Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1901-02-28

ten by her to her niece, Fanny, in Vir-
ginia, while the new sovereign lady
was in full flush of her honors in tbs
| presidential house in Cherry street,
| Manhattan: Il live a very dull life
here, and Know nothing of what passes
! in the town. l never go to any public
place. Indeed l think / am more like
state prisoner than anything else.
There are certain bounds which must
not depart from, and as | cannot do
as | like l am obstinate and stay at
home great deal"
And this while the very first lady
vas in the habit Of showing herself
in public in a carriage of cream and
gold, with six horses and outriders;
when her Friday evenings were
thronged with the beauty and fashion
and distinction of the first adnfinistra
tion period. Truly, the heart of a
good woman clings healthily to first
principles.
Sprightly Abigail Adams.
Abigail Adams, wife of the second
president, the first lady to occupy the
executive mansion-oyer which, it
must be avowed, she grumbled and
fused vigorously, Directing to the re-
moval from gay Philadelphia to for
lorn Washipgton-had previously en-
joyed long training in the ways of
courts and rulers. She had made part
of high society in England, when her
husband was the first diplomatic rep
resentative of his country at the court
of st. James, and had travelled on the
continent, meeting and noting many
interesting persons. AS wife of Wash
ingtons vice president she had been a
power in administrator circles in
New York and Philadelphia. She was
a bright, CHEEKY, quick-witted woman,
with keen sense of fun, some tenden.
cy toward ridicule and much adapta
bility to circumstances. Her letters
apart from their chronicle of events,
are distinctly good reading and her
sway at the white house set high
standard of social elegance for her
successors to maintain.
Mr.. Jefferson, on becoming presi
dent, was a widower, and his young
married daughter-she whom Ran
dolph of Roanoke styled the noblest
woman in Virginia-was supremely oc-
| cupied with the cares of young fam
| lily at Monticello. The president had
thought to rid himself of one feature
; of the cares of sovereignty by abol-
fishing the levees bequeathed to him by
his predecessors in office. But he
some of the danes and damsels of
| Washington, resenting this infringe
ment of their social privileges, once
| descended upon the white house in a
flock and were found by the president,
on his return, muddy and weary, from
a ride, occupying the accustomed room
of state. To provide against such
forays in the future Mr.. Jefferson so
licited and obtained aid in social mat.
tiers from the accomplished and ca
pable Mrs. Madison, who; in the alb
sence of the ladies of his family
thereafter presided when called upon
by the much-beset executive.
OF Mrs. Madison. affectionately
known as Dolly Madison" so much
in latter years has been said and writ
ten that it is only necessary to recall
the fact that she was a widow of
Quaker ancestry when Mr., afterward
| President, Madison married her, in
1894. A tradition of her youth in
Philadelphia told how her admirers
would stand at street corners only to
see her pass.
During the reign of this charming
parsonage social life at tue white
house received a new impetus. There
was an immediate reflorescence of the
extinct levees and to all corners was
extended a gracious and bewitching
hospitality.
Following in the footsteps of Mrs.
Madison walked Mrs. James Monroe,
formerly Miss Eliza Kortright of New
York, a renowned belle after the rev.
olution. The young lady's friends had.
indeed, thought she might do much
better in the matrimonial mart than
become the wife of the plain little
Virginia congressman. But she had
been serenely happy in her life with
the man of whom Mr.. Jefferson said
his soul might be turned inside out
without discovering a blemish to the
world" and through him, also, had
come to her the worldly rewards of
the high place in his country's diplo-
matte service abroad, eliminating now
in the highest position in the nation s
gift.
Of Maryland Lineage.
Mrs. John Quincy Adams, daughter
of Joshua Johnson, a Maryland squire
and statesman, was born in London
and lived abroad for years, her mar
riage with Mr.. Adams occurring while
he was minister resident at The
Hague, a position he afterward ex'
changed for st. Petersburg and Lon.
don. Her life in Washington during
the eight years that Mr.. Adams was
secretary of state had given high evil
dence of her grace and ability as an
entertainer, but while in the white
house she was overshadowed by III
health, Withdrawing from all but those
formal appearances in public which