The National tribune., 1882-05-13
PRESIDENT ARTHUR AT THE WHITE


PRESIDENT ARTHUR AT THE WHITE
HOUSE.
A correspondent writing from Washing
ton gives an interesting sketch of President
Arthur and social life at the White House.
He says:
In General Arthur we have new type of
man in the White House. There have been
Presidents of all kinds. We have had
stately Virginia gentlemen of the old school,
and selfmade men from the West. We have
had soldiers Of several varieties - the rough
and honest and despotic soldier; the quiet
and obstinate and sometimes wrong-headed
soldier, and the simple and docile soldier
We have had rural statesmen who were born
to country seats and died upon them, after
bestowing solemn political autobiographies
upon an inattentive country. We have had
one or two Presidents who grew up amid the
healthful poverty of the frontier, which-as
Mr.. Blaine aptly said in his memorial ora
tion-"is, indeed, no poverty, but the begin
ming of wealth" and who in all their upward
progress through the world never wore off
their simplicity. But the "city man." the
clubs-the type that is represented by the
well-bred and well-dressed New Yorker
the quiet man who wears a scarf and pin in
it, and prefers a sack coat to the long-tailed
frock coat that pervades politics, and Derby
hat to the slouch, that seems to be regarded
in various quarters of this Union as some
thing no statesman should be without This
is novel species of President. Like the
type which he represents, President Arthur
has no eccentricities in dress. He is quiet
and irreproachable from his CATERS to his
watchguard, and would only need to be sit
ting in the reading room of New York club
to pass at any time for a successful banker
or lawyer of rather more than usual dignity
of demeanor. It is not to be inferred that
there is any lack of the Presidential air
about the present incumbent. On the con-
trary, he c - his visit
ors to for, 10 r.-r a. Eta -
affable, b 'a71
and, while ary a
his manner 81
ton which
in a Chief Magistrate, would be hkely 10
quarrel with.
The manner of life at the White House is
what might be expected under the circum-
stances. 1t is probably more in accordance
with metropolitan ideas than has been the
case with some recent administrations. The
1o1 olo l.
The dinners-so some say who have survived
dinners with q series of administrations
were never so good; and not only diplomats,
but other people, receive the full allowance
of wine and the entire variety prescribed by
social law. There is, perhaps, little more
etiquette in getting at the President, but
only little. President Arthur has let down
some of the social bars around his Office.
Formerly the President accepted invitations
to dinner only from members of his Cabinet,
the Speaker of the House, and the Judges of
the Supreme Court. President Arthur has
widened the circle so as to take in Senators
also; and as there are good many Senators,
and many of them entertain handsomely, and
as all Washington has been given up the
past winter to "grand chain" of dinners,
the result has been that the President has
figured in society to an unusual extent. 1t
goes without saying that he is popular there.
Naturally all Presidents are popular in Wash
ington, but General Arthur seems to be es-
pecially so. He is voted to be the handsomest
President within the memory of this gene
ration, and there is no limit to the praises of
his appearance, his bearing, and his social
qualities, which are heard on all sides. Like
all fne-looking men, he is probably aware of
his good looks. That is his right, which,
unlike some good-looking men, he does not
abuse by showing that he is conscious of the
fact. But if he ever indulges in the demor-
alizing habit of cynicism, and the office
seeker ever ceases from troubling, and he
gets free moment when he can retire within
himself and draw the bolt, as it were, won
der whether he wonders why it is that he is
so much handsomer now than he was when
he was Vice-President.