St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-03-31
AT THE WHITE HOUSE.
A Graphic Description OF the
Home of the COuntry'S
President.
a Look at the Laundry and
a Quiet Peep at the
Kitchen.
Hon. John Quincy Adams
Bought the First Bill
lard Table.
Hrs. Harrison Has Four Bed
Rooms, and Uses Hall
for Parlor.

hOOIUS, dIlU OSCo q heSiA
for a PGrlor.
Special Correspondence of the Globe.
WASHINGTON, March 2S.-Thc W hite
house to-day is big hotel and Presl-
dent Harrison is the landlord. Every
man and woman who comes to Wash
ington thinks he has right to enter his
house without knocking. They tramp
over his carpets with their muddy boots,
ask all sorts of impudent questions OF
his servants. and the chances are that
they carry away bit of the FUR
niture. Every now and then
piece as big as your hand is clipped out
of one of the lace curtains by relic
hunter, and during President LIncoln's
time a woman was caught in the very
act of cutting the costly curtains OF the
East room. She cried when she was
found out, and she was taken up weep
ing to the presidents room. Mr..
Lincoln looked at her SORROW
fully and told her that the
best thing she could do was
to leave the city. 1t is the same with
the cushions of the furniture and it is
by no means safe to let sightseers move
about save under the eye OF guide.
These guides are the presidents serv-
ants, and they have all they can do to
keep the crowds out Of the most private
parts of the house. Not infrequently
visitors want to see the kitchen ana all
the home life that Mrs. Harrison, gets
must come from a little space on the
second floor.
Let me give you plain, practical de-
scription OF the White house as it is.
The presidents grounds cover many
acres. They are surrounded by hleh
iron fence with great iron gates and the
grounds are filled with fine old oak trees.
On one side OF them is the treasury,
somber and tomb-like, and on the
other side is the biggest granite
building of the world. the S13,-
100000 structure known as the state,
war and navy department. To the
south and back of the White house be-
yOnd wide park flows the muddy Po-
tOmac, and i'll front runs the busy street
of Pennsylvania avenue. The White
house covers a third OF an acre. 1t is
long rectangular. almost squatty two
story structure with a wide porte cocb-
ere, having floor as big as that of
the average two-story house. This porte
coehere is upheld by Ionic columns as
big around as the largest oaks of the
forest, and Its roof supported by these
is of the Grecian order. Around the
roof of the White house there is a mar
bic fence about as high as table, and
made of round marble pillars the size OF
base ball club. The building has
basement under it and two rows
of the big rectangular windows look out
of the stories above this. The basement
windows are square, and the most of
them look as though they needed wash
ing. Wide walks lead up, in the shape
of halfmOOn, from Pennsylvania ave
nue. to the White House, and you walk
half the length of the house before
you get to the front door. As you
do so you can look right down
into the basement, and if your eyes
are sharp about every other day of the
week you will see number of cOlored
girls here with irons in their hands pol
ishing the Presidents shirts and putting
the finishing touches on Baby McKee's
unmentionables. If, OH leaving the
mansion, you walk over toward the
state, war, and navy departments your
nostriS may be Saluted with the hog and
hominywhich is being cooked in thePreS-
presidents colored lady chef produc-
ing those exquisite dishes which are
making the state dinners so famous.
In other words you see directly into
the kitchen of the White house. 1t is
not half big enough foran establishment
of our president. and it has none of the
modern convenieneeS for keeping din
ners warm, which the best restaurants
of the country contain. There is big
range at one side OF the room and there
is another little range in the scullery
beyond. The cooking utensils are of
copper and the walls are plastered and
not tiled.
The entire front of the basement of
the White house is taken up with
kitchens and laundry. The back has
the store room, furnace, and-whiSper
it low in the ear of our Methodist
br0ther--a billiard room. Billiards
have been played in the White
house ever since the day of John
Quincy Adams, and President Arthur
could handle a billiard cue equal to
SlosS0n. John Quincy Adams bought
the first billiard table that was ever used
in the White house, and his extrava-
ganee in this respect was made cam
paign issue, and he eventually paid for
lIlS ldDlc cut vi Ills ONn pUChCl. uOll
know that President Harrison plays,
but the table is there in the basement,
and he can if he will.
Let us look at the first floor of the
White house. Guards stand at the doors,
and giant Apollo in the shape of Col.
DinSmore inSpectS every man who
comes ill., The doors are of mahogany,
and the knobs are as big almost as the
4
Oh brass hinges the great doors turn
inward and you are i'll the tiled vesti-
bule at the back of which there is a
wall OF mosaic of beautiful stones and
colored glass, which reminds one of the
jeweled palace of Frederick the Great
at PottSdam. This wall is made by
Tiffany. 1t cost many thousands of
dollars, but one old lady who looked at
it last week told the guard she was
''glad to see President Harrison had
become economical and that he
had saved the country money
by making glass wall of Old broken
bottles, and it's real purity too,'' the old
woman said, ''and you wouldn't think
Marine band plays at the presidents
receptions, but there is nothing home
like about the vestibule. 1t is so big
that you could build an eight-room house
inside of it. and thirty men could march
abreast through it without touching
their elbows.
just next to this at the left is 6
hall with stairs leading 10 the presi
dents office, and on the other side Of
this hall is the mighty East room. You
never see Mrs. Harrison or any of the
family upon these stairs. They are the
property of the public, and the ceaseless
tread of the countless crowd which be.
sieges the president goes its
muffied way up and down them
The East room belongs to the
neonlp. 1t is ALWAYS Open to visitors