m canny New England and not
less canny Pennsylvania. At times there came from the Old World men
representative of an easier and more opulent life, who did not always
trouble to suppress their smiles at us. Moving among these were ladies
from every state of our Union, picturesque enough in their wide flowered
skirts and their flaring bonnets and their silken mitts, each rivalling
the other in the elegance of her mien, and all unconsciously outdone in
charm, perhaps, by some demure Quakeress in white and dove color,
herself looking askance on all this form and ceremony, yet unwilling to
leave the nation's capital without shaking the hand of the nation's
chief. Add to these, gaunt, black-haired frontiersmen from across the
Alleghanies; politicians from the South, clean-shaven, pompous,
immaculately clad; uneasy tradesmen from this or the other corner of
their commonwealth. A motley throng, indeed!

A certain air of gloom at this time hung over official Washington, for
the minds of all were still oppressed by the memory of that fatal
accident--the explosion of the great cannon "Peacemaker" on board the
war vessel _Princeton_--which had killed Mr. Upshur, our secretary of
state, with others, and had, at one blow, come so near to depriving this
government of its head and his official family; the number of prominent
lives thus ended or endangered being appalling to contemplate. It was
this accident which had called Mr. Calhoun forward at a national
juncture of the most extreme delicacy and the utmost importance. In
spite of the general mourning, however, the informal receptions at the
White House were not wholly discontinued, and the administration,
unsettled as it was, and fronted by the gravest of diplomatic problems,
made such show of dignity and even cheerfulness as it might.

I considered it my duty to pass in the long procession and to shake the
hand of Mr. Tyler. That done, I gazed about the great room, carefully
scan-fling the different little groups which were accustomed to form
after the ceremonial part of the visit was over. I saw many whom I
knew. I forgot them; for in a far corner, where a flood of light came
through the trailing vines that shielded the outer window, my anxious
eyes discovered the object of my quest--Elisabeth.

It seemed to me I had never known her so fair as she was that morning in
the great East Room of the White House. Elisabeth was rather taller than
the average woman, and of that splendid