CHAPTER XLVIII



     DEATH OF LUCY WEBB HAYES-HER CHARACTER, CAREER,



       AND GRACES OF LIFE - MONTHS OF ANGUISHED



      MOURNING - CONSOLATORY VISIT OF MRS. HARRIET



      COLLINS HERRON - REREADING EMERSON - VISIT TO



            LAKE MOHONK AND NEW ENGLAND - 1889



  JUNE  22. Saturday.-Returned,  from attending committee

    and board meeting of Ohio State University at Columbus,

with Laura yesterday afternoon, reaching home about 5:30 P. M.

  Rutherford met us. He looked as if something awful was on

his mind. We got into the carriage, when he said: "I have very

bad news for you," and with sobs he told us that Lucy had an

attack of paralysis about 4 o'clock P. M.- fifteen minutes be-

fore four was the exact time.

  She was sitting in our room, first floor, in the bay, with Ella

sewing. Ella noticed that Lucy had difficulty with her fingers

trying to thread a needle; went over to her. Lucy could not

speak. She was sitting in the large low chair that stands near

the southeast window. She did not fall out of it at all, but sank

back in it, and seemed to realize what had happened to her; was

depressed and in tears. Fanny and Miss Haynes and Miss Lucy

Keeler were playing tennis just outside of the room; were called

in. Sophie Fletcher, the cook, came also. Lucy Keeler drove

rapidly for Dr. Rice and he was soon present. He spoke with

encouragement and confidence to Lucy. She was perfectly con-

scious but not able to speak. She was still in the chair. He had

her placed in the bed.  When Laura and I reached her bedside,

she seemed to know us. In her old manner she pressed my hand,

and tried to smile, or smiled!

  The report of the attack published in the newspapers this morn-

ing has brought many dispatches from friends and acquaintances

in all parts of the country - from Comrade John Eaton, Boston,

to Tom Ballinger, Galveston. Sympathy and inquiry.

                         (471)









472          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



   June 23.  Sunday.-Lucy  is apparently more  difficult to

arouse. Her face and eyes looked natural, almost with their old

beauty, when Dr. Rice tried to awaken her so she could swallow

medicine.  I think she failed to swallow it.  But she had life in

her eyes and face. Now I fear, alas ! I have seen her eyes for the

last time. Those glorious eyes! are they gone - forever? She

still grasps my hand, I think intelligently and with the old affec-

tion. This at 7 A. M.

   [At] 7:20 A. M., Lucy opened her eyes and with a conscious

grasp, as she looked in mine affectionately, responded to my in-

quiry, "Do you hear me, darling?" But her eyelids do not open

as they did last night! . . .

   [At] 8 A. M. Dr. Hilbish calls. He thinks the indications

rather less favorable than yesterday.  . . .  She is weaker and

more disposed to sleep. She now looks natural and rests quietly.

  June 24.  Monday, 4:40 A. M. - The end is now inevitable.

        I can't realize it, but I think of her as gone.  Dear, dar-

ling Lucy! When I saw and heard her last in full life, she was

gathering flowers for me to carry to Mary, last Monday. When

she found I would be too late for my train to Toledo if I waited

longer, with her cheerful voice she said: "Oh, well, it makes no

difference. I can send them (or I will send them) by express

at noon." This she did, and Mary got them. I was barely in

time for the train - not a moment to lose. A characteristic act.

It was like her.  For me the last - oh, the last !

  At 4 P. M., Now, more than three days since the attack, finds

her much in the same condition she has been since the first day.

We wait.

  Letters and dispatches come from all quarters - full of words

that sustain and encourage.





                              FREMONT, OHIO, June 24, 1889.

  MY DEAR AUNTY DAVIS:- Lucy is no better this morning at

6 A. M. . . . She is unconscious and her breathing is harder.

We know we have your prayers and sympathies.









             DEATH OF LUCY WEBB HAYES          473



  She has had a decided feeling for some weeks that this dan-

ger was near her.

  With all love for you and the doctor,

                                      RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.

  MRS. E. G. DAVIS,

     Cincinnati.



  June 24-25, 1889.- It is past midnight, almost one o'clock.

We do not expect Lucy to see the light of another day. All of

our children, Birchard, Webb, Rutherford, Fanny, and Scott,

are waiting for the inevitable close. With us are our dear young

friends--our darling daughter Mary, wife of Birchard [and]

our cousin and much loved adopted niece has come from Missis-

sippi to be with us, Adda Cook Huntington. Lucy Elliot Keeler,

so near and dear to both of us, and, more fortunate than could

be hoped, the eldest child - the representative of my never to be

forgotten sister Fanny-Laura Platt Mitchell, so beloved by

both Lucy and myself that no sacred circle could be complete in

my home without her; and with [us, also] the favorite aunt of

our dear Mary, Mrs. Miller, a precious addition to our company

of relatives and friends. The doctors too, Dr. John B. Rice and

Dr. Hilbish, so attentive and thoughtful and devoted, and unit-

ing with these lovable traits such skill and knowledge and judg-

ment in their high profession that we have the best assurance

that all will be done and has been done that man can do to save

the dear one, and to smooth her way into the unknown if that is

to be; and with them the good nurses, Mrs. Dilenschneider and

Miss Woolsey, whose sterling excellence has in these few anx-

ious days made them esteemed friends for life.

  And Lucy herself is so sweet and lovely, as she lies uncon-

sciously breathing away her precious life, that I feel a strange

gratitude and happiness as I meditate on all the circumstances of

this solemn transition we are waiting for.  Would I change it?

Oh, yes, how gladly would we all welcome the least indication of

the restoration of the darling head of the home circle.  But we

cannot, we must not, repine. Lucy Hayes is approaching the

beautiful and happy ending of a beautiful, honored, and happy









474          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



life. She has been wonderfully fortunate and wonderfully hon-

ored. Without pain, without the usual suffering, she has been

permitted to come to the gates of the great change which leads

to the life where pain and suffering are unknown.

  Just as she was reaching the period when the infirmities and

sufferings of mortal life are greatest, she is permitted to go be-

yond them all. Whatever life can give to the most fortunate,

she has enjoyed to the full.  How wise and just this is! If ever

a man or woman found exquisite happiness in imparting happi-

ness to others, the dear companion of my life, my Lucy, is that

woman. Should I not be full of joy and gratitude for the good

fortune which gave me her? Few men in this most important

relation of life have been so blessed as I have been.  From early

mature manhood to the threshold of old age I have enjoyed her

society in the most intimate of all relations. How all of my

friends love her! My comrades of the war almost worship her.

  Often I have said our last days together have been our best

days. Who knows what the future might have brought to her?

It is indeed hard - hard indeed - to part with her, but could I or

should I call her back? Rather let me try to realize the truth

of the great mystery. "The Lord hath given, [gave, and] the

Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

  June 25. Tuesday. - Lucy died without pain this morning at

6:30. All were present. I held her hand and gazed upon her

fine face to the last; when, kissing her good-bye as she left the

earth, I joined the dear daughter and the others children in walk-

ing on the porch in the bracing air of the lovely morning.

  June 26, 1889.- . . . I notice in the newspapers the

phrase, "the beautiful home in Spiegel Grove." Yes, is is, in its

own plain, homelike, and sensible way, a beautiful home, but

I now begin to realize that the soul has left it.  I could not

bear it if I was not able to employ myself in doing things that

seem to be useful in the present emergency, or in contriving what

will perpetuate and do honor to the dear one lost. I am greatly

consoled by the fact that she was relieved from all the pains,

and all dread of death. The letters and expressions of sympathy

from all quarters and all sorts of people do help. The comments









             DEATH OF LUCY WEBB HAYES          475



and editorials of the press, where they show a true appreciation

of her, are very gratifying. She had a genuine hatred of praise

for qualities which she felt she did not possess. Hence her often

repeated injunction: "Don't let any sermon be preached over me.

Such indiscriminate and false eulogiums as I sometimes hear

disgust me. Let me have only simple ceremonies with hymns

and music."

  June 27.  Thursday.- I do not, of course, sleep well, but on

the whole am in bodily health. The letters of kindness and sym-

pathy and the articles in the newspapers do bring consolation;

do aid in softening the blow. They show that our dear one is

known and loved as she would wish to be.



              SPIEGEL GROVE, FREMONT, OHIO, June 27, 1889.

  MY DEAR FRIEND: -I have not written letters since the end

came.  One to Mrs. Herron, of Cincinnati, and now this note to

you. Your hand and face would give me and all of us great com-

fort, but you ought not to come. I have long felt anxious about

your health. Do take better care of yourself.

  The loss I cannot speak of. There are many consolations. She

died without suffering. She is relieved from many things which

age was beginning to bring to her. Forty years and more since

we met.  All that life can do was hers - from first love to the

grandmother's joy. The letters of friends and the words of the

press show how well she and her work are understood and val-

ued. This does console and strengthen. I enjoy while I weep

the kind things said. I wish I could see them all. But you will

excuse me for a short note. I love you and believe in you. I

grieve with you that your dear wife is ill. We all feel the deep-

est solicitude for you and yours.

                Ever your friend. - Sincerely,

                                     RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.

  WILLIAM HENRY SMITH,

    New York.



  June 29.  Saturday. --- Everything belonging to the funeral

services yesterday was very satisfactory - more than that.  The









476          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



whole affair was most gratifying and consoling. My darling who

was very sensitive about the details of funerals, would, I am

sure, if she could speak approve all that was done, or, at least,

would find as little to wish otherwise as in any case. I and the

family and all near friends were indeed grateful that our dear

one should be laid away with such touching and beautiful cere-

monies and surroundings. I cannot hope writing rapidly [to]

enumerate all of the blessed facts.

  The weather, which was threatening rain-storms all around

us in all parts of the State, was simply perfect. The veil of clouds

mitigated the heat of the sun in the forenoon, except at intervals,

and in the afternoon the storm moved off to the south and south-

east, leaving the air cool and pleasant, and a fine sunshine sur-

rounded us as we moved with the great crowd to the grave, and

at the grave we were again in the grateful shadow of the clouds.

At no time did the threatening of the clouds disturb or in the

least interrupt us.

   The friends who came added to the satisfactions of the last

day. Herron and Harriet, of Cincinnati, both of them intimate

friends before we were married or even engaged; Dr. John and

Mrs. Davis, warm friends during our whole married life; Rogers

and his wife, the same; but, especially, Carrie Little, an intimate

friend of Lucy since both were eleven years old; Professor Mc-

Cabe, of the Ohio Wesleyan [University], who has known her

since she was eleven at Delaware, [who] performed the cere-

mony of marriage, [who] was at the silver wedding in the White

House in 1877, and [who] now led in the services and made a

heart-warm talk at the end.

  June 30.  Sunday. - I am still unable to fix my mind on the

things I would like to write about my dear one. The comments

of the press, the good letters I am getting, and the conversations

of friends showing the beautiful life and character of Lucy, are

very consoling. They do bring peace and comfort. I never again

will hesitate to write to an afflicted friend to aid him, if I know

enough of the lost one to write discriminating talk about him.

Praise of our dear ones gone must be always sweet. With me

it goes farther than anything else. Lovely words about Lucy--









             MRS. HAYES'S CHARACTERISTICS          477



they do console, comfort, reconcile. How she deserves them-

the dear darling!

