of the line, guests pass through the Green to the East Room. In this stately apartment the gathering assumes its most brilliant aspect.

In the case of a public reception, persons approach the White House by the west gate and a line is formed, which frequently ex'tends as far west as Seventeenth Street, those coming last taking their places at the end. After the threshold of the White House is crossed, the line is a single file through the vestibule, the corridor, and the Red Room to the Blue Room. As in the case of a guest at a card reception, each person announces his or her name to the usher, by whom it is repeated to the army officer who makes the presentations to the President. These rules are also observed when the wife of the President holds a public reception.

The state dinners alternate with the levees. The first dinner is given in honor of the Cabinet, the second in honor of the Diplomatic Corps, and the third in honor of the judiciary. The President and his wife receive their guests in the East Room (p. 80), an army officer making the presentations. When the butler announces dinner, the President gives his arm to the lady whose husband's official position entitles her to precedence and leads the way to the State Dining-room. If a dinner of more than forty covers is given, the table is laid in the corridor.

An invitation to dine with the President may not be declined, excepting where serious reasons can be stated in the note of regret. A prior engagement is not considered a sufficient reason, and, in fact, nothing less than personal ill-health, or serious illness, or a death in one's family would excuse one from obedience to a summons to the table of the President.

In conversation, the Chief Executive is addressed as "Mr. President." In writing as The President of the United States."

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The wife of the President enjoys the same privileges as her husband. She receives first calls from all and returns no visits. She receives the public on Saturday afternoons, from 3 to 5 o'clock, once or twice each season. She announces the hours at which she will receive visitors at other times.

(Mrs. Cleveland, in addition to the public reception ordained by long custom, also provided an afternoon card reception to ladies each winter. She received her guests in the East Room, refreshments were served in the State dining-room, and she was assisted by a number of young ladies, stationed in groups in each of the rooms to meet and converse with guests. Persons desiring an interview with her at other times expressed their wish by letter. In return they received an engraved form giving the date and hour. These receptions were

held in the Blue Room (p. 82), from 3 to o'clock usually three days each week, and were entirely informal. Guests are introduced by an usher and remain but a short time. Whether Mrs. McKinley will follow this gracious precedent, and so crystallize it into a custom likely to be adopted by the wives of future Presidents, is not yet announced.

As the President and wife may or may not make calls, so it is entirely at their option whether or not they accept invitations. For the last ten years the Cabinet circle has been the limit, but previous to that the Presidents accepted hospitalities generally. Under no circumstances, however, will either the President or his wife cross the threshold of any foreign embassy or legation, although members of their families are privileged to do so.

The hours for the reception of visitors at the Executive Mansion change with each administration. The house-rules (p. 74) are always posted conspicuously at the entrance. By a custom started by President Cleveland, during his first term and continued by President Harrison, visitors who wish to pay their respects are received on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 1 o'clock in the East Room. Those having business with the President arrange for interviews with his private secretary.

Social Formalities at Official Houses.-The Vice-President and wife make only first calls on the President and wife. They enjoy the same immunity from returning calls. The same courtesy which recognizes the members of the Cabinet as in the official family of the President, includes the Senatorial circle in the official family of the Vice-President. The Vice-President and wife, therefore, return Senatorial calls. They receive on New Year's at their own residence, first official callers and then the public. Throughout the season, the wife of the Vice-President receives callers on Wednesday afternoons. from 3 to 5. In conversation, the Vice-President is addressed as Mr. Vice-President."

The wife of the Speaker of the House of Representatives receives on Wednesday, at the same hours as the Cabinet ladies. The Speaker is addressed as "Mr. Speaker."

The relative precedence of Cabinet officers has been established by the wording of the Presidential Succession bill. It is as follows: The Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of War, the Attorney-General, the Postmaster-General, the Secretary of the Navy, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Secretary of Agriculture. The official designation, preceded by the phrase The Honorable is the correct form in writing to any one of them. In conversation, a Cabinet officer is addressed as "Mr. Secretary."

The Cabinet ladies receive the public on Wednesday afternoons, during the season, from 3 to 5. The name of each guest is announced by the butler as the hostess is approached. Each hostess is usually assisted, in these formal hospitalities, by a number of ladies — young girls predominating. They are expected to address visitors and to make their stay pleasant. Callers, except under exceptional circumstances, do not extend their stay over ten or fifteen minutes, and it is not necessary that any good-byes should be exchanged with the hostess when leaving. As these receptions are frequently attended by from four to eight hundred people, who for the most part are strangers, the reason for the slight disregard of the usual polite form is obvious. No refreshments are now offered, which is also a change from the custom which prevailed several years ago. Visitors leave cards.

