Part 12

Millard Fillmore, of New York, elected Vice-President, became President July 10, 1852. He was an eminent lawyer from Buffalo. His manners were marked with great simplicity and affability. Mrs. Abigail Fillmore was one of the few literary women who have presided in the White House. She drew to her side the literary men and women of the nation, and her receptions resembled the French _salons_ in their literary tone.

Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, became President in 1853. He was a shy, modest man, who could not cope with the strong men of the South, who were even then preparing for secession. He was six feet high. His coal-black hair and eyes gave him a most striking appearance. His wife, Mrs. Jane Appleton Pierce, was not a strong woman physically, but managed to discharge the duties of the White House with great dignity.

James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, became the fifteenth President of the United States in 1857. The throes of the Civil War began in his administration. He was a politician, not a statesman, and tried to suit both sides, but ended by suiting neither. But the duties of the White House were never more elegantly administered than while Miss Harriet Lane, the niece of President Buchanan, presided. There are white-haired diplomats living to-day who compare everything now done in the White House with Miss Lane's graceful administration. She had been much with her uncle when he was minister at foreign courts, and they both had many friends among the scholarly men of the legations, so that the White House became the rendezvous of that class more than at any other period. She received the Prince of Wales and his suite most gracefully, omitting nothing which would add to the dignity of the occasion.

Jefferson Davis said: "The White House under the administration of Buchanan approached more nearer to my idea of a Republican Court than the President's house had ever done since the days of Washington."

Abraham Lincoln, "the noblest Roman of them all," became President March 8, 1861. He is the greatest American that has yet lived. Washington was the result of English influences, but Lincoln is the highest representative of republican influences that has yet governed this nation. A giant in stature, being six feet and four inches in height, his grand physique was but a type of the great heart and strong intellect of a great man. He was called to preside over this nation at the most critical time in its history.

Mrs. Mary Todd Lincoln found it difficult to keep up the ceremonious customs of the White House with a husband who followed no conventionalities, but believed the Executive Mansion should be opened at all times to every citizen. Mrs. Lincoln devoted much time to the soldiers in the hospitals, and the White House conservatory was kept stripped of flowers for the benefit of the wounded and sick.

Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, came to the Presidency on the death of Mr. Lincoln in 1865. He was not wise in his judgments, and had he been more amenable to men of experience in governmental affairs his life in Washington would have been much easier. Time is revealing more and more that his troubles were in a great degree the result of the jealousies and disappointments of politicians. The sufferings of the people of the White House during the days of President Johnson's trials can never be estimated.

Martha Patterson, widow of Senator Patterson, of Tennessee, and daughter of the President, administered the social duties of the Executive Mansion during Johnson's administration, Mrs. Johnson being an invalid. Mrs. Patterson said: "We are plain people from the mountains of Tennessee, called here for a short time by a national calamity. I trust too much will not be expected of us." But sad as her heart must have been in those days, she filled the duties of her high place to the satisfaction of even the exacting great dames of the period. Andrew Johnson's lovely family are yet fondly remembered and deeply loved by many who enjoyed the friendship of "the plain people from Tennessee."

General U. S. Grant, of Illinois, became President in 1869, and his administration was one long carnival of social duties and enjoyments.

Mrs. Julia Dent Grant and her accomplished daughter, Nellie, led the society of the Capitol through eight brilliant years. The White House was entirely refurnished, and the festivities were on a scale of magnificence never equaled there before or since.

In 1877 Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, became President. He came in at a difficult and dangerous time, but his administration brought peace and tranquility to the nation.

Mrs. Lucy Webb Hayes was noted for her plain dressing and strict temperance principles, which she enforced even in the White House, much to the disgust of the legations and to the delight of the Christian people of the country.

James A. Garfield, of Ohio, became President in 1881. His life in the White House from March to September, 1881, scarcely gave time to show what the social life in Washington would have been had he lived to complete his term. His assassination cast a gloom over the social life for a full year after Chester A. Arthur became the Executive. He served to the end of the term, in 1885. President Arthur being a widower, the hostess of the White House during his term was his accomplished sister, Mrs. Mary Arthur McElroy.

