The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1886-06-12
The OTTAWA frgg Grader,
Ottawa, ILL.,, June IL, 1885.
From Washington.
Itrom our Regular Correspondent
WASHINGTON, May 30, 1886.

NAshlNuloN, May w. iooo'
II is difficult TO write Washington letter
now and not say anything about the wed
ding at the White House, will not refrain
but will be brief The ceremony is to be
simple, unostentatious, and, owing to the
recent death in the Folsom family, exclusive
This exclusiveness will be the only undemo
cratic feature about it, The guests will be
few ladies, the cabinet and their ladies, Col.
and Mrs. Lamont. The President will have
no best man; there will be no bridesmaids,
and the marriage ceremony will take place
IN the Blue Room and be performed by Rev.
Byron Sunderland, the pastor of the Presby-
terrain church in which the President holds
a pew. The Marine Band will discourse
some music prepared for the occasion. There
will be profusion Of floral decoration su
perinteAded by Miss Cleveland who arrived
Saturday evening; and after the ceremony,
there will be wedding supper in the his
toric dining room 1t is reported that the
President will Immediately 60 on n short
wedding trip, that he will simultaneously
retire TO the country seat which he has just
purchased three miles from the White House,
and that he will without delay remain at the
White House and do nothing Of the kind. If
you have paid your subscription you can
take your choice.
Mrs and Miss Folsom we're guests at the
White House last winter, and it is said if it
had not been for the inevitable gossip asso.
ciatng their names, the President might not
have been awakened TO the fact that Miss
Folsom was an extremely attractive and
beautiful woman. The President heard the
gossip and then awoke to the fact that he
loved his pretty ward An engagement took
place, but the President fearing that her ac-
ceptancc might have been influenced by the
relation of guardian and ward which had
previously existed between them told her
he wished her to go abroad, so that if during
that time she found any one she thought she
loved better, or that she could not love the
President well enough to become his wife,
then the fact of the engagement should never
be made public.
Miss Folsom protested that the probation
airy trip to Europe was not necessary, but
the President insisted that she should take
it, This explains why the matter has been
kept so secret Had not the truth leaked
out, the public would have remained in g
norance until the formal announcement had
been made from the White House.
A large number Of persons visited the
White House yesterday and roamed through
the lower rooms The Blue Room, where
The wedding is to be held, was of course the
centre Of attraction. The President had n
number Of callers, each Of whom congratu
lated him warmly upon his approaching hap.
piness.
The conversation between the callers and
the President when it touched upon The wed
ding was confined exclusively to congratula-
tons on the one hand and the formal return
Of thanks on the other.
The President after concluding his routine
business, which, by the way, was earlier
than usual, drove out with Col Lamont to
"Pretty Prospect his new country home.
In social circles the wedding Of the Pre.-
dent exc,tes considerable interest, though |
not as much as il it was to be brilliant one
in social sense, Already, however, a sc.
ries Of entertainments have been planned in |
honor of the groom and fair bride by his of
fetal family--the members of the Cabinet
The definite details have not yet been deter
nined on, but it is thought the initial hospi
tally will be offered by Secretary and Mrs.
Whitney, and more probably at their coun-
try house, which is close TO the Presidents
suburban residence. Dinner parties are ex
pected to follow from the rest Of the Cabi-
net, but it is not supposed that the Presi.
dent will depart from his custom of accept
ing inequalities of th,s kind from none but
the Cabinet families.
The marriage of the President in the
White House surrounds with added briliancy
the sOCial career WHICH the Drlue Will lnhug-
srate with her coming here. The presence
of wife in the Executive Mansion breaks
most acceptably the now long rule of bachcl-
ordom for the past five years, and puts in a
brighter, gayer phase the inequalities nj.
ready 80 generously offered by the President,
and which will no doabt be greatly increased
when there is a young and beautiful woman
at the social helm.