"Wednesday morning (twelve o'clock).—Since sunrise I have been turning my spyglass in every direction and watching with unwearied anxiety, hoping to discover the approach of my dear husband and his friends; but, alas! I can descry only groups of military wandering in all directions, as if there was a lack of arms, or of spirit, to fight for their own firesides.
"Three o'clock.—Will you believe it, my sister? We have had a battle, or skirmish, near Bladensburg, and I am still here within sound of the cannon. Mr. Madison comes not—may God protect him! Two messengers, covered with dust, come to bid me fly; but I wait for him.... At this late hour a wagon has been procured; I have had it filled with the plate and most valuable portable articles belonging to the house; whether it will reach its destination, the Bank of Maryland, or fall into the hands of British soldiery, events must determine. Our kind friend, Mr. Carroll, has come to hasten my departure, and is in a very bad humor with me because I insist on waiting until the large picture of General Washington is secured, and it requires to be unscrewed from the wall. This process was found too tedious for these perilous moments. I have ordered the frame to be broken and the canvas taken out; it is done, and the precious portrait placed in the hands of two gentlemen of New York for safe-keeping. And now, my dear sister, I must leave this house, or the retreating army will make me a prisoner in it by filling up the road I am directed to take. When I shall again write to you, or where I shall be to-morrow, I can not tell."
We all know the story of Mrs. Madison's flight, of her return in disguise to a desolated, burned, ruined home. She would have been without shelter except for the open door of Mrs. Cutts, her sister, who lived in the city. From that point she visited the ruins of all the public buildings while she awaited her husband's return.
We are apt to think of the White House as a place of teas, receptions, gayly dressed people, light, music, flowers, and laughter; but it, too, has seen its tragedies.
Fifty years after the burning of the city the famous Stuart picture of Washington, referred to in Mrs. Madison's letter, was retouched and hung in the East Room, and still constitutes one of the few ornaments of the Executive Mansion.
During Mr. Roosevelt's administration (1902-1903) extensive alterations and additions were made to the Executive building.
The conservatory, so long an object of enjoyment to the public, was removed to give place for a long white esplanade on the west, forming the approach to the Executive offices, while on the east side a white colonnade now provides a most desirable entrance for large crowds on public occasions.
It has been a matter of regret to D. A. R. women, and to all the patriotic women of the nation, that the portraits of the ladies of the White House have been remanded to the basement corridors. Here are now the portraits of Mrs. Van Buren, Mrs. Tyler, Mrs. Polk (presented by ladies of Tennessee during Mr. Arthur's administration), Mrs. Hayes (presented by the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union during Mr. Hayes's term), and Mrs. Benjamin Harrison (presented by the D. A. R.), and the portrait of Mrs. Roosevelt, by Chartran.
III
THE CAPITOL BUILDING
