All of the large b.a.l.l.s and parties of this date, including the bachelors" germans, which I frequently attended, were given at Lewis G.
Marini"s on the south side of E Street, near Ninth Street. Marini was an Italian and the dancing master of the day. Twice a week he went to Annapolis to teach the midshipmen, who, when subsequently ordered to duty in Washington, became very acceptable beaux, as they danced the same step that their master had taught his pupils here. The bachelors"
germans were organized among others by Robert F. Stockton, Hamilton Fish, Jr., John Davis, and Hamilton Perkins; while soon thereafter Seaton Munroe became one of its officers. I especially recall a german given by the bachelors at Marini"s, on the twenty-second of February, 1876, when Lady Thornton, wife of Sir Edward Thornton, British Minister to the United States, received the guests. The decorations were unusually elaborate, consisting chiefly of American flags draped along the walls from floor to ceiling; while at one end of the room, in compliment to the hostess of the evening, the stars and stripes made way to two British flags. A small cannon and a miniature ship were placed below the music gallery, while above them was a semicircle of cutla.s.ses and a _chevaux-de-frise_ of glistening spears behind which were the musicians. In an old sc.r.a.p book I find a brief notice of this entertainment which mentions the belles of the ball, some of whom became matrons of a later day in Washington and elsewhere. This is the list:--Miss Zeilin, Miss Dunn, Miss Kilbourn, Miss Emory, Miss Campbell, Miss Kernan, Miss Dennison, Miss Keating of Philadelphia, Miss Patterson, Miss Jewell, Miss Badger, Miss Warfield, Madame Santa Anna, Mrs. Gore Jones, Madame Mariscal, Madame Dardon, Mrs. Belknap, Mrs.
Robeson, Mrs. Frederick Grant and Miss Dodge ("Gail Hamilton").
In the old Stockton house, next door to the residence of William W.
Corcoran, lived Mr. and Mrs. Elijah Ward who probably entertained more lavishly than any other family of that day. Mr. Ward was then in Congress from New York. His wife possessed much grace of manner and a subtle charm quite impossible to describe. I enjoyed her intimate friendship and often availed myself of a standing invitation to take tea with her. In her drawing-room one constantly met acceptable recruits from social and political life, all of whom she charmed by her affable conversation and unaffected bearing. Upon her return to New York Miss Virginia Stuart, her daughter by a former marriage, married the Rev.
Alexander McKay-Smith, a.s.sistant rector at St. Thomas" Church. Soon after his marriage he received a call to St. John"s Church in Washington, where he remained the beloved rector until in 1902 he was elected Bishop-Coadjutor of Pennsylvania.
It was about this same period that I formed a friendship with Lieutenant Commander and Mrs. Arent Schuyler Crowninshield. He was then Ordnance Officer of the Washington Navy Yard and lived in the quaint old house later a.s.signed to the second line officer of that station. Mrs.
Crowninshield"s sister, Elizabeth Hopkins Bradford, lived with her and I attended her wedding there. She married Edmund Hamilton Smith of Canandaigua, New York, a son of Judge James C. Smith of the Supreme Court of that State, and the ceremony was performed by the Rev. Dr. John Vaughan Lewis of St. John"s Church, Washington. This wedding made an indelible impression upon my memory owing to an unfortunate circ.u.mstance which attended it. The mother of the bride-elect and the latter"s youngest sister, Louise, were traveling in Europe and had arranged their return pa.s.sage in ample time, as they supposed, to be present at the ceremony. The ship met with an accident off the coast of Newfoundland, however, and during the delay the wedding took place. There was much anxiety concerning the safety of the bride"s mother and sister which naturally cast an atmosphere of gloom over the marriage feast, but in a few days the ship came into port and unalloyed happiness prevailed.
After Mr. Crowninshield"s promotion to a Captaincy in the Navy he was ordered to command the _Richmond_ in the Philadelphia Navy Yard, and there I repeatedly met him and his fascinating wife. He remained there, however, for less than a year, when he was placed in command of the ill-fated _Maine_, and about ten months before she was destroyed was ordered to Washington as Chief of the Bureau of Navigation with the rank, first of Commodore and then of Rear Admiral. He served as such with marked efficiency during the Spanish-American War, and several years later commanded the flagship of the European Squadron. He retired in 1903 on his own application and died five years later, deeply regretted by a large circle of official and personal friends. Mrs.
