The new President was a bachelor. Despite his years and his cold, reserved manner, his fidelity5 to 39 the memory of beautiful Miss Coleman, to whom he had been affianced in his youth, invested him with the interest which attaches to romance. This was enhanced by his devotion to his niece, Miss Harriet Lane. In her affection he found the only solace6 of his lonely life. For her sake he condescended7 to unbend in public; and to brighten the atmosphere around her, he sometimes became quite a jaunty8 old bachelor. She was his confidante in all matters political and personal. A stately etiquette9 ruled between the two. She was always addressed as "Miss Harriet," and to her he was "The President"—never "Uncle Buchanan," except on the rare occasions when she considered it worth her while to coax10 him in order to carry a point.
Washington was never gayer than during this administration, more memorable11 than any other except Washington's and Lincoln's. The mighty12 giants of the House and Senate were there, the men who must be held largely responsible for that most unnecessary, cruel, and wicked war—the war between the Northern and Southern states of America. Washington was the storm centre, charged with the electric forces so soon to burst in fury upon the country.
But before we enter upon these troubled times, we will live over again some of the happy, care-forgetting months of our life in Washington.
My husband who had succeeded Mr. Ritchie as one of the editors of the Richmond Enquirer13 was now a member of Congress. He had accomplished14 his mission to Greece to the satisfaction of his government 40 and to his own pleasure and profit. With a good courier and a generous country at his back, he had traversed Europe, had seen Venice rise from the sea, had revelled15 in the grandeur16 that was—and is—Rome, had beheld17 the mosques18 and minarets19 of the Byzantine city from the waters of the Golden Horn, had looked into the inscrutable eyes of the Sphinx, and had finally taken up his abode20 under the shadow of the Acropolis. There he had met the "Maid of Athens," now stout21, middle-aged22 Mrs. Black, so the poor American Minister, who was young and romantic,—in order to understand the passionate23 entreaty24 of Byron to return the wandering heart of him or else take the rest of him,—was constrained25 to think of the poem, and look the while at a dark-eyed Greek beauty named "Elpis"—at least this was the explanation made to me of his frequent allusions26 in his letters to the latter. There, too, he had charmed Queen Mathilde with a description of the night-blooming cereus of this country and had stricken the court of King Otho dumb with amazement28 by outrageous29 American boasting.
"Kindly30 tell us, your Excellency," inquired the king at a state banquet, "what subject most interests your country at the present moment."
"The problem, may it please your Majesty31, of how we shall govern our superfluous32 territory and invest our superfluous treasure."
This may not have pleased his Majesty, but it certainly astounded33 him. Little Greece was, at the moment, hemmed34 in by organized bands of brigands35 and sorely pressed for the means of existence. 41
Our envoy36 had the honor, too, of attending, with Madame le Vert, the ball at the H?tel de Ville, and of witnessing the opening quadrille, danced by Victoria and Albert, Louis Napoleon and his sister Mathilde, the empress being ill. Both queen and princess seemed young and happy, both attired37 in white satin flounced with point lace, and wearing a prince's ransom38 in jewels.
The weather was fearfully hot, and the royal party danced but once. The queen did not step a stately measure, dancing "high and disposedly";—but she entered into the spirit of the hour heartily39, and, although the mother of eight children, danced with the glee of a young girl, growing withal very red in the face like any ordinary mortal.
At one of the gala days of the Exposition in Paris, a very large woman attracted much attention. She was neither young nor handsome, but had a comfortable, well-to-do air of content. A profusion40 of light curls clustered around her rotund face. These ringlets were all that was left of the beauty of the Countess Guiccioli! Alas41, there was no "Elpis" at hand for consolation42. All these things and more would have appeared in a charming volume but for the secession of South Carolina, as will be seen later on in my story.
I never regretted the loss of this beautiful opportunity in my life. My mother had been nursed back to bless me and mine a few years longer. Moreover, I found myself enriched. I had pictures, ravishing pictures, Raphael's "Belle43 Jardiniere," a priceless Raffaello Morghen's proof impression of the "Madonna 42 della Seggiola," Guido's "Aurora44" with its glorious women—the most glorious being (if she would only turn around) the one with her back to the world. I had many others, Titian, Domenichino, Murillo, Leonardo da Vinci. I had amber45 from Constantinople, curios and antiques from Egypt, corals and cameos from Naples and Florence, silks from Broussa (afterward swallowed up by an earthquake), silks and velvets from Lyons, laces from Brussels, perfumes from the land of Araby the blest,—things mightily46 consoling to a woman in her early twenties.
We found a large house on New York Avenue and filled it with good Virginia servants. Admonished47 by experience, we secured horses and a careful coachman.
