situated on Pennsylvania Avenue, one mile west of the Capitol building.
It contains two lofty stories above ground and a basement.
[Illustration:
MRS. WILLIAM H. TAFT
(Copyright, 1908, by Harris & Ewing,
Washington. D. C.)
]
It was modeled after the palace of the Duke of Leicester by the
architect, James Hobon. The foundation was laid October 13, 1792, and
the building was first occupied by President John Adams in the summer of
1800. It was partially burned by the British in 1814. The front is
ornamented by Ionic columns and a projecting screen with three columns.
The space between these two sets of columns constitutes a carriage-way,
admitting to the main entrance.
The White House proper contains but thirty-one rooms. The building was
refitted and the wings for approach and for the private offices of the
President were built during the administration of President Roosevelt.
Whether seen through the tracery of leafless trees or through the
verdure of summer, the White House always looks cool, restful, and
beautiful. The situation is not regarded as very healthful, but
everything that modern science can do is now being employed to improve
its sanitary condition.
All official duties will in time be attended to in the offices which are
situated just west of the White House, so that the latter will be used
only as the private residence of the President's family.
Longfellow says:
All houses wherein men have lived and died
Are haunted houses.
How true this must be of the home of our Presidents! George Washington
watched its building, and with his stately wife walked through it when
it was finished, and was satisfied. They were about ready to leave the
scene of action, but they did much to prepare the stage for the
procession of Presidents which has followed.
For the last fifty years much complaint has been made that the house has
not been large enough and that it was lacking in modern conveniences,
but in spite of these objections no trouble has yet been experienced in
finding men who were quite willing and even anxious to occupy it.
The walls are covered with portraits of the Presidents and their wives.
All these portraits are interesting.
Mrs. John Adams bewailed the unfinished condition of the house, and used
the now famous East Room for drying the family linen.
Of all the noble matrons who have graced the White House, Abigail Adams
was the wisest and greatest. Her letters make her the Madam de Sévigné
of our land. Her letter (written February, 1797) to her husband, who had
just succeeded Washington, sounds like the voice of an oracle. We quote
a portion: "You have this day to declare yourself head of a nation. 'And
now, O Lord, my God, thou hast made Thy servant ruler over the people;
give unto him an understanding heart, that he may know how to go out and
come in before this great people; that he may discern between good and
bad. For who is able to judge this Thy so great a people?' were the
words of a royal sovereign, and not less applicable to him who is
invested with the Chief Magistracy of a nation, tho he wear not a crown
nor the robes of royalty. My thoughts and my meditations are with you,
tho personally absent, and my petitions to heaven are that 'the things
which make for peace may not be hidden from your eyes.' My feelings are
not those of pride or ostentation upon this occasion. They are
solemnized by a sense of the obligations, the important trusts, and
numerous duties connected with it. That you may be enabled to discharge
them with honor to yourself, with justice and impartiality to your
country, and with satisfaction to this great people, shall be the daily
prayer of yours—"
The first New-year's reception at the White House was held by President
Adams in 1801. Mrs. Adams kept up the stately, ceremonious customs
established by President and Mrs. Washington. It was her son, John
Quincy Adams, as Monroe's Secretary of State, who was afterward to write
out a definite code for almost every public ceremony. This code is
largely in force at the present time.
Martha Washington comes into history simply as the wife of a great man,
but Abigail Adams was inherently a superior woman. Of all the women who
occupied the White House she, only, gave the country a son who became a
great man, and occupied the highest position in the gift of his country.
After John Adams came Thomas Jefferson, who had imbibed ultra-democratic
ideas in the French Revolution. The ceremonies which prevailed in the
Washington and Adams period were temporarily laid aside by this plain
Virginia gentleman. He received the formal dames of the land in his
riding-suit, covered with dust, riding-whip in hand, and with clanking
spurs on his heels. His lovely daughter, Martha Jefferson Randolph, did
her best to give the great house the air of a pleasant home. She
succeeded well, and Jefferson's accomplished daughter smoothed many of
the asperities existing among public men who had lived through the
Revolution and suffered from the jealousies, misunderstandings, and
injustices of the times.
