family, occupied it for many years. Mr. Cutts
lost heavily during the war of 1812, and later
became involved in unfortunate mining ven-
tures, so that at last he was compelled to
part with his house, and it came into the
hands of Madison. It was to this house, there-
fore, rich in family associations, that Mrs.
Madison came with her niece, Anna Payne,
when Montpellier in its solitude became insup-
portable; and here, within sight of the White
House, where she had spent such happy and
brilliant days, she established once more her
household gods.

The Washington to which she thus returned
after twenty years was a different city from that
which she had left. The houses had grown
thicker along the thoroughfares; throngs of
people walked the streets which had formerly
been like country lanes. The White House
had attained to the dignity of Brussels carpets
in the drawing-rooms and silken curtains at
the windows, French mirrors on the walls, and
English chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.
Yet, with all these advances, there was already
a something lost, a delicate evasive flavor of
aristocracy, a tone of deprecating refinement, a
gentle, remonstrant, spiritual aloofness which
held the crowd at bowing distance. All this
was gone. The reign of triumphant democracy

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