St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-03-31

IlOil. It iOUiI 10 ONui III oiiopSs III
ishea in blue satin fresco, and its DIAM
eter is about that of country church.
Still, it is hardly large enough for
this purpose, and when the crowd
is out of it it is too
big for common use. There are many
dining rooms in Washington larger than
the state dining room and l can count
on my fingers dozen which are more
beautifully furnished. There are none
of the convenienceS for serving a great
dinner. and these thousand-dollar feastS
which the president gives have to be
largely gotten up outside of the house,
and hired walters have to be brought in
to pass the victuals. The dining room
used by the family, or the private din
ing room, is at the right OF the vestl-
bule. This has to be turned inside out
at every big reception, for the table
must be removed and shelves be put
around the room to hold the hats and
coats of the guests. At such receptions
the state dining room becomes ladies'
dressing room, and more fuss is made
in the executive mansion every time
the president receives than you make
in your home when your daughters are
married. Not long ago there was
mantel bed in the reception room oppo-
site Elijah Halford'S office on the sec
ond floor. passed through this room
yesterday and noticed that it was there
still. but whether it is used or not do
not know. Think of the president OF
the United States being compelled to
have wardrobe bed in one of his par
lors 1t is true no one knows what it is,
but iI makes one think of the occupant
of second-claSs boarding house, who
is trying to keep up appearances, and
pretending to have suite of rooms
when he gets along with only one.
There is general plan about the
stood, makes the building simplicity
itself. If you will take rectangle
covering One-third of an acre and biSect
it lengthWise by hall eighteen wide
you will have the general plan of the
building. On the ground floor at the
end nearest the treasury the great east
room cuts off part of this hall and runs
the whole length of this building. The
vestbule and the private dining room
and dressing room are on the north of
this hall. and on the south are the green,
blue, red and state dining rooms. All
of the rooms of the building thus go off
from this hall, and all are of the same
length, viz. about twenty-eight feet.
At the extreme end of the lower floor
is great shed of glass, covering the
area of several ordinary houses, and
making up the Conservatives of the
White house. This is no part, however,
of the original structure, and it need
hardly be considered as connected with
it.
The second floor is on the same plan.
All of the rooms are big, and three
fourths of them are made up of Offices.
The living rooms of the president are at
the west end of the second floor, and
Mrs. Harrison has only four gOodSized
bed rooms. 1t takes about hundred
wards of carpet to cover each one of
them, and she has turned the lower end
of the hall into sitting room, and the
children are using the little private
office at the northwest corner Of the
building where President Arthur used
to receive his most intimate friends. In
addition to these four bed rooms, two
of which are in the north: and two oa
the south side of the building, there is
Il little bed room which WAS originally
intended for dressing room, Oh The
southwest corner, and q SERVANT is
lodged in hall bed room Just over the
yestibule, which is seven feet wide and
eighteen feet long. There is an eleva-
tor leading to this floor, and there are
two or three bath rooms huddied to-
gether right over the big entrance hall.
The larger bed rooms have no bath
rooms connected with them and this is
the case with the presidents bed room,
which opens into the Office OF library,
where he receives his callers.
The business offices OF the White
house take up the whoic OF the eastern
portion of the second floor. Entering
the big front door you turn to the left
and march up pair of stairs about five
feet wide. You note that though the
carpet is new, the tread OF the office-
seeker has worn off its nap, and at any
hour of the morning you pass tho NEST
noted men of the country Oh the stairs.
They stamp along as though they owned
the building, and most Of them think
they do. When you reach the second
floor you find that your surroundings
are those of business establishment
rather than those ofa-private residence.
Two colored gentlemen stand at guard
at the door. and gray-haired German,
short and squatty, sits before little
desk as you enter the hall. He is IN
the corner made by the partition which
has been run across the hall to give the
presidents wife sitting room, and as
he looks at you his back is turned to-
ward the door of the room in which the
cabinet meets. This man is Sergeant
Loeffler. He is the presidents meSseu-
ger, and he has been here for almost
score of years. He is. in measure. the
Watchdog of the president, and he car
ries all the cards of noted visitors into
Mr.. Harrison. He has sometimes to
deal with crankS IN case these pass by
the giant form and blue eyes OF Colonel
Dinsmore below. Sergeant Loeffier
makes about the sixth guard you have
passed since entering the White house.
You are notioned by him to the left
and turning your eyes you see couple
more of eelOred guards. one of whom is
the watch dog of the private secretary.
You go by these into big reception
room which is over the end of the East
room and which is filled with very Or
binary furniture. 1t is here that office
seekers cool their heels until the presi-
dent is ready to receive them; and it is
here that Col. Crook. the cashier of the
president, sits. In a little room beyond
| this there is telegraph room, and here
| the president has telephone cOnnec-
! lions with all the great departments.
| Next to this there is another Office in
which clerks work, and the lower end
| of the big hall has been partitioned off
and made into an office. In the south
east corner of the building the eXecu-
tive clerk. Mr.. Pruden, makes up. with
his fine Italian hand, the commissions
that the president gives to officers, and
next to this office, and opening
into the hall is the private sec
retary's room. This is one OF the
big rooms of the building. 1t takes
los yards of carpet to cover it. and it
| has windows which command beauti-
| full view of the Potomac. A CHEEKY
wood fire burns on one side of it, and in
| trout of the windows and behind big
fiat desk sits the little five foot eight
anatomy who represents. to most of the
callers. the president OF the United
| States. The private secretary of the
president holds an Office fully rs import
ant as that of Il cabinet minister, and
Col. Halford fills it we'll. He is dark