The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1897-04-01

| been considered as the future seat of Govern
ment, had been improved, as they would
have been, if in New England, very many OF
| the inconvenience would have been re-
moved.
ut is beautiful spot, capable of every
improvement, and the more l view it, the
more am delighted with it.
Since sat down to write, have been
called down to a servant from Mount Yer
non, with billet from Maj. Custis, and a
haunch of venison, and a kind congratula-
tory letter from Mrs. Lewis, upon my ar
rival in the city. with Mrs. Washington's
love, inviting me to Mount Vernon. When
health permitting. will so before leaving
| this place.
"Two articles we are much distressed for;
the one is bells, but the more important is
wood, yet you cannot see wood for trees.
No arrangement has been made, but by
promises never performed, to supply the
newcomers with fuel. OF promises Breisler
has received his full share.
He has procured several cords of wood,
but six or seven of that was kindly burnt
up to dry the walls of the house, which
ought to have been done by the Commission
ers; but which, if left to them, would have
remained undone to this day, Congress
poured in; but, shiver! shiver! no wood
cutters nor carriers to be had at any rate.
We are now indebted to a Philadelphia
wagon for bringing us, through the first
clerk in the Treasurer's office, one cord and
| half of wood, which is all we have for this
house, where IL fires are constantly re-
| CURED, and we are told the roads will soon
be so bad that it cannot be drawn.
"Breisler procured 200 bushels of coal, or
| we must have suffered. This is the situa-
ton of almost every person. The public
officers have sent to Philadelphia for wood
cutters and wagons. The vessel which had
my clothes and other materials, has not
arrived The ladies are impatient for a
drawing-room. have no looking-glasses
but dwarfs for this house; not twentieth
part lamps enough to light it. Many things
were stolen, many were broken by the re-
moval. Amongst the number my tea china
is more than half missing. Georgetown
affords nothing My rooms are very pleas
ant and warm whilst the doors of the halls
are closed.
You can scarce believe that here in this
wilderness l should find myself so occupied
as l do. My visitors, some of them, come
three and four miles the return of one of
them is the work of day. Most of these
ladies reside in Georgetown, or in scattered
parts of the city, at two and three miles
distant"
Mrs. Adams had an opportunity to
display
HER REMARKABLE EXECUTIVE ABILITY
and consummate tact, to get the man.
sion in condition to hold the first levee,
Jan. /, 1901.
The oval room on the second floor
was connected with a drawing-room, and
the sparse furniture so deity arranged,
that none but the initiated knew Of the
planning and anxious hours spent over
the affair.
Washington having been driven to
the establishment of levees while Presi-
dent, when the seat of Government was
in New York City, they were continued
in Philadelphia and could not be dis
pensed with in the new Capital, not
outstanding the impracticability of such
ceremonious affairs, with the Presidents
House unfinished and everything in
chaos.
Mrs. Adams was. the daughter of Il
New England minister, and as the wife
of Mr.. Adams, when he was struggling
up the ladder of prosperity and fame,
had been thoroughly disciplined in ex-
periences hence we find her success
fully conducting the levees, presiding at
dinners, and on all occasions of cere-
mony required by the imperative rules
of etiquet then in vogue, returning calls,
receiving visitors, and at the same time
fully conversant with the affairs of state
which absorbed her conscientious hus-
band. 1t is not astonishing that such
parentage should have produced son,
who succeeded his father as Chief
Magistrate Of the Nation. Her talent
and refinement were innate. She never
attended school, nor had any of the OPP
portunities that the young people Of
modern times enjoy.
Mary, her elder sister, married
Richard Cranch, an Englishman, who
had settled near their home, and who
was subsequently made Judge of the
Court of Common Pleas in Massachu-
sets. He was father of the late
William Cranch, of Washington, who
presided so long and with such dignity
over the Circuit Court Of the District of
Columbia.
There is story that when the eldest
daughter was married, Mr.. Smith
preached sermon 10 his people from
the text: {" And Mary hath chosen that
good part which shall not be taken from
her."
ABIGAIL's MARRIAGE
Two years later, his second daughter,
Abigail, was about to marry John
Adams, then lawyer in good practice.
Some of the parishioners manifested dis
appreciation for the profession of the
law, for long time in the colonial
history of Massachusetts,, was hardly
thought to be an honest calling; besides,
the family of Mr.. Adams was not
thought to be on an equal footing with
that of the minister. His father was a
small farmer near Bainbridge, hence the
match was not considered good enough
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