Middletown transcript., 1882-03-24
A ROMANCE OF A CENTURY AGO.

On the 23d of December, 1888, the
floor of the Senate-chamber at Annap
oils was filled to over0owing by stately
danes and gentle maidens who had
tlocked to the Capitol as if the weight
of state questions had been for this one
hour intrusted to tf1eir wise deli deli ileeersa.
tions. Washington. the mighty YET
unambitious hero of the time, while
still the idol of the public heart, was on
this day to lay down his laurels by re.
signing to Congress his commission OF
commander-in-chief of the brave little
army whose triumphs he had directed
and whose sufferings he had shared.
Accompanied by his aides, Colonel
Benjamin Walker and Colonel David
Humphreys, and the officers appointed
as escort, Washington entered the hall
where the assembled Congress awaited
him, every manly voice among the
spectators cheering, and every feminine
kerchief waving an enthusiasm of APP
proval and welcome but the cheers
were huShed into breathleSS silence by
the first words Of the great hero'S dig
nifed address, to which General Mifflin,
as President Of the Senate, made an
eloquent and appropriate reply.
On Washington's left stood the val
liant soldier Colonel John Eager How
ard, of Maryland, and facing Colonel
Howard, conspicuous among the fore
most group of Senators, was General
Read, of South Carolina, the hero of
this short legend Of a by-gone love.
How little did either of these young
men, strangers to one another, dream
of the day to come when a son and
daughter of each were to become hus-
band and wife to the daughter and son
of the other
Many were the men whose names
were already distinguished, or to be-
come historic, who were present, either
as members of Congress or spectators
of the impressive scene. Madison,
Jefferson, Monroe ; Lee, of Virginia,
Osgood, of Massachusetts, Morris, of
Pennsylvania, McComb, of Delaware,
and General Otho Williams, Generals
Smith and Swan, of Maryland. The
well-known Charles Carroll, of Carroll
ton, was accompanied by his two daugh-
ters, one Of whom was afterward, as
Mrs. Cation, mother to the celebrated
trio of American beauties who became
respectively Lady Stafford, the Mar
chioness of Wellesley, and the Duchess
of Leeds.
But absorbing as was the attention
given TO Washington by the august
assemblage of heroes and patriots, who
recognized in him the greatest hero and
patriot of any, the young Carolinian's
eyes wandered up to the gallery above,
where Mrs. Washington, with her
young grandchildren at her knee, was
seated in all the dignity and legitimate
pride of the wife who crowns herself
with her husbands glory.
Grouped around her chair were the
three Calvert sisters, Maryland's blood
royal, the family of Lord Baltimore
and never was the fame of Maryland
beauty better maintained than by the
contrasting loveliness of the youngest,
Miss Ariana Calvert, with the more
brilliant charms of her elder sisters,
who had been espoused during all the
perils Of the war, both on the same
evening, the one by Washington's step
son, Parke Custis, and the other by |
Mr.. George Stuart, of Maryland.
1t is told Of these gentlemen that
each received the announcement of the
birth of a son-born on the same day,
a year after the marriages-whiIe on /
the battlefield.
But it was not the rich bloom or
dark eyes of the beautiful young ma
irons which so riveted the attention of |
the young Southerner that even the
sublime presence of Washington was
for while forgotten. To his eyes the
youngest sister was much the fairest
and he gazed up at the unconscious
young girl until the friend at his elbow,
Mr.. James Monroe-too thorough Vir-
ginian not to recognize the phenomena
Of a love at first whispered her
name in his ear, and the offer to pre-
sent him before the lady quilted An
napolis town for her home in the coun-
try. The offer was gratefully accepted,
and ere the winter was half over Miss
Calvert was affianced to her eager and
young lover; but not, alas
with the entire consent and approba-
ton Of her family and friends, and
thence arose the cloud which darkened
the horizon of this love legend.
AS usual, that passion youth deifes,
age coldly ignored. The Carolinian
was wealthy, of prominent position and
good birth, and of distinguished educa-
ton but the lady was threatened with
decline. She was also The youngest
darling of the household her sisters
had married so well, yet remained in
their midst and her family grew more
and more reluctant that this compara-
tive stranger should bear away their
tender and fragile flower to his far-off
Southern home, to pine away, and die
perhaps, out Of sight and hearing of
those who had loved her from her cra-