The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-04-26
Anecdotes Of Public Men.

| Anecdotes of Public Men.
/ When New York was the political
capital of the United States, which
embraced but one winter-that sue
! ceeding the formal ratification of the
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES tWashington's
| iil-health, the death of his mother,
and other circumstances, prevented
him from attending public balls, and
Mrs. Washington had little inclina-
tiOn for such amusements, and was
never present at grand entertain-
ments. She was a plain, Old-fashiOn-
ed person, and rarely figured save in
the subsequent Presidential receptions
in Philadelphia, after the removal OF
the capital to that city.
Mrs. John Adams, wife of the second
President, removed, while her hus-
band was Vice-President, from Boston
to Philadelphia to her new residence
at Bush Hill, which she describes as a
very beautiful place. She was fond OF
the theatre, having acquired the taste
| during her sojOurn at Paris. "She
was not without tenderness, and wO-
! ",
culine understanding, energy, and
decision, fitting her for the bravest OF
| most delicate periods of affairs, and in
an eminent degree for that domestic
relation which continued unbroken
through so many changeful years, her
self MISUNDERSTANDING making her
own lot portion of her husbands, in
a manner that illustrates the noblest
ideas that we have of marriage" She
remainded in Paris and London four
years, and was fOrty-five when sum-
moned to America by the election of
her husband to the office of Vice-Pres-
ident. She was very intimate with
| Martha Jefferson, Thomas JeffersOn's
daughter, who had been entrusted to
her care in Paris, and spoke of her as
a young woman of uncOmmOnly deli
cacy and sensibility. 1890
Mr.. Jefferson kept liberal table for
his friends, but there is little note of
the ladies who figured at his dinners.
He was widower when he entered
the Presidency. He married Martha
Shelton, the widow of Bathurst Skel-
ton, of Virginia, and daughter of John
Wayles. The marriage took place at
1.-The Forest" in Charles County.
The bride was left a widow when very
young, and was only twenty-three
when she married Mr.. Jefferson. She
is described as having been very
beautiful, little above the middle
height, with 1.-the and exquisitely
formed figure. She was well educated
for her day, and a constant reader
inheriting from her father method and
industry, as the accounts kept in her
clear handwriting, still in the posses
sion of her descendants, testify. Sew
eral other prominent men aspired to-
her hand, but Jefferson carried off the
prize. She did not survive to enjoy
the brilliant career of her husband,
but died on the 9th of September, 17Sl,
after the birth of her sixth child, leav-
ing three female children.
Mr.. Jefferson thought it becoming
republican that his Inauguration
should be as unostentatious and free
from display as possible; and such it
was. An English traveller, who was
in Washington at the time, thus de-
scribes him: "His dress was of plain
cloth, and he rode on horseback to the
Capitol, without a single guard, or
even servant, in his train, dismounted
without assistance, and hitched the
bride of his horse to the PALISADES
He was accompanied to the Senate
Chamber by a number of his friends,
where, before taking the oath of office,
he delivered his inaugural address,
whose chaste and simple beauty is so
familiar to the student of American
history. -1''4it so 90 -
Congress opened December Z, 1901,
1t had been the custom for the session
to be opened pretty much as the Eng
Iish Parliament is by the Queens
speech. The President, accompanied
10y a cavalcade, proceeded in state to
the Capitol, took his seat in the Senate
Chamber, and the House of Represen-
tatives being summoned, he read his
address. Mr.. Jefferson, however, on
the opening of this session of Congress
| (180D swept away all these inconveni-
| ent forms and ceremonies by intro
ducing the custom of the President
reading a written message to Congress.
Soon after his Inauguration he did
away with leveeS, and established
only two public days for the reception
of company, the 1st of January and
the Fourth of July, when his doors
We're thrown open to the public. He
received private calls, whether of
courtesy or ON business, at all other
times. [.-
| We have had preserved to us by his
great-grand-daughter an amusing an
ecdote of. the effect of abOlishing
levees. Many of the ladies of Wash
ington, indignant at being cut off
from the pleasure of attending them,
| and thinking that their discontinue
ance was an innovation on former
customs, determined to force the Pres
idept to hold them. Accordingly, on
Ithe usual levee day they resOfted in
full force to the White House. The
President was out taking his habitual
ride on horseback. On his return,
being told that the public rooms were
filled with ladies, he at once OWNED
their true motives for coming on that
day. Without being at all discOncert-
ed, all booted and spurred, and still
covered with the dust of his ride, he
went in to receive his fair guests.
Never had his reception been more
graceful or courteous. The ladies,
charmed with the ease and grace of
his manners and address, forgot their
indignation with him, and went away
feeling that of the two parties, they
had shown most impoliteness In visit
ing his house when not expected. The
result of their plot was for long time
ia subject of mirth among them, and
they never again attempted to infringe
upon the rules of his household.
Madison succeeded Jefferson as Pres
ident, and his wife, Dolly Payne, the
Quakeress, is still remembered by sur
viving statesmen like Reverdy john
son and Horace Binney. She was
born in North Carolina, but had been
educated under the strictest rules of
the Friends of Philadelphia, where, at
| an early age, she married young
lawyer Of this sect named Todd; but
when she became widow she threw
off drab silks and plain laces, and was
for several years one of the gayest and
most attractive women in the city.
She had many lovers, but she gave
the preference to young Madison,
whose wife she became in 1874. To
this day there are anecdotes told of
her peculiar destinations in Washing
ton City, and especially at dinner
parties and receptions. Mrs. Stephen
A. Douglas (now Mrs. General Will
liams) is one of her descendants. She
made a jolly and happy social admin
istration.-J W Fbrney.
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