Tliirty \ears in Washington 



LIBRARY OF THE 

UNIVERSITY OE ILLINOIS 

AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 



917.53 

L82t 

copo5 



I.H.S. 








MRS. PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT SEATED AT HER DESK IN THE 
LIBRARY OF THE REMODELED WHITE HOUSE. 

From her latest photograph, approved by herself, and engraved 
expressly for this book. 



THIRTY YEARS IN WASHINGTON 

OK 

LIFE AND Scenes in Our National Capital. 

rORTKATlNG 

THE WONDERFUL OPERATIONS IN ALL THE GREAT DEPARTMENTS, AND 

DESCRIBING EVERY IMPORTANT FUNCTION OF OUR 

NATIONAL GOVERNMENT, 

INCLUDING ITS 

|)i6toricaI, (Ej:ccittiDc, 3lUmini6tratitic, departmental, artistic, anti Social 

jFeaturce. 

WITH SKETCHES OP 

THE PRESIDENTS AND THEIR WIVES 

AND OP 

ALL THE FAMOUS WOMEN WHO HAVE REIGNED IN THE WHITE HOUSE 

From Washington's to Roosevelt's Administration. 

EDITED 

By Mrs. JOHN A. LOGAN. 



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Main Enffance k> the White House. 

^apcrfalp 3^nu6tratcU 

WITH FIFTY PULL-PAGE PHOTOGRAVURE PLATES FROM PHOTOGRAPHS MADE BY SPECIAI. 
PERMISSION OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK. 



A. D. WORTHINGTON & CO., Publishers, 



HARTFORD, CONN. 



[ALL RIGHTS RESERVKD] 



/ 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1901, 
By a. D. Worthington & Company, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 



ITO IHbOm It /IftaV Concern: — Notice is hereby given by the Puonshers 
Si,U UVitUVm II iiuay vj,vin.wvu. that the sale of this book, "THIRTY YEARS 

IN WASHINGTON," by subscription only, is protected by decisi(jns of the United 
States Courts. These decisions are by the U. S. Circuit Court of Ohio, rendered by 
Judge Hammond, and by the U. S. Circuit Court of Pennsylvania, rendered by 
Judge Butler, and are that "when a subscription book publishing house, in connec- 
tion with the author, elects to sell a book purely by subscription and does so sell it, 
through agents that are agents in the legal sense and not independent purchasers 
of the books, the house and author are entitled to the protection of the Courts against 
any bookseller who invades their rights by an attempt to buy and sell a book so pub- 
lished and sold." 

Hence, this is to notify booksellers and the public that all our agents are under 
contract, as our agents, to sell this book by subscription only, and to individual sub- 
scribers for their own use. Tliey have no right whatever t(j sell it in any other way. 
as books are furnished to them only for delivery to individual subscribers ; and any 
interference with our agents to induce them to sell contrary to their contract obliga- 
tions and our rights, or any sale of this book by any one not an authorized agent, 
will entitle us tolhe protection of the Courts. 

Notice is also hereby given that this copy of "THIRTY YEARS IN WASH- 
INGTON " can be identified wherever found, together with the name of the agent 
to whom the publishers supplied it; and the detection of persons supplying it to 
booksellers, and the offering of it for sale by a bookseller, will be sufficient justification 
for us to institute proceedings against both bookseller and agent. 

We trust this notice will be received in the kindly spirit in which it is given, as 
it is made simply to protect the author, ourselves, and our agents against infrmge- 
ments which rob us of the legitimate fruits of our labor and investment. 

Agents and all other persons are requested to inform us at once of the offering 
of any copies of this book for sale by any bookseller, or by any person not our 
accredited agent. 

THE PUBLISHERS. 












'S 
r^' 



N presenting this volume, in the preparation of 

i^n which the utmost care has been taken, and no 
V,- ^^ expense considered too great, I have endeavored 



[1 




=^ to meet the demand for a story of the birth 



— y and growth of our National Capital, and for a 
comprehensive and interesting description of the 
countless and mighty interests that center there. Few 
citizens of the United States really appreciate the number 
and magnitude of the Departments of the Government, or 
realize how marvelously the volume of business has ex- 
panded as the population of our ever-widening domain has 
increased. Many otherwise well-informed people are un- 
familiar with the workings of the giant activities carried 
on in these Departments, and much of what I have written 
will doubtless be a revelation to them. 

The sketches of the Presidents of the great Republic, 

from Washington to McKinle}^ together with those of the 

ladies of the White House, whose influence has often been 

" the power behind the throne," I am sure will claim the in- 

1 (i) 



11 PREFACE. 

terested attention of my readers. The lives and personality 
of these women have been overshadowed, historically speak- 
ing, by the more prominent careers of their distinguished 
husbands or relatives. Every woman will read with pride 
the record of these women who were called to fill the most 
prominent and difficult position in the gift of the people. In 
almost every instance they ^vere lovely and admirable char- 
acters. Most of them were equipped by birth, education, 
and social acquirements to adorn this high position ; and 
some possessed a rare combination of gifts and graces 
that made them pre-eminent as social queens, and made their 
reign, as mistress of the White House, a part of our National 
history. 

My first introduction to life in the city of "Washington 
was in 1858, General Logan being then a member of Con- 
gress, and for more than thirty years I have lived there 
almost continuously, an interested observer of passing 
events. As the wife of a Senator, I may say that I 
enjoyed unusual privileges and opportunities to see and 
know the inner life and activities of the Capital City. I 
have had my share of the favor of the powers that 
were, and the honor of being included among the distin- 
guished guests at both private and official entertainments ; 
and I have known the pleasure of personal acquaintance 
with prominent statesmen, courtly diplomats, gallant com- 
manders of our Army and Navy, famous scientists and 
authors, and beautiful, winning, and gifted women, filling 
with grace and dignity the highest social positions that the 
peo]ilo could bestow. In these years there have been 
stormy political times, and troubled years of cruel war, 



PREFACE. Ill 

when the very existence of the Nation was threatened, 
and many happy, prosperous years of peace. Through all, 
our great Republic has steadily advanced to the highest 
station among the ruling powers of the world. 

"What I have written has been without prejudice, and 
with no striving for sensational effect. I know whereof 1 
affirm, and this volume may be looked upon as reliable, 
whether in its historical review of the birth and development 
of our National Capital ; its presentation of the official duties 
and responsibilities of those who occupy high or humble po- 
sitions in the government service ; its account of the marvel- 
ously interesting workings of great administrative forces; 
its biographical sketches of famous characters; its descrip- 
tions of remarkable events; or its portrayal of everyday 
life in a city that, from a straggling village in the woods, 
has grown to be one of the most stately and magnificent of 
capitals, vying with those of the Old World in picturesque- 
ness, majestic and splendid architecture, artistic decoration, 
unique and manifold government industries, and surpassing 
all of them in its collections of relics and curiosities from 
every part of the world. 

It has been my aim to show my readers, both by word 
and pictorial art, the wonders and the workings of the elab- 
orate machinery of the Government in motion, by leading 
them through the great national buildings and explaining 
what the army of busy men and women workers do and 
how they do it; to show them the works of art, and the 
architectural glories and priceless treasures of the Capital ; 
to portray not only daily life at the White House, past and 
present, but its brilliant social and official functions as 



IV 



PREFACE. 



well ; in short, to present every interesting phase of life in 
Washington. 

My desire is to be remembered as an intelligent guide, 
leadino- the reader on from one scene of interest to another, 
awakening the mind to a finer comprehension of our 
country's greatness, and inspiring all with a higher and 
more devoted patriotism. 






-i r: 




IBainlp from j^botograpb^ taften expxt^slr} for tbij* vuorfi bp pcrmisjsion of tbe 

ZlmtcD .fjtatejS <©ol)crnmcnt. 



1. PORTRAIT OF MRS. JOHN A. LOGAN . . . Frontispiece 
Engraved for this work from a photograph taken expressly for it. 



2. MAIN ENTRANCE TO THE WHITE HOUSE 

3. ORNAMENTAL HEADING TO PREFACE . 



Title page 



4. ENGRAVED AUTOGRAPH OF MRS. JOHN A. LOGAN 

5. ORNAMENTAL HEADING TO LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS . 

6. ORNAMENTAL HEADING TO CONTENTS .... 

7. ORNAMENTAL HEADING TO CHAPTER I . . . . 

8. EAST FRONT OF THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL, AS SEEN 

FROM THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (Full Page) Facing 

The building covers nearly four acres, and was seventy-four years in 
process of construction. It cost, including the land, about fio.ooo.ooo. The 
Senate Wing is at the right; the House Wing at the left. The great casl- 
iron dome weighs 4,500 tons, required eight years for its construction, and 
cost over |i, 000, 000. The bronze Statue of Liberty that surmounts the dome 
is 19 feet 6 inches high, weighs 7^4 tons, and cost over 124,000. 

9. FLOOR PLAN OF THE PRINCIPAL STORY OF THE CAPITOL 88 

(V) 



IV 



Xlll 



33 



83 



VI LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS. 

10. A SECTION OF STATUARY HALL IN THE CAPITOL (Full 

Page) Facing 94 

Statuary Hall is the old Hall of Representatives, now dedicated as a Memo- 
rial Hall. Here are placed the statues of heroes and statesnieti who in life 
were devoted to the service of the nation. Each State may contribute marble 
or bronze figures of two of her most illustrious deceased sons. Many States 
are represented. 

11. A SECTION OF STATUARY HALL IN THE CAPITOL (Full 

Page) Facing 104 

The most majestic room in the Capitol. Here are many notable bronze 
and marble statues of the illustrious dead, those who helped to found and up- 
build the nation. The statues are contributed by their respective States. 

12. DIAGRAM OF THE FLOOR OF THE HOUSE OF REPRE- 

SENTATIVES . . Ill 

13. DIAGRAM OF THE FLOOR OF THE SENATE . . . .114 

14. THE EXECUTIVE MANSION, POPULARLY KNOWN AS THE 

WHITE HOUSE (Full Page) Facing 130 

The official residence of the President and his family. The view is of the 
north or main entrance front, as seen from Pennsylvania Avenue. It was 
begun in 1792, and cost, to the present time, over 11,700,000. Some of the 
rooms on the first floor are open to visitors from 10 a. m. to 2 p. m. daily, 
except Sunday. The number of visitors has been known to e.xceed over 3,000 
in a single day. 

15. MAIN FLOOR PLAN OF THE W'HITE HOUSE ... 134 

16. THE FAMOUS EAST ROOM IN THE WHITE HOUSE (Full 

Page) Facing 138 

Showing its daily throng of tourists and visitors. It is open to the public 
every day from 10 a. m. to 2 p. m. except Sunday, and is annually visited by 
tens of thousands of people. Anyone may enter this room without introduc- 
tion or formality. Its three immense crystal chandeliers cost $15,000. Public 
receptions are here held by the President, and millions of people have passed 
through this historic room. 

17. THE FAMILY DINING ROOM IN THE WHITE HOUSE (Full 

Page) Facing 146 

For the private use of the President, his family, and their guests. It is on 
the main floor, but is never shown to visitois. 

18. THE STATE DINING ROOM IN THE WHITE HOUSE (Full 

Page) Facing 152 

Used only for formal state dinners given by the President to high officials. 
The President sits at the middle of the farther side of the table. In front of his 
seat is a plat si.xteeti feet long, made up of orchids and ferns, and at intervals 
nine other plats similarly decorated, and sixteen vases filled with roses. 
About twenty dozen orchids, as many roses, and 500 pots of ferns are used to 
decorate the table. The set of cut glass consists of 520 pieces, and cost 56,000. 
The set of china consists of 1,500 pieces, each piece exquisitely decorated. 

19. THE FAMILY KITCHEN IN THE WHITE HOUSE (Full 

Page) Facing 158 

The family kitchen is for the exclusive use of the presidential family, and is 
never shown to visitors. There is another kitchen in the White House where 
state dinners are prepared, and whicli is used only on such occasions. 

20. SECOND STORY PLAN OF THE WHITE HOUSE . . .165 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATION^ VU 

21. UPPER CORRIDOR IN THE WHITE HOUSE, SHOWING EN- 
TRANCE TO THE PRESIDENT'S PRIVATE OFFICE (Full 
Page) Facing 171 

The arch is at the top of a flight of stairs that ascend from the main en- 
trance. An official messenger with important papers is about lo enter the 
President's olVice. The doorkeeper, always on duty, is at the left. Bronze 
busts of Washington and Lincoln are on either side of the arch. 



22. THE PRESIDENT'S PRIVATE OFFICE IN THE WHITE 
house: (Full Page) Facing 

The beautiful and massive oak table used by the President was made from 
timbers of the British vessel Resolute, which was abandoried in the Arctic Sea 
while searching for Sir John Franklin in 1854, but recovered by .American 
whalers. It is a gift from Queen Victoria, and has a suitable inscription on a 
silver plate which can l)e seen facing the President's chair. 



2.3. INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE. OFFICE OF THE SECRE- 
TARY TO THE PRESIDENT (Full Page) . . Facing 179 

Showing assistant secretaries and clerks at their daily work. This room 
is on the second floor of the White House and near the President's private 
office. 



IM. THE CABINET ROOM IN THE WHITE HOUSE (Full 

Page) Facing 185 

In this room Cabinet meetings are held and important national questions 
are discussed by the President and his Cabinet. Around this historic table 
many of the greatest men in our history have been seated in council. Here the 
policv of the administration and the destiny of the nation is shaped. The walls 
are adorned with many portraits of e.\- Presidents. The President's flag may 
be seen in the glass case behind the table. 



THE LIBRARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE (Full 
Page) Facing 191 

Showing the steel safe in which are deposited the originals of the Declar- 
ation of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, now no 
longer exhibited to the public. Many rare and valuable volumes are depos- 
ited here. 



26. FACSIMILE OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

(lu.sert) 193-6 

The original Declaration was almost ruined early in the nineteenth cen- 
tury in securing a facsimile for a copper plate. The process caused the ink to 
fade and the parchment to deteriorate. The original document and tlie copper 
plate are now deposited for safe keeping in a steel safe in the Library of the 
Department of State, and are inaccessible to the public. The full text of the 
original document is still legible, but the signatures have, with but few excep- 
tions, utterly vanished. The facsimile shown above was photographed from 
a perfect copy loaned by the Department of State for use in this volume. 

27. A MYSTERY OF THE TREASURY. SOPHIA HOLMES, A 

COLORED JANITRESS, DISCOVERING -S'iOO.OfjO IN BANK 
BILLS IN A WASTE PAPER BOX IN THE TREASURY ( Full 
Page) Facing 

Upon the arrival of General Spinner, Treasurer of the United States, at 
midnight, accompanied by the night watchman, Sophia removed the top layer 
of waste paper from the box, pointed to the huge pile of bills beneath, and told 
her story to the astonished Treasurer. She was retained in office by the Gov- 
ernment until her death, in 1900, a period of thirtv-eight years. The mystery 
of how this large sum of money found its way into the box has never been 
explained to the public. 



213 



viii UST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

28. BUSY WORKERS IN THE TREASURY. THE ROOM WHERE 

PRINTED SHEETS OF UNCLE SAM'S PAPER DOLLARS 
ARE SEPARATED (Full Page) .... Facing 2-d 
Bank notes are printed four on a sheet, and are separated into single 
bills by machines run by women. The bills are then counted and sealed m 
packages. Over loo pounds of wax a month is used in sealing the packages. 
Formerlv the bills were cut apart by women armed with long shears. Hun- 
dreds ot millions of dollars have passed through this room. 

29. HOW UNCLE SAM MAKES HIS MONEY. THE ENGRAVING 

ROOM WHERE UNITED STATES NOTES, BONDS, STAMPS, 
ETC., ARE ENGRAVED (Full Page) . . . Facing iiy 
All the beautiful designs embodied in Uncle Sam's bills, notes, stamps, and 
checks are engraved in this room. The most expert engravers m the world 
are here employed bv the Government, some of them receiving a salary of 
$6 000 a year. 'The Government owns 65,000 dies, rolls, plates, etc., used ni 
printing its securities. They are guarded with the greatest care. 

30. MAKING MONEY. ONE OF THE ROOMS WHERE UNCLE 

SAM'S PAPER DOLLARS ARE PRINTED (Full Page) 
Facing iib 

All Government notes, bills, bonds, stamps, etc., are printed by hand. No 
method for printing successfully from steel plates by machmery has ever 
been devised. Each press is run by an experienced prniter, assisted by a 
woman. 

3L INSIDE THE TREASURY. THE ROOM IN WHICH UNCLE 
SAM'S PAPER DOLLARS ARE NUMBERED AND TRIMMED 

(Full Page) Facing 238 

X\\ bank notes, bills, and securities, excepting pension checks, are num- 
bered in this room bv machines run by women. Great skill and experience 
are required. Mistakes are frequent, but each woman is allowed to spoil ten 
out of every thousand sheets. The numbering machines are on the left, the 
trimming machines on the right. 

32. WOMEN'S WORK IN THE TREASURY. COUNTING UNCLE 

SAM'S NEWLY PRINTED DOLLARS (Full Page) Facing 24o 

Every dollar and all the bonds issued by the Government have passed 
through the hands of these expert counters, who count and examine more 
than a million dollars a dav with a celerity that is perfectly astonishing. It is 
impossible to count the rapid movements of the fingers of any one of these 
women. Each one will average counting 32,000 notes a day. They do noth- 
ing but count all day long, week after week and year after year. No one in 
the world has handled so many dollars as they. 

33. WOMEN'S WORK IN THE TREASURY. COUNTING, IDEN- 

TIFYING, AND ASSORTING WORN-OUT MONEY (Full 
Page) Facing 249 

All worn-out money returned to the Government by National Banks or 
from other sources to be " redeemed " is first counted and assorted by expert 
women, who, at the same time, keep a keen eye for counterfeits. More than 
1160,000 of worn-out money is here daily received for redemption. Each 
counter sits at a desk by herself, that the money committed to her care may 
not become mixed with that to be counted by any other person. 

31. WOMEN EXPERTS IN THE TREASURY IDENTIFYING 

BURNED MONEY FOR REDEMPTION ( Full Page) i^^r/«^ 2;i2 

On the expert's desk is a lot of burned bills, and she, with a magnifying 
glass, is in the act of determining their deiiomiiKUion. In her left hand she 
holds a new, perfect bill for comparison. On tlie top of her desk are bundles 
containing tlioiisands of dollars of mutilated bills awaiting identification^ 
Money has here been received as taken from the stomachs of animals, and 
from the bodies of drowned human beings; some of it has been chewed up by 
pigs, goats, and mice, or lain at the bottom of rivers for years. 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. IX 

35. THE FUNERAL OF UNCLE SAM'S PAPER DOLLARS. THE 

TREASURY DESTRUCTION COMMITTEE DESTROYING 
$5,00J,0l)a IN PAPER MONEY (Full Page) . . Facing 261 

Worn-out paper money is destroyed by being ground to pulp in the " mac- 
erater." Treasury officials meet here for this purpose every day. After being 
weighed, the money is deposited on a table, on one side of which is a large 
funnel leading through the floor to the macerater, or boiler, beneath. When 
all is ready, the huge pile of money is pushed into the funnel and a brawny 
colored man hastens its progress into the macerater with a pole. The largest 
sum ever destroyed here at one time was $166,095,000. 

36. UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE DETECTIVES SUR- 

PRISING A DEN OF COUNTERFEITERS (Full Page) 

• ._ Facing 284 

$100,000 is annually appropriated for the use of the Government Secret 
Service. Its methods of work are naturally concealed from the public, but its 
eyes are everywhere. The Chief of the Bureau can instantly place in the field 
at any desired point a corps of the most capable and experienced detectives in 
the world. 

37. MAKING POSTAGE STAMPS. WOMEN SEPARATING AND 

PERFOR.\TING THE PRINTED SHEETS (Full Page) 

Facing 318 

Each separated sheet contains 100 postage stamps. The perforating is 
swiftly done by little machines, each tended by two women. In early days 
the stamps were cut apart with scissors. The Government now manufactures 
over four billion postage stamps every year. 

38. WHO IS IT FOR? A SCENE IN THE DEAD-LETTER 

OFFICE. EXPERTS TRYING TO DECIPHER AN ILLEG- 
IBLE ADDRESS (Full Page) Facing 333 

Many apparently hopeless cases are brought to life and delivered to their 
owners. Last year 2,321,000 letters, including money and values amounting 
to 51,100,000, were delivered to owners; 5,393,000 unclaimed letters were 
opened, and 4,283,000 letters were sold as waste paper. Some of the keenest- 
witted officials in the Government service are employed in the Dead-Lettc.' 
Office, and some of the best experts are women. 

39. F.\CSIMILE OF A DEAD LETTER DELIVERED AT ELIZA- 

BETH, N. J 336 

40. FACSIMILE OF A DEAD LETTER DELIVERED AT JERSEY 

CITY, N. J 337 

4L FACSIMILE OF A DEAD LETTER DELIVERED AT NEW- 
ARK, N. J 339 

42. FACSIMILE OF A DEAD LETTER DELIVERED AT CAR- 

TERET, N. J 33i: 

43. FACSIMILE OF A DEAD LETTER DELIVERED AT HART- 

FORD, CONN 340 

44. FACSIMILE OF A DEAD LETTER DELIVERED AT HO- 

BOKEN, N. J 341 

4.5. FACSIMILE OF A DEAD LETTER DELIVERED AT CLEVE- 
LAND, N. Y. 343 

iB 



X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

46. WOMEN'S WORK IN THE DEAD-LETTER OFFICE (Full 

Page) Facing 344 

An average of 2.^,000 pieces of dead mail matter are received in the Dead- 
Letter Office every dav, or over 7,000,000 pieces every year. Of tliese, last 
year, over 50,500 letters contained ^44,140 i" money; 38,000 contained drafts, 
notes, etc., representing $1,136,645. The "dead " mail for that year contanied 
177,000 parcels of merchandise, books, etc., and abont 60,000 photographs; 
81,600 letters and parcels bore no address ; 191,000 contained postage stamps ; 
145,000 letters and parcels were held for postage; misdirected, 422,000. 

47. FORECASTING THE WEATHER IN THE INSTRUMENT 

ROOM OF THE WEATHER BUREAU (Full Page) Facing 404 

The United States Weather Bureau is in close communication with over 200 
sub-stations scattered throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the 
West Indies. Weather telegrams have the right of way over all other tele- 
graphic business. The illustration shows " weather sharps " at work forecast- 
ing the weather. One of the Bureau's weather kites, which has been known 
to rise to a height of nearly three miles, is seen decorating the ceiling at the 
farther end of the room. The yearly cost of maintaining the Bureau is over 
$1,000,000. Its telegraphic service costs over |i8o,ooo a year. 



418 



48. THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, AS SEEN FROM THE CAP- 

ITOL (Full Page) Facing 

The most beautiful and the costliest library building in the world. Com- 
pleted in 1S97 at a cost of nearly $7,000,000, including the land. It contains 
about 1,000,000 books and forty-five miles of shelving. It is connected with 
the Capitol by an underground book tunnel, through which books can be deliv- 
ered to Senators and Congressmen in three minutes. The library service 
requires a force of 341 persons. 

49. FIRST-STORY PLAN, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS ... 424 

50. SECOND-STORY PLAN, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS . . .429 

5L THE PUBLIC READING ROOM IN THE LIBRARY OF CON- 
GRESS (Full Page) Facing 430 

The central and most important part of the building. It is marked by a 
magnificence of decoration and splendor of architecture surpassing every 
other part of the edifice. It is paneled with the rarest of colored marbles in 
great profusion and massive proportions. The room is 100 feet in diameter and 
160 feet from the main floor to the ape.x of the dome. Seats are provided for 
over two hundred readers. 

52. INSIDE THE MAIN ENTRANCE TO THE LIBRARY OF CON- 

GRESS (Full Page) Facing 440 

No one is prepared for the vision that bursts upon him when he has passed 
through the mammoth bronze doors. It is like entering into another world. 
Visitors gaze in dumb amazement, as with uplifted eyes they seek to compre- 
hend the beauty and the grandeur that pervade the place. The massive stair- 
way is of white marble, delicately carved. 

53. THE FOREST OF MARBLE PILLARS ON THE SECOND 

FLOOR OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS (Full Page) 
Facing 448 

These massive white marble columns rise in majestic splendor. Through 
them are seen glimpses of mural paintings and marvels of mosaic art, and 
hundreds of decorative details wrought by famous artists. 

54. MAIN FLOOR OF THE CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART 

(Full Page) Facing 4o3 

This beautiful marble building contains over 4.000 works of art, including 
casts of the most noted works of ancient sculpture, many original marbles, a 
large collection of famous bronzes, 250 valuable paintings, portraits of all the 
Presidents, etc. The value of the collection is over $2,000,000. 



LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS. XI 

55. A SECTIOX OF THE MAIN FLOOR OF THE CORCORAN 

GALLERY OF ART (Full Page) .... Facing- 458 

Sliowiiiij some of tlie beautiful and notable statues and bronzes now on 
permanent exhibition there. 

56. BEAUTIFUL ARLINGTON, THE SILENT CITY OF THE 

DEAD (Pull Page) Facing 528 

Here lie the remains of over 17,000 soldiers wlio died that the nation might 
live. The stones are set in rows, uniform in distance one from the other, and 
marshaled as battalions for review. Arlinjrtoii was formerly llie home of Gen- 
eral Robert E. Lee. It is the privilege of wives and daughters of soldiers 
buried at .Arlington to be buried here, and many a woman's grave is here 
beside that of her husband or father. 

57. FACE OF MONUMENT TO THE UNKNOWN DEAD OF THE 

CIVIL WAR 535 

58. TOMB AT ARLINGTON TO THE UNKNOWN DEAD OF THE 

CIVIL WAR (Full Page) Facing 536 

The bones of 2,111 unknown soldiers of the Civil War, whose remains 
were gathered from various battlefields, are interred beneath this stone. At 
the rigiit, behind the trees, is the Temple of Fame, on whose columns are en- 
graved the names of distinguished American soldiers. At the extreme left may 
be seen a portion of the rnansion owned by General Robert E. Lee until the 
opening of the Civil War. 

59. THE HOME OF GEORGE AND MARTHA WASHINGTON. 

THE MANSION AT MOUNT VERNON AS IT IS TO-DAY. 
(Full Page) •• . Facing 544 

Its venerable roof sheltered Washington and all he held most dear, from 
youth to age. The room in which he died is the end room of the second 
story, having two windows opening upon the roof of the veranda. The 
dormer window in the attic above is the room in which Martha Washington 
secluded herself for two and one-half years after her husband's death, and 
here she died. It was chosen by her because its little window was the only one 
in the mansion that commanded a view of his tomb. 

60. THE ROOM IN WHICH WASHINGTON DIED AT MOUNT 

VERNON (Full Page) Facing 557 

The room was closed after his death and never agairi*occupied. The bed 
now in this room is the one on which he died. The small stand at the head of 
the bed is the one on which his medicines were kept during his last illness. 

61. THE OLD WASHINGTON TOMB AT MOUNT VERNON (Full 

Page) Facing 558 

The remains of Washington, and later those of his wife, were placed in 
metal coffins and deposited in this vault. Here they remained until 1837, when 
they were removed to the new tomb. The vault was once entered by vandals 
and a skull and some bones were taken, but it w-as found that these comprised 
no part of the remains of the illustrious dead. The new vault was then built, 
and the family remains were removed to it. 

62. THE NEW TOMB OF GEORGE AND MARTHA WASHINGTON 

AT MOUNT VERNON (Full Page) . . ' . . Facing 562 

Their remains now lie in this tomb, in separate marble coffins, hewn each 
from a single block of marble. When they were deposited here, in 1837, the 
tomb was locked and sealed and the key thrown into the Potomac river. 

63. THE ATTIC ROOM AT MOUNT VERNON IN WHICH MAR- 

THA WASHINGTON DIED (Full Page) . . Facing 576 

Martha Washington secluded herself in this room for two and one-half 
years after her husband's death, and here on this bed she died. Some of the 
furniture was used by Washington's family. The room is a mere garret and 
has but one small window. 



Xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

64. THE VESTIBULE IX THE WHITE HOUSE (Full Page) 

. Facijig 586 

The main entrance to the White House opens into this vestibule, which is 
separated from the central corridor by a magnificent screen of stained-glass 
mosaic, studded with cut crystal, which at night shines like the walls of an 
enchanted palace 

65. IX THE LIBRARY AT THE WHITE HOUSE (Full Page) 

Facing 634 

The stateliest room on the upper floor. It is sometimes used by the Presi- 
dent as an oflBcial reception room, and sometimes as an evening sitting room 
for the presidential family and their guests. 

66. THE GREEX ROOM IX THE WHITE HOUSE (Full Page) 

Facing 648 

A beautiful room furnished and decorated in delicate green, with gold 
ornamentation. Notable portraits of famous men and women of the White 
House adorn its wails. Here lay the body of Willie, the little son of Abra- 
ham Lincoln, awaiting its journey to the grave. Mrs. Lincoln never again 
entered this room. 

67. THE EAST ROOM IX THE WHITE HOUSE DECORATED 

FOR A STATE RECEPTION (Full Page) . . Facing 680 

It is a rare sight to see this famous room decorated for a state function. 
Over 5,ooo decorative plants are used, ranging from giant palms to tiny and 
delicate ferns. About a mile of smilax is required. The room is not open to 
visitors when decorated for such occasions. 

68. IX FROXT OF THE WHITE HOUSE DURIXG A XEW 

YEARS RECEPTIOX (Full Page) .... Facing 6»4 

Ever>- grade of society is represented at a Xew Year's reception at the 
White House, and the President welcomes courtly ambassadors and humble 
laboring men with equal cordiality. 

69. THE RED ROOM IX THE WHITE HOUSE (Full Page) 

■ Facing 716 

I'sed by the President and his family as a reception room. It is furnished 
and decorated in red, and is one of the most attractive rooms in the White 
House. At the left hangs a portrait of President Harrison's first wife, who 
died in the White H«use. At the right is a portrait of Mrs. President Hayes. 
In the center, over the door, is a portrait of President Hayes. Many por- 
traits of former Presidents look down from its walls. 

70. THE PRESIDEXTS PRIVATE STAIRWAY IX THE WHITE ' 

HOUSE (Full Page) ." Facing ?24 

For the e.xclusive use of the President and his family. It is near the 
family dining room and leads from the first to the second floor. 

71. PRESIDEXT AXD MRS. McKIXLEY'S BEDROOM IX THE 

WHITE HOUSE (Full Page) Facing 732 

The room is furnished and decorated in blue President McKinley's por- 
trait is at the left ; Mrs. McKinley's at the right. A portrait of their little 
daughter, who died at the age of three years, is in the center. 







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CHAPTER I. 

THE SITE OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL AND HOW IT WAS 
SELECTED — EARLY TROUBLES AND TRIALS. 

The Prophet of the Capital —Forecasting the Future — A Government 
Moving Slowly and Painfully About on Wheels — Insulted by a Band 
of Mutineers — Troubles and Trials — Washington's Humble Ideas of 
a President's House — Renting and Furnishing a Modest Home — 
Spartan Simplicity — Madison's Indignation — " Going West" — 
Where is the Center of Population ? — A Dinner and What Came of 
it — Sweetening a "Peculiarly Bitter Pill" — A "Revulsion of Stom- 
ach " — End of a Long and Bitter Strife 33 



CHAPTER II. 

GENERAL WASHINGTON AND OBSTINATE DAVY BURNS — 
HOW THE "WIDOW'S MITE" WAS SECURED — HOW AND 
BY WHOM THE CITY WAS PLANNED. 

Making Peace With Lords of Little Domains-" Obstinate Mr. Burns" — 
APugnacious Scotchman — The " Widow's Mite" — A Graceful Sur- 
render—Republicans in Theory but Aristocrats in Practice — Who 
Was Major L'Enfant?— A Lucky Circumstance — Plans that Were 
Ridiculed — Men Who Did Not "Get On" Well Together — The Man 
Who Worried President Washington — Demolishing Mansions With- 
out Leave or License — An Uncontrollable Engineer — His Summary 
Dismissal — Living Without Honor and Dying Without Fame — A 
Quaker Successor of " Uncommon Talent" and " Placid Temper" — 
Five Dollars a Day and " Expenses " — " Too Much "— A Colored 
Genius for Mathematics — " Every Inch a Man " — Why the Capitol, 
the White House, Were Set Far Apart 44 

( xiii ) 



XIV CONTENTS. 

CHAPTEE III. 

BIRTH OF THE NATION'S CAPITOL — GRAPHIC PICTURES 
OF EARLY DAYS — SACKED BY THE BRITISH — WASH- 
INGTON DURING THE CIVIL WAR. 

Raising the Money to Build the Capitol — Government Lottery Schemes — 
Hunting for the Capital — "In the Center of the City" — Queer Sen- 
sations — Dismal Scenes — Sacked by the British — "The Royal 
Pirate" — Flight of the President— Burning of the White House — 
Mrs Madison Saves the Historic Painting of General Washington — 
Paul Jennings' Account of the Retreat — Invaded by Torch Bearers 
and Plunderers — A Memorable Storm — Midnight "Silent Retreat of 
the British — Disgraceful Conduct of "The Royal Pirate" — "Light 
up!" — Setting Fire to the Capitol — Dickens' Sarcastic Description 
of the Capital — "Such as It Is, It Is Likely to Remain" — When 
the Civil War Opened — Dreary, Desolate, and Dirty — The Capital 
During the War — Days of Anguish and Bloodshed. . . 53 



CHAPTER IV. 

BUILDING THE CAPITOL — HOW WASHINGTON AND JEFFER- 
SON ADVERTISED FOR PLANS — COMPLETION OF THE 
CAPITOL. 

Early Trials and Tribulations — Schemers and Speculators — A "Front 
Door in the Rear" — Seeking for Suitable Plans— A Troublesome 
Question — Washington and Jefferson Advertise Premiums for the 
Best Plan — A Curious "ad" — Some Remarkable Offerings — The 
Successful Competitor — Carrying Otf the Prize — Laying of the 
Corner-Stoue by President Washington — A Defeated Competitor's 
Audacity — President Washington's Rage — Jealousies of Rivals — 
Congress Sitting in "the Oven ' — Crimination and Recrimination — 
Building Additions to the Capitol — Hoodwinking Congress — How 
the Money Was Appropriated to Build the Great Dome — A Successful 
Ruse — Completion of the Building — Its Dimensions and Cost — 
Curious Construction of the Great Dome 68 



CHAPTER V. 

A TOUR INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE CAPITOL — INTEREST- 
ING SIGHTS AND SCENES — UNDER THE GREAT DOME — 
A PARADISE FOR VISITORS. 

Entering the Capitol Grounds — Inside the Capitol — Bridal Pairs in 
Washington— Where Do They Come P^rom ? — Underneath the Capi- 
tol — Using the ("apitol as a Bakery — Turning Out 16,01)0 l^oaves of 
Bread Daily — Marble Slaircases and Luxurious Furniture — ^ In the 
Senate Chamber and House of Representatives — Costly Paintings — 
Bronzes and Statues — In thy Rotunda — Uudtjr lUu Giyat Doiuy — 



CONTENTS. XV 

In Statuary Hall — Famous Statues and Works of Art— "Brother 
Jonathan " — The Famous I\Iarble Clock — The Scene of Fierce and 
Bitter Wrangles — The Bronze Clock Whose Hands Are Turned 
Back — A Colossal Statue Weighing Twentj'-one Tons — Commodore 
Hull's Expedition to Bring it to America — Climbing to the Top of 
the Mighty Dome — Looking Down on the Floor of the Rotunda — 
Under the Lantern- At the Tip-top of the Capitol. . . 83 



CHAPTER VI. 

IN THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES — A 
PEEP BEHIND THE SCENES --CLAIMANTS AND LOBBY- 
ISTS — GOVERNMENT PRIZES. 

In the House of Representatives — Scenes of Confusion — The Speaker — 
A Peep Behind the Scenes — " What Did They Do? " — A Visit to the 
Senate — Playing .Alarbles Behind the Vice-President's Chair — Secret 
Sessions — The Veil Lifted — A Senator's Amusing Experience — 
Some Revelations — How the Senate Works— "Will Carp Eat Gold 
Fish?" — Curious Requests — " We Want a Baby"— Women With 
Claims — Professional Lobbyists and Their Ways — Button-holing Sen- 
ators — " Who are They ? " — Importance of "Knowing the Ropes " — 
Catching the Speaker's" Eye — An Indignant Congressman — Catching 
"the Measles, the Whooping-Cough, and the Influenza" — Shaves, 
Hair-cuts, and Baths at Uncfe Sani's Expense — Barbers as "Skilled 
Laborers" — " Working a Committee." 109 



CHAPTER VII. 

A TOUR THROUGH THE WHITE HOUSE FRO^VI ATTIC TO 
CELLAR — WHITE HOUSE WEDDINGS AND TRAGEDIES. 

Inside the White House — An Historic Mansion — Reminiscences of the 
P;ist— " What Tales the Room Could Tell If It But Had a Tongue"— 
Why It Is Called the White House — Its Cost — How To Gain Admis- 
sion—Its Famous Rooms and Their Furnishings — Invited To "Assist" 

— The Great East Room — Chandeliers That Cost $5,000 Each — 
Where Mrs. Adams "Dried the Family Wash " — Shaking Hands 
with Sixty Thousand Persons — A Swollen Hand and a Lame Arm — 
How an Old Lady Greeted the President— Trying To See the President 

— Forbidden Rooms — The President's Private Apartments — Efforts 
to Peep at the White House Kitchen — Indignant Visitors — Weddings 
in the White House — Tragedies of the White House. . . 130 



CHAPTER VIII. 

DAILY LIFE AND SCENES AT THE WHITE HOUSE — THE 
PRESIDENT'S DOMESTIC ARRANGEMENTS. 

Official Entertainment at the White House — Social Cu.stoms — Daily Life 
and Scenes-" His High Mightiness" — Onlv Plain "Mr. President" 
— The President's Turnout — Why His Horses' Tails Are Not Docked 



XVI CONTENTS. 

— Public Receptions — Five Thousand Decorative Plants — State 
Dinners — Who Are Invited — Their Cost — The Table and its Costly 
Furnishings — Decorating the Table —A Mile of Smilax — Rare China 
and Exquisite Cut Glass — Who Pays for the Dinners — How the 
Guests Are Seated — Guests Who Are Not Well-bred — In the Attic 
of the White House — Wliat May be Seen There — A Motly Collection 
of Articles — " Home Comforts " — Selecting a New Outfit of Linen — 
A Requisition for " Soap for the Bath Room " — " Proper and Neces- 
sary" Purchases — Paying the Bills — Who Furnishes the Kettles 
and Saucepans? — How the White House Is Guarded. . . 145 



CHAPTER IX. 

OFFICIAL LIFE AND AVORK AT THE WHITE HOUSE — A DAY 
IN THE PRESIDENT'S PRIVATE OFFICE. 

Inauguration Ceremonies — Old Time Scenes — A Disorder!}^ Mob in the 
White House — Muddy Boots on Brocaded Chairs — Overturning the 
Punch on the Carpets — Disgraceful Scenes — The Presldent-Elect — 
Taking the Oatli — Kissing the Bible — The Inaugural Ball — How 
the Retiring President and His Wife Depart From the White House — 
A Sad Spectacle — Scenes in the New President's Office — A Crowd of 
Office Seekers — "Swamped" with Applications — Privileged Callers 
— "Just To Pay My Respects" — The President's Mail — Requests 
for Autographs — Begging Letters — A Door That Is Never Closed — 
How the President Draws His Pay — A Deficit of One Cent. . 162 



CHAPTER X. 

THE CABINET — SHAPING THE DESTINY OF THE NATION — 
THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE AND ITS ARCHIVES. 

The Great Departments — The President's Cabinet — How It Is Formed 
— "The Tail of the Cabinet" — "Keeping the Flies off the xVdministra- 
tion" — In the Cabinet Room — Wiiat Takes Place at a Cabinet Meet- 
lug — Spending More than His Salary— "Mr. Vice-President," "Mr. 
Secretary," and "Mr. Speaker"— Two Miles of Marble Halls 
— In the Office of the Secretary of State — Precious Heirlooms of 
the Nation — How the Original Declaration of Independence Was 
Ruined — Originals of All the Proclamations of the Presidents — The 
United States Secret Cipher Code 181 

CHAPTER XL 

THE STORY OF THE UNITED STATES TREASURY — HOW 
ITS SECRETS AND WORK ARE GUARDED — A THOUSAND 
BUSY MAIDS AND MATRONS. 

In the Office of the Secretary of the Treasury — The Treasury Vaults and 
Duugeoua- "Put the Building Right Here!"— An Army of Clerks 



CONTENTS. XVll 

— Where They Cnmc! From and Who Tliey Are — Women Wlio Have 
Known "' Better Davs" — The Strni;gle for " Ollice " — How Appoint- 
ments Are Made — The Storv of St)plua Holmes— Finding $2U0,UU0 in 
a Waste Paper Box — $800,000,000 in Gold and (Silver- Inside the 
Great Steel Cage — The Mysteries of the Treasury — Precautions 
Against Burglary and Theft — Alarm Bells and Signals — Guarding 
Millions of Treasure — How a Package Containing 120,000 Was Stolen 

— The Man with a Panama Hat — A Package Containing $47,000 
Missing — Capture of the Thief — The Travels and Adventures of a 
Dollar — From the Dainty Purses of Fair Women to the Grimy Hands 
of Toil — When a Dollar Ceases To Be a Dollar. . . .201 



CHAPTER XII. 

MYSTERIES OF THE TREASURY — HOW UNCLE SAM'S MONEY 
IS MADE — WOMAN'S WORK IN THE TREASURY — WHAT 
THEY DO AND HOW THEY DO IT. 

The Story of a Greenback — The Bureau of Engraving and Printing — 
The Great Black Wagon of the Treasury — Guarded by Armed jMen 
— Extraordinary Safeguards and Precautions — $4,000,000 in Twelve 
Pounds of Paper — 200 Tons of Silver — Some Awe-Struck People — 
Placing Obstacles in the AV'ay of Counterfeiters — How the Original 
Plates Are Guarded — Where and How the Plates Are Destroyed — 
Secret Inks — Grimy Printers and Busy Women — Who Pays for the 
Losses — Why Every Bank Bill Must Differ in One Respect from 
Every Other — Marvelous Rapidity and Accuracy of the Counters — 
The Last Count of All — Wonderful Dexterity of Trained Eyes and 
Hands — Counting $25,000,000 a Week — Women Who Have Handled 
More Money than Anyone Else in the World 223 



CHAPTER XIII. 

EXTRAORDINARY PRECAUTIONS AGAINST COUNTERFEIT- 
ERS, BURGLARS, AND THIEVES — WOMEN AS EXPERT 
COUNTERFEIT DETECTORS — THE FUNERAL OF A DOL- 
LAR. 

Coming Home To Die — Ill-Smelling Companions — A Dirty-Looking ]\Iob 
of Dollars — The Experts' Secluded Corner — Among Shreds and 
Patches of Money — Chewed by Pigs and Rescued from a Slaughter 
House — Taken from the Bodies of the Dead — An Iowa Farmer's Ex- 
perience — A Michigan Tax Collector and His Goat — Women's Skill 
in Restoring Worn-out Money — Bills Reeking with Filth — Detecting 
Counterfeits — A Woman's Instinct — "That's Counterfeit!" — How 
the Treasury Was Swindled ])y a Woman — An Ingenious Device — 
Some Precious Packages — The Return of the Dollar — Nearing Its 
End — From a Palace to " a Pig's Stomach " — The Maceratcr — Chew- 
ing Up Over $166,000,000 at One Gulp — The Funeral of a Dollar — 
" Pulp It Was ; to Pulp It Has Returned." .... 249 

2 



XViii CONTEXTS. 

CHAPTER XIY. 

OFFICIAL "RED TAPE" — SOME LITTLE-KNOWN ACTIVITIES 
OF UNCLE SAM'S HOUSEHOLD— WONDERFUL WORK AND 
ASTONISHING FACTS. 

Official " Red Tape " — Fraudulent Claims — Guarding Against Errors in 
Accounts — An Incident of the Civil War — An Unknown Friend Who 
Loaned the Government a Million Pounds — Who Was He ? — A State 
Secret — An Important fleeting at the White House — Signing Ten 
Million Dollars Wortii of Bonds Against Time — How It Was Done — 
600 Bookkeepers at Work — Ignorant Country Postmasters — Money 
Orders that Are Never Presented for Payment — An Unsolv.ed Mystery 
— Thousands of Dollars Not Called For — How the Money Rolfs info 
Uncle Sam's Tills — Smugglers and Their Ways — A Dangerous Class 
of Defraudcrs — A Wonderful Pair of Scales — Some Astonishing 
Facts About Weights and Measures 262 



CHAPTER XY. 

THE UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE — HOW COUNTER- 
FEITERS. DEFAULTERS, AND THIEVES ARE CAUGHT - 
SOME REMARKABLE DETECTIVE EXPERIENCES. 

A Secret Fund for Secret Purposes — Uncle Sam's Detective Bureau — Its 
Methods and Mysteries — Expert Sleuth-hounds — Eyes That Are Every- 
where — Counterfeiters and Their Secret Workshops — A Skillful and 
Dangerous Class of Criminals — Where They Come From — The Mu- 
seum of Crime in the Secret Service Rooms — Some ^larvelous Coun- 
terfeits—Running Down a "Gang" — Wide-Spread Nets for Coun- 
terfeiters, Defaulters, and Thieves — Catching Old and Wary Offenders 
— Ingenious Methods — An Adroit Counterfeiter and His Shabby 
Hand-bag — A Mysterious Bundle — A Surprised Detective — What 
the Hand-bag Contained — How Great Frauds Are Unearthed — How 
Suspicious Persons Are Shadowed — A Wonderful Stor}- of Detective 
Skill — Deceiving the Officials — Detective Experiences. . . 274 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE WAR DEPARTMENT — HOW AN ARMY IS RAISED, 
EQUIPPED, AND MAINTAINED — WHERE THE BONES OF 
LINCOLN'S ASSASSINS LIE. 

In the Office of the Secretary of War — Pins and Tags on the Chess Board 
of War — Keeping Track of Our Soldier Boys — Soldiers Made of Wax 

— "Conquer or Die" — Trophies of War — Huge Boxes Labeled 
Like Coffins — Stored Behind Iron-Grated Doors — Curious Relics 
From Santiago ami the I'liilippines — Handsome but Harmless Guns 

— Where and How the Record of Every Soldier Is Kept — Taking 
Care of the Sick and Wounded — Watching Other Nations — The 



CONTENTS. XiX 

Signal Service — A Dapper Man in a Blue Uniform — Watching for 
Raw Recruits — Passing the Surgeon's Exaniiuution — A Soldier's 
Life — A Surprised Lot of Red-Coats — Where the Bones of Lincohi's 
Assassins Lie — Dishonored Graves 289 



CHAPTER XVII. 

IN THE NAVY DEPARTMENT— CARING FOR "JACK " AFLOAT 
AND ASHORE — THE UNITED STATES NAVAL OBSERVA- 
TORY—RELICS WITH STRANGE HISTORIES. 

Heroic Deeds Recalled — Duties of the Secretary of the Navy — Disap- 
pearance of Wooden Warships — Training Jack for His New Duties 

— Providing for His Comfort Afloat — Old Time Man-of- Wars-Men — 
A Happy Lot of Boys — How tlie "Man Behind the Gun " Is Edu- 
cated in Naval Warfare — Collecting Information for Sailors — Bottle 
Papers and Their use — A Valuable Equatorial Telescope — The Won- 
derful Clock by Which All Other Timepieces Are Set —The United 
States Navy Yard — The Naval Museum — Objects of Great Historic 
Interest — " Long Tom " and Its Story — Relics with Strange Histories 

— The Marine Corps — A Body of Gallant Fighters — Instances if 
Their Bravery — The Marine Band 3U0 



CHAPTER XYIII. 

A DAY IN THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT — THE STORY OF 
A LETTER — SOME CURIOUS FACTS AND INTERESTING 
EXPERIENCES — RURAL FREE DELIVERY. 

The Greatest Business Organization in the World — Looking After 80,000 
Post-Otfices — The Travels of a Letter — The Making of a Postage 
Stamp — Using 4,000,000.000 Stamps a Year — A Key That Will Un- 
lock Hundreds of Thousands of Mail Bag Locks — Keeping Track of 
Tens of Thousands of INIail Bags — Why They Never Accumulate — 
Testing the Ability of Clerks — Remembering 6,000 Post-Oftices — 
" Star Routes " and Wliat They Are — The Smallest Contract the Gov- 
ernment Ever Made — Carrying the Mails for One Cent a Year — The 
"Axeman"- Chopping off the Heads of Postmasters — Free Rural 
Delivery — Opposition of Country Postmasters — A Boon to Farmers 
— How Rural Routes are Established 312 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE DEAD-LETTER OFFICE — ITS MARVELS AND MYSTERIES 
— OPENING AND INSPECTING THE "DEAD" MAIL- 
SOME CURIOUS AND TOUCHING REVELATIONS — THE 
DEAD -LETTER MUSEUM. 

What Is a Dead Letter ? — " Stickers " and " Nixies " — 8,000,000 of Dead 
Letters and Packages a Year — Opening the "Dead " Mail — Guni'diug 



XX CONTENTS. 

the Secrets of Careless Letter "Writers — Eeturning $50,000 in Money 
and $1,200,000 in Checks Every Year — What Becomes of the Valuables 
Found in Letters — The Fate of Letters That Cannot Be Keturned — 
Deciphering Illegible Scrawls — Common Mistakes — Unusual Errors 
— Some Odd Directions — " English As She Is Wrote " — Some Queer 
Requests — Travels of Misdirected Letters — Remarkable Work of an 
Expert — 60,000 Missent Pliotographs Every Year — A Huge Book 
of Photographs — Identifying the Faces of Loved Ones — Tear- 
Blinded Motliers — ^ Thousands of Unclaimed Christmas Gifts — The 
Dead-Letter Museum — Odd Things Found in the Mails — Snakes and 
Horned Toads — The Lost Ring and Its Singular Recovery — A Baby 
Elephant — The Two Miniatures — Tokens of Love and Remem 
brance — Messages from the Loved Ones at Home — Dead-Letter 
Auction Sales 330 



CHAPTER XX. 

A DAY IN THE PATENT-OFFICE — A PALACE OF AMERICAN 
INVENTIVE GENIUS AND SKILL— CRAZY INVENTORS — 
FREAKS AND THEIR PATENTS. 

The Department of tlie Interior and Its Functions — The Patent-OfHce — 
Issuing One Hundred Patents a Day — Abraham Lincoln's Patent — 
How To Secure a Patent — Patent Attorney's and How They Obtain Big 
Fees — Hesitating To Accept a Million Dollars — What Is a Patent? — 
A Minister Who Discovered "Perpetual Mution " —Preposterous Let 
ters and Odd Inventions — A Dead Baby Used as a "Model" — A 
Patent for Fishing Worms out of the Human Stomach — A Patent for 
Exterminating Lions and Tigers by the Use of Catmint — Killing Grass- 
Hoppers with Artillery — Crazy Inventors — Freaks and Their Patents — 
A Patent for a Cow-Tail Holder — Eccentric Letters — Amusing Speci- 
mens of Correspondence — A Cat and Rat Scarer — The Man with 
the Long, Black Clerical Coat — An Indignant and Disgusted 
Applicant — "I am from Bay City" — Great Fortunes from Small 
Inventions 349 

CHAPTER XXL 

THE PENSION BUREAU — CLAIMANTS AND THEIR PETITIONS 
— SNARES AND PIT-FALLS FOR THE UNWARY. 

A Vast Deluge of Pension Papers — Caiing For a Million Pensioners — 
Disbursing $133,000,000 a Year — The ^" Alarm Act " — Pension Laws 
and Regulations — Who Are Entitled to Pensions — Method of Pro- 
cedure — How Claims Are Filed and Examined — Guarding the Rolls 
Against Fraud — Medical Examinations — Disgruntled Applicants — 
Suspicious Cases and "Irregular" Claims — "Widows" — Doctors 
Who Disagree — An Indignant Captain — Living on "Corn-bread and 
Sour iVIilk " — Why Decisions Are Delayed — Special Examinations — 
Guarding Against Swindlers, Imposters, and Frauds — Claim Agents 
and Their Ways — Forging Evidence and Affidavits — Pension Attor- 
neys and Their Tricks — " Swapping" Papers — ]Mean and Petty 
Swinillers — Whom To Avoid — Pawning Pension Certificates — The 
Disabled Veteran's Best Frieud- His Real Enemies. . . 366 



CONTENTS. XXI 

CHAPTER XXII. 

THE CENSUS BUREAU — COUNTING THE NOSES OF EIGHTY 
MILLION PEOPLE — HOW AND WHY IT IS DONE. 

• 

Why the Census Is Taken Every Ten Y^ears — Some Pointed Questions 

— Tribuhitions of Enumerators — "None of Y'our Business" — Be- 
ginning of the Process — The Scramble for Positions — Pulling 
Wires To Secure Office — How the Census Is Taken — Starting 
50,000 Canvassers in One Day — Disagreeable Experiences — Meeting 
Shotguns and Savage Dogs — "What Is Y'our Age?" — Irate 
Females — How the Question Is Answered by Certain Persons — 
"Sweet Sixteen" — "Fibbing" a Little — Keeping Tabs on the 
Enumerators — Enormous Amount of Detail — The Punching Ma- 
chine — Cost of the Census of 1900 — The Laud Office and Its 
Work — Settlers and Homeseekers — The Geological Survej' — Its 
Interesting Work — The Indian Bureau — How Poor " Lo " Is Cared 
For — The Bureau of Education. 3TG 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

A DAY" IN THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE — THE 
FARMER'S FRIEND AND CO-WORKER — FREE DISTRIBU- 
TION OF CHOICE AND PURE SEEDS — HOW THEY MAY 
BE HAD FOR THE ASKING. 

The Farmer's Real Friend — The Bureau of Agriculture — What It Has 
Done and Is Now Doing for Farmers — Investigating Diseases of Do- 
mestic Live Stock — How It Promotes Dairy Interests — Experiment 
Stations — Valuable Free Publications for Farmers — Interesting Facts 
About Mosquitoes — How To Kill Insect Pests — Facts for Fruit 
Growers — Examining 15,000 Birds' Stomachs — Vindicating the Much- 
Maligned Crow — Controlling tlie Spread of Weeds — Poisonous Plants 

— Adullerated Seeds — Seeds of New and Choice Varieties — Testing 
the Purity of Seeds — Free Distribution of Seeds — How the Finest 
and Purest Seeds May Be Had for Nothing — Great Opposition of 
Private Seedsmen — Diseases of Plants — Something About Grasses — 
The Agricultural Museum. 386 

CHAPTER XXIY. 

THE WEATHER BUREAU —FORECASTING THE WEATHER 

— WONDERFUL INSTRU3IENT3, KITES, AND WEATHER 
MAPS. 

Forecastiug the Weather — Old Theories of Storms — The Path of Storms 
— " Old Probabilities " at Home — General Principles of Storms — In^ 
the Forecasting-Room — A Curious Jlap and Its Little Tags — * 
" Weather Sharps" at Work — How Weather OI)servatioiis Are Made 

— " Fair and Warmer " and " Partly Cloudy " — Noting the Direction 



XXU CONTENTS. 

of the Wind — Where Storms Are First Noticed — General Move- 
ment of Storms — Traveling GOO Miles a Day — "High" Pressure 
and "Low" Pressure — Winter Storms — Where They Originate — 
Where Hurricanes Are Bred — Hot Waves and Cold. Waves — Import- 
ing Weather from Canada — Where Storms Disappear — Perplexing 
Problems for the Forecaster — Predicting Dangerous Storms — Warn- 
ings of Danger — Emergency AVarnings — A Visit to the Instrument- 
Room — Ingenious and Delicate Instruments — How New Discoveries 
are Made — Kites that Fly to a Height of Three Miles — Interesting 
Experiments with Kites . . 396 



CHAPTER XXY. 

IN THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE — THE PRESIDENT'S LAW- 
YER— THE SUPREME COURT AND ITS BLACK-ROBED 
DIGNITARIES — THE HEAVEN OF LEGAL AilBITION. 

The Majesty of the Law — Tlie Department of Justice — Duties of the 
Attorney-General — The President's Lawyer — Claims Involving ]\Iil- 
lions of Dollars — The Highest Legal Tribunal of the Nation — The 
Supreme Court-Room — Giants of the Past — The Battle Ground of 
Clay, Webster, and Calhoun — Wise and Silent Judges — Where 
Silence and Dignity Reign — The Technical "Bench" — Illustrious 
Names — Why the Bust of Chief-Justice Taney Was Long Excluded 
from the Supreme Court-Room — The Man who Hastened the Civil 
War — The Famous Dred Scott Decision — Its Far-Reaching Effect — 
A Sad Figure — Death Comes to His Relief — Sumner's Relentless 
Opposition — Black-Robed Dignitaries — Ceremonious Opening of the 
Court — An Antique Little Speech — Gowns or Wigs? — The Robing 
and Consultation-Rooms — Salaries of the Justices — A Tragedy that 
Occurred in the Basement of the Law Library — The Dead and 
• Mangled Body of its Designer 408 



CHAPTER XXYI. 

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS — ONE OF THE COSTLIEST AND 
MOST BEAUTIFUL BUILDINGS IN TPIE WORLD — ITS 
MURAL PAINTINGS AND WONDERFUL MOSAICS. 

A Library for the People — Costly Books and Priceless Treasures of Art 
Free to All — A Marvelously Beautiful Building — How It Was 
Planned — Its Great Cost — Approaches to the Building — The Mam- 
moth Bronze Doors — Entering Into Another World — A Stroll Through 
Beautiful Marble Halls and Corridors — Marvels in Mosaic — How the 
Mosaic Ceilings Were Constructed — The Mural Paintings and Wall 
Decorations — A Fairy Scene by Night — Countless Electric Lights — 
Famous Mosaic of Minerva — A Marvelous Achievement — The Lan- 
tern at the Top of the Dome — Architectural Splendors — Ingenious 
Apparatus for Carrying Books — How Senators and Congressmen 
Receive Books in Three Minutes — An Ingenious Underground Tunnel 
— Forty -live Miles of Strips of Steel 417 



\ 



CONTENTS. XXni 

CITAPTEK XXVII. 

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, CONTINUED — AMONG ITS 
BOOKS AND PRICELESS TREASURES. 

Early Strusyglos of the Library — Starting with 1,000 Books and Nine 
Maps — Thomas JelYersou's Contribution- Destroyed by Fire — A 
Famous Lil)nirian — JVlarvelous Growth of the Library —Nearly a 
Million Volumes — Some Priceless Old Books — A Unique Collection 
of Political Handbills — Some Remarkable Volumes and Still More 
Remarkable Ulustraticms — The "Breeches Bible" — The "Bug 
Bible "—Eliot's Indian Bible — A Book Which No One Can Read Val- 
ued at |1, 500— Valuable Manuscripts and Papers of p:arly Presidents 
— A Collection of 300,000 Pieces of Music — Tlie Map-Room — A 
Wonderful Collection of Maps and Atlases — Reading-Room for the 
Blind — A Unique Institution 439 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT— THE MOST IMPOSING MON- 
UMENT EVER ERECTED IN HONOR OF ONE MAN— THE 
CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART. 

The Greatest Monument in the World — It Bears No Inscription and Needs 
j^one — Piercing the Sky — A Sublime Picture — First Steps to Erect 
a Monument to the Memory of Washington — A Request that the Re- 
mains of Washington Be Interred in the Capitol — The Request Re- 
fused—How the Money Was Raised for a Monument— Vexatious 
Delays — Its Completion and Cost — The Highest Structure of Stone 
in the World — Its Dimensions and Height — Struck by Lightning — 
The Ascent to the Top in an Elevator— What It Costs Uncle Sam 
To Carry Visitors Up and Down — The Corcoran Gallery of Art- 
Its Treasures of Art— A Wonderful Collection. . . .458 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE CIVIL SERVICE AND ITS MYSTERIES — HOW GOVERN- 
MENT POSITIONS ARE OBTAINED — WOMEN IN THE DE- 
PARTMENTS—WOMAN'S INFLUENCE AT THE CAPITOL. 

What Is the Civil Service ? — How Heads of Bureaus Are Appointed — 
The "Spoils" System — Difficulty of Obtaining a Government Posi- 
tion — The Importance of Having"a "Political Pull " — Attraction of 
Good Pay and Short Hours — Doing as Little as Possible— How To 
Obtain a Government Position — The Chances of Getting It— Influ- 
ence of Local Politicians — The Government Blue Book — Complex 
Rules and Mysterious Injunctions —Taking an Examination — A 
Mysterious MaVkinir Process — What Is "An Eligible " ? — Bitter Dis- 
appointments and Shattered Hopes — Position Brokers — Mr. Parasite 
in Office — Abject Political Beggars 461 



XXIV CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXX. 

OFFICE-SEEKERS AND OFFICE-SEEKING IN WASHINGTON — 
THEIR DIFFICULTIES AND DANGERS — HOW PLACE AND 
POWER ARE WON. 

Those to Whom Washington Is a Whited Sepulcher and a Sham — An 
Omnivorous Crowd of Phice- and Fortuue-Hunters — "Still They 
Come" — Chronic and Ubiquitous Office-Seekers — Slim Chances of 
the Average Applicant — Beguiled by Anticipation — " Placed on File 
and Favorably Considered" — Awakening From a Delusion — "No 
Vacancies as Yet" — Making Applicants "Feel Good" — Facing AVant 
and Destitution — Dejected and Despairing Office-Seekers — Their 
Last Hope — Fresh Victims Every Year — A Pathetic Incident — 
Women in Quest for Office — Remarkable Story of a Y^oung La'dy 
Applicant — Lincoln's Aversion to Office-Seekers — An Interesting 
Story — A Humorous Incident — A Visit From a Long-Haired Back- 
woodsman — " I'd Like To See the Gineral." .... 469 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

INSIDE THE GOVERNMENT PRINTING-OFFICE — THE STORY 
OF A "PUB. DOC." — PRINTING SPEECHES THAT WERE 
NEVER SPOKEN. 

Uncle Sam's " Print Shop " — Using Twenty Tons of Printing-ink a 
Year — Utilizing the Skins of 50,000 Sheep To Bind Books — Making 
a Book While You Wait — Tlie Celebrated "Pub. Doc." — What 
Becomes of Them — Sending Out "Pub. Docs." to All the World — 
The Convenience of a "Frank" — The Omnipresent "Doc." — All 
Kinds of "Docs." — A Storehouse of Valuable Facts — The Con- 
gressional Record — Read3f-Made Speeches — What "Leave To Print" 
Means — Printing Speeches that Were Never Spoken — Hoodwink- 
ing Dear Constituents — Scattering Fine Speeches Broadcast — "See 
What a Great Man Am I " — Speeches Written " by Somebody Else " 
— Printing-Office Secrets — Some Interesting Facts. . . . 476 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

THE NATIONAL MUSEUM — A WONDERFUL COLLECTION OF 
CURIOSITIES AND RELICS— THE ARMY MEDICAL MU- 
SEUM—INTERESTING SPECIMENS OF THE RESULTS OF 

"WAR, DISEASE, AND HUMAN SKILL." 

• 

The Most Wonderful Collection of Curiosities and Relics in the World — 
Over 4,000,000 Interesting Si)ccimens — Curious Story of IIow the 
Museum Was Started — Priceless Relics of Washington — Franklin's 
Printiiig-Press — Lincoln's Cravat and Threadbare Office Coat— Gen- 
eral Grant's Presents — Intercstinij; Memorials of Great Men — Relics 
From the Maine — A Wonderful Collection of Skeletons — Proving 



CONTENTS. XXV 

Man's Descent From ]Monkeys — Tl)e Oldest Locomotive in America 

— Strange Contrasts — The Army jVIedical Museum — A Grewsome 
Place — A Regimeul of Human Skeletons — The Remains of Criminals 

— Curious Pathological Specimens — Exliibits of Fatalities of War 

— All that Remains Above Ground of the Assassin of Lincoln — A 
Collection of Skulls — Some "Interesting Cases" — The Spleen of 
Guitoau, the Assassin of Garfield — What Became of the Rest of His 
Remains — Strange Etfects of Ritle Bullets on the Human Bod}' — 
How Specimens Are Exchanged — Getting Back "Something Equally 
as Good" — A Bottled Baby — Part of the Spinal Column of John 
Wilkes Booth — When the Fatal Bullet Entered. . . .484 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

iHE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION— STRANGE STORY OF ITS 
FOUNDER— ITS WONDERFUL TREASURES — THE NA- 
TIONAL ZOO AND THE FISH COMMISSION. 

The Strange Story of James Smithson — A Most Singular Bequest — leak- 
ing Good Use of His Money — His Will — " The Best Blood of Eng- 
land Flows in My Veins ' — Plans of the Institution — Inside the 
Buildings Its Intent and Object— Diffusion of Knowledge Among 
Men — Facilitating the Study of Natural History — Tlie Latest Inven- 
tions and Discoveries — Stimulating Talents for Original Investiga- 
tions — A Wonderful Exhibit of Stuffed Birds — Insects of Every Size 
and Color — A Marvelous Collection of Birds' Eggs — The Delight of 
"Mr. Scientist " — What We "Think " We See — Weighing a Ray of 
Light — Some Curious Instruments — Wringing Secrets from the Sun 

— Doing 3Iauy Marvelous Things — The National Zoo — Among the 
Wild Animals — Pelting an Animal Stranger to "See Him Eat" — A 
Visit to the Fish Commission — Curious Specimens of the Finny Tribe 

— Sea Horses and Fantastic Creatures — One of the Most Entertaining 
Exhibits in Washington 495 



CHxVPTER XXXIY. 

FOREIGN LEGATIONS AND THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS— THE 
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF FOREIGN REPRE- 
SENTATIVES IN WASHINGTON. 

The Exposed Side of Diplomatic Life — Looking " Pleasant " — Social 
Status of Foreign Representatives — Daily Routine — Spies Upon 
Our (iovernmeut — Social Lions — Aspiring to Dijtloiuatic Honors 
— Glini[)ses of Foi-eign Home Life — Peculiar Dress and Queer 
Customs — Oddities in House Furnishings and Decorations — Social 
Etiquette- Who Pays the First Visit — Official Calls — Tlie Ladies 
of the Diplomatic Corps — AVhy the President Never Crosses the 
Tiireshold of a Foreign Legation — Breaches of Etiquette — Topics 
That Are Never Discussed — Tactless Ministers — Giving Meddling 
Ambassadors Tlieir Passports — Some Notable Examples — The Fate 
of Foreign Representatives Who Criticise the President . . 504 



XXVI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

THE NEWS BUREAUS OF WASHINGTON — KEEPING AN EYE 
ON OTHER NATIONS— HOW NEWS IS INSTANTLY OB- 
TAINED FRO.M AND TRANSMITTED TO ANY PART OF 
THE WORLD. 

The Washington Headquarters of a Hundred Newspaper Bureaus — Keen 
Newspaper Men — How the News Is Gathered — Transmitting It to 
All the World — The Ceaseless Click of the Telegraph — Operations 
Far Beneath the Surface — The Best-Posted Men in Washington — 
"Newspaper Sense" — How the Wires for News Are Laid — Antici- 
pating Future Events — Secret Sources of Information — "Cover- 
ing" Anything and Anybody — Receiving News " Tips" — Running 
Down Rumors — Officials Who "Leak" — How Great Secrets Are 
Unconsciously Divulged — Putting This and That Together — 
Reporters' Tactics — Keeling an Eye on the State Department — 
Scenting News — " AYork Is Easy When Times Are Newsy " — Study- 
ing the Weak and Strong Points of Public Men — At the Mercy of 
Newspapers, 509 



CHAPTER XXXYI. 

WASHINGTON STREET LIFE — SOUTHERNERS, WESTERNERS, 
AND NEW ENGLANDERS — LIFE AMONG THE COLORED 
PEOPLE — INTERESTING SIGHTS AND SCENES. 

A Unique City — Sights and Scenes on Washington Streets — Taking Life 
Easy — Living on Uncle Sam — Mingling With the Passing Throng — 
Life in Washington Boarding Houses — Politicians From the Breezy 
West — Politicians From "Way Down East"— The Ubiquitous "Col- 
ored Pusson " — The Negroes' Social Status in Washington — Negro 
Genteel Society — Negro Editors, Professors, and Teachers — The 
" Smart " Negro Set — Colored Congregations and Church Service — 
Whistling Darkies — Making Night Hideous — Life in Colored Settle- 
ments — Some Wealthy Negroes — How They Became Rich — "Bad 
Niggers" — The Paradise of Children — Morning Sights and Scenes 
at the Markets — Wliere Riches and Poverty Meet — Fair Women Who 
Carry Market Baskets — Getting Used to Washington Life. . 518 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 

BEAUTIFUL AND SACRED ARLINGTON — ITS ROMANCE AND 
ITS HISTORY — THE SILENT CITY OF THE NATIONS 
DEAD — THE SOLDIERS HOME. 

Where Peace and Silence Reign — "The Bivouac of the Dead" — The 
Story of Arlington — The Graves of Nearly 17,000 Soldiers — How 



CONTENTS. XXvii 

George Washington Managed tlie Property — How General Robert E. 
Lee Inherited the Estate — The Gathering Clouds of Civil War — A 
Sad Parting — Leaving Arlington Forever — Approaeh of the Union 
Troops — Fliu-ht of Mrs. Lee and Her Children— Her Pathetic Return 
to the Old Home After the War — The Graves of Distinguished 
Olficers — The Tomb to the Unknown Dead — One Grave for Over 
2,000 Unknown Soldiers— A Touching Inscription- The Graves of 
600 Soldiers of the Spanish- American War — Where the Dead of the 
Battleship il/aiHC Are Buried — ^Memorial Day at Arlington — Where 
Forty Soldiers Lie Alone — A Touching Incident -Thinking of the 
Dim Past — The Tomb of General Logan 527 



CHAPTER XXXYIII. 

A DAY AT MOUNT VERNON— AMID THE SCENES OF GEORGE 
AND MARTHA WASHINGTON'S HOME LIFE— THEIR LAST 
RESTING-PLACE. 

The Old ^Mansion at Mount "Vernon — Its Story — How It Was Saved for 
the Nation. — The Married Life of George and Martha Washington — 
His Life as a Farmer— His Daily Routine — His Large Force of 
Workmen and Slaves — Out of Butter — Washington's Devotion to 
His Wife — Ordering Her Clothes — A Runaway Cook — Looking for 
a Housekeeper — "Four Dollars at Christmas with Which To Be 
Drunk Four Days and Four Nights " — His Final Illness and Death — 
The Bed on Which He Died — Dastardly Attempt To Rob His Grave 

Death of 'Mrs. Washington — The Attic Room in Which She Died 

— Wliat Was Found in the Old Vault — Removing the Remains to 
the New Vault — Opening the Coffins — The New Tomb — A Tour 
Through the Mansion, 543 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

THE PRESIDENTS, THEIR WIVES, AND FAMOUS LADIES OF 
THE WHITE HOUSE -PAIR AND STATELY WOMEN WHO 
REIGNED IN THE EXECUTIVE MANSION IN EARLY DAYS. 

A Morning Dream — Memories of Martha Washington — Her Educational 
Disadvantages— An Average Matron and Thrifty Housewife — Her 
Virtues and Moral Rectitude — IMinistering to the Suffering Soldiers 
at Valley Forge — Washington's Letters to His Wife — "My Dear 
Patsy " — Domestic Aifairs at Mount Vernon — Giving Her Husband 
a Curtain-Lecture — An Englishman Who Was " Struck With Awe " 
— Martha Washington's Seclusion and Death — Abigail Adams, Wife 
of President John Adams — Adams' Early Love Affairs — Life in the 
Unfinished White House — A Lively Picture — Not Enough Coal or 
Wood To Keep Warm — Some Interesting Details — Drying the Family 
Wash in the Great East Room — Jeiferson's Grief at the Death of His 
Wife — How Jefferson Blacked His Own Boots — A Dignified 
Foreigner Shocked — "We Saved de Fiddle." . . . .570 



XXViii ' CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XL. 

THE PRESIDENTS, THEIR WIVES, AND FAMOUS LADIES OF 
THE WHITE HOUSE, CONTINUED — THE MOST BRILLIANT 
SOCIAL QUEEN WHO EVER REIGNED IN THE.EXECUTIVE 
MANSION. 

A Famous Social Queen — Gallants in Small-Clothes and Queues — An 
Indignant Barber — " Little Jim Madison" — " Dolly" Madison's Gifts 
and Graces — " The Most Popular Person in the United States " — Her 
Social Nature and Exquisite Tact — Her Bountiful Table — Ridiculed 
by a Foreign Minister — Mrs. Madison's Happy Reply — Her Wonder- 
ful Memory of Persons and Incidents — The Adventure of a Rustic 
Youth — Thrusting a Cup of Coffee into His Pocket — Her Heroism 
in the Hour of Danger — Fleeing from tlie White House — Mrs. 
Madison's Snuff -Box — " This Is for Rough Work " and " This Is Uy 
Polisher" — Two Plain Old Ladies from the West — Unusual Honors 
by Congress — Her Last Days — Her Death and Burial — Singular 
Mistakes on Her Monument 586 

CHAPTER XLI. 

THE PRESIDENTS, THEIR WIVES, AND FAMOUS LADIES OF 
THE WHITE HOUSE, CONTINUED — SOME WOMEN OF NOTE 
— MEMORABLE SCENES AND ENTERTAINMENTS AT THE 
WHITE HOUSE. 

A Serene and Aristocratic Woman — Entertaining With Great Elegance — 
Interesting Incident in Mrs. Monroe's Foreign Life — Visiting Madame 
Lafayette in Prison — Changing the Mind of Blood Thirsty Tyrants — 
Sharing the Dungeon of Her Husband — An Opinion Plainly Ex- 
pressed — An Evening at the White House — Creating a Sensation at a 
Presidential Reception — An Amusing but Untruthful Picture — Dis- 
gracefvd Condition of the White House Surroundings — Using the 
Great East Room for a Children's Play-Room — jMrs. John Quincy 
Adams — Long and Lonely Journeys— Life in Russia — The Ladies' 
Costumes — Old-Time Beaux and Belles— " Smiling for the Presi- 
dency"— A President Who Masked His Feelings— "My Wife 
Combed Your Head" — Calling on an "Iceberg." . . . 599 

CHAPTER XLII. 

THE PRESIDENTS, THEIR WIVES, AND FAMOUS LADIES OF 
THE WHITE HOUSE, CONTINUED — PRESIDENTS' WIVES 
WHO NEVER ENTERED THE EXECUTIVE MANSION. 

President Andrew Jackson and Mrs. Rachel Robards — The Story of Jack- 
sou's Courtship— An Innocent Mistake — Jackson's Resentful Dispo- 
sition — His Morbid Sensitiveness About His Wife's Reputation — 
" Do You Dare, Villain, To Mention Her Sacred Name ? " — His Duel 
with Governor Sevier — A Tragical Experience — Kills Charles Dick- 



CONTENTS. XXIX 

inson in a Duel — Mrs. Jackson's Piety— Her Influence Over Her 
Husband — His Profanity and Quick Temper— Her Unwillingness To 
Preside at the White House— An Arrow that Pierced Her Heart — 
Her Agonizing Death — He Enters the White House a Widower — 
Faithful to Her Memory — Children Born in the White House — The 
Story of a Baby Curl — A Widowed and Saddened Woman — Accept- 
ing a Clerkship in the Treasury — " Try Him in Irish, Jimmy" — 
An Astonished Minister — The Wife of President Van Bureu — The 
Wife of President AVilliam Henry Harrison 608 

CHAPTER XLIII. 

THE PRESIDENTS, THEIR WIVES, AND FAMOUS LADIES OF 
THE WHITE HOUSE, CONTINUED — SOME BRIDES OF THE 
WHITE HOUSE — A PRESIDENT'S WIFE WHO PRAYED FOR 
HIS DEFEAT. 

The Courtship of President John Tyler — Engaged for Five Years — Kiss- 
ing His Sweetheart's Hand for the First Time — An Old-Time Lover — 
Death of Mrs. Tyler in the White House — The Young and Beautiful 
Mrs. Robert Tyler — A Former Actress — From the Footlights to the 
Executive Mansion — " Can This be I ?"— "Actually Living in the 
White House ! "—Recalling Her Theatrical Career — President Tyler's 
Second Bride — His Son's Account of the Courtship — The Wife of 
President Polk — Polk's Courtship — Mrs. Polk's Great Popularity — 
Acting as Private Secretary to Her Husband — " Sarah Knows Where 
It Is"— The Wife of General Zachary Taylor — Her Devotion to Her 
Husband — An Unwilling Mistress of the White House — Praying for 
Her Husband's Defeat — Shunning the White House and Society — 
"It is a Plot" — A Lady of the White House Ridiculed and 
Reproached — " Betty Bliss" — A Vision of Loveliness — Death of 
President Taylor 620 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

THE PRESIDENTS, THEIR WIVES, AND FAMOUS LADIES OF 
THE WHITE HOUSE, CONTINUED — FROM THE VILLAGE 
SCHOOL TO THE EXECUTIVE MANSION. 

Mrs. Abigail Fillmore — How She First Met Her Husband, Afterward 
President Fillmore— A Clothier's Apprentice — An Engagement of 
Five Years — Building a Humble House with His Own Hands- 

— Working and Struggling Together —Entering the White House as 
Mistress — Mrs. Fillmore's Death — The Memory of a Loving Wife — 

— The Wife of President Franklin Pierce — Entering the White House 
Under the Shadow of Death— A Shocking Accident — Grief-Stricken 
Parents — Death of Mrs. Pierce — Last Days of President Pierce — 
The Mistake of a Life-Time — James Buchanan's Administration — 
The Brilliant Harriet Lane — Why Buchanan Never Married — Miss 
Lane's Reign at the W^hite House — Entertaining the Prince of Whales 

— Buchanan's Last Days — The Odious Administration of a Vacillat- 
ing President — Miss Lane's Marriage 633 



XXX CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XLV. 

THE PRESIDENTS, THEIR WIVES, AND FAMOUS LADIES OF 
THE WHITE HOUSE, CONTINUED — MRS. ABRAHAM LIN- 
COLN—THE WHITE HOUSE DURING THE CIVIL WAR. 

Tlie First Love of Abraham Lincoln — His Grief at Her Loss — His Second 
Love — Engaged to Miss Mary Todd, His Tiiird Love, — Wooed by 
Douglas and Lincoln — The Wedding Deferred — Lincoln's Marriage 
— Character of Mrs. Lincoln — Fultillment of a Life-Long Ambition — 
The Mutterings of Civil War — Newspaper Gossip and Criticism of 
Mrs. Lincoln — Noble Work of Women During the Dark Days of the 
Civil War — Mrs. Lincoln's Neglect of Her Opportunity to Endear 
Herself to the Nation — The Dead and Dying in Washington — Death 
of Willie Lincoln — Wild Anguish of His Mother — The President 
Assassinated — Intense E.xcitement in Washington — A Nation in Mourn- 
ing — Mrs. Lincoln's Mind Unbalanced — Petitions Congress for a 
Pension — Death of Mrs. Lincoln 643 



CHAPTER XLYI. 

THE PRESIDENTS, THEIR WIVES, AND FAMOUS LADIES OF 
THE WHITE HOUSE, CONTINUED — SOME BRAVE AND 
HUMBLE MISTRESSES OF THE EXECUTIVE MANSION. 

The Wife of President Andrew Johnson — A Ragged Urchin and a Street 
Arab — Johnson's Ignorance at Eighteen — Taught to Write by the 
Village School-Teacher — He Marries Her — Following the Humble 
Trade of a Tailor — His Wife Teaches Him While He Works — Begin- 
ning of His Political Career — The Ravages of Civil War in Tennessee 

— Two Years of Exile — Hunted From Place to Place — Secretly 
Burying the Dead — A Night of Horrors — Re-united to Her Husband 

— Entering the White House Broken in Health and Spirits — "My 
Dears, I Am an Invalid " — The Reign of Martha Patterson, President 
Johnson's Oldest Daughter — "We Are Plain People " — Wrestling 
with Rags and Ruin — Noble and Self-denying Women — Noble 
Characters of Johnson's Wife and Dauehters 656 



'O' 



CHAPTER XLVII. 

THE PRESIDENTS, THEIR WIVES, AND FAMOUS LADIES OF 
THE WHITE HOUSE, CONTINUED — MRS. GRANT'S REIGN 
AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 

The Youth of Ulysses S. Grant — His Standing at West Point — Intimacy 
With the Dent Family — Meets His Future Wife— Finding Out 
" What Was the Matter" — A Half-Drowned Lover — Engagement to 
Miss Dent — A Bride at a Western Army Post — Assuming New Re- 
sponsibilities — At the Beginning of the Civil War — Mrs. Grant as 
the Wife of a Gallant Soldier — ller Ceaseless Anxieties — Inspiring 



CONTENTS. XXxi 

and Encouraging Her Husband — His Election to the Presidency — 
Eeniembering Old Friends — The Grant Children and Their Playmates 
at the White House — Marriage of Nellie Grant — Simple and Happy 
Family Life — General Grant's Reverses and Physical Suffering — 
Mrs. Grant in Later Years 663 



CHAPTER XLYIII. 

THE PRESIDENTS, THEIR WIVES, AND FAMOUS LADIES OF 
THE WHITE HOUSE, CONTINUED — THE REFINING REIGN 
OF MRS. RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 

A Woman of Remarkable Ability — Meets Rutherford B. Hayes, a Rising 
Young I^awyer- Their Marriage — General Hayes' Brilliant Army 
Record — Promoted to General for Extraordinary Services — Wounded 
Four Times — Mrs. Hayes' Visits to Her W^ounded Husband — Two 
W'inters in Camp — ^Ministering to the Sick and W'ounded — Gen- 
eral Hayes Elected President — Mrs. Hayes' Reign in the White House 

— Her Personal Appearance and Traits" of Character — Her Dignitied 
and Charming Presence — Banishing Wine from the President's 
Table — Her Love of Flowers — Magnificent Dinners and Receptions 

— A Superb State Dinner to Royalty — Returning to Their Modest 
Home — Death of President and Mrs. Hayes 674 



CHAPTER XLIX. 

THE PRESIDENTS, THEIR WIVES, AND FAMOUS LADIES OF 
THE WHITE HOUSE, CONTINUED — GARFIELD'S AND 
ARTHUR'S ADMINISTRATIONS. 

President .Lames A. Garfield and His Wife — From a Log Cabin to the 
White House — His First Ambition- First Meeting with Miss Ru- 
dolph — Pupils in the Same School — Their Engagement — Garfield's 
Enviable War Record — Advancing Step by Step to Fame — His Mar- 
riage and Election to the Presidency — His Tribute to His Devoted 
Wife — His Assassination — Brave F'ight for Life — Weary Weeks of 
Torture — His Death and Burial — James G. Blaine's Remarkable 
Eulogy — Mrs. Garfield's Devotion and Christian Fortitude — A Brave 
and Silent Watcher— Intense Grief — Leaving the White House For- 
ever — President Chester A. Arthur s . 684 



CHAPTER L. 

THE PRESIDENTS, THEIR WIVES, AND FA:\I0US LADIES OF 
THE WHITE HOUSE, CONTINUED — A YOUTHFUL BRIDE 
AS MISTRESS OF THE WHITE HOUSE. 

A Bachelor President — Managing Mammas with Marriageable Daughters 
— Brief Reign of the President's Sister — An Intellectual and Self-Re- 



XXXll CONTENTS. 

Hant Woman — The President's Engagement to Miss Frances Folsom 
— A Well-Guarded Family Secret — The President Meets His Fiancee 
at New York — Preparations for the Wedding — Miss Folsom's Ap- 
pearance — Preparing to Receive Herat the White House — Arrival of 
the Eventful Day — The President's Unconventional Invitation to His 
Wedding — The' Wedding Procession and the Ceremony — A Beautiful 
Bride — Mrs. Cleveland's Popular Reign — Winning Universal Admi- 
ration— Her Return to the White House— Why She Lost Interest in 
Social Functions — Retirement to Private Life — A Growing Family — 
A Quiet Home and Domestic Bliss 698 



CHAPTER LI. 

THE PRESIDENTS, THEIR WIVES, AND FAMOUS LADIES OF 
THE WHITE HOUSE, CONTINUED — THE REIGN AND 
DEATH OF PRESIDENT AND MRS. BENJAMIN HARRISON. 

Boyhood Days of Benjamin Harrison — His Life on His Father's Farm — 
The Influence of His Mother's Example — He Becomes "Enamored 
of an Interesting Young Lady " — His Early Marriage — Working for 
$2.50 a Day — Setting up Housekeeping in a House of Three Rooms 
— Helping" His Wife with Her Houseliold Duties — A Rising Young 
Lawyer — Enlists in the Civil War — His Enviable War Record — Be- 
comes Brigadier-General — Elected President of the United States — 
His Wife a True Helpmate — A Devoted Wife and Mother — Reno- 
vating the White House From Cellar to Garret — Burning of the 
Home of the Secretary of the Navy — Tragic Death of His Wife and 
Daughter — How the Tragedy Affected Mrs. Harrison— Her Illness 
and Death — The President's ^larriage to Mrs. Dimmick — His Illness 
aud Death — Affecting Scenes at His Bedside 706 



CHAPTER LII. 

THE PRESIDENTS. THEIR WIVES, AND FAMOUS LADIES OF 
THE WHITE HOUSE, CONTINUED — PRESIDENT AND MRS. 
McKINLEY'S REIGN. 

The House in Which William McKinley, Jr. , was Born — His Work for 
the Family Woodpile — How He Obtained an Education — Striding 
"Across Lots" to Teach School — Enlisting as a Private Soldier in 
the Civil War — His Conspicuous Gallantry and Rapid Promotion — 
Begins the Study of Law — His First Case in Court— The Bow-legged 
Man Who Lost His Case for Damages — He Wooes and Wins Miss Ida 
Saxton — Their Marriage and Early Home Life — Death of Their Two 
Children — Elected to Congress — Elected Governor of Ohio — Elected 
President of the United States — Mrs. McKinley at the White House 
— Untiring Devotion of the President to His Invalid Wife — Hands 
That Are Never Idle — A Patient and Resigned Invalid — Her 
Favorite Room in the White House 721 



^•Tliirly \ears in Wash 

Ml 



m^lon • K^ 




EDITED BY 




CHAPTER I. 

THE SITE OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL AND HOW IT WAS 
SELECTED — EARLY TROUBLES AND TRIALS. 

The Prophet of the Capital — Forecasting the Future — A Government 
Moving Slowly and Painfully About on Wheels — Insulted by a Band 
of Mutineers — Troubles and Trials — Washington's Humble Ideas of 
a President's House — Renting and Furnishing a Modest Home — 
Spartan Simplicity — Madison's Indignation — "Going West" — 
Where is the Center of Population ? — A Dinner and What Came of 
it — Sweetening a "Peculiarly Bitter Pill" — A "Revulsion of Stom- 
ach " — End of a Long and Bitter Strife. 

HE Capital of liis country should be the Mecca of 
every citizen, of the United States. The richest 
and most influential man in the Nation has no 
proprietary rights in its magnificent government 
buildings, in the marvelous and manifold industries 
and gigantic operations carried on within them, in its 
treasures of Art and Literature, its costly paintings and 
historic statues, and the mammoth collections in its 
museums, that do not belong equally to the lowliest and 
humblest citizen. The thoughts of millions who cannot 
make pilgrimages hither to behold the sights and scenes of 
the Federal City with their own eyes, are constantly turned 
toward it. Indeed, it may be said that to it all roads lead, 
just as in olden days all roads led to Rome. 
3 (33) 




34 THE PROPHET OF THE CAPITAL. 

Ask any native American who it was that first thought 
of the site of Washington as that of the Capital of the Great 
Republic and he will be very apt to reply by asking : " Who 
else but George Washington? " His title of the " Father of 
His Country " was not entirely earned in war. In peace his 
ideas and his wishes dominated the noble band of patriots 
that founded the constitutional government, and while there 
is no real evidence that Washington first marked this site 
for the Federal City, it is nevertheless probable that he did. 
At least tradition has it that when as a young surveyor, and 
Captain of the Yirginia troops, he encamped with Brad- 
dock's forces on Camp Hill * overlooking the present city of 
Washington, he looked down as Moses looked from Nebo 
upon the promised land, until lie saw growing before his 
prophetic vision the Capital of a vast and free people then 
unborn. The woody plain upon which he gazed was to 
others the undreamed-of site of the yet undreamed-of city of 
the Republic. This youth, ordained of God to be the Father 
of the Republic, was the Prophet of its Capital. He foresaw 
it, in time he chose it, he faithfully served it, he ever loved 
it ; but as a Capital he never entered it. 

Gazing from tlie green promontor}^ of Camp Hill, the 
young surveyor looked across a broad amphitheater of roll- 
ing plain, covered with native oaks and undergrowth. It 
was not these only, tradition tells us, that he saw. His pre- 
scient vision forecast the future. He saw the gently rising 
hills crowned with villas, and in the stead of oaks and under- 
groAvth, broad streets, a populous city, magnificent buildings, 
outrivaling the temples of antiquity — the Federal City, the 
Capital of the vast Republic yet to be ! The dreary camp, 
the weary march, patient endurance of privation, cold, and 
hunger, the long, resolute struggle, hard- won victory at last, 
all these were to be outlived, before the beautiful Capital of 
his future was reached. Did the youth foresee these, also ? 

* Subsequently and until 1892 the site of the United States Observatory. 



A GOVERNMENT ON WHEELS. 35 

Many toiling, struggling, suffering years bridged the dream 
of the young surveyor and the first faint dawn of its fuliill- 
ment. 

After the Declaration of Independence, before the adop- 
tion of the Constitution, the government of the United 
States moved s'luwly and painfully about on wheels. As 
the exigencies of war demanded. Congress met at Philadel- 
phia, Baltimore, Lancaster, York, Princeton, Annapolis, 
Trenton, and New York. During these troubled years it 
was the ambition of every infant State to claim the seat of 
government. For this purpose New York offered Kingston ; 
Rhode Island, Newport ; Maryland, Annapolis ; Virginia, 
Williamsburg. 

June 21, 1783, Congress was insulted at Philadelphia by 
a band of mutineers that the State authorities could not sub- 
due. The body adjourned to Princeton ; and the troubles 
and trials of its itinerancy caused the subject of a per- 
manent national seat of government to be taken up and 
discussed with great vehemence from that time till the form- 
ation of the Constitution. This insult led Congress to deter- 
mine that wherever the Capital was placed, it should be in 
a district freed from any State control. The resolutions 
offered, and the votes taken in tliese debates, indicate that 
the favored site for the future Capital lay somewhere be- 
tween the banks of the Delaware and the Potomac — " near 
Georgetown," says the most oft-repeated sentence. October 
30, 1784, the subject was discussed by Congress, at Trenton. 
A long debate resulted in the appointment of three Commis- 
sioners, with full power to lay out a district not exceeding 
three, nor less than two miles square, on the banks of either 
side of the Delaware, for a Federal town, with the power to 
buy land and to enter into contracts for the building of a 
Federal House, President's house, house for Secretaries, etc. 

Notwithstanding the adoption of this resolution, these 
Commissioners never entered upon their duties. Probably 



36 Washington's favored project. 

the lack of necessary appropriations did not hinder them 
more than the incessant attempts made to repeal the act 
appointing the Commissioners, and to substitute the Potomac 
for the Delaware, as the site of the anticipated Capital. 
Although the name of President Washington does not 
appear in these controversies, even then the dream of the 
young surveyor was taking on in the President's mind the 
tangible shape of reality. First, after the war for human 
freedom and the declaration of national independence, was 
the desire in the heart of George Washington that the Capi- 
tal of the new Nation whose armies he had led to triumph, 
should be located upon the banks of the great river which 
rolled past his home at Mount Vernon and at the point 
where he had foreseen it in his early dream. That he used 
undue influence with the successive Congresses which debated 
and voted on many sites, not the slightest evidence remains, 
and the nobility of his character forbids the supposition. 
But the final decision attests the prevailing potency of his 
preferences and wishes, and the immense pile of correspond- 
ence which he has left on the subject proves that, next to 
the establishment of its independence, the founding of the 
Capital of the Republic was dear to his heart. May 10, 
1787, Massachusetts, New York, Virginia and Georgia voted 
for, and New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland 
against the proposition of Mr. Lee of Virginia, that the 
Board of Treasury should take measures for erecting the 
necessary public buildings for the accommodation of Con- 
gress, at Georgetown, on the Potomac River, as soon as the 
land and jurisdiction of said town could be obtained. But 
these and other proposed measures led to no immediate 

results. 

Many and futile were the battles fought by the old Con- 
tinental Congress over the important but troublesome ques- 
tion. These battles doubtless had much to do with Section 
8, Article 1, of the Constitution of the United States, which 



EIVALRY OF THE STATES. 37 

declares that Congress shall have power to exercise exclu- 
sive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such district 
(not exceeding ten miles square), as may, by cession of par- 
ticular States and the acceptance of Congress, become the 
seat of government of the United States. This article was 
assented to by the convention which framed the Constitu- 
tion, without debate. The adoption of the Constitution was 
followed spontaneously by most munificent acts on the part 
of several States. New York appropriated its public build- 
ings to the use of the new government, and Congress met in 
that city April 6, 1789. On May 15 following, Mr. White 
of Virginia presented to the House of Representatives a 
resolve of the Legislature of that State, offering to the Fed- 
eral government ten miles square of its territory, in any 
part of that State, which Congress might choose as the seat 
of the Federal government. The day following, Mr. Seney 
presented a similar act from the State of Maryland. Memo 
orials and petitions followed in quick succession from Penn- 
sylvania, New Jersey and Maryland. The resolution of the 
Virginia Legislature begged for the co-operation of Mary- 
land, offering to advance the sum of $120,000 to the use of 
the general government toward erecting public buildings, if 
the Assembly of Maryland would advance two-fiftlis of a 
like sum. Whereupon the Assembly of Virginia immedi- 
Sitely voted to cede the necessary land, and to provide $72,- 
000 toward the erection of public buildings. 

" New York and Pennsylvania gratuitously furnished 
elegant and convenient accommodations for the govern- 
ment" during the eleven years which Congress passed in 
those States, and offered to continue to do the same. The 
Legislature of Pennsylvania went further in lavish generos- 
ity, and voted a sum of money to build a house for the Pres- 
ident. When George Washington saw the dimensions of 
the house which the Pennsylvanians were building for the 
President's Mansion, he informed them at once that he 



38 BITTERNESS AND CONTENTION. 

would never occupy it, much less incur the expense of buy- 
ing suitable furniture for it. In those Spartan days it never 
entered into the designs of the State to buy furniture for the 
" Executive Mansion." Thus the Chief Citizen, instead of 
accepting a pretentious dwelling, rented and furnished a 
modest house belonging to Mr. Robert Morris. 

Meanwhile the great battle for the permanent seat of 
government went on unceasingly among the representatives 
of conflicting States. No modern debate, in length and bit- 
terness, has surpassed this of the first Congress under the 
Constitution. Nearly all agreed that New York was not 
sufficiently central. There was an intense conflict concern- 
ing the relative merits of Philadelphia and Germantown ; 
Havre de Grace and a place called Wright's Ferry, on the 
Susquehanna; Baltimore on the Patapsco, and Conoco- 
cheague on the Potomac. Mr. Smith proclaimed the advan- 
tages of Baltimore, and the fact that its citizens had sub- 
scribed $40,000 for public buildings. The South Carolinians 
cried out against Philadelphia because of its majority of 
Quakers who, they said, were eternally dogging the Southern 
members with their schemes of emancipation. Many others 
ridiculed the project of building palaces in the woods. Mr. 
Gerry of Massachusetts declared that it was the height of 
unreasonableness to establish the seat of government so far 
south that it would place nine States out of the thirteen so 
far north of the National Capital ; while Mr. Page protested 
that New York was superior to any place that he knew 
for the orderly and decent behavior of its inhabitants. 

September 5, 1789, a resolution passed the House of 
Eepresentatives "that the permanent seat of the govern- 
ment of the United States ought to be at some convenient 
place on the banks of the Susquehanna, in the State of 
Pennsylvania." Tlie passage of this bill awoke the deepest 
ire in the members from the South. Mr. Madison declared 
that if the proceedings of that day could have been fore- 



SHOULD IT BE A COMMERCIAL CITY ? 39 

seen by Virginia, that State would never have condescended 
to hecome a jxirty to the Constitution. 

The bill passed the House by a vote of thirty-one to 
nineteen. The Senate amended it by striking out " Susque- 
hanna," and inserting a clause making the permanent seat 
of government Germantown, Pennsylvania, provided the 
State of Pennsylvania should give security to pay $100,000 
for the erection of public buildings. The House agreed to 
these amendments, but it was at the very close of the 
session and never reached final action. 

In the long debates and pamphlets of 1790, the question 
as to whether the seat of the American government should 
be a commercial capital was warmly discussed. Madison 
and his party argued that the only way to insure the power 
of exclusive legislation to Congress as accorded by the Con- 
stitution was to remove the Capital as far from commercial 
interests as possible. They declared that the exercise of 
this authority over a large mixed commercial community 
would be impossible. Conflicting mercantile interests 
would cause constant political disturbances, and when party 
feelings ran hio-h, or business was stae^nant, the commercial 
capital would swarm with an ii'ritable mob brimful of 
wrongs and grievances. This would involve the necessitv of 
an army standing in perpetual defense of the capital. Lon-^ 
don and Westminster were cited as examples where the com- 
mercial importance of a single city had more influence on 
the measures of government than the Avdiole empire out- 
side. Sir James Macintosh was quoted, wherein he said 
" that a great metropolis was to be considered as the heart 
of a political body — as the focus of its powers and talents 
— as the direction of public opinion, and, therefore, as a 
strong bulwark in the cause of freedom, or as a powerful 
engine in the hands of an oppressor." To prevent the Cap- 
ital of the Pepublic becoming the latter, the Constitution 
deprived it of the elective franchise, and hence residents of 



40 LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE. 

the District of Columbia have never had a vote in federal 
elections and for many years no vote even in local affairs. 

In view of the vast territory now comprehended in the 
United States the provision made by Congress for the future 
growth of the country may seem meager and limited. But 
when we remember that there were then but thirteen 
States, that railroads, telegraphs, and the wonderful electric 
inventions of modern times were undreamed of as human 
possibilities — that nearly all territory west of the Potomac 
was an unpenetrated wilderness, we may wonder at their 
prescience and wisdom, rather than smile at their lack of 
foresight. Even in that early and clouded morning there 
were statesmen who foresaw the later glory of the West 
foreordained to shine on far-off generations. Said Mr. 
Madison : " If the calculation be just that we double in 
fifty years we shall speedily behold an astonishing mass of 
people on the western waters. . . . The swarm does not 
come from the southern but from the northern and eastern 
hives. I take it that the center of population will rapidly 
advance in a southwesterly direction. It must then travel 
from the Susquehanna if it is now found there — ^^ may 
even extend heyond the Potomac.'''' 

These are but a few of the questions which were discussed 
in the great debates which preceded the final locating of the 
Capital on the banks of the Potomac. Bitterness and dis- 
sension were even then rife in both Houses of Congress. 
An amendment had been offered to the funding act, providing 
for the assumption of the State debts to the amount of twenty- 
one millions, which was rejected by the House. The North 
favored assumption and the South opposed it. Just then 
reconciliation and amity were brought about between the 
combatants precisely as they often are in our own time, 
over a well-laid dinner table, and a bottle of rare old wine. 
Jefferson was then Secretary of State, and Alexander Ham-' 
ilton Secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton thought that 



HAMILTON'S ANXIETY. 41 

the North would yield and consent to the establishment of the 
Capital on the Potomac, if the South would agree to the 
amendment to assume the State debts. Jefferson and Ham- 
ilton met accidentally in the street, and the result of their 
half an hour's walk " backward and forward before the 
President's door" was the next day's dinner party, and the 
final, irrevocable fixing of the National Capital on the banks 
of the Potomac, How it was done, as an illustration of 
early legislation, which has its perfect parallel in the legis- 
lation of the present day, can best be told in Jefferson's 
own words, quoted from one of his letters. He sa3's : 
"Hamilton was in despair. As I was going to the Presi- 
dent's one day I met him in the street. He walked me 
backward and forward before the President's door for half 
an hour. He painted pathetically the temper into which 
the legislature had been wrought ; the disgust of those who 
were called the creditor States ; the danger of the secession 
of their members, and the separation of the States. He 
observed that the members of the administration ought to 
act in concert ; . . . that the President was the center 
on which all administrative questions finally rested ; that all 
of us should rally around him and support by joint efforts 
measures approved by him, . . . that an appeal from 
me to the judgment and discretion of some of my friends 
might effect a change in the vote, and the machine of gov- 
ernment, now suspended, might be again set in motion. I 
told him that I was really a stranger to the whole subject, 
not having yet informed myself of the system of finance 
adopted . . . that if its rejection endangered a dissolu- 
tion of our Union at this incipient stage, I should deem that 
the most unfortunate of all consequences, to avert which all 
partial and temporary evils should be yielded. 

" I proposed to him, however, to dine with me the next 
day, and I would invite another friend or two, bring them 
into conference together, and I thought it impossible that 



42 SWEETENING THE DOSE, 

reasonable men, consulting together coolly, could fail by some 
mutual sacrifices of opinion to form a compromise Avhich 
was to save the Union. The discussion took place. . . . 
It was finally agreed to, that whatever importance had been 
attached to the rejection of this proposition, the preserva- 
tion of the Union and of concord among the States was 
more important, and that tlierefore it would be better that 
the vote of rejection should be rescinded, to effect which 
some members should change their votes. But it was ob- 
served that this pill would be peculiarly bitter to Southern 
States, and that some concomitant measure should be 
adopted to sweeten it a little to them. There had before 
been a proposition to fix the seat of government either at 
Philadelphia or Georgetown on the Potomac, and it was 
thought that by giving it to Philadelphia for ten years, and 
to Georgetown permanently afterward, this might, as an 
anodyne, calm in some degree the ferment which might be 
excited by the other measure alone. So two of the Potomac 
members (White and Lee), but White Avith a revulsion of 
stomach almost convulsive, agreed to change their votes, 
and Hamilton agreed to carry the other point ... and 
so the assumption was passed." 

June 28, 1790, to carry out the agreement an old bill Avas 
dragged forth and amended by inserting " on the River 
Potomac, at some place between the mouths of the Eastern 
Branch and the Conococheague." This was finally passed, 
July 16, 1790, and entitled "An Act establishing the tempo- 
rary and permanent seat of the government of the United 
States." The word "temporary" applied to Philadelphia, 
whose disappointment in not becoming the final Capital was 
to be appeased by Congress holding their sessions there till 
1800, when, as a member expressed it, "they were to go to 
the Indian place with the long name, on the Potomac." 

The long strife ended, and the permanent Capital of the 
United States was fixed on the banks of the Potomac, in 



THE CONTROVERSY ENDED. 43 

the aiiiendatoiy proclamation of President Washington, 
(lone at Georgetown the 30th day of March, in the year of 
our Lord 1791, and of the independence of the United 
States the fifteenth, which concluded with these words : 
"I do accordinoflv direct the Commissioners named under 
the authority of the said first-mentioned act of Congress to 
proceed forthwith to have the said four lines run, and by 
proper metes and bounds defined and limited, and thereof 
to make due report under their hands and seals ; and the 
territory so to be located, defined, and limited shall be the 
whole territory accepted by the said act of Congress as the 
district for the permanent seat of the government of the 
United States." 



CHAPTER 11. 

GENERAL WASHINGTON AND OBSTINATE DAVY BURNS — 

HOW THE "WIDOW'S MITE" WAS SECURED — HOW 

AND BY WHOM THE CITY WAS PLANNED. 

Making Peace With Lords of Little Domains — " Obstinate Mr. Burns " — 
A Pugnacious Scotciiman — Tlie " Widow's Mite" — A Graceful Sur- 
render — Republicans in Tlieory but Aristocrats in Practice — Who 
Was Major L'Enfant ? — A Lucky Circumstance — Plans that Were 
Ridiculed — Men Who Did Not "Get On" Well Together — The Man 
Who Worried President Washington — Demolishing Mansions With- 
out Leave or License — An Uncontrollable Engineer — His Summary 
Dismissal — Living Without Honor and Dying Without Fame — A 
Quaker Successor of "Uncommon Talent" and "Placid Temper" — 
Five Dollars a Day and "Expenses" — "Too Much" — A Colored 
Genius for Mathematics — " Every Inch a Man " — Why the Capitol, 
the White House, and Government Buildings Were Set Far Apart. 

HAT part of the district of ten nUle. square fall- 
ing within the boundaries of Maryland and 
designated for the center of the Federal City, 
while covered with sturdy trees, seamed with 
gullies and, in fact, nearly as wild as when it had 
been the camping ground of the savage Manahoacs, 
was nevertheless the private property of a few indi- 
viduals, one or two of them holding patents dating back for 
more than a hundred years. Following the cession of the 
land by Maryland, therefore, the next step in the settlement 
of the government was to make peace with these lords of 
their little domains. With one exception they sought and 
welcomed the establishment of the proposed city, three of 
them being appointed Commissioners for the purpose. 

(44) 




AN EARLY OBSTRUCTIONIST. 45 

The single exception was a pugnacious little Scotchman 
named David Burns. He owned an immense tract of land 
south of where the White House now stands, extending as 
far as that which the Patent Office called, in the land 
patent of 1681 which granted it, " the Widow's Mite, lyeing 
on the east side of the Anacostia Kiver, on the north 
side of a branch or inlett in the said river, called Tyber." 
This "Widow's Mite" contained 600 acres or more, and 
David Burns was at first in nowise willing to part witli 
any portion of it. Although it lay within the District of 
Columbia, ceded by the act of Maryland for the future 
Capital, no less a personage than the President of the 
United States could move David Burns one whit, and even 
the President found it no easy matter to bring the Scotch- 
man to terms. More than once in his letters he alludes 
to him as "the obstinate Mr. Burns," and it is told that 
upon one occasion when the President was dwelling upon 
the advantage that the sale of his lands would bring, the 
planter, testy Davy, exclaimed : " I suppose you think 
people here are going to take every grist that comes from 
you as pure grain, but what would you have heen if you 
hadrCt married the wldoio Custis f " 

After many interviews and arguments even the patience 
of Washington finally gave out, and he said : " Mr. Burns, 
I have been authorized to select the location of the National 
Capital. I have selected your farm as a part of it, and the 
srovernment will take it at all events. I trust you will, 
under these circumstances, enter into an amicable arrange- 
ment." 

Seeing that further resistance was useless, the shrewd 
Scotchman thought that by a final graceful surrender he 
miD:ht secure more favorable conditions; thus, when the 
President once more asked : " On what terms will you 
surrender your plantation?" Davy humbly replied : "Any 
that your Excelleuoy may choose to name," The deed con^ 



46 THE LAND PURCHASED. 

veying the land of David Burns to the Commissioners in 
trust is the first on record in the city of Washington. This 
sale secured to him and to his descendants an immense for- 
tune. The deed provided that the streets of the new city 
should be so laid out as not to interfere with the cottage 
where David Burns lived in the most humble manner, with 
liis daughter who was to become one of the richest heiresses 
of Washington. Tlie other original owners of the land on 
which the city of Washington was built cheerfully accepted 
the proposed terms, and on the 31st of May Washing- 
ton wrote to Jefferson from Mount Vernon, announcing 
that the owners had conveyed all their interest to the 
United States on consideration that when the whole should 
be surveyed and laid off as a city the original proprietors 
should retain every other lot. The remaining lots were to 
be sold by the government from time to time and the 
proceeds applied towards the improvement of the place. 
The land comprised within this agreement contained over 
YjlOO acres. 

The founders of the Capital were all very republican in 
theory, and all very aristocratic in practice. In speech they 
proposed to build a sort of Spartan capital, fit for a Spartan 
republic ; but in fact, they proceeded to build one modeled 
after the most magnificent cities of Europe. European by 
descent and education, many of them allied to the oldest 
and proudest families of the Old World, every idea of cul- 
ture, of art and magnificence had come to them as part 
of their European inheritance, and we see its result in every- 
thing that they did or proposed to do for the new Capital 
which they so zealously began to build in the woods. 

The art-connoisseur of the day was Jefferson. He knew 
Europe not only by family tradition but from travel and 
observation. Next to Washington he took the deepest per- 
sonal interest in the projected Capital. Of this interest we 
find continual proof in his letters, also of tho fact that his 



THE MAN WHO PLANNED THE CITY. 47 

taste had much to with the plan and architecture of the 
coming city. In a letter to Washington dated Philadelphia, 
April 10, 1791, he wrote: "I received last night from 
Major L'Enfant a request to furnish any plans of towns 
I could for examination. I accordingly send him by this 
post, plans of Frankfort-on-the-Main, etc.,* which I pro- 
cured while in those towns respectively. They are none of 
them, however, comparable to the old Babylon revived in 
Philadelphia and exemplified." Evidently it did not occur 
to these two fathers of their country that a mercurial 
Frenchman would never attempt to satisfy his soul with 
acute angles of old Babylon revived through the arid and 
level lengths of Philadelphia. 

The man who planned the Capital of the United States, 
not for the present but for all time, was Pierre Charles 
L'Enfant, born in France in 1755. He was a lieutenant 
in the French provincial forces, and with others of his 
countrymen was early drawn to these shores by the mag- 
netism of a new people, and the promise of a new land. He 
offered his services to the revolutionary army as an en- 
gineer in 1777, and was appointed captain of engineers 
February 18, 1778. After being wounded at the siege of 
Savannah, he was promoted to major of engineers, and 
served near the person of "Washington. Probably at that 
time there was no man in America who possessed so much 
genius and art-culture in the same direction as Major 
L'Enfant. In a new land, where nearly every artisan had 
to be imported from foreign shores, the chief designer and 
architect surely would have to be. It seemed a fortunate 
circumstance to find on the spot a competent engineer for 
the prospective Capital. 

The first public communication extant concerning the 



*Other plans were those of Carlsruhe, Amsterdam, Strassburg, Paris, 
Orleans, Bordeaux, Lyons, Montpelier, Marseilles, Turin, and Milan 



48 THE CITY NAMED. 

laying out of the city is from the pen of General Wash- 
ington, dated March 11, 1791. In a letter dated April 30, 
1791, he first called it the " Federal City." Four months 
later, without his knowledge, it received its present name m 
a letter from the first Commissioners, Messrs. Johnson, 
Stuart, and Carroll, which bears the date of Georgetown, 
September 9, 1791, to Major L'Enfant, which informs that 
gentleman that they have agreed that the federal district 
shall be called The Territory of Columbia, and the federal 
city The City of Washington, directing him to entitle his 
map accordingly. 

In March, 1791, we find Jefferson addressing Major 
L'Enfant in these words : " You are desired to proceed to 
Georgetown, where you will find Mr. EUicott employed in 
making a survey and map of the federal territory. The 
special object of asking your aid is to have the drawings 
of the particular grounds most likely to be approved for the 
site of the federal grounds and buildings." 

The French genius " proceeded," and behold the result, 
the city of "magnificent distances," and from the begin- 
nino-, of magnificent intentions, — intentions which for years 
called forth only ridicule, because in the slow mills of time 
their fulfillment was so long delayed. As Thomas Jefferson 
wanted the chessboard squares and angles of Philadelphia, 
L'Enfant used them for the base of the new city, but his 
genius avenged itself for this outrage on its taste by trans- 
versing them with sixteen magnificent avenues, which from 
that day to this have proved the confusion and the glory of 
the city. 

