Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1885-03-28
- - yFbite House Il.


| plans. When IL was first built. away
/ back In the nineties, it cost S300O0O but
/ the British burnt out its insides and it's
cost has since added to that SUM about
! 81, 100000 In il all the Presidents since
| Washington have lived, and each has
added 10 it's beauties and its expenses.
/ i think IL was John Quincy Adams who
/ bought the first billiard table which was
used In it. But in John Adams time it
was only half finished, and Abigail
/ Adams used TO dry her clothes in the
/ big East Room. Year by year, however,
! the furnishing has gone on, until now
/ it Is sort of museum Of art and beauty.
Let US enter it. A servant with 8 face
/ ike statesman, and afOrm which would
\ have made him a member of the giant
/ guards, had he lived years ago 10 Prussia,
/ opens wide the doors for US. They slide
! back easily on their polished hinges Of
\ brass, and we step IN upon the tiled floor
\ Of great vestibule, the back wall of
/ which is a mOsaicof beautiful stones and
colored glass, looking much ike one Of
/ the walls IN one of the palaces OF Fred
/ erlck the Great at Potsdam., Prussia.
! There is a room in this palace Of Fred
! erlck's walled with such a mosaic of
/ jewels. 1t cost an immense sum, and
was built by Frederick to blind the eyes
Of the other mOnarchs Of Europe as to
the real state Of his purse. He was hard
D
he was so. He blufted them In this way,
and so kept his credit good, as they
thought no one would undertake such an
expense with anything less than billions
to draw upon.
These stones in the wall of the White
House vestibule are many of them set in
the rough, in beautiful shapes, and they
look something, so said visitor, like the
broken wine bottles of the White House,
beautifully cemented together. Tiffany
made this wall, and the Government
paid we'll for it.
This Vesdbule alone covers the space
which would be covered by a good sized
eight room house, and thirty men could
march abreast going from one end of 1t
to the other. 1t has doors at each end
and in the middle and end of the glass
wall. In it the Marine Band plays at
great receptions, and here gentlemen
throw of their OveTCOats and leave them
inthe hands of their fOOtmen while they
see the President within.
At the left is the entrance to the hall
leading to the upper story, where the
President spends most Of his time, and
Just of of this is the East Room. 1t is
eighty feet long and forty feet wide, and
was originally intended for a banqueting
hall, but is now used for receptions. The
walls are of embossed paper, OfWhite and
gilt, and the ceiling is beautifully finished
IN oils. 1t is a very high ceiling, three
times as high as ordinary, and it has great
Orders or beams richly decorated rum
ming across 1t. Massive chandeliers, with
thousands Of glass pendants, hang from
1t. These chandeliers cost 5000 each,
and each contains 6, 900 pieces of the finest
of Bohemian glass. When they are light
ed the eight massive mirrors, each as
large as two billiard tables, reflect their
brilliant rays, and the whole brings out
the richness of the fine furniture Of old
gold satin and the beauty Of the moss
like carpet. Between these mirrors hang
some fine oil paintings which are set like
the mirrors into the walls. There is one
Of Gilbert Stuart's Washingtons, life size,
and as big as one Of the mirrors, which
cost $4,000 1t is the picture that Dolly
Madison had cut from the frame when
the British invaded the Capital, and car
ried it off with her. A little further along
is a fine portrait of Martha Washington,
which cost So 600. 1t is the same size as
that Of George, and to me it looks fully
as well. This East Room is always open
to visitors. 1t is of no use TO the Presi-
dent outside of receptions.
Just off of 1t at the back is the Green
Room, containing HuntingdOn's portrait
Of Mrs. Hayes, with its beautiful frame,
and next to it the Blue Room, where the
Presidents lady receives her company.
j.
be shakes the hands of the multitude at
a big reception. The furniture Of this
room is elegant In the extreme, all of
blue and gold, and it forms the drawing
room of the Presidents wife inthe even
ing. The Red Room, furnished through
out IN red, is like unto il, and in front of
both Is long promenade hall, furnished
like parlor, and containing full-length
portraits Of all the Presidents from
Washington to Arthur. President
portrait is in the right end as
you enter, and is one Of the finest Dor
traits OF the lot. The end Of this hall
opens into the conservatory, and at a re-
ceptIon one can extend his walk In
among the plants and flowers of the
roses Of hundreds of varieties, lemon
trees and orange blossoms which bloom
away under the glass while the Wintry
winds blow outside and the thermometer
stands at zero. This conservatory opens
into the dining-roOm Of the White House.
Here all Of the state dinners are given
and oceans Of champaign, herds of fine
beeVes, thousands Of turkeys, boat-loadB
Of terrapln and great lakes Of ice cream
have been swallowed year after year for
the past half century or more. Jefferson
was almost a bankrupt from his White
House dinners. Jackson spent upon
them more than his salary, and not a
President save, perhaps, Andrew John
son came out Of the White House with
anything more than he went in. Arthur's
dinners have cost him a fortune, and
each state dinner costs him from $40 a
plate upwards. When it is remembered
that each Of these dinners have about
forty guests at the table you viii see that
q state dinner costs at least $500, and
am told that Mr.. Arthur's ordinary meals.
10 which he always has several strangers,
cost about s. a plate. There is always
wine on the table, and this is Of a quail
~ which adds materially to the table ez-
lanses IaeE Winter thara wera nina