Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-03-25

nately fOr ner, Sne reJecteu HIS suit
when Mrs. Madison, in a flutter of
anxiety wrote, reminding him that
there were many other charming girls
in the world, begging that he would
not turn his back upon the sex be-
cause one member of it had proved I'M
kind"
Young Todd, however, showed no dis
position to repeat the experience, the
result of it being only to sink him
deeper and deeper into dissipation.
His stepfather was now often called
upon to discharge his obligation at the
gaming table, delicately referred to as
s'business embarrassments," and
beautiful, historic Montpelier was fin
ally sold to pay his debts. When this
crisis was reached he made some eff
fort at restitution by beginning upon
Toddsworth, the adjoining place, a
house for his mother. Lack of funds,
however. prevented its completion, as
well as that of his plan for the estab-
lishment of silk farm, with which
design he brought from France num-
Der of silk manufacturers, before he
had Matched the worms or planted the
mulberry trees.
After President Madisons death,
when his widow returned to Washing
ton, occupying what is now the Co.'S
mos, clubhouse, on Lafayette square,
the 100000 paid to her by Congress for
his reports of the constitutional con-
yention, together with what he himself
bequeathed her, would have been
sufficient to maintain her in comfort,
if not elegance, had it not been for the
drain upon her resources of her son s
habits. AS it was, she was sometimes
reduced almost to want and Paul,
President Madison's body servant,
who had purchased his own
freedom, and was then living
with Daniel Webster, often brought
market baskets of provisions to
her from his employer, even occa-
sjonally assisting her with his own
earnings.
Meanwhile her son was ordering rare
cheeses and other luxuries from abroad
| A great-nephew of Mrs. Madison, the
grandson of her SISTER child" who still
| lives in Washington, and who used to
stand by her side at her famous levees
Gas largely attended as the White
| House receptions) says:
Young as 1 was 1 often observed q
! look of distress upon my aunt's face
| and being sometimes the bearer OF
small sums to her, suspected its cause
| When, therefore, the bill was passed
/ appropriating $4,000 to the purchase Of
my uncle's letters and other writings
ran from the Senate chamber as my
/ fathers avant courier to have the
pleasure of announcing the news"
/ This gentleman, who also distinctly
remembers his cousin, her unfortunate
son. says:
ITO me he was the most FASCINATING
of men, and 1 have always believed
that he was fundamentally good. only
led astray by temptations, which few
would have been able to resist. Al
that time he frequented a fashionabl,
restaurant, the Boulanger, situated or
G. street, near the war department, anC
recollect on a certain occasion his
| taking me there to eat Strawberries
and cream. While abroad-where they
put brandy with their coffee-he con.
tracted many foreign habits and there
was certainly something stronger thar
the unfermented juice of the fruit with
| u.S SduCeI VI UcTTleSs lIlIleuldlely
after eating it I was conscious OF
strange sensations in my head, and
soon afterward shocked my parents by
arriving at home in a state of intoxica-
| ton"
The closing years Of Mrs. Madison's
| life would have been desolate, indeed,
| had it not been for her nephews and
| nieces, who chung to her to the end
with tenderest devotion. One of them
a second Anna Payne-lived with her,
nursing her through her last illness.
She died in 1S49, aged 50, the last
words upon her lips being "My poor,
poor boy" H Eat
He survived her only two years, his
crcwning act of infamy being an I'M
successful attempt to break her will
and wrest from her dear daughter,
Anna Payne" the portion left to her.
A short time afterward, while staying
at hotel on H street, he was seized
with typhoid fever and, tended only
by two of his mothers old servants,
ended his wretched existence. He was
buried in the Congressional cemetery
on Washington's birthday, just one
week before the completion of his own
59th year. AS the hearse which bore
his remains wound slowly through the
streets heavy snow was falling. Two
carriages followed it. In one was
single friend; the other the faithful
slaves.