carried the regal blood of that proud Commonwealth in his veins. He
had the courtly bearing which history attributes to the Randolphs,
but, fearful that he might be a carpetbagger, his name was not
ascertained.
Secretary Boutwell was present, accompanied by his daughter, a good,
sensible-looking New England girl, who bears the same relation to the
picture made of her in _Harper’s Bazaar_ that any small circle does
to a large one. She is her father’s hope and her mother’s joy, but
she is not Secretary of the Treasury.
The Marine Band discoursed some very bad music, considering what is
expected of what ought to be the most perfect musical organization in
the country. The Marine Band has sadly deteriorated of late, and it
would be well for the people in power to make excellence in this, as
well as all other things, a distinction of national favor.
OLIVIA.
OFFICIAL ETIQUETTE.
RULES THEREFOR AS DRAWN BY PRESIDENT WASHINGTON--THE EXISTING CODE.
WASHINGTON, _February 10, 1870_.
Originally the word “etiquette” meant a mark or title affixed to a
bag or bundle denoting its contents, but in the modern acceptation of
the word it is an account of ceremonies. It is a term applied to the
forms which are observed toward particular persons, or in particular
places, especially in courts, levees, and on public occasions.
In the beginning of the nation’s life our beloved forefathers thought
that all these forms which marked the distinction between classes or
individuals should be done away with at the same time with all the
rest of the hollow mockeries which go to make a monarchical form of
government. Notwithstanding President Washington meant to practice
republican simplicity at the headquarters of the nation, “courtly”
ways did creep into daily social intercourse. For instance, at Mrs.
Washington’s receptions in both New York and Philadelphia the “first
lady in the land” received precisely after the manner of Queen
Charlotte’s drawing-room levees. The guests were arranged standing
against the walls, and the President’s wife marched the rounds and
said a kind word to all. When Mrs. Washington paid a morning visit,
a servant or usher was sent in advance, “who rapped smartly with his
knuckles on the door” and announced, “Mrs. Washington is coming.”
During these chaotic, unsettled days our far-seeing Washington
realized that some rules and just regulations must be formed, lest
the dignity of the Republic should be found trailing in the dust.
He saw that it was necessary to establish a rank without violating
the Constitution, which prohibits Congress and the States from
granting any title of nobility. Of so much importance to the country
did he consider this subject that he addressed letters to Messrs.
Adams and Hamilton, asking their attention and advice upon certain
points of etiquette touching the deportment of the President of the
United States. After mature reflection, the three wise men, Messrs.
Washington, Adams, and Hamilton, fixed upon certain rules, which were
afterwards endorsed by Jefferson.
THE RULES.
In order to bring the members of society together in the first
instance, the custom of the country was established that residents
shall pay the first visit to strangers; and among strangers, first
comers to later comers, foreign and domestic, the character of
stranger ceasing after the first visit. To this rule there is a
single exception--foreign ministers, from the necessity of making
themselves known, pay the first visit to the Cabinet ministers of the
nation, which is returned.
When brought together in society all are perfectly equal, whether
foreign or domestic, titled or untitled, in or out of office. All
other observances are but exemplifications of these two principles.
The families of foreign ministers arriving at the seat of Government
receive the first visit from those of the national ministers as well
as from all other residents.
Members of the legislature and the judiciary, independent of their
offices, have a right as strangers to receive the first visit.
No title being admitted here, those of foreigners give no precedence.
Difference of grade among the diplomatic members gives no precedence.
At public ceremonies to which the Government invites the presence of
foreign ministers and their families, a convenient seat or station
will be provided for them, with any other strangers invited, and the
families of the national ministers, each taking place as they arrive,
and without any precedence.
To maintain the principle of equality, or of _pele-mele_, and
prevent the growth of precedence out of courtesy, the members of
the executive will practice at their own houses and recommend an
adherence to the ancient usages of the country--of gentlemen in
mass giving precedence to the ladies in mass, in passing from one
apartment where they are assembled into another.
From time to time these severe republican rules have been discussed
and ameliorated to suit the growing aristocratic taste of the great
modern American Republic.
