Mrs. Hayes was the most widely known and universally popular President’s wife the country has known. She was an element in the administration that was gladly recognized, and her influence was most potent and admirable. In her successful career as the first lady of the land was outlined the future possibilities of her sex in all other positions and conditions. She represented the new woman era, and was the first of the women of the White House of the third period. The women of the Revolutionary period of American history exhibited stronger traits of character than those who succeeded them. There was necessity for higher qualities—the display of courage, heroism and fortitude, and they were discovered in every emergency. The country was young and the people were experimenting with liberty; there were common dangers to be shared, and fewer honors than have fallen to those who came into the inheritance secured for them. With the end of the administration of John Quincy Adams a new generation of men and women claimed public notice, and the women who came to hold the highest place of honor in the land were the representatives of this second era of the country’s history. They were social queens, but nothing more. They aspired to supremacy in the drawing room, and were content to acquire it. Some were too little used to the world to care for even this, and led retired domestic lives, wholly apart from the public careers of their husbands.

Mrs. Hayes is the product of the last half of the nineteenth century, and in her strong, healthful influence gives the world assurance of what the next century women will be. Her life, for many years, was spent before the public, and she so fully identified herself with her husband’s administration that it can never be remembered apart from her. She gave her every thought to the maintenance and advancement of her husband’s fame and name as the Chief Magistrate of the United States; she deemed no act, however insignificant of itself, too slight to be considered unimportant if, in its results, it could add to his renown. In no one particular did she so ably display her strength of character as in commanding, by her strict adherence to her domestic duties, the recognition due her for her able performance of the responsibility devolving upon her as the counsellor and friend of the President. Mrs. Hayes went to the White House prepared through her happy married life, through her winsome, cheerful spirit; through her long experience in official circles; through her intelligence and culture, and her social rank and attributes, to fill the highest place a woman can occupy in a Republic. Through her husband the dignified place she filled was hers, and in the daily performance of the pleasant duties of hostess of the Executive Mansion she thought of his honor first. In the results attained by her was again exemplified the truth of the old adage that we cannot rightly help others without helping ourselves. She, in lending additional strength to her husband’s administration, commanded increased respect for her sex. She gave the world a fair example of the power for good which a woman of fine breeding and social opportunities can exercise. Mrs. Hayes called forth, through her successful efforts in placing herself beside her husband in his official rank, a more just appreciation of her womanhood and a higher reverence for the relations of wifehood and motherhood. This service, though it has not been generally recognized as such, is perhaps the greatest she could have done the world. The assertion will be endorsed when the fact, which cannot be controverted, is recognized, that great men in this country have not always been fortunate in being wedded to representative women. From the time of Franklin down to the era of Henry Clay, and even more recently, the wives of many of the leading public men of the country have not been remarkable. It will require but little effort to recall the many representatives of the commonplace in women who have filled—or rather failed to fill—the places made theirs by reason of their husbands’ positions. The harmony of domestic life has been lost to public men, no less than to those not known to the public, by their refusal or their inability to recognize the individuality of their wives and the duty these same wives owed to society and the world at large. Ignorance and prejudice, combined with jealousy, have cost men in their domestic relations more misery than the world readily perceives, but it is gradually coming to appreciate the fact through the tares that have come up in the places where a harvest was anticipated. People do not gather grapes from thistles nor figs from thorns with any greater success than in olden times. And from the days of Socrates down to that of President Hayes homes have been bright and happy, or otherwise, according to the respect in which the women at the head of them were held. Many of our great men have left an unpleasant record of their domestic lives, and the retribution has come in the misconduct of children, sometimes to the third and fourth generation. Mrs. Hayes, in her honored place, helped men and women to realize the glory of life when love is its impelling power; and in the hearts of women this feeling was much strengthened by observing the universal and spontaneous reverence exhibited toward a woman who was strong in herself and in the public position she sustained.

Mrs. Hayes was born in Chillicothe, when it was the capital of Ohio, and was the daughter of Dr. James Webb, and the granddaughter of Dr. Isaac Cook. The Webbs were natives of Granville county, North Carolina. In the last century three worthy brothers belonging to this family went out from home to carve their own way. One of them became a leading merchant of Richmond, Virginia; a second one lived near his old home, wedded to farm life; and the third removed to Ohio and became a prominent physician. This latter brother was the father of Lucy Webb. He died in 1833, of cholera, in Lexington, Kentucky, where he had gone to complete arrangements for sending slaves to Liberia who had been set free by himself and his father. The maternal grandfather of Miss Webb was one of the first settlers of Chillicothe, and belonged to the best Puritan stock of New England. Her mother, Mrs. Webb, was a lady of unusual strength of character and of deep religious convictions. After the death of her husband she removed to Delaware, in order to be near the Wesleyan University, where her sons were educated. Her fortune was ample, and she was enabled to give her children every advantage. In order to be near them she fitted up a cottage on the college grounds, and her house was thenceforth a happy gathering-place for the classmates of the brothers at holiday times. She studied with her brothers and recited to the college instructors, and had the advantages of a training which prepared her for the Wesleyan Female College at Cincinnati, which she entered at the same time that her brothers commenced their studies in the medical college. She was peculiarly fortunate in having as her early teachers the professors of the university at Delaware, and it is no small credit to the denomination to which she belonged to have it said that it gave to both sexes the best school advantages to be procured in the West in that day or at the present time.

