Part 11 (1/2)

In 1844, accoston, daughter of John Swift Livingston, to John Watts de Peyster

At the tie, Mr de Peyster was considered the finest _parti_ in the city; while, apart froenerally believed a brilliant future awaited hi-rooe fauests At this tiston was a er, but his sister Maria, Mrs John C Stevens of Hoboken, did the honors of the occasion for her brother The young bride presented a char appearance in all her finery, and at the bountiful collation following the cerene flowed freely

This, however, was no unusual thing, as that beverage was generally seen at every entertainood old days Mrs John C Stevens lived at one time in Barclay Street, and I have heard nuave a fancy-dress ball but, as she had failed to revise her visiting list inher invited guests She was especially peculiar in her mode of dress, which was not always adapted to her social position It is therefore not at all surprising that unfortunate ard to her identity Another of her eccentricities consisted in the fact that she positively refused, when shopping, to recognize even her most intimate friends, as she said it was simply impossible for her to combine business with pleasure In spite of her peculiarities, however, she possessed unusual social charm

Her husband was prominent in society and business circles He was founder of the New York Yacht Club as well as its first president, and coland in 1851, which won the celebrated cup that Sir Tholish yachtsston, the younger daughter of John Swift Livingston, was a _petite_ beauty

She ston I a in New York at a very advanced age

Joseph Keatherings in the days of which I a The number of instruments used was always in proportion to the size of the entertainue, were popular with the younger set These airs bring back pleasant memories, as I have frequently danced to them The waltz in my day was a fine art and its votaries were numerous I recall the fact that Edward Jaentleman hom I occasionally danced, was such a devotee to the waltz that, not possessing sufficient will power to resist its char a delicate constitution, he nearly danced hi brothers, Thoeneral beaux in society, played their parts raceful dancing, and no ball was considered complete without their presence These brothers were associated in the umbrella industry, and Miss Lydia Kane, some of whose witty re beaux!” Daniel Messinger eventually hter of Anthony Bleecker Neilson, and beca the Civil War

The British Consul General in New York from 1817 to 1843 was Ja British subjects visiting the United States hters and, as the whole fa these sturdy representatives of John Bull at his house Those I knew best cay wood,” as in our family ere naturally partial to Scotcharded theraduates of Glasgow University and young men of unusual culture and refinement I especially remember Mr McCorquodale, a nephew of Dr

Thouished Presbyterian Divine of Scotland He met his future wife in New York in the person of a wealthy and attractiveHer h I ae She was the granddaughter of Mada Scotchmen whom I met remained permanently in this country, as they always seemed too loyal to the ”Land o' Cakes” to entirely expatriate the Scotchh the Buchanans, embarked for his native land on board the stea of 1841 and never reached her destination What became of her was never known and her fate remains to this day one of the mysteries of the sea In the fall of 1860 the US e from the Hawaiian Islands to Panama, disappeared in the same mysterious manner in the Pacific Ocean; and, as was the case with the _President_, no huain There were ard to the fate of this shi+p, but the true story of her doom has never been revealed I remember two of the officers who perished with her One of thehter of Cohters, the Misses Julia and Minnie Stout, are well reton social circles; and the other was Purser Andrew J Watson, as a member of one of the old residential families of the District of Columbia

CHAPTER VIII

WAshi+NGTON IN THE FORTIES

My first visit to Washi+ngton was in 1845 I started fro and reached Philadelphia late the saht at Jones's Hotel in the lower part of the city, which was the usual stopping place of travelers who made this trip A few years later when the journey froton was ht that almost a miracle had been performed

Mrs Winfield Scott in 1855 characterized the National Capital as ”an ill-contrived, ill-arranged, rae”; and it was certainly all of that when I first saw it It is not ieneral feeling of uncertainty as to whether Washi+ngton would reovern for a more centrally located capital When I first visited the city the ubiquitous real-estate agent had not yet materialized, and corner lots, now so much in demand, could be purchased at a sress, then as now, held itself responsible for one-half of the taxes As land was cheap there was no necessity for econoardless of back-buildings In other cases, when one's funds were limited, the rear of the house was first built and later afront was added The contrast between the houses of New York, built closely together in blocks, and those in Washi+ngton, with the abundant space around thereat surprise to ton, then, as noas sold and taxed by the square foot

