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[[page from newspaper]] January 9, 1890.] THE INDEPENDENT. (37) 5 melted into thin air. But the most ardent advocate of the national idea must concede that it was a strong appreciation of State prerogatives that could fix upon the nation its name of plural form which allows no derivative name for its citizens. But whether the United States was a nation in the fullest sense from the first or not, the South agrees with the North in declaring that it is so now. In this section of the country the pride of nationality is growing fast. By its Memorial Day the South asked the North to concede that these governmental relations had to be an open question until they had been settled by war. In the words of one of its sons it declares: "You Northerners are bound to believe that the South was honest in its opinions." It asks that its people be vindicated from the charge of treason, and that they be regarded, not as pardoned criminals, but as brethren in the fullest sense. It also asserts its believe that the whole country will be the freer through future years, because of the stand which the South took in defense of the reserved powers of the States and the right of local self-government. It is true that one often hears in the South bitter complaints which far exceed all proper demands for justice. The South is to-day a theater of exciting discussions of past, present and future issues. The widest differences find expression in private conversation. The solidity of the South seems much like that of the solid lake over which the spring winds have been freely blowing. The public press is for the most part in the rear of the advance of thought among the real leaders. Perhaps it is forced to be. It is hard to adjust the thought of vast communities to the changed conditions of a new era. There is so much of the inertia of prejudice to overcome, that pronounced utterances would perhaps defeat the end aimed at. In great transitions of thought it is probably necessary to "make haste slowly." But tho the South is still over-sensitive and sore over old issues, yet surely upon the North, as victor in the great struggle, rests the larger obligation for magnanimity and the exercise of fraternal charity. To-day the best South, the liberal and enlightened South, declares: "We have conceded much; far more than you of the North realize. We are struggling with a might problem which has never been solved in the world's experience, the problem of two most unlike races trying to live together in nearly equal numbers on the same soil. In other race collisions numbers have been unequal and the weaker race has usually gone to the wall, or remained servile to the other. We are trying to solve the problem aright. Under the friction of local conditions we have not yet been able always to enforce those ideal principles which the North from its remoter standpoint would have us apply to these questions. But we are meeting the issue with courage, and we will never cease our efforts until these relations are settled on principles as broad as Christianity itself. But you owe to us in our difficult task that kindly judgement which shows appreciation of grave conditions and which 'thinketh no evil.'" It is the voice of the best part of the white South that says this: There is another South whose voice will be heard more and more distinctly as time goes on. The question before the country is not so much, What shall be done with the Negro? as, What will the Negro do with himself? Each of these voices of the South claims its right to be heard. But it was the White South that spoke through the memorial pageant of December 11th. Among those who gave public eulogies on that occasion were some who are making it their life-work to uplift and educate the Negro race. They are loyal sons of the South, and while not blind to the faults of their section, they have faith in the future of both races and in the triumph of Christian principle. They are saying to the North: "Wait for us as well as for the Negro, and touch not your liberties and ours by hasty or partisan action that is founded on distrust of your brethren." Twenty-nine years ago the Convention that cast the die in the history of secession gathered in this city. An epidemic of small-pox caused the adjournment of the Convention to Charleston, where the document was signed. I was once shown a silver memorial goblet bearing the inscription "Independence Day, Dec. 20, 1860." The Citizens of South Carolina have ceased to glory in that "Independence Day." Its results were too costly. As one reviews the troublous events that took place on this soil during the twelve years that followed the close of the War, one wonders what would be the actions of the Government if the same questions had to be decided over again in the light of to-day. It was a condition of things for which history gave no precedent. Any step forward was like a leap into the dark. Indeed, now that nearly a score of years have passed, the conclusion as to what ought to have been done must still be much like that of the old darky who said: "Dey's jus' two ways froo dis yere woods, massa; an' whichsomeber way yo' goes, yo' is might sorry yo' didn' take de udder." Daniel Webster once said that a strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many bad measures. The South to-day asked the nation to pay just heed to the words of Massachusetts' gifted