Mrs. Dolly Madison was probably the greatest social genius that has ever
occupied the White House. The papers of that day declare "Mrs. Madison
is the most popular person in the United States."
Washington social life yet abounds in pleasing legends of her graceful,
courteous kindness, not only to the gentlemen and ladies of the
legations, but to the ignorant and socially unskilled who were among her
worshipers. James Fenimore Cooper, in a private letter, gives a picture
of the White House in the days of James Monroe:
"The evening at the White House, or drawing-room, as it is sometimes
pleasantly called, is, in fact, a collection of all classes of people
who choose to go to the trouble and expense of appearing in dresses
suited to an evening party. I am not sure that even dress is very much
regarded, for I certainly saw a good many there in boots.... Squeezing
through a crowd, we achieved a passage to a part of the room where Mrs.
Monroe was standing, surrounded by a bevy of female friends. After
making our bow here, we sought the President. The latter had posted
himself at the top of the room, where he remained most of the evening
shaking hands with all who approached. Near him stood the Secretaries
and a great number of the most distinguished men of the nation. Beside
these, one meets here a great variety of people in other conditions of
life. I have known a cartman to leave his cart in the street and go into
the reception-room to shake hands with the President. He offended the
good taste of all present, because it was not thought decent that a
laborer should come in a dirty dress on such an occasion; but while he
made a mistake in this particular, he proved how well he understood the
difference between government and society."
The Monroes came to the White House after it had been restored after the
burning in 1814. It was barely furnished at that time, and contained but
few conveniences for entertaining. Mrs. Monroe brought furniture
directly from Paris, which she used for the East Room. This has been
frequently upholstered, and constitutes part of the handsome furniture
at the present time.
John Quincy Adams, the fifth President of the United States, was one of
the greatest men this country has yet produced. Repellant manners
injured his usefulness and obscured the luster of his great name. It is
said he could grant a request and thereby lose a friend, while Clay
could say "No" so kindly as to win a friend.
The life of Louisa Catherine Adams, wife of John Quincy Adams, is one of
surprising interest. She was the daughter of Joshua Johnson, of
Maryland, was educated and married in London, accompanied her husband to
the many different courts to which he was minister, and brought to the
White House a larger social experience than any of her predecessors.
She reestablished the stately ceremonials of the Washington period,
which greatly resembled the customs of the English Court. Among the
great men who frequented her levees were Webster, Clay, Calhoun, and
Andrew Jackson (the latter always in buff pants and vest with blue
broadcloth coat and gilt buttons).
Then came strenuous Andrew Jackson as President, with only the memory of
his beloved Rachel, who had passed away before he became Chief
Magistrate. She had been buried in the beautiful dress prepared for her
husband's inauguration. A private letter yet extant gives this picture
of the days when Emily Donelson (wife of the President's nephew) was the
chief lady of the land:
"The large parlor was scantily furnished; there was light from the
chandelier, and a blazing fire in the grate; four or five ladies sewing
around it; Mrs. Donelson, Mrs. Andrew Jackson, Jr., Mrs. Edward
Livingston, and others. Five or six children were playing about,
regardless of documents or work-baskets. At the farther end of the room
sat the President in an arm-chair, wearing a loose coat, and smoking a
long reed pipe, with bowl of red clay—combining the dignity of the
patriarch, monarch, and Indian chief. Just behind him was Edward
Livingstone, the Secretary of State, reading a despatch from the French
Minister for Foreign Affairs. The ladies glance admiringly now and then
at the President, who listens, waving his pipe toward the children when
they become too boisterous."
Jefferson, Jackson, Van Buren, Tyler, and Arthur were widowers when they
entered the White House.
Van Buren was the Talleyrand of American politics. Secretary of State
under Jackson, he had won the heart of his chief, whose influence
secured him the Presidency. His son's wife, Angelica Singleton Van
Buren, gracefully conducted the ceremonies of the White House during the
Van Buren administration.
General William Henry Harrison became President in 1841. His wife never
came to Washington. He died one month after his inauguration. It was
declared that he was worried to death by the fierce office-seekers of
the time. His was the first funeral from the White House.
