In Washington, as elsewhere, Mr. Dickens' lectures and readings were to him a mine of pecuniary profit, and to hundreds of the most intelligent and cultured citizens of the metropolis they furnished a treat of the highest intellectual character. His audiences were such as must have highly flattered him, and his entertainments were such as greatly delighted them.

Charles Summer

CHARLES SUMNER was born at Boston, Massachusetts, January 6th, 1811; received a classical education; graduating at the Cambridge Law School in 1834; practiced in Boston; traveled in Europe 1837-1840; was United States Senator from Massachusetts from December 1st, 1851, until his death at Washington City, March 11th, 1869.

CHAPTER XXII.

GENERAL GRANT IN THE WHITE HOUSE.

THE INAUGURATION PROCESSION-PROCEEDINGS AT THE CAPITOL-deLIVERY OF THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS-BALL IN THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT-FORMATION OF THE CABINET-SECRETARY OF STATE FISH-APPOINTMENT OF A. T. STEWART SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY-THE POLITICIANS TROUBLED, BUT SUCCESSFUL-OTHER CABINET OFFICERS-ARMY HABITS IN THE WHITE HOUSE-PRESIDENT GRANT'S DAILY LIFE.

G

ENERAL GRANT, having been elected Presi

dent by a majority of nearly one million and a-half of votes, was inaugurated on Thursday, the 4th of March, 1869. The national metropolis was crowded with those who had come to witness the historic event, many of them veterans who rejoiced in the elevation of their Old Commander to the highest civic office in the gift of the American people.

The military escort was composed of regulars and volunteers, several companies of the latter being colored men. Then came President Johnson and the President-elect in an open landau, drawn by four horses, Mr. Johnson looking soured and sad, while General Grant, displaying no signs of elation, waved his hat in response to the cheers with which he was greeted all the way from the White House to the Capitol. Next came the Vice-President-elect, Mr. Colfax, in a carriage with a member of the Senatorial Committee of Arrangements, and the civic associations

followed. There were the Tanners, the Invincibles, the Wide Awakes, the Grant and Colfax Clubs, and the Colored Republicans, each organization with its band, its banners, and its badges. The Washington Fire

Department, their brightly polished engines drawn by spirited horses, brought up the rear.

On arriving at the Capitol, the President and President-elect and the Vice-President-elect were escorted to the Senate Chamber, where, four years previously, Mr. Johnson had disgraced himself by his drunken har angue. The Supreme Court was already there, with

Grant's First Inauguration.

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the Diplomatic Corps, gorgeously arrayed in their court costumes, and a number of prominent army and navy officers in full uniform. In the galleries were ladies gayly dressed, whose opera-glasses had been turned on the distinguished personages below as they had successively entered, and who kept up such a buzzing chat that it was almost impossible for the Senators to transact the closing business of the expiring ses

sion.

A pro

At twelve o'clock Mr. Colfax was sworn in as VicePresident, and afterward administered the oath to the new Senators. Some of those applying, however, had served in the Confederate army, and were not able to take what was known as the "iron-clad oath." cession was then formed of those present on the floor of the Senate, which moved through the rotunda to the east front of the Capitol, where the President-elect was hailed by hearty cheers. He advanced to the front of the platform, and the oath of office was administered by Chief Justice Chase, followed by an artillery salute from a light battery near by, while the whistles of the steam fire-engines joined in the clangor, the band played, and thousands of voices cheered.

When silence was restored, President Grant drew from his coat pocket six or seven pages of foolscap, adjusted his glasses, and with great deliberation read in a conversational tone his message to the citizens of the Republic and to the world, a plain, practical, common-sense document, in which he declared that he should on all subjects have a policy of his own to recommend, but none to enforce against the will of the people. Soon after he began to read his message his little daughter, somewhat alarmed by the clamor and the throng, ran from her mother to his side, and took

hold of his hand, which she held until a chair was placed for her, when she sat down, seemingly assured that no harm could reach her. When the President had concluded he shook hands with his wife, and afterward received the congratulations of many official and unofficial persons, who crowded around and greeted him, before he could return to his carriage and start,

NELLIE GRANT AT HER FATHER'S INAUGURATION.

escorted as when he came, to the White House. The interest taken in this occasion by the President's old comrades in arms was something wonderful. Every soldier hailed his elevation as a compliment to the army.

That night General Grant and wife attended the inauguration ball, which was held in the north wing of the new Treasury Department, then just completed. There was a great crowd, and the single flight of stairs proved insufficient for those who wished to pass up or