The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1886-12-02
FRED DOUGLASS AT HOME.
THE VENERABLE, HISTORIC COL
oRED ORATOR AND HIS WIFE.


The Kindness and Pleasant Dignity OF
Mr. DOuglass-A Pen Picture OF Mrs.
Douglass Gran chiIdren.
Very few white men In warm climate
have as good home as Frederick Douglass
He does not inhabit mere house, he lives
in a respectable mansion. Having been an
industrious and methodical man, aware Of
the value of money, he has saved his earn.
ings, whether procured by authorship, or
lecturing, or manual labor, or office-hold-
ing, and his residence at Anacostia, or
Uniontown, is the best house there; 1t COM
mands a beautiful view Of the city of
Washington, and Of the broad rivers which
form the boundaries of Washington and
meet at its Arsenal Point Under his eye
lies the whole city, the monument, the
dome of the capitol, the navy yard, near
and far buildings and the rolling blue
heights OF Maryland and Virginia In the
rear Of the house is a good, large stable,
and the outbuildings show attention to
comfort and even Injury. might suppose
that this property, as it stands in no par
ticularly stylish portion of Washington
City, was worth $4,000 to $4,000 The
house itself is rather of the southern char
acter, built, think, of brick or stone, with
a door in the middle and porch in front,
and pedment over the middle of tie edi-
dce Ringing the door-bell a woman of rown
tint came to the door and said that Mr..
Douglass was within. We entered and hung
our hats and coats upon the hat-rack and
turned to the right The house consists
perhaps of four rooms on this lower or
main floor, with no less number of rooms
above. To the left of the hall is the parlor
proper, and behind that is Mr.. Douglass
library. the right is the sitting room;
suppose the dining-room may be behind it
The old gentleman, whose age, think, Is
20, received us both with a mixture of
Christian kindness and pleasant dignity,
which made me think, as l sat near him for
some time, that he looked like the king of
Madagascar or some land we have dimly
heard of where the white mans intercourse
has not propagated selfshness and greed
He is large man, cast in the mold of a
man Of command and affairs; his hair is
now Of a grayish white and is carefully
combed and worn somewhat long. 1t falls
back upon his broad shoulders. His fore
head is not very high nor yet very promi-
nent, but rather subordinate to the general
nose, slightly retrousse but with nostrils
open and taking in things His chin and
Jaws are rather firm and as he speaks he
rather inhales and smiles, and thus conveys
something of an IMPRESSION of nervous earn
estness. Although he is one half white, the
colored portion of him is probably the most
vigorous element His eye is dark and
cleaning and bespeaks another and a hotter
land.
PEN PICTURE OF MRS. DOUGLASS,
When | entered the house with Mr. Cor
ham he introduced us carefully to the diff
ferent persons there-quite a little party
We had gone to see him without invitation,
and therefore broke in upon his ordinary
family circle. There were three white la
dies present, one of whom was Mrs. Doug
lass The other ladies heard the converse
ton, smiled affably, but made few or no
remarks Mrs. Douglass is a lady of tall
form, well made, but neither stout nor thin.
Her complexion is little reddish. She
gives you the idea somewhat of woman
who had been the matron or superintendent
of some philanUhropic institution in which
charity plays the principal part She
dresses herself plainly and modestly, and in
the intercourse of the family shows the
subordination OF a younger person to her
husband. She speaks of him as "Mr Doug
lass" watches and hears what he says with
careful respect, and we had been talking to
him, perhaps, fifteen minutes before she
made any remarks, when, in some matter
of the reminiscence of his slave life, she
called his attention to an interesting matter
he had omitted
Further on she said; Gentlemen, as you
are friends of Mr.. Douglass, will you let me
have your autographs" and led the way to
his library. She has hair Of dark brown
tint and there is q mixture of the New
England woman and the western woman
about her, which gives you the idea of
the wife of Some man whose pur-
poses were above mere comfort, but who
had executed and nearly finished his mis-
sion He did not say much to her in the
talk. The other white ladies present were
near the middle age, and, suppose, might
be relatives of Mrs Douglass A handsome
granddaughter Of the ex-marshal was there,
with soft eyes and soft, warmly tinted face,
yery neatly dressed. After we had been
waiting half an hour, she said that she had
to drive to Mount Pleasant in her little
phaeton, and came up and kissed her grand
hoOnSAi ohN hoA unu5bVoli % oupPOSeu ~
was, also came up and kissed him rever-
emily. The old man now has four living
generations about him. His library would
be quite creditable one for the editor of
newspaper or ordinary literary man All
over his house are the indications of graft.
tude to the white men who supported the
cause Of the African race-Garrison and
Lundy and Thaddeus Stevens and Sumner
and others occupy places on the wall The
house is carefully furnished and is fully
as respectable as any white mans home. It
Is a remarkable exhibition of our COM
paratively new times that right at the city
of Washington, in the midst of fine land
scapes, should have come to settle this man,
who more than fifty years ago, with his life
in his hand, undertook to establish himself
and procure some of the benefits of civiliza-
tion Washington Cor. Cincinnati En-