Crowninshield is so well and favorably known to the public as an auth.o.r.ess that it would be impossible for me to add any leaves to the laurels she now wears; but I cannot refrain from paying a tribute to her remarkable loyalty as a friend and expressing my admiration for those uncommon traits of character which, with her commanding presence, have made her so deeply respected and so greatly admired.
The first loan-exhibition given in Washington that I now recall was near the close of Grant"s administration, and was for the benefit of the Church of the Incarnation. It was in an old house on the corner of Fifteenth and H Streets, since torn down to make way for the George Washington University. As much interest was shown in the enterprise and many of the old Washington families sent valuable relics, a large sum of money was realized. Among the contributors were William W. Corcoran, Miss Olive Risley Seward, Senator John P. Jones of Nevada, and Seth Ledyard Phelps, the latter of whom was at the time one of the District Commissioners and owned a large number of Chinese curios gathered by him during his life in the East. I, too, was glad to aid so worthy a cause and sent some of my most cherished possessions. Before the exhibition was formally opened, I attended a private view of the collection given in honor of William W. Corcoran and Horatio King. Of Mr. Corcoran I have elsewhere spoken; with Mr. King I was also well acquainted. In 1839, while a young man, he was appointed to a position in the Post Office Department and eleven years later was connected with its foreign service in which he originated and perfected postal arrangements of great importance to the country. His promotion was rapid and he finally became Postmaster General under President Buchanan, a position which he held with credit both to the administration and himself. About 1873, when I first knew Mr. and Mrs. King, they lived in a modest home at 707 H Street where, every Sat.u.r.day evening, many _litterateurs_ and prominent men of state were accustomed to gather and discuss the important literary and political problems of the day. John Pierpont read a poem at the first of these receptions and Grace Greenwood rendered some choice selections, while George William Curtis and other men of note contributed their share to the success of other similar occasions. These literary reunions are said to have been the first of their kind ever held in Washington.
I was invited one evening in 1877 by Mrs. Madeleine Vinton Dahlgren, widow of Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren, U.S.N., who was then living at the corner of L and Fourteenth Streets, to attend a meeting of the Washington Historical Society held in her drawing-rooms. It was Washington"s birthday and James A. Garfield, then Senator from Ohio, was the orator of the evening. In one portion of his remarks he seemed to go out of his way to emphasize the statement that Mary Ball, Washington"s mother, was a very plain old woman. Why he considered that her lack of prominent lineage necessarily added greater l.u.s.ter to the Father of His Country, was not apparent to quite a number of his audience, for even the numerous votaries of the Patron Saint of Erin, "the beautiful isle of the sea," took honest pride in according him a gentle descent:--
St. Patrick was a gintleman, He came from dacent people.
Mrs. Dahlgren was a woman of unusual intellectual ability. She was the daughter of Samuel Finley Vinton of Ohio, who for many years represented his district in Congress and was chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. In 1879 she published a small volume ent.i.tled "Etiquette of Social Life in Washington." She followed this book with another, whose t.i.tle I do not recall, in which she dwelt at length upon society in Washington. It was not well received as her criticisms upon the wives of Cabinet Officers and others were such as to invoke general disfavor and arouse bitter resentment. Mrs. Dahlgren"s ablest work, however, was the life of her husband, which was published in 1882 in a volume of over six hundred and fifty pages. She had a fine command of the English language and excellent literary discrimination in the use of its words, as appears everywhere in her writings and especially in the following tribute to her husband in the preface of his Life:--
"Admiral Dahlgren was a man of science, of inventive genius, of professional skill; but beyond all these, he was a _patriot_. While climbing, at first with slow and toilsome but reliant steps, and, later on, with swifter, surer progress, that summit to which his genius urged him, he was often and again confronted by the clamor of discontent, the jealousies of his profession, and the various forms of opposition his rapid, upward course evoked; and until the present generation of actors in the great drama in which he played so conspicuous part shall have pa.s.sed away, it will be difficult to gain an impartial opinion. Yet Death having arrested his ultimate conceptions while yet midway in his career, and set the final seal upon his actions, we are content to leave the verdict of a "last appeal" to his beloved country and the hearts of a grateful people."
