Reign of Peace, 72 - - CHAPTER VII. - - WHAT MADE NEW WASHINGTON. - - Municipal Changes—Necessity of Reform—The “Organic Act” - Passed—Contest for the Governorship of Columbia District—Mr. - Henry D. Cooke Appointed—Board of Public Works - Constituted—Great Improvements Made—Opposition—The Board and - Its Work, 76 - - CHAPTER VIII. - - BUILDING THE CAPITOL. - - Various Plans for the Building—Jefferson Writes to the - Commissioners—“Poor Hallet” and His Plan—Wanton Destruction by - the British, A. D. 1814—The Site Chosen by Washington - Himself—Imposing Ceremonies at the Foundation—Dedicatory - Inscription on the Silver Plate—Interesting - Festivities—Extension of the Building—Daniel Webster’s - Inscription—His Eloquent and Patriotic Speech—Mistaken - Calculations—First Session of Representatives Sitting in “the - Oven”—Old Capitol Prison—Immense Outlay upon the Wings and - Dome—Compared with St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s—The Goddess of - Liberty—The Congressional Library—What Ought to be Done, 83 - - CHAPTER IX. - - INSIDE THE CAPITOL. - - A Visit to the Capitol—The Lower Hall—Its Cool - Tranquility—Artistic Treasures—The President’s and - Vice-President’s Rooms—The Marble Room—The Senate Chamber—“Men - I Have Known”—Hamlin—Foote—Foster—Wade—Colfax—Wilson—The - Rotunda—Great Historical Paintings—The Old Hall of - Representatives—The New Hall—The Speaker’s Room—Native Art—“The - Star of Empire”—A National Picture, 93 - - CHAPTER X. - - OUTSIDE THE CAPITOL. - - The Famous Bronze Doors—The Capitol Grounds—Statue of Washington - Criticised—Horace Greenough’s Defence of the Statue—Picturesque - Scenery Around the Capitol—The City and Suburbs—The Public - Reservation—The Smithsonian Institution—The Potomac and the - Hights of Arlington, 104 - - CHAPTER XI. - - ART TREASURES OF THE CAPITOL. - - Arrival of a Solitary Lady—“The Pantheon of America”—Il - Penserosa—Milton’s Ideal—Dirty Condition of the House of - Representatives—The Goddess of Melancholy—Vinnie Ream’s Statue - of Lincoln—Its Grand Defects—Necessary Qualifications for a - Sculptor—The Bust of Lincoln by Mrs. Ames—General Greene and - Roger Williams—Barbarous Garments of Modern Times—Statues of - Jonathan Trumbull and Roger Sherman—Bust of Kosciusko—Pulling - his Nose—Alexander Hamilton—Fate of Senator Burr—Statue of - Baker—His Last Speech Prophetic—The Glory of a Patriotic - Example—The Lesson which Posterity Learns—Horatio Stone, the - Sculptor—Neglected Condition of the Capitol Statuary—Curious - Clock—Grotesque Plaster Image of Liberty—Webster—Clay—Adams—The - Pantheon at Rome—The French Pantheon, 109 - - CHAPTER XII. - - WOMEN WITH CLAIMS. - - The Senate Reception-Room—The People who Haunt it—Republican - “Ladies in Waiting”—“Women with Claims”—Their Heroic - Persistency—A Widow and Children in Distress—Claim Agents—The - Committee of Claims—A Kind-Hearted Senator’s - Troubles—Buttonholing a Senator—A Lady of Energy—Resolved to - Win—An “Office Brokeress”—A Dragon of a Woman—A Lady who is - Feared if not Respected—Her Unfortunate Victims—Carrying “Her - Measure”—The Beautiful Petitioner—The Cloudy Side of Her - Character—Her Subtle Dealings—Her Successes, 120 - - CHAPTER XIII. - - THE CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY. - - Inside the Library—The Librarian—Sketch of Mr. Spofford—How - Congressional Speeches are Manufactured—“Spofford” in - Congress—The Library Building—Diagram—Dimensions of the - Hall—The Iron Book Cases—The Law Library—Five Miles of Book - Shelves—Silent Study—“Abstracting” Books—Amusing Adventure—A - Senator in a Quandary—Making Love Under Difficulties—Library - Regulations—Privileged Persons—Novels and their Readers—Books - of Reference—Compared with the British Museum—Curious Old - Newspapers—Files of Domestic and Foreign Papers—One Hundred - Defunct Journals—An Incident of the War of 1814—Putting it to - the Vote—“Carried Unanimously”—35,000 Volumes - Destroyed—Treasurers of Art Consumed—The New Library—The Next - Appropriation, 127 - - CHAPTER XIV. - - A VISIT TO THE NEW LAW LIBRARY. - - How a Library was Offered to Congress—Mr. King’s Proposal—An Eye - to Theology—The Smithsonian Library Transferred—The Good Deeds - of Peter Force—National Documents—Eliot’s Indian Bible—Literary - Treasures—The Lawyers Want a Library for Themselves—The Finest - Law Library in the World—First Edition of Blackstone—Report of - the Trial of Cagliostro, Rohan and La Motte—Marie Antoinette’s - Diamond Necklace—A Long Life-Service—An Architect Buried - Beneath his own Design—“Underdone Pie-crust”—Reminiscences of - Daniel Webster and the Girard Will, 138 - - CHAPTER XV. - - THE HEAVEN OF LEGAL AMBITION—THE SUPREME COURT ROOM. - - Memories of Clay, Webster, and Calhoun—Legal Giants of the - Past—Stately Serenity of the Modern Court—“Wise Judgment and - Wine Dinners”—The Supreme Court in Session—Soporific - Influences—A Glimpse of the Veritable “Bench”—The Ladies’ - Gallery—The Chief Justices of the Past—His - Apotheosis—Chief-Justice Chase—Black-Robed Dignitaries—An - Undignified Procession—The “Crier” in Court—Antique - Proclamation—The Consultation-Room—Gowns of Office—Reminiscence - of Judge McLean—“Uncle Henry and his Charge”—Fifty Years in - Office, 144 - - CHAPTER XVI. - - THE “MECCA” OF THE AMERICAN. - - The Center of a Nation’s Hopes—Stirring Reminiscences of the - Capitol—History Written in Stone—Patriotic Expression of - Charles Sumner—Building “for all Time”—“This our Fathers Did - for Us”—The Interest of Humanity—A Secret Charm for a - Thoughtful Mind—An Idea of Equality—The Destiny of the Stars - and Stripes—A Mother’s Ambition—The Dying Soldier, 148 - - CHAPTER XVII. - - THE CAPITOL—MORNING SIGHTS AND SCENES. - - The Capitol in Spring—A Magic Change—Arrival of Visitors—A New - Race—“Billing and Cooing”—Lovers at the Capitol—A Dream of - Perpetual Spring—Spending the Honeymoon in Washington—New - Edition of David Copperfield and Dora—“Very Young”—Divided - Affections: The New Bride—Jonathan and Jane—Memories of a - Wedding Dress—An Interview with a Bride—“Two Happy Idiots”—A - Walk in the City—President Grant—The Foreign Ambassadors—“Beau” - Hickman—An Erratic Genius—Walt Whitman the Poet—A “Loafer” of - Renown—Poets at Home—Piatt—Burroughs—Harriet Prescott - Spofford—Sumner and Chase—Tiresome Men—How to Love a Tree, 153 - - CHAPTER XVIII. - - FAIR WASHINGTON—A RAMBLE IN EARLY SPRING. - - Washington Weather—Sky Scenery—Professor Tyndall Expresses an - Opinion—A Picture of Beauty—Prejudiced Views—Birds of Rock - Creek—The Parsonage—A Scene of Tranquil Beauty—A Washington - May—Charms of the Season—Mowers at Work—The Public - Parks—Frolics of the Little Ones—Strawberry Festivals—“Flower - Gathering,” 162 - - CHAPTER XIX. - - INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE—SHADOWS OF THE PAST. - - Haunted Houses—Shadows of the Past—Touching Memories—The Little - Angels Born There—A State of Perpetual Dampness—Dingy Aspect of - a Monarch’s Palace—Outside the White House—A Peep Inside the - Mansion—The Emperor of Japan Supersedes the Punch-Bowl—The - Unfinished “Banqueting-Hall”—Glories of a _Levée_—Magnificent - Hospitalities—A Comfortable Dining-Room—A Lady of Taste—An - American “Baronial Hall”—The Furniture of Another Generation—A - Valuable Steward—A Professor of Gastronomy—Paying the Professor - and Providing the Dinner—Feeding the Celebrities—Mrs. Lincoln’s - Unpopular Innovations—Fifteen Hundred Dollars for a Dinner—How - Prince Arthur, of England, was Entertained—Domestic - Economy—“Not Enough Silver”—A Tasty Soup—The Recipe for an - Aristocratic Stew—Having a “Nice Time”—Hatred of Flummery—An - Admirer of Pork and Beans and Slap-jacks—A Presidential - Reception—Ready for the Festival—Splendor, Weariness and - Indigestion—Paying the Penalty—In the Conservatory—Domestic - Arrangements—Reminiscence of Abraham Lincoln, 167 - - CHAPTER XX. - - LADIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE. - - A Morning Dream—Wives and Daughters of the Presidents—An Average - Matron of the 18th Century—Educational Disadvantages—A - Well-Regulated Lady—Useful Wife—Advantages of Having a - Distinguished Husband—A Modern Lucretia—Washington’s - Inauguration Suit—An Awkward Position for a Lady—Festivities in - Franklin Square!—Transporting the Household Gods—Keeping Early - Hours—Primitive Customs—Much-Shaken Hands—Remembrances of a - Past Age—Very Questionable Humility—The Room in which - Washington Died—Days of Widowhood—A Wife’s Congratulations—A - True Woman—Domestic Affairs at the White House—An Unfinished - Mansion—Interesting Details—A Woman’s Influence—A Monument - Wanted—Devotion of a Husband—The “Single Life”—Disappointed - Belles—An Extraordinary Reception—Blacked His Own Boots—A - Daughter’s Affection, 177 - - CHAPTER XXI. - - WIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS—LIFE AT THE WHITE HOUSE. - - A Social Queen—“The Most Popular Person in the United States”—The - Slow Days of Old—Traveling Under Difficulties—Political - Pugnacity—Formality _versus_ Hospitality—Big Dishes Laughed - at—A Foreign Minister Criticises—Advantages of a Good - Memory—Funny Adventure of a Rustic Youth—A Strange - Pocketful—Putting Him at His Ease—Doleful Visage of a New - President—Getting Rid of a Burden—A Brave Lady—Waiting in - Suspense—Taking Care of Cabinet Papers—Watching and - Waiting—Flight—Unscrewing the Picture—After the War—Brilliant - Receptions—Mrs. Madison’s Snuff-Box—Clay Takes a Pinch—“This is - my Polisher!”—Two Plain Old Ladies from the West—They Depart in - Peace—Days of Trouble and Care—Manuscripts Purchased by - Congress—Last Days of a Good Woman—Mrs. Monroe—A Severe and - Aristocratic Woman—Madame Lafayette in Prison, 192 - - CHAPTER XXII. - - NOTED WOMEN OF WASHINGTON—A CHAPTER OF GOSSIP. - - A Traveling Lady—Life in Russia—A Modern American Minister—A long - and Lonely Journey—The Court of St James—Peculiar - Waists—Costume of an Ancient _Belle_—Fearful and Wonderful - Attire of a _Beau_—“A suit of Steel”—An Ascendant Star—A Man - Who Hid his Feelings—The Candidate at a Cattle Show—Charles’s - Opinion of His Mother—How a Lady “Amused” Her Declining Days—A - Woman’s Influence—Politics and Piety Disagree—Why the General - Didn’t Join the Church—A Head “Full of Politics”—Swearing - Some—The President Becomes a Good Boy—Domestic Tendencies, 204 - - CHAPTER XXIII. - - SCENES AT THE WHITE HOUSE—MEN AND WOMEN OF NOTE. - - Widows “at par”—Four Sonless Presidents—Supported by Flattery—A - Delicate Constitution—Living to a Respectable Age—Teaching Her - Grandson How to Fight—A Pathetic Reminiscence—A Perfect - Gentlewoman—Obeying St. Paul—A Woman Who “Kept Silence”—“Sarah - Knows Where It Is”—Three Queens in the Background—A Very - Handsome Woman—A Lady’s Heroism—A Man Who Kept to His Post—A - Life in the Savage Wilderness—A Life’s Devotion—The Colonel’s - Brave Wife—Objecting to the Presidency—An Inclination for - Retirement—The Penalty of Greatness—Death in the White House—A - Wife’s Prayers—A New _Regime_—The Clothier’s Apprentice and the - School Teacher—The Future President Builds His Own - House—Domestic Happiness—Twenty-seven Years of Married - Life—Home “Comforts” at the White House—The Memory of a Loving - Wife, 218 - - CHAPTER XXIV. - - THE WHITE HOUSE DURING THE WAR. - - Under a Cloud—“A Woman Among a Thousand”—Revival of By-gone - Days—Another Lady of the White House—A “Golden Blonde”—Instinct - Alike with Power and Grace—A Fun-Loving Romp—Harriet with her - Wheelbarrow of Wood—A Deed of Kindness—The Wheel Turns - Round—Gay Doings at the Capital—Rival Claims for a Lady’s - Hand—Reigning at the White House—Doing Double Duty—Marriage of - Harriet Lane—As Wife and Mother—Mrs. Abraham Lincoln—Standing - Alone—A Time of Trouble and Perplexity—Rumors of War—Whispers - of Treason—Awaiting the Event—A Life-long Ambition - Fulfilled—The Nation Called to Arms—What the President’s Wife - Did—The Dying and the Dead—Arrival of Troops—The Lonely Man at - the White House—An Example of Selfishness—Petty Economies—The - Back Door of the White House—An Injured Individual—Death of - Willie Lincoln—Injustice which Mrs. Lincoln Suffered—The Rabble - in the White House—Valuables Carried Away—Big Boxes and Much - Goods—Mrs. Lincoln Disconsolate—Missing Treasures—Faults of a - President’s Wife, 231 - - CHAPTER XXV. - - THE WHITE HOUSE NOW. - - After the War—A Contrast—Secretly Burying the Dead—A Wife of - Seventeen Years—Midnight Studies—Broken Down—A party of - Grandchildren—“God’s Best Gift to Man”—The Woman Who Taught the - President—Doing the Honors at the White House—Traces of the - Soldiers—A State of Dirt and Ruin—Mrs. Patterson’s Calico - Dress—In the Diary—A Nineteenth Century Wonder—How the Old - Carpets were Patched—How $30,000 were Spent—Buying the - Furniture—Working in Hot Weather—Very Good Dinners—Doors Open - to the Mob—Sketching a Banquet—The Portraits of the - Presidents—The Impeachment Trial—Peace in the Family—The Grant - Dynasty—Looking Home-like—Mrs. Grant at Home—What Might Be - Done, if—How a Certain Young Lady was Spoilt—Brushing Away “the - Dew of Innocence,” 243 - - CHAPTER XXVI. - - RECEPTION DAY AT THE WHITE HOUSE—GLIMPSES OF LIFE. - - Feeling Good-Natured—Looking After One’s Friends—Ready to - Forgive—Mr. Grant’s “Likeable Side”—Rags and Tatters - Departed—The Work of Relic-Hunters—Eight Presidents, All in a - Row—Shadows of the Departed—A Present from the Sultan of - Turkey—A List of Finery—A Scene Not Easily Forgotten—How They - Wept for Their Martyr—Tales which a Room Might Tell—Underneath - the Gold and Lace—The Census of Spittoons—“A Horror in Our - Land”—The Shadow of Human Nature—Two “Quizzing” Ladies—An - Illogical Dame—Her “Precarious Organ”—A Lady of Many Colors—“A - New Woman”—A Vegetable Comparison—The Lady of the Manor—Women - Who are Not Ashamed of Womanhood—Observed and Admired of - All—Sketch of a Perfect Woman—After the Lapse of - Generations—The “German”—The “Withering” of Many American - Women—Full Dress and No Dress—What the Princess Ghika Thinks—A - Young Girl’s Dress—“That Dreadful Woman”—The Resolution of a - Young Man, 256 - - CHAPTER XXVII. - - INAUGURATION DAY AT WASHINGTON. - - My Own Private Opinion—The Little “Sons of War” Feeling - Bad—Brutal Mothers—Our Heroes—Later Festivities—A Lively - Time—The Mighty Drum-Major—“Taken for a Nigger”—Magnificent - Display—The Oldest Regiment in the States—Sketches of - Well-known Men—Blacque Bey—Full Turkish Costume—The Japanese - Minister—The Supreme Court—Congress Alive Again—The - Valedictory—Taking the Oath—“The Little Gentleman in the Big - Chair”—His Little Speech—His Wife and Family Behind—The New - President—Memories of Another Scene—The Curtain Falls, 269 - - CHAPTER XXVIII. - - A PEEP AT AN INAUGURATION BALL. - - How Sixty Thousand Dollars were Spent—Something Wrong: “Twas Ever - Thus”—A Fine Opportunity for a Few Naughty Words—Lost - Jewels—The Colored Folks in a Fix—Six Thousand People Clamoring - for Their Clothes!—A Magnificent “Grab”—Weeping on - Window-ledges—Left Desolate—Walking under Difficulties—The - Exploit of Two Old Gentlemen—Horace Greeley Loses his Old White - Hat—He says Naughty Words of Washington—A Little Too Cold—Gay - Decorations—Modesty in Scanty Garments—The President - Frozen—Ladies of Distinction—Half-frozen Beauties—Why and - Wherefore?—A Stolid Tanner Who Fought his Way, 278 - - CHAPTER XXIX. - - THE UNITED STATES TREASURY—ITS HISTORY. - - The Responsibilities and Duties of the Secretary of the - Treasury—Three Extraordinary Men—Hamilton Makes an Honest - Proposal—The Mint at Philadelphia—A Little Personal Abuse—The - Secretary Borrows Twenty Dollars—Modern Greediness—The Genius - Becomes a Lawyer—Burning of Records—Hunting for Blunders and - Frauds—The Treasury Building—A Little Variety—A Vision of Much - Money—Old Debts Raked Up—Signs of the Times—The National - Currency Act—Enormous Increase of the National Debt—Facts and - Figures—The Credit of the Government Sustained—President - Grant’s Rule—George S. Boutwell Made Secretary—Great - Expectations, 284 - - CHAPTER XXX. - - INSIDE THE TREASURY—THE HISTORY OF A DOLLAR. - - “Old Hickory” Erects his Cane—“Put the Building Right Here”—A - Very Costly Building—The Workers Within—The Business of Three - Thousand People—The Mysteries of the Treasury—Inside the - Rooms—Mary Harris’s Revenge—The “Drones” in the Hive—Making - Love in Office Hours—Flirtations in Public—A List of Miserable - Sinners—A Pitiful Ancient Dame—Women’s Work in the Treasury—The - Bureau of Printing and Engraving—Dealing in Big Figures—The - Story of a Paper Dollar—In the Upper Floor—The Busy - Workers—Night Work—Where the Paper is Made—The “Localized Blue - Fibre”—_The_ Obstacle to the Counterfeiter—The Automatic - Register—Keeping Watch—The Counters and Examiners—An Armed - Escort—Varieties of Printing—The Contract with Adams’ - Express—Printing the Notes and Currency—Internal Revenue - Stamps—Manufacturing the Plates—The Engraving Division—“Men of - Many Minds”—Delicate Operations—A Pressure of Five or Six - Tons—The Plate Complete—“Re-entering” a Plate—An - “Impression”—How Old Plates are Used Up—A Close - Inspection—Defying Imitation—The Geometric Lathe, 303 - - CHAPTER XXXI. - - THE WORKERS IN THE TREASURY—HOW THE MONEY IS MADE. - - The Dollar with the Counters—In the Tubs—Getting a - Wetting—Servants of Necessity—That Scorching Roof—Brown Paper - Bonnets—A State of Dampness—Squaring Accounts—Superintending - the Work—The Face-printing Division—The United States - “Sealer”—Printing Cigar-Stamps and Gold-Notes of Many - Colors—With a Begrimed Face—The Fiery Little Brazier—What the - Man Does—The Woman’s Work—The Automatic Register—An Observer - Without a Soul—Our Damp Little Dollar—The Drying Room—The First - Wrinkles—Looking Wizened and Old—Rejuvenating a - Dollar—Underneath Two Hundred and Forty Tons—Smooth and - Polished—Precious to the Touch—A Virgin Dollar—The “Sealer” at - Work—Mutilated Paper—What the Women are paid—The - Surface-Sealing Division—Seal Printing—The Aristocratic Green - Seal—The Numbering Division—Dividing the Dollars—Snowy Aprons - and Delicate Ribbons—Needling the Sheet—A Blade that Does not - Fail—Sorting the Notes—The Manipulation of the Ladies—The - Dollar “In its Little Bed”—Dollar on Dollar—“Awaiting the Final - Call,” 317 - - CHAPTER XXXII. - - THE LAST DAYS OF A DOLLAR. - - Ready for the World—Starting Right—Forty Busy Maids and - Matrons—Counting Out the Money—Human Machines—A Lady Counting - for a Dozen Years Fifty Thousand Notes in a Day—Counting Four - Thousand Notes in Twenty Minutes—What has Passed Through _Some_ - Fingers—Big Figures—Packing Away the Dollars—The Cash - Division—The Marble Cash-Room—The Great Iron Vault—Where Uncle - Sam Keeps His Money—Some Nice Little Packages—Taking it - Coolly—One Hundred Millions of Dollars in Hand—Some Little - White Bags—The Gold Taken from the Banks of Richmond—A - Distinction Without a Difference—The Secret of the Locks—The - Hydraulic Elevator—Sending the Money off—Begrimed, Demoralized, - and Despoiled—Where is Our Pretty Dollar?—The Redemption - Division—Counting Mutilated Currency—Women at Work—Sorting Old - Greenbacks—Three Hundred Counterfeit Dollars Daily—Detecting - Bad Notes—“Short,” “Over,” and “Counterfeit”—Difficulty of - Counterfeiting Fresh Notes—Vast Amounts Sent for - Redemption—Thirty-one Million Dollars in One Year—The Assistant - Treasurer at New York—The Cancelling Room—The Counter’s - Report—The Bundle in a Box—Awkward Responsibility—“Punching” - Old Dollars—The Funeral of the Dollar—The Burning, Fiery - Furnace—The End of the Dollar, 326 - - CHAPTER XXXIII. - - THE GREAT CASH-ROOM—THE WATCH-DOG OF THE TREASURY. - - No Need for Dirty Money—The Flowers of July—Money Affairs—The - Great Cash-Room—Its Marble Glories—A Glance Inside—The - Beautiful Walls—A Good Deal of Very Bad Taste—Only Made of - Plaster—“The Watch Dog” of the Treasury—The Custodian of the - Cash—A Broken-nosed Pitcher—Ink for the Autographs—His Ancient - Chair—“The General”—“Crooked, Crotchety, and - Great-hearted”—“Principles” and Pantaloons—Below the Surface—An - Unpaintable Face—An Object of Personal Curiosity—Dick and Dolly - pay the General a Visit—How the Thing is Done—Getting his - Autograph—A Specimen for the Folks at Home—Where the Treasurer - Sleeps—Going the Round at Night—Making Assurance Sure—Awakened - by a Strong Impression—Sleepless—In the “Small Hours”—Finding - the Door Open—A Careless Clerk—The Care of Eight Hundred - Millions—On the Alert—The Auditors—The Solicitor’s Office—The - Light-House Board—The Coast Survey—Internal Revenue Department, 339 - - CHAPTER XXXIV. - - WOMAN’S WORK IN THE DEPARTMENTS—WHAT THEY DO AND HOW THEY DO IT. - - Women Experts in the Treasury—Their Superiority to Men—Money - Burnt in the Chicago Fire—Cases of Valuable Rubbish—Identifying - Burnt Greenbacks—The Ashes of the Boston Fire—From the Bottom - of the Mississippi—Mrs. Patterson Saves a “Pile” of Money—Money - in the Toes of Stockings—In the Stomachs of Men and Beasts—From - the Bodies of the Murdered and Drowned—One Hundred and Eighty - Women at Work—“The Broom Brigade”—Scrubbing the Floors—Stories - which Might be Told—Meditating Suicide—The Struggle of Life—How - a Thousand Women are Employed—Speaking of Their Characters—Miss - Grundy of New York—Women of Business Capacity—A Lady as Big as - Two Books!—A Disgrace to the Nation—Working for Two, Paid for - One—Beaten by a Woman—The Post-Office Department—Folding “Dead - Letters”—A Woman Who has Worked Well—“Sorrow Does Not Kill”—The - Patent Office—Changes Which Should be Made, 350 - - CHAPTER XXXV. - - WOMEN’S WORK IN THE TREASURY—HOW APPOINTMENTS ARE MADE. - - The Difference Between Men and Women—A Shameful and Disgraceful - Fraud—What Two Women Did—Cutting Down the Salaries of Women—The - First Woman-Clerk in the Treasury—Taking Her Husband’s - Place—The Feminine Tea-Pot—“A Woman can Use Scissors Better - than a Man”—Profound Discovery!—“She’ll do it - _Cheaper”_—Besieged by Women—Scenes of Distress and - Trouble—Infamous Intrigues—The Baseness of Certain - Senators—Virtue Spattered with Mud—Secret Doings in High - Places—Sounding Magnanimous—Passing the Examination—The - Irrepressible Masculine Tyrants—Up to the Mark, but not - Winning—An Alarming Suggestion—Men _Versus_ Women—Tampering - with the Scales, 369 - - CHAPTER XXXVI. - - GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL LIFE—HOW PLACE AND POWER ARE WON. - - Keeping his Eye Open—The Sweet and Winning Ways of Mr. - Parasite—In Office—The Fault of the “People” and “my - Friends”—Pulling the Wool over the Eyes of the Innocent—Writing - Letters in a Big Way—The “Dark Ways” of Wicked Mr. P—— —A - Suspicious Yearning for Private Life—The Sweets of Office—John - Jones is not Encouraged—Post-offices as Plentiful as - Blackberries—Receiving Office seekers—Dismissing - John—Over-crowded Pastures—John’s Own Private Opinion—Peculiar - Impartiality of the Man in Office—What the Successful Man - Said—A Certain Kind of Man, and Where He can be Found, 382 - - CHAPTER XXXVII. - - THE DEAD-LETTER OFFICE—ITS MARVELS AND MYSTERIES. - - The Post-Office—The Postal Service In Early Times—The First - Postmaster General—The Present Chief—A Cabinet Minister—The - Subordinate Officers—Their Positions and Duties—The Ocean Mail - Postal Service—The Contract Office—The Finance Office—The - Inspection Office—Complaints and Misdoings—One Hundred and - Twenty Years Ago—Franklin Performs Wonderful Works—His Ideas of - Speed—Between Boston and Philadelphia in Six Weeks—Dismissed - from Office—A New Post-Office System—The Inspector of Dead - Letters—Only Seventy-five Offices in the States—Only One - Clerk—Government Stages—The Office at Washington—Franklin’s Old - Ledger—The Present Number of Post-Offices—The Dead Letter - Office—The Ladies Too Much Squeezed—Opening the Dead - Letters—Why Certain Persons are Trusted—Three Thousand - Thoughtless People—Valuable Letters—Ensuring Correctness—The - Property Branch—The Touching Story of the Photographs—The - Return Branch—What the Postmaster Says, 388 - - CHAPTER XXXVIII. - - THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR—UNCLE SAM’S DOMESTIC ARRANGEMENTS. - - Inadequate Accommodation in Heaven—Valuable Documents—In - Jeopardy—Talk of Moving the Capital—Concerning Certain Idiots—A - Day in the Patent Office—The Inventive Genius of the - Country—Division of Indian Affairs—Lands and Railroads—Pensions - and Patents—The Superintendent of the Building—The Secretary of - the Interior and his Subordinates—Pensions and Their - Recipients—Indian Affairs—How the Savages are Treated—Over - Twenty—One Million of Dollars Credited to their Little - Account—The Census Bureau—A Rather Big Work—The Bureau of - Patents—What is a Patent?—A Few Dollars Over—The Use Made of a - Certain Brick Building—Cutting Down the Ladies’ Salaries—Making - Places for Useful Voters—A Sweet Prayer for Delano’s Welfare, 407 - - CHAPTER XXXIX. - - THE PENSION BUREAU—HOW GOVERNMENT PAYS ITS SERVANTS. - - Sneering at Red Tape—The Division of Labor—Scrutinizing - Petitions—A Heavy Paper Jacket—Invalids, Widows, and Minors—The - Examiner of Pensions—How Claims are Entertained and Tested—What - is Recorded in the Thirty Enormous Volumes—How Many Genuine - Cases are Refused—One of the Inconveniences of Ignorance—The - Claim Agent Gobbles up the Lion’s Share—An Extensive - Correspondence—How Claims are Mystified, and Money is - Wasted—Seventy-five Thousand Claims Pending—The Reward of - Fourteen Days’ Service—The Sum Total of What the Government has - Paid in Pensions—The Largest and the Smallest Pension - Office—The Miscellaneous Branch—Investigating Frauds—A Poor - “Dependent” Woman with Forty Thousand Dollars—How “Honest and - Respectable” People Defraud the Government—The Medical - Division—Examining Invalids—The Restoration-Desk—The - Appeal-Desk—The Final-Desk—The Work that Has Been Done—One - Hundred and Fifty Thousand People Grumbling—The Wrath of a - Pugnacious Captain, 418 - - CHAPTER XL. - - TREASURES AND CURIOSITIES OF THE PATENT OFFICE—THE MODEL ROOM—ITS - RELICS AND INVENTIONS. - - The Patent Office Building—The Model Room—“The Exhibition of the - Nation”—A Room Two Hundred and Seventy Feet in Length—The - Models—Wonders and Treasures of the Room—Benjamin Franklin’s - Press—Model Fire-Escapes—Wonderful Fire-Extinguishers—The - Efforts of Genius—Sheep-Stalls, Rat-Traps, and Gutta Percha—An - Ancient Mariner’s Compass—Captain Cook’s Razor—The Atlantic - Cable—The Signatures of Emperors—An Extraordinary Turkish - Treaty—Treasures of the Orient—Rare Medals—The Reward of Major - Andre’s Captors—The Washington Relics—His Old Tent—His Blankets - and Bed-Curtains—His Chairs and Looking-Glass—His Primitive - Mess-Chest and old Tin Plates—Model of an Extraordinary - Boat—Abraham Lincoln as an Inventor—The Hat Worn on the Fatal - Night—The Gift of the Tycoon—The Efforts of Genius—A Machine to - Force Hens to Lay Eggs—A Hook for Fishing Worms out of the - Human Stomach, 436 - - CHAPTER XLI. - - THE BUREAU OF PATENTS—CRAZY INVENTORS AND WONDERFUL INVENTIONS - - Patent-Rights in Steamboats—The Corps of Examiners—Twenty - Thousand Applications _per annum_—Fourteen Thousand Patents - Granted in One Year—Wonderful Expansion of Inventive - Genius—“The Universal Yankee”—Second-hand Inventions—Where the - Inventions Come From—Taking Out a Patent for the Lord’s - Prayer—A Patent for a Cow’s Tail—A Lady’s Patent—Hesitating to - Accept a Million Dollars—How Patentees are Protected—The - American System—Exploits of General Leggett—His Efficiency in - Office—The Inventor Always a Dreamer—Perpetual Motion—The - Invention of a D. D.—Silencing the Doctor—A New Process of - Embalming—A Dead Body Sent to the Office—Utilizing Niagara—An - Englishman’s Invention—Inventors in Paris—How to Kill Lions and - Tigers in the United States with Catmint—A Fearful Bomb - Shell—Eccentric Letters—Amusing Specimens of Correspondence, 446 - - CHAPTER XLII. - - THE WAR DEPARTMENT. - - The Secretary-of-War—His Duties—The Department of the Navy—The - Custody of the Flags—Patriotic Trophies—The War of the - Rebellion—Captured Flags—An Ugly Flag and a Strange Motto—The - Stars and Stripes—The Black Flag—No Quarter—The Washington - Aqueduct—Topographical Engineers—The Ordnance Bureau—The War - Department Building—During the War—Lincoln’s Solitary - Walk—Secretary Stanton—The Exigencies of War—The Medical - History of the War—Dr. Hammond—Dr. J. H. Baxter—The Inspection - of over Half a Million Persons—Who is Unfit for Military - Service—Curious Calculations Respecting Height, Health, and - Color, 460 - - CHAPTER XLIII. - - THE ARMY MEDICAL MUSEUM—ITS CURIOSITIES AND WONDERS. - - Ford’s Theatre—Its Interesting Memories—The Last - Festivities—Assassination of President Lincoln—Two Years - Later—Effects of “War, Disease, and Human Skill”—Collection of - Pathological Specimens—The Army Medical Museum opened—Purchase - of Ford’s Theatre—Ghastly Specimens—A Book Four Centuries - Old—Rare Old Volumes—The Most Interesting of the National - Institutions—Various Opinions—Effects on Visitors—An - Extraordinary Withered Arm—A Dried Sioux Baby!—Its Poor Little - Nose—A Well-dressed Child—Its Buttons and Beads—Casts of - Soldier-Martyrs—Making a New Nose—Vassear’s Mounted - Craniums—Model Skeletons—A Giant, Seven Feet High—Skeleton of a - Child—All that remains of Wilkes Booth, the Assassin—Fractures - by Shot and Shell—General Sickles Contributes His Quota—A Case - of Skulls—Arrow-head Wounds—Nine Savage Sabre-Cuts—Seven - Bullets in One Head—Phenomenal Skulls—A Powerful Nose—An - Attempted Suicide—A Proverb Corrected—Specimen from the Paris - Catacombs—Typical Heads of the Human Race—Remarkable Indian - Relics—“Flatheads”—The Work of Indian Arrows—An Extraordinary - Story—A “Pet” Curiosity—A Japanese Manikin—Tattooed - Heads—Adventure of Captain John Smith—A “Stingaree”—The - Microscopical Division—Preparing Specimens, 475 - - CHAPTER XLIV. - - “OLD PROBABILITIES’” WORKSHOP—HOW WEATHER CALCULATIONS ARE MADE. - - “Old Probabilities”—An Interesting Subject—The Weather Bureau—The - Experience Of Fifty Centuries—Foreseeing the Approach of - Storms—The Fate of the _Metis_—Quicker than the Storm—The First - Warning by Telegraph—Exchanging Reports with Canada—The - “Observing Stations”—Protecting the River Commerce—The Signal - Corps—The Examinations—The Sergeant’s Duties—The - Signal-Stations—The Work of the Observers—Preparing Bulletins - at Washington—Professor Maury’s Account—Safeguards Against - Mistakes—Deducing Probabilities—Despatching Bulletins—Watching - the Storm—The Storm at San Francisco—Prophetic - Preparations—Perfect Arrangements—Training the - Sergeants—General Meyer’s Work—An Extraordinary Mansion—The - “Kites and Windmills”—Inside the Mansion—The Apparatus—“The - Unerring Weather-Man”—“Old Probabilities” Himself—How - Calculations are Made—“Young Probabilities”—Interesting Facts, 491 - - CHAPTER XLV. - - THE NAVY DEPARTMENT—THE UNITED STATES OBSERVATORY—THE STATE - DEPARTMENT. - - The Navy-Yards and Docks—Equipment of Vessels—Bureau of Ordnance - and Hydrography—The Naval Observatory—The Bureau of - Medicine—Interesting Statistics—The Navy Seventy Years - Ago—Instructions of the Great Napoleon—Keeping Pace with - England—Scene from the Observatory—Peeping through the - Telescope—The Mountains in the Moon—The Largest Telescope in - the World—The Chronometers of the Government—The Test of - Time—Chronometers on Trial—The Wind and Current Charts—The Good - Deeds of Lieutenant Maury—“The Habits of the Whale”—The - Equatorial—A Self-acting Telescope—The Transit Instrument—The - Great Astronomical Clock—Telling Time by Telegraph—Hearing the - Clock Tick Miles Away—The Transit of Venus—Great Preparations—A - Trifle of Half-a-Million of Miles—A Little Secret - Suggestion—Pardons and Passports, 507 - - CHAPTER XLVI. - - INSIDE THE GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE—THE STORY OF A “PUB. - DOC.”—WOMEN WORKERS. - - The Largest Printing Establishment in the World—The Celebrated - “Pub. Doc.”—A Personal Experience—What the Nation’s Printing - Costs—A Melancholy Fact—Two Sides of the Question—Printing a - Million Money-Orders—The Stereotype Foundry—A Few Figures—The - Government Printing-Office—A Model Office—Aiding Human - Labor—Working by Machinery—The Ink-Room—The Private Offices—Mr. - Clapp’s Comfortable Office—The Proof-Reading Room—The Workers - There—The Compositor’s Room—The Women-Workers—Setting Up Her - Daily Task—The Tricks and Stratagems of Correspondents—A - Private Press in the White House—Acres of Paper—Specimens of - Binding—Specimen Copies—Binding the Surgical History of the - War—The Ladies Require a Little More Air—Delicate Gold-Leaf - Work—The Folding-Room—An Army of Maidens—The Stitching-Room—The - Needles of Women—A Busy Girl at Work—“Thirty Cents - Apiece”—Getting Used to It—The Girl Over Yonder—The Manual - Labor System—Preparing “Copy”—“Setting Up”—Making-Up - “Forms”—Reading “Proof”—The Press-Room—Going to Press—Folding, - Stitching, and Binding—Sent Out to “The Wide, Wide World.” 520 - - CHAPTER XLVII. - - INSIDE THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION—ITS TREASURES OF ART AND - SCIENCE—THE LARGEST COLLECTION IN THE WORLD. - - Strange Story of James Smithson—A Good Use of Money—Seeking the - Diffusion of Knowledge—Catching a Tear from a Lady’s - Cheek—Analysis of the Same Tear—A Brief Tract on - Coffee-Making—James Smithson’s Will—Praiseworthy Efforts of - Robert Dale Owen—The Bequest Accepted—The Plan of the - Institution—Its Intent and Object—The Smithsonian - Reservation—The Smithsonian Building—The Museum—Treasures of - Art and Science—The Results of Thirty Government - Expeditions—The Largest Collection in the World—Valuable - Mineral Specimens—All the Vertebrated Animals of North - America—Classified Curiosities—The Smithsonian - Contributions—Its Advantages and Operations—Results—The - Agricultural Bureau—Its Plan and Object—Collecting Valuable - Agricultural Facts—Helping the Purchaser of a Farm—The Expenses - of the Bureau—The Library—Nature-Printing—In the Museum—The - Great California Plank—Vegetable Specimens, 533 - - CHAPTER XLVIII. - - OLD HOMES AND HAUNTS OF WASHINGTON—MEMORIES OF OTHER DAYS. - - The Oldest Home in Washington—The Cottage of David Burns—David - Burns’s Daughter—The Attractions of a Cottage—The Favored - Suitor—How The Lady was Wooed and Won—Mother and Daughter—The - Offering to God—A Costly Mausoleum—The Assassination - Conspiracy—Persecuting the Innocent—The Octagon House—A - Comfortable Income—The Pleasures of Property—A Haunted - House—Apple-Stealing—“Departed Joys and Stomach-Aches”—The - Tragedy of the Decatur House—A Fatal Duel—The Stockton-Sickles - House—A Spot of Frightful Interest—The Club-House—Assassination - of Mr. Seward—Scenes of Festivity—The House of Charles - Sumner—Corcoran Castle—The Finest Picture Gallery in - America—Powers’ Greek Slave—“Maggie Beck”—During the War—The - Romantic Story of Mr. Barlow’s Niece—Forgetting His Own - Name—Locking Up a Wife—The “Ten Buildings”—Old Capitol - Prison—The Deeds of Ann Royal and Sally Brass—“Paul - Pry”—Blackmailing—Feared By All Mankind—An Unpleasant Sort of - Woman—Arrested on Suspicion—Where Wirz was Hung, 549 - - CHAPTER XLIX. - - MOUNT VERNON—MEMORIAL DAY—ARLINGTON. - - The Tomb of Washington—The Pilgrims who Visit it—Where George and - Martha Washington Rest—The Thought of Other Graves—The - Defenders of the Republic—Eating Boiled Eggs—A Butterfly - Visit—Patriarchal Dogs—Remembering a Feast—The Room in which - Washington Died—The Great Key of the Bastile—The Gift of - Lafayette—Moralizing—Inside the Mansion—Uncle Tom’s - _Bouquets_—Beautiful Scenery—Memorial Day at Arlington—The - Soldiers’ Orphans—The Grave of Forty Soldiers—The Sacrifice of - a Widow’s Son—The Record of the Brave—A National Prayer for the - Dead, 581 - - CHAPTER L. - - THE LIFE AND CAREER OF JAMES A. GARFIELD, THE MARTYRED PRESIDENT. - - The National Republican Convention of 1880—Nomination of James A. - Garfield as President Hayes’s successor—The History of His - Life—His Humble Home—Death of His Father—Hardship and - Privations of Pioneer Life—Struggles of His Mother to Support - the Family—Splitting Fence Rails with her own Hands—The Future - President’s Early School Days—Working as a Carpenter—Chopping - Wood for a Living—Leaving Home—Life as a Canal Boat Boy—Narrow - Escapes—Beginning His Education in Earnest—School Life at - Chester—How He Paid His Own Way—First Meeting with His Future - Wife—Early Religious Experience—Enters Williams - College—Professor and President—His First Appearance in - Politics—His Brilliant Military Record—His Services at Shiloh, - Corinth, and Chickamauga—His Congressional Career—Republican - Leader of the House of Representatives—He is Elected to the - United States Senate—His Appearance as the Leader of the - Sherman Forces at the Chicago Convention—He is Himself - Nominated amid the Wildest Enthusiasm—An Exciting Campaign—His - Triumphant Election, 588 - - CHAPTER LI. - - THE HISTORY OF THE ASSASSINATION AND DEATH OF PRESIDENT JAMES A. - GARFIELD—THE GREAT TRAGEDY OF THE AGE. - - Inauguration of President Garfield—Kissing His Venerable - Mother—Chief Magistrate of Fifty Million People—Illness of Mrs. - President Garfield—Tender Solicitude of the President for the - Welfare of His Wife—She Goes to Long Branch—The President’s - Plans to Meet Her—His Arrival at the Depot of the Baltimore and - Potomac R. R. at Washington—His Buoyant Spirits—Joyous - Anticipation of Meeting His Wife—The Assassin Lying in Wait—The - Fatal Shot—Tremendous Excitement—The Wounded President—His - Assassin, Charles J. Guiteau—Who He is—His Infamous Appearance - and Character—His Cool Deliberation—His Capture and - Imprisonment—A Thrill of Horror Throughout the Country—Removal - of the President to the White House—Arrival of Mrs. - Garfield—Her Courage and Devotion—The Fight for Life—Anxious - Days—Removal of the Wounded President to Long Branch—A - Remarkable Ride—Great Anxiety Throughout the Country—Fighting - Death—Slowly Sinking—After Eighty Days of Unparalleled - Suffering the President Breathes His Last—Grief and Gloom - throughout the Land—The Whole Civilized World in - Tears—Unprecedented Funeral and Memorial Honors—His Burial at - Cleveland—Attendance of Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand - People—His Life and Character Reviewed, 606 - - Ten Years in Washington. - - ---------- - - CHAPTER I. - FROM THE VERY BEGINNING. - -The Young Surveyor’s Dream—Humboldt’s View of Washington—A Vision - of the Future Capital—The United States Government on - Wheels—Ambitious Offers—The Rival Rivers—Potomac Wins—Battles in - Congress—Patriotic Offers of Territory—Temporary Lodgings for Eleven - Years—Old-Fashioned Simplicity—He Couldn’t Afford Furniture—A Great - Man’s Modesty—Conflicting Claims—Smith Backs Baltimore—A Convincing - Fact—The Dreadful Quakers—A Condescending Party—A Slight - Amendment—An Old Bill Brought to Light Again—The Indian Place with - the Long Name—Secession Threatened—The Future Strangely - Foreshadowed—A Dinner of Some Consequence—How it was Done—Really a - Stranger—A Nice Proposal—Sweetening the Pill—A “Revulsion of - Stomach”—Fixed on the Banks of the Potomac. - - -More than a century ago a young surveyor, Captain of the Virginia -troops, camped with Braddock’s forces upon the hill now occupied by the -Washington Observatory, looked down as Moses looked from Nebo upon the -promised land, until he saw growing before his prophetic sight the city -of the future, the Capital of a vast and free people then unborn. This -youth was George Washington. The land upon which he gazed was the -undreamed of site of the undreamed of city of the Republic, then to be. -This youth, ordained of God to be the Father of the Republic, was the -prophet of its Capital. He foresaw it, he chose it, he served it, he -loved it; but as a Capital he never entered it. - -Gazing from the green promontory of Camp Hill, what was the sight of -land and water upon which the youthful surveyor looked down? It was fair -to see, so fair that Humboldt declared after traveling around the earth, -that for the site of a city the entire globe does not hold its equal. On -his left rose the wooded hights of Georgetown. On his right, the hills -of Virginia stretched outward toward the ocean. From the luxurious -meadows which zoned these hills, the Potomac River—named by the Indians -Cohonguroton, River of Swans—from its source in the Alleghany Mountains, -flowing from north-west to south-west, here expanded more than the width -of a mile, and then in concentrated majesty rolled on to meet Chesapeake -Bay, the river James, and the ocean. South and east, flowing to meet it, -came the beautiful Anacostin, now called Eastern Branch, and on the -west, winding through its picturesque bluffs, ran the lovely Rock Creek, -pouring its bright waters into the Potomac, under the Hights of -Georgetown. At the confluence of these two rivers, girdled by this -bright stream, and encompassed by hills, the young surveyor looked -across a broad amphitheatre of rolling plain, still covered with native -oaks and undergrowth. It was not these he saw. His prescient sight -forecast the future. He saw the two majestic rivers bearing upon their -waters ships bringing to these green shores the commerce of many -nations. He saw the gently climbing hills crowned with villas, and in -the stead of oaks and undergrowth, broad streets, a populous city, -magnificent buildings, outrivaling the temples of antiquity—the Federal -City, the Capital of the vast Republic yet to be! The dreary camp, the -weary march, privation, cold, hunger, bloodshed, revolution, patient -victory at last, all these were to be endured, outlived, before the -beautiful Capital of his future was reached. Did the youth foresee -these, also? Many toiling, struggling, suffering years bridged the dream -of the young surveyor and the first faint dawn of its fulfillment. - -After the Declaration of Independence, before the adoption of the -Constitution of the United States, its government moved slowly and -painfully about on wheels. As the exigencies of war demanded, Congress -met at Philadelphia, Baltimore, Lancaster, York, Princeton, Annapolis, -Trenton, and New York. During these troubled years it was the ambition -of every infant State to claim the seat of government. For this purpose -New York offered Kingston; Rhode Island, Newport; Maryland, Annapolis; -Virginia, Williamsburg. - -June 21, 1783, Congress was insulted at Philadelphia by a band of -mutineers, which the State authorities could not subdue. The body -adjourned to Princeton; and the troubles and trials of its itinerancy -caused the subject of a permanent national seat of government to be -taken up and discussed with great vehemence from that time till the -formation of the Constitution. The resolutions offered, and the votes -taken in these debates, indicate that the favored site for the future -Capital lay somewhere between the banks of the Delaware and the -Potomac—“near Georgetown,” says the most oft-repeated sentence. October -30, 1784, the subject was discussed by Congress, at Trenton. A long -debate resulted in the appointment of three commissioners, with full -power to lay out a district not exceeding three, nor less than two miles -square, on the banks of either side of the Delaware, for a Federal town, -with power to buy soil and to enter into contracts for the building of a -Federal House, President’s house, house for Secretaries, etc. - -Notwithstanding the adoption of this resolution, these Commissioners -never entered upon their duties. Probably the lack of necessary -appropriations did not hinder them more than the incessant attempts made -to repeal the act appointing the Commissioners, and to substitute the -Potomac for the Delaware, as the site of the anticipated Capital. -Although the name of President Washington does not appear in these -controversies, even then the dream of the young surveyor was taking on -in the President’s mind the tangible shape of reality. First, after the -war for human freedom and the declaration of national independence, was -the desire in the heart of George Washington that the Capital of the new -Nation whose armies he had led to triumph, should rise above the soil of -his native Dominion, upon the banks of the great river where he had -foreseen it in his early dream. That he used undue influence with the -successive Congresses which debated and voted on many sites, not the -slightest evidence remains, and the nobility of his character forbids -the supposition. But the final decision attests to the prevailing -potency of his preferences and wishes, and the immense pile of -correspondence which he has left behind on the subject, proves that next -to the establishment of its independence, was the Capital of the -Republic dear to the heart of George Washington. May 10, 1787, -Massachusetts, New York, Virginia and Georgia voted for, and New Jersey, -Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland against the proposition of Mr. Lee -of Virginia, that the Board of Treasury should take measures for -erecting the necessary public buildings for the accommodation of -Congress, at Georgetown, on the Potomac River, as soon as the soil and -jurisdiction of said town could be obtained. - -Many and futile were the battles fought by the old Congress, for the -site of the future Capital. These battles doubtless had much to do with -Section 8, Article 1, of the Constitution of the United States, which -declares that Congress shall have power to exercise exclusive -legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such district (not exceeding -ten miles square,) as may, by cession of particular States and the -acceptance of Congress, become the seat of government of the United -States. This article was assented to by the convention which framed the -Constitution, without debate. The adoption of the Constitution was -followed spontaneously by most munificent acts on the part of several -States. New York appropriated its public buildings to the use of the new -government, and Congress met in that city April 6, 1789. On May 15, -following, Mr. White from Virginia, presented to the House of -Representatives a resolve of the Legislature of that State, offering to -the Federal government ten miles square of its territory, in any part of -that State, which Congress might choose as the seat of the Federal -government. The day following, Mr. Seney presented a similar act from -the State of Maryland. Memorials and petitions followed in quick -succession from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland. The resolution of -the Virginia Legislature begged for the co-operation of Maryland, -offering to advance the sum of one hundred and twenty thousand dollars -to the use of the general government toward erecting public buildings, -if the Assembly of Maryland would advance two-fifths of a like sum. -Whereupon the Assembly of Virginia immediately voted to cede the -necessary soil, and to provide seventy-two thousand dollars toward the -erection of public buildings. “New York and Pennsylvania gratuitously -furnished elegant and convenient accommodations for the government” -during the eleven years which Congress passed in their midst, and -offered to continue to do the same. The Legislature of Pennsylvania went -further in lavish generosity, and voted a sum of money to build a house -for the President. The house which it built was lately the University of -Pennsylvania. The present White House is considered much too -old-fashioned and shabby to be the suitable abode of the President of -the United States. A love of ornate display has taken the place of early -Republican simplicity. When George Washington saw the dimensions of the -house which the Pennsylvanians were building for the President’s -Mansion, he informed them at once that he would never occupy it, much -less incur the expense of buying suitable furniture for it. In those -Spartan days it never entered into the head of the State to buy -furniture for the “Executive Mansion.” Thus the Chief Citizen, instead -of going into a palace like a satrap, rented and furnished a modest -house belonging to Mr. Robert Morris, in Market street. Meanwhile the -great battle for the permanent seat of government went on unceasingly -among the representatives of conflicting States. No modern debate, in -length and bitterness, has equalled this of the first Congress under the -Constitution. Nearly all agreed that New York was not sufficiently -central. There was an intense conflict concerning the relative merits of -Philadelphia and Germantown; Havre de Grace and a place called Wright’s -Ferry, on the Susquehanna; Baltimore on the Patapsco, and Connogocheague -on the Potomac. Mr. Smith proclaimed Baltimore, and the fact that its -citizens had subscribed forty thousand dollars for public buildings. The -South Carolinians cried out against Philadelphia because of its majority -of Quakers who, they said, were eternally dogging the Southern members -with their schemes of emancipation. Many others ridiculed the project of -building palaces in the woods. Mr. Gerry of Massachusetts declared that -it was the hight of unreasonableness to establish the seat of government -so far south that it would place nine States out of the thirteen so far -north of the National Capital; while Mr. Page protested that New York -was superior to any place that he knew for the orderly and decent -behavior of its inhabitants, an assertion, sad to say, no longer -applicable to the city of New York. - -September 5, 1789, a resolution passed the House of Representatives -“that the permanent seat of the government of the United States ought to -be at some convenient place on the banks of the Susquehanna, in the -State of Pennsylvania.” The passage of this bill awoke the deepest ire -in the members from the South. Mr. Madison declared that if the -proceedings of that day could have been foreseen by Virginia, that State -would never have _condescended to become a party to the Constitution_. -Mr. Scott remarked truly: “The future tranquillity and well being of the -United States depended as much on this as on any question that ever had -or ever could come before Congress;” while Fisher Ames declared that -every principle of pride and honor, and even of patriotism, was engaged -in the debate. - -The bill passed the House by a vote of thirty-one to nineteen. The -Senate amended it by striking out “Susquehanna,” and inserting a clause -making the permanent seat of government Germantown, Pennsylvania, -provided the State of Pennsylvania should give security to pay one -hundred thousand dollars for the erection of public buildings. The House -agreed to these amendments. Both Houses of Congress agreed upon -Germantown as the Capital of the Republic, and yet the final passage of -the bill was hindered by a slight amendment. - -June 28, another old bill was dragged forth and amended by inserting “on -the River Potomac, at some place between the mouths of the Eastern -Branch and the Connogocheague.” This was finally passed, July 16, 1790, -entitled “An Act establishing the temporary and permanent seat of the -government of the United States.” The word temporary applied to -Philadelphia, whose disappointment in not becoming the final Capital was -to be appeased by Congress holding their sessions there till 1800, when, -as a member expressed it, “they were to go to the Indian place with the -long name, on the Potomac.” - -Human bitterness and dissension were even then rife in both Houses of -Congress. The bond which bound the new Union of States together was -scarcely welded, and yet secession already was an openly uttered threat. -An amendment had been offered to the funding act, providing for the -assumption of the State debts to the amount of twenty-one millions, -which was rejected by the House. The North favored assumption and the -South opposed it. Just then reconciliation and amity were brought about -between the combatants precisely as they often are in our own time, over -a well-laid dinner table, and a bottle of rare old wine. Jefferson was -then Secretary of State, and Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the -Treasury. Hamilton thought that the North would yield and consent to the -establishment of the Capital on the Potomac, if the South would agree to -the amendment to assume the State debts. Jefferson and Hamilton met -accidentally in the street, and the result of their half an hour’s walk -“backward and forward before the President’s door” was the next day’s -dinner party, and the final, irrevocable fixing of the National Capital -on the banks of the Potomac. How it was done, as an illustration of -early legislation, which has its perfect parallel in the legislation of -the present day, can best be told in Jefferson’s own words, quoted from -one of his letters. He says: “Hamilton was in despair. As I was going to -the President’s one day I met him in the street. He walked me backward -and forward before the President’s door for half an hour. He painted -pathetically the temper into which the legislature had been wrought; the -disgust of those who were called the creditor States; the danger of the -secession of their members, and the separation of the States. He -observed that the members of the administration ought to act in concert -... that the President was the centre on which all administrative -questions finally rested; that all of us should rally around him and -support by joint efforts measures approved by him, ... that an appeal -from me to the judgment and discretion of some of my friends might -effect a change in the vote, and the machine of government now -suspended, might be again set in motion. I told him that I was really a -stranger to the whole subject, not having yet informed myself of the -system of finance adopted ... that if its rejection endangered a -dissolution of our Union at this incipient stage, I should deem that the -most unfortunate of all consequences, to avert which all partial and -temporary evils should be yielded. - -“I proposed to him, however, to dine with me the next day, and I would -invite another friend or two, bring them into conference together and I -thought it impossible that reasonable men, consulting together coolly, -could fail by _some mutual sacrifices of opinion to form a compromise -which was to save the Union_. The discussion took place.... It was -finally agreed to, that whatever importance had been attached to the -rejection of this proposition, the preservation of the Union and of -concord among the States was more important, and that therefore it would -be better that the vote of rejection should be rescinded to effect which -some members should change their votes. But it was observed that this -pill would be _peculiarly bitter to Southern States, and that some -concomitant measure should be adopted to sweeten it a little to them_. -There had before been a proposition to fix the seat of government either -at Philadelphia or Georgetown on the Potomac, and it was thought that by -giving it to Philadelphia for ten years, and to Georgetown permanently -afterward, this might, as an anodyne, calm in some degree the ferment -which might be excited by the other measure alone. So two of the Potomac -members, [White and Lee,] but White with a revulsion of stomach almost -convulsive, agreed to change their votes, and Hamilton agreed to carry -the other point ... and so the assumption was passed,” and the permanent -Capital fixed on the banks of the Potomac. - - - - - CHAPTER II. - CROSS PURPOSES AND QUEER SPECULATIONS. - -Born of Much Bother—Long Debates and Pamphlets—Undefined - Apprehensions—Debates on the Coming City—Old World Examples—Sir - James Expresses an Opinion—A Dream of the Distant West—An Old-time - Want—A Curious Statement of Fact—“Going West”—Where is the Centre of - Population—An Important Proclamation—Original Land Owners—Well-worn - Patents—Getting on with Pugnacious Planters—Obstinate David Burns—A - “Widow’s Mite” of Some Magnitude—How the Scotchman was - Subjugated—“If You Hadn’t Married the Widow Custis”—A Rather - “Forcible Argument”—His Excellency “Chooses”—The First Record in - Washington—Old Homes and Haunts—Purchase of Land—Extent of the City. - - -As we have seen, the Federal City was the object of George Washington’s -devoted love long before its birth. It was born through much -tribulation. First came the long debates and pamphlets of 1790, as to -whether the seat of the American government should be a commercial -capital. Madison and his party argued that the only way to insure the -power of exclusive legislation to Congress as accorded by the -Constitution, was to remove the Capital as far from commercial interests -as possible. They declared that the exercise of this authority over a -large mixed commercial community would be impossible. Conflicting -mercantile interests would cause constant political disturbances, and -when party feelings ran high, or business was stagnant, the commercial -capital would swarm with an irritable mob brim full of wrongs and -grievances. This would involve the necessity of an army standing in -perpetual defense of the capital. London and Westminster were cited as -examples where the commercial importance of a single city had more -influence on the measures of government than the whole empire outside. -Sir James Macintosh was quoted, wherein he said “that a great metropolis -was to be considered as the heart of a political body—as the focus of -its powers and talents—as the direction of public opinion, and, -therefore, as a strong bulwark in the cause of freedom, or as a powerful -engine in the hands of an oppressor.” To prevent the Capital of the -Republic becoming the latter the Constitution deprived it of the -elective franchise. The majority in Congress opposed the idea of a great -commercial city as the future Capital of the country. Nevertheless when -a plan for the city was adopted it was one of exceptional magnificence. -It was a dream of the founders of the Capital to build a city expressly -for its purpose and to build it for centuries to come. In view of the -vast territory now comprehended in the United States their provision for -the future may seem meagre and limited. But when we remember that there -were then but thirteen States, that railroads and telegraphs were -undreamed of as human possibilities—that nearly all the empire west of -the Potomac was an unpenetrated wilderness, we may wonder at their -prescience and wisdom, rather than smile at their lack of foresight. -Even in that early and clouded morning there were statesmen who foresaw -the later glory of the West fore-ordained to shine on far off -generations. Says Mr. Madison: “If the calculation be just that we -double in fifty years we shall speedily behold an astonishing mass of -people on the western waters.... The swarm does not come from the -southern but from the northern and eastern hives. I take it that the -centre of population will rapidly advance in a south-westerly direction. -It must then travel from the Susquehanna if it is now found there—_it -may even extend beyond the Potomac_!” - -Said Mr. Vining to the House, “I confess I am in favor of the Potomac. I -wish the seat of government to be fixed there because I think the -interest, the honor, and the greatness of the country require it. From -thence, it appears to me, that the rays of government will naturally -diverge to the extremities of the Union. I declare that I look upon the -western territories from an awful and striking point of view. To that -region the unpolished sons of the earth are flowing from all -quarters—men to whom the protection of the laws and the controlling -force of the government are equally necessary.” - -In the course of the debate Mr. Calhoun called attention to the fact -that very few seats of government in the world occupied central -positions in their respective countries. London was on a frontier, Paris -far from central, the capital of Russia near its border. Even at that -early date comparatively small importance was attached to a geographical -centre of territory as indispensable to the location of its capital. The -only possible objection to a capital near the sea-board was then noted -by Mr. Madison who said, “If it were possible to promulgate our laws by -some instantaneous operation, it would be of less consequence where the -government might be placed,” a possibility now fulfilled by the daily -news from the Capital which speeds to the remotest corner of the great -land not only with the swiftness of lightning but by lightning itself. - -Although the States have more than doubled since the days of this first -discussion on where the Capital of the United States should be, it is a -curious fact that the centre of population has not traveled westward in -any proportionate ratio. According to a table calculated by Dr. -Patterson of the United States mint, in 1840 the centre of population -was then in Harrison County, Virginia, one hundred and seventy-five -miles west of the city of Washington. At that time the average progress -westward since 1790 had been, each ten years, thirty-four miles. “This -average has since increased, but if it be set down at fifty miles, it -will require a century to carry this centre five hundred miles west of -Washington, or as far as the city of Nashville, Tennessee.” I state this -fact for the benefit of crazy capital-movers who are in such haste to -set the Capital of the Nation in the centre of the Continent. - -I have given but a few of the questions which were discussed in the -great debates which preceded the final locating of the Capital on the -banks of the Potomac. They are a portion of its history, and deeply -interesting in their bearing on the present and future of the Capital -city. - -The long strife ended in the amendatory proclamation of President -Washington, done at Georgetown the 30th day of March, in the year of our -Lord 1791, and of the independence of the United States the fifteenth, -which concluded with these words: “I do accordingly direct the -Commissioners named under the authority of the said first mentioned act -of Congress to proceed forthwith to have the said four lines run, and by -proper metes and bounds defined and limited, and thereof to make due -report under their hands and seals; and the territory so to be located, -defined and limited shall be the whole territory accepted by the said -act of Congress as the district for the permanent seat of the government -of the United States.” Maryland had ceded of her land ten miles square -for the future Capital. Nothing seemed easier than for these three -august commissioners, backed by the powerful Congress, to go and take -it. But it was not so easy to be done. In addition to the State of -Maryland the land belonged to land-holders, each one of whom was a lord -on his own domain. Some of these held land patents still extant, dating -back to 1663, and 1681. These lords of the manor were not willing to be -disturbed even for the sake of a future Capital, and displayed all the -irascibility and tenacity regarding price which characterize -land-holders of the present day. If we may judge from results and the -voluminous correspondence concerning it, left by George Washington, the -three commissioners who were to act for the government did not “get on” -very well with the pugnacious planters who were ready to fight for their -acres—and that the greater part of the negotiating for the new city -finally fell to the lot of the great Executive. One of the richest and -most famous of these land-owners was David Burns. He owned an immense -tract of land south of where the president’s house now stands, extending -as far as the Patent Office called in the land patent of 1681 which -granted it, “the Widow’s Mite, lyeing on the east side of the Anacostin -River, on the north side of a branch or inlett in the said river, called -Tyber.” This “Widow’s Mite” contained six hundred acres or more, and -David Burns was in no wise willing to part with any portion of it. -Although it laid within the territory of Columbia, ceded by the act of -Maryland for the future Capital, no less a personage than the President -of the United States could move one whit David Burns, and even the -President found it to be no easy matter to bring the Scotchman to terms. -More than once in his letters he alludes to him as “the obstinate Mr. -Burns,” and it is told that upon one occasion when the President was -dwelling upon the advantage that the sale of his lands would bring, the -planter, testy Davy, exclaimed: “I suppose you think people here are -going to take every grist that comes from you as pure grain, _but_ what -would _you_ have _been if you hadn’t married the widow Custis_.” - -After many interviews and arguments even the patience of Washington -finally gave out and he said: “Mr. Burns, I have been authorized to -select the location of the National Capital. I have selected your farm -as a part of it, and the government will take it at all events. I trust -you will, under these circumstances, enter into an amicable -arrangement.” - -Seeing that further resistance was useless, the shrewd Scotchman thought -that by a final graceful surrender he might secure more favorable terms, -thus, when the President once more asked: “On what terms will you -surrender your plantation?” Said humble Davy: “_Any_ that your -Excellency may choose to name.” The deed conveying the land of David -Burns to the commissioners in trust, is the first on record in the city -of Washington. This sale secured to David Burns and his descendants an -immense fortune. The deed provided that the streets of the new city -should be so laid out as not to interfere with the cottage of David -Burns. That cottage still stands in famous “Mansion Square,” and the -reader will find its story further on in the chapter devoted to the Old -Homes and Haunts of Washington. The other original owners of the soil on -which the city of Washington was built were Notley Young, who owned a -fine old brick mansion near the present steamboat landing, and Daniel -Carroll, whose spacious abode known as the Duddington House, still -stands on New Jersey Avenue, a little south-east of the Capitol. On the -31st of May, Washington wrote to Jefferson from Mount Vernon, announcing -the conclusion of his negotiations in this wise—the owners conveyed all -their interest to the United States on consideration that when the whole -should be surveyed and laid off as a city the original proprietors -should retain every other lot. The remaining lots to be sold by the -government from time to time and the proceeds to be applied toward the -improvement of the place. The land comprised within this agreement -contains over seventy-one hundred acres. The city extends from -north-west to south-east about four miles and a half, and from east to -south-west about two miles and a half. Its circumference is fourteen -miles, the aggregate length of the streets is one hundred and -ninety-nine miles, and of the avenues sixty-five miles. The avenues, -streets and open spaces contain three thousand six hundred and four -acres, and the public reservations exclusive of reservations since -disposed of for private purposes, five hundred and thirteen acres. The -whole area of the squares of the city amounts to one hundred and -thirty-one million, six hundred and eighty-four thousand, one hundred -and seventy-six square feet, or three thousand and sixteen acres. -Fifteen hundred and eight acres were reserved for the use of the United -States. - - - - - CHAPTER III. - THE WORK BEGUN IN EARNEST. - -Washington’s Faith in the Future—Mr. Sparks is “inclined to think”—A - Slight Miscalculation—Theoretical Spartans—Clinging to Old World - Glories—Jefferson Acts the Critic—He Communicates Some Ideas—Models - of Antiquity—Babylon Revived—Difficulty in Satisfying a Frenchman’s - Soul—The Man who Planned the Capital—Who was L’Enfant?—His - Troubles—His Dismissal—His Personal Appearance, Old Age, Death and - Burial-Place—His Successor—The French Genius “Proceeded”—The New - City of Washington—A Magnificent Plan—All About the City—The Major - not Appreciated—“Getting on Badly”—L’Enfant Worries Washington—A - Record which Can Never Perish—An Overpaid Quaker—Jefferson Expresses - his Sentiments—A Sable Franklin—The Negro Engineer, Benjamin - Bancker—A Chance for a Monument. - - -The majority of Congress were opposed to a commercial Capital, yet there -are many proofs extant that to the hour of his death George Washington -cherished the hope that the new city of his love would be not only the -capital of the nation, but a great commercial metropolis of the world. -Mr. Jared Sparks, the historian, in a private letter says: “I am -inclined to think that Washington’s anticipations were more sanguine -than events have justified. He early entertained very large and just -ideas of the vast resources of the West, and of the commercial -intercourse that must spring up between that region and the Atlantic -coast, and he was wont to regard the central position of the Potomac as -affording the most direct and easy channel of communication. Steamboats -and railroads have since changed the face of the world, and have set at -defiance all the calculations founded on the old order of things; and -especially have they operated on the destiny of the West and our entire -system of internal commerce, in a manner that could not possibly have -been foreseen in the life-time of Washington.” Throughout the -correspondence of Washington are scattered constant allusions to the -future magnificence of the Federal City, the name by which he loved to -call the city of his heart, allusions which show that his faith in its -great destiny never faltered. In a letter to his neighbor, Mrs. Fairfax, -then in England, he said: “A century hence, if this country keeps -united, it will produce a city, though not as large as London, yet of a -magnitude inferior to few others in Europe.” At that time, after a -growth of centuries, London contained eight hundred thousand -inhabitants. Three-fourths of Washington’s predicted century have -expired, and the city of Washington now numbers one hundred and fifty -thousand people. - -The founders of the Capital were all very republican in theory, and all -very aristocratic in practice. In speech they proposed to build a sort -of Spartan capital, fit for a Spartan republic; in fact, they proceeded -to build one modeled after the most magnificent cities of Europe. -European by descent and education, many of them allied to the oldest and -proudest families of the Old World, every idea of culture, of art, and -magnificence had come to them as part of their European inheritance, and -we see its result in every thing that they did or proposed to do for the -new Capital which they so zealously began to build in the woods. The -art-connoisseur of the day was Jefferson. He knew Europe, not only by -family tradition but by sight. Next to Washington he took the deepest -personal interest in the projected Capital. Of this interest we find -continual proof in his letters, also of the fact that his taste had much -to do with the plan and architecture of the coming city. In a letter to -Major L’Enfant, the first engineer of the Capital, dated Philadelphia, -April 10, 1791, he wrote: “In compliance with your request, I have -examined my papers and found the plans of Frankfort-on-the-Main, -Carlsruhe, Amsterdam, Strasburg, Paris, Orleans, Bordeaux, Lyons, -Montpelier, Marseilles, Turin, and Milan, which I send in a roll by -post. They are on large and accurate scales, having been procured by me -while in those respective cities myself.... Having communicated to the -President before he went away, such general ideas on the subject of the -town as occurred to me, I have no doubt in explaining himself to you on -the subject, he has interwoven with his own ideas such of mine as he -approved.... Whenever it is proposed to present plans for the Capital, I -should prefer the adoption of some one of the models of antiquity, which -have had the approbation of thousands of years; and for the president’s -house I should prefer the celebrated fronts of modern buildings, which -have already received the approbation of good judges. Such are Galerie -du Louise, the Gardes Meubles, and two fronts of the Hotel de Salm.” On -the same day he writes to Washington: “I received last night from Major -L’Enfant a request to furnish any plans of towns I could for -examination. I accordingly send him by this post, plans of -Frankfort-on-the-Main, etc., which I procured while in those towns -respectively. They are none of them, however, comparable to the old -Babylon revived in Philadelphia and exemplified.” But these two fathers -of their country, as time proved, “did not know their man.” Had they -done so, they would have known in advance that a mercurial Frenchman -would never attempt to satisfy his soul with acute angles of old Babylon -revived through the arid and level lengths of Philadelphia. - -The man who planned the Capital of the United States not for the present -but for all time, was Peter Charles L’Enfant, born in France in 1755. He -was a lieutenant in the French provincial forces, and with others of his -countrymen was early drawn to these shores by the magnetism of a new -people, and the promise of a new land. He offered his services to the -revolutionary army as an engineer, in 1777, and was appointed captain of -engineers February 18, 1778. After being wounded at the siege of -Savannah, he was promoted to major of engineers, and served near the -person of Washington. Probably at that time there was no man in America -who possessed so much genius and art-culture in the same directions as -Major L’Enfant. In a crude land, where nearly every artisan had to be -imported from foreign shores, the chief designer and architect surely -would have to be. Thus we may conclude at the beginning, it seemed a -lucky circumstance to find an engineer for the new city on the spot. - -The first public communication extant concerning the laying out of the -city of Washington is from the pen of General Washington, dated March -11, 1791. In a letter dated April 30, 1791, he first called it the -Federal City. Four months later, without his knowledge, it received its -present name in a letter from the first commissioners, Messrs. Johnson, -Stuart, and Carroll, which bears the date of Georgetown, September 9, -1791, to Major L’Enfant, which informs that gentleman that they have -agreed that the federal district shall be called The Territory of -Columbia, (its present title,) and the federal city the city of -Washington, directing him to entitle his map accordingly. - -In March, 1791, we find Jefferson addressing Major L’Enfant in these -words: “You are desired to proceed to Georgetown, where you will find -Mr. Ellicott employed in making a survey and map of the federal -territory. The special object of asking your aid is to have the drawings -of the particular grounds most likely to be approved for the site of the -federal grounds and buildings.” - -The French genius “proceeded,” and behold the result, the city of -“magnificent distances,” and from the beginning of magnificent -intentions,—intentions which almost to the present hour, have called -forth only ridicule—because in the slow mills of time their fulfillment -has been so long delayed. As Thomas Jefferson wanted the chessboard -squares and angles of Philadelphia, L’Enfant used them for the base of -the new city, but his genius avenged itself for this outrage on its -taste by transversing them with sixteen magnificent avenues, which from -that day to this have proved the confusion and the glory of the city. -French instinct diamonded the squares of Philadelphia with the broad -corsos of Versailles, as Major L’Enfant’s map said, “to preserve through -the whole a reciprocity of sight at the same time.” - -A copy of the Gazette of the United States, published in Philadelphia, -January 4, 1792, gives us the original magnificent intentions of the -first draughtsman of the new city of Washington. - - - The following description is annexed to the plan of the city of - Washington, in the District of Columbia, as sent to Congress by the - President some days ago: - - PLAN OF THE CITY INTENDED AS THE PERMANENT SEAT OF THE GOVERNMENT - OF THE UNITED STATES, PROJECTED AGREEABLY TO THE DIRECTION OF THE - PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES IN PURSUANCE OF AN ACT OF CONGRESS, - PASSED ON THE 16TH OF JULY, 1790, “ESTABLISHING A PERMANENT SEAT - ON THE BANKS OF THE POTOMACK.” - - BY PETER CHARLES L’ENFANT. - - OBSERVATIONS EXPLANATORY OF THE PLAN. - - I. The positions of the different grand edifices, and for the several - grand squares or areas of different shapes as they are laid down, were - first determined on the most advantageous ground, commanding the most - extensive prospects, and the better susceptible of such improvements - as the various interests of the several objects may require. - - II. Lines or avenues of direct communication have been devised to - connect the separate and most distant objects with the principals, and - to preserve throughout the whole a reciprocity of sight at the same - time. Attention has been paid to the passing of those leading avenues - over the most favorable ground for prospect and convenience. - - III. North and south lines, intersected by others running due east and - west, make the distribution of the city into streets, squares, &c., - and those lines have been so combined as to meet at certain points - with those diverging avenues so as to form on the spaces “first - determined,” the different squares or areas which are all proportioned - in magnitude to the number of avenues leading to them. - - - MR. ELLICOTT “DOES BUSINESS.” - - Every grand transverse avenue, and every principal divergent one, such - as the communication from the President’s house to the Congress house, - &c., are 160 feet in breadth and thus divided: - - Ten feet for pavement on each side, is 20 feet - - Thirty feet of gravel walk, planted with trees on each 60 feet - side, - - —— - - 160 feet - - The other streets are of the following dimensions, viz.: - - Those leading to the public buildings or markets, 130 - Others, 110-90 - - In order to execute the above plan, Mr. Ellicott drew a true meridian - line by celestial observation, which passes through area intended for - the Congress house. This line he crossed by another due east and west, - and which passes through the same area. The lines were accurately - measured, and made the basis on which the whole plan was executed. He - ran all the lines by a transit instrument, and determined the acute - angles by actual measurement, and left nothing to the uncertainty of - the compass. - - REFERENCES. - - A. The equestrian figure of George Washington, a monument voted in - 1783 by the late Continental Congress. - - B. An historic column—also intended for a mile or itinerary column, - from whose station, (at a mile from the Federal House,) all distances - and places through the Continent are to be calculated. - - C. A Naval itinerary column proposed to be erected to celebrate the - first rise of a navy, and to stand a ready monument to perpetuate its - progress and achievements. - - D. A church intended for national purposes, such as public prayers, - thanksgivings, funeral orations, &c., and assigned to the special use - of no particular sect or denomination, but equally open to all. It - will likewise be a proper shelter for such monuments as were voted by - the late Continental Congress for those heroes who fell in the cause - of liberty, and for such others as may hereafter be decreed by the - voice of a grateful nation. - - E. E. E. E. E. Five grand fountains intended with a constant spout of - water. - - N. B. There are within the limits of the springs twenty-five good - springs of excellent water abundantly supplied in the driest seasons - of the year. - - F. A grand cascade formed of the waters of the sources of the Tiber. - - G. G. Public walk, being a square of 1,200 feet, through which - carriages may ascend to the upper square of the Federal House. - - H. A grand avenue, 400 feet in breadth and about a mile in length, - bordered with gardens ending in a slope from the house on each side; - this avenue leads to the monument A, and connects the Congress garden - with the - - I. President’s park and the - - K. Well improved field, being a part of the walk from the President’s - House of about 1,800 feet in breadth and three-fourths of a mile in - length. Every lot deep colored red, with green plats, designating some - of the situations which command the most agreeable prospects, and - which are best calculated for spacious houses and gardens, such as may - accommodate foreign ministers, &c. - - L. Around this square and along the - - M. Avenue from the two bridges to the Federal House, the pavements on - each side will pass under an arched way, under whose cover shops will - be most conveniently and agreeably situated. This street is 106 feet - in breadth, and a mile long. - - The fifteen squares colored yellow are proposed to be divided among - the several States of the Union, for each of them to improve, or - subscribe a sum additional to the value of the land for that purpose, - and the improvements around the squares to be completed in a limited - time. The centre of each square will admit of statues, columns, - obelisks, or any other ornaments, such as the different States may - choose to erect, to perpetuate not only the memory of such individuals - whose councils or military achievements were conspicuous in giving - liberty and independence to this country, but those whose usefulness - hath rendered them worthy of imitation, to invite the youth of - succeeding generations to tread in the paths of those sages or heroes - whom their country have thought proper to celebrate. - - The situation of those squares is such that they are most - advantageously seen from each other, and as equally distributed over - the whole city district, and connected by spacious avenues round the - grand federal improvements and as contiguous to them, and at the same - time as equally distant from each other as circumstances would admit. - The settlements round these squares must soon become connected. The - mode of taking possession of and improving the whole district at first - must leave to posterity a grand idea of the patriotic interest which - promoted it. - -Two months after the publication of those magnificent designs for -posterity, Major L’Enfant was dismissed from his exalted place. He was a -Frenchman and a genius. The patrons of the new Capital were _not_ -geniuses, and not Frenchmen, reasons sufficient why they should not and -did not “get on” long in peace together. Without doubt the Commissioners -were provincial, and limited in their ideas of art and of expenditure; -with their colonial experience they could scarcely be otherwise; while -L’Enfant was metropolitan, splendid, and willful, in his ways as well as -in his designs. Hampered, held back, he yet “builded better than he -knew,” builded for posterity. The executor and the designer seldom -counterpart each other. L’Enfant worried Washington, as a letter from -the latter, written in the autumn of 1791, plainly shows. He says: “It -is much to be regretted that men who possess talents which fit them for -peculiar purposes should almost invariably be under the influence of an -untoward disposition.... I have thought that for such employment as he -is now engaged in for prosecuting public works and carrying them into -effect, Major L’Enfant was better qualified than any one who has come -within my knowledge in this country, or indeed in any other. I had no -doubt at the same time that this was the light in which he considered -himself.” At least, L’Enfant was so fond of his new “plan” that he would -not give it up to the Commissioners to be used as an inducement for -buying city lots, even at the command of the President, giving as a -reason that if it was open to buyers, speculators would build up his -beloved avenues (which he intended, in time, should outrival Versailles) -with squatter’s huts—just as they afterwards did. Then Duddington House, -the abode of Daniel Carroll, was in the way of one of his triumphal -avenues, and he ordered it torn down without leave or license, to the -rage of its owner and the indignation of the Commissioners. Duddington -House was rebuilt by order of the government in another place, and -stands to-day a relic of the past amid its old forest trees on Capitol -Hill. Nevertheless its first demolition was held as one of the sins of -the uncontrollable L’Enfant, who was summarily discharged March 6, 1792. -His dismissal was thus announced by Jefferson in a letter to one of the -Commissioners: “It having been found impracticable to employ Major -L’Enfant about the Federal City in that degree of subordination which -was lawful and proper, he has been notified that his services are at an -end. It is now proper that he should receive the reward of his past -services, and the wish that he should have no just cause of discontent -suggests that it should be liberal. The President thinks of $2,500, or -$3,000, but leaves the determination to you.” Jefferson wrote in the -same letter: “The enemies of the enterprise will take the advantage of -the retirement of L’Enfant to trumpet the whole as an abortion.” But -L’Enfant lived and died within sight of the dawning city of his love -which he had himself created—and never wrought it, or its projectors any -harm through all the days of his life. He was loyal to his adopted -government, but to his last breath clung to every atom of his personal -claim upon it, as pugnaciously as he did to his maps, when commanded to -give them up. He lived without honor, and died without fame. Time will -vindicate one and perpetuate the other in one of the most magnificent -capitals of earth. His living picture lingers still with more than one -old inhabitant. One tells of him in an unchangeable “green surtout, -walking across the commons and fields, followed by half-a-dozen hunting -dogs.” Also, of reporting to him at Port Washington in 1814 to do duty, -and of first receiving a glass of wine from the old soldier-architect -and engineer before he told him what to do. Mr. Corcoran, the banker, -tells how L’Enfant looked in his latter days: “a rather seedy, stylish -old man, with a long blue or green coat buttoned up to his throat, and a -bell-crowned hat; a little moody and lonely, like one wronged.” - -[Illustration: COLUMBIA SLAVE PEN. FREEDMAN’S SAVINGS BANK.] - -[Illustration: SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE.] - -[Illustration: MAJOR L’ENFANT’S RESTING PLACE.] - -He lived for many years on the Digges’ farm, the estate now owned by -George Riggs, the banker, situated about eight miles from Washington. He -was buried in the family burial-ground, in the Digges’ garden. When the -Digges family were disinterred, his dust was left nearly alone. There it -lies to-day, and the perpetually growing splendor of the ruling city -which he planned, is his only monument. - -He was succeeded by Andrew Ellicott, a practical engineer, born in -Buck’s County, Pennsylvania. He was called a man of “uncommon talent” -and “placid temper.” Neither saved him from conflicts, (though of a -milder type than L’Enfant’s,) with the Commissioners. A Quaker, he yet -commanded a battalion of militia in the Revolution, and “was -thirty-seven years of age when he rode out with Washington to survey the -embryo city.” He finished, (with certain modifications,) the work which -L’Enfant began. For this he received the stupendous sum of $5.00 per day -which, with “expenses,” Jefferson thought to be altogether too much. In -his letter to the Commissioners dismissing L’Enfant, he says: “Ellicott -is to go on to finish laying off the plan on the ground, and surveying -and plotting the district. I have remonstrated with him on the excess of -five dollars a day and his expenses, and he has proposed striking off -the latter.” - -After Ellicott concluded laying out the Capital, he became -Surveyor-General of the United States; laid out the towns of Erie, -Warren and Franklin, in Pennsylvania, and built Fort Erie. He defined -the boundary dividing the Republic from the Spanish Possessions; became -Secretary of the Pennsylvania Land Office, and in 1812 Professor of -Mathematics at West Point, where he died August, 1820, aged 66. - -Ellicott’s most remarkable assistant was Benjamin Bancker, a negro. He -was, I believe, the first of his race to distinguish himself in the new -Republic. He was born with a genius for mathematics and the exact -sciences, and at an early age was the author of an Almanac, which -attracted the attention and commanded the praise of Thomas Jefferson. -When he came to “run the lines” of the future Capital, he was sixty -years of age. The caste of color could not have grown to its hight at -that day, for the Commissioners invited him to an official seat with -themselves, an honor which he declined. The picture given us of him is -that of a sable Franklin, large, noble, and venerable, with a dusky -face, white hair, a drab coat of superfine broadcloth, and a Quaker hat. -He was born and buried at Ellicott’s Mills, where his grave is now -unmarked. Here is a chance for the rising race to erect a monument to -one of their own sons, who in the face of ignorance and bondage proved -himself “every inch a man,” in intellectual gifts equal to the best. - - - - - CHAPTER IV. - OLD WASHINGTON. - -How the City was Built—“A Matter of Moonshine”—Calls for Paper—Besieging - Congressmen—How they Raised the Money—The Government Requires - Sponsors—Birth of the Nation’s Capital—Seventy Years Ago in - Washington—Graphic Picture of Early Times—A Much-Marrying - City—Unwashed Virginian Belles—Stuck in the Mud—Extraordinary - Religious Services. - - -Nothing in the architecture of the city of Washington calls forth more -comment from strangers than the distance between the Capitol and the -Executive Departments. John Randolph early called it “the city of -magnificent distances,” and it is still a chronic and fashionable -complaint to decry the time and distance it takes to get any where. In -the days of a single stage line on Pennsylvania Avenue, these were -somewhat lamentable. But five-minute cars abridge distances, and make -them less in reality than even in the city of New York. It is a mile and -a half from the northern end of the Navy-yard bridge to the Capitol, a -mile and a half from the Capitol to the Executive Mansion, and a mile -and a half from the Executive Mansion to the corner of Bridge and High -Streets, Georgetown. We are constantly hearing exclamations of what a -beautiful city Washington would be with the Capitol for the centre of a -square formed by a chain of magnificent public buildings. John Adams -wanted the Departments around the Capitol. George Washington but a short -time before his death, gave in a letter the reasons for their present -position. In going through his correspondence one finds that there is -nothing, scarcely, in the past, present or future of its Capital, for -which the Father of his Country has not left on record a wise, -far-reaching reason. In this letter, he says: “Where or how the houses -for the President, and the public offices may be fixed is to me, as an -individual, a matter of moonshine. But the reverse of the President’s -motive for placing the latter near the Capitol was my motive for fixing -them by the former. The daily intercourse which the secretaries of -departments must have with the President would render a distant -situation extremely inconvenient to them, and not much less so would one -be close to the Capitol; for it was the universal complaint of them all, -_that while the Legislature was in session, they could do little or no -business, so much were they interrupted by the individual visits of -members in office hours, and by calls for paper_. Many of them have -disclosed to me that they have been obliged often to go home and deny -themselves in order to transact the current business.” The denizen of -the present time, who knows the Secretaries’ dread of the average -besieging Congressman, will smile to find that the dread was as potent -in the era of George Washington as it is to-day. A more conclusive -reason could not be given why Capitol and Departments should be a mile -apart. The newspapers of that day were filled with long articles on the -laying out of the Capital city. We find in a copy of _The Philadelphia -Herald_ of January 4, 1795, after a discussion of the Mall—the yet-to-be -garden extending from the Capitol to the President’s house—the following -far-sighted remarks on the creation of the Capital. It says: “To found a -city, for the purpose of making it the depository of the acts of the -Union, and the sanctuary of the laws which must one day rule all North -America, is a grand and comprehensive idea, which, has already become, -with propriety, the object of public respect. The city of Washington, -considered under such important points of view, could not be calculated -on a small scale; its extent, the disposition of its avenues and public -squares should all correspond with the magnitude of the objects for -which it was intended. And we need only cast our eyes upon the situation -and plan of the city to recognize in them the comprehensive genius of -the President, to whom the direction of the business has been committed -by Congress.” - -The letters of Washington are full of allusions to the annoyance and -difficulty attending the raising of sufficient money to make the Capitol -and other public buildings tenantable by the time specified, 1800. He -seemed to regard the prompt completion of the Capitol as an event -identical with the perpetual establishment of the government at -Washington. Virginia had made a donation of $120,000, and Maryland one -of $72,000; these were now exhausted. After various efforts to raise -money by the forced sales of public lots, and after abortive attempts to -borrow money, at home and abroad, on the credit of these lots, amidst -general embarrassments, while Congress withheld any aid whatever, the -urgency appeared to the President so great as to induce him to make a -personal application to the State of Maryland for a loan, which was -successful, and the deplorable credit of the government at that time is -exhibited in the fact that the State called upon the credit of the -Commissioners as an additional guarantee for the re-payment of the -amount, $100,000, to which Washington alludes as follows: “The necessity -of the case justified the obtaining it on almost any terms; and the zeal -of the Commissioners in making themselves liable for the amount, as it -could not be had without, cannot fail of approbation. At the same time I -must confess the application has a very singular appearance, and will -not, I should suppose, be very grateful to the feelings of Congress.” - -I have cited but a few of the tribulations through which the Capital of -the nation was born. Not only was the growth of the public buildings -hindered through lack of money, but also through the “jealousies and -bickerings” of those who should have helped to build them. Human nature, -in the aggregate, was just as inharmonious and hard to manage then as -now. The Commissioners did not always agree. Artisans, imported from -foreign lands, made alone an element of discord, one which Washington -dreaded and deprecated. He went down with his beloved Capital into the -Egypt of its building. He led with a patience and wisdom undreamed of -and unappreciated in this generation, the straggling and discordant -forces of the Republic from oppression to freedom, from chaos to -achievement—he came in sight of the promised land of fruition and -prosperity, but he did not enter it, this father and prophet of the -people! George Washington died in December, 1799. - -The city of Washington was officially occupied in June, 1800. - -The only adequate impression of what the Capital was at the time of its -first occupancy, we must receive from those who beheld it with living -eyes. Fortunately several have left graphic pictures of the appearance -which the city presented at that time. President John Adams took -possession of the unfinished Executive Mansion in November, 1800. During -the month Mrs. Adams wrote to her daughter, Mrs. Smith, as follows: “I -arrived here on Sunday last, and without meeting with any accident worth -noticing, except losing ourselves when we left Baltimore, and going -eight or nine miles on the Frederic road, by which means we were obliged -to go the other eight through the woods, where we wandered for two hours -without finding guide or path.... But woods are all you see from -Baltimore till you reach _the city_, which is only so in name. Here and -there is a small cot, without a glass window, interspersed amongst the -forests, through which you travel miles without seeing any human being. -In the city there are buildings enough, if they were compact and -finished, to accommodate Congress and those attached to it; but as they -are, and scattered as they are, I see no great comfort for them.... If -the twelve years in which this place has been considered as the future -seat of government had been improved as they would have been in New -England, very many of the present inconveniences would have been -removed. It is a beautiful spot, capable of any improvement, and the -more I view it the more I am delighted with it.” - -Hon. John Cotton Smith, of Connecticut, a distinguished member of -Congress, of the Federal school of politics, also gives his picture of -Washington in 1800: “Our approach to the city was accompanied with -sensations not easily described. One wing of the Capitol only had been -erected, which, with the President’s house, a mile distant from it, both -constructed with white sandstone, were shining objects in dismal -contrast with the scene around them. Instead of recognizing the avenues -and streets portrayed on the plan of the city, not one was visible, -unless we except a road, with two buildings on each side of it, called -the New Jersey Avenue. The Pennsylvania, leading, as laid down on paper, -from the Capitol to the presidential mansion, was then nearly the whole -distance a deep morass, covered with alder bushes which were cut through -the width of the intended avenue during the then ensuing winter. Between -the President’s house and Georgetown a block of houses had been erected, -which then bore and may still bear, the name of the _six buildings_. -There were also other blocks, consisting of two or three -dwelling-houses, in different directions, and now and then an insulated -wooden habitation, the intervening spaces, and indeed the surface of the -city generally, being covered with shrub-oak bushes on the higher -grounds, and on the marshy soil either trees or some sort of shrubbery. -Nor was the desolate aspect of the place a little augmented by a number -of unfinished edifices at Greenleaf’s Point, and on an eminence a short -distance from it, commenced by an individual whose name they bore, but -the state of whose funds compelled him to abandon them, not only -unfinished, but in a ruinous condition. There appeared to be but two -really comfortable habitations in all respects, within the bounds of the -city, one of which belonged to Dudley Carroll, Esq., and the other to -Notley Young, who were the former proprietors of a large proportion of -the land appropriated to the city, but who reserved for their own -accommodation ground sufficient for gardens and other useful -appurtenances. The roads in every direction were muddy and unimproved. A -sidewalk was attempted in one instance by a covering formed of the chips -of the stones which had been hewn for the Capitol. It extended but a -little way and was of little value, for in dry weather the sharp -fragments cut our shoes, and in wet weather covered them with white -mortar, in short, it was a “new settlement.” The houses, with one or two -exceptions, had been very recently erected, and the operation greatly -hurried in view of the approaching transfer of the national government. -A laudable desire was manifested by what few citizens and residents -there were, to render our condition as pleasant as circumstances would -permit. One of the blocks of buildings already mentioned was situated on -the east side of what was intended for the Capitol square, and being -chiefly occupied by an extensive and well-kept hotel, accommodated a -goodly number of the members. Our little party took lodgings with a Mr. -Peacock, in one of the houses on New Jersey Avenue, with the addition of -Senators Tracy of Connecticut, and Chipman and Paine of Vermont, and -Representatives Thomas of Maryland, and Dana, Edmond and Griswold of -Connecticut. Speaker Sedgwick was allowed a room to himself—the rest of -us in pairs. To my excellent friend Davenport, and myself, was allotted -a spacious and decently furnished apartment with separate beds, on the -lower floor. Our diet was varied, but always substantial, and we were -attended by active and faithful servants. A large proportion of the -Southern members took lodgings at Georgetown, which, though of a -superior order, were three miles distant from the Capitol, and of course -rendered the daily employment of hackney coaches indispensable. - -Notwithstanding the unfavorable aspect which Washington presented on our -arrival, I can not sufficiently express my admiration of its local -position. From the Capitol you have a distinct view of its fine -undulating surface, situated at the confluence of the Potomac and its -Eastern Branch, the wide expanse of that majestic river to the bend at -Mount Vernon, the cities of Alexandria and Georgetown, and the -cultivated fields and blue hills of Maryland and Virginia on either side -of the river, the whole constituting a prospect of surpassing beauty and -grandeur. The city has also the inestimable advantage of delightful -water, in many instances flowing from copious springs, and always -attainable by digging to a moderate depth, to which may be added the -singular fact that such is the due admixture of loam and clay in the -soil of a great portion of the city that a house may be built of brick -made of the earth dug from the cellar, hence it was not unusual to see -the remains of a brick-kiln near the newly-erected dwelling-house or -other edifice. In short, when we consider not only these advantages, but -what, in a national point of view is of superior importance, the -location on a fine navigable river, accessible to the whole maritime -frontier of the United States, and yet easily rendered defensible -against foreign invasion,—and that by the facilities of inter-population -of the Western States, and indeed of the whole nation, with less -inconvenience than any other conceivable situation,—we must acknowledge -that its selection by Washington as the permanent seat of the federal -government, affords a striking exhibition of the discernment, wisdom and -forecast which characterized that illustrious man. Under this -impression, whenever, during the six years of my connection with -Congress, the question of removing the seat of government to some other -place was agitated—and the proposition was frequently made—I stood -almost alone, as a northern man, in giving my vote in the negative.” - -Sir Augustus Foster, secretary of legation to the British minister at -Washington, during the years 1804-6, has left an amusing account on -record both of the appearance of the Capital and the state of its -society during the administration of President Jefferson: “The Spanish -envoy, De Caso Yrujo, told Sir Augustus it was difficult to procure a -decent dinner in the new Capital without sending the distance of sixty -miles for its materials. Things had mended somewhat before the arrival -of Sir Augustus, but he still found enough to surprise and bewilder him -in the desolate vastness and mean accommodations of the unshaped -metropolis.” - -Of private citizens Sir Augustus says: “Very few private gentlemen have -their houses in Washington. I only recollect three, Mr. Brent, Mr. -Tayloe, and Mr. Carroll.”... Most of the members of Congress, it is -true, keep to their lodgings, but still there are a sufficient number of -them who are sociable, or whose families come to the city for a season, -and there is no want of handsome ladies for the balls, especially at -Georgetown; indeed, I never saw prettier girls anywhere. As there are -but few of them, however, in proportion to the great number of men who -frequent the places of amusement in the federal city, it is one of the -most marrying places on the whole continent.... Meagre the march of -intellect so much vaunted in the present century; the literary education -of these ladies is far from being worthy of the age of knowledge, and -conversation is apt to flag, though a seat by the ladies is always much -coveted. Dancing and music serve to eke out the time, but one got tired -of hearing the same song everywhere, even when it was: - - “Just like love is yonder rose.” - -“No matter how this was sung, the words alone were the man-traps; the -belle of the evening was declared to be just like both, and the people -looked around as if the listener was expected to become on the instant -very tender, and to propose.... Between the young ladies, who generally -not only good looking, but good tempered, and if not well informed, -capable of becoming so, and the ladies of a certain time of life, there -is usually a wide gap in society, young married women being but seldom -seen in the world; as they approach, however, to middle age, they are -apt to become romantic, those in particular who live in the country and -have read novels fancying all manner of romantic things, and returning -to the Capital determined to have an adventure before they again retire; -or on doing some wondrous act which shall make them be talked about in -all after time. Others I have known to contract an aversion to water, -and as a substitute, cover their faces and bosoms with hair powder, in -order to render the skin pure and delicate. This was peculiarly the case -with some Virginia damsels, who came to the halls at Washington, and who -in consequence were hardly less tolerable than negroes. There were but -few cases of this I must confess, though as regards the use of the -powder, they were not so uncommon, and at my balls I thought it -advisable to put on the tables of the toilette room not only rouge, but -hair powder, as well as blue powder, which had some customers.... - -“In going to assemblies one had sometimes to drive three or four miles -within the city bounds, and very often at the great risk of an -overthrow, or of being what is termed ‘stalled,’ or stuck in the mud.... -Cards were a great resource during the evening, and gaming was all the -fashion, at brag especially, for the men who frequented society were -chiefly from Virginia or the Western States, and were very fond of this -the worst gambling of all games, as being one of countenance as well as -of cards. Loo was the innocent diversion of the ladies, who when they -looed pronounced the word in a very mincing manner.... - -“Church service can certainly never be called an amusement; but from the -variety of persons who are allowed to preach in the House of -Representatives, there was doubtless 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, or sometimes even a woman took the speaker’s -chair; and I don’t think that there was much devotion among the -majority. The New Englanders, generally speaking, are very religious; -though there are many exceptions, I cannot say so much for the -Marylanders, and still less for the Virginians.” - -Notwithstanding the incongruous and somewhat disgraceful picture which -Sir Augustus paints of the Capital City of the new Republic, he goes on -to say: “In spite of its inconveniences and desolate aspect, it was I -think the most agreeable town to reside in for any length of time,” -which if true insures our pity for what the remainder of our native land -must have been. - - - - - CHAPTER V. - THE CAPITAL OF THE NATION. - -A Ward of Congress—Expectations Disappointed—Funds Low and People - Few—Slow Progress of the City—First Idea of a National University—A - Question of Importance Discussed—Generous Proposition of George - Washington—Faith Under Difficulties—Transplanting an Entire - College—An Old Proposition in a New Shape—What Washington “Society” - Lacks—The Lombardy Poplars Refuse to Grow—Perils of the Way—A Long - Plain of Mud—“The Forlornest City in Christendom”—Egyptian - Dreariness—Incomplete and Desolate State of Affairs—The End of an - Expensive Canal—The Water of Tiber Creek—American “Boys” on the - March—Divided Allegiance of Old—The Stirring of a Nation’s - Heart—Ready to March to her Defense—A Personal Interest—Patriotism - Aroused—The First-born City of the Republic—Truly the Capital of the - Nation. - - -Washington was incorporated as a city by act of Congress, passed May 3, -1802. The city, planned solely as the National Capital, was laid out on -a scale so grand and extensive that scanty municipal funds alone would -never have been sufficient for its proper improvement. From the -beginning it was the ward of Congress. Its magnificent avenues, squares -and public buildings, could receive due decoration from no fund more -scanty than a national appropriation. At first Congress appropriated -funds with much spirit and some liberality, but there were many reasons -why its zeal and munificence waned together. At this day it has not -fulfilled the most sanguine expectations of its founders. In Jefferson’s -time its population numbered but five thousand persons, and for forty -years its increase of population only averaged about five hundred and -fifty per annum. Many stately vessels sail down the Potomac to the -Chesapeake and the James and out to the ocean; but the Potomac is far -from being the highway of commerce. The wharves of Washington and -Georgetown are empty compared with those of New York, or even of -Baltimore. For generations there was neither commerce nor manufacture to -induce men of capital to remove from large cities of active business to -the new city in the wilderness, whose very life depended on the will of -a majority of Congress. Washington’s idea of the National Capital far -outleaped his century. His vision of its future greatness comprehended -all that the capital of a great nation should be. He foresaw it, not -only as the seat of national commerce, but the seat of national -learning. One of the dearest projects of his last days was the founding -of a National University at the city of Washington. The following -references to this subject in a letter from him to the commissioners of -the Federal districts, with an extract from his last will, but faintly -express the intense interest which he manifested in the National -University, both in his daily life, and familiar correspondence:— - - - WASHINGTON TO COMMISSIONERS OF FEDERAL DISTRICTS. - - “The Federal city, from its centrality and the advantages which in - other respects it must have over any other place in the United States, - ought to be preferred as a proper site for such a University. And if a - plan can be adopted upon a scale as extensive as I have described, and - the execution of it should commence under favorable auspices in a - reasonable time, with a fair prospect of success, I will grant in - perpetuity fifty shares in the navigation of the Potomac River toward - the endowment of it.” - - - FROM WASHINGTON’S WILL. - - “I give and bequeath in perpetuity the fifty shares which I hold in - the Potomac Company (under the aforesaid acts of the legislature of - Virginia) toward the endowment of a University to be established - within the limits of the District of Columbia, under the auspices of - the general government, if that government should incline to extend a - fostering hand toward it. And until such Seminary is established and - the funds arising from these shares shall be needed for its support, - my further will and desire is, that the profits arising therefrom - whenever the dividends are made be laid out in purchasing stock in the - Bank of Columbia, or some other bank at the discretion of my - executors, or by the Treasurer of the United States for the time - being, under the direction of Congress, providing that honorable body - should patronize the measure; and the dividends proceeding from the - purchase of such stock are to be vested in more stock, and so on, till - a sum adequate to the accomplishment of the object be obtained, _of - which I have not the smallest doubt before many years pass away_, even - if no aid and encouragement is given by legislative authority, or from - any other source.” - -The correspondence of Washington and Jefferson abound with consultations -concerning this great National University. During his stay in Europe, -Jefferson had become personally conversant with its ancient seats of -learning, and longed to see somewhat of the splendor of their culture -transferred to his own native land. So great was his zeal on this -subject, both he and John Adams favored the plan at one time of -transferring to this city the entire college of Geneva, professors, -students, all. But George Washington opposed the transplanting of an -entire body of foreign scholars to the new Republic, almost as earnestly -as he did that of a horde of foreign laborers to build the Capitol, he -believing both to be inimical to the growth of republican principles and -feelings in a newly created republic. - -Three-fourths of a century have passed since Washington, Jefferson and -Adams consulted together concerning the National University of the -future. Alas! it is still of the future. The dream of its fulfillment -was dearer to the father of his country, probably, than to any other -mortal. The explicit provision made for it in his will proves this. That -bequest went finally, I believe, to a college in Virginia. Columbia -College, feeble, small and old, is the nearest approach to the National -University of which the National Capital can boast to-day. Strange after -the lapse of nearly a century, the other evening the friends of this -feeble and stunted college, including the President of the United -Stales, high officials, learned professors, foreign ministers, and -gentlemen of the press, assembled in Wormley’s comfortable dining-room, -and over an “epicurean banquet” discussed what Jefferson and Washington -did in their letters—a National University for the National Capital. The -desire of Washington although not yet fulfilled, must in time become a -reality. The National Capital, already the centre of fashion, and -rapidly becoming the seat of National Science as well as of National -Politics and Government, is the natural seat of National Learning. The -educational element, the high-toned culture which always marks the -mental and moral atmosphere surrounding a university is to-day the -marked lack of what is termed “society in Washington.” The United States -Government is doing much for science. There is a greater number of -persons actively devoted to scientific pursuits in the National Capital -than in any other city of the Union. Washington is already the seat of -more purely intellectual activity than any other American city. The -scientific library of the Smithsonian Institute is one of the best in -the world. New departments of the Government devoted to Science are -continually being established on sure and ever-spreading foundations. -All these facts point to the final and crowning one—the University of -the Nation at the National Capital. - -For a time, after the incorporation of the city, its founders and -patrons zealously pursued plans for its improvement. But failing funds, -a weak municipality, and indifferent Congresses, did their work, and for -many years “the city of magnificent distances” had little but those -distances of which to boast. Jefferson had Pennsylvania avenue planted -with double rows of Lombardy poplars from Executive Mansion to Capitol, -in imitation of the walk and drive in Berlin known as _Unter den -Linden_. But the tops of the poplars did not flourish, and the roots -were troublesome, and in 1832 the hoped for arcade came to naught. In -truth Pennsylvania avenue was one long plain of mud, punched with -dangerous holes and seamed with deep ravines. The interlacing roots of -the poplars made these holes and ravines the more dangerous, till an -appropriation, during the administration of Jackson, caused them to be -dug up and the entire avenue to be macadamized, notwithstanding a large -minority in Congress could find no authority in the Constitution for -such an unprecedented provision for the public safety. Every Congress -was packed with strict constructionists and economists, who opposed -every effort to improve the National Capital. Many, narrow, sectional -and provincial, had no comprehension of the plan of a city founded to -meet the wants of a great nation, rather than to suit the convenience of -a meagre population. A city planned to become the magnificent Capital of -a vast people could not fail through its very dimensions to be -oppressive to its citizens, if the chief weight of its improvement was -laid upon their scanty resources. A National Capital could only be fitly -built by the Nation. For many years the Congress of the United States -refused to do this to any fit degree, and the result for more than one -generation was the most forlorn city in Christendom. At a recent meeting -of the friends of Columbia College Attorney General Williams stated that -when he first visited Washington, in 1853, the “Egypt” of Indiana could -not compare in dreariness and discomfort with the Capital of the Nation. - -In 1862 Washington was a third rate Southern city. Even its mansions -were without modern improvements or conveniences, while the mass of its -buildings were low, small and shabby in the extreme. The avenues, superb -in length and breadth, in their proportions afforded a painful contrast -to the hovels and sheds which often lined them on either side for miles. -Scarcely a public building was finished. No goddess of liberty held -tablary guard over the dome of the Capitol. Scaffolds, engines and -pulleys everywhere defaced its vast surfaces of gleaming marble. The -northern wing of the Treasury building was not even begun. Where it now -stands then stood the State departments, crowded, dingy and old. Even -the southern wing of the Treasury was not completed as it was begun. -Iron spikes and saucers on its western side had been used to conclude -the beautiful Greek ornamentation begun with the building. All public -offices, magnificent in conception, seemed to be in a state of crude -incompleteness. Everything worth looking at seemed unfinished. -Everything finished looked as if it should have been destroyed -generations before. Even Pennsylvania avenue, the grand thoroughfare of -the Capital, was lined with little two and three story shops, which in -architectural comeliness have no comparison with their ilk of the -Bowery, New York. Not a street car ran in the city. A few straggling -omnibuses and helter-skelter hacks were the only public conveyances to -bear members of Congress to and fro between the Capitol and their remote -lodgings. In spring and autumn the entire west end of the city was one -vast slough of impassible mud. One would have to walk many blocks before -he found it possible to cross a single street, and that often one of the -most fashionable of the city. “The water of Tiber Creek,” which in the -magnificent intentions of the founders of the city were “to be carried -to the top of Congress House, to fall in a cascade of twenty feet in -height and fifty in breadth, and thence to run in three falls through -the gardens into the grand canal,” instead stretched in ignominious -stagnation across the city, oozing at last through green scum and slime -into the still more ignominious canal, which stood an open sewer and -cess-pool, the receptacle of all abominations, the pest-breeder and -disgrace of the city. Toward the construction of this canal the city of -Washington gave $1,000,000 and Georgetown and Alexandria $250,000 each. -Its entire cost was $12,000,000. It was intended to be another artery to -bring the commerce of the world to Washington, and yet the Washington -end of it had come to this! - -Capitol Hill, dreary, desolate and dirty, stretched away into an -uninhabited desert, high above the mud of the West End. Arid hill, and -sodden plain showed alike the horrid trail of war. Forts bristled above -every hill-top. Soldiers were entrenched at every gate-way. Shed -hospitals covered acres on acres in every suburb. Churches, art-halls -and private mansions were filled with the wounded and dying of the -American armies. The endless roll of the army wagon seemed never still. -The rattle of the anguish-laden ambulance, the piercing cries of the -sufferers whom it carried, made morning, noon and night too dreadful to -be borne. The streets were filled with marching troops, with new -regiments, their hearts strong and eager, their virgin banners all -untarnished as they marched up Pennsylvania avenue, playing “The girl I -left behind me,” as if they had come to holiday glory—to easy victory. -But the streets were filled no less with soldiers foot-sore, sun-burned, -and weary, their clothes begrimed, their banners torn, their hearts sick -with hope deferred, ready to die with the anguish of long defeat. Every -moment had its drum-beat, every hour was alive with the tramp of troops -going, coming. How many an American “boy,” marching to its defence, -beholding for the first time the great dome of the Capitol rising before -his eyes, comprehended in one deep gaze, as he never had in his whole -life before, _all_ that that Capitol meant to him, and to every free -man. Never, till the Capital had cost the life of the beautiful and -brave of our land, did it become to the heart of the American citizen of -the nineteenth century the object of personal love that it was to George -Washington. To that hour the intense loyalty to country, the pride in -the National Capital which amounts to a passion in the European, in the -American had been diffused, weakened and broken. In ten thousand -instances State allegiance had taken the place of love of country. -Washington was nothing but a place in which Congress could meet and -politicians carry on their games at high stakes for power and place. New -York was the Capital to the New Yorker, Boston to the New Englander, New -Orleans to the Southerner, Chicago to the man of the West. There was no -one central rallying point of patriots to the universal nation. The -unfinished Washington monument stood the monument of the nation’s -neglect and shame. What Westminster Abbey and Hall were to the -Englishman, what Notre Dame and the Tuileries were to the Frenchman, the -unfinished and desecrated Capitol had never been to the average -American. Anarchy threatened it. In an hour the heart of the nation was -centered in the Capital. The nation was ready to march to its defence. -Every public building, every warehouse was full of troops. Washington -city was no longer only a name to the mother waiting and praying in the -distant hamlet; _her boy_ was camped on the floor of the Rotunda. No -longer a far off myth to the lonely wife; _her_ husband held guard upon -the heights which defended the Capital. No longer a place good for -nothing but political schemes to the village sage; _his boy_, wrapped in -his blanket, slept on the stone steps under the shadow of the great -Treasury. The Capital, it was sacred at last to tens of thousands, whose -beloved languished in the wards of its hospitals or slept the sleep of -the brave in the dust of its cemeteries. Thus from the holocaust of war, -from the ashes of our sires and sons arose new-born the holy love of -country, and veneration for its Capital. The zeal of nationality, the -passion of patriotism awoke above the bodies of our slain. National -songs, the inspiration of patriots, soared toward heaven. National -monuments began to rise consecrated forever to the martyrs of Liberty. -Never, till that hour, did the Federal city—the city of George -Washington, the first-born child of the Union, born to live or to perish -with it,—become to the heart of the American people that which it had so -long been in the eyes of the world—truly the CAPITAL OF THE NATION. - - - - - CHAPTER VI. - THE WASHINGTON OF THE PRESENT DAY. - -Hopes Realized—A Truly National City—Washington in 1873—Major L’Enfant’s - Dream—Old and New—“Modern Improvements”—A City of Palaces—The - Capital in All Its Glory—Traces of the War—Flowers on the - Ramparts—Under the Oaks of Arlington—Ten Years Ago—The Birth of a - Century—The Reign of Peace—The Capital of the Future. - - -And now! The citizen of the year of our Lord 1881 sees the dawn of that -perfect day of which the founders of the Capital so fondly and -fruitlessly dreamed. The old provincial Southern city is no more. From -its foundations has risen another city, neither Southern nor Northern, -but national, cosmopolitan. - -[Illustration: - - THE NATIONAL CAPITOL.—WASHINGTON. - It covers more than three and a half acres. Over thirteen million - dollars have thus far been expended in its erection. -] - -Where the “Slough of Despond” spread its waxen mud across the acres of -the West End, where pedestrians were “slumped,” and horses “stalled,” -and discomfort and disgust prevailed, we now see broad carriage drives, -level as floors, over which grand equipages and pony phaetons glide with -a smoothness that is a luxury, and an ease of motion which is rest. -Where ravines and holes made the highway dangerous, now the concrete and -Nicholson pavements stretch over miles on miles of inviting road. Where -streets and avenues crossed and re-crossed their long vistas of -shadeless dust, now plat on plat of restful grass “park” the city from -end to end. Double rows of young trees line these parks far as the sight -can reach. In these June days they fill the air with tender bloom. -Gazing far on through their green arcades the sight rests at last where -poor Major L’Enfant dreamed and planned that it one day would,—on the -restful river, with its white flecks of sails, upon distant meadows and -the Virginia hills. Old Washington was full of small Saharas. Where the -great avenues intersected acres of white sand were caught up and carried -through the air by counter winds. It blistered at white heat beneath -your feet, it flickered like a fiery veil before your eyes, it -penetrated your lungs and begrimed your clothes. Now where streets and -avenues cross, emerald “circles” with central fountains, pervading the -air with cooling spray, with belts of flowers and troops of children, -and restful seats for the old or the weary take the place of the old -Saharas. In every direction tiny parks are blooming with verdurous life. -Concrete walks have taken the place of their old gravel-stone paths. -Seats—thanks to General Babcock—everywhere invite to sit down and rest -beneath trees which every summer cast a deeper and more protecting -shadow. The green pools which used to distill malaria beneath your -windows are now all sucked into the great sewers, planted at last in the -foundations of the city. The entire city has been drained. Every street -has been newly graded. The Tiber, inglorious stream, arched and covered -forever from sight, creeps in darkness to its final gulf in the river. -The canal, drained and filled up, no longer breeds pestilence. -Pennsylvania avenue has outlived its mud and its poplars, to be all and -more than Jefferson dreamed it would be,—the most magnificent street on -the continent. Its lining palaces are not yet built, but more than one -superb building like that of the Daily National Republican soars high -above the lowly shops of the past, a forerunner of the architectural -splendor of the buildings of the future. Cars running every five minutes -have taken the place of the solitary stage, plodding its slow way -between Georgetown and the Capital. Capitol Hill, which had been -retrograding for more than forty years, has taken on the look of a -suddenly growing city. Its dusty ways and empty spaces are beginning to -fill with handsome blocks of metropolitan houses. Even the old Capital -prison is transformed into a handsome and fashionable block of private -dwellings. The improvements at the West End are more striking. Solid -blocks of city houses are rising in every direction, taking the place of -the little, old, isolated house of the past, with its stiff porch, high -steps, and open basement doorway. Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut -avenues are already lined with splendid mansions, the permanent winter -homes of Senators and other high official and military officers. The -French, Spanish, English and other foreign governments have bought on -and near these avenues for the purpose of building on them handsome -houses for their separate legations. The grounds of the Executive -Mansion are being enlarged, extending to the Potomac with a carriage -drive encircling, running along the shore of the river, extending -through the Agricultural Smithsonian and Botanical garden grounds, thus -fulfilling the original intent of connecting the White House with the -Capitol by a splendid drive. The same transformation is going on in the -Capitol grounds. Blocks of old houses have been torn down and -demolished, to make room for a park fit to encircle the Capitol, which -can never be complete till it takes in all the rolling slopes which lie -between it and the Potomac. No scaffolding and pulleys now deface the -snowy surfaces of the Capitol. Unimpeded the dome soars into mid-air, -till the goddess of liberty on its top seems caught into the embrace of -the clouds. The beautiful Treasury building is completed, and a block -further on, the click of ceaseless hammers and the rising buttresses of -solid stone tell of the new war and navy departments which are swiftly -growing beside the historic walls of the old. Even the Washington -monument has been taken into hand by General Babcock, to whom personally -the Capital owes so much, and by a fresh appeal to the States he hopes -to re-arouse their patriotism and insure its grand completion. Flowers -blossom on the ramparts of the old forts, so alert with warlike life ten -years ago. The army roads, so deeply grooved then, are grass-grown now. -The long shed-hospitals have vanished, and stately dwellings stand on -their already forgotten sites. The “boys” who languished in their wards, -the boys who marched these streets, who guarded this city, how many of -them lie on yonder hill-top under the oaks of Arlington, and amid the -roses of the Soldier’s Home. Peace, prosperity and luxury have taken the -place of war, of knightly days and of heroic men. - -The mills of time grind slowly. What a tiny stroke in its cycles is a -single century. One hundred years! The year nineteen hundred! Then if -the father of his country can look down from any star upon the city of -his love he will behold in the new Washington that which even he did not -foresee in his earthly life—one of the most magnificent cities of the -whole earth. - - - - - CHAPTER VII. - WHAT MADE NEW WASHINGTON. - -Municipal Changes—Necessity of Reform—Committee of One Hundred - Constituted—Mr. M. G. Emery Appointed Mayor—The “Organic Act” - Passed—Contest for the Governorship of Columbia District—Mr. Henry - D. Cooke Appointed—Board of Public Works Constituted—Great - Improvements Made—Opposition—The Board and its Work—Sketch of - Alexander R. Shepherd—His Efforts During the War—Patriotic Example. - - -A sketch of the territorial government which now rules the District of -Columbia, will account for new Washington and the many beneficent -changes which have renovated the city. - -As early as the winter of 1868, efforts were made to secure a united -government for the entire District, instead of the triple affair then in -operation, viz.: municipal corporations for Washington and Georgetown, -and the Levy court for the County. Under that _regime_ no system of -general improvements could be established. The District was under the -exclusive jurisdiction of Congress and was obliged to beg and plead with -that body for permission to begin and for appropriations to pay for each -improvement, as its increasing business and population imperatively -demanded. Again, the extension of the right of suffrage and the -consequent increase of the number of ignorant voters, made it apparent -that something must be done to prevent the control of the cities falling -into the power of a class of petty ward politicians of the very worst -order, who had sprung up just after the war, and who had already caused -considerable uneasiness in the minds of the solid and thinking portion -of the community, by the rapid manner in which they had managed to -increase the public debt without showing any corresponding public -benefits. - -It was at first proposed to have the District governed by commissioners -to be appointed by the President, and I believe bills to that effect -were introduced into Congress by Senator Hamlin, and Mr. Morrill, of -Maine, but were defeated. Of course the proposed change was very -unpopular, and the Washington Common Council passed a series of -resolutions protesting against any interference with the government then -existing. The extravagance and venality of the administration of 1868-9, -however, awakened the sober and thoughtful minded citizens to the -absolute necessity of a radical and vigorous reform, and during the -winter of 1869-70 a committee of one hundred was constituted, to whom -was given the task of perfecting a bill granting a territorial -government to the District, and of the urging of its passage by -Congress. This bill failed to pass that Session, and there next came a -bitter political contest, resulting in the election of Hon. M. G. Emery -as Mayor of Washington. - -The evils which it was supposed Mr. Emery would correct, did not seem to -lessen during his administration, and in the following winter the -project of a new government was revived and urged with so much vigor -that Congress, on the 21st of January, 1871, passed what is now known as -the “Organic Act,” establishing and defining the powers of the -territorial government of the District of Columbia. Immediately -following the passage of this act there appeared four prominent -candidates for the governorship of the young territory, viz: Messrs. M. -G. Emery, Sayles J. Bowen, Jas. A. Magruder, and Alex. R. Shepherd. -Messrs. Emery and Bowen soon subsided, and the contest narrowed to -between Messrs. Shepherd and Magruder. - -It was unmistakably the popular desire that the appointment should be -given to Mr. Shepherd. He had been more prominent than any other -individual named in securing the change effected; the nucleus of the -Organic Act is said to have been drafted by him, and the energy and -sagacity he had shown in his public life pointed him out as peculiarly -fit for the position. Besides, he had gained the popular confidence by -his unvarying integrity and fearless independence, and by a quality too -rarely observed in a public man—positive manliness. Colonel Magruder, -the Georgetown candidate, was quite popular in that city, where he had -for a number of years been the collector of customs. Though at that time -he was not extensively known in Washington, those who were his friends -were ardent and untiring in their support. It soon became evident that -the appointment of either of these gentlemen would cause extreme -dissatisfaction to the supporters of his competitors, and as it was -especially desirable that the new government should commence its -operations with perfect good feeling pervading all the different -parties, a governor was sought who should harmonize all differences, and -Henry D. Cooke, of the firm of Jay Cooke & Co., a gentleman of -unimpeachable integrity, who had kept aloof from all factions and who, -in fact, was one of Mr. Shepherd’s warmest supporters, was at length -selected. - -Then came the appointment of that body of men, against whom so much -abuse has been hurled, but to whose energies the existence of the new -Washington I have portrayed is wholly attributable, viz: the Board of -Public Works. This Board was at first composed of Messrs. A. R. -Shepherd, A. B. Mullett, S. P. Brown, and James A. Magruder, with the -Governor as president _ex-officio_. Since then Messrs. Mullett and Brown -have resigned, and their places have been filled by Messrs. Adolf Cluss, -and Henry A. Willard. - -I may state also that the first Secretary of the District was N. P. -Chipman, and that when he was elected as the delegate to Congress, the -position was given to E. L. Stanton, the son of the late Secretary -Stanton, by whom it is now filled. - -All the gentlemen I have named are men of clear intelligence, excellent -business capacity, and positive energy. - -The amount of labor performed by the Board of Public Works can scarcely -be imagined by one who has not lived right here in the District, and -observed the complete and almost magical changes that have taken place. -Embarrassed at the very commencement of their career by the slipshod -manner in which improvements had been carried on under the old -corporations, they soon encountered a violent opposition from many -citizens who should have heartily supported their efforts. This -opposition was organized and persistent, leaving no artifice untried to -hinder and check the efforts of the Board, seeking injunction after -injunction in the courts, and finally appealing to Congress and -effecting an investigation which lasted for four months, and was as -searching and minute as any ever attempted by that body, but which ended -not only in the absolute acquittal of the Board of every charge alleged, -but in a cordial commendation of their acts by the committee which -conducted the inquiry. - -I wish to give this Board of Public Works the credit to which they are -justly entitled. When I read the slanders that are cast upon them, I -want to ask the authors if they would prefer the dingy, straggling, -muddy, dusty Washington of two years ago to the bright, compact, clean -and beautiful city of to-day? - -The “head and front” of this Board, the man who has infused a portion of -his own enthusiasm into his fellow members, the man to whose -comprehensive mind and untiring energy the success of the Board is -almost entirely due, who was made vice-president and executive officer -by his colleagues because they recognized his great abilities, and were -content to follow where he should lead, is Alexander R. Shepherd of -Washington. - -He is a native of Washington, was born in 1885, and is consequently now -but thirty-eight years old. His father died when he was quite a boy, and -at the early age of ten years he began the rough struggle of life. He at -first started to learn the carpenter’s trade, but finding that -unsuitable to his tastes he entered a store, as errand boy. At seventeen -he was taken into the plumbing establishment of Mr. J. W. Thompson, as -clerk. By industry, fidelity and ability, he at length attained a -partnership in that house, and upon Mr. Thompson’s retirement, succeeded -to the full control of the business, which under his skillful management -has so rapidly grown that it now defies competition with any similar -establishment south of New York. - -When the war of the Rebellion broke out, Mr. Shepherd was mainly -instrumental in forming the Union party in Washington, proving loyal -amidst the bitter hostility of many of his best friends. As early as the -15th of April, 1861, he enlisted as a private soldier, and for three -months shouldered his musket in defense of the National Capital. In the -same year he was elected a member of the Common Council, and again in -1862, when he was made president of that body. In 1867 he was appointed -a member of the Levy court, and in that capacity first developed his -ability and energy as a public man. He was president of the Citizens’ -Reform Association during the Emery campaign, and was, I believe, the -prime mover of Mr. Emery’s nomination, and contributed by his efforts -largely to that gentleman’s success. At that election Mr. Shepherd was -chosen to the Board of Aldermen, which position he held when appointed -to the Board of Public Works. - -In person Mr. Shepherd is a tall, noble looking man, with a large, -well-formed head, sharply-defined features, massive under jaw and square -chin, indicative of the indomitable perseverance and firmness which are -the most prominent traits in his character. Although a self-made man, he -has acquired a fund of information which many a collegian might envy. -His mind is thoroughly disciplined, his perceptions keen, his decisions -rapid, and his language vigorous and terse. In private life he is -universally respected and esteemed. His benevolence is unbounded, and -beside subscribing liberally to every public appeal, he performs -innumerable acts of private charity, which few know save the grateful -recipients. - -It was believed by the majority of people that Governor Cooke would -retain his position only until the fusion of the irritated factions was -effected, and that in the event of his resignation Mr. Shepherd would be -appointed his successor. Whether Governor Cooke retires before the end -of his term or not, it is the universal belief that Mr. Shepherd will be -the second governor of the District of Columbia. - -He is a representative man, embodying in his history and character more -emphatically, perhaps, than any other man, the new life of the new city -of Washington. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII. - BUILDING THE CAPITOL. - -George Washington’s Anxiety about it—His View of it Politically—Various - Plans for the Building—Jefferson Writes to the Commissioners—His - Letter to Mr. Carroll—“Poor Hallet” and His Plan—Wanton Destruction - by the British, A. D. 1814—Foundation of the Main Building Laid—The - Site Chosen by Washington Himself—Imposing Ceremonies at the - Foundation—Dedicatory Inscription on the Silver Plate—Interesting - Festivities—The Birth of a Nation’s Capital—Extension of the - Building—Daniel Webster’s Inscription—His Eloquent and Patriotic - Speech—Mistaken Calculations—First Session of Representatives - Sitting in “the Oven”—Old Capital Prison—Immense Outlay upon the - Wings and Dome—Compared with St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s—The Goddess - of Liberty—The Congressional Library—Proposed Alterations—What Ought - to be Done. - - -George Washington believed the building of the Capitol to be identical -with the establishment of a permanent seat of government. To the -consummation of this crowning building, the deepest anxiety and devotion -of his later years were dedicated. Next to determining a final site for -the city was the difficulty of deciding on a plan for its Capitol. - -Poor human nature had to contend awhile over this as it seems to have to -about almost everything else. A Mr. S. Hallet had a plan: Dr. Thornton -had one, also. Jefferson wrote “to Dr. Stewart, or to all the gentlemen” -Commissioners, January 31, 1793: - - “I have, under consideration, Mr. Hallet’s plans for the Capitol, - which undoubtedly have a great deal of merit. Doctor Thornton has also - given me a view of his. The grandeur, simplicity and beauty of the - exterior, the propriety with which the departments are distributed, - and economy in the mass of the whole structure, will, I doubt not give - it a preference in your eyes as it has done in mine and those of - several others whom I have consulted. I have, therefore, thought it - better to give the Doctor time to finish his plan, and for this - purpose to delay until your meeting a final decision. Some difficulty - arises with respect to Mr. Hallet, who, you know, was in some degree - led into his plan by ideas which we all expressed to him. This ought - not to induce us to prefer it to a better; but while he is liberally - rewarded for the time and labor he has expended on it, his feelings - should be saved and soothed as much as possible. I leave it to - yourselves how best to prepare him for the possibility that the - Doctor’s plans may be preferred to his.” - -February 1, 1793, Jefferson writes from Philadelphia to Mr. Carroll— - - “DEAR SIR:—Doctor Thornton’s plan for a Capitol has been produced and - has so captivated the eyes and judgments of all as to leave no doubt - you will prefer it when it shall be exhibited to you; as no doubt - exists here of its preference over all which have been produced, and - among its admirers no one is more decided than him, whose decision is - most important. It is simple, noble, beautiful, excellently - distributed and moderate in size. A just respect for the right of - approbation in the Commissioners will prevent any formal decision in - the President, till the plan shall be laid before you and approved by - you. In the meantime the interval of _apparent_ doubt may be improved - for settling the mind of poor Hallet whose merits and distresses - interests every one for his tranquillity and pecuniary relief.” - -These quotations are chiefly interesting in connection with the fact -that poor, pushed-to-the-wall Hallet rebounded afterwards, -notwithstanding Jefferson’s enthusiasm over Thornton’s plan, and -Washington’s declaration that it combined “grandeur, simplicity and -convenience.” The architects preferred the design of Hallet and in -building retained but two or three of the features of Doctor Thornton’s -plan. - -After the burning of the Capitol wings by the British, August, 1814, Mr. -B. H. Latrobe, of Maryland, began to rebuild the Capitol on Stephen -Hallet’s plan. The foundations of the main building were laid March 24, -1818, under the superintendence of Charles Bulfinch, and the original -design was completed in 1825. The site of the Capitol was chosen by -George Washington, on a hill ninety feet above tide-water, commanding a -view of the great plateau below, the circling rivers, and girdling -hills—a hill in 1663 named “Room,” later Rome, and owned by a gentleman -named “Pope.” - -September 18, 1793, the south-east corner of the Capitol was laid by -Washington with imposing ceremonies. A copy of _The Maryland Gazette_, -published in Annapolis, September 26, 1793, gives a minute account of -the grand Masonic ceremonial, which attended the laying of that august -stone. It tells us that “there appeared on the southern bank of the -river Potomac one of the finest companies of artillery that hath been -lately seen parading to receive the President of the U. S.” Also, that -the Commissioners delivered to the President, who deposited in the stone -a silver plate with the following inscription: - - “This south-east corner of the Capitol of the United States of - America, in the city of Washington, was laid on the 18th day of - September, 1792, in the thirteenth year of American Independence; in - the first year, second term of the Presidency of George Washington, - whose virtues in the civil administration of his country have been as - conspicuous and beneficial, as his military valor and prudence have - been useful, in establishing her liberties, and in the year of - Masonry, 5793, by the President of the United States, in concert with - the Grand Lodge of Maryland, several lodges under its jurisdiction and - Lodge No. 22 from Alexandria, Virginia. - - [Signed] THOMAS JOHNSON, } - DAVID STEWART, } _Commissioners, etc._” - DANIEL CARROLL, } - -The _Gazette_ continues:— - - “The whole company retired to an extensive booth, where an ox of 500 - lbs. weight was barbecued, of which the company generally partook with - every abundance of other recreation. The festival concluded with - fifteen successive volleys from the artillery, whose military - discipline and manœuvres merit every commendation.” - - “Before dark the whole company departed with joyful hopes of the - production of their labors.” - -Fifty-eight years later, near this spot another corner-stone was -deposited bearing the following inscription in the writing of Daniel -Webster:— - - “On the morning of the first day of the seventy-sixth year of the - Independence of the United States of America, in the city of - Washington, being the fourth day of July, eighteen hundred and - fifty-one, this stone designed as the corner-stone of the extension of - the Capitol, according to a plan approved by the President in - pursuance of an act of Congress was laid by - - MILLARD FILMORE, - - PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, - - Assisted by the Grand Master of the Masonic Lodges, in the presence of - many Members of Congress, of officers of the Executive and Judiciary - departments, National, State and Districts, of officers of the Army - and Navy, the Corporate authorities of this and neighboring cities, - many associations, civil and military and Masonic, officers of the - Smithsonian Institution, and National Institute, professors of - colleges and teachers of schools of the Districts, with their students - and pupils, and a vast concourse of people from places near and remote - including a few surviving gentlemen who witnessed the laying of the - corner-stone of the Capitol by President Washington, on the 18th day - of September, 1793. If, therefore, it shall hereafter be the will of - God that this structure shall fall from its base, that its foundation - be upturned, and this deposit brought to the eyes of men; be it then - known that on this day the Union of the United States of America - stands firm, that their constitution still exists unimpaired, and with - all its original usefulness and glory growing every day stronger and - stronger in the affections of the great body of the American people, - and attracting more and more the admiration of the world. And all here - assembled, whether belonging to public life or to private life, with - hearts devoutly thankful to Almighty God for the preservation of the - liberty and happiness of the country, unite in sincere and fervent - prayer, that this deposit, and the walls and arches, the domes and - towers, the columns and entablatures, now to be erected over it may - endure forever. - - “God Save the United States of America. - - DANIEL WEBSTER, - _Secretary of State of the United States_.” - -In the speech made by Mr. Webster on this occasion he uttered the -following words:— - - “Fellow citizens, what contemplations are awakened in our minds as we - assemble to re-enact a scene like that performed by Washington! - Methinks I see his venerable form now before me as presented in the - glorious statue by Houdon, now in the Capitol of Virginia.... We - perceive that mighty thoughts mingled with fears as well as with - hopes, are struggling with him. He heads a short procession over these - then naked fields; he crosses yonder stream on a fallen tree; he - ascends on the top of this eminence, whose original oaks of the forest - stand as thick around him as if the spot had been devoted to Druidical - worship and here he performs the appointed duty of the day.” - -Fifty-eight years stretched between this scene and the last and already -the mutterings of civil revolution stirred in the air. Could Webster -have foreseen that the marble walls of the Capitol whose corner-stone he -then laid would rise amid the thunder of cannon aimed to destroy it and -the great Union of States which it crowned, to what anguish of eloquence -would his words have risen! - -The Capitol fronting the east was set by an astronomical observation of -Andrew Ellicott. Its founders were as much mistaken in the direction -which the future city would take as they were in the future commerce of -the Potomac. They expected that a metropolis would spring up on Capitol -Hill, spreading on to the Navy Yard and Potomac. Land-owners made this -impossible by the price they set upon their city lots. The metropolis -defied them—went down into the valley and grew up behind the Capitol. - -The north wing of the central Capitol was made ready for the first -sitting of Congress in Washington, November 17, 1800. By that time the -walls of the south wing had risen twenty feet and were covered over for -the temporary use of the House of Representatives. It sat in this room -named “the oven” from 1802, until 1804. At that time the transient roof -was removed and the wing completed under the superintendence of B. H. -Latrobe until its completion. The House occupied the room of the Library -of Congress. The south wing was finished in 1811. - -The original Capitol was built of sandstone taken from an island in -Acquia Creek, Virginia. The island was purchased by the government in -1791 for $6,000 for the use of the quarry. The interior of both wings -was destroyed by fire when the British took the city in 1814, the outer -walls remaining uninjured. Latrobe, who had resigned in 1813, was -re-appointed after the fire to reconstruct the Capitol. The following -December, Congress passed an act leasing a building on the east side of -the Capitol, the building afterwards so famous as “Old Capitol Prison,” -and which was crowded with prisoners during the war of the Rebellion. -Congress held its sessions in this building till the rebuilt Capitol was -ready for occupation. - -By act of Congress, September 30, 1850, provision was made for the grand -extension wings of the Capitol, to be built on such a plan as might be -approved by the President. The plan of Thomas C. Walter was accepted by -President Fillmore, June 10, 1851, and he was appointed architect of the -Capitol to carry his plan into execution. Walter was the architect of -Girard College, Philadelphia, and to him we owe the magnificent marble -wings and iron dome of the Capitol. The dome cost one million one -hundred thousand dollars. The wings cost six millions five hundred -thousand dollars. The height of the interior of the dome of the Capitol -from the floor of the rotunda is 180 feet and 3 inches. The height of -the exterior from the floor of the basement story to the top of the -crowning statue is 287 feet and 5 inches. The interior diameter is 97 -feet. The exterior diameter of the drum is 108 feet. The greatest -exterior diameter is 135 feet, 5 inches. The Capitol is 751 feet, 4 -inches long, 31 feet longer than St. Peter’s in Rome, and 175 feet -longer than St. Paul’s in London. The height of the interior of the dome -of St. Peter’s is 330 feet. The height of the interior of the dome of -St. Paul’s is 215 feet. The height of the exterior of St. Peter’s to the -top of lantern is 432 feet. The height of the exterior of the dome of -St. Paul’s is 215 feet. - -The ground actually covered by the Capitol is 153,112 square feet or 652 -square feet more than 3 ½ acres. Of these the old building covered -61,201 square feet and the new wings with connecting corridors, 91,311 -square feet. - -The dome of the Capitol is the highest structure in America. It is one -hundred and eight feet higher than Washington Monument in Baltimore; -sixty-eight feet higher than Bunker Hill Monument and twenty-three feet -higher than the steeple of Trinity Church, New York. Mr. Walter was -succeeded by Mr. Edward Clarke, the present architect of the Capitol. -Thus far Mr. Clarke’s work has consisted chiefly in finishing and -harmonizing the work of his varied and sometimes conflicting -predecessors. Under his supervision the dome has been completed, and -Thomas Crawford’s grand goddess of liberty, sixteen and one-half feet -high, has ascended to its summit while he has wrought out in the -interior the most harmonious room of the Capitol—the Congressional -Library. - -The greatest work which he still desires to do is to put the present -front on the rear of the Capitol facing the city, and to draw forth the -old freestone fronts and rebuild it with marble, making a grand central -portico parallel with the magnificent marble wings of the Senate and -House extension. To rebuild the central front will cost two millions of -dollars. The face of the Capitol will never be worthy of itself till -this is accomplished. The grand outward defect of the Capitol is the -slightness and insignificance of the central portico compared with the -superlative Corinthian fronts of the wings. Between their outreaching -marble steps, beside their majestic monoliths the central columns shrink -to feebleness and give the impression that the great dome is sinking -down upon them to crush them out of sight. There is something soaring in -the proportions of the dome. Its summit seems to spring into the -empyrean. Its proud goddess poised in mid-air, caught in their swift -embrace, seems to sail with the fleeting clouds. Nevertheless its -tremendous base set upon that squatting roof threatens it with perpetual -annihilation. - -From the very beginning the Capitol has suffered as a National Building -from the conflicting and foreign tastes of its decorators. Literally -begun in the woods by a nation in its infancy, it not only borrowed its -face from the buildings of antiquity, but it was built by men, strangers -in thought and spirit to the genius of a new Republic, and the unwrought -and unimbodied poetry of its virgin soil. Its earlier decorators, all -Italians, overlaid its walls with their florid colors and foreign -symbols; within the American Capitol, they have set the Loggia of -Raphael, the voluptuous ante-rooms of Pompeii, and the Baths of Titus. -The American plants, birds and animals, representing prodigal nature at -home, though exquisitely painted are buried in twilight passages, while -mythological bar-maids, misnamed goddesses, dance in the most -conspicuous and preposterous places. The Capitol has already survived -this era of false decorative art. - -Congress in 1859 authorized a Commission of distinguished American -artists, comprising Messrs. Brown, Lumsden and Kensett, to study, the -decorations of the Capitol and report upon their abuses. Their -suggestions are beginning to be followed, and yet so carelessly, that -after the lapse of fourteen years they need reiteration. The Artist -Committee recommended an Art Commission, composed of those designated by -the united voice of America. Artists as competent to the office who -shall be the channels for the distribution of all appropriations to be -made by Congress for art purposes, and who shall secure to artists an -intelligent and unbiased adjudication upon the designs they may present -for the embellishment of the national buildings. When one remembers some -of the Congressional Committees who have decided on decorations for the -Capitol even within the last ten years, it is enough to make one cry -aloud for a Commission designated by artists, whose art-culture shall at -least be sufficient to tell a decent picture from a daub, a noble statue -from a pretense and a sham. - -In conclusion the Commission of Artists said:— - - “The erection of a great National Capitol seldom occurs but once in - the life of a nation. The opportunity such an event affords is an - important one for the expression of patriotic elevation, and the - perpetuation, through the arts of painting and sculpture, of that - which is high and noble and held in reverence by the people; and it - becomes them as patriots to see to it that no taint of falsity is - suffered to be transmitted to the future upon the escutcheon of our - national honor in its artistic record. A theme so noble and worthy - should interest the heart of the whole country, and whether patriot, - statesman or artist, one impulse should govern the whole in dedicating - these buildings and grounds to the national honor.” - - - - - CHAPTER IX. - INSIDE THE CAPITOL. - -A Visit to the Capitol—The Lower Hall—Its Cool - Tranquillity—Artistic Treasures—The President’s and - Vice-President’s Rooms—The Marble Room—The Senate Chamber—“Men - I have Known”—Hamlin—Foote—Foster—Wade—Colfax—Wilson—The - Rotunda—Great Historical Paintings—The Old Hall of - Representatives—The New Hall—The Speaker’s Room—Native - Art—“The Star of Empire”—A National Picture. - - -Come with me. This is your Capitol. It is like passing from one world -into another, to leave behind the bright June day for the cool, dim -halls of the lower Capitol. No matter how fiercely the sun burns in the -heavens, his fire never penetrates the twilight of this grand hall, -whose eight hundred feet measure the length of the Capitol from end to -end. - -Here, in Egyptian Colonnades, rise the mighty shafts of stone which bear -upon their tops the mightier mass of marble, and which seem strong -enough to support the world. In the summer solstice they cast long, cool -shadows, full of repose and silence. The gas-lights flickering on the -walls, send long golden rays through the dimness to light us on. We have -struck below the jar and tumult of life. The struggles of a nation may -be going on above our heads, yet so vast and visionary are these vistas -opening before us, so deep the calm which surrounds us, we seem far away -from the world that we have left, in this new world which we have found. -Every time I descend into these lower regions I get lost. In wandering -on to find our way out, we are sure to make numerous discoveries of -unimagined beauty. Here are doors after doors in almost innumerable -succession, opening into departments of commerce, agriculture, etc., -whose every panel holds exquisite gems of illustrative painting. Birds, -flowers, fruits, landscapes, in rarest fresco and color, here reveal -themselves to us through the dim light. - -It would take months to study and to learn these pictures which artists -have taken years to paint. They make a department of art in themselves, -yet thousands who think that they know the Capitol well are not aware of -their existence. At the East Senate entrance, look at these polished -pillars of Tennessee marble, their chocolate surface all flecked with -white, surrounding a staircase meet for kings. They are my delight. Look -at these foliated capitals, flowering in leaves of acanthus and tobacco. -Look up to this ceiling of stained glass, its royal roses opening wide -their crimson hearts above you; these too are my delight. I am not one -of those who can sneer at the Capitol. Its faults, like the faults of a -friend are sacred. I know them, but wish to name them not, save to the -one who only can remedy. It bears blots upon its fair face, but these -can be washed away. It wears ornaments vulgar and vain, these can be -stripped off and thrown out. Below them, beyond them all, abides the -Capitol. The surface blemish vexes, the pretentious splendor offends. -These are not the Capitol. We look deeper, we look higher, to find -beauty, to see sublimity, to see the Capitol, august and imperishable! - -[Illustration: - - THE MARBLE ROOM. - INSIDE THE CAPITOL.—WASHINGTON. -] - -The four marble staircases leading to the Senate Chamber and Hall of -Representatives, in themselves alone embody enough of grace and -magnificence to save the Capitol from cynical criticism. We slip through -the Senate corridor, you and I, to the President’s and Vice-President’s -rooms. Their furniture is sumptuous, their decoration oppressive. -Gilding, frescoes, arabesques, glitter and glow above and around. There -is not one quiet hue on which the tired sight may rest. Gazing, I feel -an indescribable desire to pluck a few of Signor Brumidi’s red legged -babies and pug-nosed cupids from their precarious perches on the lofty -ceilings, to commit them to nurses or to anybody who will smooth out -their rumpled little legs and make them look comfortable. - -We are Americans, and need repose; let us, therefore, pass to the Marble -Room, which alone, of all the rooms of the Capitol, suggests it— - - “The end of all, the poppied sleep.” - -Its atmosphere is soft, serene, and silent. Its ceiling is of white -marble, deeply paneled, supported by fluted pillars of polished Italian -marble. Its walls are of the exquisite marble of Tennessee—a soft brown, -veined with white—set with mirrors. One whose æsthetic eyes have studied -the finest apartments of the world says that to him the most chaste and -purely beautiful of all is the Marble Room of the American Capitol. -Americans though we are, we have no time to rest, albeit we sorely need -it. - -It is not for you or me to linger in marble rooms, maundering of art. -Molly, rocking her baby out on the Western prairie, wants to know all -about the Senate; baby is going to be a senator some day. Moses, on that -little rock-sown farm in New England, has his “chores all done.” He -rests in the Yankee paradise of kerosene, butternuts, apples, and cider. -Yet to make his satisfaction complete, he must know a little more about -the Capitol. Molly and Moses both expect us to see for them what they -can not come to see for themselves. So let us peep into the Senate. It -can not boast of the ampler proportions of the Hall of Representatives. -Its golden walls and emerald doors can not rescue it from -insignificance. - -The ceiling of this chamber is of cast-iron, paneled with stained -glass—each pane bearing the arms of the different States, bound by most -ornate mouldings, bronzed and gilded. The gallery, which entirely -surrounds the hall, will seat one thousand persons. Over the -Vice-President’s chair, the section you see separated from the rest by a -net-work of wire, is the reporters’ gallery. The one opposite, lined -with green, is the gallery of the diplomatic corps; next are the seats -reserved for the Senators’ families. The Senators sit in three -semi-circular rows, behind small desks of polished wood, facing the -Secretary of the Senate, his assistants, the special reporters of -debates, and the Vice-President. - -On a dais, raised above all, sits the Vice-President. I have seen six -men preside over the Senate. Hamlin, slow, solid, immobile, and -good-natured. Foote, silver-haired, silver-toned, the king of -parliamentarians. Foster of Connecticut, that most gentle gentleman, who -went from the Senate bearing the good will of every Senator whatever his -politics. Wade, the most positive power of all, with his high, steep -head, shaggy eyebrows, beetling perceptive brow, half roofing the -melancholy eyes, the rough-hewn nose, the dogged mouth, and broad -immovable chin. Life lines our faces according to its will and gazing on -the furrows of this one, one reads the story of the whole battle. -Looking, there was no need that its owner should tell what a warfare -life had been since the poor farmer-boy, more than half a century ago, -turned his face from the Connecticut Valley and striving with the earth -beneath his feet dug his way (on the Erie Canal) toward the West to -fortune, and to an honorable fame. Then came Schuyler Colfax, who -brought into the silent and stately Senate the habits of the bustling -noisy house. It was a hard seat for “Schuyler,” that Vice-President’s -chair, and he came at last to vacate it regularly by two o’clock that he -might write in the seclusion of the Vice-President’s room a few of those -ten thousand popular personal letters which made his chief lever of -influence with the people and which he always used to write in the -Speaker’s chair. As President of the Senate he was usually just, always -urbane, never impressive. He had not the presence which filled the seat -to the sight, nor the dignity which commanded attention, and silence. -Under his ruling the Senate changed its character perceptibly from a -grave august body to a buzzing and inattentive one. As the President of -the Senate seldom listened to a speaker, the Senators as rarely took the -trouble to listen to each other. The question discussed might be of the -gravest import to the whole nation, the speaker’s words, to himself, -might be of the most tremendous importance to the national weal, just -the same he had to empty them upon vacancy, speaking to nothing in -particular, while the Vice-President looked another way, and his -colleagues went on scribbling letters, whispering political secrets to -each other, munching apples in the aisles or smoking in the open -cloak-rooms, with feet aloft. - -Vice-President Wilson, without an atom of parliamentary experience, has -already won the hearts and improved the manners of the Senate by simply -giving attention to its debates. No matter how tiresome, he steadfastly -looks and listens. The humblest speaker—seeing that he has one pair of -eyes fixed upon him, one direct immovable point toward which he may -direct his remarks—takes heart, and in spite of himself makes a better -speech than would be possible were he beating a vacuum, and speaking to -nobody in particular. Even his listening constituency and the next day’s -_Globe_ is not such an incentive to present inspiration as two steadfast -eyes and one pair of good listening ears. - -We leave the Senate Chamber by the western gallery. Here in the niche at -the foot of the staircase, corresponding to Franklin’s on the opposite -side, stands the noble figure of John Hancock. The stairs are of -polished white marble and the painting above them leading to the -gentlemen’s gallery of the Senate, in its setting of maroon cloth -represents the battle of Chapultapec in all the ardor of its fiery -action. We saunter on along the breezy corridors through whose open -windows we catch delicious glimpses of the garden city, the gliding -river and the distant hills, past the Supreme Court room into the great -rotunda. - -[Illustration: - - THE SENATE CHAMBER. - - INSIDE THE CAPITOL.—WASHINGTON. -] - -The rotunda is ninety-five feet in diameter, three hundred feet in -circumference and over one hundred and eighty feet in height. Its dome -contains over eight millions eight hundred thousand pounds of iron, -presenting the most finished specimen of iron architecture in the world. -The panels of the rotunda are set with paintings of life-size, painted -by Vanderlyn, Trumbull and others. The Declaration of Independence; the -surrender of Burgoyne; surrender of the British Army, commanded by Lord -Cornwallis, at Yorktown, Virginia, October 19, 1781; resignation of -General Washington at Annapolis, December 23, 1783, all by Colonel -Trumbull; the baptism of Pocahontas by Chapman; landing of Columbus by -Vanderlyn; De Soto’s discovery of the Mississippi, by Powell. Like most -works of genius these paintings have many merits and many defects. -Perhaps the favorite of all is the Embarcation of the Pilgrims in the -Speedwell at Delft Haven, by Robert W. Weir. Its figures and the fabrics -of its costumes are wonderfully painted; so, too, is the face of the -hoary Pilgrim who is giving thanks to God for their safe passage across -stormy seas to the land of deliverance; but the enchantment of the -picture is the face of Rose Standish. If I were a man, I would marry -such a face out of all the faces on the earth, for the being which it -represents. These eyes, blue as heaven and as true, would never fail -you. No matter how low _you_ might fall, you could see only in them -purity, faith, devotion, tenderness, and unutterable love—and all for -you. - -The group in bas-relief over the western entrance of the rotunda was -executed by Cappelano, a pupil of Canova. It represents the preservation -of Captain Smith by Pocahontas. The design was taken from a rude -engraving of the event in the first edition of Smith’s History of -Virginia. The idea is national, but you see the execution is -preposterous. Powhatan looks like an Englishman, and Pocahontas has a -Greek face and a Grecian head-dress. The alto-relievo over the eastern -entrance of the rotunda represents the Landing of the Pilgrims. The -pilgrim, his wife and child are stepping from the prow of a boat to -receive from the hand of an Indian, kneeling on the rock before them, an -ear of corn. Good Indian. He was no relation to the Modoc! Still the -little boy evidently has no faith in him for he is tugging at his -father’s arm as if to hold him back from that ear of corn or the hand -that holds it. - -Over the south door of the rotunda we have Daniel Boone and two Indians -in a forest. Boone has dispatched one Indian and is in close battle with -the other. The latter is doing his best to strike Boone with his -tomahawk, but Boone averts the blow, by his rifle in one hand, while the -other drawn back holds a long knife which he is about to run through his -foe. The action is exciting enough for the _New York Ledger_, although -rendered tangled and cramped by a too narrow space. It commemorates an -occurrence which took place in the year 1773. This, as well as the -landing of the Pilgrims, was executed by Causici, another pupil of -Canova. Over the northern door of the rotunda we have William Penn -standing under an elm, in the act of presenting a treaty to the Indians. -Penn is dressed as a Quaker, and looks as benevolent as the crude stone -out of which he is made will let him. This panel was executed by a -Frenchman named Genelot. - -[Illustration: - - THE HALL OF REPRESENTATIVES. - - INSIDE THE CAPITOL.—WASHINGTON. -] - -We pass through the noblest room of the Capitol, the old Hall of -Representatives and through the open corridor directly into the new Hall -of Representatives. It occupies the precise place in the south wing -which the Senate Chamber does in the northern wing. Like the Senate -room, the light of day comes to it but dimly through the stained glass -roof overhead. Like that, also, it is entire, encircled by a corridor -opening into smoking apartments, committee rooms, the Speaker’s room, -etc., which monopolize all the out of door air, and every out of door -view. The air of the central chamber is pumped into it by a tremendous -engine at work in the depths of the Capitol and admitted through -ventilators one under each desk. You see these are covered with shining -brass plates which by a touch of the foot can be adjusted to admit a -current of fresh air, or shut it off, according to the wish of the -occupant of the chair above it. In former times these ventilators were -uncovered, and then were used to such an extent as spittoons by the -honorable gentlemen above them, and filled to such a depth with tobacco -quids and the stumps of cigars that the odor from them became unbearable -and they had to be covered up. - -The Hall of Representatives is 139 feet long, 93 feet wide and 30 feet -high with a gallery running entirely around the Hall, holding seats for -1200 persons. Like the Senate, the ceiling is of iron work bronzed, -gilded and paneled with glass, each pane decorated with the arms of a -State. At the corners of these panels in gilt and bronze are rosettes of -the cotton plant in its various stages of bud and blossom. The Speaker’s -desk, splendid in proportion, is of pure white marble, while crossed -above his head are two brilliant silk flags of the United States. One of -the panels under the gallery at his left is filled with a painting in -fresco, by Brumidi. - -The Speaker’s room, in the rear of his chair across the inner lobby, is -one of the most beautiful rooms in the Capitol. Its ornaments are not as -glaring as those of the President’s and Vice-President’s rooms, while -its mirrors, carved book-cases, velvet carpets and chairs, give it a -look of home comfort as well as of luxury. It has a bright outlook upon -the eastern grounds of the Capitol, and its walls are hung with -portraits of every speaker from the First Congress to the present one. - -We pass through the private corridor looking from the Speaker’s room out -into the grand colonnaded vestibule opening upon the great portico of -the south extension. These twenty-four columns and forty pilasters have -blossomed from native soil. Athens, Pompeii, Rome, are left out at last, -and looking up to these flowering capitals we see corn-leaves, tobacco, -and magnolias budding and blooming from their marble crowns. Every -column, every pilaster bears a magnolia, each of a different form, all -from casts of the natural flower. And far below, beneath the -Representatives’ Hall, there is a row of monolithic columns formed of -the tobacco and thistle. It is above the marble staircase opposite, -leading to the ladies’ gallery, that we see painted on the wall covering -the entire landing, the great painting of Leutze, representing the -“Advance of Civilization;” “Westward the Star of Empire takes its -way”—is its motto. At the first glance it presents a scene of -inextricable confusion. It is an emigrant train caught and tangled in -one of the highest passes of the Rocky Mountains. Far backward spread -the Eastern Plains; far onward stretches the Beulah of promise, fading -at last in the far horizon. The great wagons struggling upward, tumbling -downward from mountain precipice into mountain gorge, hold under their -shaking covers every type of westward moving human life. Here is the -mother sitting in the wagon-front, her blue eyes gazing outward, -wistfully and far, the baby lying on her lap; one wants to touch the -baby’s head, it looks so alive and tender and shelterless in all that -dust and turmoil of travel. A man on horseback carries his wife, her -head upon his shoulder. Who that has ever seen it will forget her sick -look and the mute appeal in the suffering eyes. Here is the bold hunter -with his racoon cap, the pioneer boy on horseback, a coffee-pot and cup -dangling at his saddle, and oxen—such oxen! it seems as if their -friendly noses must touch us; they seem to be feeling out for our hand -as we pass up to the gallery. Here is the young man, the old man, and -far aloft stands the advance guard fastening on the highest and farthest -pinnacle the flag of the United States. - -Confusing, disappointing perhaps, at first glance, this painting asserts -itself more and more in the soul the oftener and the longer you gaze. -Already the swift, smooth wheels of the railway, the shriek of the -whistle, and the rush of the engine have made its story history. But it -is the history of our past—the story of the heroic West. It is one of a -thousand which should line the walls of the Capitol, feeding the hearts -of the American people to the latest generation with the memory of our -forefathers, showing by what toilsome ways they followed the Star of -Empire and made the paths of civilization smooth for their children’s -feet. - - - - - CHAPTER X. - OUTSIDE THE CAPITOL. - -The Famous Bronze Doors—The Capitol Grounds—Statue of Washington - Criticised—Peculiar Position for “the Father of his Country”—Horace - Greenough’s Defence of the Statue—Picturesque Scenery Around the - Capitol—The City and Suburbs—The Public Reservation—The Smithsonian - Institution—The Potomac and the Hights of Arlington. - - -We come back to the grand vestibule of the southern wing, to the -flowering magnolias, tobacco and corn-leaves of the marble capitals, and -pass out to the great portico. This is one of the famous bronze doors -designed by Rogers, and cast in Munich. How heavy, slow, and still, its -swing! The other opens and closes upon the central door of the north -wing, leading to the vestibule of the Senate. - -Here, from the portico we look out upon the eastern grounds of the -Capitol in the unsullied panoply of a June morning, across the closely -shorn grass, the borders of roses and beds of flowers, through the vista -of maples with their green arcade of light and shadow, to the august -form of George Washington sitting in the centre of the grounds in a -lofty cerule chair mounted on a pedestal of granite twelve feet high. - -This is the grandest and most criticised work of art about the Capitol. -The form being nude to the waist and the right arm outstretched, it is a -current vulgar joke that he is reaching out his hand for his clothes -which are on exhibition in a case at the Patent Office. It is true that -a sense of personal discomfort seems to emanate from the drapery—or lack -of it—and the _posé_ of this colossal figure. George Washington with his -right arm outstretched, his left forever holding up a Roman sword, half -naked, yet sitting in a chair, beneath bland summer skies, within a -veiling screen of tender leaves is a much more comfortable looking -object than when the winds and rains and snows of winter beat upon his -unsheltered head and uncovered form. This statue was designed in -imitation of the antique statue of Jupiter Tonans. The ancients made -their statues of Jupiter naked above and draped below as being visible -to the gods but invisible to men. But the average American citizen, -being accustomed to seeing the Father of his country decently attired in -small clothes, naturally receives a shock at first beholding him in next -to no clothes at all. It is impossible for him to reconcile a Jupiter in -sandals with the stately George Washington in knee-breeches and buckled -shoes. The spirit of the statue, which is ideal, militates against the -spirit of the land which is utilitarian if not commonplace. - -Nevertheless, in poetry of feeling, in grandeur of conception, in -exquisite fineness of detail and in execution, Horatio Greenough’s -statue of George Washington is transcendently the greatest work in -marble yet wrought at the command of the government for the Capitol. It -is scarcely human, certainly not American, but it is godlike. The face -is a perfect portrait of Washington. The veining of a single hand, the -muscles of a single arm are triumphs of art. - -Washington’s chair is twined with acanthus leaves and garlands of -flowers. The figure of Columbus leans against the back of the seat to -the left, connecting the history of America with that of Europe; an -Indian chief on the right represents the condition of the country at the -time of its discovery. The back of the seat is ornamented in -_basso-relievo_ with the rising sun, the crest of the American arms, -under which is this motto: “_Magnus ab integro sæculorum nascitur -ordo._” On the left is sculptured in _bas-relief_ the genii of North and -South America under the forms of the infant Hercules strangling the -serpent, and Iphiclus stretched on the ground shrinking in fear from the -contest. The motto is “_Incipe posse puer cui non risere parentes._” On -the back of the seat is the following motto: “_Simulacrum istud ad -magnum Libertatis exemplum. Nec sine ipsa duraturum._” - -One of the greatest works of contemporary art, the masterpiece of a -master, it has been the subject of more rude and vulgar jests than any -other piece of American sculpture. The painful disparity which so often -exists between the judgment of the multitude and the inspiration of the -creator has never been more touchingly illustrated than in the following -words of Horatio Greenough, concerning this monument to his own genius -and to the Father of his country. He says: “It is the birth of my -thoughts, I have sacrificed to it the flower of my days, and the -freshness of my strength; its every lineament has been moistened with -the sweat of my toil and the tears of my exile. I would not barter away -its association with my name for the proudest fortune that avarice ever -dreamed of. In giving it up to the nation that has done me the honor to -order it at my hands, I respectfully claim for it that protection which -is the boast of civilization to afford art, and which a generous enemy -has more than once been seen to extend even to the monuments of its own -defeat.” - -Retracing our steps to the rotunda, we turn westward through the main -hall of the Congressional Library to the lofty colonnade outside, from -whose balcony we look down upon the view which Humbolt declared to be -the most beautiful of its type in the whole world. Directly below us, -past the western terrace of the Capitol, with its open basin full of -gold fishes flashing in the sun, stretch the Capitol grounds. Many -varieties of trees already grown to forest hight spread their -interlacing roof of cool, green shadow over the malachite sward below. -Beds of flowers set in the grass, from the early March crocuses to the -November blooming roses, make the grounds fragrant and precious with -their presence. Here the dandelion spreads its cloth of gold in early -May. Here the chrysanthemums fringe the snow with pallid gold in white -December. Now the fountains are lapsing in dreamy tune through the long -June hours, and the seats under the trees are filled with visitors. -Nurses with children in their arms, old men and women leaning on their -staffs, lovers “billing and cooing” through the long twilight and -starlight seasons. Beyond spreads the city, every ugly outline hidden -and lost in a waving sea of greenery rippling and tossing above it. The -great avenues run and radiate in all directions. Pennsylvania Avenue -stretches straight on between its border of shade trees to its acropolis -one mile distant, the great Treasury gleaming in the sun, and the white -chimneys of the Executive Mansion peering above the trees; and still on, -till it joins the primitive streets of Georgetown. Massachusetts Avenue, -broad, straight, magnificent, spans the city from end to end unbroken. -Virginia Avenue to the left, goes on to meet Long Bridge, leading far -into the Old Dominion. Directly in front stretches the public -reservation yet to be made splendid as the Nation’s Boulevards, but -already holding the Congressional gardens and conservatories, the unique -towers, and picturesque grounds of the Smithsonian Institution, the -broad flower-banded terraces of the Agricultural Department, and the -incomplete Washington Monument. Beyond we see the wide Potomac, flecked -all over with snowy sails, far down old Alexandria, dingy on its farther -shore; opposite the Heights of Arlington, and amid its immemorial oaks; -Arlington House with the stars and stripes floating free from its -crowning summit. - - - - - CHAPTER XI. - ART TREASURES OF THE CAPITOL. - -Arrival of a Solitary Lady—“The Pantheon of America”—Il - Penserosa—Milton’s Ideal—Dirty Condition of the House of - Representatives—The Goddess of Melancholy—Vinnie Ream’s Statue - of Lincoln—Its Grand Defects—Necessary Qualifications for a - Sculptor—The Bust of Lincoln by Mrs. Ames—General Greene and - Roger Williams—Barbarous Garments of Modern Times—Statues of - Jonathan Trumbull and Roger Sherman—Bust of Kosciusko—Pulling - His Nose—Alexander Hamilton—Fate of Senator Burr—Statue of - Baker—His Last Speech Prophetic—The Glory of a Patriotic - Example—The Lesson which Posterity Learns—Horatio Stone, the - Sculptor—Washington’s Statue at Richmond—Neglected Condition of - the Capitol Statuary—Curious Clock—Grotesque Plaster Image of - Liberty—Webster—Clay—Adams—The Pantheon at Rome—The French - Pantheon—Bar-Maid Goddess—Dirty Customs of M. C’s—Future Glory - of America. - - -A solitary lady has arrived in the old Hall of the House of -Representatives; or, as Senator Anthony eloquently calls it, “the -Pantheon of America.” “Considering her age,” (as women sweetly say of -each other,) “she looks quite young.” What her precise age may be, I am -as unable to tell you as that of any other of my friends. The daughter -of Saturn and Vesta, we may, at least, conclude that she has lived long -enough to look older than she does. Her name is “Il Penserosa,” and, “to -judge by appearances,” she seems to have flourished about twenty-five of -our mortal years. Yet Milton sung of her in his youth, before an unruly -wife and three disobedient daughters, (who perversely wished to -understand the alphabet which they read to their blind father,) had made -him crabbed and loftily sour towards women—Milton sung of this maid who -has but lately arrived in Washington: - - “Come, pensive nun, devout and pure, - Sober, steadfast, and demure, - All in a robe of darkest grain - Flowing with majestic train, - And sable stole of cypress lawn, - Over thy decent shoulders drawn; - Come, but keep thy wonted state - With even step and musing gait, - And looks commercing with the skies, - Thy rapt soul sitting in thine eyes.” - -Now, if this maiden can keep on holding her head up, with looks -perpetually “commercing with the skies” so that it will be impossible -for her to see all the tobacco-juice and apple-cores beneath and round -about her, it will conduce greatly to her peace of mind. I am sorry that -“the Pantheon of America” is not a cleaner looking place. It’s a pity, -as we have a Pantheon, that its shabbiness and dirt should flourish to a -degree that is absolutely melancholy. I am sure it was in obedience to -the law of fitness that the committee of the Congressional Library or -some other committee, brought the Goddess of Melancholy in here, to hold -her eyes and nose aloft, and to stand supreme queen, regnant of dust and -gloom and American “expectoration.” “Hail! divinest Melancholy.” I am -glad, judging by your face, that you are of the lymphatic temperament, -and that consequently, all this dirt will afflict you less than it does -me. But the more I look at your impassive and soulless countenance the -more I fear that, after all, you are but a feeble counterfeit of -Milton’s goddess or of the divine maiden conceived and born in, - - “Woody, Ida’s inmost grove.” - -In speaking of this marble, my heart will not let me forget that it was -wrought by a hand self-taught; yet no less, standing where it does, it -must be measured—somewhat, at least—by the standards of art. The figure, -diminutive even in its femininity, suffers to insignificance by being -set almost directly behind the gaunt and elongated form of Miss Ream’s -“Lincoln;” yet it is in the figure, in its _posé_ and gentle curves, its -chaste and graceful drapery, “the stole of cypress lawn, over the decent -shoulders drawn” in the firm yet delicate hand which holds it in its -place—in these only it is that the artist has caught and fastened in -stone the aspect of the “goddess, sage and holy.” The face is -meaningless. Not a line, not a curve, not an expression indicates a -capacity for melancholy, contemplation or anything else emotional or -intellectual. No mortal woman ever really meditated for a minute who did -not get her hair pushed back further from her eyes than this, but these -regulation locks run straight down the little, senseless Greek face in a -mathematical angle, indissolubly banded by a little perked up helmet, -embossed with seven stars. Why these stars? “Il Penserosa” was not -nearly enough related to “that starred Ethiop queen” Cassiope, to have -borrowed the helmet to wear even in the old Hall of the old House of -Representatives “in the United States of America.” - -As for the Ream statue of Lincoln, (like many people,) the first glance -at it is the most satisfactory that you will ever have. It will never -look as well again. Some declare this very palpable lack to be in the -subject—Mr. Lincoln’s own face and form—but many others note it to be in -this representation of them. Mr. Lincoln’s living face was one of the -most interesting ever given to man. There was more than fascination in -its rugged homeliness; there was in it the deeper attraction of -suffering and sympathy. It outrayed from every line engraven there by -human pain and love and longing. But no soul can put into a statue or -painting more than it has in itself. In this statue of Mr. Lincoln we -have his rude outward image, unilluminated by one mental or spiritual -characteristic. It is mechanical, material, opaque. Mrs. Sarah Ames, in -her bust of Lincoln, which stands just behind our friend, “Il -Penserosa,” has transfixed more of the soul of Lincoln in the brow and -eyes of his face than Miss Ream has in all the weary outline of her many -feet of marble. In the bust the lower part of the face is idealized into -weakness. Without his gauntness and ruggedness Lincoln is not Lincoln. -But any one who ever saw and felt the deep, tender, sad outlook of his -living humanity must thank Mrs. Ames for having reflected and transfixed -it in the brows and eyes of this marble. - -Just outside of its alcove, at the right hand of the door which enters -the New House of Representatives, stand side by side, the two statues -from Rhode Island—one of General Green, the other of Roger Williams. -That of General Green is spirited and exquisitely fine in detail; while -that of Roger Williams is the one ideal statue in our Pantheon. Both -were executed in Rome—the first by Henry R. Brown, the second by -Franklin Simmons, of Providence, Rhode Island. No portrait of Roger -Williams being in existence, Mr. Simmons has evolved from imagination -and his inner consciousness a quaint, poetic figure and a dreamlike -face, above whose lifted eyelids seems to hover a seraphic smile. Then -it is refreshing to turn from the stove-pipe hats, shingled heads and -angular garments in which the men of our generation do penance, to the -flowing locks, puckered knee-breeches, with their dainty tassels, and -the ample ruffs in which the holy apostle of liberty represents his name -and time. He holds a book in his hand, on whose cover is inscribed the -words, “Soul Liberty,” and, with open, uplifted glance and free _posé_ -seems about to step forward into air, with lips just ready to open with -words of inspiration. - -Opposite, on the other side of the Hall, stand together Connecticut’s -contribution—the statues of Jonathan Trumbull and Roger Sherman. They -are of heroic size and at first glance are most imposing. When you walk -nearer, and soberly survey them, you see that Roger Sherman looks solid -and stolid, and you see also (at least, I do,) that old Jonathan -Trumbull, with his down-perked head and narrow-lidded eyes, looks like a -meditative rooster—an immense human chanticleer, who had paused in his -lording career for a minute’s meditation. Mind, I don’t say but this may -be a grand statue, in its way, I only observe that it is a very -repelling one to me. - -Just round the angle of the alcove on a box set on end, covered with -tattered black cambric, stands a bust of Kosciusko, by H. D. Saunders. -Poor Kosciusko! His nose always needs wiping; and what a pedestal for a -Pantheon! A candle or a soap box, probably, half covered with black -tags; then on his nose celestial, the dust alights and lodges always. It -is so provocative—the tip of it; every bumpkin who approaches it taps or -pulls it. Thus, literally, Kosciusko’s nose is seldom clean. One day it -was. Some pitying hand had washed the entire face. If you could have -seen the difference between Kosciusko clean and Kosciusko exiled, dirty -and forlorn! A few steps from this bust stands the statue of Alexander -Hamilton, by Horatio Stone—a noble figure, spirited in posture and -beautiful in countenance. No painted portrait can give so grand an idea -of the great Federalist to posterity. It is eight feet high and -represents Hamilton in the attitude of impassioned speech. It is -persuasive rather than declamatory, for the lifted hands droop, the face -presses slightly forward, the eyes look out from under their royal -arches deep and steadfast, while the sunshine pouring down the dome -lights up every lineament with the intensity of life. The execution of -the statue is exquisite, while in _posé_ and expression it is the -embodiment of majesty and power. Burr—who presided over the Senate, who -with the pride, subtlety and ambition of Lucifer, planned and executed -to live in the future amid the most exalted names of his time—sleeps -dishonored and accursed; while the great rival that he hated, whose -success he could not bear, whose life he destroyed, comes back in this -majestic semblance to abide in the Capitol. Thus we behold in this -statue not only a “triumph of art” but also a triumph of that final -retributive compensation of justice which sooner or later crushes every -wrong. This image of Hamilton looks forth from an era which, across the -gulf of our later revolution, seems already remote. It recalls -Washington the friend, Jefferson the foe, the war of Colonist and Tory, -the war of ideas between Federalist and Republican, the struggles and -successes of a splendid career; yet how far removed seem all across the -graves of the men of our own generation whom patriotism and death have -made illustrious and immortal. Thus nearer and dearer to the hearts of -to-day must be the image of “the noblest Roman of them all.” It is a -statue of Baker, also executed by Horatio Stone, in Rome, in 1863. -Hamilton stands forth in heroic size, while the statue of Baker is under -that of life, and barely suggests the grand proportions of the man. Yet -the dignity and grandeur of his mien are here, as he stands wrapped in -his cloak, his arms folded, his head thrown back, his noble face lifted -as if he saw the future—_his future_—and awaited it undaunted and with a -joyful heart. At his side is the plumed hat of a soldier, and on the -pedestal on which he stands are graven words from his last speech in the -United States Senate, when he replied to Breckenridge, “There will be -some graves reeking with blood, watered by the tears of affection. There -will be some privation. There will be some loss of luxury; there will be -somewhat more need of labor to procure the necessaries of life. When -that is said, all is said. If we have the country, the whole country, -the Union, the constitution, free government—with these will return all -the blessings of a well ordered civilization. The path of the country -will be a course of grandeur and glory such as our fathers in the olden -time foresaw in the dim visions of years to come—such as would have been -ours to-day, had it not been for the treason for which the senator too -often seeks to apologize.” - -Thus to the land he loved he gave his life—a life so rich in every -quality that rounds and completes the highest manhood. - -At sight of this mute marble, what memories are stirred! Again, in and -around Union Square throbs the vast human mass. Banners wave, cannons -boom, drums beat, men march. Every pulse of the air thrills with the -cry, “To Arms!” Amid all the orators of that hour, whose voice uttered -such burning words as Baker—he who left the seat of a senator for the -grave of a soldier. Thank God for our dead who yet live. No land has a -more priceless legacy. No soil was ever planted with richer blood. No -freedom ever bought with a costlier victory. Let me tell you, public -men, amid all your lavish expenditures of money wrung from the people, -never begrudge the price you pay for the fit statue of a great -character. Line the corridors of the Capitol with the images of the -noble and the good, that, by suggestion and semblance, they may arouse -to a purer purpose the emulation of the living. In these halls where -lobbyists congregate, where money-changers stand with shameless faces -offering their venal price for truth and honor, buying and selling the -integrity of manhood, give to our eyes at least the memories of high -example. If men in the rush of affairs and the absorption of their -ambitions take no time to study them, thoughtful women will pause and -ponder, and then teach the children who are to rule after us to love and -remember. - -I look on these statues and think of the man who wrought them—think of -him as I saw him every day six years ago, a pale, dissatisfied, restless -man, whose hands were busy with uncongenial tasks, but whose brain was -haunted with noble ideals, to which he was powerless to give form or -substance. Opportunity, the ultimate test of all power, came to him and -at last Congress voted ten thousand dollars to Horatio Stone to execute -the statue of Alexander Hamilton in Rome. And, lo! the intangible vision -of the weary man is embodied in imperishable marble—the most majestic -statue beneath the dome of the Capitol. A little way before it is a -plaster cast, mounted high on a wooden block, of Houdin’s bronze figure -of Washington, the original of which is in the State Capitol at -Richmond, Virginia. Such a peaked-headed, idiotic-looking Washington I -never saw elsewhere. If he looked like this, it is perfectly plain why -he passed through life without ever once having done anything naughty. -But if he did look like this he was a stupid mortal to live with. Most -of the marbles of our Pantheon are poorly set. Even the seraphic apostle -of “soul liberty” stands on a box covered with cinnamon-colored cambric, -and his martial brother does likewise. Abraham Lincoln is ensconced -within an unpainted wooden fence, and the great lawgivers of Connecticut -stand in their big cloaks upon cotton covered boxes. Mrs. Ames’ bust of -“Lincoln” is poised on a handsome pedestal of Scotch granite; but, with -few exceptions, though not utterly barren of fine marbles, the present -aspect of the American Pantheon is chiefly suggestive of crudeness, -shabbiness, and—the exorbitant necessity of spittoons. Over the entrance -is a clock, having for its dial the wheels of a winged car, resting on a -globe. In this car sits a lady called History, with a scroll and pen in -hand. Oh! the story she could tell if she could tell the truth. -Opposite, twenty-four Corinthian columns of variegated Potomac marble -shoot to the roof, and shadow what was once the gallery of the Old Hall -of Representatives. In the centre stands a horrid-looking plaster image -of Liberty, modeled by Cansici; and under it the American bird, modeled -from life and cut in sandstone by Volaperti. Besides, scattered about -are portraits of Henry Clay, a mosaic portrait of Lincoln, by Signor -Salviato of Venice, of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, and of Joshua -Giddings. - -I have meant to pass nothing over that graces or disgraces our American -Pantheon, that you, afar, may see it as it is. In itself it is the most -majestic room in the Capitol. Set apart to enshrine the sculptured forms -of illustrious dead, already its arches and alcoves are fraught with -their living memoirs. Here Webster spoke, here Clay presided, here Adams -died. - -It is modeled from the Roman Pantheon, and its roof, at least, is like -it. We have no proof that the Roman Pantheon was set apart for such a -purpose as that to which our own is dedicated; indeed, in the beginning -it was supposed to be connected with the Roman baths. To-day it is -chiefly sacred to art as the burial-place of Raphael. The French -Pantheon, also, was comparatively poor in statues, though boasting of -immense compositions in painting, by David and Gros. Herein the great -men who have illustrated France appear in the forms of Fenelon, -Malesherbes, Mirabeau, Voltaire, Rousseau, Lafayette, and others; while -at their feet, as befits their sex, sit History and Liberty, properly -employed making wreaths for the heads of these masculine heroes. From -the dome look down Clovis, Charlemagne, St. Louis, Louis XIV., XVI., -XVII., Marie Antoinette, Madame Elizabeth, with a central glory to -represent Deity. The dome of our own rotunda is a florid imitation of -this. We have Franklin, Washington, and troops of goddesses, who look -like bar-maids; but from the focal apex we have omitted God, whose eye -is needed for such an assembly. - -The magnificent facade which leads to the Houses of Parliament in -Westminster Palace is nine hundred feet long, paneled with tracery and -decorated with rows of majestic statues of the kings and queens of -England, from the conquest to the present time. Let us hope that it will -never be defiled from beginning to end, as our own magnificent -legislative halls, with tobacco-juice from the mouths of demoralized -men. The earth has never had but one absolutely perfect building, in -itself the final consummate flower of art—the Parthenon—consecrated -first to woman, the Virgin House, sacred to Athena. Beneath its pure and -perfect dome there was nothing to divert the gazer’s contemplation from -the simplicity and majesty of mass and outline. The whole building, -without and within, was filled with the most exquisite pieces of -sculpture, executed under the guidance of Phidias. The grand central -figure was the colossal statue of the Virgin Goddess, wrought by the -hand of Phidias himself. The weight of gold which she carried, says -Thucydides, was forty talents. Could a wooden fence guard so much gold -in our Christian Pantheon to-day? It was a happy thought which dedicated -this old hall of the nation to national art, but it far outleaped its -century. That which shall truly be the Pantheon of America is not for -us. The children of later generations, a far-off procession, may come up -hither to worship the diviner forms of the future, the majestic statues -of the nation’s best—its sons grand in manhood, its daughters divine in -womanhood; but, with here and there a rare exception, our eyes who live -to-day will see them not. - - - - - CHAPTER XII. - WOMEN WITH CLAIMS. - -The Senate Reception Room—The People Who Haunt It—Republican “Ladies in - Waiting”—“Women with Claims”—Their Heroic Persistency—A Widow and - Children in Distress—Claim Agents—The Committee of Claims—A - Kind-hearted Senator’s Troubles—Buttonholing a Senator—A Lady of - Energy—Resolved to Win—An “Office Brokeress”—A Dragon of a Woman—A - Lady who is Feared if not Respected—Her Unfortunate Victims—Carrying - “Her Measure”—The Beautiful Petitioner—The Cloudy Side of her - Character—Her Subtle Dealings—Her Successes—How Government Prizes - are Won. - - -The room itself means only grace, beauty and silence. The moment had not -come for dis-illusion, thus I went forth without a word regarding its -human aspect. - -To-day, dear friends, we will go in and face that. We sit down in the -shadow of this Corinthian pillar, and, looking out see the most -noticeable fact is that this lofty apartment is thronged with women. A -number are conversing with senators; others are gazing toward the doors -which lead into the Senate. Some seem to be waiting with eager eyes and -anxious faces; others are leaning back upon the sofas in attitudes of -luxurious listlessness. Do you ask why they are here? Are they studying -the stately proportions and exquisite _finesse_ of the ante-room? Not at -all. It is not devotion to the aesthetic arts nor the inspiration of -patriotism, which brings these women thither. They are a few, only a -very few, of the women—with “claims,” who, through the sessions of -Congress haunt the departments, the White House and the Capitol. - -[Illustration: - - THE LADIES’ RECEPTION ROOM. - - INSIDE THE CAPITOL.—WASHINGTON. -] - -The dejected looking woman on the sofa opposite is a widow, with -numerous small children. You may be certain by the unhopeful expression -of her face that it is her own claim which, almost unaided and alone, -she is trying to “work through” Congress. Her home is far distant. She -borrowed money to come here, she borrows money to support her children, -money to pay her own board; borrows money to pay the exorbitant fees of -the claim-agent, who, constantly fanning the flame of “great -expectations,” assures her every day that Congress will pay her the -thousands which she demands for her losses—will pay her this very -session. Meantime the session is almost ended, and the widow’s claim, on -which hangs such a heavy load of debt and fear, lies hidden and -forgotten in the pigeon-hole of the Committee of Claims. While it lies -there, gathering dust, she a cheaply clad, care-faced woman, no longer -young, and never pretty, has grown to be most burdensome to Senator ——, -especially to the chairman of that committee. Irksome, not to be -desired, is the importunate presence of this forlorn woman. No less -irksome to these functionaries is the sight of her hundred sisters in -distress—more or less; poor widows, with small children, with personal -claims upon the Government. The chairman dreads the sight of this woman -and of her like. He dreads it the more that he is perfectly certain that -her case is not reached, and will not be this session. A kind-hearted -man, he is unwilling to set the seal of despair on her face by telling -her the truth. She finds it out at last, and then remembering all his -evasions, in her disappointment and hopeless poverty, she denounces him -as “deceitful and heartless,” whereas the honorable gentleman was only -trying to be kind. Meanwhile the Senate is too much interested in -immense claims involving millions, to be paid out of the National -Treasury, too much absorbed in the discussion of the universal, to be -able to come down to the small particular of a poor widow, with hungry -children, whose only heritage was lost in the war. In time, whose cycles -may be as long as those of the Circumlocution Office and the Court of -Chancery—but _some_ time, when the widow has borrowed and spent more -money than the whole claim is worth, it may be investigated, and full or -partial justice done. In either case, it will take more than she -receives to pay the many expenses which she has incurred during her long -years of waiting. Do you wonder that her face looks doleful while she -waits for Senator —— to come in to answer her card, sent into the Senate -Chamber. Here he is and we can hear what he says, “I am very sorry, -Madame; but it has grown to be too late. I fear that your case can not -be reached this session.” Poor woman. It would have been better for you -to have staid at home, kept out of debt, worked with your hands to have -supported your children. That would have been a hard life, but not so -hard as the mortification, suspense, and defeat of this, and the long -years of labor after all. - -See that sharp-faced woman, with darting, prying eyes. She rushes in one -door and out of another. She hurries back. She meets a senator, and -“button-holes him,” after the fashion of men, and begins conversing in -the most importunate manner. He makes a retreat. Lo! in a moment she -attacks another, leading him triumphantly to a sofa, where we witness a -_teté-a-teté_, on the feminine side, carried on with marked emphasis and -much gesticulation. This woman not only has one claim in Congress, she -has many, and not one her own. She is a claim-agent, an -office-brokeress. She buys claims, and speculates in them as so much -stock. She takes claims on commission, deluding many a poor victim into -the belief that “my influence” and “my friends,” Senator So-and-So and -Secretary P. Policy, will insure it a triumphant passage and a -remunerative end, “without _fail_.” It is not strange, through sheer -pertinacity and by dint of endless worrying, she often succeeds. She is -purely feline in her tactics—ever alert, watchful, wary, cunning, and so -she worries her victims and wins. She is one of the world’s -disappointed, dissatisfied ones; so, more than all else, we will be -sorry for her. What God meant to be a fair life has been striven away in -one weary struggle for the worldly honor and conventional _prestige_ -lying just above her reach. And to her the most pleasurable excitement -in all the claim profession is the delusion that it affords her of -personal power and of association with the great! - -Pardon me, good friends, for calling a name. I _must_ call it, for it is -true. Here comes a very dragon of a woman. I am as afraid of her as if -she had horns. I was going to say that she was a man-woman, which is the -greatest monstrosity of the genus feminine. But I honor my brethren too -much for such a comparison, and so will simply say-in manners, she is a -dragon. The men whom she seizes must think so; they give her her way, -because they are afraid of her. Too well they know that, if they do not -yield her point—if they do not at least promise her their influence—if -they do not assure her that they will do all in their power to carry -“_her measure_”—that she will attack them in the street, in the -legislative lobbies, in the quiet of their lodgings, everywhere, -anywhere, till they do. She is no covert power. She proclaims aloud that -she has come to Washington to carry a measure through Congress to -establish some man in power. And she does it because her tongue is a -scourge and her presence a fear. - -Leaning back in a chair, no one near her, you see a fair woman, whose -beautiful presence seems at variance with the many anxious and angular -and the few coarse women around her. The calmness of assured position, -the serene satisfaction of conscious beauty, envelop her and float from -her like an atmosphere. We feel it even here. Plumes droop above her -forehead, velvet draperies fall about her form. We catch a glimpse of -laces, the gleam of jewels. Look long into her face; its splendor of -tint and perfection of outline can bear the closest scrutiny. Look long, -and then say if a soul saintly as well as serene looks out from under -those penciled arches, through the dilating irises of those beguiling -eyes. Look, and the unveiled gaze which meets yours will tell you, as -plainly as a gaze can tell, that adulation is the life of its life, and -seduction the secret of its spell. This beauty would not blanch before -the profanest sight; it is the beauty of one who tunes her tongue to -honeyed accents, and lifts up her eyelids to lead men down to death. She -comes and goes in a showy carriage. She glides through the corridors, -haunts the galleries and the ante-rooms of the Capitol—everywhere -conspicuous in her beauty. All who behold her inquire, Who is that -beautiful woman? Nobody seems quite sure. Doubt and mystery envelop her -like a cloud. “She is a rich and beautiful widow,” “She is unmarried,” -“She is visiting the city with her husband.” Every gazer has a different -answer. There are a few, deep in the secrets of diplomacy, of -legislative venality, of governmental prostitution, who can tell you she -is one of the most subtle and most dangerous of lobbyists. She is but -one of a class always beautiful and always successful. She plays for -large stakes, but she always wins. The man who says to her, “Secure my -appointment, make sure my promotion, and I will pay you so many -thousands,” usually gets his appointment, and she her thousands. Does -she wait like a suppliant? Not at all. She sits like an empress waiting -to give audience. Will she receive her subjects in promiscuous -assemblage? No; if you wait long enough you will see her glide over -these tessellated floors, but not alone. Far from the ears of the crowd, -in rooms sumptuous enough for the Sybarites, this woman will dazzle the -sight of a half-demented and wholly bewildered magnate, and then tell -him what prize she wants. With alluring eyes and beguiling voice she -will besiege his will through the outworks of his senses, and so charm -him on to do her bidding. He promises her his influence; he promises her -his power; her favorite shall have the boon he demands, whether it be of -emolument or power. - -Thus some of the highest prizes in the Government are won. Unscrupulous -men pay wily women to touch the subtlest and surest springs of -influence, and thus open a secret way to their public success. No longer -the question is: Shall women participate in politics? shall they form a -controlling element in the Government? But, as there are women who will -and do exert this power, shall it remain abject, covert, equivocal, -demoralizing, base? Or shall it be brave and pure and open as the sun? - - - - - CHAPTER XIII. - THE CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY. - -Inside the Library—The Librarian—Sketch of Mr. Spofford—How - Congressional Speeches are Manufactured—“Spofford” in Congress—The - Library Building—Diagram—Dimensions of the Hall—The Iron Book - Cases—The Law Library—Five Miles of Book Shelves—Silent - Study—“Abstracting” Books—Amusing Adventure—A Senator - in a Quandary—Making Love under Difficulties—Library - Regulations—Privileged Persons—Novels and their Readers—Books of - Reference—Cataloguing the Library—The New Classification—Compared - with the British Museum—Curious Old Newspapers—Files of Domestic and - Foreign Papers—One Hundred Defunct Journals—Destruction of the - Library by English Troops—An Incident of the War of 1814—Putting it - to the Vote—“Carried Unanimously”—Wanton Destruction—Washington in - Flames—A Fearful Tempest—The Second Conflagration—35,000 Volumes - Destroyed—Treasures of Art Consumed—Congressional Grants—The New - Library—Extensive Additions—The Next Appropriation—The Grand Library - of the Nation. - - -The most remarkable fact of the present connected with the Congressional -Library, is its Librarian, Mr. Ainsworth R. Spofford. - -Mr. Spofford was appointed Assistant Librarian by President Lincoln, -December 31, 1864, and upon the resignation of Mr. Stephenson the same -month succeeded him as Librarian. Mr. Spofford was formerly connected -with the secular press of Cincinnati, Ohio, and was also engaged in the -book trade in the same city. But neither fact accounts for his almost -unlimited practical knowledge of books of every age and in every -language. He is himself a vast library in epitome. If you wish to inform -yourself upon any subject under the sun, if you have any right or -privilege to inform Mr. Spofford of that fact, in five minutes you will -have placed before you a list, written down rapidly from memory, of the -best works extant upon the subject named, and in as few moments as it -will take to find them, and draw them forth from their dusty nests, you -will have them all heaped on a table before you, ready for your search -and research, and all the headaches they will be sure to give you. - -Mr. Spofford has the credit among experts of writing many Congressional -speeches for honorable gentlemen whose verbs and nominatives by chronic -habit disagree, and whose spelling-books were left very far behind them, -but who nevertheless are under the imperative necessity of writing -learned speeches of which their dear constituents may boast and be -proud. By the way, a lady in private life in Washington,—a scholar and -caustic writer,—used to earn all her pin money, before her ship of -fortune came in, by writing, in the solitude of her room, the learned, -witty and sarcastic speeches which were thundered in Congress the next -day, by some Congressional Jupiter, who could not have launched such a -thunder-bolt to have saved his soul had it not been first forged and -electrified by a woman. The Librarian of Congress is too much absorbed -by his routine labors to have much time or strength to spare for the -writing out of Congressional speeches. But daily and almost hourly he -suggests and supplies the materials for such speeches. When a member -whose erudition is not remarkable, stands up in his seat, backing every -sentence he utters on finance, law or politics, by great authority, more -than one mentally exclaims, “Spofford!” We know where he has been. Mr. -Spofford is a slight gentleman in the prime of life, of nervous -temperament with very straight, smooth hair, classic features and a -placid countenance. Always a gentleman, his patience and urbanity are -inexhaustible, if you have the slightest claim upon his care. If you -have not, and he has no intention of being “bothered,” his “shoo fly” -capabilities are equally effectual. Like most book-people, Mr. -Spofford’s nervous life far outruns his material forces. He needs more -sunshine, air and out-of-door existence, as most Americans do. Therefore -I here cast him a crumb of sisterly counsel, born of gratitude and -selfishness. Spend more time on the Rock Creek and Piney Branch roads, -on the hills and by the sea, Mr. Spofford. Then may you live long, -prosper, and grow wiser, for the sake of my books, and everybody’s! - -The halls of the Library of Congress are among the most chaste, unique -and indestructible of all the halls of the Capitol. The Library occupies -the entire central portion of the western front of the original Capitol. -The west hall extends the entire length of the western front flanked by -two other halls, one on the north the other on the south side of the -projection. - - DIAGRAM OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. - - ┌────────┐ ┌────────┐ - │ │ Vestibule. │ │ - │ │ │ │ - │ ├─────────── Door. ────────────┤ │ - │ North │ │ South │ - │ Hall. │ │ Hall. │ - │ │ - │ West Hall of Liberty. │ - │ │ │ │ - │ │ │ │ - │ │ │ │ - └────────┴──────────────────────────────┴────────┘ - -The west hall which a few years since made the whole Library, is 91 feet -6 inches in length, 34 feet wide and 38 feet high, the other two halls -of the same hight are 29 feet 6 inches wide and 95 feet long. The halls -are lighted by windows looking out upon the grounds of the Capitol and -by roof lights of stained glass. The ceiling is iron and glass, and -rests on foliated iron brackets each weighing a ton. The pilasters and -panels are of iron painted a neutral hue tinged with pale green and -burnished with gold leaf. The floors are of tessellated black and white -marble. The iron book-cases on either side rise story on story, floored -with cast-iron plates, protected by railings, and traversed by light -galleries. Including the Law Library, these halls contain 26,148 feet, -or nearly five miles of book-shelving, and contain over 210,000 volumes. -The iron floors are covered with _kamptulicon_ floor cloth, a compound -of India-rubber and cork, which possesses the triple advantage of being -clean, light and cheap. The leg of every chair has a pad of solid -India-rubber under it. Nobody is allowed to speak above a whisper; thus -the stolid turning, or the light flutter of leaves make the only sound -which stirs the silence. Alcove after alcove line the halls, but with -the exception of two devoted to novels and other light reading, left -open for the ladies of members’ families, they are all securely locked -and protected by a net-work of wire, and thus the chance of pilfering -and of flirting are both shut in behind that securely fastened little -padlock. - -[Illustration: - - THE CENTRAL ROOM, CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY. - - INSIDE THE CAPITOL.—WASHINGTON. -] - -Before the era of locking up, many books were “abstracted” from the -Library and never returned. And it is said that the alcoves were used -during the sessions of Congress by the belles of the Capitol for -reception rooms in which they received homage and listened to marriage -proposals. The story is told of “a wealthy Southern representative -gleaning materials for a speech in an upper section,” who was suddenly -stopped in his pursuit after knowledge above by the knowledge ascending -from below that “a penniless adventurer” was that moment persuading his -pretty daughter to elope in the alcove under him. It did not take the -parent long to descend into that alcove. The daughter did not elope. - -The halls are lined with wide tables and arm-chairs provided for all who -wish to make use of the treasures of the Library. Tickets with blanks -can be filled with the name of any book desired, over the signature of -the applicant, who retains the book while remaining in the Library. On -the back of those tickets are printed the following regulations of the -Library: - - 1. Visitors are requested to remove their hats. - - 2. No loud talking is permitted. - - 3. No readers under sixteen years of age are permitted. - - 4. No book can be taken from the Library. - - 5. Readers are required to present tickets for all books wanted, and - to return their books and take back their tickets before leaving the - Library. - - 6. No reader is allowed to enter the alcoves. - -No books can be taken out of the Library except on the responsibility of -a member of Congress. Till within a very few years, books were allowed -to be taken by strangers who presented a written permit to do so from a -Congressional official. This courtesy resulted in the destruction and -loss of so many valuable works, it had to be abolished and the stringent -rules of the present time established and strictly enforced. An act of -Congress provided that books can be taken out of the Library only by the -President of the United States, Members of the Cabinet, Judges of the -United States Supreme Court, Members of the Senate and House of -Representatives, Secretary of the Senate, Clerk of the House and members -of the Diplomatic Corps. This privilege of course includes the families -of these official gentlemen. - -Forgetting this fact, the long list of story-books and new novels often -“charged” to these State names would be something ridiculous. Dealers in -light literature suffer somewhat from this privilege. The copyright law -and the Congressional Library together provide society and State with -all the surface literature that they want during their sojourn in -Washington. For reference the books are most extensively and thoroughly -used by all seekers after knowledge. American and foreign authors line -the tables in these quiet halls daily, and the results of their research -are usually given to the world. Legal, political, and historical works -are the ones most constantly called for and searched. - -From 1815 to 1864 the Library was catalogued on the system adopted by -Mr. Jefferson according to Bacon’s Division of Science. This -classification adapted to a small library was inadequate to the -necessities of thousands of consulting readers. Mr. Spofford, on his -advent as Librarian, went to work to simplify the system. The result was -a complete catalogue of all the books in the great Library arranged -alphabetically under the heads of authors. A proof of the perfection of -this arrangement is, that any book hidden in the farthest corner of the -most distant alcove is handed to a reader at the tables within five -minutes after his application, while in the British Museum he would do -well if he got it in the space of half an hour. - -Till the reign of Mr. Spofford, newspapers, as valuable documentary -history, had almost been ignored by the guardians of the Library. This -great defect Mr. Spofford has done much to eradicate and remedy. Files -of all the leading New York dailies are now regularly kept. Some -unbroken files have been secured, including those of the _New York -Evening Post_, from its beginning in 1801, the _London Gazette_ from -1665, the French _Moniteur_ (Royal, Imperial, and Republican,) from -1789, the _Illustrated London News_, the _Almanac de Gotha_ from 1776, -and a complete set of every newspaper ever published in the District of -Columbia, including over one hundred now no more. Before the last -progressive regime, even after Congress had appropriated $75,000 for the -replenishing of the Library, the entire national collection did not -contain a modern encyclopedia, or a file of a New York daily newspaper, -or of any newspaper except the venerable _Washington National -Intelligencer_. _De Bow’s Review_ was the only American magazine taken, -“but the _London Court Journal_ was regularly received, and bound at the -close of each successive year!” - -The Congressional Library is the only one in the world utterly -fire-proof, without an atom of wood or of any combustible material in -its miles of shelving. Before it attained to this indestructible state -it suffered much. First from the British. On the evening of August 24, -1814, after the battle of Bladensburg, General Ross led his victorious -troops into the Federal City. As they approached the Capitol a shot was -fired by a man concealed in a house on Capitol Hill. The shot was aimed -at the British general, but only killed his horse. The enraged Britons -immediately set fire to the house which contained the sharp-shooter, -who, it is said, was a club-footed gardener-barber Irishman. The -unmanageable troops were drawn up in front of the unfinished Capitol, a -wooden scaffolding, occupying the place of the Rotunda, joining the two -wings. They first fired a volley into the windows and then entered the -building to prepare it for destruction. Admiral Cockburn ascended to the -Speaker’s chair, and derisively exclaimed: - -“Shall this harbor of Yankee Democracy be burned? All for it say ‘Aye!’” - -It was carried unanimously, and the torch of the Englishman applied to -the hard-earned treasures of the young Republic. The Library of -Congress, used as lighting paper, was entirely destroyed. With it, two -pictures of national value were burned; portraits of Louis XVI. and -Marie Antoinette, which, richly framed, had been sent to the United -States Government in Philadelphia, by the unfortunate French King. - -While the Capitol was burning, clouds and columns of fire and smoke were -ascending from the President’s house and all the other public buildings -of the young city. The conflagration below was dulled by the -conflagration above; one of the most dreadful storms of thunder and -lightning ever known in Washington, met and lighted on the British -invaders, dimming and quenching their malicious fires. - -In 1851 the magnificent new library-room of the Central Capitol, which -now held 55,000 volumes and many works of art, was discovered to be on -fire. The destruction was immense. Thirty-five thousand volumes were -destroyed. Among the valuable pictures burned at the same time were -Stuart’s paintings of the first five Presidents; an original portrait of -Columbus; a second portrait of Columbus; an original portrait of Peyton -Randolph; a portrait of Boliver; a portrait of Baron Steuben; one of -Baron de Kalb; one of Cortez, and one of Judge Hanson, of Maryland, -presented by his family. Between eleven and twelve hundred bronze medals -of the Vattemare Exchange, some of them more than two centuries old, -were destroyed; also, an Apollo in bronze, by Mills; a very superior -bronze likeness of Washington; a bust of General Taylor, by an Italian -artist; and a bust of Lafayette, by David. - -The divisions of Natural History, Geography, and Travels, English and -European History, Poetry, Fiction, and the Mechanic Arts and Fine Arts -were all burned. The whole of the Law Library escaped the fire. - -It indicates the intellectual vitality of the nation that an -appropriation of $10,000 was immediately made for the restoration of the -Library, and by the close of the year $75,000 more for the same purpose. - -Like most beginnings, that of the Congressional Library was humble in -the extreme. The first provision for this great National collection was -made at Philadelphia by an act of the Sixth Congress, April 24, 1800, -appropriating $5,000 for a suitable apartment and the purchase of books -for the use of both Houses of Congress. The first books received were -forwarded to the new seat of Government in the trunks in which they had -been imported. President Jefferson, from its inception, an ardent friend -of the Library, called upon the Secretary of the Senate, Samuel Allyne -Otis, to make a statement on the first day of the session, December 7, -1801, respecting the books, the act of Congress having provided that the -Secretary of the Senate, with the Clerk of House of Representatives, -should be the purchasers of the books. The Congressional provision for -the Library in 1806 was $450.00. - -In a report made by Doctor Samuel Latham Mitchell from New York to the -House, January 20, 1806, he says: - - “Every week of the session causes additional regret that the volumes - of literature and science within the reach of the National Legislature - are not more rich and ample. The want of geographical illustration is - truly distressing, and the deficiency of historical and political - works is scarcely less severely felt.” - -President Madison always exercised a fostering care over the Library and -an act approved by him, December 6, 1811, appropriates, for five -additional years, the sum of one thousand dollars annually for its use. - -The whole number of books accumulated in fourteen years, from 1800 to -1814, amounted only to about three thousand volumes. The growth of the -Library may be traced in the relative sums appropriated to its benefit -by successive Congresses. In 1818, $2,000 were appropriated for the -purchase of books. From 1820 to 1823, $6,000 were voted to buy books. - -In 1824, $5,000 were appropriated for the purchase of books under the -Joint Committee; also $1,546 for the purchase of furniture for the new -Library in the centre building of the Capitol. - -The yearly appropriation for the increase of the Library, for many -successive years after the accession of General Jackson, was $5,000; -these were exclusive of the appropriations made for the Law Department -of the Library. In 1832 an additional appropriation of $3,000 was made -for Library furniture and repairs. In 1850 the annual appropriation of -$1,000 to purchase books for the Law Library was increased to $2,000. -Within a year of the burning of the Library in 1851, $85,000 had been -voted by Congress for the restoration of the Library and the purchase of -books. - -The west hall of the New Library was completed and occupied July 1, -1853. It was designed by Thomas A. Walter, the architect of the Capitol. -The appropriation for miscellaneous books alone in the years 1865 and -1866 amounted to $16,000. In 1866, $1,500 were set apart for procuring -files of leading American newspapers, and the sum of $4,000 was voted -June 25, 1864, to purchase a complete file of selections from European -periodicals from 1861 to 1864 relating to the Rebellion in the United -States. July 23, 1866, the amount of $10,000 was voted by Congress for -furniture for the two wings of the extension. The present magnificent -halls of the Library of Congress were built at an expense of $280,500. -The main hall cost $93,500, and the other two halls $187,000. The last -two have been built under the superintendence of Mr. Edward Clark. -Beautiful and ample as these three halls are in themselves, they are -already too small to hold the rapidly accumulating treasures of the -Library. - -The next appropriation will take the Congressional Library out of the -Capitol altogether into a magnificent building, built expressly for and -devoted exclusively to the uses of the Grand Library of the Nation. - - - - - CHAPTER XIV. - A VISIT TO THE NEW LAW LIBRARY. - -How a Library was Offered to Congress—Mr. King’s Proposal—An Eye to - Theology—The Smithsonian Library Transferred—The Good Deeds of Peter - Force—National Documents—“American Archives”—Congress Makes a Wise - Purchase—Eliot’s Indian Bible—Literary Treasures—The Lawyers Want a - Library for Themselves—Their “Little Bill” Fails to Pass—They are - Finally Successful—The Finest Law Library in the World—First Edition - of Blackstone—Report of the Trial of Cagliostro, Rohan and La - Motte—Marie Antoinette’s Diamond Necklace—A Long Life-Service—The - Law Library Building—An Architect Buried Beneath his own - Design—“Underdone Pie-crust”—“Justice” Among the Books—Reminiscence - of Daniel Webster and the Girard Will. - - -A little more than a month after the burning of the Library by the -British in 1814, a letter was read in the Senate, from Thomas Jefferson -at Monticello, tendering to Congress the purchase of his library of nine -thousand volumes. - -The collection of this library had been the delight of Mr. Jefferson’s -life, and, long before, he had written of it as “the best chosen -collection of its size probably in America.” Pecuniary embarrassments -had already begun to cloud his closing years, and the double hope of -relieving these, and of adding to the treasures of his beloved Republic, -impelled him to this personal sacrifice. In his letter to the Committee -he said: - - “I should be willing indeed to retain a few of the books to amuse the - time I have yet to pass, which might be valued with the rest, but not - included in the sum of valuation until they should be restored at my - death, which I would cheerfully provide for.” - -The sum of $23,950 in Treasury notes, of the issue ordered by the law of -March 4, 1814, was paid him. The actual number of volumes thus acquired -was 6,700. Although a Mr. King, of Massachusetts, more burdened with -zeal than knowledge, made a motion which called out a loud and long -debate, that all books of an atheistical, irreligious, and immoral -tendency should be extirpated from the Library and sent back to Mr. -Jefferson, the department of Theology in his library was found to be -large, sound, and valuable. - -In 1866 the custody of the Library of the Smithsonian Institution, with -the agreement of the Regents, was transferred to the Library of -Congress. It brought forty thousand additional volumes to the -Congressional Library. - -When you come to Washington, you will see in the gallery of the -Smithsonian Institution the bust of a noble man standing on a simple -plaster column, bearing the name PETER FORCE. He, during his life, did -more than any one American to rescue from oblivion the early documentary -history of the United States. He came from his native city, New York, to -Washington, as a printer, in 1815. In 1820 he began the publication of -the _National Calendar_, an annual volume of national statistics, and -also published the _National Journal_, the Administration organ during -the Presidency of John Quincy Adams. In 1833 the Government entered into -a contract with Mr. Force to prepare and publish a “Documentary History -of the American Colonies.” Nine volumes subsequently appeared under the -title of the “American Archives.” In preparing this work, Mr. Force -gathered a collection of books, manuscripts, and papers relating to -American History, unequalled by any private collection in the world. At -the request of the Joint Library Committee of the Thirty-ninth Congress, -Mr. Spofford, the Librarian, entered into a thorough examination of the -Force Library. After spending from two to three hours per day on it for -two months, he presented to Congress an exhaustive classified report of -its treasures, which resulted in the purchase of the entire Force -Library by the Joint Library Committee for the sum of one hundred -thousand dollars, the sum offered by the New York Historical Society for -the same collection. It occupies the South Hall of the Congressional -Library. - -Before this purchase, the largest and most complete collection of books -relating to America was tucked away on the shelves of the British -Museum. Among the treasures of the Force Library is a perfect copy of -Eliot’s Indian Bible, the last copy of which sold brought $1,000; -forty-one different works of Cotton and Increase Mather, printed at -Boston and Cambridge, from 1671 to 1735; complete files of the leading -journals of Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and other -States, from 1735 to 1800, with 245 bound volumes of American newspapers -printed prior to 1800; and these make but a small proportion of its -priceless historical wealth. - -February 18, 1816, a bill was introduced in the Senate to establish a -Law Library at the Seat of Government, for the use of the Supreme Court -of the United States. It passed that body, but never went into effect, -from the non-action of the House of Representatives on the bill. July -14, 1832, [Andrew Jackson, President,] a bill was approved, entitled, -“An Act to increase and improve the Law Department of the Library of -Congress,” which, in its four sections, contained the following -provisions: - - “For the present year a sum not exceeding five thousand dollars, and a - farther annual sum of one thousand dollars for the period of five - years, to be expended in the purchase of law books.” - -The number of law books owned by the Library at that time was 2,011; 639 -of these belonged to the Jefferson collection. From this beginning, -within forty years has grown the finest law library in the world. It -contains every volume of English, Irish and Scotch reports, besides the -American; an immense collection of case law, a complete collection of -the Statutes of all civilized countries since 1649, filling one hundred -quarto volumes. It includes the first edition of Blackstone’s -Commentaries, an original edition of the report of the trial of -Cagliostro, Rohan and La Motte, for the theft of Marie Antoinette’s -diamond necklace—that luckless bauble which fanned to such fury the -fatal flames of the Revolution. When Andrew Jackson became President, in -1829, he appointed John S. Meehan, a printer of Washington, the first -editor and publisher of the _Columbia Star_ and _United States -Telegraph_, Librarian of Congress. He continued in that office till the -accession of Mr. Lincoln—a period of thirty-two years. His son, Mr. C. -H. W. Meehan, relinquished his boy pageship under his father, in 1832, -to be transferred to the new Law Library. The lapse of forty years finds -this gentleman still the special custodian of the Law Library. In 1835 -he was entrusted with the choice of all books purchased for the Library, -which trust he continues to hold. He adds another to the many faithful -and learned lives whose entire span is measured by devoted service to -the State, under the shadow of the Capitol. In December, 1860, the Law -Library was removed into the basement room of the Capitol, just vacated -by the Supreme Court. This room is unique and beautiful. Its vestibule -is supported by pillars in clusters of stalks of maize, with capitals of -bursting ears of corn, the design of Mr. Latrobe. The chamber itself is -of semi-circular form seventy-five feet in length. The arches of the -ceiling rest upon immense Doric columns. The spandrels of the arches are -filled in with solid masonry—blocks of sandstone, strong enough to -support the whole Capitol. Their tragic strength springs from the fact -that the arch above fell once, burying and killing beneath it its -designer, Mr. Lenthal. The plan of his arch in proportion to its height -was pronounced unsafe by all who examined the drawing, except himself. -To prove his own faith in his theory he tore away the scaffolding before -the ceiling was dry. It fell, and he was taken out hours after, dead and -mangled, from its fallen ruins. It will never fall again. The tremendous -masonry which now supports a very light burden makes it impossible. The -Doric columns diverge from the centre to the circumference like the -radii of a circle. From this centre diverge the alcoves lined with books -in the regulation binding, likened by Dickens to “underdone pie-crust.” -On the western wall near the ceiling is a group in plaster, representing -Justice holding the scales, and Fame crowned with the rising sun, -pointing to the Constitution of the United States, the work of Franzoni, -the sculptor of the History-winged clock, in the old Hall of -Representatives. In this room, Daniel Webster made his great speech in -the Dartmouth College case, and Horace Binney his argument in the case -of the Girard Will. The Librarian’s semi-circular mahogany desk, with -its faded green brocade draperies, once stood in the old Senate Chamber -and re-echoed to the gavel of every Vice-President who reigned in the -Senate from 1825 to 1860. - - - - - CHAPTER XV. - THE HEAVEN OF LEGAL AMBITION—THE SUPREME - COURT ROOM. - -Memories of Clay, Webster and Calhoun—Legal Giants of the Past—Stately - Serenity of the Modern Court—“Wise Judgment and Wine-Dinners”—The - Supreme Court in Session—Soporific Influences—A Glimpse of the - Veritable “Bench”—The Ladies’ Gallery—The Chief Justices of the - Past—Taney Left Out in the Cold—His Apotheosis—Chief Justice - Chase—Black Robed Dignitaries—An Undignified Procession—The “Crier” - in Court—Antique Proclamation—The Consultation Room—Every Man in his - Proper Place—Gowns of Office—Reminiscence of Judge McClean—“Uncle - Henry and his Charge”—Fifty Years in Office. - - -One of the few rooms in the Capitol wherein harmony and beauty meet and -mingle, is the Old Senate Chamber, now the Supreme Court Room of the -United States. - -Here Clay, and Webster, and Calhoun,—those giants of the past, whom -octogenarians still deplore with all their remembered and forgotten -peers,—once held high conclave. Defiance and defeat, battle and triumph, -argument and oratory, wisdom and folly once held here their court. It is -now the chamber of peace. Tangled questions concerning life, liberty and -the pursuit of personal happiness are still argued within these walls, -but never in tones which would drown the sound of a dropping pin. Every -thought is weighed, every word measured that is uttered here. The judges -who sit in silence to listen and decide, have outlived the tumult of -youth and the summer of manhood’s fiercer battles. They have earned -fruition; they have won their gowns—which, while life lasts, can never -be worn by others. Theirs is the mellow afternoon of wise judgment and -wine-dinners. - -In the Court room itself we seem to have reached an atmosphere where it -is always afternoon. The door swings to and fro noiselessly, at the pull -of the usher’s string. The spectators move over a velvet carpet, which -sends back no echo, to their velvet cushioned seats ranged against the -outer-walls. A single lawyer arguing some constitutional question, -drones on within the railed inclosure of the Court; or a single judge in -measured tones mumbles over the pages of his learned decision in some -case long drawn out. Unless you are deeply interested in it you will not -stay long. The atmosphere is too soporific, you soon weary of absolute -silence and decorum, and depart. The chamber itself is semi-circular, -with snow white walls and windows crimson-curtained. It has a domed -ceiling studded with stuccoed mouldings and sky-lights. The technical -“bench” is a row of leather backed arm-chairs ranged in a row on a low -dais. Over the central chair of the Chief Justice a gilt eagle looks -down from a golden rod. Over this eagle, and parallel with the bench -below, runs a shallow gallery, from which many fine ladies of successive -administrations have looked down on the gods below. At intervals around -the white walls are set brackets on which are perched the first four -Chief Justices—John Jay, John Rutledge, Oliver Ellsworth and John -Marshall. There have been but six Chief Justices of the Supreme Court -since its beginning. Chief Justice Taney’s bust for years was left out -in the cold on a pedestal within a recess of one of the windows of the -Senate wing. It was voted in the Senate that it should there wait a -certain number of expiatory years until in the fulness of time it should -be sufficiently absolved to enter the historic heaven of its brethren. - -One more is yet to be added—the grand head and face of Chief Justice -Chase. The May flowers have scarcely faded since he held high court here -alone. As ever his was the place of honor. A crown of white rose-buds -shed incense upon his head—placed there by the beautiful daughter who -crowned him in death, as in life, the first of men. Crosses, anchors and -columns of stainless blossoms were heaped high above his head. Here in -the silence of death, for one day and night, the great Chief Justice -held Supreme Court alone. - -During the session of the Supreme Court, the hour of meeting is 11 A. M. -Precisely at that hour a procession of black-robed dignitaries, kicking -up their long gowns very high with their heavy boots, may be seen -wending their way from the robing-room to the Supreme Court room. They -are preceded by the Marshal, who, entering by a side-door, leads -directly to the Judges’ stand, and, pausing before the desk, exclaims: - -“The Honorable the Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the Supreme -Court of the United States.” - -With these words all present rise, and stand to receive the Justices -filing in. Each Justice passes to his chair. The Judges bow to the -lawyers; the lawyers bow to the Judges; then all sit down. The Crier -then opens the Court with these words: - - “O, yea! O, yea! O, yea! All persons having business with the - honorable the Supreme Court of the United States are admonished to - draw near and give their attendance, as the Court is now sitting. God - save the United States and this honorable Court.” - -At the close of this antique little speech, the Chief Justice motions to -the lawyer whose case is to be argued, and that gentleman rises, -advances to the front, and begins his argument. - -The chairs of the Judges are all placed in the order of their date of -appointment. On either side of the Chief Justice sit the senior Judges, -while the last appointed sit at the farther ends of each row. In the -robing-room, their robes, and coats and hats, hang in the same order. In -the consultation-room, where the Judges meet on Saturday to consult -together over important cases presented, their chairs around the table -are arranged in the same order, the Chief Justice presiding at the head. -Both the robing and consultation-rooms command beautiful views from -their windows of the city, the Potomac, and the hills of Virginia. In -the former, the Judges exchange their civic dress for the high robes of -office. These are made of black silk or satin, and are almost identical -with the silk robe of an Episcopal clergyman. The gown worn by Judge -McClean still hangs upon its hook as when he hung it there for the last -time—years and years ago. The consultation-room is across the hall from -the Law Library, whose books are in constant demand by the lawyers and -Judges of the Supreme Court. This room is in charge of “Uncle Henry,” a -colored man, who has held this office for fifty years, and, at the age -of eighty, still fulfils his duties with all the alacrity and twice the -devotion of a much younger man. - - - - - CHAPTER XVI. - THE “MECCA OF THE AMERICAN.” - -The Caaba of Liberty—The Centre of a Nation’s Hopes—Stirring - Reminiscences of the Capitol—History Written in Stone—Patriotic - Expression of Charles Sumner—Ruskin’s Views of Ornament—Building - “for all Time”—“This our Fathers Did for Us”—The Parthenon and the - Capitol Compared—The Interest of Humanity—A Secret Charm for a - Thoughtful Mind—An Idea of Equality—The Destiny of the Stars and - Stripes—A Mother’s Ambition—Recollections of the War—The Dying - Soldier—“The Republic will not Perish.” - - -The Capitol of his country should be the Mecca of the American. It is -_his_ Capitol, and his country’s, through such extreme cost, that he -should make pilgrimages hither to behold with his own eyes the Caaba of -Liberty. This august building should gather and concentrate within its -walls the holy love of country. - -In our vast land the passion of nationality has become too much -diffused. It has been broken into the narrower love bestowed upon a -single State. It has been bruised by faction. It has been broken by -anarchy. But within the walls of the Capitol, every State in the Union -holds its memories, and garners its hopes. Every hall and corridor, -every arch and alcove, every painting and marble is eloquent with the -history of its past, and the prophecy of its future. The torch of -revolution flamed in sight, yet never reached this beloved Capitol. Its -unscathed walls are the trophies of victorious war; its dome is the -crown of triumphant freemen; its unfilled niches and perpetually growing -splendor foretell the grandeur of its final consummation. Remembering -this, with what serious thought and care should this great national work -progress: - - “The hand that rounded Peter’s dome, - And groined the aisles of ancient Rome, - Wrought with a sad sincerity.” - -Let no poor artist, no insincere spirit, assume to decorate a building -in whose walls and ornaments a great nation will embody and perpetuate -its most precious history. The brain that designs, the hand that -executes for the CAPITOL, works not for to-day, but for all time. It was -with a profound consciousness, not only of what this building is, but of -all that it must yet be to the American people, that Charles Sumner, -that profound lover of beauty, said, with so much feeling: “Surely this -edifice, so beautiful and interesting, should not be opened to the rude -experiment of untried talent. It ought not to receive, in the way of -ornamentation, anything which is not a work of art.” In every future -work added to the Capitol, let the significant words of Ruskin, the -great art critic, be remembered: - - “There should not be a single ornament put upon a great civic - building, without an intellectual intention. Every human action gains - in honor, in grace, in all true magnificence, by its regard to things - to come. There is no action nor art whose majesty we may not measure - by this test. Therefore, when we build a public building, let us think - that we build it for ever. Let us remember that a time is to come when - men will say: ‘See, this our fathers did for us.’ ” - -Phidias created the Parthenon. Beneath his eyes it slowly blossomed, the -consummated flower of Hellenic art. It has never been granted to another -one man to create a perfect building which should be at once the marvel -and the model of all time. Many architects have wrought upon the -American Capitol, and there are discrepancies in its proportions wherein -we trace the conflict of their opposing idiosyncrasies. We see places -where their contending tastes met and did not mingle, where the harmony -and sublimity which each sought was lost. We see frescoed fancies and -gilded traceries which tell no story; we see paintings which mean -nothing but glare. But a human interest attaches itself to every form of -noble building. Its very defects the more endear it to us, for, above -all else, these are human. We love our Capitol, not that it is perfect, -but because, being faulty, it still is great, and worthy of our -reverence. Its wondrous possibilities, its inadequate fulfilment, its -very incompleteness, but make it nearer kin to ourselves. Like the -friend tantalizingly and delightfully faulty, its many shaded humanity -is full of varied charm. It has all the secret ways of a profound -nature. We fancy that we know it altogether, that we could never be lost -in its labyrinths; yet we are constantly finding passages that we -dreamed not of, and confronting shut and silent doors which we may not -enter. But the deeper we penetrate into its recesses, the more -positively we are pervaded by its nobleness, and the more conscious we -become of its magnitude and its magnificence. - -No matter how we condemn certain proportions of the Capitol, it grows -upon the soul and imagination more and more, as does every great object -in art or nature. Beside, the Capitol is vastly more than an object of -mere personal attachment to be measured by a narrow individual standard. -To every American citizen it is the majestic symbol of the majesty of -his land. You may be lowly and poor. You may not own the cottage which -shelters you, nor the scanty acres which you till. Your power may not -cross your own door-step; yet these historic statues and paintings, -these marble corridors, these soaring walls, this mighty dome, are -yours. The highest man in the nation owns nothing here which does not -belong equally to you. The Goddess of Liberty, gazing down from her -shield, bestows no right upon the lofty which she does not extend -equally to the lowliest of her sons. - -The temple of Pallas Athena, the stones of Venice, the mighty mementos -of a mightier Mexico do not tell to any human gazer one-half so grand a -story as the Capitol of America will yet proclaim to the pilgrim of -later ages. In far-off time I see it stand forth the conqueror of the -forgetfulness and the indifference of men. A solemn teacher, with stern, -watchful, yet silent sympathy, it will impart to a proud people the -profound lesson of their past. A loving mother, it will hold before her -living children the sacred faces of her dead for the emulation, the -reverence, the love, of all who came after. In its halls will stand the -sculptured forms of famed men, and of women great in goodness, great in -devotion, great in true motherhood. Through sight and sympathy, through -the inspiration of grand example, the living woman as she lays her -moulding hand upon the budding heart and tender brain of the boy-man, -will rise to the true dignity of the wife and mother of the Republic. - -With psychical sight we see what the Capitol will one day be, to later -generations; by our own heart-throbs, we know what it is to ourselves. -Strength and depth are in its foundations, power and sublimity in its -dome, and these are ours. Its mighty masses of gleaming marble, all -veined with azure; its Corinthian capitals, flowering at the top like a -palm in nature; its tutelary statue of freedom, are joys to our eyes -forever. Serene Mother of our liberties, she watches always and never -wearies. When the whole land lay in shadow, when the blood of her sons -ran in rivers, when her heart was pierced nigh unto death, in moveless -calm she held her steadfast shield; and gazing into her eyes, through -the dimness of tears, we read the promise of peace. No matter where -darkness fell, she bore the sunlight upon her crest. The dying statesman -asked to be lifted up that his eyes might behold her last. The soldier, -who gave his all, to perish in her name, watched for the sight of her -from afar, and beheld her first with the shout of joy. When the slow -river bore him back wounded from battle, he strained his eyes to catch a -glimpse of Freedom on the dome, and looking up, was content to know that -he was dying for her sake. - -Factions will fight and fall. Political parties will struggle and -destroy each other. The passions of men are but the waves which beat and -break on her feet. Above, beyond them all Freedom lives for evermore. -Because she lives, Truth and Justice must survive, and the Republic will -not perish. - - - - - CHAPTER XVII. - THE CAPITOL—MORNING SIGHTS AND SCENES. - -The Capitol in Spring—A Magic Change—“More Beautiful than Ancient - Rome”—Arrival of Visitors—A New Race—“Billing and Cooing”—Lovers at - the Capitol—A Dream of Perpetual Spring—Spending the Honeymoon in - Washington—Charmingly “Vernal” People—New Edition of David - Copperfield and Dora—“Very Young”—Divided Affections: the New - Bride—Jonathan and Jane—Memories of a Wedding Dress—An Interview - With a Bride—“Two Happy Idiots”—A Walk in the City—Utilitarian - Projects—President Grant—The Foreign Ambassadors—“Beau” Hickman—An - Erratic Genius—Walt Whitman, the Poet—A “Loafer” of Renown—Poets at - Home—Piatt—Burroughs—Harriet Prescott Spofford—Sumner and - Chase—Foreign _Attachés_ “on the Flirt”—Tiresome Men—Lafayette - Square in the Morning—How to Love a Tree—“He Never Saw Washington.” - - -We rarely have spring in this latitude. Full panoplied, summer springs -from under the mail of long lingering winter. We had a fine yesterday. -From my window this morning lo! the miracle! my dear long-timed friend, -the maple across the street, amazes me once more, though I declared to -it last year I never would be amazed again. It beckons me, its myriad -little wands all aquiver with the tenderest green, and says: “There now, -you can’t help it! Again I am a beauty and a wonder!” No long waiting -and watching for slow budding blossoms here. Some night when we are all -asleep there is a silent burst of bloom; and we wake to find the trees -that we left here, when we shut our blinds on them the night before, all -tremulous with new life, and the whole city set in glowing emerald. - -I invite you to the western front of the Capitol, to stand with me in -the balcony of the Congressional Library, to survey the city lying at -our feet within the amphitheatre of hills soaring beyond, the river -running its shining thread between. I am quite ready to believe what -Charles Sumner said when pleading against the mooted depot site on its -Central Avenue, that this city is more beautiful than ancient Rome. In -itself it is absolutely beautiful, and that is enough; and it grows more -and more so as the sea of greenery, which now waves and tosses about its -housetops, rises each year higher and higher. The Capitol in early -spring and summer is in no wise the Capitol of the winter. Every door -swings wide; from the doors in the under-ground corridors to the -wondrous doors, designed in Rome and cast in Munich, which open into the -rotunda. What long, cool, green vistas run out from every angle. You -stand beneath the dome; but your eyes find rest in the far shadow of the -Virginia hills. - -And so many people seem to have come under the great dome to rest. You -wonder where they could all have appeared from. They are not at all the -people who crowd and hurry through the corridors in winter—the -claimants, the lobbyists, the pleasure-seekers from great cities who -come to spend the “season” in Washington. Nearly all are people from the -country, the greater proportion brides and grooms, to whom the only -“season” on earth is spring—the marriage season. Pretty pairs! They seem -to be gazing out upon life through its portal with the same mingling of -delight and wonder with which they gaze through the great doors of the -Capitol upon the unknown world beyond. Early summer always brings a -great influx of bridal pairs to Washington. Whence they all come no -mortal can tell; but they do come, and can never be mistaken. Their -clothes are as new as the spring’s, and they look charmingly vernal. The -groom often seems half to deprecate your sudden glance, as if, like -David Copperfield, he was afraid you thought him “very young.” And yet -he invites you to glance again, by his conscious air of proud -possession, which says: “Behold! I may be young—very. But I have gotten -me a wife; she is the loveliest creature upon earth.” The affections of -the lovely creature seem to be divided between her new lord and her new -clothes. She loves him, she is proud of him; but this new suit, who but -she can tell its cost. What longing, what privation, what patient toil -has gone into its mouse or fawn-like folds; for this little bride, who -regretfully drags her demi-train through the dust of the rotunda in -summer, is seldom a rich man’s daughter. You see them everywhere -repeated, these two neophytes—in the hotel-parlor, in the street-cars, -in the Congressional galleries. - -When Jonathan read to Jane, in distant Mudville, the record of -Congressional proceedings in Washington, in the _Weekly Tribune_, both -imagined themselves deeply interested in the affairs of their country; -but here, on the spot, how small seem Tariff, Amnesty, Civil Rights, and -Ku-Klux bills beside the ridiculous bliss of these two egotists. They do -not even pretend to listen. But they have some photograph cards, and -seek out their prototypes below. On the whole, Jane is disappointed. She -was not prepared for so many bald heads, or for so much of bad manners. -After all, not one of these men, in her mind, can compare with the small -law-giver, the newly-found Lycurgus by her side. Before she became calm -enough to reach this judicial decision, she visited the ladies’ -dressing-room and shook out her damaged plumes. - -“Is Washington _always_ so dusty?” she asked, with a sigh, looking down -on her pretty mouse-colored dress, with its piping decidedly grimed. - -“Nearly always,” I answered. - -“Then how _can_ people live here?” she exclaimed. - -When she goes home, she will tell that the dome of the Capitol is very -high; that Conkling looks thus, and Sumner so. But what she will tell -oftenest and longest—perhaps to her children’s children—will be that it -was in Washington she ruined her wedding dress. - -“I was married yesterday, and see how I look!” said Jane, ruefully. - -“You look very pretty,” I said. “It will all shake off.” Wherewith Jane -proceeded to shake, to wash her face, and brush her curls over her -fingers. I helped her re-drape her lace shawl, and was repaid a moment -later by her graceful _posé_ in the front seat of the Senate Gallery, -her hand in Jonathan’s. It was refreshing, in the face of such a -conglomeration of doubtful wisdom, to see two happy idiots, if they did -not know it. The city is full of Janes and Jonathans. - -The Capitol grounds are lovely as the gardens of the blessed, these -hours. - -The armies of violets which swarmed its green slopes a month ago are -gone, and the dandelions have gone up higher, and are now sailing all -around us through the deep, still air. There is a ripple in the grass -that invites the early mower. The fountains toss their spray into the -very hearts of the old trees that bend above them, and on the easy seats -beneath their shadow, sit black and white, old and young, taking rest. - -These grounds, perfect in themselves, utter but one reproach to the men -legislating within yonder walls, and that, because they are not larger -and meet in proportion to the august Capitol which they encircle. We -pass through them out into Pennsylvania avenue—this great and yet to be -fulfilled expectation. Broadway cannot compare with it in magnificent -proportions. It is as wide as two Broadways, and at this hour of the -afternoon its turn-outs are metropolitan. Nevertheless, judged by its -trees and houses, it has a rural, second-rate look. Though here and -there a lonesome building shoots up above its fellows, its average shops -are shabby and small, and do not compare favorably with those of Third -avenue in New York. The idealistic Statesmen of Washington and -Jefferson’s time modelled it to repeat the _Unter den Lindens_ of -Berlin. As a result, the ample rows of Lombardy poplars are defunct, and -the Gradgrind politicians of to-day have voted to dump down a railroad -“depot” in its very centre, because Mr. Thomas Scott wants it, and -because they have free railroad-passes, and a few other little -perquisites in their pockets. This, of course, is very shocking to say; -but then it is much more shocking to be true. Excepting Mr. Sumner, Mr. -Morrill, Mr. Thurman and a few others, who really care for the future of -Washington and who love this Capital, the remainder would, for a -sufficient price, sell out the entire city, Capitol and all, to -monopolies and corporations. But this broad thoroughfare, stretching -straight for a mile between Treasury and Capitol, with its double drive, -smooth as a floor, its borders of bloom, its gay promenades and flashing -turn-outs has a certain splendor of its own, of which no monopoly can -wholly rob it. - -Here is the Grant carriage, with its plain brown linings, and in it Mrs. -Grant and her father. A light buggy flies past, drawn by superb horses, -driven by a single occupant. He is the President—small, slight, erect, -smoking a cigar. The courtly equipages of the Peruvian, Argentine, -Turkish and English Ministers, with liveried outriders and beautiful -women occupants, with the no less elegant establishments of American -Senators, Members and citizens, swell the gay cavalcade on this truly -splendid Corso. - -Standing on the curb-stone, gazing on it with an expression which would -have made Dickens wild till he had reproduced it, stands Beau Hickman, -long a character of Washington. He is an old man, long and lean, with a -face corrugated like a wizened apple and a complexion like parchment or -an Egyptian mummy. His aspect is a strange compound of gentility and -meanness. His stove-pipe hat, which evidently has survived many a -battering, is carefully brushed; his standing collar is very stiff and -very high. His vest is greyish white, his coat is dingy and shiny. His -faded pantaloons have been darned, and need darning again. His toes are -peering through his shoes, and they are down at the heels; yet he -carries a foppish cane and wears his hat in a rakish manner. Beau -Hickman was born a Virginia gentleman, insomuch as he still manages to -live without labor, it being the pride of his heart that he never did -anything useful in his life. He ekes out a wretched existence by -filching small sums from friends and strangers for telling stories and -relating experiences, for which he invariably demands a drink or a -supper. One of the most miserable objects I ever beheld is Beau Hickman -hungry, hobbling through the Senate restaurant, gazing at one table and -then at another, at the comfortable people sitting by them, filling -their stomachs, not one alas! asking him to partake. - -Here with a sweep and swing, with head thrown back, and arms at rest, -comes a man as supremely indifferent to all this show as the other is -abjectly enthralled by it. This man, slowly swinging down the Avenue, is -a “cosmos” in himself. Locks profuse and white, eyes big and blue, -cheeks ruddy, throat bare, wide collar turned back, slouched felt hat -punched in, a perfect lion apparently in muscle and vitality—this is -Walt Whitman. Every sunshiny day he “loafs” and invites his soul on the -Avenue, and there are other poets who do likewise. Here sometimes may be -seen John James Piatt, now Librarian of the House of Representatives, -with his blonde hair and brown-eyed wife, who is quite as much a poet as -he is; and John Burrough the Thoreau of the Treasury Department, gentle -as one of his own birds; and William O’Connor whose poetical fires burn -undimmed within the same dim old walls; and, clad in mourning, Harriet -Prescott Spofford, sweet poet and sweeter woman. Here of old were seen -the gigantic forms of Charles Sumner and of Chief Justice Chase. When -the Supreme Court is in session, at a certain hour, a company of immense -gentlemen doff their long black silk gowns, and slowly and ponderously -wend their way along the Avenue, in mild, dignified pursuit of exercise -and dinner. Here, before the sun grows too hot, may be seen the -moustached, gesticulating, voluble young _attachés_ of the foreign -embassies with the pretty girls of the West End, who they like to flirt -with but rarely marry—which is fortunate for the girls. - -I cannot divorce myself long enough from this divine day to write about -men. There is not a man on the face of the earth that would not be -tiresome if one had to think of him, to the exclusion of this weather. -To think that there are any to be written about when I want to sit in -the sun and do nothing, stirs up a perfect rumpus between desire and -duty. I am not so fond of my duty that I always spell it with a big “D,” -or in every emergency put it foremost. I would like to put it out of -sight some times. Wouldn’t you? But then I cannot. “It’s too many for -me,” as poor Tulliver said of his enemy. It won’t go out of sight, much -less stay there. Something clever might have come to me about tedious -men if I had not reached Lafayette Square this morning. There is that in -this new bloom so tender, so unsullied, which makes politicians seem -paltry, and all their outcry a mockery and an impertinence. To be sure, -these green arcades in their outer bound touch another world. Beyond, -and above them, floats the flag on the Arlington House. Below, the -windows of Charles Sumner’s home hint of art and beauty within. The -abodes of famous men and of beautiful women encircle all the square. On -one side the white cornices of the Executive Mansion peer above the -trees. - -Almost within call are men and women whose names suggest histories and -prophecies, all the tangled phenomena of individual life. Yet how easy -to forget them all on these seats, which Gen. Babcock has made so -restful—thank him. The long summer wave in the May grass; the low, -swaying boughs, with their deep, mysterious murmur, that seems instinct -with human pleading; the tender plaint of infant leaves; the music of -birds; the depth of sky; the balm, the bloom, the virginity, the peace, -the consciousness of life, new yet illimitable, are all here, just as -perfectly as they are yonder in God’s solitude, untouched of man. If you -need help to love a tree read the diary of Maurice de Guerin. No one -else, not even Thoreau, (whose nature lacked in depth and breadth of -tenderness perhaps in the deepest spiritual insight,) ever came so near -or drew forth with such deep feeling the very soul of inanimate Nature. -He felt the soul of the tree, heard it in the moaning of its voice as it -stood with its roots bound in the earth and its arms outstretched with a -never-ceasing sigh towards infinity. But why do I speak of him? He lived -and died and never saw Washington. - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII. - FAIR WASHINGTON—A RAMBLE IN EARLY SPRING. - -Washington Weather—Sky Scenery—Professor Tyndall Expresses an - Opinion—A Picture of Beauty—“A City of Enchantment”—“My Own - Washington”—Prejudiced Views—Birds of Rock Creek—The Parsonage—A - Scene of Tranquil Beauty—A Washington May—Charms of the - Season—Mowers at Work—The Public Parks—Frolics of the Little - Ones—Strawberry Festivals—“Flower Gathering.” - - -The climate of Washington has a villainous reputation, and at certain -times and seasons it deserves it Yet it tantalizes us with days which -prelude Paradise. Under their azure arch, through their beguiling air, -with reluctant steps we enter winter—the oozy, clammy, coughing winter, -which waits us just the other side of the gate of January. But they -linger long—the preluding days. They seem reluctant to yield us to our -impending foes—society and wet weather. - -These are the days of days, swathed in masses of lights and color -unfathomable. It is one of the wonders of Washington too rarely -noted—its sky-scenery. So few people take the trouble to look at the sky -save to see if “it looks like rain.” All that New York can afford to -give to tired mortals is a scanty slice of light through which to let a -glimpse of glory down upon its palaces and catacombs of humanity. But -across these banding hills, this broad amphitheatre of space, mass and -sweep on, in the empyrean, wave on wave of polarized light, with a -delicacy of tint, a depth of hue, an immensity of volume, which no words -can portray. This vast sea of color (in its deeps of orange, purple and -gold, which now transfigure the twilight sky, till the Virginia hills -look like open gates to the city of gold) Professor Tyndall, in one of -his lectures on light, in this city, said that he had never seen -approached on the other side of the Atlantic, save by the intense -refractions of light on the Alpine glaciers. - -In the autumnal days, and in the advancing spring, through the blue -spaces steals a tremulous, ever hovering purple, like opaline doves’ -necks’ lustre, penetrating all the atmosphere like the purple haze above -the hills of Rome, till the yellow walls of Arlington House, and the -snowy masses of the Capitol seem actually to shimmer through waves of -amethystine mist. Under such a light, some morning, spring suddenly -spreads forth its whole panoply, with a vividness of green, a -prodigality of foliage never seen in a more northern latitude. One wide -wilderness of unbroken bloom sends up its fragrance through waves of -purple yellow and azure light, and then, till the day when, without -warning, summer suddenly transmutes all into molten brass, Washington in -light and color, in bloom and fragrance, is a city of enchantment. - -Thus I have a Washington of my own, dear friends. I never find it till -some March day, when in walking down the Capitol grounds I discover that -the shining runlets on either side of the Avenue have broken loose and -are racing free through their sluices of stone, and that all the -crocuses in the broad beds under the trees are pushing their little -yellow noses out of the ground. To be sure, they almost always draw them -back again to get them out of the snow which falls after; nevertheless -on that day I find my Washington. Then it is, that just as the grey -lenten veil has covered and extinguished the gay season of the “German,” -we come unaware upon another Washington, which I vainly essay to portray -for you. My season is not fashionable. No portrayer of costumes is -“liberally paid” by “the most enterprising of publishers” to describe -the transcendent suit which decks this season of mine. _My_ Washington -has no chronicler. The scribes are all so busy abusing the Capitol, -depicting its follies and its crimes, that, though they have eyes, they -see not, and ears, they hear not, the sights and sounds of this other -Washington—fair Washington, outlying, above and beyond all. - -If I could only paint for you the fathomless purples in which the hills -enfold themselves, the wide glimmering rosy spaces, reaching on and on; -or tell you of the nations of birds in the Rock Creek woods, which have -made there a supreme haunt for naturalists; of its nations of flowers, -which beckon and nod from the Rock Creek and Piney Branch roads; the -anemones, the arbutus, the honeysuckle, the laurel, the violets, the -innocents, covering wide acres with color and perfume; of the shy Rock -Creek parsonage, built of brick brought from England more than a century -ago, above whose trees the Capitol gleams, yet within whose porch you -seem shut in peace away from this loud world, with the bees droning in -the still warm air, and humming-birds drinking from the lilac cups; with -the gentle Christian hearts which abide beneath its roof and minister -beneath the shadow of its venerable church; if I could paint all these -as they are, you would care for my Washington, but as I cannot, I fear -that you never will. - -A Washington May is the June of the north, with a pomp of color, an -exuberance of foliage, an allurement of atmosphere which a northern June -has not. - -It is May now. All the ugly outlines and shabby old houses are softened -and covered with beneficent foliage. Already the mowers are at work in -the Capitol grounds and in the little public parks, and the sweetness of -the slain grass pervades the atmosphere. The children are everywhere -pretty things. Washington is full of them, tumbling amid the flowers and -in the dirt. It is May, yet June, impatient, has reached across her -sister, dropping her roses everywhere. Washington is one vast garden of -roses. It is the hour of strawberry festivals and of - - FLOWER GATHERING. - - Miles away from the dusty town, - Out in the beautiful June-time weather, - The wind of the south is rippling down, - And over the purple hills of heather. - - Dim, in the distance, the city walls - Rise, like the walls of a dreary prison; - On the healing sward where the sunshine falls, - We stand ’mid the flowery folk arisen. - - We watch their innocent eyelids ope, - And below we hear the river flowing; - While wilting sweet on the upland slope - Lies the grass of the early mowing. - - On through the bees and butterflies, - The grass and the flowers, the hours are walking; - And we seem to catch their low replies - To the flowing waters forever talking. - - We listen and question the fathomless space, - In the deeps of its emerald silence lying, - While we watch the leaves turning face to face, - And their lovers—the winds—wooing and sighing. - - And still, like a dream, fades the dusty town, - And dumb on our ear dies its distant murmur; - But the speech, in the stilly air steals down, - And the fainting heart grows calmer and firmer. - - Hearts that ache with a wounding smart, - Wander out from the heedless city; - The human yearning on Nature’s heart - Is a thing that God in his love must pity. - - Sorrow and sin are in the mart, - And greed and gain killing tender feeling; - Here we draw close to the god Pan’s heart, - And feel on _our_ hearts his touch of healing. - - Often we ask, is there room to grow - ’Neath the bands of the earth, so hard and binding? - The wisdom of life we are fain to know; - Does it ever pay for the pain of finding? - - So, far away from the dissonant town, - Out in the marvellous June-time weather, - We climb the hills to their blossoming crown, - And rest and gather our flowers together. - - Lo! we gather our flowers to-day, - We are like thee, O restless river— - We loiter for play on our endless way— - While life, our life, rolls on forever. - - - - - CHAPTER XIX. - INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE—SHADOWS OF THE PAST. - -Haunted Houses—Shadows of the Past—Touching Memories—The Little Angels - Born There—Building of the Presidential Mansion—A State of - Perpetual Dampness—Dingy Aspect of a Monarch’s Palace—Outside the - White House—A Peep Inside the Mansion—The Emperor of Japan - Supersedes the Punch-Bowl—The Unfinished “Banqueting Hall”—Glories - of a _Levée_—Magnificent Hospitalities—A Comfortable - Dining-Room—Interesting Labors of Martha Patterson—A Lady of - Taste—An American “Baronial Hall”—The Furniture of Another - Generation—A Valuable Steward—A Professor of Gastronomy—Paying the - Professor and Providing the Dinner—Feeding the Celebrities—Mrs. - Lincoln’s Unpopular Innovations—Fifteen Hundred Dollars for a - Dinner—How Prince Arthur, of England, was Entertained—Domestic - Economy—“Not Enough Silver”—A Tasty Soup—The Recipe for an - Aristocratic Stew—Having a “Nice Time”—Mrs. Franklin Pierce - Horrified—“Going a Fishing on Sundays”—Hatred of Flummery—An - Admirer of Pork and Beans and Slap-jacks—A Presidential - Reception—Ready for the Festival—“Such a Bore!”—Splendor, - Weariness, and Indigestion—Paying the Penalty—In the - Conservatory—Domestic Arrangements—The Library—Statue of - Jefferson—Pleasant Views—Reminiscence of Abraham Lincoln. - - - “All houses wherein men have lived and died - Are haunted houses. Through the open doors - The harmless phantoms on their errands glide, - With feet that make no sound upon the floors.” - - “There are more guests at table, than the hosts - Invited; the illuminated hall - Is thronged with quiet, inoffensive ghosts, - As silent as the pictures on the wall.” - -These lines were never truer of any human habitation than of the White -House at Washington. - -The Nation’s House! The procession of families which the people have -sent to inhabit it, in moving on to make place for others, have left -memories behind which haunt these great rooms and fill staircase, -alcove, and pictorial space with historic recollections. Here human life -has been lived, enjoyed, suffered and resigned, just as it is lived -every day in any house wherein human beings are born, wherein they live -and die. Within its walls children have first opened their eyes upon -this tantalizing life, and here children have died, leaving father and -mother desolate amid all the pomp of place and state. In this room the -hero Taylor laid his earthly burdens and honors down; here, by this -eastern window, stood a girl-bride crowned with beautiful youth and -marriage flowers. In this east room the supreme martyr of freedom, -white, still and cold, received the nation who wept at his feet; in this -dim chamber a woman-saint read her Bible and communed with God, while -pardon crokers crept into secret door-ways, and passion and treason ran -riot in the great rooms which she never entered. - -The first child born in the White House was the grandson of -Jefferson—James Madison Randolph; and the last child who died here was -“Willie” Lincoln. Here, also, President Harrison, President Taylor, and -Mrs. Tyler passed through death unto life. - -[Illustration: - - THE RED ROOM. - - INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE.—WASHINGTON. -] - -The corner stone of the President’s house was laid October 13, 1792. We -have seen how anxious Jefferson was that it should be modelled after -some famous modern palace of Europe. The one, at last selected, was the -country house of the Duke of Leinster. It was designed by James Hoban, -and open, though not ready for occupancy, in the summer of 1800. The -house is built of porous Virginia freestone, which accounts for the fact -of its perpetual dampness, and the more expensive fact that no amount of -money and white-lead can make it a dry and desirable abode. And yet it -is always pleasant and restful to the sight when the eyes fall upon its -Ionic columns, peering pure and softened through the sea of greenery -which sways and dips around it. One front alone of Buckingham Palace, -cost more than the entire White House. Yet, to behold it, the palace is -a black and ugly pile, and in simplicity and purity of outline bears no -comparison with the Nation’s White House. This is 170 feet broad and 86 -feet deep. Its north front has a lofty portico with four Ionic columns -and a projecting screen of three columns. Between these columns pass the -carriages which form a perpetual line moving on and round forever -through the gay season. The house is three high stories, with the -rusticated basement which reaches below the Ionic ordonnance. - -The portico opens upon a spacious hall forty by fifty feet. It is -divided by a row of Ionic columns, through which we pass to the -reception-room opposite. This is the Red Room. Its light is dim and -rosy. Its form is elliptical, and its bow window in the rear looks out -on the park and away to the Potomac, as do the windows of all the corner -parlors. In this room the President receives foreign ministers and the -officers of the republic. The space over the marble mantel is entirely -occupied with a life size painting of President Grant and his family. We -pass through the Red Room into the Blue Room. All is cool azure here. -The chairs, the sofas, the carpet, the paper on the wall, all are tinged -with the celestial hue, flushed here and there with a tint of rose. In -the Blue Room the President’s wife holds her morning receptions. Here, -with the daylight excluded, soft rays falling from the chandelier above, -flowers in mounds and vases everywhere pouring out fragrance, surrounded -by a group of ladies, chosen and invited to “assist,” decked in jewels -and costly raiment. One day of each week of the season, from three to -five P. M., the President’s wife receives her critic—the public. - -The Blue Room opens into the Green Room, the most cosy and home-like of -all the public parlors. It is vividly emerald, softly malachite, all -touched and gleaming with gold. A large mirror covers the space above -the mantel. Beside vases in the centre of the marble mantel-piece stands -an exquisite clock of ebony and malachite; tall vases filled with fresh -flowers rise from the carpet. On the centre table used to stand the -immense punch-bowl, presented to the White House by the Emperor of -Japan. It is now supplanted by a statue in bronze. The furniture is of -rose-wood, cushioned with brocatelle of green and gold, while the same -in heavy hangings are looped back from the lace curtains on the windows. - -From the Green Room we enter the famous East Room, extending the entire -eastern side of the house. It is eighty-six feet long, forty feet wide, -and twenty-eight feet high. Three immense chandeliers hang from the -ceiling. It has already taken on the mellowness, not of age but of use, -and in aspect bears no kin to the unfinished “Banqueting Hall” in which -Mrs. Adams dried the family linen, and Mrs. Monroe’s little daughters -played. Now, on a _levée_ night, the East Room presents a sight never to -be forgotten. The enormous chandeliers seem to pour the splendor of noon -upon the glittering and moving host below. Satins, velvets, diamonds, -plumes and laces rise and fall, and sway beside the gleaming gold lace -of American officers, and the jewelled decorations of Foreign ministers. -Eight mirrors repeat the glory of the sights. Eight Presidents, from -their golden frames on the wall, seem to gaze out of the past upon the -feverish splendor of a new generation. The most exquisite carpet ever on -the East Room was a velvet one, chosen by Mrs. Lincoln. Its ground was -of pale sea green, and in effect looked as if ocean, in gleaming and -transparent waves, were tossing roses at your feet. - -Coming back to the Red Room, we pass into a narrow corridor, at the -opposite end from which, on either side, open the family and state -dining-room. The state dining-room is a staid and stately apartment, -touched equally with new grace and old time grandeur. Martha Patterson, -the daughter of President Johnson, redeemed it from wreck, and instead -of ruin, adorned it with the harmony of her own artistic nature. The -neutral-tinted walls and carpet, the green satin damask hangings on the -windows, and covering of the quaint furniture, are all her choice. An -antique clock and grim candlesticks, from the Madison reign, stand -stiffly on the marble mantels. With the exception of a pair of modern -sideboards, the furniture of this “baronial hall,” solid and sombre, has -descended from the eras of Washington and Jefferson. - -The state dining-room, and its state dinners, are controlled entirely by -“Steward Melah, the silver-voiced Italian,” who was graduated from the -Everett House, the Astor House, and the St. Charles, New Orleans, to the -higher estate of superintending “goodies” for the palates of -Diplomatists, Princes, and Members of Congress in the White House at -Washington. The government pays Professor Melah for his services, but -the President pays for the dinners, and he is expected to continue -giving them till every foreign dignitary and home functionary, from the -highest Diplomat to the most obscure Member of Congress, is invited. -Mrs. Lincoln’s presuming to abolish the time-honored but costly -state-dinner of the White House, increased her personal unpopularity to -an intense degree. - -The average state-dinner costs about seven hundred dollars, the special -state dinner may cost fifteen hundred dollars. The one given to Prince -Arthur, of England, cost that sum, without including the wines and other -beverages. The dinner proper consisted of twenty-nine courses. The -President puts a sum of money into the hands of the steward, and his -expenditure is supposed to be in proportion to the official rank and -grandeur of the invited guests. It is said that Professor Melah wrings -his hands in distress when he is about to set the State table for a -supreme occasion, and exclaims to the lady of the White House, who may -be looking on: “Why Madam, there is not silver enough in the White House -to set a respectable free-lunch table.” - -At a state dinner the table is always profusely decorated with flowers, -and the “first course” is invariably a soup of French vegetables, which -Miss Grundy says has “never been equalled by any other soup, foreign or -domestic.” “It is said to be a little smoother than peacock’s brains, -but not quite so exquisitely flavored as a dish of nightingales’ -tongues; and Professor Melah is the only man in the nation who holds in -his hands the receipt for this aristocratic stew.” No general -conversation prevails at the state dinner. If the lady and gentleman -elected to go in together happen to be agreeable to each other, they -have a “nice time.” If not, they have a stiff and tiresome one. -Exquisite _finesse_ is needed to fitly pair these mentally incongruous -diners. Mike Walsh once horrified the shrinking and saintly Mrs. -Franklin Pierce at a state-dinner by the story of his going “a fishing -on Sunday;” while Hon. Mr. Mudsill, of Mudtown, has been known to regale -dainty Madame Mimosa, of Mignonnette Manor, between the courses, with -his hatred of flummeries and French dishes, and his devotion to pork and -beans and slapjacks. - -The President and his wife receive the guests in the Red Room at seven -o’clock. Mrs. President is always attired in full evening dress, with -laces and jewels, and her lady guests likewise, while each gentleman -rejoices in a swallow-tail, white or tinted gloves, and white necktie. -The President leads the way to the state-table with the wife of the -senator the oldest in office, while Mrs. President brings up the rear of -the small procession with the senatorial husband of the President’s lady -companion. Six wine glasses and a _bouquet_ of flowers garnish each -plate. From twelve to thirty courses are served, and the middle of the -feast is marked by the serving of frozen punch. After hours of sitting, -serving and eating, the procession returns to the Red Room in the order -that it left it. Then, after a few moments of conversation, it -disperses,—its honored individuals more than once heard to say in -private, “Such a bore.” Yet what an ado they would make if not invited -to discover for themselves the tiresome splendor and fit of indigestion -attendant upon a state-dinner. - -Leaving the state dining-room behind, we pass through the western wing -into the conservatory, one of the largest in the country. It is a -favorite resort for lady and gentlemen promenaders on reception days, -lined, as it is, on either side with the bloom and fragrance of rare -exotics. A large aquarium stands at one end, and a short passage and -flights of steps lead down to a greenhouse and grapery filled with -flowers and luscious fruit. Three other greenhouses flourish in the -gardens west of the mansion. - -The White House contains thirty-one rooms. Excepting the family -dining-room, every one on the first floor is devoted to state purposes. -The basement contains eleven rooms, used as kitchens, pantries and -butler’s rooms. These are open, spacious, comfortable and cheerful to -the sight. On the second floor, the six rooms of the north front are -used as chambers by the Presidential family. The south front has seven -rooms—the ante-chamber, audience room, cabinet room, private office of -the president, and the ladies’ parlors. The ladies’ or private parlor is -furnished with ebony, covered with blue satin, with hangings of blue -satin and lace. The daughter of the house has a blue boudoir lined with -mirrors—its pale blue carpet strewn with rose-buds. The state bedroom of -this floor is a grand apartment, furnished with rose-wood and crimson -satin; its walls hang with purple and gold. The bedstead is high, -massive, carved and canopied, its damask curtains hanging from a gilded -hoop near the ceiling. Before the bed lie cushions for the feet; against -the walls stand two stately wardrobes, with full length mirrors lining -their doors, while arm-chairs and couches, deeply cushioned, are -scattered over the velvet carpet. Its articles of furniture are stained -with purple devices—national, historical scenes, and have for their arms -the American Eagle. The ceiling is profusely frescoed, and hung with a -central chandelier, while in the winter a coal fire, under the marble -mantle, suffuses the sumptuous room with a genial glow. One of the -curiosities of the chamber is a cigar-case, inlaid with pearls and -mosaics of wood from China, presented to President Grant by Captain -Ammon, of the United States Navy. - -[Illustration: - - THE CONSERVATORY. - - INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE.—WASHINGTON. -] - -The Secretaries’ room, on this floor, is a large airy apartment, with -mahogany furniture, set there in Martin Van Buren’s time, with green -curtains, twenty-five years old, on the windows. The President’s -business and reception-room is a large apartment, looking out on the -southern grounds, and carpeted with crimson and white. A large black -walnut table, surrounded with chairs, stands in the centre of the room. -It is furnished with black walnut desks and sofas. On the mantel stands -a clock which tells the time of day and the day of the month, and which -is a thermometer and barometer besides. The walls are high, and frescoed -on a yellow ground tint. Tapestry and lace curtains are looped back from -the windows, which look down upon the lovely southern grounds, and to -the river, gleaming at intervals through the foliage beyond. - -The stateliest room on this floor is the library, used in Mrs. John -Adams’ time as a reception-room, furnished then in crimson. It was -almost bookless till Mr. Filmore’s administration, when it was fitted up -as a library, and many books were added during the administration of -President Buchanan. It is now lined with heavy mahogany book-cases, -finished with solid oak, covered with maroon. It is sometimes used by -the President as an official reception-room, and sometimes as an evening -lounging-place for the Presidential family and their guests. - -On the north lawn of the President’s house, which in Jefferson’s time -was a barren, stony, unfenced waste, under the green arcade made by -glorious trees, now stands a bronze statue of Jefferson. It was -presented to the government by Captain Levy, of the United States’ army, -who in 1840 owned Monticello. - -From the great portico, we look beyond this statue, across Pennsylvania -avenue, to an equestrian image of Jackson, rearing frantically and -preposterously in the centre of Lafayette square. Lovely Lafayette -square, laid out by Downing—perfect in blending tint and outline, flower -of mimic parks! Beyond its trees we catch a glimpse of its encircling -historic houses, and of the brown ivy-hung walls of St. John’s venerable -church, its tiny and old time tower showing so picturesquely against the -evening sky. - -The avenue of lofty trees on the west side of the President’s -house—beneath whose shade, in the dimness of the night, Lincoln used to -take his solitary walk, and carry his heavy heart to the War -Department—were planted by John Quincy Adams. No swelling tree-crowned -knolls, no grassy glades could be more restful to the sight than the -southern grounds of the President’s house. From its height it looks down -upon this rolling park, reaching now to the Potomac, bounded by its -gleaming waters, on which so many white sails drift, and doze, and dream -in the languid summer weather. - - - - - CHAPTER XX. - LADIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE. - -A Morning Dream—Wives and Daughters of the Presidents—Memories of Martha - Washington—An Average Matron of the 18th Century—Educational - Disadvantages—Comparisons—A Well-Regulated Lady—A Useful Wife—Warm - Words of Abigail Adams—Advantages of Having a Distinguished - Husband—A Modern Lucretia—Washington’s Inauguration Suit—An Awkward - Position for a Lady—A Primitive _Levée_-Festivities in Franklin - Square!—Decorous Ideas of the Father of His Country—The Government - on Its Travels—Transporting the Household Gods—Keeping Early - Hours—Primitive Customs—A Dignified _Congé_—Much-Shaken - Hands—Remembrances of a Past Age—An English Manufacturer “Struck - with Awe”—Very Questionable Humility—The Room in which Washington - Died—Days of Widowhood—A Wife’s Congratulations—A True - Woman—Domestic Affairs at the White House—An Unfinished - Mansion—Interesting Details—A Woman’s Influence—A Monument - Wanted—Devotion of a Husband—The “Single Life”—Theodocia Burr and - Katherine Chase—“_Levées_” Summarily Abolished—Disappointed - Belles—An Extraordinary Reception—Blacked His Own Boots—A Dignified - Foreigner Shocked—Governmental Enquiries—Womanly Indignation—The - Poet Pardoned—“The Sweetest Creature in Virginia”—A Daughter’s - Affection. - - -Sitting in the lovely Blue Room this June morning, the breezes from the -Potomac floating through the closed blinds and lace curtains, drifting -over the mounds of flowers which, rising high above the great vases, -fill all the air with fragrance, I evoke from the past a company of fair -and stately women who have dwelt under this roof, or influenced the life -and happiness of men who have ruled the nation. - -First, Martha Washington. To be sure, she never reigned in the Blue -Room; but who can recall the wives of the Presidents and not see the -very first, the serenely beautiful old lady whose face is so familiar to -us all. - -In herself, Martha Washington was in no wise a remarkable woman. -Personally, she was a fair representative of the average American matron -of the eighteenth century. I say American, for whatever may be her right -to boast of superior educational advantages to-day, in the time of -Martha Washington and Abigail Adams, New England ignored utterly the -education of her women. They were shut out even from the Boston -High-School, because they had flocked to it in such numbers in pursuit -of knowledge. While her brother went to Harvard, the girl of -Massachusetts, if taught at all, was self-taught. Massachusetts had no -right to boast over Virginia in that day. The daughters of the cavalier -probably were oftener taught to dance and to play the spinnet than the -daughters of the Puritans; but neither could spell, nor many more than -barely read. But had Martha Washington enjoyed the highest mental -privileges, she would never have been known to the world as an -intellectual woman, or as a woman who, by any impulse of her unassisted -nature, would ever have risen above the commonplace. She could spin, but -she could not spell. She could bask in the warmth of the bountiful home -whose heavy cares were all carried by her illustrious husband. She could -pack the family coach with delicacies, and go through storm and mud once -a year to his camp, when the perils of his country had made him its -deliverer; but it is doubtful if any impulse of her soul would ever have -roused her to the majestic eloquence of Abigail Adams, who, when she -read the English King’s proclamation to his rebellious colonies, with -her little children about her in the depth of the night, wrote to her -absent husband: “This intelligence will make a plain path for you, -though a dangerous one. I could not join to-day in the petition of our -worthy pastor for a reconciliation between our no longer parent state, -but tyrant state, and these colonies. Let us separate; they are unworthy -to be our brethren. Let us renounce them, and instead of supplications -as formerly for their prosperity and happiness; let us beseech the -Almighty to blast their counsels and bring to naught all their devices.” - -Abigail Adams comes down to posterity, independently of all relations to -others, as one of the grandest women of her time. Martha Washington’s -only claim to veneration is because she was the wife of Washington. As -his wife, her homely virtues and moral rectitude show to unclouded -advantage. Personally, her most marked characteristics were her strong -natural sense of propriety and fitness and high moral qualities. In -these, if she never added lustre to it, she always honored the name of -Washington. We see the former characteristic in the fact, that during -the Revolution she never wore foreign or costly attire. While all the -outer affairs of the estate, to their minutest detail, were -superintended by General Washington, in addition to the mighty burdens -of state which he bore, Mrs. Washington superintended her handmaidens -and spinning-wheels. Looms were constantly plying in her house, and -General Washington wore, at his first inauguration, a full suit of fine -cloth woven in his own house. At a ball given in New Jersey, in honor of -herself, Martha Washington appeared in “simple russet gown,” with a -white handkerchief about her neck. To the state _levées_ of New York and -Philadelphia she carried the same stately simplicity. A lady of the -olden time, a daughter of Virginia, her ideas of court forms and -etiquette had all been received from the mother country. Hers was the -difficult task to harmonize aristocratic exclusiveness with republican -plainness. She was never to forget that she was the wife of the -President of a Republic,—and also never to forget that she was to -command the respect of the old monarchies who were ready to despise -everything poor and crude in the efforts of the new government to -maintain itself in poverty, difficulty and inexperience. Thus the social -_levées_ of the first President of the United States, at No. 3, Franklin -square, New York, were held under the most rigorous and exclusive rules. -They were only open to persons of privileged rank and degree, and they -could not enter unless attired in full dress. The receptions of Mrs. -Washington merely reproduced, on a smaller plan, the customs and -ceremonies of foreign courts. - -The first President and his wife never forgot their personal dignity, -and never forgot that they represented a republic which was already an -object of interested scrutiny to the whole civilized world. President -Washington wrote to his friend Mrs. Macaulay: “Mrs. Washington’s ideas -coincide with my own as to simplicity of dress and everything which can -tend to support propriety of character without partaking of the follies -of luxury and ostentation.” - -In the second year of Washington’s administration, the government was -removed to Philadelphia, there to remain for the next ten years. The -household furniture of the Washingtons was moved thither by slow and -weary processes of land and water, the President, in addition to his -public cares, superintending personally the preparation and embarkation -of every article himself. Mrs. Washington was sick at the time, but the -following year, the house of Robert Morris having been taken by the -corporation, as the President’s house, Mrs. Washington again opened her -drawing-rooms from seven to ten P. M. Sensible woman! No haggard and -faded beauties dancing all night, faded and old before their time, owed -their wasted lives and powers to _her_. In Philadelphia and New York, -when the clock’s hand pointed to ten, she arose with affable dignity, -and, bowing to all, retired, leaving her guests to do likewise. With -this action, it was unnecessary to repeat the announcement which she -made at the first _levée_ held by her in New York, viz.: “General -Washington retires at ten o’clock, and I usually precede him. -Good-night.” - -At these _levées_ Mrs. Washington sat. The guests were grouped in a -circle, round which the President passed, speaking politely to each one, -but _never shaking hands_. It was reserved to a later generation to -shake that poor member till it has to be poulticed after official -greetings. It was the habit of Mrs. Washington to return the calls of -those who were privileged to pay her visits. A Philadelphia lady who, as -a child, remembered her, wrote: “It was Mrs. Washington’s custom to -return visits on the third day. In calling on my mother she would send a -footman over, who would knock loudly and announce Mrs. Washington, who -would then come over with Mr. Lear. Her manners were very easy, pleasant -and unceremonious, with the characteristics of other Virginia ladies.” - -An English manufacturer, who breakfasted with the President’s family in -1794, says: - - “I was struck with awe and veneration when I recollected that I was - now in the presence of the great Washington, the noble and wise - benefactor of the world.... Mrs. Washington herself, made tea and - coffee for us. On the table were two small plates of sliced tongue and - dry toast, bread and butter; but no broiled fish, as is the custom - here. She struck me as being somewhat older than the President, though - I understand both were born the same year. She was extremely simple in - her dress, and wore a very plain cap, with her gray hair turned up - under it.” - -It is as the wife of Washington, through sentiments called out by the -greatness of his character and the love which she bore him, that the -moral capacity of Martha Washington’s nature ever approaches greatness. -In her reply to Congress, who asked that the body of George Washington -might be placed beneath a monument in the capitol which his patriotism -had done so much to rear, her words rise to the patriotic grandeur of -Abigail Adams, they could not rise higher. She says: - - “Taught by that great example, which I have so long had before me, - never to oppose my private wishes to the public will, I must consent - to the request made by Congress, which you have had the goodness to - transmit to me, and in doing this, I need not, I cannot say what a - sacrifice of individual feeling I make to a sense of public duty.” - -But it is in the little room at Mount Vernon, in which she died, that -Martha Washington, as a woman, comes nearest to us. Here one can realize -how utterly done with earth, its pangs and glory, was the soul who shut -herself within its narrow walls, there to take on immortality. The rooms -of Washington below, a thrifty mechanic of the present day would think -too small and shabby for him. Here he died. And when the great soul went -forth to the unknown, as a human presence to inhabit it never more, the -wife also went forth, and never again crossed its threshold. Here, in -this little room, scarcely more than a closet, surrounded only by the -simplest necessaries of existence, Martha Washington lived out the -lonely days of her desolate widowhood—and here she died. - - * * * * * - -Abigail Adams was the first wife of a President who ever presided at the -White House—the President’s house, as it was so fitly called in those -days. Only in this latter time of degenerate English has it swelled into -the “Executive Mansion.” - -In February, 1797, John Adams was elected President of the United -States, to succeed President Washington. From her country home in -Massachusetts, Mrs. Adams sent to her husband the following recognition -of his exaltation to be chief ruler of the United States: - - “You have this day to declare yourself head of a nation. ‘And now, O - Lord, my God, thou hast made thy servant ruler over the people, give - unto him an understanding heart, that he may know how to go out and to - come in before this great people; that he may discern between good and - bad. For who is able to judge this, thy so great a people?’ were the - words of a royal sovereign, and not less applicable to him who is - invested with the chief magistracy of a nation, though he wear not a - crown nor the robes of royalty. My thoughts and meditations are with - you, though personally absent; and my petitions to heaven are, that - the things which make for your peace may not be hidden from your eyes. - My feelings are not those of pride or ostentation upon the occasion. - They are solemnized by a sense of the obligations, the important - trusts, and numerous duties connected with it. That you may be enabled - to discharge them with honor to yourself, with justice and - impartiality to your country, and with satisfaction to this great - people, shall be the daily prayer of yours—” - -In such exaltation of spirit, and with such grandeur of speech, did the -wife of the second President receive the fact of her husband’s -elevation. As devout as Deborah, her utterance is equally marked by its -comprehensiveness of view, its devotion and self-forgetfulness. No -visions of personal finery, of fashionable entertainments and show, -gleam through the grand utterances of this majestic woman. And yet no -pictures of the White House, no sketches of the social life of her time -begin to be as graphic, frequent and “telling,” as those of Abigail -Adams. Nothing has been more quoted than her sketch of the White House -as she found it. - - “The house is upon a grand and superb scale, requiring about thirty - servants to attend and keep the apartments in proper order, and - perform the ordinary business of the house and stables—an - establishment very well proportioned to the President’s salary. The - lighting the apartments from the kitchen to parlors 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. To assist us in this - castle, and render less attendance necessary, bells are wholly - wanting, not one single one being hung through the whole house, and - promises are all you can obtain. This is so great an inconvenience - that I know not what to do or how to do. The ladies from Georgetown - and in the city have many of them visited me. Yesterday I returned - fifteen visits. But such a place as Georgetown appears! Why, our - Milton is beautiful. But no comparisons; if they put me up bells, and - let me have wood enough to keep fires, I design _to be pleased_. But - surrounded with forests, can you believe that wood is not to be had, - because people cannot be found to cut and cart it.... We have indeed - come into a new country. - - “The house is made habitable, but there is not a single apartment - finished, and all within side, except the plastering, has been done - since B. came.... If the twelve years in which this place has been - considered as the future seat of government, had been improved as they - would have been in New England, very many of the present - inconveniences would have been removed. It is a beautiful spot, - capable of any improvement, and the more I view it the more I am - delighted with it. - - * * * * * - - “The ladies are impatient for a drawing-room: I have no - looking-glasses but dwarfs, for this house; and a twentieth part lamps - enough to light it. My tea-china is more than half missing.... You can - scarcely believe that here in this wilderness city I should find my - time so occupied as it is. My visitors, some of them, came three or - four miles. The return of one of them is the work of one day.... We - have not the _least fence, yard, or other conveniences without_, and - the great unfinished audience-room—(the East room) I make a - drying-room of to hang my clothes in. Six chambers are made - comfortable; two lower rooms, one for a common parlor and one for a - ball-room.” - -Abigail Adams is an illustrious example of the grandeur of human -character. She proved in herself how potent an individual may be, and -that individual a woman, in spite of caste, of sex, or the restrictions -of human law or condition. She never went to school in her life, yet her -thoughtful utterances will live where the labored utterances of her -scholarly husband are forgotten. She was less than a year the mistress -of the President’s house, yet she has lived ever since in memory a grand -model to all who succeed her. The daughter of a country clergyman, the -wife of a patriotic and ambitious man, whether she gathered her children -about her or sent them forth across stormy seas, while she left herself -desolate; whether she stood the wife of the Republican Minister before -the haughty Charlotte in the stateliest and proudest court of Europe; -whether she presided in the President’s house in the new Capital or in -the wilderness, or wrote to statesmen and grandchildren in her own lowly -house in Quincy, in prosperity or sorrow, in youth and in age, in life -and in death, always she was the regnant woman, devout, wise, patriotic, -proud, humble and loving. - -Her pictures of the social life of her time are among the most acute, -lively and graphic on record. While in her letters to her son, to her -husband, to Jefferson and other statesmen, we find some of the grandest -utterances of the Revolutionary period. Cut off by her sex from active -participation in the struggles and triumphs of the men of her time, not -one of them would have died more gladly or grandly than she, for -liberty; denied the power of manhood, she made the most of the -privileges of womanhood. She instilled into the souls of her children -great ideas; she inspired her husband by the hourly sight of a grand -example; she gave, through them, her life-long service to the State, and -she gave to her country and to posterity her spotless and heroic memory. -Tardy Massachusetts! You build monuments to your sons, and ignore the -fame of your illustrious daughters. When in the Pantheon of the States -you shall place the sculptured forms of two of your patriots, honor your -ancient fame by giving to posterity the majestic lineaments of the great -woman of the Revolution—Abigail Adams. - -In her portrait, Stuart gives us Minerva in a lace cap. Dainty and -delicate, it softens without veiling her august features. The exquisite -lace ruff about the throat, the lace shawl upon the shoulders, all -indicate the finest of feminine tastes, while the broad brow, wide eyes, -keenly cut nose, firm chin and slightly imperious mouth, proclaim the -proud and powerful intellect, and the high head the commanding moral -nature of the woman. - - * * * * * - -The wife of Jefferson died in her youth. His love for her was the -passion of his life. In his love, and in his existence, she was never -supplanted. Ever after, he lived in his children, his grand-children, -his books and the affairs of State. - -Jefferson had two daughters, the only two of his children who survived -to mature life. One of these, Maria, who in childhood went to Paris in -the care of Mrs. Adams, and who was remarkable for her beauty and the -loveliness of her nature, died in early womanhood. She was indifferent -to her own beauty, and almost resented the admiration which it called -forth, exclaiming, “You praise me for _that_ because you can not praise -me for better things.” She set an extraordinary value upon talent, -believing that the possession of it alone could make her the worthy -companion of her father. She was most tenderly beloved by him, and, at -the time of her early death, he wrote to his friend, Governor Page: -“Others may lose of their abundance; but I, of my want, have lost even -the half of that I had. My evening prospects now hang on the slender -thread of a single life.” This “single” life was that of Martha -Jefferson Randolph. She lived to be not only the domestic comforter, but -the intellectual companion of her father. She was one of that type of -daughters, of which, in our own country, Theodocia Burr and Katherine -Chase have been such illustrious examples. These women, equally -beautiful, intellectual, and charming, identified themselves not only -with the private interests, but with the public life and political -ambitions of their fathers. - -Had Martha Jefferson been less womanly and domestic, she might have made -herself famous as a _belle_, a wit, or a scholar. Married at seventeen, -the mother of twelve children, seven of whom were daughters, the fine -quality of her intellect, and the nobility of her soul were all merged -into a life spent in their guidance, and in devotion and service to her -husband and father. The mother of five children at the time of her -father’s inauguration as President of the United States, separated from -Washington by a long and fatiguing journey, which could only be -performed by coach and horse-travel, Mrs. Randolph never made but two -visits to the President’s house, during his two terms of office. Her -son, James Madison Randolph was born in the “White House.” - -Jefferson began his Presidency with a certain ostentation of democracy. -One of the first declarations of his administration was, “_Levées_ are -done away.” Remembering what importance was attached to these assemblies -by Washington and Adams, and what grand court occasions they were made, -we can imagine the disapprobation with which this mandate was received -by the “_belles_ of society.” A party of these gathered in force, and, -all gaily attired, proceeded to the President’s house. On his return -from a horseback ride he was informed that a large number of ladies were -in the “_Levée_ room” waiting for him. Covered with dust, spurs on, and -whip in hand, he proceeded to the drawing-room. Shade of Washington! He -told them he was glad to see them, and asked them to remain. These -_belles_ and beauties received his polite salutations with how much -delight we may fancy. They never came again. - -A Virginian accustomed to the service of slaves, as the President of the -United States, Jefferson blacked his own boots. A foreign functionary, a -stickler for etiquette, paid him a visit of ceremony one morning, and -found him engaged in this pleasing employment. Jefferson apologized, -saying, that being a plain man, he did not like to trouble his servants. -The foreign grandee departed, declaring that no government could long -survive, whose head was his own shoe-black. Jefferson gave great offense -to the English Minister, Mr. Merry, because he took Mrs. Madison, to -whom he happened to be talking, into dinner instead of Mrs. Merry. Mr. -Merry made it an official offense which was reported to his government. -Mr. Madison wrote to Mr. Monroe, who was then Minister to England, that -he might be ready to answer the call of the British government for -explanations. Mr. Monroe wrote back that he was glad of it, for the wife -of a British under-secretary had recently been given precedence to Mrs. -Monroe, in being escorted to the dinner table. Nevertheless, Mrs. -Merry’s nose never came down from the air, and she never again crossed -the threshold of the President’s house. - -The same year Jefferson aroused the ire of Thomas Moore, then -twenty-four years of age, and without fame, save in his own country. The -President, from his altitude of six feet two-and-a-half inches, looked -down on the curled and perfumed little poet, and spoke a word and passed -on. This was an indignity that London’s and Dublin’s darling never -pardoned, and he went back to lampoon, not only America, but the -President. One of his attacks came into the hands of Martha Randolph, -who, deeply indignant, placed it before her father in his library. He -broke into an amused laugh. Years afterwards, when Moore’s Irish -melodies appeared, Jefferson, looking them over, exclaimed: “Why, this -is the little man who satirized me so! Why, he is a poet after all.” And -from that moment Moore had a place beside Burns’ in Jefferson’s library. - -John Randolph, her father’s political foe, said of Martha Jefferson: -“She is the sweetest creature in Virginia,” and we all know that John -Randolph believed that nothing “sweet” or even endurable existed outside -of Virginia. In adversity and sorrow, in poverty and trial, in age as in -youth, the steadfast sweetness of character, and elevation of nature, -which made Martha Jefferson remarkable in prosperity, shone forth with -transcendent lustre when all external accessories had fled. The daughter -of a man called a free-thinker, she all her life was sweetly, simply, -devoutly religious. In her letters to her daughter, “Septimia,” she -draws us nearer to her tender soul in its heavenly love and charity. -This daughter, to his latest breath, was to Jefferson, the soul of his -soul. After his retirement she not only entertained his guests, and -ministered to his personal comforts, but shared intellectually all his -thoughts and studies. Six months before her death, Sully painted her -portrait. Her daughter says: - - “I accompanied her to Mr. Sully’s studio, and, as she took her seat - before him, she said playfully: ‘Mr. Sully, I shall never forgive you - if you paint me with wrinkles.’ - - “I quickly interrupted, ‘Paint her just as she is, Mr. Sully, the - picture is for me.’ - - “He said, ‘I shall paint you, Mrs. Randolph, as I remember you twenty - years ago.’ - - “The picture does represent her younger—but failed to restore the - expression of health and cheerful, ever-joyous vivacity which her - countenance then habitually wore. My mother’s face owed its greatest - charm to its expressiveness, beaming, as it ever was, with kindness, - good humor, gayety and wit. She was tall and very graceful; her - complexion naturally fair, her hair of a dark chestnut color, very - long and very abundant. Her manners were uncommonly attractive from - their vivacity, amiability and high breeding, and her conversation was - charming.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXI. - WIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS—LIFE AT THE WHITE HOUSE. - -A Social Queen—“The Most Popular Person in the United States”—“Dolly - Madison’s” Reign—The Slow Days of Old—A Young Lady Rides Five - Hundred Miles on Horseback—Travelling Under Difficulties—Political - Pugnacity—A Peaceful Policy—Formality _versus_ Hospitality—Big - Dishes Laughed at—A Foreign Minister Criticises—Advantages of a Good - Memory—Funny Adventure of a Rustic Youth—A Strange Pocketful—Putting - Him at his Ease—Doleful Visage of a New President—Getting Rid of a - Burden—A Brave Lady—She Writes to Her Sister—Waiting in - Suspense—Taking Care of Cabinet Papers—“Disaffection Stalks Around - Us”—“Col. C.” very Prudently “Skedaddles”—One Hundred “Braves” - Skedaddle with Him—“French John” Makes a Proposition—He Desires to - “Blow up the British”—John “Doesn’t See It”—Watching and - Waiting—Flight—Unscrewing the Picture—After the War—Brilliant - Receptions—Mrs. Madison’s Snuff Box—Clay Takes a Pinch—“This is My - Polisher!”—“_Tempora Mutantur_”—Two Plain Old Ladies from the - West—“If I Jest Kissed you”—They Depart in Peace—Days of Trouble and - Care—Manuscripts Purchased by Congress—The “Franking Privilege” - Conferred upon Mrs. Madison—Honored by Congress—Last Days of a Good - Woman—Mrs. Monroe—A Serene and Aristocratic Woman—“_La Belle - Americaine_”—Madame Lafayette in Prison—Fennimore Cooper Expresses - an Opinion—Grotesque Anomalies at a Reception—The Crown and the - Eagle. - - -President Jefferson showed his personal appreciation as well as his -official recognition of Mrs. Madison, both in his letters to his -daughters and in the fact that Mrs. Madison, when the wife of the -Secretary of State, presided at Jefferson’s table during the absence of -his own family. But it was as the wife of the fourth President of the -United States that she inaugurated the golden reign of the President’s -house. - -She was the only woman of absolute social genius, who ever presided in -this house. Thus the beneficence and brilliancy of her reign was never -approached before her time, and has never been equalled since. - -It is a rare combination of gifts and graces which produces the -pre-eminent social queen, in any era or in any sphere. Mrs. Madison -seemed to possess them all. During the administration of her husband she -was openly declared to be “the most popular person in the United -States;” and now, after the lapse of generations, after hosts of women, -bright, beautiful and admired, have lived, reigned, died, and are -forgotten, “Dolly Madison” seems to abide to-day in Washington, a living -and beloved presence. The house in which her old age was spent, and from -which she passed to heaven, is every day pointed out to the stranger as -her abode. Her face abides with us as the face of a friend, while her -words and deeds are constantly recalled as authority, unquestioned and -benign. - -When she began her reign in Washington, steamboats were the wonder of -the world; railroads undreamed of; turnpike roads scarcely begun; the -stagecoach slow, inconvenient, and cumbersome. The daughter of one -senator, who wished to enjoy the delights of the new capital, came five -hundred miles on horseback by her father’s side. The wife of a member -rode fifteen hundred miles on horseback, passed through several Indian -settlements, and spent nights without seeing a house in which she could -lodge. Under such difficulties did lovely women come to Washington, and -out of such material were blended the society of that conspicuous era. - -When Mrs. Madison entered the President’s house, the strife between the -democratic and republican parties was at its highest. Washington, above -all party, had yet declared himself the advocate of the unity and force -of the central power. Jefferson had been the President of the -opposition, who wished the supremacy of the masses to overrule that of -the higher classes. On these contending factions Mrs. Madison shed -equally the balm of her benign nature. Not because she was without -opinions, but because she was without malignity or rancor of spirit. -Born and reared a “Friend,” she brought the troubled elements of -political society together in the bonds of peace. She possessed, in -pre-eminent degree, the power of intuitive adaptation to individuals, -however diversified in character, and the exquisite tact in dealing with -them, which always characterizes the true social queen. She loved human -beings and delighted in their fellowship. She never forgot an old -friend, and never neglected the opportunity of making a new one. She -banished from her drawing-room the stately forms and ceremonials which -had made the receptions of Mrs. Washington and Mrs. Adams very elegant -and rather dreadful affairs. She was very hospitable, and a table -bountifully loaded was her delight and pride. The abundance and size of -her dishes were objects of ridicule to a Foreign Minister, even when she -entertained as the wife of the Secretary of State, he declaring that her -entertainments were more like “a harvest home supper than the -entertainment of a Cabinet Minister.” - -Mrs. Madison never forgot the name of any person to whom she had been -introduced, nor any incident connected with any person whom she knew. -Able to summon these at an instant’s notice, she instinctively made each -individual, who entered her presence, feel that he or she was an object -of especial interest. Nor was this mere society-manners. Genial and -warm-hearted, it was her happiness to make everybody feel as much at -ease as possible. This gentle kindness, the unknown and lowly shared -equally with the highest in worldly station. At one of her receptions -her attention was called to a rustic youth whose back was set against -the wall. Here he stood as if nailed to it, till he ventured to stretch -forth his hand and take a proffered cup of coffee. Mrs. Madison, -according to her wont, wishing to relieve his embarrassment, and put him -at his ease, walked up and spoke to him. The youth, astonished and -overpowered, dropped the saucer, and unconsciously thrust the cup into -his breeches pocket. “The crowd is so great, no one can avoid being -jostled,” said the gentle woman. “The servant will bring you another cup -of coffee. Pray, how did you leave your excellent mother? I had once the -honor of knowing her, but I have not seen her for some years.” Thus she -talked, till she made him feel that she was his friend, as well as his -mother’s. In time, he found it possible to dislodge the coffee cup from -his pocket, and to converse with the Juno-like lady in a crimson turban, -as if she were an old acquaintance. - -Like Amelia Opie, and other beautiful “Friends,” who have shone amid -“the world’s people,” Mrs. Madison delighted in deep warm colors, the -very opposite of the silver grays of a demure Quakeress. At the -inauguration ball, when Jefferson, the outgoing President, came to -receive Madison, his successor, Mrs. Madison wore a robe of buff-colored -velvet, a Paris turban with a bird of paradise plume, with pearls on her -neck and arms. A chronicler of the event says that she “looked and moved -a queen.” Jefferson was all life and animation, while the new President -looked care-worn and pale. “Can you wonder at it?” said Jefferson. “My -shoulders have just been freed from a heavy burden—his just laden with -it.” - -When a manager brought Mrs. Madison the first number in the dance, she -said, smiling: “I never dance; what shall I do with it?” - -“Give it to the lady next to you,” was the answer. - -“No, that would look like partiality.” - -“Then I will,” said the manager, and presented it to her sister. - -This lady, who filled every hour of prosperity with the rare sunshine of -her nature, in the hour of trial was not found wanting, and in the face -of danger rose to the dignity of heroism. Her gallant stay in the White -House, while her husband had gone to hold a council of war, and in spite -of every entreaty to leave it, is a proud fact of our history. In vain -friends brought a carriage to the door. She refused to enter it. The -following well-known letter to her sister, proves how bravely, womanly -was this heroine of the President’s house. - - TUESDAY, August 23, 1814. - - DEAR SISTER:—My husband left me yesterday to join General Winder. He - enquired anxiously whether I had the courage or firmness to remain in - the President’s house until his return, on the morrow, or succeeding - day, and on my assurance that I had no fear but for him and the - success of our army, he left me, beseeching me to take care of myself - and of the Cabinet papers, public and private. - - I have since received two dispatches from him, written with a pencil; - the last is alarming, because he desires that I should be ready at a - moment’s warning, to enter my carriage and leave the city; that the - enemy seemed stronger than had been reported, and that it might happen - that they would reach the city with intention to destroy it.... I am - accordingly ready; I have pressed as many Cabinet papers into trunks - as to fill one carriage; our private property must be sacrificed, as - it is impossible to procure wagons for its transportation. I am - determined not to go myself, until I see Mr. Madison safe, and he can - accompany me—as I hear of much hostility toward him.... Disaffection - stalks around us. My friends and acquaintances are all gone, even - Colonel C. with his hundred men, who were stationed as a guard in this - enclosure.... French John (a faithful domestic) with his usual - activity and resolution offers to spike the cannon at the gate, and - lay a train of powder which would blow up the British, should they - enter the house. To the last proposition, I positively object, without - being able, however, to make him understand why all advantages in war - may not be taken. - - _Wednesday morning, twelve o’clock._—Since sunrise, I have been - turning my spy-glass in every direction and watching with unwearied - anxiety, hoping to discover the approach of my dear husband and his - friends; but, alas, I can descry only groups of military wandering in - all directions, as if there was a lack of arms, or of spirits, to - fight for their own firesides. - - _Three o’clock._—Will you believe it, my sister? we have had a battle, - or a skirmish, near Bladensburg, and I am still here within sound of - the cannon! Mr. Madison comes not; may God protect him! Two - messengers, covered with dust, came to bid me fly; but I wait for - him.... At this late hour a wagon has been procured; I have filled it - with the plate and most valuable portable articles belonging to the - house; whether it will reach its destination, the Bank of Maryland, or - fall into the hands of British soldiery, events must determine. Our - kind friend, Mr. Carroll, has come to hasten my departure, and is in a - very bad humor with me because I insist on waiting until the large - picture of General Washington is secured; and it requires to be - unscrewed from the wall. This process was found too tedious for these - perilous moments; I have ordered the frame to be broken and the canvas - taken out; it is done, and the precious portrait placed in the hands - of two gentlemen of New York for safe-keeping. And now, dear sister, I - must leave this house or the retreating army will make me a prisoner - in it, by filling up the road I am directed to take. When I shall - again write to you, or where I shall be to-morrow, I cannot tell! - -On their return, the President and Mrs. Madison occupied a private house -on Pennsylvania avenue till the White House was repaired. After it was -rebuilt and the treaty of peace signed, the _levées_ given in the East -Room, in the winter of 1816, are said to have been the most resplendent -ever witnessed in Washington. At these, congregated the Justices of the -Supreme Court in their gowns, the Diplomatic Corps in glittering -regalia, the Peace Commissioners and the officers of the late war in -full dress, and the queen of the occasion in gorgeous robes and turban -and bird of paradise plumes. - -At one of these Presidential banquets Mrs. Madison offered Mr. Clay a -pinch of snuff from her beautiful box, taking one herself. She then put -her hand in her pocket, took out a bandanna handkerchief, applied it to -her nose and said: “Mr. Clay, this is for rough work,” and this, -touching the few remaining grains of snuff with a fine lace -handkerchief, “is my polisher.” This anecdote is an emphatic comment on -the change of customs, even in the most polished society. If Mrs. Grant, -to-day, were to perpetrate such an act at one of her _levées_, the fact -that it stands recorded against the graceful, gracious and glorious -Dolly Madison would not save her from the taunt of being “underbred” and -suggestive of the land of “snuff dippers.” - -Another story of Mrs. Madison illustrates the real kindness of her -heart. Two plain old ladies from the West, halting in Washington for a -single night, yet most anxious to behold the President’s famous and -popular wife before their departure, meeting an old gentleman on the -street, timidly asked him to show them the way to the President’s house. -Happening to be an acquaintance of Mrs. Madison, he conducted them to -the White House. The President’s family were at breakfast, but Mrs. -Madison good-naturedly came out to them wearing a dark gray dress with a -white apron, and a linen handkerchief pinned around her neck. Not -overcome by her plumage, and set at ease by her welcome, when they rose -to depart one said: “P’rhaps you wouldn’t mind if I jest kissed you, to -tell my gals about.” - -Mrs. Madison, not to be outdone, kissed each of her guests, who planted -their spectacles on their noses with delight, and then departed. - -Poverty compelled Martha Jefferson to part with Monticello after her -father’s death, and the same cruel foe forced Mrs. Madison to sell -Montpelier in her widowhood. - -A special message of President Jackson to Congress, concerning the -contents of a letter from Mrs. Madison, offering to the government her -husband’s manuscript record of the debates in Congress of the convention -during the years 1782-1787, caused Congress to purchase it of her, as a -national work, for the sum of thirty thousand dollars. In a subsequent -act Congress gave to Mrs. Madison the honorary privilege of copyright in -foreign countries. The degree of veneration in which she was held may be -judged by the fact that Congress conferred upon Mrs. Madison the -franking privilege and unanimously voted her a seat upon the Senate -floor whenever she honored it with her presence; two privileges never -conferred upon any other American woman. - -The last twelve years of her life were spent in Washington, in a house -still standing on Lafayette square. Here, on New Year’s day and Fourth -of July, she held public receptions, the dignitaries of the nation, -after paying their respects at the White House, passing directly to the -abode of the venerable widow of the fourth President of the United -States—a woman who had honored her high station by her high qualities -more than it could possibly honor her. - -She died at her home, Lafayette square, Washington, July, 1849, holding -her mental faculties unimpaired to the last. In her later days, while -suffering from great debility, she took extreme delight in having old -letters read to her, whose associations were so remote that they were -unknown to all about, but yet which brought back to her her own beloved -past. She delighted, also, in listening to the reading of the Bible—and -it was while hearing a portion of the gospel of St. John that she passed -in peace into her last sleep. - -Mrs. Madison was not the last President’s wife whom the dangers of war -exalted to heroism. Yet, with a few exceptions, she has been followed by -a line of ladies of average gifts and graces, whose domestic virtues and -negative characters are seen but dimly through the reflected glory of -their President husbands’ administrations. The faint outline which we -catch of Mrs. Monroe is that of a serene and aristocratic woman, too -well bred ever to be visibly moved by anything—at least in public. She -was Elizabeth Kortright, of New York—an ex-British officer’s daughter, a -_belle_ who was ridiculed by her gay friends for having refused more -brilliant adorers to accept a plain member of Congress. - -During Mr. Monroe’s ministry to Paris, she was called “_la belle -Americaine_,” and entertained the most stately society of the old -_régime_ with great elegance. The only individual act which has survived -her career, as the wife of the American minister to France, is her visit -to Madame Lafayette in prison. The indignities heaped on this grand and -truly great woman, were hard to be borne by an American, to whom the -very name of Lafayette was endeared. The carriage of the American -minister appeared at the jail. Mrs. Monroe was at last conducted to the -cell of the emaciated prisoner. The Marchioness, beholding the stranger -sister woman, sank at her feet, too weak to utter her joy. That very -afternoon she was to have been beheaded. Instead of the messenger -commanding her to prepare for the guillotine, she beheld a woman and a -friend! From the first moment of its existence the American Republic had -_prestige_ in France. The visit of the American ambassadress changed the -minds of the blood-thirsty tyrants. Madame Lafayette was liberated the -next morning,—she gladly accepted her own freedom, that she might go and -share the dungeon of her husband. - -The same quiet splendor of spirit and bearing reigned through Mrs. -Monroe in the unfinished “White House.” Mrs. Madison maintained the -courtly forms copied from foreign courts—but the richness of her -temperament and the warmth of her heart pervaded all the atmosphere -around her with a genial glow. Mrs. Monroe mingled very little in the -society of Washington, and secluded herself from the public gaze, except -when the duties of her position compelled her to appear. Her love was -for silence, obscurity, peace, not for bustle, confusion, or glare. Yet, -even in her courtly reign, “the dear people” were many and strong enough -to arise and push on to their rights in the “people’s house.” - -James Fennimore Cooper has left on record a letter describing a state -dinner and _levée_, during Mr. Monroe’s time, and any one who has -survived a latter-day jam at the President’s house, will say it was -precisely what a Presidential reception was in the stately Monroe day. -Says Mr. Cooper: - - The evening at the White House, or drawing-room, as it is sometimes - pleasantly called, is in fact, a collection of all classes of people - who choose to go to the trouble and expense of appearing in dresses - suited to an evening party. I am not sure that even dress is very much - regarded, for I certainly saw a good many there in boots....Squeezing - through a crowd, we achieved a passage to a part of the room where - Mrs. Monroe was standing, surrounded by a bevy of female friends. - After making our bow here, we sought the President. The latter had - posted himself at the top of the room, where he remained most of the - evening, shaking hands with all who approached. Near him stood the - Secretaries and a great number of the most distinguished men of the - nation. Besides these, one meets here a great variety of people in - other conditions of life. I have known a cartman to leave his horse in - the street, and go into the reception room, to shake hands with the - President. He offended the good taste of all present, because it was - not thought decent that a laborer should come in a dirty dress on such - an occasion; but while he made a mistake in this particular, he proved - how well he understood the difference between government and society. - -It is very doubtful, however, if a cartman would have found it possible -to have paid his respects to the government in the person of Washington, -in such a plight. Such a visitor in the Blue Room, to-day, would make a -sensation. In spite of the “cartman,” we read that at Mrs. Monroe’s -drawing-rooms “elegance of dress was absolutely required.” On one -occasion, Mr. Monroe refused admission to a near relative, who happened -not to have a suit of small-clothes and silk hose, in which to present -himself at a public reception. He was driven to the necessity of -borrowing. - -When the Monroes entered the White House, it had been partly rebuilt -from its burning in 1814, but it could boast of few comforts, and no -elegance. The ruins of the former building lay in heaps about the -mansion; the grounds were not fenced, and the street before it in such a -condition that it was an hourly sight to see several four-horse wagons -“stalled” before the house. In the early part of the administration, the -East Room was the play-room of Mrs. Monroe’s daughters. It was during -her reign here that the stately furniture, which now stands in the East -Room, was bought by the government in Paris. Each article was surmounted -by the royal crown of Louis XVIII. This was removed, and the American -Eagle took its place. These chairs and sofas have more than once been -“made over, good as new,” but the original eagles remain, more brightly -burnished than ever. May they gleam forever, and let no “modern -furniture,” with surface gilding and thin veneering, take the place of -this historic furniture, in the Nation’s house, fraught, as it is, with -so many memories of the illustrious dead. - - - - - CHAPTER XXII. - NOTED WOMEN OF WASHINGTON—A CHAPTER OF GOSSIP. - -Quaint Habiliments—Portrait of a President’s Wife—A Travelling Lady—Life - in Russia—A Model American Minister—A Long and Lonely Journey—When - Napoleon Returned from Elba—The Court of St. James—“Mrs. Adams’ - Ball”—Mr. John Agg’s Little “Poem”—Verses which Our Fathers - Endured—Peculiar Waists—Costume of an Ancient _Belle_—Fearful and - Wonderful Attire of a _Beau_—“A Suit of Steel”—“Smiling for the - Presidency”—Attending Two Balls the Same Evening—An Ascendant Star—A - Man who Hid his Feelings—The Candidate at a Cattle Show—“She Often - Combed Your Head”—“I Suppose She Combs Yours Now”—Giving “Tone” to - the Whole Country—A Circle of “Rare” Women—A “Perpetual Honor to - Womanhood”—Charles’s Opinion of His Mother—How a Lady “Amused” Her - Declining Days—Lafayette’s Visit to Washington—His Farewell to - America—“A Species of Irregular Diary”—“For the Benefit of My - Grandfather”—Mrs. Andrew Jackson—A Woman’s Influence—Politics and - Piety Disagree—Why the General Didn’t Join the Church—A Head “Full - of Politics”—Swearing Some—The President Becomes a Good Boy—Domestic - Tendencies—His Greatest Loss—Sad News from the Hermitage. - - -The portrait which Leslie gives us of Louisa Catharine Johnson, the wife -of John Quincy Adams, reminds us in outline and costume of the Empress -Josephine and the Court of the first Napoleon. - -She wears the scanty robe of the period, its sparse outline revealing -the slender elegance of the figure, the low waist and short sleeves -trimmed with lace and edged with pearls. One long glove is drawn nearly -to the elbow, the other is held in the hand, which droops carelessly -over the back of the chair. There is a necklace round the throat. From -over one shoulder, and thrown over her lap, is a mantle of exquisite -lace. The close bands of the hair, edged with a few deft curls, and -fastened high at the back with a coronet comb, reveals the classic -outline of the small head; the face is oval, the features delicate and -vivacious; the eyes, looking far on, are beautiful in their clear, -spiritual gaze. This is the portrait of a President’s wife, whose early -advantages of society and culture far transcended those of almost any -other woman of her time. - -The daughter of Joshua Johnson, of Maryland, she was born, educated and -married in London. As a bride she went to the court of Berlin, to which -her husband was appointed American Minister on the accession of his -father to the Presidency. In 1801 she went to Boston, to dwell with her -husband’s people, but very soon came to Washington as the wife of a -senator. On the accession of Madison, leaving her two elder children -with their grandparents, she took a third, not two years of age, and -embarked with her husband for Russia, whither he went as United States -Minister. - -Nothing could be more graphic than the diary which she kept on this -voyage. It consumed three months. Summer merged into winter before the -little wave-and-wind-beaten bark touched that then inhospitable shore. -The first American Minister to Russia, Mr. Adams lived in St. Petersburg -for six years, “poor, studious, ambitious and secluded.” Happily for -him, his wife possessed mental and spiritual resources, which lifted her -above all dependence on surface or conventional attention from the -world, and made her in every respect the meet companion of a scholar and -patriot. - -In the wake of furious war, through storm and snow-drifts, through a -country ravaged by passion and strife, she traveled alone, with her only -child, from St. Petersburg to Paris, whither she went to meet her -husband. Here she witnessed the storm of delight which greeted Napoleon -on his return from Elba. Mr. Adams was appointed Minister to the Court -of St. James, and after a separation of six years Mrs. Adams was -re-united to her children. - -In 1817 Mr. Monroe, on his accession to the Presidency, immediately -appointed John Quincy Adams Secretary of State, when Mrs. Adams returned -with him to Washington. For eight years she was the elegant successor of -Mrs. Madison, who filled the same position with so much distinction. No -one was excluded from her house on account of political hostility—all -sectional bitterness and party strife were banished from her -drawing-rooms. - -As the wife of the Secretary of State, Mrs. Adams gave a famous ball, -whose fame still lives in Washington. “Mrs. Adams’s Ball” lives in -history as well as in the memories of a few still living. It was given -January 8th, 1824, in commemoration of General Jackson’s victory at New -Orleans. It was announced in advance by the newspapers, and on the -morning before its occurrence its splendor was anticipated and -celebrated by the following lines written by Mr. John Agg, who has -passed into oblivion, although his early poems in his native England -were said to have been taken for Byron’s, and although he was one of the -first of newspaper correspondents and the first short-hand reporter ever -in Washington. - -The ladies referred to in the following lines were among the most -celebrated beauties of their day, many of whose descendants still live -in Washington. - - MRS. ADAMS’S BALL. - -[From the Washington _Republican_, Jan. 8th, 1824.] - - 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’s. - There the mist of the future, the gloom of the past, - All melt into light at the warm glance of pleasure; - And the only regret is, lest melting too fast, - Mammas should move off in the midst of a measure. - - Wend you with the world to-night? - Sixty grey, and giddy twenty, - Flirts that court, and prudes that slight, - Stale coquettes and spinsters plenty. - Mrs. Sullivan is there - With all the charms that nature lent her; - Gay M’Kim, with city air, - And charming Gales, and Vandeventer; - Forsyth, with her group of graces; - Both the Crowninshields in blue; - The Peirces, with their heavenly faces, - And eyes like suns, that dazzle through; - _Belles_ and matrons, maids and madams, - All are gone to Mrs. Adams’s. - - Wend you with the world to-night? - East and West, and South and North, - Form a constellation bright, - And pour a blended brilliance forth. - See the tide of fashion flowing, - ’Tis the noon of beauty’s reign; - Webster, Hamiltons are going, - Eastern Lloyd and Southern Hayne; - Western Thomas, gaily smiling; - Borland, nature’s _protégé_; - Young De Wolfe, all hearts beguiling; - Morgan, Benton, Brown and Lee; - _Belles_ and matrons, maids and madams. - All are gone to Mrs. Adams’s. - - Wend you with the world to-night? - Where blue eyes are brightly glancing, - While to measures of delight - Fairy feet are deftly dancing; - Where the young Euphrosyne - Reigns, the sovereign of the scene, - Chasing gloom and courting glee - With the merry tambourine. - Many a form of fairy birth, - Many a Hebe yet unwon; - Wirt, a gem of purest worth, - Lively, laughing Pleasanton, - Vails and Taylor will be there; - Gay Monroe, so _débonnaire_, - Helen, pleasure’s harbinger, - Ramsay, Cottringers, and Kerr; - _Belles_ and matrons, maids and madams, - All are gone to Mrs. Adams’s. - - Wend you with the world to-night? - Juno in her court presides, - Mirth and melody invite, - Fashion points and pleasure guides! - Haste away then, seize the hour, - Shun the thorn and pluck the flower. - Youth, in all its spring-time blooming, - Age, the guise of youth assuming, - Wit, through all its circle gleaming, - Glittering wealth, and beauty beaming; - _Belles_ and matrons, maids and madams, - All are gone to Mrs. Adams’s. - -The picture of this celebrated entertainment is still extant, and shows -the _belles_ in the full dress of the period, when the dress waists -ended just under the arms, and its depth, front and back, was not over -three or four inches. The skirts, narrow and plain, were terminated by a -flounce just resting on the floor. The gloves reached to the elbow, and -were of such fine kid that they were often imported in the shell of an -English walnut. Slippers and silk stockings of the color of the dress -were worn, crossed and tied with gay ribbons over the instep. The hair -was combed high, fastened with a tortoise-shell comb—the married ladies -wearing ostrich feathers and turbans. While the _belles_ were thus -attired, their _beaux_ were decked in blue coats, and gilt buttons, with -white or buff waistcoats, white neck-ties and high “chokers,” silk -stockings and pumps. - -In this picture Daniel Webster, Clay and Calhoun are conspicuous in this -dress. General Jackson, wearing bowed pumps, with Mrs. Adams on his arm, -make the central figures of the assembly. Mrs. Adams wore “a suit of -steel.” The dress was composed of steel llama; her ornaments for head, -throat and arms, were all of cut steel, producing a dazzling effect. -General Jackson’s entire devotion to her, during the evening, was the -subject of comment. After the manner of to-day, it was declared that he -was “smiling for the Presidency.” He was the lion of the evening. All -the houses of the first ward were illuminated in his honor. Bonfires -made the streets light as day, and the “sovereign people” shouted his -name and fame. The same evening, he attended a ball given by the famous -dancing-master, Carusi, and finished the festivities, celebrating his -glory by the side of the reigning lady, the wife of the Secretary of -State. - -That night fixed his presidential star in the ascendency. A few days -later the name of Calhoun was withdrawn as the nominee of his party, and -that of Jackson put in its place. The house, a double one, in which this -famous ball was given, still stands unaltered, on F street, opposite the -Ebbitt House. A portion of it was long occupied as lodgings by Hon. -Charles Sumner. - -Through fiery opposition, John Quincy Adams was elected President. From -the time she became mistress of the President’s house, failing health -inclined Mrs. Adams to seek seclusion, but she still continued to -preside at public receptions. Her vivacity and pleasing manners did much -to warm the chill caused by Mr. Adams’ apathy or apparent coldness. -Those who knew him, declared that he had the warmest heart and the -deepest sympathies, but he had an unfortunate way of hiding them. It is -told that when he was candidate for the Presidency, his friends -persuaded him to go to a cattle show. Among the persons who ventured to -address him, was a respectable farmer who impulsively exclaimed: “Mr. -Adams, I am very glad to see you. My wife, when she was a gal, lived in -your father’s family; you were then a little boy, and she has often -combed your head.” - -“Well,” said Mr. Adams, in a harsh voice, “I suppose she combs yours -now?” - -The poor farmer slunk back extinguished. If he gave John Quincy his -vote, he was more magnanimous than the average citizen of to-day would -be to so rude a candidate. - -A writer of her time speaks of Mrs. Adams’ “enchanting, elegant and -intellectual _régime_,” declaring that it should give tone to the whole -country. Her fine culture, intellectual tastes, and charming social -qualities, combined to attract about her a circle of rare and -distinguished women. Among these were Mrs. Richard Rush, Mrs. Van -Rensselaer, the wife of the Patroon, and Mrs. Edward Livingston. -Notwithstanding the opposition of her husband’s politics, Mrs. -Livingston was Mrs. Adams’ most intimate friend; a lady whom any land -might be proud to claim, and whose memory lives a perpetual honor to -womanhood. - -Mrs. Adams’ son, Charles Francis Adams, writing of his mother in 1839, -says: - - “The attractions of great European capitals, and the dissipations - consequent upon high official stations at home, though continued - through that part of her life when habits become the most fixed, have - done nothing to change the natural elegance of her manners, nor the - simplicity of her tastes.... To the world, Mrs. Adams presents a fine - example of the possibility of retiring from the circles of fashion, - and the external fascinations of life, in time still to retain a taste - for the more quiet, though less showy attractions of the domestic - hearth. - - A strong literary taste, which has caused her to read much, and a - capacity for composition in prose and verse, have been resources for - her leisure moments; not with a view to that exhibition which renders - such accomplishments too often fatal to the more delicate shades of - feminine character, but for her own gratification, and that of a few - relatives and friends. - - The late President Adams used to draw much amusement, in his latest - years at Quincy, from the accurate delineation of Washington manners - and character, which was regularly transmitted, for a considerable - period, in letters from her pen. And if, as time advances, she becomes - gradually less able to devote her sense of sight to reading and - writing, her practice of the more homely virtues of manual industry, - so highly commended in the final chapter of the book of Solomon, still - amuses the declining days of her varied career.” - -Mrs. Adams was the “lady of the White House” when, in 1825, Lafayette -visited the United States, and, at the invitation of the President, -spent the last weeks of his stay at the “Executive Mansion,” from which, -on the seventh of September, he bade his pathetic farewell to the land -of his adoption. - -Notwithstanding the rare qualities of mind and heart which she brought -to it, and the popularity which she attained in it, her son writes: - - “Her residence in the President’s house I have always considered as - the period she enjoyed the least during the public career of my - father. All this appears more or less in her letters, and especially - in a species of irregular diary which she kept for some time at - Washington, for the benefit of my grandfather, John Adams, then living - at Quincy, and of her brother, who was residing in New Orleans.” - -Mrs. Adams died May 14, 1852, and was buried beside her husband, in the -family burying ground at Quincy, Massachusetts. - - * * * * * - -In mental attainments, there was an absolute contrast between Mrs. Adams -and Rachel Donaldson, the next President’s wife. - -Mrs. Andrew Jackson never entered the President’s house in visible form, -for she had passed from earth before her husband became the Chief -Magistrate of the Nation. Yet it is doubtful if the wife of any other -President ever exerted so powerful and positive an influence over an -administration in life as did she in death. - -Born and reared on the frontiers of civilization, her educational -advantages had been most scanty, and she never mastered more than the -simplest rudiments of knowledge. Yet, looking on her pictured face, it -is easy to fathom and define the power which, through life and beyond -the grave, held the master will of the husband who loved her in sweet -abeyance. It was a power purely womanly—the affectional force of a woman -of exalted moral nature and deep affections. It was impossible that such -a woman should use arts to win love, and equally impossible that she -should not be loved. Men would love her instinctively, through the best -and highest in their natures. - -With the wound of her loss fresh and bleeding, President Jackson entered -upon his high office. Thus in death Rachel Jackson became the tutelary -saint of the President’s house. Wherever he went, he wore her miniature. -No matter what had been the duties or pleasures of the day, when the man -came back to himself, and to his lonely room, her Bible and her picture -took the place of the beloved face and tender presence which had been -the one charm and love of his heroic life. - -No other President’s wife looks down upon posterity with so winsome and -innocent a gaze as Rachel Jackson. A cap of soft lace surmounts the dark -curls which cluster about her forehead, falling veil-like over her -shoulders. The full lace ruffle around her neck is not fastened with -even a brooch, and, save the long pendants in her ears, she wears no -ornaments. Her throat is massive, her lips full and sweet in expression, -her brow broad and rounded, her eye-brows arching above a pair of large, -liquid, gazelle-like eyes, whose soft, feminine outlook is sure to win -and to disarm the beholder. This remarkable loveliness of spirit and -person was the source of fatal sorrow to Rachel Jackson. It won her -reverence, amounting almost to adoration, but it made her also the -victim of jealousy, envy and malice. These made the shadow always flung -athwart the sunshine of love which made her life. - -She was a woman of deep personal piety, and longed for nothing so much -as the time when her husband would be done with political honors, as he -had assured her that then, and not till then, could he “be a Christian.” -The following anecdote, told by the late Judge Bryan of Washington, -illustrates the piety of her character and the profound personal -influence she held over the moral nature of her husband: - -The father of Judge Bryan, an intimate friend of Mrs. Jackson, was on a -visit to the Hermitage. Mrs. Jackson talked to him of religion, gave him -a hymn to read that was sung at a late funeral, and said the General was -disposed to be religious, and she believed would join the church but for -the coming presidential election; that his head was now full of -politics. While they were conversing, the General came in with a -newspaper in his hand, to which he referred as denouncing his mother as -a camp follower. “This is too bad!” he exclaimed, rising into a passion -and swearing terribly as our “army in Flanders.” When nearly out of -breath, his wife approached him and, looking him in his face, simply -said: _Mr._ Jackson. He was subdued in an instant, and did not utter -another oath. - -In the same presidential contest this gentle being did not herself -escape calumny. When her husband was elected President of the United -States, she said: “For Mr. Jackson’s sake, I am glad; for my own, I -never wished it.” To an intimate friend she said in all sincerity: “I -assure you I would rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God than -to dwell in that palace in Washington.” Dearer to her heart was the -Hermitage, with the little chapel built by her husband for her own -especial use, than all the prospective pomp of the President’s house. - -She was a mother to every servant on the estate, and anxious to make -every one comfortable during her absence in Washington. She made -numerous journeys to Nashville, to purchase, for all left behind, their -winter supplies. Worn out, after a day’s shopping, she went to the -parlor of the Nashville Inn to rest. While she waited there for the -family coach which was to convey her back to the Hermitage, she heard -her own name spoken in the adjoining room. She was compelled to hear, -while she sat there, pale and smitten, the false and cruel calumnies -against herself which had so recklessly been used during the campaign to -defeat her husband, and which he had zealously excluded from her sight -in the newspapers. Here the arrow came back from the misfortune of her -youth, when she married a man intellectually and morally her inferior, -from whom she was afterwards divorced, and it entered her gentle heart -too deep to be withdrawn. She was seized almost immediately with -spasmodic disease of the heart. Everything possible was done for her -relief without avail. A few nights afterwards she exclaimed: “I am -fainting,” was lifted to her bed, and in a few moments had breathed her -last sigh. - -The grief of her husband amounted to agony. It seemed for a time that -his frame must break under such grief, but he lived to worship and serve -her memory for many years. December 23, 1828, a great ball and banquet -was to have been given in Nashville, in honor of General Jackson’s -victory at New Orleans. The whole city was gay with preparations, when -the word came from the Hermitage: “The President’s wife is dead!” - -From that hour her husband seemed to live to avenge her wrongs and to -honor her memory. Probably into no other administration of the -government, from its first to the present, has personal feeling had so -much to do with official appointments as in the offices emptied and -filled by Andrew Jackson. It had only to enter his suspicion that a man -had failed to espouse the cause of the beloved Rachel, and his unlucky -official head immediately came off. It was told him that Mr. Watterson, -the Librarian of Congress, had told, or listened to something to the -detriment of Mrs. Jackson, and Mr. Watterson was immediately deposed. -Thus she was avenged at times, probably in acts of personal injustice, -but in her own pure tones she spoke through him in all the higher acts -of his administration. Thus it was in spirit that Rachel Jackson lived -and reigned at the White House. - -The “lovely Emily” Donelson, wife of Andrew Jackson Donelson, Mrs. -Jackson’s nephew and adopted son, with Mrs. Andrew Jackson, Jr., the -wife of another adopted son, shared together the social honors of the -White House during the administration of President Jackson. The delicate -question of precedence between them was thus settled by him. He said to -Mrs. Jackson: “You, my dear, are mistress of the Hermitage, and Emily is -hostess of the White House.” - -This Emily was of remarkable beauty, strongly resembling Mary, Queen of -Scots. Her manners were of singular fascination, and she dressed with -exquisite taste. The dress she wore at the first inauguration is still -preserved. It is an amber-colored satin, brocaded with _bouquets_ of -rose-leaves and violets, trimmed with white lace and pearls. It was a -present from General Jackson, and even at that day, before “Jenkins” -supposed birth, it was described in every paper of the Union. General -Jackson always called her “my daughter.” She was the child of Mrs. -Jackson’s brother, and married to her cousin. She was quick at repartee, -and possessed the rare gift of being able to listen gracefully. A -foreign minister once said: “Madame, you dance with the grace of a -Parisian. I can hardly realize that you were educated in Tennessee.” - -“Count, you forget,” was the spirited reply, “that grace is a -cosmopolite, and, like a wild flower, is found oftener in the woods than -in the streets of a city.” - -Her four children were all born in the White House. But in the midst of -its honors, in the flower of her youth, “the lovely Emily” went out from -its portals to die. She sought the softer airs of “Tulip Grove,” her -home in Tennessee, where she died of consumption, December, 1836. A lady -gives the following picture of an evening scene at the White House, in -the early part of Jackson’s administration: - - “The large parlor was scantily furnished; there was light from the - chandelier, and a blazing fire in the grate; four or five ladies - sewing around it; Mrs. Donelson, Mrs. Andrew Jackson, Jr., Mrs. Edward - Livingston. Five or six children were playing about, regardless of - documents or work-baskets. At the farther end of the room sat the - President, in his arm-chair, wearing a long loose coat, and smoking a - long reed pipe, with bowl of red clay—combining the dignity of the - patriarch, monarch, and Indian chief. Just behind, was Edward - Livingston, the Secretary of State, reading a dispatch from the French - Minister for Foreign Affairs. The ladies glance admiringly, now and - then, at the President, who listens, waving his pipe toward the - children, when they become too boisterous.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXIII. - SCENES AT THE WHITE HOUSE—MEN AND WOMEN OF NOTE. - -Widows “at par”—Four Sonless Presidents—Supported by Flattery—A Delicate - Constitution—Living to a Respectable Age—Teaching Her Grandsons How - to Fight—Inheriting Religion—“Another Sensitive, Saintly Soul”—A - Pathetic Reminiscence—A Perfect Gentlewoman—A Stately Black-eyed - Matron—A Lady of the Old School—Obeying St. Paul—A Woman Who “Kept - Silence”—“Sarah Knows Where It Is”—Commanding “Superlative - Respect”—An English Lady “Impressed”—Three Queens in the - Background—A Very Handsome Woman—Retiring from Active Life—A Lady’s - Heroism—“My Home, the Battle-field”—A Man Who Kept to His Post—A - Life in the Savage Wilderness—A Life’s Devotion—The Colonel’s Brave - Wife—The Conquering Hero from Mexico—Objecting to the - Presidency—“Betty Bliss”—The Reigning Lady—An Overpowering - Reception—“A Bright and Beaming Creature, Dressed Simply in - White”—An Inclination for Retirement—The Penalty of Greatness—Death - in the White House—A Wife’s Prayers—A New _Regime_—The Clothier’s - Apprentice and the School Teacher—The Future President Builds His - Own House—Becomes a Lawyer—Chosen Representative—Domestic - Happiness—Twenty-seven Years of Married Life—“A Matron of Commanding - Person”—A Scarcity of Books—Home “Comforts” at the White House—The - Memory of a Loving Wife—A Well Balanced Young Lady. - - -Three of the first four Presidents of the United States married widows. -Jefferson, Jackson, Martin Van Buren, and Tyler, were all widowers while -occupying the White House. Neither Washington, Jefferson, Madison, or -Monroe, left sons to succeed them. The wife of Martin Van Buren died in -her youth, long before he had grown to high political honors. She had -been dead seventeen years when, as the eighth President of the United -States, he entered the White House. During his administration, its -social honors were dispensed by his daughter-in-law, Mrs. Abram Van -Buren, born Angelica Singleton, of South Carolina, who entered upon her -duties and pleasures as a bride. She was of illustrious lineage, -possessed finely cultivated powers, and “is said to have borne the -fatigue of a three hours’ _levée_ with a patience and pleasantry -inexhaustible.” Doubtless she shared some of the help which bore Mr. -Monroe triumphantly through a similar scene. - -“Are you not completely worn out?” inquired a friend. - -“O, no,” replied the President. “A little flattery will support a man -through great fatigue.” - - * * * * * - -Anna Symnes, the wife of President Harrison, a lady of strong -intelligence and deep piety, never came to the White House. Her delicate -health forbade it, when her husband made his presidential journey to -Washington. In a little more than a month he was borne back to her, -redeemed by death. She survived, almost to the age of ninety, to bid -sons and grandsons Godspeed when they went forth to fight for their -country—as she had bidden her gallant husband the same, when he left her -amid her flock of little ones, in the days of her youth, for the same -cause. From time to time sons and grandsons came from the field of -battle to receive her blessing anew. She said to one: “Go, my son. Your -country needs your services. I do not. I feel that my prayers in your -behalf will be heard, and that you will return in safety.” And the -grandson did come back to receive her final blessing, after many -hard-fought battles. Her only surviving son writes: “That I am a firm -believer in the religion of Christ, is not a virtue of mine. I imbibed -it at my mother’s breast, and can no more divest myself of it, than of -my nature.” - - -Mrs. Letitia Christian Tyler, wife of the tenth President of the United -States, was another sensitive, saintly soul, whose children rise up -to-day, and call her blessed. She died in the White House, September 10, -1842. Her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Robert Tyler, writing of the event, -says: - - “Nothing can exceed the loneliness of this large and gloomy mansion, - hung with black, its walls echoing only sighs and groans. My poor - husband suffered dreadfully when he was told his mother’s eyes were - constantly turned to the door, watching for him. He had left - Washington to bring me and the children, at her request. She had every - thing about her to awaken love. She was beautiful to the eye, even in - her illness; her complexion was clear as an infant’s, her figure - perfect, and her hands and feet were the most delicate I ever saw. She - was refined and gentle in every thing that she said and did; and, - above all, a pure and spotless Christian. She was my _beau ideal_ of a - perfect gentlewoman. - - “The devotion of father and sons to her was most affecting. I don’t - think I ever saw her enter a room that all three did not spring up to - lead her to a chair, to arrange her footstool, and caress and pet - her.” - -Mrs. Robert Tyler presided at the White House till June, 1844, when -President Tyler was married to Julia Gardiner, of Gardiner’s Island, New -York, a youthful beauty and _belle_. After many vicissitudes Mrs. Tyler -entered the Catholic church, and now resides in Georgetown. Like Mrs. -Madison, she has returned to the scenes of her early triumphs, and -during the sessions of Congress may often be seen in the diplomatic -gallery of the senate chamber, a stately black-eyed matron dressed in -deep mourning. - -Mrs. Polk, intellectually, was one of the most marked women who ever -presided in the White House. A lady of the old school, educated in a -strict Moravian Institute, her attainments were more than ordinary, her -understanding stronger than that of average women; but she obeyed St. -Paul, and held her gifts in silence. She never astonished or offended -her visitors by revealing to them the depth or breadth of her -intelligence; nevertheless she used that intelligence as a power—the -power behind the throne. Never a politician, in a day when politics, by -precedent and custom, were forbidden grounds to women, she no less was -thoroughly conversant with all public affairs, and made it a part of her -duty to inform herself thoroughly on all subjects which concerned her -country, or her husband. - -She was her husband’s private secretary, and, probably, was the only -lady of the White House who ever filled that office. She took charge of -his papers, he trusting entirely to her memory and method for their safe -keeping. If he wanted a document, long before labeled and “pigeonholed,” -he said: “Sarah knows where it is;” and it was “Sarah’s” ever ready hand -that laid it before his eyes. At the age of twenty she came to -Washington as the wife of Mr. Polk, then a Member of Congress from -Tennessee. Many years of her youth and prime were spent at the Capital, -and, as she had no children, she had more than ordinary opportunity to -devote herself exclusively to the service of her husband. She was the -wife of the Speaker of the House before she was the wife of the -President of the United States, and in every position seems to have -commanded superlative respect and admiration on her own behalf, aside -from the honor always paid to the person holding high station. Many -poems in the public prints were addressed to her—one, while she was the -wife of a Member of Congress, by Judge Story. When her husband became -the President, Mrs. Polk was deemed the supreme ornament of the White -House, and the public journals of the land broke forth into gratulation -that the domestic life of the Nation’s house was to be represented by -one who honored American womanhood. Mrs. Polk was tall, slender, and -stately, with much dignity of bearing, and a manner said to resemble -that of Mrs. Madison. The stateliness of her presence was conspicuous, -and so impressed an English lady, that she declared that “not one of the -three queens whom she had seen, could compare with the truly feminine, -yet distinguished presence of Mrs. Polk.” - -Mrs. Polk was considered a very handsome woman. Her hair and eyes were -very black, and she had the complexion of a Spanish donna. Without being -technically “literary,” she was fond of study, and of intellectual -pursuits, and possessed a decided talent for conversation. In her youth, -she became a member of the Presbyterian church, and through a long life -her character has been eminently a Christian one. Always devout, her -piety in later years is said to have merged into austerity; but even in -the prime of her beauty and power, she never gave her smile or presence -to the dissipation, the insidiously corrupting influence of what is -termed “gay life in Washington,” whose baleful exponent to-day is the -all-night “German” so destructive to freshness of beauty and purity of -soul. - -Mrs. Polk still lives at “Polk Place,” Nashville, Tennessee, a stately -and noble home, like the Hermitage in this respect, that the mortal -remains of its master, amid verdure and flowers, beneath the shadow of -its trees, await the final call. The inscription on the monument, to the -memory of President Polk, is in Mrs. Polk’s own words; and here, in this -home, consecrated by his death, the venerable widow of the eleventh -President of the United States peacefully awaits the summons which will -recall her to the Soul whose life and name it has been her chief earthly -glory to embellish and to represent. - - * * * * * - -Mrs. Taylor, the wife of General Taylor, the twelfth President of the -United States, was one of those unknown heroines of whom fame keeps no -record. Her life, in its self-abnegation and wifely devotion, under -every stress of privation and danger on the Indian’s trail, amid -fever-breeding swamps, and on the edge of the battle-field, was more -heroic than that ever dreamed of by Martha Washington—or continuously -lived by any Presidential lady of the Revolution—yet time will never -give her a chronicler. - -When General Taylor received the official announcement that he was -elected President of the United States, among other things he said: “For -more than a quarter of a century my house has been the tent, and my home -the battle-field.” This utterance was simply true, and through all these -years, this precarious house and home were shared by his devoted wife. -He was one of the hardest worked of fighting officers. Intervals of -official repose at West Point and Washington never came to this young -“Indian fighter.” His life was literally spent in the savage wilderness, -but whether in the swamps of Florida, on the plains of Mexico, or on the -desolate border of the frontier, the young wife persistently followed, -loved and served him. Thus all her children were born, and kept with her -till old enough to live without her care; then, for their own sakes, she -gave them up, and sent them back to “the settlements,” for the education -indispensable to their future lives—but, whatever the cost, she stayed -with her husband. - -The devotion to duty, and the cheerfulness under privation of this -tender woman—the wife of their chief,—penetrated the whole of his -pioneer army. It made every man more contented and uncomplaining, when -he thought of her. Her entire married life had been spent thus; but when -her husband, as Colonel Taylor, took command against the treacherous -Seminoles, in the Florida war, when the newspapers heralded the new-made -discovery, that the wife of Colonel Taylor had established herself at -Tampa Bay, it was considered unpardonably reckless, that she should thus -risk her life, when the odds of success seemed all against her husband. -Nothing could move her from her post. As ever, she superintended the -cooking of his food; she ministered to the sick and wounded; she upheld -the _morale_ of the little army by the steadfastness of her own -self-possession and hope, through all the long and terrible struggle. -Time passed, and the brave Colonel of the Border became the conquering -hero from Mexico, bearing triumphantly back to peace the victories of -Palo Alto, Monterey, and Buena Vista, inscribed upon his banners. The -obscure “Indian fighter” was at once the hero and idol of the Nation. -The long day of battle and glory was ended at last, the wife -thought,—and now she, the General, their children, in a four-roomed -home, were to be kept together at last, in peace unbroken. - -It is not difficult to imagine what a home so hardly earned, so nobly -won, was to such a woman. Nor is it hard to realize that when that home -was almost immediately invaded by a nomination of its chief to the -Presidency of the Nation, the woman’s heart at last rebelled. The wife -thought no new honor could add to the lustre of her husband’s renown. -She declared that the life-long habits of her husband would make him -miserable under the restraints of metropolitan life, and the duties of a -civil position. From the first, she deplored the nomination of General -Taylor to the Presidency as a misfortune, and sorrowfully said: “It is a -plot to deprive me of his society, and to shorten his life by -unnecessary care and responsibility.” - -When, at last, she came to the White House, as its mistress, she -eschewed the great reception-rooms and received her visitors in private -apartments. She tried, as far as possible, to establish her daily life -on the routine of the small cottage at Baton Rouge, and she essayed -personally to minister to her husband’s comforts, as of old, till her -simple habits were ridiculed and made a cause of reproach by the -“opposition.” - -The reigning lady of the White House, at this time, was General and Mrs. -Taylor’s youngest daughter, Elizabeth, or, as she was familiarly and -admiringly called, “Betty Bliss.” She entered the White House at the age -of twenty-two, a bride, having married Major Bliss, who served -faithfully under her father as Adjutant-general. Perhaps no other -President was ever inaugurated with such overwhelming enthusiasm as -General Taylor—and the reception given his youngest child, who greatly -resembled him, and who, at that time, was the youngest lady who had ever -presided at the White House, was almost as overpowering. The vision that -remains of her loveliness, shows us a bright and beaming creature, -dressed simply in white, with flowers in her hair. She possessed beauty, -good sense and quiet humor. As a hostess she was at ease, and received -with affable grace; but an inclination for retirement marked her as well -as her mother. Formal receptions and official dinners were not to their -taste. Nevertheless, these are a part of the inevitable penalty paid by -all who have received the Nation’s highest honor. Society, in its way, -exacts as much of the ladies of the White House, as party politics do of -the men who administer state affairs in it. A lack of entertainment -caused part of the universal discontent, already voiced against the hero -President, whose heroic ways were naturally not the ways of policy or -diplomacy. - -The second winter of President Taylor’s term, the ladies of his family -seemed to have assumed more prominently and publicly the social duties -of their high position. A reception at the President’s house, March 4, -1850, was of remarkable brilliancy. Clay, Calhoun, Webster, Benton and -Cass, with many beautiful and cultured women, then added their splendor -to society in Washington. The auguries of a brilliant year were not -fulfilled. Amid the anguish of his family, President Taylor died at the -White House, July 9, 1850. When it was known that he must die, Mrs. -Taylor became insensible, and the agonized cries of his family reached -the surrounding streets. - -Dreadful to the eyes of the bereaved wife were the pomp and show with -which her hero was buried. - -After he became President, General Taylor said, that “his wife had -prayed every night for months that Henry Clay might be elected President -in his place.” She survived her husband two years, and to her last hour -never mentioned the White House in Washington, except in its relation to -the death of her husband. - -She was succeeded by a woman of superior intellect, who in a different -sphere had proved herself an equally devoted wife. Mrs. Abigail Filmore, -the daughter of a Baptist clergyman, grew up in Western New York, when -it was a frontier and a wilderness. Yearning for intellectual culture, -with all the drawbacks of poverty and scanty opportunity, she obtained -sufficient knowledge to become a school-teacher. It was while following -this avocation that she first met her future husband, the thirteenth -President of the United States, then a clothier’s apprentice, a youth of -less than twenty years, himself, during the winter months, a teacher of -the village school. They were married in 1826, and began life in a small -house built by her husband’s hands. In this little house the wife added -to her duties of maid-of-all-work, house-keeper, hostess and wife, the -avocation of teacher. She bore full half of the burden of life, and the -husband, with the weight of care lifted from him by willing and loving -hands, rose rapidly in the profession of law, and in less than two years -was chosen a member of the State Legislature. Thus, side by side, they -worked and struggled, from poverty to eminence. - -Strong in intellect and will, her delights were all feminine. Her tasks -accomplished, she lived in books and music, flowers and children. At her -death, her husband said: “For twenty-seven years, my entire married -life, I was always greeted with a happy smile.” She entered the White -House a matron of commanding person and beautiful countenance. She was -five feet six inches in height, with a complexion extremely fair and -pure, blue, smiling eyes, and a wealth of light-brown curling hair. A -personal friend of Mrs. Filmore, writing from Buffalo, says: - - “When Mr. Filmore entered the White House, he found it entirely - destitute of books. Mrs. Filmore was in the habit of spending her - leisure moments in reading, I might almost say, in studying. She was - accustomed to be surrounded with books of reference, maps, and all the - other requirements of a well furnished library, and she found it - difficult to content herself in a house devoid of such attractions. To - meet this want, Mr. Filmore asked of Congress, and received an - appropriation, and selected a library, devoting to that purpose a - large and pleasant room in the second story of the White House. Here - Mrs. Filmore surrounded herself with her little home comforts; here - her daughter had her own piano, harp, and guitar, and here Mrs. - Filmore received the informal visits of the friends she loved, and, - for her, the real pleasure and enjoyments of the White House were in - this room.” - -Mrs. Filmore was proud of her husband’s success in life, and desirous -that no reasonable expectation of the public should be disappointed. She -never absented herself from the public receptions, dinners, or _levées_, -when it was possible to be present; but her delicate health frequently -rendered them very painful. She sometimes kept her bed all day, to favor -that weak ankle, that she might be able to endure the fatigue of the two -hours she would be obliged to stand for the Friday evening _levées_. - -Mrs. Filmore was destined never to see again her old home in Buffalo, -with mortal eyes. She contracted a cold on the day of Mr. Pierce’s -inauguration, which resulted in pneumonia, of which she died, at -Willard’s Hotel, Washington, 1853. What she is in the memory of her -husband, may be judged by the fact—that he has carefully preserved every -line that she ever wrote him, and has been heard to say that he could -never destroy even the little notes that she sent him on business, to -his office. - -The child of this truly wedded pair, Mary Abigail Filmore, was the -rarest and most exquisite President’s daughter that ever shed sunshine -in the White House. She survived her mother but a year, dying of -cholera, at the age of twenty-two, yet her memory is a benison to all -young American women, especially to those surrounded by the allurements -of society and high station. She was not only the mistress of many -accomplishments, but possessed a thoroughly practical education. She was -taught at home, at Mrs. Sedgwick’s school, in Lenox, Massachusetts, and -was graduated from the State Normal School of New York, as a teacher, -and taught in the higher departments of one of the public schools in -Buffalo. She was a French, German, and Spanish scholar; was a proficient -in music; and an amateur sculptor. She was the rarest type of woman, in -whom were blended, in perfect proportion, masculine judgment and -feminine tenderness. In her were combined intellectual force, vivacity -of temperament, genuine sensibility, and deep tenderness of heart. She -saw clearly through the forms and shows of life, her views of its duties -were grave and serious; yet, in her intercourse with others, she -overflowed with bright wit, humor and kindliness. Her character was -revealed in her face, for her soul shone through it. Words cannot tell -what such a nature and such an intelligence would be, presiding over the -social life of the Nation’s House. She used her opportunities, as the -President’s daughter, to minister to others. She clung to all her old -friends, without any regard to their position in life; her time and -talents were devoted to their happiness. She was constantly thinking of -some little surprise, some gift, some journey, some pleasure, by which -she could contribute to the happiness of others. After the death of her -mother, she went to the desolate home of her father and brother, and, -emulating the example of that mother, relieved her father of all -household care; her domestic and social qualities equalled her -intellectual power. She gathered all her early friends about her; she -consecrated herself to the happiness of her father and brother; she -filled her home with sunshine. With scarcely an hour’s warning, the -final summons came. “Blessing she was, God made her so,” and in her -passed away one of the rarest of young American women. