Chapter VI: Part 6

Mrs. Stanton then rose and said a woman had just visited her who was connected with the Washington public schools. For a long time she had tried to get her wages; that she was in debt, with all its attendant evils; that she had applied time after time for her dues, but they were withheld, but that a school trustee had put his hand in his pocket and offered the teacher forty dollars instead of forty-five, the amount due. She instanced this as an atrocious advantage taken of a helpless woman. As she took her seat a man in a distant part of the hall arose for an explanation. He painted the awful picture of a depleted city treasury, of the inability of the school committee to get blood out of a stone, and thought the man did a most generous act to give the woman forty dollars and wait indefinitely for the forty-five. He said the man was touched by her necessities, and no doubt cramped himself to do a good act, for the school committee are poor men.

A silence followed. Mr. May again came forward to bring forth some mental gem that in his former speech had been forgotten. He wanted to say something about woman as an inventor. A woman had invented the cotton-gin, but in this case she had been maliciously deprived of her rights. The audience listened patiently and his last talk came to an end. Then Mrs. Charlotte Wilbour took the stand and read one of her sleepy essays. But she made rather a handsome figure with the gaslight dancing on the golden sheaves that bespangled her royal drapery. Her costly fan was suspended from her waist by a heavy gold chain, and this, with the length of her long train, made her look anything else but “strong-minded.”

When her essay came to an end, Mr. May arose for an explanation, but the decorous, good humored audience had swallowed enough of Mr. May, and its stomach actually refused any more of the decoction. Stamp! Stamp! Stamp! Motherly Mrs. Stanton came forward and said, “Be a good child. Take it down; take it for the sake of free speech.” Mr. May began. Hissing, stamping. Again Mrs. Stanton’s sweet face beams on the audience and says, “Why will ye?”

Mr. May began and said: “I shall stand here until you hear me, if stay till to-morrow morning.” Determination was written on that face, with the broad lower jaw and mouth, which sprung together like the shutting of a steel trap. His arms were folded, and his whole person breathed the spirit of the Egyptian sphinx. The audience felt the presence of its master, and yielded as good naturedly as it began the battle. Mr. May told us something about a State’s prison, where there were nothing but female convicts and female officers, but whether this model prison is in his own State of New York or elsewhere escaped the ear of the writer, but it is safe to say if it is not in New York it certainly ought to be there.

Miss Anthony now came forward and told a good story, a noble one, about Olympia Brown. Four months Olympia traveled in Kansas in every way except by railroad. She spoke every day of the four months, and oftener twice than otherwise. Generally she had met the kindest treatment, but sometimes not, for in every audience there is generally a fringe of humanity where there is more boot-heel than brain. There was one district in Kansas where intelligent people lived, where for years they were unable to get a schoolhouse. They could get no majority to vote upon the question, because the claims in the town were owned by single men, who did not want to vote to be taxed, or else by non-residents who were never there to give a decision one way or another. The father worked on year after year, but all in vain. After the passage of the law giving woman the right to vote on the school question, the mothers arose at 11 o’clock at night, voted, and got a schoolhouse. Why the women should be obliged to arise at 11 o’clock at night to vote, instead of waiting until a respectable hour in the morning, Susan forgot to mention. Miss Anthony said once upon a time she was announced to speak in Brooklyn, at the same time with Miss Anna Dickinson. Just as she had changed her frock, and got ready for starting, the fickle Anna telegraphed that she could not be there. There was no time to prepare for this unforeseen catastrophe, so she put on her bonnet and went over to Brooklyn--went into the vast hall, crowded with humanity, who had come to see Anna, not her. Had the heavens opened and buckets of ice-water been showered down upon her head she could have felt no worse. She looked around and there sat Henry Ward Beecher, and Chapin, and a host of intellectual lights, which were enough to cook any woman’s marrow to the bones, and she was as bare of thought as New York is of honesty. She applied a forcing pump to her mind, but still the water of thought wouldn’t come; her brain was as dry as a squeezed orange. What should she do? She looked around on the hungry audience, and at last her eyes rested on Henry Ward Beecher, and she felt saved. Leaving her place on the platform, she advanced to the great preacher, and, laying her hand on his shoulder she said, “You must help me; I can’t do it.” Susan did not tell us whether it was owing to her command or the pressure which she brought to bear on his shoulder that conquered him. At any rate, he came gallantly to her side; and never was such a rousing speech made by the great parson in all the days of his life. Then she said, “What did I tell this story for? Something I am sure! Let me see. Oh, yes! I wanted to prove that men and women needed to work together side by side. When one fails, the other can come to the rescue.” At this moment Susan gave evidence of having touched the bottom of her remarkable strength and vitality. The unmitigated drain upon her vital forces for three days of convention seemed to have done its work. Any other woman would have fainted, but not Susan. She only said, “I think I’ll sit down.”

