It’s installment 4 of my transcription of Susan B. Anthony’s diary, detailing her journey with Ernestine Rose to Washington, D.C., and the encompassing space in 1854.
March 27
Climate moderated however nonetheless chilly. After strolling about two miles, visiting 5 printing places of work, the Invoice Printer, & Invoice Poster, I returned & with Mrs. R visited the Patent Workplace, essentially the most exceptional curiosities there have been the sword, cane, the coat, vest & breeches of Gen. Washington worn on the time he resigned his fee, his Camp Chest with its appurtenances—Tea Pot, Espresso Urn, Pepper dish, Salt, tea chest, Gridiron, Tin Kettles for cooking on, additionally the writing desk utilized by him throughout all his campaigns—there too was a little bit of the previous tent fabric—ragged & soiled.
From the Patent Workplace we went to the Treasury division, thence to the State departments, right here we had been proven the equivalent letter Benedict Arnold to Main Andre discovered within the pocket of Andre—signed Augustus & written as if Andre had been a Service provider—noticed additionally the Authentic Structure of america with the signatures of the delegates from the 13 States—it was fantastically penned on Parchment over two toes sq., tied along with a deep blue ribbon—on the Patent Workplace noticed additionally the unique Declaration of Independence, lots of the signatures had been practically obliterated, on account of getting been written with [new?] ink. From State Departments we went to the Presidents Home took a peep into the East Room, splendidly furnished with massive gilt mirrors, in entrance of the White home in an exquisite park, is a really superb bronze statue of Gen. Jackson, on horseback—mounted on a white marble pedestal—then referred to as at Mr. Aker’s workplace to see the Bust of Mrs. Davis, a really superb one certainly. After dinner walked on to Capitol Hill, referred to as on Anne Royal, a lady 85 years of age—she is certainly as Mrs. R. says, the Dwelling Curiosity of Washington—was introduced up by the Indians, married Captain of the Military, he died, & she has printed a paper referred to as the Huntress for the previous 20 years. She has a superb mental head. She lives in a small home, has two little boys whom she is educating, one boy she has instructed in Greek & Latin & geometry—stated to me nobody can know easy methods to motive with out learning geometry studying to say Due to this fact, Wherefore & As a result of. We every of us subscribed for the Huntress. She gave us every two books, written by her a few years in the past. She is essentially the most filthy specimen of humanity I ever beheld, her fingers seem like birds claws, in shade & attennuity. They shone as if glazed.
A terrific black Newfoundland canine, previous Cat & kittens sat at her toes–& Mrs. R. says eight years in the past she had along with these 2 guinea hens & two little pigs operating concerning the flooring. She was writing her editorial for this weeks paper stated I do her what an exquisite lady you’re, she answered me “I do know it.”
Notes:
The Patent Workplace that Anthony and Ernestine Rose visited in 1854 nonetheless stands; it’s now the Nationwide Portrait Gallery. The ladies would have seen Washington’s possessions within the Mannequin-Room. At the moment, the Smithsonian owns Washington’s uniform and camp chest.
At the moment, each the Structure and the Declaration of Independence are housed on the Nationwide Archives. As Anthony notes, the Declaration of Independence particularly was handled somewhat carelessly through the years: According to the National Archives, it was on the Patent Workplace from 1841 to 1876, the place it hung reverse a window, absorbing daylight and enduring Washington’s humid summers. Over the following years, it might bear additional indignities, together with being housed within the smoking-permitted State Division library. After a long time of being shunted from place to position, in 1952 the doc lastly reached its current dwelling on the Nationwide Archives, the place it spends its days in an archivally appropriate show case and its evenings in an underground vault.
The massive gilt mirrors in the East Room might be seen on this 1861 lithograph. Franklin Pierce, who was President on the time of Anthony’s go to, added the painted ceiling and the marble mantlepiece. Andrew Jackson’s statue stands in Lafayette Park. The statute was fairly new when Anthony noticed it, having been devoted solely the yr earlier than.
Paul Akers, a sculptor from Maine, chiseled a bust of the rich Paulina Wright Davis in Rome. Davis herself does not appear to have liked the bust.
Anne Royall was certainly a Washington establishment of types when the ladies met her. The Huntress was the second of the 2 newspapers she revealed throughout her lengthy and adventurous life. (Supposedly, she pressured John Quincy Adams to present her an interview by catching him bathing in a river and sitting on his garments till he answered her questions.) Within the Huntress, she drew pen-portraits of many Washington notables, together with members of Congress, though she doesn’t seem to have taken an y curiosity in Consultant Abraham Lincoln throughout his one time period in Congress. Ernestine Rose first met Royall in 1845, when Ernestine accompanied her mentor, reformer Robert Owen, on a visit to Washington. She and Owen visited Royall, who wrote a flattering piece about Owen and about Ernestine as nicely: “She is an exquisite creature, of youthful look, being within the prime of life. In stature she is of the frequent peak, with a kind surpassing essentially the most extravagant, fancy can conceive of symmetry.” (Sadly, Royall stated nothing of Rose’s accomplishments as a public speaker.) Anne Royall died on October 1, 1854, and was buried in Washington’s Congressional Cemetery.
