Evening star., 1901-04-29

vania avenue, with guns loaded ready to
discharge upon the mob if it should show
itself disposed to interfere with the prog
ress of the procession. The soldiers could
be seen peering over the edges of the
roofs
Soon the procession started, proceeding
through the avenue between lines of SOL
diers, who acted as a guard Arriving at
the Capitol, the President -elect and those
accompanying him, after reaching the
platform. found themselves in the midst
or a gathering of 10000 people, with
scarcely standing room for themselves
Looking from the crowd one could observe
on the platform the familiar form of
Stephen A Douglas, who had disputed
tne great national questions with Lincoln
on the stump in Illinois In a famous SEN
atorial contest a few years before AS Mr.
Lincoln removed his hat Mr.. Douglas step-
PED forward, politely took it and held IT
curing the delivery Of the inaugural ad-
dress AS the oath was administered a
coiofed man, who stood at one corner of
the platform by Flagstaff, seemingly
inspired by the momentous act, seized the
.iaAyarus ana raised the stars and stripes
20 'he peak AS it f1oated proudly in the
pIeeze overhead the incident seemed pro-
Phetic 70 me- The negro seemed to be
nelplng In the ceremonies that were to
pave the way to his own emancipation
Levee at the White House.
some time later than this our company
gave number OF concerts in Washington
ano Ieorgetown One evening after giving
concert In the latter city We were driven
to the White House. The occasion was
ievee. President Lincoln at once recognized
me. Both he and Mrs. Lincoln treated nc
with great kindness and in the course or
the evening asked US to sing We gang
fhe War Drums Are Beating-Up. Sol
diers, and Fight" We suffered q slight
inconvenience in singing. The kew nr
the piano could not be found for awhile,
ana Wnen 1t was discovered it was learned
mat the instrument was in shocking bad
tune. No music stool could he nrocured
1t was evident that Mr.. Lincoln and his
Family were thinking of something else
than music in those days.
AT PRESIDENT LincolnS request sent for
my melodeon. and sang The Ship on Fire
ne having heard me sing it before at
Springfield Ill. 1 can seem to see the mar
tyred President now. as he stood only a few
by the hand.
Our experiences with Secretary Chase
during 1862 were Of the pleasantest charao-
ter though some of them were rather un-
usual We had hardly reached the city be-
fore his daughter. afterward so well known
as Mrs. Kate Chase Sprague, invited us to
come to the house for an evening. These
calls were often repeated. On one occasion
the Secretary invited me for social even
ing, and at the appointed time l repaired
to the house, In company with two of my
children. The bell was answered by a sery-
ant 1 inquired if Mr.. Chase was at home.
that night. The servant replied that Mr..
Chase was in his library. He took the
verbal message and returned, saying that
Mr.. Chase was very much engaged and
could not see company. / said there must
be mistake, and he went once more to the
great Secretary, returning with the mes
sage, Mr.. Chase wants you to send him
your card I discovered that had no card
with me. but I had, as usual, plenty OF
concert tickets handy, sent one of them
The servant returned third time and said:
Mr.. Chase says there is no concert here
tonight
I'VE left the house in surprise and won
der. The rude treatment we had received
was inexplcabe. 1 recalled statements 1
had heard, however. that when busy Mr.
Chase had no recollection Of engagements,
and felt somewhat relieved. We happened
to know that there was to be grand war
meeting at the Smithsonian Institution and
consequently went there. We sang to the
immense audience, and in the enthusiasm
Of the hour forgot the Chase Incident.
Visited Washington in 1864.
During 1864 we were again in WASH
ington. Here l was for the time the guest
Of Mr.. John B. Alley, joining him in nu-
merous receptions, and also visited the
White House. Frank B. Carpenter was
at this time at work his great paint
ing, The Signing of the Emancipation
Proclamation One day Chase was with
me. Stanton was at that time away from
the city, and Chase was that day to pose
for his portrait in the picture. Carpenter
asked me to take Stantons place, so on
that occasion l posed in the place Of the
war secretary. Any person who examines
the picture will see that when Chase posed
it was necessary for Stanton or some one
in his place to be with him.
Frederick Douglass.
Before entering upon our singing career
I and my brothers were keeping our gro
Gerry and stove stores on Union street in
Lynn, Mass. There dwelt in a modest
building a few rods further down the
street Frederick Douglass. A short time
before he had come painting up from the
south with bloodhounds baying upon his