CHAPTER V 



WASHINGTON {concluded) 



On the night of December 9 Mr. Whitney — ^the 

 Secretary of the Navy, and who may be said to have 

 been the founder of the modern United States navy 

 — and Mrs. Whitney gave a grand banquet at their 

 large house in I Street in honour of Mr. Chamber- 

 lain. Bergne and I dined that evening with Henry 

 Edwardes and his pretty wife, both of whom were 

 most hospitable to us all throughout our stay. Miss 

 Endicott and Miss Gwynne completed our little 

 party of six, and a very pleasant evening we spent, 

 going on to the Whitneys' reception afterwards. It 

 was there that I was introduced to Mrs. Cleveland, 

 who invited me to the tea to which I have already 

 alluded. The Whitney banquet was thus described 

 in the Washington Post of the following day : 



" Secretary and Mrs. Whitney gave a handsome 



dinner last night to Hon. Joseph Chamberlain. 



Covers were laid for twenty guests. The others 



were Speaker and Mrs. Carlisle, Secretary and Mrs. 



Fairchild, Secretary Endicott, Mr. and Mrs. Angell, 



67 