In later years a set of rules has been adopted which is called the
“Code.” It is said all branches of the Government were appealed to in
order to be suited, and the rules of the code were the result; but
whether President Monroe or some other dignitary of those days was
the author, the writer has no means of ascertaining.
THE CODE.
_The President._--Business calls are received at all times and hours
when the President is unengaged. The morning hours are preferred.
Special days and evenings are assigned each season for calls of
respect,--one morning and evening a week being assigned for this
purpose.
Receptions are held during the winter season, generally once a week,
between 8 and 10 o’clock in the evening, at which time the guests are
expected in full dress, and are presented by the usher.
The President holds public receptions on the first of January and the
Fourth of July, when the diplomatic corps present themselves in court
costume, and the officers of the Army and Navy in full uniform. The
executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Government are
received between the hours of 11 and 12; after which the diplomatic
corps, officers of the Army and Navy, and civilians _en masse_.
The President accepts no invitations to dinner, and makes no calls
or visits of ceremony; but is at liberty to visit without ceremony,
at his pleasure. An invitation to dinner at the President’s must be
accepted in writing, and a previous engagement cannot take precedence.
The address of the Executive in conversation is Mr. President.
_The Vice-President._--A visit from the Vice-President is due to the
President on the meeting of Congress. He is entitled to the first
visit from all others, which he may return by card or in person.
_The Supreme Court._--The judges call upon the President and
Vice-President, annually, upon the opening of the court, and on the
first day of January.
_The Cabinet._--Members of the President’s Cabinet call upon the
President on New Year’s day and the Fourth of July. First calls are
also due from them, by card or in person, to the Vice-President,
judges of the Supreme Court, Senators, and the Speaker of the House
of Representatives, on the meeting of Congress.
_The Senate._--Senators call in person on the President and
Vice-President on the meeting of Congress and the first day of
January; and upon the President on the Fourth of July, if Congress is
in session. They also call in person or by card upon the judges of
the Supreme Court and the Speaker of the House of Representatives on
the meeting of Congress.
_The Speaker of the House of Representatives._--The Speaker calls
upon the President on the meeting of Congress, the first day of
January, and the Fourth of July if Congress is in session. The first
call is also due from him to the Vice-President on the meeting of
Congress.
_The House of Representatives._--Members of the House of
Representatives call in person on the President on the first day of
January, and upon the Speaker of the House on the opening of each
session. They also call, by card or in person, upon the President
on the Fourth of July, if Congress is in session, and upon the
President, Vice-President, judges of the Supreme Court, Cabinet
officers, Senators, Speaker of the House, and foreign ministers, soon
after the opening of each session of Congress.
_Foreign ministers._--The diplomatic corps call upon the President
on the first day of January, and upon the Vice-President, Cabinet
officers, judges of the Supreme Court, Senators, and Speaker
of the House, by card or in person, on the first opportunity
after presenting their credentials to the President. They also
make an annual call of ceremony, by card or in person, upon the
Vice-President, judges of the Supreme Court, Senators, and Speaker of
the House, soon after the meeting of Congress.
_The Court of Claims._--The judges of the Court of Claims call in
person upon the President on the first of January and the Fourth
of July. They also make first visits to the Cabinet officers and
diplomatic corps, and call by card or in person upon the judges of
the Supreme Court, Senators, Speaker, and members of the House, soon
after the meeting of Congress.
_The families of officials._--The rules which govern officials are
also applicable to their families in determining the conduct of
social intercourse.
The above code answers the same purpose to social life in Washington
that the Constitution does to the whole country. So long as those
engaged in the controversy stick to it they are safe. The moment
they leave it they are adrift. At present a severe war is waging
between the Senators and Supreme Judges. We beg the pardon of these
sensible men; we mean their families have armed themselves cap-a-pie,
and a great smoke is ascending from the battlefield. The wives of
the Senators claim that the Senate created the Supreme Judges, and,
to use the words of one of the brightest leading Senators, “Should
the creature outrank its creator?” The Supreme Judge is made by the
Senator, and if he is guilty of misdemeanor, he is tried by the
Senate, and if found guilty, is deposed from his high office by the
same. But once let a man get to be a Supreme Judge, and he stands as
firm on the pinnacle to which he has been raised as the rock of ages
on the bed of eternity.