Grover Cleveland, of New York, became President in 1885. The Republican party had been in power for twenty-five years, and when Mr. Cleveland was elected the change of officers was as great as in the days of Andrew Jackson. Cleveland was a man of the highest integrity and the most unfaltering courage, so that the change proved beneficial to the entire land.

Miss Rose Elizabeth Cleveland, sister of the President, presided at the White House until his marriage, June 2, 1886, to Miss Frances Folsom, who became, next to Dolly Madison, the most popular woman who ever entertained in the historic old house.

In March, 1889, Benjamin Harrison became Chief Magistrate. The first Mrs. Harrison was a woman experienced in Washington society, and was much loved by a very large circle.

In 1893 Grover Cleveland again became President, and in 1897 William McKinley, probably the best-loved man by the people of any President since the days of Mr. Lincoln.

Mrs. McKinley, altho an invalid, with the assistance of her nieces, kept up the reputation and social festivities of the White House.

Theodore Roosevelt became President September, 1901, and closed a brilliant and successful administration March 4, 1909. His administration will be remembered in history as a strenuous fight against wrong-doing in high places. He will be honored for having secured to the United States proper recognition in world politics and for having promoted peace and good will among nations.

William Howard Taft, of Ohio, was inaugurated President March 4, 1909. No man has ever been called to this high office with a broader training. He is a graduate of Yale, has received the degree of LL.D. from five universities, is a distinguished lawyer, has been a wise judge, and a successful governor of the Philippine Islands at the difficult period of transition. As a traveler he has looked into the faces and is personally known to all the great rulers of the world. He has visited Cuba and the Panama Zone (the spheres of probable disturbance), and has therefore had the training which should fit him to deal wisely with both the domestic and the foreign problems likely to arise.

Mr. Taft was married in 1886 to Miss Helen Herron, of Cincinnati. They have two sons and one daughter. Mrs. Taft has had a large social experience, and is considered one of the most cultured women ever called to direct the affairs of the White House.

XXIX INTERESTS IN WASHINGTON WHICH CAN NOT HERE BE FULLY DESCRIBED

IN the third story of the Congressional Library strangers can find two papier-maché models which are of great interest. One represents the City of Washington in 1902, the other represents the Washington of the future.

Congress has called the great engineers of the War Department and four of the leading artists of the United States as a committee on civic improvement for the capital city. The artists are: Mr. Daniel H. Burnham, of Chicago; Mr. John C. Olmstead, the noted landscape artist; Mr. Charles F. McKim, and Mr. Augustus St. Gaudens.

By the plans the public buildings of the future will be arranged around Capitol Square (which has now two sides occupied by private residences), and will then extend on both sides the mall, or flat, low-lying district 1,600 feet in width, extending from the Capitol building to the Potomac, a distance of one and a half miles, and inclosing the Washington monument. The buildings are all to be of white marble, harmonious in design, and with a standard sky-line. The latter feature is not pleasing in effect in the model. The Pennsylvania Railroad and the B. & O. Railroad have already given up their small stations, and now with all other roads passing through Washington run into a handsome new Union Station.

At the front of Capitol Hill will be Union Square, where the statues of war heroes will be grouped. The streets from that point to the Washington monument will have four rows of trees on each side. A great theater, gymnasium, lakes, fountains, and baths will remind one of ancient Rome. A magnificent memorial to Abraham Lincoln will be placed south of the Washington monument. Obelisks and arches which have been used as memorials from the earliest ages will form part of the ornamentation. People smile over this wonderful design, but if from now on all public work is done under this intelligent supervision even one hundred years may make the dream of these artists a glorious reality. Not a lamp-post will go up in this new day, not a business sign will be displayed without the approval of this art commission.

Designs for private houses as well as business houses must be made to harmonize with the landscape and other buildings which already exist. "May we all be here to see."

Among the buildings and objects of interest which can not here be fully described, nor their histories elaborated, is the Ben Butler building on Capitol Square, where President Arthur made his home while the White House was being repaired.