Two years later I attended another meeting of this Historical Society at the residence of Henry Strong, who built and owned the house on K Street now occupied by Mrs. Stephen B. Elkins, and for a time resided there. It was a brilliant a.s.semblage and it deemed itself fortunate in having Moncure D. Conway, the distinguished historical writer and essayist, as the orator of the evening. He spoke upon the leaders of the Federal party during the formative period of our national government, and soon made it apparent that his sympathies were not with them. He was strongly denunciatory of the Federalists, going so far even as to brand some of them as traitors, and especially criticized Jay"s Treaty with England in 1794 which was their pet creation. He spoke at some length of Oliver Wolcott, one of the most prominent Federalists of that day, entirely ignorant meanwhile of the fact that some members of the Tuckerman family, his descendants, were in the audience. At this time Mr. Conway was writing the life of Thomas Paine, which has since been published, and the morning after his lecture on the Federal party he called upon me to ascertain whether any unpublished information relating to Paine, which might aid him in his projected biography of the latter, was to be found in the private papers of James Monroe which were in my possession.
During our conversation I ventured to remark to Mr. Conway that possibly he was not aware that the previous evening certain descendants of Oliver Wolcott were in his audience. He responded that he had no desire to give offense but that unfortunately he could not adapt history to suit the views of the descendants of early statesmen.
To use a terse expression of Hamlet, I have often heard that Paine was one of the unfortunates who were not treated by our government "according to their deserts." It is now conceded by students of our national history that no man rendered more effective service to the American Revolution than "Tom" Paine. His devotion to the cause and his conspicuous sacrifices in its behalf were repeatedly acknowledged by Washington, Franklin and all the lesser lights of the day. After independence had been secured, still imbued with the spirit of liberty, his pen and his presence were not wanting when required in behalf of the liberties of the French people. He was imprisoned with hundreds of others in the Luxembourg, where he languished for nearly eleven months in daily expectation of being hurried to the guillotine. Following the fall of Robespierre he was liberated through the kindly offices of James Monroe, who had succeeded Gouverneur Morris as our Minister to France, and was at once crowned with honors by the government in whose behalf he had suffered. During the term of his imprisonment, it was his belief that a single word from Washington would effect his release, and he had a right to expect it, but he waited in vain. He was wholly unconscious, meanwhile, that the mind of Washington had been poisoned against him by one high in public counsels, and while still in ignorance of this fact addressed him the well-known denunciatory letter which evoked such wide-spread criticism. Washington, however, was not to blame, for he had been deceived in the house of his friends; but of this Paine was entirely ignorant. Delaware Davis, a son of Colonel Samuel B. Davis of Delaware who rendered such distinguished service during the War of 1812, told me a few years ago that his father was present at a dinner where Paine was asked what he thought of Washington. Doubtless in a spirit of acrimony he uttered the following lines:
Take from the rock the rough and rudest stone, It needs no sculptor, it is Washington; But if you chisel, let the strokes be rude, And on his bosom write ingrat.i.tude.
There is probably no period of our national history when party rivalries were so intense and the expression of political animosities were more bitter than they were a century ago between the disciples of Jefferson and Hamilton. Epithets in popular discourse were openly hurled at political antagonists that decent men would not tolerate to-day, and the public press gave expression to charges and insinuations against honorable partisans such as none but the very yellowest and most debauched journals would now deem it expedient to print. As a single ill.u.s.tration, I have in my possession what is called "An infallible remedy to make a true Federalist." It is without date and was given to me by a descendant of Thomas Jefferson who knew nothing of its origin except that it was a Boston production. It speaks for itself, and is as follows:--
Take the head of an old hypocrite, one ounce of Nero"s conspiracy, two ounces of the hatred of truth, five scruples of liars" tongues, twenty-five drops of the spirit of Oliver Cromwell, fifteen drops of the spirit of contentment. Put them in the mortar of self-righteousness and pound them with the pestle of malice and sift them through the skin of a Doctor of Divinity and put the compound into the vessel of rebellion and steep it over the fire of Sedition twenty-four hours, and then strain it in the rag of high treason. After which put it in the bottle of British influence and cork it with the disposition of Toryism, and let it settle until the general court rises, and it will then be fit for use. This composition has never been known to fail, but if by reason of robust const.i.tution it should fail, add the anxiety of the stamp act, and sweeten with a Provisional Army.
The above articles may be had of the following gentlemen who are appointed wholesale venders of British Agents in America.