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIV. - THE WHITE HOUSE DURING THE WAR. - -Under a Cloud—“A Woman Among a Thousand”—Revival of By-gone Days—Another - Lady of the White House—A “Golden Blonde”—Instinct Alike with Power - and Grace—A Fun-Loving Romp—Harriet with her Wheelbarrow of Wood—A - Deed of Kindness—The Wheel Turns Round—An Impression Made on Queen - Victoria—In Paris and on the Continent—An American Lady at - Oxford—Gay Doings at the Capital—Rival Claims for a Lady’s - Hand—Reigning at the White House—Doing Double Duty—Visit of the - Prince of Wales—Marriage of Harriet Lane—As Wife and Mother—Mrs. - Abraham Lincoln—Standing Alone—A Time of Trouble and - Perplexity—Conciliatory Counsels Needful—Rumors of War—the Life of - the Nation Threatened—Whispers of Treason—Awaiting the - Event—Peculiar Position of Mary Lincoln—A Life-long Ambition - Fulfilled—The Nation Called to Arms—Contagious Enthusiasm—What the - President’s Wife Did—Nothing to do but “Shop”—Sensational Stories - Afloat—Stirring Times at the Capital—What Came from the River—The - Dying and the Dead—Churches and Houses Turned into Hospitals—Arrival - of Troops—“Mrs. Lincoln Shopped”—The Lonely Man at the White - House—Letters of Rebuke—An Example of Selfishness—Petty - Economies—The Back Door of the White House—An Injured - Individual—Death of Willie Lincoln—Injustice which Mrs. Lincoln - Suffered—The Rabble in the White House—Valuables Carried Away—Big - Boxes and Much Goods—Going West—Mrs. Lincoln Disconsolate—False and - Cruel Accusations—Considerable Personal Property—Missing - Treasures—Mrs. Lincoln as a Woman—Tears and Mimicry—The Faults of a - President’s Wife. - - -Mrs. Franklin Pierce entered the White House under the shadow of -ill-health and sore bereavement, having seen her last surviving child -killed before her eyes on a railroad train, after the election of her -husband to the Presidency of the United States. - -Mrs. Pierce was remarkable for fragility of constitution, exquisite -sensitiveness of organism, and deep spirituality of nature. She -instinctively shrank from observation, and nothing could be more painful -to her in average life than the public gaze. She found her joy in the -quiet sphere of domestic life, and herein, through her wise counsels, -pure tastes, and devoted life, she exerted a powerful influence. One who -knew her writes: - - “Mrs. Pierce’s life, as far as she could make it so, was one of - retirement. She rarely participated in gay amusements, and never - enjoyed what is called fashionable society. Her natural endowments - were of a high order. She inherited a judgment singularly clear, and a - taste almost unerring. The cast of her beauty was so dream-like; her - temper was so little mingled with the common characteristics of woman; - it had so little of caprice, so little of vanity, so utter an absence - of all jealousy and all anger; it was so made up of tenderness and - devotion, and yet so imaginative and fairy-like in its fondness, that - it was difficult to bear only the sentiments of earth for one who had - so little of life’s clay.” - -It was but natural that such a being should be the life-long object of a -husband’s adoring devotion. Nor is it strange that the husband of such a -wife, reflecting in his outer life the urbanity, gentleness, and -courtesy which marked his home intercourse, in addition to his own -personal gifts, should have been, what Franklin Pierce was declared to -be, the most popular man, personally, who ever was President of the -United States. Notwithstanding her ill health, her shrinking -temperament, and personal bereavement, Mrs. Pierce forced herself to -meet the public demands of her exalted station, and punctually presided -at receptions and state dinners, at any cost to herself. No woman, by -inherent nature, could have been less adapted to the full blaze of -official life than she, yet she met its demands with honor, and departed -from the White House revered by all who had ever caught a glimpse of her -exquisite nature. She died December, 1863, in Andover, Massachusetts, -and now rests, with her husband and children, in the cemetery at -Concord, New Hampshire. - - * * * * * - -During the administration of Mr. Buchanan, the White House seemed to -revive the social magnificence of old days. Harriet Lane brought again -into its drawing-rooms the splendor of courts, and more than repeated -the elegance and brilliancy of fashion, which marked the administration -of Mr. John Quincy Adams. - -Harriet Lane, the adopted daughter of James Buchanan, and “lady of the -White House” during his administration, was one of those golden blondes -which Oliver Wendell Holmes so delights to portray. “Her head and -features were cast in noble mould, and her form which, at rest, had -something of the massive majesty of a marble pillar, in motion was -instinct alike with power and grace.” Grace, light and majesty seemed to -make her atmosphere. Every motion was instinct with life, health and -intelligence. Her superb _physique_ gave the impression of intense, -harmonious vitality. Her eyes, of deep violet, shed a constant, steady -light, yet they could flash with rebuke, kindle with humor, or soften in -tenderness. Her mouth was her most peculiarly beautiful feature, capable -of expressing infinite humor or absolute sweetness, while her classic -head was crowned with masses of golden hair, always worn with perfect -simplicity. - -As a child she was a fun-loving, warm-hearted romp. When eleven years of -age she was tall as a woman, nevertheless Mr. Buchanan, one day looking -from his window, saw Harriet with flushed cheek and hat awry, trundling -through the leading street of Lancaster a wheelbarrow, full of wood. He -rushed out to learn the cause of such an unseemly sight, when she -answered in confusion, “that she was on her way to old black Aunt -Tabitha with a load of wood, because it was so cold.” A few years later -this young domestic outlaw, having been graduated with high honor from -the Georgetown convent, was shining at the Court of St. James, at which -her uncle was American Minister. Queen Victoria, upon whom her -surpassing brightness and loveliness seemed to make a deep impression, -decided that she should rank not as niece or daughter, but as the wife -of the United States Minister. Thus the youthful American girl became -one of the “leading ladies” of the diplomatic corps of St. James. - -On the continent and in Paris she was everywhere greeted as a -girl-queen, and in England her popularity was immense. On the day when -Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Tennyson received the degree of Doctor of Civil -Laws at the University of Oxford, her appearance was greeted by loud -cheers from the students, who arose _en masse_ to receive her. From this -dazzling career abroad, she came back to her native land, to preside -over the President’s House. She became the supreme lady of the gayest -administration which has marked the government of the United States. -Societies, ships of war, neck-ties were named after her. Men, gifted and -great, from foreign lands and in her own, sought her hand in marriage. -Such cumulated pleasures and honors probably were never heaped upon any -other one young woman of the United States. - -At White House receptions, and on all state occasions, the sight of this -golden beauty, standing beside the grand and gray old man, made a unique -and delightful contrast, which thousands flocked to see. Her duties were -more onerous than had fallen to the share of any lady of the White House -for many years; the long diplomatic service of Mr. Buchanan abroad -involving him in many obligations to entertain distinguished strangers -privately, aside from his hospitalities as President of the United -States. During his administration the Prince of Wales was entertained at -the White House, who presented his portrait to Mr. Buchanan and a set of -valuable engravings to Miss Lane, as “a slight mark of his grateful -recollection of the hospitable reception and agreeable visit at the -White House.” - -During the last troubled months of Mr. Buchanan’s administration, he -always spoke with warmth and gratitude of Miss Lane’s patriotism and -good sense. Neither he nor her country ever suffered from any -conversational lapse of hers, which, in a day so rife with passion and -injustice, is saying much. In 1863, Miss Lane was confirmed in the -Episcopal church at Oxford, Philadelphia, of which her uncle, Rev. -Edward L. Buchanan, was the rector. - -In 1866, Miss Lane was married, at Wheatland, to Mr. Henry Elliott -Johnston of Baltimore, a gentleman who had held her affections for many -years. The congenial pair now abide in their luxurious home in -Baltimore, and in private life, as wife and mother, she is as beautiful -and more beloved than when, as Miss Lane, she was the proud lady of the -President’s House. - - * * * * * - -It was the misfortune of Mrs. Lincoln to be the only woman personally -assailed who ever presided in the White House. She entered it when -sectional bitterness was at its height, and when the need of her country -for the holiest and highest ministry of women was deeper than it had -been in any era of its existence, even that of the Revolution. In that -troubled hour, the White House needed a woman to preside over it of -lofty soul, of consecrated purpose, of the broadest and profoundest -sympathies, and of self-forgetting piety. - -The life of the Nation was threatened. The horror of war was imminent. -The capital was menaced, as it had never been before, by the treason of -its own children. Wives, mothers and daughters, in ten thousand homes, -were looking into the faces of husbands, sons and fathers, with -trembling and with tears, and yet with sacrificial patriotism. They -knew, they felt that the best-beloved were to be slain on their -country’s battle-fields. With what supreme devotion and consecration -would Abigail Adams, or a thousand women of her heroic type, have -approached the Nation’s House as the wife of its President in such an -hour. It was the hour for self-forgetting—the hour of sacrifice. -Personal vanity and elation, excusable in a more peaceful time, seemed -unpardonable in this. Yet, in reviewing the character of the Presidents’ -wives, we shall see that there was never one who entered the White House -with such a feeling of self-satisfaction, which amounted to personal -exultation, as did Mary Lincoln. To her it was the fulfillment of a -life-long ambition, and with the first low muttering of war distinctly -heard, on every side, she made her journey to Washington a triumphal -passage. - -A single month, and the President’s call for troops to protect the -capital had penetrated the remotest hamlet of the land. All the manly -life-blood of the Nation surged toward its defence. All the heart of its -womanhood went up to God, crying for its safety. In the distant -farm-house women waited, breathless, the latest story of battle. In the -crowded cities they gathered by thousands, crying, only, “Let me work -for my brother: he dies for me!” - -With the record of the march and the fight, and of the unseemly defeat, -the newspapers teemed with gossip concerning the new lady of the White -House. While her sister-women scraped lint, sewed bandages, and put on -nurses’ caps, and gave their all to country and to death, the wife of -its President spent her time in rolling to and fro between Washington -and New York, intent on extravagant purchases for herself and the White -House. Mrs. Lincoln seemed to have nothing to do but to “shop,” and the -reports of her lavish bargains, in the newspapers, were vulgar and -sensational in the extreme. The wives and daughters of other Presidents -had managed to dress as elegant women, without the process of so doing -becoming prominent or public. But not a new dress or jewel was bought by -Mrs. Lincoln that did not find its way into the newspapers. - -Months passed, and the capital had become one vast hospital. The -reluctant river every hour laid at the feet of the city its priceless -freight of lacerated men. The wharves were lined with the dying and -dead. One ceaseless procession of ambulances moved to and fro. Our -streets resounded with the shrieks of the sufferers which they bore. -Churches, halls and houses were turned into hospitals. Every -railroad-train that entered the city bore fresh troops to the Nation’s -rescue, and fresh mourners seeking their dead, who had died in its -defence. Through all, Mrs. Lincoln “shopped.” - -At the White House, a lonely man, sorrowful at heart, and weighed down -by mighty burdens, bearing the Nation’s fate upon his shoulders, lived -and toiled and suffered alone. His wife, during all the summer, was at -the hotels of fashionable watering-places. Conduct comparatively -blameless in happier times, became culpable under such exigencies and in -such shadow. Jarred, from the beginning, by Mrs. Lincoln’s life, the -Nation, under its heavy stress of sorrow, seemed goaded at last to -exasperation. Letters of rebuke, of expostulation, of anathema even, -addressed to her, personally, came in to her from every direction. Not a -day that did not bring her many such communications, denouncing her mode -of life, her conduct, and calling upon her to fulfil the obligations, -and meet the opportunities of her high station. - -To no other woman of America had ever been vouchsafed so full an -opportunity for personal benevolence and philanthropy to her own -countrymen. To no other American woman had ever come an equal chance to -set a lofty example of self-abnegation to all her countrywomen. But just -as if there were no national peril, no monstrous national debt, no -rivers of blood flowing, she seemed chiefly intent upon pleasure, -personal flattery and adulation; upon extravagant dress and ceaseless -self-gratification. - -[Illustration: - - THE CABINET ROOM. - INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE.—WASHINGTON. -] - -Vain, seeking admiration, the men who fed her weakness for their own -political ends were sure of her favor. Thus, while daily disgracing the -State by her own example, she still sought to meddle in its affairs. Woe -to Mr. Lincoln if he did not appoint her favorites. Prodigal in personal -expenditure, she brought shame upon the President’s House, by petty -economies, which had never disgraced it before. Had the milk of its -dairy been sent to the hospitals, she would have received golden praise. -But the whole city felt scandalized to have it haggled over and peddled -from the back door of the White House. State dinners could have been -dispensed with, without a word of blame, had their cost been consecrated -to the soldiers’ service; but when it was made apparent that they were -omitted from personal penuriousness and a desire to devote their cost to -personal gratification, the public censure knew no bounds. - -From the moment Mrs. Lincoln began to receive recriminating letters, she -considered herself an injured individual, the honored object of envy, -jealousy and spite, and a martyr to her high position. No doubt some of -them were unjust, and many more unkind; but it never dawned upon her -consciousness that any part of the provocation was on her side, and -after a few tastes of their bitter draughts she ceased to open them. -Even death did not spare her. Willie Lincoln, the loveliest child of the -White House, was smitten and died, to the unutterable grief of his -father and the wild anguish of his mother. She mourned according to her -nature. Her loss did not draw her nearer in sympathy to the nation of -mothers that moment weeping because their sons were not. It did not lead -her in time to minister to such, whom death had robbed and life had left -without alleviation. She shut herself in with her grief, and demanded of -God why he had afflicted _her_! Nobody suffered as she suffered. The -Nation’s House wore a pall, at last, not for its tens of thousands of -brave sons slain, but for the President’s child. The Guests’ Room, in -which he died, Mrs. Lincoln never entered again; nor the Green Room, -wherein, decked with flowers, his fair young body awaited burial. - -In the same way, Mrs. Lincoln bewept her husband. And there is no doubt -but that, in that black hour, she suffered great injustice. She loved -her husband with the intensity of a nature, deep and strong, within a -narrow channel. The shock of his untimely and awful taking-off, might -have excused a woman of loftier nature than hers for any accompanying -paralysis. - -It was not strange that Mrs. Lincoln was not able to leave the White -House for five weeks after her husband’s death. It would have been -stranger, had she been able to have left it sooner. It was her -misfortune, that she had so armed public sympathy against her, by years -of indifference to the sorrows of others, that when her own hour of -supreme anguish came, there were few to comfort her, and many to assail. -She had made many unpopular innovations upon the old, serene and stately -_régime_ of the President’s house. Never a reign of concord, in her best -day, in her hour of affliction it degenerated into absolute anarchy. I -believe the long-time steward had been dethroned, that Mrs. Lincoln -might manage according to her own will. At-any-rate, while she was shut -in with her woe, the White House was left without a responsible -protector. The rabble ranged through it at will. Silver and dining-ware -were carried off, and have never been recovered. It was plundered, not -only of ornaments, but of heavy articles of furniture. Costly sofas and -chairs were cut and injured. Exquisite lace curtains were torn into -rags, and carried off in pieces. - -While all this was going on below, Mrs. Lincoln, shut up in her -apartments, refused to see any one but servants, while day after day, -immense boxes, containing her personal effects, were leaving the White -House for her newly-chosen abode in the West. The size and number of -these boxes, with the fact of the pillaged aspect of the White House, -led to the accusation, which so roused public feeling against her, that -she was robbing the Nation’s House, and carrying the national property -with her into retirement. This accusation, which clings to her to this -day, was probably unjust. Her personal effects, in all likelihood, -amounted to as much as that of nearly all other Presidents’ wives -together, and the vandals who roamed at large through the length and -breadth of the White House, were quite sufficient to account for all its -missing treasures. - -The public also did Mrs. Lincoln injustice, in considering her an -ignorant, illiterate woman. She was well-born, gently reared, and her -education above the average standard given to girls in her youth. She is -a fair mistress of the French language, and in English can write a more -graceful letter than one educated woman in fifty. She has quick -perceptions, and an almost unrivalled power of mimicry. The only -amusement of her desolate days, while shut in from the world in Chicago, -when she refused to see her dearest friends and took comfort in the -thought that she had been chosen as the object of pre-eminent -affliction, was to repeat in tone, gesture and expression, the words, -actions and looks of men and women who, in the splendor of her life in -Washington, had happened to offend her. Her lack was not a lack of keen -faculties, or of fair culture, but a constitutional inability to rise to -the action of high motive in a time when every true soul in the nation -seemed to be impelled to unselfish deeds for its rescue. She was -incapable of lofty, impersonal impulse. She was self-centred, and never -in any experience rose above herself. According to circumstance, her own -ambitions, her own pleasures, her own sufferings, made the sensation -which absorbed and consumed every other. As a President’s wife she could -not rise above the level of her nature, and it was her misfortune that -she never even approached the bound of her opportunity. - - - - - CHAPTER XXV. - THE WHITE HOUSE NOW. - -After the War—The Home of President Johnson—Shut Up in the Mountains—Two - Years of Exile—A Contrast—Suffering for their Country—Secretly - Burying the Dead—A Wife of Seventeen Years—Midnight Studies—Broken - Down—A Party of Grandchildren—“My Dears, I am an Invalid”—“God’s - Best Gift to Man”—The Woman Who Taught the President—A “Lady of - Benign Countenance”—Doing the Honors at the White House—“We are - Plain People”—The East Room Filled with Vermin—Traces of the - Soldiers—A State of Dirt and Ruin—Mrs. Patterson’s Calico Dress—In - the Dairy—A Nineteenth Century Wonder—How the Old Carpets were - Patched—The Greenbacks are Forthcoming—How $30,000 were Spent—Buying - the Furniture—Working in Hot Weather—“Wrestling with Rags and - Ruins”—“Renovated from Top to Bottom”—What the Ladies Wore, and What - They Didn’t—The Memory of Elegant Attire—Impressing the Public - Mind—How Unperverted Minds are Affected—“Bare-necked Dowagers”—“A - Large Crowd of Bare Busts”—Elderly Ladies with Raven Locks—The - Opinion of a Woman of Fashion—Very Good Dinners—Obsequious to the - Will of “the People”—Doors Open to the Mob—Sketching a - Banquet—Sentimental Reflections on the Dining Room—The Portraits of - the Presidents—The Impeachment Trial—Peace in the Family—The Grant - Dynasty—Looking Home-like—Mrs. Grant at Home—What Might Be Done, - if—What Won’t Work a Reformation—A Pity for Miss Nellie Grant—How - She Suddenly “Came Out”—“A Full Fledged Woman of Fashion”—A “Shoal - of Pretty Girls”—How a Certain Young Lady was Spoilt—Brushing Away - “the Dew of Innocence”—Need of a Centripetal Soul—Society in the - Season—Rare Women with no Tastes—The Wives of the Presidents Summed - Up. - - -Mrs. Lincoln was succeeded in the White House by three women, who -entered its portals through the fiery baptism of suffering for their -country’s sake. - -While President Johnson was performing his duties as Senator in -Washington, his family were shut up in the mountains of East Tennessee, -where the ravages of war were most dreadful. For more than two years he -was unable to set eyes on either wife or child. While many of the -mushroom aristocracy, who afterwards looked upon them so superciliously, -were coining their ill-gotten dollars out of the blood of their country, -these brave, loyal women were being “hunted from point to point, driven -to seek refuge in the wilderness, forced to subsist on coarse and -insufficient food, and more than once called to bury with secret and -stolen sepulture those, whom they loved, murdered because they would not -join in deeds of odious treason to union and liberty.” - -President Johnson’s youngest daughter entered the White House a widow, -recently bereaved of her husband, who fell a soldier in the Union cause. -His wife, who at seventeen was his teacher, when “in the silent watches -of the night the youthful couple studied together,” when their weary -tasks were done, came to the White House broken in health and spirits, -through the suffering and bereavements through which she had passed. She -was never seen but on one public occasion at the White House, that of a -children’s party, given to her grandchildren. At that time she was -seated in one of the republican court-chairs of satin and ebony. She did -not rise when the children or guests were presented, but simply said, -“My dears, I am an invalid,” and her sad, pale face and sunken eyes -proved the expression. She is an invalid now; but an observer would say, -contemplating her, “A noble woman, God’s best gift to man.” It was that -woman who taught the President, after she became his wife; and in all -their early years she was his assistant counsellor and guide. - -Liable to be arrested for the slightest offense; ofttimes insulted by -the rabble, Mrs. Johnson performed the perilous journey from Greenville -to Nashville. Few who were not actual participators in the civil war can -form an estimate of the trials of this noble woman. Invalid, as she was, -she yet endured exposure and anxiety, and passed through the extended -lines of hostile armies, never uttering a hasty word, or, by her looks, -betraying in the least degree her harrowed feelings. She is remembered -by friend and foe as a lady of benign countenance and sweet and winning -manners. - -During her husband’s administration, the heavy duties and dubious honors -of the White House were performed by her oldest daughter, Martha -Patterson, the wife of Senator Patterson of Tennessee. That lady’s -utterance, soon after entering the White House, was a key to her -character, yet scarcely a promise of her own distinguished management of -the President’s house. She said: “We are plain people from the mountains -of Tennessee, called here for a short time by a national calamity. I -trust too much will not be expected of us.” The career of Mrs. Lincoln -had chilled the people to expect little from the feminine administrator -of the White House; but from Martha Patterson they received much, and -that of the most unobtrusive and noble service. - -The family of the new President arrived in June. Here was a new field -entirely for the diffident woman who was compelled to do the honors, in -lieu of her mother—a confirmed invalid. The house looked anything but -inviting. Soldiers had wandered unchallenged through the entire _suites_ -of parlors. The East Room, dirty and soiled, was filled with vermin. -Guards had slept upon the sofas and carpets till they were ruined, and -the immense crowds who, during the preceding years of war, filled the -President’s house continually had worn out the already ancient -furniture. No sign of neatness or comfort greeted their appearance, but -evidences of neglect and decay everywhere met their eyes. To put aside -all ceremony and work incessantly, was the portion of Mrs. Patterson -from the beginning. It was her practice to rise very early, don a calico -dress and spotless apron, and then descend to skim the milk and attend -to the dairy before breakfast. Remembering this fact, of a President’s -daughter, in the President’s house, in the nineteenth century, for a -brief moment, let us cease to bemoan the homely virtues of our -grandmothers as forever dead and buried. - -At the first reception of President Johnson, held January 1, 1866, the -White House had not been renovated. Dingy and destitute of ornament -Martha Patterson had by dint of covering its old carpets with pure -linen, and hiding its wounds with fresh flowers, and letting her -beautiful children loose in its rooms, given it an aspect of purity, -beauty and cheer, to which it had long been a stranger. - -[Illustration: - - THE BLUE ROOM. - - INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE.—WASHINGTON. -] - -In the spring, Congress appropriated thirty thousand dollars to the -renovation of the White House. After consulting various firms, Mrs. -Patterson found that it would take the whole amount to furnish simply -the parlors. Feeling a personal responsibility to the government for the -expenditure of the money, unlike her predecessor, she determined not to -surpass it. She made herself its agent, and superintended the purchases -for the dismantled house herself. Instead of seeking pleasure by the -sea, or ease in her own mountain home, the hot summer waxed and waned -only to leave the brave woman where it found her, wrestling with rags -and ruins that were to be reset, repolished, “made over as good as new.” -For herself? No, for her country; and all this in addition to caring for -husband, children and invalid mother. - -The result of this ceaseless industry and self-denial was, the -President’s house in perfect order and thoroughly renovated from top to -bottom. When it was opened for the winter season, the change was -apparent and marvelous, even to the dullest eyes, but very few knew that -the fresh, bright face of the historic house was all due to the energy, -industry, taste and tact of one woman, the President’s daughter. The -warm comfort of the dining room, the exquisite tints of the Blue Room, -the restful neutral hues meeting and blending in carpets and furniture -in many rooms of the White House still remain harmonious witnesses of -the pure taste of Martha Patterson. The dress of the ladies of the White -House was equally remarkable. The public had grown to expect loud -display in the costume of its occupants. But all who went to see the -“plain people from Tennessee” overloaded with new ornaments, were -disappointed. Instead, they saw beside the President a young, -golden-haired woman, dressed in full mourning,—the sad badge still worn -for the gallant husband slain by war,—and a slender woman with a single -white flower in her dark hair. Instead of the bare bosom and arms, the -pronounced hues and glittering jewels which had so long obtained in that -place, they saw soft laces about the throat ending the high corsage; a -robe of soft tints and a shawl of lace veiling the slender figure. It -was like a picture in half tints, soothing to the sight; yet the dark -hair, broad brow and large eyes were full of silent force and reserved -power. Little was expected, even in dress, of these “plain people from -Tennessee,” yet the chaste elegance of their attire was never surpassed -by any ladies of the White House, and its memory remains an example -which it is a pity that ladies of society are so slow to imitate. - -The impression made upon the public mind by the tone and spirit of their -attire is significant as gathered from the utterance of contemporaneous -newspapers. It betrays how dress of an opposite character always affects -unperverted minds. A journal of the day says: “Mrs. Patterson, who stood -at the right of the President, wore a black Lyons velvet, a shawl of -white thread lace falling over her dress. The simple, unaffected grace -of this lady, and her entire freedom from pretension, either in garb or -manner, attracted highly favorable comment. Mrs. Patterson is quite a -young lady, and when some of the bare-necked would-be juvenile dowagers -were presented to her, the contrast was entirely in favor of the -President’s daughter.” - - “Mrs. Stover assisted the President, and won golden opinions from - sensible people for her faultless taste, and high-necked costume in a - large crowd of bare busts. Elderly ladies, whose truthful wrinkles, - despite their raven locks, betrayed their years, stood about her in - low bodices, exposing to view shoulders long ago bereft of beauty and - symmetry. Mothers, whose daughters walked beside them, in similar - attire, gathered about her in their flashing diamonds and expensive - apparel, but no peer of hers eclipsed her rich simplicity. Alone she - stood, so tastefully arrayed that the poor who came were not abashed - by her presence, nor the rich offended by her rarer _toilette_. The - perfect harmony of her appearance pleased the eyes of all.” - -The spirit of these comments redeems them from the faintest touch of -Jenkinsism. In this connection, it is easy to understand the comment of -a woman of fashion, on Mrs. Stover. She said: “She has very fine points, -which would make any woman a _belle_, if she knew how to make the most -of them.” - -The state dinners given by President Johnson, were never surpassed in -any administration. They were conducted on a generous, almost princely -scale, and reflected lasting honor upon his daughter, to whom was -committed the entire care and arrangement of every social entertainment. -Simple and democratic in her own personal tastes, Mrs. Patterson had a -high sense of what was due to the position, and to the people, from the -family of the President of a great Nation. This sense of duty and -justice led her to spare no pains in her management of official -entertainments, and the same high qualities made her keep the White -House parlors and conservatories open and ready for the crowds of people -who daily visited them, at any cost to her own taste or comfort. - -The following sketch of the last state dinner given by President -Johnson, written by a personal friend, is so vivid and life-like, -bringing the historic house so near, in the closing hours of an -administration, I am constrained to give it to you: - - “Late in the afternoon, I was sitting in the cheerful room occupied by - the invalid mother, when Mrs. Patterson came for me to go and see the - table. The last state dinner was to be given this night, and the - preparation for the occasion had been commensurate with those of - former occasions. - - “I looked at the invalid, whose feet had never crossed the apartment - to which we were going, and by whom the elegant entertainments, over - which her daughters presided, were totally unenjoyed. Through the - hall, and down the stairway, I followed my hostess, and stood beside - her in the grand old room. - - “It was a beautiful, and altogether a rare scene, which I viewed in - the quiet light of that closing winter day. The table was arranged for - forty persons, each guest’s name being upon the plate designated on - the invitation list. In the centre stood three magnificent _ormolu_ - ornaments, filled with fadeless French flowers, while, beside each - plate, was a _bouquet_ of odorous greenhouse exotics. It was not the - color or design of the Sévres China, of green and gold, the fragile - glass, nor yet the massive plate, which attracted my admiration, but - the harmony of the whole, which satisfied and refreshed. From the - heavy curtains, depending from the lofty windows, to the smallest - ornament in the room, all was ornate and consistent. I could not but - contrast this vision of grandeur with the delicate, child-like form of - the woman who watched me with a quiet smile, as I enjoyed this - evidence of her taste, and appreciation of the beautiful. All day she - had watched over the movements of those engaged in the arrangement of - this room, and yet so unobtrusive had been her presence, and so - systematically had she planned, that no confusion occurred in the - complicated domestic machinery. For the pleasure it would give her - children, hereafter, she had an artist photograph the interior of the - apartment, and he was just leaving with his trophy, as we entered. All - was ready and complete, and when we passed from the room, there was - still time for rest before the hour named in the cards of invitation. - - .... “It was almost twilight, as we entered the East Room, and its - sombreness and wondrous size struck me forcibly. The hour for - strangers and visitors had passed, and we felt at liberty to wander, - in our old-fashioned way, up and down its great length.” - - “It was softly raining, we discovered, as we peered through the - window, and a light fringe of mist hung over the trees in the grounds. - The feeling of balmy comfort one feels in watching it rain, from the - window of a cozy room, was intensified by the associations of this - historic place, and the sadness of time was lost in the outreachings - of eternity. Its spectral appearance, as we turned from the window and - looked down its shadowy outlines, the quickly succeeding thoughts of - the many who had crowded into its now deserted space, and the - remembrance of some who would no more come, were fast crowding out the - practical, and leaving in its place mental excitement, and - spiritualized nervous influences. Mrs. Patterson was the first to note - the flight of time, and, as we turned, to leave with the past the hour - it claimed, her grave face lighted up with a genuinely happy - expression, as she said: ‘I am glad this is the last entertainment; it - suits me better to be quiet, and in my own home. Mother is not able to - enjoy these things. Belle is too young, and I am indifferent to - them—so it is well it is almost over.’ - - “As she ceased speaking, the curtains over the main entrance parted, - and the President peered in, ‘to see,’ he said, ‘if Martha had shown - me the portraits of the Presidents.’ Joining him in his promenade, we - passed before them, as they were hanging in the main hall, he dwelling - on the life and character of each, we listening to his descriptions, - and personal recollections. - - “At the dinner, afterwards, not the display of beautiful _toilettes_, - nor the faces of lovely women, could draw from my mind the memory of - that afternoon. More than ever, I was convinced that the best of our - natures is entirely out of the reach of ordinary events, and the - finest fibres are rarely, if ever, made to thrill in sympathy with - outward influences. Grave statesmen, and white-haired dignitaries - chatted merrily with fair young ladies, or sedate matrons; but turn - where I would, the burden of my thoughts were the remarks of Mrs. - Patterson, whose unselfish devotion to her father, deserves a more - fitting memorial than this insignificant mention. With her opposite - him, and by her proximity, relieving him of much of the necessity of - entertaining, he enjoyed and bestowed pleasure, and won for these - social entertainments a national reputation. - - “During the impeachment trial of her father, unflinchingly Mrs. - Patterson bent every energy to entertain, as usual, as became her - position, wearing always a patient, suffering look. Through the long - weeks of the trial, she listened to every request, saw every caller, - and served every petitioner, (and only those who have filled this - position, know how arduous is this duty,) hiding from all eyes the - anxious weight of care oppressing herself. That she was sick after the - acquittal, astonished nobody who had seen her struggling to keep up - before.” - -But no matter what the accusations against Andrew Johnson, they died -into silence without touching his family. If corruption crossed the -outer portals of the White House, the whole land knew that they never -penetrated into the pure recesses of the President’s home. Whatever -Andrew Johnson was or was not, no partisan foe was bitter or false -enough to throw a shadow of reproach against the noble characters of his -wife and daughters. There was no insinuation, no charge against them. -There was no furniture or ornaments gone; nor could any one say that -they had received costly presents:—no expensive plate, no houses, -horses, or carriages. No family ever left Washington more respected by -the powerful, more bewept by the poor. From the Nation’s House, which -they had redeemed and honored, they went back empty-handed to their own -dismantled home, followed by the esteem and affection of all who knew -them. The White House holds the record of their spotless fame. -Generations will pass before, from its grand old rooms, will fade out -the healing and saving touches of one President’s daughter. - -The life of the White House under the administration of President Grant -is a purely domestic one. It is the remark of all who have known its -past, that the White House never looked so home-like as at the present -time. It took on this aspect under the reign of Martha Patterson. But -since then, pictures and ornaments have been added, one by one, till all -its old-time stiffness seems to have merged into a look of grand -comfort. Its roof may leak occasionally, and it certainly was built -before the day of “modern conveniences,” and may be altogether -inadequate to be the President’s house of a great Nation; nevertheless, -that Nation has no occasion to be ashamed of its order or adornment -to-day. - -As in the Johnson administration, the house is brightened by -ever-blooming flowers, and the presence of happy children. Mr. Dent, the -venerable father of Mrs. Grant, also makes a marked feature of its -social life, and is the object not only of the ceaseless devotion of his -family, but of the respect of all their visitors. - -Mrs. Grant is now, as she always has been, devoted to her family. Her -chief enjoyment is in it, in its cares and pleasures; the latter, -however, in her present life, largely preponderating. Born without the -natural gifts or graces which could have made her a leader of other -minds, even in the surface realm of society, she is, nevertheless, very -fond of social entertainments, and enters into them with a good nature, -and visible enjoyment, which at times goes far to take the place of -higher and more positive characteristics. If to the affectionate -domestic life of the White House could be added a finer culture and -higher intellectual quality as the highest social centre of the land, -giving exclusive tone to the official society, it might do more than -words could tell to redeem from frivolity and vicious dissipation the -fashionable life of the capital. Mere good nature, good clothes, and -unutterable commonplace are not forces sufficient to, in themselves, -work out this reformation. - -On the whole it is a sad sight to see a President’s daughter, an only -daughter, at an age when any thoughtful mother would shield her from the -allurements of pleasure, and shut her away in safety to study and grow -to harmonious and beautiful womanhood, suddenly launched into the wild -tide of frivolous pleasure. Thus, while the daughters of Senators and -Cabinet ministers, far from Washington, under faithful teachers, were -learning truly how to live, and acquiring the discipline and -accomplishments which would fit them to adorn their high estate, Ellen -Grant, a gentle girl of seventeen, with mind and manners unfed and -unformed, suddenly “came out” a full-fledged young woman of fashion, -spoken of almost exclusively as the driver of a phaeton, and the leader -of the all-night “German.” - -As a result, Washington is crowded with a shoal of pretty girls, bright -and lovely as God had made them; by a false life, late hours, voluptuous -dances, made already hard, old, _blasé_, often before their feet have -touched the first verge of womanhood. I think of one, but one, amid -hundreds, the daughter of a high officer, graceful, tasteful, the queen -of dancers, and of all night revels, but empty of mind, hard of heart, -brazen of manners! Who looking on her face can fail to see that the dew -of innocence is brushed from it forever. - -The prevailing lack of fashionable society in Washington, to-day, is -high motive, purity of feeling, a more varied and brighter intelligence. -These all exist, and in no meagre proportion, but as scattered elements, -they wait the supreme social queen, the centripetal soul which shall -draw them into one potent and prevailing power that shall lift the whole -social life of the capital to a higher plane of æsthetic attire, -culture, and amusement. Fortunately, Mrs. Grant has been surrounded by -numerous ladies in official life of superior mental endowment and -culture, and true social grace. This is especially true of a portion of -“the ladies of the Cabinet,” of the Senators’ wives from several States, -and of no small number among the wives of Representatives. Many ladies, -whose husbands are in Congress, bring the most exquisite tastes in art, -music and literature, and the loveliest of womanhood to grace the life -of Washington. For what is termed its “society” in the “season,” the -pity is these rare women have no taste, it is to them a burden, or an -offence, and they have never yet combined in organized force (which -alone is power) to uplift and redeem it. - -Nevertheless, Washington is rapidly becoming an intellectual as well as -social centre. The large and varied interests which concentrate in a -national capital tend more and more to draw the highest intellectual as -well as social forces into its life. These need but assimilation, -fusion, unity and purpose to develop into the most superb manifestation -of civilization. In looking back upon the wives of the Presidents, we -discover, with but two or three exceptions, they were women of -remarkable powers and exalted character. - - - - - CHAPTER XXVI. - RECEPTION DAY AT THE WHITE HOUSE—GLIMPSES OF LIFE. - -Mrs. Grant at Home—A Reception—Feeling Good-Natured—Looking After One’s - Friends—Ready to Forgive—Mr. Grant’s “Likeable Side”—The East Room - on a Reception Day—“The Nation’s Parlor”—Rags and Tatters - Departed—The Work of Relic-hunters—Internal Arrangements—Eight - Presidents, All In a Row—“As Large as Life”—Shadows of the - Departed—A Present from the Sultan of Turkey—A List of Finery—A - Scene Not Easily Forgotten—How They Wept for Their Martyr—Tales - which a Room Might Tell—David, Jonathan and Sir Philip Sidney - Superseded—Underneath the Gold and Lace—“Into the Ear of a Foolish - Girl”—“The Census of Spittoons”—“A Horror in Our Land”—An Under-bred - People—“We Talk too Loud”—Preliminaries to Perfection—“More Than - Shakespeare’s Women”—The Shadow of Human Nature—Two “Quizzing” - Ladies—Nothing Sacred to Them—An Illogical Dame—Her “Precarious - Organ”—A “Vice that Thrives Amid Christian Graces”—How some Pious - People “Avenge their Defrauded Souls”—A Lady of Many Colors—“A New - Woman”—A Vegetable Comparison—What “a Good Little Girl” was Allowed - To Do—The Lady of the Manor—Women Who are Not Ashamed of - Womanhood—Observed and Admired of All—Another “Reigning - _Belle_”—Sketch of a Perfect Woman—After the Lapse of - Generations—The “German”—“You Had Better Be Shut Up”—The “Withering” - of Many American Women—Full Dress and No Dress—What the Princess - Ghika Thinks—A Young Girl’s Dress—“That Dreadful Woman”—“_My_ - Wife’s” Dress—The Resolution of a Young Man. - - -It is Tuesday—Mrs. Grant’s day—and all the gay world is going to the -White House, besides a portion of that world which is not gay. - -Mrs. Grant’s morning receptions are very popular, and deservedly so. -This is not because the lady is in any sense a conversationalist, or has -a fine tact in receiving, but rather, I think, because she is thoroughly -good-natured, and for the time, at least, makes other people feel the -same. At any rate, there was never so little formality or so much -genuine sociability in the day-receptions at the White House as at the -present time. General Babcock pronounces your name without startling you -out of your boots by shouting it, as on such occasions is usually done. -He passes it to the President, the President to Mrs. Grant, Mrs. Grant -to ladies receiving with her. After exchanging salutations with each, -you pass on to make room for others, and to find your own personal -friends dispersed through the great rooms. They are in each of them; -loitering in the Blue Room, where the receiving is going on; chatting in -the Green Room; promenading in the East Room. You may go through the -long corridor into the state dining-room, into the conservatories, full -of flowers and fragrance, and back, if you choose, to your -starting-point, where the President and Mrs. Grant are still receiving. - -This is one of the pleasantest facts of these morning receptions—the -informal coming down of the President to receive with Mrs. Grant. I have -never been accused of over enthusiasm for him, but find myself ready to -forgive in him the traits which I cannot like, when I see him, with his -daughter, beside Mrs. Grant. _Then_, it is so perfectly evident that, -whatever the President may or may not be, “Mr. Grant” has a very true -and likeable side, with which nobody is so well acquainted as Mrs. -Grant. - -Here is the East Room, that you have read about so long. It never looked -so well before. There are flaws in the harmony of its decorations which -we might pick at; but we won’t, as we are not here to-day to find fault. -Besides, it is too pleasant to see that the nation’s parlor, erst so -forlorn, has absolutely taken on a look of home comfort. In proportions -it is a noble room, long and lofty. It has seven windows—three in front, -facing Pennsylvania avenue and Lafayette square; three looking out upon -the presidential grounds and the Potomac; and a stately bay window -overlooking the Treasury. It has four white marble mantel-pieces, two on -each side. It has eight mirrors, filling the spaces over the mantels and -between the windows. Richly wrought lace curtains have taken the place -of the tatters left there a few years ago, when the curtains of the -White House windows were scattered over the country in tags, taken home -by relic-hunters. Over these hang draperies of crimson brocatelle, -surmounted by gilt cornices, bearing the arms of the United States. The -walls and ceilings are frescoed, and from the latter depend three -immense chandeliers of cut glass, which, when lighted, blaze like mimic -suns. On the walls hang the oil portraits, in heavy gilt frames, of -eight Presidents of the United States. Opposite the door, as you enter, -is the portrait of Filmore. On the other side of the mantel, that of -Lincoln. Next beyond the bay window, that of Washington; all of life -size. Beyond the further mantel is that of Franklin Pierce. Above the -door opposite, one of John Adams. Above the next door, of Martin Van -Buren; the next, of Polk; the last above the entrance door, of John -Tyler. - -[Illustration: THE GREAT EAST ROOM.] - -[Illustration: - - THE GREEN ROOM. - - INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE.—WASHINGTON. -] - -The carpet on the East Room, last year, was presented to the United -States by the Sultan of Turkey. It seemed like one immense rug, covering -the entire floor, and filled the room with an atmosphere of comfort, -grand, soft, and warm. The chairs and sofas are of carved wood, crimson -cushioned. A handsome bronze clock ticks above one of the mantels, the -others are adorned with handsome bronzes. The air is summer warm. On the -whole, isn’t the people’s parlor a pleasant place? I never enter it, but -comes back to me that tearful April morning when, in the centre of this -floor, under the white catafalque, lay the body of Abraham Lincoln, -dead. The crowd pressing in then, how different from this one! Rugged -soldiers bent down and kissed his face and wept, women scattered flowers -upon his breast, with their tears. Rich and poor, old and young, black -and white, all crowded round his coffin, and wept for him,—one, _only -one_, if the most august, of the martyrs of liberty. - -Think what tales the room could tell, since the day when Abigail Adams -dried her clothes from the weekly wash, in it, if it but had a tongue. -Stand here, and see the stately procession move by. Believe in your own -day, my dears. You need not go back to Sir Philip Sidney, to find a -perfect gentleman, nor to David and Jonathan, to find faith and love -between man and man, passing the love of woman, nor to the days of -chivalry, to find true knights who would die for you. Here are men -bearing, under all this glitter of gold and lace, bodies battered and -maimed in their country’s cause. There, is a man, pouring foolish -nothings into the ear of a foolish girl, who would die for the truth. - -We are far from being a thorough-bred people. The census of spittoons is -a horror in our land. We talk too loud, and too long; we gesticulate too -much; we can not keep quiet. We need, at least, more capacity for -repose, more unselfish consideration for the sensibilities of others, -more of the golden rule, before we can flower into the perfection of -fine breeding. Yet, no less here, are men at once strong and gentle, -brave and tender, gallant and yet true. Here are all and more than -Shakespeare’s women: Juliet, searching for her Romeo; Miranda, looking -through her starry eyes for a “thing divine” even in the Red Room; -tender Imogen; fair Titania; Portia, with hair of golden brown; and -Desdemona, imprudent, fond, yet truth itself. Here is not only the -beauty and the _belle_, but the sibyl, whose divining eyes beyond -volition, strike below every sham and every falsehood. - -Yet here, too, falls the shadow of human nature. There stand two ladies, -whose supreme enjoyment here is “quizzing.” Among their thousand “dear -friends” here, not one is too sacred to be ridiculed. One of these -ladies, at least, would feel as if she had forfeited “her soul’s -salvation,” if she were to go to the theatre, or to give countenance to -a dance; but it does not occur to her, that she puts that precarious -organ in the slightest peril, when she stands in a public assembly, and -ridicules her friends. - -These ladies are merely yielding to a vice which has grown with their -years, strengthened with their strength, the vice that thrives amid -Christian graces, the vice paramount of the Christian church. The most -unkind people whom I have ever known, have been distinguished for an -ostentatious sort of piety. The most uncharitable conclusions, the most -pitiless judgments, the most merciless ridicule, that I have ever -listened to, of poor human beings, I have heard from people high in the -church, not from people of the so-called “world.” This, not because the -normal human nature in either differs, but because the people of the -world have a thousand outlets and activities which draw them away from -microscopic inspection of the flaws in their neighbors; while ascetic -pietists, denied legitimate amusements, shut out from innocent -recreation, avenge their defrauded souls by feeding them on small vices. -I offer no defence for a life of folly; there is nothing I should dread -more, save a life of sin. Yet, if I were to make a choice, I would -choose foolishness rather than meanness. - -This lady, flashing by in many hues, represents what one sees -continually in Washington—a new woman. Not new to the city merely, but -new to position and honor. These are but slight external accidents to a -nature that has ripened from within, drawing culture, refinement, and -dignity out of the daily opportunities of retired life. But, when the -public position is _all_ that gives the honor, how easy to tell it! -There is all the difference in the quality of the put-on, puckering -manner, and the simple dignity of real ladyhood, that there is between -the quality of a persimmon and a pomegranate. All she has is new. She, -herself, is new. Her bearing and her honors do not blend. There is no -soft and fine shading of thought, of manner, of accent, of attire. The -sun of prosperity may strike down to a rarer vein, and draw it outward, -to tone down this boastful commonplace; but we must bear the glare, the -smell of varnish, and the crackle of veneering, during the process. - -When I was a very good little girl, I was allowed to read Mrs. -Sherwood’s Lady of the Manor, on Sunday. I read, and thought that heaven -on earth must be shut up in a manor house. When I grew to be a somewhat -bigger girl, sailing down the Hudson, a manor house, rich in historic -recollections, was pointed out to me. And here, in my summer-time, comes -the lady of this manor house, drops her gentle courtesy, and gives me -her hand, making more than real the enchanted story of childhood. The -lady of the manor in crude Washington revives the stately graces of old -days. - -How quaint and rare they are! How I look and long for it; how glad I am -when I find it,—that indefinable, yet ever-felt presence of fine -womanliness, a thing as precious as the highest manliness,—each the -rarest efflovescence of human nature. I confess to a clinging adoration -for it, whether felt in the lady of the manor or in the sad-eyed woman -who cleans my gloves. The womanliness that is not ashamed nor -dissatisfied with womanhood, nor yet vain of it; the womanliness that -gives us the gracious, blending dignity and sweetness of wisdom and -humility, of self-respect and reticence, of spirituality and -tenderness—that ineffable charm of femininity, which is the counterpart -and crown of manhood, in very distinction equal with it, each together -maintaining in equilibrium the brain and soul of the human race. - -Even while I write word comes: The lady of the manor is dead. The quaint -hood, the stately grace, the winning smile we shall see no more. All -have gone into the darkness of death. And who was the lady of the manor, -who for three winters in Washington has been the observed and admired of -all who met her in the circles of society? She was Cora Livingston -Barton, the reigning _belle_ of Jackson’s administration. She was the -daughter of Edward Livingston, who served his country as Member of -Congress and Senator from Louisiana, as Secretary of State during -Jackson’s administration, and as United States Minister to France. Her -father was as distinguished for goodness as he was for noble intellect -and exalted public service, and her mother was one of the most -remarkable women who ever graced the National Capital. She was a social -queen of the rarest endowments. She was the chosen friend and dear -counsellor of two persons as opposite in nature and temperament as -General Jackson and Mrs. John Quincy Adams. She was a very queen of -entertainers, as the wife of the Secretary of State, entertaining -foreigners and Americans and political foes, with an ease, elegance and -fascination of manner, which annihilated alike all prejudice and -animosity. She was a classical scholar, familiar with the best ancient -and modern thoughts. The chosen counsellor of her husband in the gravest -affairs of State,—a self-abnegating mother,—a devout Methodist, she -having chosen that communion as her own on account of the simplicity and -fervor of its mode of worship. - -Of this rare woman, our “lady of the manor” was the only child. “Upon -her she lavished extraordinary maternal devotion, hardly ever suffering -her to be out of her sight. Her daughter had hardly reached girlhood -when her beautiful mother assumed the simplest matronly attire. Ever -afterwards she seemed rather displeased than flattered when allusions -were made to her own still remarkable appearance.” - -Cora Livingston was worthy to be the child of such a mother. She was the -most famous _belle_ of the Jackson administration. She married Thomas -Barton, who went as Secretary of Legation with her father, the Minister -to France, and who remained as _Chargé d’Affaires_ when Edward -Livingston returned. - -In the course of time, mother and daughter, both widows, spent their -winters in New York and their summers at Montgomery Place, that grand -old manor on the Hudson, of which we catch glimpses through its -immemorial trees, as we sail by on the river. Here, beautiful and -saintly, that mother died, October, 1860, at the age of seventy-eight. - -Warned by physicians to seek a softer climate, after the lapse of -generations, in the winter of 1871 the daughter returned to Washington, -the scene of her childish home and early triumphs. She did not belong to -things gone by. With her two stately and beautiful nieces she became at -once the centre of a rare group of friends, of the attention and -reverence of the first men in the State, and an object of admiring -comment wherever she appeared. She appeared at many morning receptions. -I see her now as I saw her the first time stepping from her carriage -into the great portico of the White House, across its corridor to the -Blue Room, with the light, springing step of a girl; and yet, the soft -clinging black dress, the quaint hood of black silk, with its inside -snowy _ruche_, all told that she made not the slightest pretence to -youth. And now, in these summer days, comes the word: “While packing -some books in a trunk to go to Montgomery Place, she bent down, burst a -blood vessel in the head, and without warning died.” - -They have all been morning receptions to which I have asked you,—the -“morning” ending at 5 P. M. I cannot invite you to go to the “German,” -which begins at 11 P. M. and ends at daybreak. I have too deep a care -for your physical and spiritual health to ask you to do any such thing. -When you read of the gay doings and bright assemblies here, perhaps you -think it hard sometimes that you must stay away in a quiet place to work -or study. You feel almost defrauded because you are shut out from the -splendor and mirth and flattery of fashion. You long for the pomp and -glory of the world, and sigh that so little of either falls on your -life-path. Thus I shall seem cruel to you when I say that you had better -be shut up for the next five years, even in a convent, silently growing -toward a noble life in the world afterward, than to be caught and -carried on by its follies now, before you have learned how to live. - -Are you young? Then you should be more beautiful at twenty-five, at -thirty, at thirty-five, than you are now. Not with the budding bloom of -first youth, that is as evanescent as it is exquisite. What a pity that -it is beauty’s only dower to so many American women. They waste it, lose -it, then wilt and wither. I want you so to feed the sources of life -to-day that you may grow, not wither; that you may bloom, not fade, into -the perfect flower of womanhood. - -Terpsichore is a sad sight to me; not because Terpsichore dances, for -dancing in itself may be as innocent as a bird’s flying; not because she -loves beautiful attire, for exquisite dress is a feminine fine art, as -meet for a woman as the flower’s tint, or the bird’s plumage. I sigh at -the sight of my pretty Terpsichore, because the first bloom of her -exquisite youth is being exhaled and lost forever in a feverish, false -atmosphere of being. Something of delicate sensibility, something of -unconscious innocence, something of freshness of feeling, of purity of -soul is wasted with the fresh young bloom of her cheeks in the midnight -revel, lengthened into morning; wasted in the heated dance, in the -indigestible feast, in the wild, unhealthy excitement through which she -whirls night alter night. Terpsichore, in her tattered tarletan dress, -creeping to bed in the gray morning, after having danced all night, is a -sad sight to see to any one who can see her as she is. Terpsichore’s -mother would be a sadder sight still, if she were not a vexatious one. -She brought back from Europe the notion, which so many of our -countrywomen think it fine to bring, that “full dress” is necessarily -next to no dress. She tells you, in a supreme tone, that admits no -denial, that you would not be admitted into the drawing-room of a court -in Europe unless in full dress, viz., semi-nakedness. She would be -nothing, if not European in style. Thus, night after night, this mother -of grown-up daughters and sons appears in crowded assemblies in attire -that would befit in outline a child of eight years of age. If we venture -to meet her _ipse dixit_ on European style, with the assurance of the -Princess Helena, Ghika, Dora D’Istria, one of the most learned and -beautiful women of this world, that the conventional society dress of -Europe is more immodest than any she saw while traveling over the -mountains and valleys of the East, she will tell you that Princess Ghika -“is not an authority on dress in Paris,” which is doubtless true. - -Thus, in republican Washington, in glaring drawing-rooms, we are treated -to a study of female anatomy, which is appalling. Don’t jump to the -conclusion that I want every lady to go to a party in a stuff dress, -drawn up to her ears; nor that I am so prudish as to think no dress can -be modestly, as well as immodestly low. No matter how it be cut, the -_way_ in which a dress is worn is more impressive than the dress itself. -I have seen a young girl’s shoulders rise from her muslin frock as -unconsciously and as innocently as the lilies in the garden; and I have -come upon a wife and mother, in a public assembly, so dressed for -promiscuous gaze that I have involuntarily shut my eyes with shame. - -I never saw Lydia Thompson; but from what I have heard of her, have come -to the conclusion that her attire is just as modest as that of many -ladies whom I meet at fashionable parties. They cast up their eyes in -horror at the name of poor Lydia Thompson. _They_ go to see Lydia -Thompson! No, indeed! How could their eyes endure the sight of that -dreadful woman? No less they themselves offer gratis, to a promiscuous -company, every evening, a sight, morally, quite as dreadful. The men, -who pay their money to Lydia Thompson and her _troupe_, know that their -dress and their burlesque, however questionable, make at once their -business and their livelihood. They cannot make the same excuse for -their wives, their sisters, and their sweethearts, if they see them -scarcely less modestly attired in some fashionable ball-room. Remember -this; if you ever find yourself in such a place, the best men in that -room, at heart, are not delighted with such displays. Being men, they -will look at whatever is presented to their gaze; more, many will -compliment and flatter the very woman, whose vanity at heart they pity -or despise; but it will always be with the mental reservation: “_My -wife_ should never dress like that!” “I don’t want to see my sister -dancing round dances for hours in the arms of a man whom even I cannot -think of without horror; and if —— dances with him again, I’ll not go to -another ‘German;’” said a young man to his mother, this very winter. - -This is perpetually the fact; and it is the danger and the shame of the -round dances. Young girls guarded, from babyhood, from all contact with -vice, from all knowledge of men as they exist, in their own world of -clubs and dissipation, suddenly “come out” to whirl, night after night, -and week after week, in the arms of men whose lightest touch is -profanation. It would be long before it would dawn upon the girl to -dream of the evil in that man’s heart; far longer to learn the evil of -his life; yet no less, to her, innocent and young, in the very -association and contact there is unconscious pollution. There is a -sacredness in the very thought of the body which God created to be the -human home of an immortal soul. Its very beauty should be the seal of -its holiness. Every where in Scripture its sacredness is recognized and -enforced. Therein we are told that our bodies are the temples of God. We -are commanded to make them meet temples for the indwelling of the Holy -Spirit; and our very dress, in its harmony and purity, should -consecrate, not desecrate, the beautiful home of the soul. - - - - - CHAPTER XXVII. - INAUGURATION DAY AT WASHINGTON. - -My Own Private Opinion—Sublime Humanity in the Lump—The Climate - Disagrees—The Little “Sons of War” Feeling Bad—“Think of the - Babies”—Brutal Mothers—The “Boys in Blue”—“Broke their Backs and - Skinned their Noses”—Our Heroes—Later Festivities—“Devoted to - Art”—Scene in “the Avenue”—A Lively Time—The Mighty Drum-Major—West - Point Warriors Criticised—Faultlessly Ridiculous—Pitilessly - Dressed—“Taken for a Nigger”—Magnificent Display—The Oldest Regiment - in the States—The President—The Senators—Invitation of the - Coldstream Guards—The Strangers—Generals Sherman and - Sheridan—Admiral Porter—Sketches of Well-known Men—The Diplomatic - Corps—Blacque Bey—Full Turkish Costume—Sir Edward Thornton—The - Japanese Minister—Senator Sumner Appears—The Supreme Court—Senator - Wilson—Cragin, Logan, and Bayard—Vice-President Colfax—Enter, the - President—Congress Alive Again—The Valedictory—Taking the Oaths—“The - Little Gentleman in the Big Chair”—His Little Speech—His Wife and - Family Behind—The New President—Memories of Another Scene—Grand - Jubilation—The Procession—The Curtain Falls. - - -I don’t like Inauguration day, but I hope you do, or will, when I have -told you what a gala day it is to many—to all who stay at home, and -catch the splendor which it sheds, through lines of printer’s ink. - -Surely, there is something inspiriting and uplifting in the sight of -massed humanity, in throbbing drums and soaring music, in waving pennons -and flashing lances, all laden with heroic memories, all bristling with -intelligence and the conscious power of human freedom; but, in our -climate, and at the inauguration season of the year, enthusiasm and -patriotism demand a fearful price in nerve, muscle, and human endurance. -If you doubt it, think of the West Point Cadets—those young sons of war, -inured to martial training—who sank to the pavements in the ranks, at -the last inauguration of President Grant, overcome, and insensible with -the bitter cold which chilled and benumbed even the warm currents of -their strong young hearts. Think of the babies who shuddered and cried -in their mothers’ arms, who _would_ see the sight, if baby died! - -No less the second inaugural procession of President Grant transcended, -in civic and military splendor, any sight seen in Washington since the -great review when the boys in blue, fresh from the victory of bloody -battle-fields, broke their backs and skinned their noses, in the June -sun of 1865, for the sake of shouting thousands who came hither to -behold them. Oh what a sight was that! when the bronzed and haggard, and -aged-in-youth faces of the boys before us, made our hearts weep afresh -at the thought of the upturned faces of the boys left behind—some in the -cruel wilderness, some in half dug graves on solitary hill-sides, and -lonely plains—all left behind forever, for freedom’s sake. Who that knew -old Washington can forget it? This is another Washington. But here they -come! Safe from cold and wind, thanks to—I look up. From this window, on -Fifteenth street, you can see Pennsylvania avenue past the Treasury -building, (whose marble steps are boarded in from the advancing people,) -to the Executive Mansion, glittering white through the leafless trees -just beyond. Opposite is Lafayette square, the prettiest little park of -its size in the United States. Above, you see the towering mansard of -Corcoran’s building, “Devoted to Art,” and just this side, the lofty -brown front of the Freedman’s Savings Bank. The avenue opens before -you—a broad, straight vista, with garlands of flags, of every nation and -hue, flung across from roof to roof. Above glitters an absolutely -cloudless sky, dazzlingly blue, and pitilessly cold. The very -tree-boughs swing like crystals glittering and freezing in the sun. The -air seems full of rushing fiends, or rushing locomotives running into -each other with hideous shrieks, whichever you please (on the whole, I -prefer locomotives, being fresher). Your imagination need not be Dantean -to make you feel that there is a dreadful battle going on in the air, -above you and about you. The imps come down and seize an old man’s hat, -and fly off with a woman’s veil, and blow a little boy into a cellar. -The bigger air-warriors, intent on bigger spoil, sweep down banners, -swoop off with awnings, concentrate their forces into swirling cyclones -in the middle of the streets, and bang away at plate-glass windows till -they prance in their sockets. - -Before such unfriendly and tricksy foes, through the biting air, comes -the great procession. First, a battalion of mounted police; then West -Point, with its band and drum-major. Not a sprite of the air has caught -the baton of its drum-major. Not a sting of zero, has stiffened that -fantastic arm as he lifts and swings the symbol of his foolishness. He -is as inimitable in the bleak and dusty street as when I saw him last, -on the velvet sward of West Point, that delicious evening in October. -Something utterly ridiculous to look at, _is_ refreshing, and anything -more faultlessly ridiculous than the drum-major of West Point I never -saw. - -I believe it is fashionable to find fault with West Point; but I -wouldn’t give much for anybody who could see these boys and not admire -them. They have their faults (their caste and their army exclusiveness -sometimes reaches an absurd pitch) but look at them! What faces, what -muscle, what manhood! Their movement is the perfect poetry of motion; a -hundred men stepping as one. What marching, and at what odds! They are -so pitilessly dressed! Thousands of men come behind, warmly muffled; but -the West Point Cadets have on their new uniforms, single jackets. More -than one will receive through it the seeds of death this morning. What -wonder, that two while standing in line sank insensible with the cold -not an hour ago. But, dear me! to think that more than one of them -should be taken for a “nigger!” The colored Cadet is whiter than a dozen -of his class-mates, and has straight hair. - -In the distance rises, wave on wave, a glittering sea of helmets; -bayonets flash, plumes wave, bands play; all tell one story—the love of -military pomp and parade, the pride and patriotism which brings these -soldiers back to celebrate the second inauguration of their chief; and -at what cost of suffering to many of them. What cold and hunger, and -delay on the way, and now! what nerve and will it takes to march in a -wind like this! - -After West Point comes Annapolis. Pretty “Middies,” young and slender, -in their suits of dark blue! As a body, they are younger than the West -Pointers, and slighter. Nor can any comparison be drawn between their -marching, for the Middies drag their howitzers. They look true sons of -their class; and for intelligence, chivalric manners, and gentle -manhood, the true officer of the American navy is unsurpassed. - -The Midshipmen are followed by the famous United States Marine Corps, -then the Old Guard of New York with Dodworth’s band, the Washington -Light Infantry, the Corcoran Zouaves, the Washington Grenadiers, the St. -Louis National Guard. The Philadelphia City Troop, in navy-blue jackets, -tight knee-breeches, white braid trimming, high boots, bearskin helmets -with silver mountings—the oldest regiment in the United States, two -years older than the government, organized in 1774, and furnished men to -every war of this country since. It was in the battles of Trenton and -Princeton, in the Revolutionary War, and has in its armory a letter from -General Washington thanking the regiment for its services. - -Now, the President’s mounted guard, in dark blue, yellow-trimmed -uniform, regulation-hat and black feathers. Now, the President in open -barouche, drawn by four horses, with the Senate Committee, Senators -Cragin, Logan and Bayard. The President looks decidedly cooler than -usual, and less indifferent; at least he has just lifted his hat to the -shouting crowd in the street, which requires an impulse of self-denial -this morning. - -Now come the Boston National Lancers. They have left their milk-white -steeds there, and to their chagrin, no doubt, are mounted on sorry -Virginian roans instead,—old road and car horses, who act dazed and daft -under their light unwonted burdens. The Lancers are the oldest cavalry -regiment of Massachusetts, organized in 1836, under Governor Edward -Everett. This dashing looking squadron, which has the reputation of -being one of the most perfect military organizations of the United -States, is dressed in scarlet cloth coats, faced with a light blue and -trimmed with gold lace, sky-blue pants with yellow stripes on sides, -Polish dragoon cap, gold trimmings, flowing white feathers and -_aiguillette_, cavalry boots with patent leather tops, white belts and -shoulder straps; red epaulettes, with blue trimmings for the privates, -and gold for the officers, and armed with cavalry sabre and lance, on -which is appended a small red flag. - -The Albany Burgess Corps, another famous regiment, led by Capt. Henry B. -Beecher, son of the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, make a splendid appearance. -They are uniformed in scarlet coats, trimmed with white, light blue -pants, buff stripe, and bearskin shakoes, with gold clasp—similar to the -celebrated English Coldstream Guards. - -But we shall not reach the capitol till next week, unless we leave the -rest of this splendid procession,—the “orphans of soldiers and sailors,” -the burnished and flower-garlanded fire-engines, the brave firemen, -black and white, and the civic societies. The strangers who rushed on to -inauguration, swarm the galleries till they overflow as they did on -_Credit Mobilier_ days. Generals Sherman, and Sheridan and Admiral -Porter; the first tall and red; the second, little, round, red and -bullet-headed; the third, tall, straight and black, are all being -intently gazed at. - -The Diplomatic Corps enter the chamber by the main entrance, led by -Blacque Bey, the dean of the Corps, a tall, dark, gray-haired, handsome -man, wearing scarlet fez and full Turkish court regalia; next, the -English Minister, Sir Edward Thornton, a white-haired, ruddy-faced, -black-eyed, shrewd-looking gentleman; next, the Peruvian Minister, -Colonel Freerye, followed by the Italian and French Ministers, with all -the representatives of foreign governments, in order of seniority—over -fifty ministers, secretaries and _attachés_ in full uniform, excepting -Mr. Mori, Minister from Japan, in citizen’s dress. Just now Mr. Sumner -appears, for the first time in months. He looks pale, and shows the -traces of the acute suffering through which he has passed. His -appearance creates a buzz on floor and in gallery, and many senators go -over to him and exchange friendly greetings. Now the Supreme Court -appear, in their robes of office, kicking them high up behind, as usual, -and take their seats in front of the Vice-President’s desk. At fifteen -minutes to twelve o’clock, Vice-President elect Wilson, escorted by -Senators Cragin, Logan, and Bayard, comes down the centre aisle and -takes his seat at the right of Vice-President Colfax. - -At three minutes before twelve, the President appears, leaning on the -arm of Senator Cragin, followed by Logan and Bayard, and takes the seat -assigned him, in front of the Secretary’s table. A deep hush falls on -the throng, as if something awful were about to happen. It’s a sort of -Judgment-Day atmosphere, yet nothing more terrific follows than the -pleasant voice of Vice-President Colfax, beginning the words of his -valedictory. (My! I forgot to say that the dying Congress has come to -life again, and is comfortably, and perforce quietly seated between the -Senate and Diplomatic Corps.) Now comes the new Vice-President’s little -speech. Then the oaths of office, the swearing in of new senators, the -proclamation of the President convening an extra session of the Senate, -to begin this minute, when all start for the back door—no, it’s the -front door of the Capitol, the Supreme Court leading, kicking up their -gowns worse than usual. - -On the eastern portico, what do we see? Below, a vast mass of human -beings, line on line of soldiers—cavalry, artillery and infantry; a line -of battle flags at the base of the steps—shot-riddled, battle-torn, all -shuddering or numb in the freezing air. Before us, a little gentleman -sits down in a big chair—Washington’s inaugural chair, we are told. (Oh! -no, we’re not at all sentimental.) - -A big gentleman, the Chief Justice, who has most unaccountably fringed -out in a long grey beard and a muffling moustache, holds forth with -solemnity a big Bible. The little gentleman kisses it—kisses these words -from the eleventh chapter of Isaiah: - - “‘And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom - and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of - knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. - - “‘And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord; - and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove - after the hearing of his ears.’ - -Then he rises, and, with manuscript in his hands, begins to “battle with -the breeze,” and to read his inaugural, which nobody hears. Behind him -sits his wife and daughter, the ladies of the Cabinet, the Diplomatic -Corps. What a compound of the ornamental and comfortable? Yet nobody is -comfortable—not here. We can catch no word through the outbearing wind, -yet know that for the second time Ulysses S. Grant has sworn to the oath -of office, according to the constitution, and for four more years is -made President of the United States. It seems but yesterday we saw a -loftier head, a sadder face, bowed above that book, within one little -month of its eternity; when, amid the booming of cannon and the huzzas -of the people, Abraham Lincoln for the second time was pronounced the -people’s President, and by the same lips which now utter the same words -for another, a happier, a more fortunate man. - -Now the carnival of salute; the Middies fire their howitzers, -thirty-seven guns; the Second Artillery fire twenty-one salvos; the -Firemen ring the bells of their engines; ten thousand men warm their -hands with hat swinging, and make their throats sore with shouting. Amid -all, the multitude and the procession surge back towards the Executive -Mansion. Between the latter and Lafayette square, the review, the return -march, the military pageant culminates. The President, with lady -friends, enters the pavilion built for the purpose, and the troops march -by, encircling two solid squares; the West Point Cadets appear below -Corcoran’s building, marching downward, as the magnificent New York -Regiment—a thousand men—just arrived after an all night’s freezing -delay, have reached Fifteenth street, marching up. The entire body of -soldiery march and mass, till as far as the eyes can reach through the -glittering sunshine, one only sees gleaming helmets, flashing bayonets, -glancing sabers, the Cadets on double quick, the Middies firing their -howitzers, officers displaying fine horses and uniforms, drum-majors -tossing their batons, bands playing, and cannon thundering. - -Amid all these the four horses dashing before the Presidential barouche, -bear the President to the Executive door, which now mercifully shuts -them from our sight. - - - - - CHAPTER XXVIII. - A PEEP AT AN INAUGURATION BALL. - -How Sixty Thousand Dollars were Spent—Something wrong: “’Twas ever - Thus”—Recollection of another Festival—How “the dust” was Raised—A - Fine Opportunity for a Few Naughty Words—Lost Jewels—The Colored - Folks in a Fix—Overpowered by Numbers—Six Thousand People Clamoring - for their Clothes!—“Promiscuous” Property—A Magnificent - “Grab”—Weeping on Window-ledges—Left Desolate—Walking under - Difficulties—The Exploits of Two Old Gentlemen—Horace Greeley Loses - his Old White Hat—He says Naughty Words of Washington—Seeking the - Lost—Still Cherished by Memory—Some People Remind General - Chipman—“Regardless of Expense”—A Ball-Room Built of Wooden Laths - and Muslin—A Little Too Cold—Gay Decorations—How “Delicate” Women - can Endure the Cold—Modesty in Scanty Garments—The President - Frozen—The “Cherubs, Perched up Aloft,” Refuse to Sing—On the - Presidential Platform—Ladies of Distinction—Half-frozen - Beauties—“They did not Make a Pretty Picture”—Why and Wherefore?—A - Protest against “Shams”—A Stolid Tanner who Fought his Way. - - -Untold time, and trouble, and sixty thousand dollars were expended on -the last inauguration ball building, and yet there was something the -matter with the inaugural ball. There is always something the matter -with every inauguration ball. - -When I wish to think of a spot especially suggestive of torments, I -think of an inauguration ball. There was the one before the last, held -in the Treasury Building. The air throughout the entire building was -perforated with a fine dust ground till you felt that you were taking in -with every breath a myriad homœopathic doses of desiccated -grindstone. The agonies of that ball can never be written. There are -mortals dead in their grave because of it. There are mortals who still -curse, and swear, and sigh at the thought of it. There are diamonds, and -pearls, and precious garments that are not to their owners because of -it. The scenes in those cloak and hat rooms can never be forgotten by -any who witnessed them. The colored messengers, called from their posts -in the Treasury to do duty in these rooms, received hats and wraps with -perfect facility, and tucked them in loop-holes as it happened. But to -give them back, each to its owner, that was impossible. Not half of them -could read numbers, and those who could soon grew bewildered, -overpowered, ill-tempered and impertinent under the hosts that advanced -upon them for cloaks and hats. - -Picture it! Six or more thousand people clamoring for their clothes! In -the end they were all tumbled out “promiscuous” on the floor. Then came -the siege! Few seized their own, but many snatched other people’s -garments—anything, something, to protect them from the pitiless morning, -whose wind came down like the bite of death. Delicate women, too -sensitive to take the property of others, crouched in corners, and wept -on window ledges; and there the daylight found them. Carriages, also, -had fled out of the scourging blast, and the men and women who emerged -from the marble halls, with very little to wear, found that they must -“foot it” to their habitations. One gentleman walked to Capitol Hill, -nearly two miles, in dancing pumps and bare-headed; another performed -the same exploit, wrapped in a lady’s sontag. - -Poor Horace Greeley, after expending his wrath on the stairs and cursing -Washington anew as a place that should be immediately blotted out of the -universe, strode to his hotel hatless. The next day and the next week -were consumed by people searching for their lost clothes, and General -Chipman says that he still receives letters demanding articles lost at -that inauguration ball. - -Well, our latest brought discomfort, and discomfiture of another sort. -Neither money, time nor labor were stinted in this leviathan, that still -lifts up its broken and propped up back in Judiciary square. The -building was 350 feet long. The ball-room 300 by 100 feet. All this was -temporary, built of light boards, lined with lighter muslin. You might -as well have attempted to have warmed Pennsylvania avenue as such a -place on such a night. Twenty-four hours before the ball the wind-devils -went at it. If a host from the pit had received full power to move and -dismember it, it could scarcely look more forlorn than it did one Monday -morning. They had sat on its spine in one place till it curved in, -punched it up in another till it was hunchbacked. They had inflated its -sides till they swelled out like an inflated balloon, while the air was -black with the tar-rags, seaming its roof, which flying imps were -carrying up to high heaven. - -No less the official report said of the inside: “The mighty American -Eagle spreads his wings above the President’s platform. He has -suspended, from his pinions, streamers one hundred feet in length, -caught up on either side by coats of arms. The circumference of this -vast design is one hundred and eighty feet. The President’s reception -platform is sixty feet long, and thirty feet wide. Twelve pilasters -support alternate gold-figured, red and blue stands, on which are pots -of blooming flowers. The platform and steps are richly carpeted. In the -rear of the balcony, are immense festoons of flags, banners, shields, -radiating from a huge illuminated star of gas-lights.” - -What were all those white and rosy walls of cambric, to the -all-pervading polar wave that froze sailors’ fingers, and struck West -Point Cadets to the pavements, in congestive chills, at noonday? Why, -they were nothing but an immense sieve, to strain that same polar wave -through on to the persons of delicate (?) women, who, without money, and -without price, for the sake of dubious admiration and commend, in -promiscuous assemblies, outvie Lydia Thompson in paucity of attire. - -But the ball. My intention was to say, that the President was so near -frozen in the day-time, he was not sufficiently thawed out to appear -under that spreading eagle, until half-past eleven o’clock, when the -north wind swooped in from behind, and he congealed again immediately. -The President’s platform was at the north end, and all the muslin -splendors of the presidential dressing and waiting-room could not, and -did not, warm that polar wave. The thousands of canary-birds perched -aloft, who were expected to burst into simultaneous song at the sight of -him, and to trill innumerable preludes in honor of Miss Nelly, instead, -poor wretches, had, one and all, gone to bed, with their toes tucked in -their feathers, and their bills buried in their breasts, in dumb effort -to keep them from freezing. Not a canary-bird sang. No, they were as -paralyzed with cold as the bipeds below. - -On the presidential platform, the President and Mrs. Grant sat, the -central figures. A little in the rear, sat Mrs. Fish—stately, lovely, -and serene as ever; and just behind her, the Secretary of State. Next, -were Mrs. Boutwell and Miss Boutwell, and the Secretary of the Treasury; -then came, dream-like, Mrs. Creswell, handsome Mrs. Williams, and -motherly Mrs. Delano. Ellen Grant stood beside her mother, and Edith -Fish hovered beside her’s—both winsome and unaffected girls, though the -girlish grace of the latter shows, already, the fine intellectual -quality of her mother. The Governor of the District, with his wife and -daughter, and numerous other officials, filled the platform. - -Back of the Cabinet stood the Foreign Ministers, bereft of their court -attire, but glittering with decorations. Tall Lady Thornton bent like a -reed in the blast; and Madame Flores, the beautiful young wife of the -Minister from Equador, glowed in her warm rich beauty, even at zero. -Alas! that all those wondrous tints of blue and gold, of royal purple -and emerald, of lavender and rose, all the gleam of those diamonds, all -the show of necks and arms, which was to have made the glory of this -“court circle,” alas! that they were all held in eclipse, by layers on -layers of wrappings, till, at a little distance, the whole platform -seemed to be filled with a crowd of animated mummies, set upright, whose -motions were as spasmodic and jerky as those of Mrs. Jarley’s wax works. -It was very sensible—the only refuge from certain death—that all those -necks and arms, diamonds, pearls, velvets and satins, should hide away -under ermine capes, cloaks and shawls; but, lumped in aggregate, they -did not make a pretty picture (the wraps, I mean). Indeed, the polar -wave submerged the presidential platform, and made anything but a -picturesque success. And how unlucky, when for the first time in the -history of inauguration balls, there was a “cubby” for every hat and -wrap, that every man and woman should be obliged to keep them on. - -But why a “presidential platform,” and why a private presidential -“supper room” at an inauguration ball? Both are vulgarly pretentious. -Both are preposterous, in the representatives of a republican people, in -a national assembly. I am not a universal leveller. I respect the -inevitable distinctions begotten of personal taste and condition. I make -this remark to add a little force to my protest against meretricious, -and fictitious pretence and shams. The President, as an individual, is -not under the slightest obligation to invite anybody that he does not -want, to his private dinner table. But when the President, _as_ the -President, comes into the presence of a promiscuous assembly of the -people, through whose gift he holds all the honor he possesses,—a -citizen uplifted by citizens to the chief magistracy of their -government, how false to republican fact is the feeling that perches him -up, and hedges him about, with a mock heroic exclusiveness, as if he -were a king, or demi-god, instead of a stolid tanner, who fought his way -to place and power, conferred on him by a nation of stavers and fighters -like himself. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIX. - THE UNITED STATES TREASURY—ITS HISTORY. - -The Responsibilities and Duties of the Secretary of the Treasury—“The - Most Remarkable Man of His Time”—Three Extraordinary Men—Hamilton - Makes an Honest Proposal—How to Pay the National Debt—The New - Secretary at Work—Laying the Foundation of Financial Operations—The - Mint at Philadelphia—A Little Personal Abuse—The Secretary Borrows - Twenty Dollars—Modern Greediness—The Genius Becomes a Lawyer—Burning - of Records—Hunting for Blunders and Frauds—The Treasury - Building—Treasury Notes go off Nicely—Mr. Crawford Under a Cloud—He - Comes out Gloriously—A Little Variety—A Vision of Much Money—Fidgety - Times—Lighting the Mariner on His Way—Old Debts Raked Up—Signs of - the Times—Under Lincoln—S. P. Chase as Secretary—The National - Currency Act—Enormous Increase of the National Debt—Facts and - Figures—The Credit of the Government Sustained—President Grant’s - Rule—George S. Boutwell made Secretary—Great Expectations—Mr. - Boutwell’s Labors, Policy and Success—The Great and Growing - Prosperity of the Nation. - - -After the Declaration of Independence, the first thing that the -Continental Congress did was to organize a Treasury Department for the -new government of the colonies. - -[Illustration: UNITED STATES TREASURY.—WASHINGTON.] - -Michael Hilligas and George Clymer were appointed Joint-Treasurers of -the United Colonies. They were to reside in Philadelphia, and to receive -each a salary of five hundred dollars the first year, and to give bonds -in the sum of one hundred thousand dollars. The second year their salary -was raised to eight hundred dollars each. In a short time George Clymer -was sent to Congress as a delegate from Pennsylvania, and Michael -Hilligas remained Treasurer for the Colonies to the close of the -Revolution. - -In six months after the resignation of Mr. Clymer, a committee of five -persons was appointed to assist him to superintend the small Treasury. -Three months after, an office was created in which to keep the Treasury -accounts. That office was an itinerant, like Congress, following it to -whatever place it assembled. Acts were passed for the establishment of a -National Mint. Alas! the poor Continentals had no precious ore to coin, -and never struck off a dollar or cent. An Auditor General’s office was -organized, and John Gibson appointed, with an annual salary of one -thousand and sixty-six dollars and sixty-seven cents. - -The office of Comptroller of the Treasury was created November 3, 1778, -and Jonathan Trumbull, Jr., appointed, with a salary of four thousand -dollars. Money was painfully scarce. That made it the more imperative -that this poor little empty Treasury should have some supreme -responsible head who, by the adroit magic of financial genius, should -create a way to fill it, and by some way provide cash for the -unprovided-for emergencies which were perpetually imminent. Thus in -September, 1781, Congress repealed the act appointing five -Commissioners, and in their stead appointed a single supreme -“Superintendent of Finance.” - -The first high functionary of the Treasury was Robert Morris, of -Philadelphia. He had already distinguished himself for his remarkable -financial talents as a merchant, and for his devoted patriotism. -Besides, he was the intimate friend and confidential adviser of -Washington. He was the man for the place and the hour. He kept the -credit of the struggling Colonies afloat in their direst moment. He gave -from his private fortune without stint, and added thereto the -contributions of the infant nation. When even Washington was ready to -give up in despair, because he had no money to pay his troops, and the -troops were ready to surrender and disband from sheer misery and -suffering, Robert Morris applied to “the purser of our allies, the -French,” and saved the perishing army and the struggling republic. He -proved then, what has been proved so conspicuously since during a still -greater struggle, that he who preserves the credit of his country in the -hour of its peril is as truly a patriot as he who dies for her sake on -the battle-field. - -Notwithstanding his benefactions, at the close of the Revolution, the -jealousy among foremost men was so great, it was found to be impossible -to give to one man the precedence and power in so responsible a place. -The claims of the three contending sections were acknowledged by the -appointment of three Commissioners: one from the Eastern, one from the -Middle, and one from the Southern districts, in the persons of Samuel -Osgood, Walter Livingston and Arthur Lee. Robert Morris became a member -of the Convention which framed the Constitution of the United States, -and concluded his public services to his country as United States -Senator. - -At the end of three years, the administration of the three Commissioners -of Finance had proved so inharmonious and unsuccessful that the country -was nearly bankrupt, and the Union of States ready to break into ruins, -for lack of money to pay its expenses and hold it together. - -The Constitution of the United States went into effect March 4, 1789, -and Congress went into its first session in the City of New York. Two -subjects moved it to its depths at once—the impending bankruptcy of the -country, and the location of the National Capital. The prevention of the -first depended upon the establishment of the latter. The Nation was -impoverished by a long and harassing war, and depressed by an enormous -debt which that war had caused. The Nation possessed no statistics -indicating the resources of the country, and there was no department -organized through which fiscal operations could be carried on. - -The strife between the Northern and Southern States, concerning the -location of the Capital, made harmonious financial legislation -impossible during the opening session of the first Congress. But the -committee appointed to organize a system for the collection of the -revenue, were equal to its accomplishment. After four months’ -deliberation, July 31, 1789, the first important act connected with the -Treasury Department was passed, entitled “An act to regulate the -collection of the duties imposed by law on the tonnage of ships or -vessels, and on goods, wares and merchandise.” September 2, 1789, the -fundamental act establishing the Treasury Department was enrolled as a -whole, and passed. - -The new Department consisted of a Secretary of the Treasury, a -Comptroller, an Auditor, a Treasurer, a Registrar, and an assistant to -the Secretary of the Treasury. It was decided that the settlement of all -public accounts should be in the Treasury Department, making the -Secretary of the Treasury the head of the Fiscal Department of the -Government, placing him, however, under the authority and requirements -of either House of Congress. He superintends the collection and -disbursement of the revenue of the United States, from every source -derived, except that of the Post Office. He receives the returns of the -revenue in general, and reports to Congress all plans of finance, and -the final results of his own official action, and that of his -subordinates. - -The first popular candidate for the position of chief of the Treasury -Department was Oliver Wolcott, a son of a signer of the Declaration of -Independence, and his own services to his country, both under the -Colonial Government and the Union, were acknowledged to have been -important. Meanwhile Washington, who was more anxious to find out how he -was to get money to pay the public debt, than to find a man to pay it, -invited his intimate and tried friend, Robert Morris, to give him the -benefit of his advice. In one of their interviews, the great chief -groaned out: “What is to be done with this heavy national debt?” “There -is but one man,” said the astute financier, “who can help you, and that -man is Alexander Hamilton. I am glad that you have given me the -opportunity to disclose the extent of the obligation I am under to him.” - -In ten days after the establishment of the Treasury Department, -Alexander Hamilton was appointed its chief. He was still in the flower -of his youth, but had already proved himself, not only in practical -action, but in the rarest gifts of pure intellect, to be the most -versatile and remarkable man of his time. Of good birth, yet, at twelve -years of age, dependent upon his own exertions for support, he bore, at -that tender age, the entire responsibility of a large shipping house. He -seemed endowed with the quality of intellect which amounts to -inspiration—unerring in perception, sure of success. The boy-manager of -the shipping house earned his bread in the day time, and in the night -wrote articles on commercial matters, equally remarkable for their -comprehensiveness and practical knowledge. A native of St. Croix, West -Indies, at fourteen he came to the United States; at eighteen, entered -Kings, now Columbia College, where he at once attracted attention by his -brilliant essays on political subjects. At the beginning of the -Revolution, he raised and took command of a company of artillery. The -same transcendent intuition which made him supreme as a financier, made -him remarkable as a soldier. In Washington’s first interview with him, -he made him his _aide-de-camp_, and through the entire Revolutionary -war, he was called “the right arm” of the Commander-in-chief. - -At the close of the war he returned to New York, and stepped at once to -the very front of his profession. A more remarkable and interesting -group of men probably never discussed and decided the fate of a nation, -than Washington, Morris, and Hamilton. Morris, wise, experienced, -analytic; Washington, grave, thoughtful, far-seeing, slow to invent, but -ready to comprehend, and quick to follow the counsel which his judgment -approved; Hamilton, young, impetuous, impassioned, prophetic, yet -practical; in comprehension and gifts of creation, the supreme of the -three. Never was a nation more blessed than this, in the united quality -of the men who decided its financial destiny. - -The first official act of Hamilton, as Secretary of the Treasury, was to -recommend that the domestic and foreign war debt be paid, dollar for -dollar. When the paper containing this recommendation was read before -Congress, it thought that the new Secretary of the Treasury had gone -mad. How was a nation of less than four millions of people to -voluntarily assume a debt of seventy-five millions of dollars! Hamilton -thought that this aggregated debt, created for the support of the -national cause, should be assumed by the individual States; the -outstanding Continental money to be funded at the rate of one dollar in -specie for each hundred in paper, and the whole united to make the -national resources available for the security of the public creditors. - -The long strife in Congress over this great fundamental financial -question is a matter of history. There appeared to be no national -resources to meet such a demand. There was not money enough in the -Treasury to pay current expenses, to say nothing of paying a debt of -tens of millions. Probably no body of legislators in the world ever -represented wisdom, statesmanship, pertinacity of opinion so tried in -the fiery crucible of war, poverty and suffering, as did this first -Congress; yet it was left to the untried minister of finance of -thirty-three to save the national credit against mighty odds, and to -foresee and to foretell the future resources of a vast, consolidated -people. This inspiration of enthusiasm and faith, combined with -practical administrative force, and a broad financial policy, averted -the horrors of national bankruptcy, preserved the credit of the -government, and gave to the sufferings of Valley Forge and the surrender -at Yorktown their final fruition. - -The young financier, bearing his burden alone, seemed to hold in himself -the guarantee of future triumph. He gave to the most despairing a -security of success when they remembered that, at the age of nineteen, -this same young prophet and patriot was the “right hand” of Washington. - -The long struggle ended in the adoption of Hamilton’s great financial -scheme of funding the domestic debt. - -When the government was removed to Philadelphia, the Treasury was -established in a plain building in Arch street, two doors east from -Sixth. Here Morris, Hamilton and Washington were united in the closest -bonds of personal friendship. Then followed, in rapid succession, those -great state-papers on finance from Hamilton, whose embodiment into laws -fixed the duties on all foreign productions, and taxed with just -distinction the home luxuries and necessities of life. From these were -evolved in gradual development the entire system of the Treasury -Department of the United States. Time has proved how perfect were the -plans which sprang without precedent from the brain of Alexander -Hamilton. - -First, from his suggestions came the act which established the routine -by which customs were to be collected. Then came the acts for the -levying of taxes and the accumulation of the revenue. Then the -imposition on ships and our commercial marine, foreign and domestic. -Next, a bank was established for the depository of collected funds, and -their distribution throughout the country. Then was needed the crown of -the grand financial structure—a legalized institution for the coinage of -gold and silver. To accomplish this great design, Hamilton recommended -for the adoption of Congress the establishment of a mint for the -purposes of national coinage, and the act was passed April 2, 1792, -fixing the establishment at the then seat of government, Philadelphia, -from whence, through later legislation, it has never been transferred. - -While consuming himself for his country, Hamilton was harassed by the -abuse of personal and political enemies, and suffering for the adequate -means to support his family. While building up the financial system -which was to redeem his country, the state of his own finances may be -judged by the following letter from him to a personal friend, dated -September 30, 1791: - - “DEAR SIR:—If you can conveniently let me have twenty dollars for a - few days, send it by bearer. - - A. H.” - -The amount of personal toil he performed for the government was -enormous. Talleyrand, who was at this time a refugee in Philadelphia, -after his return to France, spoke with admiring enthusiasm of the young -American patriot. In speaking of his experience in America, he once -said: - - “I have seen in that country one of the wonders of the world—a man, - who has made the future of the Nation, laboring all night to support - his family.” - -Nobody believes that any servant of his country should be compelled to -this, to-day, yet had not long-sufficed selfishness made them insensible -to it, the over-greedy legislator of to-day might learn from the example -of Alexander Hamilton a salutary lesson. - -After six years of personal service in the Treasury, amid personal and -political opposition, greater than has ever assailed any one statesman; -after seeing his financial system a part of the governmental policy of -his country, Hamilton resigned his office, and resumed the practice of -law in the city of New York. - -Established in that day of small things, in human judgment it seems -impossible that the brain of one man could have devised a monetary -system that would anticipate all the varied, conflicting and unexpected -demands of a country as large and swiftly developed as ours. Yet, with -slight modifications, the system of Hamilton has met all exigencies, -saved the national credit, and assured the national prosperity through -the deepest trials. It paid the national debt of the Revolution, and of -1812, and in the War of the Rebellion, when the governmental expenses of -a single day were more than the national income for a whole year in -Hamilton’s time, the foresight and genius of this man of thirty-three -had suggested ways for the vast accumulation and disbursement. -Personally, Hamilton was under middle size, slight, well-proportioned, -erect and graceful. His complexion was white and pink, his features -mobile, his expression vivacious, his voice musical, his manner cordial, -his entire appearance attractive and refined. - -Alexander Hamilton was succeeded by Oliver Wolcott, Jr., as Secretary of -the Treasury. The great act of Mr. Wolcott’s administration was the -revision and completion of the laws relative to the collection of the -revenue. He carried out, through his administration, the great -fundamental principles of national finance established by Hamilton, and -was re-appointed by John Adams. - -When, in 1800, the Treasury Department performed its six days’ journey -from Philadelphia to Washington, it went into a plain, three-story -building, facing Fifteenth street, erected for the Treasury. It was near -the unfinished White House, and, like all the first Federal buildings, -plain and small. It was so small, when first taken possession of, that -it did not even afford sufficient room for the clerical force, then -fifty in number. Its cramped space made it necessary to deposit all the -official records brought from Philadelphia in a house known as Sears’ -store, and the records, which would now be invaluable, were all -consumed. - -The first official act of the Treasury Department of national interest, -dated at the national capital, directed that the Secretary should make -an annual report to Congress of the state of the finances of the nation, -containing estimates of the public revenue and expenditure, as well as -plans for improving and increasing the revenues. Hamilton had done this -voluntarily, and his example, of a Cabinet officer making communications -with Congress, was now made imperative by the action of law. May 10, -1800, Samuel Dexter, another signer of the Declaration of Independence, -was appointed Secretary of the Treasury in place of Oliver Wolcott. On -the election of Jefferson, the foe of the Hamiltonian financial policy, -the Washingtonian era of the Federal Government ended, and Mr. Dexter -found himself out of harmony with the Government. After the lapse of a -year, President Jefferson set the precedent of removal, and, January 26, -1802, appointed Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury. - -Albert Gallatin was born in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1761. After -receiving a liberal education, he came to this country at the age of -eighteen. He became a tutor in Harvard College, but removing to -Philadelphia, then the national capital, rose so high in public esteem -that in 1790, at the age of thirty, he was elected to Congress, and -afterwards to the Senate. In this body, his reports on matters of -finance attracted universal attention, and, as a result, he was made -Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. President Jefferson, on -handing him his commission, said: “Mr. Gallatin, your most important -duty will be to examine the accounts, and all the records of your -department, in order to discover the blunders and frauds of Hamilton, -and to ascertain what changes will be required in the system. This is a -most important duty, and will require all your industry and acuteness. -To do it thoroughly, you may employ whatever extra service you require.” - -Gallatin was an ardent partisan of the President, and declares, himself, -that he undertook his task of exposing Hamilton, and bringing his lofty -head low, with great zest and thoroughness. But his hunt for “blunders” -and venality merged soon into a labor of love. Upon his just and -comprehensive mind, Hamilton’s perfect system, day by day, revealed -itself. By the time he had mastered its details, and measured its -completeness, he was filled with admiration. “In the honest enthusiasm -of a truly great mind he went to Mr. Jefferson and said: ‘Mr. President, -I have, as you directed, made a thorough examination of the books, -accounts and correspondence of my department, from its commencement. I -have found,’ said the conscientious Secretary, ‘the most perfect system -ever formed. Any change under it would injure it.’ Hamilton made no -blunders, committed no frauds; he did nothing wrong.” - -Albert Gallatin marked his administration by a series of reports -regarding the best method of canceling the national debt, the proper -policy of disposing of the public lands, and the legality and necessity -of establishing a national bank. Thus, contrary to his original -intention, he associated himself with Morris and Hamilton as one of the -three founders of the financial policy of the nation. - -By the year 1804, the business of the Treasury had so increased, that an -effort was made toward the erection of a building, to become the -especial depository of the records. An idea may be given of the demands -of the infant government and its notions of economy, in the facts that -this vaunted fire-proof public building is much smaller than an -unpretentious private dwelling of the present time, and that it cost -less than the sum of twelve thousand dollars. - -Mr. Madison, on his accession to the Presidency, retained Mr. Gallatin -at the head of the Treasury. - -On March 1, 1809, an act of Congress directed that all warrants drawn on -the Treasury by the Secretaries of the different executive departments, -should designate the appropriation to which they were charged. - -June 18, 1812, war was declared, and Congress was convened in special -session, to consider the necessities of the Treasury. Out of the -legislation which followed, came our present internal revenue laws. Mr. -Gallatin, after having held his office longer than any of his -predecessors, resigned, and went on a foreign mission. A period of -extreme money depression succeeded his resignation. August 24, 1814, the -British troops entered Washington, and, with the Capitol and other -public buildings, burned the Treasury. The business of the Treasury, for -a considerable time afterwards, was carried on in what was known as “the -Seven Buildings,” in the western part of the city. - -George N. Campbell, of Tennessee, Mr. Gallatin’s successor, attempted to -negotiate a loan of twenty-five millions of dollars, but failed, and -resigned his office. The national credit was at its lowest ebb. - -When the need of a great man is absolute, Providence usually has one -ready for the emergency. He appeared at this crisis, in the person of -Alexander J. Dallas, of Pennsylvania. On entering upon his office, as -head of the Treasury, he replied to the request of Congress, that he -should suggest ways for the restoration of the public credit, in one of -the most powerful documents extant in the archives of the Treasury. Mr. -Dallas so inspired the faith of the capitalists of the country, that the -national credit was at once restored. “The Treasury notes, issued on the -universal opinion that they would be a drug in the market, rose to a -premium.” - -Mr. Monroe made W. H. Crawford, of Georgia, Secretary of the Treasury. -Under him, the routine of the Department was improved by the appointment -of a second Comptroller and four additional Auditors. Charges of -malfeasance were brought against him toward the close of his term of -office. They were examined by a committee consisting of John Randolph, -Edward Livingston, and Daniel Webster, who pronounced the charges false. -President John Quincy Adams recalled Richard Rush, of Pennsylvania, then -Minister to England, and made him Secretary of the Treasury. - -Under Andrew Jackson’s Presidency, the conservative management of the -Treasury Department changed into “the anti-bank period.” His -administration was marked by five different Secretaries, and a -prevailing state of excitement. The first Secretary of the Treasury, -under Jackson, was Samuel D. Ingham, of Pennsylvania, whose trust ended -in a violent breaking up of the Cabinet. He was succeeded by William J. -Doane, of Pennsylvania, who refused to remove the national deposits from -the United States Bank, and was dethroned by Roger B. Taney, of -Maryland. The Senate refused to confirm his appointment, and Levi -Woodbury, of New Hampshire, was installed in the office, holding it to -the end of Jackson’s administration. - -April 1, 1833, the Treasury Building was for the third time destroyed by -fire, and a large amount of valuable public documents destroyed. -Afterwards, the business of the Department was carried on in a row of -brick buildings opposite Willard’s Hotel. At this time the “Agent of the -Treasury,” was changed to Solicitor of the Treasury, and a sixth Auditor -was created. Jackson’s administration closed with an “apparent plethora -of money among the people, and the glorious consummation of paying off -the national debt.” - -Mr. Woodbury continued at the head of the Treasury, under President Van -Buren. It was his fate to be its director “in the times of unparalleled -plenty, speculation and extravagance, and two years afterwards, to -witness a pecuniary revulsion that had no precedent in financial -history.” In 1837, financial ruin dismayed the Nation. Congress was -convened by special proclamation, to devise ways and means to relieve -the people. Specie payments were suspended, and all business involved in -apparent ruin. Binding laws were passed, divorcing the Government from -all banking institutions, and a new policy was created for the control -of our national finances. - -Under Presidents Harrison and Tyler there were five Secretaries of the -Treasury: Thomas Ewing, of Ohio; Walter Howard, of Pennsylvania; John C. -Spencer, of New York, and George M. Beble, of Kentucky. President Polk -made Robert J. Walker the head of the Treasury. He was known as “the -apostle of free trade.” His administration was marked by the -introduction of the present warehousing system, based upon English -precedent; by his reciprocity system between Canada and the United -States abolishing all customs and imports, and the establishment of an -“Interior Department” upon the old overgrown Land Office, with a Cabinet -officer to administer its affairs, under the title of Secretary of the -Interior. - -The Secretary of the Treasury, under President Taylor, was William M. -Meredith, of Pennsylvania; who was succeeded, under President Fillmore, -by Thomas Corwin, of Ohio. Secretary Corwin established the present -lighthouse department and wrote the instructions regarding -light-vessels, beacons and buoys. This beneficent legislation gave over -six hundred lights to protect the hitherto neglected mariner on his way. - -The Chief of the Treasury under President Pierce, was James Guthrie, of -Kentucky. He is remembered as a strict and efficient officer, carrying -out in minutiæ, the duties and laws of the department. He discovered -outstanding balances against the Treasury, which, if collected, would -more than pay the national debt. Of this sum he collected hundreds of -millions into the Treasury, and raised the standard of efficiency in the -Treasury service by demanding monthly, instead of quarterly reports, -from all its _employés_. - -Three Secretaries of the Treasury served under James Buchanan—Howell -Cobb, of Georgia; Philip F. Thomas, of Maryland; and John A. Dix, of New -York. A monetary crisis, almost as severe as that of 1837, marked this -administration. The throes of Secession shook the Union to its -foundation, and the Secretaries of the Treasury, like all other public -servants, were occupied with the “signs of the times,” the swiftly -advancing portents of revolution, more than with the mere financial -duties of the public Treasury. - -Abraham Lincoln began his troubled administration by the appointment of -Salmon P. Chase, of Ohio, as Secretary of the Treasury. Never was man -asked to help steer the ship of state through more overwhelming -breakers. With the dissolution of the Union imminent, the national debt -had increased to three times the amount it was at the close of the -previous administration. The number of clerks which, in 1861, was three -hundred and eighty-three, in 1864 was two thousand. Such a demand was -without precedent, and arose from the immense labor of examining -accounts, and of preparing and supervising the national currency and -securities. - -The first important measure of Mr. Chase’s administration was the -“Internal Revenue Act,” which, in four years, increased the income of -the Government from forty-one millions to three hundred and nine -millions. Next came the great “National Currency Act,” which, though -severely criticised, and probably not free from defects, nevertheless -established a paper currency of equal value in every part of the Union, -and was, at least, in keeping with the principles of our Government, and -freer from chances of corruption and abuse than any other system yet -adopted. It met the awful demand of the hour, and offered the guarantee -of redemption, rather than of loss and ruin. - -In a single month, the tax upon the income of the Treasury became -stupendous. In one day, it paid out for quartermasters’ stores alone, -forty-six millions of dollars—more than were needed to support the -entire National Government during the first year of Washington’s -administration. In four years, the public debt, from ninety millions, -had grown to be two thousand six hundred millions—yet under this mighty -demand, with two millions of its sons withdrawn from productive labor, -the exports of the country were double what they had ever been before, -and the credit of the Government of the United States day by day -increased. - -When Mr. Chase was appointed Chief Justice by Mr. Lincoln, his high seat -in the Treasury was taken by Hon. William Pitt Fessenden, whose brief -career as Secretary of the Treasury was marked by a single State paper -of great ability. He was succeeded by Hugh McCulloch, of Indiana, who -dispensed the duties of his office creditably till the close of -Johnson’s administration. - -President Grant, upon his accession to the Presidency, chose George S. -Boutwell, of Massachusetts, to be Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. -Boutwell had already served as Commissioner of Internal Revenue, and now -on him devolved the huge task of reducing the high impost and revenue -tax created by the war debt, and borne as a mighty burden by the people. -He had to lighten the load on the people’s shoulders, and yet keep the -national tax high enough to meet the interest, and reduce the amount of -the national debt—in fine, he was expected to relieve the Nation, and to -pay the national debt at the same time. A more conflicting demand never -rested on a Financial Minister. How ably he met it, the “monthly -statement” of the perpetual ebb of the war debt, with the constant -legislation to reduce all revenue taxation to the luxuries of life, were -ample proof. - -Before the election of Mr. Boutwell, as United States Senator from -Massachusetts, to succeed Vice-President Henry Wilson, the President -appointed Judge Richardson, Acting Assistant Secretary, to be Secretary -of the Treasury. Judge Richardson stepped from comparative obscurity, -and an opposite sphere of labor, to his present high official position. -There are many who challenge his claim to it, and his fitness for it. -Time may prove one, and disprove the other. As Secretary of the -Treasury, his official record is yet to be made—until his administration -has been marked by an act of national importance, it is too early to -pronounce a verdict. - -In the statistics of the Treasury Department, we read the marvellous -financial history of our country. In them we trace the material progress -of the Nation from its beginning. In the accounts current business of -the country, we learn that in the years 1793, ’94, ’95, ’96, the Nation -imported productions valued at one hundred and seventy-four millions of -dollars. In the years 1866, ’67, ’68, ’69, the United States exported -values to the amount of nineteen hundred millions. The value between -these sums marks the growth of population, territory, and material -resources in the space of seventy years—surely, a narrow span in the -life of a nation! - - - - - CHAPTER XXX. - INSIDE THE TREASURY—THE HISTORY OF A DOLLAR. - -A Washington Tradition—“Old Hickory” Erects his Cane—“Put the Building - Right Here”—Treasury Corner-Stone Laid—Robert Mills’ Discolored - Colonnade—Where “Privileged Mortals” Work—A Very Costly - Building—Rapid Extension of Business—Splendid Situation of the - Building—The Workers Within—The Government Takes a Holiday—The - Business of Three Thousand People—The Mysteries of the - Treasury—Inside the Rooms—Mary Harris’s Revenge—The “Drones” in the - Hive—Making Love in Office Hours—Flirtations in Public—A Vast Refuge - for the Unfortunate—Two Classes of _Employés_—A List of Miserable - Sinners—A Pitiful Ancient Dame—A _Protégé_ of President - Lincoln—Women’s Work in the Treasury—The Bureau of Printing and - Engraving—A very Hot Precinct—Rendering a Strict Account—Not a Cent - Missing—The “Chief’s” Report—Dealing in Big Figures—The Story of a - Paper Dollar—In the Upper Floor—The Busy Workers—Night Work—Where - the Paper is Made—The “Localized Blue Fibre”—_The_ Obstacle to the - Counterfeiter—The Automatic Register—Keeping Watch—The Counters and - Examiners—Supplying the Bank Note Companies—“The American” and “The - National”—An Armed Escort—No Incomplete Notes Possible—Varieties of - Printing—The Contract with Adams’ Express—Printing the Notes and - Currency—Internal Revenue Stamps—Thirty Young Ladies Count the - Money—Manufacturing the Plates—The Engraving Division—“The Finest - Engravers in the Country”—The Likeness of Somebody—Transferring a - Portrait—“Men of Many Minds”—The Division of Labor—Delicate - Operations—A Pressure of Five or Six Tons—The Plate - Complete—“Re-entering” a Plate—An “Impression”—How Old Plates are - Used up—A Close Inspection—Defying Imitation—The Geometric - Lathe—Tracing “Lines of Beauty” for More than Forty Years. - - -It is one of the traditions of Washington that Andrew Jackson decided -the exact site of the present Treasury Building. - -After the third destruction by fire, in 1833, of the early Treasury -Buildings, a great strife came up concerning the location of the new -Treasury. Worn out with the claims of “rival factions,” it is said that -President Jackson walked out a few rods from the White House one -morning, and thrusting his cane into the ground, exclaimed: “Put the -building right here!” This ended all disputes, and the end of the “old -hero’s” cane marked the north-east corner of the present site of the -Treasury of the United States. - -Though nearly approached by the Patent Office, the Treasury Building, in -architectural splendor, ranks next to the Capitol. Its corner-stone was -laid in 1834 by Levi Woodbury, then Secretary of the Treasury. The -original building was designed by Robert C. Mills, whose long and -discolored colonnade on Fifteenth street is still visible. It was built -of the freestone brought from near Acquia Creek, Virginia, which has -touched with premature dinginess too many of the Federal buildings of -the Capital. But in the Treasury its long line of smut is lost in the -marble splendor of the extensions. The extension of the building was -authorized in 1835, and built from the designs of Thomas W. Walter. It -embodies the most perfect Grecian architecture, adapted to modern uses. -It surrounds a hollow square, on which its inner offices look out on -green grass and cooling fountain through the summer heats. Instead of -cooped-up cells, the lower stories of the Treasury are filled with airy -apartments, in which privileged mortals serve their country and earn -their bread and butter. The new Treasury is built of gleaming granite -brought from Dix Island, on the coast of Maine. - -The walls of the extension are composed of pilasters, resting on a base -which rises some twelve feet above the ground on the southern or lower -side. Between the pilasters are _antæ_ or belt-courses, nobly moulded; -the facings of the doors and windows bear mouldings in harmony. The -southern, western and northern fronts present magnificent porticoes. Its -lofty pillars are of the Ionic order, and the entire building is at last -surmounted by a massive balustrade. The south wing was completed and -occupied in 1860. The west wing was completed in 1863—the north in -1867—the whole at a cost of $6,750,000. The exterior is four hundred and -sixty-four feet by two hundred and sixty-four feet. - -The Treasury was begun and consummated on a truly magnificent scale, and -with the expectation that it would meet every demand of its own branch -of the public service for at least a century. Like every one of the -public buildings, it is already too small to accommodate the -over-crowded bureaus of its own departments, several of which, for want -of room in the Treasury Building, already occupy other houses in -different parts of the city; and yet there is not space left for those -who remain. Before the year 1900, another Treasury Building as -magnificent as the one now our pride, will be indispensable to the -ever-increasing demand of the departments of the financial service. - -The Treasury borrowed its face from the Parthenon; and, as it turns it -toward the Potomac this May morning, it is one of the fairest sites in -Washington. From the southern portico we look across sloping tree-shaded -meadows. Beyond, we see the shimmering river, with its girdle of green, -and above, “the flush and frontage of the hills.” When flowers, and -trees and soft lights shall have taken the place of all this glare—how -beautiful it will be to the eyes of generations to come. But even now -the bright grass, flower-parterres and lapsing fountains are pleasant to -behold, while the southern front of the Treasury is an object upon which -the eyes must always rest with a sense of satisfaction. - -The Capitol lords it over the east, but the Treasury reigns over the -west end. To be sure, it stands upon the poorest make-believe of an -Acropolis, but coming along Pennsylvania avenue we look up to its noble -façade and fair Ionic columns gleaming before us, as a compensation for -the poverty of beauty in the streets which we travel. The western -windows overlook the grounds of the presidential mansion, now gay with -flowers and dazzling with sunshine, their trees decked in the vivid -foliage of a southern June-time. - -How many pairs of weary human eyes look up from their tasks within these -walls, and, without knowing it, thank God for this fair outlook. The -breeze-blown grass, the fragrant winds, the lavish light of these open -windows—to dusty lips and tired eyes which take them in—are God’s own -benedictions. Hundreds of such look up from their desks. Past the great -fountain, tossing its diamonds below, past the sunny knolls and mimic -mounds of newly-cut grass, above the bloom-burdened trees and all the -tender verdure of early spring and summer, they see the windows of the -presidential reception-room, whose doors, through all the winter months, -are besieged by an army of office and favor seekers, but which are shut -and silent and deserted now, while “the Government” drives among the -hills or loiters by the sea. - -But I began to talk about the Treasury, and no matter how I wander for -ever so many pages, I must come back to it again. - -It is easier to comprehend the outside than the inside of it. One might -as well try to snatch up a city and portray it in a sitting, as even to -outline the Treasury of the United States in a single chapter. - -It holds a metropolis within its walls. It affords daily employment to -over three thousand persons, and thousands more daily throng its halls. -Just a glimpse into this vast human hive makes us long for a Dickens to -embody the romance and reveal the mysteries of the Treasury. The story -of the Circumlocution Office and the Court of Chancery pale before the -revelations and undreamed of human experiences which it holds. Before -you, behind you, and on either side stretch out the great marble paved -halls. Out of these open numberless rooms, whose shut doors stare -blankly, or whose half-open blinds wink and blink at each other through -the gleaming cross lights. - -Over these doors you read significant inscriptions, such as First -Comptroller’s Office, First Auditor’s Office, etc. You ascend the great -stairs and find other halls, such as those below, and like them lined on -each side by doors. Over these you read, “Loan Branch,” “Redemption -Branch,” “Office of the Register,” “Office of Secretary of the -Treasury,” etc. Many of the open doors reveal to you large airy -apartments filled with busy men and women. Many more show you narrow, -one-windowed apartments, each containing a desk, or desks, with its -scribe, or scribes. - -Here we see men who have grown gray, weak-limbed and wizened in those -rooms beside those desks. They have grown to be as automatic as their -pens, and as narrow as their rooms. Here also are thousands of men in -their prime and in their youth representing every phase of character. In -this hall, just by this door, Mary Harris watched for the man who had -robbed and ruined her—and just here she shot him. Poor thing! With her -blighted face she is a maniac, now in the Asylum across the river. These -halls are as thronged as Broadway, and their denizens are as -cosmopolitan. People of all nations and costumes come and go along their -vast vistas. - -There are drones in this hive. These are office hours, yet here and -there may be seen a young man and maiden whose in-door costume marks -them as _employés_ of the Treasury, loitering in the shadow of pillar or -alcove, lingering by stair or doorway, saying very pleasant things to -each other, doubtless, after the manner of young maidens and men. -Flirting or making love in the flare of the public must always be a -desecration of the heart’s best sanctities. Beside, Sassafras and -Sacharissa, you ought to be at work. It is precisely such as you who -have brought discredit even upon the faithful and unfortunate, and -sometimes rebuke upon the whole Treasury Department. For, as a rule, the -Treasury, like all the other departments of Washington, is a vast refuge -for the unfortunate and the unsuccessful. The only exceptions are found -in two classes, viz.: those who use departmental life as the ladder by -which to climb to a higher round of life and service, and those who seek -it without half fulfilling its duties, because too inefficient to fill -any other place in the world well. Unpractical authors, sore-throated, -pulpitless clergymen, briefless lawyers, broken down merchants, poor -widows, orphaned daughters, and occasionally an adventurer, masculine -and feminine, of doubtful or bad degree,—all are found within the -Treasury. - -I remember an aged woman, with bent back and long, wasted fingers, -sitting behind the door in the Redemption Bureau. Her dim eyes peered -through her spectacles and her poor fingers trembled, as she tried to -count the dirty, ragged currency. “Alas! sad eyes,” I thought, “by this -time rest from toil should have come to you.” “It is pitiful,” I said, -to the kind gentleman who reigned over the division, “that one so old -should have to come through rain and snow to fulfil a daily task. Is she -not too old to do her duty well!” - -“No,” was the answer, “she does it very well. But if not, she would -never be removed. She is a _protégé_ of President Lincoln.” - -But any one who fancies that even woman’s work in the Treasury -Department is a sinecure, should climb to the Bureau of Printing and -Engraving. You may climb, but you cannot enter unless you hold a written -“sesame” from the Secretary of the Treasury; so sacred and guarded is -this very hot precinct in which Uncle Samuel creates his “Almighty -Dollar.” The business of this Bureau is to engrave, print, and perfect -for delivery to the United States Treasurer, all United States notes, -Treasury checks, gold notes, drafts, fractional currency notes, all -bonds and revenue stamps issued by the Government of the United States. - -At the close of each day, every fraction which has passed through the -division for the last twelve hours must be accounted for. If a cent is -missing, all the workers of the Bureau are detained until the missing -fraction is certainly found and safely deposited in the vault of the -Treasury. The vast monetary responsibility resting on the Chief of this -Bureau may be judged from a statement made, in his own report, for the -fiscal year ending June 30, 1872. - - “There has been finished and delivered to the proper officers of the - Government by this Bureau, during the fiscal years ending June 30, - 1870, 1871, 1872, in notes, bonds and securities, $2,050,141, and - 331,273,955 stamps, and not a note, nor a sheet, nor a portion of a - sheet or note has been lost to the Government.” - -But I hold the “open sesame;” so come with me and begin the story of a -paper dollar. Walking through the long, cool corridors and the airy -saloons of the lower Treasury, who would dream that afar up, close under -its clinging roof, ceaseless fires burn, engines play, eager shuttles -fly, and patient hands ply through all the nights and days to make the -people’s dollar! Here in these low, close rooms, these crowded halls, -whose roofs press down so low that even a child, in many places, could -not stand erect beneath it, patient men and women,—weary, gray, and -old,—and youth, with its first tints yet unbleached by the burning -atmosphere in which it toils,—all are at work making the paper dollar. - -Sometimes in the dark night, down the granite colonnades, athwart the -great trees dimly waving in mid-air, across the lapsing fountains, -stream long gleams of light shooting from the tiny loop-hole windows -high up under the Treasury roof. They dart from the Printing Bureau of -the Nation. While the Nation sleeps, its servants, through the long, -still hours, go on making the people’s money! - -First, the paper! It is all manufactured at “Glen Mills,” near -Philadelphia, by the Messrs. Wilcox, who own the mills, and are the -patentees of the “localized blue fibre,” made of jute, which runs -through the right-hand end of the fractional currency and United States -notes, and on the back of the bonds, etc. This fiber is _the_ obstacle -to the counterfeiter, and can only be overcome by oiling or soiling the -spurious paper, so that its absence cannot be discovered. The paper is -chemically prepared, and the application of an acid will change the tint -to one color, and an alkali, to another. Thus any attempt to alter the -filling-in or denomination of the stamped check, is defeated. - -A Government superintendent resides at Glen’s Falls, who, with a corps -of assistants, receives the paper from the contractors, counts, -examines, holds it carefully guarded night and day, until delivered to -the Treasury of the United States. To each paper-making machine is -attached an automatic register, by which the mill-owners account to the -Government for every square inch and sheet recorded by this register, -the register being locked, and the key held securely in the pocket of a -Government officer, who watches the work. During its manufacture and -storage at the mills, this paper is guarded, by day and night, by a -regularly organized “watch.” The Government Superintendent has a corps -of counters and examiners under his direction, who examine and count the -paper, as received from the makers, before it is packed away for -shipment. The account is sent to the Department, and paid each day by -the Secretary. - -The paper is supplied the Bank Note Companies only upon requisition from -the Bureau at Washington. Mr. Bemis, the Superintendent, makes a report -to the Printing Bureau, also to the Secretary of the Treasury, of all -the paper delivered to him. The first journey made by this governmental -infant, is to the Bank Note Companies—two of them, one in New York, the -other in Philadelphia—the American and the National—that there may not -be any dangerous monopoly of priceless charms. It is borne to the depot -by an armed escort, and conveyed on the cars by Adams’ Express. The New -York Company, printing tints, must turn over to the Company printing -backs, notes equivalent to the paper, and the second Company must -similarly account to the Government for every incomplete note -received—thus neither can possess itself wholly of this beloved child. -One Company prints the tints of one denomination, and the back of the -other, no Company executing on the same note both printings. - -The national bank notes, hitherto engraved and printed entirely in New -York, coming only to the Government Printing Bureau for numbering and -sealing, hereafter will be exclusively engraved and printed in the -Treasury. The jute-fibred paper will also be used in their making, as it -is in the United States notes. The face of the Treasury notes is printed -in black and green, the back in green. The National Bank Note face dares -to be printed in black, and its back in black and green. - -This tinted and outlined paper is conveyed to the Treasury by Adams’ -Express, who have the contract for carrying all the Government moneys -and securities. - -When it reaches the Treasury, the work yet to be done by the Printing -and Engraving Bureau, before the paper is complete as Government money, -is to print the face upon the United States notes, and hereafter, on the -National Bank notes, to plate-seal, to number, trim, and cut them into -single notes; to trim, surface-seal, and cut into single notes the ten, -fifteen, and twenty-five, fractional currency notes; to print the face -of, trim, surface-seal, and separate the fifty cent notes; trim, -surface-seal, and number the “funded loan bonds;” to trim, number, and -surface-seal, the national bank notes; and to print the faces upon all -the tints for internal revenue-stamps, already printed in New York. -Besides all this work, the following are entirely engraved and printed -in the Bureau of the Treasury: All strip-tobacco and snuff-stamps, stub -and sheet snuff-stamps, domestic and customs cigar-stamps, compound -liquor-stamps, crew lists ships’ registers, brewers’ permits, all the -new special tax-paid stamps, (sixteen in number,) all miscellaneous -bonds, gold notes, checks, drafts, etc. - -When this precious paper, with its black and green lines and tints, -fresh from the Bank Note Companies, arrives at the Treasury, it is -placed into the hands of thirty young ladies for counting, one lady -counting it twice, then passing it to another, for verification. - -The next act in the process of making a dollar, is the manufacture of -the plates used in printing. They are made in the engraving division of -the Bureau, under the supervision of Mr. Casilear, a gentleman -distinguished in his profession, who presides over a corps of the finest -engravers in the country. Their work upon the plate of the United States -note, is the engraving of its different parts. First, the face which it -is to bear. This is always noticeably a perfect likeness of the person -whom it represents. A daguerreotype or photograph is used. On the -metallic plate of the daguerreotype the features are drawn lightly, the -artist following accurately the lines of the portrait. If a photograph -is used, gelatine is laid over it, and the picture is traced. From this -outline on the plate, an impression is printed. This impression, by a -chemical process, is transferred to a steel plate covered with wax. The -outlines are then traced on steel, the wax removed, and the face, in -outline, is then on the steel. The shading is then completed. - -So many phases of consummate skill are necessary to the completion of a -single dollar note, that “many men of many minds” are required to -perfect a single plate. One has a genius for landscape, another for -portraits, another for animal figures. The portrait is given to one, the -lettering to another, the ornamental work to a third, and on and on. -These fragments of the perfect picture to be, are executed upon separate -bits of soft steel. When the lines on them are completed, these -different bits of soft steel are put into an iron box, case-hardened and -annealed in a crucible of intense heat, then suddenly cooled by dipping -them in oil, which utterly hardens the soft steel. Rolls of soft steel -are then prepared. By the application of a powerful press, the various -pictures and lines, that the artists have engraved, are taken up by the -soft steel rollers from the hard steel plate. The intaglio work appears -on the roll, just as it afterwards appears on the note. - -Now, the note-face is in fragments on the surface of the separate rolls. -Next, the rolls are hardened, and placed in a transfer press over a flat -plate of soft steel. Upon this plate, the operator of the press, by -applying the lever, can, if necessary, impose a pressure equal to five -or six tons. This pressure transfers the fragmentary picture to the -plate. Then its counterpart picture is set in exact juxtaposition. The -operator uses his steady hand, and skilled eyes, to set like a mosaic, -each fragment of the complete design. Then moving the roller softly, to -and fro, to equalize the pressure on every part of the picture, he -continues to do so till the plate is hardened. He then passes a soft -roll over it, and the entire note-face is taken up. In turn, this roll -is hardened, and the note-face transferred from it to a soft steel -plate. This final plate, hardened and polished, is the plate from which -the note is at last printed. - -After this plate has been used for thirty thousand impressions, its -fading lines are restored by “re-entering” the plate with a roll. It is -then used for thirty thousand impressions more. When finally “used up,” -these plates are destroyed in the presence of a mixed committee of -Treasury officers and members of Congress. - -Look closely at the United States notes, the fractional currency bonds, -and the most valuable revenue stamps, and you will see many lines -involved and intricate, running to and fro in the most marvellous -manner. These lines defy imitation. They are the best tantalizer and -detective of the most accurate counterfeiter. The most absolute -imitation, made by hand, can be instantly perceived under a glass. These -involuting lines are the work of the geometric lathe, an instrument -whose complicated wheels can be set to work out any combination of -curved lines which the human mind can possibly conceive. The -counterfeiter, with the same lathe, would be powerless to produce the -same complications—“he would grow gray in endless and useless -experiments, and even with a record of the combination, he could not so -exactly re-produce it, that an expert could not detect the imposition.” - -The geometric lathe of the Treasury of the United States, is worked by -Mr. Tichenor, who has been a skilled artist in such machinery for more -than thirty years. There are no more interesting objects in the -Treasury, than the line of clear-eyed men who sit bent over their tasks, -their subtle lines tracing the exquisite vignettes which have made the -engravings of the United States Treasury so famous. Here is one who has -been tracing these lines of beauty for more than forty years: his hair -is white, but his keen, strong sight—drawing harmony, poetry, nature, -and life, out of barest outline—remains undimmed. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXI. - THE WORKERS IN THE TREASURY—HOW THE MONEY IS MADE. - -The Dollar with the Counters—In the Tubs—Getting a Wetting—Servants of - Necessity—That Scorching Roof—Brown Paper Bonnets—Earning their - Daily Dollar—The Work Progressing—In the Press—A State of - Dampness—Squaring Accounts—Calling for a Thousand Sheets—Accounting - for Them—Superintending the Work—The Face-printing Division—The - United States “Sealer”—One Hundred and Thirty-five Presses at - Work—Printing Cigar-Stamps and Gold-Notes of Many Colors—Presses - “Flying”—Quick with Dangerous Motion—With a Begrimed Face—The - “Help-mate” of his Toil—The Fiery Little Brazier—What the Man - Does—The Woman’s Work-The Automatic Register—An Observer Without a - Soul—Our Damp Little Dollar—The Drying Room—The First - Wrinkles—Looking Wizened and Old—Rejuvenating a Dollar—Underneath - Two Hundred and Forty Tons—Smooth and Polished—Precious to the - Touch—A Virgin Dollar—The “Sealer” at Work—Mutilated Paper—What the - Women are Paid—The Surface-Sealing Division—Seal Printing—The - Aristocratic Green Seal—The Numbering Division—Attended Solely by - Women and Girls—Critically Examined—A Lady Charged with - Errors—Securing Adequate Care—Dividing the Dollars—To Start - Alone—Ladies Serene at Work—Snowy Aprons and Delicate - Ribbons—Needling the Sheet—A Blade that Does Not Fail—Sorting the - Notes—The Manipulation of the Ladies—The Dollar “in its Little - Bed”—Dollar on Dollar—“Awaiting the Final Call”—The Mandate of Uncle - Sam—Fourteen Divisions—Making up Accounts—Tracing a Note—A Perfect - System of “Checks”—The Safeguards—The Chief of the Bureau. - - -O my! that dollar! I left far back, flying through the fair hands (more -or less) of thirty lovely “counters,” to find it here, sopped in the -tubs of the “wetters.” - -Long trough-like tubs run down the middle of an attic-room, at whose -sides the roof slopes so low, a child could not stand under it. Even at -its apex, a slender girl beside her tub can scarcely stand upright. At -either side of the long troughs are rowed maids and matrons, some fair -and young, some old and worn, all bearing unmistakably the mark of the -servant of necessity. So near and hot to the brain is the scorching -roof, each woman wears upon her head a covering of brown paper, for -protection. Who will say these lowly servants of the Government do not -earn the scanty pittance of their daily dollar? - -In the “wetting division” is received, counted, and “wet down,” all the -paper that is to be plate printed. Here, in different stages of -progression, we see blank sheets wetted for first printing, and sheets -in preparation for second, third, and even fourth printing. The counters -of this division put every twenty sheets in the hands of the wetters, -who place them between cloths and submerge them in the liquid of the -tubs before them. Every one thousand sheets, thus wetted, are placed -between wooden boards, under the pressure of two hundred and fifty -pounds. In these cerements they remain for three or four hours, when -they are taken out, the top sheets made to change places with the middle -ones, that uniform dampness may be secured. The sheets are then laid -again between the weights, to remain till the next morning, when they -are taken out, piled up under damp cloths to wait the call of the -plate-printers. All this systematic saturation is indispensable to the -securing of a fine print impression. - -[Illustration: MAKING MONEY.—THE ROOM IN THE TREASURY BUILDING WHERE THE -GREENBACKS ARE PRINTED] - -A distinct account is kept with each printer, which must be “all right” -before he goes home. For example, a plate-printer calls at the wetting -division for a thousand sheets. These are given him, and charged at once -on the books of the division. As fast as he prints his work, he sends it -to the office of his printing division, and is credited with all the -work that he has accomplished. At the close of the day, if he has any -sheets left unprinted, he returns them to the wetting division, and is -credited with them as sheets returned. His work performed and work -returned must then be ascertained, and his account strictly balanced, -before he can leave the Treasury. - -The wetting division is superintended by Mr. J. H. Lamb, who, with Mr. -Ward Morgan, the head of the face-printing division, Mr. Edgar of the -examining division, and Mr. Evans, the United States Sealer, have all -been chosen to preside over their distinct divisions on account of their -practical experience in plate-printing, gained by personal toil at the -press itself. - -Now we come to the Face-printing Room of the troublesome little dollar. -One hundred and thirty-five presses are flying in this room and another; -the latter printing the seals and tints of cigar-stamps, gold-notes, -etc., in hues as varied as the leaves in autumn. Standing in this door, -looking down this long apartment, we see seventy-five presses flying at -once. The air is quick with dangerous motion. Great shuttle-like fans -flap above our heads. At every angle, presses, eager and accurate, seem -ready to strike you, as well as the dollar, with unerring skill and -execution. Beside each one stands a man, with face begrimed. Beside each -man stands a woman, the helpmate of his toil. Between each flames a -fiery little brazier, holding the gleaming plate to keen heat. The face -printer runs his roller, wet with ink over the face of the absorbing -plate. A cloth in his hand comes swiftly after, leaving only the fine -lines of the plate traced with ink. The ready woman lays the moist paper -on the warm ink-lined plate. The printer touches the wheel, turns it, -the sheet flies up. Lo! at last, the beautiful new dollar! The girl -takes it instantly, lays it, face down, on top of its new-born brethren. -Already the roller is passing again over the polished plate, and her -hands are outstretched to lay another sheet upon the waiting plate. In -less than a minute another dollar is made. - -An automatic register is connected with each press; thus every sheet, -note, or stamp printed, is recorded, and serves as a check on the -counter and printer. The register is locked, and the key kept with the -keeper of the registers, appointed by the Secretary. - -After leaving the press and being heaped a few moments by its side, the -next thing that happens to our damp little dollar, is to be dried. The -moist sheets, spread upon racks, are carried to the drying room until -the next morning. The drying process leaves the sheets with a rough, -wrinkled surface. The little dollar comes forth from its first bed, -looking wizened and old, and is immediately sent to the “pressing -division” to be rejuvenated. Here every thousand sheets, for six -minutes, are subjected to a slow, steady pressure of two hundred and -forty tons, from which every sheet issues smooth, soft, polished, and -precious to the touch, as every soul will say who has been the first -possessor of a virgin dollar. - -The pressing division is superintended by Mr. Rallon, the “Nestor” of -the Bureau. Mr. Edgar, superintendent of the examining division, -assisted by thirty young ladies, takes care of the face-printed work. -Mr. Evans, the United States Sealer, examines all the seal and tint -prints. All mutilated, are carried to the counting division before being -sent to the Secretary for destruction. Each printer is allowed a small -percentage for unavoidable mutilation. If at the end of the month his -number of mutilated exceeds this allowance, he is obliged to pay for the -excess. Each printer works by “the piece,” and pays the woman who helps -him—the price being regulated by the Bureau—one dollar per day. - -After coming forth from the hydraulic presses, softly polished, every -exquisite line and figure embossed in keen relief, the United States -note sheets pass to the surface-sealing division. The process of -seal-printing is the same as the first, and each sheet has to go through -the same process the second time. Under the superintendence of Mr. Gray, -six “Gordon” and six “Campbell” presses print the beautiful pink -surface-seals. Here the small currencies, the national bank notes, the -new special tax-paid stamps, receive the internal revenue seal. The -“funded loan bond” alone is stamped with the aristocratic green seal. - -Having been sealed, the dollar must now be numbered, and for that -purpose passes into the numbering division, where it receives the last -touch of printing from machines attended solely by women and girls. This -machine works on the same principle as the famous paging machine. The -numbers are set on the surface of a small wheel, and with every stroke -of the stamp the next consecutive number flies up into its place; with -the same stroke, a small roller, taking the red ink from the plate and -feeding it to the type. These machines are regulated to change the -numbers for a whole series. Two red numbers on each bill are put on by -these machines. Intense care is necessary in this work, to prevent -mistakes, and each bill is critically examined to ascertain its -correctness. If mistakes are discovered at once, they can be rectified; -but the red ink soon hardens and becomes indelible. If the mistake is -discovered too late to correct it, it is charged to the lady who made -it. This has been found to be the only way to secure adequate care on -the part of the numberers. - -The last line of printing is received in the red number set at top and -bottom; all that remains for the dollar, before starting on its journey -into the wide, wide world, is to be divided from its brethren, that it -may start alone. Thus the United States note sheet is carried into the -separating and trimming room. This used to be done by scissors, and gave -to women, I believe, their first work in the Treasury. This room is one -of the largest and busiest in the Bureau, and second only to the -printing-room in interest. The wheels, straps and pulleys reaching to -the ceiling, with which its air is perforated, give it, at first glance, -a complicated atmosphere, till the eyes rest upon the many ladies -sitting serenely at work below. - -[Illustration: AMONG THE GREENBACKS.—THE CUTTING AND SEPARATING ROOM IN -THE TREASURY BUILDING.—WASHINGTON] - -This work being all clean, and some of it dainty in its character, the -result is visible in the tasteful attire of the workers, whose snowy -aprons and delicate ribbons are in direct contrast to the worn and -soiled raiment of the weary sisterhood of the tubs, and the inky presses -of the wetting and printing divisions. Part of the woman’s work of this -room is to needle the sheets, which must be done so accurately, that -when hundreds together are laid in the cutting machine, the glittering -blade will strike through a single line, not wavering a hair’s width -through two hundred sheets. The room is thronged with those little -guillotines, whose gleaming blades are in constant execution. Each -Treasury note sheet which passes under them is cut into four notes at -once, each sliding down, correctly sorted, into its own little box -waiting below. Excepting the fractional currency cutters, all these -exquisite machines are worked by ladies, who manipulate them with -unerring accuracy. - -In this Bureau but one more thing remains for our dollar, that it should -be laid “in its little bed,” before it goes down to the Treasurer. This -is speedily done, and its bed is a very dainty affair,—a pretty box, -made in an adjoining room by pretty hands; and pretty hands lay our -dollar away; indeed dollar on dollar, so many in a box, which shuts them -in—fair, tempting, tantalizing—out of sight, to await the call of the -Treasurer and the mandate of Uncle Samuel. - -There are fourteen divisions in the Printing and Engraving Bureau. Yet -it is its unyielding rule that not a sheet of paper can pass from the -hands of one superintendent to his operatives without a verified count -and a written receipt, which is made a permanent record in a book kept -for the purpose. At the close of each day’s labor, the operatives in -every room report to its superintendent, before they leave the building, -how much paper they have received, how much finished, returning the -balance. The superintendent of each room makes a report, on a printed -form, at the end of each day, showing the amount of paper received, -delivered up to the morning, through the day, the amount delivered that -day, the amount on hand. This report is delivered to the Chief of the -Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and a duplicate sent to the Secretary. -From these reports the Secretary compiles his report of the work of the -entire Bureau, which must correspond with the report made by the Chief -of the Bureau. - -When any given issue of notes or bonds is completed, the Secretary of -the Treasury holds a report, which is a complete history of the issue -through all its stages of growth, from beginning to end. The test of the -utter thoroughness of this system, is that every note printed in this -department from its beginning, if returned to superintendents, could be -traced, through every stage, back to blank paper; the books showing the -date of its arrival, and by whom it was printed, sealed, numbered, -separated, and delivered to the Treasurer of the United States. - -The system of checks used by the Bureau of Printing and Engraving is so -perfect that it is almost impossible for the Government to lose a -fraction from it. The paper is registered at the mills—every sheet -accounted for. Every sheet manufactured is accounted for every day. To -perfect a fraudulent issue, there would have to be a universal collusion -between all the superintendents of all the divisions and all the -operatives, and between the superintendents and operatives. Several high -officers of the Printing Bureau are appointed by the Secretary, -independent of the Chief of the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, which -is another security against danger. These are but a part of the -safeguards within which the United States Treasury holds its dollars. - -Mr. McCartee, the present Chief of the Bureau of Printing and Engraving -of the United States Treasury, is so utterly the master of the momentous -machinery which he “runs,” that you cannot ask him a question concerning -the labor in detail of his eleven hundred _employés_, that he cannot -answer more perfectly than the person doing the work. - -Beside his own practical knowledge of the business committed to his -charge in minutiæ, he employs only men trained from their youth up in -the art of plate engraving, to perform the skilled labor, or to -superintend the divisions of this most important Governmental Bureau. -The responsibilities and mental anxieties of its chief are so -inexorable, that he must be at his post by a little past seven in the -morning, and remain till five P. M. He must return about seven P. M., -and remain until ten at night. Often the wheels and presses, and patient -hands of this department, go from day to day to be able to meet the -enormous demand of the country upon its resources. No added comment is -necessary to prove how honorable is its lowliest toil, or how -indispensable to its chief are the highest mental and moral qualities. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXII. - THE LAST DAYS OF A DOLLAR. - -The Division of Issues—Ready for the World—Starting Right—Forty - Busy Maids and Matrons—Counting Out the Money—Human Machines—A - Lady Counting for a Dozen Years—Fifty Thousand Notes in a - Day—Counting Four Thousand Notes in Twenty Minutes—Travelling - on Behalf of Uncle Sam—In Need of a Looking-Over—“Detailed” - for the Work—What has Passed Through _Some_ Fingers—Big - Figures—Packing Away the Dollars—The Cash Division—The Marble - Cash-Room—The Great Iron Vault—Where Uncle Sam Keeps His - Money—Some Nice Little Packages—Taking it Coolly—One Hundred - Millions of Dollars in Hand—Some Little White Bags—The Gold - Taken from the Banks of Richmond—Anxious to Get Their Money - Back—A Little Difficulty—Not yet “Charged”—A Distinction - without a Difference—Charming Variety—A Nice Little Hoard—Five - Hundred Millions Stored Away—The Secret of the Locks—The - Hydraulic Elevator—Sending the Money off—How the Money is - Transported—Begrimed, Demoralized, and Despoiled—Where is our - Pretty Dollar?—The Redemption Division—Counting Mutilated - Currency—Women at Work—Sorting Old Greenbacks—Three Hundred - Counterfeit Dollars Daily—Detecting Bad Notes—“Short,” “Over,” - and “Counterfeit”—Difficulty of Counterfeiting Fresh - Notes—Vast Amounts Sent for Redemption—Thirty-one Million - Dollars in One Year—The Assistant Treasurer at New York—The - Cancelling Room—The Counter’s Report—The Bundle in a - Box—Awkward Responsibility—“Punching” Old Dollars—They are - Chopped in Two—Paying for Mistakes—The Funeral of the - Dollar—The Burning, Fiery Furnace—“The Burning Committee”—What - They Burn Every Other Day—The End of the Dollar. - - -Following our dollar, we come this soft summer morning to the Division -of Issues. It is in the Treasurer’s Bureau, and here, crisp, new and -ready for its adventures, our dollar has arrived. The fate that may -await it out in the world, the wildest fancy cannot foretell; but before -it starts on its long pilgrimage, it must be again manipulated by fair -fingers, to see that it starts “all right.” - -We enter a long, light, airy room; and here at a table sit forty or more -maids and matrons, counting the new notes. Pretty maidens! Pretty -dollars! Our dollar among the rest. Crinkling, fluttering, flying, the -dollars! Serene, silent, swift, the maidens! That anything can be -counted so rapidly and yet so accurately, defies belief. It is the -marvel of this counting, that it is as infallible as it is flying. The -fingers of forty women play the part of perfected machinery, the -numbered notes passing through them with the celerity and regularity of -automatic action. - -This perfection of mathematical movement is acquired only by long -practice and by one order of intellect. There are persons who can never -acquire this unerring accuracy of mind and motion combined. There is a -lady sitting here who has been in this division since it was organized, -in 1862, who can, upon demand, count fifty thousand notes in one day. As -the department hours of work are from nine to three o’clock, and half an -hour is taken at noon for lunch, these fifty thousand notes must all be -counted in the space of five and a half hours. This is at a rate of nine -thousand and ninety notes each hour, one hundred and fifty each minute -and two and a half each second. The same lady will count four thousand -legal tender notes in twenty minutes. These lady counters, with a number -of their sister peers from the Redemption Division, perform numerous -journeys for Uncle Samuel whenever the Treasury Offices in other cities -need a “looking over.” At such times they are “detailed” to go and count -the Government funds there. - -Through the fingers of these ladies has passed every note—legal tender -or fractional—which has been issued by the United States since the -beginning of the war of the rebellion. Every note, ever touched or seen, -with all the gold-notes and the millions of imperfect bonds and notes -never put in circulation—every one has passed through these same deft -fingers. The total value of this vast amount, up to July, 1872, was -about two thousand nine hundred million dollars, more than two hundred -and twenty-three millions of which was in postal and fractional -currency. - -As soon as the new money is counted, it is again put away—the legal -tenders in strong paper wrappers, the fractional currency in paper -boxes. All are sealed, put on a hand-cart, and rolled off to the vaults -of the cash division, whither we still, you and I, pursue our little -dollar. - -Passing through the cashier’s office and the superb Marble Cash-room (to -which we will soon return), at the opposite end we reach one almost -exclusively occupied by the iron vault of the United States Treasury. -The double iron doors swing slowly back, and we stand in the money vault -of the nation. It looks light and airy as a china-closet. The sealed -packages, lining the shelves to the ceiling, are full of money. I hold a -small package in my hand of crisp, stamped paper, tied with common -twine, and “take it coolly” when the keeper of these coffers tells me -that the string ties in one hundred millions of dollars. It doesn’t seem -much! - -On the shelf of a cosy closet are piled some little white bags which -have done a deal of travelling. They hold the gold captured from -Jefferson Davis’s fleeing trains, taken from the banks of Richmond. You -know the banks of Richmond have been very anxious to get their money -back, and have sent numerous messengers after it. A small obstacle, in -the shape of a fact, separates them from the object of their desire. -This gold was rifled from the mint in New Orleans, and before it came to -the banks of Richmond belonged to the Treasury of the United States. - -In this vault is packed away all the money not needed for circulation. A -large portion of the money which lines these shelves has never been -charged to the Treasurer on the books of the department, therefore, -technically, is not yet money, although all ready for use. Every kind of -note which the ingenuity of Uncle Sam and his servants ever devised, is -here packed and guarded. The compartments of the safe not affording -sufficient space, the floor is piled—and as carelessly, apparently, as -if with potato or apple bags; but not in fact. The value of every bag -and package is known, and not one cent could be taken without being -swiftly discovered and pursued. Piles on piles of little bags and -packages! this is all, and yet they hold five hundred millions of -dollars. Little bags and packages these are, all, and yet for them men -toil, struggle, sin—sell their bodies and their souls! - -On each of the doors of this iron vault are two burglar-proof locks, of -the most complicated construction, each on a combination different from -the rest. But two or three persons know these combinations, and no -person knows the combination to the locks on both doors. Thus it is -impossible that they should be fraudulently opened, save by collusion -between two persons who know the combination. This is but one of the -safeguards which the Government sets about its treasures. - -A few paces from the door of this vault is the elevator communicating -with the room of the agent of Adams’ Express Company, on the basement -floor below. The motive power of this elevator is Potomac-water, from -the water-mains. Two iron pistons, about eight inches in diameter, -attached to the elevator platform, one on each side, move smoothly up -and down in perpendicular iron cylinders. A turn of the handle admits -the water into the cylinder beneath the pistons, which are forced up by -the pressure, and with them the elevator. A reverse movement of the -handle allows the water to escape from the cylinders, and the elevator -descends. Its movements are noiseless, and it is managed with remarkable -ease. Up and down, this servant, swift and silent, bears the moneys of -the people. It is just descending, piled high with packages, some -directed to banks, railroad and manufacturing companies. Others are -addressed to assistant treasurers and depositors of the United States. -Much is going to replace the old money already sent back to the Treasury -for destruction. All will be carried away, as it was brought in its -neophite state, by Adams’ Express Company, which is bound by contract to -transact all the vast money transportation business of the Government. -This contract confers mutual advantage, both on the Company and the -Government. To the latter, because it obtains transportation at a much -lower rate than it could otherwise do, paying but twenty-five cents for -each thousand dollars transported; while, at even this per cent., the -Company can grow rich on the monopoly of the vast money transportation -business of the Government of the United States. - - * * * * * - -Alas! for our dollar that went forth from the paternal door—as many -another child has done—unsullied, only to return at a later day from its -contact with the world, begrimed, demoralized, despoiled. Where is our -pretty dollar, fresh and pure? Every delicate line defaced, tattered, -filthy, worn out—this wretched little rag, surely, cannot be it! And yet -it is. This is what the world’s hard hand has made our dollar. - -We have reached the Redemption Division of the Treasurer’s Bureau, and -stand in one of the rooms devoted to the counting of mutilated currency -and the detection of counterfeits. This difficult and responsible labor -of the public service is performed solely by women. - -In the long rooms on either side of the marble hall, on the north ground -floor of the Treasury Building, may be seen one hundred and fifty women, -whose deft and delicate fingers are ceaselessly busy detecting -counterfeits, identifying, restoring, counting and registering worn-out -currency which has come home to be “redeemed.” Each lady sits at a table -by herself, that the money committed to her may not become mixed with -that to be counted by any other person. - -The fractional currency sent to the Treasury for redemption is usually -assorted by denominations only. The work of assorting by issues remains -to be done by the counters of the Treasury. As there are four distinct -issues of most of the denominations, each of which must be assorted by -itself, this labor alone is a vast one to the counters. Looking on their -tables we see them heaped with little piles of currency, each made of a -denomination or issue different from the rest. Thus every new issue -increases the labor of currency-redemption. With clear eyes and patient -hand, the lady bending over this table takes up slowly every bill and -scrutinizes it, first, to see if it be genuine. Over three hundred -dollars in counterfeit notes are found in the fractional currency, -daily. This fact alone is sufficient to make the counting of the -Redemption Division far less rapid than that of the Division of Issues. - -The first thing that a lady at a redemption table does with her money -packages is, to compare their number with the inventory which -accompanies them. If there is none, she makes one. If there is a -discrepancy between the packages and the number claimed, she refers to a -clerk, that there may be no mistake. She then proceeds to the -examination of a single package. After she has placed all the rest in a -box, so that no strap or stray scrip from another bundle may mix with -the first; when she has scrutinized and counted every note in the -package, she puts the strap on again, marking it with her initials, the -date, the amount, the “shorts,” “overs,” and “counterfeits.” Thus she -continues till every package has been counted. She then proceeds to -assort the notes into packages, each containing one hundred notes, each -of the same denomination and issue, which she binds with a “brand new” -printed strap again, marked with her initials and date. All the notes -over even hundreds she places by themselves. These in turn are given to -distinct counters, whose sole business it is to make even hundreds out -of these odd numbers. - -The first counter then enters in a book, having a blank form for the -purpose, printed in duplicate on one side of each leaf, a statement of -the result of her count, containing the net amount found due to the -owner, the aggregate of the “shorts,” the “overs,” the “counterfeits” -discovered and the amount claimed. One of these duplicates is retained -in the book as her voucher; the other is attached to the letter which -accompanied the money; all together are handed to the clerk, who draws -the check which is to be sent in return; or, if new currency is to be -sent from the cash division, the clerk writes the order on which it is -to be forwarded. - -This is the story of but one package of mutilated money of the tens of -thousands that are received at the Treasury every day. The Government -has provided the most munificent facilities for the redemption of its -currency and the maintenance of its credit in circulation. To what an -extent the nation avails itself of these facilities no one can realize -who has never visited the Treasury. Regular transportation, at the -expense of the Government, is provided by express for the redemption of -all currency. Everything demanded of its holders is, that they should -send it in proper amounts; then its transportation is paid, and new -currency sent back in its stead. This liberality in the Government is -partly accounted for in the fact that fresh notes are a prevention of -counterfeits. A fresh, new note cannot be counterfeited. Its exquisite -tints and lines cannot be reproduced by any false hand. Only after its -beauty has been obscured is the attempt made. Thus it is said that -counterfeiters “soil and rumple their spurious notes, to give them the -appearance of having been in circulation a long time.” Thus many banks -never sort over or pay out any fractional currency which they receive, -but put it into packages and send it to the Treasury at the close of -each day’s business, so that nothing but clean notes are ever paid over -their counters. By doing this they are saved the immense labor of -reassorting old notes, and afford their applicants the happiness of -always receiving new ones. - -Only the room in which the express messengers deliver their remittances -can give any idea of the vast amounts sent daily to the Treasury for -redemption. Here we find counters, tables, and the floor piled high with -damaged money from every State in the Union. Two and three hundred -packages are often received by express in a single day. The greater part -of these contain postage and fractional currency. The Assistant -Treasurer of New York forwards a remittance of fractional currency every -ten or twelve days, never less than one hundred thousand dollars, and -the amounts sent from other treasury officers are proportionately large. -Over thirty-one million dollars in fractional currency were received and -counted during the last fiscal year—about one hundred thousand dollars -for each working day. Every note in this large sum has to be counted, -studied, assorted with all others of the same denomination and issue; -strapped, labelled, reported, delivered—all done by women. - -The last room to which the counter carries our dollar is the cancelling -room. She has just reported to the chief of the Redemption Division the -result of her count, in the following duplicate report on the broad -paper strap which binds her bundle of soiled notes: - - AMOUNT, $5,000.00 - _From Fiftieth National Bank, New York City._ - Received July 9, 1873, by MARY JONES. - - ══════════════════════════╤══════════════════════════════════ - Legal, $4,000.00│Counterfeit, $20.00 - Full Currency, 900.00│Discount, 5.00 - Odds, 40.00│Rejected, 5.00 - Discounted, 20.00│Short by Inventory, 15.00 ——— - ————│Short by Strap, $45.00 - $4,960.00│Over by Strap, 5.00 - │ ——— - │Net Short, $40.00 - ══════════════════════════╧══════════════════════════════════ - -The $4,960 is immediately sent to the bank in any denomination of new -notes requested, or if no such request has been made, it is sent in -exactly the denominations received. And now our lady-counter proceeds to -attend the cancelling of the notes which she has counted, and which the -Treasury has already redeemed. A messenger carries her precious bundle -in a box, but she must keep messenger, box, and bundle in sight; for, -from the moment that she receives it, till she places it in the last -cash-account clerk’s hands, she is personally responsible for its -contents. If, by any possibility, it could be spirited away, she would -be obliged to pay for every ragged dollar out of her little stipend. - -This is a bustling sight. Messengers, each with a counter, are rushing -in and out with their boxes full of strapped and labelled currency. -Round a large table crowd many fair women, while every instant “thud! -thud!” strike the precious packages. Each in turn is taken up by the -canceller and set between the teeth of Uncle Sam’s cancelling machine. -This is fashioned out of two heavy horizontal steel bars, five feet in -length, working on pivots. To the shorter end of each is attached a -punch, while the other is connected by a lever with a crank, in the -sub-basement below, which is propelled by a turbine water-wheel -furnished with Potomac-water from one of the pipes of the building. -Under its grinding “punch” our poor little dollar goes, and with it a -hundred dollars beside. With a savage accuracy it stabs two holes -through every one. This is done for the purpose of absolute -cancellation. Then each bundle is returned to its box, the messenger -picks it up, the counter follows, and both hasten to the cash-account -clerk of the division, whose business it is to see if all the money -received and delivered to the counters, has been returned and accounted -for. Not until she sees her box of cancelled notes safe in the hands of -this clerk, does the counter’s personal responsibility end. - -Near the punches in the cancelling room is a ferocious-looking knife, -set in an axle, which is consecrated to the purpose of cutting the -cancelled bundles in two, through the middle of each note. These are -made into packages of one hundred thousand dollars of fractional -currency, and larger sums of legal tender notes; and are sent back to -this office to be cut asunder by this knife. The duplicate paper and -strap which our fair counter bound about this bundle, is so printed as -to show, upon each half, the denomination, issue and amount of the notes -enclosed. The counter’s initials and the date of counting are also -recorded at each end, as well as a number or letter to identify the -bundle. These sundered notes are now sent, one-half to counters in the -Secretary’s office, the other half to counters in the Registrar’s -office, where every little wretched rag is re-counted. This is done as a -check on the Treasurer’s counters, and to secure absolute accuracy. If -these second counters discover a “short” or a “counterfeit” passed over -by the first fair fingers, the full amount is taken out of the wages of -the counter whose initials the tell-tale package bears. - -[Illustration: - - BURNT TO ASHES.—THE END OF UNCLE SAM’S GREENBACKS. - The above is a graphic sketch of the destruction of the worn and - defaced currency constantly being redeemed by the Government, which - is here burned every day at 12 o’clock. On one occasion considerably - more than one hundred million dollars’ worth of bonds and greenbacks - were destroyed in this furnace, and the burning of from fifty to - seventy-five millions at a time is a matter of ordinary occurrence. -] - -The Treasury mills grind slowly; but in the slow fullness of time the -separate “counts” of three offices—the Treasurer’s, the Register’s, the -Secretary’s—are finally reconciled. The integrity of the Government, -throughout the whole existence of its minutest fraction, has been -maintained and demonstrated. In the process there is not much left of -our poor little dollar, and nothing left for us but to go to its -funeral. Like most of us, it has had rather a hard time in this world of -ours. Where has it not lived—from a palace to “a pig’s stomach;” and -what has it not endured—from the scarlet rash to the small-pox—and to -think that nothing remains for it now but to be burned! Only through -purgatorial flame can it be fully and finally “redeemed.” - -About a quarter of a mile from the Treasury Department, in what is -called “White Lot,” stands the furnace which is to consume our dollar. -The furnace, and the building in which it stands, was built expressly -for this purpose for the sum of ten thousand dollars. The furnace is ten -feet high, seven in diameter, circular and open at the top. With it is -connected an air-blower, which is attached to an engine, the steam for -which comes from a boiler some twenty rods distant. On the ground about -lie piles of cinders—the metallic ashes of extinct dollars, compounded -of pins, sulphur, printer’s ink and dirt. - -To this furnace, filled with shavings in advance, every other day comes -“The Burning Committee,” bearing the boxes of doomed dollars, sealed -finally in the Register’s and Secretary’s Bureaus. This Committee is -formed of a person from each of these Bureaus, with a fourth not -connected with the Departments. In their presence the final seals are -broken—the complicated locks of the furnace opened. Then the packages -are thrown into the flames, each “lot” being called and checked by the -Committee, the amount averaging about one million five hundred thousand -dollars every other day. At the same hour about one hundred thousand -dollars in national bank notes are burned at another and smaller -furnace. Beside cancelled money, internal revenue and postage stamps, -checks and defective new money are all consumed in this furnace. - -Here the three official delegates, with a few spectators, stand to -witness the sight. Worn out, used up, gone by—all pass into the furnace, -our dollar with the rest. The furnace is locked, by official hands, with -nine distinct locks. A match is set to the shavings; the smoke of the -sacrifice begins to ascend—the Committee depart. The fire and the money -are left alone together for the next twenty-four hours. To-morrow a -smutty aerolite, smothered in ashes, will be the significant “finis” of -the story of our dollar. It has had its day! - - - - - CHAPTER XXXIII. - THE GREAT CASH-ROOM—THE WATCH-DOG OF THE TREASURY. - -No Need for Dirty Money—The Flowers of July—Money Affairs—The Great - Cash-Room—Its Marble Glories—A Glance Inside—The Beautiful Walls—A - Good Deal of Very Bad Taste—Only Made of Plaster—The Clerks of the - Cash-Room—New Money for Old—The National Treasury—“The Watch-Dog” of - the Treasury—The Custodian of the Cash—A Broken-nosed Pitcher—Ink - for the Autographs—His Ancient Chair—“The General”—“Crooked, - Crotchety and Great-hearted”—“Principles” and Pantaloons—Below the - Surface—An Unpaintable Face—An Object of Personal Curiosity—Dick and - Dolly pay the General a Visit—How the Thing is Done—“Pretty - Thoroughly Wrought Up”—A Couple without any Claims—Gratified in the - Very Jolliest Fashion—Getting his Autograph—A Specimen for the Folks - at Home—Realizing a Responsibility—Where the Treasurer Sleeps—Going - the Round at Night—Making Assurance Sure—Awakened by a Strong - Impression—Sleepless—In the “Small Hours”—Finding the Door Open—A - Careless Clerk—The Care of Eight Hundred Millions—On the Alert—The - Secretary’s Room—Three at the Table—Doings and Duties—The Labors of - the Secretary and Comptrollers—The Auditors—The Solicitor’s - Office—The Light-House Board—The Coast Survey—Internal Revenue - Department. - - -Nobody need ever carry a smutty bit of money in Washington. Lay down the -worst looking fraction you ever saw, upon the marble counter of the -Cash-Room, and a virgin piece, without blemish, will be given you in its -stead. Do you wish ten unsoiled “ones” for that ragged “ten” of yours? -Take it to the Cash-Room, and the desire of your heart will be granted -in a moment. - -To do this you turn out of Pennsylvania avenue towards the north front -of the Treasury. On either side, spread away broad beds of flowers. In -April, their hyacinths sent great drifts of fragrance, blocks away; in -May, it was one great garden of roses, and now it has burst into a -passion of bloom, a very carnival of color—the burning scarlet of the -geraniums mocking the dazzling azure of the sky. On either side run -these lavish hues. Before you, cooling the marble court beneath your -feet, the great fountain tosses its spray. Toward you stretches the long -restful shadow of the northern portico, inviting you to enter in. - -[Illustration: - - THE NEW MARBLE CASH ROOM, UNITED STATES TREASURY.—WASHINGTON. - The most costly and magnificent room of its kind in the world. -] - -If your visit means “money,” as it may, you pass directly through the -portico to the Cash-Room, into which it opens. No other room in the -world as magnificent is devoted to such a purpose. It is seventy-two -feet long, thirty-two feet wide, and twenty-seven feet six inches high. -Exclusive of the upper cornice, the walls are built entirely of marble. -Seven varieties meet and merge into each other, to make the harmony of -its blended hues. From the main floor it rises through two stories of -the building. Thus it has upper and lower windows, between which a -narrow bronze gallery runs, encircling the entire room. The base of the -stylobate of the first story is black Vermont marble, the mouldings are -Bardiglio Italian, the styles dove Vermont marble, the panels Sienna -Italian, and the dies Tennessee. Above the stylobate, the styles are of -Sienna marble. With these are contrasted the pale primrose tints of the -Corinthian pilasters and a cornice of white-veined Italian marble. -Opposite the windows, and in corresponding positions at the ends of the -rooms, are panels of the dark-veined Bardiglio Italian marble, the exact -size of the windows. The stylobate and the styles and pilasters of the -second story show the same tints and variety of marbles which mark the -first. But the panels are of Sarran Golum marble, from the Pyrenees. The -latter is one of the rarest of marbles; at a distance, of a blood-red -hue. Upon nearer inspection, it reveals undreamed-of beauties in veining -and tint. - -The pilasters of the second story are not like those of the first story, -pure—but complex. They support a cornice, not of wrought marble, as all -the remainder of the room would promise, but of plaster of Paris, -fantastically wrought and profusely gilded. This cornice is another blot -of that meretricious ornamentation which in so many noble spaces -disfigures the Capitol. - -Extending the length of the room is a costly counter, of various -marbles, surmounted by a balustrade of mahogany and plate-glass. Within -this are busy the clerks of the Cash-Room, and over this marble counter -you, as one of its many proprietors, may receive, for the asking, ten -“ones” for one “ten”—new money for old. - -From this superb room of the people we pass to that of the -Treasurer,—“the watch-dog of the Treasury,”—the man who holds and guards -the untold millions of the nation. It is a plain room, very. No thought -of luxury, it is easy to see, has touched an article of its furniture, -from his well-worn chair to the broken-nosed pitcher which holds the -General’s ink; that ink, thick as mud and black as Egyptian night, out -of which he constructs these marvellous hieroglyphics, which, on our -legal-tender notes, has become one of the most baffling studies of the -nation. - -“The General!” That’s his name, from the roof to the cellar of the vast -Treasury; crooked, crotchety, great-hearted; nobody swears so loud, or -is so generous, or just, as “the General.” Every afflicted soul, from -the women, poor and old, who stand by the printing-presses under the -scorching roof, to Mary Walker, whose devotion to “her principles,” in -the form of a pair of hideous little pantaloons, causes her justly to -shed tubs of tears,—all are sure of a hearing, and of redress, if -possible, from “the General.” His face is as astonishing as his -signature. It is a Lincolnian face in this, that its best expression can -never be transferred to a picture. In life it is rugged, ugly at first -glance, genial at the second. The eyes twinkle with humor and kindness; -the wide mouth shuts tight with wilfulness and determination; the whole -expression and presence of the man indicate energy, honesty, and power. - -General Spinner is an object of personal curiosity to all sight-seers -who visit Washington. Dick and Dolly having puzzled their eyes for an -hour, studying some fresh legal tender note, to discover by what process -of evolution and convolution the remarkable signature which it bears is -fashioned, when they came to the Capital, proceeded to the Treasury to -see, not only the man who makes it, but how he makes it. Bluff, and even -snappish at first approach, after a little wilful snarling, our General -subsides into the most amiable of mastiffs. He is an exception to the -official class, in his hate of exclusiveness and his never-failing -accessibility. Indeed, he would have far less to irritate him, if he -made himself more unapproachable and remote. As it is, all sorts of -tormenting people, finding it perfectly easy to “get at him,” do not -neglect the privilege, and altogether keep him pretty thoroughly -“wrought up” with their never-ending and perpetually conflicting woes. -Dicky and Dolly, fresh from their farm, who ask for no “place” in any -“division” whatever, who have no alert grievance grumbling for redress, -who wish for nothing but, “Please, sir, _will_ you just show us _how_ -you make it—that queer name?” are sure to be gratified in the very -jolliest fashion. The General stabs the old pen with three points down -into the pudding-like ink which sticks to the bottom of the broken-nosed -pitcher, and proceeds to pile it up in ridiculous little heaps at cross -angles on a bit of paper. The result of his “piling,” which Dick and -Dolly watch with breathless interest, is his signature, which our happy -friends bear off in triumph to show to the “folks at home.” “Yes, sir, -the autograph of the Treasurer of the United States! and we saw him make -it, we did! A queer lookin’ man, but good as pie, I can tell you; has a -feelin’ for folks, as if he wasn’t no better than them, if he does take -care of all the money of the United States Treasury, which, I tell you, -is a heap!” - -The taking care of this money is a mighty responsibility, which General -Spinner realizes to the utmost. From his small room in the Treasury, a -door opens into a still smaller one. In this little room, beneath the -mighty roof of the Treasury, the keeper of its millions sleeps. Before -he essays to do this, twice every night the guardian of the people’s -treasure goes himself to the money vault, and, with his own hand upon -their handles, assures himself beyond doubt that the nation’s money -safes are inviolably locked. - -In order that he may do this every night before he attempts to sleep, -and that he may never be beyond call in case of accident or wrong doing, -the Treasurer of the United States absolutely lives, by day and by -night, in the Treasury. It is told of him that, “Once, before he began -sleeping in the Treasury, he was awakened in the night by a strong -impression that something was wrong at the Department. He lay for a long -time, tossing uneasily upon his bed, and trying to close his eyes and -convince himself that it was a mere freak of an over-taxed brain; but it -would not be driven away. At last, about two o’clock in the morning, in -order to assure himself that his impression was at fault, he arose, -hastily dressed, and set out for the Treasury. On his way he met a -watchman from the Department, hastening to arouse him, with the -information that the door of one of the vaults had just been found -standing wide open. A careless clerk, whose duty it was to close and -lock the door, had failed to perform his duty that night, and the -watchman, on going his rounds, had discovered the neglect.” - -Since that night the Treasurer has slept in the Treasury, and been -night-inspector of its doors and locks himself. - -It is not difficult to appreciate his personal anxiety and consciousness -of vast responsibility, when we remember that he is the hourly keeper of -at least eight hundred million dollars which belong to the nation. There -are very few officers of the Government who are called to bring to bear -upon their daily duties the ceaseless vigilance, the sacrifice of -personal ease and comfort in the service of the State, which -characterizes the honest, tireless, invincible “watch-dog of the -Treasury.” - -The room of the Secretary of the Treasury, in the Treasury building, has -its outlook on the eastern side and grounds of the Executive Mansion. A -wonderful fountain throws its million jets into the air at the foot of -the great portico below, and another tosses its spray amid the green -knolls opposite the President’s windows. These grounds, swelling -everywhere into gentle hills, covered with mossy turf, filled with -winding walks, and brightened with _parterres_ of flowers in summer -months, are enchanting in their beauty. - -Thus, you see, the Secretary’s windows quite turn their backs on the -noisy avenue. Their outlook is most serene. So is the aspect and -atmosphere of the room. It is a nun of a room, folded in soft grays, -with here and there a touch of blue and gold. The velvet carpet is gray; -the furniture, oiled black walnut, upholstered with blue cloth, each -chair and sofa bearing “U. S.” in a medallion on its back, while the -carved window-cornices each hold in their centres the gilded scales of -justice above the key of the Treasury. A full-length mirror is placed -between these windows. On one side of the room is a book-case, in which -the works of Webster, Calhoun, Washington, and Jefferson, are -conspicuous. The walls are frescoed in neutral tints, and the only -pictures on them are chromo portraits of Lincoln and Grant. - -In the centre of this room, at a cloth-covered table, sits the Secretary -of the Treasury and his assistants, besides, usually, a third dejected -mortal, on the “anxious seat” of expectancy for an office. - -The Secretary’s office is charged with the general supervision of the -fiscal transactions of the Government, and of the execution of the laws -concerning the commerce and navigation of the United States. He -superintends the survey of the coast, the light-house establishment, the -marine hospitals of the United States, and the construction of certain -public buildings for custom-houses and other purposes. - -The First Comptroller’s office prescribes the mode of keeping and -rendering accounts for the civil and diplomatic service, as well as the -public lands, and revises and certifies the balances arising thereon. - -The Second Comptroller’s office prescribes the mode of keeping and -rendering the accounts of the army, navy, and Indian departments of the -public service, and revises and certifies the balances arising thereon. - -The office of Commissioner of Customs prescribes the mode of keeping and -rendering the accounts of the customs revenue and disbursements, and for -the building and repairing custom-houses, etc., and revises and -certifies the balances arising thereon. - -The First Auditor’s office receives and adjusts the accounts of the -customs revenue and disbursements, appropriations and expenditures on -account of the civil list and under private acts of Congress, and -reports the balances to the Commissioner of the Customs and the First -Comptroller, respectively, for their decision thereon. - -The Second Auditor’s office receives and adjusts all accounts relating -to the pay, clothing and recruiting of the army, as well as armories, -arsenals, and ordnance, and all accounts relating to the Indian Bureau, -and reports the balances to the Second Comptroller for his decision -thereon. - -The Third Auditor’s office adjusts all accounts for subsistence of the -army, fortifications, military academy, military roads, and the -quarter-master’s department, as well as for pensions, claims arising -from military services previous to 1816, and for horses and other -property lost in the military service, under various acts of Congress, -and reports the balances to the Second Comptroller for his decision -thereon. - -The Fourth Auditor’s office adjusts all accounts for the service of the -Navy Department, and reports the balances to the Second Comptroller for -his decision thereon. - -The Fifth Auditor’s office adjusts all accounts for diplomatic and -similar services, performed under the direction of the State Department, -and reports the balances to the First Comptroller for his decision -thereon. - -The Sixth Auditor’s office adjusts all accounts arising from the service -of the Post-office Department. His decisions are final, unless an appeal -be taken within twelve months to the First Comptroller. He superintends -the collection of all debts due the Post-office Department, and all -penalties and forfeitures imposed on postmasters and mail contractors -for failing to do their duty; he directs suits and legal proceedings, -civil and criminal, and takes all such measures as may be authorized by -law to enforce the prompt payment of moneys due to the department, -instructing United States attorneys, marshals, and clerks, on all -matters relating thereto, and receives returns from each term of the -United States courts of the condition and progress of such suits and -legal proceedings; has charge of all lands and other property assigned -to the United States in payment of debts due the Post-office Department, -and has power to sell and dispose of the same for the benefit of the -United States. - -The Treasurer’s office receives and keeps the moneys of the United -States in his own office, and that of the depositories created by the -Act of August 6th, 1846, and pays out the same upon warrants drawn by -the Secretary of the Treasury, countersigned by the First Comptroller, -and upon warrants drawn by the Postmaster-General and countersigned by -the Sixth Auditor, and recorded by the Register. He also holds public -moneys advanced by warrant to disbursing officers, and pays out the same -upon their checks. - -The Registrar’s office keeps the accounts of public receipts and -expenditures, receives the returns and makes out the official statement -of commerce and navigation of the United States, and receives from the -First Comptroller and Commissioner of Customs all accounts and vouchers -decided by them, and is charged by law with their safe keeping. - -The Solicitor’s office superintends all civil suits commenced by the -United States (except those arising in the post-office department), and -instructs the United States attorneys, marshals and clerks in all -matters relating to them and their results. He receives returns from -each term of the United States courts, showing the progress and -condition of such suits; has charge of all lands and other property -assigned to the United States in payment of debts (except those assigned -in payment of debts due the post-office department), and has power to -sell and dispose of the same for the benefit of the United States. - -The Light-House Board, of which the Secretary of the Treasury is -_ex-officio_ president, but in the deliberations of which he has the -assistance of naval, military and scientific coadjutors. - -United States Coast Survey. The Superintendent, with numerous -assistants, employed in the office and upon the survey of the coast, are -under the control of this department. A statement of their duties will -be found in a future chapter. - -The new rooms of the Internal Revenue Department are very beautiful. -They run the entire length of the new wing of the Treasury, looking out -on the magnificent marble court, with its central fountain below, the -north entrance, the Presidential grounds and Pennsylvania avenue. They -are covered with miles of Brussels carpeting, in green and gold. Their -walls are set with elegant mirrors, hung with maps and pictures. There -are globes, cases filled with books, cushioned furniture—all the -accompaniments of elegant apartments, and one opening into the other, -forming a perfect _suite_. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXIV. - WOMAN’S WORK IN THE DEPARTMENTS—WHAT THEY - DO AND HOW THEY DO IT. - -Women Experts in the Treasury—General Spinner’s Opinion—A Woman’s - Logic—The Gifts of Women—Their Superiority to Men—Money Burnt in the - Chicago Fire—Cases of Valuable Rubbish—Identifying Burnt - Greenbacks—The Treasure Saved—The Ashes of the Boston Fire—From the - Bottom of the Mississippi—Mrs. Patterson Saves a “Pile” of - Money—Money in the Toes of Stockings—In the Stomachs of Men and - Beasts—From the Bodies of the Murdered and Drowned—Not Fairly - Paid—One Hundred and Eighty Women at Work—“The Broom - Brigade”—Scrubbing the Floors—The Soldier’s Widow—Stories which - Might be Told—Meditating Suicide—The Struggle of Life—How a Thousand - Women are Employed—Speaking of Their Characters—The Ill-paid - Servants of the Country—Chief-Justice Taney’s Daughters—Colonel - Albert Johnson’s Daughter—A Place Where Men are Not Employed—Writing - “for the Press”—Miss Grundy of New York—The Internal Revenue - Bureau—“Marvels of Mechanical Beauty”—Women of Business Capacity—A - Lady as Big as Two Books!—In a Man’s Place—A Disgrace to the - Nation—Working for Two, Paid for One—How “Retrenchment” is Carried - Out—In the Departments—Beaten by a Woman—The Post Office - Department—Folding “Dead Letters”—A Woman who has Worked - Well—“Sorrow Does Not Kill”—The Patent Office—The Agricultural - Department—Changes Which Should be Made. - - -In several branches of the Treasury service, women have risen to the -proficiency of experts. This is especially true of them as rapid and -accurate counters, as restorers of mutilated currency and as counterfeit -detectors. - -General Spinner says: “A man will examine a note systematically and -deduce logically, from the imperfect engraving, blurred vignette or -indistinct signature, that it is counterfeit, and be wrong four cases -out of ten. A woman picks up a note, looks at it in a desultory fashion -of her own, and says: ‘That’s counterfeit.’ ‘Why?’ ‘Because it is,’ she -answers promptly, and she is right eleven cases out of twelve.” Yet this -almost unerring accuracy is by no means the result of mere instinct, or -of hap-hazard chance. It is the sequence of subtle perception, of fine, -keen vision, and of exquisite sensitiveness of touch. - -All women do not excel as counterfeit-detectors; nor can all become -experts as restorers and counters of currency. But wherever a woman -possesses native quickness, combined with power of concentration, with -training and experience, she in time commands an absolute skill in her -work, which, it has been proved, it is impossible for men to attain. Her -very fineness of touch, swiftness of movement, and subtlety of sight -give her this advantage. Thus when notes are defaced or charred beyond -ordinary recognition, they are placed in the hands of women for -identification. - -After the great Chicago fire in 1871, cases of money to the value of one -hundred and sixty-four thousand, nine hundred and ninety-seven dollars -and ninety-eight cents, were sent to the United States Treasury for -identification. They consisted of legal tenders, National State bank and -fractional notes, bonds, certificates and coupons, internal revenue and -postage stamps, all so shrivelled and burned, that they crumbled to the -touch and defied unaided eyesight. All these charred treasures were -placed in the hands of a committee of six ladies, for identification. -What patience, practice, skill, were indispensable to the fulfilment of -this task, it is not difficult to conjecture. - -“After unpacking the money from the raw cotton in which it travelled, as -jealously swathed as the most precious jewellery, the ladies separated -each small piece with thin knives made for the purpose, then laying the -blackened fragments on sheets of blotting-paper, they decided by close -scrutiny the value, genuineness and nature of the note. Magnifying -glasses were provided, but seldom used, except for the deciphering of -coupon-numbers or other minute details. The pieces were then pasted on -thin paper, the bank-notes returned to their respective banks, and the -United States money put in sealed envelopes and delivered to a committee -of four, who superintended the final burning. The amount of one million, -two hundred and twenty-six thousand, three hundred and forty-one dollars -and thirty-three cents was identified—over seventy-six per cent. of the -whole.” - -A year later, Boston, from the ruins of its great fire, gathered the -ashes of its money and sent it to the United States Treasury, begging -identification and aid in restoration. Eighty-three cases came from that -city, and these were so carefully packed that the labor of -identification was greatly lightened. Of the eighty-eight thousand, -eight hundred and twelve dollars and ninety-nine cents, which they -contained, over ninety per cent. of the whole was identified by the same -six ladies, who saved so much to individuals and to the Government from -the Chicago fire. - -Besides money, a large amount of checks, drafts, promissory notes, -insurance policies, and other valuable papers were identified by these -same clear eyes and patient hands, and restored to their owners. The -entire responsibility of the whole amount rested on them. The money was -delivered to them, when it came, and on their reports all remittances on -it were made. It took over six months of constant labor to identify the -money from these fires. - -The names of this committee of six are Mrs. M. J. Patterson, Miss Pearl, -Mrs. Davis, Miss Schriner, Miss Wright, and Miss Powers. “Mrs. Patterson -has been engaged for seven or eight years on what are called ‘affidavit -cases’—cases where the money is too badly mutilated to be redeemed in -the regular way, and the sender testifying under oath that the missing -fragments are totally destroyed, receives whatever proportion of the -original value allowed by the rules.” - -The most noted case that she ever worked on was that of a paymaster’s -trunk that was sunk in the Mississippi, in the _Robert Carter_. After -lying three years in the bottom of the river, the steamer was raised, -and the money, soaked, rotten and obliterated, given to Mrs. Patterson -for identification. She saved one hundred and eighty-five thousand out -of two hundred thousand dollars, and the express company, which was -responsible for the original amount, presented her with five hundred -dollars, as a recognition of her services. - -All the money which she identifies passes from the hands of this lady to -a committee of three—two gentlemen, one from the Treasurer’s and one -from the Register’s office, and a lady from the Secretary’s office. The -duties of these three persons are identical. They re-count the money, -seal it with the official seal of the three offices, and for so doing -receive, per year, the gentlemen each eighteen hundred dollars, the lady -twelve hundred dollars—one more illustration of the sort of justice -between the work of men and women, which prevails in the Treasury -service! - -The identification and restoration of defaced and mutilated notes is a -very difficult and important operation. From the toes of stockings, in -which they have been washed and dissolved; from the stomachs of animals, -and even of men; from the bodies of drowned and murdered human beings; -from the holes of vice and of deadly disease, these fragments of money, -whose lines are often utterly obliterated, whose tissues emit the -foulest smells, come to the Treasury, and are committed wholly to the -supervision and skill of women. - -Let any just mind decide whether such labor does not deserve to be -recognized and rewarded absolutely on its own merits. Such is its -acknowledged value, that these Government experts have been allowed to -go to distant parts of the country, to restore burnt money belonging to -Adams’ Express Company, because it was known that there was no one else -in the land, who could perform this service. - -The whole basement floor of the north wing of the Treasury is occupied -by the busy counters of mutilated money. Here sit one hundred and eighty -women counters, restorers and detectors. Side by side, we see the faded -and the blooming face. Here is the woman, worn and weary—born, more than -likely, to ease and luxury—thankfully working to support herself and her -children; and at the very next table, a maiden, whose fresh youth, care -has not yet worn out—each working with equal thankfulness, to support -herself, and besides, perhaps, father and mother, brother, sister or -child. - -[Illustration: - - COUNTING WORN AND DEFACED GREENBACKS, AND DETECTING COUNTERFEITS. - This room is in the Redemption Bureau, Treasury Building. Over One - Hundred Thousand Dollars worth of Fractional Currency alone is here - daily received for redemption; out of which about $350 dollars’ - worth of counterfeit money is detected, stamped and returned. -] - -The time of toil, for one who must earn her living, is not long; indeed, -the hours are fewer than the average hours of ordinary labor. She does -not complain of them; she is grateful for her chance. Yet her -working-day is as long as her brother’s. Her chance, alone, is less. For -the same hours and the same toil, her stipend is one-fourth smaller than -his smallest. - -At three o’clock P. M., hats and shawls come down from their pegs, -lunch-baskets come forth from their hiding-places, the great corridors, -and porticoes, and broad streets are thronged with homeward-wending -workers. For the space of half an hour, the Treasury-offices and halls -seem deserted, and then—Lo! the Broom Brigade! Cobwebs, dust and dirt, -no longer dim the granite steps, the tessellated floors, the marble -surfaces of the Treasury-building, as they used to do, years ago. -Congress has provided a Broom Brigade, with fifteen dollars a month, to -pay each member—and here they come, the sweepers, the dusters and the -scrubbers—ninety women! - -Three years ago, was established the present efficient system of daily -cleaning of the Treasury, exclusively under feminine control, with what -perfect result, all who remember the Treasury as it was, and see it as -it is, can bear witness. - -These ninety women-workers are under the exclusive control of a lady -custodian. The organization, supervision, general control, payment, -etc., of this small army of sweepers, brushers and scrubbers, all -devolve on her. She is a fair and stately woman, wearing a crown of -snow-white hair, her soul looking out of eyes clear and bright, yet of -tender blue. Her face tells its own story of sorrow outlived, and of -deep human sympathy. Did it tell any other, she would not be the right -woman in the right place. No woman who has not suffered, who is not in -profound sympathy with every form of human poverty and want, could of -right reign over an army of women toilers, sweeping, scrubbing for -bread. At 4 P. M., each day, ninety women enter a little room on the -basement floor of the Treasury, there to exchange their decent street -dress for the dusty garments of toil. As they ascend the broad stairs -and disperse—broom, duster, or scrubbing-brush in hand—to make the -beautiful offices and broad halls fresh and bright for the next coming -day, the lady who guards and guides them all—who knows the history of -each one—what stories she might tell! - -Here is a little woman whose husband was killed in the Union army, -leaving her nothing but his memory, his small pension, and a pair of -brave hands to support herself and three little ones. Here are two -bright little colored girls. They are students in Howard’s University, -and come every day after school, the long way to the Treasury, to earn a -part of the money which is to insure their education. Here is a young -woman whose keenly lined, sorrowful face is a history. “Months ago she -came to the silver-haired lady in the custodian’s room, and asked for -work of any kind. The possibility to grant her request did not then -exist, and again and again, with little hope, she came. At last she -applied when some necessitous vacancy in the ranks of workers rendered -it possible for the lady to assign her at once to a place of employment; -and gladly she gave it, for the petitioner was wan and despairing. After -work and the departure of the throng, she again sought the lady, to -thank her on her knees ‘for saving her life.’ She said, ‘I had made up -my mind to take my life if you refused me; I had reached the end of -every thing.’ Then followed the oft-repeated story—deception, desertion, -desperation, and the one last struggle to live”—to live honestly by -honest, albeit the lowliest toil. - -“Many a soldier’s widow, struggling with smallest fortune, has occasion -to be thankful for the fifteen dollars earned here every month, although -the walk and work seem insufferable at times. Many a soldier’s orphan is -sustained by the stroke of brush and broom, making hall and stair and -wall brightly clean to the step and sight of coming visitors from far -and near, and the same shining polish which some strangers may admire, -on the perspected marble floors and wrought pilasters, is a source and -means of maintenance to humble homes when a death, desertion, and (O! -sadly often) drunkenness has removed the head and protector, and in -which life means only toil and sorrow. Every one of these ninety women -has her own story of trouble, and want, and endurance, which made up her -past, and won for her, her niche in this scheme of labor.” - -Near a thousand women, from the toilers of the tubs under its roof, to -the Brush-and-Broom Brigade in its basement, are employed in the -Treasury. Their labor ranges from the lowliest manual toil, to the -highest intellectual employment. In the social scale they measure the -entire gamut of society. In isolated instances, women of exceptional -character may still hold positions in the Treasury, and in so large a -number, and under an unjust system of appointment, it would be strange -if no such case could be found. But so powerful is the public sentiment -roused against such appointments, it is impossible that they should be -longer permitted, if known. The deepest wrong which their presence ever -inflicted, was the unjust suspicion which they brought upon a large body -of intelligent, pure women. The truth is, there is not another company -of women-workers in the land which numbers so many ladies of high -character, intelligence, culture, and social position. - -The country is not aware to what an extent its most noble public -servants have died poor, nor how many of their wives and daughters have -sought the Government Civil Service as the means of honorable -self-support. - -Until within a short time, when the friends of their father raised a -fund for their support, the daughters of Chief-Justice Taney were -employed in the Treasury. The fair young orphan daughter of Robert J. -Walker, once Secretary of the Treasury, now supports herself by service -in the Internal Revenue. Governor Fairchild, of Wisconsin, found his -beautiful wife, the daughter of a distinguished public man, occupying a -desk in the Treasury. Mrs. Mary Johnson, daughter of Colonel Albert, who -for a long series of years was head of the Topographical Bureau, has -been for ten years a clerk in the Treasury. Her husband was Consul at -Florence, where he died. Her father passing away soon after, she found -herself alone, with two young sons to rear and educate. She became a -Government clerk, or, as that title is now officially denied to a woman, -“a Government _employé_.” Her sons are growing up to honor her, one -having entered the Naval School at Annapolis. Mrs. Tilton, sister of -General Robert Ould, is an “_employé_” in the Internal Revenue. The -widow of Captain Ringgold is also there. - -The Quarter-master-General’s Office, which is a division of the War -Department, has been almost exclusively set apart for the widows, -daughters, and sisters of officers of army or navy, killed or injured in -the war. Almost without exception, the “_employés_” of this office are -gentlewomen. It is filled with elegant and accomplished women, some of -whom are remarkable for their literary and scientific attainments. These -ladies now occupy offices provided in a plain building on Fifteenth -street. Their rooms are smaller and much more private than those of the -Treasury opposite. Their work is the copying, recording, and registering -of the letters of the department. No men are employed in these offices. -Their superintendent is a lady, who has entire supervision of the ladies -and the labor of this division. She is the widow of a naval officer who -died in the service, a descendant of Benjamin Franklin, and occupies -now, as she has all her life, the highest social position. She has -children to support, and carries heavy official responsibilities—her -duties are identical with those of the head of any other bureau—she -receives only the stipend of the lowest male clerk, twelve hundred -dollars. Elizabeth Akers Allen (Florence Percy), whose deep and tender -lyrics call forth such universal response, held a position in this -office until her last marriage. - -Women of education and the finest intellectual gifts are to be found in -every department. No inconsiderable number attempt to bring their meagre -nine hundred dollar salary up to the most ignorant man _employé’s_ -twelve hundred, by writing for the press, or pursuing some artistic -employment outside of office hours. - -The Treasury boasts of a number of more than ordinary women -correspondents, whose letters have attracted wide attention by the -really important information which they have imparted, concerning -internal workings of Departmental life and service. Foremost among -these, is Miss Austine Snead (Miss Grundy, of the New York World). Miss -Snead is the only and fatherless daughter of an accomplished gentleman. -She is a “Class-child” of Harvard College, a loyal Kentuckian whom, with -her youthful and lovely mother, the vicissitudes of war drifted to the -one work-shop of the Nation open to women. The loss of her position, by -change of administration, forced her to turn to the chance of -journalism, and in the branch of the profession which she entered, she -rose at once to the foremost rank. Mrs. Snead, formerly a famous _belle_ -of Louisville, Kentucky, is one of the most patient, faithful, and -accurate counters in the redemption division of the Treasury, and is -beside, weekly correspondent of the _Louisville Courier Journal_. Both -are women who wear industry, integrity, and honor as their jewels, far -dearer to them than all the lost treasures of Fortune’s more prosperous -days. - -The Internal Revenue Bureau, a branch of the Treasury Service, and -occupying beautiful apartments in the Treasury Building, employs a large -number of women. Copying, recording, filing of letters, and keeping -accounts, make the chief work of this division. It demands a high order -of clerical ability, and the books kept by these ladies are marvels of -mechanical beauty. - -The complications and immensity of the Internal Revenue Service, make -this one of the busiest offices in the entire Department. It contains -from forty-five to fifty women—_employés_. Beside those who execute the -exquisite copper-plate copying, there are many whose whole duty is “head -work.” This consists of examining, sorting, and filing the different -daily communications received at the office. These are of one hundred -and fifty varieties, concerning internal revenue, taxes, etc., subjects -usually supposed not to be particularly lucid to the average feminine -mind. Many are employed in examining, approving, and recording reports -of surveys of distilleries, and other important papers; and such is the -estimate placed on their business capacity, as thus applied, that their -opinions on the papers are accepted without question. - -At one of these desks sits a lovely sylph-like creature, whose bird-like -hands always reminds me of Charlotte Bronté’s. She is scarcely bigger -than the two big books which she handles and “keeps”—and to see her at -them, perched upon a high stool, _is_ “a sight.” Born and reared in -affluence, fragile in constitution, and exquisitely sensitive in -organism, she is yet intellectually one of the best clerks—no -“_employés_” in the Bureau. Years ago, she was placed at this eighteen -hundred dollar desk, which a man-clerk had just vacated. She has filled -it, performing its duties for seven or eight years, for the woman’s -stipend of nine hundred dollars. When the new Civil Service Rules first -went into operation, she was awarded twelve hundred dollars per annum, -for her service from that date. To have awarded her the remaining six -hundred dollars, which was paid the man at the same desk, for doing the -same work, would have been an equality of justice, from which the -average official masculine mind instinctively recoiled. - -_Apropos_ of the preponderance of favor with which this same official -masculine mind is able to regard and reward itself, is the case of a -lady in another division. She has mathematical genius, and is one of the -best practical mathematicians in the Treasury Department. Many of the -statistical tables, for reports to Congress, are made out by her. -Members of Congress, on the most important committees, do not disdain to -come to her for assistance in making out their reports. Near two years -ago, a man-clerk, in the same room with this lady, (who received his -appointment through political favoritism,) became so dissipated, that he -was totally unfitted to fulfil the duties of his desk, and he was -carried by his friends to an inebriate asylum. Since that time, this -lady, in addition to the arduous duties of her own desk, has performed -all the labor accruing to that of the absent inebriate. She whose -official existence as a clerk is denied by the legislators who employ -her, has performed steadily, for many months, the labor of two -men-clerks. How much does she receive for so doing? Nine hundred dollars -a year. The eighteen hundred dollars, which she earns at one desk, is -paid to the drunkard in whose name she earns it! - -The Government, who support this man for being a drunkard, forces a -woman to do his work for nothing, or lose the chance of earning the -pittance paid to her in her own name. This lady, broken in health by her -long-continued and overtaxing toil, sees what before her? Surely not -recognition or justice from the Government which she serves and honors, -while it, through selfishness and injustice, disgraces itself. - -Of the forty-five ladies in the Internal Revenue Bureau, there is but -one, and she fifty years of age, who has not more than herself to -support on the pittance which she is paid. Nevertheless, whenever a -spasmodic cry of “retrenchment” is raised, three women are always -dismissed from office, to one man, although the men so greatly outnumber -the women, to say nothing of their being so much more expensive. - -“One of the greatest advocates of economy took work from a woman whose -pay was the invariable nine hundred dollars per year, to give it to a -man, who received for doing it, sixteen hundred dollars. No complaint -was made of her manner of doing the work, but the head of the division -said that she could count money, and he had not enough work for the men. -Nothing was said of dismissing the superfluous male clerks. The work -given the manly mind, in this instance, was the entering of dates of -redemption opposite the numbers of redeemed notes. A child of ten years -could scarcely have blundered at it. The same date was written sometimes -for two weeks at a time.” - -The lady at the head of the woman’s division of the Internal Revenue -Bureau, has filled the position, with marked efficiency, for ten years, -and upon the adoption of the new Civil Service Rules, she was authorized -to receive eighteen hundred dollars per annum. - -The lady who is one of the librarians of the library of the Treasury, is -an accomplished linguist, a very intellectual woman. She was appointed -by Mr. Boutwell, and received sixteen hundred dollars. - -There are some very important desks filled by ladies in the Fifth -Auditor’s office. Into their hands come all consular reports. To fulfil -their duties efficiently, they must possess a knowledge of banking, as -well as of mathematics. - -Before the Civil Service Rules were vetoed, several ladies competed in -one, two, and three examinations. Thus several won, by pure intellectual -test, twelve hundred dollars, sixteen hundred dollars, eighteen hundred -dollars, and one or two, I believe, a twenty-two hundred dollars -position. - -In the office of the Comptroller of the Treasury, are some very -important desks filled by ladies. One young lady in this office has -charge of the correspondence with the national banks and engraving -companies. This involves a complicated routine. The desk was formerly -filled by a man who received fourteen hundred dollars. It was taken from -him because he was two hundred letters behind date. The work which has -been in charge of this lady for six or seven years, at nine hundred -dollars per annum, is always even with the day. - -Another young lady, in this office, prepares an abstract of the -circulation issued and returned by national banks, by means of which an -immediate answer can be given, when information is asked, as to the -outstanding circulation of any particular bank. Another laborious task, -performed in this office by a lady, is the preparation of an abstract of -the number of notes of each denomination and issue, work requiring great -intellectual exactness and care. - -In the Post Office Department, there are forty-seven women who address -“returned letters,” _i. e._, letters which have miscarried, and which -are to be returned, if the signature, or anything inside the letter, -gives a clue to whom it is to be sent. There are ten women who fold -“dead letters,” and three who translate foreign letters. - -The lady in charge of the women clerks in the Dead-Letter Office, is the -daughter of an officer high in rank in the army, now dead. Her -grandfather was the President of a New England college. Mrs. Pettigru -King, whose father was the Governor of South Carolina, and a member of -the United States Senate, herself a woman of remarkable talents, was -long employed in the Dead-Letter Office. Sitting among many younger -women, her hands flying as swift as any of theirs—the daily task, that -of re-directing two hundred letters, usually completed by her before -that of any one else—we see a fair, round-faced, blue-eyed woman, whose -sudden, bright glance and rapid movements at once fix our attention. She -looks to be about fifty; she is in reality over seventy years of age. -She and her history combined, probably make as remarkable a fact as the -Dead-Letter Office contains. She is the widow of a clergyman. When the -war broke out, her only son became hopelessly insane. “As he could not -go to the war, I went myself,” she said. As the Assistant-Manager of the -United States Sanitary Committee for an entire State, she raised, in -money, ten thousand dollars, and collected and distributed ninety -thousand hospital articles. She was in the field, in the hospital, and -travelling between certain large cities, till the close of the war. Just -as she finished her great work, she fell and broke one of her limbs. -This confined her to her room for six months. In the meantime, her -daughter’s husband died, leaving her with three little children, and no -income. Soon after, the mother lost what little she had, and the entire -family were left penniless. After an unsuccessful attempt at the widow’s -forlorn hope, “keeping boarders,” mother and daughter came to -Washington, and sought for positions in the Departments. “Friends tried -to dissuade us,” said the old lady. “They told us that we must not come -here, to mingle with such people as they thought were in the -Departments. We have _not_ seen them. I have been three years in the -Post Office Department, and my daughter in the Treasury, and we have met -none but respectable women.” - -Three winters ago, by act of Congress, she was allowed to place her -insane son in the Lunatic Asylum here, free of charge, leaving her at -liberty to assist her daughter in the support of her young family. -Notwithstanding her war services, and the names of twenty prominent men -in her native State attached to her papers, it took her six months to -obtain, for herself and daughter, the chances to labor which she sought. -“Sorrow does not kill,” she says, and as we look into her beaming eyes, -we say it does not even extinguish the brightness of a soul forever -young,—and yet this lady, in a few eventful years, “lived through sorrow -enough to break any heart less stout than hers.” - -In the Patent Office, fifty-two women clerks are allowed by law. A few -women are employed in copying Pension Rolls in the Pension Office, who -have a room provided for them in the Patent Office. Ten or twelve women -have work given them from the Patent Office, which they do at their -homes. This work, as well as that done in the Office, consists chiefly -of the drawing of models. Every model of all the tens of thousands -received in the Patent Office, from the beginning to the present day, -has thus been re-produced and preserved. Glazed transparent linen is -placed over the engraved lines, and through this, with ink and stencil, -the most intricate and exquisite lines are drawn. To do this work -perfectly, a lady must be something of an artist and draughtswoman. -Magnifying glasses are used, and even with their aid, the work is most -trying, and often destructive to the eyesight. The salary fixed for this -work is ten hundred dollars per annum. Those who take their work home, -and are paid by the piece, make as much as those who give the work will -allow. Here, of course, is a large opportunity for favoritism and -injustice. Thus favorites are often allowed to do twice their share, -while others get barely work enough to subsist. - -The Agricultural Department affords temporary employment for numbers of -women, for two or three months of the year, and two have permanent -positions there. The temporary work is the putting up of seeds for -universal distribution, and occasionally copying is given out. Of the -two ladies who find constant employment there, one is the assistant of -Professor Glover, in taking charge of the Museum. She is the widow of a -western editor, and at one time had exclusive control of a public -journal (an agricultural one,) herself. She is a woman of large -intelligence, a proficient in botany and natural history, which fact -gave her, her present position, and enabled her to fill it with credit -to herself. The other lady _employé_ is a taxidermist, who prepares the -birds and insects for the Museum. The officers of this Department regard -her as a proficient in her profession. She is a German, has been -connected with the Department over six years, and has a room provided -for her in the beautiful agricultural building. - -Woman’s work in the Government Printing-Office, remains yet to be -noticed, but enough has been mentioned, to prove its value in other -branches of the Civil Service. It would be strange if so large a hive -held no drones. It is doubtless true, that while many women are not only -qualified, but actually perform the duties of the highest class desks, -for an unjust pittance, many more do not even earn their nine hundred -dollars per annum. There could be no more striking proof of the -inequality and injustice which prevail in our Civil Service, than the -fact that such persons, men and women, are appointed by men in power, -really to be supported by the Government, and receive from that -Government, for inefficiency and idleness, all, and more, than is paid -often to the most intellectual, the most efficient, the most devoted of -its servants. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXV. - WOMEN’S WORK IN THE TREASURY—HOW APPOINTMENTS - ARE MADE. - -The Scales of Justitia—Where They Hang and Where They Do Not Hang—The - Difference Between Men and Women—Reform a “Sham!”—The First - Women-Clerks—A Shameful and Disgraceful Fraud—What Two Women - Did—Cutting Down the Salaries of Women—The First Woman-Clerk in the - Treasury—Taking Her Husband’s Place—Working “_in Her Brother’s - Name_”—A Matter of Expediency—The Feminine Tea-Pot—The Secretary - Growls at the Tea-Pots—The Hegira of the Tea-Pots—Thackeray’s - Opinion of Nature’s Intentions—Blind on One Side—In War Days—General - Spinner Visits Secretary Chase—“A Woman can Use Scissors Better than - a Man”—Profound Discovery!—“She’ll do it _Cheaper_”—“Light - Work”—“Recognized”—Besieged by Women—Scenes of Distress and - Trouble—Hundreds of Homeless Women—After the War—How the - Appointments were Made—Creating an Interest—The Advantages of the - “Sinners”—Infamous Intrigues—The Baseness of Certain Senators—Virtue - Spattered with Mud—A Disgrace to the Nation—Secret Doings in High - Places—New Civil Service Rules—Sounding Magnanimous—Passing the - Examination—The Irrepressible Masculine Tyrants—The New Rules a - Perfect Failure—Up to the Mark, but not Winning—An Alarming - Suggestion—Men _versus_ Women—Tampering with the Scales—How Much a - Woman Ought to be Paid—Opinion of a Man in Power—Interesting - Description of an Average Representative—“Keeping Women in Their - Place”—Getting up a Speech on Women—The Man who Stayed at - Home—Generosity of the “Back-Pay” Congress—What Women Believe Ought - to be Done. - - -On the carved cornices which surmount windows and mirrors in the -spacious Office of the Secretary of the Treasury may be seen, equally -balanced above its keys, the scales of Justitia. Would that they -symbolized the equal justice reigning through the minutest division of -the great departments of the Government service. - -Weighted with human selfishness, perhaps this is impossible. Majestic in -aspect, great in magnitude, in energy and action, they will never be -morally grand till they are established and perpetuated in absolute -equity. In that hour the scales of Justitia will hang in equal balance -above the head of the masculine and feminine worker. Whatever _their_ -difference, there will be no disparity in the equity which shall -measure, weigh and reward equal toil. To-day the departments of -Government teem with kindness and favoritism to individual women. What -they lack is justice to woman. This they have lacked from the beginning. -What a comment on human selfishness is the fact, that with all the -legislation of successive Congresses, the employment of women in the -departments of the Government is to-day as it was in the -beginning—perpetuated in favoritism and injustice. Civil Service Reform, -as carried on, is a mockery and a sham. Nowhere has its hollow pretence -been so visible—so keenly felt—as in its utter failure of simple justice -to the woman-worker in the public service. - -From the beginning, when her work has been tacitly recognized and -rewarded as a man’s, her sex has been proscribed. The first work given -to women from the Government was issued from the General Land Office, as -early, if not earlier, than President Pierce’s administration, and -consisted of the copying of land warrants. This work was sent to their -homes. They received it in the name of some male relative, and for that -reason were paid what he would have received for doing it, viz., twelve -hundred dollars per annum. One lady supported a worthless husband (the -nominal clerk) and her two children in this way, doing all his work for -him. Another supported herself, her two nephews, and educated them out -of the same salary. - -During Mr. Buchanan’s administration, this work was taken out of -feminine hands, to a very large extent, and the few allowed to retain it -were paid only six hundred dollars. Somewhere in this era the first -woman clerk appeared in the Treasury. She was a wife who, during her -husband’s illness, was allowed to take his desk and to do his work, for -his support and their children’s. This she continued to do until her -second marriage; but it was _in her brother’s name_. She copied and -recorded, did both well, and was paid—not because she did well, but -because she did her work in the name of a man—sixteen hundred dollars -per annum. Thus, while this lady performed the work of a man, and -performed it in his name, as a woman her presence at the desk was a -subterfuge, and her official existence ignored. - -Without recognition or acknowledgment, the woman-clerk system in the -Treasury Department is an outgrowth of expediency. Like many another -fact born of the same parentage, it soon proved its own right to -existence, and refused to be extinguished. - -By the time that Secretary McCulloch made his advent, the feminine -tea-pot had invaded every window-ledge. The Secretary complained of the -accumulation of tea-pots in the Treasury of the nation. They vanished, -and ceased to distill the gentle beverage for the woman-worker at her -noonday lunch. “Nature meant kindly by woman when it made her the -tea-plant,” Thackeray says. The presence of her tea-pot was made a -mental and moral sign, by political philosophers, that woman was unfit -for Government service. Nobody ever heard that the costly cigars and -tobacco which filled the man clerk’s “nooning,” to the exhilaration of -his body and soul, was a like sign of his inability to perform prolonged -service without the aid of stimulants. - -In war days, when tens of thousands of men were withdrawn from civil -labor, and when one day’s expense to the Government equalled a whole -year’s in the time of Washington, General Spinner went to Secretary -Chase and said: “A woman can use scissors better than a man, and she -will do it cheaper. I want to employ women to cut the Treasury notes.” -Mr. Chase consented, and soon the great rooms of the Treasury witnessed -the unwonted sight of hundreds of women, scissors in hand, cutting and -trimming each Treasury-note sheet into four separate notes. This was -“light work;” but if anybody supposes it easy, let him try it for hours -without stopping, and the exquisite pain in his shoulder-joints and the -blisters on his fingers will bear aching witness to his mistake. - -Washington was full of needy women, of women whom the exigencies of war -had suddenly bereft of protection and home. In her appointment at that -hour, political differences went for nothing. Every poor woman who -applied to the good General was given work if he had it. A pair of -scissors were placed in her hands, and she was told to go at it. She had -no official appointment or existence. During 1862, these women were paid -six hundred dollars per annum out of the fund provided by Congress for -temporary clerks. A year or two later the working existence of these -women was recognized in the annual appropriation bills. - -After that it did not take long to spread through the land that the -Government Departments in Washington offered work to women. The land was -full—fuller than ever before of women who needed work to live. -Necessity, exaggeration, romance and sorrow, combined as propelling -motives, and the Capital was soon overrun with women seeking Government -employment. Then, more conspicuously than to-day, the supply far -exceeded the demand. The disappointment, the suffering, the sin which -grew out of this fact, can never be measured. - -The war had torn the whole social fabric like an earthquake. Society -seemed upheaved from its foundations—shattered, and scattered in chaos. -Nowhere was this so apparent as in Washington. Women seeking their -husbands; women, whose husbands were dead, left penniless with dependent -children. Young girls, orphaned and homeless, with women adventurers of -every phase and sort, all, sooner or later, found their way to -Washington. The male population was scarcely less chaotic. Men, -restrained and harmonized through life by the holiest influences of -home, found themselves suddenly homeless, herded together in masses, -exposed to hardships, danger and undreamed-of temptations. “Let us eat -and drink, for to-morrow we die,” seemed to be blazoned on the painted -sign-boards of the dens of drink and sin, and on the debauched and -brazen faces of the stranger men and women who jostled each other on the -crowded thoroughfares. - -While thousands escaped unharmed the moral pestilence which brooded in -the air, tens of thousands more were touched with its blight, and fell. -Men and women who would have lived and died innocent, in the safe -shelter of peace and home, grew demoralized and desperate amid the rack -and ruin of war. In the hour when human nature needed every sacred -safeguard, it found itself bereft of the sweetest and best that it had -ever known. This was especially true of the hundreds of homeless women -in the Capital seeking employment. Congressional appropriations made -woman’s Government-employment at once a Congressional reward. Very soon, -every woman’s appointment to work was at the mercy of some Member of -Congress. Political or war-service might secure a man his, but what had -the woman but her bereavements, or her personal influence? For the sake -of the former, noble men, in many instances, sought and found honest -employment for noble women, for women who had given their husbands, sons -and fathers, their own heart’s blood, to their country, asking nothing -in return but the chance to work for their own bread and their -children’s. - -In order to secure any Government position, the first thing a woman had -to do was to go and tell her story to a man—in all probability a -stranger—who possessed the appointing power, her chance of getting her -place depending utterly on the personal interest which she might be able -to arouse in him. If he was sufficiently interested in her story, and in -her, to make the official demand necessary, she obtained the coveted -place, no matter what her qualifications for it, or her lack of them -might be. If she failed to interest him, by no possibility could she -secure that place, unless she could succeed in winning over to her cause -another man of equal political power. If the men who held her chance for -bread were good men, and she a good woman, well; if they were bad men, -and she a weak woman, not so well. In either case, the principle -underlying the appointment was equally wrong. - -It was this unjust mode of appointment which, in so many instances, -especially through the years of the war, placed side by side, with pure -and noble women, the women-adventurers and sinners, whose presence cast -so much undeserved reproach upon the innocent, and who caused the only -shadow of disrepute which has ever fallen upon woman’s Treasury-service. -Even in the worst days this class formed the exceptions to a host of -honorable and noble women, and yet the shameful fact cannot be wiped out -that men, high in political power, because they had that power, made -womanly virtue its price, and were meanly base enough to use the Civil -Service of their country to pay for their own disgraceful sins. Because -this was possible, pure women, working day by day to support themselves -and their children, were covered with the shadow of unjust suspicion, -while women, unworthy and profligate, were allowed the same positions, -with equal honor and equal pay. - -There could be no greater moral injustice to woman than to place her -employment under the Government on such a basis. It put the best under -ban, while it drew those whose steps pointed downward swiftly along the -inevitable descent. There was but one redress that the State could offer -to its daughters, that of making their chance equal to that of its sons. -Then, if they failed, the failure would be their own; if they succeeded, -they would not be defrauded by the Government they served. - -The new Civil-Service Rules, whatever their impracticability in other -ways, seemed to offer to the women-workers of the Government this -redress. If education and fitness were to be made the standard of -Departmental Service, alike for women as men, then the reign of -favoritism and might must end. An idle woman, the pet of some man in -power, would no longer receive all that was paid a woman filling the -desks of two men. The woman who had proved, by years of efficient -service at a man’s desk, that she was more than equal to the performing -of his duties, would cease to receive for doing them the pittance of the -veriest idler in the lobbies, and no more. - -It sounded well; magnanimous men and true women, yearning only for -justice, and that it might be earned and won without ado, took heart. -Educated women from North and South, East and West, flocked to the -Capital to compete in impartial intellectual examination with men. Many -of these were teachers—all women to whom self-support, or the support of -others, were indispensable. The number of women who have passed the -highest competitive examinations, is remarkable. Their life-long -pursuits and intellectual training made it impossible that, in this -regard, they should prove second to men. The number so great, that all -could receive appointments was not probable. - -In the face of so many new professions of equality of chance in the -public service for women, the astonishing fact is, that while women pass -the highest examinations with honor, it is men, with scarcely an -exception, who pass into the highest places. With a mocking outcry of -“justice and equality,” uttered to appease the universal demand, -selfishness and might still prevail in all departmental appointments. -Political and personal influence appoint women to-day, just as they did -before one woman was summoned to compete in intellectual examination -with men. - -“You were fools to expect a twelve-hundred-dollar clerkship because you -passed the examination of that class,” said a high appointing officer of -the Treasury to two ladies, one who had come from a far Western, the -other from a far Eastern State. Both ladies passed the highest -competitive examination—both, after months of wearing anxiety and -struggle, with the wolf at the door, received—a nine-hundred-dollar -clerkship. Did they receive even that on the high merit of their -competitive examination? Not at all; had their appointment depended on -that, they would not have received one at all. Sick and worn out, they -received it at last on the special plea of two men in office, each -having political power in his respective State. - -With such results, I ask, what is a competitive examination to women but -a shame to the power that treacherously offers it? The man who passes -such an examination cannot receive less than a twelve-hundred-dollar -clerkship; the woman who passes triumphantly the severest intellectual -test offered by the Government, cannot receive more than a -nine-hundred-dollar position. Why? So many women came to Washington and -proved, by actual mental examination, that they were fully competent to -fill the highest civil offices in the departments, its officials became -alarmed. “Taken on their attainments, they will push out the men,” they -exclaimed, in alarm. Then straightway they fell back, as men in power -always do, to carry their own ends on unjust legislation. They based -their decision on the Act of Congress of four years ago, which fixed the -salary of all women employed in the Government Departments at nine -hundred dollars per annum. - -The result of all the loud hypocritical outcry of civil equality to -women is, that hereafter, no matter how high the competitive examination -which she passes, no matter what the services which she renders, no -woman is to receive more than nine hundred dollars per year for any -appointment received after a certain date; and no man, no matter how low -the labor which he performs, be it only as a messenger to run through -the halls, is to receive less than twelve hundred dollars per annum. - -Cast down your scales, O, Justitia, let them shiver to atoms on its -marble floor for hanging in equal balance above the keys of the Treasury -of the United States. They are a mocking lie. Beneath these desecrated -symbols sits the Secretary of the Treasury, and to him a few shrinking, -yet daring, women have appealed. “Four hundred dollars a year is enough -for any woman to be paid for her work,” replies this accidental -potentate, borne from obscurity to power solely by the “boosting” of a -friend, who lifted him from his unthought-of “bench” in Massachusetts, -with no guarantee of fitness from his past, to the chiefship of the -Treasury of the Nation. “Four hundred dollars is enough for any woman to -receive for her work, and more than she could earn anywhere else,” -replies this man. - -This one remark, pitted against the facts recorded in this chapter, -proved the man who made it as too narrow-minded and unjust, too pervaded -with the caste and selfishness of sex, to be fit to hold the appointing -power over hundreds of women, in culture and intellectually more than -his peers. No man whose spring of action is “might is right” has a right -to rule. - -To-day nothing could be more humiliating to a high-spirited, -intelligent, honorable woman, than to sit in the gallery of the Hall of -Representatives and be compelled to listen to a debate on woman’s work -and wages going on below. Yet if she never heard the words uttered by -men who claim to be the representatives of the people, and who make the -laws which define her rights and decide her rewards, she could never -realize how selfish, ungenerous, and unjust is the average man who -assumes to represent woman, and to legislate for her welfare. These men, -on the average, are fairly good husbands and indulgent fathers. They are -anything but tyrants, personally, to the women of their families. But -their personal relations do not prevent them from placing a very low -estimate upon the powers, performance, place and prospects of women in -general. Their caste of sex infiltrates through every word they utter. - -The man who is “bound to keep woman in her place,” before he makes a -speech to that effect, rushes into the Congressional Library, and asks -Mr. Spofford to give him every book which will help him to prove that -woman is a weak and inefficient creature. He then proceeds to “cram” -himself with a crude mass of statements, which he extracts pell-mell out -of a heap of books. This unassimilated and impracticable load he -delivers, a few days later, to Congress, to the galleries, and to the -_Globe_—to prove that—no matter what her qualities or qualifications, -moral or mental—being a woman, for that fact alone, she must not be a -clerk, but an “_employé_;” and no matter what she has done or is capable -of doing in the service of the Government, for that service she must -receive but nine hundred dollars, and the sum be fixed by law. - -There are honorable exceptions—a few men in Congress who, in the -broadest and best sense, are the friends of woman. They form a small -minority. The majority, after having made woman’s very existence as a -Government-worker to depend on their own personal favoritism or caprice, -stand up in Congress and cast stones at the very class which they have -themselves created. In nine cases out of ten, these men staid at home -while others fought their country’s battles. And now they reward the -widows and orphans of soldiers and sailors by giving them a reluctant -chance to earn their bread on half-pay. They do it under sufferance, -while these legislators withhold just remuneration, sneer at their work, -and defame their characters. - -The Forty-second Congress, which, in its most hurried moments, could -take time to vote to its members an increase of salary from five -thousand to eight thousand a year, rejected without debate a proposition -to give women-clerks in the departments equal compensation with men, for -the same labor. What added proof is required to show that the law-making -power of our land is fast becoming a monied monopoly—a legislature for -the rich—an ignorer of the poor. “Eight thousand dollars every twelve -months, by dint of close economy, will keep my wife and daughters in -silks and velvets; will give them a phæton by the sea, and make -beautiful their paths upon the mountain tops! What to me are the wives -and daughters of the poor? What care of mine the widows and orphans of -men who perished in their country’s service, if they do support -themselves and their children by working for this just Government, which -I help to make, for nine hundred dollars a year! while I pay at least -twelve hundred to the laziest masculine lout who dawdles with papers -across the Treasury floors?” - -Yet there was scarcely a Member of that Congress that would not repel -with jest or sneer the mere mention of woman’s demand, in the face of -such injustice, to legislate for herself. If you would avert this -catastrophe, gentlemen, show that you are capable of just legislation; -prove that the power of franchise does not always beget oppression to -the disfranchised. I point to the practical working of the new -Civil-Service Rules, to your own greedy grasp of additional thousands, -with the refusal to grant three meagre hundreds to working women, to -prove that woman has no hope of justice in man’s representation. -Represent her interests with half the eager avidity which marks your -devotion to your own, and she will never ask to represent herself. But -no matter what her individual distaste to public responsibility, nothing -is more apparent to the wide-visioned, thoughtful woman than that, in a -republic, the only possibility of obtaining personal justice lies in -political equality. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXVI. - GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL LIFE—HOW PLACE AND POWER ARE WON. - -Government Official Life—Its Effects on Human Nature—Keeping his Eye - Open—The Sweet and Winning Ways of Mr. Parasite—In Office—The - Fault of “the People” and “my Friends”—Shrinking from - Responsibilities—Pulling the Wool over the Eyes of the - Innocent—Writing Letters in a Big Way—The “Dark Ways” of Wicked - Mr. P——— —A Suspicious Yearning for Private Life—The Sweets of - Office—A Little Change of Opinion—A Man Afflicted with Too Many - Friends—Forgetting Things that Were—John Jones is not - Encouraged—Post-offices as Plentiful as Blackberries—Receiving - Office-seekers—“The Worst Thing in the World for You”—Dismissing - John—Over-crowded Pastures—John’s Own Private Opinion—The “Mighty - Messenger”—Government-Servants—Peculiar Impartiality of the Man in - Office—What the Successful Man Said—I Change My Opinion of Him—A - Certain Kind of Man, and Where He can be Found. - - -Governmental official life has one effect upon those whom it benefits, -which is anything but creditable to human nature. - -Mr. Parasite wants a high place in the governmental service, and -circumstances favor his getting it. While there is any doubt about it, -he does not disdain to use any influence within his reach to make it -certain. How lovely he is to everybody whose good word or ill word may -“tell” for or against him. How affable he is to every mortal, from the -lowliest outspoken man in his home town, to the influential writer, -whose powerful pen he wishes to propitiate. Mr. Parasite glides into his -place with grace and resignation. “The people, the people, you know, and -my friends—_they_ forced it upon me. They quite overrate my fitness, -quite. I shrink from such responsibilities, such arduous labors; but, if -my country needs me, if my constituents _demand_ my services, I feel -that I have no right to refuse, no right to consult my personal ease, -although the desire of my heart is for the peaceful quiet of private -life.” - -[Illustration: - - THE LOBBY OF THE SENATE. - INSIDE THE CAPITOL.