  The letters of General Sherman [and] of General T. M. Tur-

ner. Nothing more fine than Turner's; he pictures Lucy wait-

ing for the last of the line, sitting on the banks of the Kanawha,

as the Twenty-third and the rest of the command marched off

over the mountains to open the deadly campaign of 1864, in the

last days of April or first of May.

  July 1.  Monday. - The carpenters are again at work on the

addition to the house which Lucy was so much interested in and

which was begun to please her! They were told last Tuesday

they could go on with the work as usual.  But they said they

could not think of doing it.  . . . I passed around among

them, and shook hands with each one of them. My eyes were

full; I could not speak a word, but their warm grasp of sym-

pathy did me good.

  I want now to collect her favorite books and relics; anecdotes

of her; her songs and hymns must be noted, her characteristics

noted down.

  She was very beautiful in her prime and changed with years

less than most persons do.  Her eyes were simply perfect - large,

hazel, dark, flashing, tender. I saw once a panther in Quebec,

down at a little collection of native animals and birds of Canada,

when travelling with her in 1860.  I told her and Clinton Kirby:

"There are Lucy's eyes when excited."  Not like hers, but re-

minding you of hers in their force.

  Her hair [was] always a beautiful raven black, with a single

red hair or dark auburn here and there. The few gray hairs

now have not changed its general appearance, so it has often been

 said lately, "Her beautiful hair is as black as ever."



   She was free from bigotry, never uncharitable, not "aggres-

sive" in behalf of her opinions. She would never disparage any-

one from whom she differed, but always spoke kindly of all who

with good motives tried to promote a good cause by legitimate

means. For example, she did not agree with the third-party pro-

hibitionists. She was firm in the conviction that in the large cit-









478          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



ies, in the present state of public sentiment, it was a serious mis-

take; that high license and wise regulations was to be preferred;

but she retained the fullest respect and the warmest regard for

Miss [Frances E.] Willard and for others who conscientiously

differed from her.



  She did not consider herself as having a "mission." "I want

to do what is best - what is right- what will make all around

me happy," was the key to her life.



  She was accustomed to the society of the best people in Ohio

and Kentucky from her infancy. Born and living in Chillicothe,

the ancient metropolis of Ohio, always the home of educated and

refined people, she remained there until her mother took the two

sons of the family to be educated at Delaware, under such supe-

rior teachers as President Thompson, President Merrick, and Dr.

McCabe, and Williams.  There from the age of eleven she re-

cited in college or in the preparatory school until she was taken

to Cincinnati six years afterwards, and there graduated with

credit in the Wesleyan Female College at the age of nineteen in

1850. . . .  [She] resided in Cincinnati, as her home thence-

forward, with occasional absences to visit her husband in the

army, [or] to remain with him as a Member of Congress in Wash-

ington, (one full term and part of another), until he resigned

from the House of Representatives to be inaugurated Governor

of Ohio in January, 1868 [at Columbus], where she remained

during his two terms as governor 1868-1872. She then returned

to Cincinnati, lived there about two years, and then removed

with her husband to the home of his youth, Fremont, Ohio. In

1875 General Hayes was elected a third time Governor of Ohio

and Mrs. Hayes returned again to Columbus, Ohio, where she

lived until February 1877, when Washington became for the

second time her home.



  She spent the few weeks next after her marriage at the home

of Mr. and Mrs. William A. Platt in the city of Columbus, in

the midst of the delightful social scenes of that gay and attractive

State capital. Mrs. Platt, the sister of her husband, was a lady









             MRS. HAYES'S CHARACTERISTICS          479



of unusual popularity and of rare social gifts. The two became

intimately and warmly associated--sisters in fact as well as in

law, and the strong and lasting attachments of Lucy to the city

of Columbus and to a host of friends residing there began at that

time. During the whole of her remaining life, Columbus and its

people were always very dear to her. Her visits to Columbus

were always frequent and her last visit in 1889 was regarded by

her with enthusiastic affection.



  Her voice was of extraordinary excellence, of great compass,

penetration, and distinctness, and as sweet and tender as can be

imagined. Her singing was delightful. She chose songs just

suited to her voice and character.

  July 2.  Tuesday. - A photograph copied in The Baltimorean

is the best portrait of Lucy I have seen. I recall it as one I have

seen but do not know when or by whom taken.

  I slept better than any time since she was attacked, in the old

room and bed. That is probably after all the place for me. I

will gather there a few of her favorite things--not enough to

prevent it from being as nearly as she left it as may be - and so

live with her and near her, if possible, the rest of my days.

  How comforting it is to read in letters and newspapers how

fully she was appreciated.

  As I left her grave I saw -and was consoled in some degree

-standing near, holding by the hand his wife or daughter, one

of our humblest citizens, an Indian or half-breed, an acquaintance

since boyhood, known as "Indian King." His sad, tear-covered

face told how Lucy was loved and admired by the lowly of the

earth.



  I was speaking of her glorious voice. Talking not in a loud or

noisy way, I could hear her talking to friends she was showing

around her flower garden, at some distance - so distant that not

a sound of what others said could be heard, while her words



came distinctly and easily.

  About 1853 she, with me, visited Uncle Birchard at Mr. and

Mrs. Valette's at their lovely home near the cemetery, where Mr.









480          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



and Mrs. Edgerton now live. In the evening, sitting on the ve-

randa looking west, she would sing, to the delight of all, her

favorite songs. Mr. Stahl (Jacob) met me in town one day and

said cheerily: "We are enjoying your wife's beautiful songs

every evening.  We hear them perfectly and enjoy them as much

as you." He lived on the east side of the river, perhaps more

than half a mile in a direct line nearly east of the Valette home!



  She had a many-sided nature; was fond of all farming, of cat-

tle, of her dairy, of her poultry yard, of her flowers; of sailing,

of fishing; of all children's sports; was fond of looking on at the

dancing in the ballroom, of all great gatherings, of soldiers march-

ing and drilling; was selected to take part in many scenes of all

sorts and enjoyed it. Her best day at the New York Centennial,

April 1889, was the Naval day on Commodore Bateman's yacht.

  July 3, 1889. - Emily Hastings - lovely in appearance -  re-

minding me strongly of her mother, my dear sister Fanny, with

her attractive little four-and-a-half-year old, the sailor boy,

Platt Hastings, left today for their summer home at Delhi, Dela-

ware County, Ohio [New York].

  Mrs. Austin came to be a friend and helper, with her extraor-

dinary practical talents, in the 7 P. M. train from Cleveland.

  July 4.  Thursday. -. . .  Walking with Laura "around

the premises," - out to the blackberry patch, down towards the

old cottage, under the buckeye and the big ash, and then home by

the mulberry road, -we were tired enough to sit on the settee

looking at the new rooms from under the great oaks.  Then I

asked, in the sweet, beautiful, cool air: "Where is Lucy now and

what is she doing?" Laura, promptly: "She is having a good time

with the little grandchild!" A dear faith!



   [Dear Aunt Lu! What portrait galleries of her our hearts

have shown themselves to be these days, under memory's reveal-

ing touch!

  I have had my own especial picture of her -one that is for-

ever my very own, - and never had it been a clearer vision than

that last night, when the years-old recollection came before me,









             MRS. HAYES'S CHARACTERISTICS          481



together with the pale Madonna face upon the pillow- their si-

lent, differing beauty lingering for me, face by face, through

those slow hours during which the twilight darkened round her

-the  darkness  deepened  into midnight--paled  again--the

dawn came--and then, Azrael!

  My picture shows her always as she was the day before she

became "Aunt Lu" to "Uncle Ruddy's" nieces and nephew. My

mother had taken me with her to greet her tomorrow's sister. I

think I had never taken my eyes from her all the while that she

sat with my uncle and beautiful mother, when -  oh, joy for the

child! - she took my hand, turned away from the grown-up peo-

ple, and sat down by the window where I stood beside her in fas-

cinated silence. I don't remember a word she said - perhaps she

didn't say a word, - but I remember the tender light in her shin-

ing eyes, the beautiful bands of her dark hair, and the touch of

her fingers as she stroked my hand.  Ah me! ah me! I lost my

heart to her then--and now she has taken it away with her!

That day she wrought upon me a spell of bewitchment; its rec-

ollection thrills me now.

  And when my uncle brought her to us for the bridal visit, we

children were clamorous to appropriate her for our own exclusive

possession, glorying that in our home only, she was indeed "Aunt

Lu." Dear, dear Aunt Lu! Very soon her name became the

herald to us all, and to our childhood friends, of happy, hila-

rious times.  With later years the joyful music of her dear name

--Aunt Lu! Aunt Lu!--has softened and deepened into that

sweet full chord of tenderness and love for which we have listened

since ever she came to us, in all of our life's experiences of joy

or sorrow.  Through all, the ringing tone has vibrated for us

with sympathy, heartening; if need has been, rescue.  "Loved

long since - lost a while," we shall still be listening - Aunt Lu!

Aunt Lu ! - through whatever the mysterious days or years be-

fore us may hold in their keeping.

  Dear, dear Aunt Lu!]

  The foregoing by our darling niece, Laura Platt Mitchell.*



  * A slip of paper, pasted in the Diary at the head of this entry, reads:-

"Dear Uncle Ruddy:- It seems like intruding.- But you said I might.

Do you remember?"-Why of course, and thank you.- H.

   31









482          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



               SPIEGEL GROVE, FREMONT, OHIO, July 4, 1889.

  MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: - The very great kindness of your-

self and Mrs. Harrison will always be remembered with grate-

ful feelings by me and mine.

  Among the millions who were filled with joy by your election,

probably no one was more profoundly affected than Mrs. Hayes.

She did not share largely in the merely partisan feeling of the

time, but she felt that the old soldiers fared badly under your

predecessor.

  When the news came to her she was in Boston, surrounded

by her happy friends of the Woman's Home Missionary Society.

She withdrew quietly from all associates, went out alone to a

soldiers' monument, and in silence meditated her fervent thanks

to God! All good words and kind deeds like yours - tributes to

her character - are inexpressibly consoling to me.

  With tenderest thanks to you and Mrs. Harrison.

                          Sincerely,

                                    RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.

  PRESIDENT HARRISON.

                               SPIEGEL GROVE, July 6, 1889.

  MY DEAR GUY:--I have been on the point of writing to you

for several days. It is not easy to do; and yet why not easier than

to write to any other man? My friend of longest standing, near-

est - known to her and knowing her intimately.  She was a won-

derful woman, - so large-hearted, so gifted, with such training;

so tender and sympathetic, so sincere and natural. The combi-

nation of faculties and endowments amounted to genius.

  Her general friends were multitudinous, and yet she had her

elect few who were as close to her as possible - dating from

childhood.

  She touched life at more points than any person I ever knew,

or heard of, or read of. She was at home with all human beings

who were not brutalized by vice and crime; could be happy

with all; could make all happy. She was least at home with the

self-sufficient -those conscious of their own powers, elevated po-

sition, or the like, and at the same time proud of it, and conceiv-

ing themselves of better clay than others. Even with them, if









             MRS. HAYES'S CHARACTERISTICS          483



time enough were given, she could be happy and add to their

happiness; but such people were a trial to her.

