Chapter XIX

INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE—SHADOWS OF THE PAST.

Haunted Houses—Shadows of the Past—Touching Memories—The Little
Angels Born There—A State of Perpetual Dampness—Dingy Aspect of
a Monarch’s Palace—Outside the White House—A Peep Inside the
Mansion—The Emperor of Japan Supersedes the Punch-Bowl—The
Unfinished “Banqueting-Hall”—Glories of a _Levée_—Magnificent
Hospitalities—A Comfortable Dining-Room—A Lady of Taste—An
American “Baronial Hall”—The Furniture of Another Generation—A
Valuable Steward—A Professor of Gastronomy—Paying the Professor
and Providing the Dinner—Feeding the Celebrities—Mrs. Lincoln’s
Unpopular Innovations—Fifteen Hundred Dollars for a Dinner—How
Prince Arthur, of England, was Entertained—Domestic
Economy—“Not Enough Silver”—A Tasty Soup—The Recipe for an
Aristocratic Stew—Having a “Nice Time”—Hatred of Flummery—An
Admirer of Pork and Beans and Slap-jacks—A Presidential
Reception—Ready for the Festival—Splendor, Weariness and
Indigestion—Paying the Penalty—In the Conservatory—Domestic
Arrangements—Reminiscence of Abraham Lincoln, 167

CHAPTER XX.

LADIES OF THE WHITE HOUSE.

A Morning Dream—Wives and Daughters of the Presidents—An Average
Matron of the 18th Century—Educational Disadvantages—A
Well-Regulated Lady—Useful Wife—Advantages of Having a
Distinguished Husband—A Modern Lucretia—Washington’s
Inauguration Suit—An Awkward Position for a Lady—Festivities in
Franklin Square!—Transporting the Household Gods—Keeping Early
Hours—Primitive Customs—Much-Shaken Hands—Remembrances of a
Past Age—Very Questionable Humility—The Room in which
Washington Died—Days of Widowhood—A Wife’s Congratulations—A
True Woman—Domestic Affairs at the White House—An Unfinished
Mansion—Interesting Details—A Woman’s Influence—A Monument
Wanted—Devotion of a Husband—The “Single Life”—Disappointed
Belles—An Extraordinary Reception—Blacked His Own Boots—A
Daughter’s Affection, 177

CHAPTER XXI.

WIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS—LIFE AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

A Social Queen—“The Most Popular Person in the United States”—The
Slow Days of Old—Traveling Under Difficulties—Political
Pugnacity—Formality _versus_ Hospitality—Big Dishes Laughed
at—A Foreign Minister Criticises—Advantages of a Good
Memory—Funny Adventure of a Rustic Youth—A Strange
Pocketful—Putting Him at His Ease—Doleful Visage of a New
President—Getting Rid of a Burden—A Brave Lady—Waiting in
Suspense—Taking Care of Cabinet Papers—Watching and
Waiting—Flight—Unscrewing the Picture—After the War—Brilliant
Receptions—Mrs. Madison’s Snuff-Box—Clay Takes a Pinch—“This is
my Polisher!”—Two Plain Old Ladies from the West—They Depart in
Peace—Days of Trouble and Care—Manuscripts Purchased by
Congress—Last Days of a Good Woman—Mrs. Monroe—A Severe and
Aristocratic Woman—Madame Lafayette in Prison, 192

CHAPTER XXII.

NOTED WOMEN OF WASHINGTON—A CHAPTER OF GOSSIP.

A Traveling Lady—Life in Russia—A Modern American Minister—A long
and Lonely Journey—The Court of St James—Peculiar
Waists—Costume of an Ancient _Belle_—Fearful and Wonderful
Attire of a _Beau_—“A suit of Steel”—An Ascendant Star—A Man
Who Hid his Feelings—The Candidate at a Cattle Show—Charles’s
Opinion of His Mother—How a Lady “Amused” Her Declining Days—A
Woman’s Influence—Politics and Piety Disagree—Why the General
Didn’t Join the Church—A Head “Full of Politics”—Swearing
Some—The President Becomes a Good Boy—Domestic Tendencies, 204

CHAPTER XXIII.

SCENES AT THE WHITE HOUSE—MEN AND WOMEN OF NOTE.

Widows “at par”—Four Sonless Presidents—Supported by Flattery—A
Delicate Constitution—Living to a Respectable Age—Teaching Her
Grandson How to Fight—A Pathetic Reminiscence—A Perfect
Gentlewoman—Obeying St. Paul—A Woman Who “Kept Silence”—“Sarah
Knows Where It Is”—Three Queens in the Background—A Very
Handsome Woman—A Lady’s Heroism—A Man Who Kept to His Post—A
Life in the Savage Wilderness—A Life’s Devotion—The Colonel’s
Brave Wife—Objecting to the Presidency—An Inclination for
Retirement—The Penalty of Greatness—Death in the White House—A
Wife’s Prayers—A New _Regime_—The Clothier’s Apprentice and the
School Teacher—The Future President Builds His Own
House—Domestic Happiness—Twenty-seven Years of Married
Life—Home “Comforts” at the White House—The Memory of a Loving
Wife, 218