The Washington critic., 1886-06-30
TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Supreme Court, says Curtis in the
| Inter. ocean, Is bachelor and the
mightiest man In stature Of all the
officials in Washington. During the
last week he has taken o permit from
the Building Department to erect n
$50 600 residence in the most fashion
able locality, which he is we'll able to do,
as he has an income from his property
in Massachusetts,. of more than hun
! dred thousand dollars year. People
are wondering, naturally, what motive
q bachelor with no family to accom-
modate, wants of house of seventeen
rooms, and for the lack of other rea.
sons they have put this aud that to.
Cetber and concluded that he means to
follow the example Of his associate,
Justice Stanley Matthews, and get mar
ried, so as to have some one to soothe
and comfort his declining years. The
Justice smiles blandly when he is &c.
cused of matrimonial intentions, but
says neither yea nor nay. The young
lady who has been selected for him by
the gossips Is the beautiful Miss Van
Vechten, who spent the winter at the
White House us the guest of Miss
Cleveland, and was supposed, all win
ter, to be engaged to the President. 1t
Is she whom the Presidents sister
wanted him to marry, according to
common report and, in fact, letter
Miss Cleveland wrote to u friend has
j been published in which this prefer
\ ence Is confessed. Miss Van Vechtcn
was the belle of the winter. the hand
soonest woman seen in all the gay
throngs that gathered here. She is
not so fresh and pretty rs the Presi.
dents bride, being older by ten or
twelve years, tall. stately and impress
sive. As she stood beside the President
at the White House receptions last
winter everybody remarked upon
her ability to perform the duties de
volving upon the first lady of the land
and hoped he would marry her. She
went to Europe as soon as his engage
ment TO Miss Folsom was announced,
and is there still. Nobody has the
right to say that Justice Gray will
marry her, but last winter she was the
only lady to whom he paid any atten.
tion and he always monopolized her
when he could. He has been in Wash
ington for three years and never went
into society until last winter. People
naturally assumed that she was the at.
for a confirmation Of their suspicious.
~
Says the same correspondent: /
ride down town every morning and
often have the chief of great Govern
ment bureau as my seat.mate. He is a
man well known throughout the coun-
try, and he receives salary Of $4,000
year. l have noticed that he always
takes his seat nearest the fare box, and
that he buys package of six tickets
for a quarter when he sits down. He
takes pains to offer to pass up all the
fares and puts them into the box for
his fellow passengers. Whenever n
nickelis given him he changes it into
his pocket and puts into the box one of
his tickets, so that when he has re-
ceived five nickels he is one car ticket
ahead. He thus gets his ride free. 1t
makes no difference to any one, sup
pose, but it looks small for five. thou
sand. dollar man.
Says special to the Louisville
Times: Representative Scott of Penn
sylvania yesterday took aside one after
another of his friends in the House and
gave them pure "tip" on his horse
Referee to win the last race at Brighton
Beach. The sporting men in the
House, from Members to messengers,
went down to the poolrooms early in
the afternoon, acting on Mr. Scott s
tip, and began putting all their money
on Referee. They made the betting 50
strong that they ran the Scott horse up
from 3 to Il prime favoritc, and finally
the books were closed on him alto.
gether. When the result of the race
was announced about twenty-five Ken.
tuckians, who had been waiting around
all afternoon to take in their profits,
found themselves bankrupt. A num-
ber of gentlemen are looking for Mr..
Scott, but he has gone off with the
President"
Nv
Says the Washington correspondent
of the Newark On. j. Ecening News:
A tall, white-haired old gentleman who
was at first taken for eX.Speaker Win
throp. came on the floor Of the House
the other afternoon with Representa-,
tive William Walter Phelps. He
looked around him and found, like
Rip Van Wrinkle on his return from
the Catskill Mountains, that there was
no one now in the House of Represents
tives who knew him, and yet forty years
ago in the Twenty ninth Congress
Representative Sawtelo. from the
Augusta District of Maine, was ,
prominent figure on the floor of the
House lie was artcrward in the
Thirty.iirst Congress, and subse
quently retired from public life, and il
now residing at Englewood, n. j.
where he still takes and active interes
in Republican politics. He is here Wis
iting his son, Brig. Gen. Sawtclle Of th,
regular army, who is stationed a
Washington. Mr. Sawtelle, the father
was member of the famous class il
the Bowdouin College, of which Long
fellow, Franklin Pierce and Nathanie
Hawthorne were members. He main
tanned his intimacy with them as lonl
A as they lived, and has among his mos
precious possessions many friendly let
tiers from these distinguished class
mates. Neither in the Senate no
House did he lind a single mcmbe
who knew him as member of tn
Twenty.ninth Congress, This show
how short and changelul is poltica
career in our system of government.
"Thc Forum for July.
I,.I. ~ At.