The Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1885-1886, 1885-12-14
WHITE HOUSE LIFE.



HIS CLOSE APPLICATION TO WORK IN
HAND AND MS DAILY HABITS.
The present occupant of the White
house, Mr.. Cleveland, is "a plain, blunt
business man. He performs his share in
the entertainment OF guests and VIII do
all that official duties require of him III
entertaining the people of Washington.
Society with him, however, is mere IN =
cidcnt. lie is MS regular in his habits as
a machine, He has perfect health, IA
strong physique ind an enormous capacN
itV for work. If there is any fault to be
found with bis method of doing business
it is that he is too conscientious and gives
too much attention to details. lie gives
his personal attention to the papers of
every applicant for presidential APP
pointmcnt. He works steadily in his Of
flee from o'clock, with few breaks, unN
til midnight. lie receives general callers
upon all days of the week except Satur-
DAYS or Sundays. Tuesdays and Thurs
days lie spends the greater part OF the
afternoon with his cabinet associates. lie
is very accessible. 1t is easier to see the
president lhnn it is to see the majority OF
his cabinet associates Mr.. Cleveland
accepts no Invitations to 90 out. Gen.
Grant was the first president who ever hc-
cept"d an invitation To any of the social
entertainments in Washington, and he
went ont very little. He only visited his
personal friends Mr.. ClGveland's policy
of not going out at all is much more in
keeping with the dignity of 'hc office,
and in the end will certainly give more
general satisfaction.
Mr. Cleveland reads only the newspa-
prra. He has no Time for anything else.
lie reads but few of these pauers. He
generally 9Iances through the New ork
papers before retiring. He sleeps from
seven TO eight hours. | once asked him
it he ever carried his work to bed with
him rs many men of Il nervous organizn-
ton would do no" said he, 81 gener-
ally fall asleep without any difficulty; |
generally am asleep AS soon rs am fairly
in bed, and never wake until morning. "
This fact is enough to show that Mr.,
Cleveland vail not break down. no matter
how hard may be the strain of his official
cares 4 man who can sleep seven or
eight hours every night. can work as hard
AS hr plcnscs during the remainder of his
time. He is very abrupt and direct in his
treatment Of ali his callers, He is thor
oUghly polite To every one, but he per
mits no one To waste his time. He stands
mp While ne receives MS general ci'ierS'
ana each man business Is iihlshei us
quickly is puS>ihlr.
MIR. CIENELANps RECEPTIONS.
The official entertainments at the White
house do not begin before the LIST of Jam
uary. They begin with what is known rs
The New Yrrr's rrccption. Thisi one of
th, most marked events of the Washing
tom social season. Everybody of any
nrnmiuaocr in prlr,l ar ptiyntc social
circIpS Mt ,hr rpli rpes to the White
bou,c ON than OAK.
New Years is In, on,, rceeD,ion on that
dnv whore ladies "a. TIE windows Of the
Whine house arr darkcued, the interior is
liuhtod ,yiiI,.uys 81, TINT fine general of .
fecI il mat Of an evening reception. The
member, of The dinJomatic CORPS, who
are received fir, nu 1hntaay. nlwuys wear
,hoi, fan ,lr,..s.,,,, uniform The army
and nuvy officer. who cali are Obliged to
apur,r in tul dress The fact that these
,hrrr. imnor,nnt ., lssns of officials wear
fun dress has Influenced "A number of
civfliop, to nurrar in rui. dress uDou that
day There never has been any cstHb ,
lshcd rule upon he subject. Gen Grant
used to ALWAYS wear evening dress upon
the occasion of the New Years reCep-
tions. He held that the diplomatic and
army and navy people paid him the hons
or of appearing in full dress before him,
and that he could not do less than to put
on full dress To receive them. Hayes wore
full dress. There was quite a controversy
between him and the secretary of state
Mr.. Evarts, upon this subject. Mr.
Evatts insisted that there was no occasion
in life which warranted the putting on of
a dress suit in the day time. So he used
to appear on these occasions in closely
buttoncd frock coat The cabinet all
followed Mr. Evarts, with the exception
of the one already named. When Arthur
came to direct the ceremonies of that day
he adopted the regulation froclS coat
morning dress. The ma i0ritv of his cab
met people followed his habit. There was
for the first time something like inform =
itv in the rule of dress at the White
house. The necessary consequence was
that the minority of the civilian callers
soon conformed to the rule of morning
dress.
THE LADIES.
Tho ,od;,, who oo,lod ,yoro os q rrlo
v;si,;n,r nastrn,as oltl,ouo[ n,,n,rar ~
tho ,y;5,oS 81 IVA dinInmatin nonnia and
laI;o, ,,,,,, r,.,e ,r,';n,, T., ,noo;,.n ~ NO
,,nnId o,,,,oa, IL, 1,nlI 1ross Thara u.as ,,'
r,,la hnwr,,or ~ ,his ronnhI;no, ,,,,,r,
Thera uos not|ir,, r. hova ,,rnvnntod arv
laI s,n,,, o,,';n,rin ,ha ,,1ai,,,s, ~ v,
,"oy ',0 hn W. 9iiII,
romnrl,od Thoso rncon,ions oro I,o,,,r,