the rolls of the supreme court, senate, and house of representatives presented a list of great names in 1854-1860. it would seem that our country, knowing herself to be in mortal danger, had summoned the wisest of her sons for conference and council: rufus choate, curtis, seward, douglas, jefferson davis, salmon chase, sumner, hale, toombs, hunter, robert j. walker, and the brilliant men of the lower house; all these were present at the great consultation.
of these men the most interesting, picturesque, and prominent was undoubtedly stephen a. douglas. his political career is known to a world which is still divided in opinion of him. was his fevered life the result of patriotism, or of personal ambition? the world still assumes the power to read, with a magnifying glass, the inner workings of the human mechanism, and to put its discerning finger on the spring of human actions. who has ever seen the heart of another? who knows his own? by their works ye shall know them, not by their impulses, not by their struggles with the diverse machinery within them.
one who liked not stephen a. douglas has thus 67 described him. "erect, compact, aggressive. a personage truly to be questioned timidly, to be approached advisedly. here indeed was a lion, by the very look of him master of himself and of others. by reason of its regularity and masculine strength, a handsome face. a man of the world to the cut of the coat across the broad shoulders. here was one to lift a youngster into the realm of emulation, like a character in a play, to arouse dreams of washington and its senators and great men. for this was one to be consulted by the great alone. a figure of dignity and power with the magnetism to compel moods. since, when he smiled you warmed in spite of yourself, and when he frowned the world looked grave."
this was stephen a. douglas. the picture is a true one. what wonder that he should have captivated my husband and myself, scarcely more than half his age? the warmest friendship grew up between us.
i remember well my own first interview with him in washington. at a crowded ball, i had found a chair outside the crush, when he approached with a bottle of champagne and a glass in his hands. "i need no introduction, madam," he said. "i am sure you cannot have forgotten the man who met you a few years ago in the little petersburg hotel and told you how like you are to the empress eugénie. no? i thought not," laughed the judge, "and yet she isn't a priming to our own women! now," he added, bending down and speaking gravely, "i shall send mrs. douglas to see you. i 68 wish you to be friends. not pasteboard friends, with only a bit of cardboard passing between you now and then, but real good friends, meeting often and being much together." just here, as he poised his bottle to fill my glass, his elbow was jostled, and down came the foaming champagne, over my neck and shoulders and the front of my dress. the friendship was christened—the bottle broken on the new ship! "don't worry about the gown! you have excuse now to buy another," said the judge, as i gasped when the icy flood ran down my bosom.
he had lately married his second wife, the belle of washington, beautiful adele cutts; tall, stately, and fair exceedingly. she was a great-niece of dolley madison. we met often, and it came to pass that "the soul of jonathan was knit with the soul of david."
she did not impress one as having what we call "depth of character," what is commonly implied in the term "superior," not a woman to assume to lead and teach other women—a character less lovable often than the woman who knows herself to be of like weaknesses with ourselves. but she was beautiful as a pearl, sunny-tempered, unselfish, warmhearted, unaffected, sincere. she was very attentive to her "little giant." when he made those terribly long speeches in the senate, on the lecompton constitution, on the kansas-nebraska bill, on popular sovereignty, she would wait in the gallery and hurry down to wrap his overcoat around him, as he stood in the hall dripping with perspiration. 69 she imbibed enough political lingo to rally and amuse him. some workmen having arrived to erect a platform in his ball room for musicians, she exclaimed: "oh, judge douglas! what is a platform? they are going to bring one into this house, and we shall be flayed alive or murdered in our beds!"
i said to her once: "you know you are not really handsomer than the rest of us! why do people say so?"
"because i never trick myself out in diamonds, or have more than one color in a gown. an artist told me once that all those things spoiled a picture."
she would have liked the diamonds as well as the rest of us, and once said so to her husband. "oh, no!" he answered, "diamonds are the consolation of old wives, a diamond for a wrinkle!"
mrs. douglas was the first of the washington ladies who adopted the fashion of closing her shutters in the early afternoon and lighting her rooms with gas. she was delighted as a child with the effect and indulged in a preliminary waltz with me before the company arrived. "o dear!" she exclaimed, suddenly, "what am i to do with this awful picture of judge douglas's? i daren't take it away because he bought it for his first wife; and when old mrs. martin pounces down upon us to see how we are spending her grandchildren's money, she will miss it, and think i've sold it! but isn't it awful? do spread out your flounces in front of it as well as you can." the noonday lighting of her rooms was a great success. lord lyons looked up 70 and spoke of the beauty of the starlit night, adding "and there's a fine moon out of doors." john g. saxe was one of the guests—and his merry hostess introduced him as "deserving capital punishment for making people laugh themselves to death."