The avenues were named after the states. The great 
central avenue running a length of over four miles from the 
Anacostia to Rock Creek was named after Pennsylvania. 
The commonwealth of Massachusetts was dignified by a 
parallel avenue of equal length on the north, and Virginia 
in like manner on the south. The avenues crossing the 



AN INTRACTABLE GENIUS. 40 

great central thoroughfare were named after New York. 
New Hampshire, New Jersey, Maryland, the Carolinas and 
Georgia, while Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Vermont 
were given shorter and non-intersecting avenues in the 
rather unpromising northwest, though, contrary to the gen- 
eral belief, the}'' could not have been regarded as possibili- 
ties quite so remote as those avenues east of the Capitol 
which later received the names of the new states Kentucky 
and Tennessee, the former running south from Pennsyl- 
vania avenue and the latter north. At any rate the 
small New England states ultimately had the satisfaction of 
seeing their avenues become the finest residential streets of 
the citv. 

Two months after the publication of his magnificent de- 
signs for posterity, Major L'Enfant was' dismissed from his 
exalted place. He was a Frenchman and a genius. The 
patrons of the new Capital were not geniuses, and not 
Frenchmen, reasons sufficient why they should not and did 
not " get on " long in peace together. Without doubt the 
Commissioners were provincial, and limited in their ideas of 
art and of expenditure ; with their colonial experience they 
could scarcely be otherwise ; while L'Enfant was metro- 
politan, splendid, and willful, in his ways as well as in his 
designs. Hampered, held back, he yet " builded better than 
he knew," — builded for posterity. The executor and the 
designer seldom counterpart each other. 

L'Enfant worried Washington, as a letter from the latter 
written in the autumn of 1791, plainly shoAvs. He says : 
" It is much to be regretted that men who possess talents 
which fit them for peculiar purposes should almost in- 
variably be under the influence of an untoward disposition. 
I have thought that for such employment as 
he is now engaged in for prosecuting public Avorks and 
carrying them into effect. Major L'Enfant was better 
qualified than anyone who has come within my knowl- 



50 THE RETIREMENT OF l'ENFANT. 

Gdge in this country, or indeed in any other. I had no 
doubt at the same time that this was the light in which 
he considered himself." At least, L'Enfant was so fond 
of his new "plan" that he would not give it up to the 
Commissioners to be used as an inducement for buyino- 
city lots, even at the command of the President, giving 
as a reason that if it was open to buyers, speculators 
would build up his beloved avenues (which he intended, in 
time, should outrival Versailles) with squatter's huts — just 
as they afterwards did. Then Duddington House, the 
abode of Daniel Carroll, one of the Commissioners, was in 
the way of one of his triumphal avenues, and he ordered it 
torn down without leave or license, to the rage of its owner 
and the indignation of the Commissioners. Duddington 
House was rebuilt "by order of the government in another 
place. IS^evertheless its first demolition was held as one of 
the sins of the uncontrollable L'Enfant, who was summarilv 
discharged March G, 1T02. 

His dismissal was thus announced by Jefferson in a letter 
to one of the Commissioners : " It having been found im- 
practicable to employ Major L'Enfant about the Federal 
City in that degree of subordination which was lawful and 
proper, he has been notified that his services are at an end. 
It is now proper that he should receive the reward of his 
past services, and the wish that he should have no just 
cause of discontent suggests that it should be liberal. The 
President thinks of $2,500, or $3,000, but leaves the de- 
termination to you." Jefferson wrote in the same letter : 
" The enemies of the enterprise will take the advantage of 
the retirement of L'Enfant to trumpet the whole as an 
abortion." But L'Enfant lived and died within sight of the 
dawning city of his love which he had himself created — 
and never wrought it or its projectors any harm through 
all the days of his life. He was \oy'a\ to his adopted 
government, but to his last breath clung to every atom of 



ELLICOTT AND HIS ASSISTANT. 51 

Lis personal claim upon it, as pugnaciously as lie did to his 
maps when commanded to give them up. He lived without 
honor, and died without fame. Time has vindicated one 
and will perpetuate the other in one of the most magnificent 
capitals of the earth. 

He lived for many years on the Digges farm, situated 
about eight miles from "Washington, and was buried in the 
family burial-ground in the garden. When the Digges 
family were disinterred, his dust was left nearly alone. 
There it lies to-day, and the perpetually growing splendor 
of the ruling city which he planned is his only monument. 

Major L'Enfant was succeeded by Andrew Ellicott, a 
practical engineer, born in Pennsylvania. Ellicott was 
called a man of " uncommon talent " and " placid temper." 
Neither saved him from conflicts with ■ the Commissioners. 
A Quaker, he 3'et commanded a battalion of militia in the 
devolution, and " was thirty-seven years of age when he 
rode out with Washington to survey the embryo city." He 
finished (with certain modifications) the work which 
KEnfant began. For this he received the stupendous sum 
of $5.00 per day, which, with " expenses," Jefferson thought 
to be altogether too much. lu his letter to the Commission- 
ers dismissing L'Enfant, he says: "Ellicott is to goon to 
finish laying off the plan on the ground, and surveying and 
plotting the district. I have remonstrated with him on the 
excess of five dollars a day and his expenses, and he has 
proposed striking off the latter." 

Ellicott's most remarkable assistant was Benjamin 
Bancker, a negro, the first of his race to distinguish himself 
in the new Bepublic. He was born with a genius for 
mathematics and the exact sciences, and at an early age was 
the author of an Almanac which attracted the attention and 
c ^ramanded the praise of Thomas Jefferson. When he 
came to "run the lines" of the future Capital, he was sixty 
years of age. The color-line could not have been drawn very 



UNIVERSITY OP 
11 L1N0\S LIBRARY 

,,Sna-champmgn 



52 COMMENT, AND AN EXPLANATION. 

tensely at that time, for the Commissioners invited him to 
an official seat with themselves, an honor which he de. 
clined. The picture given us of him is that of a sable 
Franklin, large, noble, and venerable, with a dusky face, 
white hair, and Quaker coat and hat. 

Nothing calls forth more comment from strangers than 
the distance between the Capitol and many of the Executive 
Departments. It is still a chronic and fashionable complaint 
to decry the time and distance it takes to get anywhere. 
We are constantly hearing exclamations of what a beautiful 
city AVashington would be with the Capitol for the center 
of a square formed by a chain of magnificent public build- 
intJ-s. John Adams wanted the Departments around the 
Capitol. George Washington, but a short time before his 
death, gave in a letter the reasons for their present position. 
He says: "Where or how the houses for the President 
and the public offices may be fixed is to me, as an individual, 
a matter of moonshine. But the reverse of the President's 
motive for placing the latter near the Capitol was my 
motive for fixing them by the former. The daily inter- 
course which the secretaries of departments must have with 
the President would render a distant situation extremely 
inconvenient to them, and not much less so Avould one be 
close to the Capitol ; for it was the universal complaint of 
them all, that while the Legislature was hi session, they could 
do little or no husiness, so inuch were they interrupted hy the 
individual visits of members in office hours, and hy calls for 
jmper. Many of them have disclosed to me that they have 
been obliged often to go home and deny themselves in order 
to transact the current business." The denizen of the pres- 
ent time, who knows the Secretaries' dread of the average 
besieging Congressman, will smile to find that the dread 
was as potent in the era of George Washington as it is 
to-day. A more conclusive reason could not be given why 
Capitol and Departments should be a mile or more apart. 



CHAPTER III. 

BIRTH OF THE NATION'S CAPITOL — GRAPHIC PICTURES OP 
EARLY DAYS — SACKED BY THE BRITISH — WASHING- 
TON DURING THE CIVIL WAR — THEN AND NOW. 

Raising the Money to Build the Capitol — Government Lottery Schemes — 
Hunting for the Capital — " In the Center of the City" — Queer Sen- 
sations — Dismal Scenes — Sacked by the British — "The Royal 
Pirate" — Flight of the President— Burning of the White House — 
Mrs. Madison Saves the Historic Painting of General Washington — 
Paul Jennings' Account of the Retreat — Invaded by Torch Bearers 
and Plunderers — A Memorable Storm — Midnight Silent Retreat of 
the British — Disgraceful Conduct of "The Royal Pirate" — "Liglit 
up ! " — Setting Fire to the Capitol — Dickens' Sarcastic Description 
of the Capital — "Such as It Is, It Is Likely to Remain" — When 
the Civil War Opened — Dreary, Desolate, and Dirty — The Capital 
During the War — Days of Anguish and Bloodshed. 

JT^^X going througli Washington's correspondence 

. I^M one finds thiat there is scarcely anything in the 

vllw past, present, or future of its Capital, for which 

the Father of his Country has not left on record 

F// a wise, far-reaching reason. His letters are full of 
allusions to the annoyance and difficulty attending 
the raising of sufficient money to make the Capitol and 
other public buildings tenantable by the time specified, 
1800. He seemed to regard the prompt completion of the 
Capitol as an event identical with the perpetual establish- 
ment of the government at Washington. Virginia had 
made a donation of $120,000, and Maryland one of $72,000; 
these were now exhausted. After various efforts to raise 
money by the forced sales of public lots, and after abortive 

(53) 




54 FEDERAL LOTTERIES. 

attempts to borrow money, at home and abroad, on the 
credit of these lots, amidst general embarrassments, while 
Congress withheld any aid whatever, the urgency appeared 
to the President so great as to induce him to make a per- 
sonal application to the State of Maryland for a loan of 
$100,000, which was successful. The deplorable condition 
of the government credit at that time is exhibited in the 
fact that the State called upon the personal credit of the 
Commissioners as an additional guarantee for the re-pay- 
ment of the amount. 

When in l'i'92 financial distress was very acute, the 
government asked Samuel Blodget of Philadelphia to pro- 
mote the city's growth by a lottery scheme, the immediate 
necessity being a hotel. He at once instituted what was 
called " Federal Lottery No. I " for $50,000, the tickets be- 
ing seven dollars each, with 1,679 prizes, the first being 
the hotel itself. The drawing took place in 1793, after the 
people of Georgetown had bought up a large remnant of 
tickets to save the scheme from failure. Federal Lottery 
No. II was instituted to build a row of houses west of the 
White House, a block which became known as " The Six 
Houses," and though very unpretentious they were long 
conspicuous in a city which consisted largely of streets. 
The record of Federal Lottery No. I, a quaint book whose 
leaves are brown with age, is now one of the relics treas- 
ured in the Library of Congress. 

Not only was the growth of the public buildings hin- 
dered through lack of money, but also through the "jeal- 
ousies and bickerings" of those who should have helped to 
build them. Human nature, in the aggregate, was just as 
inharmonious and hard to manage then as now. The Com- 
missioners did not always agree. Artisans, imported from 
foreign lands, of themselves made an element of discord, 
one which Washington dreaded and deprecated. Lie led, 
with a patience and wisdom undreamed of and unappreci- 



IN SIGHT OF THE PROMISED LAND. 55 

ated in this generation, the straggling and discordant forces 
of the Republic from oppression to freedom, from chaos to 
achievement — he came in sight of the promised land of 
fruition and prosperity, but he did not enter it, this Father 
and Prophet of the people! George Wasliington died in 
December, 1709, The City of Washington was olliciall}^ 
occupied in June, 1800. 

The only adequate impression of what the Capital was 
at the time of its first occupancy we must receive from 
those who beheld it with living eyes. Fortunately several 
have left graphic pictures of the appearance which the city 
presented at that time. Probably the earliest account we 
have was that written in his diary bv Thomas Twinino- an 
energetic Englishman who visited this country in 1795 and 
was entertained by "Washington. He had arrived at George- 
town from P)altimore one April day and on the next set out 
on horseback to see the new Capital, elaborate plans of 
which he had seen at Baltimore and which he had supposed 
must be truly magnificent. The following is taken from 
his diary : 

"Having crossed an extensive tract of level country 
somewhat resembling an English heath, I entered a large 
wood through which a very imperfect road had been made, 
principally by removing the trees, or rather the upper parts 
of them, in the usual manner. After some time this indis- 
tinct way assumed more the appearance of a regular avenue, 
the trees having been cut down in a straight line. Although 
no habitation of any kind was visible, I had no doubt but I 
was now riding along one of the streets of the metropolitan 
city. I continued in this spacious avenue for half a mile, 
and then came out upon a large spot, cleared of wood, in 
the center of which I saw t^YO buildings on an extensive 
scale and some men at work on one of them. . . . Ad- 
vancing and speaking to these workmen they informed me 
that I was now in the center of the city and that the build- 



66 PEN PICTURES OF THE CAPITAL. 

ing before me was the Capitol, and the other destined to be 
a tavern. . . . Looking from where I now stood I saw 
on every side a thick wood pierced with avenues in a more 
or less perfect state." 

President John Adams took possession of the unfinished 
Executive Mansion in November, 1800, During the month, 
Mrs. Adams wrote to her daughter, Mrs. Smith, as follows : 
"I arrived here on Sunday last, and without meeting with 
any accident worth noticing, except losing ourselves when 
we left Baltimore, and going eight or nine miles on the 
Frederic road, by which means we were obliged to go the 
other eight through the woods, where we wandered for two 
hours without finding guide or path . , . but woods are 
all you see from Baltimore till you reach the city, which is 
only so in name. Here and there is a small cot, without a 
glass window, interspersed amongst the forests, through 
which you travel miles without seeing any human being. 
In the city there are buildings enough, if they were com 
pact and finished, to accommodate Congress and those at- 
tached to it; but as they are, and scattered as they are, I 
see no great comfort for them." 

Hon. John Cotton Smith, of Connecticut, a distinguished 
member of Congress, of the Federal school of politics, also 
gives his picture of Washington in 1800: "Our approach 
to the city was accompanied with sensations not easily de- 
scribed. One wing of the Capitol only had been erected, 
which, with the President's house, a mile distant from it, 
both constructed with white sandstone, were shining objects 
in dismal contrast with the scene around them. Instead of 
recognizing the avenues and streets portrayed on the plan 
of the city, not one was visible, unless w^e except a road, 
with two buildings on each side of it, called the New Jersey 
Avenue. The Pennsylvania, leading, as laid down on paper, 
from the Capitol to the presidential mansion, was then 
nearly the whole distance a deep morass, covered with aldei' 



A FORLORN "NEW SETTLEMENT'. 57 

bushes which were cut through the width of the intended 
avenue during the then ensuing winter. Between the 
President's house and Georgetown a block of houses had 
been erected, which then bore, and may still bear, the name 
of the six buildings. There were also other blocks, consist- 
ing of two or three dwelling houses, in different directions, 
and now and then an insulated Avooden habitation, the in- 
tervening spaces, and indeed the surface of the city gener- 
ally, being covered with shrub-oak bushes on the higher 
grounds, and on the marshy soil either trees or some sort of 
shrubbery. The roads in every direction were muddy and 
unimproved, A sidewalk was attempted in one instance by 
a covering formed of the chips of the stones which had 
been hewn for the Capitol. It extended liut a little way 
and was of little value, for in dry weather the sharp frag- 
ments cu our shoes, and in wet weather covered them Avith 
white mortar; in short, it was a 'new settlement.' The 
houses, with one or two exceptions, had been very recently 
erected, and the operation greatly hurried in view of the 
approaching transfer of the national government. A laud- 
able desire was manifested by what few citizens and resi- 
dents there were, to render our condition as pleasant as 
circumstances would permit." 

The visitor who notes that the name of Thomas Moore 
does not appear among the poets in the decorations of the 
beautiful Library of Congress will be told of the facetious 
lines he wrote when he visited the city soon after its occupa- 
tion by the government : 

" This famed metropolis, where fancy sees, 
Squares in morasses, obelisks in trees ; 
Which traveling fools and gazetteers adorn 
With shrines unbuilt and heroes yet unborn." 

Washington Avas incorporated as a city by act of Con- 
gress, passed May 3, 18(>2. The city, planned solely as the 
National Capital, Avas laid out on a scale so grand and ex- 



58 THE SACKING OP THE CITY. 

tensive that scanty municipal funds alone would never have 
been sufficient for its proper improvement. From the be- 
ginning it was the ward of Congress. Its magnificent ave- 
nues, squares, and public buildings, could receive due deco- 
ration from no fund more scanty than a national appropria- 
tion. For a time, its founders and patrons zealousl}^ pursued 
plans for its improvement. But failing funds, a weak mu- 
nicipality, and indifferent Congresses, did their work, and 
for many years "the city of magnificent distances" had 
little but those distances of which to boast. 

The National Capital was sacked by the British under 
Admiral Cockburn, known as " The Koyal Pirate," and 
Major-General Ross, an audacious Irishman, on August 2i, 
1814. The United States had been at war with England 
for two years, and Admiral Cockburn had been cruising 
about Chesapeake Bay with an English fleet f ' a year, 
robbing villages and farmhouses and devastating he whole 
Chesapeake coast. Although President Madison had early 
received warning that British troops were expected to 
co-operate with Cockburn along the Potomac, he was not 
aroused to the danger that menaced the Capital. 

On July 1, 1814, the President received word that an 
English fleet with a large force of seasoned Peninsula vet- 
erans on board had reached Bermuda and was about to sail 
for the Potomac. The States were called upon for 93,500 
militia. About 5,000 reported, mostly raw recruits. An 
unseemly squabble over the appointment of a general to com- 
mand this army followed. "With no cavalry, no vessels, no 
mounted guns, and only a few thousand undisciplined troops, 
the people of Wasliington, who then numbered about 6,000, 
heard of the approach of the enemy August 18. They were 
panic-stricken. Many left the city, and the streets were 
filled with wagons loaded with liousehokl effects. 

The British land force, consisting of 4,500 disci])lined 
troops and three cannon, disembarked at Benedict, August 



THE FLIGHT OF PRESIDENT MADISON, 69 

21, and marching rapidly across fifty miles of country 
appeared on the river bank opposite Bladensburg, at noon, 
August 24, and prepared to cross the bridge. Tliis was but 
six miles from the Capital. President Madison and his Cab- 
inet rode out on horseback to see the struggle. The little 
American array was formed in three lines, too far apart to 
support each other. There were actually three command- 
ing officers, — General Winder, Secretary of State Monroe, 
and Secretary of War Armstrong. The Secretaries repeat- 
edly changed the order of battle, without the knowledge of 
General Winder, and so confused the troops that when 
Winder gave a command regimental officers held consulta- 
tions as to whether they should obey him or the cabinet 
officials. For three hours the battle raged furiously, then 
the militia gave way before a heavy column, and the 
American forces retreated to Maryland. The President 
and his Cabinet scattered and fled, the President continuino- 
his flight into Virginia, where he hid in a hovel for two 
days before he ventured to return to the Capital, Dolly 
Madison, the famous mistress of the White House, was also 
forced to flee, but before she went she removed from its 
frame the historic picture of General Washington in the 
White House, and also saved many Cabinet papers and rec- 
ords, sacrificing her own personal effects to do so. 

The British forces halted a mile and a half from the 
city, but finding no officials to negotiate a pecuniary ransom 
for the property at their mercy, Ross, with his far less 
scrupulous companion in iniquity — Cockburn — with a 
corps of torch bearers and plunderers rode into the Capital 
at 8 o'clock in the evening. They lost no time in burning 
and destroying everything connected with the government. 
The blazing houses, ships, and stores brilliantly illumined 
the sky, while the report of exploding magazines, and the 
crashing of falling roofs, gave evidence of the wanton 
destruction that went steadily on, A detachment was senf 



00 UNWELCOME GUESTS. 

to destroy the President's house, and it is related by Gleig, 
an English writer, that they " found a bountiful dinner 
spread for forty guests. Tiiis they concluded was for the 
American officers who were expected to return victorious 
from the field of Bladensburg." Gleig goes on to say that 
the British soldiers plundered the house, taking a great deal 
of President Madison's private property, and then sat down 
to the feast. " Having partaken freely of wine, they fin- 
ished by setting fire to the house which had so liberally 
entertained them." This story, often quoted, has, at least 
so far as relates to the " feast," been pronounced absolutely 
false. But Mr, Madison's faithful slave, Paul Jennings, a 
man of unusual intelligence and education, who afterwards 
bought his freedom from Mrs. Madison and lived for many 
years a respected citizen of Washington, has left on record 
his observations of what happened. 

He says : " On that very morning Gen. Armstrong 
assured Mrs. Madison there was no danger. The President, 
with Gen. Armstrong, Gen. Winder, Col. Monroe, et al., 
rode out on horseback to Bladensburg to see how things 
looked. Mrs. Madison ordered dinner to be ready at three 
o'clock, as usual. I set the table myself, and brought up 
the ale, cider, and wine and placed them in the coolers, as 
all the Cabinet and several military gentlemen and strangers 
were expected. While waiting, at just about three, as 
Sukey, the house-servant, was lolling out of a chamber 
window, James Smith, a colored man who had accompanied 
Mr. Madison to Bladensburg, galloped up to the house, wav- 
inir his hat, and cried out : ' Clear out, clear out ! General 
Armstrong has ordered a retreat.' 

" All then was confusion. Mrs. Madison ordered her 
carriage, and passing through the dining-room caught up 
what she could crowd into her old-fasliioned reticule, and 
then jumped into the chariot with her servant girl, Sukey, 
and Daniel Carrol, who took charge of them. Jo. Bolin 



MRS. MADISON'S EXPERIENCES. 61 

drove them over to Georgetown heights. The British were 
expected in a few minutes. Mr. Cutts, her brother-in-laAV, 
sent me to a stable on 14th St. for his carriage. People 
were running in every direction. John Freeman (the col- 
ored butler) drove off in the coachee with his wife, child, 
and servant; also a feather-bed lashed on behind the 
coachee, w^hich Avas all the furniture saved. 

" Mrs. Madison slept that night at Mrs. Love's, two or 
three miles over the river. After leaving that place, she 
called in at a house and went upstairs. The lady of the 
house, learning who she Avas, became furious, and went to 
the stairs and screamed out : ' Mrs. Madison, if that's you, 
come down and go out ! Your husband has got mine out 

fighting, and, d you, you sha'n't stay in my house. So 

get out.' Mrs. Madison complied, and went to Mrs. 
Minor's, a few miles further on." 

During the night a terrible storm came up, and the rain 
extinguished the conflagration. General Winder meantime 
had rallied his men, and they were beginning to appear on 
the outskirts of the city. The British, scattered by the hur- 
ricane, and fearing retribution, stole away by night under 
cover of the tempest, in a panic of causeless fear. They left 
their dead unburied, and their wounded to the care of the 
Americans. It was a stealthy but precipitate retreat. Says 
a British writer : " The troops stole to the rear by twos and 
threes, and Avhen far enough removed to avoid observation, 
took their places in silence and began the march. No man 
spoke. Steps Avere planted lightly and Ave cleared the toAvn 
Avithout exciting obserA^ation." TheA^ reached Benedict on 
August 29, and embarked on the 30th with their booty. 

During their occupation of the city a detachment of the 
British force marched to the Capitol. Only two Avings of 
the building were finished, and these were connected by a 
wooden passage-wa}'', erected where the Rotunda noAV stands. 
British officers entered the House of Kepresentatives, Avhere 



62 THE TORCH IN THE CAPITOL. 

Admiral Cockburn, seating himself in the speaker's chair, 
called the assemblage to order and held a mock session of 
Congress. " Gentlemen," said he, " the question is, Shall 
this harbor of Yankee democracy be burned ? All in favor 
of burning it will say * Aye.' " There was a general affirm- 
ative response. And when he added, " Those opposed will 
say ' Nay,' " silence reigned for a moment. " Light up ! " 
cried the bold Briton ; and the order was soon repeated and 
obeyed in all parts of the building, while soldiers and sailors 
vied with each other in collecting combustible material for 
their incendiary fires. The books on the shelves of the 
Library of Congress were used as kindling wood for the 
north wing ; and the much admired full length portraits of 
Louis XVI, and his queen, Marie Antoinette, which had 
been presented by that unfortunate monarch to Congress, 
were torn from their frames and trampled under foot. 

The capture of the Capital aroused the nation, and Con- 
gress was compelled to investigate the causes that led to its 
easy fall and partial destruction. Many eminent men were 
smirched, but responsibility was never fixed. The total 
damage done to government property by the British was 
over $3,000,000. 

Of the Washington of 1842, at the completion of its first 
half century of existence, Charles Dickens says in his 
" American Notes " : — 

"It is sometimes called the 'City of Magnificent Dis- 
tances,' but it might with greater propriety be termed the 
' City of Magnificent Intentions ' ; for it is only on taking 
a bird's-eye view of it from the top of the Capitol that one 
can at all comprehend the vast designs of its projector, an 
aspiring Frenchman. Spacious avenues, that begin in noth- 
ing, and lead nowhere; streets, miles long, that only want 
houses and inhabitants; public buildings that need but a 
public, to be complete ; and ornaments of great thorough- 
fares, which only lack great thoroughfares to ornament — < 



AT THE OPENING OP THE CIVIL WAR. 63 

are its leading features. One might fancy the season over, 
and most of the houses gone out of town forever with their 
masters. To the admirers of cities it is a Barmecide Feast : 
a pleasant field for the imagination to rove in ; a monument 
raised to a deceased project, with not even a legible inscrip- 
tion to record its departed greatness. Such as it is, it is 
likely to remain." 

Such indeed it continued to remain for another quarter 
of a century. When the Civil War opened, Washington 
was a third-rate Southern city of about 61,000 inhabitants. 
Even its mansions were without modern improvements or 
conveniences, while the mass of its buildings were low, 
small, and shabby in the extreme. The avenues, superb in 
length and breadth, in their proportions afforded a painful 
contrast to the hovels and sheds which often lined them on 
both sides for miles. Scarcely a public building was fin- 
ished. No Goddess of Liberty held tutelary guard over the 
dome of the Capitol. Scaffolds, engines, and pulleys every- 
where defaced its vast surfaces of white marble. The 
northern wing of the Treasury building was not even 
begun. Where it now stands then stood the State depart- 
ments, crowded, dingy, and old. 

All Public offices, magnificent in conception, were in a 
state of incompleteness. Everything worth looking at 
seemed unfinished. Everything finished looked as if it 
should have been destroyed generations before. Even 
Pennsylvania Avenue, the leading thoroughfare of the 
Capital, was lined with little two- and three-story shops, 
which in architectural comeliness had no comparison with 
their ilk of the Bowery, New York. Not a street car ran 
in the city. A few straggling omnibuses and helter-skelter 
hacks were the only public conveyances to bear members of 
Congress to and fro between the Capitol and their remote 
lodgings. In spring and autumn the entire west end of the 
city was one vast slough of impassible mud. One would 



64 IN DAYS OF STRIFE. 

have to walk many blocks before he found it possible to 
cross a single street, and that often one of the most fashion- 
able of the city. "The waters of Tiber Creek," which in 
the magnificent intentions of the founders of the city were 
"to be carried to the top of Congress House, to fall in a 
cascade of twenty feet in height and fifty in breadth, and 
thence to run in three falls through the gardens into the 
grand canal," stretched in ignominious stagnation across the 
city, oozing at last through green scum and slime into the 
still more ignominious canal, the receptacle of all abomina- 
tions, the pest-breeder and disgrace of the city. 

Capitol Hill, dreary, desolate, and dirty, stretched away 
into an uninhabited desert, high above the mud of the 
West End. Arid hill and sodden plain showed alike the 
horrid trail of war. Forts bristled above every hill-top. 
Soldiers were entrenched at every gate-way. Shed hospi 
tals covered acres on acres in every suburb. Churches, art- 
halls, and private mansions were filled with the wounded 
and dying of the Union armies. The noisy rumbling of the 
army wagon disturbed every hour of the day and night. 
The rattle of the anguish-laden ambulance, the ])iercing 
cries of the sufferers whom it carried, made morning, noon, 
and night too dreadful to portray. The streets were filled 
with marching troops, with new regiments, their hearts 
strong and eager, their virgin banners all untarnished as 
they marched up Pennsylvania avenue, playing " The girl I 
left behind me " as if they came to holiday glory — and to 
easy victory. Later the streets were crowded with soldiers, 
foot-sore, sun-burned, and weary, their clothes begrimed, 
their banners torn, their hearts sick with hope deferred, 
ready to die with the anguish of long-delayed triumph. 
Everv moment had its drum-beat, everv hour was alive with 
the tramp of troo})s going, coming. 

How many an American youth, marching to its defense, 
beholding for the first time the great dome of the Capitol 



THE AWAKENING OF LOYALTY. 65 

rising before his eyes, comprehended in one deep gaze, as he 
had never before in his whole life, all that that Capitol 
meant to him, and to every freeman. Never, till the Capi- 
tal had cost the life of the dauntless patriots of our land, 
did it become to the heart of the American citizen of the 
nineteenth century the object of personal love that it was to 
George "Washington, Up to that hour the intense loyalty 
to country, the pride in the ISTational Capital which amounts 
to a passion in the European, had been in the American 
diffused, weakened, and broken. In ten thousand instances, 
State allegiance had taken the place of love of country. 
Washington was nothing but a place in "which Congress 
could meet and politicians carry on their games at high 
stakes for power and place. New York was the Capital to 
the New Yorker, Boston to the New Englander, New 
Orleans to the Southerner, Chicago to the man of the "West. 
There was no one central rallying point of patriots. The 
unfinished Washington monument stood the monument of 
the nation's neglect and shame. What Westminster Abbey 
and Hall were to the Englishman, what Notre Dame and 
the Tuileries were to the Frenchman, the unfinished and 
desecrated Capitol had never been to the average American. 
Anarchy threatened it. In an hour the loyal sons of the 
nation were awake to the danger that menaced the Capital, 
and ready to march to its defense. Washington City was 
no longer only a name to the mother waiting and praying 
in the distant hamlet — her hoy was encamped on the floor 
of the Kotunda. No longer a far-off mirage to the lonely 
wife — hei' husband was on guard upon the heights which 
surrounded the Capital. No longer a place good for noth- 
ing but political schemes to the village sage — his so7i, 
wrapped in his blanket, slept on the stone steps under the 
shadow of the great Treasury, or paced his beat before the 
Presidential mansion. The Capital was sacred at last to 
tens of thousands whose beloved languished in the wards 
5 



66 A CITY SACRED AND BELOVED. 

of its hospitals or slept the sleep of the brave in the dust 
of its cemeteries. 

Thus from the holocaust of war, from the ashes of our 
sires and sons, arose new-born the holy love of country, and 
veneration for its Capital. The zeal of nationality, the 
passion of patriotism, awoke above the bodies of our slain. 
National songs, the inspiration of patriots, were sung with 
enthusiasm. National monuments began to rise, conse- 
crated forever to the martyrs of Liberty. Never, till that 
hour, did the Federal City, — the city of George Washing- 
ton, the first-born child of the Union, born to live or to 
perish with it, — become to the heart of the American peo- 
ple that which it had so long been in the eyes of the world 
— truly the capital of a great Republic. 

The citizen of our times sees the dawn of tliat perfect 
day of which the founders of the Capital so fondly dreamed. 
The old provincial Southern city is no more. From its 
foundations has risen another city, neither Southern, North- 
ern, Eastern nor Western, but national, cosmopolitan. 

Where the " Slough of Despond " spread its black mud 
across the acres of the West End, where pedestrians were 
*' slumped " and horses " stalled," and discomfort and dis- 
gust prevailed, we now see broad asphalt carriage drives, 
(level as floors and lined on each side by palatial resi- 
dences,) over which splendid equipages glide with a smooth- 
ness that is a luxury, and an ease of action which is rest. 
Where ravines and holes made the highway dangerous, now 
asphalt pavements stretch over miles on miles of inviting 
road. Where streets and avenues crossed and re-crossed 
their long vistas of shadeless dust, now plat on plat of rest- 
ful grass " park " the city from end to end, and luxuriant 
trees with each succeeding summer cast a deeper and more 
protecting shade. 

Old Washington was full of small Saharas. Where the 
great avenues intersected, acres of white sand were caught 



STATELY, BEAUTIFUL WASHINGTOIS 67 

up and carried through the air by counter winds. It blis- 
tered at white heat beneath your feet, it flickered like a 
fier}'- veil before your eyes, it penetrated your lungs and 
begrimed your clothes. Now emerald " circles," with cen- 
tral fountains cooling the air with their crystal spray, 
refresh alike the young and the old who are ever to be 
found among the flowers and beneath the shades of these 
beautiful parks. Pennsylvania Avenue has outlived its 
mud. More than one superb building now rises high above 
the lowly shops of the past, a forerunner of the architec- 
tural splendor of the buildings of the future. Swift and 
commodious street cars have taken the place of the solitary 
stage, plodding its slow way between Georgetown and the 
Capitol. Stately mansions have risen in every direction, 
taking the place of the small, isolated houses of the past, 
with their stiff porches, high steps, and open basement door- 
ways. 

No scaffolding and pulleys now deface the snowy sur- 
faces of the Capitol. Complete, its grand dome pierces the 
sky till the Goddess of Liberty on its top seems enveloped in 
the clouds. Flowers blossom on the sites of old forts, so 
alert with warlike life during the Civil War. The army 
roads, so deeply grooved then, have long been grass-grown. 
The long shed-hospitals vanished years ago, and splendid 
dwellings stand on their already forgotten sites. The 
" boys '' who languished in their wards, the boys who 
proudly marched these streets, who guarded this city, alas ! 
far too many of them were laid to rest years ago on yonder 
hill-top under the oaks of Arlington, and in the cemetery of 
the Soldiers' Home I 



CHAPTER IT. 

BUILDING THE CAPITOL — HOW WASHINGTON AND 
JEFFERSON ADVERTISED FOR PLANS — COM- 
PLETION OF THE CAPITOL. 

Early Trials and Tribulations — Schemers and Speculators — A "Front 
Door in the Rear" — Seeking for Suitable Plans — A Troublesome 
Question — Washington and Jefferson Advertise Premiums for the 
Best Plan — A Curious "ad" — Some Remarkable Offerings — The 
Successful ComiDetitor — Carrying Off the Prize — Laying of the 
Corner-Stone by President Washington — A Defeated Competitor's 
Audacity — President Washington's Rage — Jealousies of Rivals — 
Congress Sitting in "the Oven" — Crimination and Recrimination — 
Building Additions to the Capitol — Hoodwinking Congress — How 
the Money Was Appropriated to Build the Great Dome —A Successful 
Ruse — Laying of the Second Corner-Stone by Daniel Webster — 
Completion of the Building — Its Dimensions and Cost — Curious 
Construction of the Great Dome — Its Weight and Cost. 



NE of the first essentials of the Capital city was a 
Capitol building. The plans for such a struc- 
ture had occupied the minds of the founders of 
the young government long before L'Enfant 
had surveyed the ground, and designated the brow 
of the eastern plateau as the site for the Capitol. 
Cherishing a vision of the future metropolis with a fervoj 
and clearness hardly equaled since the apocalyptic vision 
of the aged apostle at Patraos, the earnest patriots of 
those days may have pictured the spacious plateau extending 
eastward to the Anacostia, two miles or more, as occupied 
by the mansions of the cultured and the wealthy, while 
the lower lands to the west fell to the humbler classes and 

(68) 




GROWTH OP THE INFANT CITY. 69 

the comiuercial interests. This has been assumed to be the 
case, because an exorbitant price was placed upon some of 
this land to the eastward. 

One of the largest of the original proprietors, and the 
one Avhose acres included most of this high plateau, was 
Daniel Carroll, a man of culture and of high standing in 
Maryland. He was a man in whom Washington placed the 
greatest confidence, and was chosen one of the Commission- 
ers for the laying out of the city. Naturally he anticipated 
that his land would command enormous prices. Specu- 
lators were at once eager for it and bought several acres, 
largely with promises to pay. Stephen Girard, then the 
wealthiest man in Philadelphia, offered $250,000 for a 
portion of the estate, but Carroll asked a round million. 
The result, it is assumed, was that the city grew in the 
other direction where land was cheaper, while Carroll, who 
had acquiesced always in Washington's plans, died prac- 
tically penniless, and obstinate Davy Burns became one of 
the richest men of the city. 

It is assumed also that because of the anticipations 
of greater growth to the eastward, the Capitol, like the 
Irishman's shanty which had its front door at the rear, now 
stands with its majestic back to the fashionable and thriv- 
ing part of the city. But there are no good grounds for 
the assumption. In the first place it is unreasonable to 
suppose that the founders would have placed the White 
House — the center about which society would inevitably 
circle — a mile and a half away in a location which would 
not attract home seekers among the Slite, Then, too, all 
the public buildings planned were located to the Avest of the 
Capitol. Furthermore, a recent careful study of the plans 
which were originally accepted for the Capitol, and upon 
which the construction proceeded for some years, plainly 
indicates that it was originally intended to have the main 
entrance, not on the east, but on the west. 



70 ADVERTISING FOR PLANS. 

It was amid the trials and tribulations attending the 
early days of construction, so painful to the placid soul of 
Washington and so exasperating to the more impatient Jef- 
ferson, that the position of the main entrance was changed. 
As we now look at this stately pile of marble, crowned by its 
magnificent soaring dome, we can hardly realize that it did 
not spring forth a completed whole, like Athena from the 
head of Jove, and that it had an extremely complex and 
precarious infancy. 

The question of how to get suitable plans for the build- 
ing was very troublesome to Washington and Jefferson. 
Finally the following advertisement, written by Jefferson 
and revised by Washington, was printed in New York and 
Philadelphia papers : 

A PKEMIUM 

of a lot in the city to be designated by impartial judges and $500 or a medal 
of that value at the option of the party will be given by the Commission- 
ers of the Federal Buildings to persons who, before the 15th day of July, 
1792, shall produce them the most approved plan, if adopted by them, for 
a Capitol to be erected in the city ; and $250 or a medal for a plan deemed 
next in merit to the one they shall adopt. The building to be of brick and 
to contain the following compartments, to wit : 
"A Conference Room. ( To contain 300 

"A Room for Representatives { persons each. 
"A Lobby or ante-chamber to the latter. }■ 

"A Senate Room of 1,200 square feet of area. 
"An ante-chamber or Lobby to the latter, 
" Twelve rooms of 600 feet square are each for committee rooms and 
clerks to be half of the elevation of the former. 

"Drawings will be expected to the ground plats, elevations of each front 
and sections through the building in such directions as may be necessary to 
explain the material, structure and an estimate of the cubic feet of brick 
work composing the whole mass of the wall. 

Thos. Johnson, 

Dd. Stewart, }• Commissionera. 

Danl. Carroll, 

Mar. 14, 1793. 



These rooms to be of 
full elevation. 



PLANS OF HALLETT AND THORNTON. 71 

This drew forth sixteen plans, mostly from amateurs 
who had no idea of the artistic or practical. Most of these 
plans have been pronounced by modern architects very bad 
— some of them bordering on the ludicrous. Some of 
these curiosities are now in the possession of the Maryland 
Historical Society. None rose to the ideals entertained by 
Washington or Jefferson, but the one approaching nearest 
was that of Stephen II. Hallett of Philadelphia, an architect 
who had been educated in France. He was accordingly 
invited to come to Washington; both Washington and 
Jefferson gave him suggestions ; and thus, practically under 
official engagement, he spent six months in working up and 
revising his plans. Meantime Jefferson had received a 
letter from Dr. William Thornton, a native and resident of 
the West Indies, saying that he would like to submit plans, 
but could not get them to this country within the adver- 
tised time. About the time when Hallett had his plans re- 
vised, as he supposed, to meet the wishes of the govern- 
ment, Thornton's plans arrived and at once and completely 
captivated both Washington and Jefferson. The latter 
Avrote " to Dr. Stewart, or to all the gentlemen " Commis- 
sioners, January 31, 1793: 

"I have, under consideration, Mr. Hallett's plans for the Capitol, 
which undoubtedly have a great deal of merit. Doctor Thornton has also 
given me a view of his. The grandeur, simplicity and beauty of the ex- 
terior, the propriety with which the departments are distributed, and 
economy in the mass of the whole structure, will, I doubt not, give it a 
preference in your eyes, as it has done in mine and those of several others 
whom I have consulted. I have, therefore, thought it better to give the 
Doctor time to finish his plan, and for this purpose to delay until your 
meeting a final decision. Some difficulty arises with respect to Mr. Hal- 
lett, who, you know, was in some degree led into his plan by ideas which 
we all expressed to him. This ought not to induce us to prefer it to a 
better; but while he is liberally rewarded for the time and labor he has ex- 
pended on it, his feelings should be saved and soothed as much as possible. 
I leave it to yourselves how best to prepare him for the possibility that 
the Doctor's plans may be preferred to his." 



72 HALLETT ENGAGED AS ARCHITECT. 

February 1, 1793, Jefferson writes from Philadelphia to 
Mr. Carroll: 

" Dear Sir : — Doctor Thoriitoa"s plan for a Capitol has been pro- 
duced and has so captivated the eyes and judgments of all as to leave no 
doubt you will prefer it when it shall be exhibited to you; as no doubt 
exists here of its preference over all which have been produced, and 
among its admirers no one is more decided than him, whose decision is 
most important. It is simple, noble, beautiful, excellently distributed and 
modern in size. A just respect for the right of approbation in the Com- 
missioners will prevent any formal decision in the President, till the plan 
shall be laid before you and approved by you. In the meantime the 
interval of apparent doubt may be improved for settling the mind of poor 
Hallett, whose merits and distresses interest every one for his tranquillity 
and pecuniary relief." 

It has been claimed that the building was erected upon 
Hallett's plans, but the facts do not substantiate the state- 
ment. There must have been something genuinely mer- 
itorious in Thornton's plan to have so completely overcome 
the personal equation, the sentiment which just men like 
Washington and Jefferson naturally felt for Hallett, who 
had received their encouragement and practically their 
endorsement. Thornton was awarded the first premium, 
Hallett the second. But Thornton was not a practical 
architect, and the Commissioners engaged Hallett on a 
moderate salary, to reduce his rival's plans to practical 

form. 

He immediately embarked upon a crusade against 
Thornton's plans; he continually worried the Commis- 
sioners about defects in them; he charged that Thornton 
had stolen his ideas, and later claimed that Thornton's plans 
Avere absolutely impracticable. By the summer of 1703 
Washington Avas almost in despair. He intimated to 
Jefferson that if there were such defects in Thornton's plans 
that they could not be remedied, steps should at once be 
taken to secure new plans, for the " Demon of Jealousy " 
was at work in the "lower town," which beheld the White 



LAYING THE CORNER-STONE. 73 

House Hearing completion and the Capitol hardly begun. 
Commissioners were appointed, went over all the plans, and 
made some modifications in Thornton's designs, much to 
Hallett's joy ; but later they dropped most of them and 
returned substantially to Thornton's original idea. 

September 18, 1793, the southeast corner of the Capitol 
was laid by "Washington with imposing ceremonies. A 
copy of the Maryland Gazette^ pul^lished in Annaj^olis, Sep- 
tember 2(), 1793, gives a minute account of the grand 
Masonic ceremonial which attended the laving; of that 
august stone. It tells us that " there appeared on the south- 
ern bank of the river Potomac one of the finest companies 
of artillery that hath been lately seen parading to receive 
the President of the U. S.^' Also, that the Commissioners 
delivered to the President, who deposited it in the stone, a 
silver plate with the following inscription : 

" This southeast corner of the Capitol of the United States qf America, 
in the city of Washington, was laid on the 18th day of September, 1793, in 
tlie tliirteeutli year of American independence ; in the tirst year, second 
term of tlie Presidency of George Washington, whose virtues in the civil 
administration of his country have been as conspicuous and beneticial, as 
his military valor and prudence have been usefiil, in establishing her 
liberties ; and in the year of Masonry, 5793, by the President of the United 
States, in concert with the Grand Lodge of Maryland, several lodges under 
its jurisdiction, and Lodge No. 22 from Alexandria, Virginia. 
(Signed) Thomas Johnson, 1 

David Stewart, \ Commissioners, etc." 
Daniel Carroll, ) 

The Gazette continues : 

"The whole company retired to an extensive booth, where an ox of 
500 lbs. weight was barbecued, of which the company generally partook 
with every abundance of other recreation. The festival concluded with 
fifteen successive volleys from the artillery, whose military discipline and 
manoeuvres merit every commendation. 

" Before dark the whole company departed with joyful hopes of the 
production of their labors." 



74 OBSTINATE ARCHITECTS. 

Finding that he could not procure official changes in the 
plan, Hallett had the boldness to change whatever he 
wished without asking authority. lie was reprimanded, 
threatened to resign, refused to surrender the plans, and 
was discharged. AVhen Washington saw the unauthorized 
changes Hallett had made he expressed his disapproval in 
terms his dignit}^ seldom permitted. As if to secure them- 
selves against further dangers of this kind Dr. Thornton 
was made one of the Commissioners of the District, and the 
construction of the building was begun substantially on his 
plans. 

But other troubles quickly appeared. Hallett's place as 
superintendent was filled in the fall of 1794 by the selection 
of George Hadfield, who had come highly recommended as 
one who would with becoming meekness and subordination 
carry out the designs; but he had been at work only a 
short time when he too began to suggest changes, which, 
not meeting with favor, he proceeded to make on his own 
authority. AVashington again vigorously disapproved ; 
Hadfield resigned ; the Commissioners hastened to accept ; 
Hadfield reconsidered, and was again engaged with the 
express stipulation that he Avas to superintend but " not to 
alterate." His obstinacy, however, soon overcame his good 
resolutions and finally in 1798 he was discharged for not 
surrendering the plans. 

We need not 2:)ursue the disturbed course of events in 
detail. The above indicated the nature of the troubles 
w^hich seemed to beset the building in these early days. 
Slow progress was made. The north wing Avas made ready 
for the first sitting of Congress in Washington, November 
17, 1800. By that time the walls of the south wing had 
risen twenty feet and were covered over for the temporary 
use of the House of Representatives. It sat in this room 
— named "the oven" — from 1802 until 1804-. At that 
time the transient roof was removed and the wing com 



THE CAPITOL COMPLETED. 75 

pleted. Meantime Dr. Thornton resigned as Commissioner 
to become Keeper of the Patents, and the year following. 
1803, Benjamin H, Latrobe was appointed supervising 
architect of the building. He also made changes, but they 
were largely confined to the interior and the central portion 
of the exterior. He was a man of ability and most of 
his modifications were undoubtedly improvements. He 
invented what has been called the American style of archi- 
tecture, by introducing corn and tobacco leaves into the 
capitals of the columns. 

It was with Latrobe also that the idea of havin": the 
main entrance on the east originated, and thus it was ten 
years after the construction was begun and after the wings 
were built that the building was made to face the east. 
Thornton's western entrance would have consisted of a 
grand semi-circular colonnade with a broad sweep of circu- 
lar steps running down the hill, while on the east he planned 
a less imposing portico with a basement entrance. 

When, after the departure of the British, the new oppo 
sition of those who wished to move the Capital elsewhere 
and put an end to the troublesome attempt " to build a Cap 
ital in the woods " had been overcome, the construction was 
resumed under Latrobe. He did not get on well either 
with Congress or the Commissioners, and many bitter things 
were said in the reports of those days. Finally in 1817 he 
resigned. Charles Bulfinch of Boston, the new architect, 
completed the center of the building, making the western 
entrance more imposing than Latrobe had planned, and in 
1827, or over thirty years after the laying of the corner- 
stone, he reported the whole building complete. Thus tl.e 
Capitol as it then stood was made up of the designs of 
Thornton, Latrobe, and Bulfinch, modified by Hallett and 
others. 

The growth of the country had exceeded the most extrav- 
agant expectation of its founders, and when after the war 



76 EXPANDING WITH THE NATION. 

with Mexico it became evident that the country would 
extend to the Pacific, bringing in many new states and 
many representatives, it was promptly decided " to extend 
the wintrs by greater wings called extensions." Thomas U. 
"Walter of Philadelphia, who had built Girard College, was 
secured as architect. As the sandstone walls of the old 
structure had been painted white to cover the damage done 
by the British, it was decided to construct the additions of 
white marble, while the one hundred massive columns to be 
placed around them were to be each a solid block. Walter 
was an architect of splendid ability. He perceived better 
than Congress could the kind of building which the future 
of the great country would require, but well knew the oppo- 
sition be would meet if Congress had time to deliberate 
over the expense of carrying out proper plans. To com- 
plete the wings and leave the little flat copper dome in the 
center 'would give the building a squat and unpleasant 
appearance. Walter drew his plans complete, dome and 
all, much as it at present appears ; but knowing that Con- 
gress would not vote the sum required, he first submitted 
the plans for the wings. Later, when Congress was about 
to adjourn, and was in night session with everybody in good 
spirits, he had the plan of the great dome, handsomely 
drawn and highly colored, submitted. There was no time 
to think of expense. In the enthusiasm of the moment and 
the desire to adjourn, the money Avas appropriated ; but the 
amount barely sufficed to remove the old dome ! Yet it was 
to this little ruse that we owe the existence of that great 
dome which is the crowning glory of the structure. 

Fifty-eight years after the first stone was set in place, 
another corner-stone was laid, beneath which Avas deposited 
a tablet bearing the memorable words of Daniel "Webster: 

" On the morning of the first day of the seventy-sixth year of the 
Independence of tlie United States of America, in the City of Washington, 
being the 4th day of July, 1851, this stone designated as the corner-stone 



MEMORABLE WORDS OF WEBSTER. 77 

of the Extension of the Capitol, according to a plan approved by the Pres- 
ident in pursuance of an act of Congress was laid by 

MILLARD FILMORE, 

President of the United States, 

A; sisted by the Grand Master of the Masonic Lodges, in tlie presence of 
many members of Congress, of officers of the Executive and Judiciary 
(lepart;iients, National, State and Districts, of officers of the Army and 
Navy, the Corporate authorities of this and neighboring cities, many asso- 
(iations, civil and military and Masonic, officers of the Smithsonian Insti- 
tution, and National Institute, professors of colleges and teachers of schools 
of the Districts, with their students and pupils, and a vast concourse of 
people from places near and remote, including a few surviving gentlemen 
who witnessed the laying of the corner-stone of the Capitol by President 
Washington, on the 18th day of September, 1793. If, therefore, it shall 
hereafter be the will of God that this structure shall fall from its base, that 
ils foundation be upturned, and this deposit brought to the eyes of men ; 
be it then known that on this day the Union of the United States of Amer- 
ica stands firm, that their constitution still exists unimpaired, and with all 
its original usefulness and glory growing every day stronger and stronger 
in the affections of the great body of the American people, and attracting 
more and more the admiration of the world. And all here assembled, 
whether belonging to public life or to private life, with hearts devoutly 
thankful to Almighty God for the preservation of the liberty and happi- 
ness of the country, unite in sincere and fervent prayer, that this deposit, 
and the walls and arches, the domes and towers, the columns and entabla- 
tures, now to be erected over it may endure forever. 
" God save the United States of America. 
DANIEL WEBSTER, 

Secretary of State of the United States." 

Already the mutterings of civil revolution stirred in the 
air. Could Webster have foreseen that the marble Avails of 
the Capitol Avhose corner-stone he then laid would rise only 
ten years later amid the thunder of cannon aimed to destroy 
it and the great Union of States which it crowned, to what 
anguish of eloquence would his words have risen ! 

The great building was not fully completed till 1867 or 
nearly seventy-five years after the laying of the first corner- 
gtone. The whole structure is 751 feet, four inches long j 



78 THE CROWN OF THE CAPITOL. 

thirty-one feet longer than St. Peter's in Rome, and 173 
feet longer than St. Paul's in London. Its greatest dimen- 
sion from east to west is 350 feet. 

The ground actually covered by the Capitol is 153,112 
square feet of floor space, or nearly four acres. Its total 
cost from the beginning to the present time, including the 
land, is estimated at nearly $16,000,0(»0. The great dome, 
the fitting crown to the noble edifice, is of cast iron, and 
weighs 8,909,200 pounds, or nearly 4,500 tons. Large 
sheets of iron, securely bolted together, rest on iron ribs, 
and by an ingenious plan used in its construction the 
changes of temperature cause it to contract and expand 
"like the folding and unfolding of the lily." It cost 
$1,01:7,291.89 according to the ofiicial figures. Eight years 
were required in its construction, so carefully was the work 
done, and as it is thoroughly protected from the weather by 
thick coats of white paint, renewed yearly, it is likely to 
last for centuries. Its base consists of a j^eristyle of thirty- 
six fluted columns surmounted by an entablature and a bal- 
ustrade. Then comes an attic storv, and above this th« 
dome proper. Tlie ascent to the dome may be made by a 
winding stairway of 365 steps, one for each day in the year. 
It is even possible to climb to the foot of the statue. At 
the top is a gallery, surrounded by a balustrade, from which 
may be obtained a magnificent view of the city and its 
environs. Rising from the gallery is the " lantern," twenty- 
four feet and four inches in diameter and fifty feet high, 
surrounded by a peristyle. The lantern has electric lights 
which illuminate the dome during a night session. Over 
the lantern is a globe, and standing on the globe is the 
bronze statue of Liberty, designed by Thomas Crawford. 
It is nineteen feet six inches high, weighs seven and one-half 
tons, and cost more than $24r,000. It was placed in position 
December 2, 18G3, amid the salutes from guns in "Washing- 
ton and the surrounding forts, and the cheers of thousands 



IMPERFECT, BUT YET MAJESTIC. 79 

of soldiers. It was lifted to its position in sections, after- 
wards bolted together. The original plaster model is in the 
National Museum. 

From the very beginning the Capitol has suffered as a 
National Building from the conflicting and foreign tastes of 
its decorators. Literally begun in the woods by a nation in 
its infancy, it not only borrowed its general style from the 
buildings of antiquity, but it was built by men, strangers in 
thought and spirit to the genius of a new Republic, and the 
unwrought and unembodied poetry of its virgin soil. Its 
earlier decorators, all Italians, overlaid its walls with their 
florid colors and foreign sj^mbols. The American plants, 
birds and animals representing prodigal Nature at home, 
though exquisitely painted, are buried in twilight passages, 
while mythological bar-maids, misnamed goddesses, dance 
in the most conspicuous places. Happily the Capitol has 
already survived this era of false decorative art. 

Phidias created the Parthenon. Beneath his eyes it slowly 
blossomed, the consummate flower of Hellenic art. It has 
never been granted to another one man to create a perfect 
building which should be at once the marvel and model of 
all time. Many architects have wrought upon the Ameri- 
can Capitol, and there are discrepancies in its proportions 
wherein we trace the conflict of their opposing idiosyn- 
crasies. We see places where their contending tastes met 
and did not mingle, where the harmony and sublimity 
which each sought were lost. We see frescoed fancies and 
gilded traceries which tell no story ; we see paintings which 
mean nothing but glare. But a human interest attaches 
itself to every part of the noble building. Its very defects 
the more endear it to us, for, above all else, these are human. 
The stranger fancies that he could never be lost in its laby- 
rinths, yet he is constantly finding passages that he dreamed 
not of, and confronting shut and silent doors which he may 
not enter. But the deeper he penetrates into its recesses, 



80 THE TREASURE-HOUSE OF THE NATION. 

the more positively he is pervaded by its nobleness, and the 
more conscious he becomes of its magnitude and its magnifi- 
cence. 

The Capitol is vastly more than an object of mere per- 
sonal attachment to be measured by a narrow individual 
standard. To every American citizen it is the majestic 
symbol of the majesty of his land. You may be lowly and 
poor. You may not own the cottage which shelters you^ 
nor the scanty acres which you till. Your power may not 
cross your own door-step ; yet these historic statues and 
paintings, these marble corridors, these soaring walls, this 
mighty dome, are yours. The Goddess of Liberty, gazing 
down from her proud eminence, bestows no right upon the 
lofty which she does not extend equally to the lowliest of 
her sons. 

"Within the walls of the Capitol every State in the Union 
holds its memories, and garners its hopes. Every hall and 
corridor, every arch and alcove, every painting and marble 
is eloquent with the history of its past, and the prophecy of 
its future. The torch of revolution flamed in sight, yet 
never reached this beloved Capitol. Its unscathed walls 
are the trophies of victorious war ; its dome is the crown of 
triumphant freemen; its unfilled niches and perpetually 
growing splendor foretell the grandeur of its final consum- 
mation. Remembering this, with what serious thought and 
care should this great national work progress. 

" The hand that rounded Peter's dome, 
And groined tlie aisles of ancient Rome, 
Wrought with a sad sincerity." 

Let no mediocre artist, no insincere spirit, assume to dec- 
orate a building in ^vhose walls and ornaments a great 
nation will embody and perpetuate its most precious liistoiy. 
The brain that designs, the hand that executes for the Capi- 
tol, works not for to-day, but for all time. 



CHAPTER V. 

A TOUR INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE CAPITOL — INTEREST- 
ING SIGHTS AND SCENES — UNDER THE GREAT 
DOME — A PARADISE FOR VISITORS. 

Entering the Capitol Grounds — Inside the Capitol — Bridal Pairs in 
Washington — Wliere Do They Come From '? — Underneath the Capi- 
tol—Using the Capitol as a Bakery — Turning Out 16,030 Loaves of 
Bread Daily — Marble Staircases and Luxurious Furniture — In tlie 
Senate Chamber and House of Representatives — Costly Paintings. 
Bronzes and Statues — In tlie Rotunda — Under the Great Dome — 
In Statuary Hall — Famous Statues and Works of Art — "Brother 
Jonathan " — The Famous Marble Clock — The Scene of Fierce and 
Bitter Wrangles — Where John Quincy Adams Was Stricken — The 
'Bronze Clock Whose Hands Are Turned Back — Climbing to the Top 
of the Mighty Dome — Looking Down on the Floor of the Rotunda 
— Under the Lantern — At the Tip-top of the Capitol. 

'N all the broad land there is no spectacle so 
bright, so inspiring as the gleaming Capitol on a 
June day. The crocuses and violets that dotted 
^ the green slopes of the Capitol grounds a few 
weeks ago are gone, and the plumed seeds of dande- 
lions are now sailing all around us through the deep, 
still air. There is a ripple in the grass that invites the 
early mower. The shadows lie in undulating outlines un- 
derneath the old trees which throw their graceful branches 
against a sky of purest azure, and on the easy seats sit 
black and white, old and young, taking rest. There is that 
in this new bloom so tender, so unsullied, which makes 
politicians appear paltry, and all their outcry a mockery 
and an impertinence. The long summer wave in the June 
grass ; the low, swaying boughs, with their deep mysterious 
6 (83) 




84 WASHINGTON IN JUNE. 

murmur that seems instinct with human pleading; the 
tender plaint of infant leaves ; the music of birds ; the deptli 
of sky ; the balm, the bloom, the virginity, the peace, the 
consciousness of life, new, yet illimitable, all are here. 

The grounds include fifty-eight and one-half acres, and 
each year they become more and more beautiful. AVe cross 
these lovely grounds and enter the Capitol on the East 
front, passing Crawford's famous group over the Senate 
portico representing American Progress, for the models of 
which, and for those of Justice and History above the 
bronze doors of the Senate Wing, he received $!l7,000, the 
cutting of the marble by various Italian workmen costing 
over 126,000 more. So many people gather under the great 
dome of the Capitol that you wonder where they could all 
have come from. They are not the people who crowd and 
hurry through the corridors in winter — the claimants, the 
lobbyists, the pleasure-seekers who come to spend the " sea- 
son" in Washington. Nearly all are people from the 
country, many of them brides and grooms, to whom the 
only " season " on earth is spring — the marriage season. 
They seem to be gazing out upon life through its portal 
with the same mingling of delight and wonder with which 
they gaze through the great doors of the Capitol upon the 
unknown world beyond. Early summer always brings a 
great influx of bridal pairs to Washington. Whence they 
all come no mortal can tell ; but they do come, and can 
never be mistaken. Their clothes are as new as the Spring's. 
The groom often seems half to deprecate your sudden 
glance, as if, like David Copperfield, he was afraid you 
thought him "very young." The affections of the lovely 
bride seem to be divided between her new lord and her new 
clothes. She loves him, she is proud of him ; but this new 
suit, who but she can tell its cost? What longing, what 
privation, what patient toil has gone into its mouse- or fawn- 
colored folds; for this little bride, who regretfully drags 



THE CAPITOL IN PEACE AND WAR. 85 

her (lemi-train through the dust of the Rotunda, is seldom a 
rich man's daughter. You see them everywhere repeated, 
these two neophytes — in the hotel parlor, in the street cars, 
in the Congressional galleries. 

It is like passing from one world into another, to leave 
bohind the bright, sunshiny day for the cool, dim halls of the 
l^wer Capitol. No matter how fiercely the sun burns in 
the heavens, his fire never penetrates the mellow twilight of 
these grand halls. 

Here, in Corinthian colonnades, rise the mighty shafts of 
stone which bear upon their tops the mightier mass of 
marble, and which seem strong enough to support the 
world. In the summer solstice they cast long, cool shadows, 
full of repose and silence. The electric lights' steady glow 
sends long: ravs throug-h the dimness to light us on. We 
have struck below the jar and tumult of life. The struggles 
of a nation may be going on above our heads, yet so vast 
and visionary are these vistas opening before us, so deep the 
calm which surrounds us, we seem far away from the world 
that Ave have left, in this new world which we have found. 
In wandering on to find our way out, Ave are sure to make 
numerous discoveries of unimagined beauty. Here are 
doors after doors in- almost innumerable succession, opening 
into various committee-rooms. During the Civil War these 
halls and committee-rooms were used as barracks by the 
soldiers, who barricaded the outer doors Avith barrels of 
cement between the pillars. The basement galleries Avere 
used as store-rooms for army provisions ; and the vaults 
were converted into bakeries, Avhere 16,000 loaves of bread 
were baked every day for many months. TAvice during the 
first years of the Avar, the Capitol was used as a hospital, 
and scores of the nation's defenders died there. 

It would take months to study and to learn the exquisite 
pictures and illustrative paintings that adorn these panels, 
which artists have taken years to paint. They make a 



8G SOME OUTWARD BLEMISHES. 

Department of Art in themselves, yet thousands who think 
that they know the Capitol well are not aware of their 
existence. The art decorations of the Capitol may have 
faidts, but like the faults of a friend they are sacred. It 
bears blots upon its fair face, but these can be washed aAvaj^ 
It wears ornaments vulgar and vain, these can be stripped 
off and discarded. Below them, beyond them all, abides the 
Capitol. The surface blemish vexes, the pretentious splendor 
offends. These are not the Capitol. We look deeper, we 
look highei', to find beauty, to see sublimity, to see the Capi- 
tol, august and imperishable ! 

The four marble staircases leading to the Senate Cham- 
ber and the House of Representatives, in themselves alone, 
embody enough of grace and magnificence to save the Capi- 
tol from cynical criticism. We slip through the Senate 
corridor to the President's and Vice-President's rooms. 
Their furniture is sumptuous, their decoration oppressive. 
Gilding, frescoes, arabesques, glitter and glow above and 
around. Luxurious chairs, oriental rugs, and lace curtains 
abound. Gazing, one feels an indescribable desire to pluck 
a few of Signor Brumidi's red-legged babies and pug-nosed 
cupids from their precarious perches on the lofty ceilings, 
and commit thorn to anybody who will smooth out their 
rumpled little legs and make them look comfortable. Here 
in the President's room the President sometimes sits during 
the last day of a congressional session, in order to be ready 
to sign bills requiring his immediate signature. Here in the 
room of the Yice-President is a marble bust of Vice-Presi- 
dent Henry S. Wilson, whose death occurred in this room, 
November 23, 1S75. Upon its eastern wall hangs Rem- 
brandt Peale's portrait of Washington, probably the best 
portrait of him in possession of the government. 

Let us pass to the IVIarble Room, which alone, of all the 
rooms of the Capitol, suggests repose — 

The cud of all, the poppied sleep." 



IN THE SENATE CHAMBER. 8? 

Its atmosphere is soft, serene, and silent. Its ceiling is 
of white marble, deeply paneled, suj)ported by fluted pillars 
of polished Italian marble. Its walls are of the exquisite 
marble of Tennessee — a soft brown, veined with white — 
set with mirrors. One whose jesthetic eyes have studied the 
finest apartments of the world says that to him the most 
chaste and purely beautiful of all is the Marble Room of 
the American Capitol. 

Crossing the lobb}^ through doors of choice mahogany, 
we enter the Senate Chamber. It cannot boast of the 
ampler proportions of the House of Representatives. The 
ceiling is of cast-iron, paneled with stained glass — each 
pane bearing the arms of the different States, bound by 
most ornate mouldings, bronzed and gilded. The gallery, 
which entirely surrounds the hall, will seat a thousand per- 
sons. Over the Yice-President's chair, the section separated 
from the rest by a net-work of wire, is the reporters' gal- 
lery. The one opposite is the gallery of the diplomatic 
corps ; next are the seats reserved for the Senators' families. 
The Senators sit in semi-circular rows, behind quaint tlesks 
of polished mahogany, facing the Secretary of the Senate, 
his assistants, and the Vice-President. A Senator retains 
his desk only during a single Congress, drawing lots at the 
beginning of the next session for a choice of seats — the 
Republicans sitting at the left and Democrats at the right 
of the presiding officer. The President of the Senate is the 
Vice-President of the United States. He sits upon a dais, 
raised above all, within an arched niche and behind a broad 
desk. His high backed chair of carved mahogany was a 
gift to the late Vice-President Hobart. 

We leave the Senate Chamber by the western staircase. 
Here in the niche at the foot of the staircase, corresponding 
to Franklin's on the opposite side, stands Dr. Horatio Stone's 
noble figure of John Hancock, he whose name is first in the 
list of signatures of the Declaration of Independence. The 



NORTH FRONT 




iNoaj Hinos 



PRINCIPAL STORY OF THE CAPITOL. 



89 



pedestal is inscribed : " He wrote his name where all nations 
should behold it, and all time should not efface it.'* The 
statue was sculptured in 1861, and $5,500 Avas paid for it. 
The stairs are of polished Avhite marble, and the painting 
above them, in its setting of maroon cloth, represents the 
"Storming of Chepultepec" in all the ardor of its fiery 
action. For this painting $6,137.00 was paid. We saunter 
on along the breezy corridors whose doors admit to the 
Senate galleries. Through open windows we catch delight- 
ful glimpses of the garden city, the sheen of the gliding 
river, and the distant hills beyond. In an adjoining hall is 



KEY TO THE PRINCIPAL STORY OP THE CAPITOL. 

The diagram printed on the opposite page was reproduced from the 
government plan. All the rooms now occupied are numbered, and are 
devoted to the following uses : 

The Vice-President's room. 

Committee on Finance. 

Official Reporters of Debates. 

Public reception room. 

Committee on the District of Columbia. 

Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms of the 

Senate. 
Elevator. 

MAIN BUILDING. 

House document room. 

Engrossing and enrolling clerks of the 
House. 

Committee on Enrolled Bills. 

Office of the Clerk of tht' House of Repre- 
sentatives. It was in this room that 
ex-President John Quincy Adams die(', 
two days after he fell at his seat in the 
House, February 23, 1818. 

Office of the Clerk of the Supreme Court. 

Robing room of the Judges of the Su- 
preme Court. 

Withdrawing-room of the Supreme Court- 
Office of the Marshal of the Supreme 
Court. 

The Supreme Court, formerly the Senate 
Chamber. 

The Old Hall of the House of Representa- 
tives is now used as a statuary hall, to 
\vhich each State has been invited to 
contribute two statues of its most dis. 
tinguished citizens. 





HOUSE WING. 


2r. 


1. 

2. 


t Appropriations. 


28. 
29. 


3. 


Committee on Rivers and Harbors. 


30. 


4. 


Journal, printing, and file clerks of the 31. 




House. 


32. 


5. 


Committee on Naval Affairs. 




6. 


Closets. 


33. 


8. 


I Members' retiring room. 




9. 
10. 


Speaker's room. 


33. 
34. 


12. 


Cloakrooms. 




13. 


Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms of 


^^^ 35. 


14. 


House. 
Committee on Ways and Means. 


36. 


15. 


Committee on Military Affairs. 




16. 


House Library. 




ir. 


Elevators. 






SENATE WING. 


37. 


10. 


Office of the Secretary of the Senate. 


38. 


17. 


Executive Clerk of the Senate. 




18. 


Financial Clerk of the Senate. 


39. 


19. 


Chief Clerk of the Senate. 


40. 


20. 


Engrossing and enrolling clerks of 
Senate. 


the 


21. 
22. 


i Committee on Appropriations. 




23. 


Closets. 




24. 


Cloakrooms. 




25. 


Room of the President. 




26. 


The Senators' reception room. 





00 THE BATTLE OP THE IRONCLADS. 

a painting representing the battle between the ironclads, 
the Monitor and the Merrimac, purchased in 1877 for $7,- 
500. The artist is said to have intervicAved in person or by 
letter some five hundred eye-witnesses of the fight, and con- 
sequently this is probably the most correct representation 
of the battle in existence. This picture is the only excep- 
tion to the rule that no reminder of the Civil War shall bo 
placed in the Capitol, an exception due to the fact that this 
was in reality a drawn battle, where the courage on both 
sides was equal, and when naval methods of the world were 
revolutionized. 

Outside the Senate Chamber, beyond the staircase, is a 
vestibule which opens upon the eastern portico through the 
Senate bronze doors, designed by Thomas Crawford. The 
workmanship is not considered as fine as is that of the 
famous Eogers door. Crawford received |6,000 for the 
designs, while the casting and other expenses brought the 
total cost up to $56,495. In the East Corridor may be seen 
the famous oilt mirror which Vice-President John Adams 
innocently purchased for the room at a cost of $36.00. The 
purchase was regarded as' a piece of reckless extravagance, 
and three days were spent by Congress in stormy and acri- 
monious debate and much eloquent denunciation of the pur- 
chase, before the bill .was ordered paid. 

Passing by the Supreme Court Room we enter the great 
Rotunda, which is ninety-five feet in diameter, 300 feet in 
circumference and over ISO feet in height. Its magnificent 
dome is one of the most finished specimens of iron archi- 
tecture in the world. The panels of the Rotunda are 
adorned with paintings of life-size, painted by Trumbull 
and others. Colonel John Trumbull was son of Gov. Jona- 
than Trumbull of Connecticut, the original " Brother Jona- 
than." The young officer was aid and military secretary to 
Gen. Washington, and "having a natural taste for draw- 
ing," he, after the war, studied in this country and in 



Trumbull's historic paintings. 91 

Europe and conceived an ambition to produce a series of 
national paintings, depicting the principal events of the 
Kevolution, in which each face should be painted from life, 
so far as sittings could be obtained, while others were to be 
copied from approved portraits. He painted Adams, then 
Minister to England, in London, and Jefferson, in Paris, 
He was given sittings by Washington, and traveled from 
New Hampshire to South Carolina, collecting portraits and 
other material. In 1816, after more than thirty years of 
preparation, he was commissioned by Congress to paint the 
four great pictures in the Rotunda. They are " Signing the 
Declaration of Independence," " Surrender of General Bur- 
goyne at Saratoga," " Surrender of Lord Cornwallis at 
Yorktown," and " The Resignation of Washington." For 
these paintings Trumbull received $32,000 — a large sum in 
those days. 

Numerous other paintings adorn the walls, among them 
the " Baptism of Pocahontas," the " Landing of Columbus," 
and the " Discovery of the Mississippi," Like most works 
of genius, these paintings have many merits and many 
defects. Perhaps the favorite of all is the "Embarkation 
of the Pilgrims" on the unseaworthy " Speedwell " at Delft 
Haven for America. It depicts the farewell service on 
board. Its figures and the fabrics of its costumes are won- 
derfully painted ; so, too, is the face of the hoary Pilgrim 
who is offering a fervent petition to God for their safe pass- 
age across stormy seas to the land of deliverance ; but the 
enchantment of the picture is the face of Rose Standish, In 
those eyes, blue as heaven and as true, are seen only purity, 
faith, devotion, tenderness, and unutterable love. 

The group in bas-relief over the western entrance of 
the Rotunda represents " Pocahontas Saving the Life of 
Captain John Smith," The idea is national, but the execu- 
tion is preposterous. Powhatan looks like an Englishman, 
and Pocahontas has a Greek face and a Grecian head-dress. 



92 STATUES OF HEROES AND STATESMEN. 

The alto-relievo over the eastern entrance of the Hotunda 
represents the "Landing of the Pilgrims." The Pilgrim, 
his wife and child, are stepping from the prow of the boat 
to receive from the hand of an Indian, kneeling on the rock 
before them, an ear of corn. 

Over the south door of the Rotunda we have " Daniel 
Boone in Conflict with the Indians " in a forest. Boone has 
dispatched one Indian and is in close battle with the other. 
It commemorates an occurrence which took place in the 
year 1773. Over the northern door of the Rotunda we 
have William Penn standing under an elm, in the act of 
presenting a treaty to the Indians. 

In the Rotunda are statues of men whom patriotism and 
death have made illustrious and immortal. The statue of 
Col. E. D. Baker, of Illinois, was executed by Horatio 
Stone, in Rome, in 1862. While other statues stand forth 
in heroic size, that of Baker is under that of life, and barely 
suggests the grand proportions of the man. Yet the dig- 
nity and grandeur of his mien are here, as he stands wrap- 
ped in his cloak, his arms folded, his head thrown back, his 
noble face lifted as if he saw the future — his future — and 
awaited it undaunted and with a joyful heart. Amid all 
the orators of the dark days of the Civil War, no voice 
uttered such burning words as that of Baker — he who left 
the seat of a senator for the grave of a soldier. 

Congress voted ten thousand dollars to Horatio Stone, 
then in Rome, to execute the noble and beautiful statue of 
Alexander Hamilton, which stands in the Rotunda. No 
painted portrait could give to posterity so grand an idea of 
the great Federalist. It is eight feet high and represents 
Hamilton in the attitude of impassioned speech. The exe 
cution of the statue is exquisite, while in pose and expres- 
sion it is the embodiment of majesty and power. Burr — 
who presided over the Senate, who with the pride, subtlety, 
and ambition of Lucifer planned and executed to live in the 



CRAWFORD'S FAMOUS BRONZES. 93 

future amid the most exalted names of his time — sleeps dis- 
honored and accursed; while the great rival whom he 
hated, whose success he could not endure, whose life he 
destroyed, comes back in this majestic semblance to abide 
for all time in the Nation's Capitol. Thus we behold in 
this statue not only a " triumph of art " but also a triumpli 
of that final retributive compensation of justice which 
sooner or later aveng-es everv wrong:. 

In the Kotunda is a notable statue of General Grant and a 
magnificent bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson. Here also 
is Mrs. Yinnie Ream Hoxie's statue of Lincoln, the first glance 
at which is the most satisfactory' that you will ever have. 

No sculptor has left more lasting evidence of his genius 
in the decorations of the Capitol than Thomas Crawford, a 
bust of whom now adorns the Rotunda. Stricken with an 
incurable malady in the fullness of his powers, mai y of his 
great works were left unfinished ; but he would need no 
other title to fame than the great Goddess of Liberty 
crowning the dome, the tympanum of the Senate portico, 
and the Senate bronze doors. 

We pass from the Rotunda into one of the noblest rooms 
of the Capitol, the old Hall of Representatives, which when 
first completed was regarded as " the most elegant legisla- 
tive hall in the world." Much care was taken in its con- 
struction. Above the handsome colonnade of Potomac 
marble on the south side rises an immense arch, in the 
center of which is the statue of Liberty, with an altar at the 
right and an eagle at the feet of the goddess. Under this 
statue in the frieze of the entablature is a spread eao-le 
carved in stone by Valperti, an Italian. The curious atti- 
tude of the national bird gave rise to much adverse criti- 
cism, and Yalperti was so grieved because its resemblance 
to a turkey buzzard was so often noted that he drowned 
himself in the Potomac, leaving this eagle as his only work 
in America. 



94 THE HALL OF NATIONAL ART. 

It was a bappy thought which dedicated the old Hall of 
Representatives to national art. The late Senator Justin S. 
Morrill, then a Representative from Yerinont, first made 
the suggestion, which was followed in 18<M by an invitation 
from Congress to each State to send marble or bronze stat- 
ues of two of her most illustrious sons for permanent preser- 
vation. Man}^ States have responded, and some of the stat- 
ues are of a high order of merit. 

The first effect as we enter Statuary Hall and glance at 
these white, silent figures ranged regularly about, is pecul- 
iar, a feeling mainly due to the varying size of the statues, 
some being of heroic dimensions, others of ordinary size, 
and some less than life size. All these men did something 
to make them remembered b}^ a patriotic and grateful • 
country ; but some were heroes of the nation, others were 
prominent chiefly in their own States. Curiously enough, 
most of the local statesmen appear in heroic size and many 
of the great national heroes in ordinary size. For instance, 
here are the statues of Benton and Blair of Missouri, Cass 
of Michigan, Morton of Indiana, Allen of Ohio, all good 
men who lived noble lives and performed good deeds for 
their country, towering like giants above Houdon's Wash- 
ington and Conrad's Webster, A serious mistake was made 
when provision was neglected for making all these statues 
of uniform size. In studying them we need to dismiss all 
thought of comparison, to forget when examining one that 
we have ever seen another, and to lose ourselves completely 
for the time in the one we behold. Only in this way may 
we catch the real spirit and purpose of the artist. We can 
admire the animation chiseled into the figure of General 
Muhlenberg, the ])ious statesmanship revealed in Green- 
ough's Winthrop, and the majestic intellectuality in Con- 
rad's Webster, even though the sculptured forms of lesser 
men rise conspicuously above them. 

In studying the statue of Muhlenberg, we recall his sub- 



PIONEERS OF LIBERTY. 97 

lime patriotism when, on the Sunday following the battle of 
Lexington, after preaching a sermon to his congregation, 
he suddenly threw off the robes of the minister, and stepped 
forth in the uniform of the soldier, as he uttered these 
words : " There is a time for all things — a time to preach 
and a time to fight — and now is the time to fight." lie 
organized a company of troops from among his congrega- 
tion, joined Washington's army, became a general, and was 
present at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown. 

It is interesting to note the dress that marked different 
periods in our nation's growth as exhibited in these statues. 
There is a charm in the quaint costume of colonial and rev- 
olutionary heroes, which is wanting in the dress of men of 
later times. It is refreshing to turn from the stove-pipe 
hats, shingled heads, and angular garments in which the 
men of our generation do penance, to the floAving locks, 
puckered knee-breeches and ample ruffs in which Roger 
Williams represents his name and time. He holds a book in 
his hand, on whose cover is inscribed the words " Soul Lib- 
erty," and with free, uplifted glance and spirited pose seems 
about to step forward while his lips appear ready to open 
with words of inspiration. 

One of the most interesting statues is that of Marquette, 
the missionary explorer, here represented in his flowing- 
priestly robes. Here too is Ethan Allen, the hero of Ticon- 
deroga, and one can imagine him standing at the head of 
his Green Mountain Boys and demanding the surrender of 
the fort " in the name of Jehovah and the Continental Con- 
gress." Connecticut's contribution — the statues of Jona- 
than Trumbull and Roger Sherman — are of heroic size, and 
at first glance are most imposing, but the good impression is 
not abiding. Jonathan Trumbull was Governor of the Col- 
ony of Connecticut, and first Governor of the State. An 
influential leader in the Revolution, fertile in resources, he 
was a very close friend of Washington, who " relied upon 



98 OTHER NOTEWORTHY STATUES. 

him as one of his main pillars of support " ; and because of 
his great services in providing the sinews of war he gave 
him the name " Brother Jonathan," used ever since as the 
nickname of the United States. 

One of the most noticeable of the group is a plaster cast, 
mounted high on a wooden block, of Iloudon's life-size statue 
of Washington. Jean Antoine Houdon was a French 
sculptor, educated in Paris and Rome. He was employed 
by the State of Virginia to make a statue of Washington, 
and in 1785 he accompanied Franklin to America and 
resided for several weeks with Washington's family at 
Mount Vernon. While there he studied his subject, made a 
cast of Washington's face, and subsequently sculptured in 
Italy the original statue now in the Capitol at Eichmond, 
It is the most faithful portrait in existence of AVashington 
in his later years, and Lafayette pronounced it the best rep- 
resentation of Washington ever made. The fact that no 
other statue of him was ever made from life renders this 
work especially interesting and valuable. 

Among other notable statues may be mentioned that of 
President James A. Garfield, Ohio; Gen. Philip Kearney, 
New Jersey; Samuel Adams, Massachusetts; Robert R. 
Livingston, New York ; Gen. John Stark, of New Hamp- 
shire, and others of nearly or quite equal fame, albeit these 
memorial marbles and bronzes are of very unequal merit. 

Over the main entrance to Statuary Hall, and opposite 
the former position of the Speaker's desk, still stands the 
famous clock carved from a solid piece of marble, which has 
for its theme the Flight of Time. It has for its dial the 
wheel of the winged chariot of Time, resting on a globe. 
In this chariot stands a figure of Clio, the Muse who pre- 
sides over History, with a scroll and pen in her hand, 
recording passing events upon tablets. 

In itself Statuary Hall is the most majestic room in the 
Capitol. Set apart to enshrine the sculptured forms of the 



A ROOM OF MANY MEMORIES. 99 

illustrious dead, its arches and alcoves are fraught with 
their living memories. Here Clay presided, here Webster 
!*poke. Calhoun, Eandall, Cass, the younger Adams, and 
many others here won reputation for statesmanship, and 
made the walls ring with fiery eloquence. It has been the 
scene of many fierce and bitter wrangles over vexed ques- 
tions and displays of sectional feeling. It was here that 
ex-President John Quincy Adams, then a Eepresentative for 
Massachusetts, was prostrated at his desk by paralysis, 
resulting in his death two days later. A star set in the 
floor marks the position of his desk. 

Statuary Hall has surpi'ising acoustic properties. Curi- 
ous echoes, whispers distinct at a distance, and ability to 
hear what is inaudible to a person at your elbow, are among 
the curiosities of sound observable at certain points. 

We pass from this noble room through the open corri- 
dor directly into the House of Representatives. It occupies 
the precise place in the south wing ^vhich the Senate Cham- 
ber does in the north wing. Like the Senate Chamber, the 
light of day comes to it but dimly through the stained glass 
roof overhead. Like that, also, it is entire, encircled by a 
corridor opening into smoking apartments, committee rooms, 
the Speaker's room, etc. 

The House of Rej^resentatives is 139 feet long, ninety- 
three feet wide, and thirty-six feet in height, with a gallery 
running entirely around the Hall holding seats for 2,000 
persons. Like the Senate Chamber, the ceilii g is of iron 
work, bronzed, gilded, and paneled with glass, each pane 
decorated with the arms of a State. At the corners of 
these panels in gilt and bronze are rosettes of the cotton 
plant in its various stages of bud and blossom. The Speak- 
er's desk, splendid in proportion, is of pure white marble. 
At the Speaker's left sits the assistant doorkeeper, and the 
sergeant-at-arms is within easy call. The symbol of author- 
ity of the sergeant-at-arms is the Mace, which lies on a mar- 



100 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

ble pedestal at the Speaker's right. When it is placed on 
its pedestal, it signifies that the House is in session and 
under the Speaker's authority; when it is placed on the 
floor, that the House is a committee of the whole. The 
Mace is a bundle of thirteen ebony rods, fastened with 
transverse bands of silver. On its top is a silver globe on 
w^iich is engraved a map of the world, and this is sur- 
mounted by a silver eagle with wings outstretched. When 
the sergeant-at-arms is executing the commands of the 
Speaker, he bears aloft the Mace in his hands. 

Over the main entrance is the famous bronze clock 
whose hands are turned back on the last day of the session, 
in order that the precise hour of adjournment may not be 
marked by it before the actual business of the House is 
finished. 

The Speaker's room, at the rear of his chair and across 
the inner lobbv, is one of the most beautiful rooms in the 
Capitol. Its ornaments are not as glaring as those of the 
President's and Yice-President's rooms, while its mirrors, 
carved book-cases, velvet carpets, and chairs, give it a look 
of home comfort as well as of luxury. It has a bright out- 
look upon the eastern grounds of the Capitol, and its walls 
are hung with portraits of every Speaker from the First 
Congress to the present one. 

We pass through the private corridor looking from the 
Speaker's room out into the grand colonnaded vestibule 
opening upon the great ])ortico of the south extension. 
These tw^enty-four columns and forty pilasters have blos- 
somed from native soil. The models of Athens, Pompeii, 
Rome, are departed from at last, and their adornments are 
distinctively American. Looking up to these flowering- 
capitals we see corn-leaves, tobacco, and magnolias budding 
and blooming from their marble crowns. Ever}^ column, 
every pilaster bears a magnolia, each of a different form, all 
from casts of the natural flower. And far below, beneath 



"SIGNING THE PROCLAMATION." 101 

the Representatives' Hall, there is a row of monolithic col- 
umns formed of the tobacco and thistle. It is above the 
marble staircase opposite, leading to the ladies' gallery, tliat 
we see painted on the wall the great painting of Leutze 
entitled " Westward, IIo ! " for which $20,000 was paid. It 
represents the advance of civilization. Confusing, disap- 
pointing perhaps, at first glance, this painting asserts itself 
more and more in the soul the longer you gaze. 

At the foot of the eastern grand staircase is Powers' 
statue of Thomas Jefferson which cost $10,000. Over the 
landing is Frank B. Carpenter's painting " Signing of the 
Proclamation of Emancipation," painted at the White 
House in 1864. It represents President Lincoln signing the 
Proclamation in the presence of his Cabinet, September 22, 
1862. It was presented to Congress in 1878 by Mrs. Eliza- 
beth Thompson, who paid $25,000 to the artist for the 
picture. She received the thanks of Congress, and was 
given the privilege of the floor of the House during any of 
its sessions. Only one other woman has been similarly 
honored, — Dolly Madison, the wife of President Madison, 
for her distinguished character and patriotic services. 

We come back to the grand vestibule of the southern 
wing, and out to the great portico through one of the 
famous bronze doors designed by Eogers, and cast in Mun- 
ich. How heavy, slow, and still its swing! The other 
opens and closes upon the central door of the north wing, 
leading to the vestibule of the Senate. Rogers received 
$8,000 for his plaster models of these doors. The casting 
cost $17,000 in gold, when gold commanded a high pre- 
mium, and their total cost to the government was $28,500. 
The doors are eighteen feet in height, nine feet in width, 
and weigh ten tons. 

Here, on tliis portico, the inauguration of Presidents of 
the United States has taken ])lace since the time of Jackson. 
From it we look out upon the eastern grounds of the Capi- 



102 greenough's classic Washington. 

tol in the unsullied beauty of a June morning, across the 
paved plaza, through the vistas of maples with their green 
arcade flecked with light and shadow, to the august form of 
Horatio Greenough's statue of George Washington sitting 
in the center of the grounds in a lofty Roman chair 
mounted on a pedestal of granite twelve feet high. Green- 
ough was commissioned by Congress to execute this statue, 
the only conditions imposed being that, it should be " a full 
length pedestrian statue," and that the countenance should 
conform to that of the Houdon statue. For this he was 
paid $20,000, though he devoted the principal part of his 
time for eight years to the work. 

This is the most criticised work of art about the Capitol. 
It is true that a sense of personal discomfort seems to ema- 
nate from the drapery — or lack of it — and the pose of this 
colossal figure. George AVashington with his right arm out- 
stretched, his left forever holding a Roman sword, half- 
naked, beneath bland summer skies and within a veiling 
screen of tender leaves, is a much more comfortable-looking 
object than when the winds and rains beat upon his unshel- 
tered head and uncovered form. This statue was designed 
in imitation of the antique statue of Jupiter Tonans. The 
ancients made their statues of Jupiter naked above and 
draped below as being visible to the gods but invisible to 
men. But the average American citizen, being accustomed 
to seeing the Father of his Country decently attired, natur- 
ally receives a shock at first beholding him in next to no 
clothes at all. It is impossible for him to reconcile a Jupi- 
ter in sandals with the stately George Washington in knee- 
breeches and buckled shoes. The spirit of the statue, which 
is ideal, militates against the spirit of the land, which i? 
utilitarian, if not commonplace. 

Nevertheless, in poetry of feeling, in grandeur of con- 
ception, in exquisite fineness of detail, and in execution, it 
is the greatest work in marble yet wrought at the command 



HOW THE STATUE CAME TO AMERICA. 103 

of the government for the Capitol. It is scarcely human, 
certainly not American, but it is god-like. The face is a 
perfect portrait of Washington, The veining of a single 
hand, the muscles of a single arm, are triumphs of art. 
"While it is the masterpiece of a master, it has called forth 
more ridicule, and been the subject of more rude and vulgar 
jests than any other piece of American sculpture. 

The statue weighs nearly twenty-one tons, and was 
sculptured in Florence. In 1840 Commodore Hull was sent 
with a vessel of war to bring it to the United States, but 
when he found it would be necessary to rip up the decks of 
his vessel in order to place the colossal statue in the hold, 
he protested. A merchantman was therefore chartered for 
the purpose, her hatches enlarged, and the vessel otherwise 
changed in order to receive the statue. Upon its arrival at 
the Capitol in 1841, the doors of the building were found to 
be too small to admit it, and the masonry had to be cut 
away before the statue could be gotten inside. It was sub- 
sequently removed from the Rotunda to its present position 
in the grounds, facing the east front of the Capitol. The 
statue has cost the government, including the sum paid to 
Greenough and the amounts paid for work and materials, 
the cost of transportation from Italy, and the removal from 
the Rotunda to its present site, $42,170.74. 

In the center of the Capitol, on the ground floor, directly 
under the great dome, is a large circular chamber known as 
the crypt. In the center of the floor is a marble star, which 
is, theoretically, the center of the city of Washington, as 
originally laid out in L'Enf ant's plan. Beneath the star, in 
the center of the crypt, is a tomb known as the " Washing- 
ton Tomb." In 1799 Congress passed a resolution that a 
marble statue of General Washino-ton be erected in the 
Capitol, and that the family of General Washington be re 
quested to permit his body to be deposited under it. Many 
resolutions were subsequently offered, and much correspond- 



104 MRS. WASHINGTON'S LETTER. 

ence carried on regarding the ceremonies of removing his 
remains from Mount Vernon, and a tomb at the Capitol was 
made ready. The following is a correct copy of one of 
these resolutions: 

" That the remains of General George "Washington be removed, with 
suitable funeral honors, from the familj^ vault at Mount Vernon, conducted 
under the direction of a joint committee of both Houses of Congress, on 

the day of December next, and entombed in the national sepulchre to 

be prepared for that purpose under the centre dome of the Capitol in the 
City of Washington." 

A copy of the resolution was transmitted by John 
Adams to Martha Washington, who sent the following 

^^^^ ^ ' "Mt. Vernon, Dec. 31, 1799. 

"Sir: 

"While I feel, with keenest anguish, the late dispensation of Divine 
Providence, I cannot be insensible to the mournful tributes of respect and 
veneration which are paid to the memory of my dear deceased husband ; 
and as his best services and most anxious wishes were always devoted to 
the welfare and liappiness of his country, to know that they were truly 
appreciated, and gratefully remembered, affords me no inconsiderable 
consolation. 

"Taught by that great example which I have so long had before me 
never to oppose my private wishes to the public will, I must consent to 
the request made by Congress, which you have had tlie goodness to trans- 
mit to mo; and, in doing this, I need not, I cannot say, what a sacrifice of 
individual feeling I make to a sense of public duty. 

" With grateful acknowledgements, and unfeigned thanks for the per- 
sonal respect and evidences of condolence expressed by Congress and your- 
self, I remain, very respectfully. Sir, 

" Your most obedient humble servant, 

"Martha Washington." 

Nothing was done, however, and in 1S32 John A. Wash- 
in f^ton, who was then the owner of Mount Yernon, declined 
the request made by Congress. When General Grant died 
the question of honoring him with a final resting-place in 
the "Washington Tomb" was discussed, but the family 
were averse to the plan.. The tomb in the Capitol is still 
vacant except for the simple bier of boards covered with 



A BIRDS-EYE VIEW OF THE CITY. 107 

black cloth wbich was used to support the remains of Lin- 
coln, and whicii has been used for each citizen laid in state 
at tlie Capitol since that day. 

From the Hotunda we turn westward to the lofty colon- 
nade outside, from whose balcony we look down upon the 
view which Iluml^oldt declared to be the most beautiful of 
its type in the whole world. Directly below us, past the 
W3stern terrace of the Capitol, stretch the western Capitol 
grounds. These marble terraces and their ornamental ap- 
proaches cost $2!)0,000. Many varieties of trees grown to 
forest height spread their interlacing boughs to form a roof 
of cool, green shadow over the sward below, which is dotted 
over with the golden dandelions in early May. Broad 
flights of stairs, parting right and left around a fountain, 
lead down a lower terrace, in the center of which is a bronze 
figure of Chief-Justice John Marshall, executed by the 
American sculptor AVilliam "VY. Story in Rome in 1883. It 
was presented to the United States by members of tlie bar, 
and cost $1:0,000, Congress supplying the pedestal. 

He who has not climbed the winding stairway, which 
opens from the corridor near the north door of the Rotunda 
and leads by devious ways to the top of the mighty dome, 
has missed one of the most inspiring features of the Capitol. 
In the ascent one beholds the immense iron work which 
supports and makes the great dome. Part way up the 
stairway one may look down upon the floor of the Rotunda 
trom the whispering gallery beneath the canopy. A little 
farther, and one walks out upon the great balustrade sur- 
rounding the base of the dome, from which may be seen the 
whole panorama of the city lying at his feet. Still a little 
farther, one arrives at the smaller balustrade beneath tlie 
lantern which supports the goddess. The view from the 
top of the Washington monument may be more command- 
ing, but it does not reveal the beauties which are thrust 
upon the beholder at this dizzy height, for the city radiates 



108 UNDER A GREEN CANOPY. 

in all directions from this point. The great avenues, like 
the spokes of a mighty wheel, stretch away till lost in the 
green foot hills. The long avenues are marked by soft 
clouds of gently-swaying foliage, for each is doubly fringed 
with trees ; the whole city seems to be smothered under a 
beautiful canopy of green, pierced here and there by a dome 
or a steeple or a towering building. Looking directly down, 
we see the beautiful grounds of the Capitol, gracefully 
marked by shad}^ walks and drives ; farther down the west 
lie the Botanical Gardens, in the midst of which glistens 
the great Bartholdi fountain ; while to the east, like a vision, 
rises the Library of Congress. On the distant hill tops, 
gleaming through the soft green, we behold the Soldiers' 
Home, and across the Potomac, which winds like a stream 
of molten silver to the south, we catch a glimpse of Arling- 
ton, the silent city of the Nation s dead. 



CHAPTER VI. 

IN THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES — A 
PEEP BEHIND THE SCENES — CLAIMANTS AND LOBBY- 
ISTS—HOW GOVERNMENT PRIZES ARE WON. 

lu the House of Representatives — Scenes of Confusion —The Speaker — 
A Peep Behind the Scenes — " Wliat Did They Do? " — A Visit to the 
Senate — Playing Marbles Behind the Vice-President's Chair — Secret 
Sessions — The Veil Lifted — A Senator's Amusing Experience- 
Some Revelations —How the Senate Works— " Will Carp Eat Gold 
Fish?" — Curious Requests — "We Want a Baby"— Women With 
Claims — Professional Lobbyists and Their Ways — Button-holing Sen- 
ators — ' ' Who are They ? " — Importance of ' ' Knowing the Ropes "— 
Catching the Speaker's Eye — An Indignant Congressman — Catching 
" the Measles, the Whooping-Cough, and the Influenza " — The Frank- 
ing Privilege — Providing for the " Comforts" of Members — Shaves, 
Hair-cuts, and Baths at Uncle Sam's Expense — Barbers as "Skilled 
Laborers " — " Working a Committee." 



'to 




^E have observed the Capitol as a monument of 
the people's history and patriotism, l)ut to 
know it as it is, Ave must see it as the work- 
shop of Congress, and enter into the spirit and 
understanding of its manifold operations. In its 
various and conflicting architectural conceptions we 
have noted both the weakness and the strength of human 
nature and ability; we have yet to observe that same 
human nature in its daily activity in both legislative halls 
of the Congress. These grand paintings, these famous 
statues and costlv bronzes, these wonderful corridors, this 
mighty dome, all bring up a past — a history that is made ; 
but the life of the Capitol is an affair always of to-day — 

(109) 



110 THE HOUSE IN SESSION. 

history which is heing made, and which is ever running 
back into our glorious past. We can see no halo about the 
present ; that comes with time. All this active, storming 
life in the great Capitol is the motion of the mightiest 
engine of the government — the legislative machine. There 
is nothing in all the world like it ; no legislative machine 
that can do and has done so much. 

Entering the Senate wing and beholding this machine 
on one side, it seems to be proceeding so calmly, so noise- 
lessly and serenely, as to be hardly moving at all. Wlien 
we visit the House wing and view the other side, we behold 
such utter confusion, such an apparently woful lack of 
attention to -anything that is going on at an}^ one place, 
that \\Q are impressed at once with the idea that something 
dreadful has happened to the mechanism. We take a seat 
in the gallery, which is never empty when Congress is in 
session, and which is often full, though people are every 
minute going out and others coming in to take their places. 
The House is in session. We look down upon a confused 
mass of desks littered with books and papers, and men who 
are constantly walking about in every direction. The deep, 
low buzz of never-ceasing conversation rises and falls and 
comes to us from every part of the room, including the gal- 
lery. The few men who may at any one time be seen at 
their desks appear to be absorbed in attending to a vast 
private correspondence. There is an intermittent and 
irregular clapjiing of hands, like the report of distant fire- 
crackers, and frequent and urgent calls from impatient 
members for the pages, who are constantly running about, 
lending life and adding confusion to the scene. In the 
background, behind the tall screens, we catch glimpses of 
lobbies, coat-rooms, and barber shops, Avhere members are 
smoking, laughing, reading, telling stories, and lounging 
about. High up beliind the Avhite marble desk quietly sits 
the Speaker oi the House, the most powerful man in the 



A SCENE OF CONFUSION. 



Ill 



government next to the President. He appears to be the 
only serene and undisturbed person in tlie room. Just 
below him one of the clerks is droning in a sing-song manner 
something which nobody seems to hear or cares to hear. 
At a still lower desk are more clerks and stenographers. 
Far up one of the aisles a man suddenly jumps to his feet 
and makes a violent but only half-audible speech, to which 




DIAGRAM OF THE FLOOR OF THE UUU^E OF REPRESENTATIVES. 
D. Doorkeepers. S. Sergeant at- Arms. 

no one listens except a stenographer who swiftly runs up 
the aisle Avith note book and pencil in hand, sits at a near-by 
desk and takes down every word as if too precious to be 
lost. Having made his speech, he strolls back to the cloak- 
room and lights a cigar; the stenographer returns to his 
chair and the clerk above him continues his monotonous 
drone. The confusion increases and the Speaker strikes the 
top of his desk with a heavy mallet, the report ringing out 
like the crack of a rifle. Comparative silence reigns for a 
moment, and he follows up the temporary advantage thus 
secured by remarking: — "The House will be in order." 
He lapses back into his unruffled state and the House lapses 



113 PASSING A BILL. 

back into its hubbub. After a time there is a slightly per- 
ceptible unanimity in the getting up and sitting down and 
walkino- about of the uneasy crowd, which indicates that a 
vote is being taken. Amid the confusion, the Speaker again 
brint'-s his mallet down on the top of his desk and says : — 
" The ayes seem to have it, the ayes have it ; " and the 
clerks appear to be attending to the further details. 

'' AVhat did they do ? " you ask. 

Well, just then the House voted to spend $224,000,000 
in round numbers. If you had a copy of the bill you would 
see that it contained about 150 pages of closely -printed 
matter reading something like this: — "For prevention 
of deposits New York Harbor, 13 cents ; for maintenance of 
Bureau of Yards and Docks, 43 cents ; for building a bridge 
across the Potomac, $2.03," and so on, the whole amounting 
to $221,000,000. This particular vote happened to be on 
the General Deficiency Bill, and these little items are to 
make up deficiencies in the expenditures which the govern- 
ment is constantly making everywhere in our broad land. 
It is to balance accounts for the fiscal year, and it shows 
that where a few cents is required for this purpose, thou- 
sands and often tens of thousands of dollars are being spent. 
The Appropriations Committee is presumed to have exam- 
ined this bill ; it has been read and printed, and read again 
and printed, and read again, and now it is passed. We 
chanced to see the last process of the operation. 

Making our way to a seat in the Senate gallery w^e find 
ourselves in an entirely different atmosphere. It is not 
because the men are so very different, for they are not. 
Most of them have been members of the House earlier in 
their careers. The difference lies altogether in the w^ay of 
doino- business and in the traditions wdiich have come down 
from the First Congress. When Congress was sitting in 
Philadelphia previous to 1800, a writer in one of the news- 
papers of the day said : — " Among the senators is observed 



TRADITIONS OP THE SENATE. 113 

constantly during the debates the most delightful silence, 
the most beautiful order, gravity and i)ersonal dignity of 
manner. They all appear every morning full-powdered and 
dressed in the richest material. The very atmosphere of 
the chamber seems to inspire Avisdom, mildness, condescen- 
sion. Should any of the senators so far forget for a moment 
as to be the cause of a protracted whisper, while another 
was addressing the Vice-President, three gentle raps with 
his silver pencil case by Mr. Adams immediately restored 
everything to repose and the most respectful attention." 

The dignified pace set b}^ the first senators has changed 
but little. Then there Avere but twenty-six senators, and 
now there are ninety, or more than there Avere in the origi- 
nal House of Representatives. Time has modified somewhat 
the early dignity of the body, but it is hardly perceptible. 
The bitterness of partisan feeling seldom sIioaa's itself in the 
calm and dignified serenity Avhich is the traditional senato- 
rial demeanor. There is a slight moving about; senators 
come in and are called out, but so quietly do they move on 
the soft carpets that no one is disturbetl. Occasionally there 
is a sharp hand-clap, and one of the pages, all bright-looking, 
smartly-dressed youngsters, trips lightly up to some senator 
to do his bidding — to get a book or paper from his com- 
mittee room, or to take a telegram to the operator in the 
corridor. These page-boys, when disengaged, are seated on 
the carpeted steps to the Vice-President's ])latform, and, 
when there has been nothing to distract them, they have 
been known to have a quiet little game of marbles behind 
the Vice-President's chair, but in such a silent and decorous 
manner that the dignity of the Vice-President Avas not ruf- 
fled by a knoAvledge of it. Congressmen Avho always have 
the privilege of coming on the floor during open sessions of 
the Senate, drop in often, especially if some great debate is 
onj but they leave their house manners outside the door. 
The people in the galleries adapt themselves unconsciously 



114 



WHERE GRAVITY AND DECORUM RULE. 



to the calmer and higher atmosphere. If they should be so 
rash as to applaud anything a senator said, the gallery 
would be cleared. While the Republicans are seated on one 
side and the Democrats on the other, it is a common thing 
to see a senator of one political persuasion walk over to the 
seat of one of the opposite faith and talk with him with 
every evidence of sincere good nature, and as if there was 
no such thing as differences in political belief. Even in the 

SOUTHERN LOBBY 

^•^ (n)_ (Pi r^'-V 




J PRESIDENTS 1 L-, 

U •'°°" iP 



DIAGRAM OF THE FLOOR OF THE SENATE. 

D. Doorkeeper iinJ Assistants. 

J. C. Journal Clerk. 
C. C. Chief Clerk. R- Official Reporters. 

L. C. Legislative Clerk. P. 

R. C. Reading Clerk. S. 



V. P. 

Sec. 



President pro tempore. 
Secretary. 



Press Reporters. 
Sergeant-at- A rms. 



stormy days when Calhoun was the lightning, Webster the 
thunder, and Clay the rainbow of the Senate, and in those 
still more tempestuous days just preceding the Civil War, 
there were few occasions when senatorial courtesy was 
damaged by passionate outbursts of feeling. 

The greatest change that has been Ijrought about is iw 



SECRET SESSIONS OF THE SENATE. 115 

the apparent lack of atteutioii given to speakers. It often 
happens in the long discussion of some important matter on 
which many senators make lengthy speeches that the 
audience is small and the attention limited, but this is due 
to the fact that the " Congressional Record " brines out 
in cold type the next morning all that is said, so that a 
senator can lose little at such times if he withdraws to 
his committee room to take up the multifarious matters 
always demanding his attention. As one-third of the body 
is elected every two years, the larger part is always experi- 
enced, the more so as most elections are re-elections, and the 
absolutely new members are readily assimilated. They 
quickly find that nothing offends so much as violations 
of Senate traditions of dignity and respect and courtesy. 
The one unpardonable sin in the Senate is to be unsenatorial. 

How effective are these traditions is shown b}'^ the fact 
that there is not, as in the House, any means for limiting de- 
bate. There is no time this side of eternity when a senator 
must stop talking. No matter what business interests may 
hang upon the issue, the Senate can not even act till it has 
unanimous consent. 

Another evidence of the rigidity of tradition is given in 
the executive session. The Senate sat with closed doors for 
two sessions, or until 1794, when it was resolved that the 
legislative sittings should be opened unless otherwise 
ordered. The secret sessions are now confined to executive 
nominations or treaties, and though so mysterious are gen- 
erally very tame affairs. One senator relates that when he 
first came to "Washington, it was as a Representative, and 
when upon the floor of the Senate one day, an executive ses- 
sion was ordered. The galleries were cleared and the Repre- 
sentative was courteously asked to retire with the rest. As 
he went out he drew mental pictures of what sacred and 
higlily important affairs these secret sessions must be. A 
few years later he appeared as a Senator and he anxiously 



116 THE EXECUTIVE SESSION. 

awaited the moment when an executive session should be 
held. Finally one of the venerable Senators solemnly 
moved that the Senate go into executive session. The new 
member assumed his gravest dignity. The moment he had 
so long awaited had come. People filed out of the gaUeries ; 
the doors were closed and at last the Senate was alone. 
It was then moved that Mr. Somebody be confirmed in 
his appointment to a post-office somewhere. The Vice- 
President of the United States remarked: "TVithout ob- 
jection it is so ordered.'' Then there was a motion to 
adjourn and another mysterious executive session was over. 

The Senate would not abandon this curious privilege, 
however, not because it cares so much about keeping the 
proceedings of an executive session secret, but simply be- 
cause it is the traditional custom of the Senate. The 
secrets of these sessions as a matter of fact are seldom kept, 
even when important. One of the rules is that '• any sena- 
tor or officer of the Senate who shall disclose the secret or 
confidential business of the proceedings of the Senate, shall 
be liable, if a Senator, to expulsion from the body, and if an 
officer, to dismissal from the service of the Senate and to 
punishment for contempt." But the secrets always leak out 
and no punishment is ever inflicted. 

The Senate begins its legislative work at noon, and 
when that hour is reached the gallery is generally filled, for 
on days when a debate or discussion of some subject of 
great public interest is promised, people throng into the 
galleries early in the morning, often bringing luncheon with 
them. If they should once surrender their seat, they might 
not be able to gain an entrance again that day. The A'ice- 
President enters with the Chaplain, who makes a short, 
impressive prayer, after which comes much routine business, 
communications, petitions, memorials, bills, and resolutions. 
These over, the Senate usually proceeds to its calendar, 
which consists of measures reported from committees. 



FORMALITIES OP THE SENATE. 117 

Sometimes this is taken in order, but oftener measm'es are 
taken from it during the morning hour '' by general 
consent," something which couid never be had in the 
House. The morning hour ends at two o'clock, when the 
calendar is laid aside and the Senate proceeds to the con- 
sideration of what is known as unfinished business. What 
this shall be is also a matter of general consent — that is, a 
unanimous agreement has been secured to consider a certain 
measure unlinished bushiess. It must come up every day 
at two o'clock until it is finally disposed of. 

Usually when the President desires to communicate 
with the Senate, one of his private secretaries presents 
himself in the main aisle of the Senate chamber in the 
afternoon. The presiding oificer, availing himself of the 
first pause in the remarks of the Senator having the floor, 
interrupts him by saying: "The Senate will receive a 
message from the President of the United States." The 
assistant door-keeper, making a profound obeisance, an- 
nounces "A message from the President of the United 
States," and the secretarv then savs : " Mr. President, I 
am instructed by the President of the United States to 
present a message in writing." He then bows and his 
package of manuscript is carried to the presiding oflScer, 
after which the Senator whose remarks were interrupted 
resumes them. Messages brought from the House of 
Representatives by its clerk ai'e received with similar 
formalities. Later in the afternoon, a motion is o-enerallv 
made that the Senate proceed to the consideration of ex- 
ecutive business. 

Such is the general routine of each day's work in the 
Senate, but the days varv greatlv in interest to the visitor. 
He may chance upon some long, dry speech, which as it 
is read empties the galleries, or he may listen to a speech 
which will pass into history. He may be still more for- 
tunate, and listen to a sharp debate when speeches are made 



118 REQUESTS OF CONSTITUENTS. 

by leaders on both sides, and the finest abilities of able 
men are brought into play. 

There have been less than a thousand senators in our 
history, and of these seventeen have afterwaixls become 
Presidents, though curiously enough no Senator when in 
actual service has ever been called to the Presidency. Most 
of the Senators have their private secretaries who attend to 
their enormous mails, for there are plenty of people in every 
state who consider it their blessed privilege to write to 
them upon every conceivable subject and to ask them for 
anything they happen to wish. And the Senators are very 
particular about replies to their constituents. Almost every 
day a senator will find in his mail requests of which the 
following, as exhibited by one member, may be taken as 

samples : 

" Senator — Will carp eat gold fish ? If so, send me some carp." 

This was referred to the Fish Commission, which doubt- 
less attended to it, for the Fish Commission must needs 
please the Senator ; so that when the thne comes he may 
favor a good appropriation for its work, besides, the 
Senator assumes that the writer has a vote which may 
come in handy when his term expires. 

Plere is another : 

" Dear Senator — We want a baby. We want you to pick us out a 
baby, my wife wants a girl but I want a boy but never mind. I don't 
care witch. Tell me what it cost. Respectfully," 

The writer had probably heard about the Foundling's 
Institute of the District of Columbia, over which the 
Secretary of the Interior has supervision. 

The Senators have their lobbies and lounging rooms 
^here many a choice cigar is smoked and many a story 
told. But this is beyond the rude gaze of the world. If 
you wish to see a Senator you are supposed to go to the 
lai-o-e waiting-room at one side of the Senate chamber, 
where decorum reigns. At the passage-way sits an elderly 



A senator's anxious clients. lin 

man with several youths in waiting. Yon hand your card 
to this man, who scribbles the Senator's name on it, and 
away goes a messenger. Soon he will return and make to 
those in waiting a series of perfunctory announcements like 
these : 

" Senator So-and-So is not here at present." 
"Senator Blank will see you, sir. Step right into 
the reception-room." 

" Senator X is very sorry, but the Senator makes it a 
rule not to see ladies at the Capitol." 

There are a plenty who do, however, for it is a noticeable 
fact that the waiting-room is frequently thronged with 
women. A number of them are conversing with Senators ; 
others are gazing towards the doors which lead into the 
Senate. Some seem to be waiting Avith eager eyes and 
anxious faces; otliers are leaning back upon the sofas in 
attitudes of luxurious listlessness. Do you ask why they 
are here ? Are they studying the stately proportions and 
exquisite finesse of the ante-room ? Not at all. It is not 
devotion to the testhetic arts nor the inspiration of patriot- 
ism which brings these women here, but necessity, either 
real or imaginary. Sometimes it is their only way to 
success in securing employment or a hearing of their 
grievances and claims. They are a few, only a very 
few, of the women with " claims," who through the sessions 
of Congress haunt the departments, the White House, and 
the Capitol. 

The dejected-looking persons on the sofa opposite are 
petitioners for relief by an act of Congress authorizing the 
payment of some claim. You may be certain by the 
unhopeful expression of their faces that it is their own 
claims which, almost unaided and alone, they are trying 
to " work through " Congress. Their homes are far distant. 
They borrowed money to come here and to support their 
families meanwhile; borrowed money to pay their own 
8 



120 PLACE-HUNTERS AND CLAIM-WORKERS. 

board, and the exorbitant fees of the cUiim agents, who, 
constantly fannmg the flame of "great expectations," 
assure them every day that Congress will pay them the 
thousands which they demand. Meantime the session is 
almost ended, and these claims, on which hang such heavy 
loads of debt and fear, lie hidden and forgotten in the 
pigeon-hole of the Committee which must consider and 
report upon each before it will be heard in the Senate 
or House. 

