Library of Congress American court gossip; 1 3?? 3111 AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP OR LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITOL, BY MRS. E. N. CHAPIN, MARSHALLTOWN, IOWA. S 16259 CITY MARSHALLTOWN, IA.: CHAPIN & HARTWELL BROS. 18?7. LC CONTENTS. Chapter 1, Page 7–21.—Location of Capitol—Congress of 1879–'80—Slave Pen. Chapter 2, Page 21–35.—President Hayes' Levee—Mrs. Gen. Eaton's Death—Woman's Rights. Chapter 3, Page 35–43.—Negro Camp Meeting—Hon. Fred Douglass—The Colored Aristocracy, Etc. Chapter 4, Page 43–57.—Republican Convention of 1880—Garfield's Inauguration— Guiteau's Murder. Chapter 5, Page 57–69.—President Arthur—Foreign Legations—Society. Chapter 6, Page 69–90.—The Frelinghuysens—Arthur's Policy—Historic Houses— Guiteau's Trial. American court gossip; http://www.loc.gov/resource/lhbcb.41914 Library of Congress Chapter 7, Page 90–102.—Treasury Clerks—Reform Machinery—Fool Rules. Chapter 8, Page 102–115.—Congress—Senator Wilson's Reception—Grant Reception, Etc. Chapter 9, Page 115–130.—Howgate's Escapade—Garfield Fair—Star Route Trials. Chapter 10, Page 130–147.—Arctic Survivors—Soldiers' Home—Dramatists—Coulisse Chat. LC Chapter 11, Page 147–165.—Mormons—Pension Building—Corcoran Art Gallery—Forty- eighth Congress. Chapter 12, Page 165–180.—Mrs. Carlisle's Reception—General Hazen—Fitz John Porter —Convention of 1884. Chapter 13, Page 180–194.—Ratification Meetings—Washington Monument—New Years Receptions. Chapter 14, Page 194–213.—Cleveland's Inauguration—White House Affairs—Mt. Vernon Regents—Official Ax. Chapter 15, Page 213–228.—Law School Graduates—Navy Trials—Opening of Forty- ninth Congress. Chapter 16, Page 228–245.—Theosophists—Death With the Bayards—Ostler Joe— Kirmes—Cleveland's Wedding. Chapter 17, Page 245–252.—Fashionable Gossip—Pedigree Families—K. of L.—General Logan's Death. American court gossip; http://www.loc.gov/resource/lhbcb.41914 Library of Congress Chapter 18, Page 252–269.—Mrs. Cleveland's Receptions—White House Lunch—Public Buildings. DEDICATED TO THAT LOVELY WOMAN, MRS. GENERAL LOGAN, Who adorns her sex with great charity, intelligence and grace, and who is to the National Capital what Madam Recamier was to France. PREFACE. These Washington sketches were mostly published in the Iowa State Register, and were written in a hasty manner. They are a resume of a seven years' diary, and imperfect as they are, may interest some of my young friends who have never seen even glimpses of the American Court at the National Capitol, As an ex Secretary of the Ladies' Press Association at Washington, I beg the indulgence of the Guild everywhere. This work has been very much abridged, and apparent discrepancies have occurred in consequence of this cutting down of the original matter. AMERICAN COURT GOSSIP OR LIFE AT THE NATIONAL CAPITAL. CHAPTER 1. Location of the City—“B” Street Market House—Congress of 1879–80 —Old Slave Pen. Hamilton, under the great Washington, as Secretary of the Treasury, had a national debt of over eighty millions to provide for, after the war of the Revolution, and this debt was divided up among the states. Hamilton's scheme for the government to assume these war debts and a promise to pay in the future, was opposed by Jefferson and the anti-federalists, many of whom lived in Virginia. American court gossip; http://www.loc.gov/resource/lhbcb.41914 Library of Congress Another part of Hamilton's scheme was to establish a hank of the United States, and levy customs on imported articles. The Virginians opposed him bitterly at first, but knowing they were anxious to have the National Capitol on Virginia soil, he gave his influence to have the Federal Congress remove the capitol from Philadelphia, dating ten years from 1790. Washington selected the site himself, although it was sanctioned formally by three commissioners. L. Enfant, a French engineer, laid out the city in the year mentioned above, and the corner stone of the beautiful building called the Capitol was laid September 8 18, 1793. Out of the sixty millions of the nation, comparatively few visit Washington. “It is the finest National Capitol in the world.” said General Grant upon his return trip from over the seas, and for the last five years the growth of Washington has been wonderful. It contains 210,000 inhabitants—nearly 70,000 are negroes, or partly African. The city lies in a sort of basin on the banks of the Potomac, with the Eastern Branch, also a tide water stream, coming around the city to the Navy Yard and Arsenal Point, when it meets the main stream, more than a mile wide here, and as you look up the river, past the famous Long Bridge, the glistening obelisk of the Washington monument is