hand, saying, "Argus, give me
that egg," whereupon the obedient dog opened his mouth and out rolled an
egg, to the great surprise of Mr. Dodge. Did he punish Argus for that?
Not at all, but he told him he was sorry he was a robber and hoped he'd
never have cause to scold him again. And he never did!

The interesting-looking house to the east of Hamilton Dodge's, 2811 P
Street, was built in 1840. That is where the Gordon family were living
when William A. Gordon, junior, came back from the Civil War. Certainly,
that must have been a joyous occasion, and there were happy hearts
within the old walls that night. His sister Josephine (Mrs. Sowers),
Margaret Robinson (Mrs. Thomas Cox), and Elizabeth Dodge (Mrs. John
Beall), all exceedingly handsome women, were belles in their youth,
and a trio of great friends to the end of their lives.

[Illustration: WILLIAM A. GORDON]

The family of Admiral Sigsbee were living here when the U. S. battleship
_Maine_, of which he was the captain, was blown up in the harbor of
Havana in 1898. His wife was a daughter of Admiral Lockwood. It is now
the home of Mr. and Mrs. John Ihlder.

At 2805 P Street lives Honorable Dean G. Acheson, now Secretary of
State. For a while, in the latter part of the last century, a quaint and
very well-known lady made this house her home--Miss Emily V. Mason, of
Virginia, from whom Mr. Corcoran received friendly and grateful letters,
thanking him for contributions to her work for "her children," as she
called them. The letters were written from Europe. She evidently had
groups of Southern children in various cities for whom she provided,
using for that purpose money made by her writings, to which she refers.
I remember how picturesque she was in appearance: a lovely face,
surrounded by long, white curls, crowned by a wide-brimmed, black bonnet
tied with a wide ribbon. She seemed to have quite a salon during her
residence here, serving tea and substantial refreshments to all her
friends who called in the afternoons.

The iron fence around these houses is made of old musket barrels, used
during the Mexican War, and was put there by Reuben Daw, who owned a
large part of this block.

Just across the street from Mr. Acheson used to live a lady, the widow
of Mr. Hein, the artist, who like "Anna" in the Bible spent all her days
in the "courts of the Lord," the Catholic Church. She always wore a long
black coat and a crepe veil to her heels, rode a bicycle back and