Identifier: picturesquewas00moor (find matches)
Title: Picturesque Washington: pen and pencil sketches of its scenery, history, traditions, public and social life, with graphic descriptions of the Capitol and Congress, the White House, and the government departments ..
Year: 1884 (1880s)
Authors: Moore, Joseph West
Subjects: Washington (D.C.)
Publisher: Providence : J.A. & R.A. Reid
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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NewYork had sent him a monster cheese, larger than a hogshead incircumference, and nearly a yard thick. This cheese was cut bytwo men with huge knives manufactured from saw-blades, and dis-tributed in an ante-room, each person receiving a piece weighingabout three pounds. Everybody was very merry over the cheese,and most of the visitors carried home this remarkable presidentialsouvenir. Martin Van Buren, of New York, who succeeded Jackson as Presi-dent, had almost lived in the White House before he went there in1837 ^s master for four 3^ears. He had been Jacksons Secretary ofState, and was alwa^s believed to be the power behind the throne.He had been constantly at Jacksons elbow, and, as a reward for hisvaluable services, the gallant commander had worked hard to makehim his successor. Van Buren was a little, dapper gentleman, ele-gant and refined, the pink of fashion and politeness, but wathal re-markably shrewd as a politician, and full of tact and practical busi- THE PRESIDENTS. 157
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THE WHITE HOUSE, FROiM THE EAST. ness capacity in dealing with public affairs. It was customary to callhim the American Talleyrand, and his cleverness in political manage-ment was much discussed in those days. He was a widower, havinglost his wife nearly twenty years before he became President, and hishousehold affairs were directed by his sons wife, Angelica Single-ton Van Buren, a sweet young Southern beauty, whose grace andamiability won the hearts of all who met her in the White House.Her social duties were performed in such a pleasant manner that shegained extensive popularity. No more gracious woman ever hasbeen at the head of a Presidents household. Gen. William Henry Harrison, of Ohio, the hero of Tippe-canoe, was only one month in office. He became President in 1841,with John Tyler as Vice-President. Old Tip, as he was affec-tionately called, it is believed, was worried to death by importu-nate office-seekers, not having the faculty of repressing them pos-sessed by some of th

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