Part 15 (1/2)

My old friend, Mrs Diana Bullitt Kearny, theof General ”Phil”

Kearny, in our ave ton at a ti 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 costuhter of Jonathan Meredith of Baltiton to attend the party She represented a rainbow and her appearance was so gorgeous that Mrs

Kearny said the Heavenly vision seerasp 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 tohe discovered histhe affair to heart, returned to his quarters and the sa sed a dose of corrosive sublih 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 e of her disappointed lover _en route_ to his final resting place Subsequent to this tragedy, I a, surrounded by the usual ad She never married I heard of her in recent years, at a suh advanced in years, I understood she still possessed exceptional powers of attraction Only a short ti man remark that he knew her very well and that he would rather converse with her than omen many years her junior

Mrs Kearny was said to be the last of the ”Lafayette girls” In 1825, when Lafayette uest 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 e which conveyed hireat-uncle, Colonel Richard C

Anderson, who led the advance of the American troops at the Battle of Trenton General Robert Anderson, USA, whose memory the country honors as the defender of Fort Suhter of General Duncan L Clinch, USA, resided in Washi+ngton until her death a few years ago She was a woreat invalid for athered around her an appreciative circle of friends, ere always charmed by her attractive personality

In ton the old Van Ness house was still sheltered by e was so dense that it may have been the desire of the occupants to shi+eld 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 hter of Major Mann Page Lo the Civil War, Mr Green's sympathies ith 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 inforovern 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 ic of the situation ible, 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 ti 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 saed 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

During the War of 1812, Major Lomax was sent upon ahis brief sojourn, dined in co the dinner a toast was offered by one of the sons of John Bull: ”To President Madison, dead or alive” The responding toast by Major Loent, drunk or sober” The British officer who had proposed the toast to Madison ination inquired: ”Do you mean to insultto an insult!”

I met Charles Sumner soon after his first appearance in the United States Senate as the successor of Daniel Webster, who had beco appearance and bore hinity so characteristic of the statesmen of that period

”Sumner is one of them literary felloas the facetious criticisan, who a few years later becaues in the Senate, and who in earlier life was accue fortune while Mr Sued in those intellectual and scholarly pursuits which eventually made him one of the ripest and most accomplished students in the land Chandler, however, in his oay, furnished a conspicuous exa youths of the day, both by his earlier and subsequent life, of what may be accomplished by deter the Civil War the political sentiton, especially in reference to the violent anti-slavery agitation then engrossing the thought of the country, was decidedly in sympathy with the attitude of the South It is not, therefore, surprising that Sumner, whose radical vieere known from Maine to Texas, should have been received at first in Washi+ngton society with but little cordiality As the years passed along, he was rapidly forging himself ahead to the leadershi+p of his party in the Senate and, of course, becaarded with confidence and esteeh naturally both disliked and feared by his political opponents, it could be truthfully said of him that he was

A man that fortune's buffets and rewards Hast ta'en with equal thanks,

and that no attempts to socially ostracize or to deride him for his political views and his intense application to his sense of duty deterred the great Massachusetts states the ”even tenor of his way”

An anecdote went the rounds of the Capital to the effect that, one entleman called to see Sumner at his rooms on Pennsylvania Avenue, a colored attendant answered the door and after glancing at his card informed him that it would be i before a looking-glass a speech which he expected to deliver the following inally told by a friend or foe of Mr Sumner is not known Mr

Suton belle who corace with Kentucky dash I refer to Miss Sally Strother, an acknowledged beauty of decidedly Southern vieho lived on Seventh Street near F Street, now a commercial center Mr Sumner and I walked to her house fro-room, where the topic of conversation, in the course of the evening, drifted to the subject of spiritualism It was announced that at a recent _seance_ the spirit of Washi+ngton had appeared and uttered the usual platitudes, whereupon Miss Strother, without a moment's hesitation, reton would say about Mr Suton's views, but Miss Strother interrupted and said: ”I know just what he would say--that he was a very intelligent, a very handsome, but a very bad man” This remark was naturally productive ofor disapprobation on the part of Mr

Su homeward he remarked: ”I have _l'esprit d'escalier_ and ht of stairs” Sally Strother went abroad, where she ium, and shared a fate similar to that of many of her country-women, as she was finally separated from her husband She cherished, however, a pride of title and bequeathed 60,000 to erect in Spa, Belgium, a handsome chapel as well as a vault to contain the remains of her mother, brother and herself Her Kentucky relatives, however, including the fa the will on the ground that her h which she had inherited her property, did not permit it to leave the faly, were not built, and all her property reverted to her relatives

In addition to his co presence, nature bestowed upon Mr Sumner a clear and melodious voice, which rendered it quite unnecessary for him to resort to De words could be heard upon the floor of the Senate in all of the leading debates of the day, and his o down to posterity as an important contribution to the history of many national administrations

