The Washington critic., 1886-10-25
TOPICS OF THE DAY.

tttH III uh ihttI toliliS ohttCu Va tuc
late Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte of
Baltimore: Once she made this epi-
grammatic remark which was 80 apro-
pos that 1t could not fail to make an
impression. She said in her declining
years: "Once / had everything but
money, now / have nothing but
money" In travelling she even treas
ured up the half consumed candle ends,
and boarded in her reticule the super
tluous Jumps of sugar that wei c left over
from the coffee, and even utilized the
backs of old letters in carrying on her
correspondence In her old age, when
rolling in wealth, she dressed like
pauper, and made the closest
bargains possible for her food
and lodging. Occasionally on pleas.
ant days, she would order me to
put on my things and accompany
her on a shopping expedition. enter.
tanned a holy horror of these jaunts,
but dared not refuse, and mcekly al.
lowed her to take my arm to save her
from falling as she walked On these
occasions she would array herself in II
black silk that looked like the cast
garment of past age. This was sup,
plemented by rusty black shawl, and
on her head she wore a black velvet
bonnet of obsolete fashion. l was al.
ways convinced that 1t was one of the
twenty that she brought over from her
last European trip, and which she de.
Clared should last the remainder of her
life So meanly clad was she that
passing stranger would almost have felt
inclined to drop few pennies in her
withered hand. She was the dread and
despair of the Baltimore shopkeepers,
and she forced them to pull down every
thing from their shelves and never pur.
chase anything but the very cheapest
articles. She was reckless enough
on one occasion to spend dollar
for calico wrapper, in which she ap.
peared at breakfast the next morning,
wearing on her head a cotton bandanna
handkerchief in the gulse of turban.
She seemed to think | was lost to all
sense of the useful and beautiful when
/ refused to invest in a similar gar
ment, and descanted freely on the ex-
travagance of the age. She really must
have possessed an elegant wardrobe,
but she had not appeared in any of
these toilets since the memory of man.
Why she hid them away no one ever
knew. Among her relics was the
gown she appeared In on her wedding
night, when, in all the pride of her
youth and beauty, she stood by the
side of Il future king and the words
were pronounced that made them one
for brief period and two for almost
century.
Says "Gath" in one of his recent
letters: When | was first set to work on
daily newspaper in the early spring
of 1860, the proprietor gave me few
lines on sheet of paper, to the editor,
saying: This is Mr.. Townsend, who
think will take the place held by Mr..
Vosburgh." Mr., Vosburgh had then
been sent to Washington City to write
letters, which l read with the greatest
delight, wondering how such man as
that could be dispensed with at all.
When Mr.. Vosburgh returned to the
city / had his place. Many years
passed by. when once Governor Curtin
Of Pennsylvania asked me to
come to his town Of Belfont and lee.
ture for library they had formed
there. found in the librarian the
same Mr.. Vosburgh who had been
writing those letters from Washington
seventeen years before. almost felt a
self-accusation that had even uncon.
sciously dspossessed q good writer of
his true vocation. At that lecture |
was introduced by a General Beaver,
with one leg. Since that time he has
been twice candidate for Governor of
Pennsylvania, and | presume will be
Governor to succeed Governor Patti.
son. When recently at Carlisle, Pa.
where | was asked to present u build
ing on behalf of the donor to Dickinson
College, met Governor Pattison,
whom | had not seen since as Il
little chap his mother brought him
to my mothers house, where he
would lie down on the floor at full
length and read my books. His father
and mine were from the same part of
the country, and ministers in the same
sect. Thus, as one lives, the clcws of
memory grow and grow until he is in
danger of becoming a nuisance by
shedding his recollections when they
they are not wanted.
~
Two blocks below where Mr.. Ban
croft lives, on III street, is the old house,
says Carpenter Of the Cleveland Leader,
in which Dolly Madison held her post.
presidential court. This house is now
being femodeled and modernized.
Within a month all of its old character
istics will have passed away, and It
will be swallowed up in the Washing
ton Of the present. Its old walls con.
tain perhaps as much history as those
of any other building of Washington.
1t was built by Congressman QUITS
when Washington was Il village, and
Cults borrowed money of President
Madison to erect 1t. Cults could not
pay, and the house thus fell into Mlli
sons s hands, and at his death it formal
part of the 100000 estate which he
left to his wife, the peerless Daily.
For q long time Dolly Madison
lived in it as one of the chief social
figures of many administrations. She
attended st. Johns Church Just across
the way, and was always welcomed nj
the White House over on PennsylYauil
avenue, within easy walking distance.
Her hospitality was too lavish, how
ever, and through the excuses OF her
son, Payne Todd, she became poor In
her latter years. She then moved oul
of this house, aud nt one time was re-
i. Al, al, 4