The training of girls was not considered as important twenty-five years ago as it is now, and when the opportunities enjoyed by Miss Webb are considered, together with the fact that she was a graduate of the first chartered college for young women in the United States, it will be realized from whence came her executive ability and well-balanced character. She was, while at the college in Cincinnati, under the instruction and in the family of Rev. Mr. and Mrs. P. B. Wilbur, and her stay with them was a season of enjoyment and study. It was during her life in this school that her affections were engaged by Mr. Hayes, then a promising young lawyer of Cincinnati and a native of Delaware. She was at the Delaware Sulphur Springs enjoying a vacation when she formed his acquaintance, and he thenceforth became a frequent visitor at the Friday evening receptions held at the college parlors. The expression the vivacious under-graduate made upon him during this summer vacation is expressed in a letter he wrote to a friend in Delaware after his return to the city. He says: “My friend Jones has introduced me to many of our city belles, but I do not see any one who makes me forget the natural gayety and attractiveness of Miss Lucy.”

Her schoolmates have many pleasant memories of her. One of them, writing of her in 1880, while she was yet in the White House, referred to her great likeness to her mother in mental and moral qualities in this wise, and thus speaks of one of her traits of character. She says: “There is one trait in the character of Mrs. Hayes which I should like to emphasize. She absolutely will not talk gossip. Even in the intimate confidences of daily intercourse she is as guarded as in the presence of a multitude. The Executive Mansion has for its mistress one who is a living exemplification of Christ’s Golden Rule. Except in very rare instances, when some act of oppression to the poor or the defenceless outrages her sense of right, she is always thoroughly kind in expression. I think this trait of carefulness for the feelings of others a gift from her mother, who had a nature exceedingly genial and kind. It is indeed a blessed thing for our country that such a woman had the training of our President’s wife.”

While yet at school Miss Webb became a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and was even in those early years ardently attached to the duties and requirements of a Christian life, and in this, as in other respects, followed closely in the footsteps of her mother. She was a clever student, as one of her companions in school admits in a letter in which she says: “Lucy Webb was a first-class student in botany and other studies, and I have reason to recall my feeling of mingled annoyance and admiration as our teacher, Miss De Forrest, would turn from us older girls to Miss Webb, who sat at the head of the class, and get from her a clear analysis of the flower under discussion, or the correct transposition of some involved line of poetry. Somewhat of this accuracy was doubtless due to the fact that she had been trained in the severe drill of the Ohio Wesleyan University. She remained in the Ladies’ College of Cincinnati until she completed its course of study.”

In 1852, two years subsequent to her meeting with Mr. Hayes, the young lady, whom he had courted most assiduously while she was yet engaged with her studies, became his bride. The marriage ceremony was performed by Professor L. D. McCabe, of the Wesleyan University, December 20, 1852, and the only attendant of the young pair was a pretty child of eight years, the daughter of the bridegroom’s only sister. It was a simple, unpretentious wedding, attended by loving friends, and crowned by the most absolute affection. It has proven a marriage of absolute happiness, and the successful career of Mr. Hayes is in a large measure due to the devotion of his wife, and the intelligent appreciation of his aspirations which she had, and which she inspired and encouraged. This sentiment of loyalty for and faith in her husband is one of her admirable traits, and it has been one which has greatly endeared her to others; “all the world loves a lover,” runs the old saying, and if the feeling entertained for Mrs. Hayes by the public were analyzed it would be found to be due to her womanly and wifely qualities and to the healthful atmosphere of her home-life. Several incidents which aptly portray the sensitive appreciation she has of what is due the fame of her husband from her are related, the following being a prototype of many told. Soon after Mrs. Hayes reached the White House she was visited by the wife of a minister of Washington, and asked to forbid the use of wine in the mansion during her stay there. Mrs. Hayes heard the request with polite surprise, and replied in these words: “Madame, it is my husband, not myself, who is President. I think that a man who is capable of filling so important a position, as I believe my husband to be, is quite competent to establish such rules as will obtain in his house without calling on members of other households. I would not offend you, and I would not offend Mr. Hayes, who knows what is due to his position, his family and himself, without any interference of others, directly or through his wife.” This reply, in the face of the fact that Mrs. Hayes was a strong temperance woman, a Methodist, and very likely as entirely decided in her mind then as later regarding the subject, is a pleasing evidence of the earnest self-respect of the President’s wife. As to the stand she did take, the following letter, written by Rev. Dr. Read, fully explains. The subject created considerable discussion at the time and afterwards:

“Mrs. Hayes has decided that hereafter, while she occupies the White House, there shall be no wine upon the table, even upon state occasions, when American citizens dine with the President. Noble stand for a noble Christian woman! God be praised for such a grand, heroic woman to occupy the highest social position in the nation at this time! It is an answer to prayer. She comes from Ohio, where the woman’s crusade against intemperance began, and where she caught from her Christian sisters something of that noble, heroic spirit that dares to do right in the face of the world. Henceforth the name of Mrs. Hayes shall be enrolled with the noblest women of the race, and with the Marys who stood by the cross of Jesus, even when all the men, except the womanly John, had deserted him.”