Mrs. Stanton came forward and said she wanted to talk an hour to the young ladies about health and strength. Napoleon could not make a soldier of a sick man. If girls are left with white hands and poverty an inheritance, as it often is when they are orphaned, the sin of it lies at the parents’ door. Educate women for ministers, and there will be better theology preached. Let them study the law. Would it bring them more into notice than the public ball? There is no place where there are such temptations as in fashionable life, for nowhere are such sensuous men found. If marriage is contemplated, it is not thought whether a man has character but whether he has wealth. She said she had an interest in the perpetuity of the American Constitution. Women will never respect themselves, but will be ground down until they learn self-support. She had personal knowledge of many girls who wanted to do something for themselves, but the fathers stood by, saying, “Degrade women to go to the polls?” If a woman is so rash as to marry a man, should she be afraid to go by his side to the ballot-box? She had six men in her family, and, excepting the tobacco, she found them very endurable. She thought men and women ought to be together in every movement. A drunken man will try to act sober when women are around. Conversation is never so good when men are alone; nor is it so elevating among women as when a few philosophers or well-informed men are present.

Senator Wilson arrives and is lustily cheered. He ascends the platform and shakes hands with his personal friends. He said he did not come to address an argument to this meeting; he did not come to add his faith to the creed to be promulgated. Whenever he had a vote to give to any practical measure which should benefit this country it should be given to men and women alike. But he came there to redeem a promise to Miss Anthony, who really would not let him say “no.” “But I am with you. For the last thirty-four years I have tried, in private and in public, to emancipate a race. The work is done. Complete political equality is nearly accomplished; and what little time may be allotted me I shall still go on with the work which has given four and a half millions freedom. I am with you in sentiment, feeling, and all which relates to the work.”

Mrs. Stanton having perceived several Congressmen in the hall, invites them to the platform. They do not choose to come. Senator Tipton is called by name, and rises and begs to be excused, and Mrs. Stanton shows her weakness by excusing him.

Rachel Townsend, the Quakeress, takes the platform, and scores the factory girl for her effective speech of the evening before. She says she has a good word to say for Congress; a good word for President Grant, who has taken the colored man by the hand and raised him to a place he never occupied before. He had placed the despised Quakers over the Indians and the Quakers had done what powder and bullets had failed to do. Quaker women were amongst the Indians, Christianizing them as much as the other sex.

Mrs. Jocelyn Gage was then introduced by a handsome preamble, in Mrs. Stanton’s own style. She said Mrs. Gage was author of a pamphlet upon “Woman as an Inventor,” and that the pamphlet went to prove that women originated the cotton-gin. Mrs. Gage, however, did not tell the audience any new facts about woman suffrage.

The majestic, most queenly Pauline Davis criticised Senator Wilson because he had spoken of the black men and said nothing about the black women.

Miss Anthony then offered a resolution on the sixteenth amendment, and made just such a speech as only Susan can. She demanded that Congress submit the amendment. She commanded the Judiciary Committee of the District to present the bill before the House, and that it be done quickly. She wanted something practical to work on. She said there were black men so ignorant that when they went to the polls they expected to have a mule given them at the same time. “Do you suppose such women as Mrs. Stanton, Mrs. Davis, Mrs. Wright, and others--I’ll say myself; yes, I’ll say we--have suffered hooting, degradation, persecution, everything for all these years, and not accomplish what we have to do!” Vesuvius could be painted more easily than Susan at this supreme moment. What is this invisible force? Heads were bowed until the whirlwind swept by. Susan went up like a rocket but came down like a stick, but it did not hurt her. She said she was tired of harping on one string. She looked so weary. Oh! that Susan had a place softer than a pillow on which to lay that tired head.

There is no time to tell all the strong words this woman said, because it must be told that Mrs. Beecher Hooker tried to speak and failed. Alas! for the Beechers. She said that Christ had come to deliver woman. She had entered into this movement because undefiled, pure religion was to be found there, I assure you. Few of us know the burden which Christianity brings. Let us take hold and work together. At this moment she said so many earnest faces gazing at her made it impossible to go on, and she withdrew her beautiful face, suffused with the pure Beecher blood, the sweetest picture the family has had the honor to present for many days.

Miss Olympia Brown came to the rescue. It was like shifting a panorama; Olympia is beyond criticism in some respects. Her face glows with enthusiasm; she talks because she is in earnest, and not for effect. She was followed by Miss Couzins, who could not be compared with Olympia, and yet the former won the applause. But men’s boots were heard in the uproar. Phœbe is pretty, and the rest followed. The hall was crowded with the best and strongest audience that ever greeted the woman suffrage movement in Washington.

OLIVIA.

AT A COMMITTEE HEARING.

THE LADIES PLEAD THEIR CAUSE AT THE CAPITOL.

WASHINGTON, _January 22, 1870_.

At a proper fashionable hour this morning the women delegates began slowly to gather in the moderately sized room occupied by the Senate Committee on the District of Columbia. Last of all came the most prominent delegates. Mrs. Stanton went to a side table and laid down her dainty little bonnet and shook out her curls. Then she took her seat at the head of the table. Susan B. stood next, then Mrs. Beecher Hooker, Pauline Davis, Josephine Griffing, Phœbe Couzins and Mrs. Wright. The usual buzz of conversation was carried on whisperingly, for the dignity of the Senate chamber extended to that floor. The small audience was of the most exclusive and aristocratic kind. The factory girl had been sent off North early in the morning, lest her roar should alarm the Congressional doves. In the awful stillness might have been seen wall flowers, to whose fragrance a whole nation can testify. Grace Greenwood was there, in a lovely winter costume; but there is no time to describe the attractive beauties of the scene.