  All others, the rich and poor, learned and ignorant, the far-

mer, gardener, artist, mechanic, the man with cattle or poultry

or sheep or horses or dogs [she was at home with. She was]

fond of fishing, rowing, sailing; all work delighted her; fond of

all scenes of gaiety--the ballroom, the soiree, the soldiers' re-

union, picnics, all children's games, boys' sports, the drilling of

troops, racing. Why this long enumeration?

  All humanity was dear to her, and beyond any person I ever

saw she loved to make all happy, and was gifted with the faculty

of doing it. She loved Christ and all good Christians. She cared

very little for the formalities of religion. Believed in the ortho-

tox doctrines, but was as liberal and all-embracing in her chari-

table views as Christ himself.  She would never dream even of

forcing others in matters of opinion or conduct, unless the con-

duct was grossly criminal. She had friends she valued in every

church, and of no church. One writer about her fitly says, "She

had no obtrusive goodness."

  She had shared in all the best enjoyments of this stage of ex-

istence. She had loved, married, tasted the joys of maternity,

the happiness of caring for and training her children, and was

the fondest grandmother in the world.

  At the threshold of old age, she barely began to know its pains

and infirmities.

  Born in Chillicothe, next to Lexington, Kentucky, the social

centre of the West, connected on her mother's side with the

patriotism of New England, on her father's with the generous

chivalry of Virginia; educated by the studies and teachers of a

college for boys under Bishop Thompson, President Merrick,

and Dr. McCabe--instructors of unsurpassed excellence; then

under Professor Wilber at the Ohio Wesleyan Female College

in Cincinanti; living in Cincinnati more than twenty years; then

with the army of the Union - and always a favorite; next, three

years--the social periods--at Washington with her husband

as Member of Congress; five years at Columbus as wife of the

governor; and after this preparation, Washington again.

   I could not bear to see her in pain- rheumatism, deafness.









484          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



Without suffering, she fell asleep! On the Fourth, walking

under the old oaks, I asked my niece Laura, "What is Lucy do-

ing now?" With a beaming face she replied: "Why, of course

she is with her beloved grandson- Ruddy!"

                           As ever,

                                    RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.

  HONORABLE GUY M. BRYAN,

    Texas.



  July 7, 1889.  Sunday. - Mrs. Delia L. Williams, wife of Pro-

fessor Williams, of Delaware, came last evening. She will take

part in the memorial exercises this evening.

  Mrs. Williams tells this of Lucy: Talking with Aunty Davis,

she [Lucy] said: "I am not good. I am bad. I am not religious.

I am not what you are.   All I can say is, I do want to do to others

as I would wish them to do to me. This I always mean - I al-

ways try to do. I think of it always." This was her religion -

treating all others according to the Golden Rule. "A Christian"?

Yes, Darling, you were indeed.

  July 8.  Monday. - Last evening memorial services were held

in our church - a tribute by the church to the darling. All

passed off beautifully. The church was crowded. Beautiful

flowers sent by friends were in abundance.      Mrs. Finefrock

sent some of the very flowers Lucy so admired at her last visit

to Mrs. Finefrock. Music: "Rock of Ages," "Jesus, Lover of

my Soul," and other favorites.

  Mr. Mills [the pastor] made a good opening address. Mr.

Meek, the postmaster, spoke for the board of trustees; well and

in good taste. Mr. Ross read the resolutions of the board. Mr.

Burgoon spoke for the people; well. Mr. Ross read the editorial

article of the Los Angeles Times by Major Otis, Twenty-third

O. V. I., the letter of General Sherman, the letter of General

Thomas M. Turner, Thirty-sixth O. V. I., [the letter of] Judge

William Johnson, of Cincinnati, and the letter of [Alfred O.]

Long, Company G, Twenty-third O. V. I.

  Mrs. Delia L. Williams, of Delaware, also made a good talk on

the home mission work of Mrs. Hayes.









             MRS. HAYES'S CHARACTERISTICS          485



  All would have suited Lucy, except - She was so modest about

her own religious character that it would have pained and shamed

her to be spoken of as "saintly," and the whole stream of eulo-

gium would have crushed her to earth. She would have said:

"I am a poor, weak, miserable sinner. It is but justice to myself

to say that I do try to treat every human being and all of God's

creatures as I would wish to be treated in their places. But I

fear I am a sham when I see myself held up as a saint."

  Mailed this morning eighty-one letters of acknowledgment of

expressions of sympathy.

  July 9. Tuesday.- Attended the funeral of Comrade Elder

yesterday afternoon. The comrades were very kind and con-

siderate.

  Excellent letters received today from Senator Morrill, Senator

Sherman, and a host of others. How dearly beloved she was!



                              SPIEGEL GROVE, July 10, 1889.

  MY DEAR TOM:- Your letter is precious - very welcome in-

deed; none more so. My kindest regards to Mrs. Donaldson.

  The consolations are many. Nobody else can know as I do

her wonderful goodness and amazing powers. She touched life

in more points than anybody I ever heard or read of. She would

say: "I am very far from being so good as they say.  But I do

want to treat others as I want them to treat me. I would do this

with all of God's creatures. It makes me happy to do it. I try

to do it, and am miserable if conscious of a failure."

  Her power to make others happy was beyond comparison

greater than that of any one I ever knew, and her wish to do it

surpassed her powers. She was only uncharitable to those who

lacked charity.

  I see the [Philadelphia] Ledger in a friendly article makes two

decided mistakes. There was no avoidable publicity. All organi-

zations, civic, religious, and the like, were requested not to come

in a body. Her soldiers - all soldiers were hers- were needed

to preserve decorum in the great crowds of well-behaved people,

and they alone came in a body. It was a quiet, solemn, and af-

fecting scene.









486          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



  Secondly: The article gives Mr. Evarts his way in regard to

state dinners and wine!  Not a word of truth in it.

  But the darling is gone. I know it is well with her. I cannot

say that I would not call her back if I could. But I do say that

I ought not to do it.

  A happy and fortunate life was happily and fortunately ended.

No suffering, no dread. As if asleep she passed away, as she al-

ways hoped to do. She expected to go suddenly, and had pre-

monitions of it. She was happier the last year of her life than

ever before.  Only the death of a dear grandson.

  This is too long, the longest I have written since her death.-

Good-bye. Love to your wife and all.

                           Sincerely,

                                      RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.

  HONORABLE THOMAS DONALDSON,

    Philadelphia.



  July 11.  Thursday. - During the day writing notes acknowl-

edging the letters of sympathy. Read with Laura old leaves of

my note-book. Also the "Epic of Hades." "Actaeon and Helen."

  Will gather all good letters referring to Lucy and put them in

her desk - the desk presented by Dr. McCabe to her at the time

of our wedding. I handed him two eagles. He bought the desk

with them.

  Many good letters received today. One, from Mrs. Calvin

W. Brice, whose husband is chairman of the Democratic National

Committee, is very kind and beautiful.

  Spent the evening at the meeting of the G. A. R. post. All

very kind in greeting and manner.  No allusion to the lost one.





                               SPIEGEL GROVE, July 12, 1889.

  MY DEAR AUNTY DAVIS:--I can't tell you how much we are

all in debt to you - from away back down to this very hour.

  Her voice, her eyes, her hair, her expression and brightness all

come to me, as if to stay. What a store of saving common sense.

What a wide range of knowledge,-accurate as well as full -









             MRS. HAYES'S CHARACTERISTICS          487



of common things-from all kinds of farmers' occupations to

 the mooted questions of etiquette in Washington. She touched

all interests as well as all hearts. - But why all this?

   I do not feel like leaving home so soon. Would be most happy

to be with you and talk by the hour of her. But it must be here.

Either as you go [to Chautauqua] or as you return. You may

choose. We shall have more room later. But we can always

bestow you somehow. Be sure to come, and advise me when.

Fanny and the boys are so tender and affectionate.

            With love to the doctor. Ever yours,

                                     RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.

  MRS. E.G. DAVIS,

     Cincinnati.



   July 13. - Charles L. Mead and Mrs. Mead, Katharine and

Mabel, just returned from Alaska, came from Detroit at 11:30

A. M. and remained until the 7 P. M. train for Cleveland. A

most happy visit. They all thoroughly appreciated Lucy and

their conversation about her was most kind and comforting.

  July 14.  Sunday. - Lucy's life in years was not a long one.

But in events how protracted, compared with even the very

favored!

  I have spoken of her childhood life in Chillicothe, "the ancient

metropolis," her visits to the dear grandfather, Colonel and Judge

Cook, at Willow Branch in the country, and to her uncles and

aunts, thus early giving her a familiar acquaintance with far-

mers' homes, occupations, and life generally. The society life of

Chillicothe and frequent, almost annual, visits to the Kentucky

relatives of her father at Lexington. ..

  The journeys to Delaware, Chillicothe, and Lexington were

yearly still [after the home was made at Cincinnati].

  Married in 1852 to Rutherford B. Hayes, a graduate of Ken-

yon and of the Law School of Harvard University, she now ad-

ded his homes and associations to her own and became intimate

with friends at Columbus and Fremont.

  She journeyed to Quebec by the St. Lawrence and Niagara;









488          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



visited Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and other Eastern cities

before the war.

  With the war, wider and more enlarging influences came to

her. Perhaps no wife of any officer was so intimately associated

with army and hospital and camp life during the war. Her hus-

band, now General Hayes, was elected from Cincinnati a Member

of Congress the last year of the war but did not quit the field.

Mrs. Hayes came to him at Washington and was with him dur-

ing the Grand Review in May 1865, and for days before and

after its exciting scenes. Under an order from General Grant

General Hayes visited Petersburg and Richmond, and Mrs. Hayes

was in those cities soon after their capture long enuogh to ab-

sorb the spirit of that wonderful time.

   She spent parts of the next three [two] winters at Washing-

ton with her husband, who was a Member of the Thirty-ninth

and Fortieth Congress. She had thus exceptionally good oppor-

tunities to get whatever was worth knowing in the life of Wash-

ington.

  General Hayes resigned as a Member of the Fortieth Congress

to assume the governorship of Ohio. At Columbus during the

next four years, 1868-1872, and again, after the third election of

General Hayes, in 1876, she was as the governor's wife engaged

in the duties and pleasures of that conspicuous place more than

five years with marked success.

   In 1873 the family home was changed from Cincinnati to

General Hayes' boyhood home at Fremont in Spiegel Grove.

>From there, elected a third time governor after an interval of

two terms, the family again returned to Columbus.

   Immediately after the election of 1875, General Hayes became

the choice of Ohio for nomination to the Presidency, and Mrs.

Hayes with her husband had to meet "the fierce light which is

cast on those who are en route to the White House."

   For almost two years the noted and unusual struggle lasted

and was finally decided only at the last moment before the 4th

 of March 1877.

   Then came the Presidency under the colossal difficulties of,

 1. A disputed and doubtful election; 2. Of a new phase of the

 Southern question; 3. A critical contest resulting in the restora-









             MRS. HAYES'S CHARACTERISTICS          489



tion of specie payments; 4. A new chapter in the civil service

reform; 5. A simpler social life at the Executive Mansion.

  After this a return to the home in Fremont and work in many

fields of usefulness: Home Missions, The jails and poorhouses,

The soldiers' work and reunions and pleasures, and religious and

private life.

