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 311 
 
 American Court Gossip 
 
 -OR- 
 
 LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL, 
 
 ■BY- 
 
 MRS. E. N. CHAPIN, 
 
 MARSHALL'I'OWN, IOWA- 
 
 MAI{SllALl,Tn\VN, lA.: 
 
 IIAIMN .V IIAlC'l'WKI.I. lilias 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter 1, Page 7-21. — Location of Capitol — Congress of 187i»- 
 '80— Slave Pen. 
 
 C'hapter 2, Page 21-35. — President Hayes' Levee — Mrs. Gen. 
 Eaton's Death — Woman's Eights. ' 
 
 Chapter 3, Page 35-43. — Negro Camp Meeting — Hon. Fred 
 Douglass — The Colored Aristocracy, Etc. 
 
 Chapter 4, Page 43-57. — Republican Convention of 18S0 — 
 Garfield's Liauguration — Guiteau's Murder. 
 
 Chapter 5, Page 57-fi9. — President Arthur — Foreign Legations 
 — Society. 
 
 Chai'ter 6, Page 69-90. — The Frelinghuysens — Artliur's Policy 
 — Historic Houses — Guiteau's Trial. 
 
 Chapter 7, Page 90-102. — Treasury Clerks — Reform Machinery 
 — Fool Rules. 
 
 Chapter 8, Page 102-115. — Congress — Senator Wilson's Recep- 
 tion — Grant Reception, Etc. 
 
 Chapter 9, Page 115-130. — Howgate's Escapade — Garfield Fair 
 — Star Route Trials. 
 
 Chapter 10, Page 130-147. — Arctic Survivors — Soldiers' Homo 
 — Dramatists — Coulisse Cliat. 
 
('iiAi'TKR 11, Paue 147-165. — JMonnons — Pension Building — 
 Corcoran Art Gallery — Forty-eiglitli Congress. 
 
 Chapter 12, Page 165-180. — Mrs. Carlisle's Reception — General 
 Hazen — Fitz John Porter — Convention of l.sS4. 
 
 Chaptkk 13, PA(iK 180-194. — Katilication Meetings — Washington 
 Monument — New Years Keceptions. 
 
 Chapter 14, Page 194-213. — C/levelancFs Inauguration — White 
 House Affairs — Mt. Vernon Regents — Official Ax. 
 
 CiiAi-i'KK 15, Page 213-228. — Law School Graduates — Navy 
 Trials — Opening of Forty-ninth Congress. 
 
 (Chapter 16, Page 228-245. — Theosophists — Death With the 
 Bayards — Ostler Joe — Kirmes —Cleveland's Wedding. 
 
 Cmai'tkr 17, Page 245-252. — Fashionable Gossip — Pedigree 
 Families — K. of L. — General Logan's Death. 
 
 Chapter IS, Page 252-269. — Mrs. Cleveland's Receptions — 
 White House Luncli — Public Buildings. 
 
DKDICAXED 
 
 TO THAT LOVELY WOMAN, 
 
 MRS. GENERAL LOGAN, 
 
 Wlio adorns her sex with great charity, intelligence 
 
 and grace, and who is to rhe National Capital 
 
 wliat Madam llecaniier was to Fran(;e. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 These Washington sketches were mostly pubh'shed in tlie Iowa 
 State Register, and were written in a hasty manner. They are 
 a resume, of a seven years' diary, and impertect as they are, may 
 interest some of my young friends who liave never seen even 
 ghmpses of the American Court at tlie National Ca]iitol. As an 
 ex Secretary of the Ladies' Press Association at Washington, I 
 beg the indulgence of the Guild everywhere. This work has been 
 vei-y much abridged, and apparent discrepancies have occurred 
 in consequence of this cutting down of the original matter. 
 
AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP 
 
 OR 
 
 LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITAL 
 
 CHAPTER 1. 
 
 Ll^tC'ATlON <»F THE CiTY "B" StRRET MaRKET IIoUSE CoNGRESS 
 
 OF 1879-80— Old Slave Pen. 
 
 Hamilton, under the great Washington, as Secretary of the 
 Treusnry, had a national debt of over eighty millions to provide 
 for, after the war of the Revolution, and this debt was divided 
 up among the states. 
 
 Hamilton's scl eme foi- the government to assume these war 
 debts and a promise to pay in the future, was opposed by Jeflter- 
 son and the anti-federalists, many of whom lived in Virginia. 
 
 Another part of Hamilton's scheme was to establish a bank of 
 the United States, and levy customs on imported articles. The 
 Virginians opposed him bitterly at first, but knowing they were 
 anxious to have the National Capit(^l on Virginia soil, he gave 
 his influence to have the Federal Congress remove the ca])itol 
 from Philadelphia, dating ten years from 1790. Washington 
 selected the site himself, although it was sanctioned formally 
 by three commissioners. L. Enfant, a French engineer, laid 
 out the city in the year mentioned above, and the corner stone 
 of the beautiful building called the Capitol was laid September 
 
8 AMEKICAN COUKT GOSSIP. 
 
 18, 1793. Out of the sixty millions of the nation, comparatively 
 few visit Washington. 
 
 "It is the finest National Capitol in the world," said General 
 Grant upon his return trip from over the seas, and for the last 
 five years the growth of Washington has been wonderful. It 
 contains 210,000 inhabitants — nearly 70,000 are negroes, or 
 partly African. 
 
 The city lies in a sort of basin on the banks ot the Potomac, 
 with the Eastern Branch, also a tide water stream, coining 
 around the city to the Navj- Yard and Arsenal Point, when it 
 meets the main stream, more than a mile wide here, and as you 
 look up the river, past the famous Long Bridge, the glistening 
 obelisk of the Washington monument is seen you also see ships 
 lying in the harbor, the blue dome of the U.S. Naval Observatory. 
 Beyond are the towers of the Jesuit College of Georgetown, 
 and if you look over into Virginia, there is the Lee mansion at 
 Arlington, Fort Meyer with its starry flag, and the green liills of 
 old Virginia to finish the landscape. 
 
 Boundary street, which runs under the north hill of the city, 
 used to be the dividing line between pastures and palaces. 
 
 "Calumet Place," the home of the late Senatir Logan, stands 
 on Meridian Hill, not far away is "Belmont," a stone castle of 
 medieval architecture, owned by Col. A. S. Barber, and the tall 
 stand pipe of the water reservoir, give a marked feature to the 
 northern part of the city. Calumet Place, or the old Stone estate, 
 is not extravagantly furnished, only in elegant taste, for the fair 
 mistress has a deft hand in decoration. The parlors are hand- 
 some, silken flags over the doors and windows, battle scenes, 
 family portraits, bric-a-brac, and all, to make a home desirable. 
 There is one room furnished old fashioned — cherry bedstead and 
 drawers — "old timey" chairs, a spinning wheel, and other things 
 of a like character. 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. » 
 
 Near Boundary street and Nineteenth, was the old Holraead 
 Cemetery. The ground became valuable and was bought of the 
 commissioners by Mr. McLean of the Cincinnati Enquirer, and 
 the bodies were removed to other cemeteries in the tall of 1884. 
 This North Hill, with its forest, conceals the Soldiers' Home, 
 distant about two miles. Trees and sky, and the Garfield Hos- 
 pital in its enclosure of seven acres, Howard University, with 
 other fine structures, finish the picture in North Washington. 
 Turning around to the east, the immense pile of white marble 
 called the Capitol, rises up to the sky, being 285 feet from the top 
 of the cap, that binds the brow of the goddess of Liberty, to the 
 ground. 
 
 All of the streets in the city are very wide, varying from 
 70 to 160 feet in width. The Capitol building is in the 
 center of the city, exactly, but not in the center of population, 
 for the northwestern portion is three times more populous, than 
 the eastern part, towards Lincoln Park. The streets are lettered 
 from east to west and numbered from north to south. The 
 avenues, running diagonally across, are named after the states 
 of the Union. All portions lying between North Capitol street 
 and East Capitol is northeast, between North Capitol and Penn- 
 sylvania avenue, northwest, and between Pennsylvania avenue 
 and North Capitol is southwest, and between the latter and East 
 Capitol again, is southeast. North Capitol divides the num- 
 bered streets — it is First street northeast and First street north- 
 west, each a block away from it. Where the avenues cross the 
 streets there are beautiful laid out parks or reservations owned 
 Dy the government. In the large parks there are equestrian 
 statues, vases of flowers and rustic arbors to add beauty to places 
 of singing birds and honey bees. The streets are paved with a 
 dark gray asphalt, making them as smooth as a house floor, from 
 one end of the city to another, and a wheelman can go upon his 
 bicycle, nearly 300 miles without going over the same ground 
 
10 AMERICAN COURT (}()8Sll^. 
 
 twice. The Capitol grounds contain fifty-one acres, and planted 
 with magnolias, acacias, maples, in fact, nearly every deciduous 
 tree and evergreen grown in this latitude, is found on its green 
 lawns. The statue of Columbus crowns the eastern portico of 
 the Capitol, and Greenough's "Washington" ot heroic size, is 
 between the immense marble vases beyond the steps. This 
 statue is ot very white marble, and as the figure is seated in an 
 immense chair, pointing its right hand to the sky, it is much ad- 
 mired. Birds often sit on the patriot's head and sing a merry 
 roundelay, and at one time school urchins, were playing ball on 
 the plaza, when the ball bounded into the General's lap, to the 
 great annoyance ot the youngster, as he had to borrow a step- 
 ladder to get it down again. The Capitol structure cost in all, 
 $13,000,00. 
 
 Dupont Circle in the northwestern portion of the city, was a 
 corn field in 1870. Now it is lined with elegant residences. 
 There is Stewart Castle, Blaine's mansion, and church of the Holy 
 Cross, the home of the Miss Pages; that of "Sunset" Cox, and 
 at the corner of Eighteenth and Massachusetts avenue, not far 
 away, the elegant residence of Senator VanWyck, of Nebraska. 
 
 Massachusetts avenue runs from the northwestern boundary of 
 the city through Dupont Circle to Lincoln Park, four and one- 
 half miles, and is two squares from the C^apitol, where it crosses 
 North Capitol street. 
 
 Much of the beauty of Washington is due to the foresight of 
 General Grant, who, stung by the criticisms of foreigners visit- 
 ing the Capitol, and the streets being in such a deplorable 
 condition in the spring of 1869, he determined to make the 
 city's streets passable under all circumstances. Horses were 
 often stalled in the mud-holes of Pennsylvania avenue, as tliey 
 forced their way through the mire fi-oni the Capitol to the 
 Treasury. 
 
r.IFE AT THtO NATIONAL CAPtTOL. 11 
 
 The statesmen ot early days used to ride on horseback, for 
 vehicles could not make headway, after heavy rains. 
 
 In 1871 General Grant appointed Alex. Sheppard (called Boss 
 Shephard by his enemies), as Commissioner ot Public Works 
 and Governor, who inautfurated a new system ot drainage, streets 
 were graded down, trees set out, and a beautiful city rose, like 
 magic, from the mud and debris of the bygone Capitol. The 
 river Tiber, that runs at the foot of Capitol Hill on the west side 
 was enclosed in an immense sewer, covered up with asphalt and 
 stone, and, if you place your ear near the ground, the sighing of 
 the imprisoned waters can be heard moaning of the past, where 
 romantic lovers talked by its banks. Webster and Clay dreamed 
 beside its rustic bridge of the nation's great future, but no one 
 thought Washington would ever get beyond an over-grown 
 village. How the Democratic papers in the campaign of 1876 
 bloviated over Republican extravagance! and Grant had ex- 
 pended "millions on the streets of Washington.''' The taxed 
 citizens of the blue-blooded aristocracy howled in the same key, 
 threatened to hang Boss Shepherd, and one night made actual 
 preparations to carry out the outrage, but there was a whisper 
 that the President might call out the troops, so the mob gave it 
 up, and vented their spite by cursing the authorities behind their 
 backs. Now, the Old Settlers Society are ready to vote Shepherd 
 a statue, and have publicly thanked him in stirring resolutions. 
 
 The Capitol is built ot marble and, after thorough cleansing 
 with acid and water, is a beautiful object by day, but in moon- 
 light is fairy-liko and etherial in its brightness. If you enter 
 on the Senate floor, there is a feeling of bewilderment as the 
 floor tiling, beautiful frescoes, marble and gilt balustrades meet 
 your gaze, while the marble room, magnificently furnished, is fit 
 for a prince of the blood. The east bronze doors by Randolph 
 Rogers, relates to the history of Columbus, while in the Senate 
 wing those by Thomas Crawford tell the story of the Revolution. 
 
12 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 There are several fine paintings in the ante-room of the Senate by 
 Moran, and Powell's picture of "Perry's Battle on Lake Erie" is 
 scanned by a curious crowd daily, as they mount the east corridor 
 stairs before its entrance. The interior of the Senate haraber is 
 very beautiful, lined with panel pictures below the gallery seats, 
 which rise in amphitheater; there are rows of desks and cush- 
 ioned seats, the speaker's desk raised from a platform with a 
 high chair for his Highness, the Vice President of the IT. S. — 
 the young boys, who act as pages, are standing about waiting 
 for a senator to clap his hands, when one of them appears at his 
 elbow immediately for messenger service. Many a page carries 
 a lady's JrUlet doux. or a card to a susceptible senator, and woe 
 be to the little rascal if he is caught talking, or has too big eyes. 
 There are savage-looking door keepers who show the world out 
 from executive sessions, and warn visitors to go at once, when the 
 speaker of the chamber orders the doors to be closed. In the 
 members' gallery, no one is admitted without a pass. The cus- 
 tom is imperative, and in no place in America are the rules or 
 regulations carried out with such military precision as in Wash- 
 ington. A tax-payer coming from the rural districts wants to 
 look around, but he must wait tor the proper time, for if he 
 undertakes to pass the guard in any of the public buildings, he 
 is arrested as disorderly. 
 
 In the Senate chamber in the winter of 1879-80, Senator 
 ('Onkling sat near the middle aisle ; his hair was then a 
 curling blonde, his side whiskers came close up to the tem 
 pies, blue eyes sparkling with intelligence, and to a visitor 
 he was the' first pointed out by a guide. Near him sat 
 Senator Mat Carpenter, one of the best constitutional lawyers in 
 the country, who pocketed as high as $35,000 for a fee often, 
 and . witli Hon . Zach (vhandlcM-, of Michigan, was the brains 
 of the Electoral Commission bill of 1877. Senator (Car- 
 penter, with all his brilliant talents, was a debauchee^ and reports 
 
LIFE A']' rtlK NATIONAL CAPITOL. 13 
 
 were current then, on apparently good authority, that he sent 
 one of his mistresses to Europe with a splendid wardrobe and 
 $30,000 for pin money. He died of Bright's disease, February 
 24, 1881. A few weeks before his sad ending, his physicians 
 warned him of drink, but in his law office on F street, he held a 
 saturnalia and died in a week afterward . He left a handsome 
 estate for his wife and Miss Lillian, his daughter. The ladies 
 are devoted Catholics, and have given a great deal of their 
 wealth to the church charities. 
 
 On the front row sat General John A. Logan, the idol 
 of the volunteer soldiery, and one of the ablest senators on 
 the floor. His hand was never tainted with corruption by 
 corporations, of perfect integrity in private life, cautious, 
 shrewd, and careful of his promises. He would not see a 
 strange lady, except in the presence of a third person. He 
 loved "Mary" too well, to be compromised in any way by the 
 women about the Capitol. Near him sat Senator Kirkwood of 
 Iowa, with his honest, forcible, yet homely face. Then, in that 
 great assembly was the statesman Chandler, and the suave bach- 
 elor Ferry, of Michigan, Hamlin, of Maine, who wore no over- 
 coats in Washington, but in his black suit and stift' stock looked 
 like an English beadle — General Hawley of Connecticut, (Senator 
 Harrison of Indiana, Hampton and Butler of Soutli Carolina; 
 these always attracted visitors' attention. The Nestor of the 
 senate, Mr. Morrill, was a tall man with a large head and Na- 
 poleonic nose, and he has a half shuffling gait like an over- 
 grown school boy, but he is pronounced enough on finance and 
 economic questions. General Burnside, and Anthony of Rhode 
 Island, now in their graves, made good speeches, and were then 
 in ripe experience, leaders of their party — -there was the great 
 constitutional lawyer, Edmunds, in his seat; stady-going but 
 handsome Allison, and the wonderful giant Blaine, all carefully 
 watching the proceedings upon the debates. Thurman, the 
 
14 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 noblest Eoman, sat with his eyes shut, but it was the lynx 
 dreaming, and Voorhees, the tall sycamore of the Wabash, was 
 in and out, and often seemed wholly absorbed in thought. 
 
 Senator McDonald used to be the most observed man by a cer- 
 tain class ot ladies. "Old Pillbags'' made some talk in the city 
 when he married Mrs. B — , a Treasury clerk, tor his third wife. 
 The lady's husband was a poor financier, said to be "awful shift- 
 less" and Mrs. B — becoming tired of doing department 
 work at $1,000 a year and supporting too, a young boy, 
 she placed her griefs in the hands of the good-natured Hoo- 
 sier, who, by his legal ability and senatorial influence, 
 obtained a divorce, and then married the pretty woman 
 about as soon as he could, conveniently. Soon after the 
 honeymoon, Mrs. McDonald was introduced to Mrs. Governor 
 Hendricks, who quietly snubbed her, for she had heard of the 
 manner by which the Senator had obtained his wife, so that, off 
 and on, the ladies of these Democratic families of the Hoosier 
 State, generally passed each .other in silence. When Senator 
 McDonald was talked of for the Presidency in 1884, Eliza Hen- 
 dricks told an Indianapolis lady, that if "Mack" ever got to the 
 White House, she would never step her foot in it. "A pretty 
 mistress of the White House she would make," continued Eliza; 
 "divorced from her husband because he was shiftless. For 
 better or for worse, I say " But when Mr. Hendricks was put 
 upon the ticket in 1884, (instead of Dr. Joseph McDonald) the 
 latter loyally wrought in caucus and at the ballot box, and sup- 
 ported the Vice President and his ticket with might and main. 
 The two champions of the Democracy were ordinary friendly 
 acquaintances, but not a David and Jonathan friendship. How- 
 ever, the family women folk never reached to solid, speaking 
 terms. 
 
 How sedate and quiet is the air of the senate: Senator 
 Beck leans his Scotch face forward as the Chaplain leads 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 15 
 
 in i)rayer, and Basset, who for sixty years has been employed 
 around the Vice President's cliair, crosses his arras all through 
 the devotional exercises. Beck is a rampant free trader, owing 
 to his foreign birth, but lie is sincere in his opinions. Ransom, 
 of North Carolina, never makes many speeches, but who carries 
 his point in the comnjittee rooms, was also in the Senate at this 
 time. General Saunders of Nebraska, and Cameron of Wiscon- 
 sin, were gray-haired, quiet senators of tliis session. The cloak 
 rooms seemed to be a retiring room for the solons to smoke, eat 
 an orange, drink Apollinaris water, and talk politics, as well as 
 boast of flirtations with the pretty widows, who swarm to the 
 capital for soft positions. Dressed in the blackest of bombazine, 
 their long veils falling to their feet, with clasped hands and 
 rolling eyes, they implore protection, so that but few of these wise 
 men can withstand their impassioned glances. In the ante- 
 room there are generally a dozen, waiting to send in their cards 
 to senators. 
 
 We will move upon the Supreme Court room. It is small, 
 with a gallery running around on the east side — it is furnished 
 with a red Wilton carpet, sofas, and seats lined with red plush, 
 there are busts of Marshall and Story on brackets, large steel 
 engravings, and when tlie whole Bench is filled with the Justices 
 in their black silk gowns, their gray heads above the hoods, giv- 
 ing them an owl-like appearance, as the Chief Justice delivers an 
 opinion, it is indeed an imposing picture. The Supreme Court 
 is well known now, yet we give their names. Chief Justice 
 ]\Iorrison R. Waite — Justices jMiller, Field, Bradley, Harlan, 
 Woods, Matthews, Gray and Blatchford. Justice Strong, then 
 in poor health, died in 188G, The Chief Marshal John G. Nico- 
 lay , secretary at the White House and biographer of the martyr 
 Lincoln, is really not in the presence very often, but has an office 
 just ott' the court room. Tlie ushers are gray-haired negroes, 
 very ])olite, but they look in wonder, if you go out soon, after 
 
16 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 being introduced to the judicial cloister, and shut the door alter 
 you with a velvet touch. 
 
 The rotunda, or the center of the (Capitol, has a lining of panel 
 pictures in heav}' oak and gilt frames — historic subjects, all — 
 such as "Pocahontas receiving Baptism," The Landing of the 
 Pilgrims," "The Embarkation of the same," "Columbus Plant- 
 ing the Cross in the New World," tiie "Surrender of Yorktown," 
 "DeSoto's Discover}^ of the Mississippi" and "Washington re- 
 signing his Commission." You look upward to the magnificent 
 dome, 200 feet, which is painted in allegorical figures, above 
 jou, flying in a soft blue sky, are angels and graces with wreaths 
 — agriculture, commerce, etc., all represented in rich colors. A 
 small part is still unfinished, as Death took the pencil from 
 the band of the gifted artist, Brumidi, before the work was 
 fully accomplished, but another Italian fresco painter, has com- 
 pleted nearly the original design. 
 
 The Congressional Library occupies the entire western pro- 
 jection of the central Capitol and goes out from the rotunda.' 
 This library under the control of A. R. Spoftbrd, librarian, was 
 commenced in 1800, but was destroyed with the Capitol in 1814, 
 during the war with the British. Jefferson's library was pur- 
 chased by Congress embracing not far from 7,000 volumes. In 
 1851 it contained 55,000 volumes, which by fire, was partially 
 destroyed, excepting 20,000 volumes. It was renovated and re- 
 built in 1852, and Congress appropriated $75,000 to replenish 
 the collection, and it receives $11,000 per annum for officers and 
 clerk hire, as well as buy and to take care of the books. Authors 
 who avail themselves of copyright, also furnish additions to 
 its shelves. 
 
 The Smithsonian Institute in exchange with foreign savants 
 and scientists, receives additions of manuscripts and maps, as 
 well as bound volumes. Just before the great Garfield Fair, Dr. 
 Joseph M. Toner of Washington, presented 27,000 volumes in a> 
 
r.TFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 17 
 
 true spirit of jiMfriotisin and public spirit. The law books are 
 ke])t in a separate room under tlie Supreme Court, and alto- 
 gether tliere arc 5fi5,00(i volumes, and about 1S0,(KI0 ])am]»lilets. 
 The new library buildiiii;- tor which there was so much need, is in 
 process of erection on East Capitol street, and will be of inestim- 
 able value for preserving the books, many of them of untold 
 value, for in the cramped room now, they are |)iled up in damp 
 masses, and the odor of musty paper can be perceived from 
 the rotunda. 
 
 You return to the rotunda and pass through a long corridor 
 into Statuary Hall, or the old House of Representatives, which 
 has over twenty statues ot heroic size ranged around the chamber. 
 Lincoln, with his homely face and guant trame on the west side: 
 Fulton, with the model of his steamboat lying in his lap — Gar- 
 field, with his massive features in calm repose — Chief Justice 
 Chase, (reneral Ethan Allen, asking surrender "in the name of 
 Jehovah and the Continental Congress" — then, Roger Williams 
 in his students' gown. General Greene of Connecticut — Wash- 
 ington, Jefierson and other great men immortalized in the silent 
 marble, all illustrious, give to this room a peculiar interest to all 
 patriotic citizens. Missouri expects to give Benton and Governor 
 Stewart a place there. Iowa is not represented by General Curtis 
 yet, or any otiier illustrious name. 
 
 The guide shows the famous whispering stones in the marble 
 floor, which by some acoustic property of the room, you can hear 
 a pin drop or the faintest whisper a hundred feet away. 
 
 Before reaching Statuary Hall, at a long counter in the long 
 corrider, is an old French woman with a round face, high-topped 
 comb and quaint dress, who has sold photographs and oranges 
 for forty years. She tells some funny reminiscences, as she 
 takes your change, which ought not to appear on the tombstones 
 ot many a congressmen ot this, and other days. She was ])retty 
 once, but now, with faded cheek and lip, that fact is forgotten. 
 
18 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 The question was asked of the old sybil, "Who were the most 
 beautiful women you ever saw go down this corridor?" She 
 stood a moment and reflectively answered, "Mrs. General Bel- 
 knap and Madame Catacazky^' — the wife ot the Russian Minis- 
 ter, who had a llason with a certain liigh ofiicial, and being re- 
 fused admittance to a certain mansion on Lafayette Square — the 
 facts were finally all known in St. Petersburg, and her husband 
 was recalled. She died in consumption soon after. Her por- 
 trait was in the Corcoran Art gallery some years since, and the 
 face was as lovely as a poet's dream — with long golden curls 
 falling over an exquisitly turned throat and shoulders. Mrs. 
 Belknap was very beautiful, and her receptions were extremely 
 popular, for she had that Kentucky hon hommie with an exquis- 
 ite grace of manner, which has made her a favorite in Paris, 
 where she is now staying, superintending the musical education 
 of Miss Alice, a young daughter. The Belknap and whisky 
 scandals gave the country the upheaval vote to Tilden in 1876, 
 although there have been hundreds of scandals since, that had no 
 appreciable weight in politics. 
 
 General Belknap is the attorney and lobbyist for the Balti- 
 more and Ohio railroad at the capital. 
 
 With this word of digression, we pass around to the House of 
 Representatives, which was built before the senate side in 1857, 
 and as you enter the "bear garden" of Congress, as it is some- 
 times called, on account of its noisy and undignified character as 
 compared with the Senate, you realize the nearness of this law- 
 making power with the common people. The House has 319 
 seats, and desks ranged like the upper chamber, in circular rows 
 on a green carpet, with a row of spittoons down each aisle, back 
 of the Speaker's chair are crossed a pair of silk flags, below the 
 gallery or amphitheater of seats are beautiful panel pictures 
 running around the immense chamber, where the members are 
 sitting in their seats or on the sofas smoking— there are 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. l!t 
 
 cunning little fire-places of blazing wood, the brass fenders pol- 
 ished like jewels, and the Representatives talk, laugh and smoke, 
 even, when legislation is going on around them. The Reading 
 Clerk reads in a loud stentorian voice, "House bill, No. — " and 
 so on. There is too loud talkmg perhaps, and the Speaker be- 
 hind him brings his gavel down for the hundredth time that day. 
 No one pays much attention to it, but those immediately inter- 
 ested in the matter before the House; the rest are reading letters, 
 or newspapers, and pay no attention to the Clerk, often voting 
 as the leaders do, or say, on many party questions. 
 
 When there is a division ot the House, and the Speaker is not 
 satisfied as to the correctness ot the vote, tellers are appointed 
 and the members pass around them in the aisles where their 
 votes are again counted, one by one. 
 
 In the lobby, few persons are admitted by the guard. This 
 room is closed to ladies, and is elegantly fitted up with rich up- 
 holstery and paintings; and in its corridor, engravings of all the 
 Speakers are hung o.n the walls, from Muhlenberg, the first 
 Speaker who swung the gavel, to Carlisle of Kentucky, with his 
 clean-shaven face, and expressive eyes. Out of these windows, 
 you have a fine view of the Mall, the 200 acres south of Penn- 
 sylvania avenue, which srreches from park to park, surrounding 
 the National Museum, Smithsonian Institute, the Agricultural 
 Dej)artment with its many buildings, and the Washiugton mon- 
 ument grounds, far away. This Mall is set out in great forest 
 oaks and pines, low seats for lovers, and little bypaths for baby 
 carriages and nurses, in tact, it is an enchanted forest with castle- 
 like structures, and ten months out of the year, is sweet with 
 fragrant flowers and song of birds. The only drawback to its 
 sylvan beauty is the rush of the cars and locomotives of the Bal- 
 timore and Potomac railroad, which was allowed to cross it, and 
 build a depot close up to Pennsylvania anenue. This depot is a 
 handsome building, however, and kej)t neat and clean as a ]iar- 
 
^0 AJSiERlCAN COtRT GOSSIP. 
 
 lor. In the ladies' waiting room, is a star in the floor made of 
 marble, to commemorate the place where President Garfield 
 was asassinated by Guiteau, and on the wall, a marble tablet 
 also tells the same pitiful story. President Cleveland never goes 
 through this waiting room. 
 
 Near here is the B. Street Market house, where the supplies 
 for Washington households are bought, and on Christmas morn- 
 ings is really a sight worth going many miles to see — the stalls 
 draped in flags and flowers and fruits of all kinds piled up in pro- 
 fusion. Around the building on the sidewalk are crouched 
 negro women selling sassafras roots, a pan or basket of vege- 
 tables apiece — in spring, the wild arbutus and lilacs, and al ways 
 talking in a crooning, whining tone, so that you will buy any- 
 way. 
 
 Not far from here stood, in an early day, an old slave pen or 
 shanty where the poor wretches were sold at auction, many of 
 them to pay their master's debts. An old Virginian once sold 
 three of his mulatto grand-children, here, and this within a half 
 mile of the Capitol, whose dome was crowned with "a tifteen-foot 
 figure of the Goddess of Liberty," and not a half dozen years 
 before the war of emanciapation, this scene was enacted. 
 
 Some very aristocratic carriages stand around this market 
 house, the ladies sending their stewards to buy supplies and they 
 sending back to the stalls unsuitable baskets for the table. 
 Among the line we have noticed Mrs. Justice Miller, Mrs. Sen- 
 ator Teller, Mrs. Chandler, and the wife of Admiral Rodgers 
 seated in their barouches, and waiting for their marketing, a 
 few minutes. 
 
 Across Pennsylvania avenue, on Market Space, is the marble 
 fountain presented by Dr. Coggshall, of San Francisco, the tem- 
 perance philanthropist, who believes in giving a cup of cold water 
 to the thirsty poor. But such is the influence of the 1,100 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 21 
 
 saloons in the city, that the fountain has not been kept in order 
 tor use, and the local newspapers paid b}' saloon money, always 
 hav^e a gibe and a sneer for this beautiful work of art, and whole- 
 some blessing to the way-farer. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 President Hayes' Levee — Mes. Eaton's Death — Jackson's 
 
 Cabinet, etc. 
 
 The levee of President and Mrs. Hayes on New Year's day, 
 IS80, was attended by an immense throng, that stretched out 
 from the north door of the White House over the asphalt under 
 the great trees to the iron fence of the grounds, marshaled by 
 ])olicemen, but the crowd determined to get inside as soon as 
 they could, in spite of police, so there was a good deal of sly 
 jtushing and detours. Passing the usher at the outer door, the 
 visitor finds himself in the roomy vestibule, the floor made of 
 tiles, a picture of Jefferson in a conspicuous place, at the right 
 a cloak room, but if the crowd is pushing hard, you must go 
 with it through the large cathedral glass doors into the long 
 corridor, decorated with plants, smilax, vases of flowers, and 
 portraits of ex-presidents are seen on the walls by American 
 artists. At the door of the Red parlor, you leave your card with 
 the usher, or in the basket near, and enter a room upholstered in 
 red, with dark red curtains, the fire-j)]ace all in harmony, and 
 this is the private sitting room below stairs. In the J ^ hie parlor 
 where the president and ladies receive, you give your name to 
 the gentleman who acts as master of ceremonies, who introduces 
 you to the])resident. ]\Ir. Hayes shook hands rather cordially, 
 passed us on to his wife, she, to Mrs. Evarts, the wife of the 
 Secretary of State, who stood next to Mrs. McC^rary — Mrs. John 
 Sherman afterward. Miss Agatlia Schurtz, and so on, down the 
 line that made the Blue parlor bright with interest that day. 
 
22 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 Mrs. Hayes, "Lucy" as she is sometimes called by some at the 
 Capitol, wore a heavy black satin with jet lace sleeves over her 
 white shapely arms, the dress not decolette^ but cut square in 
 the neck, showing her white throat and bust to advantage, and 
 her black hair in contrast to the white skin, was drawn down 
 over her temples and ears in bandeaux — she wore a high comb, 
 and in many ways she showed herself, the handsome, dignified 
 mistress of the White House. 
 
 Mrs. Evarts, a small woman, looked like a dame from the 
 country, in a plain black silk, without fan or flowers, and her 
 hair tied up at the crown in a small knot for so grand an affair, 
 was a contrast to Mrs. John Sherman, in brown brocade and vel- 
 vet, and Miss Thompson, daughter of the Secretary of the Navy, 
 who wore a pink silk with a lace front, and flowers against her 
 pretty neck at the corsage. Uncle Dick Thompson had a tall 
 figure with jet black eyes and a heavy head of gray hair, and 
 while a genial story teller, he meant business under it all. 
 "Uncle Eichard" resigned his commission as Secretary of the 
 Navy in December, 1880, and was succeeded in February, 1881, 
 by the Hon. Nathan Goff, now congressman from West Vir- 
 ginia. Mr. Thompson accepted the position as American 
 superintendent of DeLessep's canal across the Istlimus of Panama 
 at a salary of $25,000 a year — headquarters at New i:ork. This 
 office is not heard of now-a-days in commercial circles, and Mr. 
 Thompson went back to Indiana, to practice law. 
 
 The Hon. (Jarl Schurz, being a fine pianist and a widower, in 
 this fashionable season was a welcome visitor to the White 
 House, where Mrs. Hayes entertained a swarm of pretty Ohio 
 girls, as the fair hostess was considered a lucky match-maker. 
 
 Miss Schurtz wore a white satin gown with short sleeves 
 trimmed in costly lace and elegant diamonds. 
 
 One of the conspicuous figures that crossed the East roQm on 
 that New Year's day, was Myra Clark Gaines, the wife of Gen- 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 
 
 23 
 
 eral Gaines, and then eighty-tliree years old, though in appear- 
 ance not over fittj. Slie was as sprightly as a girl, with a shrewd 
 look in her black eyes, a dark auburn wig, her hands were small 
 and white, wearing heavy diamond rings, and encased in black 
 mitts, instead of gloves — a great talker at private entertainments, 
 or at public receptions. She laid claim to the ground where the 
 city of New Orleans was built, through a will made by her tather, 
 Daniel Clark, and the United States courts seemed to do her jus- 
 tice there, but some way the city authorities always had a hitch 
 in the proceedings, so that she did not get the millions she was 
 entitled to, probably because she was a woman. She died in 1885. 
 
 A crank named Pinchover, used to frequent the White House, 
 and declare President Hayes owed him a hundred millions. He 
 was dressed in a coat of blue jean, striped pants and a huge 
 stand-up cdlar came up to his very ears, while he carried a stout 
 cane in his right hand, he pnshed around the ladies in the East 
 room that afternoon, a:id every once in awhile, he would mutter 
 in front of Martha Washington's picture which covers a large 
 segment of the wall in the northeast corner of that elegant salon. 
 He was afterwards taken to St. Elizabeth's asylum, to the great 
 relief of congressmen and everybody else, who had any political 
 influence. 
 
 Whatever may be said, and all the ridicule that has been 
 heaped upon the Hayes' administration — temperance principles 
 received an impetus that will not be lost until the milleniura, 
 and witli tlie excqjtion of the Interior Department, the adminis- 
 tration was pretty tree from corruption. The notorious Hayt 
 and other high officials in the Indian office, peddled out beef con- 
 tracts to their own advantage, false entries were made in mining 
 and land claims in the General Land office, such as the Maxwell 
 and Cimarron graiiti?, all tiiis right under Schurz's nose in the 
 Interior Department, and tins great reformer used information 
 in the ningwimip caiiii), through his mugwump ])aper, the New 
 
24 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 York Evening Post, to the hurt ot republicans in 1884, which he 
 found in his department, as Secretary ol the Interior. For un- 
 mitigated cheek, the fusilades of Schurz at that period beat the 
 political world. People of inside information were astounded 
 at his impudence and audacity. It was the wolt growling at the 
 lamb for muddying the stream. 
 
 Hayes was a compromise anyway. He was really elected by 
 the black votes in the south. Tilden never should have been 
 President, but the fool admission by republicans that Governor 
 Packard of Louisiana, and Chamberlin of South Carolina, were 
 not elected, was "a give away," and unworthy the political 
 managers of a great party. Hayes was elected and so were the 
 other gentlemen. 
 
 Governor Packard was given the best paying United States 
 Consulship — at Liverpool — as a sop to his feelings, when he 
 ought to have been sent back to New Orleans, or Baton Rouge 
 rather, and the executive seal of the Pelican State placed in his 
 right hand well backed by Federal bayonets. It would have 
 saved the lives of thousands of blacks. Three thousand were 
 murdered in the parish of Bayou Tache alone, from 1876 to 1879, 
 all because the poor black wretclies thought they had the right 
 to vote the republican ticket under the Fourteenth Amendment 
 of the Constitution, and were native American citizens of Louisi- 
 ana. This unwarranted compromise of the Electoral Commission 
 cannot be looked back to, with much patience, notwithstanding 
 many thought the allowing of Mr. Hayes in the White House,, 
 and the other gentlemen elected with him sent adrift, a great 
 victory. 
 
 There was some excuse for, the republicans ofthat miser- 
 able epoch. For some time, the southern representatives of 
 ex-confederates had kept getting larger and larger, and they, 
 backed by their northern lick-spittles, had determinedly stood 
 like a wall, that no appropriations by Congress should be made iIq 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 25 
 
 tiie Army. "The}', the soldiers, might hurt a ku khix at a poll- 
 ing place," was the southron's cry. As every one knew, not a 
 soldier in the south had ever stopped a man for voting, only had 
 discouraged mobs and tighting. With no army to tight with, the 
 southern republicans could not be retained in power. Mr. Pack- 
 ard was sent as a Consul to Liverpool, but under the Cleveland 
 ipse dlxlt^ ''that no southern republican ever should hold an 
 office," Governor Packard came home, and now lives on a 
 1,200 acre farm near Marshalltown, Iowa, surrounded by intel- 
 lijj;ent neighbors, who expect to send him to Congress in the near 
 future. 
 
 President Hayes did the best he could, but under Postmaster 
 General Key, many defiant rebels were put into the Departments 
 replacing loyal citizens. 
 
 In February, 1880, died Mrs. Margaret O'Neill Eaton, the wife 
 of General Eaton, Jackson's Secretary of War. The lady had 
 lived to be eighty-one years of age, and her memory was a link 
 of the past, when the city was a straggling village, and she, the 
 village belle. Mrs. Eaton was a historic figure of Jackson's 
 time — the toast of wassail and song, an Irish beauty of great love- 
 liness of person, but used by politicians as a tool to overthrow 
 another set of their own class, among them Mr. Calhoun and his 
 hopes for the Presidency. She ruled General Jackson, as com- 
 pletely, as he ruled his soldiers, or the democratic party. 
 
 Mrs. General Eaton was born in Washington, and was the 
 daughter of William O'Neill, a rollicking Irishman, the landlord 
 of a clean, well-kept hotel on Pennsylvania avenue. Maggie was 
 the washwoman of the family, and her plump, white arms in the 
 foaming suds, were not the least of her many attractions. She 
 had a fair complexion, with fine dark eyes and hair, rosy lips and' 
 cheeks, while her features were as clear cut, as a cameo. 
 
 General Jackson was interested in her before she married the 
 handsome naval officer, John Bowie Timberlake, who got into 
 
26 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 trouble about his accounts as Purser with the government, and 
 then committed suicide, leaving Peggy a pretty widow of nme- 
 teen years. She soon captured General Eaton, a noted Indian 
 fighter in the Seminole war — a rough, but kind-hearted officer, 
 who boarded with her father at his tavern. How lovely she was 
 in her matronly beauty! 
 
 General Jackson had lost his beloved wife, Rachel, through 
 slander and a broken heart, and when Mrs. Eaton talked on the 
 porch of the hotel by the light of the stars to some of her father's 
 guests, the female tabbies of the Capital carried their gossip 
 about, until it reached the President. General Eaton resented 
 the gossip and Jackson called it "'vile slander" For the little 
 Irish beauty went to the White House right often, a welcome 
 guest, and poured into the master's ears all of her complaint^. 
 Van Buren finding out, that tlie ladies of Jackson's Cabinet led 
 by Mrs. Calhoun were snubbing Mrs. Eaton, and wishing to an- 
 noy the haughty southron and his wife, he invited General and 
 Mrs. Eaton to a dinner party, placing the lady at the head of his 
 table, he being a widower. In other ways, he turned her pretty 
 head with flattery and conceit, not much to the credit of Mr. Van 
 Buren. The British and Russian ministers, being bachelors, 
 followed suit, and gave elegant dinners, inviting Mrs. Eaton to 
 be the guest of the evening; others of like ilk did the same, which 
 so oftended Mrs. Calhoun and others of the Cabinet, that they 
 would not speak to Van Buren, who was Secretary of State, the 
 highest officer in the Cabinet. General Eaton, through 
 President Jackson's favor was made Secretary of War, altiiough 
 the politicians had secretly opposed him for the place. The 
 rumpus extended to all circles, and excitement ran high against 
 the Irish beauty. But Jackson, grim and determined, stood by 
 Van Buren and Eaton. Finally, Calhoun and the rest of the 
 Cabinet resigned, as Jackson showed them few favors, and the 
 whole town was in a turmoil worse than ever. The fi2;ht was 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 2Y 
 
 carried forward until 1835. when the Jackson party beat Calhoun 
 for the Presidency, and under Providence was indeed a blessing 
 to the country, for if the South Carolina nullifier had been made 
 the democratic President, slavery would have been so welded 
 into the heart of the Republic, that it never would have been 
 eradicated. 
 
 After General Jackson left for the Hermitage, Peggy Eaton 
 remained the belle of a certain set, until her beauty faded and 
 General Eaton died, leaving her some money. When past sixty 
 she married a young Italian dancing master, and lived on H 
 street, rather unhappily from the ill-assorted union. Upon her 
 death, Mrs. Hayes sent from the White House, a lovely wreath 
 of white flowers to grace her coffin — many of the old families of 
 Washington attended her funeral, and thus ended the career of 
 as famous a woman as Helen of Troy, or Cleopatra of ancient 
 Egypt. 
 
 In 1880 the name of Mrs. Sprague was coupled with Senator 
 Conkling's on every occasion, and some of the Ohio people at the 
 Capital whom she had quietly snubbed because she hated com- 
 mon-place folk, were among her ugliest traducers, and told of 
 school-girl escapades by the hour, when she lived in Columbus, 
 Ohio, years before. For the sake of truth, at one time we inter- 
 viewed her old coachman, at Edgewood, the steward, gardener, 
 and house maids, and although Mrs. Sprague was in Europe, and 
 no hope of reward — they, one and all, stoutly maintained her 
 innocence. Senator Conkling was her legal adviser after her 
 father's death, and would come out to Edgewood for business 
 interviews. Judge Chase's business at the time of his death, 
 was a good deal tangled up, aud when Mrs. Sprague sued for a 
 divorce from her drunken iiusband, Mr. Conkling was her law- 
 yer, but the haughty beauty neither bowed her head to her ene- 
 mies, or made any change in her behavior. 
 
28 aMeeicajst court gossip. 
 
 Ex-Governor Sprague drank heavily and was brought home 
 by his valet^ unconscious night after night, but, in all his frenzies 
 and since his re-marriage, he has never uttered a word against 
 her purity ot character — nor was Mrs. Conkling ever jealous. 
 
 Stalwarts and halt-breeds at a bitter war in 1881, the enemies 
 of Mr. Conkling, did not hesitate to use a woman's reputation 
 against him. His public life was one of the purest integrity — 
 with Logan, Davis, Hawley, Thurman and Beck, there is no 
 stain on his hands from corporations, 
 
 Mrs. Sprague lived at Edgewood cottage while getting her di- 
 vorce, and afterward went to Fontainbleau near Paris, to super- 
 intend her daughter's education, 
 
 Mrs. Chase Sprague had a beautiful complexion when young, 
 clear cut features, auburn hair and golden brown eyes, with a 
 smile that would melt a saint. She was distingue, intellectual 
 and charming in manner — a lovely woman. We do not believe 
 the latest stories of trouble between the ex-Senator and the lady. 
 It has the old hiss of slander. 
 
 The old Chase mansion has been used as a sanitarium or 
 boarding house for the last ten years. In the grande salon where 
 Kate Chase stood as a bride with the most distinguished people 
 of the nation as witnesses of the ceremony, are sick people and 
 boarders; an invalid chair in the bay window where hung the 
 marriage bell of white roses and carnations. At the Chase 
 house in the fall of 1879, a daughter of Ben Perley Poore died 
 with consumption, fading away like a pale white rose in the late 
 autumn air. The veteran journalist had brought her from their 
 home at "Indian Head,"' Mass., in hopes the change would 
 benefit the dying girl, but nothing could save her, and with his 
 heart-broken wife, they, in great grief laid her in the vault at 
 Oak Hill. Mr. Poore wrote sprightly letters to the Boston 
 Journal that winter — of opera and reception, yet, in his own 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 29 
 
 room he was a sorrow stricken id an, as he turned the key on the 
 gay world, which he mirrored to his readers of the New Eng- 
 land mountains. 
 
 The poet delegate trom Wyoming Territory, who represented 
 that western empire in Congress in 1879-80, was a boarder with 
 his family in the old mansion. He published poetry in the 
 daily papers and long speeches in poetry appeared in the Con- 
 gressional Record, at government expense. The witty and 
 beautiful Mrs. Col. Glassie, with a well turned compliment to 
 the Wyoming delegate, said: "W^hat is the difference? The 
 government better publish poetic speeches than dry tariff stuff"," 
 but still the poet was hit in society and sneered at by other Con- 
 gressmen. A territorial delegate cannot vote, but he has the 
 privileges of the floor, which makes him a sort of dignified lob- 
 byist. But the poet's verses ruined him for a renoraination, and 
 his competitor, by reading his poems on the stump, came to 
 Congress with a large majority. This western poet at one time 
 satirized the oleo-butter industry in long hexameters printed in 
 the Congressional Record. In a few days, he found himself ap- 
 pointed by the Speaker of the House, as one of a Conjmission to 
 investigate a metropolitan sample of oleo-butter at New York 
 City. The committee were furnished with passes, were dined 
 and wined — theater tickets, carriage drives with distinguished 
 people — and after a thorough examination of the "butter" it was 
 hutter then, not oleomargarine. Not another line of the dele- 
 gate's poetry hit this excellent industry between the eyes again. 
 
 At the Ciiase boanUng house in the winter of 1880 lived an 
 ex-Congressman lobbyist from Iowa, who did some pension work 
 to make his record look respectable and nice. He claimed to be 
 an agent for the Des Moines settlers, and probably did some 
 talking for them, but the bill introduced for their benefit never 
 passed that sessicm of C^^ongress, and hung fire year after year 
 till the spring of 1886, when an honest, righteous measure to 
 
30. AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 give title in tee simple, to actual Iowa settlers, was vetoed by 
 President Cleveland, and the Des Moines river lands remained 
 in the hands of two or three New York capitalists, amon^ them 
 the heirs of Hon. Horatio Seymour, ex-Governor ot New York. 
 
 This ex-Congressman was not all the lobbyist to be seen about 
 the Capitol. There was James W. Eads, Huntington, Jimmy 
 Boyd, Col. Sherrill and John Harmon of Michigan, in fact, every 
 ex-ofticial about the city uses his influence with Congress. Un- 
 scrupulous men give their wine suppers at Chamberlain's or 
 Welcker's, and when a Congressman is chuck full of terrapin 
 and wine, how can he refuse liis friend a favor? And many a 
 high-toned Admiral and Commodore, do not hesitate to lobby 
 some scheme through Congress to turn an honest penny, and 
 help swell their little pittance of a salary at three thousand a 
 year. The prize money of the late war was a nice little morceau 
 for the Admirals of "our navee" and was lobbied through in a 
 quiet way by that corps of officers, largely. Over $300,000 were 
 distributed among the officers, although, the poor sailors got a 
 little of it. "They got all the money that could be thrown 
 through the rungs of a ladder" — the officers got the rest. 
 
 But the most successful lobbyist ever in Washington, was 
 Mrs. Cobb, the daughter-in-law of Bishop Cobb in Georgia. 
 The war sent many helpless southern women to the Capital and 
 among them drifted Mrs. Cobb, who found her way to the White 
 House, and in the drunken orgies of President Johnson, his son 
 and son-in-law (Patterson) she made herself in some way useful. 
 After a time, the ladies of the mansion got rid of her, although 
 she would go to the Executive Chamber, and do business there, 
 for with her powerful influence with the Chief Magistrate, she 
 made a great deal of money. In time she married a Washing- 
 ton tailor, but with southern improvidence, she and her family 
 are now in moderate circumstanees. Mrs. Cobb was not very 
 pretty, but she wore stylish dresses, and had rare powers of con- 
 versation. 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 31 
 
 Another noted lobbyist was a Mrs. Chorpening, and her hus- 
 band helped her in every way. She boasted, that she had had 
 three Presidents at her feet. No one believed that story, but 
 she held high carnival in a house on II street northwest, and 
 made lots ot money. At one time, a bill was before Congress, 
 to compensate the married pair for losses in a mining claim that 
 the government had conveyed to other parties. It passed. 
 
 In the famous MoGarrighan claim, whereby an honest land own- 
 er tought the mining company which claimed his property for 
 years, the poor man had to tight all sorts of lobbyists, male and 
 female. A blonde haired widow from New York was in Wash- 
 ington in 1880, and another of the grass-persuasion with black 
 melting eyes, dark hair and scarlet lips, that would melt an 
 anchorite. The cute little wine suppers at their sybarite dens, 
 their games at poker, were the preparations of an advance on 
 the Congressmen who held the purse strings of Uncle Sam. 
 Some of these lobbyists are spiritualistic mediums, who have a 
 pretended revelation, to stick a pin into the unwary Congress- 
 man's sleeve. At Maggie Lord's seance on E street northwest, 
 she had eleven Congressmen at one time in the winter of 1883-84, 
 among them Van Horn of Missouri, who is a sincere believer 
 in that religious philosophy, and aside of this crankyism, is a 
 very level-headed, good-hearted man. 
 
 In early August, 1882, the spiritualists had a slight set-back 
 at a seance at a Mrs. Levy's residence on Maine avenue. 
 Hands, white with spn-it light, were held over a wooden cabinet, 
 sweet faces were seen floating in the dark corners of the parlor, 
 and speaking in pretended words of love and affection. While 
 the seance was in tears, excepting Col. Daniels, a newspaper 
 man, and editor of the Richmond State Journal, who, after a 
 patient watch, exposed the trick, caught the hands two or three 
 times, and held them tightly, and proclaimed them veritable 
 flesh and blood hands. This enraged the traveling medium and 
 
32 AMERICAN COUKT GOSSIP. 
 
 her ti'iends, so that they laid a heavy hand on the scribe, and 
 pounded him within an inch of his life. How much truth there 
 may be in a sort of inspiration or prophecy among mediums or 
 individuals, these "materializations" as they are called, are al- 
 ways humbugs. 
 
 No one can deny the unbounded influence of women at the 
 capital from the lower to the higher grades of society. The 
 woman who is shrewd — with fair looks and a healthy mind and 
 body, can make a future, that a neophyte dreams not of in her 
 country home. 
 
 We have left out in this ladder of success, conscience, in many 
 instances. Yet, there are genial, intellectual, true women in 
 Washington who have made their fortunes without wronging an- 
 other. Among them is the Librarian of the Treasury, Miss 
 Helen Kimball, a soldier's widow, whose husband was killed at 
 Bull Run. She is a charming lady. 
 
 Mrs. General G. A. Clark of Vermont avenue, a society lady 
 who gives elegant receptions, and is now spending a few years 
 in Paris, superintending the education of her children, was a 
 handsome Treasury clerk before she married a millionaire, who 
 made his money in Montana cattle. She was a sister of the 
 Hon. Mrs. Rush Clark of Iowa City, and a great friend of Mrs. 
 Edmunds, the wife of the late District Commissioner. 
 
 Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood, the Supreme Court lawyer has a. 
 pleasant residence in a little way from the Interior Department 
 on F street toward the new Pension office. Her house is a four- 
 story brick — office in the basement — the parlors nicely furnished 
 with several good paintings to add their tribute to the lady's 
 taste. Her first husband was Col. McNall ot Rochester, N. Y., 
 who died twenty years ago, and she married soon after, Mr. 
 Lockwood, an invalid, who is dead. Mrs. Lockwood gives ele- 
 gant receptions where many distinguished people appear--'She is 
 
Life at the national capitol. 33 
 
 ail officer of the International Peace society, and Good Templar's 
 lodge. 
 
 As a lawyer, Mrs. Lockwood has not won great success like 
 Butler or Conkling, and is not considered authority like Myra 
 Bradwell of Chicago, but she is caretul and painstaking in the 
 interest of her clients. She has been retained by the Mormons 
 as their attorney at the capital, and has helped deteat adverse 
 legislation to their church, for she reasons that "Mormons should 
 not be prosecuted more than a Methodist." Certainlv not, only 
 when they break laws, for it polygamy is punishable in Ohio, 
 it is also punishable in Utah, by right. Mrs. Lockwood is a 
 woman ot kind impulses and finished grace upon the lecture plat- 
 form. Her ratification meeting in September 1884, was an 
 unique affair. It occurred at Wilson's Landing, a little station 
 on the B. tfe P. R. R. , three miles from the city, and about fifty 
 persons were present, some of them farmers living in Maryland, 
 newspaper reporters from the difterent local journals, and enthu 
 siastic suffragists of the coterie, known as "The District of Co- 
 lumbia Equal Rights association." There had been no teams 
 provided for the guests, and ladies as well as men waded through 
 the sand for a mile of old Maryland, "my Maryland." We sat 
 down to an excellent picnic dinner provided by Mrs. Amanda 
 Davis Best, our hostess, who was made presidential elector on 
 the Equal Rights ticket, for the Fifth Maryland district in 1884. 
 The candidate, Mrs. Lockwood, made a speech on the political 
 issues of the day, and toasts were drank in a good cup of coffee. 
 Flags and mottoes adorned the trees, and shouts rent the air 
 given by the gentlemen, of course- The only wonder after this 
 affair, was the fact, that Mrs. Lockwood was beaten in 1884. 
 
 "She lacked votes," said an old worker in the cause of woman 
 suffrage, for as a rule, the reformers were bitterly opposed to 
 Mrs. Lockwood's cnndidacy, declaring it was an advertising 
 scheme for the lady's business. Year after year, the National 
 
34 AMERICAN COUKT GOSSIP. 
 
 Woman Suffrage association met at the capital with varying suc- 
 cess, until several late conventions, they hadlarger and more in- 
 fluential audiences. This is due to the gradual melting away 
 of the popular prejudice, and among the patrons of th*e reform, 
 were Mrs. Senator Teller, Mrs. Senator Blair, and at one time, 
 Mrs. Hatton, the lovely wife of Arthur's Postmaster General, 
 had a good word for Mother Stanton and Miss Anthony. 
 
 The convention was found to contain sensible, highly inteUi- 
 gent women — instead, of the traditional costume, the handsome 
 toilettes and diamonds of the speakers — the social influence of 
 Mrs. Spofford ot the Riggs House, Mrs. Lockwood of the Strath- 
 more Arms, and all such excellent people, had a tendency to in- 
 quiry, and the eftorts of the temperance people in the direction 
 of equal suttrage to help carry on teetotalism, has combined to 
 melt away old prejudices, so that people of the highest standing 
 at the capital, treat the subject with careful respect and consid- 
 eration. Miss Rose Cleveland is a suflragist, it is claimed by 
 the friends of equal rights. ''Women property holders are 
 taxed," why not representation? This is unanswerable, for no 
 man can accurately represent another's business as well as one's 
 self, if that self be a woman. 
 
 The taxes in the District of Columbia are not high for property 
 owners, as the government pays half of them out of the appro- 
 priation for the District. They, and all voters are disfranchised 
 — no voting in the District since the "Feather Duster Legislature 
 adiournment in 1875. It was feared the negroes would rule the 
 city, so Congress was appealed to, and the right of sufl'rage taken 
 entirely away. When a man wants a vote, his residence must 
 be claimed outside of the District, and he must vote there. 
 
 This gave rise to the different Republican and Democratic as- 
 sociations from each State of the Union at the Capital, and 
 through these organi.ations, government clerks had some polit- 
 ical influence, and were assisted in every way to go home, to 
 
LiFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. S6 
 
 vote. Negroes are disfranchised, and this was done by a Re- 
 pubh'can Congress. How can they, (the Republicans) make a 
 row because negroes are disfranchised in the south, when they 
 winked at the same thing at the capital ? 
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 
 Negro Camp Meetings — Negro Aristockaoy — Ex-Senator 
 Bruce — Hon. Fred Douglas — Hon. John R. Lynch. 
 
 The negro element is one 'hat puzzles the city authorities, for 
 they flock to the Capital from all parts ot the country and in dull 
 times in the winter, they must be fed, for in spite of charity, the 
 mortality in the winter months is very large among them. Al- 
 though many are poor, and to a certain extent, illiterate, yet, 
 they have more churches, church societies, temperance and be- 
 nevolent associations, than can be found among any other people. 
 To belong to a "sessity" is a badge ot honor among the colored 
 folks. They are very earnest in securing money enough to pay 
 their dues, and whether as Free Mason, Odd Fellow, KofL., 
 or the order of "free burial," they will do anything rather than 
 lose their position as members: and to their credit be it spoken, 
 they have a decent burial by their societies, and while living, 
 take their places in a street procession with uniforms and feathers 
 bright and shining, as white folks, "their examplers. How 
 smartly they will step to a grand promenade march on the Fourth 
 of July! Of course, as they are illiterate and of the oppressed 
 class, and like the sons of Ishmael, every man's hand is against 
 them, they commit under the influence of liquor, some excesses. 
 In the Police Court situated at the corner of D and Sixth north- 
 west which was once an old Unitarian church, there are every 
 morning, a few blacks standing around the door waiting tor pro- 
 ceedings. They are either witnesses, or friends of the prisoners, 
 
§6 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 who have "been on a drunk" and caught up for swearing, or 
 stealing, or fighting, by the police. Washington is very strict 
 about protane language on the street, by the common poor, 
 black or white. A gentleman is rarely touched — a Congress- 
 man, never. 
 
 Judge Snell, of the Police Court, a man whose kind heart has 
 shielded the poor blacks all he could in the interest of justice and 
 right, condemning them to light punishments, has himself been 
 criticised for these good acts, these many years. We think he 
 was appointed by President Lincoln. Major Dye, appointed by 
 Mr. Arthur, as Chief of Police, was a very just man. He was 
 very high in the Egyptian army eight years, and although a strict 
 disciplinarian, had a conscientious sense of .light, and made a 
 good officer among the colored folk. 
 
 They are very earnest in their religious services, but in the 
 place where Satan gets his worse knocks, is a negro camp meet- 
 ing. One night in company with a western journalist, we went 
 out to Mount Hope, one of the hills back of Union town, now 
 called Anacostia, to be present at a "rouser," as the negroes 
 called it. The sky was half obscured by clouds, a fitful moon- 
 light revealed the outlines of the hills in the distance, and after 
 leaving sidewalks and streets behind, we were soon out on the 
 dusty commons, into one of the most forbidding looking scrub 
 pastures of the environs. Not far, the famous redoubts of Fort 
 Stanton were seen, where Union troops were stationed through 
 the war, but the cows wander through the brush where cannon 
 thundered in the by-gones- The voices of singers could dis- 
 tinctly be heard iu the plaintive African key, so peculiar to that 
 people. We soon lost sight of landscape and moonshine. 
 
 An improvised pulpit made of a huge dry goods box, covered 
 with a rag carpet, and a rickety, old stand held a bible and a 
 greasy hymn book, while around this altar stood black boys hold- 
 ing torches filled with kerosene oil, which had been used in some 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 37 
 
 political procession, and giving a flickering, weird light. The 
 ground had been stamped into fine dust about the seats, that 
 were boards laid on low standards — there was a smell ot onions 
 and dishwater, as though halt the crowd had come from the 
 kitchens. 
 
 There were no other white persons but ourselves, and as the 
 black crowd swayed to and fro, keeping time with their heads, 
 it was a strange sight in every way to a new-comer. 
 
 There were probably five hundred present. Soon the black 
 preacher became hoarse so that he could scarcely articulate a 
 word, but "glo-o-ry" would ring out from his cavernous mouth, 
 to be heard a mile away. 
 
 "Amen" and "that's so" would urge him on, till becoming ex- 
 hausted, he stepped aside and another preacher took his place. 
 In a sing-song tone this one warned his hearers of slander, and 
 described a back-biter, as a snake hiding behind a stump. Every 
 once in awhile, he would yell out, "Come out from behind dat 
 stump," accompanied by a forward jerk of the head and clapping 
 his hands. His audience soon became en rapport. 
 
 "Oh I cum along to Jesus," he would exhort, and the hills 
 echoed back that along into a prolong "ng-ng-ng-ng," each one 
 in the crowd taking it up, until the mournful note made the cold 
 chills run down my back. Banging the pulpit bible he would 
 cry out "Brederin, look out tor the rim ob hell," and giving his 
 hearers an imaginary shake over the brimstone pit, till groans 
 and sighs were heard all around us. 
 
 A black woman sat in front ot our party, who like all the 
 ladies of color, try to cover up their woolly heads with braids ot 
 jute, and cheap chignons. She had a small hat perched on the 
 top of her head, but in the excitement, her hair pins got loosened, 
 down came the jute, hat, feathers and all into the dirt, and then 
 stamping them all to pieces, as she cried "glo-o-ry" in that pe- 
 culiar, chromatic tone. 
 
38 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 Nearly every black woman was in a state of frenzy . Clouds 
 of dust rose from their stamping the ground, and obscured the 
 light of the smoking lamps. Many tell flat on their backs and 
 were stiffened into a catalepsy. Becoming tired of this pande- 
 monium, we left the scene-. Many shanties were covered with 
 tin oyster cans and old wash-boilers, near the camp ground — 
 the homes of the lowly. There have been some terrible assaults 
 in these grounds, and we would not care to go again in that 
 locality. 
 