After a little Senators Hamlin, Patterson, Pratt, and other gentlemen connected with the committee came in, and a general introduction and handshaking took place. The committee of the Senate were arranged on one side of the long table, and the House committee on the other, whilst the head of it was left for each woman who should make her speech. The solemn occasion was opened, as usual, by Mrs. Stanton.

Senator Hamlin, who sat at the head of the Senate committee, and consequently at the speaker’s right hand, turned his ear in a calm and patient attitude, with a suppressed merry twinkling of the eye altogether incompatible with the hour. Senator Pratt, of Indiana, laid his head on the back of his chair, rolled his eyes heavenward, and looked as if he felt his genuine modesty more than ever. Mr. Rice, of Arkansas, sat holding his chin, apparently fearful that unless taken just the right kind of care of it might drop down, leaving the floor open with all sorts of consequences. Judge Cook, of Illinois, folded his hands over his breast, seemingly as resigned as if for the last time, whilst Judge Welker, of Ohio, looked just as if he wanted to say “boo to a goose.” Just before Mrs. Stanton began Senator Hamlin read two petitions--the first signed by some of the women of the District, praying that suffrage be extended to them, and another from Massachusetts, of the same purport. After he had finished he calmly sat down, and told the women he was prepared, with the other gentlemen, to hear what they had to say. Mrs. Stanton came to time as usual, and began the story which all thoughtful persons have by heart who have heard her three times. She read it, however, and one sitting by her side could see slips of paper cut from newspapers pasted between portions of the manuscript, and it was said these slips were taken from the time of the Revolution. The essay began about eternal principles. That it was best to do right, and leave the rest to God. That Congress should legislate for equality. The Republican party had put the word “male” into the Federal Constitution. The States had the right to regulate, but not to prohibit suffrage. It is despotism of the most odious kind to prevent woman from the exercise of those powers which God has given her. She said there was a proposition before Congress to change the whole code of laws which govern the District of Columbia; and when this was done the only way to regenerate and purify the spot was to remove disabilities, and let all vote--male and female, black and white. She wanted this mooted question of suffrage ended. She went over the ground of the late war, and said that woman had not been a disinterested observer for the last hundred years; that she came over in the Mayflower, side by side with man in the old Revolution; and can woman now stand silent and see the selling of her birthright of liberty? The emancipated serfs of Russia were clamoring for more liberty, and they would get it, too. Do you intend to stand by these old landmarks, instead of advancing with a newer civilization? Mrs. Stanton then proposed for the committee to ask any questions which they might think proper to do. An ominous silence followed. Mrs. Stanton then said she did not choose to be represented by John Morrissey and two men in the New York legislature who could neither read nor write. Laws have been changing at woman’s instigation for the last thirty years, which proves that woman knows what is good for her. We are obliged to build sidewalks and other improvements and have we not a right to say how our money shall be expended? You have seen dogs in the street quarreling over a bone; if you throw them two bones the quarrel is over. The “drunken scene” was left out, like everything else which in a way could have a personal application.

After some more talk Mrs. Stanton sat down, and Susan B.--bless her heart!--faced the Congressional guns. The great pumping power which this woman carries in her brain had lifted the blood into her cheeks, and her eyes blazed with the fire of early day. Lilac kid gloves covered her kind, strong hands and it was astonishing to us all to see how much she looked like a woman. She put her hands behind her as if it was best to have them in a safe place, and commenced by telling the gentlemen that they had it in their power to strike the word “male” out of the Constitution. (Susan has a way of saying the word “male” so that it sounds like the snapping of small arms.) In the District the experiment was tried of giving colored men their rights, and it seems as if this is a fitting place for the inauguration of a grander experiment--that of doing for the woman what you did for the negro. It is only a long custom which you hate to break.

Mrs. Stanton now prompted Susan to speak of Kansas. She then told the story of the schoolhouse, and it was ascertained that the reason why the women had to rise at 11 o’clock at night to vote was because the men had determined to settle the question that day. The men wrangled and could not come to a conclusion, so the women were called as the last feather to break the camel’s back.

A little time before Senator Sumner had come in and taken a seat at the foot of the table. Susan now asked the Senator a question, and forgot and called him “Mr. Sumner,” just as if he was like other men. But she was called to order by Mrs. Stanton, and made haste to repair the wrong by begging his pardon and saying “Senator” with a snap to it. She asked the Senator how it worked in Massachusetts by having women vote on the school question. The Senator said it worked well. As there seemed no chance for an argument, she paused for fresh inspiration, but she was interrupted by Phœbe Couzins, and prompted to say something she had already said.

Whilst they were parleying, Mrs. Pauline Davis took the floor and said a few words in a voice too low to be heard except by those at the table. Before Miss Anthony sat down, Mrs. Beecher Hooker touched her by the arm and begged her not to be too severe. Susan said she did not mean to be severe.

