The National tribune., 1885-09-24
WASHINGTON GOSSIP,
The Weeks DOings at the Ma
tiOnal Capital.
THE PRESIDENT AND THE PosTMAsTERs.


ing strictly to business laboring diligently to
bring up the arrears. He looks the picture of
excellent health He has been pegging away
alone much Of the time, Col. Lamont having
been absent. Usually he depends much for
assistance upon his efficient and hard working
private secretary. The latter returned two or
three DAYS since, and the Executive team is
now in good working order for the Winter.
The cool weather has brought TO Washington
large number of political pilgrims-Members OF
Congress, ofIicc-hunters, and politicians of
every degree-who daily lay siege to the White
House. The President appears TO have just rs
much " sand as ever, and continues TO do just
as he pleases resisting the opportunities of the
political staryelings In manner most exasper-
ating TO them. There are yet large number
of Republicans in the country who are enjoy
ing the milk and honey Of official life. How
such things can be under profeSsedly Demo-
cratic Administration. is a conundrum that the
party men are not able to answer.
In the Post-Ofiice Department there seems TO
be greater activity than in any other. The
Republican postmasteTS are made to " walk the
plank at ali average rate of 100 per day. 1t is
well understood that neither Postmaster-Gen
eral Villas nor his First Assistant, Steven
son, lies awake nights in his anxiety TO devise
ways and means to secure more strict enforce
ment of the Civil Service regulations. They
are Democrats, with all that the name implies,
and are fully committed TO the policy of turn
ing tie raseals out " as fast as it can be done
without treading on the somewhat sensitive
corns of the President. There are $1,000 post
masters in the country whose appointments are
wholly controlled by the Department, and these
afford wide field for the efforts of these ofh
GERS. They are doing well, and SO far as this
goes there is reason for the Democratic heart to
feel encouraged. 1t is true that q very large
number of the post-ofhceS are not sought as
means of direct revenue. Many thousands of
them yield an income 10 poStRaSters of less
than $50 each per year. In fact they taper
down almost TO the little end of nothing"
one postmaster in North Carolina having last
year an official revenue of % cents. But he
was just rs much postmaster, and cog in the
machinery of the Government, as the head of
the ost-office in New York. The fact is that
most of the small post-offices throughout the
country are sought by storekeepers, who reap
an advantage in the increased sales of calico
and Goldfish to the people who call for their
mail.
LIEUTENANT GREELY.
Reports have been in circulation that Lieut..
Greely, of Arctic fame, was so poor that he
could not go abroad to fill his lecture engage
ments in Europe. The facts are that though
he had il pretty rough in the Arctic regions,
he has had pleasant and rather profitable time
since he returned. Lieut.. Greely, through an
agent, concluded the purchase of $4,000 resi-
dence in this city this week. He has also made
Lieut. Greely's lectures have been exceedingly
well attended, and by class who did not hesi-
tate TO pay good prices. He will make great
deal more money in Europe, for there is more
interest taken in Arctic matters there than
here. The only thing that may interfere with
him and his lecture engagements this Fall is
the recent order OF the Secretary of War, which
requires all officers who have been absent four
years from their regiments TO return to them,
SO that other officers can have their turn at the
soft places or special service details. Lieut..
Greely, who belongs to a cavalry regiment, has
host of friends, aud they are doing all they
can to have an exception made i'll his case; at
least to grant him an extension so he can Eli
the lecture engagements made for him by his
agent III Europe and this country, which are to
be delivered this Fall and Winter. Lieut.. Greedy
had good reason for expecting promotion to
be Assistant Signal Officer. with the rank of
Lleutenant-ColOnel,b but there was such a fight
made against him by army officers that he has
about given up all ideas OF promotion except
IN the Regular Army. There are now half
dozen or more army officers who are detailed
at the Headquarters Of the Signal Corps as As
sistants Or Aids TO Gen. Hazen, and it is claimed
there is no great need for such = jumping as
would occur to raise Lieut.. Greely from Lieu
tenant TO Lieutenant Colonel. The hundreds
of Captains and Majors are the people who pro-
test.
HOW PLUMB WAS PfTTED.
Washington correspondent Of the Cncir-
matt Commercial Gazette tells how the face of
Senator Plumb. of Kansas, came to be pitted by
smallpox Many years ago, when Plumb had
just gone to Kansas from Ohio ana settled at
EmpoTia, he was poor aud struggling for a liy-
ing, rs were most of the pioneers about him.
One day lac drove to Lawrence with a load Of
produce. on his way he stopped at a little
town to feed his team, and while there lie
heard that sOmc Ohio people had been there
q n nd had sod nm
lesTing one of their number behind, who had |
been stricken down with smallpox. Some of |
the people had carried the sick man out OF town /
TO shed and left him there alone. Plumb sent |
lis load of produce on, and went TO work to |
fad some one 10 take care of the man if il was /
found that he was still alive. lie found at last !
q man and his wife living some distance from |
there who had had the disease, and agreed to !
take the invalid for good pay. Plumb then /
could get no team with which to transfer the |
sick man, and finally, in desperation, seized |
one that vas hitched in front Of a store. He |
got away 2 short distance when he was over |
taken and the team taken away. Finally, after |
persistent effort and pleading, and bitter de- |
nuneiaticn CT the people, he obtained team |
and drove to the shed and took the poor plague |
stricken creature, dying alone of his disgusting
disease, in his arms and Gr0yc with him to tbs |
home selected. He left sll the money he had |
and promised more when he could get it-for |
the care Of the man if he lived and his burial |
II he died. Then he went on down to Emporia |
and bad the smallpox himself, and came very
near giving his own life the sacrifice for that
Of the poor stranger whose life he saved. That
is the story Of how Senator Plumb's face came |
to be pock- marked.
STRANGE STORY.
A singular story is told in the Pension Office |
of a Lieutenant in an Ohio regiment who was |
killed III one of the battles in Virginia His !
body was sent home, buried with military |
honors, and a monument erected TO his |
memory. BE left young widow, and for more |
than 20 years she has been trying TO get PEN |
sion, but she cannot prove that her late hus-
band is dead. The trouble is that every few |
months she receives a letter apparently from |
him, written in hand as familiar as her own |
Two letters never come from the same place; |
now they are postuiartsed in Colorado, then in |
Texas, then in New York Once she got a note |
from him dated at Washington. lie appears to |
know what is going at home, and always |
alludes TO local occurrences with familiarity |
that is amazing. He sends messages TO old !
friends. and gives her advice about business !
matters which 1t seems impossible for stranger |
10 know. she cannot answer these ghostIy I
missiyes, because he never gives any clue TO /
his whereabouts, and nc detective has ever been /
able TO find him. Her friends believe that the |
writer Of the letters IS some crank or malicious
person who takes this way 10 annoy her. and !
the distress the poor woman suffers cannot be I
measured by any other human experience !