Members of Committees are beset by such claimants, but 
are always kind and considerate. Few have the courage to 
add to the misery of these unfortunates by frankly telling 
them the truth. They find it out at last, and then, remem- 
bering all the evasions, in their disappointment and hopaless 
poverty, they denounce senators and members as " deceitful 
and heartless," whereas these honorable gentlemen were 
only trying to be kind and encouraging. Besides, members 
of both houses are too much interested iu immense claims 
involving millions to ba paid out of the National Treasury, 
and too much absorbed in the discussion of the general wel- 
fare of the Republic, to be able to come down to the small 
particulars of individual claims and grievances. In time — 
Avhose cycles may be as long as those of the Circumlocution 
Office and the Court of Chancery — some time, wlien the 
claimants have borrowed and spent more money than the 
whole claim is worth, it may be investigated, and full or 
partial justice done. In either case, it w^ill often take more 
than they receive to pay the many expenses which they 
have incurred during their long years of waiting. Do you 
Avonder that their faces look doleful while they wait for 
Senator So-and-so to come to answer their cards and their 
queries? Here he is, and we can hear what- he says, " I am 
very sorry, but it is too late. I fear that your case cannot 
be reached this session." Poor creatures ! It would have 
been far better for them to have stayed at home, kept out 



A NECESSARY EVIL. 121 

of debt, and \vorked at anything to have supported their 
dependent families. This niiglit have been a hard life, but 
not so hard as the mortification, suspense, defeat of cher- 
ished plans, and the long years of worry and labor devoted 
to hopeless expectations. 

Unfortunately, the professional lobby has developed into 
a necessary evil. Congress is annually so swamped with 
appeals for legislation, much of it of a private character and 
much of it of questionable merit, that the policy of delay 
becomes easy and natural. Even such legislation as does 
pass absorbs all of the current resources of the government 
that can be spared, and to clean up all the claims at once 
might bankrupt it. As all work is done in committee, and 
as no bill has a fair chance of passage unless favorably 
reported by the committee to which it was referred, the 
stress of the lobby comes almost entirely upon the commit- 
teeman, and he is haunted quite as much when away from 
the Capitol as in it. The deplorable thing about this situa- 
tion is that many of the most meritorious claims are neg- 
lected simply because there is no professional lobbyist to 
bother Congressmen about them. Some of these claims 
date back for many years. 

When General George R. Clark, the young Virginian 
scout of the Revolution, with the approval of Washington, 
set out for an operation against the British forts of the 
Northwest, and arrived at Kaskaskia, in the winter of 1778, 
out of means to prosecute his march to Yiucennes, a patri- 
otic French priest generously offered him the means, if 
Clark would guarantee that he be reimbursed after the war. 
Clark accepted the offer, and the consequent capture of Vin- 
cennes was the sole ground for the surrender after York- 
town of all that great territory now comprising the states 
of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Yet Con- 
gress did nothing to keep Clark's word with the loyal 
priest, who died a poor man, and the claim fell from heir to 



122 THE POLICY OF DELAY. 

heir, till finally, after a hundred years, and solely because a 
smart lobbyist was employed, the claim was pushed 
through. Only a short time ago occurred the last vote on 
a claim for nearly $100,000 for the destruction of a private 
vessel during the Revolutionary war by federal authorities. 
AVlien at last the great-grandchildren employed a lobbyist 
who took a generous share for his services, the claim was 
reached. 

It by no means follows that the lobbyist uses money to 
effect such legislation. His strength lies in })ersistence and 
in ''knowing the ropes." He is often an ex-Congressman, 
and Washington is full of them — • pension lobbyists, patent 
lobbyists, river and harbor lobbyists, war-damage lobbyists, 
back-pay and bounty lobbyists, and office-seeking lobbyists. 
These people burrow in the records of the government for 
possible claimants who might not otherwise give their 
claims a thought. As claims are taken on a conting-ent fee, 
there is everything to gain and nothing to lose for the 
claimant. With such a Avholesale stress always brought 
upon Congress, it has fallen into the habit of waiting to be 
pushed. 

The House as a working establishment is almost every- 
thing which the Senate is not. In the Senate the majority 
sits with the minority ; in the House the majority sits 07i the 
minority. In the Senate, the Vice-President, as the presid- 
ing officer, recognizes any member addressing him ; in the 
House, the Speaker does or does not, just as he pleases. He 
often pays no heed to members in the front seats who are 
endeavoring to attract his attention by cries of " Mister 
Speaker ! " in every note in the gamut, accompanied by 
frantic gesticulations, and " recognizes " some quiet person 
beyond them. " I have been a member of this House three 
successive sessions," said an indignant Tennesseean who had 
vainly tried to obtain the floor, "and during that time I 
have caught the measles, the whooping-cough, aud the influ- 



THE SECOND MAN IN THE GOVERNMENT. 123 

enza, but I have never been able to catch the Speaker's 
eye." 

In the Senate, a man can talk forever, if he wishes to be 
so unsenatorial ; in the House he can have only the time 
allowed him. In the Senate the Vice-President has no 
influence whatever ; in the House the Speaker has all the 
influence. So we might continue the contrast. 

The autocratic powers of the Speaker do not arise from 
any usurpation, but because in such a body it became abso- 
lutely essential for an autocrat to exist. The Speaker is 
barely mentioned in the Constitutiqn, but, to manage an 
ever-growing House, he has developed into the second man 
in the government. In many respects he is even more pow- 
erful tlian the President, for while the latter can only 
approve or disapprove of measures, the Speaker can largely 
determine their nature and decide their fate. He appoints 
all the committees and their chairmen, and the committees 
practically do everything. He has sole power of recogni- 
tion, from which there is no a])peal, and as chairman of the 
Committee on Rules he can dictate the action of the House. 
He can make and unmake men merely b}^ committee assign- 
ments or by refusing recognition for the consideration of 
local bills which may have passed the Senate and have been 
favorably reported in the House. If he decides that it is 
inexpedient for a bill to pass, that is the end of the matter. 
There is no way a member can reach it, even though he 
knows that his fate in the next election at home depends 
upon it. The Speaker is not bound by the rulings of any 
previous speaker ; there are no precedents for him. Such is 
the man wiio presides over the "popular" branch of the 
Congress. Of course he is generally wise enough to use his 
power wisely, but his own party will uphold him in the 
most drastic treatment of the minority. 

There are about fifty standing committees, each of them 
averaging a dozen members, and every member of the 



124 WORK OF THE COMMITTEES. 

House is placed on some one committee. Then there are 
always a few select committees for subjects of current inter- 
est. When a bill is introduced — they come in by hundreds, 
especially in the opening days of Congress — the clerk reads 
the titles and the Speaker assigns them to a committee 
without consulting any one, though if there is a dispute it is 
assigned by vote of the House. That is the last heard of a 
majority of them. The committees take up each bill and 
hear whatever evidence they think necessary upon it. 
About nineteen-twentieths of the bills never come back to 
the House for a vote./ It is therefore almost wholly as a 
committeeman that a Congressman does his work. As a 
rule, only large questions lead to extensive debates in the 
House and these are generally made up of short speeches. 
A large proportion of the speeches printed in the " Congres- 
sional Record" are not delivered orally at all, but are 
inserted through a privilege generously allowed. Speeches 
that are actually delivered are taken down in shorthand by 
official reporters. If the orator so desires he can have the 
opportunity of revising the manuscript, and he may also 
have proof sheets submitted when asked for. Some speak- 
ers change, correct, and polish their sentences with infinite 
pains, or have others do it for them, until but little of what 
they originally said remains. In this way the Congressman 
can distribute, at the expense of the government, speeches 
Avhich surprise his constituents who never believed him 
capable of such exhaustive and eloquent efforts. 

As evidence of what a single Congress encounters, it may 
be stated that in one of the late ones about 5,000 bills were 
introduced in the Senate and 11,000 in the House. Of this 
total of 16,000 bills, only 4(50 passed, two-thirds of them 
being private bills. About four-fifths of the bills introduced 
were not reported on at all. 

The great days in the House are exceptional, but when 
they do come they exceed in spectacular interest anything in 



METHODS OF THE HOUSE. 125 

the Senate. At noon the Speaker walks out of his room and 
ascends the steps leading up to his high marble desk. The 
Sergeant-at-Arms enters antl places his mace in the socket at 
the right of the Speaker, where it remains unless he is called 
upon to bear it up one of the aisles to overawe unruly mem- 
bers. The chaplain comes forward, and all rise while he 
offers an invocation. The House then proceeds to business, 
but in an entirely different way from the Senate. The 
House has three calendars, and in theory it ought to take 
them up each day and dispose of each article in its ordei-, 
but in practice they are never taken up at all, E very thin i*- 
is done by special rules made by the Committee on Rules, of 
which the Speaker is chairman. This committee brings in a 
rule that such and such a measure shall be taken up on a 
certain day, and up it comes, the Speaker recognizing no one 
except the member privileged to bring it up and those who 
have secured permission to speak upon it. Appropriation 
bills, however, are privileged because they provide the 
money necessary for running the government. These are 
the only exceptions. 

While business seems to be proceeding always in great 
confusion, it is clear enough to those who are familiar with 
the process. The visitor who has patience will some day 
happen upon- an exciting debate upon some subject of great 
popular interest. Then he will see the apparently disorderly 
members clustering round the man who is speaking and those 
who are debating with him-. Nothing can exceed in interest 
a debate of this kind when keen men are fencing or sparring 
with their Avits. There are some men alwavs who will com- 
mand attention and silence whenever they rise for a set 
speech. It is a great privilege to happen into the galleiy 
when some great debate is closing, and the last speeches are 
made by the leaders on both sides, short and to the point. 
Then the leader of the minority delivers his last assault upon 
the bill , the leader of the majority replies to him, and then 



12G CLOSING A DEBATE. 

the Speaker says : " The hour having arrived at which the 
House has ordered that the debate be closed, the vote will 
now be taken upon the bill and amendments." Then folio avs 
a dreary process which may last hours; for each roll-call for 
a yea and nay vote requires a full half hour, and often such 
a roll-call is taken on every little amendment Sometimes 
whole days are consumed in these roll-calls, the motion for 
a yea and nay vote being purposely made by obstructionists 
desirous of consuming time and preventing action. 

In winding up the debate on a bill each side is allowed a 
certain time, which is credited to certain leaders, who are, in 
turn, at liberty to give a portion of it to other members. 
The member speaking Avill say : " I yield the floor to the 
gentleman from Ohio for ten minutes." But in Committee 
of the AVhole, speeches are limited to five minutes, and he 
who gets a chance seldom gives any of it away. 

For expediting the great mass of business in which Con- 
gress is involved no expense is spared to provide the neces- 
sary machinery. There are about 175 telephones in the 
Capitol, of which number 100 are on the House side with 
their own " central." Another " central " on the Senate side 
governs about sixty-five telephones, and there are a dozen 
other instruments in other parts of the building providing 
connection with the departments and the outside world. 
Thus a veritable maze of wires pervades the building, each 
committee room having its own telephone, while special 
lines connect with the White House and each of the depart- 
ments. The folding rooms of the Senate and House are al- 
ways busy places. From them the books and documents, 
fresh from the Government Printing Office, are sent in a 
never-ending stream, each member being credited with a 
certain number, and he draws upon them as he wishes. 
The Senate and the House each has'its own post-office in the 
Capital, and each does a business equal to that transacted by 
the post-office of a good-sized city ; both are kept open the 



FRANKING HIS GOODS HOME. 127 

year round, a great deal of mail being forwarded to Sena- 
tors and Representatives when Congress is not in session. 

In theory the franking privilege extends only to the 
Congressional documents, books, papers, and letters relating 
to olHcial business, but in practice it covers almost every- 
thing that members of the Senate or House have in their 
possession. 

Toward the end of the session each Congressman receives 
three chests. Two of them are of pine, but strongly built and 
braced. They are about three feet long, two in width and 
a foot and a half deep. The third is of cedar, slightly larger 
than the others, handsome and well-made. T\^y come from 
the House carpenter shop and are built by the House carpen- 
ter and paid for out of the contingent fund of the Senate and 
House. When the Congressman receives his quota of boxes 
he has nothing to pay. 

Into these boxes the member or his clerk dumps all his 
letter files, papers, documents, books, maps and other puljli- 
cations that he has in stock. Typewriters, letter presses, 
inkstands, and other office paraphernalia are stowed away 
in their recesses. Frequently clothing, bedding, and other 
personal household effects are packed in these boxes. When 
filled to the brim they are locked and the tops screwed down, 
and then they are carted off to the Post-office, where thev 
are franked through the mails to all points within the bor- 
ders of the United States. Having been utilized for ship- 
ping purposes, the fine cedar box is stored away in some 
family closet, there to become the receptacle for the famil}'- 
furs, fine dresses, and other materials. Sometimes it is used 
as a chest for the family silver. As the boxes become the 
private property of the members and Senators, they are 
privileged, of course, to make such use of them as they de- 
sire. 

It is no longer considered proper for Congressmen to 
ship anything under a frank that cannot be packed in these 



128 FRANKING TEN TONS OF MAIL MATTER A DAY. 

special boxes or in the mail sacks which are provided for 
documents. 

Over 1000 boxes, together with more than that number 
of bags of public documents, were shipped by members at 
the close of the Fifty-sixth Congress to different parts of the 
country in the spring of 1901. Their total weight approxi- 
mated ^00,000 pounds, and for a number of days these ship- 
ments averaged ten tons a day. 

The small salaries of hard-working statesmen entitle 
them to all possible provision for their personal comfort. 
Members of the House pay for their shaves and haircuts in 
the barber shops on their side at the regular rates, but such 
luxuries are free to the Senators, the barbers being employed 
by the government as " skilled laborers " at $900 a year each. 
The bay rum and cosmetics are drawn from the general sup- 
ply room, being paid for out of the contingent fund. In tho 
Senate barber shop are four bath rooms, in one of which is 
a box just big enough for the fattest possible senator to get 
into. It is closed upon him so that only his head appears 
through a hole in the top. Then the vapor is turned on, 
while, if he chooses, he can take a current of electricity at 
the same time. The House of Representatives has superb 
baths in the basement, with massage experts in attendance. 

A strange life is that of this great edifice of the nation. 
All day long, men, women, and children come and go, their 
footsteps echoing through the stone passage-ways in the 
basement, up and down the marble stairways and through 
the long corridors running all the way from the Senate to 
the House. Here are all sorts of figures — lean and fat, 
long and short, handsome, homely, and ugly, crooked and 
straight. The elegant woman of fashion is elbow to elbow 
with the visitor from the rural districts, whose manners 
plainly show that she is not familiar with the courtesies anil 
conventionalities of city life. Here we see the disconsolate 
face of the unkempt, out-at-olbow office seeker ; the ener- 



A HIVE OF INDUSTRY. 129 

getic, well-dressed man whose business is " working a com- 
mittee " ; the alert young fellow who seems and is perfectly 
at home, for he is the correspondent of a great newspajier 
and knows every in and out of this great hive of activity ; 
the old soldier who has secured a good berth in the building ; 
and so wherever we stand, we behold people from every walk 
in life passing before us, as motley a crowd as can be seen 
anywhere in the civilized world. 

One might suppose that when Congress is not in session 
the vast Capitol would be silent and deserted. But though 
the bustle and activity of Congressional life depart, the Cap- 
itol is always a busy hive of industry. Ko less than four 
hundred people are alwa3's at work there, to say nothing of 
those who are constantly employed to renovate the building, 
prepare it for the next session, and keep it alwa3^s in order. 
The restaurants run the year round, the Sergeant-at-Arms 
continues his banking business, which mainly consists of mail- 
ing to each member the third day of each month a check, for 
$416.66. The folding and document rooms are always fill- 
ing orders from absent Congressmen, and every day brings 
its throng of visitors. 



CHAPTER YII. 

A TOUR THROUGH THE WHITE . HOUSE FROM ATTIC TO 

CELLAR — SUNSHINE AND SHADOWS OP THE PAST — 

WHITE HOUSE WEDDINGS AND TRAGEDIES. 

Inside the White House — An Historic Mansion — Reminiscences of the 
Past— "What Tales the Room Could Tell If It But Had a Tongue"^ 
Why It Is Called the White House — Its Cost — How To Gain Admis- 
sion—Its Famous Rooms and Their Furnishings— Invited To "Assist" 

— The Great East Room — Chandeliers That Cost $5,000 Each — 
Where Mrs. Adams "Dried the Family Wash " — Shaking Hands 
with Sixty Thousand Persons — A Swollen Hand and a Lame Arm — 
How an Old Lady Greeted the President —Trying To See the President 

— Indignant Visitors — Feminine Curiosity — Weddings in the White 
House — The Shadow of Death — Tragedies of the Wliite House. 

" All houses w^herein men have lived and died 
Are haunted houses. Through the open doors 
The harmless phantoms on their errands glide, 
With feet that make no sound upon the floors, 

" There are more guests at table, than the hosts 
Invited ; the illuminated hall 
Is thronged with quiet, inoffensive ghosts, 
As silent as the pictures on the wall." 



[S 




HESE lines were never truer of any human 

habitation than of the White House at AVash- 

ington. The Nation's House ! The procession 

of families which the people have sent to inhal)it 

it, in moving on to make place for others, have left 

memories behind which haunt these great rooms and 

fill staircase, alcove, and pictorial space with historic 

recollections. Here human life has been lived, enjoyed, 

suffered, and resigned, just as it is lived every day in any 

house wherein human beings are born, wherein they live 

(130) 



c = 




A HOUSE OF EVENTS AND MEMORIES. 133 

and die. Marriages, merry-makings, jovial feasts, and cere- 
monial bancjuets ; grave councils of state that shaped the 
destiny of the nation ; secret intrigues and midnight con- 
claves that made or unmade political parties; war-councils 
that Hashed forth telegraphic orders which moved great 
armies and set lines of battle in deadly front, have taken 
place in this historic house. Within its walls many children 
have first opened their eyes upon this tantalizing life ; here 
children have died, leaving father and mother desolate amid 
all the pomp of place and state, and here presidents and 
their wives have laid their earthly burdens and honors 
down. Think what tales the White House could tell if it 
but had a tongue ! 

The popular name of the President's home is the " White 
House," but its official designation is the " Executiv^e Man- 
sion." Its corner-stone was laid October 13, 1702. We 
have seen how anxious Jefferson was that it should be 
modeled after some famous modern palace of Europe. The 
one at last selected was the country house of the Irish Duke 
of Lsinster, in Dublin, who had himself copied the Italian 
style. It was open, though not ready for occupancy, in the 
summer of 1800. It is always pleasant and restful to the 
sight when the eyes fall upon its freestone walls, peering 
pure and softened through the sea of greenery which sur- 
rounds it. Its cost to the present time exceeds $1,700,000. 

In IS 14 the British set fire to the building, but heavy 
rains extinguished the conflagration before it had irretriev- 
ably injured the walls. Three years later the house had 
been restored, and it was then painted white to cover the 
unsightly ravages of fire on its walls, a color which has 
ever since been retained. The building is 170 feet in length 
and eighty-six feet in depth, and consists of two high 
stories, with a basement. It contains thirty-one rooms. 
Excepting the family dining-room every one of the first 
floor is devoted to state purposes. The basement contains 



THE HOUSE AND GROUNDS. 135 

eleven rooms, used as kitchens, pantries, and butler's rooms. 
These are open, spacious, comfortable, and cheerful. On 
the second floor, five rooms are used as chambers by the 
Presidential family, and other rooms are the President's 
Office, the Cabinet room, private telegraph office, waiting- 
room, and Library of the President. Its north front faces 
Pennsylvania Avenue, and has a lofty portico with four 
Ionic columns and a projecting screen of three columns. 
Between these columns pass the carriages which in the gay 
season form a continuous moving line. 

The grounds consist of about eighty acres sloping gently 
down to the great circular White Lot, beyond which are the 
grounds of AVashington Monument, while farther to the 
south lies the broad Potomac. These grounds are prac- 
tically a public park, for they are at times used freely by 
the public. The several gates through the high iron fence 
that surrounds the northern grounds stand open always, but 
those at the south entrance are closed and locked, except on 
certain occasions like the Saturday evening concerts of the 
Marine Band, and the Easter egg-rolling, when the grounds 
are given up to the children for the whole day. 

The White House is usually open to visitors from 10 
A. M. to 2 p. M., and any person may enter the great East 
Room without introduction or formalitv ; but a card from a 
Senator or Member, or introduction in some form, is neces- 
sary to gain admittance to other rooms, excepting to the 
private dining-room on the first floor, which is the only 
room of which the President's family has exclusive use. 
The ease of access to, and the freedom of, the White House, 
are the marvel of foreigners familiar wath the difficulty of 
gaining entrance to the homes of rulers in other lands. 
Charles Dickens, in his " American Notes," gives the follow- 
ing description of his visit to the White House in 1842 : 

" We eatered a large hall, and having twice or thrice rung a bell 
wliich nobody answered, walked without further ceremony through the 



136 THE VESTIBULE AND RED ROOM. 

rooms on the ground floor, as divers other gentlemen (mostly with their 
hats on and their hands in their pockets) were doing very leisurely. Some 
of these had ladies with them, to whom they were showing the premises ; 
others were lounging on the chairs and sofas ; others, in a perfect state of 
exhaustion from listlessness, were yawning drearily. The greater portion 
of this assemblage were rather asserting their supremacy than doing any- 
thing else, as they had no particular business there, that anybody knew of. 
A few were closely eyeing the movables, as if to make quite sure that the 
President (who was far from popular) had not made away with any of the 
furniture, or sold the fixtures for his private benefit." 

We approach the White House from Pennsylvania 
Avenue, passing through a fine Colonial gateway, and 
leisurely wend our way along the sidewalk that skirts the 
semi-circular driveway leading up to the main entrance. 
As we enter, we see that the vestibule is separated from the 
central corridor by a handsome screen of wrinkled stained- 
glass mosaic, studded with cut crystal, which at night shines 
like the walls of an enchanted palace. The ordinary visitor 
sees this vestibule but does not see the grand corridor 
beyond. This belongs to the more private part of the 
house, but is open to the public when there is a reception. 
There are in the glass screen, however, doors which can 
hardly be detected, and through one of these the privileged 
visitor may enter at once to the corridor. 

We enter the Red Room first — the familv reception- 
room. Its prevailing color — Pompeiian red — sheds a light 
soft and rosy, and its piano, mantel ornaments, mahogany 
furniture, and pictures give it a cosy and home-like look. It 
is used as a reception-room and private parlor by the ladies 
of the mansion. Many portraits of former Presidents look 
down from its walls. 

We pass through the Red Room into the Blue Room. 
The chairs, the sofas, the cai'pet, the walls, all are tinged 
with the celestial hue, flushed here and there with a tint of 
rose. The mantel clock was presented by Napoleon I. to 
Lafayette and by him to the United States. The form of 



MRS. Harrison's plans. 161 

her direction for the enlargement of the present Executive 
Mansion. This was in 1892. Nothing has, however, 3^et 
been done. In 1900 Congress made an ap])ropriation for 
developing plans for the extension of the present Executive 
Mansion by the Officer then in charge of Public Build- 
ings and Grounds, Colonel Theo. A. Bingham, Engineer 
Corps, United States Army. This Officer called in the 
assistance of Mi\ F. D. Owen, the architect who had drawn 
Mrs. Harrison's plans. The Harrison plan was restudied 
and developed and all the necessary drawings made, to- 
gether with specifications and a large model. 

At the Centennial Celebration of the establishment of 
the permanent seat of Government in Washington, Decem- 
ber 12, 1900, the opening exercise was an exhibition of this 
model and drawings in the East Room of the Executive 
Mansion in the presence of the President of the United 
States, Senators, Governors and other prominent and dis- 
tinguished officials. An address in explanation was made 
by Colonel Bingham. The plans excited great interest, and 
although criticised by some, the general verdict was in favor 
of the appropriateness in all respects of the plans shown. 
Congress has taken no immediate further steps in the 
matter, but the necessity for enlargement of the Presi- 
dent's home and office is becoming more evident and more 
pressing day by day, and it is to be hoped that the beautiful 
plans above mentioned may soon have realization, as it 
would be impossible to excel them in the reverence shown 
to the historical old House, which is to remain absolutely 
unchanged and untouched. 



10 



L 



CHAPTEK IX. 

OFFICIAL LIFE AND WORK AT THE WHITE HOUSE — A DAY 
IN THE PRESIDENT'S PRIVATE OFFICE. 

Inauguration Ceremonies — Old Time Scenes — A Disorderly Mob in the 
White House — Muddy Boots on Brocaded Chairs — Overturning the 
Punch on the Carpets — Disgraceful Scenes — The President-Elect — 
Taking the Oath— Kissing the Bible — The Inaugural Ball — How 
the Retiring President and His Wife Depart From the White House — 
A Sad Spectacle — Scenes in the New President's Office — A Crowd of 
Office Seekers — " Swamped " with Applications — The Cabinet Room 
and Its Historic Table — The Librarj' — Privileged Callers — "Just 
To Pay My Respects " — The President's Mail — Requests for Auto- 
graphs — Begging Letters — Granting Reprieves and Pardons — An 
Interesting Incident — A Door That Is Never Closed — How the Presi- 
dent Draws His Pay — A Deficit of One Cent — A Govercrrrt Check 
for That Amount — Presidential Cares and Honors. 



^ OME of the makers of the Constitution apparently 
j^^^^j^ had a wholesome dread that the President of 
!fe:\^?^Jw ii^Q United States might become a dictator or 




P 



a George III; yet there seemed to be no way 
to make a government without an Executive, and 
so he Avas carefully hedged about with restric- 
tions. He was made the Commander-in-Chief of the army 
and navy, but could not declare war; that was for Con- 
gress. He could make treaties, but must have the con- 
sent of two-thirds of the Senate present ; he was given 
power to appoint ambassadors ' and consuls, judges of the 
Supreme Court and all high federal officers, but he must 
have the consent of the Senate ; he was made responsible 
for the execution of the laws of Congress, and was given 

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THE FIRST INAUGURAL. 1G3 

power to appoint his own executive subordinates, but not 
without the consent of the Senate. In these and in many 
lesser ways, partly by constitutional enactment and largely 
by customs that have grown u}), the President is handi- 
capped by innumerable strings attached to him. Further- 
more, he is hampered by the necessity of keeping on good 
terms with his party. As a result of these limitations, 
the daily work of the President, in ordinary times of peace, 
is one of mechanical routine. In times of war, however, 
when someone must act quickly and constantly, his pre- 
rogatives expand, and in practice he has immense power. 

The inauguration of a President possesses unique in- 
terest. Under monarchical forms of government the in- 
stallation of a new ruler seldom calls for the prominent 
participation of the people. It acquires nothing of the 
characteristics of a national festival, because the event 
happens irregularly, and generally either in the period of 
mourning for the dead monarch or in times when scepters 
are seized by bloody hands. But in America the world 
was to behold a new ruler installed at regular intervals, his 
predecessor gracefully passing the reins of government into 
his hands. From the first the event became a national 
festival, but mixed with its strong democratic flavor was 
a smack of imperialism. It was Washington's desire to 
be installed without pomp or parade, but his journey from 
Mount Yernon to ISTew York was converted by a grateful 
people into an unbroken triumphal progress, culminating in 
ceremonies of an elaborate character. As with so many other 
matters in the government for which there is no law, many 
of the precedents established in Washington's time have 
endured with little change. Jefferson beheld the display of 
pomp with some misgivings, but when he was elected 
President he evidently thought less of it. A brilliant mili- 
tary body escorted him to the new Capitol. The story of •> 
his riding up on horseback and hitching the animal to the 



164 AN UNPRECEDENTED UPROAR. 

fence was invented by a romance-loving Englishman, and 
was long ago exploded, though it clings tenaciously to life. 
The out-door ceremonies were established with Jackson, 
whose enthusiastic followers expressed their disapproval 
of anything even verging upon ceremonious pomp by going 
to the other extreme. The uproar was unprecedented. It 
was a whirlwind of deraocracv. The Inauguration cere- 
monies over, Jackson mounted his horse and rode to the 
White House followed by a shouting and cheering mob of 
admirers. It had been announced that refreshments would 
be served at the White House. But the people crowded 
into the house, overran every part of it, stood in the bro- 
caded chairs with their muddy boots, and cheered, over- 
turning the punch on the carpets ; and they became so 
boisterous that Jackson ordered the waiters to take the 
punch out on the lawn in tubs, to entice the crowd out of 
the house. But, as the waiters appeared, their tubs were 
upset by the outside mob and the glasses broken. There 
was a similar, thou":h not as disorderlv time, when William 
Henry Harrison was inaugurated, as a result of the exciting 
log-cabin campaign of 184:0. 

Tlie Inauguration day of the present is a gala-day for 
Washington. The city is filled with people. Every hotel 
overflows with guests, and thrifty householders get almost 
any price they choose to ask for renting their rooms. 
There is something inspiring and uplifting in the sight of 
massed humanity, in throbbing drums and martial music, in 
waving pennons and flashing lances ; but, unfortunately, at 
the Inauguration season of the year, enthusiasm and 
patriotism demand a fearful price in nerve, muscle, 
and human endurance. 

Pennsylvania avenue opens before us — a broad, straight 
vista, with garlands of flags, of ever}^ nation and hue, flung 
across from roof to roof. Frequently the weather is mer- 
cilessly cold and raw, seriously interfering with carrying 



166 PRELIMINARY CEREMONIES. 

out a brilliant })rogram. Your imagination need not be 
Dantean to make you feel that there is a dreadful battle 
going on in the air, above you and around you. The 
windy imps may come down and seize an old man's hat, 
and fly off with a woman's veil or blow a little boy 
into a cellar. The stronger air-warriors, intent on big'or'er 
spoil, may sweep down banners, swoop off with awnings, 
concentrate their forces into swirling cyclones in the 
middle of the streets, and bang away at plate-glass window^s 
till they rattle in their settings. The sufferings endured 
by parading organizations, and spectators exposed for hours 
to the pitiless beating of a cold March storm on Inaugu- 
ration day, have carried many an imprudent onlooker to a 
premature grave. 

The President does not receive official notice of his 
election. Usually, he goes to Washington a few days 
before Inauguration day, ready to present himself on the 
4th of March to take the oath of office. Immediately upon 
his arrival he calls upon the President, and the latter 
is expected to return the call within an hour. On the 
morning of Inauguration day, the President-elect goes to 
the White House, accompanied by the committee in charge, 
where he joins the President, and both are driven to 
the Capitol. At noon, the President appears in the Senate 
Chamber and takes the seat assigned him. A deep hush 
falls on the throng, there is a sort of Judgment-Day atmos- 
phere, yet nothing more terrific follows than the voice 
of the Vice-President, beginning the words of his valedic- 
tory. Kow comes the new Vice-President's little speech, 
then the oaths of office, the swearing in of new senator's, 
and the proclamation of the President convening an extra 
and immediate session of the Senate. This over, all start 
for the Kotunda portico on the east side of the Capitol, 
where a grand stand has been erected for the ceremony 
of taking the oath of office and delivering the Inaugural 



THE INAUGURAL OATH. 167 

asldress. From this platform we see a vast mass of human 
boings below, line on line of soldiers — a glittering sea of 
helmets; bayonets flash, phimes wave; all tell one stor\' — 
the love of military pomp and parade, the pride and 
patriotism which brings these soldiers here to celebrate the 
inauo-uration of their Chief, 

On the platform are assembled the Chief Justice of the 
United States and the Associate Justices, in their robes 
of office, and usually members ot" the Diplomatic Corps 
in resplendent uniforms, the members of the Senate and 
House, officers of the Army and Navy, and other dignitaries 
of the land ; while on the esplanade in front are gathered 
tens of thousands of spectators. We can catch no word 
through the strong March wind, yet know that the Chief 
Justice has administered this oath which the Constitution 
requires the President-elect to take before assuming the 
duties of his high office : 

"I do solemly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully 
execute the office of President of the United States, and 
will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend 
the Constitution of the United States." 

The new President has sworn to the oath of office, ac- 
cording to the Constitution, making him President of the 
United States for the ensuing four vears. The Chief Justice 
holds forth with solemnity a large Bible, and the new Presi- 
dent kisses its open page. Then he rises, and with manu- 
script in his hands, begins to read his Inaugural address. 
This address, beginning always with " My Fellow Citizens,'' 
is of a popular character, and is not usually considered a 
very important state paper. That of Abraham Lincoln was 
perhaps the most eagerly awaited and the most important 
ever delivered. 

At the conclusion of the Inaugural ceremonies in front 
of the Capitol, the newly-made President and usually the ex- 
President are driven to the "White House, where the Presi- 



168 A SPLENDID PAGEANT. 

dent is joined by his wife, and both are usually welcomed 
by the wife of the retiring President, who should have a 
luncheon spread in the family dining-room, but should with- 
draw before it is served. March -Ith, 1901, the Committee 
arranged a new and wise departure by having a lunch served 
in the President's room at the Capitol. After lunching he 
is escorted to the reviewing stand, erected for the purpose 
in front of the White House, from which he patiently re- 
views the vast Inaugural procession which is frequently sev- 
eral hours in passing. The vast procession of military and 
civic organizations marches past the reviewing stand, till as 
far as the eyes can reach one sees only shining helmets, the 
flash of bayonets, glancing sabers, well-mounted officers in 
resplendent uniforms, and imposing drum-majors tossing 
their batons in mid-air. All this is to the accompaniment of 
the thunder of cannon, the deep roll of the drums, inspiring 
strains of martial music, and enthusiastic cheers from tens 
of thousands of eager lookers-on. 

The ceremonies end with a grand ball. Those of recent 
years given in the Pension Office have been resplendent in 
decoration and appointment, and from fifty to sixty thousand 
dollars have been expended on them. This custom was also 
set by Washington, who at the first Inauguration ball danced 
the minuet with Miss Yan Zandt, and cotillions with Mrs. 
Livingston and others. 

One of the saddest spectacles connected with official life 
in Washington is the hasty removal of the effects of an out- 
going President, just before the fateful fourth of March 
which ends his power. After noon of that day the family 
has no more right there than the passing stranger on the 
street ; and while the cannon are firing salvos of welcome to 
the new President, and the long procession is moving up 
Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol front, where he is to be 
inaugurated, the family of the outgoing President may be 
gathering their personal effects together and taking last 



TAKING UP NEW CAKES AND DUTIES. 171 

looks at the rooms where they have been honored and 
courted and flattered for years, and where they have en- 
joyed the delightful sense of greatness and power. 

When the new President returns from the Inauguration 
ball he is alone with his duties and his responsiVnlities. He 
finds the records of the White House filed away by fiscal 
years, with the exception of those of the administration of 
Johnson, who considered that these papers were his and took 
them away. But the new President has little time to look 
at the '-ecords of predecessors. What impresses him most 
are the stacks of boxes which begin to arrive, all filled with 
applications for office. He is hardly seated in his office be- 
fore he is " swamped " with them. Fortunately there is a 
considerable force of permanent clerks and secretaries who 
hold their positions from one administration to another, or 
during good behavior, and thus become accustomed to the 
work and its requirements, so that the formidable and con- 
stantly-increasing number of applications are carefully sys- 
tematized for reference ; but for a long time after an inaugur- 
ation the President and his whole force work in to the small 
hours of the morning to keep ahead of the inundation. 

From the hall-way between the vestibule and the East 
Room there rises a stairway which leads to an ante-room 
above, which opens into a corridor so wide and spacious that 
it is really a large room. The large windows at the end look 
out upon the Treasury building to the east. On the south 
side of this corridor, which is provided with many chairs and 
sofas, generally filled with people who are waiting to see the 
President or his Secretary, are the President's Eoom, the 
Cabinet-room, and the office of the Secretary ; while on the 
other side are the offices of other secretaries, clerks, and 
stenographers. 

The President's business office is a large, plain, comfoi-t- 
a^y-furnished apartment next east of the Cabinet-room. 
7 'lere is a door-keeper for the President and one for the Pri- 



172 A RELIC OF ARCTIC SEAS. 

vate Secretary, the latter having been appointed to his place 
by Lincoln. Tlie President's office is lined with cases of 
books of law and reference. A large black walnut table, 
surrounded with chairs, stands in the center of the room. 
On the mantel stands a clock which tells the time of day 
and the day of the month, and which is a thermometer and 
barometer besides. Tapestry and lace curtains are looped 
back from the windows, which look down upon the lovely 
southern grounds, and to the river, gleaming at intervals 
through the foliage beyond. The President's desk is at the 
southern end of the room. In the center of the room is a 
massive oak table made from timbers of II. M. S. Resolute^ 
a British vessel abandoned in the Arctic ice while searching 
for Sir John Franklin, in 1854, but recovered by American 
whalers. It is a gift from Queen Victoria and bears the fol- 
lowing inscription : 

" Hor Majesty's ship Resolute, forming part of the expedition sent in 
search of Sir John Franklin in 1852, was abandoned in latitude 74.° 41' 
north, longitude 101° 23' west, on loth May, 1854. She was discovered 
and extricated in September, 1855, in latitude 67° north, by Captain Bud- 
dington, of the United States whaler George Henry. The ship was pur- 
chased, fitted out, and sent to England as a gift to her Majesty, Queen 
Victoria, by the President and people of the United States, as a token of 
good will and friendship. This table was made from her timbers when she 
was broken up, and is presented by the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland 
to the President of the United States as a memorial of the courtesy and 
loving-kindness which dictated the offer of the gift of the Resolute." 

The Cabinet-room is just beyond. It is a plain, handsome 
apartment with a long table in the center of the room sur- 
rounded by arm-chairs. It is used often as a waiting-room. 
On the walls are portraits of several past Presidents. Presi- 
dents Grant, Hayes, and Garfield used the Cabinet-room as 
an office. 

The stateliest room on this floor is the library, used in 
Mrs. John Adams' time as a reception-room, furnished then in 
crimson. It was almost bookless till Mr. Filmore's adminis- 



THE BUSIEST PLACE IN WASHINGTON. 173 

tration, when it was fitted up as a library, and many books 
were added during the administration of President Bu- 
chanan. It is now lined with heavy black walnut book- 
cases. It is sometimes used by the President as an official 
reception-room, and sometimes as an evening sitting-room 
for the Presidential family and their guests. 

The President's office is ever the busiest place in Wash- 
ington. When no one else works, the President must. He 
must lay out a system to meet the most exacting require- 
ments, knowing full well that though a thousand and one 
details may be arranged by his subordinates, as many more 
must pass under his own eye. ^He must have his regular 
Cabinet meetings twice a week, and any member of his 
Cabinet must be free to call and consult with him at any 
time. Senators are also privileged by custom to see him 
whenever they call, If he sets aside a certain day for the 
uninterrupted transaction of business, many callers will 
come to whom he cannot refuse audience. It is one of the 
duties of the Private Secretary to learn if the caller really 
has business, and he must do this very diplomatically or get 
the President into trouble. Rural visitors in the city inno- 
cently call " just to pay their respects." Many come loaded 
with good advice, and not reaching the President they give 
it to the Secretary. About one thousand letters arrive 
every day, there being a special carrier who does nothing 
but run back and forth between the White House and the 
Post-Office. A great many of these letters are for charity, 
such requests sometimes aggregating |20,000 in a single 
day. All such letters, as well as those from fond parents 
who have named their last boy baby after the President, 
are turned over to a certain clerk who sends a stereotj^ped 
reply. Of course the President sees only a very small part 
of the numerous letters addressed to him, but any letter of 
special interest or importance reaches him through the sec- 
retary. 



174 REQUESTS AND APPEALS. 

Never a day passes without numerous requests for auto 
graphs. A card with an engraving of the AVhite House is 
provided for the purpose, and on these the President writes 
his name whenever he has the opportunity. Autograph re- 
quests take up their quota of the Executive's time, though 
he may sometimes think out a problem in diplomacy or de- 
cide about a post-office appointm3nt while he mechanically 
writes his name on the cards. Sometimes he is requested 
to write his autograph on patches for bedquilts and luncb 
cloths, and then the problem becomes more complicated. 

Many letters arrive for the lady of the White House 
whose correspondence is attended to by one of the secreta 
ries. Both the President and his wife are alwavs besie"-ed 
b}'' a class of newspaper space-writers who wish to get from 
them some expressions of opinion about general matters, 
and especially about themselves and their experiences. 
Many people appear to suppose that the President has such 
an abundance of time at his disposal that he can be the 
" Great Father " to everyone in the country as well as to 
the Indians upon their reservations. A North Carolina 
woman wrote to President Benjamin Harrison : " I have six 
little children and they want to throw me out of my house. 
1 have nowhere to go. I want protection." Another beg- 
ged him to pass a law " prohibiting anybody from hiring a 
prodigal boy," 

Complete record books have to be kept, one a register of 
appointments, another of bills approved or vetoed, another 
of resolutions of inquir^^, another of pardon cases, and so on. 
Press correspondents pay their regular visits, and the secre- 
tary gives them whatever information the President con- 
siders it wise to give out. 

Senators and Congressmen are calling constantly in ref- 
erence to appointments, for although under the Constitution 
appointments are made by the President, it has become the 
custom for Senators and Pepresentatives to consider that 



LONG DAYS AND WEARY HOURS. 175 

their suggestions should be followed. Of course the Presi- 
dent has some friends who have worked for his election, and 
he naturally feels under obligations to do something for 
them if they desire office; but Senators and Members of 
Congress are constantly absorbing more and more of the 
Presidential patronage. The President, however, feels it 
his duty to personally examine into the qualifications of im- 
portant candidates, as the responsibility for such appoint- 
ments nominally rests with him. But he can not attend to 
all at once, and many a wear^^ hour passes in telling one 
applicant after another that the matter will be taken up as 
soon as possible. Thus for a 3''ear after his inauguration 
the President's time is taken up with cares which, in the 
very nature of things, cannot reach action for months. In 
the nature of things, also, he begins to make enemies from 
the start, and if he is a sensitive man he has many a distress- 
ing moment. One day during the Civil War a friend 
meeting Lincoln observed : 

" You look anxious, Mr. President ; is there bad news 
from the front?" 

"No," replied the President; "it isn't the war. It's 
that postmastership at Mudtown, Ohio." 

In his long days are dreary hours devoted to signing 
commissions, the dullest kind of routine work. The mes- 
senger takes the sheets as they are signed and spreads them 
about to dry, the furniture and even the floor being often 
covered by them, Next will arrive a pile of bills from 
Congress, which have to be examined more closely. Then 
come a lot of applications for pardon and for the remission 
of forfeited recognizances, which involve the conscientious 
examination of hundreds of pages of evidence. 

The President has the power to grant reprieves and par- 
dons for all offenses against the United States, " except in 
cases of impeachment." The late ex-President Harrison, in 
speaking of the pardoning power, said : 



17(5 THE STORY OF A REPRIEVE. 

" A reprieve is a temporary suspension of the execution 
of a sentence. This power is often used for the purpose of 
giving the President time to examine an application for a 
pardon, or to enable the condemned to furnish further evi- 
dence in support of such an application. One of our Presi- 
dents relates this incident : 

" ' An application for a pardon in behalf of a man con- 
demned to death for murder was presented to me, and after 
a careful examination the application was denied. On the 
day before the day fixed for the execution I arrived at the 
house of a friend on a visit, and found that just before my 
arrival a telegram had come asking for a reprieve for the 
condemned man. The message had been telephoned to the 
house of my host and received by his wife. Her sympa- 
thies, and those of the whole household, were at once en- 
listed for the poor fellow, and though the gibbet was over 
twelve hundred miles away the shadow of it was over the 
house, and I was the hangman. A telegram to the United 
States Marshal, granting a short reprieve, was sent, and the 
day of the execution was again my uncomfortable secret.' 
It is not a pleasant thing to have the power of life and 
death. No graver or more oppressive responsibility can be 
laid upon a public officer. The power to pardon includes 
the power to commute a sentence, that is, to reduce it. 
When the sentence is death the President may commute it 
to imprisonment for life, or for any fixed term ; and when 
the sentence is for imprisonment for life, or for a fixed term 
of years, he may reduce the term, and if a fine is imposed 
he may reduce the amount, or remit it altogether." 

Then follows a batch of claims of United States mar- 
shals for allowance of expenses in pursuing mail robbers 
and other criminals, and these must be examined before ap- 
proval. From the Interior Department come certain curi- 
ous papers relating to the Indians ; one chief may want per- 
mission to have his children travel with a show and the 







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MONOTONOUS ROUTINE-WORK, 179 

President's permission must be had. The War Department 
sends in masses of court-martial records which he is sup- 
posed to examine to see if there are circumstances which 
will permit of executive clemency. These are but samples. 
It is all a dull, monotonous routine. 

Even if disposed to take the time to "break away" 
for a few hours from his multitudinous duties and cares, 
he has no other place to go to. The door between his 
home and his office is never closed nio^ht or dav. His 
family are continually near him, but he misses that de- 
lightful and necessary change Avhicli the busy man finds 
in "going home." 

Usually the President and his wife drive in the after- 
noon, or it may bo that he takes a prominent visitor or Sen- 
ator into his carriao-e, in order to secure a few moments' 
recreation while conferring u})on a matter of state. In the 
summer he may go for a brief rest to some quiet mountain 
or shore resort, but his secretaries and his duties go along 
with him, and, in these days of the telegraph and the long- 
distance telephone, a day seldom passes when the President 
is away that he is not in personal communication with the 
AVhite House or one of the Departments. 

It may be wondered how amid all his distractions the 
President secures the opportunity to write his long mes- 
sages. The answer is that he does not write them all. 
After consulting with his secretaries, every department pre- 
pares what it regards as a proper statement of its condition 
and needs. These are all handed to the President, who runs 
them over, adding what matter he desires. A message is 
usually one of the easiest of his tasks. 

Tlie President is the only man in the pay of the United 
States who is not required to sign a pay-roll. The cabinet 
officers sign the pay-roll of their respective branches each 
month, their names appearing at the head of the long lists. 
Since the establishment of the Sub-Treasury system in 18-10, 



180 A CHECK FOR ONE CENT. 

the President has been paid by check on the Treasury each 

month. 

In order to make up exactly the $50,000, or the yearly 
salary of the President, he is paid $-l:,166.67 per month for 
eight months and $4,166.60 per month for four months. At 
the close of his term there is besides the monthly warrant, 
a settlement warrant to be held by the Treasury in proof of 
the President having received his full $200,000 for his term. 
Durino- President Cleveland's administration a mistake was 
made in the monthly warrants, the amount $4,166.66 having 
been paid one too many months, so that when the account 
of the term was balanced it showed that Mr. Cleveland 
was entitled to one cent more than he had received. It 
made great commotion in the book-keeping department and 
there was some uncertainty as to how to fix it. It was 
finally done by regular " red-tape " processes : another spe- 
cial requisition was made out and a clieck on the treasury 
for one cent was drawn, signed and countersigned and 
taken over to the surprised President, who had not discov- 
ered the shortage and probably never would have. Presi- 
dent Cleveland never deposited the check but kept it as a 
curious memento of his office. 

If the office of the President has its cares, its drudgery 
and its perplexities, it has also its compensations. There is 
amono- his people a great respect for the office and a corre- 
sponding respect for the man holding it, if he has done 
nothing to degrade it. The people in the main show a sim- 
ple and hearty deference to one who represents the majesty 
of the nation. The President cannot forget that the people 
made him President, and the people do not forget it. If 
they expect too much of him, they are at least ready to 
richly honor him. If he is perplexed by the troubles of his 
country, he feels that the hearts of the people are with him. 




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CHAPTER X. 

THE CABINET — SHAPING THE DESTINY OF THE NATION — 
THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE AND ITS ARCHIVES. 

The Great Departments — The President's Cabinet — How It Is Formed 
—"The Tail of the Cabinet "—" Keeping the Flies off the Administra- 
tion" — In the Cabinet Room — What Takes Place at a Cabinet Meet- 
ing — Spending More than His Salary — "Mr. Vice-President," "Mr. 
Secretary," and " 3Ir. Speaker "— Two Miles of 'Marble Halls 

— In the Office of the Secretary of State — Precious Heirlooms of the 
Nation — How the Original Declaration of Independence "Was Ruined 

— The Great Seal of the United States — Originals of All the Procla- 
mations of the Presidents — The United States Secret Cipher Code — 
How the Original Cipher Is Guarded — Tapping the Telegraph Wires 

— Our Representatives Abroad — The " Business End " of the State 
Department — Consuls and Their Fat Fees. 

^ HE President is in virtual command of a civil 
1^ army of about a quarter of a million employees 
whose wages are paid by the government. As 
the responsible head of the executive branch of 
the government, it is his duty to direct this great 
army in the task of executing laws passed by Con- 
gress. These various operations are allotted to departments 
whose limitations are generally defined by law, which also 
provides each with a head officer and the necessary subordi- 
nates to direct the work of the various bureaus and divi- 
sions into which each large department is subdivided. 
These directing officers are appointed by the President, who 
is held responsible for the successful operation of the whole 
executive machinery ; but the Senate confirms his acts. 
Naturally, the President's general direction is transmitted 
through the executive heads or secretaries of the eight great 
11 ( 181 ) 




182 EVOLUTION OF THE CABINET. 

departments, tliougli it was only by a convenient custom 
that these eight high officials developed into a well-defined 
body called the Cabinet, after the English ministry which 
it in no other way resembles. It is not " the government" 
as in Eno^land ; it is onlv " the administration." Without 
the sanction of either the Constitution or the law, therefore, 
the Cabinet has become a permanent, prominent, and 
honored feature of our executive affairs. Under Wash- 
ington, before the custom had developed, the secretaries of 
the department were regarded not as his advisers but sim- 
ply as secretaries ; indeed, they were called " the President's 
clerks," though they were leading men. He began with 
only four : — a Secretary of Foreign Affairs, a Secretary of 
the Treasury, a Secretary of War, and an Attorney-Gen- 
eral ; but, while supposed to be appointed to arrange the 
details of the President's commands, such men as Jefferson 
and Hamilton could not fail to give their offices dignity and 
importance as advisory officials. In 1T98 a Department of 
the Navy was organized and its Secretary Avas invited into 
the President's council. In 1829 the Postmaster-General 
became a Cabinet officer; in 1819 the Department of the 
Interior was established, followed in 1889 by the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture. 

As a matter of fact it rests with the President whether 
he shall make any of these officials a member of his Cabinet 
or whether he has a Cabinet at all. JSTo law declares that 
he must, but custom is stronger than the law at times, and 
in such matters it is seldom departed from. When the office 
of the Commissioner of Agriculture was raised to one of the 
great departments. President Benjamin Harrison at once 
made room at the Cabinet table for the new member, the 
late Jeremiah Kusk of AVisconsin, who when twitted with 
the fact that he was " the tail of the Cabinet," retorted 
that it would need a good tail " to keep the flies off the 
administration." 




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GOOD ADVISERS AND HARD WORKERS. 185 

The first task of a newly- elected President is the selec- 
tion of these important heads of his administration, and 
their names are announced at once after the inauguration, 
though his choice is generally known some days before. 
He usually draws them from his list of close political 
friends, and always from his own party. Lincoln, facing a 
peculiar emergency, selected for some of the important 
posts men who were his political rivals ; but this custom 
does not usually prevail, for the relations between the Presi- 
dent and his secretaries must be of the most confidential 
nature. Of late the administration of affairs has become so 
extended in scope, and requires such devotion to duty and 
familiarity with a variety of affairs, that it is of great 
importance to select men who are not simply good advisers 
but hard workers. 

As the President is himself responsible for his adminis- 
tration of executive affairs it might be supposed that he 
could select his secretaries without asking questions of any- 
body ; but the Senate, in special session, always goes 
through the formality of confirming his nominations. 
Each Secretar}^ is subject to the President's will in all 
matters relating to his department. If there is a difference 
of opinion, the President has his way, and if the Secretary 
is not disposed to acquiesce, his only recourse is to resign. 
In practice, however, the President is largely guided by the 
information and advice of his secretaries in their respective 
departments. Those questions which concern only a single 
department are settled between the President and the sec- 
retary in charge of that department ; they are seldom made 
the subjects of a discussion by the whole Cabinet, at whose 
meetings only matters affecting general policy are discussed. 
The advice of his secretaries is sought less because of their 
official position than for their qualifications as practical men 
of affairs. If two heads are better than one, then nine must 
be much better still. 



186 SHAPING A nation's DESTINY. 

In the famous Cabinet Koom, around tlie table at vrhich 
so many of the greatest men in our history have sat, the 
policy of the administration and the destiny of the nation is 
shaped. No records are kept; the discussion is always 
informal, and a vote is seldom taken, for there is nothing to 
vote on. Whatever question is discussed, members of 
the Cabinet present express their opinions, to which the 
President listens, and then he decides. The President sits 
at one end of the table, the Secretary of State at his right, 
the Secretary of the Treasury at his left, the others in 
the order of the creation of their departments, the Secretary 
of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture being 
crowded together at the end opposite the President. If 
other departments are added, the historic Cabinet table will 
have to be lengthened or give way to a longer one. 

The position of members of the Cabinet is now one of 
such social eminence in the Capital that only men of means 
can afford to accept it. The salary is $8,000 a year ; but 
society does not regard him as a success, no matter how 
great a statesman he may be, unless he spends considerably 
more than his salary in living and entertaining. When 
Secretary Tracy of President Benjamin Harrison's admin- 
istration was seeking a house, he found one to his liking and 
was informed that the rent was $7,500 a year. 

" What shall I do with the remaining $500 of my sal- 
ary ? " he asked the astonished agent. 

Many a Cabinet officer, worried by the importunities of 
office-seekers, or by the cares and exacting duties of his 
department, and conscious that he is spending more than his 
salary, while at the same time he is temporarily deprived 
of his regular professional income, has asked himself if the 
life of a Cabinet member is really worth living. But it is a 
position of great honor, and his family have a social emi- 
nence which is fascinating ; he consoles himself, therefore, 
with the thought that owing to his prominence in official 



A CURIOUS SITUATION. I8t 

circles greater rewards will come to him 'when he has 
returned to private life. Thus the position is seldom 
declined, even by men who can hardly afford the experience. 

The dignity of the position was considerably increased 
bv the passage of the act of 1886 fixing in the Cabinet the 
succession to the Presidency in case of death. Previous to 
that, in the event of the death of both the President and 
Vice-President, the office fell to the President-pro -tem of the 
Senate, and at his death to the Speaker of the House. But 
in the first administration of President Cleveland a curious 
situation was brought about by the death of Vice-President 
Hendricks when Congress was not organized. If the Presi- 
dent should die in that period there would be no one to suc- 
ceed him ; whereas, if he should die after Congress organ- 
ized, the Senate being of a different political persuasion, the 
office would go to one of the other party than that popularly 
chosen, and the men who had thought themselves to be com- 
fortabl}^ settled in their administrative places for four years 
would be compelled to step aside for their political enemies. 
By the law passed to provide against such possibilities the 
President's office falls to the Secretary of State, rather than 
to the presiding officer of the Senate, and after him to the 
Secretary of the Treasury and so on. This order of prece- 
dence holds rigidly in all social matters. After " Mr. Vice- 
President " comes " Mr. Secretary." Formerly after the 
Vice-President came " Mr. Speaker," but now the ruling of 
society is that he take a lower place. 

Just west of the White House and separated from its 
grounds by a narrow, smoothly-paved street which in the 
olden days used to be known as '' Lover's Lane," stands now 
the largest and most magnificent office building in the world, 
popularly known as the " State, War, and Navy Department." 
This majestic pile of granite was begun in 1871 and com- 
pleted in 1893. Its 500 rooms open from two miles of 
marble halls. The stairways are of granite and the entire 



188 THE STATELY DIPLOMATIC ROOM. 

construction is fireproof, for within the massive walls are 
many priceless records and archives. The fires which had 
several times destroyed the most valuable records in the 
Patent Office and Treasury, taught the government that 
parsimony in its departmental buildings did not pay. This 
great $11,000,000 building covers four and one-half acres. 
It is a grand, substantial, indestructible edifice for the three 
great departments of the State, of War, and of the Navy. 

The office of the Secretary of State is on the second 
floor, and adjoining it are the offices of the assistant secre- 
taries and the long and stately diplomatic room in which the 
American premier receives the representatives of foreign 
governments. There is an atmosphere of dignified formality, 
of studious quiet, almost of elegant leisure in these rooms 
which is found nowhere else in the busy government build- 
ings. Greatness looks down upon us from the walls ; here 
are portraits of Clay, Webster, Jefferson, Seward, Wash- 
burne, Everett, Fish, Evarts, and Blaine. Smaller, but 
hardly less elegant in appearance, is the diplomatic ante- 
room where foreign dignitaries await an audience with the 
Secretary. 

In a large department on the third floor is the " Library 
of the Department of State," consisting of many rare and 
valuable volumes upon international and foreign subjects. 
Here, carefully preserved, in the iron hall of the library, are 
valuable heirlooms of the nation. The most precious of the 
archives — the two great charters — the Declaration of In- 
dependence and the Constitution of the United States — are 
preserved in a steel case. It is not commonly known that 
the Secretary of State forbade their transmission to Chicago 
for exhibition at the AVorld's Fair at the risk of a railway 
accident in transit and fire after their arrival — hazards suffi- 
cienth^ apparent and by no means trivial. 

The Declaration had come to the Department of State 
from the Continental Congress. It was subjected to a pro- 




THE LIBRARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 
Showin" the steel safe in which are deposited the originals of the Declaration of Inde^ 
pendence aiuf the Constitution of the United States, now no longer exhibited to the public. 
Many rare and valuable volumes are deposited here. 



A PRICELESS POSSESSION. 191 

cess early in the century in securing a facsimile for a copper- 
plate, that caused the ink to fade and the parchment to 
deteriorate. On the 11th of June, 1841, it was deposited in 
the Patent Office, and afterwards placed on exhibition in the 
Interior Department, in a brilliant light, causing further 
dimness and decay. It was returned to the Department of 
State in March, 18T7, upon the completion of fireproof 
quarters, and placed in the library of the Department. In 
Februar}'^ of 1891: it was put away out of the light and air, 
and this notice was posted on the exhibition case : 

" The rapid fading of the text of the original Declaration 
of Independence and the deterioration of the parchment 
upon which it is engrossed from exposure to the light and 
from lapse of time render it impracticable for the Depart- 
ment lono-er to exhibit or to handle it. 

" For the secure preservation of its present condition, so 
far as may be possible, it has been carefully wrapped and 
placed flat in a steel case, and the rule that it shall not be 
disturbed for exhibition purposes must be impartially and 
rigidly observed. 

" In lieu of the original document a facsimile is placed 
here. 

" By order of the Secretary of State." 

"While the full text of the original Declaration is still 
legible, the signatures have, with but few exceptions, utterly 
vanished. Thus the value of the copperplate is inestimably 
enhanced, and this also is now kept in a fireproof safe. The 
facsimile shown in this volume was photographed from a 
perfect impression from this plate loaned to the publishers 
by the Department of State. 

On the wall of the library hangs the original of Jeffer- 
son's first draft of the Declaration with interlineations by 
Franklin and John Adams. Jefferson will be remembered 
in liistory as the author of the Declaration of Independence, 
when Ins Presidency has been forgotten. He was much 



193 RELICS II>T THE LIBRARY. 

prouder of baviug written that immortal document than of 
having held any office, and he desired that the fact should be 
inscribed on his tomb. 

Here may be seen the war sword of Washington — the 
very weapon he wore in his campaigns and camps ; the sword 
of Jackson worn at New Orleans ; Jefferson's writing desk 
at which, tradition says, the Declaration of Independence 
was penned; Franklin's staff, and buttons from his court 
dress, calling up the picture of the philosopher at the gay 
court of Versailles ; the relics of Capt. Hull of the frigate 
Constitution, and many other curiosities which have been 
presented to the government in connection with some of its 
diplomatic incidents. Here also are the papers of many of 
the great public men of the past, of Washington, Jefferson, 
Madison, Monroe, Hamilton, and Franklin. The papers of 
Washington show his precision in every-day matters at Mt. 
Yernon ; directions in his own handwriting to his farmer or 
steward, " how to plough, buy nails, grains, scissors, shingles, 
soap, rakes, dishes, etc." These 117 folio volumes, with the 
Jefferson manuscripts and papers of Franklin, Madison, 
Monroe, and Hamilton, are appraised at $150,000. The 
papers of Washington alone cost the government $45,000 ; 
for the thirty-two volumes of Franklin's papers, $35,000 was 
paid. 

The Secretary of State is also the custodian of the Great 
Seal of the United States, adopted by Congress in 1782. 
The familiar design consists of an American eagle support- 
ing- an escutcheon on his breast, holdino^ in his talons an olive 
branch and a bundle of thirteen arrows, and in his beak a 
scroll inscribed with the motto : " E Pluribus Unum." There 
was a design for tha reverse side of the seal, but it has never 
been cut. 

In the archives of the office also are the originals of all 
the laws of the United States ; on these engrossed parch- 
ments the fabric of the government rests. The parchments 






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FAMOUS PARCHMENTS. 197 

are fourteen by nineteen inches in size and bound in book 
form no matter how brief the law. The penmanship is 
coarse but very reguUir, and the signatures are the originals. 
In all cases the bills are signed in the lower right hand 
corner by the speaker and the presiding officer of the 
Senate, and in the lower left hand corner by the President. 
Here also are all the proclamations of the Presidents. The 
Emancipation Proclamation, for instance, is written upon 
very heavy white paper that is folded once, and each page is 
ten by fourteen inches in size. It begins as do all proclama- 
tions — " By the President of the United States of America 
— A Proclamation." It nowhere calls itself an emancipa- 
tion proclamation ; that is the name which the people have 
given it. As our eyes pass over these originals of famous 
documents in our history, we seem to get closer to the great 
men who framed them, to enter into their spirit, to read 
more closely their thoughts and to catch a patriotic inspira- 
tion which printed copies cannot give. 

The Secretary of State very largely holds in his hands 
the national honor. Questions of the gravest difficulty with 
foreign powers may arise at any time and must be handled 
with the utmost tact and diplomacy. We should never 
suppose that under the suave and polite conversation be- 
tween the Secretary and the minister from Spain, lay the 
issues of peace or war; that in a few days the minister 
would be given his passports and the guns of our navy 
would be sinking Spanish ships. The bland smile upon the 
features of the Chinese minister as he enters the anteroom 
in his rich oriental costume does not indicate the seriousness 
of his thoughts or the importance of the interview which 
takes place when he meets the Secretary, — a conversation 
upon which may depend to a large extent the future of an 
ancient oriental empire. 

The Secretary is in constant communication with the 
diplomatic agents of the United States throughout the 



198 DEALING AVITH DIPLOMATS. 

world, largely through a cipher code, a very intricate affair, 
the key to which is only given to ministers under their oath 
to regard its secrecy as one of their first duties. Neverthe- 
less the foreign office of every government has its code 
experts who make it a business to endeavor to master the 
codes of other nations, so the kev word is chano:ed fre- 
quently or the code varied in other ways. When code 
despatches are made public they are paraphrased to lessen 
the opportunity abroad to compare with the original cipher, 
in case it should have been surreptitiously taken from the 
telegraph wire while in transit. 

While the Secretar}^, knowing the established policy of 
the government in relation to certain general matters or the 
policy of the President in relation to current affairs, may 
settle some questions upon his own responsibility, he usually 
has his daily conference with the President, who is kept 
posted on the course of diplomatic events. The diplomatic 
representatives of foreign powers at Washington deal 
directly with the Secretary, through whom their business 
is made known to the President. When a new foreign 
minister is received, the State Department prepares a suit- 
able reply to be made by the President, and this the latter 
delivers with such modifications as he may consider advis- 
able. All congratulatory letters in response to official 
announcements of the birth of a prince or princess are like- 
wise written in the State Department in di})lomatic formula, 
and given to the President for his signature. It may seem 
a little strained for a democracy to pay any attention to 
royal babies, but in diplomacy we must do as diplomats do. 

The office of the Secretary, being from the first the most 
dignified in the Cabinet, was formerly regarded as a step- 
ping-stone to the Presidency, — Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, 
and John Quincy Adams, having all served as secretaries to 
preceding presidents. But it has become more important 
to fill the olHce with men of special expeiience in foreign 



DUTIES OF OUR CONSULS. 199 

affairs, even tliough they do not possess the essentials con- 
sidered of paramount importance in a presidential cmdi- 
date. A hard-working man of experience in diplomacy is 
of more value to a President than one who has a command- 
ing place in the Senate or House. In the working force of 
the department are men who have long held important 
positions, who have made a special study of diplomatic 
matters, and their training is of especial service to both 
the Secretary and the President. It is no small accomplish- 
ment to be posted in all the intricate details of diplomatic 
precedence, violations of which have often raised a tempest. 

Uncle Sam's representatives are now stationed either as 
diplomats or consuls at all the great political and commer- 
cial centers of the world. The first essential of a successful 
diplomatic representative must be that he is "persona 
grata " to the power to which he is accredited, and the more 
so the better ; for it is a part of his duty to make himself 
agreeable and his country respected and liked. It is his 
duty not only to transmit to the government to which he is 
accredited, the views of his own government, as occasion 
may require, but to keep the latter informed of all that 
occurs in the foreign country in which he is stationed, that 
might in any way affect the present or future policy of this 
government. He must transmit information to the Depart- 
ment of State as to the general trend of political sentiment 
in the foreign country and especially among the governing 
classes, and report from time to time upon the progress 
being made in the arts and in civilization, the financial 
strength, tariff regulations, and so on. Each of our legations 
abroad has a permanent secretary having care of the vol- 
uminous archives of the office, keeping thoroughly posted 
upon the diplomatic etiquette of the country and acting as 
charge d'affaires in the absence of the minister. 

Whether in official life or in society, our representatives 
at foreign courts have precedence according to rank, and 



200 BUSINESS OF THE CONSULAR BUREAU. 

the same is true of foreign representatives in Washington. 
If an ambassador calls at the Department of State and finds 
a number of ministers waiting in the anteroom to see the 
Secretary, the ambassador first passes in. Until 1893 the 
highest rank given by our laws to our foreign representa- 
tives was Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotenti- 
ary, and, as a result, our envoys were frequently placed in 
the embarrassing position of seeing ambassadors from small, 
and perhaps half^civilized, powers taking precedence in all 
matters. We now have ambassadors in all the important 
European courts, their salaries being commensurate with 
their higher dignity, though frequently by no means equal 
to the salary of ambassadors from very much smaller 
powers. 

The Consular Bureau is called the " business end " of the 
State Department. Our consuls are really magistrates for 
our government, assisting American citizens in getting 
their rights in foreign countries, and noting and reporting 
to our government all matters of commercial interest. 
Every day brings to the department a batch of reports upon 
the state of the markets and the possibilities of the exporta- 
tion of American products to foreign countries, and ab- 
stracts of these are published in a daily bulletin which is 
freely distributed all over the country to export and com- 
mercial houses and newspapers, and they are published 
entire in monthly pamphlets. In the store-room of the 
Consular Bureau, in the basement of the building, can be 
had in a moment's time and without expense the fullest 
intelligence regarding any subject of foreign commerce. If 
you Avish to know about automobiles in Australia, or sugar 
beets in Germany, or brewing in Bavaria, or rug making in 
Persia, or rubber trees in South America, you have but to 
ask and you will receive. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE STORY OF THE UNITED STATES TREASURY — HOW ITS 

SECRETS AND WORK ARE GUARDED — A THOUSAND 

BUSY MAIDS AND MATRONS — WOMEN WHO 

HAVE SEEN "BETTER DAYS"— THE 

GRExVT STEEL CAGE. 

In the Office of the Secretary of the Treasury — The Treasury Vaults and 
Dungeons — "Put the Building Right Here!" — An Army of Clerks 

— Where They Come From and Who They Are — Women Who Have 
Known "Better Days" — The Struggle for "Office" — How Appoint- 
ments Are Made — The Story of Sophia Holmes — Finding $200,000 in 
a Waste Paper Box — $800,000,000 in Gold and Silver — Inside the 
Great Steel Cage — The Mysteries of the Treasury — Precautions 
Against Burglary and Theft — Alarm Bells and Signals — Guarding 
Millions of Treasure — How a Package Containing $20,000 Was Stolen 

— The Man with a Panama Hat — A Package Containing $47,000 
Missing — Capture of the Thief — The Travels and Adventures of a 
Dollar — When a Dollar Ceases To Be a Dollar. 



fm 




T a massive, cloth-covered desk, in a large room of 
surnptiious furnishings, whose windows look out 
across the White Lot and the winding walks and 
stately trees of the grounds of the White House, 
sits the Secretary of the Treasury, the man who is 
at the head of an establishment doing a business 
of two or three millions of dollars a day. From the walls 
of this room look down many famous men who have held 
this important office, silent reminders to the present incum- 
bent that some day his picture will probably find a place 
here or in the adjoining anterooms and offices of his busy 
assistants and secretaries. This man is temporarily at the 
head of that department of the government which not only 

(201) 



202 A NEVER-ENDING STREAM OF MONEY. 

handles all the money but makes it. By virtue of his office 
he directs the employment of many thousands of people. 
In the vaults under his care are millions and millions of 
money and bonds. From this vast establishment the money 
flows out in a never-ending stream, and back to it returns, 
never perhaps to reappear. 

Here are millions of bright coins that have never once 
moved out of their dark dungeons in the underground vaults 
since they came fresh from the mints. Here also are mil- 
lions of dollars worth of bonds — Uncle Sam's own promises 
to pay years hence — held for security, on which he is regu- 
larly paying interest to those who own them. Into this 
great office flows all the money collected from customs and 
internal revenue taxes; here are settled the money claims 
which Uncle Sam's people have against him; here are super- 
vised the operations of the national banks all over the coun- 
try ; here is regulated the operation of the mints that are 
ever pouring a gold and silver tide into the circulating 
medium, thus keeping alive the industries of the nation. 
Every day a million dollars in worn-out, mutilated paper 
money comes in for redemption, and a million dollars in 
new, crisp bills go out to battle with the world, unmind- 
ful of the fate of their predecessors. 

Great as it is to-da}^, how small Avas its beginning! 
After the Declaration of Independence, one of the first 
things that the Continental Congress did was to appoint 
two Joint-Treasurers of the United Colonies, who wei'e to 
reside in Philadelphia, and to receive each a salary of $500 
the first 3^ear, and to give bonds in the sum of $100,000. 
The second year their salary was to be raised to $800 each. 
In a short time one resigned, but the other remained Treas 
urer for the Colonies to the close of the Revolution, a com- 
mittee of five persons having been appointed meanwhile to 
assist him. 

Soon after this, an office was created ia which to keep 



A NATION IN DIFFICULTIES. 203 

the Treasury accounts. That office was an itinerant, like 
Congress, following it to wliatever place it assembled. Acts 
were passed for the establishment of a National Mint. 
Alas! the jDOor continentals had no precious ore to coin, 
and never struck off a dollar or cent. Money was painfully- 
scarce. As one writer has said : " Xobody owed the Treas- 
ury anything the collection of which could be enforced, and 
the Treasur\^ owed nearly everybody something that could 
not be paid." The army was half clothed and half fed, and 
wholly unpaid. The government had no money of its own 
and nothing to make it out of ; not even credit. That made 
it the more imperative that this poor little empty Treasury 
should have some responsible head who, by the adroit magic 
of financial genius, should create a way to fill it, and in some 
way provide cash for the emergencies which were perpet- 
ually imminent. Thus in September, 1781, Congress ap- 
pointed a single supreme " Superintendent of Finance." 

The first high functionary of the Treasury was Robert 
Morris, of Philadelphia. He had already distinguished 
himself by his remarkable financial talents as a merchant, 
and his devoted patriotism. Besides, he was the intimate 
friend and confidential adviser of Washington. He was the 
man for the place and the hour. He kept the credit of the 
struggling Colonies afloat in the moment of their direst 
need. He gave from his private fortune without stint, and 
added thereto the contributions of the infant nation. He 
became a member of the Convention which framed the 
Constitution of the United States, and concluded his public 
services to his country as United States Senator. 

Two subjects that at the same time moved the first Con- 
gress to its depths were the impending bankruptcy of the 
countr}^ and the location of the National Capital. Sept. 2, 
1789, the fundamental act establishing the Treasury Depart- 
ment was passed. Meanwhile AVashington was anxious to 
find out how he was to get money to pay the public debt. 



204 Washington's right arm. 

and he invited Morris to give him the benefit of his advice. 
In one of their interviews, the great Chief groaned out: 
"What is to be done with this heavy national debt?" 
" There is but one man," said the astute financier, " who 
can help you, and that man is Alexander Hamilton." 

In ten days after the establishment of the Treasury De- 
partment, Alexander Hamilton was appointed its chief. He 
was still in the flower of his youth, but had already proved 
himself, not only in practical action, but in the rarest gifts 
of pure intellect, to be the most versatile and remarkable 
man of his time. He seemed endowed with the quality of 
intellect which amounts to inspiration — unerring in percep- 
tion, sure of success. At the beginning of the Revolution, 
he raised and took command of a company of artillery. 
The same transcendent intuition which made him supreme 
as a financier, made him remarkable as a soldier. In Wash- 
ington's first interview with him, he made him his aid-de- 
camp, and through the entire Kevolutionary war he was 
called " the right arm " of the Commander-in-Chief. 

A more remarkable and interesting group of men prob- 
ably never discussed and decided the fate of a nation than 
"Washington, Morris, and Hamilton. Washington, grave, 
thoughtful, far-seeing, slow to invent, but ready to compre- 
hend, and quick to follow the counsel which his judgment 
approved; Morris, wise, experienced, analytic; Hamilton, 
young, impetuous, impassioned, prophetic, yet practical; in 
comprehension and gifts of creation the supreme of the 
three. 

The first official act of Hamilton, as Secretary of the 
Treasury, was to recommend that the domestic and foreign 
war debt be paid, dollar for dollar. When the paper con- 
taining this recommendation was read before Congress, it 
thought that the new Secretary of the Treasury had gone 
mad. How was a nation of less than 4,000,000 of people to 
voluntarily assume a debt of $75,000,000! It was left to 



THE FATHER OP THE TREASURY. 205 

the untried Minister of Finance of thirty-three years to save 
the national credit against mighty odds, and to foresee and 
to foretell the future resources of a vast, consolidated people. 

Then followed those great state-papers on finance from 
Hamilton, whose embodiment into laws fixed the duties on 
all foreign productions, and taxed with just distinction the 
home luxuries and necessities of life. By hard work and 
the magical touch of his genius, he evolved order out of 
chaos and established the treasury system of the United 
States upon a foundation from which it has never been 
shaken, either by political or civil conflict. If Washington 
was the father of his Country, Hamilton was the Father of 
the Treasury. 

TVhile consuming himself for the nation, Hamilton was 
harassed by the abuse of personal and political enemies, and 
suffering for the adequate means to support his family. 
"While building up the financial system which was to re- 
deem his country, the state of his own finances may be 
judged by the following letter from him to a personal 
friend, dated September 30, 1791 : 

" Dear Sir — If you can conveniently let me have twenty dollars for 
a few days, send it by bearer. A. H." 

The amount of personal toil he performed for the 
government was enormous. Talleyrand, the French states- 
man, was at this time a refugee in Philadelphia. Upon his 
return to France he spoke with admiring enthusiasm of the 
young American patriot. Narrating his experience in 
America, he once said: 

" I have seen in that country one of the wonders of the 
world — a man, who has made the future of the nation, 
laboring all night to support his family." 

The growth of the Treasury department was slow 
and discouraging. When the government was brought to 
Washington, the Treasury was housed in a small building 
12 



206 DETERMINING THE SITE. 

near the unfinished White House with barely enough room 
for its few clerks, and the records were packed away in a 
near-by store which was soon afterwards consumed by fire. 
When the British entered Washington in 181-4 the Treasur}^ 
itself was burned. Then the business was for some time 
carried on in the " Six Buildings " west of the White House. 
The credit of the country was again at its lowest ebb, 
and an effort to negotiate a loan of $25,000,000 iguomini- 
ously failed. In 1833 the Treasury and its contents was 
again consumed by fire, and the construction of the present 
Treasury building, second in architectural importance onl}^ 
to the Capitol, was begun, 

A bitter controversy arose as to where the new building 
should be located ; there were plenty of available sites 
about the city and each faction had its favorite location. 
Finally, so the story goes, President Jackson, whose 
patience had been sorely tried and was now exhausted, 
stalked out of the White House to the corner of Fifteenth 
street and Pennsylvania avenue, thrust his cane into the 
ground and thundered : " Put the building right here ! " 
There it was erected, where it not only cut off forever a 
view of the White House from the Capitol, but where the 
great and beautiful proportions of the building itself could 
never be seen to advantage. 

The building was completed in 1867 at a cost of nearly 
$7,000,000. It is 450 feet long and 250 feet wide, built 
around two interior courts so that every one of the 2 DO 
rooms on each floor is well lighted. The south front is 
really the most imposing, and the view from it is superb. 
To the left runs Pennsylvania avenue in its undeviating 
course for over a mile, till lost in the foliage above which 
rises the majestic dome of the Capitol. On the south, like 
a lance of light, towers the great Monument, and to the 
west lie the grounds of the White House. The western 
portico faces the President's house, but the commonly-used 



A CITY IN ITSELF. 207 

entrance is on the north, facing Pennsylvania avenue. The 
buihling is of granite, three stories high, with a double 
basement — the richest basement in the world — and an 
attic. It was supposed that the structure would for a long 
time, if not always, answer the requirements of the depart- 
ment, but long since many of its offices have been forced 
into other quarters ; indeed, another building of similar pro- 
portions would not now provide sufficient room for the 
present Treasury and its manifold operations. 

The interior of the buildins: resembles a little city in 
itself. The long marble corridors are like streets, into 
which swing- doors from innumerable offices on each side. 
As we pass along we catch glimpses of these busy rooms, 
some with rich furnishings, and everywhere are desks and 
clerks. Over the doors are signs indicating the particular 
duties being performed or supervised within : " Office of 
the Secretary of the Treasury " ; " Office of the First Comp- 
troller " ; " Office of the Register," etc. 

While so many things indicate the making and handling 
of money and of accounts, there are not wanting other 
indications that reveal the wide range of the activities of 
the establishment ; for under the Secretary of the Treasury 
are such officers as the Superintendent of the Life Saving 
Service, a Super\ising Architect, a Supervising Inspector — 
General of Steam Vessels, a Light House Board, a Super- 
vising Surgeon of Marine Hospitals, Commissioners of 
Internal Revenue, of Navigation, of Immigration, of Chiefs 
of the Secret Service, and of the Bureau of Statistics. 

The employees, men and women, can be numbered 
by regiments. They are of all ages and of every grade. 
Their labor ranges from the lowliest manual toil of the 
charwomen in its basement, to the highest intellectual 
employment. There is not another company of women- 
workers in the land which numbers so many ladies of high 
character, intelligence, culture, and social position. Some 



208 AN ARMY OF EMPLOYEES. 

of them are remarkable for their literary and scientific 
attainments. Many of them are of that large class who 
have " kno\Yn better days " ; for the Treasury, like all 
other departments of the government, is a vast refuge 
for the unfortunate and the unsuccessful. The only excep- 
tions are found in two classes, viz.: those who use depart- 
mental life as the ladder by which to climb to a higher 
round of life and service, and those who seek it without half 
fulfilling its duties, because too inefficient to fill any other 
place in the world well. 

Luckless authors, sore-throated, pulpitless clergymen, 
briefless lawyers, broken-down merchants, poor widows, 
orphaned daughters, and occasionally an adventurer, mas- 
culine or feminine, of doubtful or bad degree, and repre- 
sentatives from nearly every walk in life are found within 
the Treasury — "in office." Here are men who have 
grown gray, weak-limbed, and wizened at their desks, as 
automatic in their movements as machines, and as narrow 
in their views as the straight path of their endless routine. 

But there are plenty of young men, and young women, 
too, and many a little romance of life has centered here. 
Here are the daughters or widows of famous legislators or 
soldiers, who in serving their country were too busy or too 
honest or too indifferent to serve their families also. Some 
of these v.^omen were reared in luxury without a thought 
that necessity would ever compel them to work for their 
daily bread. 

The daughters of Chief Justice Taney were for some 
years employed in the Treasury r)ei)artment ; the widow 
of Governor Ford of Ohio was also clerk there. Mrs. 
McCain and Mrs. Crawford, of the McElwee family, were 
among the first in this service. All the male members 
of the family, nineteen in number, were in the Union army, 
and Mr. McCain was lying mortally wounded. It was a 
time of great distress, and Mrs. McCain applied in person to 



SOME OF THE WOMEN WORKERS. 309 

President Lincoln for a position. Tearing a strip from 
a paper in his hand the great-hearted Lincoln wrote : 

"Oive this lady employment. 

Abraham Lincoln." 

She took this at once to the Secretary of the Treasury — 
received an appointment immediately, and held it for 
many years. The widow of General Kimball, who fell at 
Chantilly, was for years a most valued employee of the 
Treasury Department. Governor Fairchild, of Wisconsin, 
found his beautiful wife, the daughter of a distinguished 
man, occupying a desk in the Treasury. The wife of 
Attorney-General Brewster, a daughter of Kobert J. 
Walker, formerly Secretary of the Treasury, was also a 
clerl{, in that Department, and met General Brewster while 
at her desk preparing some document for w^hich he had 
applied to the Secretary of the Treasury. 

The army of charwomen who take possession of the 
Treasury after business for the day has closed, is composed 
of women struggling to live by honest, albeit the lowliest 
toil. If we could know the history of each one, what revel- 
ations of heroism and devotion to duty would be disclosed. 
Among these humble women one became famous, and the 
story of her rich find in a Treasury w^aste paper box has 
often, though not always truthfully, been told. 

Sophia Holmgs, a native of Washington, was the widow 
of a colored soldier killed at the battle of Bull Eun in the 
Civil War. Her husband was a slave whom Col. Seaton, the 
noted Abolitionist, had bought to save him from being sold 
out of the District. He was valued at $1,000. Sophia was 
a free woman who labored many years to save the money 
with which she helped to purchase her husband's freedom, 
and at the time of his death the pair had paid $600 towards 
the purchase price. The death of her husband left her with 
two small children to support. Senator Wilson, James G. 



210 SOPHIA HOLMES ON GUARD. 

Blaine, and others became interested in her story, and be- 
ing the widow of a Union soldier she managed to obtain 
work in the Division of Issue, in the Treasury Department, 
as a charwoman, at fifteen dollars a month, her duties con- 
sisting of sweeping, scrubbing, dusting, emptying baskets 
and boxes of waste papers, etc., after the close of business 
hours. 

Late one afternoon, when the army of Treasury officials 
and clerks had departed, while engaged in cleaning the 
offices, she seized a box of waste paper to empty it, but the 
first handful she removed disclosed to her astonished eyes a 
lot of bank bills, genuine greenbacks, of all denominations, 
some of them as large as $1,000. For a moment she was 
transfixed with amazement. The box was packed full of 
them. Kecovering her composure she hastily replaced the 
top layer of paper, pushed the box out of sight, and resolved 
to keep her discovery secret until she could communicate 
with some of the higher officials. She would not even trust 
the watchman w4iom she momentarily expected on his 
rounds. "I was going to call him," she said afterwards, 
" but something kept saying like, ' Sophia, don't you do it ! 
Don't you do it ! You's a poor black woman ! He may 
take the bank notes and say you stole 'em.' " So she went 
on with her sweeping and dusting and kept on thinking. 

The hour for leaving arrived and yet she Avas not 
through. The tramp of the watchman announced his ap- 
proach, but she continued her sweeping with unabated and 
unusual energy. Seeing her still at work, he stopped and 
said, "What, aren't you through yet?" "ISTot quite," she 
said. " I'se through d'reckly," and kept right on digging 
into the floor with her broom. Again the watchman re- 
turned and said " You take a powerful time a-cleaning up to- 
night, Mrs. Holmes, what's the matter with you ? " " I'se 
through pretty soon, pretty soon," said Sophia, raising a 
cloud of dust with broom and brush. Darkness filled the 



A SURPRISE FOR GENERAL SPINNER. 213 

Treasury. She thought of her two children Avaiting for 
their supper at home. Mechanically she kept at work until, 
tired out, she sat on the box of money and dropped into 
semi-sleep. 

At that time (1862) General Spinner was Treasurer, an 
official whose great fidelity to his trust had earned for him 
the title of " The watch dog of the Treasury." He was uni- 
versally known as " the General " ; crooked, crotchety, great- 
hearted, every afflicted woman in the large army of workers 
under his care was sure of a hearing, and of redress, if possi- 
ble, from him. From his small room in the Treasury a door 
opened into a still smaller one. In this little room the 
keeper of the nation's millions often slept all night, in order 
that he might be within call in case- of accident or wrong do- 
ing. So great was his personal anxiety and the consciousness 
of his vast responsibility that it was his custom every night 
to go to the great money vaults and, with his own hand upon 
the handles, assure himself bevond doubt that the nation's 
money safes were securely locked. 

About two o'clock that morning, being restless and un- 
able to sleep he arose, and, shod as was his wont in carpet 
slippers, started on his customary rounds through the long 
and dimly-lighted offices and corridors. Sophia heard his 
shuffling steps long before he reached her, and standing by 
the box she waited tremblingly for his approach. " General, 
general, come here, come here ! " she shouted to the startled 
treasurer who, stopping in his tracks, gazed intently at her 
and then cautiousl}' approached. Sophia removed the top 
layer of waste paper from the box, pointed to the pile of 
greenbacks beneath and told her story. 

The astonished treasurer speedily summoned the officers 
of the Division. Upon their arrival the money was removed 
from the box, closely examined, and found to be perfectly 
completed bills ready for circulation. Sophia was kept pris- 
oner until the money was counted, when she was sent home 



214 A USEFUL AND HONORED LIFE. 

in a carriage to her children, who had been cared for by the 
neighbors. How the bills got into the box is a mystery 
known only to Treasury officials, and they have never taken 
the public sufficiently into their confidence to make an ex- 
planation ; nor did they reveal the exact amount found, 
though it has been stated by others in position to know that 
it was over $200,000. 

A few days afterward General Spinner sent for Sophia, 
and handed her an appointment to a position as janitress, 
her duties being chiefly to run errands and make herself gen- 
erally useful, at a salary of $660 a year. She was the first 
colored woman ever officially appointed to the service of the 
United States Government. For thirty-eight years she re- 
tained this position. During her life she probably saw more 
money than any woman that ever lived. She used her sav- 
ings to bring up her children, as well as a family of relatives 
whom she educated and started in life as useful citizens. 
Her hair whitened with the frosts of time, but her honest 
face was alwa3^s wreathed in smiles of recognition to the 
hio-h and low, to all of whom she was familiarlv known as 
"Aunt Sophie," and all invariabl}^ greeted her cordially when 
they met in the halls of the Treasury. 

Sophia Holmes died October 10th, 1900, aged about 
seventy-nine years. At her funeral, which was largely 
attended by whites as well as blacks, the colored minister 
who officiated said : " It was recentl}' stated that all colored 
persons will steal if they have a chance. My friends, we 
have in this church the body of a colored woman the record 
of whose private and official life proves that statement to be 
a lie." 

Many women find a refuge here through the influence of 
friends who take pity on them. Congressmen and Senators 
are importuned, the Secretary is " visited," and at last the 
appointment is made. Their duties begin at nine in the 
morning and are over at four in the afternoon, with a brief 



A PEEP AT IMPRISONED WEALTH. 215 

intermission at noon. In the evening some of them may be 
found in attendance at social functions, or in society, which 
tliey grace with becoming dignity and ease ; but the greater 
number of them go to humble homes, where await them 
those who rely upon them for support. Most of them are 
absolutely dependent upon the government, which stands to 
them for the very breath of life. Kequiring as it does so 
many employees, the government can, if it chooses, benefit 
the unfortunate and deserving, though sometimes, as in pri- 
vate business, the undeserving secure places to which they 
are not entitled, through favoritism of men in power. 

We descend to the basement of the great money-making 
establishment and are shown something over $150,000,000 in 
gold and silver. Such a sight is too rare to be missed, 
though, after all, it is little more than a peep at a great 
many boxes and packages piled within steel cages within 
steel doors within stone walls. We first pause before the 
D-reat silver storao;e vault extending under the terrace at the 
south end of the building. Entering through a series of 
massive doors Ave behold a mighty box of steel lattice-work 
eighty-nine feet long and fifty-one feet wide and twelve feet 
high, full of silver dollars, a little more than 100,000,000 
of them. Although each silver dollar weighs less than an 
ounce, those stored here Avould weigh about 3,000 tons. 

The silver is tied up in bags of $1,000 each and packed 
in wooden boxes, two bags in a box. Formerly the coin was 
simply stacked up in bags, but notwithstanding the walls of 
steel, dampness rotted the bags and the money was continu- 
ally running out on the floor. This made extra trouble, re- 
quired fresh counts, — antl it is no light undertaking to count 
such a gigantic sum in coin. Hence it was decided to pack 
the bags in boxes, and, so long as the seal of the Treasurer 
on each bag is intact, it is not necessary to count the con- 
tents every time a recount is made, Avhich is as often as a 
new administration comes in. The boxes are built in tiers 



216 RICH TREASURES IN THE VAULTS. 

with passage-ways between, and usually on a table in one of 
these passage-ways may be seen a thousand silver dollars ex- 
posed to view as the contents of one bag. One of the slid- 
ino- doors of the vault weighs six tons ; the other, a combina- 
tion door, is provided with a time lock whicli is wound up 
every afternoon at 2 o'clock and does not run down until 
o'clock A. M. the next day. Immediately adjacent to this 
great vault is another nearly as large containing about $60,- 
000,000 in gold and silver — both guarded nightly by watch- 
men especially detailed for that purpose. 

The bond vault contains all the bonds deposited by 
National banks as security for the circulation of their bank 
notes. The amount of bonds so held is steadily increasing 
and now amounts to about $300,000,000. A dollar here 
occupies very little space compared with that sum in gold 
or silver. The bond clerk can pick up a small package con- 
taining $4:,000,000 worth and shake it temptingly befors 
your incredulous eyes. In another vault is stored a lot of 
fractional silver and gold coin, miiinly for local uses. 'Mucli 
of the gold of the reserve is kept at the different sub-treas- 
uries, but the entire contents of the Treasury vaults in gold, 
silver, currency, and bonds aggregates always over $800,- 
000,000, and is constantly increasing. 

Although it would be a difficult matter for a thief to 
make way with a single dollar of all this money, the gov- 
ernment takes ample precautions against thieves and bur- 
glars. A force of sixty-eight watchman — all of them hon- 
orably discharged from the army or navy — is divided into 
three reliefs. They patrol the building night and day, and 
during the day a special force is always on hand in case of 
an emergency. 

From various parts of the building electric bells ring in 
signals every half hour, day and night, to the office of I ho 
Captain of the Watch, who is in electric connection witli tlio 
Chief of Police, and with Fort Meyer and the Arsenal, so 



PRECAUTIONS AND SAFEGUARDS. 217 

that police, cavalry, and artillery can be instantly sum- 
moned. Arms are stored away in many of the rooms where 
the money is handled. When the clerical force of the 
Treasury is on duty during the day, the Captain of the 
Watch could instantly arm a thousand men. The offices of 
the Treasurer, assistant Treasurer, and Cashier are each 
connected with that of the Captain of the Watch, and in 
case of an alarm the Captain can respond in thirty seconds 
with an armed force to any of the three offices. Outside 
watchmen are stationed at the watchhouses and are so dis- 
posed as to command the entire building. And yet in walk- 
ing about the great building, even through the vaults, there 
is absolutely no sign of the careful preparations made by 
Uncle Sara to guard his millions of treasure. 

The best safeguard for coin is its weight. A million 
dollars in gold coin weighs nearly two tons, and it would 
take a very strong man to carry off $50,000 worth of the 
yellow metal. Though a gold brick the shape and size of 
an ordinary building brick represents $8,000, its " heft " is 
something astonishing. 

But while the danger from burglars and from armed 
attempts to secure even a part of these $800,000,000 is very 
small, the Treasury does not claim to be theft proof. One 
unlucky day in 1870 a visitor came into the room of the 
chief of the Division of Issue holding a large Panama hat in 
his hand. The chiefs attention was distracted by other 
people who were trying to talk to him, and the man care- 
lessly dropped his hat over a package that contained 2,000 
ten-dollar bills lying on the desk. It was one of several 
packages, and the loss was not noticed till some hours later. 
The thief, however, was caught when he tried to deposit 
some of the bills. In 1875 a clerk passed a package of bills 
of the denomination of $500 each, amounting to $47,000, 
out of one of the cash room windows to a saloon keeper 
with whom he was in collusion, and for some time the rob- 



318 DISCOURAGEMENTS TO THIEVERY. 

bery was a mystery. Later, Secret Service detectives 
caught a man betting bills of $500 each at the Saratoga 
races, and when arrested he implicated the guilty parties, 
and a large part of the money was recovered. There have 
been no other notable thefts from the Treasury, and under 
the improved system the chances of successful thieving are 
greatly diminished. 

But even if anyone should steal one of these packages, 
the notes are so carefully recorded and could be so easily 
identified that a description of them would be immediately 
advertised, and any one who tried to pass one would be 
arrested. While the government has been robbed in many 
ways by its agents and by others who have escaped detec- 
tion, no one ever took money from the Treasury without 
beinir caua'ht ; nor can it be taken without being missed. 

A few years ago the vault in the cash room where the 
ready money is kept, refused to open at the appointed time. 
The time lock is always set to open at 8:30 a. m., but on this 
occasion something was the matter with the mechanism and 
the great steel doors remained obstinately closed. Kot only 
gold and silver but many millions of dollars in paper money 
are always kept in this vault, and, if thieves could obtain 
access to it, they might easil}^ walk away with an enormous 
sum, the notes and certificates being done up in packages 
and neatly labeled with the sum each contains. Each 
parcel contains 4,000 notes, and if the denomination is $500 
a single package represents $2,000,000. Nine o'clock 
arrived, and still the doors would not open. For once 
Uncle Sam was obliged to suspend payments; the whole 
office was in suspense. Experts were sent for, but before 
they *arrived the big safe opened of its own accord, and then 
it was discovered that accidentally the time lock had been 
set at 9:30 instead of 8:30. 

One of the famous rooms of the Treasury is the great 
Cash Room, one of the finest and costliest rooms in the 



JOURNEYINGS OF A DOLLAR BILL. 219 

world. Seventy-two feet long, thirty-two feet wide, and 
twenty-two and a half feet high, the walls, w'th the excep 
tion of the upper cornice, are built entirely of rare and 
beautiful marbles. It has upper and lower windows, be- 
tween which a narrow bronze gallery runs around the entire 
room. The room can be seen to the best advantage from 
this gallery, from Avhich we look down upon a busy scene 
■of people cashing drafts and checks and changing money at 
the costly marble counter extending the entire length of the 
room. The daily transactions run far up into the millions. 
Here are cashed the various warrants draAvn upon the 
Treasury, and anyone can participate in the operations by 
presenting at one of the windows a legal tender note — 
which is really a Avarrant upon the Treasury — and asking 
for gold or silver in exchange. Or if you have a lot of 
dirty, torn or worn-out U. S. notes, you may here exchange 
them for clean, crisp notes, fresh from the reserve vault. 

Look at this old dollar bill, soiled and crumpled, which 
not long ago went out from the Treasury, bright, fresh, and 
clean. Since then it has nestled in the dainty purses of fair 
w^omen, been folded in the plethoric pocket books of million- 
aires, and crushed in the grimy hands of many sons of toil. 
" The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker " have each 
had possession of it. It has passed from workman to 
grocer, to jeweler, to fishmonger, to milliner, and to black- 
smith ; it has slipped into contribution plates, bought 
theater tickets, and passed over the counters of saloons ; it 
has ridden on trolley cars, railroads, and steamboats ; it has 
been in and out of banlvs and in and out of pockets times 
innumerable; it is defaced with ink from some printer's 
hands, soot from some blacksmith's shop, and grease from 
some butcher's market ; it has lain on gamblers' tables, and 
been bestowed in worthy charity ; it has eased the burden 
of the poor, been hoarded by the miser, clutched by the bur- 
glar, and slipped through the hands of the dissipated spend- 



220 THE END OF ITS CAREER. 

thrift ; human life may have been sacrificed to gain posses- 
sion of it, and who knows but that the blood-stained hand 
of the murderer has grasped it ? 

Yet in its long journey among all sorts of people, this 
piece of printed paper bearing Uncle Sam's promise to pay 
has been always a dollar and as good as gold. It could 
have been brought to this great Cash Koom at any time and 
a new dollar w^ould have been given in exchange for it. 
Even now we might send it out again, smutty, ragged, and 
worn as it is, for another zigzag journey in a busy world. 
But why not take pity on it, and let it rest after its strange 
vicissitudes, especially when by just passing it over this 
marble counter we can get for it a bright new bill with a 
future before it ? We pass it in and take the crisp new dol- 
lar. But alas ! by that very operation our old dollar ceases 
to be a dollar. It cannot retire on its record and quietly 
maintain a comfortable existence like a retired army officer. 
In passing it in we have sealed its fate, for after receiving 
ceremonious attention in the Redemption Division it will be 
ruthlessly cut to pieces and soaked into unrecognizable pulp, 
as if it were guilty of some terrible crime and no penalty 
was too severe for it. 

The complete history of a dollar, its travels and all that 
it does, good and bad, can never be written, for no one fol- 
lows it or can follow it. We can only follow its history as 
it is transformed from a piece of Avorthless white paper into 
a dollar "as good as gold," and again when it returns to its 
home to pass, a ragged, dirty thing, to its final doom. 




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CHAPTER XII. 

MYSTERIES OF THE TREASURY— HOW UNCLE SAM'S MONEY 

IS MADE — AVOMAN'S WORK IN THE TREASURY — 

WHAT THEY DO AND HOW THEY DO IT. 

The Story of a Greenback — The Bureau of Engraving and Printing — 
The Great Black Wagon of the Treasury — Guarded by Armed Men 
— Extraordinary Safeguards and Precautions — $4,000,000 in Twelve 
Pounds of Paper — 200 Tons of Silver — Some Awe-Struck People — 
Placing Obstacles in the Way of Counterfeiters — How the Original 
Plates Are Guarded — Where and How the Plates Are Destroyed — 
Secret Inks — Grimy Printers and Busy Women — Who Pays for the 
Losses — Why Every Bank Bill Must Differ in One Respect from 
Every Other — Marvelous Rapidity and Accuracy of the Counters — 
The Last Count of All — Wonderful Dexterity of Trained Eyes and 
Hands — Counting $25,000,000 a Week. 



PAPER dollar, you must remember, is not really 
a dollar but simply a representative for a dollar. 
No paper dollar is now issued by Uncle Sam 
that does not have its real self packed away in 
,one of those bags in the silver vault, or in one of the 
boxes of bullion, or in one of the glittering heaps of 
the gold reserve of the Treasury. Gold and silver, either 
in coin or bullion, are too heavy to be good travelers, and 
however much people long to own them, they do not fancy 
carrying them about. So for convenience paper bills 
are issued to represent them, and they pass current easily 
and lightly so long as they last, but their life is a short one. 
And thus it happens that while Uncle Sam is continually 
pouring out paper money at the rate of over $1,000,000 a 
day, he is adding nothing in this way to the money in 

( 223 ) 




224 A GREAT PAPER-MONEY FACTORY. 

the hands of the people. The number of government notes 
for which the gold reserve is held is limited by Itiw to 
$346,000,000 ; the amount of silver certificates is limited to 
the number of actual silver dollars in the vaults ; and the 
amount of Treasury notes, which came into existence by 
virtue of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 and 
repealed in 1893, is limited to the amount of bullion so pur- 
chased and now held. As over $1,000,000 of this worn-out 
paper money is received at the Treasury from banks and 
other sources every day, the great paper-money factory of 
the government is kept busy manufacturing new bills to 
take the place of old ones. 

The history of a paper dollar, therefore, begins at a 
paper mill, and at the very inception of its manufacture 
Uncle Sam institutes a severe scrutiny and maintains ex- 
traordinary safeguards against counterfeiting; precautions 
which are never neglected throughout the whole operation. 
The paper must be made at one mill, and no other firm is 
allowed to make paper like it; indeed, the method is a 
trade secret, and the laAV provides not only against its imita- 
tion but against the possession of any of it by unauthorized 
persons. It is now made at the Crane Mills at Dalton, 
Mass., and the machines are provided with automatic regis- 
ters by which the mill owners have to account to the 
government for every square inch of paper turned out, 
the key of the register being in the hands of a government 
inspector who receives the paper, counts it, and holds it 
carefully guarded until shipped. 

The paper stock is made of duck cloth and canvas 
clippings, and in it are interwoven fine silk fibrous threads, 
red and blue, made in a factory near the paper mill. These 
threads are serious obstacles in the way of counterfeiters, 
and being distributed differently on each of the various 
issues of notes they may become important helps in their 
identification later on. The paper is cut into sheets eight 



PRECAUTIONS AGAINST COUNTERFEITING. 225 

and a quarter inches wide and thirteen and a half inches 
long, or just the size of four bank bills. It takes just 
1,000 sheets to weigh twelve pounds, and as these sheets 
will make 4,000 one-dollar bills, they take the place of over 
200 pounds of silver dollars in the vaults; if two-dollar 
bills, twice as much, and so on. A thousand sheets will 
make $4,000,000 of 1,000 dollar certificates, in which case 
twelve pounds of paper is made to do the work of over 200 
tons of silver. 

When the paper reaches Washington, it is placed under 
lock and key in the basement of the Treasury, ready to be 
sent to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in quantities 
as desired. For many years after the government began to 
issue paper money, the plates were engraved and printed by 
private corporations; but partly as a greater safeguard 
against the possibilities of counterfeiting, the government 
decided to do a portion of the engraving and printing itself. 
So, notwithstanding the strenuous objection of the bank 
note companies, Uncle Sam for a time printed the face of 
the notes and allowed the companies to print the backs. 
This was not always satisfactory, and little by little as the 
government became more proficient in the work, it took 
more and more of it upon itself and now does it all, and 
under such conditions that counterfeiting has become an 
extremely difficult and dangerous enterprise. 

At first the Engraving and. Printing was carried on in 
the basement of the Treasury building, but the light was 
poor, and as the space became insufficient, owing to the 
constantly-increasing demands made upon it, the plant was 
transferred to the attic. This, too, finally became inade- 
quate, and Congress appropriated $330,000 for a site and a 
building to be used exclusively for the engraving and print- 
ing of notes, as well as postage and revenue stamps, com- 
missions, bonds, and passports. The building, Avhich was 
completed in 18S0, stands not far from the Washington 
13 



226 GUARDING THE PAPER. 

Monument, overlooking the Mall on one side and the 
Potomac flats on the other. It is the most complete en- 
graving plant in the world, and the specimens of its work 
have in recent years taken the highest awards at the great 
fairs of Europe and America. 

To this building, therefore, we must go to follow the 
process of the evolution of our dollar. If we start at the 
right time in the morning we may overtake a great black 
wagon, closely covered on all sides, two stalwart men with 
revolvers in their pockets keeping the driver company, while 
three others, similarly armed, ride on the broad step at the 
rear. This wagon conveys the packages of paper to the 
printing plant, and returns with printed notes every day. 
l^o one has ever attempted a highway robbery of this 
wagon, but its armed escort is never absent. 

So very careful is the government not to take any 
chances at any stage of the process, that the average visitor 
to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing sees but a part, 
and then only by looking through wire screens, behind 
which he beholds men and women busily at work amid 
stacks of this precious paper. Xor is one allowed to wander 
where he likes, but when a little group of visitors has gath- 
ered in the reception-room — as they are sure to do every 
few minutes every day — a young Avoman with a marvel- 
ously glib tongue requests the group to follow her, and she 
leads the way through those rooms open to visitors. Again 
and again during the day she — as well as others, for 
another party collects generally long before one has had 
time to go the rounds — repeats the same story to a group 
of interested and astonished people who come from all over 
the world. Her sympathizing sisters will ask her if she 
does not find it very tiresome saying the same thing over 
and over again, every day in the week, year in and year out, 
and she will smile sweetly and say that sometimes she 
does ; and they will ask her how much she gets for it, and 






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EXPERT DESIGNERS AND ENGRAVERS. 339 

she will tell them $1.50 a day, just as if everj^body had 
a perfect right to know. Others will try to encourage her 
by saying that it must be agreeable to meet so many peoi)le 
and tell them so many things they never knew before ; and 
she will smile again, just a little incredulously, and beckon 
another party to follow her around ; and when after her 
weary day's work she goes to her boarding-house, she very 
likely thinks, just as do many of the women employees, 
that her position is by no means a sinecure. 

But to follow the making of a dollar in, all its details, 
we must obtain a special permit, and this will take us into 
rooms not usually shown to visitors. We will enter the 
engraving-room first. The first step in making a bank note 
is to draw the design. The government changes the 
designs of its notes and stamps frequently, and those of the 
various denominations always differ. A corps of expert 
designers are employed for this purpose, and when their 
work is finished and approved it is turned over to the 
engravers. Of these none but the most skillful are em- 
ployed, some of them receiving salaries as high as $6,000 
a year. The fine head of an American Indian on the five- 
dollar certificates is the work of one of these high-priced 
men, whose skill is not surpassed by anyone in the world, 
and this in itself is a good insurance against successful 
counterfeiting. Sitting in a long row before the windows 
on the north of the first floor of the building, with shades 
so arranged as to furnish the best possible light, and sepa- 
rated by screens so that each enjoys the privacy of a com- 
partment of his own, these men, each an artist in his line, 
laboriously engrave upon steel the designs for notes, bonds, 
stamps, etc. 

So many phases of consummate skill are necessary to 
the completion of a single dollar note, that " many men of 
many minds" are required to perfect a single plate. No 
one of these experts engraves a whole plate. If a dozen 



230 A WONDERFUL ENGRAVING MACHINE. 

men were to engrave the same design on as many steel 
plates, no matter how careful or expert they might be, there 
would inevitably exist in the finished plates slight differ- 
ences which would make the work of counterfeiters com- 
paratively easy; for if variations in genuine notes existed, 
the variations in counterfeited notes might pass undetected. 
Besides, the government does not consider it a good plan 
for any one engraver to be proficient in engraving every 
part of a note ; such an engraver, if dishonest, might make 
considerable trouble. A single engraver, therefore, does 
only a portion of a design — one the j)ortrait, another the 
eagle, another the goddess of liberty, another the scroll, and 
so on. Each man becomes proficient in his own line, and 
too expert to be imitated successfully by a man in another 
line. 

But this is only one of the many safeguards. Look 
closely at a bank note and you will see many lines, involved 
and intricate, running to and fro in the most marvelous 
manner. They defy imitation, and are the best tantalizer 
and detective of the most accurate counterfeiter. This 
maze of curving lines is the work of the geometric lathe, a 
remarkable machine which mechanically engraves some 
portions of the notes, such as the borders, and the back- 
ground of the figures in the corners. This machine consists 
of a complication of wheels of all sizes, eccentrics, and rods, 
all of which is incomprehensible except to an expert ma- 
chinist, and no one can operate it at all who does not 
thoroughly understand it. Indeed, it is said that the man 
who has charge of it is the only man in the country who is 
a perfect master of such machines. Moreover the course 
the mechanical lines will take depends upon the manner in 
which the combinations are set, and, so long as this combi- 
nation is a secret, it is practically as secure as a combination 
lock to a safe. As the delicate diamond point moves about 
with an accuracy and rapidity impossible to hand work, it 



MAKING THE REPLICAS. 231 

cannot be imitated successfully by hand ; and as few coun- 
terfeiters are rich, and these machines cost a large amount 
of money, a serious obstacle to counterfeiting is thus intro- 
duced. Even if a counterfeiter secured one of these lathes 
and a capable man to run it, he would still lack the precise 
combination used on particular portions of the note. 

It requires from six weeks to two months for each 
engraver to finish his part of a plate, and when all the parts 
are completed they are transferred to soft steel rollers ; for 
it would not do to print from the original dies, for several 
reasons. It would be mechanically impossible to print from 
any one original the vast amount of money Uncle Sam 
issues every day, and in the nature of the case there can be 
but one original. Besides, every one of the notes of any 
issue must be exactly alike. It is essential therefore to 
transfer the engraving from the original dies to plates, in 
such a manner that there shall be four engravings exactly 
alike on each plate and that there shall be several plates of 
the same for use on as many presses. A soft steel roller is 
run over the original dies under great pressure, so that the 
original design is well impressed upon it. Then tlie roller is 
hardened and run over softened steel plates, four times to a 
plate. These plates are then hardened, and when touched 
up by the engravers are ready for printing, while the 
original dies are deposited in the vaults. If these replicas 
are injured or wear out, it is a simple matter to produce 
new ones from the original. 

But while all notes made are exact copies of the original, 
they vary in one little detail not generally noticed but 
which makes the greatest difference in identifying notes. 
Each one of the replicas of four notes is numbered, and 
marked by one of the first four letters of the alphabet. 
Looking closely at a dollar bill, you will observe a small A, 
B, C, or D, which means that the note was first, second, 
third, or fourth on the plate, and by looking a little closer 



232 KEEPING WATCH OF THE PLATES. 

with a glass, the number of the ])kite will be discovered 
hiding just below or alongside the letter. Its precise posi- 
tion in reference to the letter also tells its story to the 
expert. 

As may be supposed, the original dies and the rollers 
and replicas are guarded with the greatest care. Every 
evening each plate or piece that has been out during the 
day must be returned to the grim wartling of the large 
vaults with double steel doors and time locks. Nothing can 
be taken out in the morning without a process of orders, 
checks, and receipts, by which someone becomes responsible 
for every plate and piece, and he cannot leave the building 
until this responsibility has ceased. At stated intervals a 
committee of officials from the Treasury visit the bureau to 
see that everything is right, and to pick out such pieces as 
are deemed to be no longer fit for use. These are packed in 
strong boxes, bound with iron bands, and under an armed 
escort are conveyed to the Navy Yard, where they are 
destroyed in a fiery furnace. 

We have now reached the point at which our dollar 
takes more definite shape in the hands of the printer. The 
specially-prepared paper which is brought over from the 
Treasury is in packages of 1,000 sheets, and this count of a 
thousand is kept up all the way through. When the Chief 
of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing is ordered to print 
a certain number of notes of a certain denomination, he 
makes a requisition for just enough paper to print them, 
and he is charged with the amount of money the notes will 
represent when completed. Thus this official frequently 
owes the Treasury many millions of dollars, but the obliga- 
tion is discharged when the printed notes are sent in, the 
imperfect notes being designated and likewise returned. 

Before going to the printer the paper goes through the 
wetting process in a long room filled with tubs of water pre- 
sided over by women who are known as " vvetters." Each 







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IN THE WETTING-ROOM. 235 

package of 1,000 sheets is given to a counter, who, as she 
counts, hands over every twenty sheets to a wetter, who 
carefully places the sheets between cloths and immerses 
them in the tub. These cloths must be scrupulously clean, 
and to keep them so a large laundry is connected with the 
establishment. AVhen the whole package is thus treated it is 
placed under pressure and allowed to remain for about four 
hours. The sheets are then taken out, counted again, and 
the top sheets placed in the middle to render the dampness 
uniform. The package is thereupon placed under still 
greater pressure where it remains till morning, awaiting the 
call of the printer. Each printer is given one of these pack- 
ages and charged with the same on the books, the amount 
always being the face value of the proposed notes. At the 
close of the day his printed sheets go to the superintendent, 
who credits him with them, and any unprinted ones are re- 
turned to the wetting division, where he also receives credit. 

Extensive experiments have been made with inks, in at- 
tempts to seoure a chemical mixture which will afford safe 
guard against counterfeiters, but little can be done beyond 
using the best and most expensive quality. The black ink is 
now furnished by contract, and the mixture is said to be a 
valuable secret. The government makes its colored inks 
after the best chemical formula, and we shall see later, when 
observing the work of the Secret Service, that at least on 
one occasion, the qualit}" of a carmine ink led to the detection 
of a counterfeit which, before the ink had faded, had been 
held by experts to be a genuine note. 

Entering the printing-room, Avhich covers the entire floor 
of the building, we seem at first to have come upon a gen- 
uine pandemonium. The air is full of wild and confusing 
motions as the long hand spokes of the presses are rapidly 
whirled back and forth, and sheets of greenbacks flutter in 
the hands of 150 Avomen. As many men are working as if 
mad. Their bare arms are smeared to the elbow with ink. 