F. TARGET.
The last days of the Grant administration were filled with forebodings and excitement. I shall always remember, when the news reached Washington that Rutherford B. Hayes had been nominated by the Republican party, the eager inquiries: "Who is Hayes?" It was then I heard for the first time an expression which constantly occurs nowadays--"A dark horse." Samuel J. Tilden, as is well known, was the standard bearer of the Democracy. The fight was long and bitter, as almost up to the day of the inauguration the question as to which candidate was successful was a matter of doubt. The Electoral Commission, the compromise agreed upon by both parties, was composed of the same number of Republicans and Democrats with Justice Joseph P. Bradley of the Supreme Court as the fifteenth member, chosen on account of his neutral position. It decided that the Republican nominee was ent.i.tled to the electoral votes of Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina, and the Electoral College accordingly awarded the Presidency to Mr. Hayes by a vote of 186 to 185.
The Tilden campaign was engineered by Manton Marble, an able man and the editor of the New York _World_. I had known Mr. Tilden when he was a great adherent of Martin Van Buren. He was a small, insignificant looking man whose whole life was given up to politics. As I remember him in general, he was expounding upon his favorite subject regardless of "time and tide." His father had been affiliated with the celebrated "Albany Regency," and the son, inheriting his views, became one of the ablest as well as shrewdest political leaders that the Democratic party in New York has ever known. As a lawyer his great ability was universally recognized, and yet his last will was successfully contested, although it had been drawn up by him with almost infinite care and with the most scrupulous regard for details and engrossed with his own hand.
I saw the Hayes inaugural-parade from a window on the corner of Fifteenth Street and New York Avenue. All through the day there was a suppressed feeling of uncertainty and excitement, but at the appointed hour the President-elect drove to the Capitol in the usual manner and took the oath of office. The procession which escorted him to the White House was by no means so imposing as others I had seen, among them that of eight years later at Cleveland"s first inauguration, when General Fitzhugh Lee rode at the head of the Virginia troops and received a greater ovation than the new President himself. It was late in February before it was definitely known what the final decision of the Electoral Commission would be, and the uncertainty arising from this fact, together with the prevailing political disquietude, doubtless had much effect in limiting the size of the parade.
I soon made the acquaintance of President and Mrs. Hayes and was always a welcome guest at the White House. The latter was of commanding presence and endowed with great beauty, while she possessed moral and intellectual traits that not only endeared her in time to the residents of the Capital but also won for her the respect and admiration of the people at large. She was also a woman of strong convictions and exceptional strength of character, and rarely failed to make her influence felt in behalf of what she believed to be right. Although, for example, the att.i.tude she a.s.sumed in regard to the use of wine at the White House entertainments was a radical departure from precedent and evoked the antagonism of many of her friends and admirers, she believed herself to be right and successfully persevered in her course to the end; so that William M. Evarts, Hayes"s Secretary of State, kept pretty close to the truth when he a.s.serted years thereafter that "during the Hayes administration water flowed at the White House like champagne!"
She was a woman of deeply religious experience and a devout member of the Methodist Church. Washington society felt the influence of her example, and during her residence at the White House the Sabbath was more generally observed at the National Capital than during any other administration I have known. As time pa.s.sed and we became better acquainted, my respect and admiration for her greatly increased. I repeatedly spent the evening with her informally at the White House when our intercourse was unhampered by red-tape, and it was then, of course, that I saw her at her best. Her _role_ was by no means without its embarra.s.sments. She necessarily knew that many persons of prominence and influence viewed with serious doubt the legality of her husband"s t.i.tle to the Presidential chair and that there were those who even alluded to him as "His Fraudulency"; but the world was none the wiser, so far as she was concerned, and she pursued the "even tenor of her way," and by the subtle influence of her character and conduct won both for her husband and herself the admiration of many who, but for her, would probably have remained their enemies.
In 1863 Stephen J. Field of California was appointed by President Lincoln a Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and made his residence in one of the three dwelling-houses on Second Street facing the Capitol, which is said to have been a gift from his brothers, David Dudley, the eminent lawyer; Cyrus W., the father of the Atlantic cable; and the Rev.
