Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1866-09-12


PRtsrDENr WASH rNGroN-My only contri-
button under this grea t-name will be thong ht
hardly reyerent enough tor the most august
and excellent of men. A venerable lady. still
living 10 Maryland, wac a lsttle girl whed in
1899, Washington was his way through
MARYLAND to New York, where he Was
10 be snaugurated first President OF the UNI
ted States He. =. Travelled 10 his own car
riage, vehicle ct great elegance, drawn by
tair OF milk white borses, with every ornate
appointment in perfect keeping. GA ap-
proachlng Baltiworea readjustmeut of every
thing became necessary, and tor this purpose
the party halted at the house OF this iady's
father. Washington personally superinten-
ded the work. of which a part was the black
ing of the horses hoofs, after the manner OF
boots, sgreeably TO the fashion OF that day for
fancy white horses. Washington Is known to
have been extremely fastldibus, and more irri
table abput h,s horses than anything e'se In
he world. The groom shOckIngiy boiohed
the job, eolllng the clean white legs OF the
animal, and imperfectly polishing the black
ened hoofs. Washington Was provoked into
anger, and seizing the brush would have
knocked the poor fellow on the head with 1t,
had he not made his escape. This explosion
of temper, accompanied with strong lam
guage, was So uniIka a Attle girls PROPOSES
sions of the great Washington, that she has
all her life long been accustomed to say that
she saw greatness when nobody Was oy,
and denies with earnestness that any body has
over lived who WAS above ge tting into pas
sion sbou. dressing mis- horses hoof g.
| PIEsIpENT MApIsoN.-Mr. Madison Is said
| 70 have had an aversion To riding IN car
rlage, complaining especially OF the greai ell
ovation from the ground OF the seats, IN those
days of tremendous barouches- He would
have been delighted al our modern rocka-
ways" Frequently on the street. Mrs. Mad
Ison would be in the carriage, while ne would
| be on foot upon the sidewalk, or out in the
| roadway alongside, keeping up conversa'
| ton. Once he sd stepped into store to
make some purchases or the like, and AFTER
| long detention be returned, but not oosei wing
tha5 his carriage had passed aod was waiting
| q few rods further on he entered one which
stood opposite, with mis- customary downeast
look, without seeing who wore its Passengers
| rne famous British Orders In CouncI were
IN ANXIOUS and gloomy subJacts- and news
which had just arrived absorbed his attention.
A lady who occupied the carriage, knowing
his person, Wa 8 too much en- barraesed 10 speak,
and ne sat down entirely unconscious CT her
presence. He Ia known 10 have tails ed ireeiy
| 10 Mrs. Madison, whosa worth aud talents are
| believed To have often aided his couDseis.
Suddenly from his meditatioDs, be exclaimed
=. O. Dolly wha- shall lie done about these
| 0 sders IN Counclit = Here the lady at his
aide spoke upon which Mr.. Madison started
with painful agitation, and alter speechtess
moment abruptly lett the carriage. He I'M
medIa,eiy returned, and with his biandest
courtesy aud good hunor apologizsi, to The
great relief of the lady
PslIpENF ADAAs.-Mr. Adams Was Ma :
SON bu declared nls belief that the oath o.
secrecy of the order should be abolished, In
letter shich was extensively paolished during
the peri5d of political exeisement known as
| the anti Mason movement.
A pe,sun well known to the country had
the lmprudence, at dinner party giV-n oy
| Mr. Adams, while President. 10 publicly ask
hum whether he "a Masop} Was friendly TO the
order. His rare tact ani peculiar talents
were we'll illustrated in hls reply. Here,
gentlemen" said Mr.. Adams, - Is very
pretty qu uestion of logic tor you. Let US see.
Ny answer will be both true and faiss lt
will be perfectly direct, and ii SO, satifactory.
Yet my friend will know no more than he did
before, and that cannot satisfy him Tnis Is
pretty mess of paradoxes.
How can thai be, MIR. President "
s-" Why, General -- asks whether am
friend to the Masonic order
"Yes, said the company.
Well, this is my answer: L am friendly
to tho order aforesaid but If l were un-
That is neither one thing nor the other,
said the General.
:" Yes, 1t is 6ota,' answered Mr.. Adams,
amid the laugh of the company aad the cha
grin of the General.
PREsIDENr MoNRoa.-Some years ago at q
Burns festival in CINCINNATI it was declared
that the best pun ever made was made by
President Monroe. Some surpriss was ex-
pressed, in which shared, that Mr.. Moore
snouid have been a facetlous man. The story
runs something thus: t.s-=--
A Scotch servant employed al out the Exec
utive Mansion, who had broad accent and
q good fund of cold humor, had been charged,
by certain persons who had projected /. MON
ument in honor OF something or somebody,
with message to an appropriate official,
who. it seems, was not the President. But
old Sandy sought the Chief Magistrate, n
whose personal service he was, and Conveyed
the communication to him. Mr.. Monroe 10
structed him to address the message elsewhere,
and thereupon Saody, persistiDg like SCI tch-
man. said, s. Your honor, it is about the mon
aneent - :. Well, Sandy" replied MIR. Mon
ros, drawing himself up erect and symmet-
rical, 81 don't you see, l am not the mon you
meant
how averse John Adams was to signing his
name. There seemed no reason for what was,
perhaps, a mere eccentricity although 1T has
been suggested that the simple, round, boyIsh
hand he wrote made him ashamed of his sig
nature. But that solution is more unaccount-
able than the fact. After his accession to the
Presidency he was greatly annoyed BY auto
graph fanciers, whom he was accustomed to
put off with severity. PAPER of large size
and of some fanciful character had been
brought to him by personsl friend, who
begged the favor for another person, of his
slgnatu and by some tact had procured his
promise of it. He was sitting at his Official
liable with q multitude of routine documents
awaiting his signature Among them was an
ornamental sheet in which was contained
draft of his response to some honorary dis
tinction which had been conferred upon him
by . learned society institution in Germs-
10y. Turning the trick of his friend into a
Joke, the President, intending TO sign by the
X mark, placed his hand to the wrong paper,
and then handed it to a clerk, who mechani-
cally obeyed his directions 70 supply the name
in the customary form of an illi5erate signer,
then folded the document, sealed 1t. and
placed it in the mail The intended victim of
She joke was willing to forego his object for
the turn which the thing had taken. The
archives of some German institution doub ubtless
contain to this day good evidence that one of
tha most illustrious of the American Presi-
dents scknow lodged compliment to his learn
ing in a document which he could not read
and to which he could not 30 much as sign
his name.
PRESIDENT HARRDeN extraordinary
learnestness and preposserous extravagance of
seal which characterised The political canvass
of l840 will remain for ages q ludicrons