  A more eventful life, what American woman has ever lived?

  Her intimate friends and acquaintances of school life; what

a list, and true and lasting to the end! Mrs. E. G. Davis, Mrs.

Jewett, Mrs. McDowell.

  In church thinking of the lunacy of Charles A. Dana, of the

[New York] Sun.- Unjust attacks on public men do them mord

good than unmerited praise. They are hurt less by undeserved

censure than by undeserved commendation. Abuse helps; often

praise hurts.

  July 15.  Monday.- I dreamed of Lucy  for the first time

since her death last night. She looked natural; quiet, pale, a

little dazed; not conscious of what she had passed through. We

were not so overjoyed as I thought we should be. All seemed

anxious. Probably the fear that her mind was not altogether

restored; or fear that the attacks would come again soon. Oh,

dear Darling, what a gap in the world without you!





             SPIEGEL GROVE, FREMONT, OHIO, July 15, 1889.

  MY DEAR SIR: - No part of my past life is clearer to me than

that which is connected with the [Cincinnati] Literary Club. On

Saturday nights my wife often wrote in my note-books.  I saw

only yesterday in her handwriting: "March-,  1853.  Saturday

night. R. has gone to the club. Not quite reconciled to it

Judge James says, 'Woman is the only enemy that has ever over-

come the club.'"

  With all thanks for your expression of sympathy.

                          Sincerely,

                                     RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.

  CHARLES THEODORE GREVE,

    SECRETARY.









490          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



  July 16. - The old grandfather's clock has been often repaired

and overhauled; new works have been put in, etc., etc. But it

now seems to be "jangled and out of tune." It strikes irregularly.

Seems not to want to do duty longer. Is it not a fitting thing

to let it stop now that Lucy is gone? Grandfather's clock has not

kept time nor struck regularly since Lucy died!

  July 17.  Wednesday.--The notes of [my]  speech at the

Washington [Inauguration] Centennial are sent me for correc-

tion prior to publication.  My first work this morning.  "Done

and finished," as Horton Force would say.        Then letters of

acknowledgment to the writers of notes about Lucy. Some of

them are very interesting.



             SPIEGEL GROVE, FREMONT, OHIO, July 17, 1889.

  DEAR MRS. FERRIS: - Your kind letter is warmly welcomed

by all of us. It tends to lighten the load nothing can entirely

remove.

  The lines of Longfellow seem familiar, but we do not find

them in his works - at least not in our edition. Am I putting

you to too much trouble if I ask you to refer me to the page

where they may be found in place? He once wrote of Mrs.

Hayes, or to her:

              "Where'er a noble deed is wrought,

               Where'er is spoken a noble thought,

                 Our hearts in glad surprise

                 To higher levels rise."

                          Sincerely,

                                    RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.

  MRS. MORRIS P. FERRIS,

    Long Island.



  July 18. Thursday. - Reading the "Epic of Hades" (Who

is the author?) and now at Motley's "Diary and Correspond-

ence."

  My best friend, William Henry Smith, came today about noon.

We have talked steadily on the dear one, on his experiences at









             MRS. HAYES'S CHARACTERISTICS          491



the Johnstown disaster, and on the past generally. We  drove

about the neighborhood until a heavy shower sent us home.

  He thinks well of Mrs. Runkle [a New York litterateur of

much distinction] as the one to write Lucy's biography. Bright,

sensible, brilliant, and would love her subject.

  July 19. Friday. - How much has left us with Lucy! I want

a passage in the New Testament. Any passage in the Bible she

could turn [to or] find immediately.  I never happened to know

a person whose knowledge of the Bible was equal to hers.

  Mr. Smith says Taine, the critic, pronounces "Silas Lapham"

the first of English novels -  "the greatest English novel."

  After a visit which gave us all a great deal of comfort and

pleasure my friend Smith left before 10 P. M. to take the night

train to Chicago.  I thanked him warmly.

  July 20.  Saturday.--Letters,  photos,  and  other  matters

mainly connected with Lucy.       My  reflection is: "She  is in

Heaven. She is where all the best of earth have gone."

  July 21.  Sunday.- One month ago today Lucy was struck

with paralysis! What a life I have led since that day.

  She wanted to treat all of God's creatures as she would wish

to be treated in their place. This may be the nearest to a test

of her character of any single statement, if we add to it, and she

had in a wonderful degree the faculty of doing it. I think of

Lucy as the Golden Rule incarnate.

  July 22.  Monday. - Lucy read a great deal.  She read aloud

well, and was fond of reading favorite passages, usually character

scenes, to a circle of her friends or family, such as "Old Town

Folks," "Little Lord Fauntleroy," from Dickens, etc.

  My  father died July 22, 1822, of bilious fever at Delaware,

Ohio. One of the sickly years.





              SPIEGEL GROVE, FREMONT, OHIO, July 22, 1889.

  MY DEAR MRS. JONES:--Your dispatch recalls the good old

times when George and I were "bosom cronies." Alas, what

changes !









492          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



   With all thanks for your kindness and sympathy and the

best wishes for you and yours.

                          Sincerely,

                                     RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.

  MRS. GEORGE W. JONES,

     Cincinnati.

                              FREMONT, OHIO, July 22, 1889.

  DEAR MADAM:-- Many thanks, heartfelt thanks, for your kind

letter. It has been a notion I have had many years that no one

could aid another who is writing on the higher themes of the

poet or the orator. To give mere facts or data for the compiler

or biographer, is easy enough.

  Mrs. Hayes was a person of wonderful gifts and her oppor-

tunities for training for the places she filled were of the best.

  Her power to make others happy was fully matched by her

desire to do it -- by the happiness she received in doing it. She

was the embodiment of the Golden Rule. She was not greatly

attached to the mere formalities of religion. But she did try to

treat all, the old, the young, the poor and unfortunate especially,

- indeed all of God's creatures - as she would want to be treated

if in their place. Her tact and extraordinary skill were the re-

sult of natural faculty of unexampled reach, trained by oppor-

tunities in all sorts of life. She was at home and at ease with all

descriptions of people. Perhaps her large, warm, hospitable, and

generous heart was the feature in her life. But she was firm,

faithful, enduring, and had a saving common sense that steered

her clear from shams and cranks.

  But I am talking too much. All this in confidence.

               With all good wishes. Sincerely,

                                    RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.

  LAURA ROSAMOND WHITE,

    Geneva, Ohio.



  July  23.  Tuesday.--J.  Q.  Howard  has  a  good article

showing the difference between Mrs. Hayes and the other noted

ladies of the White House. One equalled or surpassed her in









             MRS. HAYES'S CHARACTERISTICS          493



this sphere, another in that; but taking [taken] all in all, no one

was so many-sided, so rounded, so complete in all that makes a

noble, a truly great woman. Is this an overestimate? Personal

grace and beauty; largeness of heart, patriotism, conscience,

religion, the Golden Rule, but above all in achievement.

  I have sent in reply to dispatches and letters over seven hun-

dred letters - many of them partly in print. But I think in all

cases, saying a few words. Almost all of them were short.

I think now I am through with the letters thus far received.

  July 25. - It seems as if a new sad world had come and taken

possession of all things. Mary, Birchard, and the fine boy visited

us yesterday.  Laura is still here, making me as comfortable as

possible under the circumstances.

  July 26.  Friday.- I have not often used the words "mag-

netic" and "magnetism" when speaking of Lucy. And yet what

other word suggests the quality in which she excelled all others?

Surely if any one was ever a natural magnet, she was.

  Motley in his correspondence says of William of Orange what

we may say of Lucy, "who performed good and lofty actions

because he was born to do them."





                                       SPIEGEL, July 26, 1889.

  DEAR HARRIET:--I am very glad you and the young folks can

come next week. You will arrange, I hope, for a stay of a month.

The journey is a long one.  You will hardly want to return to

Cincinnati until the hot weather is over.  We shall use the new

kitchen next week, and the new part of the house generally soon.

Laura has been with us more than a month, and has been a

treasure. She goes home next week.

  One thing don't forget. Bring books--a novel or two and

others "to suit your taste." Send Will to Robert Clarke's and

get [books] on my account.  Let them send to me a list of books

you would like to read here.  Do.  We are reading Motley's two

volumes of journal and letters.

   Laura and I spend much time arranging Lucy's letters, papers,









494          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



and other things. By the way, have you any of her letters you

could spare me? She wrote little. But I want all I can get.

  Love to all.

                          Sincerely,

                                    RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.

  MRS. HARRIET C. HERRON,

    Cincinnati.





  July 28. Sunday.--Lucy was fond of naming persons, places,

and things. Her names were apt and stuck. The cat she named

Piccolomini--or "Pickle," for short.  The peacock, from the

father of its former owner, "Colonel Prior," adding the

"Colonel" to give dignity. Spent the day after church finding

her letters.

  July 29.  Monday.--Examined old papers for letters and rel-

ics of Lucy. Found many letters, full of her loving, natural

gratitude to friends, love of the old regiment, and the like.

I will collecct a few sentences for use with the Twenty-third at

their reunion.

  July 30. Tuesday.-- The children and servants, those who in

the family were nearest to Lucy, loved her most. They wanted

to be near her. The same was true of the animals. All seemed

to know her, and loved to be near her. The dogs would climb

up on her, the Jerseys would rush to her, the pigeons came at

her call. How happy old Grim (the famous English greyhound)

always was when she returned after an absence. Dot (the

cocker spaniel) could scarcely contain himself when she re-

turned. They were lonely without her and unhappy. Since

her death Dot has seemed lost without her. How happy she

was to see their glad welcome of her! I must preserve the

pictures which show these things.

  The boys and their sister would rise from the table and rush-

ing to their mother's end of the table would exclaim, "Let us

kiss our mother," and then a scene of affectionate kissing and

embracing! How many-sided she was!









             MRS. HAYES'S CHARACTERISTICS          495



  July 31.  Wednesday. - Rev. Mr. Havighorst said he had in

his own case an illustration of Mrs. Hayes' thoughtfulness and

kindness. A student in Boston, a stranger, he was invited to a

reception at Governor Claflin's. Mrs. Hayes, knowing of his

being in Boston, had suggested that she would like to see him

at the reception in her honor. Hence the invitation.

  I found many letters of Lucy today.  I classify them:

  1. Before marriage; 2. After marriage and before the war;

3. During the war; 4. After the war and before the Presidency;

5. The Presidency; 6. After the Presidency.

  I will [shall] have a vast collection of letters relating to her

death-called out by it.  Letters to her may be classified in

[the] same way, except [those from] relatives of Lucy and mine

- grandparents and earlier, young folks, - all in one collection.

  August 1, 1889.  Thursday. - Lucy enjoyed praise, was fond

of fame, wanted to be remembered, did not like to think she

would be forgotten after she was gone.  She is safe in that re-

spect. The memorial meetings are beyond all precedent. The

28th [of] July was observed by a Sunday evening meeting in all

parts of the country.

  Possibly, the thing to do is to prepare an "In Memoriam," en-

titled "The Proceedings of the Memorial Meeting on the Death

of Mrs. Hayes by the People of Fremont." Give a short intro-

duction, the poem of [Benjamin F.] Taylor, of Chicago, in first

volume of "Illinois Women's Memorial," the poem of Mrs.

