The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1885-01-01
WHITE HOUSE CIvILITIES.
The Customs of the Present Time as
Compared With Those of the
Good Old Past.

When men become soured and disap-
pointed they constantly recur to the
glories of the past. They find nothing
in the present like the heightened
courtesy of the men of their youth, of
the beautiful women who then flour
ished, and the polished that
were the common characteristic. Forty
years ago people of this stamp told who
ever would listen to them that the
country had sadly decayed since the
days of Adams, Jefferson, and Madison,
and that the Jacksons, Van Burens, and
Harrisons were a poor lot, no more to
be compared to the founders of the re-
public" than a rushlight was to the sun.
Many of the young men who listened to
that sort of thing have a poor opinion
to-day of the Lincolns, Summers, Sew
ards, Arthurs, Clevelands, Humans,
Bayards, Shermans and Lamars, just as
their ons thirty years hence will ''pish"
and s.pshaw" when the leaders of that
time are compared with the statesmen
of the eras of rebellion and reconstruc-
ton.
But whether they have grown in intel
lectual stature or not, the men of this
time have certainly cultivated the amen
tiles of life more than their predecessors,
and a retiring President who should
now refuse to attend his successor to
the Capitol on the day of his Inaugural
ton would be looked upon as an un-
cultivated boor who had dis
graced his country, his Office and him
self. And yet that is precisely what
John Adams did. Early in the morning
on the day Mr.. Jefferson was to be
established in Office Adams secretly left
Washington, for the reason given in a
partial biography that '.he would not
consent to enact the captive chief in the
triumphant procession of the victor to
the Capitol" That triumphant pro-
cession," as the reader will remember,
was described at the time. 1t consisted
in Mr.. Jefferson riding Ito the Capitol
without q single guard or servant in his
train and hitching the bride of his horse
to the palisades" after which he went
in and took the oath of office.
Our Presidents may pay nor attention
to the graces of life in these times than
was common in the early days of the
Republic. Even Mr.. Buchanan rode
with Mr.. Lincoln to the Capitol, though
he was much relieved when he could get
away by himself. General Grant made
a special innovation. He received Mr..
Hayes at the White House, and enter
tanned him at dinner, where, by the way,
Mr.. Hayes took the oath of office before
March 4. Mr.. Hayes in turn extended
similar civilities to Mr.. Garfield, and
now it is announced that Mr.. Arthur
has asked Mr.. Cleveland 10 take up his
abode at the White House from the time
he reaches Washington. 1t is to be
hoped that Mr.. Cleveland will accept
this invitation. If he does, it undoubt-
eddy will be the beginning of a new GUS
tom that can hardly fail to have a good
effect. 1t is one, too, that the public
will warmly applaud. for there is some
thing distasteful in the thought that a
man who has been chosen to rule over
the country should be forced to s~ojourn
at IA hotel in the city of his official resi-
dence.-N. Y. Commercial AdUertiser.
The term cut-glass is incorrect.
Glass eau not be cut, not even by the
| diamond. The diamond cracks it and