Mrs. Hooker then took her seat at the head of the table, as her modesty would not let her stand up before this august tribunal. Mrs. Hooker leaned over the table and made the daintiest kind of a picture. Senator Hamlin straightened himself up and pulled down his vest. Senator Pratt opened his sleepy eyes to the widest extent, and Senator Sumner gave his undivided attention. Mrs. Hooker said that woman looked to the Government for her rights. “I assure you, Christ uses the word thou shalt do this, and thou shalt do that, which means to apply to women quite as much as to men. The Bible says, ‘Honor thy father and mother, and thy days shall be long in the land.’ How can a son honor his mother when he chooses to use his young thoughts to legislate for her whilst he is so much younger than she is. It cannot be right.” She did not believe so much in woman’s rights as woman’s duty. At this moment her voice stole away from her like the dying notes of a swan, and she removed to another seat, her white forehead bedewed with perspiration.

Madame Anneke was now introduced, and commenced by saying: “Honorary Sirs: Perhaps you will be kind enough to listen to my poor talk. I come delegate from Wisconsin; from oder places too. You have lifted up the slaves, shentlemen, you hear t’ousand and t’ousand voices. In Europe you hear the cry, help us, gentlemens, and den we help ourselves.” After some more such logic, Madame Anneke ponderously withdrew.

Senator Patterson now modestly proposed a question: Suppose a difference of opinion should arise in the family, what will prevent the mischief of discord?

Mrs. Stanton, who had the cunning answer already to spring upon him, said there is already discord there. “I do not think this can make any more. There is always the superior mind in every family. If it belongs to the man, he decides it; if to the woman, she does the same. The smallest men are most tenacious of their rights.” Senator Patterson, seemingly afraid to be classed in this category, closed his lips.

Judge Cook now asked, “What evidence have you that the great body of women in the country want to vote?”

Mrs. Stanton replied that in New York, where she had scattered tracts and otherwise labored, she had been rewarded with petitions signed by 20,000 women.

Judge Welker then asked, “How large a number want to vote in the District of Columbia?”

Mrs. Stanton said they had just closed a convention attended by fifteen hundred persons who were enthusiastic on the subject.

Mrs. Davis then said: “People are tired of asking for this thing and that thing. It is time that legislators knew their business without being petitioned.”

Miss Anthony then reiterated the glories of the late convention, and went off into one of those spasmodic efforts practically impossible to any one but Susan.

Mrs. Beecher again cautioned her, and told her not to forget the place where she was. This brought Susan to terra firma.

Mrs. Gage then said she held a petition in her hand, signed by 3,000 people, but no one seemed inclined to take it away from her, and she quietly sat down.

The Honorable Hannibal Hamlin then arose to correct Mrs. Stanton in what she had said about changing the laws for the District of Columbia; that no such bill was before the committee to which Mrs. Stanton had alluded. There was a bill, but it was unlike the one reported in the newspapers. The District of Columbia was governed by laws made a hundred years ago, and the age had outgrown them. He believed they should be modified, and he advocated the change to be made by the citizens, subject to the will of Congress. He only spoke for himself and not for his associates.

Judge Cook, of Illinois, chairman of the committee of the House, said that Congress was no place to bring up such a great question. There is too much to do here already. We have no time--absolutely no time--for the consideration of the subject. At the same time he seemed to be looking about for a hole to escape.

Mrs. Hooker said that time should be made for such a subject.

Mrs. Stanton said, “Present the sixteenth amendment.”

Honorable Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, chairman of the Senate Committee, said, “We will take this question into consideration. When Saul went up into Damascus he said unto Paul, ‘I am almost persuaded to become a Christian.’” The reporters’ table was illuminated by smiles, and one man was malicious enough to say a little Scripture reading would do the Senator good, for he meant Agrippa instead of Saul. Another answered that the Senator was figuratively speaking, and he might as well use one name as another.

The council was broken by the Congressional lions going stealthily away, but before they all had a chance to get out, Susan buttonholed two or three. “Sixteenth amendment” was distilled from her lips like honey from flowers. Senator Sumner came around genial as a summer’s sun, yet it was noticed that during the whole ordeal he never opened his lips, but endured all with the resignation of martyrdom. And thus the meeting of the Amazon warriors passed away.

OLIVIA.

HONORING THE PRINCE.

RECEPTION TO THE VISITING SCION OF ROYALTY.

WASHINGTON, _January 26, 1870_.

In the very heart of the fashionable quarter of the capital may be seen a most unpretending two-story-and-a-half house, in the usual American imitation of brown stone. A modest bay window keeps steady company with a classic little porch at the front entrance of the mansion. As you enter the building you find yourself in a moderately sized hall, and if you turn to the left you are ushered into a drawing-room, octagonal in shape, and you perceive the vista opening to another of the same shape and size, leading to the third, which completes the suite of apartments thrown open at the entertainment of guests. These parlors are not extravagantly furnished. The walls are not covered with costly pictures; yet this establishment at present is the cynosure of all eyes, because a prince of the royal blood of England finds shelter under its hospitable roof. The ugly truth must be told. Great Britain does not consider the United States a first-class mission, and she does not furnish her minister resident with a palace and et ceteras to match, as in Paris and other continental cities. But England does honor our Republic by sending Mr. Thornton to represent her, one of nature’s noblemen, and plain Mrs. Thornton, without a drop of blue blood in her veins. So Victoria has sent her good-natured boy amongst us, and the wife of England’s minister is doing the handsome part by her guest.