 But the colored people of Washington must not all be judged 
 by the low element that frequents the Police Court or these camp 
 meetings. The fashionable colored churches of the city have 
 refined congregations dressed in perfect taste, well trained 
 choirs, pipe organs, diamonds and rich laces worn, especially if 
 the ladies are quadroons and malattoes. At St. Luke's (P. E.) 
 St. Augustine (Catholic) and the Fifteentli street Presbyterian, 
 a visitor will see tlie colored aristocracy at church, and if he 
 wants to hear an intellectual essay, let him listen to the proceed- 
 ings of a literary society called the "Bethel" Mr. W. W. Chase, 
 editor ot the Bee, is a colored man — James W. Bruce and other 
 graduates of Howard University, are its contributers. 
 
 The tax-collector of the city for the past ten years, is John F. 
 Cook, a colored man of irreproachable integrity. He has 
 amassed a fortune Dy buying up real estate in an early day, and 
 if he wore a white mask, no one would ever dream that a gen- 
 tleman of such grace and intellectual attainments, was an outlaw 
 in white circles of free America. He could not enter a Richmond 
 theater, a hundred miles away, and while he is on equality at 
 restaurants, hotels, theaters, and street cars, he could not eat at 
 a white man's table in the city of Washington. 
 
 Among the colored aristocracy (probably its leader,) is the 
 Hon. Fred. Douglass and family, whose black wife, once a 
 Maryland slave, died in 1882. He married about two years 
 
lifp: at the national capitol. 39 
 
 since, Miss Helen Pitts, a copyist in the office of Register of Deeds 
 of which he was at the head, under President Arthur's adminis- 
 tration. Mrs. Douglass is a brunette, a good scholar, and prob- 
 ably about fortv-eiglit years of age. Her family, at first dis- 
 carded her for marrying a negro, but she was happy in her beau- 
 tiful home, ''the Cedars," and proud of Mr. Douglass' talent — 
 of his bank account ana fashionable turn out — it had its effect on 
 them in time, and several of her family friends have made her 
 visits. Mr. and Mrs Douglass are traveling in Europe, receiv- 
 ing much social attention. 
 
 "The Cedars'* was once owned by a Maryland secessionist who 
 became involved through the war, so the place was sold at auc- 
 tion. The parlors are elegantly furnished, also the library with 
 its immense shelves of books — busts of Stephen A. Douglas and 
 Lincoln adorn side brackets, marbles and bronzes, with other 
 bric-a-brac are seen, a hot house of costly plants, and through the 
 whole house, an air of refinement which it had under its black 
 mistress, as well as the new wife. Mr. Douglass was a ship's 
 caulker — once a slave, now a prince. 
 
 Ex-Senator Bruce and his lovely wife attracted much attention 
 at the Capital, when they were first married and Republicans 
 used to havte back-bone — brother senators and their wives called 
 on the Bruces, but in later years they have been neglected by the 
 new crop of patriotic statesman, and find social pleasure entirely 
 among their own color. 
 
 Mrs. Bruce was educated atOberlin, is very fair, almost white, 
 with hazel eyes and regular features, speaks French, and is ac- 
 complished in painting and music. Her ])arlors show refined 
 taste, and as the Bruces are wealthy, they lead in church affairs 
 and industrial schools. 
 
 When Senator Bruce and Lamar of Mississippi were in the 
 Senate together, Bruce often voted with Lamar. For sf)me 
 people, this was an enigma, as the colored vote that elected 
 
40 AMERICAI^ COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 Bruce, was solidly Republican. Lamar and the Ku Klux bull- 
 dozed him by saying, "If you do not vote, as we whites want, 
 we will call another Legislature, declare your certiticate fraudu- 
 lent, put another d — d nigger in your place" — and, that settled 
 it for Bruce. Bruce's only child is named Roscoe-Conkling. 
 
 Senator Conkling in the spring session o| Congress in 1880, 
 interested himself in a Senate bill introduced by Senator Morrill, 
 that certain co.iti'ibutions from abroad should be admitted tree 
 of duty, that were to assist tlie colored refugees of Kansas, who 
 fled from the Ku Klux of Mississippi and northern Louisiana. 
 Quietly forming societies, they had banded together to leave 
 their oppressors, and go to the free lands of Kansas and southern 
 Colorado. Altogether, there were several thousands, who had 
 saved a little money from the year's cotton crop of 1879, and 
 coming aboard the Mississippi river boats, were sent north. But 
 their masters took the alarm, and threatening the officers of the 
 boats with instant death, if they carried off any more plantation 
 hands, the game wasjiip, and many went back to save their lives, 
 and worked on in a worse condition than they ever were in 
 slavery. 
 
 Dr. Purvis, one of the most successful phys'cians of the city, 
 and for many years manager of the Freedman's Hospital, married 
 a white school teacher fifteen years ago, being one of the first to 
 break the miscegenation laws of the District of Columbia, which 
 have been repeatedly broken, but remain on the statute today, 
 although not enfon^ed. 
 
 The school teacher was poor and out of health — J)r. Pui'vis 
 attended her — and grateful for his services, as well as ambitious 
 to be the mistress of his beautiful home on Twelfth street, north- 
 west, she accepted his offer of marriage, and cast her lot with 
 the Helot class of America. 'Her children are jiart mulattoes 
 the others quite dark — the mother loving all, equally well. Dr. 
 
LIFE AT 'I HE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 41 
 
 Purvis WHS a valued friend ot Lucretia Mott. and other Quakers 
 of Philadelphia, and graduated in medicine at Rush College. 
 
 The most beautiful tace we ever saw in Washington, was nn 
 octoroon, or sixteenth blood, who attended the colored church, 
 St. Augustine, through the summer ot 1880. If one looked 
 sharply they could dis3over the stain of the hated ^>ace on her 
 cheek and in the slight wave of her glossy hair, the lips were 
 scarlet, and the features were as regular as a statue ot Juno. As 
 she kneeled in her pew, her dark eyes shaded by long eyelashes 
 looking down at her prayer book, she seemed one of the incar- 
 nated saints of the Egyptian church in the third century. 
 
 One of the best hotels on the Atlantic coast, and a swell resort 
 tor British and New York aristocracy, is at Wormley's. James 
 Wormley, the founder of the enterprise, was the son of a bright 
 Virginia white woman and her fathers coachman, and young 
 Wormley became the valet of Reverdy Johnson, our Minister to 
 England in Buchanan's time. The poor valet, after his return to 
 Washington in 1861, rented rooms and catered for the table of 
 Chas. Sumner. The great statesman was always his friend. 
 Other prominent Republicans patronized him, and in 1870 he 
 bought the fine building now owned by his children at the corner 
 of H and Fifteenth streets, northwest. 
 
 In October, 1884, the great landlord died, and through the 
 funeral ceremonies, all of the hotels had their flags at half mast, 
 whfle the street was yolid with carriages in all directions. 
 Among liis pall bearers was ex-Mayor Barrett, his early friend, 
 and upon the rich mahogiiny coffin v ere piled crosses, wreaths of 
 flowers, harps of immortelles, while the house was heavy with 
 the fragrance < f tube-rose and white violets. 
 
 The Hon. John R Lynch, ex-Congressman from Mississippi, 
 and Chairman ot the Republican convention at Chicago in 1884, 
 was married in March. 1885, to Miss Ella W. Somerville, a 
 teacher in tlif Minor school building. They are wealthy and 
 
42 AMEKICAN COUfiT GOSSIP. 
 
 entertain largely with dinners and receptions to tlieir many 
 friends. She is an octoroon — her mother, a muhitto, married an 
 Englishman at Mobile, Ala., and then all came to Washing- 
 ton, in 1880. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Cromwell, rector of St. Luke's church, whose dark 
 face and white hair makes Mm an extraordinary figure in sur- 
 plice and stole, was educated at Oxford, England, and in learning 
 cannot be excelled by his white brethren in the church pulpits. 
 The officers ot St. Luke are all colored — the building, an impos- 
 ing stone structure, built in old Gothic — ivy running over the 
 roof — a stone cross on the spire of exquisite proportion, and a 
 magnificent organ with the music ot forty chorus boys, are among 
 the appointments ot this pleasant place ot worship, where many 
 devout white churchmen are often seen in its pews. 
 
 Washington has 110 colored school teachers — several are 
 principals, and manage the pupils with great credit. There are 
 several private mdustrial schools where colored scholars are 
 taught manual labor with theii- books. At an art exhibition, 
 held in the early autunm of 1886, the colored pupils of the city 
 gave a very gratifying exhibit of their wonderful growth in draw- 
 ing and painting, not only in copies, but original designs. 
 
 Howard University, founded by the government in 1866, and 
 located on Seventh street beyond the Boundary, is one ot the 
 grandest institutions for the development of the race in America. 
 It was fostered by General O. O. Howard, after whom it was 
 named, and colored students from all parts of the country are 
 educated here at small expense, not only in medicine, theoloi^y, 
 but in the law, all going out to the world to squelch that old 
 falsehood, that colored people were the missing links to apes, 
 and never could be educated — ''nothin' but niggers, no how." 
 
 When the Freedman's Savings bank bursted up, and many of 
 the poor colored people lost all they had, they quietly took up 
 their every day work, and put their earnings with Riggs, Metro- 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 43 
 
 politan and other benks — their aggregated savings being about 
 ten millions in the city. 
 
 Slaves, without a dollar twenty-five years ago, are now wealthy. 
 How long popular prejudice will stand out against brains and 
 refinement with the accessories of wealth, we cannot say. 
 Christian people ought to have more conscience, but then these 
 people with black skins in America, are not as dear to some 
 churcli members, as a dark-skinned Hindoo upon the Ganges. 
 There are thirty churches sustained by the colored people here, 
 but they do not eat at the Lord's table with the whites. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Convention of 1880 — Gabfield's Inauguration — Siiooiing by 
 
 GuiTEAu, etc. 
 
 Washington, before the June convention at Chicago, was torn 
 up as to candidates. The Democrats living in the city, secretly 
 hoped that the Kepublicans would nominate any one of their 
 number but Grant, believing in his invincible power with the 
 masses. The "third term" cry was first started by the Demo- 
 crats, and taken up by certain Kepublicans to defeat him, know- 
 ing ail the time, that a blue bird had as much imperialism as the 
 modest, unassuming General. 
 
 Certain temperance people, adjuncts of the Democracy, began 
 to tell the old, old falsehood of drunkenness at Shiloh and before 
 Kichmond, by tiie great soldier. The charges were first made in 
 the New York Herald, by one Chapman, who was a war corres- 
 pondent at Shiloh, and for some reason not fully known, assailed 
 the great commander. He admitted the falsity of Jiis charges to 
 his colleague, J. R. Trembly, the war correspondent of the 
 Herald after Chapman left Shiloh. Mr. Trembly is a business 
 man at 512 Seventh street, northwest, in Washington, and he is 
 well known as a person of unimpeachable integrit}'. He said to 
 
44 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 the writer of these sketches. "I knew what General Grant was 
 doing in his tent every day for three years, and 1 never saw him 
 drink a drop, nor saw any liquor go to his tent, though Chap- 
 man's lies had made me watchful." 
 
 The universal testimony of all citizens after the campaign of 
 1880 was over, that General Grant while eight years in office, 
 and as the Lieutenant General of the army, was never seen 
 drunk in the city. And yet the hounds, wlio clacked for politi- 
 cians, had so reiterated this falsehood, that there are many 
 people in the nation still believe General Grant was a drunkard. 
 
 Had the great soldier been nominated at Chicago, the Halt- 
 Breed war in New iork would never have disgraced the Repub- 
 lican party, and ultimately caused its defeat. When the tele- 
 grams came that General Garfield was nominated at the conven- 
 tion in Chicago, there was keen disappointment by the southern 
 republicans in the city, but as the canvass went on through the 
 summer, this feeling disappeared, and after the celebrated Men- 
 tor conference and Senator Conkling seemed to support the new 
 leader, this disappointment disappeared entirely, and before the 
 close of the campaign, the nominee had an enthusiastic support 
 from them. He was a brilliant orator, a finished scholar, and 
 with hosts of friends at the Capital. For, while he had been a 
 preacher, he was very liberal, almost heterodox— the spiritualists 
 always claiming that he was one of them, and, while sustaining a 
 good moral character, "the boys" about town were "hail fellows 
 well met" with the magnetic, kind hearted Garfield. His church 
 — the Disciples idolized him, and that extensive organization 
 throughout Virginia and Kentucky supported him. and holding 
 the balance of power in Indiana, decided the contest for the Re- 
 publicans in the Hoosier State. 
 
 The only fault that the General had. was a lack of firmness, 
 and a determined will to say "no," so necessary in a Chief 
 Magistrate, Magnetic and sweet temi)ored, he loved his friends 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 45 
 
 and did not liate liis enemies. He mnat tirst be antagonized 
 pretty hard, to strike back at all. 
 
 On the Uth ofFebriiaiy, 1881, the Electoral College having 
 made up its certificates that James A. Garfield and Chester A. 
 Arthur were duly elected President and Vice President of the 
 United States, it remained for the Senate to meet with the House 
 of Representatives '4n Congress assembled" and declare these 
 persons elected to their high offices by the people. 
 
 Before ten o'clock A. M. the passage ways and corridors were a 
 jam, and every vacant seat filled in the House, and before twelve 
 M., ere the public proceedings commenced, the aisles and aronn d 
 the doors, people were wedged in like sardines in a box, with 
 the excption of the blue box for the diplomatic corps, which had 
 but few in it. The rule is inexorable, no one is ever allowed in 
 the pews painted blue, only the foreigners and their friends. 
 Just as the hands touched twelve M., the Speaker of the House, 
 Hon. Samuel J. Randall, struck down his gavel, the doors had a 
 movement while the Sergeant at Arms was trying to force the 
 crowd back, and let the rpmaining Senators through who had not 
 been already been seated on the House floor. Senator Conkling, 
 Hannibal Hamlin, James G. Blaine led the van to tlie row of 
 seats in front of the Speaker's desk. Senator Morgan, also Sen- 
 ators Hampton, McPherson, McDonald on the Democratic side, 
 were the observed of all observers. 
 
 Wlien Mr. Adams, the Reading clerk of the House, after a 
 tew preliminaries had been gone through with, commenced the 
 call of States, Alabama and Arkansas cast their votes for Gen- 
 eral Hancock and Willinm H. English, of Indiana; then Colo- 
 rado was the first Republican state that gave her votes for the 
 President-elect, and before the call was fairly finished, the im- 
 mense body of people seem to break out in such deafening 
 cheers, that it shook the dome. 
 
46 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 The enthusiasm ran around among the pretty faces of society 
 dudes who never cheered before, even colored men, and all 
 classes of men cheered again, and again — "hollered." There 
 were several beautiful ftoral designs on the reading desk, the 
 national flags seemed to stir with life, as if the breath of departed 
 heroes of the Army of the Cumberland had come back to greet 
 through these silken folds, their old commander. It was a good 
 day for Republicans — the best of the decade. Alas! 
 
 The count was right, and the Electoral College named the 
 President, who was inaugurated, March 4th, 1881. He read his 
 message from the East Capitol side steps in the raw March air 
 without any fatigue, and he seemed to enjoy the people's enthu- 
 siasm, as he did a game of ball on the campus of Hiram College. 
 The crowd filled acres of the Capitol grounds — down it swept 
 through Pensylvania avenue, where for a mile and a half there 
 was scarcely standing room; roofs and windows crowded with 
 happy faces, and the day was a memorable one in the chapter of 
 propitious inaugurations. All over the country, from the Rockies 
 to the Atlantic, came military and civic societies, to stand in line 
 two hours before the procession moved towards the White House. 
 The day was chilly, the sun shone by fits and starts, and there 
 was more slush than usual in the streets, on account of an un- 
 usually heavy snow melting off, slowly. Pennsylvania avenue 
 had memorial arches across from pavement to pavement — repre- 
 senting the coat of arms and mottoes of the States of the Union 
 — national flags hung from every window and roof — the deafen- 
 ing cheers of thousands rose to heaven, as the new President 
 rode along in a barouche with ex-Pre ident Hayes — and follow- 
 ing along in an open carriage was Vice President Arthur, with 
 Hon. John Sherman, and we belif.ve, Mr. Blaine. The Cleve- 
 land Grays acted as escort to the Presidential party, and behind 
 them, company after company, regiment after regiment of sol- 
 diers, whose guns shone in the sunshine as rows of burnished 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 47 
 
 steel, marching in regular order — flags and guns forming a wavy 
 line undulating with steps to the music of the Union for the 
 military bands, thirty-nine in number distributed in the parade, 
 played national airs. The civic societies, among them the fire 
 companies ot Philadelphia and New York — the Harmony— the 
 Quaker City clubs, all appeared, and it took nearly three hours 
 tor the procession to pass the Treasury to the White House 
 grounds. The Garfields stayed at the Riggs House before taking 
 possession of the Executive mansion, and Grandma with Mrs. 
 Garfield saw the parade from that hostlery. 
 
 The festivities of the inauguration were kept up all day, to the 
 great disgust ot the Democrats, who had read about the famous 
 Morey letter, and other devices gotten up by the New York man- 
 agers to defeat President Garfield in California and the Pacific 
 coast, where they were trying to stop Chinese emigration, and 
 now after all, here was the triumphant Garfield. In the evening, 
 Pennsylvania avenue was a blaze of fireworks — down on the 
 White Lot towards the great Washington monument, was a 
 Niagara of pyrotechnics that set the country people agape, and 
 filled the Treasury and its environs with crowds of happy clerks 
 and their families, for there likely would be little change in the 
 personnel of the departments, which is their ever-present horror 
 when there is a change of Presidents. 
 
 The inaugural ball at the National Museum was a brilliant af- 
 fair — many of the diplomatic corps being present, and the ladies 
 costumes handsome in the extreme. The President and Mrs. 
 Garfield did not dance, although the Marine band played delight- 
 fully several of Strauss waltzes. The building, which was not 
 quite finished, was draped in national flags and adorned with 
 potted plants, smilax and boquets of red, red roses — hyacinths 
 and purple violets gave out their fragrance: jewels flashed, and 
 all went merry as a marriage bell. Mrs. Garfield wore a cream 
 colored silk — plain, and no ornaments but her diamonds, and a 
 
48 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 bunch of white roses. She looked downcast, and said but little. 
 There were over three thousand in the building dancing at on e 
 time — the tickets were five dollars. It was the only brilliant 
 leal in the social history of this sorrowful administration, and 
 many a belle shudders at its remembrance, for it is so linked 
 with the memory of its chief actor. After the inauguration came 
 the speculation, as to who would be the advisor ot the new ad- 
 ministration and il the new Cabinet would contain Senator 
 Conkling, or any of his friends. He was passed over. 
 
 All went along well enough with the administration, until the 
 name of Robertson was sent to the Senate, to be collector to the 
 port of New York City, without the consent of the New York 
 Senators. 
 
 Senator Piatt was vigorous in his denunciation of the slight 
 put upon the State, and he did not hesitate to express his views 
 on all occasions. 
 
 From time immemorial, the federal patronage to be distrib- 
 uted in each state had been in the hands ot the Senators and 
 Representatives of that particular commonwealth. Democrats, 
 Whigs and Republicans had not doubted the wisdom of this po- 
 litical management, but President Garfield, through bad advice 
 persisted in using his influence to have Robertson confirmed, in 
 spite of the protestions of the New York Senators. The news- 
 papers yelled "Boss" at Senator Conkling — over and over again 
 ridicule was heaped upon him — "Me too Piatt" was abused, and 
 this was done in spite of the rale of courtesy to Senators, which 
 had been established through long years of the republic. 
 
 No one had thought it a hardship until President Garfield's 
 time. After the ablest Senator of the nation was forced to re- 
 sign, this action of Congressmen was taken up again — nobody 
 today cries "Boss," yet Senators rule as to appointments, as they 
 did before the Robertson episode. Senators Allison, Sherman 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 49 
 
 and Hawley plead with the Executive, for the sake of peace and 
 harmony, to withdraw the distasteful nomination. The Presi- 
 dent hesitated, but the influence behind the throne was too strong 
 — his tatal weakness of character became evident, as he forced 
 Robertson'8 name upon the Senate for confirmation, and as the 
 most of the members did not like to antagonize the new admin- 
 istration, the man who had betrayed Grant and his N. Y. friends 
 at Chicago in 1880, was made Collector, and the furies invoked. 
 Senators Conkling and Piatt have been severely censured for 
 resigning their seats in the Senate, for it was thought by their 
 friends, that after the storm of indignation which had been lashed 
 into a white heat by the administration journals, it would pass by. 
 The Senators, shorn of political influence — in self respect, they 
 must resign, and if the Legislature of New York would send 
 tliem back, it would rebuke the insult to the Empire state. But 
 New York sustained the President, in one of those rare incon- 
 sistencies with which popular governments sometimes regale 
 themselves, and the "recalcitrant Senators" were bidden by fate 
 to practice law, thereafter. 
 
 We need not further follow the Half Breed war upon its native 
 heath, but leave the historian of that state, to describe the in- 
 tricacies of the Uticaand anti-Utica politicians through the Folger 
 campaign, and that of 1884, and 1886, in defeat. The Civil 
 Service reformers began to show their heads, and cried out 
 against "bosses'' and political machines, but oflBice hunting went 
 on, and the White House was beseiged all the same. After the 
 New York Senators had resigned and gone home. Senators 
 Laphain and Miller took the places of Senators Conkling and 
 Piatt, in the United States Senate later. 
 
 The social page at the White House was short through this sad 
 administration, for Mrs. Garfield had poor health, so that she 
 made no impression in the White House as a society woman, but 
 
50 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 the world recognized her worth, as a faithlul wife and mother. 
 Being a graduate ol Hiram college and an intellectual woman, 
 she quietly passed through the grand rooms of the Executive 
 mansion, as if there were some mistake. Her parents, the Ru- 
 dolphs, were poor, and her elevation was something wonderful 
 from a cottage home in Ohio or to that of being the highest lady in 
 the land. Grandma was happy, as she chippered with the little 
 boys, about the house. The President, ever mindful of her com- 
 fort, had put in an elevator to the Mansion, a3 the long stairs 
 wearied the old lady. "Abram," says the old mother, "you 
 must always be a good boy like your father, and you will be a 
 great man. One day, five-year-old Abram tried to climb over 
 the iron railing of the stone stairs, and in doing so nearly broke 
 his arm. He went whimpering to grandma — "I am a cripple 
 now — guess I'll never be President, like father." The rim of her 
 cap border touched his hair, as she tenderly kissed the little fel- 
 low, and Abram was comforted, for if grandma kissed the hurt 
 place, all was well. 
 
 The Woman's Christian Temperance Union, about this time, 
 held its annual convention, and appointing a number of dele- 
 gates with Miss Willard at their head, they proceeded to the 
 White House to ask the new President, to continue the cold water 
 fashion inaugurated by Mrs. Hayes. The East room was filled 
 by the party, and Mr. Garfield was ushered into the presence of 
 the ladies, many of them in silent prayer. Miss Willard, in an 
 eloquent address, made known their wishes. The President 
 looked impassive. But, finally, he gave them his views of the 
 matter — that every man's house was his castle, and a place that 
 the outside world should not interfere. He neither promised nor 
 denied their request that wine should be banished from the state 
 dinners, where diplomats and others used to such refreshments 
 would certainly ridicule him, as they had the Hayes occupants. 
 Mrs. Garfield was at this reception of the ladies, but not mucli 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 51 
 
 seen afterward by the general public. She wore a brown velvet 
 and ottoman silk with a long train, but high neck and long sleeves 
 — her diamonds were handsome. She was attended by Mrs. Gen- 
 eral Sheldon, a cousin, and both ladies looked tearfully sympa- 
 thetic all through the ceremonies of reception. 
 
 The W. C. T. U. went sorrowfully down the asphalt pavement 
 back to the Temple Cafe, their headquarters — Miss Willard, Mrs. 
 Chapin of Charleston, Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, and Mrs. Le Fetra, 
 somewat disheartened. 
 
 A Mrs. F knelt down in the prayer meeting, which fol- 
 lowed, and beseeched the Lord, that no wine should be seen at 
 the White House state dinners through the President's term of 
 office. Her prayer was answered, but oh! how differently from 
 what she expected. There were no state dinners, or wine either, 
 afterward to be drank in public. This temperance organization, 
 which, on going upon a southern pleasure trip to New Orleans 
 and Charleston, the next year, was captured by the southern 
 Democrats, enough to be a nucleus for a third party. It had the 
 elements of a great political power, had it remained solid and 
 intact, and only working with a political party, that helped them. 
 They, or rather. Miss Willard completely forgets that the Re- 
 publicans of Iowa and Kansas had carried forward absolute 
 prohibition, losing thousands of votes. But with a whimsical 
 weakness, so like an old woman, she has a soft side for Demo- 
 crats — the whisky and saloon party, from Maine to Georgia, and 
 in all W. C. T. U. conventions, has never given a word of com- 
 fort to Republicans of Maine and Vermont — not a "thanky" to 
 Iowa, Kansas or New Hampshire for Republican legislation for 
 temperance, but insults the Almighty with prayers for a third 
 impracticable party — an ally in every election to the saloonists 
 and the Democracy. 
 
 She will then say, "Georgia is for prohibition" — for negroes, 
 "yes," we answer. The Ku Klux votes of that state cannot con- 
 
62 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 trol drunken negroes to work for the little, miserable pittance 
 they give them, so temperance is a southern virtue, and yet Miss 
 Willard never saw a southern politician, leaving out Governor 
 Colquitt, which did not drink whisky, and only voted for prohi- 
 bition, "to keep the d — d niggers down." 
 
 The ushers at the White House, Messrs. Pendell and others 
 turned away a man whose card read "Charles Guiteau" on that 
 da}^ of the Temperance reception. President Garfield had given 
 his orders, that if possible, the persistent office-seeker be kept out 
 of the Executive Chamber, for he had slipped in the day betore, 
 past the usher at that particular door. The ushers down stairs 
 at the front entrance had become disgusted with his pertinacity, 
 although Mr. Pendall had been nsed to many tough ones since 
 he was appointed by Mr. Lincoln in 1864. "Mr. Garfield is not 
 receiving today, Mr. Guiteau," said the ushers to the political 
 crank from New York. 
 
 Guiteau had done a little political work in one of the city 
 wards of New York, and all through May and June he was pes- 
 tering the new President for the general consulship to Vienna, 
 or in Paris. Instead of the ushers having the insane idiot ar 
 rested, and sent to St. Elizabeth asylum, as they have others, 
 since the Garfield tragedy, he was allowed to come and go, at 
 his own pleasure. From the White House, he marched mutter- 
 ing over to the State Department, to urge Mr. Blaine for a place. 
 Here he was met with excuses. Night after night, he walked 
 his chamber floor at the "Strathmore Arms," then a boarding 
 house on Twelfth street — he urged General Logan to help him, 
 but the preposterous fellow was told that it was an impossibility. 
 Insanity, from hereditary causes was running through his veins, 
 developing from his anxiety and sleepless nights — he had not 
 much money, and his landlady presented a board bill. Matters 
 got to a crisis with him. Excitement ran high upon the quarrel 
 between Senator Conkling and the President, while the outs 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 53 
 
 sympathized with tlie New i;ork Senator, and the ins defended 
 Mr. Garfield. Guiteau went to the White House once more, and 
 the ushers, first polite, finally took him by the coat collar, and 
 forced him out of the North door, as he was determined to go 
 past them, and see the President. He went down Pennsylvania 
 avenue, muttering and shaking his head, and it has been charged 
 that he met others, who assisted him in his vile deed. But in 
 the searching light of the trial, no one was accused, nor did the 
 wretch himself, ever talk of any vile companion who could assist 
 him in the matter. He bought his pistol at O'Meara's like any 
 other customer, hired a hack with a colored driver and horses 
 and went to the depot, but he did not attempt to go back in it, 
 to a place of concealment, after his bloody deed. Anger and 
 revenge had made him for that time a raving maniac, and he 
 shot the President, seemingly caring but little for the conse- 
 quences, to himself. 
 
 After Guiteau was in jail, a mob of both black and white 
 started to tear down the United States jail, or at least, overpower 
 the guard. But Col. Crocker, the Warden assured the men, that 
 it would be impossible for the assassin to get away, and as they 
 looked at at its heavy stone walls and battlements, they concluded 
 justice would take care of him until his trial, for murder. 
 
 Had President Garfield immediately died, there would have 
 been serious trouble in the country, for the assassin's exclama- 
 tion, "Arthur will be President, now!" was taken up by the in- 
 flamed populace, and several indiscreet newspapers and corres- 
 pondents made nmcli of the crazy man's hallucination, and tele- 
 graphed to the world, that an organized conspiracy had made the 
 President their victim, so as to put the Stalwarts into power. 
 No wickeder falsehood was ever started — no truth whatever in 
 the statement, yet in 1S84, we heard an intelligent looking prom- 
 inent Colorado politician privately declare at (yhicago, that 
 "Arthur had helped kill Garfield," and was unworthy of a nomi- 
 
54 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 nation by the American people. The lie had traveled in long 
 boots. No one of any brains believes it, now. Ex-President 
 Arthur had been honored in a thousand ways long before his 
 death, by his party and fellow citizens, and so has Mr. Conkling 
 — and this stupid invention of malice is now hardly worth repeat- 
 ing, only, as a part of the history of the times. 
 
 The murdered President lay on his bed in the southeast cham- 
 ber of the White House, slowly dying, while the most earnest 
 sympathy from all classes — stalwarts, old citizens, rebels and 
 colored citizens, all kept an anxious watch for information, as to 
 the patient sufferer, in hopes that the pliysicians' reassuring bul- 
 letins were to be sustained by facts. Many soldiers had been 
 placed in the hospitals wounded as the President was supposed 
 to be — none had ever recovered. Yet bulletins and local news- 
 papers were sanguine. 
 
 Miss Dr. Edson, one of the first homeopathic physicians among 
 the ladies in the country, was detailed as head nurse, and until 
 the President's death at Elberon, never left his chamber, except- 
 ing for short sleeps, when the faithful Crump, the steward, took 
 her place. 
 
 Congress allowed Miss Edson $3,000 for her labors, vvhich 
 broke her health down, but the administrator of the Garfield es- 
 tate, paid her nothing. 
 
 She thought the President, the most patient of men. When 
 the doctors would clean the wound of pus, which was a horrible 
 pain to endure — the poor sufferer only clasped his hands, and 
 closed his eyes — the white face grew thinner and whiter, day by 
 day. The summer of 1881 was a fearfully hot one — the mercury 
 kept above ninety degrees for many weeks, and the fainting, 
 weary sufferer, at last, went out from the White House in the 
 gray dawn of a September morning, to rest beside the sea. 
 What anxious prayers followed the President! Fifty millions of 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 55 
 
 hearts, aching in sympathy with his agony and suffering. The 
 Vermont Avenue church, and many of the colored churches 
 held all night prayer meetings through that week. 
 
 The bulletin boards were scanned by anxious crowds, and 
 many waited around to get the exact meaning of the lolty, tech- 
 nical terms used by the surgeons. 
 
 The White House was deserted now. The guard of soldiers 
 which for nearly eleven weeks had been stationed in the grounds, 
 were removed — there were no parades, or Marine band concerts 
 on the lawn, no carriages or fashionable turnouts, nothing but 
 the withered grass and dying flowers gasping for breath in the 
 hot sun. The heavens seemed of brass, for there had been no 
 rain or dew for weeks, and prayers for mercy came back from 
 the hot dome of heaven, unanswered. 
 
 On the 19th of September, just before midnight, the telegraph 
 told the sad story that the awful tight for life had ended, and the 
 soul of the murdered President had gone out with the tide at 
 Elberon. But in the great statesman's own words, "thank God! 
 the nation at Washington still lives!" It was a sorrowful Sun- 
 day night. Many department clerks slept no more that night, 
 but at niie o'clock in the morning wended their way to the pub- 
 lic buildings, being draped in mourning by order of Secretary 
 Lincoln — the flags were all at half-mast — the late President's 
 pictures in all public places draped in black, and manifestations 
 of grief on all sides. 
 
 The de])artraent clerks have but thirty days' furlough, or rest, 
 in a year — these days are distributed to each one, as the public 
 business will allow, upon the favor of the Secretary, or Cabinet 
 officer, who alone gives the permission for the clerk to leave his 
 or her desk — excepting, from sickness there is no excuse. The 
 clerks sat down at their desks that day with sorrow, but they 
 wrought as best they could througii the time, the chief of the 
 division signed his initials on their work — the chief of the bureau 
 
56 AMERICAN COUKT GOSSIP, 
 
 signed his name in full, and letters were sent oft by mail, bu t 
 if any report, it was sent to the Secretary or Cabinet officer 
 of the department where the work was done, and thus the ma- 
 chinery ot the government is always kept going, no matter who 
 enters or leaves the White House, as President — it makes no 
 triction as to actual government work when the President leaves 
 the White House, no more than any other clerk ot Uncle Sam. 
 
 At nine o'clock in the morning, the streets near the public 
 buildings are crowded with the clerks hastening to their labor, 
 and when all are inside, the streets seem deserted, comparatively. 
 At noon there is another crush, and at four P. M. — street cars 
 and herdics jammed full of tired clerks, many ot them carrying 
 little lunch baskets — others, with tin books where have been 
 stowed away "goodies,'' and yet there is an aristocratic class 
 who go to the restaurants, and would not be seen with a lunch 
 basket. Their credit is generally good, if it is known that 
 Uncle Sam backs their bills, although some have lost their 
 places for not paying their debts as their superior officers did not 
 like to be board bill collecters, by garnishee. 
 
 After ten A. M., visitors are admitted to public buildings, but 
 it is of no use to try to pass the guard before that time for the 
 rule is imperative unless you send in your card to some of- 
 ficial, and he sends for you by messenger. Visitors better 
 spend their breath on something else than coaxing an im- 
 passive watchman, whose orders are imperative to admit no one 
 until the proper time. After that hour many parties of visitors, 
 were once escorted by guides through the buildings, but in a late 
 day it has been nearly discontinued under the "reform adminis- 
 tration. " 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 57 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 President Arthur — Foreign Legations — Society Receptions 
 
 — etc., etc. 
 
 President Arthur after takinsj the oath ef office, witli a rare 
 delicacy of character, did not domicile at the White House, but 
 accepted the hospitality of Senator Jones, who had vacated his 
 stone mansion on Capitol Hill across from the Capitol itself, a 
 few yards. The Jones mansion adjoins that of General Butler, 
 and was very elegant in all its appointments. The hall was spa- 
 cious, and the grande mlon was adorned with costly paintings, 
 the upholstery in gray and gold — carpets, the finest Axminister, 
 and at the right of the parlor was a handsome gold and ebony 
 cabinet, which, on the top, was crowned with an exquisitely 
 carved ivory statuette of one of the Graces. The President re- 
 ceived here and made a favorable impression, especially on 
 the ladies. Again, the W. C. T. U. called on the Chief Magis- 
 trate, to ask that no wine "be furnished at state dinners in the 
 White House." In a pretty speech, he thanked the ladies for 
 their courtesy, but did not pledge prohibition. Having an im- 
 mense bouquet of flowers sent up from the Botanical Gardens, 
 he divided it up into pretty little nosegays, and giving a rare, 
 red rose to Mrs. Chapin, of South Carolina, in answer to her 
 introduction, "I am from the south I" with that grace of manner 
 so marked in President Arthur, he answered: "My dear 
 madam, my wife was a southern lady. I know their worth." 
 Those who have seen Miss Herndon-Arthur, will carry out the 
 appreciation of Mr. Arthur's compliment. Miss Anthony, Mrs. 
 Witterimeyer, Clara Barton, J. Ellen Foster and Mary Aldrich 
 of Iowa, were among the W. C. T. U. ladies that day. Miss 
 Willard at the head, thev left for home. "Wine must be used at 
 
5S AMEKICAN COt&T GOSSIf. 
 
 state dinners" was the social edict of tlie Capitol. Already, an 
 attache of the Spanish Legation, was driving past in his fashion- 
 able turnout that bright September afternoon. Two heavy black 
 horses driven tandem to a dog cart — the wlieels very large and 
 painted in black and gold, looked like a pair of bright suns 
 whirling over the gray street. The Spaniard with his dark eyes 
 and hair seemed the typical cavalier of the sixteenth century. 
 
 The autumn chronicle of 1881, gives a love match between the 
 Hon. Victor Drummond of the British Legation and the beauti- 
 ful Miss L of New York — a very attractive girl, but without 
 
 fortune. As tew of the foreign titles are married to American 
 girls withmit money, this match is perpetuated in these sketches. 
 Having leisure, the attaches of the Legations are accomplished 
 gentlemen — well educated in University lore, and whether mar- 
 ried or single — bald-headed and old, orvoung and handsome, 
 their love glances are killing to tender hearts, as a November 
 frost. The Turkish minister stays in New York, and does not 
 appear at the Capitol except on state occasions — his red fe/ and 
 brilliant medals making him a conspicuous figure at the White 
 House levees and state dinners, but he is not a male flirt. 
 
 Within a few years, a Spanish attache who left a wife and four 
 children in Andalusia, had a flirtation with a daughter of a Cabi- 
 net official, which is often in such cases turned to a real afl'ec- 
 tion. She was beautiful, could s])eak his own language as well 
 as he could, and yet, the pretty Spanish talk concealed a deep 
 love, alas, too deep. After the aft'air went on for a few months, 
 she, stricken with a keen remorse at the consequences, committed 
 suicide, and was found dead in her bed one morning by her maid, 
 a faithful old servant. There was no inquest — the family physi- 
 cian only shook his head, gave a burial permit for heart disease 
 — the newspapers said the death was caused by low-necked 
 dresses and late hours. The world wagged on. In two weeks 
 her broken-hearted mother was laid in the church yard beside 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 59 
 
 her, and her wicked lover recalled to Spain in a few months alter 
 the family happiness was wrecked. 
 
 Baron and Madame de Struve make their Russian envoy resi- 
 dence a very pleasant rendezvous to the elite ot the Capitol on 
 Sunday evenings where the witty hostess entertains her guests 
 with hon mots and little suppers. 
 
 When Monseignor Capel, the successful priest of the Roman 
 hierarchy, appeared at the Capitol, flushed with his success in 
 winning millions to the cotters of the church, through lady par- 
 ishioners, converting Miss Caldwell and other New York belles, 
 he tackled Madame de Struve to come into the fold of the church, 
 using his wonderful persuasive powers with good effect, he sus- 
 pected, but what was his chagrin to hear her say in witty French 
 that she preferred "Hades to the Romish church," and she re- 
 mained as infidel as ever. 
 
 From a society column, we copy the names of her guests one 
 Sunday evening, who were seated around the hospitable board 
 of the Russian Minister. Tliere were five children of the family 
 and three Russian goumrnants. The guests were the Swedish 
 Minister and Madame Reutersjkold, Count Loveruon, the 
 Danish Minister — Mrs. Bigelow Lawrence, Mrs. Julian James, 
 Mrs. Clayton McMichael, the wife of the U. S. Marshal of the 
 Di3trict, Mile. Nougieras and Monsieur Pedroso, with others. 
 
 Madame Kuki, the wife of the Japanese Minister, is a very 
 pretty brunette, dresses in American fashion, speaks P'rench 
 pretty well, and in many ways, is a companionable woman. 
 Very few people oatside of the Capitol, realize how much influ- 
 ence the Foreign Legations have in social circles, and through 
 these otten shape Congressional legislation. 
 
 Their houses, furniture, turnouts, entertainments and speedj, 
 are copied largely by the social world here. Nearly all are 
 Roman Catholics which has given iiitlueiice to that denomina- 
 
60 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 tion, more than any other church at Washington. The new 
 University which is to be built near the Soldiers' Home, with the 
 Jesuit college on Georgetown Heights, will augment its power, 
 more and more. To its credit, be it said, that this church has 
 stood like a solid wall against Mormonism, easy divorces, and 
 other national vices. The place where the Legations 
 mostly worship, is at St. Matthews, an old fashioned structure at 
 the corner of H street and Fifteenth, opposite Columbia univer- 
 sity, and is built with heavy Doric pillars in front, standing on a 
 stone plattorm. It has a moderately tall spire and roomy 
 chancel. 
 
 At eleven o'clock Sunday mass, when the diplomatic corps has 
 the usual number of its representatives in its pews, the church 
 presents a brilliant scene — ftev. Father Chappelle in full canon- 
 icals, the organ pealing, and the solemn incense of heart and 
 alter, all seem to melt the soul in the presence of Deity, and this 
 makes a deep impression on those of a poetic temperament. 
 
 Some of these diplomats with foreign orders get terribly in- 
 toxicated if they are steady in their church devotions, and would 
 appear in police circles, but there is no law to arrest foreigners, 
 if officials; as it is supposed by treaty, that a foreign court will 
 send gentlemen as representatives. The only redress is, when 
 they are too troublesme, to call the attention of the State De- 
 partment, and through it, the drunkard is recalled, and the of- 
 fender sent home in disgrace. Manuel del Campo, one of the 
 South American attaches, used to raise a row every week in the 
 Theater Comique, but us ladies are never seen in "the Eleventh 
 street opera house;" for some time he was only quietly remanded 
 to his hotel. Finally, some of those who frequent the place, got 
 tired of his insolent behavior and through the State Department 
 he was recalled. 
 
 Under the influence of wine, some of these scions of nobility 
 have behaved themselves in very improper ways, but as many 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 61 
 
 mammas are generally crazy for foreign matches, it is overlooked 
 in whispers, in very gentle whispers. No wonder these noodle 
 foreigners lind themselves sought after every hour of the day, 
 even after some ot their most disgraceful antics of sowing wild 
 oats in the most exclusive homes of America, and receive after 
 all their naughtyness, showers of invitations every season. These 
 foreign dudes are often ridiculing these un-American women, 
 guying them in PVench or Spanish, if the ladies do not under- 
 stand those languages. 
 
 A certain millionaire's wife came to the Capitol, in gorgeous 
 array of purple and gold, rented a noted official's mansion on 
 Dupont Circle, and throwing open her doors for a grand enter- 
 tainment, sent her cards to the foreign legations, without ever 
 being introduced to one of them. This astonishing coup de etat 
 was to accent her social grandeur in the Wild West, for the so- 
 ciety correspondents of the Chicago papers were expected to 
 telegraph the fact that the lady had entertained "Monsieur and 
 
 Madame of the Legation" — "Sir Lionel and Miss West of 
 
 the British Legation," etc., etc. 
 
 Some of the bachelors in the diplomatic corps who have poor 
 salaries, and known as "the d — I's poor," accepted the invita- 
 tion, and had a glorious supper of terrapin and wine, that would 
 have cost twenty dollars a plate at Chamberlin's Club house. 
 
 The lady was extricated from her fmixjyas by her wealth and 
 cordial manner, and a season afterwards entertained the lords 
 and ladies: Some of the social leaders in official circles helped 
 her out of the scrape, but she was the laughing stock of the 
 queens of society. 
 
 Many of the old families born and bred in the city, are very 
 exclusive, not liking strangers, and mere riches are not a pass- 
 port to their class, any more than among the Knickerbockers, 
 and through all the Republican administration, had little to do 
 
62 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 in a social way with them, even the highest officials. When the 
 Democrats came into power in 1885, their pride was tortured at 
 the ostentatious entertainments of Mrs. Whitney and Mrs. Man- 
 ning, and they held aloof, at times, tor many ol them are poor, 
 comparatively, with the exception ot the Corcorans and Iliggs's, 
 for the "old settlers' " weak teas could not compete in high- 
 sounding adjectives of society columns, with the terrapin and 
 champagne at the Frelinghuysen mansion presided over by the 
 stylish wife of the Secretary of the Navy — Mrs. Whitney. 
 Among the highest social leaders at the Capitol, are the wives ot 
 naval officers, being superior in aristocratic rank to the wives 
 of army officers of the same grade — then, not a step below, are 
 the wives of the Justices of the Supreme Court, and if Madame 
 Edgar-Bonaparte, Countess Esterhazy, nee Carroll, Madame 
 Bergman-Laughton should honor you with an invitation to din 
 ner, your future position in the social world would be considered 
 by the ladies, as impregnable, and you can defy envy there, or 
 any where. 
 
 One of the most popular women at the Capitol, is Mrs. Gen- 
 eral Logan, who with her white hair rolled back in Pompadour 
 style over her intellectual brow, would pass for a French duchesse 
 of the olden time. She was much sought after before Gen. 
 Logan's death at entertainments. 
 
 Mrs. Margaret Vinton Dahlgren, the novelist and wealthy 
 owner of Ohio mines and forest lands, was much admired, but 
 she foolishly wrote a book, where she disguised names and scored 
 fashionable vanities, and for her pains, was snubbed by some of 
 the grande dames without mercy. 
 
 Frances Hodgson Burnett, in her "One Administration" |per- 
 petrated the same sin, and behind her back is still guyed and 
 sneered at for her "lack ot taste in dress" — "she wears too much 
 heliotrope." "Oh! she is cranky," says the wife of a Supreme 
 Court Justice, who would be dreadfully horrified at being desig- 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 63 
 
 nated as "a Judge's wife," instead of the wife of a Justice, tor 
 nothing could be so awfull}' vulgar, as to be taken tor the wife 
 of a common "Jedge" — tor instance, to be the wife of -'Jedge 
 Waxem of Wabash and Wayback yender" whose biography has 
 been faithfully written by a lady reporter of the Washington 
 Critic, illustrated by her own mimitable pencil. This wife of a 
 Supreme Judge, or Justice rather, is a good poker player, and 
 drinks the best ot wine at home and aboard. She, and the wife 
 of a near relative of a late reigning family in France, have been 
 carried to their carriages by footman and coachman, hopelessly 
 intoxicated, and yet these ladies have never lost their high po- 
 sition in society. A daughter of this French family was so heart 
 broken over her mother's unfortunate appetite, that she retired 
 to a convent some time ago. 
 
 Poker and cribbage are the favorite pastimes of ''a select set," 
 and these sets or coteries run all tiirough the elite of the Capitol. 
 There are hundreds of ladies who do not play poker, or bet on 
 cards, or horse races, but family and high position covers a great 
 many ladies who hold winning cards. 
 
 One of the social leaders at charity entertainments is Mrs. 
 General Lander— "Jean" the actress, who became one of the 
 aristocracy through her marriage with the wealthy army officer, 
 as well as by her many accomplishments and social tact. She 
 lives in a handsome two-story cottage on Capitol Hill, about a 
 block from the residence ol the late Mary Clemmer-Hudson, 
 who shared past honors among literary people with Gail Hamil- 
 ton—Mrs. Blaine's cousin, whose real name is Abigail C Dodge. 
 Mrs. Hudson, or Mary Clemmer, was one of the best known 
 literary womm at the Capitol, being the author of a work on 
 "Washington and its Public Buildings," and a poetess of rare 
 merit. She married, when very young, a piig of a parson, but 
 later they were divorced— he, retaining his admiration for his 
 wife after their separation and her second marriage with Edward 
 
64 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 Hudson, the brilliant journalist and correspondent of the Boston 
 Herald. Mr. Hudson was ten years the junior of his gifted wife 
 but they were very happy together, although the lady did not 
 live long after her second marriage. She left no children. 
 
 Among the female artists. Miss Ransom, formerly of Cleve- 
 land, Ohio, is the best known, being a member of the Classical 
 Society of which General Garfield was the leading essayist for 
 years. She came to the Capitol under the patronage of the Gar- 
 fields, and her picture of the murdered President and his gentle 
 wife as well as Grandma, have made largely her national repu- 
 tation. Miss Ransom's best picture, which should have been 
 purchased by the Library committee, is a full length portrait of 
 General Thomas. "Old Pap," as the old soldiers called him, 
 stands with his field glass, overlooking one of the valleys near 
 Lookout Mountain, and as the face is well brought out in its in- 
 tellectual grandeur of brow and massive chin, the picture brings 
 to mind very vividly, one of the ablest generals of the war. But 
 Miss Ransom has no business capacity to sell pictures, therefore 
 gets worried and cross at times. 
 
 Disputing at all points of distinction with Miss Ransom, is 
 Miss Adele Fawcett, the painter of the "Electoral Commission." 
 The scene is laid in the Supreme Court reom — the interior 
 of this historic chamber well represented, and while some of the 
 portraits are good, others portrayed in the audience, who wit- 
 nessed the balloting of the commission, are scarcely recognizable. 
 
 Ex-Senators Windom, Blaine and Conkling are pretty well 
 executed, but Senator Allison of Iowa, one of the ablest mem- 
 bers of the Upper House, looks as if he had a stiff" neck. Mrs. 
 Blaine looks well around bonnet and leathers, but not in the face, 
 while McDonald and ex-Governor Hampton and Butler of South 
 Carolina, are very badly finished. This picture will be one of 
 the Library treasures, not for its artistic work, but the historic 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 65 
 
 design caught the Library Commission's attention, and tlie fair 
 artist was paid $5,000. 
 
 Col. Robert Ingersoll and family entertained largely in the 
 season of 1882-3. The great pagan has a handsome, fashionably 
 dressed wife, and as a hostess she is cordial and unaffected in 
 manner, as well as prodigal in the good things she provides tor 
 her guests. The milk punch and boned turkey! the rare fruits 
 and flowers of some of their Sunday evening receptions were the 
 theme of hon vivants. At one of these the lady was dressed in a 
 cardinal satin, cut jprincesse with a demi train, her diamonds are 
 superb, and flne point iace is one of the attractions of her toilettes 
 that sets ofl" her lovely neck and bust. 
 
 Two daughters are the pride of the Ingersolls — Maud and Eva, 
 and from childhood they have been allowed free acces: to their 
 papa's cash drawer, to use all the money they liked. What is 
 surprising, they are not extravagant. Ingersoll's sarcasm in a 
 colloquy with ex Senator Sargent was wickedly amusing, even if 
 blasphemous. '*God was a link between nowhere and nowhere" 
 — but all talk like this would subside when poetry or art was intro- 
 duced into the salon. Congressmen and their wives attended 
 these receptions with the exception of strict church people, as 
 Mrs. Senator Blair and Teller. Ingersoll's fame on the historic 
 roll of the nation will not rest, however, upon his futile attempts 
 to break down the Christian religion, but in his memorable ad- 
 dress, commencing with, "The past rises betore me like a dream," 
 etc. It is one ot the finest prose-poems in the English language, 
 and today, Blaine owes much to his baptism of "Plumed Knight'" 
 given him by Ingersoll, in this nominating speech at Cincinnati, 
 in 1876. 
 
 In the coldly religious atmosphere of Wasliington, the Inger- 
 solls were not entirely happy, and they have removed to New 
 York city — pater fainilids being a native of the interior of the 
 
QQ AMEKICAJSr COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 Empire State, and the son ot a Presbyterian minister of Alle- 
 ghany county, N. Y. 
 
 Col. IngersoU had been considered a stalwart in politics, being 
 a friend to Senator Dorsey, Conkling and Arthur, but his warm 
 friendship ot Blaine had a little mildew when he was not put 
 prominently forward in 1884, by the Blaine managers, and Mrs. 
 Blaine was cold to the ladies ot the infidel's family. The Plumed 
 Knight relied on church sentiment which should have elected 
 him. But alas! tor Burchard, it divided and went over to his 
 rival. 
 
 Mr. Arthur was born a Baptist, but became an Episcopalian 
 through his wife, and after he became President attended divine 
 service with his tamily at St. John's, one of the oldest structures 
 in the city, where Washington, Madison and other public men 
 had been its historic parishioners. It is nearly opposite the 
 White House, on the "H" side of Lafayette Square, and is a 
 medium between High and Low church. It intones the prayers 
 — has candles and processions, but no incense or contessional. 
 Rev. Mr. Leonard is Rector, and a most gifted preacher. 
 
 The church has an old fashioned gallery, brass lamps, and 
 brass altar railings, after the fashion of the English churches, a 
 century ago. President Arthur's pew was on the north side ot 
 the center aisle. The florist of the White House furnished 
 flowers from the conservatory for the altar every Sunday. 
 
 President Arthur's Thanksgiving proved auspicious. The 
 Republicans rallied to his support in cqjparent harmony, and 
 preparations were made to bring Guiteau to trial. A good deal 
 of speculation was indulged in, and inquiry made whether the 
 star route trials would ever come oft, as it was rumored the gov- 
 ernment had been cheated by rascally mail contractors. 
 
 After the celebration at Yorktown in October, Secretary of 
 State, Mr. Blaine, resigned, and the position of Minister to Eng- 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 67 
 
 land was offered to hiin, but he refused it with thanks, lion. F. 
 T. Frelinghuysen was appointed Secretary in his stead. Later 
 on, Mr. Windom resigned from the Treasury, expecting to be 
 elected to the Senate from Minnesota, but was beaten by a com- 
 bination, led by the Hon. Mark Dunnell. Judge Folger of New 
 Y ork, was given the Treasury portfolio. lie died in two years 
 and a few months, succeeded by Postmaster General Gresham, 
 and just before the close of Mr. Arthur's administration, the of- 
 fice was given to the Hon. Hugh McCullough, President John- 
 son's Secretar}' — Mr. Gresham being appointed Circuit Judge 
 of the United States courts. In April 1882, Secretary Kirkwood, 
 appointed by Mr. Garfield resigned from the Interior Department 
 and Senator Teller, of Colorado, appointed in his place. Mr. 
 Hunt, Secretary of the Navy, was sent as Minister to Russia, 
 where he died in two years from the eft'ect of the inhospitable 
 climate. He was succeeded by the Hon. Wm. E. Chandler ot 
 New Hampshire. Mr. McVeigh resigned as Attorney General, 
 and was succeeded by the Hon. Benjamin Brewster of Phila- 
 delphia. Postmaster General James resigned and his place 
 tilled by the Hon. Timothy Howe of Wisconsin, a stalwart Re- 
 publican, dying in 1884, leaving Robert T. Lincoln, the only 
 member of the original Garfield cabinet — Secretary of War at 
 the close of Mr. Arthur's term. 
 
 Mr. Arthur was generally happy in his selection of ofiicers, to 
 fill public trusts. As time passes on, and the gentle, courteous 
 President, who now sleeps in the Albany cemetery comes up in 
 the historic past, his many qualities, that made him a model 
 Executive officer will endear him to the hearts of the American 
 people. He was as gracious to the humblest black, as to a for. 
 eign prince, and through the trying ordeal of the first year of 
 his administration, he counseled with the ablest men of his party 
 and with a high sense of honor, he filled his place witli an abid- 
 ing faith, that in time, the American people would do him 
 justice. 
 
bo AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 The rupture between ex-Senator Conkling and the new Presi- 
 dent ot 1881 made its appearance soon after Mr. Arthur's acces- 
 sion to the Presidency, and came from his refusal to allow a 
 private citizen, even if an old friend and political comrade, to 
 dictate to the old party leaders, as well as himself, the appoint- 
 ments of the New York custom house. Mr. Conkling was not 
 Senator, yet he insisted on the removal of "the traitor Robert- 
 son" as Collector. President Arthur felt it his duty to uphold 
 the late Mr. Garfield's policy, as he was his successor by acci- 
 dent, and not by the vote of the people. And in the excited con- 
 dition of the country he thought it best to wait until there was 
 more quiet, and all fractional disturbance had passed away. 
 But Mr. Conkling was obstinate, which we have no doubt, he 
 regrets today. A man with less delicacy of character, with more 
 rugged ambition when he was placed in the White House, as 
 Mr. Arthur was, would have thrown all tender feeling of Mr. 
 Garfield's policy to the winds, would have been more pronounced 
 in opposition to Mr. Blaine, but he gently, yet firmly adhered to 
 his excellent judgment in that time of trial. 
 
 He carried out the views of Congress, with but few vetoes, 
 among them the famous River and Harbor bill, which was so 
 obvious a steal, that the Chief Executive vetoed it without com- 
 punction. For SIX months after Mr. Garfield's death, all official 
 letters and documents were draped in mourning, and every re- 
 S])ect was shown to the late President by his successor. 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 69 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Frelinghuysens— Arthur's Policy — Historic Houses — 
 Historic Women — Guiteau's Trial. 
 
 Mr. Arthur in his southern policy retained in the departments 
 the Union men of the late war, but in his messages, lie said 
 nothing more about the south than the west. The public 
 conscience was greatly benumbed, for Congress allowed members 
 to sit in its cliambers who liad blood written all over their po- 
 litical records, blacks were murdered in the cotton belts of the 
 southern states, because they were republicans, yet Congress did 
 nothing with the exception of a dilly dally investigation at 
 Copiah and Danville, as to the methods of the tissue ballots. 
 Had there been a more thorough overhauling in 1884, triumph 
 instead of defeat for the grand old party — historically grand, for 
 at this time it had so tew to lift it out of the slough of a constant 
 compromise with wrong, and the same thing for the last ten years. 
 Sumner, Wade, Stevens, Morton and Henrj^ Wilson, the fiery 
 leaders of great principles were dead, and "let things alone down 
 there" was the Shibboleth of the party leaders. 
 
 President Arthur's administration stands out in h((s relief m the 
 social history of the White House. Mrs. Zach. Taylor used to 
 smoke her cob pipe in the East room. Mrs. Fillmore was a 
 stately, pleasant lady but not particularly graceful or enjoy- 
 able. Miss Lane was lovely, but Buchanan a stiff old bachelor. 
 Mrs. Lincoln's social atmosphere was clouded by her insanity, and 
 the dreadful surroundings of war and bloodshed — at President 
 Johnson's receptions there were red-nosed guests, and the pim|)ly. 
 gross face of Mrs. Cobb, sometimes seen. At the Grant rece])- 
 tions there were discordant elements, not the fault of the great 
 general or his wife, but untoward circumstances. At the Hayes 
 
70 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 levees were the sneers and ridicule of the anti-temperance people, 
 and passing over the few months of the Garfield regime at the 
 White House, the Arthur administration with Mrs. McElroy, as 
 gentle and sweet as woman can well be, the social atmosphere 
 was refined, elegant and luxurious, without ostentation or prim- 
 ness. The Frelinghuysens, with their daughter, Mrs. John 
 Davis, were his most intimate friends of the Cabinet Miss 
 Folger. before her death, was generally present at a state dinner 
 with the Premier's family, and her father was one of the Cabinet 
 that the President loved. The White House often had for its 
 guests, Mrs. Paran Stevens, Lady Mandeville, Madame Younzga, 
 Mrs. D. P. Morgan, who came from the metropolis to pay their 
 respects. 
 
 The social atmosphere about the White House brought many 
 other genial and elegant New Yorkers to the Capitol. Before 
 John Jacob Astor was sent to Italy as minister to that great 
 power, he and Mrs. Astor spent some time in the city, and were 
 guests of the President. Mrs. Astor in her stately beauty ap- 
 peared at one of the public receptions in black velvet, with dia- 
 monds said to be worth a quarter of a million, and rare, old lace 
 as fine as a cobweb. It was reported by a society newspaper 
 that at another Cabinet reception, Mrs. Astor's lace overskirt 
 could be easily drawn through a child's thimble, so fine was the 
 texture. The spirituelle Mrs. Craig-Wadsworth, of Geneva, N. 
 Y. , reportek to be the fiancee of the late President, by those who 
 did not know, was, before her death, one of the lovely women ot 
 the Capitol. At one of the White House levees, she wore a 
 white, uncut velvet with sweeping train, lier point lace and dia- 
 monds much admired. Her str)all hands clasped the arm of the 
 accomplished western diplomat, the Hon. John A. Kasson, our 
 Minister to Austria, who said a ])retty compliment in French, as 
 they slowly went down the East room, Mrs. Wadsworth died 
 the next year, after a few months of terrible suffering, patient 
 
LIFE AT THB NATIONAL CAPITOL. 71 
 
 through it all, as the Great Master. She was in the world, but 
 not of the world. 
 
 It was not so much the guests as the leader of the American 
 Court himself. Mr. Arthur was a polished gentleman, and what- 
 ever may be said in Mr. Cleveland's favor, and he has many 
 good qualities outside of his ward politics, when he came to the 
 White House, he seemed to have been little used to the society 
 of ladies — his hands were gawky — in greeting he made stiff 
 bows — in trying to entertain ladies and foreigners, he dared not 
 take the initiative, and evidently had a maniacal fear of criticism. 
 Miss Cleveland first wore, as mistress of the White House, short 
 hair, which horrified society belles, although in a lower grade it 
 was copied, and the barbers of the city had quite a crop of hair 
 for sale. This did not last long for the lady afterwards appeared 
 in a high coiffure the very next season, and all the time of her 
 regime, she was liked for her cordiality and intelligence, if she 
 were somewhat ungraceful. 
 
 The foreign legations had their little sly talks, and even "Miss 
 Grundy (Miss Snead) laughed in her sleeves as she wrote flaming 
 accounts of White House gatherings to the Louisville Courier- 
 Journal and New York Graphic, but everybody knew that Mr. 
 Arthur's regime had suffered no social eclipse. 
 
 Of Mr. Arthur's Cabinet, none entertained more royally than 
 the Attorney General. His Sevres china was imported at im- 
 mense cost, their costly silver service — wines and terrapin suppers 
 were heartily enjoyed, not only by the President, but other dis- 
 tinguished guests. Mrs. Brewster was a handsome woman — a 
 daughter of Robert Walker, ex-Secretary of the Treasury, and 
 after the war when reduced in circumstances she was appointed a 
 Treasury clerk. At one time Mr. Brewster had business with 
 the department — saw the beautiful woman at work, and the great 
 lawyer fell in love, nolens volens. The Attorney General was 
 dreadfully burned in the face, while rescuing a younger sister 
 
72 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 trom a burning grate. He wore a grey coat, immense shirt trills 
 and when the lady saw him gazing at her, she remarked to her 
 desk mate, "There goes the ugliest man in America." But Mr. 
 Brewster otlered himself then and there to ' 'the prettiest woman 
 in America," so he said in answer. The lady hearing ot his 
 chivalrous devotion to his sister, of his great wealth and talents, 
 accepted his ofter, and atter her marriage with Mr. Brewster, 
 became one oi the queens ot society in Philadelphia. She died 
 there, after leaving Washington in 1886. 
 