There is also the old Capitol or Capitol Square (now numbered 21, 23, 25), which was used by Congress after the British had destroyed the Capitol in 1814. These buildings were used as a military prison during the Civil War, and here Wirtz, of Andersonville prison memory, was executed. In one of them died John C. Calhoun.

The Washington monument, nearly six hundred feet high, is said to be the highest monument in the world. It was erected in memory of George Washington. This grand structure is of pure white marble. From the top there is a magnificent view of the surrounding country. The monument, however, has suffered from the disintegrating effects of the weather, and from the ruthless hands of the relic-hunters. The majestic appearance of the monument grows upon the beholder, and its pearly whiteness reminds him of the character of Washington, which grows fairer in the mellowing light of history.

Arlington Cemetery should be visited by the pilgrim to Washington. There sleep many of the sacred dead of the nation, and there is the home of Robert E. Lee, where he was called to decide between his country as a whole or his native state.

Around Lafayette Square, which faces the White House, history, poetry, romance, and chivalry have twined an immortal wreath. Every monument commemorates a hero. Here, too, is the old private residence of Dolly Madison, the old home of the British Embassy, where Owen Meredith wrote "Lucile"; also the Webster home, where once lived the French Embassy; and St. John's Episcopal Church, where many Presidents have worshiped. Here Webster, Sumner, and Slidell lived at different periods. The old Decatur house stands on this square. The Admiral had a window cut through, so that he could signal the President in the White House. They missed the telephone. On this square lived Diaz, of Mexico; here Don Cameron and Blaine each lived in the same house, afterward occupied by Senator Hanna. On the north side is the handsome residence where lived Secretary of State John Hay.

Georgetown, named after George III. of England, is much older than Washington City. The stories of its former grandeur and its distinctively Southern tone make it a quaint object of interest. Its most interesting literary shrine is the home of Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth, the novelist, who wrote one novel for each year of her long life.

The Corcoran Art Gallery, on Seventeenth Street, extending from New York Avenue to E Street, just southwest of the White House, has many objects of interest both in painting and sculpture.

No traveler should fail to visit Mount Vernon, the home of George and Martha Washington. The house was built in 1783 by Lawrence, half-brother of General Washington. The rooms seem small and cramped, according to our modern ideas, but they were the stage upon which lived and loved two names of sacred memory. The buildings are in the custody of the ladies of the Mount Vernon Association, and the care of each room is in charge of some one State.

The United States Naval Observatory, north of Georgetown, will interest lovers of astronomy, while every square, circle, and triangle of Washington City has some reminder of those whose heroic deeds, spiritual devotion, or literary and scientific achievement have beautified, ennobled, and glorified the world, and made it more beautiful because of their lives.

Continental Hall, the home of the Daughters of the American Revolution, situated on Seventeenth Street, south of the Corcoran Art Gallery, ranks with the most beautiful of the white marble buildings. It was begun in 1903, and will be finished in 1909, at a cost of $500,000.

The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution was organized October 12, 1890, in Washington, and holds a charter from Congress. It reports annually to the Smithsonian Institute, and its reports are printed by Congress. It is the only society of women in the world organized for strictly patriotic purposes.

Mrs. Benjamin Harrison, wife of the President of the United States; Mrs. Adlai E. Stevenson, wife of the Vice-President of the United States and President of the Senate; Mrs. Daniel Manning, wife of former Secretary of the Treasury of the United States; Mrs. Charles W. Fairbanks, wife of the Vice-President of the United States; Mrs. Donald MacLean and Mrs. Scott, of Illinois, have been the presidents-general since its organization.

The chief work of the society is to mark historic spots in all parts of the country, to perpetuate the memories of the heroic dead, and to make patriotism a passion instead of a sentiment. Another object is to make good citizens of all boys and girls of the land. It does much good in bringing together people from different sections, thereby curing provincialism, and bringing about friendly relations between different parts of this great country.

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

1. Corrected Illustrations Group I page numbering to "Between 48 and 49." Was "Between 32 and 33". 2. Silently corrected simple spelling, grammar, and typographical errors. 3. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed. 4. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.