For reasons already mentioned no very large entertainment can be given at the English embassy. A dinner party was given on Monday evening, at which were present the Cabinet and a portion of the diplomatic corps, as well as General Sherman and Senator Sumner. Different sets of invitations were issued; or in other words, each woman’s card was a separate affair from her husband’s. Only gentlemen were entertained at dinner--the ladies came afterwards to the reception, which began at half past nine in the evening. Each woman invited to the residence of the English minister to honor the Prince received a special card from Mrs. Thornton.

The dinner passed away like other dinners when gentlemen have it all their own way; but the reception was as brilliant as the presence of beautiful and accomplished women could make it. The guests were first introduced to Mrs. and Mr. Thornton, and they in turn presented them to their prince. Mrs. Thornton’s eyes sparkled as only an English woman’s can with the son of her sovereign beside her.

Prince Arthur is a medium sized youth, who has just reached the door-sill of adolescence. A soft yellowish down occupies the place where whiskers are intended to grow, and his thoroughly English face has the peachy bloom which distinguishes the gentry of that famous island. He bears a strong resemblance to the Prince of Wales, but with indications of more force of character. His hands are as pink as a sea shell, and anything else but aristocratic. At the reception he was dressed in a suit of black cloth, high standing collar, handsome cravat, and polished patent leathers. Three emerald studs adorned his faultless shirt front, and a sprig of violets dangled from a button-hole. He wore no gloves, but gave his bare, pink palms for an instant to the keeping of American citizens. He was so kind, plain, and straightforward, that everybody forgave him for being a prince.

After all had been introduced to the young lion, and many little pleasant wisps of conversation had floated away, the company proceeded to the dining-room, where ices, fruits, and wines regaled the guests. Mrs. Thornton and Baron Gerolt, the Prussian minister, led the way, followed by the Prince and Mrs. Fish, Minister Thornton and the Baroness Gerolt, Secretary Fish and Mrs. Belknap, Secretary Belknap and Mrs. Creswell, Chief Justice Chase and Madame Catacazy, the wife of the Russian minister, and the most beautiful woman belonging to the foreign legations; Mr. Robeson, the bachelor Secretary, and Philadelphia’s handsome Madame Potestael, and a host of other lights distinguished in the political and fashionable world. The tables were elegantly decorated with flowers, while the vintage at the English minister’s is celebrated above all others in Washington. Conversation was varied by excellent music, contributed by the voice of Madame Garcia, of the Argentine Republic, assisted by Blacque Bey, the Turkish minister, who also took a prominent part in the evening’s entertainment.

Among the guests were noticed General and Mrs. Tete, the new minister from Hayti. These members of the diplomatic corps are of mixed blood, the African largely predominant. Mrs. Tete was dressed in a claret colored silk, high in the neck, long sleeves, and without ornaments. She has unassuming manners, though exceedingly courteous and high bred. She remarked to one of the company that she did not know how she would be received in society in Washington, but so far she had met with nothing but kindness. This evening in particular, she was made to feel at home.

Though the newspapers sparkle with descriptions of a dinner given at the White House in honor of Prince Arthur, there was no such entertainment. The state dinner which takes place every Wednesday at the Executive Mansion occurred as usual, and Prince Arthur happening to be sojourning temporarily in Washington, whilst on his youthful travels, our plain President simply laid an extra plate for his unexpected guest--unexpected, because all the other guests were invited before the Prince reached the city, and these guests received no notice that Victoria’s son would be among them, and consequently could not feel that they had been selected to meet royalty. Only thirty-six persons can be seated in the dining-room of the White House, therefore a “royal” entertainment is reserved for a future folly.

When the subject of entertaining the Prince was mentioned before our President, he simply said: “I think if Ulysses was in London he would be lucky if he got any dinner at Windsor Castle at all.” Whether it was owing to that sly strategy which put down the rebellion, or other causes equally potent, it did happen that some of the most sensible women in the nation were invited guests at this particular state dinner. These women, these wives of members of Congress, are not known to the fashionable world; they dare to live within their husband’s means, and have been known to appear at a full dress reception in plain black silk dress, and without the usual quantity of false hair. In the veins of such women runs the blue blood of the Republic, and their presence is as sweet as violets.

The arrival of Prince Arthur in Washington has created very little excitement, probably for the reason that every boy knows that he has a far better chance of being President than the royal scion has of being king.

OLIVIA.

LEVEE AT THE EXECUTIVE MANSION.

CABINET LADIES TAKE PART IN ASSISTING MRS. GRANT

WASHINGTON, _February 5, 1870_.