Dr. Henry M., the eminent Presbyterian divine and versatile editor of _The New York Evangelist_. Here the brothers met every February to celebrate the birthday of David Dudley Field. For many years after the destruction of the first Capitol by the British in the War of 1812, the Field house and the two which adjoined it were used by Congress as the seat of its deliberations. Henry Clay served within its walls as Speaker for about ten years, and Mrs. Field took much pride in showing her guests the mark on the wall where his desk stood. At one period before its occupancy by Judge Field this residence was used as a boarding house, and in its back parlor John C. Calhoun breathed his last. During the Civil War it was used by the government with the two adjoining houses as the "Old Capitol Prison"--but of this I have spoken in another place. Justice Field was "a gentleman of the old school" and one of the most courtly men in public life, while his wife was well known for her tact, culture and exquisite taste. Their home was enriched with many curiosities collected at home and abroad, and I especially recall a bust of the young Emperor Augustus, an exact copy of the original in the Vatican. Mrs. Field"s sister, Miss Sarah Henderson Swearingen, accompanied her to Washington and some years later was married from this home to John Condit-Smith. My old friend, Dr. Charles W. Hoffman, who for twenty years was the librarian of the U.S. Supreme Court, was a near neighbor and friend of Judge and Mrs. Field. After a life well spent he retired to the home of his birth in Frederick, Maryland, where he lived for many years, surrounded by his well-loved books and art treasures. He never married.
When I first knew Mr. and Mrs. James G. Blaine they were living on Fifteenth Street between H and I Streets. Miss Abigail Dodge, "Gail Hamilton," a cousin of Mrs. Blaine, resided with them and added greatly to the charm of the establishment. The world in general as well as his eulogists have done full justice to Mr. Blaine"s amazing tact and charm of manner; but I may be pardoned the conceit if I offer my own tribute by referring to a graceful remark he made the first time I had the pleasure of meeting him. I heard someone say: "Here comes Mr. Blaine,"
and as I turned and he was formally presented to me I saw before me a distinguished looking middle-aged man of commanding presence, who, as he raised his hat to greet me, remarked in a low and pleasant voice: "I bow to the name!"
The social column so generally in vogue in all the large newspapers throughout the country was introduced into Washington about 1870. Miss Augustine Snead, who wrote under the _nom de plume_ of "Miss Grundy,"
was the first woman society reporter I ever knew. She represented several newspapers, and she and her mother, Mrs. Fayette Snead, herself a graceful writer under the pen name of "Fay," were seen at many entertainments. Both of them were wide-awake and clever women. I happen to have preserved an article which appeared in the society column of _The Evening Star_, written by Miss Snead, which is largely made up of puns upon the society men of the day, some of whom are now gray-haired veterans and some, alas! are no longer here. She wrote:--
"Our society men are sighing for their rights and complain that whereas it is only once in four years they have the privilege of being courted and receiving special attention the social columns of the newspapers should give them more s.p.a.ce. We have detailed one of our corps for the purpose with the following result. It (s)Eames to us that the officers of the Marine Corps are Muse-ing on an exhibition of their Zeal in the invention of a patent Payne-killer, in proof that they have not leaned upon a broken Reed. Some one may call us Palmer (H)off of bad puns, but we have not given A(u)lick amiss. No wonder the Marine Corps, in hourly dread of annihilation, has its anxieties increased by the continuance of the Alarm at the Navy Yard, the officers of that formidable little vessel having proved through the season that it is well named, by each striking eight _belles_ per hour."
"Eames" was my nephew, Charles Campbell Eames. "Muse" was General William S. Muse, U.S.M.C., now residing on the Eastern Sh.o.r.e of Maryland, who usually spends a portion of each year at the Capital.
"Zeal in" referred to Lieutenant William F. Zeilin, U.S.M.C., a son of General Jacob Zeilin, U.S.M.C. "Payne" was Frederick H. Paine, formerly in the Navy, who still makes Washington his home. "Reed" was General George C. Reid, U.S.M.C., now residing in Washington. "(H)off" was Captain William Bainbridge Hoff, U.S.N., who died a few years ago; and "Palmer" was Lieutenant Aulick Palmer, formerly in the Marine Corps and now U.S. Marshal of the District of Columbia.
When I first knew the distinguished scientist, Professor Theodore E.
Hilgard, he and his wife were living on N Street, near Twelfth Street.
For many years he was Superintendent of the Coast Survey, and after an interval of a number of years was succeeded by his nephew, Mr. Otto H.
t.i.ttmann. The latter and his wife are now among the widely-known and popular residents of Washington. The French Government in appreciation of Professor Hilgard"s scientific achievements presented to him a superb vase which is now owned by Dr. Thomas N. Vincent.
