St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-04-27
CHILDREN's DAY.
Curious Easter Festival Enjoyed by
the Little Ones of Washington.

Curious Easter Festival Enjoyed by
the Little Ones of Washington.
Special to the Globe.
WASHINGTON, April 26.-Washington
only sees one such day as this in year,
and no other city ever sees it. To-day the
grounds surrounding the executive mansion
were filled with merry party of children.
rolling thousands of gayly colored Easter
eggs down the gentle declivities, and gather
ing in merry groups upon the hilly sides,
and under the trees whose tender foliage
now begins to cast the grateful shade upon
the green turf beneath. ALL were rolling,
shouting and playing in childish glee about
the well-kept grounds, needless of the
stereotyped warning ''keep off the grass, !"
their antics watched by thousands of loving
parents and friends, and overlooked by
the president himself, who sat at the broad
window by his desk witnessing with inter-
est the strange spectacle thus presented.
Easter Monday is great day with the
children OF Washington. For years it has
been custom with the children, many of
whom have now grown to maturity, to
gather at the White heuss grounds ito roll
Easter eggs" just how this curious Gus
tom originated nobody knows. Grown men
and women remember that when they were
children, quarter of a century ago, they
used to congregate with other children at
the capitol grounds and White house on
Easter Monday and roll their colored Easter
eggs down the hilly sides, galloping gaily
about the grounds and lunching later in the
day upon the eggs which met with disaster
as they rolled down the decliyitieS, going
home
TIRED AND HAPPY
at the end of the day. Not even the oldest
inhabitant pretends to say when this Gus
tom originated. 1t has come down from a
former generation. Some years ago con-
greSs, hard hearted and stern, forgetting
that its members were once children, issued
an edict prohibiting the curious festival
from taking plSce on the grounds of the
capitol. Sen. Grant, who was then presi-
dent was Appealed to to permit the chill
dren to celebrate the day upon the White
house grounds and he said:
Certainly, let the children come
They came and have been coming every
year since, and to-day they came as usual,
by hundreds and thousands. Statesmen
and lobbyists were scarcely astir this morn
ing when the advance guard of this army of
little ones began arriving at the White
house grounds. They were dressed
in holiday attire, each one carrying its
little basket of Easter eggs, and
with its dainty lunch, prepared for the oc-
caslon. By II o'clock the grounds were
beautiful picture, filled with groups of
merry children. the bright colors of the cos
tunes forming pleasant contrast with the
velvety green of the well-kept grounds of
the presidential mansion. Shortly after II
shower temporarily dampened the enthu-
slasm OF the children, who gathered under
the trees and waited till the clouds rolled
by. In few minutes the sun came out
and the play was eagerly renewed. BY
noon lines of people from every part of the
city were tending toward the White house
grounds and at this hour thousands of peO-
pie are gathering there watching the curl
Gus scene. 1t is children's gathering, a
huge picnic of the little ones
OF ALL CLASSES
OF society. You see there children of
members of congress, senators, department
officials. mingIing freely with those of the
government clerks and citizens in private
life. joining gaily in the sports of the day,
running, racing and shouting, rolling the
gaily-colored eggs down the hillside, or
tossing them back and forth in childish
games, and enjoying the gay sport as only
children can. Even the colored population
take hand i'll the sport, and here and
there you see groups of well-dressed, we'll
behaved children having their own fun,
and watching with interest the sport of
those about them. A number of policemen
were stationed about the grounds to keep
in order the 'hOodlum" element, which
would incline to mar the enjoy
ment of the occasion but for this
protection. 1t is Democratic
occasion and nobody's children are pro-
hibited, provided the children themselves
do not by their own conduct compel the in
reference of the watchful officials detailed
to preserve order during this curious festival.
The early part of the day is generally
spent rolling the eggs and in children's out
door sports, but by o'clock the lunch
baskets become too tempting for further
delay, and after this hour many of the
children are found scattered in groups
about the grounds discussing the contents
of the baskets, and with them the eggs,
which at an early hour of the day had
formed an important feature of the active
sports of the occasion. The afternoon was
spent, after the lunch hour. in frolics upon
the green, and the children went home
with the close of the day to recount to
parents, who have been engaged in the
duties of the statesmen or of department
officials, the pleasures and experiences of
the rolling day. at the White house
grounds.