Keeler, one of the best of the editorials, a sketch of her life, and

then, in their order, the exact record of the meeting in the Meth

odist Episcopal church. [Also] a capital portrait. Title: "The

Home Memorial of Mrs. Rutherford B. Hayes."

  August 2. Friday. - Laura returns today. She has been the

greatest possible comfort. Thoughtful, sympathetic, loving, and

so bright. She came with me from Columbus six weeks ago this

day, anticipating a long and lovely visit with "Aunt Lu." Alas,

we found Aunt Lu beyond our ken, and one week later came the

beautiful and wonderful funeral. Then the reading of letters

and articles, the hunting up of her old letters and portraits, and









496          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



so the time has sped. She leaves this morning, and this evening

Harriet Herron with [her daughters] Lucy Webb Hayes and

Elinor,-age twelve and fourteen respectively,-come to help

me carry the burden! They are so welcome. Next after Lucy,

no woman, not of my blood, was ever so near and dear!

  This is Croghan day; some sort of a celebration-the first

public affair of the town, when I was at home, in which I have

not taken some part.

  Should we not add to the "Home Memorial" of Lucy a full

account of her funeral? It would seem the proper thing to do.

  Her greatest charm, her greatest quality, the secret of her

power, of her popularity - what was it? One says her unselfish-

ness; Mrs. Herron says her sincerity; another her sympathy.

Laura says: "If it was a scene of pleasure, Aunt Lu added more

to the enjoyment of it than any other person; and if it was a

place of suffering, or of mourning, then, oh, then, she was the

one person of all others to soothe, to sympathize, to give comfort

and consolation."

  August 3.  Saturday.-I wrote a friend that the six weeks

since Lucy left us seem like six years!

  Such power to make happy, with such an ever-present desire

and purpose to do it! So welcome in every scene of gaiety and

pleasure, and so sought after by the suffering and afflicted!

Heart, heart, heart! -Is not this word the secret of her power,

her worth, her fame?

  How  often in the letters I get - especially from the plain

people - her name is coupled with that of Lincoln!

  August 4. Sunday. - Mrs. Herron with Elinor and Lucy

came last night in the afternoon train from Lima.  A  happy

greeting I gave them. Read the article on "German Religious

Situation," in August number of the Harper by Dean Lichten-

berger. The result seems to be, that, of earnest piety, as our New

England and other American ancestors understood it, there is

almost none in Germany. Almost all are nominal Protestants or

Catholics, but almost none pious. In Berlin churchgoing is for

the music and sight-seeing, and not much of it.

  I write this morning to General Sherman. . . .  Harriet









             MRS. HARRIET C. HERRON'S VISIT          497



and I read Tennyson's "In Memoriam" to his friend Hallam,

the young poet. Tennyson was himself only twenty-four when

he wrote it, if so old.



                           FREMONT, OHIO, August 4, 1889.

  MY DEAR GENERAL: - No letter since the death of Mrs. Hayes

has given me such gratification as yours. She admired you, and

prized your acquaintance and friendship. Your observation of

character is unerring, and your reference to her unfailing good

nature under trying circumstances is an example of it. She

would wound the feelings of no one if she could help it. She

would do all she could to make others happy. She was the in-

carnation of the Golden Rule. I have never known one with

such power to make happy and with such an unselfish desire to

do it.

  Knowing your absence at the West when I first received your

  ter, I put it one side; hence the delay in sending this reply.

  Your obliged and grateful friend,

                          Sincerely,

                                     RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.

  GENERAL WILLIAM T. SHERMAN.





  August 5.  Monday. -Webb wants me to write incidents in

Lucy's life. First a list: "My Search after the Colonel," after

South Mountain in 1862.

  "The Escape from Capture with Brother Joe"; a party of

refugees were mistaken by them for guerrillas--in 1863, on

New River near Tomkins farm.

  The homesick comrade dying with typhoid fever who was

cured by the onions she got for him. "I told my wife if it was

necessary I would walk to California to attend her funeral."

  "The best friend I ever had," said Comrade ---.

  In 1853, January, Laura said to her mother, who was about

to describe an amusing party they had just attended: "Don't

you tell it, Mother; let Aunt Lu tell it. When she tells a thing it

sounds better than it is."

   32









498          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



  Compulsory abstinence from liquor not so well for society or

individuals as voluntary.    Compulsory  virtue--is it virtue?

Self-control better than control by others.  No virtue, no charac-

ter, in compulsory abstinence.

  The private soldier, who as a volunteer faithfully served his

country, never got too much.

  An army of volunteers is always safe; a standing army of

conscripts or janissaries is never safe.  The volunteer army, in

the long run, is a cheap army; the standing army is always costly.

Show me a country with a great standing army, and I will show

you a country always loaded down with debt.  Show me a coun-

try defended by volunteers, and I will show you a country that

either is or easily can be free from debt.

  Pensions to private soldiers always go where money is most

needed, and where money does the most good to the whole com-

munity.

  August 6.  Tuesday. - Reading with Harriet "In Memoriam"

of Tennyson, with the comments of Genung - a little book of

much interest from the Riverside Press. Read two of the poems

in "Epic of Hades." Began a novel of the time of the Restora-

tion, 1662, by Besant, "For Faith and Freedom."

  Drove down river east side; returned by moonlight.  Talked

often of the darling. Her song, "Mrs. Lofty has her carriage,

none have I," was a favorite with me.

  August 7. -We  finished Tennyson's noble poem, "In Me-

moriam" this afternoon.  Through doubt to rest and peace

  Mrs. Dr. John Davis, Eliza G., known by all of the family as

"Aunty Davis," will come this evening.  She is to deliver the

eulogy on Lucy before the annual meeting of the Woman's

Home Missionary [Society] at Indianapolis in the fall. I will

try to give her a true notion of the high qualities of my darling.

She will write with a beautiful appreciation of our dear one's

character.

  Law in some degree measures results.  It does not cause them.

  August 8.  Thursday. - I received a letter this morning from

a committee of the Woman's National Press Association. It

is very appreciative.









             MRS. HARRIET C. HERRON'S VISIT          499



            SPIEGEL GROVE, FREMONT, OHIO, August 8, 1889.

  DEAR LADIES:- Your note in behalf of the Woman's National

Press Association and of yourselves as individuals is very wel-

come. I shall always prize your gracious words in memory of

Mrs. Hayes. She had wonderful power to add to the happiness

of those around her, but her anxiety to do it--her pleasure in

doing it - surpassed even her tact and gifts. It is an especial

gratification to me to be assured that the ladies connected with

the press who knew her at Washington, appreciated her dispo-

sition and character just as those do who for years have lived

under the same roof with her.

  With heartfelt thankfulness.

                          Sincerely,

                                    RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.

  MRS. M. D. LINCOLN, 

  MARY S. LOCKWOOD,         COMMITTEE.

  OLIVE LOGAN,





  August 9.  Friday. - Aunty Davis and her nephew John Davis

Sage, aged twelve, came last evening from Chautauqua. She

was much moved--very tender all of the evening. She says

she has never been so affected by a death outside of her own

family; says this is general with Lucy's friends. Lucy was so

full of vitality.

  August 10.  Saturday.--Mrs. Davis left for home.

Reading with Mrs. Herron a book on Buddhism by a learned

Scotchman who spent many years in the East.  Not profoundly

interesting.  Better than this, we are reading Tennyson and a

novel by Walter Besant, "For Faith and Freedom," of the

time of the Civil War in England, 1683-88. Quaint, humorous,

and wise.  .

  August 11.  Sunday.--Aunty Davis' address at Indianapolis

in October will be a notable tribute to Lucy.  I must aid her all

I can; not that she needs [aid] but it may be I can furnish some-

thing that will lighten her labor.









500          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



  I found Lucy in my thoughts more even--if possible--than

usual at church today as I sat with Fanny and Elinor and Lucy

Hayes Herron in our accustomed place.

  As I walked away from church an old Methodist Episcopal

brother -- a teamster by profession -- said:  "There was a no-

table thing at the funeral. I noticed [it] and many others. The

Jerseys -- her Jerseys -- all came up as near to the funeral pro-

cession as they could get and stood in a row looking at it --

standing still like soldiers in ranks until the funeral had all

passed."

  She would have been a good lawyer. She was fond of cases,

particularly of will cases. Her judgment as to the strong points

was sound and sagacious.

  August 12.  Monday.--I begin another week without her!

Laura Rosamond White has published in the Geneva  [Ohio]

Times one of the fine poems.  My eyes were full as I read it this

morning.

  August 14.  Wednesday.--Yesterday with Mrs. Herron and

W. K. Rogers visited General Force at Soldiers and Sailors'

Home, Sandusky. A happy time.

  Arranged with the aid of Mrs. Herron (that is, Fanny did)

the dresses, etc., etc., of Lucy which are to be preserved. . . .

  Rogers left for Duluth. It is but little more than a twenty-

four-hour trip now.  He came to get me to pool my Duluth farm

with others to the amount of a million. The pool to give to a

St. Paul man two hundred thousand dollars of the stock--one

fifth of the pool of real estate at a fair valuation -- to build and

operate five years an incline and street railroad through the land.

I think it is too great a bonus; that the time has not come for such

an enterprise at Duluth.  But I offered one-sixth of the cost of

the incline and railroad when completed into my land. Say six-

teen thousand dollars. This is too much; one-tenth is nearer my

share.









             MRS. HAYES'S FAVORITE SONGS          501



                 SPIEGEL GROVE (which signifieth the place of

                            GOOD spirits), August 14, 1889.

  MY DEAR FRIEND:--Still thinking with a mixed feeling of

tender pain and of exquisitely pleasant memories of the darling

who has left!

  I keep myself uncommitted on the question of by whom

shall a biographical sketch be written. If at all? My thoughts

rest on Howells,  W.  D.   He knew her--admired her, and

knows of the environment, having written my campaign life.

What do you think?

                          Sincerely,

                                    RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.

  HONORABLE WILLIAM HENRY SMITH.





  August 15.  Thursday.--The ideal comradeship, friendship,

or companionship is that of man and wife where there is true

congeniality of intellect, character, and culture. Next after it

comes that of brother and sister or other near relatives in the

same family, and then come the army in war [and] college life.-

How about the sailors?

  My friend Rogers returned to Duluth without going to Colum-

bus to visit his wife. A beautiful, refined, and lovable character

--but how strange not to go to his wife!

  August 16.  Friday.--Eight weeks ago today the fatal stroke

came to Lucy. Maggie Cook Gilmore sends me a number of let-

ters of Lucy. She tells this story:--"I think always she made

the impression upon children as upon my little nephew some years

ago, who stopped crying over a mashed finger and forgot the

pain, spellbound by her eyes and tones and soothing words. The

next day he would let no one touch the finger because 'Mama

Hayes had kissed it.' 'Mama Hayes' was improvised, he not

having been taught what to call her.  It was the Madonna love

in her beautiful eyes that went to the child's heart."

  [She sends also] the following favorite songs she [Lucy]

sang often:--"The Land of the Leal," "Old Armchair," "Life

on the Ocean Wave," "Mrs. Lofty," "Hold the Fort."









502          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



  Lucy sang beautifully. I never heard a voice superior to hers.

