Age, the guise of youth assuming,
Wit, through all its circle gleaming,
Glittering wealth, and beauty beaming;
Belles and matrons, maids and madams,
All are gone to Mrs. Adams’s.
The picture of this celebrated entertainment is still extant, and shows the belles in the full dress of the period, when the dress waists ended just under the arms, and its depth, front and back, was not over three or four inches. The skirts, narrow and plain, were terminated by a flounce just resting on the floor. The gloves reached to the elbow, and were of such fine kid that they were often imported in the shell of an English walnut. Slippers and silk stockings of the color of the dress were worn, crossed and tied with gay ribbons over the instep. The hair was combed high, fastened with a tortoise-shell comb—the married ladies wearing ostrich feathers and turbans. While the belles were thus attired, their beaux were decked in blue coats, and gilt buttons, with white or buff waistcoats, white neck-ties and high “chokers,” silk stockings and pumps.
In this picture Daniel Webster, Clay and Calhoun are conspicuous in this dress. General Jackson, wearing bowed pumps, with Mrs. Adams on his arm, make the central figures of the assembly. Mrs. Adams wore “a suit of steel.” The dress was composed of steel llama; her ornaments for head, throat and arms, were all of cut steel, producing a dazzling effect. General Jackson’s entire devotion to her, during the evening, was the subject of comment. After the manner of to-day, it was declared that he was “smiling for the Presidency.” He was the lion of the evening. All the houses of the first ward were illuminated in his honor. Bonfires made the streets light as day, and the “sovereign people” shouted his name and fame. The same evening, he attended a ball given by the famous dancing-master, Carusi, and finished the festivities, celebrating his glory by the side of the reigning lady, the wife of the Secretary of State.
That night fixed his presidential star in the ascendency. A few days later the name of Calhoun was withdrawn as the nominee of his party, and that of Jackson put in its place. The house, a double one, in which this famous ball was given, still stands unaltered, on F street, opposite the Ebbitt House. A portion of it was long occupied as lodgings by Hon. Charles Sumner.
Through fiery opposition, John Quincy Adams was elected President. From the time she became mistress of the President’s house, failing health inclined Mrs. Adams to seek seclusion, but she still continued to preside at public receptions. Her vivacity and pleasing manners did much to warm the chill caused by Mr. Adams’ apathy or apparent coldness. Those who knew him, declared that he had the warmest heart and the deepest sympathies, but he had an unfortunate way of hiding them. It is told that when he was candidate for the Presidency, his friends persuaded him to go to a cattle show. Among the persons who ventured to address him, was a respectable farmer who impulsively exclaimed: “Mr. Adams, I am very glad to see you. My wife, when she was a gal, lived in your father’s family; you were then a little boy, and she has often combed your head.”
“Well,” said Mr. Adams, in a harsh voice, “I suppose she combs yours now?”