Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-10-11

W oohiilS VOu oOCi6J1' AS otep To-
ward the better enjoyment Of the
honors she felt assured would be
hers, she determined to build a man
sion especially adapted for enter
tainments on grand scale, in which
the difficulties experienced in the
usual style of Washington dwell
ings on such occasions would be OBJ
waited. She hoped to have her hus-
band confirmed as chief Justice
soon after the meeting of congress,
and determined that her house
should be ready before the winter
gayeties began. 1t was ready, but
the house warming was not as plan
ned by the ambitious woman, the
occasion for thousands to eongratu.
late her on the prospect of a life
long reign in Washington society.
When she received therein, on
New Years day, the confirmation
of her husband as chief justice was
regarded as more than doubtful,
and in less than a fortnight after
ward his name was withdrawn.
The disappointment, coming
after the long period during which
her nervous organization had been
greatly overstrained by both men
tai and physical exertioE, as well as
the enforced endurance of public
and private discussions of her past,
which spared no detail of comment
in the recital, overcame her, and
during the months which followed
she rarely appeared in public, and
was nearly all the time confined to
her room by painful illness.
The following year she had one
large reception by night in her ad-
mirably planned house. But it
was still as the wife of the attorney
| general she received her guests, and
with the consciousness that the loss
Of the position which lady once
called in exultation at her own Sc
curity with a husband elected to the
senate for the long term as that of
ga creature of the day" was a
mere question of time. The recep-
ton was numerously attended, but
there was no crowd, so thoroughly
is the house adapted to secure COM
fort to guests, no matter how great
their number. To prevent the
usual difficulty occasioned By those
arriving being caught on the stair
way leading to the dressing-rooms
by the descending tide, hurrying
toward the drawing room, there is
a porte cochere and handsome en-
trance at the back of the house,
through which all are conducted
when they arrive, and shown al
once up a back stairway to the
dressing rooms. In going to the
salon below, the grand stairway
which is in the center Of the house
lis used. This faces the grand
drawing room, opposite which i;
the library, separated by a broad
hall; all so arranged that the whole
can be thrown into one magnificent
department.
This was the last grand enter
tainment over which ATTORNEY
General Williams and his wife pre-
sided. 1t occurred in January
1875, and Lent put an end to th,
gay season on the 10th of Febru
ary. Early in March some myste
rious letters kept Washington soci
ETY. in hutter, and while whatever
the relation they and the subse
quent resignation of the attorney
general bore to each other as tht
cause and effect perhaps may never
be certainly known, it is true thai
a few weeks later there was a va
canoy in the department Of Justice.
The following winter the wife oi
the attorney general did not remain
in Washington, and her house wal
not open save as lodging for hel
husband. In the spring of 1876,
when the committee on expendi-
lures in the war department" was
making its report, she reappeared,
and has occupied her house fire.
quently at intervals since, but ha;
lived a most unsatisfactory life
therein. Her neighbors say thai
rarely has any one been seen going
to the door where crowds once
4 gathered. No back stairway has
been needed to prevent guests elbow.
ing each other. She is now, hear
going to Europe, or has gone, and
will remain two years superintend,
ing the education of her husbands
daughter and joiningin her studies
When the girls education is fill
ished she and her stepmother, it is
said, return here, and the latter is
determined to give the young lady
every advantage possible.
a-S-p
Gold In the Sea sands,