The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1885-07-11
PERSONAL GOSSIP
ABOUT THE PRESIDENT AND MEN,
BEERS OF HIS CABINET.
What They Are Going to do During the
Dog Days-Presidential Character
istics--Miss Cleveland-Cap-
ital News Notes.

Washington City correspondent thu' BoS
sips about the president and his habits, Mis-
Cleveland and the cabinet officers. The
president is preparing to jump the town.
The excessive heat and the opportunities o!
the office-seekers have made him irritable,
Since these will not leave him he made NJ
his mind to take to the woods and
find solace in solitude. 1t i ex-
pected, unless a cool wave sets in, that
he win desert his post within tan day, tax
ing his sister and Col and Mrs Lamont
with him. His absence will he gauged en-.
tirely by the weather, but 1t will hardly be
less than two weeks. He hopes that his de-
parture from Washington will drive home
the Office aspirants, and he intends to &c
whore they can not find him Despite the
pressure upon the Office the president is moi
losing flesh He is ten pounds heavier than
when he entered the White House. This
may be ascribed largely to the fact that lie
takesRo exercise, save nightly carriage
ride He has not been on the streets OF
Washington since he became resident and
were he TO wander out alone he would get
lost The social features of the White
House ara very much circumscribed. The
callers who are not official ara few. Miss
ances among diplomatic circles, and these
largely monopolizs the visiting after sun
down The president usually spends his
nights in the library with lamont He
likes a good drink of straight whisky, AMI
takes it moderately He has a few choice
oaths which now and again he uses, by
Jehovah" being the favorite He rarely in
viteS any one to meet him socially. About
every other night Villas manages to be at
the White House. Villas is closely intimate
with Lamont; more 50, indeed, than he is
with the president This accounts for the
latch-string being out to him.
The ladies Of the cabinet do not often visit
the president Now and again they make an
afternoon visit to his sister. She is prac-
tcal, sensible woman, feeling moro at homo
among her books than chattering gossips,
The members of the cabinet viii probably
| stick it out here. The president does not in
tend to ask any of them to go with him.
Manning thinks the climate of Washington
no more oppressive than other large cities,
and that the so-called malaria is largely in
the bottle Both Manning and Whitney
| will make frequent flies to New York,
but these will not be protracted. They
find the political a tmosphere in New Hork
| city "A good deal better than the weather il
| W ashington.
Secretary Lamar, who is far from we'll
Will go to the Virginia White Sulphur
| springs later on.
The attorney general finds the fishing
good hereabouts, and has no desire to get
away. An occasional trip to Atlantic City
to dip in old Neptune will be his quantun
sufIicit
The members Of the cabinet are not max
ing any preparations for the coming winter
Secretary Manning, contrary to report, ha
not rented house, AMI the one Secretary
Whitney occupies is only for a temporary
residence Bayard has had an unpretentiou
home here for years, which he still occupies
Garland lives with his mother in
quiet, plain way Lamar is hiyed a
cheap boarding house, while Villa
is keeping bachelors hall with his attorne,
for the department, Judge Bry
ant Secretary Endicott i, the only mem
Der of the cabinet who has rented n house
He lives in Pendleton's new home, and la
the latter's furniture and coach-dogs Their
is not tho probability that the administra
ton will be social success, for the reaso
, that the cabinet, with but two exceptions
are too poor to make it so. The presiden
will like this for he is not fond of larg
gatherings. He prefers the quiet o. th
White House and the wisdom of his privat
secretary.
Col. Clay Taylor was in the rotunia a
Wizards talking of a visit he had made t
the White House. II was a witness to-da
to something which pleased me better tina
e nything I've seen in Washington" he said
/ There were twenty-five or thirty of L
e waiting our turns in the presidents receI
I tion-room, when little girl-she couldn
4 have been more than years old-steppe
up to MIR Cleveland, and as sh
4 shook hands she said: i am SO gla
: to shake hands with a Democrat
president. l want you to give me you
= photograph with your autograph on it Sh
! spoke out as self-possessei and easy as
Il she was an accomplished society woman
c Well, sir, the wheels of this big governmeI
Y stopped right there; not another turn wa
:. made until the president had hunted up
4 picture. written his name upon it, and prt
+, scented it to the little miss. Senators an
- representatives, and the rest of us, with a
- our errends, just stood still and looked q
q" until the little ones busiae Is was duly q
tended to-"