seen you also see ships lying in the harbor, the blue dome of the U.S. Naval Observatory. Beyond are the towers of the Jesuit College of Georgetown, and if you look over into Virginia, there is the Lee mansion at Arlington, Fort Meyer with its starry flag, and the green hills of old Virginia to finish the landscape. Boundary street, which runs under the north hill of the city, used to be the dividing line between pastures and palaces. “Calumet Place,” the home of the late Senator Logan, stands on Meridian Hill. not far away is “Belmont,” a stone castle of medieval architecture, owned by Col. A. S. Barber, and the tall stand pipe of the water reservoir, give a marked feature to the northern part of the city. Calumet Place, or the old Stone estate, is not extravagantly furnished, only in elegant taste, for the fair mistress has a deft hand in decoration. The parlors are handsome, silken American court gossip; http://www.loc.gov/resource/lhbcb.41914 Library of Congress flags over the doors and windows, battle scenes, family portraits, bric-a-brac, and all, to make a home desirable. There is one room furnished old fashioned—cherry bedstead and drawers—“old timey” chairs, a spinning wheel, and other things of a like character. 9 Near Boundary street and Nineteenth, was the old Holmead Cemetery. The ground became valuable and was bought of the commissioners by Mr. McLean of the Cincinnati Enquirer, and the bodies were removed to other cemeteries in the fall of 1884. This North Hill, with its forest, conceals the Soldiers' Home, distant about two miles. Trees and sky, and the Garfield Hospital in its enclosure of seven acres, Howard University, with other fine structures, finish the picture in North Washington. Turning around to the east, the immense pile of white marble called the Capitol, rises up to the sky, being 285 feet from the top of the cap, that binds the brow of the goddess of Liberty, to the ground. All of the streets in the city are very wide, varying from 70 to 160 feet in width. The Capitol building is in the center of the city, exactly, but not in the center of population, for the northwestern portion is three times more populous, than the eastern part, towards Lincoln Park. The streets are lettered from east to west and numbered from north to south. The avenues, running diagonally across, are named after the states of the Union. All portions lying between North Capitol street and East Capitol is northeast, between North Capitol and Pennsylvania avenue, northwest, and between Pennsylvania avenue and North Capitol is southwest, and between the latter and East Capitol again, is southeast. North Capitol divides the numbered streets—it is First street northeast and First street northwest, each a block away from it. Where the avenues cross the streets there are beautiful laid out parks or reservations owned by the government. In the large parks there are equestrian statues, vases of flowers and rustic arbors to add beauty to places of singing birds and honey bees. The streets are paved with a dark gray asphalt, making them as smooth as a house floor, from one end of the city to another, and a wheelman can go upon his bicycle, nearly 300 miles without going over the same ground 10 twice. The Capitol grounds contain fifty-one acres, and planted with magnolias, acacias, maples, in fact, American court gossip; http://www.loc.gov/resource/lhbcb.41914 Library of Congress nearly every deciduous tree and evergreen grown in this latitude, is found on its green lawns. The statue of Columbus crowns the eastern portico of the Capitol, and Greenough's “Washington” of heroic size, is between the immense marble vases beyond the steps. This statue is of very white marble, and as the figure is seated in an immense chair, pointing its right hand to the sky, it is much admired. Birds often sit on the patriot's head and sing a merry roundelay, and at one time school urchins, were playing ball on the plaza, when the ball bounded into the General's lap, to the great annoyance of the youngster, as he had to borrow a stepladder to get it down again. The Capitol structure cost in all, $13,000,00. Dupont Circle in the northwestern portion of the city, was a corn field in 1870. Now it is lined with elegant residences. There is Stewart Castle, Blaine's mansion, and church of the Holy Cross, the home of the Miss Pages; that of “Sunset” Cox, and at the corner of Eighteenth and Massachusetts avenue, not far away, the elegant residence of Senator Van Wyck, of Nebraska. Massachusetts avenue runs from the northwestern boundary of the city through Dupont Circle to Lincoln Park, four and one-half miles, and is two squares from the Capitol, where it crosses North Capitol street.