 Mrs. Secretary Frelinghuysen gave elegant Cabinet receptions 
 at her residence on I street, northwest. At one of these, Mrs. 
 Brewster was a central figure, dressed in a gray and gold bro- 
 cade, her white hair rolled back, and in her stately step, one saw 
 the old patrician blood without taint, or loss. She wore a flower 
 bonnet ot marguerites, ^^ath white lace strings— a diamond cross,. 
 and passing round her well moulded bust and shoulders, a gray 
 and gold crape scarf. 
 
 Miss Lucy Frelinghuysen presided at a little tea table covered 
 with an elegant silver tea service — the butler, staid and gray, saw 
 that the table was in a proper condition; any ot the lady callers, 
 who paid their respects, partook ot the retreshments. Mrs. Fre- 
 linghuysen, in a black satin, stood in the front parlor, and re- 
 ceived her guests with a pleasant smile, and chatted with her 
 acquaintances, rather informally that day. Mrs. George Ban- 
 croft, her neighbor, and wife of the great historian, wore at this 
 reception a heavy Lyons silk, without a particle of trimming on 
 the plain basque and sleeves, and nothing on the long demi- 
 train, but the skirt braid. Her husband, the historian, white- 
 haired and stiff with eighty-four years, had on a very dark blue 
 swallow tail coat with large gilt buttons, and the vest with the 
 pantaloons were of the same blue color. He talked of Adams and 
 Clay, and seemed to understand all the intricacies of the Indian 
 question, which at that time stirred up public men, as the noble 
 
LlfE AT THE NATIOIJAL CAPlTOL. 75 
 
 red men had murdered a number of families on the pioneer 
 border of Southern Colorado. 
 
 Among other ladies present at this reception, were Mrs. Sec- 
 retary Chandler, Mrs. Senators Harrison and Cockrell, the latter 
 being dressed in a handsome garnet velvet. This lady is very 
 intelligent, being a connection of the celebrated Ewing family. 
 At the Frelinghuysens, the social center of Arthur's administra- 
 tion, there was much wit and pleasant conversation, and for four 
 years, nearly, they set the fashion. 
 
 Mrs. Belford, the wife of the red haired Congressman from 
 Colorado, was rather pretty and quite intellectual. She was 
 present at this time, and conversed upon the inspirations of poets 
 — talking about Shelley and Keats in a quiet, chatty way. 
 
 Mrs. Cockerell remarked to a lady friend, that our poets and 
 novelists had much more influence on our national character 
 and legislation than was generally admitted. "Thus Fennimore 
 Cooper's imaginary Indian characters remained in many people's 
 minds as the real Indian of the plains. He is not such a heroic 
 personage." 
 
 There was considerable talk at one time about Mrs. John 
 Davis and her influence with the President, afler her husband 
 was appointed to the Court of Claims by General Arthur. Both 
 Mr. and Mrs. Davis were intimate at the White House and the 
 lady came at all hours. There was a good deal of rivalry in 
 certain circles, for the President was a widower, and the prize 
 was worth fighting for— in a quiet, underhanded way. Mrs. 
 Davis wore a cardinal dress trimmed with black lace, very 
 (iecollete^^ and no sleeves but a shoulder strap, this, at a White 
 House dinner. It was said Mr. Arthur touched her shoulder 
 playfully with a red rose. "Sweets to the sweet," meaning only 
 a pretty compliment. How envy caught this up, some of the 
 society belles ought to remember — at any rate, the telegraph 
 
74 AMEKICAN OOUKT GOSSIP. 
 
 and society correspondents hinted of scandal. But the man who 
 ordered fresh flowers before his dead wife's picture every morn 
 ing, who trained his children to revere their mother's name, who 
 worshipped blue violets for her sake, and often wore them on 
 his knightly breast, was proof against intrigue, and scorned dis- 
 honor. The scandal was short-lived, and was the only one that 
 made any noise. It was envy with a Chinese pop-gun. 
 
 In the parlors of Dr. and Mrs. Cora Bland, on G street, the 
 Indian society of the District met often, and hatched up plans 
 for the amelioration of the poor red man. What pitiful stories 
 were told of the wants of th9 western tribes! how the cranks 
 wept in sympathy, without a thought of the pioneers, who were 
 scalped and murdered. Mrs. Colonel Adair, the wife of a Cher- 
 okee chief was at one of these receptions, wanting a Congres- 
 sional appropriation for property destroyed by rebel Indians, 
 and yet she admitted she was worth a hundred thousand dollars 
 in land, that was constantly increasing in value. Colonel A. B. 
 Meachem was another crank on the Indian question, and he em- 
 phasized much talk by waving his hand to a party of Warm 
 Spring Indians, who were seated near the speaker. Mr. E. 
 Ballon, a teacher among the Shoshones, urged education upon 
 the tribe — the teachers to be paid by the government. There 
 had been twenty murders by the red devils in Arizona that week 
 but it was partially justified by the society, on the ground of re- 
 taliation. One sensible man, a guest of the society, proposed in 
 a half-hour talk to place the whole Indian question under the 
 War Department, claiming that our political management had 
 cost the country one hundred and fifty millions of money and 
 thousands ol valuable lives — with outraged women, and children 
 dashed to pieces before their mothers' eyes, and yet for the sake 
 of Indian agents, a strong lobby had always kept the manage- 
 ment under the Interior Department. The Indians and Mormons 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 75 
 
 in bands, had terrorized settlers in the territories, and the whole 
 question should be turned over to the War Department. But 
 the citizens' plan was highly disapproved by this Indian loving 
 society, who, while small and apparently insignificant at the 
 Capitol, have worked with similar societies in Boston and Phila- 
 delphia with different administrations, and until the capture 
 ot Geronimo by the army (>fficer8, the sweet, red men were kill- 
 ing and robbing settlers, as usual. England, through her Cana- 
 dian mihtia has kept her Indians from murdering her pioneers, 
 and the army forces of the British colonies from Vancouver to 
 Toronto, made the savages to understand, that their business 
 was to hunt and fish, and let scalping and murder alone. Oklo- 
 lioma territory should have been opened long ago to the white 
 settlers, but Indian traders, Indian agents and the chiefs them- 
 selves, have prevented this timely measure for the public good 
 to be consummated. 
 
 In Oct., 1881, the celebration of the surrender of Cornwallis at 
 Yorktown, Virgmia, was attended by representatives of the State 
 Department, several of the Diplomatic corps, with Mr. Blaine 
 at the head of the affair, to witness the ceremonies. There had 
 been a small appropriation of twenty thousand by Congress, but 
 Yorktown was one of those miserable southern villages, without 
 enterprise enough to get up a decent meal, and the whole enter- 
 prise proved to be an unhappy failure — the laughing stock of the 
 Diplomatic corps. The management of the blow-out had hard 
 work to get a bill through Congress for expenses, that overrun 
 the appropriation — the wines and liquors for the swell officers of 
 the navy and to entertain the foreigners were talked about by 
 the temperance people, and on the whole, the Yorktown celebra- 
 tion was a sort of an eye-sore to Mr. Arthur and his political 
 friends. Beside this, there was an awkward steal of a $5,000 
 U. S. bond from the Treasury by an employe in the coupon di- 
 vision. The officers ordered in a circular to all National 
 
76 AMERICAN COtJRT GOSSIP. 
 
 banks not to pay the original, but a duplicate, which would be 
 placed to the credit of the government, so there was no harm 
 done, but a little flurry, and the only one for the past seven 
 years of that kind. 
 
 ********** 
 
 The trial of Guiteau, the assassin of President Garfield, com- 
 menced in the City hall on D street northwest, November 14, 
 1881, and was of intense interest, not only to citizens of the 
 District of Columbia, but visitors came from all parts of the 
 country to witness the proceedings, and see the wretch, who had 
 murdered so good a man. Judge Cox was known in the District 
 as a solid, unimpassioned official, and no amount of eloquence 
 could move him away from facts and evidence. There would be 
 no snap judgment in favor of the prisoner. 
 
 Guiteau was brought up from the United States jail in a close 
 van or "the black maria," the guard cautiously opened the door 
 when the vehicle touched the pavement in front of the hall of 
 justice, and the assassin creeps down the step, passes the statue 
 of the immortal Lincoln, white and scared, the prisoner pulls 
 his manacled hands together for he fears violence from the jeer- 
 ing and abusive mob of both black and white, that crowd the 
 passage way to the door. With a single bound, he jumps the 
 threshold of the outer door, and when he reaches the court room, 
 his manacles are taken off in the prisoner's box. There is no 
 fear of escape, for he believes the Lord had given him a com- 
 mission to do the awful deed, and that he cannot be injured by 
 mortal man. Col. Corkhill, the prosecuting attorney for the 
 District of Columbia, was the leading lawyer for the government. 
 At first, the prisoner's brother in law, George Scoville, of Chi- 
 cago, was the only lawyer for the defense, but Leigh Robinson 
 Esq., a nephew of Mr. Corcoran, kindly volunteered his services 
 which were accepted by the Court and prisoner. Guiteau was 
 decently dressed in a diagonal busmess suit of brown. His 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 77 
 
 dark, auburn hair was cut close to his wicked shaped head, the 
 restless, insane eyes roved around the room — the brows as thick 
 as a man's linger, lowered and raised again by his varying emo- 
 tions, and when he did not fear personal violence from the out- 
 door mob, he stood defiant and insolent, like the insane wretch 
 he was — there appeared a nervous twitching about the lips, 
 clasping and unclasping his white hands, as the prosecuting at- 
 torney rose in his seat to address the Court. Mrs. Scoville, with 
 a large poke bonnet and brown cloak sat near him, her little 
 eight-year-old girl, ever and anon glancing at her father, and 
 then to her Uncle Charles. John Guiteau, a black-browed 
 brother, with a better shaped head than the assassin, was seated 
 with the Scovilles. He never in the course ot the great trial, 
 seemed to have any sympathy for the assassin, and evidently 
 came to the Court, to be looked at, havmg the same incorrigible 
 vanity and self esteem, as the prisoner. 
 
 Mr. Scoville objected to several jurors, because they were not 
 orthodox church members. A part of the defense was, that Gni- 
 teau believed that God had commissioned him to kill the Presi- 
 dent, that his unhealthy brain under the political excitement 
 made him uncontrollable, therefore, the assassin was not respon- 
 sible. Many experts were called at the trial, to prove Guiteau's 
 insanity. Dr. Spitzka, Dr. Godding and Dr. Lamb, were of the 
 opinion he was insane. Other great physicians believed him 
 responsible at the time of the assassination. It was a case 
 where doctors disagreed. Long before the summing up before 
 the jury, Robinson was discharged by Guiteau and Scoville, and 
 Charlos H. Reed of Chicago, was retained by the defense. But 
 the prisoner would often interrupt Reed, mutter incoherently — 
 " i ou are a fool" he would often manage to say, and at other 
 times he would interrupt the court, and try to plead his case him- 
 self. The bailiff and judge would order him down to his seat. 
 If he had not been in a state of mental aberration, this action on 
 
78 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 the part of the prisoner would not have been permitted for a 
 moment, for he never hurried himself, and took his seat when 
 he got ready, talking all the time. 
 
 After weeks of trial, Guiteau was tound guilty and sentence 
 passed. One morning in going to the court room, the van was 
 fired into by a man named Jones, but Guiteau was not hit by the 
 bullet. Search was made for this would-be murderer, but after 
 arresting several who looked like Jones, they were let go, and to 
 this day, it is hard to tell where Jones keeps himself. The sol- 
 diers who guarded the jail were disposed to resent the perform- 
 ance of this duty, and one evening, William Mason, the U. S. 
 Sergeant in charge of the squad, seeing the assassin in his 
 cell, fired through the pane of glass at his head, but Guiteau had 
 dodged, and the minnie ball flattened itself against the stone 
 wall in a most singular shape, very much like the prisoner's pro- 
 file and skull. 
 
 What an uncontrollable excitement this firing made! Some 
 thought it was a barbarism to shoot an unarmed prisoner, others 
 that Guiteau ought to be shot at an}' time, and save expense 
 of hanging. Mason , to such people was a popular hero. He 
 was not sympathized with by the army officials, and was court 
 martialed. Col. Ayres presided at the Court and sentenced him 
 to eight years in the Albany penitentiary. All soldiers are poor 
 men, and when Mason's pay was stopped, there was a call for 
 his family by subscriptions. All over the nation, the cry went 
 up for "Betty and the baby." This appeal brought several 
 thousand dollars to the little woman, who never saw so much 
 money in her Virginia home before. 
 
 An effort was made to pardon Mason out of the Albany prison 
 but the President would not interfere with the military discipline 
 of the army officials, until Mason had been confined eight 
 months, when he was set free. Guiteau's sentence was given by 
 Judge Cox, January 25, 1882, and the prisoner fell to cursing 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 79 
 
 the jury, jiulge and lawyers, declaring "God will punish you 
 alii Guiteau's curse! Death and business trouble has followed 
 eight ot the jurymen — Colonel Corkhill, who received the sever- 
 est part of Guiteau's curse, died an awful death of hemorrhage 
 of the stomach on a visit to the west, and Judge Cox had a good 
 deal of financial trouble at one time, with other plagues ot life. 
 Guiteau never actually believed he would come to the scaffold, 
 until the last moment, and when he sang and prayed in his cell, 
 yelled curses on "Corkhill the wretch" — the midnight echoes in 
 the jail almost scared the guard out of their wits — there was 
 something so weird and nncanny about the prisoner, that they 
 were glad when the end came, and he was out of the place. 
 The U. S. jail of the District is eastward two miles from the 
 Capitol, on the banks of the Eastern Branch, but reached by 
 herdics, that go out east Capitol street. It is a very substantial 
 jad, built of strong granite blocks — cemented together, very 
 heavy iron doors, barred windows, and is so constructed, that no 
 prisoner has ever escaped from its walls. The scaffold remains 
 stationery in the north end of the corridor — is painted light blue, 
 with light, graceful steps leading to the platform, and looks no 
 more like an instrument of death, than a grape vine trellis. But 
 the trap is there — no escape for murderers like Stone, Bedford, 
 Finn, Minor or Guiteau. It is death, sure and certain from its 
 innocent looking platform, and Reed, the lawyer knew it as well 
 as any one, unless Guiteau could be pardoned out by the Presi- 
 dent. Guiteau sold his autographs at twenty-five cents apiece, 
 and nothing pleased him more, than for a richly dressed lady to 
 come out to the jail, request his j)resence at the grating, and pass 
 her album to him. It made a great man of the wretch to put his 
 bold handwriting on a white page, thus, "Charles Guiteau, Feb- 
 ruary <!, 1882." Before his execution, he willed this autogra])h 
 money to Mrs. Scoville, and his worthless body to the Rev. Dr. 
 Ilicks, who was his spiritual adviser, and the clergyman who 
 preached at the Tabernacle, South Washington, Mr. ilicks 
 
80 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 gave the body to the government. Whenever Guiteau was 
 brought into court, he generally gave a sweeping ghmce to the 
 ladies, and liked to be noticed through their opera glasses. 
 
 Mrs. Marilla Ricker, a New Hampshire widow, and a wealthy 
 lawyer of criminal practice, used to sit for days watching the 
 assassin. She wore short hair, and being of massive frame 
 caused her to be the cynosure of many eyes, but she had a sweet, 
 feminine smile, beautiful lips, and small, delicate hands. She 
 was a tender, sweet woman, after all; a great friend to the 
 Dorseys, Mrs. Senator Blair and other distinguished people of 
 New England. 
 
 At the trial appeared hundreds who could not gain admission 
 into the little, stuffy court room in the City hall, and among 
 them came often. Dr. Mary Walker, the crank. She was dressed 
 in her every-day suit — a long Prince Albert c#at. vest, pants 
 and shirt front like a man's — a light cane in her little, withered- 
 up hand, and her plug hat pushed back from her head. A 
 strange wonder. ''What is it?" said a stranger. Her face is 
 wrinkled as she is nearly sixty years ®f age, and her slender fem- 
 inine throat rises above the band of linen like a woman, yet 
 she stalked around like an animated clothes horse, or a dwarf 
 man. Partially insane, as Guiteau, yet she had been a war sur- 
 geon and could diagnose disease, and after curiously watching 
 him day by day, she declared he was "crazy as a bed bug!" 
 Why Mary Walker is allowed to wear men's clothes we can not 
 tell, as the police never arrest her for the offense. Boys hoot at 
 her, little nigs run up behind her and catch the tails of her coat 
 — she is, of course, socially ostracised, but she is persistent in 
 her cranky ways, and defies the world, and the Washington 
 police in her dress. 
 
 Another crank was a Miss Thompson — a love-lorn body — some 
 said "a sweet heart of Beau Hickman." She wore long light 
 brown string}'^ curls, a poke bonnet with gr§en ribband bows, a 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 8l 
 
 yellow ribbon round lier neck — a blue dress in summer, an<l pink 
 stockings and gloves. Siie had a mania tor dressing in all colors 
 of the rambow. 
 
 Guitean's case was brought up *in Court in banc, which also 
 refused a new trial. A reprieve was next sought after and asked 
 by Reed, the prisoner's counsel — which was sent to President 
 Arthur, a few days before the execution. Sensible people, who 
 knew the President's feeling of horror at the behavior of Guiteau, 
 were not surpised at the executive refusal, to interfere with the 
 course of even-handed justice. "He was insane," cried out some. 
 
 "Insane people ought to be incarcarated in asylums," said 
 others. But cranks were common. One of the fraternity had 
 attempted to force his way into the White House. Another had 
 attempted violence at the State Department. And if Guiteau 
 were insane, he was as well ofi on the scaffold, as manacled 
 and lying in the dungeon of an asylum, or jail, for he was evi- 
 dently a doomed man, to be kept away from his fellows— too dan- 
 gerous for the ordinary run of an asylum. Guiteau raved, and 
 cursed the President — called all the anathemas down upon his 
 head, which the prisoner had in his vocabulary. Nearly all night 
 before his execution, the guards could hear him cursing, praying 
 and singing religious hymns. "Arthur will die before many 
 years, the ungrateful wretch!" he yelled, and then in writing 
 letters and poetry he passed his time, till the fatal morning of 
 June 30, 1882. His gibberish poetry showed the theory of his 
 insanity to be true, more than the learned physician's opinions, 
 and he died repeating it again and again, as all insane persons 
 (Jo when the will force is dead. 
 
 The details of the scaffold, the burial of Guiteau, the dissection 
 of his body by the army surgeons at the Medical Museum are 
 well known to our readers, but out of the hundred skeletons 
 wired up and used for anatomical purposes, which hang in long 
 glass cases through the building, not five of the one hundred and 
 
82 AMERICAN COTJRT GOSSIP. 
 
 ten employes can tell which skeleton is Gniteau's frame. It is 
 numbered, and the five only know the secret in the building. 
 
 This Medical Museum, or old Ford's Theater, stands on Tenth 
 street, between E and F, northwest, and is the melancholy struc- 
 ture where President Lincoln was killed by the wretch Booth. 
 Guiteau emulated Booth. He was foolish enough to think he 
 would find a following among office holders as Booth had among 
 southrons — Mr. Arthur would adore him, and he expected per- 
 fect immunity from justice as he was divinely inspired. 
 
 But Booth with his dramatic powers and handsome face, was 
 already a hero, before he cried out '"'•Sic semper tyrannus^'''' as 
 he shot the patient Lincoln. At Baltimore and Richmond 
 Booth was a favorite actor, and the whole family of Booths were 
 admired all over the world. Guiteau was a filthy, Onieda free 
 lover, and if Booth had vices, they were of a gentleman. Edwin 
 Booth never acts in Washington since the assassination of Lin- 
 coln, and the denizens of the Capitol must go to Richmond or 
 Baltimore, to hear the foremost actor in America. 
 
 This old Ford's Theater is soon to be torn down as the Museum 
 will be removed to the new building at the corner of B and 
 Seventh southwest, in a few months. Across the street from this 
 historic landmark is a two-story and basement brick, with a tablet 
 over the parlor windows marked, "Lincoln died April 15, 1S65." 
 It has been rented for the newspaper office of the Washington 
 Sentinel, an able German paper, and much read among that 
 class of citizens. The house is visited by tourists every day, and 
 should be owned by the government. The marked ingratitude 
 of the Republic, in having no creditable monument at the Capitol 
 to the great Lincoln, has often been discussed by intelligent for- 
 eigners. The shabby obelisk erected in front of the City Hall, 
 was paid for by popular subscriptions, and the one to the great 
 statesman in Lincoln Park, was the gift of emancipated slaves to 
 the Capitol-^these alone remind an American citizen of the 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. S3 
 
 martyr to Liberty; outside of two smaller statues in the old hall 
 of the House of Representatives. On Emancipation day, the 
 colored people make a pilgrimage to Lincoln Park and crown 
 the statue, which by the way is the most artistic one in the city 
 — they cover the base of the statue with heaps of flowers and 
 ivy. Some of the superstitious ones claim they can hear voices 
 passing between the figure ot the crouching slave on the pedestal 
 and the great Lincoln, who was so far superior to Washington, 
 in a thousand virtues. Lincoln, sweet and amiable, never lashed 
 his dogs, or scolded his wife, or whipped his servants, like the 
 s:reat Virginian, but his public services were as great as the 
 Father of his country, but they never have entitled him to the 
 first place in the Capitol's gratitude, if monuments talk. 
 
 The first toast at European dinners by our consuls and pleni- 
 potentiaries is to Washington. Deserving as the great Virgin- 
 ian was for our gratitude, yet, the nation seems to forget Lin- 
 coln and Grant, who saved it from far worse and more danger- 
 ous perils. Washington first, and always to the front in toast, 
 in speech— in marble monument, unless it be on Decoration day, 
 or among assemblies of soldiers, when there is a political bear 
 ing. There should be at the Capitol, triumphal arches — some- 
 thing to commemorate the memory of the great heroes, Lincoln 
 and Grant, by a grateful people. The kind feeling is all over 
 the country — latent at times, but politicians in Congress seem 
 afraid to take hold of the matter, while this feeling of gratitude 
 languishes, and notiiing is done, to the shame of all true 
 Americans. 
 
 This sentiment of veneration is seen at Washington in the cu- 
 rious interest in old houses. On the north side of East Capitol 
 street between First and Second street, northeast, nearly oppo- 
 site the new Library site, is a tliree.stor}' brick, with dormer 
 windows in the roof, where Culliouii and Clay boarded several 
 years when in Congress. 
 
84 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 On the east side ot the Capitol grounds soon to be torn down, 
 is an old house used in war times, as the Capitol prison and is a 
 matter of great interest to visitors. 
 
 On New Jersey avenue, southeast, there is an old house called 
 the Winter mansion, which before the war was handsomely fur- 
 nished and occupied by the Winter family. The marble steps 
 and mantels beautifully carved, the imposing parlors with all the 
 accessories, of luxury could not keep the owners from moving 
 away, and every family that since has tried to live there, have 
 been driven out by strange noises at midnight, blue lights, and 
 the negro servants declare, that they can see long white wings 
 to a pair of angels, that croon at the top of the front stairs. 
 Whether the house is haunted or not, the neighbors think so, for 
 the beautiful house is last going to decay. 
 
 Washington people are believers m haunted houses- There is 
 one in West Washington, or Georgetown, a magnificent house 
 of twenty-five rooms, going to decay near the Aqueduct bridge. 
 No one lives there long — the ghosts start a rumpus, the negro 
 servants run away, and the tenants scared out of their wits, leave 
 at once. 
 
 Near this old haunted house is Prospect Cottage, the home of 
 Mrs. E. D. E. N, South worth, the novelist, which next to Mrs. 
 Harriet Beecher Stowe, has given more delight to American 
 story readers, than any other of our novelists. The Cottage is a 
 two-story frame with a porch running around it in Virginia fash- 
 ion; there is a funny ginger-bread roof and cornice — roses and 
 lilacs climb to the chamber windows and in its pleasant outlook 
 on the Potomac, is the ideal home of a lady writer. Mrs. 
 Southworth does not remain here through the summer, but 
 spends the heated term with her two children, who have families 
 living at Yonkers, N. Y., but through the Christmas holidays 
 the old house is ringing with mirth and jollity, lor the owner is 
 assisted in her receptions by her sister, Mrs. Baden, who, herself 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 85 
 
 is a tine writer and has several young ladies among her children, 
 who are literary also. 
 
 Mrs. Southworth's charm as a writer, lies in her graphic de- 
 scriptions, her plot as a story teller, and in a subtle defense of 
 true womanhood, for in man}' of her novels, she has touched up 
 very lively old ideas, that wronged woman. 
 
 During, and yet, before the war, she hit with her white hand 
 of mail, in ringing blows, that hideous, iron-clad monster slavery 
 and stood by the Union, when it cost her the friendship of nearly 
 all her immediate famil}' relatives, and hundreds of admirers. 
 She bravely wrote for the ostracised newspaper, the National 
 Era, Bailey's journal, which had such contributors in 1859 and 
 1860 as Harriet Beecher Stowe, Grace Greenwood, Mary Clem- 
 mer Ames, and other glowing lights in the galaxy ot temale 
 writers, that has been the greatest glory of the Kepublic. 
 
 At the time of the Hayes and Tilden rumpus, when the 
 city on the Potomac was torn up with wordy factions from the 
 river to Capitol Hill, some of the enthusiastic old confederate 
 sympathizers hung out the stars and bars, but the old flag with 
 its hues of heaven was swung from the flag-staff of Prospect 
 Cottage, far above its roof, that all might know that the loyal 
 native of "Maryland, my Maryland," did not sympathise with 
 the old, or the new incipient rebellion. But the tongue of slander 
 among her native people was basy. They never forgave her loy- 
 alty and probably never will, and while Mrs. Southworth has lived 
 a life of perfect chastity, yet her fate is that of every other woman 
 who rises above the common place, or above her first station in 
 life — more or less slander, and envy at her heels. The novelist's 
 parlor and library are full of historic souvenirs, gathered at 
 home and abroad. She has a wine cordial which was given her 
 by an old German monk of a curious, stimulating nature, and 
 strange shaped vases, mirrors of the Sixteenth century — rare old 
 
86 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 books and manuscripts, and other interesting objects in art and 
 literature. 
 
 Up tlie river furtlier is the Jesuit CoHege, or Georgetown 
 University, wliere so many prominent men of the nation seek 
 tlieir ahiui mate?'. The old brick wing was built in 1781, and is 
 one of the oldest colleges ol America. The new part is construct- 
 ed (»t Maryland granite and is medieval architecture, while the 
 grounds are lovely with trees and shrubbery dotted over the lawn 
 or college campus. In the library are manuscripts of the 
 Twelfth century, Froissart's Chronicles written on vellum by 
 patient monks, many rare old maps and charts not found else- 
 where in any other college in America. Commodore Decatur 
 was one of its patrons, and gave this great institution of learning 
 many valuable gifts, gathered while in foreign lands. Not far 
 from the University, is the Georgetown Convent where so many 
 ladies of ])rominent families have been educated within its gloomy 
 looking walls. Harriet Lane, the gifted neice of President 
 Buchanan, and mistress of the White House through his event- 
 ful administration, found much of her exquisite grace of manner 
 from her association with the Sisters of the Sacred Heart. It 
 was ])atronized by many of the old Virginia and Maryland fami- 
 lies, and today, the wife of ex-president Tyler is an inmate there. 
 The daughter of the late German Minister, Gerolt, being the vic- 
 tim of an unfortunate love affair, is also a boarder. A list of its 
 graduates would comprise great and historic names, borne by 
 the female relatives of such families. 
 
 The Louisa Home is not an old historic house, but a splendid 
 monument t<» its founder, Corcoran, the millionaire ))hiIanthro])- 
 ist. Alter the war. there were a great many helpless southern 
 women, with no self-reliance, no capacity for business, their rela- 
 tives killed and they left to starve, and so the kind-hearted old 
 gentleman fitted up a magnificent mansion, with all the acces- 
 sories of wealth at their disposal, so far as a pleasant home is 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 87 
 
 concerned — free if poor, others pay a small sum for board, etc. 
 None but aged southern women are entertained at the Louisa 
 Home. 
 
 Mrs. Imogene Robinson Morrell, an artist of some culture 
 opened an art gallery in the Tayloe niansion at the corner of 
 Eighteenth and New York avenue, southwest. This historic 
 residence is surrounded by a brick wall about ten feet high which 
 passes clear round the s(|uare, and the building itself is a (|ueer 
 specimen of architecture, as it was constructed in siiape to con- 
 form to the avenue. All the rooms are octagon, and a wind- 
 ing staircase goes to the third story and dome. The mantels are 
 of white marble carved in classic designs — here you see l^hebus 
 and his chariot, there Thisbe and Pyramus kissing through the 
 wall; with carved grapes, acorns, thistles, and many other beau- 
 tiful designs. This house was built soon after the British burned 
 the city in 1813, and was the scene of gay entertainments. 
 Through its twenty rooms wandered many a Virginia belle that 
 visited Mrs. Tayloe, the hostess, and stately minuets were danced 
 in the parlors of the olden time. The building was shut up 
 after the death of the original owners — there was a gloom about 
 its higii walls, ghosts haunted it at midnight, strange feet were 
 heard walking up and down the stairs, but Mrs. Morrell, the 
 artist, was a Yankee woman and she snap})ed her fingers and 
 laughed at the ghosts, while her pictures smiled from the walls, 
 and other household gods gave form and beauty to the rooms, 
 wliicii had been darkened by dust and cf)bwebs tor many years. 
 The lady gave art receptions, and lights flashed from the gloomy 
 windows, a grand jiiano stood where a harpsichord gave its old 
 fashioned harmony, and waltzing by German zither music took 
 the ])lace of the minuet danced by Dolly ^ladison and her friends 
 who often visited Mrs. Tayloe, through Madison's administration. 
 
 Diagonally across from the Arlington Hotel, is a three-story 
 brick at the corner of Lafayette Park, where Dolly Madison lived 
 
88 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 after she left the White House. It has been used as a public 
 building but now rented to a pleasant family. The building has 
 been remodeled, but is one of the historic houses of the Capitol. 
 
 The house that Senator Don Cameron lives in now, a little 
 further eastward towards the Treasury, is another remodeled his- 
 toric mansion. 
 
 The building next eastward, is where Secretary Seward was 
 
 nearly murdered by Asteroth and Payne. 
 
 Between the trees and near the corner of the street and Penn- 
 sylvania avenue, is where General Sickles shot Key for seducing 
 his wife. 
 
 At the northwest corner of Lafayette Square, "kitty cornered" 
 from Mr. Corcoran's residence, is the historic mansion of Com- 
 modore Decatur, now owned by General Beale, the great Cali- 
 fornia millionaire and friend of General Grant. Miss Emily 
 Beale was married in this house in 1884 to Mr. John McLean Jr., 
 son of the founder of the Cincinnati Enquirer. 
 
 The founder of that great journal himself, lives two houses to 
 the eastward towards Pennsylvania avenue, and instead of a his- 
 toric name on the door plate is writ "Washington McLean." 
 
 The old VanNess mansion on Eighteenth street near the river, 
 is the oldest house in the city which is left intact. It was built 
 in 1810, but is now used as a beer garden and saloon. Governor 
 Swann of Maryland was the real owner before his deatli, and 
 leasing it a good many years ago, it cannot at present be res- 
 cued from the vile wretches, who inhabit this curious and inter- 
 esting old homestead. It stands in a block of land enclosed with 
 a high wall, planted with pines and maj^les, parterres of flowers 
 have been laid oat and bordered with English box, there are neg- 
 lected rose and lilac bushes — down in the back yard, are 
 immense banks of yellow jonquils and "daffy down dillies" yet 
 all sandwiched through and through by blue-eyed violets in 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 89 
 
 April weather. In the yard, is the old Burns: cottage, a house 
 with four rooms, moss eaten by age— the shingles covered with 
 green moss, the window sills blackened by age, yet the birds love 
 to sing on its falling roof tree, and a low murmur from the waters 
 of the blue Potomac add to their music. There are twenty apart- 
 ments in the mansion house. 
 
 A daugliter of David Burns, named Martha, married General 
 VanNess, of New York, and here was the center of Washington 
 aristocracy for numy a long year. President Jefferson, Madison 
 and Monroe used to visit this historic place, antl J^afayette in 
 1824, took his last meal here before leaving the Capitol, ami 
 taking a ship at the Alexandria wliarf for his native France. 
 
 The rooms have elegant marble mantels, carved with wonder- 
 ful ingenuity; there is a winding staircase, and l)eneatli it a dun- 
 geon, which was used in the old time for punishing refractory 
 negroes. When the plan for abducting President Lincoln was 
 first started by the conspirators, this dungeon was to be the place 
 where he should be kept until the United States government 
 made terms with the rebels. The plan failed fortunately. 
 
90 AMEWCAl^ COtJRT GOSSlf. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Treasury Clerks — Reform Machinery — Mrs. John Smith- 
 Fool Rules, etc. 
 
 Near the White House, and only divided by a court with a 
 fountain from its enclosure, tlie Treasury building stands on two 
 acres of ground, on the south side of Pennsylvania avenue and 
 west of Fifteenth street. It is built of gray granite in the form 
 of a cross with ^large Corinthian pillars standing upon a wide 
 stone platform, and at its four sides, there are long flights of 
 stone steps leading to the ground, while on the four corners is a 
 garden laid out by a landscape gardener in rare shrubs and flow- 
 ers, which gladden through the long weary days of work, the 
 poor government clerks, who grind out seven hours at their 
 desks in the department tread mill. And yet, nobody pities a 
 clerk. Too many are standing around in the city waiting for 
 them to die or resign, so they can get their places. Under the 
 spoils system, a clerk who had done hard work for his party (or 
 his Congressman) was entitled to the places, but the Republicans 
 did not turn out old soldiers to give civilians positions, at any 
 time. There were about five-eighths soldiers under the Republi- 
 cans. It is not the place in a small work like this to give the 
 experience of clerks in getting places, for every employe has an 
 experience of his own, and the aggregate would fill a library of 
 volumes. Ladies go to an influential Congressman for his name 
 and influence. It is much easier to get his name, than his active 
 working influence with your letters of recommendation to the 
 Secretary of tlie Treasury, or the appointment clerk, who some- 
 times is an important man in the matter. 
 
 Your Congressman must go himself to the Secretary, as he 
 may be obliged to cus8 and discuss to get you into the fold — lie 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 91 
 
 exphiiiis the good of your appointment to his district, politically. 
 If you are not appointed, the powers that be, do not always tell 
 the applicant, and you can stay on, a year or so, pay board bills, 
 and be put off as long as your money lasts. Thousand of appli- 
 cants for government positions at the Capitol have an experi- 
 ence like this. The pawn shops glitter with souvenirs of this 
 
 weary waiting for soft ])laces by anxious men and women, who 
 think they are entitled to them. Pull out a clerk, and the hole 
 is to be filled by a hundred hungry, waiting pegs — poor, deluded 
 wretches who want places, at once. Better work in a coal mine, 
 for men who have wrought in the departments for a few years, 
 are incapacitated to a great extent for anything else, unless they 
 have been employed in the book keeping divisions. 
 
 As soon as a Congressman gets to Washington after an elec- 
 tion, he finds that unconsciously, he has made a great many 
 pledges to constituents — he is full of work, and if a new man he 
 is greeneer than green peas in June, to the ways of the Capitol, 
 so that in getting positions under the government for his voting 
 friends, it is always with him an up-hill business. The civil ser- 
 vice law was to help Congressmen out of this. But it is found 
 that a man cannot get elected, without at least, promising some- 
 thing to voters, especially in close districts. Hence, the im- 
 practicability of the mugwump monstrosity — civil service. 
 
 A Congressman will tell the clerk applicant to wait, and 
 he waltis an awfully long time, generally. There is nothing 
 so supremely lidiculous as a new Congressman swelling around 
 the Ca])itol, and upon his first return trip to his native village, 
 talking of "my infiuence" and "my people."' Unless he works 
 with his state delegation, he has no more influence than a road 
 supervisor, and for some time has no intlucnce with Cabinet 
 officers, who iiiaiiuge the Departments, and give places t(^) new 
 clerks. 
 
92 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 In the Treasury about 1,.S00 were employed in 1S84 in the old 
 building, and of this number, about TOO were women. Many of 
 them wives and sisters of soldiers, who were first appointed by 
 Treasurer Spinner in war times, because they made good count- 
 ing experts — patient clerks, too — never got drunk, and if they 
 did not vote, when belonging to prominent families they had in- 
 fluence, or "flooence," as the darkeys say. They were crowded 
 out somewhat by Mr. Cleveland's administration, and his friends 
 put in their places. Southern women have been largely ap- 
 pointed — all, it was dared to change, as many of them do not 
 understand business, and make as safe accountants as northern 
 women. No Republican woman, known as such, has been ap- 
 pointed by Cleveland's administration in the Treasury, if they 
 do bear the crucial stamp of the Civil Service Commission. 
 They have not been appointed. 
 
 In the Loan division, there is a cousin of Jeif Davis, who after 
 her appointment, exhibited a pocket handkerchief that she wore 
 folded over her disloyal heart. The arch-tritor had kissed it 
 when she was a confederate spy. 
 
 Rebel women, who had been smuggled in through Hayes' ad- 
 ministration in the interest of harmony between the sections, 
 showed their hand when the Democrats came into power, and 
 said as hateful things about loyal people as they did in 1861. 
 One in the Navigation Bureau, who upon the receipt of the news 
 of the election of Mr. Cleveland, thought the wives of "Lincoln's 
 old blue coats would be sent out of the Treasury to their proper 
 places — to wash tubs, as no northern woman is fit to associate 
 here with southern ladies.^'' 
 
 Civil service clerks may pass ever so good an examination — 
 answer all the school house questions, but if the head of the 
 bureau does not want a Republican, he is not appointed. This 
 is the rule. 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 03 
 
 The Treasury buildiuur proper, has the First, Third, Fourth 
 and P'ifth Auditors with their corps of clerks in the building. 
 The Second Auditor on Army accounts used to be located in the 
 old Winder building, but a part of them have been moved to the 
 new War Department. The Sixth Auditor of the Treasury is 
 located in the Money Order division of the General PostotHce 
 Department, and he audits with his immense corps of clerks, the 
 accounts of that department, but has nothing to do, as some sup- 
 pose, with the city postoffice, only, as its accounts come in with 
 other offices. The First and Fifth Auditors have the consulates 
 and revenue marine accounts and the Fourth Auditor looks over 
 navy accounts of pay masters and pay directors of the United 
 States. The Third Auditor looks over army accounts and here 
 are the clerks of the Internal Revenue Commissioner. The First 
 and Second Comptroller, Solicitor of the Treasury, Register and 
 Treasurer of the United States as well as the Secret Service are 
 in the Treasury building, while the Second Auditor is in the new 
 War Department building, and the Sixth Auditor in the Gen- 
 eral Postoffice building on F street, northwest, but they are all 
 under the Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
 A clerk works generally very steady — ^sometimes chats and 
 jokes with his, or her neighboring desk for a few minutes. Thore 
 is always some jealousy for fear another may rise above his, or 
 her class. The copyist class get $900 a year — then there is a 
 $1,000 grade — next, class one, salary $1,200; class two, salary 
 $1,400; class three, $1,(500; class four, $1,S(K), and the chiefs of 
 divisions get $2,000, deputy auditors get $2,250, and the chiefs 
 of the bureau$3,600. The Treasurer gets $(5,000, the Comptroller 
 of the Currency, $5,000; the assistant secretaries, $(i,ooo, and 
 the Secretary, being a Cabinet officer, $S,ooo. These officials 
 draw their pay monthly or semi-monthly, and clerks the same 
 way. When ajipointed, a clerk takes the oath of allegiance, 
 and is generally introduced by the Deputy Auditor to his desk 
 and room mates. 
 
94 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 These employes are paid by the two disbursing clerks of the 
 Treasury, who are under heavy bonds, and as they have been in 
 office twenty-five years, there has been no change of them by 
 Mr. Manning and Mr. Jordan, the present United States Treas- 
 urer. They draw from the cash room and the disbursing officers 
 know the pay-roll of each bureau, the exact amount of money 
 needed to pay off the different clerks in their different bureaus. 
 And the plan of the Treasury is the same in all the different de- 
 partments — War, Navy, Interior, etc. The Pension and Indian 
 offices are under the Secretary of the Interior, also the Bureau 
 of Labor— of Education, while the Bureau of Engraving and 
 Printing of Treasury notes, is under the Secretary of the Treas- 
 ury. The Government Printing Office is under its own head, 
 appointed by the President, and has from 2,000 to 2,500 em- 
 ployes. The Register of Deeds has about twenty clerks and is 
 located in the City Hall, but the head is appointed by the Presi- 
 dent. Mr. James Mathews (colored) from Albany, N. Y., took 
 the place of Hon. Fred Douglass, and he isdisplaced by Trotter, 
 a colored man. 
 
 One in passing the Treasury can never know the heartaches in 
 that government fold. Clerks who are homesick in the great 
 city — the fear of others through removals — the little intrigues 
 and jealousies among so many — the overbearing insolence of 
 some of the chiefs of the divisions; the queenly airs of some of 
 the demi monde, who have been snmggled in by Congressmen 
 of all parties, for chastity is not a virtue peculiar to either Demo- 
 crats, Republicans or Greenbackers, and if it were not for the 
 good Uncle Sam's money, whether to support starving children 
 — whether to buy a new seal skin cloak, women refined and ele- 
 gant could not endure many things, that are so disageeable — 
 even in the most beautiful city of the world. One clerk cannot 
 stand the foul, sickening air of the ill-ventilated building — her 
 next desk mate cannot bear a draught of air — a third wants the 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 95 
 
 steam set on — a fourth tinds tlie air "terribly dry and hot" and 
 ■ so it goes — patience, forbearance, and christian forgiveness is 
 need ed every hour, until 1 it seems sometimes, as if digging po- 
 tatoes in Dakota, or washing would be preferable. 
 
 A lady, Mrs. John Smith, trom a western territory, with three 
 children, found herself stranded at the Capitol, waiting for a 
 pension to be given her husband tor services in the war. As 
 every one knows, the Pension office waits for every scrap of evi- 
 dence as in court. The man's officers may be dead, the hospital 
 record in pencil half rubbed out, his comrades dead or moved 
 away from him, so that the whole chain of evidence may be a 
 little faulty, but the circumlocution office never gives the poor 
 soldier the benefit of the doubt, and he has to scrimmage 
 "for more evidence." Many commit suicide waiting, others saw 
 wood with the negroes at the Capitol for a living, but Mrs. 
 Smith's husband died, worn out with disease and weary waiting. 
 With a plucky determination not to ask for charity, she went to 
 a certain Senator for help to get an appointment in the Treasury. 
 Being a comely woman, neatly dressed, and rather downcast 
 looking in her deference to the great man, she pleaded her pov- 
 erty for the place. "But these places are given to those who 
 work for ?^.s-," meaning the leaders and great men of the Forty- 
 eighth Congress. '''"Yes, but my children are starving. Oh! 
 give me the position of copyist. I can write well, see Senator," 
 and with her trembling fingers wrote his name on a sheet of paper 
 at his library table. There was no one near. Leaning over and 
 attempting to take her trembling hand, he made an improper 
 proposition, as the price of her position in the Treasury. Hor- 
 rified, frightened out of her wits, she seized the immense ink- 
 stand from the table, and dashing its contents against his fine 
 coat and shirt front, she made for the door like an angry deer, 
 only to find it locked. "-Why, my dear Mrs. Smith," said the 
 good Senator, "I was only trying you, to see if you were a 
 
96 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 proper person to put into so responsibe a position. Don't you 
 worry, you shall have the place," and taking his overcoat from 
 his easy chair, buttoning it over his soiled linen, and with the 
 gallantry of a chivalrous knight of the fifteenth century, he opened 
 the door, and the lady was out of the hall and into the street, in 
 the flash of a minute. Mrs. John Smith was appointed the next 
 day, but she was wise enough to hold her tongue and holds her 
 place in the Treasury today, through the influence of this same 
 Senator, who was afraid to disturb her, as she had afterwards 
 friends in the newspaper world. 
 
 The pay-roll ot the Treasury varies as the clerks are removed, 
 or resign, and in the stifling, ill-ventilated air, many lose their 
 health and die, or are obliged to leave. Yet, when the clerk's 
 work is done at 4 P. M., he goes to his boarding house, or his 
 home — reads his newspaper, goes to the theater, or opera — can 
 study law, medicine, or theology, can have the advantage of pub- 
 lic libraries, art galleries and studios, and there is no worry after 
 he has learned his particular branch of the service. He is like 
 an operative in an English factory, he can learn just what he is 
 fitted for, or rather what the Chief of the Bureau thinks it would 
 be better for him to do. No matter, if a civil service examina- 
 tion entitles you to a high place, if yon want to be inside the 
 Treasury, your Congressman, your chief, detenniaes your salary 
 — all want you to work for them and the party. Republicans 
 now in the Treasury are to all intents and purposes Democrats 
 — not two per cent, of the number have dared go home and vote 
 in 1886. The terrorism is only known inside of the building. 
 Not a Republican in the Treasury would dare talk his politics in 
 a street car, or herdic coach, since the change of admin- 
 istration. The present civil service reform is the biggest humbug 
 of the age. It is a thimble rig — "now you see it, now you don't. 
 
 Under the Higgins appointment regulations in the Treasury, 
 an old soldier named Bellis, from Maryland, who walked with 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 97 
 
 two crutches, both limbs below the knee being amputated, was 
 discharged, as Iliggins had laid up an oath in Heaven that "all 
 d — d southern Re]nib]icans should begot rid of in the Treasury." 
 There is not a half dozen left in the building. 
 
 In the Fourth Auditor's office, Brigadier General Shelley, of 
 the confederacy, has had discharged eighteen republicans out of 
 forty-tour clerks, and every place has been filled by southern 
 rebels from Alabama and Mississippi. In the case of the south 
 ern Republican Bellis, mentioned above, the city newspapers and 
 New York correspondents made such a row over the matter, 
 after a few weeks, Bellis was reappointed to his place in the Sec- 
 ond Comptroller's office. There has been no New Y ork Repub- 
 licans disturbed — scarcely one. The southern union men of the 
 Treasury whose relatives were hanged by rebels, whose boys were 
 shot down like dogs, did not vote for Mr. Cleveland, nor for any 
 of his southern friends. They were good clerks, why discharge 
 them, in the name of civil service? Such abominable hypocrisy! 
 It is the spoils system with velvet claws, and not a Boston mug- 
 wump but what knows it, or ought to. In Treasurer Jordan's 
 office, there has been only two changes. His clerks, or experts, 
 rather, count the money of the Treasury and most of them were 
 a])pointed years ago under General Spinner, tried and true. Mr. 
 Jordan did not want to risk any stealings from new found friends 
 of Uncle Sam, and he stuck to civil service reform, like a dog to 
 an oak root, Many of these experts are ladies, who count money 
 like wildfire, and can tell a counterfeit greenback across the room. 
 
 If a bunch of bank notes comes in to be redeemed, and there is 
 a half inch of the border of a note, or even a line as big as a hair, 
 they can tell the denomination, and the holder gets his money in 
 new greenbacks, or coin, if he prefers it. The silver vault below 
 the cash room of the building is walled in with iron plates welded 
 together, and inside of this court is the shelves where are the sacks 
 of silver. It holds thirty millions of silver coin, that has been 
 
98 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 brought from the mints at Philadelphia, New Orleans and San 
 Francisco. The Swatara, in 1885, from New Orleans, brought 
 in the hold of the ship, several millions of silver coin to the 
 Treasury. It had been bought in silver bricks by agents of the 
 government, then is coined at the rate of two millions and a half 
 a month, and is then placed either in the Sub-Treasury at Bos- 
 ton, New York or Chicago, or in the vault at Washington. 
 There are huge vans which bring the silver from the ships or 
 railroads by express to the Treasury vaults, and other currency 
 is brought in the same way. The silver vault has a combination 
 lock to the door of the inner safe, that no one knows but the 
 Cashier and Treasurer of the United States, and the man who 
 has charge of it. No burglar, if caught inside could live long, 
 as the air is pumped in when the ofhcials visit it, and when it is 
 shut up, a vacuum. Many visitors from the country, who look 
 over the wire gauze of the counting experts, wonder if the money 
 cannot be got out of the officials, just by a righteous claim on 
 presentation of the same, over the cash counter. Not so. No 
 money is distributed from the Treasury, not a half cent, without 
 an appropriation from Congress, and this appropriation must 
 have warrants drawn by the proper officers. And the Treasury 
 system of checks and bookkeeping is the best in the world, per- 
 fected under Republican administration, so that the accounts to 
 draw money out of jthe cash room must have been thoroughly 
 examined and authorized by law, to the satisfaction of the 
 proper officers. 
 
 In the Redemption Bureau, the money which has been worn 
 out and sent by the National Banks to be replaced by good 
 money, is counted by the experts, and if one was foolisli enough 
 to take a five or a ten, the discrepancy would appear at once, and 
 the whole force of counters would show her guilt. Then she 
 would lose her place, If satisfied that she was only careless and 
 lost the money, it would be taken from theexpert^s salary. The 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 99 
 
 old notes are redeemed and sent back dollar for dollar in good 
 bills to the banks. Then the old package of money is cut in two, 
 a part put into a macerating machine, and reduced to a pulpy 
 mass, by one of the commission, that is authorized to destroy it, 
 and the other part by another man. One of this Commission 
 Board is ex-President Tyler's son, John Tyler Jr. — a slender 
 little man with a Roman nose as fully developed as any Tyler nose. 
 He was appointed in 1875. The office of the Captain of the 
 Watch is on the first floor and near the Fifteenth street entrance, 
 which is guarded by heavy iron doors, and all the doors 
 on the first floor are barred strongly with iron net work. The 
 watch, or guard is composed of three reliefs, which are changed 
 every eight hours — the strongest of the forcce retained for the 
 night, by right, but if a man has "-big political backing,'" he is 
 kept at day work. The salary of the Captain of the Watch is 
 $1,200 a year. In his office the visitor can see the beautiful silk 
 flag that draped President Lincoln's box at Ford's Theater on 
 the night of the assassination. The fringe of the flag was torn 
 a half yard by the assassin's boot as Booth jumped from the box 
 to the stage. The Captain of the Watch in this room reports to 
 a half minute of time, if the clerk comes in at a half minute 
 past nine, or after lunch at half past twelve. This offence is im- 
 mediately reported to Chief Clerk Youmans, who has one of the 
 grossest and most forbidding looking faces ever seen in the Treas- 
 ury. If it were not disgusting, the running of old crippled sol- 
 diers, to make the door before nine o'clock, gray-haired ladies 
 jumping breathless between street cars and loaded teams to get 
 inside, the tears in the scoundrel's presence, the trembling in his 
 high and mighty talk, the giving of excuses by old and tried 
 servants of Uncle Sam for twenty years — it would be a comedy, 
 but as it is, a pitifully tragic scene. 
 
 One slippery morning in February, a lady was called to the 
 Chief Clerk's room, by special messenger, after receiving the 
 following card upon her desk: 
 
100 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 "Your attention is called to Kules 1 and 2, of the Standing 
 Rules of the Department. As you appear to have violated one 
 of said rules, (that is one minute late three months before,) you 
 are advised that another like offence, if not satisfactorily ex- 
 plained, will be reported for action. 
 
 Respectfully, 
 
 E. B. YouMANs, Chief Clerk. 
 
 The crippled woman tried to explain that the herdic coach 
 was crowded, so that she could not get into the vehicle, and 
 waiting five minutes, she lost time, and in getting to the 
 Fifteenthustreet crossing, she was hindered by several loaded 
 teams. "Look here, thafs no excuse, start earlier — get up in 
 the morning" and "I'll make these lazy folks hump themselves" 
 was his elegant rejoinder in a lower tone of voice. 
 
 Mrs. Virginia Hellen, the head char woman of 1885, was 
 brought into the Inquisition one day. Her offence was that of 
 asking a certain favorite of a well known Congressman to help 
 scrub, as the favorite had been placed on the char roll, at the 
 pay of $20 a month. The young female had refused to work, 
 and made complaints to Mr. Youmans, that Mrs H was harsh 
 and severe. The lady had been reduced by the war, and yet she 
 belonged to one of the old families of Virginia and was a good 
 
 Democrat. She refused to shield the favorite of Senator 
 
 Youmans grew angry. "Look out, my lady," said the great mo- 
 gul of civil service reform. "I don't want any of your talking," 
 when the lady explained that the other women had to do the fa- 
 vorite's work. Seizing her by the arm he opened the door and 
 told her to go down stairs to her work, "mind your own business" 
 and then had the lady removed from her place. Through the 
 kindness of Senate )i' Daniels and Congressman Tucker, she ob- 
 tained a situation in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. 
 The scrub women did the favorite's woi-k, that is, sweep and 
 scrub up the tobacco stains. 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 101 
 
 The translator of the Treasury De})artment is Miss Eliza Wil- 
 cox, danp:hter of the ado])ted son of Andrew Jackson. She is an 
 excellent French scholar, and has been in public employ since 
 Mr. Key was Postmaster General. She is a very charming 
 woman. The "Queen of the Treasury'' who was known by her 
 rich seal skin cloak and rare diamonds has been removed to the 
 Bureau of Statistics. She was a bitter rebel, but married an 
 union otticei', who died about ten years ago. 
 
102 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 Congress — Reception to the Hon. James F. Wilson — Star 
 Route Trials — Grant Reception, etc. 
 
 Tim clerks of the State Department rank higher than those of 
 anj other. A nine-hiindred-dollar-elerk of the State Depart- 
 ment can look down with serenity on an )^1,8()0 clerk in the War 
 Department and in no city, is the poor clay kept apart from the 
 fine porcelain in better lined rats. 
 
 The State, War and Navy Departments are all in that magni- 
 ficent building of the French rennaissance, just west of the White 
 House, and in its diplomatic reception room, one sees many old 
 historic pictures of former Secretaries of State — also Lord Ash- 
 burtion, the English envoy, whose name carries to the old 
 settlers, the exciting times, when "fifty-tour 40'' was the rallying 
 cry of Americans, and the British line was kept there, too — 
 thanks to our folks. (See Mitchell's Atlas for boundary line of 
 British Columbia.) Beside Lord Ashburton, there are bust por- 
 traits in oil, of Webster, Calhonn, Seward, Clay, Fish, Evarts, 
 Blaine, P'relinghuysen, and Bayard, men whose historic names 
 are linked with foreign treaties, and other diplomatic relations of 
 the great Republic. 
 
 The reception room is elegantly furnished witli Turkish rugs 
 and carpets, in the center of this apartment is a long table covered 
 with green damask where the foreign minister and his secretaries 
 are seated in diplomatic intercourse with our Prime Minister, and 
 the windows are shaded by damask and real lace — the mahogany 
 chairs and sofas all elegantly upholstered. Much of the business 
 done by foreign governments, is carried on by telegraj)!!, direct 
 fro m our Secretary of State to the Prime Minister of other powers, 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 103 
 
 but still there are many diplomatic conferences in this beautitnl 
 chamber. Some sudden complication may arise, over fishing or 
 other commercial treaties — hence, there is every day work. 
 
 The Corean Embassy was as singular a group as ever stood 
 around this long table. They were dressed in long coats ot bro- 
 caded chene silk with ])ink sleeves of the same kind of goods, 
 stockings ot green silk, and low shoes, and upon their heads im- 
 mense wire hats tied under the chin witli strings ot small yellow 
 beads. They are very intelligent and wide awake, a little taller 
 than the Chinese whose faces they resemble, but they were very 
 quiet in speech, wore no pig tails, and did not remove their hats 
 in the presence of dignitaries. They were escorted about the 
 city by Lieutenant Mason and Ensign Foulke ot the Navy. 
 
 The Madagascar Envoys who came over in 1883, to settle some 
 claims, and manage other international matters with us, were 
 light mulattoes, with broad brows and sleek combed heads. 
 They looked tor all the world like hard-shell Baptist ])reacliers 
 ot African ancestry in old Virginy. The}- were not treated like 
 negroes, but with all the deference due the rank ot a foreign 
 ])()wer in treaty conference. 
 
 Sir I^eonard Tilly, the Canadian Minister of Finance, was in 
 the middle ot Noveml)er, 18sl, connnissioned ])y the Dominion 
 government to discuss with IMi-. Frelinghuyseii, the much vexed 
 ({uestion of an international copyright law. The English Minis- 
 ter, Sir Lionel Sackville West, F. R. S., accompanied the Baron- 
 et to the State Department and assisted in arranging the ])relimi- 
 naries ot a matter of deep interest to the English reading and 
 writing pul)lic. It was arranged to the advantage of American 
 publishers, as nnich as ])ossible under the circumstances, and the 
 matter has not been reopened in di])lomacy. 
 
 Mr. Bayard has been blamed for not bristling u|) to the British 
 goverinuent. "Chickens ha\e come home to roost.'' The 
 
104 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 Democrats for the last (jnai'ter of a century have opposed every 
 dollar possible for the increase of the Navy, and a Democratic 
 administration now finds itself treated with contempt by foreign 
 powers, even it our fishermen are insulted in Canadian waters, 
 and made to ]>ay unnecessary taxes and levies. Under Cleve- 
 land they want a navy. 
 
 On the first M<mday of December, fs81, at the opening of 
 Congress, President Arthur recommended in his message anxtng 
 other useful legislation, the settlement of the (^linese (juestion, 
 an uniform bankrupt law, some plan to regulate the Presidential 
 succession, in case of the death of the Chief Magistrate, and an 
 enlargement of the Navy. These timely hints to Congress, with 
 other matters, were well received by the counti-y. 
 
 P^or S])eal<er of the House, there was (juite a bitter (-ontest 
 between the lion. John A. Kasson of Iowa, lion. Fraidc Ilis- 
 cock of New York, Hon. Thomas Reed of Mtiine, and General 
 Keifer of Ohio. Finally, after a good deal of skinnishing, the 
 best pai'liamentarum on the floor, Mr. Kasson, was defeated, and 
 General Keifer took u]) the gavel for the rest of the term — his 
 greatest rival was afterward apj)ointed by ]*resident Arthur to 
 Vienna, as our foreign minister. Foi- Clerk of the House, there 
 was a contest between John B. Clark of Missouri and the Hon. 
 Joseph H. Rainey of South (Carolina, the latter having been a 
 member of the Forty-fifth (■ongress, and when many of the 
 solons of the House aftei* a two night's continuous session got 
 so drunk, that they could not sit at their desks, but lay on the 
 floor and sofas like inert bags of sand, the cool headed irndatto 
 had picked up many bills whicli had b(!en mishiid and forgotten, 
 and these im])ortant measures were worthless without official ac- 
 tion. He, with those who could sit up long enough to vote, in 
 their drunken stuj)or, made laws foi- the ])eople, dated .June r.>tli, 
 1878. This was the most disgraceful chapter of the House on 
 the record. But Mr. Rainey was defx^ated, for tiie Greenbackers 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. H»5 
 
 Ir'M tlic bahmce of )>()\vei\ I(m1 hy Do La Mjityr of Iiidiiina, and 
 Miircli of Maine, wlio liated a drop of African hlood as tlic hoofs 
 of satan docs holy water, and (lark was elected. 
 
 Aiiioni;- thi' prominent members of this House were (ieneral 
 Sin<i:Ieton of Mississij)pi, Willis and Carlisle of Kentucky, lion. 
 W. I). Kelley, (Pi^- Inui) the Nestor of the lower chamber, 
 Hon. S. S. Cox of New Voi'k, Ben. Le Fevre and Tom Younp^ 
 of Ohio, (yol. Henderson of Illinois, Kobesou of New Jersey, 
 I'erry IVdniont, and tlie Hon. Alexandei- Stephens of Georgjiti, 
 the Vice President of the lost ('onfedei-acy, who was wheeled 
 throufijh the lobby to the floor of the House in an invalid car- 
 riage by a faithful black servant, and ])laced in front of the 
 Speakei-'s desk. He was veiy cordial in his mannei-, witii a ]»('n- 
 siv .' look in his brown-gray eyes. He did not live many months 
 after the oi)ening, and died as a member of the Forty-seventh 
 (/ongress. 
 
 The Hon. M. A. McCoid of Iowa, at this session, offered a 
 bill to-punish dealers who sold adulterated goods without a trade 
 niark, which did not become a law, but was the beginning of a 
 more vigoi-ous fight against oleo, and was aimed to help the dai- 
 rymen of his own and other i)rairie states, as well as New Kng- 
 land and New Voi-k. 
 
 The Natioiud (iratige met in the long dim'ng room of the Na- 
 tional Hotel ten days before the oj)ening session of (Congress, 
 Grand Mastei.l. .1. Woodman of Paw Paw, Michigan, presided, 
 and among other things was a determined effort to fight the 
 barbed wire monopoly of Washburn A: Moen. A committee 
 of ten grangers were a])])ointed by the organization to meet with 
 Dr. Loring, the new ( "ommissioncr of Agricniture, and ai-range 
 matters so as to move on Congress, to make the Commissioner a 
 mend)er of the President's Cabinet. Dr. Loiing and his fash- 
 ittnable wife were anxious this should be done. Tlu'^■ gave ele- 
 gant teas and receptions, and if the kid gloxcd doctor could be 
 
lOti AMERICAN COUKT GOSSIP. 
 
 made a Cabinet officer through the Grange, certainly the officers 
 of such a vahuible adjunct should be mvited to a nice little sup- 
 per — which was done. The Commissioner, however, served out 
 his term without being in the Cabinet. 
 
