As I Remember
General Alexander Macomb. Their mother lived to see the fourth
generation of her descendants, many of whom still reside in the
District.
When I returned to Washington, I found the old Decatur house facing
Lafayette Square owned and occupied by General and Mrs. Edward F. Beale,
who had recently returned from a long residence in California. Mr.
Gouverneur had known the General--"Ned" Beale, as he was usually
called--in other days and I soon derived much pleasure from Mrs. Beale's
acquaintance. She was a woman of the most aristocratic bearing and was
especially qualified to meet the exacting requirements of the most
exclusive society. The household was rendered additionally brilliant by
her two daughters, both of whom were then unmarried. The sparkling
vivacity of the elder, Miss Mary Beale, who subsequently became Madame
Bakhmeteff of Russia, is easily recalled; while her sister, now Mrs.
John R. McLean, is so well known in Washington and elsewhere as to
render quite superfluous any attempt to describe her many charming
qualities. Their home was a social rendezvous, and I especially recall
an entertainment I attended there when I met many social celebrities.
General Beale had collected numerous relics of early California which
seemed peculiarly adapted to the historic mansion, and these objects of
interest, together with the highly polished floors, the many and
brilliant lights and the large assemblage of society folk in their "best
bibs and tuckers," presented a scene which is not readily effaced from
one's memory. Among others I met that evening were General Ambrose E.
Burnside, whom I had known as a cadet at West Point, and my old friend,
Captain (afterwards General) Richard Tyldin Auchmuty of New York, who
since I had last seen him had passed through the Civil War. This
reception was given in honor of the then young but gifted tragedian,
John E. McCullough, with whom the Beale family had formed a friendship
in the far west.
FOOTNOTES:
[3] My youngest daughter, Rose de Chine Gouverneur, and Chaplain Roswell
Randall Hoes, U.S.N., were married in Washington on the 5th of December,
1888.
CHAPTER XV
TO THE PRESENT DAY
Shortly after our return to Washington we received an invitation to a
party at the house of Mr. and Mrs. William A. Richardson, the former
Secretary of the Treasury in Grant's cabinet. In my busy life I have
never seemed inclined to devote much time to the shifts and vagaries of
fashionable attire. Although as a woman I cannot say that I have been
wholly averse to array myself in attractive garments, they were always
matters of secondary consideration with me and have yet to cause me a
sleepless night. My indifference now confronted me, however, with the
query as to what I should wear upon this particular occasion, and I was
compelled, as merchants say, "to take account of stock," especially as
my invitation reached me at too late a day to have a new gown made.
Although while living in Frederick I did pretty much as I pleased in
regard to dress, I realized that in Washington, willing or unwilling, I
might be compelled to do, to a certain extent, what other people
pleased; but such demands have their reasonable limits, and I therefore
determined to ignore the dictates of fashionable sentiment and practice
a little originality on my own account. I accordingly decided to wear a
handsome and elaborate dress of a fashion of at least a generation
before--a light, blue silk with its many flounces embroidered in straw
in imitation of sheaves of wheat. In former years I had worn with this
gown black velvet gloves which were laced at the side--a Parisian fancy
of the day, a pattern of which had been sent me by Mrs. Schuyler
Hamilton. These also I concluded to wear with the antiquated dress; and
thus arrayed I attended the party and had a thoroughly good time,
supposing, as a matter of course, that the incident was closed. The _New
York Graphic_, however, seemed to think otherwise and dragged me into
its columns in an article which was subsequently copied into other
papers. Although at first I felt somewhat chagrined, upon further
consideration I was inclined to be pleased, at least with that part of
the narrative that made a passing allusion to my attire. This is what
the _Graphic_ said:--
Among the ladies frequently seen in society this winter is
Mrs. Marian Campbell Gouverneur, daughter of the late James
Campbell of New York and the wife of Samuel L. Gouverneur,
the only surviving grandson of ex-President James Monroe.
Mrs. Gouverneur is an elegant lady of pleasing manners,
sparkling vivacity and possesses a fund of humor and a mind
stored with a variety of charming information. She has
traveled a great deal and seen much of the fashionable
world. Mr. Gouverneur's mother was married in the White
House and--think of it!--on a Spread Eagle--that is to say,
on the carpet of which that very elastic bird made the
central figure. Suppose Miss Nellie Grant, of whose
engagement rumor outside of Washington talks so loud and
this city appears to know nothing, should take it into her
head to be married on a Spread Eagle, would not the other
Eagle, the public, stretch its wings and utter a prolonged
shriek? Now I ask you candidly, have we retrograded in
matters of taste or become less loyal to the true spirit of
our Republican institutions? Mrs. Gouverneur has the most
wonderful collection of American and Asiatic antiques. She
favors antique styles, even in matters of the toilet, and at
a party last week had her dress looped with the ornaments
which formed part of Mr. Monroe's court dress when Minister
to France. She also wore black velvet mittens of that date.