i have had occasion to allude so often to the costumes of the ladies of mr. buchanan's administration, that i have resolved boldly to ask my reader to accompany me for a few minutes to vanity fair, as, guided by society reports of the period, i describe the dresses worn by the leaders of fashion. i suppose the journals of our day would not print columns on columns describing the gowns worn at balls, unless there were some sure to read. costume has always interested the world. it is still a question whether costume influences character, or vice versa. and yet one regrets to treat charming women as though they were lay figures.
there will be a great deal of sorrowful record in this book. let us linger awhile on the flowery brink, before we reach the time when the noise of angry waters will be too loud to be hushed by the frou-frou of a lady's silken gown. moreover, there are always mistakes and misconceptions to be corrected and set right. have i not just read in a new york daily paper of the ugly fashions of the washington of the times just before the war—the "great hoops, gowns of reps, the hideous tints of red, the congress gaiters; how nobody wore a ball gown costing more than $55," etc., etc.? the congress gaiters must be acknowledged, the hoops also, but perhaps they may all come again; and then 71 some beauty like the empress of the french may arise to make them beautiful. they were large! beside them queen elizabeth's farthingale was an insignificant circumstance. the belle in the fifties lived in an expansive time. there was still plenty of room in the world. houses were broad and low, carriages were broad and low, furniture was massive. even a small pier glass was broadened by great scrolls of mahogany. drawing-rooms were filled with vast arm-chairs, sofas, and tables. the legs of pianos were made as massive as possible.
ladies wore enormous hoops, and because their heads looked like small handles to huge bells, they widened the coiffure into broad bandeaux and braids, loaded it with garlands of flowers, and enlarged it by means of a wide head-dress of tulle, lace, and feathers, or crowned it with a coal-scuttle bonnet tied under the chin with wide ribbons. in this guise they sailed fearlessly about, with no danger of jostling a neighbor or overturning the furniture. they had not then filled their rooms with spider-legged chairs and tables, nor crowded the latter with frail toys and china. now that so many of these things are imported, now that the world is so full of people,—in the streets, cars, theatres, at receptions,—milady has found she must reef her sails. breadth was the ambition of 1854—length and slimness the supreme attainment of 1904. what would the modern belle look like, among all these skyscrapers, in a hoop? like a ball—nothing more.
finding herself with all this amplitude, milady of the fifties essayed gorgeous decoration. she had 72 stretched a large canvas; she now covered it with pictures—bouquets and baskets of flowers appeared on the woollens for house dresses; on the fine gauzes and silks one might find excellent representations of the lake of geneva, with a distant view of the swiss mountains.
when a lady ordered a costume for a ball, her flowers arrived in a box larger than the glazed boxes of to-day in which modistes send home our gowns. the garniture included a wreath for the hair, with bunches at the back from which depended trailing vines. the bouquet de corsage sometimes extended to each shoulder. bouquets were fastened on gloves at the wrist, wreaths trailed down the skirt, wreaths looped the double skirt in festoons. only one kind of flower was considered in good taste. milady must look like a basket of shaded roses, or lilies, or pomegranates, or violets. ropes of wax beads were sometimes substituted for flowers.
i once entered a milliner's shop—not my dear madame delarue's—and in the centre of the room, suspended by a wire from the ceiling, was one of these huge garnitures—all tied together and descending down to the floor. "this, madame," i said, "is something very recherché?"
"yes, madame! that is the rarest parure i have. there was never one like it. there will never be another."
i scrutinized the flowers, and found nothing remarkable in any way.