 Hon. James Belford who was nicknamed and ridiculed often 
 with Thomas Ochiltree of Texas, as the "red roosters of the 
 House," was heard from when the mining or silver interests ot 
 Colorado were endangered. He was a classicly educated man, 
 but he had a brusque manner that tended to his unpopularity. 
 
 After a si)irited contest, the Hon. David Davis was made 
 Vice President pro tem, of the Senate, in })lace of Mr. Arthur, 
 elected to that office. Senator Lapham represented the Empire 
 state in the Senate, in place of Senator Conkling, but he tilled 
 his seat with brains, like a bunch of peas in a quart cup. He 
 was not at his post regularly, was quite intemperate, but a pro- 
 nounced woman suffragist, more pronounced than any other 
 Senator, excepting Senators Blair and Ferry of Michigan. Iowa 
 had sent by her Governor's appointment. Senator McDill, in 
 place of Kirkwood. Senator Warner Miller of New York, some- 
 times nicknamed by the stalwarts, "Wood Pulp Millei'" was 
 able to work well for the Dairymen's interests and resented 
 somewhat the encroachments of the monopolies. 
 
 Senator Sherman came from the United States Treasury of the 
 Hayes administration with no tinancial ])r()jects, but he was solid 
 and when "old business" took hold of a matter, it went through 
 and the Senate was satisfied. He was called the Senate ])ean 
 pole of the Pepublicans. 
 
 Senators Hoar, Hawley and Harrison were in the same row of 
 seats together. Voorhes on the Democratic side to offset the 
 latter, and Senators Coke and Maxey of Texas followed his lead 
 not forgetting Vest of Miss<juri. 
 
 On the 3(»th of January, 1SS2, the Iowa llepublican Associa- 
 tion and their lady friends, met at the house of the Hon. M. A. 
 
LIFE AT TUK NATIONAL CAPITOL. 107 
 
 Mc'Coid on Teiitli street, northwest, to <;'ive a reception to Sena- 
 tor-elect James F. Wilson, of Fuirfieki, Iowa, who was to com- 
 mence his labors in the F(»i'ty-ei>i:lith (congress, but the Iowa 
 Leg-islatures meet biennially, so that he was electe<l in the eai-jy 
 part of January ISS^. Senator Wilson had served in (yongress 
 as Iowa's Ifepresentativefi'om the First District of the state, and 
 this when there were but two districts, the state being divided bv 
 a ])ai'allel line dividing north and south, and stretching fi-om 
 rivei" to river. Tiie new Seiuitor was lieartily welcomed bv these 
 western ])eo])le, brainy and wai-ni hearted. Ex-Seiuitoi- Jones of 
 Dubuciue, who served m the Senate with Mr. Calhoun in 1S4<;, 
 gave the details of a personal encounter he had with the great 
 Soutii Carolina politician, who opposed the admission of this 
 beautiful star of the prairies into the Union. "Jones" said the 
 great maji as he run his fingei's through his gray hair, "I tell 
 you, denies, they will send abolitionists down here to work 
 against southern institutions. I am opposed to them now, and 
 as long as I can, I will work against theuh" Senator Jones was 
 puzzled for a minute. ''Why, Mr. Calhoun," said he, "there is 
 not an abolition society in the State of Iowa, and I am not ac- 
 quainted with a solitary ab(«litionist." After a confab of a lon^- 
 duration, the Iowa (Jougressman succeeded in retiring his an- 
 tagonist to sullen silence, and the State was admitred in Decem- 
 ber, 1846. At this Republican gathering. Representative 
 Thompson of the FifMi District and ex-Representative Thompson, 
 ot tlie I)ubu(jue District, who represented the new State ot Iowa, 
 in the House, met, shook hands and tried to cousin up a little 
 with each other. (/ongressmen Deering, Carpenter and 
 Hepburn, brainy fellows of the Forty-sixth Congress were 
 "thar." Senator Allison was very happy in a speech and Sec- 
 retary Kirkwood of the Interior joked with his Iowa brethren in 
 a practical way. 
 
 Mrs. Kirkwood wore a bhu-k velvet with soft lace at the 
 throat, a high ])oke bonnet of white uncut velvet and ostrich 
 feathers. 
 
108 AMERICAI^ COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 Mrs. Yinnie Ream Hoxie, whose husband was an Iowa City 
 engineer before their marriage, appeared in a handsome black 
 satin finislied with a dnchesse lace ticlui, and jacqueminot roses. 
 
 Mrs. Senator Harlan was an invalid from the terrible disease of 
 insomnia, and became a victim to opiates through dyspepsia, 
 which caused her death, bu*^ the ex-Senator was there as he had 
 been appointed Commissioner, or Judge of tlie Alabama court of 
 Claims in ISTS, Mrs. Harlan had been prominent in sanitary 
 work at the Capitol through the war, and her daughter, Mary, 
 married the Hon. Robert T. Lincoln, son of the martyred 
 President. Mrs. Harlan was much beloved in her circle. 
 
 The beautiful and accomplished wife of the senior Senator 
 from Iowa, Mrs Allison, a charming woman, was not present, 
 on account of illness from partial insanity, she having attempted 
 her own life, a few months before. She finally committed sui- 
 cide by drowning in the autumn of 1884, having escaped from 
 her watchful nurse and relatives, and dashed into the cold waters 
 of the Mississippi, before she was missed from home. 
 
 The ladies of the Iowa delegation in Congress who were pres- 
 ent at this reception — the Mesdames Thompson, Farwell, Deer- 
 ing, Hepburn and Carpenter. Mrs. Cutts was at her home in 
 Oskaloosa, and Mr. Kasson was virtually a widower, as his wife 
 some twenty years before, had obtained a divorce, and re-married 
 a St. Louis merchant. He has not entered the bonds of matri- 
 mony the second time. The Fourth Auditor, Hon. Charles 
 Beardsley and his gentle wife — the First Auditor and Mrs. Rey- 
 nolds; General and Mrs. Williamson, Major General Belknap 
 were there, and ex-Governor Lowe who lived at the Capitol 
 eleven years, as an attorney for the State of Iowa before the 
 Su])reme Court. He died in December 1S88, nmcli regretted by 
 the Iowa colony. Among others, were General and Mrs. 
 O'Connor, of Muscatine, the former Solicitor of the State De- 
 |)artnient, Hon. Sam Clark of Keokuk, Hon. Ed. Russel of 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 109 
 
 Davenport, the Misses McDill, Williamson, Fanvell, Ireland, 
 Shinkle, Beach, Williams. Vaughn, Hickenlooper, Cook, San- 
 ford, McCreery, DeMowbray, Crosby, Voorhis and Arkwright. 
 Mrs. John Boyd ot Bella, Mr. and Mrs. J'rondlit, Judge and 
 Mrs. Killpatrick, Lieutenant and JVIrs. Dinwiddie, Major and 
 Miss Love, Hon. Hawkins Taylor and wife, Bayniaster Wilcox, 
 L. C. Dilley were at the supper table in a jolly mood, and Mes- 
 dames Graham, Beattie, Beach, Thornwell, Stewart and 
 McBherson, were iti a group chatting with the genial hostess, Mrs. 
 McCoid, who was assisted by Miss Ireland, her handsome sistei-. 
 Messrs. Christ, Utz, Vale, Cowie, Babbit, Herring, Frye, Bur- 
 lingame and Mr. Mobley listened to the ])ioneer stories of Senator 
 McDill, who related them in a most happy vein. The Hon. J. 
 P. Grantham and Judge Hickenlooper, solid lowans, were in 
 the genial crowd. James S. Morgan, Senator Allison's private 
 secretary, R. L. P. Clarke, a brother to Grace Greenwood, and a 
 pioneer ot Mt. Pleasant, Ljwa — General E. Rice and lady and a 
 host of others, good and true Repnblicans. 
 
 About this time, ex-Senator Christiancy of Michigan, had a 
 trial at the City Hall, wherein he sued his wife, nee Lugenbeel, 
 for a divorce. The Senator had been in ISSO appointed by 
 President Hayes to Chili, and on board the ship going out to his 
 duty, his golden-haired wife of twenty-four years, fiirted with a 
 ])assenger, and "cut u]) badly" at Lima, leaving the gray-haired 
 envoy to brood in his rooms alone, as she went out with a Span- 
 ish American cavalier, who had reduced flirting to a science, and 
 a flrPt-class industry. The Senator cMim.' home, ap})lied tor a 
 divorce, the ti'ial coming otf in the spring term of the District 
 Court in iss-^. He upset his wife's reputation on good evidence, 
 broke her heart over the afl'air. and she died in a year or so 
 afterward. 
 
110 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 May and December can not make very happy unions, but 
 mammas go on with such nuirriages every week through the 
 season at the CapitoL 
 
 A historic scene comes up in the Capitol and marks tlie day of 
 February 17, 1SS2, as a remarkable one and in noting of many 
 wonderful forensic efforts in Congress it stands out in a whitelight. 
 The Blaine eulogy on President Gai'tield at the House of Kepre- 
 sentatives to an overflowin audience, was an eloquent effort by 
 the great statesman, and affected all who heard it. ^ The Senator 
 had been retired from public life a few months, but he met his 
 cavillers with a serene countenance, for the dying President had 
 trusted and loved him, leaving a dying kiss on his cheek just 
 before going to Elberon. He rose with a half smile from the 
 Reading desk, and delivered the beautiful tribute to Crarfield in 
 less than two hours to an innnense audience. 
 
 Mr. Kirkwood was present and he left the Cabinet about the first 
 of April, his place filled by Mr. Teller, of Colorado, President 
 Arthur hoping to gain and hold friends from the west upon the 
 retiring of the honest, old gentleman from the Hawkeye State. 
 Mrs. Kirkwood was not a society woman, loved her own quiet 
 fireside, and was glad to get home to Iowa City.. 
 
 In Congress about the 20th of March, 18S2, there came up 
 some discussion over the bill for funeral expenses for the mur- 
 dered President (larfield, and it finally was admitted by the 
 committee in charge, that i^l,500 was a monumental bill for 
 wines and liquors on a melancholy journey, like this one to 
 Cleveland, (^hio. And to think, that when the whole nation 
 was in tears over the lamented (larfield, that the Congressional 
 Committee, or pall bearers of the country were tipsy with cham- 
 pagne on the funeral journey I The Sergeant at Arms of the 
 House, John G. Thompson of Ohio, Congressman Page of (/ali- 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. Ill 
 
 foniia, after this "cock-tail scandal" could not be hushed, they 
 burned up the vouchers and bills, after bringing; them before the 
 |)roi)cr auditing hoard, but the Sergeant at Arms was finally paid 
 for the liquor out of the (contingent fund of the House. The 
 practice of furnishing wines and whisky to funeral junkets by 
 Congress has been lately discontinued; and it is well, for if the 
 nation pays funeral transportation to its dead member and his 
 pall bearers, it ought to be satisfactory to all concerned. The 
 old fashion of burying deceased Congressman in the Congres- 
 sional cemetery was a good one, and did not cost the goverment 
 $25,000 to bury a member, as in the case of Senator Miiler of 
 California. 
 
 This quaint old cemetery, situated nearly tvvo miles northeast 
 from the Capitol, is surrounded by a high iron fence on a stone 
 basement and contains thirty acres, now pretty well filled with 
 •'the silent people." The cenotaphs, or dwarf monuments are 
 of gray stone painted white to look like marble, and they stand 
 in long lines on the east side of the main avenue. It is a beau- 
 tiful spot, and as a good many Union soldiers are buried here, it 
 is kept in excellent repair. The immense pines and maples 
 shadow the green lawn and the marble of the sad enclosure — 
 there are flowers in e\"ery spot, tlie Virginia creeper and ivy 
 drapes the receiving vaults, and hangs from numy of the trees, 
 while beyond are the waters shining in the east branch of the 
 Potomac. There are handsome monuments to Dewitt Clinton, 
 Henry Clay, Calhoun, Quintnum of Miss., General Rawlings 
 and other great names, that will live in song and battle story, as 
 long as time shall last. 
 
 President iVrthur gave a state dinner, March 22 of this year to 
 the Diplomatic Corps to meet General and Mrs. Grant. The 
 state dining room is small, and is reached through the wide hall 
 of the grand staircase — in the side corners of this hall were a 
 couple of ebony cabinets, heavily laden with pots of pink azaleas. 
 
112 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 bouquets of flowers and red roses with wreathing sniilax. gave 
 turther touches of beauty. Passing the dining-room door, in the 
 center of the room is a long mahogany table, covered with a 
 green cloth, unless set lor dinner, when a long mirror is placed 
 upon it, surrounded by different flower designs — flowers at each 
 plate — the glittering tea service of silver, and the delicious viands 
 that wealth and luxury can give. Fruits from Florida, terrapin, 
 oysters from the blue Chesapeake, j)ate de fou grace^ the deli- 
 cate pastry and ices, and seven courses of different wines made 
 up a part of this toothsome menu. The chairs are a heavy ma- 
 hogany of old style, the brass fender and fire appointments of 
 an antique pattern— a rich Turkish rug on the floor, damask 
 curtains and lambrequins with inside lace — real lace drapery, 
 and through the conservatory, the odor of flowers give a sensuous 
 exhileration to the honored guests. 
 
 The East room was lovely at this diplomatic reception, and 
 under Phister, the head florist at the conservatory, it looked like 
 an immense tropical garden. The great, gilt pillars were wound 
 with smilax, long wreaths of the same beautiful decorations hung 
 from chandelier to chandelier, while the mantels under the im- 
 mense mirrors were banked with red roses, white roses and car- 
 nations — the edge trimmed with moss — in the blue parlor the 
 same line of beauty, only more delicate ferns, and an immense 
 vase of tulips, hyacinths and blue eyed violets. 
 
 The next evening being on the 23d, the President gave Gen- 
 eral and Mrs. Grant a reception — the public was invited, and 
 hundreds availed themselves of an opportunity, to pay their 
 respects to the great commander, who had received such honors 
 from the highest officials abroad. The great man had come 
 back, as unaffected bv his many ovations, as when he was in his 
 tan and leather store in Galena. And Mrs. Grant, she too. 
 shook hands as warmly with many a poor government clerk, as 
 she did high officials. Mrs. Grant wore a handsome black vel- 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 113 
 
 vet trimmed with jet, point lace, and diamonds. Mrs. Senator 
 Logan, Mrs. Windom, Mrs. Cliief Justice White, were among 
 those who paid their respects. 
 
 Mrs. Hayes' picture in the green parlor, painted by Hunting- 
 ton of New York, and framed by the Art Association, of Cincin- 
 nati, was so heavy, that it could not be hung on the walls, and 
 for a year or two, looked like an outcast. The frame was hand- 
 some in designs of acorns, thistles, oak leaves, etc. , but too heavy. 
 The President afterward had it re-framed, and the dark, hand- 
 some face of Mrs. Hayes looks out from the west side of the 
 room. On the north side hangs Mrs. Polk's picture, in her 
 wedding dress, her beautiful neck and arms attracting admi- 
 ration. 
 
 The conservatory, 100 by 200 feet, always thrown open to 
 visitors, was rich in cmnareria, in orchids, azaleas, tropical 
 palms, lovely ferns of a hundred varieties, roses of the sweetest 
 fragrance — there was a soft drip of falling water through the 
 imitation coral grotto — the music of the Marine band in the 
 further corridor fell on the ear in soft cadence — in fact, the 
 White House conservatory is a bit of a paradise to its mistress, 
 whether she is impressible, or not. 
 
 Mrs. McElroy, the President's sister, well known in Albany, 
 received the guests witli grace, and her dark eyes were suffused 
 with intelligence and poetic sentiment. She wore a lilac dress, 
 covered with point lace ruffles and crystal, her diamonds were 
 handsome, and at the cormge, a large bouquet of LaFrance 
 roses. 
 
 The Marine band played in the corridor, their red uniforms 
 making them conspicuous among the palms and waving tropical 
 j)lants. 
 
 Messrs. Dinsmore, Leoffler, Pendall and Barr, the house 
 ushers, were to be seen in the vestibule, and at the foot of the 
 grand staircase and the steps of the Executive Chamber. 
 
114 AMERICAN COUET GOSSIP. 
 
 The visitors were presented to the President, then to Mrs. 
 McElroy, Mrs. Grant, and so on throu2;h the blue parlor — then 
 to the green parlor, because it is upholstered in Nile green rep 
 silk — while the visitor is hurried through to the East room. 
 Doors are leading out through the two corridors, into the outer 
 vestibule to the portico where the carriages are waiting. Many 
 of the Cabinet officers with their ladies, and the Diplomatic 
 Corps go out from the state dining room, on leaving, to the 
 south side of the mansion. 
 
 In a Capitol Hill mansion in the latter part of April, the 
 Unity Club, a very pleasant band of about seventy-live members, 
 listened to excellent essays by the Hon. Mr. Philp and Frot. 
 Charles Davis. The Unity has been in existence ten years, and 
 is composed of a social, literary class. Among those who have 
 entertained the Club with essays, are Senator Ingalls, Hon. A. 
 R. Spoftard, Hon. Horatio King, Prof. Coues, Col, Powell ol 
 the coast survey, and others. Recitations, and the best of music 
 by amateurs, closes the exercises at ten P. M. No refreshments 
 are served, and the club meets at the different houses of the 
 members. 
 
 Wednesday evening. May 23, 1882, in the house where 
 Daniel Webster and Henry Clay lived at the Capitol, there was 
 an entertainment given by L. Lafayette Sykes, where essays 
 upon the character of Webster were read to a party of dis- 
 tinguished guests- The house was owned by the Carrolls at 
 one time, and was used as a war prison. Mr. Sykes had bach- 
 elor rooms beautifully fitted up in this historic mansion, which 
 will soon give way to the new Library. 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 115 
 
 CHAPTEK IX. 
 
 Howgate's Escapade — Garfield Monltment Fair — Stab Route 
 
 Trials. 
 
 About the tirst oi April in the United States jail awaiting trial, 
 was imprisoned Captain Howgate, under bonds for embezzle- 
 ment of naval and signal service funds. The prisoner had won 
 considerable distinction in Arctic explorations, and was entrusted 
 with large sums of money to pay off sailors and others. He 
 proved a defaulter through riotous living, and was placed in 
 jail. This offense made a good deal of stir, as the government 
 was out about a quarter of a million, and the United States still 
 had her men in the service to pay, if the rogue were in jail. 
 While he was peeping out behind the bars, he was visited by his 
 paramour, a Miss Burril. who brought a market basket filled with 
 ftowers, wine, and other delicacies, and by her attentions, made 
 the gray haired old Captain forget his s©litude. After a tew 
 preliminary matters which looked like a trial, Howgate wanted 
 the jailor to ask leave to see his wife and children. Under a 
 guard of one man, he was allowed to go home, but he slipped 
 out of a back door, after kissing his much loved wife and children, 
 when a carriage whirled down the street, and the Arctic hero 
 and Miss Burrill disappeared. There was a big commotion — the 
 police hunted everywhere, but the prisoner has never been 
 found. Whether h^ be still hunting for the North pole, or on a 
 voyage of discovery to the South Sea, no one can tell. However, 
 none were punished for his disappearance- Neither the guard, 
 the jailor, his wile, or any one else was reprimanded, and How- 
 gate, with his scrofulous scurvy and gray hair, still fascinates 
 Miss Burrill in some foreign land — rumoi- sometimes says, "in 
 Belgium." But where? 
 
IIB AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 After this Howgate episode, there was an inquiry after the 
 Star Route mail contractors. There were immense sums paid 
 every year to these contractors, who had mail routes away Irom 
 the great lines of travel, and they claimed that it cost a "mint ot 
 money," to get the mails through on time. They wined and 
 dined the poor PostofRce employes of the Department, and dined 
 with Congressmen in Washington all winter, while they hired 
 men at $75 a month, (even less, was given to reckless cow boys) 
 — an old pair of mules was hitched to an oil cloth covered wagon 
 — the United States mail put aboard in a little sack, and this out- 
 fit, for a weekly service, would get thousands of dollars from the 
 government. Sometimes all the expenses were covered by pas- 
 sengers — men prospectors for gold and land claims. Often, 
 these mail contracts were secured by straw bondsmen, and the 
 star routers failing to carry the mail, there was no redress. 
 Mountain routes, where one letter mi^ht cost the government 
 $28,000, were favorites with these rascally mail contractors. It 
 finally got to be such a crying evil, that the government, through 
 the Attorney General, Mr. Brewster, commissioned ex-Governor 
 Wells of Virginia, who was in the city, to hunt up the evidence 
 in good shape for indictment of certain mail contractors, and to 
 bring them before Judge Wiley, of the United States court of 
 the District ot Columbia, at the September term. The conspira- 
 tors against the government as indicted after weeks and mouths 
 of hard work, were Thomas H. Brady, Boone, Colgrove — and 
 the Dorseys, Miner and Rerdell. John Dorsey was a Vermont 
 farmer, who had contracts in New York and his native State — 
 an honest-looking fellow, without any apparefit trickery but fond 
 of money, while Stephen W. Dorsey, the great political manager 
 with his broad brow and solid looking face, was a stronger char- 
 acter, and might b^ guilty, not of little meanness, but colossal 
 frauds, if any. 
 
 The lawyers for the government were foremost, the Hon. 
 Richard Merrick, who was selected on account of legal ability. 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 11 Y 
 
 and being a staunch Denioorut. In this fine work, it was thought 
 that the nation could not accuse tlie officials of a ])artisan desire 
 to shield the great j)olitical manager, With Mr. Merrick, was 
 associated Messrs. Porter, Davidge and the Prosecuting Attor- 
 ney, Coh Corkhill. The defense had a very clear-headed lawyer 
 in Hon. Jeft Chandler ot St. Louis, assisted by Hon. R. B. Car- 
 penter of South Carolina, Jere Wilson, and the eh)quent Robert 
 G. Ingersoll, to talk to the jury. The trial dragged along for 
 weeks and months, beginning in the early autumn days of 1882, 
 before Judge WyHe. Dorsey was mercilessly criticised for his 
 political methods of 1880. 
 
 Ingersoll's speech before the jury was one of the greatest ef- 
 forts of his life — full of pathos — tender, logical, and though it 
 consumed five hours time, yet it was to the point, and listened 
 to by a great crowd. Many ladies were present and held their 
 handkerchiefs to their eyes, while every one in the room, even 
 to the hardened bailiffs, was touched with his wonderful powers 
 of persuasive eloquence. Such a gladiatorial contest of legal 
 acumen and talent, had never been before witnessed at the Capital 
 for hundreds were unable to obtain admission in the court room, 
 and telegraphs and mails had been burdened witii the incidents 
 and speeches of the great ti-ial, for weeks. 
 
 The prisoners sat in the box surrounded by theii- friends, Mrs. 
 Stephen W. Dorsey, the observied of all — her rich dress and 
 costly jewels exciting renuiik and profound attention among the 
 ladies. 
 
 None of the prisoners ever went to jail, but were under heavy 
 bonds for their appearance at trial. The Attorney General, Mr. 
 Brewster, at the head of the Department of Justice, occasion- 
 ally was seen in court, advising with the lawyers for the prose- 
 cution. 
 
 Ingersoll's great speech, the careful watching by the other 
 lawyers for the defense, and too, some people at the Capital, 
 
118 AMEEICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 will always think money was used in the acquittal ot the prisoners. 
 No conspiracy against the government could be tound, as al- 
 leged by the prosecution. The foreman of the Grand Jury, 
 William Dickson, in answer to accusations of bribery, declared 
 alter the trial, that he had been approached by agents ot the 
 Department of Justice with a bribe to convict without fail, Brady 
 and Dorsey, but as Dickson, upon a later trial, failed to prove 
 his accusations of bribery, we leave tlie subject to our readers 
 for their own verdict in the matter. As the jury cleared the 
 prisoners, it was thrown out by some of the newspapers, that 
 political friendships released the "Star Routers," but Mr. Dick- 
 son was a staunch Democrat, and ten out of the twelve jurymen 
 were democrats. One of the jury was an intelligent colored 
 man. and a Republican, and another, an old man, a prominent 
 church member, was the other Republican. 
 
 Upon this verdict of acquittal, Col. Ingersoll received from 
 Stephen W. Dorsey, $50,000 in property, mcluding a paying 
 silver mine in New Mexico. Carpenter got $5,000, Wilson and 
 Chandler a big tee. The trials at the different times costing the 
 Dorseys $200,000 and the rest, as much more, The government 
 spent a good deal of money, and while the contractors scored an 
 acquittal, yet the officials broke up the system of the star routers 
 by which they had victimized the United States Treasury and 
 Postoffice Department so loiig, without punishmeiit, and none 
 since have tried their plans. / President Arthur expressed him- 
 self with much satisfaction at the attemj)t, for the prisoners re- 
 ceived the moral effect of conviction through the country. 
 
 The President was very cautious in making appointments, 
 and was more silent than General Grant, as to his policy. This 
 was criticised by some and sustained by others. When Mr. 
 Teller succeeded Mr. Kirkwood, there was not much certainty 
 among political circles until the a])pointment was made, and 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 110 
 
 the'ii (.'oloradd supposed to be sate foi- a renoniiiiation ot Mr. 
 Arthur tor a second term. 
 
 There was a vacant phice on the Supreme Bench whicli was 
 ottered to Senator Conkling, hut he indi<>;nantly refused it and the 
 phice was filled by Justice Gray, who had been a friend to Pres- 
 ident Arthur, for some time. 
 
 The Mexican Pension bill, which had come up year after year, 
 was discussed in this Congress, and finally passed the Senate, 
 leaving out Jeff' Davis and Kobert Toombs — the latter would not 
 receive his pardon from the government. He died in 1885, an 
 unrepentant rebel. 
 
 Senator David Davis, Vice President of the Senate, pro tern, 
 used his influence to have a bill introduced, (January 30, 1882,) 
 into Congress, giving to the Territory of Dakota, the privileges 
 of a State — the division being south ot the Forty-sixth parallel. 
 But the south with its old ])arty lash over the Democrats opposed 
 it bitterly at that session of Congress, and have as yet disfran- 
 chised 500, OUU people because they were Republicans, and have 
 been refused admission as a state. There have been black crimes, 
 all over the pages of Democratic history, but none dirtier than 
 the disfranchisement of a half million of the enterprising farm 
 owners of that ])ortion of the great northwest. How decent 
 Democrats can look an honest granger in the face, is a puzzle 
 to apolitical student. Hon. J. M. Pettigrew of Sioux Falls, was 
 the delegate to Congres in 1SS2. and did all he could to make 
 that body see the justice of admittmgthis new light of the north- 
 west to the galaxy of States. Bourbon meanness ruled, how- 
 ever, as it generallv does, and nothing could be done. 
 
 Senators Thurman and Conkling, assisted largely by Senator 
 VanWyck, had worked up ])ublic sentiment against land grants 
 to railroads, and in the long session of 1S82, which lasted until 
 August II, there was more discussion against subsidies to rail- 
 
120 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 roads than ever before. There were a dozen contested election 
 cases, private pension bills, the Chinese question, more or less 
 talk on silver coinage, a new bankrupt law, civil service reform 
 bills and the River and Harbor bill with the regular appropria- 
 tion bills to be acted upon, and made into laws. The River and 
 Harbor bill was vetoed by the President, that ai)pr<)priated 
 $14,000,000 to improve the waterways of the nation. Mr. 
 Arthur considered it an extravagant sum. The Hennepin Canal 
 bill was smothered before it was fairly born. 
 
 Factional feeling among Republicans was deep and bitter. 
 There were "Stalwarts" and "Half Breeds" — Blaine and anti- 
 Blaine — Truxton vs. Blaine, and the country in the autumn of 
 1882, did not sympathise with the politicians of the Republican 
 party, who wrought without a policy or a leader. Some of the 
 Republican politicians on the Pacific coast were favorable to the 
 Chinese, others were bitterly opposed to their emigration. 
 "The moon-eyed celestials send all their money to China, and 
 are not Americans," this war cry for the opposition to the Chi- 
 nese, was rung in all its changes. Mr. Blaine was considered as 
 anti-Chinese, and his foreign policy was severely criticised, 
 while the memory of General Garfield was discussed in different 
 circles of politicians. 
 
 The Army of the Cumberland at its annual meeting in June, 
 1882, unanimously resolved to build a monument to the great 
 Ohio war hero and statesman, and many f'.iiends ot Mr. Blaine 
 saw a vindication for him also, if the movement should prove a 
 success, and forevei- tell the story of the greatness of Mr. Garfield's 
 administration. Adjutant General of the Army, General Swaim, 
 was appointed to go forward with the matter, and make such 
 arrangements, lor a Monument P'air, as necessary. The local 
 newspapers were friendly, as they delight "in doins" at the 
 Capitol. Circulars were sent out all over the country, appealing 
 for donations to assist in raising the means to make the Fair o^^' 
 Bazaar, a great success. 
 
LIFE A.T THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 121 
 
 The committee of citizens and of the xVrniy otthe Cumberland 
 asked of leading artists, the loan of pictures — of curios and cabi- 
 nets of minerals from scientists — sculptors, artisans, farmers, and 
 in fact, every class, and everybody was urged to make the Fair 
 a payino- institution. The proper officers were interviwed, and 
 such was the kindly feeling, that the Rotunda with its classic 
 walls, and the Statuary Hall was set apart by Congress for the 
 Fair, to open November 25, 1882. Cipculars were sent to Con- 
 sular Agents and Postmasters to act as agents for the coming 
 festival. Many officers acted in a benevolent way, while others 
 were paid afterward out of the proceeds. The heavens were 
 propitious, for there was lovely autumn weather for many weeks 
 — on All Saints day. November 2, the mercury touched eighty- 
 two degrees in the shade. Flower, hiwn and sky were beautiful 
 to visitors, and the city was full — the leading hotels crowded. 
 On the 19th of October, an Iowa Board of Commissioners was 
 formed at the Ebbitt House, for the pur})ose of raising funds, 
 and helping forward the good work of the Bazaar. There was a 
 great deal of enthusiasm, as Iowa had given President Garfield 
 80,000 majority in his election as President, and nowhere in 
 America was there more heartfelt mourners for the sad ending 
 ot his life. Colonel George Cowie was elected chairman, and 
 Captain Fred M. Clarke of Iowa City, secretary of the board. 
 The other members were O. II. Herring, Colonel John Corson 
 of Keokuk, A. K. Burkholder, a brother-in-law of ex-Governor 
 Car])enter, Henry Jenkins, Hon. J. M. Vale, William Lytle, 
 Major H. M. Love of Iowa City, ex-Governor Lowe — the Hon. 
 Charles Beardsle}', Fourth Auditoi- of the Treasury, and the elo- 
 quent Ilan-y O'Conner, Solicitor of the State i)e])artmeut. 
 
 On Hallowe'en night, the Iowa ladies met at the Ebbitt House 
 and in the red parlor organized a society to carry forward the 
 work of the Fair. l)y decorating and getting ready an Iowa booth. 
 Mrs. (General Williamsdn. presidi-nt, Mrs. Nettie Santord, first 
 
122 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 vif;e president, Miss Mary de Mowhraj, secretary, Mrs. Judge 
 Killpatrick. treasurer. Mrs. llanuali Yj. Crosby, chairman of 
 the p]xecutive conimittee with Mrs. Judge Vale and Miss Cowie, 
 the rest ot tlie committee. Mrs. Williamson was a very energetic 
 lady, but she was in a consumption, and tlie work of pi'e])aration 
 fell u})on the lower officers of the organization. How the ladies 
 chatted and wrought with deft fingers on a crazy ]>atchwork silk 
 quilt, just then coming into lasliion. Silk tidies were hung 
 around, ])ictures loaned, flags, flowers and lace made the Iowa 
 booth a ])retty spot. There were young ladies to sell the bright 
 tinted stationery from several New York houses, and a ])air of 
 diamond ear rings to be raffled for, at ten cents a vote for the 
 most popular Jowa young lady, which was prcsentc^d by Miss de 
 Mowbray of J)ubu(jue. 
 
 The Iowa board made u]) a purse and bought a gold watch to 
 be raffled for, by votes, foi- tlu; most ])0])nlar Iowa gentleman. 
 For days the Capitol corridors and stairways had been filled 
 with boxes of merchandise, household articles of many kinds, 
 sewing machines, pianos, oi-gans. etc., were generously given by 
 the good people of the nation, and thousands of little fancy 
 articles were sent that showed the love of the women folk for the 
 murderied President. At the opening, not half of these beautiful 
 gifts could be placed in the State booths, and the residue was 
 remanded to the basement and crypt of the (Capitol "for later 
 use" so a certain officer said. 
 
 The great historical pictures were covei-ed with canvas, the 
 statues moved back and the decorations changed the look of the 
 great chambers to an art hall and bazaar, magnificent to behold. 
 
 The public exercises at rhe o])ening, were in the Rotunda, and 
 a great crowd surged in its passage ways to get a view of the 
 exercises laid down in the programme. It was a futile attempt. 
 The dignitaries are personally known to all the police, who kee)> 
 order at such j)ublic ])ro(-ee(lings, and the ci'owd made no head- 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 1'2H 
 
 way. OiK' thing in Wsisliington, tho jn'css are always accorded 
 special j»rivilcg('s. The mighty curreiit <»f jaiimicd-ni) huniauity 
 turned to the decorated bootlis of Statuary hall to view the pretty 
 sights there. 
 
 At tlie New Jersey hootli, near the passage wa^ , that elegant 
 society woman, Mrs. (ieneral Kicketts presided. There were 
 beautiful fancy articles sold. Beyond was the Connecticut 
 booth, in charge of Mrs. (ieneral Ilawley, a woman wliose 
 gentle heart was in every good work — in hospital, chnrch, be- 
 nevolent societies, and she now has the rest of heaven, for she 
 passed away a tew months since, worn ont from mnch doing in 
 charities. 
 
 Illinois sold perfumery and fancy articles, and from a fountain 
 in the center of the stall, fragrant incense rose to the roof — a 
 row of singing birds in cages, chains of smilax and fern l>ou(|uets 
 — baskets of flowers, and a gi-oup of ])retty girls, chaperoned by 
 Mrs. General Logan, made as sweet a ])ictnre, as anything from 
 Millet. 
 
 Pocket Vjooks were em[)tied like magic. 
 
 At the Kansas booth, tliere wen- sheafs of wheat, tall corn, 
 prairie flowers, and great roostei-s. first madi- of wood and then 
 covered with seeds and wheat heads, was a novel feature to the 
 Capitolians. These were s(»l(l out at ten cents a vote, the most 
 ])o]>uUir Re]iul»lican candidate for the nomination in l^^^l.^^ I''or 
 a long time General Logan was ahead, hut finally the friends of 
 Mr. Blaine rallied, and the game cocks and gold watch ratiled 
 for, went to the man from Maine. 
 
 ()hiowasin mourning for hei' favorite son, an<l the main at- 
 traction here were pliotogra|>lis. paintings, an<l plaster busts of 
 tiie late President Garfield. This booth was presided over by 
 Miss Sara S])encer, of the Spencei-ian college, and site was ably 
 assisted hv a group of ('ohind»ii> and ( 'leveland young ladies. 
 Thei-e was more monev made here than at anv <»tlier booth. 
 
124 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 Pennsylvania sold confectioneries and candy in every con- 
 ceivable shape, and of the most tof)tlisome deliciousness con- 
 fronted the buyer. 
 
 Kentucky had a magnificent portrait of Henry Clay, draped in 
 purple velvet folds. Fancy articles in Kensington — dolls — and 
 embroidered shawls, with elegant sofa pillows, etc., all shone in 
 the bright light, like the ladies' eyes. Mrs. Gist, of Frankfort, 
 was president, Miss Redd, secretary, and Mrs. White, the wife 
 of the only Republican Congressman from Kentucky, was the 
 first vice president with Miss Love the second in rank. 
 
 But the ne plus ultra for beauty, was the Arkansas booth, 
 being a solid mass of flowers, lace and smilax. It cost $r»00 to 
 drape it in lace, and this expense was cheerfully borne by Hon. 
 S. W. Dorsey and wife — the lady presiding at the booth. 
 
 The New York booth was large, and filled with many costly 
 articles. There was some contention here — wrangling over 
 precedence. Mrs. Senator Warner Miller and daughter were in 
 nominal charge, but there was a good deal of disaffection, and 
 they were not at the booth through the Fair all the time, but pre- 
 sided at the opening. There were several handsome silk quilts 
 and embroidered portieres "for chances,'' and voting for favorites 
 went on briskly. An India shawl valued at |1,500, was to be 
 voted for, and it was alleged that some of the leading ladies had 
 taken yp all the chances, and drew lots inside of the ring to get 
 the shawl, before others had a chance to buy votes. Art hall or 
 the Rotunda, was under the decorative taste and charge of Mrs. 
 Vinnie Ream-Iloxie, and she really made it a lovely picture. 
 Her plaster bust of General Garfield, life-size, was in the cen- 
 ter of the room, surrounded by potted plants, ferns, immense 
 baskets and vases of flowers from the White House conservatory 
 — chains of smilax swung from picture to chandelier, and other 
 beautiful decorations. The British Minister loaned a life-size 
 picture of p]ngland's Queen in her royal ''obes, and Victoria 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 125 
 
 looked siniliiig'ly to a tine picture of ex-Senator Ulaine — over the 
 side entrance door was a picture of the martyred Lincohi — Sar- 
 ony, of New Yoi'k, had an iniiucnse exhihition of photographs 
 of illustrious citizens, and the fair women of the metropolis — 
 artists from all parts of the country, either loaned or gave ele- 
 gant paintings for this chamber — bits of sculpture were to be 
 seen, crayons and drawings to please the children, so that Art 
 hall had been turned into a fairy palace, when Mrs. Uoxie turned it 
 over to the Fair othcials. Mrs. Iloxie had finished her Farragut 
 statue, which was unveiled in the presence of a large crowd, the 
 year previous, at Farragut Square, on ('onnecticut avenue. Her 
 busts of Lincoln were also well known, and had been criticised 
 by connoisseurs. The bust of Garfield was not ccmsidered very 
 artistic by critics, but they good-naturedly said but little, till the 
 Fair was over — however, since that time, she has received no 
 more orders from government for statues. Altogether, she 
 pocketed from Uncle Sam about !f^.■)0,0()0. The lady now resides 
 at Montgomery Ala., with her husband and little son, in the en- 
 joyment of her fame. 
 
 In the presence of an august audience — the Cabinet, Justices 
 of the Supreme Court, prominent Senators and Kepresentatives 
 with their ladies, the Garfield Memorial Fair was formally opened 
 by President Arthur, at noon, November 2."), lss-2 — the Marine 
 band following the short S])eech with national airs amid great 
 enthusiasm. Fourteen months before, the late murdered Presi- 
 dent had lain in state in the Rotunda, not twenty feet from where 
 his successor stood — dead to all things mortal. The ^Marine 
 band, now so joyous, then ])laycd a monnifnl dirge, as they 
 lifted General Garfield's coffin with its heavy crape from the bier 
 and bore the wasted form down the East Capitol steps to the 
 hearse. The cornet took up the strains of the band in "Sweet 
 by and l>ye*' in soh-nin harmony. Now, the music was a jig, 
 then breaking into dreamy sonatas. Flowers now — music, 
 
126 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 beautiful women and brave men, tor the army and navy showed 
 then- brilliant uniforms. Not quite four years had passed from 
 this Fair time, when the successor of President Garfield, Mr. 
 Arthur was dead — Vice President David Davis, and of Mr. 
 xVrthur's Cabinet, Secretaries Frelinghusen, Folger and Howe, 
 had all joined the silent majority. Wiiat wonderful changes by 
 that strange, old wizard, Time! 
 
 Everj'body seemed to have come to the Fair, and had brought 
 his wife along, to fill up the last inch of space. Black and white 
 scrambled for a foothold in the passage ways, and pet dogs, as 
 well as children fared hard in the pushing crowd. One lady was 
 quite conspicuous, holding a little tan dog that weighed two 
 pounds, and on its right front paw, there blazed a diamond ring 
 worth $500. The lady pushed, the dog whined. The little mite 
 of a canine had sore eyes and a fearful distemper, but her mis- 
 tress wanted to come to the Fair, -md "Fannie doggie" could not 
 be left to the cai-e of the servants. Ope of the crazes of fashion 
 about this time, was to engrave cards with doggie's name upon 
 it, and leave them at a friend's house, who had the same idiocy 
 about lap dogs. 
 
 The voting at the booths went on briskly, the money often 
 furnished by the candidates themselves, who wanted to be 
 counted "the most popular gentleman" or sometime "the hand- 
 somest lady." There is no greater humbug at Fairs, than voting 
 in this way, for just at the close of the ballots, comes the thimble 
 rig, when the relative, or nearest friend of the lucky one piles in 
 a few more votes slyly. This was the way, the diamond ear- 
 rings at the Iowa booth reached a successful candidate, and the 
 lady who had bought them for the raffle, got left, after her 
 friends had nearly bought them back for her in the nuserable 
 ten cent votes. 
 
 There was heart-burning and envy. One pretty girl had 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 127 
 
 charge of a huge pair of scales, where people wore weighed fur 
 live cents apiece, but she wanted to be in charge ot a booth. 
 
 Miss Whittington, a lady of tine culture, and correspondent of 
 the New York Knickerbocker, had charge ot the table where the 
 Ladies' Press club sold publications, for the benefit of the Fair 
 fund, An illustrated, beautifully written poem by Bessie Beach 
 (Mrs. M. D. Lincoln) was one of these, and Mrs. Eose Braendle, 
 president ot the club, represented the "Tomahawk" which was 
 a spicy paper at the ('a|)ital, but not wise in its business man- 
 agement, and failed in a year from its inception. 
 
 The National Woman's Press association followed the Ladies" 
 Press club and is still in existence with eighty members— women 
 who think as well as write for the leading journals. At one 
 time (Olivia) Mrs. E. E. Briggs was president, now Mrs. M. D. 
 Lincoln is at the head. On its roll the names ot Mrs. Eldridge 
 Smith, ^author ot Christian Science), Mrs. Hort, the novelist. 
 Miss Clara Barton, one of the saintly women of the republic, 
 Mrs. Dennison, Mrs. Mohl ot the Texas Sittings, Emily Haw- 
 thorne Charles the poetess, Miss Dprham of the Inter Ocean, 
 Mrs. Hannah Si)erry of the Ashtabula Sentinel, Mrs. Maggie 
 Burke of the Washington Post, Mrs. Crandall, Mrs. Belva 
 Lockwood, Mrs. Mary A. Lockwood, m brainy writer on the 
 tariff, Mary A. Hill and other cultivated women at the Capital. 
 Mrs. Burke has written many popular songs— Mrs. Sperry is an 
 excellent correspondent. 
 
 Every lady writer took daily notes upon the Fair which lasted 
 from November 2.") to Decembers — the closing ceremonies benig 
 on the Sabbath. The Memorial Fair was a success, so far as 
 bringing people together — in art criticisms — in art decorations, 
 but for the alleged object to get means to l)nil(l a monuiiieiit by 
 the Army of the Cumberland to one of 4ier great soldiers, it was 
 a miserable failure. The managers reported about $50,000 gross 
 
128 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 receipts, and when all expenses were paid, General Swaini gave 
 over to the Army of the Cumberland, a little over $7,()0<». The 
 basement did not disgorge donations very well. There were 
 boxes of goods which were never placed on sale — several baskets 
 of champagne for the New York booth, that were never bi'ought 
 trom the crv])t — sewing machines, a silver mounted saddle, and 
 a city milliner presented a $25 hat to a western booth, which 
 never appeared at its counter, and she recognized the velvet and 
 ostrich feathers with other decorations of the hat. u])on the head 
 of a Fair ofhciars wife, and the frame with a part of the rigging 
 in a second-hand store, whei'e they sold cast-offs of the Fair. 
 
 There was so much bare-faced stealing, that a quic^t investiga- 
 tion was had by some of the Army officers. All at once, it was 
 dropped, and the whole affair went into a (|uiet corner of history 
 not to be touched u])<m by profane eyes. There wei"e too many 
 to saddle the elephant. 
 
 The fashions for this autumn were cashmeres with Dolly Var- 
 den roses, as big as a tea cup, and the In'ginning of the '"Mother 
 Hubbard" dates from this November sty'e. 
 
 One of the brightest literary women of the ('ai)it'l ap]»eared at 
 the Fair in lilac silk, made in this outlandish way tor a street 
 dress, trimmed with ])ale heliotrope ribbon, and miles of narrow 
 Valenciennes lace. She was accompanied by her golden-haired 
 boys — Lionel and Victor. 
 
 About Fair times Bud Eggleston, ;i noted temperance woiker 
 among railroad employes, put u]i a big canvass tent on ('apitol 
 Hill near the B. & (). depot, and with songs, tem])eran('e speeches 
 and recitations, he induced a good many to a sign temperance 
 pledge, especially the young men. A revival of large, anti- 
 saloon proportions, lifted the reform out of the old rut — means 
 were raised to build an immense hall on Maiyhind avemie. 
 Capitol Hill, but, after it had reached the second story, Mr. 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 129 
 
 Eg^lcston was killed by h I'tiilroad accident, and the work was 
 stopped, as his mantle did not tall on any of the 3,000 Good 
 Tc'ni])lars in the city. The building was afterwards taken down 
 and the brick sold to building contractors. The 1,100 saloons 
 went on with their business, without hearing the weak, piping 
 voices of lodges, churches and W. C T. U. ot the Capital — there 
 has been none to make them afraid to any great extent since the 
 death of poor ''Bud Eggleston." 
 
 The Young Men's Christian Association celebrated the opening 
 ot their new quarter at the old Chamberlin Club house on 
 New York avenue near Fourteenth street, the 15th of October, 
 1882. There was a band ot music, an excellent picnic 
 supper spread by the ladies, a quartette ot singers gave 
 "America"" and "Old Hundred,'' and speeches ot congratulations 
 that the association was in a $30,000 house furnished in good • 
 style, and these appointments with the fine building had been 
 rescued from genteel gamblers. Bibles in place of bottles, 
 prayers instead of ribald songs. 
 
1H0 'AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 CPIAPTER X. 
 
 Arctic Survivors — Soldiers' Home — Operas — Dramatic Ama- 
 teurs — Coulisse Chat. 
 
 Tliere were a lialf dozen heroes to visit the Capital, and late in 
 the autumn of 1SS2, a reception was given at Masonic Hall to 
 these survivors of the "Jeannette" the Arctic ship sent out by 
 Bennett of the New York Herald that was lost in the ice floes 
 of the far north. The affair was managed by a few gray haired 
 admirals of the nav^y in town — the hall decorated witli flags and 
 flowers — Speaker Keifer, (xenei-al Logan, the Hon. David Davis 
 . and other officials were present. The Russian Noros and an Es- 
 (juimau were much noticed — Lieutenant John C. Danenhower now 
 dead, and a brother of the ill-fated (Jollins. Chief Engineer Mel- 
 ville, one of the survivors who lived in Philadelphia, sent regrets, 
 for the reason that he had been terribly criticised in some of the 
 ])apers, as being unkind to his wife. She came to the Ebbitt 
 House and made some remark by her loud manners, when 
 it was soon found out, the lady was partially insane. The old 
 tar had an honest, bluff face, and as he had spent eighteen years 
 at sea, out of twenty-three years of married life, it looked as if 
 the skeleton might be in Ids (doset. 
 
 Miss LaFarge, the fiancee of -Lieutenant Cliipps of the ill-'- 
 stari-ed expedition, lay in the vault of the LaFarges in a Phila- 
 delphia cemetery, dead — her heart broken at the thought of his 
 burial in the everlasting Siberian snows of the far off north. 
 
 The "Proteus" sent after Greely under Lieutenant (Tarlington, 
 the chase of the ''Thetis and Bear" would seem that this ignus 
 fatuii.% the discovery of the North Pole, was not worth the 
 candle. 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 131 
 
 At this Arctic reception, there was a good deal of 8]>read eagl e 
 eloquence on the glorv of the American navy, but by ^'.sensible 
 people it was said, "there is little glory in a few old rotting 
 ships."' The Chilian newspapers had boasted they could take 
 San P'rancisco any fine day. And so they could, if they had had 
 backbone^ but fortunately their southern blood was not very 
 plucky at this time. In a couple of years afterwards, the Demo- 
 crats, stung by such representations, and believing that the navy 
 would not be turned against the South, five new steel cruisers 
 which are now nearly finished, were appropriated for, by (Con- 
 gress without their opposition. 
 
 Three thousand officers and 8,<>00 seamen, with ninety old 
 wooden ships, was the American navy of 1882. The Naval 
 Academy at Anna])olis turns out every year of grace, a large 
 number of young cadets at the ins<-itution, while the top-heavy 
 navy has no ships for them to practice upon, so that a certain 
 percentage of graduates is sent back to private life every year. 
 The fitting out of these foolish Arctic expeditions would have 
 helped build several ships of the line. 
 
 Tlirough the late autumn, President Arthur stayed at the Sol- 
 diers" Home, two miles north of the city. It is situated in an en- 
 closure of 500 acres, laid out in walks and drives among the 
 native oaks and maples — it is well drained, the roads delightful, 
 and on sunny days there are hundreds of .gay turnouts to be seen 
 in the grounds. Blue coats are worn by the residents, who read 
 in the library, lie on the grass, a spot of blue is seen in a canoe 
 on the artificial lake, some blue coats are thrown over a rustic 
 bench — soldiers are (•li]>ping nosegays and tending the flowers, 
 in fact, there are several hundreds of them who draw rations in 
 the dining room. 
 
 In 1861, General Scott, wiien Secretary of War. planned the 
 endowment and place of the Soldiers' Home, which action was 
 approved bv President Lincoln. All disabled soldiers that can 
 
132 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 be ac'ionimodated are sent here — their pay goes on at thirteen 
 dollars a month, but pensions are stopped when in hospital. 
 
 The place is beautitul — one would imagine the gray old soldier 
 protected by his government would be happy. In the dining 
 room, all is neat and clean — the dishes shining, and upon asking- 
 one of the old defenders, "are you not happy in this beautiful 
 placed' he sighed. "Yes, pretty enough — good enough, but so 
 lonesome, so monotonous — ^the same thing over and over 
 again." In a community of men, unless sustained by high re- 
 ligious devotion, there is always the same depression. And at 
 this beautiful place, there are a half dozen suicides every year, 
 showing tbat a soldiers' home is 7iot a home — a fireside is want- 
 ing, with children's prattle, and a woman's smile to cheer him in 
 his decrepitude. 
 
 At the Home in Hampton, Va., we interviewed some of the 
 bravest men on the rolls. There was no murmuring of fare, or 
 of discipline, but only a longing for fireside loves and home af- 
 fections. It is natural. 
 
 The National Military cemetery established with the Soldiers' 
 Home in 1861, is in the same enclosure, and its white headstones 
 in long rows, mark the spot where the heroic dead of the late 
 war are buried. Over 5,000 of the loyal braves sleep here, 270 
 confederates, and nearly 300 unknown. Each soldier pays a cer- 
 tain amount of money, thirty cents a month, which is laid away 
 for a hospital fund — the same amount the navy receives from the 
 sailors in the line for hospital use. The President's cottage is 
 especially pretty, built of gravel and cobble stone, and nearly 
 covered with ivy. Mr. Lincoln, General Grant, and President 
 Hayes all enjoyed the healthful breezes about the Home, and 
 the freedom from the malaria at the White House, which comes 
 up in the autumn months from the Potomac flats. 
 
 The cottage was carpeted with Turkish rugs — "cast ofis" from 
 tiie White House— there were Persian cloth portieres between 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 133 
 
 the library and sitting room, which swuiio; lazily in the open 
 doorway, and thi-ough real lace curtains came the soft light ot 
 the fading color in the west. There is a broad hall in the Vir- 
 ginia fashion, that connects with the dining room ; and a tii'c- 
 ])lace, where a few sticks ot wood were in coals, tiiat looked com- 
 tortable to Mr Arthui', as he sat reading Lippincott by the gi'ate. 
 Little Nellie in her dark blue flannel, was romping with her d'g 
 — a little yellow pet — well, it was a cur dog. She had a brisket 
 of English rabbits and a kitten. 
 
 The garden about the cottage was bright with Sophronia, 
 Hermosa, Princess Albertha and Neil roses — lobelia, mignon- 
 ette and sweet elysian bound the parteres with a wide ribbon of 
 beauty, and so fragrant that through the cottage there was no 
 need of toilet per+uraes. The President needed the rest, but how 
 the opposition papers scolded because he was sponging off the 
 pool- soldiers, as he prepared his message. Tlie expenses were 
 I'eali}' paid out of the oi-dinary contingent ot the White Mouse 
 fund, and not a penny from the Soldiers' Home appropi-iation. 
 But detraction and slander followed Mr. Arthur a*: every step. 
 
 General Sturgiss, the Superintendent of the Home, lived here- 
 in a beautiful cottage— the hospital is a half mile fni-ther east- 
 ward in the grounds. The whole enclosure is surrounded by a 
 high iron fence on a stone wall — massive gates of ii-on at the 
 entrance — and the narrow street that passes the building, goes 
 out to the ancient Rock Creek church, the brick ot which was 
 im])orted from England in 1756. There are mouldy tombstones 
 whei-e the visit(n- can only deciphei- a part of the mimes of those 
 who passed away in the last century. It is an Episcopal chuich 
 situated about a mile and a half from Silver Springs, the Blair 
 homestead. The funeral of the Hon. Montgonjery Blaii-, ex- 
 Postmaster General of Lincoln's Cabinet, occurred in this chui-ch 
 -fuly 2!>, 1SS3. The chancel was draped in bhick, the altar rail 
 festooned in crape, vases of white Howers over the altar and on 
 
134 AMERICA2T COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 the gospel side. The coffin was covered with flowers, and at the 
 head a sunburst design, made up of yellow roses. Mr. Blair, ex- 
 cepting the Hon. Simon Cameron, was the last of the im- 
 mortal Lincoln's Cabinet. General Meyers — Secretaries Fol- 
 ger Jand Lincoln of Mr. Arthur's Cabinet. — General Belknap, 
 Doctors Bliss and Norris of the regular army, P'ourtli Auditor, 
 the Hon. Charles Beardsley^ First Assistant Postmaster General 
 Hatton, and Postmaster General Gresham came in later, and 
 occupied the same pew with Mr. Folger. There was nuich feel- 
 ing displayed by all present. Mr. Blair had defended Belknap 
 at the time of his trial, and would not take a cent of money for 
 his services, but the Hon. Matt Carpenter and Jere Black of 
 Pennsylvania, received large fees for their services. 
 
 There is a line of street cars which connects the Rock Ci-eek 
 road with the boundary cars, so that visitors find these points of 
 interest easy of access. 
 
 On December 5, 188:2, Congress was formally opened, the 
 President recommending in his message, the policy of inci easing 
 the ships of the line, reduction of internal revenue taxes, civil 
 service reform and that two cents postage stamps would bring in 
 more postal revenue than three cents. Indirectly, he criticised 
 Blaine's foreign policy of the former administration, and renewed 
 his desire, that a new addition to our navy, and a new bankrupt 
 law, uniform throughout the United States, should be passed 
 
 On December 2!», Senator Pendleton, of Ohio, introduced the 
 present civil service law in the form of a bill, which was only 
 slightly modified by both houses, and passed January Ki, 1883. 
 As it was introduced by a Democrat, the Republicans saw it 
 would be unfair to the country to oppose it, and with both po- 
 litical party managers, was considered partly an experiment. 
 The Civil Service Commission appointed by President Hayes, 
 had made a report to Congress in favor of the system, and ever 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 135 
 
 since the Republicans had been in power, a k)ng tenure of (-ivil 
 service hud gradually met with favor, as there were union Demo- 
 crats in all the departments, who had done their work well, and 
 were allowed to remain undisturbed in their places. One feature 
 of the new civil service law was, that two ot a family should not 
 be on the pay roll of the departments. • 
 
 A little time after its enactment, it was whispered in the Post- 
 ofiice Dj' ;.rtment that a man drawing $l,0o(» a year, and his 
 wife in the Dead Letter division was on a salary of $1,200. 
 They had been for years supposed to be lovers, he would bring 
 the lady nosegays, she would divide her lunch basket with him, 
 and when they left at four P. M., would bid each other good-bye 
 in a formal manner, and pass to their different boarding houses, 
 Finally, there were some suspicious circumstances, and the 
 wotnan was asked to resign, to favor her reputation. She then 
 owiu'd u]» to a secret marriage, and cards were sent out to their 
 friends, with tlu' real date of the cereuKjny. Secret marriages 
 are common on account of this department rule. It is oc- 
 casionally broken for influential Congressmen's especial favor- 
 ites. One ofthese, had xeoen of her family drawing pay from 
 the i.overnment in 1885. 
 
 Aimer's garden, a German rendezvous, where families of the 
 Gernuin aristocracy meet and talk over city gossi]), was lively 
 with politicians, just before the meeting (»f Congress in Decem- 
 ber. In summer, Abner's garden is a pretty spot. Beer is sold 
 in a beautiful court laid out in beds ot flowers, with potted ])lants 
 ])iiik oleanders, and fine old trees cast their shadows in the moon- 
 light. This little Acadian gem is situated just back of E street 
 northwest, and opjtosite, the Postoffice Department. When all 
 were seated in this anij)hitheater around the court, it would hold 
 a thousand ])eo])le. A well trained band of music is attached to 
 the place, which mostly discourses (German music such authors 
 as Schumann, Wagner, Strauss are heard in their divinest melo- 
 
IHfi AMEKICAJSI COUKT GOSSIP. 
 
 dies. Above the eiitiarice and bar is a large dancing hall, so 
 that the inusic4oving people of the Capital are often found at 
 Abner's. 
 
 At one time there was a Hospital Fair held in its precincts, 
 that netted several thousand dollars. The Union Veteran Corps 
 Fair held in March, 1885, also realized a large sum for the bene- 
 fit of old soldiers. Captains Dillon and T. S. Keigart, of Iowa, 
 were the main managers of the latter affaii-. 
 
 As it is a free admission at Abner's, many an aspiring German 
 singer has come before the public at this place. The Hon. Simon 
 Wolf, our late Consul to Cairo, Egypt, is a constant visitor here, 
 and many a local celebrity has come out under his patronage. 
 Professor Bischoff, the organist of the Congregational church, 
 and the leading teacher of vocal culture, is a German, totally 
 blind, bat full of nmsic, as he touches the keys of the massive 
 pipe organ in that time honored church. Among his pupils who 
 are well known, are Miss Eva Mills, step-daughter ()f Clark 
 Mills, the sculptor, (but called by his lumie), Miss Minnie Ewan, 
 another soprano of the Congregational choir, Mrs. Powell, alto, 
 H. C. Young, basso, and Mrs. Mills, contralto, with Mrs. Allen, 
 pianist, made a pleasant group of charming musicians. Among 
 the amateur ])ianists, Miss Bertha Buxman, of the King Conser- 
 vatory of Music, excels, and a programme ot ii largely attended 
 musicale at the late Madame Logan's residence, a teacher of good 
 vocal culture, will show a few local celebrities. Whipple, one 
 of the best baritones in the city, gave a "Moorish Love Song'' 
 and the "Fairy Jane;" Aria from "Roberto," Miss Pryor. ''Fare- 
 well" by the Misses Maurice; contralto song, "After All," 
 Eulalie Domer. Soprano solo, from Mignon, Miss Kate Scott. 
 "Dreamland Faces," Laura Bangs. "La Malta Bella," Miss 
 Florence Griggs — elocutionists, Miss Helen Beattie and J. 
 Wirt Kail. 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 137 
 
 This sketcli of the musical celebrities ot the Capital must nec- 
 essarily be short. We can only give the names ot" Prof. Wal- 
 decker ot Ascension church, Prof, and Mrs. Harry Sherman, of 
 St. Aloysins, Mr. Edward Pugli, a fine tenor. Prof. Rogers, a 
 ballad singer, E. L. Lapham, tenor, and Prof. Jecko, of Trinity 
 —Mrs. McAuley, of St. Matthews,— Mrs. Bettie McEwan, the 
 leading soprano of Calvary Baptist church, and a Mrs. Colonel 
 Morgan, who was a dramatic singer and artist that rendered at a 
 Capitol Hill reception, the Dream ot St. Augustine, where she 
 sang the Te Deum in a most inspired manner. 
 
 Miss Agnes Smallwood, of the St. Augustine choir, should not 
 be forgotten as a leading colored soprano, and Madame Selika, 
 also colored, made her debtit a.t Lincoln Hall before her departure 
 for Europe. The Tennessee nightingale. Miss Bertie Crawford, 
 made a local stir in nmsical circles — went to Boston and Mon- 
 treal, and across the water to London, but foolishly got up a 
 scandal with her American manager, Stahl, and is now in ob- 
 scurity. Had she attracted the notice of a titled lord, the case 
 might have been different. Her sister, Minnie Crawford, was 
 the best female banjoist in the city, and was honored with invi- 
 tations to the best families when the banjo craze was at its height. 
 Mr. Chester Alan Arthur, Jr., was a good banjo player. The 
 mandolin has taken the place of the banjo to a large extent, yet 
 the guitar, the harp and banjo, will always be heard in polite 
 circles. 
 
 The Operatic Association ot Washington, gave "Patience,'' on 
 Friday evening, January 12, 188^^>, under the direction of John 
 Philip Sousa, the leader of the United States Marine band. E. 
 B. Hay, the funniest man in America, made a capital Bunthorne, 
 and the entire affair was highly successful. Miss Lillie Lewis, 
 as "Editii," was charming, and Miss Marie Reed, daughter of 
 Judge Reed of Georgia, sang and acted well in the same role at 
 a later representation of "Patience." 
 
