The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-05-07


with an enormous gray mustache and a
pink complexion-J. Proctor Knott, of
Kentucky. Here" said Mr.. Mills, sis
the man who has the greatest collection
of canes and pipes in America. Knott,
how many pipes and canes have you
now'' "Well," says the old orator and
raconteur, 'when l left home l had
ninety-eight pipes and 154 canes, but by
this time there are probably many more
there, for my friends all over the coun-
try are sending me in little presents of
that sort all the time, They know I am
in the pipe and cane business, and l sup
pose they won't stop till have reached
my ambition of possessing a different
! pipe and cane for each of the 365 days of
the year.
"But you were talking of Mr.. Blaine
as came up" he adds, land 1 want to
tell you what l know about the secre-
| tary's memory. The last time l was IN
| washington l called to see him, and we
got to talking about Kentucky families.
There is not prominent family in Ken
lucky with whose history Mr.. Blaine is
unfamiliar. He told me things about my
own family that did not know. He
knows the origin and history, inter-
marriages and connections of nearly all
our best families, and ratified off to me
such an entertaining lot of gossip about
them that l was simply amazed. Final
ly l asked him where he had acquired all
this information, and he replied: You
fOro,a+ +bof opca 1ivod ~, Kan+,,ol-v and
while there made study of Kentucky
family history. All my life l have had
a passion for that sort of thing, and I
never forget anything which 1 learn
about genealogy.' If Mr.. Blaine had not
become a statesman" continued Mr..
Knott, 81 am sure he would have been
an eminent genealogist."
a woman next attracts our attention.
She is richly dressed and has the car
riage of a queen, of one who has known
what it is to be admired, to receive hom-
age. She has sparkling eyes-the sort Of
eyes which shine in the gloomy galleries
which surround the senate and house
halls. Mrs. Kate Chase Sprague-for it
is she-was twenty years ago the most
beautiful woman known in this Capitol.
Now, though still a handsome woman,
few know her. She is on her way to the
supreme court chamber to hear the argu-
ment there in a case involving the wreck
of the great estate of her former hus-
band.
The old justices know her, every one
of them, and her eyes become brighter
than ever as she pauses to tell, in that
mellow voice which years ago made her
one of the most fascinating conversation
alists in Washington or Paris, of the at
tentions shown her by the members of
the court of which her father was once
the chief justice. Mrs. Chase .ldest
daughter is just going on the stage, for
which she has been carefully educated.
She starts out, not to make her debut,
but simply to get little actual work be-
hind the footlights. By the way, the
historic Chase home, Edgewood, is likely
to be soon broken up and covered by the
buildings of this rapidly extending city.
A syndicate of wealthy senator's, who
have already made much money in
Washington real estate, are contemplate
ing the purchase and subdivision of the
beautiful grounds, nearly fifty acres in
extent, which overlook the city and Cap
itol.
at will seem almost like sacrilege to
me to break up the old home" said Mrs.
Chase; ga bookful of memories cling
around it. Only today, as [ was riding
toward the Capitol, my eye turned in
stinctively toward the window of the
senate wing in which my father used to
hang a piece of red curtain at in the
afternoon if more than two guests were
coming out with him to dinner. You
see, we could accommodate one or two
guests without extra preparation, but if
four or five were expected we had to in
crease the quantities. More often than
not the red curtain hung in the window"
A dark bearded man, with the stopped
shoulders of student or worker, comes
along, arm in arm with a substantial.
bright eyed, handsome friend. We may
well say these men are friends. The first
is Public Printer Palmer, sterling fell
low, who not only has control of the
greatest printing Office in the world, but
who has behind him a record which any
man might be proud of.
When his friend whom we see with
him. First Assistant Postmaster General
Clarkson, went into Des MONIES from the
farm to become newspaper man, his
first Unemployment was given him by Palm
er. AfUerward Clarkson bought Palm
er's paper, and Palmer, against the ad-
vice of many of his friends, bought The
Chicago Inter-Ocean, then a rathole for
swallowing up money, and in it sunk
$240. 900 in few years. Later on Palm
er's sterling honesty showed the stuff it
was made of. As postmaster of Chicago
he lived almost parsimoniously, on a
mere clerks income, and devoted the re-
mainder of his salary to paying old debts.
Each month. am told, a certain part of
his salary as public printer is set aside
for the wiping out of old newspaper liza
biIities. Not every man one meets in the
rotunda is honest enough to make such
sacrifices for dead horse.
Clarkson drags his friend up to look at
the paintings in the rounda. The chief
headsman of the postotjice department
has a passion for pictures. His hand
some home here is ulled with rare works
of art 1t is said he has the second
finest Corot in America, the postmaster
general having the third finest. Clark
son narrowly escaped possessing the
finest CoTot this country can boast Of
While in New York helping manage the