“Three o’clock.—Will you believe it, my sister? We have had a battle, or skirmish, near Bladensburg, and I am still here within sound of the cannon. Mr. Madison comes not—may God protect him! Two messengers, covered with dust, come to bid me fly; but I wait for him.... At this late hour a wagon has been procured; I have had it filled with the plate and most valuable portable articles belonging to the house; whether it will reach its destination, the Bank of Maryland, or fall into the hands of British soldiery, events must determine. Our kind friend, Mr. Carroll, has come to hasten my departure, and is in a very bad humor with me because I insist on waiting until the large picture of General Washington is secured, and it requires to be unscrewed from the wall. This process was found too tedious for these perilous moments. I have ordered the frame to be broken and the canvas taken out; it is done, and the precious portrait placed in the hands of two gentlemen of New York for safe-keeping. And now, my dear sister, I must leave this house, or the retreating army will make me a prisoner in it by filling up the road I am directed to take. When I shall again write to you, or where I shall be to-morrow, I can not tell.” We all know the story of Mrs. Madison’s flight, of her return in disguise to a desolated, burned, ruined home. She would have been without shelter except for the open door of Mrs. Cutts, her sister, who lived in the city. From that point she visited the ruins of all the public buildings while she awaited her husband’s return. We are apt to think of the White House as a place of teas, receptions, gayly dressed people, light, music, flowers, and laughter; but it, too, has seen its tragedies. Fifty years after the burning of the city the famous Stuart picture of Washington, referred to in Mrs. Madison’s letter, was retouched and hung in the East Room, and still constitutes one of the few ornaments of the Executive Mansion. III THE CAPITOL BUILDING The corner-stone of the old Capitol, which constitutes the central portion of the new edifice, was laid the 18th of September, 1793, by General Washington, in the presence of a great concourse of people and with imposing ceremonies. The corner-stones of the wings were laid by President Fillmore, July 4, 1851. Webster delivered the oration of the occasion. The old building is of yellow sandstone, kept painted white to beautify and preserve it; the wings are of white marble. On its central portico all our Presidents, from Andrew Jackson to President McKinley, have taken the oath of office. President Roosevelt took the oath of office at Buffalo. This building, which fronts the east, was set in accordance with the astronomical observations of Andrew Ellicott, an engineer from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, who succeeded Major L’Enfant as general surveyor and engineer in the new city.