The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-05-22
DOLLY MADIsoN's SORROW.
Few Realized How Great a Weight She
Bore Upon Her Heart.

Few Realized now Great a Weight She
Bore Upon Her Heart.
The beautiful Dolly Madison, who al
ways turned smiling face upon the
world, carried In her heart sorrow
which might have embittered a nature
less sweet.
The handsome, dark-eyed boy, the
only surviving child of her first mar
riage, who, nesting at her feet, accom-
panied Mr.. Madison and herself in the
open barouche on their wedding jour-
ney from Philadelphia to Montpelier,
soon exhibited those downward tenden-
cies which the most loving precaution
seemed powerless to arrest.
To little city boy to whom the world
had presented itself only in the brick
and mortar aspect, there was a Won
derful charm in the free life of a Vir-
ginia plantation; and, during his par
ents' frequent visits to Philadelphia, he
always begged to be allowed to remain
at home with his "Grandmamma Madi-
son." who, after her sons marriage, re-
moved to a wing of the building,
where she maintained a separate estab-
lishment.
The 5000 acres attached to Montpelier
belonged to the original Madison estate,
taken up three years after the settle
ment of jamestown. and everything
within doors and without possessed
some special interest.
The Declaration Of Independence
hung for years on its walls, there were
bustts and medallions and pictures and
books of great historic value scattered
about, and the tiger lilies on the lawn
were raised from seeds sent from La
Grange by Lafayette.
There was wonderful garden, too,
in the form of a horseshoe, tended by
French gardener, in which the choicest
fruits and flowers grew.
What delighted little Payne most,
however, was the animal life with
which the plantation teemed-the pas
lures filled with variegated cattle; the
timid sheep, that huddled together at
his approach: the fancy fowls, that ate
the grain scattered by his hand, and
the horses, behind which he sometimes
drove with his beautiful mamma. A
negro butler, too, more than 80 years
old, with hair like a wellcarded lambs
fleece who stood behind his grand
mothers chair, had special fascina-
ton for him, and the quarters, separ-
ated from the great house by leafy
screen, where he heard weird songs and
stories, and where the cOlored MAN.
mics roasted vans for him on cabln
hearths, We're a powerful magnet
drawing him often down the woody
path which led to them.
AS he grew older his grandmother
gave him a daily task to learn, endeav-
oring to instruct him further by read
ing aloud to him; but Payne's nina,
which opened wide for the reception OF
bear and Indian stories, closed like an
oyster against useful Information.
Tn time he was sent to school to the
bishop of Baltimore, where he was as
ISOLATED with Madame Bonaparte ana
the other members of the circle IN
40
which he thus acquired he contracted
habits of extravaganza and dissipation
which chung to him through lie ana
eventually proved his ruin.
When his parents We're Installed at
the white house he Joined them there.
He had inherited his mothers winning
manner to which he added the adVen-
titious glamour surrounding the presi-
dents son, and, sought after and fae-
tered he soon lost his taste for the
simple life of Montpelier, only going
there in the summer season with parties
of fashionable friends.
Realizing the danger of his situation.
Mr.. Madison induced him to accompany
the embassy to Europe to treat for
peace with the British representatives
at Ghent, but there he was regarded as
the prince of America, the heir appal-
ent to a foreign throne, and fresh adul-
away he neglected to write to his moth
er, who was obliged to apply to Others
for information in regard to him, and
in one of her letters to him she said:
81 am ashamed to say, when asked
how long it has been since heard from
my only child"
Years after this foreign sojourn. when
dissipation had destroyed every trace
of the beauty and refinement whicr
then distinguished him, Henry Clay
met him on the streets of Washington
one day, and, after regarding him at.
tentively, said:
DO you remember, when we We're in
Russia, how John Quincy Adams and
the rest of us sat apart in gallery anC
watched you dance with the czar's sis
ter, we being debarred because we were
not of the blood royal?"
His own ample fortune being soor
squandered, young Todd made constant
demands upon his mothers means, anc
Montpelier was finally sold to pay his
debts.
Mrs. Madisons letters to him are
filled with remonstrances and appeals
and the last words which she uttered
were: MY poor. poor boy"
He survived her only two years, dy,
ing at a hotel in Washington on II
street, and tended only by a few of hel
old servants His remains were borne
to their final resting place in the con.
| gresSional cemetery on Washington:
| birthday. AS the hearts which convey
| ed them We're wound slowly through
| the streets in a heavily falling snow
| two carriages followed it. In one was G
single friend; in the other the faithful