Stranica 403 [403]
Az a OH9
HISTORIC 1(SsA RDENS SORON REG NTA
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Her quick recognition of persons, her recurrence to their peculiar in¬
terests produced the gratifying impression in each and all of those
who conversed with her that they were especial objects of regard."
What charm! What tact!
President Madison must have equaled, if not excelled, his good
wife in tact, for did he not have two separate establishments under
the same roof; with everything that might rupture the harmony
of the household—separate and apart? One side of the house was
occupied by Mrs. James Madison, Senior; and there, attended by
her old family servants, constantly visited by her children and
grandchildren, the venerable dame preserved the customs and
habits of an earlier generation. In the basement were two kitchens,
one for “Mother Madison,” the other for Madame Dolly. There
were separate living apartments, and separate stairs led to the bed
chambers. Indeed, our President Madison solved the problem that
has caused so much havoc in otherwise happy homes.
The central part of the old house and the arrangement of the
two stairways are just as they were in the “good old days.”’ Nor
has the library been changed, where the ex-president received when
so feeble that he had to recline on a couch, which caused him to
remark merrily, “Strange as it may appear, I always talk better
when I lie." But the wings of the house have been rebuilt and
broadened, so that the house now is many times larger than it was
originally. The Tuscan portico, flanked by huge box-trees, the old
cream stucco and the general spacious atmosphere of hospitality is
there just as it has been for these hundred and more years.
We must go through the house, across the beautiful turf with
peacocks strutting under century-old trees; under a cedar of
Lebanon (which President Madison planted himself) to the brick¬
walled garden with lovely wrought iron gates, which give an added
feeling of seclusion to the peaceful spot. Here one enters under
a tunnel of box-trees; at the end of this the garden itself is spread
out in all its glory. Certainly one feels the French influence, and
rightly, I believe, for in 1824 when the Marquis of LaFayette
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