National Republican., 1882-12-22
THE LITTLE WHITE HOUSE.
The Presidents Summer Residence at the SOL
diers' Home.
A Place that Would he LIKELY TO Please
New England Housewife.

During his residence at the grand old stucco
cottage at the Soldiers home President Ar
thus has become greatly attached to the place,
and under his direction il has been made a
cheerful and homclike abode. A great part
of the furnishings arc borrowed from the white
house, and many of the pretty things and or
naments have been brought from tho Presi
dents house in Lexington avenue, New York,
which is leased to Prof. Doremus, the chemist,
this year.
Tho floors of the cottage being covered with
mating throughout, the first care was to
provide rugs for all of the rooms. To this
end the old carpets from the white house
were sacrificed, and it would crafty thrifty
| New England housewife TO observe the inge-
nuity with which the best parts of the old
Turkey carpet, the east room and blue room
| carpets. have been made to furnish for the
| large rugs for the centers of the cottage floors.
The furnace heat has been supplemented by
| tho fragrant warmth from thirteen open fire.
| places each hearthstone guarded by polished
| brass tenders.
| In the entrance hall the portraits of GeA
jackson and Mrs. Tyler hang on either side
Of the large fireplace. The library at the
right is a pleasant apartment with tables,
secretaries, bookcases, and curtaincd recesses
suitable to such a retreat. Groups of palms
fill the window niche and corners, and baskets
aud vases of cut flowers perfume the air. In
| Mr.. Rggs's day the library was probably the
handsomest room in the cottage, the walls and
| ceiling being covered with strips of polished
oak. After the property passed out of the
hands of the original proprietor vandal
occupant had the rich, warm tones of the
| hard wood hidden under q coat of sickly
| green paint, and to complete his crime had
| the etirontery to ask Mr.. Riggs to come out
and view the improvements, os he called it.
The drawing room, entered by curtained
| tln1 n,l 1,n11
apartment, with three windows facing to the
south, and commanding an unexampled view
| of the great stretch of country that slopes
from this ridge Of Maryland hills Turkey
| and Smyrna rugs cover the drawing-room
| floors, and palms and eXotics are grouped in
| the corners and window embrasures. The fur
niture of the room is of ebony, upholstered in
raw silk, and the open piano, the pretty cabi-
nets, and tables strewn with books and bric-a-
| brac give CHEEKY and homelike air to the
room. A small office and writing room opens
to the west, where the telephone rings out its
| alarum to the house.
| The dining room adjoining the drawing
room, on the south front of the cottage, is
beautifed by more palm trees, and the walls
are decorated with choice pieces from the
| Theodore Davis dinner set belonging to the
white house. large engraving of George
| Washington hangs above the mantelpiece,
and the serious countenance of the first Presi-
dent is bent upon the round dining table
| where his latest successor gathers his little
family about him. In the large alcove beyond
the dining room there is a beautiful carved
oak buffet, ornamented with more prize pieces
| from the white house collection of ceramics
and in the wall beside it there is deep and
substantial safe, built in by Mr. Riggs, as de-
| pository for the family silver
| The private apartments upstairs are plainly
and comfortably furnished, and characterized
by a Spartan simplicity, if the Lacedemonians
| ,,..,,V
lures and ingenious adaptation of odds and
ends of household effects to tasteful and
| artistic result. A square of the red carpet
from the east room brightens up the presi-
dents bed room, and the wicker settee and
chairs are covered with gay afghans and
cushions. The south windows command an
| even finer prospect than those of the drawing
room below, and from this point is included
| the sweep of the great lawn and woodland,
the distant city and capitol, the branching
river, the long stretch of Virginia hills, and
| the historic plain for many miles. The
greater part of the Presidents annual message
having been prepared in this retreat, some of
| its excellence may be attributed to the beauti-
full landscape surroundings by day and the
| cheerful blaze and crackle of his great fire.
| place by night that might ftly conduce to
| literary inspiration and clear thinking.
| Two smaller bed rooms open from this large
| chamber, the north one being occupied at
| present by Mr.. Allan Arthur, who is spending
his holiday vacation with his father. The
furniture in all these roomsis of walnut, and
by its pattern evidently dates its manufac-
ture before the rage for Eastlake and aestheti-
cism had set in. Miss Nellie Arthur's room
on the south front of the cottage is CHEEKY
little place, filed with sunshine and pretty
things and guarded by a devoted little Scotch
terrier. The dolls cradle and belongings oc-
cupy their little corner. The mantelpiece is
covered with toys and trophies, and pictures
and illuminated cards decorate the walls.
Three guest chambers are at the disposal of
the President, and such n quiet and restful
home life has been enjoyed by the little circle
at the cottage that it is with some reluctance
that they return to the city and the more
stately surroundings Of the official residence.
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