President Hayes, whose public life for a quarter of a century has been a series of successes, was the youngest child of Rutherford Hayes, who died before his son’s birth. The mother upon whom the sole care of the family devolved, and the only parent her boy ever knew, was a character of rare sweetness and strength. She was left in straitened circumstances, but was a self-reliant woman and a good manager, and she was able to give her children excellent educational advantages. Mr. Hayes was a graduate of Kenyon College, Ohio, and of the Cambridge Law School. In 1845 he was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Ohio, and began his legal life in Fremont, his present home. He removed to Cincinnati in 1850, and resided there for many years. Mr. Hayes was twice elected city attorney of Cincinnati, and at the outbreak of the civil war entered the army as Major of the 23d Ohio Volunteers, of which General Rosecrans was Colonel and Hon. Stanley Matthews Lieutenant-Colonel. During the war he was four times wounded, and served with distinction until the close, though he was elected to Congress before peace was declared.

Mrs. Hayes spent two summers and a winter taking care of her husband’s soldiers, and they loved her for her motherly ministrations to them in their hours of sickness and mental dejection.

A member of the Twenty-Third Ohio, who went out with the regiment at the beginning of the war, tells the following anecdote, which occurred during the first visit of Mrs. Hayes to her husband’s camp. It is a simple story, which illustrates the character of the President’s wife completely.

“It was the first of our being out, when we had as yet known but little of the hardships of war. One day Mrs. Hayes arrived in camp, but the fact was not generally known. James Saunders was a member of my company. Jim, as he was called, was a tall, lean, unsuspecting, awkward country-boy—a good soldier, but not overly smart in detecting a joke. Consequently the boys used frequently to sell him quite badly; but he took it all in good part, and was entirely ready the next time a sell came along to ‘bite’ at it.

“For some time there had been sad need of some means of mending our clothes. This need was being discussed the next day after Mrs. Hayes’ arrival, and Jim was especially strong in his expressions of need for some one to mend his blouse, which really was in a very unpresentable condition.

“‘Why, Jim,’ said one of the boys, ‘didn’t you know that there is a woman in camp whose business it is to mend the boys’ clothes?’

“‘No,’ said Jim, in astonishment. ‘Where is she?’

“‘Up at the Colonel’s tent,’ said the other. ‘I was there and had her fix my coat yesterday, and she did a smackin’ good job, too.’

“‘Golly’ said Jim. ‘I’ll go up, then, this very afternoon, and git my blouse doctored. That is very handy, indeed.’

“True to his word Jim called around at the Colonel’s tent, and, with his hat under his arm, presented himself, with his awkwardest bow, at the entrance. He was received with marked politeness by the Colonel, and the boys who were lurking about appreciating the joke awaited developments. In a few moments Jim again appeared outside in his shirt sleeves, and the radiant smile that lit up his honest features showed that he had not been rebuffed, at least. Calling him aside, where a group of the boys were gathered, the following conversation took place:

“‘Well, Jim, did you find your woman?’

“‘Of course I did. She was just a settin’ there, and she’s a mighty good-looking woman, too.’

“‘What did you say?’ all chuckling.

“‘Why, when I went in I told the Colonel that I heerd there was a woman there to do sewing for the boys, and as my blouse needed mendin’ and buttons sewed on, I had come to git it done. He kind of smiled, and turned to the woman settin’ there and asked her if she could fix the blouse for me, and she said she could as well as not, as she had nothing special on hand. So I took it off and left it, the Colonel tellin’ me to call ‘round this afternoon and git it. You all seem to laugh, but I don’t see anything funny. If she is here to do the sewing, why not do mine?’

“This was too much. The boys all broke out into a loud chorus of laughter, and as soon as it subsided, one of them said:

“‘Jim, don’t you know that that woman is the Colonel’s wife?’

“‘I don’t care; she’s a lady anyhow,’ as though that didn’t follow, ‘and I am goin’ to git my blouse, just as she told me to.’

“And he did go, and was again received in that manner which made him forget himself and his awkwardness, and she restored his blouse to him in perfect repair.

“This little incident was all that was needed to fix the affections of all the boys upon the Colonel’s wife, and whenever she appeared again in camp, she was certain to receive the warmest welcome.

“Poor Jim died in a Southern hospital, and his name may now be seen upon the monument standing in the village square at Mesopotamia, Trumbull county, Ohio, and we have often wondered if the President and his wife ever think of mending his blouse, rather than be parties to a sell upon an innocent soldier boy.”

At the battle of South Mountain Colonel Hayes was severely wounded, and his wife learning of his condition hastened to Washington, where she expected to find him in some one of the hospitals. Failing to get tidings of him she went on to Frederick, accompanied by a relative, Mr. Platt. At last in the village of Middletown, Maryland, she found him, cared for by her brothers, one of whom was surgeon of the regiment. She was a welcome addition to the Colonel’s corps of nurses, and as soon as she was established beside him his improvement began. The family in whose house the wounded Colonel lay, Captain Rudy’s, said of her long afterwards: “The moment she crossed our threshold we knew she was a good woman and natural lady. She made herself easily at home, and next morning after she came she was down in the kitchen early and asked leave to cook the Colonel’s favorite dish.”