236 PRINTING THE BILLS. 

and their perspiring faces are begrimed with it. The room 
is uncomfortably hot, for at each one of these hand presses 
is a series of gas jets to heat the little table on which the 
printer rests the plate while he thoroughly rubs in the ink. 
All is noise and confusion, and yet every one of these hun- 
dreds of flying sheets of money is identified. If one were 
lost not one of these three hundred men and women could 
leave the building till it was found ; but none is ever lost. 

As the printer takes the plate he rapidly runs the ink 
roller back and forth over it, and placing it on the heated 
table as rapidly wipes the ink off, so that only that portion 
which fills the engraved lines remains. He then polishes 
the margin of the plate with whiting applied with the black- 
ened palm of his hand, for nothing has been devised for this 
purpose that will take the place of the human hand. All 
this must be done with the utmost nicety to produce a good 
impression, yet one does not notice any evidence of special 
care, for each printer appears to be working with all the 
speed of which he is capable. He is paid by the piece. 
Like a flash he slides the inked plate upon its bed on the press, 
and at the same instant the helpmate of his toil, a young 
woman standing at the other side of the press, places a sheet 
of the precious paper accurately on the plate ; then grasp- 
ing the long blackened handles of the press the printer 
pulls them carefully around until the plate and its printed 
sheet emerge on the other side. The young Avoman now 
carefully lifts the sheet from the plate, and lo ! at last the 
beautiful new dollar ! She closely examines it to see if it is 
perfect. H it is, she places it on the table at her side ; if she 
thinks it is imperfect and the printer agrees with her, a rent 
is torn in the sheet and it is laid aside. If both are unde- 
cided it is left to the expert examiners who pass upon it later. 

An automatic register is attached to each press so that 
every impression is recorded and another check is thus made 
on the counters and printers. The registers are locked and 



WORKING NIGHT AND DAY. 237 

the keys are always in the hands of the proper officials who, 
at the end of the day's work, examine the instrument and 
compare its figures with the number of sheets printed and 
wasted. Any loss unaccounted for must come out of the 
salary of the printer and his assistant. Such occurrences 
are extremely rare, but the rule holds, not only through 
each of the fourteen divisions of the bureau, but in the 
various divisions of the Treasury where the money is 
handled. 

The 300 men and women we see working so rapidly in 
this large room, turning out dollars like corn from a 
sheller, are but a quarter of those regularly employed here. 
When revenue stamps were in great demand it required three 
shifts of 300 persons each to keep up with the demand for 
money and stamps. As soon as one shift went out, another 
came in, and the presses were flying all the time, night and 
day. In the hot summer days and nights the temperature 
of the room rose to a fearful height, the many gas jets add- 
ing their quota to the stifling atmosphere. It Avas not a 
pleasant sight to see so many young women standing all day 
at these presses, even though their work was light compared 
with that of the agile printers. They received $1.25 a day 
for their services, which was more than was paid for similar 
work in private establishments ; yet none but the strongest 
could endure the strain a great while, and there was a con- 
stant call for recruits in those busy times. 

Although the capacity of the bureau is often put to a 
test to meet the current demand for money and bonds, it is 
but a portion of its work, for here also are printed 4,000,- 
000,000 postage stamps a year, to say nothing of revenue 
stamps. Some of the processes in making stamps are unique 
and interestino^, but we will return later to observe them, and 
meantime we must follow our dollar. 

After the sheets are printed on both sides, and have been 
passed by the official who keeps a complete record of their 



238 PRESSING AND STAMPING. 

number, they pass into 'the counting and examining division, 
where they are counted by women Avho do nothing but 
count, count, count, all day long week after week and year 
after year. Seated at their long tables, with heads decked 
Avith curious paper caps Avorn to protect their e3'es from the 
strong light, their hands fly through the piles of greenbacks 
and bonds with marvelous rapidity and accurac}^ After 
this count the sheets go to the drying-room in Avhich a tem- 
perature of 120 degrees is maintained, and from Avhich the 
sheets are received in a very Avrinkled condition by expert 
examiners Avho are supposed to detect the slightest blemish. 
Every dollar must be absolutely perfect. Imperfect sheets 
are thrown aside to find their way to destruction, but a 
complete record is kept of them. The perfect sheets are 
then placed under the enormous pressure of over 200 tons, 
and in a few minutes they reappear with that smoothness and 
crispness characteristic of brand-new bills. 

While every bill of each denomination is supposed to be 
exactly alike, in one respect they are all dissimilar. Each must 
have an individuality, so that if stolen it can be identified. 
To secure this the printed sheets are taken to a division 
where rattling little machines fill the room with noise, but 
where, unlike the press-room, everything is bright and clean. 
The numbers in the upper right- and lower left-hand corners 
of our dollar are here stamped by these noisy little machines 
run by Avomen. The Avork requires great skill and experi- 
ence, and mistakes are frequent, each woman being alloAved 
to spoil ten out of every thousand sheets, though Avhen thor- 
oughly skilled they seldom spoil as many as that. Spoiled 
sheets are punched full. of little holes and laid aside for de- 
struction. There are many fatalities even in the infancy of 
a dollar. 

The sheets are now ready to be returned to the Treasury, 
but the}'^ await the journey behind strong A^ault doors pro- 
vided Avith half a hundred bolts and a time lock, so that no 



A FASCINATING SPECTACLE. 241 

man or set of men can open them till the time for the great 
black wagon to arrive. Often there are over 200,000,000 
dollars worth of bonds and money in this vault. 

Arriving there every morning at 9 o'clock, the packages, 
still uncut, go through another of the counting tests to 
verify the account between the Bureau of Engraving and 
Printinii: and the Division of Issue. This over, the sheets 
pass to the sealing-room, where large presses stamp upon 
each note the seal of the Register of the Treasury, in red or 
blue according to the denomination and character of the 
note. A group of visitors is nearly always seen standing 
before the screen which separates the presses from the pub- 
lic halls, fascinated by the sight of so many sheets of money 
drop})ing in rapid regularity before their eyes — thousands 
and thousands of dollars at a time. In more than one spec- 
tator there wells up a feeling that where it is so easy to 
make money, it ought not to be so ditRcult to get it. He 
thinks how happy he might be if he could only hold his 
hand under one of the presses for but five minutes; and it 
is hard to explain to some visitors that these paper bills are 
not real money but only its shadow, and that if everyone 
could have all he wanted of the pa})er it would not be worth 
anything to anybody. 

The sheets now go to the cutting-room, where another 
small army of women in clean attire and dainty white 
aprons are in strong contrast with the women of the wet- 
ting-tubs and the hand-presses. It is here that our dollars 
cease to march in fours and break into single file. The 
sheets are stacked up in piles with the utmost nicety and 
passed under the cutters — little guillotines whose shining 
blades easily slide through the paper, thus separating the 
four notes at a single stroke, each note passing into its 
proper place to be tied up in a standard package. How 
swift the process compared with that of a few years ago. 
Formerly the cutting was done by a bevy of women armed 



242 WOMEN AND SCISSORS. 

with long shears, — the first work ever performed by women 
in the departments, — and it came about in this way : 

In the Civil War days, when tens of thousands of men 
were withdrawn from civil labor, and when one day's ex- 
pense to the government equaled a whole year's in the 
time of George Washington, Treasurer Spinner went to 
Secretary Chase and said : " A woman can use scissors bet- 
ter than a man, and she will do it cheaper. I want to em- 
ploy women to cut the Treasury notes." Mr, Chase con- 
sented, and soon the great rooms of the Treasury witnessed 
the unwonted sight of hundreds of women, scissors in hand, 
cutting and trimming each Treasury-note sheet into four 
separate notes. Washington was full of needy women ; 
women whom the exigencies of war had suddenly bereft of 
protection and home. Every poor woman who applied to 
the good Treasurer was given work if he had it. A pair of 
scissors were placed in her hands, and she was told to go at 
it. The shears have long since vanished, but the women 
have remained, and furthermore have invaded every depart- 
ment of the government and proved their right to hold 
their positions by their steady application, superior skill, 
and the wonderful accuracy they have shown. 

Another count; the last of the fifty-two which marks 
the long process, and the most expert and interesting count 
of all. Here are more than fifty maids and matrons, count- 
ing the new notes, our dollar among the rest. Crinkling, 
fluttering, flying, the dollars! Serene, silent, swift, the 
women ! That anything can be counted so rapidly and yet 
so accurately, defies belief. It is the marvel of this count- 
ing, that it is as infallible as it is speedy. The fingers of 
the women play the part of perfected machinery, the num- 
bered notes passing through them with the celerity and 
regularity of automatic action. You could not count the 
rapid movements of the fingers of any one of these women 
if you tried, and yet as she unties a package, holds it up in 



THE FINAL INSPECTION. 245 

her left hand with the face of the notes upward and with 
her right lifts the upper right-hand end of every one of the 
4,000 notes, she not only counts but scans each note for im- 
perfections in texture, printing, sealing, or cutting, and sees 
that the numbering is in due order and tliat none are miss- 
ing. It is a revelation of Avhat the trained eye and hand 
and mind can do. 

It is commonly supposed that habitual application to 
routine work breeds carelessness and a sort of mental blind- 
ness, but here more than fifty women count with unwearied 
vigilance, discernment, and accuracy, at a speed so extraor- 
dinary that each one of them passes through her hands an 
average of 32,000 notes a day, nearly two for every second 
she w-orks! So trained have their eyes become that the 
slightest irregularity of form or color is noted. This per- 
fection of mathematical movement is acquired only by long 
practice and by one order of intellect. There are persons 
who can never acquire this unerring accurac\' of mind and 
motion combined. The counting is facilitated, indeed made 
possible, by the fact that the notes as they fall from the 
cutting machine lie in exact progression of number, so that 
the counter need only take cognizance of the final unit, sure 
that so long as these run continuously no mistake has been 
made ; but to guard against any possible error the notes are 
here counted five times by diiferent counters. Through the 
swiftly-liying fingers of these deft women has passed every 
dollar in circulation, and every dollar of the million a day 
that is constantly going out must pass through their hands, 
and all the bonds as \vell. No one in the world has handled 
so many dollars as they, and yet very few of these dollars 
go to them. For less than twenty-five dollars a week they 
count 25,000,000 of dollars. 

Having thus received the final count, the money is en- 
trusted to the sealing clerk, w^iose dut}^ it is to wrap the 
packages and seal them with the special seal of the Issue 



246 BEGINNING ITS CAREER. 

Division of the Treasury of the United States. They then 
go to the vaults, there to await the call of the Treasurer 
and the mandate of Uncle Samuel. Thus our dollar is fin- 
ished. After all these processes and all these counts, which 
one might think would have worn it to shreds, it is at last 
ready for its adventurous career in the busy Avorld. Some 
day, when the doors of the great vault open, our new dollar 
goes out and into the outstretched hands of some one of the 
tens of thousands who are clamoring to obtain possession of 
it. Its unsullied purity will not last long. 

If it endures the hardships of its public career, if it is 
not burned to ashes in some conflagration, chewed up by some 
animal, or lost in some place never to be found, it will re- 
turn to its birthplace in about three years, possibly sooner, 
looking very shabby and very wretched. By that time it 
will have grown tired of the world and returned home to 
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CHAPTER Xlll. 

EXTRAORDINARY PRECAUTIONS AGAINST COUNTERFEIT 
ERS, BURGLARS, AND THIEVES - WOMEN AS EX- 
PERT COUNTERFEIT DETECTORS — THE 
FUNERAL OF A DOLLAR. 

Coming Home To Die — Ill-Smelling Companions — A Dirty-Looking Mob 
of Dollars — The Experts' Secluded Corner — Among Shreds and 
Patches of Money — Chewed by Pigs and Rescued from a Slaughter 
House — Taken from the Bodies of the Dead — Au Iowa Farmer's Ex 
perience — A Michigan Tax Collector and His Goat — Women's Skill 
in Restoring Worn-out Money — Bills Reeking with Filth — Detecting 
Counterfeits — A Worhan's Instinct —" That's Counterfeit! " — How 
the Treasury Was Swindled by a "Woman — An Ingenious Device — 
Some Precious Packages — The Return of tlie Dollar — Nearing Its 
End — From a Palace to ' a Pig's Stomach " — The Macerater — Chew^ • 
ing Up Over $166 000 000 at One Gulp — The Funeral of a Dollar - 
" Pulp It "Was ; to Pulp It Has Returned." 



ITR dollar is not allowed to die peacefully. 
Counted at every stage of its growth from a 
piece of white paper to a fuU-tiedged note; 
counted by all sorts and conditions of people 
its miffratorv career, it comes back tattered and 
torn only to be counted and counted again. For it 
stands for a dollar so long as it is in existence. It cannot 
enter into its rest until a new dollar goes out to take its 
place, and a new dollar must not go out until the govern- 
ment is sure that the old one is not a counterfeit. To verify 
this there is another force of counters in the Redemption 
Division, women whose deft and delicate fingers are cease- 
lessly busy detecting counterfeits, or identifying, restoring, 

(249) 




250 MONEY IN SHREDS AND TATTERS. 

counting, and registering worn-out bills which have come 
home to be " redeemed." Each counter sits at a table by 
herself, that the money committed to her care may not 
become mixed with that to be counted by any other person. 

Our dollar bill does not come back alone, like a forlorn 
prodigal. It is accompanied by a great cloud of ill-smelling 
witnesses — the dirtiest-looking mob of dollars you ever 
saw. Thousands are received daily from banks and sub- 
treasuries, and the receiving-room is always piled high with 
them. The receiving clerk delivers the packages, still 
sealed, to the expert counters, each of whom receipts for 
the packages she receives and becomes responsible for the 
whole amount till it leaves her hands. Having verified the 
count in the package, the notes are sorted out into packages 
of one hundred notes each and bound with a manilla wrap- 
per. Fragments are turned over to special women experts 
for identification. 

These experts work in a secluded corner amid shreds 
and patches of money, or what was once money, our dollar, 
perhaps, included. Every piece presents a problem which, 
though difficult of solution, has its compensations in the spe- 
cial features it may afford for the ingenuity of the patient 
expert. The women do their work with surprising accu- 
racy and dexterity, though it is far from pleasant, for the 
money is sometimes frightful stuff, exhaling a shocking odor. 

The identification and restoration of defaced and muti- 
lated notes is a very difficult and important operation. 
From the toes of stockings, in which they have been washed 
and dissolved ; from the stomachs of animals, and even of 
men; from the bodies of drowned and murdered human 
beings ; from the lurking places of vice and of deadly dis- 
ease, these fragments of money, whose lines are often 
utterly obliterated, whose tissues emit the foulest odors, 
come to the Treasury, and are committed wholly to the 
supervision and skill of women. 



IDENTIFYING THE FRAGMENTS. 351 

Here are pulpy bits of bills that have been chewed up 
by pigs and rescued from a slaughter house ; but this expert 
can prove to you that this pig chewed a ten-dollar bill or a 
five-dollar bill, and possibly she will be able to tell you the 
numbers of the notes. Of course there are restrictions upon 
the redemption of fragments, the amount allowed being- 
proportioned to the pieces identified in such a way as to 
make overpayment practically impossible. The experts 
have a copy of every bill which has ever been printed by 
the government. These are used as models as soon as 
enouffh frag-ments of a mutilated bill have been laid out to 
establish its issue. No bill has ever been received at the 
Treasury Department in a condition which has made it 
impossible for the experts to establish its character beyond 
doubt. 

Bills that have been chewed by mice puzzle the experts 
more than any other kind of mutilated money. Each of the 
minute pieces is carefully laid out on a hard, flat surface, 
and with the assistance of a strong magnifying glass the 
pieces are assembled together in their proper relation. 

The department requires that at least three-fifths of a 
mutilated bill shall be recovered before the government will 
redeem it. Usually each mutilated bill is carefully pasted 
on a backing of paper the size of the complete bill. The 
expert has a piece of glass the exact size of the bill. This 
glass is divided into forty squares. When placed over the 
bill, if the experts can find that the remnants fill twenty- 
four of the squares, or three-fifths of all of them, the bill 
will be redeemed. 

Goats seem to have a special liking for Uncle Sam's 

money. An Iowa farmer, while at work in his fields, 

removed his vest and placed it on a fence, from whence it 

fell to the ground. An inquisitive goat chanced to pass 

that way and nosed six five-dollar bills out of the pocket. 

No one saw him eat the bills, but when the farmer again 
14 



252 A MISAPPROPRIATION OF TAXES. 

put on his vest he found the money had mysteriously disap- 
peared. The goat was suspected and killed, and the bills 
were found in a lump in his stomach. When received at 
the Treasur\^ Department the mass had hardened into a 
little dark brown lump that resembled anything but money. 
The mass was soaked until the minute particles separated, 
and skillful fingers accustomed to the work, separated each 
piece. In two hours the entire six five-dollar bills had been 
pieced together and were redeemed. 

Only recently a Michigan tax collector, who had small 
faith in banks, stored $800 in a tin can for safe keeping over 
night and hid it under his house. One portion of the house 
was elevated so that the family goat was able to walk under 
it. The next morning, just as the tax collector started to 
crawl under the house to get his improvised safe, he saw his 
goat slowly emerging and chewing on the remnants of a 
twenty-dollar bill. The excited collector caught the goat 
and forced a portion of the bill from his mouth. The col- 
lector was a poor man and was faced with the necessity of 
making good the amount of funds due to the county. He 
killed the goat, secured the contents of the stomach, made 
the necessary affidavits as to the circumstances, sent the 
mass of chewed bills to Washington, and within ten days 
bright, new, crisp bills for the entire amount Tvere sent to 
him. 

Frequently large amounts of money are received which 
keep these experts busy for months. The most noted case 
was that of a paymaster's trunk that was sunk in the Mis- 
sissippi, in the Robert Carter. After lying three years in 
the bottom of the river, the steamer was raised, and the 
money, soaked, rotten, and obliterated, given to a Treasury 
woman for identification. She saved $185,000, and the 
Express Company, which was responsible for the original 
amount, presented her with $500 in grateful recognition of 
her services. After the great Chicago fire large amounts of 



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CHARRED BILLS, AND COUNTERFEITS. 255 

charred money were received for redemption, and over 
$1,(100,000, or over seventy-five per cent, of all that was sent 
in, was redeemed after the most careful and painstaking 
work. There was a similar experience after the Boston fire. 

Burned jnoney is very difficult for government experts 
to work on. Recently an elderly German woman living in 
Baltimore came in great distress to the department. She 
had the charretl remnants of some money, wiiich Avas, she 
claimed, all that remained of the savings of forty years. 
She thought there was at least $500 in the original roll. 
On the evening before, as she knelt at her devotions, a lamp 
in the room toppled over and set fire to a dress skirt in 
which she kept her savings. She collected as much of the 
charred money as she could, and sympathetic friends sent 
her to the Treasury Department. She sat in a room rock- 
ing to and fro, cr3'ing and sighing while half a dozen 
experts worked on the money. In three hours she received 
over $300 of the amount, and the assurance that if she could 
secure the rest of the debris more money might be refunded 
to her. 

The women who take care of notes that are only soiled 
and worn are equally expert in detecting counterfeits, which 
is not so easily done in an old as in a new l)ill. They 
scrutinize each note carefully, and can generally tell, so 
expert and trained are the}^, whether it is genuine or coun- 
terfeit, or whether it has been "raised." Treasurer Spinner, 
who, as already stated, was the first official to employ 
women in the department, used to say: "A man will 
examine a note systematically and deduce logically, from 
the imperfect engraving, blurred vignette or indistinct sig- 
nature, that it is counterfeit and be Avrong four times out of 
ten. A woman picks it up, looks at it in a desultory fashion 
of her own and says : 

"'That's a counterfeit!' 

«'Whyr 



256 AN INGENIOUS SWINDLER. 

" ' Because it is,' she answers promptly, and she is right 
eleven times out of twelve." 

Yet this accuracy is hardly to be credited wholly to 
woman's instinct. Founded upon a subtle perception and a 
sensitiveness of touch, it develops from experience. Further- 
more all women do not excel as counterfeit detectors ; nor 
can all become experts as restorers and counters of paper 
mone}^ But Avherever a woman possesses native quickness, 
combined with power of concentration, with training and 
experience, she in time acquires an absolute skill in her 
work, which, it has been proved, it is impossible for men to 
attain. Her very fineness of touch, swiftness of movement, 
subtle intuition, and keenness of sight give her this advan- 
tage. 

The temptations to dishonesty are great, and in the his- 
tory of the office there have been cases of theft and dis- 
honesty. The most famous swindle was that perpetrated 
by a woman who invented a method of making nine notes 
out of eight ; that is, she would cut a small section from 
each of eight notes, and when these pieces were joined 
together nine notes would be redeemed at face value. No- 
body ever knew how much she stole before she was caught, 
but she gave up a large portion of her ill-gotten gains and 
was never prosecuted. She is the only woman ever em- 
ployed by the government who ever tried to steal, or in any 
way proved dishonest. This method has been tried by 
swindlers less expert, but has never since succeeded. In a 
frame hanging on the wall of the office of the Treasurer 
may be seen what purports to be a five-hundred-dollar bill, 
made up of sixteen pieces cut from various parts of sixteen 
genuine bills which had been sent in for redemption as 
"mutilated." The fragments when pieced together made 
up a seventeenth bill, which might have been accepted had 
it been less clumsily fabricated. 

Each counter enters in a book having a blank duplicate 



READY FOR ITS DOOM. 257 

form for the purpose, a statement of the result of her count, 
contaming the net amount found to be due the owner, the 
aggregate of "shorts" or "overs" or counterfeits, if any. 
One of these duplicates is retained in the book as her 
voucher. Counterfeit bills are returned to the Treasury for 
reference to the Secret Service. The counter tlien places 
her precious packages in boxes which are carried to the can- 
celing-room, and never for a moment do they leave her 
sight so long as she is responsible for them. The counters 
now gather round a table in the canceling-room and receive 
receipts for the amount in their respective packages, which 
are then placed under the canceling-machine. Two holes 
are punched in the top of the notes and two in the bottom. 
The packages then go to the cutting-machine, where a huge 
blade cuts through the middle of each lengthwise, the labels 
of each half having the initials of the counter and the 
amount of money the package contained. The upper half 
goes to the Register's office and the lower half to the office 
of the Secretary of the Treasury. In each office every 
wretched little half of a bill is counted again, and if these 
final counts agree with that of the count in the Redemption 
Division, the money is at last ready for destruction. 

Alas ! for our dollar that went forth from the paternal 
door — as many another child has done — unsullied, only to 
return at a later day from its contact with the world, be- 
grimed, demoralized, despoiled. Where is our pretty dollar, 
fresh and pure ? Every delicate line defaced, tattered, 
filthy, worn out — this wretched little rag, surely, cannot be 
it! And yet it is. This is what the world's hard hand has 
made our dollar. It is nearing its end. It has been counted 
for the last time. The dollar that takes its place has 
already gone out into the world to go through very much 
the same experience. 

There is not much left of our poor little dollar, and 
nothing left for us but to go to its funeral. Like most of 



258 THE ALL- DEVOURING MACERATER. 

US, it has bad rather a hard time in this world of ours. 
Where has it not lived — from a palace to a "a pig's 
stomach"; and what has it not endured — from the scarlet 
rash to the small-pox — and to think that nothing remains 
for it now but to be cut to pieces and macerated ! 

Formerly old bills were cremated in a furnace located in 
a small building on Avhat is now the AVhite Lot. The 
"Burning Committee," bearing the boxes of doomed dollars, 
used to go to this fiery furnace daily and throw into it their 
precious cargo where it was supposed to be consumed. But 
the process was found to have dangerous possibilities. 
Paper in tightly-wrapped ])ackages does not always burn 
well, and a portion of a thousand-dollar bill might be left in 
the ashes or blown out of the smoke stack, and some day 
turn up for redemption again. Besides, on one occasion 
several notes were in some wav abstracted. 

So the macerater was devised, and now the poor worn-, 
out dollar, instead of being burned, is first cut in two and 
then soaked until it is dissolved to pulp. The macerater is 
in the basement of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. 
It is a huge steel receptacle, very much resembling a large 
boiler to a steam engine, and is made to revolve on its axes. 
Its interior is partly filled with water, and is fitted with 
angle irons, which, as the boiler revolves, beat and mash the 
contents exceedingly fine. On one side of the boiler is a 
round opening covered by a massive steel lid which is 
secured by three Yale locks, each with its individual key. 
One is held by tli.e Treasurer, another by the Secretary 
of the Treasury, and a third by the Comptroller of the Cur- 
rency. Nearly every day these three officials or their 
deputies, with a fourth designated by the Secretar}^ who 
are known as the Destruction Committee, assemble at an 
appointed time in the room directly over the macerater, to 
deposit in it the money to be destroyed. The money is 
brought from the Treasury in the Treasury wagon, under 




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FINAL RITES AND CEREMONIES. 261 

an armed guard, and after being weighed is deposited on a 
large table, on one side of which is a huge copper funnel 
which, when let down, fits into an opening in the floor and 
connects with the inlet to the macerater beneath. Each 
key holder unlocks his individual lock, the heavy lid is 
lifted, the funnel is let down into the hole in the floor, the 
seals to the packages of bills are broken, and when all is 
ready the officials, assisted by one or two trusted workmen, 
push the huge pile of money into the funnel, through which 
it finds its way into the maw of the insatiate monster 
beneath. A brawny colored man with a long pole ruth- 
lessly hastens its progress into the open jaws of the macer- 
ater, which, in this way, chews up nearly 2,000,000 dollars a 
day. It has been known to take 166,095,000 dollars at one 
gulp — the largest amount of paper money ever destroyed 
by Uncle Sam at one time. 

When all the bills have been forced in, the funnel is 
Avithdrawn, the lid is shut, the locks are again turned, the 
machinery is set in motion, the great boiler revolves, grind- 
ing and cutting the water-soaked bills into an unrecog- 
nizable mass. Alas! it is the funeral of our once clean, 
crisp dollar. Worn out, used up, gone by — millions of dol- 
lars pass into the macerater, our dollar with the rest. At 
the proper time a valve is unlocked and a mass of liquid 
pulp flows out of the macerater into a pit below. This 
is now generally rolled out into boards for bookbinding pur- 
poses and sold at forty dollars a ton. Thus the cover of 
this very book may one day have represented a million dol- 
lars or more. Some of the pulp is purchased by souvenir 
makers Avho fashion from it models of the Capitol, alleged 
busts of famous men, queer-looking animals and odd toys, 
many of them bearing some such legend as this: "Value 
$3,000,000." 

Thus ends the story of our dollar. It has had its day. 
Pulp it was ; to pulp it has returned. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

OFFICIAL "RED TAPE" — SOME LITTLE-KNOWN ACTIVITIES 

OF UNCLE SAM'S HOUSEHOLD — WONDERFUL 

WORK AND ASTONISHING FACTS. 

Official " Red Tape " — Fraudulent Claims — Guarding Against Errors in 
Accounts — An Incident of the Civil War — An Unknown Friend Who 
Loaned the Government a Million Pounds — Who Was He ? — A State 
Secret — An Important Meeting at the White House — Signing Ten 
Million Dollars Worth of Bonds Against Time — How It Was Done — 
600 Bookkeepers at Work — Ignorant Country Postmasters — Money 
Orders that Are Never Presented for Payment — An Unsolved Mystery 
— Thousands of Dollars Not Called For — How the Money Rolls into 
Uncle Sam's Tills — Smugglers and Their Ways — A Dangerous Class 
of Defrauders — A Wonderful Pair of Scales — Some Astonishing 
Facts About Weights and Measures. 



'N following the history of a dollar from its birth 

to its destruction we have seen but a small part 

of the numerous activities carried on by the 

'^ Treasury Department. For every room we have 

F- ij entered there are dozens of others just as interesting 
to anyone except to the plodding followers of official 
routine who work within them. Should we undertake to 
follow a claim against the government in its official journey 
we should be compelled to pass from one room to another, 
from one division to another, and from one set of book- 
keepers and counters to another. We should then discover 
that the much-derided " red tape " methods of the govern- 
ment, really provide an elaborate system of safeguards 
against fraudulent claims and errors in accounts, and that 

(262) 




THE GOVERNMENT CLEARING HOUSE. 263 

all through the intricate machinery one set of clerks keeps 
a check on another, and that in the final test all must fit like 
the everlasting cogs in two cogwheels. 

How many different sets of books are kept no one has 
ever taken the trouble to learn. How many books have 
been written full and are packed away in great heaps in 
basement and attic can only be guessed at. How many 
files of claims that have been paid and which have each been 
the various rounds of official signing and countersigning, 
are stored away in this great clearing house of the govern- 
ment no one can tell. Every year the mass accumulates, 
and every Secretary of the Treasury in his report to Con- 
gress calls attention to the fact that these records are packed 
away in such a condition that a fire may occur at any time 
and wipe out millions of vouchers. This might result in 
numberless claims being brouglit against the government by 
those who, though well aware that they had been paid once, 
would take advantage of the destroyed voucher to press the 
claim again. 

The officer immediately in charge and responsible for all 
the public moneys is the Treasurer. He pays the interest on 
public debts, has charge of the issue of notes, and is the cus- 
todian of the bonds held to secure the notes of national 
banks. The Register of the Treasury signs the issues of 
United States bonds, enters the registered bonds, and signs 
transfers of money from the Treasury to any depository ; in 
fact one of his chief duties is the signing of his name. 

Once in the dark days of the Civil War, when the Con- 
federate government was having fitted out in England two 
privateers like the Alahama, our Minister to England en- 
deavored to prevent their departure, and found that the only 
way by wliich this could be done was to put up £1,000,000 
sterling — nearly $5,000,000 — as a bond to indemnify Eng- 
land against loss if the ships were detained. This the Min- 
ister could not do ; but just when he was in despair, an Eng- 



264 A TEST OF HUMAN ENDURANCE. 

lisliman wlio knew of the affair and was a friend of the 
Union, offered the Minister the million pounds on condition 
that his name should be kept a secret. The offer was ac- 
cepted, but the Minister engaged to have $10,000,000 of 
United States bonds deposited as security for the English- 
man and to have them in London by the next steamer. 
There Avere no ocean cables in those days, and the letter 
from the Minister did not reach Washington till one Friday 
night. The steamer on which the bonds must go was due to 
sail on the following Monday. 

At 11 o'clock that Friday night the Register of the 
Treasury was called to the White House, where he found 
Lincoln, Seward, and Chase in consultation. Great danger 
threatened the Union, they said, if these vessels should leave 
England, and they wanted to know if $10,000,000 in bonds 
of $1,000 each could be signed and sent on next Monday's 
steamer. The Register thought it could not be done unless 
he should sign as long as he possibly could and then resign 
so that the President could appoint another Register to con- 
tinue the task without a break. 

But this plan might make the bonds irregular and was 
considered only as a last resort, so the Register set to work 
signing the bonds. lie signed for seven hours steadily, a 
messenger taking each bond as quickly as it was signed and 
leaving a new bond under the Register's pen.- Saturday 
morning his hands began to inflame, acute pains set in, but 
still the work went on, always the same mechanical repeti- 
tion of the same movements of hand and arm in Avriting: his 
own name. A physician was constantly on hand ; prepared 
foods were given and stimulants were administered at 
intervals ; but weakness crept on apace, and the task was 
proving too much for human endurance. 

At four o'clock on Sunday morning the phj'sician 
informed the Register that if he signed any more bonds it 
would endanger his life ; but he kept on, signing more and 



THE HEAD OF THE CIVIL ARMY. 2G5 

more slowly and laboriously. He could not remain in one 
position for any length of time, and the bonds were carried 
from table to table to break up the dreadful monotony. His 
fingers and hand were drawn and twisted. Finally at noon 
on Sunday the last bond was signed, the last hundred taking 
lono-er than the first thousand. Thev were hurried to New 
York and were placed on the steamer, arriving in London in 
due time. Who that English benefactor of the Union was is a 
secret to this day. The Register colhxpsed completely after 
the task was finished, and it was months before he recovered 
from the strain. The Register of the Treasury seldom has 
such a task as that to perform, but he is often obliged to do 
nothing but sig-n his name for hours and hours to Uncle 
Sam's money and papers. 

A Comptroller of the Treasury is a superior supervising 
officer of accounts, settling them when acted upon by audit- 
ors. His decision rules in the adjustment of accounts, and 
is even binding on the Secretary of the Treasury. When a 
Comptroller once told the President that no one could over- 
rule liim, not even the President, the latter admitted it, but 
calmly suggested that he could appoint a new Comptroller. 
The incident indicates how complete a master the President 
is throughout all the departments. He is not compelled to 
retain troublesome subordinates. When one who, by reason 
of the importance of his office or the plenitude of his powers, 
is so rash as to disregard the wishes of the President, off goes 
his official head, if the President thinks best, and as the sub- 
ordinates know this and have no great wish to lose their 
positions, the civil army is generally well disciplined. 

The office of the Comptroller of the Currency was not 
established till 1803 when national banks were created, and 
his duty is generally to supervise them and their relations 
to the government ; thus he is not concerned with the regu- 
lar routine of accounts. 

There are sij: auditors in the Treasury who examine and 



266 KEEPING TABS ON POSTMASTERS. 

pass upon all accounts. Each of these oiRcials has a deputy, 
chiefs of several divisions, and an army of clerks. To 
describe the various operations in one of these offices is 
to describe all. The office of the Sixth Auditor is exclu- 
sively the Auditor of the Post-office Department, and bis 
office is the largest auditing-office in the world. His duties 
consist of the examination and settlement of all accounts 
pertaining to the nearly 80,000 post-offices of the country, 
as well as of the mail and transportation service. There was 
a time when the Postmaster-General kept his own books, 
but now it requires an army of 600 people to keep them. 

The account of every post-office, from that of the city of 
New York, w^hose postmaster has a salary equal to that of 
a Cabinet officer, to those of the most insignificant cross- 
roads post-offices in the country paying a salary of only 
a few cents a year, must pass through the Auditor's office. 
Generally the small accounts are far more troublesome than 
the large ones. Each postmaster must render a statement 
of his transactions every three months, and where there 
is a change of postmasters two reports must be sent for that 
quarter. These accounts come into the Auditor's office by 
the bushel, and each must be opened, sorted, and delivered 
to the proper division, examined, verified, corrected if need 
be, and registered. Every figure must be scrutinized, 
and sometimes they have to be scrutinized very closely 
to determine whether they are figures or not. Every 
account passes through four divisions and must pass at 
least nine sets of clerks — opening clerks, stamp clerks, 
examining clerks, balance clerks, file clerks, etc. When the 
registers are made uj), they pass to the bookkeeping divi- 
sion, where the Avhole is crystallized into something like 
100,000 different accounts, kept so systematically that the 
condition of each post-office and mail contractor in the 
country may be seen at a glance; and then the original 
accounts and vouchers are filed away. 



IMMENSE MONEY ORDER BUSINESS. 267 

The money order department was not established till 
1864 and has been increasing by leaps and bounds, year 
after year, till now the domestic and foreign money orders 
number over 30,000,000 a year and aggregate in value over 
$200,000,000. -All these vouchers — 100,000 a day — have 
to be handled in this great auditing-office. If you cashed a 
money order ten years ago in the remotest post-office in the 
land, you will find it on file here. 

Why is it that so many money orders are never paid, and 
never appear in this great auditing-office for settlement? 
No one know^s. Among nearly 80,000,000 peoi)le there must 
of course be many cases of suicide, murder, sudden death, 
and mysterious disappearance, and if these unfortunates 
held unpaid money orders they must vanish with them. If 
the story of each unpaid money order could be told, how 
many tragedies and romances would be revealed. It is not 
because these orders are carelessly lost, for a duplicate may 
be had upon application, and thousands of such are issued 
and paid every year. But for some unknown reason a large 
number of money orders are never presented for payment, 
and the government is largely the gainer thereb}^ How 
much this sum amounts to every year is not knoAvn outside 
of the government — and the government does not tell. It 
is supposed to run into the hundreds of thousands. There 
is always the possibility that some of these orders may 
ultimately turn u]). Possibly some miserly ])eople are keep- 
ing them in their old stockings rather than the bills or the 
coin for which they stand. 

In auditing these accounts all money orders are sorted 
out by states and by officers, and checked against the 
offices issuing them. The charge upon the issued side of the 
issuing postmaster's account, and the credit upon the paid 
side of the paying postmaster's account for an}'- given voucher 
should agree ; but some of the backwoods postmasters know 
very little about bookkeeping, and tedious correspondence 



268 A NEVER-ENDING FLOOD OF MONEY. 

and labor, and sometimes months of time, are wasted before 
these petty accounts of stupid postmasters can be straight- 
ened out. Every new postmaster means more vexatious 
grist for the auditing mill. At certain seasons this great 
office of 600 workers is buried under unsettled accounts, 
some of which are from three months to a year in arrears. 

There is no more important bureau or branch office of 
any department of the government than the Sixth Auditor's 
office, for the necessary detail of its enormous business 
requires the highest order of clerical ability. Men and 
women who have passed the highest civil service examina- 
tions are employed here. A few manual positions are 
filled by persons who have not passed these examinations, 
but they must be capable and become experts in numbering, 
classifying, and filing post-office orders, vouchers, and the 
innumerable ])apers that must be preserved. 

Another important bureau of the Treasury Department 
is the Internal Revenue Bureau, the offices of which are 
in the Treasury building. Under the ordinar}^ revenue 
system, in which the tax is placed mainly on distilled spirits, 
beer, tobacco, oleomargarine, etc., the revenue collected 
amounts to about $15<),000,00() a 3'ear. But under the 
emergency of war, when special taxes are imposed on some 
industries, and revenue stamps are required on official 
papers, bonds, checks, medicines, etc., the money rolls into 
Uncle Sam's tills in a mighty and ever-increasing flood, 
until such taxes are repealed. 

The Commissioner of Customs superintends the collec- 
tion of customs duties, the receipts from Avhich amount to 
over $200,000,000 a year. This bureau also employs many 
special agents who keep a watchful eye, not only upon 
government servants in various customs districts, but also 
upon that large class of people — many of them of the 
highest standing — who undervalue their importations or 
endeavor to smuggle valuables in their trunks vhen 



IMPORTANT TREASURY INDUSTRIES. 2G9 

" returning from a summer vacation in Europe." Constant 
vigilance is required to prevent the operations of pro- 
fessional smugglers who haunt the Mexican and Canadian 
borders and who, with their confederates, form an adroit 
and dangerous class of defrauders of the government. 

Under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury the 
government also provides for the safety of navigation. A 
Commissioner of Navigation makes it his business to keep 
informed of the condition of the merchant marine and to 
advise steps for its development. Marine Hospitals where 
sick seamen are received and cared for are managed by the 
Supervising Surgeon General, and a Supervising Inspector 
General of Steamboat Service endeavors through his 
agencies to minimize the loss of life from accident. 

The Coast and Geodetic Survey occupies an old mansion 
near the Capitol, and is also under the direction of the Sec- 
retary of the Treasury. Its duties are to make a survey of 
our entire coast line for a distance of twenty leagues from 
shore, and of all harbors; to locate all shoals and other 
dangers to navigation, and to chart all soundings for the use 
of navigators. It makes large maps which are printed by 
the government and exhibit the exact nature of the entire 
coast. The geodetic part of the work is confined to making 
an accurate survey of land lines across the continent, mainly 
with a view of determining the exact size and shape of the 
earth. 

In the windowless basement room, originally built for a 
coal vault, in the building occupied by the Coast Survey, is 
mounted the most delicate pair of scales in the United 
States, which cost the government $1,500. They are part 
of the equipment of the Treasury Department's Bureau of 
Weights and Measures, which is attached to the Coast 
Survey, though why this should be so nobody has ever 
adequately explained. 

So delicate are these scales that they will weigh accu- 



270 DELICATE AND SENSITIVE SCALES. 

rately a ten-millionth part of a gram. They are so sensitive 
that the warmth given off by the body of a person approach- 
ing them near enough to open the glass case or to shift the 
weights would expand the balance arms, and produce an ap- 
preciable error in the results. Therefore they have been so 
constructed that they may be operated at a distance of 
twenty feet. Three long brass rods extend from the base 
of the case containing the scales, and at the extremity of 
each is a Avheel, and by turning these wheels the weights 
may be shifted from one pan to another, or any other neces- 
sary operations conducted. The readings are made through 
a small telescope mounted where the operator stands. On 
one side of the room the temperature is different from the 
other side, and whenever the instrument is used it has been 
found necessary to surround it with large sheets of asbestos 
paper. Corrections have to be made for the temperature, 
humidity, and density of the air. With each weighing there 
must be a reading of the thermometer, barometer, and hy- 
drometer, and corrections to correspond to the conditions 
existing at the time. 

Incredible as it may seem, the difference of an inch or 
two from the center of the earth, thousands of miles away, 
causes an appreciable variation in the weight of the objects. 
This is illustrated by placing two equal weights side by side 
in each pan, when the beam shows no variation. But place 
one of the weights on top of the other in one pan, leaving 
the other pair side by side in the other pan, and the balance 
will be disturbed. The weights used in this experiment are 
scarcely two inches in height, so that the difference in dis- 
tance from the earth's center, considered in comparison to 
the distance itself, is infinitesimal. 

The standard from which measures of length and mass 
are derived are stored in the same building. The standard 
of mass is a cylindrical-shaped piece of whitish metal about 
the size of a tennis ball. The standard of length is a bar of 



STANDARDS OF LENGTH AND MASS. 271 

the same silver-like metal about three feet long and a little 
less than an inch square. Each face is deeply grooved, and 
in one of the grooves at each end is a polished spot on which 
three delicate hair lines are marked. The middle one of 
these lines determines the end of the bar. The bar is a 
standard meter, and the cylindrical weight is the standard 
kilogramme. The material from which they are made is a 
mixture of platinum and iridium, the latter being added to 
o-ive additional hardness to the metal which above all others 
is recognized as the most durable. The value of the metal 
alone in this standard meter is $1,500, but it has a much 
greater value from the labor expended in making it per- 
fectly accurate. 

The kilogramme and meter standards are the result of 
fifteen years' labor by a joint congress of scientists, sup- 
ported by seventeen of the leading civilized nations. The 
International Metric Convention was organized in 1875, and 
on June 2, 1890, the President of the United States broke 
the seal of the standard kilogramme and meter which fell 
to the share of this country, and in the presence of the Sec- 
retary of the Treasury and a nunil3er of invited guests, 
assembled in the Cabinet room of the Executive Mansion, 
declared them officially adopted. 

These oriofinals have been used but once since. This 
was when a very accurate copy was made from each for 
practical use by the government bureau in regulating the 
standard weights and measures of the country. The origi- 
nal kilogramme w^as then placed under two glass bell jars, 
which were locked and sealed. No human hand has touched 
the kilogramme since it left the makers in Paris ; what little 
handling has been necessary has been done Avith a pair of 
special forceps covered with soft chamois skin. This is to 
prevent increase of weight by the adhesion of minute quan- 
tities of foreign substances, or decrease of weight by an 

abrasion. _ 
lo 



272 ODD USES FOR OFFICIAL STANDARDS. 

The standard meter is kept in a case of wood lined with 
velvet, and protected on the outside by a heav}'^ iron cylinder 
with a screw cap. It is removed only on special occasions. 

Although there has been no adequate legislation on the 
subject, the government attempts in a hap-hazard sort of 
way to supply the states with accurate standards of the 
ordinary pound, bushel, and gallon used in every-day com- 
mercial transactions. Each state is supposed to have a full 
set of the government prototypes, and to have an official 
sealer of weights and measures with a corps of inspectors 
under him ; and then each municipality or township is sup- 
posed to have its duly-appointed authorities who have their 
working copies of the standard measures, and see that 
tradesmen do not employ false scales in dealing out their 
wares to the people. 

That is the theory of it ; the way it works out in practice 
is very different. The carefully worked-out standards which 
are furnished by the government are usually stored in cel- 
lars or unused vaults and their very existence forgotten. 
In one of the Eastern states it was discovered recently that 
the gold-plated half-bushel standard measure was being used 
to feed the horse belonging to the Assistant Chief of the 
Fire Department; the standard pound weight was busy 
holding a door open; the gallon measure found its sphere 
of usefulness as a cuspidor, and the smaller prototypes all 
had jobs as paper weights. In another state the custodian 
bored a hole in the standard of liquid measure and fitted it 
with a spigot in order to facilitate the measuring operations. 

The advent of electricity and the general advancement 
of science has brought new work to the Bureau of Weights 
and Measures. It has also emphasized the need of adequate 
legislation under the constitutional power to provide the 
country with uniform standards. All over the land people 
are paying for electric light; and yet they have no standard 
by which to measure it or to gauge the size of their bills ex- 



NEED OF ACCURATE STANDARDS. 273 

cept uhe dictum of the company which furnishes it. There 
is no legal standard of measure, and the ohm, which is bor- 
rowed from Germany, may be a big or a little ohm as it 
suits the company to make it. There is no standard candle 
power, and there is no way for a customer to know whether 
his lamp is of a certain brilliance or not. 

There is almost no occupation where the need of accurate 
standards of some kind is not felt. For example, it is said 
that it is almost impossible to get an accurate clinical ther- 
mometer. A physician happens to have a high registering 
instrument, and all the patients he is called upon to examine 
show an alarming temperature. A surveyor has an inaccu- 
rate tape, and years later the error results in a lawsuit and 
great loss. Not long ago a discrepancy amounting to $50,- 
000 between a bill of lading and the goods delivered was 
traced to a defective hydrometer used to gauge alcoholic 
spirits. 

The last industry we shall mention that comes under the 
fostering care of the Treasury Department is the Light 
House Board, of which the Secretary of the Treasury is ex- 
officio President. It supervises the work of providing suit- 
able buoys and lights, the coast being divided for this purpose 
into districts with a naval officer and army engineer assigned 
to each. Uncle Sam has over 1,200 lighthouses, each in 
charge of paid keepers; he has fifty lightships ever tossed 
about in their lonely positions on the restless sea ; he main- 
tains nearly 2,000 post lights, and over 1,000 men to attend 
to them. Besides these he has sprinkled tlie coast Avith bell 
buoys and whistling buoys, and he has nearly 400 fog horns 
operated by clockwork or by steam. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE — HOW COUNTER- 
FEITERS, DEFAULTERS. AND THIEVES ARE CAUGHT 
— SOME REMARKABLE DETECTIVE EXPERIENCES. 

A Secret Fund for Secret Purposes — Uncle Sam's Detective Bureau — Its 
Methods and Mysteries — Expert Sleutli-liounds — Eyes Tliat Are Every- 
where — Counterfeiters and Their Secret Workshops — A Skillful and 
Dangerous Class of Criminals — Where They Come From — The Mu- 
seum of Crime in the Secret Service Rooms — Some Marvelous Coun- 
terfeits — Running Down a "Gang" — Wide-Spread Nets for Coun- 
terfeiters, Defaulters, and Thieves — Catching Old and Wary Offenders 
— Ingenious Methods — An Adroit Counterfeiter and His Shabby 
Hand-bag — A Mysterious Bundle — A Surprised Detective — What 
the Hand-bag Contained — How Great Frauds Are Unearthed — How 
Suspicious Persons Are Shadowed — A Wonderful Story of Detective 
Skill — Deceiving the Treasury Officials — Detective Experiences. 



xjlf^^ VER since governments were formed, a secret 
^^^ service has played an important part in their 
^^^ affairs, and it has been regarded as a necessitv 




t^^-^ in times of peace as well as in times of war, 
General Washington had such a service in the Revo- 
lution. Even Moses sent his spies into the j)romised 
land, and Joshua " sent out of Shittim two men to spy 
secretly." 

Shortly after the establishment of the government, Con- 
gress appropriated $30,000 for the use of the President in 
maintaining a watch upon foreign agents and for similar pur- 
poses, and this sum is now annually drawn from the Treas- 
ury simply upon the certificate of the Secretary of State, 
no voucher of any kind being required. Nothing is known 

(274) 



BEGINNING OP THE SECRET SERVICE. 275 

outside of the State Department of how this money is spent, 
though doubtless there are many thrilling stories in the long 
history of this secret fund that will never be written. But 
this fund, appropriated for the sole use of the Department of 
State, forms no part of and has no connection with what is 
commonly known as the United States Secret Service, wdiich 
by common misapprehension is sup[)osed to do all the detec- 
tive work of the government. As a matter of fact the Secret 
Service is established and maintained for the exclusive pur- 
pose of following up and ca])turing counterfeiters, and it 
forms a division by itself under the general direction of the 
Secretary of the Treasury. 

The present organization really had its beginning in the 
early days of the Civil War, when Washington was a hot- 
bed of Confederate spies, through w^hom Southern officials 
were kept advised of what was going on in the national 
Capital. Indeed, Southern generals were frequently better 
posted on coming events than were Northern generals. 
Even when General Butler was obliged to resort to the 
scheme of buying a hand organ and monkey to get one of 
his officers who understood Italian into Washington, the 
Southern generals were in close touch with many men and 
more women who secretly sympathized with the South, and 
who took advantage of high social position to become fully 
informed of the plans and secrets of the government. The 
demand for Union detectives for war purposes was soon fol- 
lowed by a demand for men to enforce honesty in the collec- 
tion of the direct taxation imposed to raise money to carry 
on the war ; and as soon as the government began to issue 
its bills of credit another demand quickly arose for men to 
detect and put a stop to their imitations by counterfeiters. 
The result was the establishment of a large Detective Bureau 
as an annex to the office of the Secretary of the Treasury, 
and its chief, who ranked as a colonel, was given such wdde 
jurisdiction that his authority was exercised over all the de- 



276 HOW THE DETECTIVE SERVICE IS ORGANIZED. 

partments of the government. ■ He called into his service an 
army of men whose antecedents were not known, and soon 
had a force of more or less questionable characters whicli is 
said to have numbered 2,000. The chief was practically a 
law unto himself, and among his subordinates corruption 
was rampant. So notorious were the abuses tliat crept into 
the Service that men who would never have thought of en- 
gaging in illegitimate enterprises went into the business of 
illicit distilling, bounty jumping, smuggling, counterfeiting, 
and other lawless practices. 

After the war the spirit of reform gradually changed 
the character of government detective work, and laws were 
passed that practically placed the prevention of violations 
of the internal revenue laws in the hands of the Internal 
Revenue authorities, and customs violations under the Cus- 
toms authorities, while the business of looking after coun- 
terfeiters was placed in the hands of the Secretary of the 
Treasury through a division known ever afterward as the 
United States Secret Service. By good management and 
efficient work this Service gradually developed into its pres- 
ent prominence ; and while its assistance may be obtained 
by other departments of the government at any time, it is 
organized purely by virtue of a law appropriating money 
for the detection and arrest of counterfeiters. 

The $100,000 which is thus annually appropriated for the 
use of the Secret Service must be used exclusively for this 
purpose, with the exception of $2,000 which, by a recent 
enactment, is set aside for the investigation of claims for 
"reimbursement of expenses incident to the last sickness 
and burial of deceased pensioners." While this duty was 
placed in the hands of the Secret Service, it is such a small 
fraction of its work that it hardly rises to the dignity of an 
exception. It has no authority nor a})propriation for the 
pursuit of defrauders known as " moonshiners " or " smug- 
glers." Special agents in the Internal Kevenue Bureau are 



SPECIAL WORK OF THE SECRET SERVICE. 277 

employed to detect and arrest the first, and similar agents 
in the Customs Bureau to capture the second. 

Either of these bureaus, however, may call upon the 
Secret Service for help in undertakings that demand the 
hio-hest detective skill, and for this the Service has become 
famous. Such calls are regularly made, but in all such 
cases the bureau requesting the service must pay the bills. 
If the Secretary of War wishes a force of detectives, as he 
did at the outbreak of our war with Si)ain, he can call 
on the Chief of the Secret Service, in which case the men 
assigned to the work must be paid by the War Depart- 
ment. The Secret Service Bureau makes no report except 
upon its ow^n work as a division of the Treasury in detect- 
ing counterfeiters of notes and coins, and in arresting 
persons having in their possession materials for making 
bogus money. 

Notwithstanding all the precautions taken by the govern- 
ment to make counterfeiting both difficult and dangerous, it 
costs Uncle Sam nearly $100,000 a year to maintain a corps 
of sharp detectives to keep counterfeits out of circulation 
and to keep such offenders in jail or under surveillance. 
There will alway be people ready to defraud the govern- 
ment at every opportunity, and the temptation to make and 
pass counterfeit money, even though all such offenders are 
sure to be captured sooner or later, is often too great to be 
resisted. The arrests for such offenses average about 700 a 
year and are made in every state of the Union. Over one- 
half of these arrests are for manufacturing, dealing in, and 
passing counterfeit coins, it being much easier to counterfeit 
silver coins than paper money ; for silver itself is so cheap 
that bogus coins can be made nearly of standard weight and 
fineness, and still yield a fair profit. If silver passed more 
freely than it does, this form of counterfeiting would be 
dangerous ; but fortunately not enough of such counterfeits 
can be placed in circulation to make the business pay. 



278 WHERE COUNTERFEITERS COME FROM. 

Of the 679 arrests made by the Secret Service in one 
year, 409 were of this coin-counterfeiting class; 116 were 
for manufacturing and passing counterfeit paper money, 
and fifty -one were for altering government notes. The other 
offenses were of such a nature as lightening gold coins by 
clipping or drilling them, or counterfeiting foreign securities. 
The amount of counterfeit money captured was about $75,- 
000. Cartloads of plates, dies, moulds, and miscellaneous 
appliances were captured and destroyed before the rogues 
had an opportunity to use them to any extent. 

Of the counterfeits that make their appearance during 
the year, not more than two or three are usually dangerous, 
and of these very few are circulated before the offenders 
are caught. The amount of capital invested every year by 
counterfeiters in getting ready for their illegal operations 
amounts to far more than is ever made out of it ; and yet in 
spite of discouragements, and of the fact that the chances 
are one hundred to one that such an enterprise cannot suc- 
ceed, a new crop of self-deluded victims is constantly making 
its appearance. They come from various walks in life, from 
the street-corner loafer who forms a " gang " and makes 
money that is easily detected, to the accomplished villain 
who invests large capital, secures skilled accomplices, and 
sometimes turns out notes which are passed as genuine after 
close scrutiny by experts of the Redemption Bureau. 

The Secret Service has its offices in the Treasury Build 
ing, and in outward appearances they are very much like 
other government offices ; though if we could look behind 
the polished file cases we should find many a secret as 
curious as any in the annals of crime, and the records would 
reveal the wide-spread nets that have here been woven 
about unsuspecting criminals. Formerly one of the rooms 
was given up to the exhibition of some of the curious 
counterfeits and ingenious counterfeiting tools that have 
been captured, but the collection outgrew its quarters and it 



INGENIOUS COUNTERFEITERS AND IMITATORS. 279 

was finally thouo-ht best to close the museuni. It was 
believed by some that these cariosities of crime might have 
a bad effect upon the minds of wealv individuals who came 
to gaze upon them. Still, a few rare specimens of the 
counterfeiters' art remain in the various rooms. 

Here may be seen a one-hundred-dollar certificate made 
with a pen and witli such consummate skill that it passed 
through the sub-treasury. It looks like a genuine note, but 
under a glass it is a most obvious counterfeit. On the walls 
hang some oil paintings, one, for example, of three barrels 
packed to overfiowing with crisp government notes of 
various denominations. Twenty-dollar bills fall gracefully 
over the edges of the barrels, and bills of much larger 
denominations peep from the packages sticking up from the 
center. The figures and the engraving on these bills are 
painted in facsimile with the most painstaking care by an 
artist who was a genius and who received a good round 
price for this product of his skill ; but one day the saloon 
keeper who had the picture hung in his gilded drinking 
palace beheld it ruthlessly seized by a man who turned out 
to be a Secret Service detective. Protests were useless ; so 
were bribes; for the law expressly stipulates that no one 
shall have in his possession imitations of United States 
notes, even if they are in the form of a valuable painting. 
Many such pictures are seized every year. Occasionally 
new advertising schemes appear, involving the imitation of 
some of Uncle Sam's monied obligations, but the innocent 
perpetrators soon discover that they are violating a law 
that cannot be evaded. 

The precise character of the operations of the Secret 
Service and the methods by which it works are naturally 
concealed from the public. It alone knows how thoroughly 
it has honeycombed the country with agents who often 
follow their intended victims for months before they strike. 
While the service is divide:! into certain districts with a 



280 MYSTERIOUS METHODS OF THE SECRET SERVICE. 

head of the detective force in each district, its men are con- 
stantly on the move. Its eyes are everywhere. The visitor 
is strangely impressed by the fact that he is in the presence 
of a force whose operations are going on in a silent manner, 
whose ends are accomplished by patient watching and wait- 
ing. The mystery that pervades these rooms is in odd con- 
trast to the openness of all the other institutions of this 
democratic government. The detectives of the force are as 
ignorant as the public of the full workings of the office, and 
they only know that certain specified duties are theirs. 
Sometimes they are entirely ignorant as to whether other 
officers are detailed in their district, and it has often hap- 
pened that one Secret Service employee has arrested 
another, leaving it to be supposed that the ever-watchful 
chief follows up his own men and that he takes no chances 
with a man whom he does not thoroughlv know. 

It is not easy to get good detectives who at the same 
time can be thoroughly trusted, and it is sometimes 
even necessarv to enlist the services of a thief to catch a 
thief, but the arrest is generally placed in better hands. 
AVhen the Service secures a detective at once sharp and 
trustworthy he generally becomes one of the permanent 
force, which is now sufficientlv laro^e to enable the chief to 
place in the field at any desired place a corps of the most 
capable '"sleuth-hounds." The work requires a peculiar 
talent. It has its fascinations and its dangers. The detec- 
tive must not only be keen but brave. He often takes his 
life in his hands, but he has a pistol in his pocket. 

The successful manufacture of counterfeit coins or notes 
necessarily requires a combination of men ; and the Secret 
Service usually assumes, when a new counterfeit appears, 
that there is a "gang" concerned in the ])lot. A counter: 
felting gang is usually composed of one or more persons 
who provide capital for the purchase of presses and an 
engraver's outfit, and of an engraver and a printer, each of 



KEEPING AN EYE ON ROGUES. 281 

whom must be a first-class specialist in his line. But excep- 
tional cases occur, as, for instance, that of Peter McCarty 
and his wife, wlio were arrested a few yeai's ago in St. 
Louis. "McCarty possessed such unusual manual dexterity 
that he was enabled to carry on his counterfeiting opera- 
tions for a long time without any other accomplice than 
his wife, who simply "pushed" or circulated the notes. 
Such cases baffle the detectives for a time. 

The Chief of the Secret Service naturally makes it a 
business to keep informed of the antecedents and connec- 
tions of men who have ever fallen under the suspicion of 
counterfeiting, and by keeping them under constant sur- 
veillance he can very often locate the guilty party simply 
by the character of the counterfeit that appears. Nothing 
can be taken for granted, however, and even if satisfied of 
the identity of the rascals, months are sometimes spent 
in weaving; a web around them so as to catch them with 
sufficient evidence of their guilt. In a notable case not long 
ago the detectives were sure who the guilty parties were 
long before they had any evidence against them. An old 
offender named Brockway, living in New York, was believed 
to be interested in circulating new and dangerous counter- 
feits of a hundred-dollar bill. He was closely watched, and 
his occasional meetings with another man, whose name 
proved to be Doyle, led to an investigation of that person's 
movements. One day Doyle purchased a ticket for Chi- 
cago; a Secret Service man who was directly behind him 
did likewise. They were fellow travelers. Doyle did not 
leave the train and the detective's eyes did not leave Doyle, 
who was a very unconcerned and agreeable traveler, with 
no luggage but a small shabby hand-bag. When Doyle 
jumped from the train at Chicago, he was surprised to find 
himself arrested by his fellow traveler, who in searching the 
rusty hand-bag found none of the counterfeits he was look- 
ing for, but to his great surprise found instead, wrapped in 



282 UNEARTHING GREAT FRAUDS. 

an old shirt, a package of counterfeit United States bonds 
to the value of $210,000 ! 

It turned out that Doyle had made a previous visit to 
Chicago, where he had floated several of these counterfeit 
bonds successfully, the brokers being completely deceived 
by the expert character of the engraving and the agreeable 
personality of Doyle, who was now intending to float a 
much larger sura and retire with his accomplices into the 
safety of obscurity. He would very likely have succeeded, 
thoujrh no bonds of the denomination seized had ever been 
issued. It transpired upon fuller investigation that the 
engraver of this gang had been an employee of a private 
corporation that had once printed United States notes and 
bonds, though this is believed to be the only instance where 
advantage was ever taken of skill once employed by the 
government. The plate for the bonds was found buried on 
Long Island, and the whole outfit of the gang was captured. 

It often happens that the agents of the Secret Service 
will, when in search of the perpetrators of one counterfeit, 
unearth a greater fraud ; and it also frequently happens 
that the members of a gang are entirely new in the annals 
of the Service and are thus enabled to work their schemes 
without the disadvantage of having been under previous 
suspicion. Such a case came to light in 1899, and is not 
only one of the most remarkable cases in the records of the 
Service but well illustrates some of its effective methods. 
In the brains, capital, and skill employed in the scheme, it 
was unique. It involved men of high standing in their com- 
munities; it involved a plan for placing $10,000,000 of coun- 
terfeit silver certificates in circulation, — a plan which was 
absolutely perfect in all its details and failed only because 
of the cupidity of one of the engravers, who foolishly 
passed a few of the bills before the time was ripe. It 
involved also an extensive fraud in internal revenue stamps, 
the government being swindled out of $150,000 before the 



THE FADED CARMINE SEAL. 283 

offenders were captured. ;N'ever had there been a swindling 
scheme of such gigantic proportions, or such promise of 

success. 

The plans of the swindlers were proceeding quietly and 
perfectly and without any suspicion on the part of the gov- 
ernment till early in 1898, when the Sub-Treasury in New 
York called the attention of the department to what was 
suspected to be a counterfeit of the " Monroe head " one- 
hundred-dollar silver certificates. Tlie engraving was per- 
fect. The cashier at New York had been led to suspect the 
notes only because the carmine seal seemed to have a faded 
appearance, whereas the ink made and used by the govern- 
ment always holds its color. The suspected bills were sub- 
mitted to experts in the Redemption Bureau in the Treas- 
ury and were declared to be genuine ; indeed some of them 
had been already redeemed. They had passed the banks 
and sub-treasuries without raising a suspicion, and there 
was nothing to indicate that they were counterfeits except 
the possible fading of the seal. The Secret Service agents 
were entirely in the dark, for there was absolutely no clue 
to the perpetrators of the crime. To guard against the fur- 
ther circulation of so dangerous a counterfeit the whole 
issue of these notes, amounting to about $26,000,000, was 
called in to be exchanged for bills of other denominations. 
It is extremely rare that government experts fail to detect a 
counterfeit at once, for while it may be perfect enough to 
pass the inspection of casual observers, its spurious character 
will betray itself to the trained eyes of one who knows. 
But here were bills of the denomination of one hundred dol- 
lars which even the skilled experts in the Treasury had pro- 
nounced genuine, and no one had the least suspicion where 
they came from or how many might be in circulation. 

But the Secret Service soon discovered a ray of light. 
By a painstaking process the counterfeited notes were 
traced to Philadelphia, and a suspicious connection was 



284 SPREADING THE NET FOR CONSPIRATORS. 

found between Taylor & Bredell, a firm of engravers having 
an extensive plant at Ninth and Filbert streets, and W. M. 
Jacobs & Co. and W. L. Kendig, extensive cigar manufac- 
turers of Lancaster, Pa. About the time that Chief Wilkie 
of the Secret Service had made tliis discovery and had 
found out that the cigar manufacturers had been usino- 
counterfeit revenue stamps since 1896, and that the deputy 
collector of internal revenue in the district in which the fac- 
tory was situated w^as in the pay of the counterfeiters, the 
Collector began to suspect that something was wrong, and 
a warrant w^as issued for the arrest of both Kendig- and 
Jacobs ; but as this would have destroyed the net that the 
Secret Service was weaving about the consjiirators, the 
action was stopped at Washington through the representa- 
tions of Chief "Wilkie, and the whole matter w^as placed in 
his hands. He knew that he was on the track of no ordi- 
nary counterfeiters. They w^ere men of brains and means. 
They w^ere also men of good reputations. They had United 
States revenue officers in their pay. Never before did the 
Secret Service more fully realize that it must have in its 
employ only men w^hom it could absolutely trust, and as the 
sequel proved it had "good men and true" in this emer- 
gency. 

The problem now w^as to catch the conspirators with 
sufficient evidence to lead to their conviction. Detectives 
must shadow them night and dav without once arousins; 
their suspicion, and must spring like a tiger wdien the time 
was ripe. The business of the Philadelphia engravers was 
carried on in four rooms, and the sharp detectives who 
visited the place " on business " noted that the boy in charge 
of the front office never passed beyond the second room 
When called, one of the proprietors usually came from the 
inner rooms and only after some delay. The outer office 
was locked by a Yale lock, and it was discovered tbat the 
office boy carried one of the keys. In course of time and 



v. v; —• 




SKILLFUL DETECTIVE WORK. 287 

apparently in an informal manner, one of the detectives 
became acquainted and eventually quite " chummy " with 
the office boy. Meeting him on the street one night, the 
detective saluted him as usual, and after he had passed 
" happened to think," so he told the boy, that a friend of 
his, a theatrical manager, was looking for a few smart boys 
to take part in an opera. The boy was interested at once. 
How much would they pay ? The detective named the sal- 
ary, which was more than the boy was then earning, and 
the result was that the lad, brimming over with delight at 
such a fine chance, agreed to come to his friend's hotel that 
very evening, so that the manager could look him over and 
see if he would do. At the appointed time the boy 
promptly appeared. The " manager " (of the Secret Serv- 
ice) scrutinized him carefully and said he must see him in 
costume, whereupon he brought out a gorgeous suit with 
flaming red tights. The boy was more delighted than ever. 
He was taken to an adjoining room where he quickly slip- 
ped off his working clothes and soon made his appearance 
in the main room dressed in his opera costume. While 
being critically inspected by the manager, a detective slip- 
ped into the other room, took a bunch of keys from the 
boy's discarded clothes, and slipped down stairs to a lock- 
smith who was in waiting. A duplicate was quickly made 
and the bunch of keys returned to the old clothes long 
before the lad had ceased to admire his form in a large 
mirror with which the room had been provided. Finally 
the manager thought he might do, but he would give him a 
definite answer in a few days when his opera plans were 
more complete. Meantime the lad was to say nothing 
about it, and with this injunction he reluctantly resumed 
his working clothes and went on his way, happy in his 
newly-found friends and his bright prospects. 

There were many other steps yet to be taken, quite as 
elaborate as this which so well illustrates the methods of the 



288 SPRINGING THE TRAP. 

skilled and patient detective. Meantime all the suspected 
parties were closely shadowed, and in one way or another 
their carefully-concealed plans became known to the Serv- 
ice. One dark night when the shadowed engravers were 
reported to be safely at home and abed, the pickets of the 
Secret Service were placed for any emergency and the 
closely-guarded engraving establishment was quietly en- 
tered and its contents carefully noted. A watch was con- 
stantly maintained on all the suspected parties, and in due 
time all were arrested under circumstances which left them 
no alternative but to plead guilty. This took place fourteen 
months after the pursuit began. Not one escaped, and all 
the plates, paper, etc., were captured. 

In commenting upon this successful work the Secretary 
of the Treasury said : — " That the vigilance of the Secret 
Service affords a protection of the highest value to our cur- 
rency is a matter which admits of no possible doubt. It is 
gratifying to realize that no scheme, however formidable, 
for counterfeiting the money of the country has long suc- 
ceeded in escaping detection of officers of this Service." 
This high praise is entirely deserved. It would be a good 
thing for every counterfeiter to study the records of the 
Secret Service before he decides to become rich in trying to 
imitate Uncle Sam's money. There are ways of cheating 
the government with impunity, but this is not one of them. 



CHAPTER XVT. 

THE WAR DEPARTMENT — now AN ARMY IS RAISED, 

EQUIPPED, AND MAINTAINED — WHERE THE 

BONES OF LINCOLN'S ASSASSINS LIE. 

lu the Office of the Secretary of War — Pins and Tags on the Chess Board 
of War — Keeping Track of Our Soldier Boys — Soldiers Made of Wax 

— "Conquer or Die" — Trophies of War — Huge Boxes Labeled 
Like Coffins — Stored Behind Iron-Grated Doors — Curious Relics 
From Santiago and the Philippines — Handsome but Harmless Guns 

— Where and How the Record of Every Soldier Is Kept — Taking 
Care of the Sick and Wounded — Watching Other Nations — The 
Signal Service — A Dapper Man in a Blue Uniform — Watching for 
Raw Recruits — Passing the Surgeon's Examination — A Soldier's 
Life — A Surprised Lot of Red-Coats — Where the Bones of Lincoln's 
Assassins Lie — Dishonored Graves. 



XCE, during the stirring days of civil strife, the 
tramp of soldiers and the rattle of drums were 
familiar sounds in the every-day life of the 
Capital, and even now there are occasional 
reminders in its busy streets of the pageantry of war. 
The sound of clattering hoofs may frequently be 
heard in the distance, and in a moment a troop of Uncle 
Sam's cavalry sweeps by, off, perhaps, to some remote 
military post or garrison. From the headquarters of the 
War Department in the great granite building just west of 
the White House has gone out an order. Every movement 
of the soldiers who carry our flag is recorded there. As we 
enter the office of the Secretary of War, we see hanging 
from the walls, or standing upon easels close to his chair, 
large maps into which at numerous points pins are stuck 
16 (289) 




290 MOVES ON THE CHESSBOARD OF WAR. 

and from their heads dangle minute tags. Each tag stands 
for a regiment, tells what regiment it is, who is in command, 
and the date when last reported. Every day as dispatches 
come in, pins and tags are moved about, and thus the Secre- 
tary knows at a glance where and how his infantry, artil- 
lery, and cavalry are located in our own or foreign lands. 
If an enemy is in the field, he has tags for him, and thus on 
these maps he can observe the movement of great armies on 
the chess board of war thousands of miles away. 

On the walls of the Secretary's office are portraits of all 
the Secretaries of War from Henry Knox to the present, 
with the single exception of Jefferson Davis. There are 
also notable paintings of Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan, 
their frames draped with the Stars and Stripes. 

Across the hall are the offices of the General in com- 
mand of the army, while in the corridors in large glass 
cases, looking very precise and solemn, are wax figures of 
soldiers, life size, exhibiting the uniforms of various ranks, 
not only in the army of to-day but in the army of the 
Revolution and of the Civil War. One represents the dress 
of AVashington's Life Guard, a service formed in 1776, 
presenting a brilliant appearance compared with the more 
somber hues of modern uniforms. The wax faces of these 
silent figures have a determined look well suited to their 
motto, which was, " Conquer or die." 

By an act passed in ISU, captured flags and other 
trophies of war were given into the custody of the Secretary 
of War. The War of the Rebellion greatly increased this 
number, and for years these soiled and tattered banners 
Avere objects of great interest. The number of captured 
Confederate flags was large, and these faded, torn, bullet- 
ridden trophies were conspicuously displayed, and many 
Confederate veterans who had bravely followed them with 
fiercely-beating hearts in the fury of battle, and tens of 
thousands of Union Veterans who had as bravely fought 



BATTLE FLAGS AND TROPHIES. 291 

against them, came to look upon these blood-stained flags 
again and recall the grim memories of other days. 

But as the ravages of time began to tell even more 
severely upon the flags than had the fierce battles in which 
they had once been proudly carried, public sentiment de- 
creed that they should no longer aid in keeping alive 
sectional feeling by being displayed to the gaze of the 
curious. They are now packed in many huge boxes behind 
iron-grated doors in the sub-cellar of the building, labeled 
like so many coffins. Here unseen, in the darkness, these 
trophies of the great Civil War are folded away, never 
again to be unfurled. Once in two or three years the boxes 
are opened and the flags are treated with ammonia, but 
they are now very tender and can be handled only with the 
greatest care. 

^Mounted in front of the building are curious-looking 
cannons and mortars surrendered at Yorktown and at the 
Convention of Saratoga, but the oldest specimens of all are, 
curiously enough, some of the cannons cajitured in more 
recent years in the old fortresses of Santiago Harbor and 
at Manila. Some of these great copper smooth-bore 
cannon, most elaborately ornamented, had lain on the 
parapets of Morro Castle for 300 years, and while they look 
very fierce, they were almost as harmless at Morro as they 
are here with their enormous mouths open towards Penn- 
sylvania Avenue. 

The duties of the Secretary of "War were defined by law 
immediately after the adoption of the Constitution, Wash- 
ington selecting his favorite general, Henry Knox, for the 
post, which, it might be supposed, the new government, 
established by virtue of the hardships and bravery of the 
army in the field, would consider one of great importance. 
But it is one of the anomalies in our history that the early 
patriots failed to recognize the services of the arm}^, which 
was treated with great injustice. Men and officers who had 



292 OBJECTIONS TO A STANDING ARMY. 

given their time and property for the independence and 
welfare of the nation were turned out of service without 
pay or recognition of any kind. 

But there was a fictitious fear of a standing army, 
largely born of the hatred of monarchical institutions. It 
was a fear which in less than a generation nearly brought 
the country to disaster. So far as the army was concerned 
in the War of 1S12, there is little to relate with pride. 
Officers blundered, men misbehaved; there were failures 
everywhere leading to the destruction of the Capitol and 
other public buildings of the new government, and there 
was hardly a redeeming feature until Jackson with a com- 
mand of volunteers defeated the English veterans at New 
Orleans. After this war the dominant party still hated any- 
thing like a standing army. AVhen the War with Mexico 
broke out it numbered but 10,000 men, and the battles 
were mainly fought by volunteers who possessed splendid 
fighting qualities because many of them were trained to 
frontier life. Hostilities over, the army was again reduced 
to 12,000, and just before the War of the Eebellion it 
became so divided by sectional interests that it Avas hardly 
a factor. By enlisting volunteers the Union force was re- 
organized and increased to 186,000 in 1861 ; to 637,000 in 
1862; to 910,000 in 1863 and finally to more than 1,000,000 
in 1865. It required a year after this enlistment to fit these 
men for the field. When the Civil War closed the regular 
army was fixed at 25,000, where it remained until our war 
with Spain, when it was increased to 65,000 temporarily, 
and the fighting force was augmented by volunteers. In 
February, 1901, Congress enacted a law providing for a 
re-organization of the army on modern military lines, with a 
maximum force of 100,000 men and a minimum of about 
63,000. 

The regular army of to-day can be put in motion 
equipped ready for war service in less than six hours, 



WHERE "red-tape" IS A NECESSITY. 293 

through the administration of the Secretary of War and 
his bureaus, each of which has an army officer at its head 
with the rank of a brigadier-generaL Their elegant offices 
occu])y the western portion of the State, War, and Navy 
Buikling. These bureaus, which are often decried as being 
notorious examples of official red-tape, have nevertheless 
been the growth of necessity and of experience. The Adju- 
tant-General's department is charged with the correspond- 
ence of the army, the issue of orders, the records, and the 
recruitino;. In his office is filed the exact status of everv 
enlisted man or officer, and the records are as complete for 
the millions of men enlisted during the Civil War as for the 
army of to-day. To keep such extensive records requires a 
lar^e force of clerks, and the work is now done in the 
old Ford's Theater building, where the visitor has but to 
give the name of any one who once fought for Uncle Sam, 
and down comes a file which gives the complete story of his 
service. 

The Quartermaster-GeneraVs department is charged 
with supplying the army with clothing, forage, transpor- 
tation, and, in fact, everything except what is eaten by the 
men or required in case of their illness. It must provide 
quarters for the men, stables for the horses, and wagons or 
carts or steamboats for transportation. Were this depart- 
ment not thoroughly organized and efficient in the highest 
degree, the whole army would speedily be demoralized. 

The Subsistence department is in charge of the Commis- 
sar3^-General, whose duties, while not so complicated as 
those of the Quartermaster-General, are fully as important. 
" An army moves on its belly," is a saying which the offi- 
cers of the army have had impressed upon them by experi- 
ence in many a campaign. Tlie magnitude of the opera- 
tions Avhich this department is sometimes called upon to per- 
form is indicated by the fact that during the Civil War it 
disbursed $362,000,000 for supplies. In our war with Spain 



294 MEDICAL AND ORDNANCE DEPARTMENTS. 

it was called upon to provide an immense amount of rations 
upon short notice and in the height of the summer season in 
a tropical climate. 

The Medical department is in charge of the Surgeon- 
General and must take care of the sick and wounded and 
do what is possible to prevent unsanitary conditions in 
camp. Their duties in the field are discharged through the 
Hospital Corps, which consists of non-commissioned officers 
or hospital stewards, and privates recruited from other 
branches of the service, and from men who have served not 
less than one year. At every post in the army there are at 
least one hospital steward and three privates w^ho are 
instructed in their special duties both theoretically and 
practically, and drilled in the use of litters and ambulances 
with the same precision and attention to detail that marks 
other military exercises. 

The Engineer's office, at the head of which is the Chief 
Engineer of the army, must plan and superintend the con- 
struction of all fortifications and bridges, besides making 
maps of the field of war. The Engineer Corj)s is thoroughly 
instructed in sapping, mining, pontooning, and in all other 
details of engineering for military purposes. In time of 
peace they make surveys of our great western country, and 
construct many public works. 

The Ordnance department is in charge of the Chief of 
Ordnance, and has charge of all matters relating to the 
manufacture, purchase, and issue of arms and munitions 
of war. The arsenals of construction and storage are 
located at various convenient points in the country. The 
Chief of Ordnance has a staff of officers at Washington 
mainly employed on construction work, and has also an 
Ordnance Board of three members that has charge of 
experiments at the government proving-grounds at Sandy 
Hook, New York, where guns of all kinds are tested. At 
the proving-grounds the various inventions presented by 



HOW RECRUITS ARE OBTAINED. 295 

civilians from any part of the country are tested. The 
inventor, usually through his member of Congress, ap- 
proaches the Secretary of AVar with his new or improved 
contrivance, which may be a gun, a balloon, a shell, a fuse, 
or anything pertaining to arms or ammunition, and his 
request is referred to the Ordnance department. Unless 
the device is palpably absurd or utterly impractical, the 
inventor may be given the opportunity of a test in presence 
of members of the Ordnance Board. 

The Signal Corps superintends the work of constructing 
and using field telegraph lines in times of war. The signals 
of the flag — or " wig-wag," as the soldiers call it, — between 
different stations, are made by representing the dots and 
dashes of the Morse telegraph alphabet ; but much of the 
military signaling is made up of a cipher code which not 
only abbreviates messages but conceals their meaning from 
an observing enemy. 

Uncle Sam depends upon voluntary recruits for his 
soldiers. There is no compulsory service. The time of 
service is only five years. In many of the principal cities of 
the country wdll be found a United States recruiting office, 
above the door of which may be seen a small American 
flag. Usually standing in front of the office may be seen a 
dapper, well-dressed man in a blue uniform with shining 
brass buttons, stripes on his trousers, and chevrons on a 
well-fitting blouse. This is the recruiting sergeant. He is 
ready to give full information to intending recruits, and can 
paint in glowing colors the glory of serving in Uncle Sam's 
regular army. When a candidate is found he is critically 
examined by an army surgeon, and if found physically 
sound he is received as a recruit, dressed in the fatigue 
uniform of a soldier, and despatched to a rendezvous where, 
with others, he is taught his duty and drilled to a fair state 
of soldierly perfection. In time he is assigned to a regi- 
ment and despatched to his post. In time of war he may 



29G WHERE LINCOLN'S ASSASSINS WERE EXECUTE]- 

be hurried to the field, Avhere he has an opportunity to dis- 
tinguish himself and an equally good chance of being killed. 
In time of })eace his life is by no means a hard one. He is 
furnished with good clothing, good plain food, means of 
amusement, fair pay, and a chance for promotion. He may 
even be improved physically, and his views are sure to be 
greatly broadened. 

"When the city of "Washington was laid out, the long 
finger of land which separates the Potomac from its eastern 
branch was known as Turkey Buzzard Point. It contained a 
small settlement known as Carrolsville, and at the extremity 
of the point was a slight fortification. Shortly after the 
government moved to Washington this peninsula was re- 
served for military purposes, and such it remains in spite of 
many vicissitudes and incidents of historic interest. When 
the British captured the city in 18 14-, their casualties were 
mainly confined to this locality, for some of the soldiers 
carelessly dropped a " port-fire " into an old dry well, in 
which, as it happened, a great quantity of powder had been 
hidden, and the result was a remarkably sudden and im- 
promptu volcano which blew a large number of red-coats 
into the air and tlie next world. The reservation was con- 
tinued as an arsenal, and it is commonly called " The 
Arsenal " to this day, though it is now only a military post. 
In 182G the northern portion was walled off as a district 
penitentiary, and it was here that the conspirators con- 
victed of the assassination of President Lincoln were 
confined, here that four of them were executed and buried. 

Efforts have been made by lecturers and writers to sur- 
round with great mystery the exact spot where the bodies 
of the assassins were interred, and some still claim that their 
bones are moldering in secret places in the Arsenal grounds. 
Although such stories have no foundation in fact, tlie fiction 
is periodically revived. The body of John Wilkes Booth, 
the assassin, and of some of his fellow conspirators were 



WHERE THE ASSASSINS WERE BURIED. 297 

removed years ago and under the following circumstances. 
Disagreements arose between the llepublican Party and 
President Andrew Johnson over the policy adopted by the 
latter, and Congress, then Eepublican by a largo majority, 
preferred articles of impeachment against him and spent 
much time in an unsuccessful effort to convict him. During 
these long, eventful months President Johnson, no doubt in 
a spirit of reckless resentment toward his political foes more 
than of clemency toward the criminals, pardoned a great 
many who had been convicted for various treasonable 
offenses. His bitter feelings reached a climax during tlie 
last few days of his administration when he astonished the 
world by pardoning Spangler and Arnold, two of the con- 
spirators in the assassination, who were then confined on 
the Dry Tortugas. 

About the same time the family of John Wilkes Booth 
obtained an order from President Johnson for the surrender 
of the assassin's body to them. John T. Ford, owner of 
Ford's Theater, where Lincoln was assassinated, who had 
suffered much on account of his supposed complicity in the 
assassination, but had succeeded in vindicating himself 
without breaking his friendship with the Booths, aided 
materially in bringing about the interview between the 
assassin's brother, Edwin Booth, the distinguished tragedian, 
and President Johnson, which resulted in the President 
issuing the following order : 

War Department, 
Washington, Feb. 15, 1869, 3 p. m. 

To Brigadier-General Ramsey, Commanding at Arsenal: 

The President directs that you give over the body of John Wilkes 
Booth to the bearer, Mr. John H. Weaver, sexton of Christ's Church, 
Baltimore, to be by him taken in charge for proper reinterment. 
Please report the execution of this order. 

(Signed.) E. D. TOWNSEND, 

Assist a n t AdJ u (ant- General, 



298 REMOVAL OF ASSASSIN BOOTH'S REMAINS. 

Edwin Booth was then playing an engagement in Balti- 
more, lie had never visited Washington, nor could he be 
induced to play at any of tlie theaters at the Capital after 
his brother's mad act. On an appointed day he came 
quietly to Washington to carry out his natural desire to 
recover his brother's bod}^, and privately inter it beside his 
kindred in the burial lot of the family in Greenmount 
Cemetery, Baltimore. He w^aited, unrecognized, in the 
front room of the undertaking establishment of Harvey 
& Marr, then on F Street, while Mr. John H. Weaver, 
a Baltimore undertaker w^ho had performed professional 
services for the Booth family many times previousl}^ and 
Mr. B. F. Harvey, of the firm of Harvey & Marr, went 
to the Arsenal with President Johnson's order for the body. 
Several friends also went to the Arsenal, but by another 
route in order not to attract attention. The officer in 
charge obeyed the President's order promptly, and ordered 
a detail of soldiers to assist in exhuming and transferring 
the body to the wagon provided by Mr. Harvey, to wdiose 
establishment it w^as taken through an alley in the rear. 
Though the box containing the body had been four years in 
the ground, it was not much decayed, and the lettering 
upon it was easily read. It was opened and the body fully 
identified. After Edwin Booth was thoroughly satisfied 
that he had possession of his brother's body, it was placed 
in a plain coffin, still w^rapped in a blanket. The body was 
quietly taken to Baltimore, Edwin returning on the same 
train. So carefully was the transfer made, and so discreet 
was every one entrusted with the matter, that even the 
alert newspaper reporters failed to get a hint of the removal 
of the body until some time afterwards.* 



*NoTE. — In volume 25 of the Greenmount Cemetery records, Balti- 
more, may be found the original permit, numbered 16821 and dated 
February 18, 1869, issued to J. H. Weaver, undertaker, to inter in lots 
9 and 10, Dogwood, the body of J. W. Booth. 



AN INFAMOUS BRUTE IN HUMAN FORM. 299 

Some time after this President Johnson issued an order 
to surrender the remains of Henry "Wirz, the brutal and in- 
famous keeper of Andersonville prison, to his friend Louis 
Schatle. Tliey were exh.imed from the ground floor of 
Warehouse No. 2, of the Arsenal, and interred at Mount 
Olivet cemeter}', in the District of Columbia, the 3d of 
March, 1869. 

Public feeling at that time was so strong against every 
one connected with the assassination of the beloved Lincoln, 
that Mr. Johnson was execrated for these acts, and had they 
been known at the time there might have been violent 
opposition to the execution of his order to deliver Booth's 
body to his family. Time has, however, softened the bitter- 
ness and cooled the passions of the people, and to-day there 
would probably be no opposition to surrendering the lifeless 
body of even so great a criminal as John Wilkes Booth 
to those dear to him by ties of nature, after he had paid the 
penalty of his crime with his own life. 

The site of the old Arsenal and the penitentiary is 
to-day one of the prettiest army posts in the country. The 
green parade grounds slope down to the Potomac, the 
banks being fringed with an avenue of stately trees, while 
on the extreme point is the officers' quadrangle and near 
by the barracks, in which an artillery regiment is stationed. 
Here one can see any day, at the proper time, a battery 
drilling with the vim and terrific dash that characterizes 
Uncle Sam's soldiers, a ceremonious guard mount, or a 
showy dress parade. 



CHAPTER XVIL 

IN THE NAVY DEPARTMENT— CARING FOR "JACK" AFLOAT 

AND ASHORE — THE UNITED STATES NAVAL 

OBSERVATORY — RELICS WITH 

STRANGE HISTORIES. 

Heroic Deeds Recalled — Duties of the Secretary of the Navy — Disap- 
pearance of Wooden Warships — Training Jack for His New Duties 

— Providing for His Comfort Afloat— Old Time Man-of-Wars-Men — 
A Happy Lot of Boys — How the "Man Behind the Gun " Is Edu- 
cated in Naval AVarfare — Collecting Information for Sailors — Bottle 
Papers and Their use — A Valuable Equatorial Telescope — The Won- 
derful Clock by Which All Other Timepieces- Are Set —The United 
States Navy Yard — The Naval jMuseum — Objects of Great Historic 
Interest — " Long Tom " and Its Story — Relics with Strange Histories 

— The Marine Corps — A Body of Gallant Fighters — Instances of 
Their Bravery — The Marine Barracks and the Marine Band. 



MO pages of our history are so thrilling as those 
which relate the exploits of our sailor boys. 
Many a name stands out in a glowing halo of 
heroism, from Paul Jones to George Dewey, and 
Jack " has figured in numberless thrilling' deeds, 
the mere mention of which sets the blood tino-linaf 
through the veins. We may neglect the landmarks of brave, 
patriotic action, but the old timbers of some of our fighting 
ships of other days are carefully and tenderly preserved. 
Sentiment, a deep, living, patriotic sentiment clusters about 
the old hulks that have passed through historic ordeals of 
shot and shell and are still afloat. AVhat a train of heroic 
deeds is recalled by the old Constitution, built in 1797, and 
now resting quietl}'- in its honorable old age. How nuiny 

(300) 




RECALLING A MEMORABLE NAVAL RATTLE. 301 

tongues now silent have sung that once popular song closing 

with the somewhat convivial verse : — 

"Come, fill your glasses full, aud we'll driuk "To Captain Hull !' 
And so merrily we'll push about the brandy O ! 
John Bull may toast his fill ! let the world say w^hat it will, 
But the Yankee boy for fighting is the dandy O ! " 

Who that has read the story will ever forget the picture 
of Farragut, lashed to the rigging of the Hartford as she 
led the gallant ships that wrought destruction in Mobile 
Bay? 

" Gun bellows forth to gun, aud pain 

Rings out her wild delirious scream ! 
Redoubling thunders shake the main ; 

Loud crashing falls the shot-rent beam. 
The timbers with the broadsides strain , 

The slippery decks send up a steam 
From hot and living blood, and high 

And shrill is heard the death-pang cry." 

But however sentimental we may become over the navy, 
the administration of the Navy department is seldom more 
than a dry, matter-of-fact business proceeding. Neither the 
Secretary of the Navy nor his alter ego, the Assistant Secre- 
tary, is ever a naval man. They are men experienced in 
general affairs, while the technical part of the management 
is in the hands of the chiefs of the different bureaus. The 
heads of these bureaus are naval men appointed by the 
President from certain grades and having the rank of Com- 
modore while acting. They together form a sort of board 
or naval cabinet of experts, and when their opinions, either 
on technical or practical matters differ, the Secretary, a lay- 
man, decides. The relation of these heads to the Secretary 
is more democratic than the relation of the heads of bureaus 
in the War Department to its executive head. 

By law, " the Secretary of the Navy shall execute such 
orders as he shall receive from the President relative to the 
procurement of naval stores and materials, and the construe- 



302 DISAPPEARANCE OF WOODEN HULLS. 

tion, armament, equipment and employment of vessels of 
war, as well as all other matters connected with the naval 
establishment." In practice, orders emanate from the differ- 
ent bureaus and are approved by the Secretary, and, if 
necessary, by the President. The business of the depart- 
ment is distributed among the bureaus in such manner as 
the Secretary may deem expedient and, while working as a 
whole, the natural province of one often encroaches more or 
less on that of another. 

The Bureau of Yards and Docks constructs all the docks, 
and yet does not dock ships; that is for the Construction 
Bureau. The Bureau of Navigation publishes all the orders 
of the Secretary, has the care of the Naval Academy and 
technical schools, controls the receiving ships, establishes 
codes and signals, issues orders for vessels afloat and receives 
all reports. The Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting pro- 
vides for the equipment of ships except in ordnance. It de- 
votes its time largely to procuring rope and rigging, galley 
and cooking utensils, coal and anchors. Although called a 
recruiting bureau it does not recruit, for the furnishing of 
crews is assigned to the Bureau of Navigation. The ar- 
rangement is changed from time to time by order of differ- 
ent secretaries, and the chiefs are therefore less liable to 
drop into ruts than are army officials. 

The old wooden hulks have nearly all disappeared, and 
with the change in ships, has come a change in the life and 
training of the sailor so great that one of the Jackies of our 
Civil War would be dumbfounded now at the manifold 
duties required. Everything has come down to a scientific 
and mechanical basis. Jack must now thoroughly under- 
stand the mechanism of revolving cannon and the delicate 
sight and breech apparatus of heavy guns with their 
hydraulic mountings. Many of the men must be specially 
trained for the peculiar kind of work falling to their share 
in the general arrangement of modern scientific appliances 



WHAT A MODERN WAR SHIP REQUIRES. 303 

necessary to insure the efficiency of the ship as an instru- 
ment of warfare, and to provide for the comfort and welfare 
of the large detachments serving upon her. 

Our large battleships each require crews of over 500 men, 
and they must include expert electricians to keep in order 
the various electrical contrivances ; many machinists for the 
complicated engines and heating apparatus, and even apothe- 
caries, painters, carpenters, etc. Jack, moreover, must be 
well fed and clothed, and to the paymaster and his assistants 
falls the duty of caring for and issuing the various supplies. 
Clothing and so-called "small stores" are issued to him 
monthly under the requisitions of the officers of the differ- 
ent divisions into which the ship's company is divided. He 
must have underwear, shoes, mattresses, rain-clothes, tobacco, 
knives, razors and straps, soap, forks, spoons, plates, and a 
great variety of articles of which the ship must carry a large 
stock provided under the arrangements of the bureaus at 
Washington. 

But old Jack is troubled a good deal by this practical spirit 
of modern times. It makes his quarters far more comfortable, 
but he will tell you solemnly that he prefers the old wooden 
ships. Jack likes to see the sails set and the masts bend un- 
der them. He cares nothing for speed. What he wants is 
a good ocean breeze whistling through the rigging. He 
somewhat distrusts these armored ships also. He used to 
know that if a sail or a yard were shot away it could be re- 
stored under fire, and if a ball struck the hull it made a hole 
that possibly could be mended. But lie does not like to 
think of a hole in the steel shell of the modern battleship. 

But the old sailors are rapidly dropping away, and Uncle 
Sam has taken the precaution to provide for the enlistment 
and training of new ones skilled in all that the working of 
modern ships requires. For this purpose was established 
the Naval Training Station at Coaster's Harbor Island near 
Newport, Rhode Island, one of the old double-deck frigates 



304 TRAINING NAVAL APPRENTICES. 

being remodeled to accommodate about 500 apprentices. 
There they sleep in hammocks, keep the ship clean, and 
gradually become accustomed to nautical life. Any boy 
between the ages of fourteen and eighteen can enlist, pro- 
vided his parents are willing ; but he must be of good repu- 
tation, in perfect physical condition, and able to read and 
write. He must agree to serve in the United States navy 
until he is twenty -one years of age, and until that time is 
given his board, clothing, and a good education. His pay 
depends entirely upon his own exertions, ranging from nine 
dollars a month to forty. On reaching the age of twenty- 
one, the young sailor is free to leave the navy and pursue 
any vocation he chooses, or he may re-enlist at once if so 
inclined. Of course it is the design of the government to 
instruct these boys and stimulate their fondness for naval 
life so that they will re-enlist and become efficient seamen 
on crack modern war vessels. 

There are three departments of instruction : seamanship, 
gunnery, and English. The boys are always interested in 
the lessons in gunnery and soon acquire a good knowledge 
of magazines, projectiles, fuses, torpedoes, and so on. Most 
of them show aptitude in learning a sailor's duties aboard 
ship. They delight in being in the tops, and become as 
nimble as squirrels in climbing the rigging. They take 
naturally to boats and swimming ; and a boy who has once 
slept in a hammock with a rollicking lot of boys in the ham- 
mocks about him never again feels quite at home in a bed. 
Some of these lads come from tenement-house districts in 
cities, and from' street gamins they generally develop into 
reliable, energetic men. They are generally a happv lot of 
boys. They work hard, study hard, eat heartily, and sleep 
soundl}'-. They are not allowed to smoke cigarettes, and 
profanity of every description is strictly forbidden, some- 
thing which strikes old sailors as a very queer proceeding. 
Above all, the necessity of prompt and implicit obedience 



"the man behind the gun.'* 305 

to orders is impressed upon them. The punishment for dis- 
obedience is the severest that can be inflicted, for it is noth- 
ino" less than dismissal from the service. When one is thus 
dismissed the entire battalion of apprentices is drawn up m 
line and the order for dismissal is read amid impressive 
silence, while the culprit, hanging his head in shame, is 
marched down the whole length of the line to the music of 
" The Kogue's March." 

When one year on the training school is completed the 
apprentice is transferred to a regular man-of-war, where his 
education is continued until he becomes thoroughly ac- 
quainted with a modern ship and its armament. After re- 
enlistment at the age of twenty-one he is sent to the 
Washington Navy Yard, where he receives six months' 
training in gunnery, and he then graduates into the service 
as a seaman-gunner with better pay. It is thus that Uncle 
Sam now gets his " man behind the guns." The men who 
astonished the world with the precision of their shooting at 
Manila and Santiago were not picked up in a recruiting 
office and expected to Are a complicated modern cannon at 
once. They were taken as boys, educated for eight or ten 
years, trained in every branch of naval warfare, inspired 
with a love of the flag, and developed with the most pains- 
taking care. 

While Uncle Sam is producing the man behind the gun 
at his apprentices' school, he is educating young men to be- 
come first-class officers at the United States Naval Academy 
at Annapolis, which had its origin, not in any specific ap- 
propriation of Congress, but in Navy Department orders in 
1845, whereby the midshipmen not at sea Avere assembled at 
the old military post at Annapolis and instructed. In 1851 
the school became firmly established with an appropriation, 
and now the government spares no reasonable expense' to 
educate promising boys for good service in the navy, the 
staff of instructors numbering over seventy. The law pro- 
17 



306 INSTRUCTION THAT NEVER CEASES. 

vicles for the appointment of one naval cadet from each 
Congressional district as vacancies occur, and ten at large 
by the President. The embryo officer must not only study 
the theory of the construction of guns and of gunnery, but 
he must practice at the target in a seaway until he is expert. 
He must become expert also as a navigator. Throughout 
his whole course he is under constant instruction in those 
principles which fit him to command those over whom he is 
placed. When a class is graduated the cadets are assigned 
in the order of their standing to the existing vacancies in 
the lowest grades of the line of the Navy and Marine Corps 
and Corps of Engineers. 

The government also maintains a ISTaval "War College 
and a torpedo station on islands in Newj^ort Harbor, and 
officers of any grade below that of commodore may be or- 
dered there for instruction in naval tactics and war prob- 
lems generally. Ample and thorough as are these provisions 
for bringing up young men to handle its magnificent fight- 
ing ships, their instruction never ceases so long as they are 
in the service. Sometimes when one of the squadrons is 
lying at anchor, the cadet whose duty it is to watch for 
signals, suddenly sees a signal raised on the flag ship : " 137 
— Get under way." One by one the ships of the squadron 
form behind the flag ship, whose signals indicate a practice 
drill. As they steam away towards the ocean they perform 
all sorts of evolutions with a precision and an accuracy 
which amaze a landsman, but the commander knows that 
on the perfection of this drill depends much in a real battle. 
His ships must learn how to act on his signals quickly and 
accurately. Thus the Navy Department has become a great 
educational institution. The men must be brought up in the 
service and never cease to study and practice. 

The Navy Department neglects notliing which in its 
opinion will provide for the safety as well as the comfort 
and efficiency of the naval force. Attached to one of the 



CURIOUS FACTS, AND "BOTTLE PAPERS." 307 

Bureaus is the Ilydrographic olfice. This has proved of 
great advantage to mariners of all descriptions and all 
nationalities. The Hydrographic office takes up the work 
where the AVeather Bureau leaves off, and for the benefit of 
the navigator collects regularly and systematically all infor- 
mation as to conditions at sea and publishes theui rn its pilot 
charts. To the division of Marine Meteorology in this office 
come regular reports from more than 3,000 vessels of every 
nation. There is not a flag afloat from whose representa- 
tives records are not received. To all vessels, forms and 
envelopes are furnished free of charge-, and on them are 
recorded, as they are at 12 o'clock each day, the direc- 
tion and the force of the winds, the figures shown by 
barometer and thermometer, the date and place of running 
into and leaving fog; the locality of icebergs; every wreck, 
every buoy adrift, and anything afloat that might injure 
vessels. 

A curious svstem of studviuff the ocean currents is also 
instituted by supplying to masters of vessels w4iat are called 
"bottle papers." These are really invitations in six lan- 
guages to the masters of vessels to occasionally fill out the 
blanks, give the name of vessel, date, and location, and then 
put the paper in a bottle and cast it overboard. There are 
also blanks for the finder to fill, showino^ clearlv when and 
where the bottle was picked up. Day after day these vari- 
ous reports come in and are given to a staff of workers 
called nautical experts, corresponding with the forecasters 
in the Weather Bureau. On the last day of every month 
they issue a chart on which is shown all the information 
received during the month. The prevailing winds to be 
expected are indicated, the various sailing routes best 
adapted to the coming month mapped out, and every float- 
ing wreck or large icebero: is charted where it was last 
observed. Every month about 4,000 of these charts are 
printed and sent to branch offices and to individuals. It is 



308 A WONDERFUL TRANSMITTING CLOCK. 

one of Uncle Sam's enterprises which receives little public 
notice, but it is highl}'- appreciated by all sailors. 

Men-of-war must be supplied with accurate chronome- 
ters, compasses, and other instruments, and these are tested 
at the Xaval Observatory, which is under the direction of 
the Bureau of Xavigation. The Observatory stands on the 
heights north of Georgetown, and is supplied with a valua- 
ble twent^'-six-inch equatorial telescope and with manv 
forms of special apparatus, and its work holds a high place 
among institutions of its class. AVhile its first official object 
is the collection of information for the use of mariners, its 
experts carry on purely scientific work the value of which 
is widely recognized. 

Mr. E. M. Sweet thus describes the transmittine: 
clock : 

" The transmitting clock at the Naval Observatory is the absolute 
monarch of American timekeepers. Every day in the year except Sun- 
day, by one pendulum-stroke it speaks directly and instantaneously to 
every city and considerable town between the peaks of the Rockies and 
tlie pines of Maine, saying to them that on the seventy-fifth meridian it is 
now high noon to the fraction of a second. A duplicate mechanism, sta- 
tioned at the Branch Naval Observatory on Mare Island, performs a simi- 
lar service for the people of the Pacific slope. And by this one clock at 
the National Capital (together with its duplicate on the Pacific) is set nearly 
every timepiece in the United States and Cuba, most of those in Mexico, 
and many on the border of Canada. 

" Five minutes before twelve a thirty-six-inch black globe over the 
State, War, and Navy Building at Washington is raised by a small rope and 
windlass to the top of the flagstaff. Here it remains until the Observatory 
clock pendulum reaches the sixtieth stroke after 11:59 a. m., which stroke 
closes an electric circuit and instantly drops the ball twenty-five feet to the 
base of the pole. Time-balls are located also at the chief water ports, pri- 
marily for the benefit of navigators. 

" But there are other ways in which this vice-regent of Father Time 
makes known his decrees to men. A number of clocks — from three to 
three thousand — in nearly every city and large town are wired together 
into a local family, and, by means of a switch-key at the telegraph office, 
are put into direct contact with the parent clock at the National Capital. 
So that the instant the electric touch is given from Washington every clock 



HOW MODERN NAVAL GUNS ARE MADE. 309 

in the circuit — whether it be at Boston, Minneapolis, or New Orleans — 
begins a new day in perfect accord with its mechanical deity." 

The Washington Navy Yard was established when the 
government was moved to Washington, and for more than 
half a century the largest and best men-of-war owned by 
the United States were constructed in its ship houses. With 
the advent of armored vessels of greater dimensions, how- 
ever,. conditions were so changed that, though two spacious 
ship houses remain, the work of this Navy Yard consists 
almost entirely of the manufacture of guns and ammunition 
and the storage of equipments. In the gun shop, which is 
filled with the most powerful modern machinery, are fin- 
ished the immense rifles as well as smaller rapid-fire 
guns used on modern war ships. The great masses of iron 
enter the shop in the rough, each consisting of a central 
steel tube, a steel jacket and steel hoops. The jacket cylin- 
der is bored, the tube is trimmed down to fit the jacket 
when heated, and then the jacket is trimmed to fit the 
hoops, the work requiring great nicety of calculation on the 
part of the engineers. As the jacket cools it fits upon the 
tube as compactly as if they were of one piece, and in the 
same way the hoops become a part of the jacket. After 
this process the guns, sometimes weighing sixty tons, are 
carried by a great traveling crane to a lathe, which bores 
out the barrel and chamber, and then to the rifling lathe, a 
ponderous machine which noiselessly and irresistibly cuts 
the grooves of the rifling inch by inch through the long 
barrel. 

The laro^est guns made here are those of 13-inch caliber, 
about forty feet in length and weighing sixty-five tons. 
They carry a projectile weighing 1,100 pounds a distance 
of thirteen miles. The Navy Department has devoted its 
best energies and skill to the production of these immense 
rifles, unsurpassed by any guns in the world, and also to the 



310 "LONG TOM'S HISTORY. 

perfection of projectiles which are manufactured in adjoin- 
ing shops. 

Entering the ISTaval Museum, which is shaded by a wil- 
low grown from a slip taken from one of the trees over the 
tomb of Napoleon at St. Helena, we find ourselves sur- 
rounded with quaint forms of ordnance, and a multitude of 
relics of historic interest. Among them is the stern post of 
the original Kearsage still containing a shell received from 
the Alabama. Near the office of the commandant of the 
yard are mounted a large number of cannons captured at 
various times by the navy, many of which have curious his- 
tories. Here for example is a queer, specimen known as 
" Long Tom,'' a 42-pounder cast in France in 1786 and cap- 
tured from the French frigate Noche by the British in 1798, 
and later sold to the United States. Placed on one of our 
frigates it was struck by a shot and condemned, but was 
sold to Haiti, then at war with France. Afterwards it 
had various owners, and in 1814 formed the main reliance 
of the privateer General Armstrong^ which, by pluckily 
fighting three British war ships in the Azores, so crippled 
them that they were unable to reach New Orleans in time 
to help the land forces against Jackson. The privateer was 
afterwards sunk to prevent her capture by the British, but 
the Portuguese authorities at the Azores so admired the 
little ship's action that they presented " Long Tom " to the 
United States as a trophy. So after its many vicissitudes it 
rests here among other trophies and relics with strange his- 
tories. 

Not far from the Navy Yard are the headquarters of 
the United States Marine Corps, an organization older than 
the navy. While the records of the army and navy are 
Avell known to every student of our country's history, this 
corps which has done so much for the honor of the nation 
is, strangely enough, seldom mentioned. It has fought in 
all our wars and made a distins^uished record for valor 



PROUD RECORD OF OUR GALLANT MARINES. 311 

wherever engaged. In our operations in China much was 
said of the valor of our army, but little notice was taken of 
the gallant defense made in the foreign legations by a body 
of Marines which reached Pekin early, and practically saved 
them from destruction. 

The Marines were the first troops to the front in the 
Mexican War ; the first in the Seminole War ; they were 
the only force available to put down the John Brown insur- 
rection ; they stood their ground as did no one else at Bull 
Kun ; they were in the thickest of the fights under Dahl- 
gren, Dupont, and Porter from 1861 to 1864; Farragut 
praised them in glowing language for the action at Mobile 
Bay ; they were the first to land in Cuba, and made an 
heroic defense at Guantanamo ; they were the first to go 
into action at Taku in later troubles in China, and no troops 
called forth such hearty praise from the foreign officials 
there. Later the little guard of fifty marines bore almost 
alone the stress and storm through the long- days of the 
siege of the legations ; and yet in our naval histories they 
are hardly mentioned. 

There are few places in Washington so well worth a 
visit as the Marine Barracks Avhere these gallant sea soldiers 
live when not on duty ; and as the corps excels in war, its 
band of musicians, made up of members of the corps, excels 
in music. Always stationed at Washington, the Marine 
Band has become famous for its excellence whether in its 
daily concerts at the Barracks, in front of the Capitol, at 
the White House, or at the President's receptions and state 
dinners. 



CHAPTER XYIII. 

A DAY IN THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT — THE STORY OP 
A LETTER — SOME CURIOUS FACTS AND INTER- 
ESTING EXPERIENCES — RURAL FREE 
DELIVERY AND HOW IT WORKS. 

The Greatest Business Orgauizatiou ia the World — Looking After 80,000 
Post-Othces — The Travels of a Letter — The Making of a Postage 
Stamp — Using 4,000,000,000 Stamps a Year — A Key That Will Un- 
lock Hundreds of Thousands of Mail Bag Locks — Keeping Track of 
Tens of Thousands of Mail Bags — Wliy They Never Accumulate — 
Testing the Ability of Clerks — Remembering 6,000 Post-Oflices — 
" Star Routes " and What They Are — The Smallest Contract the Gov- 
ernment Ever Made — Carrying the Mails for One Cent a Year — The 
"Axeman " — Chopping off the Heads of Postmasters — Free Rural 
Delivery — Opposition of Country Postmasters — Looking for a 
"Choicy" Place — A Boon to Farmers — How Rural Routes are Es- 
tablished — Rural Delivery Wagons. 



HE Post-Office Department of the United States is 
the greatest business organization in the world. 
It employs more men, spends more money, 
brings in more revenue, handles more pieces, 
uses more agencies, reaches more houses, involves 
more details, and touches more interests than any 
other human organization, public or private, govern- 
mental or corporate. Its agents embrace more than one- 
half of the government's civil army of a half a million 
souls. Every minute in the day fifteen thousand messages 
are intrusted to its hands. It is the ready and faithful 
servitor of every interest of society, large or small, near oi' 
remote. 

C313) 



«■- 




POSTAL FACILITIES IN FRANKLIN's DAY. 313 

Yet, at the beginning of the government, the Postmas- 
ter-General was not regarded as a person of very great im- 
portance. Washington considered the office of too little 
consequence to entitle its holder to a place in his Cabinet. 
The books of Pickering, his Postmaster-General, showed an 
aggregate in money transactions of about $250,000 a year, 
while the department now" spends considerably more than 
that every day. No other one thing so adequately displays 
the contrast between that and the present time. Nothing- 
else shows more clearly the development of a century. 

In Colonial days postmasters received a percentage of 
the receipts of their offices, and as they usually had the 
privilege of the official frank, many Avent into the business 
of publishing newspapers. Benjamin Franklin, when post- 
master at Philadelphia, found the office of great advantage 
in circulating his journal. In 1753 he became Postmaster- 
General in association with William Hunter and they were 
together allowed £600 a year, if they could make so much ; 
in 1754 they ran £900 into debt in a praiseworthy endeavor 
to improve the service so " that answers might be obtained 
to letters between Philadelphia and Boston in three weeks 
which used to require six weeks." P>anklin was removed 
from his office by the British Ministry, but in 1775 the Con- 
gress of the Confederation, having practically assumed the 
sovereignty of the colonies, adopted a postal system and ap- 
pointed him to the head of it with the title of Postmaster- 
General, and a salary of $1,000 a year. 

One of the treasures of the Post-Office Department is 
the original ledger of Franklin, embracing all his accounts 
as Postmaster-General, of all the post-offices of the United 
States for the years of 1 776-77-78. These are all recorded 
in the handwriting of Franklin, and do not cover 120 pages. 
The growth in the postal service may be partly measured by 
the fact that when the philosopher was at the head of the 
Post-Office Department, there were eighty post-offices in the 



314 PAYING POSTAGE WITH FARM PRODUCE. 

Confederation ; there are now over 75,000 post-ofRces in the 
United States, and the number is rapidly increasing. 

The department was organized under the constitution 
and more lirmly established in 1794, but none of the Presi- 
dents till Jackson thought of inviting the Postmaster-Gen- 
eral into the Cabinet. The rates of postage when the office 
was organized was six cents for one letter sheet for thirty 
miles ; eight cents for sixty miles, ten cents for a hundred 
miles and so on up to twenty-five cents for distances over 
450 miles. Neither stamps nor envelopes . were used, the 
paper being folded and sealed with wafers or wax, but if the 
sender paid the postage the postmaster marked " Paid " on 
the sheet ; if not, it was collected when the letter was deliv- 
ered. In Utah as late as 1870, the editor has known of post- 
age being paid with eggs, vegetables, and fruits, the post- 
master buying the produce to enable the sender to prepay 
the postage. These rates soon yielded a surplus, but the 
government, however much it needed the money, adopted 
the generous policy of using all postal revenues for the im- 
provement of the service and the reduction of the rates of 
postage. This policy has been maintained from the begin- 
ning. It is a system which must not simply be always in 
the lead of the times, but it must be administered with such 
efficiency that, while offering more and more accommoda- 
tions, it shall be less and less of a tax. 

The new city Post-Office building now used by the Post- 
Office Department on the south side of Pennsylvania avenue 
was completed and occupied in 1899. The site cost $650,000 
and the building itself $3,325,000. The interior of the first 
floor is very handsomely finished in various marbles and 
massive oak and mahogany woodwork. The nine upper 
floors are occupied by the general business of the depart- 
ment. It is here that the greatest business in the Avorld is 
carried on, and provision has been made for its continued 
expansion; for in a quarter of a century, or since 1875, the 



KEEPING THE MAIL TRAINS MOVING. 315 

number of post-offices in the country has increased three- 
fold, the gross revenue and expenses four-fold, and the num- 
ber of stamps issued seven-fold. 

