prevented her mingling in society,
though she presided with queenly grace at the official dinner-
parties.

The President's father, "Squire Fillmore," as he was called, visited
his son at the White House. He was a venerable-looking man, tall,
and not much bowed by his eighty years, his full gray hair and
intelligent face attracting much attention. When he was about to
leave, a gentleman asked him why he would not remain a few days
longer. "No, no!" said the old gentleman, "I will go. I don't
like it here; it isn't a good place to live; it isn't a good place
for Millard; I wish he was at home in Buffalo."

The corner-stone of one of the "extensions" of the Capitol was laid
on the seventy-sixth anniversary of our national independence, July
4th, 1851, by the fraternity of Free Masons in "due and ample form."
President Fillmore, the Cabinet, the Diplomatic Corps, several
Governors of States, and other distinguished personages occupied
seats on a temporary platform, which overlooked the place where
the corner-stone was laid, Major B. B. French, Grand Master of the
Masons of the District of Columbia, officiating. Mr. Webster was
the orator of the day, and delivered an eloquent, thoughtful, and
patriotic address, although he was evidently somewhat feeble, and
was forced to take sips of strong brandy and water to sustain him
as he proceeded. Among the vast audience were three gentlemen who
had, fifty-eight years previously, seen General Washington aid his
brother Free Masons in laying the corner-stone of the original
Capitol.

Later in that year, the large hall which contained the library of
Congress, occupying the entire western side of the centre of the
Capitol, was destroyed by fire, with almost all of its valuable
contents. The weather was intensely cold, and, had not the firemen
and citizens (including President Fillmore) worked hard, the entire
Capitol would have been destroyed. Congress soon afterward made
liberal appropriations, not only for reconstructing the library of
cast-iron, but for the purchase of books, so that the library soon
rose, phoenix-like, from its ashes. But the purchases were made
on the old plan, under the direction of the Congressional Joint
Committee on the Library, the Chairman of which then, and for
several previous and subsequent sessions, was Senator Pearce, of
Maryland, a graduate of Princeton College. There was not in the
Library of Congress a modern encyclopaedia, or a file