As soon as he was able to walk about the house she spent a portion of every day in the hospitals, visiting Union and Confederate wounded alike, and carrying them grapes and other delicacies. She read to those who were well enough to be interested, and made herself a welcome presence to the sick and the dying. Her mild manners and unaffected kindly ways won her friends everywhere, and when she left the place to return to Cincinnati with her husband, her departure was sincerely regretted. They had been well cared for by the family with whom they had stayed, and when Colonel Hayes became Governor of Ohio, Mrs. Hayes sent for one of the young ladies of the household, and entertained her most hospitably. Long afterward, when Governor Hayes had become President, he heard of the death of Captain Rudy, and wrote a letter of sympathy, in which he reverted kindly to the time when he was disabled and found a home with them. Leaving the field as a Brigadier-General to take his seat in the Thirty-ninth Congress, Cincinnati people saw little of Mr. Hayes for several years, for he was re-elected to Congress, and resided, until nominated for Governor, at the capital.

The Executive Mansion at Columbus was conducted on the most generous scale socially, and the Governor and his wife entertained continuously. Both are pre-eminently social in their natures, and in all the public positions he filled, she extended elegant hospitality. Their circle of private friends is very extensive, and Mrs. Hayes has ever delighted to be a hostess, so that their home, wherever it was, has been rarely without guests.

Mrs. Hayes worked to enlarge the charities of the State, and was identified with all good causes during her life in Columbus, and constantly interested herself in church work. She enjoyed an experience and exerted an influence that ably fitted her for the position of lady of the White House. Her domestic responsibilities were not light, for she has been the mother of eight children, five of whom are living, and her duty has been performed as well in that as in every other relationship in life. It has been the custom for Mr. and Mrs. Hayes to spend as much of the time in the summer in their own home at Fremont as possible, and up to the time of their removal to the White House “Spiegel Grove” was the resort of many friends during the warm season. It became their place of residence after their removal from Washington. This home is beautifully situated on Burchard Avenue, so named in honor of Sardis Burchard, the uncle and guardian of Mr. Hayes. The house was erected by Mr. Burchard in 1860, and it stands in the centre of thirty acres of woodland. Immediately surrounding the house are handsome lawns and gardens, with some fine old oaks left standing in their midst, and which contrast most charmingly with the otherwise open grounds. The house is of brick, two stories high, and nearly surrounded by a wide verandah. It is a large and comfortable mansion, furnished like any country residence of a person of means. There is a library-room on the second floor well stocked with books and adorned with pictures, and in the handsome parlors are paintings by American, French and German artists. The surroundings of the place are remarkably tasteful and attractive. Burchard Park, which was a gift to the town of Fremont from Mr. Burchard, lies near the mansion, and there are handsome residences in the neighboring avenues, which enhance the beauty of Spiegel Grove.

Mrs. Hayes’ personal appearance has been so often reproduced through photographs and pen-pictures that it is almost superfluous to give any lengthy description, particularly as the engraving accompanying this sketch is an accurate likeness of her face. She is of medium height, is squarely built, and has large features. Her hair is a particularly noticeable feature, partly from the manner in which it is worn, and mainly for its abundance and beauty of color and texture. Her brow is low and broad, and is unmarked by care. The mouth is large and adorned with beautiful teeth. Her eyes are large and expressive, and deepen in color from gray to black as the feelings are wrought upon. All her features are expressive, and her face is a most pleasing and animated one. She has a gay and sunny temperament, hence her face is the mirror of much that is bright and beautiful. She owes much of her good looks and her happiness to her wonderful health, for she is as splendid a specimen of physical womanhood as the country can boast, and her presence is a tonic to weaker women.

The Presidential canvass in 1876 was an exciting one, and its disputed results, its electoral commission, and final settlement tested the equanimity of all parties, and created greater anxiety than any event which succeeded the war. President and Mrs. Hayes reached Washington the day before the inauguration, and became the guests of Senator Sherman. An immense throng filled the Capitol on the morning of the 4th of March to witness the inaugural and to see the new President. He rode with ex-President Grant through the city, and alighted at the eastern portico, welcomed by hundreds of people of all classes. Passing into the Senate chamber, he was seated in front of the Speaker’s desk, beside the retiring Chief Executive. In the gallery sat his wife, watching him with an eagerness that betrayed her happiness, and an anxiety that discovered her intense interest in the occasion. He looked as impassive as the taciturn soldier beside him, until glancing his eyes over the Senate gallery he caught sight of his wife. There was a mutual glance of recognition, an assuring smile, and the inaugural address was given in clear, earnest tones. Immediately following the ceremonies the newly-made President and Mrs. Hayes lunched at the White House with ex-President and Mrs. Grant. In the afternoon a carriage drove up to the steps, and soon General Grant and wife appeared, followed by President and Mrs. Hayes without hat or head-covering. They bade each other good-bye, and as the carriage moved away, President Hayes remarked to General Grant: “General, if I had a slipper, I’d throw it after you.” The President and Mrs. Hayes stood a few moments looking after it, and she, stopping to kiss one or two children near her, passed with her husband into the house, and the new life was begun. The children of the President, who with relatives had been at the Ebbitt House, during their parents’ stay with Senator and Mrs. Sherman, joined them later in the day, and the first day in the White House closed in excitement and happiness. Mrs. Hayes was delighted with the high place to which she had attained. She made no denial on this point, and freely admitted the satisfaction it gave her, and the enjoyment she hoped to have. One of the pleasantest of the many pleasant incidents connected with her advent into the White House was the class testimonial presented to her by several of her old schoolmates at the Female Wesleyan College, who were in Washington at the time of the inauguration. They arranged to send her a floral offering, and fixed upon the happy device of the college badge. It is composed of a heart in an open Bible, the motto of the thirty-first chapter of Proverbs, marked with an anchor. The floral tribute was formed of a heart centre of white rosebuds, with an outside border of fine white flowers, the intervening space being filled with blue forget-me-nots. Upon this was placed an open Bible—a real Bible—held open by an anchor formed of white roses, like the heart, and a single rosebud marked the following passage:

“Her husband is known of the elders and praises her in the gates.”

