The National tribune., 1897-05-06
THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE WASHINGTON c. THURSDAY

But, with all this attack upon Mr.. Van
Buren's extravagancd, the Executive Man.
sion was not the scene Of much gayety. Mrs.
Van Buren, had died many years before he
| attained to political honors. and had it not
been for some Of the distinguished ladies OF
society his Administration would have been
social failure
RETURN OF MRS. MADISON.
In October, 1887, Mrs Madison returned
to live in this city, otter an absence OF 70
years. A visitor has left this pen picture OF
her:
took her to be sixty or seventy years OLD:
The same smile played upon her features, and
the same look of beneyolence and good ma
ture beamed in her countenance. She had
lost the stately and Minerva-like motion
which once distinguished her in the house OF
the President, where she moved with the
grace and dignity of queen; but her man
ner OF receiving was gracious and kind, and
her department was quiet and collected.
She received all visitors with the same at
tention and kindly greeting.
She remarked that q new generation
seemed to have sprung up. What differ
ence,' she said, it makes in society. Here
are young men and women who were not
born when l was here last, whose names are
familiar to me, but whose faces are unknown.
l seem suddenly to have awakened after
dream of 90 years to find myself surrounded
by strangers
All, Madam remarked one of the
ladies', the city is no longer what it was
when you were the mistress of the White
House. Your successors have been sickly,
tame, spiritless, and Indifferent. The man
sion you made SO charming and attractive is
now almost inaccessible. The present in
cumbent has no female relative to preside
over it, and seems so much absorbed in party
politics that he will scarcely open the house
to those who wish to see it. The very tone
Of society has been affected by these changes.
At one time such was the bitterness of party
feeling that no visits were exchanged between
those belonging to the Administration and
those in opposition. Almost all the old citi-
zens are now excluded from Office, and brawl-
ers, broken merchants, disbanded officers,
and idle young men have been put in their
places. But society is beginning to improve,
and the fashionable of all parties mingle
more harmoniously. Foreigners now, as in
your day, are all the go. A poor attache,
gambling ambassador, beggarly German
baron, or nominal French count is preferred
to the most substantial and accomplished
citizen among the young women at this
Court, "
Mrs. Madison smiled at this picture, and
spoke with much feeling of the former con-
dition and appearance of the city. The fol-
lowing Spring the days dragged by. The
curtain of dizziness had fallen upon the gay
world.
THE COURT OF MARTIN THE FIRST"
was pronounced remarkable for its stupidity.
The White House had been opened but twice
during the Winter, and the Cabinet officers
had closed their doors and shrunk into the
privacy of home life, in striking contrast to
the brilliant fetes given by the former Cabi-
net. Private individuals had well sustained
the social responsibilities of the Government,
and had dispensed Inequalities with a lavish
hand but it had become an irksome task.
We can readily see, when dizziness hung
like pail over society, why Congress ad
journed to see the great Enchantress, Fanny
Ellsler. We read in Hunters Souvenir of
the New National Theater" that on Mon
day, July 6, 1916
THE city was electrified by that graceful
goddess, Fanny Ellsler, the most famous
dancer on the globe. She literally turned the
heads of the audience by the loveliness of her
undraped limbs, and magnetized them by her
exquisite grace of motion. The audience
seemed to have been changed by her Circean
power into shouting lunatics, and the New
National Theater was the scene OF wild and ex-
trayagant action. Men and women We'd with
each other in cheering. Gentlemen hurled up
their watch chains and rings ON the stage,
and the fair sex stripped their arms of their
bracelets and followed suit, until the stage