The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1889-07-04
RECoLLECr1oNs OF MISS HAYES,
A Trip to Bennington, Vt, with the Pres.
ident and Mrs. Hayes - Pleasant Incl
dents of the Journey.

RECOLLECTIONs OF MISS HAYES,
Trip to Bennington, Vt, with the Pres
ident and Mrs. Hayes Pleasant Incl
dents Of the Journey.
WASHINGTON, June 29.-The Centen-
mil of the Battle of Bennington, ) in 1877,
afforded your correspondent the oppor-
tunity of days trip with President and
!. Mrs. Hayes, at time when the gllded
harm of White House life was to them
till in its fresh luster.
The party was made up in Washington
response to a request from the Cen
ennlal Committee at Bennington to the
President and his official family to be
Especial guests of the occasion. The
White House invitation was extended to
me because of the services of an ances-
tor in that battle as lieutenant of Mas
sachusetts troops The only other news
paper folk whom recall in the Presi-
Dental car were Mr.. Whitelaw Reid and
Mr.. E. V. Smalley, who joined us at
New York for a few miles of the way,
where our party had breakfasted at the
Fifth Avenue Hotel, after a night jour
ney from the Capital and taken an early
train northward on the Hudson River
road. The stately special car awaiting
the White House travellers was "The
Vanderbilt" and Mr.. William H. Van
derbilt, in honor of the occasion, jour
neyed from New York to Troy with the
Washington guests, making himself the
genial host of the morning. | have al
graphic recollection of bis vivacious
chats with Mrs. Hayes, whom he studied
with his keen judging eyes while they
conversed together, and there comes a
pang when remember, as l write, the
eye and the voice and the smile of this
cordial, gallant host :
Whose part in all the pomp that fills
The circuit of the summer hills
Is that his grave is green
Mrs. Hayes, in cool, fresh travelling
suit, with her vivid color, her matronly
grace, her dark lustrous eyes and hair
and her superb spirits, no one could have
helped admirIng on that joyous day.
She was easily the belle of the occasion.
Two young lady guests of the White
House were with her, but no ladies of
Cabinet families, as it CHANGED. Attor-
ney-General Devens, the most elegant OF
the Cabinet group, was bachelor, His
witty sallies enlIvened the atmosphere
around the President, and Secretary
Evarts was keenly responsive to his Par
THAN jokes. Postmaster-General Key,
the newly reclaimed Southern brother,
sat on the observation platform with the
rest, as contented and cozy as feather
bed, regretting only that he hadn't
drought Mrs. Key and some of the girls
along" and MIR. McCrary of Iowa, Sec
rotary of War, in journeying to this an
Gent battlefield, looked totally unlike
the typical war horse of Scripture SMELL |
ing the battle afar off, Sherman and
Schurz, the two hard workers of that
Cabinet, had remained behind at their |
arduous desks, but there were enough |
without them to form a circle about
their chief when stops were made at oc |
casional stations en- route. During most
of the journey Mr.. Vanderbilt, to whom
the Hudson River view was naturally
very old story, sat inside the car at his
ease. Mrs. Hayes, alternating between
the platform party and the interior.
seemed at first trifle in awe of the man
of many millions, but he won her ready |
regard by his simplicity of manner, his
old school gallantry and his forbearance
in Difference to her well-known con-
victons on the subject of those pleasant
LIQUIDS which so enliven the average
journey in private car-to offer any of
the said liquid refreshments to the high |
official guests of the excursion, though
the buffet was well stocked with every |
creature comfort. The most luscious
fruits Of the season were passed around
several times during the morning by
colored attendants, and there was good
deal of merry joking about the absent
wines. During lull in the CONVERSE
ton with other guests Mr. Vanderbilt |
took an interest in my absorbing enjoy
ment of the superb scenery through |
which we were passing, came and sat a
long time by my window, pointing out
to my Western eyes the beautiful coun.
try seats that dotted the Hudson's shores |
and narrated pleasant bits of family his
tories connected with the occupants. 1t
was my first meeting with the great
railroad magnate, and 1t was my first
trip into New England, and my first day
in contact with the informal life of a
Presidential family. and it all came back
to me vivid and picturesque in memory
to-day while standing before Mrs. Hayes
pictured presence in the Green Parlor of
the White House and thinking of the
clods that were that moment falling
earth to earth and dust to dustin that
quiet village cemetery in Ohio, over the
face which wore, in sunshine and in
storm, that calm, uplifting smile which
the artist Huntington hasso well caught.
1t reminds one of paragraph from Mrs. |
Stowe:
"What saith the blessed poet Dante of
the beauty of the holy Beatrice-that it
said to every one who looked on her, |
Aspire ?"
At Troy there came transfer, and
the next incident that | recall was the
crossing into Vermont and the entrance
of two dlgnified figures exactly as we
touched the dividing line, who were at
once recognized as that States two Sen
ators, Morrill, and Edmunds, par mobile |
frdtrun, who, with members of the
Bennington Committee, came to well
come their President and his party to
the State; and the august greetings that
ensued are the most vivid feature in all
my recollection of the day, and stamped
indelibly upon my mind sense of the |
power and prerogative of the chief mag
istracy of this great commonwealth of
States. There is grandeur about it |
quite above and beyond the mere per-
sonslity of its incumbent, and, again, in
the vanishing distance of years, i see the |
sunlit eyes of Mrs. Hayes as she turned |
them with wifely pride upon her his
hand, the recipient of this homage, the |
central figure IN this exalted scene.
BERYL.
The invitation alluded to by the
Washington correspondent was not ex-
tended by a bennington Committee"
but by the Bennington Battle Monu-
ment Association itself through its Pres
ident the Governor of the State, the late |
Horace Fairbanks. Mr.. Evarts himself
was and is member, also Messrs. Ed
munds and Morrill,. AS we recall the
circum stances the meeting of the Presi-
dental party by the Vermont Senators
was purify accidental. Reaching North
Bennington and, then as now, being oh
liged to wait the southern train before
coming to Bennington, the distinguished
gentlemen rode down with the commit
tee mentioned, as stated, above. With
these corrections the remarks of the
Mail Dc Express correspondent, above,
will be read with interest locally.-ED.
WESTERN LIFE.
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