The Washington critic., 1885-10-02

was on Saturday evening, and the
! President was giving one of his state
dinners. The party were at the table
when servant ran in and whispered
| some words to President Van Buren,.
| He quietly excused himself and left
| the room. FIc was taken down to the
| kitchen, which he found to be in
| flames. A few buckets of water, how
| ever, sulliccd to put out the fire, and
| he then returned to the company and
| explained the reason of his absence
| When he had finished Henry Clay
! took the occasion to make one
of his happy speeches. lie said:
"Mr President, | am doing all | can
| to get you out of this house, but as
| suredly do not want to burn you out y
| There was another fire in the Presi-
| dents mansion in Washington days
| This occurred while Washington was
| presiding in New York. II was in one
| of Martha Washington's drawing
| rooms, and great party had assembled.
| The ceilings of the Presidents house
were very low aud II was the fashion
| then for ladies to wear ostrich feathers
| in their head dresses. 4 Miss MCIvcrs.
Il New York belle, had feathers which
were eXtravagantly high, and in pass
|
| ing under the chandelier this caught
fire and her whole head promised soon
| to be in flames. Major Jackson, an
aided e-camp of the President, was the
| first TO notice it. lie flew TO the
| young lady's rescue, and clapping the
| feathers in his hands succeeded in eX-
| tinguishing the flames before they did
any material damage. His hands were
| terribly burned Int he had the honor
OF being the hero OF the season.
~
Give or six hundred signatures pass
through here I'm n month. maybe. and
two.thirds of tbom oro illogiiln - s,id
,i,o siono,,ro ovn,r, 80 ,ho ,r.oo.,,a,,
wv org '''O.. 'Npr'' ~ t''0 i'o"'"'S
DepaItnent 10 New YORK S"R CORE
sporuent lhe other uay, BANK caSh
itrs '. MAKE max, any lclters IN thclr
siEnuluIes. lheX adopI certain form
0l str9li geherally ana always use IL
lor lhelr signatures. some OF thcm are
very curious Inns, Tor instance, AMI
ne .ook from drawer a paper across
wh,cli was scrawleG character mat
lookeu liKe schoolDoy sketch oil
Whlrlwinu' me me hau peeh spun
around and around in one piece ike
splral spring then shot across the paper
about nan an men, when the gyra-
t spm was again repeated, ana tnis was
IolloWea by onosner uash ana some
more Circies' nat salu thc cN,
pert Is .he signature OF the cashier OF
oiic vi .nc Ncw iork oahks' vi
Gou.sc lilctc are no letters Ill II, Dut we
hhoW Mhut II means ana Could swear
ny 1t ut any llhle' l Wonidn want Il
petlcl Signature: put II you want
longer one mere II IS ana ne handed
out 4noIhef drait' inc length OF
thlS, ne salu, is regulated ny tne
miu'h oi lhc paper ON wiich IL is VIII
zen. II Always extends from margin
TO inarslh' llcohsists' you see merely
OF hlgh up,and- down strokes, perfectly
pointed NJ inc Top ana al oil ABOUT the
sunni hGigh'' Agalh you nave no name
~ ~ IT Is SIMPLY ihc sign Oh a name
puI II Is just us So0d Ior us; III Is al
ways INC same, ana us sinpic as IL may
seem, d3h thihK u coulu DC counter
lel.cu' mere Is announcer With inc same
pointed S'tVNes' out lhefe are le"cr OF
!heni anu tlo Signature Is hlgner IMAM
IL is long But therc Is one signature
we Sel on checKs prlncipnlly
when Is more remarKGole IMAM
cllher Oh these' Inc letters
ule "i 'io same heiSht, ana VIII
rsacR from Top 10 bottom across
lhc iuce ol achecK' ~ Ilrst glance
Eo,hlhg Gun NC maze OF H. put II you
luIio" ,lc INC cureiuily you can I'M
luHei inc name ana you VIII pe sur
Plistu ~ US Pt"ii,heSs' Eilcn lcI'er Is
pclltG, III .'sell, Gut Is so tali ana mar
row 'hll ~ MS. Slahcc you doh COM
prehehu VIM IT Is, we come across
SUM very curious signatures, ana
1 S.i nis,1f puu ones' nose Oh pen
put.yr uno Horace ufeGlcy are famous
i i, 'iell usilhess, put they would lail
lnIo insignillcance alohgsiue oil the
SclaWls lh'V pass through mere on
drafts anu cheKs' HOW 90 you
illuhc tlcil ou,! Deterally inc CON
.our suggests inc name lnough no let,
ters may NC formed; sometimes /
KNOW name al llrst glance, when II l
uy 10 analyne IL 1 am thrown OIL the
iach ch'Lreiy' IrooaDiy once OF Twice
VIC nave iau 10 Wrl'e 10 ma out what
u hoihe was, out generally, when
they are 700 huch Tor me, the
register OF me banks VIII give
'he name, Nheh we come across
new signature lhat IS particularly
nara TO make out we make record OF
IT, so that whenever we sec that same
COMBINATION OF oud characters we
Know What IL STANDS 1or' is DAD
| signature sign OF ignorance T. by