The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1886-10-06

Cw shing,on Letter - Pttsburg Dsp,t h.)
L went out to the Presidents cottao,
on the Tennallytown road this Afternoon
to learn tho exact condition of the move
residence of the chief executive of tn,
United States and his bride. 1t is move
because no President has yet purchased
mousse and taken up Il residence at hi,
own individual expense outside of tin,
Executive Mansion, where expenses alt
PAID out OF the public purse. Prcsiden
Grant and President Hayes lived fol
weeks and months in summer at TIN,
Soldiers Home, but they lived at til,
expense of the soldiers of the regular
army, out of whose pay is deducted
twelve cents month each for the main
tenance of the house. The meat they
consumed was furnished by the private
soldiers, the milk they drank, tho new.
laid eggs they ate, the garden truck that
whetted the royal appctitcs, the very
flowers that were placed ut the plates OF
tho distinguished guests were produced
by the aged and decrepit soldiers, or
were paid for from the slender purses of
the enlisted men of the army.
1t was left for n Democratic President
to purchase Il private residence in the
suburbs of the national capital out of his
own purse, where he might live with his
wife as any other American gentleman
might, at his own expense and pay for
the roof that shelters his private guests
and for the food and drink whercwith he
entertains them. The residence and its
improvements will cost Mr. Cleveland in
the ncghborhood Of 500, 600, and to keep
1T up with the expenses incidental to the
position OF it's owner not less than SO
600 and probably $4,000 to $40, 600 a
year. President Hayes went out of
office with $1,000 600 or more, or u saving
of half his salary. President Cleveland
will not save any money out of his Presi-
dental salary. He evidently believes
that salary was given by the government
to enable the President to live like n
gentleman and pay his bills, and the
cost of entertaining such guests as are
worthy of the honor. His purchase on
the heights above Georgetown includes
twenty-five and onc-half acres of land.
There was an old square stone house of
the cold, old fashioned type on this plot
of ground. 1t lies or lay back from the
pike about five hundred yards strip of
forest trees along the road hiding all but
glimpse of the manion from the vulgar
eye. To the southeast lies the capital
city, the great white dome of the lcgis-
lative halls arising above tho horizon of
green, and the sharp outlines of the
Washington Monumentappcaringa against
the blue sky. Only slight dip OF the
great city is exposed between birds
eye view down the wooded gorge. To-
day, under the fierce heat of the sun of
expiring summer, the white dome is
whittier, the monument outlines are
sharper, and the green is grecncr
green. The old stone house has been
metamorphoscd into an artistic residence
Of the colonial style, the very grounds
have changed, the roads and drives ap-
pear where none were before; nothing
save the prospect remains, and that no
art can bcautify and no money can make
more lovely and picturesque. 4 myriad
of workmcn are busily engaged on house
and grounds.
Under the trees near the entrance is n
vacant chair, and, in the absence of the
watchmen, your correspondent drives up
the winding roadway unchecked. 4
man in brass buttons rushcs hastily down
the hill from the house, waving his
hands frantically, but it is too late, the
correspondents are up on the 1thcr side
before they can be intercepted. The man
reaches lis and says We must go out, we
are not permitted there. We tell him
we are there anyhow, and hope we don't
intrude. He says it is against strict
orders from the White House to come
within the grounds. We innoccntly say
that we are only two newspaper men
looking for an item. This sets the man
wild. Newspaper men are especially
prohibited. We ask to be allowed to
walk around and look at the outside OF
the house The guardian of the place
turns fairly white at the idea. Couldn't
We look ut the city--surcly we couldn't
hurt the city, what we would see of it
from this hill, by looking at il without
pass But the man is incXomble. Then
we ask him how he is getting along.
"What you see in the newspapers is
nonsense" says he. "The house isn't
near completion. See the workmcn out
side?" We saw the workman outside.
They were swarming on the unfinished
yerandas, and spread out among the half
finished drives about the grounds.
. There are as many rs can he adj
vantageously employed" continued the
superintendent. "1nside they have Just
begun to lath. The house will not be
ready for occupancy before the 1st of
November, though the President has
been pushing us all summer"
And things in sight bore out this
statement. A dozen laborers were
grading the new drive up to the porte
cocherc; out in the rolling field another
driveway was being built, leading to
Woodley lane, lovely road that leads
at right angles from the turnpike down
into the Rock Creek gorge, while the
sound Of the hammer inside and out of
the mansion woke the echoes of the hills.
There was another gang of men with
carts pecking away at gravelly knoll
which lies by nature little higher than
the foundation of the house, and in
direct line of vision between the veranda
and tho dome of the Capitol, four miles
away. Part Of this hill has already been
carted away, the gravel being deposited
to build the roadways Along Woodley
lane on the south another gang of men
are at work on high barbed wire fence.
1t is six feet high at least, and appears
to be especially designed to keep news