Obviously a business of such stupendous magnitude re- 
quires for its smooth and effective operation a perfect organ- 
ization. It is a business that must be transacted with a rush 
and yet with the utmost accuracy. The mail bags must not 
only be kept open to the latest possible minute but they 
must be delivered at their destinations within the shortest 
possible time. Interference with the mails is disastrous. 
The force is just sufficient to handle it all in its uninter- 
rupted course and if, through interference at any locality, 
an accumulation of mail is suddenly thrown upon the de- 
partment, it disarranges the whole service. For this reason 
the laws against the interruption of the mails are very 
severe, and the government is occasionally justified, in case 
of a railroad strike, in using its armed force to keep the mail 
trains moving. 

The business is divided into four great bureaus, each pre- 
sided over by an Assistant Postmaster-General. The First 
Assistant Postmaster-General has the practical administra- 
tion of the post-offices and a supervision of an annual ex- 
penditure amounting to about $50,000,000. The Second 
Assistant provides for the transportation of the mails at an 
annual cost of about $40,000,000. The Third Assistant is 
the financial overseer, and the Fourth has charge of the ap- 
pointment of the fourth-class postmasters, now numbering 
over 73,000. The Postmaster-General himself has the direc- 
tion of the whole department, appoints all officers and em- 
ployees of the department except the four assistants who are 
appointed by the President; he appoints all postmasters 
whose compensation does not exceed $1,000 a year. To 
each of the four great divisions are assigned various subdi- 
visions, the assignment resting with the Postmaster-General. 
2,000 persons are employed in the new Post-Office building. 



316 EFFICIENT- WORK OF WOMEN. 

As in the other departments, many women are employed, 
all doing their work promptly, efficiently, and faithfully. 
Cival Service examinations have not prevented them from 
obtaining and holding their clerkships, for when such exami- 
nations are held the percentage of women candidates for 
positions or promotions always exceeds tliat of the men. 
Miss Sara Carr Upton, one of the most accomplished women 
in Washington, was for seventeen years a clerk and trans- 
lator in the Foreign Mails Division, resio-nino- onlv because 
'of impaired eyesight, Mrs. Wilcox, born in the White 
House while her father, Major Donelson, was Secretary to 
President Jackson, was a translator in the Foreign Mails 
Division for more than a quarter of a century. The widow 
of General Pickett has held a position in the Post-Office De- 
partment most of the time since the battle of Gett^^sburg, 
where her husband lost his life. Miss H. II. Webber, a I^ew 
Englander, was for a long time at the head of the Peturn- 
ing Division in the Dead-Letter Office. These employees, 
through their intelligence, faithfulness, and expertness, won 
their promotion to the highest-salaried, most responsible 
positions obtainable by women clerks in the department. 

Even a brief explanation of all the details of such a busi- 
ness machine would require a volume. It is sufficient to 
say that it is all involved in the successful handling of every 
letter you drop into the box. Every letter on its travels is 
guided by the operations of the various divisions of this 
complex office. Before the postman rings your bell and 
delivers in a stamped envelope a message from miles away, 
Uncle Sam's men in gray uniforms have walked many 
miles, horses have galloped, locomotives have puifed, cars 
have rolled and mail bags have been locked and unlocked 
and tossed about, all at a cost of two cents to the sender of 
the message and all through the management of affairs at 
Washino^ton. Americans are so accustomed to having 
everything placed in their hands that they accept such 



ENGRAVING AND PRINTING THE STAMPS. 317 

benefactions with complacency and never think of these 
wonderful achievements of the government. Of the many 
hands touching our letters, of the many watchful eyes that 
care for them, we know next to nothing. 

First of all, the letter must be stamped, yet it is a 
notable fact that no stamps were used till 1847, and until 
very lately they were printed by private parties. Now 
Uncle Sam prints them all at the Bureau of Engraving and 
Printing, which we have already visited, but we shall need 
to return for a moment to note some of the processes pecu- 
liar to manufacturing over 4,000,000,000 of stamps a year. 
The work of engraving differs little from that of engraving 
the plates from which paper dollars are printed, but the 
printing is now largel}^ done by steam, instead of by hand- 
presses. These turn out sheets of 400 stamps each at a rate 
of 100,000 an hour ; to supply 4,000,000,000 of stamps a 
year the government must print about 15,000,000 every 
working day. 

After being printed, the sheets must be dried and pressed 
out, gummed, dried and pressed again, perforated and cut 
apart, trimmed, and carefully counted. In the early days of 
postage stamps and for several years after they came into 
use, two serious difficulties presented themselves, the gum- 
ming and the separating. For a time a thick mucilage 
was used, making the sheets curly and inconvenient, and it 
was necessary to cut the stamps apart with a pair of scissors. 
Imagine a postmaster of to-day supplying his customers by 
the scissors method! Fortunately a clever Frenchman 
invented^ the plan of punching a series of small holes be- 
tween the stamps, and his invention was quickly introduced 
into this country. The process of gumming is now entirely 
mechanical. Extending sixty feet through a long room are 
a series of wooden boxes heated by steam, and through the 
boxes pass endless chains. The sheets are fed face down- 
ward into these boxes and pass under a roller which allows 



318 GUMMING AND PERFORATING POSTAGE STAMPS. 

just enough gum to escape to coat the sheet thinly and 
evenly. It is then caught on an endless chain by two auto- 
matic clamps and carried into a long, heated box, and in 
a short time it appears at the other end perfectly dried and 
ready to be perforated. The gum, which is made of a 
dextrine product, is mixed in vats close b}^ 

The perforating is swiftly done by odd little machines in 
another room. Each machine is tended by two women, 
wearing fantastic caps of paper to shade their eyes from the 
strong light, as the sheets must be fed into the machines 
with absolute accuracy in order that the perforations shall 
come in the right place. Each sheet has registered lines 
printed in the margin, and they must be adjusted exactly 
under a black thread which passes over the feeding table. 
A quick whir of the wheels puts a neat line of pin holes 
lengthwise between the stamps and cuts the sheet in half at 
the same time. The next machine perforates the sheet 
crosswise and again cuts it in two, so that each is now 
divided into the "regulation" size of one hundred stamps 
each. These are tied into packages ready for delivery to 
the Post-Office Department, w^hich pays the Bureau of En- 
graving and Printing five cents a thousand for the stamps. 

With one of these 4,000,000,000 of stamps placed on 
your sealed envelope, your letter is entitled to a safe journey 
whatever its destination. "With the marvelous enterprise 
which has extended the advantages of the post-office in 
every direction, you will not have far to go to start your 
letter on its journey. The department furnishes to post- 
masters all necessary canceling stamj^s and inks; it also 
furnishes the twine with w^hich to tie up the letters in 
assorted bundles; and the amount used may be judged from 
the fact that, buying at wholesale prices, the government 
pays about $100,000 a year for enough to go around. 

In the large cities each post-office is provided with an 
elaborate arrangement of boxes all labeled so that mail for 



TRAVELING POST-OFFICES. 321 

any place for miles around finds its a])propriate pigeon-hole, 
and mail for each of the railway routes is similarly sorted. 
The railway ]->ostal service is the artery of the whole sys- 
tem, and though it has been in operation less than forty 
years it now covers over 20(),()()0 miles. When the mail of 
the country became so great that the delay in sorting it 
in city and town offices became an important item in the 
economy of time, this system of traveling post-offices was 
devised, and now Uncle Sam has about 4,000 such cars for 
his exclusive use. Usually a run is planned to occupy a day, 
and two sets of men are employed, one for the day service 
and one for the night. At the end of such a run the car 
is taken by a new set for another run of twenty-four hours. 
The "New York and Chicago" section, for example, will 
be divided into three runs. The twenty men who start out 
from Xew York assort the mail all the way to Syracuse, 
where a new set of twenty takes charge of it as far as 
Cleveland ; there another set goes on with it to Chicago. 

For convenience the service of the whole country is 
divided into divisions, all under the charge of a General 
Superintendent at Washington, and each division has a 
superintendent of its own. On runs of average importance 
the whole car is devoted to the work. In one end is a space 
for storing tlie sacks filled with mail, and near bv are the 
doors, one each side, through which the mails are received 
and delivered. In the opposite end of the car are the letter 
cases, where all letters are sorted as the train speeds on its 
way. Each car is furnished with canceling stamps and ink, 
in fact, is a traveling post-office. The mail between New 
York and Chicago has become so great that a train of five 
cars devoted exclusively to the service is run daily, the first 
car being used for letters and the other four for news- 
papers. 

A helper in each car locks and unlocks all ])ouches and 
takes on and puts off mail at all stations. This must be 



322 CARING FOR MAIL LOCKS AND MAIL BAGS. 

done without the stopping of the train. While passengers 
cannot get on and off without having the train stopped, the 
mail must, even if the train is running sixty miles an hour, 
and for this purpose was devised the ingenious iron arm, 
called a crane, which swings outward and, while the train is 
at full speed, catches and brings in a pouch, sometimes 
landing it in the car with a crash. The department receives 
some $3,000 each year in loose coins shaken out of weak 
envelopes in this way. 

Every mail lock is the exact counterpart of every other 
one of the many hundreds of thousands, and the key in any 
post-ofRce, whether it be the smallest cross-road settlement 
or the great office of New York, will lock and unlock every 
one of them. Every key is numbered, and a record of every 
one is kept in the department and its whereabouts can be 
told at any time. Once in five or six years all the locks are 
changed as a measure of safety, and new ones of a different 
pattern are sent out and the old ones called in. 

How does it happen, you may ask, that every post-office 
has always a supply of bags? It would not happen unless 
the government provided a system by which the distribu- 
tion according to needs is always guaranteed, for the great 
trend of mail matter is always from the east to the west, 
and unless something were done thousands upon thousands 
of bags would accumulate in western offices, while the east- 
ern supply would be exhausted. So at all great commercial 
and railway centers there are provided collecting offices to 
which all surplus bags are constantly being sent, and from 
which they are transported east. At each of these larger 
centers also is a repairing factory, in which women with 
specially-constructed sewing machines are constantly mend- 
ing the rents, and skilled workmen are repairing the leather- 
work or the locks. Washington is the great headquarters 
for bags, and the proper official here must keep an accurate 
account of the distribution all over the country. 



WHAT A POSTAL CLERK MUST KNOW. 323 

On any mail car the letters for large cities are quickly 
((isposed of; those for the different states and territories 
are made up into packages to be sent on their respective 
ways to be more fully sorted before reaching their 
destination. The run of every postal clerk connects ahvays 
with the runs of others, and he must have in his mind the 
location of every one of the hundreds of post-offices in all 
this great area and know just which way to send a letter so 
that it will reach its destination in the shortest possible 
time. This would be no small task if it could be learned all 
at once, but time tables, stage routes, and post-offices are 
always changing, and he must keep up witli all changes. 
Every postal clerk must have clearly in his mind all the 
way from 2,000 to 6,000 offices and routes. The superin- 
tendent of the division in which a railway post-office is 
situated must keep fully informed of all the offices, and he 
instructs his men about them and sees that they properly 
perform their duties. Twice a week generally he issues a 
printed bulletin of several pages giving information of 
changes that have been made and fresh instructions for 
work emanating from Washington, which much resembles 
a Chinese puzzle. 

Once in three or four months every clerk is examined 
by the superintendent or someone authorized by the depart- 
ment, to learn how well he has mastered his duties in 
keeping pace with ever-changing conditions. These exam- 
inations are made by States, and the examiner has a case of 
pigeon-holes labeled like the cars in that division. The 
clerk is given a package of cards each having the name 
of some one of the offices, and the examiner stands by 
observing his work and noting how many errors are made. 
A Avritten report of every examination is made out, giving 
the percentage of each clerk and the time he occupied 
in the sorting, and this is forwarded to Washington, so that 

the department knows always the relative efficiency of all 
18 



324 KEEPING AN EYE ON POSTAL CLERKS. 

its clerks. A good clerk will throw into bags from fifteen 
to twenty papers a minute, and a letter clerk will sort from 
thirty to forty letters in the same time, the difference being 
due to the fact that letters come in " face-up," while papers 
are dumped promiscuously from a bag. 

All letters going to any office or any division of the 
railway service are tied in a bundle on the face of which 
is plainly printed the destination of the package. Every 
postal clerk using one of these slips is obliged to write 
his name on it and the day it was used. When some otlier 
clerk opens the package, if he finds in it any letters put 
there by mistake and thus delayed, he at once writes upon 
the back of the slip a list of the errors and sends it to the 
.office of the superintendent of division, where an account 
is kept for every man; he is debited with all the errors 
reported against him and credited with all that he reports 
against any one else, and at the end of each month every 
clerk as well as the department receives a summary of his 
record. 

If your letter is addressed to someone in a foreign land 
it passes to a steamship post-office, for the working of the 
railway post-office has proved so satisfactory that a few 
years ago American mail clerks were placed on the import- 
ant steamers running between New York and English and 
German ports. Large staterooms are fitted up with racks 
of pigeon-holes and bag holders. Here clerks selected from 
the best material in the railway service Avork from eight to 
ten hours a day during a voyage. On the German ships 
the American "sea post-clerk" has charge on the eastward 
voyage, and the German " Reichs-Post-Secretaer " when 
coming this way. In spite of the fact that the Germans 
have a more high-sounding name and are dressed in elabor- 
ate uniforms with gold braid, and carry a small sword, the 
American clerks are the most efficient. Under the careful 
system of examination and inspection in our Post-Office 



FAITHFUL GRAY-COATED LETTER CARRIERS. 325 

Department the percentage of errors has steadily dimin- 
ished, till now, taking the whole service for a single year, 
there is not more than one error to every 11,000 pieces 
handled. 

Uncle Sam employs about 15,000 faithful gray-coated 
letter carriers in cities, at an expense of about $15,000,000 a 
year. Of course a large portion of mail goes into very 
thinly-settled districts without means of rapid communica- 
tion. For such transportation we have what are called 
"Star Koutes"; they are simply mail routes upon which 
the mails are carried by riders, stages, wagons or other 
similar means, and such service is let out by contract. 
Under the statute these contracts were designated as 
"celerity, certainty, and security" contracts, those con- 
ditions being the essentials for successful bids. In writing 
the record of such contracts they are abbreviated by repeti- 
tions of the letter x, thus (x x x) or " stars," and so came to 
be spoken of as the star bids and star routes. There are 
now about 225,000 of these in operation, and one-quarter of 
them are let every year for four years. They vary in 
length from a fraction of a mile to several hundred miles, 
the longest one being the route from Juneau, Alaska, over 
the passes and down the Yukon to Tanana, a distance of 
1,618 miles. There is another almost as long from the 
mouth of the Yukon up to Tanana, and it is on these routes 
that all the mail for the Klondike and other mining settle- 
ments is carried. 

Although some of these routes cost Uncle Sam a great 
deal more than he receives from them in revenue, others do 
not. and some of the bids are, for various reasons, so low as 
to seem almost ridiculous. Perhaps the most remarkable 
case came to the attention of the Postmaster-General in 1900 
when checks were being mailed to these contractors. It was 
discovered that the contractor who carries the mail between 
Podgeville, Wisconsin, and Mineral Point, a distance of 



32G LIVELY COMPETITION FOR A ONE CENT ROUTE. 

nine miles, had not received a check for the three previous 
quarters and hence it became necessary to inchide the 
amount for a whole year's work in his check. The amount 
was exactly one cent — the contract price. Inasmuch as 
our currency does not boast of quarter-cent pieces, the con- 
tractor could not well collect his money oftener than once a 
year. He has been offered as high as twenty dollars by 
curiosity seekers for his check, but like ex-President Cleve- 
land, Avho once received a check for one cent to make up a 
deficiency in his salary due to an oversight, this contractor 
keeps his check, though in another year if he fulfills his 
contract, he will receive another. 

Both Dodgeville and Mineral Point have railroads, but 
there is none between the two towns, and as the trip by rail 
is so expensive and round about, both mail and passengers 
are driven across country. Whoever holds the contract for 
carrying the mails feels that he is certain of all the passen- 
ger and baggage traffic, and for this reason the transfer of 
the mail is deemed a valuable privilege. When the Dodge- 
ville star route came up for bids the liveliest kind of compe- 
tition ensued, and the fight was even carried to Washington, 
as the politicians wished to use the mail carrier as a factor 
in getting votes. The competitors knew they would have 
to drop to a low price, although the last contractor had been 
receiving $40 a year. The three lowest bids were $1.50, 
thirty-nine cents, and one cent, the latter being the present 
contractor. He got it. But he makes about $600 a year 
carrying passengers and baggage, and he is a factor in poli- 
tics, so he believes he is well paid. 

The post-offices of the country form a great altruistic 
system. The stronger help the weaker. The great post- 
office at New York is run at a profit to the government of 
nearly $10,000,000 a year, while the great majority of the 
post-offices do not begin to pay their expenses. In over 
3,000 post-offices in the country the yearly receipts are less 



WIRE-PULLING FOR PLACES. 327 

than ten dollars; In 10,000 it is between ten dollars and 
thirty dollars ; and in over 40,000 it is less than two hun- 
dred dollars a year. In these small or fourth-class offices, 
where the receipts are less than fifty dollars a quarter, the 
postmaster takes the whole and the government gets noth- 
ing; between this figure and up to one hundred dollars a 
quarter, the postmaster takes sixty per cent. ; between this 
and $200 he takes fifty per cent., and over the excess above 
that figure, he takes forty per cent, till he receives $250. 

But while in fully two-thirds of the offices the gross re- 
ceipts are less than $200 a year, there is always the greatest 
scramble for the places and the most determined political 
wire-pulling over the appointments. This business, which 
is in charge of the Fourth Assistant Postmaster-General, 
who is sometimes called the " axeman," is parceled out to 
some fifteen clerks, who receive each application, put it in a 
jacket, and file it away. All communications of Congress- 
men or local politicians are filed with it, and when the time 
comes to appoint, the Postmaster-General has but to press 
a button and all the papers relating to the smallest office in 
the country can be laid before him, and he can see what sort 
of a fight it is, for there is always more or less rivaliy. 

With the growth of the free rural delivery system many 
of these small offices will disappear. Although rural de- 
livery is as yet established in but a few places, the opposi- 
tion of the little postmasters has been aroused. The follow- 
ing are sample letters received recently at the Poct-Office 

Department : 

Ohio 19 

I am postmaster at this place, and they are going to have rural free 
delivery come within one-eighth of a mile of this office and take away all 
its business. To take the office away takes part of my living away from 
me. I have a wife and two children. I have only been in the employ- 
ment of the govcrnnK-nt a little over a j'ear. I beg you for some kind of 
an appointment. 1 am not " choicy "—any place in the mail service of the 
United States. Respectfully, 

Postmaster. 



328 RURAL FREE DELIVERY. 

Ill 19 

There has been established a rural free delivery service at , 

a small town three miles distant, and they have extended the route within 
one mile of my otBce on the south and west. By doing this they take 
from me over tifty persons who formerly rented boxes at my office. There- 
fore it is a discrimination against this office. Is there any remedy for the 
above-mentioned encroachment ? 

Respectfully, 

Postmaster. 

But free rural delivery wagons have come to stay, and 
therefore the little crossroads post-office will have to go in 
time. It is an interesting fact that two different Postmaster- 
Generals declined to make the experiment of rural delivery, 
on the ground that it would cost $20,000,000 to introduce it, 
and yet it has been extensively instituted for less than half 
a million, and routes are beginning to pay for themselves 
soon after being put in operation. This is something which 
the little fourth-class post-offices never did. 

The present Post-Office authorities believe that rural de- 
livery may in the end save a great amount of mone}', so that 
the letter rate may be reduced to one cent. Requests for 
the rural delivery are now multipljang like an endless chain, 
for farmers have heard that 'where the system has been 
established the value of land has risen from two to five dol- 
lars an acre. The system is being established as rapidly as 
inspectors can lay out and provide for the best routes. It 
is a great accommodation to the farmer to be spared a drive 
of from five to ten miles ovei country roads to get his mail, 
and he writes more letters and takes more papers and maga- 
zines when he finds that all he has to do is to go to a box 
on his front yard fence and post or receive mail. One en- 
thusiastic farmer in Missouri, in praising the Post-Office 
authorities, said that in fifteen years he had driven 12,000 
miles to and from the post-office to get the mail which now 
came to his door. 

When an order is issued for the establishment of a rural 



ITINERANT POST-OFFICES. 329 

route the postmaster is advised of its character, and in- 
formed that the carriers are under his control, and that 
their pay will be $400 a year. The carriers in many places 
have special wagons, fitted up with pigeon-holes. They sell 
stamps, register letters and parcels ; in fact, do all the work 
of the smaller offices. All the boxes along the route are of 
galvanized iron, arranged with a signal, so that the carrier 
knows if there is anything to collect and the householder if 
anything has been delivered. Some of the routes are in 
localities famous for blizzards in winter, and the carriers 
need to prepare accordingly ; but they rarely fail to make 
their trips over the roughest roads. On some of the experi- 
mental routes girl carriers have been employed, and they 
are reported to be as unflagging in their devotion to the 
service as the men. So pronounced has been the success of 
the routes already established that it will not be long before 
Uncle Sam's itinerant post-offices will be familiar sights 
upon the long country roads of every state in the Union. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE DEAD-LETTER OFFICE — ITS MARVELS AND MYSTERIES 

— OPENING AND INSPECTING THE "DEAD" MAIL- 

SOME CURIOUS AND TOUCHING REVELATIONS 
— THE DEAD - LETTER MUSEUM. 

What Is a Dead Letter ? — " Stickers " and " Nixies " — 8,000,000 of Dead 
Letters and Packages a Year — Opening the " Dead " Mail — Guarding 
the Secrets of Careless Letter Writers — Returning $50,000 in Money 
and $1,200,000 in Checks Every Year — What Becomes of the Valuables 
Found in Letters — The Fate of Letters That Cannot Be Returned — 
Deciphering Illegible Scrawls — Common Mistakes — Unusual Errors 

— Some Odd Directions — " English As She Is Wrote " — Some Queer 
Requests— 60,000 Missent Photographs Every Year — A Huge Book 
of Photographs — Identifying the Faces of Loved Ones — Tear- 
Blinded Mothers — The Dead-Letter Museum— Odd Things Found 
in the Mails — Snakes and Horned Toads — The Lost Ring and Its 
Singular Recovery — A Baby Elephant — Tokens of Love and Re- 
membrance — Dead -Letter Auction Sales. 



YERY year hundreds of thousands of misdirected 
^^ letters, or letters having no address at all, or so 
^1 illegibly written as to be undecipherable except 
by an expert, or letters that are unclaimed, pass 
through the hands of postal clerks. Some of these 
superscriptions are so bad that it is a wonder how 
any of them ever reach their destination. Addresses 
scrawled in this fashion are known to the postal fra- 
ternity as "stickers"; and if they are absolutely unread- 
able even to intelligent and experienced post-olfice clerks 
they are called " nixies." When expert clerks in the largest 
post-offices in the United States are unable to decipher the 

(330) 




BRINGING ''dead" LETTERS TO LIFE. 331 

address, they are sent to the Dead-Letter Office at Washing- 
ton as a Last resort. Thus in this and other waj^s every year 
nearly 8,000,000 pieces of mail matter are received at this 
Post-Office morgue, though only a small portion of them 
prove to be absolutely dead, for in the hands of the Dead- 
Letter Office experts many apparently hopeless cases are 
brought to life and delivered to their owners. 

The headquarters of the Dead-Letter Office on the third 
floor of the department building afford adequate facilities 
for the ever-growing requirements of this interesting branch 
of government work ; for while Uncle Sam's people gener- 
ally write better than they once could, they seem to be as 
careless as ever. It requires the services of some of the 
brightest, keenest-witted officials of the Post-Office Depart- 
ment to rectify their errors, and prevent, if possible, unfor- 
tunate and even disastrous losses arising from haste and 
inaccuracy in addressing a letter. 

The mail matter which finds its way here is of different 
kinds : — that which is properly addressed but has no post- 
age ; that which has insufficient, wrong, or illegible direc- 
tions ; that which has no direction whatever; that which 
was properly sent but never called for, and articles the 
transmission of which in the mails is forbidden. Mail 
matter fallino: within these classes arrives at the Dead- 
Letter Office at the average rate of over 20,000 pieces a 
day, and here every piece must pass at least three sets of 
clerks, and anything containing articles of money value is 
examined by at least three more. 

As the dead mail is dumped out, one would suppose that 
the bags contained farm produce or merchandise, rather 
than heart-messages and treasures gone astray. The 
pieces are carefully counted and a record made of the 
letters and packages, the former being tied into bundles of 
one hundred each. They then pass to a second force of 
clerks whose duty it is to violate the sanctity of the seal ; 



333 GUARDING MISSENT MONEY. 

but the oflficials and clerks of the Dead-Letter Office have a 
proper regard for any legitimate secrets of the people. This 
opening process is done by men armed with a keen knife, 
with one stroke of which tlie envelope is cut lengthwise, and 
at the next instant the contents are being examined. These 
men are of tried honesty, for a large amount of money is 
found in these letters every day. The most expert openers 
average about 3,000 letters a day each, and the work is so 
severe upon the steel knives, that though an inch wide when 
new, in a few months' time the cutting of the envelopes 
wears them away to the thinnest possible blade. 

Should a letter be found containing money, even a single 
cent, or a stamp — or a postal order, bank notes, drafts, 
checks, or any legal tender, the opener notes the kind and 
value of the " find " on the envelope and also in a record 
book, which at the close of the day, with the letters, is given 
to the chief of the division, who examines and verifies the 
reports and accounts of the several clerks. The letters and 
money then pass to the chief of the so-called Money Branch 
who again verifies the record and gives a receipt. 

Only the clerks employed in this branch have access to it, 
and the large iron safes, vaults, and ledgers give its quarters 
the air of a counting-room. Each clerk gives a receipt for 
the amount entrusted to him, and it is his business, whenever 
it is possible, to forward, or to return the letter with its con- 
tents to the sender in care of the postmaster, who is respons- 
ible for its safe delivery and who must return a receipt for 
it to the department. Every possible protection is thus 
thrown around it. Whenever the money cannot be for- 
warded or returned to the sender, on account of the writer's 
failure to give his name or his post-office address, it is held 
in the Dead-Letter Office for one year in the anticipation 
that it may be applied for. If not, the money is turned into 
the United States Treasury, and may be reclaimed within 
four years. 



CORRECTING THE ERRORS OF THE CARELESS. 335 

The carelessness of a great many people in sending 
money is almost incredible. Many letters are received con- 
taining large amounts, without a scrap of writing to indicate 
whence they came or whither they should go. Over 80,000 
letters and parcels are received here every year bearing no 
address whatever, and among them have been found letters 
known to enclose drafts to the amount of $2,500 each. Yet 
it is but a small portion of the money received for which the 
office fails to find owners. It now returns to its owners 
every year about $50,000 in money and about $1,200,000 in 
checks, while the amount for which no owners can be found 
does not usually amount to as much as $20,000 a year. 
Thus, thanks to the painstaking care of Uncle Sam, careless 
people lose very little in this way. 

A fair sample of letters of this kind was that posted at 
Boston not long ago and addressed simply : — " Dr. Wash- 
burn, Eoberts College." Opened, it was found to contain a 
check for $1,000. The experts at the Dead-Letter Office 
who " make it a business to know " many things which are 
not commonly known, knew that Dr. Washburn was presi- 
dent of Robert College in Constantinople, Turkey, and the 
letter with enclosure Avas forwarded to him so that he re- 
ceived it in sixteen days after it Avas posted. A son may 
send to his aged mother ten dollars of his hard-earned sav- 
ings and the letter never reaches her, because, perhaps, in 
the long interval betw^een communications she has moved 
elsewhere, or for some reason cannot be found. He has 
omitted in his letter to give his own post-office address, but 
perhaps that may be obtained from the postmark on the en- 
velope, and if so the letter is returned to him. Such are 
only general cases. They present, however, a great variety. 

Dead letters that contain neither money nor valuables 
are given one last chance before they are consigned to the 
waste-basket. A force of clerks do their utmost to deliver 
them, and they are each expected to work through about 300 



336 



THE PERPLEXING " NIXIE." 



letters a day. Even letters that contain nothing valuable 
are returned, if possible, to their writers. If they cannot be, 
they are thrown into the waste-basket. This waste paper is 
not burned, but sold — and affords the government a consid- 
erable revenue. With all his extravagances, this is but one 
of numerous waj^s by which Uncle Sam manages to turn an 
economical penny out of the carelessness and misfortunes of 
his numerous nephews and nieces. 




FACSIMILE OF A DEAD LETTER DELIVERED AT ELIZAP.ETII, N. .1. 

The oddest and most interesting class of dead letters are 
those which are misdirected or are illeo-jble — those which 
the postal clei-ks call " nixies." They number over 2,000 
daily, and the clerks whose business it is to unravel unintel- 
ligible directions and undecipherable scrawls have by expe- 
rience become so expert that a large majority of them are 
forwarded. Many enigmas are at once a])parent to them, 
as when, for example, a letter may be addressed " 20 Des- 



DECIPHERING THE UNDECIPHERABLE. 



337 



brosses Street, New Jersey," meaning, of course, " Xew 
York." But the chief trouble comes from foreigners who 
do not understand " English as she is wrote," and conse- 
quently spell largely by sound. Thus an Italian writes 
" Avergrasson " for Havre-de-Grace ; a Hungarian spells 
Xew Jersey " Schaszerscie." "Senoch, Dickalp Co., III." 
was written for Somonauk, De Kalb Co., III. 




hM-cj^-^ 





♦SP-" 



FACSIMILE OF" A BEAD LETTER DELIVERED TO HEXRY MAJNACKI, JERSEY 

CITY, N. J. 

To the inexperienced person it would appear almost 
impossible to deci])her some of the letters which find their 
way to the Dead-Letter Office from the larger cities where 
there is a growing foreign colony. But this class of letters 
is the simplest that officials have to deal with, and in many 
instances it is not even necessary to examine the contents of 
the letter to ascertain its proper destination. 

The above is a good specimen of a " nixie/' apparently a 



338 BLUNDERS OF THE ABSENT-MINDED. 

hopeless tangle of meaningless lines, yet it was deciphered 
and safely delivered. 

A not unusual error arises from a certain vague associa- 
tion of ideas, as when a letter addressed " Kat Trap, Miss.," 
should have read " Fox Trap, Miss." 

On one occasion the Postmaster-General received a letter 
from a woman living in the south of England, requesting 
him to find her brother who had left the old country thir- 
teen years before — during which time his relatives had 
received no news from him — and deliver a letter which she 
enclosed addressed thus : — "Mr. Tames Gunn, Power-Loom 
Shuttle Maker, Mass., America " Tt was turned over to the 
experts in the Dead-Letter Office and Mr. Gunn was found 
at No. 4 Barrington St., Lowell, Mass. It was a curious 
sequel to this that a few months afterward another letter 
came to the Dead-Letter Office addressed to "Mr. James 
Gunn, No. 4 Barrington St., America." 

These experts have a remarkable knowledge of the post- 
offices of the country, and even the streets of many cities, 
and a ready facility in interpreting certain scrawls while 
having in mind the nativity of the person who made them, 
as judged from the post-office mark. Sometimes the true 
address can only be guessed, and in such cases the clerk 
attaches to the letter a little printed slip bearing the follow- 
ing request : 

Post-Office Department, Dead-Letter Office, 

"Washington, D. C, 19 — . 

Postmaster : — Upon the delivery of this letter please 
obtain the envelope, if agreeable to the party addressed 
and return it to the Dead-Letter Office. If the letter can- 
not be delivered you will, at the expiration of seven days, 
stamp the letter with j^our postmarking stamp, and return 
it and this circular to the Dead-Letter Office, with your 
next return of unmailable letters, duly numbered and en- 
tered on the list, Form No. 1522. 

When an empty envelope thus returns, it is proof of the 



TWO VERY UNPROMISING SPECIMENS. 



339 




FACSIMILE OF A DEAD LETTER DELIVERED AT 5-^7 FERRY ST., NEWARK, 

N. J. 




y^u^^fX^^ 






FACSIMILE OP A DEAD LETTER DELIVERED TO BOX 85, CARTERET, N. J. 



340 



KEEN WIT AND JUDGMENT OF THE EXPERTS. 



correctness of the surmise. An envelope thus recalled was 
addressed to "Mr. Brown, Oil Corn, Miss." There is no 
such oifice in Mississippi or elsewhere, but the expert knew 
that there was an Alcorn University, a negro institution, 
located at Jackson, Mississippi. The corrected or sur- 
mised address was written on the slip and the letter for- 
warded. The return of the empty envelope later showed 
that the surmise was correct. 








^^k/i-Zl^ ^^' 






^^rf^^J'i! 



■ <3t^ 



FACSIMILE OF A DEAD LETTER DELIVERED AT 23 CHARLOTTE ST., 

nARTFORD, CT. 

In dealing with many of these dead letters the experts 
are called upon to exercise the keenest judgment and fami'- 
iarity with people and places in all parts of the country. 
It is the policy of the Post-Office Department to preserve as 
far as possible the sanctity of the mails, and therefore the 
experts avoid putting the letters "under the knife" only 
as a last resort. Their wits are sharpened to cut the knots 



AN "insufficient ADDRESS." 



341 



of the problem. For instance, a letter was recently sent to 
the Dead-Letter Office addressed simply, in very poor hand- 



writing : — 



new york Chicago boston st. lowis. 

This letter was received at the Dead-Letter Office 
stamped across its face : " Insufficient Address." The 




FACSIMILE OP A DEAD LETTER DELIVERED AT 229 JACKSON ST., HOBO- 
KEN, N. J. 

experts in the Dead-Letter Office knew by experience that 
there is a large business firm having branch offices in all 
these cities, and that this firm is a large advertiser and 
receives thousands of. letters from the rural districts. With- 
out opening the letter it was concluded that it was intended 
for this firm and was accordingly sent to them at Chicago, 
and it proved to be the letter's correct destination. 

Another odd class of letters are those which have only 
19 



342 TRAVELS OF MISDIRECTED LETTERS. 

initials to guide the clerk, as for instance, "UPS Ohio," 
which was correctly interpreted Upper Sandusk}^, Ohio; 
another, " I S N S " means the Iowa State Normal School. 
Occasionally a letter is received before which the experts 
acknowledge themselves vanquished as, for example, an 
address like this : — 

" For my son out West. He drives red oxen and the 
railroad goes bi thar." 

All letters sent evidently for the sole purpose of puzzling 
or annoying experts of the Dead-Letter Office are classed as 
freak letters and receive no attention. 

Sometimes an attempted witticism like this is perpe- 
trated : 

*' Sylvester Brown, a red-faced scrub. 
To whom this letter wants to go, 
Is chopping cord wood for his grub. 
In Silver City, Idaho." 

A letter mailed in Russia addressed " Marshall Sons & 
Co., Limited, Gainsborough," reached the United States 
and was forwarded to Gainesboro, Tenn., that being the 
largest office in the United States by that name. Being 
undeliv^erable at Gainesboro, Tenn., it was sent to the 
Dead-Letter Office in bad order, and thence sent to the 
Postmaster-General, London, England, for delivery at 
Gainsborough, England, with a special communication, and 
a receipt acknowledging its delivery was returned. This 
letter contained a draft for $40,000. 

A letter mailed in Kew York, N. Y., and addressed 
to Charles Arnold, Austria, failed of delivery to the ad- 
dressee and was returned as unclaimed from the country of 
destination. It was opened and found .to contain a Bank of 
England note for £100 and a letter signed simply with the 
initials " "W. S. J." The letter, with its inclosure, was sub- 
sequently forwarded to the postmaster at New York, N.Y., 
and by him delivered to the sender. 



REMARKABLE WORK OF AN EXPERT. 



343 



An instance of skill in the treatment of improperly- 
addressed mail matter may be seen from the following 
facsimile of the envelope of a letter sent to the Dead- Letter 
Office as undeliverable. The address was supplied and the 
letter subsequently delivered unopened to the addressee. 




FACSIMILE OF A DEAD LETTER DELIVERED UNOPENED, TO THE 
REV. F. H. FARRAR, CLEVELAND, N. Y. 

All mail matter from foreign countries to the United 
States which for any cause cannot be delivered is handled 
in the Foreign Division of the office, which also receives 
matter sent from the United States to foreign countries and 
found undeliverable there. Records are kept of registered 
letters, of parcels, of applications made for missing matter 
of foreign origin, of everything of value delivered, and 
finally of all mail matter returned from foreign countries. 
To what is called the Minor Division are confined manu- 
scripts, photographs, and miscellaneous papers of minor 



3i4 SEEKING THE FACES OF THE LOVED AND LOST. 

value. About 60,000 photographs are received by this 
division every year and two-thirds of them are usually 
restored to their owners. 

During the Civil War, tens of thousands of pliotographs 
were sent astray. The husband, the father, the brother, 
the son, under whose name they came — alas! when they 
reached his regiment he slept perchance in some heaped-up 
trench, in an unknown grave, or lay among the unburied 
dead — far beyond the reach of loving mementos and 
messages from the loved ones at home, so they were 
returned to this receptacle of unclaimed postal communi- 
cations. An immense book was kept which contained 
thousands of photographs that had been sent by soldiers to 
dear friends at home. The chances of war are sufficient to 
account for their going astray and for their return to the 
Dead-Letter Office. With a tender hand, the government 
gathered these pictures of its lost and unknown sons and 
garnered them here, for the sake of the living. Friends 
came from far and near to turn over the pages of this book, 
in the hope of identifying the faces of loved ones who 
perished in the war, and many a tear-blinded woman has 
sought and found them here at last. 

The opening of "dead" mail is not very agreeable work, 
though nearly every package contains a surjjrise of some 
kind. Everything imaginable is intrusted to Uncle Sam, 
from the daintiest fancy work and most costly jewelry to 
soiled undergarments and worn-out tooth-brushes. Every 
year an auction of all articles for which owners cannot be 
found, is held, and the sale nets a good round sum which is 
turned into the Treasury. 

A few of the oddest or choicest specimens are retained 
for the Department Museum, in which may be found a most 
remarkable collection of "everything under the sun." In 
this accumulation of stranded treasures are patchwork 
quilts, under and outer garments j hats, caps, bonnets; 



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A MOTLEY AND MYSTERIOUS COLLECTION. 34? 

shoes and stockings ; embroideries, baby-wardrobes, watches, 
and jewels of every description. Books have come to the 
Dead-Letter Office by the thousand, and room is provided 
for only two or three very old and valuable specimens here : 
a New Testament in Chinese, a life of Ignatius Loyola 
printed in Venice in 1711, and others that date back to 
the seventeenth century. Near by is the Lord's Prayer in 
fifty-four languages, and a certificate of character, over 
a hundred years old, written for an apprentice by his 
master. Why should they have appeared among the lost? 
That is one of the mysteries of the Dead-Letter Office. 
Many of these treasures were precious keepsakes from those 
who fondly sent them — under very unintelligible super- 
scriptions—to sweethearts whom they never reached. 
Some are tokens from far-off lands beyond the seas, but 
fated never to find the ones they sought. 

Here are two miniatures painted on ivory, apparently of 
father and son, which were found in a letter from Boston 
without any address, and all efforts to find the owners were 
unavailing. Here is a crucifix of gold and carnelian from 
Atlanta which no one claimed. Here are rings set with 
diamonds and sapphires, in close proximity to great snakes 
which were received alive and are now preserved in jars of 
alcohol. Other preserved specimens of the animal kingdom 
consist of star fish, horned toads, and an alligator about 
three feet long. 

With singular incongruity, and yet with a tasteful dis- 
play, are arranged wedding cake, packages of arsenic and 
strychnine, bowie knives, and false teeth, some of which 
have been worn and some of which have not ; an old Eng- 
lish hatbox that looks as if it had circumnavigated the 
globe ; coffeepots, washboards, barbed wire, revolvers, salad 
oil, brandy and perfumes, dolls, brownies, and idols ; dyna- 
mite bombs and musical instruments; human skulls and 
firecrackers ; insect killers and consumption cures ; daggers 



348 CURIOS OF THE DEAD-LETTER OFFICE. 

and valentines ; deeds, wills, pension papers ; doorplates, 
fans, and innumerable articles, illustrating the variety of 
matter sent through the mails daily, but which never 
reaches its destination. 

Occasionall}^ after keeping such articles for a time, an 
owner appears. A young lady once sent a ring to a friend 
by mail — a peculiar moss agate which she highly valued. 
It was never delivered, and its fate remained a mystery for 
several years. Subsequently when visiting a distant state 
she was greatly surprised one morning to find opposite her 
at the breakfast table a strang-er wearino^ her long-lost rins'. 
The ring was so unique that she had no doubt of its 
identity. Upon inquiry she foimd that it had been pur- 
chased at one of the " Dead-Letter Auction Sales " at 
Washington. 

Once among the curiosities was a cloth " baby elephant " 
with one of his sides gorgeously embroidered with the "Stars 
and Stripes and the other flaunting the English colors, the 
two linked by a golden chain. For years it remained 
simply a museum feature, but it once was begged as an 
attraction for a church fair. It so happened that a lady 
from New Hampshire was visiting Washington at the time 
and went to the fair. To the surprise of her friends she 
recognized Jumbo as her own property. Ten years before 
she had made him and sent him to England, as she sup- 
posed, to her daughter who had married a man named Link 
• — hence the design of the English and American flags 
linked together. 

At Christmas time thousands and thousands of mis- 
directed and unclaimed gifts find their way into the Dead- 
Letter Office — so many little tokens of love or remem- 
brance which fail to carry their message. Imaginative 
minds may weave curious romances around almost any one 
of these lost articles. 



CHAPTER XX. 

A DAY IN THE PATENT-OFFICE — A PALACE OF AMERICAN 

INVENTIVE GENIUS AND SKILL -CRAZY INVENTORS — 

FREAKS AND THEIR PATENTS. 

The Department of the Interior and Its Functions — The Patent-Office — 
Issuing One Hundred Patents a Day — Abraham Lincoln's Patent — 
How To Secure a Patent — Patent Attorneys and How They Obtain Big 
Fees — Hesitating To Accept a Million Dollars — What Is a Patent?— 
A Minister Who Discovered "Perpetual Motion" —Preposterous Let- 
ters and Odd Inventions— A Dead Baby Used as a "Model"— A 
Patent for Fishing Worms out of the Himian Stomach — A Patent for 
Exterminating Lions and Tigers by the Use of Catmint — Killing Grass- 
Hoppers with Artillery— Crazy Inventors — Freaks and Their Patents — 
A Patent for a Cow-Tail Holder — Eccentric Letters — Amusing Speci- 
mens of Correspondence — A Cat and Rat Scarer — Great Fortunes 
from Little Inventions. 



'ARCH 3, 1849, Congress passed an act to estab- 
lish the Home Department, and enacted that 
said new executive branch of the Government 
^vf^ of the United States shoukl be called the Depart- 
ment of the Interior, that the head of said depart- 
ment should be called Secretary of the Interior, and 
that the Secretary should be placed upon the same plane 
with other Cabinet officers. 

The Department of the Interior covers a multitude of 
governmental functions having nothing in common, except 
that they fall within "the interior" of a great and diversified 
country. Its main duties are the supervision of the General 
Land Office; of the Patent-Office; of the Pension Bureau; 
of the Bureau of Indian Affairs ; of the Bureau of Education ; 

(349) 




350 A DEPARTMENT ALWAYS EXPANDING. 

of the Bureau of Railroads ; of the Census ; of the Geological 
Survey ; of the Architect of the Capitol ; of the Yellowstone 
National Park ; and always of a variety of lesser and often 
ephemeral affairs, like the Hot Springs Reservation of Arkan- 
sas, the Nicaragua Canal, and almost any kind of a commission 
which Congress may from time to time establish for getting 
things off its hands. In fact the Department of the Interior is 
supposed to be capable of absorbing anything Avhich can not 
be naturally absorbed elsewhere, and the Secretary of the 
Interior is sometimes facetiously dubbed the Jack-of-all- 
Trades of the Cabinet. 

The office of the Secretary of the Interior is in the build- 
ing which is popularly known as the Patent-Office. The 
Bureau of Patents is the largest branch of the Department 
of the Interior, and is so important that it is almost a sepa- 
rate department, as, indeed, it ought to be; for this is the 
bureau of the government which more than any other is 
always expanding. It is intrusted with the duty of grant- 
ing letters-patent, securing to the inventor or discoverer, 
for the term of seventeen years, the exclusive use of the 
article patented. A " patented " article is one for which 
" letters-patent " have been issued by the government to 
the inventor. They are called " letters " because they are 
open messages, addressed to the public, and "patent" 
because they are supposed to be known by all. 

Patents are not, as some persons suppose, monopolies, 
but are protections granted to individuals as rewards for, 
and incentives to, discoveries and inventions of all kinds per- 
taining to science and the useful arts. 

The federal government was not many days old when 
Jefferson made plans for a Patent-Office. Having inspired 
the act of 1790 which established it, he made it a part of the 
Department of State of which he was the head, taking so 
much pride in its operation that he practically did the work 
himself. After personally examining each a])plication, it 



"pot- and pearl-ashes, candles, and meal," 351 

was bis custom to call in Henry Knox of Massachusetts, the 
Secretary of War, and Edmund Randolph of Virginia, the 
Attorney-General in Washington's cabinet, who, with the 
Secretary of State, were by law constituted a tribunal to 
pass upon such applications. These three distinguished pa- 
triots examined them critically, scrutinizing each portion of 
the specification and claims carefully and rigorously; for 
Jefferson's idea was that patents should not be granted for 
devices or processes because they were new, simply, but 
because they were useful. 

The result of this ruling was that very few applications 
passed the severe ordeal, and but three were granted the 
first year — the first for " making pot- and pearl-ashes " ; the 
second for "manufacturing candles"; and the third for 
" manufacturing flour and meal." We may imagine with 
what grave concern men who could write the Declaration of 
Independence and play im])ortant parts in the establishment 
of a government under that constitution Avhich was in part 
the work of their hands, scrutinized, as affairs of state, new 
processes for making pot- and pearl-ashes, candles, and meal. 
Certainly they did not foresee the possibilities of a system 
under which, in a hundred years, about 500 patents would 
be issued every week in the year. 

The rigorous test to which Jefferson submitted applica- 
tions aroused more and more opposition with each unsuc- 
cessful inventor, and in 1793 the laAV was somewhat liberal- 
ized in spite of his protests that it would tend to the creation 
of monopolies. But the affairs of the office were managed 
after his ideas for many years, very few patents being 
granted. Some of these Avere genuine curiosities, judging 
from such an entry as this in the report of the Patent-Office 
for 1802: "Machine for Raising Water (! ! ! a perpetual 
motion! ! !)" AVhether this parenthetical array of exclama- 
tion points was inserted by the hand of Jefferson, or of INIad- 
ison, then Secretary of State, the curious will never know. 



353 AN EXCITED AND INDIGNANT DOCTOR. 

« 

In 1810 the office was removed from its little desk with 
a few humble pigeon-holes at the State Department to a 
building of its own, previously known as Blodgett's hotel, 
and it was provided with a head called the '• Keeper of the 
Patents." This individual was no other than our old friend 
Dr. Thornton, he who many years before had submitted an 
original sketch of a plan for the Capitol which had " capti- 
vated the eyes and judgment " of Jefferson. Jefferson now 
placed him in charge of the work pertaining to patents. To 
Thornton the patent business was a hobby, and his ideas 
corresponded exactly with Jefferson's. His wife was one of 
the ornaments of the society of the new Capital city. She 
was a teacher in Philadelphia when he married her. After 
her death it became known that her father was the famous 
Dr. Dodd, executed in London for forging a Bank of Eng 
land note — a fact mercifully concealed from her by her 
mother, who had taken refuge in America under an assumed 
name. When, in the war of 1812, the British, who had 
entered Washington, trained their cannon on the Patent- 
Office, Thornton, it is said, threw himself before the guns 
and shouted : 

"Are you Englishmen, or Goths, or Vandals? This is 
the Patent-Office, a depository of the ingenuity and inven- 
tions of the American nation, in which the whole civilized 
world is interested. Would you destroy it ? Then let the 
charge pass through my body ! " 

A severe thunder storm opportunely helping Dr. Thornton 
out, the building was spared ; so was the doctor, who was the 
autocrat of the office till his death in 1827, soon after which 
it was found that the accounts were in great confusion and 
there was an unexplained absence of drawings and models. 
The results of the Congressional investigation which fol- 
lowed indicated that the doctor's chief fault was in carrying 
the office too much in his head ; and, as it turned out, it 
would have made little difference had everything been Intel- 



THE LOSS OP PRICELESS MODELS. 353 

ligible and in order, for. though the British had spared it, a 
fire completely wiped it out in 1830. Thus practically little 
is known of the exact nature of most of these early patents 
except the titles given them in the reports to Congress of 
the Secretary of State, though some of the drawings and 
models were restored through correspondence with inventors. 
About seven thousand models were lost, and many of them 
would be worth their weight in gold to-day as relics. One 
of the losses was a volume of drawings, elegantly executed 
by Robert Fulton's own hands, delineating the machinery he 
employed, and containing three pictures of his steamboat 
making its triumphant voyage on the Hudson. 

This calamity fully awakened Congress to the necessity 
of adequately and safely housing the Patent-Office ; and the 
lawful fees for issuing patents having accumulated into a 
considerable fund. Congress added an appropriation, and di- 
rected that the whole amount should be invested in a new 
building to be called the Patent-Office. 

From that double fund arose one of the most august 
buildings in Washington. Occupying an entire public 
square, it may be approached from four opposite directions, 
and on each side you lift your eyes to four majestic porticoes 
towering before you. They are supported by double rows 
of Doric columns, eighteen feet in circumference, and thirty 
feet high. The entire building is of pure Doric architecture, 
strong, simple, and yet magnificent. Its southern front is 
modeled after that of the Parthenon at Athens. 

It was supposed that this imposing edifice would be ade- 
quate for all purposes for many years, but, a new and more 
systematic patent law having been passed in 1836, the 
growth of the business became so rapid that the models 
were quickly crowding out everything else, and the Seventh 
street wing was built and occupied in 1852. This was at 
once followed by the erection of the corresponding Ninth 
street wing, and the quadrangle was completed by the Q 



354 WHERE RECORDS OF PATENTS ARE STORED. 

street extension in 1867, the whole expense up to that time 
being $3,000,000. Alterations since then have cost 82,000,000 
more. How different the Patent-Office is from a modern 
office building may be judged from the fact that, covering 
nearly three acres, it is but three stories high ; witli a thou- 
sand peoi)le working under its roof, it has but a sinole ele- 
^ vator for the accommodation of the employees and extensive 
business of the whole department. 

]S^ot many years ago, when entering the building, the 
visitor found himself in a magnificent hall. Here were 
many models of famous inventions, and various objects of 
great historic interest, including priceless relics of Washino-- 
ton, Jackson, and many others, which have since been re- 
moved to the National Museum. The great halls have been 
partitioned off into offices where the ever-growing army of 
officials and clerks work, while in the wide corridors extend- 
ing around the four sides of the building, where once, 
secured in glass cases, were exquisite miniature models of 
almost every description — pianos, sewing machines, plows, 
bedsteads, engines, locomotives, guns, and cannons — can 
now be seen but a poor remnant of this vast collection. 
In their places are racks and pigeon-holes filled with copies 
of patents and other papers. EveryAvhere there is the ap- 
pearance of an overflow, a deluge of files. In some of the 
main divisions extend long canons of towering file racks, all 
stuffed with edge-worn ])apers. Patents, patents every- 
where, and all on paper. Each division, having its own par- 
ticular duties, has its own files of patents, while in the file 
room, each in its properly-endorsed cover, is the history in a 
nutshell of every one of the 650,000 and more patents which 
have been granted, with the exception of some of the older 
ones which were destroyed. 

Among the treasures of the building is the greatest 
technical library in the world — a library of nearly 100,000 
volumes, many of them exceedingly rare and valuable. 



WHEN AND HOW PATENTS ARE ISSUED. 355 

The Patent-Office has never been an expense to the govern- 
ment. It is the only self-supporting bureau, and annually 
turns in a large sum to the treasury from its excess of 
receipts over expenditures. Its revenues are derived largely 
from patent fees, and sales of copies of patents or files. The 
Official Gazette, a bulky pamphlet published weekly and 
furnishing the claims of patents with a figure from the 
drawings, is invaluable to inventors and all interested in 
patents and in manufacture. Patents are issued every 
Tuesday and, simultaneously with the announcement of the 
patents granted, appears the Gazette and 150 copies of a 
description of each patent, to be added to the archives and 
to the stock for sale. 

As the work of the department grew, the demand for 
more room increased. The models were carried from time to 
time cross the street and stored in the attic of the old Post- 
Offlce Department building; and when, several years ago, 
the issue of patents had grown to upwards of a hundred 
a day, and it was apparent that it would be impossible to 
find a place for the models within the city limits, the patent 
law was changed and a model is now no longer an essential 
of an application for a patent. Instead, it is required that 
sufficient drawings shall be furnished to illustrate clearly 
and adequately each feature in the article for which a 
patent is claimsd. Some intricate patents are accomjjanied 
with from ten to twenty and even thirty pages of elaborate 
drawings. Ever}^ original patent is photo-lithographed 
and duplicate copies can be obtained for five cents each. 
The vast and constantly-increasing number of printed 
copies are kept by classes and sub-classes, and the inventor 
has but to giv^e the number of a patent he Avishes to 
examine, and an illustrated description of it can be 
furnished him at once. A force of clerks is constantly busy 
filling such orders, which come from all over the world. 

In 1877, the great building, popularly supposed to bo 



356 A MODEL MADE BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

fire proof, again suffered from a conflagration, and although 
only the west wing was consumed, 87,000 models and 
nearly 600,000 drawings were destro\^ed, for they were then 
kept largely in that wing in four grand halls opening into 
each other and affording a promenade of about one-fourth 
of a mile. The only models saved were a few still kept 
in the Hall of Models on the main floor, and those stored 
across the street in the old Post-Office building. Many of 
the historical relics and curiosities have been removed to 
the ISTational Museum. 

Among the models there preserved, is one roughly 
executed, representing the frame-work of the hull of a 
"Western steamboat. Beneath the keel is a false bottom, 
provided with bellows and air-bags. The ticket upon it 
bears the memorandum, "Model of sinking and raising boats 
by bellows below. A. Lincoln, May 30, 1849." 

By means of this arrangement, Mr. Lincoln hoped to 
solve the difficulty of passing boats over sand-bars in the 
"Western rivers. The success of his scheme would have 
made him independently wealthy, but it failed, and, twelve 
years later, he became President of the United States. 
During the interval, the model lay forgotten in the Patent- 
Office, but, after his inauguration, Mr. Lincoln got one 
of the employees to find it for him. 

The issue of patents now numbers nearly 500 a week, 
and is continually on the increase. Clearly, American 
ingenuity, far from being exhausted, is ever developing. In 
theory or in law, anyone can take out a patent upon any- 
thing new and useful ; in practice he may if it is simply 
new, for the question of utility is seldom raised. Tliousands 
.of patents prove to be of no practical use whatever, but it is 
always difficult to judge of the possibilities in this direction ; 
for while a patent may fall flat when issued, it may in the 
course of events, suddenly become of great value. 

While it is difficult to judge of what may eY<?ntually 



FIRST STEPS IN SECURING A PATENT. 357 

become useful, it is no easy matter to determine whether an 
invention is actually a novelty. The inventor who either 
stumbles upon or develops something which is new to him, 
is inclined to think that he has made a discovery. He 
wants a patent and he expects to become rich. If he has 
had no previous experience, the chances are that he has no 
knowledge of the devious path his application must pursue. 
He. can receive from the Patent-Office, for the asking, the 
official book of instructions telling him how to prepare his 
application, the size of his drawings, tlie particular card- 
board to be used, the method of stating the nature of his 
invention, the specifications and the claims, the latter con- 
stituting the vital part of a patent ; but, if he is wise, he will 
place his case in the hands of an attorney, and if wiser still 
he will place it in the hands of a good one, for there are 
attorneys and attorneys. Some will lead him on only to 
get his fee ; others will tell him honestly whether his idea 
is of any value, though if they tell him it is worthless, he 
will probably go to another ready to tell him that it really 
is a great thing. 

In any case, the first step is a preliminary search 
through the patents in that particular class or sub-class 
in which a record of such patents ought to be found. Such 
a search may lead into several classes, but in any event it is 
superficial. It may be found that the device is partly new 
and partly old, in which case the claims must be modified 
to include only the new, or by the introduction of some 
additional device to escape something already patented. 

The drawings are made according to the modified claims 
and the applications filed, the office giving it a service 
number so that it may be taken up in regular course. It is 
then turned over to the examiner in the proper division. 
Having been delving in this particular line of invention for 
years, not only keeping informed of patents in this country 
but of those abroad, reading trade papers and scientific 



358 STEALING INTO THE PATENT-OFFICE. 

literature wherein ideas are suggested but never patented, 
these examiners, and their assistants in the various Hub- 
classes, are supposed to find every evidence of prior inven- 
tion or suggestion either as a whole or in its minutest parts. 
It may be found, for example, that some little detail in the 
proposed device has been patented on a machine in no way 
akin to the one in hand. Some little thing in a washing 
machine patent might spoil a new idea for a sewing 
machine, or a loom, or a corn-sheller. Whatever the exam- 
iner finds in the way of priority, either clear or question- 
able, is cited as reference against the application and turned 
over to the board finally passing upon it. The inventor 
may find to his sorrow that the idea on which he has based 
his fond expectations has withered away to a thing of little 
value. 

Every inventor supposes that he has a fortune in every 
conception that he puts into wood and iron. Stealing 
tremblingly and furtively up the steps of the Patent-Office, 
with his model concealed under his coat, lest some sharper 
shall see it and rob him of his darling idea, he hopes 
to come down those steps with the precious parchment that 
shall insure him a present competency and enrich his 
children. If in the first flush of his triumph he were offered a 
million dollars, he would hesitate about touching it without 
sleeping over the proposition for a night. No commission 
could satisfy him, and no ordinary price would take the place 
of the hope of unlimited wealth which has lightened his 
toil. 

Yet, with so many diffculties to be overcome, the govern- 
ment is now granting nearly one hundred patents a day. 
It should be said that it is not essential that every particu- 
lar part in a device should be new ; a new combination of 
old parts is a patental)le novelty. Furthermore, nearly 
all patents are improvements. A man can patent an 
improvement on another's invention, as has been done over 



DREAMS AND DELUSIONS OF INVENTORS. 359 

and over again. " Interferences," where two inventors 
have made applications for practically the same thing, are 
always to be dealt with, and they are eventually decided by 
the Commissioner on the evidence as to who actuallv had 
the idea first. The inventor is also protected under what is 
called the caveat system, whereby on a payment of a small 
fee he may file a description of a proposed invention 
and secure its protection for a period enabling him to 
perfect it. 

Patent law and practice are unsurpassed for perplexing 
intricacy, and taking this into account, together with the 
fact that he must evade nearly 700,000 patents in this coun- 
try and as many more abroad, the inventor can never be 
quite sure what the result of his application will be. The 
work of years may result in nothing, while he sorrowfully 
beholds a woman making a fortune out of a patent on a 
paper bag, and a man becoming a millionaire out of a 
patent granted for attaching a little ball to an elastic string. 

In no other position in the world than that of Commis- 
sioner of Patents, probably, could a man discover how many 
crazy people there are outside of the lunatic asylum. The 
born inventor is always a dreamer. For the sake of his dar- 
ling thought, he is willing to sacrifice himself, his wife, and 
children, everything but the "machine" growing in his 
brain and quickening under his eager hand. How often 
they fail ! How often the precious idea, developed into 
form, is only a mistake — a failure ! 

Sometimes this is sad — quite as often it is funny. The 
procession which started, far back in the ages, with its 
machine of " Perpetual Motion," long ago reached the 
doors of the American Patent-Office. The persons found 
in that procession are sometimes astonishing. A well- 
known doctor of divinity, not suspected of studying any 
machiner}^ but that of the moral law, appeared one day in 

the office of the Commissioner, 
20 



3G0 DISAPPOINTED PATENT SEEKERS. 

" I know Tv'e got it! " he said. 

« What, sir ? " 

" Perpetual motion, sir. Look ! " and he set down a 
little machine. " If the floor were not in the way, if the 
earth were not in the way, that weight would never stop, 
and my machine would go on forever. I know this is origi- 
nal with me — that it never dawned before upon any other 
human mind." 

So enthusiastic was the doctor, it was with difficulty he 
could be restrained from depositing the Patent-Office fee 
and leaving his experiment to be patented. The Commis- 
sioner quietly sent to the library for a book — a history of 
attempts to create perpetual motion. Opening at a certain 
page, he pointed out to the astonished would-be inventor 
where his own machine had been attempted, and failed, 
more than a hundred years before. The reverend doctor 
took the book home, read, digested, and meditated thereon 
— to bring it back and lay it down before the Commis- 
sioner in silence. 

It would take a large volume to record all the prepos- 
terous letters and inventions received at the Patent-Office. 
A man once sent a letter describing a new process of em- 
balming which he had originated. It was accompanied 
by a dead baby — " the model " — which he requested 
should be placed in one of the glass cases of the Exhibition- 
Room. He considered himself deeply injured when his 
request was refused. Among the most remarkable inven- 
tions is a machine to force a hen to lay eggs, and a silver 
worm-hook, which, it was claimed, when baited with a 
seductive pill, would remove worms from the human 
stomach. 

The Commissioner once received the foUowinfi: commu- 
nication from the Legation of the United States in Paris : 

" Sik: — A very large number of inventions and discov- 
eries are submitted to this Legation, with the request that 



SOME ODD APPLICATIONS FOR PATENTS. 361 

we shall transmit them to Washington. Most of them are, 
as yon may snppose, worthless. AVe have had, for instance, 
serious plans ])roposed for the extermination of all the lions 
and tigers in the United States by the use of catmint, the 
uioduis operandi being to dig an immense pit, and fill it with 
this herb. The well-known love of the feline race for cat- 
mint will naturallv induce the lions and tigers to jump into 
the pit and roll themselves ujwn it ; whereupon concealed 
hunters are to appear and slaughter the ferocious animals. 

"Another plan is for the destruction of grasshoppers 
upon the plains by the use of artillery ; it being perfectly 
well known that concussion kills insects. 

" A third is for the capture of a besieged city by the use 
of a bomb which, upon exploding, shall emit so foul a smell 
that the besieged will rush headlong from the w^alls, and 
fall an easy prey to the besiegers." 

The President of the United States receives many letters 
of like character, which are by him transmitted to the 
Bureau of Patents. The following are verbatim copies 
(including orthography) of letters which represent thou- 
sands more of equal intelligence received at this depart- 
ment of the government. 

" Sir it is with pleasure"! take this opportunity Of writ- 
ing to You I Am well at Present Hoping those few lines 
will find you enjoying Good health And prosperity 1 am 
doing all I can for you in this locality and I hope and 
expect you will be our next President Of the United States 
I would like to have an Office of Siveliseing the Indians 
What Salary w411 you give me per Annum please Write to 
me and let me no in fact I am in need of A little money at 
present Will you please send me 600 or 1000 dolors to 

Sumthing Aught to be done for the poor Indean 

And I beleave that I can sivelise them. If you will give me 
200 or 300 per month it will doo." 

"Hon Friend — Solicitor of Patents I have invented a 
secret form of writing expressly for the use of our gov in 
time of Avarfare the publick demands it, It is diff'erent from 
any other invention known to the ])ublick in this or any 
gov. It consists simply of the English alphabet and can be 
changed to any form that the safety of our gov. demands it 
no higherglyphicks are employed but it is practical and safe 



362 A MAN OF MANY IDEAS. 

I propose to sell it to our gov for the sum of one million 
dollars I will meet any committee appointed to investigate 
the matter. If you will give me your influence in Congress 
and aid in bringing a sale of the invention about to our gov 
or any other I will reward you with the sum of ten thou- 
sand dollars ($10,000) It is no illusion or a whim of the 
brain but is what I represent it to be scientific practicable 
and safe, Wishing to hear from you on the subject I 
remain " 

Only recently a man in Michigan acknowledged receipt 
of information sent by the bureau at his request, in the fol- 
lowing letter : — 

" Honourable Sir : I am much gratified for the kind 
information you sent me. But when i peruised it i found i 
could not proceed on account of my Sircumstances. I am 
here as an exile far from home and without money though i 

own a farm of 220 eacres of land in Co. Michigan, 

but had to fly like the lark from the field of wheat for fear 
of my life by a frantic scolding wife. I Sought Peace and 
found it thanks be to providence. 

" I have a great many ideas of improvements in many a 
buisnes especialy in fire Scapes from high buildings which 
is ffratelv kneeded, thouo-h i am no machanic i can instruct 
many a man in his buisnes. 

'' But money makes the mare go which leaves my mare 
to totter fall and die it is said and is true their is manny a 
Socratus in the hands of a Plow and many a Uleses herding 
Sheep." 

Occasionally a freakish idea may have value ; but the 
absurd devices of crazy inventors who have filed applica- 
tions for Avonderful inventions are legion. A milkman 
conceived the idea of a cow-tail holder, and there appears 
in the archives of the Patent-Office, a patent with drawings 
showing a clamp like a clothespin for fastening the ani- 
mal's tail to its leg or to the milking-stool. But though 
the inventor secured his patent he found that there were 
dozens of patents for cow-tail holders, and that there was 
no demand for cow-tail holders, anyway. Another man 
who evidently had an uneasy bed-fellow, invented a clamp 



EXTRAORDINARY AND USELESS INVENTIONS. 363 

and spring attachment for fastening the bedclothes to 
the bedstead. A "combination inkstand, pistol case, and 
alarm " ; a fan attachment for rocking-chairs, the rocking 
motion revolving the fan; an automatic egg-boiler, with 
mechanism so adjustetl as to raise the eggs ont of the water 
at the expiration of the proper time ; a wire device to be 
attached to hens' legs to keep them from scratching ; and 
thousands of other comical inventions are classified and 
housed in this great granite building. 

Some extraordinary cranks turn up at the Patent-Office. 
They hail from all parts of the country. Their errand is 
often proclaimed in their unkempt appearance, in their 
secretive and confidential manner, and above all in their 
great and mysterious inventions. The Patent-Office 
becomes t(j them either their bosom confidant and inspi- 
ration or their deadly enemy, according to the verdict on 
their new ideas. Should they invent a new and useful 
manner of shooing flies, or scaring cats and rats, it is 
bound, in their opinion, to be of vital importance to the 
universe and redound to the everlasting glory and fortune 
of the inventor. 

Some time ago, a man long past middle life, wearing a 
Father Time beard and huge spectacles, a high, broad- 
brimmed hat, and a long black clerical coat, entered the 
office, and addressing himself to the first official he met 
earnestly said : " Sir, I have made one of the most remark- 
able discoveries that has ever been made : I have invented a 
tobacco-quid protector, sir, by which tobacco may be kept 
in the mouth w^ithout spitting, sir, and by which the quid 
may be preserved for any length of time without spoiling, 
sir. Saves money, saves health, saves morals." Where- 
upon he produced a box made of pine wood and shaped like 
an oyster shell, lie desired drawings to be made of it, and 
the facts published, and was indignant and disgusted 
because his request was not granted. 



364 A CAT-SCARER AND "LEGAL DECISIONS.' 

A man from Green Bay, Wisconsin, one day tip-toed 
in very quietly and coniidentially, and laying his sun- 
browned hat on top of one of the desks, clasped his hands 
and said : " I am from Bay City, and I have made a most 
valuable discovery." His " discovery " consisted of a clock 
alarm arranged in a huge wooden frame. From a cross 
beam at the top a rope dangled, to Avhich a heavy iron 
weight was attached and so arranged as to be easily de- 
tached and fall into a tin pan placed below. The whole 
device was designed to make a great noise for the purpose 
of scaring cats away from pans of milk. 

Another applicant, who was evidently addicted to grati- 
fying his taste for strong drink surreptitiously, wanted a 
patent for a novel liquor flask, and strange to say, his 
device was actually patented. It consisted in making tlie 
outer covering of the flask in the form of a book, marked 
" Legal Decisions." The book was large enough to cover 
the bottle, including the neck and stopper. The book had a 
concealed hole beneath the bottom of the flask, so that the 
flask could be pushed upward and the neck would project 
through another concealed hole at the top. 

It is estimated that about one invention in twent3^-five 
repays the cost of taking out a patent. Yet inventors as a 
class are sanguine men, and no knowledge of the enormous 
percentage of chances against them will deter them from 
multiplying ingenious devices. Every one expects a fortune 
from his particular piece of mechanism. Every one has 
heard not only of the enormous sums realized from the 
great inventions of the last half-century, but also of the 
large returns yielded by things apparently trifling which 
have struck the public fancy or met the public need. 

The toy called the return-ball, a small ball attached to 
an elastic string, is said to have produced a profit of $50,000 
a year ; and the rubber tip on lead-pencils has yielded a 
competence to the in.ventor. More than $1,000,000 has 



GREAT FORTUNES FROM SMALL INVENTIONS. 3G5 

been earned by the gimlet-pointed screw, the inventor 
of which was so poor that he trudged on foot from Phila- 
delphia to Washington to get his patent ; the roller-skate 
has yielded $1,000,000 after the patentee spent $125,000 in 
Eno-land fitrhtino; inf rin^^ements ; the dancing Jim Crow 
is set down for $75,000, and the copper tip for children's 
shoes at $2,000,000 ; the spring window-shade roller pays 
$100,000 a year, and the needle-threader $10,000 a year 
From the drive-well $3,000,000 have been realized ; the 
stylographic pen is credited with $100,000 a year; and 
the egg-beater, and the rubber stamp, with large sums. 
These are only a few examples among hundreds that migh. 
be cited. No wonder inventors are hopeful when they 
reflect that comfort for life and fortunes for their children 
may come from a single fortunate idea. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THE PENSION BUREAU — CLAIMANTS AND THEIR PETITIONS 
— SNARES AND PIT-FALLS FOR THE UNWARY. 

A Vast Deluge of Pension Papers — Caring For a Million Pensioners — 
Disbursing $133,000,000 a Year — The "Alarm Act " — Pension Laws 
and Regulations — Who Are Entitled to Pensions — Method of Pro- 
cedure—How Claims Are Filed and Examined — Guarding the Rolls 
Against Fraud — Medical Examinations — Disgruntled Applicants — 
Suspicious Cases and "Irregular" Claims— " Widows " — Doctors 
Who Disagree — An Indignant Captain — Living on " Corn-bread and 
SourMilk"— Why Decisions Are Delayed — Special Examinations — 
Guarding Against Swindlers, Imposters, and Frauds — Claim Agents 
and Their Ways — Forging Evidence and Affidavits — Pension Attor- 
neys and Their Tricks— " Swapping" Papers — Mean and Petty 
Swindlers — Whom To Avoid —Pawning Pension Certificates — The 
Disabled Veteran's Best Friend — His Real Enemies — General Harri- 
son's Views. 



II EXT to the Patent-Office, the Pension Bureau is 
tlie most important branch in the Department of 
the Interior. The expansion of its business dur- 
ing the past iew years compelled the erection of 
a special building of large proportions to accommo- 
date the deluge of pension papers and the army of 
1,800 busy men and women through whose hands they must 
pass. Most of its interior consists of an immense court broken 
by two rows of columns, which sustain the central part of the 
great roof of glass, while encircling galleries lead to the 
numerous offices on every side. Inside, therefore, the build- 
ing has the appearance of more space than contents. The 
size of the court may be judged from the fact that fully 

(366) 




MORE THAN A MILLION PENSIONERS. 36? 

20,000 people crowd into it upon the occasion of the inaug- 
ural balls which are now held there, — a purpose not in the 
mind of the designer of the structure, but a fortunate acci- 
dent that made a permanent and unequaled place for func- 
tions that have become attractive features of every inaug- 
uration. 

The building is not a work of art. When General Sher- 
idan was looking it over, and his guide proudly told him 
that the structure was perfectly fire proof, he exclaimed : 
" What a pity ! " Neither is it an expensive building as com- 
pared with others devoted to government purposes, plenty 
of room and suitable conveniences being the objects desired. 
There is one distinctively artistic thing about it, however, 
— the ornamental terra-cotta frieze over the first-story win- 
dows, portraying a spirited procession of soldiers, infantry, 
cavalry, and artillery ; and many a veteran feels his pulse 
quicken as he beholds the details of the frieze, revivinti^ 
never-to-be-forgotten scenes in the great Civil War. 

The Pension EoU of 1901 carries over a million pen- 
sioners, involving an expenditure of over $132,000,000. A 
month after the Declaration of Independence, the Congress 
of the Confederation passed an act promising pensions to 
those disabled in the Avar, cases being adjudged by the State 
legislatures and pensions paid by the states, which were 
afterwards reimbursed by the Federal government. In 1818 
a law was passed pensioning indigent men who had served 
in the Revolution, but the applications became so numerous 
that Congress quickly passed the " alarm act, " requiring all 
pensioners on the roll to furnish a schedule of the amount 
of property then in their possession. Pensioners were 
dropped who owned as small an amount as 150 dollars 
worth of property. 

During the development of the Pension Bureau so many 
pension laws have been enacted that pension legislation has 
become an extremely difficult thing to master. It may be 



368 INTRACACIES OP PENSION LAWS. 

divided into four general classes : — (1) That on account of 
the old wars prior to 1861 ; (2) the so-called general laws 
since 1861 ; (3) the act of June 27, 1890 ; (4) that on account 
of the War with Spain. The last survivor of the Eevolution 
died over thirty years ago, but in 1900 there still remained 
on the pension roll four widows and seven daughters of Rev- 
olutionary soldiers, the average age of the latter exceeding 
that of the widows. Only one soldier of the War. of 1812 
was living in 1900, but the rolls still contained the names of 
over 1,700 widows of pensioned soldiers of that war. The 
survivors of the Mexican War in 1900 numbered 8,352 and 
widows 8,151. As the pensioned soldiers, widows, daughters, 
and minors on account of the Civil War number nearly a 
million, it will be seen that the pension business on account 
of previous wars is of relatively small importance. 

Under the so-called general laws passed since 1861, any 
soldier, sailor, or marine, disabled by reason of wound re- 
ceived or disease contracted in the service of the United 
States, and in the line of duty, may be pensioned for such 
disability during its continuance, and in case of his death 
from the above causes, his widow, or his child or children 
under 16 years of age, become entitled to a pension ; while, 
if he left no widow or minor, his dependent father, mother, 
or orphan sisters and brothers become entitled in the order 
named. This is but a general statement of the effect of a 
series of laws which have had many provisos and intricacies 
added from time to time. 

Under this act the number of survivors entitled to pen- 
sions became well exhausted in 1890, and Congress was 
strongly importuned to make provision for the growing 
army of survivors, who, though in no way disabled during 
service, were becoming for various reasons incapacitated and 
dependent largely as a result of the service. 

The result was the law of 1890 under which any soldier, 
sailor, or marine who served ninety days or more in the mill- 



GUARDING AGAINST FRAUDULENT CLAIMS. 3G9 

tary or naval service, was honorably discharged, and wlio 
became a sufferer from disabilities of a permanent character, 
not the result of vicious habits, thus rendering him unable 
to earn his support, should be entitled to a pension of not 
less than six dollars and not more tlian twelve dollars a 
month. "Widows are entitled to like pension, provided they 
liad not remarried before the passage of the act, or if left 
without means except their daily labor. Army nurses who 
were enrolled in the service and served six months and have 
become unable to earn a support are also pensioned. Be- 
sides these, Congress yearly passes a large number of private 
pension bills for those who for various reasons cannot be 
included under the liberal pension laws. Such pensions are 
granted by special act, and are not adjudicated by the Pen- 
sion Bureau. 

The pension rates for certain disabilities are specified by 
law in a general way and are more particularly fixed by the 
Commissioner of Pensions. They range from two dollars 
for the loss of any one of the smaller toes to a total dis- 
ability calling for one hundred dollars a month. In fixing 
the rate of pensions, the aggregate of the rates for particular 
disabilities is taken as the pension rate, and under the law 
any one who is pensionable at all shall receive at least six 
dollars a month. 

Upon these general features a most complicated and 
careful procedure has been built up for the examination of 
claims, which is often much more painful to the impatient 
veteran than his disabilities, but which is absolutely essential 
to guard the rolls against fraud. The organization of the 
bureau consists of a commissioner, two deputy commission- 
ers, a chief clerk and his assistant, a medical referee and 
assistant, a law clerk, a board of review and thirteen divisions, 
each with a chief. When a claim is filed it is stamped in the 
Mail Division, the date being important because, if a pension 
is granted, under recent laws, it dates from the time it was 



370 WHEN DOCTORS DISAGREE. 

filed. The Mail Division handles on the average 200,0(i0 
applications a year, and the number of letters Avritten exceeds 
2,000,000 a year. 

All claims based upon service prior to 1861, and all navy 
claims, are sent to different divisions in accordance with 
their character. The first step taken is to determine whether 
the allegations of the claim are sufficient, if sustained, to 
warrant a pension under the law, and if they are, a call is 
made upon the War Department for the soldier's record, all 
such records being carefully systematized and kept in the old 
Ford's Theater building. Upon the receipt and examination 
of this record the claimant's attorney is notified of any neces- 
sary evidence to complete the claim, while the claimant is 
ordered for medical examination, the date of every step in 
the procedure being endorsed upon the "jacket," the envelope 
in which all papers relating to the claim are kept. 

The medical examination forms the basis of the whole 
system. It is performed by boards of examining surgeons 
in various parts of the country, under the supervision of the 
medical referee, the claimant usually being ordered before 
the nearest one. The object of the examination is to obtain 
a complete description of the disabilities for which pensions 
■ are claimed, whether mentioned by the claimant or not, and 
the pathological relationship to prior diseases or injuries 
must be closely inquired into, and the conclusions of the 
board must be fully recorded. It often happens that a disa- 
l)ility is alleged which does not exist at all, and also that a 
different disability from that alleged is proven, much to the 
claimant's surprise. The compensation of medical examiners 
is small, and thus, while many may be skilled enough in 
medicine, they may devote only a superficial attention to 
the pension business, getting through with it as quickly as 
possible, so as to obtain the fee. Their work is often a 
source of great uncertainty to the officials at Washington, 
and when unsatisfactory, test examinations may follow. 



A CASE OF PROGRESSIVE DISABILITY. 371 

A recent example will illustrate this. A pensioner who 
claimed sev^eral disabilities was ordered before a medical 
board which found no ratable disability at all. To be sure 
that no injustice was being done, he was ordered before a 
different board, which found disabilities and rated them at 
eight dollars per month. The discrepancy was so great that 
he was ordered before a third board, which found and care- 
full}^ described disabilities which it rated at seventeen dol- 
lars a month. As this only added to the uncertainty, he 
was ordered before a fourth board, which found disabilities 
Avhich it rated at twenty-four dollars a month. Same man, 
same conditions, same instructions, and all within a few 
days! The physicians were each and all reputable practi- 
tioners, and all of the boards were under the classified serv- 
ice of the bureau. Each board, wliich consisted of three 
members, found unanimously. This disagreement of doctors 
is so common an occurrence that the bureau long since des- 
paired of obtaining the same ratings for the same disabilities. 
In all, nearly 5,000 physicians are employed for this work 
throughout the country. 

When the evidence is complete the examiner prepares it 
for submission to the Board of Keview, whose sole function 
is to treat cases judicially upon the papers as submitted. 
After a time, if the claim is allowed, a proper record is 
made, the last requisite filled, the pension is granted, and 
the much-indorsed "jacket" with its contents passes to its 
resting-place in one of the many great receptacles provided 
for the thousands of " cases " allowed and disallowed. Only 
about one-half of the claims presented pass successfully 
through the intricate mill of the Pension Bureau. 

The pension officials do not sit upon beds of roses — or, if 
they do, they are full of thorns. So various and minute are 
the provisions of law applicable to the cases under their 
consideration, and so numerous are the rulings of the bureau, 
that each claim demands the most exhaustive examination. 



372 AN ANGRY LETTER — A PATHETIC LETTER. 

the keenest discrimination, and the wisest judgment, to 
reach a final just conclusion. 

Indignant letters are often received from disappointed 
claimants. Some years ago a Captain B. of Havre-de-Grace, 
Maryland, a claimant for pension under the act of IS'iil, for 
services in the War of 1812, had his claim rejected, it appear- 
ing that he had served less than sixty days as required by 
that act; whereupon. the Captain grew wrathful and wrote 
as follows : 

" N. B. — Any man that will say that I was not a Pri- 
vate soldier in Capt. Paca Smith's company before the 
attack of the British on the City of Baltimore, and dur- 
ing the attack on said city in Sept. 1814, and after the 
British dropped down to Cape Henry, I say he is a das- 
tard, a liar, and a coward, and no gentleman, or any man 
that will say that I got my Land-Warrant from the Hon. 
Geo. O. Whiting, for 160 acres of Land, for 1-1 days' 
services in Capt. Paca Smith's company, is the same, as 
stated above, and I hold myself responsible for the contents 
of this letter ; and if their dignity should be touched, a note 

of honor directed to Capt. Wm. B . Havre-de-Grace. 

Harford Co,, Md., shall be punctually attended to, 

«Wm, B ." 

Once upon a time an aged claimant for a pension, who 
served in the War of 1812, wrote the following touching 
letter to the bureau : " Oh ! can it be true that I am going 
to get SlOO? That news is too good! Pm so hungry, and 
I love coffee so, but I can't get any! All I have to eat is 
cornbread and sour milk. I can't believe that I am to get 
so much money, but I pray God it may be true." 

The Special Examination Division is one to which only 
cases requiring special examinations are referred. Special 
examiners are stationed at various points in the country, 
and are usually graduates from the clerical force of the bu- 
reau, and therefore well acquainted with the law and modes 
of procedure. They investigate the different agencies and 
look out for violations of the pension laws as well as frauds 



SWINDLING AND THIEVING CLAIM AGENTS. 373 

in the prosecution of claims. It is often found that widows 
continue to draw pensions in violation of the law after remar- 
riage, and in many cases every year it is found that the 
pensions of deceased soldiers are being regularly drawn by 
imposters. Evidence of forged endorsements is commonly 
found, and various frauds which are more often the work 
of claim agents than of claimants come to light. 

The claim agent is a necessary evil. The average vet- 
eran, while he may know all about his disabilities, is as 
ignorant as a babe of that great and complex fabric of legis- 
lation called the pension laws. Many a poor fellow who 
lost his leg or arm, or carries a bullet in him, received in 
his country's battles, knows all about the minus members, 
the battles, and the bullet, and not an atom about " the 
provisions of the law," or the intricacies of official red-tape. 
Because his knowledge is of so one-sided a character, he 
finds it no easy matter to get the governmental reward for 
that buried leg or arm ; and by the time all •' the require- 
ments of the law " have been slowly beaten into his brains, 
the greater portion of his pension is pocketed by the claim 
agent who showed him how to get it. 

Not one veteran in a thousand could prepare his own 
case so that it Avould meet the requirements of the Pension, 
Bureau, and the interminable correspondence which would 
arise in the effort to prepare the case in legal and regular 
form would be painful to both the veteran and the officials. 
The result is, unfortunately, that a pension attorney is essen- 
tial to a fair degree of success. If all attorneys were honest 
and took up only such cases as came to them legitimately 
and considered only such cases as were deserving, there 
would be no difficulty. 

There is absolutel}'^ no bar to the admission of any man 
or woman of any color to practice as a claim agent, who 
can furnish a certificate from a Judge of the United States 
or Territorial courts that he or she " is of good moral char- 



374 DISHONEST PENSION ATTORNEYS. 

acter and of good repute and competent to assist claimants 
in the prosecution of their claims." The agent may know 
little of law or of anything else; he may be a man who 
would shun fraudulent methods in ordinary business, but he 
seems to fall easily into the habit of thinking that anything 
to get a claim through the Pension Office is justifiable. 
Every year the bureau discovers that "some leading man 
in his community," or a "man of first-class reputation," is 
fabricating papers, and changing affidavits, and the swindler 
generally sets up as a defense that his clients were justly 
entitled to pensions according to the altered papers. 

In 1897 it was discovered that a notary public and pen- 
sion attorney of Providence, Ehode Island, having a large 
practice, was in the habit of keeping the certificates of 
clients in his office and of executing the quarterly vouchers 
for the pensioner. When a pensioner died he continued to 
execute the vouchers and drew the money for himself upon 
a dozen different cases. The government had paid out 
$20,000 on such forgeries before they were detected. 

In 1899 a well-organized gang of pension swindlers was 
discovered by special examiners in one of the Southern 
cities. It was their practice to forge whatever papers were 
necessary to make out a proper claim, to select the name of 
a soldier upon which to base a claim for a widow's pension 
from the stones in soldiers' cemeteries, and to "swap" 
papers purporting to be affidavits. One member acted as 
notary and signed and sealed papers without swearing or 
seeing witnesses. Others signed to papers any name they 
were told to sign. It was found that over one hundred 
claims thus pending were without any foundation whatever. 
The leader of this gang was a pension attorney who had 
been disbarred for forgery. 

Some attempt has been made to purge the roster of at- 
torneys, and the number entitled to practice before the 
bureau has been reduced from some 60,000 to about 20,000. 



THE REAL FRIEND OF PENSION CLAIMANTS. 375 

They are always on the lookout for new pension legislation. 
After the laAV of 1890 was passed, opening the way for 
many veterans to prove disabilities which could not be 
proven under the general laws, claims poured in at the rate 
of a thousand a day. Pension attorneys grew rich. Soldiers 
were appealed to to fill out their applications, and the agents 
received a ten-dollar fee on each claim filed. It was impos- 
sible for the bureau to keep the work up to date, and many 
meritorious claims under the general law had to wait. 
Most of the pensions now granted to veterans of the Civil 
"War are under the new law, which does not materially 
increase the expenditure, because the rates are less and 
the old pensioners are dying off. 

It can not be wondered at that the processes within the 
bureau are slow and careful when the business is hedged 
about with so many dangers. "While the agent may be 
necessary to the claimant, the bureau is much more his sin- 
cere friend. The real enemy of the deserving veteran is the 
unscrupulous attorney who takes up the time of the bureau 
by necessitating special examination of his suspicious cases. 

The work of the Pension Bureau is conscientious and 
thorough, and the criticism which has been heaped upon it 
on the one hand by the veterans who could not prove their 
rights to pensions, and on the other by people who regard 
only the size of the pension roll without any thought of the 
obligations of the government to survivors of the war, is 
wholly undeserved. As the late ex-President Harrison once 
said : " There are two views of the pension question — one 
from the ' Little Pound Top ' at Gettysburg, looking over a 
field sown thickly with the dead, and around upon bloody, 
blackened, and maimed men, cheering the shot-torn banner 
of their country; the other from an office desk on a busy 
street, or from an endowed chair in a university, looking 
only upon a statistical table." 

2] 



CHAPTEE XXII. 

THE CENSUS BUREAU — COUNTINa THE NOSES OF 

EIGHTY MILLION PEOPLE — HOW AND 

WHY IT IS DONE. 

Why the Census Is Taken Every Ten Years — Some Pointed Questions 
— Tribulations of Enumerators — "None of Your Business" — Be- 
ginning of the Process — Tlie Scramble for Positions — Pulling 
Wires To Secure Oflfice — How the Census Is Taken — Starting 
50,000 Canvassers in One Day — Disagreeable Experiences — Meeting 
Shotguns and Savage Dogs— "What Is Your Age?" — Irate 
Females — How the Question Is Answered by Certain Persons — 
"Sweet Sixteen"— "Fibbing" a Little — Keeping Tabs on the 
Enumerators — Enormous Amount of Detail — The Punching Ma- 
chine—Cost of the Census of 1900 — The Land Office and Its 
Work — Settlers and Homeseekers — The Geological Survey — Its 
Interesting Work — The Indian Bureau — How Poor " Lo " Is Cared 
For— Indian Delegations in Washington — The Bureau of Educa 
tiou. 



W^T was ordained at the beginning of the consti- 
\wi tutional government that Uncle Sam should 
Jl^ count every man, woman, and child every ten 
years, for population is made the basis of repre- 
sentation in the House of Representatives, the num- 
ber of members from each state being in proportion 
to the population found at each decennial count. Like 
almost everything else connected with the government, the 
taking of this census has developed from a small affair to an 
undertaking of mighty proportions, partly because of the 
immense growth of the country in area and in population, 
but more especially because the census was gradually made 

(376) 




W 



OUR INQUISITIVE UNCLE SAM. c 77 

to embrace a multitude of inquiries concerning the wealth, 
health, infirmities, occupations, and education of the people. 

Every person is not simply counted, but Uncle Sam 
insists upon asking every man how he is and what he does, 
how much he earns and how much he owes, how old he is 
and where he was born, whether he can read and write, and 
whether he is sound in mind and body, and a great many 
other things to which now and then a person retorts angrily 
to the census taker that " it is none of Uncle Sam's business." 
But Uncle Sam has a way of demonstrating to such people 
that it is his business, and he generally succeeds in obtain- 
ing answers to his questions, even if they are not always 
"the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." 

So extensive has become the work that one census is 
hardly completed before it is time to prepare for the next ; 
thus the Census Bureau has practically become a permanent 
one, and a building was erected for its purposes in 1899. It 
is a two-story structure with a vaulted skylight over the 
center, which is one mammoth room, where the clerks sit at 
small desks so arranged that one general superintendent can 
overlook the force of hundreds of men and women. 

For two years before the enumerators are set to work, 
the census is the talk of a large portion of the people of 
Washington. There is always a small army of men and 
women in the city who have failed to secure positions in 
other departments, and as a last resort they make strenuous 
effort to obtain employment in the Census Bureau. The 
unemployed sons and daughters of regular office-holders 
join the throng in large numbers, putting in their applica- 
tions as residents of states from which their fathers origi- 
nally came. Senators and Representatives are allotted a cer- 
tain number of appointments, and there is always fierce 
competition to secure a place on a member's allotment. In- 
fluential constituents of members are appealed to, and the 
Congressional mail rises to great proportions. 



378 AN ARMY OF WOULD-BE APPOINTEES. 

The head of the bureau is a Superintendent of the Cen- 
sus, who is appointed by the President, and who generally 
installs a few of the more important officers in their places 
early in the year before the census is taken. Their time is 
occupied in preparing the schedules for the enumerators and 
in filing applications for appointment. When the time comes 
for appointments, examinations are held, their character 
being fixed by the census officials, for the bureau is inde- 
pendent of the Civil Service Commission. The applicants are 
summoned for examination in detachments, and every day 
brings an army of would-be appointees with anxious faces 
and palpitating hearts. About one-half usually fail to pass 
the rigid test, and thus there is another increase in the aggre- 
gate of blasted hopes, one of the few things which Uncle 
Sam never attempts to enumerate. Not all who pass secure 
appointments, but by the time the reports begin to arrive at 
the bureau, it is usually equipped with a force of over 2,500 
people, many of them young and middle-aged women. 

The work of taking the census must be begun on the 
same day all over the country and completed, so far as 
enumeration goes, within a few weeks. To do this, it is 
essential to divide the whole country into about 300 districts, 
each with a supervisor, and these districts are sub-divided 
into much smaller districts, each of which is given to an 
enumerator, or canvasser. Thus on the same day Uncle Sam 
starts out over 50,000 of these canvassers, each with a sched- 
ule of questions he is to ask at every house, and each is paid 
according to the number of names he obtains. In thickly- 
settled districts, an enumerator usually has from 3,500 to 
4,000 names, while in sparsely-settled parts of the country 
an enumerator will have all he can do within the required 
time to pick up a hundred names. 

The schedule contains spaces for questions as to the num- 
ber of families in each house, the number of persons in each 
family, their names, relationship, age, color, sex, birthplace. 



*' WHAT IS YOUR AGE ?" 379 

vocations, whether any are attendants at school, if of school 
age, and whether they speak English and can read and 
write. The enumerator must also find out who are paupers 
and who are pensioners; also whether a house is owned or 
rented, mortgaged or not, and if so for how much ; and 
there are also a great number of special questions relating 
especially to farms, and factories, and business offices. 
When the enumerators have completed their work to the 
satisfaction of the supervisor of their districts, the schedules 
are sent to Washington. 

Although there is little difficulty in finding 50,000 men 
ready to become enumerators, the task is not always delight- 
ful or profitable. Doors are slammed in their faces, and 
sometimes they have been pursued by irate mountain- 
eers armed with shotguns. Many consider them fit game 
for savage watchdogs. People who are not disposed to tell 
the truth about themselves when under oath, could hardly 
be expected to make reputations for veracity before a 
census enumerator. Furthermore, people who flatter them- 
selves that they have a strict regard for the truth, are 
not above a little "fibbing" along certain lines. It is a 
curious fact that the number of females between the ages of 
fifteen and nineteen is always out of proportion to the num- 
ber at other ages. Girls below fifteen are apt to " stretch it" 
a little, and those above nineteen have an inclination in the 
other direction. Often the enumerator resides in the neigh- 
borhood, and there will always be a few young ladies who 
are sensitive about their age, and who have a fear that the 
enumerator will reveal it if they tell the exact truth. In 
the case of young men the number of those who are shown 
to be twenty-one is far in excess of what it should be, in 
proportion to those above and under that age. 

The statisticians in the Census Bureau at Washington 
generally find a certain ratio running through all returns, 
and it is from a comparison with these that they judge 



380 AN AMAZING LITTLE MACHINE. 

somewhat of the accuracy of the enumerators' work. For 
example, they find that in any district the proportion of 
deatlis to the number of people will present few variations, 
and when a marked variation is noticed they notify the 
enumerator of the fact before paying him. If he insists 
upon the correctness of his count, it is set down as an excep- 
tion, though if an inaccuracy is very apparent the super- 
visor may be required to make another enumeration. The 
schedules are generally all in and the enumerators paid 
within four months from the time the count was begun. 

But this is the simplest part of the work. When the 
schedules from the 50,000 and more enumerators arrive 
they must be counted, not simply for their number but for 
the number of those who are male, female, black, white, 
married, single, and so on, all through the long series of 
answered questions. They must be counted and tabulated 
for each district, for each town, for each county, and for 
each state, and it must be done within three months, for 
Conofress meets in December and will, on the basis of the 
population shown, rearrange the congressional districts. 
Now if 2,000 men and women were set to work counting on 
these schedules by hand, they could not possibly complete 
them by the time another census had to be taken. So 
mechanical genius has devised means for counting and 
adding up all the various features of the schedules. 

In the large room which is really the court of the census 
building covered by skylights, during the hot summer 
months following the enumeration are hundreds of women, 
each sitting at her little table and working with amazing 
rapidity at what is known as a punching machine. As we 
enter we look upon an army of women working as if their 
lives depended upon it ; but, as a matter of fact, nothing de- 
pends upon it but an increase in salary. The bureau 
wishes to establish a reputation for completing the work in 
the shortest possible time, and those who can punch 600 



women's work in taking the census. 381 

cards a day will have seventy-five dollars a month instead 
of sixty. So these women work at break-neck speed, know- 
ing the Avhile that the sooner they complete their task the 
sooner they will be out of employment. But they must 
comply with the requirements of the superintendents or 
give way to the hundreds who would gladly take their 
places. During some of the hot summer days of 1900, as 
many as twenty girls fainted at their tables, for the fierce 
sun beating upon the glass roof above them made the tem- 
perature of the great room painfully oppressive. 

The punching machines have a diagram made up of 
small irregular spaces, each containing in regular order cer- 
tain figures or letters, or combinations of figures or letters, 
some 300 in all. This diagram is just the size of the card to 
be punched, and each letter or figure is a symbol for some 
fact, like male or female, black or white, English-speaking 
or not, etc. In one of the spaces not two inches square are 
grouped the capitals of the alphabet, and in another the 
small letters. By using various combinations of these capi- 
tals and lower-case letters every known occupation of men 
can be " punched " ; for example, Gl stands for accountants, 
Cn for almshouse keepers, etc., the index of these symbols 
making a closely -printed book of nearly forty pages, which 
the machine operator must master. 

Slipping a card under the machine she looks at her 
schedule, and brings the small lever bearing the punch over 
the letter or figures in the diagram indicating the facts to 
be recorded. The cards are about three inches by six and 
all are numbered. The punch makes a hole about the size 
of a small pea, and by the time a single schedule is finished 
a card will have from fifteen to twenty holes in it. In 
other words, that number of punches must be made in about 
600 cards a day. If any girl is tempted to slight her task 
she quickly recovers from it, for a force of clerks each 
night goes over the work to see that it is done correctly 



382 EIGHTY MILLIONS UNDER THE AMERICAN FLAG. 

The cards are then fed into an adding machine so con* 
structed that it registers in the proper place for every hole 
in the card. For example, when all the cards from the City 
of New York have been run through, the register will 
reveal at a glance what the population is, how many are 
males and how many females, how many speak English and 
how many do not, and so on through the long catechism of 
the enumerator. 

As soon as tabulations begin to be made, the results are 
turned over to expert statisticians who map out lines for 
special investigations, and the printing department of the 
bureau begins the publication of bulletins giving the results 
of the count as it progresses. The bureau emplovs several 
special agents for gathering specific statistics concerning 
manufactures and finance, and their returns are handled 
after the returns of the enumerators are out of the way. 
At the end of three years it is possible to publish a com- 
pendium of the census. At the same time the complete 
work, usually consisting of twenty or more large volumes 
all devoted to tables, is in course of publication. The cost 
of taking the census of 1900 was about $10,000,000. 

There are in the United States, as counted by the twelfth 
census, T6,295,220 people. But this does not include the 
total under the American flag. To it should be added 
953,213 of the population of Porto Rico, counted by the 
"War Department, and about 7,000,000 as a conservative esti- 
mate of the population in the Philippine Islands. 

At the end of the nineteenth centurv, therefore, the 
United States included over 81,000,000 people, while at the 
beginning it had about 5,250,000. Between 1800 and 1900 
it has increased fifteen fold, and it is now, after the Chinese, 
British, and Pussian Empires, the most populous country in 
the world. 

No single law of growth will enable us to 'forecast the 
population of the United States 100 years hence with any 



DEVELOPING THE RESOURCES OF THE WEST. 383 

confidence in the results. But it is believed that we shall 
have in the year 2000 A. D. a population of at least 200,- 
000,000. 

No departmental office in the government has, in the 
past forty years, been so directly concerned in the develop- 
ment of the vast reserves of the West as the General Land 
Office. 

All attem])ts to pass a suitable homestead law were baf- 
fled till 18B2. From that date to the present, millions of 
acres have been divided into farms which have developed 
into the great agricultural regions of the AVest, Under this 
law actual settlers are given 100 acres where the land is 
rated at $1.25 an acre, and eighty acres where rated at $2.50. 
The settler is required to make affidavit that the land is 
entered for his own use as a homestead, and the patent does 
not issue to him till he has resided upon and cultivated the 
land for five years. Soldiers and sailors have this period re- 
duced by the time they served in the army or navy, but 
must reside on the land at least one 3"ear. 

Intending homestead seekers make entry for lands at 
some one of the land offices in the West. These entries are 
sent to the General Land Office, and each one is assigned to 
an experienced clerk, who examines all the proof submitted. 
If it is found that the entryman has made a substantial com- 
pliance with the law in good faith, the case is marked 
" approved " and sent to the Kecorder's division of the office 
for patenting. Here the patent is written up and recorded, 
and in time transmitted to the entrvman. 

The discovery of gold in California, and later of other 
minerals in other new states and territories, required a 
special provision differing from those relating to agricultural 
lands. But this was not made till 1S06, and during the long 
period when discoveries of mineral wealth were made in the 
West there was little regulation by law. Prospectors roamed 
over the hills and dug out wealth wherever they could find 



384 WORK OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 

it without any title to the land from the United States. The 
miners made their own laws and in general got along very 
well, and their regulations were so fair that when Congress 
came to legislate, it recognized the claims taken up under 
them ; but the claims on a mining lode or vein were limited 
to 1,500 feet in length along the vein or lode, and 300 feet 
in Avidtli. 

The system of rectangular land surveys was adopted as 
early as 1785, and it is the established policy that all lands 
must be surveyed by the government before sale. Formerly 
this was done by surveyOTs hired for the purpose, but some 
years ago the surveyors were organized into a regular bureau 
called the Geological Survey. It occupies extensive offices 
in a rented building, and, with its rare collection of pictures 
of famous Western scenery, is one of the most interesting 
bureaus of the Department of the Interior. Every summer, 
parties of expert surveyors from this office leave Washington 
equipped for a season's work in various sections of the West, 
now chiefly in the Rocky Mountains. 

Each part}^ makes it a business to thoroughly survey a 
certain section of the country. They fix their camps and 
from them operate in all directions, traversing difficult 
trails and laying them down on paper, and either sketching 
or photographing the hills and valleys from different points 
of view. Each surveyor is provided not only with his instru- 
ments, but with a mule, to which he sometimes becomes 
much attached, as the companion of his lonely wanderings. 
Returning to Washington in the fall, the various parties work 
up their surveys into permanent form, and thus Uncle Sam 
is able from his archives to tell you the physical qualities of 
most of the great mountains of the West, and to show a 
large collection of beautiful colored photographs of these 
regions. 

As the public lands have become the private property of 
the constantly-advancing army of settlers, the Indians have 



INDIANS IN THE STREETS OF WASHINGTON. 385 

" read their doom in the setting sun." What to do with 
them has ever been a troublesome question to the govern- 
ment. It has tried to be good to bad Indians, but has quite 
often been bad to good ones. It has ti'ied to help them to 
help themselves, but too often the government agents have 
" helped themselves " to much that sliould have gone to the 
Indians, who have unfortunately taken more kindly to our 
rum than to our educational methods. But the question is 
almost settled ; there are only about 250,000 red men left 
within the United States, and they are separated into small 
groups. 

An Indian delegation is a frequent sight on the streets of 
Washington. They arrive dressed in their best buckskin 
trousers and their brightest feathers, and, in a picturesque 
group, solemnly take their way to the Indian Bureau in the 
Interior Department, where, through their interpreter, they 
lay their troubles or their plans before the Commissioner. 
They are leading men from their reservations, and they 
return to their tribes as they came, without a smile upon 
their stolid features. 

Of the other bureaus of the -Interior Department the 
most important is the Bureau of Education. It was estab- 
lished in 186 7 to collect and publish statistics showing the 
condition and progress of education in the various states and 
territories, and to diffuse such information as shall promote 
education everywhere. This bureau is a storehouse of a vast 
amount of literature showing the experience of teachers, and 
is a place of common exchange of ideas between the teachers 
of our own countr}'- and those of foreign lands. It seeks to 
measure yearly the advance or decline of the educational 
spirit, and it provides a source of valuable information to 
Congress when the latter feels disposed to encourage the 
education of the people through better public schools. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

A DAY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE — THE 
FARMER'S FRIEND AND CO-WORKER — FREE DIS- 
TRIBUTION OF CHOICE AND PURE SEEDS 
— HOW THEY MAY BE HAD 
FOR THE ASKING. 

The Farmer's Real Friend — The Bureau of Agriculture — What It Has 
Done and Is Now Doing for Farmers — Investigating Diseases of Do- 
mestic Live Stoeii — How It Promotes Dairy Interests — Experiment 
Stations — Valuable Free Publications for Farmers — Interesting Facts 
About Mosquitoes — How To Kill Insect Pests — Facts for Fruit 
Growers — Examining 15,000 Birds' Stomachs — Vindicating the Much- 
Maligned Crow — Controlling tlie Spread of Weeds — Poisonous Plants 
— Adulterated Seeds — Seeds of New and Choice Varieties — Testing 
the Purity of Seeds — Free Distribution of Seeds — How the Finest 
and Purest Seeds May Be Had for Nothing — Great Opposition of 
Private Seedsmen — Diseases of Plants — Something About Grasses — 
The Agricultural Museum. 



IIATEVER attention the government paid to 
the great agricultural interests of the country 
previous to 1862 emanated from the Patent- 
Office, where the commissioners distributed, 
free of charge, such seeds as they could on a yearly 
appropriation of $1,000. In 1862 a Department of 
Agriculture was organized, but it was regarded as an inde- 
pendent bureau merely, and there Avas no thought of making 
the Commissioner of Agriculture a member of the Cabinet. 
It was the action of the German government that raised 
the Commissioner to the dignity of a member of the Presi- 
dent's official family. 

(386) 




THE INSPECTION OF EXPORTS. 38? 

Daring the '80's Germany adopted the policy of exclud- 
ing American imports so far as possible, for the German 
people were always buying more of the United States, 
especially in the way of meats, tlian we were buying of 
Germany, with the result that the latter country was com- 
pelled to pay us annually a large amount of gold at the very 
time it was straining its credit to buy the precious metal to 
establish a gold standard. A great hue and cry arose in 
Germany against American meat, on the ground that it was 
diseased, and regulations were adopted which practically 
excluded it. The only way for Undo Sam to meet this 
underhanded discrimination was to institute a rigid inspec- 
tion of all meats exported, and to retaliate, if Germany per- 
sisted in the fictitious objection, by excluding from this 
country some of her products. To provide for such inspec- 
tion of exports, it was necessary to perfect an extensive 
organization for the purpose, and it was placed in the hands 
of the Commissioner of Agriculture, who, by a law passed 
in 1889, was made the Secretary of a Department and in- 
vited into the President's councils. Since that time it has 
become one of the most active and beneficial departments of 
the government. 

The offices of the Secretary of Agriculture are in a com- 
modious building enjoying the advantage of being the best 
situated of any government building in Washington. It 
looks over spacious terraced gardens which in the season 
are a blaze of color. About the extensive grounds can be 
found nearly every plant indigenous to our country, from 
the luxuriant vegetations of the tropics to the dwarfed and 
hardy foliage of our Northern borders. Near by are spa- 
cious conservatories containing horticultural specimens from 
all over the world, and the collection of palms is unequaled. 
In the grounds back of the building are various other build- 
ings devoted to special divisions of the department and to 
experimental laboratories. 



388 EXPERIMENTAL WORK OF THE BUREAU. 

The department is divided into two bureaus and fifteen 
divisions, each devoted to some special line of scientific or 
experimental work related to agricultural interests. The 
Bureau of Animal Industry makes investigations as to the 
conditions of pleuro-pneumonia and other dangerous com- 
municable diseases of live stock, superintends the measures 
for their extirpation, and reports on the conditions and means 
of improving all the animal industries of the country. It 
has charge of the inspection of meat or live stock for ex- 
port, of the inspection of vessels for the export of cattle, 
and of the quarantine stations of imported neat cattle. The 
buf eau is divided into five divisions — Inspection, Patholog- 
ical, Biochemic, Dairy, and Miscellaneous, each in charge of 
specialists. Its agents conduct their inspection in about 
fifty different cities and in 150 abattoirs, and in a single 
year the ante-mortem inspections of animals number about 
60,000,000. The dairy division of this bureau, Avhich occu- 
pies a special building on the grounds of the department, 
labors constantly to promote the dairy interests of the 
country, by introducing advanced methods. The annual 
value of the dairy products of the country is now over 
$500,000,000. 

The Division of Statistics collects information as to the 
condition, prospects, and harvest of the principal crops, and 
of the number, condition, and value of the farm animals, 
through 100,000 volunteer correspondents in all the counties 
of agricultural importance in the countr}^, and through state 
agents, each of whom is assisted by local correspondents. 
It obtains similar information from European countries 
through consular and agricultural authorities, and it collects 
and tabulates a great variety of statistics regarding all 
branches of agriculture. Its monthly crop reports are 
looked forward to in every market in the world. The bureau 
makes a special point of keeping the producers informed 
for their protection against combination and extortion. 



SOILS, FERTILIZERS, MICROBES, AND BUGS. 389 

The office of Experiment Stations in this division repre- 
sents the department in its relations to the experiment sta- 
tions now in operation in all the states and territories, and 
publishes accounts of agricultural investigations at home and 
abroad. The most important of its many publications, the 
Experiment Station Record^ is issued in volumes of twelve 
numbers each. It also issues over a million copies of the 
Farmers' Bulletin every year. 

The Division of Chemistry makes investigation of the 
methods proposed for the analysis of soils, fertilizers, and 
agricultural products, and such analyses as pertain to the in- 
terests of agriculture. Much of the activity of this division 
in recent years has been directed to a study of the adultera- 
tion of foods and to vegetable nutrition. It is through this 
division that Uncle Sam is trying to learn the " tricks " of 
the microbes which supply nitrogen nutrition. There is a 
class of microbes that draws nitrogen from the air and 
works it into nitrates for plants in the soil, but this benefi- 
cial variety is not allowed to carry on its work undisturbed. 
In fact, the ways of humanity seem to prevail even among 
micro-organisms, for there is another class of microbes 
which decomposes the nitrates and returns it to the air be- 
fore the plants can get it. Uncle Sam proposes to find out 
and tell the farmers how they can care for the useful mi- 
crobes and at the same time make it unpleasant for the un- 
desirable ones. 

But what Uncle Sam has been able to accomplish along 
these lines is as yet small compared with his success in the 
drastic treatment of imported bugs, through the Division of 
Entomology. Others may have antedated him in making 
smokeless powder for killing men, but he has reason to flat- 
ter himself that he has told the farmers how kerosene emul- 
sions and hydroc3''anic acid gas will kill foreign insect pests. 
One of these foreign bugs can create more commotion in 
the country than a shipload of Chinamen. 



390 IMPORTING INSECTS TO FERLILIZE FIGS. 

Late in the "TO's a new insect made its appearance in 
California from some foreign clime, and under tlie name of 
the San Jose scale became a deadly enemy of the fruit 
growers. Two innocent nursery men carried a few speci- 
mens East in some nursery stock, and in less than three 
years there was a literature of several hundred volumes on 
the pest. It became the exciting cause of national conven- 
tions of farmers and fruit growers, was the subject of legis- 
lation in eighteen states, and several bills were laid before 
Congress. But Uncle Sam learned all about its life history 
and how to cut it short. Of late the division has been in- 
vestigating the ability of mosquitoes to carry disease, and 
has been greatly assisted by some rare and bloodthirsty 
specimens from Alaska. A bulletin recently issued conveys 
the reassuring intelligence that while there are 250 species 
of mosquitoes, only thirty are found in the United States. 
It also explains that the reason why mosquitoes are mak- 
ing their appearance in mountain regions is that they are 
carried inland on the cars from shore resorts and marsh}^ 
places near the coast, and as there is no way of stopping 
this unauthorized traffic it informs us that the best thing to 
do is to burn pyrethrum po^vder in the house. 

The work of the entomologists is not merely scientific 
amusement, but produces marked economic results, an ex- 
ample of which is shown in the prospects of fig culture in 
the United States. Tliere have been a large number of 
Smyrna fig trees in California that never matured fruit be- 
cause the flowers were never fertilized. Uncle Sam's ento- 
mologist knew of a very small insect with a very long name, 
which, in the Mediterranean countries, fertilizes this fig, and 
he suggested the importation of a few specimens. The for- 
eigners were accordingly brought over and set to work in 
the California orchards. They multiplied rapidl}' and many 
of the figs have matured. The growers have been taught the 
liabits of these insects through the Agricultural Department, 



BIRDS ON TRIAL — VERDICT, "NOT GUILTY." 391 

and this may in time add millions of dollars to the produc- 
tive cajiacity of the country. Hundreds of specimens of 
curious insects are brought to the entomological division, 
where they are skillfully mounted and arranged in the 
museum. Very queer-looking things most of them are, but 
Uncle Sam's entomologists can tell you Avhere tliey origi- 
nally came from, what they eat, and how long they live if 
nothing is done to cut short their existence. 

The ways and means for doing this are made an especial 
study, to a large extent through the Division of Biological 
Survey, which maps the natural life zones of the country 
and determines what species are useful to the farmers and 
wliat are not. Birds are great eaters of insects, and thus to 
cut short the existence of injurious varieties it becomes im- 
portant to find out the favorite insect diets of different spe- 
cies of birds. In this work Uncle Sam has examined about 
15,000 birds' stomachs. Parties from the Biological Survey 
spend the summer season in various sections of the country, 
and bring back a winter's supph^ of stomachs for examina- 
tion. It is the study of birds from the standpoint of dollars 
and cents, and the result has been the overthrow of many 
popular notions. 