138 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 Tn June, ls8-t, Sousa and Tuber's ''Desiree'' was given at the 
 National Theater under very favorable auspices, and it was sup- 
 posed that "Desiree" was an American opera that would prove 
 itself immortal, and immense applause at its first appearance 
 gave promise of such a future. But Gilbert & Sullivan never 
 heard of any eclipse in the comic opera line, and the author of 
 an American opera of lasting tame, "has not been born yet"" so 
 the critics say. 
 
 The Casino, an aristocratic theater, was projected on Connect- 
 icut avenue ; the lots were bought at a high figure, the architect 
 laid out plans for a half million dollar building, the red granite 
 basement and stone steps were laid in solid masonry, but the 
 company broke up, and the Casino of ISS-t stands just where 
 the tower of Babel is in history — unfinished. About the same 
 time, the Washington Light Infantry, a crack military company 
 with the help of a few capitalists, bought a comparatively cheap 
 lot south of Pennsylvania avenue on Fifteenth street, and built 
 a splendid armory, and above it one of the handsomest opera 
 houses in the country. This was leased to John Albaugh for 
 1884-6, and opened November 1<) by that charming singer, 
 Emma Abbott, in the time-honored opera of ""Za /Somnamhula,'' 
 and the night following, in ^'■Chimes of Normandy y 
 
 The Boston Ideals, the Alia Norman Company and others, 
 have made it one of the most delightful places of anmsement in 
 the world. 
 
 The first appearance of the Jersey Lily at Ford's Opei-al louse 
 in December, 1882, was the signal for an avalanche of flowers 
 behind the curtain, although from adverse newspaper criticisms, 
 the audience was cold when she first appeared in "She Stoops to 
 (Conquer." Her personal loveliness could not be gainsaid. The 
 exquisite beauty of throat and chin, her clear English com- 
 plexion, the calm repose of her Greek face, and when she smiled 
 the lovelight in her largo bine eyes melted the hearts of many. 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 139 
 
 who would not admit it on all occasions. Congressman 
 
 sent baskets of flowers, day by day. Senator Bayard gave her 
 & petite sowper in the Senate restaurant at one time, and Freddy 
 did not frighten off many delicate attentions from sevei-al high 
 officials. 
 
 Minnie Hauk in Carmen, always succeeds in getting a big 
 house, and when she sang Elsie with Campanini, the ])()<)r old 
 tenor of to-day, they were received with shouts of applause at 
 the old National. 
 
 Emma Thursby, at a concert in Lincoln Hall, under the Stra- 
 kosch management, with the chevalier Kotinski, the pianist, had 
 the i)leasure not only of a grand house, but President Arthur 
 and Secretary Folger were before her in the front ])ews with 
 friends. Col. McMichael, the Marshal, and other dignitaries were 
 also present. 
 
 Christine Neillson, next to Patti, had more worshippers than 
 any other public singer at the Capital. Her Swedish face with 
 hei- pink and white cheeks, and blonde hair, made her very at- 
 tractive in person. In January, 1SS8, she appeared before Pres- 
 ident Arthur at the White House in deep mourning for her hus- 
 band Rousand, and she sang the Jewel Song from Faust, Schu- 
 bert's ''Serenade,'' and the "Old Folks at Home," the tender 
 pathos of her rich voice went directly to the heart of her august 
 listener, who showed Madame Rousand many flattering atten- 
 tions. 
 
 President Arthur patronized the farewell Annie Gary concert at 
 the Congregatiomd church; and Miss Ober in the Boston Ideals, 
 under the management of the Elks, a benevolent institution of 
 the city. 
 
 The Lawrence Barret Dramatic Club at the National Theater 
 gave a benefit June, 18S4-, to the Washington Continentals, one 
 of the swell military (•om])anies, that wear upon parade the tight 
 
140 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 coats and knee breeches of our grandfathers. David C. Bangs 
 appeared as Shylock ; Harry Robinson, Antonio ; Chirenco 
 Rlieem as Bassanio, and Jay Wirt Kail as the Duke. Among 
 the other amateurs of the ehib were George P\ Erdman and John 
 A. Benedick, Miss Rose Wheeler's "Portia," May McCauley's 
 ''Jessica," and Jennie E. Thompson's "Nerissa" were delightf uL 
 
 The farce of Mr. and Mrs. Peter White concluded the enter- 
 tainment, with E. B. Hay as "Peter'' and Miss McCauley as 
 "Mrs. Peter." 
 
 The most successful amateur actor, afterwards a star, and born 
 at the Capital, is Robert L. Downing. In his famous character 
 of '"''Hanh MonF'' in Joaquin Miller's "Tally Hoi" he has made 
 a national reputation. Many critics think he excels in '"Vantour 
 the Exile," in a greater degree. 
 
 There is a great deal oi native talent m the comic renditions 
 of Tim Murphy, formerl_y of Gonzaga College, and Dr. White, 
 the famous elocutionist ot many parlor entertainments, so well 
 known on the platform foi' charity's sweet sake. People laugh 
 all over and for many days after seeing them in character. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. McKee Rankin, at the old National^ in the fall 
 of 1882, had big houses in "4!>." Jaunaschek, the Florences, 
 Emmet, Joe Jefferson, Lottaand Maggie Mitchell, draw immense 
 houses in the city. 
 
 When Madame Ristori, now over 60 years of age (who was the 
 great rival of Rachel, forty years ago), appeared at Albaugh, 
 there was scarcely standing room. Her wonderful personation 
 of Marie Stuart seemed an inspiration. The Italian minister. 
 Baron de Fava, gave an elegant dinner to the great actress and 
 her children, who were with her at the Capital. 
 
 Through the iirst engagement ot Irving and Ellen Ter'-y in 
 1884, Washington had another theatrical furon'e — Irving being 
 dined and wined bv the President and the English Minister^ — a 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 141 
 
 diiiiKJi' at the club house, and every other attention by the social 
 lights of the metropolis. [Miss Olive Risley Seward, the adopted 
 daughter of the great New York statesnum, gave a tea and in- 
 vited Miss Terrv — the hostess seemed infatuated with her "Por- 
 tia" and "Ruth Meadows." Miss iSeward had a handsome for- 
 tune in her own right, for in the Seward will she was remembered 
 for her acts of kindness when his amanuensis on the "Round 
 the Workr' journey with the giant ])olitician. 
 
 Among Miss Seward's guests were Miss Lucy Frelinghuysen, 
 Mrs. Chandler, the wife of the Secretary of the navy, her sister, 
 Mrs. Kinsley, and other leading ladies in official lite. 
 
 Mrs. Chandler wore a heavy black satin en traine. a white lace 
 draped overskirt, and corsage bouquet of Jacquenjinot roses. 
 
 Miss Frelinghuysen- 8 toilette was a wldte surah covered with 
 Valenciennes lace and knots of pink ribbon through the drapeiy 
 and on the front of the corsage. Her flowers we»e LaFrance 
 roses. 
 
 Mrs. Kinsley, a brunette, in a pale ])ink tea gown, was very 
 attractive looking. There is a bit of gossip about this tea from 
 the (Jhandlers. There was a little shaking of the head, the Sec- 
 retary put on and oH his eye glasses before the invifation was 
 accepted, and knowing ones asserted, that .Miss Terry with her 
 four husbands could not reach such an exalted station anywhere 
 else ill the world, even if she were the world's leading actress.; 
 
 When Mary Anderson appeared on the stage after her 
 European tour — her chaste, pure life being such a contrast to 
 others of her profession, she was overwhelmed with caids for 
 dinners and receptions, but "■our Mary'' is a liard student, and 
 does not give way to ])leasure — St. Mathews' confessional, the 
 theater, and a very^ few callers, chiinied her sole attention. 
 "Study'' is her motto. The prettiest sight ever disjihiNed on the 
 stage at Albaugh's, was her "(Talatea," 
 
1-1:2 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 Ill this connection we must not omit tiic IJernliurclt turore of 
 1881. wlien ijloves, handkercliiets and dresses bore her stamp, 
 and marked the tire of her genius. Tiiere have been many imi- 
 tations, but her "Oamille"" was the French ideal in lite — hte 
 itself. The death-dew on her brow, the lading light in her pansy 
 eyes, were the perfection ol art in the death scene. The old 
 National never heard such thunders of applause. 
 
 This old theater burned down in the spring ot 1885, and in 
 the autumn was re-opened by Madamoiselie Rhea, who gave 
 Adrienne Lacouverier to a crowded house. Many ot the Diplo- 
 matic Corps, and families of the Supreme Court were present. 
 
 Soon after, Fanny I)aven})ort appeared in Fedora — the dress 
 in the second scene being remarkably beautiful, consisting of 
 a petticoat ot white brocadt^d satin with an exquisite overdress 
 of white uncut velvet. The corsage cut in a deep V shape, 
 with seed pearls. The front of the petticoat was elaborately 
 embroidered in pearls, and the only coloring to the dress was the 
 facing to the white brocade train — this facing being of rich 
 embroidery in pink and red roses. In this toilette, her diamonds 
 costing $30, ( >(»(), were simply superb. Miss Davenport, without 
 doubt, is the greatest of American born actresses. 
 
 Helena Modjeska, the Countess Bozenta, with iier husband, 
 the Count, receives a great deal of social attention at the (/apital. 
 She speaks six languages, and acts in four, and is a witciiing, 
 charming woman in private life, without a stain on her reputa- 
 tion. She was entertained by the Russian and Italian ministers 
 at their residences, Mrs. Sherman, and other high official fami- 
 lies. Her Margareuite Gautier aiid Viola in "Twelfth Night," 
 are ex<|uisite personations. Gentle womanhood has a most 
 beautiful ex])onent in Modjeska. 
 
 In March, issfi, the singer Nevada, the beautiful wife of Dr. 
 Palmer, liad a tine audience at the Congregational church, in 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 143 
 
 "La Sonnambuhi.'' As she was a iwotege of Mrs. Mackay, the 
 wife of the bonanza king ; liad sung betore the Prince and Prin- 
 cess of Wales, and with the voice of the larks that sing in her 
 native sage brush, she was received with rapturous a|)})lause. 
 Grounod was her godfather in religion, and she sang many of his 
 roles with the great composer in Paris. This was well known, 
 and few of the Diplomatic Corps were absent, the Chinese min- 
 ister and his suite, as earnest as any one in his demonstrations, 
 when she appeared before the footlights. Her voice is a pure 
 soprano, reaching to F. sharp in alto, and the timbre remarkably 
 sj'mpathetic — her execution marvellous, and withal the little 
 Emma Wixom of the sage brush was very graceful. She wore 
 no diamonds, but simple roses at the concert. Senator and 
 Mrs. Jones, of Nevada, tendered her an elegant reception, when 
 she was made the object of much compliment by the highest of- 
 ficials and their families The fair singer wore a beautiful dress 
 of carnation velvet with a petticoat of white lace, embroidered 
 in seed pearls. Mrs. Jones' toilette was a black surah silk cov- 
 ered with black Spanish lace and a breast knot of Neapoliton 
 violets, caught by an aigrette of diamonds, shone at the corsage. 
 Dr. Palmer, the husband of Miss Nevada, was in demand for 
 his entertaining conversational powers. 
 
 Perhaps no actor made a greater furore at the Capital than 
 Salvhii^ although he never could master English, but his Vir- 
 ginius was the perfection of art, and poor John McCullough was 
 also loved by the art critics. 
 
 In July, ls85, the twenty-five cent opera was inaugurated with 
 •'Era Diavola" — Jeannie Winston taking the title role and 
 this opera with few alternating changes for others of the same 
 sensational type, paid the manager well for four months. 
 
 Hertzog Museum took the place of Lincoln Hall, the building 
 being entirely remodelled. This was a ten cent opera house and 
 has proved a success, financially, beside it gave a great deal of 
 
144 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 pleasure to working people, although patronized olteii by the 
 wealthy at matinees. 
 
 Jeannie Winston, the queen of cheap opera here, has made a 
 place in the hearts of many young ladies not easily understood. 
 "Whether it is because she wears male dresses and sings the ban- 
 ditti parts in a heavy contralto ; or, as it is sometimes claimed, 
 she is a handsome man in woman's clothes, or is the beautitul 
 hermaphrodite of Greece singing in the Nineteenth century — one 
 thing is certain, she is the queen ol a large class of young ladies, 
 who adore her, imitate her, send bouquets of flowers paid for 
 out of chewing gura money, and show her every possible atten- 
 tion u]5on her re-entree. 
 
 The Theodore Thomas orchestra of sixty pieces gave a grand 
 concert at Albaugh's in April, 1885, with Materna as the prima 
 donna. She rendered Wagner's music, as the old masters would 
 have loved, her upper register notes filling the immense building 
 with magnificent harmony. Her acting was excellent. She 
 wore one of Worth's dresses in the second act — a white brocaded 
 satin with panels embroidered in seed pearls, her diamonds su- 
 perb. A magnificent aigrette of diamonds flashed against her 
 dark hair, and she was indeed the Queen of Song for that season. 
 
 One of the most elegant parlor entertainments of Arthur's ad- 
 ministration, was given at Castle Stewart, the home of ex Senator 
 Stewart of Nevada, for the benefit of a charitable institution 
 known as the "Blue Anchor," who gave its funds to ship-wrecked 
 seaman, off the life savings stations. The "Castle," so termed, 
 stands next to Senator Blaine's on Dupont Circle, and is a copy 
 ol a baronial castle in Devonshire, England. The entrance is by 
 wide stone steps into a wide hall where winding stairs lead up to 
 the tall turret and dome of the immense structure. On the right 
 of the hall is a dining room, 30 by 40 feet — on the left, a 8al<)7i 
 hung with costly draperies and pictures, the Axminster and 
 richly upholstered chairs, with other magnificent furniture, give 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 145 
 
 signs of the wealth ot the owner. All the chairs were in gilt 
 frames, and the pictures were framed in Florentine style. The 
 ball room had a raised dais, and chairs were brought in to seat 
 about 600 people, while it was lit with an immense chandelier and 
 twenty-five gas jets, with wax candles on the piano, and in 
 brackets over the stage. The President ot the Blue Anchor was 
 Mrs. Justice Miller ot the Supreme Court families, and with a 
 resoluteness of purpose and her social prestige, the entertain- 
 ment netted over twelve hundred dollars. 
 
 President Arthur was delighted with the music, and one of the 
 lions of the evening was General Sheridan, who had lately been 
 appointed Lieutenant General of the Army. His beautiful, dark 
 haired wife sat by him in a ruby colo.ed brocaded velvet with 
 handsome laces and diamonds — corsage bouquet of Neil roses. 
 The hostess, Mrs. Stewart, was a daughter of ex-Governor Foote 
 of Mississippi, and in her black velvet train, her winning face, 
 and white hair rolled back in Pompadour fashion, she looked 
 like a ])icture of the Eighteenth century, stepping down from the 
 Florentine frames on the wall. Miss and Col. Corkhill — the Ital- 
 ian Minister and wife, the lovely Miss Folger with the Secretary, 
 Mrs. Senator Blair, Mrs. Senator Cockrell, the Miss Pages of 
 Warrensburg, Virginia, were present, q,nd it proved to be one of 
 the most brilliant, social entertainments of the kind at the Capi- 
 tal. Mrs. Carlisle, then the wife of a newly elected Speaker of 
 the House, wore a handsome lilac silk covered with lace, her 
 light hair and Idue eyes giving her a youthtul appearance, as she 
 chaperoned a Louisville brunette in corn colored silk, who focused 
 many opera glasses, on account ot her piquant face, and, at that 
 time, peculiar dress. 
 
 The programme contained ten numbers, but there were a large 
 number of encores. Mrs. Braxton and Madamoiselle Nougeiras, 
 the daughter of the Portugese Minister, were the sopranos — the 
 latter a lovely girl whose large dark eyes gave a soulful expres- 
 
146 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 sion to the sweet melody in her voice. She sang often for sweet 
 charity's sake, before she returned to Europe. Mr. King, a tenor 
 of Dr. Arinitage''s church in New York, sang a Ronianza from 
 "Mignon,'' with "Robin Adair" ior an e?icore. Mr. Reed, basso, 
 sang Costa's ^''Ecco quel fiero hxstante^'' with fine effect. He was 
 a brother-in-law to Senator Yulee of Florida and one of his 
 nieces, Miss Yulee was present in the audience. Two octettes 
 were played on a couple of grand pianos, the performers being 
 the Mesdames Knox and Pearson, and the Misses Gilbert and 
 Miller, the latter being a beautiful brunette — the daughter of 
 Justice Miller. She married in a year or so, a Boston million- 
 aire, the Hon. A. R. Touzalin, of the A. T. & S. F. R. R., and 
 lives in luxury. 
 
 At this time (December IG, 1883), Lawrence Barrett gave his 
 fine impersonations of Richelieu and Francesca de Rimini, at the 
 old National Theater to crowded houses through the week. 
 Fair women with lovely toilettes made up a large share of the 
 audience. 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 147 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Mormons — Pension Building — Corcoran Art Gallery — The 
 Forty-eighth Congress. 
 
 The Congressional season opens the first Monday in December 
 and the short term lasts till the 4th of March — an extra session 
 would make it late, and at the beginning of a new Congress may 
 last till July or August, as in 18S2. 
 
 The fashionable season, when pleasure seekers come from all 
 parts of the country to this pleasant winter resort, commences 
 with the President's levee on New Year's day, and continues un- 
 til Lent, when the gay scenes are shifted — penitent, tired out 
 belles are kneeling in the confessionals, and if they liave not 
 secured rich husbands, they will lay plans later for so desirable 
 an object at Newport, or some other summer resort. 
 
 January 1, 1883, was pleasant, yet cold. The crowd stood 
 patiently in the grounds until the time for the north door of the 
 Executive Mansion was to be opened. Previous to 12:80 the 
 Presidential party has received the Cabinet and their ladies, 
 tlie Supreme Court and the Diplomatic Corps, Congressmen — 
 after them the Army and Navy officers in their glittering uni- 
 forms, who tile in to the Blue Parlor, and shake hands with "Mr. 
 President," who introduced them on this occasion to Mrs. McEl- 
 roy on his right ; next, Mrs. Frelinghuysen, Miss Folger, Mrs. 
 Chandler, Mrs. Teller, Mrs. Keifer, and so on. The receiving 
 rooms were full of flowers, the conservatory thrown open, and 
 the Marine Band sat in the vestibule discoursing airs from "Pa- 
 tience," ''Olivette,'' and from tiie (livim-r Strauss -the ''Blue 
 Danube.'' 
 
148 AMERICAN COtJRT GOSStP. 
 
 Marshal McMichael introduced the quests to the President 
 until he was tired, when Colonel Rockwell, the Superintendent 
 of public grounds, took his place. Mrs. Blaine was present, and 
 her handsome toilette ot brocaded silk in gray and gold, with 
 purple knots, showed her good taste. She has a solid face and 
 looks the dignified wife ot the "Plumed Knight.'' Mrs. Logan 
 held a little levee in the East room, surrounded by an admiring 
 group of army officers and their ladies. Mrs. Senator Miller, of 
 California, appeared in a lovely white silk brocaded with pale 
 pink roses — her diamonds magnificent. 
 
 Among the guests was Senator, and his new wife, Mrs. Tabor. 
 This was the ' 'thirty days Senator" from Colorado. At this re- 
 ception the lady had on a gown of black satin, demi-train, 
 trimmed with three narrow ruffles at the bottom — her white neck 
 was covered with lace — her yellow hair puffed, and the large 
 brown eyes made her a pretty picture. The couple left early, 
 for it seems that there had been an icy formality in the East 
 room, when Mrs. Tabor was presented to the exclusive ones of 
 public life. A few days previous, they were married at Willard's 
 Hotel and the local journals had told of Tabor's ruffled nigiit 
 shirts, his solitaire, his immense wealth in bonanza mines, so 
 that, when the would-be great man appeared with his big, black 
 sombrero, he was the observed of all observers. 
 
 The wedding at the Willard, was an unique one. The Colo- 
 rado delegation, Senator Hill and Representative Bel ford with 
 their ladies were invited to be present at the ceremony, and 
 Tabor had impressed upon his colleagues the assurance, that 
 President Arthur had accepted the invitation of the proposed 
 bride. But there was a divorced Mrs. Tabor in Denver, who in 
 early life had kept boarders, washed for a living, and by dint of 
 careful economy, had made the nucleus of his immense fortune, 
 so the ladies of the delegation refused to see Miss Teresa^ 
 McCourt married to Mr. Tabor at all. Their husbands were 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 14'J 
 
 there. Tliere were no ladies present however, hut a couple ot 
 the house maids, and a lady traveler who happened in tiie parlor. 
 President Arthur and Secretary Pruden saw the ceremon}'. but 
 after the affair was thoroughly sifted, were much annoyed at the 
 unfavorable comments of the opposition papers, but it ])laced 
 Father Chappelle of St. Mathews church in a more disagreeable 
 attitude. He denied all knowledge of a divorce, but Miss Van 
 Court being a Catholic, gave a nice sum of money to a certain 
 well known charity, and the matter passed from the public mind 
 as the ceremony had been performed, and the church had blessed 
 the union, if it were on the Esau plan. 
 
 The supper of canvass back and champagne was made as ex- 
 pensive as possible, but the couple did not make Washington 
 their home, tor obvious reasons, and sailed westward as soon as 
 Mr. Tabor's duties were done. 
 
 Not long before this New Year's day, General Sherman had 
 seen "My Sweetheart" at the Opera house, and when Minnie 
 Palmer was serenaded at her hotel, she made a little speech of 
 thanks, being held by the hand of the great warrior upon the 
 balcony. How the gallant old fellow dotes on actresses, and a 
 leetle waltz, with a mug of mellow wine. The old General at 
 this New Year's reception was as jolly as some of the younger 
 men, and joked good General Van Vliet upon his red nose. 
 Mrs. General Sherman rarely goes into society — the church is 
 lier great delight, and the advancement of her son Thomas in 
 the priesthood. 
 
 Mrs. John Sherman, the Senator's wife, is not really fond of 
 society, but in her official relations she goes out a good deal, and 
 entertains elegantly at her residence on K street, northwest, near 
 Franklin Park. She is fond of domestic life, and is in her hap- 
 piest mood when she is superintending the butter making from a 
 fine old Jersey cow. When the family moves to Mansfield for 
 the summer, the cow, the family horses and carriage are 
 
150 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 bundled for Ohio in a freight car. Mrs. Sherman is an artist, 
 and upon the walls of her handsome parlors, are many evidences 
 of her talent. She was the only daughter of Judge Stewart, of 
 Newark, and educated at the Granville Academy, O., under the 
 supervision of W. B. Moore, A. M. The library on the second 
 floor is very large, the largest private collection in the city — 
 many rare old books and mauscripts on its shelves. In the hall- 
 way are curios with other bric-a-brac, and all over the splendid 
 mansion are tokens of good taste, and no shoddy pretensions. 
 The Shermans are solid people from crown to toe — "what 
 they say they mean'' and no vulgar compliments for them, are 
 suitable. 
 
 Next door to the Shermans, lived the pagan Ingersoll, until 
 he moved to New York, but Mrs. Sherman is a strict Presby- 
 terian, so that the families were hardly "intimate" as the world 
 goes. 
 
 Not far on the other side of the Shermans' is the house of the 
 Hon. Robert Davis, one of Massachusetts' Quaker Congressman 
 whose lovely wife is connected with a host of charities. 
 
 In the winter of 1882-3, Congress passed the 2-cent postage 
 act, the usual appropriation bills, Senator Edmunds' great meas 
 lire for the suppression of polygamy, but there were long and 
 loud discussions for an inter-state commerce bill, which was 
 throttled before the adjournment on the 4th of March. 
 
 The Mormons did not get their lobby to work in good shape ; 
 Apostle and Delegate Cannon from Utah was careless, and Mrs. 
 Apostle Wells and other Mormon sisters who appealed to Con- 
 gress seemed to fail in effecting good for their rotten institution. 
 No wonder Senator Edmunds was opposed to woman suffrage in 
 Utah, when the ladies of Deseret had kept alive their horrible 
 league with Satan by their own white hands at the ballot box. 
 
 Yet, some of the leaders of this moral reform of Equal Eights 
 patted these Utah plural wives on the shoulder, have helped 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 151 
 
 theiii before Congressional coniniittees, without realizing that 
 they were ruining the cause among sensible people, and among 
 the rulers of the nation who would give suffrage to woman else- 
 where than in Utah. "Better have polygamy with its terrible 
 millstone about the neck of the women of Utah than not to vote 
 at all,"" say these lady reformers. 
 
 "The ballot box with a fourth part ot a husband," is the glo- 
 rious estate of women voters there, and equal suffrage has been 
 hampered greatly from this blunder by its otherwise able leaders. 
 
 President Arthur appointed the Hon. Ham Murray, of Ken- 
 tucky, Governor of Utah, who did more in the course of his 
 administration with the help of Judge Zane, to suppress polyg- 
 amy, than any Utah official, excepting General Connor of the 
 United States army. A commission consisting of the following 
 gentlemen were appointed later to look after matters connected 
 with the troublesome problem, and this Board consisted of ex- 
 Senator Ramsey, of Minnesota, Hon. A. C. Paddock, of 
 Nebraska, and Hon. J. L. Godfrey, of Des Moines, Iowa, the 
 latter, a keen, shrewd Westerner. Utah was frightened. 
 
 Several of her divinely appointed apostles were soon in jail, 
 the secret endowment house was partly broken up. Many of 
 the ring-leaders of this abomination kept themselves in exile, and 
 at the close of President Arthur's administration, all was going 
 well. But is spite of President Cleveland's high moral tone in 
 his first message to Congress upon polygamy, he removed Gov- 
 ernor Murray to the consternation of the Gentiles, and put in a 
 man who has been as careful of the Saints as he could be, with- 
 out absolutely defying the law. Utah Territory is Democratic. 
 George Q. Cannon. Caine, Richards, in fact, all the ring-leaders 
 of the Mormou abomination, are Democrats. Idaho, Southern 
 Colorado and all the Arizona precincts where the Mormon settle- 
 ments are, go Democratic at every election. How nmch of Utah 
 money, went into the campaign fund of 1884, for the election of 
 
152 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 Mr. (Cleveland, can be tig^ured out by the Chairman ot tlie 
 National Democratic Committee. Let him answer. 
 
 There is a certain church titliing, which is always used to de- 
 feat adverse legislation, but the son ot a Puritan, hel])ed by 
 Catholics, by the moral power in (vongress passed the Edmunds 
 bill to remove this horrid stain from the Republic^ — Mormonism. 
 The Re])ublicans after the wai- ought to have wiped the curse 
 out, but it was thought that commercial interest and the racitic 
 railroads would do it. The only rumor, that we have ever heai'd 
 of a ])olitical deal with Utah and the Republicans, was in the 
 election of Hon. 11. M. Teller of Colorado to the United States 
 Senate. In a single instance, he seemed to favor his jMonnon 
 constituents, but it may have been only tor a passing interest and 
 not a deliberate plan to foist this rotten institution, now falling 
 to pieces further upon the nation. 
 
 On January 21, 1 883, the first death occurred in the President's 
 official family — the Postnuister General, Hon. Timothy Howe, 
 dying very suddenly. The Postofiice Department was dra])ed 
 in black for thirty days, and the Cabinet, as well as Mr. Arthur, 
 wore badges of mourning for the same time. 
 
 In the beginning of March occurred tlic shooting at the Hon. 
 James G. Blaine while riding out in his carriage, but fortunately 
 he received no injury, excepting the tViglit from liis nai-row 
 escape. No one was ever arrested foi' this dastai'dly attempt on 
 the ex-Senator's life, and the conviction became common that it 
 was an irresponsible tramp, who did the ugly deed, as no polit. 
 ical conspiracy ever came to light, Put the gentleman is a bi-ave 
 man, and asked no ])rotection from guards, and walks about the 
 city like any other citizen. 
 
 On the 24th of May, all the dignitaries of the nation, high in 
 authority, were invited to be present at the opening of the 
 Brooklyn b'-idge to the i)ublic — the mechanical wonder of the 
 world, and costing over fifteen millions. President Arthur's 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 153 
 
 home being at 121 Lexington avenue, New York, he, of course, 
 rejoiced with his friends over the finish of this gigantic project, 
 and was present at the public festivities, which united the 
 metropolis and Brooklyn. 
 
 Upon his P^lorida ti-ip, the President went inland as far as 
 Sanford, which is said to be full of malaria as the Potomac Flats 
 so that by the last of June, he was in no condition to meet the 
 intense heat of the city. In July and August he went to Yel- 
 lowstone Park, in company with General Sheridan and a few 
 friends. How the Democratic papers howled at this, but when 
 their idol Grover spent two seasons in the wilds of the Adiron- 
 dacks, "nary yell" was heard in the land. 
 
 * ** ** -X-* * *-5fr 
 
 Through the summer of 1SS3, the Pension building began to 
 loom up on Judiciary Square, under the supervision of General 
 Meigs. It is 200 by 400 feet, and built around a glass covered 
 court, so as to give light in all the rooms. • It is the ugliest 
 building for public purposes ever built in the United States, but 
 is useful Hnd carefully constructed, if it /n such a marked contrast 
 to the Interior Department just below on F street. One. a red 
 brick cotton factory, and the other a Greek Parthenon — this con- 
 trast is apparent, as one looks up and down the street at the two 
 buildings. The architect of the United States Treasury gener- 
 ally has charge of the erection of j)nl)lic buldings, but in this case 
 General Meigs was paid ^10 a day to overlook the construction. 
 In the furniture of public buildings, the accounts are audited 
 and paid upon the recommendation of the Chief Clerk and 
 Sui)eiintcndt'iit of the Treasury. 
 
 The House of Representatives at its session of 1882-3, ap- 
 pointed a comniittoe to investigate charges against Mr. Hill, 
 Architect of the Treasury, and made the Hon. Theodore Murch, 
 of Maine, the Cliaiiiiiaii. After a six weeks' trial through the 
 spring, montlis, Mr. Hill was not touiKl (lislioiicst, but careless 
 
154 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 in his accounts, so was suspended on the recommendation of 
 Judge Folger, and Mr. Bell of Des Moines, Iowa, a friend to Mr. 
 Allison, the Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, was 
 appointed and made a good officer, being on deck yet. 
 
 The National Museum this year received a stone giant from a 
 Missouri quarry, ancient pottery from an old Aztec vilhige, pet. 
 rified woods, funny looking lizards, queer tish, and reptiles, in 
 fact, all sorts of creeping things preserved in old bourbon and 
 other ways for the benefit of science, came to hand. The Smitli- 
 sonian Institute had divided a part of its treasures, the year pre- 
 vious, so tliat students from all parts of the country find one of 
 the best collections of natural history, and proofs of science 
 everywhere within its walls. No part of the government has 
 been so economically and carefully managed, as the National 
 Museum and Smithsonian Institute. 
 
 In the summer of 1883 there was a fine statue of the great 
 English philanthropist, Smithson, erected on the grounds with 
 public ceremonies — an immense audience, bands playing, and 
 fiags flying, President Arthur was there, his Cabinet, and the 
 British Minister in glittering uniform with other diplomats. 
 
 The Corcoran Art Gallery is managed by a board of directors, 
 Hon. Wm. McLeod curator. This building built in the Italian 
 renaissance, stands at the corner of Seventeenth street and 
 Pennsylvania avenue, and cost $150,000, being presented to the 
 board by tiiat grand old philanthropist, W. W. Corcoran, in 
 1869. It has two floors and a grand staircase. The plaster 
 casts and bronzes, and rare antiquities from an ancient Roman 
 city, are on the first floor. In the upper chambers are the mar- 
 bles—Powers' "Greek Slave," the "Veiled Nun," "The Forced 
 Prayer," Psyche, and other beautiful works. 
 
 In paintings are the portraits oi all the Presidents of the 
 United States in one gallery — "The Arabs," the "Black Preacher" 
 by Brooks, and in the whole room, many other woi'ks from for- 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 155 
 
 eigii and Americau artists. The west gallery is also full of well 
 executed paintings. 
 
 In the main gallery is -'The Death of Ca»ser,'' by Jerome — a 
 "Winter Scene," by Gignoiix, "Mercy's Dream,'' by Hniiting- 
 ton, the ''Test,'' "Sea Beach at Troiville," "The Passing Regi- 
 ment,'' "Scene in Sweden,*' and the "Sacred Bull in Procession" 
 — the latter cost $iJS,000, and is much admired for its careful 
 tecknique and exquisite finish in othei- respects. One of the 
 strongest pictures ever placed in the gallery and afterwards sold 
 to a Chicago artist, was "The Beheading of John the Baptist." 
 The pale uplifted face of the Saint; the sinister executioner, the 
 shar]) scimiter, all sent a cold shudder through a visitor's heart. 
 The "Lost Dogs" and the "Fright" are very realistic. The latter 
 is a ])icture of a little boy who has put on a horrid mask and 
 goes into the kitchen to frighten the cook and her baby. The 
 dresser, the fireplace, the worn ])atch, even tho grease spots on 
 the door, are very faithfully portrayed. 
 
 A limited number of advanced students are allowed to come 
 here and copy the pictures. 
 
 Ulke's studio is on Fifteenth street near the new opera house ; 
 Mathews, Fisher, Brooks and Melvine are in the Corcoran build- 
 ings ; Mr. Andrews, the ''Court Painter," lives on Rhode Island 
 avenue. Mr. Clare Messer in Anacostia, and the "Rouzee 
 School oT Design" is in the Mt. Vernon building. As for ama- 
 teur artists with marked ability, Washington stands high in the 
 art world. 
 
 St. John's chni'ch, the oldest Episco]);il cliui-ch in the city, was 
 remodeled in the summer of 18S3. an entii-e new transcj)t run- 
 ning across the east end of the i)uil(Iing. There were ten me- 
 morial windows placed in the church. President Arthur having 
 two at his disposal — one in memory of bis beautiful wife, Miss 
 Agnes Ilerndon, who M'as a sweet-voiced singer in the choir, and 
 
15fi AMERICAN COTJRT GOSSIP. 
 
 the other ot the brave Captain Herndon, her father, who died at 
 his post on the ill-fated "President."' There is a brass tablet 
 placed under the memorial window of his loved wife, in memory 
 of the princely gentleman of the White House, Mr. Arthur. 
 
 In July of this year, there was a good deal of excitement over 
 a bicycle race between Prince, the American champion, who was 
 wrapped in the national colors, and Higham, the English cham- 
 pion, who was never beaten before, except by Prince. This 
 race came off at Iowa Circle, and many noted wheelmen were 
 present. 
 
 Of course, the grand people were off to Newport, Saratoga, 
 and Long Branch, and many of the hard-worked clerks were 
 down to Cedar Point, Piney Point, Cobb's Island, St. George's, 
 Colonial Beach, and other Potomac resorts to get rid of the stifling 
 heat and their dreaded desks in the departments, but, in spite of 
 the summer exodus, there was a big crowd at the i-ace with bets, 
 cigars, and other accessories of sport. 
 
 Near Iowa Circle, the new Garfield Memorial church was be- 
 gun in 1SS3, on the site of the old Christian church, where Gen- 
 eral Garfield and his family worshipped, and their pew from the 
 old church with its red cushions and stools were transferred, and 
 put in the northwest corner of the building. It is not occupied 
 now since the family are all in Cleveland or Mentor, and have 
 not visited Washington, as a family, since the assassination. 
 
 On July Sth there were several sermons preached in the city 
 pulpits, as to the opening of the National Museum and the Botan- 
 ical Gardens on Sundays. Of course, the orthodox clergy de- 
 nounced this proposition madeby the newspapers, as exceedingly 
 sinful, but it was hard for clerks who had no day but Sundays 
 to look into the strange and curious things made by our Father's 
 hand to bless his children. They were alone deprived of this 
 ])leasure, these, being a sealed book to the wage workers at the 
 C]aj)ital, as those institutions above mentioned are closed at the 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. loT 
 
 same liourwith the dcpartnients. Tlic clergy won in tlie contest, 
 and the doors still remain closed to them on Sunday. 
 
 The suicide of Monsieur Barca, the Spanish Minister at New 
 York, made a profound impression in diplomatic circles and 
 among the u])])er classes. Gaming debts and other embarrass- 
 ments were given as the cause of the suicide. 
 
 The autumn season brought back trom Deer Park — from the 
 mountain and sea shore, the winter residents of the Capital. 
 The northwestern portion of the city grew wonderfully this 
 season in fine buildings. Among them Senators Van Wyck and 
 Windom's residences were finished in tlie early part of the year 
 Mr. Lars Anderson built a medieval house on Sixteenth street 
 and K, with all the look of a baronial castle on the Rhine. 
 The Leiters, a wealthy family ot Chicago, rented the Blaine 
 mansion. Mr. John Hay and Mr. Henry Stone of Pittsburg 
 bought property and made preparations to build another season, 
 which gave a big boom. 
 
 In the early December, there was a good deal of excitement in 
 Fenian circles, about the hanging of O'Dounell, the Irish leader 
 and one of the supposed murderers at Phenix Park. The 
 "Clanna Gael" an Irish brotherhood appealed to the State 
 Department to save him from the gallows. He was respited a 
 few days, but there was no power to back u]> iMi-. P'relinghuysen 
 — our army and navy would prove a thistle down to the British 
 cruisers and regular army. It was reported that he and P. II. 
 Sheridan, another of the alleged murilerers, were American born, 
 but there was no help, and British justice took its course. 
 
 The Forty-eighth Congress o])ened with a long message from 
 Mr. Arthur of 11«,000 words, where he recommended that bank 
 circulation should be based on the market value of bonds and 
 not on flie face value, stronger measures for the suppression of 
 polygamy, enlargement of the army, and bounty to soldiers and 
 sailors. 
 
158 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 The contest for Speaker of the House between Carlisle and 
 Randall on the Democratic side, was the main point of interest, 
 as there was over seventy majority in the Lower chamber lor 
 "the retormers."' The Republicans scattered their vote some- 
 what on Reed, of Maine, Hiscock, ot New York, and when Mr. 
 Carlisle took up his gavel, it was found, that a thoughtful, (juiet 
 man was at the desk, and fair to all parties. There were no 
 Greenbackers to speak ot — Bland of Missouri, Weaver and Ca- 
 lamity "Weller of Iowa, were the principal actors in their played- 
 out drama. In front of Mr. Carlisle's desk were many beautiful 
 flowers — one a design in a George Washington hatchet of roses 
 tied with a white satin ribbon, instructing him "to cut deep" etc. 
 Tlie galleries were crowded in this exciting contest betwen friends 
 of Congressman Randall and Carlisle — the wife ot the new Speaker 
 satin the front row of the Member's gallery, dressed in a hand- 
 some seal skin cloak, a bonnet of gold lace upon a foundation of 
 seal brown velvet, pompon and feathers of old gold, with hand- 
 some diamonds. Not far away was Miss Anna Randall, the 
 daughter of the Hon. Sam Randall, in a plain dress of dark 
 cashniere, seal cloak and turban — a sweet, modest girl who after- 
 ward married a Mr. Lancaster, of the District Bar. She is a 
 Sunday school teacher in Dr. Chester's church on Capitol Hill. 
 
 One of the contested election cases of this Congress was the 
 Wiison-Frederick affair from the Fifth District of Iowa. There 
 were about 2,000 pages of evidence placed before the Committee 
 on Elections, and Mr. Frederick did not get his seat in the House 
 till March ;^, 1885, tive minutes before noon. His official act 
 was a good one, to vote for the retirement of General Grant just 
 before the adjournment of the Forty-eighth Congress. Mr. 
 Frederick also served in the Forty-ninth Congress and made a 
 very creditable Representative. The Hon. James Wilson, his 
 competitor, was one ^jf the ablest farmer legislators ever in 
 Congress. 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 159 
 
 Another contested election case was tlmt of English m. Peele, 
 from the Indianapolis District of Indiana. After some red tape, 
 a good many champagne suppers to the election committee, and 
 so on, Mr. English being the son of the Hon. W. H. English, 
 who was on the Electoral ticket with General Hancock in 1880, 
 he was given the seat by the Democratic majority, although 
 there were a few who could not be driven by the party lash to 
 uphold • English in his villainy, as all fair-minded people con- 
 ceded that Peele had the right to the seat. 
 
 Mr. Carlisle was very cautious in making up his committees, 
 and not much was done before the adiournment of the holiday 
 recess. 
 
 In the Senate on the 6th of December, Senator Logan intro- 
 duced his famous Bounty bill, giving to any soldier who had 
 served in the United States army a patent to 80 acres of public 
 land, after one or two years" service, 120 acres, and three years 
 or more, 160 acres of land. But this excellent provision did not 
 pass a Democratic House, who never had any great real love for 
 a Union soldier. 
 
 Senator Hoar brought into public notice his bill, that no con- 
 vict labor should be allowed on any public works of the United 
 States. This measure became a law. Stick a pin there, Mr. K. 
 oi L. I Among the appropriation bills was the one to dredge the 
 Potomac Flats — deepening the channel, and throwing the debris 
 back on the bank, so as to make a wide bouk'vard, or drive, by 
 the beautiful stream, thus reclaiming 750 acres of land. The 
 appropriation reached finally to over $600,000, and in the spring 
 of 1S8-I: work was commenced, but as soon as the descendants of 
 the Kidwells, and other old families found out the land about the 
 river front would be valuable, they came in for heavy damages, 
 and wanted government to indemnify them in the courts, which 
 in a year or two sto]iped the work of dredging to a great extent. 
 
160 AMERICAN COUET GOSSIP. 
 
 About the last of December, 1883, Senator Sharon, of Cali- 
 toriiia, had his little muss with Miss Hill of San Francisco, and 
 the fracas where the Senator was well known seemed blackmail, 
 as the gentleman was considered a high-minded man. The af- 
 fair cost the millionaire his life, for with the worry and mortifi- 
 cation he felt so depressed, that disease deepened its hold, and 
 he passed away from the grasp of Miss Hill, who claimed to be 
 his wife. His immense fortune finally went to the rightful heirs, 
 although the woman got nearly $50,000, through the connivance 
 of a certain Judge of the San Francisco courts. Senator Sharon 
 owned a good deal of valuable property on New Hampshire ave- 
 nue and Dupont circle in tho city, and this lawsuit clouded the 
 title for some time, so that improvements could not go on through 
 that drawback. 
 
 At this time the Chinese question had its run again in political 
 talks, and when it was known by several enterprising newspaper 
 reporters, that there were fifteen opium joints in Washington, 
 it worked up a good deal of feeling. Chinese agents were found 
 by the President of the Woman's Industrial League, Mrs. Char- 
 lotte Smith, to furnish these dens with this drug. Children of 
 both sexes were seen smoking both cigarettes, made of West 
 India aka and opium. Many of the Chinese, who |jut up these 
 packages are tainted with leprosy and other diseases, and we 
 never believed that good Virginia tobacco caused the cancer of 
 General Grant, but tainted Chinese cigars. And in this Forty- 
 eighth Congress, a restriction was passed upon the emigration of 
 Chinese to the Pacific coast. Of course, many Celestials are 
 smuggled in with cases of opium in their baggage and in their 
 clothing, but it was a beginning of a wise provision to stop the 
 avalanche that disturbed the wage-workers of the Pacific States. 
 Some Californians complained bitterly that they could not find 
 so trustworthy servants as the Chinese, but the greatest good to 
 the greatest number, was the (congressional idea of the matter 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. KJl 
 
 among the Republicans, and the restriction passed by the help 
 of sensible Democrats. 
 
 * * ^v ****** * 
 
 A Mrs. Miller, who had commanded a Mississippi river steam- 
 boat, upon the death of her husband, asked of Judge Folger t(. 
 be registered as Master in the Marine service, as she had actually 
 been in that position for some time. It was a great innovation 
 for a woman to be a Master of a steamboat, but after taking the 
 matter under advisement, and careful examination proved the 
 lady capable, the request was granted by the Treasury Depart- 
 ment* There were the usual newspaper gibes and sneers, but 
 th.e plucky little woman went on with her steamboat duties and 
 supported her children handsomely. 
 
 With this episode in official life of the Treasury, came up the 
 everlasting platitude that "woman should stay at home and tend 
 the children.'' What if she had no home or husband ( Nothing 
 but a little furniture and starving children. Men were for the 
 offices, and the "offices should be given to men," said others. 
 The woman made a good clerk, was painstaking. Men often 
 got promoted to higher offices through the faithful work of a 
 corps of ladies under him. In works of church and in charity, 
 educational interests, the women of America carry torward their 
 divine mission without any growls from the men, but when they 
 want an office, they are "idiots" and ought to be kept out of 
 sight. 
 
 The public exercises of the Deaf Mute College at Kendall 
 Green, situated nortlieast from Capitol Hill on Seventh and M 
 streets, were attended December 30, ls83, by a large number of 
 public officials, among theui President Artlnii' and some of his 
 Cabinet. 
 
 The buildings are in Byzantine style, situated on an extensive 
 campus, and the institution is under the management of Tresi- 
 dent F]dward A. (4allaudet, son of the Professor Uallaudet who 
 
Ifi2 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 founded the Hartford institution and the excellent system ot sign 
 language used through this country and Europe. The college, 
 sustained partly by National appropriations, is considei-ed one ot 
 the best in the world tor the education ot this class of unfortu- 
 nates. Prof. Gallaudet was a pei-sonal friend of General Gar- 
 held, and he became a warm friend to the institution through 
 his long service in Congress. There were over a hundred in- 
 mates who took part in the blackboard exercises, all done in the 
 sign language and interpreted to the audience. When the danc- 
 ino- began, it was singular to see the mutes keep time to the mu- 
 sic who could not hear a note from the loudest orchestra, and 
 yet kept their places in the cotillion by sight. Among the bright 
 young boys was John Barret, son ot Senator Barret, of Iowa, 
 and John Schuyler Long, of Marshalltown,'^Iowa — a very pro- 
 ficient sch<Dlar. 
 
 Providence Hospital on Capitol Hill, under the supervision of 
 the Sisters of Charity, generally receives an appropriation of 
 $25,000 a year, and as the patients are tenderly cared for, it was 
 not superceded by any other institution at the Capital until the 
 winter of 1884-5, when it was asked to divide favors with the 
 Garfield Memorial hospital. 
 
 Providence Hospital has fourteen wards under the charge of a 
 corps of nurses, who relieve each other at stated intervals. The 
 patient must pay $10 dollars a week, if he has means, and any- 
 thing else he can spare. There are several free beds in each 
 ward. Very few who die in the institution are Protestants ; at 
 the last they become members of the mother church. 
 
 St. Patrick's cathedral was dedicated on December 28, by a 
 large procession of priests and deacons, headed by Archbishop 
 Gibbon of Baltimore, who passed around the building sprinkling 
 it with holy water and saying a benedictus. This church cost 
 about $f)00,000 and had been ten years in l)uihling. The altar 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 163 
 
 was covered with white roses and smihix, and vases of lilies were 
 seen in all parts of the auditorium and chancel. 
 
 Nearly opposite is St. Joseph's Orphan Asylum where 500 
 little boys are clothed and fed bj the good Sisters, and as the 
 years advance, are provided with homes. 
 
 One of the noted lawyers before the Supreme Court was ex- 
 Governor Lowe, of Iowa, the predecessor of Kirkwood, as Chief 
 Magistrate of that far off State. He was prosecuting a claim foi- 
 the Hawkeyes against the United States for the five per cent 
 owing his State upon sales of public lands, that had unlawtully 
 been paid into the United States Treasury. This money he 
 urged the Supreme Court to pass over to the school fund of his 
 State as a nest egg to buy school libraries tor Iowa children. 
 And the good Governor had urged this eleven long years. 
 About the Christmas holidays the work of his brain grew 
 languid, he took to his bed, and died from sheer exhaustion in 
 the 7Sth year of his age. Eeverend Byron Sunderland, the old 
 Chaplain of the House, and afterwards pastor of Mrs. Cleveland's 
 church officiated at the funeral, which was largely attended by 
 representative lowans, among the number Generals Belknap and 
 Williamson, Senators Allison and Wilson, and Representative 
 Holmes, Hepburn, Henderson and McCoid. 
 
 The first Christmas Club organized in the city which has i-aised 
 thousands of dollars for the deserving poor since that time, was 
 very popular in the autumn of 1883, with Miss Nellie Arthur as 
 the first President. The Santa Clans of the party or club, dis- 
 tributed the excellent gifts on Christmas morning to white and 
 black children at the Frauklin school building, next door to the 
 late General Garfield's residence at Franklin Park. Over 120,000 
 worth of presents were given. The world is more ('hristlike as 
 the sunset of the Nineteenth ceutury goes down. An old grand- 
 mother from Ohio, who sat watching the ha])py children, re- 
 marked, "How the world has moved forward since I was a child. 
 
164 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 My first Christmas present was a little cotton handkerchief with 
 the alphabet running around it, and an owl with a red cat in the 
 center. My first dolly was a cob covered with a white rag and 
 the nose and mouth marked out with a lead pencil — its dress a 
 bit ot white linen spun by ray mother. Now look at these wax 
 dollies for poor children ; but they cannot be happier than I, 
 with my cob doll and cotton handkerchief."' But the liglit and 
 beauty of this Nellie Arthur Christmas Club was a rich heritage 
 for poor children in the city ever afterward, as the fashion has 
 been kept up by kind hearts ever since. 
 
 In Congress, after the adjournment of the holidays, a bill was 
 introduced making Alaska a territory, so the far-ofi" purchase of 
 Seward, the back lots of Uncle Sam, came into the Union family. 
 Rev. Sheldon Jackson, a Presbyterian missionary, had some- 
 thing to do with this legislation, and he also succeeded in getting 
 an appropriation through for an Indian school at Sitka. The 
 United States steamer ' 'Pinta'' has been stationed at that harbor 
 for some time. Governor Swineford reports a good trade in 
 lumber, coal, fish and seal furs — in fact, the climate is much 
 warmer than northern Montano, Idaho or Canada, and very 
 healthy. 
 
 The tariff was taken off wool at this session of Congress, 
 which did not please Ohio and California to any great extent. 
 
 April 2, 1884, General Grant appeared on the floor of the 
 House, and such was the ovation that the Hon. Samuel J. Ran- 
 dall . the most level-headed Democrat in Congress, moved an ad- 
 journment of fifteen minutes, so that members could pay their 
 respects. It was granted unanimously. The General had a pub- 
 lic reception tendered him by General Beale, and it was his last 
 in Washington. Old soldiers, armless, legless, and battle-scarred, 
 crowded around their old chief, and grasped him to their hearts 
 in sympathy. Later on, came the trouble of the firm of Ward 
 & Grant, then his lingering illness, and death at Mount 
 McGregor. 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. iHo 
 
 CHAPTER Xll. 
 
 Mrs. Carlisle's Recei'tion — GK^•ERAL Hazen — Frrz John Por- 
 ter — Chicago Convention. 
 
 The first reception held by Mrs. Speaker Carlisle came off in 
 the red parlor of the Riggs House, and was attended by leading 
 society people, carriages filling the street in front of that famous 
 hostlery. Mrs. Carlisle was the daughter of Judge Goodson, of 
 Covington, Kentucky, and she married the young lawyer when 
 he was poor, and comparatively unknown. The old Judge was 
 a famous whist player, and John used to go 'round to the ''Ken- 
 tucky home'' and have a 2;anie of cards with Miss Jane and her 
 father, so that in time there was an attachment between them. 
 They were quietly married in the winter of 185!). About ten 
 years ago they had some domestic infelicity, but the rising posi- 
 tion of the Hon. John G. Carlisle prevented an explosion, and 
 the affair was carefully concealed, except from a few, who had 
 the inside facts, of a lawyer's jealous wife, and tea-table talk in 
 Covington, circles of the woman's idiocy, for it really 
 amounted to little. Mrs. Carlisle was much admired at the Cap- 
 ital for her gracious manners, and on this occasion she wore a 
 brocaded white satin, elegant lace and a corsage bouquet of yel- 
 low roses. There were a dozen ladies receiving with her, some 
 of them Kentucky ladies, in ])ink, maize colored, blue and black 
 toilets, until one in coming into the room heavy with fragrance 
 of Howers that adorned the parlor, it seemed as if tiie group of 
 ladies were a huge bouquet of fairest flowers, themselves. An 
 old tabby cat of gray fur and white paws, stepped carefully be- 
 hind the trains of the ladies in the line, and after a rigid mspec- 
 tion of the society tastes of the receiving party, slipped out at 
 the open door, apparently satisfied with the outlook. There were 
 
166 AMERICAN COUET GOSSIP. 
 
 no retVeshmeiits at these receptions, ordinarily -any one can call 
 and pay their respects, and be introdnced, if desired, or one can 
 remain a quiet wallflower. Cards left at afternoon receptions 
 like this of Mrs. Carlisle, are of ten recognized by cards to coming 
 receptions, if the person is known prominently in society, else- 
 where. 
 
 Afternoon receptions are generally held from '1 P. M. to 5, so 
 that when all is over, the ladies can rest, and be ready for din- 
 ner, which in the hotels is served from 6 P. M. to 8, and many 
 take a petite souper at midnight, with wines for a nightcap. 
 What with the crimping pins for bangs, pulling on gloves satu- 
 rated with cream salve or glycerine — a peep at the glass — out 
 with the gas, and our beauty is on the pillow by 1 A. M. tired, 
 and ready for sleep. 
 
 A marked contrast to the ambitious living of Mrs. Carlisle, 
 was a Mrs. S from North Carolina, who lived with her hus- 
 band — statesman in a 9 by 16 room — had a bed, one chair, a 
 trunk, a gasoline stove, and really was happy for they saved the 
 most of his five thousand a year. They kept no private secre- 
 tary in that particular Congressman's home. 
 
 Many of the southern members ot Congress board at the Met- 
 ropolitan Hotel on Pennsylvania avenue, the rendezvous of Con- 
 federate influence and power. It is an excellent hotel and genu- 
 ine cordiality to those of that line of statesmanship in the struggle 
 for power, '*to gain by the ballot what we lost by the bullet.'' 
 To those who wonder how the rebels have got into power in so 
 short a time, the mystery is explained not alone by the shot gun 
 policy of the South, but by its thorough organization. No 
 Southernor turns traitor to his home interests, while Northern 
 members of Congress, even some Republicans, have prostituted 
 their high ofHces for gam and political preferment. But like a 
 stone wall, like a granite parapet, the Southron is for a white 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 167 
 
 man's government, to keep niggers down, to stop paying out any 
 more money than is possible to the Northern bhie. 
 
 After the holidays were over, the Hennepin Canal bill was 
 again pushed at this session by the Hon. Jerry Murphy from the 
 Davenport District of Iowa. Many opposed it on the ground 
 that six months of the year the canal would be frozen. Another 
 objection was that the ditch would drain Lake Michigan and ruin 
 the lake harbors, as the land of the Mississippi river bottoms, 
 where it would empty, was forty feet below the lake. The 
 measure did not pass. 
 
 Tariflf revision was brought up by the Hon. Wm. Morrison, 
 but nothing was done to any great extent. 
 
 Senator Blair's National Education bill appropriating $80,- 
 000,000 did not pass either House. 
 
 There was nothing done with the Bankrupt law, and silver 
 coinage went on at the rate of two millions and a half per month 
 to fill up the Treasury vaults. The party of "Qreat Expecta- 
 tions" with seventy majority passed only 170 bills, and most of 
 them of a private nature. 
 
 Judge McCreary having resigned from the United States Cir- 
 cuit Court to go into railroad business, there were several appli- 
 cants for the position, as its jurisdiction extended over Minne- 
 sota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska. The Hon. M. A. 
 McCoid, member of Congress from the First Congressional Dis- 
 trict of Iowa, had served in the Iowa Legislature four years on 
 the Judiciary Committee and six years in the House upon a like 
 committee, his friends urged his claims upon President Arthur. 
 There were several others, among them Judge Nelson of Minne- 
 sota, and the Hon. David J. Brewer, a nephew of Judge Field 
 of the Supreme Court, who wanted the position, and after some 
 waiting, he was placed upon the bench, in compliment to 
 Judge Field. 
 
168 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 The appropi'iation asked for the Washington monument had 
 kept pace with the wants ot the Commission, Col. Casey in 
 charge, and on May 1, 1884, the white, beautiful obehsk had 
 reached 410 feet towards its way to the clouds. It is a hollow 
 chimney, eighty one feet square at the base, and when finished 
 measured by a plummet line 555 feet, and the total cost has been 
 nearly $2,000,000. It is built of heavy blocks of crystal marble 
 from Maryland quarries, and laid in regular courses. It is the 
 loftiest work of the kind in the world. As you come up the 
 river, the monument seems to grow taller, advancing, and when 
 a visitor stands at its base and looks up to its dizzy height, it 
 seems a work of the Infinite, instead of feeble man. If it had been 
 built on Capitol or Meridian Hill, it would have been the grand- 
 est work of human engineering, as it is now, the loftiest shaft of 
 the world, but being below the city, on the banks of the Potomac, 
 it loses much of its towering height by comparison. 
 
 Not very far up the river the Naval Observatory, built in 1842, 
 is now under charge of Admiral Porter, and one of the leading 
 astronomical observatories of the world, with telegraphic com- 
 munication, kept up daily through those of London, Paris, Ber- 
 lin and other national capitals. It occupies a commanding site 
 on the north bank of the Potomac, known as ^'Peters' Hill" to 
 the old settlers, and these beautiful grounds contain nineteen 
 acres. 
 
 In 1755 a portion of the British army under Braddock camped 
 here on the fatal march from Alexandria, Va. (eight miles below) 
 to the ancient fort ot DuQuesne, on the Monongahela, not far 
 from the site of Pittsburg. 
 
 There is a rock shown where the troops landed, known as 
 Braddock's rock, and George Washington, then a young Lieuten- 
 ant, went on with the ill-fated army to its destruction ; a rem- 
 nant only was saved by the coolness of Washington, who led 
 the shattered army back to Philadelphia. It was a favorite pro- 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 109 
 
 ject with the great commander to build a national university here. 
 
 Appropriations have been asked, and it is expected there will 
 be a new naval observatory built somewhere in the city in the 
 near future. If a comet is found or a new asteroid, or there is 
 a new look to Saturn's rings, and the moon shows a change in 
 her caverns, the telegraph intorms the sleepless astronomer, who, 
 when the sky is clear, is always at his post watching the myste- 
 rious depths of the universe. The telescope is the largest in the 
 country, excepting that of Cambridge, though when the Lick 
 observatory glass is mounted, will excel them both, very largely. 
 
 The Navy Yard with its officers' quarters and ship-houses — its 
 wharf, and few old rotting ships, is situated on the Anacosti or 
 Eastern Branch, just a mile above Arsenal Point. December 3, 
 171»!>, the grounds were laid out, but no work was done in ship- 
 building, or repairing, until after March, 1804. Such famous 
 vessels as figured in the war of 1812, were built here, known as 
 the "Wasp," the brig ''Viper," the "Essex,'' the schooners 
 "Shark" ancl, "Grampus," and the frigates ''Columbia," "Poto- 
 mac" and "Brandy wine." In 1806, a large ship could anchor 
 here, but the channel has gradually filled up, and the "man-of- 
 war must stop eight miles below at the Alexandria dock, or get 
 aground. The navy yard has several immense foundries where 
 heavy ordnance can be made, and other naval supplies, but as 
 the city of Washington and the District of Columbia have no 
 political influence, Philadelphia, and other points have been 
 utilized by latei- Secretaries of the Navy to further political 
 schemes. On the landside of the yard from Pennsylvania 
 avenue and Eighth street southeast, you come to an immense 
 stone doorway in Doric style, a soldier stands by the entrance 
 who looks formidable but says nothing, when an ordinary visitor 
 passes in, and you find a beautiful campus ground of 27 acres 
 surrounded by a high stonewall. On either side of the ordnance 
 avenue, are two large guns captured by (yomniodore Decatur in 
 
170 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 1804, from two Tripolitan gunboats. There are piles of shells as 
 big as a barn, there are immense stacks of anchors, and other 
 ship material lying about, and cannon every where — to the right 
 of us, to the lett ot us, "these may have thundered.'' There are 
 several old monitors at the wharf. The ''Alarm'' is a gunboat 
 ram and torpedo combined, the invention of Admiral Porter, 
 United States Navy, and electricity is used to lire the guns in 
 time ol action. But it will be entirely superceded by the new 
 steel cruisers, and the panoply ot war lying about tliis yard so 
 eftective in the rebellion, would be but a child's toy, compared 
 with the terrible Krupp guns and Mitrailleuse of today. The 
 latter will throw a ball twelve miles. We have the best drilled 
 officers in the world, but there are no ships to speak ot, and we 
 ought to have had twenty steel cruisers to protect our coast line, 
 instead of five, which are now in process of construction. 
 
 The picayune jealousy ot poor old John Roach, has left but 
 three firms to bid in the construction ot ships for the navy, who 
 live in America. To build oar navy on the Clyde might be a little 
 cheaper at first, but it would not give employment iPo American 
 labor, and British contractors would grow rich on American 
 money, that should be kept at home. 
 
 Why the Knights of Labor do not fully understand this, is a 
 strange puzzle. They shout for Henry George, yet he is a Free 
 Trader, and they crucify men at the polls who believe in protection 
 to American labor —protection to home interests, their best in- 
 terests. "It is something no fellow can find out," said a promi- 
 nent Knight of a local assembly. 
 
 The "Alarm" was furnished with fifteen inch Dahlgren guns, 
 and a ram in the bow of the boat. The officers of the day at 
 one time were Lieutenant Hughes ot Iowa, and W. S. Hogg, 
 United States Navy, the latter the son of Chief Clerk Hogg of 
 the Navy Department. The young fellows' cabin were full of 
 little mementoes of home, and lady friends — slipper pockets em- 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 
 
 171 
 
 broidered in a dainty manner with embroidered slippers— there 
 were toilet articles covered with mono^^rams, and a '^wet sheet 
 and a flowing saiF' did not seem such a bad thing after our party 
 had dined on boned turkey, fruits and wine in four courses. 
 