We had come to stay! My husband represented the old district of his kinsman48, John Randolph of Roanoke, and his constituents49 were devoted50 to him. They would never supplant51 him with another. Of that we might be sure. God granting life and health, we were going to be happy young people.
The market in Washington was abundantly supplied with the finest game and fish from the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia, and the waters of the Potomac. Brant, ruddy duck, canvasback duck, sora, oysters52, and terrapin53 were within the reach of any housekeeper54. Oysters, to be opened at a moment's notice, were planted on the cellar floors, and fed with salt water, and the cellars, as far as the mistress was concerned, were protected from invasion by the large terrapins55 kept 43 there—a most efficient police force, crawling about with their outstretched necks and wicked eyes.
Such dainties demanded expert cooking. We found in our house a portly family servant, "Aunt Susan," who had been left as caretaker with permission to remain or not as the new tenant56 should please, or as she herself should please. I fell in love with her on sight and found her willing to engage with me.
"Can you cook, Aunt Susan?" I imprudently inquired.
"No'm, I don't call myself a cook, but I know a hogfish from a yellow-bellied perch57, and a canvasback duck from a redhead. I could cook oysters to suit my own white folks."
We had brought with us a number of servants who had lived with us in Virginia. They were free. We never owned slaves; this one free family had served us always.
A serious difficulty immediately arose in the kitchen. Susan felt her dignity insulted. She had supposed I would bring "gentlefolks' servants from the Eastern Sho'." She had not "counted on free niggers to put on airs an' boss her in her own kitchen."
My Virginia servants protested absolute humility58 and innocence59. But that was not all. A French woman, Adele Rivière, was sewing in the nursery, and an Englishman, George Boyd, was coachman. Susan wanted "only one mistress," she had "not counted on working for furriners. By the time she had pleased that Frenchwoman and Englishman and 44 them free niggers" she "wouldn't have enough sperrit left to wipe her foot on the door-mat."
A compromise was effected, however. Susan was to be queen on her own premises60; and if she must occasionally "put on airs" herself and "boss" somebody, why she might always "boss" me.
"I think," said my friend Agnes, "you have very neatly61 arranged to have as much trouble as possible. The question of caste will crop up every hour of the day. If the worst comes to the worst, let them all go except Susan! Harriet Martineau gives fine advice, for an old maid: 'Never nag62 your servants—but if occasion demands, come down upon them like the day of judgment63.'"
"I stand by Susan," I assured her, "whatever she does. I am dreadfully opposed to capital punishment, but if anybody kills a cook, he needn't bring his case to our office."
Susan had offended, by her assumption of superiority, all the members of my household except myself, to whom she was most kind and respectful. The boy James had been brought by his aunts, who promised to train him for my service. He soon developed an ingenuity64 in teasing the cook amounting to inspiration. Matters between them reached a crisis one morning. I was reading my paper in the office adjoining the breakfast-room when I heard Susan's raucous65 voice: "What do you mean coming in this kitchen hollerin' out 'Susan, Susan'? Whar's your manners?"
"I loant 'em to de cook dis mornin', Susan—leastways Miss Moss66! I always disremembers yo' entitlements." 45
"Well, you just get out of this kitchen! I can send breakfast up on the dumb waiter. You stay in your own place."
"I kin27 make myse'f skase, Miss Moss, but dat ain't de pint67. Cose de dumb waiter can't talk, an' I has to speak about clean plates an'—"
"Get out o' here, I tell you. Clean, indeed! And your face not washed this morning! An' you all pizened up with scent68 like—"
"Lawd, Miss Moss! Don't say what I'se like! An' what I gwine fling water in my face for? I ain' no house afire."
In a few minutes Susan, her ample figure endowed with a fresh white apron69, and her bandanna70 turban tied to a nicety, presented herself, dropped a courtesy, and said with perfect politeness:—
"Honey, I hate to worry you, but I'm afraid the time has come when you must choose between me and the free nigger. I think too much of myself to mind his impudence71, but everything smells and tastes of his strong scents—which I know will never suit you nor the master. I, for one, can't stand 'em."
"Then James must leave at once," said I, firmly. "He knows the perfume is forbidden, and I have myself heard his disrespectful language to you."
But James had no idea of leaving Washington and returning to the position of knife-cleaner in the Petersburg hotel, whence I had taken him. He experienced a total change of heart. He surrendered in magnificent style. I was too skilful72 a general not to press my advantage. Then and there I confiscated73 46 his entire stock of spurious attar of rose. It could not be buried, because the court was paved; it could not be emptied in the waste-water pipes, lest we remember it forever; but I opened the doors of Susan's kitchen range, and laid it, a burnt-offering to her offended dignity, upon the glowing coals. I then went calmly in to my coffee, which had a distinctly Oriental flavor that morning.