Every species of bird goes before the Biological Survey 
like a suspect before the court. The evidence is examined 
with great care. In the case of the crow, for instance. 
Uncle Sam examined a thousand stomachs before he ven- 
tured a decision. The charges of pulling up sprouting corn, 
of injuring corn in the milk, and of destroying fruit and the 
eggs of poultry, were all sustained ; but it was also found — 
on rebuttal as it were — that the corn in the milk formed 
only three per cent, of the total food, that most of the corn 
destroyed was waste grain, that the destruction of fruit and 
eggs was trivial, while many noxious insects and mice were 
eaten ; and the final verdict was in favor of the crow, as he 

seemed to do more good than harm. Of fifty birds thus far 
22 



393 TESTING THE PURITY OF GARDEN SEEDS. 

critically examined, only one has been condemned. This 
was the English sparrow, which is, as everybody knows, an 
unmitigated and ever-increasing nuisance. 

The Division of Forestry investigates methods and trees 
for planting in the treeless sections of the country, giving 
practical assistance to farmers and lumbermen in handling 
forest lands; it also studies all forest questions. As the 
matter now stands the General Land Office is charged with 
the administration and protection of the forest reserves, and 
the United States Geological Survey maps and describes 
them; but all the trained foresters in Uncle Sam's service 
are in the Division of Forestry, the work of which is as- 
signed to four sections, — working plans; economic tree 
planting ; special investigations, and office work. 

The investigation of botanical agricultural problems, in- 
cluding the purity and value of seeds ; methods of controll- 
ing the spread of weeds ; the dangers and effects of poison- 
ous plants, their antidotes; and the native plant resources 
of the countrj^ is the work of the Division of Botany. One . 
of its most interesting and important operations is the test- 
ing of seeds, for which Uncle Sam has provided extensive 
laboratory and greenhouse facilities. When a purity test 
of seeds is made the sample is first poured into a bowl and 
thoroughly mixed. A small portion is then weighed and 
spread upon a sheet of white paper. Here it is examined 
under magnifying glasses and all foreign matter removed 
and placed on one side and weighed. The percentage of each 
kind of impurity is thus determined. It is thus often found 
that what passes as garden seed is sometimes largely made 
up of seeds of weeds. 

The free distribution of seeds, which is one of the most 
popular of Uncle Sam's queer enterprises, is conducted by 
another office — the Division of Seeds. They are purchased 
and distributed in allotments to senators, representatives, and 
Agricultural Experiment Stations, the annual appropriation 



FREE DISTRIBUTION OF RARE SEEDS AND PLANTS. 393 

for the purpose being about $130,000. The original inten- 
tion of Congress in providing for this distribution undoubt- 
edly was to do for the producers work they couhl not do for 
themselves — to search the various localities of the Old 
World for seeds and plants and distribute them in the 
United States to the several regions where they would be 
most likely to thrive; but for a long time the prevailing 
practice was mainly to distribute American seeds which had 
been tested for i)urity. Of late, however, a large propor- 
tion of the appropriation is spent in importing rare seeds 
and plants, and making special investigations as to the local- 
ities in this country best adapted for their growth. 

As might be supposed, this branch of agricultural work 
is not looked upon with favor by the private seedsmen, who 
are constantly urging the government to discontinue ^it. But 
the farmers, and indeed a great many people who are not 
farmers but have only a small back yard in the cit}^, take 
too kindly to this gratuitous distribution to allow of its 
discontinuance. Besides, it is one of the perquisites of mem- 
bers of Congress, who are always interested in the rural 
vote ; and when they wish to kesp on good terms with a 
farmer all they have to do is to send his name over to the 
Division of Seeds with a request that he be sent a lot of 
seeds of some kind best adapted to his purposes. The farmer 
receives the package franked to him by his congressman, 
whom he immediately concludes must be a pretty good fel- 
low after all There is no question that the seeds sent out 
are of the purest and best quality, but to the Congressman 
their value lies not so much in their purity as in their vote- 
winning capacity. A special building is required for the 
packing of the seeds after testing by the Division of Botany, 
and they are shipped in immense quantities all over the 
country, about $75,000 worth being sent annually on the 
allotment of Congressmen. 

Plants, like people, have their diseases, and through the 



394 FREE AGRICULTURAL PUBLICATIONS. 

Division of Vegetable Physiology and Pathology, Uncle Sara 
endeavors to discover what they are and what remedies can 
be administered to the plants for them. These same plant- 
doctors also investigate plant-breeding. In 1895 the Division 
of Agrostology was established to investigate the natural his- 
tory and distribution of various grasses, and in one part of 
the grounds of the department can be seen a series of small 
squares devoted to the growth of rare grasses. An herba- 
rium contains a collection of about 35,000 mounted speci- 
mens of different grasses. The Division of Pomology col- 
lects and distributes information as to the fruit interests of 
the United States and foreign countries; the Division of 
Soils makes extensive investigations into the nature and 
treatment of different soils; and the Division of Gardens 
and Grounds has charge of the ornamentation of the part 
surrounding the department building, and the care of the 
conservatories and propagating grounds. 

The publications of the Department of Agriculture have 
a circulation that would turn the average newspaper and 
magazine publisher green with envy. This is managed by 
fhe Division of Publications, which occupies a large build- 
ing in the back of the grounds, and which is always packed 
full of printed matter, with here and there just enough 
room for the young men and women who are kept busy 
directing the wrappers and preparing the publications for 
the mail. These publications are all printed at the govern- 
ment printing office, which can always depend upon a sup- 
ply of "copy" from the Department of Agriculture when it 
runs low from other sources. The different divisions 
together issue about 1,000 different publications during a 
year, aggregating something over 25,000 pages, and the 
total number of copies distributed exceeds 7,000,000 a 3'ear. 
Of the 2,500,000 of the Farmers' Bulletins printed, the sen- 
ators and representatives take nearly one-half. These pam- 
phlets afford the best means of disseminating the results of 



AN INSTRUCTIVE AND VARIED EXHIBIT. 395 

the department's investigations. These as well as the more 
scientific and technical publications are highly prized by the 
agricultural libraries in the various states. 

The library of the department contains about 70,000 
volumes, most of them of a strictly-agricultural character. 
Under proper regulations the books are free for reference 
to the public. One of the many buildings devoted to the 
work of the department is occupied by the Agricultural 
Museum, which possesses many unique features. Long cases 
contain thousands of delicious-looking fruits, which upon 
closer examination prove to be wonderfully-accurate wax 
models. The damage wrought by many kinds of insects 
upon trees and plants is fully illustrated, while there is an 
instructive exhibit of mounted birds, squirrels, and other ani- 
mals in their natural surroundings, showing various stages in 
their development and life history, especially in their rela- 
tion to agriculture. The processes of silk culture, the 
growth of hemp, and many other industries of like nature 
are fully and entertainingly shown. 

While in this chapter we have investigated ' some of the 
many lines of work in this the youngest of the government 
de])artments, we have left unnoticed the Weather Bureau, 
one of the most important activities of the Bureau of Agri- 
culture, affecting not onl}'^ the farmer but Uncle Sam's people 
generally. To that interesting subject we must devote a 
special chapter. 



CHAPTER XXIY. 

THE WEATHER BUREAU — FORECASTING THE WEATHER 
— WONDERFUL INSTRUMENTS, KITES, AND 
WEATHER MAPS. 

Forecasting the Weather — Old Theories of Storms — The Path of Storms 
—" Old Probabilities " at Home — General Principles of Storms — In 
the Forecasting-Room — A Curious Map and Its Little Tags — 
•' Weather Sharps" at Work — How Weather Observations Are Made 
— Fair and Warmer" and "Partly Cloudy " — Noting the Direction 
of the Wind — Where Storms Are First Noticed — General Move- 
ment of Storms— Traveling 600 Miles a Day — "High" Pressure 
and " Low " Pressure — Winter Storms — Where They Originate — 
Where Hurricanes Are Bred — Hot Waves and Cold Waves — Import- 
ing Weather from Canada — Where Storms Disappear — Perplexing 
Problems for the Forecaster — Predicting Dangerous Storms — Warn- 
ings of Danger — Emergency Warnings- A Visit to the Instrument- 
Room — Interesting Experiments with Kites. 



^EW persons have any exact knowledge of what 
the Weather Bureau does, or how it does it, but 
nearly every one is interested in the daily report 
of its important and extensive work, Avhich is 
usually quite brief and occupies an inconspicuous 
though regular place in the daily papers. 
The value of accurate scientific knowledge on a subject 
which atfects, vitally, the vast agricultural and commercial 
interests of the world, as well as the physical health and 
spiritual happiness of mankind, cannot be overestimated. 
Think of the millions of anxious faces that have turned sky- 
ward since the earth began, to see " if it looks like rain." 
Think of the interrupted plans, of injured crops, of wrecks 

(396) 




ONE OF franklin's DISCOVEKIES. 397 

that strew the coast, of disaster and death — of all that 
might have been prevented, in a measure at least, by some 
forewarning of the weather indications. 

The Weather Bureau of the United States is the greatest 
institution of its kind in the world. While meteorology is 
as old as Egypt, practical meteorology is still in its swad- 
dling clothes, for it required more than the thermometer of 
Galileo, and the barometer of Torricelli to make it useful in 
forecasting the weather. About the middle. of the eight- 
eenth century, Benjamin Franklin made observations of 
storms, and was surprised to find that a northeast storm, 
instead of running off in a southwesterly direction as it 
would be expected to do, actually moved in the direction 
from which it seemed to come. From this he formed a 
theory, which, thoguh very important, was soon forgotten, 
that certain storms had a rotary motion and moved in 
a northeasterly direction. Jefferson, also, was fond of 
observing the weather ; and he recorded the reading of a 
thermometer four times a day, not omitting July 4, 1776, 
which, by his record, was a cold day for the season, the 
maximum temperature being 76 at 1 p. m. 

The first Government daily weather map was con- 
structed in 1853, by Prof. Henry, of the Smithsonian Insti- 
tution. While giving no forecasts, he used his large map to 
demonstrate to a skeptical Congress the feasibility of organ- 
izing a Government weather service. It was not till 1870 
that the skepticism of Congress was overcome and a resolu- 
tion passed providing for a Government telegraph weather 
service, which was entrusted to the Signal Corps of the War 
Department. There it remained, constantly but slowly 
developing in efficiency, till 1891 when it was transferred to 
the Agricultural Department. 

So clearly has the work of the bureau demonstrated its 
advantages for the farmer, the navigator, and the public in 
general, that Congress has made fair provision for its main- 



398 HOW THE WEATHER IS FORECASTED. 

tenance, and its present buildings were specially designed 
for its work. The main building presents a fine appearance, 
and its character is revealed at once by the signal flags 
which flutter above it, the whirling anemometers, and a 
superstructure for other curious instruments for measuring 
the precipitation, and so on, all of which devices are con- 
nected by wire with the most perfect registering instru- 
ments that can be designed. In this building are the offices 
of the bureau in which the expert work of forecasting the 
weather is done. The bureau costs over $1,000,000 a year. 

The wide scope of the system of observation which cen- 
ters here, is revealed by a glance at the immense map of the 
United States which hangs on one of the walls of the office 
of the Chief of the bureau. The surface of this big map is 
dotted with over 200 little tags, each indicating a weather 
station and containing data as to its working force. There 
are many similar weather stations throughout Canada and 
Mexico, having a system of exchanging reports with the 
Washington Bureau, as well as several stations in the West 
Indies, — that inveterate breeder of hurricanes. 

The whole weather system covers an area extending 
2,000 miles north and south, and 3,000 miles east and west. 
Each of these stations is fully equipped \vith the necessary 
instruments, not only for keeping a constant and permanent 
record of all weather changes but for taking special obser- 
vations at any time. All are situated on telegraphic cir- 
cuits, centering in the Washington Bureau. The telegraphic 
weather reports have the right of way over all other tele- 
graphic business. Twice a day, precisely at 8 o'clock a. im. 
and 8 o'clock r. m. of Eastern time, the " weather sharps " 
in these two hundred and more stations, all do precisely the 
same thing — examine their barometers, thermometers, 
anemometers, etc., and they at once telegraph to Washing- 
ton the details in their respective localities as to atmo- 
spheric pressure, temperature, wind velocity, and direction. 



MESSAGES FROM THE WEATHER STATIONS. 399 

cloud conditions, and rainfall, if any. Then follows an 
interesting scene in the long forecasting-room of the bureau 
at Washington. 

On high desks at one end of this well-appointed room 
are arranged a series of skeleton maps of the United States, 
each weather station being designated thereon by a little 
circle about the size of a pea. One of these maps — the one 
of chief value to the forecaster — is arranged to receive all 
the data; another shows the change in temperature, the 
maximum and minimum at each station with changes from 
the day before and changes from the normal; another 
shows changes in the barometer; another indicates the 
character, quantity, and movement of the clouds ; and still 
another shows the dry-bulb and wet-bulb temperatures with 
differences between the two. It should be explained that 
the wet-bulb thermometer is covered with a moist surface, 
and the evaporation from this, if the air is not saturated 
with moisture, is more rapid than from the dry-bulb, in pro- 
portion to the relative amount of water in the air ; the 
difference of temperature between the readings of these two 
instruments therefore suffices to compute the relative 
humidity of the atmosphere. 

As the telegraphic returns come in, at eacli of the maps 
stands one of the forecasting force, pencil in hand. Near 
by stands the reader of the messages which to the uninitiated 
mean absolutely nothing. In order to save time and tele- 
graph bills, the bureau has invented a simple though very 
effective cipher, whereby, through an arrangement of vowels 
and consonants, all the elaborate data of a weather-message 
is compressed into a sentence of a few words. For example, 
a message may read like this : 

^'■Paul nomen gessie enough surer ceiling?^ 

This tells the temperature, high and low, the barometer, 
the wind direction and velocity, and other details about the 



400 " WEATHER SHARPS AT THEIR WORK. 

Aveather conditions at St, Paul station. As this message is 
read, the forecasters at their maps instantly refer to the state 
of Minnesota, and, in the St. Paul circle and about it, jot 
down the various figures. 

Meantime, in an adjoining corner of the room, another 
interesting process is in progress. Three printers stand at 
their cases, which, instead of holding types, hold certain ster- 
eotyped words and phrases which the Aveather bureau is 
always using, like "fair and warmer," ''partly cloudy," 
"rain," "snow," and soon, besides grouped figures which are 
in constant use. Thus, as fast as the messages are read, the 
printers are putting into type important data from them for 
a r&fercnce table which is to occupy one corner of the com- 
pleted weather map of the entire country for this hour. 

All reports having been read, the experts at the maps 
have under their trained eyes a complete synoptic panorama 
of the wind and weather of the greater part of North America. 
By noting the barometric returns, they observe great areas 
of high and low pressure of the atmosphere, and reference to 
the maps of preceding observations enables them at once to 
note the changes in these areas winding through the states- 
To define these areas the expert draws solid snake-like 
lines — called isobars — between the high and low areas. 
Similar lines called isotherms define the areas of differing 
temperature, and separate lines are drawn for each change 
of a tenth of an inch in the barometer and ten degrees in the 
thermometer. The direction of the wind at each station is 
indicated by an arrow flying with the wind. The state of 
the weather — wliether clear, partly cloudy, cloud}'-, raining 
or snowing — is indicated by the strength of the shading in 
the little circles representing the various stations ; and thus, 
to the trained eye, and even to the eye of the novice, there 
appear on the maps great areas of clouds, of sunshine, of 
rain or snow, and by comparison with previous maps it can 
be seen whither these storms are moving and how fast. 



THE LAWS OF STORMS. 401 

Thus, witliin a few minutes after the clocks in the Eastern 
time belt are striking the hour of eight, the weather of a 
great continent lies under the eyes of the forecasters at 
Washington. 

These curious-looking maps would be of little value, how- 
ever, in making forecasts without long experience in tracing 
the effects of such conditions, and repeatedly establishing 
the relation between tliem. A general knowledge of meteor- 
ological phenomena is essential. It is known that storms 
have a circular area, and generally advance in an easterly 
direction, bearing a low barometric pressure with them. 
Storms are first noticed in the upper regions of the atmo- 
sphere, and in front of them the air is warm and humid, and, 
in the rear, cool and dry. The general storm movement in 
the United States is similar to a series of atmospheric waves 
of which the crests are designated as "Highs" on the maps 
and the depressions as " Lows." These waves have an aver- 
age easterly movement of about 600 miles per day. 

As a rule the more general storms of the country can be 
detected during their inception in high altitudes of the far 
West and studied as they come down to sea level in the 
Mississippi valley and progress towards the Atlantic. The 
great winter storms originating somewhere near our new pos- 
sessions, the Philippines, are detected when they reach the 
Pacific coast, whence, over the Pockies, they sweep across 
the country in three or four days and off over the Atlantic, 
to be heard from three or four days later in Europe. The 
great high pressure areas which constitute our cold waves are 
largely imported from the northwestern provinces of Canada, 
but, contrary to popular belief, they do not bring the cold 
air of Canada with them. Their frigidity is entirely a result 
of their motion; they are high-pressure eddies, and their 
vortical motion as they travel along is constantly bringing 
down the cold air from above. 

These are some of the general principles in which the 



403 GUARDING AGAINST MARINE DISASTERS. 

expert forecaster is rooted and grounded ; Ijut he lias also 
learned that the weather is too slippery an article to abide 
always by general principles. Storms often insist on having 
a striking individuality of their own, and the forecaster has 
learned to take into consideration special conditions which 
seem to account for these freaks. Forces not indicated on 
the surface will sometimes appear and the storm pursue a 
path divergent from the normal for the location and the 
season. This complicates the problem always, for the fore- 
caster is expected to tell in what general direction a storm 
will move. It will not add to his reputation as a weather 
prophet to predict bad weather for a certain locality if the 
storm whirls off to another locality for which he has pre- 
dicted fair weather. The barometric depression is always 
spread over a larger surface than the storm that accompanies 
it. The real problem in making local predictions is : Given 
the data on his map with indications of a storm approaching 
in a certain direction, with a knowledge of the special condi- 
tions attending it, to determine, not simply the probable 
area over which it will move, but the precise localities which 
will be reached, and which of them will escape. It is no 
wonder that mistakes are made in local predictions; the 
miracle is that they are so often correct. 

But, after all, the real value of the Weather Bureau lies 
more in its predictions of really dangerous storms several 
hours in advance, predictions nearly always correct, than in 
foretelling the precise weather for specific localities under 
moderate conditions, in which the bureau is often wrong. 
Of the many West Indian hurricanes which have swept up 
the Atlantic coast in recent years not one has reached a 
single seaport without danger warnings having been sent 
well in advance of the storm, and the result has been a great 
decrease in marine disasters. Marine property owners have 
estimated tliat one of these storms in the absence of danger 
signals would leave not less than 3,000,000 dollars worth 



HOW WEATHER NEWS IS DISSEMINATED. 403 

of wreckage in its path. On two occasions a census 
was taken immediately after tlie passage of severe hurri- 
canes to determine the value of property held in port by 
danger warnings of the bureau, and in one case the figure 
was placed at }i^3J:,000,000, and in another at $38,000,000. 

The Weather Bureau employs persons at various points 
on the great river systems of the country, and particularly 
about the headwaters, in reporting any marked variation in 
the water level. The government is thus enabled to send 
timely warning of a threatened rise in the great rivers below 
headwaters, whereby much property has been saved, espe- 
cially on the Mississippi system. 

Formerly the local forecasts were made by the observer 
in his district from the reports taken off the wire on his cir- 
cuit on their way to Washington. It was for a time supposed 
that the local observer would be better able to forecast the 
weather in his own vicinity than the Washington office. 
After an extensive trial, however, it was found that the 
Washington forecasts verified four or five per cent, better 
than the local forecasts, and the latter were accordingly dis- 
continued, all being now prepared at Washington. 

The bureau has its own plant for printing, and in less 
than two hours after the receipt of reports presses are busy 
striking off the maps with which the public is familiar. 
Obviously, to be of value, these maps must be disti'ibuted 
within a few hours after the observation. Hence plants for the 
prompt publication of maps identical with those produced at 
headquarters, are located at good distributing points in 
various sections of the country. No such center of distribu- 
tion can have an effective radius of much more than 300 
miles. The distribution of the morning forecast begins in 
less than two hours after the observations are made, first by 
telegraph and telephone to about 1,000 centers of distribu- 
tion, thence by telephone, mail, and railway service to more 
than 75,000 addresses, the greater part being delivered in 



404 INGENIOUS AND DELICATE INSTRUMENTS. 

the forenoon, and none later than 6 p. m. The forecasts are 
also telegraphed to about 1,000 additional places, to be com- 
municated to the public by flags and sound signals. 

There is also a system of distribution by which more than 
8,000 stations are furnished with reports by telegraph at 
government expense, and, as occasion may justify, with the 
"emergency warnings" of hurricanes, cold waves, freshets, 
frosts, or local storms of unusual severity. With such a 
widespread and effective system there is scarcely a commu- 
nity in the United States which does not receive the benefit 
of the forecasts promptly, even if they are far beyond the 
i:each of the daily paper. The maps are made only from 
the morning forecasts, which appear in the evening papers. 
The evening forecasts appear in the morning papers. 

One of the most interesting rooms in the bureau office is 
that devoted to the instruments. Here on a long table are 
remarkable and extremely delicate self-registering instru- 
ments, each registering a peculiar line indicating a certain 
meteorological condition. All are in connection with appar- 
atus outside, and indicate their measurement through com- 
binations of clockwork and the electric current. One of 
these instruments registers on a sheet of paper no larger 
than a page of this book the pressure, temperature, humidity, 
wind velocit}^ and the condition of the sky for every moment 
of the twenty-four hours. The slightest change is indicated 
by a change in the tracing pens. A similar instrument is 
for use on kites, being exceedingly compact, most of its 
parts being made of aluminum, so that its weight, case and 
all, does not exceed two pounds. One of the bureau's enor- 
mous kites will alwavs be found decoratino^ the ceiling of 
the instrument-room. They are constructed with great 
nicety after the approved pattern. 

Experimental work with kites was begun in 1898, in the 
hopes of discovering in the conditions of the upper regions 
of the atmosphere principles whereby forecasts may be more 



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TIDINGS FROM THE REALMS OF AIR. 407 

accurately made, and for a longer period in advance. The 
scientists of the Weather Bureau realize that with the pres- 
ent appliances for forecasting, the limits for further develop- 
ment are narrow. New discoveries must be made and new 
realms invaded before the present character of the forecasts 
can be much improved. 

It was in the hope of new discoveries that the bureau 
perfected instruments to be carried by kites into the upper 
regions of air. In some of its experiments, which are usual- 
ly conducted at Fort Meyer across the Potomac, a single 
kite has ascended to 8,000 feet, and several kites in series 
have risen to 14,000 feet; and the records of the delicate 
meteorographs carried to these high altitudes have suggested 
important possibilities which may result in new wonders 
any day. Among other things which these experiments 
have shown is that in our summer season we live in an ex- 
tremely thin stratum of warm air. In the hottest day the 
thermometer on a kite indicates that it is delightfully cool 
1,000 feet above us. Moreover, the changes' in wind and 
temperature always begin at high levels sooner than on the 
surface of the earth, and it is one of the practical dreams of 
the weather experts to some day have kites at important 
stations, so as always to be in touch with the upper regions 
of the atmosphere. 



CHAPTER XXy. 

IN THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE — THE PRESIDENT'S LAW- 
YER— THE SUPREME COURT AND ITS BLACK- 
ROBED DIGNITARIES — THE HEAVEN 
OF LEGAL AMBITION. 

The Majesty of the Law — The Department of Justice— Duties of the 
Attorney -General — The President's Lawyer — Chiims Involving Mil- 
lions of Dollars — The Highest Legal Tribunal of the Nation — The 
Supreme Court-Room — Giants of the Past — The Battle Ground of 
Clay, Webster, and Calhoun — Wise and Silent Judges — Where 
Silence and Dignity Reign — The Technical "Bench" — Illustrious 
Names — Why the Bust of Chief-Justice Taney Was Long Excluded 
from the Supreme Court-Room — The Famous Dred Scott Decision — 
Its Far-Reachiug Effect — A Sad Figure — Death Comes to His Relief 
— Sumner's Relentless Opposition — Black-Robed Dignitaries — Cere- 
monious Opening of the Court — An Antique Little Speech — Gowns 
or Wigs? — Jefferson's Comical Protest — The Robing and Consulta- 
tion-Rooms — Salaries of the Justices — A Great Law Library — Sug- 
gestions of a Tragedy. 



.UNNING through everything pertaining to the 
government is the inevitable network of Law. 
In every department the executive head acts 

strictly by Law ; the work of every division is 

^^ mapped out to conform to the Law ; soldiers are re- 
cruited, sailors are instructed, patents and pensions are 
granted, money is printed, birds are dissected, and seeds are 
distributed by Law. On the desk of every official of im- 
portance lies a digest of the Law, and he works with one 
eye ever u]ion it. If you suggest that in any ]iarticular case 
the end can be accomplished much sooner and better in a cer- 

(408) 




THE president's LAWYER. 409 

tain way, he opens his book and points to the Law which 
says it must be done so and so, and that settles the process 
even if it never settles the case. The Law is the warp and 
woof of everything, and naturally the Department of Jus- 
tice has operated from the first. 

The Supreme Court was provided for in the Constitution, 
but the same act which established and defined the jurisdic- 
tion of 'the courts of the United States provided for an 
Attorney-General, who from the first became a member of 
the President's Cabinet. But while thus ranking fourth in 
that official body, his duties were few during the first years 
of the government ; he attended to his private practice, and 
it was not till 1814 that he was required by law to reside at 
"Washington, and not till 1870 that the Department of Jus- 
tice in its present form was established, with the Attorney- 
General as its chief ofiicer. 

His duties are best summed up by saying that he is the 
President's lawyer. The President is charged with execut- 
ing all laws, and the Attorney- General gives his advice and 
opinion, when asked, either to the President or to the head 
of any executive department. He represents the govern- 
ment where questions of land or rents are concerned, and 
determines the validity of titles to real estate purchased by 
the government. Either House of Congress may call upon 
him for information on any matter within the scope of his 
office. While it is always understood that neither the Pres- 
ident nor his Secretaries are necessarily guided by his opin- 
ions, in practice they are. It is a settled rule that he has no 
right to give an opinion in any other cases than those in 
which the statutes make it his duty to give it. He is as 
much controlled as anyone by the laws he interprets. 

His official force consists of a Solicitor-General who is 
next in rank, and in his absence the acting head of the de- 
partment ; four Assistant Attorney-Generals and ten assis- 
tant attorneys, all having their offices in the Department of 
23 - 



410 THE HIGHEST TRIBUNAL OP THE NATION. 

Justice building. In addition, there are the following officers 
who, though belonging to the Department of Justice, serve 
also in other departments : — A Solicitor and Assistant- 
Solicitor of the Treasury, a Solicitor of Internal Eevenue, 
a Solicitor of the State Department, an Assistant Attorney- 
General of the Post-Office Department, and one for the 
Interior Department. 

Much of the work of the department is before the Court 
of Claims, which was instituted in 1855 to hear and deter- 
mine claims against the government and to report the facts 
to Congress. In 1863 this court was authorized to render 
final judgment with right of appeal to the Supreme Court. 
It has five judges, and there are always pending before it 
claims involving millions of dollars. In all these cases the 
government is represented by the Attorney-General. 

The Department of Justice is but a section of the execu- 
tive branch of the government, but the Judiciary ranks with 
the President and with Congress as one of the great branches 
of the government, and unlike them it is removed as far as 
men can be from the influence of human and political pas- 
sions and prejudices. 

The Supreme Court is the highest legal tribunal of the 
nation. After the completion of the Senate wing of the 
Capitol, the old Senate Chamber was converted into the 
present Supreme Court-room ; one of the few rooms in the 
Capitol wherein harmony and beauty meet and mingle. 
Here Clay, Webster, and Calhoun, and other giants of the 
past, once held high conclave. Defiance and defeat, battle 
and triumph, argument and oratory, wisdom and folly once 
held here their court. It is now the chamber of peace. 
Tangled questions concerning life, liberty, and the pursuit of 
personal happiness are still argued within these walls, but 
never in tones that would drown the sound of a dropping 
pin. Every thought is weighed, every word measured, that 
is uttered here. The Judges who sit in silence to listen and 



IN THE CHAMBER OF JUDGMENT. 411 

decide have outlived the tumult of youth and the summer of 
manhood's fiercer battles. They have earned fruition ; they 
have won their gowns — which they can wear until they 
reach the age of 70, when they become ehgible for retire- 
ment, a wise provision for their comfort after the infirmity 
of age unfits them for the weighty responsibilities of this 
high tribunal. 

In the court-room itself we seem to have reached an 
atmosphere where it is always afternoon. The door swings 
to and fro noiselessly at the gentle touch of the usher's 
hand. With soundless tread the spectators move to their 
cushioned seats ranged against the inner wall over the rich, 
well-padded, crimson carpet which covers the tiled floor of 
this august chamber. A single lawyer arguing some consti- 
tutional question drones on within the railed inclosure of the 
court ; or a single judge in measured tones mumbles over 
the pages of his learned decision in some case long drawn 
out. Unless you are deeply interested in it you will not 
stay long. The atmosphere is too soporific ; one wearies of 
the oppressive silence and absolute decorum. 

The chamber itself is semi-circular, with windows crim- 
son-curtained. It has a domed ceiling studded with stuccoed 
mouldings and skylights. The technical " Bench " of the 
Supreme Court is a row of leather-backed arm-chairs ranged 
in a row on a low dais. The chair of the Chief Justice is 
in the center; those of the eight Associate Justices are 
on each side. Over the chair of the Chief Justice a gilt 
eagle perches upon a golden rod. Over this eagle and 
parallel with the bench below, runs a shallow gallery, from 
\vhich many flue ladies of successive administrations have 
looked down on the Solons below. At intervals around the 
walls are brackets on which are placed marble busts of 
former Chief Justices: John Jay of New York, 1789-1795 ; 
John Rutledge of South Carolina, 1795-1796 ; Oliver Ells- 
worth of Connecticut, 1796-1800; John Marshall of Vir- 



413 Taney's infamous decision. 

ginia, 1801-1835 ; Koger B. Taney of Maryland, 1836-1864 ; 
Salmon P. Chase of Ohio, 1864-1873 ; Morrison R. Waite of 
Ohio, 187Jr-1888. Chief Justice Taney's bust for years was 
left out in the cold on a pedestal within a recess of one of 
the windows of the Senate wing. It was voted in the Sen- 
ate that it should there wait a certain number of expiatory 
years until in the fulness of time it should be sufficiently 
absolved to enter the historic heaven of its brethren. 

Roger Brooke Taney was a prominent Maryland lawyer 
and an active democratic politician, and was Attorney-Gen- 
eral in Jackson's administration. In 1835 Jackson, who was 
extremely friendly to Taney, nominated him as an Associate- 
Justice of the Supreme Court, but his nomination was op- 
posed by the Senate. On the death of Chief Justice Mar- 
shall, in the same year, Taney was confirmed, but by a very 
small majority of votes. For twenty-eight years he sat in 
the Chief Justice's chair and proved himseK to be a jurist of 
learning and ability. Indeed, it has been asserted that he 
would rank next to the great jurist Marshall in the pages of 
history but for his decision, in 1857, in the " Dred Scott 
Case," a decision that shocked the humanity of the civilized 
world. 

Dred Scott was a negro slave then living in Missouri, 
and was owned by an army officer. On one occasion his 
owner had taken him into a Free State, which act, it was 
claimed, entitled the slave to his liberty. Subsequently 
Scott was taken back to Missouri, and he thereupon sued 
for his freedom. The case created intense interest, was 
desperately fought in the lower courts, and finally carried 
up to the Supreme Court, then presided over by Taney, who 
was himself a slaveholder. In his decision, which was ad- 
verse to Scott, Taney declared that persons of African 
blood were not regarded by the Constitution as anything 
but mere property ; that they had no status as citizens, and 
could not be sued in any court; that prior to tho Dcclara- 



THE MAN WHO HASTENED THE CIVIL WAR. 413 

tion of Independence, negroes were regarded as " so far in- 
ferior that they had no rights a white man was bound to 
respect." After this cruel decision the Abolition party 
grew with amazing rapidity, and three years later the Civil 
War followed. 

" There was no sadder figure to be seen in Washington 
during the years of the Civil War than that of the aged 
Chief Justice. His form was bent by the weight of years, 
and his thin, nervous, and deeply-furrowed face was shaded 
by long, gray locks, and lighted up by large, melancholy 
eyes that looked wearily out from under shaggy brows, 
which gave him a weird, wizard-like expression. He had 
outlived his epoch, and was shunned and hated by the men 
of the new time of storm and struggle for the principles of 
freedom and nationality. He died poor, and two of his 
daughters supported themselves for years by working in the 
Treasury Department. After his death, and during the 
years that his bust was excluded from its place among the 
Chief Justices on the wall of the Court-room, Charles Sum- 
ner watched every appropriation bill to prevent an item 
being included to authorize its purchase. When Sumner 
died, there was no further opposition to paying for it and 
giving it its proper place." 

During the session of the Supreme Court, the hour of 
meeting is at noon. Precisely at that hour a procession of 
black-silk-robed dignitaries may be seen wending their way 
from the robing-room to the Supreme Court-room. They 
are preceded by the Marshal, who, entering by a side-door, 
leads directly to the Judge's stand, and, pausing before the 
desk, exclaims: 

" The Honorable the Chief Justice and Associate Justices 
of the Supreme Court of the United States." 

With these words all present rise and stand to receive 
the Justices filing in. Each Justice passes to his chair. 
The Judges bow to the lawyers; the lawyers bow to the 



414 DIGNITY AND ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT. 

Judges ; then all sit down. The Crier then opens the Court 
with these words : 

" Oyez ! Oyez ! Oyez ! All persons having business with 
the Honorable the Supreme Court of the United States are 
admonished to draw near and give their attendance, as the 
Court is now sitting. God save the United States and this 
Honorable Court." 

At the close of this antique little speech, the Chief Jus- 
tice motions to the lawyer whose case is to be argued, and 
that gentleman rises, advances to the front, and begins his 
argument. 

The chairs of the Judges are all placed in the order of 
their date of appointment. On either side of the Chief Jus- 
tice sit the senior Associate Justices, while the last appointed 
sit at the farther ends of each row. In the robing-room, 
their robes and coats and hats hang in the same order. In 
the consultation-room, where the Justices meet on Saturdavs 
to consult together over important cases presented, their 
chairs around the table are arranged in the same order, the 
Chief Justice presiding at the head. Both rooms command 
beautiful views from their windows of the city, the Potomac, 
and the hills of Virginia. In the robing-room, the Justices 
exhange their civic dress for the high robes of office. 

The selection of a court-dress agitated the minds of pub- 
lic men when the first Justices of the court had been named 
by Washington. Sentiment was divided ; and whether the 
Justices should wear gowns, and, if so, whether they should 
be those of the scholar, the Roman senator, or the priest, 
and also whether they should wear the wig of the English 
Judges, became burning questions. JelTerson protested 
against any unnecessary court-dress, and especially against 
wearing a wig. He said : " For Heaven's sake, discard the 
monstrous wig, which makes the English Judges look like 
rats peeping through bunches of oakum." Hamilton advo- 
cated both wig and gown. Finally, after much debate, the 



HOW THE JUDGES HOLD THEIR OFFICE. 415 

gown alone was adopted, as tending " to preserve in the 
Court-room that decorum and sense of solemnity which 
should always characterize the place of Judgment." The 
gowns are made of black silk or satin, anel are almost iden- 
tical with, the silk robe of an Episcopal clergyman. The 
gown worn by Justice McLean still hangs upon its hook as 
when he hung it there for the last time — years and years 
ago. 

Nine Justices now compose the Supreme Court, all ap- 
pointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. 
The Chief Justice presides in court, and receives a salary of 
$10,.500 per annum. Melville Weston Fuller, of Illinois, ap- 
pointed in 1888 to succeed Chief Justice "Waite, is the pres- 
ent incumbent of the office. The Associate Justices receive 
$10,000 each per annum. The Constitution distinctl}^ says 
that the Justices of the Supreme Court, as well as all the 
Judges of the lower United States courts, " shall hold their 
offices during good behavior." But it is commonly under- 
stood that they shall hold them for life unless removed 
from office by impeachment. But inasmuch as old age 
does incapacitate, and a judge might hold on to his office 
after he was unable to perform his duties, Congress passed 
a law providing that any justice or judge who has served 
ten years and has reached the age of 70, may voluntarily re- 
tire, and in that event shall receive the full salary of his 
office during the remainder of his life. 

The consultation-room is across the hall from the Law 
Library, whose books are in constant demand by the law- 
yers and Judges of the Supreme Court. The Law Library 
consists of 85,000 volumes. It contains every volume of 
English, Irish, and Scotch reports, besides the American ; 
an immense collection of case law, a complete collection of 
the statutes of all civilized countries since 1649, filling one 
hundred quarto volumes. It includes the first edition of 
Blackstone's Commentaries, an original edition of the report 



416 THE BEST LAW LIBRARY IN THE WORLD. 

of the trial of Cagliostro, Eohan, and La Motte, for the theft 
of Marie Antoinette's diamond necklace — that luckless 
bauble which fanned to such fury the fatal flames of the 
Revolution. The nucleus of this Library, conceded to be 
the finest in the world, was the Jefferson collection of a 
little more than 600 volumes. 

The quarters of the Law Library are in tlie basement- 
room of the Capitol, a beautiful room, of which the arches 
of the ceiling rest upon immense Doric columns. The span- 
drels of the arches are filled in with solid masonry — blocks 
of sandstone, strong enough to support the whole Capitol, 
fill the space between the arches. There is the suggestion 
of tragedy in their strength, when we are told that the arch 
above fell once, burying and killing beneath it its designer, 
Mr, Lenthal. The plan of his arch in proportion to its 
height was pronounced unsafe by all who examined the 
drawing. He insisted that it was sufficiently strong, and to 
prove his faith in his theory he tore away the scaffolding 
before the ceiling was dry. It fell, and he was taken out 
hours after, dead and mangled, from its fallen ruins. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS — ONE OF THE COSTLIEST AND 

MOST BEAUTIFUL BUILDINGS IN THE WORLD — 

ITS MAGNIFICENT MURAL PAINTINGS 

AND WONDERFUL MOSAICS. 

A Library for the People — Costly Books and Priceless Treasures of Art 
Free to All — A Marvelously Beautiful Building — How It Was 
Planned — Its Great Cost — Approaches to the Building — The Mam- 
moth Bronze Doors — Entering Into Another World — A Stroll Through 
Beautiful Marble Halls and Corridors — Marvels in Mosaic— How the 
Mosaic Ceilings Were Constructed — The Mural Paintings and Wall 
Decorations — A Fairy Scene by Niglit — Countless Electric Lights — 
Famous Mosaic of Minerva — A Marvelous Achievement — The Lan- 
tern at the Top of the Dome — Architectural Splendors — Ingenious 
Apparatus for Carrying Books — How the Library Is Connected With 
the Capitol — An Underground Tunnel — The Alcoves — Forty-five 
Miles of Strips of Steel. 



T the threshold of one century rose the Capitol, 
slowly unfolding in its majesty and grandeur, 
growing as the nation grew, out of weakness, 
often painfully, into strength, till at last its* 
mighty dome was lifted against the sky, the sym- 
bol of a great and a united people. At the thresh- 
old of another century rose another building, unfolding 
quickly, easily, and in beauty, like a lily — 

" — blossoming in stone — 
A vision, a delight, and a desire — 
The builder's perfect and centennial flower." 

The new Library of Congress is a monument of a nation 

(417) 




418 MONUMENTS OF A NATION'S GREATNESS. 

which has emerged from the darkness of doubts and dangers 
into the full glory of conscious power. Every stone in the 
Capitol was the promise of a nation yet to be ; every stone 
in the Library of Congress is the symbol of fulfillment. It 
is peculiarly fitting that the two great structures should 
stand near each other ; that in the sunlight, from the time 
it breaks over the eastern hills till it lingers faintly in the 
west, the gleam of the great white dome and the glistening 
of the gilded one should mingle in a single setting of foliage. 
Together they are emblematic of the people. They belong 
to the people. It is the people's Capitol, and it is the people's 
Library, though originally designed simply as a Library of 
Congress. It is more freely open to the people of the whole 
country than are any of the great libraries of the world. 
They may not take away its books and its treasures of art, 
but they may come from any town or hamlet in the Union, 
simply ask for them, and they will be placed before them. 
They could have no better place in which to read or to study 
these treasures of art and literature than this, the largest 
and costliest library building in the world. 

When visiting the Capitol and wandering through 
its massive corridors and stately chambers, our atten- 
tion is divided between the building and its associa- 
tions. Within its many great rooms we inevitably think of 
the scenes witnessed in them, rather than of the rooms 
themselves, their decorations, or their furnishings. Upper- 
most in the mind always is not the building, marvelous as it 
is, but what has been done, what is done, within its vener- 
able walls. It is so in the White House, in the Treasury, 
and in all the public buildings — save only this one. We 
look upon the Library building without a thought at first of 
its treasures ; and then, if we are so fortunate as to have the 
opportunity of examining them, we forget for the time the 
beautiful building. What it is, is one thing ; what it holds, 
another. But always what it is, comes first. No one should 



A MODEL OF HONEST CONSTRUCTION. 421 

look within Avithout looking through this magnificent build- 
ino- and its priceless treasures of literature and art. 

In his report for 1872, Mr. AinsAvorth R. Spofford urged 
upon Congress the absolute necessity for a separate building 
for the accommodation of the vast number of valuable 
books which had from time to time accumulated in the 
small quarters assigned the Library of Congress in the Capi- 
tol. Fourteen years subsequently the first decided action 
was taken. Eleven years more had expired before the grand 
structure was completed. 

Long disputes arose over the site ; but it was at last 
decided to purchase three city blocks, containing about ten 
acres, just east of the Capitol grounds. The year 1886 was 
occupied in appraising and taking possession of this tract, 
for which the government paid $585,000, on which stood 
some seventy houses, and another 3^ear passed in clear- 
ing the ground. Plans had already been adopted, but in 
1888 a timid and somewhat economical Congress became 
alarmed over the cost and magnitude of the proposed struc- 
ture, and by another act limited its cost to $4,000,000. At 
the same time it placed the work under the sole charge of 
the Chief of Engineers of the Army. 

Another year was consumed in the endeavor to reduce 
the initial plans so that the building might fall within the 
diminished appropriation. But meantime another plan was 
submitted to another Congress, modifying the architectural 
features and increasing the size, beauty,. and expense of the 
proposed building, though providing for its completion 
within eight years. This proved to be acceptable to a more 
generous and progressive Congress, which by a new law raised 
the limit of cost to about $6,500,000. The building was 
completed in 1897, within the time set by Congress, and at a 
cost of $6,347,000, exclusive of the cost of the land. The 
building thus stands as a model, not simply of careful and 
conscientious artistic work, but of honest construction. 



422 ORNAMENTS OF THE WINDOW KEY-STONES. 

"When approaching the new building, one is not deeply 
impressed with the exterior. It might be otherwise if the 
Capitol were not so near. The new edifice seems at first to 
lack the indefinable artistic spirit of the Capitol. It is 470 
feet long and 340 feet deep, but only three stories high, and 
its large dome appears very modest beside the lofty dome 
of the Capitol, which it was never intended to rival. The 
walls are constructed entirely of granite, so close-grained 
and light in tone that in the sunshine it is as brilliant as 
marble. Left in the rough in the basement story, it is much 
more finely dressed in the story above, and in the third 
brought down to a perfectly-smooth surface. 

The key-stones of the window arches in the first story 
are sculptured with a series of heads illustrating the chief 
ethnological types of mankind, the first instance of a com- 
prehensive attempt of this kind in a public building. The 
idea was carried out by the Department of Ethnology in the 
National Museum, which contains an unsurpassed collection 
of carefully-prepared models of different types of men. In 
preparing these, each head was subjected to a strict test of 
measurement, the distance between the eyes and between 
the cheek bones being the most valuable criterion of racial 
differences ; but as the architect required the heads to be of 
uniform size, each face had to be more or less in line with 
the block it ornamented. This difficulty was met by using 
or not using the distinctive head-dress, whichever best met 
the conditions, and in one case, that of the Plains Indian, 
whose feathers could not well be discarded, the difficulty 
was overcome by la3"ing them down flat upon his head, 
giving " poor Lo " a mild and almost dejected look, which, 
after all, may be quite in accordance with his present feel- 
ings. There are thirty-three of these heads in all, each 
about a foot and a half in height and chiseled with the 
greatest attention to detail. Even the tattooing appears in 
the Maori type. 



THE TEMPLE OF AMERICAN ART. 423 

The main entrance pavilion occupies a third of the tota^ 
front of the building and its approaches are extensive and 
imposing. In front of the granite steps which ascend from 
each side to the central landing, is an elaborate fountain 
ornamented with large bronze figures representing the court 
of Neptune in a grotto of the sea. Placid turtles and frogs 
and writhing serpents are spurting glistening jets of water 
upon spirited sea-horses, with fair Nereids astride, while 
high in the center upon a massive rock sits his imperturb- 
able majesty, the Ruler of the Deep. 

The posts of the granite railing of the steps to the 
entrance landing bear aloft clusters of electric lamps that at 
night give the massive structure the air of an enchanted 
palace. About the entrance are many sculptured details — 
large female figures representing Literature, Science, and 
Art, and busts of men eminent in these fields ; children 
reclining upon sloping pediments that are ornamented with 
massive garlands of fruits and flowers. All demonstrate 
the readiness with which the intractable granite yields to 
the touch of the master-hand, for in the sculpture and in all 
the decorations within and without this great building the 
bsst artists in the United States were employed. Here 
their genius has been given undying form in many a detail 
— so many, that their individual values are not fully appre- 
ciated and still less adequately described. 

Ill the early days of the Capitol, American art had no 
representatives. Imported Italians wrought there, and 
often failed to catch the spirit of national life. Often they 
failed to harmonize with each other. But in the Library, 
famous sculptors and painters of America have togeth'^" 
blended the best expressions of their genius under a single 
plan and with a common artistic purpose, and they have 
m ide it, what no other building in the country is, a Temple 
of American Art. 

We are hardly prepared for the vision that bursts upon 



424 



HOW THE LIBRARY IMPRESSES VISITORS. 



US when we liave passed the mammoth bronze doors, cov- 
ered with designs of rich sculptural ornament in relief. It 
is like entering into another world to step inside. Stand 
here any day for a few minutes, beside the blue-coated offi- 
cial who warns people to check their umbrellas and their 
canes — not because there is any danger of losing them, but 
because some proud American might like to punch the mar- 




MAIN ENTRANCE 

FIRST STORY PLAN, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



ble, the mosaic, and the mural paintings, to ascertain if they 
are real or only a dream ; listen to the expressions of 
strangers as they enter, and note their invariable exclama- 
tions of surprise and delight ; then see them wandering on 
in dumb amazement, as with uplifted eyes they seek to com- 
prehend the beauty and the grandeur that pervade the place. 



BEAUTY AND HARMONY OF THE INTERIOR. 435 

Here indeed and in reality is a " poem in marble." At 
once it dawns upon us why this is the most beautiful build- 
ino- in the United States. It is not because of its exterior, 
but because of its interior; the unique arrangement and 
ornamentation of marble piers and columns; ceilings in 
white and gold and arcades in mosaic of mellow tones ; gal- 
leries of massive white marble from between whose shining 
columns come visions of mural paintings and ornamental 
stucco; vistas of long corridors with marble floors; walls 
and ceilings of mosaic art, on which are mingled colors of 
ivory and gold, across which fall at regular intervals floods 
of light; massive stairways of purest marble delicately 
carved; hundreds of artistic details over which famous 
artists wrought, each a melody and yet blended into grand 
and perfect harmony. 

The greatest care has been taken to eliminate every jar- 
ring element. It has been said that in no other building in 
the country has so much pains been taken to make the 
designs of the floor consistent with those of the architecture 
and the general decorative scheme. This phase appears 
throuo-hout the building wherever marble or mosaic are 
used. 

The mosaic arches constitute one of the marvels of this 
marvelous building. Names of distinguished men of litera- 
ture, art, and science are used in the ornamentation. Most 
people form the impression that this mosaic must have been, 
laid " bottom side up " before the arches were constructed 
and wonder how the workmen could have fitted each piece 
so exactly. The real process, though quite as interesting, 
was very different. The artist first drew the designs, full 
size and in the exact colors desired, in sections which were 
transferred to very thick paper. These sections were then 
one by one covered by a thin coating of glue, and on them 
the workmen laid each little stone in its proper place, 
smooth side down. The section completed, it was taken to 



426 IDEAL PICTURES OF EVERY-DAY LIFE. 

the vaulted ceiling, previously covered with cement, and 
was rolled and pounded in as smoothly as possible. The 
paper was afterwards soaked off. Thus these wide mosaic 
ceilings with their rich and various ornamentations grew, 
section by section, into beautiful patterns, leaving no trace 
of where a section began or ended. 

The paintings in the large tympanums at the ends of the 
various corridors, and the smaller ones along the sides above 
the marble panels, were not executed, as some have sup- 
posed, by artists standing upon scaffolding or step-ladders, 
but were painted in the quiet of their studios upon canvas 
which was afterwards firmly and smoothly affixed to the 
walls by a composition of white lead. By many ingenious 
devices such as these the best art of America was brought 
into its proper place in various parts of the building. 

In the Library, idealism reigns supreme. Free rein has 
been given to the fancies of the artists, and this is well illus- 
trated in the mural paintings of the entrance corridors. 
Those on the north side illustrate The Family. They show 
people living in idyllic simplicity, yet possessing the arts 
and habits of refined cultivation. This idealism is summed 
up in the large painting, where the head of the family is 
returning after a day spent in hunting with primitive weap- 
ons. His aged mother, her hands clasped over a rough 
staff, is sitting on a still rougher rock, and the gray-bearded 
father lays aside a scroll that he has been reading and 
which seems somewhat out of place in such surroundings. 
The wife, with the face of a Eoman matron, baby in arms, 
is welcoming the returning sire, the little daughter clings to 
his robe, while a graceful maiden with a countenance beam- 
ing with intelligence, is leaning against one of the trees. 
All are dressed in the garb of the halcyon days of Greece 
or Rome, yet the whole scene is amid trees and rocks Avith a 
view beyond into primeval forests and over rugged moun- 
tains. 



EXQUISITE MURAL PAINTINGS. 427 

The paintings in the smaller tympanums illustrate differ- 
ent phases of a well-ordered, simple, and happy life. The}^ 
embody such ideas as poets like to sing about and artists 
love to paint. " Recreation " shows two girls in a forest 
glade, one playing on a pipe and the other on a tambourine. 
In " Study " a girl is instructing her pupil with the aid of a 
book and compasses and tablet ; in " Labor " two youths 
are at work in a field. In " Religion " a young man and a 
girl are devoutly kneeling before a blazing altar composed 
of two rough stones. There is a charm in this idealism 
which defies criticism and pleases every eye. 

The general subject of the mural paintings in the corre- 
sponding corridor on the south is Lyric Poetry, and they 
have an exquisite charm for those who can recall the lines 
they represent, though they are a little bewildering to the 
average constituent of Senators and Members in yonder 
Capitol. A thorough patriot, he is proud of the American 
eao-le — the bird of Freedom — and as he beholds in one of 
these paintings a naked boy riding on the back of the glori- 
ous bird, it strikes him as queer, even after he is told that it 
refers to the lines in Tennyson's " Palace of Art." 

" Flushed Ganymede, his rosy thigh 
Half buried in the Eagle's down, 
Sole as a flying star shot through the sky 
Above the pillared town." 

The names of the great lyric poets are neatly set in the 
mosaic of this corridor, as the names of the great educators 
of the world are used in the corridor on the north. In a 
similar manner, in various parts of the building appear hun- 
dreds of names of men who were famous in various lines of 
literature, art, and invention. In the decoration of the east 
corridor, the names are all of Americans, some eminent in 
the arts and sciences, and others in the leading professions, 

these being represented in the mosaic by various trophies. 
24 



428 BEAUTY OF THE STAIRCASE HALL. 

From the east corridor, marble arcades lead to the Ro- 
tunda or reading-room. The mural paintings over the en- 
trance illustrate various phases of government in an artistic 
symbolism worthy of long study. The figures have a 
nobility and strength which give to the conceptions in the 
pictures admirable clearness and force. 

In our little journey thus far we have walked about the 
four sides of the entrance pavilion, and these beautiful cor- 
ridors are only the anterooms to the lofty staircase hall in 
the center. Inlaid in the marble floor are patterns of brass, 
the one in the center being a large rayed disk or conven- 
tional sun, on which are indicated the points of the compass. 
From this as a center proceeds a scale pattern of alternately 
red and yellow Italian marbles, terminating in dark red 
French marble, in which are other brass inlays representing 
the twelve signs of the zodiac. In the white marble tower- 
ing above us on every side are wonderfully-sculptured de- 
tails, the most conspicuous being the figures of the staircases. 
These, in massive marble of purest white, rise along the 
northern and southern sides. Upon each of the heavy 
newel-posts is a bronze female figure upholding twenty feet 
above us a torch of clusters of electric lamps. 

When the golden sunlight streams in from above, through 
the six skylight designs in blues and yellows, bringing into 
bright relief the sculptured figures, and shading off into the 
recesses of the upper and lower corridors on every side, the 
scene is enchanting ; but there is another scene which sur- 
passes it, coming when, in the dusk of evening, a button is 
touched, and countless electric lights together leap forth in 
splendor, and flood every nook and corner with brilliant yet 
mellow light. 

Ascending one of the grand staircases, we stand in the 
corridors of the second floor, decorated like others with a 
profusion of details, all of which combine to produce an ex- 
quisite general effect. Each corridor has a distinct accent 



DECORATIONS OF THE CORRIDORS. 



429 



of color and design. Among the more interesting and ap- 
propriate decorations is the series of " Printers' ]Marks " used 
by the old printers, and by many modern publishers, on the 
title pages of their books. The earliest is that of Fust and 
Schoeffer, employed for the first time in 145". They are 
fifty-six in number and run through all the corridors. 




SECOND STORY PLAN, LIBKAEY OF CONGRESS. 



From the broad passage-way on the east, with its bright 
colors, its garlands and ribbons, its S3"mbolic medallions antl 
trophies, rises a marble stairway, dividing half way up to the 
right and left. Directly in front on the wall at the landing 
is one of the most striking decorations of the building — ■ 
Tedder's mosaic of Minerva. It is a marvelous achieve- 
ment of color ^nd design produced by thousands of miniito 



430 ''a vision in polished stone." 

pieces of colored marble. At a little distance it has the ap- 
pearance of a finely-executed painting in oils. So great is 
the inquisitiveness of the average American, so overpower- 
ing the temptation to touch it and make sure that it is really 
mosaic, that, notwithstanding the heavy railing about it, 
and a sign bearing a clearly-stated request not to touch it, 
the government has to pay a blue-coated official to stand 
constantly at the foot of the steps, with a warning ever 
ready to fall from his lips. 

Eeaching the top of the stairs, we pass at once out upon 
the gallery, Avhich affords a spacious and uninterrupted view 
of the great reading-room, the central and most important 
portion of the building, and as such, marked by a magnifi- 
cence of decoration and architecture surpassing every other 
part of the edifice. Here is an octagonal room, one hun- 
dred feet in diameter and reaching from the main floor 160 
feet to the apex of the dome. Paneled with the rarest of 
colored marbles in great profusion and in massive propor- 
tions, it reveals everywhere in the sculpture and paintings 
the harmony of the great architectural design which is car- 
ried down to the smallest of the countless details. Eight 
immense piers support the heavy arches around the room, 
and between them are marble screens, arcaded in two 
stories, thus dividing the octagon into eight deep alcoves. 
Above these are the galleries, forming a continuous prome- 
nade from Avhich the spacious interior may be viewed from 
all sides. The light streams in from great semi-circular 
windows set in the eight massive arches that support the 
dome. The lantern is thirty-five feet in height and has 
eight windows. 

On the mosaic floor of this lofty rotunda are three cir- 
cles of double desks of polished mahogany, provi-ding seats 
for over 200 readers, while from every alternate side of the 
octagon are exits into the alcoves and into the large interior 
portions of the building containing the book-stacks. The 




THE PUBLIC READING ROOM IN THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
The central and most important part of the building. It is marked by a magnificence of 
decoration and splendor of architecture surpassing every other part of the edifice. It is pan- 
eled with the rarest of colored marbles in great profusion and massive proportions. The room 
is 100 feet in diameter and i6o feet from the main floor to the ape.\ of the dome. Seats are pro- 
vided for over two hundred readers. 



ARTISTIC HARMONY IN FORM AND COLOR. 433 

lighting is so arranged that at the press of a button it 
flashes from hundreds of lamps, set in rosettes in the screens 
of the alcoves and in rows at the base and at the top of the 
dome. The whole vast apartment is thus flooded with 
mellow light, and no shadows are anywhere cast. 

If one wonders how, amid all these decorative details 
and various marbles, there can arise such a perfect harmony 
in color, he has but to study the evidences of the care with 
which the architects have designed. From the red and 
yellow marbles at the base, to the pure white, the bright 
greens and the violets of the paintings of the upper dome, 
there is no discordant note. 

As one stands enraptured with the beauty of the whole, 
he has no thought of the masterpieces of art in the details 
about him. The great symbolical statues surmounting the 
piers are unnoticed, while the bronze statues, modeled by 
the best sculptors in the land and placed upon the heavy 
marble rail of the gallery, fail for the moment to attract the 
attention they deserve. These sixteen bronze statues are of 
men famous in the different forms of thought symbolized in 
the statues above the piers. On one side of the statue of 
Religion, for instance, is the bronze figure of Moses, on the 
other side, that of St. Paul ; beside the statue of Poetry are 
Homer and Shakespeare. 

"We must break from the spell into which we are thrown 
by such architectural splendors, to look for a moment to the 
more practical matter of the provision made for readers and 
students. In the center of the floor is a great distributing 
desk, surrounded by a circular counter for the attendants 
delivering and receiving books. In a high station on the 
east side of this desk sits the Superintendent, who is thus in 
touch with all that is goino^ on in the vast room. On the 
other side is a cabinet containing the terminus of the book- 
carrying apparatus connecting with the stacks. Along an- 
other side is a row of twenty-four pneumatic tubes, connect- 



434 INGENIOUS BOOK-CARRYING MECHANISM. 

ing with every floor of each of the stacks, while one goes to 
the Librarian's room and another to the Capitol. Thus the 
half-dozen attendants at the desk are within easy reach of 
nearly 1,000,000 books, and are equally accessible to the poss- 
ibly 200 readers in the room, besides those demanding books 
at the Capitol, nearly a quarter of a mile away. 

You may fill out your card for a book, quietly settle 
yourself in one of the elegant chairs at the circular desks, 
and shortly the book will appear. If it is a work of fiction 
you desire, a certain pneumatic tube whisks your card away 
to the proper floor of the proper stack; if some work of 
history, it goes in another direction. The attendants at the 
desk do not simply know the location of the book you call 
for, but if you are desirous of reading up some subject and 
have no idea as to what particular book you wish, they can 
tell you. It is their business to know. 

The book-carrying apparatus is a marvel of ingenuity. 
It is in two parts, each separately operated, one connecting 
with the great north stack, the other with that in the south. 
Each section consists of a pair of endless chains kept con- 
stantly in motion by an electric dynamo, at the rate of 
about a hundred feet a minute. These chains run from the 
terminal cabinet in tlie reading-room down to the basement, 
thence on a level to the stacks, and thence directly up a 
small well to the top floor, where they turn and descend. 
They carry eighteen trays at regular intervals, each capable 
of containing a large book or a number of small ones, and 
each so constructed with brass teeth, operating with corre- 
sponding teeth in the apparatus at the receiving or distrib- 
uting stations, that they take in or deliver a book, as the 
case may be. 

When an attendant in the stacks, taking the card you 
filled out, and which was sent to him through the pneumatic 
tubes, has found the book you wish, he ]ilaces it upon a slide 
which he sets so that it will operate with the first tray that 



AN UNDERGROUND BOOK TUNNEL. 435 

arrives. Being caught up by this tray, it is carried on till 
it reaches the patkled basket at the delivery desk, and into 
this it is dropped with hardly a sound to break the stillness 
of the vast room. When the book is to be returned, the 
attendant at the distributing desk sets a little lever on a dial 
at the number of the stack in which the book belongs, and 
when the tray approaches the proper floor, the slide is auto- 
matically pushed out to receive the load. Thus every day 
and every evening, hundreds of books are noiselessly travel- 
ing to and fro, north and south, up and down, from stack to 
reader and from reader to stack. 

But convenient as is this mechanical contrivance for con- 
necting the various portions of the vast building, it is of 
much greater importance in connecting the Library with 
the Capitol ; for when Congress is in session, members are 
constantly drawing books for immediate use in debate and 
in committee work. It was this fact which so long delayed 
Congress in consenting to housing the Library in a separate 
building. The Capitol and the Library, which are nearly a 
quarter of- a mile apart, are connected by a tunnel with one 
terminus immediately beneath the distributing desk in the 
Library and the other in the Capitol, about midway between 
the Senate and the House. The tunnel is of brick, six feet 
high and four feet wide, and through this an endless cable, 
similar to those already described, but larger, continuously 
runs, the speed in this case being 600 feet a minute. By 
this means a book is delivered at the Capitol within three 
minutes after it has left the Library. 

Within the tunnel, also, are the necessary pneumatic 
tubes and telephone wires for the exchange of messages. It 
is stated that a Congressman or Senator can obtain a volume 
now in less time than he could when the books were in their 
old quarters in the Capitol. If in the midst of a speech it 
occurs to a Senator that he needs a certain book or the file 
of a certain newspaper, he has but to call a page, whisper 



436 FORTY-FIVE MILES OF SHELVING. 

his wish, and before he has delivered many more sentences, 
the page returns with the book or file. 

When passing from the Rotunda to the book-stacks one 
goes from the region of art to a region in which practical 
considerations chiefly obtain. It is no longer a question of 
beauty but of solidity, compactness, security, convenience, 
light, and ventilation. The chief requirement to be met 
here was such an arrangement as would hold the greatest 
number of books in the smallest possible space, each volume 
to be perfectly accessible and every shelf to be well lighted, 
day or night. Of the three stacks, those of the north and 
south are the largest, each having a length of one hundred 
and twelve feet, a Avidth of forty-five feet, and a height of 
sixty-three feet. They are divided into nine stories of tiers, 
each seven feet high, so that every book can be reached or 
its title read from one of the floors. The whole construc- 
tion is of iron and steel, except the flooring, which runs 
down the central corridors and into each of the shelves, and 
which consists of slabs of marble laid in iron frame work, 
with a little space between it and the stack. Thus for the 
purposes of heat, light, and ventilation the nine stories are 
practically one. 

The book-shelves are composed of strips of steel, the 
total number in the three stacks being 69,100 shelves. 
They can be adjusted to any height, and being of uniform 
size any shelf is available anywhere. There are no rough 
edges to wear the books. The strips are rounded and as 
highly polished as glass. These amount to 231,680 running 
feet, or about forty-five miles, which will accommodate 2,- 
085,120 volumes of books, reckoning nine to the foot. The 
capacity of the additional shelving, which may be placed in 
the first and second stories of the northeast and south 
fronts, is about 2,500,000 volumes, and the ultimate capacity 
of the building for books, without encroaching on the pavil- 
ions, reading-rooms, museum halls, or other parts of the west 



SOLVING THE LIGHTING PROBLEM. 437 

front, or any part of the basement story or cellar, is there- 
fore upward of 4-,500,000 voluiues, or nearly one hundred 
miles of shelving. 

The problem of lighting this immense storehouse of 
books presented some difficulties, Avhich were, however, suc- 
cessfully solved. The inner walls are honeycombed with 
windows opening into the courts, and are so located between 
the cases and at the ends of passage-ways as to diffuse light 
into two tiers at once. Upper and lower shelves are as well 
lighted as those in the center. The windows are of polished 
plate-glass, and are permanently sealed, so that no dust or 
moisture can penetrate. The walls of the inner courts are 
constructed of light-colored enameled brick, making admira- 
ble reflectors, and the marble floors within are pure white. 
Evenings, until ten o'clock, the light is furnished by an 
abundance of electric lamps in every passage-way and re- 
cess. Books must have air, but dust must be excluded, and 
thus there is a ventilating arrangement whereby air is con- 
stantly taken from the courts through filters of cotton cloth. 
In Avinter the stacks are heated by warm air ascending 
through the spaces between the cases and the flooring, and 
passing out through ventilating flues. 

No apartments of the building are more lavishly and 
sumptuously furnished and decorated than the reading-rooms 
of the House and of the Senate. They have an air of mag- 
nificence with their dark and massive wood furnishings, and 
their ceilings paneled and finished in gold and colors of 
somber character. 

The effect of the decorations in the Senate room is more 
restful than , in the House apartment, thus according with 
the distinctive differences between the two houses. As a 
matter of fact these rooms are used very little by members 
of either house. If they are making studies of any subject, 
they more frequently order the desired books sent to their 
residences, where they may use them in seclusion. They, 



438 THE librarian's office. 

like the President or heads of departments, are privileged 
to draw from the Library to any extent. Some members of 
Congress, however, make large use of these Library reading- 
rooms for more extended research. 

One room on this floor we should not fail to enter, even 
at the risk of disturbing for a moment the scholarly gentle- 
man at the massive oak desk in the center — the Librarian 
of Congress. The room is divided into two apartments by 
a broad and open arch, leaving the office proper on one side 
and a smaller and more private office on the other. The 
fittings are of massive oak ; the gallery has a groined ceil- 
ing, and over the main office is a shallow dome with beauti- 
ful stucco decorations, showing Grecian girls and garlands. 
The color-scheme is chiefly green, softened by the light 
which pours in from the northwest court. It is a sanctum 
at once refined and magnificent. 

The Library service requires a force of 341 persons ; the 
Library proper 185; copyist division 45; disbursement and 
care of buildings and grounds 111. 

We need not leave the beautiful building without satis- 
fying the cravings of the inner man. An elevator takes us 
from any floor to the " attic " of the central pavilion, where 
there is a cafe befitting the elegance of the edifice, and a 
bill of fare that will satisfy the most exacting appetite. 
Here we can sit and refresh ourselves and marvel at the 
glory and beauty our eyes have seen, and the priceless liter- 
ary treasures of which we have had but a glance in passing. 



CHAPTER XXYII. 

THE LIBRARY OP CONGRESS CONTINUED — AMONG ITS 
BOOKS AND PRICELESS TREASURES. 

Early Struggles of the Library — Starting with 1,000 Books and Nine 
Maps — Thomas Jefferson's Contribution — Destroyed by Fire — A 
Famous Librarian — Marvelous Growth of the Library — Nearly a 
Million Volumes — Some Priceless Old Books — A Unique Collection 
of Political Handljills — Some Remarkable Volumes and Still More 
Remarkable Illustrations — The "Breeches Bible" — The "Bug 
Biljle ••_ Eliot's Indian Bible — A Book Which No One Can Read Val- 
ued at $1,500 — Valuable Manuscripts and Papers of Early Presidents 
— A Collection of 300,000 Pieces of Music — The Music-Room — The 
Periodical Reading-Room — The Map-Room — A Wonderful Collec- 
tion of Maps and Atlases — A Tour Through the Basement —Read- 
ing-Room for the Blind — A Unique Institution — The Intellectual 
Center of the Nation — A Wonderful Storehouse of Knowledge Free 
to All. 



kEEBLE, indeed, was the beginning of the Library 
of Congress, that great institution which now so 
thoroughly represents the intellectual achieve- 
ments of the American people, and to a large 
extent of the people of the whole world. It was 
established in 1800, or at about the time that the 
government left Philadelphia and came to " the city in the 
woods " to abide. While Congress was still sitting in the 
Quaker city, it appropriated $5,000 for books, but, just as 
happens now, whenever the government endeavors to take a 
step in advance, strict constructionists of the Constitution 
strongly opposed such an enterprise — because, forsooth, 
that document said nothing about libraries. Jefferson. 

(439) 




UO THE LIBRARY BURNED BY THE BRITISH. 

however, thougli the leader of the party from which the 
opposition chietly came, strongly favored the idea, but he 
preferred to call it " the Library of the United States." 

At the beginning the Library was shelved in the Cap- 
itol. The first catalogue was issued in April, 1802, from 
which it appears that it contained 1,061: volumes and nine 
maps. This slender acquisition, grown to 3,000 volumes 
in 1814, served as convenient kindlings for the flames with 
which the British destroyed the Capitol in that year, 
though most of the books were subsequently replaced. A 
few weeks after this disaster, a letter was read in the Sen- 
ate from Thomas Jefferson, who was then living in retire- 
ment at Monticello and laboring under some financial diffi- 
culties. He offered the government the largest portion of 
his library, and Congress purchased of him 6,700 volumes 
for $23,950. This collection had been the delight of Jeffer- 
son's life, and, long before, he had written of it as " the best 
chosen collection of its size, probably, in America." Some 
members of Congress had their suspicions about Jefferson's 
tastes, however, and they sought to have a provision made 
for the rejection of books " of an atheistical, irreligious, and 
immoral tendency," but these objections did not prevail. 

With Jefferson's books as a nucleus, the Library of Con- 
gress began to make substantial gains, and in 1850 it con- 
tained about 55,000 volumes. But on December 21, 1851, a 
fire broke out in the rooms in which the books were 
shelved, and before it could be extinguished had consumed 
about 35,000 volumes, or about three-fourths of the collec- 
tion. Congress liberally appropriated money to replace the 
books so far as possible, and, from that time, the growth of 
the Library has been unchecked. Its real growth, however, 
began with the administration of Ainsworth R. Spofford, 
who was appointed Librarian by President Lincoln in De- 
cember, 1864, and who for nearly thirty-seven years was 
Librarian of Congress. His accomplishments amounted to 




INSIDE THE MAIN ENTRANCE TO THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
No one is prepared for the vision that bursts upon him when he has passed through the 
mammoth bronze doors. It is hke entering into another world. Visitors gaze in dumb amaze- 
ment, as with uplifted eves they seek to comprehend the beauty and the grandeur that pervade 
the place. The massive stairway is of white marble delicately carved. 



THE LIVING INDj:X TO THE COLLECTION. 443 

a genius, not only for increasing the size of the Library, but 
for developing its efficiency. He has been credited with 
absorbing, by some mysterious mental process, the contents 
of every book in order to aid the inquiries of Congress and 
the public, and he has been, and still is, the best catalogue 
and index of what the mammoth collection contains. 

In the gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, upon a 
simple plaster column, may be seen the bust of a man who 
in one way rendered a very important service to tbe nation. 
It is that of Peter Force, who did more than any one Amer- 
ican to rescue from oblivion the early documentary history 
of the United States. He was born in 1790, became a prom- 
inent printer in New York, and settled in Washington as a 
printer in 1812. In 1820 he began the publication of an 
annual volume of national statistics. In 1833 the govern- 
ment entered into a contract with Mr, Force to prepare and 
publish a "Documentary History of the American Colo- 
nies." Nine volumes subsequently appeared under the title 
of " American Archives." In preparing this work, Mr. 
Force amassed a collection of books, manuscripts, periodi- 
cals, pamphlets, and papers relating to American History, 
imequaled by any private collection then in the world. At 
the request of the Joint Library Committee of the Thirty- 
ninth Congress, Mr. Spofford entered into a thorough exam- 
ination of the Force Library. He presented to Congress 
a classified report of its treasures, which resulted in the pur- 
chase of the entire collection through the Joint Library 
Committee for the sum of $100,000, the same amount which 
had been offered by the New York Historical Society. 

Under Mr. Spofford's fostering care and by moderate 
appropriations for securing the best works in every field of 
intellectual activity, the Library grew with great rapidity, 
so that in less than fifteen years after his appointment the 
capacity of its quarters in the Capitol became greatly over- 
taxed, Many of the volumes were packed away where they 



444 SPACE FOR FOUR MILLION VOLUMES. 

were practically inaccessible, either to members of Congress 
or to students. Then came the agitation for a new build- 
ing, which finally resulted in the present beautiful and emi- 
nently-practical structure and provided space for a growth 
to at least 4,000,000 volumes. 

The number of volumes in the Library has already 
nearly reached the million mark. There are besides half a 
million of pamphlets, nearly half a million separate pieces of 
music, over 30,000 maps, and more than 300,000 engravings, 
photographs, etchings, and pictorial illustrations in general. 

A large number of scientific publications are issued each 
year by the Smithsonian Institution and these it distributes 
throughout the world, receiving in exchange a great body 
of scientific literature which practically comprehends most 
works of value issued by the various scientific societies of 
Christendom. This splendid collection of material is regu- 
larly deposited in the Library of Congress and forms one of 
the best scientific libraries in the world. Many contribu- 
tions of foreign literature are also secured through the vari- 
ous departments of the government. Occasionally valuable 
private collections find their ultimate home here. 

Being, in a sense, a national Library, it has been one of 
the foremost aims of the management to secure all books, 
pamphlets, maps, and periodicals relating to our own country 
— everything illustrating the discovery, settlement, history, 
biography, and natural resources of the continent. In addi- 
tion to the many valuable books secured by the purchase of 
the Force Library, most of the earlier and very rare works 
have been picked up in Europe and in auction sales of books 
at home and abroad. The whole includes many of the 
earliest-printed books and papers from American presses. 

It would be difficult to estimate the value of this collec- 
tion of "Americana," for it contains many fugitive fragments 
which, though lightly esteemed in their day, have become 
almost priceless with age and rarity. One suck feature, for 



CAMPAIGN HANDBILLS OF OLDEN TIME. 445 

example, is composed of a large number of old engravings, 
cartoons, and handbills, showing the peculiar or characteris- 
tic qualities of our long-forgotten political campaigns. Being 
the ephemeral products of their day, they were rarely saved, 
but those which have been rescued and deposited here afford 
a glimpse of the real political life of olden days, not to be 
gained from the pages of our written histories. 

In the popular mind the forms and features of the Presi- 
dents of earlier decades take on a sort of majesty with time, 
but we are disillusioned when we look upon some of the re- 
markable caricatures of the campaigns of Jackson, and of 
the ''log-cabin" campaign of William Henry Harrison. 
Crude and coarse was the political art of those days, but 
there was a ruggedness in its humor that still lingers in the 
more refined examples of these later times. This collection 
includes various contemporary engravings of the Presidents 
from Washington down, and many old handbills, calls for 
political meetings, earnest appeals to the " citizens " to turn 
out and do somethino^ to save the countrv from destruction. 
It requires but a glance at these old relics to convince us 
that modern politics is no new thing. 

In the collection of rare and early books pertaining to 
America are found, not simply those printed in this country, 
and the files of early American newspapers, like that pub- 
lished by Franklin, but some exceedingly-quaint and curious 
works published in England and Spain during the period of 
settlement. Many of these antiques can be seen in the exhi- 
bition cases under glass. Yellow with age, and never things 
of beauty from a modern printer's point of view, are these 
works with their remarkable title-pages and still more re- 
markable illustrations. Here are scores of small volumes, 
purporting in their titles to describe the condition of various 
colonies, and particularly of the religious disturbances which 
seemed to be affecting them. Older still are some of the 
works describino; the earlv settlement of some of the West 



446 PRICELESS LITERARY TREASURES. 

Indian Islands, and containing grewsome pictures of Caribbee 
Indians roasting Spanish arms and legs over the fire, or 
calmly gnawing the flesh from the bones of their victims. 

In various ways many books of great rarity and age, in 
no way relating to America, have come into the possession 
of the government. Here is a copy of the first edition of 
Paradise Lost ; copies of the first, second, third, and fourth 
folio editions of Shakespeare's plays, and a large array of 
early editions of the Bible. One of these is the famous 
"Breeches Bible"; another a copy of the so-called "Bug 
Bible," in which the more stately rendering of the psalmist : 
" Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night," is trans- 
lated "af rayed of anye bugges by nyghte." 

Among the treasures acquired through the Force Library 
is a perfect copy of the first Bible printed in this country — 
Eliot's Indian Bible — a copy of which once sold for $1,500, 
although it is a book which no one can read. It is in a 
tongue utterly dead and which was famous for long words. 
It required thirty-four letters in a single word to render a 
phrase in the gospel of Mark. We can imagine the type- 
setters of that day following the strange, long-drawn-out 
words, and Eliot reading and revising the proofs in consulta- 
tion with one of his Indian preachers. Cotton Mather says 
that Eliot wrote the whole translation with one quill, which 
leads us to believe that Cotton Mather was not always so 
truthful as George "Washing-ton — or else it was a miracu- 
lous quill. 

One of the Bibles on exhibition is a copy of the Vulgate, in 
two great folio volumes, a Latin manuscript of the thirteenth 
centur}'-, written on vellum, with 150 large illuminations and 
1,200 miniatures. It is a curious work of art, over which 
some old monk must have spent his life. A long scroll con- 
taining the entire Koran, in beautiful Arabic writing of 
the fourteenth century, is another of the many priceless 
treasures. 



VALUABLE DOCUMENTS AND RECORDS. 447 

The Library furnishes an appropriate repository for old 
manuscripts of eminent men of America, and while Congress 
has made no special provision for securing such treasures by 
purchase, in various ways many have come into the possession 
of the Library. They include some manuscript papers of 
four of the early Presidents. Among them also are the 
originals of the articles of association of the First Continen- 
tal Congress, many of the orders and letters of John Paul 
Jones, many letters and papers in the handwriting of Frank- 
lin, "Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Monroe, and of the gen- 
erals of the Revolutionary War. Among the older manu- 
scripts are the original records of the Virginia Company in 
early colonial days, and of several old Indian treaties. One 
of the most curious relics is a manuscript volume of the 
drawings of the United States Lottery of 1T79, instituted to 
raise funds to carry on the War of Independence. 

In addition to its great collection of books, the Library 
has acquired a rich accumulation of works of the fine arts, 
many of them very costly and valuable. A multitude of 
these are arranged in cases, and form a most instructive ex- 
hibit of the progress of the arts of design. Here can be 
found, not only the best etchings of our own artists, but 
etchings and drawings of foreign artists. Adjoining the art 
department are the music-rooms, containing over 300,000 
pieces of music. All nations are represented. From the 
Turkish minister has been secured an old Turkish cradle- 
song seldom heard outside the harem. Other ministers at 
Washington have presented folk-songs and native ballads 
which have never before been known outside of their own 
countries. Here too are Hindoo and Armenian airs and 
Hawaiian songs in the melodious Kanaka language. 

All operas, s\''mphonies, and other musical productions, 

from stately oratorios to " rag-time " two-steps come here to 

be copyrighted and are here filed away. One advantage of 

the musical department is that copies of new compositions 
25 



448 IN TOUCH WITH ALL THE WORLD. 

can usually be seen here earlier than in the music stores, and 
can be tried in the music-room of the Library, a large and 
lofty apartment, in which are placed a grand piano and other 
musical instruments, for the use of the musical public under 
proper regulations. As a rule none but musicians are admitted 
to the department. But as nearly every one is willing to claim 
that he has more or less music in his soul, admittance is not 
difficult, and you may happen to drop in at a time when a 
real artist is trying some new composition. 

The periodical reading-room is a vast apartment run- 
ning the entire length of the building on the south. Here, 
upon polished oak racks, classified by states or countries, are 
files of the leading daily papers of the country and many of 
the leading journals of the world. Easy chairs and tables 
are placed between the racks, and, no matter from what 
part of the country you come, you may sit here by the win- 
dow and read the local news. Farther on is a longer series 
of racks containing hundreds of the weeklies, monthlies, and 
quarterlies of this country, and the leading magazines and 
reviews of the world. The long array is thoroughly classi- 
fied. If you wish to read the religious, the philosophical, 
the medical, the military, the theosophic, the financial mag- 
azines, trade journals, or reviews of any branch of human 
activitv, you have but to walk to the proper rack, select the 
magazine or review you wish, seat yourself in a comfortable 
arm-chair, and read. If you tire of one, there are hundreds 
of others. From nine o'clock in the morning till ten in the 
evening the Library is open to the public. No department 
of this great storehouse of knowledge more clearly shows 
that it is " the library of the people." Nowhere else in all 
the world is the periodical literature spread out so com- 
pletely and so freely as in this magnificent reading-hall. 

In another wing of the building is the hall of maps and 
charts, containing a collection of maps which is not sur- 
passed in the world, all arranged in cases and so classified, 



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IN THE COPYRIGHT DEPARTMENT. 451 

both as to time and place, as to make reference convenient 
and easy. You may go to this place and study the geo- 
graphical details of almost every spot on the earth that has 
ever been surveyed. Here also are maps in various lan- 
guages, including great Chinese maps, and an enormous na- 
tive map of Japan held in an immense bamboo frame. The 
lettering is all in large Japanese characters, and while 
revealing the artistic precision of the Japanese, it presents 
a queer appearance to the American. The Library has a 
complete collection of the great atlases of the world, as 
well as of most early books of travel and discovery. Thus 
the student can trace the development of human conceptions 
of the earth's surface from the earliest days. 

The basement is reached by marble stairways from 
the main entrance hall. One would naturally expect 
to find here a cheapening in the design and finish, and a 
resort to imitations of the rich and costly materials of the 
upper floors. But everything is real — there is no imitation 
here. The walls are wainscoted in marble, and all from Amer- 
ican quarries, on this, the ground floor, and show the sub- 
stantial character of the whole structure. It is absolutely 
fire-proof, not because of any ingenious construction, but 
because of the very nature of the material used. 

This basement, which is really the ground floor, and 
which is well lighted, besides providing room for the exten- 
sion of the Library, furnishes ample quarters for the Copy- 
right Department, which employs a large clerical force and 
possesses extensive archives. To the Registrar of Copyrights 
are made all applications for the copyright protection of 
publications of every character — books, periodicals, music, 
photographs, etc. Hundreds of such applications are 
examined and passed every day. It has become the custom 
of many of the large newspapers to copyright every issue 
of their paper, as it compels others using their articles of 
news or information to give credit for them. Copyrights 



452 THE INTELLECTUAL CENTER OF THE NATION. 

are granted for twenty-eiglit years, Avith the privilege of 
extension for fourteen years more. 

One room in the basement is devoted to a reading-room 
for the blind, one of the most interesting features of the Li- 
brary. Here almost any day one may see blind people 
slowly passing their fingers over the raised letters of stand- 
ard works of literature. The number of such works is, of 
course, limited, but additions are constantly being made. 
The volumes also are necessarily bulky, the Bible making 
several large volumes. But this room affords advantages to 
poor blind people which otherwise are not readily secured. 
Daily during the season readings are given, often by promi- 
nent authors who are visiting or resident in Washington, 
and are quite willing to read to an audience of people who 
listen with the most earnest attention, albeit with closed 
eyes. 'These entertainments are often varied with music. 
The Library of Congress is unique among the institutions 
of the government. It is the intellectual center of the 
nation. In time, with the continuous growth of the Library 
in all its various departments, it is certain to make the Capi- 
tal city the literary and artistic center of the country. 
I^o where else can be found such a storehouse of knowledge 
open to the people. Here students of history can find the 
chronicles of every period in any language; artists can 
study the models and history of art of every age and clime ; 
the architect and engineer can find the designs of the great 
buildings and public works of every country ; the musician 
can find the music of every tongue ; here, more complete 
than anywhere else, can be found by those who seek them 
religious commentaries and homilies, works of medicine and 
surgery, poetry and drama, biography and memoir, essay 
and criticism, metaphysics and ethics, genealogy and her- 
aldry, law and finance, in short, the printed record of the 
achievements of the Old World and the Ncav in every line 
of intellectual activity and human progress. 




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CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT— THE MOST IMPOSING MON- 
UMENT EVER ERECTED IN HONOR OP ONE MAN 
— THE CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART. 

The Greatest ]\Ionument in the World — It Bears No Inscription and Needs 
jS^one — Piercing the Sky — A Sublime Picture — First Steps to Erect 
a JMonument to the Memory of Washington — A Request that the Re- 
mains of Washington Be Interred in the Capitol — The Request Re 
fused — How the Money Was Raised for a Monument — Vexatious 
Delays — Its Completion and Cost — Tlie Highest Structure of Stone 
in the World — Its Dimensions and Heiglit — Struck by Lightning — 
The Ascent to the Top in an Elevator— What It Costs Uncle Sam To 
Carry Visitors Up and Down — The Corcoran Gallery of Art — A 
Beautiful Building — Its Treasures of Art — Its Galleries of Paintings 
— Its Famous Bronzes — A Wonderful Collection — Its Great Va lue. 



ASIIINGTON is a city of monuments erected to 
the memory of the nation's great men of the 
the past, and foremost among them stands the 
AVashington Monument, towering in majestic 
^ simplicity, dignity, and grandeur, so well illustrating 
a nation's conception of the Father of His Country, 
Towering nearly 600 feet above the waters of the Potomac 
which flows close by, the great white shaft is seen for miles 
around, marking the city's site, and on its top the first rays 
of morning fall and the last tinge of sunset lingers. It bears 
no inscription to the memory of Washington. It needs none. 
It could stand for no one else. 

Sometimes it is half hidden in heavy hanging clouds 
which envelop and conceal its top, and sometimes its base 
lies hidden in the mists, while the sun glitters upon its apex. 

(453) 





454 MAJESTIC SIMPLICITY OF THE MONUMENT. 

But it never presents a sublimer picture than when its grand 
proportions stand out against a sky of purest azure, flecked 
here and there by fleecy white clouds. One never tires of 
beholding it. It loses nothing by familiarity. Though we 
may pass it da}^ after day, it never .becomes commonplace. 
Every time one looks at it its grandeur seems more 
impressive. 

The first steps for a monument to Washington were taken 
by the Continental Congress in 1783, when it was resolved 
that an equestrian statue should be erected at the place 
where the residence of Congress should finally be estab- 
lished. On December 10, 1799, the day after his mortal 
remains had been committed to the little tomb at Mount 
Vernon, a committee of both Houses of Congress was ap- 
pointed " to report measures suitable to the occasion and ex- 
pression of the profound sorrow with which Congress is 
penetrated on the loss of a citizen first in war, first in peace, 
and first in the hearts of his countrymen." A few days 
later Congress resolved that a marble monument be erected 
by the United States in the Capitol, and that the family 
be requested to permit his body to be deposited under it. 
To this Martha A\^ashington consented. 

But Congress became absorbed in other matters, nothing 
further was done about the proposed monument, and the 
wife followed the husband into the little tomb at Mount 
Vernon. Occasionally the subject of a monument was dis- 
cussed, but without results. In 1832 Congress made applica- 
tion to the proprietors of Mount Vernon for the transfer of 
the remains of Washington to the Capitol in conformity 
with tlie resolution of over thirty years before, but 
Virginia protested and John A. Washington declined. 
Congress having again droi)ped the matter, the people of the 
Capital city took it up and in 1833, at a public meeting, 
the Washington National Monument Society was formed 
with Chief Justice John Marshall, then in his seventy-eighth 



THE MONUMENT DEDICATED. 455 

year, as president. Artists were invited to submit designs 
which should "harmoniously blend durability, simplicity, 
and grandeur." 

The design originally accepted Avas submitted by Robert 
Mills. It provided for an obelisk rising 6U0 feet from the 
center. Funds were solicited, but the money came in slowly. 
The site was selected in 1848, and the corner-stone was laid 
on Independence Day that year, the plan meantime having 
been modified so as to provide for an obelisk 500 feet high. 
The work then went on until 1854, when the shaft had 
reached to a height of 156 feet. Then the funds of the 
society gave out. The cost thus far had been $300,000. 
Congress was asked to appropriate $200,000, luit there were 
too many political complications then to permit that troubled 
body to attend to the matter. 

Then came the Civil War and nothing more could be 
done. The society presented memorials to Congress and 
asked for subscriptions from the people, but it was not till 
1870 that Congress appropriated $200,000 for continuing the 
work. It also assumed the responsibility for its completion. 
A commission was appointed and found that the foundation 
was insufficient to sustain the shaft proposed, and thus about 
$100,000 were at first spent in enlarging and deepening the 
foundations, a rather difficult work as the part already built 
had to be undermined. On the sixth of December, 1884, 
the capstone, which completed the shaft, was set, and on 
February 12, 1885, it was dedicated — "the most imposing, 
costly, and appropriate monument ever erected in the honor 
of one man." The total cost has been about $2,000,000. 

The square of about forty acres, in the center of which 
the monument stands, was approved by Washington him- 
self. The total height of the shaft above ground is 555 feet 
and six inches, thus making it the highest structure of stone 
in the world. The foundations, which bear a weight of over 
80,000 tons, are 147 feet square and thirty-seven feet deep. 



456 THE HIGHEST STRUCTURE OF STONE IN THE WORLD. 

At the base the shaft is fifty-five feet square and tlie walls 
are fifteen feet thick, but it gradually tapers till, where the 
pyramidal top begins, it is only thirty-five feet square and 
the walls are eighteen inches thick. The inside of the walls, 
as far as constructed before the government took hold of the 
matter, is of blue granite roughly laid, Init from this point 
the granite is laid in courses to correspond with the outer 
courses of marble. The blocks were all cut and dressed in 
the most careful manner and the work has been declared to 
be the best piece of masonry in the world. By a plumb 
line suspended from the top inside, not three-eighths of an 
inch deflection has been noticed. Lightning has struck the 
apex many times, but so solid and massive is the shaft that 
it has thus far defied the elements. 

An immense iron frame work supports the machinery of 
the elevator, while winding about it are the stairs of fifty 
flights containing eighteen steps each, 900 in all. The stair- 
case is wide and of easy ascent. Every fifty feet there is a 
platform which extends to the elevator, so that \>isitors can 
get on or off the elevator at many different places. Twenty 
minutes are required to walk to the top, while the elevator 
will carry you up in seven minutes. The interior of the ele- 
vator is lighted by electricity, as there are no openings in 
the shaft except the entrance door and small windows at 
the top. It costs the government about $20,000 a 3^ear to 
take visitors up and down. The lookout platform is. a large 
chamber with an area of over 1,000 square feet and there 
are two windows on each face of the monument. It is 
so high that we seem to have cut loose from the world, and 
the city below appears like a model in miniature. 

In the rubble-stone masonry in the lower interior walls 
are set a number of memorial stones, sent to the Washington 
Monument Society by States, corporations, and foreign gov- 
ernments to be inserted in the monument ; but in the upper 
walls no such stones were set, as they would have weakened. 



I 



SUGGESTIVE MEMORIAL STONES. 457 

the shaft. Many of them are elaborately carved and cost a 
great deal of money. They are of marble, fine gran- 
ite, and brown stone, and among them is one block of pure 
copper. There are stones from America's battle-fields, and 
from the classic temples of the old world ; some are rich in 
historic associations, others are the expression of the friendly 
interest of older nations. The little republic, Switzerland, 
sent to the younger, greater republic a block of sandstone, 
eloquent in its suggestions of the long struggle for liberty. 
The inscription reads : 

" This block of stone is from the original chapel built to 
William Tell in 1338 on Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, at the 
spot where he escaped from Gessler." 

The keystone that binds the interior ribs of stone that sup- 
port the marble facing of the pyramidal cap of the obelisk 
weighs nearly five tons. On the cap was placed a tip or 
point of aluminum, a composition metal which resembles 
polished silver, selected because of its lightness and freedom 
from oxidation, and because it will always remain bright. 
The tip is nine inches in height and weighs six and one- 
quarter pounds. On it are inscribed the words Laus Deo. 

Many prominent residents of Washington have never 
been to the top of the monument or even within it, but 
strangers rarely fail to avail themselves of the opportunity. 
In 1900 there were over 105,000 visitors. 

The Corcoran Gallery of Art is an enduring monument 
to the philanthropy of the late William Wilson Corcoran. 
He laid the foundation of an immense fortune during the 
Mexican War, and early decided to devote a portion of his 
\vealth to the welfare of his fellow-men. His charities, ex- 
ceeding altogether $5,000,000, have a leading place in many 
of the institutions of the city. The Gallery of Art was 
begun in 1859, but the Civil War interrupted its progress, 
and it was not until 1869 that Mr. Corcoran deeded it to the 
trustees for "the perpetual establishment and encourage- 



458 ART TREASURES OF THE CORCORAN GALLERY, 

ment of Painting, Sculpture, and the Fine Arts generally," 
with the condition that on two days of the week, at least, 
it should be open to visitors without any pecuniary charge. 
The present magnificent building was not completed and 
occupied until 1897. It is constructed of Georgia marble, 
and its solid white walls are broken only by open panels 
used for ventilating the galleries. 

Broad marble steps lead from the entrance into the main 
atrium, which is 170 feet long and fifty feet wide. Forty 
fluted columns of stone support the ceiling, through which 
pours a flood of light upon the many beautiful white marble 
figures and the numerous busts which line the walls. Large 
rooms opening from this main atrium also contain casts of 
the more noted works of ancient sculpture, while others are 
devoted to original marbles, bronzes, and artistic curios. 

In an adjoining room is a large collection of famous 
bronzes. Close by is a remarkable collection of works of 
Japanese art and of reproductions of unique metallic objects 
of art preserved in European museums. 

From the western side of this atrium rises a white marble 
staircase, fifteen feet in width, leading to the second-story 
atrium, the ceiling of which, like that below, is supported by 
columns of stone. The walls of the room and of the gal- 
leries opening from it are devoted to a collection of paintings 
which in value and excellence is surpassed only by few. In 
all there are some 250 large paintings belonging to the insti- 
tution, while there are a number which have been loaned 
from private collections and which cost thousands of dollars. 
Altogether the building contains over 4,000 works of art, all 
of real merit, for no space is sacrificed to anything but costly 
originals or reproductions of famous originals. The Cor- 
coran donations amount to $1,600,000, while $350,000 more 
have been paid by the trustees for paintings and, as many 
valuable works have been given in private bequests, the 
whole value of the collection is over $2,000,000. 



CHAPTEE XXIX. 

THE CIVIL SERVICE AND ITS MYSTERIES — HOW GOVERN- 

MENT POSITIONS ARE OBTAINED — WOMEN IN THE 

DEPARTMENTS — WOMAN'S INFLUENCE 

AT THE CAPITOL. 

What Is the Civil Service ? — How Heads of Bureaus Are Appointed — 
The "Spoils" System — Difficulty of Obtaining a Goverumeut Posi- 
tion — The Importance of Having a "Political Pull" — Attraction of 
Good Pay and Short Hours — Doing as Little as Possible — How To 
Obtain a Government Position — The Chances of Getting It — Iiitlu- 
euce of Local Politicians — The Government Blue Book — Complex 
Rules and Mysterious Injunctions — Taking an Examination — A 
Mysterious Marking Process — What Is "An Eligible " ? — Bitter Dis- 
appointments and Shattered Hopes — Position Brokers — Mr. Parasite 
in Office — Abject Political Beggars — Arrogant Offlce-Holders — • An 
Ignoble Side of Human Nature — Faithful, Courteous, and Earnest 
Office-Holders — Marvelous Growth ofthe Civil Army. 



^^ N"^ a world abounding in imperfect men and women 
it is needless to expect a perfect Civil Service. 
Almost every line of htiman activity offers 
^yC^^ abundant opportunities for the display of human 
frailties, and nowhere, probably, are more offered 
than in the bestowal of that vast patronage arising 
from the fact that Uncle Sam requires the help of thousands 
of human hands to do the work which he plans. There 
were abuses enough in the old days under " the spoils sys- 
tem," inaugurated by Jackson to satisfy the clamor of the 
unruly mob which poured into "Washington after him. Yet 
these abuses did not cease with the passage of the Civil 
Service Act of 18S3. 

(461) 




462 DIVISIONS OF THE CIVIL SERVICE. 

Refined theorists in their editorial sanctums and en- 
dowed college chairs, know exactly how the Civil Service 
could be reformed. How can it be otherwise than perfect, 
they argue, if every appointment depends upon examination 
as to qualifications, and promotion is conditional upon effi- 
ciency in the performance of duties ? But it is otherwise, 
although the majority of people seem to have the impression 
that inasmuch as a Civil Service Law and a Civil Service 
Commission exist, the reform is fully accomplished. 

The Civil Service may be divided into three general 
divisions. First, there are the heads of bureaus and divi- 
sions, with a considerable number of immediate subordinates 
who always were, and still are, appointed by the President 
or heads of departments. They come in with an adminis- 
tration, and, as a rule, go out with it. No one questions the 
justice of this, because, under the Constitution, the President 
is directly responsible for his administration, and to force 
upon him important executive agents out of sympathy with 
his policy might lead to disaster, or give him the opportunity 
of shifting the responsibility, if matters did not go well. 

Second, there are those — not a large number compara- 
tively — occupying positions of importance, whose services 
could not, without disadvantage, be dispensed with. When 
the head of a department enters upon his duties he is, until 
he has mastered the practical operations of the governmental 
machine, more or less dependent upon a certain small class 
of office-holders who, from long experience and study, have 
mastered the ordinary modes of procedure. 

Third, there is that largest class, composed of all the 
clerks, copyists, stenographers, and laborers. Under the old 
" spoils " system, a large proportion of these were almost 
certain to be removed whenever a new administration came 
upon the scene. Many of these people perform duties of 
such a routine character that it is possible at any time to 
replace one with another without the least jar upon the 



THE IMPORTANCE OF A POLITICAL PULL. 463 

wheels of the government. About 100,000 of this class are 
now under what is known as the classified service ; that is, 
in the elaborate system of the Civil Service Commission, 
their positions are classified under different branches — just 
as so many bugs in the Smithsonian Institution are classified 
under genus and species. 

One of the evils attending the enforced exodus of many 
people every four years was that the just suffered too often 
with the unjust, and it is certain that government positions 
of this lower grade did not offer the inducements to men 
and women of good character and ability which are now 
offered, through a reasonable, although sometimes delusive 
expectation of permanency. 

If you, our readers, should aspire to a government posi- 
tion, we will tell you how to get, or try to get one ; premis- 
ing that if you should be successful and should be so 
unfortunate as not to leave it shortly, voluntarily or other- 
wise, you will never be anything else but a plodding 
clerk, and in time will become one of the army of hopeless, 
incurable inmates of a government institution. 

A Civil Service examination is something like vaccina- 
tion. You " take " the latter, and may have small-pox and 
may not ; probably not. You take the former and may get 
a government position and may not ; probably not. The 
chances are about 999 to one that you will not, unless you 
have good endorsers or "backers," as they are called at 
the Capital. You must, therefore, secure the endorsement of 
your Senators, Congressmen, and those leading men in your 
locality whom your Senators and Congressmen recognize as 
influential at election times. If you know of a man who 
can control a hundred or more votes at a congressional elec- 
tion, get his name. No matter what his position, if he can 
marshal a few votes, his name is worth more than that of a 
man of world-wide reputation who can command no vote 
but his own. Certain endorsements must go in with your 



464 TAKING THE EXAMINATION. 

application to the Civil Service Commission, bnt it is 
only a matter of form. Give them the names of well-known 
men who have no political influence. Send the endorse- 
ments of those who command votes to your Congressmen. 
With them it isn't a matter of form, but of business. 

The average person who desires a government position 
has no particular choice except that he prefers one attended 
with a good salary. There is a so-called Blue Book, which 
now consists of two enormous volumes, enumerating all of 
the many government positions and the salary or fees 
attached to each. You may pore over these volumes, 
select any position you think you would like, and try 
for it. In the old days you might have " fired at random " 
and in several different directions ; but now you must make 
application for some particular position in which, you are 
distinctly told, there is no vacancy; though there may be 
one — some time. 

The various positions are enumerated by class in a Man- 
ual which the commission will send to you upon request. 
Folded into this Manual is the clearest thing about it ^- a 
large schedule of the times and places for holding examina- 
tions for the current year. At one of these particular times 
and places you must take a particular examination for a par- 
ticular position, and this examination will cost you nothing. 
You are not permitted to double your chances by being ex- 
amined for another position at any stage of the proceedings. 

If, you are so fortunate as to be able to present your 
application papers according to the elaborate rules, regula- 
tions, and provisos, you will receive a card which entitles 
you to admission to the next examination in your section of 
the country. You are ushered into this ordeal very much as 
if on trial for your life, and the probabilities are that, after 
undergoing an undue (strain of the nervous system for t\\o 
days of six hours each, you will come out of it with the 
feeling that the evidence is all against you. 



AN INTRICATE " MARKING " PROCESS. 465 

Nevertheless the verdict does not come like a thunder- 
clap. You are distinctly warned in the Manual not to ex- 
pect a notification as to whether you passed or not within 
four months. This delay is because the process of marking 
is so intricate and so occult that the ultimate result can only 
come with time, and lots of it. The rule is : 

"■ Mark every faulty answer according to its value on a 
scale of 100, as herein specially directed, and deduct the 
sum of the error marks of each answer from 100. The dif- 
ference between the sum of the error marks of each answer 
and 100 will be the mark of the answer." 

The transparency of this is completely destroyed by a 
vast number of special or su})plementary regulations, more 
or less definite — not simply for fixing the gravity of errors, 
but for providing a large supply of possible errors over and 
above any that flesh is ordinarily heir to. 

In arithmetic, for instance, 10 is deducted, according to 
rules, for " irrelevant work not canceled," the examiners, of 
course, being the judges of the irrelevancy, and they are 
human beings ; 10 more is deducted " for complex statement, 
right results being produced"; there is another deduction 
for " failure to indicate the answer to a problem by the let- 
ters 'Ans.' " But the complications do not cease here. These 
examinations in Writing, Spelling, Arithmetic, and so forth, 
are called in Civil Service parlance " basic." They have three 
grades, and one of these grades is common to a bewildering 
variety of other examinations termed " auxiliary." These lat- 
ter are supposed to be given with special reference to the 
position you have applied for, which, for the sake of con- 
venience, we will suppose to be that of an elevator conductor. 
We will assume that you have had long experience in that 
line, and possess a perfect knowledge of requirements, and 
would be a most desirable man for the place. 

In your auxiliary examination for this position, as for 
others, certain acquirements have certain "weights" in 



46G WHAT IT IS TO BE "ELIGIBLE." 

determining your ultimate mark. This is really something 
of an occult process, though given the flavor of pure mathe- 
matics by the general rule of the commission, which is as 
follows : 

" Multiply the average obtained on each subject by the 
relative weight of that subject ; add the products ; divide the 
sum of the products by the sum of the relative weights." 

In 3^our examination for an elevator conductor, Spelling, 
Arithmetic, Letter Writing, Penmanship, and Copying from 
Plain Copy, each have an arbitrary "weight" of 16, or 80 
altogether, while experience has a weight of 20. Thus you 
might know more about running an elevator than all of the 
Civil Service Commissioners and examiners together, but 
fail to pass this examination for a conductor. And the 
applicant who sat next to you and who never saw an elevator 
in his life might receive a high mark. He might receive the 
appointment, moreover, not because he really surpassed you in 
Spelling, Arithmetic, etc., but because in the opinion of 
some examiner he had less " irrelevant work not canceled " 
and less " complex statements, right results being produced," 
and so on. Other things that you could by no means antici. 
pate may influence the result. 

But, if as a result of this mysterious marking process, 
you should emerge with an ultimate mark above 70, you 
would then be what is called " an eligible," and in about 
four months after -the examination would be notified of the 
fact. " Eligibles " are simply those people whose names may 
be submitted to the appointive power in any particular 
department, in case there is a vacancy to be filled. If the 
appointive officer calls for eligibles, he is under no obliga- 
tions whatsoever to appoint the one having the highest 
mark, which he knows is no index of real qualifications, under 
the circumstances. Now, as ever, the political endorsement 
determines results, and unless your Senator or Congressman 
insists upon your appointment you are likely to remain an 



WOMEN WORKERS IN THE DEPARTMENTS. 467 

eligible for the period of one year. Then 3'ou cease to be 
even that unless you take another examination. 

Washington is full of eligibles, and they are scattered all 
over the country. They take their examinations regularly 
as the time comes around, and are always eligible but 
are never appointed. They call on senators and representa- 
tives, receive promises, and go on for a month or two with 
increased expectations. Every time the postman rings they 
fly to the door expecting an envelope bearing a departmental 
mark. But it never comes. They may have passed splendid 
examinations, but they have not the " political pull." 

One of the results of these highly-complex proceedings 
has been the institution of a class of people who stand, or 
seek to stand, in the position of attorney to applicants for 
government positions. At best they can only suggest 
to you how to become an " eligible." So-called Civil Serv- 
ice Schools have cropped up everywhere, and the only 
reason for their existence is that, even to citizens having 
education, honesty, energy, ability, and experience well 
fitted to make them good public servants, the processes of 
the system are opaque and delusive. 

About one-fourth of the government employees are 
women. In passing through various departments, we have 
seen them busily at work and have noted how wonderfully 
well adapted to much of the government work are the nim- 
ble fingers and quick brains of women. Some have charged 
the government with injustice because the scale of wages to 
w^omen is not so high as to men, but, as a matter of fact, if 
this be a sin, Uncle Sam is less a sinner than private corpo- 
rations. Nowhere can women receive the wages Uncle 
Sam pays them. Stenographers that could not possibly 
receive over $8 a week in private offices are paid from $15 
to $18 by the government. Some of the skilled counters or 
linguists receive handsome salaries, though $1,800 is the 

highest paid. 
26 



468 THE ARMY OP GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES. 

It "was Milton who used the words " a fawning parasite," 
but it applies to many an official of to-day at Washington, 
who having secured some position in the service feels toler- 
ably secure. Such a one quickly forgets that he was once a 
political beggar, that he pulled every wire, flattered, and 
cajoled, crawled in the dust, as it were, to get appointed. 
The sense of gratitude, rarely strong in any man, is with 
continued office sure to die out. 

But the somewhat more secure tenure of government 
office resulting from the present Civil Service system does 
not make such creatures of all men. There is a great differ- 
ence in men, to start with. Most of the classified officials 
are courteous, obliging, faithful, and earnest men who escape 
the corroding influence of their surroundings. But there 
will always be a generous supply of weak souls. It is the 
most abject political beggar who usually becomes the most 
arrogant office-holder. 

The growth of the civil armv has been marvelous. The 
first issue of the Blue Book in 1792 shows that there were 
only 134 employees of the government in all the depart- 
ments. In 1811 there were only sixty-four employees in the 
Treasury Department, and the Pension Office was run by 
four clerks and one messenger, but now in these depart- 
ments alone the employees number thousands. The gov- 
ernment now gives employment to more than 20,000 per- 
sons in "Washington, to whom is paid over $23,000,000 a 
year. This growth is sure to continue. Every Congress 
finds some new work for the government to do, as the 
federal government gradually increases and concentrates its 
power at Washington. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

OFFICE-SEEKERS AND OFFICE-SEEKING IN WASHINGTON — 

THEIR DIFFICULTIES AND DANGERS — HOW 

PLACE AND POWER ARE WON. 

Those to Whom Washington Is a Whited Sepulcher and a Sham — An 
Omnivorous Crowd of Pkice- and Fortune-Hunters — "Still They 
Come" — Chronic and Ubiquitous Offlce-Seekers — Slim Chances of 
the Average Applicant — Beguiled by Anticipation — " Placed on File 
and Favorably Considered" — Awakening From a Delusion — "No 
Vacancies as Yet" — Making Applicants "Feel Good" — Facing Want 
and Destitution — Dejected and Despairing Offlce-Seekers — Their 
Last Hope — Fresh Victims Every Year — A Pathetic Incident — 
Women in Quest for Office — Remarkable Story of a Young Lady 
Applicant — Lincoln's Aversion to Offlce-Seekers — An Interesting 
Story — A Humorous Incident — A Visit From a Long-Haired Back- 
woodsman — " I'd Like To See the Gineral." 



,EW visitors to "Washington, "on pleasure bent," 
could ever be persuaded that this beautiful city 
with its magnificent buildings, its splendid ave- 
nues, and beautiful public grounds, has proven 
to be to many only a whited sepulcher and a sham ! 
Probably there is no other spot in the world less 
suited to fulfill the wants and expectations of the omnivo- 
rous crowd of place- and fortune-hunters that annually flocks 
to our national Capital, and yet the constant cry is, " Still 
they come!" 

In this motley throng may be found the inevitable 
claimant, the pension applicant, the literary itinerant, the 
broken gentleman of fortune, the professional blackleg, 
third-rate lawyers, and last but not least, the chronic and 

(469) 




470 THE DELUDED OFFICE-SEEKER. 

ubiquitous office-seeker. All these and many more — repre- 
sentatives of nearly every walk in life — periodically invade 
the city in droves, undismayed by the fate of those who 
have preceded them. Before the advent of "civil service 
reform," "Washington, at the best, was a poor place for an 
office-seeker; but, under the present conditions, restricted 
and handicapped by favoritism and red tape, and practically 
debarred by the uncertainties of competitive examination, 
the chances of the average aspirant are one in a thousand. 

To a novice seeking governmental employment, Wash- 
ington at the start wears a rosy-hued tint. He is charmed 
by variety and beguiled by anticipation. His examination, 
under the rules of the "civil service," has been adjudged 
satisfactory, his application "placed on file and favorably 
considered," and the overjoyed novice, believing his appoint- 
ment and installation only a question of time, contentedl}^ 
strolls around the city, and in his elation imagines Wash- 
ington to be a perfect Elysium ! It sometimes takes Aveeks 
to awaken him from his delusion. A couple of months 
glide by and the mercury in his mental thermometer has 
steadily declined to zero ; his lean pocketbook shows unmis- 
takable signs of depletion; and in response to his anxious 
inquiry the stereotyped reply from the Rotation Bureau, 
" No vacancies as yet," wearies him by the monotony of its 
frequency and no longer lulls him into fancied security, for 
he is just beginning to understand that there are hundreds 
of other applicants besides himself, and that the chief of the 
bureau is a suave fellow who likes to make every one " feel 
good." 

His hopes of obtaining a "position " are every day grow- 
ing less, and anxious forebodings succeed his late sanguine 
anticipations. He would gladly shake off from his feet the 
dust of this disappointing city, but he has improvidently ex- 
pended all his money and is fairly stranded in this modern 
Sodom! Sometimes he has recourse to the pawn shops — 



DISAPPOINTMENT AND DESPAIR. 471 

but this precarious source of revenue is soon exhausted, and 
want and destitution stare liim in the face ! The session of 
Congress closes, his Congressman hurries home, and tlie 
summer breezes softly stir the foliage in the Capitol grounds 
where our half-starved office-seeker Avanders, dejected and 
despairing. His only hope, now, lies in the a})proach of a 
new session of Congress, but that is too far away to be a 
solace to him. He even curses the unlucky hour that 
tempted him to leave home in quest of that elusive " office." 
This is no fancy sketch, for year after year the same scene 
is enacted ; with dreary monotony fresh victims are added 
to the list of disappointed office-seekers who heedlessly, like 
the moth, destroy themselves in the incandescent flame. 

Only a short time ago a little incident, trifling in itself, 
but yet pregnant Avith meaning, occurred one afternoon in 
front of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad depot. A hearse 
drove up and deposited on the platform a rough wooden 
box containing the coffined remains of one who was appar- 
ently a stranger in Washington. Accompanying it was a 
small battered trunk and an umbrella. There was some- 
thing very touching and pathetic in this simple funeral cor- 
tege. It told a silent but impressive tale of blasted hopes 
and a lonely death far from home of a disappointed office- 
seeker. 

Young, educated, refined women, who, in their eager 
quest for employment, have ventured into Washington, in- 
sufficiently provided with money, have encountered chilling- 
disappointments and deep mortification. 

During President Cleveland's administration, a young 
lady from a large city in the West came to Washington in 
search of office; she brought with her an octavo volume 
containino^ hundreds of recommendations from the leadino- 
citizens and the entire municipality of her native city. She 
had voluminous written testimonials from the most distin- 
guished clergymen, urging her appointment. She had the 



472 '*FEW DIE AND NONE RESIGN." 

names of all the prominent business men, and the recom- 
mendation of the Governor of the State. 