A stranger attending a Presidential levee for the first time at the capital has an opportunity to drain the cup of Washington society to its very dregs. Card receptions, such as are held at the homes of the Cabinet, Chief Justice Chase, and General Sherman, in a certain sense are veiled under the sacred seal of hospitality, and the newspaper correspondent dare not, cannot, without violating all delicacy and good taste, make a pen picture of the men and women whom the dear people at home like to know all about. A Presidential levee is altogether a different affair. It is public. It belongs to the people. When we go to the Executive Mansion we go to our own house. Our sacred feet press our own tufted Wiltons. We recline on our own satin and ebony. We are received graciously by our own well-dressed servants, and the people have a right to know, through the columns of _The Press_, the exact state of the situation. Whoever goes to a levee at the mansion becomes public property, and has no more right to complain because he has been caught in the net of a newspaper correspondent than the fish who has swallowed the hook of an honest fisherman. The time has been when a levee at the White House was like a social gathering in a modest village. The President not only shook hands with his guest, but also asked him to take a chair and inquired about the state of the crops “Down East.” The most precious republican simplicity has taken its departure with the Jeffersons and the Madisons; or rather it has necessarily been cast off with all the other swaddling-clothes of an infant Republic. A perfect river of human life pours through the Executive Mansion. Human beings are packed together just as solid as sardines in a box, whilst the President and Mrs. Grant are obliged to take each separate atom by the hand. After two hours of this kind of work, its ravage begins to show its effect upon the person of the Chief Magistrate. His eyes begin to have a far-off look, great drops of perspiration stand on his forehead, and his thin, quivering nostrils rise and sink, like the gills of a darling dolphin when taken out of the water. Sometimes the President gasps; but this is usually thought to be a handsomely suppressed yawn, and no matter how much he may desire to bring in his superb knowledge of military tactics, so far as it is known he has never been guilty of a flank movement; he has only appeared as if he would like to shoulder arms.

Mrs. Grant stands a little way from the President--“fair, fat and forty.” She appears in grace and manner just as any other sensible woman would who had been lifted from the ranks of the people to such an exalted position. It is true she shows the people her comely neck and shoulders, and, notwithstanding the wintry weather, makes no attempt to cover her shapely arms; but her gracious condescension is appreciated, and the exhibition is free to all.

Who are the people who file past the President? Titled men and women of foreign countries; a large part of the community which romance would call the “republican court;” and the mighty power sometimes called the sovereign people. Now it happens, as the stream flows onward through the Executive rooms, that particles of humanity are lodged in the same apartments that are honored with the presence of the President and his wife.

The most distinguished guests remain permanently in the room of power. The picture is made up of the Presidential party in the foreground, and back of them stand the Army, Navy, and Cabinet, as well as the Vice-President of the United States. Of all the public men in the nation few or none stand so near the national heart as Schuyler Colfax, and the reason assigned is because he has got a mind like an elephant’s trunk. It picks up anything, from the largest man to the smallest woman, and his heart is big enough to give them all standing room. If he is introduced to a manufacturer he knows what kind of articles the man sends to market. If a literary woman is presented to him she finds that she has been registered in exactly the right place in his mind. He knows whether she writes about fashion, or, alas! alas! reports women conventions. Schuyler Colfax knows everything that is published in the newspapers. There is no room in his mind for lumber. It is full of working material, and he is the fairest specimen of progressive Young America to be found on the continent.

Miss Nellie Grant is a prominent feature of the levees and receptions at the White House. She is just exactly at the age when the feathers of her wings are not quite well enough grown to admit of her flying as a woman, and yet they are far enough advanced to spoil her attractions as a child. Her costume is of the rarest and costliest kind, and she conducts herself as becomes the only daughter of a President.

An elegant woman is seen standing in the background, slender almost to fragility, arrayed in a trailing robe of black velvet. Her powdered head and Greek profile take you back to the days of Louis XIV, and you feel that Madame Pompadour or some other beauty of that period has stepped out of her picture frame and stands flesh and blood before you. This woman is Mrs. Cresswell, the accomplished wife of the Postmaster-General.

In the shadow of the crimson curtains stand the Marquis and Madame de Chambrun. The marquis is an attache of the French legation; the madame is the granddaughter of General Lafayette, and one of the most attractive women in Washington. Nature meant to make her a blonde, but forgot herself and kept on with the bleaching process. One cannot help in contemplation wondering whether her soul is as white and transparent as the casket. She inherits her grandfather’s love for republican principles. The madame has been only a short time in the country, but the marquis has been here, more or less, for quite a number of years. It is said that he is writing a history of our Republic. He has always been connected with the European press, and ranks high as a literary man at home.

Just beyond the marquis in the offing might have been seen Admiral Goldsborough, heavy and ponderous as one of his own war vessels, and carrying nobody knows how many guns. He wheezed and puffed as if there was something the matter with his machinery, but all persons present seemed unaware of danger, and no sign of an explosion or accident took place. Mrs. Goldsborough accompanied her stately husband, apparently a fitting consort in time of war or peace.

