The work of rehabilitation was at once begun. Twenty-four wagonloads of household goods of all description were cleared out and sold at auction, to the delight of collectors and souvenir hunters. It is said that a pair of trousers and a battered silk hat belonging to President Lincoln were in the collection, as were also an ancient portmanteau of Mrs. Abigail Adams, and the carpet bag that had held President Lincoln’s inaugural speech. The sideboard discarded by Mrs. Hayes was purchased by a local saloon and restored by the proprietor to its original use, being stocked with decanters and the paraphernalia and accompaniments of wines and liquors. Three thousand dollars in cash was the proceeds from the gigantic house-cleaning. President Arthur also made some improvements. He had the huge stained-glass screen, made by Tiffany, installed in the entrance hall to give a little privacy to the state apartments, since all comers and goers of every description who had business in those days entered the mansion and made their way to the “office upstairs.” This custom left no privacy whatsoever for the family, and little or no protection from the importunities of visitors, who could thus approach the family if any member of it ventured through the corridors during the office hours. By the time Mrs. McElroy arrived with the little girls, everything was in perfect order and the government paid the bill. The first formal function of the administration was the New Year’s reception of 1882. It was noted for its elegance and brilliance. While the President had requested all members of the Garfield Cabinet to remain until Congress convened, the personnel changes began by the end of October. Robert T. Lincoln, Secretary of War, had the distinction of being the only Cabinet officer to continue with President Arthur until the close of his régime. Thus it was a new set of official faces that greeted the New Year callers. The reception was at its height when Elisha H. Allen, Hawaiian Minister, wearing the broad sash of the Order of Kamahameha III, after passing down the line greeting new officials and old friends, stepped into the anteroom for his coat and hat and dropped dead. Festivities were at once stopped, doors closed, and all signs of gaiety checked, while gloom again descended upon the mansion where tragedy, death, and sorrow have thrust dark shadows upon every administration. One of the callers at the reception who had come to pay her respects to the new President and his Cabinet, and who had attracted universal attention, was Dr. Mary E. Walker. In her masculine trousers, formal frock coat, and silk hat, she had vied with the belles in the comment aroused by her clothes, and not even the gorgeous diamonds of Madame de Struvem, wife of the Russian Minister, or the unusually handsome gowns of the new Cabinet ladies, eclipsed hers in interest.