About thirty years ago my daughters and I formed a friendship with Senator and Mrs. James B. Beck of Kentucky and their daughter, the wife of General Green Clay Goodloe of the U.S. Marine Corps. Mr. Beck was one of the Democratic leaders in the Senate and was regarded as among the ablest men of his party. He was proud of his Scotch blood and loyal in his friendships. His wife was Miss Jane Washington Augusta Thornton, whose grandfather, Colonel John Thornton of Rappahannock County, Virginia, was a first cousin of General Washington. Both the Senator and his wife have pa.s.sed onward, but our affection still lives in General and Mrs. Goodloe, who are among the best and truest friends I have ever known.
Just before the close of the Hayes administration, Walter D. Davidge, whose home for many years was on Sixth Street, built a large mansion on the corner of H and Seventeenth Streets and upon its completion he and Mrs. Davidge, who was Miss Anna Louisa Washington, gave a housewarming.
Champagne flowed freely upon this occasion and it is said that the supper was one of the handsomest and most elaborate ever served in Washington. The same winter my daughters attended a brilliant ball given at Stewart Castle by its chatelaine, Mrs. William M. Stewart, whose husband was one of the U.S. Senators from Nevada. She was the daughter of Senator Henry S. Foote, who represented Mississippi in ante-bellum days, and gave the ball in honor of several Virginia girls who were her guests. She was a.s.sisted in the entertainment by her two elder daughters, both of whom were married. Stewart Castle was well adapted for such a social function as it was one of the few mansions in Washington that had a s.p.a.cious ballroom. This residence was quite suburban, and the Hillyer house on Ma.s.sachusetts Avenue which stood on a high terrace was the only other dwelling in the immediate vicinity. I remember that when the home of the British Emba.s.sy was in the course of erection, the wisdom of the location was greatly questioned, owing to its remoteness from the fashionable center of the city.
During the Arthur administration, Mr. Edward C. Halliday and his wife came to the National Capital to spend a winter. I had known him many years before when he visited the widow of General Alexander Macomb in her home on the corner of I and Seventeenth Streets, where the Farragut apartment house now stands. He was of a Scotch family which originally settled in New York, and his father for some years was President of the St. Andrews Society of that city. After residing several months in Washington Mr. Halliday built several houses opposite the British Emba.s.sy on N Street, the largest of which he reserved for his own residence. It was here that Mr. and Mrs. Halliday entertained with such true Scotch hospitality. Their Friday evenings were bright spots on the social horizon, especially for the young people, as dancing was one of their special features. Just before the close of her second social season Mrs. Halliday gave a fancy-dress ball, which was a happy inspiration, varying as it did the monotony of germans, receptions and teas. On this occasion the minuet was danced by the younger guests dressed in Louis XIV. costumes.
In the spring of 1880 the long and painful illness of my husband closed in death. He had been handicapped by years of ill health, and, although he had the intellectual power, the ability, the wings to spread, there was, alas, no surrounding air to bear them up! The ambition was there and the intense desire, but strength was lacking and he bore his affliction with sublime fort.i.tude. For a while after his departure I felt akin to a ship lost at sea; my moorings were nowhere within sight.
I had leaned on him through so many years of married life, constantly sustained by his high code of integrity and honor, that his death was indeed a bereavement too terrible for words to express. I care to say no more.
The summer of the same year, accompanied by my daughters, I sought the quietude of the mountains of Virginia. Tarrying in the same house with me was Mrs. John Griffith Worthington of Georgetown, D.C., with whom I formed a lasting friendship. The Worthington family resided in the District long before it became the seat of government and owned extensive property. Even in extreme old age Mrs. Worthington was one of the most truly beautiful women I have ever seen. She was Miss Elizabeth Phillips of Dayton, Ohio, and a lineal descendant of President Jonathan d.i.c.kinson of Princeton University. Her daughter Eliza, Mrs. William Henry Philip, represented the same type of woman. John G. Worthington"s sister married Judge William Gaston, the eminent jurist of North Carolina.
The administration of Garfield was of short duration. The tragedy which brought to a speedy close his earthly career is too well known to be dwelt upon at length. The mortal attack upon him in 1881 by the fanatic Charles J. Guiteau in the old Pennsylvania railroad station on the corner of Sixth and D Streets shocked the civilized world, and his long and painful illness at Elberon was closely watched by a sympathizing public until it closed in death. Dr. D. W. Bliss was the Garfield family physician but the most eminent specialists of the country were called into consultation. It is the first time within my memory that I ever heard of the issue of official bulletins by physicians announcing the condition of their patients. At the trial of Guiteau he was defended by his brother-in-law, George M. Scoville, while Judge John K. Porter of New York and Walter D. Davidge of the Washington bar were employed to a.s.sist in the prosecution. This trial was of such absorbing interest that men and women crowded to the City Hall, where admission was granted only by ticket. No one could possibly have seen Guiteau without a feeling akin to pity, as he displayed every indication of possessing an unbalanced mind.