John Tyler, who succeeded Harrison, was a polished, cultured gentleman
from Virginia. His was the literary period, when Washington Irving,
Edward Everett, and John Howard Payne received foreign appointments.
His first wife, Letitia Christian Tyler, made her first public
appearance at the White House at the marriage of her daughter. She died
in 1842. Eight months before Tyler's term expired he was married to Miss
Julia Gardner, of New York. The festivities of the time began with her
wedding reception, and lasted till the end of that administration.
James K. Polk, of Tennessee, became President in 1845. He was rather
small physically, and so spare or thin that the tailor had to make his
clothing too large to help out his appearance.
Mrs. Polk much resembled in manners Martha Washington. She dressed well
and gave frequent levees, as receptions were then called. She received
her guests sitting, with the President standing by her chair. A
gentleman once said to her, "Madam, there is a wo pronounced against you
in the Scriptures: 'Wo unto you when all men shall speak well of you.'"
In 1849 Gen. Zachariah Taylor was inaugurated as the twelfth President
of the United States. He lived sixteen months and five days after he
became President. His wife, Margaret Taylor, was an invalid, but his
daughter, "Miss Betty" as she was familiarly called, made the White
House attractive.
Millard Fillmore, of New York, elected Vice-President, became President
July 10, 1852. He was an eminent lawyer from Buffalo. His manners were
marked with great simplicity and affability. Mrs. Abigail Fillmore was
one of the few literary women who have presided in the White House. She
drew to her side the literary men and women of the nation, and her
receptions resembled the French _salons_ in their literary tone.
Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, became President in 1853. He was a
shy, modest man, who could not cope with the strong men of the South,
who were even then preparing for secession. He was six feet high. His
coal-black hair and eyes gave him a most striking appearance. His wife,
Mrs. Jane Appleton Pierce, was not a strong woman physically, but
managed to discharge the duties of the White House with great dignity.
James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, became the fifteenth President of the
United States in 1857. The throes of the Civil War began in his
administration. He was a politician, not a statesman, and tried to suit
both sides, but ended by suiting neither. But the duties of the White
House were never more elegantly administered than while Miss Harriet
Lane, the niece of President Buchanan, presided. There are white-haired
diplomats living to-day who compare everything now done in the White
House with Miss Lane's graceful administration. She had been much with
her uncle when he was minister at foreign courts, and they both had many
friends among the scholarly men of the legations, so that the White
House became the rendezvous of that class more than at any other period.
She received the Prince of Wales and his suite most gracefully, omitting
nothing which would add to the dignity of the occasion.
Jefferson Davis said: "The White House under the administration of
Buchanan approached more nearer to my idea of a Republican Court than
the President's house had ever done since the days of Washington."
Abraham Lincoln, "the noblest Roman of them all," became President March
8, 1861. He is the greatest American that has yet lived. Washington was
the result of English influences, but Lincoln is the highest
representative of republican influences that has yet governed this
nation. A giant in stature, being six feet and four inches in height,
his grand physique was but a type of the great heart and strong
intellect of a great man. He was called to preside over this nation at
the most critical time in its history.
Mrs. Mary Todd Lincoln found it difficult to keep up the ceremonious
customs of the White House with a husband who followed no
conventionalities, but believed the Executive Mansion should be opened
at all times to every citizen. Mrs. Lincoln devoted much time to the
soldiers in the hospitals, and the White House conservatory was kept
stripped of flowers for the benefit of the wounded and sick.
Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, came to the Presidency on the death of Mr.
Lincoln in 1865. He was not wise in his judgments, and had he been more
amenable to men of experience in governmental affairs his life in
Washington would have been much easier. Time is revealing more and more
that his troubles were in a great degree the result of the jealousies
and disappointments of politicians. The sufferings of the people of the
White House during the days of President Johnson's trials can never be
estimated.
Martha Patterson, widow of Senator Patterson, of Tennessee, and daughter
of the President, administered the social duties of the Executive
Mansion during Johnson's administration, Mrs. Johnson being an invalid.
