A Belle of the Fifties Memoirs of Mrs. Clay of Alabama, covering social and political life in Washington and the South, 1853-1866. Put into narrative form by Ada — Story, Setting & Ideas

A Bit of Family History—Plantation Scenes in North Carolina and Alabama—A Caravan of the Early Thirties—“De Year de Stars Fell”—I Partially “Scalp” My Cousin—The Strange Experience of an Early Alabama Instructress—Miss Brooks, a Distinguished Educator—My Uncle Takes My Training in Hand—A First Flight into the Beautiful World—Charles Kean and Ellen Tree—I Meet a Famous Belle—Mme. Le Vert Instructs Me in the Dance—An Intense Love Affair—My Knight Fails Me—A Gallant Lover Appears—Social Doings at a Primitive Capital—Poetswains in the Early Forties—A Dance with William L. Yancey—My Premonitions Are Realised and “My Own Comes to Me”—Marriage in the Morn of Life—The Homecoming of the Bride 3

CHAPTER II. WASHINGTON PERSONAGES IN THE FIFTIES.

Journey to the Capital—An Early “Congressional Limited”—A Stump Orator of Alabama, the “Maker of Senators”—Arrival at the Capital—The Night Clerk Refuses Us Accommodations at the National Hotel—Undercurrents of Strife in Society—Mrs. Pierce—Pennsylvania Avenue in the Fifties—Survey of Washington’s Hostesses—Mme. de Bodisco and the Glacées—Her Second Marriage at Old St. John’s—Foreign Legations—Reminiscence of Octavia Walton in Washington—Mrs. Riggs Gives a Midnight Supper to Patti—Heller Appears; Likewise the Grand Elephant Hannibal 19

CHAPTER III. A HISTORIC CONGRESSIONAL “MESS.”

Our Mess at Historic Brown’s Hotel and at the Ebbitt House—Mrs. Pugh and the Baron Hulseman—The Boy Henry Watterson—Congressmen Clopton, Curry, Dowdell, L. Q. C. Lamar, and Shorter, Senator Fitzpatrick, and Their Wives—Mr. Dowdell Goes to Hear Gottschalk—Circumstances of the Sudden Death of Preston Brooks—The Stockton Mansion and Its Romances—Our “Mess” Considers the Prudence of Calling on a Certain Lady—Retribution Overtakes Us—Master Benny, the Hotel Terror 42

CHAPTER IV. THE CABINET CIRCLES OF PRESIDENTS PIERCE AND BUCHANAN.

Washington in 1856—Secret Visit of President Pierce—Personal Recollections of Him—Secretaries Marcy, Cushing, and Dobbin—Incidents of the Latter’s Kindness of Heart—Secretary of War Jefferson Davis—Postmaster-General Brown—Secretary of State Guthrie—Story of the Conquest of Chevalier Bertinatti 58

CHAPTER V. SOLONS OF THE CAPITAL.

Society of Supreme Court Circles—Chief Justice Taney—Judge Campbell—Professors Henry and Maury—A Visit to the Latter’s Observatory—Thomas Hart Benton—George Wallace Tones: His Romantic History as Surveyor-General of the Great Northwest. At the Age of Ninety-one He Recalls a Day When He Meant to Kill Seward—Meeting with Myra Clarke Gaines—Senator and Mrs. Crittenden, a “Perfectly Happy Woman” 73

CHAPTER VI. FASHIONS OF THE FIFTIES.

Aspect of Fashionable Society of the Pierce and Buchanan Administrations—Perditas of the Period—Low Necks and Lace Berthas—Kind Offices of American Consuls—Mr. Thomson and Miss Lane’s Toy Terrier—He Reports Upon the Petticoats at Brighton—Washington Dressmakers as Miracle-Workers—Mrs. Rich, a True Reconstructionist—Belles and Beaux of the Period—Barton Key—His Murder—Mrs. Sickles at Home—Revival of Moustaches—General Sam Houston; His Strange Attire—A Glimpse of This Hero in the Senate and in Society 86

CHAPTER VII. THE RELAXATIONS OF CONGRESSIONAL FOLK.

Public Recreation—Flights to New York—Jenny Lind—Charlotte Cushman—Mrs. Gilbert and the Comedian Brougham in “Pocahontas”—Mr. Thackeray—Dr. Maynard—Blind Tom at the White House—Marine Band Concerts on the White House Lawn—President Pierce and the Countryman—President Buchanan and the Indians—Apothleohola, a Cherokee Patriarch—Dr. Morrow and the Expedition to Japan—Return of Same—Ruse of the Oriental Potentate to Prevent Our Securing Germinating Rice—A Plague of Japanese Handkerchiefs 101

CHAPTER VIII. THE BRILLIANT BUCHANAN ADMINISTRATION.

Miss Lane Becomes Lady of the White House—Her Influence on Washington Life—The Coming of Lord and Lady Napier—Their Hospitality—They Give a Ball to Lords Cavendish and Ashley—Mrs. Crittenden Puts to Rout a Younger Belle—Lord Napier Proposes a Toast to the Chevalier Bayard—Washington Citizens Give a Ball to the Napiers, at Which James Gordon Bennett Is Seen in the Dance—Some Prominent Citizen Hostesses—Lilly Price, the Future Duchess of Marlborough—Mr. W. W. Corcoran—His Lavish Entertainments—Howell Cobb’s Appreciation—A Stranger’s Lack of It—I Take the Daughter of a Constituent to See the Capitol 114

CHAPTER IX. A CELEBRATED SOCIAL EVENT.

Mrs. Gwin’s Fancy Ball—To the White House for Inspection—Aunt Ruthy Partington Presents Herself to Mrs. Gwin—Mrs. Pendleton is Mystified—Senator Gwin and “My Boy Ike”—Lord and Lady Napier and Others of “Our Furrin Relations”—The Squelching of a Brave Baltimorean—Senator Seward Gives Welcome to the Stranger from Beanville—Mr. Shillaber Offers “to Immortalise” Me 126

CHAPTER X. EXODUS OF SOUTHERN SOCIETY FROM THE FEDERAL CITY.