—WASHINGTON. -] - -Strange to tell, when an accommodating people are about to grant him the -desire of his heart, Mr. Parasite suddenly starts up alert, and touches -the springs of a most powerful enginery. He writes personal letters by -thousands; he has his friends—i. e. agents—at work for him everywhere, -whispering with this one, arguing with that one, and urging his claims -incessantly upon the appointing power. But who, that did not know it, -could believe it. - -Chance to light upon Mr. Parasite about this time, and mention the -subject of his possible appointment or election to him as one in which -he is naturally interested. Lo! amid all others, Mr. Parasite alone is -indifferent. “Of course, it would be a compliment, a re-election or -re-appointment. He would prize it much as a mark of confidence from the -people, or the Government; but really, so far as personal desires go, -private life.” - -_Private life_ still fills the measure of his yearning. “Retirement” is -still the goal of his desire. This is but the weakness; the crime of Mr. -Parasite is revealed further on. The long suspense over, safely -ensconced in that official chair, while its cushions are a new delight, -its honors are fresh, its powers unwonted, perhaps a consciousness of -gratitude remains with Mr. Parasite. It’s a pleasant office, very. -Carpeted, cushioned, curtained, pictured, secluded. It is pleasant, -very. This ever-acknowledged honor of official state, messengers flying -at your bid, doors swinging noiselessly at your approach, hats springing -into air as you pass by, _lorgnettes_ lifted by fair hands in great -assemblies, the crowd peering and shouting, “There goes the great Mr. -Parasite!” Sweet, also, are the newly-found uses of official -power—sweeter even than to die for one’s country. The privileges of -patronage, the consciousness of power over the fate of others, the uses -of power in ministering to self—first sought and last relinquished—of -all the gifts of office. - -While all these retain the charm of newness, a sense of gratitude may -remain with Mr. Parasite towards those who led and lifted him to his -high estate. Rarely strong in any man, the sense of gratitude with -continued office is sure to die out. When he first enters, and the -memory of fresh services remains with him, he may feel, at least -faintly, that he owes something to somebody besides himself; but the -longer he remains, the surer he is that all is his by right, all due to -his own exalted merit. There comes a time when it seems as if that -cushioned chair, that luxurious office, those muffled doors, those -cringing messengers, were all made especially for him and to do him -service. With a growing sense of security in his position, comes, -perhaps, an unconscious indifference toward those who, in the beginning, -helped to lift him toward it. There is no intentional ingratitude, only -it is so easy for some natures to forget others when they cease to need -them. - -Then, too, official place, even in a republican government, hourly feeds -in a man his love of power, and his sense of personal importance. It -feeds the vanity and self-satisfaction of poor human nature, when its -fellows are dependent upon it even for the smallest favors. Few meet -this test and survive it their noblest selves. It is astonishing how -soon Mr. Parasite forgets that, a short time since, he was a seeker of -favors himself, and is sure to be again, before old age strands him amid -things gone by in the long-deferred haven of private life. - -While a feeling of dependence on others survives, an emotion of -gratitude lingers, Mr. Parasite will try to treat other applicants for -office as he desired to be treated a few short months since himself. But -these emotions were never known to live through a single stress of a -single term of office. - -Poor Mr. Parasite is very much beset! Every hour in the day somebody -wants something that somebody believes is in Mr. Parasite’s power to -bestow. It may be flattering, but it is also wearing, tearing, -exasperating, and even maddening, sometimes, to a man to be deemed the -dispenser of so much power and patronage. He cannot give everybody all -that everybody may ask—of course not. This is not all his sin. His sin -is this: He comes in time (usually in a marvellously short time) to -regard every one seeking the patronage of his office as a mendicant on -his personal bounty, rather than as a member of one class with himself. -Because he gained the highest honor, he forgets that he got it on the -very same principle that John Jones, who, armed with credentials from -his minister and doctor, so humbly sues for the post-office of Mudtown. -He listens to the sister pleading for her brother, the wife for her -husband, the father for his son, the poor man for himself, and because -it is little each asks, despises each accordingly, lectures each on the -folly of wanting any Government place whatever. The one thing that he -cannot remember, and which it is most delightful to forget, is that he -was ever in John Jones’ place himself. - -To be sure, he did not sue for the Mudtown post-office. He wanted a -foreign ministry, a home secretaryship, to be a Senator, or, at least, a -Governor. He begged or bartered for these Government-gifts precisely as -John does for his post-office. Both are equally office-seekers; but -there is such disparity between John’s little Alpha and the Omega of Mr. -Parasite’s desires, the latter does not recognize in this seeker of -small things his remotest cousin. Comparatively few dare demand -ministries and secretaryships, while post-offices and their ilk are as -plentiful as blackberries, and their pickers equally so—so plentiful -that Mr. Parasite leans back in his cushioned chair, on his official -tripod, and wonders _which_ John Jones it will be next, and what _he_ -will want; and, when one of the innumerable Johns, waiting outside, is -admitted by a mighty messenger, whose official state is more -overwhelming even than his master’s, the suppliant quakes to the bottom -of his boots in the presence of the powerful potentate, Mr. Parasite. - -“What do _you_ want?” says the potentate, in a tone which implies in -advance, “You can’t have it.” - -“Only the Mudtown post-office,” says John, “or—or anything that I can -get.” - -“Impossible; I have nothing—nothing for you,” says the potentate, in a -remote and superior tone, which indicates, as only a tone can, that he, -the potentate, needs nothing at present himself. And who can imagine -that he ever did? “Why on earth do so many of you come for Government -employment? Don’t you know it is the worst thing in the world for you? -You had better go to work. Do anything, rather than to hang upon the -Government.” - -Thus _one_ John is dismissed, to go and browse in the closely-cropped -and over-crowded pastures of the inefficient and ne’er-do-well -mediocrity. - -Several days later, when John rebounds from the shock imparted by Mr. -Parasite’s grandeur, its momentum sends him pat against a fact. “Why, he -is a hanger-on to the Government himself.” Yes; and so, in one sense, is -every office-holder, from the President down to the mighty messenger who -condescends to shut and open doors. It implies no discredit to be a -server of the Government; but it reveals a very ignoble side of human -nature, when the favored holder rebuffs the lowliest seeker as a being -from another race, in any essential quality the antipodes of himself. - -A man who has just been lifted by his friends from one high place to -another, has long boasted, while in power, “that he would not help a -friend sooner than an enemy.” I had a certain admiration for him till I -knew that he said this, and proved it by his practice. There is -something true and grateful and noble lacking in a man’s nature, when he -turns from his friend as he would from an enemy, doing nothing for -either; always taking, and never giving; always seeking, yet sneering at -others who seek; always subsisting on Government bounty and place -himself, while he wounds, ignores, and sometimes insults the -unfortunates who wish to do likewise and can’t. - -This is Mr. Parasite, and he lives, reigns and flourishes, as parasites -only can, in every department of governmental state. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXVII. - THE DEAD LETTER OFFICE—ITS MARVELS AND MYSTERIES. - -The Post-Office—Its Architecture—The Monolithic Corinthian - Columns—The Postal Service in Early Times—The Act of Queen - Anne’s Reign—“Her Majesty’s Colonies”—After the Revolution—The - First Postmaster-General—The Present Chief—A Cabinet - Minister—The Subordinate Officers—Their Positions and Duties—The - Ocean Mail Postal Service—The Contract Office—The Finance - Office—The Inspection Office—Complaints and Misdoings—Benjamin - Franklin’s Appointment—He Goes into Debt—One Hundred and Twenty - Years Ago—Franklin Performs Wonderful Works—His Ideas of - Speed—Between Boston and Philadelphia in Six Weeks—Dismissed - from Office—The Congress of “The Confederation”—A New Post - Office System—Franklin Comes In Again—The Inspector of Dead - Letters—Not Allowed to Take Copies of Letters—Only Seventy-five - Offices in the States—Primitive Regulations—Only One - Clerk—Government Stages—The Office at Washington—Saved from the - British Troops—Franklin’s Old Ledger—The Present Number of Post - Offices—The Dead Letter Office—The Ladies Too Much Squeezed—Some - of the Ladies “Packed”—Opening the Dead Letters—Why Certain - Persons are Trusted—Three Thousand Thoughtless People—Valuable - Letters—Ensuring Correctness—The Property Branch—The Touching - Story of the Photographs—The Return Branch—What the Postmaster - Says. - - -Though injured in comparison by the higher site and loftier walls of the -Patent-Office opposite, the Post-Office, in itself, is one of the most -beautiful public buildings in Washington. It occupies the entire block -situated on Seventh and Eighth streets west, and E and F streets north. -Like the Treasury and Patent-Office, it incloses a grassy court-yard on -which its inner offices look out. - -The architecture of the Post-Office is a modified Corinthian, and is -regarded by critics as the best representation of the Italian palatial -ever built upon this continent. It was designed chiefly by F. A. Walter, -at that time architect of the Capitol, an artist who has left monuments -of architectural beauty behind him in marble which, seemingly, can never -perish. On the Seventh street side there is a vestibule, the ceiling of -which is composed of richly ornamented marbles, supported by four marble -columns; the walls, niches and floors are of marble, polished and -tessellated. This is the grand entrance to the General Post-Office -Department. The F street front affords accommodation to the city Post -Office. It has a deeply recessed portico in the centre, consisting of -eight columns grouped in pairs, and flanked by coupled pilasters -supporting an entablature which girds the entire work. The portico is -supported by an arcade which furnishes ample convenience for the -delivery of letters, and the hurrying crowds which come after them. The -Corinthian columns of this portico are each formed of a single block of -marble, and each in itself is a marvel of architectural grace. The -entrance for the mail wagons, on Eighth street, consists of a grand -archway, the spandrels of which bear upon their face, sculpture -representing Steam and Electricity, while a mask, representing Fidelity, -forms the key-stone. - -The Postal Service of the country is the oldest branch of the -Government. As early as the year 1792, a proposition was introduced into -the General Assembly of Virginia, to establish the office of -Postmaster-General of Virginia and other parts of America. The -proposition became a law, but was never carried into effect. In 1710, -during the reign of Queen Anne, the British Parliament established a -General Post-Office for all Her Majesty’s dominions. By this act, the -Postmaster-General was permitted to have one chief letter office in New -York, and other chief letter offices at some convenient place or places -in each of Her Majesty’s provinces or colonies in America. When the -colonies threw off their allegiance to the Crown, especial care was -given to preserving, as far as possible, the postal facilities of the -country. When the Federal Constitution was adopted, the right was -secured to Congress “to establish Post-Offices and Post-Roads.” In 1789, -Congress created the office of Postmaster-General, and defined his -duties. Other laws have since been passed, regulating the increased -powers and duties of the Department, which is now, next to the Treasury, -the most extensive in the country. - -The Postmaster-General, the head of the Department, is a member of the -President’s Cabinet, and is in charge of the postal affairs of the -United States. The business of the various branches of the Department is -conducted in his name and by his authority. He has a general supervision -of the whole Department, and issues all orders concerning the service -rendered the Government through his subordinates. During the first -administrations of the Government, the Postmaster-General was not -regarded as a Cabinet Minister, but simply as the head of a Bureau. In -1829, General Jackson invited Mr. Barry, the gentleman appointed by him -to that office, to a seat in his Cabinet. Since that time, the -Postmaster-General has been recognized, as _ex-officio_, a Cabinet -Minister. - -The first Postmaster-General was Samuel Osgood, of Massachusetts. The -present Postmaster is Marshall Jewell, of Hartford, Connecticut. - -The subordinate officers of the Department are three Assistant -Postmaster-Generals, and the Chief of the Inspection Office. -The Appointment Office is in charge of the First Assistant -Postmaster-General. To this office are assigned all questions which -relate to the establishment and discontinuance of post-offices, changes -of sites and names, appointment and removal of postmasters, and _route_ -and local agents, as, also, the giving of instructions to postmasters. -Postmasters are furnished with marking and rating-stamps and -letter-balances by this Bureau, which is charged also with providing -blanks and stationery for the use of the Department, and with the -superintendence of the several agencies established for supplying -postmasters with blanks. “To this Bureau is likewise assigned the -supervision of the ocean-mail steamship-lines, and of the foreign and -international postal arrangements.” - -The Contract-Office is in charge of the Second Assistant -Postmaster-General. To this office is assigned the business of arranging -the mail service of the United States, and placing the same under -contract, embracing all correspondence and proceedings affecting the -frequency of trips, mode of conveyance, and time of departures and -arrivals on all the _routes_; the course of the mail between the -different sections of the country; the points of mail distribution; and -the regulations for the government of the domestic mail service of the -United States. It prepares the advertisements for mail proposals, -receives the bids, and takes charge of the annual and occasional mail -lettings, and the adjustment and execution of the contracts. All -applications for the establishment or alteration of mail arrangements, -and the appointment of mail messengers, should be sent to this office. -All claims should be submitted to it for transportation service not -under contract, as the recognition of said service is first to be -obtained through the Contract-Office as a necessary authority for the -proper credits at the Auditor’s-Office. - -From this office all postmasters at the ends of _routes_ receive the -statement of mail arrangements prescribed for the respective _routes_. -It reports weekly to the Auditor all contracts executed and all orders -affecting accounts for mail transportation; prepares the statistical -exhibits of mail service, and the reports of the mail lettings, giving a -statement of each bid; also of the contracts made, the new service -originated, the curtailments ordered, and the additional allowances -granted within the year. - -The Finance-Office is in charge of the Third Assistant -Postmaster-General. To this office is assigned the supervision and -management of the financial business of the Department not devolved by -law upon the Auditor, embracing accounts with the draft offices and -other depositories of the Department; the issuing of warrants and drafts -in payment of balances, reported by the Auditor to be due mail -contractors and other persons; the supervision of the accounts of -offices under orders to deposit their quarterly balances at designated -points; and the superintendence of the rendition by postmasters of their -quarterly returns of postages. It has charge of the Dead-Letter Office, -of the issuing of postage stamps and stamped envelopes for the -prepayment of postage, and with the accounts connected therewith. - -To the Third Assistant Postmaster-General all postmasters should direct -their quarterly returns; those at draft-offices, their letters reporting -quarterly the net proceeds of their offices; and those at -depositing-offices, their certificates of deposit. To him should also be -directed the weekly and monthly returns of the depositories of the -Department, as well as applications and receipts for postage stamps and -stamped envelopes, and for dead letters. - -The Inspection-Office is in charge of a Chief Clerk. To this office is -assigned the duty of receiving and examining the registers of the -arrivals and departures of the mails, certificates of the service of -_route_-agents, and reports of mail failures; noting the delinquencies -of contractors, and preparing cases thereon for the action of the -Postmaster-General; furnishing blanks for mail registers and reports of -mail failures, providing and sending out mail bags and mail locks and -keys, and doing all other things which may be necessary to secure a -faithful and exact performance of all mail contracts. - -All cases of mail depredation, of violations of law by private -expresses, or by the forging and illegal use of postage stamps, are -under supervision of this office, and should be reported to it. All -communications respecting lost money-letters, mail depredations, or -other violations of law, or mail locks and keys, should be directed to -“Chief Clerk, Post-Office Department.” - -All registers of the arrivals and departures of the mails, certificates -of the service of _route_-agents, reports of mail failures, applications -for mail registers, and all complaints against contractors for irregular -or imperfect service, should be directed, “Inspection Office, -Post-Office Department.” - -Benjamin Franklin was appointed General Deputy Postmaster of the -Colonies, in the year 1753, with a salary between him and his -confederates, of £600, if they could get it. This experiment brought him -in debt £900, and his success in expediting the mails, which he dwells -upon with so much satisfaction in his writings, will create a smile in -these days of electricity, steam, and “young-American” speed. In the -year 1754, he gave notice that the mail to New England, which used to -start but once a fortnight, in winter, should start once a week, all the -year, “whereby answers might be obtained to letters between Philadelphia -and Boston in three weeks, which used to require six weeks!” - -Franklin was removed from his office by the British Ministry; but in the -year 1775, the Congress of the Confederation having assumed the -practical sovereignty of the Colonies, appointed a committee to devise a -system of post-office communication, who made a report recommending a -plan on the 26th of July, which on the same day was adopted, and Doctor -Franklin unanimously appointed Postmaster-General, at a salary of $1,000 -per annum. The salary of the Postmaster-General was doubled on the 16th -of April, 1779, and on the 27th day of December, of the same year, -Congress increased the salary to $5,000 per annum. - -An Inspector of Dead Letters was also appointed, at a salary of $100 per -annum, who was under oath faithfully and impartially to discharge the -duties of his office, and enjoined to take no copies of letters, and not -to divulge the contents to any but Congress, or to those who were -appointed by Congress for that purpose. Dr. Franklin, on the 7th of -November, 1776, was succeeded as Postmaster-General by his relative, -Richard Bache, who remained in office till the 28th of January, 1782, -when he was succeeded by Ebenezer Hazard, who was the last head of the -General Post-Office under the Confederacy. - -In 1790, there were but seventy-five post-offices in the United States, -and but eighteen hundred and seventy-five miles of post _routes_. - -The General Post-Office, in 1790, was located in New York, and Samuel -Osgood, of Massachusetts, was the first Postmaster-General under the -Federal Government. His conception of the duties of his office were, -doubtless, very humble, as he recommended “that the Postmaster-General -should not keep an office separate from the one in which the mail was -opened and distributed; that he might, by his presence, prevent -irregularities, and rectify any mistakes that might occur;” in fact, put -the Postmaster-General, his assistant, and their one clerk, in the city -post-office, to see that its mails were assorted and made up correctly. - -The salary of Mr. Osgood was $1,500 per annum. Timothy Pickering was -appointed by Washington, August 12, 1791, at an increased salary of -$2,000. Joseph Habersham was the last Postmaster-General appointed by -Washington. He was commissioned April 22, 1795, at a salary of $2,400 -per annum. The office was located in Philadelphia, in the year 1796, and -was established at Washington when the Federal Government was removed -there. In 1802, the United States ran their own stages between -Philadelphia and New York, finding coaches, drivers, horses, etc., and -cleared in three years over $11,000, by carrying passengers. - -That sultry morning of August 25, 1814, when Admiral Cockburn and his -drunken crew, eager for fresh destruction, marched from Capitol Hill to -the War Office, which they burned, and from it down F street to treat -the Post-Office to the same fate, they found it on the site where its -marble successor now stands, and under the same roof the Patent-Office. -Says Charles J. Ingersoll, in his rambling history: - - “Dr. Thornton, then Chief of the Patent-Office, accompanied the - detachment to the locked door of the repository, the key having been - taken away by another clerk watching out of night. Axes and other - implements of force were used to break in; Thornton entreating, - remonstrating, and finally prevailing on Major Waters, superintending - the destruction, to postpone it till Thornton could see Colonel Jones, - then engaged with Admiral Cockburn in destroying the office of the - _National Intelligencer_, not far off on Pennsylvania avenue. Colonel - Jones had declared that it was not designed to destroy private - property, which Dr. Thornton assured Major Waters most of that in the - Patent-Office was. A curious musical instrument, of his own - construction, which he particularly strove to snatch from ruin, with a - providential gust soon after, saved the seat of government from - removal, for want of any building in which Congress could assemble, - when they met in Washington three weeks afterwards. Hundreds of models - of the useful arts, preserved in the office, were of no avail to save - it; but music softened the rugged breasts of the least musical of - civilized people. Major Waters agreed, at last, to respite the patents - and the musical instrument till his return from Greenleaf’s Point, - where other objects were to be laid in ruins.” - -But with the explosion of the magazine at Greenleaf’s Point, and the -tornado, both of which made unexpected havoc with the lives of the -British vandals, and their withdrawal under cover of night, they never -came back to the Patent and Post-Office, to destroy it. It was, I -believe, the only public building in the capital which escaped their -torch. It was, however, destroyed by fire, December 15, 1836. - -One of the most precious treasures, now in the possession of the -Post-Office Department, is the original ledger of Doctor Benjamin -Franklin, Postmaster-General, 1776, which upon its title-page bears the -following record: - - “This book was rescued from the flames, during the burning of the - Post-Office Building, on Thursday morning, Dec. 15, 1836, by W. W. - Cox, messenger of the office of the Auditor of the Treasury for the - Post-Office Department.” - -This ledger is now on file in the office of the Auditor of the Treasury -for the Post-Office Department. Scorched and worn, it tells the story of -time and fate. It embraces all the accounts of all the post-offices of -the United States for the years 1776-77-78. These are all recorded in -the handwriting of Doctor Franklin, and do not cover one hundred and -twenty pages. The growth in the postal service may be partly measured by -the fact that its money record, kept by Benjamin Franklin, running -through eleven years, is equalled, at the present time, by the accounts -of two days. When the philosopher was at the head of the Post-Office -Department, there were eighty post-offices in the Confederation; there -are now thirty-two thousand post-offices in the United States, with the -number constantly increasing. - -The Dead-Letter Office embodies more personal interest than any other in -the Post-Office Department. It is a spacious room, unique in outline, -many-windowed and well ventilated. It is surrounded by a wide gallery, -supported by spiral columns. An open iron staircase connects it with the -lower office. It is set apart for the woman’s work of this division. -They are far out-numbered by the men below, and yet in this narrow -gallery they are sadly crowded. - -Spacious as the Post-Office is, in going thereto, the same conclusion is -forced upon one, which is apparent in every public building, that it is -already too small for the vast and rapidly increasing demands of the -public service. The gentlemen which you see at work below have nothing -to complain of in lack of light or air, but the ladies above say that -their little gallery is the escape valve to all the poisoned air below; -that their heads are so near the roof there is no chance for -ventilation, and that sudden death, among their number, has been caused -by the air-poison which pervades this gallery. The ladies need more room -for a new office; indeed, already they have overflowed the gallery and -are packed closely in the halls. - -Meanwhile, in an imposing-looking apartment beneath them, sit their -brethren, on either side of the long table, opening the “dead-letters” -which they are to re-direct. I believe there are fourteen clergymen, -sitting at a single table, opening these letters. Preference is given to -gentlemen of this profession, broken in health or fortune, as it is -taken for granted that if they have lived to that age and fate, without -ever having committed a dishonest act, it is most unlikely that they -ever will—and that the treasure-letters are perfectly safe in their -keeping. Moreover, their profession is also in their favor. They must -have been unworldly-minded, says the reasoner, or they would never have -chosen to be clergymen. Nearly all are elderly men, and among the number -are a few old ones,—one, who has been in this office over fifty years, a -brother of its one time Postmaster-General, Amos Kendall—hair white as -snow—back bent over the table—hands trembling as he uses his knife—it is -his life to go on opening his quota of daily letters, for the pittance -of $1,200 per year. “If he were refused the privilege,” said an officer, -“he would die at once.” - -[Illustration: DEAD LETTER OFFICE, U. S. GENERAL POST -OFFICE.—WASHINGTON] - -In this office, from the thirty thousand post-offices in the United -States are received, annually, about three million five hundred thousand -dead-letters; unmailable letters, three hundred and sixty thousand; -blank letters, three thousand. - -It seems impossible that three thousand persons, in a single year, -should post letters without a single letter traced on their envelopes; -nevertheless, this is true. - -In one corner of this office stand two men, by an open door, whose -business it is to receive the dead-letters as they ascend to the office. -They come up on an elevator—tied up in immense bags. As they are tossed -out on the floor, one would suppose that they contained coffee for -merchandise, rather than heart-messages and treasures gone astray. The -bags are immediately opened and the letters transferred to the assorting -table, where they are classified by clerks. The foreign letters are -separated from the domestic, and any irregularity in their transmission -is noted. They are then counted, numbered and tied up into packages of -one hundred each, and thrown into bins, whence they are withdrawn in the -order of the date of their reception, and transferred to the opening -table to be _hari-karied_ by our clergymen. - -Letters containing nothing, if possible, are returned to their writers. -If they cannot be, they are thrown into the waste-basket. This -waste-paper is not burned but sold—and averages to the Government a -revenue of about $4,000 per year. With all his extravagances, this is -but one of numerous ways by which Uncle Sam manages to turn an -economical penny out of the carelessness and misfortunes of nephews and -nieces. - -Letters containing anything, of the smallest value, are saved and -registered under their different heads. Money, jewels, drafts, -money-orders, receipts, hair, seeds, deeds, military-papers, -pension-papers, etc., are all recorded and returned, if possible. A -“money letter” has five different records before it leaves the -Dead-Letter Office, and is so checked and counter-checked as to make -collusion or abstraction almost impossible, in case any soul who -surveyed it were fatally tempted. - -When the opener of a letter finds money, he immediately makes a record -of it. The next morning, the head of “the Opening Table” records in a -book each letter found and recorded by each opener the day before. The -letters are then taken from a safe, in which they were locked the night -previous, and their contents recounted, to make sure of absolute -correctness, before leaving the Opening Table. The money-letters, with -the record of that day, are then handed over to the head of the Money -Branch, where the letters recorded by the head of the Opening Table are -certified and receipted. They are next indexed and delivered to the -several clerks of the Money Branch, each receipting every letter he has -recorded on the Index Book. He then records the letter and sends it to -the writer, through the postmaster of the place where the party lives. -The owner, on receiving the money, receipts for the same on a blank -accompanying the letter, which he sends back to the Dead-Letter Office. -The letters are again re-examined by two clerks, to see if the amounts -are correct, who conjointly scrutinize and seal the letters. They are -then registered to the different distributing offices, with all the -precautionary checks of a registered letter. In time, the letter or a -receipt from the owner, through the postmaster, is returned. If a -receipt is received, it is recorded, with date, as a final disposition -of the letter. If the money is returned, it is so noted and recorded on -a separate record kept for the purpose, that record showing, -perpetually, how much money is on hand. If not claimed at the end of -three months, the money is deposited in the Treasury of the United -States, subject to the application of the owner. By this minute and -exhaustive routine, every money-letter, and every cent which they -contain, is absolutely accounted for—traced, refunded, and held. - -Drafts, deeds, checks, power-of-attorney and wills are recorded, and -sent through postmasters to their owners, they returning receipts for -the same. - -Foreign letters are assorted, the amounts due this and other countries -recorded, and a system of accounts kept, showing, by a list returned -with the letters, a correct statement. Foreign letters are returned -weekly, to England, Germany and the Netherlands. The liberal postage -recently adopted by these countries has opened so large a -correspondence, it involves more frequent returns. - -The Property-Branch is of a most miscellaneous character. It involves -the recording and returning of jewellery, and of almost every other -article under the sun. Many of these it is impossible to return. These -accumulate in such vast piles, it is necessary to dispose of them at -auction, at least, as often as once in four years. - -At each sale, a complete catalogue of the articles is presented, and the -proceeds are deposited in the United States Treasury. - -A room, leading from the Dead-Letter Office, lined with closed closets -to its lofty ceiling, is the receptacle of all these stranded treasures. -When the custodian unlocks their doors and you behold what is shut -within, you are lost in wonder as to what must be the conceived capacity -of the Post-Office in the minds of your compatriots. Before your eyes, -crammed into shelves, you see patchwork quilts, under garments, and -outer garments; hats, caps, and bonnets; shoes and stockings; with no -end of nicknacks and keepsakes; “sets” of embroidery, baby-wardrobes, -watches, and jewels of every description—though the greater proportion -is of the “fire-gilt,” “dollar-store” description. Many really beautiful -pictures are retained, because not sufficiently prepaid. Some of these, -sent as gifts, are left by the chosen recipients to be sold at -auction—the postage often amounting to far more than the value of the -picture. Many motley articles peer forth from their hiding-places -ignominiously “franked,” yet retained, the frank not being sufficient -legal-tender to insure their triumphal passage to the place of final -destination. Among these is an iron apple-parer. - -Many of these cheap treasures were precious keepsakes from the hearts -which fondly sent them—under very unintelligible superscriptions—to -sweethearts whom they never reached. Some are tokens from beyond the -seas, which came from a far-off land only to find the one sought—dead or -living—gone, without a clue. - -During the war, tens of thousands of photographs were thus sent astray. -The husband, the father, the brother, the son, under whose name they -came—alas! when they reached his regiment, he was not—the heaped-up -trench, the unknown grave, the unburied dead—somewhere amid them all—he -slept, and the memento of the love that lived for him, came back to this -receptacle of the nation, and here it is! On a stand near the window, is -an immense open book lined with photographs, all the photographs of -soldiers. With a tender hand, the Government gathered these pictures of -its lost and unknown sons and garnered them here, for the sake of the -living, who might seek their lost. Turning over the pages, we see many -empty spaces, and find that friends coming here and turning over the -pages of this book have identified the faces of loved ones who perished -in the war. Many of these are photographs of a poor character, (whose -transient chemicals are already fading out,) which were taken on the -field, and sent, by soldiers, home to mothers, wives, sisters and -sweethearts. The chances of war are sufficient to account for their -going astray of their objects and for their return here—where more than -one tear-blinded woman has sought and found them, at last. - -To return to the dryer details of the Dead-Letter Office, we find that -all letters held for postage, all blank, unmailable, and hotel letters -pass through a like process with the dead-letter, with the exception of -the unmailable letters, which come directly from the office with written -lists, which are checked to see if the letters are all with the lists. -These the opener counter-checks, marking the contents both on letter and -list, to show that it was received and doubly opened. These lists, with -their letters, are sent to the Return Branch. Here they are returned to -their writers, and their lists are made to show the disposition of every -letter. These lists are carefully filed and subject to re-perusal. The -Return Branch, which is composed entirely of ladies, sends average -dead-letters back to their writers at the rate of seven thousand a day. -In this branch we find the application-clerk whose duty it is to trace -letters, and to send such information to persons applying for letters as -the records may show. In case of the loss of a valuable letter, the -Department spares no pains in its efforts to trace and find it. - -The Postmaster-General, in one of his recent reports, says of this -branch of the Postal Service: - - “In the examination of domestic dead-letters, for disposition, - 1,736,867 were found to be either not susceptible of being returned, - or of no importance, circulars, etc., and were destroyed after an - effort to return them—making about 51 per cent. destroyed. The - remainder were classified and returned to the owners as far as - practicable. The whole number sent from the office was 2,258,199, of - which about 84 per cent. were delivered to owners, and 16 per cent. - were returned to the Department; 18,340 letters, containing - $95,169.52, in sums of $1 and upward, of which 16,061 letters, - containing $86,638.66, were delivered to owners, and 2,124, containing - $7,862.36, were filed or held for disposition; 14,082 contained - $3,436.68, in sums of less than $1, of which 12,513, containing - $3,120.70, were delivered to owners; 17,750 contained drafts, deeds, - and other papers of value, representing the value of $3,609,271.80—of - these 16,809 were restored to the owners, and 821 were returned and - filed; 13,964 contained books, jewellery, and other articles of - property, of the estimated value of $8,500—of these 11,489 were - forwarded for delivery and 9,911 were delivered to their owners; - 125,221 contained photographs, postage-stamps, and articles of small - value, of which 114,666 were delivered to owners; 2,068,842 without - inclosures. Thus of the ordinary dead-letters forwarded from this - office, about 84 per cent. were delivered, and of the valuable - dead-letters (classed as money and minor) about 89 per cent. were - delivered. The decrease of money-letters received (about 3,000) is - probably owing to the growing use of money-orders for the transmission - of small sums.” - -In August, 1864, Hon. Montgomery Blair appointed Dr. C. F. Macdonald, -now the Superintendent of the Money-Order Department, and J. M. McGrew, -now Chief Clerk of the Sixth Auditor’s office, commissioners to visit -Quebec and examine the workings of the Money-Order System which has been -in operation in Great Britain and Canada for several years. - -The system, as used by the British Government, was modified and -simplified by the commissioners, and on the 8th of November, 1864, the -Money-Order System of the United States was inaugurated, with 138 -offices authorized to issue and pay. - -During the part of the fiscal year commencing November 8, 1864, and -ending June 30, 1865, there were 74,277 money-orders issued, amounting -to $1,360,122.52; during next fiscal year ending June 30, 1866—138,297, -amounting to $3,977,259.28; during next fiscal year ending June 30, -1867—474,496, amounting to $9,229,327.72; during next fiscal year ending -June 30, 1868—831,937, amounting to $16,197,858.47; during next fiscal -year ending June 30, 1869—1,264,143, amounting to $24,848,058.93; during -next fiscal year ending June 30, 1870—1,675,228, amounting to -$33,658,740.27; during the next fiscal year ending June 30, -1871—2,151,794, amounting to $42,164,118.03; during next fiscal year -ending June 30, 1872—2,573,349, amounting to $48,515,532.72. - -During the present fiscal year, which expired June 30, 1873, the number -of orders issued will reach 3,000,000, and the amount will be over -$50,000,000. - -The above figures, in themselves, contain the history of the money-order -system from its beginning to the present time. During the war one letter -was received at the Dead-Letter Office which contained $12,000. Rarely -now does any sum inside of an envelope amount to $50. As a rule, any sum -over $5 is sent by money-order—at least by all persons who have any -reasonable idea of what is absolutely safe. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXVIII. - THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR—UNCLE SAM’S - DOMESTIC ARRANGEMENTS. - -Inadequate Accommodation in Heaven—Defects of our Great Public - Buildings—The Public Archives—Valuable Documents in Jeopardy—Talk of - Moving the Capital—A Dissension of a Hundred Years—Concerning - Certain Idiots—A Day in the Patent Office—The Inventive Genius of - the Country—Aggressions of the Home Department—A Comprehensive Act - of Congress—Seven Divisions of the Department of the Interior—The - Disbursing Division—Division of Indian Affairs—Lands and - Railroads—Pensions and Patents—Public Documents—Division of - Appointments—The Superintendent of the Building—The Secretary of the - Interior and his Subordinates—Pensions and their Recipients—Indian - Affairs—How the Savages are Treated—Over Twenty-one Million of - Dollars Credited to their Little Account—The Census Bureau—A Rather - Big Work—The Bureau of Patents—What is a Patent?—A Self-supporting - Institution—A Few Dollars Over—The Use Made of a Certain Brick - Building—Secretary Delano—An Objection Against Him—How Wickedly he - Acted to the Women Clerks—“The Accustomed Tyranny of Men”—Cutting - Down the Ladies’ Salaries—Making Places for Useful Voters—A Sweet - Prayer for Delano’s Welfare—Something about Delano’s Face. - - -It has always been a mystery to me how Heaven could continue large -enough for all the people who are trying to get into it, that is, if the -human race is to keep on being born. - -I am equally puzzled about the internal spaces of our great public -buildings. When designed, they were supposed to be ample for centuries -to come; but with the constant creation of new bureaus, and even of -departments, with the fast and never-ceasing accumulations of records in -every branch of the Government service, not a public building in -Washington is now large enough to hold the archives, or even the -_employés_ belonging to its own department. Already the city is filled -with temporary buildings, in which the overflow of the various -departments have taken refuge. Even now, every public building needs a -duplicate as large as itself to hold its treasures, and to carry on -fitly the intricate machinery of its routine service. The constant cry -of “Capital moving” has not only prevented this, but has caused the -precious records of the departments to be packed into precarious and -insufficient store-houses. - -The public archives should all be stored in fire-proof buildings. The -destruction of the titles to all the lands in the country sold by the -Government would involve a loss greater than the cost of all Washington -city. And yet, as they are stored at present, any morning you may hear -that there is nothing left of them but ashes. - -What madness to talk of moving the Capital! What idiots to breed another -dissension of a hundred years as to where another Capital shall be, -instead of making the most and best of the majestic one, bought at such -cost, that already is! - -Well, a day in the Patent-Office has caused this outburst. This building -was built for the protection and display of the inventive genius of the -country. But that genius finds itself fearfully “cabined and confined,” -and almost crowded out by the elephantine proportions of the Home -Department, which needs, almost beyond any other, a vast building of its -own, all to itself. At first a single room was demanded for the -Secretary of the Interior. The needs of his department were such, he has -gone on annexing room after room of the noble Patent-Office, till its -“inventive genius” finds itself crowded into a very small corner of the -majestic building built with the proceeds of its own industry. - -March 3, 1849, Congress passed an act to establish the Home Department, -and enacted that said new executive branch of the Government of the -United States should be called the Department of the Interior, and that -the head of said Department should be called Secretary of the Interior, -and that the Secretary should be placed upon the same plane with other -Cabinet officers. - -This act transferred to the Secretary of the Interior the supervisory -power over the office of the Commissioner of Patents, exercised before -by the Secretary of State; the same power, over the Commissioner of the -General Land-Office, held previously by the Secretary of the Treasury; -the same over the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which had been under the -supervision of the Secretary of War; the same over the acts of the -Commissioner of Pensions, who had previously reported to the Secretary -of the Navy; also over the marshals and orders of taking and returning -the census, previously managed by the Secretary of State; the same over -accounts of marshals, clerks and officers of courts of the United -States, previously exercised by the Secretary of the Treasury. The same -act relieved the President of the duty of supervising the acts of the -Commissioner of Public Buildings, placing that gentleman under the -directions of the Interior Department; giving the Secretary control over -the Board of Inspectors and the Warden of the Penitentiary of the -District of Columbia. - -Thus, you see, the Department of the Interior was made up, at the -beginning, of slices cut from each one of the other departments of the -Government. Subsequent acts of legislation have added new duties to the -Home Department. The Department of Justice; the Department of -Metropolitan Police; the accounts of marshals and clerks of the United -States Courts, and of matters pertaining to the judiciary; the -discontinuance of the office of Commissioner of Public Buildings, and -the assignment of his duties to the Chief Engineer of the Army, with the -duties and powers heretofore exercised by the Secretary of State over -the Governors and Secretaries of the various territories. All have been -transferred to the Department of the Interior. Admission of indigent -insane persons, resident in the District of Columbia, to the Insane -Asylum, also to the Columbia Institution for the deaf and dumb, and to -the National Deaf-mute College, and of blind children to the Columbia -Institution, all are only obtained through the Secretary of the -Interior. - -The office of the Secretary of the Interior is divided into seven -divisions, as follows: - -The “Disbursing Division,” through which all moneys, appropriated for -the entire service of the department, pass. - -The Division of the Indian Affairs; having charge of matters pertaining -to the Indian office, and the various Indian tribes. - -The Division of Lands and Railroads; having charge of matters pertaining -to the General Land-Office, and the construction, &c., of land-grant -railroads. - -The Division of Pensions and Patents; having charge of matters -pertaining to those offices. - -The Division of Public Documents; having charge of the distribution of -the public documents and the Department Library. - -The Division of Appointments; having charge of all matters pertaining to -the force of the department, the preparing, recording, etc., of -Presidential appointments under the Interior Department. - -The Superintendent of the building; having charge of all repairs, the -oversight of the laboring force, heating apparatus, etc. - -The head of the Department is the Secretary of the Interior. His -subordinates are the Commissioners of the Public Lands, Patents, Indian -Affairs, and Pensions, and the Superintendent of the Census. The -Secretary is charged with the general supervision of matters relating to -the public lands, the pensions granted by the Government, the management -of the Indian tribes, the granting patents, the management of the -Agricultural Bureau, of the lead and other mines of the United States, -the affairs of the Penitentiary of the District of Columbia, the -overland-_routes_ to the Pacific, including the great Pacific Railways, -the taking of the Census, and the direction of the acts of the -Commissioner of Public Buildings, the Insane Hospital for the District -of Columbia, and the Army and Navy, is also under his control. - -The first Secretary of the Interior was Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, appointed -by President Taylor; and Columbus Delano, of Ohio, is the present -Secretary. - -The General Land-Office was established as a branch of the Treasury -Department by act of Congress, approved April 25, 1812, which authorized -the appointment of a Commissioner, at a salary of $3,000 per annum, and -the employment of a Chief Clerk, and such other clerks as might be -necessary to perform the work, at an annual compensation not to exceed, -in the whole, $7,000. - -By the act of July 4, 1836, the office was reorganized and the force -increased. The number of clerks now employed is one hundred and -fifty-four; and even this force is not sufficient to meet the -requirements of a constantly growing business. Upon the creation of the -Interior Department, in 1849, the Land-Office was placed under its -jurisdiction. - -The Commissioner of the General Land-Office is charged with the duty of -supervising the surveys of private land claims, and also the survey and -sale of the public lands of the United States. At present this -supervision extends to seventeen surveying districts and ninety-two -local land-offices. - -The following table exhibits the progress of surveys and the disposal of -public lands since the fiscal year, ending June 30, 1861: - - ═══════════╤═══════════╤═════════╤════════════╤══════════╤═════════════ - Fiscal Year│ Surveying │ Land │ Cost of │Number of │ Number of - ending │districts. │Offices. │ Survey. │ Acres │ Acres - June 30. │ │ │ │Surveyed. │Disposed of. - ───────────┼───────────┼─────────┼────────────┼──────────┼───────────── - 1862 │ 9 │ 58 │ $219,000 00│ 2,673,132│ 1,337,922.00 - 1863 │ 11 │ 54 │ 151,840 00│ 2,147,981│ 2,966,698.00 - 1864 │ 10 │ 53 │ 172,906 00│ 4,315,954│ 3,238,865.00 - 1865 │ 10 │ 53 │ 170,721 00│ 4,161,778│ 4,513,738.00 - 1866 │ 10 │ 61 │ 186,389 88│ 4,267,037│ 4,629,312.00 - 1867 │ 12 │ 62 │ 423,416 22│10,808,314│ 7,041,114.00 - 1868 │ 13 │ 68 │ 325,779 50│10,170,656│ 6,665,742.00 - 1869 │ 12 │ 66 │ 497,471 00│10,822,812│ 7,666,151.00 - 1870 │ 17 │ 81 │ 560,210 00│18,165,278│ 8,095,413.00 - 1871 │ 17 │ 83 │ 683,910 00│22,016,607│10,765,705.00 - 1872 │ 17 │ 92 │1,019,378 66│29,450,939│11,864,975.64 - ═══════════╧═══════════╧═════════╧════════════╧══════════╧═════════════ - -This shows an increase of the number of surveyors’ general from nine to -seventeen, and land-offices from fifty-eight to ninety-two, and an -increase in the annual survey from 2,673,132 acres to 29,458,939 acres, -and an increase in the number of acres disposed of from 1,337,932 to -11,864,975.64, for the year ending June 30, 1872. - -The Land-Office audits its own accounts. It is also charged with laying -off land-grants made to the various railroad schemes by Congress. The -mines belonging to the Government are also in charge of this office. - -The Commissioner of Pensions examines and adjudicates all claims arising -under the various and numerous laws passed by Congress, granting -bounty-lands or pensions for military and naval services rendered the -United States at various times. The Rebellion greatly increased the -pension list. - -The Commissioner of Indian Affairs has charge of all the matters -relating to the Indian tribes of the frontier. The Government has at -sundry times purchased the lands of various tribes residing east of the -Mississippi River, and has settled the Indians upon reservations in the -extreme West. For some of these lands a perpetual annuity was granted -the tribes; for others, an annuity for a certain specified time; and for -others still, a temporary annuity, payable during the pleasure of the -President or Congress. The total sum thus pledged to these tribes -amounts to nearly twenty-one and a half millions. It is funded at five -per cent., the interest alone being paid to the tribes; this interest -amounts to over two hundred thousand dollars. It is paid in various -ways—in money, in provisions, and in clothing. The Commissioner has -charge of all these dealings with the savages. - -Prior to Act of Congress of June 30, 1834, organizing the “Department of -Indian Affairs,” Indian matters were managed by a Bureau, with a -superintendent in charge, under the direction and control of the War -Department, and under the organization, the department or office -continued with the War Department, until March 3, 1849, when Congress -created the Department of the Interior, and gave the supervisory and -appellate power, exercised by the Secretary of War in relation to the -acts of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, to the Secretary of the new -department. - -A “Commissioner of Indian Affairs” was first authorized by Act of -Congress, dated July 9, 1832, and the same law required the Secretary of -War to prescribe a new set of regulations as to the mode in which the -business of the Commissioner should be performed. - -E. Herring was the first Commissioner, and his successors have been as -follows: C. A. Harris, appointed in 1836; T. H. Crawford, 1838; Wm. -Medell, 1845; O. Brown, 1849; L. Lee, 1850; G. W. Monypenny, 1853; J. W. -Denver, 1857; C. E. Mix, 1858; A. B. Greenwood, 1859; W. P. Dole, 1861; -D. N. Cooley, 1865; L. V. Bogy, 1866; N. G. Taylor, 1867; E. S. Parker, -1869; F. E. Walker, 1871; and E. P. Smith, 1873. - -The Indian Department comprehended, under the new regulations provided -for by the law of July 9, 1832, four superintendencies, thirteen -agencies, and thirteen sub-agencies, having charge of about two hundred -and fifty thousand Indians, inhabiting some of the States west of the -Mississippi, and also what was then held to be “Indian Country,” defined -by the first section of the law of June 30, 1834, regulating trade and -intercourse with Indian tribes, to be “all that part of the United -States west of the Mississippi and not within the State of Missouri and -Louisiana, or the Territory of Arkansas, and, also, that part of the -United States east of the Mississippi River and not within any State to -which the Indian title has not been extinguished.” - -By subsequent acquisition of territory from Mexico, the area of Indian -country became greatly extended, with a consequent large addition to the -Indian population within the jurisdiction of the Indian Department. In -the beginning of the current year, the Department consisted of eight -superintendencies, seventy agencies and special agencies, and three -sub-agencies. At present there are four superintendencies, four having -been abolished by act of Congress, February 14, 1873, providing in lieu -thereof five Indian Inspectors, whose duty it is to visit every -superintendency and agency, and examine into the affairs of the same, as -often as once or twice a year, and to report their proceedings; -sixty-eight agencies, nine special agencies and three sub-agencies, with -an Indian population, approximately, of 300,000, exclusive of those in -Alaska, estimated at between 50,000 and 75,000. - -In the Indian service there is also a Board of “Indian Commissioners,” -nine in number, authorized by act of Congress, approved April 10, 1869, -men eminent for their intelligence and philanthropy, who serve without -compensation, the object of the Commission being to co-operate with the -President in efforts to maintain peace among the Indians, bring them -upon reservations, relieve their necessities, and to encourage them in -attempts at self-support. - -The Census Bureau is now a permanent branch of the Department of the -Interior. It is in charge of a superintendent, and is assigned the duty -of compiling the statistics which constitute the Census of the Republic. -This enumeration is made every ten years. Some idea of the magnitude of -the task may be gained from the fact that the tabulation and publication -of the census of 1870 were not completed in January, 1873. - -The Bureau of Patents is a part of the Department of the Interior, but -is in all its proportions and features so vast and imposing, that it is -almost a separate department, as, indeed, it must become erelong. It is -in charge of a Commissioner of Patents, who is appointed by the -President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of -the Senate. It is intrusted with the duty of granting letters patent, -securing to the inventor the control of and the reward from articles -beneficial to civilization. It was formerly a part of the Treasury -Department, and is one of the best known branches of the Government. - -Patents are not, as some persons suppose, monopolies, but are -protections granted to individuals as rewards for, and incentives to -discoveries and inventions of all kinds pertaining to the useful arts. -This Bureau is allowed to charge for these letters of protection only -the cost of investigating and registering the invention. It is a -self-supporting institution, its receipts being largely in excess of its -expenditures. - -If you have traced the many Bureaus of the Interior Department thus far, -you have come to the conclusion that it needs a public building all to -itself, and that it should be an immense one. A large brick building -opposite the Patent-Office, on G street, is already exclusively occupied -by the Bureau of Education. - -The present Secretary of the Interior is Hon. Columbus Delano, of Ohio, -a man who has been long in public life, first as Member of Congress from -Ohio, then as Commissioner of Internal Revenue, now as Secretary of the -Interior. I have but one objection to make to Mr. Delano in the position -which he now holds. He found twelve-hundred-dollar-positions in his -department filled, as they had been from the beginning, by women. He -degrades them to nine-hundred-dollar-clerkships, to make place for his -voters. Judging by the course he pursues, we may believe that he is of -the same opinion as the Secretary of the Treasury, that “four hundred -dollars per year are enough for any woman to earn,” unless she should be -a Delano! I hope that Ohio will reward him by not giving him the desire -of his heart and making him Senator, till he practices justice as the -supreme virtue of a public servant. - -Columbus Delano has a face which nature never weakened by cutting it -down to absolute fineness, but added to its power by leaving it a little -in the rough. Iron-gray hair, shaggy eyebrows beetling over a pair of -straight-forward, out-looking gray eyes, make the more prominent -features of a face which you willingly believe in as that of a strong -and honorable man. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXIX. - THE PENSION BUREAU—HOW GOVERNMENT PAYS ITS - SERVANTS. - -The Generosity of Congress to Itself—How Four Hundred Acts of Congress - were Passed—How Pensions have Increased and Multiplied—Sneering at - Red-Tape—The Division of Labor—Scrutinizing Petitions—A Heavy - Paper Jacket—The Judicial Division—Invalids, Widows, and - Minors—The Examiner of Pensions—The Difficulties of his - Position—Unsatisfactory Work—How Claims are Entertained and - Tested—What is Recorded in the Thirty Enormous Volumes—How many - Genuine Cases are Refused—One of the Inconveniences of - Ignorance—The Claim-Agent Gobbles up the Lion’s Share—An Extensive - Correspondence—How Claims are Mystified, and Money is Wasted—The - “Reviewer’s” Work—The “Rejected Files”—The “Admitted - Files”—Seventy-Five Thousand Claims Pending—Very Ancient - Claimants—The Bounty Land Division—The Reward of Fourteen Days’ - Service—The Sum Total of what the Government has Paid in - Pensions—How the Pensions are Paid—The Finance Division—The - Largest and the Smallest Pension Office—The Miscellaneous - Branch—Investigating Frauds—A Poor “Dependent” Woman with Forty - Thousand Dollars—How “Honest and Respectable” People Defraud the - Government—The Medical Division—Examining Invalids—The - Restoration-Desk—The Appeal-Desk—The Final-Desk—The Work that Has - Been Done—One Hundred and Fifty Thousand People Grumbling—Letter - of an Ancient Claimant—The Wrath of a Pugnacious Captain. - - -Compared to the generosity with which it rewards itself, Congress doles -out most scanty recompense even to the Government’s most faithful and -long-suffering servants. Nevertheless, that it does not neglect or -ignore them altogether, the annals of the Pension Bureau accurately -attest. - -The first Act promising pensions to those disabled by war, was passed in -the next month after the Declaration of Independence, August 26, 1776. -On September 16, 1776, specified grants of land were promised to those -who should enter the service, and continue to its close; and in case of -their death, to their heirs. - -Under these early enactments, the mode prescribed by law, to decide who -were entitled to pensions, was to leave the State Legislatures to decide -who should justly receive pensions. Having decided, the State -Legislatures paid the pensioners, and were reimbursed by the general -Government. - -Afterward, this method gave way to another, requiring the Judges of -district, and circuit-courts, to decide the equity of the demand, and to -pay it, as had formerly been done, by the Legislatures of the several -States. These payments were not made, however, until after the lists -reported by the Judges had been verified by comparison with the rolls on -file in the War Department, when they were reported by the Secretary of -War to Congress, and placed on the pension-lists, by a resolution of -that body. This mode was found to be too slow in detecting frauds, and -February 25, 1793, an Act was passed, prescribing rules to be observed -by the courts in the investigation of claims, and providing that the -evidence upon which the decision was based should accompany the report. -This Act prevailed, with slight modifications, until March 3, 1819, when -an Act was passed, authorizing the Secretary of War to place on the -pension-rolls, without reporting the lists to Congress. - -This authority was exercised by the Secretary of War, until March 2, -1833, when a distinct Bureau of the Government was established for the -adjustment of pension claims. It was provided for in the section of a -bill, which made an appropriation for the civil and diplomatic expense -of the Government, for the year. This section said: “A Commissioner of -Pensions shall be appointed by the President and the Senate, who shall -receive a salary of twenty-five hundred dollars, which is hereby -appropriated.” This office was perpetuated for many years by biennial -enactments, the last providing that it should continue until further -legislation on the subject. - -Since the passage of the first Act, by the old Congress in 1776, there -have been over four hundred distinct Acts relating to pensions for -military and naval services, and for bounty-land rewarding such -services, enacted by Congress. Instead of the small pension-lists -transmitted by the courts of the country, through the Secretary of War -to Congress, the tens of thousands of pension-claims, presented to the -Government, under the various laws which relate to them, now require the -constant services of more than three hundred clerks in the Pension -Bureau, supervised by the Commissioner of Pensions. - -It is the dual duty of this Bureau, to protect private interests, and to -secure the enforcement of the law. The claims are infinite and often -conflicting; the provisions of law manifold; and people unfamiliar with -the immense demand upon such an office, sneer or smile, or weep over the -length of the “red-tape” routine, through which its cases are so often -“long drawn out.” Persons waiting outside the Bureau, can not comprehend -the requirements or exigencies of a business demanding the employment of -so large a force of actors, or touching the springs of so many public -and private interests. Says one who knows: “Far better the delays of red -tape, than the inextricable confusion, and total inability to transact -business, which would be the inevitable result of a business system less -minute and stringent.” - -The Pension Bureau is divided into four divisions, viz: the Mail -Division, the Judicial, the Financial, and the Miscellaneous. - -The Mail Division is charged with the receiving, reading, distributing -to the proper desks, all the mail. Every original application, every -piece of additional evidence, every communication, of whatever nature, -is stamped with the date of receipt, and, with the exception of letters -of inquiry, they are entered on the records, which show from whom -received, when received, and to whom delivered. - -“It requires careful examination of the papers, a thorough knowledge of -the office, and the closest analysis, to determine the proper -destination of each communication. Many writers are obscure, many -misstate their business, through ignorance or carelessness, and to -quickly comprehend the import of all papers, requires a keen eye and a -ready mind. - -“Persons communicating with the Office, should remember this, and to -insure a correct distribution of their mail, should, in all cases, -indorse upon the outside of the envelope, the number of the claim -referred to, the name of the claimant, and the nature of the claim. - -“In this Division, claims are also prepared for the files, by having a -heavy paper jacket placed round them, upon which is indorsed the Act -under which it is filed, the description of the party claiming, their -address, also the address of the attorney, if one appears in the claim.” - -The Judicial Division is charged with an application of the law to the -evidence, and the determining of the right of the applicant to the -pension. This office is divided into three grand divisions—invalid, -widows, and minors. The first embraces all claims preferred by surviving -soldiers; the second, all claims based upon the service and death of -soldiers and sailors; the third, those of minors. - -An Examiner of Pensions does not sit upon a bed of roses—or, if he does, -it is full of thorns. So various and minute are the provisions of law, -applicable to the cases under his consideration, so numerous are the -rulings of the office, and the decisions of the Heads of Departments, -and of the Bureau, with the opinion of the Attorney-General added, all -bearing upon this claim, it demands the most exhaustive examination, the -keenest discrimination, and the most wise judgment, to reach a final -just conclusion. And when his conclusion is reached, it is not final. - -In the Judicial Division, are filed all pending claims. These files are -arranged with reference to the initial letter of the soldier’s surname, -and are divided into sections proportioned to the magnitude of the -letter of the alphabet. Upon the receipt of jacketed claims from the -mail division, the first step is to see if the party, making -application, ever filed a claim before, and this is ascertained by -examining the “original records.” - -These records fill thirty enormous volumes, and contain three hundred -and eighty-three thousand applications that have been filed under the -act of July 14, 1862. All entries are made therein with reference to the -first three letters of the soldier’s surname, and only by this -subdivision of names, affording two thousand eight hundred combinations, -can convenient reference to any given claim be had; and even when so -divided, the examination of the greater combination requires -considerable labor. For instance, in two hundred thousand entries under -W. I. L., there will be three thousand two hundred and fifty entries; -and under S. M. I. you will find two thousand seven hundred and fifty -Smiths. If the result of this examination affords no evidence of a prior -application by the same person, after noting all other applications -based upon the service of the same soldier, the claims are numbered in -numerical order and placed upon the record, which includes a full -description thereof, and the recorded claims are then placed in the -files, to await examination in the order of their receipt. - -When they are reached, the examiner’s duties begin. He first searches -for such recorded evidence as can be found in any of the Departments of -the Government. From these he notes all omissions, and points -unsupported, and calls upon the claimant, or his attorney, for -corroborative evidence of the statements made in the declaration. He is -guided in his requirements by the hundreds of rulings applicable to the -smallest details of the various kinds of claims. All the evidence -furnished in response must comply with the minutest demand of the law; -the law of evidence as applied in courts, and the express requirements -of the law under which the pension is claimed, are both brought to bear -in the consideration of the points to be met, and the testimony offered -in proof. - -You will not be astonished to be told that very often they are not met, -or that in thousands of just cases the testimony is unequal to the -gradgrind requirements of the law. A want of a knowledge of the -provisions of the law—more than of willful knavery—is the great -acknowledged difficulty with which the Office has to contend. Many a -poor sinner, who lost his leg or arm, or carries a bullet in him, -received in his country’s battles, knows all about the minus members, -the battles, and the bullet, and not an atom about “the provisions of -the law,” or the inextricable windings of official red-tape. Because his -knowledge is of so one-sided a character, he finds it no easy matter to -get the governmental reward for that buried leg or arm; and by the time -all “the requirements of the law” have been slowly beaten into his -brains, the greater portion of his pension is pocketed by the -claim-agent who showed him how to get it. - -All these provisions and safeguards of the law are said to be necessary, -to protect the Government against fraudulent claims. Perhaps they are; -but that makes them no less hard, or ofttimes unjust “to the soldier and -widow” who, in writing a letter, are as ignorant as babies of “the -requirements of the law.” Under these requirements, and with the utter -ignorance of common people of technical terms, and judicial statements, -it is not strange that “a large percentage of the evidence offered, is -imperfectly prepared.” A great deal more is deficient in substance, or -suspected of fraud. - -The correspondence from this Division, stating objections, requiring -further proof, and elucidating doubtful points, amounts to hundreds of -letters a day. The long delay inevitable, is said to be the fault of the -system. “_Ex-parte_ evidence is the criminal.” “Were means afforded for -a cross-examination of all applicants and witnesses, these difficulties -and delays would disappear. One-half of the amount now taken from the -pockets of pensioners, to compensate agents for procuring their -pensions, would pay the entire cost of such a system, to say nothing of -the thousands of dollars paid from the Treasury upon fraudulent claims, -that would be saved.” - -When the examiner has ended his researches, he prepares a brief of the -evidence, on which he bases his admission, or rejection, of the claim. -He closes it with a statement of his decision, showing from what date, -and at what rate admitted, or, if rejected, the cause therefor, and -signs his name, as examiner. - -This action is entered in a record. The case is taken from out the file -of pending claims, and is placed in the hands of a clerk, who is called -the “Reviewer.” He is selected for this task, for his superior judgment, -and for his familiarity with the law, and the rules of office. He -“begins again,” goes over the entire action of the examiner, goes -through the entire evidence, in order to be able to approve, or -disprove, the examiner’s decision. If he approves, the case passes on to -the Chief of the Division, for _his_ approval, which, except in unusual -cases, is _pro forma_. From his desk the case goes to the Certificate -Section, for issue. There it receives its certificate and approved -brief, decorated with which it departs to the Commissioner’s desk, there -to receive his final and crowning signature, and the grand seal of the -Department. If the claim is a rejected one, and its rejection receives -the approval of the receiver, it is cast into the outer darkness of the -“rejected files.” Here it is subject to an appeal to the Secretary, and -may be borne forth again to the light, upon the presentation of new and -material evidence. - -After the triumphant claim has received its certificate, it is treated -to a new coat of a wrapper, upon whose back a certificate-number, and -its history, is endorsed. It is then entered upon the admitted records. -After it has been reported to the Pension Agent, Finance Division, to -the Third Auditor of the Treasury, and to the Second Comptroller, it is -placed on the “admitted files.” - -Seventy-five thousand pending claims are now on file in these two -divisions. They are slowly reduced in number, and the receipt of new -claims equals the disposal of the old ones. This statement does not -include the adjustment of claims filed under the act of February 14, -1871, granting pensions to survivors of the war of 1812, who served -sixty days, and to their widows. Their claims have been organized into a -separate division, in which a force of fifty clerks has been constantly -employed since its organization, May, 1871. This division is known as -the “1812 Division,” and strenuous efforts are made to reach very early -decisions in all its cases, the extreme age of the applicants making it -necessary—if their pension is to reach them “this side of Jordan.” - -In this division, the claims are carried through their entire process, -from the application to the placing of the pensioner’s name on the -rolls. - -The Bounty-Land Division forms a part of the Judicial branch. Herein all -claims for bounty-land, filed under the act of March 3, 1855, which is -the latest general provision, are adjusted. The _modus operandi_ of -obtaining land-grants is nearly identical with the process of obtaining -a pension. - -Under the act of 1855, all persons who served fourteen days, either in -the army or navy, are entitled to one hundred and sixty acres, and those -who were actually engaged in battle, though their services were less -than fourteen days, are entitled to the same. - -Under the various laws governing these land grants, warrants -representing 73,932,451 acres have been issued, which, estimated at -$1.25 per acre, amounts to $92,415,563.75, which, added to -$313,170,412.77 that has been paid since the beginning of the -Government, as pension, makes a total expenditure of $405,585,976.52, -which has been paid in gratuities to the defenders of the Republic. - -Where the Judicial Branch ends in the certificate of a pension, the -Financial Branch begins. The rolls reported by those divisions are -entered in the agency registers, which are arranged to show payments for -several years, and the agents’ quarterly accounts of disbursements are -compared with these registers, and errors noted. - -There are now upon the United States pension rolls the names of 232,229 -pensioners, who are paid quarterly through fifty-seven pension agents. -When we remember that the accounts of all these agents, for these tens -of thousands of names, are adjusted and reported within the short space -of three months, it is not difficult to realize the amount of labor -involved. - -The Finance Division is charged with all correspondence with the pension -agents, to suspend and resume payments, to drop from the rolls (in which -case the auditor and controller must also be notified), the payment of -accrued pensions to heirs and legal representatives; restorations, under -the act of July 27, 1868, where a pension has been unclaimed for three -years; the transfer of payments from one agency to another; the issue of -duplicate certificates in lieu of those lost or destroyed. All these, -and many, many other things are required at the hands of the gentlemen -employed therein. The act of June 8, 1872, granted increase to -pensioners of the first, second and third grades; and this Division, -after the passage of the Act and before the quarterly payment of -September 4, following, received, examined and issued 9,237 certificates -granting the increase. Of the agencies disbursing pension-money, there -are ten whose payments exceed $100,000,000 per annum. Of these, Boston -is the largest, paying out more than $1,800,000. The smallest amount -paid by any agency is that at Vancouver, Washington Territory, which -disburses less than $2,500 per annum. - -The Miscellaneous Branch covers many features too minute to be brought -into this sketch. Among the more important is its Special Service -Division. This is occupied with the investigation of all claims in which -fraud is suspected. It prosecutes and convicts all persons whose guilt -is proved. Congress annually appropriates a considerable sum to pay the -expenses of such investigations, which tends largely to lessen -fraudulent practices against the Government. By means of this fund the -Office is enabled to keep a large number of special agents employed, who -are charged with the investigation of all suspected frauds perpetrated -within their respective districts. - -This division requires clerks who are thoroughly familiar with all laws -which the Office is called upon to execute, as well as a general -knowledge of the criminal laws of each State. Its efforts are: first, to -secure the pensioner in all his rights; second, to prosecute all persons -where it is thought a conviction can be had; and third, to secure a -return to the Government of all money unlawfully obtained. The amount -saved in reducing pensions illegally rated, in dropping from the rolls -those found not to be entitled, and in sums refunded, largely exceed the -cost of the work, while the effect upon the public is beneficial in -deterring others from criminal practices. Cases have been found which -were allowed on the clearest proof of dependence upon the part of -mothers of soldiers, where an investigation proved that that same -dependent mother owned property in her own right to the amount of forty -thousand dollars! - -Such cases are not confined to the classes usually engaged in unlawful -acts. Nothing is more remarkable than the number of persons—in the -average transactions of life deemed honest and honorable—who are ready -and eager, under one pretext or another, to “gouge” and defraud the -revenues of the Government; and these persons are by no means confined -to the seekers of pensions, but may be found every day in the highest -class that can reach the hard-earned treasure of the National Treasury. - -The Medical Division of the Pension Bureau acts conjointly with the -Invalid Division in deciding the degree of disability of claimants for -original, and the increase of invalid pensions. This division is -supervised by medical gentlemen thoroughly trained in their profession. -All invalid claims, after having been briefed by the examiner, and -before passing into the reviewer’s hands, are referred to this division. -The Examining Surgeon makes a personal examination of the applicant, and -from his medical testimony, endorsed by the Chief of the Medical -Division, the Chief of the Invalid Division bases his final opinion and -action. - -The Restoration Desk is devoted to all claims, which are to be restored -to the rolls, of parties who have been dropped for cause—principally -those who were residents of the States in rebellion at the beginning of -the late war. These are only placed upon the rolls upon incontestible -proof of loyalty. - -The Appeal Desk is the recipient of all cases in preparation for -reference to the Secretary, where an appeal from the action of the -Office is taken. - -The Final Desk is the extensive one of the Commissioner of Pensions. - -From the beginning to the end of this busy Bureau, charged with the -comfort, the very subsistence of so many bereaved and disabled -fellow-creatures, the Commissioner must see all things, anticipate all -wants, supply all needs; upon him rests the entire administration of -this vast and potent Bureau. His position is not easy or his burden -light. - -To fill so important a trust with honor, a Commissioner needs not only -clear judgment and business training, but should also be a man of -positive administrative talents, large information, thorough education, -and broad, comprehensive mind. - -These qualities are all possessed in a pre-eminent degree by the present -Commissioner of Pensions. - -General J. H. Baker was born in Lebanon, Ohio, 1829. He is the son of a -Methodist clergyman, and was graduated from the Wesleyan University, -Delaware, Ohio, taking the Latin honors of a large class in 1852. He was -Secretary of the State of Ohio during Chief-Justice Chase’s term as -Governor of that State. He moved to Minnesota, and was Secretary of the -State when he resigned to take command of the Tenth Minnesota -Volunteers. He served with distinction in the Indian expedition under -General Sibley, and, on his return, was ordered South. At St. Louis he -was placed in command of the post, and soon after was made -Provost-Marshal General of the Department of Missouri. At the close of -the war he became Register of Public Lands in Missouri, and, resigning -this position, in 1868 he returned to Minnesota, was candidate for the -United States Senate, and defeated by a very small majority. In 1871 be -was appointed Commissioner of Pensions. - -General Baker is a tall, commanding looking gentleman, with dark hair, -complexion and eyes. He is of nervo-motive temperament, quick, prompt, -energetic in action, yet courteous and genial in his bearing to a very -marked degree. - -Since the passage of the Act of July 4, 1862, nearly 400,000 claims for -pensions have been filed in and considered by the Pension Office. Of -course, in the examination of so vast a number of cases, errors have -been committed, matters of fact misinterpreted, and in many instances, -through carelessness, ignorance and neglect, injustice has been done. - -The clerks of this office have always compared favorably, both in -industry and capacity, with those of other Bureaus; but, among so large -a number, worthless and inefficient ones will be found, and the still -greater evil of employing men who, though capable, take no interest in -their official duties, and, through the want of that spur to well-doing, -fail to make themselves of value to the Government, and render aid to -those whom the Office was organized to protect and assist. The -percentage of claims affected by these causes, small though it may have -been, would amount to thousands in the aggregate, and these, distributed -throughout the country, would give an enlarged color to their -complaints, and lead the people to believe that the evil was general and -unusual in its extent. When we add to this class of complainants the -150,000 who, in some shape, have had claims before the office for -increase, arrears, etc., and which, not coming within the law under -which they filed, were rejected, and who, not understanding what the law -did provide, but deriving their information from unscrupulous agents who -would not or could not instruct them in the matter, they feel seriously -aggrieved, and loudly complain. Two dependent mothers, equally poor, and -who were alike aided by their respective sons, reside in the same -village. They apply for a pension for the services and deaths of their -sons. The records of the War Department show that one of the soldiers -died of a disease contracted in the service and in the line of duty, and -that the other soldier died of a disease, though contracted in the -service, yet it _did not_ originate while he was in the line of duty. -These are distinctions which neither this poor woman nor the community -can understand. Yet the claim last described must be rejected, as it is -barred by the law. The whole community cries out about the great -injustice practiced by the Pension Office, while, in fact, the _law_ is -responsible, and _not_ the office. - -Again, invalid pensioners, suffering from a partial or total disability, -are strongly urged, by their _pecuniary interests_, to believe that they -are entitled to a total or special rating. They apply for increase, and -are referred to an examining surgeon for a personal examination, and a -report as to nature and degree of disability. The surgeon fails to -conform to the applicant’s estimate as to the extent of his disability, -and the claim for increase is rejected, and here is another case of -“great injustice.” - -Biennial examinations of all invalid pensioners are required, except in -cases of permanent disability. At such times the surgeon finds they are -partially or entirely recovered from the disability that existed at the -date of last examination, and notwithstanding the firm conviction of the -pensioner that he is just as much disabled as ever, he is reduced or -dropped. He at once joins the army of grumblers, and complains of -injustice. - -The office acknowledges its imperfections, but respectfully declines to -admit the correctness of a tithe of the grievances reported. There is -some show of injustice in the delay frequently experienced in the -settlement of claims, and yet the Office is responsible to a slight -degree only. As heretofore intimated, the _system_ is largely -accountable for this. The suspicion, warranted by experience, attaching -to every piece of testimony received, and necessitating a close scrutiny -and reconciliation of the slightest discrepancies before final action -can be had. The hundreds of points going to make up a case must be found -in proofs, and the affidavits offered, three times out of five, fail to -cover the point. - -Here is another cause for complaint. “The Pension Office called three -times for the same evidence.” It must be admitted that, some years ago, -there was an entire neglect of correspondence. “Letters of inquiry,” -asking condition of claim and countless questions, arrived by thousands. -Examiners were ambitious to pass (admit or reject) a large number of -claims, during the month, and these letters proved nothing, and required -time and labor to answer them, and were cast aside. This has all been -changed by the present Commissioner, and these letters are confided to -clerks who engage in nothing but correspondence, and who are required to -keep their desks up to date; and in this connection it is proper to add -that a magical change has been made in the style and completeness of the -letters. Some years ago, a fac-simile of the Commissioner’s signature -was stamped upon the out-going mail. Now, each letter is subjected to a -careful review by the Chiefs of Divisions, and goes thence to the -Commissioner’s room for his signature and a frequent review by him; and -the occasional return of a letter, with a sharp reminder, suffices to -keep the letter writers on the alert. And this idea of a careful -surveillance is not confined to correspondents, but it has been -carefully impressed upon the whole force by frequent illustrations. By -judicious, yet not burdensome reports, and by frequent reference thereto -by the Commissioner, which is forcibly brought to the knowledge of a -careless clerk, the _employés_ have been taught that no trifling will be -allowed. - -It has also been realized by the _employés_ of this Bureau that merit -_is_ noted, and _de_merit will insure dismissal. It is the policy of -General Baker to hold his subordinates strictly responsible for the -proper performance of their individual duties, and to look to those -having charge of others to secure the desired results, or to report the -delinquent. The result of two years’ growth in this direction has been -gratifying. The increased industry of the Office, the improvement -resulting from a thoughtful and careful performance of its duties, and -the elevation of the standard which all seeking appointments must come -up to, and a careful weeding-out of the inefficient ones, are rapidly -tending to secure commendation from those having business with the -Bureau, rather than censure. - -An aged claimant for a pension, who served in the war of 1812, residing -in Illinois in December, 1871, wrote to the Office as follows: “Oh! can -it be true that I am going to get $100? That news is too good! I’m so -hungry, and I love coffee so, but I can’t get any! All I have to eat is -corn-bread and sour milk. I can’t believe that I am to get so much -money, but I pray God it may be true.” It is needless to say that this -claim was made “special,” and the octogenarian had “coffee” for his -Christmas breakfast. - -A Captain B., of Havre-de-Grace, Maryland, a claimant for pension under -Act of 1871, for services in the War of 1812, had his claim rejected, it -appearing that he served less than sixty days, as required by that Act; -whereupon the Captain grew wrathy, and wrote as follows: - - “N. B.—Any man that will say that I was not a Private soldier in Capt. - Paca Smith’s company before the attack of the British on the City of - Baltimore, and during the attack on said City in Sept., 1814, and - after the British dropped down to Cape Henry, I say he is a dastard, a - liar, and a coward, and no gentleman, or any man that will say that I - got my Land-warrant from the Hon. Geo. C. Whiting, for 160 acres of - Land, for 14 days’ services in Capt. Paca Smith’s company, is the - same, as stated above, and I hold myself responsible for the contents - of this letter; and if their dignity should be touched, a note of - honor directed to Capt. Wm. B——, Havre-de-Grace, Harford Co., Md., - shall be punctually attended to. - - “WM. B——.” - - - - - CHAPTER XL. - TREASURES AND CURIOSITIES OF THE PATENT OFFICE—THE - MODEL ROOM—ITS RELICS AND INVENTIONS. - -The Patent Office Building—Grace and Beauty of its Architecture—Four - “Sublime” Porticoes—A Pretty Large Passage—The Model Room—“The - Exhibition of the Nation”—A Room two hundred and seventy Feet in - Length—The Models—Recording our Name—Wonders and Treasures of the - Room—Benjamin Franklin’s Press—Model Fire-Escapes—Wonderful - Fire-Extinguishers—The Efforts of Genius—Sheep-Stalls, Rat-Traps, - and Gutta Percha—An Ancient Mariner’s Compass—Captain Cook’s - Razor—The Atlantic Cable—Original Treaties—The Signatures of - Emperors—An Extraordinary Turkish Treaty—Treasures of the - Orient—Rare Medals—The Reward of Major Andre’s Captors—The - Washington Relics—His Old Tent—His Blankets and Bed-Curtain—His - Chairs and Looking-Glass—His Primitive Mess-Chess and old Tin - Plates—The Old Clothes of the “Father of His Country”—Military - Relics of Well-known Men—Original Draft of the Declaration of - Independence—Washington’s Commission—Model of an Extraordinary - Boat—Abraham Lincoln as an Inventor—The Hat Worn on the Fatal - Night—The Gift of the Tycoon—The Efforts of Genius—A Machine to - Force Hens to Lay Eggs—A Hook for Fishing Worms out of the Human - Stomach—The Library of the Patent Office. - - -The lawful fees for issuing patents having accumulated into a -considerable fund, Congress added an appropriation, and directed that -the whole amount should be invested in a new building to be called the -Patent Office. - -From that double fund has arisen the majestic structure which, next to -the Capitol, is the most august building in Washington. The southern -front of the Treasury is of superlative beauty, and from several other -points its architectural grace cannot be surpassed; but its whole effect -is marred by the dingy, unbroken outline of its Fifteenth-street side. -The advantage of the Patent-Office is, that from any point which you -choose to survey it, it impresses you as supremely grand. Occupying two -blocks, or an entire public square, standing upon a prominence, it -spreads and towers into space incomparable in mass and majesty. You may -approach it from four opposite directions, and on each side you lift -your eyes to four sublime porticoes towering before you. They are -supported by double rows of Doric columns, eighteen feet in -circumference, made of gleaming crystallized marble. The entire building -is of pure Doric architecture, strong, simple and majestic. Its southern -front is an exact copy of the Pantheon at Rome, and the eastern portico -is modelled after that of the Parthenon at Athens. - -The length of the building, from Seventh to Ninth streets, is 410 feet, -and its width, from F to G streets, 275 feet. Its original design was -made by Mr. William P. Elliot, at that time surveyor of the City of -Washington. The plan was largely executed by Mr. Mills, architect of -Public Buildings; while the grand northern portico has been consummated -under the superintendence of Mr. Edward Clark, the present architect of -the Capitol. - -We enter the eastern door of the basement-story, into a spacious passage -running from east to west, the whole length of the building. Through it, -large-wheeled machines can be drawn. On each side of this hall are rooms -for the deposit of fuel, large and heavy models and department offices. -In the centre springs a semi-circular stone staircase, with three -flights of steps, which ascend to the second, third and last story. The -corridor in the first story is like the one that we entered below, and -on each side of the hall, doors open into commodious apartments for the -accommodation of the commissioners, examiners, clerks, etc. - -Ascending the stone staircase, we come to the Model Room—_par -excellence_, the Exhibition Room of the nation. For architectural -simplicity and space, and the purpose for which it was designed, it is -unsurpassed in the whole world. Standing here, we look down a vista two -hundred and seventy-four feet in length, and its perspective is -enchanting to the sight. A double row of stone columns supports a -succession of brick arches, finely proportioned, and corresponding in -depth with the rooms below. The floor is paved with tessellated stone, -and the light streams in from numerous windows on each side. - -The models and other articles are arranged in glass cases on each side -of the room, leaving ample space in the centre for promenading. There -are two rows of cases, one above the other—the upper row being placed -within a light gallery of iron, reached by iron stairways, and extending -entirely round the east, north and west halls. The ceiling is supported -by a double row of pillars, which also act as supports to the galleries, -and both the walls and ceiling are finished in marble and frescoes. - -Entering, we find a large register, with pens and ink, at the right of -the door, in which we may record our name and the date of our visit, if -we please. - -[Illustration: - - THE MODEL ROOM, PATENT OFFICE.—WASHINGTON. - This room contains the fruits of the inventive genius of the whole - nation. More than 160,000 models are here deposited. -] - -The first case on the right of the entrance contains Benjamin Franklin’s -press, at which he worked when a journeyman-printer in London. It is old -and worm-eaten, and is only held together by means of bolts and iron -plates, and bears but little resemblance to the mighty machines by which -the printing of to-day is done. Then come models of “fire-escapes,” some -of which are curiosities and well worth studying. The impression left by -the majority, however, is that if they constitute one’s only hope of -escape, in case of fire, an old-fashioned headlong leap from a window -may just as well be attempted at once. - -Near by are the models of those inventive geniuses who have attempted to -extinguish conflagrations by discharging a patent cartridge into the -burning mass. The guns, from which the cartridges are thrown, are most -remarkable in design. - -Then follow tobacco-cutting machines, of various kinds, all sorts of -skates, billiard-table models, ice-cutters, billiard-registers, improved -fire-arms, and toys, of different designs, among which is a most -ingenious model of a walking-horse. Having reached the end of this row -of cases, we cross over to the south side of the hall. The first cases -contain models of cattle and sheep-stalls, vermin and rat-traps, and are -followed by a handsome display of articles in gutta percha, manufactured -by the Goodyear Company. - -In the bottom of one of the cases is an old mariner’s compass of the -year 1604, presented by Ex-Governor Wise, of Virginia, then United -States Minister to Brazil, in the name of Lieutenant Sheppard, U. S. N. -The ticket attached to the compass is written in the bold, running hand -of the ex-rebel statesman. Near by is a razor which belonged to the -celebrated navigator, Captain Cook. It was recovered from the natives of -the island upon which he was murdered, and is hardly such an instrument -any of those who behold it would care to use. A piece of the Atlantic -cable is just below it. - -Several of the cases following contain the original treaties of the -United States with foreign powers. They are written upon heavy sheets of -vellum, in wretchedly bad hands, and are worn and faded. All, save the -treaties with England and the Eastern nations, are written in French, -and are all furnished with a multiplicity of red and green seals; the -first is the treaty with Austria, and bears the weak, hesitating -signature of Francis I. The signature of Alexander I., attached to the -first Russian treaty, has more character in it. The treaty of peace with -England, in 1814, which ended our second war with that power, bears the -signature of the Regent, afterwards George IV. The treaty of 1803, with -the Republic of France, is signed “Bonaparte,” in a nervous, sprawling -hand. Bernadotte’s smooth and flowing hand adorns the first treaty with -Sweden. - -The original treaty with Turkey is a curious document. It consists of a -number of long slips of parchment, covered with columns of Turkish -characters. Near by it hangs a bag, in which it was conveyed to this -country. The bag is its legal covering, or case, and is provided with a -huge ball of red wax, by way of a seal. Next to it is the first treaty -of alliance with France—the famous one of 1778—which gave the aid of the -French king to the cause of the suffering and struggling States of the -new republic. It is signed by the unfortunate Louis XVI. The “Louis” is -written in a round, phlegmatic hand; but the lines are delicate, as if -the pen did not press the paper with the firmness of a strong will. The -French treaty, of 1822, bears the autograph of Louis XVIII.; and that of -1831, the signature of Louis Phillippe. Don Pedro I., Emperor of Brazil, -has affixed his hand to the Brazilian treaty, and the name of Ferdinand -(the last, and least) is affixed to that of Spain. - -In the glass cases with the treaties are several Oriental articles,—a -Persian carpet and horse-cover, presented to President Van Buren, by the -Imän of Muscat; and two magnificent rifles, presented to President -Jefferson, by the Emperor of Morocco. These rifles are finished in the -highest style of Eastern art, and are really beautiful. In the same -cases are collections of medals, some of European sovereigns, and others -of American celebrities. Among them is a copy of the medal, awarded by -Congress, to the captors of Major André. Near these are several splendid -Eastern sabres, presented by the great Ali Pacha, the Bey of Egypt, to -Captain Perry and the officers of the U. S. ship-of-war, _Concord_, at -Alexandria, (Egypt,) in 1832. - -The next cases contain the Washington relics, which are amongst the -greatest treasures of the nation. They consist of the camp-equipage, and -other articles used by General Washington, during the Revolution. They -are just as he left them at the close of the war, and were given to the -Government, for safe keeping, after his death. Here are the tents which -constituted the head-quarters, in the field, of the great soldier. They -are wrapped tightly round the poles, just as they were tied when they -were struck for the last time, when victory had crowned his country’s -arms, and the long war was over. Every cord, every button and tent-pin -is in its place, for he was careful of little things. His blankets and -the bed-curtain, worked for him by his wife, and his window-curtains, -are all well preserved. His chairs are perfect, not a round being -broken; and the little square mirror in his dressing-case is not even -cracked. The wash-stand and table are also well kept. His knife-case is -filled with plain horn-handle knives and forks, which were deemed “good -enough for him,” and his mess-chest is a curiosity. It is a plain wooden -trunk, covered with leather, with a common lock, the hasp of which is -broken. It is divided by small partitions of thin wood, and the -compartments are provided with bottles, still stained with the liquids, -tin plates, common knives and forks, and other articles pertaining to -such an establishment. - -In these days of luxury, an ordinary sergeant would not be satisfied -with so simple and plain an establishment. His cooking utensils, -bellows, andirons, and iron money-chest, all of which went with him from -Boston to Yorktown, are in the same case, from the side of which hangs -the suit of clothes worn by him upon the occasion of his resignation of -his commission as Commander-in-Chief, at Annapolis, in 1783. A hall -lantern, and several articles from Mount Vernon, a “travelling -secretary,” Washington’s sword and cane, and a surveyor’s compass, -presented by him to Captain Samuel Duvall, the surveyor of Frederick -county, Maryland, are in the same case, as are also a number of articles -taken from Arlington House, and belonging formerly to the Washington -family. - -A coat worn by Andrew Jackson, at the battle of New Orleans, and the -war-saddle of the Baron De Kalb, a bayonet used by one of Braddock’s -soldiers, and found on the fatal field upon which that commander met his -death-wound, together with the panels from the state-coach of President -Washington, make up the collection. The original draft of the -Declaration of Independence, with the signatures of the Continental -Congress attached, is framed and placed near the Washington case. It is -old and yellow, and the ink is fading from the paper. Near it hangs -Washington’s Commission as Commander-in-Chief of the American army, -bearing the characteristic signature of John Hancock, President of the -Continental Congress. - -In the same case is a plain model, roughly executed, representing the -frame-work of the hull of a Western steamboat. Beneath the keel is a -false bottom, provided with bellows and air-bags. The ticket upon it -bears the memorandum, “Model of sinking and raising boats by bellows -below. A. Lincoln, May 30, 1849.” - -By means of this arrangement, Mr. Lincoln hoped to solve the difficulty -of passing boats over sand-bars in the Western rivers. The success of -his scheme would have made him independently wealthy, but it failed, -and, twelve years later, he became President of the United States. -During the interval, the model lay forgotten in the Patent Office, but, -after his inauguration, Mr. Lincoln got one of the _employés_ to find it -for him. After his death, it was placed in the Washington case. - -The opposite case contains another memento of him—the hat worn by him on -the night of his assassination. - -In a couple of cases, filled with machinery for making shoes, we see a -number of handsome silk robes and Japanese articles, of various kinds, -presented to Presidents Buchanan and Lincoln, by the Tycoon of Japan. -The remainder of the hall is filled with models of machines for making -leather harness and trunks, models of gas and kerosene oil apparatuses, -liquor distilleries, machines for making confectionery, and for trying -out lard and fat. Also, methods of curing fish and meat, and embalming -the dead. A splendid model of a steel revolving tower, for harbor -defence, stands near the door, and is one of the most conspicuous -ornaments of the room. The other halls are devoted exclusively to models -of patented machinery, and other inventions. The cases above and below -are well filled; models of bridges span the spaces between the other -cases, and those of the larger machines are laid on the floor of the -hall. - -Models of improved arms, clocks, telegraphs, burglar and fire alarms, -musical instruments, light-houses, street cars, lamps, stoves, ranges, -furnaces, peat and fuel-machines, brick and tile-machines, -sewing-machines, power-looms, paper-making machinery, knitting-machines, -machines for making cloth, hats, spool cotton, for working up hemp, -harbor cleaners, patent hooks-and-eyes, buttons, umbrella and -cane-handles, fluting-machines, trusses, medical instruments of gutta -percha, corsets, ambulances and other military establishments, -arrangements for excluding the dust and smoke from railroad cars, -railroad and steamboat machinery, agricultural and domestic machinery of -all kinds, and hundreds of other inventions, line these three immense -halls. Among the most remarkable is a machine to force a hen to lay -eggs, and a silver worm hook, invented to fish worms out of the human -stomach. - -A large library, of great value, is attached to the Patent Office, -containing many volumes of the highest scientific value. Under judicious -arrangement, a collection already rich and ample is forming, of every -work of interest to the inventors, and that new, increasing, important -class of professional men—the attorneys in patent cases. Upon its -shelves may be found a complete set of the reports of the British Patent -Commissioners, of which there are only six copies in the United States. -The reports of French patents are also complete, and those of various -other countries are being obtained as rapidly as possible. A system of -exchanges has been established, which employs three agents abroad; and, -in addition to various and arduous duties, the librarian annually -dispatches several hundred copies of the reports. - - - - - CHAPTER XLI. - THE BUREAU OF PATENTS—CRAZY INVENTORS AND - WONDERFUL INVENTIONS. - -Patent-Rights in Steamboats—Origin of Copyright and Patent-Laws—Congress - Settles the Matter—A Board of “Disinterested, Competent” - Persons—Destruction of the Patent-Office by Fire—The New - Building—The Corps of Examiners—The Commissioner’s Speech—Twenty - Thousand Applications _per annum_—Fourteen Thousand Patents Granted - in One Year—Wonderful Expansion of Inventive Genius—“The Universal - Yankee”—Second-hand Inventions—Where the Inventions Come from—Taking - Out a Patent for the Lord’s Prayer—A Patent for a Cow’s Tail—A - Lady’s Patent—Hesitating to Accept a Million Dollars—How Patentees - are Protected—The American System—What American Inventors Have Done, - and What They Haven’t—The First Superintendent—The Present - Commissioner—Exploits of General Legett—His Efficiency in Office—The - Inventor Always a Dreamer—Perpetual Motion—The Invention of a D. - D.—His Little Machine—“Original with Me”—Silencing the Doctor—A New - Process of Embalming—A Dead Body Sent to the Office—Utilizing - Niagara—A _Generous_ Offer—An Englishman’s Invention—Inventors in - Paris—How to Kill Lions and Tigers in the United States with - Catmint—A Fearful Bomb-shell—Eccentric Letters—Amusing Specimens of - Correspondence. - - -With the settlement of the English colonies in America came a great many -English customs and laws, and among those adhered to was that of -granting patents or passing special Acts for the protection of -inventors. - -In 1728, the Legislature of Connecticut granted the exclusive right of -practicing the business or trade of steel-making, provided the -petitioners improved the art to any good and reasonable perfection -within two years. In 1785, the State of Maryland passed an act giving to -one James Rumsey the exclusive right to construct, employ and navigate -boats of an improved construction, to run against the current of rapid -rivers. In 1787, an act was passed vesting the exclusive right of -propelling boats by steam and water for a limited time. In this year a -number of acts were passed to protect inventions of machines for -ruff-carding-belts, grinding flour, &c., and in 1789, one for the -protection of a hand fire-engine in New Hampshire was enacted. - -The founders of the Constitution saw the advantages to be derived from -protecting the useful arts and sciences, and we find in Article 1, -Section 8, the authority and power given Congress “to promote the -progress of science and the useful arts by securing, for a limited time, -to authors and inventors, the exclusive right to their respective -writings and discoveries,” etc.; “to make all laws which shall be -necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers.” -Accordingly, Congress, in 1790, immediately after the ratification of -the Constitution, found it necessary and thought it beneficial to enact -a statute which authorized the issue of a patent to inventors and -discoverers of any useful manufacture, engine, machine, and those who -should devise any improvement thereon not before known or used. - -The application, consisting of a clear description of the invention, was -at that time made to the Secretary-of-State, and the Attorney-General of -the United States. If such application was found to be new, a patent was -issued by authority of any two persons enumerated, attested by the -signature of the President of the United States, who granted to the -inventor the exclusive right of making, constructing, using, or vending -to others to be used, the invention or discovery, for the term of -fourteen years. - -As the nation increased in power and talent, this Act was modified as -the necessities of the time required. Abuses crept in, the most noted of -which was the granting and issuing of a great many patents without any -record being kept to indicate that such patents were ever granted. This -was caused by lack of organization and want of proper assistance. The -Executive and Members of the Cabinet, having other duties to perform, -neglected the proper examination of applications, and the system -degenerated into as bad a one as the English. - -This Act, with the amendment, was, in 1836, swept from the statute -books, and the Patent-Office was established on a surer basis, with an -organization of a Commissioner, Chief Clerk, an Examiner, a Draughtsman, -and some five clerks to conduct the examination and issues of -applications. As the decisions of the Commissioner, who was then -presumed to examine all applications, was not always impartial and -right, an appeal was allowed to a Board composed of three disinterested -and competent persons, who were appointed by the Secretary of State, as -occasion required. - -The Patent-Office Building, which was at that time situated on the -present site of the General Post-Office, was completely destroyed by -fire in December, 1836, and all models, drawings and records were -consumed. Congress appropriated money, and issued circulars directed to -all who were thought to be interested in the restoration. - -The majority of the patentees sent in duplicates of their papers and -models, but many were never heard from, and for this reason the office -is unable to present a complete record of the grants. After the fire, -the business of the Office was conducted in the City Hall building until -the present building was erected for the Patent-Office, a few years -later. In 1849, the Office was placed under the supervision of the -Secretary of the Interior or Home Department, where it now remains. - -The fostering of invention encouraged home manufactures, one of the -results most eagerly sought, after the war with Great Britain. So active -became the inventive genius and so prolific of results, that Congress -was compelled, from time to time, to increase the examining corps, and -the little band of seven persons, who occupied the contracted rooms in -the City Hall, has expanded into a corps of eighty examiners and -assistants, more than two hundred clerks and other officials, all under -the control of a Commissioner and an Assistant-Commissioner. - -The grant of one thousand patents in 1836, when the office was first -regularly organized, has enlarged into one hundred and sixty thousand at -the present time. And the latter number is scarcely two-thirds of the -number of applications. With this enormous increase followed a -corresponding labor and intricacy in examining so large a number of -applications, but so perfectly has the system been developed, that very -few mistakes are made in the way of wrongfully granting patents. - -Hon. S. S. Fisher, United States Commissioner of Patents, before the -American Institute, New York City, September 28, 1869, made an eloquent -address concerning the American system of granting patents, from which I -make the following extracts: - - “The great Patent Act of 1836 established what is now distinctively - the American system in regard to the grant of letters-patent. - - “In the Patent-office, under the act of 1836, the Commissioner and one - examining-clerk were thought to be sufficient to do the work of - examining into the patentability of the two or three hundred that were - offered; now sixty-two examiners are over-crowded with work, a force - of over three hundred _employes_ is maintained, and the applications - have swelled to over twenty thousand per annum. This year the number - of patents granted will average two hundred and seventy-five per week, - or fourteen thousand a year. - - “In England and on the Continent all applications are patented without - examination into the novelty of the inventions claimed. In some - instances the instrument is scanned to see if it cover a patentable - subject matter, and in Prussia some examination is made into the - character of the new idea; but in no case are such appliances - provided, such a corps of skilled examiners, such a provision of - drawings, models, and books, such a collection of foreign patents, and - such checks to prevent and review error, as with us. As a result, an - American patent has in our courts a value that no foreign patent can - acquire in the courts of its own country. - - * * * * * - - “The foreign patents of American inventors, that have been copies of - patents previously granted in this country, are the best that are - granted abroad. Many an English or French invention, that has been - patented without difficulty there, has been stopped in its passage - through our office by a reference to some patent previously granted in - this country. In spite of our examination, which rejects over - one-third of all the applications that are made, invention has been - stimulated by the hope of protection; and nearly as many patents will - issue in the United States this year as in the whole of Europe put - together, including the British Isles. But a few days ago I took up a - volume of Italian patents, when I was amused and gratified to find on - every page the name of the universal Yankee, re-patenting there his - American invention. He is, I suspect, much the best customer in the - Patent Office of United Italy. - - “We are an inventive people. Invention is by no means confined to our - mechanics. Our merchants invent, our soldiers and our sailors invent, - our school-masters invent, our professional men invent, aye, our women - and children invent. One man, lately, wished to patent the application - of the Lord’s Prayer, repeated in a loud tone of voice, to prevent - stammering; another claimed the new and useful attachment of a weight - to a cow’s tail, to prevent her from switching it while milking; - another proposed to cure worms by extracting by a delicate line and - tiny hook, baited with a seductive pill; while a lady patented a - crimping-pin, which she declared might also be used as a paper-cutter, - as a skirt-supporter, as a paper-file, as a child’s pin, as a - bouquet-holder, as a shawl-fastener, or as a book-mark. Do not suppose - that this is the highest flight that the gentle sex has achieved. It - has obtained many other patents, some of which have no relation to - wearing apparel, and are of considerable value. - - “Every inventor supposes that he has a fortune in every conception - that he puts into wood and iron. Stealing tremblingly and furtively up - the steps of the Patent Office, with his model concealed under his - coat, lest some sharper shall see it and rob him of his darling - thought, he hopes to come down those steps with the precious parchment - that shall insure him a present competency and enrich his children. If - he were offered a million in the first flush of his triumph, he would - hesitate about touching it without sleeping over it for a night. Yet - fourteen thousand millions would be a pretty heavy bill to pay from a - treasury not over full. No commission could satisfy the inventor, and - no price that we could afford to pay would take the place of the hope - of unlimited wealth, which now lightens his toil.... We say, we cannot - pay you in money, we will pay you in time. A new thought developed, - explained, described, put on record for the use of the nation—this is - the one side. The right to the exclusive benefit of this new thought, - for a limited time, and protection in that right, this on the other. - This is the patent system. A fair contract between the inventor and - the public. - - “The inventor’s best security is to take out a patent. - - “To secure this fair dealing, we have on the one side the Patent - Office, with its examiners, its drawings, its models, its books and - its foreign patents, to scan and test the invention. - - “On the other side we have the courts of law to protect the inventor - and punish the thief. It is impossible that these instrumentalities - should do their work imperfectly. This is the American system. Under - its protection great inventions have been born, and have thriven. It - has given to the world the steamboat, the telegraph, the - sewing-machine, the hard and soft rubber. It has reconstructed the - loom, the reaping-machine, and the locomotive. It has won from the - older homes of the mechanic arts their richest trophies, and like - Columbus, who found a new world for Castile and Leon, it has created - new arts in which our nation has neither competitive or peer.” - -The first Superintendent of the Patent Office was Doctor W. Thornton, a -gentleman of great attainments, who held his position for many years. -The present Commissioner of Patents is General Mortimer D. Leggett, born -of Quaker parents, in the State of New York, fifty years ago. At an -early age, he went with his parents to the Western Reserve, Ohio. He -received an academical education, studied law, was admitted to the bar, -and at twenty-eight, was established in a flourishing business in -Warren, Ohio. Jacob D. Cox, late Secretary of the Interior, studied law -with General Leggett, and ultimately became his partner under the firm -name of Leggett & Cox. General Leggett afterwards filled the position of -Professor of Pleadings and Equity Jurisprudence, in the Ohio Law -College, which he occupied till 1857, and later was called to become the -Superintendent of Public Schools in the city of Zanesville, which his -management made pre-eminent among the schools of the West. At the -beginning of the war, he entered the field at the head of the -Seventy-eighth Ohio. This regiment received its first baptism in the -snow and sleet of Fort Donelson, and was under fire there. - -The executive and administrative ability of Colonel Leggett, as shown in -the discipline and condition of his regiment, attracted the attention of -General Grant, who made him Provost-Marshal of the post. He did his work -so well, that he was repeatedly chosen again, and by the warm -commendation of his chief, was made Brigadier-General. At the battle of -Shiloh, and the siege of Corinth, General Leggett held advanced posts. -In the siege of Vicksburg, General Leggett commanded the first brigade -of Logan’s Division—the brigade which, for its gallant service, was -honored by being designated for the coveted distinction of marching -first into the captured works. Soon after, he received command of this -division, and was made Major-General, and with it, made with Sherman, -the famous “march to the sea.” - -There are many young men who live to say—that the most genial, -beneficent, and valuable influence, exerted upon them during the -toilsome campaign, and the dangerous periods of idleness in camp-life, -was that of General Leggett, who ever inspired patience by his unfailing -good humor, persistent fidelity to temperance, both by precept and lofty -example. He made many a dreary march seem like a picnic excursion; and -his quick, fearless, yet sympathetic glance, often inspired the sinking -heart at the moment of danger. Beyond this, he was a true soldier, in -caring anxiously for the comfort of his soldiers, in enforcing rigid -discipline, and in stimulating officers and men to excel in drill and -all service. - -At the close of the war, General Leggett became Superintendent and -Business Manager of the engine works at Zanesville and Newark, Ohio, the -largest establishment of the kind in the West, where he remained, till -he was called by the friend who remembered his brave services in the -peril of war,—to the administration of one of the most important -branches of the Government service in time of peace. He has already -inaugurated one of the most potent movements toward the encouragement of -the useful arts, ever made in this country—viz.: the publication in -popular form, and at low rates, of the Patent Office drawings and -specifications. - -General Leggett has a clear red-and-white complexion, wide, open -laughing blue eyes, and an aspect of fresh health which amounts to -youth. His frame and brain are cast in herculean mould. He is a man of -muscle, as well as mind—the former having been toughened by long -geological foot-tramps through the mountains of Virginia, as well as by -the exposures of war, and of an all-time active life. - -The official chair of General Leggett has not proved too much for his -better self, as it does for so many. He meets all who approach him with -a smile and kind word, apparently not forgetting that in a republic the -potentate of to-day may be the suppliant of to-morrow, and that at any -rate, but one man at a time can be a Commissioner of Patents. He brings -to his official administration and decisions the same untiring industry, -intelligence and integrity; the same broad views, clear insight and -devotion to duty, which in every previous sphere that he has filled have -made his whole life an honorable success. - -With all its comprehensive cares, one side of the Commissioner’s -official life tends to jollity, good digestion, and long life. In no -other position in the world, probably, could a man discover how many -crazy people there are outside of the lunatic asylum. The born inventor -is always a dreamer. For the sake of his darling thought, he is willing -to sacrifice himself, his wife and children, every thing but the -“machine” growing in his brain and quickening under his eager hand. How -often they fail! How often the precious thought, developed into form, is -only a mistake—a failure. - -Sometimes this is sad—quite as often it is funny. The procession which -started, far back in the ages, with its machine of “Perpetual Motion,” -long ago reached the doors of the American Patent Office. The persons -found in that procession are sometimes astonishing. A doctor of -divinity, well-known at the Capital, and not suspected of studying any -machinery but that of the moral law, appeared one day in the office of -the Commissioner. - -“I know I’ve got it,” he said. - -“What, sir?” - -“PERPETUAL MOTION, sir. Look!” and he set down a little machine. “If the -floor were not in the way, if the earth were not in the way, that weight -would never stop, and my machine would go on forever. I know this is -original with me—that it never dawned before upon any other human mind.” - -So enthusiastic was the doctor, it was with difficulty he could be -restrained from depositing his ten dollars and leaving his experiment to -be patented. The Commissioner, quietly, sent to the library for a book—a -history of attempts to create Perpetual Motion. Opening at a certain -page, he pointed out to the astonished would-be inventor, where his own -machine had been attempted and failed, more than a hundred years before. -The reverend doctor took the book home, read, digested, and meditated -thereon—to bring it back and lay it down before the Commissioner, in -silence. No one has ever heard him speak of Perpetual Motion since. - -It would take a large volume, to record all the preposterous letters and -inventions received at this office. A very short time since, a man sent -a letter to the Patent Bureau describing a new process of embalming -which he had originated. It was accompanied by a dead baby—“the model” -which he requested should be placed in one of the glass cases of the -Exhibition Room. He considered himself deeply injured when his request -was refused. - -A letter was recently received by the Commissioner of Patents, from a -man in Portsmouth, England, offering this Government the benefit of an -invention of his own for utilizing water-power, so as to force the water -to a great height when confined in reservoirs constructed for the -purpose. He offers the invention free of all charge, because, he states, -that it pains him to see “such mighty power as there is at the Niagara -wasted.” In addition, he offers his own services at the _low_ rate of -£1,000 per annum, to build and operate the invention. He says in his -letter, that “if the mighty great power in Niagara was accumulated, it -would move a great deal.” He also states that he “has a good plan for a -velocipede and a bicicle, that he thinks would be a good thing for this -country,” but admits that “people in England don’t like it.” - -Referring again to his water-power, he claims that if this Government -would build the road, he can take ships across the isthmus of Panama “in -a box, water and all.” - -The Commissioner recently received the following communication from the -Legation of the United States: - - PARIS, Dec. 3, 1872. - - “SIR:—A very large number of inventions and discoveries are submitted - to this Legation, with the request that we shall transmit them to - Washington. Most of them are, as you may suppose, worthless. We have - had, for instance, serious plans proposed for the extermination of all - the lions and tigers in the United States by the use of catmint, the - _modus operandi_ being to dig an immense pit, and fill it with this - herb. The well-known love of the feline race for catmint will - naturally induce the lions and tigers to jump into the pit and roll - themselves upon it; whereupon concealed hunters are to appear and - slaughter the ferocious animals. - - “Another plan is for the destruction of grasshoppers upon the plains - by the use of artillery; it being perfectly well known that concussion - kills insects. - - “A third is for the capture of a besieged city by the use of a bomb - which, upon exploding, shall emit so foul a smell that the besieged - will rush headlong from the walls, and fall an easy prey to the - besiegers.” - -The President of the United States receives many letters of like -character, which are by him transmitted to the Bureau of Patents. I -append verbatim copies (including orthography) of three which represent -many thousands more of equal intelligence received at this Department of -the Government. - - AUGUST 31st 1872 - - MR. U. S. GRANT Sir it is with pleasure I take this opportunity Of - writing to You I Am well at Present Hoping those few lines will find - you enjoying Good health And prosperity I am doing all I can for you - in this locality and I hope and expect you will be our next President - Of the United States I would like to have an Office of Siveliseing the - Indians What Salary will you give me per Annum please Write to me and - let me no in fact I am in need of A little money at present Will you - please send me 600 or 1000 dolors to —— —— Sumthing Aught to be done - for the poor Indean And I beleave that I can sivelise them. If you - will give me 200 or 300 per month it will doo. - - MARCH 13 1873 - - HON. SIR PRESEDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA I announce to you - that I am inventing Perpetual Motion I have once had my paterns stolen - or I should had the machine in running order before this and I have - altered my plan so that it carrys a shaft and wheel and when - constructed on a large plan it will move machinery, And being on a new - plan and different from all others and I am sure of success which I - hope to place before the world soon. Though in consequence of poor - health and not having the means to work with it will take some months - longer to accomplish it I might write you the plan but I am not sure - that you will receive this And now I wish to ask a few questions which - I hope you will answer by writing as soon as you receive this - - 1st has there been a patent granted or applied for on perpetual motion - - 2nd has the Government a bounty offered to the inventor - - 3d when the Machine is in perfect running order and shure that it will - go without stoping will you and a man from the Patent Office come on - and grant me a patent and fetch me the bounty if there is one. - - 4th is there eney way that I can have time to get the machine - completed before others can apply for a Patent - - Please write soon and address —— - - MAY 1872 - - HON FRIEND—_Solicitor of Patents_ I have invented a secret form of - writing expressly for the use of our gov in time of warfare the - publick demands it, It is different from any other invention known to - the publick in this or any gov. It consists simply of the English - alphabet and can be changed to any form that the safety of our gov. - demands it no higherglyphicks are employed but it is practicable and - safe I propose to sell it to our gov for the sum of one million - dollars I will meet any committee appointed to investigate the matter. - If you will give me your influence in Congress and aid in bringing a - sale of the invention about to our gov or any other I will reward you - with the sum of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) It is no illusion or a - whim of the brain but is what I represent it to be scientific - practicable and safe, Wishing to hear from you on the subject I remain - - Yours most truly —— - - - - - CHAPTER XLII. - THE WAR DEPARTMENT. - -The Secretary-of-War—His Duties—The Department of the Navy—Efficiency of - the Army—The Custody of the Flags—Patriotic Trophies—The War of the - Rebellion—Captured Flags—An Ugly Flag and a Strange Motto—“Crown for - the Brave”—_Sic Semper Tyrannis_—The Stars and Stripes—The Black - Flag—No Quarter—The Military Establishment—The Adjutant-General’s - Office—The Quartermaster-General’s Office—The Commissary-General’s - Office—The Paymaster-General—The Surveyor-General—The Engineer’s - Office—The Washington Aqueduct—Topographical Engineers—The Ordnance - Bureau—The War Department Building—During the War—Lincoln’s Solitary - Walk—Secretary Stanton—The Exigencies of War—The Medical History of - the War—Dr. Hammond—Dr. J. H. Baxter—Collecting Physiological - Data—The Inspection of Over Half a Million Persons—Who is Unfit for - Military Service—Various Nationalities Compared—Curious Calculations - Respecting Height, Health, and Color—Healthy Emigrants—Remarkable - Statistical Results—The Physical _Status_ of the Nation. - - -The first recorded legislation of importance upon the military affairs -of the nation, is the Act of Congress, of the twenty-seventh day of -January, 1785, entitled “An Ordinance for ascertaining the Powers and -Duties of the Secretary of War.” - -By this Act the duties of the Secretary are defined; and amongst them is -a provision requiring him to visit, “at least once a year,” “all the -magazines and deposits of public stores, and report the state of them, -with proper arrangements, to Congress.” - -Immediately after the confederation of the States, by the adoption of -the Constitution, this legislation was superseded by an Act of Congress, -approved on the seventh day of August, 1789, defining the duties of the -department, which was again modified by the fifth Congress, in the Act -of the thirtieth day of April, 1798, “To establish an Executive -Department, to be denominated the Department of the Navy.” Of the -efficiency of this department, and its services to the Republic, there -can be no better testimony than that which has been extorted from -history, in the following words: “The United States, from the peace of -Independence, in 1783, achieved by war, and merely acknowledged by -treaty, have always (?) lost by treaty, but never by war.” - -This sentiment, which is not as true now of our relations with Great -Britain as in 1814, contains within it a compliment to the Department -which, with limited means, and encountering the natural jealousy of -civism, has so administered its scanty finances that the army has been -made not only a defence for the frontiers, but a recognized national -force, equal to the direst emergency, a nucleus around which, in any -peril, the strength and bravery of the Republic may safely rally. - -By the Act of the fourteenth of April, 1814, the Secretaries of War and -of the Navy were placed in custody of the flags, trophies of war, etc., -to deliver the same for presentation and display in such public places -as the President may deem proper. Although many trophies, which a -monarchical power would have jealously preserved, have been lost, or at -least detached from their proper resting-place, there are still enough -in both departments to stir the patriotic emotions of all who take the -trouble to inquire for them. - -The war of the Rebellion greatly increased these trophies. The Rebel -flags taken in battle, and in surrender, and the Union flags, -re-captured from the Confederates, now occupy large apartments in two -buildings belonging to the War Department; and are all placed under the -supervision of the Adjutant-General. In “Winder’s Buildings” hundreds of -these flags are deposited, and many hundreds more in the -Adjutant-General’s office on Seventeenth street. The front and back -rooms on the lower floor of the latter house are exclusively devoted to -their preservation. A polite “orderly” is in waiting, with a -record-book, which gives the name and history of every flag in the -building. The front room is devoted to the Union colors which were -re-taken from the rebels. The back room is filled with Confederate flags -of every device and hue. Here is the first Confederate flag adopted—an -ugly rag, thirteen stars on a blue field, with white and red bars. Its -motto: “We will collect our own revenues. We choose our own -institutions.” - -The colors of the Benjamin Infantry, organized April 24, 1861, bear the -inscriptions: “Crown for the brave.” “Strike for your altars and your -fires.” - -An Alabama flag, of white bunting, with broad cross-bars of blue, sewed -on by women’s hands, is inscribed: “Our Homes, our Rights, we entrust to -your keeping, brave Sons of Alabama.” - -“_Sic Semper Tyrannis_,” says a tattered banner of fine silk, presented -in the first flush of rebellion-fever, with the confidence of assured -victory, “by the ladies of Norfolk, to the N. L. A. Blues.” Again, says -Virginia: “Our Rights we will maintain.” “Death to Invaders covered with -blood.” “Death or Victory,” cries the Zachary Rangers—and again: -“Tyranny is hateful to the gods.” - -[Illustration: - - BLOOD-STAINED CONFEDERATE BATTLE FLAGS, CAPTURED DURING THE WAR. - Sketched by permission of the Government from the large collection in - possession of the War Department, at Washington. - - 1. Black Flag. 4. State and Regiment unknown. [Captured at the - Battle of Gettysburg, by the 60th Regiment of - New York Volunteers] - 2. Alabama Flag. - 3. Palmetto Flag. 5. State Colors of North Carolina. - -] - -With the exception of the State colors, the Union flags bear fewer -mottoes. Many are fashioned of the finest fabrics, touched with the most -exquisite tints. They need no florid and sensational sentence. Enough, -that they bear the potent and silent stars of indissoluble union: - - “When Freedom, from her mountain height, - Unfurled her standard to the air, - She tore the azure robe of night, - And set the stars of glory there; - She mingled with the gorgeous dyes - The milky baldrick of the skies, - And striped its pure celestial white - With streakings of the morning light; - Then, from his mansion in the sun, - She called her eagle-bearer down, - And gave into his mighty hand, - The symbols of her chosen land.” - -Beside this Flag of the Republic, the Black Flag, borne at Winchester, -with its hideous yellow stripe, and hellish sentence, “No Quarter,” -needs no comment. From floor to nave, they droop everywhere, faded, -tattered, bullet-riddled, the flags of Freedom, and the ensigns of -Slavery, defiant, yet doomed. On one side of the apartment, cases, -divided into minute boxes, rise to the ceiling. Each one is large enough -to take a flag tightly rolled. Over all hangs a curtain; and here these -rags, which have outlasted the wasting march, the sore defeat, wait to -tell their story in silence to coming generations. - -The War Department is now divided into the following Bureaus: - -Secretary’s Office: The Secretary of War is charged, under the direction -of the President, with the general control of the military -establishment, and the execution of the laws relating thereto. The -functions of the several Bureaus are performed under his supervision and -authority. In the duties of his immediate office he is assisted by a -chief clerk, claims-and-disbursing clerk, requisition-clerk, -registering-clerk, and three recording-clerks. - -The Adjutant-General’s Office is the medium of communication to the army -of all general and special orders of the Secretary-of-War relating to -matters of military detail. The rolls of the army, and the records of -service are kept, and all military commissions prepared in this office. - -The Quartermaster-General’s Office has charge of all matters pertaining -to barracks and quarters for the troops, transportation, camp and -garrison-equipage, clothing, fuel, forage, and the incidental expenses -of the military establishment. - -The Commissary-General’s Office has charge of all matters relating to -the procurement and issue of subsistence-stores in the army. - -The Paymaster-General’s Office has the general direction of matters -relating to the pay of the army. - -The Surgeon-General’s Office has charge of all matters relating to the -medical and hospital service. - -The Engineer’s Office, at the head of which is the Chief Engineer of the -army, has charge of all matters relating to the construction of the -fortifications, and to the Military Academy. At present, the Washington -Aqueduct is being built under its direction. The Bureau of Topographical -Engineers, at the head of which is the Chief of the Corps, has charge of -all matters relating to river and harbor improvements, the survey of the -lakes, the construction of military works, and generally of all military -surveys. - -The Ordnance Bureau, at the head of which is the chief of ordnance, has -charge of all matters relating to the manufacture, purchase, storage, -and issue of all ordnance, arms, and munitions of war. The management of -the arsenals and armories is conducted under its orders. - -The present building, still used for the War Department, is utterly -inadequate to its necessities. Already its Bureaus are scattered in -several transient resting-places. In a few years they will be again -concentrated in the magnificent structure now going up, for the combined -use of the State, War and Navy Departments. - -With the present War Department building will be obliterated one of the -oldest land-marks of the Capital. All through the war of the Rebellion, -it seemed to be the temple of the people, to which the whole nation came -up, as they did to the temple at Jerusalem. What fates hung upon the -fiats which issued from its walls! Hither came mother, wife, and -daughter, to seek their dead, and to supplicate the furlough for their -living soldier. What times those were, when the very life of the nation -seemed suspended upon the will of the great War Secretary. I cannot look -at the trees which arch the avenue between the War Department and the -President’s house, without thinking of those days when Lincoln took his -solitary walk to and fro to consult with Stanton, his step slow, his -eyes sad, over-weighted with responsibility and sorrow. And going down -Seventeenth street, who that ever saw him can fail to recall the image -of Stanton as he paced up and down before the door of the War Department -for his half-hour’s exercise, when he held himself a prisoner within its -walls. - -All will soon be gone—the old familiar places as well as the old -familiar faces. The grating of the trowel, cementing stone on stone, the -ceaseless click of the hammer foretell how speedily the august stone -structure, with graceful monoliths and turreted roof stretching over the -vast square, will take the place of the old War Department. - -The exigencies of war not only augmented the business of the War -Department to gigantic proportions, but they created important Bureaus -which have survived to flourish in times of peace; of these, none are so -interesting, both to scientists and to citizens, as those connected with -the medical history of the war. It may not be universally known to the -public, but the medical profession has long been aware that the immense -collection of cases and treatment, recorded in the field and hospital -experiences of the late war, was being examined, condensed, tabulated, -and the valuable conclusion, deducible therefrom, prepared for -publication, under the direction of the Surgeon General of the army. - -During the past few years “circulars” or detached portions of the work, -of special interest, have been issued, and this spring two quarto -volumes, being the first parts of the first two volumes of the entire -work, have been given to the world. - -[Illustration: THE NEW BUILDING NOW BEING CONSTRUCTED FOR DEPARTMENTS OF -STATE, ARMY, AND NAVY.