Mrs. Patterson said: "We are plain people from the mountains of
Tennessee, called here for a short time by a national calamity. I trust
too much will not be expected of us." But sad as her heart must have
been in those days, she filled the duties of her high place to the
satisfaction of even the exacting great dames of the period. Andrew
Johnson's lovely family are yet fondly remembered and deeply loved by
many who enjoyed the friendship of "the plain people from Tennessee."
General U. S. Grant, of Illinois, became President in 1869, and his
administration was one long carnival of social duties and enjoyments.
Mrs. Julia Dent Grant and her accomplished daughter, Nellie, led the
society of the Capitol through eight brilliant years. The White House
was entirely refurnished, and the festivities were on a scale of
magnificence never equaled there before or since.
In 1877 Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, became President. He came in at a
difficult and dangerous time, but his administration brought peace and
tranquility to the nation.
Mrs. Lucy Webb Hayes was noted for her plain dressing and strict
temperance principles, which she enforced even in the White House, much
to the disgust of the legations and to the delight of the Christian
people of the country.
[Illustration:
Copyright, 1909, by Harris & Ewing, Washington
THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET
From left to right around the table—President Taft, Franklin MacVeagh,
George W. Wickersham, George Von L. Meyer,
James Wilson, Charles Nagel, Richard A. Ballinger, Frank H. Hitchcock,
Jacob M. Dickinson, Philander C. Knox.
]
[Illustration:
Photo by Clinedinst
ENTRANCE TO THE WHITE HOUSE
]
[Illustration:
Photo by Clinedinst
NEW WING OF THE WHITE HOUSE
]
[Illustration:
Photo by Clinedinst
SOUTH FRONT OF THE WHITE HOUSE
]
[Illustration:
Photo by Clinedinst
NORTH FRONT OF THE WHITE HOUSE
]
[Illustration:
Copyright by Clinedinst, 1903
GRAND CORRIDOR—WHITE HOUSE
]
[Illustration:
Copyright by Clinedinst, 1903
STATE DINING-ROOM—WHITE HOUSE
]
[Illustration:
Photo by Clinedinst
MOUNT VERNON—FROM SOUTH LAWN
]
[Illustration:
Photo by Clinedinst
TOMB OF WASHINGTON—MOUNT VERNON
]
[Illustration:
Photo by Clinedinst
HOME OF GENERAL LEE
]
[Illustration:
Photo by Clinedinst
MONUMENT TO THE UNKNOWN DEAD, ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
]
[Illustration:
Photo by Clinedinst
THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT
]
James A. Garfield, of Ohio, became President in 1881. His life in the
White House from March to September, 1881, scarcely gave time to show
what the social life in Washington would have been had he lived to
complete his term. His assassination cast a gloom over the social life
for a full year after Chester A. Arthur became the Executive. He served
to the end of the term, in 1885. President Arthur being a widower, the
hostess of the White House during his term was his accomplished sister,
Mrs. Mary Arthur McElroy.
Grover Cleveland, of New York, became President in 1885. The Republican
party had been in power for twenty-five years, and when Mr. Cleveland
was elected the change of officers was as great as in the days of Andrew
Jackson. Cleveland was a man of the highest integrity and the most
unfaltering courage, so that the change proved beneficial to the entire
land.
Miss Rose Elizabeth Cleveland, sister of the President, presided at the
White House until his marriage, June 2, 1886, to Miss Frances Folsom,
who became, next to Dolly Madison, the most popular woman who ever
entertained in the historic old house.
In March, 1889, Benjamin Harrison became Chief Magistrate. The first
Mrs. Harrison was a woman experienced in Washington society, and was
much loved by a very large circle.
In 1893 Grover Cleveland again became President, and in 1897 William
McKinley, probably the best-loved man by the people of any President
since the days of Mr. Lincoln.
Mrs. McKinley, altho an invalid, with the assistance of her nieces, kept
up the reputation and social festivities of the White House.
Theodore Roosevelt became President September, 1901, and closed a
brilliant and successful administration March 4, 1909. His
administration will be remembered in history as a strenuous fight
against wrong-doing in high places. He will be honored for having
secured to the United States proper recognition in world politics and
for having promoted peace and good will among nations.