Then it is claimed that all those who stand in the direct line
of succession to the President outrank all the others. Our wise
forefathers meant that our Government should never fall to pieces
for the want of a “head.” So, if our military chieftain should go
off like one of his own cannons, we should still have our precious
Schuyler. If Vice-President Colfax should be snatched away from
the evil to come, we should have to comfort ourselves with Speaker
Blaine. Alas! alas! if he should fall like the smart rap of his own
gavel, Chief Justice Chase would be left on our hands, and death
could get no farther.
The “Code” says--and, by the way, it is just as good as the
Constitution--that the Cabinet shall make first calls on the
Vice-President, Supreme Judges, Senators, and Speaker of the House,
but General Grant has taken these favored darlings to his bosom and
allows them to do just as they please. He says: “The Cabinet is a
part of my family; I want them looked upon as such.” So when the
Supreme Judges, with Chief Justice Chase at their head, went to pay
their respects to the President, on last New Year’s day, they found
the President surrounded by his Cabinet, and these haughty men were
obliged to bow the knee. Now, there is nothing in nature so free from
the elastic qualities as the spine of a judge of the Supreme Court of
the United States. As soon as time would allow, Chief Justice Chase
addressed a letter to the Chief Magistrate, protesting against such
unheard of and altogether unusual proceedings; but Ulysses smoked his
cigar whilst he dictated one of those masterly papers of diplomacy,
and the military secretary saw that it was safely delivered, and
nothing more has been heard of it from that day to this.
The “Code” also says that the President accepts no invitation
to dinner. This has heretofore been the custom, not because the
President was a man, but because the man was a President, and,
therefore, it was necessary to give no citizen cause for complaint,
for if the President dines with one neighbor, why not with another?
Besides, there are millions who would be glad to share their crust
with this man. Ulysses S. Grant proves to the world that he is not
above being a man because he has been elected President, and that
he has no objection to going out to dinner, provided the viands be
substantial and all the beverages pure. But let it be understood,
the President does not scatter the bright light of his countenance
indiscriminately, for only certain aristocratic dwellings are honored
at dinner time by the presence of power.
Two receptions are held at the White House weekly,--one in the
daytime, the other in the evening. The first is held on Tuesday, and
is called in the newspapers “Mrs. Grant’s reception.” It is held on
one of the Cabinet days, and, after the Cabinet consultation is over,
the President descends to the Blue Room and aids Mrs. Grant in her
arduous undertaking. Heretofore every President’s wife has received
by herself, unless some guest happened to be stopping temporarily
at the mansion. Mrs. Grant, however, has inaugurated a new order of
things. Several women, usually the wives of some of the members of
the Cabinet or of the Senators, are invited to the White House to
lunch, and afterwards are detained to help do the pleasing work.
Imagine a room of blue and gold, satin and ebony, where art, to carry
out everything, has not only drawn inspiration from the “Arabian
Nights’ Entertainment,” but at the same time has exhausted itself.
Then picture our simple American dames, in costume that vies with
Victoria’s and Eugenie’s on drawing-room days, each in her appointed
place, at the right or the left of the “first lady in the land,” we
trow no finer picture of a queen, surrounded by her “maids of honor,”
can be found in any monarchy on the face of the globe. These dainty
receptions are advertised in the _Chronicle_ to begin at 2 o’clock p.
m., but alas! alas! it has happened to our positive knowledge that
whilst these dames were lingering over the Presidential lunch table 2
o’clock has come and gone, and in the meantime exasperated American
women have doubled their pretty little gloved fist in the East Room,
and some have whisked out of the mansion without stopping to pay
their respects to the “first lady of the land.” In the name of the
masses of the people we ask, can our officials of to-day afford to
depart from that simple republican platform of etiquette laid down by
the immortal Washington? Can our public men, temporarily in power,
safely divorce themselves from that later code laid down by general
fitness and substantial common sense?