—WASHINGTON.] - -Part I. of Volume I. is devoted to _medical_ history, and has been -compiled by Dr. Woodward, an assistant-surgeon of the army. This is a -volume of eleven hundred pages, and is divided into two parts and an -appendix. The parts give the statistics of disease and death, -respectively, of white and colored troops. The appendix consists of -reports and statements of medical officers and their superiors. - -Part I. of Volume II. commences the _surgical_ history, and is the work -of Dr. Otis, also an assistant-surgeon of the army, and well known as -the curator of the Army Medical Museum. It contains nearly eight hundred -pages, and is illustrated by numerous photo-lithographs of gunshot -wounds, stumps of amputated limbs, and various other injuries of the -human body—all evidences of the cruelties of war. - -The merit of the conception of this vast undertaking, is due to the -former Surgeon-General, Dr. Hammond, now the distinguished physician of -New York city. - -In 1862 he devised the form and routine for copious and precise returns -of hospital treatment, and under his energetic supervision, Dr. Brinton -of the volunteer corps, and Doctors Woodward and Otis, commenced the -“Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion.” - -The work was ably continued by Dr. Barnes, the former Surgeon-General, -and the result of all these labors is, so far, seen in the two volumes -described, for the publication of which an appropriation was made by -Congress in June, 1868. It is supposed that the entire work will reach -six, and perhaps eight, such parts, and it certainly will be, when -completed, a noble evidence of the liberality with which the Government -provided for its sick and wounded soldiers, who fought for its -preservation, and of the patriotism of the men who suffered in -supporting such Government. - -Brevet Major-General Joseph K. Barnes, Surgeon-General of the United -States Army, was born in Pennsylvania, and appointed Assistant-Surgeon -United States Army from that State, June, 1840, and stationed at the -United States Military Academy, West Point, N. Y., until November of -that year. He served in the Florida war against the Seminole Indians to -1842; at Fort Jesup, La., to 1846; in the war with Mexico to 1848; at -Baton Rouge, La., and in Texas the same year, at Baltimore, Md., to -1851; in Missouri, to 1854; again at the United States Military Academy, -West Point, N. Y., to 1857; in California and at Fort Vancouver, W. T., -to 1861; at the head-quarters of General Hunter, Western Department and -Department of Kansas to 1862. - -He was promoted to be surgeon in the United States Army, August, 1856; -Lieutenant Colonel and Medical Inspector, February, 1863; Colonel and -Medical Inspector-General, August, 1863; and was assigned duty as -Acting-Surgeon-General, United States Army, in the same month; appointed -Brigadier-General and Surgeon-General, United States Army, August, 1864; -Brevetted Major-General, United States Army, for faithful and -meritorious services during the war. - -Another medical report, perhaps equal in value to the Surgeon General’s, -has issued from the medical branch of the Provost-Marshal-General’s -Bureau, under the supervision of Dr. J. H. Baxter. - -Dr. Jedediah H. Baxter, Lieutenant-Colonel and Chief Medical-Purveyor, -United States Army, was born in Strafford, Orange County, Vt., May 11, -1837. He was graduated at the University of Vermont, both in the -academical and medical departments, and in 1860 served as assistant -professor of anatomy and surgery in that University. He was house -surgeon in “Bellevue Hospital” at the “Seamen’s Retreat,” Staten Island, -and on “Blackwell’s Island.” - -He entered the Twelfth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers in April, -1861, was commissioned assistant-surgeon of the Regiment, May 13, 1861, -and promoted to be surgeon, June 19, 1861. Served as post surgeon at -Fort Warren, Boston Harbor, until July 26, 1861, when, with his -regiment, he was mustered into the United States service and ordered to -join the forces then forming under Gen. N. P. Banks at Sandy Hook, Md., -opposite Harper’s Ferry. He was Acting-Brigade-Surgeon, until April 4, -1862, when, promoted to Brigade-Surgeon of Volunteers, he was ordered to -report for duty to Gen. Geo. B. McClellan, and served on the staff of -that officer during the Peninsular campaign, as Medical Director of -Field-Hospitals and the transportation of sick and wounded of the Army -of the Potomac. - -Disabled from field service by the “peninsular fever,” he was ordered to -hospital duty in Washington, D. C., August 1, 1862, and was in charge of -Judiciary Square United States General Hospital until September, 1862, -when he was ordered to superintend the building of Campbell United -States General Hospital, Washington, D. C., of which Hospital, when -completed, he was placed in charge, where he remained until January 5, -1864, when he was relieved and ordered to report for special duty to the -Provost-Marshal-General of the United States, who assigned him to duty -as “Chief Medical Officer of the Provost-Marshal-General’s Bureau.” In -this capacity he served, having the management of all medical matters -pertaining to the recruitment of the army, until the close of the war, -having been Brevetted Lieutenant-Colonel of the United States Volunteers -in March, 1865, and Colonel of the United States Volunteers in January, -1866. - -When the Provost-Marshal-General’s Bureau was abolished, he was placed -on special duty by an Act of Congress, in preparing a report of the -medical statistics of the Provost-Marshal-General’s Bureau. On July 20, -1866, he was commissioned Assistant-Medical-Purveyor, United States -Army, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and was Brevetted Colonel “for -faithful and meritorious services during the war.” He was promoted to -the position of Chief Medical Purveyor of the United States Army, March -12, 1872, in which position he has supervision of the purchase and -distribution of all hospital and medical supplies required for the use -of the army. - -On being called to the charge of the medical branch of the -Provost-Marshal-General’s Bureau, Dr. Baxter soon perceived that, in the -several Acts of Congress devolving upon the Provost-Marshal-General the -duty of recruiting by voluntary enlistment, conscription and -substitution, the vast armies called out to suppress the rebellion, lay -the means of obtaining such a view of the physical state and military -capacity of the nation as had never before and might never again be -obtained. After an examination of such material as had already -accumulated under the limited operation of the draft and recruiting -Acts, he prepared and issued to the surgeons of the enrolling boards, in -the several congressional districts, blank forms and instructions -designed to afford the means of tabulating from the reports of -individual examinations of recruits, drafted men and substitutes, the -statistics illustrating the relations between disease and nativity, -residence, age, complexion, height, and size, social condition and -occupation in the sex on which the principal physical burdens of life -fall. - -The accumulating records of the medical department of the army could be -utilized for the benefit of military surgery and hygiene by showing the -varying facts of disease and wounds among soldiers, and the records of -pension applications and the regularly recurring examinations of invalid -pensioners would give the results of non-fatal wounds and disease upon -the disabled soldier returned to civil life. But Dr. Baxter saw that a -separate and important field of study and action was left to his own -bureau, if its current records could be reduced to a system of fulness, -accuracy and uniformity. This was successfully done, and the results -will soon be before the public. From advance sheets of the volume, many -interesting facts have been drawn for this article. The work is based on -the reports made of the medical inspection of about 605,000 persons -subject to draft, and minuter descriptions of the fuller examination of -508,735 recruits, substitutes and drafted men. - -Of the whole number examined, a little over 257 in each thousand were -found unfit for military service. The largest number found disqualified -through any specific class of diseases were those affected by diseases -of the digestive organs, the ratio of unfitness to the whole number -examined being a little more than sixty in a thousand. Fifty nativities -are embraced in the report, the ratio of unfitness in each thousand -being, for American whites, 323; American colored, 225; Canadians, 258; -Irish, 337; Germans, 400; Scandinavians, 294; English, 325; and Scotch, -308. - -From these ratios it will be seen that the Negroes, Canadians and -Scandinavians were the healthiest, and the Germans and Irish the -unhealthiest. The relative position assigned to the negro by these -figures is not in accord with the general opinion upon the subject, but -the healthiness of unskilled occupations and his simple method of life -in the South accounts for the fact. The report also shows that a larger -proportion of civilians are fit for military duty in this country than -in Great Britain or France, and probably Germany, though the figures to -prove the proposition in the latter case are not at hand. - -Of the recruits, conscripts and substitutes under twenty years of age, -the ratio of rejection and exemption was 268 in the thousand, including -those too young for service; between twenty and twenty-five years, the -ratio was 245; between twenty-five and thirty, the ratio was 330; it was -411 between thirty and thirty-five; between thirty-five and forty it was -462, and over forty years it was 607 in a thousand, including all -rejected for dotage. - -This table bears out the common experience that infirmities grow with -age. Of the native whites, 663 in a thousand were of light complexion; -of Canadians, 661 in a thousand; of English, 705; of Irish, 702; and of -German, 694—indicating, by the lower ratio of fair complexion, a greater -admixture of races in this country than in the parent countries. Of -persons of light complexion, 385 in the thousand were unfit for service, -while the dark complexions show the healthier ratio of 332 in each -thousand. The average height of Americans is found to be 5 feet 7½ -inches, of Canadians 5.5, 5.1, of Irish and Germans 5.5, 5.4, of -Scandinavians and English 5.6, 0, and of French one-fifth of an inch -lower than the last named. All under five feet were rejected or -exempted, as the case might be; and the rejections under 5 feet 1 inch -were 582 in the thousand, between 5.1 and 5.3 they were 443, between 5.3 -and 5.5 they were 322, between 5.5 and 5.7 they were 303, between 5.7 -and 5.9 they were 313, between 5.9 and 5.11 they were 326, between 5.11 -and 6.1 they were 350, and they were 358 in all over 6 feet 1 inch. The -healthiest persons were those of the average height of 5 feet 7 inches. - -The chest measurements, at moment of respiration, averaged 33.11 inches -for Americans, 32.84 for Irish, 33.56 for Germans, 33.01 for Canadians -and 32.93 for English. The detailed statistics of height and size bear -out the statement that, as a rule, only healthy foreigners migrate from -the Old to the New World and healthy natives from the old to the new -States; both conclusions are quite reasonable, when the anticipated and -real hardships of migration are considered. - -Considering the figures relating to occupation, it is found that the -ratio of unfitness for army life was 409 in a thousand among persons -engaged in in-door pursuits, and only 349 in a thousand, in persons of -out-door callings. - -Taken by trades and professions, it appears that of journalists 740 in a -thousand were disqualified, physicians 670, clergymen and preachers 654, -dentists 549, lawyers 544, tailors 473, teachers 455, photographers 451, -mercantile clerks 416, painters 392, carpenters 383, stone-cutters 376, -shoe-makers 362, laborers 358, farmers 350, printers 335, tanners 216, -iron-workers 189. The average ratio of disability among professional men -was 520 in a thousand, merchants 480, artisans 484, and unskilled -laborers 348 only. - -The journalists, doctors and clergymen were the unhealthiest -professional men, and teachers and musicians the healthiest. Brokers -were the unhealthiest of the mercantile class, and shop-keepers and -peddlers the healthiest. Iron and leather-workers were the healthiest of -the artisans; in the first occupation, partly, because only robust men -can follow it. Paper-makers, tailors and upholsterers appear to have -been the unhealthiest trades. Of unskilled occupations, so-called, for -the purposes of this work, miners and mariners were the healthiest, and -watchmen, bar-keepers and fishermen the unhealthiest. Explanation is -found in the case of watchmen, in the number of old and broken-down men -following that vocation. The ratio of single men found disqualified was -393 in a thousand, and of married men 447 in a thousand; the difference, -however, being no argument against marriage, as the latter class -embraces a larger proportion of men beyond middle age. - -Congress has provided liberally for the publication of Dr. Baxter’s -medical statistics of drafts and recruitments, and the volume will -contain shaded maps and diagrams, to aid in exhibiting and contrasting -the results of his unique studies of the physical status of the nation. - - - - - CHAPTER XLIII. - THE ARMY MEDICAL MUSEUM—ITS CURIOSITIES AND WONDERS. - -Ford’s Theatre—Its Interesting Memories—The Last - Festivities—Assassination of President Lincoln—Two Years - Later—Effects of “War, Disease, and Human Skill”—Collection of - Pathological Specimens—The Army Medical Museum Opened—Purchase of - Ford’s Theatre—Its Present Aspect—Ghastly Specimens—Medical and - Surgical Histories of the War—The Library—A Book Four Centuries - Old—Rare Old Volumes—The Most Interesting of the National - Institutions—Various Opinions—Effects on Visitors—An Extraordinary - Withered Arm—A Dried Sioux Baby!—Its Poor Little Nose—A Well-dressed - Child—Its Buttons and Beads—Casts of Soldier-Martyrs—Making a New - Nose—Vassear’s Mounted Craniums—Model Skeletons—A Giant, Seven Feet - High—Skeleton of a Child—All that Remains of Wilkes Booth, the - Assassin—Fractures by Shot and Shell—General Sickles Contributes His - Quota—A Case of Skulls—Arrow-head Wounds—Nine Savage - Sabre-Cuts—Seven Bullets in One Head—Phenomenal Skulls—A Powerful - Nose—An Attempted Suicide—A Proverb Corrected—Specimen from the - Paris Catacombs—An “Interesting Case”—Typical Heads of the Human - Race—Remarkable Indian Relics—“Flatheads”—The Work of Indian - Arrows—An Extraordinary Story—A “Pet” Curiosity—A Japanese - Manikin—Tattooed Heads—Representatives of Animated Nature—Adventure - of Captain John Smith—A “Stingaree”—The Microscopical - Division—Medical Records of the War—Preparing Specimens. - - -The building in which Abraham Lincoln was assassinated will always -retain a deep and sad interest in the mind of the American people. It -was well that it should be consecrated to a national purpose. None could -be more fit than to make it the repository of the Pathological and -Surgical results of the war. - -From the dark hour of the great martyr’s death, the light and music of -amusement never again animated these dark halls. But in two years from -the day of the tragedy, its doors were opened to the people, to come in -and behold what war, disease, death, and human skill had wrought. - -In obedience to an order from the War Department, issued in 1862, -thousands of pathological specimens had accumulated in the office of the -Surgeon-General. An ample and fit receptacle was needed for their proper -care and display. And April 13, 1867, the old Ford Theatre, on Tenth -street, between E and F, was opened as the Army Medical Museum. - -Congress had already purchased the building of Mr. Ford, and used it for -a time as the receptacle for the captured archives of the Confederate -Government. Before it was opened as the Army Museum, its interior had -been entirely remodeled, retaining nothing of the original building but -the outside walls. It has been made fire-proof, and is exclusively -devoted to the uses of the Museum. The third story is the Museum hall, -lined on its four sides with pictures and glass cases filled with -ghastly specimens, beside many more in the interior of the room. - -Over a square railing, in the centre of the hall, you look down upon the -second story, and through that to the first. The lower floor is filled -with busy clerks, sitting at tables, writing out the medical and -surgical histories of the war. - -[Illustration: - - THE MAIN HALL OF THE ARMY MEDICAL MUSEUM.—WASHINGTON. - - This Museum occupies the scene of the assassination of President - Lincoln, in Ford’s Theatre, which after that date became the - property of the Government. It contains a collection of upwards of - twenty thousand rare, curious and interesting objects, surpassing - any similar collection in the world. It is visited annually by - upwards of twenty-five thousand persons. -] - -The second floor, which is reached by light spiral stairs from the -first, is largely devoted to the very valuable Medical and Surgical -Library, which has been collected since the opening of the Museum. It -now numbers thirty-eight thousand volumes, some of which are rare books -of extreme value. One of these was among the earliest of printed -volumes. The art of printing was first used to give to the world -religious and medical books. This treasure of the Medical Museum was -published at Venice, in 1480, and is the work of Petrus de Argelata. It -is bound and illuminated in vellum. Another choice book, is a copy of -Galen, which once belonged to the Dutch anatomist, Vierodt, and -copiously annotated by him. These, and many other valuable books, have -been bought by the agents of the Museum, abroad, while many others have -been received as contributions from physicians, and scientific societies -interested in the growth of this national institution. - -Louis Bagger, in a late number of _Appleton’s Journal_, speaks of the -Army Medical Museum as one of the most interesting, but least visited, -of all the national institutions in Washington. It cannot fail to be one -of the most absorbing spots on earth to the student of surgery or -medicine; but to the unscientific mind, especially to one still aching -with the memories of war, it must ever remain a museum of horrors. Its -many bones, which never ached, and which have survived their painful -sheaths of mortal flesh, all cool and clean, and rehung on golden -threads, are not unpleasant to behold. But those faces in frames, eaten -by cancer or lost in tumors, which you look up to as you enter, are -horrible enough to haunt one forever (if you are not scientific) with -the thought of what human flesh is heir to. - -No! the Museum is a very interesting, but can never be a popular place -to visit. I doubt if a sight at the Sioux pappoose, and a bit of John -Wilkes Booth’s spinal marrow, or a piece of General Sickles’ leg, will -be sufficient compensation to the average unscientific mind, to go twice -to look at those terrible tumors and elephantiasis in gilt frames and -glass jars. It is enough to make one feel as if the like were starting -out all over you. But that’s because you are not scientific. - -The first “specimen” which confronts you on entering is a withered human -arm, with contracted hand and clinched fingers, mounted on wires in a -glass case on the window-ledge. The sharp bone protrudes where it was -shot off near the shoulder joint; every muscle is defined; the skin -looks like tanned leather. It is not pleasant to look at. A thrilling -story has been printed about this arm. I am sorry it is not wholly true. -The one I have to tell will not please you as well, for it is not nearly -as exciting. - -We were told that the shock of the cannon-shot, which took off this arm, -carried it up into a high tree, where, a year or two after, its owner, a -Gettysburg hero, revisiting the battle-field, discovered his lost member -lodged in the branches, brought it down and bore it hither as a trophy. -The soldier _did_ find his arm (I am telling the true story); but he -found it in a corn-field. By what mark he knew it I am not informed, but -he declared it to be his arm and brought it to the Museum as a -first-class “sensational specimen.” - -In the next window we find another one—the Sioux baby. Poor little baby! -It is not a Modoc—though not much better—it did not live to slay our -brethren, so we are sorry as we look at it—for its once black locks are -bleached red, and its nose is gone. It was found in a tree near Fort -Laramie. I have seen Sioux babies alive upon their native soil, and can -testify from personal observation that this little pappoose-mummy is -extraordinarily well dressed. Hannah of old did not sew more buttons on -the coat of her little Samuel in the Temple, than this poor savage -mother did on the plains of Wyoming. It is of blue flannel, profusely -ornamented with round tin buttons, and many beads on its broad collar. -On its neck it wears a string of white delf beads, and there is -something cunning and dainty in the tiny embroidered moccasins upon its -feet. In a case there is another pappoose still less agreeable to -contemplate. It is a little Flat-head Indian. Its head is so very flat -no doubt it died in the process of compression. This melancholy child -also wears a white necklace, and was found _buried_ in a tree. - -Passing on, we are arrested by a table surrounded on its outer edge by -plaster casts of soldiers who have undergone famous and difficult -surgical operations. It is gratifying to know that, if you lose your -nose by some other collision beside that of a cannon ball, you can have -a new one set on made out of your cheek. The new nose will grow to the -root of the old one, and the hole in your cheek will fill up and the -scar heal. To be sure it will hurt you frightfully; but you _can_ have a -new nose made, and you yourself supply the material. If you don’t -believe it, come to the Army Medical Museum and see! Here is the head of -the poor fellow with his nose shot off—and here is another with the new -nose grown on. - -In the centre of the table are some of Vassear’s mounted craniums, -purchased for the museum by order of the Surgeon-General. These -craniums, with the skeletons in the cases, are mounted after Blanchêne’s -method, which allows every portion to be taken apart and put together -again. This cranium on the table is as white as crystal; it is mounted -on gold, and tiny blue and crimson threads of silk trace from chin to -head-top the entire nerve system. It is a work of exquisite art as well -as of science, and in no sense repulsive. The glass cases just in the -rear contain skeletons mounted by the same method. One is the skeleton -of a giant, in life seven feet high, prepared by Auzoax and mounted by -Blanchêne’s method. It is as white as snow, and its brass or gold joints -(we will call them gold) are bright and flexile. Another, of a child of -some six years, shows the entire double sets of first and second teeth. -The first, not one tooth gone, and above, in the jaw, the entire row of -second teeth ready to push the first ones out. - -Amid the thousands of mounted specimens in glass cases, which reveal the -freaks of bullets and cannon-shot, we come to one which would scarcely -arrest the attention of a casual observer. It is simply three human -vertebræ mounted on a stand and numbered 4,086. Beside it hangs a glass -phial, marked 4,087, filled with alcohol, in which floats a nebulæ of -white matter. The official catalogue contains the following records of -these apparently uninteresting specimens: - - “No. 4,086.—The third, fourth and fifth cervical vertebræ. A conoidal - carbine ball entered the right side, comminuting the base of the right - lamina of the fourth vertebræ, fracturing it longitudinally and - separating it from the spinous process, at the same time fracturing - the fifth through its pedicles, and involving that transverse process. - The missile passed directly through the canal, with a slight - inclination downward and to the rear, emerging through the left bases - of the fourth and fifth laminæ, which are comminuted, and from which - fragments were embedded in the muscles of the neck. The bullet, in its - course, avoided the large cervical vessels. From a case where death - occurred in a few hours after injury, April 26, 1865.” - - “No. 4,087.—A portion of the spinal-cord from the cervical region, - transversely perforated from right to left by a carbine-bullet, which - fractured the laminæ of the fourth and fifth vertebræ. The cord is - much torn and is discolored by blood. From a case where death occurred - a few hours after injury, April 26, 1865.” - -Such are the colorless scientific records of the death wounds of John -Wilkes Booth. All that remains of him above the grave finds its -perpetual place a few feet above the spot where he shot down his -illustrious victim. - -It has been recorded elsewhere that the fatal wounds of Wilkes Booth and -his victim were strikingly alike. “The balls entered the skull of each -at nearly the same spot, but the trifling difference made an -immeasurable difference in the sufferings of the two. Mr. Lincoln was -unconscious of all pain, while his assassin suffered as exquisite agony -as if he had been broken on a wheel.” - -In the surgical division which contains the above specimens we find -illustrations from living and dead subjects of almost every conceivable -fracture by shot and shell. - -On a black stand, bearing the number 1,335, we see a strong white bone -shattered in the middle. The official statement concerning it is: “The -right tibia and fibula comminuted in three shafts by a round shell. -Major-General D. E. S., United States Volunteers, Gettysburg, July 2, -amputated in the lower third of the thigh by Surgeon T. Sim, United -States Volunteers, on the field. Stump healed rapidly, and subject was -able to ride in carriage July 16; completely healed, so that he mounted -his horse, in September, 1863. Contributed by the subject”—who is -General Daniel E. Sickles. - -One of the cases in this division is filled with skulls which show -gunshot wounds from arrow-heads and thrusts from tomahawks and sabres. -One of the latter, No. 970, shows nine savage sabre cuts. It is the -skull of an Araucanian Indian, killed by Chilian troops. Near it is the -skull of another Indian, riddled by six or seven bullet-shots received -from American troops or trappers. - -The Museum contains eight craniums, which illustrate the wonderful fact -of an unbroken external skull, while the vitreous table is perforated or -dented. One of these shows slight discoloration on the outside of the -head without fracture or depression, while inside, the bone is broken. -The seven other specimens illustrate the same phenomena. In this case we -see craniums in which bullets are imbedded and broken. We see one where -a conical bullet split in two in entering the head at the temple, one -half going inside, caused instant death, while the other half struck the -face outside. Here we see a minié-bullet split on the bones of the nose. -Another case is of an attempted suicide—who died a natural death. He -fired a pistol in his mouth, whose bullet passed through the jugular -vein, but not through the head. It stopped short, embedded in the bone, -where it remained as a stopper to the blood from the perforated artery, -and the man who tried to kill himself, lived seventeen years to be sorry -for doing so. - -[Illustration: - - A WITHERED ARM - Skin, flesh and bones complete. Amputated by a cannon shot on the - battle field of Gettysburg. The shot carried the severed limb up - into the high branches of a tree, where it was subsequently found - completely air and sun dried. -] - -[Illustration: - - All that remains Above Ground of - JOHN WILKES BOOTH. - Being part of the Vertebræ penetrated [A] by the bullet of Boston - Corbett. Strange freak of fate that these remains of Booth should - find a resting place under the same roof, and but a few feet from - the spot where the fatal shot was fired. -] - -[Illustration: - - A SIOUX PAPPOOSE - Or Indian infant, found in a tree near Fort Laramie, where it had - been buried (?) according to the custom of the tribe. -] - -[Illustration: - - SKULL OF LITTLE BEAR’S SQUAW, - Perforated by seven bullet holes. Killed in Wyoming - Territory. -] - -[Illustration: - - SKULL OF AN INDIAN, - Showing nine distinct sabre wounds. -] - -[Illustration: - - SKULL OF A MAN - Who received an arrow wound on the head, three gun-shot flesh - wounds, one in the arm, another in the breast, and a third in the - leg. Seven days afterwards he was admitted to the hospital at Fort - Concho, Texas [where he subsequently died], after having traveled - above 160 miles on the barren plains—mostly on foot. -] - -[Illustration: - - SKULL OF A SOLDIER - Wounded at Spotsylvania—showing the splitting of a Rifle ball, one - portion being buried deep in the brain, and the other between the - scalp and the skull. He lived twenty-three days. -] - -[Illustration: - - APACHE INDIAN ARROW-HEAD - Of soft hoop-iron. These arrows will perforate a bone without - causing the slightest fracture, where a rifle or musket ball will - flatten; and will make a cut as clean as the finest surgical - instrument. -] - - CURIOSITIES - - FROM THE ARMY MEDICAL MUSEUM, WASHINGTON. - -Two specimens in this collection deny the assertion that “when a man -breaks his neck that is the last of him.” One of these is a skull taken -from the Catacombs in Paris. It has a few vertebræ attached to the neck. -One of these shows a distinct dislocation where it was broken from the -head, and where it had grown closely together again. The other is a home -specimen, which shows no less distinctly where the broken neck again -formed the connection with the head. There is also in this section of -the museum a piece of human cranium, about the size of a silver dollar, -cut from the head of a soldier wounded at Petersburgh, Va., June 14, -1864. The following is the official history of this “interesting case:” - -“The subject was admitted to Mount Pleasant General Hospital, -Washington, D. C., on June 24, with the report that the progress of the -case had been so far eminently satisfactory. After admission he was -found to be insensible, and a few hours subsequently convulsions -supervened in rapidly recurring paroxysms. Twelve ounces of blood were -taken from the temporal artery without apparent benefit. A trephine was -then applied to the seat of fracture, and upon the removal of a bottom -of bone, a portion of the inner table was found slightly depressed. This -was elevated, and the patient, soon after, regained consciousness. On -the 28th of June, the wound in the scalp became erysipelatous, and -before the inflammation subsided there was extensive loss of substance -of the integuments and pericranium denuding a large portion of the -parietal bone. Necrosis ensued, and embraced the whole thickness of the -bone. In September, 1864, a portion of the parietal, three inches by -four, had become so much loosened that it was readily removed. After -this, cicatrization went on rapidly; and at the date of the last report, -December 2, 1864, the wound had contracted to an ulcer less than an inch -in diameter. The patient’s mental faculties were impaired somewhat, the -ward-physician thought, but not to a great extent.” - -This specimen was contributed by Assistant-Surgeon E. A. McCall, United -States Army. A colored drawing was made representing the parts prior to -the separation of the exfoliation, (No. 74, surgical series of drawings, -Surgeon General’s office.) - -We see suspended in a case the bone of an arm from the shoulder to the -elbow. A musket ball having shattered it, it was necessary to take it -out or amputate the arm. The surgeon chose the former. The bone with all -its splinters was removed. The photograph of its owner is set up under -it, while the living original may come and look at it any moment he -chooses, he being one of the _attachés_ to the Museum. He says that he -can use the injured arm as readily as the other. The muscles and -integuments have taken the place of the lost bone, and are strong enough -to enable him to lift a two-hundred-pounds’ weight without difficulty. - -Another case of great interest to the medical profession, is that of a -soldier of Company C, Eighth New Jersey Volunteers, who was wounded in -the battle of the Wilderness, May 5, 1864. The specimen on exhibition is -a piece of the hip-bone, about four or five inches long. This shattered -bone was excised, May 27, 1864, and the patient was discharged from the -hospital, April 17, 1865, perfectly cured, and able to use the mutilated -limb without its portion of thigh-bone. In 1868, he was well, could walk -without a cane, and was employed as a hod-carrier. He now receives a -Government pension of fifteen dollars a month. - -At the right of the main entrance, stands the Craniological Cabinet. It -contains a thousand or more specimens of the craniæ of different human -races. Beside the skull of the Caucasian, we see that of the African, -each of the highest order of its kind. The long line contains a “sample” -of nearly all the typical heads of the human race. - -The collection contains a large number of Indian skulls of opposite -tribes, taken from tumuli, and gathered from other sources. There are -none to which the scientific man points with more interest, than to the -skulls of the Flat-head Indians. These are perfectly flat on the top, -forming a right angle with the forehead. Here is the head of a baby, who -probably died in the process. Boards are tightly bound to infants’ -heads, from birth, till they cease to grow. One would suppose that this -would lessen the brain-capacity. But as it can not grow in front, it -avenges itself by pushing far out on the sides. Thus the Flat-head -Indian’s head is as wide as it is flat, and in defiance of phrenology, -he is not only as bright, but brighter in his wits, than many of his -neighbors. - -Here are Indian arrows, taken from the dead bodies of our soldiers on -the plains. The arrowheads are made of barrel-hoops, and so sharp, they -can pierce any skull. One is shown, still sticking through a portion of -the shoulder-blade of a buffalo. The point of the arrow is outside of -the bone, the arrow-tip having passed through the body of the buffalo, -and through the bone, opposite the side that it entered. A rifle-ball -would be flattened where an Indian arrowhead penetrates without -hindrance. The cut of an arrowhead is as clear and clean as if made by -the most acute surgical instrument. The fatal force with which an arrow -is driven from an Indian bow, is illustrated in the following fact: -Here, in the Museum, is the piece of a door of a stage which was -attacked by Comanches near Bellos River, Texas, September 1, 1870. The -wood, about an inch and a half thick, is pierced by an Indian arrowhead, -the point appearing on the outside. - -Of the two passengers in the stage at the time of the occurrence, one -was killed and the other escaped. The stage guard consisted of three -soldiers—one was killed instantly, another escaped, the third was -wounded. He received an arrow wound in the head, and three gunshot -flesh-wounds, one in the arm, another in the leg and one in the breast. -In this condition he travelled one hundred and sixty miles across the -plains, on foot. Seven long days it took him to reach the post-hospital -at Fort Concho, Texas. When admitted, mentally, he was clear and bright. -But on September 19, he died. - -The skull of this unfortunate man, preserved in the Army Museum, shows -an arrowhead firmly embedded in the petrous portion of the right -temporal bone—a wound in itself, it would seem, sufficient to prove -instantly fatal. - -One of the pet curiosities of the Museum is a Japanese manikin—ess—we -will call it, as it is supposed to represent the creature feminine. The -heart is a red apple and the liver (very properly) a yellow one. The -stomach looks like a lean pomegranate. The lungs are represented by five -green oak leaves. These organs are lumped together, the lungs being -below all the rest. The Japanese idea of anatomy seems to be quite as -muddled as its powers of perspective. - -A case near the front window, contains three Maori heads from New -Zealand. They are all tattooed with the black juice of the betel-nut. -Any thing more hideous than their empty eye-sockets, their striped cheek -bones and ghastly white teeth cannot be imagined. - -Along the windows at the opposite end of the great hall, may be seen -skeletons of all kinds of animals, birds, fishes and reptiles. Here are -skeletons of the horse, the buffalo, the grizzly bear, the elk, the -walrus, and the ray. One of these last, caught in James river, has been -presented to the Museum. - -Those who have read the early history of Virginia may remember that it -chronicles the fact that once when Captain John Smith, of wonderful -memory, was one day bathing in the James River, he received a sudden -shock, and many days elapsed before he recovered from it. It was -supposed that he was struck by a ‘stingaree.’ - -The ‘stingaree’ is a corruption of the stinging ray—and such a specimen -is shown in the Museum. The ray is a fish of the cartilaginous species, -not having the vertebrated form. It has wings, each measuring about -fourteen inches across the widest part; and it has a very long tail, in -which is implanted a sting, which resembles in its effects a shock of -electricity, and produces temporary paralysis. The ray darts in among a -shoal of fishes, electrifies them, and then proceeds to devour them. - -The microscopical division of the Museum on the library floor is of -great value. It affords facilities for the study of natural history and -comparative anatomy equal to the medical schools of Paris. This -department contains a series of photographical publications of enlarged -photographic pictures of the specimens, mounted on cardboard and bound -in Russia leather. A set of this series, also a complete set of bound -photographs of all the specimens contained in the surgical department of -the Museum, with a sketch of the case attached, has been presented to -all the governments and large public libraries of Europe. In return, -these European governments and libraries have sent complete sets of like -publications of their own. Several hundred volumes, handsomely bound, -include these foreign gifts to the Army Medical Museum at Washington. - -The primary object of the Army Medical Museum is to illustrate minutely -the wounds and diseases of our late war, while the medical and surgical -histories of the war, now being written under the supervision of the -Surgeon-General, will show the processes of treatment and their results. -Dr. J. J. Woodward, assisted by Dr. Otis, both of Pennsylvania, are -charged with the writing of this history. Doctor Woodward is writing the -medical history, and Doctor Otis the surgical history of this important -national report. Five thousand copies of each will be issued by -Congress. The first volumes of both histories have already come from the -bindery of the Public Printer in handsome form. The first of the medical -volumes is chiefly occupied with tabular statements of the diseases -which prevailed, and the numbers dying of each, during the entire period -of our civil war. The coming volumes will treat of these diseases, the -treatment pursued, and will give photographs of the organs affected in -each disease. - -The Museum proper is divided into four departments, Surgery, Medicine, -Anatomy, and Comparative Anatomy. These are all placed in the hall of -the third story. We reach this by an outer iron stair-case, whose walls -on either side are lined with sketches and plans of the battle-fields of -Gettysburg and Antietam, in black walnut frames. Entering the long hall, -we are confronted at once by the ghastly victims in the frames opposite, -and the eyes are quickly withdrawn to glance up and down along the -polished glass cases which line the walls. Above some of these cases -droop the flags and standards, the swords and sabres which have survived -the war. Models of ambulances, stretchers, and hospital tents, also have -a place on the top of these cases. - -More than four-fifths of the specimens in the Museum have been presented -to it, or exchanged for duplicate objects, quantities of which are -stored in the attic, ready for exchange. The Army Medical Museum belongs -to the nation, and as its existence and object have been widely -published, it is in daily receipt of new specimens. It has become an -object of personal interest and pride to the medical fraternity of the -country, each one of whom is invited to become a contributor to its -pathological treasures. In a late official report, the Surgeon-General -thus refers to the subject, which is of interest to all medical persons: - -“It is not intended to impose upon medical officers the labor of -dissecting and preparing the specimens they may contribute to the -Museum. This will be done under the superintendence of the curator. In -forwarding such pathological objects as compound fractures, bony -specimens, and wet preparations generally, obtained after amputation, -operation, or cadaveric examination, all unnecessary soft parts should -first be roughly removed. Every specimen should then be wrapped -separately in a cloth, so as to preserve all spiculæ and fragments. A -small block of wood should be attached, with the number of the specimen -and the name of the medical officer sending it inscribed in lead-pencil; -or a strip of sheet-lead, properly marked with the point of an awl, may -be employed for this purpose. In either case, the inscription will be -uninjured by the contact of fluids. The preparation should be then -immersed in diluted alcohol or whisky, contained in a keg or small cask. -When a sufficient number of objects shall have accumulated, the cask -should be forwarded to the Army Medical Museum, in Washington, D. C. The -expenses of expressage will be defrayed in Washington. The receipt of -the keg or package will be duly acknowledged by the curator of the -Museum.” - -When the first Army Medical Museum report was issued, January 1, 1863, -the collection begun in August, 1862, numbered over thirteen hundred in -all. Since then the collection has grown to the following proportions. -In 1873 it contains over sixteen thousand objects. In the surgical -department alone, there are over six thousand. In the medical department -over eleven hundred. In the anatomical department over nine hundred. In -the department of comparative anatomy over one thousand. In the -microscopical department over six thousand. A library and -photograph-gallery belong exclusively to the Museum. The side rooms and -lower stories are used as the laboratories and work-rooms for preparing -and mounting the specimens for exhibition. The Army Medical Museum is a -great beginning—and yet only a beginning of one of the most unique, -precious and important, pathological collections in the world. - - - - - CHAPTER XLIV. - “OLD PROBABILITIES’” WORKSHOP—HOW WEATHER CALCULATIONS - ARE MADE. - -“Old Probabilities”—An Interesting Subject—The Weather Bureau—The - Experience of Fifty Centuries—Value of Scientific - Knowledge—Meteorological Observations—Brigadier-General Albert J. - Meyer—His Life and Career—He Introduces System and Order—Foreseeing - the Approach of Storms—The Fate of the _Metis_—Quicker than the - Storm—The First Warning by Telegraph—Exchanging Reports with - Canada—The “Observing Stations”—Protecting the River Commerce—The - Signal Corps—The Examinations—The Sergeant’s Duties—The - Signal-Stations—The Work of the Observers—Preparing Bulletins at - Washington—Professor Maury’s Account—Safeguards Against - Mistakes—Deducing Probabilities—Despatching Bulletins—Preparing - Meteorological Maps—Recording Observations—Watching the Storm—The - Storm at San Francisco—Prophetic Preparations—Perfect - Arrangements—Training the Sergeants—General Meyer’s Work—“Away up G - Street”—The Home of Old and Young “Probabilities”—An Extraordinary - Mansion—The “Kites and Windmills”—Inside the Mansion—The - Apparatus—“The Unerring Weather-Man”—“Old Probabilities” Himself—How - Calculations are Made—“Young Probabilities”—Interesting Facts. - - -There is no theme, not excepting marriage, birth, and death, that is -more absorbing than “the weather.” It has made and unmade kingdoms, it -has brought triumph in battle, and terrible defeat, it has brought woe -and death; but that was before the day of “Old Probabilities,” or the -Weather Bureau. - -It is your own fault now, if your wedding-day is wet and gloomy, or if -the rain pours into the open grave of the best-beloved. If you follow -the weather report, you will know days before what the weather, in all -probability, will be, and the report seldom fails. Even ten years ago, -who would have thought that he could so soon find in the newspaper the -almost unfailing prophecy of the skies of the coming day! Think of the -millions of anxious faces which have turned sky-ward since the earth -began! What eager and ignorant eyes have peered upward, to descry the -portents of the unseen, yet brooding storm. Ignorance has already given -place to knowledge, to a scientific forecasting of the elements, to a -forestatement of the conditions of earth and air. - -This wonderful fact, in its influence, penetrates not only to the finest -fibre of social happiness, but influences all the civilizations of the -earth. Although the changes of the atmosphere have seemed the most -apparent of all the workings of nature, and have been more closely -watched, and more constantly commented on by mankind, than all others -taken together, after the lapse of fifty centuries, the desultory -observer is unable to predict certainly the weather of a single day. - -The value of accurate scientific knowledge on a subject which affects -vitally the agricultural and commercial interests of the world, as well -as the physical health and spiritual happiness of mankind, cannot be -overestimated. - -By a joint resolution of Congress, approved February 9, 1870, the -Secretary-of-War was authorized and required to provide for taking -meteorological observations at the military stations in the interior of -the continent, and at other points in the States and Territories of the -United States, and for giving notice on the northern lakes, and on the -sea-coast, by magnetic telegraph and marine signals, of the approach and -force of storms. - -This special service was intrusted to the immediate supervision and -control of General Albert J. Meyer. The following record of his -services, in the United States Army, can but slightly indicate his -peculiar fitness for the position which he now holds. - -Brevet Brigadier-General Albert J. Meyer, Colonel and Chief Signal -Officer, United States Army, was born in New York, and appointed -Assistant-Surgeon, United States Army, from that State, September, 1854. -He served on the Texas frontier, in the Rio Grande Valley, and at Fort -Davis, Texas, to 1857; on special duty, signal service, 1858 to 1860. He -was appointed Major and Chief Signal Officer, United States Army, July, -1860. In the Department of New Mexico to May, 1861; on staff of General -Butler, Fort Monroe, Va., June, 1861; organized and commanded Signal -Camp, Fort Monroe, Va.; _Aide-de-Camp_ to General McDowell at first -battle of Bull Run, Va.; Chief Signal Officer on staff of General -McClellan, and commanded Signal Corps, Army of the Potomac, to October, -1862; charge of Signal Office, Washington, D. C., to November, 1863. - -He was appointed Colonel and Chief Signal Officer, United States Army, -March, 1863; member of Central Board of Examination for admission to -Signal Corps from April, 1863; on _reconnoissance_ of the Mississippi -River, between Cairo, Ill., and Memphis, Tenn., December, 1863, to May, -1864; Chief Signal Officer, Military Division of West Mississippi, May, -1864; Colonel and Chief Signal Officer, United States Army, July, 1866. -He was brevetted Lieutenant-Colonel, United States Army, for gallant and -meritorious services at the battle of Hanover Courthouse, Va.; Colonel, -United States Army, for gallant and meritorious services at the battle -of Malvern Hill, Va.; and Brigadier General, United States Army, for -distinguished services in organizing, instructing, and commanding Signal -Corps of the army, and for its especial service at Allatoona, Ga., -October 5, 1864. - -General Meyer graduated at Geneva College, New York, 1847, A. B. and A. -M., and took the degree of M. D., at the University of Buffalo, in 1851. -He is the author of a manual of signals for the United States Army and -Navy. - -Upon his appointment as Chief of the Signal Service, of the United -States Army, General Meyer at once inaugurated a systematic plan; he -established stations at all points, decided by competent authorities to -be important and practicable. These he provided with plain, efficient -instruments, and keen, trained observers, whose duty it was to report -three times daily, at intervals of eight hours. These reports, made in -abbreviated cypher, were conveyed by telegraph. With the delivery of the -reports at Washington, and at other important posts to which they were -sent, began the practical workings of the “Weather Bureau” in the Signal -Service of the United States. January 15, 1871, the stations on the -Atlantic Coast, with others, were added to the list reporting. - -One of the most important practical functions of the Bureau, is that of -giving warning of approaching storms to vessels at the ports on the -lakes. The unfortunate _Metis_ received such a warning before it started -on its last disastrous voyage. It gave no heed, and in consequence went -to wreck, and scattered its victims thick as snow-flakes on the -engulfing waters of the Sound. The velocity of a storm being accurately -observed at any one of the stations, it was easy to predict with -accuracy the time of its arrival at any given point lying in its path; -while the lightning wing of the telegraph bore this knowledge -instantaneously to the threatened point. - -The first telegraphic warning given thus was sent and bulletined at the -several ports along the lakes, November 8, 1870. - -The system was soon carried still nearer perfection by the adoption of -cautionary signals. The first of these was displayed at Oswego, N. Y., -October 26, 1871. Near this time, without any cost to the United States, -the Bureau obtained a considerable extension to its area of observation. - -In time the Canadian Government made a considerable appropriation to -establish a similar system in the Dominion. Professor Kingston, chief of -the Meteorological Bureau of Canada, requested of General Meyer an -exchange of reports. Arrangements for such an exchange were duly made, -and the first reports from Toronto were forwarded to the United States, -November 13, 1871. Reports were also exchanged with the director of the -Observatory at Montreal. The Canadian reports are made synchronously -with those of the United States and in the same cypher. The stations of -the Dominion are van-posts to the United States, giving warning of -storms moving downward from the north. - -By the Act of Congress, approved June 10, 1872, it was made the duty of -the Secretary-of-War to provide such stations, signals and reports as -might be found necessary for the benefit of the commercial and -agricultural interests throughout the country. In response to an -invitation made by the Chief Signal Officer, eighty-nine agricultural -societies and thirty-eight boards of trade and chambers of commerce have -appointed meteorological committees to coöperate and correspond with the -Signal Bureau. The observing stations now number eighty-five. New -stations are constantly being added. The station at Mount Washington is -six thousand two hundred and ninety feet above the level of the sea. -Other mountain-stations are to be established for the purpose of making -observations upon the varying meteorological phenomena of different -altitudes. These observations are sometimes made in a balloon. - -To obtain reports of observations at sea, to some extent, the -coöperation of ship-captains and of officers at the head of exploring -expeditions has been obtained. A constant interchange of correspondence -is also maintained with foreign meteorological societies. Five hundred -tri-daily reports are constantly sent abroad. The same exchange with -foreign governments will be arranged as soon as possible. - -Besides weather-reports, a system of observation on the changes in the -depth of waters in the principal Western rivers is already established. -Great pains are taken with the reports on this subject, which are made -to protect the river commerce from ice and freshets, and the lower river -_levées_ from breakage and overflow. The observations on the weather -embrace those on atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity of the air, -force, direction and velocity of the wind, and the amount of rain-fall. -For these purposes each station is carefully provided with appropriate -instruments by the central office. - -The Signal Corps is composed of a commanding officer with the rank of -brigadier-general, several commissioned officers, and a certain number -of sergeants and enlisted men. The sergeants are required to be -proficient in spelling, the ground-rules of arithmetic, including -decimal fractions, and the geography of the United States, and are -required to write a legible hand. They are examined in these branches -before being admitted into the service. They are also subjected to a -medical examination, and only men of sound physical condition are -accepted. They are regularly enlisted into the military service of the -United States, and are subject to the regulations for the government of -the army. - -Immediately upon admission to the corps, each sergeant is sent to Fort -Whipple, in Virginia, opposite Washington, where he is taught the duties -of his profession, which are “chiefly those pertaining to the -observation, record and proper publication and report, at such times as -may be required, of the state of the barometer, thermometer, hygrometer, -and rain-gauge, or other instruments, and the report by telegraph or -signal, at such times as indicated, and to such places as may be -designated by the chief signal officer, of the observations as made, or -such other information as may be required.” The text-books used in the -school at Fort Whipple, are Loomis’s “Text Book of Meteorology,” -Buchan’s “Hand Book of Meteorology,” Pape’s “Practical Telegraphy,” and -the “Manual of Signals for the United States Army.” Instruction in the -use of the instruments is also given, and the sergeant is taught to -operate the telegraph. He is required to make daily recitations, and -when he is considered prepared, by his instructor, he is ordered before -an examining board, and is subjected to a rigid examination. If he is -found properly qualified, he is assigned to a signal station in some -part of the country, and is allowed an enlisted man to assist him in his -duties. - -There are eighty-five signal stations, located in various parts of the -Union, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from British America to the -Gulf of Mexico. Each of these is supplied with a full set of the -instruments necessary for ascertaining the condition of the weather, -etc., and is in charge of an observer-sergeant, who is required to make -observations three times a day, by means of his instruments, which are -adjusted to a standard at Washington. These observations are made at 8 -A. M., at 4 P. M., and at midnight. Each post of observation is -furnished with a clock which is regulated by the standard of Washington -time, so that the observations are taken precisely at the same moment -all over the United States. - -The result of each observation is immediately telegraphed to the Signal -Office at Washington, the Government having made arrangements with the -telegraph companies to secure the instant transmission of these -messages. The reports are limited to a fixed number of words, and the -time of their transmission to a fixed number of seconds. - -The signal stations, as at present located throughout the country, have -been chosen or located at points from which reports of observations will -be most useful as indicating the general barometric pressure, or the -approach and force of storms, and from which storm warnings, as the -atmospheric indications arise, may be forwarded, with greatest dispatch, -to imperilled ports. - -The work of the observers at the stations is simple. It is limited to a -reading of their instruments at stated times, the transmission to -Washington of the results of these observations, and of information of -any meteorological facts existing at the station, when their tri-daily -report is telegraphed to Washington. The work of the officers on duty at -the Signal Office in Washington, is of a higher character, and demands -of them the highest skill and perfect accuracy. The reports from the -various stations are read and recorded as they come in, and from them, -the officer charged with this duty prepares a statement of the condition -of the weather during the _past_ twenty-four hours, and indicates the -changes most likely to occur within the _next_ twenty-four hours. These -statements are prepared shortly after midnight, and are at once -telegraphed to the various cities and important ports of the Union, in -time for their publication in the newspapers the next morning. - -Professor Maury, of the Signal Office, thus sums up the working of the -service: - - “Each observer at the station writes his report on manifold paper. One - copy he preserves, another he gives to the telegraph-operator, who - telegraphs the contents to Washington. The preserved copy is a voucher - for the report actually sent by the observer; and, if the operator is - careless, and makes a mistake, he cannot lay the blame on the - observer, who has a copy of his report, which must be a _fac-simile_ - of the one he has handed to the operator. The preserved copy is - afterward forwarded by the Observer-Sergeant to the office in - Washington, where it is filed, and finally bound up in a volume for - future reference. - - “When all the reports from the various stations have been received, - they are tabulated and handed to the officer, (Professor Abbe,) whose - duty it is to write out the synopsis and deduce the ‘probabilities,’ - which in a few minutes are to be telegraphed to the press all over the - country. This is a work of thirty minutes. The bulletin of - ‘probabilities,’ which at present is all that is undertaken, is made - out thrice daily, in the forenoon, afternoon, and after the midnight - reports have been received, inspected, and studied out by the - accomplished gentleman and able meteorologist, who is at the head of - this work. The ‘probabilities’ for the weather for the ensuing day, so - soon as written out by the Professor, are immediately telegraphed to - all newspapers in the country who are willing to publish them for the - benefit of their readers.” - -Copies of the telegrams of “Probabilities” are also instantly sent to -all boards of trade, chambers of commerce, merchants’ exchanges, -scientific societies, etc., and to conspicuous places, especially -sea-ports, all over the country. - -While the professor is preparing his bulletins from the reports just -furnished him by telegraph, the sergeants are preparing maps which shall -show, by arrows and numbers, exactly what was the meteorologic condition -of the whole country when the last reports were sent in. These maps are -printed in quantities, and give all the signal stations. A dozen copies -are laid on the table with sheets of carbon paper between them, and -arrow-stamps strike in them (by the manifold process) the direction of -the window at each station. The other observations as to temperature, -barometric pressure, etc., etc., are also in the same way put on them. -These maps are displayed at various conspicuous points in Washington, -_e. g._, at the War Department, Capitol, Observatory, Smithsonian -Institute, and the office of the chief signal-officer. They serve also -as perfect records of the weather for the day and hour indicated on -them, and are bound up in a book for future use. - -Every report and paper that reaches the Signal Office is carefully -preserved on a file, so that, at the end of each year, the office -possesses a complete history of the meteorology of every day in the -year, or nearly 50,000 observations, besides the countless and -continuous records from all of its self-registering instruments. - -When momentous storms are moving, observers send extra telegrams, which -are dispatched, received, acted upon, filed, etc., precisely as are the -tri-daily reports. One invaluable feature of the system, as now -organized by General Meyer, is that the phenomena of any particular -storm are not studied some days or weeks after the occurrence, but while -the occurrence is fresh in mind. To the study of every such storm, and -of all the “probabilities” issued from the office, the chief -signal-officer gives his personal and unremitting attention. As the -observations are made at so many stations, and forwarded every eight -hours, or oftener, by special telegram from all quarters of the country, -the movements and behavior of every decided storm can be precisely -noted; and the terrible meteor can be tracked and “raced down” in a few -hours or minutes. - -An instance of this occurred on the 22d of February, 1871, just after -the great storm which had fallen upon San Francisco. While it was still -revolving round that city, its probable arrival at Corinne, Utah, was -telegraphed there, and also at Cheyenne. Thousands of miles from its -roar, the officers at the Signal Office in Washington indicated its -track, velocity, and force. In twenty-four hours, as they had -fore-warned Cheyenne and Omaha, it reached those cities. Chicago was -warned twenty-four hours before it came. It arrived there with great -violence, unroofing houses and causing much destruction. Its course was -telegraphed to Cleveland and Buffalo, both of which places, a day after, -it duly visited. The President of the Pacific Railroad has not more -perfectly under his eye and control the train that left San Francisco, -to-day, than General Meyer had the storm just described. - -While the observers now in the field are perfecting themselves in their -work, the chief signal-officer is training other sergeants at the camp -of instruction (Fort Whipple, Virginia), who will go forth hereafter as -valued auxiliaries. It has been fully demonstrated by the signal-officer -that the army of the United States is the best medium through which to -conduct most efficiently and economically the operations of the Storm -Signal-Service. Through the army organization the vast system of -telegraphy for meteorological purposes can be, and is now being most -successfully handled. “Whatever else General Meyer has not done,” says -the New York _World_, “he has demonstrated that there can be, and now -is, a perfect net-work of telegraphic communication extending over the -whole country, working in perfect order, by the signal-men, and capable -of furnishing almost instantaneous messages from every point to the -central office at Washington.” - -Away up on G street we see the scientific home of both old and young -“Probabilities.” We see it from afar, for its high Mansard seems to be -stuck full of boys’ kites and wind-mills, playing and flying with the -winds. It looks like a gigantic play-house. Any mortal, scientific or -otherwise, would pause before this ancient house with an infantile roof, -and wonder what child of larger growth amused himself playing with all -the vanes and anemometers on its roof. It is painted a pearly drab. -Fresh and fair, it has the effect of a youthful wig on an old man’s -head, or a girl’s spring hat perched upon the head of a wintry old lady. -Inside, the house looks less like a Skimpole in brick, and really takes -on a cheerfully serious air. - -On the first floor, we find two large offices, and a cozy little -library, which stows away one thousand books, or more, on Meteorology, -and its kindred themes. In its eastern hall, hang three great -weather-maps, on which the state and changes of the weather at all the -stations, for the past twenty-four hours, are indicated by established -symbols. The second and third stories are occupied by the telegraphic -corps. To this the station-work proper is assigned. In one room is the -telegraphic apparatus, connecting with the many lines over which -weather-reports are received from all over the country. After -translation from the cypher into every-day speech, the reports are -combined, and the weather-bulletin prepared. On this floor, also, the -weekly mail-reports, from the widely-scattered stations, are received, -examined, corrected, and filed for future use. Here, tucked away in a -little room, we find “Acting Probabilities”—Professor Abbe, the unerring -“weather-man,” who makes ready the synopsis each day prepared for the -Associate Press Agents, Postmasters, etc. - -We are sure, also, somewhere, to come in contact with “Old -Probabilities” himself, supervising all. Like Professor Abbe, strange to -say, he is a young man. General Meyer looks soldierly, and trig. He has -fair face and hair, closely-cut whiskers, a rather small head, and a -pair of inquiring, wise-looking eyes. The entire top floor is devoted to -“local observations, and the gentlemen who play with the wind-mills and -high-flying kites, upon the roof.” Among the instruments used here, are -Hough’s barograph, a self-registering tide gauge; Addie’s London -barometer, which is acknowledged as the standard barometer; Gibbon’s -electric self-recording anemometer and anemoscope, the inventions of -Lieutenant Gibbon, of the Signal-Service. The working force of the -office is divided into three reliefs, each of which is on duty eight -hours out of the twenty-four. - -Any night, one sitting by this window, at a late hour, may see a slender -youth shooting past toward the Signal-Service Bureau. This is “Young -Probabilities,” and he is dressed in white. He is going to forecast the -midnight portents for the next day. - -The positive advantage of the midnight probabilities is that they relate -to the weather of the coming day, and appear at the breakfast table to -tell Dick and Dolly what, and what _not_ to do. The number of -weather-maps issued daily from the central office is 600; from St. Louis -200; from New York 200; from Philadelphia, Chicago and Cincinnati 100 -each, making a daily issue of 1,300. All of these are lithographed and -printed at the central office. - -[Illustration: - - “OLD PROBABILITIES’” INSTRUMENT ROOM. - Storm and Weather Signal Service Bureau.—Washington. -] - -“During the year 1872, 16,064 weather bulletins and 107,888 maps were -issued from the office, and 2,920 reports furnished to the press. The -work of the office has been recently extended by the publication of the -probabilities based upon the midnight reports, which are widely -distributed through the joint agency of the Signal Bureau and the -Post-Office Department. Four hundred copies are issued from the -Washington office, 1,000 from New York, 1,500 from Cincinnati, 800 from -Detroit, 1,500 from Chicago, and 1,000 from St. Louis, and it is -expected that the number will be still further increased during the -year. The printed copies are sent by mail to each post-office within a -radius of one hundred miles of the several points of distribution, to -which the matter is telegraphed from the central office.” - -“The practical value of the observations on our western rivers is -strikingly illustrated by the report of the observer at Memphis, Tenn., -who states that captains and pilots of boats generally decide by the -reports of the Signal Bureau, on the board on the _levée_ at that port, -whether the depth of the water above is sufficient to permit them to -ascend the upper Mississippi or the Ohio. Before these reports were -published, boats arriving during the night lost from six to ten hours in -waiting for the telegraphic reports in the morning papers. - -“A curious illustration of the legal value of the reports is furnished -by the observer at Shreveport, La., who was summoned as a witness in a -murder case, as to the condition of the river and the direction of the -wind at the time of the supposed murder. These circumstances formed an -essential part of the proof in the case. - -“Perhaps few people would have supposed that the reports of the Bureau -could have any relation to the practice of medicine, yet it is said to -be a fact that many intelligent physicians avail themselves of the -records of the stations in recommending to their patient an equable and -agreeable climate. An observer at Indianapolis reports that several are -accustomed to note the readings of the barometer every morning and -evening, and one of them assured him that he modified his prescriptions -according to barometric changes, believing that such changes have a -direct effect upon the condition of his patients. - -“Among the most important of the advantages connected with operations of -the Weather Bureau are those arising from the continuous registering of -atmospheric conditions, which will enable the scientific inquirer to -determine, from the records of the office, the degree of temperature, -barometric pressure, moisture of the air, the amount of rainfalls, the -direction of the wind at various points for long periods of time. Having -these data for various sections, agriculturists, microscopists, and -mycologists will be enabled to determine in advance the probabilities as -to the prevalence of particular classes of fungi in any district, and -thus to indicate the adaptation of such districts for the cultivation of -the grains, vegetables, or fruits which are liable to be affected by -fungoid diseases. - -“The signal service is not without its humorous side, an instance of -which is furnished by the observer at Fort Gibson, Indian Territory. The -establishment of the station at that point, early last spring, chanced -to be followed by a long-continued period of unusually wet and stormy -weather. This the Indians attributed to the observer, whom some person -of waggish propensities had represented to them as the man that -regulated the weather. After bearing their supposed persecution with -exemplary fortitude for some weeks, their patience finally gave way, and -they held an indignation meeting, at which it was seriously proposed to -tear down the station. It was ultimately determined, however, to consult -their agent; and upon his representing to them the true state of -affairs, they reconciled themselves to the ‘weather-witch,’ and wisely -resolved to wait peacefully for better times.” - - - - - CHAPTER XLV. -THE NAVY DEPARTMENT—THE UNITED STATES OBSERVATORY—THE STATE DEPARTMENT. - -Primitive Arrangements—The Navy in Early Days—The Department of the Navy - Established—The Secretary’s Office—The Navy-Yards and Docks—The - Bureau of Construction—The Bureau of Provisions and - Clothing—Equipment of Vessels—Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography—The - Naval Observatory—The Bureau of Medicine—Interesting Statistics—The - Navy Seventy Years Ago—The “Day of Small Things”—Instructions of the - Great Napoleon—Keeping Pace with England—The Glories of Foote, - Ferry, Porter and Farragut—Scene from the Observatory—Peeping - Through the Telescope—The Mountains in the Moon—The Largest - Telescope in the World—Making Mathematical Notes—A Passion for - Star-gazing—Casting Horoscopes—Gazing for Pastime—“For the Sake of - Science”—The Chronometers of the Government—Comparing Notes—The Test - of Time—Chronometers on Trial—The Wind and Current Charts—The Good - Deeds of Lieutenant Maury—“The Habits of the Whale”—The Equatorial—A - Self-acting Telescope—The Transit Instrument—The Great Astronomical - Clock—Telling Time by Telegraph—Hearing the Clock Tick Miles - Away—The Transit of Venus—Great Preparations—A Trifle of - Half-a-Million of Miles—The Department of Foreign Affairs—The - Secretary of State—A Little Secret Suggestion—The Diplomatic - Bureau—The Consular Bureau—The Disbursing-Agent—The - Translator—The Clerk-of-Appointments—Clerk-of-the-Rolls—The - Clerk-of-Authentications—Pardons and Passports—The Superintendent of - Statistics. - - -The first intention of the fathers of the American Republic was to -provide for a chief clerk, under whose direction contracts might be made -for munitions of war, and the inspection of provisions necessary for -carrying on war by land or sea. - -As the maritime warfare of the United States increased in the brilliancy -of its victories, the necessity for a separate organization to control -its officers, and to provide for the feeding, equipment, and payment of -its sea-faring warriors gradually became apparent; but it was not until -the thirtieth day of April, 1798, that Congress was sufficiently -apprised of this necessity to pass and secure the approval of an “Act to -establish an Executive Department, to be denominated the Department of -the Navy,” and on the twenty-second day of June of the same year an Act -was passed granting the franking privilege to the Secretary of the Navy. - -Subsequent legislation has dealt more with the _morale_ of the navy than -with the functions of the department; reference to various other Acts is -therefore omitted. - -As organized in 1860, the department consists of the following -officials: The Secretary; Chief-Clerk; Bureau of Navy-yards and Docks; -Bureau of Provisions and Clothing; Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography; -and the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. - -The division of labor is as follows: - -Secretary’s Office: The Secretary has charge of everything connected -with the naval establishment, and the execution of all laws relating -thereto is intrusted to him, under the general direction of the -President of the United States, who, by the Constitution, is -Commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy. All instructions to commanders -of squadrons and commanders of vessels, all orders of officers, -commissions of officers, both in the navy and marine corps, appointments -of commissioned and warrant-officers, orders for the enlistment and -discharge of seamen, emanate from the Secretary’s office. All the duties -of the different Bureaus are performed under the authority of the -Secretary, and their orders are considered as emanating from him. The -general superintendence of the marine corps forms also a part of the -duties of the Secretary, and all the orders of the commandant of that -corps should be approved by him. - -Bureau of Navy-yards and Docks: Chief-of-the-Bureau, four clerks, one -civil-engineer and one draughtsman. All the navy-yards, docks and -wharves, buildings and machinery in navy-yards, and everything -immediately connected with them, are under the superintendence of this -Bureau. It is also charged with the management of the Naval Asylum. - -Bureau of Construction, Equipment, and Repair: Chief-of-the Bureau, -eight clerks, and one draughtsman. The office of the Engineer-in-chief -of the Navy, who is assisted by three assistant-engineers, is attached -to this Bureau. This Bureau has charge of the building and repairs of -all vessels-of-war, purchase of materials, and the providing of all -vessels with their equipments, as sails, anchors, water-tanks, etc. The -Engineer-in-chief superintends the construction of all marine -steam-engines for the navy, and, with the approval of the Secretary, -decides upon plans for their construction. - -Bureau of Provisions and Clothing: Chief-of-Bureau and four clerks. All -provisions for the use of the navy, and clothing, together with the -making of contracts for furnishing the same, come under the charge of -this Bureau. - -Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography: Chief-of-Bureau, four clerks, and -one draughtsman. This Bureau has charge of all ordnance and ordnance -stores, the manufacture or purchase of cannon, guns, powder, shot, -shells, etc., and the equipment of vessels-of-war, with everything -connected therewith. It also provides them with maps, charts, -chronometers, barometers, etc., together, with such books as are -furnished to ships-of-war. The United States Naval Observatory and -Hydrographical Office at Washington, and the Naval Academy at Annapolis, -are also under the general superintendence of the Chief of this Bureau. - -Bureau of Medicine and Surgery: Chief-of-Bureau, one -Passed-Assistant-Surgeon United States Navy, and two clerks. Everything -relating to medicines and medical stores, treatment of sick and wounded, -and management of hospitals, comes within the superintendence of this -Bureau. - -The following statistics may be interesting to some of our readers: In -1806, the number of seamen authorized by law was 925, to which number -3,600 were added in 1809. In 1812, Congress authorized the President to -employ as many as would be necessary to equip the vessels to be put in -service, and to build as many vessels for the lakes as the public -service required. In January, 1814, there were in actual service seven -frigates, two corvettes, seven sloops-of-war, two block-ships, four -brigs, and three schooners, for sea, besides the several lake-squadrons, -gunboats, and harbor-barges, three ships-of-the-line, and three frigates -on the stocks. The whole number of men and officers employed was 13,339, -of which 3,729 were able seamen, and 6,721 ordinary. The marine corps, -as enlarged in 1814, was 2,700 men and officers. The commissioned naval -officers combatant were 22 captains, 18 commanders, 107 lieutenants, 450 -midshipmen. - -In 1814, Secretary Jones reported to the Senate that there were three -74-gun and three 44-gun ships building, six new sloops-of-war built, -twenty barges and one hundred and twenty gun-boats employed in the -Atlantic waters, thirty-three vessels of all sizes for sea, afloat or -building, and thirty-one on the lakes. Even in 1813, the energy of this -department had led the first Napoleon to issue the following -instructions to his Minister of Marine: - - “You will receive a decree by which I order the building, at Toulon, - at Rochefort, and at Cherburg, of a frigate of American construction. - I am certain that the English have had built a considerable number of - frigates on that model. They go better, and they adopt them; we must - not be behindhand. Those which you will have built at Toulon, at - Rochefort, and at Cherburg, will manœuvre in the roads, and give us to - understand what to think of the model.” - -Since then, in defence of the nation, the American Navy has won -victories which placed it in the front rank of the navies of the world. -Mobile, with the names of Foote, Terry, Porter and Farragut, do not pale -before any victories or names of earth. - -A soft midsummer night, we stood upon the roof of the United States -Observatory. Beneath us was Braddock’s Hill, where, generations gone, -the young surveyor dreamed; and stretching far on to its guardian -Capitol, the city which he foresaw—a verity now—its myriad lights -twinkling through the misty distance. To our right was Georgetown; -beyond Arlington Heights, and House; before us the Potomac, winding on -to Alexandria; above us the fathomless heavens, the waxing moon and -silent stars. Professor Harkness moved an axle; the great revolving dome -turned round and parted; the great telescope was pointed to the opening, -and the broad seam of sky visible between. We mounted the perch, and -there were the mountains in the moon! their jagged edges, their yawning -craters, yet only for a moment; for earth and moon are swift travellers. -In a moment Madame Moon had outstripped our point of vision, and we had -to pursue her. - -Just before us was the unfinished dome of another observatory, wherein -will soon be placed the largest telescope in the world. Beside us two -other open domes, and upward pointed telescopes, told of other -star-gazers below. We descended. There, in a dimly-lighted room, stood a -solitary man peering through a telescope, its divining face uplifted to -the narrow field of stars visible through the open dome. Hush! An -observation! The solitary man whose face we now see is aged, and his -hair white, with swift and silent step turns from his telescope to his -desk, to make his mathematical notes. - -“He need not do this unless he chooses,” says Professor H. “He was long -ago promoted above this work. But a man who has formed a passion for -star-gazing and observation never gets over it.” The room was dim and -silent enough to have been given up to the presence of death. One felt -as if some momentous operation were going on. The stars and the -star-gazer both were felt. I shrank silent, into a corner, till that -horoscope was cast, and the path of that far-away world measured to its -minutest fraction. In the opposite wing we found another star-gazer. Was -he gazing for pastime? Not at all. He was gazing for the Government and -the sake of science. - -Thus, while the nation sleeps, its servants keep watch not only of the -weather, but of remotest worlds. - -The chronometers belonging to the Government are kept in a room set -apart for that purpose. These instruments are purchased by the Navy -Department, with the understanding that they are to be tested in the -Observatory for one year. They are placed in the chronometer room, and -are carefully wound and regulated. They are examined daily, and compared -with the great Astronomical Clock of the Observatory, and an accurate -record of the movements of each one is kept in a book prepared for that -purpose. - -The temperature of the room is also examined daily, and recorded. These -minute records enable the officers of the Observatory to point out the -exact fault of each imperfect chronometer. Thanks to this, the maker is -enabled to remedy the defect, and the instrument is made perfect. At the -end of the year, the instruments found to be unsatisfactory are returned -to their makers, and those which pass the test are paid for. The -returned instruments are usually overhauled by the makers, and the -defects remedied. They are then sent back for a trial of another year, -at the end of which time they rarely fail to pass. - -There are usually from sixty to one hundred chronometers on trial at the -Observatory, and the apartment in which they are kept is one of the most -interesting in the establishment. - -The researches connected with the famous “Wind-and-Current-Charts,” -begun and prosecuted so successfully by Lieutenant Matthew F. Maury, -whose services were lost to the country by his participation in the -Rebellion, are conducted here, and also those connected with “The Habits -of the Whale,” and other ocean phenomena. - -The Equatorial, which is the largest telescope in the Observatory, is -mounted in the revolving dome which rises above the main building. It -has a fourteen-feet refractor, and an object-glass nine inches in -diameter. Its movements are most ingenious, being regulated by machinery -and clock-work. Its powers are so great, that it renders stars visible -at midday, and, if directed at a given star in the morning, its -machinery will work so accurately, that it will follow with perfect -exactness the path of the star, which will be visible through it as long -as the star is above the horizon. The Meridian and Mural Circles are in -one of the rooms below. - -The Transit-Instrument is placed in the west wing of the building, under -a slit twenty inches wide, extending across the roofs, and down the wall -of the apartment on each side, to within four or five feet of the floor. -It was made by Estel & Son, Munich, and is a seven-foot achromatic, with -a clear aperture of 5.3 inches. The mounting consists of two granite -piers, seven feet high, each formed of a solid block of that stone, let -down below the floor and imbedded in a stone foundation eight feet deep, -and completely isolated from the building. Midway between the piers, and -running north and south, is the artificial horizon composed of a slab of -granite ten feet long, nineteen inches deep, and thirteen inches broad; -it rests on the foundation, and is isolated from the floor, with the -level of which the top of it is even, with a space all round it of half -an inch. In the middle of this slab, and in the nadir of the telescope, -there is a mortise, nine inches square and ten inches deep, in which the -artificial horizon is placed to protect it from the wind during the -adjustment for collimation, or the determination of the error of -collimation of level, and the adjustment for stellar focus, verticality -of wires, and the other uses of the collimating eye-piece. - -The great Astronomical Clock, or “Electro-Chronograph” is placed in the -same room with the Transit-Instrument, and is used in connection with it -to denote sidereal time. It was invented by Professor John Locke, of -Cincinnati, and is one of the most remarkable instruments in the world. -By means of an electrical battery in the building, the movements of this -clock can be repeated by telegraph in any city or town in the land to -which the wires extend. With the wires connected with it, its ticks may -be heard in any part of the country, and it will record the time so -accurately that an astronomer in Portland or New Orleans can tell with -exactness the time of day by this clock. It also regulates the time for -the city. There is a flag-staff on top of the dome, upon which a black -ball is hoisted at ten minutes before noon, every day. This is to warn -persons desiring to know the exact time to examine their watches and -clocks. Just as the clock records the hour of twelve, the ball drops, -and thus informs the city that it is high noon. - -The officials of the Naval Observatory have nearly completed the plan of -operation for observing the transit of Venus, which will occur in -December, 1874. Eight parties of five persons each will be dispatched; -four to stations in the Southern Hemisphere, and the others to the -Northern. Those going south of the Equator will leave New York next -spring in a naval vessel, specially prepared and fitted for their -accommodation, while others will probably proceed to their stations by -mail-steamer. The posts in the Southern Hemisphere will be on the -Kerguelen Islands, Auckland and Van Diemen’s Land. In the northern -station they will be located at Yokohama, Nangasaki, Shanghai, and near -the Siberian border. - -After the transit, the observers in the Southern Hemisphere will be -collected by a Government ship, transported to Japan, and sent home by -mail-steamer. The whole expedition will probably occupy a year at least. -Each party will include astronomers and photographer, with a complete -equipment and apparatus for obtaining perfect observations and a record -of the transit. Prof. Harkness will have charge of the parties and -observations in the Southern Hemisphere, and Prof. Newcomb of those in -the Northern. The object of the observation, for which Congress has -appropriated $150,000, is to determine more accurately the distance -between the earth and the sun, and the Professors at the head of the -expedition expect to be able to settle the distance within half a -million of miles. - -In July, 1789, Congress organized a “Department of Foreign Affairs,” and -placed it in charge of a secretary, who was called the “Secretary of the -Department of Foreign Affairs.” He was required to discharge his duties -“conformably to the instructions of the President,” but as his powers -were derived from Congress, he was required to hold himself amenable to -that body, to attend its sessions, and to “explain all matters -pertaining to his province.” In September, 1779, Congress changed the -title of the department to the “Department of State,” and made a -definite enumeration of the duties of the Secretary. - -The head of the Department is the Secretary-of-State. His subordinates -are: an Assistant Secretary-of-State, a Chief-Clerk, a Superintendent of -Statistics, a Translator, a Librarian, and as many clerks as are needed. -The Secretary receives a salary of $8,000 per annum. He conducts all the -intercourse of this Government with the governments of foreign -countries, and is frequently required to take a prominent part in the -administration of domestic affairs. He countersigns all proclamations -and official documents issued by the President. If popular rumor be -correct, the Secretaries-of-State have frequently written the messages -and inaugurals of the Presidents, and thus have kept those august -personages from making laughing-stocks of themselves. - -The duties of the office require the exercise of the highest ability, -and the Secretaries-of-State have usually been among the first statesmen -of our country. The first incumbent of the office was Thomas Jefferson, -and the present Secretary is the Hon. Hamilton Fish, of New York. - -The Diplomatic-Bureau is in charge of, and conducts all the official -correspondence between the Department and the ministers and other agents -of the United States residing abroad, and the representatives of foreign -powers accredited to this Government. It is in this Bureau that all -instructions sent from the Department, and communications to -commissioners under treaties of boundaries, etc., are prepared, copied, -and recorded; all similar communications received by the Department are -registered and filed in this Bureau, and their contents are entered in -an analytical table or index. - -The Consular-Bureau has charge of all correspondence and other business -between the Department and the consuls and commercial agents of the -United States. Applications for such positions are received and attended -to in this Bureau. A concise record of all its transactions is kept by -the clerk in charge of it. - -The Disbursing-Agent has charge of all correspondence and other business -relating to any and all expenditures of money with which the Department -is charged. - -The Translator is required to furnish translations of such documents as -may be submitted to him by the proper officers of the Department. He -also records the commissions of the consuls and the vice-consuls, when -not in English, upon which exequaturs are based. - -The Clerk of Appointments and Commissions makes out and keeps a record -of all commissions, letters of appointment, and nominations to the -Senate; makes out and keeps a record of all exequaturs, and when in -English, the commissions on which they are issued. He also has charge of -the Library of the Department, which is large and valuable. - -The Clerk of the Rolls and Archives has charge of the “rolls,” by which -are meant the enrolled acts and resolutions of Congress, as they are -received by the Department by the President. When authenticated copies -thereof are called for, he prepares them. He also prepares these acts -and resolutions, and the various treaties negotiated, for publication in -the newspapers and in book form, and superintends their passage through -the press. He distributes through the United States the various -publications of the Department, and receives and answers all letters -relating thereto. He has charge of all treaties with the Indian tribes, -and all business relating to them. - -The Clerk of Authentications is in charge of the Seals of the United -States and of the Department, and prepares and attaches certificates to -papers presented for authentication; receives and accounts for the fees; -and records the correspondence of the Department, except the diplomatic -and consular letters. He also has charge of all correspondence relating -to territorial affairs. - -The Clerk of Pardons and Passports prepares and records pardons and -remissions of sentences by the President; and registers and files the -papers and petitions upon which they are founded. He makes out and -records passports, and keeps a daily register of letters received, other -than diplomatic and consular, and the disposition made of them. He also -has charge of the correspondence relating to his business. - -The Superintendent of Statistics prepares the “Annual Report of the -Secretary of State and Foreign commerce,” as required by the acts of -1842 and 1856. - - - - - CHAPTER XLVI. - INSIDE THE GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE—THE STORY OF A “PUB. DOC.”—WOMEN - WORKERS. - - -Another Government Hive—The Largest Printing Establishment in the - World—Judge Douglass’s Villa—The Celebrated “Pub. Doc.”—“Making Many - Books”—The Convenience of a “Frank”—The Omnipresent “Doc.”—A - Weariness to the Flesh—An Average “Doc.”—A Personal Experience—What - the Nation’s Printing Costs—“Not Worth the Paper”—A Melancholy - Fact—Two Sides of the Question—Invaluable “Pub. Docs.”—Printing a - Million Money-Orders—The Stereotype Foundry—A Few Figures—The - Government Printing-Office—A Model Office—Aiding Human Labor—Working - by Machinery—The Ink-Room—The Private Offices—Mr. Clapp’s - Comfortable Office—The Proof-Reading Room—The Workers There—The - Compositors’ Room—The Women-Workers—Setting Up Her Daily Task—A - Quiet Spot for the Executive Printing—The Tricks and Stratagems of - Correspondents—A Private Press in the White House—The Supreme Pride - of a Congressional Printer—Rule-and-Figure Work—The Executive - Binding-Room—Acres of Paper—Specimens of Binding—The “Most Beautiful - Binding in the World”—Specimen Copies—Binding the Surgical History - of the War—The Ladies Require a Little More Air—Delicate Gold-Leaf - Work—The Folding-Room—An Army of Maidens—The Stitching-Room—The - Needles of Women—A Busy Girl at Work—“Thirty Cents Apiece” Getting - Used to it—The Girl Over Yonder—The Manual Labor System—The Story of - a “Pub. Doc.”—Preparing “Copy”—“Setting Up”—Making-Up - “Forms”—Reading “Proof”—The Press-Room—Going to Press—Folding, - Stitching, and Binding—Sent Out to “the Wide, Wide World.” - - -Getting into the airy little Boundary car at Fifteenth street, it soon -brings us far out on H street to another busy Government hive—the -largest printing establishment in the world. - -As late as 1859, the Government Printing-Office stood upon the suburbs. -“Judge Douglass’s Villa” was then one of the mile-stones which marked -the road thither, leading through grassy fields to the youngest -_faubourg_ of the capital. Closely-built metropolitan blocks already -stretch far beyond it, and the great Public Printing-Office no longer -stands on the “edge” of the city. - -There is nothing so plenty in Washington, not even Congressmen, as the -“Pub. Doc.” We see it everywhere, and in every shape. Piles on piles of -huge unbound pamphlets, cumber and crowd the narrow lodgings of the -average Congressman, waiting the superscription, and formerly the -“frank,” which was to convey each one to ten thousand dear constituents. -They cram every available nook, “up stairs, down stairs, and in my -lady’s chamber.” They are patent receptacles for the dust, which defies -extermination. They overflow every public archive, and, falling down and -running over, demand that greater shall be builded. Thousands on -thousands have no covers, and tens of thousands more are clad in purple -and fine linen. The average Public Doc. is a weariness to flesh and -spirit. You get tired of the sight—so many, so many! And as for the -knowledge which it contains, it may be of infinite value to mankind, but -the pursuit of it through endless tables, reports, briefs and statements -is a weariness to the soul. I have tried it and know. If I had not, you -might never have known how many of these “Pub. Doc’s” are printed by the -Government, what for, and at what cost. - -Well, I will give you a few items in figures, as they appear on the -books of the office. Of all executive and miscellaneous documents and -reports of Committees, there were printed in the Government -Printing-Office, last year, one thousand six hundred and twenty-five -copies for the Senate, and one thousand six hundred and fifty for the -House, also eight hundred and twenty-five copies of bills and -resolutions for the Senate and House each. - -Statement showing the cost of Public Printing done in the Government -Printing-Office in the year 1872: - - ══════════════════════╤═════════════════════╤══════════╤══════════╤════════════ - │ Printing and Paper │Total cost│ Blank │ Aggregate - Department. │ for same. │ of │ books, │ cost of - │ ─────────│──────────│ printing │ binding, │ printing, - │ Printing │ Paper. │ and │ ruling, │ paper - │ │ │ paper. │ etc. │and binding. - ──────────────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────── - State Department │ $8,445 45│ $4,244 40│$12,689 85│$11,416 55│ $24,106 40 - Treasury Department │141,933 17│ 65,809 27│207,742 44│115,119 06│ 322,861 50 - Interior Department │128,414 53│ 37,593 76│166,008 29│ 59,789 71│ 225,798 00 - War Department │ 45,171 69│ 29,049 83│ 74,221 52│ 68,184 57│ 142,406 09 - Navy Department │ 52,156 77│ 12,302 95│ 64,459 72│ 23,541 68│ 88,001 40 - Judiciary Department │ 38,303 02│ 1,219 37│ 39,522 39│ 2,951 02│ 42,473 41 - Post-Office Department│ 81,301 63│ 46,817 28│128,118 91│ 39,247 44│ 167,366 35 - Department of Agri- │ 9,828 29│ 7,59 77│ 17,428 06│ 4,362 39│ 21,790 45 - culture │ │ │ │ │ - Office of Congres- │ 1,077 43│ 135 54│ 1,212 97│ 290 45│ 1,503 42 - sional Printer │ │ │ │ │ - ──────────────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────┼──────────── - Total │506,631 98│204,772 17│711,404 15│324,902 87│1,036,307 02 - ══════════════════════╧══════════╧══════════╧══════════╧══════════╧════════════ - -Tens of thousands of public documents are published here whose intrinsic -value is not worth the paper they are printed on. After witnessing the -manual labor expended on them, it is melancholy to reflect that, with it -all, they are often less valuable than the unsullied paper would be. - -While this is true of an immense number of “bills” and documents, and -reports of contested election cases printed in this building, it is -equally true that thousands of others are published here which are of -extreme value not only to the Government but the world. - -It is through the presses of the Government Printing-House that the -public is informed what the Government is doing for science and for -philanthropy. It prints all the reports of the Smithsonian Institution; -Professor Hayden’s reports of yearly United States Geological Surveys, -including his very interesting and valuable reports on Wyoming, Montana, -Nebraska, and the famous Yellowstone Valley. The Medical Reports of the -War; Surgeon-General Barnes’ Medical and Surgical History of the War; -and Chief-Medical-Purveyor Baxter’s Report of the Medical Statistics of -the Provost-Marshal-General’s Bureau; Reports on the Diseases of Cattle -in the United States; on Mines and Mining; Postal Code and Coast-Survey -Reports; Reports of Commission of Education; of the Commissioner of the -United States to the International Penitentiary Congress at London; -Reports of the Government Institution for Deaf and Dumb and the Insane, -etc. - -These make a very small proportion of the really interesting and -valuable reports issued yearly by the Government. - -When we remember that many of these works are accompanied by copious -maps and illustrations, and that the processes of photolithographing, -lithographing and engraving are all executed within these walls, you can -form some estimate of the value of its services to the country. - -The demands made upon it by each single department of the Government is -immense. The Post-Office will send in a single order for the printing of -one million money-orders; and the other departments cry out to have -their wants supplied in the same proportion. - -The Stereotype Foundry, under the same roof, long ago vindicated itself -in the facts of convenience and economy. The following is a correct -exhibit of the product of its labor for the year ending September 30, -1872: - - Value of plates, &c., manufactured, at trade-prices, $35,371 08 - Amount expended for labor and material consumed, 16,516 80 - ————— - Net saving to the Government, $18,854 28 - -The Government Printing-Office, from an external view, is a large, long, -plain brick building of four stories, with a cupola in the centre, and -flag-staffs at either end, from which the National banner floats on gala -days. If we enter from H street, a large open door on the side reveals -to us at once the power-press room, with its wheels and belts; its -women-workers and its mighty engine. This engine of eighty-horse power, -swings its giant lever to and fro, with the accuracy of a chronometer. -The boiler which supplies its steam-power is placed in a separate -building, so that in case of explosion the danger to human life would be -lessened. This boiler also supplies steam for heating the entire main -building, and for propelling a “donkey engine,” which performs the more -menial labor of pumping water. - -This is not only the largest, but is one of the model printing-houses of -the world. Its typographical arrangements are perfect, and in each -department it is supplied with every appliance of ingenious and -exquisite mechanism to save human muscle and to aid human labor. In the -press-room, stretching before and on either side of the majestic engine, -we see scores of ponderous presses, their swiftly-flying rollers moving -with the perfect time of a watch—at each revolution clinching the -unsullied sheet of paper which, in an instant more, it tosses forth a -printed page. - -When Benjamin Franklin tugged away at the little printing-press now -exhibited at the Patent-Office, an enormous amount of human muscle was -needed to perform press-work; but now, without effort and without -fatigue, the tireless engine supplies the material power, while women do -the work. On the lower floor of the main building we find the wetting -room, filled with troughs and all the liquids for dampening the immense -supply of paper, beside the hydraulic presses for smoothing it. On this -floor also is the “ink room,” with its vast supplies of “lamp-black and -oil” always ready for the rollers. - -Ascending to the second story we come to the business and private -offices of the Government Printer—his clerks, telegraph-operators, -copy-holders, and proof-readers. Mr. A. M. Clapp, a man of clear -intellectual out-look, of benign expression and venerable years, -occupies a pleasant parlor for an office, furnished with plain desk, -chairs, a mirror, engravings and a Brussels’ carpet; it opens into a -_suite_ of rooms occupied by the Chief-Clerk, the Paymaster and the -Telegraph-Operator. - -On the other side of the hall, we pass the open door of the -proof-reading room. This is comfortably filled with men, young and old. -The copy-holder and the proof-reader sit side by side, before a table or -desk. The copy-holder has in his hands the original manuscript, from -which he slowly reads, while the proof-reader listens, proof-sheets and -pencil in hand, erasing each error in print as he detects it, from the -lips of the copy-holder. The proof-reader is paid $26, the copy-holder -$24 per week. - -Ascending a few steps, we come into the composition room, occupying the -central and larger portion of the second story. It contains sixty or -more windows, is spacious and well-lighted, and yet, especially in the -winter, when the windows are closed and the heat necessarily intense, -the fumes from the chemicals render the work very unhealthy, especially -to some constitutions. Long rows of double stands reach the entire -length of the apartment. - -At every one of these stands a patient worker—he must be patient if he -is a faithful type-setter. Here are men past their prime, young men, -boys and one woman. There have been three. One left her stand for a -husband, another—Miss Mary Green—left hers to become the editor of a -real-estate journal in Indianapolis, Indiana. The third, in neat calico -dress and apron, stands beside a window, “setting up” her daily task. -The pay of women in this room is the same as that of the men, viz., $24 -per week. - -A portion of this floor is shut in for the executive printing. This was -made necessary by the fact that before it was done, the country found -out what was in the president’s message before it was published. Such -tricks and stratagems were used by “correspondents” to discover in -advance what was in the president’s message, that one president had a -press, types and workmen brought into the White House, that he might -have his message confidentially printed, and “keep it to himself” till -he was ready to give it to the world. - -The supreme pride of these congressional printers is their -“rule-and-figure work.” Confused tables of Commercial statistics, -astronomical calculations, and abstracts of Government estimates, are -marshalled into columns with the precision of a well-trained brigade. - -The executive binding-room is fitted up with powerful machines for -trimming the edges of books, shears for cutting pasteboard, etc. Here -stands a man who does nothing, from the beginning to the end of the -year, but cut book-covers. In another room are “ruling machines,” -exquisite pieces of mechanism, which trace, in a year, acres of paper -with the delicate red, blue or black lines which rule with mathematical -accuracy the blank-books of the Government. - -The third floor is almost exclusively devoted to binding. Some of the -most beautifully bound books in the world here issue from the hands of -the Government bindery. There are always specimen-copies of scientific -and other important reports, which are bound in Turkey morocco, finely -marbled and exquisitely gilded. The first volume of the -Surgeon-General’s Medical and Surgical History of the War, on the day of -our visit, was receiving this artistic finish, of delicate gold leaf, -stamped upon the rich, dark-green morocco. - -The furnaces for heating the stamps, for gilding, are heated by gas, -which is considered safer, cleaner and healthier than charcoal. Still -the ladies employed in this gold-leaf work suffer for want of air. The -hottest summer day the windows have to remain closed, as the lightest -zephyr may ruffle fatally the mimosa edges of the tremulous foil. - -In the folding-room, on this floor, we find an army of maidens, whose -deft and flying fingers fold the sheets, and make them ready for the -binder. In the new wing beyond we come into the “stitching-room.” Here -also the busy fingers and needles of women fly. Long rows of women, -chiefly young girls, sit at tables beside wire frames, which hold down -and mark the piled-up folios. - -Standing beside a young slender girl, she seemed to have the St. Vitus’ -dance. Every muscle and nerve in her body flew. The very nerves in her -face twitched with the quick intensity of her movement; while her -fingers stuck the needle and drew the thread with the persistency of a -perpetual motion. - -“You should be paid good wages to work like this,” I said. - -“It is because I am paid so little that I have to work like this,” she -answered, not relaxing an atom. - -“How much?” - -“Thirty cents a-piece.” - -“How many can you stitch a day?” - -“Well, if I work like this all day, nine.” - -“But I should think it would kill you to work like this all the time.” - -“I’ve been doing it for four years, and I’m not dead yet.” - -I did not inform her that she looked as if she soon would be, but asked, -“Doesn’t such constant, quick action give you pain?” - -“Yes, in my shoulders, but I’ve got used to it.” - -“Does any one else in this room stitch as fast as you do?” - -“Only one,” said a smiling girl who rested with her needle in her mouth -to admire her dextrous companion. “There is only one other who can work -as fast as she; it is that girl, over yonder.” - -There are no drones in this busy hive. The whole routine is based upon -the manual labor system. The Government _employé_, man or woman, in the -Government Printing-Office, instead of from 9 A. M to 3 P. M., as in all -other departments, works from 8 A. M. to 5 P. M., and for smaller pay, -proportionally, than is received in any other public Bureau. - -Having told you the story of a Dollar, I will now tell that of a “Pub. -Doc.”