The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-10-13

three or four times per week, and among those who frequently gave par ties was Mrs. James Gordon Bennett. These entertainments were somewhat different from those at the present day. They would close with supper st midnight, and it was the rule that when the guests entered the supper room ali the walters but one would retire. He would remain in the room simply to be on hand should any thing else be wanted. There were at the ho- tel at all times during the session plenty of society people, and there were usually some three hundred guests. The general plan of the hotel was as at present, but I believe that two stories have been added since.
 "Mr. Polk, having been elected president, arrived with Mrs. Polk and MT. Knox Walker, wife and children in February, and located at the Ma tional," continued the speaker. "They took suite of rooms on the second floor, and one of the New York serv- ants was detailed to attend him. I we'll remember the day of his inaugu- ration. My! didn't the rain come down. Nevertheless they had a pro- cession, and he went to the Capitol and was inaugurated. We had no thought then that the president would call on any of us attendants at the ho- tel. Mir. Polk, during his stay, had been observant. Soon after his inaug- uration he asked Mir Coleman to send him a good man for steward, and 1t was done. In the course of a few months others were sent for, and in a little time most of the White House attendants were from the hotel. Some of these remained for years at the White House, and others were trans- ferred to department places. The president paid the attendants from his own pocket, and it was not until the administration of MT. Fillmore that they were paid directly from the pub- lie funds.
 "Mr. Polk" he continued, twas an early riser, and when the weather was not indictment would take a walk for half an hour through the grounds and often return to the house before the members of the family were ready for breakfast. When our troops were in Mexico the war was the subject which seemed to be continually on the presi- dents mind, and I have heard him frequently say as he would sit down to breakfast, How can relish break fast and not know how the army is faring.' took from the president to General Scott the note directing him General ScotD to proceed to Mex leo and take personal command of the troops. General Scott then lived in the Madison house near the northwest corner of Lafayette square. The note I gave to the generals messenger and waited the reply, in which General Scott said he was taking nasty plate of soup, and expressed the opinion that as it was then the epidemic sea- son in the tropics it would be hazard ous for him to go. I believe that this note was the origin of the term "hasty y plate of soup." General Scott, how ever, came to the White House soon after, and it was not long before he left for Mexico. The household con- sisted of the president, Mrs. Polk, MT. and Mrs. Knox Walker and the chil- dren. They were all very democratic in their manners and tastes, and when Sunday came they spent it quietly, usually attending the Presbyterian church on Four and One- Half street. MT. Polk took much interest in the campaign in which Lewis Cass and General Taylor were the candidates, and was great personal admirer of Old Rough and Ready though op- posed to him politically.
 "Old Zach," as he was familiarly called, continued the narrator, "waa too domestic in his habits for such a position, and knowing him and Mrs. Tay Tor as I did, can readily believe that it is true that Mrs. Taylor said when apprised of her husbands elec- tion, What do they want us to go to Washington for2 Why can't they al- low us to spend our old age in peace2' He was inaugurated in 1S49, and, with Mrs. Taylor, Colonel Bliss and wife and his private secretary constituted the household. I do not know that any one in the presidential chair ever had the respect of the District more than General Taylor, for, as have said before, he was so plain and sim- pie in his ways. He did not seem to regard the office as of too much dig nifty to keep him away from the peo- pie, and during his short term he ire quently walked down to the old cen- tre market, where he would inspect the commodities in the stalls. A fine show of beef or mutton in the butch ers' stalls would interest him, and ] have known him to remark to Captain Peck, then one of the leading butch