Whither are we drifting, in a social, republican point of view,
when a Senator’s wife tosses her head and says: “Would you think it
possible that the wife of a member has had the impertinence to ask
me to come and spend an evening socially with her?” To a spectator,
looking on this small society side-show, it seems all the more
ridiculous, as the Senator-husband is so small that he is scarcely
ever heard of either in the country or the Senate, whilst the member
in dispute has a fame like the flag of our country.
To a neat little volume, called “Philip’s Washington Described,”
we are indebted for a copy of the “Rules” as laid down by General
Washington, as well as the “Code,” which was meant to be a new
edition of the “Rules,” revised and corrected.
OLIVIA.
GENERAL PHIL SHERIDAN.
THE HANDSOME WARRIOR GRACES THE SPEAKER’S RECEPTION.
WASHINGTON, _February 14, 1870_.
Never since the inauguration of our Republic has social life in
Washington assumed such brilliant hues as during the present winter.
With the departure of the Democratic dynasty, and the disappearance
of the Southern queens of society, it has been thought that the
sunshine of the “Republican court” would go out forever. But the
extravagant magnificence of to-day eclipses all former years; and if
Mrs. Slidell or Mrs. Crittenden should revisit the haunts of their
former triumphs they would find the social kingdom in stronger hands
than their own. If the Southern woman ruled as queen, the haughty
Northerner sways the sceptre of an empress. The Southern queen
pointed to her slaves; the empress of to-day wears a coronet of
diamonds, and only death can set her bondmen free.
Reception, ball, dinner, sociable--which shall be described first?
The Prince’s ball darted across the social sky like a meteor. It has
come and gone, and Washington’s fashionable women still survive. The
New York _Tribune_ says that one young lady refused to dance with the
Prince because she invariably declined all round-dances. Then she
refused to be his partner in a quadrille, because it would keep dear
papa and mama later than they had decided to stay. All this sounds
very nice in the newspapers, only it is a pretty fib and counterfeit
and should never pass for the genuine.
The President’s levee and the Speaker’s reception bear a strong
resemblance to each other. Everybody is admitted to Speaker Blaine’s
the same as the Executive Mansion. All the great men are there except
the President, and all the pretty girls, in their best clothes,
are cast up on this fashionable beach by the social waves of the
people. If there is one sight in this wicked world, more pitiful than
another, it is to see a poor widow’s daughter, or an innocent young
Treasury employee in her simple robes of muslin, apparently raised
for a brief time to the social platform of wealth and power. In no
place on the face of the globe can the two opposite social elements
come together as at a President’s levee or a Speaker’s reception.
Wealth is pitted against poverty; strength against weakness, and the
result sometimes is brought forth in a fruit more deceitful, bitter,
and dusty than the apples of the Dead Sea.
It is the night of the Speaker’s social reunion. Carriages draw up
before the handsome imitation brownstone residence. These vehicles
deposit the precious perfumed darlings--the aristocracy--the cream
of society. Gay cavaliers dance attendance on these flounced,
frizzled, bejeweled butterflies. These cavaliers generally wear
hats and overcoats which look as if they had been borrowed from the
old-clothes man, or purchased at a bargain at the second-hand store
hard by; but as no better place on the earth can be found for losing
one’s outside wrappings than these levees and receptions, the men
show their good sense by going prepared. The cars are freighted to
overflowing. The ambitious young mechanic takes his young sweetheart
on his arm and pays his respects to the Speaker. The suite of parlors
at the brown mansion are on the first floor, and through the broad
open doors, all newcomers can be inspected as they march to an upper
story to be divested of wrappings, and it is quite as unsafe to judge
what is beneath the ugly waterproofs as to guess what is under the
caterpillar’s skin. Mirrors are provided in the dressing-room, where
jaded maid and faded matrons can assist nature to carry out her
most pressing needs. Boxes of pearl powder, brushes, combs, pins,
dressing-maid are convenient, and if the last finishing touch of
the toilet is omitted, the lady of the mansion is not to blame. It
must be mentioned, however, that it is only the silk that powders in
public; muslin and merino are the spectators in the scene.