 The training ship ' 'Saratoga" is near, where the middies and 
 new recruits lor the line are taught how to manage a ship at sea 
 or at the dock. They have their own messes, do their own cabin 
 work, but if they get homesick, they must stay their three years 
 out, or be considered deserters. Some however, only enlist for 
 one and two years. They are transferred from the "Saratoga" 
 or other training ships to sea-going vessels, and make long 
 cruises, generally. 
 
 -X- ******** * 
 
 The reception of February 12, 18S4, to the Diplomatic Corps 
 by the President at the White House, was attended by over three 
 thousand people. In the Presidential party were Mrs. McElroy, 
 who came down the grand stairway with Mr. Frelinghuysen fol- 
 lowing the President and Mrs. Frelinghuysen. and as they swept 
 into the corridor, the Marine Band ])layed "Hail to the Chief 
 in dulcet strains, and they soon take their place in the Blue par- 
 lor, to receive their guests. Next to Mrs. Frelinghuysen stood 
 the white-faced spiritual-looking Mary Harlan Lincoln, daughter 
 of ex-Senator Harlan of Iowa, and wife of the Secretary of War. 
 Her toilette was white satin, the front and sleeves of white lace 
 embroidered with pearls and white chenille, Mrs. Frelinghuysen 
 in black velvet, Mrs. Brewster in a pale pink silk with Spanish 
 lace, and Mrs. McElroy in a pale violet silk covered with point 
 appUqne lace and a bouquet of bonsilene roses, looking charm- 
 mg to the visitors, as she smiled upon them after they left the 
 presence of the Chief Magistrate. On the mantels under the 
 great pier glasses, on the tables and cabinets, were the rifled 
 sweets of the conservatory— over all. the lights, the Hashing of 
 diamonds, glittering uniforms and the brilliant toilettes of the 
 
172 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 ladies ot the foreign legation. Mrs. General Hazen, the wife of 
 the chief officer of the signal service, and daugliter of Washing- 
 ton McLean, the founder ot the Cincinnati Enquirer, was present. 
 She appeared in a white corded silk trimmed with rows of point 
 lace on the front — her white ostrich feather fan of pearl mount- 
 ings swung lazily in her hand, as she chatted with the Russian 
 Minister, Baron de Struve. Mrs. Justice Field, a grand dame at 
 the Capital, wore a black velvet, and in passing Miss McElroy 
 and a group of Albany girls, who were visiting at the White 
 House, the lady seemed as young as they, and yet she lost none 
 of the Boston dignity becoming to a lady of her exalted station. 
 
 Madame Reutersj-kold. the wife of the Swedish Minister, 
 made quite a sensation in the East Room, as she was very fair, 
 with blue eyes and light golden hair, looking very beautiful in 
 a white embroidered crape, and having Neapolitan violets as a 
 coisage boquet, with no jewels but a string of pearls. Mrs. 
 Clayton McMichael had a lovely toilette of black lace over pink. 
 Madamoiselle Nougeiras in a white silk with a tulle overdress of 
 the same color. Mrs. Bigelow Lawrence, of New York, was 
 also present, dressed handsomely, and was much talked of in 
 the society columns of the local papers. 
 
 Among those present was General Hazen, the hero of Fort 
 McAllister, who was raised near Hiram village, in Ohio. His 
 father, Stillman Hazen, owned an ashery, and William used to 
 gather up the ashes from the farmers and bring them to the shop 
 to make potash and sal-soda. He was a bright scholar, and there 
 being a vacancy at West Point to be credited to the Ashtabula 
 District, the Hon. Joshua Giddings had young Hazen appointed. 
 He was wounded in the arm by arrows sent by Camanche Indians 
 in southwestern Texas, after lie had gi-aduated at the Military 
 Academy, and got a promotion to a Colonelcy for meritorious 
 service. He rapidly rose in the civil war, and in spite of the 
 most malignant enemies, the meanest persecution from a coterie 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 
 
 173 
 
 of brother officers at the Capital, he was one of the ablest and 
 purest officers in the service. His life was a fair representation 
 of American energy, and with Garfield from the tow-path, they 
 have made Northern Ohio famous for sturdy j^n-owth into glorious 
 manhood. He died in January, 18ST, much lamented. 
 
 The city was in a turmoil about this time over the passage of 
 the bill giving Fitz John Porter his old place in the regular army. 
 Democrats were jubilant, and Republicans depressed. 
 
 If Porter were true, why should confederates care whether he 
 was re-instated or not. The broad grin on rebels' faces showed 
 where their sympathies lay, when the passage of the bill was an- 
 nounced by the President of the Senate. "Grant,'' they shouted 
 "was for his re-instatement," and this gave Sabin, ot Minnesota, 
 a chance to pay off a debt he owed Democrats. Not a North- 
 western Senator voted for Porter, but Sabin, General Logan and 
 Mandersou, of Nebraska, were well sustained by their sections. 
 Would President Arthur veto the bilH Tt was thought, if he 
 vetoed the relief measure, it might estrange General Grant and 
 his friends before the coming convention at Chicago. If he 
 signed it, Mr. Arthur would not be sustained by the West, 
 especially. But the President always did his duty without sound 
 of trumpet, and vetoed the bill. 
 
 On St. Patrick's day, 1884, Mr. Arthur received the "'Clan ne 
 Gael" and other Irish societies from the portico of the White 
 House, a time honored custom at the Capital. 
 ^ *********** 
 ' Joaquin Miller, the poet of the Sierras, invited members of the 
 press one evening, to see his new log cabin on Meridian IIill, 
 and the odd-looking domicil among the fine residences was a 
 curious sight, and it proved a sure enough cabin, being made of 
 pine logs from a Maryland forest, not far away. There are 
 three rooms— parlor, bed-room and kitchen, furnished with hand- 
 some rugs, portieres of dark stuffs, rural ehairs. bufialo robes, 
 
1 74 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 the antlers ot deer — on the bed, bear skins, and an eider down 
 (juilt. A Mexican saddle was in a corner, a bowie knife on his 
 toilet table, and other tiirniture of a western cabin. There were 
 pictures ot pretty actresses on the walls, and ])h()t()gra])lis of lovely 
 girls on a number of brackets. The poet is a large, brown 
 haired man with a monkish crown, side whiskers and blue eyes, 
 and he wears like Buffalo Jiill, a large sond^rero, summer and 
 winter. His "Sword of the South" was written in the cabin of 
 (Tcorge (cable's near New Orleans, and there is a strong friend- 
 ship between these foremost writers of the period. Being an 
 entertaining talker, Mr. Miller was invited to literary reunions, 
 and was much admired by the ladies of the (Capital, especially 
 through the autumn of 1884. He was correspondent for the San 
 Franciscn:) Call, and dramatic critic tor the Literary Life of 
 Chicago. 
 
 At a ynvsimie given by a Boston professor on Franklin Park, 
 Mr. Miller was present, also Mrs. Emily Thornton Charles (Em- 
 ily Hawthorne), the author of a book of sweet and tender poems, 
 — Mrs. M. E. Burke, the pleasant song writer, and Mrs. Mary 
 A. Kail, the balladist from Ohio, whose "Crown Our Heroes'' 
 reached to 250,000 copies in the market. Mr. J. L. McCreery, 
 of Dubuque, read his beautitul poem, '"There Is No Death," and 
 "Bessie Beach," a criticism on George Eliot and her relations 
 with Lewes, her husband. Madame Logan sang "Douglass 
 Tender and True," and Miss Evans, of Alexandria, from the 
 "Waterfall." 
 
 -;<• * * -X- ^- * -x- * * * 
 
 Before the Republican convention in June, there was an itera- 
 tion and reiteration of the availability of certain candidates. 
 General W. T. Sherman was talked ot, but he ])Ositively de- 
 clined long before the convention, although many thought he 
 would make a soldier leader to bring the party to victory. But 
 old "Tecump" would not have the nomination. 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 175 
 
 Senator Sherman says "I am not a candidate,''' but added he 
 thoughttiilly, "we can carry Ohio in October for the Republi- 
 cans," and proved a true prophet. General Phil Sheridan, with 
 the romance of his Winchester ride and his sturdy enforcement 
 of law in Louisiana in the early reconstruction ])eriod, had many 
 followers. But some timid people feared that a Catholic could 
 not carry the country through with him as the standard bearer. 
 
 General Logan, after his triumphant march in northern and 
 central New York, had ''a whoop and a hurrah." Blaine's 
 friends were working quietly into clubs, and on the Pacific Slope 
 using every means for their favorite candidate to be brought be- 
 fore the convention at Chicago. 
 
 President Arthur, who had so faithfully carried his adminis- 
 tration through such trials, modestly admitted he would like the 
 nation to pass its approval u])on his policy, and ])ublic measures. 
 Of course, his friends, who thought they lived in free America, 
 urged his renomination, and among the Southern Republicans 
 he was their first choice. Those colored men who voted for 
 another candidate did not voice the feeling of that large body of 
 voters. Whether Mr. Blaine was right, or not, in using his in- 
 fluence against the Force Bill — that action stood against him, and 
 there was no bigger falsehood ever told than this, "tlie men 
 bought by offices 'are tor Mr. Arthur.'' 
 
 The writer of these skectches was in communication with all 
 the leading white Southern Republicans, and they were opj)Osed 
 to Mr. Blaine for the reason that Ae opposed placing the army at 
 Southern polls, to protect them from Ku-Klux. 
 
 Time has ])assed on. These objections may not come up again 
 with such force, but from 1.ST4, the time when the Force bill was 
 vfflted down, Mr. Blaine has not been the first choice of the 
 Southern Republicans, and while Senator Conkling had personal 
 enmities, he voiced the feeling of these men in 1876 and in 1880. 
 
176 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 The Stalwarts in 1884 carried forward tliis teelin^, and in the 
 strife of temporary chairman at Chicago between Powell of Ar- 
 kansas and Lynch of Mississippi, this was the undergromid con- 
 test. But the Stalwarts were beaten in the nomination for 
 President. Mr. Arthur was soon to be retired, which really 
 broke his heart through the long, weary months that followed 
 his leaving the White House. 
 
 •3f-*** ****** 
 
 In May, Squires & Co., private bankers, doing business on 
 Pennsylvania avenue, failed for a large amount of money, in- 
 volving one of the District Commissioners, Edmunds, in a sup- 
 posed loss of $42,000. This made a sensation as many clerks 
 deposited their hard earnings because they could get a high 
 interest on deposits — in promises. Squires was abused roundly 
 and committed suicide in a few days after the failure. Commis- 
 sioner Edmunds formerly from Iowa City, was sued in the courts 
 by creditors of the bank to recover some of the money lost, but 
 it was proved on the whole, that Squires borrowed money of the 
 Commissioner, and that the latter was not a partner in the bank. 
 ' 'The five per centers," or men, who loan money to a clerk for 
 thirty days at an exorbitant interest, make a great deal of money 
 in Washington. Some of these hankers buy a man's pay in the 
 army or Navy for much less than the government pays him at 
 the end of a quarter — so these chaps do a thriving business. 
 Some of them have invested these savings in real estate, which 
 has advanced five hundred per cent in a few years so that for- 
 tunes were made in this way. 
 
 There was a business failure in June, which caused a good deal 
 of trouble among poor clerks, who had placed their money with 
 the firm of Middleton & Co., bankers of F street, northwest. 
 Mrs. Hutchinson, a widow lady whose husband had died the 
 year before, lost $100,000 by their villainy. Their best plan 
 seemed to cheat women, for among other ladies, who lost smaller 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. lY7 
 
 sums was Mrs. Judge Cliisholm, the wife of the murdered jurist 
 of Copiah county, Mississippi. She lost $2,000 dolhirs, tlie savings 
 of five years hard earned at her desk in the First Comptroner''s 
 office, where she was kindly placed by that grand man, the Hon. 
 John Sherman, when Secretary of the Treasury. A pale, sweet 
 faced lady, who had the horror of seeing her husband and 
 daughter shot down by a Ku-Klux mob at her door. Miss Cor- 
 nelia, a young girl only 16 years of age, when the mob reached 
 the threshold and clamored for her father's blood, she threw her- 
 self over his breast and received the first charge. But it did not 
 save her father. He was a martyr to the cause of human liberty, 
 his son was wounded, and the scared remnants of the family 
 were sent north by faithful negroes, and a property worth 
 $100,000 was abandoned to the mob. The lady, nor her sons, 
 have not dared to go back to the plantation, and it was sold for 
 taxes some time ago. After the Democrats came into power, 
 she was moved out of the Treasury into the Money Order Di- 
 vision of thePostoflSce for Mr. Fairchild says. "It won't do to 
 discharge her. But you can tell the Democrats of Mississippi, 
 she is out of the Treasury." This double dealing with Northern 
 feeling and Southern ghoulishness, is characteristic of these 
 reformers — the Cleveland administi-ation. 
 
 A tournament! Ever since childhood when we read the novels 
 of Walter Scott, a tournament was our embodied idea of social 
 elegance. The Baltimore & Ohio R. R. ran an excursion train 
 to Forest Glen, August 6, for the purpose of giving Capitolians 
 a chance to see one of these knightly gatherings, where the 
 beauty and chivalry of Montgomery county, Maryland, would 
 meet to decide the tournament prizes. Forest Glen was nine 
 miles from Washington, and about a half mile from the station. 
 The road was hot and dusty, but our party walked through the 
 sand with enthusiasm. It seemed that Carroll Chapel, which 
 
178 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 was originally built a hundred years ago, by the Maryland Cath- 
 olics of this section, had been repainted and repaired somewhat, 
 and the vestry or priest in charge had concluded a tournament 
 would bring in some money to its treasury. The old chapel 
 stands in a church yard where the tombstones reeled in the grass, 
 and on their gray and mouldy breasts, it was hard to decipher 
 the inscriptions, when the dust below lived and died. It the 
 ''loved and lost" of A. D. 1800, could sit up in their shrouds 
 and see the gay crowds— little girls in "Mother Hubbard" dresses 
 and peaked hats — ladies with immense tournures, and hats 
 wound with cloth enough to make an old-fashioned pillow case 
 — bicycles, velocipedes, baby wagons — the tum-tum ota banjo — 
 the old folks would turn over for another century's sleep and 
 wonder "what on airth will the critters dew next V The honey 
 bees flew in and out under the eaves of the old church, yellow 
 butterflies chased each other over the mounds of the churchyard, 
 the birds sang in the cedars and pines, as if death never came 
 into this pretty spot. The tournament grounds are just east of 
 the church, and the master of ceremonies after lunch at 3 P. M. 
 called the riders into position. The trees and arches were orna- 
 mented with flags of all nations— an occasional starry flag to be 
 seen at a dining booth. The band played ''Maryland, My Mary- 
 land," and "Dixie," but no national airs, as it was considered a 
 boom for the Republicans, if any should be heard. The most of 
 the people had been secessionists, and would vote for Cleveland 
 in the coming November election. 
 
 The track for the race was through a worn-out tobacco field — ■ 
 three arches or bars, are set up over the track, and a couple of 
 wires run down from each arch with a red ring attached. Each 
 rider must take the rings off these wires on the point of his lance 
 three times. There were five contestants who entered the joust, 
 and paid a sum of money to the church for the privilege. Each 
 rider is called by the chief Marshal, who wore an elegant sword 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 179 
 
 belt, sash and ribbons. Each rider, also, wore a sash. Beyond 
 was a field with low stunted corn, then an orchard — a sweet 
 meadow — an old farm house, and next to the sky, a forest line 
 of oaks and pines. It was a pretty picture. When the knights 
 had all got into ])osition, the chief marshal shouted "Charge!" 
 and dashing down a slight declivity, they all went under the 
 bars, carrying a ring or two on their lances. 
 
 The joust finally terminated in a couple of hours in favor of 
 Mr. Frank Clark taking the rings three times, and leading upon 
 the dancing platform a Miss Caldwell of Washington, who 
 |)roved to be a dumpy brunette — she was there crowned "Queen 
 of Love and Beauty." Miss Cissel, of Howard county, who 
 lived about ten miles away, and far prettier than the Queen, was 
 chosen her maid of honor. It proved a pleasant and profitable 
 party for the church, as there was an immense crowd, and danc- 
 ing was kept up until after midnight. 
 
180 AMBKICAN COtTRT GOSSIP. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Ratification Meetings — Washington Monument Celebration — 
 Mes. Lincoln's and New Years Receptions. 
 
 The District Columbia W. C, T. U., held its annual meeting 
 at the new Garfield Memorial church September 12. The pulpit 
 was beautifully draped in ferns and smilax, handsomely framed 
 pictures ot Miss Willard and Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, wreathed 
 with ivy, were placed on a table in front of the pulpit. Over 
 all, hung a magnificent picture of the lamented Gartiekl, and at 
 the left was an open door leading to the pastor's library and 
 study, elegantly furnished by the ladies of the church. It was a 
 handsome structure. 
 
 There was also a ratification meeting held at the City Hall by 
 the Democrats, and Col. Bradley Johnson who fed our prison 
 boys at Salisbury, N. C on ground corn cobs, was on hand, and 
 made a speech — also, the Hon, Jerry Murphy of Iowa orated, 
 and with the procession of hired boys with torches — a boom of 
 an old cannon, it looked as if the Washingtonians took a little 
 stock in the performance. A mule walked in the procession, a 
 pair of red flannel roosters were carried behind him and crowed 
 for victory -the platform was draped with ivy and flags, but the 
 statue of Lincoln near by, not touched by flag or flower, stood 
 in the white electric light, like an accusing angel. 
 
 The Democrats at their Chicago convention, in June, had 
 nominated Governor Cleveland, New York, over General 
 Butler, ex-Senator McDonald, and Roswell P. Flower, of New 
 York. 
 
 The Prohibition party had ex-Governor St. John, as their 
 standard bearer, and in August the boom of General Butler, as 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL, 181 
 
 the candidate ot the Greenback Labor party, had got well under 
 headway, rousing the Anti-Monopolists to action. 
 
 The Democrats went into the cain])aign with the war cry, 
 "Turn the rascals out.'' The Republicans answered among other 
 things, "When you went out of power in 1S61, there were but 
 thirteen cents in the United States Treasury." The old account 
 books of the navy in the Fourth Auditor's office showed, that 
 from 1830 to 1861, over a million of dollars, in sums ranging 
 from ten to seventy-five thousand, were squandered by the 
 Democrat navy agents, alone. 
 
 In 1877, the cry of ''turn the rascals out" caused an investi- 
 gation all through the Treasury, and they could find no evidences 
 of fraud or mismanagement, and this commission was headed by 
 Senator Davis of West Virginia, a bitter Democrat. 
 
 After the death of Judge Folger, General Gresham was taken 
 from the Postoffice Department and made Secretary of the 
 Treasury, although in the interregnum, Charles E. Coon, Assist- 
 ant Secretary of the Treasury, filled the office so acceptably, 
 that many thought the President would appoint him to the 
 higher place. After a short time, the Hon. Frank Hatton was 
 called up higher from First Assistant to Postmaster General, in 
 place of Judge Gresham. President Arthur in his friendship 
 for the latter official, then gave him a life long position on the 
 Bench, as Circuit Judge for Illinois, Indiana and Michigan, 
 and made Hon. Hugh McCullough Secretary of the Treasury, 
 for the short time he was to remain at the White House. Mr. 
 McCullough had been Andy Johnson's Secretai-y for the term 
 while he was in office. Mr. Hatton was a printer boy, rose to 
 be an editor of a metropolitan daily, had given his best energies 
 to the postal service, and made a brainy, easily approached 
 officer, while he was at the head of the Postoffice Department. 
 
182 AMEBICAN OOUET GOSSIP. 
 
 He did not shut himself up, and refuse the cards of his humbler 
 acquaintances, but did his duty modestly and well. 
 
 r 
 
 A meeting was held at the M. E. Foundry Church by ladies 
 from the different churches, and a protest was printed in the N. 
 y. Tribune, as coming trom these Christian women, "that lor 
 the sake of morality, no such libertine as Grover Cleveland 
 should be permitted by the American people to go to the White 
 House as their representative — as their Chief Magistrate." 
 
 Several of the Buffalo clergy had proved up the case of Maria 
 Halpin and her boy, and the adoption of the child Oscar, by one 
 of the Folsom family. 
 
 To these good women there was something wrong in a proven 
 case of immorality. Mr. Cleveland said, "Tell the truth." This 
 was manly. He did not deny the accusation, and the newspa- 
 pers carried on the campaign with unwonted zeal. 
 
 Puck, the cartoonist, brought out Mr Blame as a tattooed man, 
 and photographed a part of the famous Mulligan letters. The 
 "Judge," another cartoon sheet, fired off with Mr. Cleveland's 
 big neck, and Maria Halpin driving up to the White House with 
 her boy. Then came the counter charge by the Indianapolis 
 Sentinel against Mr. Blaine's reputation, that he was guilty of a 
 misdemeanor against perfect chastity. Whether this was true 
 or not, Mr. Blaine committed a great blunder in suing the Sen- 
 tinel for slander, and then withdrawing the charge — letting them 
 off without damages, and proving nothing for himself, only, that 
 he married the lady, and proved a loyal husband. In all the 
 charges against Mr. Blaine there has never been a whisper of 
 scandal since his marriage, and in all his viiried public life, no 
 woman has ever been mixed up with the accusations against his 
 official record. 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 183 ^ 
 
 Mr. Cleveland did not marry Maria llalpin, but provided for 
 tlie child in the Folsoui family. So that after all in private mat- 
 ters, it was "a drawn i^ame, between the two great contending 
 parties'' said the politician mugwumps. The contest between 
 them grew more and more passionate, and bitter feelings devel- 
 oped between department clerks, who were conservative and 
 obeyed the civil service law, while intense Republicans defied it — 
 giving to the different State associations campaign money and 
 labor in the campaign headquarters alter office hours, even into 
 the late hours of night for the old party's sake. "We earn our 
 money," said the}^ "we can give to missionary funds, why not 
 to this campaign^' These state Republican associations met at 
 different places in the city every week, made preparations for 
 taking home voters, and many foresaw that a small majority 
 either way would be the result in November. Through Virginia 
 there was a good deal of altercation, families divided — the Re- 
 publicans getting in a good deal of campaign work. Negroes 
 were terrorized in the southwestern part of the State, and a good 
 deal ot money was scattered by certain Democratic agents of the 
 Liquor League, and D. C. campaign fund through the old Com- 
 monwealth. St. John, and the temperance cranks were at work 
 in New York. W. C. Templar Stearns, in the east room of the 
 White House, laid up an oath in heaven that the order would de- 
 feat the Republicans that year. 
 
 After the victorious Ohio election f(tr the Republicans in Octo 
 ber, the Democrats were hopeless as to the future contest the 
 next month, and if Mr. Blaine had gone directly to Augusta, 
 Maine — had no New York dinner — no Burchard episode, he 
 would have been President now, by a small majority. But Sen- 
 ator (Torman's stenogra])her and private secretary heard Burch- 
 ard's speech ; it was printed by tlic thousands in a few hours, 
 and special agents of the Chairman carried this bhuuiering speech 
 and placed it at the threshold of every Catholic clnu'cli in New 
 
184 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 York State, and thus victory was snatched from the jaws of de- 
 feat, and Grover Cleveland was elected by 1,100 majority. 
 
 For several days, in spite ot the happy boasts of Democrats, 
 very few of the Washington business men, or department clerks 
 believed that New York had gone Democratic, thus turning over 
 the country to rebels. The clerks on the 9tli and 10th of No- 
 vember did but little work in the departments. Some were 
 deathly pale from sleeplessness, others swore with Flander oaths 
 that it could not be true, while the old rebel element drank in 
 good old bourbon toasts to the incoming Democratic adminis- 
 tration. The New York Tribune kept sending out little lies to 
 let the country down easy. One lady clerk in the Treasury got 
 a dispatch from a New York friend in the Tribune office tiiat the 
 Plumed Knight was elected by 800 majority. Rushing into the 
 lower corridor, she screamed hysterically, "Blaine ! Blaine is 
 elected." The screams were taken up all over the building by 
 hundreds of voices, and old soldiers and loyal people shook 
 hands with a great cry. But the reaction came that evening that 
 Cleveland was President. Manv ol the clerks were poor — trust 
 deeds on mortgaged homes, and if "to the victors belonged the 
 spoils," there would be great distress and losses. Could they 
 sell their homes^ By the 4th of Marcii would there not bo such 
 a glut in the real estate market by throwing so many houses on 
 it for sale, that the clerk could not realize much from this re- 
 source. Helpless old soldiers; they had no faith in civil service 
 or Democracy. Many grew gray in a short time. They never 
 were so economical, and the city never saw such a depression in 
 business. 
 
 Their Democratic relatives, were written to m a cousinly way 
 by some, others were too proud, but after all, the social influences 
 were unsparingly used by many Kepublican clerks. This cannot 
 be denied. A ]>anic seized on many. If it could be covered up 
 many hedged about campaign work. Human nature was weak 
 in view of the flesh pots of Egypt. 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 1S5 
 
 Tlie civil service luw Imd been so understood by Postmaster 
 I*ierson of New Vork and c)ther liepublicaiis, that while in oftice 
 they must not be in a partisan conflict, so their efforts were un- 
 (rertain antl lukewarm. On account of this construction of the 
 law, which since that time is understood to be correct — Mr. 
 HIaine's fi'iends had a bitter feelinf^ against Mr. Arthur and his 
 officials. ]>ut it was unworthy of them, foi- all was done by the 
 President, possible. The country demanded civil service — right 
 or wi-ong. 
 
 In November, the trial of Judge Advocate Swaim was begun 
 at the Ebbitt House, General Grosvenor of Ohio, counsel for the 
 defense. It was charged by Bateman & Co., bankers, that 
 General Swaim liad obtained money from them under false pre- 
 tenses, and other things were in the accusations, that were un- 
 l)ecoming in an officer and gentleman. This court-martial was 
 ordered by Secretai-y Lincoln, and dragged on for several weeks 
 — the court having General Terry as presiding officer. 
 
 The lady guests of the hotel often came into the room with 
 their embroidery and knitting of Berlin wof)I — there were vases 
 of flowers to be seen, and the starry flag in silken folds dra})ed 
 the windows of the room. 
 
 General Swaim, the trusted friend of General Garfield, and the 
 officer in charge of the Garfield Memorial Fair of the Army of 
 the Cumberland, only two years before, was found guilty of dis- 
 honest practices, and removed from the office of Judge Advocate 
 General of the Army, and also cashiered of his }>ay for three 
 years. It was a terrible blow to his friends and himself. 
 
 December 8, 1884, saw the great Washington monument fin- 
 ished amid the cheering of thousands — the booming of artillery, 
 and several bands discoursing the "Star Spangled Banner" and 
 "America" as the old flag was run u]» forty-five feet above the 
 aluminum apex, making 000 feet from the ground to the point in 
 the sky where; the edge of the stars and stri])es touched the hue 
 
186 AMERlCAl^ COtRT GOSSIP. 
 
 of heaven. It was a noble enterprise, well finished, as to the 
 exterior. The statues and pieces of marble given to the nation 
 to be placed in the interior of the crypt, and the adornment of 
 the grand staircase would require a hirther appropriation, and 
 be a creditable addition to the beautiful obelisk. The elevator 
 is not finished yet, as it should be, and visitors are annoyed by 
 the supercilious airs of the ofiicers in care of the structure. 
 
 At the opening of the closing session of the Forty-eighth Con- 
 gress, President Arthur in a dignified manner alluded to his re- 
 tirement from public life, and recommended the passage of the 
 Dakota bill, the enlargement of the consular service, partial sus- 
 pension of silver coinage at two and a half millions a month, the 
 o-reater increase of our coast defences, and to make the army 
 and navy more efficient in case of war. There was a great deal 
 of hilarity among Democrats. Senator Gorman of Maryland, as 
 Chairman of the Congressional Committee, and to whom so 
 much praise was due from their party, found his desk adorned 
 with an immense rooster of brilliant plumage made of red roses, 
 and tlie tail of pampas grass was so adorned with straw flowers, 
 that it looked like a real game cock, and was greeted with shouts 
 of laughter before the Chaplain opened the Senate. Voorhees, 
 Beck and McPherson were full of fun, and their desks were cov- 
 ered with victorious designs in flowers. But the pages were 
 called in a few minutes after the Chaplain had finished his de- 
 votions, and the oflending roosters, flags ot victory, etc., were 
 carried to the cloak rooms out of sight to the Republicans, who 
 felt chagrined in spite of themselves, to be the fifth wheel of the 
 Democratic! "tally ho coach. To confirm Democratic policy, to 
 be the clincher of their crude efibrts at legislation, was a bitter 
 pill indeed. 
 
 In the House there were congratulations among the victorious 
 — flowers on Democratic desks — a full gallery of spectators, and 
 a reception room of mourning, long-veiled widows, waiting and 
 
LIFE AT THK NATIONAT. OAPlTOL. 187 
 
 begging for places, for it was thought that Republican officials 
 would give way and let these supplicating creatures into good 
 positions, for the ''■c/uMige — the blessed change" had come. 
 
 Through the holiday's, ^Mr. and Mrs. 131aine visited the Capital 
 and were handsomely entertained by General Loring, then Com- 
 missioner ot Agriculture — at Senator Jlills' to a swell dinner, 
 and received calls from the best people, while they seemed as 
 happy as it defeat were a thing unknown, or uncared for now. 
 
 Congress adjourned for the holidays, and passes were <>iven 
 many of them to go to the New Orleans Exposition, but most of 
 them went home. 
 
 Senator Gorman had a banquet tendered him at Baltimore, 
 which pi-oved a grand affair with wines, terra})in, and sncli lovelv 
 flower designs tor tlie tables. 
 
 Sometimes the florists make funny mistakes in spelling. 
 
 Representative Murphy received a canal bf)at rigged with the 
 word "Hennipin" in purple immortelles on a white rose back 
 ground, interspersed with Marechal Neils. Re]>resentative 
 
 H of Maryland, received a pillow of roses with "Sweet 
 
 Violets" in the center. "Who is your Violet, Hob T came in 
 from all sides of the House. A low whistle of the sono- bv 
 Emmet was heard behind his chair. ''Now yon are mad because 
 you didn't get any'' said ''IIol)" to his tormentor, but the pillow 
 went out of the door. There is so much chaffing, and the faintest 
 suspicion that some affectionate lady has sent it, that half of 
 the Congressmen resent a costly basket of flowers. 
 
 One waggish Representative received early in the morning 
 hour, a beautiful gift of flowers. Not caring to be chaflcd, he 
 quietly put it upon Holman's desk, the great Indiana objector, 
 who upon conn'ng in and flnding it there, wliacked it u])on the 
 floor, and kicked the beauty out ot it, as the unwelcome thing 
 spun down the aisle among the spittoons. 
 
188 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 At Gorman's banquet, there were regrets from some of the 
 old wheel-horses of democracy, who did not care after all, to 
 swell the Maryland Senator's popularity, yet 500 happy Demo- 
 cjats, in answer to toasts, made boastful and vain-glorious 
 speeches. They entered into no promises, whereby their policy 
 was indicated for the good of the public service — nothing but 
 shouts of victory. 
 
 Mrs. Belva A. Lockwood went down to the New Orleans Ex- 
 position about this time, and made a little speech there at the 
 instigation of Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, Chairman of the Woman's 
 Department. 
 
 The fare from the Capital was put down to $40 for the round 
 trip, and a good many citizens visited the Crescent City for the 
 first time in their lives. The show brought together the citizens 
 of North and South, and it proved a great success, except in 
 finances. The managers asked Congress after the Exposition 
 closed for $400,000 more to reimburse them for money borrowed 
 to carry on the affair. Congressman Holman objected, but the 
 matter was compromised by Congress not getting back all the 
 original loan of a million into the Treasury. The newspapers 
 declared that "Superintendent Burk was in a state of mental 
 anguish, and must be re-imbursed."" The loan was given by 
 Congress, and what was the use in lugging it back to the Treas- 
 ury. The South wanted it, and the truth was, the most of it got 
 scattered around New Orleans. 
 
 On Janaury 1, 1885, President Arthur gave a New Year's re 
 ception to the public, after the Cabinet, Congressmen, Army and 
 Navy officers, had been presented. The conservatory, rich in 
 palms, ferns, azaleas and roses was rifled for its sweets, and yet 
 there was enough left to make it a lovely place to the visitor. A 
 phantom lily was among its attractions, a bird of paradise 
 flower, and a new orchid of the Stanhope variety. It is as a large 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 189 
 
 as a tea cup — beautiful in its whiteness. The nun tiower is a 
 tall potted plant with a white flower cup, and its stamens are so 
 arranged as to give the apj)earance of a veiled nun in the center. 
 
 At this reception Lieutenant Greeley was presented, and 
 proved to be the lion of the occasion. He is a tall, light cora- 
 plexioned Yankee, and wears his Saxon hair parted in the 
 middle — the features rather feminine, and he speaks in a thin 
 tone of voice, and yet his endurance was remarkable among the 
 frozen ledges of the Northern coast. Sergeant Braiuard was 
 also present. 
 
 Among the receiving party of ladies, was Mr. Hugh McCul- 
 lough in a black velvet princesse; Mrs. Frank Hatton, a "fayre 
 ladye" in pink silk, and being of the Cabinet, she gave a lunch 
 in the course of the week, the Wednesday following being Cabi- 
 net day for receptions. She proved a charming hostess. Mrs. 
 Reed, wife of the Hon.Tom Reed, of Maine, wore a white corded 
 silk, her beautiful shoulders and bust in a very decollette b©dice, 
 the corsage bouquet of red roses. Another charming lady was 
 Mrs. Judge McArthur in black velvet, her diamonds remarkably 
 fine. She is very charitable, but now has retired from Wash- 
 ington society since the Judge's death. 
 
 For 'Hi decollette corsage, it seems as if there should be a govern- 
 ment censor appointed, to bare the shoulders of many ladies. 
 So many scrawny, wry necks, with a black, hairy list down the 
 spine, that no number of boxes of "Lily White" could cover its 
 repulsiveness, and yet evening after evening these bones are 
 exposed, these deficiencies made plain with a bland smile, 
 because it is the fashion to wear low necked dresses — therefore, 
 it must be charming. They can use the fan in front, but no 
 lace or wing of fairy can cover the ugly backs of these belles. 
 
 Mr. Pendall, the gray haired usher, said it was "a brilliant 
 scene." Mrs. Lincoln used to call him Mr. "Penelton'' some 
 times. After the assassination, she slowly went daft. When 
 
190 AMEKICAN COUET GOSSIP. 
 
 she would ordei- the carnage, it might not be a moment after the 
 messenger had gone, before she would slip out, go to tho car- 
 riage house, and stop the harnessing of the horses. She was a 
 very sweet, amiable woman betore the troubles of the civil war 
 began. Mr.Theaker, the United States Commissioner of patents 
 under Mi-. Lincoln, saw the lady strike the President in a fit of 
 passion. Mr. Theaker was astonished that the President did not 
 rebuke her, at least, by a warning look. "No, no, Theaker," 
 said he, it does Mary some good, and it don't hurt me more than 
 a fly." It the White House ushers would turn society reporters, 
 what a chapter of interesting events would be unfolded. Mr. 
 Pendall was appointed in 1864; Leoffler, the faithful guardian of 
 the Executive Chamber, in 1866; Mr. Barr and the handsome 
 Dinsmore, later. 
 
 Albert, the coachman, is generally around at all the gather- 
 ings. He was appointed by General Grant in his first term, and 
 drove the hearse at the funeral cortege at Riverside. 
 
 One, occasionally, gets a glimpse of the White House servants 
 at receptions, peeping out at the lower windows. The lower 
 part of the house is a lonely looking place. The furnace and 
 coal take up a good share of room — the range is large, and 
 pantry shelves groan with good things which the steward has 
 bought in market. But the roaches and water bugs will often 
 take possession. Over the east door of the basement, there is 
 the old fashioned fan shaped window that was put in 1818, 
 when the White House was thoroughly repaired after British 
 occupation. People come, people go, but it stays there forever. "^ 
 
 Music above our heads hurries us back to the gay scenes. 
 There was the usual jam, the florist did his work in the most 
 effective manner — the Marine Band played its most entrancing 
 waltzes, yet there was a feeling of depression — a shadow of the 
 coming parting at the dth of March. This seemed to sadden the 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAl'IToL. 
 
 101 
 
 President's face, and made his hand grasp the visitor, a moment 
 longer than usual. 
 
 After the adjournment ot the holidays was over. Congress 
 met, and in the Senate, the Spanish and Nicaraguan treaties 
 were discussed in executive sessions. The Cubans under the 
 Spanish treaty wanted tree trade, and the cigar makers of the 
 East opposed the free importation of llavanas — the sugar plant- 
 ers ot Louisiana opposed, and the fruit preservers ot Baltimore 
 did not want to come into competition with the Cubans under 
 tiie treaty, tor foreign fruits would hurt their trade seriously. 
 This treaty was not ratified. 
 
 We were to plant the American flag at the entrance of the 
 Nicaraguan ('anal, guarantee the independence of that South 
 American province, and New York capitalists could build the 
 canal across that isthmus without paying tor righl-of-way. We 
 had no navy to guarantee the independence of a sick kitten, out- 
 side of our own coast line, and while we might shout for Blaine's 
 South American policy, or oppose the hanging of Irish Ameri- 
 cans on British soil, or send our merchant ships to South 
 America, we had but ninety old wooden ships, and it was 
 buncombe to talk threateningly to anybody, or any nation of 
 importance. 
 
 The Republicans tor some time had plead far a})propriations, 
 to enlaige the Army and Navy, but it was of no use. The treaty 
 with Nicaraguan was not ratified for obvious reasons, and per- 
 haps we might add the Pacific raih-oads opposed the building of 
 tills canal, as it would cheapen transjiortation between San Fran- 
 cisco and New York, bringing wheat and fruit from California 
 nmch cheaper than by rail. That ended the matter. 
 
 In the House, Reagan, of Texas, brought up his Inter- 
 State Commerce bill' whereby railroad pools were forbidden, 
 "rates per ton, ])er mile" and other restrictions on railroad 
 traffic were proposed. 
 
192 AMERICAN COUKT GOSSIP. 
 
 The Hennepin Canal was talked of — this time in connection 
 with the Florida Ship Canal, which crossed the peninsular State 
 on a divide ot eighty miles in length, from the Gulf of Mexico to 
 the Atlantic Ocean. Neither bill passed Congress. 
 
 The Library bill was engineered through, but the Mexican 
 Pension bill hung fire on account of Southern men not taking 
 the oath of allegiance, who would be benefitted by its provisions. 
 
 Moody, the Evangelist, held immense meetings at the Con- 
 gregational church, about the middle of January — tickets being 
 presented to the different churches of the city, so that the crowd 
 would not be too great, although every seat was full, and many 
 stood through the services. Mr. Sankey was not present, but 
 the organist. Prof. Bischoft, gave the desired music for the oc- 
 casion. It was said that Mr. Moody had added to the church 
 50,000 members in America and England, since he commenced 
 preaching as a lay member. 
 
 The trial of the ex-confederate Captain — John A. Drew, the 
 druggist on Pennsylvania avenue for navy frauds in complicity 
 with certain officials, was concluded about the 1st of February, 
 giving an acquittal to the gentleman to the great surprise of 
 everybody. But the rebels were on top. 
 
 Rooms were engaged at the Arlington Hotel, lor the Cleve- 
 land presidential party prior to the inauguration — the same given 
 to President Diaz and family upon their recent visit to the Capi- 
 tal. This suite of rooms overlook Vermont avenue, and were 
 handsomely furnished with rich portieres, lace curtains, crimson 
 upholstery, and carpets of dark red, gave them an unusually 
 rich appearance from the lofty stairway of the hotel. 
 
 Preparations were made by President Arthur and Mrs. McEl- 
 roy to leave the White House, a day or two before the inaugura- 
 tion — vans from the express companies carried away loads of 
 trunks and boxes, belonging to the family. Mr. Chester Allan 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 193 
 
 Arthur, Jr., had a pleasant season at the Capital this winter wheu 
 he asked a hoUday of Princeton, but he felt with the rest, the 
 mournful parting from the scene of their social triumphs. 
 
 Through the town, dressmakers were lively in getting hand- 
 some toilettes ready for the inaugural ball, and in New York 
 and even in Paris, at the hands of Worth, there were prepara- 
 tions made for the coming event. 
 
 ''The King is dead! Long live the new King!" 
 Republicans were scarce. Democrats in the departments were 
 found everywhere. It was '-safer," even if Mr. Cleveland pro- 
 posed to stand by the civil service law, as reported by George 
 Wm. Curtis. 
 
l94 AMERICAN COURT GOSSlt». 
 
 CHAPTER XIY. 
 
 Cleveland's Inatjgtjkation — White House Affairs — Decora- 
 tion Day — Mt. Vernon Regents — Official Ax. 
 
 The morning of the day, when Grover Cleveland was to be in- 
 augurated the twenty-second President of the United States, 
 dawned in mildness over the Maryland hills, and through the 
 eventful day it was so warm that ladies wore light wraps, and an 
 overcoat proved a nuisance to many a sight-seer on that occasion. 
 
 The streets had been swept — flags floated over the buildings on 
 Pennsylvania avenue and many private dwellings were decorated 
 with bunting. Long before noon, the hour for the exercises to 
 begin, the streets were crowded with people. The United States 
 artillerists with their red caps and heavy looking uniform lieaded 
 the flrst section of the army, and were deployed on the White 
 Lot — the horses as well disciplined as if they had just come from 
 a review by Von Moltke. They moved into the line soon after, 
 and paraded with the rest of the soldiers to the East Capitol 
 front, where the President-elect took the oath of office and gave 
 his inaugural in a clear voice, with only a very few notes, as im- 
 movable as a sphynx, amid the cheering of thousands. After 
 the ceremony he stepped into his carriage, accompanied by ex- 
 President Arthur ; the next carriage, drawn by tour milk-white 
 steeds, contained the well-known form of Vice President Hen- 
 dricks and friends, the distinguished gentleman rising from his 
 seat often, and waving his hat to the crowd, who cheered them- 
 selves hoarse at this demonstration of his regard for the masses. 
 
 There were no arches, or signs ot victory to be seen, but the 
 waving ot banners — Mr. Cleveland objecting to any street dec- 
 oration. After the Presidential i)arty, came the Seventh Regi- 
 ment of New York for an escort — the Pennsylvania State Militia 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 195 
 
 8,000 strong dressed in bine, and the whole length of Pennsylvania 
 avenue from the Treasury to the Peace Monument, looked like a 
 broad blue riband from curb to curb, and flashing from the guns 
 the light fell in wavy lines on this wide ribbon in a very beauti- 
 ful perspective. After these, were the Richmond Greys, with 
 the Confederate General at their head, Fitzhug-h Lee. The 
 crowd gathered largely from Maryland and Virginia secession- 
 ists, cheered and yelled, as he rode in a very graceful manner a 
 black horse, and touching his hat occasionally with gauntletted 
 hand, "like an olden knight," so his admirers said, lie was 
 elected Governor of Virginia, the following summer. The Grand 
 Army Posts turned out to honor the occasion, but many of them 
 with heavy hearts. Some swore on the parade in an undertone, 
 and limped along on their tired limbs, for most of them were in 
 the different departments, and if not present might be commented 
 upon at some future time, and to lose their places, for lack of 
 courtesy, was not to be thought of by the scarred, old veterans. 
 
 They, the heroes of another epoch were there, two thousand 
 strong. The swell companies of tlie city — the Continentals, the 
 Washington Light Infantry, the Emmet Guards, National Kifles, 
 and the Capital City Guards (the colored soldiers), wei-e in the 
 procession, as well as a Baltimore regiment and Palmetto Guards. 
 After the soldiery came the civic societies, the Americus Club of 
 Philadelphia eight hundred in line, the Sam Randall Club and 
 another company from the Quaker City were in the })r()cession 
 with bands of music, banners flying, and with their gay uniforms, 
 made an interesting feature of the parade. Tammany, Irving 
 Hall, and the County Democracy in grey suits were in their 
 glory, and looked at the Treasury when they passed it as if they 
 "would turn the rascals out" before the corn bloomed on the 
 Potomac. 
 
 The Cincinnati Club of healthy, well pedigreed Democrats 
 were in the ])rocession, and the Iro(juoisfi-(nii Chicago, also nuide 
 
196 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 a handsome show of themselves. Handsome equipages were 
 seen in every direction enjoying the day — "a Cleveland day," as 
 the new President's admirers said to each other. As the day 
 grew to its close, rockets and Koman candles, balloons and Chi- 
 nese fire-workSj gave beauty to the sky and Maryland hills. 
 
 Vice President and Mrs. Hendricks were quartered at the Wil- 
 lard, and their rooms were crowded with visitors till they took 
 their carriage lor the Inaugural Ball. Flowers were sent to their 
 parlors in profusion, and every attention was showered upon 
 them, but alas! in a few short months, the scene changed to their 
 Indiana home shrouded in black — and Mrs. Hendricks, after 
 reaching almost to the summit of her highest ambition, was 
 thrust back to a lonely fireside — a weeping mourner, a comfort- 
 less widow. As they came down the stairway of the hotel, and 
 out at the Fourteenth street entrance, tliey were a distinguished 
 looking couple, and upon reaching the ball, were again ''the ob- 
 served of all observers." 
 
 The din of rolling carriages, the handing out of ladies and 
 their maids by the footmen ; the subdued voices of the true aris- 
 tocracy, the flashing of jewels and the unrolling of ladies' trains, 
 were the preliminaries of the great drama in society, tor which 
 preparations had been made for many a month previous to the 
 affair. 
 
 It is not easy to do justice to a great gathering of this kind, 
 for nmch nmst be left to the imagination, and in a sketch of this 
 evening, we only suggest to the memory of those present, a 
 faint representation of the scene. 
 
 The District Committee of Arrangements for the Inauguration 
 and bull, were very anxious that the new Pension building 
 should be fitted up for the latter festivity, but a storm blew the 
 roof off in several places only a few days before the -ith of March 
 but after working night and day, it proved a good make shift. 
 The building had been plastered over two coats, stoves were 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 197 
 
 put up in every place available, and the decorators troni New 
 York so®n put touclies of beauty in the interior of the ungainly 
 structure, that were surprising. The heavy iron pillars, two feet 
 through, that supported the dome, were covered with neutral 
 tinted paper, and wound with strings ot smilax and maiden hair 
 ferns, interspersed with palms from the Carolina swamps, while 
 around the galleries were draped Hags, and velvet curtains fes- 
 tooned with flowers that tilled in the spaces where there was a 
 gap, and thousands of dollars were expended in this manner. 
 Pictures were draped, and floral designs of wondrous beauty 
 peeped out from every corner of the immense building. But in 
 Mr. Cleveland's room the chef d''ouvre challenged the guests 
 admiration. It was an executive chair, as large as any, made 
 of tube roses, Marshal Neils and smilax, with other costly deco- 
 rations in flowers. The Wilton carpet and lace curtains were 
 lovely, the new President's picture, life size, was on the wall, 
 vases of cut flowers every where, and all, that a grateful De- 
 mocracy, who had been away from Washington for nearlv a 
 quarter of a century, could do, was not grudged, and as Colonel 
 Norris, one of the Committee said, "It shall be a buster, and 
 beat the Kepublicans anyhow," A floral design in an immense 
 globe three feet through, to represent the State Department — 
 War, Navy, and so on, even to the Department of Justice with 
 its even scales of justice made of a bar of white roses, cups of 
 carnation pinks, and everything as p rfect, as if wrought of iron. 
 
 '.'he Marine Band under Sousa, as leader, was stationed in a 
 idsome stand in the center of this immense court, and l?,00(» 
 . iples danced to the entrancing measures. It was a magnificent 
 >ht. The brilliant costumes of the ladies — the di}»lonuitic 
 rps — the dashing uniform of the Army and Navy, made a pic- 
 .re long to be remembered. Supper was served in several side 
 oms of the building. The tickets were $5 a piece, and the 
 ;xt night after the ball, before the flowers had lost their entire 
 eshness, the Marine Band, under the direction of the Inaugu- 
 
198 AMEKICAJSr COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 ration Committee, gave a promenade concert in the same place 
 — tickets $1. About 4, 000 people came again, to view the fading 
 splendors of the great ball. Police were stationed in all parts 
 of the building, and the arrangements were perfect in detail. 
 After this, colored people, and poor white laborers paid fifty 
 cents to see this faded glory ot a March night, and compared 
 notes with those on a former occasion. General Grant's first 
 Inaugural ball was on this Judiciary Square, but in a kind ot 
 barracks fitted up for the purpose. It was so cold that the ladies 
 shivered in their ball dresses,' in spite of red hot stoves and 
 other heating appliances. 
 
 General Grant and his good-hearted wife were terribly morti- 
 fied at the unpleasant atmosphere of the evening, but laughed it 
 oft, as something that could not be helped, and met their friends 
 with serene smiles, as they received their many congratulations. 
 
 The music was so very fine at Cleveland's Inaugural Ball, that 
 connoisseurs said "it was long to be remembered." The Americus 
 Club Band, of Philadelphia, witii one hundred pieces was a 
 marked feature of the occasion. The New York Seventh Regi- 
 ment Band was also, very much admired. 
 
 One of the most beautiful dresses at the ball was worn by Mrs. 
 Carrington, wife of a prominent lawyer, and we reproduce it, as 
 a matter of history. It was a cream-colored brocade, with a 
 crystal tablier front — sleeveless, but made with straps of lace. 
 Over the right shoulder caught up with a diamond pin, and the 
 left shoulder strap was looped over a bunch of ostrich feather^ 
 laid flat, while around the low corsage a line of ostrich ft:;;.thG* s 
 were overlaid in a dovetail fashion. It was a princess ');'ck, 
 en trains. The lady's shoulders and neck were very beauitfi^.I, 
 although her face was rather plain. Mrs. Leiter's gown was a 
 pale gold bro(;aded satin, the petticoat of plain white satin '^rv 
 broidered in heavy silk and chenille — the dress a princess ba<! . 
 en traine^ the sleeves puffed from the shoulder to the elbow, aii'; 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 199 
 
 the lady's beautiful hair was coiffured with pale, amber colored 
 leathers, and an immense corsage bou(|uet of yellow roses, Mrs. 
 Horace Helyer, the wife of one of the attaches of the British Le- 
 gation and a reigning belle, was ])resent in a heliotro})e satin 
 softened with lace, and a large knot of Neopolitan violets on her 
 corsage. She has the exquisite complexion of an English beauty, 
 with hair as yellow as corn tassels — blue eyes, such a heavenly 
 hluel and features of a slightly Roman cast, as if she might be 
 the descendants of some of the Druids of Stonehenge, at the 
 American Court in Washington. Her toilettes are always the 
 perfection of taste. She is sought after in New York and other 
 great cities, while at the fox hunts at Newport, is the toast of the 
 swell dinners. She is the wife of the Second Secretary of the 
 Legjition. 
 
 Sir Lionel Sackville West is a small man with light hair, al- / 
 most bald, with Dundreary whiskers. He is very quiet and uri- i 
 assuming, and not a bold Briton of the type, which Capt. Mar- 
 ryat characterizes to be found among the English aristocracy. 
 Miss Flora, his daughter, had on a beautiful gown of white corded 
 silk, and in every niovemont she lias a sinuous grace and beauty, 
 not easily imitated. She is rather tall with hazel gray eyes, 
 brown hair and an arch expression very wiiming. 
 
 Mrs. Bayard wore an elegant bronze velvet— Miss Kate in a 
 white satin trown. Miss Bayard, before her death, was the most 
 daring etjxiestrienne in the city. Her horse was trained to jump 
 a ditch or a fence, and she sat in hei- saddle like a Diana of the 
 forest. 
 
 The White House was in good repair, so that the new Presi- 
 dent and his sister Miss Hose Elizabeth Cleveland, were to be 
 envied by the great world, as they closed their eyes for the first 
 time in the historic mansion. There was little change of furni- 
 ture and other house appointments, as Mr. Arthur's taste could 
 
200 AMERICAJN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 not be questioned, and through the summer, Tiffany ot New 
 York, had decorated the interior in the latest esthetic fashion. 
 Yes ! the Clevelands were envied that night. Miss Cleveland 
 lay under a blue satin quilt and eider down — the bed being placed 
 in the southwest chamber, so as to have a iine view of the 
 Potomac. The learned essayist and the little school girl of 
 Holland Patent was sleeping where the Prince ot Wales met the 
 god Morpheus, and in the beautiful room, the fairy ghost of 
 Dolly Madison danced in the electric shadows wooing her to 
 future social triumphs in the magnificent parlors below. 
 
 About the hotels, after this ball was over, speculation run on 
 the new Cabinet, although, it had been announced by newspaper 
 authority, certain gentlemen would be appointed. They were 
 not entirely right. Senator Thos. F. Bayard was called from the 
 Senate to the first place — Secretary of State. Daniel Manning 
 of New York to the Treasury. William C. Endicott, Secretary 
 of War. William C. Whitney, Navy Department. Senator L. 
 Q. C. Lamar to take the portfolio of the Interior. Senator A. H. 
 Garland, of Arkansas, Attorney General. Wm. H. Vilas, Post- 
 master General. 
 
 As Mr. Bayard was a candidate for the Presidency, this ap- 
 pointment gave general satisfaction at the time. 
 
 Mr. Manning, the good genius of Cleveland in his campaign 
 for Governor, proved to be the clearest head in the Cabinet. 
 His father had died when he was a youth — his mother, an Irish 
 washwoman, placed her boy in the Albany Argus office as "devil" 
 — he rose to his present position by force of his brain and sound 
 principle taught by his priest, and when he married one of the 
 haughty Livingstons of New York, and ruled the republic by his 
 force of character, one sees the glory of American institutions. 
 
 The New Orleans politicians asked for General Money, of 
 Mississippi, to be placed in the new council, but Senator Garland 
 came from the South, and the "fair daughter of the sun" nnist 
 
LIFK AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. fOg 
 
 l)e content with him and the dreamy Lamar, theh)tns eater. The 
 a])] (ointment ot Mr. Endicott somewhat surprised the politicians, 
 as it was thought General Slocum, of New York, would be 
 given the War poittolio. It was known the Paynes and Mr. 
 Whitney had given largely to the Cleveland campaign tund, so 
 that the latter's a])})ointment was looked for somewhere in the 
 new Cabinet. 
 
 General Sheridan was Lieutenant General of the army, and 
 man}'^ timid souls felt stronger for this thought. It would be 
 useless to disguise the fact, that an undetinable dread seized on 
 many people, at the near approach of Democratic rule. The 
 colored people were half sick with anxiety and tear. But father 
 Time turned the hands of the department clocks, day by day ; 
 the routine work of each division went on as usual, and no clash 
 of bugles resounded. It was the same old grad-grind, after all. 
 
 The new President caused it to be understood that the heads 
 of the different departments would not commence the work of 
 decapitation very soon, and new life went into the stiffened fingers 
 of the old clerks, as they audited accounts and wrought at their 
 desks. ''But wait and see," said the alarmists. "It is the lion 
 making ready for his prey." The "Post," the organ for the Dis- 
 trict of Columbia Democracy, in an editorial of length and spirit, 
 virtually said, "To the victors belong the spoils." 
 
 About the 12th of March the President gave a reception to the 
 Diplomatic Corps, the Cabinet and Congress, who were accom- 
 panied by their ladies. The Marine Band played "Hail to the 
 Chief" as President Cleveland and Mrs. Bayard came down the 
 stairs followed by Miss Cleveland and Secretary Bayard, and the 
 rest of the Cabinet with their ladies in quick succession, with the 
 exception of Secretary Lamar and Garland, the latter rarely 
 goes into society. He lives with his mother on New Hampshire 
 avenue near Nineteenth street. 
 
909 AMERICAN OOrRT GOSSIP. 
 
 It was a brilliant seeiio. Tho aetor:> luul rhaiiijed — jewels, 
 rich silks, beauty and youth graced the oceasion. It was the old 
 chapter ot" society's greed tl>r position and honor. Mr. Cleve- 
 land looked bored before an hour had passed — his hand was list- 
 less and uugiacetul. 
 
 Mi-5i. Kndicott, a tall, brown-eyed woman with gray hair in a 
 high t.H>itlure, was stately and polished in everything she said. 
 Her daughter, a fair winsome girl, with a mouth to kiss, and yet 
 she rattled Fi-ench to the arniy otticer who was her t*<Va-«vV, as it 
 it were her iui.>ther tongue — heart and intellect, beauty and grace, 
 was the new Boston torce in the >vorn ruts ot dress occasion. 
 
 From Buchanan's reign till now. The little modest rose bud 
 of that time bloomed on the revers ot a corsage— now, it was a 
 Ixniquet, as large as a peck measure. The immense hoops of 
 1857 had given place to the touniurey and tied back skirts of 
 today. Many ot" the old families, who had not crossed the 
 threshold of the White House since Buchanan's time, called on 
 Mr. Cleveland and his sister. The Washington blue bloods 
 were treated kindly, but with scarcely more deterence than 
 Yankees. It was a shadow of disappointment. Secession 
 hei'oos might be given places to satisfy Southern politicians, but 
 socially, they stood no nearer the throne, than a ni>v>sier at this 
 time, Mrs. Endicott and her daughter, as well as Mrs. Manning 
 with her tine dark eyes, held Cabinet receptions at the Arlington 
 Hotel with their rv>oms tilled at every opportunity. 
 
 Mi"s. Bayard with her lovely daughter, made Highland Place 
 like the salan ot Madame Kecamier, and Miss Kate in pouring 
 the reception tea, caught the grace of a Ganymede, and her 
 white ne<'k and arms as she leaned against the tea urn, brought 
 a host of admirers to her feet, who tlattered her in every foreign 
 language sp*.>ken at the (\ipitai by the legations. 
 
 -X. ******** * 
 
 Conirress was in extra session tor a tew weeks, and the Senate 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL OAriTOL. 208 
 
 until .lulv, was i-<':i<ly for i'\t'cMilivi> \v<»rk on I'rcsidoiif ial :i|»- 
 pointiiK'Mts. 
 
 Tlu' admission ot' ( >ki(>lionia was our of the |)ol liol)l)i('s ol 
 tlio Labor party, and [n'tilion al'tiM" i)rtition was prosrntcvl hy 
 (lononii Weaver ol' Iowa to the House lor tlie hill to |»ass, t'uvor- 
 inj; its admission. The West was anxious to have the conntry 
 thrown open tor settlement, and the "hoomers" had (•am|)ed neai- 
 its boriiers toi- many loiii;- mouths under the leadership oi" (\)l. 
 (\>ueh, a youni:;, brave h)t.»kini^ olHi'er. Hut (\>l. Hatch ol'thi' 
 reu^uhir army hail received orders from llu' War Di'partment, to 
 kee}> all campers oil. as the Indians near by objected. Genoral 
 Weaver anil Vol. Couch plead with the ni-w Tresident, that 
 ()klohoma was really i>|tenoil by the cattle barons, and Texas 
 cattle were fed there by a syndicate, instead of bein<;* saved as a 
 pasture land tor the Indians. These gentlemen also siiowi'd by 
 the oriu;inal treaty, that the Indians had no rii^iit to the soil ot 
 Oklohonui. The cattle barons, included a tew United States 
 Senators, and it was an outrage uj)on the Westei-n people, to 
 ]>revent its settlement by the whites. 
 
 Col. Houdinot ot the Choctaw tribe, had the ear of Mr. (Meve- 
 land in this matter and acted foi- his people, also before the 
 Supreme Court in a large tor damages. Col. Houdinot is a halt- 
 breed and used to wear his long black hair, down his shoulders 
 artist fashion, but he married a young lady about this time, went 
 to the opera with his hair cut, and looked in his wide sombreio, 
 as a Spanish caban-llo in a New York tailor suit. 
 
 The appointments of Mr. Cleveland were now gi\en out as 
 characteristic of a />'/.v///r.sNadnunistration that civil service regu- 
 lations were to })revent the removal ot a thorough and etlicii'iit 
 officer, but if a man was a drinking caivless official, he sin mid 
 be removed. 
 
 At first, the Semite accepted this in good taith, but upon a 
 closer exanumition, it was tomid that the ri'torniers removed 
 
204 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 Kepublicans because thej wet^e Republicans and not for dishon- 
 esty or inefficiency. Removed officials stood aghast at the 
 thought of a smirched character — to go out to earn a living as a 
 dishonest man was terrible. Going back on their pledges to the 
 mugwumps was bad enough, but to smirch an official to get rid 
 ot him, was diabolical. The Senate was in a puzzle what to do 
 with Mr. Cleveland's appointments. 
 
 Among tiie first to fall, was the Baltimore postmaster, and his 
 assistant — General Ross who had lost a leg at Petersburg, while 
 fighting for the old flag. Both were put out, and a Confederate 
 soldier put in General Ross' place, with a chuckle from Senator 
 Gorman and the South. Eugene Higgins, Gorman's satillite in 
 the appointment room of the Treasury, was removing "oft'en.cive 
 partisans" — all good clerks, but places were wanted for ex-Con- 
 federates. 
 
 This was a time when true manhood showed itself. Some Re- 
 publican officials, thinking to save themselves, would select vic- 
 tims for the ax "as offensive partisans," and see them removed 
 without any compunction of conscience, but, in a few months 
 they, in turn, were decapitated, and sent home to learn a new 
 business. After caucusing and fuming, instead of standing out 
 against the removal of Republicans, it finally gave in, and the 
 Senate confirmed the most of the President's appointments. Mr. 
 Cleveland had promised the Mugwumps and Civil service follow- 
 ers that he would not remove without cause, so, when he said, 
 "1 do not choose to tell why I remove certain officials," the 
 hypocrisy of the reform policy was so apparent to thoughtful 
 minds, that the Senate confirmed without question those men 
 who took the places of Republicans, whose private characters 
 were not smirched by official proclamation from the Chief Mag- 
 istrate, or the heads of departments. "It was removal, Mr. 
 President, after all, for political reasons," said the Republican 
 leaders. 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 205 
 
 But what worried society and church, was the (|Uosti()n, 
 "Where will the Clevelaiids attend divine servicesf Foundry 
 had been the "Court Church" under "Mrs. Hayes' administra- 
 tion," St. Johns under Arthur— now, who would be the lucky 
 preacher^ The new "Church of the Covenant" at N northwest 
 and Connecticut avenue (nicknamed Blaine's temple of Presby- 
 terianisra because he had given $25,000) was not finished. But 
 at the first public reception, the 2l8t of March, given by Miss 
 Cleveland, the Kev. Byron Sunderland accom])anied by his wife, 
 gave his name to the first lady in the land, as is customary on 
 such occasions. "Reverend Mr. Sunderland," Miss Cleveland 
 repeated, "my mother used to belong to your church in Central 
 New York," and with great cordiality invited him to remain with 
 Mrs. Sunderland alter the reception was over in the parlors. 
 