With great compass, power, and penetration, it was sweet and

full of feeling. Like her eyes, it was soulful and full of heart.

It stirred one at times like the sound of a trumpet.

  Aunty Davis says among her favorite songs were "Ye Banks

and Braes o' Bonny Doon"; "Highland Mary." With her brother

Joe, "Here's a Health to thee, Tom Moore," "Rock of Ages,"

and "Jesus, Saviour of my Soul."

  She wanted the bands to play [the] "Star-spangled Banner,"

and she was fond of singing it.  Mrs. Major Malcom McDowell,

of Evanston (Miss Jennie Gordon that was), sends the following.

They sang duets together at old Wesleyan Female College in

1847-50:--"When Night Comes o'er the Plain," "What are the

Wild Waves Saying," "Pilgrim Fathers," "Blue Juniata," "Ingle-

side," "Annie Laurie." Mrs. McDowell thinks "The Mountain

Maid's Invitation" may be the one I call the "Bird Song."

  August 18.  Sunday.--At church with Fanny.  The true in-

fidel, in the offensive or objectionable sense, is not the honest

skeptic, but the man who opposes all religion. The doubter and

unbeliever according to orthodox standards and tests may be a

devoutly religious person. The atheist in the offensive sense is

not the reverent believer in an Eternal Creator and Disposer,

who, as Matthew Arnold says, "makes for righteousness," but

one who rejects and scoffs at all thought of a wise and beneficent

Providence.

  Read the closing chapters with Mrs. Herron of George Mere-

dith's "The Egoist." The author is new to me. But he is worth

knowing about.

  A frequent pang as we walked around the grove -- the scenes

in which Lucy was such a figure!

  August 20.  Tuesday. -- I make my first visit to Birchard and

Mary in more than two -- almost three -- months.  Mrs, Herron

goes with me. She is a great comfort in this affliction.

  When we first reached the home of Birchard and Mary I al-

most broke down. The lost one is so associated with that home,

the grandchild dead, the dear one living, and all.









             REREADING EMERSON          503



  August 21, 1889.  Wednesday. -- Almost a heated term.  Yes-

terday our visit was in all respects charming. We drove about

the new residence part of the city -- Collingwood Avenue, wagon

works, etc., etc. The number of fine dwellings now building is

very great. Evidently Toledo has reached a period of strong

and rapid growth.  We returned in the evening.  Read the open-

ing of George Meredith's "The Egoist." It does not grow on

me. Its best was read first.

  I brought over selections from Robert Browning. This morn-

ing, out in the hemlock path, read to Harriet my first book on

theosophy--or "wisdom religion," as its friends call it, -- by

Alexander Fullerton, of Wilkes-Barre. A clear writer. This

makes apparent the unutterable folly of the faith in adepts, al-

though the writer seems sincerely a believer in the "Eastern" re-

ligion.

  August 22.--Read from Emerson's "Letters and Social Aims"

the essay on "Immortality." It is, if not fully convincing, at least

comforting--almost satisfying.

  The visit of Mrs. Herron and her two charming young folks

Elinor and Lucy ends today. None could have been more com-

forting. Coming at this time, I can say no visit ever brought

more satisfaction. It is without alloy.

  August 24.  Saturday. -- Honorable W. P. Howland, of Jef-

ferson, of Ashtabula County, came to spend the night with me.

An upright and able lawyer -- formerly State Senator -- now an

influential Republican politician. He has a promising son who

wants to go to West Point.  Also General Force spent the night

with me.  I called with them on Buckland and [others].  A very

agreeable visit with both.

  August 25.  Sunday. -- Put in our portrait book this morning

several fine photographs showing Lucy in various postures. . . .

Scott has finished the scrapbook containing notices of his mother.

We have enough more to fill several volumes. Not less than two

thousand were sent to me. I still get letters of condolence and

encomium.

  August  28.  Wednesday.--This  is Lucy's birthday.        She

would have been fifty-eight if she had lived until today. All my









504          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



thoughts are of her. Two months ago she was buried. I am

getting letters still almost daily showing the hold she had on the

hearts of good people. Mrs. Martha J. Lamb writes again with

much feeling. She encloses a letter from my friend William

Henry Smith to her. He says: "You understood the noble

woman. . . .       The touching tributes to her memory coming

from good people all over the world are calculated to increase

one's estimate of one's kind, and move one to thank God for such

an example of worth. The death of no other person since the

death of Abraham Lincoln has touched so many hearts."





                          FREMONT, OHIO, August 28, 1889.

  MY DEAR MRS. ANDREWS:--Your letter of the 25th assures

me that we may now hope for your early and complete recovery.

>From Mr. Andrews I learned of your severe and critical illness

at the time our great affliction came to us.

  Mrs. Hayes never ceased to recall you often, and always with

the friendliest interest and affection. It was one of her unsatis-

fied longings to have a good long visit from you. It has been

otherwise ordered. Our consolations are that she left us without

suffering; that she was so amply prized by so many good people;

and that it is well with her now.  But alas! On this, her birth-

day (fifty-eight) she is in all our thoughts.

  My kind regards to Mr. Andrews.

                       Very sincerely,

                                    RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.

  MRS. EMMA S. ANDREWS.

                                 SPIEGEL, August 28, 1889.

  MY DEAR SISTER HARRIET: -- Of course it was very lonely

after you and the dear young folks left. But your visit carried

me forward a long way.      The sharp pangs are less frequent,

and the periods of settled gloom are shorter and rarer. I find

myself rapidly getting back into the old ways. Nothing could

have done so much good as reading and talking with you. It is

amazing--I am almost ashamed to own to myself--how the

skies begin to brighten above me once more.









             WHY SPIEGEL GROVE          505



  The pictures are quite up to the average. Don't you think so?

Here they are.

                  My love to all. -- Gratefully,

                                      RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.

  MRS. HARRIET C. HERRON,

    Cincinnati.





  August  29.  Thursday.--Pioneer  Society  day.     Governor

Foster and wife our guests. . . .  Foster gave for three-quar-

ters of an hour a narrative of the treaty with [the] Sioux. He,

as president [of the commission], with Crook and Warner suc-

ceeded in getting three-quarters of the Indians to sign as re-

quired. As the time arrived before he was done for his train

to leave, I drove with him and Mrs. Foster to the cars. [So] I

managed to get rid of speaking. A full attendance. More than

could be seated in the court-house.







                            SPIEGEL GROVE, August 30, 1889.

  MY DEAR FRIEND:--Perhaps you will ask, "And why called

'Spiegel,' the German word for 'mirror'?"  My uncle, perhaps,

did not carefully consider when he named it. But without phil-

ological discussion it runs thus: Spiegel -- mirror; hence, image;

hence, ghost or spirit. Evil spirits are bogies. Spiegel is a good

spirit.  Spiegel Grove therefore is the home of good spirits--

referring either to our friends departed who have gone to the

better world and who hover around us here, or to the fact that

it is the home of cheerfulness and happiness. Three grown per-

sons who have lived here have gone before (Mrs. Valette, Uncle

Birchard, and now Lucy darling). All of them were most at-

tractive in character and manners.  One child of ours, aged

eighteen months, a little boy of unusual beauty and goodness,

died here. May we not therefore hope that good spirits are

around us?

  Uncle was a humorist, and added another reason for the name









506          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



signifying "good spirits." "I always keep for those who can

safely use it the best of spirits to warm the inner man." . . .

                          Sincerely,

                                              R. B. HAYES.

 REVEREND M. F. ROUND,

    New York.



  August 31.  Saturday. -- Read with Fanny "Daniel Deronda."

I mean to read with her all I can. She is discriminating and

sensible in her comments.

  My letter from Mrs. Herron gave me unusual pleasure from

her use of a single word. There is much in a word oftentimes.

  September 1.  Sunday.--Reading  Mr. Lincoln's history by

Nicolay and Hay. They say: "The first dispatch he received

(October 11, 1864) contained the welcome intelligence of the

election of Rutherford B. Hayes and his Republican colleague

from the hard-fought Cincinnati districts."

  Pleasant reading now that my election was "welcome intelli-

gence" to Abraham Lincoln. I was at that date in the midst

of the bloody and glorious campaign of Sheridan in the Shenan-

doah Valley in September and October, 1864.

  I can say, as Mr. Lincoln said: "It is singular that I, who am

not a vindictive man, should have been so often before the peo-

ple for election in canvasses marked for their bitterness.  The

contests in which I have been prominent with a few exceptions

have been marked for their closeness and rancor."

  September 1 [2].  Monday.--Fanny finished reading to me

last evening George Eliot's "Daniel Deronda," one of her best.

We began then Hawthorne's "Note-Book" on France and Italy.

  I go today to the reunion of the Twenty-third [Regiment]

at Lakeside. I must take pictures of Lucy and some letters

(Sherman's, Turner's, etc., etc.). It is Fanny's birthday. I gave

her a check for a blank amount for a desk for her "nest."  Prob-

ably she will fill it with fifty dollars.

  We got into the new rooms generally -- that is they were ready

for occupancy -- Saturday night. . . .









             REUNION OF TWENTY-THIRD          507



  I often call attention in talking to near friends of [to] the

fact that Lucy was the Golden Rule incarnate.  I now read in the

Tribune a critical notice of "Social Progress" by Daniel Green-

leaf Thompson: "What is most needed in the world is education

of mankind in the Golden Rule." This is "the secret of social

progress."

  September 3.-- . . .  Reached Lakeside before 10 o'clock

A. M. The attendance is not large. Other reunions and county

fairs interfere, and alas, Lucy is not here! How she is missed!

  P. M.  We went over to the Pictured Rock--the Indian in-

scriptions on a large rock on Kelly's Island. . . . On the

whole a sad day without Lucy.

  September 4.  Wednesday.--A good campfire last evening in

the parlor. Number somewhat smaller than usual. Old fife-

major Andy Stairwalt, looking just as he used to, made talks.

Captain Ellen made a good talk of his cronies, Captain Gillis and

Captain Austin, and of George Brigdon, killed twenty-five years

ago last night at Berryville.  A  recitation by Miss --  very

good;--another version of Sheridan's ride.

  General Hastings spoke briefly. [Also] J. P. Moore, of Fre-

mont, of the reunion of the Veterans of 1812 on the Maumee,

fifty-seven years afterwards,--forty-nine of them.

  September 5.  Thursday. -- The reunion yesterday gained in

numbers and interest. I had a long and very interesting conver-

sation with Mrs. Ben Killam about Mrs. Hayes. She appreciated

my darling.  I shall not forget the pleasure it gave me to hear

her good words.

  We attended the life-saving station at Marblehead in the fore-

noon; had a good business meeting in the afternoon and a sail

to Put-in-bay, and in the evening a successful campfire.

  About forty comrades in attendance, with their wives and chil-

dren. Resolutions about Mrs. Hayes, and by Comrade Henry an

excellent speech in which he very beautifully spoke of Mrs.

Hayes.

  September 9.  Monday.--It is certainly true that no death

ever before so touched the hearts of the American people, except









508          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



that of Abraham [Lincoln], as the death of Mrs. Hayes. This

is said constantly.



Confidential.

                        FREMONT, OHIO, September 11, 1889.