Things went smoothly74 after this. The prevailing75 spirit of secession found its way only as far as the nursery, when pretty Adele Rivière entered a convent (with but one expressed regret, that the bonnets76 were so unbecoming), and a dear little genius, Annie Powers, took her place,—coming regularly for fifty cents a day, and making me independent of the elusive77 dressmakers who lorded and queened it over my unhappy friends.
And just here I feel constrained to apologize to my friend who has, at this moment, this page before him, for recording78 so many trifling79 incidents; but in painting a faithful picture of any time, the little lights and shadows cannot be left out. Nothing is unimportant. Even
"To the God that maketh all
There is no great—there is no small,"
words which I quote with no fear of being deemed irreverent; since the couplet has been discovered by a sojourner80 in the Orient to have been a petty larceny81 of Emerson's from the book of a Brahmin, and is not a quotation82 from the pen of inspiration, as we understand inspiration.
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1
inauguration
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| n.开幕、就职典礼 | |
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nominations
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| n.提名，任命( nomination的名词复数 ) | |
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amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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treasury
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| n.宝库；国库，金库；文库 | |
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fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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solace
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| n.安慰；v.使快乐；vt.安慰(物)，缓和 | |
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condescended
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| 屈尊，俯就( condescend的过去式和过去分词 )； 故意表示和蔼可亲 | |
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jaunty
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| adj．愉快的，满足的；adv.心满意足地，洋洋得意地；n.心满意足；洋洋得意 | |
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etiquette
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| n.礼仪，礼节；规矩 | |
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coax
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| v.哄诱，劝诱，用诱哄得到，诱取 | |
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memorable
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| adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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enquirer
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| 寻问者，追究者 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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revelled
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| v.作乐( revel的过去式和过去分词 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉 | |
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grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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mosques
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| 清真寺； 伊斯兰教寺院，清真寺； 清真寺，伊斯兰教寺院( mosque的名词复数 ) | |
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minarets
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| n.（清真寺旁由报告祈祷时刻的人使用的）光塔( minaret的名词复数 ) | |
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abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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entreaty
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| n.恳求，哀求 | |
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constrained
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| adj.束缚的,节制的 | |
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allusions
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| 暗指，间接提到( allusion的名词复数 ) | |
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kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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outrageous
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| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
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30
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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superfluous
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| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
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astounded
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| v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词)；愕然；愕；惊讶 | |
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hemmed
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| 缝…的褶边( hem的过去式和过去分词 )； 包围 | |
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brigands
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| n.土匪，强盗( brigand的名词复数 ) | |
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envoy
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| n.使节，使者，代表，公使 | |
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attired
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| adj.穿着整齐的v.使穿上衣服，使穿上盛装( attire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ransom
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| n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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profusion
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| n.挥霍；丰富 | |
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alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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belle
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| n.靓女 | |
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aurora
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| n.极光 | |
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amber
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| n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的 | |
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mightily
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| ad.强烈地；非常地 | |
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47
admonished
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| v.劝告( admonish的过去式和过去分词 )；训诫；（温和地）责备；轻责 | |
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kinsman
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| n.男亲属 | |
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constituents
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| n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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51
supplant
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| vt.排挤；取代 | |
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52
oysters
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| 牡蛎( oyster的名词复数 ) | |
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53
terrapin
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| n.泥龟；鳖 | |
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housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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terrapins
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| n.（北美的）淡水龟( terrapin的名词复数 ) | |
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tenant
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| n.承租人；房客；佃户；v.租借，租用 | |
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perch
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| n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于 | |
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humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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nag
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| v.(对…)不停地唠叨；n.爱唠叨的人 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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raucous
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| adj.(声音)沙哑的，粗糙的 | |
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moss
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| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
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pint
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| n.品脱 | |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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apron
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| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
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bandanna
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| n.大手帕 | |
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impudence
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| n.厚颜无耻；冒失；无礼 | |
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skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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confiscated
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| 没收，充公( confiscate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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prevailing
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| adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的 | |
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bonnets
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| n.童帽( bonnet的名词复数 )；（烟囱等的）覆盖物；（苏格兰男子的）无边呢帽；（女子戴的）任何一种帽子 | |
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elusive
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| adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的 | |
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recording
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| n.录音，记录 | |
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trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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sojourner
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| n.旅居者，寄居者 | |
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larceny
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| n.盗窃（罪） | |
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quotation
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| n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情 | |
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