 Miss Cleveland took a pew in the middle aisle of his church, 
 and Mrs. Frances Cleveland retains the sitting at the present 
 time. The Ist Presbyterian Church, on Four-and-a-Half street, 
 thus became the Court Church during the Cleveland administra- 
 tion. Rev. Byron Sunderland, the pastor was Chaplain of the 
 House in Grant's time, and through the war was a pronounced 
 Union mail. 
 
 On Easter Sunday services were held of a special character ; 
 the pulpit had vases of white lilies, and an Easter anthem was 
 sung ; a picture ot the cross is on the wall, and other innovations 
 would have made John Knox, the founder of Presbyterianism, 
 "Shudder at this leaning towards Popery. Three hundred years 
 have passed, and Christmas, Easter and other church festivals, 
 are found in all modern church organizations. 
 
 At St. James Church (Ritualistic), the altar was entirely white 
 with Easter lilies, while over the cross were hung a number of 
 them in suri)assing beauty, and at the toot of the chnncel were 
 many potted plants blooming with lily whiteness in their chaste 
 garniture in memory of Him who was risen from the dead. 
 
X 
 
 206 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 On Easter Monday, the bachelor President gave permission, 
 as had been the custom, for the school children to spend the hol- 
 iday in the White House grounds, rolling eggs down the mound 
 where the band platform was placed in summer serenades. 
 
 Four or five thousand children, black and white — aristocrats 
 with nurses and footmen, and plain little ones in common tweed 
 and calico, were all happy together, rolling boiled colored eggs 
 down the hill through the grass. There was not a leaf to be 
 seen in the horse chestnuts and maples, but the lawn was an in- 
 tense April green. There were a dozen beds of jonquils, blue 
 and white crocuses, and the striped grass at the border were all 
 bringing the glad breath of spring to the occupants of the White 
 House, thus early in the season. Such screaming and happy 
 laughs among the little ones! The girls, mostly, wore little 
 Scotch caps with heavy coats and gloves, but after tumbling 
 down awhile and racing over the hill, they shed off their outer 
 garments to their pinafores and short dresses. Barrels of eggs 
 wasted, but such lots of fun I People drove into the grounds 
 with their fashionable turnouts, to see the children, and enjoy 
 the air. Looking out of the Executive chamber, was the bach- 
 elor Cleveland, smiling down on a little group who were playing 
 inside of the iron railing at the foot of the stairs on the south side. 
 ********** 
 
 The 1st of May was not only the signal for picnics, but the 
 Ivy City Jockey Club opened the turf for local flyers. The 
 track is three miles from the city, on the B. & O. R'y. Senator 
 Joe Blackburn and Beck of Kentucky, Senator Morgan of 
 Alabama, were on the grounds nearly all the time, and other 
 lesser lights of Congress visited the track, often. Ladies, with 
 flashing diamonds, cheered the winning horse, and bet on favor- 
 ites. The skating rinks on Khode Island avenue and E street 
 northwest, were crowded night and afternoon, although they 
 yvere passe by the fashionables. 
 
LITE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 
 
 207 
 
 Within a half square of the Senate was a base ball park, pat- 
 ronized by professional athletes, and lovers of the national game 
 in Congress. There was a high fence surrounding it, but every 
 knot hole and crevice was covered with a black boy, getting a 
 free sight, and several pictures of St. Jacob in his red monkish 
 habit, holding a bottle of the celebrated oil in his hand, were 
 painted in different places. This park was torn away the next 
 season, and the diamond game found a home in a new park 
 built above the coal ashes, tin cans, bricks and other debris of 
 Swarapoodle, near the Government printing oflBce. 
 
 The Pansy Club — the Pleasure Club and Fruit Growers gave 
 excursions down the river, and thousands crowd the steamboats 
 to the village gardens and pleasure grounds down below all 
 through the heated term. 
 
 About May 20, the Mt. Vernon Association consisting of lady 
 Regents, appointed from the different States of the Union, with 
 Madame Bergman-Laughton as Vice Regent of the board, meet 
 yearly at the burial place of Washington, and inspect the man- 
 agement at Mt. Vernon. There are over 200 acres under culti- 
 vation, cattle graze in its meadows, lunch tables are a source of 
 revenue, yet this lady Board of Regents, chartered by the State 
 of Virginia, absolutely own the bones of the immortal Washing- 
 ton and his wife, and charge a dollar admission to visitors from 
 the Republic and the world. There is no greater outrage in the 
 public service, than the female management of Mt. Vernon, who 
 keep the local newspapers bought up to say nr»thing about it. 
 A guest is charged a dollar to go down to Mt. Vernon on the 
 steamer "W. W. Corcoran" owned by the Regents, when you 
 can go below to Glymont and other ])oints for twenty-five cents. 
 With all the sources of revenue on the place, and from fifteen to 
 twenty thousand dollars taken in yearly from the boat, they have 
 the cheek to ask Congress to pay debts by ap})ro])riation, when 
 they have $50,000 in Riggs' bank today. Kvery bit of milk 
 
208 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 -from a dozen cows, and flowers from the green house are sold. 
 The wheat and produce of the farm goes to market and the only 
 outlay is for the keep and pay of live negro laborers, male and 
 female, and a superintendent, making in all about $2,000 a year. 
 Negro labor is very cheap in Virginia. 
 
 There is a post office clerk, who is paid by government. There 
 are many canes and drinking cups made out of the "hatchet 
 trees on the place, and sold to visitors. (The original hatchet is 
 shown under an old mulberry tree near the green-house). The 
 house is a two-story structure with twenty rooms ; a colonnade 
 porch runs around the front, and in all the apartments there are 
 relics of the olden time in good preservation under the care of 
 the Regent from each state. Virginia watches over the bed- 
 chamber where the great warrior breathed his last. An old- 
 fashioned teester bedstead high up from the floor stands in the 
 center, covered with a feather bed and a white woven quilt — not 
 very large pillows — army relics here and there, and old time 
 chairs make up the furniture. Mrs. Washington never left her 
 room after the General's death, and in a few years passed away 
 in a queer little chamber, that would be an eyrie for ghosts. 
 All over the roof, on the gable windows and everywhere a 
 pencil can put a name, you can see the incorrigible vanity of 
 poor human nature. 
 
 In the broad stairway stands an old brass clock, whose long 
 pendulum swings with icy stillness the minutes of the long days, 
 and tells of happy home hours, too, when the last century gave 
 us a Washington, surrounded by his loved ones. 
 
 In the office of the Superintendent is an old harpsichord which 
 had been swept by the fingers of Nellie Curtis, and among the 
 visitors we heard a Miss Springer of Chicago play "Olivette," 
 "When the Leaves begin to Turn," etc., a contrast to the long 
 ago tunes. 
 
 In the state dining room there are curious souvenirs — a key to 
 the French Bastile, a sword of the first President, old maps, and 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 209 
 
 spider logged stands — in fact, it is an interesting room. There 
 are queer, old bureaus and brass nailed trunks, a brass warming 
 pan to heat beds in cold weather, and odd looking ciiina in the 
 attic rooms. On the lawn the starry flag floats over the maples 
 and rustic seats, and as a visitor goes down the little path to the 
 tomb, where in a marble sarcophagus the remains of the great 
 Washington are enclosed, the poor ending of all human great 
 ness, is taught in words not to be forgotten. 
 
 From this point the Potomac widens around a bend, and the 
 blue waters are as entrancing a picture, as when the statesman 
 and patriot admired the scene after he selected his homestead on 
 its banks. 
 
 On the 30th of May, 1885, Decoration Day came in a mist 
 and rain and the exercises at the difterent National cemeteries 
 were solemn, indeed, to the anxious old soldiers of the city. 
 The President, Col. Vilas, Secretaries Endicott and Whitney 
 went to New York to witness the ceremonies of Union Square, 
 and from the published reports seemed to be in sympathy with 
 the occasion. 
 
 The exercises on the classic grounds of the Congresssional 
 cemetery were opened by the Glee Club, and an oration by Col. 
 McLean, of Indiana, the new Deputy Commissioner of Pensions. 
 Considering, that he was trying to harmonize the apparent incon- 
 gruity of rebels on top, and lauding their victors for licking 
 them, it was a very excellent speech. He said among other 
 good things, "Providence was with the Union army, and none 
 knew it better than the rebels." The exercises were under the 
 direction of Captain Pipes, a brave soldier, whose empty sleeve 
 told the story of his devotion to his country's call. Another 
 feeble soldier, (who died a few months, afterward,) Captain 
 Richard Middleton was Chairman of the Decorating Committee 
 and with his wife and another lady tramped all the morning 
 tlirough the rain, aiid tliey showered roses, never so beautiful as 
 
210 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 on tliis May day, covering the green mounds with lieaps ot smil- 
 ing flowers. Others helped until the whole cemetery was a flower 
 garden, and not a lonely stretch of marble and solemn pines. 
 At Arlington cemetery, where nearly 16,000 of "our brave boys" 
 lie buried — the graves marked by the little slabs and tiny flags, 
 made a peculiar sight, as the wind lifted their folds of red, white 
 and blue against the marble standing upon the close shaven 
 green of the turf below. The house of General Lee at the 
 Arlington, is used tor the office of the superintendent, who keeps 
 a large corps of laborers in the grounds, and in the green house. 
 This house can be seen from Washington, and stands on the 
 upper plateau above the river, with its heavy Doric columns and 
 portico, visible for miles. It is a yellow brick, built with a wide 
 hall and parlors on each side, which ot course has been denuded 
 of furniture, and only office desks, camp chairs, war maps, and 
 steam registers are to be seen. 
 
 On the largest space in the office wall upon the east side, is 
 Col.Ingersoirs speech commencing with "The past rises before me 
 like a dream, ''etc., and this hangs next toLincoln's immortal speech 
 at Gettysburg — both framed, and so placed as to catch the visit- 
 ors' eve. The house is built ot ancient imported English brick, 
 and the kitchen with its porch, is covered with Virginia creepers 
 and ivy. The grounds are beautifully kept, and the grand old 
 trees like an English park, make Arlington always attractive, 
 barring the desolation of a grave yard. 
 
 The decoration exercises were mostly under the direction of 
 General S.S.Burdette, late Grand Commander ot the G.A.R. ,and 
 his speech of an hour's length was brim full of eloquence and 
 patriotic sentiment. The Memorial stand is a long grassy espla- 
 nade, bricked up in front, and then descends backward to the 
 acres of marble, stretching to the stone wall, which encloses the 
 sacred dust. 
 
 Over the seats and platfoi-m was thrown an immense tent dec- 
 orated with national flags, and draped with streamers of red, 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 211 
 
 white and blue, although some careful liand had trained sweet 
 scented honeysuckles and ivy all over the unsightly props and 
 braces. Beyond the Arlington enclosure is Fort Meyer — a real 
 fort and signal office. There is a large magazine, guard liouse, 
 and ammunition in abundance. The sunset gun is heard daily 
 in the city. But we digress and go back to the Decoration pro- 
 gramme. 
 
 The Orpheus Club, a band of colored men, twelve in number, 
 with remarkably line voices, gave that pathetic number the 
 "Sleeping Soldier'' in such harmony, that there was not a dry 
 eye in the whole assembly, and there were hundreds present, 
 who dared to show, tlien, their love for the old soldier. 
 
 The regular army had no officer present, but Generals Greene 
 B. Raum and ('ol. Alexander, Fifth Auditor of the Treasury, 
 were on the platform. 
 
 The graves of that heroic band of war nurses were decorated 
 by the Washington Association, wherever their fellow laborers 
 had fallen in different parts of the country. Mrs, Helen Speare 
 had lately died at Pittsburg. There was such a call for flowers 
 tliat Miss Cleveland was appealed to the day before Decoration, 
 asking for a small supply from the White House, The recpiest 
 was gracefully acknowledged by the lady, and the box upon be- 
 ing opened presented a glowing mass of purple passion flowers 
 and pansies, white camelias and roses — white carnations and a 
 soft mass of ferns. A note came with the messenger, which 
 read as follows : 
 
 Executive Mansiom, Washington, D. C, May 29, 1885. 
 My Dear Mrs. S d : I am very happy to contribute to- 
 ward the basket of flowers which you intend sending for the 
 grave of the army nurse — Mrs. Helen Speare. 
 
 Yours very truly, Eijzabeth Clevkland. 
 
 It endeared the distinguished lady to that noble band of 
 American womanhood — the surviving army nurses of the civil 
 
212 AMEKiCAN (JOtJKT GOSSIP. 
 
 war. The President of this society is Miss Hannah C. Dame, 
 of New Hampshire, and on its roster are such names as Miss 
 Dr. Edson, Mrs. Joan Turner, Mrs. Caldwell, Mrs. Young, Miss 
 Wood, and other grand names, who served year after year in the 
 hospitals to wait on the sick and dying. They should be pen- 
 sioned, every one, at $25 a month, at least. The roses will 
 bloom for them in future Decoration days. * * * 
 
 J.L.McCreery, the Dubuque poet,at a literary club in the even- 
 ing, read his solemn, majestic poem, "There Is No Death," We 
 give a single stanza: 
 
 " There is no Death ! an angel form 
 Walks o'er the earth with silent tread — 
 He bears our best loved things away, 
 And then we call them ' dead.' 
 There is no death! the stars go down 
 To rise upon some fairer shore, 
 And bright in heaven's jeweled crown 
 They shine forever more." 
 
 This is one of the most beautiful poems in the language, and 
 has been accredited to Bulwer, although it was first published in 
 Harper's Magazine about 1862. 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAI'ITOL. 213 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Law School Graduates — Navy Trials — Grant's Death — 
 Opening of Congress — Mrs. Whitney, Mrs. Potter. 
 
 The graduation of the law class of 1885 belonging to the 
 Georgetown University, made Ford's Opera House a blaze of 
 light and beauty, on the evoning of June 1, for the stage was 
 literally banked with flowers, and a brilliant audience filled the 
 chairs of the theater. Senator Jones, of Florida, made a speech 
 of an hour's length, whereby he gave the young barristers many 
 sensible ideas of their future success in life. Any one looking 
 at the level head, broad brow of the sandy haired lawyer, W(»uld 
 not dream he would make such a fool of himself in Detroit, a 
 year later. 
 
 Hon. Richard T. Merrick, of Star Route trial fame, and him- 
 self a graduate of Georgetown, talked well to the young men, 
 and among other pleasant dreams, he advised an ideal home 
 with a young wife and family, who would inspire a man with 
 greater effort. (In a few months he died after protracted dissi- 
 pation). 
 
 There was a sweet cornet solo by Prof. Jaeger, and a solo upon 
 a xylophone, a curious instrument made of an immense metal 
 basin with a keyboard in the center, and struck by a small ham- 
 mer. The giving of prizes was by the Reverend Father Duc^an, 
 and eleven in the post graduate class — a son of Senator Pugii, 
 and a brother of ex-Senator Lamar, among the number, the lat- 
 ter receiving a tall ladder of red and white roses, others cornu- 
 copias, open books, scales of justice, and other beautiful designs 
 in flowers. 
 
214 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 The trial of Medical Director Wales went on through June, 
 and he was sentenced by court martial to a loss oi pay, reduction 
 of rank, and other marks of displeasare. Kirkwood and Carri- 
 gan, his miserable confreres in defrauding the government by 
 false vouchers, were sentenced by the civil courts to six years in 
 the Albany penitentiary, a few weeks before. Director Wales 
 was a Democrat. " 
 
 Paymaster General Smith, of the navy, who was so careless as 
 to pay out the money on these false vouchers, was also tried by 
 court-martial, a little later. He paid Jeff Chandler, the St. Louis 
 lawyer, $1,500 as a retainer for his defense, and Mr. Boutwell, 
 of Massachusetts, nearly as large a sum. But the luck of sus- 
 pected gentlemen, who in their official capacity are tried by court 
 martlals — they rarely get oft as well as if they threw themselves 
 on the mercy of the court, and not retained lawyers. All the 
 lawyers' arguments were printed in the National Republican for 
 the use of the defense, and must have cost some money, but Gen- 
 eral Smith was wealthy. After a few weeks' trial he was deposed 
 from his high rank, with loss of pay — the findings of the court 
 for his carelessness not being considered too severe by the gen- 
 eral public. 
 
 The Fourth Auditor, Hon. Charles Beardsley, was removed, 
 and the Hon. C. H. Shelley, of Alabama, was appointed in 
 June, 1885, in his stead, although Mr. Beardsley had audited 
 fifteen millions of dollars in accounts, to the satisfaction of the 
 government. Was it true civil service to displace a Union man 
 with a Confederate, who had tried for four years to overthrow 
 the nation? It was enough to make a political student of history 
 open his eyes. Hundreds of good clerks were displaced for Con- 
 federate soldiers and their lady friends. This act of the admin- 
 istration the Civil Service Commission never noticed, but drew 
 their salaries ol thirty-five hundred a year without a gulp. The 
 most contemptible thing on the face of the earth is the Civil Ser- 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 215 
 
 vice Comiiiission of Clev^oland's adniiiiistratioii. There are 
 about 4,000 ladies employed in the departments, many of whom 
 have passed the examinations. 
 
 In this month ot roses, Keiley, of Virginia, was trying his 
 luck at Vienna, the court of the haughty Hapsburg, after being 
 kicked out from the Quirinal at Rome. The persistency of Mr. 
 Bayard in sending this man to some foreign court, disgusted 
 Democrats, as well as all other sensible people, for the Austrian 
 court would not receive such a blatherskite after King Humbert 
 had humiliated him. But we punished the Austrians terribly, by 
 not sending a minister to represent us there. How they cried in 
 their grief in not seeing the gripsack of a political reformer for 
 over two years. 
 
 The White House was enlivened Saturday afternoons by a 
 concert in the grounds from the Marine ]>and. 0])era airs were 
 played, and many from the city came in full dress to enjoy the 
 music with the Presidential party, who sat upon the south bal- 
 cony. There were black servants and poor Irish house maids, 
 as well as fashionables, for the grounds were free, until three or 
 four thousand under the great trees were enjoying the music. 
 The roses and other flowers gave out their scents; the old flag 
 was floating over the roof of the old mansion; childish laughter, 
 and all was summer loveliness. 
 
 But one Saturday in July came, when the terrible truth broke 
 upon the heart of the city tlmt the great General — ^tlie tender 
 hearted hero of Ap])omatox, was dead at Mt. McGregor. The 
 drama was ended at last, when the destroying power came again 
 and again, like the waves of a cruel and treacherous sea, and at 
 its ebb the great life went out into the unknown. Tliere was an 
 anxious feeling that should there ever come a crisis in the nation, 
 "who could fill the place of the illustrious Grantf 
 
 Mr. Cleveland caused the gates closed, the Hag swung at half 
 mast, and the White House was again draped in somber black 
 
216 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 with mourning emblems all over the public buildings, and the 
 Grand Army posts in tears lamented the loss of tlieir great com- 
 mander. 
 
 A score of plans to commemorate the memory of Grant was 
 submitted through the Washington newspapers. Some wanted 
 triumphal arches over the Long Bridge where no one would see 
 it but Virginia hucksters; others asked over Connecticut avenue 
 to place an arch, that he, with Boss Shepherd had rescued from 
 a cat tail swamp: others hoped that Pennsylvania avenue would 
 be favored with an arc de triomphe, but nothing has ever been 
 done by Congress or the city to commemorate his name, and his 
 inestimable services to the nation. 
 
 Prof. Greener, a colored man, was made secretary of a board 
 of organization in New York, to build a monument at River- 
 side, but only $125,000 have been realized, and the project hm- 
 guishes tor such a man as the N. Y. World may select, that can 
 build the highest obelisk in the world, to the world's greatest 
 hero — who told Lee's followers to go home to their plows witli 
 their horses, and take their guns to kill game; who was mag- 
 nanimity with martial greatness incarnated. Neithvn- the con- 
 quering North, or the lifted u]) South, have the gratitude to re- 
 member this hero in an appropriate manner. 
 
 ******* vJ * * 
 
 The court of commissioners of the Ahibama claims was in ses- 
 sion nearly all summer, at their rooms on H street N. W., near 
 the Columbian University. This court was presided over by ex- 
 Senator Harlan, of Iowa, as Chief Judge; on his right. Judge 
 French, of Boston; on his left. Judge Draper, of Albany. 
 There was a marshal, 'clerks, messengers, and all the imposing 
 routine of even handed justice. The prize "Alabama,'' a con- 
 federate cruiser made by British workmen and manned partly by 
 officers of the English navy, adjudged to have damaged us 
 $15,500,000, and this large amount of money was ]>aid over by 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 217 
 
 Eii^liuid to persons wlio had been damaged by tlie pirate ship. 
 Their ehiinis iiad been before the cf)urt for several years, but un- 
 derwriters and insurance men made it difficult to adjudicate 
 claims fairly. Walker Ijlaine, son of the Hon. James G. Blaine, 
 acted as counsel for the United States. Pie is not a great lawyer, 
 but as the court itself, also, represented the government, so that 
 there was little need for legal ability in presenting arguments 
 against it in lawful damages. Twenty cases a day, in small 
 amounts were disposed of, and while the administration papers 
 criticized the length of time consumed by the court, yet when it 
 wound up its affairs in the spring of 1886, the verdict proved to 
 be, ''well done," etc. 
 
 The 1st of July, 188.5. caused a panic among the clerks, for 
 an many a desk was found the heart-breaking news in a depart- 
 ment envelope, "Your services are no longer required," and as 
 the fiscal year closes the last day ot June, a cutting down of sal- 
 aries, a pinching of clerks was the new caper by the Democrats 
 to make a showing to Congress in December. Republican chiefs 
 ot divisions were put on the pay of a low rank clerk, but they 
 did the Work, and had the same responsibility as ever ; still the 
 higher place with its salary was given to a Democrat. This was 
 another rich phase of reform. One of the new Treasury chiefs — 
 a Confederate officer, telegraphed to Japan a long instruction, 
 that cost the government ninety dollars, which ought to have 
 gone by mail with four cents postage to the paymaster addressed. 
 There were hundreds of such blunders. But the country was 
 "turning out the rascals." We have got to get rid of the c«r- 
 buncles,'''' said a Democratic father in Israel to the President. 
 
 "OI of course,"" said Mr. Cleveland, "tlie fvr/'/y?/;^c/n6' must go." 
 The Navy Department, under Secretary Whitney, paid Wm. 
 Calhoun i|llO,(iOO — a New York expert in bookkeeping, to go 
 over the books of the department, and see if there were frauds 
 hidden away somewhei'e, and after four months" hard work, 
 
218 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 notliiiig: was iound wron^. The Treasury experts found the cash 
 
 oil hand tallied to a cent — nothing was wrong. But the carhmv- 
 
 cles must go! And the ax kept busily at work, while President 
 
 Cleveland sojourned in the Adirondacks. 
 
 ********** 
 
 Senator Edmunds' new home on Massachusetts avenue, north- 
 west from Dupont Circle, was tinished in the beginning of tlie 
 winter season at the Capital — a handsome brick structure with 
 stone facings, the bay window in the second story studded with 
 copper plates riveted down with heavy copper nails. The front 
 door is a low, wide archway, something like a mill entrance, a 
 winding stairway and broad hall. 
 
 Secretary Whitney having leased the residence of the late Sec- 
 retary Frelinghuysen, preparations were made to build a large 
 ball room adjoining the back parlor, fifty by thirty feet in width. 
 There was a pleasant bay window with a music platform hidden 
 by tall palms and other tropical plants, and a lai'ge fire place 
 with Dutch tiles and panels, the room finished in choice woods, 
 and the walls hung with costly pictures. 
 
 At an afternoon reception later in the season, Mrs. Whitney 
 entertained at least five hundred ladies and gentlemen, many of 
 them from the foreign -legations. She was dressed in a cream 
 brocade, neck and arms baie, with a diamond necklace and jew- 
 eled comb in her puffs of light brown hair. She has large blue 
 eyes, a wide mouth, and is very, very stout, though toned down 
 by a French dressmaker. Her arms were as big as a mill-post, 
 and as only a strap of lace covered her large shoulders, one 
 wished for a fig leaf to drape the solid looking flesh. 
 
 She dresses too young, perhaps. But she is a woman of many 
 generous impulses — charitable to the poor and suffering, and 
 without a particle of spite or envy in her nature. 
 
 The flowers at this afternoon recei)ti()n were gorgeous. Bush- 
 els of vellow roses, immense bouquets of sweet scented violets, 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 219 
 
 vases of lilies of the valley, and pinks in sweet profusion, with 
 ferns and smilax where they were needed to finish the decoration. 
 It was a social triumph, at the beginning of tlie first season. 
 
 The table in the dining room was set with Sevres china — 
 Mocha and wines were served with the collation, and strangers 
 partook of the lady's hospitality who called to pay their respects 
 to the charming wife of the Secretary of the Navy. 
 
 Mrs. James Brown Potter, of New York, was present, dressed 
 in a gold brocaded black satin, and with her fine, dramatic eyes, 
 gave promise of the rich treat that made "Ostler Jee" so famous. 
 
 Mrs. Justice Miller, Mrs. Horace Helyer, Miss Eustis (Mr. 
 Corcoran's ueicej, were among the callers, and Mrs. IMgelow 
 Lawrence with Mrs. D. Morgan from New York — the latter had 
 bought the Cameron residence on Scott Circle, and was dressed 
 in a bhick satin covered with black Chantilly lace, her magnifi- 
 cent diamonds calling out remark. Her husband died a few 
 weeks later, destroying her hopes of a charming season at the 
 Capital. 
 
 On December 10 a solemn requiem mass for the repose of the 
 soul of Alfonso, King of Spain, was celebrated at St. Mathews' 
 Church at 11 in tiie morning. Rev. Dr. Chapelle, the celebrant, 
 and a number of priests occupied seats within the sanctuary. 
 Six hundred invitations, heavily bordered with black, were issued 
 to the President, his Cabinet and the Diplomatic Cor])s, with 
 other friends of the church. Tiie auditorium of the church was 
 draped in mourning. In front of the altar rail stood a catafalque, 
 on which was a state basket ornamented in silver. The base of 
 the catafalque was draped with Spanish flags, surmounted by the 
 Si)anish national coat of arms. The altar, also in black, the pil- 
 lars of the tabernacle were draped in bhick bunting — no flowers 
 on the altar, but on the cotfin a sinii)le wi-eath, the gift of Secre- 
 tary Payard. 
 
220 AMEKICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 President Cleveland and Secretaries Bayard and Endicott were 
 assigned scats in a front pew in the centre aisle, opposite the 
 Spanisli Legation ; and at the conchision ot the requiem, Senor 
 Valera, Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, escorted the President 
 to the door, followed by the secretaries and the corps, after Mr. 
 Cleveland had passed entirely down the aisle. All remained 
 standing till then. 
 
 Castle Stewart was rented this season to the Chinese Legation, 
 but, as the ladies from this embassy are never seen in public, it 
 did not make so nmch difference where they were found. A 
 little girl baby was born to the Minister's wife a few months be- 
 fore, when tliey lived on Farragut square. * * * flie 
 House of Representatives had been more completely renovated 
 than usual ; new carpets, new upholstery, the picture frames re- 
 gilded, new electric lamps, new cupsidores, and the summer's 
 dust shaken from the silken flags over the Speaker's chair. 
 
 There was little opposition on the opening of the 4!»th Con- 
 gress to Mr. Carlisle, and he took his seat with a feeling of sat- 
 isfaction that he was the first choice of the Republicans, if one 
 ot their own number could not be elected. 
 
 The Knights of Labor had made a wonderful progress in num- 
 bers, and thirty local assemblies, white and colored, were heard 
 by their representatives, urging Speaker Carlisle to place General 
 Weaver on the Committee of Labor. This he did, and the 
 Greenback nominee for President in 1880, although often a Dem- 
 ocrat and again in opposition to them, yet was made a prominent 
 member of said committee. 
 
 President Cleveland's message had not been considered very 
 satisfactory by the K. of L. as favoring the interests of labor 
 against capital, and the Knights' representatives were anxious 
 to be recognized by Congress. Among the tireless workers was 
 Paul l>ow('n. Esq., a young lawyer with brains, who was admit- 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 221 
 
 ted into their councils, and made speeches tor them in their local 
 assemblies. The Hon. Lee Crandell seconded all his efforts. 
 
 Mr. Cleveland had made up faces at the Mormons; talked 
 about bonds being withdrawn from the JN^ational banks, but no 
 settled policy to relieve existing depression in business — in fact, 
 trade was at sea, and the manufacturers fearing free trade meas- 
 ures, closed down many of their works in the East, as Morrison 
 was hatching another bill in the interest of the importers of New 
 York city. 
 
 Among the new members was the Hon. Josepli Pulitzer from 
 the Ninth District of New York, and while he was at the head 
 of one of the leading New York dailies, he was a modest, quiet 
 person, and made no speeches before he resigned a few months 
 later. His broad brow, large features and sandy beard with his 
 dark auburn hair, made him conspicuous among his colleagues, 
 and no doubt he would have become a very useful member, but 
 he resigned and went back to more congenial employment. 
 
 The Democrats were still opposed to the admission of Dakota, 
 as much through its everlasting prohibition plank as its general 
 meanness in being so persistently and overwhelmingly Republi- 
 can — its delegate to Congress, the Hon. O. L. Gilford, being 
 elected over the opposition by fifty-five thousand majority! In 
 fact, it was "the black belt" of the North, and should be sup- 
 pressed in "Democratic reform" policy. 
 
 The contested election case of Hurd y,;. Romeis, from the To- 
 ledo, Ohio, District, made a stir among the radical free traders, 
 as the former was considered their leader. Hurd was sanguine, 
 spent a great deal of money at Welcker's on Congressional suj)- 
 pers, so that when he received Ins coiige^ there was a bitter taste 
 in his mouth, that flavored his summer speeches in 1886. 
 
 The contest between ex-Governor Campbell, of the Sixth Iowa 
 District, against General Weaver, proved abortive, as the latter 
 
222 AMEEIOAN COURT G0H8I1'. 
 
 VVUH too Hlr()ii<;ly ciili'diclicd vvilli IIk^ lorty live iiuijoi'il y of tlu; 
 I I(tiiH(! I )(ni<»crucy. 
 
 Ki(l<l v'.s. Ste(!lo, ill tlio Klovcntli IiKliuiia I>iHU-i(;t, liiiii^ lire in 
 the (ileclioii coMitiiittoo i-ooiuh, l)iit tlio chhc^ wuh ho phiin lliut 
 Stoelo, a l)iit('i- Ivcpublicuii, wuh allowi'd to kce]) iiisHout, in Hpite 
 of tli(! ^Towliii^H ol liis vexed coiii|)('tit()r. 
 
 'I'lic I )iKt,rict ( 'oiiiiiiitt(!c in tlu; IloiiHe waH aHked t(t charter Hev- 
 ei'ui new street ear eoni|janieH. Aiiioii^ them, an electric cable 
 tramway to the Navy Yard over ('apitol Jlill was anked for by 
 a Iar<i,(^ and wealthy (M)r|toiiitioii ol capitaliHtH, but fliicii wjih tlic 
 power ol the lion. .1. (J. Thonipson, I'rcKidcnt o! tlu; (s{cor<;e- 
 town Htrcet car company, that all cdlortH to (^hartc^r any otlmr waw 
 futil(\ Tiicri! WMH no r(!(li-(!HH, an tlie comnuHHionctrH who exerrute 
 tiu! laws lor t,li(! j^oviM'nin^' ol the city, ain; mere clerkH in tlie 
 IiiukIh ol ( lon^^rcHH. 
 
 The |jl)r;ir\' bill passed both houses with an ap|>ropriation to 
 buy propei'ty on Kast Oapitol street, after beiii^' condennmd, so 
 that the pr(!ciouH books were to l)e saved, at last, ii-om the muss 
 ol tli(! old ( lon^rosHJonal Libraiy. 
 
 Amon^ the prominent mendxTs ol this ( !on;i,r(^sH in t he House 
 were: IvepreHentatives l)outwell and lve(ul ol Maine, Henderson 
 of Iowa, McKinley of Ohio, Houk of TennesHe(!, lirowne of In- 
 diami, Kcdiey of Pennsylvania, Burrows ol Michi^-an, I.cm^ of 
 Massachuscitts, on the Ue|»ublican sid(^, whihi IIk; Democrats 
 w(!re led by the Hon. Samuel ,\. Kandall, Hewitt, Morrison, 
 Springer, Oates, Herbei't, Murj)hy, (Jidberson of Texas, as well 
 as Kea^an, and (ienei-al Braj^^- of Wisconsin. 
 
 The count ry knows the; woit li ol the forty ninth ( 'onfi^ress, and 
 its majority votes, that always failed at tli(^ ri^hl tinu! to <lo any 
 <^(»od lor the nation. 
 
 In the Senate tln^ Hon. John Sherman was (;le(;ti!d V'ice Tresj- 
 (\(M\t,j)ro ttj/a, as the death of Vice rresideJit Hendricks had 
 
LIFK AT TIIK NATIoNAI, <lAI*ir<>[„ ti23 
 
 iiiiuh^ the Siuiukcr''H chair vjicjiiil. 'V\\v ( IiuiiiIkm- wuh him^ in 
 hiiick, hin chair (hujuMl in mourning, and other tokunH wcro Hoon 
 of Il)c proHoncc »)( (hjulh anntii^ tlic imlthc men nl' the nation. 
 ( JcncralH (lirant and Hancock had alno paHHcd awav, an<l this 
 illnslriouH hody waw Moon (talhtd to part with anothisr o( th«ur 
 innnhcr in tho |K)rHon (»t Senator Milhir, of (!alitornia, who wuh 
 then Hlowly dying Ironi a woun«l received in the I'nion army. 
 
 Among the |Mdnic ineaHuroH inlro(hic(Ml irdo tht; Senate, and 
 vvhi(rh hecaino a hiw, was tho rresidontial HuccoHHion hill. It 
 the I*reHi(kmt Hhouhl dio, and the Vico IVowicU-nt foMow, tho next 
 to W(!ar tlio oHittial manfhi wonhl ht^ tho Soon^tary of Stato, attor 
 hinu tli<^ chief olliccu- of the TroaHury, and ho on, in line ol' rank 
 in tho Cahim^t. The IIouho concurre*! in thin proviHion, and it 
 bocanu! a law in tho latter part of .lannary, ISSO. 
 
 Sonatoi- l{o(!k advocratiMl the (MMitinuanco of wilvctr coinage 
 against Mr. (Jloveland's policy, "for if wo (!loHe np mining, tluMO 
 woiiM he no in,sf<rn market f«.r produce, the minors would turn 
 tramps, and hiisiness ho at a standstill," said fiie Kentucky statt^s- 
 nnm. It was had enough now. Kailuros wore everywhere, and 
 petitions poured into (!(»ngross for relief. Wall street hankers 
 hope(| to contract circulation, contract the volume of curren(ty, 
 Tluiy lock uj) immons*' siuns of nioiury, holi<!ving thai at some 
 lutur<' time it will hav(! a greatiM- purchasing p(»w»M-. 
 
 India wheat was (toming int«) (;ompotition at Livorpoid, at the 
 rate of 14(),0()() bushels per week, an<l transportation pritu-s from 
 the West MO groat, that wluiii Am<Mican vvhout was |>ut into the 
 I'inglish marki't, there; was little gold to hring hack to N«'W Yoi'k, 
 to liiid its way to tho channels of trad(!, and hack to the |»ro- 
 ducor. Stocks might go U|), or go «lown under the manipulation 
 ol hidls or Ijoars, there was no money in the Wewt. 
 
 Senator Van Wyck was hounding the railroads, and eating 
 away like a mouse, against theii' grants, whioh they ha<l forteit(!<l. 
 
224 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 Seniitor Riddleberger, of Virginia, tried to break down the 
 extortions of the Aqueduct bridge near Georgetown, but accom- 
 plished little, on account ot the secret opposition ot the District 
 Committee in the House, and the Commissioners. 
 
 There was an investigation into the manner of the election of 
 Senator Payne, but it flashed up like a straw fire, and nothing 
 was done. Senator Logan contended that so honest a looking 
 old man knew nothing of such crookedness, as alleged by the 
 Ohio people — some of them Mr. Pendleton's friends, who had 
 hoped "Gentleman George" would have been elected, instead of 
 Mr. Payne, to represent the Buckeye State in the United States 
 Senate. The wife of Secretary Whitney was his daughter, and 
 the Senator's family, if not himself, were partners in the Stand- 
 ard Oil Company of Cleveland, that had scores of millions at its 
 command. It required nerve to fight a Senator with such back- 
 ing. The Hon. John Sherman felt a delicacy in tripping up his 
 colleague, and the investigation absquatulated — collapsed. 
 
 Senator Blair's bill for educational purposes in the South was 
 strongly supported by Senator Mahone, but antagonized by the 
 Southern members as a rule, for they considered an "ignorant 
 nigger" easier controlled than an educated one, and some Repub- 
 licans felt that if $80,000,000 were to be distributed in the South, 
 it would be diverted from its legitimate purpose, as the school 
 lands of Texas had been stolen for political campaign funds. It 
 was feared that the money would not be properly distributed. 
 The good Senator used to talk with all organizations who favored 
 his plans. The Woman's Industrial League, the K. of L. and 
 the Southern Teachers' Association werefavorable to his scheme. 
 
 Senator Blair has a Roman nose, rather of a high imd narrow 
 forehead, his hair a deep, auburn brown tint, and whiskers red- 
 dish. He is more persuasive than eloquont. His wife is con- 
 nected with every charity in the city, and has assisted Madames 
 Logan and Lander in the management of th^. Gartield Hospital. 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CA.PITOL. 226 
 
 Mrs. Blair is tine looking, but dresses plainly — in fact, a garnet 
 silk has done duty for several seasons. The Blairs live in Grant 
 row on Capital Hill. Their parlors are nicely fui-nished, but not 
 extravagant. As we have hinted, this family give much of their 
 income to charity. 
 
 Senator Mabone is a little man, weighs about a hundred 
 pounds (or witch weight), but has a large head, heavy and lung 
 gray whiskers, and looks very commanding on horseback. lie 
 has wonderful executive ability, and holds the negro vote in Vir- 
 ginia in the hollow of his hand. It was his leadership that abol- 
 ished the whipping post for them, established colored schools, 
 and though an ex-Confederate, is a protectionist, and a good 
 enough Republican. His wife is a very large woman, would 
 weigh two hundred pounds or more, is rather haughty, and wears 
 diamonds of the King's ransome proportions. She and her 
 daughters have spent some time in Europe, but retupied for the 
 season of 1880-7. The heir of the Mahones, Young ]>utler, is 
 a bully, and has been arrested for assaults on waiters at the ilif- 
 ferent hotels. 
 
 Senator Hearst, appointed in General Miller's place, and then 
 elected to the Senate by the California J^egislature, seems hardly 
 to fill the great soldier's seat with honor, but his gentle wife en- 
 tertains elegantly through their immense v^realth. 
 
 Senator Stanford came from California to his seat in the uj)per 
 chamber with the })re8tige of riches and General Grant's friend- 
 ship. Although worth a hundred millions, yet he is far more 
 easy of access than aspiring clerks may be. 
 
 Mrs. Mary A. Kail, of Ohio, who had written many popular 
 campaign songs for the Republicans, was turned out from the 
 Treasury by the reformers, although a good clerk. She wished 
 to publish her |)oems to ])ay rent, buy groceries for a large fam- 
 ily. Mrs. Stanford hearing of the case, published the fiist edition 
 
226 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 free, which cost her about $500, thus placing the poor poetess on 
 her feet at once. Many such acts ol kindness marks the life of 
 the Stanfords at the Capital. While not giving large receptions, 
 they entertain quietly in a handsome manner. The loss of their 
 only child, a young man of great promise, cast such a shadow 
 over their lives that lavish entertainments are not to their taste. 
 They attend the Metropolitan M. E. church on Four-and-a-Half 
 street, Rev. J. P. Newman, Grant's chaplain, as pastor. Their 
 turnout at this church stands generally on C street — a pair of 
 black Morgan horses with gold mounted harness ; the coachman 
 and footman in black, with black hats and pompons. The coach 
 is plainly but very handsomely upholstered in blue satin. Sena- 
 tor Stanford was a California delegate to Chicago that nominated 
 Mr. Lincoln in 1860. 
 
 Senator Morgan, of Alabama, is a handsome man, and is serv- 
 ing his second term in the upper chamber. He lost a dissipated 
 son by drowning in the Potomac river in 1884, and since that 
 time has had a sorrowful face, for this young man was brilliant 
 and well educated. The Morgans live in a three story brick at 
 the northeast corner of the Capitol grounds, and tlie young 
 ladies are remarkably pleasant and graceful. 
 
 Senator Pugh, of Alabama, lives on Rock Island avenue, not 
 far from General Sheridan's residence, and the wife of the Sen- 
 ator is a very charming hostess. At one of her afternoon recep- 
 tions, she entertained a hundred ladies with great ease and self- 
 possession. She wore a black satin, en traine^ with a diamond 
 brooch and elegant laces. She was assisted by a group of sweet, 
 Southern women — among the number a married daughter, and 
 Mrs. Congressman Martin. The rooms were delightful — pictures, 
 costly bric-a-brac, and the dining table set with a solid tea ser- 
 vice, and a magnificent eperyne of flowers. ''The milk punch 
 was delicious, and so was the Mocha," said the society people. 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 227 
 
 Mrs. Senator Teller, from Colorado, does not entertain so 
 largely as when her husband was a member ot the late President 
 Arthur's Cabinet. Then her Wednesday receptions were crowded 
 at her residence on N street. She wore at one ot these a white 
 brocade, with side panels ot Nile green velvet, Fedora lace on 
 the sleeves which came to the elbow, and other handsome orna- 
 ments. She is a very excellent woman — in ciuiritable work the 
 head and tront at the Capital. 
 
 Since the death of the lovely Mrs. Allison, jNIrs. Gi-imes has 
 presided over the home of the Senator, which is situated on Ver- 
 mont avenue, near Thomas Circle. Mrs. Grimes, the surviving 
 relict of Iowa's ex-Senator, has had long experience in public 
 affairs with her husband, and is one of the historic ladies of 
 Washington. Remarkably intelligent, with a sweet face, although 
 nearing the seventies, yet she entertains Senator Allison's friends 
 with a rare grace of manner ; and if he, with his wonderful 
 powers of statesmanship, should go to the White House, liis 
 mother-in-law would be in her proper sphere. 
 
 Mrs. Senator Wilson is very unaffected, and with Western 
 heartiness, welcomes her many friends to the charmed circle of 
 her household with a ])leasant smile. She was born and raised 
 in Newark, Ohio, where many good people live to bless the 
 world. 
 
 Mrs. Senator Ingalls, when a young girl, went on a visit to 
 Atchison, Kansas, as a Miss Anna Clieeseborough ; captivated 
 the Senator when a young lawyer, and in her married life has 
 been very happy with her halt dozen children and intellectu'd 
 lord. 
 
228 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 CHAPTER XYI. 
 
 Theosophists — Receptions — Death with the Bayards — Osti.er 
 Joe — -Cyclovama — Kikmes- — Cleveland's Wedding. 
 
 There is a small company of Theosophists in the city — Prof. 
 Elliott Coues, of the Smithsonian Institute, at its head. He is 
 assisted in teaching this paganized, half Unitarian doctrine, by 
 several able teachers, who were leady to gulp down a sorry fable, 
 rather than the old laitli. The doctrine ot the Theosophs is that 
 God is not personal, yet when he wishes to make men good, he 
 injects into them his spirit. Some believe in transmigration ot 
 souls. Those who refuse to accept the emenations ot Deity 
 are compelled to change the earth form again and again. Christ 
 was no better than Zoroaster, or Moses. Love should be the 
 controlling principle, and a man under certain circumstances, 
 could be a polygamist without sin. The wife of the Professor 
 sued for divorce on the grounds of adultery in the District Court, 
 and obtained it, with fifty dollars a month alimony from Mr. 
 Coues. 
 
 ''Mind Cure'' by prayer had a great run through the autumn 
 and winter of 1885-6, and Dr. Hammond, of Boston, instructed 
 many m the ways of curing colds, catarrh, measles and other 
 maladies, by simply concentrating the mind on the portion of the 
 diseased body, and by the ])ower of the will, and by the help of 
 the Healer, Jesus of Nazareth, they (the patients) should be cured. 
 Yet, this proved a failure sometimes. In certain nervous dis- 
 eases there was some gain by this practice. 
 
 The Cleveland's first New Year's Day at the White House was 
 a lovely jewel in society's girdle. No snow, sleet or north wind, 
 bnt a cloudless sky and soft air, and this was f'oi'tunate for the 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 229 
 
 thousands who chiinored tor admission to the American court. 
 After squeezing through corridor, red ))ark)r, to tlie })hie ])arh)r, 
 it was not otten that so many attractions were seen there. The 
 President stood near the door — Col. Wilson made the introduc- 
 tions to him, and the pump handle conmienced to work — shaking 
 hands. He cared nothing for his guests, and they in turn noth- 
 ing for him, but they wanted to shake hands with the President 
 of the United States. He was looking rather pale, his tlesh a 
 little flabby, and always that look out of the ''tail of his eye," 
 as if watching for adverse criticism. Society had ''worried itself 
 summuf who should stand in the receiving line, next to Miss 
 Cleveland. Should JVLrs. John Sherman, the wife of the Repub- 
 lican Senator, yet Vice President pro tem^ be found among the 
 faithful? Mrs. Sherman cared nothing for the pijor distinction 
 of shaking hands with the multitude for two hours. She had 
 been there before. 
 
 Miss Cleveland was looking better than when criticized for 
 wearing short hair at the spring receptions, tor she now wore a 
 high coiffure with a })ink rose in the puffs — a wliite silk dress 
 with garnet velvet side panels and peasant waist of garnet, and 
 long suede gloves to the shoulder. And Mrs. l>ayard, the wife 
 of the Secretary of State, stood next in line in a handsome toil- 
 ette of white silk crape ; Mrs. Whitney in a white ottoman silk 
 with an embroidered front of crystal and seed pearls — three rows 
 of diamonds in the necklace — her bracelet, earrings and cond* 
 of almost royal gems. Mrs. Endicott in a heliotrope satin cov- 
 ered with drapings of smoke colored gauze down tlu' back 
 breadths. Mrs. Vilas, a pretty brunette, ap])eare(l in a ])iuk 
 satin gown covered on the front with \mA\\X lace. 
 
 There was a magnificent bouquet of Marshal Neil roses, ferug 
 and salvia, with a touch of the bird of jtaradise tiowei's. that 
 stood on the center table. 
 
230 AMERICAN COUKT GOSSIP. 
 
 Tlu' u]>liolstery of the cliuirs iiiul sofas was a little shabby, but 
 the walls ot this celebrated ri)oin were as lovely as when LaFarge 
 of New York had put on the finishing touches IS months before. 
 
 The music was from the "Mikado," ''The Bohemian Girl," 
 and other popular airs. The Marine Band never played in bet- 
 ter harmony. Anu)no; the debutantes was Miss Eustis, daughter 
 of Senator Eustis, of Louieiana, a very accomplished young lady. 
 
 Senator and Mrs. AVilson, of Iowa, with their bright and 
 cheerful daughter. Miss Kitty, were much honored by their many 
 acquaintances. 
 
 Representatives Conger and Holmes, from Iowa, were also 
 present with their charming wives from the Hawkeye state. Mrs 
 Holmes wore a heavy lustreless silk with a jet front and heavy pas 
 samenterie panels, and elegant pearl bracelets appeared above 
 the glove worn on her shapely lumds. 
 
 Miss West and Miss Endicott, the latter in plain white silk, 
 were a pair ot twin lilies, so fair a blonde is each, and charming 
 in conversation, withal. 
 
 Congressman Frederick, from Iowa, escorted Mrs. Rush Clark, 
 the wife of an ex-Congressman, and Miss May, his stylish daugh- 
 ter, through the East room. 
 
 Representative Burleigh, of Whitehall, N. Y., and General 
 Henderson, of Illinois, were arm in arm, hardly satisfied that 
 President Arthur slioidd be superceded, for they loved the late 
 Chief Magistrate with more than ordinary friendship. 
 
 Mrs. Lamont, the wife ot the Private Secretary to the Presi- 
 dent, a dark-eyed brunette, wore a terra cotta colored silk, a 
 large bouquet of bon silene roses and sweet elyssian in her hand. 
 
 One of the handsomest dresses in the line, was a violet satin 
 with the back breadths draped with black colored tulle from the 
 waist to the hem of the long train. 
 
LIFE AT THK NATIONAL OAPIToL. 231 
 
 Mi'8. Muiiniiiij,- was iniu-h admired tor Ikt sc'lt-])ossession and 
 <|i]iet demeanor, as slie did not seem to be looking out for eom- 
 plinients. 
 
 Miss \'an Neeliteii, of Albany, tuade a long visit at tlie White 
 House, and was pointed t)nt as the probable ^p'dncet' of thi' Pres- 
 ident, as she was a close friend t(» his sister. Her toilette was 
 an elegant blaek velvet with bare shoulders, and her beautiful 
 neck seemed modeled aiter a sculptured Venus, while her dark 
 eyes had a loguish look at times, and siie was very approachable. 
 But in the President's heart was a picture ot a young girl — the 
 little Frankie who used to danci' on ''Uncle Grove's'' foot twenty 
 years before this New \ ear. No use to ensnare the old bachelor, 
 Frances Folsom had come to stay. 
 
 This was a Friday reception, and numy thought it unlucky for 
 the debutantes of society tor a winter's crop of husbands "to 
 cotne out" under its unlucky shadows. 
 
 Tile Diplomatic Corps did not remain as long as usual, but the 
 East room was crowded with Congressmen and tlu'ir ladies. The 
 witty Madame tie Struve and the Baron had gone home to Russia, 
 and the legation had not been filled. Minister Schaeffer, the (Ger- 
 man Minister, was also absent. Among the Southrons who ]>aid 
 their respe(;ts to the Chief Magisti-ate, while secretly hating him, 
 were Representatives Reagan. Singleton of Mississippi, Brecken- 
 ridge of Kentucky, Clements of Alal)ama. Si'uators Coke (»t 
 Texas, Pike of Arkansas, General Shelley, the Hon. Noi-man 
 Coleman, Commissioner of Agriculture, who by the way, is one 
 of the most creditable aj>pointments of the reform administration. 
 Senators Evarts. Palmer. Allison, Vaw Wyck, and (-Jeneral Lo- 
 gan on the Kejiublican side, wi'i-e co!isj)iciiotis in that immense 
 throng. 
 
 At the entrance .»ear the East room, was a long exit platform 
 jmt through the P'rench wind<)W. so as to give the :-rowd a chaiu-e 
 
232 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 to go out to the street, instead ot the crowded vestibule. At the 
 close, 2:30 P. JVL, there were still multitudes waiting to come in. 
 
 Fashionable turnouts with their coachmen and footmen seated 
 on the boxes waited patiently in their big overcoats through the 
 wintry air. All was cheerfulness. But the shadow of death 
 was gathering around Highland Place — the home of Secretary 
 Bayard. The lovely Kate Bayard, one of society's brightest or- 
 naments, was looking pale and restless, but she did not complain 
 to any one. There was, even at the beginnmg of the season, 
 something to remind this society belle of future darkness and 
 despair. It was said her heavy trained dresses, low necks and 
 sleeveless corsages were undermining her health. 
 
 Mrs. Hayes, with her pojvertul physique, could preside at a 
 state dinner, hold a reception, and yet be as fresh as a rose in 
 the morning. 
 
 The Chinese Minister was dressed in his national costume of 
 white brocaded satin, his wide trousers, and long cue down his 
 back made him conspicuous, as he passed a compliment to Miss 
 Bayard in the Blue parlor. Monsieur and Madame Kuki were 
 there, and the Baroness de Fava, were also with the daughter ot 
 the Premier. 
 
 Said one pretty debutante to another, "Have you Iieard that 
 Mrs. Potter is going to give us 'Ostler Joe?' " "It is shocking," 
 said the other; "1 don't think I shall hear it!" And yet one 
 could look down to the low lineot bust measure below the throat, 
 which was terribly "shocking'' to some other people. 
 
 "I have lost my heart," said a pretty girl. Her companion 
 added, "and 1 my lace handkerchief.'" 
 
 Was this New Year's reception unlucky? "Friday, too, and 
 did you notice that thirteen stood in a group about Miss Bayard? 
 Is she not pale tonight?" were questioned by the two girls in a 
 breath. Wretched Miss Bayard! Her shadow, the handsome 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 233 
 
 Spanish ^liiiister, was jilwuys near. Wliuro wore his wife and 
 
 children^ 
 
 * * ->:- ******* 
 
 There were receptions hy the Cabinet hidies, several at High- 
 land Place, and other gaieties there, till Friday night, January 
 IH. After the "'wee sma' hours" Miss Bayard's raaid left her 
 lyiui; on her pillow, her long brown eye lashes falling on her 
 white cheek. Ah! tired with the world and wooing sleep — rest. 
 Sometime in the early dawn the messenger of death came, and 
 Miss Kate found rest from this sin-stricken world forever. The 
 servant tried to waken her about noon, and carried the dreadful 
 news to her mother, who fainted, and was never fully conscious 
 again, and died in a few days. Word was sent to her father, who 
 was at the State Department, and Miss Cleveland, with whom 
 she was to receive that day at the White House. The physician 
 irave a certificate of death from heart disease ; the old servants 
 chattered, however, of something else — there was no inquest. 
 The mystery of her death was gossiped over, but the waves of 
 society, held back by a short period of mourning, closed over 
 the place, where the beautiful, stately bark went down. * - 
 
 The Knights of Labor ordered their members to strike for 
 eight hours a day after the 1st of May. This soured the con- 
 tractors and builders, so that there was not much building begun 
 in February as usual, and poverty stared many a househ(»ld in 
 the face. Who held the destinies of these mechanics so surely 
 as Powderly^ Charity asked of the wealthy mon* alms. 
 
 Mrs. James Brown Potter, of New York City, under the pat- 
 ronage of Mrs. Whitney, read the much criticized poem, "Ostler 
 Joe," to an immense audience at the New National Theater. 
 All the brilliancy of Washington society shone out on that occa- 
 sion "How could a modest woman do such a tlnng^'' said a 
 severe matron with a bitter smile. "Leave hei' home in New 
 Vork and go to a strange city and read such a poem in a play 
 
234 AMERICAN COtJRT GOSSIP. 
 
 liouse." "For chanty, sweet charity's sake." answered a good 
 girL "For vanity's sake," continued tlie Roman matron, "to be 
 noticed in society journals, to be flattered by dudes and fools." 
 
 At Albaugh's "The Russian Honeymoon" was played by ama- 
 teur actors, among them Miss Neville, of Ohio, who later on 
 married J. G. Blaine, Jr. The proceeds were for charity. Be- 
 tween the acts, ladies visited through the aisles, went out through 
 the foyer, and criticized the actors. Among them was Mrs. L. 
 Q. C. Lamar, Jr., a slender, lovely woman, with dark eyes and 
 hair, and her lips as red as a cinnamon rose. She wore a black 
 Lyons velvet and flashing diamonds. In a box near were Mrs. 
 Chief Justice AVaite and Miss Mina, Judge Shellabarger, Mr. 
 John Douglass and Miss Josephine Douglass, the affianced of 
 Mr. William N. Strong, of St. Paul, the son of the late Justice 
 Strong of the Supreme Court. This couple were married in 
 October, 188(1 
 
 Other distinguished society belles in the boxes and orchestra 
 chairs, were the Misses Porter, daughters of Admiral Porter, 
 Virginia del Kearney, Victoi'ia Emory, Mollie West, and Miss 
 Augur, all winsome girls. 
 
 Among the foreign representatives were Senoi- and Madame 
 Romero, of the Mexican Legation, Count Maurice Sala, First 
 Secretary of the French envoy, Senor de Costa, of Brazil, and 
 Baron Paul Baumgarten. Chancellor of the Austrian Legation, 
 who was said to be betrothed to Miss Emma Denster, daughter 
 of Congressman Deuster, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 
 
 Judge Gray, the bachelor Justice of the Supreme Court, a 
 fine looking man, was using his lorgnette to good advantage 
 around the galleries, and the play went on without much seem- 
 ing notice from him. The performance netted about twelve hun- 
 dred dollars. 
 
 Another sensation came in the marriage of Miss llildrcth, the 
 poor stenogra})her of a certain law firm, to the rich New \ox\ 
 
LIFK at the national CAPITOL. 235 
 
 stock broker — Mr. Addison Cammack. Miss Ilildretli with lior 
 mother, had taken a little rest at Saratoga, in October, and with 
 her blue eyes and golden hair fascinated the old fellow, so that 
 from poverty she could control millions, through her fond and 
 indulgent husband. It was the match of the season. ''How 
 was it done?" the old hawks wondered. " * * * 
 
 The Cyclorama of the Battle of Manassas, or second Bull Run. 
 was opened about the 3d of March, 1886, to the public. • It is a 
 circular, brick building two stories in height, with a glass dome 
 overhead, and a circular ]iictnre containing -^o, 000 feet of canvas, 
 and represents the battlefield with the surrounding country. In 
 the center is a platform where the visitors are seated and look 
 down to real stones, grass, and short pines and shrubs, then 
 the painting leaves off' against an old musket and a Virginia rail 
 fence — begins again with a })ainted horse, and soldiers stand- 
 ing by him. How this can be done is only known to the French 
 artists. The qld flag with the Union soldiers retreating, sur- 
 rounded almost by the Confederates, was so realistic that many 
 could not bear the sight. This being flattering to Southrons, it 
 was thought by the managers that there would be a good return 
 for the immense outlay of money in painting and housing the 
 picture. But the South never took very kindly to it — they want 
 by-gones forgotten about the war, at least to keep it out of sight 
 at Washington. 
 
 The trip of Jefferson Davis through Georgia and Alabama was 
 deprecated by some of the rebels living at the Capital, for fear 
 it might effect the Northern elections, and solidify the Republi- 
 cans. But Uavis' devotion to the ''lost cause" was countenanced 
 by the election of a majority of his sympathiy.ers to the Fiftieth 
 Congress, and if he should lift the standard of rebellion in Mis- 
 sissippi today, there aie enough ))eople to sym])athize with him 
 in the North to keej) him and -'tlie daughter of the Confederacy'" 
 from anv haiiii. 
 
236 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 On account of sickness Mr. Manning, in May, was obliged to 
 leave the Treasury Department, and Assistant Secretary Fair- 
 child filled his place well, and afterwards was appointed by Mr. 
 Cleveland. 
 
 The Jesuistical plan of getting watchmen to spy a clerk, if he 
 left his desk for a moment, and to see if he loitered and sjioke 
 to a fellow clerk, was adopted by Higgins, Yonman & Co., about 
 these ti«nes. A Confederate spy in every corner of the building 
 and even in the ladies' toilette rooms, to see that they did not 
 talk against the administration, and thus keep them like factory 
 slaves, to work. No clerk could leave the building without a 
 pass, excepting a half hour at noon. A clerk in the Intei-nal 
 Revenue division was sent for by his dying wife to come home. 
 The head of the Bureau was out; the chief of the division dared 
 not excuse the terrified clerk, and before the red tape could be 
 fairly slackened from Youman's hand, the wretched husband 
 started off, and when he got to his wife's chamber, she was dead. 
 No more contemptible Jesuitism ever originated in free America, 
 than in this reform administration. 
 
 The Grand Army of the Republic had tied up its hands in 
 1S86, through Democratic managers, by resolving to keep out of 
 politics. It might meet at camp fires, tell stories and smoke 
 pipes, but by putting itself on record that it was ashamed of its 
 glorious work — that the war was like an Irish fight with shilla- 
 las, therefore, to be forgotten, proved the first demoralization of 
 principle the North received, and while it has feebly lifted up its 
 voice, this administration has laughed in its contempt for the 
 lack of backbone displayed by the flower of the nation — the 
 Grand Army. It should lepesll its by-laws, that it will not work 
 in politics. 
 
 In the Executive Chamber on Tuesdays sat the Cabinet after 
 Lent, talking over the effects of the new policy of Civil Service 
 in each de])artment. Around the table in this historic room, 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 237 
 
 where a Webster aiul a liost (»t great men wlio had guided the 
 nation through perils, sat Cleveland's Cabinet, weak men, with 
 the exception of Manning. Garland, stained with the corruption 
 of the telephone scandal, was present, but as he is a fourtli rate 
 lawyer and too lazy to arrange cases tor the Supreme Court, the 
 Department of Justice was a traud by this weak representative. 
 This executive chamber is carpeted with Wilton, the windows 
 overlooking the Potomac are draped with heavy damask and 
 lace. Around the long taole were eight chairs ot niahogany — a 
 cheerful fire place, a fine large picture on the north widl, maj)s 
 to be seen, and a globe on the mantel. Leading out of it is the 
 library through the western door, and in that room Mi'. Ciev-e- 
 land often sits and plans his public policy by the beautiful table 
 presented by Queen Victoria, in 1875, which was made from the 
 timbers of the "Kesolute.'" Mr. Cleveland has a Cabinet, but 
 he is an autocrat in his political schemes. 
 