statesman. Even in her desperate struggle with illiteracy she would feel safer to fight it out alone rather than to accept much-needed help from the nation if there were danger that the national action could afterward be used to wound the self-respect of her people. On that Sunday when the cold form of Jefferson Davis was lying in state in New Orleans, the pastor of a great congregation in this capital city which was the "cradle of secession," voiced the wish of thousands of other congregations, both North and South, in the petition that every vestige of sectional bitterness might be buried forever in this grave. As I write these words on the anniversary of the day when the first decisive step was taken in that great tragedy, suggestions of Christmastide are calling the multitudes of both North and South to "Hush the noise, ye men of strife, And hear the angels sing." In the perfecting of fraternal relations among sections once at strife, the proud State of Massachusetts, which has so often joined combat with the proud State of South Carolina on questions of the hour, but whose large-hearted generosity toward Southern needs found its culmination in the magnificent gift of George Peabody to Southern education - ought to be first and foremost in the exercise of that charity in judgement which shall hasten the day of universal "peace, good-will and glory." COLUMBIA, S.C. OUR WASHINGTON LETTER BY KATE FOOTE. THE New Year 1890 - the rounding of a century, since the first New Year of the first President of the United States - and just one hundred New Year Days. How much the New Year Day means to the people - not much to the officials who make the pageant at the White House - but to the people who make the officials, and who make the history - a new page of it each New Year Day. President Harrison's first New Year was wet. It was drizzling. It was his inauguration weather over again, with perhaps a trifle less of it. But the White House, by contrast, was the brighter and more attractive. The big East Room had the massive setting, as became it, of tall palms and dashes of scarlet poinsettas. Blooming azalea trees were a background in the oval windows of the Blue Room. Everywhere was the sweetness of cut flowers, over all the sparkling gas-lights, and with all, the festive music of the red-coated Marine Band. The reception began at the usual hour of eleven o'clock. Before that hour the Diplomatic Corps had turned out of the long line of dripping carriages, flashed in, and added a wealth of gorgeous color and jewel decorations to the brilliant scene. A second line of dripping carriages, and the foreign congresses, the Pan American and Maritime, turned out a second dazzling flash of gold lace, ribbons and clanking swords. By this time the Red Room was pretty full of many nations' representatives - the Italian, German, Russian and British Ministers, among the diplomats, by all odds the most striking figures. Baron Fava, very tall, very black-eyed, very white-haired, tho Italian, is an old portrait of Louis Fourteenth age. Count von Arco-Valley, is the German soldier, of splendid physique and military bearing. Sir Julian Pauncefote, large and fine, is the well groomed, perfect-mannered Briton. Baron de Struve, from the frozen clime of the only autocrat on earth, is also large and fine, and one of the most courtly, genial of men. It was the Orientals, of course, who gave the picturesque - the Chinese and Koreans. But it was the little Korean ladies, Mrs. Ye Wan Yong and Mrs. Ye Cha Yun, who received the greatest attention - that is, if curiosity may be put into the more polite word. Mrs. Ye Wan Yong is a pretty woman - a dainty figure, skin smooth and ivory white, regular features, perfect teeth, hair soft, black and shining as silk, a simplicity and sweetness of expression that gives her the Madonna type of face. Is it any wonder that Mrs. Ye Wan Yong is a fascinating woman? It was their first New Year at the White House: and if they did not understand what it was all about, they looked on with demure interest and made no mistakes. It was something of a debut - a "coming out" party. As for their husbands, Mr. Ye Wan Yong and Mr. Ye Cha Yun, their beaming faces showed proud delight over the impression made by their wives. That they are disposed to give "full swing" to American customs is quite evident, and in all things save dress they are quickly falling into American ways. But let us hope they will hold to their flowing brocades of many hues and their indescribable head-covering, for they would not be half as interesting in other than their native attire. "Hail to the Chief" will never grow old. It renews its youth every New Year's Day, and after a hundred plunges in the fountain was as new, inspiring and delightfully starting as ever. With the first strain, the first note rather, it starts the President and receiving ladies to the Blue Room, and at the same instant starts everybody else - to look at them. Right here is one of the most democratic features - in the taking, as a matter of course, the privilege of looking at the President, and out of which no harm comes - nothing more unpleasant than a little elbowing and crowding, and the craning heads always coming out on top. When the President appeared with Mrs. McKee on his arm, there was no stir, not a ripple of the previous agitation over the official program naming the President's daughter as the representative of the