o sing it. During the
song De Cueto was politely attentive, and at its conclusion had the
politeness to applaud it. Imagine, however, my surprise when I heard a
few days later, through a mutual friend, that Gonzales had boasted that
he sang the song in De Cueto's presence, proudly adding that he had
looked the Spaniard full in the eye when he uttered the word
_libert[)a]_.

Mr. Jose de Marcoleta, the Nicaraguan Minister to the United States, was
an elderly and punctilious Spaniard. He was indefatigable in the
observance of all social duties, and I met him wherever I went. He was a
bachelor but, soon after his arrival in Washington, announced his
engagement to Miss Mary West of Boston, who unfortunately died before
her wedding day. I am under the impression that he eventually married
another American. I remember once when he called to see us I asked him
to tell me something about Nicaragua, which was then an almost unknown
country. My surprise can hardly be described when he told me he had
never seen the country which he represented, but was a native of Spain.

Baron Waldemar Rudolph Raasloff represented Denmark in a manner
creditable both to his country and our own. He told me that some years
previous to his mission to America he came to New York in the capacity
of an engineer and was engaged on work in New York harbor, "blowing up
rocks." Possibly he was thus employed at "Hell Gate," at that time one
of the most dangerous obstacles to navigation in that vicinity.

The well-known "Octagon," as the old Tayloe home on the corner of New
York Avenue and Eighteenth Street is still called, during my early
residence in Washington was closed. Many superstitious persons regarded
it with fear, as its reputation as a haunted house was then, in their
opinion, well established. I have been told by the daughters of General
George D. Ramsay that upon one occasion their father was requested by
Colonel John Tayloe, the father of Benjamin Ogle Tayloe, to remain at
the Octagon over night, when he was obliged to be absent, as a
protection to his daughters, Anne and Virginia. While the members of the
family were at the evening meal, the bells in the house began to ring
violently. General Ramsay immediately arose from the table to
investigate, but failed to unravel the mystery. The butler, in a state
of great alarm, rushed into the dining-room and declared that it was the
work of an unseen hand. As they continued to ring, General Ramsay he