Accompanying the beautiful gift was a note written by Miss Rariden, and signed by the several ladies. It was couched in these pleasing words:

“Dear Sister:—It will need but the sight of our offering—the old school badge—to remind you of the lang syne when school lessons were our greatest duties, and school triumphs our highest rewards. Since then you have added to the title of good scholar the higher ones of good wife and tender mother, and now the voice of the people has called you to come higher.

“We, the representatives of the Alma Mater, beg the acceptance of our flowers as a tribute to the first of our number called to preside at the White House, though the offering is less due to you as our President’s wife than to the true woman you have proved yourself in every relation of life.

“We hope you will have the kindness to appoint an early day, when we can express in person our congratulations.

Of the number, Mrs. Hitt and Miss Rariden were the only classmates; the others were alumni. The best plans will go aglee, and in the conveyance of this lovely gift the note was abstracted or lost, and Mrs. Hayes was in a quiver of excitement over the anonymous offering. That evening upon receipt of another Bible (she had enough Bibles given her to stock a hotel), she spoke of the more precious one accompanying the college badge, and crossing the room pointed out its beauties. The husband of one of the donors happened to be present, and communicated their names. The end was felicitous. Mrs. Hayes appointed the next morning to receive the ladies. She met them with charming friendliness, conducted them through the green-house, sent for her husband and children, and in the words of one of her guests, “was all that a courteous hostess could be.”

Four weeks after taking up her residence in the Executive Mansion, she held her first Saturday afternoon reception, and on this occasion she was as well satisfied a lady as had ever stood in her place. A friend who observed her on that day said that “her eyes looked as black as night, and they had a lustre rarely seen. She made no effort to conceal her delight. Her whole face was positively radiant. The effect as she received, assisted by her friends, was precisely that of all the light thrown upon one figure of a tableau.” The toilette worn by Mrs. Hayes on this occasion was a black gros grain princesse dress, square at the neck, and perfectly fitting, and relieved of its plainness by exquisite point-laces. The next public occasion on which she appeared was at the dinner given to the Russian Grand Dukes Alexis and Constantine. The gathering was as brilliant as any ever assembled in the Executive Mansion. The drawing-rooms were elaborately decorated with flowers, and the State dining-room never presented a finer appearance. The table was a mass of flowers and cut-glass and Sevres china. In the centre was an oval mirror representing a lake with tropical banks of ferns and trailing vines. In the centre of the lake was an island of pink azalias studded with cloth of gold roses, while over the outer surface were vines massed to look like water-lilies. The banks of the lake were strewn with graceful hills formed with vases of tropical fruit, and here and there a pyramid or column of candied fruits and bon-bons rose between. At each end of the lake were tall frosted cakes decorated with white azalias and pink and tea roses and smilax. Delicate pink and white vases of frosted glass and silver stands stood at each plate, the pink vases holding clusters of white buds, and the white vases pink buds. Azalia trees, camelias and other flowering plants were arranged about the room, ornamenting by their proximity to them the chocolate and strawberry pyramids that stood at the north side of the room. Vines of smilax strung on gilt wire were draped about the table, chandeliers and pictures. The Grand Duke Alexis with Mrs. Hayes led the promenade through the East Room, the Marine Band playing the Russian march, followed by the Grand Duke Constantine and Mrs. Evarts. The President escorted Lady Thornton, and when seated at the table, the two Grand Dukes were on either side of Mrs. Hayes, and the President sat opposite, between Lady Thornton and Mrs. Shishkin, wife of the Russian Minister. The other members of the brilliant company were ranged about the table in regular order. The toilette worn by Mrs. Hayes at this entertainment was an exquisite cream-colored faille, richly trimmed with the material and elegant lace.

As regards the use of wine on this occasion, about which the press of the entire country had so much to say, the actual facts are these. The President and Mrs. Hayes objected to its use, but the Secretary of State, Mr. Evarts, was of the opinion that the Grand Dukes and other foreigners, being accustomed to dine with wine, would not enjoy their dinner without it, and the master of ceremonies was ordered to provide it. He was at the same time informed that on all future occasions, when the President entertained citizens of the United States, wine would be omitted.

In the American Register, at Paris, appeared, shortly after the inauguration, the following complimentary allusion to the new lady of the White House: “The administration of Mrs. Hayes receives quite as much attention as does that of the President. Her beauty, simplicity, womanliness and frankness have taken the blasé society of Washington by storm. Her dresses of rich material are very simply made, high at the neck, long at the wrist, with fine laces at both, but no jewelry; her hair is neither puffed nor frizzed, but coiffured plainly at the back and held in place with a shell comb. She is a lady by birth and education, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The first Sunday she and her husband were in Washington they stole quietly to the Foundry Methodist Episcopal Church, while the Rev. Dr. Newman, ‘Inspector of Consuls,’ Chaplain to the Senate, Pastor of the Great Metropolitan Court Church, ‘was all primed and powdered’ for their appearance. But they came not. Everybody who knows the style and quality of the Metropolitan Methodist Episcopal Church was exceedingly pleased at the incident.”