My elder sister fanny had ton Bar, and my visit was to her Mr Eae, and was a classmate of Wendell Phillips and of John Lothrop Motley, the historian The distinguished Professor of Harvard University, Andrew P Peabody, LLD, in referring to him many years after his death said that he was ”the first scholar of his class, and was regarded as a man of unlimited power of acquisition, and ofHarvard he studied law, but ill health prevented hi his profession He accoe Bancroft, President Polk's Secretary of the Navy, by whom he was made principal correspondence clerk of the Navy Department He remained there but a few ton Union_ under the well-known Thomas Ritchie, usually known as ”Father Ritchie” He was subsequently appointed by Polk a cootiate a treaty with the Hawaiian Islands, and took passage upon the US Frigate _Savannah_ and sailed, by way of Cape Horn, for San Francisco He unexpectedly found awaiting his arrival in that city Dr Gerrit P Judd, Pri Hawaiian princes After the treaty was made, he returned east and for six ain assuton Union_ President Pierce subsequently appointed him Minister to Venezuela, where he reton, where he practiced his profession for the re an important case before the Supreme Court that he was stricken, and he died on the 16th of March, 1867 He sustained a high reputation as an ade of international jurisprudence I have now before me a letter addressed to hisby Wendell Phillips only three days after his death It is one of the valued possessions of Mr Eaenial Scotch It reads:

QUINCY, Illinois, March 19, 1867

My dear friend,

I have just crossed from the other side of the Mississippi, and a from the papers my old and dear friend's death

The associations that bind us together go back ether in sunny months full of frolic, plans and hopes The merriment and the seriousness, the toil and the as him to me in the flush of his youth I have seen little of him of late years, as you know, but the roots of our friendshi+p needed no constant care; they were too strong to die or wilt, and e did meet it was alith the old warone One by one the boy's comrades pass over the river and life loses with each so years, as life grew less busy, to see more of my old playmate, and this is a very unexpected blow

Be sure I sympathize with you most tenderly, and could not resist the impulse to tell you so Little as we have met, I owe to your kind and frank interest in me a sense of very warm and close relation to you--feel as if I had known you ever so ether so that I ather some more distinct ideas of Eames' later years All his youth I have by heart

With ards believe me

Very faithfully yours,

WENDELL PHILLIPS

Mrs Eae tenderness hich e rown-up men, to have been classmates is a tie that like blood never loosens Any ht of one of _those_ comrades Later friendshi+ps ain at any ular sense of loneliness settles down on survivors--Good-bye

The young Hawaiian princes to whom I have just referred and who, by the ere er brother, Malcolenial playmates, called to see them Upon his return from his visit his only criticisive themselves airs”

My sister, Mrs Eames, lived in a house on G Street near Twenty-first Street in as then known as the First Ward This general section, together with a part of Indiana Avenue, some portions of Capitol Hill, Sixth and Seventh Streets, and all of that part of the city bounded on the north by K Street, on the south by Pennsylvania Avenue, and ard of Fourteenth Street to Georgetoas at this time the fashi+onable section of the city Like ton then presented the picture of fine dwelling houses and shanties standing side by side I remember, for example, that as late as 1870 a fine residence on the corner of I and Fifteenth Streets was located next to a small frame house occupied by a colored undertaker

The latter's business was prosperous, but his wealthy neighbor objected to the constant re from his fine baythe numerous coffins carried in and out He asked the undertaker to name his price for his property, but he declined, and all of his subsequent offers were ignored Finally, after several years' patient waiting, during which offer after offer had been politely but positively rejected, the last one being an almost princely su his huhbor in triumphant possession This is siton when I first knew it