"that, madame," continued the milliner, "was purchased from me by the wife of senator ——! 73 she wore it to mrs. gwin's ball, and returned it to me next day. i ask no pay! i keep it for the sake of mrs. senator ——, that i may have the honor of exhibiting it to my patrons."
there is no reason, because we sometimes choose to swing back into the ghastly close-fitted skirt, or to wrap ourselves like a tanagra figurine, that we should despise a more spacious time. nor is it at all beneath us to attach enough importance to dress to describe it. witness the recent "costumes of two centuries," by one of our most accomplished writers. witness the teachings of a theologian eighteen hundred or more years ago, who condescended to illustrate his sermon by women's ways with dress! says tertullian: "let simplicity be your white, charity your vermilion; dress your eyebrows with modesty, and your lips with reservedness. let instruction be your ear-rings, and a ruby cross the front pin in your head; submission to your husband your best ornament. employ your hands in housewifely duties, and keep your feet within your own doors. let your garments be of the silk of probity, the fine linen of sanctity, and the purple of chastity."
"how does that impress you for a nineteenth-century costume?" i asked agnes my bosom friend, to whom i read the passage aloud. "well," she replied, "i should be perfectly willing to try the ruby hairpin as a beginning—and get clagett to order the new brand of silk, which sounds as if it might be a very pure article indeed and warranted to wear well; but if you are seeking my honest opinion 74 of tertullian, i frankly confess that i think our clothes and our behavior to our husbands are none of his business."
society letters of 1857 give us strictly accurate description of toilettes, which may interest some of my readers:[3]—
"the wealth of the present cabinet, and their elegant style of living, sets the pace for washington soirées—equal in magnificence to the gorgeous fêtes of versailles.
"at the postmaster-general's the regal ball room was lined with superb mirrors from floor to ceiling. in the drawing-rooms opposite the host, hostess, and daughter and miss nerissa saunders occupied the post of receiving.
"mrs. brown was dressed in rose-colored brocade, with an exquisite resemblance of white lace stamped in white velvet, a point lace cape, and turban set with diamonds. miss brown wore a white silk tissue embroidered in moss rosebuds, a circlet of pearls on her hair, and natural flowers on her bosom. lady napier wore white brocaded satin, with head-dress of scarlet honeysuckle. madame de sartige's gown was of white embroidered crêpe, garnished with sprays of green. the wife of senator slidell was costumed in black velvet, trimmed with fur. her head-dress was of crimson velvet, rich lace, and ostrich feathers. a superb bandeau of pearls bound her raven hair. miss nerissa saunders was exquisite in a white silk, veiled with tulle, the skirts trimmed with rose-colored 75 quilling. mrs. senator clay wore canary satin, covered all over with gorgeous point lace. mrs. john j. crittenden was superb in blue moire antique, with point lace trimmings. mrs. general mcqueen of south carolina appeared in a white silk with cherry trimmings, her head-dress of large pearls fit for a queen. mrs. senator gwin wore superb crimson moire antique with point lace, and a head-dress of feathers fastened with large diamonds. mrs. stephen a. douglas, a white tulle dress over white silk—the overdress looped with bunches of violets and grass, similar bunches on breast and shoulder, and trailing in her low coiffure. mrs. faulkner from virginia was attired in blue silk and mechlin lace, her daughters in white illusion. mrs. reverdy johnson was superb in lemon satin and velvet pansies. mrs. pringle of charleston wore a velvet robe of lemon color; mrs. judge roosevelt of new york velvet and diamonds; mrs. senator pugh of ohio crimson velvet with ornaments of rubies and crimson pomegranate flowers."
this last lady, mrs. pugh, wife of the senator from ohio, was par excellence the beauty of the day. to see her in this dress was enough to "bid the rash gazer wipe his eye." her eyes were large, dark, and most expressive. her hair was dark, her coloring vivid. mrs. douglas, mrs. pugh, and kate chase were the three unapproached, unapproachable, beauties of the buchanan administration. the daughter of senator chase was really too young to go to balls. she was extremely beautiful, 76 "her complexion was marvellously delicate, her fine features seeming to be cut from fine bisque, her eyes, bright, soft, sweet, were of exquisite blue, and her hair a wonderful color like the ripe corn-tassel in full sunlight. her teeth were perfect. poets sang then, and still sing, of the turn of her beautiful neck and the regal carriage of her head." she was as intellectual as she was beautiful. from her teens she had been initiated into political questions for which her genius and her calm, thoughtful nature eminently fitted her. when she realized that neither party would nominate her father for president in 1860, she turned her energetic mind to the formation of plans and intrigues to obtain for him the nomination of 1868! she failed in that, she failed in everything, poor girl. she wrecked her life by a marriage with a wealthy, uncongenial governor of rhode island, from whom she fled with swift feet across the lawn of the beautiful home at canonchet, and hand in hand with poverty and sorrow ended her life in obscurity.
