Stranica 403 [403]
OCR
Az a OH9 HISTORIC 1(SsA RDENS SORON REG NTA =—_ Her quick recognition of persons, her recurrence to their peculiar interests 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 brickwalled 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 [252]
