206 



NEW EXGLAND FARMER. 



Mat 



the farm-yard ; the noisy cackle of the hen, and the ly awaiting the appearance of the new president, as 

 infanl-like bleat of the little lamb, are pleasant he was escorted through the door of the capitol. 

 sounds in the ears of the farmer's child. ^ >,r;iKaT.t ihvr.r.cr r^f n-niu- rlroccpH lr,fi;p« of cr. 



Yes, 1 would be a farmer'vS daughter, and a far- 



mer's wife ; and were I dependent upon my ov/n ex- 



A hrilliant throng of gaily dressed ladies, of gold 

 laced foreign ministers, and of members of Con- 



ertions, to "bring up" or educate a family of chil- gress, at once crowded the enclosed area over the 



istanfje till it with my own hands, than struggle for 

 subsistence by that life-destroying instrument, the 

 needle ; but only so, when used to such extent as is 

 often the case, to support that life it too often de- 

 stroys. L. E. L. 

 Bradford, March 4th, 1857. 



Fur the Neiv England Farnutr. 



LETTER FROM MR. FREIJCH. 



Inauguration Ceremonies — the Rising and the Setting Sun — 

 Arrest of a House Roliber — Appropriations for Agriculture. 



Washington, D. C, March 5, 18-57. 



My Dear Browx : — The fourth of March has 

 come and gone. Franklin Pierce has stepped 

 quietly from the pedestal, and James Buchanan as 

 quietly has ascended it. I say quietly, because the 

 ceremonies which attend a change of the chief mag- 

 istrate in our own country are as unlike the revolu- 

 tionary movements which usually attend the down- 

 falls and the ascensions of kings, as the rising of 

 the sun is to a volcano. The morning was like a 

 bright May morning in New England. The city 

 was early crov/ded with people, of all ranks and 

 colors. At eleven o'clock, a procession formed near 

 the presidential mansion, to e.--cort the president 

 and president elect to the capitol. The military 

 made the most conspicuous part of the show. 

 About twenty-five companies, comprising nearly 

 two thousand troops in all, with gay uniforms, silk- 

 en banners, and bands of music, composed the mil 

 itary escort. The flying artillery, with their six 

 brass field pieces, with their hundred and twenty 

 men, and with the associations of their terrible 

 prowess in the Mexican war, attracted much atten- 

 tion. Fire companies and political associations, 

 a full-rigged miniature ship of war, drawn by horses, 

 a flag staff seventy feet high, bearing a banner thir- 

 ty feet in length, rigged to a wagon, aided in giv- 

 ing attractions to the scene. 



At the National Hotel the president elect, with 



culty, we discerned the venerable head and the 

 portly form of the new president, dressed in a plain 

 suit of black, like any private gentleman. When 

 the shouts which greeted his appearance had sub- 

 sided, the president elect, standing at the front of 

 the portico, read to the listening crowd hia inaugu- 

 ral address. 



Perhaps a score of persons may have heard his 

 voice, but the thousands were compelled to be sat- 

 isfied with their own imaginings, and their own re- 

 flections. And surely, there was a grandeu* 'n the 

 scene sufficient to excite the attention of all present, 

 who were capable of appreciating its full import. 

 At this hour, thus peacefully, with no voice to 

 question its right or its power, the will of the peo- 

 ple, expressed in conflict, in excitement, over a vast 

 continent, for months, now, in the presence of the 

 assenting nation, transfers to him who is the con- 

 stitutional choice of the majority, the highest hon- 

 ors of the republic. 



At the close of the inaugural address, the oath 

 of office was administered by the venerable Chief 

 Justice of the United States, and James Buchanan 

 from that moment was president. President Pierce, 

 with the nice appreciation of what is becoming in 

 manners, which has always distinguished him, was 

 among the first to take his successor by the hand, 

 and as the roar of the cannons announced the acces- 

 sion of the new administration, one could hardly 

 realize that all the parties of the country had not 

 united in calling it into power. The procession soon 

 reformed, and escorted the president and ex-presi- 

 dent to the White House, where the former was left 

 by the latter at the door, in full possession of the 

 honors and the cares which wait on greatness. 



The city, after the ceremonies, presented a scene 

 in the principal avenue not especially flattering to 

 republican morals. The whole population of the 

 neighboring counties seemed to be in more than one 

 sense, loose in the streets. Such an assemblage of 

 drunken men probably cannot be found here, oftener 



the vice president, joined the procession, the old and, 



the new presidents riding peacefully together in! than once in four years. Pickpockets and robbers 



the same carriage, and the procession then moved are said to have been abundantly supplied from 



on to the capitol. At the north gate, the two 

 presidents with their friends descended from their 

 carriages, snd proceeded to the Senate chamber, 

 and thence to the east front of the capitol. Here 

 an extensive platform had been ei-ected, not of per- 

 ishable political professions, but of timber and plank, 

 broad enough to hold some fifteen thousand per- 

 sons. This was densely packed with men and 



abroad, and to have operated with unusual success. 

 A single instance which occurred in sight of my 

 window will give a good illustration of the fortunes 

 of this kind of warfare. Our friend, Richard Han- 

 son, was returning with his wife from the inaugura- 

 tion ceremonies, and as he approached his house, 

 which he had left locked when he went out, saw a 

 gentlemanly looking man coming out at the back 



women, who, with probably some ten thousand! door. Mr. Hanson stepped forward and accosted 

 more persons standing on the grass, were anxious-' him with the inquiry, why he had been upon his 



