Martha Patterson, widow of Senator Patterson, of Tennessee, and daughter of the President, administered the social duties of the Executive Mansion during Johnson's administration, Mrs. Johnson being an invalid. Mrs. Patterson said: "We are plain people from the mountains of Tennessee, called here for a short time by a national calamity. I trust too much will not be expected of us." But sad as her heart must have been in those days, she filled the duties of her high place to the satisfaction of even the exacting great dames of the period. Andrew Johnson's lovely family are yet fondly remembered and deeply loved by many who enjoyed the friendship of "the plain people from Tennessee."
General U. S. Grant, of Illinois, became President in 1869, and his administration was one long carnival of social duties and enjoyments.
Mrs. Julia Dent Grant and her accomplished daughter, Nellie, led the society of the Capitol through eight brilliant years. The White House was entirely refurnished, and the festivities were on a scale of magnificence never equaled there before or since.
In 1877 Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, became President. He came in at a difficult and dangerous time, but his administration brought peace and tranquility to the nation.
Mrs. Lucy Webb Hayes was noted for her plain dressing and strict temperance principles, which she enforced even in the White House, much to the disgust of the legations and to the delight of the Christian people of the country.
Copyright, 1909, by Harris & Ewing, Washington
THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET
From left to right around the table—President Taft, Franklin MacVeagh, George W. Wickersham, George Von L. Meyer,
James Wilson, Charles Nagel, Richard A. Ballinger, Frank H. Hitchcock, Jacob M. Dickinson, Philander C. Knox.
Photo by Clinedinst
ENTRANCE TO THE WHITE HOUSE