  MY DEAR SIR:--I have supposed that the resources and ad-

vantages of New York made that city the place for the [Colum-

bian] celebration. But if they hang fire with contributions, and

Chicago decidedly surpasses New York in providing funds, of

course the successful competitor in the ways and means contest

should have it. This is for your eye alone.

                           Sincerely,

                                      RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.

  LISTON H. MONTGOMERY.



  September 12. -- I am overhauling letters of the past two years.

One point in my public life: I did all I could for the reform of

the civil service, for the building up of the South, for a sound

currency, etc., etc., etc., but I never forgot my party.  I appointed

Stalwarts and supported Stalwarts whenever it would harmonize

or strengthen the party--my own personal preferences notwith-

standing. I knew that all good measures would suffer if my Ad-

ministration was followed by the defeat of my party. Result, a

great victory in 1880.  Executive and legislature both com-

 pletely Republican.

  A year or two ago I invited Bishop Bowman and wife to be

our guests at the conference to be held here. He accepted in

fitting terms for himself and added, "My precious wife is in

heaven."

  September 13.  Friday.--Colonel Haynes' regiment, (Tenth

Cavalry of Ohio) has its reunion here next week.  There are two

tendencies in all our war talk--especially strong in us as we

grow older. One, comparatively harmless, involving little moral

 turpitude; the other, often cruel and always to be avoided.  The

first is to boast, if not of ourselves and our deeds, at least of

our army, our corps, our regiments. The other is to find fault

with, to criticize, to censure, to condemn others. If there is a









             MORE LIBERAL PENSION LAWS          509



victory, we gained it and must have the credit of it. If there is

a failure, it was the fault of the other fellow,--he must be

blamed for it. Let us try to avoid both; but if either is to be in-

dulged, let it be the spirit of boasting.

  Let us not dwell too much on our differences. We have a

critical, a serious contest before us. We must secure a sweeping,

radical, and beneficent change in our pension laws.  A change

suited to the changed conditions of the veterans of the Union

Army.  The day is near at hand when the vast majority, the

great body indeed, of the Union veterans will no longer be able,

for want of physical strength, to earn their daily bread by their

daily labor.  This is the momentous fact with which the Nation

has to deal.

  I am gradually taking up again my usual occupations. Hav-

ing looked up all letters and writings of Lucy, having col-

lected all portraits of her from girlhood to the last taken since

she became a grandmother, having put in order all of the letters

and tributes in her honor, both in print and manuscript, I now

begin to look after the place.  But what a void!--There is a

meaning in the phrase "aching void."

  September 14.  Saturday. -- South Mountain day.  The great

event of the past week is the great storm on the Atlantic coast

from Cape Hatteras north--shipwrecks, destruction of seaside

resorts, etc., etc., quite beyond precedent.

  Our last quarterly conference for the year held last night.  We

owe $7610 on interest--all borrowed money.  Assets available

about $4000 to pay it with. Church property all clear, about

$32,500. Our pastor is a trial to us on all business affairs--a

talker without tact, self-sufficient and domineering. I paid him

forty-five dollars on account of missions, nine dollars for Su-

perannuated [Fund], and five dollars for Freedman's Aid. Will

drop hereafter the larger part of missions -- all of the foreign --

and concentrate on home and freedmen.



         SPIEGEL GROVE, FREMONT, OHIO, September 14, 1889.

  MY FRIEND:--Several persons want to write a book about

Mrs. Hayes, and ask me to turn over materials therefor. I









510          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



decline so far. If any such sketch is to be made you are my

choice, if it will ever be practicable for you to do it. I would

like to talk it over with you. I come East, and will be at [the]

Fifth Avenue Hotel October 3 and 4; but will go anywhere to

meet you.

  Love to Nellie. -- Ever sincerely,

                                    RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.

  WILLIAM D. HOWELLS.





  September 15.  Sunday. -- Read Hawthorne's "Note-Book on

Rome" with Fanny, keeping Murray's "Guide" in hand. I am

getting a better notion of the old city than I have had. Must now

finish this topic -- go through with it.

  In the evening heard, to a slim audience, Mr. Curtis, now of

Selma, Alabama, describe the deplorable condition of the "Black

Belt."

  September 16. Monday.--Unexpectedly on the one P. M.

train, General Hastings and family came. All in health and

spirits.

  Agreed with Colonel Haynes to have the Tenth Cavalry here

Wednesday afternoon about five and a half o'clock.

  September 17.--If I talk to the Tenth Ohio Cavalry, I will

advise union [and] charity for the sake of just, liberal, and

equitable pensions for the soldiers. The great fact which this

rich, prosperous, and fortunate nation has to regard, consider,

and deal with is that the [time] draws near when these veterans

can no longer provide by their daily labor for their daily wants.

The great body of them stand today on the threshold of that

dreaded period of their lives.  It comes to them earlier because

of their exposures to hardship, to suffering, to mental and bodily

strain in their country's service. They need help because they

devoted themselves to their country's service.

          In the evening entertained by Colonel Haynes with the

veterans of the Tenth Cavalry--General Smith D. Atkins, of

Freeport, Illinois, and others.









             MORE LIBERAL PENSION LAWS          511



  September  18.  Wednesday.--Reunion  of  Tenth  Cavalry.

The speaking was good by Judge Green, General Sanderson, and

General Atkins.  General Atkins was practicularly happy.

  About sixty veterans of the regiment and ladies with the Light

Guard Band came to my house at the close. A happy entertain-

ment.  It was Fanny's first reception and was quietly done with

the efficient aid of Emily [and others].  Altogether successful.

  September 23.  Monday.--Made a happy visit to Mary and

Birchard in Toledo with General Hastings and Emily. . . .

Found on return home many letters.  Colonel Nicholson writes

that no one else will be thought of for commander-in-chief [of

the Loyal Legion] next month, and that I must be present, and of

course accept. I prefer to have it so. But if there is any serious

opposition to me or wish for another, I will not allow my name

to go before the body. I will not go into the slightest contest for

any place of honor again. This is well understood by my

friends.





                        FREMONT, OHIO, September 23, 1889.

  MY DEAR SIR: -- I have a young friend in whom I am warmly

interested -- Charles R. Howland, of Jefferson, Ohio, who wishes

to enter West Point.  He is now nineteen years of age and may

therefore wait for the appointment two or three years, if it can-

not be made sooner. My chief interest in the case is due to his

qualifications. He is the ideal candidate for the place. In mind,

body, character, tastes, ambition, and love of his country, he is

all that can be desired.  His talents and industry will place him

in the front rank -- probably in the lead -- of all his associates.

He will, I believe, if the opportunity is given him, be distin-

guished in the profession of his choice.

  I earnestly urge his appointment.

                        Very sincerely,

                                     RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.

  THE PRESIDENT.









512          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



  September 28.  Saturday.--Today Fanny and I [reached]

the Mohonk Lake House. Greeted warmly by Mr. and Mrs.

Smiley. Fanny and I well quartered. A lovely place--wild

mountain scenery in juxtaposition with cultivated farms. Rug-

ged and sublime rocks and cliffs and a fine hotel near by.

  September 29. Sunday. -- Last evening Professor Richardson

read and recited in the finest way from [the] "Merchant of Ven-

ice" and "David Copperfield."

  I meet here a number of people I am glad to know. Mr.

Houghton, the publisher at Cambridge; Mr. and Mrs. A. K.

Smiley, our hosts; Admiral Carter and wife, Mr. Monroe, of

Hampton; Mrs. Helen M. Turnbull, of Philadelphia, and others.

  How my cherished and precious wife would have enjoyed life

here!

  Walked fully five miles today and enjoyed the splendid views.

Walked to Eagle Cliff at sunset. Hymns in the parlor Sunday

evening.

  September 30.  Monday. -- A delightful drive with four-horse

team over to the inn, the Wildmere House, of the twin brother,

Alfred H. Smiley. Mr. Houghton, Mr. Monroe, of Fairfield,

Connecticut, Mr. Albert K. Smiley, and five or six ladies. The

twins, aged about sixty, are wonderfully alike--difficult to dis-

tinguish. Minnewaska is a lovely repetition of Mohonk, on a

larger scale in some respects. We can see six States from these

elevations, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut,

Massachusetts, and Vermont. One thousand five hundred to two

thousand feet above the sea.





                       MOHONK LAKE, September 30, 1889.

  MY DEAR MR. HOWELLS:--I am here for a few days; will

be at [the] Fifth Avenue Hotel [the] 3d and 4th with Fanny.

  I am so solicitous about the sketch of Lucy that I venture to

trouble you again. If I can get the Harpers to censent that you

write the book -- they to publish -- how then!  I can see Mr.

Joseph W. Harper. Please write me to [the] Fifth Avenue









             PEABODY BOARD MEETING          513



Hotel. If a good talk with you will help, I will come to Boston

and meet you there or at your home.

  My love to Nellie and the darling girl.

                          Sincerely,

                                    RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.

  WILLIAM D. HOWELLS.



  October 3. Thursday. -- From Mohonk to New York. Pea-

body meeting 12 M. All present (President Cleveland and Chief

Justice Fuller) except Mr. Evarts.

  Appointed chairman of committee to go to Nashville with Right

Reverend H. B. Whipple, Dr. Samuel A. Green, Boston, Hon-

orable James D. Porter, Nashville, Honorable R. L. Gibson, New

Orleans, to inquire as to the matters referred to by Chancellor

Payne, and with power to act in connection with the general

agent. We fixed the date of our visit November 20 at the Max-

well House. I was almost made chairman of the executive com-

mittee of the board.

  In the evening the annual banquet. Six ladies, Mesdames

Winthrop, Whipple, Pierpont Morgan, Curry, ----, and Fanny.

All of the board except Mr. Evarts and Mr. Devens. Mr. and

Mrs. [George W.] Childs came in after dinner.

  October 4. Friday. -- My birthday -- sixty-seven. It brings

freshly and painfully to mind the absence from my side of my

cherished Lucy. When I last was here in the spring at the cen-

tennial of the Government she was with me! Alas, how it

weakens the hold of this life -- of earth upon me!  How easily

I could now let go of life!

  [At] 2 P. M. left with Fanny for Northampton. . . .

  October 5. Saturday. -- Morning walked with Mr. Waring,

of Brooklyn, up King Street.  Measured the great elm--seven

and one-half full lengths of my handkerchief; 25 feet in circum-

ference. . . .  [Then], train to Williamstown.  Met at depot

by Mrs. Herron, Mrs. Bullock, and James W. B. Drove to

Greylock. Afternoon, drove with Mrs. Bullock and Mrs. Herron

and Fanny to the fine places and noble views near Williamstown.

   33









514          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



Visited Mark Hopkins' tomb, also the monument to the first

American missionary.-- Mem.:--Five students on that spot in

1806 resolved to go.--At this place great improvements go on

by people who find it an attractive resort.

  Williamstown, Massachusetts,  Sunday,  October 6, 1889.--

After breakfast attended services at the college chapel. A good

practical sermon on moral courage. Glorious singing by the

students, heavily bass.

  West Brattleboro, Vermont, October 8.--This bright and

crisp October morning I am writing before breakfast in the little

room over the hall in the old Hayes home, where my grandfather

lived as a young man with his young wife, more than one hun-

dred years ago, and where my father was born and to which he

brought my mother as his bride seventy-six years ago!

