Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-12-22
PRESIDENTIAL PEDESTRIAEISM.
Harrison and His Grandfather as Prome-
naders-How John Quincy Adams Lost
His Clothes While BathIns--ssnators
who Do Nor Like the Weather

nnders-HOW John Quincy Adams Lost
His Clothes While BathIug-senntors
who Do Nor Like the Weather.
lcoRREsPoNDENcE OF THE D1sPATcHI
XGIAsHINGroN, December ILL saw Presi-
- dent Harrison walking with friend on
Connecticut avenue last Sunday. He wore .
plain black overcoat. buttoned tightly around
his rather rotund form, pair Of brown kid
gloves which fitted remarkably we'll ana new
and shining black silk hat He chatted with
his friend as he walked. and there was nothing
about his appearance or the notice taken of him
i by the other promenaders to show that he was
President of the greatest republic on the face
| of the globe. President Harrison in his every
| day habits is showing himself more democratic
| than any Of bis predecessors Of the past decade.
| Arthur was seldom seen on the street save in
his carriage or on horseback, and all the walk
| ing that President Cleveland did was in the
country about Oak View or in the back yard of
| the White House. Garfield was great walker
| while he was in Congress- but he had no chance
| to get out during the few stormy days of his
administration, and President Hayes took his
outings in a carriage
President Harrison's grandfather was one Of
the most noted walkers Of all the Presidents
He did his own marketing and got up and
trotted out. often without an oYereoat to pro-
tect his slender old Frame to get his chops and
steaks for his White House breakfast. OF late
years the etiquette Of Presidential life has
rapidly changed. The President grows bigger
as the office grows older, and his frame is now
wrapped round with red tape from big toe TO
crown.
Buchanan and Pierce often called upon their
Congressional friends, and one day. an old
stager Of Washington tells me- he remembers
Pierce coming into room where a group Of
Senators were playing poker. One Of the SEN
atOr9 had hiQ 0ff md IA ko nm
whereupon President Pierce said: "Don't
bother. gentlemen, and 60 on with your game,
for can only stay moment with you"
Presidenf's Dilemma.
John QUINCY ADAMS took q walk of four
miles before breakfast while he was Presi-
dent. He would get up at daylight. pranee
down the avenue take turn around the Capt.
tol and like as not a swim in the Potomac. he
took these Potomac baths even in the coolest
weather. and he was Mortified one day to see
colored vagrant running of with his clothes.
Old John Adams was another great walker,
and George Washington, while he was Presi-
dent, took walk with his Private Secretary,
Tobias Lear, every afternoon on the streets Of
Philadelphia. Eye witnesses have stated that
these walks were very sober affairs, and that
during them neither Washington nor his secre-
tary spoke to each other. Jackson was good
walker, and Van Buren, visited his friends while
he was President.
General Grant was often seen on the streets
during his term in the White House. and q
newsboy one day noting that his cigar was
nearly smoked out, and net knowing who he
was. stepped up to him and said, please Jedge
give me the stump"
President Grant looked at the urchin with a
smile and handed him the remainder Of his
cigar after he had lit another from it.
Thara fa No ,ru,v fha -
United States should not act as ordinary
mortals. He is only man up to the time Of
his entering the White House. and when he
leaves it he finds that he is reduced to the |
ordinary standard Of manhood again. Had
President Cleveland strolled along Pennsyl- |
vania avenue during his administration, his act |
would have been an item of news tor all the !
papers. To-day he can promenade Broadway |
from morn until night, and he will not make q |
paragraph.
Historian Bnncroft's Pedestrian Powers.
SPEAKING Of pedestrians. Mr.. Bancroft. the |
historian, has stopped riding and taken to |
walking He told me about year ago that he |
could ride 30 miles without tiring, and his tall,
thin frame seems to be made of iron. He |
walks with a firm tread, and though his valet, =
handsome, brown Whiskered. blonde German,
always goes with him he does not support him.
A1NHOAoAs "oo . kNcdb 4Hlouu u bL6 emperor
William Of Germany, and it may be that he
adopted the cap of the Germany army out Of |
Difference to him. He wears at any rate one Of
these caps with the vizor well pulled down over
his eyes, and he goes about Washington asiI
chlpper as boy. He has practically given up,
however. his literary work, and though he plays
at writing and pretends to labor, he Is really
doing very little.
Senator Henry B. Payne is another great
kaP a q De II
itol and back every day. Tom Reed usually
walks out to Congress, and Mckinley aud Tom
Bayne do likewise. I often see Justice Har-
land on the avenue, and 1 have seen half
dozen Justices of the Supreme Court at one
time In tn Q same street car Ex-Speaker Car
Isle not infre quently holds onto the strap Of
the herdics, and once saw him rise and give
his seat to colored girl General Joe John
son patropizes the street car, and Joe Cannon
rides thus to the Capitol every morning. saw
Senator Edmunds in herdic yesterday, and
the President while he was in the Senate used
to patronize the street car.
Two Senators ON the Weather.
COME funny conversations are heard in these
Washington herdics. A lady friend of mine
describes an incident which occurred yester
day in one of the red herdics going out to the
Capitol. Senator CockreI of Missouri in an
worse for the wear. came in and pumped him
self down on seat near the door while he
handed three and seVen-tenths cent ticket to
his possman, who sat next him, to put in the
box. He began to talk to the postman, and
said:
"Aint this awful weather? I never saw such
warm days during December in my life. There
ire half q dozen people sick in my block, and
we'll all get sick If it don't get colder. It's just
AWFUL"
The herdic went ON half block and Gen
,ral Palmer entered the herdlc. He said, "How ;
10 you do Senator, and shook hands with Mr..
Jockrell as he sat down. Said Senator Cock
-ell:
sOh, Pm pretty well. but I don't know
whether I'll stay well long. Amt this awful
EeatherP / never saw such weather in Decem- {
DER before. People are sick all around me. .
Wen all be sick lit don't get colder"
At the next corner another passenger cot in. '
de was rotund, straw-whiskered man, with '
ong hair and q big round head, pasted down to '
pair of broad shoulders. he wore an oVercoat 1
hat showed the same marks of age as that of
senator Cookrell's, and he had on lis head
lrab sombrero with q rim yard wide. Outside G
4 his wristbands red flannel shirt plainly '
howed, and he evidently had a red fame 7
licky across his breast under the coat. ''How t
re YOU. Cockrell," said he. How are you, \
GEORGE . said CockrelL 0
"Oh," said Senator George with gasp.
I'm Jest sWeatinii I've walked mile, and the
FateT's runnin' down me in streams. wonder s
I It would be wrong for fellow to take of his c
oat," and with that he pulled of his overeoat o
nd laid it across his lap as he sat down
pposite Senator Cockrell. The two statesmen
ooked at each other, and Senator Coekrsll