When Mrs. Hayes went to the White House it was said that she had decided not to interfere with appointments, or to consider any application for her influence in any matter with which her husband had to do. Applications for office were turned over to the secretaries, and through the years of her stay in the White House she succeeded in avoiding this source of annoyance. Occasionally she deviated from this rule, as in the case of the postmistress of a town in Pennsylvania, who was turned out of office because of her strong temperance proclivities. The member of Congress who represented the district in which this woman held office succeeded in getting a man appointed in her place who would not work with temperance organizations to defeat party candidates. The order for her removal had been made out at the Post-Office Department, when a lady friend of Mrs. Hayes, who had passed through the town, and learned the facts, telegraphed to her for a stay of proceedings till the case could be explained. The request was granted, and the next news the member of Congress received from home was that the postmistress had been reinstated by order of the President.

A Washington correspondent describes Mrs. Hayes’ attention to some “poor relations” who were visiting her. The description is well worth reproducing as showing her democratic independence and her appreciation of her friends.

“Not long ago I was passing Corcoran’s Art Gallery, and saw Mrs. Hayes assisting into her carriage some people of a sort that are usually described as ‘countrified.’ They were not finely-dressed, nor were their garments fashionably made. Quite the reverse was the case. But it struck me that the horses were unusually well groomed, and there was a footman in livery, which is a bit of style Mrs. Hayes seldom assumes. It was not the every-day carriage, either, but the best one, and I am as sure as if Mrs. Hayes had told me so, that she was putting on a few frills just to please her guests, for human nature is human nature, and Mrs. Hayes has a keen sense of perception. I afterwards learned that a party of Mrs. Hayes’ friends were visiting the White House, from the interior of Ohio. They were humble people and had never been in Washington before, but their great-grandchildren will all know about that visit, and the taking of those folks around in the President’s best carriage, with driver and footman in livery, will be a tradition in that family for generations. This wasn’t an isolated occurrence. Similar people have visited the White House before, and have received similar attentions. Mrs. Hayes has taken them to the Capitol, and they have sat beside her in the President’s seat in the reserved gallery, and had they been the Queen of England and the Princesses Royal, Mrs. Hayes couldn’t have been more devoted than she was to her ‘poor relations.’”

Mrs. Hayes entertained many guests in the White House, and she made it particularly attractive to her young friends and relatives. She gave them an opportunity of seeing Washington life from the high vantage-ground of the White House, and showed them at the same time the domestic side of a lovely home-life. No mistress of the Executive Mansion, it can truly be said, ever made more of her opportunity in the direction of true sociability. She, from the first, displayed a generous hospitality, not so much to official people as to her old friends and her husband’s and their young connections. She exhibited all the possibilities of a happy home, and left an influence upon the growing generation about her that will never be forgotten. In years to come they will tell of the sweet simplicity of her life there, and the great influence that she had over a public, hardly recovered from all the excessive extravagance and display that followed the restoration of peace, and reached its height under the preceding administration. There was felt towards her a prejudice on the part of a portion of the public, which opposed her temperance views, but she has her surest fame in this stand which no predecessor of hers was ever strong enough to assert and maintain. And from the millions of homes in this country, where young men are growing to manhood with their sisters beside them, have gone up from the hearts of parents thankful, grateful prayers for the honor and reverence paid to the one cause in this land which has most lacked for recognition in high places. Whatever course may be adopted by future generations, the social administration of Mrs. Hayes marks a new era in the history of temperance, and it will be a mile-stone to show the turn in the tide in favor of this principle which had languished for want of just the recognition she gave it and her sex, its standard-bearer. Such is her fame, and her reward is the gratitude of the best men and women of the age.

Mrs. Hayes had with her in the White House all of her children, save the eldest son, who is an Ohio lawyer. The second son, whose coming of age was appropriately celebrated in the White House, acted as his father’s confidential secretary; a third son was at school, and the only daughter and youngest son were with their parents there.

Mrs. Hayes has the distinction of being one of the few women who have lived in the glare and glitter of society in Washington and avoided all manner of extremes in dress. She did not appear in diamonds, eschewed low-neck and short-sleeved dresses, never varied her individual fashion of arranging her hair, and, to quote the remark of one of her girlhood friends, made at the commencement of her husband’s administration, “she is the same Lucy as of old.” This same friend said of her, “It is just like Lucy to go to the Foundry Church. She always despised shams and ostentation.”

Of all the Washington scribes who have written of Mrs. Hayes, Mary Clemmer, in describing the inauguration,has said the most pleasing things. And the queries she made of her possible course are answered in the remark of Mrs. Hayes’ school friend. She wrote of her after seeing her in the Senate Chamber on that auspicious occasion:

“Meanwhile, on this man of whom every one in the nation is this moment thinking, a fair woman between two little children looks down. She has a singularly gentle and winning face. It looks out from the bands of smooth dark hair with that tender light in the eyes which we have come to associate always with the Madonna. I have never seen such a face reign in the White House. I wonder what the world of Vanity Fair will do with it? Will it friz that hair? powder that face? draw those sweet, fine lines awry with pride? bare those shoulders? shorten those sleeves? hide John Wesley’s, discipline out of sight, as it poses and minces before the first lady of the land? what will she do with it, this woman of the hearth and home? Strong as she is fair, will she have the grace to use it as not abusing it; to be in it, yet not of it; priestess of a religion pure and undefiled, holding the white lamp of her womanhood, unshaken and unsullied, high above the heated crowd that fawns, flatters and spoils? The Lord in heaven knows. All I know is that Mr. and Mrs. Hayes are the finest-looking type of man and woman that I have seen take up their abode in the White House.” This description of her tallies with that given by a white-haired Southerner who went to a White House reception, and remarked to his friends that Mrs. Hayes was a “God beautiful woman.” President Hayes cannot be described in so graphic a way, though he is a man easily sketched. His eyes are blue and kindly in expression; his features are strong and his manners are polished. His home-life is, as may well be judged by all that has been said in the foregoing sketch, beautiful. He is refined, affectionate and manly, and when he and his wife stood together in the Blue Room of the White House, on the 31st of December, 1877, to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of their marriage, their friends gathered about them coincided in the opinion that they were “the finest-looking type of man and woman that they had ever seen take up their abode in the White House.” This silver-wedding, the first ever celebrated in the White House, was a social event which proved of genuine interest to the people of the country, who, irrespective of party, wished them a long-continued career of happiness. The anniversary was celebrated on the afternoon of the 30th, when the Rev. Dr. McCabe, who married, them, renewed his pastoral blessing in the same words and heard the same pledges given that were uttered a quarter of a century ago. Mrs. Hayes wore the same satin dress and slippers which she wore on her wedding-day, and they were surrounded by their five children and the following personal guests: Mr. and Mrs. Herron, Dr. and Mrs. Davis, of Cincinnati; General and Mrs. Force, Secretary Rogers and wife, Miss Platt, Miss McKell, Colonel Wier, Miss Foote and Mrs. Mitchell. After the celebration of the ceremony a most interesting event followed. The infant daughter of Mr. Herron was christened, and received the name of Lucy Webb, in honor of Mrs. Hayes. After it was baptized the President presented his daughter Fannie and youngest son Scott Russell, for baptism, and then the party were ushered into the dining-room, where dinner was served. The next evening the formal ceremonies were held, and one hundred guests were present. The Executive Mansion was brilliantly illuminated, and the parlors and the East Room were elegantly decorated with flowers. Mrs. Hayes wore a reception dress of white striped silk, trimmed with point lace. Her wedding dress of white satin was exhibited to her lady friends, but the idea at first entertained of wearing it was abandoned because of its size, it being too small. The guests were as far as possible the same who attended the wedding in 1852, and among the number were Mr. Rogers, the private secretary and former law partner of the President, Mr. and Mrs. Wilber, Mrs. Hayes’ former teachers, and Mrs. Mitchell, the President’s niece, who as a little girl was the bride’s attendant and held her hand during the ceremony. A large portion of the company present were Ohioans, and the entertainment was social and informal. The only present received, for it had been made known distinctly that the President would accept none, was a gift to Mrs. Hayes from the officers of the Twenty-Third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, consisting of a silver plate imbedded in a mat of black velvet and enclosed in a richly ornamented ebony frame. The present was given in memory of kindness received at the hands of Mrs. Hayes in the field, and it was inscribed on its face, “To the Mother of the Regiment.” The inscription on the silver is:

“To Thee, ‘Mother of ours,’ from the 23d O. V. I. To Thee, our Mother, on thy silver troth, we bring this token of our love. Thy boys give greeting unto thee with burning hearts. Take the hoarded treasures of thy speech, kind words, gentle when a gentle word was worth the surgery of an hundred schools to heal sick thought and make our bruises whole. Take it, our mother: ’tis but some small part of thy rare beauty we give back to thee, and while love speaks in silver, from our hearts we’ll bribe Old Father Time to spare his gift.”

Above the inscription is a sketch of the log hut erected as Colonel Hayes’ head-quarters in the valley of the Kanawha, during the winter of 1863 and 1864, and above it the tattered and torn battle-flags of the regiment.

After the invitations were written, the President personally addressed each and added these words: “I hope you will be present.”

The White House was a family mansion in the fulness of the term while Mrs. Hayes was in it. She kept it filled with relatives and friends, and gave receptions and entertainments suited to the tastes of those she designed to honor. The President’s niece, Miss Platt, who made her home with her uncle, was married in the mansion, and bridal parties were entertained there from all parts of the country. Mrs. Hayes, on one of her tours with her husband, was asked if she did not get tired of seeing so many people and going so much, and she replied: “Oh, no; I never get tired of having a good time.” She really liked to meet the people who wished to see her, and to shake hands with all who chose to offer her congratulations and respect. She was the most idolized woman in America during her husband’s administration, and not because she held the rank she did, for many have held it before her, who were not known outside a small circle, but for the reason that she is a loving, sunny-hearted, unselfish woman, liking popularity and seeking it according to the Bible injunction: “A man that hath friends must show himself friendly.” She uses the world without abusing it, and carries herself through its pomps and vanities unspotted and pure.

The closing months of President Hayes’ administration were marked by national good feeling and cordiality, and the social life of the White House was most brilliant. Dinner parties and invitation receptions followed each other in rapid succession, and the guests that were entertained there were great in numbers. The extent of her hospitality was estimated by ladies whose husbands had official relations with the President, and who by right of their positions were often at the White House entertainments, as being greater than any other hostess who had preceded her in her high position. She never gave a dinner or an evening party that was not on a scale of elegance compatible with her position, and hence only praise can be said of her administration.