it is going to be a long time before we again visit vanity fair; and lest it linger too delightfully in our memories, we must try to find some rift in the lute, some fly in the amber—not daring, however, to look beneath the surface.
and so we are fain to acknowledge that the evening gowns of these fair dames were liberal only in their skirts. the bodice was décolleté to the extremest limit—as i suppose it will always be. and then, as now,—as always,—there was no lack of wise men, usually youthful prophets, to preach against 77 it, to read for our instruction solomon's disrespectful allusions to jewels in the ears of fair women without discretion, and st. paul's well-known remarks upon our foibles. "the idea of quoting solomon as an authority on women," said my friend agnes one day, as we walked from church. "i never quote solomon! he knew a good many women without discretion, some hundreds of them; but he didn't live up to his convictions, and he changed his mind very often. he was to my thinking not at all a nice person to know."
"but how about st. paul?" i ventured.
"i consider it very small in st. paul to think so much about dress anyway! one would suppose the thorn in his own flesh would have made him tender toward others; and timothy must have been a poor creature to be taken in by 'braided hair,' 'gold and pearls, and costly array.' now, of course, we have a few of those things, and like to wear our hair neatly; but i don't see why they are not suitable for us so long as we don't live for them, nor seek to entangle timothy."
"well," i replied, "i never can feel it is at all my affair. i hear it often enough! but somehow st. simeon stylites, preaching away on his pillar, seems a great way off, and not to know the bearings of all he talks about. we listen to him dutifully; but i fancy if we amend our ways we will do it of our own selves, and not because of st. simeon."
"i wouldn't mind st. simeon," said my irate friend (she had worked herself up to a pitch of indignation); "probably he was old and venerable, and to be tolerated; 78 but it hurts me to be preached to by a young thing like that minister to-day, as if i were a babylonish woman! we don't 'walk haughtily with stretched-forth necks, walking and mincing as we go, making a tinkling with our feet.' and as to our 'changeable suits of apparel,' and the 'crimping pins,' do we live for these things? our maids make a living by taking care of them while we are at church hoping to hear of something better than crimping pins."
the lady who expressed these heretical sentiments was, as i have remarked, my most intimate friend; and although not older than herself, i considered it my duty to reason with her. "but you see, my dear agnes," i said, "we are obliged to be on the side of our young preacher, whether we like it or not. he is the white-plumed champion riding forth from the courts of purity and beauty of behavior. we wouldn't like to be the sable knight who emerges from the opposite direction."
"i would!" declared my young rebel. "infantile clergymen should keep to the sins of their own sex. nobody criticises men's dress. they are exempt. they may surround their countenances with henry viii ruffs, which make them look like the head of john the baptist on a charger,—nobody calls them ridiculous. they wear the briefest surf costumes—nobody says they are indecent."
"but, my dear—"
"but, my dear, i know all about the matter of evening dress. i've studied it up. it is a time-honored fashion (i can show you all about it in my 79 new encyclop?dia). you remember i let you air your learning and quote old tertullian. did i look bored?"
"not at all. you may tell me now. you can finish before we get home."
"well, then, the décolleté bodice is not a new expression of total depravity. it is an old fashion, appearing in 1280, with stomacher of jewels. it reached england from bohemia, but was then the fashion in italy, poland, and spain. those times were not conspicuous for sentiment, but were quite as moral as the times of the greek chiton, or the roman tunic, or the norman robe, or the saxon gown."
"but," i interrupted, "it was out of fashion in the high-necked days of queen elizabeth."
"oh, she had her own reasons for disliking to see a suggestive bare throat! queen bess was not conspicuous for purity. don't interrupt me—i'll prove everything by the book—lots of good women have worn low dresses. madame recamier was a pretty good woman, and so were our grandmothers, and so were the ladies of the golden age in virginia who reared the boys that won our independence."
"all of which proves nothing," i declared; but we had reached our door on new york avenue, and went in for our sunday dinner. my friend did not inflict the encyclop?dia. she had already quoted it. what was the use? we may be sure of one thing: no fashion has ever yet been discarded because it was abused. no damascus blade has ever been keen enough to lop off an offending fashion.
