San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-07-10
WASHINGTON LETTER.
(From our Regular Correspondent
WASHINGTON, July 5, 1889

executive mansion Is, in the minds OF
most people, associated with gorgeous
social inequalities, a self-satisfying
consciousness of supreme rank and an
unceasing round of enjoyment. 1t
never enters into the romantic popu-
lar idea of life at the White House
that it has practical side.
The most care-oppressed and hard
est worked woman in the land is its
first lady. In addition to her duties
at the head of the household of the
president and the direction of the do
nestle administration of the mansion
she is beset with every conceivable
demand upon her time and energy
from directions which have no rela-
ton to her sphere as wife, mother,
house-keeper or social leader. These
duties would in themselves absorb
about all the time compassed within
the waking hours of any woman, but
they do not complete the full meas
ure of daily experience of Mrs. Har-
rison as wife of the president. The
most exacting, time-consuming and
laborious portion of the daily routine
of the chief lady of the White House
is her correspondence.
If this confined itself to personal
friends it would be manageable, but
embracing within its scope every nook
and corner of the land and every de-
tail and diversity of subject, it as
sumes the proportion of burden
which no woman coull carry. There
is humorous phase to this toilsome
drain upon the time and energies of
the wife of the president. One of the
principal subjects of correspondence
in Mrs. Harrison's mail is the re-
quests for samples of her inaugural
ball costume. They come from fem
mime sources of course, and in the APP
peals for the coveted fragment of the
textile, the acme of epistolary compo-
sition and logic is often reached.
Mrs. Harrison has gratified many
of these simple appeals from
the fabricators Of crazy quilts
and patchwork, but not to the eX-
tent of demolishing the gown worn at
the great ball in the vast court Of the
pension building, but from garments
which had seen church-gOing, and
household display and social duty in
times of senatorial dignity and in the
retirement of home life in Indianapo-
lis. In this fragmentary from the
dresses of former days have disap-
peared, leaving a decided void in the
wardrobe of the first lady.
Not the least feature of the first
lady's correspondence is the appeals
of the office seekers, not only from
themselves, but through their lady
friends. Remarkable as it may seem,
these appeals are not confined to per-
sOnal friends or acquain tances, but
come from entire strangers. These
salient features of the mail of the pre-
siding lady of the White House only
represent a glimpse of its contents.
In the number of letters received for
weeks Mrs. Harrison S mail was quite
as large, if not larger, than the private
mail of the President, and has from
the beginning involved degree of
la Dor of vast magnitude.
Six rows of seven stars each were
displayed IN the blue field in the cor
ner of our national flag yesterday, the
day of all the year III which the flag
may most appropriately spread itself.
The point has been raised with res
pect to the arrangement, that no such
symmetry will be possible again till
we have forty-nine states in the I'm
ion, when the stars will stand in sew
en- rows of seven. But from the way
territories are filling up that may not
be so very, long hence, especially if
California and Texas consent to be
carved in twain, Utah reforms her So
clal habits, Arizona runs irrigating
bitches through her broad acres of
desert, and Oklahoma grows in the
nurture and admonition of sound
American citizenship as fast as she
has grown in popultion during the
last three months.
At no time has Washington pre-
sented a more inviting and pictur-
esque aspect than at present. Its
parks. circles and triangles are re-
splendent in variegated flowers and
plants, offering inviting and healthy
retreats. The officer now in charge
of the parks and reservations, Col.
John NJ. Wilson, is native of Wash
ington, and therefore takes an espe-
cial pride in its improvement and
adOrnment. The conversion of the
waste places in the city belonging to
the government into beautiful parks
has been accomplished only since the
close of the war. These, together
with many other charlottesville
congressional and scientific Libraries,
museums, etc.-have been the means
of greatly Aaugmenting our popula-
ton. Those who saw Washington at
the close of the war would now be
astounded at it's marvellous transfer
nation. r.
Is Consumption Incurable?
Read the following: Mr.. c. H. Morris, New.
ark, Ark, says: WAS down with abcesS of