The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-11-10
MRS. AKrHuR.s GRAVE.
Pleasant RaconeotiOns of the Presidents
Dead Wife.
New York Letter.

Dead Wife.
New York Letter.
In Lenox, on a rainy day last week, en-
loved a fireside chat with Mrs. Morgan,
widow of E. D. Morgan, OF New York, who
was returning from visit to the neighbor-
ing township of Mt. Washington, undertaken
with a view to finding the house in
which her lamented husband was born,
writes correspondent from Boston to the
Philadelphia Press. Mrs. Morgan, with her
erect form and dignifed carriage, gentle
woman of the old school, is an impressive
figure in the deep robes of her widowhood,
and her manner suggests the stately grace
with which she is said to have dispensed, in
the stirring, brilliant days of the war, the
hospitality of the imperial State over which
her husband presided, and more recently, at
their Newport home, where Presi-
dent Arthur held almost a brothers
place at their board and Preside.
Knowing that Mrs. Morgan was able to
speak from long and intimate knowledge OF
General and Mrs. Arthur, asked her many
questions about the latter, by whose grave
in the Rural Cemetery, at Albany had
stood few days previous. The sarcophagus
that covers the grave is of the finest Italian
marble, and around its edge, like running
vine, are carved in relief, in antique letters,
her name, Ellen Herndon Arthur, the date
and place of her BIRTH Culpepper, Va, Aug.
30, 1887, and of her death, l. cav T'rk. jan
-, 1880. The inscription begins at the lo-er
left-hand corner, bringing the husbands
name, Chester A. Arthur, across the head or
the sarcophagus. The father and mother OF
the President and Jane, one of his live Sis
tiers, who died at eighteen, lie in the same
lot; also, Mrs. Herndon, the mother of Mrs.
Arthur, and William Herndon Arthur, their
eldest child.
1t is very unpretentious sepulcher for the
household of the head of the nation, and it
is not easily found, lying we'll in the rear OF
the handsome old cemetery OF which 1T
forms part, but the grass OF the burial plot
has been worn nearly bare by tile feet of
many pilgrims, and the myrtle vine which
grows thrifty around the edge of the mar
BILE block that covers Mrs Arthur's grave is
revereatly despoiled OF innumerable slips, to
be pressed within the leaves OF feminine
Bibles and albums as q memorial of her
whose pathetic fate it was to fade suddenly
out of life just when that life had reached
its full-orbed matronly prime, and was
nearing the zenith of the proudest
American woman's ambition. Mrs. Arthur
has left vivid and pleasing memory
in the circles of Albany and New York city
in which she moved. She was singing
spirit, going winsomely through life. Mrs.
Morgan SPEAKS of the more than ordinary at
tachment between the husband and wife, and
OF his accompanying her into society more
than most men so eugroSSed in official lite.
Her DEATH of pneumonia, was occasioned by
Il
ner party, from which she went to concert,
and it occurred the following Monday even
ing General Arthur was away on business,
and, to his unspeakabe grief, did not reach
home until she had lost the power OF recog-
milton.
There is place called Three-mile Point
which every traveller remembers who has
journeyed by carriage from Richfeld Springs
to Cooperstown, through the beautiful coun-
try lying on the borders of Otsego lake. AT
this point three miles from Cooperstown, a
New England man named Thayer has a
veranda- bordered cottage which enjoys a
great reputation for its dinners, and there
parties from Richfeld and CooperStown come,
| all through the pleasure season, to dine Oy
special arrangement. till late in September,
! and Mr.. Thayer told US that General and Mrs.
| Arthur and the children came there an
nually the last six years of her life, on the
30th of August, to eat dinner ill honor OF
her birthday.
wants, were always delighted with her com
ing and when she good -naturedly sat dowr
to sing at the piano, as she always did. they
would open the kitchen doors to listen, and
she had a smile and kind word for all re
Numbering their names from Que year tc
another, and saying something bright anC
merry to each. He came to Washington ias
| winter and went to the White House to see
his old patron, who expressed pleasure al
meeting him, aud sat down and talked ovel
the old days with him for an hour or more