1881NovemberDecember

December

Thurs. 1st Dec.
Mamma, Max & I dined at Ms. O. at 6. to Willard's hall aftern. to sell at her stalls in a fair for St. Matthews Church. Cd with Jinny McL. on the Hunts (Sec.) Miss Beal, Mrs. Emory, Mrs. Cameron, Mrs. L. Irving.
Willard's Hotel was one of Washington's best known hotels. It was there that Ulysses S. Grant stayed when he first arrived in Washington.
Friday 2nd
Breakf. at J. Mrs. L. With Miss Hunt. Mrs. Ross Ray, Ct Lewenhaupt cd.
Sat. 3rd
To Georgetown wharf with Mama & Mrs. McLean. To Mrs. Phillips in the af. Mrs. Schuyler Crowninshield.
Sun. 4th
To Ch. Major Ferguson walked home with me. Cd. on Brs Roass Ray. Mme. Outrey. In the af to Mrs. Robeson's Reception. Mrs Hale, Mr. Boutrell, Woodbury Blair, Bliss, Kasson, presented & Miss Warden.
Mon. 5th
At the house all day_ Lunched at Mrs. Hopkins & down town for papers. Mrs. Blaine, Mrs. A. Bliss Cd. (_ment to Mr John Forbes). Letter from Minnie Griswold ??? her corsage.
Dec. 6th tues.
To the house in the morning. Lunch at the Knight's with Mrs. Hopkins, Miss Mixter, Mlle de Noqueiras & Mlle Martinez. It being Miss K.'s recep. day, stayed till aftern. Mr. Ogdens drove me home.
Miercoles 7
A la nueva casa todo el dia. Comé en ca. de la Señora John Davis con Mrs Robeson, Miss Stout, Mr Phillips who took me in. Woodbury Blair, the expert, Dr Hamilton, Mr Robeson- ??ó el Presidente Arthur, muy tarde, como nos queriamos marchar y quedemos un rato pero el me habló.


Wednesday 7
At the new house all day. Ate at the house of Mrs. John Davis with Mrs. Robeson, Miss Stout, Mr Phillips who took me in, Woodbury Blaire, the expert, Dr. Hamilton, Mrs Robeson - met the President, Arthur, very late, as we wanted to walk and stay a moment, but he talked to me.


The President is Chester A. Arthur, who became president following the assination of James A. Garfield.
Jueves 8.
Mr. & Mrs. Worden (Rear Admiral) nos hicieron v. y el señor W. Hallett Phillips, Mrs & Miss ??? (secretary navy)


Thursday 8.
Mr. & Mrs. Worden (Rear Admiral) visited us and Mr. W.
Hallett Phillips, Mrs & Miss ??? (secretary navy)


Fri 9th
Fri. 9th
In the ??? to look for the $50 that the old Mrs. P.C. Brooks sent me. Lunched at the home of Mrs. Hopkins as each day of the week. Miss Knight called & Mrs. & Miss Hack.
Sat. 10th
Mrs. Henry Adams cd. Dined at the French Legation. 18 people. Mme Outrey was sick and could not appear and Countess Lewenhaupt took her place. The de la Barca's (the Spanish Minister), de Zamacona (Mexican Min.), Mrs Martinez and her daughter, Miss de Noqueiras, Mrs. Berard among others was there, and others whose names escape me.
Francisco Barca del Corral was Spanish Minister to Washington from 1881 through 1883. Mrs Henry Adams referred to his wife as being "stout, jolly, and common."
Sunday 11.
To church. I returned with Mr. Woodbury Blair. At night Papa and I went to the Robeson's. The presented me to the Belgian Minister, the Count d'Hannetam?, the Secretary of State (Blaine), Mrs. Strong and Belmont.
Monday 12.
All day in the new house as is customary. Lunch here with Mr. Hopkins.
Tuesday 13.
" " Lunch here. The de Zamacona's (Mexican min.) visit.
Wednesday 14.
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Thursday 15.
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Friday 16.
We left Mrs. Penn's house at 1800 F. and came here, 1777 Massachusetts Av. M. and Mme. Outrey came for the afternoon and Mrs. Hopkins to give advice on the general arrangements. Papa went away to N.Y. Min. Stout also came.
Saturday 17.
Helene left the Robeson house and came here.
Sunday 18.
To the Church of the Epiphany with Mrs. Hopkins. In the afternoon with Mama to see Mme Outrey, Bina and her daughter. Mrs Phillips and Miss Lee, Jinny McLane and Ginny Pendleton. In the evening Mamma and I went with the Hopkins, Miss Lee., Mr. Lowndes & Ch. Russell to the Loring house and found it fastidious. We concluded the night Mrs. Robeson's where it was crowded as usual.

George F. Pendleton was the senator from Ohio. The Loring house is the house of Dr. George Bailey Loring(1817-1891), his second wife Anna (formerly Anna Smith Hildreth), and his daughter Sally by his first wife Mary Pickman Loring. George Loring is one of the more interesting characters to pass regularly through Amy's journal. Perhaps the most concise and precise description of him is that of Joan Maloney [17]:

The man so admired by his contemporaries was, in fact, a splendid example of the venality of our Gilded Age.
Maloney describes in detail Loring's abuse of his wife's fortune and his theft of his daughter Sally's inheritance, but more relavant here is his political and Washington D.C. side.

