The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-01-19
TIE REPUBLICAN PALACE.


WNr Interior Of the white uouse-How the
President aud his wife lIve-1be ESpenses
Of the Estnhlishmeut t.|
From long article in the New York Sun
we extract the following particulars about the
Presidential household
THE NEW ERA.
TO gain an idea of the change that has so
gradually crept over us, and the contrast the
White House to-day presents TO the same
establishment score OF years ago, one has
but to make formal call of respect upon the
President No longer does he find tho main
entrance standing open to all oomers. Even
at the very threshold he is reminded that the
latch-string does not hang out in days of
wore. The house of the President is closed
against the common throng. To be sure the
great dgnitary may be seen, but not as in
days gone by, in plain, familiar, easy man
ner.. The visitor must understand at the out
set that he is calling upon ordinary per-
sonage. hunkey, in full dress, receives him
at the door. All the parapbernalia Of swallow
tailed coat white vest and choker, black
trousers, and white gloves with which this
obseduious door opener astonishes the visitor
is designed to prepare the mind for some
thing grand and aristocratic within.
The plain citizen is at once embarrassed and
confused lf the Eshers of the President are
thus grandly attired, how may visitor ap-
proach the august presence in plain home
spun? Nevertheless, the grandy- dressed
door-keeper is civil and polite, even to ordi-
nary mortals in common clothes, and with
bow of imposing STYLE admits the visitor.
A GORGEOUS APARTMENT.
But the portal passed, a more bewildering
effect awaits the visitor. The grand vestibue
Of the Executive Mansion, glittering like the
spacious saloons of Jim Fisk's Boston steam
boats with gold leaf and bright coors, pre-
sents more advanced idea of the grandeur
that has displaced the American simplicity
that graced this abode. The glass
screen separating the vestibule from the main
corridor of the mansion is work of art of
mhin tha Nrilar min ba
The iron frame is richly bronzed, while the
glass presents the choicest designs in all the
colors of the rainbow. The lofty ceiling of
the apartment surpasses in brilliant coloring
and miscellaneous groupings Brumidi's gaudy
masterpiece, which adornS the dome of the
Capitol The walls, also, are resplendent
with rich colors, relieved by nedalons of de-
parted worth in chGdr0ScuF0. In this gor-
geous apartment the astonished visitor is
permitted to make known to the Gentleman
Of the Swallow-ta Coat, who has admitted
him. the object of his call. Perhaps the SIM
pie rustic has resisted the bewldering effect
of all this magnifcence sufficiently to stammer
out his
DESIRE TO SEE THE PRESIDENT.
The visitor is thereupon transferred to an
other gentleman in waiting, similarly dressed
as if for a wedding reception, and following
through Gordon of like ornamental append
ages of human grandeur, is conducted
through door at the east, and up very
plain staircase to the roy-the apartments of
into an ante-room Immediately at the head of
the stairs where his eye again feasts upon q
brilliant display of paint and gliding upon
the ceiling and walls. The untutored savage,
whose ideas of color confined to the war
paint he layishly bestows upon his person,
might call this frescoing beautiful; or the
backwoodsman, who has never seen work
of art might be led to gaze upon it as won
derful; but whoever has paid any attention
to the first principles of coloring or design
will see in it all merely the over-dress of
wanton. But aside from the cheap atte npt
at imitation of the beautiful, the room pre-
sents some real evidences of luxury and
splendor. costly carpet of Administer or
other foreign production deadens the foot
fall, while the windows are covered with the
richest lace curtains which hang, for
winter use, the heavier satin damaskB, the
whole, with the massive mirrors between the
windows, surmounted.by elaborate cornice
in gilt. The furniture of the apartment is of
black walnut, richly upholstered in satin
damask. u t,
EEg, THE PRESIDENTS AUDIENCE CHAMBER.
The audience chamber of the President;
like the ante-rooms and apartments of tho
% Secretaries, has been transformed from the
plain, modest, though beautiful room in which
I Mr.. Lincoln was content to perform his
official duties, into magnifcently
gilded saloon, presenting, it must
be acknowledged, more taste and skill in its
adOrnment and ornamentation than the
others, but still over tawdry and snowy in the
room, aside from its frescoing, is rich and
beautiful.
MRS. GRANTS BoUDoIR.
The the upper floor at the south
west corner of the house, formerly occupied
by Mrs. Patterson as a bed-chamber, has
been transformed into an elegant private
parlor for Mrs. Grant. Gliding and fresco
have been brought into free in this apart
ment and changed it into a luxurious bou-
doir. The elegant lace and damask curtains,
the costly Turkish carpet the magnificent
1 mirrors, and the rich rosewood furniture are
all new, and were mostly procured abroad
expressly for this domestic retreat Here,
when wearied with the batteries of her ad-
mirers and exhausted with the studied
etiquette of state occasions, she retires to
enjoy the familiar converse of those she
esteems her particular friends, 1t is, indeed,
a gem of a room, save the gliding and paint
ing, which are too much and too highly col
ored. From its windows one of the most
beautiful views in America is commanded,
taking in the broad Potomac far the eye
can reach, with Arlington Heights the