I well remember Preston S Brooks's cowardly assault upon Charles Sunation ran very high, and his political opponents referred to him thereafter as ”Bully Brooks” Socially, as well as politically, he was popular He possessed a gentle and pleasing bearing and it would have been difficult for anyone to associate hie His uncle, Andrew P

Butler, as in the US Senate fro and venerable gentlenated as ”fire-eaters”

There existed between Mr Su friendshi+p which was contracted in early life I have often heard the Massachusetts statesman recite some of his friend's poetical lines, which seemed to me additionally beautiful when rendered in his deep and sonorous voice In the latter years of his life he resided in the house which is now the Arlington Hotel Annex, where he surrounded himself with his remarkable collection of books and articles of _virtu_ which he exhibited with pride to his guests I especially recall an old clock presented to hiium, as an artistic work of exceptional beauty Mr Sumner, by the as an accoly denounce Clark Mills's equestrian statue of General Andrew Jackson, now standing in the center of Lafayette Square He told lishh the streets of the National Capital and, as they were driving along Pennsylvania Avenue, he seated himself in such a position as to entirely obstruct the viehat he called this ”grotesque statue,” calling the attention of his guests, meanwhile, to the White House on the other side of the street

I felt honored in calling Charles Su the enco of the scholar he joined the consecration of a patriot, the honor of a knight and the sincerity of a Christian” George Sumner, his brother, did not appear in the land of his birth as a celebrity, but he had a rehout the European continent and was highly regarded for his profound learning He studied at the Universities of Heidelberg and Berlin and traveled extensively through Europe, Asia and Africa He never tarried long in his ”native heath,” and furnished conspicuous evidence that ”a prophet is not without honor save in his own country” Alexander von Humboldt praised the accuracy of his researches and Alexis de Tocqueville referred to hi better acquainted with European politics than any European hom he was acquainted

While Sue T Davis of Greenfield, Massachusetts, was a member of the House of Representatives I knew him very well and he was a constant visitor at our home He was celebrated for his flashes of hich sometimes stimulated undeveloped powers in others, and I have often seen dull perceptions considerably sharpened at his approach Oliver Wendell Hols in the ”Autocrat of the Breakfast Table,” and his conversational poere so brilliant that they won the admiration of Thackeray Robert Rantoul, also froue of Davis, was a ”Webster Whig”

and a powerful exponent of the ”Free-Soil” faith Davis, as so bright and clever in the drawing-room, could not, however, compete with Rantoul on the floor of the House in parliamentary debate The epitaph on Rantoul's ress, and his last words were a protest in the naitive-Slave Law” One of the verses of Whittier's poeh him we hoped to speak the word Which wins the freedoht, the sword Which dropped fro hand

I first met the eccentric Count Adam Gurowski at the convivial tea table of Miss Es so indelibly impressed upon my memory He was, perhaps, in many respects, one of the ton has ever known He was a son of Count Ladislas Gurowski, an ardent admirer of Kosciusko, and was active in revolutionary projects in Poland in consequence of which he was condeed, however, to escape and in 1835 published a work entitled ”La Verite sur la Russie,” in which he advocated a union of the various branches of the Slavic race This book was so favorably regarded in Russia that its author was recalled and employed in the civil service He ca employed on the staff of _The New York Tribune_, cauistic attainments and the aid of Charles Sumner secured for him a position as translator in the State Department, which he held froe whiether with his strong individuality, he possessed a trait whichI refer to his uncontrollable desire to contradict and to antagonize It was simply impossible to find a subject upon which he and anyone else could agree There were, however, extenuating circumstances ”Chill penury,” forced upon him by the state of his financial affairs, had much to do with his cynical and acrimonious spirit Prosperity is certainly conducive to an a, and I believe that Guroould have been more conciliatory if adversity had not so persistently attended his pathway It is highly probable, too, that Guroould have retained his position under the government indefinitely but for his unfortunate disposition He wrote a diary from 1861 to 1863 which he was so indiscreet as to keep in his desk in the State Departes were brought to the attention of certain officials of the govern but complimentary references to his chief, Williaed Meanwhile he had antagonized his benefactor, Mr Su, in a caustic manner, his views in reference to the conduct of the Civil War, and by other si new enemies almost every day

The intense bitterness and intemperance of Gurowski in the expression of his views is well illustrated in a conversation quoted by one of his friends in _The Atlantic Monthly_ o It had reference to a period preceding the Civil War when the ”Fugitive-Slave Laas engrossing the attention of the country ”What do I care for Mr Webster,” he said ”I can read the Constitution as well as Mr

Webster” ”But surely, Count, you would not presume to dispute Mr