  Mrs. W. H. Bigelow (Mary Ann Hayes), my cousin, has

fitted it up beautifully.  I slept in what was once part of the

ballroom in the Hayes Inn, where balls, card parties, and flip

drinking were enjoyed--dispensed by my grandfather and

grandmother,--two of the "salt of the earth," "Puritans of the

Puritans," "consistent orthodox Christians," -- for more than

twenty years at the close of the last century and the beginning of

this. The dancing parties closed, even on the Fourth of July

1807, at "the setting of the sun," in order not to break the sanc-

tity of the Puritan Sabbath!

  Here is a copy of a ticket to one of the "Hays" entertain-

ments--"Dancing, cards, & Flip." On the back of a ten-spot

of clubs:

                  "The bearer of this ticket

                        is entitled to

                      ENTERTAINMENT

         At R. Hays' Hall -- From one o'clock P. M.

                     Until Sun Setting

                Brattleborough, July 4, 1807."

  Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York, Saturday, October 12, 1889.

-- About 5 P. M., reached this hotel from Norwich, Connecticut.

Had a fine visit in that beautiful town. Mr. Moses Pierce and

his family made my stay with them more than delightful. The









             COMMANDER LOYAL LEGION          515



reception by the soldiers at the hall of Sedgwick Post G. A. R.,

Number one, was most enthusiastic. I made a short stirring talk

which was well received.  Honorable ---- Wait spoke at length

and eloquently. Honorable ---- Russell, M. C., spoke strongly

and well for pensions.

  The Slater Memorial Building, library and museum, very good.

  October 13.  Sunday. -- Last night visited the Hastings [fam-

ily] at 20 East Twentieth Street.  All well--happy, and cheer-

inspiring.  Fanny Mitchell with them en route to their Bermuda

home. Then found Mrs. Herron and Jack and Mrs. Collins at

the Everett. Fan was at the Hastings'. She returned with me

to our old quarters (41-42) in this homelike place.

   October 14. Monday. -- Visited yesterday the Hastings [and]

Mrs. Bigelow and dined with the happy family at Charley

Mead's. Met there our cousin Horatio Noyes' soldier son,

Charles Noyes, now a first lieutenant and instructor at West

Point of mathematics. A Hayes, and a fine young gentleman of

thirty.

  Today will visit Schurz and others and arrange for business

tomorrow of the Slater Fund with Mr. Jesup, Mr. Gilman, et

al.

  Philadelphia, October 17, 1889. Tuesday. -- Yesterday fore-

noon with the Commandery-in-Chief of the Military Order of the

Loyal Legion. Dined with Reverend H. C. Trumbull at the

Union League [Club]; good company. [He is a] descendant

of Governor Jonathan Trumbull--friend of Washington, the

original of our Brother Jonathan.

  Afternoon with Loyal Legion in the Historical Rooms. Mr.

Stille showed me many curiosities.

  [This] morning elected Commander-in-Chief two years more

by acclamation. Afternoon, hunted up [Thomas] Donaldson at

his home. A cordial greeting and tea and a good time. What a

full man and what a flood of interesting talk he pours out!

Evening at banquet (till midnight) of the Pennsylvania Com-

mandery.  Saw and talked with General Kirby Smith's son--a

young lawyer of promise in the city.









516          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



  October 19, 1889. Saturday.--Last evening about 7 P. M.

returned with Fanny on Lake Shore train from Cleveland after

a delightful trip of three weeks. As I approached home the

sinking of the heart as I thought of Lucy gone! Alas, no more

to be greeted in her lovely way after an absence!

  This day is the anniversary of Cedar Creek. Twenty-five

years ago today, the famous battle was fought. The defeat of

the morning wiped out and a thousandfold more than paid for

by the victory of the evening.

  The friends at the East think their autumnal colors finer than

ours. Possibly they are more brilliant and gay, but I never saw

anything finer than old Spiegel is now in her fall dress and colors.

The dark red or maroon of the great white oaks, in contrast

with the lighter colors of maples and hickories, make[s] a

picture of wonderful beauty.

  October 20. Sunday. -- Attended church. The sermon on the

Christianity of the Roman soldier Cornelius did not interest. I

thought of the past, of my loss, of the Prison Congress in Nash-

ville, and tried to formulate some ideas for my address. Suc-

ceeded in perhaps getting a few thoughts.  Thought of my tree

planting on the beautiful place of Mr. George W. Childs. The

tree he selected for me is a vigorous copper beech--about six

feet high, bushy top--in plain sight of the main door of the

house, possibly a hundred yards distant. The planting, so far

as I was concerned, was symbolical only. I put a few spades

full [spadefuls] of earth in the trench around the tree!

  October 24. Thursday.--Read an article in New England

Magazine on Nashville as an educational centre.  This with a

double purpose. To learn as to my duties for the Peabody Fund

next month and also for the Prison Congress to be held there

November 16-20.

  October 25. Friday. -- In the evening with Fanny attended an

army song festival by the Presbyterian church at Opera Hall.

On the whole very good. . . .

  I was constantly reminded of Lucy. Fanny said as we walked

down --"Mother died four months ago today." Her favorites,

"The Star-spangled Banner," "Hold the Fort," "Battle Hymn









             THE OBJECTS OF READING          517



of the Republic," and "Old Folks at Home," all stirred me to the

bottom of my heart, and recalled her splendid gift of song.

  The "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" recalled so vividly

the night of election day in 1875. Sitting with her in our home

in Spiegel Grove waiting for the returns, we said we were pre-

pared for either event.  I told her the contest was close, the

result doubtful. She spoke cheerfully of the way we would bear

defeat. Our personal interest in it was less vital than the cause,

etc., etc. We both knew well enough that victory meant the

chance for the Presidency--the certainty that Ohio would pre-

sent my name. Defeat meant retirement and obscurity. The

first return was a dispatch to Lucy from Elyria, indicating that

our stronghold, the Western Reserve, was fully aroused and

would give an old-time -- war-time -- majority. Then two town-

ships of Sandusky County gave encouraging gains; then from

the southwestern part of the State a ward or township came in

with the same drift. There was a lull of a few minutes when

from the southeast--from Marietta--from Major Palmer, of

the gallant old Thirty-sixth, came a dispatch which without fig-

ures filled the cup. It read: "We are tenting tonight on the old

camp ground." That song has been full of pathos for Lucy and

me always, but since that dispatch that night I never hear it

without deepest feeling. And now alas, Lucy gone!

  October 26.  Saturday. -- I must now prepare -- not write --

a speech for Nashville. Let it be in the spirit of the loved one

gone from my home. "I would remember the teaching of our

Saviour. I know I am not good, but I do try to treat all hu-

man beings and all of God's creatures as I would wish to be

treated if I were in their places."

  I finished reading the last volume of Tolstoy's "War and

Peace."  The epilogue discusses grave questions. . . .

  October 28. Monday.--Read, wrote letters, walked. . . .

  Meditated on Mrs. Herron's suggestion of a little Chautauqua

reading or study between [us]. Why not? We read or study --

why?    1. Intellectual improvement--for information and the

like.  2. For entertainment--to pass time.  3. To prepare for

the inevitable, for character, for the future and the present.









518          RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



  The last is most important -- to be begun first. But why not

carry on all these lines of study and pleasure at the same time?

For character, to prepare for the inevitable I recommend selec-

tions from Emerson. His writings have done for me far more

than all other reading.



                                   SPIEGEL, October 29, 1889.

  DEAR MRS. HERRON:--The suggestion in your welcome let-

ter is a good one. We can have a little Chautauqua circle of our

own for reading and study.  Why read?  If for no other, it is

reason enough that we like to do it -- for enjoyment, to pass the

time. Again, mental improvement--for information, to keep

the faculties alert and alive. More still. We must be ready for

the inevitable; be content at least for the time and also in view

of the future. In short, read and study to develop and establish

character. These, if not the first three, are among the things

which lead us to books, or should do so. Perhaps the most es-

sential of these is character -- to be really fit for the present and

ready for the future.

  So I begin with my ancient favorite, Emerson. He deals, as

I think wisely, with the deep questions -- with God, the soul,

our present and our future well-being. Let us select. We have

read "Immortality" together. But all good things are worth

reading often. We may read it again. We would do well to

read, pen in hand, or better pencil in hand, to mark passages

either notable, or doubtful, or obscure, or for comment on any

account.

  I do not mean to suggest that we should hold to only one sort

of reading at a time. We may try all sorts at the same time -- or

during the same trimester, or other period. We cannot tie our-

selves down.

  A grandmother is in the grasp of posterity. The head of a

family, in school or in society, is chained to affections and to

conventionalities. I am now stating your case. Of course I fail

to even hint at its real difficulties. We always do when we state

the other fellow's trials and difficulties.

  But I have claims on my time and thoughts, or I imagine I









             THE GOLDEN RULE IN LIFE          519



have.  An old goose probably knows in a dim way that she is a

goose, but she probably merely suspects that she is passee and on

the shelf. This old goose sees it that way. So I go on fancying

myself engaged in duties. Hence neglect of the Chautauqua

studies.

  But like keeping a note-book--an account of household ex-

penses [or] a diary -- we can begin.  Now, how would you like a

gift? Say Emerson in ten volumes. They look well in the book-

case. So I send the order. Will knows how to realize on it.

  Birchard, Mary, and the fine boy, Sherman, leave us today.

They have been here more than a month. They have added

charms to old Spiegel.

  I have dug up a good letter of Lucy with some capital sen-

tences on leaving the White House.--"We will be ready to leave

the White House in the spring. I am surprised to find how I

look longingly for the springtime to come. I have had a particu-

larly happy life here in Washington and yet will hail my return

home with the greatest pleasure. Four years is long enough for

a woman like this one.  We will be in Ohio in August, and I sup-

pose we will go to California in September. But my heart is not

set upon it, and disappointment would not annoy me."

  But I must not give too much time to what leads me into sor-

rowful paths.

                  With all regard, sincerely,

                                     RUTHERFORD B. HAYES.

  MRS. H. C. HERRON,

    Cincinnati.





  November 2.  Saturday. -- I am inclined to close my Nashville

talk with a reference to the guiding principle of my wife and of

which she was the incarnation. [I purpose to say]:--"During

almost forty years it has been my fortunate lot to live under

the same roof with one, now gone to the world beyond, whose

gift and whose delight it was to shed happiness on all around

her. Her joy was so radiant because her life was the very in-

carnation of those few humble words which fell naturally from









520             RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES



her lips: 'I know I am not good, but I do try to treat all

others as I would wish to be treated if I were in their places.'

  "Surely, surely my friends, if our legislature and its execu-

tive and if our conduct as communities and as individuals can

be penetrated and controlled by the spirit of the Golden Rule,

a solution will be found for every problem which now disturbs

or threatens to disturb our American society."

  November  4.  Monday.--Finished  my  brief  and  sensible

speech for the Prison Congress this morning and handed it to

the printer. I deal with the jury system, the indeterminate sen-

tence, and labor; a word also in favor of industrial education

as a preventive of crime.

  I was reminded of the fact that Birchard was born thirty-six

years ago today! This recalled with an oppressive sinking of the

heart the dear one I have lost! How all things remind me of

her!

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