It was a remarkable and overwhelming exhibit of the 
strength and number of her friends. It demonstrated un- 
questionably her popularity and worth, yet she could not 
procure the smallest and most insignificant position in the 
gift of the government, and was finally compelled to bor- 
row money of her Congressman to return home. 

It used to be a common phrase that no one need apply 
for office; since "few die and none resign." This saying 
was illustrated by a little incident that happened during 
President Buchanan's administration. A clerk in the Quar- 
termaster-General's department, while on a leave of absence, 
fell ill, and it was officially reported that he could not live. 
Straightway fifty applications for the impending vacancy 
were filed in the Quartermaster-General's office. The young- 
man not only perversely got well, and thus disappointed the 
hopes of the fifty aspirants, but held on to his office for 
over forty years afterward. 

It is not commonly known that for many years residents 
and natives of Washington have enjoyed a priority in the 
matter of distribution of office j notwithstanding the mis- 
leading statistical reports on the subject, more than three- 
fourths of the governmental employees at our national Cap- 
ital, though ostensibly booked as coming from the States, 
are genuine, hone fide residents of the District of Columbia. 

Office-seekers are by no means confined to that class who 
are in search of ordinary clerical work ; there are a corre- 
sponding number of applicants for distinguished positions in 
the gift of the President or national Legislature, and ambi- 
tious aspirants often pursue President and Congress with 
the same degree of pertinacity that marks the contest for 
places of lesser note. 

The collector of the port of Boston, General McNeil, 
who was a Democrat and an appointee of President Polk, 



PATHETIC STORY OF GENERAL MCNEIL. 473 

though in the last stages of consumption, risked a journey 
from Boston to Washington in the depth of winter expressly 
to secure a continuance of his office. The Whigs were de- 
capitating their political opponents in every direction and an 
effort had been made to remove General McNeil. 

When he appeared before the President, wasted almost 
to a shadow, and modestly asked for his family's sake, the 
privilege of retaining his office, the President was greatly 
aifected, 

" My dear General," he replied, feelingly, "^^ou need not 
have gone to the trouble and inconvenience of taking this 
long journey in your delicate condition of health; I have 
not the slightest intention of making any change in the 
Boston coUectorship, nor shall I, while you continue to re- 
main there." 

General McNeil returned to his hotel, gratified and 
touched by the cordial assurances of the President. 

The next morning he was found ill in bed, scarcely able 
to breathe, and before a physician could be summoned he 
was dead. 

President Lincoln had a marked dislike for office-seekers. 
Often his first salutation to a visitor was, " Well, sir, I am 
glad to know that you have not come after an office." One 
day a delegation of leading Republicans from one of the 
States called upon him to secure the appointment of a cer- 
tain Colonel M as collector of the port. Lincoln re- 
ceived them very graciously, and kept up such a running fire 
of questions relative to the political situation that the dele- 
gation got no chance to introduce the all-important subject. 
At last the chairman, growing desperate, blurted out : 

" Mr. President, we have come here to-day to present to 
your favorable consideration, as a candidate for the coUec- 
torship of our city, the name of our honored and distin- 
guished townsman. Colonel M . He is preeminently 

qualified for the position — not only for his administrative 



474 HUMOROUS PHASES OF OFFICE-SEEKING. 

ability, but his invincible loyalty and attachment to Repub- 
lican principles. No honors, sir, could be showered on him 
that could elevate him higher in the estimation of his fellow- 
men." 

Mr. Lincoln listened attentively to this panegyrical ref- 
erence to their favorite, and then addressed the astonished 
deputation as follows : 

" Gentlemen, it gives me much gratification to hear the 

praise bestowed upon Colonel M . Such a man needs 

no office ; it can confer on him no additional advantage, or 
add prestige to his well-earned fame. You are right, Mr. 
Chairman, ' no honors could be showered upon him that would 
elevate him higher in the estimation of his fellow-men.' To 
appoint so good and excellent a gentleman to a paltry place 
like this would be an act of injustice to him. I shall reserve 
the office for some poor politician who needs it." 

And thus saying Mr. Lincoln politely dismissed the dele- 
gation. 

Office-seeking has its humorous phases as well as its dark, 
silhouette shadows. 

A young man, evidently a stranger in Washington, burst 
into the General Land Office one day in a state of great ex- 
citement. 

" Say," he shouted to one of the clerks, " I hear there's a 
vacancy in this bureau — has any one ap])lied for it yet ? " 

" None that I am aware of," was the clerk's suave reply. 

" Then put me down as the first applicant ; ' First come, 
first served,' you know." 

The clerk gravely informed him that he would have to 
go before the Civil Service board for competitive examina- 
tion. 

The young man hurried off under great excitement, fully 
convinced that his early application had secured the desired 
appointment. 

When General Cass was Secretary of State under James 



THE backwoodsman's QUERY. 475 

Buchanan he was noted for his dignity and exclusiveness. It 
was very seldom he granted an interview to any one unless 
he had matters to discuss of great political weight. 

Towards the close of a rather busv afternoon, a stalwart 
backwoodsman with a long, flowing gray beard presented 
himself before the chief clerk. 

" I'd like to see the gineral." 

" The Secretary is too much engaged to receive anyone," 
said the chief clerk. " Please state your business to me." 

" I haint got no biz'ness," was the blunt reply. " I jis' 
come to ax him a question." 

General Cass overheard him, and opening the door that 
led into his private office he abruptly accosted his visitor. 
" Here I am, my man, now what is the question ? " 

" Wall, gineral," said the old backwoodsman, " as I hap- 
pened to be in Washington, I thought I'd call on you. Last 
fall you made a stump speech in my district and you said, as 
nigh as I kin recollect, ' the office should seek the man and 
not the man the office.' Didn't you say that ? " 

" Yes," responded Cass, approvingly. " I made use of 
some such language, I believe." 

" And the fellows cheered and hollered, didn't they ? " 

" I think they did," rejoined the interested and now smil- 
ing Secretary. 

"Wall, gineral," pursued the backwoodsman, "as I hap- 
pened to be in AVashington and knowing you've been after 
office every hour in your life — an' you've got a fat one now 
— the question I wanted to ax you was, ' why don't you 
practice what you preach ? ' " 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

INSIDE THE GOVERNMENT PRINTING-OFFICE — THE STORY 

OF A " PUB. DOC."— PRINTING SPEECHES THAT 

WERE NEVER SPOKEN. 

Uncle Sam's " Print-Shop " — Using Twenty Tons of Printing-ink a 
Year — Utilizing the Skins of 50,000 Sheep To Bind Books — Making 
a Book While You Wait — The Celebrated "Pub. Doc." — What 
Becomes of Them — Sending Out "Pub. Docs." to All the World — 
Tlie Convenience of a "Frank" — The Omnipresent "Doc." — All 
Kinds of "Docs." — A Storehouse of Valuable Facts — The Con- 
gressional i2twr(? — Ready-Made Speeches— What "Leave To Print 
" Means — Printing Speeches that Were Never Spoken — Hoodwink- 
ing Dear Constituents — Scattering Fine Speeches Broadcast— " See 
What a Great Man Am I " — Speeches Written " by Somebody Else " 
— Printing-office Secrets — Some Interesting Facts. 



1 



^ (3 one in the world is so profuse a user of printer's 
ink as Uncle Sam ; it takes twenty tons of it to 






^ enable him to print what he has to say every 
year, and he spreads it over 8,000 tons of paper. 
There is considerable room for doubt, especially in 
the minds of discriminating people, as to whether a 
great deal of what Uncle Sam is made to say is really worth 
the paper it is printed on ; but the official opinion holds that 
it is, and, moreover, that it is worth binding into permanent 
form. Thus some 50,000 sheep have to surrender their skins 
every year to cover his books. Besides this he demands the 
sacrifice of some 13,000 goats for skins for his Turkish mo- 
rocco, and the imitation Russia leather he uses every year 
would cover at least two acres of ground. He requires 

(476) 



MAKING A BOOK IN A SINGLE NIGHT. 477 

linen, canvas, rauslin, glue, and gold leaf in proportion, and 
so enormous and efficient is his great establishment, the Gov- 
ernment Printing-Office, that he can set the type, print, 
illustrate, and bind a good-sized book, almost while you 
wait. 

One or two examples will serve to portray the working 
of the marvelous facilities of the Government Printino-- 
Office. In the spring of 1898 great excitement followed 
the blowing up of the Maine in Havana Harbor. Congress 
was impatient to declare war, but was prevailed upon to 
await the report of the naval Court of Inquiry and the 
message of the President accompanying it. On March 28th 
these were ready for the printer, and on account of the pecu- 
liar conditions of the situation it was desired that Congress 
should have them the next day. At three o'clock in the 
afternoon of the 28th the originals for twenty-four full-page 
illustrations and for one lithograph in colors were sent to 
the Government Printing-Office and the force was at once 
set to work to have these illustrations made. The manu- 
script arrived at 6 p. m. and was immediately parceled out 
to hundreds of compositors, and when all in type it made 
298 large pages — a good-sized book. 

Complete printed and illustrated copies bound in paper 
covers were laid on the desks of the Senators and Repre- 
sentatives two hours before Congress assembled the next 
morning. All through the night busy fingers were setting 
up the type, making up the pages and stereotyping them ; 
fast presses were dropping the printed and folded sheets at 
every tick of the watch ; other busy hands were gathering 
them, stitching them and pasting on the covers, while others 
were sending complete books away in the mails. * 

But this feat was completely ecli|)sed in the publication 
of the testimony taken in the West Point Military Academy 
hazing case. This testimony, with the report of the com- 
mittee making the investigation, was presented to the House 



478 AN ARMY OP WORKERS. 

of Representatives on Saturday, Feb. 9th, 1901, and during 
the afternoon it was sent to the public printer. Work was 
begun on it at once, and on Monday morning, a little over 
thirty-six hours from the time it had been received, it was 
delivered, printed and bound, at the Capitol. The work 
completed and delivered made exactly 2,002 pages, but in 
addition to this a couple of hundred pages Avere set up ready 
to submit for approval before being paged and stitched. 
Meanwhile the usual w^ork of the office was going on as if 
nothing unusual was occurring ; the stream of Congressional 
Records, Bureau Rejyorts, and public documents generally 
was in no w^ay clogged. 

The Government Printing-Office is run at an affffreffate 
cost of $1,000,000 a year, and three-fourths of this expense 
is paid out in wages to its employees. It is the size of this 
army of workers under one roof and under one manage- 
ment that makes it the most remarkable feature of the gov- 
ernment industries at Washington, 

The original building devoted to government printing 
was erected in 1856 far beyond the outskirts of the city. It 
has been gradually enlarged from time to time, and the old 
building as it now stands is not only well within the city but 
covers about an acre, exclusive of adjoining branches, and 
affords floor space of about four acres. But for a long time 
the ever-increasing pressure of government work has over- 
taxed the accommodations of the building, and thus, after 
many shifts and makeshifts, the government has provided 
for the erection of a great structure on adjoining lots. This, 
when completed, will afford a floor space of over nine acres 
in addition to that already provided by the old building. It 
will cost $2,000,000 and will be one of the largest and most 
substantial public buildings in Washington. 

The number of employees averages about 3,500, but, 
pending the completion of the new building, they are not 
under one roof. It has been found more convenient, and in 



A MIGHTY FLOOD OF " PUB. DOCS," 479 

some respects necessary, to have branches in some of the 
executive departments. 

Each division is in charge of a foreman or superintend- 
ent, and the arrangement is such that, if there is a sudden 
demand for work in one room, help may be summoned from 
rooms where work is for the time slack or not pressing. 
Thus some night, when the " matter" for the Congressional 
Record rises to large proportions, compositors are drawn 
from the main composing-room. 

The " Pub. Doc." always demands attention. There is 
nothing so plenty in Washington, not even Congressmen or 
civil service eligibles. They are everywhere and in every 
shape. If Congress does nothing else, it is sure to provide a 
flood of " Pub. Docs." There are " Ex. Docs.," " Sen. Docs.," 
and " Mis. Docs." but they are all " Pub. Docs." The latter 
is the genus, the former some of the species. They multiply 
faster than ever did the Children of Israel in Egypt. Piles 
on piles of huge pamphlets cumber and crowd the lodging 
of the average Congressman. The new member always 
takes kindly to them at first ; they give him, he is inclined 
to think, an air of importance. He even reads them for a 
time. 

After a while they begin to cram every available nook 
" up stairs, down stairs, and in my ladies' chamber." They 
prove greedy receptacles of dust which defies extermination. 
His wife may appeal to him to give them away or send them 
to constituents, but he need not take the trouble to do the 
latter, for all that is necessary is to send the names of his 
dear constituents to the superintendent of the " Pub. Docs." 
and the pamphlets are franked to them without any more 
ado. The government pays for doing this tedious work. 
But, even so, the " Pub. Doc." rooms are always over- 
flowing. They line the walls and racks from floor to floor, 
and are falling down and running over everything every- 
where. Most of them have no covers, but thousands and 



480 A VAST COLLECTION OF FACTS. 

thousands are clad " in purple and fine linen " — law sheep 
and morocco. 

Undoubtedly the average " Pub. Doc." is a weariness to 
the flesh and tlie spirit. They cover almost every conceiv- 
able subject that is of no possible interest to the average 
mortal. A commission is appointed to select wool for use 
in Custom houses; Congress asks the Secretary of the 
Interior if he has given any one permission to hold Sunday 
concerts in the Pension building ; the President is asked for 
correspondence regarding the capture of a captain of a coast 
schooner by natives of Honduras ; special agents have been 
sent to report upon the condition of the Seal Islands; a 
member from Texas desires information as to a fish hatchery 
in Texas ; and so on and on every day, and these reports 
and answers with collateral matter eventually turn up as so 
many more " Pub. Docs." 

Yet they have to be. Government is not a glittering 
generality. Precise information of its minutest ramifica- 
tions is required for the intelligent action of committees, 
and these documents provide a vast storehouse of historical 
and political and scientific facts. If a question comes up, it is 
the business of some Congressman to look carefully into it. 
To do this he has but to consult the index of " Pub. Docs." 
and secure such as he needs. Moreover, there are " Pub. 
Docs." of the greatest value. The reports of some of the 
bureaus are highly prized by the best libraries and the 
leading scholars of the world. The government annually 
secures a vast amount of information which no individual 
could otherwise obtain. 

The " Pub. Doc." first appears at the Government Print- 
ing-Office as a huge pile of manuscript, often accompanied 
with drawings, large maps, or photographs. Formerly such 
manuscript was written in many varieties of handwriting, 
much of it illegible except to expert compositors. But in 
these days of the typewriter the printer is relieved of the 



ANOTHER PHASE OF WOMAN'S WORK. 481 

necessity of solving difficult enigmas as he goes along. The 
manuscript is in the composing-room divided, into small 
"takes," which are distributed in a lonff rack contaiuino- 
hundreds of pigeon-holes, each numbered for a certain com- 
positor. So many hands are employed and so small are the 
" takes " that the largest " Pub. Doc." is usually in type in a 
few minutes, and each printer empties his " stick " in the 
proper place upon the long brass " galleys." These, as they 
are ready, are placed under the proof -presses, and proofs 
with the copy sent to the proofreaders. 

There are altogether 130 presses in the Government 
Printing-Offlce, the average output of which is 1,000,000 
impressions per day of eight hours. Some of the presses 
are marvels of mechanical genius. One is capable of print- 
ing cards on both sides from a web of Bristol board at the 
rate of 65,000 per hour. Each envelope press averages 
about 10,000 printed envelopes an hour. A " Pub. Doc." is 
usually " reeled off " at the rate of about 10,000 per hour, in 
forms of thirty-two pages each. 

The "folding-room" always presents a busy scene. Here 
sit nearly 600 women, young and old, folding sheets of paper 
of various sizes from morning till night. Large maps 
several feet square must be folded with great nicety, so that 
they can be gathered into a book and sewed with it. The 
operations of binding are similar to those everywhere except 
as to the scale, the extensiveness of which may be judged 
from the fact that this department consumes in its work 
every year 37,000 pounds of glue, 4,000 packs of gold leaf, 
7,000 pounds of thread, 900,000 pounds of binding-board, 
and the various leathers already mentioned. 

Such is the history of " Pub. Docs." of every description. 
Through this greatest workshop of the government is ever 
running a stream of pamphlets and books. As fast as they 
are completed they are taken away to the various depart- 
ments from which they originated as manuscript. Thence 



482 MEMBERS AVHO " WITHOLD THEIR REMARKS." 

they go out into the world, part of them to find a comfortable 
abode on library shelves, but most of them to meet with the 
neglect which is often enough deserved. 

The evolution of the Congressional Record^ while similar 
to the above process in general principles, presents some 
interesting variations. The Record is a daily publication 
while Congress is in session ; but whereas the managers of 
great newspapers can plan the size of their issue some time 
in advance, the Government Printing-Office never knows till 
a couple of hours before the Record goes to press how large 
it will be. Its size depends largely upon how much talking 
is done in the Senate and House, but not altogether upon 
this, for members have the privilege of " withholding their 
remarks " occasionally, especially when they wish to revise 
them or polish them in places. Those speeches which are 
withheld may drop into the printing-office at any time. 
Then, too, members have a privilege which is known as 
" leave to print," which means that they can insert in the 
Record speeches which they never made, never could make, 
and which often are written for them by somebody else. 

The main body of the Record is supplied by the Senate 
and House reporters. Each house has a corps of proficient 
stenographers, who operate under a perfect system whereby 
they "take turns" during debate. In exciting moments in 
the House, when members are jumping up and interjecting 
remarks from various places in the big chamber, these sten- 
ographers are stationed at convenient points and take what- 
ever remarks are for the time made within their jurisdiction. 
Whenever necessary two reporters take the same debate so 
that it may be verified when written out. The force is suffi- 
cient to permit a portion to typewrite their notes, while 
others are continuing with the debate. There is one official 
who has charge of all matter for the Record^ and the vari- 
ous notes are put in shape in his office, making one verbatim 
report of the whole proceedings. 



HOW THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD IS PRINTED. 483 

The rule of the Government Printing-Office is that copy 
for the Congressional Record must be in before midnight, 
and always a greater portion of it can be, especially the 
copy of prepared speeches, for it should be said that when 
a Senator or Representative has a prepared speech, it is 
handed to the stenographers, and they make only such 
changes as occur within the deliver}^ like interruptions 
which may lead the speaker away from his manuscript. 
Usually, therefore, there are certain portions of the proceed- 
ings which can be placed in the printing-office early at night, 
and these are in type before the final copy arrives. 

Between midnight and 4 o'clock it must not only be all 
put in type but read and re-read three or four times for 
errors, blocked into pages, stereotyped, and made ready 
for the presses. Often a member requests a proof in the 
interval, and this must be sent him, marked with the time 
within which it must be returned. As the type is set it is 
laid out in galleys running in regular order, and as fast as 
read, the "make-up" men prepare the pages, each of which is 
stereotyped. Sixteen of these pages are locked on each of 
two cylinders, so that when the press is started it prints, 
from a continuous roll of paper, forms of thirty-two pages 
each, cuts, folds, and" delivers them counted in a case at one 
side at the rate of 20,000 an hour. The Record varies from 
twenty to 150 pages at an issue. 

As soon as gathered and stitched, the issue goes to 
tlie mailing- and delivery-room, where over a hundred 
girls wrap it in covers Avhich have been mechanically ad- 
dressed to the various parties all over the country to 
whom members of Congress have asked to have it sent. 
Each member is allowed a certain number, and, as it costs 
him nothing and is apt to please the dear constituent, he 
usually fills out his quota. 



27 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

THE NATIONAL MUSEUM — A WONDERFUL COLLECTION OF 

CURIOSITIES AND RELICS — THE ARMY MEDICAL 

MUSEUM — INTERESTING SPECIMENS OF 

THE RESULTS OF " WAR, DISEASE, 

AND HUMAN SKILL." 

The Most Wonderful Collection of Curiosities and Relics in the World — 
Over 4,000,000 Interesting Specimens — Curious Story of How the 
Museum Was Started — Priceless Relics of Washington — Franklin's 
Printing-Press — Lincoln's Cravat and Threadbare Office Coat — Gen- 
eral Grant's Presents — Relics From the Maine— K Wonderful 
Collection of Skeletons — Proving Man's Descent From Monkeys — 
The Army Medical Museum — A Grewsome Place — All that Remains 
Above Ground of the Assassin of Lincoln — A Collection of Skulls — 
Some "Interesting Cases" — The Spleen of Guiteau, the Assassin 
of Garfield —How Specimens Are Collected and Exchanged- Getting 
Back " Something Equally as Good " — What the X-Ray Photographs 
Show. 



wp^ATE in the '30's Commodore Elliott, then of the 
^I^S Mediterranean squadron of the United States 
ilB^ Navy, retm*ned to this country bringing with 
^^-^^-^^^ him an ancient sarcophagus that had contained 
the mortal remains of some Roman hero at Carthage. 
It was evidently a pretentious sarcophagus in its day, 
and had been tolerably well preserved from the ravages of 
time and of the vandals. Its massive stone was handsomely 
carved. The Commodore Avas a great admirer of Jackson, 
who had just delivered his farewell to the government and 
had retired to " The Hermitage " ; and to him Elliott pre- 
sented this relic of Roman greatness with the expectation 

(484) 



CURIOUS BEGINNING OF THE COLLECTION. 485 

lliat the fiery general would allow bis remains to be depos- 
ited in it. 

But Jackson preferred something more modern, conven- 
ient, and American. So the great stone was deposited in 
the basement of the Patent-Oiiice and curiously enough be- 
came the beginning of the National Museum, now the 
largest collection of curiosities and relics in the world, a 
collection numbering over 4,000,000 specimens of various 
kinds gathered from every part of the Avorld and represent, 
ing every age. Tlie old sarcophagus now stands in the 
beautiful grounds in front of the building containing this 
remarkable collection, and shows few evidences of the 
twenty or more centuries that have rolled over it. It is 
sometimes mistaken for a monument to some dead states- 
man or benefactor of the government, but no mortal 
remains lie within or under it. 

Begun in this small way, the museum remained for 
many years a small and heterogeneous collection stored 
Avithin a few dusty cases in the basement of the Patent- 
Office ; but in time it received substantial additions from 
the great exploring expeditions of Wilkes in the Pacific and 
of Perry in Japan. In IS-IO, Congress took steps for a 
more creditable arrangement by transferring to the Smith- 
sonian Institution, then being organized, the custody of the 
collection, though the actual transfer was not made till 
1858. Here, under more direct encouragement, the collec- 
tion grew rapidly through gifts from foreign nations, and 
through the services of consuls and other government 
agents in foreign lands. Under the law it Avas made " the 
authorized place of deposit for all objects of art, archaeol- 
ogy, ethnology, natural history, mineralogy, geology, etc." 
The operations of the government surveys, and the gifts 
resulting from various World's Fairs, so swelled the col- 
lection that a special building had to be provided in 1881. 

Every day brings in new specimens, so that now the 



486 RELICS ILLUSTRATIVE OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 

government is in possession of many more curiosities than 
are exhibited, which for want of room are packed away safe 
from the prying eyes and despoiling hands of the curious. 
It is the dream of those interested in this enterprise to have 
the government provide an immense building somewhere 
within the city and thus establish a standing exhibition of 
marvelous value and variety. The anthropological collec- 
tions now in possession of the government, illustrating the 
development and progress of man and his works, if properly 
placed on exhibition, would occupy the entire space of the 
present museum building which twenty years ago was 
deemed adequate for all purposes. 

The museum is in charge of the Assistant Secretary of 
the Smithsonian Institution but, unlike the latter, it is sup- 
ported by government appropriations. The collections in 
both are practically one, though the exhibition-rooms in the 
Smithsonian are almost entirely given up to certain features 
of natural history. The main floor of the museum building 
is divided into seventeen halls which connect with each 
other by wide archways, and altogether they furnish nearly 
one hundred thousand square feet of space. 

By the north or main doorway we enter a long hall 
devoted to a large collection of personal relics illustrative of 
different periods of American history. Priceless relics of 
Washington, many of which have been purchased from his 
heirs, fill many large cases. Displayed in one are his dress 
suit and dress uniform, the latter a great blue coat with 
trimmings of buff, and suspended with it are the curiously- 
contrived knee breeches. We can imagine that when the 
suit was new and before the moths began to ravage it, the 
Father of His Country must have presented a striking 
figure in it; but here it hangs limp and forlorn, though its 
great brass buttons are as bright as ever. We can imagine 
them glittering as Washington stood, the admired center of 
the gorgeously-clad groups at state receptions, or as his di 



O 



INTERESTING MEMORIALS OF GREAT MEN. 487 

nified figure moved gracefully through the stately measures 
of the minuet. 

Telling a sterner story are the various effects of Wash- 
ington's camp life, including his camp chest, with its quaint 
knives and forks, bottles and pewter plates, and the broiler 
bearing the marks of many a camp fire. In the case de- 
voted to Jefferson relics we see the favorite chair of the 
sage of Monticello, with its well-worn upholstered head-rest. 
From a much more remote past comes the hand printing- 
press owned by Benjamin Franklin when a journeyman 
printer, a mechanism which seems ridiculously crude, but 
it shows the signs of many an impression, and its rough, 
timbered sides are thickly plastered with age-dried ink. 

In the case devoted to Lincoln are many interesting fea- 
tures, but perhaps none appeal to us more than the cravat 
which so often encircled his long neck, and the office coat 
which held his tall, slender figure; for years to come its 
threadbare buttons will tell their story of the patient toil 
and steady application of the beloved President to the 
affairs of his country during the most stupendous crisis in 
its history. 

The most brilliant collection in this hall is formed of the 
swords, testimonials, and presents of various kinds given to 
General Grant during the Civil War and in his trip around 
the world. 

Other cases are devoted to memorials of men whose 
achievements marked epochs in the history or development 
of the country, such as Morse, who solved the problem of 
the telegraph, and Field, the father of the Atlantic Cable. 
Here, too, are many late additions, like relics from the 
Ilaine, and many curious mementoes of the war in Cuba 
and Porto Eico and the Philippines. 

In the Rotunda, towering above the basin of a fountain, 
stands the original plaster model of Crawford's Goddess of 
Liberty surmounting the dome of the Capitol, while about 



488 A VAST COLLECTION OF CURIOUS SPECIMENS. 

the walls are many large and costly objects of interest. 
From this center you may pass through great halls in any 
direction and walk for hours amid countless " specimens " — 
pottery and porcelain from every country in the world; 
models of boats and vessels from Fitch's first steamboat to 
the great modern steamer; Indian canoes and Oriental 
junks; and hundreds of articles showing the various indus- 
trial arts of the world and the life of the people of every 
clime and in every state of barbarism and civilization. 

Here are skeletons of existing and extinct animals ; min- 
erals, and ores, and fossils of every description ; costumes 
and textile fabrics of every sort ; figures, life-size, of Hindoos, 
Persians, Chinese, Japanese, Indians, and savages, all 
dressed in their characteristic garb and illustrating by their 
groups various peculiarities of their industrial or social life. 
Here, too, are wonderful baskets made of grass and roots; 
weapons from the most primitive to the most deadly, and 
musical instruments from the tam-tam of the South Sea 
Islands to the costliest piano. 

All these collections are arranged with a view to making 
them instructive. For example, in the hall devoted to skele- 
tons, and which is fairly overrun with bones, we may see 
mounted skeletons of various species of monkeys up to the 
chimpanzee, the ourang-outang, and gorilla, and beside the 
latter, skeletons of a native Australian, an American Indian, 
and the " homo sapiens." This is intended to show how our 
bones differ in characteristic ways from those of the monkeys, 
and even from man in lower stages of civilization. Our 
superiority is, after all, largely a matter of " brain cavity," 
if you may believe these experts. You may pass from this 
engrossing study to a hall containing half a million speci- 
mens of moUusks with very little evidence of brain cavity, 
but wonderful in the various forms they take, surpassing in 
texture the finest works of art. In another hall are half a 
million fossil invertebrates, and plants which in remote ages 



THE ARMY MEDICAL MUSEUM. 489 

were petrified in the rocks — pages from the geologic history 
of a million or more years ago. 

In the spaces devoted to means of transportation you 
may see the oldest locomotive in America — a loose-jointed 
piece of mechanism, which looks as though it would fly to 
pieces if an attempt were made to run it. Close by is an 
old Mexican ox-cart without a piece of iron or a nail in it. 
The wheels are hewn from tree-trunks, and weigh over 200 
pounds eacli. It is in strange contrast to the beautifully- 
ornamented Japanese palanquin near by. 

Perhaps the most remarkable collection in the building 
is that illustrative of the American Indian. Life-sized 
groups represent various features of the domestic economy 
of the red man, while his utensils, implements of peace and 
war, and objects of worship abound on every side. 

These are but a few of the very large number of varieties 
of this wonderful display. They indicate how wide is the 
range and how completely each branch is illustrated. What- 
ever be the subject one is interested in, he will here find 
arranged before him the very objects of his interest; and 
when one stops to think that the government has packed 
away as many more,- and that it is constantly receiving 
numerous additions, we can but wonder what the museum 
will become years hence. 

Close by the National Museum stands the large and 
handsome brick building now occupied by the Army Medi- 
cal Museum, a grewsome place which, however much it may 
excite our interest and wonder, leaves a decidedly-unpleas- 
ant impression on the nerves of sensitive people. It may be 
a heaven of delight for physicians and surgeons, but the un- 
scientific shrink from the close observation of such an exten- 
sive display in wax and preserved flesh of the effects of the 
ravages of various diseases and of gun-shot wounds. 

Probably one of the least-disquieting features of the 
place is a regiment of human skeletons, a large number of 



490 EXHIBITS OF FATALITIES OF WAR. 

them drawn up in single file and extending the whole length 
of a galleiy in the long hall. Grinning with frightful una- 
nimity, they appear, because of the way in which they are 
thickly suspended and arranged, to be hurrying southward 
in a dancing lock-step. Some of these are skeletons of once 
fierce Indians, or South Sea Islanders ; others are of well- 
behaved Americans, and still others are of criminals of the 
worst kind ; but they all look alike now, as they seem to 
dance along without respect to former condition or color. 

The Army Medical Museum is one of the results of the 
Civil War. In obedience to an order from the War Depart- 
ment, issued in 1862, thousands of pathological specimens, 
showing the results of gun-shots and amputations, quickly 
accumulated at Washington, and soon after the assassination 
of Lincoln, Ford's Theater was purchased by the government, 
refitted, and dedicated to this growing collection, together 
with the Record and Pension Division of the War Depart- 
ment. The collection increased so rapidly that soon a 
demand for a safer and more commodious building arose, 
and in 1887 the present building was erected, ample to con- 
tain not simply the museum, but the immense medical library, 
now the most complete collection of medical and surgical 
literature in the world. This library has been gathered 
since the Civil War, but now numbers over 200,000 volumes, 
and includes some of the rarest books in the world, dating 
back to the very beginning of printing. Ph^^sicians and scien- 
tific societies have greatly interested themselves in the growth 
of this institution, and have generously contributed both lit- 
erature and specimens. 

Of late years, or since the Civil War, the growth has 
been less in the direction of exhibits of fatalities of war than 
of the various diseases that human flesh is heir to, and a 
particularly-exhaustive exhibit of microscopic cell develop- 
ment, both in health and disease. If you are scientific, these 
will interest you more than the enlarged spleen of Guiteau, 



GHASTLY SPECIMENS OF THE MEDICAL COLLECTION. 491 

the assassin of President Garfield, or the colorless fragments 
of the spinal column of John Wilkes Booth. If you are 
scientific, also, you will linger with breathless interest over 
the long array of tumors, evidences of tuberculosis, of lep- 
rosy, and so on ; but if not scientific, you will have a curious 
feeling that your entire scalp is about to vise in revolt, and 
you will go away with a vague fear that you may have 
caught the diseases of the whole collection, and ought to 
hurrv to the nearest doctor. 

Guiteau's spleen looks very much like any of the other 
spleens arranged in glass jars ; but you will be told that it 
is a little larger than it ought to be, not because of Guiteau's 
mental peculiarities, but because he was for a long time kept 
in a jail which held more malaria than prisoners. This is 
the only Guiteau specimen retained. The rest of his mortal 
remains that were considered worth preserving have been 
distributed ; for a sort of altruistic spirit of exchange exists 
between the managers of the museum and medical people 
and societies all over the world, by which they give and re- 
ceive presents in skeletons, wax tumors, and bottled human 
organs. For example, the person who presented the museum 
with a bottled baby, born with but one eye and that in the 
middle of its forehead, and hence officially labeled "Cyclops," 
might reasonably expect in return an "interesting specimen" 
— something " equally as good." 

To the unscientific mind doubtless the most interesting 
and the least disagreeable specimens are those which have 
been in the museum for a long time and show the w^onderful 
effects of rifle bullets and shrapnel fragments after entering 
the human body. Here are skulls pierced by arrow heads 
without being fractured, and others that have been broken 
by tiny bullets, that, after entering, plowed their way along 
in eccentric furrows. This is now more fully illustrated by 
a series of X-ray photographs. 

Those who have seen General Sickles slowly making his 



493 AN INTERESTING SPECIMEN WITH A HISTORY. 

way on crutches can not fail to be interested in his leg, or 
rather, a strong white bone which was once a part of his 
anatomy, and which bears the following official description : 

"The right tibia and fibula comminuted in three shafts by a round 
shell. Major-Geueral D. E. S., United States Volunteers, Gettysburg, 
July 2, 1863, amputated in the lower third of the thigh by Surgeon T. 
Sim, United States Volunteers, on the field. Stump healed rapidly, and 
subject was able to ride in carriage July 16 ; completely healed, so that 
he mounted his horse, in September, 1863. Contributed by subject." 

If the General in all these years ever found his memories 
of Gettysburg growing less vivid, he could at any time come 
to the Museum, and by observing the remains of the limb 
he parted with so many years ago, have them revived. 

The specimens with an interesting history from a popu- 
lar point of view are much less conspicuous now than a few 
years ago, as the medical history is alone supposed to be of 
value. Most of the descriptive labels have been removed. 
Thus some of the old specimens have little to show their 
connection with the events of the Civil War. Apparently 
insignificant among over 25,000 other specimens of various 
kinds may be seen three human vertebrae mounted on a 
stand, and beside it a glass vial with a thin line of white 
matter floating in alcohol. 

There is nothing to show whose vertebrae these were, 
and even when official catalogues were printed they con- 
tained no information upon such unscientific points. Thej 
simply recorded in dry technical language that one of these 
three verterbae was entered by a carbine ball and fractured 
longitudinally and separated from the spinal process. The 
missile passed directly through the canal, with a slight in- 
clination downward and to the rear, emerging through the 
left bases of the fourth and fifth lamina), which were com- 
minuted, and from which fragments were embedded in the 
muscles of the neck. The bullet in its course avoided the 
large cervical vessels. The description closes with the unin- 



AGONIZING DEATH OF LINCOLN'S ASSASSIN. 493 

teresting statement : " From a case where death occurred in 
a few hours after injury, April 2C}, 1865." 

Of the small vial we are told that it shows a portion of 
the spinal cord from the cervical region, transversely perfo- 
rated from right to left by a carbine bullet, which fractured 
the laminae of the fourth and fifth vertebrae. This also 
closes with the remark that it is " from a case where death 
occurred a few hours after injury, April 26, 1865." 

This is all very dry and technical, but to those who know 
all the facts there arises before the mind an exciting scene 
that occurred many years ago about a blazing barn across 
the Potomac and not many miles from Washington. The 
flames lit up the recesses of the great barn till every cobweb 
Avas luminous, and back of a barricade of hay, bathed in the 
weird illumination, stood a man with set teeth and gleaming 
eyes. A moment later he grasped his carbine and pushed 
for the door to face his enemies; but just then a sergeant, 
without orders, fired through a crevice and shot him in the 
neck. He was taken out, laid on the grass, and died four 
hours later. This is the case " where death occurred a few 
hours after injury," — the case of John Wilkes Booth, the 
murderer of Lincoln. 

In the eyes of the medical experts a "case" consists 
only of pathological peculiarities. These three vertebrae 
might have belonged to any one else and be just as " inter- 
esting:," from the fact that the bullet took a certain course 
and the wound resulted in death in a few liours. It has 
been said that the fatal wounds of the assassin Booth and his 
victim were strikingly alike, "but the trifling difference 
made an immeasurable difference in the sufferings of the 
two. Mr. Lincoln was unconscious of all pain, while his 
assassin suffered as exquisite agony as if he had been broken 
on a wheel." 

It will not be inappropriate at this place to speak of the 
Lincoln Museum — a miscellaneous collection of relics dis- 



494 RELICS OF THE MARTYR PRESIDENT. 

played in the old house opposite Ford's Theater to which 
the wounded Lincoln was carried and in which he died. It 
is a plain four-story brick house with a high stoop marked 
by a marble tablet. O. H. Oldroyd began to make this col- 
lection in 1860, and after the assassination purchased the 
house and fitted it for a permanent collection of them. It 
was entirely a private enterprise and remains so, a small ad- 
mission fee being charged. 

Among the relics are a stand made from logs of the 
house in which Lincoln lived from 1832 to 1836; the family 
Bible in which Lincoln wrote his name in boyhood; the 
chair he occupied at the theater on the night he was shot ; 
a bill of the play, and many funeral sermons, and portraits. 
Still the most interesting thing about it all is the little room 
in which the great President died, a room which John 
Wilkes Booth had himself occupied not long before ; for at 
that time the house was a boarding-place for people of the 
theatrical profession. The house will always stand as it is 
because of its associations, and some day the government 
will doubtless take it into its own hands and add to its 
value as a museum. 

The proscenium pillar next to which Mr. Lincoln sat 
when assassinated has been preserved in its place in the 
Ford Theater building, in spite of the fact that the building 
has twice been remodeled. It survived the disaster of 1893, 
when the building collapsed, and killed and injured many 
clerks employed in the Record Division of the War Depart- 
ment. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION — STRANGE STORY OF ITS 

FOUNDER- ITS WONDERFUL TREASURES — THE 

NATIONAL ZOO AND THE FISH 

COMMISSION. 

The Strange Story of James Sinithson- A Most Singular Bequest — Mak- 
ing Good Use of His Money — His Will — " The Best Blood of Eng- 
land Flows in My Veins " — Plans of the Institution — Inside the 
Building — Its Intent and Object — Diffusion of Knowledge Among 
Men — Facilitating the Study of Natural History — Stimulating 
Talents for Original Investigations — A Wonderful Exhibit of Stuffed 
Birds — Insects of Every Size and Color — A Marvelous Collection of 
Birds' Eggs — The Delight of " Mr. Scientist " —What We " Think " 
"We See — Weighing a Ray of Light — Doing Many Marvelous 
Things — The National Zoo — Among the Wild Animals — A Visit 
to the Fish Commission — Some Curious Specimens of the Finny 
Tribe — One of the Most Entertaining Exhibits in Washington. 



HE Smithsonian Institution had a unique begin- 
ning, showing that a government may not be 
without sincere friends among those who at the 
time are regarded as natural enemies. James 
Smithson was an Englishman, a natural son of the 
third Duke of N"orthuinberland and Mrs. Elizabeth 
Macie, a niece of Charles, Duke of Somerset. He was 
educated at Oxford and some time later took the name of 
Smithson. Of a scientific turn of mind, he wrote several 
treatises, which, however, attracted no great attention. ISTot 
having any fixed home, he appears to have lived at various 
places in lodgings, dying at last in Genoa in 1829. 

In 1835 President Jackson announced that this English- 

(495) 




496 A STRANGE STORY. 

man, who so far as is known never visited America nor had 
friends here, had left all liis propert}'- " to found at "Washing- 
ton, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an 
establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge 
among men." "Why he did not prefer to establish such an 
institution in his own country does not clearly appear. He 
had doubtless watched with interest the growth of the young 
republic, and, having no other use for his fortune, which, 
owing to his simple and retired life, had rapidly accumu- 
lated, he • conceived the idea of bestowing it upon the gov- 
ernment of the "United States to further the increase of 
educational advantages, which at that time were more 
needed on this continent than in Europe. 

Some have thought that the nature of his parentage is 
important, not only as explaining why he changed his name 
from JVIacie to Smithson, but "why he conceived the idea of 
establishing an institution in this country to perpetuate his 
borrowed name. He once wrote : " The best blood of Eng-- 
land flows in my veins ; on my father's side I am a North- 
umberland, on my mother's side I am related to kings. But 
this avails me not. My name shall live in the memory of 
man when the titles of ISTorthumberland and the Percys are 
extinct and forgotten." 

It would appear from this that he deliberately cast about 
for a means to make good this assertion and, if so, he cer- 
tainly took a wise course. 

The legacy became available in 1838, and was brought 
over in English sovereigns which, when recoined, netted a 
little over $508,000. The only unfortunate thing about the 
bequest was that Smithson did not specify the nature and 
precise objects of the proposed institution, for Congress im- 
mediately fell into a serious disagreement as to the methods 
by which the objects of the testator could be accomplished. 
One proposed a university of the highest possible grade ; 
another an observatory " with the biggest spyglass in the 



HOW THE INSTITUTION WAS ESTABLISHED. 497 

world ; " another tlie cultivation of seeds and plants for dis- 
tribution; another an institution for experimentation in 
physical science especially pertaining to the natural resources 
of the country ; another an establishment for rearing sheep, 
horses, and silkworms. There were, besides, strong argu- 
ments against accepting the trust at all, the strict construc- 
tionists of the Constitution, as usual, finding no warrant for 
such a thing. 

At last the trust was accepted, and in 1846 a law was 
passed organizing the institution, the government assuming 
to pay 6 per cent, on the fund semi-annually for its uses. A 
board of regents was established and the accumulation of 
interest devoted to the erection of a building, the site for 
wliicli, consisting of fifty acres, was given by the govern- 
ment from the abundance of unoccupied and unpromising 
land within the city. 

But while James Smithson provided the money, the in- 
stitution was really founded by Joseph Henry, who was ap- 
pointed its first secretary. In entering upon his duties he 
drew up for the regents a scheme for the operation of the insti- 
tution that was adopted and that has since been maintained. 
Its leading ])rinciples are that, inasmuch as the testator's de- 
sign was to increase and diffuse knowledge " among men," 
its work should not be local or even national, nor should it 
devote its resources and energies to anything which could 
be done as well by any other institution. 

In accordance with these principles, its great library has 
been incorporated with the Library of Congress, its art 
treasures transferred to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, its 
meteorological observations to the Weather Bureau, and its 
herbarium to the Department of Agriculture. Besides, it 
has originated and still retains control of several govern- 
mental enterprises which are nevertheless provided for by 
Congress, such as the National Museum, the Bureau of Eth- 
nology, and the National Zoological Park. It has thus been 



498 HOW KNOWLEDGE IS DIFFUSED. 

the fountain head of many of the profitable functions of the 
government. 

Having incidentally originated and developed these 
branches of scientific pursuit, the Smithsonian now largely 
devotes its energies and means to scientific experiments and 
to the issue of several publications. Papers presented for 
publication are submitted to competent committees for ex- 
amination, first, as to their being real additions to the exist- 
, ing knowledge, and second, as to whether they are worthy of 
the institution. The design is to stimulate men who have 
talents for original investigations by offering to publish to 
the world an account of tlieir discoveries. The author is 
presented with a few copies of the work, but beyond this 
receives no remuneration. 

The " diffusion of knowledge " is specially promoted by 
a system for the interchange of American and foreign scien- 
tific thought and achievement. This work, which has at- 
tained great proportions, is in charge of the Bureau of Inter- 
national Exchanges, and through it the publications of the 
national government as well as those of the institution are 
regularly exchanged. Thousands of works, embracing the 
details of the latest inventions and discoveries, are brought 
to this country in this way, while, in turn, a knowledge of 
our achievements is diffused abroad. Over 2,000 foreio-n 
'societies are now in correspondence with the institution. 

The building is situated near the center of the grounds 
originally granted to the institution. The specimens now on 
exhibition in its main halls are but a fraction of those which 
the institution has collected. A large proportion of them 
are in the National Museum, and the Smithsonian has re- 
served for itself only a portion of the collections pertaining 
to I^atural History, with a few miscellaneous sjDecimens of 
ethnological significance. The main exhibit is one of the 
choicest collections of stuffed birds in the world. Case after 
case through one of its great halls is filled with birds of all 



nature's exquisite handiwork. 499 

feathers, mounted so skillfully that they exhibit not only 
the characteristic poses of the birds but in many cases their 
habits in life. They vary in size from the smallest humming 
bird to the largest ostrich, and art has never yet imitated 
the marvelous variety and beauty of the colors and shades 
of color displayed by the plumage of these specimens from 

every clime. 

Another large hall is devoted to insects collected from an 
equally-wide area and presenting as great a diversity in size 
and color. In one case, for example, we may behold the 
many varieties of the butterfly. Nothing can surpass the 
delicate markings and texture of the wings of some of these 
specimens. Here also is a marvelous collection of birds' 
eggs varying in size all the way from a homeopathic pellet 
to a football. The collection of shells, of sponges, of coral, 
and other curious organisms of the sea is enormous. 

So many are the objects of lustrous beauty that we find 
ourselves constantly revising our opinion of the resources of 
Dame Nature, and we are amazed at the exquisite skill with 
which she works to secure the most delightful shades of 
color even in tiny little mollusks. " Mr. Scientist," however, 
smiles and says all this apparent color is only a difference in 
molecular motion, and the colors that we see, " or, rather, 
think we see," are only such components of light as are not 
absorbed by the organic molecules. Mr. Scientist stands 
ready to take all the romance out of our ideas wherever we 
stop to admire, but he experiences a delight of a different 
kind in his observations of the " mechanism " of nature. 

It is only when we step from the exhibition halls to the 

offices and laboratories of the institution that we see it as it 

is — a great working establishment in the interest of science. 

If you have a theory on which you believe you can base an 

important discovery, you will be welcome here, if it is of 

value. The institution will assist you in your researches, 

guard your interests, and publish your discovery, if it proves 
28 



500 REVEALING THE SECRETS OF THE SUN. 

to be sucli, SO that it may at once reacli the whole scientific 
world. It is what its benefactor wished, an establishment 
for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men. 

The scientific experts of the institution are constantly 
making some of the most remarkable experiments and 
devising instruments of the most intricate design and delicate 
machinery. Every sunshiny day men are endeavoring to 
wring from the rays of the sun their secrets, to discover how 
they differ, and how they affect the earth. One of the most 
remarkable instruments of all is a so-called bolometer, a 
device for determining the nature of the invisible rays of the 
sun, that is, those which do not reveal themselves as light. 
In the observatory is located a great mirror so controlled by 
clockwork that it always turns itself squarely to the sun. 
It reflects a sunbeam directly into a long metal tube which 
contains a lens, and this throws a slender ray into a building 
where is a delicate apparatus for separating it into all of its 
component parts, and which is designed to record the differ- 
ing temperatures of the invisible rays below the red or 
above the violet of the spectrum. 

This instrument is perhaps the most remarkable thing of 
its kind ever designed. It consists of a tiny balance, the 
beam of which is a thread of spun glass finer than the finest 
hair. In the middle of the beam is a concave glass mirror 
not larger than a common pin-head, and yet absolutely per- 
fect in form. It weighs two and one-half milligrammes — 
just about as much as the leg of a fly — and the whole affair 
is suspended from a fiber of quartz crystal two feet long and 
so slender as to be almost invisible. The beam is so arranged 
by the aid of electric contrivances, too complicated to be 
briefly described, that it is inclined one way or the other by 
the slightest difference in temperature of a sun ray falling 
on the mirror. This mirror throws a small dot of light on a 
wall graduated like a thermometer, so that by watching this 
dot the variations in heat of invisible rays are determined. 



ATTRACTIONS OF THE NATIONAL ZOO. 501 

The institution hopes some day to know so much about 
these invisible rays as to be able to predict weather condi- 
tions a year in advance, and do a great many other things 
equally marvelous. 

In the course of its work the Smithsonian early collected 
many live animals and birds. As the government had made 
no provision for such specimens, it became necessary to con- 
fine them, not always with the most reassuring security, in 
grounds back of the institution building. Special pains were 
taken to secure good specimens of certain American animals 
that were threatened with extinction, and, in course of time, 
people living near the institution observed from their win- 
dows an ever-increasing herd of buffaloes and other wild 
beasts. Finally Congress Avas prevailed upon to do some- 
thing for this growing menagerie in the midst of the city, 
and 167 acres of land were purchased on Kock Creek, a little 
above Georgetown. While maintaining as one of the chief 
objects of the " Zoo " thus provided for, the preservation of 
American animals threatened with extinction, the scope was 
enlaro;ed so as to foster the collection of live animals from all 
climes for exhibition purposes. 

The great park, consisting of rolling uplands broken by 
deep ravines, is beautifully adapted to its purpose. On cul- 
tivated portions are placed the various houses and enclosures 
for animals requiring protection in the winter season, while 
the hardier classes are quartered out of doors the year round 
in spacious wire-guarded enclosures about the ravines and 
hillsides. Herds of happy and healthy bison, elk, and deer 
occupy great paddocks, providing them with extensive pas- 
tures. Standing upon one of the elevated portions of the 
grounds, you may look down through the trees upon a herd 
of buffaloes grazing peacefully in the lowlands, while in the 
ravine upon the other side along the creek is a colony of 
beavers, burrowing in the banks, constructing dams and 
houses and cutting down trees in their ingenious and work- 



503 SUPPLYING FOOD FISHES FOR A NATION. 

man-like fashion. The bear dens are unsurpassed by those 
of any zoo, the rude caves being blasted out of cliffs, thus 
forming natural retreats for the different varieties. 

The collection is growing rapidly through the instrumen- 
tality of various government agencies. Consuls in all parts 
of the world, and our army officers in far-off lands, are 
invited to secure live animals of rare types and send them to 
this country at the expense of the government. In time, 
with such advantages, the National Zoo will become the 
largest institution of its kind in the country and perhaps in 
the world. Being on the outskirts of the city, it is a favorite 
resort for children, and there is always some queer bird or 
animal stranger for them to pelt with goodies " to see him 
eat." Every bright Sunday the animals' quarters are sur- 
rounded by a delighted crowd of visitors. 

The Fish Commission, established in 1861, occupies the 
old ante-bellum arsenal on Sixth street. While an inde- 
pendent organization, it is nevertheless largely an offshoot 
of the Smithsonian Institution. Its general work, as pro- 
vided for by law, is to study the habits of fish and especially 
food fishes, and to devise measures for maintaining the sup- 
ply. In pursuit of this object, hatcheries have been estab- 
lished in various parts of the country, and every year mil- 
lions of the fry of the most valuable food fishes are placed 
in the rivers of the country best fitted for their existence. 

One of these hatcheries is maintained in Washington, 
and if you visit the building at the right time you may 
observe the process in a series of tanks arranged in the base- 
ment of the building, and will note how, under good condi- 
tions, it requires little room for the hatching of many mil- 
lions of fish, any one of which, when full grown, might give 
an angler all the sport he desired. It is safe to say that 
many of the salmon, shad, and other food fishes we eat were 
born at Washington, or in some of the other hatcheries. 

Naturally, after the fish are born, the next problem is 



FREAKS OF THE FINNY TRIBE. 503 

how to convey them to the stream or lake best suited to their 
requirements. As this may be hundreds of miles distant, the 
commission provides specially -fitted cars, which can some- 
times be seen side-tracked near its building. The arrange- 
ment of the cars is complete, and the 'infant fish not only 
travels with plenty of companions, but he is well attended, 
and his meals are furnished. He can disport himself in 
water to his heart's content and suffer none of the incon- 
veniences of travel. The arrangement of the tanks is such 
that they can be supplied with fresh water, and when the 
cars reach their destination the fish are turned loose to take 
their chances among other fish and among the fishermen. 

Among the most entertaining exhibits are the glass tanks 
of different kinds of live fish. These tanks are located 
along the walls of a sort of artificial grotto in the basement 
of the building, and are constantly supplied with running 
water and lighted from hidden windows above. Here we 
may study the habits of fish in their natural element, and 
note the perfect and graceful movement of their fins, and 
the exquisite coloring of their scales. Among those that 
attract by their beauty are mingled many that are curious, 
and even grotesque. Such is the flounder, which lies so flat 
in the sand as to be unnoticed until, after much flopping and 
floundering, — whence his name — he rises and darts about 
with great celerity. Here, too, one may watch the little 
sea-horse, most fantastic of marine creatures. At rest, he 
clings with his curving tail, ape-like, to the seaweeds and 
mosses of the tank, but when the fancy takes him for a 
swim he moves about erect, with as many antics as a playful 
pony, and most obsequious bowings of his crested head as 
he meets others of his kind, all equally polite and amusing. 



CHAPTER XXXIY. 

FOREIGN LEGATIONS AND THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS— THE 
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF FOREIGN REP- 
RESENTATIVES IN WASHINGTON. 

The Exposed Side of Diplomatic Life — Looking "Pleasant" — Social 
Status of Foreign Representatives — Daily Routine — Spies Upon 
Our Government — Social Lions — Aspiring to Diplomatic Honors 
— Glimpses of Foreign Home Life — Peculiar Dress and Queer 
Customs — Oddities in House Furnishings and Decorations — Social 
Etiquette — Who Pays the First Visit — Official Calls — The Ladies 
of the Diplomatic Corps — Why the President Never Crosses the 
Threshold of a Foreign Legation — Breaches of Etiquette — Topics 
That Are Never Discussed — Tactless Ministers — Giving Meddling 
Ambassadors Their Passports — Some Notable Examples — The Fate 
of Foreign Representatives Who Criticise or Abuse the President. 

^■^^ HE popular impression is that the life of a foreign 
^Iniw cliplomat at Washington is one of ease and 
pleasure. A natural inference from the society 
columns in newspapers, which are constantly 
furnishing glowing accounts of social events, is that 
a foreign representative has no mission save that of 
looking handsome, wearing gorgeous raiment, and feasting 
sumptuously every day, having no more care than a butter- 
fly and no serious responsibilities to disturb his equanimity. 
This impression is heightened by the fact that in the sum- 
mer season the diplomatic legations, with hardly an excep- 
tion, are closed or left in charge of subordinates, while the 
ministers and ambassadors with their families enjoy them- 
selves at fashionable seaside resorts, or visit their homes in 
their native land. 

(504) 



A DUTY TO BE AGREEABLE. 505 

But this is only the exposed side of diplomatic life. It is 
one of the duties of a foreign diplomat in Washington, as it 
is one of the duties of our representatives abroad, to employ 
diplomacy and to be generally agreeable. So doing, he 
can better exercise the functions of a legitimate spy upon 
our operations as a government and a people. But the dip- 
lomat's real duties are largely of a strictly-private nature, 
and are generally known only to himself and his govern- 
ment. Thus our general information as to diplomatic 
actions and behavior is largely confined to the society col- 
umns of newspapers, and it may be added that to old and 
practiced diplomats there is nothing so tedious as the 
requirements of their social routine. To them it is usually 
a bore. They are not apt to accept invitations unless they 
feel that it is advisable for State reasons, or is required by 
etiquette ; and thus the hostess who secures them at her 
social events is supposed to be highly honored. As to 
whether she is honored or not depends altogether upon the 
character of the diplomat. 

The daily routine of each legation makes as peremptory 
a demand upon time as the routine of any department of 
the government. Each has its archives which are faithfully 
maintained ; each is apt to have instructions from its gov- 
ernment requiring constant attention, more often through 
correspondence but occasionally through a personal inter- 
view with the Secretary of State ; each stands in a sort of 
paternal relation to the various foreign consuls at different 
commercial centers, and through them often executes the 
general orders of the home government. Each is attended 
by various attaches, the number dependent upon the char- 
acter of the legation, who have special duties to perform. 
In the exercise of these duties, attaches are instructed in the 
principles of diplomacy, and in time they aspire to the dig- 
nity of some diplomatic post. 

As a rule, diplomats are men who have resided in many 



506 A GLIMPSE OP BEAUTIFUL HOMES. 

countries and have studied their characteristic differences. 
By knowing the peculiarities of various governments they 
can better appreciate the peculiarities of those to which 
they may be sent. Having seen so much from such advan- 
tageous positions, they are delightful talkers, if they wdsh to 
be, and usually are well educated and brilliant men. 

There is no minister in the diplomatic service who has so 
wide a field of duty as the Chinese Minister. He is not 
only accredited at Washington and at Mexico, and at Spain 
and Portugal, but fully one-half of the Central and South 
American governments are under his care, so far as they 
relate to China. But his headquarters are at Washington, 
and the "Chinese Embassy" is one of the most beautiful 
houses in the city. Its fine granite exterior furnishes no 
indication of the Orientalism within, unless perchance as 
you pass you may happen to see a Chinaman taking a little 
exercise by walking back and forth on the great stone 
piazza. Or you may chance to see the minister himself, 
with his fine raiment, his mandarin's hat, his pig-tail, and a 
twinkle in his eyes. 

While the exterior of the Chinese mission is so thor- 
ouD-hly American its interior abounds in Oriental surround- 
ings. Beautiful Chinese hangings and curious works of art 
are among the decorations, though the Chinese and Western 
civilizations are strangely mingled. The embassy has never, 
had a house of its own but has always rented, and doubtless 
for this reason its appearance partakes so largely of conven- 
tional furnishings. Occasional entertainments are held at 
the Chinese legation during the winter, and these social 
events are looked forward to w^ith pleasant anticipation by 
Washington society, because they are invariably unique and 
enjoyable. 

In point of size and elegance the British legation stands 
easily at the head. It is a large mansion elegantly furnished 
in English style. When alterations and repairs are made 



ETIQUETTE OF THE EMBASSIES. 507 

the architect of the British Foreign Office comes over to 
design and supervise them. 

Probably one of the most delightful and interesting em- 
bassies is that of Japan, but as that nation has of late 
become fully in touch with the ways of Western civilization, 
the legation is less conspicuous for its oddities than for that 
refined artistic sense which is characteristic of the Japanese. 

The Kussian and French legations are usually among 
the gayest of the social season, while those of the South 
American Republics are among the most charming. 

The social etiquette of the city is largely conditioned by 
the presence of the Diplomatic Corps, which consists of six 
ambassadors and twenty-five ministers plenipotentiary. 
They are ranked strictly in the order of their seniority of 
commission, and arrival in Washington, The British Am- 
bassador at present holds the position of dean of the corps, 
having been the first of the ambassadors appointed. Up to 
the time of the coming of ambassadors, as distinguished 
from ministers plenipotentiar}^, it was the custom of the for- 
eign ministers, from the necessity of making themselves 
known, to pay the first visit to the representatives of the 
nation ; but otherwise all persons, official or otherwise, pay 
the first call to the embassies. The ladies of the Diplomatic 
Corps have no special day on which to receive callers, each 
household making its own rules in this respect. 

As the President and his wife may or not make calls, it 
is entirely at their option whether or not they accept invita- 
tions ; but it is not proper for either the President or his 
wife to cross the threshold of any foreign legation, although 
other members of their family may do so. This is one of 
the rules which is supposed to conserve the dignity of the 
office of President, and also remove him from the dangers 
of too free contact with the representatives of scheming for- 
eign powers. The President's dinners and receptions to the 
Diplomatic Corps, while the most brilliant events of the 



508 DISMISSING OBNOXIOUS MINISTERS. 

season, are purely perfunctory and formal, and it is a breach 
of etiquette to touch in conversation upon subjects of inter- 
national affairs or even of national politics. 

The foreign minister is supposed to have nothing what- 
ever to do with our national politics. It is a serious matter 
for him even to appear to influence opinion, even if he does 
not intend to do so. It was for such an alleged offense as 
this that a British minister was once given his passports. 
Lord Sackville West wrote an imprudent letter to a corres- 
pondent, criticising the administration, and President Cleve- 
land at once handed him his passports. 

All governments reserve the right to dismiss foreio-n 
ministers who may have rendered themselves obnoxious in 
any way. The first instance in which this right was exer- 
cised was in the administration of Washington. The 
French Minister, Genet, was given his passport but refused 
to leave the country, remaining here to be used by the 
political enemies of Washington until recalled at Washing- 
ton's request by the French government. 

Almost the first act of General Taylor on becoming 
President was to direct Mr. Clayton, the Secretary of State, 
to send Mr. Poussin, the French Minister, his passports for 
infringement of courtesy in his correspondence. He also 
directed him to inform the minister of foreign affairs of 
France, who had criticised some act of the government, that 
the President had neither asked nor desired his opinion on 
the matter. The most recent case was that of the Spanish 
Minister De Lome, who sometime prior to the outbreak of 
our war with Spain wrote a letter to a Cuban friend, 
grossly criticising and abusing President McKinley. The 
letter in some way falling into the hands of the govern- 
ment, De Lome was promptly dismissed ; but instead of 
returning to Spain he simply crossed the border into Can- 
ada, where for a time he maintained an information bureau 
for his government. 



CHAPTEE XXXV. 

THE NEWS BUREAUS OF WASHINGTON — KEEPING AN EYE 

ON OTHER NATIONS — HOW NEWS IS INSTANTLY 

OBTAINED FROM ANF TRANSMITTED TO 

ANY PART 01 THE WORLD. 

The Washington Headquarters of a Hundred Newspaper Bureaus — Keen 
Newspaper Men — How the News Is Gathered — Transmitting It to 
All the World — The Ceaseless Click of the Telegraph — Operations 
Far Beneath the Surface — The Best-Posted Men in Washington — 
"Newspaper Sense" — How the Wires for News Are Laid — Antici- 
pating Future Events — Secret Sources of Information — "Cover- 
ing" Anything and Anybody — Receiving News " Tips " — Running 
Down Rumors— Otlicials Who "Leak" — How Great Secrets Are 
Unconsciously Divulged — Putting This and That Together — 
Reporters' Tactics — Keeping an Eye on the State Department — 
Scenting News — " Work Is Easy When Times Are Newsy " — Study- 
ing the Weak and Strong Points of Public Men — At the Mercy of 
Newspapers. 

ASSING along the streets immediately east of the 
Treasury building, a glance at the windows 
and doorways on either side reveals numerous 
signs indicating that the great daily newspapers 
in the country meet and touch here. It is preemi- 
nently the vortex into which is ever being swept all the 
news of the government, and from here it is sent out all 
over the country, every hour of the day and for a greater 
part of the night. Into this teeming center run many wires. 
Here in the still hours of the night may be heard the cease- 
less click of the telegraph, the constant pattering of many 
feet, and the almost continuous rolling of cabs. Here, both 
with thoroughness and dispatch is shaped the news, the gos- 

(509) 




510 HOW THE NEWS IS GATHERED. 

sip, and the discussions of Washington affairs that are read 
at tens of thousands of breakfast-tables on the following 
morning, and here every day is also collected a similar grist 
for the evening papers. 

The ordinary individual, accustomed to Washing-ton life, 
may see little but a monotonous routine — the meeting and 
adjournment of Congi'ess, long and dry debates, successive 
roll-calls, the never-ending grinding of the departmental mills. 
All this is quite as monotonous to a Washington news corre- 
spondent as to any one else. What inevitably happens 
every day is of little or no importance to him. As a rule 
his field of operations is beneath the surface of things. He 
must know the hidden motives underlving action, and the 
purposes and desires of members of Congress and important 
administrative officials, as far as possible, and be able to 
forecast with some accuracy, and at least in an interesting 
manner, what is likely to be the result of any unsettled con- 
dition of things or the conclusion of any disputed question, 

A good journalistic correspondent is the best-posted man 
in Washington. Administrations and Congresses come and 
go, but he is here always. A new President may have much 
to learn, the heads of departments may be green at first — 
and a large part of Congress is ever thus — but the corre- 
spondent is never green. He could not. be a new^spaper cor- 
respondent if he were. He must not only have the "news- 
paper sense," but now-a-days he must have a carefully- 
constructed and well-equipped machine for collecting infor- 
mation. He must have his established connections with 
important sources of news either in official or social life. 
But he cares nothing for society except as a means to an 
end. He has neither time nor inclination to enter into the 
social whirl, but he must so lay his wires that any stray sug- 
gestion dropped amid social surroundings will find its way 
into his information department. Such information may 
not be of the slightest use to him at present, but the possi- 



A NEWSPAPER CORRESPONDENT'S BUSY DAY. 511 

bility of its formino; a connecting link in some important 
development later on may make it of the utmost value. 

That part of the gallery in the Senate chamber directly 
back of and above the presiding officer's chair, is the press 
galler}^, and a similar one is in like manner located in the 
House, but seldom more than one or two young men can 
ever be seen in either of them. Even when debates are warm 
and matters of great public interest are up for consideration, 
and all otlier galleries are crowded, the press gallery is 
generally deserted except for these one or two young men. 
None of the AVashington correspondents are there. The 
two young men represent simply press associations, and 
report that part of debates which they believe to be of spe- 
cial interest ; and their reports are available to all corre- 
spondents and to all newspapers which are members of the 
associations. Knowing that this service will furnish all that 
is needed of Congressional debates, no correspondent thinks 
of wasting his time over them. 

We may best observe how he actually spends his time by 
going to his office and following him for a day. Each large 
newspaper maintains a bureau depending in size upon the 
standing of the journal. Smaller papers may have only a 
single representative, but the correspondents of larger pa- 
pers have a considerable working force under them. Going 
to one of these bureaus about 9 o'clock in the morning, we 
find an extensive series of rooms, generally well carpeted 
and generously furnished with tables and desks. In the 
larger office sits the correspondent. He has looked over the 
morning paper and noted any suggestions of news which 
may be investigated by the young men of his force, who 
under his direction " cover " certain departments of the gov- 
ernment, but who may " cover " anything and anybody if 
the emergency arises. They post the correspondent upon 
what they think may happen in their particular fields 
within the next few hours. 



512 "pumping" and "leaking." 

The reporter for the State Department may have re- 
ceived a tip that certain diplomatic correspondence is to be 
given out, or he may have learned that a foreign minister 
has received a communication from his government and is 
to convey it to the State Department before night. The 
reporter for the Treasury Department has received a tip 
that the Secretary of the Treasury is about to call in bonds, 
or that the Secret Service is deep in a new counterfeiting 
plot which it is trying to keep secret. 

Another reporter possibly had a chat with a Congress- 
man the night before, and had deftly drawn from him a 
rather important piece of information which the Congress- 
man had no idea of giving away. He probably was uncon- 
scious that he did so, but the suave reporter knew, as 
regarding certain rumors, that one or the other must be 
true, and he knew by the way the Congressman answered a 
cleverly-put question exactly which was true. It was not 
necessary for him to press the matter further and thus give 
the Congressman the mortification of knowing that he had 
" leaked," as the correspondents express it. 

A government official " leaks " when he unconsciously or 
otherwise drops a secret which he is supposed to hold and 
guard, and when there has been a leak somewhere a corre- 
spondent knows that it will generally be an easy matter to 
get the whole story. As a matter of business he has become 
familiar with the peculiarities of the men concerned, their 
conflicting opinions and cross purposes, and he is enough of 
an adept in his art to feel confident that when the man has 
made a statement in his own favor and detrimental to the 
position of an opponent, he has only to see the opponent to 
obtain another " leak." Thus little by little the whole story 
comes out, and possibly not one of the Congressmen or offi- 
cials thinks that he contributed in any way to it. Each 
thinks that his opponent is responsible for the disclosure, 
but the correspondent has only put the "leaks" together. 



PLANNING THE DAY's WORK. • 513 

Thus with his subordinates about him the correspondent, 
or chief of the bureau, lays out the preliminary work of the 
day, knowing full well that anything he has planned may 
have to yield to some sudden development from an unex- 
pected quarter, requiring him and his men to hurry all over 
the city in search of various officials. To each bureau also 
come all the public documents, and these are examined 
every day by different members of the staff for hints as to 
possible articles. Very often a useful piece of information 
turns up in a dry consular report, or one of the scientific 
bureaus makes a discovery which may be written up in a 
popular manner for the Sunday issue, for w^hich many 
articles of greater or less interest, but not exactly of a newsy 
character, are constantly reserved. 

The corres])ondent and his subordinates must alwa3^s keep 
in mind the local interests of the journal they' represent. 
While matters of general interest must not be neglected, 
any action of the federal government in any of its depart- 
ments relating to that particular city and state is of special 
importance. A friendly acquaintance w^ith the Senators and 
Congressmen from that state is therefore essential, and as 
these officials are well aware that the prominence or favor- 
able mention which the correspondent has it in his power 
to give them in the home journal is important to their politi- 
cal interests, they are seldom anything but cordial to the 
correspondent. 

Having planned the operations of the day, as far as they 
can be planned, the chief of the bureau generally goes to 
the Capitol shortly before Congress meets. Back of the 
press gallery is the correspondent's w^aiting-room, in which 
are tables and all other conveniences for those who may de- 
sire to write. Here every Congressional day about noon can 
always be found a gathering of smartly-dressed and alert- 
looking correspondents, rivals, but always on good terms, 
and if need be they can work together. 



r)U TACTICS OF THE WILY REPORTER. 

For example, Avhile they are waiting, tlie Senate may go 
into executive session, a session about which the world is 
supposed to know nothing. When it is over the correspond- 
ents make it their special business to find out all about it, 
especially if it were a session of considerable interest. Each 
knows the Senators with whom he can most confidently 
talk, and all Senators who are " leaky " are generally known. 
The correspondents may consider it necessary to throw 
Senators off their guard by approaching them upon some 
other subject, but at the proper time bringing them around 
to the real point and in such a manner as to take them by 
surprise. Often the subject of the session may be something 
about which some Senator feels deeply, and he can not dis- 
guise it. The secret proceedings may have been such that 
he would really prefer them to be made public. Further- 
more, every Senator knows that if he were brought up for 
divulging the secret, the correspondents would never give 
him away. 

Thus by adopting certain tactics towards those Senators 
who wish the world might know about the session, and by 
adopting other tactics towards those who are praying that 
the secret may not leak out, the correspondents, after com- 
paring notes, are able to determine with accuracy and suf- 
ficiency its exact nature and details. The Senators all ex- 
pect to see an account of it in the morning papers, although 
none of them are conscious of having revealed it. 

But correspondents do not always need to seek sources 
of information. To a greater or less extent they are always 
seeking them. A Congressman has said or done something 
which he wishes his constituents to know about. Through 
his influence, the Appropriations Committee may have been 
persuaded to raise the appropriation for improving some 
creek in his district. It is not a subject of thrilling interest, 
but the correspondent is sure to treat it generously if on his 
part the Congressman will make it a point to keep him in- 



"TIPS," AND SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 615 

formed of wliat is going on relating to other and more inter- 
esting topics. Thus every correspondent gradually con- 
structs a web of influences, so that nothing of importance 
will happen without a " tip " reaching him. 

AViien in the evening he has returned to his bureau and 
is comfortably seated in his office cliair, he will expect, if 
his jnpes are Avell laid, to be called up by Senators and Con- 
gressmen who volunteer information as a courtesy and in 
return for favors. Ilis subordinates return from their spe- 
cial fields of duty with their gleanings and are busy at their 
desks, while dispatch after dispatch is laid on the corre- 
spondent's desk. Special wires connect his bureau with his 
journal. The latter alwavs makes an arrannrement with 
telegraph companies so that dispatches shall never be 
blocked. Thus from a hundred newspaper bureaus within 
the two blocks adjoining the Treasury is being flashed in 
every direction every day and night the news of the Capital 
city, and important news from foreign countries. 

The correspondent himself generally Avrites a sort of 
editorial account of the trend of events. If a tariff discus- 
sion is raging, he discusses the chances of passage, the con- 
flicting interests, the possibilities of amendment, always 
from the point of view of his paper. Being on the 
spot, he is supposed to be better acquainted with the 
possibilities regarding any legislation than outsiders; but 
even if he is, he does not forget the policy of his journal. 
His discussion of events does not always reveal his per- 
sonal opinions. That is another matter and does not con- 
cern his paper so long as he knows how wisely to reflect 
its editor's opinions. 

Often the most important foreign news reaches this 
country by the way of AYashington. Important dispatches 
come to the State Department, and while regarded as secret, 
the keen newspaper men at once note the indications of 
something important, and proceed to run it down. More 

29 



516 DAYS OP INTENSE EXCITEMENT. 

often, however, foreign matters which are of particular in- 
terest in Washington come from the cables at' New York, 
and the newspaper men are the first bearers of intelligence 
to the oiRcials. 

An illustration of this was in the report of the blowing 
up of the Ifaine in Havana harbor. The disaster occurred 
a little before midnight, and as soon as a brief dispatch an- 
nouncing the disaster reached New York it was hurried to 
Washington. In a hundred bureaus the work of the day 
was just being closed up. The last dispatches were being 
put on the wire, but the moment the news of the disaster 
reached the correspondents the scene changed to one of 
bustling activity. Cabs were called, newspaper men were 
hurrying in them in various directions, bells were rung, the 
Secretary of the Navy and other important officials were 
called out of bed, the news was carried to the White House, 
and officials and correspondents waited breathlessly for the 
official dispatches. The air was surcharged with excitement 
everywhere and for days. This is what the correspondent 
likes. Work is easy when times are " newsy." He can, if 
necessary, make news which is tolerably interesting, but his 
delight is in handling in an interesting manner news that is 
a spontaneous product. 

From the nature of things newspaper correspondents 
become thoroughly acquainted with all the peculiarities in 
the characters of public men. They know how to play 
upon their weakness, if necessary, but they also have an 
established rule that the private character of public men 
is not a legitimate subject for discussion. By violating 
this rule they could ruin the reputation of many a man, 
but they would also lose their own standing as corre- 
spondents. They consider as fit subjects for criticism only 
public acts of public officers. Public men know that their 
private secrets are in their hands, but they know also that 
they are safe, and this does not tend to diminish the num- 



A BANQUET OF "THE GRIDIRON CLUB." 517 

ber of favors they are willing to show to correspondents 
in the way of news. 

Although rivals in the field of news, the correspondents 
constitute a body of men animated by a common purpose 
and infused with a certain esprit de corps^ which is strongly 
manifested in the Gridiron Club, one of the famous institu- 
tions of the Capital. There is no public man who does not 
relish and hasten to accept an invitation to one of its din- 
ners. The President himself can hardly be deemed an ex- 
ception to this, for presidents and their cabinets have sat at 
its tables. The gravest statesmen accept invitations to the 
banquets of the club, knowing full well that public men and 
public policies are to be handled without gloves ; but they 
also know that it is entirely in a spirit of fun, and that by 
an inexorable standing rule nothing concerning the " post- 
prandial capers " shall be printed or even mentioned outside. 
It is a place in which public men can " rub it in " to their 
fellows as deeply as they desire, knowing that it contributes 
to the enjoyment of everybody present and goes no farther. 
At the annual dinner in 1892 President Harrison and his 
Cabinet sat at the club's table, and the President spoke with 
as much ease as he would have spoken in his own parlor. 

To-day no Washington correspondent has a national 
reputation. Few outside of Washington can tell who they 
are. Tiiey are as keen and active as the men of the old 
class, they know better what is going on, yet they are but 
parts of the great newspaper machine. It makes no differ- 
ence to the public or to the editors what opinions they form 
of current events. The telegraphic details are so complete 
that the editors can form opinions for themselves, and the 
present tendency is for the editors simply to print the news 
and allow the people to form their own opinions. The per- 
sonality of the Washington correspondent does not appear, 
but he is, nevertheless, exercising a potent influence by the 
manner in which he describes the happenings at the Capital. 



CHAPTER XXXTI. 

WASHINGTON STREET LIFE — SOUTHERNERS, WESTERNERS, 

AND NEW ENGLANDERS — LIFE AMONG THE 

COLORED PEOPLE — INTERESTING 

SIGHTS AND SCENES. 

A Unique City — Sights and Scenes on Washington Streets — Taking Life 
Easy — Living on Uncle Sam — Mingling With the Passing Throng — 
Life in Washington Boarding Houses — Politicians From the Breezy 
West — Politicians Prom "Way Down East"— The Ubiquitous "Col- 
• ored Pusson " — The Negroes' Social Status in Washington — Negro 
Genteel Society — Negro Editors, Professors, and Teachers — The 
" Smart " Negro Set — Colored Congregations and Church Service — 
Whistling Darkies — Making Night Hideous — Life in Colored Settle- 
ments — Some Wealthy Negroes — How They Became Rich — "Bad 
Niggers " — The Paradise of Children — Morning Sights and Scenes 
at the Markets — Where Riches and Poverty Meet — Fair Women Who 
Carry Market Baskets — Getting Used to Washington Life. 




CITY without factories, without tenement houses, 
^yithout many foreign-born citizens ; a city with- 
out a mayor or aldermen, and in which no one 
votes ; a government city without a city govern- 
ment; a city of streets without a citrve and most 
of them without names, streets which, running 
their many miles of smooth asphalt, are a paradise for bi- 
cyclists and far better for pedestrians than its brick side- 
walks ; a city of Americans who come from every state in 
the Union, and yet a city in which the servants, coachmen, 
drivers, and many of the business men, even policemen, are 
Af ro- Americans ; a city in which the most famous men in 
the country are such familiar figures that they attract little 

(518) 



THE PASSING THRONG. 519 

nttontion; a city in which the President can walk without 
creating the least excitement and yet be recognized bv 
everybody ; — a city unique in all these respects and in many 
others, is Washington. 

The people who throng its streets impress one very dif- 
ferently from those seen on the streets of other cities. 
There is but little of that evident mixture of all classes, the 
very poor and the very rich, for however different may 
be their circumstances, in their outward appearance such 
diversities are not specially marked. 

Fully two-thirds of the nearly 300,000 people of Wash- 
ington are living upon assured incomes from the govern- 
ment. To those who read the exaggerated reports of the 
easy work and big salaries of employees of the government, 
it seems that they are to be envied their positions. There 
may have been a time in the history of the countrv 
"when incapable and unscrupulous men, through influence of 
their party chiefs, occupied more of these positions than 
they should. But since the establishment of the Civil Ser- 
vice this is not the case. There are few to-day who do not 
earn every cent they receive, and who, manage as econom- 
ically as they Avill, find it difficult to do more than provide 
a home and a living for their families. 

Of the 80,000 negroes in the city quite a large proportion 
also derive their income from the government, and a large 
part of the remainder derive theirs from those who serve 
the government. Thus, in the last anal3'sis, the government 
is providing for nearly all the people. The exceptions are 
the visitors w^ho are always in evidence and always minHino- 
with the passing throng. These are usually the well-to-do, 
though their dress and bearing often suggest intimate ac- 
quaintance with rural life. When all these classes are 
mingling in the streets the general effect is one of a holiday 
pleasure parade. 

The proprietors of small stores, and those who keep 



520 TYPES FROM ALL POINTS OF THE COMPASS. 

boarding houses, hotels, saloons, livery stables, and so on, 
prove no great exception to the rule. Small stores line 
many streets. Many of them are owned by Southern peo- 
ple, who have a constitutional objection to becoming excited 
over trade. In recent years hustling men from the North 
have entered into competition vrith them, and show an 
activity and a rivalry which is out of tune with the 
o-eneral harmony of things. Such influences as these are 
undoubtedly transforming the business life of Washington 
so that it shows less and less of those peculiar character- 
istics which for so many years made it a distinctively 

Southern city. 

The Southern women maintain their strong hold upon 
the boarding houses, whose numbers are legion. Many of 
them are cultured women of proud extraction, daughters or 
descendants of old families ruined by the Civil AYar, and 
charming conversation prevails at their tables. On the 
streets Southern men are distinguished more readily than 
the men from other sections. Broad-brimmed felt hats are 
their distinctive badge, and if they aspire to greater con- 
spicuousness they also affect Prince Albert coats, though 
often a little slouchy and somewhat worn. They add their 
share to the spicy flavor of Washington life. 

But the predominating type is that of the Westerner. 
He afl'ects nothing, but is usually just an earnest, self-con- 
tained person, (]uite apt to have a sharp eye and a long 
beard or heavy moustache. There is a natural swing and a 
dash to the Western element which promises to become the 
dominating characteristic of the nation. Their great states 
now make up most of the Union, and thus in official and 
social life the AVestern men and the Western women are be- 
coming controlling influences. The Kew Yorker who has 
become accustomed to the doctrine that his habitat is the 
center of everything, finds himself here an inconsiderable 
element, and the New Englander discovers, sometimes with 



THE OMNIPRESENT NEGRO. 521 

dismay, that the tide of national life sweeps on utterly re- 
gardless of Boston. Yet the claims of each in contributing 
to the greatness of the nation are fully recognized. 

But no matter where or Avhen the scene may Ije in 
Washington, the ubiquitous negro colors it. Whether the 
liumblest white man wishes to move his trunk from one 
boarding house to another, or whether the President wishes 
a state dinner, the darky is indispensable. If you call on 
the President you first encounter a well-dressed and intelli- 
gent-looking colored man who has been on duty in the 
White House since Lincoln's time. If you call upon any of 
the officials at the departments, a polite colored man re- 
ceives your card and looks at it carefully before he takes it 
in. It is so everywhere. 

The colored population may be divided generally into 
two classes. The first is made up of the elegant and ambi- 
tious who call themselves "colored people," though some 
are quite white; and the other of the lazy, happy, easy- 
going work-folk and loafers, " out at elbow, loose all over, 
and content whenever the sun shines on them." 

Washington has a genteel colored society of its own. 
But no matter to Avhat degree of affluence, education, or 
culture a colored man may rise, neither he nor his family 
have any social relations with white people. Some of these 
men and women have so little trace of African descent in 
their blood that they would readily pass as white people in 
any Northern city ; but in the South generally they are as 
clearly ostracised as if they were coal-black. ISTowhere but 
in Washington is this educated, well-to-do, light-colored 
class so numerous that it can form a society in distinction 
from the shiftless negroes. Even here the better class does 
not hold itself exclusive of the less fortunate, except in 
purely social relations, and exactly as the exclusive society 
set of white people of any large city would maintain itself 
towards the class not in " society." 



522 COLORED SOCIETY, SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES. 

The colored people in Washington have their editors, 
their university with its colored professors, so excellent in 
many of its departments that it is attended by Avhite stu- 
dents ; they have their great schools with colored teachers 
in every district; they have their doctors, dentists, clubs, 
saloons, summer resorts, river steamers, and churches. 
There are in this class people who are living on their in- 
comes, people who have acquired wealth either here or else- 
where; if elsewhere they have come here to enjoy the 
pleasures of colored society such as is found nowhere else. 
They receive no social recognition from the whites, but with 
a society of their own that does not matter. 

This class can best be seen of a Sunday at one of their 
two or three churches. It should be understood that it is 
small compared with the " common negro," and while there 
are manv colored churches in the city with enormous mem- 
bershi})s and an unwavering attendance, the upper-set 
churches do not number over three, and the membership is 
not large. The quality, however, is unmistakable. The 
people dress, look, and behave precisely like well-bred white 
people, only their color shades from almost white to dusky 
black. Well-dressed men with fashionably-trimmed beards, 
and stylish women with lorgnettes occupy the pews. Some 
of these women, just a shade off the white, are among the 
handsomest in the city. 

At the church doors elegantly-dressed young colored men 
wait on the sidewalks for sweethearts, or drive up in car- 
riages and traps. There is an air of refinement in this 
church, which is often tastefully decked with flowers, fur- 
nished with the softest of carpets, attended by polite ushers, 
and presided over by a clerg\nnan Avho is generally a gradu- 
ate from one of the great universities, and whose eloquence 
has nothing in common with the ranting, rambling talk 
which can be heard in some of the colored churches a few 
blocks away. 



MUSIC IN THE AIR. 523 

But whether attending one of these refined colored 
churches or one of the much more numerous of the other 
class, one will always find good music. There is a natural 
richness of quality in negro voices, a harmonious blending 
which is melodious to the ears and which at one time made 
the " Jubilee Singers " so popular. 

In every walk of life the negro is a musician at heart. 
The tatterdemalion, happy-go-lucky negro is always singing 
when, not laughing or whistling. Should you come across a 
hundred negroes opening a trench in the city streets, you 
may be sure that half a dozen good quartettes could be 
chosen from among them whose voices would delight you. 
There is a clear permeating richness even in the voice of the 
negro huckster ; it fills the street and pours in at the win- 
dows. Nearer and nearer it comes, and finally a slouchy- 
looking negro appears, seated high up on a wagon full of 
watermelons, singing : 

" Red to de rine, and de rine red too, 
Better buy a watermillion while I's gwine thro'." 

At night the streets, especiall}^ adjacent to colored settle- 
ments, are full of laughter, singing, and whistling. There is 
a bird-like clearness and versatility in a negro's whistling, 
and he can pour out any of the po]3ular airs of the day with 
astonishing variations. You can no more deprive a negro of 
his whistle than of his laughter or the hue of his skin. 

"While the colored population is gradually being collected 
into settlements of their own in various portions of the city, 
as yet the negro and the white man frequently live side by 
side. Some of the finest mansions of the wealthy are less 
than a block from negro shanties, and this is one explanation 
of the wealth of so many colored families. They have 
made money in real estate in spite of themselves. Forty 
years ago a large part of the fashionable Northwest was oc- 
cupied by tumble-down shanties of negro owners, but, when 



524 THE EASTER EGG-ROLLING. 

the era of public improvements came, the land became more 
and more valuable, and gradually the shanties gave way to 
fine mansions. Still on many streets the mansion and the 
shanty yet stand side by side. 

A certain portion of the lowest class of negroes is 
alvraj's making trouble. "Bad niggers" abound. They 
constitute the business of the police courts and a large pro- 
portion of the inmates of the jail and penitentiary. But 
there is a steady improvement under the influence of the 
schools and the churches, and especially under better family 
regulations. Up to a few years ago the civil law required 
nothing of them so far as marriage was concerned. Now 
the marriage license is required, and family life is upon a 
surer basis. Thus, little by little, the race problem is being 
worked out, and the negro does not lack encouragement 
so long as he makes no effort to "run things." 

It is useless to deny the fact that the white people of the 
District of Columbia do not wish a political franchise. They 
would much prefer that Congress should govern the District, 
even if it is not always with justice. They decline to sub- 
ject themselves to the dangers of the vote of so large a col- 
ored element in municipal elections. It does not take long 
for the Northerner who settles here to become used to this 
way of thinking. 

The streets of "Washington with their smooth asphalt 
pavements, their overhanging foliage and pretty little 
squares make a paradise for children. On bright afternoons 
the squares are full of nurses and their little charges, who 
toddle about the shady walks and tumble over the grass. 
Their great annual fete is Easter Monday, when occurs the 
" egg-rolling" on the White House grounds. Such an army 
of children of all sorts and conditions and of various shades 
of color can never be seen elsewhere. It is one of the 
unique spectacles of the Capital, when the south grounds of 
the President's house are wholly given over to the laughing. 



AT THE GREAT CENTRAL MARKET. 525 

romping little folks, — hundreds of daintily-dressed white 
children and laughing ])ickaninnies mixed up together. 

On certain mornings and afternoons of the week the 
market basket is omnipresent. Women with market baskets 
fill the street cars and the sidewalks ; elegant carriages with 
market baskets at the feet of fair occupants roll along the 
avenues ; negroes carrying huge baskets follow portly 
women who are the keepers of boarding houses, and the 
Mecca of all is the great Central Market on Pennsylvania 
Avenue. This market is one of the most interesting sights 
of the Capital. The immense building covers two squares. 
Long passage-w^ays lined with stalls intersect each other and 
are densely packed with men and women carrying baskets. 
Turkeys, chickens, beef and mutton, rabbits and game, birds, 
oysters and turtles, masses of butter and cheese, cakes, pies, 
candies, flowers, everything in its season to make the table 
complete, cover the counters and dangle overhead. Fish 
from the Chesapeake, the Potomac, and the Maryland 
streams fill the stalls of one long passage-way, w^hile pickles 
and preserves rise in huge pyramids from various points. 

People of all w^alks of life jostle each other in the pas- 
sage-ways. Senators' wives, and boarding house keepers, 
negro "mammies" and maids go about with their baskets 
from stall to stall ; while chickens and cabbages, celery and 
sausages, and every other conceivable edible fill their baskets 
and fall over the edges. Every sunshiny day men whose 
names are known and honored throughout the world may 
be seen trudging toward the market in the dignified pursuit 
of exercise and dinner. Here, of old, w^ere seen the forms 
of illustrious statesmen and heroes now departed, and scores 
of men and women whose names are household words. 
Chief Justice Marshall, Daniel AVebster, and President Wil- 
liam Henry Harrison, Attorney-General Holt, William 
Walter Phelps, and scores of other famous men w^ere wont 
to come here in person to do their marketing. 



526 THE MARKET-BASKET PROCESSION. 

But the picturesque riess of the scene is not confined to 
the stalls inside. Here in the early morning hours, in the 
open-air market behind it, along the railings of the Smith- 
sonian grounds, the gaunt farmers of the Virginia and Mary- 
land hills stand beside their ramshackle wagons, or hover 
over little fires to keep warm, and quaint old darkies oiler 
for sale old-fashioned flowers and " yarbs," live chickens, 
fresh-laid eggs, and vegetables or fruit from their tiny subur- 
ban fields, while smoking cob pipes and crooning wordless 
melodies, just as they used to do in the days " befo' de wa'." 

It may seem strange to some that people so universally 
take their baskets with them when marketing. They might 
save themselves so much trouble by having their purchases 
delivered. But the conditions are such that the baskets are 
a necessity. In the first place a large portion of the people 
never think of making purchases for a meal till a perilously 
short time before it is to be served. There is one quality 
about people of Southern extraction which is conducive to 
their long lives, — they never cross bridges till they come to 
them. Tlie result is a general crush of marketing at certain 
hours of the day, and it would be a commercial impossibility 
for marketmen to provide a delivery system sufficient to 
cope with the problem of deli veering purchases in time for 
preparation. 

Furthermore, the Southern merchant is never given to 
putting himself out by delivering things promptly or when 
he says he will. When they say noon in New York 
it generally means a little before ; when they say noon in 
Washington it always means from one to four hours later. 
It is a general habit which all the people have, and which 
Northerners or Westerners who settle here usually contract 
sooner or later. This is the real secret of the omnipresent 
market basket at certain hours of the day. After all there 
can be no doubt that the housekeeper obtains her edibles 
fresher than she could without the basket, and cheaper, be- 
cause she bu3''s them herself and carries them home herself. 



CHAPTER XXXYII. 

BEAUTIFUL AND SACRED ARLINGTON — ITS ROMANCE AND 

ITS HISTORY — THE SILENT CITY OF THE NATION'S 

DEAD — THE SOLDIERS HOME. 

Where Peace and Silence Reign — " Tlie Bivouac of tlie Dead" — The 
Story of Arliuglou — The Graves of Nearly 17,000 Soldiers — How 
George Washington Managed the Property — How General Robert E. 
Lee Inherited the Estate — The Gathering Clouds of Civil War — A 
Sad Parting — Leaving Arlington Forever — Approach of the Union 
Troops — Flight of Mrs. Lee and Her Children — Her Pathetic Return 
to the Old Home After the War — The Graves of Distinguished 
Officers — The Tomb to the Unknown Dead — One Grave for Over 
2,000 Unknown Soldiers — A Touching Inscription — The Graves of 
600 Soldiers of the Spanish- American War — Where the Dead of the 
Battleship Maine Are Buried — Memorial Day at Arlington — Where 
Forty Soldiers Lie Alone — A Touching Incident — Thinking of the 
Dim Past — The Tomb of General Logan. 




'm 



[ET us leave the City of the Living, a city wherein 
the passions of political and social ambition are 
ever at strife ; wherein, even amid so many 
beautiful sights and so many revelations of a 
nation's greatness, rivalries, jealousies, and iniquities 
rudely jar the feelings as everywhere in life ; let us 
leave the statesmen talking — always talking — at the Cap- 
itol, the thousands of busy men and women at their work, 
the thousands who are seeking place, preferment, favors, 
legislation ; let us cross the Potomac and enter Arlington, 
the silent City of the Nation's Dead. Over the great white 
buildings we are leaving behind float the Stars and Stripes, 
and high above the dense foliage of the trees in yonder 
cemetery waves as proudly the same glorious banner. Back 

(537) 



528 THE RESTING-PLACE OF HEROES. 

in the City of the Living, doubtless, there are heroes who 
may never be known, but under this flag waving protect- 
ingly above Arlington are heroes all. They fought for 
those floating colors. They died " that government of the 
people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from 
the earth." 

Entering the cemetery through either one of several 
beautiful memorial gates, we follow a shady and winding 
roadway under the interlacing branches of mighty oaks. 
Here lie the remains of nearly 17,000 soldiers who died that 
the Nation might live. Except for the gentle fluttering of 
leaves and the singing of birds, the silence of death fills 
these grounds. On one side stand massive monuments to 
the illustrious dead, famous officers of our wars, while on 
the other, stretching away over the level ground, sprinkled 
with sunshine filtered through the foliage, are thousands of 
headstones, each marking a grave in which a soldier sleeps. 

The stones are set in rows, uniform in distance one from 
the other, arraved in order and marshaled as battalions for 
review. They bear no inscriptions — only numbers and 
names — but one story is the story of all, and it is told as 
we pass along the walks on the borders of which are iron 
tablets bearing lines selected from Col. Theodore O'Hara's 
eloquent poem : — " The Bivouac of the Dead." 

" The muffled drum's sad roll has beat 

The soldier's last tattoo ; 
No more on Life's parade shall meet 

That brave and fallen few. 
On Fame's eternal camping-ground 

Their silent tents are spread, 
And Glory guards, with solemn round, 

The bivouac of the dead. 

" No rumor of the foe's advance 
Now swells upon the wind ; 
No troubled thought at midnight haunts 
Of loved ones left behind ; 



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"THE BIVOUAC OF THE DEAD.'* 531 

No vision of tlie morrow's strife 

The warrior's dream alarms ; 
No brayiug horn nor screamiug life 

At dawii shall call to arms. 

'• The neighing troop, the flushing blade, 

The bugle's stirring blast. 
The charge, the dreadful cannonade. 

The din and shout are past ; 
Nor war's wild note, nor glory's peal, 

Shall thrill with fierce delight 
Those breasts that never more may feel 

The rapture of the fight. 

*' Sons of the Dark and Bloody Ground, 

Ye must not slumber there, 
Where stranger steps and tongues resound 

Along the heedless air. 
Your own proud land's heroic soil 

Shall be your fitter grave ; 
She claims from War his richest spoil — 

The ashes of her brave. 

" Thus 'neath their parent turf they rest, . 

Far from the gory field. 
Borne to a Spartan mother's breast 

On many a bloody shield ; 
The sunshine of their native sky 

Smiles sadly on them here. 
And kindred eyes and hearts watch by 

The heroes' sepulcher. 

" Rest on, embalmed and sainted dead, 

Dear as the blood ye gave. 
No impious footsteps here shall tread 

The herbage of your grave ; 
Nor shall your glory be forgot 

While Fame her record keeps, 
Or Honor points the hallowed spot 

Where Valor proudly sleeps." 

Arlington, as an anU-Mlum estate, was in a peculiarly- 
intimate manner identified with the history of the founding 



532 HISTORY AND ROMANCE OF ARLINGTON. 

of the Union, and after the Civil War it was fittingly 
chosen as one of the great national burial-places of those 
who died for the })reservation of that Union. The family 
of John Custis, who purchased this property early in the 
eighteenth century, was one of the first in the colony of 
Virginia. He was very wealthy for those days, proud 
withal, and much vexed when his high-spirited son, Daniel 
Parke Custis, persisted in falling in love with Martha Dan- 
dridge of Williamsburg, instead of with an heiress w^hom 
he desired him to marry. But Martha met the elder Custis 
at a social gathering and so captivated him that he offered 
no further objections. When the old gentleman died, this 
son and his wife came into possession of the Arlington 
estate, and there the husband soon died, leaving it to 
Martha, a young wido^v with two children. 

In due time the rich and handsome widow re-entered 
society and became acquainted with a young colonial Colo- 
nel who lived with his mother at Mount Vernon farther 
down the river, and whose name was George Washington. 
He wooed and won Martha Custis, and, with her two 
children, they went to live at Mount Vernon, but managed 
also the Arlington property. One of the children, Martha 
Parke Custis, died, but the son, John Parke Custis, grew to 
manhood and inherited the Arlington estate. He died in 
1781, after serving upon his stepfather's staff during the 
latter portion of the Eevolution, and his tAvo infant children 
were adopted by Washington and by him were deeply 
loved. Elinor, or " Nelly," Custis, who grew up w^ith an 
inheritance of her grandmother's beauty, married Major 
Lewis, a A-^irginian, and her brother, George Washington 
Parke Custis, upon reaching his majority, inherited Arling- 
ton and began the erection of the mansion that for over a 
century has stood on the Virginia bank of the river. Mr. 
Custis married Mary Lee Fitzhugh, one of the Randolphs, 
and of four children only one survived, a daughter Mary. 



THE GATHERING CLOUDS OF CIVIL WAR. 533 

The Custis family lived at their stately mansion for many 
years, improving and beautifying it and entertaining hand- 
somely, until the death of Mr. Custis, the last male of his 
familv, in 1857. 

" From early boyhood Robert E. Lee was a welcome 
visitor to this happy home, and together he and Mary Custis 
grew to maturity. They were distantly related, and seem 
to have been sini^ularlv suited to one another. Among^ their 
other youthful pastimes was the planting of the noble ave- 
nue of trees to the right of Arlington. Robert became a 
cadet at West Point, and as time passed on their attachment 
to one another deepened. 

''They were married in 1831, two years after he had 
graduated at "West Point, the ceremony being performed in 
the room to the right of the hall of the mansion. 

" Here they lived for thirty years. Their children were 
all born here, and Colonel Lee's life of active military 
duties alternated with periods of quiet retirement at home. 

" The gathering clouds of Civil War made it necessary 
for him to decide upon his course, and, after long and sad 
deliberation, he declared that his duty lay with his native 
State. So, resigning his commission as colonel of the First 
Regiment of Cavalry in the United States Army, on April 
20, 1861, he was appointed Major-General and Commander 
of the Confederate forces of Virginia four days later, and 
left his wife and children at Arlington to take command of 
his new troops." 

He went to become the great military leader of the 
Rebellion, and doubtless he expected some day to return, for 
he took away none of the furniture and few of the great 
number of priceless relics of Washington. The government 
seized everything of historical value, and most of such arti- 
cles are now to be seen in the National Museum. When the 
Federal troops took possession they converted the mansion 
into a headquarters and the grounds into a camp, and the 



534 HOW ARLINGTON BECAME A NATIONAL CEMETERY. 

level j)lateaus and grassy slopes of Arlington were devoted 
to the purposes of a militar}'^ cemetery. 

" Upon the approach of the Union troops." says Mr. 
Bengough, "Mrs. Lee was compelled to leave at last the 
home made sacred by all the tender associations of life. 
The home of her ancestors, made glorious by the memory 
of Washington, the fair spot where she first looked out upon 
the world, the scene of her childhood's happy days, of her 
early love and marriage, the birthplace of all her children 
and their home through their ^'"ears of growth to maturity, 
the treasury of all the rich collection of relics of Washington 
and her parents ; all were torn away from her, and forever. 
Once only, some years afterwards, when enfeebled by illness, 
she came back to visit the old home, but the transformation 
affected her so that she could not stay, but asked that they 
should let her ' get a drink of water from the spring,' and 
then take her away. She had always said that she could 
not die in peace away from Arlington, and in her last hours 
in the valley of the shadow she fancied herself back again, 
with her little children, wandering amid the scenes so fondly 
loved of old." 

The Federal authorities took possession of Arlington for 
military uses, and held it under that eminent title until Jan- 
uary 11, 1864, when it was put up at public sale for unpaid 
taxes ($92.07) and was bought by the government for 
$26,800. Mrs. Robert E. Lee, the life tenant, died in 1873. 
Four years later, her eldest child, George Washington Custis 
Lee, who inherited the title to the estate, brought a suit in 
ejectment and successfully contested the legality of the title 
of the government under the tax sale ; but was barred in the 
Supreme Court, In recognition, however, of his equitable 
claim, Congress appropriated (March 3, 1883) the sum of 
$150,000 for the purchase of the estate, and Mr. Lee con- 
veyed by deed to the United States all his rights therein. 
Such is the history and the romance of Arlington. 



MONUMENT TO THE UNKNOWN DEAD. 535 

The view from the porch of the old mansion is one of the 
fairest. A half-mile away and two hundred feet below flows 
the placid Potomac, and beyond lies Washington. If you 
would catch the beauties of the scene at their best, stand 
here of a quiet evening, while yet the river is shimmering in 
the sunset, and above the soft mists rise the great dome of 
the Capitol and the massive white shaft of the monument. 
If, as tradition says, Washington one day selected this nook 
in the valley of the Potomac for the seat of the future Capi- 
tal of the nation, we may well suppose that it may have been 




BENEATH THIS STONE 

REPOSE THE BONES OF TWO THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED kHU ELEVEN UNKNOWN SOLDIERS 

GATHERED AFTER THE WAR 

FROM THE FIELDS OF BULL RUN, AND THE ROUTE TO THE RAPPAHANNOCK 

THEIR REMAINS COULD NOT BE IDENTIFIED, BUT THEIR NAMES AND DEATHS ARE 

RECORDED IN THE ARCHIVES OF THEIR COUNTRY; AND ITS GRATEFUL CITIZENS 

HONOR THEM AS OF THEIR NOBLE ARMY OF MARTYRS. MAY THEY REST IN PEACE'. 

SEPTEMBER, A. D. 1866. 



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FACE UF MO.NUME.NT TU THE UXKNUVVN DEAD UK THE CIVIL WAlt. 

at a time when he stood upon this plateau above the river 
and whispered his love into the ears of Martha Custis. It is 
in such hours, when the heart is young, and hope and ambi- 
tion are strong, that inspiration comes. 

Near the Temple of Fame, on whose columns are 
eng-raved the names of distinguished American soldiers, 
stands the massive granite sarcophagus sacred to the 
memory of the unknown dead of the Civil War. The bones 
of over 2,000 unknown soldiers, gathered after the war 
from the battle-fields of Bull Pam and thence to the 
Ptappahannock, lie here in one grave. The simple story is 
told in the letters chiseled on the granite face of the 
monument. 



536 THE DEAD FROM DISTANT BATTLE-FIELDS. 

On the brow of the bluff near the old mansion are buried 
many officers of distinction. A great memorial stone marks 
the resting-place of General Sheridan, and others as conspicu- 
ous indicate the graves of Admirals Porter, Rogers, and 
Ammen, and Generals Rawlins, Crook, Doubleday, Meigs, 
Ricketts, Lawton, Henry, and others. 

Stones worn with age mark the graves of eleven Revolu- 
tionary officers. In accordance with a privilege given to the 
wives and daughters of soldiers buried at Arlington, many 
a woman's grave is here beside that of the husband or the 
father. 

In a new section of the cemetery, half a mile to the 
south of the officers' burial-field, are the graves of 600 sol- 
diers who were killed or died of disease in Cuba and Porto 
Rico during the war with Spain, and whose remains were 
brought by a grateful country from the distant battle-fields 
and camps and reinterred with military honors at Arlington, 
Congress having appropriated $300,000 for this purpose. 

"It is fitting that in behalf of the Nation," said 
President McKinley in his Executive Order relating to 
the reinterment of these soldiers, "tributes of honor be 
paid to the memories of the noble men who lost their 
lives in their country's service, during the late war with 
Spain. It is the more fitting, inasmuch as, in consonance 
with the spirit of our free institutions and in obedience 
to the most exalted promptings of patriotism, those who 
were sent to other shores to do battle for their country's 
honor under their country's flag went freely from every 
quarter of our beloved land. Each soldier, each sailor, 
parting from home ties and putting behind him private 
interests in the presence of the stern emergency of un- 
sought war with an alien foe, was an individual type of 
that devotion of the citizens of the state which makes 
our Nation strong in unity and in action." 

The memorial to the victims of the Maine is a giant 



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THE DEAD OP THE BATTLESHIP ''MAINE." 539 

anchor. It is an anchor with a history, though much of 
that history is not known. The anchor is of ancient style 
and rough workmanship, having heen wrought by hand 
from a huge piece of iron It has an enormous wooden 
cross-bar, honeycombed by time and the elements. This 
cross-bar, even when the anchor is lying at an angle, reaches 
over six feet in the air, and, silhouetted against the sky, can 
be seen from the river. The whole has been painted a dead 
black to preserve it from further decay. 

The anchor rests upon a large concrete base in the natu- 
ral position of such a device when reposing on the land, and 
the whole is said to weigh more than two tons. 

On a huge tablet riveted to the center of the cross-bar is 

inscribed : 

U. S. S. MAINE. 

Blown Up Ff:bruary Fifteenth, 1898. 

Here Lie the Remains of One Hundred and Sixty-three Men op 

"The Maine's" Crew Brought From Havana, Cuba, 

Reinterred at Arlington, December Twenty-eighth, 1899. 

The anchor, however, is not the only object that marks 
the graves of Captain Sigsbee's men. At each side of this 
huge iron memorial there has been erected a brick pier and 
upon each of these is placed a Spanish mortar. These mor- 
tars were taken by the Americans of Dewey's fleet at Cavito 
Arsenal, Manila. 

In one part of the grounds there is a sylvan temple, an 
amphitheater formed by turfed embankments and shaded 
with trellises of vines. Here every year when Arlington 
has taken on its springtime beauty, the Memorial Day 
services are held, and under the softest of skies and in 
serenest airs the graves of our dead heroes are decorated 
with flowers. 

Arlington is glorious that day. No words could be 
more eloquent than those which are spoken ; no music so 
tender nor more full of precious memories, nor sweeter with 



540 BEAUTIFUL AND HOLY ARLINGTON. 

suggestions of peace and rest, than that sung under those 
patriarchal trees and that canopy of living green. And no 
sight could be more touching than when gray-haired vet- 
erans reverently lay wreaths and scatter the flowers of May 
upon the graves of the loyal dead who sleep their eternal 
sleep in this historic ground. 

Not far away, there is a little cemetery where forty 
soldiers lie alone. They fell in defense of Washington 
during Early's raid in July, 1864, One of these was the 
son of a poor widow. She had given three to her country, 
and this one was the last. Living far in northern Vermont, 
she never saw the graves of her three soldier-sons, whom 
she gave up, one b}^ one, as .they came to man's estate, and 
who went forth from her home to return no more. 

To this little graveyard on a Memorial Day one woman 
went alone with her children, carrying forty wreaths of 
loveliest flowers, and laid one on every grave. Forty 
mothers' sons slept under the green turf ; and one mother, 
in her large love, remembered and consecrated them all. 
She chose these because, with so many others in the larger 
cemeteries to be decorated, she feared the forty, in their 
isolation, might be forgotten. 

Look again on Arlington through the soft spring atmo- 
sphere. How beautiful it is ! how sad it is! how holy! Again 
the tender spring grasses have crept over its thousands of 
haUowed graves. The innocents, the violets of the woods, 
are blooming over the heads of our brave. Awe-inspiring 
silence reigns through this domain of the dead. There is a 
hush in the air, and a hush in the heart, as we walk through 
it, reading its names, pausing by the graves of its "un- 
known," and thinking of the dim past. Far as the sight 
reaches stretch the low green mounds that mark the last 
resting-places of the heroic dead. The beauty of their 
sleeping-place, the reverent care for it everywhere revealed, 
tells how dear to the Nation's heart is the dust of its heroes. 



AT THE soldier's HOME. 541 

how sacred the spot Avhere they lie. Let us not forget the 
still higher love which we owe them; let us attest it by a 
deeper devotion to the principles for which they died. 

Standing on tlie bluff at Arlington and looking across 
the river and beyond the city, we see rising above the trees 
the white tower of the Soldier's Home. Journeying thither, 
we find ourselves again in the forest, with flowers blooming 
and ivy climbing over walls and bridges, and squirrels scam- 
pering along the winding roadways which lead to the great 
white buildings. Here and tliere about the velvety lawns 
are old, battle-scarred veterans basking in the sun, smoking 
their pipes and fighting their battles over again. About the 
many acres, more than a hundred of which are in culti- 
vation, are many places where one can stand and look out 
over a wide panorama of country, the river, the woodlands, 
the city itself. 

This home w^as established in 1851 by the efforts of Gen- 
eral Scott out of certain funds received from confiscated 
property during the War with Mexico, as a retreat for vet- 
erans of the Mexican "War and for men of the regular army 
who may be disabled, or who, by twenty years of honorable 
service and the payment of twelve and one-half cents a 
month during service, acquire the right of residence here 
for the remainder of their lives. The veterans thus have a 
sense of self-support, and if they have no other income, 
those who are able to do anything receive forty cents per 
day for working about the buildings on the farm and the 
grounds. There are usually about 800 soldiers here living 
under a proper discipline, wearing the uniform of the army. 
More than 250 of this number are bed-ridden invalids in the 
large hospital of the home, where they receive every atten- 
tion, and the care of Regular Army surgeons and the Hos- 
pital Corps. 

In the rear of the home on a wooded slope lies another 
of the National Military Cemeteries, entered through an 



542 THE TOMB OF GENERAL JOHN A. LOGAN. 

arch upon whose pillars are inscribed the names of great 
Union commanders of the Civil War, In this cemetery rest 
the mortal remains of about 5,000 Union and 300 Confede- 
rate soldiers. A broad avenue runs along the north side of 
the enclosure, leaving a space between the fence and the 
avenue where a number of officers and their wives are 
buried — General and Mrs. Brice, General Hunt and General 
Kelton, Lieutenant Hunt of the Greeley expedition, and 
others. On the opposite side stands the beautiful stone 
chapel of pure Norman architecture, in which repose the 
remains of General John A. Logan, the greatest volunteer 
commander of the Civil War. To it many pilgrimages are 
made by citizens of Washington and the legions of vis- 
itors. There are many drives through the grounds of the 
Soldier's Home, over smooth roadways cut through the 
natural forest, ever and anon bringing us to some open 
height from which may be seen a charmingly-picturesque 
landscape, and always the beautiful city of Washington. 



CHAPTER XXXYIII. 

A DAY AT MOUNT VERNON— AMID THE SCENES OP 

GEORGE AND MARTHA WASHINGTON'S HOME 

LIFE— THEIR LAST RESTING-PLACE. 

The Old Mansion at Mount Vernon — Its Story — How It Was Saved for 
the Nation — The Married Life of George and Martha Wasliington — 
His Life as a Farmer — His Daily Routine — His Large Force of 
Workmen and Slaves — Out of Butter — Washington's Devotion to 
His Wife — Ordering Her Clothes — A Runaway Cook — Looking for 
a Housekeeper — "Four Dollars at Christmas with Which To Be 
Drunk Four Days and Four Nights " — His Final Illness and Death — 
The Bed on Which He Died — Dastardly Attempt To Rob His Grave 

— Death of Mrs. Washington — The Attic Room in Which She Died 

— What Was Found in the Old Vault — Removing the Remains to 
the New Vault — Opening the Coffins— The New Tomb — A Tour 
Through the Mansion. 

,IFTEEN miles farther down the Potomac, partly 
hidden among the trees which almost everywhere 
line the Virginia shore, is Mount Vernon, the 
home of Washington. The mansion is older and 
much less pretentious than that at Arlington. It 
is of wood, cut and painted to resemble stone, and is 
surmounted by an antique Aveather-vane. Its venerable and 
venerated roof sheltered Washington and all he held most 
dear, from youth to age, and here, during his life, the great 
and good of many lands always found an open hand and 
generous cheer. Here, amid the scenes he so well loved, 
his mortal remains were laid to rest, and a little later those 
of his wife were laid by his side. 

To compare with the many elegant memorials in stone 

(543) 




544 THE TWO TOMBS AT MOUNT VERNON. 

which mark the graves of thousands of heroes at Arlington, 
there are but two tombs, one very okl, decayed, moss- 
covered, ivy-grown and empty ; two or three marble shafts 
sacred to the memory of members of the Washington family ; 
and the very simple brick structure built in the side of an 
embankment. The front has trimmings of marble, the 
entrance being protected by an open iron grill. Back of 
this grill is the vestibule of the tomb ; within which stand 
two sarcophagi of time-stained marble. Back of this vesti- 
bule is the vault in which years ago w^ere deposited the 
bodies of George and Martha Washington, as also those of 
two or three other members of the family. Solid marble 
slabs close the entrance, the keys of which were thrown into 
the Potomac river when the tomb was closed. 