While my sister, Mrs. Eames, was residing in Paris with her son and
daughter, her home on the corner of H and Fourteenth Streets was
occupied by Ward Hunt and his wife of Utica. Judge Hunt had recently
been appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court, and I immediately renewed
my associations of former days with his family. Next door to the Hunts
lived Mr. and Mrs. Titian J. Coffey, the former of whom had accompanied
ex-Governor Andrew G. Curtin of Pennsylvania upon his mission to Russia;
and the adjoining residence, the old "Hill house," was the home of Mr.
and Mrs. James C. Kennedy, the latter of whom was Miss Julia Rathbone of
Albany. Their hospitality was lavish until the death of Mr. Kennedy,
when his widow returned to Albany where a few years later she married
Bishop Thomas Alfred Starkey of New Jersey. Mrs. Robert Shaw Oliver,
wife of the present efficient Assistant Secretary of War, is her niece.
After Mrs. Kennedy left Washington, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Elkin Neil of
Columbus, Ohio, with their daughter, Mrs. William Wilberforce Williams,
lived in the "Hill house." They were people of large means and
entertained on an extensive scale. Mrs. Neil belonged to the Sullivant
family of Ohio whose women were remarkable for their beauty. The wife of
William Dennison, one of the District Commissioners, was Mr. Neil's
sister and her daughter, Miss Jenny Dennison, was one of the belles of
the Hayes administration. There were so many representatives of the
"Buckeye State" at that time in Washington that someone facetiously
spoke of the city as the "United States of Ohio." Mr. and Mrs. Matthew
W. Galt, parents of Mrs. Reginald Fendall, lived in the next house in
the H Street block, while adjoining them resided Colonel and Mrs. James
G. Berret. I knew Colonel Berret very well. Nature had been very lavish
in her gifts to him, as he was the fortunate possessor of intelligence,
sagacity and fine personal appearance. It was his frequent boast,
however, that through force of circumstances he had received but "three
months' schooling," but he took advantage of his subsequent
opportunities and became an efficient mayor and postmaster of the City
of Washington, while a prince might well have envied him his dignified
and imposing address. He sold his attractive home to Justice William
Strong of the U.S. Supreme Court, who with his family resided in it for
many years and then moved into a house on I Street, near Fifteenth
Street, which in late years has been remodeled and is now the spacious
residence of Mr. Charles Henry Butler.
Directly across the street and in the middle of the block, between
Fourteenth and Fifteenth Streets, lived Colonel and Mrs. John F. Lee.
This is a house which I link with many pleasing associations. Mrs. Lee,
whom I knew as Ellen Ann Hill, was a member of one of Washington's
oldest families and with her husband had a country home in Prince George
County in Maryland. She was a deeply religious woman and one of the
saints upon earth. She gave me _carte blanche_ to drop in for an
informal supper on Sunday evenings--a privilege of which I occasionally
availed myself. Colonel Lee was a Virginian by birth and a graduate of
West Point, but at the beginning of the Civil War resigned his
commission. His brother, Samuel Phillips Lee, however, who was then a
Commander in the Navy, remained in the service and eventually became a
Rear Admiral. Although differing so widely in their political views, the
two brothers were respected and beloved by their associates, and never
allowed their opinions upon matters of state to interfere with their
fraternal affection. The only daughter of Colonel Lee, Mrs. Henry
Harrison, usually spends her winters in Washington.
Next door to the Lees on the east lived Senator and Mrs. Zachariah
Chandler, the parents of Mrs. Eugene Hale; while still further down the
street was the residence of Doctor William P. Johnston, a favorite
physician of long standing and father of Mr. James M. Johnston and Miss
Mary B. Johnston, the latter of whom is President of the Society of Old
Washingtonians of which I enjoy the honor of being a member. It is at
her home on Rhode Island Avenue that the privileged few who are members
of this exclusive organization meet once each month to listen to papers
read on topics relating to earlier Washington and to discuss persons and
events connected with its history. The insignia of the society is an
orange ribbon bearing the words inscribed in black: "Should auld
acquaintance be forgot?" A prominent member of this organization is Mrs.
Anna Harris Eastman, widow of Commander Thomas Henderson Eastman,
U.S.N., and daughter of the beloved physician, the late Medical Director
Charles Duval Maxwell, U.S.N.
In the opinion of many old Washingtonians no history of the District of
Columbia would be complete without some mention of The Highlands, the
home of the Nourse family. In years gone by I remember that this
ivy-covered stone house was deemed inaccessible, as it was reached only
by private conveyance or stage coach. The first time I crossed its
threshold I could have readily imagined myself living in the colonial
period, as the furniture was entirely of that time. When I first knew
Mrs. Nourse, who was Miss Rebecca Morris of Philadelphia, the widow of
Charles Josephus Nourse, she was advanced in life, but notwithstanding
the infirmities of age, she had just acquired the art of china painting,
and was filling orders the proceeds of which she gave in aid of St.
Alban's which was then a country parish. I frequently passed a day at
this ancestral home, and I especially recall seeing a wonderful
Elizabethan clock in the hallway which I am told is still, in defiance
of time, striking the hours in the home of a descendant. Near The
Highlands is Rosedale, occupied for many years by the descendants of
General Uriah Forrest, who built it subsequent to 1782. He was the
intimate friend of General Washington, and its present occupant, Mrs.