The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1875-03-25
A CITY Of Dismantlcd Houses.

A Washington correspondent Of the
Cincinnati Commercial writes:
Washington is full of dismantled |
houses. It's historic abodes, rich in rem
iniscenses of famous men and women, |
NAV be counted by the hundreds. There |
is no need to go back to another genera
ton to note such. Since the beginning
Of the war it seems as if an entire gener-
alton had passed through the portals of
houses that we know. passed on and out
of sight forever. There is the famous
Sprague house, so long the abode of Chief
Justice Chase. What reunions and fetes
it saw, through the war days and after
wards. Sumner, Stanton, Seward, Lin
coin and Chase used to dine and discourse
on the affairs of State in that stately and
somber dining room. Thither Sumner
FASTENED to tell Chase of his appointment
to Chief Justice. His exquisite daughter,
made of spirit, fire, and dew, II ever
woman was, poured coffee at the head OF
the table and listened in silence. But when
Sumner arose to depart, she followed him
out into the hall to the front door; then
lifting her hand and shaking her slender
finger close to his face, she exclaimed:
ssY GU have sold papa; know it!''
| ssNcver," said Mr.. Sumner, ''shall for
! get the fame in her face, the tone of her
voice, or the gesture Of that finger, as she
uttered those Words
| What banquets she gave in that house.
There was fete chdmpetre in June that
might have been revel in the garden of
| Cashmere; a soires ddnsdnte in winter,
where temporary ballroom covering the
entire garden was built and garnished-
where the flowers alone that decorated 1t
cost over $4,000. What morning recep-
tons she gave, standing amid her throngs
of worshipers, the very embodiment Of
ideal grace. Women criticised her fea-
lures nevertheless, the fact remained
that she was more beautiful to behold
than any who gazed upon her.
II ever q woman was born to embellish
! public station that woman is Catharine
Chase Sprague. Nevertheless she is an
) exile from ia wanderer to-day in Eu.
rope. The house in which she reigned SC
long as daughter and wife has passed into
; the hands Of creditors, and is already a
! boarding house. About every Other
abode in Washington is boarding OF
dwelling house, but this one even the
demon Of necessity should have spared
such fate. To- day boarders and lodger
dwelling about the salon where tina
queen Of grace once stood, point aloft ant
tell you to behold the havoc she mad
with these slender hands before she de
. parted. But in this capital there is n
= woman left who can fill her place, or ar
: proach her in her own type of persona
;. loneliness and grace. Perhaps it was be
= cause of this fact that there have Away
= been so many women to criticise and s
- few to praise her. They were perpetual
. ly finding fault with everything about he
+ from the tip Of her nose to her slack q
!. heart" and, above all, with her suprem
indifference to themselves. In her ute
devotion to her children she proved tn,
:, she has at least mothers heart, whic
;. no call of fashion or prompting Of amb
= ton ever tempted from its loving care
= To anv student and lover Of human n
e ture she must, while she lives. be an Of
ject Of the deepest interest. not only b.
g cause of her superlative grace, the ra1
- spell of her face, her social firmness, b.
of because of the rare capacities and poss
"A bilities of her nrture.