Callers wear ordinary visiting dress. The hostess and assistants wear high-necked gowns, however elaborate their material and make. This fact is mentioned because a few years ago the reverse was the case, and low-necked evening dresses were generally worn by the receiving party at afternoon receptions. At that period also, men frequently appeared on such occasions in full-dress evening suits, swallow-tail coats, etc. In fact, full dress on both men and women was not unusual at the President's New Year reception, a dozen years ago, under the impression then current that street clothes were not in keeping with a function second to none in point of ceremony from our standpoint, and which was attended by the Diplomatic Corps in court dress or in dazzling military or naval uniforms. Customs in these matters have changed so entirely that a violation of the accepted fashion makes of the offender a subject for ridicule. The proper costume for a woman to wear to the President's New Year reception is her best visiting-dress with bonnet or hat, the same that she would wear at an afternoon reception. A man will dress for the President's New Year reception as he will for any other ceremonious daylight event. Neither low-necked gowns nor dress suits are permissible until after six o'clock.

The same proprieties of modern custom in dress should be observed when attending evening receptions at the White House or elsewhere. Evening dress is imperative, which, in the case of women, may mean as elaborate or as simple a toilet as the wearer may select, but it implies an uncovered head. Bonnets or hats must not be worn.

By a rule adopted during the first Cleveland administration, the Cabinet ladies do not return calls generally, but do send their cards

once or twice each season as an acknowledgment. The Cabinet ladies make the first call upon the ladies of the Supreme Court circle, the families of Senators, and the families of foreign ambassadors.

Certain days of the week are set apart by custom for making calls upon particular groups, and no mistake should be made in this respect. The ladies of the Supreme Court families receive callers on Monday afternoons, Congressional families on Tuesdays, the Cabinet families on Wednesdays, and the Senatorial families on Thursdays, with the exception of those residing on Capitol Hill, who observe the day of that section, which is Monday. By virtue of another old custom, Tuesday is K Street day; Thursday calling day for upper H and I streets; Friday for residents of upper F and G streets, and Saturday for Connecticut Avenue and vicinity. Calling hours are from 3 to 6.

The discussion which has been going on for years, and is now as far from settlement as ever, as to whether Supreme Court Justices and families pay the first call to Senators and families, or vice-versa, is only of interest to the stranger as a phase of Washington life, showing the grave importance given to these points by some official households and of the absolute indifference with which they are viewed by others.

The Diplomatic Corps consists of four ambassadors, representing Great Britain, France, Italy, and Germany, and twenty-six ministers plenipotentiary, of which a circumstantial list will be found at the end of this book. They are ranked in the order of their seniority. Each embassy and legation has a corps of secretaries and attaches. The British Ambassador, Sir Julian Pauncefote, is the dean of the corps, having been the first ambassador appointed to this country. The diplomat who has had the longest service here, and who, until the creation of ambassadors, was the dean of the corps, is Señor Romero, the Mexican Minister. Official etiquette as regards the corps has changed since the coming of ambassadors. Ambassadors are given precedence by ministers. By virtue of long-established custom, to quote Thomas Jefferson, “foreign ministers, from the necessity of making themselves known, pay the first visit to the ministers of the nation, which is returned." Ambassadors claim that they only call on the President because that is the habit of European countries. It is generally understood that all persons, official or otherwise, pay the first call to the embassies. The ladies of the Diplomatic Corps have no special day on which to receive callers, each household making its own rules in this respect and announcing the date at the proper time.

XI.

CHURCHES, ART GALLERIES, THEATERS, CLUBS, ETC.

Washington has a great number of Churches of every denomination and in all parts of the city. Only a few of the most conspicuous of these need be mentioned. The oldest are Rock Creek Church (p. 163), near the Soldiers' Home; Christ Church (p. 68), near the Navy Yard, and St. John's (p. 122), on Lafayette Square. All these are Episcopal, and have been elsewhere described. Other prominent Episcopal churches are: Epiphany (G Street, near Fourteenth), which, like several other church societies in the city, has a suburban chapel; the Church of the Ascension, at Massachusetts Avenue and Twelfth Street; old St. John's is prominent in Georgetown; and St. James', at Massachusetts Avenue and Eighth Street, N. E., on Capitol Hill, is very highly ritualistic. The Roman Catholics have many fine churches and a very large influence in Washington. (See their universities.) Their oldest church is St. Aloysius, at North Capitol and S streets; and St. Matthew's, at Fifteenth and H streets, is probably the most fashionable. Congregationalism is represented most prominently by the First Church, at G and Tenth streets, which has always been a leader in religious philanthropy, especially toward the Freedmen. The Presbyterian churches are among the oldest and largest. The leading one, perhaps, is the First, which remains in Four-and-a-half Street, and is still under the care of the venerable Dr. Byron Sunderland. This is the church attended by President Cleveland. An offshoot from it was the New York Avenue Church, whose big house is so conspicuous in the angle between that avenue and H Street at Twelfth. Doctor Bartlett, Doctor Paxton, and its present pastor, Doctor Radcliffe, have all been celebrated preachers there.