Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-06-01
'Jest plain citizens cloes," although he
would dearly love top boots and coekade.
A LOOK AT THE KITCHENS.


There are two kitchens in which Dolly
johnson can carry out her dream of cook
ery-one under the private dining room and
of the same size, and the other under the
serving room and buffers pantry, The
first is used when a state dinner is under
way, and in the second the preparations for
each day are made. The kitchens are as
neat as pair OF pins, but they haven't the
appointments of the kitchens that are now
added TO SIS, 600 houses, and one cannot help
wishing that the people who do so adore the
quaint historic White House would get a
peep into these dark, illy-iurnished rooms.
They are damp, Tor the walls are so thick
that the hot sun of Washington summer
can hardly dry them, and the floors are Of
planks that creak and crumble in a way to
brighten even the cheerful second cook. If
she is "hoodooed" the country will have to
answer for it.
The upper floors of the quaint, historic
White House are bad enough, but the base
ment would be condemned by even mod
ern building inspector. Mrs. Harrison has
done what she could to make the quarters
where a dozen human beings spend their
days CHEEKY, and, among other things, she
has had three rooms furnished brightly for
the two cooks and the two chambermaids,
who sleep In the house instead of going out
TILES FOR THE KITCHEN.
She says that, although she cannot expect
to have the lower floor remodeled in her day,
she hopes that it may be done by the one
who follows her, and, if you'll believe it
that good woman cherishes another dream
that she also does not expect to see fulfilled
while she is mistress OF the White House.
1t is modest one, too. She only wants
tiles-good, clean Holland tiles-substituted
for the ricketv boards in the kitchen. She
says her IDEAL kitchen is the kind that they
have in the Netherlands, where the floor
clicks cheerily under the quick step o! the
cook.
The kitchens have countless shelves built
in the walls, and these are filled with sauce
pans, skillets, griddles and pans all of brass
or porcelain, and some of them look as
though they had seen yeoman service for a
century. The Virginian's good right arm
keeps them so polished that one can see her
face grinping broadly on a hundred
surfaces as she stands in the middle
of the room kneadlng her bread. There
are big ranges built into the walls of either
room so that Mary Robinson can put in a
dozen loaves of bread at the same time that
she of Louisville, KY" bastes ten-pound
roast. The table in the big Kitchen is long
enough to roll out cookies for a hundred
youngsters with the same appetite for sweet
cake for which Master Benjamin Mckee is
distinguished, and is kept as white as a
daily scrubbing can make it. From the
second kitchen there is a dumb waiter going
up to the serving room, and at the entrance
to the room there is a refrigerator which al
most touches the ceiling. In it is stored the
days marketing and all of the proyender
hr1f Ir,,
larder near the smaller kitchen.
STEWARD M'KIM AND HIS DUTIES.
Across the hall from the kitchen is the
stewards room. large apartment under
the State dining room. 1t is taste:ully fur
nished with carpet and chairs sent from the
upper rooms and contains a large desk
where Mr. McKim enters the marketing in
books as large as it takes to enter the de-
posits at the Treasury. He comes In about
IL from the Center market, where every
thing in the way of meats and vegetables
are bought for the White House, enters
these purchases and each month draws up
q summary of the months expenditures,
which / have heard are of size to make
an ordinary man whistle "Razzle Dazzle"
with all the mournful intonallons Of that
pathetic song.
The walls of the stewards room are lined
with closets which can be put under lock
and key, for he has charge of every valu-
able in the White House and has 10 give
pretty sum as bail for their safe-keeping.
Hitherto each steward has had the privilege
of taking his book with him when he lett,
but it has lead to such endless confusion
when any attempt to trace up the history OF
silver and china has been made that Mrs
Harrison has ordered all books TO be kept
Beyond the stewards room are the sleeping
rooms and on the opposite side the big iur-
mace room, while at the extreme end of the
hall is a billiard room where a President
and his opponent frequently chalk the cue.
MRS. HARRIsoN's LAUNDRY.
But the laundry-that is worth seeing,
for a cleaner room cannot be imagined. 1t
is large and light. and off one corner is
little carpeted ironing room. There is an
old-fashioned New England fireplace there
which was built in the wall as far back as
the time when Abigail Adams came down
from Boston and wrote back such gruesome
accounts o. the "barn-like" East Room"
which she could put to no better use than to
dry her clothes. This fireplace is still used
for heating the boiler for the Mondays
wash, which occurs as regularly here as in
the family of any orderly citizen. 1t is
formed of hard-backed plaster, and looks as
though it would easily stand another GEN.
tury.
A large laundry stove stands In the mid
die of the room covered by two terraces Of
''fats," which the three white women,
Joanna, Mary and Miss Grass keep chang |
ing the livelong day. They are tidy,
women, and can outdo All |
Sing in the polishing business. There are
13 regular house servants, althoug eight or
nine more are employed about the grounds |
oopSarvotorias Thara ie ctil1 .potbar
room where one can get an idea of Mrs. |
Harrison's housekeeping, 1t is the linen |
closet ON the second floor. The linen was |
formerly kept in the damp closets in the |
stewards room, but Mrs. Harrison noticed |
one day that there could be closet amply |
large made behind the elevator, and she had
the space walled in, shelves built, and now
the White House has
MATCHLESs LINEN CLOSET.
It is under the care of Josephine, Mrs.
Harrison's maid, and q Whit OF it is like
breath nom a meadow in May, for it is kept
so clean aud sweet. One side is filled with
bedding and towels, while on the other in
deep drawers are kept the tablecloths and
napery. Everything Is initiated with ~.
s." in white linen, although one set of nap
kins has the initials in white with faint
line of red. The napkins are all yard
square and of the finest damask. Mrs. Har-
rison has added to the stock since she has
been In the White House, and there is one
vet of dinner linen that was used at the first
State dinner that is as fine and soft as silk.
In going through the White House one is
impressed with the number OF Improvements
hat President Arthur made, and it looks as
hough he WAS the best housekeeperithe Ex-
,cutive Mansion had until Mrs. Harrison's
lay. No one will deny her the right to the
lame f she succeeds in getting the improve