Evening star., 1925-03-03


Coolidge and Charles Gates Dawes
/ into the high Offices to which they
were elected last November. Presi-
! dent Coolidge is profoundly impressed
! by the fact that just a century has
been written into the National an
| nails since son Of the old Bay state,
John Quincy Adams, became the
Chief Magistrate. For the President,
! though by birth Fermonter, con-
| siders himself not only politically,
| but in every essential an inheritor Of
1 the honors of the second Adams.
Seven generations of Coolidges,
| sprung from the immigrants John
and Mary Coolidge, who left Suffolk,
England. in 1923. in the good ship
Anne and landed IN Watertown, now
Cambridge, lived in the home carved
out of the wilderness. II was the
| grandfather Of the President who left
| Massachusetts for Vermont. Charles
Gates Dawes is likewise a grandson
| of Massachusetts. and both names
which he bears are written most
honorably in the history of that COM
monwealth.
| Inauguration Of Presidents and in
! augural festivities generally, how
| ever. count a century and a quarter
| in the civic history of the National
| Capital, while the supreme social
achievement of the city. inaugural
balls, enjoyed full century Of favor
| before the custom in its original con-
| ception was abolished in 1913, by
| President Wilson. In 1917 the World
War forbade the giving of such
| fete. IT was the vision of several
| clear sighted women, foremost OF
these. Mrs. John Allen Dougherty, at the
! Inauguration of President Harding
| and Vice President Coolidge. to pro-
| pose a ball for benevolence instead
! OF the traditional levee for pomp and
| display alone. The splendid fete now
| being prepared may be written as the
| second under the new dispensation-
Immense Crowd of 5000.
Dolly Madison's winsome figure al
most covers the canvas in picturing
| the first inaugural ball, held in Longs
| Hotel on the evening of March 4,
| 1909. For Jennie" her husband,
! was a shy man, and though he chung
| bravely to her side all through this
| ''rout." his hour had been earlier,
| when" the chroniclers tell,
James Madison was sworn in to sue
ceed himself in the presence of an
| immense crowd, which must have
numbered 5000 people"
| Longs Hotel, on the corner of First
/; and A streets southeast, was the last
word in exclusiveness and elegance
| when the nineteenth century was not
10 years old, and was the scene of the
| Washington assemblies. Tickets for
! the ball were sold at the bar, along
| with the National Intelligencer, which
| portrayed in about five lines of type
the pleasure to be anticipated. The
| managers of this first OF the glorious
balls staged in Washing gton on March
| 4 were Thomas Tingey, John P. Van
| Ness, Franklin Wharton, Daniel Car
| roll of Duddington, John Tayloe,
| James II. Blake, William Brent, son
| of the mayor, Robert Brent; John
Graham, A. Henderson, James Eakin,
John Lacy and Isaac A. Coles.
Dancing began promptly at I, and
was conducted under the eager eyes
of the officers of the assembly, and a
very picturesque company ii was. The
| ladies were in powder and patches,
and their wide, beruff1ed skirts and
dainty f1chues of lace, while the cava-
liers were in small clothes, and brave
IN the finest of satin and velvets. and
buckled slippers and silken hose, and
they all performed the Sir Roger De
Coverley with consummate grace.
Promptly at IL the music ceased and
the hotel attendants began to extin-
guish the wax tapers, SO there was
nothing to do but so home, even
though reluctantly.
Monroe Dressed In Haste.
There were balls at both the Mon
roe inaugurations, and as il may be
noted as the century of these gala
events is reviewed, each occasion
marks a little more ceremonial, a
larger attendance and more circum-
stance in the surroundings than the
preceding event. President Coolidge S
prototype. John Quincy Adams. gives
a pleasant picture of both Monroe
Festivities in his journal James Mon
roe set out for the Capitol from his
residence, at 1887 F street, and Mr..
Adams, who was a stickler for cor
rect apparel, notes several evidences
of the haste with which he was
garbed for the great occasion. The
ball in 1917, as well as in 1913, was
held in the Indian Queen Hotel. now
part of the site of the National, on
Pennsylvania avenue. Mrs. Monroe
| was not present on either occasion,
being in i'll health, but she was repre-
| scented by her daughter, Mrs. George
Hay. The grand manager at these
Monroe balls was Gen. r. c.
| Weightman, and he was aided by
Thomas Monroe, W. W. Seaton, w. A.
Bradley and Richard Wallach.
When John Quincy Adams was
finally declared elected President by
the House of Representatives a tre-
mendous schism occurred in the hith-
| erto united forces which had sup
| ported inaugural balls. The adher-
! ents of Andrew jackson named a
committee to give a rival ball the
| same evening, and did much to per-
turb those in charge of Mr.. Adams
| induction into Office. However, be-
| fore March arrived wiser councils
| had prevailed. and the two commit
| tees combined. with the result that
the ball of 1926 stands out in the an
nails az the most brilliant until 1857,
when James Buchanan became Chief
| Magistrate. The final committee for
Adams fete was James II. Blake, the
| mayor; John p. Van Ness, William
| Brent, Daniel Rapine, Joseph Gales,
| Daniel Carroll of Duddington, David
| Porter, John Graham. II. Carusi, Per-
rim Wells and Edward Du Val. The
ball was given in the Washington AS
sembly room in Csrusi's Hall and was
the first to be staged outside a hotel.
| Came From other Cities.
Mr. Adams had purchased from
| Monroe the group of houses in r
street, now known as the Adams
Building, and from his own home he
| went forth to become Sixth Prest-
| dent of the United States. Guests for
the ball came all the way from Bos-
| ton, New York and other. cities, and
| music was for the first time by the
| Marine Band, and the excellence of
the supper figures in glowing terms in
| contemperaneous history.
In attendance and other accessories,
| inaugural balls had varied fortunes
| under Jackson, Van Buren, and Will
liam Henry Harrison. The enthusi-