Tiring of medicine at an early age, he became active in Democratic Party politics and retired from his practice in 1850 when appointed postmaster of Salem, Massachussetts by President Franklin Pierce. Sensing the the political wind changes, he switched parties late in the Civil War, eventually winning election to Congress as a Republican in 1876. He was an early and eager booster for James G. Blaine. When Blaine became President Garfield's Secretary of State he arranged for Loring's appointment as Commissioner of Agriculture (on the day before Garfield's assisination), a position he held until 1885, when he and most Republican office holders were swept out by Grover Cleveland's defeat of James G. Blaine, who had won the nomination over the incumbent Chester A. Arthur. When the Republicans returned to power in 1888 with the election of Benjamin Harrison, Blaine was unable to find Loring the cabinet post he desired. He settled for the backwater post of Minister to Portugal.

Loring had a knack for supporting losers. In addition to promoting Blaine, he was an admirer of Jefferson Davis and later of George McClellan. He was a long time colleague of General Benjamin "Beast" Butler, a political Civil War general who did much to exacerbate the ill feelings between North and South during his administration of occupied New Orleans. He died in debt following a severe attack of diarrhea.

Mrs. Henry Adams did not seem to like Loring much. In her letter of 3 December 1882 to her father after mentioning she is having a dinner party for the George B. Lorings she asks

Will Aunt Eunice ever speak to me again if you tell her we are to dine with Dr. Loring? Neither Henry nor I ever spoke to him, but I called on his new wife last week; she's quite pleasing and we met so often that it has grown to be awkward not to call.
Monday 19.
I did not leave the house except to go to a grand reception in the evening at Mrs. Blaine's for the presentation to the diplomatic core of her husband's successor, Mr. Frelinghuysen, the new Secretary of State. I was presented to him.
Tuesday 20.
Did not go out. The Misses Ogden visited us.
Wednesday 21.
Did not go out. Mrs. Craig Wadsworth lunched here. Visited by Mr. Frelinghuysen and the Vicount de Noqueiras, among others.
Thursday 22.
Visited by the Lowndes and W. Blair and by Mrs. Keever?
Friday 23.
Bought various things for Christmas Eve.
Saturday 24.
Mrs. Wadsworth lunched with us as every day of the week.
Sunday 25.
Mama gave me a bracelet of hers (?? and cameos) ?? gloves and a ?? of resin. Helene gave me a change purse. I gave her 69 books that I had when I was a child in Paris that just arrived with the furniture, and also a game. To Papa I gave two silver stickpins. Mama's gift was not even bought. ??? to Augustine who spends his vacation with Uncle John in Boston. At night we visited Mr. F. Roca de Togores. The Loring's with Papa.

In a letter written on Christmas Day by Mrs. James G.  Blaine to her son, she says

... I interrupted myself in my letter yesterday to take H to Mme Outrey's, whither she was to go to practice a carol which her children and Ethel Robeson and Max Heard are to sing to-morrow at eleven.
In the same letter she mentions that Sackville-West had brought his daughter to call on the 23rd and that it was her first call since her arrival in Washington on the previous day.
Monday 26.
Miss de Nogueiras visited. To Mrs. Emory, Schuyler Crowninshield, Temple.
Tuesday 27.
Visits to the Ogdens, Beales, Irvings, McKeever, Blaine, Worden, McLanes, Ferguson, Schenk, Davenport. By John King.
Wednesday 28.
To see Mrs. J. Davis, Mrs & Miss Slack, Min. Stout, Jenny Pendleton, Mrs. Hopkins. Mrs. C. Wadworth lunched with us. Visits by Mrs. Loring, Miss Loring, Mrs. Bancroft, Jinny McLane, Miss Cameron, Mr. Fox. Mrs Ross Ray and Mrs. Alb. Ray. Mr. Davenport & W. Phillips.
Thursday 29.
To the Christmas Eve tree at the French Legation, 3-5.
Friday 30.
Mrs. W. lunched with us. Visit by Mrs. Peter Parker and her son. Mlle de Chambrun, Mrs. Adams came to ask me the favor of eating with them at the place of Mrs Cameron and to go to the theatre to see "The Vokeses" in "Cousin Joe" and "Fun in a fog." Amusing. It was a party consisting of the two Adams, Mr. & Mrs. de Bildt, also Miss Beale ate with us, but she did not go to the theatre because her mother was sick.

In Mrs. Henry Adams Letters she writes on 1 January 1882

Friday some folks to dine, to adjourn to the Vokeses_Mrs. Don Cameron and Aristarchi Bey, both ill, gave out just at the last, so I got Miss Heard and Laughlin, and Mr. de Bildt and Miss Beale were on hand. Tell the Gurneys I give in to "Fun in a Fog"; I nearly had hysterics. General Sherman sat in front mopping his tear-stained face.

Gregoire Aristarchi Bey was the popular Turkish minister.

Saturday 31.
To see Mrs de Nogueiras and Hopkins.

Robert M. Gray, September 23, 2005

1881NovemberDecember