Omaha daily bee., 1893-10-15
CHAT WITH FAMOUS WOMAN
Entertaining Talk with Mrs. Kate Chase,
Daughter Of The Chief Justice
HER FATHERS PRESIDENTIAL ASPIRATIONS
lie WAS Ambitious TO secure tho once
bat only TO Administer IT for the uood
OF the peopie~-some Great states.
mon Size Knew.

WAsntSGroS, Oct, 1~2.-ISpeciai Core
]srondence of THE BEE II spent a morning
this week with Mrs. Kate Chase ut Edge
wood, her nome poar Washington. 1t lies
on tho outskirts Of tho clty on q high hill
overlooking the basin in which Washington
Is built. Tie estate now comprises thirty
SIX acres, and IL includes the old brick man
sion in which Salmon u. Chase lived while
he was chief justice OF the United States.
This il q great tvo.story brick containing
many large rooms and covered by a ridge
roof, out of which the little windows of the
attic poke their heads and gaze at the mag
nifccnt views ABOUT them. 4 wide hall runs
through the center OF the house. Rare old
furniture which Mrs. Chase picked UP In
Europe fills many of the rooms, ana the
library, where the chief justice was wont, as
his daughter tells me, to translate Latin
poetry into English verse for amusement, is
still intact.
Kate Chase Ia S93.
Driving up u winding road through great
trees, which hid from me the October sun, |
was met AT the front door OF the house by
Mrs. Chase herself, She was dressed in
black, with an old fashioned broad brimmed
hat coming well dowr over her eyes, and she
had been paying attention to her farming.
She has managed Everything connected with
the estate for years and has turned it from "A
farm into n park. She is n good farmer and
the same brains which made her so powerful
in the days of 1860 come to her service now
in making the ends meet Off of this thirty-Six
acres of claS soil. AS we walked up the
steps Mrs. Chase removed her hat and J
could see that she still possesses some OF the
beauty which MADE her SO famous in the
days gone by. She is straight as an arrow.
Her form is rounded but not fat. Her face
has but few wrinkles and her hair az yet
shows no signs Of gray. AS she talks her
eyes brighten and the magnetism for which
she was so noted again comes to the surface.
She must be now nearly 80. but she does not
look more than 40, ana in my conversation
with her no word of complaining or fault
finding dropped from her lips. The day upon
which I called was a pleasant one and we
chattcd in the open air, surrounded by one
OF the finest views in the United States.
From the wide veranda on which we sat
we could sec the golden dome of the new Ii
brary, view the many columned capitol, with
its flags flying over the houses of congress,
and off III the distance fill our eyes with the
S'''s 'l''S W thO SUI lOh lllOluIltlI,
which pierced the blue sky about three miles
away. We could see the Potomac, and look
down as it were upon the great red brick
city packed with its wealth and misery, it's
vices and its virtue, its shoddy and it's
shams. About our feet stretched acres of
yelvety lawn, on which Jersey cattle tied by
long ropes to stakes here and there sleepily
browsed. Above us the enormous branches
nF No tirnl rnl la -, .,A tl,n, .,a..
leaves i'm the autumn sun and all Of our sur
roundings were those of peace casting their
shadow upon the great city of discord below.
The famous woman who sat beside me
seemed also at peace. She has tasted to the
full all of the pomps and ~vanities OF political
and social life and she is now apparently
happy here on the edge of it, though not in
1t. "A generation ago there was no woman in
Washington moro powerful, more courted
and more admired than Mrs. Kate Chase.
She played the game of politics rs no woman
in our history has ever played it, and her
pawns were men. AS ] looked over the capl-
tol, where the senate was wrangling Just as
they did when Salmon Il. Chase sat there
early in the sos, and where Chief Justice
Fuller was presiding over the doings of the
court as Chief Justice Chase did u little
more than two decades ago, ] could not helm
thinking of the wonderful history of the
woman ut my side. | pointed to the CITY and
asked her to give me her first memories of it..
A Girls Recoliections of Clay and Webster.
Said Mrs. Chase:
ut Is now more than forty years since |
first came to Washington. | was a little
girl then, and my father had been elected to
the United States senate. He brought me
east with him and placed me in a celebrated
school in New York. ! spent most of nv
time at school, but now and then | had a va
cation, in which | came over here TO visit
father, and at those times | saw something
of the great men of the day. Father often
took me on the floor and introduced me to
his brother senators. remember it well.
knew Clay, Webster and Calhoun. Henry
Clay made n strong impression upon me. MY
father was n tail man, but Clay was much
taller. lie lowered above me, but he was
pleasant in his manners and fond OF chill
dren. He made much of me and | liked him.
i remember Daniel Webster, too. He seemed
to me at that time to be my ideal Of how a
statesman ought to look. He was very sober
ana impressive In his manner, He seldom
laughed but he was very kind and he used to
send me his speeches. | don't suppose he
thought | would read them, but he wanted
to compliment me and show that he remcn.-
bered me, and | know that | felt very proud
when | saw Daniel Wetster's frank upon
pieces OF mail which came to mt at tho New
York school. Another great man who was
my friend up to the time of his death was
Charles Sumner. He was II noble man.
warm, kind and great. knew him when he
was n bachelor, and | saw much of him after
his marriage and the trouble which fol-
lowed"
How did Sumner happen to marry" |
asked.
Charles summers Unhappy Marriage.
III was not married until late in life"
replied Mrs, Chase. HE spent most of his
existence in bachclorhood, and he was mar
ried To his studies and his profession. He
was n great friend of Congressman Hooper
of Massachusetts. and il was at Hooper's
house that he met the young widow whom
he married. She had married Hooper's son
and he had died, / used to sec Mr.. Sumner
nearly every day at this time. He was
fathers friend and spent muCh of his time
at our house. Father iokol hIm about his
approaching marriage and in Il testing way
cited the examples of prominent men who
had married young wives, Charles Sumner
was happy, however, in the approaching
marriage, and IL was not until his wedding
day had for some time gone by that he an
preciated the mistake he had made, He
found that instead of a helpmeet and a com
panion he had married a butterfly, who
cared more for the german and for the so
cial festivities of the capital than for her
husband and his studies For a time he
went with her TO parties and receptions.
have sat beside him on some such occasions.
when | could see that he was miserable. He
- .-al- . - - - l. 4.