Produced by Carla Foust, Tor Martin Kristiansen and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Print project.) Transcriber's note Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice. Printer errors have been changed and are listed at the end. All other inconsistencies are as in the original. Characters that could not be displayed directly in Latin-1 are transcribed as follows: _ - Italics ^ - superscript DOROTHY PAYNE _QUAKERESS_ [Illustration: Dorothy Payne Todd. Courtesy of Miss Lucia B. Cutts.] Dorothy Payne, Quakeress _A Side-Light upon the Career of "Dolly" Madison_ By ELLA KENT BARNARD Philadelphia: FERRIS & LEACH 29 SOUTH SEVENTH ST. 1909 Dedicated to ANNIE MATTHEWS KENT FOREWORD There is little time in this busy world of ours for reading,--little, indeed, for thinking;--and there are already many books; but perhaps these few additional pages relating to Dolly Madison, who was loved and honored during so many years by our people, may be not altogether amiss. During eleven administrations she was the intimate friend of our presidents and their families. What a rare privilege was hers--to be at home in the families of Washington, of Jefferson, of Madison, of Monroe; to know intimately Hamilton and Burr and Clay and Webster; to live so close, during her long life, to the heart of our nation; to be swayed by each pulsation of our national life;--to be indeed a part and parcel of it all, loved, honored and revered! It seems almost incredible that the simple country maiden, reared in strict seclusion, by conscientious Quaker parents, should have been transformed into the queen of social life, at whose shrine the wise men of their day did homage, and at whose feet the warriors laid the flag of victory. She has left small record of her thoughts; none of her creed, excepting in her life,--and that was pure and good. The outward symbols of her faith were laid aside, but in her daily life we see the leading of the "Inner Light." We have searched amongst the driftwood of the century for traces of her early life, and found many records, letters and references, published and unpublished, and from them all our story has been woven. The Friends' records of North Carolina, of Virginia and of Philadelphia have given us very accurate and definite information relating to her family, and the old letters, the cherished treasures of many homes, have given a glimpse of Dolly herself in earlier and later days;--of her Quaker girlhood in Philadelphia and of her marriage in the old Pine street meeting-house. And then of days in Washington,--brilliant days, in the full glare of sunshine; and finally a picture when the days were far spent and the evening shadows falling.