able and willing to assume it."

The society circle in Washington in 1873 was small compared with that of
to-day. There was much less form and ceremony, fewer social cliques and
a greater degree of affability. The "Old Washingtonians" were more _en
evidence_ than now and the political element came and went without
disturbing in any marked degree the harmony of the social atmosphere.
There were, however, many in public life whose families were cordially
received into the most exclusive circles of Washington society and
enriched it by their presence. Mrs. Hamilton Fish held social sway by
the innate force of character and general attractiveness with which
nature had so lavishly endowed her. Mrs. James G. Blaine, whose husband
was in Congress when I first knew them, shared in his popularity. Mrs.
George M. Robeson, wife of Grant's Secretary of the Navy, lived on K
Street and kept open house. The Secretary of the Treasury and Mrs.
William A. Richardson, who lived in the old Hill house on H Street, were
well known and very popular. Francis Kernan, the junior Senator from New
York, with his wife and daughter, was seen everywhere. Thomas Kernan,
their son, who eventually became a Roman Catholic priest, was a great
dancer and a general favorite. Roscoe Conkling, the senior Senator from
New York, was socially disposed, but his wife, who was a sister of
Horatio Seymour, although well fitted for social life, took but little
part in it. She was a pronounced blond, wore her hair in many ringlets
and was _petite_ in figure. Senator and Mrs. Henry L. Dawes and their
intellectual daughter, Miss Anna, were highly esteemed by
Washingtonians. General Ambrose B. Burnside, Senator from Rhode Island
and a widower, lived on H Street, where he lavishly entertained his
friends. Senator Joseph R. Hawley and wife of Connecticut and the
latter's bright sister, Miss Kate Foote, resided in the Capitol Hill
neighborhood; while Senator Henry B. Anthony, also of Rhode Island and a
widower, was famous for his grasshopper turkeys, with which he liberally
supplied his guests at his home on the southwest corner of H and
Fourteenth Streets. This was the period when William E. Chandler was
beginning his prominent and successful political career. He lived with
his first wife and interesting family of boys on Fourteenth Street below
G Street.

The social leader in Washington in 1873 was Mrs. Frances Lawrence
Ricketts, whose husband, General James B. Ricketts,