The Washington critic., 1886-05-25
WASHINGTON CRITIC
WASHINGTON, MAY eS, 1886.
TOPICS OF THE DAY.

entering the committee room Of prom
inent Republican Senator yesterday the
door was opened in my face by q we'll
known department clerk, whom l know
very well. lie came out and passed
in. A minute later the door opened
again and the clerk called me outside.
II trust you will not tell any one," said
he, 'that you saw me about this com
mittee room. / am Republican en-
ploye in the Treasury Department, and
/ am afraid that IL II should become
known that / called upon Re.
publican Senator 1 might be dis.
charged" Upon being assured that
the incident was of too little i'm.
portance to be mentioned, the clerk
went away all wreathed in smiles. In
side the committce-room | was In.
formed, to my astonishment, that
large proportion of the Republican
employees at the departments who call
at the committee-room request the
clerk Of the committee, or the chair
man, not to mention the fact that they
were at the committee.room. The
great bulk of these men, although they
realize that they are within the protec-
tive power of the civil.scrvice law, are
great towards, and are afraid to have
II known that they continue to be
friendly to their old friends. lam told
that the clerk who called at the com
mittee room to see his old Senatorial
friend secured his appointment
through the influence of that Senator
What towards Office makes Of men
~
According to "St Elton" Of the
Pittsburg Penny Press, Representa-
tive Ira Davenport of New York Is
about to follow the example of the
President. Justice Stanley Matthews
and the other luminaries who are on
the threshold of matrimonial enter
prises. Cupid has been picking out
shining marks of late, and was proba-
bly, attracted in Davenport's direction
by the brilliancy of his hair. Daven-
port is wealthy and influential, and
carries aloft the banner Of civil-service
reform. 1t is limited that he has made
his selection of bride by competitive
examination, participated in by the
"eligibles" in his district.
~
One Of Miss Folsom's experiences
while in Europe is thus related by a
writer in the New York Tribune of
Sunday: 1t seems that she has made
numerous acquaintance with young
ladies who are in Europe like herself
for pleasure. A party was made up
recently for visit to the famous water
ine nj IF fnr1n 10 N
great gambling centre of the world.
Everybody who goes there CANDLES
just little by way of being in the
fashion. The party of young ladies
visited the gambling saloon and were
much interested by what they saw.
They made up pool of resources and
put five poundsin Miss Folsom hands
to play for them for luck presume
they reasoned 1t out woman fashion
that young woman who was lucky
enough to "catch" the President Of the
United States for a husband ought to
break the bank on the first attempt.
Miss Folsom played the cash heroi-
cally until the last dollar was gone and
then, with hysterical laugh hurried
away with her companions as IL
she wished never to see the place
again. The incident was not thought
much about until the news Of her re.
ported engagement to Mr. Cleveland
got abroad when friend in Paris
wrote me about 1t.
.*x
During the Senatorial contest in H.
linois year ago, says the Chicago
Neaos, there was one member of the
Legislature who had hard time max
ing up his mind whether his first
choice for Senator was William r.
Morrison or Carter II. Harrison. That
legislator was the Hon. George II. Var
nell of Jefferson County. He hemmed
and hawed and affected great concern
for the interests of the Democratic
party at large, until at last Colonel
Morrison said to him point blank one
day: Look here, Varnell, what is it
you want? What place will satisfy you
in case you vote for me and l am
clected?" "Well, the truth is,'
answered Varnell, "I'd like to be First
Assistant Secretary of the Interior De.
partment. whillikins" cried
Morrison, knocked all a,cold by the
GOODNESS of the proposition. "Why,
darn your buttons, man, that's one Of
the biggest offices in the Government!
Would something not quite so pre-.
tentious suit you?'' "No, don't be-
lieve it would" said Varnell. "You
see, Colonel, that I've got brother
Tom down at Washington who's q
butcher, and I'll bet money he's the
finest butcher in the country. Now, II
! only was First Assistant Secretary OF
the Interior me and Tom would make
million dollars year on the meat
we'd sell the Government"
w.
The Washington correspondent of
the Omaha Bee is. evidently putting up
q job on Colonel Lamont, even if he
does not intend to rattle the President
little. In recent special he says Of
the news comment on the alleged ap.
preaching wedding, that at first the
President was much annoyed, but now
finds amusement in the gossip, and
then asserts that few days ago the
President directed Secretary Lamont
TO begin scrap book of, the clippings
accumulated from the press on the sub.
ject of the marriage, saying it will be
an entertaining volume in future years.
The secretary was astonished to be
handed at the same time almost peck
of clippings the President had selected
himself Already an immense scraI
book has been made, and hundreds OF
papers containing marked articles
about the marriage reach the Whit,
House. Publishers who want theil
papers represented in the scrap book