Year: 1877

THE LADIES OF THE WHITE HOTSE.


The present is an era Of kindly sentiment,
and. as one token of it, we are happy TO
observe in more than one journal pleasant
notices of the late Lady of the White House.
Mrs. Grant seems to retire from position OF
considerable responsibility with the best wishes
of all who know her. Undoubtedly she is not
sorry to go. AS good housewife she has not
probably found the Executive Mansion very
convenient place of abode. MI reports concur
in represcnting that renowned ediiicc to be in
a condition somewhat dilapidatcd and actually
yerging upon the shabby. In fact, for eight
wears Mrs. Grant has had no house or
her own, and has really been at the
head of large Office maintained for
the use and benefit Of the American
people The modest little structure which she
left at Galcna was doubtless far pleasanter and
in great deal better repair We are inclined
to believe that Mrs. Hayes will also think with
some regret of her snug, elegant, and commO-
dious Ohio home, as the auction advertisements
say. with all the modern Improvements" We
know at least from her correspondence that
such was the homcsick feeling of Mrs. John
Adams, who was always longing for the old
fashioned residence, half villa and half farm
house, which she had left III Massachusetts.


Both the ex- x-Prcsdcnt and the President are
married men. Several of our Chief Magis-
trates have not been so Fortunate Mr..
Buchanan, for instance, IL bachelor of the old
est kind would have found his domestic ar
ran.emcnts s0rclv trying but for the tact,
grace. and elegance of his niece. Jefferson,
when he became President, was still mourning
his beautiful wife, too early lost indeed, he
never ceased to mourn for her. The charming
manners and personal elegance Of Mrs. Madi-
son are matters of history. When Mrs. Jack
son. in the quiet of the Hermitage, heard of
her husbands election to the Presidency, she
said simply "Wcll, for the Generals sake
cam glad for my own part, never wished It,"
She WAS dead soon after; she went to mar
rover home than the White House, and it is
told that the General was never the same man
afterward-One of his friends said that he
grew twenty years older on the night OF her
death. Mrs. Tyler came by the accident
of death to the White House, and she died
there, leaving its domestic arrangements some
what at hap-hazard for the rest of the official
term of her husband. Mrs. Pierce arrived at
washington under the shadow of Il great and
recent bereavement, her only child, fine lad
of thirteen years, having been killed by rail-
way accident the preceding January. Mrs. Fill
more, it will be remembered died just after
her husband went out of Office, and political
disappontmcnt and domestic grief cl0uded his
last official days. We have not mentioned the
stately lady of the true aristocratc Nirginan
blood, who was the wife of Washington, and
who will always be remembered with him.
She was never Lady of the White House
OF the wives of other Presidents there is little
known and nothing Of public interest to be
said.


We think it crcditablc to the character of
American women, and an evidence OF their
tact and ability gracefully to adapt themselves
tn circumstances that no Presidents wife has
shown any particular incapacity for the
postion through want of good breeding and
dignfed manners. Usually all the ladies OF
the Presidents house have been respectfully
treated 10y the press and the public, and there
has been little scandalous titte-tattle about
any of them. Two or three of them have
been remarkable for n deeply religious char
actcr. We are sure that the best wishes OF
the nation attend the coming of the new mis-
tress of the White House, and that in her
hands its traditional dignity and decOrum OF
life will be preserved.


The contributions Of Messrs Downing, Hopes,
and Foster, and of Profs Law and Caldwell, to the