Until the last decade the only way Mount Vernon could 
be reached by visitors was by conveyance from Alexandria, 
or by the little steamer which still plies between Washing- 
ton and this hallowed spot. Every summer's day a motley 
crowd composed of the young and old, the refined and 
vulgar, the grave and gay, fathers and mothers with children 
and lunch baskets, and pretty girls with dignified duennas, 
boarded the steamer for a day's outing at Mount Vernon. 
The wharf at which the steamer landed is the one that 
AYashino-ton built and from which the flour, tobacco, and 
corn, the chief productions of the Mount Vernon estate, 
were shipped in vessels for England or the British West 

Indies. 

But a trolley line now runs from the center of Washing- 
ton to the north gate at Mount Vernon, reaching the mansion 
in an hour. The cars cross the famous Long Bridge over 
the Potomac, and speed on their way through woods and 
over fields fraught with memories of the Civil War ; through 
Alexandria and past Christ Church, where AVashington at- 
tended, and many other scenes once familiar to him when 
living the life of a plain Virginia planter. By and by ;i 



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HOW MOUNT VERNON RECEIVED ITS NAME. 547 

white fence, with a background of huge trees, comes into 
view. It marks the northern boundary line of the okl 
Mount Vernon estate, through a part of which the electric 
cars now run. The surrounding country lias not changed 
materially since AYashington's day, and it does not require a 
vivid imagination to picture his commanding figure on his 
customary daily round of inspection. The grounds are now 
closed at 4 o'clock each day, witli the exception of Sunday, 
when they are not opened to the public at all. 

Washington came into ])ossession of the Mount Vernon 
estate by the will of his half-brother, Lawrence AVashington, 
who inherited it from his father. Lawrence Washington 
was an officer of the English navy, and had served under 
Admiral Vernon against Spain. Because of his admiration 
of his old commander he called his estate, whereon he built 
a modest mansion, Jlount Vernon, and from that the whole 
domain received its title. 

Lawrence Washington died in 1752, and George, at the 
age of twenty, had the care of his estate as chief executor, 
Lawrence's little daughter Jane being the only immediate 
heir. Her death left die entire estate to George, pursuant to 
the provisions of her father's will. It was his home from 
1754 until his death in 1799. 

In the spring of 1859, after he had achieved his colonial 
military fame, George Washington brought to Mount Ver- 
non, from the home of her widowhood, his bride, Martha 
Custis. At seventeen she had married Daniel Parke Custis, 
one of the wealthiest planters of the Colony, a man more 
than twenty years her senior, by whom she had four chil- 
dren, two of whom were living. A year's widowhood had 
not decreased her charms when the gallant and susceptible 
young soldier met her. 

And yet the old mansion in which so much of their long 
married life was spent, around which cluster so many patri- 
otic and hallowed associations, and the grounds wherein the 



5-48 HOW THE ESTATE WAS PURCHASED. 

mortal remains of Washington and his wife were laid to 
rest, were utterly neglected for years, and the old house 
nearly went to irretrievable decay before its value as a 
national Mecca occurred to the people. In 1855, John 
Augustine Washington, then owner, being unable to main- 
tain the estate, offered it for sale. Even then Congress 
could not be prevailed upon to purchase and restore the old 
manor. At this critical juncture, Miss Ann Pamela Cun- 
ningham of South Carolina, undertook the apparently -hope- 
less effort of raising the sum of $200,000 necessary to pur- 
chase the mansion and a part of the estate. With courage 
that never faltered she earnestly devoted herself to this self- 
imposed task, and contributions were solicited from every 
quarter. 

In 1858 the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association was or- 
ganized, with Miss Cunningham as Regent. Vice-Regents 
representing twelve states were also elected and efforts to 
raise the needed money were increased. Edward Everett 
gave the proceeds of his lecture on Washington, and of some 
of his writings, and in this way contributed $69,000 as his 
personal contribution to the funds of the association. Wash- 
ington Irving gave $500. Thousands of school children 
gave each five cents. The latter part of 1859 the full sum 
was raised, and in 1860, two hundred acres of the estate, 
including the tomb, the mansion and its surrounding build- 
ings, became the property of the association. Since that 
time the association has added to its purchase, and now 
controls 237 acres of the original estate. A fund was pro- 
vided for its permanent care and maintenance. The asso- 
ciation has refitted the mansion with furnishings of colonial 
times, including many articles which originally belonged to 
Washington and once had their place within his home. 

Much of the forty years of Washington's married life 
was spent at Mount Vernon. It was his home for forty-six 
years, just one-half of which was given to his country's serv- 



Washington's home life. 549 

ice. He never left it even for a brief period without regret- 
In the winter of 1783 he wrote to Lafayette : " I am become 
a private citizen on the banks of the Potomac ; and under 
the shadow of my own vine and my own fig-tree, free from 
the bustle of a camp and the busy scenes of public life. . 
I have not only retired from all public employments, 
but I am retiring within myself. . . . Envious of none, 
I am determined to be pleased with all ; and this, my dear 
friend, being the order of my march, I will move gently 
down the stream of time until I sleep wnth my fathers." 

The life of Washington is very closely interwoven with 
every portion of Mount Yernon ; and it is here, in the seclu- 
sion and environment of his own home, that we can see, as 
no where else, the domestic side of his character. 

Agriculture was "Washington's favorite pursuit. He 
found great pleasure in farming, and late in life said, " The 
life of a husbandman of all others is the most delectable," 
and "has ever been the most favorite amusement of my 
life." A visitor to Mount Yernon in 1785 states that his 
host's "greatest pride is to be thought the first farmer in 
America." His strong affection for Mount Yernon made 
him happy and contented while there, and uneasy when 
away from it. When leaving Mount Yernon for New York 
in 1789, for his first inauguration as President, he regret- 
fully bade " adieu to Mount Yernon, to private life, and to 
domestic felicity." From the first his personal attention to 
the farm was seriously interrupted _From 1754 till 1759 he 
was mbst of the time on the frontier ; for nearly nine years 
his Eevolutionary service separated him from the property ; 
and during the two terms of his presidency he had only 
brief and infrequent visits. 

After he had w^ritten his farewell to his officers and re- 
signed his commission in the armv, he fondlv dreamed of 
spending his remaining years in uninterrupted peace on the 
shores of the Potomac. This desire for the retirement of 



550 WASHINGTON AS A LAND-OWNER. 

home life was conspicuous in Washington's character. His 
return to Mount Vernon after the disbanding of the Conti- 
nental army, proved only a brief respite from patriotic 
service ; but during that time he devoted himself to the ag- 
ricultural development of his farm and the interior improve- 
ment of his house. He enlarged the mansion in 1760 and 
again in 1785. 

When the estate passed into his hands it consisted of 
2,500 acres ; but he was a persistent purchaser of land 
adjoining his own, and eventually the 2,500 acres increased 
to over 8,000, of which over 3,200 were under cultivation 
during the latter part of his life. He was ambitious to bring 
the farm to the highest pitch of cultivation. He was a dili- 
gent student of agricultural literature, and was constantly 
trying new experiments to improve his crops and stock. 

Yet the Mount Yernon farm rarely produced a net 
income. He owned thousands of scattered acres elsewhere, 
for Washington was a sanguine speculator, not only in farm 
lands but in city lots and lottery schemes and raffles, and he 
became more or less land-poor. In 1763 he confided to a 
friend that the needs of his plantation "and other matters 
. . . swallowed up before I well knew where I was, all the 
moneys I got by marriage, nay more, brought me in debt." 

Notwithstanding all this, Washington was a successful 
business man, and his wealth steadily increased. When he 
died, his property, exclusive of his wife's and the Mount 
Vernon estate, was estimated at $530,000, and it was said of 
him by a contemporary, " General Washington is, perhaps, 
the largest landholder in America." 

The management of such an extensive estate as Mount 
Vernon required a large force of Avorkmen. A grist-mill, a 
blacksmith-shop, a wood-burner to keep the sho}) and the 
mansion supplied with charcoal, masons, carpenters, a shoe- 
maker, and gardeners were kept busy on the place. At one 
time a still was in operation from which a good income was 



WASHINGTON THE FARMER. 551 

obtained. The coopers on the place made the barrels in 
which the farm })ro(luce was packed, and Washington's 
schooner carried much of it to market. 

In 1TT4 Washington paid tithes on 135 slaves; besides 
which must be included the " dower slaves" of his wife. A 
contemporary, describing Mount Vernon in the same 3'ear, 
speaks of his having 300 negroes. 

In 1703 there were fifty-four draft horses on the estate, 
and 317 head of cattle. A large dairy was operated which, 
somehow, did not fill AVashington's expectations, for he had 
occasion to say, " It is hoped, and will be expected, that 
more effectual measures will be pursued to make butter 
another year; for it is almost beyond belief that from 101 
cows actually reported on a late enumeration of the cattle, 
I am obliged to hmj hutter for the use of my family." 

At this time (\Z^ sheep grazed in the rich pastures of 
Mount Yernon, and " many " hogs, but " as these were pretty 
much at large in the woodland," he said, " the number is 
uncertain." He loved horses and dogs, was an ardent sports- 
man, and enjoyed a fox hunt over the hills and across the 
fields of his own and adjoining estates. 

Martha Washington's personality w^as partially obscured 
by the fame of her illustrious husband, and she was content 
to bask in its sunshine. His marriage to her was a good 
one from the worldly point of view, for her share of the 
Custis property equaled " 15,000 acres of land, a good part 
of it adjoining the city of Williamsburg ; several lots in the 
said city ; between 200 and 300 negroes ; and about £8,000 
or £10,000 upon bond," estimated at the time as about 
£20,000 in all, w^hich was further increased on the death 
of "Patsy" Custis in 1773 by a half of her fortune, which 
added £10,000 to the sum. 

AVashington was devoted to his wife's children, John 
Parlce and Martha Parke Custis, whom he called "Jack" 
and " Patsy," and who at the date of his marriage were 



552 GLIMPSES OF DOMESTIC LIFE. 

respectively six and four years of age. Mrs. Washington 
was an anxious and worrying mother. Once when she had 
left one of the children at Mount Vernon while she was on 
a visit to friends, she wrote to her sister : 

" I carried my little patt with me and left Jackey at 
home for a trial to see how well I could stay without him 
though we were gon but wone fortnight I was quite impatient 
to get home. If I at aney time heard the doggs barke or a 
noise out, I thought thair was a person sent for me. 1 
often fancied he was sick or some accident had happened to 
him so that I think it is impossible for me to leave him as 
long as Mr. Washington must stay when he comes." 

Martha Washington was not an educated woman, and 
her letters of form, which required better orthography 
than she was mistress of, Washington drafted for her, pen- 
weary though he was. He frequently saved her the trouble 
of orderinof her own clothino-, for he wrote to his London 
agent for "A Salmon-colored Tabby of the enclosed pq,ttern, 
with satin flowers, to be made in a sack," " 1 Cap, Handker- 
chief, Tucker and Ruffles, to be made of Brussels lace or 
point, proper to wear with the above negligee, to cost £20," 
" 1 pair black, and 1 pair white Satin Shoes, of the smallest," 
and " 1 black mask." Again he writes his London agent, 
" Mrs. Washington sends home a green sack to get cleaned, 
or fresh dyed of the same color ; made up into a handsome 
sack again, would be her choice ; but if the cloth won't 
afford that, then to be thrown into a genteel Night Gown." 

Nevertheless Mrs. Washington performed her duties 
well, for she combined, " in an uncommon degree, great dig- 
nity of manner with most pleasing affability." Though ob- 
stinate and quick-tempered, she is described as " a sociable, 
pretty kind of woman," " matronly and with perfect good 
breeding." 

Washington had to face the usual vexatious domestic 
problems. " The running off of my cook," he says, " has 
been a most inconvenient thing to this family, and what 



OLD-TIME HOSPITALITY. 553 

rendered it more disagreeable, is that I had resolved never 
to become the Master of another slave by purchase, but this 
resolution I fear I must break. I have endeavored to hire, 
black or white, but am not yet supplied." 

The care of the Mount Vernon household evidently 
proved too much for Martha AVashington's ability, and a 
housekeeper was engaged. When one who had filled the 
position was on the point of leaving, Washington wrote to 
his agent to find another without the least delay, emphasiz- 
ing the importance of haste because the vacancy would 
"throw a great additional weight on Mrs. Washington." 
On another occasion he Avrote that his wife's " distresses for 
want of a good housekeeper are such as to render the wages 
demanded by Mrs. Forbes (though unusuall}^ liigh) of no 
consideration." To a housekeeper he promised "a warm, 
decent, and comfortable room to herself, to lodge in, and 
will eat of the victuals of our Table, but not set at it, or at 
any time with us, be her appearance what it may ; for if 
this was 07ice admitted no line satisfactory to either party 
perhaps could be drawn thereafter." 

The hospitality dispensed at Mount Yernon was almost 
baronial in its lavishness, and it was often imposed upon. 
The old custom of keeping " open house " prevailed, and 
attracted hosts of friends traveling north and south, and the 
mansion was often taxed to its fullest capacity. At times, 
Washington was a little embarrassed by calls from those 
who had no claim whatever upon him. He notes : " A gen- 
tleman calling himself the Count de Cheiza D'Artigan, 
Officer of the French Guards, came here to dinner; but, 
bringing no letters of introduction, nor any authentic testi- 
monials of his being either, I was at a loss how to receive or 
treat him, — he staid to dinner and the evening," and the 
next day departed in Washington's carriage to Alexandria. 
"A farmer came here to see my drill plow," he says, " and 
staid all night." At another time he records that a woman 

31 



554 DAILY LIFE AT MOUNT VERNON. 

whose " name was unknown to me, dined here." He spoke 
of his home as a " well-resorted tavern," and recorded in his 
diary, " Dined with Mrs. Washington, which I believe is the 
first instance of it since my retirement from public life." 

Washington kept a daily record of all expenses, even 
going so far as to jot down everything that was provided 
for his table. He gave personal oversight to all that was 
going on at Mount Vernon, and no detail was too small to 
engage his attention. It was his custom to put all agree- 
ments in writing, and some of them, found among his papers, 
are amusingly interesting, as, for example, his agreement 
with Philip Barter, a gardener, who bound himself to keep 
sober and not to drink except on stated occasions, to which 
Washington assented in an agreement which stipulated that 
Barter should have 

" Four dollars at Christmas, with which to be drunk four 
days and four nights ; two dollars at Easter, to effect 
the same purpose; two dollars at Whitsuntide, to be 
drunk for two days; a dram in the morning, and a drink of 
grog at dinner, at noon. For the true and faithful perform- 
ance of all these things, the parties have hereunto set their 
hands, this twenty-third day of April, Anno Domini, 1Y87." 

The contract was signed and witnessed with all formality. 

Washington has left on record a description of the routine 
of his daily life at Mount Vernon : " I begin my diurnal 
course with the sun . . . if my hirelings are not in their 
places by that time, I send them messages of sorrow for 
their indisposition; having put these wheels in motion, I 
examine the state of things further; the more they are 
probed the deeper I find the wounds which my buildings 
have sustained by an absence and neglect of eight years ; by 
the time I have accomplished these matters breakfast (a lit- 
tle after seven o'clock) is ready ; this being over, I mount 
my horse and ride around my farms, which employs me 
until it is time to dress for dinner. . . . The usual time for 



WASHINGTON'S LAST ILLNESS. 557 

sitting at the table, a walk, and tea bring me within the 
dawn of candlelight ; previous to which, if not prevented by 
company, I resolve that as soon as the glimmering taper 
supplies the place of the great luminary I will retire to my 
Avriting-table and acknowledge the letters I have received ; 
when the lights are brought I feel tired and disinclined to 
engage in this work, conceiving that the next night will do 
as well. The next night comes, and with it the same causes 
for postponement, and so on. Having given you the history 
of a day, it will serve for a year." 

A visitor to Mount Yernon at this time is authority for 
the statement that the master " often works with his men 
himself — strips off his coat and labors like a common man. 
The General has a great turn for mechanics. It's astonish- 
ing with what niceness he directs everything in the building 
way, condescending even to measure the things himself, that 
all may be perfectly uniform." 

"Washington's final illness dates from December 12, 1799. 
On that day he contracted a severe cold while riding about 
his plantation in " rain, hail, and snow." "When he came in 
late in the afternoon it was observed that his clothes were 
wet, but he said his " great coat had kept him dry ; but his 
neck aj^peared to be wet and the snow was hanging on his 
hair." The next day he was worse, "and complained of 
having a sore throat," but he " made light of it, as he would 
never take anything to carry off a cold, always observing, 
'let it go as it came.' " On the following morning he could 
" swallow nothing," " appeared to be distressed, convulsed, 
and almost suffocated." 

The treatment of his last illness by the doctors was bar- 
barous, even when judged by the standard of medical skill 
of that time. Although he had been bled once already, 
they prescribed " two pretty copious bleedings," and finally 
a third, " when about thirty-two ounces of blood were 
drawn," or the equivalent of a quart 



558 RESIGNED TO DEATH. 

Shortly after this last bleeding Washington seemed to 
have resigned himself, for he gave some directions concern- 
ing his will, and said, referring to his approaching death, 
" as it was the debt which we must all pay, he looked to the 
event with perfect resignation." He suffered great pain and 
distress, and said to the doctor, " I die hard, but I am not 
afraid to go." A little later he said, " I feel myself going. 
I thank you for your attention; you had better not take 
any more trouble about me, but let me go off cpiietly." He 
expired without a struggle, December 14, 1799. His last 
words were, " 'Tis welL" 

The remains of Washington, and later those of his wife, 
Tvere placed in metal coffins and deposited in the old vault at 
Mount Vernon. In 1837 the remains of both were intrusted 
to the final keeping of two marble coffins, hewn each from a 
single block of marble, made and presented by Mr. John 
Struthers of Philadelphia, which were then deposited in the 
new vault where they now lie. This vault was erected 
many years ago, in pursuance of instructions given in the 
following clause in Washington's will : " The family vault at 
Mount Vernon requiring repairs, and being improperly situ- 
ated besides, I desire that a new one, of brick, and upon a 
larger scale, may be built at the foot of what is called the 
Vineyard Inclosure; on the ground which is marked out, 
in which my remains, and those of my deceased relatives 
(now in the old vault) and such others of my family as may 
choose to be entombed there, may be deposited." 

The old vault referred to was upon the brow of a decliv- 
ity, in full view of the Potomac river, about 300 yards south 
of the mansion. Time and neglect had wrought its ruin. 
The doorway was gone, and the cavity was partly filled 
with rubbish. Therein the remains of Washington had lain 
undisturbed for over thirty years, when an attempt was 
made by some vandal to carry them away. The insecure old 
vault w^as entered, and a skull and some bones were taken ; 



REMOVAL OF Washington's remains. 5G1 

but these comprised no part of the remains of the iUustrious 
dead. The robber was detected, and the bones were recov- 
ered. The new vault was then immediately built, and all 
the family remains were placed in it. 

Mr. AVilliam Strickland, who designed the lid of "Wash- 
ington's coffin, and accompanied Mr. Struthers when the 
remains of the patriot were placed in it in 1837, has left a 
most interesting account of that event. The vault was first 
entered by Mr. Strickland, accompanied by Major Lewis (the 
last survivor of the first executors of the will of Washington), 
and his son. On entering the vault they found everything 
in confusion. Decayed fragments of coffins were scattered 
about, and bones of various parts of the human body were 
seen promiscuously thrown together. The coffins of Wash- 
ington and his wife were in the deepest recess of the vault. 
They were of lead, inclosed in wooden cases. When the 
new sarcophagi arrived, the old coffin of Washington was 
brought forth. When the decayed wooden case was re- 
moved, the leaden lid was perceived to be sunken and frac- 
tured. In the bottom of the wooden case was found the 
silver coffin-plate, in the form of a shield, which was placed 
upon the leaden coffin Avhen Washington was first entombed. 

"At the request of Major Lewis," says Mr. Strickland, 
" the fractured part of the lid was turned over on the lower 
part, exposing to view a head and breast of large dimen- 
sions, which appeared, by the dim light of tlie candles, to 
have suffered but little from the effects of time. The eye- 
sockets were largo and deep, and the breadth across the 
temples, together with the forehead, appeared of unusual 
size. There was no appearance of grave-clothes. The chest 
was broad, the color was dark, and had the appearance of 
dried flesh and skin adhering closely to the bones. We saw 
no hair, nor was there any offensive odor from the body. 
The leaden lid was restored to its place ; the body, raised by 
six men, was carried and laid in the marble coffin, and the 



562 THE NEW TOMB. 

cover being put on and set in cement, it was sealed from 
our sight on Saturday, the seventh day of October, 1837." 
The remains of Martha Washington were at the same time 
removed from the old coffin to the new marble sarcophagus 
and were laid beside those of her husband in the new tomb. 
The new tomb is a severely-plain but spacious vault 
built of brick, with an arched roof. It is now overgrown 
with shrubbery and vines. Its iron door opens into a vesti- 
bule, also built of brick. Over the vault door, upon a stone 
panel, are cut the words : " I am the Resurrection and the 
Life; he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet 
shall he live." The vault is twelve feet in height. The 
gateway is flanked by brick pilasters surmounted by a stone 
coping which covers a gothic arch. Over this arch is a 
white marble tablet inscribed : 

Withiu this Inclosure 

Rest 

The Remains of 

GEN. GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

In the ante-chamber are seen the two marble sarcophagi. 
The one on the right bears on its face the name of "Wash- 
ington, with chiseled coat-of-arms of the United States 
and a draped flag. One of the talons of the eagle in the 
coat-of-arms is missing ; it was broken off by a vandal dur- 
ing the Civil War. The other sarcophagus is inscribed: 

MARTHA, 

. Consort of Washington. 
Died May 22, 1801, 
Aged 71 years. 

The date of the year is an error; it should have read 1802. 
No matter how often one has visited Mount Vernon it is 
always attractive. An indescribable interest possesses one 
as he wanders through halls and rooms where Avalked, slept, 
ate, and drank the great central figure in the stirring events 
from which our nationality was evolved. 



THE INTERIOR OF THE MANSION. 565 

Tbouoli the Mount Vernon house was a mansion in its 
day, its rooms can bear no comparison with those of modern 
houses which make no great pretensions. Modern life ex- 
acts more comforts than the 18th century coukl supply to 
its living-rooms. 

The furniture now on exhibition at Mount Yernon, some 
of which was used by the family,— and a good deal more of 
it Avas not — is neither beautiful nor comfortable. There is 
an air of comfort about the huge old mahogany bedsteads, 
but the steps beside them are suggestive of stumbles in the 
dark and damaged toes. It must have required careful cal- 
culation to mount into one of those mountainous feather 
beds after extinguishing the candle. It is noticeable that 
the bed in which Washington breathed his last, and which 
is shown in the room in which he died, is lower than some 
of the others, particularly the one in Nellie Custis' chamber. 
It is some distance from the dressing-table to the bed, and 
possibly after a few unfortunate experiences in scaling the 
downy heights Washington had the posts shortened. 

The room in which AVashington died, naturally attracts 
the most attention. It was never again occupied after his 
death. It was closed and all in it kept sacred to his memory. 
The bed now in this room is the one on which he died. His 
military trunk, a few camp equipments, two chair cushions 
worked by Mrs. Washington, and a small, plain mahogany 
corner toilet-stand, are all that remain of the original fur- 
niture. 

With all the comfortable rooms in the second story at 
the disposal of his widow, her choice after his death was 
given to one under the roof, hot in summer and cold in 
winter, where the single small window looked out upon the 
burial-place of her departed husband. It is a mere garret. 
One little attic window gives a meager glimpse of the lovely 
landscape below, and even in its best estate the room must 
have been inconvenient and dreary. Few modern " Bridgets " 



566 THE LITTLE ATTIC WINDOW. 

would be content to occupy for a week such a room as this 

in which Martha Washington passed the lonely months of 

her widowhood until she died. Why did she take this room 

instead of the liiany others on the floor below ? The reason 

reveals another phase of that simple romance in the life of 

Washington and his wife. This little attic window was the 

only one commanding a view of the old tomb in which her 

husband's remains had been laid, and thus during the two 

and a half years that she survived him, the lonely mourner, 

tenderly cared for by her devoted servants, sat much of the 

time by this little window : 

" Gaziug through the morning light. 

At noon-tide looliing fondly down — 
Peering forth in somber night — 

Or when the leaves are green or brown ; 
Or when the snow soft shrouds the mound, 
"Where lies the sleeper under ground." 

'* Looking and longing over there, with faith 
Tliut in some golden hour, his spirit, robed 
In drapery of light, and winged with love, 
Should come to her with blessings in his eyes, 
And sweetly feed, with old-time rapturous smiles, 
Her famished soul." 

Standing by this window and thinking of Martha Wash- 
ington's devotion, we can better appreciate the words she 
used in that reply to President Adams when he expressed 
to her the wish of Congress that Washington's remains 
might rest in the Capitol — words which are quoted in a 
previous chapter. 

The banquet hall was planned by Washington and built 
by him in 1785. The large equestrian portrait, "Washing- 
ton before Yorktown," was painted by Rembrandt Peale. 
The first time Washington sat for his portrait, he wrote to 
a friend, " Inclination having yielded to importunit}', I am 
now, contrary to all expectation, under the hands of Mr. 
Peale; but in so grave — so sullen a mood — and now and 



ELEANOR CUSTIS' WEDDING GIFT. 567 

tlien under the influence of Morpheus, when some critical 
strokes are making, that I fancy the skill of this Gentleman's 
Pencil will be put to it, in describing to the World what 
manner of man I am:" 

One who is not a vandal at heart cannot gaze upon the 
carved mantelpiece of Carrara marble in the banquet hall 
without anathematizing the whole race of relic hunters. 
This exquisite work has been mutilated in the most outra- 
geous way by people who undoubtedly would resent the 
charge that they are worse than thieves. 

In the music-room of the mansion stands the quaint old 
harpsichord which General Washington presented as a wed- 
ding gift to his adopted daughter, the beautiful Eleanor 
Custis. It was made in London, at a cost of $1000, and old 
ocean tossed it over to delight the heart of the belle of 
Mount Yernon. Its broken and discolored keys once 
thrilled to the touch of beauty, and made the old halls of 
Mount Yernon ring with mirth and music. 

In the family sitting-room, which commands a pictur- 
esque view of the lawn and the river, Martha Washington 
passed many long hours while her husband was away mak- 
ing history, although she often visited him in camp. She 
did not take kindly to the restraints of official life. Writ- 
ing to a friend, she says, " Mrs. Sins will give you a better 
account of the fashions than I can — I live a very dull life 
hear and know nothing that passes in the town — I never 
goe to any public place — indeed I think I am more like a 
State prisoner than anything else ; there is certain bounds 
set for me which I must not depart from — and as I cannot 
doe as I like, I am obstinate and stay at home a great 
deal." 

The mansion, although covering a large area, possesses 
no architectural beauty, and the interior is far from being 
well arranged. The rooms of the General and Mrs. Wash- 
ington were in the south end ; these were reached by a side 



568 THE GARDEN AND BOWLING GREEN. 

hall on the east. To gain the sleeping-rooms on the north, 
over the state parlor, one had to pass through the rooms 
opening from the main hall, which must have been some- 
what embarrassing when the house was full of company. 
The kitchen, with its huge fireplace, its crane and turnspits 
still in place, is on the west side, thirty feet or more from 
the main building, from which all the dishes for the dining- 
room had to be carried through a covered colonnade. 

The grounds on the west side of the house are level and 
stretch away to the road, while, scattered about, in regular 
order, are the many outbuildings which suggest the old 
plantation with its army of servants and slaves. The west 
lawn, Washington was wont to call his " bowling green." 
The curved course which incloses it is over half a mile in 
circumference, and in the old days many a gay party gal- 
loped over it. Magnificent trees line it. It is said that all 
of them were selected and many planted by Washington. 

The vegetable garden is on the rio'ht as one faces the 
mansion ; the flower garden is on the left. The latter 
abounds with old-fashioned flowers arranged in beds laid 
out in formal style and bordered with box according to the 
fashion of Washington's day, and still maintained just as he 
left them. This garden makes a delightful strolling- place. 
Here was Martha Washington's rose garden, and in summer 
the roses still bloom. It was the custom of the family to 
ask distinguished guests to plant something as a keepsake, 
and many of these mementos still flourish. Here is the 
famous Mary Washington rose, which is said to have been 
named by Washington for his mother, slips from which are 
sold to visitors. We may wander about these grounds for 
hours and ever find material for sentiment and reflection. 

Few changes are now perceptible at Mount Vernon fi-om 
year to year. It is under the watchful eyes of an efficient 
superintendent, employed by the Mount Vernon Ladies' 
Association, and every sign of decay is obliterated as soon 



STATELY SENTINEL TREES. 5G!I 

as it appears. The natural beauties of the historic place, of 
course, increase. The trees which Washington planted rear 
their heads with added o-irth and heio;ht. The four that 
guard the west entrance have stood more than a century. 
Two are poplar and two ash, each a perfect specimen of its 
kind. The trees about the old place have a fascination for 
many visitors. Washington planted them, tended them, 
watched them grow. In the shade of many still standing 
he was wont to walk. In the deer park, which occupies the 
slope of the river bank facing the east front of the mansion, 
deer feed as in the old days, and fawns scurry about. This 
park was restored a few years ago and stocked. An iron 
fence separates it from the grounds proper. 

After all, the best recollections that one carries away 
from Mount Yernon do not come from the interior of the 
house but from the exterior and surroundings. In the 
rooms are very many articles that, while furnishing them 
and making them look very quaint and even homelike, 
neither Washington nor his wife ever saw. They are either 
reproductions or colonial relics gathered from various 
places. But on the veranda we may find and enjoy the real 
beauty of Mount Vernon — its environment and prospect. 

Here Washington looked down the gentle slope to the 
wide Potomac, flecked with white sails and pleasure boats. 
He stood as we stand upon these old weather-worn tiles 
with which the portico is paved, and which were imported 
by him from England in 1786 ; here his eyes could feast, as 
can ours, on the fairest of landscapes. As we leave this his- 
toric spot we feel that it is not in the city which bears his 
name, not in the threat towerino; monument dedicated to his 
memory, but here at Mount Vernon, amid carefully-pre- 
served scenes of his home life, that we come nearest to the 
personality of Washington's character, and are enabled to 
see him as he was : the patriot and statesman " who knew 
no glory but his country's good." 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

THE PRESIDENTS, THEIR WIVES, AND FAMOUS LADIES OF 

THE WHITE HOUSE -FAIR AND STATELY WOMEN 

WHO REIGNED IN THE EXECUTIVE 

MANSION IN EARLY DAYS. 



A Morning Dream — Memories of Martha Washington — Her Educational 
Disadvantages — An Average Matron and Tlirifty Housewife — Her 
Virtues and Moral Rectitude — Ministering to the Suffering Soldiers 
at Valley Forge — Washington's Letters to His Wife — "My Dear 
Patsy" — Domestic Affairs at Mount Vernon — Giving Her Husband 
a Curtain-Lecture — An Englishman Who Was " Struck With Awe " 
— Martha Wasliington's Seclixsion and Death — Abigail Adams, Wife 
of President John Adams — Adams' Early Love Affairs — Life in the 
Unfinished White House — A Lively Picture — Not Enough Coal or 
Wood To Keep Warm — Some Interesting Details — Drying the Family 
Wash in the Great East Room — Jefferson's Grief at the Death of His 
Wife — How Jefferson Blacked His Own Boots — A Dignified 
Foreigner Shocked — "We Saved de Fiddle." 



^ ITTING in the lovely Blue Room of the White 
Hottse, the breezes from the Potomac floating 
throitgh the closed blinds and lace curtains, and 
drifting over the mounds of flowers which, rising 
J3) high above the great vases, fill all the air with fra- 
grance, I evoke from the past a company of fair and 
stately women who have dwelt under this roof, or influenced 
the lives and happiness of men who have ruled the nation. 
First, Martha Washington. To be sure, she never reigned 
in the White House ; but who can recall tlie wives of the 
Presidents without seeing, first of them all, the serenely- 
beautiful woman whose pictured face is so familiar to us? 

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A LADY OF THE OLDEN TIME. 571 

In herself, Martha Washington was in no wise a remark- 
able woman. Personally, she was a fair representative of 
the average American matron of the eighteenth century. 
Whatever may be the right of American women to boast of 
superior educational advantages to-day, in the time of Martha 
Washington and Abigail Adams such advantages were few, 
though eagerly desired. Girls were shut out from the 
Boston High School because they had flocked to it in such 
numbers in pursuit of knowledge. While her brother went 
to Yale or Harvard, the girl of Ncav England, if taught at 
all, was taught at home. JSTew England had little right to 
boast over Yirginia in that day. The daughters of the cav- 
aliers were oftener taught to dance and to play the spinet 
than the daughters of the Puritans ; but neither could spell, 
nor many more than barely read. 

Had Martha AYashington enjoyed the highest privileges 
for mental development she would never have been known 
to the world as an intellectual woman, or as a woman who, 
by any impulse of her unassisted nature, would ever have 
risen above the commonplace. This thrifty and industrious 
housewife usually had knitting-needles in her hands, and she 
thought she had achieved a feat to be proud of when she saved 
the ravelings of old black silk stockings and worn-out chair- 
covers and wove them into a dress for herself. She could 
spin and weave, but she could not spell. She basked in the 
warmth and cheer of her bountiful home, the manifold cares 
and burdens of which, to the smallest detail, were borne by 
her illustrious husband. 

Martha Washington's strongest claim to veneration is as 
the wife of Washington. In that position, her homely vir- 
tues and moral rectitude show to unclouded advantage. 
Personally, her most marked characteristics were her strong 
natural sense of pro]iriety and fitness, and her high moral 
qualities. During the Revolution her patriotism kept pace 
with that of her husband. The trials of the years that fol- 



5?2 MRS. WASHINGTON AT VALLEY FORGE. 

lowed are matters of history : the severed household, the 
burden of cares and fears, and the brave-hearted woman 
gladly exchanging, whenever possible, the comfort and 
security of home for the discomforts and dangers of the 
camp, and bringing cheer to her husband and comfort to the 
ill-fed and ill-clad soldiers. 

Amid the sufferings of Yalley Forge, one of her helpers 
writes : " I never in my life knew a woman so busy from 
early morning till late at night as was Lady Washington, 
providing comforts for the sick soldiers. Every day, except 
Sundays, the wives of the officers in camp, and sometimes 
other women, were invited to Mr. Potts's to assist her in 
knitting socks, patching garments and making shirts for the 
poor soldiers when material could be procured. Every fair 
day she might be seen, with basket in hand, and with a 
single attendant, going among the huts seeking the keenest 
and most needy sufferers, and giving all the comfort to them 
in her power." 

Washington wrote many and long letters to his wife 
"which were full of ardent affection, but " Lady " Washing- 
ton thought so much of these that she destroyed them be- 
fore she died, no doulit because they were so largely devoted 
to a free discussion of public affairs. Only one letter es- 
caped, — the one in which he announced his appointment as 
commander-in-chief of the colonial army. He begins the 
letter " My Dearest," and closes it with the statement that 
he is " Avith unfeigned regard " her " very affectionate 
George Washington." He uses several times in the letter 
his pet name for his wife, which was " my dear Patsy," and 
says he has made a will with which he doubts not she will 
be pleased. During the forty years of his married life " he 
wore," says his adopted son, George Washington Parke 
Custis, " suspended from his neck by a gold chain and rest, 
ing on his bosom, the miniature portrait of his wife." 

Though her pictures represent her as a handsome woman, 



LIFE AT MOUNT VERNON 573 

the current history of the times says that as slie matured 
she grew stout, and became a robust and not particularly 
handsome old lady. More than likely, too, she had a temper 
of her own, for she confesses to " being tried beyond endur- 
ance " by the careless ways of one of "Washington's nieces. 
It is on record that when the big French hound, a present 
from Lafayette, carried off the ham Avhich should have 
graced the dinner-table, she clearly voiced her opinion of 
dogs in general and "Yulcan" in particular; and a guest 
who slept at Mount Yernon has testified to overhearing her 
giving the General what is frequently called a " curtain- 
lecture " in such animated tones that her voice penetrated 
through the thin partitions which separated the rooms. The 
traveler adds that General AYashington listened in silence, 
and, when the lecture was finished, merely said, "]S^ow, 
good sleep to you, my dear." After this nothing more was 
heard. 

After their retirement to Mount Yernon, while all the 
outer affairs of the estate, to their minutest detail, were 
superintended by General "Washington, in addition to the 
mighty burdens of state which he bore, Mrs. AYashington 
superintended her handmaidens and spinning-wheels. Looms 
were constantly plying at Mount Yernon, and General 
Washington wore, at his first inauguration, a full suit of fine 
cloth woven in his own house. At a ball given in Xew 
Jersey in honor of herself, Martha Washington appeared in 
a " simple russet gown," with a white handkerchief about 
her neck. To the state receptions of 'Rew York and Phila- 
delphia she carried the same stately simplicity. 

A lady of the olden time, a daughter of Yirginia, her 
ideas of court forms and etiquette had all been received 
from the mother country. Hers was the difficult task to" 
harmonize aristocratic exclusiveness with republican plain- 
ness. She was never to forget that she Avas the wife of the 
President of a Republic, — and also never to forget that she 



574 DIGNITY OF EARLY SOCIAL CUSTOMS. 

was to command the respect of the okl monarchies who 
were ready to despise everything poor and crude in the 
efforts of the new government to maintain itself in poverty, 
difficulty, and inexperience. Thus the social receptions of 
the first President of the United States at New York, were 
held under the most rigorous and exclusive rules. They 
were open only to persons of privileged rank and degree, 
and they could not enter unless attired in full dress. The 
receptions of Mrs. Washington merely reproduced, on a 
smaller plan, the customs and ceremonies of foreign courts. 

In the second year of Washington's administration the 
government was removed to Philadelphia, there to remain 
for the next ten years. The household furniture of the 
Washingtons was moved thither by slow and Aveary pro- 
cesses by land and water, the President, in addition to his 
public cares, superintending personally the preparation and 
embarkation of every article himself. Mrs. Washington 
was sick at the time, but the following year, the house of 
Robert Morris having been taken by the corporation for the 
President's house, Mrs. Washington again opened her draw- 
ing-rooms from seven to ten p. m. Sensible woman ! No 
haggard and faded beauties dancing all night, faded and old 
before their time, owed their wasted lives and powers to her. 
In Philadelphia and New York, when the clock's hands 
pointed to ten, she arose with affable dignity, and, bowing 
to all, retired, leaving her guests to do likewise. With this 
action, it was unnecessary to repeat the announcement which 
she made at the first reception held by her in New York : 
" General Washington retires at ten o'clock, and I usually 
precede him. Good night." 

At these receptions, Mrs. Washington sat. The guests 
were grouped in a circle, round which the President passed, 
speaking politely to each one, but never shaking hands. It 
was reserved to a later generation to grasp and crush that 
poor member till it has to be poulticed after official greet- 



LAST DAYS OF MRS. WASHINGTON. 575 

ings. It was the habit of Mrs. Washington to return the 
calls of those who were privileged to pay her visits. Of 
these ceremonious visits, a New York lady who, as a child, 
remembered her, wrote : " It was Mrs. Washington's custom 
to return visits on the third day. She was always accom- 
panied by the President's secretary, and preceded by a 
footman, who knocked at the hostess's door and announced 
Mrs. Washington's arrival. When she drove out, her serv- 
ants wore liveries of white and scarlet or white and 
orange." 

An English gentleman, who breakfasted with the Presi- 
dent's family in 1794, says : 

" I was struck with awe and veneration when I recollected that I was 
now in the presence of the great Washington, the noble and wise benefac- 
tor of the world. . . . Mrs. Washington herself made tea and coffee 
for us. On the table were two small plates of sliced tongue and drj toast, 
bread and butter ; but no broiled fish, as is the custom here. She struck 
me as being somewhat older than the President, though I understand both 
were born the same year. She was extremely simple in her dress, and 
wore a very plain cap, with her gray hair turned up under it." 

It is as the wife of Washington, through sentiments 
called out by the greatness of his character and the love 
which she bore him, that the moral capacity of Martha 
Washington's nature ever approaches greatness. 

In the little attic room at Mount Yernon, in which she 
died, Martha Washington, as a woman, comes nearest to us. 
Here one can realize how utterly done with earth, its 
pangs and glory, was the soul who shut herself within its 
narrow walls, there to take on immortality. The rooms of 
Washington below, in one of which he died, a thrifty me- 
chanic of the present day would think too small and shabby 
for him. And when the great soul went forth to the 
unknown, as a human presence to inhabit it never more, the 
wife also went forth, and never again crossed its threshold. 

Here, in this little room, scarcely more than a closet, sur- 
33 



576 THE YOUTH OF JOHN ADAMS. 

rounded only by the simplest necessities of existence, Mar- 
tha Washington lived out the lonely days of her desolate 
widowhood. 

In her portraits Mrs. Washington looks out from the 
ruffled cap of her maturer years, genuine, true, and whole- 
some, counted worthy to be her husband's closest confi- 
dante ; a woman who found in the limits of home her hap- 
piest horizon, a kindly gracious lady, companion and best 
earthly comfort of one of the world's greatest men. 

In February, 1797, John Adams was elected President 
of the United States, to succeed President Washington. 
His wife, Abigail Adams, was the first wife of a President 
who ever presided at the White House. 

John Adams was born in that portion of the old town of 
Braintree, Mass., which now is known as Quincy. He was 
the eldest son of a farmer of limited means. Like many 
who have become famous in the history of our country, 
young John began his practical life by teaching school, and 
while so engaged took up the study of law. He had 
thought of becoming a clergyman, but witnessing certain 
church quarrels in his native town, he was, to quote his own 
words, " terrified out of it." He would have been glad to 
enter the army, had he possessed the influence to secure a 
commission. That being out of the question, the law 
seemed his only course, and he applied himself with such 
energy to it that he soon built up a practice which, as he 
considered, justified him in marrying, and, accordingly, in 
1764, he united himself with Abigail Smith, the daughter of 
a clergyman of Weymouth. 

Previous to this, Adams' love affairs evidently were 
numerous. In 1764, the year in which he was married, he 
writes in his diary : " I was of an amorous disposition, and 
very early, from ten to eleven years of age, was very fond 
of the societv of females. I shall draw no characters nor 
give any enumeration of my youthful flames. It would be 



ONE OF America's noblest women. 579 

considered as no compliment to the dead or the living. This 
I will say: they were all modest and virtuous girls, and 
always maintained their character through life. No virgin 
or matron ever had cause to blush at the sight of or regret 
her acquaintance wath me. . . . These reflections, to me 
consolatory beyond expression, I am able to make with 
truth and sincerity ; and I presume I am indebted for this 
blessing to my education." 

His marriage, w^hich, at the time it took place, promised 
to bring young Adams considerable worldly advantage, his 
wife's family connections being much more prominent and 
prosperous than his own, proved in every way to be most 
fortunate, for Abigail Adams was one of the most remark- 
able women of the Revolutionary period. 

In exaltation of spirit, and full realization of the great 
responsibilities before them, she received the fact of her hus- 
band's elevation to the presidency. As devout as Deborah, 
her utterances at this time w^ere equally marked by compre- 
hensiveness of view, devotion, and self-forgetfulness. No 
visions of personal finery, of fashionable entertainments and 
show, gleam through the grand utterances of this majestic 
woman. And yet no pictures of the AVhite House, no 
sketches of the social life of her time, begin to be as graphic 
and frequent, as those of Abigail Adams. Nothing has 
been more quoted than her sketch of the White House as 
she found it. She wrote : 

" The house is upon a grand and superb scale, requiring 
about thirty servants to attend and keep the apartments in 
proper order, and perform the ordinary business of the 
house and stables ; an establishment very well proportioned 
to the President's salary. The lighting of the apartments, 
from the kitchen to parlours and chambers, is a tax indeed ; 
and the fires we are obliged to keep to secure us from daily 
agues is another very cheering comfort. To assist us in this 
great castle, and render less attendance necessary, bells aro 



580 LIFE IN THE WHITE HOUSE IN 1800. 

wholly wanting, not one single one being hung through the 
whole house, and promises are all you can obtain. This is 
so great an inconvenience, that I know not "w hat to do, or 
how to do. 

"The ladies from Georgetown and in the city have 
many of them visited me. Yesterday I returned fifteen 
visits, — but such a place as Georgetown appears, — why, our 
Milton is beautiful. But no comparisons ; — if they will put 
me up some bells, and let me have wood enough to keep 
fires, I design to be pleased. I could content myself almost 
anywhere three months ; but, surrounded with forests, can 
you believe that wood is not to be had, because people can- 
not be found to cut and cart it ! Briesler ' entered into a 
contract with a man to supply him with wood. A small 
part, a few cords only, has he been able to get. Most of 
that was expended to dry the walls of the house before we 
came in, and yesterday the man told him it was impossible 
for him to procure it to be cut and carted. He has had 
recourse to coals ; but we cannot get grates made and set. 
We have, indeed, come into a new country. 

" You must keep all this to yourself, and, when asked 
how I like it, say that I write you the situation is beautiful, 
which is true. The house is made habitable, but there is 
not a single apartment finished, and all withinside, except 
the plastering, has been done since Briesler came. We have 
not the least fence, yard, or other convenience, without, and 
the great unfinished audience-room'' I make a drj^ing-roora 
of, to hang up the clothes in. The principal stairs are not 
up, and will not be this winter." 

Abigail Adams is an illustrious example of the grandeur 
of human character. She proved in herself how potent an 
individual may be, and that individual a woman, in spite of 
caste, of sex, or the restrictions of human law or condition. 

' Mrs. Adams' man-servant. 

* The East Room of the White Housq. 



A CHARACTER HEROIC AND SPOTLESS. 681 

She never went to school in her life. In a letter written in 
1817, the year before her death, speaking of her own defi- 
ciencies, she says : " My early education did not partake of 
the abundant opportunities which the present days offer, 
and which even our common country schools now afford. 
Inever loas sent to any school. I was always sick. Female 
education, in the best families, went no further than writ- 
ing and arithmetic ; in some few and rare instances, music 
and dancing." 

She was less than a year the mistress of the President's 
house, yet she has lived ever since in memory a grand 
model to all who succeed her. The daughter of a country 
clergyman, the wife of a patriotic and ambitious man, 
whether she gathered her children about her or sent them 
forth across stormy seas, while she left herself desolate ; 
whether she stood the wife of the Kepublican Minister 
before the haughty Queen Charlotte in the stateliest and 
proudest court of Europe ; whether she presided in the 
President's house in the new Capital in the wilderness, or 
wrote to statesmen or grandchildren in her own house in 
Quincy, she was always, in prosperity or sorrow, in youth 
and in age, in life and in death, the regnant woman, devout, 
wise, patriotic, proud, humble, and loving. 

Her pictures of the social life of her time are among the 
most lively and graphic on record, while in her letters to 
her son, to her husband, to Jefferson, and other statesmen, 
we find some of the grandest utterances of the Revolution- 
ary period. Cut off by her sex from active participation in 
the struggles and triumphs of the men of her time, not one 
of them would have died more gladly and grandly than 
she, for liberty ; denied the power of manhood, she made 
the most of the privileges of womanhood. She instilled 
into the souls of her children great ideas ; she inspired her 
husband by the hourly sight of a grand example ; she gave, 
through them, her life-long service to the State, and she 



582 THE WIFE OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 

gave to ner country and to posterity her spotless and heroic 
memory. 

In her portrait, Stuart portrays her in a dainty and deli- 
cate lace cap, which softened without veiling her august 
features. The exquisite lace ruff about the throat, the lace 
shawl upon the shoulders, all indicate the finest of feminine 
tastes, while the broad brow, wide eyes, keenly-cut nose, 
firm chin, and slightly-imperious mouth proclaim the proud 
and powerful intellect, and the high head the commanding 
moral nature of the woman. 

In 1801 John Adams was succeeded by his old friend and 
rival Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United 
States. The wife of Jefferson, who before her marriage to 
him was Mrs. Martha Skelton, the widowed daughter of a 
prominent lawyer of Williamsburg, Ya., never reigned in 
the White House. She died in her youth, and was thus de- 
nied the honors that later in life came to her gifted husband. 
His love for her was the passion of his life, and her death 
was to him an irreparable loss. He never outlived his grief. 
His eldest daughter, Martha Jefferson Randolph, many 
years afterward, recorded her recollections of her mother's 
death and her father's sorrow. She said : 

" He nursed my poor mother in turn with Aunt Carr 
and her own sister, sitting up with her and administering 
her medicines and drink to the last. For four months that 
she lingered, he was never out of calling ; when not at her 
bedside he was writing in a small room which opened imme- 
diately at the head of her bed. A moment before the clos- 
ing scene he was led from the room almost in a state of in- 
sensibility by his sister, Mrs. Carr, who, with great difficulty, 
got him into his library, where he fainted, and remained so 
long insensible that they feared he never would revive. The 
scene that followed I did not witness, but the violence of his 
emotion, when almost by stealth I entered his room at 
night, to this day I dare not trust myself to describe. 



Jefferson's lovely daughters. 583 

" He kept his room three weeks, and I was never a mo. 
ment from his side. He walked almost incessantly night 
and da}^, only lying down occasionally, when nature was 
completely exhausted, on a pallet that had been brought in 
during his long fainting fit. My aunts remained constantly 
with him for some weeks, I do not remember how many. 
When at last he left his room, he rode out, and from that 
time he was incessantly on horseback, rambling about the 
mountain, in the least frequented roads, and just as often 
through the woods. In those melancholy rambles I was his 
constant companion, a solitary witness to many a violent 
burst of brief, the remembrance of which has consecrated 
particular stones of that lost home beyond the power of 
time to obliterate." 

Ever after, Jefferson lived in his children, his grandchil- 
dren, his books, and the affairs of State. He had two 
daughters, the only two of his children who survived to ma- 
ture life. One of these, Maria, who in childhood went to 
Paris in the care of Mrs. Adams, and who was remark- 
able for her beauty and the loveliness of her nature, died in 
early womanhood. She was indifferent to her own beauty, 
and almost resented the admiration which it called forth, 
exclaiming, "You praise me for that because you cannot 
praise me for better things ! " 

She set an extraordinary value upon talent, believing 
that the possession of it alone could make her the worthy 
companion of her father. She was most tenderly loved by 
him, and at the time of her early death, he wrote to his 
friend. Governor Page : " Others may lose of their abund- 
ance ; but I, of my want, have lost even the half of that 
I had. My evening prospects now hang on the slender 
thread of a single life." This "single" life was that of 
Martha Jefferson Randolph. She lived to be not only the 
comforter but the intellectual companion of her father. 

Had Martha Jefferson been less womanly and domestic, 



584 A PRESIDENT WHO BLACKED HIS OWN BOOTS. 

she might have made herself famous as a belle, a wit, or a 
scholar. Married at seventeen, the mother of twelve chil- 
dren, seven of whom were daughters, the fine quality of her 
intellect, and the nobility of her soul, were all merged into a 
life spent in their guidance, and in devotion and service to 
her husband and father. The mother of five chiklren at the 
time of her father's Inauguration as President of the United 
States, separated from Washington by a long and fatiguing 
journey, which could only be performed by coach and horse 
travel, Mrs. Randolph never made but two visits to the 
President's house during his two terms of office. Her son, 
James Madison Randolph, was born in the White House. 

Jefferson began his Presidency with a certain ostentation 
of democracy. One of the first declarations of his admin- 
istration was, " Levees are done away." Remembering what 
importance was attached to these assemblies by Washington 
and Adams, and what grand court occasions they were 
made, we can imagine the disapprobation with which this 
mandate was received by the belles of society. A party of 
these gathered in force, and, all gaily attired, proceeded to 
the President's house. On his return from a horseback ride 
he was informed that a large number of ladies were in the 
"levee-room" waiting for him. Covered with dust, spurs 
on, and whip in hand, he proceeded to the drawing-room. 
Shade of Washington ! He told them he was glad to see 
them, and asked them to remain. We may fancy with how 
much delight these belles and beauties received his polite 
salutations. They never came again. 

A Virginian accustomed to the service of slaves, as the 
President of the United States Jefferson blacked his own 
boots. A foreign functionary, a stickler for etiquette, paid 
him a visit of ceremony one morning, and found him en- 
gaged in this humble employment. Jefferson apologized, 
saying, that being a phain man, he did not like to trouble 
his servants. The foreign grandee departed, declaring that 



OFFENDING A PERFUMED LITTLE POET. 585 

no government could long survive whose head was his own 
shoe-black. He was fond of the violin.- When his paternal 
home was burned he asked, "Are all the books destroved?" 
" Yes, massa," was the reply, " dey is ; but we saved de 
fiddle." 

During his Presidency Jefferson aroused the ire of 
Thomas Moore, then without fame, save in his own country. 
The President, from his altitude of six feet two-and-a-half 
inches, looked down on the curled and perfumed little poet, 
and spoke a word and passed on. This indignity Moore 
never pardoned, and he went back to lampoon, not only 
America, but the President. One of his attacks came into 
the hands of Martha Jefferson, who, deeply indignant, 
placed it before her father. He broke into an amused laugh. 
Years afterwards, when Moore's "Irish Melodies" appeared, 
Jefferson, looking them over, exclaimed, " Why, this is the 
little man who satirized me so ! Why, he is a poet, after 
all." And from that moment Moore had a place beside 
Burns in Jefferson's library. 

John Randolph, her father's political foe, said of Martha 
Jefferson, " She is the sweetest creature in Yirginia," and 
John Randolph believed that nothing "sweet" or even en- 
durable existed outside of Yirginia. In adversity and sor- 
row, in poverty and trial, in age as in youth, the steadfast 
sweetness of character and elevation of nature which made 
Martha Jefferson remarkable in prosperity, shone forth 
with transcendent luster when all external accessories had 
fled. The daughter of a man called a free-thinker, she all 
her life was sweetly, simply, devoutly religious. In her let- 
ters to her daughter, " Septimia," she draws us nearer to 
her tender heart in its heavenly love and charity. This 
daughter, to his latest breath, was to Jefferson the soul of 
his soul. After his retirement she not only entertained his 
guests, and ministered to his personal comforts, but shared 
intellectually all his thoughts and studies. 



CHAPTER XL. 

THE PRESIDENTS, THEIR WIVES, AND FAMOUS LADIES OF 
THE WHITE HOUSE, CONTINUED — THE MOST BRIL- 
LIANT SOCIAL QUEEN WHO EVER REIGNED 
IN THE EXECUTIVE MANSION. 

A Famous Social Queen — Gallants in Small-Clothes and Queues — An 
Indignant Barber — " Little Jim Madison" — " Dolly" Madison's Gifts 
and Graces — " The Most Popular Person in the United States" — Her 
Social Nature and Exquisite Tact — Her Bountiful Table — Ridiculed 
by a Foreign Minister — Mrs. Madison's Happy Reply — Her Wonder- 
ful Memory of Persons and Incidents — The Adventure of a Rustic 
Youth — Thrusting a Cup of Coffee into His Pocket — Her Heroism 
in the Hour of Danger — Fleeing from the White House — Mrs. 
Madison's Snuff-Box — " This Is for Rough Work " and " This Is My 
Polisher" — Two Plain Old Ladies from the West — Unusual Honors 
by Congress — Her Last Days — Her Death and Burial — Singular 
Mistakes on Her Monument. 



jIIEN" Mrs. Dorothy Madison, the wife of James 
Madison, the fourth President of the United 
States, became the first lady of the land, she 
inaugurated a new era of social life in "Wash- 
ington. The beneficence and brilliancy of her 
reign in the White House was never approached 
before her time, and has never been equaled since. 

These were the days when elder-bushes fringed Pennsyl- 
vania Avenue, and ladies whose chariots stuck in the mud 
were cautiously rescued by gallants in sheer ruffles and 
small-clothes and queues. These queues, which had to be so 
elaborately dressed and powdered, made the barbers all 
federalists in Jefferson's administration, as the Democrats 

(586) 




IN THE DAYS OF DOLLY MADISON. ^ 589 

wore short hair. One barber, who was very indignant at 
Madison's nomination, suddenly burst out while sha\ang a 
Senator : 

" What Presidents we might have, sir ! Look at Daggett 
of Connecticut and Stockton of New Jersey, with queues as 
big as your wrist, and powdered every day, like real gentle- 
men as they are ! But this little Jim Madison, with a queue 
no larger than a pipe-stem ! Sir, it is enough to make a man 
foreswear his country." 

Washington Irving, in a letter written from Washington, 
dated January 13, 1811, gives the following entertaining 
description of both Mr. and Mrs. Madison : 

" Mrs. Madison is a fine, portly, buxom dame, who has a 
smile and a pleasant word for everybody. Her sisters, Mrs. 
Cutts and Mrs. Washington, are like the two Merry Wives 
of Windsor; but as to Jemmy Madison — Ah ! poor Jemmy ! 
— he is but a withered little apple-John." 

It is a rare combination of gifts and graces which pro- 
duces the pre-eminent social queen, in any era or in any 
sphere. Mrs. Madison seemed to possess them all. During 
the administration of her husband she was openly declared 
to be " the most popular person in the United States " ; and 
now, after the lapse of generations, after hosts of women, 
bright, beautiful, and admired, have lived, reigned, died, and 
are forgotten, " Dolly Madison " seems to abide, a still 
living and beloved presence. The house in Washington in 
which her old age was spent, and from which she passed to 
heaven, is often pointed out to the stranger as her abode. 
Her words and deeds are constantly recalled as authority, 
unquestioned and benign. 

When she began her reign in Washington, steamboats 
were the wonder of the world ; railroads and the practical 
use of electricity undreamed of; turnpike roads scarcely 
beo-un ; the stagecoach slow, inconvenient, and cumbersome. 
The daughter of one Senator, who wished to enjoy the 



590 MRS. MADISON AS PEACEMAKER. 

delights of the new Capital, came 500 miles on horseback by 
her father's side. The wife of a Member rode 1,500 miles on 
horseback, passed through several Indian settlements, and 
spent nights without seeing a house in w^hich she could lodge. 
Under such difficulties did lovely women come to Washing- 
ton, and out of such material w^as blended the society of that 
conspicuous era. 

When Mrs. Madison entered the President's house, the 
strife between the political parties was at its highest. 
Washington, above all party, had yet declared himself the 
advocate of the unity and force of the central power, Jef- 
ferson had been the President of the opposition, who wished 
the supremacy of the masses to overrule that of the higher 
classes. On these contending factions Mrs. Madison shed 
equally the balm of her benign nature. Not because she 
was without opinions, but because she was without malignity 
or rancor of spirit. Born and reared a " Friend," she 
brought the troubled elements of political society together in 
the bonds of peace. She possessed, in preeminent degree, 
the power of intuitive adaptation to individuals, however 
diversified in character, and the exquisite tact in dealing 
with them, which always characterizes the true social queen. 
She loved human beings and delighted in their fellowship. 
She never forgot an old friend, and never neglected the 
opportunity of making a new one. 

She banished from her drawing-room the stately forms 
and ceremonials which had made the receptions of Mrs. 
Washington and Mrs. Adams very elegant but very formal 
affairs. She was always hospitable, and a table bountifully 
loaded was her delight and pride. The abundance and size 
of her dishes were objects of ridicule to a Foreign Minister, 
even when she entertained as the wife of Secretary of State, 
he declaring that her entertainments were more like " a har- 
vest-home supper than the entertainment of a Cabinet IVlin- 
ister." Mrs. Madison replied to the criticism with her usual 



PLAIN BUT BOUNTIFUL FARE. 591 

good-nature and good sense, — that the profusion of her 
table was the result of the prosperity of her country, and 
she must therefore continue to prefer Virginia liberality to 
European elegance. 

A guest who shared the hospitalities of this bountiful 
table wrote : " The round of beef of which the soup is made 
is called ' bouilli.' It had in the dish spices, and something 
of the sweet herb and earlie kind, and a rich gravy. It is 
very much boiled and is still very good. We had a dish 
with what appeared to be cabbage, much boiled, then cut in 
Ions: strino-s and somewhat mashed : in the middle a large 
ham, with the cabbage around. It looked like our country 
dishes of bacon and cabbage, with the cabbage mashed up 
after being boiled till sodden and turned dark. The dessert 
good : much as usual, except two dishes which appeared like 
apple-pie in the form of the half of a mush-melon, the flat 
side down, top creased deep, and the color a dark brown." 

In those days state dinners were a tax on the purse of 
those who gave them. The White House wagon was gotten 
out early in the morning to go to Georgetown to market, 
and the day's provisions often cost as much as fifty dollars. 
Even the President's salary was scarcely adequate to meet 
the expense of official entertaining, as Jefferson soon found, 
to the delight of his enemies. "He always thought," said 
a cynical contemporary, " 825,000 a great salary when Mr. 
Adams had it, Now he will think $12,500 enough. Monti- 
cello is not far away ; he can easily send home his clothes to 
be washed and mended ; his servants he owns, and his vege- 
tables he can bring from his estate." 

Mrs. Madison never forgot the name of any person to 
whom she had been introduced, nor any incident connected 
with any person whom she knew. Able to summon these at 
an instant's notice, she instinctively made each individual 
who entered her presence feel that he or she was an object 
of especial interest. Nor was this mere society manners. 



592 AN EMBARRASSED RUSTIC. 

Genial and warm-hearted, it was her happiness to make 
everybody feel as much at ease as possible. This gentle 
kindness the unknown and lowly shared equally with the 
highest in worldly station. 

At one of her receptions her attention was called to a rus- 
tic youth whose back was set against the wall. Here he 
stood as if nailed to it, till he ventured to stretch forth 
his hand and take a proffered cup of coffee. Mrs. Madi- 
son, according to her wont, wishing to relieve his embar- 
rassment, and put him at his ease, walked up and spoke 
to him. The youth, astonished and overpowered, dropped 
the saucer, and unconsciously thrust the cup into his breeches 
pocket. " The crowd is so great, no one can avoid being 
jostled," said the gentle woman. " The servant will bring 
3^ou another cup of coffee. Pray, how did you leave your 
excellent mother? I had once the honor of knowing her, 
but I have not seen her for some years." Thus she talked, 
till she made him feel that she was his friend, as well as 
his mother's. In time, he found it possible to dislodge 
the coffee cup from his pocket, and to converse with the 
Juno-like lady in a crimson turban as if she were an old 
acquaintance. 

Mrs. Madison delighted in wearing conspicuous colors, 
the very opposite of the silver grays of a demure Quak- 
eress. At the Inauguration ball, when Jefferson, the out- 
going President, came to receive Madison, his successor, 
Mrs. Madison wore a rich robe of buff velvet, and a Paris 
turban with a bird of paradise plume, with pearls on her 
neck and arms. A chronicler of the event says that she 
"looked and moved a queen." Jefferson was all life and 
animation, while the new President looked care-worn and 
pale. " Can you wonder at it ? " said Jefferson. " My 
shoulders have just been freed from a heavy burden — his 
just laden with it." 

Mrs, Madison filled every hour of prosperity with the 



MRS. MADISON^S HEROISM. 593 

rare sunshine of her nature. In the hour of trial she was 
not found wanting, and in the face of danger she rose to 
the dignity of heroism. Her gallant stay in the White 
House, while her husband had gone to hold a council of 
war at the battle of Bladensburg, is a proud fact of our his- 
tory. The following well-known letter to her sister, proves 
how brave a woman was this heroine of the President's 

house : 

Tuesday, August 23, 1814. 

''^Dear Sister : — My husband left me yesterday to join 
General Winder. He enquired anxiously whether I had the 
courao-e or firmness to remain in the President's house until 
his return, on the morrow, or succeeding day, and on my 
assurance that I had no fear but for him and the success of 
our army, he left me, beseeching me to take care of myself 
and of the Cabinet papers, public and private. 

" I have since received two dispatches from him, written 
with a pencil ; the last is alarming, because he desires that I 
should be ready at a moment's warning, to enter my car- 
riage and leave the city ; that the enemy seemed stronger 
than had been reported, and that it might happen that they 
would reach the city with intention to destroy it. . . . 
I am accordingly ready; I have pressed as many Cabinet 
papers into trunks as to fill one carriage ; our private prop- 
erty must be sacrificed, as it is impossible to procure wagons 
for its transportation. I am determined not to go myself, 
until I see Mr. Madison safe, and he can accompany me — 
as I hear of much hostility toward him. . . . Disaffec- 
tion stalks around us. My friends and acquaintances are all 
gone, even Colonel C. with his hundred men, who were 
stationed as a guard in this enclosure. . . . French John 
(a faithful domestic) with his usual activity and resolution 
offers to spike the cannon at the gate, and lay a train of 
powder which would blow up the British, should they enter 
the house. To the last proposition, I positively objected, 



594 SAVING THE PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON. 

without being able, howev»er, to make him understand why 
all advantages in war may not be taken. 

" Wednesday morning^ twelve o'clock. — Since sunrise, I 
have been turning my spy-glass in every direction and 
watching with unwearied anxiety, hoping to discover the 
approach of my dear husband and his friends; but, alas, I 
can descry only groups of military wandering in all direc- 
tions, as if there was a lack of arms, or of spirits, to fight 
for their own firesides. 

'■'■Three d'clocTc. — Will you believe it, my sister, we have 
had a battle, or a skirmish, near Bladensburg, and I am still 
here within sound of the cannon ! Mr. Madison comes not ; 
may God protect him ! Two messengers, covered with dust, 
come to bid me fly; but I wait for him ... At this 
late hour a wagon has been procured ; I have filled it with 
the plate and most valuable portable articles belonging to 
the house; whether it will reach its destination, the Bank of 
Marjdand, or fall into the hands of British soldiery, events 
must determine. Our kind friend, Mr. Carroll, has come to 
hasten my departure, and is in a very bad humor with me 
because I insist on waiting until the large picture of General 
Washington is secured; and it requires to be unscrewed 
from the wall. This process was found too tedious for these 
perilous moments; I have ordered the frame to be broken 
and the canvass taken out ; it is done, and the precious por- 
trait placed in the hands of two gentlemen of New York for 
safe-keeping. And now, dear sister, I must leave this house 
or the retreating army will make me a prisoner in it, by fill- 
ing up the road I am directed to take. When I shall again 
write to you, or where I shall be to-morrow, I cannot tell ! " 

On their return to AYashington the President and Mrs. 
Madison occupied what is known as the Octagon House on 
New York Avenue, between 17th and 18th streets, north- 
west, the palatial home of Mr. Tayloe, while the White 



URILLIANT SOCIAL FUNCTIONS. 595 

House was being repaired. Here they entertained the hero 
of New Orleans, General Andrew Jackson, and wife, and 
many other notables who visited Washington and were 
entitled to such honor at their hands. The Treaty of 
Ghent was signed, December, 1814, in the circular room 
on the second floor over the entrance hall, which was used 
as the President's office during their occupation of this 
house. 

The receptions given in the East Room, in the winter of 
1816, after the rebuilding and refurnishing of the Executive 
Mansion, are said to have been the most resplendent ever 
witnessed in AVashington up to that time. At these congre- 
gated the Justices of the Supreme Court in their gowns, the 
Diplomatic Corps in glittering regalia, the Peace Commis- 
sioners and the officers of the late war in full dress. Mrs. 
Madison, in gorgeous robes and turban and bird of paradise 
plumes, presided with queenly grace upon these and all 
other occasions. 

At one of these banquets Mrs. Madison offered Mr. Clay 
a pinch of snuff from her own elegant box, taking one her- 
self. She then put her hand in her pocket, and taking out 
a bandanna, applied it to her nose and said : " Mr. Clay, this 
is for rough work, and this," touching the few remaining 
grains of snuflf with a filmy square of lace, " is my polisher." 
This anecdote is an emphatic comment on the change of 
customs, even in the most polished society. If the wife of 
the President, to-day, were to perpetrate such an act at one 
of her receptions, not even the fact that it stands recorded 
against the graceful, gracious, and glorious Dolly Madison 
would save her from the taunt of being "underbred" and 
suggestive of the land of " snuff dippers." 

Another story of Mrs. Madison illustrates the real kind- 
ness of her heart. Two plain old ladies from the West, halt- 
ing in Washington for a single night, yet most anxious to 

behold the President's famous and popular wife before their 
33 



5!»G TRIALS OF MRS. MADISON S LATER YEARS. 

d^ arture, meeting r,n old gentleman on the street, timidly 
asked him to show them the way to the President's house. 
Happening to be an acquaintance of Mrs. Madison, he con- 
ducted them to the White House. The President's family 
were at breakfast, but Mrs. Madison good-naturedly came 
out to them, wearing a dark gray dress with a white apron, 
and a linen handkerchief pinned around her neck. Not 
overcome by her plumage, and set at ease by her welcome, 
when they rose to depart one said: " P'rhaps 3^ou wouldn't 
mind if I jest kissed you, to tell my gals about." 

Mrs. Madison, not to be outdone, kissed each of her 
guests, who beamed through their spectacles with joy and 
delight, and then departed. 

Poverty compelled Martha Jefferson to part with Monti- 
cello after her father's death, and the same cruel foe forced 
Mrs. Madison to sell Montpelier in her widowhood. 

A special message of President Jackson to Congress, 
concerning the contents of a letter from Mrs. Madison, offer- 
ing to the government her husband's manuscript record of 
the debates in Congress of the convention during the years 
1782-1787, was the means of its being purchased, as a work 
of national interest, for the sum of $30,000. In a subsequent 
act Congress gave to Mrs. Madison the honorary privilege 
of copyright in foreign countries. And to further relieve 
her embarrassments, brought on her through the reckless 
dissipation and prodigality of the son of her first marriage, 
Payne Todd, Congress purchased other manuscripts of her 
husband, paying her $20,000 more. The degree of venera- 
tion in which she was held may be judged by the fact that 
Congress conferred upon her the franking privilege, and 
unanimously voted her a seat upon the Senate floor when- 
ever she honored it with her presence. 

Without experience in the management of her estate and 
financial affairs, and constantly harassed by the demands of 
her son's creditors, she sacrificed her beloved Montpelier, 



MRS. Madison's famous turbans. 507 

hoping to extricate him and save him from a life of dissipa- 
tion. Finding, however, that it was a fruitless sacrifice and 
that she had nothing left but the hallowed memories of her 
happy life with Mr. Madison, she became much depressed. 
Her friends besought her to return to Wasiiington, where 
she would find congenial companionship and be spared the 
pain of witnessing the inevitable change at IMontpelier. 

Through her sister's (Mrs. Cutts) family, she secured the 
Cutts mansion on the corner of Lafayette Square and H 
street, now the Cosmos Club House. Here she spent the 
last twelve years of her life. No eminent man retired from 
service of the State ever had more public recognition and 
honor bestowed upon him by the government he had served 
than did this popular and ever-beloved woman. Here, on 
'New Year's day and the Fourth of Juh^, she held public re- 
ceptions, the dignitaries of the nation, after paying their 
respects to the President, passing directly to the abode of 
the venerable widow of the Fourth President of the United 
States to pay their respects to /ler. In her drawing-room 
political foes met on equal ground and, for the time, public 
and private animosities were forgotten or ignored. 

" Never," says " Uncle Paul," her colored servant, who 
had lived with her from bojdiood, " never was a more grace- 
fuller ladv in a drawintr-room. We ahvavs had our Wed- 
nesday-evening receptions in the old Madison House, and 
we had them in style." Mrs. Madison's turbans were as 
famous in Washington as her snuff-box. It is said that she 
expended $1,000 a year in turbans. She wore them as long 
as she lived — long after they had ceased to be fashionable. 
" These turbans were made of the finest materials and trim- 
med to match her various dresses." Uncle Paul tells of one 
of her dresses of purple velvet with a long train trimmed 
with wide gold-lace and a pair of gold shoes. With a white 
satin dress, she wore a tur])an spangled with silver, and 
silver shoes. She sent to Paris for all her grand costumes. 



598 LIVING IN MEMORIES OP THE PAST. 

Her tea-parties and her "loo" parties were dwelt upon with 
approving accents by her admiring contemporaries. 

She died at her home, on Lafayette Square, Washington, 
Thursday, July 12, 1849, holding her mental faculties unim- 
paired to the last. In her later days, while suffering from 
great debility, she took extreme delight in having old letters 
read to her ; letters whose associations were so remote that 
they were unknown to all others, but which brought back 
her own beloved past. She delighted, also, in listening to 
the reading of the Bible — and it was while hearing a por- 
tion of the gospel of St. John that she passed in peace into 
her last sleep. 

"With reverent ceremonies and deep grief the body was 
laid to rest in the Washington cemetery, but some years 
later it was removed to its most fitting resting-place by the 
side of her husband at Montpelier. There in the Madison 
burying-ground may be seen, side by side, two monuments, 
— one a granite shaft marked simply "MADISON"; the 
other a smaller obelisk of white marble on which is carved : 

In 
MEMORY 
of 
Dolley Payne 

wife of 

James Madison 

born 

May 20, 1768 

died 
July 8, 1849. 

It will be noticed that there is a superfluous " e " in the 
name " Dolley," and by a singular mistake, which finds its 
counterpart in the error in the inscription on Martha Wash- 
ington's tomb, the wrong date is set down as the day of her 
death. It should be July 12. 



CHAPTER XLI. 

THE PRESIDENTS, THEIR WIVES, AND FA]\rOUS LADIES OF 
THE WHITE HOUSE CONTINUED — SOME WOMEN OF 
NOTE — MEMORABLE SCENES AND ENTER- 
TAINMENTS AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 

A Serene and Aristocratic Woman — Entertaining With Great Elegance — 
Interesting Incident in Mrs. Monroe's Foreign Life — Visiting Madame 
Lafayette in Prison — Changing ihe Mind of Biood-Thirsty Tyrants — 
Sharing the Dungeon of Her Husband — An Opinion Plainly Ex- 
pressed — An Evening at the White House — Creating a Sensation at a 
Presidential Reception — An Amusing but Untruthful Picture — Dis- 
graceful Condition of the White House Surroundings — Using the 
Great East Room for a Children's Play-Room — ]\Irs. John Quiucy 
Adams — Long and Lonely Journeys — Life in Russia — The Ladies' 
Costumes — Old-Tinie Beaux and Belles — "Smiling for the Presi- 
dency" — An Ascendant Star — A President Who Masked His Feel- 
ings — "My Wife Combed Your Head" — Calling on an "Iceberg." 

^^■^^ HE faint outline which we catch of Mrs. Monroe, 
J^ mJ% ^^^\Iq qI James Monroe, the fifth President of the 
United States, is that of a serene and aristocratic 
woman, too well bred ever to be visibly moved 
by anything — at least in public. She was Elizabeth 
Kortright, of New York — the daughter of a retired 
British officer, a belle who was ridiculed by her gay friends 
for having refused more brilliant adorers to accept a plain 
Member of Congress. 

During Mr. Monroe's ministry to Paris, she was called 
"Z« helle Ainericaine^'' and entertained the most stately 
society of the old regime with great elegance. The only in- 
dividual act which has survived her career as the wife of the 

(599) 



600 VISITING MADAME LAFAYETTE IN PRISON. 

American Minister to France, is her visit to Madame La- 
fayette in prison. Tlie indignities heaped upon this grand 
and truly great woman, were hard to be borne by an Ameri- 
can, to whom the very name of Lafayette was endeared. 
The carriage of the American Minister appeared at the jail. 
Mrs. Monroe was at last conducted to tlie cell of the ema- 
ciated, suffering prisoner. The Marchioness, beholding the 
sympathetic face of a woman, sank at her feet, too weak to 
utter her joy. That very afternoon she was to have been 
beheaded. Instead of the messenger commanding her to 
prepare for the guillotine, she beheld a woman and a friend ! 
From the first moment of its existence the American Re- 
public hsid prestige in France. Thus the visit of the Ameri- 
can ambassadress had power even to change the purpose of 
blood-thirsty tyrants. Madame Lafayette was liberated the 
next morning, and she gladly accepted her own freedom, 
that she might go and share the dungeon of her husband. 

With the same quiet splendor of spirit and bearing, 
Mrs. Monroe reigned in the unfinished White House. She 
mingled very little in the society of Washington, and 
secluded herself from the public gaze, except when the duties 
of her position compelled her to appear. She loved silence, 
obscurity, peace, not bustle, confusion, or glare. Yet, even 
in her courtly reign, "the dear people" were many and 
strong enough to arise and push on to their rights in the 
" people's house." 

James Feniniore Cooper has left on record a letter pur- 
porting to describe a state dinner and reception during Mr. 
Monroe's time, and any one who has survived a latter-day 
jam at the White House will say it is 'precisely what a 
Presidential reception was in the stately Monroe day. Says 
Mr. Cooper: 

" The evening at the White House, or drawing-room, as 
it is sometimes pleasantly called, is in fact, a collection of all 
classes of people who choose to go to the trouble and ex- 



A RECEPTION IN MONROE'S TIME. 601 

pense of appearing in dresses suited to an evening party. I 
am not sure that even dress is very much regarded, for I 
certainly saw a good many there in boots. . . . Squeezing 
through a crowd, we achievetl a passage to a part of the 
room where Mrs. Monroe was standing, surrounded by a 
bevy of female friends. After making our bow here, we 
sought the President. The hitter had posted himself at the 
top of the room, where he remained most of the evening, 
shaking hands with all who approached. Near him stood 
the Secretaries and a great number of the most distinguished 
men of the nation. Besides these, one meets here a great 
variety of people in other conditions of life. I have known 
a cartman to leave his horse in the street, and go into the 
reception-room, to shake hands Avith the President. He 
offended the good taste of all present, because it was not 
thought decent that a laborer should come in a dirty dress 
on such an occasion ; but while he made a mistake in this 
particular, he proved how well he understood the difference 
between government and society." 

It is very doubtful, however, if a cartman would have 
found it possil)le to have paid his respects to the first Chief 
Magistrate of the Nation in such a plight. Such a visitor at 
the White House, to-day, would make a sensation. In spite 
of the " cartman," we read that at Mrs. Monroe's drawing- 
rooms " elegance of dress was absolutel}^ required." On one 
occasion, Mr. Monroe refused admission to a near relative, 
who happened not to have a suit of small-clothes and silk 
hose in which to present himself at a public reception. He 
was driven to the necessity of borrowing. 

Society at Washington during the administration of 
Monroe was essentially Southern. Virginia, proud of her 
Presidents, sent forth her brightest flowers to adorn the 
court circle. The wealth of the sugar and cotton planters, 
and of the vast wheat-fields of the agricultural States, 



603 AN UNINVITING EXECUTIVE MANSION. 

enabled Southern Senators and Representatives to keep 
their carriages and liveried servants, and to maintain great 
state. Dinners and suppers with rich wines and the delica- 
cies of the season had their persuasive influence over the 
minds as well as the appetites of the entertained. A few of 
the richer Members from the North vied with Southern 
Members in their style of living and entertainments ; but so 
inconsiderable was their number, that they furnished only 
exceptions to the rule. 

When the Monroes entered the White House, it had been 
partly rebuilt from its burning in 1814, but it could boast of 
few comforts and no elegance. The ruins of the former 
building lay in heaps about the mansion ; the grounds were 
not fenced, and the street was in such a condition that it 
was an hourly sight to see four-horse wagons " stalled " be- 
fore the house. In the first years of the administration the 
great East Room was the play-room of Mrs. Monroe's 
daughters. 

Maria Hester, youngest daughter of President Monroe, 
was married during her father's term to Samuel L. Gouver- 
neur, who was a nephew of Mrs. Monroe. This occasion 
was attended with much pomp and ceremony. Mrs. Hay, 
the eldest daughter, and Mrs. Gouverneur, assisted in dis- 
pensing the hospitalities of the White House and exercised, 
a favorable influence on Washington society. The court 
circle in Monroe's administration maintained the aristocratic 
spirit and elevated tone which had characterized the previ- 
ous administrations. Its superiority was universally ac- 
knowledged. 

Maria Monroe was one day in her father's office, during 
his Presidency, when William II. Crawford, Secretary of 
the Treasury, came in, urging something on Mr. Monroe 
which he wanted time to consider. Crawford insisted with 
vehemence on its being done at once ; saying, at length, '' I 
will not leave this room until my request is granted." "You 



AN INDIGNANT AND BELLIGERANT PRESIDENT. 603 

will not!" exclaimed the President, starting up and seizing 
the ])oker; "you will now leave the room or you will be 
thrust out." Crawford was not long in making his exit. 

After laying down the burden of State cares, Monroe 
retired to his home, Oak Hill, Virginia. He had the society 
of his beloved wife in this pleasant retreat for only a few 
years. Here she died in September, 1830, and her grave was 
made under the shade of a large pine tree in the garden. 
Her daughter, Maria, was laid beside her in 1850. 

After the death of his wife the widower went on a visit 
to New York. Here in his failing health he was w^atched 
with filial solicitude and tenderness. As a private citizen he 
emerged from all his successive public trusts with poverty as 
the emblem of his purity and the badge of all his public hon- 
ors. In the death of his devoted wife he realized that his 
cup of earthly sorrow ^vas full to the brim. She had adorned 
every public position wdth enviable graces of person and 
mind. She had nobly participated in all his troubles, and 
with her loss all the hopes of his declining years faded rap- 
idly. He died in New York City in 1831, aged 73. 

The portrait w^hich Leslie gives us of Louisa Catherine 
Johnson, the wife of John Quincy Adams, son of the second 
President of the United States, reminds us in outline and 
costume of the Empress Josephine and the Court of the first 
Napoleon. 

She wears the scanty robe of the period, its sparse out- 
line revealing the slender elegance of the figure, the low 
waist and short sbeves trimmed with lace and edged with 
pearls. One long glove is drawn nearly to the elbow, the 
other is held in the hand, which droops carelessly over the 
back of a chair. There is a necklace around the throat. 
Thrown across one shoulder and over her lap is a mantle of 
exquisite lace. The close bands of the hair, edged with a 
few graceful curls, and fastened high at the back with a cor- 
onet comb, reveal the classic outline of the small head ; the 



G04 REMARKABLE JOURNEYS OP MRS. ADAMS. 

face is oval, the features delicate and vivacious ; the eyes 
beautiful in their clear, spiritual gaze. This is the portrait 
of a President's wife, whose early advantages of society and 
culture far transcended those of almost any other woman of 
her time. 

The daughter of Joshua Johnson, of Maryland, she was 
born, educated, and married in London. As a bride she 
went to tlie court of Berlin, to which her husband Avas 
appointed American Minister on the accession of his father 
to the Presidency. In 1801 she went to Boston, to dwell 
with her husband's people, but very soon came to Washing- 
ton as the wife of a Senator. On the accession of Madison, 
leaving her two elder children with their grandparents, she 
took a third, not two years of age, and embarked with her 
husband for Russia, whither he went as United States 
Minister. 

. Nothing could be more graphic than the diary which she 
kept on this three-months voyage. Summer merged into 
winter before the little wave-and-wind-beaten bark touched 
that inhospitable shore. The first American Minister to 
Russia, Mr. Adams lived in St. Petersburg for six years, 
"poor, studious, ambitious, and secluded." Happily for 
him, his wife possessed mental and spiritual resources which 
lifted her above all dependence on conventional attention 
from the world, and made her in every respect the meet 
companion of a scholar and patriot. 

In the wake of furious war, through storm and snow- 
drifts, through a country ravaged by passion and strife, she 
traveled alone, with her little child, from St. Petersburg to 
Paris, whither she went to meet her husband. Here she 
witnessed the storm of delight which greeted Napoleon on 
his return from Elba. Mr. Adams was appointed Minister 
to the Court of St. James, and after a separation of six 
years Mrs. Adams was reunited to her children. 

In 1817, Mr. Monroe, on his accession to the Presidency, 



THE FAMOUS BALL TO GENERAL JACKSON. GOo 

immediately appointed John Quincy Adams Secretary of 
State, and Mrs. Adams returned with him to Washino-ton. 
For eight years she was the elegant successor of Mrs. Madi- 
son, who filled the same position with so much distinction. 
No one was excluded from her house on account of political 
hostility — all sectional bitterness and party strife were ban- 
ished from her drawing-rooms. 

As the wife of the Secretary of State, Mrs. Adams gave 
a magnificent ball, the fame of which still lives in history. 
It was given January 8, 1S24-, in commemoration of General 
Jackson's victory at New Orleans. At this celebrated enter- 
tainment the belles appeared in the full dress of the period, 
when the dress waist ended just under the arms, and its 
depth, front and back, was not over three or four inches. 
The skirts, narrow and plain, were terminated by a flounce 
just resting on the floor. The gloves reached to the elbow, 
and were of such fine kid that they were often imported in 
the shell of an English walnut. Slippers and silk stockings 
of the color of the dress were worn, Avith gay ribbons crossed 
and tied over the instep. The hair was combed high, fast- 
ened Avith a tortoise-shell comb — the married ladies wearing 
ostrich feathers and turbans. While the belles were thus 
attired, their beaux were decked in blue coats, with gilt but- 
tons, white or buff waistcoats, white neckties and high 
" chokers," silk stockings, and pumps. 

At this ball Daniel Webster, Clay, and Calhoun were 
conspicuous in this dress. General Jackson, with Mrs. 
Adams on his arm, made the central figure of the assembly. 
Mrs. Adams wore " a suit of steel." The dress was composed 
of steel-colored llama-cloth ; her ornaments for head, throat, 
and arms were all of cut steel, producing a dazzling effect. 
General Jackson's entire devotion to her durin<; the evenincr 
was the subject of comment. After the manner of to-day, 
it was declared that he was " smiling for the Presidency." 
He was the lion of the evening. All the houses of the first 



60G FRIGID MANNER OF MR. ADAMS. 

■ward were illuminated in his honor. Bonfires made the 
streets light as day, and the " sovereign people " shouted his 
name and fame. That night fixed his presidential star in 
the ascendancy. 

Through fiery opposition, John Quincy Adams was 
elected President. From the time she became mistress of 
the President's house, failing health inclined Mrs. Adams to 
seek seclusion, but she still continued to preside at public re- 
ceptions. Her vivacity and pleasing manner did much to 
warm the chill caused by Mr. Adams' apathy or apparent 
coldness. Those who knew him declared that he had the 
warmest heart and the deepest sympathies, but he had an 
unfortunate way of hiding them. It is told that when he 
was candidate for the Presidency, his friends persuaded him 
to go to a cattle-show. Among the persons who ventured 
to address him was a respectable farmer, who impulsively 
exclaimed : " Mr. Adams, I am very glad to see you. My 
wife, when she was a gal, lived in your father's family ; you 
were then a little boy, and she has often combed your 
head." 

"Well," said Mr. Adams, in a harsh voice, "I suppose 
she combs yours now." 

The poor farmer slunk back discomfited. If he gave 
John Quincy Adams his vote he was more magnanimous 
than the average citizen of to-day would be to so rude a 
candidate. 

A gentleman who was soliciting contributions to a 
worthy object amopg officers of high rank in the govern 
ment found little encouragement. He was recommended to 
call on Mr. Adams. " On that iceberg! " he exclaimed, " it 
would be folly." However, he finally went to see Mr. 
Adams. He looked over the paper, took out his pocket- 
book, and handed the young man, in silence, two notes of 
twenty dollars each. 

A writer of her time speaks of Mrs. Adams' "enchant- 



A DISTINGUISHED GUEST. 607 

ing, elegant, and intellectual reghne,^'' declaring that it should 
give tone to the whole country. Her fine culture, intellec- 
tual tastes, and charming social qualities, combined to attract 
about her a circle of distinguished women. 

Mrs. Adams was the "ladv of the White House" when, 
in 1825, Lafayette visited the United States, and, at the invi- 
tation of the President, spent the last Aveeks of his stay at 
the Executive Mansion, from which, on the seventh of Sep- 
tember, he bade his pathetic farewell to the land of his 
adoption. 

John Adams, second son of John Quincy and Mrs. 
Adams, married his cousin, February, 1828, in the Blue 
Room. Four bridesmaids were in attendance, and a round 
of festivities followed the weddinof. 

Mrs. Adams died May 1-1, 1852, and was buried beside 
her husband in the family burying-ground at Quincy, 
Massachusetts. 



CHAPTER XLIL 

THE PRESIDENTS, THEIR WIVES, AND FAMOUS LADIES OF 

THE WHITE HOUSE CONTINUED — PRESIDENTS' WIVES 

WHO NEVER ENTERED THE EXECUTIVE 

MANSION. 

President Andrew Jackson and Mrs. Rachel Robards — The Story of Jack- 
son's Courtship — An Innocent Mistake — Jackson's Resentful Dispo- 
sition — His Morbid Sensitiveness About His Wife's Reputation — 
"Do You Dare, Villain, To Mention Her Sacred Name ? " — His Duel 
with Governor Sevier — A Tragical Experience — Kills Charles Dick- 
inson in a Duel — Mrs. Jackson's Piety — Her Influence Over Her 
Husband — His Profanity and Quick Temper — Her Unwillingness To 
Preside at the White House — An Arrow that Pierced Her Heart — 
. He Enters the White House a Widower — Faithful to Her Memory — 
Children Born in the White House ^ The Story of a Baby Curl — 
"Try Him in Irish, Jimmy" — An Astonished Minister — The Wife 
of President Van Buren — The Wife of President William Henry 
Harrison. 




XDREW JACKSON was the presidential suc- 
cessor of John Quincy Adams. His wife, who 
was Mrs. Rachel Robards when Jackson first 
met her, was the daugliter of Col. John Donel- 
son of Virginia, one of the pioneers of Tennessee, 
after whom was named Fort Donelson, captured 
by General Grant the second year of the Civil War. Mrs. 
Jackson never entered the President's house, for she had 
passed from earth before her husband became the Chief 
Magistrate of the Nation. Yet it is doubtful if the wife of 
any other President ever exerted so powerful and positive 
an influence over an administration in life as did Mrs. Jack- 
son after death. Born and reared on the frontiers of civili- 

(608) 



THE WOMAN WHO RULED ANDREW JACKSON. oUi) 

;<ation, her educational advantages had been but scanty, and 
she never mastered more than the simplest rudiments of 
knowledge. Yet, looking on her pictured face, it is easy to 
fathom and define the power whicli, tlirough life and 
beyond the grave, held in sweet abeyance the master-will of 
her husband. It was a power purely womanly — the affec- 
tional force ,of a woman of exalted moral nature and deep 
afifections. It was impossible that such a woman should use 
arts to win love, and equally impossible that she should not 
be loved. Men would love her instinctively, through the 
best and highest in their natures. 

Andrew Jackson, or " Andy," as he was commonly 
called, was twenty-four when he married Mrs. Robards. 
She and her first husband were boarding with her mother, 
Mrs. Donelson, then a widoAv, when Jackson became a 
boarder under the same roof. Mrs. Robards' husband, sus- 
picious and morose, was needlessly jealous of her, and made 
her very unhappy. Jackson was fond of her society, 
though he in no manner passed the boundaries of the most 
conventional decorum. Iler husband believed, or pretended 
to believe, that Jackson was his wife's lover, and applied to 
the legislature for an act preliminary to divorce. Jackson 
and Mrs. Robards supposed the act itself a divorce, and they 
were married two vears before the divorce was allowed. 

This innocent mistake (they were married again as soon 
as it was discovered) was the source of endless annoyance 
and sorrow to them both. To the day of Jackson's death 
he was so sensitive and fiery on the subject that, if any man 
hinted at any impropriety in their relations, he at once 
called the slanderer to account. Indeed, he was little less 
than a monomaniac in regard to his wife. Several of his 
most savage conflicts grew directly or indirectly out of 
what he believed to be reflections on her fair fame. If 
ever a man was madly in love that man was Andrew Jack- 
son, lie fancied his wife to be a goddess, an angel, a saint, 



610 A GENEROUS FRIEND AND DEADLY FOE. 

and he wanted to kill anybody who dared express any other 
opinion. His resentful disposition kept him alert for the 
slightest insinuation against her. 

Much of Jackson's early life in Tennessee was spent in 
fighting the Indians and his private enemies, of whom he 
always had a host. He was one of the most irascible and 
pugnacious of mortals, and his ire, aroused by the slightest 
cause, was deadly. Possessed of many generous and noble 
qualities, he was often in his resentments no better than a 
madman. When he was one of the judges of the supreme 
court of Tennessee, John Sevier was governor. They had 
quarreled, and Jackson had challenged the governor, who 
had declined the challenge. Still on bad terms, they met 
one day in the streets of Knoxville, and after exchanging a 
few words, Sevier made some slighting allusion to Mrs. 
Jackson. Her husband roared out, " Do you dare, villain, 
to mention her sacred name ? " Drawing a pistol, he fired 
at the governor, who returned the shot. They fired again, 
ineffectually, and then bystanders interfered. Not long 
after, they encountered one another on horseback on the 
road, each accompanied by a friend. Again they shot at 
one another, and murder would have followed, had not 
some travelers, who had chanced to come up, separated the 
combatants. Jackson had the reputation of being a dead 
shot ; but he frequentl}'' missed his man, owing to his being 
unnerved by the excitement of the occasion. 

One of the most tragical of his experiences was his duel, 
some years before, with Charles Dickinson, who had com- 
mitted the unpardonable sin of commenting freely on Mrs. 
Jackson. They had had several disagreements, and Jack- 
son finally spoke of Dickinson in so violent a manner that 
his language Avas repeated, as the General wished it should 
be, to the man himself. Thereupon Dickinson, who was 
about to start for New Orleans, wrote Jackson a letter, 
denouncing him as a liar and a coward. On his return, 



Jackson's duel with dickinson. 611 

Jackson challenged him, and they met on the banks of the 
Red River in Logan county, Kentucky, early in the morn- 
ing of May 30, 1800. Dickinson got first fire, breaking a 
rib, and making a serious wound in the breast of his oppo- 
nent, who showed no sign of having been hit. lie had felt 
sure of killing his antagonist, and exclaimed, " Great God ! 
have I missed him ? " 

Jackson, then taking deliberate aim, pulled the trigger, 
but the weapon did not explode. It stopped at half-cock. 
He cocked it fully, and again calmly and carefully leveling 
it, fired. The bullet passed through Dickinson's body, just 
above the hips; he fell, and died that night after suffering 
terrible agony. Jackson never recovered from the hurt, 
and never expressed the least remorse for what many per- 
sons pronounced a cold-blooded murder. There is no doubt 
that he had made up his mind to kill Dickinson. Any man 
who had spoken discreditably of Mrs. Jackson had, in his 
opinion, forfeited the right to live. 

Rachel Jackson was a woman of deep personal piety, 
and she longed for nothing so much as the time when 
her husband would be done with political honors, as 
he had assured her that then, and not till then, could 
he " be a Christian." The following anecdote illustrates 
the profound influence she held over the moral nature of 
her husband. 

An intimate friend of Mrs. Jackson was on a visit to 
the Hermitage. Mrs. Jackson talked to him of religion and 
said the General was disposed to be religious ; that she 
believed he would join the church were it not for the com- 
ing presidential election, but his head was now full of poli- 
tics. While they were conversing, the General came in 
with a newspaper in his hand, to whic"h he referred as 
denouncing his mother as a camp follower. '' This is too 
bad ! " he exclaimed, rising into a passion and swearing 
terribly. His wife approached him, and looking him in 



612 slander's poisoned arrow. 

the face, simply said, " Mr. Jackson ! " He was subdued in 
an instant, and did not utter another oath. 

In the same presidential contest this gentle being did 
not herself escape calumny. When her husband was 
elected President of the United States, she said : " For Mi\ 
Jackson's sake, I am glad ; for my own, I never wished it." 
To an intimate friend she said in all sincerity : " I assure 
you I would rather be a door-keeper in the house of my 
God than to dwell in that palace in Washington." Dearer 
to her heart was the Hermitage, with the little chapel built 
by her husband for her own especial use, than all the pros- 
pective pomp of the President's house. 

She was a mother to every servant on the estate, and 
being anxious to make everyone comfortable during her 
anticipated absence in Washington, she made numerous 
journeys to Nashville, to purchase, for those left behind, 
their winter supplies. Worn out after a day's shopping, she 
went to the parlor of the Nashville Inn to rest. While she 
waited there for the family coach which was to convey her 
to the Hermitage, she heard her own name spoken in the 
adjoining room. She was compelled to hear, while she sat 
there, pale and smitten, the false and cruel calumnies 
against herself which had so recklessly been used during the 
campaign to defeat her husband, and which he had zealously 
excluded from her sight in the ne\vspapers. Here the poi- 
soned arrow came back from the misfortune of her youth, 
when she married a man intellectually and morally her 
inferior, and it entered her gentle heart too deep to be with- 
drawn. She returned to the Hermitage, and was soon after 
seized Avith a spasmodic affection of the heart, which termi- 
nated in death. 

In Parton's " Life of Andrew Jackson," we find this 
account of Mrs. Jackson's last days. The detail of the facts, 
he states, wore given him by " Hannah," her faithful serv- 
ant, in whose arms she died after an illness of seven days, 



AGONIZING DEATH OF MllS. JACKSON. 013 

during which time everything was done that skilled and 
loving hands could do, but without avail. 

"It was a Wednesday morning, December 17. All was 
going on as usual at the Hermitage. Tho General was in 
the fields, at some distance from the house, and Mrs. Jack- 
son, apparently in tolerable health, was occupied in her 
Jiousehold duties. Old Hannah asked her to come into the 
kitchen to give her opinion upon some article of food that 
was in course of preparation. She performed the duty 
required of hei", and returned to her usual sitting-room, fol- 
lowed by Hannah. Suddenly she uttered a horrible shriek, 
placed her hands upon her heart, sun'.c into a chair, strug- 
gling for breath, and fell forward into Hannah's arms. 
There were only servants in the house, many of whom ran 
frantically in, uttering the loud lamentations with which 
Africans are wont to give vent to their feelings. The 
stricken lady was placed upon her bed, and while messen- 
gers hurried away for assistance, Hannah employed the only 
remedies she knew to relieve the anguish of her mistress. 

" No relief. She writhed in agony. She fought for 
breath. The General came in, alarmed beyond description. 
The doctor arrived. Mrs. A. J. Donelson hurried in from 
her house near by. The Hermitage was soon tilled with 
near relatives, friends, and servants. AVith short intervals 
of partial relief, Mrs. Jackson continued to suffer all that a 
woman could suffer for the space of sixty hours; during 
which time her husband never left her bed-side for ten min- 
utes. On Friday evening she was much better, was almost 
free from pain, and breathed with far less difficulty. The 
first use, and indeed, the only use she made of her recovered 
speech was to protest to the General that she was quite 
well, and to implore him to go to another room and sleep, 
and by no means to allow her indisposition to prevent his 
attending the banquet on the 23d. She told him that the 
day of the banquet would be a very fatiguing one, and he 



G14 THE SAINT OF THE PRESIDENT'S HOME, 

must not permit his strength to be reduced by want of 

sleep. 

" Still the General would not leave her. He distrusted 
this sudden relief. He feared it was the relief of torpor or 
exhaustion, and the more as the remedies prescribed by Dr. 
Hogg, the attending physician, had not produced their 
desio-ned effect. Saturday and Sunday passed, and still she 
lay free from serious pain, but weak and listless ; the Gen- 
eral still her watchful, constant, almost sleepless attendant. . 

" On Monday evening, the evening before the 23d, her 
disease appeared to take a decided turn for the better; and 
she then so earnestly entreated the General to prepare for 
the fatigues of the morrow by having a night of undisturbed 
sleep, that he consented at last to go into an adjoining room 
and lie down upon a sofa. The doctor was still in the house. 
Hannah and George were to sit up Avith their mistress. 

"At 9 o'clock the General bade her good-night, went into 
the next room and took off his coat, preparatory to lying 
down. He had been gone about five minutes. Mrs. Jackson 
was then, for the first time, removed from her bed that it 
might be rearranged for the night. While sitting in a chair 
supported in the arms of Hannah, she uttered a long, loud 
inarticulate cry, which was immediately followed by a rat- 
tling noise in the throat. Her head fell forward upon Han- 
nah's shoulder. She never spoke nor breathed again." 

The grief of her husband amounted to agony. His 
anguish seemed too intense to be endured, but he lived to 
worship her memory and defend her name for many years. 

With the wound of his loss fresh and bleeding. President 
Jackson entered upon his high office. Thus in death Eachel 
Jackson became the tutelary saint of the President's house. 
Wherever he went he wore her miniature. No matter what 
had been the duties or pleasures of the d:iy, when the man 
came back to himself, and to his lonely room, her Bible and 
her picture took the place of the beloved face and tender 



PORTRAIT OF MRS. JACKSON. 615 

presence which had been tlie one charm and love of his 
heroic life. 

No other portrait of a President's wife looks down upon 
posterity with so winsome and innocent a gaze as that of 
Ilachel Jackson. A cap of soft lace surmounts the dark 
curls Avhich cluster about her forehead and fall like a veil 
over her shoulders. The full lace ruffle around her neck is not 
fastened with even a brooch, and, save the long pendants in 
her ears, she wears no ornaments. Her throat is massive, 
her lips full and sweet in expression, her brow broad and 
rounded, her eye-brows arching above a pair of large, liquid, 
gazelle-like eyes, whose soft, womanly outlook is sure to win 
and to disarm the beholder. This remarkable loveliness of 
spirit and person was the source of fatal sorrow to Eachel 
Jackson, It Avon her reverence, amounting almost to adora- 
tion, but it made her also the victim of jealousy, envy, and 
malice. These made the shadows over her whole life, not- 
withstanding the wealth of love showered upon her. 

Probably into no other administration of the government, 
from its first to the present, has personal feeling had so 
much to do with official appointments as in the offices emp- 
tied and filled by Andrew Jackson. He had only to suspect 
that a man had failed to espouse the cause of the beloved 
Pachel, and his unlucky official head immediately came off. 
It was told him that Mr. Watterson, the Librarian of Con- 
gress, had told or listened to something to the detriment of 
Mrs. Jackson, and Mr. Watterson was immediately deposed. 
Though she was avenged at times in acts of personal 
injustice, in her own pure tones she spoke through him 
in all the higlier acts of his administration. Thus it was in 
spirit that Rachel Jackson lived and reigned at the White 
House. 

Emily Donelson, wife of Andrew Jackson Donelson, IVIrs. 
Jackson's nephew and adopted son, with Mrs. Andrew Jack- 
son, Jr., the wife of another adopted son, shared together the 



616 BEAUTIFUL EMILY DONELSON. 

social honors of the White House during the administration 
of President Jackson. The delicate question of precedence 
between them "was thus settled by him. lie said to Mrs. 
Jackson: "You, my dear, are mistress of the Hermitage, 
and Emily is hostess of the White House." 

Emily Donelson was of remarkable beauty. Her man- 
ners were of singular fascination, and she dressed with 
exquisite taste. The dress she wore at the first inaugura- 
tion is still ])reserved. It is of amber satin brocaded with 
bouquets of rose-leaves and violets, trimmed with white lace 
and pearls. It was a present from General Jackson, and 
even at that day, before the " society column " became a 
prominent feature of the newspapers, was described in every 
paper of the Union. General Jackson always called her 
"my daughter." She was the child of Mrs. Jackson's 
brother, and married to her cousin. She was quick at rep- 
artee, and possessed the rare gift of l)eing able to listen 
gracefully. A foreign Minister once said : " Madame, you 
dance with the grace of a Parisian. I can hardly realize 
that you were educated in Tennessee." 

" Count, you forget," was the spirited reply, " that grace 
is a cosmopolite, and, like a wild flower, is found oftener in 
the woods than in the streets of a city." 

Her four children were born in the White House. But 
in the midst of its honors, in the flower of her 3'outh, " the 
lovely Emily" went out from its portals to die. She sought 
the softer airs of '^ Tulip Grove," her home in Tennessee, 
where she died of consumption, December, 18130. 

It is related tliat when the corner-stone of the Treasury 
building was laid, Andrew Jackson was asked to supply 
some special memento, and he complied by clipping a lock 
from the head of baby Mary Donelson. AV'hen little Mary 
was christened, both Houses of Congress were invited, and 
the ceremony took place in the East Room, the President 
holding her in his arms; Martin Van Buren stood god- 



A FAMILY GROUP AT THE WHITE HOUSE. G17 

father, while Cora Livingston, daughter of the Secretary of 
State, and the belle and beauty of the administration, offi- 
ciated as godmother. Years after there came to Washing- 
ton a widowed and saddened woman, who was glad to 
accept a clerkship in the great department whose corner- 
stone holds her sunny baby curl. She did her work there 
nobly, educating her family through her own earnings as 
clerk. 

A lady gives the following picture of an evening scene 
at the White House, in the early part of Jackson's adminis- 
tration : 

" The large parlor w^as scantily furnished ; there Avas 
light from the chandelier, and a blazing lire in the grate ; 
four or five ladies sewing around it ; Mrs. Donelson, Mrs. 
Andrew Jackson, Jr., Mrs. Edward Livingston. Five or six 
children were playing about, regardless of documents or 
work-baskets. At the farther end of the room sat the Pres- 
ident, in his arm-chair, wearing a long loose coat, and smok- 
ing a long reed pipe, with a bowl of red clay — combining 
the dignity of the patriarch, monarch, and Indian chief. 
Just behind, was Edward Livingston, the Secretary of State, 
reading a dispatch from the French Minister for Foreign 
Affairs. The ladies glance admiringly, now and then, at 
the President, who listens, waving his pipe toward the chil- 
dren, when they become too boisterous." 

During Jackson's administration a new Minister arrived 
from Lisbon, and the Secretary of State appointed for him 
a day to be presented to the President. The hour was set, 
and the Secretary expected the Minister to call at the State 
Department ; but the Portuguese had misunderstood the 
Secretary's French, and he proceeded alone to the White 
House. He rang the bell, and the door was opened by the 
L'isli porter, Jimmy O'Neil. '•'• Je suis venu voir Monsieur 
le President^'' said the Minister. " What the deuce does he 
mean ! " muttered Jimmy. " He says President, though, so 



618 A DISMAYED FOREIGN MINISTER. 

I suppose lie wants to see the Gineral." " Oui^ oul^'' said 
the Portuguese, bowing. 

' Jimmy ushered him into the Green Room, where the 
General was smoking his corn-cob pipe with great compos- 
ure. The Minister made his bow to the President, and ad- 
dressed him in French, of which tlie General did not under- 
stand a word. "What does the fellow say, Jimmy?" said 
he. " I dunno, sir ; but I think he's a furriner." " Tiy 
him in Irish, Jimmy," said Old Hickory. Jimmy gave him 
a touch of the genuine Milesian, but the Minister only 
shruo-cred his shoulders with the usual " Plait il f " " Och ! 
exclaimed Jimmy, "he can't go the Irish, sir. He's Frinch, 
to be sure ! " " Send for the French cook, and let him try 
if he can find out what the gentleman wants." The cook 
was hurried from the kitchen, sleeves rolled up, apron on, 
and a huge carving-knife in his hand. The Minister seeing 
this formidable apparition, and doubting he was in the pres- 
ence of the Head of the Nation, feared some treachery, and 
made for the door, before which Jimmy planted himself to 
keep him in. When the cook, by the General's order, asked 
Avho he was, and what he wanted, and he gave a subdued 
answer, the President discovered his character. At this 
juncture the Secretary came in, and the Minister was pre- 
sented m due form. It is said General Jackson always re- 
sented allusion to this incident. 

One of Jackson's best traits was his inherent and unva- 
rying respect for women, toward whom he ever conducted 
himself with chivalrous delicacy, not to be expected in 
a man of such antecedents, and of so impetuous and 
turbulent a disposition. AYhile he was detested by many, he 
was popular with the masses. Many of the acts for which 
he once was savagely denounced have come to be generally 
approved. He was narrow, ignorant, overflowing with pas- 
sion and prejudice; but honest, single-minded, and, accord- 
ing to his light, a true and conscientious patriot. 



MRS. VAN BUREN AND MRS. HARRISON. 619 

Hannah Hoes, the wife of President Martin Van Buren, 
died in her youth, long before he had grown to high polit- 
ical honors. She had been dead seventeen years when, as 
the eighth President of the United States, he entered the 
White House. During his administration its social honors 
were dispensed by his daughter-in-law, Mrs. Abram Van 
Buren, born Angelica Singleton, of South Carolina, who 
entered upon her duties and pleasures as a bride. She was of 
illustrious lineage, possessed of finely-cultivated powers, and 
is said to have " borne the fatigue of a three-hours levee 
with a patience and pleasantry inexhaustible." Doubtless 
she shared some of the help which bore Mr. Monroe triumph- 
antly through a similar scene. 

" Are you not completely worn out ? " inquired a friend. 

" Oh, no ! " replied President Monroe. "A little flattery 
will support a man through great fatigue." 

Anna Symmes, the wife of President William Henry 
Harrison, a lady of strong intelligence and deep piety, never 
came to the White House. Her delicate health forbade her 
to leave home at the time her husband made his presi- 
dential journey to Washington. In a little more than a 
month he was borne back to her, released by death. She 
survived, almost to the age of ninety, to bid sons and grand- 
sons Godspeed when they went forth to light for their coun- 
try — as she had bidden her gallant husband the same, when 
he left her amid her flock of little ones, in the days of her 
youth, for the same cause. From time to time sons and 
grandsons came from the field of battle to receive her bless- 
ing anew. She said to one : " Go, my son. Your country 
needs your services. I do not. I feel that my prayers in 
your behalf will be heard, and that you will return in 
safetv." And the grandson did come back to receive her 
final blessing, after many hard-fought battles. 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

THE PRESIDENTS, THEIR WIVES, AND FAMOUS LADIES OP 

THE WHITE HOUSE CONTINUED — SOME BRIDES OF 

THE AVHITE HOUSE — A PRESIDENT'S WIFE 

WHO PRAYED FOR HIS DEFEAT. 

The Courtship of President John Tyler — Engaged for Five Years — Kiss- 
ing His Sweetheart's Hand for the First Time — An Old-Time Lover — 
Death of Mrs. Tyler in the White House — The Young and Beautiful 
Mrs. Robert Tyler — A Former Actress — From the Footlights to the 
Executive Mansion — "Can This be I?" — "Actually Living in the 
White House!" — Recalling Her Theatrical Career — President Tyler's 
Second Bride — His Son's Account of the Courtship — The Wife of 
President Polk — Polk's Courtship — IMrs. Polk's Great Popularity — 
Acting as Private Secretary to Her Husband — " Sarah Knows Where 
It Is" — The Wife of General Zachary Taylor — Her Devotion to Her 
Husband — An Unwilling Mistress of the White House — Praying for 
Her Husbaiid's Defeat — "Betty Bliss " 

'RS. LETITIA CHRISTIAN TYLER, wife of 
President John Tyler, was another sensitive, 
saintly soul, whose children rose up and called 
her blessed. General Tyler, son of President 
Tyler, says of his father's courtship : " His courtship 
was much more formal than that of to-day. He was 
seldom alone with her before their marriage, and he has 
told me that he never mustered up courage enough to kiss 
/lis sweetheart's hand until three weeks before their wed- 
ding, though he was engaged for nearly five years. He 
asked her parents' consent before proposing to her, and 
when he visited her at the home of Colonel Christian, her 
father, on his large plantation, he was entertained in the 
parlors where the whole family were assembled together. 

(620) 




"a perfect gentlewoman.'* 621 

As was the custom then among the better class of Virginian 
families, the lover never thought of going out riding in the 
same carriage with his affianced, but rode along on horse- 
back at the side of the carriage, which always contained one 
or more ladies in addition to his sweetheart to add decorum 
to the occasion." 

:Mrs. Tyler died in the White House, September 10, 1842. 
Her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Robert Tyler, writing of the 
event, says: 

"Xothing can exceed the loneliness of this large and 
gloomy mansion, hung with black, its walls echoing only 
sighs and groans. My poor husband suffered dreadfully 
when he was told his mother's eyes were constantly turned 
to the door watching for him. He had left AVashington to 
bring me and the children, at her request. She had every 
thinir about her to awaken love. She was beautiful to the 
eye, even i