MARY ARTHUR MCELROY presided at the White House when her brother, Chester Alan Arthur, succeeded to the Executive office upon the death of President Garfield. In 1859 he had married Ellen Lewis Herndon, daughter of Commander William Lewis Herndon, who, by order of the Government, explored the Amazon River in 1857, but she died in January, 1880, less than one year previous to his election as Vice-President. Mrs. McElroy was specially adapted to fill the position of mistress of the White House from her natural tact and previous social experience. Her residence at the White House was therefore marked by graceful and dignified hospitality and the task of entertainment was greatly lightened by the extreme geniality of the President. Like her brother, she was of fine and imposing appearance. After the death of Mr. Arthur, his only daughter, Ellen Herndon Arthur, lived in Albany with her aunt, Mrs. McElroy, the son, Chester A. Arthur, Jr., residing chiefly abroad.

ARTHUR

President Arthur will be distinguished both for what he did and what he refrained from doing. The strain and intensity of public feeling, the vehemence of the angry and vindicative passions of the time, demanded the rarest of negative as well as positive qualities. His calm and even course of government allayed excitement and appealed to the better judgment of the people. He spoke vigorously for the reform and improvement of the Civil Service, and when Congress, acting upon his suggestions, enacted the law, he constructed the machinery for its execution, which has since accomplished most satisfactory, though as yet incomplete results. On questions of currency and finance he met the needs of public and private credit, and the best commercial sentiment of the country. He knew the necessity for efficient coast defenses, and a navy equal to the requirements of the age. He keenly felt the weakness of our commercial marine, and the total destruction of the proud position we had formerly held among the maritime Nations of the world, and did what he could to move Congress to wise and patriotic legislation.

The centennial of the final surrender at Yorktown, which marked the end of the Revolutionary War, and the close of English rule, was celebrated with fitting splendor and appropriateness. The presence of the descendants of Lafayette and Steuben as the guests of the Nation, typified the undying gratitude of the Republic for the services rendered by the great French patriot and his countrymen, and by the famous German soldier. But the President, with characteristic grace and tact, determined that the ceremonies should also officially record that all feelings of hostility against the mother country were dead. He directed that the celebration should be closed by a salute fired in honor of the British flag, as he felicitously said, "in recognition of the friendly relations so long and so happily subsisting between Great Britain and the United States, in the trust and confidence of peace and good-will between the two countries for all the centuries to come," and then he added the sentence, "and especially as a mark of the profound respect entertained by the American people for the illustrious sovereign and gracious lady who sits upon the British throne."

General Grant was dying of a lingering and most painful disease. Manifold and extraordinary misfortunes had befallen him, and his last days were clouded with great mental distress and doubt. The old soldier was most anxious to know that his countrymen freed him and would hold his memory sacred from all blame in connection with the men and troubles with which he had become so strangely, innocently