Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-04-12

or fat capon, delicious terrapin, heaven-cre- |
ated and angel-cooked canvass backs, and !
succulent soft shells and Holsters, have gone |
to make up Secretary of the Navy.
Belknap and Robson were the roistering
swashbucklers of the Grant regime; and
right jolly fellows they were, so tight on
wine and loose on contracts They were
captains, they were, in their day. Rich men
courted them and fair ladies smiled on them;
while the great crowd followed, fattered,
sought, and sued, and the great officials took
it all as if to the manner born.
And now how changed! Time was when
they could not stand thus upon the street
without being surrounded by an admiring
crowd. Now no one even notices the two.
Passers by scarcely glanced at the once po-
Chamberlain's for lunch like ordinary NOR
tals-nay, like the spirit of some old Indian
chiefs, coming back to haunt their once hap
Ply hunting grounds, now converted into
cornfelds and meadows.
THE DIPLOMATIC DUCKS.
There is considerable talk of quiet sort
about the treatment the foreign diplomatic
agents in Washington are receiving at the
hands of the administration. It seems that.
Mrs. Hayes having put her little foot down
on the wine at the White House, the diplo-
matte corps cannot be invited to dine, be-
cause, as MIR. Evarts has impressed it upon
the family, that dinner without wine would
be regarded as an insult.
We learn that it is an actual fact that at
State dinners milk and water are actually
substituted for wine, and that intoxicating
liquors are abolished from the board. Alb
surd stories are told among the amazed d.
plomats how servant goes round behind the
guests with a pitcher in each hand, and
says, "Water, sir? Milk, sir? Milk, sir?
| Water, sir?'' But, of course, this is an ex-
aggeration.
If milk is really substituted for wine, fish
ought to be banished, for milk on fish is
provocative of more colo than any other
indigestible combination known to suffering
humanity; unless indeed lime water be
added; and the servant intrusted with the
distribution of the milk ought to follow with
jar of lime water to neutralize the vitiated
acid sure to come,
The fact is, the dinner itself should be
abolished. 1t is heavy affair at best, when
enlivened by sherry and champagne. It is
nuisance, when given over to heavy eating
and heavier talk.
OF course Mrs. Hayes has q right to reduce
her principles to practice, and we honor the
courage that carries it ont in the teeth of
custom or fashion. But the reform is only
possible in banishing the dinner itself. A
State dinner at the executive mansion is a
quasi official ceremony, and when the wine
is eliminated, it not only loses its official sig
nifcance, but degenerates into heavy, in
digestible bore.
If their high principles will not allow the
use of wine, common sense dictates an alb
sence of dinner. Let the stupid affair
be ruled out, as we learn the diplomatic
corps is virtually sci aside.
TACT.
We have heard lions roar in our time; and
experience has taught us something, and
after years observation we think. we have
discovered the cause of the administration
trouble. There is too much ice in it.
We assert, strange as it may sound, that
the trouble is not in the cancellation at the
South, nor altogether in the attempted civil
service reform, but in the strange way the
administration removes itself from the social
contact with the world about it. No man
calls on the President who does not leave
with the impression that, although the
smiles were smiles, and the voice soft and
low, yet the smiles were sunlight on snow,
and the voice, be it ever so soft, was wind
coming through the key-hole of an ice
chest.
i Messrs. Evarts, Sherman and Schurz. are
worse yet. Talk of sending ships in search
of the north pole. when we have the poles
all about us; and if the north pole, sslost in
the gathered winters Of thousand years. -
is no better than these official poles Of ours.
it is not worth the trouble of finding.
The entire absence of the fascinating influ-
ence of social life, the absence of all tact.
render every one uncomfortable and liscon-
tented. Flowers and buttermilk, HYMNS of
praise and prayerful regard for the high
moraities are all very well in their way; but
they are also In the way-when made to do
duty for all else-of success of any sort.
1 There was wild rumor floating around
last week that Carl Schurz was dead, and I
instantly locked my door and prepared to
mourn. could not help thinking what q
frst-class angel he would make, swinging on
La damp cloud, waving large
sized palm-leaf fan, with his
spectacles on, looking for his earthly civil
service broom, which on earth was never
used, but which he had howled about SO
much that it became necessity. Schurz is
a very kind hearted man, and have been
six months trying to tell you an anecdote
that will prove that fact beyond doubt.
just after Carl was installed in the interior
department a member of Congress went to
him with young lady who wanted to draw
Q salary without doing any work, and so pitt
iful tale was told that Schlz started up.
exclaiming, "Yesh! yeshl Mr.. Spheare, do it.
Mr.. Speare, it makes the tearsh come NIT
mine eysh to hear dot schtory.' The cur
tain fell with tspheare'' rushing out to get
some tracing work, the young lady and mem