The sun., 1885-12-24
Giddy Girls in the White House.
Letter From Washinptnn

LcUtcE w
A vivacious young lady from CEN
trail New York, who was visiting secre-
tary Manning and his wife, called at
the White House with them one even
ing, and it SO happened that in the
divisions of talk which occur in COM
pany, Mr.. Cleveland fell to the lot OF
the New York girl. She at once set to
work to amuse him after usual feml-
nine fashion, and succeeded for while.
After quarter of an hour, symptoms
of weariness becoming manifest In the
face of the President, she hesitated,
but not long enough to allow her list
ener to escape. She merely stopped
to change the subject of conversation,
which had been on social topics, to
something that she thought would be
more interesting And what do you
Nothing less than the tariff. 80, Mr..
Cleveland" said she, "do tell me
about that delightful tariff question.
am just dying to know all about
it." "The tariff" exclaimed the
President, blankly. "All about the
tariff! Why, Miss, it would oc-
cupy me till congress meets to go over
this matter" eyes: but Idon't want
to hear about all those tiresome ad
valorem things and raw material and
pig-iron and-that. I only want to
know why the great statesmen differ
SO much on the question" Here the
President cast an appealing glance at
Mr. Manning, who had turned his
head quickly on hearing the word
tariff in a sweet feminine voice. The
secretary of the treasury only smiled
maliciously, however, and nodded en-
couragingly to the victim. "Now, l
can't understand why they won't agree
in the matter" continued this bright
girl. "It seems so simple. Somefavor
free trade because it would make ev-
erything cheaper for the people and
others favor protective tariff, because
it keeps wages high. Now, l think We
ought to have tariff that would make
things cheaper and raise wages higher,
too. That's what / told papa when
we were talking about the matter last
week. Wasn't l right?" and the fair
face flushed in expecta ton of approx
al. Perfectly right" said the Pres
ident with deep solemnity. "That is
just the kind of tariff that legislators
have been trying to construct for
centuries" "Then, why don't they
do it?" asked the eager questioner with
heightened intesest. at would be
SO nice if everybody were pros
porous and there were no more
suffering. Doesn't all the trouble arise
from the quarrels between those men
who are always talking about hori-
zontal reduction and those tiresome
things in the enewspapers?" The Presi-
dent gazed appealingly once more at
the secretary, but receiving only q
smile which betoken immense en-
ioyment of the scene, he answered fee
bly,: "Yes, the leaders of the parties
are somewhat to blame because they
can't agree" I knew it," was the
triumphant reply. "They leave the
poor people suffering rather than give
it to each other. l don't think Mr..
Morrison and Mr.. Randall and those
men that make the tariff bills have
bit of feeling, and if were president 1
would remove them from office imme-
diately"-this with pretty show of
indignant anger. "They certainly
must go" replied the President in Sc
pulchral tones and with such pitiful
look at Mr.. Manning that the latter
conld no longer resist. Joining in the
conversation, he soon engaged the
young lady's attention, SO as to allow
the sufferer to turn to Mrs. Hoyt,
which he did with a iong-drawn sigh of
relief