—hoping that the next time you feel inclined to kick it for the -dust it gathers, and the room it takes up, you will forgive it these -misfortunes, for the sake of the many busy and patient human hands which -fashioned it. - -First, it appears in the room of the Government Printer in the shape of -a huge pile of manuscript. Perhaps it is in copper-plate hand, “plain as -print;” perhaps, as is more likely, it is a bundle of unsightly -hieroglyphics written on “rags and tags” of paper of all sorts and -sizes. However it looks, in due time it appears in the composing-room, -accompanied with the directions of the Government Printer. It is -received by the foreman, who divides it into portions, or “takes,” and -it is now “copy.” - -This copy is put in the hands of compositors, who place it, every word -and figure, into what is called a “composing stick.” When these are -filled with the set-up type, they are emptied on wooden boards called -“galleys.” Here the type is divided into pages, each one of which is -tied round with twine so that it can be carried away by a practiced -hand. These pages are now arranged on the imposing-stones, either by -fours or by eights, or by twelves, as the work is to be printed in -quarto, in octavo, or in duodecimo form. The pages are so regulated that -when the printed sheet is folded, they will read consecutively, and they -are then wedged tightly in a “chase,” or frame of iron. These pages of -type thus placed are called “forms.” - -A rough impression of a form having been printed, it is given to the -proof-reader, who, with the copy-holder, notes all errors with printers’ -marks. The compositor next receives these corrected pages; re-sets all -wrong letters with the right ones. When he has finished, he takes a -second proof impression, called a revise, which the proof-reader -compares with the first one, to see if all the errors have been -accurately corrected. This process of revising is repeated four times, -when the form is at last ready for the press. - -It is then lowered by steam-power into the press-room. The form is laid -upon a smooth iron table, called “the bed of the press,” where it is -treated to a good beating. It is levelled by a block of wood called a -planer, and pounded with a mallet, that no aspiring type may stick its -nose above its fellows, and mar the perfect level of the printed page. - -Meanwhile, a sufficient quantity of paper has been taken from the public -store-house to the wetting-room. There it has been dampened, quire by -quire, turned and laid in piles under the crushing pressure of an -hydraulic-pump, worked by steam-power. When taken out the paper is ready -for the press. - -The rollers are brought from the room in which they are cleaned and -kept, and set in the press. The ink fountain is filled. Sheet on sheet -of spotless paper is placed aloft. The young woman who is to “tend” -mounts to her perch. The steam-power is applied, and the printing -begins. - -The maiden takes in her hand a single snowy sheet, and spreads it on the -inclined plane before her. It is caught by steel fingers and clutched -into the abyss beneath. There it passes swiftly over the pages of type -just moistened with ink from the rollers, which were previously coated -by revolving cylinders. When the sheet is directly above the type, its -flight is for an instant stayed, and by a potent mechanical movement the -impression is given, and the sheet is printed. Onward it moves -transfigured, till, by the puff of a pair of bellows, it is thrown upon -a frame-work which throws it, smooth and fresh, upon a table on the -opposite side of the table, and by this time another is on its way. -Swiftly almost as thought it is tossed above it. In a briefer time than -the process is traced, the unsullied sheets above have been transmuted -into printed pages piled upon the table below. - -Only one side of a sheet is printed at a time; thus each one goes -through the press twice before it leaves the press-room. Each sheet has -its own special care. It is carried into the drying-room with a pile. -Each one takes its place on a large frame which is pulled out on hanging -rollers. When one of these frames is covered with damp sheets it is -pushed into the drying-machine, which is made of ranges of steam tubes, -which keep a high temperature, while the vapor is carried off by a -system of ventilation. - -When the sheets are dried, the frames are pulled out, and the printed -sheets are taken from them to be pressed. Each printed sheet is put -between two sheets of hard, smooth pasteboard, and its high piles of -alternate layers are subjected again to the intense power of the -hydraulic-press. It comes forth from that embrace smooth, clear, -complete. - -From the pressing-room the sheets are taken to the folding-room in the -third story, conveyed thither by an elevator lifted by steam. Here they -are folded by the swift hands of girls. Hundreds are busy at it. Looking -down the long room and seeing them work is a sight worth quite a journey -to see. The folded pages then pass to the fingers of the eager -stitchers. These pages are now a book in need of a binding. Thus it -comes into the bindery for its black cotton cloak, or its coat of cloth -of gold, according to its station and lot in life. - -This, good friends, is the story of a Pub. Doc. from its birth to the -hour when it starts on its first journey out into “the wide, wide -world.” - - - - - CHAPTER XLVII. -INSIDE THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION—ITS TREASURES OF ART AND SCIENCE—THE - LARGEST COLLECTION IN THE WORLD. - -A Singular Bequest—Strange Story of James Smithson—A Good Use of - Money—Seeking the Diffusion of Knowledge—Catching a Tear from a - Lady’s Cheek—Analysis of the Same Tear—The Attainments of a - Philosopher—A brief Tract on Coffee-Making—James Smithson’s - Will—A Genealogical Declaration—Announcing a Bequest to - Congress—Discussions and Reports—Praiseworthy Efforts of Robert - Dale Owen—The Bequest Accepted—The Board of Regents—The Plan of - the Institution—Its Intent and Object—Changes Made by the - Regents—_Ex-Officio_ Members of the Institution—“The Power - Behind the Throne”—The Secretary—The Smithsonian Reservation—The - Smithsonian Building—Its Style of Architecture—Inside the - Building—Injuries Received by Fire—Loss of Works of Art—The - Museum—Treasures of Art and Science—The Results of Thirty - Government Expeditions—The Largest Collection in the - World—Valuable Mineral Specimens—All the Vertebrated Animals of - North America—Classified Curiosities—The Smithsonian - Contributions—Comprehensive Character of the Institution—Its - Advantages and Operations—Results—The Agricultural Bureau—Its - Plan and Object—Collecting Valuable Agricultural Facts—Helping - the Purchaser of a Farm—The Expenses of the Bureau—The - Library—Nature-Printing—In the Museum—The Great California - Plank—Vegetable Specimens—International Exchanges. - - -An Englishman, of the name of James Smithson, gave all his property to -the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of -the Smithsonian Institution, “an establishment for the increase and -diffusion of knowledge among men.” - -But few are aware of the singularity of the bequest. Such a donation, -from a citizen of Europe, would be remarkable under any circumstances; -but it was much more singular coming from an Englishman, endued with no -small degree of pride of country and lineage, if we may judge from the -pains he takes, in the caption of his will, to detail his descent from -the nobility. He is not known to have ever visited the United States, or -to have had any friends residing here. Mr. Rush informs us that he was a -natural son of the Duke of Northumberland, his mother being Mrs. Macie, -of an ancient family in Wiltshire, of the name of Hungerford; he was -educated at Oxford, where he took an honorary degree. In 1786, he took -the name of James Lewis Macie, until a few years after he left the -University, when he changed it to Smithson. He does not appear to have -had any fixed home, living in lodgings when in London, and occasionally, -a year or two at a time, in the cities on the continent, as Paris, -Berlin, Florence, and Genoa; at which last place he died. The ample -provision made for him by the Duke of Northumberland, with retired and -simple habits, enabled him to accumulate the fortune which passed to the -United States. He interested himself little in questions of government, -being devoted to science, and chiefly to chemistry. This had introduced -him to the society of Cavendish, Wollaston, and others, advantageously -known to the Royal Society in London, of which he was a member. - -In a paper relative to one of the publications of the Smithsonian -Institution, read before a scientific society at Dublin, it is stated, -on the authority of Chambers’ Journal, that he had gained a name by the -analysis of minute quantities, and that “it was he who caught a tear as -it fell from a lady’s cheek, and detected the salts and other substances -which it held in solution.” - -In a notice of his scientific pursuits, by Professor Johnson, of -Philadelphia, there are enumerated twenty-four papers, or treatises by -Smithson, published in the Transactions of the Royal Society, and other -scientific journals of the day, containing articles on mineralogy, -geology, and more especially mineral chemistry. In the Annals of -Philosophy (Vol. 22, page 30) he has a brief tract on the method of -making coffee. The small case of his personal effects, which is to be -preserved in a separate apartment of the Institution, consists chiefly -of minerals and chemical apparatus. - -The will indicates a degree of sensitiveness on the subject of his -illegitimacy. He starts with a declaration of pedigree: - - I, James Smithson, son of Hough, first Duke of Northumberland, and - Elizabeth, heiress of the Hungerfords of Audley, and niece of Charles - the Proud, Duke of Somerset, now residing in Bentinck street, - Cavendish Square, do make this my last will and testament,.... - - “To found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian - Institution, an establishment FOR THE INCREASE AND DIFFUSION OF - KNOWLEDGE AMONG MEN.” - -The bequest was first announced to Congress by President Jackson, in -1835. Long discussions and reports followed; first, upon the propriety -of accepting the trust; and next, upon the kind of institution to be -established; in the course of which the ablest minds in the country, in -and out of Congress, gave expression to their views. The report of Mr. -Adams was particularly eloquent. The objection to receiving the bequest -was based mainly upon the alleged absence of constitutional power, but -partly upon policy. - -The discussion as to the kind of institution which would best fulfil the -testator’s intention, extended through a series of years, and led to -almost every possible proposition. I shall not attempt to give even an -outline of these debates, which finally culminated in the adoption of a -somewhat mixed scheme, allowing of almost anything. To Robert Dale Owen, -of Indiana, is mainly due the credit of finally pressing the bill to a -vote. The Act required that there be provided a hall or halls for a -library, a museum, a chemical laboratory, necessary lecture-rooms, and a -gallery of art. - -The Board of Regents, in whose hands the control of the institution is -vested, drew up the following general plan, upon which the operations of -the institution have been conducted, this plan being, in their judgment, -best calculated to carry into effect the wishes of the founder: - - To Increase Knowledge: It is proposed—first, to stimulate men of - talent to make original researches, by offering suitable rewards for - memoirs containing new truths; and, second, to appropriate annually a - portion of the income for particular researches, under the direction - of suitable persons. - - To Diffuse Knowledge: It is proposed—first, to publish a series of - periodical reports on the progress of the different branches of - knowledge; and, second, to publish occasionally separate treatises on - subjects of general interest. - - Details of Plan to Increase Knowledge by Stimulating Researches: - First, facilities to be afforded for the production of original - memoirs on all branches of knowledge. Second, the memoirs thus - obtained to be published in a series of volumes, in a quarto form, and - entitled Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. Third, no memoir, on - subjects of physical science, to be accepted for publication, which - does not furnish a positive addition to human knowledge, resting on - original research; and all unverified speculations to be rejected. - Fourth, each memoir presented to the institution to be submitted for - examination to a commission of persons of reputation for learning in - the branch to which the memoir pertains, and to be accepted for - publication only in case the report of this commission is favorable. - Fifth, the Commission to be chosen by officers of the Institution, and - the name of the author, as far as practicable, concealed, unless a - favorable decision be made. Sixth, the volumes of the memoirs to be - changed for the transactions of literary and scientific societies, and - copies to be given to all the colleges and principal libraries in this - country. One part of the remaining copies may be offered for sale, and - the other carefully preserved, to form complete sets of the work to - supply the demand for new institutions. Seventh, an abstract, or - popular account, of the contents of these memoirs, to be given to the - public through the annual reports of the Regents to Congress. - - By Appropriating a Part of the Income, Annually, to Special Objects of - Research, under the Direction of Suitable Persons: First, the objects, - and the amount appropriated, to be recommended by Councillors of the - Institution. Second, appropriations in different years to different - objects; so that, in course of time, each branch of knowledge may - receive a share. Third, the results obtained from these appropriations - to be published, with the memoirs before mentioned, in the volumes of - the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. Fourth, examples of - objects for which appropriations may be made: 1. System of extended - meteorological observations for solving the problem of American - storms; 2. Explorations in descriptive natural history, and - geological, magnetical, and topographical surveys, to collect - materials for the formation of a physical atlas of the United States; - 3. Solution of experimental problems, such as a new determination of - the weight of the earth, of the velocity of electricity and of light; - chemical analyses of soils and plants; collection and publication of - scientific facts accumulated in the offices of Government; 4. - Institution of statistical inquiries with reference to physical, - moral, and political subjects; 5. Historical researches, and accurate - surveys of places celebrated in American history; 6. Ethnological - researches, particularly with reference to the different races of men - in North America; also, explorations and accurate surveys of the - mounds and other remains of the ancient people of our country. - - Details of the Plan for Diffusing Knowledge: First, by the publication - of a series of reports, giving an account of the new discoveries in - science, and of the changes made from year to year in all branches of - knowledge, not strictly professional. These reports will diffuse a - kind of knowledge generally interesting, but which, at present, is - inaccessible to the public. Some reports may be published annually, - others at longer intervals, as the income of the Institution or the - changes in the branches of knowledge may indicate. Second, the reports - are to be prepared by collaborators eminent in the different branches - of knowledge. Third, each collaborator to be furnished with the - journals and publications, domestic and foreign, necessary to the - compilation of his report; to be paid a certain sum for his labors, - and to be named on the title-page of the report. Fourth, the reports - to be published in separate parts, so that persons interested in a - particular branch can procure the parts relating to it without - purchasing the whole. Fifth, these reports may be presented to - Congress for partial distribution, the remaining copies to be given to - literary and scientific institutions, and sold to individuals for a - moderate price. - - By the Publication of Separate Treatises on Subjects of General - Interest: First, these treatises may occasionally consist of valuable - memoirs translated from foreign languages, or of articles prepared - under the direction of the Institution, or procured by offering - premiums for the best exposition of a given subject. Second, the - treatises should, in all cases, be submitted to a commission of - competent judges, previous to their publication. - -“The only changes made in the policy above indicated have been the -passage of resolutions, by the Regents, repealing the equal division of -the income between the active operations and the museum and library, and -further providing that the annual appropriations are to be apportioned -specifically among the different objects and operations of the -Institution, in such manner as may, in the judgment of the Regents, be -necessary and proper for each, according to its intrinsic importance, -and a compliance in good faith with the law.” - -The Act of Congress, organizing the Institution, makes the President and -Vice-President of the United States, the Cabinet Ministers, the -Chief-Justice of the United States, the Cabinet Ministers and the Mayor -of Washington, members _ex officio_ of the Institution. The Board of -Regents charged with the control of the Institution, consists of the -President of the United States, the Mayor of Washington, three Senators -of the United States, three members of the House of Representatives, who -are _ex officio_ Regents, six persons, not members of Congress, two of -whom must be citizens of Washington, and members of the National -Institute of that city, and the other four citizens of any of the states -of the Union, no two of whom are to be chosen from the same state. The -Board of Regents make annual reports of their conduct of the Institution -to Congress. - -The real “power behind the throne” is the Secretary of the Institution, -who is executive officer. He has charge of the edifice, its contents, -and the grounds, and is given as many assistants, as are necessary to -enable him to conduct the varied operations of the Institution. The -property of the Institution is placed under the protection of the laws -for the preservation and safe keeping of the public buildings and -grounds of the City of Washington. - -Upon the organization of the Institution, Congress set apart for its use -a portion of the public ground lying westward of the Capitol, and -between it and the Potomac River. Fifty-two acres comprised the grant, -which was known as the “Smithsonian Reservation.” They were laid out -under the supervision of Andrew Jackson Downing. He died while engaged -in this work, and his memory is perpetuated by a memorial erected in the -grounds in 1852, by the American Pomological Society, and consisting of -a massive vase resting on a handsome pedestal, with appropriate -inscriptions, the whole being of the finest Italian marble. - -The building is situated near the centre of the grounds as they -originally existed, the centre of the edifice being immediately opposite -Tenth Street west. It is constructed of a fine quality of lilac-gray -freestone, found in the new red sandstone formation, where it crosses -the Potomac, near the mouth of Seneca Creek, one of the tributaries of -that river, and about twenty-three miles above Washington. The stone is -very soft at first, and is quarried with comparative ease. In its fresh -state, it may be worked with the chisel and mallet; but it hardens -rapidly upon exposure to the air and weather, and will withstand, after -a time, the severest usage. - -The structure is in the style of architecture belonging to the last half -of the twelfth century, the latest variety of rounded style, as it is -found immediately anterior to its merging into the early Gothic, and is -known as the Norman, the Lombard, or Romanesque. The semi-circular arch, -stilted, is employed throughout, in door, windows, and other openings. - -The main building is 205 feet long by 57 feet wide, and to the top of -the corbel course, 58 feet high. The east wing is 82 by 52 feet, and to -the top of its battlement, 42½ feet high. The west wing, including its -projecting apsis, is 84 by 40 feet, and 38 feet high. Each of the wings -is connected with the main building by a range which, including its -cloisters, is 60 feet long by 49 feet wide. This makes the length of the -entire building, from east to west, 447 feet. Its greatest breadth is -160 feet. - -The north front of the main building has two central towers, the -loftiest of which is 150 feet high. It has also a broad, covered -carriage-way, upon which opens the main entrance to the building. The -south central tower is 37 feet square, 91 feet high, and massively -constructed. A double campanile tower, 17 feet square, 117 feet high, -rises from the north-east corner of the main building; and the -south-west corner has an imposing octagonal tower, in which is a spiral -stair-way, leading to the summit. There are four other smaller towers of -lesser hights, making nine in all, the effect of which is very -beautiful, and which once caused a wit to remark that it seemed to him -as if a “collection of church steeples had gotten lost, and were -consulting together as to the best means of getting home to their -respective churches.” - -The building was much injured by fire in January, 1865. The flames -destroyed the upper part of the main buildings, and the towers. Although -the lower story was saved, the valuable official, scientific, and -miscellaneous correspondence, record-books, and manuscripts in the -Secretary’s office, the large collection of scientific apparatus, the -personal effects of James Smithson, Stanley’s Collection of Indian -Portraits, and much other valuable property were destroyed. Fortunately, -the Library, Museum, and Laboratory were uninjured. The fire made no -interruption in the practical workings of the Institution, and in a -comparatively short space of time the burned portions were restored. - -The museum occupies the ground-floor, and is the principal attraction to -a large portion of the visitors. It is a spacious hall, containing two -tiers of cases, in which are placed the specimens on exhibition. Access -to the upper tier of cases is had by means of a light iron gallery, -which is reached by stair-ways of the same material. The Official Guide -to the Institution, thus describes the Museum: - -Under these provisions, the Institution has received and taken charge of -such Government collections in mineralogy, geology and natural history, -as have been made since its organization. The amount of these has been -very great, as all the United States geological, boundary, and railroad -surveys, with the various topographical, military, and naval -explorations, have been, to a greater or less extent, ordered to make -such collections as would illustrate the physical and natural history -features of the regions traversed. - -Of the collections made by thirty Government expeditions, those of -twenty-five are now deposited with the Smithsonian Institution, -embracing more than five-sixths of the whole amount of materials -collected. The principle expeditions thus furnishing collections are the -United States Geological Surveys of Doctors Owen, Jackson, and Evans, -and Messrs Foster and Whitney; the United States and Mexican boundary -survey; the Pacific Railroad survey; the exploration of the Yellowstone, -by Lieutenant Warren; the survey of Lieutenant Bryant; The United States -naval astronomical expedition; the North Pacific Behring’s Strait -expedition; the Japan expedition, and Paraguay expedition. - -The Institution has also received, from other sources, collections of -greater or less extent, from various portions of North America, tending -to complete the Government series. - -The collections thus made, taken as a whole, constitute the largest and -best series of the minerals, fossils, rocks, animals, and plants of the -entire continent of North America, in the world. Many tons of geological -and mineralogical specimens, illustrating the surveys throughout the -West, are embraced therein. There is also a very large collection of -minerals of the mining regions of Northern Mexico, and of New Mexico, -made by a practical Mexican geologist, during a period of twenty-five -years, and furnishing indications of many rich mining localities within -our own borders, yet unknown to the American people. - -It includes also, with scarcely an exception, all the vertebrate animals -of North America. The greater part of the mammalia have been arranged in -walnut drawers, made proof against dust and insects. The birds have been -similarly treated, while the reptiles and fish have been classified, as, -to some extent, have also been the shells, minerals, fossils, and -plants. - -The Museum hall is quite large enough to contain all the collections -hitherto made, as well as such others as may be assigned to it. No -single room in the country is, perhaps, equal to it in capacity or -adaptation to its purposes, as, by the arrangements now being perfected, -and denoted in the illustration, it is capable of receiving twice as -large a surface of cases as the old Patent-Office hall, and three times -that of the Academy of Sciences of Philadelphia. - -The Smithsonian Contributions are the work of men residing in every part -of the United States. Does an individual think he has the data upon -which to base an important discovery, he communicates his plans to the -Institution. His suggestions are referred to men in other places, who -have made that branch an especial subject of study, and who are not -advised of the author’s name. If they report favorably upon it, the -author is furnished with facilities for pursuing and describing his -investigations. Does he want some book not to be found in the library -nearest his home? The Institution purchases it and loans it to him, to -be returned to the library. His work, when finished, may be invaluable -to a scientific man, but is not in sufficient demand to warrant any -publisher in issuing it. The Institution prints it, with the proper -illustrations, and gives the author the privilege of using the plates in -order to print a copyright for sale. Those published by the Institution -are sent to every great library and to every scientific body in the -world; and those bodies, in return, send back all their publications. -Thus, already, a most valuable library has been collected, containing -books hardly to be found collected together anywhere else in the United -States. - - * * * * * - -Thirty years ago, the merely nominal sum of $1,000 was, at the instance -of the Commissioner of Patents, Hon. H. L. Ellsworth, devoted by -Congress for the purposes of Agriculture. For two years before, this -patriotic gentleman had been distributing seeds and plants gratuitously, -and for nine years, during his entire term of office, he continued his -good work. His successors in the Patent-Office kept up the practice; but -it was not until 1862 that the Department of Agriculture was formally -organized. - -[Illustration: - - TROPICAL FRUITS. - INSIDE THE GOVERNMENT CONSERVATORY.—WASHINGTON. -] - -It now nominally belongs to the Department of the Interior, but in every -essential is a distinct department in itself. - -The beautiful building built expressly for it, and dedicated exclusively -to its uses, terminates one of the finest vistas running out from -Pennsylvania avenue. It stands within the grounds of the Smithsonian -Institution, surrounded by spacious conservatories and wide blooming -gardens—every plant and tree indigenous to our country—from the -luxuriant tropical vegetation of the Southern States, to the dwarfed and -hardy foliage of our northern borders, may be found in its grounds. A -division is devoted to horticulture, and the propagation and -acclimatization of new and foreign species. Studies in ornamentation, in -the best means of hybridizing, budding, pruning and grafting, in -treating diseases of plants and trees, are thoroughly pursued in the -experimental gardens. Seeds of new varieties and of superior quality, as -soon as they are obtained, are freely distributed throughout the -country, on application to the Commissioner of Agriculture. - -The Department maintains, at least, one correspondent in every county of -the United States, through whom statistics of quality and quantity of -crops, and other facts, are forwarded to Washington, to be there -distributed by means of the monthly and yearly reports. Specialists are -also employed to prepare for these reports instructive articles on -suitable topics. Questions from agriculturists are freely answered and -the fullest possible information afforded. The purchaser of a farm -situated in a region with which he is unacquainted, has only to inquire, -and the department will tell him the crops likely to prove remunerative -in the special locality, advise him regarding cultivation, and warn him -of obstacles to be surmounted, and the best means of overcoming them. A -chemist will analyze the soil, report as to its properties and the value -of fertilizers to be used thereon; a botanist will give every particular -regarding the natures and diseases of plants, and will point out in what -families to seek needed products, and what effect a change of soil will -have upon them. An entomologist will give advice regarding the insects -which destroy vegetation, and as to the best mode for their -extermination. - -As compared with the other national bureaux, the expense of this -department is remarkably small. The cost of the library and museum was -$140,000, and the conservatories were built at an expense of but $52,000 -more. The library contains a valuable collection of agricultural -literature in several languages. Volumes of rare pictures are arranged -on long tables; one work, a present from Francis Joseph I., Emperor of -Austria, entitled “Nature-Printing,” containing representations of ferns -so exquisitely printed that it is difficult to believe them unreal. - -[Illustration: - - THE DOME AND SPIRAL STAIR CASE, RARE PLANTS AND FLOWERS. - - INSIDE THE GOVERNMENT CONSERVATORY.—WASHINGTON. -] - -In the museum are specimens of fibrous products, cereals of this and -other countries, stuffed birds and plaster-casts of fruits from all the -different sections of the United States, arranged so as to show at a -glance the products of each region and the specific changes caused by -transportation. On the walls of the fruit-cabinet are hung diagrams -showing the character and habits of the different insects that prey upon -fruit and fruit trees; and in glass cases are preserved the native birds -that feed upon destructive insects, and should be protected by the kind -treatment of the agriculturist. - -The halls of this beautiful building are laid with imported tiles, its -ceilings are exquisitely frescoed, and many of its walls hung with -wood-paper in rich blending tints. The museum filling the main hall of -the second floor is furnished with lofty, air-tight walnut cases. - -The great California plank which once stood in one of the underground -halls of the Patent-Office, has been wrought into a massive table which -stands in the Museum. It is seven feet by twelve, and looks like a -billiard-table without the cloth, and is finely polished. The legs and -frame are made of Florida cedar. The top of the table is composed of the -plank; it looks like solid mahogany without knot or blemish. Much -attention has been given to the cultivation of the fibrous grasses -which, in China, are woven into fine and durable cloth. Specimens of -these grasses, and of the cloth which they make, in its various stages -of manufacture, are on exhibition in the cases of the museum. A number -of acres have been set apart in the grounds for the cultivation of these -grasses. The shade-trees of our entire country are to be represented in -these grounds. Already over one thousand four hundred native varieties -have been planted. - -Through the Smithsonian Institute the Department has been put into -communication with leading foreign agricultural societies, and the -result has been, not only an exchange of reports, but of almost every -known specimen of flower-seeds, seeds of shrubs, vegetables and fruits. -The display of flowers in the agricultural grounds is already something -wonderful, and soon will equal any like display in the world. - -[Illustration: - - TROPICAL PLANTS AND FLOWERS. - INSIDE THE GOVERNMENT CONSERVATORY.—WASHINGTON. -] - - - - - CHAPTER XLVIII. - OLD HOMES AND HAUNTS OF WASHINGTON—MEMORIES OF OTHER DAYS. - -The Oldest Home in Washington—The Cottage of David Burns—David Burns’s - Daughter—Singing a Lady’s Praises—The Attractions of a Cottage—“Tom - Moore” the Poet Pays Homage to Fair Marcia—The Favored Suitor—How - the Lady was Wooed and Won—Mother and Daughter—The Offering to - God—The City Orphan Asylum—A Costly Mausoleum—The Assassination - Conspiracy—Persecuting the Innocent—A Suggestion for the Board of - Works—The Octagon House—A Comfortable Income—The Pleasures of - Property—A Haunted House—Apple-Stealing—“Departed Joys and - Stomach-Aches”—The Jackson Monument—The Tragedy of the Decatur - House—A Fatal Duel—The Stockton-Sickles House—A Spot of Frightful - Interest—The Club-House—Assassination of Mr. Seward—Scenes of - Festivity—The Madison House—Mrs. Madison’s Popularity—Her Turbans - and Her Snuff—The Exploit of Commodore Welkes—Arlington Hotel—The - House of Charles Sumner—Corcoran Castle—The Finest Picture-Gallery - in America—Powers’ Greek Slave—“Maggie Beck”—Kalaroma—During the - War—Rock Creek—The Romantic Story of Mr. Barlow’s Niece—Francis P. - Blair—Doddington House—The Brother of Lord Ellenborough—Forgetting - His Own Name—Locking Up a Wife—The “Ten Buildings”—The Retreat of - Louis Phillippe—Old Capitol Prison—The Temporary Capitol—The Deeds - of Ann Royal and Sally Brass—“Paul Pry”—Blackmailing—Feared by all - Mankind—An Unpleasant Sort of Woman—Arrested on Suspicion—A Small - American Bastile—Where Wirz was Hung. - - -The oldest home in Washington is the cottage of David Burns. - -You remember _him_, he was Washington’s “obstinate Mr. Burns.” Well, he -owned nearly the entire site of the future Federal city, an estate which -had descended to him, through several generations of Scottish ancestors. -It was perfectly human and right that he should make the most and best -of his precious paternal acres. Long before quarrelling Congresses had -even thought of the District of Columbia as a site to contend over as -the future Capitol, the cottage of David Burns had gathered on its lowly -roof the moss of time. - -After the lapse of nearly a century it stands to-day as it stood then, -only the moss on its roof is deeper, and the trees which arch above it, -cast a longer and deeper shadow. It was a mansion in that day of small -beginnings. Yet it is but a low, sharp-roofed cottage, one story high, -with a garret; its doors facing north and south, one opening upon the -river, with no steps, but one broad flag-stone, now settled deep within -its grassy borders. Besides the garret, there cannot be more than four -rooms in the house; a dining-room, sitting-room, and two sleeping-rooms; -the kitchen, after the Maryland and Virginia fashion of the present day, -was probably a detached building. The farm-house no doubt equalled its -average neighbors, scattered miles apart across the wide domain of open -country. - -[Illustration: - - THE NATIONAL CAPITOL, - As seen from Pennsylvania Avenue. -] - -[Illustration: - - THE VAN NESS MANSION, AND DAVY BURNS’ COTTAGE. - At the time of the sale of his estate to President Washington. -] - -Before Washington came to negotiate for the future site of the Federal -city, the society of Davy Burns was probably composed of plain farmer -folk like himself. It was at a later time, when the farmer was -transformed into a millionaire, and his only daughter had grown into the -fairest _belle_ and richest heiress in all the country round, that the -long, low rooms of the one-story farm-house were filled with the most -illustrious men of their generation. David Burns’ only daughter was not -more than twelve or thirteen years of age. - -With a prescience of her future lot, he proceeded to give her every -advantage of education and society at that period accessible to a -gentlewoman of fortune. The Rector of St. John’s Church, who preached -her funeral sermon in 1832, said: “She was placed by her parents in the -family of Luther Martin, Esq., of Baltimore, who was then at the height -of his fame as the most distinguished jurist and advocate in the State -of Maryland, and with his daughters and family she had the best -opportunity of education and society.” - -At eighteen, Marcia Burns returned to the home of her parents—the lowly -farm-house on the banks of the Potomac. Then, and at a later day, when -the flush and enchantment of youth had fled, the vision of Marcia Burns -is altogether lovely. Beside the attractions of fortune, she seemed to -possess in an eminent degree the highest qualities of the feminine -nature. It was of Marcia Burns that Horatio Greenough wrote: - - “’Mid rank and wealth and worldly pride, - From every snare she turned aside. - · · · · · · · · · · · · - She sought the low, the humble shed, - Where gaunt disease and famine tread; - And from that time, in youthful pride, - She stood Van Ness’s blooming bride, - No day her blameless head o’erpast, - But saw her dearer than the last.” - -The return of the only child and heiress of David Burns, in the first -beauty of young womanhood, soon filled the paternal cottage with -illustrious society, and with many suitors for her hand and heart. The -Keys, the Lloyds, the Peters, the Lows, the Tayloes, the Calverts, the -Carrols, all visited here. Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Burr, with -many other famous then, not forgotten now, were guests at the Burns -cottage. Thomas Moore was entertained beneath its roof, and slept in one -of the little rooms “off” the large one on the ground floor. - -The favored suitor was John P. Van Ness, the son of Judge Peter Van Ness -of New York, celebrated as an anti-Federalist, a Revolutionary officer, -and a supporter of Aaron Burr against the Clinton and Livingston feud. - -When John Van Ness wooed and won Marcia Burns, he was thirty years of -age, a Member of Congress from New York, “well-fed, well-bred, -well-read,” elegant, popular and handsome enough to win his way to any -maiden’s heart, unassisted by the accessories of fortune, which, in -addition, were bountifully his. In Gilbert Stuart’s picture we see him -with powdered wig and _toupee_, light-brown hair and side whiskers, -perceptive forehead, aquiline nose, finely-curved lips and chin, a small -mouth, with clear, hazel eyes, which could look their way straight to -many hearts. - -The portrait of the heiress of David Burns may be seen to-day in -Washington, not in any hall of wealth or fashion, but in the Orphan -Asylum, which she founded and endowed, to whose children she was a -mother. It looks down upon us, a Madonna face, with intellectual, -spiritual brow, dewy eyes, and a tender mouth. - -Marcia Burns married John P. Van Ness at the age of twenty. Her only -brother dying in early youth, she inherited the whole of her father’s -vast estate. For a few years after her marriage she lived at the old -cottage. Her husband then built a two-story house on the corner of -Twelfth and D streets. Later, he began the house, which, still standing -in the centre of Mansion Square, is one of the most unique of all the -historic houses of Washington. It was designed, as were so many famous -Washington houses, by Latrobe, and cost between $50,000 and $60,000 more -than half a century ago. Its marble mantel-pieces, wrought in Italy, -with their sculptured Loves and Vestas, still remain, models of -exquisite art. It is finished with costly woods, and about its -door-knobs are set tiles inlaid with Mosaics. Its great portico, facing -north, is modelled after that of the President’s house. This stately -brick mansion, amid the trees, standing a few rods back from the Burns’ -cottage, presents to it an absolute contrast. - -This costly home was ready for the family when the only daughter and -child of General and Mrs. Van Ness returned, in 1820, from school in -Philadelphia. Thither Marcia Burns brought _her_ daughter. The bond -between the two is said to have been more intimate and profound than -that of simply mother and daughter. The daughter was the cherished -companion of the mother, who cultivated an intelligent interest in -public affairs, who loved poetry, and wrote it, and who, amid all the -pomp of wealth and state, never forgot, or allowed her child to forget, -that the fashion of this world passeth away. - -Ann Elbertina Van Ness married Arthur Middleton of South Carolina, son -of a signer of the Declaration of Independence. But, in November, 1822, -in less than two years from her return from school, this only child, -this youthful bride, this heiress of untold wealth, with her babe in her -arms, was carried to the grave. - -From that hour, her mother, Marcia Burns, who, in the world, had never -been of it, renounced its vanities entirely. The cottage in which she -was born, in which her parents lived and died, nestling under the -patriarchal trees, just outside the windows of her stately home, had -ever remained the object of her veneration and affection. In this humble -dwelling, over whose venerable roof waved the branches of trees planted -by her dear parents, she selected a secluded apartment, with appropriate -arrangements for solemn meditation, to which she often retired, and -spent hours in quiet solitude and holy communion. - -The offering to God which she made beside the grave of her daughter, was -the City Orphan Asylum of Washington. She became a mother to the -children, saved, sheltered, and trained for heaven beneath its roof. She -did not wait for these orphans to come to her door. Night and day she -sought them out. In her portrait, still hanging in this asylum, she is -sitting with three little girls, clinging to her for protection, one -with its head in her lap. - -Her last sickness was long and painful. A few days before her death, -with a few Christian friends gathered about her bed, she celebrated the -holy Sacrament; then, with perfect serenity, awaited the final call. Her -last words to her husband, placing her hand upon his head, were: “Heaven -bless and protect you. Never mind me.” She died September 9, 1832, aged -fifty years. - -She was the first American woman buried with public honors. At the time -of her death, General Van Ness was Mayor of Washington. Meetings of -condolence were held by citizens in different places. As the funeral -procession began to move, a committee of citizens placed a second silver -plate upon her coffin, inscribed:— - - “The Citizens of Washington, in testimony of their veneration for - departed worth, dedicate this plate to the memory of Marcia Van Ness, - the excellent consort of D. P. Van Ness. If piety, charity, high - principle and exalted worth could have averted the shafts of fate, she - would still have remained among us, a bright example of every virtue. - The hand of death has removed her to a purer and happier state of - existence; and, while we lament her loss, let us endeavor to emulate - her virtues.” - -The procession passed between the little girls of the Orphan Asylum, who -stood in lines, till the coffin was placed at the door of the vault, -when they came forward, strewing the bier with branches of -weeping-willows, and singing a farewell hymn. - -The last earthly house which received the body of Marcia Burns was more -magnificent than any she had ever inhabited. Years before, General Van -Ness had reared a Mausoleum, which still remains, one of the purest -examples of monumental art on this continent. It is a copy of the Temple -of Vesta, and could not be built at the present time for a sum less than -thirty-four or thirty-five thousand dollars. In the vault, beneath its -open dome, Marcia Burns was laid beside her child. This magnificent -temple of the dead was recently removed and rebuilt, precisely as it was -in the Oak Hill Cemetery, Georgetown. The cells of its deep vault now -hold nearly all of the dust left of the Burns and Van Ness alliance. - -General Van Ness lived to the period of the Mexican war, passing away at -the age of seventy-six, after having enjoyed every honor which the -citizens of Washington could bestow upon him. He sued the Government of -the United States for violating its contract with the original -proprietors of Washington in selling to private purchasers lots near the -Mall. Roger B. Taney was his lawyer, and yet he lost his suit. He gave -an entertainment to Congress every year up to the time of his death, and -wonder-heads declare that his six horses, headless, still gallop around -the Van Ness Mansion, in Mansion square, annually, on the anniversary of -that event. - -Some twenty-five years ago, this old mansion and estate was bought by -its present proprietor, Thomas Green, Esq., a Virginia gentleman. The -last time that it came prominently before the public, was during the -assassination conspiracy, when an irresponsible newspaper sent the -report flying, that its great wine-vault was to have been used as a -place of incarceration for Mr. Lincoln, before he was conveyed across -the river. In those mad days no magnate waited for proof, and the result -was that Mr. Green and his gentle wife, who,—as her husband -remarked—“was as innocent as an angel,” were shut up in our small -bastile, the old Capitol prison. Here both were held for more than -thirty days, when after having vindicated their honor beyond the -possibility of reproach, the Government somewhat ashamed of itself, let -them depart to the shelter of their patriarchal home. - -On buying the estate, Mr. Green with that veneration for old, sacred -associations which pre-eminently marks the Virginian,—instead of tearing -down the old Burns’ cottage as “nothing to him” or as a blot upon his -fair estate, went immediately to work to preserve it. Without changing -it in any way, he re-roofed it, made it rain-proof, whitewashed it, and -left it with its trees and memories. What Mr. Green has preserved, let -not the Board of Public Works destroy! In this case, gentlemen, let your -“grade” go—and the cottage of “the obstinate Mr. Burns,” the first owner -of this great Capital, and the oldest house in it—remain. - -It was a June evening that we last passed the gate and the lodge of the -old Van Ness estate, at the foot of Seventeenth street. The high -brick-wall which shut in this historic garden, is mantled with ivy and -honeysuckle. Old fruit trees, apple, pear, peach, apricot, plum, cherry, -nectarine, and fig trees, all in their season, lift their crowns of -fruitage to the sun within these old walls. Following a winding avenue, -we pass through grounds above which gigantic aspen, maple, walnut, -holly, and yew trees cast deep, cool shadows in the hottest summer days. -As we approach the house we see that the drive before the northern -portico is encircled with an immense growth of box. Before the low -windows of the eastern drawing-room, stretch wide _parterres_ of roses -of every known variety. In June it is literally a garden of roses—and -the early snow falls upon them, budding and blooming still in the -delicious air. Oranges ripen on the sunshiny lawn which surrounds the -house, and masses of honeysuckle which climb the balustrades of the -southern portico pervade the air with sweetness, acres away. - -This southern portico used as a conservatory in the winter, is a -counterpart, on a smaller plan, of the south veranda of the President’s -house. It has the same outlook only nearer the river. To the right, the -dome of the observatory swells into the blue air, and, before it, the -Potomac runs up and kisses the grasses at its feet. Lovers’ walk, shaded -by murmuring pines, as such a walk should be, runs on through the grove -down to a mimic lake, where, in mid-water, is a tiny island with shadowy -trees and restful seats. - -I stray down this walk with Alice,—golden-haired and poet-eyed. We -wander across under the patriarchal trees and come out on the river-side -of the old Burns cottage. Its sunken door-stone, its antique door-latch, -its minute window-panes, all are just the same as when Marcia Burns, -beautiful and young, received within its walls her courtly worshippers; -just the same as when Marcia Burns, smitten and childless, knelt alone -by its desolate hearth, to commune with the God and Father of her -spirit, and to dedicate herself to His service for ever. - -Beside us, eight lofty Kentucky coffee-trees soar palm-like towards the -sky. Through their clustering crowns the full moon peers down upon us; -upon the cottage, so fraught with the memories of buried generations; -upon the white walls of the mansion, so rich in recollections of the -illustrious dead of a later past,—and she transfigures both cottage and -hall in her hallowing radiance, as, with lingering steps, I say to -gentle host and hostess, and to Alice,—golden-haired and -poet-eyed,—“Farewell.” - - * * * * * - -The Octagon House, now used as an office by the Navy Department, stands -on the corner of Eighteenth street and New York avenue. It was built -near the close of the last century by Colonel John Tayloe, one of the -most famous men of his time, and is still owned by his descendents. -Colonel Tayloe was a friend of Washington, who persuaded him to invest -some of his immense fortune in the new Federal city. He was educated at -Cambridge, England, and during his life in Washington, four of his -former class-mates were sent as Ministers to the United States. - -Colonel Tayloe had an income of seventy-five thousand dollars a year. He -had an immense country estate at Mount Airy, Virginia, and both there -and in Octagon House, entertained his friends in princely state. He kept -race-horses, and expended about thirty-three thousand dollars every year -in new purchases. He owned five hundred slaves, built brigs and -schooners, worked iron-mines, converted the iron into ploughshares,—and -all was done by the hands of his own subjects. After the burning of the -White House, Mr. and Mrs. Madison lived in the Octagon House for a year, -and held these elegant drawing-rooms and gave costly dinners. The -Octagon House has long had the reputation of being haunted. “It is an -authenticated fact, that every night, at the same hour, all the bells -would ring at once. One gentleman, dining with Colonel Tayloe, when this -mysterious ringing began, being an unbeliever in mysteries, and a very -powerful man, jumped up and caught the bell wires in his hand, but only -to be lifted bodily from the floor, while he was unsuccessful in -stopping the ringing. Some declare that it was discovered, after a time, -that rats were the ghosts who rung the bells; others, that the cause was -never discovered, and that finally the family, to secure peace, were -compelled to take the bells down and hang them in different fashion. -Among other remedies, had been previously tried that of exorcism, but -the prayers of the priest who was summoned availed nought.” - -In 1805, Washington city was an old field, covered everywhere with green -grass and many original trees of the forest. There were no streets made. -The President’s house was unfinished, and Lafayette square, opposite, -was still called the “Burns Orchard.” One corner of it was used as a -burial-ground of St. John’s Church. Where General Jackson’s statue is -now rearing in the air on a frantic horse, then stood a clump of cherry -trees, under which John Gardner’s school-boys used to make themselves -sick eating green cherries. As the boys of this school never allowed the -green apples or any other fruit in this orchard to ripen, and for that -reason were in a perpetually griped condition all summer, their -school-master, much against their wishes, and that of the militia who -paraded under the trees, obtained permission of President Jefferson to -cut the orchard down. - -As an open “reservation,” the square was long a landmark of the departed -joys and stomachaches of the boys of a former generation. In course of -time Dowing laid out the graceful walks and grassy plats which make it -now a perfect _bijou_ of beauty. He planted the trees which to-day arch -high in mid-air, and spread so deep and grateful a shade above the weary -multitudes who seek rest and a touch of nature’s healing upon its -wayside seats. It is altogether beautiful and soul and sense-reviving, -in the spring, when its many-flowering shrubs pervade the air with -fragrance, and no less delicious in the autumn, when it flames a mosaic -of gorgeous landscape set in the dusty square, its many tinted leaves -warm and red as gems raining, about your feet. - -August 11, 1848, a resolution of Congress authorized the Jackson -Monument Committee to receive the brass guns captured by Jackson at -Pensacola, to be used as material for the construction of a monument to -that distinguished patriot. Clark Mills was appointed to execute the -statue. President Fillmore chose its site in the centre of the square, -opposite the President’s House, where it was inaugurated January 8, -1853, the anniversary of Jackson’s victory at New Orleans, in 1815. As I -am inadequate to describe such a work of art, I give the guide-book -description:— - - “General Jackson is represented in the exact military costume worn by - him, with cocked-hat in hand, saluting his troops. The charger, a - noble specimen of the animal, with all the fire and spirit of a - Bucephalus, is in a rearing posture, poised upon his hind feet, with - no other stay than the balance of gravity, and the bolts pinning the - feet to the pedestal. The work is colossal, the figure of Jackson - being eight feet in height, and that of the horse in proportion. The - whole stands upon a pyramidal pedestal of white marble, seven feet in - height, at the base of which are planted four brass six-pound guns, - taken by the hero at New Orleans. The cost of the statue to the - Government, including the pedestal and iron railing, was $28,500.” - -Around this peaceful spot, where the militia beat their _reveille_, and -the school-boys munched green apples and cherries, and gathered nuts in -days of yore, human life in all its passion of pleasure, tragedy and -pain, now pressed close. One of the saddest tragedies of the square is -associated with the Decatur House. It is said that three powers rule the -world—Intellect, Wealth, and Fame. Wearing this triple crown, Stephen -Decatur came home to the wife whom he worshipped, saying: “I have gained -a small sprig of laurel, which I hasten to lay at your feet.” He bought -the lot on the corner of Sixteenth and H streets, and employed Latrobe -to design a commodious and elegant mansion. In this house the home-life -of Decatur begun with the most dazzling auguries. Its walls were hung -with the trophies of his glory: the sword presented by Congress for -burning the _Philadelphia_; another from Congress for the attack on -Tripoli; a medal from Congress for the capture of the _Macedonian_; a -box containing the freedom of New York; the medal of the Order of -Cincinnati; swords from the States of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and the -City of Philadelphia; and services of plate from the cities of Baltimore -and Philadelphia. All these were but leaves on the sprig of laurel which -he laid at the feet of the beloved one. - -Mrs. Decatur was accomplished, intellectual, and passionately devoted to -her heroic husband. Not yet forty-two years of age, he had scaled the -very summit of fame, and already rested after the toilsome ascent. His -mornings were given to the fulfilment of his duties as Navy -Commissioner, and his leisure was spent with the best in the society of -Washington, made up of the highest in the land for station, character, -and intelligence. - -The _salon_ of Mrs. Decatur, which, to-day, is larger than can be found -in any other private house in Washington, was a focal point for all that -was dazzling in the social life of the capital. There are those still -living who remember the brilliant assembly gathered here only the night -before his death. Mrs. Decatur, who had no prescience of the anguish -awaiting her, at the request of friends, played on the harp, on which -she was a skilful performer. Commodore Decatur, conscious of the -portentous appointment which awaited him the coming morning, abated not -one jot of the wonted charm of his manner, staying in the parlors till -the last guest had gone. - -At dawn of the next day he arose, left the sleeping wife and household, -crossed Lafayette Square, walked to Beale’s Tavern, near the Capitol, -breakfasted, proceeded to Bladensburg, where the duel was fought at nine -o’clock. Mortally wounded, he was brought back to his happy home, where -he died the night of the same day. He tried to avert the duel, saying to -Commodore Barron: “I have not challenged you, nor do I intend to -challenge you; your life depends on yourself.” - -He was followed to the grave by the President of the United States and -the most illustrious men of his time. “The same cannon which had so -often announced the splendid achievements of Decatur now marked the -periods in bearing him to the tomb. Their reverberating thunder -mournfully echoed through the metropolis, and also vibrated through a -heart tortured to agony.” A vast concourse of citizens, marching to a -funeral dirge, followed the dead hero to Kalorama. - -Mrs. Decatur, within the walls of her home, for three years shut herself -away from all the world. Afterwards the Decatur house was rented to -Edward Livingston, then Secretary-of-State. Here Cora Livingston was -married to Dr. Barton, who is remembered not only as a diplomat, but as -the editor of an extensive and valuable collection of Shakespeare’s -works. Here Sir Charles Vaughan, the British Ambassador, lived, and by -his wit and affable manners and hospitality, made the house again a -centre of elegant society. Martin Van Buren, while Secretary-of-State, -occupied the Decatur House. The brothers King, both Members of Congress -from New York, lived here. One was the father of the much-admired Mrs. -Bancroft Davis, a portion of whose girlhood was passed under its roof. -Mr. Orr, while Speaker of the House, was its tenant, and dispensed -hospitalities to thousands in its grand _salon_. From Madison to Grant, -every President has been entertained within its walls. - -Madame de Staël says: “The homes and haunts of the great ever bear -impress of their individuality.” Jean Paul Richter declares: “No thought -is lost.” If this be true, how affluent of eloquence, wit and mirth -these historic halls must be! They are ready to revive more than the -splendor of past days. For a number of years the house, rented to the -Government, has been used for offices. But within twelve months it has -been purchased by General Edward Fitzgerald Beale, who has rehabilitated -it, without remodelling it, for his own family residence. The ample -halls and grand _salon_ remain unchanged in proportions, while fresh -frescoes, historic devices, French windows and marble vestibule, give to -the antique mansion the aspect of modern elegance. - -General Beale is the grandson of Commodore Thomas Truxton, one of the -first six captains appointed by General Washington in the early navy to -guard the commerce of the United States. Commodore Decatur was a -favorite midshipman and lieutenant under Truxton; and the grandson of -his early commander, in this home of Decatur’s heart, is now preserving -every possible souvenir of the sea. The Decatur mansion has passed into -fitting hands. Its present owner made his gallant record under Commodore -Stockton, and, in imperilling his life for others, has maintained the -illustrious escutcheon transmitted him by his ancestors. When the gay -season begins, light and music, warmth and cheer, wisdom, beauty and -grace will again make these old halls glad. “Memnon-like, the old walls -will again give forth sweet sounds.” A new generation will repeat the -festivities of the generation gone to dust. - -A few rods further on we came to the famous Stockton-Sickles House. Just -now it shrinks, shabby and small, below its lofty modern neighbors. It -is a white stuccoed house, two stories, with basement and attic, with -high steps and square central hall, after the fashion of old times. It -was called the Stockton House because Purser Stockton, who married a -relative of Commodore Decatur, owned and lived in it. Afterwards, it was -occupied by Levi Woodbury, the father of Mrs. Montgomery Blair, who -lived here both while Secretary of the Treasury and of the Navy. It was -also rented by Mr. Southard, of Georgia, the father of Mrs. Ogden -Hoffman. When Mr. and Mrs. Sickles lived in it, it is said that the -trees in Lafayette square were so small that the waving of a -handkerchief from one of the windows could be distinctly seen at the -club house opposite, on the other side of the square. This was the -signal used between the first betrayed, then tempted and ruined wife, -and the man of the world, to whom seduction was at once a pastime and a -profession. - -The trunk of the tree against which Key fell when shot by Sickles, may -still be seen near the corner of Madison place and Pennsylvania avenue. - -A few steps further on, in the middle of the block, stands the famous -club-house which has witnessed more of the vicissitudes and tragedy of -human life than any other house on the square, excepting, perhaps, the -White House. The Club-House is a large, square, three-storied red brick -house, built for his own use by Commodore Rogers, of the Navy. After his -death, it became a fashionable boarding-house, then a club-house. To one -of its rooms Barton Key was borne after being wounded by Sickles. While -Secretary-of-State, Mr. Seward occupied the house for eight years, and -during that time it was the centre of most elegant hospitality. In the -assassination of Mr. Seward, it witnessed its crowning tragedy. In its -rooms Mr. Seward and his son languished for months, while slowly -recovering from the almost death-blows dealt by Payne. - -After their recovery, the lovely and only daughter of Mr. Seward here -slowly faded from earth. This young lady was, in a very remarkable -degree, the chosen companion and confidante of her father. She not only -sympathized profoundly in his pursuits, she shared them with him. I -believe she witnessed, with unavailing cries, the attempted -assassination of her father. At least, she never recovered from the -shock received at that time. With her, passed from earth one of the -loveliest spirits which ever shed its pure light upon the social life of -the Capital. Her death left Mr. Seward wifeless and daughterless. With -everything to live for, she met death with perfect faith and -resignation. Her beautiful life, with her triumphant passage through -death to a life still more perfect, remained with him to his last moment -the most precious memory of her illustrious father. - -With all its burden of tragedy and pathetic death, with the departure of -the Sewards, the old house did not take on the shadow of gloom. Its -parlors never witnessed gayer or more crowded assemblies than thronged -them the next winter, when occupied by General Belknap, the -Secretary-of-War. This was but for a single season. Another winter -dropped its earliest snows on the new-made grave of the young wife and -mother, the memory of whose gentle face and graceful presence and tender -spirit, will only fade from the Capital with the present generation. It -was the last flaming up of festivity in the old house. It has never been -gay since Mrs. Belknap died. - -The next year it waned into a boarding-house. Even that was not -successful. People of sensibility do not wish even to board in a house -so haunted with tragic memories of human lives. The house is now used -for Government purposes. Its site is so superlative; central to the most -interesting objects of Washington, and facing the waving sea of -summer-green in Lafayette square. In the march of change its place will -soon be filled by some soaring Mansard mansion of the future. But when -every brick has vanished, the memories of the old club-house and Seward -mansion will survive while any chronicle of Washington endures. - -Next to it stands the house of Mr. Benjamin Ogle Tayloe, a descendant of -Mr. Tayloe, of Octagon House memory. Mr. and Mrs. Tayloe have occupied -this stately house for many years. The reminiscences of Washington -published by Mr. Tayloe for private circulation are among the most -entertaining records ever written of the Capital. - -Next to the Tayloe House, on the corner of Fifteenth and H street, -stands the Madison House, in which, as a widow, Mrs. Madison so long -held her court. No eminent man retired from service of the state ever -had more public recognition and honor bestowed upon him by the -Government he had served than did this popular and ever-beloved woman. -On New Year’s day, after paying their respects to the President, all the -high officers of the Government always adjourned to the house of Mrs. -Madison, to pay their respects to _her_. In her drawing-room political -foes met on equal ground, and for the time, public and private -animosities were forgotten or ignored. - -“Never” says “Uncle Paul” her colored servant, who had lived with her -from boyhood, and who still lives, “never was a more gracefuller lady in -a drawing-room. We always had our Wednesday-evening receptions in the -old Madison House, and we had them in style.” Mrs. Madison’s turbans are -as famous in Washington to-day as her snuff box. It is said that she -expended $1,000 a year in turbans. She wore one as long as she -lived—long after it had ceased to be fashionable. “These turbans were -made of the finest materials and trimmed to match her various dresses.” -Uncle Paul tells of one of her dresses of purple velvet with a long -train trimmed with wide gold-lace with which she wore a turban trimmed -with gold-lace and a pair of gold shoes. With a white satin dress, she -wore a turban spangled with silver, and silver shoes. She sent to Paris -for all her grand costumes. Her tea-parties and her “loo” parties are -still dwelt upon with loving accents by her admiring contemporaries who -still linger on the borders of a later generation. - -After the death of Mrs. Madison, her house was purchased and occupied -for many years by Commodore Wilkes, who captured Mason and Slidell. It -still stands in perfect preservation and is rented year by year to -chance tenants. Two years ago, it was occupied by the Secretary-of-War -and its drawing-rooms again thronged with brilliant crowds. - -On an opposite corner facing Vermont avenue we see the brown walls, -floating flag and gay equipages of Arlington Hotel. Beside it, on the -corner, is the red-brick house with white shades, and Mansard roof, -where, amid rare pictures, books, works of art, and choice friends, -lives Charles Sumner. - -A few rods further on, on the corner of H and Sixteenth streets, facing -Lafayette square and peering out toward the old Decatur mansion, we came -to “Corcoran Castle.” It is an imposing house, built of red-brick with -brown facings, divided from the street by an iron railing, painted -green, tipped with gilt, with an immense garden at the back, covering an -entire square. The house is now owned and has been greatly beautified by -W. W. Corcoran, the famous Washington banker, but has had many other -occupants. It was once owned by Daniel Webster to whom it was presented -by leaders of the party whom he had served. Great astonishment was -expressed when he afterwards sold it. But as Daniel Webster was ever an -impecunious man, he probably was compelled to part with his palace as -Sheridan was so often compelled to part with his. - -Before and during the Mexican war, the British Minister, Mr. Packingham -resided in it, kept open house and made his parlors the rendezvous of -the young people. A lady tells “of the young officers she saw taking -part in those brilliant life-pictures, who in a few short weeks were -lying with rigid, upturned faces, on Mexican battle-fields.” The house -was at one time occupied by General Gratios, whose daughter married -Count Montholon. During the war, when Mr. Corcoran resided abroad, he -gave his house in charge of the successive French Ministers. During that -time Madame de Montholon came back to the former home of her father. -Within, the house is a delight to the eyes. Its picture-gallery is one -of the finest in America, and holds amid many other treasures of art, -Powers’ Greek Slave. The whole house is a gallery of costly furniture -and works of art. - -In this home of grace, “Maggie Beck” a Kentucky _belle_ of three seasons -ago, who married a nephew of Mr. Corcoran, “received” her friends for -the last time. The bride of a month, she was already the bride of death, -and in her marriage robe, and veil and gleaming jewels, white, cold, and -silent, she received the tears and lamentations poured upon her by -agonized hearts. After an absence of years, hither Mr. Corcoran bore the -dead body of his only child, and here, widowed and childless, shut -himself in alone with his dead. The children of this daughter now make -music in these stately halls. Age and childhood make the family life of -Corcoran Castle. - -A high brick wall shuts in this garden from the city. Its inner side is -completely hung with ivy. Immense _parterres_ of roses and flowers of -every tint, conservatories, a _croquet_-ground, rustic summer-houses, -fountains, a fish-pond, forest trees shading a closely-shorn lawn, all -these make a garden perfect in seclusion and beauty in the very heart of -the Capital. - -One of the most famous of suburban Washington haunts is Kalorama, -literally like Bellevue—“beautiful view.” The ruins of Kalorama stand on -a forest-shaded slope, a little more than a mile, perhaps, from the -President’s house. From Twenty-first street it is approached by an -avenue planted closely on either side by locust trees. Under their green -arch the titled and famous of an earlier generation passed; but in our -own memory it is associated with the pestilence-laden ambulance, for -during the war beautiful Kalorama was a small-pox hospital. - -Below Kalorama, Rock Creek winds its shining thread between the hills. -Looking up the creek, we see grassy glades, along which cattle feed, and -a picturesque valley walled by embowering woods. Climbing a green, -tree-shaded slope, we reach a _plateau_ from which we look down upon two -cities, Rock Creek still winding its silvery thread between. Opposite is -Analoston Island, beyond the Virginia shore, and Arlington House peering -through the trees of its crowning hill. - -To the left lies Washington, guarded by the Capitol; before us, -crumbling amid its guardian oaks, the ruins of Kalorama. It was built by -Joel Barlow, once of “Columbiad” fame, in 1805. After spending several -years abroad, where he espoused the cause of the French Republic, he -returned to his own country and built a castle for himself overlooking -its Capital. Before this, his “Columbiad” had been published with fine -engravings, whose execution was superintended by Robert Fulton. On this -poem he had spent the labor of the best years of his life. He believed -without a doubt that it would be the national poem of the future. A copy -of it graced every drawing-room. In what drawing-room is it visible now! -Alas! for “Fame!” - -Joel Barlow and Robert Fulton were intimate friends. In 1810 Fulton -visited Kalorama, and it is declared that some of his first ventures in -navigation were launched upon Rock Creek. History records that Fulton -tested his torpedoes during this visit to Washington, and persuaded -Congress to consider his navigation schemes. Mr. Barlow went to France -as American Minister in 1812. He was taken ill while on his way to meet -Napoleon, who had invited the American Minister to an interview with him -at Wilna. Mr. Barlow died at Cracow, in Poland, where he solaced his -death-bed by dictating a poem full of withering expression of resentment -toward Napoleon for the hopes he had disappointed. - -Mr. Barlow bequeathed Kalorama to his niece Mrs. Bomford. A romantic -story is told of this lady. While with her first husband (whose name has -deservedly perished) on the frontier, he being an officer in the United -States Army, she was captured by Indians. For some reason known only to -himself, her husband did not take the trouble to pursue her; but -Lieutenant Bomford did. He organized a force of citizens and soldiers, -and sallied forth in quest of the lady. He found her, and she rewarded -him by marrying him after she had obtained a divorce from her -indifferent lord. - -Colonel and Mrs. Bomford resided at Kalorama for many years. During -their residence here the Decatur-Barron duel took place, and the body of -Decatur found a temporary resting-place in the tomb of the Barlows. This -vault is still visible at the top of a small hill near the main entrance -to the Kalorama grounds. With its low sharp roof and its plastered -walls, it looks like an old spring-house. It bears an inscription to the -memory of Joel Barlow, “poet, patriot, and philosopher,” although he was -buried, when he died, at Cracow, Poland. - -When Mrs. Decatur left the Decatur mansion, she retired to Kalorama. And -years after her husband’s death she made it famous by the elegant -entertainments which she gave there. There are gentlemen still in public -life in Washington, who recall the elegant and costly dinners given by -this lady at Kalorama. - -This beautiful historic spot is now owned by a family named Lovett, who, -it is said, intend in time to rebuild it. - -Following Seventh street a mile or two beyond the city limits, we come -to an unpretending country house, at some distance back from the road, -surrounded by lawns, gardens and groves. It is a long, low house, before -which runs a piazza, and behind which bubbles a famous spring. If it is -morning, a pair of saddle-horses stand waiting their riders before the -door. Presently they come out together, an ancient knight and lady, -ready for a ten-mile ride on horseback. Eighty years and more have set -their seal on the brows of each. The gentleman’s frame bears the marks -of extreme age; it is attenuated, yet shows few signs of decrepitude. -His skin may look like parchment, but the eyes burn with unabated fires. -The lady is tall, straight, and stately, with dark, keen eyes, and head -erect, as befits the mother of the Blairs. She has a son more than sixty -years of age, and yet she seems not to have lived so many years herself. -More than fifty years ago, this couple, by wagons and on horseback, came -through the woods from far Kentucky to seek their fortune in the new -capital city. The struggling village has grown into a metropolis; sons -and daughters to the fourth generation have blessed them; they have done -their share in the making and unmaking of presidents and men in power; -they have received their full meed of honor as well as of blame; their -name has grown to fame; they have long outstripped the allotted years of -man, and here they are, ready for their eight or ten miles’ horseback -ride this morning. This is Francis P. Blair, Senior, and his wife, and -this their country home. Honored among suburban Washington haunts is -“Silver Spring.” - -Almost any sunny day this ancient knight and lady; mounted on their two -solid steeds, with a green bough in their hands in lieu of riding whips, -she with a stately calash upon her head, may be seen jogging along -Pennsylvania avenue toward the stately home of Montgomery Blair, which -faces the War-Department. For more than two generations Mr. Blair has -been a power in the land. He has had more or less to do with the making -and unmaking of every president since the days of Jackson. The Nestor of -the Washington Press, he was a powerful supporter of “old Hickory,” and -to-day retains, undiminished, the living love now bestowed upon the -friend so long buried in the past. Mr. Blair, leaning on his long staff, -may often be seen wandering through the unbowered ways of Lafayette -square, which he so well remembers as the Burns’ orchard. Here he never -fails to gaze upon the bronze equestrian statue of his friend. Others -may laugh at the pivoted horse, but “old Frank Blair” pronounces the -statue to be the best likeness of Jackson now extant. - -With the exception of the Burns’ house, the oldest houses in the city -are found on Capitol Hill. Here are houses whose antiquity alone make -them remarkable amid the houses of America. For example, here is the old -Duddington house, built by Daniel Carroll, who you may remember was so -angry with Major L’Enfant for tearing down his first abode, in the way -of a beloved street. The present house, built at that time, stands just -in front of the old site. Going south-east from the Capitol, the tall -forest trees of Duddington are soon visible. So completely do they -screen the house, nothing is seen of it until the visitor comes to the -large entrance gate, directly in front of the dwelling. It is a double -house, built of red brick, with wings stretching out on either side. The -grounds are beautiful in their very wildness, presenting all the -attributes of a primitive forest. Outside is a spring with an ancient -covering of brick. “This spring was once a well-known resort, on the -Duddington farm, for the school-boys of the neighborhood, one of whom, -an aged man now, told me how pleasantly he used to pass his noon recess -there.” - -Nearly all the buildings in this part of the city can lay claim to -antiquity. Many of them were built by Thomas Low, of brick brought from -England. Thomas Low is an historic name in Washington. The brother of -Lord Ellenborough, he belonged to one of the most distinguished families -in England. He amassed a large fortune in India, at the time that Warren -Hastings was Governor-General. He was a friend of Hastings, and warmly -defended him. Low brought with him to this country five hundred thousand -dollars in gold. Soon after his arrival he became acquainted with -General Washington, who induced him to invest largely in the wilderness -which was to be transformed into the capital of the nation. The -investment was not profitable to Mr. Low. The high price set upon -property caused the city to go up far in the rear of his many new -buildings. He married Miss Custis, the granddaughter of Mrs. Washington, -and sister of George W. Parke Custis. His matrimonial venture was not -more satisfactory than his landed one. He parted from his wife, and at -his death his five hundred thousand dollars had dwindled down to one -hundred thousand. Mr. Low was so absent-minded, it is said he would -forget his name when inquiring for letters at the post-office, and once -locked his wife in a room, and not knowing what he had done, half a day -passed before she obtained her liberty. - -There is a row of two-story brick dwellings near Duddington which were -built by Mr. Low, in one of which he lived. These houses bear the name -of the “Ten Buildings.” During Mr. Low’s residence there, Louis -Phillippe, then an exile, was his guest. In one of these the first copy -of the _National Intelligencer_ was printed, October 31, 1800. Another -row of houses on New Jersey avenue, one block south of the Capitol, was -also built by Thomas Low. Originally they were fashionable -boarding-houses, and such men as Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Dallas and -Louis Phillippe were entertained beneath their roof. They are now -occupied by the Coast Survey. In this house the bill was drawn up and -prepared for presentation to Congress, authorizing the establishment of -a United States Bank. A house a little nearer to the Capitol, long -occupied by John W. Forney, was built for the Bank of Washington, but -never occupied for that purpose. Instead, the United States Supreme -Court held its sessions in it for several years, and a house opposite -was used as the Bank of Washington. - -Opposite the eastern front of the Capitol may be seen a block of three -houses, which for modern elegance will bear comparison with any in -Washington. Any one who recalls the forbidding-looking edifice which -used to occupy this site will find it difficult to identify this elegant -block of private dwelling-houses with the Old Capitol Prison. -Nevertheless the walls which once enclosed Wirz, Belle Boyd, “rebels” -and sinners of every phase and degree beside no inconsiderable number of -perfectly innocent prisoners, now surround the luxurious drawing-rooms -of a supreme judge, a senator, and an advocate-general. This building -which will ever remain most memorable as the Old Capitol Prison, was -built for the temporary accommodation of Congress in 1815. Niles, -_Register_ of November 4, 1815 in an article entitled:—“The Capitol -Rising from Its Ashes” thus speaks of this building: - - “The new building on Capitol Hill preparing for the accommodation of - Congress, is in such a state of forwardness, that it is expected to be - finished early in November. The spacious room for the House of - Representatives has been finished for several weeks. The Senate-room - has been _plaistered_ for some time.” - -Congress took possession of the new house, December 4, 1815. The first -day a communication was received from the citizens who voluntarily -erected the building for the temporary accommodation of Congress. The -building cost $30,000; $5,000 of which had been expended on objects -necessary for the accommodation of Congress, which would be useless when -they vacated the house. Therefore the proprietors declared they would be -satisfied with $5,000 in money, and a rent of $1,650 per annum with cost -of insurance. Niles’ _Register_ went on to say: - - “The spot where this large and commodious building was erected was a - garden on the fourth of July last; the bricks of which it is built - were clay, and the timber used in its construction was growing in the - woods on that day.” - -The building thus expeditiously erected, was used as the Capitol for -several years. In front of this building, James Monroe was inaugurated -with great brilliancy, March 4, 1817. In the winter of 1833-4, Luigi -Persico occupied a room in this house as a studio. There in plaster -stood the group, which now in marble occupies the south block in front -of the main entrance to the Rotunda known as “Columbus and the Indian.” -Says the Hon. B. B. French: - - “How well I remember the _artistic_ enthusiasm with which he described - to me his conception of Columbus holding up, with his right hand, the - new world which he had discovered! - - There he stands, in marble, to-day, with that same “new world,” in the - form of a huge nine-pin ball, or bomb-shell, elevated in his right - hand, to the vast apparent admiration or fear of the crouching squaw - at his side! What the squaw is there for, or what she is doing, has - never yet been satisfactorily decided!” - -The next mutation of this historic house was into the eminently -Washingtonian one of a fashionable boarding-house. It was first kept by -a Mrs. Lindenberger, afterwards by a Mr. Henry Hill, and was always a -favorite abode of Southern Members of Congress. John C. Calhoun, while a -Senator from South Carolina, died in this house. It was at one time -occupied by the famous Ann Royal, who with her factotum Sally Brass used -it as the publishing house of her feared and famous publications “The -Huntress” and “Paul Pry.” - -Mrs. Royal inaugurated black-mailing journalism at an early day. She was -the widow of a Revolutionary officer, who, reduced to the necessity of -earning her living, chose a very malicious way of doing it. She kept -what she called the Black Book, in which she recorded descriptions of -the persons and characters of conspicuous residents of the city. She -canvassed the city for subscribers to her publications, and whoever -refused was threatened with a place in the Black Book. So fearfully and -effectually was this threat carried out, but few had the temerity to -refuse her requests. If such a daring mortal was found, the -breakfast-tables of Washington were, the next morning, regaled with a -portrayal whose impudence and audacity was only equalled by its -shrewdness and sharpness. All who gave her money were sure of adulation, -while those who refused it were equally sure of being defamed, without -regard to truth. - -She was feared by all mankind, from the highest functionary in the -Government to the remotest clerk in the departments. “Few refused to -comply with her demands, and clerks, who saw her approach, would not -disdain to seek a friendly hiding-place.” I believe she printed her -papers with her own hands, and they were afterwards peddled about the -town by her female man, Sally Brass. - -During the War of the Rebellion this building perfectly swarmed with -prisoners. Not only soldiers from the Rebel army, and undoubted -culprits, but also hundreds of citizens, arrested on the faintest -suspicion, were incarcerated within its walls. Any one suspected of -having given comfort to the enemy, of having interfered with military -discipline, or of having defrauded the Government in the remotest way, -was hurried off to the Old Capitol Prison. It was a small American -Bastile, and it is well, perhaps, that its walls cannot tell all or -aught of the oppression and outrage which transpired within them. In its -yard stood the just gallows whereon Wirz was hung for the tortures which -he inflicted on Union prisoners at Andersonville. Others were also -executed here during the war. - -Soon after the close of the war, Mr. George T. Brown, then -Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate, bought the property and proceeded to -transmute the Old Capitol Prison into the three elegant mansions which -now occupy its ground. - -With this famous house must close my chapter on the Historic Homes and -Haunts of Washington. To write minutely of them all would require a -volume. Full detail is here impossible, but no one of the most famous -has been omitted. - - - - - CHAPTER XLIX. - MOUNT VERNON—MEMORIAL DAY—ARLINGTON. - -The Tomb of Washington—The Pilgrims Who Visit it—Where George and - Martha Washington Rest—The American Mecca—The Thought of Other - Graves—The Defenders of the Republic—Eating Boiled Eggs—A - Butterfly Visit—The Old Mansion-House—Patriarchal Dogs—Remembering - a Feast—The Room in which Washington Died—The Great Key of the - Bastile—The Gift of Lafayette—The Harpsichord of Eleanor - Custis—The _Belle_ of Mount Vernon—Moralizing—Inside the - Mansion—Uncle Tom’s _Bouquets_—Beautiful Scenery—Memorial Day at - Arlington—The Soldiers’ Orphans—The Grave of Forty Soldiers—The - Sacrifice of a Widow’s Son—The Children’s Offering—The Record of - the Brave—A National Prayer for the Dead. - - -We have newer and dearer shrines, even, than the tomb of Washington; -yet, in these soft, summer mornings, many pilgrims turn their faces -toward Mount Vernon. - -Every morning a large company, including the young and the old, the -refined and the vulgar, land at the little wharf below the home of -Washington. Fathers and mothers come with their children and their -lunch-baskets. Pretty girls come with venerable duennas, and young men -come to look at them in spite of their keepers. Lovers come and go, -maundering along the lanes, as lovers will. Relic-hunters come to break -off twigs and pilfer pansies; newspaper people come, agog for an item; -and, for the climax, we will believe that a few come solely to do -reverence at the tomb of the Father of their country. - -Passing up a wooded lane that winds over the hill, we reached the famed -sarcophagus, which engravings have made familiar to many eyes that have -never beheld it. Here, on their marble couch, amid the grassy slopes and -tutelary trees of their ancient domain, rest the bodies of George and -Martha Washington. Full of years and full of honors they laid down, and -their tomb has been the Mecca of this continent. It never can be other -than it is. Who would rob it of one hallowed memory? Yet, as I looked at -its sculptured marble, I thought of many and many a nameless grave that -I had seen by the roadside, and on the scathed fields of Virginia, -parched by summer’s sun, covered by winter’s snow, unturfed, -uncared-for—the grave of the volunteer. Dear to me as this sepulchre of -the great, is the grave of the lowliest soldier who perished for his -country. - -The nation will reverence always the grave of Washington. But to this -generation, and to the generations which shall come after, are committed -many graves which cannot be held less dear. Let every city and every -village in the land gather, as most precious jewels, the names of its -dead who died for liberty. Set them in enduring marble; blazon them in -the public places; let them greet the traveller on silent hill-tops, and -in the peaceful vales; the names of our heroes, that we, our children, -our children’s children, to remotest time, may never forget the -defenders of the republic, what they suffered and what they gained. - -We ate boiled eggs and other good things within sight of the tomb of the -Father of our Country—a very necessary proceeding before essaying to -climb the hill. While we were eating, a bright blue butterfly came and -paid us a visit. It looked just as if one of the myrtles had danced up -from the bank before us, and was palpitating in the sunshiny air. Miss -Butterfly was the loveliest “blue” I ever saw. - -[Illustration: - - VIEW OF “THE CITY OF THE SLAIN.”—ARLINGTON. - The remains of over 8,000 soldiers, killed during the war, lie buried - in this Cemetery;—the name, regiment, and date of death of each is - painted on a wooden head-board. -] - -From the tomb to the old mansion house is a pleasant walk over upland -lawns and under sheltering trees. A few patriarchal dogs came forth to -meet us, and that was all the welcome we received. Their tails were very -limp, their ears very droopy, their legs very shaky, but they did their -best to seem glad to see us, and that was more than anybody else did. -One emaciated quadruped, I am sure, will remember to his dying hour the -luncheon of beef and eggs of which he partook so peacefully yesterday, -under an old tree within sight of Washington’s dining-room. - -I am thankful that Congress appropriated thousands of dollars to repair -the Mount Vernon mansion. A mansion in its day, its rooms can bear no -comparison with those of modern houses which make no pretensions. The -dining-hall is the only one that can claim anything like stateliness or -elegance of proportion. The parlors are the merest boxes, each -containing one high window. The chamber in which Washington died -commands an exquisite view, through the vistas of the grounds, down the -Potomac. But, oh! what a cell, compared with the spacious apartments -inhabited by the great generals of our own day. Mrs. Washington never -occupied this room after the death of her husband. It was closed, and -all in it kept sacred to his memory. She removed to the chamber above, -and occupied it till her death. We went up. It is a mere garret. One -little attic-window gives a meagre glimpse of the lovely landscape -below. But in its best estate the room must have been very contracted, -dreary, and without a convenience. No modern “Bridget” would be content -to occupy for a week such a room as this in which Martha Washington -lived and died. - -The home of Washington, now the home of the nation, at last is open, -kindly and genial. Here, in the hall, in its glass case, hangs the great -key of the Bastile, presented to Washington by Lafayette, at the -destruction of that prison in 1789. - -Here what an opportunity to stand and gaze and moralize over the history -of the brave men and beautiful women whose faces it shut into darkness! -So thick gather the celebrated names, I must not mention one. - -Here, in the grand dining-room, stands the quaint old harpsichord which -General Washington presented as a wedding gift to his adopted daughter, -the beautiful Eleanor Custis. It was made in Cheapside, Haymarket, -London, and old ocean tossed it over to delight the heart of the _belle_ -of Mount Vernon. Here what another fine opportunity to “reflect” over -the broken and rusty keys that once thrilled to the touch of beauty, and -stirred with melody in the presence of the great, and made the old halls -ring with the music of festivals! Only my reflections, like many other -people’s, have all come to me afterward, sitting here in my chair, -thinking of that old harpsichord. When I looked at it, I doubt if I had -a reflection at all. Staring at relics in the midst of a jostling crowd -is not particularly conducive to reflection—at least not to emotion. -Even the bedstead on which Washington died seems to lose half its -sacredness being handled and commented on by a careless crowd. - -In the dining-room, we see the famous marble mantel, carved in Italy, -and presented to General Washington by Samuel Vaugh. Its proportions are -not grand, but its carving is exquisite, and it still retains its -whiteness and polish. - -The dining-room is a noble apartment of lofty proportions, extending -through the depth of the house, its windows on front, back and sides -overlooking the loveliest portion of the grounds. It is a sunshiny room, -fit for family cheer. And (reflection third) what illustrious men and -famous women have broken bread and tasted wine within its carved and -mouldy walls in the days that are no more! - -The east and west parlors, leading from the dining-room, are meagre, -high-windowed rooms. Indeed, the whole house of the Father of his -Country, though, doubtless, a princely mansion in its day, reminds a -denizen of the present generation of the growth of architecture, and of -modern convenience and elegance, quite as much as of anything else. Out -on the veranda, where a venerable Uncle Tom drives a thrifty trade in -the _bouquet_ line, we find the real beauty of Mount Vernon—its -prospect. Here, looking out upon terraced lawns and forest trees, and -down the gentlest of slopes to the wide Potomac, flecked with milky -sails, steamboats plying its waves, and pleasure-barques drifting and -dozing with the spring-time gales, we see one of the softest and fairest -of landscapes. A gentle sky, the blue air goldened with daffodils and -fragrant with hyacinths, pleasant friends by my side. Thus I think of -Mount Vernon. - -Last Saturday was Memorial Day. With banners and bands, music and speech -under the softest of May skies, and in its serenest airs tens of -thousands of our soldiers’ graves were decorated with flowers. Most -lovely was Arlington that day! No words could have been more eloquently -fitting than those which were spoken; no music tenderer, nor fuller of -precious memories, nor sweeter with suggestions of Heaven, than that -sung under those patriarchal trees by fifty orphan children. And no -sight could have been more touching than when these soldiers’ orphans -laid their flower-wreaths down upon ten thousand soldiers’ graves. Yet -the magnetism of the multitude was there. The tide followed the banners -and the bands, the blooming maidens, the eloquent speech. - -Miles out Seventh street, beyond Fort Stevens, there is a little -cemetery where forty soldiers lie alone, who fell in defence of -Washington. One of these was a poor widow’s son. She had three; and this -was the last that she gave to her country. She, a poor widow, living far -in northern Vermont, has never even seen the graves of her three soldier -sons, whom she gave up, one by one, as they came to man’s estate; and -who went forth from her love to return to it living no more. - -To this little grave-yard on Seventh street one woman went alone with -her children, carrying forty wreaths of May’s loveliest flowers, and -laid one on every grave. Forty mother’s sons slept under the green turf; -and one mother, in her large love, remembered and consecrated them all. -She chose these because, with more than thirty thousand others in the -larger cemeteries to be decorated, she feared the forty, in their -isolation, might be forgotten. No others followed her; and this mother, -alone with her children, scattering flowers in the silence of love upon -those unremembered graves, some way wears a halo which does not shine -about the multitude. - -[Illustration: - - THE TOMB OF “THE UNKNOWN.”—ARLINGTON. - Erected by the Government to the memory of Unknown Soldiers killed - during the War. -] - -We look on Arlington through softest airs. How beautiful it is! how sad -it is! how holy! Again the tender spring grasses have crept over its -sixteen thousand graves. The innocents, the violets of the woods, are -blooming over the heads of our brave. In the rear of the house a granite -obelisk has been raised to the two thousand who sleep in one grave. Four -cannon point from its summit, and on its face it bears this -inscription:— - - “Beneath this stone repose the bones of two thousand one hundred and - eleven unknown soldiers, gathered after the war from the fields of - Bull Run, and the route to the Rappahannock. Their bodies could not be - identified, but their names and deaths are recorded in the archives of - their country, and its grateful citizens honor them as their noble - army of martyrs. May they rest in peace.” - -The rooms and conservatories of the house are filled with luxurious -plants, soon to be set out on the graves of this cemetery. Beauty and -silence reign through this domain of the dead. There is a hush in the -air, and a hush in the heart, as you walk through it, reading its names, -pausing by the graves of its “unknown,” thinking of the past. Far as the -sight reaches, stretch the long columns of immortal dead. The beauty of -their sleeping-place, the reverent care covering it everywhere, tells -how dear to the Nation’s heart is the dust of its heroes, how sacred the -spot where they lie. In this let us not forget the still higher love -which we owe them; let us attest it by a deeper devotion to the -principles for which they died. - - - - - CHAPTER L. - THE LIFE AND CAREER OF JAMES A. GARFIELD, THE MARTYRED PRESIDENT. - -The National Republican Convention of 1880—Nomination of James A. - Garfield as President Hayes’s Successor—The History of His Life—His - Humble Home—Death of His Father—Hardships and Privations of Pioneer - Life—Struggles of His Mother to Support the Family—Splitting Fence - Rails with her own Hands—The Future President’s Early School - Days—Working as a Carpenter—Chopping Wood for a Living—Leaving - Home—Life as a Canal Boat Boy—Narrow Escapes—Beginning His Education - in Earnest—School Life at Chester—How He Paid His Own Way—First - Meeting with his Future Wife—Early Religious Experience—Enters - Williams College—Professor and President—His First Appearance in - Politics—His Brilliant Military Record—His Services at Shiloh, - Corinth, and Chickamauga—His Congressional Career—Republican Leader - of the House of Representatives—He is Elected to the United States - Senate—His Appearance as the Leader of the Sherman Forces at the - Chicago Convention—He is Himself Nominated amid the Wildest - Enthusiasm—An Exciting Campaign—His Triumphant Election. - - -The occupants of the White House, from March, 1877, to March, 1881, were -Rutherford B. and Lucy Webb Hayes, of Ohio. Mr. Hayes’s nomination by -the Republican National Convention, at Cincinnati, was a surprise to his -party and the country, and his election was for a long time in doubt. -Both the Republicans and the Democrats claimed the electoral votes of -Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana, and at one time civil war seemed -a not remote possibility, so intense was the partisan excitement, and so -inflammable the state of the public mind. But better and wiser counsels -prevailed, and by the efforts of leading men of both parties an -electoral commission was established to which all doubtful matters were -referred, and Mr. Hayes was declared elected by a majority of one -electoral vote over Samuel J. Tilden, of New York. Many of Mr. Tilden’s -friends and party supporters, and some of those who had opposed his -election, questioned the legality of Mr. Hayes’s election, and contended -that Mr. Tilden should have had the position. Mr. Hayes’s administration -was generally quiet and uneventful, save that it marked the resumption -of specie payments, and witnessed the transition from almost -unprecedented business depression and industrial inactivity to a period -of almost unexampled industrial activity and business prosperity. Mrs. -Hayes was perhaps the most popular President’s wife who had ever -occupied the White House, and more of the people of the United States -saw the inside of the Executive Mansion during her residence there than -during any previous administration, or perhaps all of them combined. No -one of the many excursion parties that visited Washington while Mrs. -Hayes was there was allowed to go away without seeing the “blue room,” -the “red room,” and the famous White House conservatory, if any wish to -that effect was expressed; and besides opening the White House freely to -the people, Mrs. Hayes received her multitude of visitors no less -gracefully and cordially than if they had been neighbors who had -“dropped in” of an afternoon or evening. - -[Illustration: - - JAMES A. GARFIELD. THE MARTYRED PRESIDENT. - (Engraved from a photograph, expressly for this work.) -] - -The National Republican Convention, which met at Chicago, in 1880, to -select a candidate to succeed Mr. Hayes, nominated James Abram Garfield. -That Ohio should carry off the first honor of the Republican party for -two successive Presidential terms was an extraordinary circumstance, but -Gen. Garfield’s nomination, while it pleased Ohio men, electrified the -country, and awoke great enthusiasm. - -James Abram Garfield was born in a log cabin at Orange, Ohio, November -19, 1831. His father, Abram Garfield, was born in New York from -Massachusetts ancestry, the founder of the Garfield family in the United -States, Edward, having emigrated from England in 1736, and settled at -Watertown, Mass. Two of Edward Garfield’s sons, Abraham and Solomon, -took part in the revolutionary war, and when that war was over Solomon -left New England, and fixed his residence in Otsego county, New York. It -was there that Abram Garfield was born, and after his marriage with -Eliza Ballou, a New Hampshire girl, and a connection of Hosea Ballou, -one of the great apostles of Universalism in this country, the young -couple went to Ohio and wrested a farm from the primeval forest. - -The dwelling of the Garfields was built after the standard pattern of -the houses of poor Ohio farmers in that day. Its walls were of logs, its -roof was of shingles split with an axe, and its floor of rude thick -planking split out of tree-trunks with a wedge and maul. It had only one -room, at one end of which was the big cavernous chimney, where the -cooking was done, and at the other a bed. The younger children slept in -a trundle-bed, which was pushed under the bedstead of their parents in -the daytime to get it out of the way, for there was no room to spare; -the older ones climbed a ladder to the loft under the steep roof. - -The father worked hard early and late to clear his land and plant and -gather his crops. No man in all the region around could wield an axe -like him. Fenced fields soon took the place of the forest; an orchard -was planted, a barn built, and the family was full of hope for the -future when death removed its strong support. Just before he died, -pointing to his children, he said to his wife: “Eliza, I have planted -four saplings in these woods. I leave them to your care.” He was buried -in a corner of a wheat-field on his farm. James, the baby, was eighteen -months old at the time. - -The eldest of Mrs. Garfield’s four children was a daughter, aged eleven; -then came Thomas, aged nine; then a daughter of seven, and the baby boy -of two summers. A part of the farm was sold to pay off the debt, and -Mrs. Garfield and Thomas cultivated the rest, and kept the family -together. Mrs. Garfield split rails for fencing with her own hands, -slight and delicate woman though she was. Some of her neighbors -undertook to give her a “bee” to help her get out rails for fencing, but -went home when she declined to treat them with rum, and the brave little -woman split her own rails. Mrs. Garfield’s anxiety that her children, -and especially James, should have educational advantages was so great -that the first school house in that region was built on land which she -gave for that purpose. - -There, at the age of three, James began his life of study, and that he -was enabled to pursue his studies after he reached the age when he could -work was largely due to the self-denial of his mother and his brother -Thomas. The first pair of shoes which the little fellow had were bought -with money which Thomas had earned, and it was the pleasure of this -elder brother, who is now living near Grand Rapids, Mich., to do -everything in his power to help James along. For that he gave up his own -desire for an education, and he always rejoiced in his brother’s -advancement and renown as though it had been his own. - -James was a precocious boy, both physically and mentally. At four, he -received at the district school the prize of a New Testament as the best -reader in the primary class. At eight he had read all the books -contained in the little log farm-house, and began to borrow from the -neighbors such works as “Robinson Crusoe,” Josephus’s “History and Wars -of the Jews,” Goodrich’s “United States,” and Pollock’s “Course of -Time.” These were read and re-read, until he could relate whole chapters -from memory. At the district school James was known as a fighting boy. -He found that the larger boys were disposed to insult and abuse a little -fellow who had no father or big brother to protect him, and he resented -such imposition with all the force of a sensitive nature backed by a hot -temper, great physical courage, and a strength unusual for his age. Many -stories are told of the pluck shown in his encounters with the rough -country lads in defence of his boyish rights and honor. They say he -never began a fight and never cherished malice, but when enraged by -taunts or insults would attack boys of twice his size with the fury and -tenacity of a bull-dog. When he was twelve years old his brother -returned from Michigan, where he had been employed by a farmer to make -clearings, with money enough to build a frame house for his mother. -James assisted him, and did so well that one of the joiners advised him -to follow carpentering as a trade. During the next two years he worked -regularly as a carpenter, going to school only at intervals, but -studying diligently in spare hours at home. - -He was as ready to work as he was to study or defend himself. He often -got employment in the haying and harvesting season from the farmers of -Orange. When he was sixteen he walked ten miles to Aurora, in company -with a boy older than himself, looking for work. They offered their -services to a farmer who had a good deal of hay to cut. “What wages do -you expect?” asked the man. “Man’s wages—a dollar a day,” replied young -Garfield. The farmer thought they were not old enough to earn full -wages. “Then let us mow that field by the acre,” said the young man. The -farmer agreed; the customary price per acre was 50 cents. By four -o’clock in the afternoon the hay was down and the boys earned a dollar -apiece. Then the farmer engaged them for a fortnight. James’s first -wages were earned from a merchant who had an ashery where he leached -ashes and made black salts, which were shipped by lake and canal to New -York. He got $9 a month and his board, and stuck to the business for two -months, at the end of which his hair below his cap was bleached and -colored by the fumes until it assumed a lively red hue. About that time -he took a job of cutting 100 cords of oak wood at 50 cents a cord, and -put up his two cords a day without any trouble. - -Like most active and restless boys he wanted to become a sailor, and -went to Cleveland to ship on a lake schooner. The first captain to whom -he applied greeted him with such a torrent of profanity that he turned -about to go home, but afterwards accepted an offer from his cousin, Amos -Setcher, to drive horses on the canal boat tow path for “$10 a month and -found,” a dazzling offer in those days. A few months of association with -the rough canal boatmen dispelled much of the romance with which his -fancy had invested an aquatic life, and after falling into the canal no -less than 14 times, the last time barely escaping with his life, he made -up his mind that Providence might have something better in store for him -than driving a canal boat. His brief canal experience was followed by a -long fit of sickness, and after his recovery he took his savings, and -with some assistance from his brother Thomas, began his education in -earnest. - -Accompanied by a cousin and another young man from the neighborhood, and -supplied by his mother with a few pots, frying pans and dinner plates, -he set out for Chester, where the academy was located. The three young -men rented a room in an old, unpainted building near the academy, and, -with their cooking utensils, a few dilapidated chairs, loaned by a -kindly neighbor, and some straw ticks, which they spread upon the floor -to sleep on, they set up housekeeping—for they were too poor to pay -board as well as tuition. Garfield paid his own way by taking odd jobs -from carpenters Saturdays and evenings. During the summer he made enough -by chopping wood to pay his board for the next academy term, the price -for his board, washing, and lodging being $1.06 a week. - -He now thought himself competent to teach a country school, but in two -days’ tramping through Cuyahoga county failed to find employment. Some -schools had already engaged teachers, and where there was still a -vacancy the trustees thought him too young. He returned home completely -discouraged and greatly humiliated by the rebuffs he had met with. He -made a resolution that he would never again ask for a position of any -sort, and the resolution was kept, for every public place he has since -had has come to him unsought. - -Next morning, while still in the depths of despondency, he heard a man -call to his mother from the road, “Widow Gaffield” (a local corruption -of the name Garfield), “where’s your boy Jim? I wonder if he wouldn’t -like to teach our school at the Ledge.” James went out and found a -neighbor from a district a mile away, where the school had been broken -up for two winters by the rowdyism of the big boys. He said he would -like to try the school, but before deciding must consult his uncle, Amos -Boynton. That evening there was a family council. Uncle Amos pondered -over the matter, and finally said, “You go and try it. You will go into -that school as the boy, ‘Jim Gaffield,’ see that you come out as Mr. -Garfield, the school-master.” The young man mastered the school, after a -hard tussle in the school-room with the bully of the district, who -resented a flogging and tried to brain the teacher with a billet of -wood. His wages were $12 a month and board, and he “boarded around” in -the families of the pupils. - -In the fall of this term he first met Lucretia Rudolph, whom the whole -world now honors as Mrs. Garfield. English grammar, natural philosophy, -arithmetic and algebra were his principal studies, and he soon had -sufficient knowledge of them to teach in a district school. For three -years he continued his work at the academy, at the school, and in the -carpenters’ shops in autumn and winter, and in the woods in the summer, -thus managing not only to pay his expenses at the academy, but to save -something toward the expenses of his college education. It was while he -was teaching during his academy life that he became personally -interested in religion and joined the Christian Disciples, or -Campbellites as they are often called from their founder. Of this -denomination he was ever after a consistent and active member. In the -fall of 1851 he went to Hiram and asked of the trustees of the -institution there the privilege of making the fires and sweeping to pay -a portion of his expenses. He soon became a teacher, and in 1854, was -ready to enter college in advance and had $350 saved toward meeting his -expenses. His decided anti-slavery opinions led him to seek admission to -some New England college, and a friendly reply from President Mark -Hopkins, of Williams College, to a letter of inquiry, secured for -Williams her most illustrious alumnus. He graduated at Williams in 1856, -returned to Hiram as professor of Greek and Latin, and two years later -was married and elected president of Hiram College. - -Up to 1856 Mr. Garfield had taken but little interest in public affairs, -but with the Kansas-Nebraska legislation his political pulses began to -stir. He then became an active Republican, and entered into politics -with the same ardor that characterized his efforts as an educator. His -first political speech was made at Williamstown in 1856, just before he -left college, in behalf of Fremont, the first Republican candidate for -the Presidency. His first vote was cast at the Presidential election -that fall. In 1859 he was elected by a large majority to the Senate of -Ohio from the counties of Portage and Summit, and though yet scarcely -28, at once took high rank as a man unusually well informed on the -subjects of legislation, and effective and powerful in debate. His most -intimate friend in the Senate, Jacob D. Cox, afterward became a -Major-General, Governor of the State, and Secretary of the Interior. -Garfield pushed his law studies forward, and early in the winter of 1860 -was admitted to the bar of the supreme court. He was serving in the -State Senate when the war broke out, and when the President’s call for -75,000 men was read in the chamber, amidst the tumultuous acclamations -of the assemblage, he moved that 20,000 troops and $3,000,000 at once be -voted as the quota of the State. When the time came for appointing the -officers for the Ohio troops, Gov. Dennison offered him command of the -Forty-Second Infantry, but he modestly declined, on account of his lack -of military experience, and, resigning the Presidency of Hiram College, -he accepted a position as Lieutenant-Colonel. A few weeks later, when -the Forty-Second was organized, he yielded to the universal desire of -its officers, and accepted the Colonelcy. His first military duty was -the conduct of an expedition against Humphrey Marshall, in Eastern -Kentucky, by which he won a Brigadier-Generalship. He was at Shiloh, at -Corinth, and at Chickamauga, where he wrote every order but one, and for -his gallant bravery at Chickamauga he was made a Major-General. While he -was in camp, after the battle of Shiloh, a fugitive slave took refuge -with the Union soldiers. A few moments later the owner rode up and -demanded his property. Gen. Garfield was not present, and the -slaveholder passed on to the division commander, who ordered Garfield, -by written order, to deliver the fugitive. Garfield answered by simply -endorsing on the order: “I respectfully but positively decline to allow -my command to search for or deliver up any fugitive slaves. I conceive -that they are here for quite another purpose.” This position was -sustained by a general order subsequently issued by the war department. - -In 1862 Ohio Republicans of the 19th Ohio District elected Gen. Garfield -to succeed Joshua R. Giddings in the House of Representatives. At -President Lincoln’s suggestion he reluctantly resigned his commission in -December, 1863, to enter Congress, where he was the youngest member. -From that time until 1880 he represented his district in the House, and -came to be the Republican leader of that body and the party candidate -for Speaker. It is impossible to detail here his congressional services, -but he did most faithful and valuable work as chairman of the important -committees on military affairs, banking and currency, and -appropriations. In the winter of 1880 he was elected U. S. Senator to -succeed Allen G. Thurman, receiving the vote of every Republican member -of the Ohio Legislature in the nominating caucus, an honor never before -accorded to any politician in the Buckeye State. Gen. Garfield went to -the Chicago convention as the leader of the Ohio delegation, and when -the nominations were made he presented the name of John Sherman, -Secretary of the Treasury, in a most eloquent speech. - -When the balloting began, a single delegate from Pennsylvania voted for -Garfield. No attention was paid to this vote, which was thought to be a -mere eccentricity on the part of the man who cast it. Later on a second -Pennsylvania delegate joined the solitary Garfield man. So the balloting -continued, the fight being between Grant, Blaine, and Sherman, with -Washburne, Edmunds, and Windom in the field. - -Some unsuccessful efforts were made on the second day’s voting to rally -on Edmunds and Washburne. Finally, on the thirty-fourth ballot, the -Wisconsin men determined to make an effort in an entirely new direction -to break the deadlock. They threw their seventeen votes for Garfield. - -General Garfield sprang to his feet and protested against this -proceeding, making the point of order that nobody had a right to vote -for any member of the Convention without his consent, and that consent, -he said, “I refuse to give.” The chairman declared that the point of -order was not well taken, and ordered the Wisconsin vote to be counted. -On the next ballot nearly the whole Indiana delegation swung over to -Garfield, and a few scattering votes were changed to him from other -States, making a total of fifty votes cast for him in all. Now it became -plain that, by a happy inspiration, a way out of the difficulty had been -found. On the thirty-sixth ballot, State after State swung over to -Garfield amid intense excitement, and Gen. Garfield was finally -nominated on the tenth day of the convention, in a whirlwind of -enthusiasm. His election followed by a large majority, the Electoral -College standing 214 for Gen. Garfield to 155 for Gen. Hancock. - - - - - CHAPTER LI. - THE HISTORY OF THE ASSASSINATION AND DEATH OF PRESIDENT - JAMES A. GARFIELD—THE GREAT - TRAGEDY OF THE AGE. - -Inauguration of President Garfield—Kissing His Venerable Mother—Chief - Magistrate of Fifty Million People—Illness of Mrs. President - Garfield—Tender Solicitude of the President for the Welfare of His - Wife—She goes to Long Branch—The President’s Plans to Meet Her—His - Arrival at the Depot of the Baltimore and Potomac R. R. at - Washington—His Buoyant Spirits—Joyous Anticipation of Meeting His - Wife—The Assassin Lying in Wait—The Fatal Shot—Tremendous - Excitement—The Wounded President—His Assassin, Charles J. - Guiteau—Who He is—His Infamous Appearance and Character—His Cool - Deliberation—His Capture and Imprisonment—A Thrill of Horror - Throughout the Country—Removal of the President to the White - House—Arrival of Mrs. Garfield—Her Courage and Devotion—The Fight - for Life—Anxious Days—Removal of the Wounded President to Long - Branch—A Remarkable Ride—Great Anxiety throughout the - Country—Fighting Death—Slowly Sinking—After Eighty Days of - Unparalleled Suffering the President Breathes His Last—Grief and - Gloom throughout the Land—The Whole Civilized World in - Tears—Unprecedented Funeral and Memorial Honors—His Burial at - Cleveland—Attendance of Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand People—His - Life and Character Reviewed. - - -No President was ever inaugurated under happier and more favorable -auspices than was President Garfield. From the day that the electric -wires flashed over the country the unexpected news of his nomination up -to his inauguration, his popularity had steadily increased. Of the -hundreds of speeches which he was called upon to make under all possible -circumstances during the campaign and after his election, every one was -appropriate to the occasion, and gave a new revelation of his -versatility and capability. His first act after taking the oath of -office at Washington, March 4, was to turn and kiss his venerable -mother, who had lived to see her “baby” inaugurated as chief magistrate -of a nation of 50,000,000 people. His inaugural message was eloquent, -patriotic, and courageous, and was cordially indorsed. The people -everywhere felt that it was one of their own number whom they had placed -in the White House, and they knew that he would not forget them, but -would sympathize with their toils and trials. Everything went on -smoothly until the President’s appointment of William H. Robertson to -the New York collectorship antagonized Senator Conkling, who endeavored -to have the nomination withdrawn. President Garfield adhered to his -nomination, and Senator Conkling and his colleague, Mr. Pratt, resigned. -The Senate then confirmed Mr. Robertson’s nomination without opposition, -and the President’s quiet and dignified bearing throughout the whole -contest rather strengthened him than otherwise with the country at -large, though many politicians of his own party regarded the alienation -of Mr. Conkling as something that had better been avoided than -precipitated. - -[Illustration: - - MRS. JAMES A. GARFIELD. - (Engraved from a photograph, expressly for this work.) -] - -Very early in President Garfield’s administration Mrs. Garfield was -prostrated by illness, the result of overwork and anxiety, and for a -time her life was despaired of. The social demands made upon her during -the campaign and after the election at their Ohio home were continuous -and exacting, and she went to the White House weary and worn. - -Mrs. Garfield is a lady of refinement, devoted to her family and averse -to display, although thoroughly at home in the best society. Her home -life and quiet has always been more pleasure to her than the attractions -of fashionable society. But from the nomination of General Garfield -until he left his delightful home for the last time there was no quiet -at Mentor. The quiet country house was turned at once into a hotel, -crowded with political workers of aspirants for office from morning to -night, all of whom had to be courteously received while many had to be -entertained with meals and lodgings. - -An intimate friend of General Garfield, who assisted him during the -campaign, asserts that during a large portion of the time Mrs. Garfield -and “Mother” Garfield were compelled to dine or lunch from forty to -sixty persons every day, while the children were sent away at night to -make room for the guests who had to be entertained. Many of these were -persons without claims of any kind upon such hospitality except that -they were engaged in political work. - -Then came the excitement incident to the removal to the White house, the -inauguration, and the daily necessity of giving receptions for the -thousands of sight-seers and office-seekers. The break-down came at -last, and for weeks the President’s wife was prostrated with severe -illness, her life for a time hanging by a thread. - -As soon as she was able to bear the journey, the President took her from -Washington to Long Branch, and, when her condition warranted, returned -to Washington to prepare for a trip through the Eastern States, the -central object of which was attendance upon the exercises of -commencement week at Williams College, where the members of his class -were to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their graduation. Mrs. -Garfield’s rapidly improving health, the prospect of a week’s recreation -from public duties, and the anticipation of renewing the pleasant -associations of college life, all combined to give him great buoyancy of -spirits. He was to be accompanied from Washington by several members of -the Cabinet and their wives, was to meet Mrs. Garfield at Jersey City, -and arrangements had been made at the places included in his tour for -most cordial and hearty receptions. - -Saturday, July 2, had been fixed upon for leaving Washington, and on the -morning of that day the President and those of the party who were in -Washington drove to the depot to take the special train which was to -convey them to Jersey City, where Mrs. Garfield was to join them. The -President walked into the waiting-room of the depot, arm-in-arm with -Secretary Blaine, toward the door leading to the train, when a man, who -had been lounging about the room, stepped forward and fired two shots at -the President from behind, one taking effect in the lower portion of the -body, the other inflicting a wound in the arm. The wounded man sank to -the floor, and was surrounded by an anxious and excited crowd. As soon -as possible he was removed to the railroad office in the building and -surgical aid summoned, and after the preliminary treatment of his -injuries he was taken to the White House, where his long and patient -suffering has become matter of history. The assassin was speedily -captured and conveyed to prison, where he was strongly guarded, as -threats of summary punishment were freely made by the angry and -horrified populace. His name was ascertained to be Charles J. Guiteau, a -man of notoriously bad reputation and ill-balanced mind, although he -possessed a certain amount of intelligence and shrewdness. He had long -been an applicant for office, and had greatly annoyed the President and -other officials by the persistence and impudence of his demands. Neither -then nor afterwards did the miserable assassin express any regret over -his murderous deed, the only sorrow which he expressed being that he did -not kill the President instantly, as he had hoped and intended. His -plans had all been made with cool deliberation, and his villainy stands -out without a parallel in history. - -It is impossible to express in words the thrill of horror which the -country, and indeed the whole world, experienced as the news was flashed -abroad that the President had been shot. From that moment until the time -when his wasted form was carried to its burial on the beautiful shore of -Lake Erie, there were no distinctions of party and no fractional -dissensions in the United States. Everything was forgotten and hushed in -the absorbing hope and agonizing prayer that the President might recover -and live to complete the administration which had been so auspiciously -begun. With varying hopes and fears, the whole world watched at the -President’s bedside, and eagerly devoured every word of information sent -out from the sick room by the physicians and attendants. Mrs. Garfield, -rudely awakened on the day of the assassination from her dream of -recreation with her husband by the touchingly thoughtful message -dictated by the President, that he was hurt, he knew not how badly, and -sent her his love, and wished her to come to him at once, sped from Long -Branch to Washington as fast as steam could carry her, and, invalid -though she was, bravely took her place by her husband’s side, and -comforted and cheered him during his long and weary fight for life. How -grandly she rose to the occasion, how tenderly she endured the weary -weeks, always wearing a cheerful face, while her heart was breaking with -its cruel load, the whole world knows. Her heroic devotion to her -husband grandly typified the loyal and self-sacrificing spirit of -wifehood, which finds nowhere more conspicuous illustration than in our -American homes, and when one of the New York merchant princes proposed -the raising of a fund to testify the Nation’s appreciation of Mrs. -Garfield’s quiet heroism, money flowed in from every quarter until over -$300,000 had been subscribed. - -July and August slowly wore away, the hopes aroused by one days’ -favorable indications being dashed by the appearance of some new -complication, or the development of some alarming symptom, and early in -September the physicians were importuned by the President to take him -away from Washington. He wanted most of all to go to his Ohio home, but -being told that was impossible his next thought was Long Branch, where -he could see the ocean and breathe its life-giving air. The journey was -undertaken, and so complete were the arrangements and appliances for his -comfort that he endured the railroad ride of 250 miles with apparent -advantage, rather than discomfort. Weak as he was he enjoyed the ride, -and at one time said to Mrs. Garfield, “Well, Crete (his pet name for -Lucretia) this is a great ride, isn’t it.” It certainly was a great -ride, and the whole country stood with bated breath, watching the -telegraphic reports of the progress of the swift-moving train. Quartered -at Long Branch in a luxurious cottage tendered by a British subject, Mr. -Francklyn, of New York, the cool sea-breezes for a time seemed to send -life into his blood, and once or twice after his arrival he, at his own -request, was permitted to recline in an easy position by the window -where he could look out upon the ocean. One day while Mrs. Garfield was -in the adjoining room, love, hope, and gratitude filling her heart, she -sang the beautiful hymn commencing— - - “Guide me, O thou Great Jehovah!” - -As the soft and plaintive notes floated into the sick chamber the -President turned his eyes upon Dr. Bliss and asked: - -“Is that Crete?” - -“Yes,” replied the Doctor, “it is Mrs. Garfield.” - -“Quick, open the door a little,” anxiously responded the sick man. - -Dr. Bliss opened the door, and after listening a few moments Mr. -Garfield exclaimed, as the large tears coursed down his sunken cheeks: - -“Glorious, Bliss! isn’t it?” - -But the hopes that were awakened were illusive and short-lived, and at -10.35, Monday evening, September 19, on the anniversary of the battle of -Chickamauga, in which he won great distinction for personal heroism and -cool, clear-headed generalship, the earthly life of James Abram Garfield -was ended. - -The sad event was announced in many of the principal cities by the -tolling of the bells at midnight, and never did the death of a man cause -such general lamentation and inspire such a universal outburst of public -and private grief. Dispatches of condolence and sympathy were sent to -Mrs. Garfield and the State Department from every government in the old -world, and Queen Victoria, mindful of that dark hour when the noble -Prince Consort was taken from her side, sent touching messages of -womanly sympathy, and directed her ambassador at Washington to lay a -rich and costly floral offering upon the coffin of the dead President. -After funeral services at Long Branch the remains were borne back to -Washington over the same route which the President traversed on his way -to the sea, and after imposing funeral ceremonies in the Capitol -building the cortege once more pursued its mournful way to Cleveland, -where, on Monday, September 26, 250,000 people from all parts of the -country participated in the final obsequies. That day was also observed -throughout the United States, and in England and other countries as -well, as a general memorial day, and was marked by the total suspension -of ordinary business and the holding of public services in all the -cities and towns. These observances in this country were invited by -President Arthur and the State executives, but in truth no official -summons was needed to stimulate every possible tribute of respect. The -whole country was in mourning, and, as it was when the Prince of Orange -died, “the little children cried in the streets.” - -President Garfield was large-framed, large-brained, and large-hearted. -He was six feet in height and was a splendid picture of a man. His -personal character and habits were clean and pure, and his home life at -Mentor or Washington was simply delightful. No husband and wife ever -lived happier together than President and Mrs. Garfield, and no man who -honored his mother as did President Garfield could fail to be idolized -by his children. Five of his seven children survived him, two of whom, -Harry and James A., entered Williams College as freshmen during their -father’s illness. - -President Garfield was one of the closest students this country has ever -known. No man at Washington ever made so much use of the vast literary -treasures of the Congressional library as he, and when he was tired and -worn by committee and legislative work, he used to find recreation in -general literary study. At the close of a long and busy session of -Congress, a caller found him surrounded with every edition of the Latin -poet, Horace, which he could find in the library, and he was hard at -work “resting himself,” as he called it. It has been well said, since -his death, by one of our well-known scholars and public men: “The future -historian will declare Garfield the most thorough student of political -problems in the Presidential chair since John Quincy Adams; the man of -most scholarly breadth in statesmanship since James Madison; the most -eloquent parliamentarian since John Adams. His had been a life, a -career, a character which would have satisfied the highest hopes of -Washington and Jefferson for their successors in the chief magistracy.” - -In a word, James A. Garfield was a man physically, intellectually, and -morally who was an honor to his country and to his race, and no more -imperishable name will ever adorn our country’s annals. - -THE END. - -(Whole number of pages with illustrations, 705.) - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - Transcriber’s Note - -The Table of Contents refers the reader to p. 92 for Chapter IX. The -chapter begins on p. 93 and the Table was amended. - -President Fillmore’s name was spelled with a single ‘l’ in nearly all -appearances. - -On p. 298, the author provides a list of Secretaries of the Treasury -which mis-names Walter Forward (as Howard) and George Bibb (as Beble). -The mistakes are retained but noted. The name of the last -Postmaster-General appointed by Washington was also corrupted being -Joseph Habersham, rather than Haloshan (p. 395). - -Some compound words are hyphenated inconsistently. When the hyphenation -occurs on a line break, the hyphen is removed unless there is clear -evidence that it should be retained. - -Other errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, -and are noted here. The references are to the page and line in the -original. - - vii.32 “Poor Hallet[t]” and His Plan Removed. - - viii.22 Bust of Koscius[c/k]o Replaced. - - x.36 A Well-Regulated [A ]Lady Removed. - - xv.45 “She’ll do it _Cheaper[]_” Added. - - xx.25 The Tra[d/g]edy of the Decatur House Replaced. - - 21.27 but as a Capital he never entered it[.] Added. - - 23.11 Rhode Island, Newport; Maryland, An[n]apolis; Inserted. - - 27.22 in the State of Pennsylvania.[”] Added. - - 74.9 of a suddenly growing city[.] Added. - - 143.6 every Vice[ /-]President who reigned in the Replaced. - Senate - - 147.25 The gown worn by Judge Mc[C/L]lean still hangs Replaced. - - 109.9 Bust of Koscius[c/k]o Replaced. - - 123.2 where we witness a _teté-a-teté>_ _sic>_ - tête-à-tête - - 157.19 to repeat the _Unter de[r/n] Lindens_ Replaced. - - 190.5 he is a poet after all.[”] Added. - - 203.6 Mr. John [O/A]gg’s Little “Poem” Replaced. - - 243.17 “Bare-necked Dowagers[”] Added. - - 256.11 [“]The Census of Spittoons” Added. - - 256.13 “More Than Shak[e]speare’s Women” Inserted. - - 273.18 The President looks decid[ed]ly cooler Inserted. - - 278.18 A Protest again[s]t “Shams” Inserted. - - 298.30 Walter [Howard], of Pennsylvania; _sic_ - Forward - - 298.31 George M. [Beble], of Kentucky _sic_> Bibb - - 302.1 to succeed Vice[ /-]President Henry Wilson Replaced. - - 334.13 Such is its acknowle[d]ged value Inserted. - - 364.25 in the Dead[ /-]Letter Office Replaced. - - 365.13 for an entire State,[”] Removed. - - 381.1 Yet there was scar[c]ely a Member Inserted. - - 389.26 As early as the year [1792] _sic_ 1692 - - 393.32 This experiment brought him in debt £9[0]0 Unclear. - - 394.23 at a salary of $100 per ann[n/u]m Inverted. - - 395.18 Joseph [Haloshan/Habersham] Replaced. - - 405.22 amounting to $33,658,740[,/.]27 Replaced. - - 406.3 any sum over $5 is sent by money[ /-]order Replaced. - - 452.12 [“]On the other side Added. - - 428.21 within their respective districts[.] Restored. - - 486.16 Fort Conch[a/o], Texas Replaced. - - 494.5 for its especial service at Al[la]toona, Ga. Inserted. - - 558.6 on the river[-]side of the old Burns cottage Probable. - - 502.23 the central office at Washington.[”] Added. - - 568.23 and silver shoes.[”] Removed. - - 575.1 stands jus[t] in front of the old site Added. - - 576.18 [“]The brother of Lord Ellenborough Removed. - - 578.15 [“]There he stands, in marble, Removed. - - 588.15 amid the Wildest Enthusia[s]m Inserted. - - 590.3 and awoke great enthusi[s]am. Inserted. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TEN YEARS IN WASHINGTON *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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