White House gossip : $b from Andrew Johnson to Calvin CoolidgeColman, Edna M. (Edna Mary)
History
White House gossip : $b from Andrew Johnson to Calvin Coolidge
Colman, Edna M. (Edna Mary)
Presidents -- United States -- Biography; Washington (D.C.) -- Social life and customs; White House (Washington, D.C.)
Admiral Dewey’s victory at Manila Bay was celebrated on his return with
a remarkable ovation. Once again historic Pennsylvania Avenue resounded
to jubilation. Among the many functions given to the distinguished
naval officer was the one at the Metropolitan Club.
The story of the dinner, unique in many respects, is given herewith:
“Two years ago, when club man George Dewey, then a commodore in the
navy, was on the point of leaving Washington to assume command of the
Asiatic Squadron, some of his club mates at the Metropolitan Club gave
him a farewell dinner. Wines were drunk, toasts were made, the best
fellowship prevailed, and the memory of the jolly, happy faces of his
friends lingered in the mind of Dewey all through the stirring events
of the two years that elapsed before his return to his country.
“Last night at the Metropolitan Club the same coterie of friends
gave to Admiral Dewey a dinner of greeting. Upon the menu card was
the menu of the dinner held on the evening of November 27, 1897. On
another page of the card was identically the same menu, but underneath
was yesterday’s date. Five of those who were present at the farewell
dinner were absent last night. These were Mr. William H. Emory, Mr. E.
A. Garlington, Mr. Thomas Hyde, Mr. Nathan Sargent, and Mr. L. Vogel.
“The feature of the farewell dinner given at the Metropolitan Club
late in November, 1897, was a poem by Hon. Archibald Hopkins. The poem
was such an excellent one and proved so prophetic that it has been
quoted from one end of the country to the other.
“Very naturally, Mr. Hopkins was asked to contribute something for
the dinner of last evening, as well as to recite the original poem.
Immediately after the victory of Manila Bay, Mr. Hopkins wrote several
stanzas as a sequel to his effort of November, 1897. All these were
read and received with much enthusiasm by the company last evening. A
few of the stanzas are quoted:
‘What mean the crowds, the marching men,
The flags when he appears?
First, welcome to the Admiral; then
There rings through all the cheers
‘Not only praise for victory won;
There is an undertone
Exultant in new life, begun
Not for ourselves alone.
‘He left us but an outside power
’Mongst those that rule the world;
He made us, with the greatest, tower,
Where’er the flag’s unfurled.
‘Paul Jones a fighter unsurpassed,
Our Farragut beyond all praise,
And Dewey, from Manila last,
To share with them undying bays.
‘No heroes ever trod a deck,
Or sailed the rolling seas,
Through stress of battle, storm and wreck
More glorious than are these.
‘An epoch struck on Time’s great clock,
The day he won his fight;
Henceforth our Anglo-Saxon stock
Keep step for law and right.
‘Henceforth with kin beyond the sea,
We bid oppression die,
And pledge the better days to be
Where’er our standards fly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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