As I Remember
looked the Spaniard full in the eye when he uttered the word
_libert[)a]_.
Mr. Jose de Marcoleta, the Nicaraguan Minister to the United States, was
an elderly and punctilious Spaniard. He was indefatigable in the
observance of all social duties, and I met him wherever I went. He was a
bachelor but, soon after his arrival in Washington, announced his
engagement to Miss Mary West of Boston, who unfortunately died before
her wedding day. I am under the impression that he eventually married
another American. I remember once when he called to see us I asked him
to tell me something about Nicaragua, which was then an almost unknown
country. My surprise can hardly be described when he told me he had
never seen the country which he represented, but was a native of Spain.
Baron Waldemar Rudolph Raasloff represented Denmark in a manner
creditable both to his country and our own. He told me that some years
previous to his mission to America he came to New York in the capacity
of an engineer and was engaged on work in New York harbor, "blowing up
rocks." Possibly he was thus employed at "Hell Gate," at that time one
of the most dangerous obstacles to navigation in that vicinity.
The well-known "Octagon," as the old Tayloe home on the corner of New
York Avenue and Eighteenth Street is still called, during my early
residence in Washington was closed. Many superstitious persons regarded
it with fear, as its reputation as a haunted house was then, in their
opinion, well established. I have been told by the daughters of General
George D. Ramsay that upon one occasion their father was requested by
Colonel John Tayloe, the father of Benjamin Ogle Tayloe, to remain at
the Octagon over night, when he was obliged to be absent, as a
protection to his daughters, Anne and Virginia. While the members of the
family were at the evening meal, the bells in the house began to ring
violently. General Ramsay immediately arose from the table to
investigate, but failed to unravel the mystery. The butler, in a state
of great alarm, rushed into the dining-room and declared that it was the
work of an unseen hand. As they continued to ring, General Ramsay held
the rope which controlled the bells, but, it is said, they were not
silenced. The architect of the Octagon was Dr. William Thornton, of the
West Indies, who designed the plans of the first capitol in Washington
and who was the controlling spirit of the three Commissioners appointed
by Congress to acquire a "territory not exceeding ten miles square" for
the establishment of a permanent seat of government. These men were
Daniel Carroll, Thomas Johnson, first Governor of the State of Maryland,
and David Stuart. Most of this land, which included Georgetown and
Alexandria, was primeval forest and was owned chiefly by Daniel Carroll,
Notley Young, Samuel Davidson and David Burns.
The Commissioners had great difficulty in dealing with Burns, who owned
nearly all of what is now the northwestern section of the city, as he
was a closefisted and hardheaded Scotchman, who was unwilling to part
with his lands without being roundly paid for them. When argument with
him proved fruitless, it is said that General Washington, realizing the
gravity of the situation, rode up several times from Mount Vernon to
discuss the situation with "stubborn Mr. Burns." At length, in despair,
he remarked: "Had not the Federal City been laid out here, you would
have died a poor planter." "Ay, mon," was Burns's ready response, "and
had you no married the widder Custis wi' a' her nagres ye'd ha'e been a
land surveyor the noo', an' a mighty poor ane at that!" It is further
related that Washington finally succeeded in winning Burns over to his
way of thinking, and that the canny Scotchman, realizing how largely he
was to profit by the transaction, actually became generous and gave to
the Commissioners, in fee simple, his apple orchard which is now the
beautiful Lafayette Square.
In passing through Lafayette Square, I have often sat down upon a bench
to rest near the "wishing tree," a dwarf chestnut so well known to
residents of the District, and I have been impressed by the many
superstitious persons, both men and women, who have stopped for a moment
and silently stood under its branches. Many are the credulous believers
in its power to satisfy human desires, and the season when its branches
are full of nuts is regarded by these as a specially propitious time for
their realization. With many persons this tree is the basis of their
only superstition.
I remember the case of a young girl who had been working very hard to
obtain a position in one of the departments but without success and who,
thoroughly discouraged, came to the tree early one morning and made the
wish that to her and her family meant the actual necessities of life.
She then sat down to rest upon a near-by bench before going home, and
while there became engaged in conversation with a pleasing looking
woman, to whom she poured forth her heart as she related her hopes and
disappointments about obtaining a government position. As her listener
was a sympathetic person, she asked the young woman her name and
address, and in a few days the poor girl received a notice to go to a
certain department for examination. It seems that her companion under
the tree was the wife of an influential Senator, who was so touched by
the young woman's efforts, as well as by her childish faith in the
"wishing tree," that she took pleasure in seeing that her great desire
was gratified.