“Belle, don’t you think one of my eyebrows is a little blacker than
the other?”
“Yes; I think they both need touching up.”
“Too late now! Why didn’t you tell me before we left home? There,
take up my handkerchief and rub it off.”
Pretty little white-gloved hand goes through with the daintiest
manipulations, and the two eyebrows come out like Bonner’s fast
team. Out of the dressing-room, down the tufted stairs that smother
footsteps. There is something frightful about a human habitation
where no footfall is ever heard. The eye is a glorious organ, but
the ear is the better friend. You enter the first parlor, which is
the beginning of the three _en suite_. It is elegantly furnished in
exquisite taste. One of Bierstadt’s Rocky Mountain pictures has a
conspicuous place on the wall. A Beatrice Cenci, in its voluptuous
beauty, suspended in another place, takes you back to old sensual
Rome, whilst a miniature world swings on its axis in a friendly
corner in a second room, with plenty of books to keep it company.
Near the hall door of the first parlor stands the Speaker of the
House of Representatives, and by his side may be seen his wife. If
it is right to judge by personal appearance, they seem excellently
matched. Speaker Blaine is a handsome man in every sense of the
word. There is just about the right amount of material used in his
construction, and, as a general thing, it has been put in the proper
place. He has a large kindly eye that would not do to look into
for any great length of time, for the same reason that gazing into
the sea is apt to make one sick. All his other features have been
arranged artistically to match his Oriental eyes, and his form is
as straight and symmetrical as a Maine pine tree. He shakes hands
with his numerous countrymen with a vigor, and if he did hold on an
instant longer than it was necessary to the little kid-gloved digits
of the New York _World’s_ correspondent, it only proved that he was
mortal like poor Adam, and that he was willing to touch any amount of
evil for a woman’s sake.
Mrs. Blaine stood beside her husband with something brighter and
better than mere physical beauty in her face. Few if any women at
the capital have a stronger countenance, and yet it is sweet and
womanly. Everything about her is toned down to softest neutral tints.
If she calls forth no thrill of admiration, she awakens no spirit
of criticism. There are some colors in nature that are particularly
grateful to the eye. There are some women in the same sense that are
particularly grateful to all the senses. Their presence breathes
repose. When you get near them your mind takes off its armor, draws
in its pickets, and prepares to go into winter quarters. Mrs.
Blaine’s superb taste may be seen in her elegant, well appointed
home, in the world-renowned behavior of her husband, and just as he
fills his most honored position, with dignified grace, she fills
another still higher--that of the American matron at home.
Most noticeable of all the distinguished men who hover around
the Speaker is General Phil Sheridan. In an instant you perceive
that he is carved out of material from which Presidents ought to
be made. Judging from memory, he seems no taller than the late
Stephen A. Douglas, and in the same sense that Mr. Douglas was
called the “Little Giant,” General Sheridan impresses you with the
awful attribute of power. He has uncommonly broad shoulders for his
height, and an eye like the American eagle’s. As if to carry out this
picture, the country knows that he is a solitary bird, without even
a mate to share his lone eyrie in wicked Chicago, and if matters do
not mend in this direction it would be well for the people to take
this most interesting situation into their own hands, and at the same
time put a man in his place who will not retreat in the face of the
feminine foe.
A tropical exotic is seen in a distant corner. It is young Lopez, the
son of the Dictator of Paraguay. “Shirley Dare,” a woman of taste,
says, he is “handsome.” To our eyes he is distinguished looking,
nothing more. That peculiar flame born of mixed blood burns under
his swarthy skin; it flushes his cheek, reddens his lips, and shines
in his eyes with the cold glitter of black diamonds. You picture him
swinging in his hammock under South American skies, and yet it is
well to remember that he has not been in his native country for eight
years, and the probability is, if he should return, his father would
see in him a formidable rival, and in that case he would share the
fate of all his illustrious relatives.