“Ad Interim” Thomas was there in the brightest of military buttons and army blue. He looked as harmless as one of the wooden guns at Manassas, and it was impossible to believe that he was the same “Ad Interim” that once shook the Republic from center to circumference. A fine looking woman clung to his arm, but whether it was Mrs. “Ad Interim,” or another the writer failed to discover.

A handsome Virginia member of Congress was there who looked as if he carried the regal blood of that proud Commonwealth in his veins. He had the courtly bearing which history attributes to the Randolphs, but, fearful that he might be a carpetbagger, his name was not ascertained.

Secretary Boutwell was present, accompanied by his daughter, a good, sensible-looking New England girl, who bears the same relation to the picture made of her in _Harper’s Bazaar_ that any small circle does to a large one. She is her father’s hope and her mother’s joy, but she is not Secretary of the Treasury.

The Marine Band discoursed some very bad music, considering what is expected of what ought to be the most perfect musical organization in the country. The Marine Band has sadly deteriorated of late, and it would be well for the people in power to make excellence in this, as well as all other things, a distinction of national favor.

OLIVIA.

OFFICIAL ETIQUETTE.

RULES THEREFOR AS DRAWN BY PRESIDENT WASHINGTON--THE EXISTING CODE.

WASHINGTON, _February 10, 1870_.

Originally the word “etiquette” meant a mark or title affixed to a bag or bundle denoting its contents, but in the modern acceptation of the word it is an account of ceremonies. It is a term applied to the forms which are observed toward particular persons, or in particular places, especially in courts, levees, and on public occasions.

In the beginning of the nation’s life our beloved forefathers thought that all these forms which marked the distinction between classes or individuals should be done away with at the same time with all the rest of the hollow mockeries which go to make a monarchical form of government. Notwithstanding President Washington meant to practice republican simplicity at the headquarters of the nation, “courtly” ways did creep into daily social intercourse. For instance, at Mrs. Washington’s receptions in both New York and Philadelphia the “first lady in the land” received precisely after the manner of Queen Charlotte’s drawing-room levees. The guests were arranged standing against the walls, and the President’s wife marched the rounds and said a kind word to all. When Mrs. Washington paid a morning visit, a servant or usher was sent in advance, “who rapped smartly with his knuckles on the door” and announced, “Mrs. Washington is coming.”

During these chaotic, unsettled days our far-seeing Washington realized that some rules and just regulations must be formed, lest the dignity of the Republic should be found trailing in the dust. He saw that it was necessary to establish a rank without violating the Constitution, which prohibits Congress and the States from granting any title of nobility. Of so much importance to the country did he consider this subject that he addressed letters to Messrs. Adams and Hamilton, asking their attention and advice upon certain points of etiquette touching the deportment of the President of the United States. After mature reflection, the three wise men, Messrs. Washington, Adams, and Hamilton, fixed upon certain rules, which were afterwards endorsed by Jefferson.

THE RULES.

In order to bring the members of society together in the first instance, the custom of the country was established that residents shall pay the first visit to strangers; and among strangers, first comers to later comers, foreign and domestic, the character of stranger ceasing after the first visit. To this rule there is a single exception--foreign ministers, from the necessity of making themselves known, pay the first visit to the Cabinet ministers of the nation, which is returned.

When brought together in society all are perfectly equal, whether foreign or domestic, titled or untitled, in or out of office. All other observances are but exemplifications of these two principles.

The families of foreign ministers arriving at the seat of Government receive the first visit from those of the national ministers as well as from all other residents.

Members of the legislature and the judiciary, independent of their offices, have a right as strangers to receive the first visit.

No title being admitted here, those of foreigners give no precedence.

Difference of grade among the diplomatic members gives no precedence.

At public ceremonies to which the Government invites the presence of foreign ministers and their families, a convenient seat or station will be provided for them, with any other strangers invited, and the families of the national ministers, each taking place as they arrive, and without any precedence.

To maintain the principle of equality, or of _pele-mele_, and prevent the growth of precedence out of courtesy, the members of the executive will practice at their own houses and recommend an adherence to the ancient usages of the country--of gentlemen in mass giving precedence to the ladies in mass, in passing from one apartment where they are assembled into another.

From time to time these severe republican rules have been discussed and ameliorated to suit the growing aristocratic taste of the great modern American Republic.

In later years a set of rules has been adopted which is called the “Code.” It is said all branches of the Government were appealed to in order to be suited, and the rules of the code were the result; but whether President Monroe or some other dignitary of those days was the author, the writer has no means of ascertaining.

THE CODE.

_The President._--Business calls are received at all times and hours when the President is unengaged. The morning hours are preferred. Special days and evenings are assigned each season for calls of respect,--one morning and evening a week being assigned for this purpose.

Receptions are held during the winter season, generally once a week, between 8 and 10 o’clock in the evening, at which time the guests are expected in full dress, and are presented by the usher.

The President holds public receptions on the first of January and the Fourth of July, when the diplomatic corps present themselves in court costume, and the officers of the Army and Navy in full uniform. The executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Government are received between the hours of 11 and 12; after which the diplomatic corps, officers of the Army and Navy, and civilians _en masse_.

