332 



HARRISON, CAROLINE LAVINIA SCOTT. 



ladies of the President's family, and of room for 

 guests at state hospitalities. In a subsequent 

 conversation with Col. John M. Wilson, engineer 

 in charge of the public buildings and grounds, 

 she gave her ideas of the way in which the build- 

 ing should be enlarged, and with the assistance 

 of an architect these were put upon paper in 

 the form of proper drawings. It was Mrs. Har- 

 rison's idea to preserve the present White House 

 and build extensive wings, which, with a con- 

 servatory, will inclose a rectangle, giving ample 

 room for the public offices as well as for accom- 

 modation of the family and guests. The south- 

 ern fagade of her plan is shown in the accom- 

 panying engraving. 



Two tributes from those who had known her 

 long and well are as follow : " The greatest charm 

 in Mrs. Harrison's disposition was her strong 

 common sense, her evenness of temper, her will- 

 ingness to oblige, and the kindly thought for 

 everybody else which dominated every act. She 

 cultivated the faculty of saying a happy thing 



period. In carrying out the hospitalities of the 

 White House she has never been excelled. She 

 presided with easy dignity and grace upon these 

 occasions, and omitted no detail that would add 

 to the pleasure of those attending them. She 

 carried out to the letter the written and un- 

 written laws of the house, and did as much more 

 as it was possible to do within the limits of 

 each season." 



She had luxuriant brown hair, touched with 

 silver of late years, which fell in waves about 

 her shapely head; she had regular features, 

 dark, expressive eyes, a soft, sympathetic voice, 

 an animated and thoughtful manner of con- 

 versing, and a winning and subdued gayety. 

 During the first epidemic of the grippe, Mrs. 

 Harrison cared unweariedly for her aged father, 

 whose home was with her, and for whom she was 

 always most tenderly solicitous, and her grand- 

 children, who were very ill. After their recov- 

 ery she herself was prostrated with the disease. 

 The next season she was again attacked, and 



MRS. HARRISON'S PLAN FOR ENLARGEMENT OF THE EXECUTIVE MANSION. 



of everybody, and repressed the strong inclina- 

 tion to say the witty things which always came 

 so easy to her, for fear she might unwittingly 

 offend a sensitive person. Her high position did 

 not change her in the slightest degree, unless it 

 were to make her feel more than ever willing 

 to give up her private inclinations to do that 

 which was expected from her by the public." 

 " Mrs. Harrison was just the same kind and 

 thoughtful for everybody, great and small and 

 the friends of her early days in Washington 

 were her friends to the last. She was probably 

 one of the most industrious mistresses the White 

 House has ever had. Her own method of life 

 was so simple that it gave her more time than 

 ordinarily comes to persons in high places to de- 

 vote to things she liked best. She was a con- 

 stant reader of the best licerature, and was de- 

 voted to her brush. She had been a diligent 

 pupil for several years in the studio of a china 

 painter, and her talent was often displayed in 

 the gifts she made her friends at the holiday 



from these illnesses she never wholly recovered, 

 and they were followed in the spring of 1892 by 

 throat and lung difficulties that developed into 

 tubercular consumption. During the summer 

 she was carried to Loon lake, in the Adiron- 

 dacks, but with no improvement. As her weak- 

 ness and suffering increased, she longed to re- 

 turn to the comfort and brightness of her home 

 in Washington, and thither she was carried a 

 short time before she passed away. 



HAWAII, a limited monarchy, occupying 

 the Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands in the Pacific 

 Ocean. The reigning sovereign is Queen Liliuo- 

 kalani, born Sept. 2, 1838, who succeeded her 

 brother, Kalakaua, Jan. 20, 1891. Her husband, 

 John 0. Dominis, was Governor of Oahu until 

 his death, on Aug. 27, 1891. The new Constitu- 

 tion of 1887 makes the ministers removable by a 

 vote of want of confidence. The Legislature is 

 composed of 24 Nobles, elected by citizens hav- 

 ing $3.000 worth of property or an income of 



"""), and the same number of Representatives, 



