midsummer heat for nearly three hours, he had
drank freely of ice-water, and on his return to the White House he
had found a basket of cherries, of which he partook heartily,
drinking at the same time several goblets of iced milk. After
dinner he still further feasted on cherries and iced milk against
the protestations of Dr. Witherspoon, who was his guest. When it
was time to go to Mr. Winthrop's he felt ill, and soon afterward
he was seized with a violent attack of cholera morbus. This was
on Thursday, but he did not consider himself dangerously ill until
Sunday, when he said to his physician, "In two days I shall be a
dead man." Eminent physicians were called in, but they could not
arrest the bilious fever which supervened. His mind was clear,
and on Tuesday morning he said to one of the physicians at his
bedside, "You have fought a good fight, but you cannot make a
stand." Soon afterward he murmured, "I have endeavored to do my
duty," and peacefully breathed his last. His sudden death was
immediately announced by the tolling of the bell in the Department
of State, and in a few moments the funereal knell was echoed from
every church steeple in the district.

[Facsimile]
William H. Seward
WILLIAM H. SEWARD was born at Florida, New York, May 16th, 1801;
was Governor of New York, 1838-1842; was United States Senator from
New York from March 4th, 1849, until he entered the Cabinet of
President Lincoln as Secretary of State, March 5th, 1861; remained
Secretary of State under President Johnson until March 3d, 1869;
traveled around the world in 1870-1871, and died at Auburn, New
York, October 10th, 1872.

CHAPTER XXX.
FILLMORE AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

On the tenth of July, 1850, the day after the death of General
Taylor, Mr. Fillmore appeared in the Representatives' Hall at the
Capitol, where both houses of Congress had met in joint session,
took the oath of office, and immediately left. The new President
was then fifty years of age, of average height, florid features,
white hair, shrewd, gray eyes, and dignified yet courteous manners.
He had risen from the humble walks of life, by incessant toil, to
the highest position in the Republic. Always animated by an
indomitable spirit and by that industry and perseverance which are
the sure guarantees of success, he was undoubtedly a man of ability,
but his intellect seemed, like that of Lord Bacon, to lack to
complement of heart. A blank in his nature, where loya