The President accepts no invitations to dinner, and makes no calls or visits of ceremony; but is at liberty to visit without ceremony, at his pleasure. An invitation to dinner at the President’s must be accepted in writing, and a previous engagement cannot take precedence.

The address of the Executive in conversation is Mr. President.

_The Vice-President._--A visit from the Vice-President is due to the President on the meeting of Congress. He is entitled to the first visit from all others, which he may return by card or in person.

_The Supreme Court._--The judges call upon the President and Vice-President, annually, upon the opening of the court, and on the first day of January.

_The Cabinet._--Members of the President’s Cabinet call upon the President on New Year’s day and the Fourth of July. First calls are also due from them, by card or in person, to the Vice-President, judges of the Supreme Court, Senators, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, on the meeting of Congress.

_The Senate._--Senators call in person on the President and Vice-President on the meeting of Congress and the first day of January; and upon the President on the Fourth of July, if Congress is in session. They also call in person or by card upon the judges of the Supreme Court and the Speaker of the House of Representatives on the meeting of Congress.

_The Speaker of the House of Representatives._--The Speaker calls upon the President on the meeting of Congress, the first day of January, and the Fourth of July if Congress is in session. The first call is also due from him to the Vice-President on the meeting of Congress.

_The House of Representatives._--Members of the House of Representatives call in person on the President on the first day of January, and upon the Speaker of the House on the opening of each session. They also call, by card or in person, upon the President on the Fourth of July, if Congress is in session, and upon the President, Vice-President, judges of the Supreme Court, Cabinet officers, Senators, Speaker of the House, and foreign ministers, soon after the opening of each session of Congress.

_Foreign ministers._--The diplomatic corps call upon the President on the first day of January, and upon the Vice-President, Cabinet officers, judges of the Supreme Court, Senators, and Speaker of the House, by card or in person, on the first opportunity after presenting their credentials to the President. They also make an annual call of ceremony, by card or in person, upon the Vice-President, judges of the Supreme Court, Senators, and Speaker of the House, soon after the meeting of Congress.

_The Court of Claims._--The judges of the Court of Claims call in person upon the President on the first of January and the Fourth of July. They also make first visits to the Cabinet officers and diplomatic corps, and call by card or in person upon the judges of the Supreme Court, Senators, Speaker, and members of the House, soon after the meeting of Congress.

_The families of officials._--The rules which govern officials are also applicable to their families in determining the conduct of social intercourse.

The above code answers the same purpose to social life in Washington that the Constitution does to the whole country. So long as those engaged in the controversy stick to it they are safe. The moment they leave it they are adrift. At present a severe war is waging between the Senators and Supreme Judges. We beg the pardon of these sensible men; we mean their families have armed themselves cap-a-pie, and a great smoke is ascending from the battlefield. The wives of the Senators claim that the Senate created the Supreme Judges, and, to use the words of one of the brightest leading Senators, “Should the creature outrank its creator?” The Supreme Judge is made by the Senator, and if he is guilty of misdemeanor, he is tried by the Senate, and if found guilty, is deposed from his high office by the same. But once let a man get to be a Supreme Judge, and he stands as firm on the pinnacle to which he has been raised as the rock of ages on the bed of eternity.

Then it is claimed that all those who stand in the direct line of succession to the President outrank all the others. Our wise forefathers meant that our Government should never fall to pieces for the want of a “head.” So, if our military chieftain should go off like one of his own cannons, we should still have our precious Schuyler. If Vice-President Colfax should be snatched away from the evil to come, we should have to comfort ourselves with Speaker Blaine. Alas! alas! if he should fall like the smart rap of his own gavel, Chief Justice Chase would be left on our hands, and death could get no farther.

The “Code” says--and, by the way, it is just as good as the Constitution--that the Cabinet shall make first calls on the Vice-President, Supreme Judges, Senators, and Speaker of the House, but General Grant has taken these favored darlings to his bosom and allows them to do just as they please. He says: “The Cabinet is a part of my family; I want them looked upon as such.” So when the Supreme Judges, with Chief Justice Chase at their head, went to pay their respects to the President, on last New Year’s day, they found the President surrounded by his Cabinet, and these haughty men were obliged to bow the knee. Now, there is nothing in nature so free from the elastic qualities as the spine of a judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. As soon as time would allow, Chief Justice Chase addressed a letter to the Chief Magistrate, protesting against such unheard of and altogether unusual proceedings; but Ulysses smoked his cigar whilst he dictated one of those masterly papers of diplomacy, and the military secretary saw that it was safely delivered, and nothing more has been heard of it from that day to this.

The “Code” also says that the President accepts no invitation to dinner. This has heretofore been the custom, not because the President was a man, but because the man was a President, and, therefore, it was necessary to give no citizen cause for complaint, for if the President dines with one neighbor, why not with another? Besides, there are millions who would be glad to share their crust with this man. Ulysses S. Grant proves to the world that he is not above being a man because he has been elected President, and that he has no objection to going out to dinner, provided the viands be substantial and all the beverages pure. But let it be understood, the President does not scatter the bright light of his countenance indiscriminately, for only certain aristocratic dwellings are honored at dinner time by the presence of power.