The administration of President Arthur proved a source of delight to Washington society and afforded abundant demonstration, as in the cases of Jefferson, Jackson, Van Buren and Buchanan before him, that a "Mistress of the White House" in the person of a wife is not an absolute necessity. Mrs. John E. McElroy, the President"s sister, spent much of her time in Washington and presided with grace over the social functions of the White House. The President himself was a gentleman of dignified and imposing presence and of great social as well as political tact. He instinctively seemed to know the proper thing to do and exactly when to do it. I was deeply touched by his thoughtfulness when my second daughter, Ruth Monroe, was married in December, 1882. Although we were still in mourning and had no personal acquaintance with the President nor other a.s.sociation at that time with the White House, General Arthur on that occasion sent superb flowers to my home from the conservatory of the Executive Mansion. I regarded the act as exceedingly gracious, but it was in every way characteristic of the man. The circ.u.mstances under which he succeeded to the Presidential chair were so painful and some of his former political affiliations were so distasteful to many that the early portion of his administration was attended with a certain degree of embarra.s.sment; yet, by sheer force of character, unquestioned ability and magnificent tact he so effectively worked his way into the hearts of the people that he left the Presidential chair as highly esteemed as any of his predecessors and carried with him into retirement the applause of the people irrespective of party affiliation.
I made the acquaintance of General and Mrs. Adolphus W. Greely soon after his return from his Arctic expedition. Both he and Rear Admiral Winfield Scott Schley, U.S.N., the rescued and the rescuer, were then receiving the ovations of the public. During our early acquaintance the Greelys purchased a delightful old-fashioned house on G Street, below Pennsylvania Avenue, where they still reside surrounded by a charming group of sons and daughters. General Greely is always an object of interest wherever he goes and deservedly so, as scientific attainments, distinguished bearing and engaging manners such as his can never fail to win applause. Mrs. Greely, the bride of his youth and the companion of his maturer years, wins all hearts and holds them.
It would be both unjust and ungrateful to make no mention of Mrs. Phoebe Hearst, the mother of William R. Hearst of New York. She came to Washington an entire stranger as the wife of the late Senator George Hearst of California, but soon endeared herself to all old residents by her personal magnetism, her social tact and her philanthropic acts.
Deeply in sympathy with the work of women, her benevolence in this particular field was unbounded. Her entertainments were lavish and I was often numbered among her guests. I especially recall an evening reception given by her in honor of a company of authors attending a congress in Washington. It was remarkable for the number of distinguished men and women gathered from all parts of the country, some of whom I had never met before, and among them Mark Twain, Francis Marion Crawford and William Dean Howells.
As I lay down my pen, memories of many old friends are pa.s.sing before me and of their children, too. Then there are others with whom I formed ties later in life of the most enduring character. This is especially true of my old and cherished neighbors, Rear Admiral and Mrs. Francis A.
Roe. With his work well done he now rests from his labors, but his widow is yet my valued friend. Still another is Rear Admiral Winfield Scott Schley, U.S. N. who, surrounded by admiring friends in Washington, lives quietly and unostentatiously and bears his laurels well; and last, but anything in the world but least, Mrs. Julian James, a representative of a distinguished New York family, the daughter of Theodorus Bailey Myers, who has made her home in Washington for many years, and is now the "Lady Bountiful" of the National Capital. Beautiful in person as well as in character, she distributes her wealth with a lavish hand, and richly deserves the words "well done."
In looking backward through the years of a long and active life I have seen varied relays of humanity, all of them acting their parts and filling their appropriate niches--great and small often standing shoulder to shoulder and engaged in the same strife. Many of them, my friends in childhood as well as old age, have long since pa.s.sed into the life beyond. _Vanitas Vanitatis!_ may be the exclamation of the moralizing cynic, but to me many of these memories are a blessed heritage, and I am grateful to the Father of All for permitting me to catch from them the inspiration to prepare these rambling notes.