ly in Washington
and mingled but little in the social world. During his life at the
Capital, Mr. Colfax repeatedly delivered his eloquent oration on
Lincoln, which concluded with the lines of N. P. Willis on the death of
President William Henry Harrison:--

Let us weep in our darkness, but weep not for him--
Not for him who, departing, leaves millions in tears,
Not for him who has died full of honor and years,
Not for him who ascended Fame's ladder so high,
From the round at the top he has stepped to the sky.

Directly back of us on Q Street lived an old and intimate friend of
mine, Mrs. Septimia Randolph Meikleham, the last surviving grandchild of
Thomas Jefferson. She was the widow of Dr. David Scott Meikleham of
Glasgow, who was a relative of Sir Walter Scott and died in early life
in New York. Mrs. Meikleham was the seventh daughter (hence her name
"Septimia," suggested by her grandfather) of Governor Thomas Mann
Randolph of Virginia and his wife Martha, the younger daughter of Thomas
Jefferson. She was born at Monticello and was familiarly known to her
intimate friends as "Tim," a name in surprising contrast with her
elegance and dignity. She bore a striking resemblance to her
grandfather, and, although a woman of commanding presence, was simple
and unaffected in manner. Strong in her convictions, attractive in
conversation and loyal in her friendships, she and her home were sources
of great delight to me, and it was pleasing to both of us that her
children and mine should have been brought into intimate contact. Mrs.
Meikleham and I often dwelt upon this family intimacy extending unbroken
from Jefferson and Monroe down to the fourth generation. In the same
block with Mrs. Meikleham lived Mr. and Mrs. John W. Douglas, the former
of whom, some years later, during the Harrison administration, was one
of the District Commissioners. A daughter of his is the wife of Henry B.
F. Macfarland, the late Senior Commissioner of the District, who, as
well as his wife, is universally respected and beloved in Washington. On
the same street, but on the other side of Fourteenth Street, Colonel and
Mrs. Robert N. Scott resided for many years; while just around the
corner, on Iowa Circle, in what was then a palatial home, lived Allan
McLane and his only child, Anne, who married from this house John
Cropper of New York. She is now a widow but lives in Washington, where
she is greatly beloved. In this same general