The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-04-10
THE NATIONS EXECUTIVE.
Why President Arthur Seeks Repose
Among the Everglades.
Tired of Official MOnotony-NO Moment at
the White House or Elsewhere
Free from Care.
w..,tr.ton correspondenoe New York Herald.

Thousand Islands or anywhere else is not a
sespite. 1t is only change of scene and
diminuton of the pressure for Office. The
telegraph follows him more rapidly than the
train or steamboat and the days of fast mail
catch up with the President wherever he may
60 bearing bag of important matter requir-
ing his immediate consideration. More than
all, he is actually a prisoner at the White
House The executive Offices and the cabinet
room the Presidents library, his private din
ing-room and parlors his chamber and his pri-
vate Office in word his business and his
home are all under the same roof One is
reminded of the dignity of the executive
mansion whenever he enters some little shop,
the owner of which may be attending to
household duties but who is warned of Gus
toner by the violent ringing of a bell set in
motion by opening the door. Constrained
by the custom of his predecessors, the Presi-
dent seldom seeks social enjoyment outside
the White House. 1t is remembered what
shock the conventonalities of official life re-
ceived when President Grant was announced
to dine at the residence of a gentleman in
Georgetown. Had it not been that the Union
was then known to be safe the Oldest inhab-
itants would have said the country was going
to destruction.
Moreover, it will be remembered that Pres
ident Arthur is widower and deprived of
the relaxation only found in domestic life.
His little daughter attends school in New
York, and his son is at the Princeton College,
both occasionally visiting their father The
President has during his occupancy of the
White House had the society of several of
his sisters, who have attended in the most
charming manner to the social duties of the
mansion; and it is not within the recollection
OF anybody that the prophecies of the Presi-
dents house have ever been more decorously
observed than during Mr.. Arthurs admins
tration When everything has been said
that could be possibly thought in compli-
ment to the President both in regard to his
official conduct and social life in the White
House. there yet remains his own declaration
that it is in the greatest degree irksome to
him to bear the daily, ceasess routine which
the Office imposes upon him. The task of
eating quail every day for month is moth
ing to be compared in his opinion to the
wearying monotony of an Office that must be
repeated by the occupant as well as by the
people In every part of the country and in
every nook and corner OF the Executive
Mansion. The visit of the New York decora-
tors, the establishment of the Green, Red
and Blue Rooms, the ornamentation of the
vestibule and hundred other little novel
ties have helped to make his life iii the
White House endurabe. Beside the prepa-
ration of his daily food by a cook who is the
peer, if not the superior, of any in Washing
ION, which gives the President as much pleas
ure as can come from such a servant, he
likes to Hnger at the dinner table. The
fascination of wine with nuts and
C CARS with coffee tempts him to give
digestion undisturbed sway an hour after
dinner Is over. 1t is not only the love of
luxury but the demand for it in his moments
of rest from official tasks that makes the
private dining room the most agreeable of
all the rooms in the mansion. If there is
company to be received in the blue parlor
the President hastens to make himself the
"a n hosts
of the hour is urged as reason for guests
withdrawing the President wonders why he
should be deprived of such exquisite pleas
ure because it is getting late 1t is always
late to him. Late to bed, late to get up, late
to his breakfast late to his dinner and late
when he comes back from an afternoon
drive Late is the apology for everything in
the White House, and yet there was never
President who did his work more exactly,
more conscientiously and with fewer per-
sonal mistakes. If this is true then all he
does is done promptly.
WORKING WHILE OTHERS SLEEP.
If public duty requires attention the
still small hours of the night, which are by
custom given to the President for sleep, are
devoted to its careful consideration. Else he
would have no certainty of uninterrupted
thought. If he were to retire early, the
pleasure of social life would be marred. If
he got up early, the luxury of the morning
nap would be lost, for some friendly states
man would be throwing pebbles at the win
dows of his chamber overlooking the avenue
park inviting him to take an early morning
drive. The President seldom gets in the
saddle, but he can suggest more ease and
comfort on the back seat of his carriage than
any of the other owners of fine turnouts in
the city. He can walk, but it requires some
companionable friend to induce him to go
afoot. Sunday evening he finds, after at
tending service at ST. Johns Church, a bene-
diction of peace in the company of his
esteemed Secretary of State, with whom he
takes tea and talks over serious matters,
such as belong to the State Department, but
which, to be sure are not theologcaly
serious. He is fond of reading generally
what would be called light English litera-
ture, as his selections for the Florida trip
would indicate So says Brentano, who sold
him his personal selections the other even
ing. He has an excellent memory and
wonderful verbal memory for pages of Thack-
cry and Dickens, He can repeat with school
boy accuracy sentence after sentence from
the old British poets, and woe to the man
who questions the accuracy of his quotation
If such thing should happen say early in
the evening, the President would fatigue
that man till midnight with argument, and
b. then get angry if he would not sit up a little
later to hear him through. But if it were a
lady? His gallantry would forbid such severe
punishment, but he would bring his legal
! experience to his aid and ask why she thought
she was right. One would say that President
Arthur, by his manner toward his lady guests,
was too anxious to appear pleased with their
company. III he thought he had in any man.
nero offended one, it would make him miser-
able until he was certain he had been for
given. Not that he would displease an ac-
quaintance Intentionally, but Washington
has the same human nature in its social
makeup that one finds everywhere, and i'm
ngination is Outlines lively factor in Great
ing i'll feeling.
During the hour set apart for the reception
/ of visitors on public business. President Ar