At this time Washington was not far behind other large cities in games
of chance, and gambling was frequently indulged in quite openly. Edward
Pendleton's resort, a luxurious establishment down town, was regarded as
quite _a la mode_, and I have heard it said that he had able assistance
from social ranks. I have often wondered why a man who indulged in this
sport was called a gambler, as the term "gamester," used many years ago,
seems decidedly more appropriate. I own two volumes of a very old book,
published in the eighteenth century, entitled "The Gamesters," in which
the heroes are professional gamblers. I have seen Mrs. Pendleton's
costly equipage, drawn by horses with brilliant trappings and followed
by blooded hounds, coursing the length of Pennsylvania Avenue, while its
owner seemed entirely unconscious of the aching hearts which had
contributed to all her grandeur. Cards were universally played in
private homes and whist was the fashionable game, General Scott being
one of its chief devotees. I have often thought how much the old General
would have enjoyed "bridge," as there was nothing that gave him more
pleasure than playing the "dummy hand."
My old friend, Mrs. Diana Bullitt Kearny, the widow of General "Phil"
Kearny, in our many chats in her latter days, gave me many reminiscences
of Washington at a time when I was not residing there. She described a
fancy-dress ball given by her while residing in the old Porter house on
H Street, which must have been about 1848, as General Kearny had just
returned from the Mexican War. She dwelt particularly upon the costume
of Emma Meredith, one of her guests and the daughter of Jonathan
Meredith of Baltimore, who came to Washington to attend the party. She
represented a rainbow and her appearance was so gorgeous that Mrs.
Kearny said the Heavenly vision seemed almost within the grasp of common
mortals. Miss Meredith's supremacy as a belle has never been eclipsed. I
recall a painful incident connected with her life. A young naval
officer was deeply in love with her and, it is said, was under the
impression that she intended to marry him. At a theater party one
evening he discovered his mistake and, taking the affair to heart,
returned to his quarters and the same evening swallowed a dose of
corrosive sublimate. Physicians were immediately summoned and, although
he regretted the act and expressed a desire to live, they were unable to
save him. It is said that about the same time Miss Meredith left her
home in Baltimore to visit her sister, Mrs. Gardiner G. Howland, whose
husband was one of the merchant princes of New York, and that, as she
crossed the Jersey City Ferry, one of the first objects which met her
eyes was the funeral cortege of her disappointed lover _en route_ to his
final resting place. Subsequent to this tragedy, I met Miss Meredith in
Saratoga, surrounded by the usual admiring throng. She never married. I
heard of her in recent years, at a summer resort near Baltimore, and,
although advanced in years, I understood she still possessed exceptional
powers of attraction. Only a short time ago I heard a young man remark
that he knew her very well and that he would rather converse with her
than with women many years her junior.
Mrs. Kearny was said to be the last of the "Lafayette girls." In 1825,
when Lafayette made his memorable visit to the United States as the
guest of the nation, she was living with her parents in Louisville, and
at the tender age of five strewed flowers in the pathway of the
distinguished Frenchman. She remembered the incident perfectly and in
our numerous conversations I have repeatedly heard her allude to it. She
told me that, seated at General Lafayette's side in the carriage which
conveyed him through the city, was the great-uncle, Colonel Richard C.
Anderson, who led the advance of the American troops at the Battle of
Trenton. General Robert Anderson, U.S.A., whose memory the country
honors as the defender of Fort Sumpter, was his son. The General's
widow, a daughter of General Duncan L. Clinch, U.S.A., resided in
Washington until her death a few years ago. She was a woman of rare
intelligence and, although a great invalid for many years, gathered
around her an appreciative circle of friends, who were always charmed by
her attractive personality.
In my earliest recollection of Washington the old Van Ness house was
still sheltered by many trees. The foliage was so dense that it may have
been the desire of the occupants to shield themselves in this manner
from public view. When I first knew the landmark it was occupied by
Thomas Green, an old-time resident of the District. He married, as his
second wife, Ann Corbin Lomax, a daughter of Major Mann Page Lomax of
the Ordnance Department of the Army. During the Civil War, Mr. Green's
sympathies were with the South, but he took no active part in the
conflict. One of his idiosyncrasies was to pick up, on and around his
spacious grounds, scraps of old iron, such as horse shoes, hay rakes and
the like, which were placed in a corner of his capacious cellar.
Suspicion was centered upon his house by information given to the
government by an old family servant who thought he was doing the country
a service, and directions were accordingly given that it should be
searched. While this order was in process of execution, the discovery of
the scrap-iron is said to have played an important part and in some
unaccountable manner to have aroused further suspicion. Whatever the
logic of the situation may have been is not intelligible, but the fact
remains I that Mr. and Mrs. Green and the latter's sister, Miss Virginia
Lomax, were arrested in a summary manner and taken to the Old Capital
Prison, where for a time they were kept in close confinement, during
which Miss Lomax suffered severe indisposition and, as is said, never
entirely recovered from the effects of her incarceration. About
twenty-five years after the War, while staying at the same house with
her in Warrenton, Virginia, I quite longed to hear her reminiscences of
prison life; but when I expressed my desire to a member of her family, I
was requested not to broach the subject as, even at this late day, it
was painful to her as a topic of conversation.