Morning journal and courier., 1889-06-19
Sketches of OMce Seekers.

There is the fat and nervous man with the red face and wiited collar and scarcely any breath at all. He cannot afford a carriage, and his walking days passed away with his youth. His last clean shirt and stiff collar was put on in the morning. The wash bill lay on the bureau before him as he arranged his tie. But since then he has been in the crowd before Mir. Blaine's door, he has walked to Mir. Windom's department in the sun, and has fumed and clustered there, and all the way back to the White House. Now he stands near the window at the top of the stairs, red, winded and wilted.
 Walking about the lobby with the air of stranger who has never been there before is little Hebrew gentleman. He is dressed in black, with white vest and lawn tie, his well-oiled curls puff out from under the brim of his beaver hat, a tube rose rests on the lapel of his coat, and he purses his lips and swings light cane as he walks back and forth before the Presidents door. He wants to enter the consular service, and is not easi ly discouraged in his ambition. He has been at the White House nearly every day since the 4th of March, yet he smiles as confident ly as ever, and in voice of childish sinceri- ty tells the doorkeeper about once a week that it is his first call. Meanwhile he is making the acquaintance of public men who call. He introduces himself one day and the next speaks to them like an old acquain- tance.
 You can always tell when a man is seeking commission in the consular or diplomatic service. He buttons his coat close across his chest, holds his head erect and has a flower on the lapel of his coat.
 I There is the man with the broad-brimmed black hat. There is a marshalship some where down south he would like to have l He looks as if he might have history, but
 he hasn't-worth relating. He can't recol-
 s lect any time since the war that he has mol | wanted an office. He has no memory of ever
 | having wanted to work. His hair is long anc
 | straight and black; his moustache curls ou
 | in long ends and hangs over his mouth; hi
 \ black coat, frayed about the binding, is but
 l toned tight across his chest; his boots are
 patched, but they are small, with high heeli
 K and pointed toes, and brown cotton gloves
 \ with two or three of the fingers out, covel
 This hands He would not think of being
 \ without gloves.
 Thif is the old woman, who looks as if she
 | were masquerading for 8 corpse. Poor old \ creaturel Twenty years ago she had claim
 ! of some sort. She has been wanting some | thing from the government ever since. She has forgotten by this time what 1t Is she wants, but she haunts the capital in the win ter time like ghost, and now that there is no Congress she is seeking the assistance of the President; she doesn't know for what. Poor old wonant She must be near seventy. There is the d-white-haired veteran of the war, dressed In an old blue uniform, with Mcclellan hat bound with tarnished gilt cord and full of holes. He has trouble with the pension office, and he insists upon spreading out his papers on the table and ex- plaining the situation to the patient but dis tracted doorkeeper. He wants the President to do something-either to grant his pension or give him job. He cannot understand why the President could not fix him all right at once. The Virginia delegation comes in with flourish. They are long-haired and short, black and white. Mahoneite and anti Mahoneite. They all talk at once about the glory of the country and the fate of the Re publican party. They. are always excited. They go away and the country still lives. The colored office seekers come in delega- tions. They are very mysterious and pom pous. They stand about in groups and talk of the future ''ob de col'ed race" and "con- dition and circumlocution ob de gov'ment. ' Then there is the hollow-eyed and hopeless throng of ordinary everyday office seekers. Each comes by himself, but those about him are his brothers. They all know that the effort is hopeless, but they can't stop trying. It keeps them occupied. They form the largest group. There is certain door they . must pass through. Standing near it, you may hear each one utter weary sigh as he languidly takes off his hat.