President's wife. The President's personal feeling was one thing; the question of official etiquet was another. Yes, it was quite another, and, as a matter of fact, had been quite sufficient cause for agitation. The wife takes her tank from her husband, and not from her father. Mrs. McKee is the wife of a private citizen, and therefore has no official status. In the event of the President not being able to perform his duties, would his son, who has no official rank, represent him, or would the Vice-President? The question could admit of but the one answer. If the President's wife, then, is not able to appear on official occasions, and more particularly on New Year's Day, would her daughter, who has no official status, represent her, or would the Vice-President's wife? The question could admit of but the one answer. This is the gist of the talk in official circles, always winding up with "Oh, the President's personal feeling is one thing. The question of official etiquet is quite another thing." And so it is, to be sure. One voluble writer proceeded to pour oil on the troubled waters, by citing former Presidents, who had asked nieces, sisters or other relatives to preside over the White House. And why not, when in every instance given, the President was a widower or bachelor. When President Jefferson's niece, President Buchanan's niece, President Arthur's sister, and President Cleveland's sister for the first part of his term, presided over the White House, it was by right of a correctly observed official etiquet. Therefore, the fact that a bachelor or widower President made his niece, his sister, even his "cousin or his aunt," mistress of the White House, has nothing to do with the present question, say the ladies of the Cabinet circle. The troubled waters remain troubled; but happily for the New Year reception it was all on the surface. And so, with smiling faces, while the music rose above the undertoned "Ahs" and "Ohs" they walked on through the corridor, arm-in-arm, to the Blue Room - the President and Mrs. McKee, the Vice-President and Mrs. Morton, Secretary and Mrs. Windom, Attorney-General and Mrs. Miller, Postmaster-General and Mrs. Wanamaker, Secretary and Mrs. Tracy, Secretary and Mrs. Noble, Secretary and Mrs. Rusk. All of the ladies were in the line, except the wife of the Secretary of State, and the wife of the Secretary of War. A double sorrow had fallen on the Blaine household in the very recent death of Mrs. Blaine's sister, and a few days after, the death of Mr. Blaine's brother. Mrs. Proctor's ill health kept her from the White House, and prevented her from receiving later in her own home. A glance down the line of handsomely gowned women showed another "departure" in the precedence given the wife of the Attorney-General over the wife of the Secretary of the Navy. What old agitations it recalled, and struggles, that were well-night feuds, forever breaking out at the most inopportune times, and at last fairly threatening to break up the social structure of one Administration. Under the Arthur regime, the beautiful wife of the Attorney-General maintained that her place in the line should be above that of the wife of the Secretary of the Navy. On the other hand the clever wife of the Secretary of the Navy held the place, declaring that the Navy and Army should stand side by side. The Blue Room was sometimes very warm, and often uncomfortably warm for the rest of the line. The disputed precedence was never settled, however. President Cleveland's Attorney-General was a widower, and the peace of the Blue Room was not in his day disturbed by this question. There would seem to be but one law by which to determine the order of precedence in the Blue Room, when the wives of Cabinet officers form the receiving line. Whatever determined the President in giving to Mrs. McKee the first place, he has availed himself of the one law, giving to the wives of the Cabinet officers their rightful places. No matter if self-defense compelled him to work of re-organization, the precedence is fixed for the present Administration anyhow. It is on the law of dates, the time when each Cabinet department was created by an Act of Congress - in other words, the law of seniority. In the following order the Blue Room line will represent the departments of State, War, Treasury, Justice, Post-office, Navy, Interior and Agriculture. This would be the seniority law. But the importance of the Treasury may take precedence over the War Department. The same date would make a tie between the Treasury and department of Justice, as both were created on September 2d, 1789. But again, the importance of the Treasury would take precedence. However, as the one thing to be desired is the harmony of the Blue Room, let us hope the President has solved the precedence problem, and that at least the Cabinet end of the line was happy. It was also a sensible step, and an improvement on the former custom of "pairing off," many said, when husbands and wives went in together. Here again President Harrison "steered clear of breakers," by avoiding another vexing question of precedence. These things all seem the minutest trifles. But atoms make the earth, and trifles make the world of official society. The gorgeous diplomats were followed by the somber shades of the Supreme Court Justices, and then the Senators and Representatives, not in the time of the official program but in the old time bringing them in with the