Transcriber’s Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
MRS. CLAY
of Alabama
A Belle of the Fifties
Memoirs of Mrs. Clay, of Alabama, covering Social and Political Life in Washington and the South, 1853–66 Put into narrative form by Ada Sterling
PREFACE
The memoirs of “Mrs. Clay, of Alabama,” by whichtitle Mrs. Clement C. Clay, Jr. (now Mrs. Clay-Clopton),was known during the period comprised by 1850–87,begin in the middle of the second decade of the nineteenthcentury, the scenes being laid among the affluent plantationsof North Carolina and Alabama, and, continuingthrough two brilliant administrations at the nationalcapital, close, as she emerges from the distresses whichovertook her and her husband after the never-to-be-forgottentragedy that plunged a nation into mourning—thedeath of Mr. Lincoln.
In the researches made in order to obviate all possibleinaccuracies in these memoirs (a precaution alwaysnecessary where one’s life has been long and experiencesso varied), I have come upon no record of any otherwoman of her time who has filled so powerful a placepolitically, whose belleship has been so long sustained,or whose magnetism and compelling fascinations haveswayed others so universally as have those of Mrs. Clay-Clopton.In the unrestful days at the capital whichpreceded the Civil War her winning personality wassuch as to cause even those whom she esteemed theenemies of her section, in those days when “sections”were, to be covetous of her smiles. At no period of herlong career have her unique courage, her beautifuloptimism, her inspiring buoyancy been more accentuatedthan during the making of the present book. The recallingof incident after incident, step by step, of so great aprocession of memories as are here set down is a taskviiifrom which many persons of twoscore years mightshrink. At the ripe age of almost eight decades Mrs. Clay-Cloptonentered into the work with a heart as light as agirl’s and a sustained energy and enthusiasm that havebeen as remarkable as they are unparalleled. Whilepreparing the