The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1888-12-22
LIFE IN THE WHITE HOUSE.
Uncle Sam Don't Provide for All of the
: Presidents Household Expenses.

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Presidents Household Expenses.
i Perhaps the lady readers of tn
Sentinel might like to know some
thing of the experiences which Mrs
Harrison will have when she reaches
Washington as the wife of the Pres
ident. Will she pack simply hel
trunks with wearing apparel and
move into a house completely furn.
ished and filled with beds and bed.
ding, silver and tableware, servants
and cooking utensils, or will any
Or all of these have to be brought
along or provided after she gets
here? This is a question very often
asked, and with it a good many
others, as to horses and carriages,
coachmen and waiting maids, cost
of and payment for the necessaries
of the kitchen and dining-room, etc.
1t is a curious fact that all the Cab
met officers are furnished with
horses and carriages at Government
expense, but the President is not.
The Cabinet officers are furnished
horses, carriages and coachmen, and
the horses are kept at Government
expense. If the President wants
any of these things he must supply
them himself. There is a stable
near the White House, built during
Grants time, with plenty of room
for horses, but every President who
comes finds it empty, and of course
it costs him lots of money to fill it.
Whoever sells a horse or carriage
to the President of the United States
expects to get about 25 per cent
more for it than if he sold it else
where. Of course the President
must have three or four carriages
and several horses. Whether Gen.
Harrison will bring any with him
or buy them is not known. Proba-
bly, he will buy new carriages, and
of course a Presidents horses must
be thoroughbreds. And he need
not expect much of them after he
gets through his term in the White
House either, for Washington pave.
ments are hard on horses, as Presi-
dent Cleveland's big seal-browns
show. The President is also obliged
to furnish his own driver. Albert
Hawkins, big colored man whom
Grant brought here before he be-
came President, is still driving at
the White House, as he has done
ever since Grants term, and will
probably be re-engaged by Mr.. Har-
rison; butif he does it will be at his
own expense, for the Government
does not pay Albert's salary.
Inside the White House Mrs. Har-
rison will find employees waiting to
be re-engaged and paid for their
services. The steward, who has
charge of the kitchen and dining
room, the various subordinates who
sweep and dust and cook and attend
to the table and tableware-they
are all private employees. Down in
the basement, if you pass at the
proper time, you see the laundry
work of the White House going on.
All these employees are, however,
paid privately. OF course, there is
a yearly appropriation for the con-
tingent expenses of the White
House, but this is intended more
to keep up the furniture and furn-
ishings generally than to pay the
cost of the Presidents living or the
hire of his servants.
One thing that Mrs. Harrison will
find is complete furnished house
solid silver, the finest of china,
linen for the table and bed-cham-
bers, elegant furnishings in the par
lors and fairly good in the private
parts of the house. The private
dining-room is on the first floor,
Just across the hall from the state
This is the only room
on the first floor used by the family
Of the President. The parlors are
used for callers, and the entire fam
lily or living" rooms are on the
second floor. There are, perhaps
b alf dozen Of these, scarcely more
a sitting-oom or two near to the
"library room," where the
sits during his business
or working hours, and several hand
Furnished bedrooms and
sitting-rooms. An elevator carries
,he family downstairs at meal time,
and when they go down for other
purposes if they desire it; as rule
hey walk up and down the broad,
easy and luxuriously carpeted stairs
md through the handsome and al
ways attractive corridors which lead
he way to the dining-rooms and
oarlors on the first floor. There
hey find everything ready, for the
steward is able to re-
ieve the mistress of the White
House of all the cares of house
Ieeping-if he is well paid for it
Washington Letter.