, 1889-03-07
SOCIETY AT THE CAPITAL.
Mrs. Cleveland Holds Her Last Public
Reception at the White House.
Special from Regu' ar Correspondent.

Special from a Regular Correspondent.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 23.- Mrs. Cleye-
land held her last public reception
from 3 to 5 2. M. on the 18th. during
rain SO violent that it made the
number of callers few as compared
with the crowds of preceding weeks.
1t was also Mrs. Colman's first and
only function at the White House as
Cabinet lady" The receiving liue
supporting Mrs. Cleveland was as
follows: Miss Bayard, Mrs. Endi-
cott, Mrs. Dickinson. Mrs. CoIman.
In the rear, wearing reception toll
cts, were Mrs. Folsom. Mrs. Lamont
and her guest, Mrs. Lucien Warner,
of New York; Miss Villas, Mrs Lock
wood, Miss Thouron. the fiancee of
Will Endicott; Miss Wood, Miss
Mason and Miss Sears, of Boston;
Miss Grace DEMO, Litchfield; Miss
Howe, Miss Gorman, Mrs Charles
Cleveland, Of Cleveland, O.; Miss
Kennedy, OF New York; Mrs. Park
and Mrs. Sanford.
Mrs. Fairchild's absence on account
of the death of Secretary Fairchild's
father was doubly regretted. This
bereavement in the Administration
circle reminds an obseryant chronicler
of the atmosphere of mortality which
has enveloped that circle from It's
outset four years ago. The Presi.
dent, If a sensitive and reflective
man, must sometimes feel perforce
that the rising star of his greatness
was baleful star to those on whom
its beam rested with fullest light.
Hendricks, the man who received
with him the suffrages of the people;
Arthur, who, as retiring President,
rode with him from the White House
to the Capitol and sat at, his side
facing the grand concourse in the
Senate Chamber; Grant, whose re
storation to the payroll as General
formed the most dramatic incident
of that dramatic hour; Philip IL
Sheridan and w. s. Hancock par
mobiles fratres), who adorned the
occasion in the full uniform of their
exalted rank; Chief Justice Waite,
whose august hand anointed him to
his high Office on the East Capitol
front; Daniel Manning, who came
with him into the bright sunlight of
publicity, his faithful injured friend;
Miss and Mrs. BayaId, the daughter
and wife of his premier, who shared
III turn the presidential arm at the
first grand levees of the Adminlstra-
ton. These are q few of those whose
far away voices must now seem chant
ing in his ear. ooh, Why Should the
Spirit of Mortal be Proud"
In the same interval also Mrs.
Cleveland has buried her paternal
grandfather and maternal grand
mother, Mrs. Whitney her mothers
mother, Secretary Endicott his faith
er, Mrs. Fairchild her distinguished
uncles, HoratIo Seymour and Roscoe
Conkling, and now Secretary Fair
child his father, the stately old Cas-
enovian lawyer, whose patrician fig
al receptions of his lovely daughter
in-law Early in AIr. Cieveland's
Administration died Richard L Mer-
rick, of the Washington bar, who was
almost President Cleveland'5 only
acquaintance here OF his arrival and
who was sent for by him at Albany
to confer about the incoming ADJ
ministration. A fresh heaped mound
of earth now covers the remains of
his elder brother, Judge Merrick, of
the District Supreme Bench, whose
appointment was the one and easily
granted favor asked of the president
by Lawyer Merrick. Time would
| fail to speak of the thinned circle of
eminent Democrats of New York, to
which Cleveland returns. There even
more perceptibly than here has death
made inroads.
The deities of marriage and births
have also presided literally over the
fugitive destinies of this Admins
tration. The President himself, the
Secretary of the Interior and two
daughters of his Cabinet ministers,
viz: Miss Lamar and Miss Endi-
colt, have been welded, daughters
have been born to Secretary Whit
ney and Private Secretary Lamont.
The pen of a novelist might find in
all these th1ckly crowded incidents
the wherewish for a wildly dramatic
sketch of the receding dynasty.