Wichita eagle., 1889-08-13


Pendell stops his visitors in the Green room
and remarks, IN tone that il impressive be-
cause almost seyulchral, There are the por-
traits of two former ulis.resses OF this house
who have lust died within few days Of each
other, Mrs. Hayes and Mrs.. Tyler" The two
,.ortraits hang facing each other, and pict-
ures of handsome, lsvsble American women
they ere. Since Mrs Hayes death it has
been made more than ever apparent that she
was one Of the most popular mistresSes the
White House ever had Said an enpIoye Of
the house: Mrs Hayes was the most lovabls
woman ever knew. She was mother to
all the young men employed here 1t came
jusa as natural 10 her as breathing. On
THANKSGIVING she used to set an old fashioned
country dinner in the state dining room to
which we were all invited with our wives
and children.
"a fter dinner we sang hymns or romped
with the children. Mrs Hayes gave away
more, food. money, clothing and table deli
cacies than anv other presidents wife have
ever known. While she was here there was
scarcely an hour that some poor woman,
white or colored, did not come to the base
rent door asking for help. She always went
away with heavier basket and a lighter
the street the other day, dressed in their Sun.
day best, the man in suit Of clothing once
worn by President Hayes, and the woman In
a dress which Mrs Hayes often wore in the
White House. All the flowers that were used
in the house in decorating the rooms or corri-
doris or on the state dining table, Mrs. Hayes
used to send TO the hospitals, and often car
ried them there herself"
e g. %roo -ofth a
United States have gone insane in this city,
and been removed together to st. Elizabeth's
asylum They were daughters Of Mr.. Selden,
who was treasurer for nearly forty years. In
commenting on this unfortunate affair Treas
urer Huston said the other day that one OF
the last acts Of the daughters before losing
their reason was TO give him an order for
portrait of their father. Mr.. Huston is en-
deavoring to bring together portraits OF all
the treasurers OF the United States, and
thinks he will succeed 1t is a singular fact
that while there have been nearly two dozen
presidents and about two score secretaries Of
the treasury, the United States has had but
seven treasurersL And the fact not gener-
ally known" said Mr.. Huston, lis that there
are but two officials in our government who
have the words of the United Ststes' in their
official titles The president of the United
States is one and the treasurer OF the United
States the other Still another fact In which
l take some pride, and which l think all citi-
zens may be thankful for, is that while bill
ions and billions Of public money has been
handled by the treasurers Of the United
States not cent was ever lost frsm their Of
fee that was not duly accounted for"
Bluff old Admiral Porter has just one hob
by, and that is going early to bed All his
life he has been in the habit of retiring at 9
o'clock, and perhaps that accounts for his
youthful appearance and mental and physi-
cal activity at nearly four score. The adj
miral has not even bald spot on his head,
the teeth in his jaws are all his own and
pretty sound teeth at that, and he declares he
is willing to wager a box of cigars he can
throw any man of 60 years in. the country.
Ben. Butler preferred catch-as-catch-can. He
smokes about twenty domestic cigars day,
mild but of very poor quality, and has been
doing so since long before the Mexican war
Yet he puzzles the anti-tobacconists by con-
tinuing to this very day to look like a hearty
and healthy man of 45.
IF people want to live long, and be of
some account in their old days." says the id
miral in his hearty way, "they should go to
bed early. There was my good friend, Dolly
Madison. What a belle she was what a
social queen here in Washington when the
old town was a mere village in a swamp.
Well, Dolly Madison lived to a green old
age, and she always went to bed little after
dark. | remember what time there was
here when some people who wanted to be
fashionable tried to start the custom of Civ
ing late parties. In those days there couldn't
be any successful parties without Dolly Mad
ison, and when she received an invitation
reading g o'clock, she promptly sent her re-
grets That killed the party, and nobody
else had the courage to try the innovation
! till Dolly Madison's reign was at en- end.
| She believed in having parties begin at sun
down, and everybody at homo and in bed
! long before midnight"
Government clerks here believe in early
| hours, too-early hours for quitting work.
! The average government clerk thinks himself
much abused man, because he has to stay in
his office from TIL O'Clock, and a move
ment is now on foot TO ask congress to make
3 O'Clock the quitting time. In some depart
ments chiefs of divisions are authorized to LET
their clerks go home at 8 on oppressively hot
days, and you may depend on it all days are
oppressively hot in these departments. Years
ago government clerks were required to work
only till 3, or five and half hours daily.
/ One winter Congressman Joe Cannon, OF
| Illinois, found himself SO hampered by thi;
! early closing hour while looking after the
! interests of his constituents in the depart
/ ments that be introduced bill extending
/ the departmental day to T. ~he government
/ clerks have never forgotten the good old
/ days; have never forgiven Cannon his sin.
/ 1t is rather singular fact that Cannon finds
many of the older clerks using their influence
! against Elm now that he has become candi-
! date for speaker, all because he added 81
/ hour to their days labor.
Government clerks are queer people, any
way. They arc wonderful gossipers. One Of
/ these long corridors in the treasury or in
/ terror department Is the most perfect whls
/ pering gallery l have ever been in. 1t is Nc
great strain upon the truth TO say that intel
! ligence travels faster in one Of these than or
/ the Atlantic cable. This is particularly true
! if the intelligence concerns the removal OF
, some officials head or shortening of the
/ hours of labor A friend of mine once tried
an experiment OF this sort. He went into the
west corridor Of the treasury, and approach
} ing a mess nSer whom he knew-one of thost
seatinels who guard the doors Of division
chiefs and assistant observation-disclosures
10 him: Il have just co1c from tbs
/ White House, and while there heard Secre
tary Window had resigned Don't tell any
/ BODY, for it came to me in confidence, and
tell you only because you are friend OF
mine" Then my friend walked straight anC
RAPIDLY through the middle corridor, and or