 On the east side ot the Executive Chamber, is the room tor 
 the Private Secretary Laniont, and his clerks. 
 
 * -jf * ■«■ * * * * * * 
 
 The last week in April, 1880, there was a calico ball at the 
 Chinese Legation (Stewait Castle), for the benefit of the (Tarfield 
 Hospital. It was the first reunion of society after the Lenten 
 season. From the confessional, from penitence and missal, to 
 dancing and liilarity in the wee sma" hours. Mrs. General 
 Logan and Mrs. General Lander were the lady jiatronesses of 
 the affair, which proved (juite successlul. Over thirty free beds 
 in the Hospital were carried through the summer by this charitv 
 ball. On the loth of May, to close the fashionable season,, the 
 lady directors of the National IJomeopathic Hospital gave the 
 Kirmes, or dance (yf all nations, at the Kational Theater. 
 Nearly three hundred young ladies and gents were drilled bv 
 Prof. Marwig, of New York, and the result was the most en- 
 chanting scene at the opening ever seen in Washington. The 
 
238 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 uiily drawback, some ot the dancers had too ungraceful hands 
 and teet. The orchestra chairs were floored over even with the 
 stage, seats in amphitheater fashion were placed back far under 
 the arch, and the brilliant dresses, the flashing lights, made it 
 very lovely to view from the dress circle and boxes. At 8:30 
 P. M. came the strains ot the stately minuet from Donch's band, 
 concealed behind the flower booth, and this elegant cotillion led 
 by Miss and Mr. Williams, of Baltimore, was danced by forty- 
 eight persons. The most beautiful women at the Capital and Bal- 
 timore, dancing with the gentlemen dressed in the fashion of 
 the Continental period —patches, rouge and dainty slippers ; one 
 couid not imagine anything more graceful and elegant. The 
 smirking behind fan and sleeve was well done, and the grace of 
 the old time dance was probably never seen to such an advant- 
 age before here. The powdered hair and queues, with sword and 
 sash, charactv^rized the young gents, and the ladies, with their 
 short waists and huge fans, reminded the audience of their an- 
 cestors, who had been wrapped in cerement garments for nearly 
 a century. Then came the Tyrolean dance of the peasantry ; 
 thirty-eight young ladies dressed in that picturesque custume ; 
 each in a red surah petticoat, trimmed in difterent colored rib- 
 bons, as they might fancy, a white muslin underwaist, with a 
 black bodice of velvet and the peaked hat floating long stream- 
 ers ot red and parti-colored ribands. 
 
 The Swedish dance, when one saw an exact copy of the North- 
 land fashions, was most gracefully done, and then the Mikado or 
 Japanese dress, was vevy interesting, as an exact portraiture of 
 the far Orient in its happiest moods. 
 
 The Indian dance was after tiie Western fashion ; several of 
 the gentlemen, however, who donned the deer skin dress filled 
 it about like a cat in a sti-ange garret — tolerably lonesome about 
 the chest and legs. 
 
 Then came the ''Flower Dance,'' the most beautiful sight of a 
 fairv's dream ; there were Bees in black tulle and gold, and But- 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 239 
 
 terflies made ot little _e;irls and j'ards of ganzo; in tact, wiien the 
 Gypsy dance closed, the brain whirled in trying to recollect the 
 more salient points for a reporter's pen. 
 
 Mrs. Charles Nordhott", the wife of the New York Herald cor- 
 respondent, was the chief nianag^er, and wore an elegant toilette 
 ot pale blue brocaded silk, rich laces, and a diamond comb in 
 her soft blonde hair. 
 
 Mrs. Senator Cockrell wi.re a powdered coiffure, azure colored 
 brocade trimmed with blue ostrich feathers on the corsage — 
 bouquet of pale pi'.ik roses 
 
 Countess Esterhazy nt^(5 Carroll, a beautiful brunette, was attired 
 in black satin, en traine^ the high ])anniers trimmed with real 
 pond lilies and sea grass. 
 
 Madame Loring, wife i)f the ex Commissioner of Agriculture, 
 appeared in a stylish cowsli]> colored brocade covered with black 
 lace and corsage 'decollete. 
 
 Madame Romero, the beautiful wife of the Mexican Minister, 
 wore a toilet of cream ottoman silk, garnished with point, and 
 the corsage bouquet, La France roses. 
 
 Mrs. Lamar. Jr.. a])peared in S|)anish lace over a sli)) of lemon 
 colored silk. 
 
 The audience in the dress circle and boxes was an aristocratic 
 one. Senator and Mrs. Logan, Senator Mitchell of Pennsyl- 
 vania, were in the dress circle. 
 
 Mrs. Whitney and the Secretary, Senator and Mrs. Payne, 
 were in a family i>arty in one of the boxes. Others, too, were 
 noted — Senator and Mrs. Warner Miller, Miss Calhoun, the act- 
 ress, Hon. W. W. Corcoran and party. Congressman Scott of 
 Erie, and Mrs. Carlisle with Mrs. Congressman Si)ringer. 
 
 The box tickets were five dollars, and ovei' three thousand dol- 
 lars were the receipts for the hospital. ''It proved to be the ball 
 
240 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 of the season," said Mrs. General Sheridan, who wore a gray 
 toilet trimmed with steel lace. 
 
 Mrs. Congressman Vance, in a pearl tinted satin, pointed 
 train and V shaped corsage, with a heavy bouquet of yellow 
 roses, nodded in the affirmative from the flower stand. 
 
 Mrs. Leiter, of Chicago, wore a Nile green silk, combined 
 with turquoise velvet. 
 
 Perhaps in no city in the world is there such a freedom from 
 restraint, so long as young folks are innocent of wrong, as in 
 Washington. Sons of statesmen, arctic heroes, admirals and 
 official magnates, in the guise of colored serenaders, embellished 
 with burnt cork, and playing on bones and tambourine, with 
 funny antics that would delight a Christy, are often seen. Gen- 
 eral Beale, in a costume of furs and scarlet cap, represented 
 Santa Claus at a Christmas gathering, and was as happy as the 
 children who admired him. At a party of fish girls, flower girls, 
 quakers, jockeys, jesters, peasants and milk maids, were aristo- 
 cratic masters and misses in disguise, wiio never speak to a 
 servant, except in command. 
 
 There are over sixty retired army officers. Major Generals 
 Ricketts nnd Carroll among them, and forty-four retired naval 
 officers, more than half of whom are of the high rank of Rear 
 Admiral, in the city. Life, to them in active pursuits, is over. 
 Their families living on retired pay, secure in the promises of 
 the government, have no care and elegant leisure surrounds 
 them all. 
 
 ********** 
 
 The K. of L. called a mass meeting in April, 1886, to confer 
 with political leaders on the situation of distress from lock outs, 
 strikes, etc. Hon. Lee Crandall, General Weaver, Paul Bowen, 
 and other lights of the Labor Party were present. Hon. Dan 
 Voorhees, in very pretty platitudes, talked of the rights of the 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 241 
 
 laboring men, as if a public speaker would tail- any other way 
 before an American |»ul)lic. Hon. Jerry Murph}' told the audi- 
 ence that he came to Iowa a barefoot boy. But as these gentle- 
 men vote and work for British manufacturers, against protection 
 for working men, it was a laughal)le travesty on their rights, and 
 many of the Knights of Labor knew it. Hon. O'Hara, a colored 
 Congressman from North Carolina, talked of the rights of poor 
 black men to their own earnings. For example : "A negro 
 Knight in North Carolina cannot move his crop to market with- 
 out permission from his landlord, who often trumps up bills 
 against him and his crop. Another law in South Carolina is, 
 that no laborer can leave his landlord, without forfeiting all his 
 back wages, and no landlord or Southern planter ever pays his 
 help to date." 
 
 Hon. Mr. Berry talked old-fashioned Whig doctrine of protec- 
 tion, who with Mr. Powderly believes in it, as in the interest of 
 labor. 
 
 The town gossips had heard of the President's betrothal to 
 Miss Folsom before May day, and her journey to Paris, her wed- 
 ding trosseau^ and above all "her wonderful beauty," called forth 
 all the adjectives the English language was capable of, by the 
 society correspondents of New York and other papers. Miss 
 Rose Cleveland took a quick journey to the Empire State — boxes 
 and trunks came back with her to the White House. The Man- 
 sion took on a new shade of elegance — there would be a warm 
 welcome to the President's bride. 
 
 Miss Folsom, at Wells College, was a pretty girl with brown 
 hair banged over a broad brow, regular features, except the nose 
 that is a speck too wide, laughing brown eyes, and a tolerably 
 clear complexion, l)ut when she was Mrs. Cleveland — "a marvel 
 of loveliness." 
 
 A wedding in the East room reminded the guests of the bridal 
 of sweet Nellie Grant and Algernon Sartoris twelve years before. 
 
242 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 The picture of the ceremony was described by a corps of cor- 
 respondents — '^tiie happy pair,''— Kev. Mr. Snnderhind — Miss 
 Folsoni ''in a violet brocade," — "Mrs Sunderland in a pearl 
 gray," and so on — the congratulations of the guests, and the 
 magnificent presents, are so near to us in memory that we omit 
 details. 
 
 High salaried correspondents rung the changos on the beauty 
 ot the sceije. They were instructed to tind every shred of inter- 
 est — the dresses — the lingerie of the bride were minutely de- 
 scribed, and in such word painting that a school girl in Oregon 
 could tell the exact pattern of the lace, and the number of tucks 
 and frills on her garments. And the press mirrored the wants 
 of the public, for millions of newspapers were sold throughout 
 tlie nation to learn all about the wedding. Sixty millions ot 
 people blessed Mrs. Cleveland, as she started on her wedding 
 journey to Deer Park, June 5, 188G. 
 
 The Republican press was as friendly as the administration 
 papers, and a triumphal journey to the Alleghenies wound up 
 the day in June, as triumphal as Alexandra going to church with 
 H. R. H., Prince Albert, twenty-five years ago. 
 
 The President's first Sunday on the crest of the Alleghenies 
 dawned bright and clear. Col. Lamont and wife arrived on an 
 early train, and were driven to the Executive Cottage, where they 
 were to be quartered during their stay in the mountains. 
 
 The party f<>r church consisted of the Clevelands, Lamonts, 
 ex-Senator and Mrs. Davis, John W. Wise and Mrs. Lament's 
 two children, that generally accompany their mother everywhere. 
 The little Garret Memorial church under the oaks of the moun- 
 tain's crest, was crowded by the rustics of the neighborhood, 
 as well as the hotel people from Oakland. 
 
 The correspondents followed tliem to the ])ew, saw them enter 
 the carriage — the next day saw them fish, walk the cottage porch, 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 243 
 
 eat an apple, an orange, whip a cane around a bush. After whit- 
 tling on the bridge awliik'. ''Mr. and i\Irs. Cleveland went l)ack 
 into the cottage." The correspondents telegraphed the latter im- 
 ])ortant item, and then picking up their ])ine whittlings went to 
 dinner themselves. 
 
 This constant surveillance is very irksome to Mr. Cleveland. 
 But he should know it is the drawback — the penalty of greatness. 
 
 Fancy Thurman caring anything what the newspapers would 
 say — "the boys'' and he are good friends. We have never heard 
 that Mrs. Cleveland objected to public notice, and she received 
 the public after the wedding without a change of countenance. 
 
 Mrs. Cleveland held no summer i-eceptions after the middle of 
 July, and with her mother superintended her new home at ''Oak 
 View," in furnishing and decorating the interior. This cottage 
 or two story stone house, is situated in a field of 20 acres, nearly 
 white with Maryland daisies, which being an aesthetic flower, is 
 not cut down excepting by practical farmers. An old-fashioned 
 rail fence runs around a part of the way, the rest enclosed in a 
 wire guard painted green, and the avenue leading to the house 
 is curbed with cobblestone ; rustic seats are under the great for- 
 est trees, while old-fashioned lilacs, syringa, and damask roses 
 lend a charm to "Oak View'' or ''Red Top."' A policeman with 
 his assistant keeps out strangers from driving into the yard, and 
 none but those intimate with Mr. or Mrs. Cleveland, are admit- 
 ted. It is a private house, and tourists are not allowed to gratify 
 their curiosity, if the owner is a Jeft'ersonian Democrat. The 
 drive to "Red Top " is through Woodley's Lane, a picturesque 
 road, and beyond is Tennallytown, a beautiful Maryland village, 
 about three miles trom the city. It has a magnificent view of 
 the Potomac and the X'irginia mountain towards I larder's Ferry. 
 
 The buying of this farm by the President was a lucky scheme 
 for several real estate men, who owned ])roperty in the vicinity. 
 They had a plan of ojK'ning up Massachusetts avenue, and 
 
244 American court gossii*. 
 
 striking diagonally across the Rock Creek valley, reach Wood- 
 ley's Lane, and the Presidents country seat, direct from Lincoln 
 Park, measured six miles. But the eastern portion of the city 
 — Capitol Hill, which has been oppressed by taxes to improve the 
 northwestern portion of the city so long, was up m arras, and the 
 project was set down upon by Senator Ingalls, who lives within 
 a stone's throw ot the Senate wine; on Capitol Hill. The project 
 ol making Rock Creek valley a beautiful park, is only a matter 
 of time. It will come. 
 
 There is much driving by fashionables out Fourteenth street, 
 then to the left out Woodley's Lrne to Tenallytown, and back by 
 Pierce's old mill. Many of the foreign attaches take a horse- 
 back ride every morning through this picturesque section. 
 
 The President's seal browns dash up this road, the coachman 
 with Hector from "furrin parts" beside him — his fore-paws on the 
 dashboard of the coupe. "Hector is a darling doggie," said a 
 young lady to his mistress, "for he is so black and smooth, and 
 that yellow ribbon is so becoming to his round, little neck." 
 
 The seal browns are well bred Hambletonians, fifteen hands 
 high, and were fine steppers before Albert Hawkins laid the 
 reins over their broad backs; now they can dash down Pennsyl- 
 vania avenue "in finished style," says the sable coachman to 
 another of his class. 
 
 One nice October day, the mistress of the White House gath- 
 ered an autumn bouquet from the Oak View grounds, of bright 
 sumach leaves, golden rod, and the leaves of the Virginia creeper. 
 She wore a steel gray suit of corduroy, with hat and gloves to 
 match. She brought lace for the windows — ribbons to decorate 
 with, that followed afterward, in the "Boston dry goods" van. 
 
 How deftly she touched up the rooms, and Mrs. Folsom ap- 
 proved it all. Will destiny always weave so bright a carpet for 
 her girlish feet? The storms and furies which dash so wildly 
 over others, seem to be waved back by some guardian spirit, so 
 that no harm comes to the young wife, as yet. 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 245 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Fashionable Gossip — A Jai'anese Fakmek^ — Pkdiokee Families 
 — Mrs. Cleveland Lunch — The K. of L. — Oak Hill — Gen- 
 eral Logan's Death. 
 
 There are hundreds of men waitinii; for ])hi('es in the depart- 
 ments and other offices, w1h> live at fashionable hotels to all ap- 
 pearance, and yet never eat a meal there, unless as another's 
 guest. Their methods are after this style: They associate in 
 the clerk's office and on the street with the leading; men of the 
 country, talk of their influence M'ith Cong:ressii)en, give pointers 
 as ''how to pull the wires," have their letters and newspapers 
 directed to their hotel, squeeze out a cigar or a drink of wme 
 with some big sachem, and when obh'ged to eat sli])in after dark 
 to some cheap restaurant when nobody in society is around. 
 These curious make-shifts seem almost incredible tv# an nnitiated 
 person. We know of a young society dude, an officer in the 
 navy, whose expenses to theater, carriage rides and swell sup- 
 pers, were paid by a doting father who had the misfortune to 
 have an unattractive but ambitious daughter that the young offi- 
 cer escorted through the season. 
 
 Therefore to be invited <^>ut to dinner, and be invited "to come 
 often," is a fortune to these hotel mushrooms. We know of mar- 
 ried ladies in Washington, whose tired husbands enjoy a news- 
 paper at home better than society receptions, theaters, etc., who 
 secretly board and pay many bills for youngj fellows, whose best 
 suit of clothes and their good looking faces comprise all they 
 have in the world. They are necessary to Madame's conveni- 
 ence, and the husband overlooks the matrer, as bringing him re- 
 lief from the bore of society duties. These chaps often make 
 
246 AMERICAN COUKT GOSSIP. 
 
 good matches by this means, and so they are very willing to be 
 
 Madame's walking stick. 
 
 ********** 
 
 Mrs. Whitney, wite ol the Secretary ot the Navy, gave an ele- 
 gant lunch in November, 1886, at her residence on I street N. W., 
 to which nineteen young ladies were invited to meet the girlish 
 bride of the President — Mrs. Cleveland, although, a special 
 pleasure was to be given to Miss Howard and Miss Thorne, the 
 granddaughters of Mr. Samuel G. Ward, ot Washington Place, 
 New Y ork — the ladies having taken a house with a lady chaper- 
 one for the winter season of 1886-7. The hour for the lunch was 
 1:30 o'clock. White chrysanthemums were used in decorating 
 the table, and corsage bouquets of violets, Mrs. Whitney's favor- 
 ite flower, were placed at every plate. The cards were gilt edged, 
 and had a gilt monogram ''W" on the cover, or envelope. This 
 was the celebrated lunch where the W. C. T. U. objected to the 
 drinking of wines in long resolutions to Mrs. Cleveland. 
 
 There were glasses at every plate for Apollinaris water, claret 
 and champagne, and high stands uf glass filled with candied 
 violets and rose leaves. Bon-bons, peppermints and the salted 
 almonds were in flat dishes of silver, the edges beautifully chased. 
 Seven courses were served with fruit and cofiee. 
 
 Mrs. Cleveland's toilette was a visiting one of brown silk, the 
 sleeves rather large, the basque trimmed with the same shade of 
 the dress, in passamenterie, and the panel revers at the sides of 
 the skirt had the same trimming. The bonnet of brown velvet 
 (vas trimmed with a touch of navy blue. The hostess, Mrs. 
 Whitney, wore a becoming dress of cream colored brocade, 
 draped with point applique at the back, and the front draped with 
 pearl embroidered net. She had on slippers of white satin. 
 
 The young ladies all wore street dresses. Beside these ladies 
 we have noticed, were Miss Mary Manning, who sat at Mrs. 
 Whitney's right hand, and at the other end of the table (the seat 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 247 
 
 of lioMor to the favored guest, Mrs. Cleveland), sat Miss Waite 
 on her right, and Miss West at her left. The other guests were, 
 Miss Endicott. the daughter of the Secretary of War; Miss 
 Mitchell, one of the most beautiful girls in America, and daughter 
 ot the Senator from Oi-egon; Miss Susanna J^ancrott, grand 
 daughter ot the historian Bancroft; Miss Edgar, niece of Mrs. 
 Jerome Bonaparte; MissClymer, of Pennsylvania; Miss Howell, 
 Miss Warden, Miss Stout, Miss Royal, Miss Dodge, and Miss 
 Natalie Berry. 
 
 President Cleveland, always sensitive to the raw, rarely dines 
 out, except with his Cabinet, and really loves home life. With 
 all his obstinacy, he makes a model husband.' 
 
 The author of ''Little Breeches" — John Hay, at his magnifi- 
 cent residence o])posite St. John's C'hurch, on Sixteenth street, 
 entertains literary people to dinners, and a (juiet chat in his 
 library is something to be greatly desired, especially by his many 
 Nimrod friends. 
 
 Mr. Adams, next door, has a splendid home, but his wife in a 
 temporary fit of insanity committed suicide a year ago, so that 
 the shadow of such a great sorrow ])revents ostentatious living. 
 
 The home of Stanley Mathews, on C'onnecticut avenue, has 
 been brightened hy a new wife, who took the gmnde tour to 
 Europe with the Juhtice after the wedding in June, 188(). and 
 now she entertams largely. At one time she was a patent office 
 clerk, very stylish and pretty, when she attracted the notice of 
 Mr. S. C. Theaker, the Commissioner of Patents under Mr. Lin- 
 coln, and he married her for a second wife. Dying a few years 
 ago, he left her $50,000 in solid cash, which gives her pin-money 
 in her new home among the Supi'eme Court surroundings, but 
 while she is from a good New England tamily. it was not dis- 
 tinguished. 
 
 Out of our American aristocracy, the "'Ileraldica"' says, tiiere 
 are ''but one imndred and ninety-two families entitled U) wear 
 
248 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 coats ot anus, or insignia ot i-a^xk, as belonging to blue blood, 
 per se.'"' Curiously enough, the Bonapartes are not found there, 
 although a swell dinner m Washington is not complete without 
 them. They have no crest, but on their note paper and carriage 
 door is a good sized bumble bee made of solid silver, which looks 
 pretty enough, and carries out the Napoleonic idea of greatness, 
 who above all men had this ridiculous desire and wanted the 
 haughty, blue blood of the Hapsburgs to flow in his children's 
 veins. 
 
 Mr. Welles also says that but three Presidents are entitled to 
 be named in heraldry — Monroe, Tyler and Garfield, and these 
 three were not the haughtiest of the twenty -two Magistrates. 
 
 Ot the Cabinet — Secretaries Bayard and Whitney; and of the 
 Senate, Hoar, Salisbury, Wilson, and that great leader, Van 
 Wyck, of Nebraska. The rest are, Attorney-General Brewster, 
 the Bells, the Browns, the Davenports, the Hancocks, Lees, Lor- 
 ings, Phillips, Montgomerys, Hays, Randolphs, Roosevelts, 
 Schencks, Scotts, Voorhees; and out of a million of Smiths, 
 none have blue blood but the Smiths of Searsdale, in Scotland. 
 
 Among the most exclusive of the Senator's wives, is Mrs. Sen- 
 ator Eugene Hale, of Maine. She is worth a million in her own 
 right, as the only heir and daughter of Hon. Zach ("handler, of 
 Michigan, the war horse of the Republican party in its success- 
 ful campaigns. She has four sons, which she has taken to 
 Europe for a three years' stay and finish, at Heidelberg. The 
 Senator is sought after at dinners, as he is a society man, and 
 ladies adore him. 
 
 Another Senatorial set is that of Mrs. Hearst and her friends 
 from California, The lady is handsome, and gives costly dinners. 
 
 Mrs. Senator Don (Jameron, the prettiest matron in official 
 circles — a pronounced blonde with golden red hair, does not en- 
 tertain so often, but with tact and much genial feeling, at her 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAl'ITOf.. 249 
 
 residence on Liitayetto Stjuare, known as the old Tayloe mansion. 
 Tlie Senator paid about sixty thousand dollars for the ])ro])ertv 
 and repairs. It is an immense house of thirty rooms, with iion 
 porches running clear 'round the structure, and faces westward 
 towards the lofty trees of that lovely bit of ground. 
 
 Mrs, Justice Miller, at Highhind l*lace, assisted by her grand- 
 daughter, Miss Lucy (yorkhill, gives elegant dinners, not only to 
 the Supreme Court, but other distinguished people at the Capital. 
 She is a charming hostess. Her residence is in the best of taste, 
 and in all her surroundings, there ai-e many marks of luxurious 
 refinement. Miss Corkhill has fine dark eyes and hair, and takes 
 the place of Mrs. Miller — Touzaline, in the family circle. 
 
 Justice Blatchford has swell dinners, and Justice Harlan, who 
 lives at Rockville, Maryland, is fond of an informal gathei'ing, 
 more for its sociability than for its gastronomic qualities. 
 
 Justice Bradley lived down in an unfashionable quarter, among 
 a neighborhood of rich Jews, which was once the most exclusive 
 quarter of the city, when Grant lived there and located on I 
 street, almost down to St. Aloysius Church. The Justice, now 
 dead, was a slender man — a great contrast to his confreres. Judge 
 Gray or Harlan — the latter a Kentuckian of great hwi lunrmie. 
 
 Justice Miller has abstracted hours, but is full of life and fun 
 when wakened up in society. The nation owes them all a world 
 of gratitude for their purity of cliaracter on the Supreme Bench. 
 Heaven only knows (tor they escape the re})orter's penj, how 
 much the Republic is indebted to the Suj)reme Court through the 
 last quarter of a century, for its righteous decisions — its fidelity 
 to ])rinciple. They all stand high in Washington, makiiig no 
 dinner or reception quite complete, without one or more of the 
 Supreme Bencth and their families. 
 
 Mr. Tomari. of Tokio. Japan, had been at the Cai)ital through 
 the early part ot wiiitei-. to study the usi' of the microscope, in 
 
250 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 connection with agricultui-al pursuits at the Department, under 
 the supervision of Commissioner Coleman. This intellectual 
 "Jap" has spent a year in study at our different agricultural col- 
 leges, showing the earnest desire of his country to learn the arts 
 ot Western civilization, and to cultivate the Yankees — a contrast 
 to the mulishness of the Chinese in inter-national courtesies. 
 President Cleveland gave every assurance of help to the distin- 
 guished foreigner. 
 
 It is a little curious that foreigners know better than some ot 
 our own people how to address the President and officials in the 
 presence, or, by letter. We heard a country bumpkin, who was 
 a member of a state legislature, address Mr. Arthur once, as the 
 "Honorable Mr. Arthur," instead of "Mr. President." Sena- 
 tors, Justices, Congressmen and Colonels all want their correct 
 titles at the American court. One nuist be careful in so address- 
 ing them. 
 
 About the 15th of last December, in the flurry of stocks, there 
 were a good many losses among Congressmen and others, who 
 were caught on Lackawaria, Lake Shore, and other securities. 
 One Member lost $;^>5,000, another $20,000, one real estate firm 
 $13,000, and so on, until there was a half million out of Wash- 
 ington financial circles. One poor fellow put up his Congres- 
 sional salary for a year, which he lost gambling in stocks, and 
 yet the police allow no gambling, but dabbling in stocks is not 
 gambling. "Oh! no." 
 
 President and Mrs. Cleveland occupied a box at the Barrett 
 impersonations at Albaugh's this week, and pai'ties who had seen 
 the nineteenth wife of Brigham Young, were struck with the 
 family resumblance between the beauty of the White House and 
 Amelia Folsom, who ruled the patriarch of Salt Lake with her 
 sunny laugh and daring courage. The cousin Amelia married a 
 railroad official alter Young's death, and lives at Ogden, Utah, 
 but has no notion, after she passes beyond, to have her coffin 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 251 
 
 under any one of the nineteen marble slabs scattered around 
 Brigham's grave at Salt Lake, which were placed there by his 
 order, when High Priest among the Saints. 
 
 Mrs. Cleveland sat next to her mother, Mrs. Folsoni, who is a 
 young, handsome woman yet, in spite ot her 44 years. In the 
 box also, were Colonel Vilas, his dark eyed wite, and Miss Nellie 
 Vilas, in a white suit of corduroy — the party, of course, attract- 
 ing universal attention. 
 
 In the theater were several of the coming debutantes — Miss 
 Mary Manning, the lovely daughter of the Secretary of the 
 Treasury, by his first wife; Jennie Lamar, of the South, whose 
 brown eyes and hair, clear olive complexion and scarlet lips, had 
 made sad havoc in hearts already, and Miss Ophelia Mahone, 
 who had finished in Europe her education, was to come out while 
 her fiither, the Senator, lived at the Capital. 
 
 Miss Agnes Dolph, ot Oregon, is a beautiful brunette with 
 bright black eyes and jet black hair. She wears an ivory brooch 
 with a portrait of the Duchess of Gainsborough exquisitely 
 painted and set in brilliants. Miss Dolph has been out in so- 
 ci^y a season before, and taken the grande tour abroad. 
 
 Miss Patten, daughter of the millionaire widow from Cali- 
 fornia, is of another set, but much admired. 
 
 At New Years the fashionable season opens in Washington, 
 and hundreds of society people from American cities fill the 
 hotels and private rooms to bring their daughters out at the Cap- 
 ital, after the President's reception, January 1, which ushers in 
 the gay world. 
 
 The worry and anxiety of a c/Mpei'mie or mamma, is often 
 seen, in spite of polite endeavor to keep it out of sight. A boy 
 can dance the german, eat an ice, or candied violets, withonl 
 espionage, but a young lady must be watched every moment, foi- 
 fear of o. faux pas. She may break the laws (»f health, of the 
 Decalogue, but not ot etiquette. 
 
252 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 The Christinas eve party held at Mrs. Whitney's, for the chil- 
 dren of her family, was something unique. 
 
 The Christmas tree was a pine sixteen teet high set in the cen- 
 ter of the ball room, crowned with a silver globe, and on its 
 branches over two hundred beautiful presents, numbered to cor- 
 respond with the juvenile guests, who were numbered, too. 
 
 It was a wild dream of fairy-land. The boy choir from St. 
 John's Churuh stood near the old Dutch fire-place and sang 
 Christmas carols. There were seventy children in all, accom- 
 panied by older parties. Miss Pauline Whitney is a tall young 
 girl, about 16 years of age. Miss Mollie Vilas, the second 
 daughter of the Postmaster General, a pretty rose faced girl with 
 blonde hair and blue eyes, appeared in a short sleeved dress of 
 sheer mull, and May Codman, the little cousin of Mrs. Cleve- 
 land, sat near her. She wore a blue silk skirt with pink waist, 
 pale pink stockings and tiny black slippers. Among the guests 
 were General Phil Sheridan with his wife and children, Mrs. 
 John Hay, the wife of Lincoln's biographer, with her pretty girls 
 and two boys; Mrs. Senator Jones and tliree little girls; Mrs. 
 Senator Cockrell, of Missouri, has six children- — three were with 
 lier; Senator and Mrs. McPherson; Mr. and Mrs. Voorhees, Mrs. 
 Helyer, the beauty of the British Legation, Mrs. Lamont, Mr. 
 and Mrs. Leiter, Mrs. Congressman Hitt, of Illinois, Mr. and 
 Mrs, T. C. Crawford, of the New York World, were all present, 
 accompanied by children. 
 
 Among the grown up folk were Senator and Mrs, Payne, Sec- 
 retary and Mrs, Manning, Miss Manning, Mrs, and Miss Endi- 
 cott, the Postmaster General and Mrs, Vilas, Miss Nellie Vilas, 
 and the golden haired beauty — Miss Mitchell, of Oregon, who is 
 to marry Lord Sackville West, the British Minister. 
 
 In the dining room a table was set, where ice cream, cakes, 
 sandwiches, and fruit were served to the young people, and such 
 merrie children they were! There was a very large cake with a 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 253 
 
 diamond ring, and Miss Mollie Vilas got the jewel in her piece 
 of cake — a lucky Christmas maid was she! Henry Vilas and 
 Harry P. Whitney, the oldest son of the Secretary, assisted in 
 entertaining the children. 
 
 All was over by 7 o'clock, and the children in their leave taking 
 said many sweet, thankful words to their charming hostess and 
 family, as they went out to their carriages. 
 
 It was an afternoon they nev^er will forget— that Christmas 
 tree at the old Frelinghuysen mansion. After this came Dora- 
 thy, a cradled baby, to add interest to the old place. But the 
 evangels never sang sweeter than the boy choir at this Christmas 
 eve party, given by Mrs. Whitney to her children friends. 
 
 Morning came — the bells of the Metropolitan, St. Dominick, 
 and St. Aloysius churches rang out, "Christ is born!" and 
 thousands of happy hearts mingled their gratitude with the in- 
 cense of altar and chalice. Many of the poor colored peo])lo — 
 poor mechanics, had little to make a merrie ('hristmas, and won- 
 dered if there was ever to come a time when the poor would be 
 rich. 
 
 The local assemblies of the Knights of Labor were full t>f a 
 desire to relieve themselves of this pressure of want. What we 
 need is, for government to take the surplus from the Treasury 
 and inaugurate public works, as they do in France and Belgium, 
 and pension every poor soldier of the Union army. 
 
 Give the laboring men something to do, and not a cheese 
 paring economy to go before the people, and say, "We have 
 turned out a hundred clerks to starve/' and saved the govern- 
 ment a hundred thousand dollars, which to each voter is a hun- 
 dredth mill apiece! Another thing, in spite of cranks, take the 
 tax oft from tobacco. A poor laboring man, who has his pipe 
 alone for a luxury, ought to have it cheap, and take the tax off 
 from sugar, and protect Louisiana planters by a bonus. 
 
254 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 Let us have public works on the Mississippi ; dredging of lake 
 harbors ; widen the Erie canal ; build the Florida ship canal ; 
 even try the Hennepin^ — ^but do something for the poor, and get 
 the public revenue from the rich, alone. Tax heavy incomes, 
 which, in the hands of proper othcers, could be accomplished, 
 and a merrie Christmas would come to the poor of 1887. 
 
 Above all things, do not cripple our manufacturers, whether 
 in Alabama, Iowa, Georgia, Maine or Massachusetts, and turn 
 their operatives into tramps, hunting for work. 
 
 Finally, let Congress carefully study the interests of all sec- 
 tions. Know no sex, class, or race, but legislate for all — in the 
 interests of humanity. 
 
 Representative Reagan, of Texas, who, for fifteen years had 
 antagonized the railroads, with a flourish of trumpets announced 
 that the House of Representatives would pinch the corporations 
 this season, as never before. The people demanded it. But 
 Reagan wanted to be Senator from Texas, and all through the 
 legislation on the Inter-State Bill, he was down at Austin, work- 
 ing up his chances, and when he compromised with the railroads, 
 he was elected Senator. Being a member of the Forty-ninth 
 Congress, as Representative, he accepted the emasculated meas- 
 ure of the CuUom bill as a desired I'eform, and when the vote 
 was taken, made himself absent in the bath room of the Capitol. 
 We give this on the authority of a Democrat, who is a friend ot 
 Senator Reagan. 
 
 The Spartan integrity of Congressmen with railroad legislation 
 has greatly disappeared from Washington. 
 
 Perhaps the best lawyer, and at the same time with the great- 
 est oratorical powers, we place Wm. M. Evarts at the head of 
 the Senate in 1887. He is a corporation lawyer, and makes no 
 secret of it, but he is true to all he believes to be right. 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 255 
 
 General Hawley, of (Connecticut, is a thorough worker in the 
 committee rooms, but he does not nuike so poHslied a speech as 
 Senator Evarts in the u])per chamber, yet he is a thoroughly 
 honest man. 
 
 The Chairman of the Appropi-iation Committee, the lion. Wm. 
 B Allison, has tlie entire confidence of the Senate and the busi- 
 ness communit}', and Senator Sherman, loved tor his firmness by 
 the Southern Republicans, and respected by Northern men of 
 the party lor his integrity, are the leaders in the Senate on finan- 
 cial eubjects, especially. 
 
 The dependent pension bill, in spite of great opposition, was 
 passed by a large majority of both houses of Congress, for Dem- 
 ocrats who loved justice were determined the old soldiers' fami- 
 lies siiould be placed above want. 
 
 There are five G. A. R. posts at the (capital, and when the 
 President vetoed this beneficent measure, a smothered feeling of 
 execration rose to their lips. Everybody knew it was done to 
 make the South solid for Cleveland's renomination, as pensions 
 "to the blue" is the eyesore of the old rebel element. ''We will 
 t'oi-give you for keeping Republicans in office." said a Represent- 
 ative fron) Alabama, "but for Heaven's sake veto this bill. The 
 South raises the tobacco and whisky for the revenue to pay these 
 pensions.'" And among themselves at the Metropolitan and 
 their club houses, there was cursing of the President until he 
 vetoed the bill. No power of argument from mugwum]» ad- 
 mirers, from officeholders who may be soldiers, can excuse this 
 dirty veto. The claim that agents were nuiking money out of it 
 was unworthy and ridiculous by the party organs of Mr. Cleve- 
 land, as agents only get ten dollars for making up the evidence 
 for a soldier. Many soldiers deserving of a pension found their 
 hospital records imperfect from the hijise ot time, from the haste 
 of tn*ed and overtaxed officials through the war, and asking in 
 individual cases for help took U])mueh valuable time ot Congress- 
 
256 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 men, so that the relief measure would be better lor the soldier, 
 take out the surplus from the treasury, and scatter it all over the 
 country, assisting the old defenders of the flag. 
 
 The President vetoed the Des Moines Kiver bill, giving relief 
 to 3,000 settlers in Iowa who had the title vitiated to their homes 
 by an impudent railroad company, whose bonds were largely 
 held by the heirs of the Hon. Horatio Seymour of New York. 
 For years the claim of these poor settlers had been plead before 
 the Supreme Court, before Congress by that good man. Col. A. 
 M. Dawley, of Fort Dodge, who lost his life by hard work in 
 their favor, and when Congress, shamed at last into justice, passed 
 the bill for their relief, then, to have it vetoed was too much for 
 human patience — too nmch for an excuse by the officeholders, 
 and his wickedness has been kept out of sight in a quiet way. 
 "No, they never mention it" in Iowa, or the West, as these set- 
 tlers first had the patent to their lands signed by Abraham Lin- 
 coln and his Secretary of the Interior. Cleveland is Xh^hete noir 
 of these settlers. 
 
 On the 37th of December, lb86, passed away that gallant sol- 
 dier-statesman, General John A. Logan. By his impassioned 
 eloquence — by his prestige as a lawyer, he had held Southern 
 Illinois to the Union, had been in every great battle of the rebel- 
 lion, was severely wounded twice, and in Congress had always 
 voted on the side of justice and humanity. Criticisms of his 
 grammar, of his blunt ways, were not heard now, for he was be- 
 yond the slander ot his rivals and enemies. The nation with 
 mourning voice placed his name high on the roll of fame with 
 Grant, Rawlins, Davis, Douglass, and the immortalized Lincoln, 
 — high up among the stars that look down on the [)rairies of Illi- 
 nois. All hearts went out in sympathy with Mrs. Logan, who 
 had blessed so many households with her beneficent charities. 
 Senator Logan was buried at Rock Creek church with high hon- 
 ors, to be removed at some future time to Chicago. In the words 
 
LIFE AT THR NATIONAL CAPITOL. 257 
 
 of Senator Blair, the world will remember the great Logan. 
 "Among strong men he was one ot the strongest; among wise 
 men one of the wisest; among good men one of the best," and 
 Mr. Blaine added, "I never knew a more fearless man." Yet 
 he was abused, misrepresented so much, that the cruel shots ot 
 malice had done their work in causing his death when weakened 
 by disease. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Mrs. Cleveland's Keceptions — White House Lunch — Oak 
 Hill Cemetery — Public Buildings — Newspapers. 
 
 The President's vvife, after the New Years levee of 1887, 
 opened the season for fashionable society, that closes its gay 
 doors on Ash Wednesday, at the beginning of Lent. Her recep- 
 tions were on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 12 to 1 o'clock P. 
 M., and occasionally ladies might be received by sending a note 
 asking for an interview. Miss Rose Elizabeth Cleveland, the 
 clever authoress, was her guest in February, and the mistress of 
 the White House gave her sister-in-law an elegant lunch, forty- 
 eight covers being laid in the state dining room. There were no 
 wines. Instead of the Blue parlor, the guests were received in 
 the East room, which was elaborately decorated with flowers, 
 and they ])roceeded to the dining room in the following order : 
 Mrs. Cleveland and Mrs. Senator Sherman of Ohio ; Mrs. Sen- 
 ator Cockrell of Missouri, and Mrs. Senator Vance of North Cai-- 
 olina ; Mrs. Senatoi- Kenna of West Virginia, and Mrs. Senator 
 Payne ot Ohio ; Mrf=. Senator Gray of Delaware and Mrs. Sen- 
 ator Hearst of California ; Mrs. Wm. R. Morrison and Mrs. 
 Congressman Springer of IlliiKtis ; Mrs. Benton McMillan ot 
 
258 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 Tennessee, and Mrs. Admiral Upshur ; Mrs. Folsom and Mrs. 
 Leiter (or Leete?') of Chicago ; Misses Tiumsey and Farnsworth 
 ot Albany ; Miss Alice Wood of New York, and Mrs. A. A. 
 Wilson, wife of the District Marshal ; Mrs. Kev. Sunderland 
 and Mrs. Ralph Cross Johnson ; Miss Proctor and Mrs. Scott 
 Townsend ; Mrs. Nott and Mrs. Judge Peckham ot Albany ; 
 Mrs. Speaker Carlisle and Mrs. Senator Butler ; Mrs. Senator 
 Gorman of Maryland, and Mrs. Warner Miller of New i^ork ; 
 Mrs. Senator Sabin ot Minnesota, and Mrs. Senator Eustis ot 
 Louisiana ; Mrs. Senator Walthall of Mississippi and Mrs. Ran- 
 dall of Pennsylvania ; Mrs. Senator-elect Hiscock and Mrs. Rep- 
 resentative Gates ot Alabama ; Miss Dawes, daughter ot Sena- 
 tor Dawes, and Mrs. General Sheridan ; Mrs. J. M. Wilson and 
 Mrs. McAllister Laughton ; Mrs. Bancroft Davis and Mrs. Ad- 
 miral Selfridge ; Miss Walcott and Miss Van Yechten of Albany ; 
 Mrs. Lawrence and Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett, the novelist ; 
 Miss Mary Hallock Foote, writer in the Century, and Miss Mil- 
 d>-ed Lee, daughter ot the Contederate General, and Miss Rose 
 Cleveland closed the line with Miss Lucy Frelingliuysen. 
 
 It was an elegant party of the American court. 
 
 The beauty of Oak Hill Cemetery should not be passed over 
 in these sketches. It was first laid out over thirty acres in a ro- 
 mantic spot, once known as Parrot's woods, which covered a 
 slope down to the bright waters of Rock Creek, but beyond the 
 cemetery is nearly surrounded by handsome villas and residences. 
 It is still wooded with native oaks and pines, and between the 
 marbles and avenues, the grass is kept shaven down iike a gen- 
 tleman's park. 
 
 One of the iirsi objects after passing the porter's Lodge, is the 
 monument to John Howard Payne, erected at the expense of 
 Mr. Corcoran to the memory of the poet-author of "Home, 
 Sweet Home." His remains were brought from Tunis (where he 
 died as Consul) in a government vessel, and re-intoi-red June 9, 
 
LIFE A.T THE NATIONAI- CAPITOL. 259 
 
 1883, in the presence of President Arthur, liis Cabinet, and an 
 immense concourse ot spectators. The ])r()gramme was as fol- 
 lows : United States soldiers in line ot march under General 
 Ayres ; National Kifles, Col. Burnside ; the; Union Veterans, 
 Capt. S. E. Thomason ; Light Battery, Capt. Rogers, United 
 States Army ; W. L. Infantry, Colonel W. G. Moore ; Artillery, 
 Col. Langdon. "Home. Sweet Home" was sung by the immense 
 audience ; the music was under the direction of Protessors I3er- 
 nays, Sousa and Widdows : prayer by Reveiend W. A.Leonard, 
 rector of St. John's church ; unveiling of monument by the 
 President ; oration, Leigh Robinson, Esq., and the interment 
 ceremony by Rt. Reverend William Pinkney, Bishop of Mary- 
 land, who died a few months later. 
 
 Payne was re-buried in the most impressive silence under a 
 slab near his monument, that was covered with flowers. A dash 
 of rain came down, but there struggled through tiie elms a ritl 
 of sunshine, as the wayfarer was laid at rest in the forests where 
 he had played, as a boy, nearly a century before. The birds in 
 the tree tops chorused ''Home, Sweet Home." The coffined 
 remains were really only a shred or so of his clothing, a few of 
 the larger bones of his body, and his coat buttons. The whole 
 affair cost Mr. Corcoran about seven thousand dollars. 
 
 Here lies Lorenzo Dow, who was first buried in Holmead cem- 
 etery, and now rests beside his wife under a gray slab, making a 
 shrine for devout Methodists from all ])arts of the world. 
 
 The great War Secretarj' of Lincoln's administration, who has 
 borne more undeserved abuse than any other public man in the 
 nation, lies here. The country can never pay the debt it owes 
 to Edwin M. Stanton, and all the Surrats or rebellion's sym]>a. 
 thizers cannot smii-ch his fame. 
 
 Oak Hill is rich in costly marble. Among its beautiful shafts 
 may be seen the Corcoran monument, and the VanNess mauso- 
 
260 AMERICA2J COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 leum — the latter a copy of a temple to Vesta. This marble was 
 taken np piece bj piece from the old VanNess property a good 
 many years ago, and set up again in this cemetery, stone for 
 stone. This tomb is constructed of marble — an open dome with 
 stone pillars, and a vault beneath eight feet in depth, with three 
 tiers of cells, where the coffined remains of the Burns and Van 
 Ness family are entombed. First, David Burns, who was buried 
 in a winding sheet, the fashion of the early part of the century. 
 Next came his wife, the mother of the beautiful Marcia, the 
 "heiress and belle of Washington," eighty years ago. This 
 lovely girl married General VanNess, member of Congress from 
 New York, in 1804, and the handsomest man of his time, it 
 pictures are reliable. He used to ride to the Capitol in a car- 
 riage drawn by six horses, and to entertain Congress every 
 winter with a dinner party. Their daughter. Miss Annie, 
 married Arthur Middleton, and died in childbirth. General 
 Montgomery and Governor C. P. VanNess, of New York, were 
 also buried in this singular temple of stone. These are all buried 
 in the mausoleum. 
 
 Oak Hill chapel is a plain gothic structure, nearly covered 
 with ivy, and the rose garden adjoiiiing it is perfectly enchant- 
 ing in summer. Hundreds visit this cemetery everyday through 
 this time of sunshine and beauty. 
 
 There are ten extinct graveyards, which the growth of the city 
 covered with buildings after the remains were moved further to 
 the outskirts. Lafayette Park and Mount Vernon Square were 
 once sacred enclosures for the dead. 
 
 The statue to Admiral DuPont is seen from the bounds of Oak 
 Hill, and is one of the most artistic in the city. It was dedicated 
 to the memory of the great sailor and unveiled in the presence 
 of Mr. Arthur and his Cabinet in December, 1884. It is in 
 front of Mr. Blaine's residence and Castle Stewart. 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 261 
 
 The Garfield statue, that cost iDuch more, and erected by the 
 Army ot the Cumberhind to their commander, is situated at the 
 Mo(jrish gate ot theC-apitol Park, wliich overlooks the Botanical 
 Gardens between Maryland and Pennsylvania avenues. Tliis 
 statue of enduring bronze, by Ward, the sculptor, restsoii a plat- 
 form of granite, and a shaft runs up at the right with three sym- 
 bolical figures — the student, the warrior and statesman. The 
 face and well shaped head of the great Ohio warrior is well exe- 
 cuted, as well as the roll of manuscript he holds in his hand. 
 From the crown of the figure to the grassy boulevard is twenty- 
 feet. 
 
 In the Capitol grounds towards the Senate wing is a tine statue 
 ot Chief Justice Marshall, which was unveiled in 18S3. to an 
 immense audience of distingiiisiied people. The broad brow, 
 the firm, compact limbs, and the folds of his robe are carefully 
 done by the sculptor, and upon the grassy turf of the beautiful 
 park it casts a shadow of twenty teet. 
 
 From these statues a visitor can see Garfield Park, wliich con- 
 tains about fifty acres, and lately been rescued from the cow pas- 
 ture and frog ponds ot South Washington. It is about a half mile 
 from the Capitol, southward. It will be, when fiiiii^hed, one of 
 the most beautiful reservations about the city. 
 
 Scheutzen Park, a charming rendezvous for the German Ver- 
 ein, is situated on the Seventh street road before one reaches the 
 Soldiers' Home. The Yerein oflen tent here for a week, playing 
 games, shooting, dancing with most delicious mr.sic, and tliat 
 freedom from care which marks the sensible (irerniaii from the 
 fretting, care worn Yankee. 
 
 One of the sensations of the fashionable season of 1887. waa 
 the elite of Washington going over to Baltimore to attend a 
 charity ball. The President and Mrs. Cleveland, Miss Vilas, 
 
262 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 Mrs. Lamont, Mrs. Wilson, Miss Jennie Latnar, Mrs. Goodyear 
 of Albany, and Miss Sicard of New York, escorted by Marshal 
 Wilson, made up a very interesting party in the '■'Baltimore," 
 the private oar of President Garrett. In the ''Delaware," 
 another beautifully upholstered car, were Miss Manning and Miss 
 Endicott, and other less distinguished ladies ot Washington, fol- 
 lowed in the train. The ball was held at the Academy of Music, 
 draped in Oriole colors, that is, yellow and black, and it proved 
 a great success. Mrs. Cleveland wore her wedding dress, a 
 white corded silk, cut low back and front, without sleeves, and 
 only held on the fair shoulders by a strap of the silk, covered 
 with Venise point. Her diamonds were the gift of the President. 
 
 The entente cordlale is frequently seen between Baltimore and 
 Washington, it being only an hour's ride over that magnificent 
 highway, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and just forty mileu 
 from city to city. The Balrimore American and Sun, are printed 
 at the Monumental City, but their Washington subscribers of 
 both papers are numbered by the hundreds. 
 
 The Sun has an immense building on F street N. W., con- 
 structed of the whitest of marble, eight stories in height, and is 
 the most costly private building in Washington. The Sun 
 property is worth ten millions, counting in both cities. 
 
 Every leading newspaper in the United States has rooms 
 nicely fitted up, in the vicinity of Willard's Hotel, and a corps 
 of Correspondents to report every scrap of news from the Capi- 
 tal. There is nothing escapf^s the net of the experienced angler 
 of news at Washington. 
 
 The local newspapers are the Washington Post (Dem.) and 
 Republican, morning papers. In the evening appears the Star 
 (Ind.) and the Critic (Dem.). In the main, there are no more 
 well-conducted journals in the world. Bitter personalities and 
 coarse allusions never appear in their columns. The Sunday 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 263 
 
 papers are the Capital, Sunday Herald, Chronicle and Gazette, 
 while the Republic, Hatchet and Public Opinion appeared the 
 evening before, and are read as Sunday ])apers. The National 
 Tribune, the soldieis' paper, has an immense circulation among 
 G. A. R. posts over the country — about 300,000 regular sub- 
 scribers. Colonel Lemon, the owner, hires Editor McElroy aijd 
 a corps of writers to run the paper, and the Colonel also keeps 
 sixty clerks arranging evidence in pension claims. He is said to 
 be worth a million. The National View, greenback organ, if so 
 shadowy a sentiment as greenbackism can be called a force, is 
 edited by Hon. Lee Crandall. The Army and Navy Register, 
 edited by Colonel Edmund Hudson, the correspondent of the 
 Boston Herald, has a large circulation in army and navy cir- 
 cles. 
 
 In many of the advertising columns of these journals you read 
 notices like the following : "I will pay fifty dollars to any one 
 getting me a government position." Some have given two hun- 
 dred dollars to get a position in the departments. It is clear that 
 office brokerage is a paying industry, or the call would not be 
 made. There is a class of un])rnicipled people, both men and 
 women, who claim to have influence with Congressmen, that 
 could not get a place for a canary bird, yet take the money from 
 their victims with regularity and scmgfroid. 
 
 Many Congressmen get postmasters soft places, and when set- 
 tled down to business, the office holder must divide with the Con- 
 gressman or he might lose his place. ''The power that creates 
 can destroy," said a Western Democratic Congressman to four 
 fat paying offices ; "divide with me!" and they immediately 
 divided profits with the lawgiver. 
 
 Social influences are unsparingly used with Congressmen, who 
 visit the departments, and with increasing pertinacity insist on 
 their favorites being appointed, in spite of civil service reform 
 in this administration. 
 
264 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 Probably no better man could be found in America than the 
 Hon. S. P. Rounds, Government Printer. He was a practical 
 printer, well known through the country, but civil service could 
 not prevent his removal, and Mr. Benedict, from the state of 
 New York put in his stead. Mr Rounds is one of the proprie- 
 tors of the Omaha Republican, one of the leading papers of the 
 Northwest. 
 
 The Government Printing office has over two thousand em- 
 ployes, and sixty presses of the largest power are kept running 
 night and day. Speeches of the lawgivers and doings of Con- 
 gress fill the Daily Congressional Record; the reports of officers 
 in the army and navy, coast survey, revenue marine, agriculture 
 and other public documents are printed and bound here. The 
 building is at the corner of H street, N. W., and North Capitol, 
 and is an immense brick structure painted yellow, and like all 
 the public buildings, has a tall flag staff" with the stars and stripes 
 floating over it. 
 
 Not far from the printing office is the K street market, a very 
 large brick structure, which covers nearly a block of ground. 
 There are five markets — Capitol Hill, "Riggs," O street. Twen- 
 ty-second street, K street and B street, and without doubt the 
 fruits of the earth — the Bay oysters, meats, chickens, and every- 
 thing toothsome, never look more inviting than in the stalls of a 
 Washington market. Hucksters with strawberries, oysters, 
 and cherries, cry their wares through the streets, and "Coal, 
 C-o-a-1!" is heard in such dulcet strains, that it is a pleasure to 
 buy of such sweet voiced fellows. 
 
 Living is cheaper here than in any other large city in the coun- 
 try. Rents are low, comparatively, and with the exception of 
 the street south of Pennsylvania avenue that runs between the 
 Treasury and the Capitol, it is desirable to any family of wealth 
 and leisure to live at the Capital. One can find pleasant lodging 
 rooms and parlor already furnished, from ten to forty dollars a 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOI,. 205 
 
 month, and tlien boarding at the hotels and i-estaurants, makes 
 living moderate through the Congressional season, as well as the 
 fashionable period. 
 
 The best dry goods houses are Iloe's, Shuster, Boston dry 
 goods house, and that extensive dealer, Lansburgh, not forgetting 
 the old reliable house of Brodhead & Co. The Palais Royal is 
 an excellent place tor lancy goods, lace, shopping, etc. 
 
 The Arlington, Riggs, Willard, Ebbitt, Wormley and Metro- 
 politan, as well as the St. James on the European plan, are the 
 best hotels. The Ploward House, Belvidere and Hamilton are 
 cheaper, but keep excellent tables. 
 
 The leading restaurants are Welcker's, Harvey's and Abner's, 
 with the Chamberlain Club House on Fourteenth street. 
 
 There are but three railroads that come to Washington from 
 the East, North and West. They are the B. &0., the Baltimore 
 & Botomac, and the Chesapeake vfe Ohio railroads. 
 
 Down at the river wharf arc the steamboats belonging to the 
 Potomac Inland and Coasting Company. None stop at Mount 
 Vernon but the "W. W. Corcoran," which has the exclusive 
 right to land passengers at that particular wharf. There are a 
 great many schooners, brigs and sloops, that ply between the 
 Potomac wharf, Chesapeake Bay, Norfolk and Newport News, 
 beside the little river stations. This rivei' is not frozen over ex- 
 cepting at Christmas tide and through to the middle of February. 
 These ships and steamboats used always to toll their bells in 
 passing Mount Vernon, but the practice is not kept up now, with 
 the exception of the Regent's boat, the ''Corcoran.'" 
 
 On both sides of the river railroads will soon reach the Bav. 
 Old Point Comfort, or Fortress Mc^iroe, is a place of great 
 attraction both winter and summer to Washingtonians. AtVer 
 Lent, through the heated terra, and in the depths of winter, its 
 hotel, the Hygoia, has from 800 to 1,200 guests at its excellent 
 
266 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 table, and if, at the Fortress there is a spectacular parade, the 
 number is otter largely increased. Fortress Monroe is the only- 
 one of the kind in the United States, with its moat filled with 
 water — drawbridge, caissons, shells, and the dread panoply 
 of war. 
 
 P'ort Washington, twelve miles below the Capital, is nearly 
 dismounted, and is used mostly for picnic grounds, although its 
 grass covered wall and frowning parapet looks threatening to 
 the citizen. 
 
 Still nearer the city, just below and opposite Alexandria, is 
 Fort Foote, named after Admiral Foote, of Mississippi river 
 fame in the great rebellion. 
 
 Many picnic parties also rendezvous there, as well as at Fort 
 Washington. 
 
 As one sails past the Eastern Branch, at its mouth, one is more 
 struck with the lovely environments of the Capital than at any 
 other point. 
 
 The view of Anacostia, Arlington, Georgetown, and the great 
 city is like a poet's dream. 
 
 We must take our readers to Cabin John's creek, six miles 
 from Georgetown, where the finest bridge in the world is seen. 
 This magnificent structure springs over the chasm at a height of 
 101 feet. It is erected of immense blocks of granite, with 
 Seneca parapets and coping, and leaps the ravine in a single 
 arch oi 220 feet, with fifty-seven feet rise from the springing line. 
 The bridge is twenty feet wide, and its whole length 420 feet. 
 It cost $237,000, and was built by the United States. It is the 
 largest stone arch in the world, the second being that of the 
 Grosvenor bridge, with a span of 200 feet over the river Dee, in 
 Scotland. 
 
 When Jefferson Davis was Secretary of War under President 
 Pierce, this bridge (vas built, and his name in bold lettei-s was 
 inscribed on the para])et. 
 
LIFE AT THE NATlOJiAt CAPITOL. 267 
 
 After the rebellion broke out, General Meigs had the traitor's 
 name erased to the great pleasure of all good citizens at that 
 time; but now it such a tiling were attempted, there would be 
 such abuse — ''Why cannot thej let the dear old man alone? the 
 unforgiving wretches." 
 
 Wave the bloody shirt, and you are stigmatized as worse than 
 a traitor. No! treason is not odious in the year of our Lord, 
 1887. Southrons, treasonable, are ot finer mould than Benedict 
 Arnold or Revolutionary tories, and in New York city a monu- 
 ment will soon be built to perpetuate Southern valor and patriot- 
 ism, in detense of State rights! 
 
 Beyond Cabin John's bridge, the scenery is very picturesque, 
 until you reach Great Falls ; the Potomac is divided into two 
 great channels before you reach the cascades, by Cupid's Bower 
 and Bear Islands, and at the place itself the river is again in two 
 channels by Comis Inland and Great P'alls. The Government 
 owns the water right of five acres ot ground for the purpose of 
 distributing water to the receiving reservoir, a natural basin 
 formed by an embankment across Powder Mill Creek, which re- 
 tains the water over an area of fitty-two acres — a depth of 53 
 feet, and drains 40,000 acres of the surrounding country. 
 ********** 
 
 But after all, the main interest in Washington is the Congress 
 of tlie United States. Its feeblest utterances are felt in tiie city 
 in thunder tones, and in the last four days of the last session of 
 the Forty ninth Congress, it was watched witii intense interest by 
 her citizens. 
 
 The title to the Ividwell bottoms was not fully established, the 
 cable tramway bill was defeated, and certain legislation for the 
 interests of the northwestern portion of the city recommended 
 by the three Commissioners of the District of Columbia, was 
 also defeated. The Inter-state Commerce Bill, which lashed the 
 business portion of the Kei)ul)lic from ocean to ocean into the 
 
268 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP. 
 
 wildest contusion from its crude and oppression measures in 
 transportation, did not cause a ripple in the city. The railroads 
 that center here and run their freight cars upon handsome avenues, 
 had subdued Congress the law making power, and no appeal or 
 moan had lately gone up from the crushed citizen of Northeast 
 or South Washington. 
 
 Looking back to the early days ol the Republic, when Jefter- 
 son opposed the Bank of the United States in such forensic dis- 
 play that he carried everything before him, and giving the anti- 
 tederals a distinction they never lost — when Livingston, Pinkney, 
 Madison and Monroe talked so eloquently tor and against inter- 
 nal improvements in spicy debates in Congress, one wonders if 
 the Republic has not lately tailed in sending its brainiest men 
 there — Clay urging legislative action towards recognizing the 
 South American Republics, in words of such lofty patriotism and 
 eloquence that his listeners bowed in homage to the lire of his 
 genius — in that wonderful debate in the Senate when Colonel 
 Hayne, of South Carolina, the eloquent expounder of State 
 rights, met the greatest master of American oratory — Webster, 
 the especial champion of constitutional law and supremacy, and 
 such was his power that, backed by Federal bayonets under Jack- 
 son's authority, it settled the arrogance of South Carolina seces- 
 sion for nearly thirty years. John Quincy Adams, as British 
 Minister, Secretary of State and President, was greater still on 
 the floor of the House of Representatives battling for the right 
 of petition from the freedom loving North, and after ten years' 
 persistency he wiped the infamous Atherton gag law from Con- 
 gressional rules, so that petitions for the abolition of slavery 
 could be heard. Douglass urging the unjust Kansas and Ne- 
 braska bill and opposed by Senator Hale, of New Hampshire, 
 and so on throcgh the irrepressible conflict between freedom and 
 slavery to the close of the reconstruction period, it seemed as if 
 a holy inspiration on the one side, and eloquence born of fallen 
 
LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL. 269 
 
 seraphim on the other made the Capitol brilliant with a blaze of 
 human intellect that the world never saw before. 
 
 But in the last few sessions of Congress, many mediocre men 
 have crept into place, monej has bought position, and the com- 
 ing Fiftieth Congress will probably belike the last, a weak, drift- 
 ing — wordy debates — and no great good accomplished. 
 
 The Capitol is lovely by daylight — by moonlight — under the 
 electric ray, and answers back with gleams of beauty to the 
 Monument a mile southward. 
 
 The new marble terraces which are built around the north, 
 west and south side, approach completion They are 204 feet 
 feet long on the capitol wings, and 415 feet on the west side that 
 is intersected by the grand staircase, which descends to the plaza 
 below. These terraces are built of white marble, with copings 
 and balustrades of Tennessee stone of varigated color — elegant 
 lamp brackets — and the whole of the terraces cover large docu- 
 ment rooms that is accessible from the crypt below. This last 
 improvement will cost over a million of dollars. 
 
 The plaza, or park, has a gothic structure in the southwest 
 part nearly covered with ivy and flecked with purple clematis in 
 summer, where the tinkling of falling water in a spacious grotto, 
 makes a most desirable resting place for a tired visitor; and 
 with shrub, tree, and flower, is a picture of rare interest in itself. 
 
 
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