The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1885-03-07

| Ing, Ii ol importance, the writer would
have prepaid them and if of no impor-
lance, l do not care about them"
"And there shall be no signs in the
sun, and in the moon, and in the
stars" duke, xxi. 25.)
1t has been asserted by some curl
Gus observers that the inaugural cere-
monies of each of the four Presidents,
Harrison, Taylor, Lincoln, and Gar
field, with whom Death, an unseen and
unbidden guest, entered the White
House, were marked by signs and
omens, that, interpreted by supernat-
ural lore, foreshadowed to the ignorant
and superstitious the funeral pagan
try in which they would ere long be
central figures. General Harrison ar
rived at Washington in the midst of
a driving thunderstorm, and as he de-
scended from his carriage a flash of
lightning blinded him, and caused him
to miss step and fall. The first night
he slept at the White House an owl,
perched on the roof over his bedroom,
hooted continuously, and he COM
planned the next morning that the owl
and bowling dog near had kept him
awake. When Mrs. Taylor was told
of her husbands election she burst in
to tears and exclaimed: "Oh why
can't they let us alone? This is all
scheme to break up our home" When
she entered her bedroom at the White
louise she started back, and pointing
To- diamond shaped ornament carved
on he mantel, said: "See the first
onJeceo greet me is a coffin. Death
will rob '-e in this dreadful house of
some one love"
TO Mr.. Linesn there came an ap-
partition, thus descibed by him: "On
the evening of the da,when received
news of my election, wor. out BY ex-
element and fatigue, 1 thrsw myself
on lounge in my bedroom to rest.
Just opposite tome was bureau with
swinging glass, and looking in it, |
noticed two sepaate and distinct i'm.
ages OF myself. \ little bothered, per-
maps startled, 60: ul.qnd went Nd to
the glass, but the illusion vanished
Lying down, l saw it again, but II
iced that one of tie faces was paler
than the other, and had a blood-stain
on it. When my wife came in l told
her Of the vision, and she, who had
great faith in signs, and generally at
tached some meaning to them, said,
1t means you will be elected to a
second term, but will not live through
it,"
On their trip from Springfield to
Washington they passed by Gen. Har-
rison's burial-place, and halted to pay
tribute Of respect to his memory.
Turning from the grave, a blackbird
made circle round his head. The
| night of his assassination Mrs. Lincoln
told one of the watchers that on that
eventful trip through the bright, happy
Northern villages decked with flowers
in his honor. as well as on that mys-
FERROUS night ride through Baltimore
and secret arrival in Washington, the
tolling of a death-bell, clear and I'M
mistakable, was sounding in her ear.
The dreams and forcbodings of the two
Mrs. Garfield, mother and wife, are
too recent to be repeated. Were they
the idle fancies of nervous women?
And what of the prophecies that in
years of obscurity have often arous ed
in their recipients hopes and expecta-
tons of high destiny? Mrs. Lincoln
was told when little girl by an old
negro fortune teller that she would one
| day be the wife of the President Of the
United States. After General Jack
sons election some one asked Mrs.
Jackson if she was not much surprised
at it. "No," said she; 81 expected
it, l felt it in my bones. Besides, years
ago, an old creole in New Orleans told
him he would live to become greater
man than the King of England"
To lady who asked General Gar
fields mother if she did not feel very
much elated at her sons success, she
answered: "Not at all. | would have
been disappointed if he had not be-
come President. l always thought
James would rise" And who knows
but the mothers loving faith may have
inspired the ambition and aroused the
talents by which her son achieved dis
tinction2 His Inauguration excelled o'
former ones both in the magnie
of its outlines and the perfe~ VI 10
details, and was an oyo'an a''y Con-
queror might have 's'eu ILL., ruo'e
oeren,on;a1s orr always expressions of
national f. < and culture, and as COM
.,-.d ) Mr.. Jeferson's, General Gar
s~a's Inauguration might serve as an
index of the relative power, wealth, and
development of the nation in 1901 and
1881.
The city beautifully decorated,
houses gayly bedecked with flags and
standards. and streets so festooned and
arched that they resembled avenues in
fairy land the endless procession
with its marshals, bands of music.d-
multitudinous civil and mltnbining