One of the most charming of the entertainments she gave was a lunch party to fifty young ladies in honor of eight guests. There was no married lady present except Mrs. Hayes. The young ladies invited to meet her youthful visitors were the daughters of the members of the Cabinet, of the Chief-Justices, members of Congress, of the foreign Ministers, and army and navy officers in the city, and they included many beautiful and not a few distinguished ladies. The lunch was given in the state dining-room, and as only forty persons can be seated at the table, it was extended by long tables reaching nearly across the room, placed at right angles with it at each end. Mrs. Hayes sat at the head of the room, and the young ladies staying in the house were dispersed among the guests. No gentlemen were present. The table was exquisitely adorned with flowers and dishes of fresh and candied fruits, candelabra, etc. Potted plants were also grouped about the room. The plants and ferns in the conservatory were seen to great advantage through the long windows. A photograph was taken of the table and the vista through the conservatories before the guests assembled. The bon-bons served were of many choice and novel varieties, and the menu included every delicacy. The dinner cards were perfectly plain, square, white cards, with a silver edge, and the coat-of-arms of the United States upon them.

In addition to the many incidental receptions and entertainments, and apart from the usual Presidential receptions, Mrs. Hayes was invariably at home to welcome whoever chose to call upon her from eight to ten o’clock each evening. And there was scarcely an evening in the week when the green parlor was not full of people. Whether these were strangers from out of the city or personal acquaintance, they were received informally, and as they took their departure it was most usually the case that they carried away with them flowers, which were always to be seen in all the rooms during her life there.

Mrs. Hayes left the White House signally honored by her own sex. She received during the closing days of her stay in Washington every recognition that the women of this country could give her, and she returned to her home in Ohio assured of the esteem of those whose good opinions she would naturally value. She did not win the regard of her sex by seeking for their favorable opinions, but by being true to herself.

The presentation of her portrait, a life-size painting by Huntington, was made to the nation by the temperance people, who felt that her course deserved some more marked tribute than could be paid her in words. The picture represents her standing, holding in her hands a cluster of roses. She is arrayed in a ruby velvet, the rich color being toned by white laces about her neck and sleeves. The canvas is seven feet four inches high by six feet wide, and the frame (of oak) stands nearly ten feet in height. The sides of the frame are in the form of pilasters with a capital at the top and a plinth at the base, the sides supporting a rich projecting cornice. This cornice presents a hollow moulding a foot deep, on which are carved branches of oak in high relief, above which is displayed in unique designs the American flag. The capitals on the pilasters are in a pattern of lilies (purity), the bases of these in laurel (victory), the bottom in the English hawthorn and the water lily, the top in oak leaves and acorns (power and strength), together with several other less noticeable designs. The frame was made by the Cincinnati School of Design, under Mr. Benn Pitman, and is the finest ever carved. The presentation was made in the East Room on the morning of the 8th of March, General Garfield replying to Miss Frances Willard, who, as President of the National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, tendered it. The event awakened interest throughout the nation. Everybody felt renewed interest in the woman who had done such worthy things as to secure to herself a following such as no other member of her sex ever had in this country. She came to her fame step by step, proving with each day’s life that she was building character and not seeking applause. She had no more power in the White House than she had in Ohio, for though her husband’s ear was ever conveniently near by, she did not impose taxes upon him or make him pay tribute to her rank as his wife. With him she shared his high place, but it was not used selfishly to advance her popularity or to win for her aught of selfish fame. In the midst of her surroundings, which were outwardly captivating enough to turn a strong head, she lived a self-respecting life, individualizing it without antagonizing her husband’s public interests. In the stand she took in refusing to use wine on her table, she exhibited rare courage, because it was not only an unpopular step, but it was one that placed her in contrast with her predecessors in the position she was holding—a circumstance which was her chief regret. As to the right of a woman to take the authoritative stand she did, she did not stop to consider, for she was in her own home even if in the Executive Mansion, and the public had no more right to dictate what she should drink than what she should eat or wear. Mr. Hayes, had he set aside her wishes and trampled her authority, would have committed in so doing no act that would have condemned him in the eyes of the majority of people. But she reaped as she had sown, and was respected in the measure of her self-respect, and it was this evidence of her moral power, more than the mere fact of her being a temperance advocate, that drew the women of this country about her. And taken all in all, she is one of the finest representatives of her sex who has held the place she has filled. This is the verdict of the women of this country, who by thousands signed the testimonials sent her, and united in presenting to the nation her portrait, as a manifestation of their gratitude for worthy representation. It is the first instance of the kind in the history of any nation, and it marked the prestige of a people who are every year becoming more renowned throughout the world, and more and more an example of the advancing power of civilization.

Ex-President and Mrs. Hayes, accompanied by their children and a party of friends, left Washington on Saturday morning, the 5th of March, and hardly had they begun their journey when an accident occurred which came nigh proving disastrous. Fortunately none of the persons with the ex-President were hurt, though two persons on the train were killed and a number were seriously injured. The accident occurred near Baltimore in the afternoon of the day they left Washington. Arriving at Fremont the people received the long absent family with every manifestation of delight and regard, and welcomed them with music, banners and speeches. At night the town was illuminated, and the house of the ex-President was crowded with neighbors and friends, who made the home-coming as pleasant as the God-speed had been hearty and earnest.