Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-11-24

i
large additions were made to the prepare
tioDs for the bazaar. Luncheon pleasantly
diversified the hours Of work. The next meet
ing of the society will be held at the residence
| of Mrs. Mullett. at No. 2501 Pennsylvania ave-
nue.. on Friday morning, November 80. at IL
O'Clock. Mrs. Judge Harlan is the presiding
officer. in the absence of Mrs. Logan. of the
ladies' aid society of the Garfield hospital, an
organization that must not be COMPOUNDED with
the sewing society.
Mrs. Senator spooner is back from visit to
Princeton, where her son is at school,
Written for THE EVENING STAR
CENTENNIAL ADMINISTRATION.
A Chapter of Social History About Vice.
Presidents and Their Families.
MRS. ADAMS ASSISTANCE TO MRS. WASHINGTON IN
ESTABLISHING POLITE UsAGEs FOR OFFICIAL
LIFR-HER SUCCESSORS IN THE LONG LIST OF
yIoE-pREsrDENrs' FAMILIES
Although the time fixed by the convention of
1857 for the Inauguration of the new govern
ment fell upon the 4th day of March, 1889, the
disfavor or Indifference with which the new
Constitution was received by many of the peo-
pie and the dilatoriness and irresponsiblity born
of the lax system of the old articles of confed-
|
of Representatives of the first Congress, owing
to the non-arrival of a quorum, until April l.,
upon which day the first Speaker, F. A. Muh-
lenberg, Of Pennsylvania, began his term of
service.
The Senate did not secure quorum until
five days after. BY the time the Senate had
counted the electoral vote and its messengers
had notified George Washington, at Mount
Vernon, and John Adams, at Braintree, Mass.
OF their election to the presidency and vice
presidency, many more DAYS had elapsed.
1t was April 81 when John Adams was re-
ceived on the floor of the Senate by the presi-
dent pro tempore, and conducted to his seat,
where he delivered an address extending his
fluctuations TO the Senate upon their organize
ton and the prospective Inauguration of q new
government. The vice-President however,
presided over the deliberations of the Senate
for one month and twelve days before he took
an oath of Office. In the meantime, on April
80, or one month and twenty DAYS after
the constitutional time for the Inauguration
of the system Of government Of 1887, Wash
ington, the first President, took the oath Of
office prescribed by the Constitution, but John
Adams, the first Vice-President. had to await
the results of a tedions discussion by Congress
as to the form in which he and the Senators
the Speaker, Representatives and all civil
judicial national and state and other officers
should take the oath before they we're vested
with full constitutional powers. Tha. culminat-
ing act took place on June 3. 1854, or three
months after the constitutional day. But not
withstahding all these delays Benjamin Har-
rison, OF Indiana, will be the cente nnial Presi-
dent and Levi p. Morton the cente nnial Vice
President, when the one is inaugur ated at the
head of the executive and the other at the head
of the Legislative branches Of the government
THE vIcE-PgEsIDENTIAL OFFICE.
Among the trainers of the Constitution the
vice-presidential Office was not regarded as
sort of fifth-wheel adjunct to the government
machine and an official nonentity, as the consti-
tutlonal heir presumptive to the first place,
waiting around to be on hand should the chief
magistrate, by natural or unnatural process,
shuttle off this mortal coil, but as the presiding
officer of the Senate and the second officer In
the scale of dignities. That view Of late years
has fallen into state Of "inocuous desuetude;"
but there is prospect that the centennial
Vice-President will bring the office back
to some of its ancient dignity, officially
and socially. In the midst of the
adulation of the President and his official and
social surroundings for the past 100 years.
The vice-Presdent has been overshadoWed
and lost. And yet out of the twenty-five Presi-
dents in Office seven have succeeded To the first
place, three by the choice Of the people and
four by the will of God. The first President,
through the tardiness Of Congress, ran his ad-
| nlinistration nearly five months before he had
a cabinet officer to relieve him of the details Of
executive business. During that time he fire.
quently called the vice-President into consul
| tation upon affairs of state.
President Washington had not been in Office
| three weeks before he was so beset by Office
| seekers, even in those ancient and in FAINT days
| of the government. that he addressed note of
| queries TO Vice-President Adams, asking his
opinion as to the proper code Of official discip-
line and social propriety which should govern
| the intercourse OF the President with the other
branches of the government. The same in
j quiries were sent to Jay, Hamilton aud Madi-
| son, but the reply of the vice-President was
| the most voluminous and was practically the
| groundwork Of the code of manners which has
been substantially in vogue at the executive
mansion, with the exception Of the regime Of
Jefferson, ever since.
AMONG THE LADIES
who have presided over the official households
of the vice-Presidents are found some of the
most brilliant figures in the fashionable life Of
the seat of government. During the eight
years that vice-President Adams sat In the
chair OF the Senate in New York and Philadel
phla, Mrs. Abigail Smith Adams took promi-
nent part in the stately social life which wa.
handed down from the colonial, revolutionary
and continental days. She was a woman o.
strong character, as her trying experiences neal
Boston when threatened by British soldiery
amply illustrates. At the court Of Grea
George and his royal spouse, Charlotte, owe
the loss OF their American colonies was keenest
she filed her part with wonderful tact, and or
several DECISIONS with better manners than TIN
occupants OF the British throne. When tn.
new government was inaugurated Mrs. Wash
ington and Mrs. Adams led the social worlt
and put into practice the rules Of ofacial fash
ionable life which have come down through ,
century substantially unchanged II vas, there
fore, very appropriate that Mrs. Adams shoult
succeed to the place Of first lady Of the Ian,
upon the retirement of MIRA Warrington. Sh
was, also, the first lady TO occupy the executive
mansion, and on New Year day Of 1901 inaueu
rated its social festivities.
During the four years Of Je3erson's vice
presidency his daughter, Martha, who marie
Ihos. Mann Randolph, IT,, her cousin and he
fathers ward, and 70 whom she bad been 81
tached from childhood, OCCASIONALLY visite
her father and enlivepsd his social surround
, ings.
IL AARON Busn's pAroK1n.
~ The brilliant but politically unscrupulou