William Howard Taft, of Ohio, was inaugurated President March 4, 1909.
No man has ever been called to this high office with a broader training.
He is a graduate of Yale, has received the degree of LL.D. from five
universities, is a distinguished lawyer, has been a wise judge, and a
successful governor of the Philippine Islands at the difficult period of
transition. As a traveler he has looked into the faces and is personally
known to all the great rulers of the world. He has visited Cuba and the
Panama Zone (the spheres of probable disturbance), and has therefore had
the training which should fit him to deal wisely with both the domestic
and the foreign problems likely to arise.
Mr. Taft was married in 1886 to Miss Helen Herron, of Cincinnati. They
have two sons and one daughter. Mrs. Taft has had a large social
experience, and is considered one of the most cultured women ever called
to direct the affairs of the White House.
XXIX
INTERESTS IN WASHINGTON WHICH CAN NOT
HERE BE FULLY DESCRIBED
IN the third story of the Congressional Library strangers can find two
papier-maché models which are of great interest. One represents the City
of Washington in 1902, the other represents the Washington of the
future.
Congress has called the great engineers of the War Department and four
of the leading artists of the United States as a committee on civic
improvement for the capital city. The artists are: Mr. Daniel H.
Burnham, of Chicago; Mr. John C. Olmstead, the noted landscape artist;
Mr. Charles F. McKim, and Mr. Augustus St. Gaudens.
By the plans the public buildings of the future will be arranged around
Capitol Square (which has now two sides occupied by private residences),
and will then extend on both sides the mall, or flat, low-lying district
1,600 feet in width, extending from the Capitol building to the Potomac,
a distance of one and a half miles, and inclosing the Washington
monument. The buildings are all to be of white marble, harmonious in
design, and with a standard sky-line. The latter feature is not pleasing
in effect in the model. The Pennsylvania Railroad and the B. & O.
Railroad have already given up their small stations, and now with all
other roads passing through Washington run into a handsome new Union
Station.
At the front of Capitol Hill will be Union Square, where the statues of
war heroes will be grouped. The streets from that point to the
Washington monument will have four rows of trees on each side. A great
theater, gymnasium, lakes, fountains, and baths will remind one of
ancient Rome. A magnificent memorial to Abraham Lincoln will be placed
south of the Washington monument. Obelisks and arches which have been
used as memorials from the earliest ages will form part of the
ornamentation. People smile over this wonderful design, but if from now
on all public work is done under this intelligent supervision even one
hundred years may make the dream of these artists a glorious reality.
Not a lamp-post will go up in this new day, not a business sign will be
displayed without the approval of this art commission.
Designs for private houses as well as business houses must be made to
harmonize with the landscape and other buildings which already exist.
"May we all be here to see."
Among the buildings and objects of interest which can not here be fully
described, nor their histories elaborated, is the Ben Butler building on
Capitol Square, where President Arthur made his home while the White
House was being repaired.
There is also the old Capitol or Capitol Square (now numbered 21, 23,
25), which was used by Congress after the British had destroyed the
Capitol in 1814. These buildings were used as a military prison during
the Civil War, and here Wirtz, of Andersonville prison memory, was
executed. In one of them died John C. Calhoun.
[Illustration:
CHARLOTTE CORDAY
(_One of the paintings in the Corcoran Art Gallery_)
]
The Washington monument, nearly six hundred feet high, is said to be the
highest monument in the world. It was erected in memory of George
Washington. This grand structure is of pure white marble. From the top
there is a magnificent view of the surrounding country. The monument,
however, has suffered from the disintegrating effects of the weather,
and from the ruthless hands of the relic-hunters. The majestic
appearance of the monument grows upon the beholder, and its pearly
whiteness reminds him of the character of Washington, which grows fairer
in the mellowing light of history.
Arlington Cemetery should be visited by the pilgrim to Washington. There
sleep many of the sacred dead of the nation, and there is the home of
Robert E. Lee, where he was called to decide between his country as a
whole or his native state.