St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-02-16

M S'iVe DraSS cna1n fastened to brass
HOOKS set into their sides and running
from one to the other. These bomb
shells were thrown by the Prussians
into Paris during the siege, and Vice
President Morton got them while he
was minister to France.
The Vice-PreSident's study or work.
shop is at the right of the entrance in
room opposite the stairway. 1t is almost
oval Ill shape aud it contains bay will
dow looking out on Rhode Island ave-
nue.. In this bay window there is a
desk at which one of the Vice-Presi-
dents secretaries WI ties, and the whole
room Is packed full of the working ma
terlals of public man. A fiat top wal
nut desk as big as dinner table st ands
III the center of the room, and the walls
are lined with cases of books, Scrap
books lie on the tables here and there,
and the centre desk is Uttered with let
ters. papers and manuscript. At one
side OF 1t the Vice-PreSident sits in an
armchair and opposite him hiSsconfiden-
tlal secretary, Mr.. Robert Chiffon, who
has been with Mr.. Morton for years
The walls of this workshop are lined
from the oak wainscoting to the picture
rod with portraits, and the noted friends
or Mr.. Morton look down upon him as he
does his work. In the center of the
wall at the right. there is big photo
graph in black frame of Gambetta-
who was premier during part
of the time he was minis
ter at Paris, and on the opposite side of
the loom is fine etching of President
Carrie Id, while in a corner next to the
mantel hangs big photograph of Pres
ldent Harrison, with half-length por-
trait above him of the president of the
French republic, MIR. Carnot. President
Garnet sent this picture to Vice Presi-
dent Morton few days ago with his
compliments, and the vice president
mas photographs of all the great leaders
OF France. The mantel piece is lined
with photographs, and there is a nne
old engraving of Lafayette, by Ary
Schaeffer, on the wall near the door.
Vice President Morton has artistic
tastes, and throughout his whole house
you may see the pictures and engrav-
ingS which he picked up abroad. There
Is little new furniture in the house. so
Mrs. Morton tells me, and the most of
the things used were brought here from
New York and Paris. Leave the work
shop and cross the hall and you enter
the parlors. They are separated from
the Il hall by portiers. You no
is of rich brown velvet plush.
embroidered with flowers, and the
other costly Turkish curtain which
evidently once closed the door of Ma
hommedan mosque. You pass by a
screen covered with fine broussa en-
broidery in going into the library, and
this library is the first of the parlors.
1t IS large room walled with low book
cases and hung with fine paintings.
Inc cases come to the height of your
waist, and books in fine bindings look
out of the shelves through glass doors.
Above the cases the walls are hung
with dark red satin of a fine enough
quality to make a dress for White
house reception, and against this back
ground hang the paintings. There are
two full-length portraits of the vice
president and his wife by Bonnatand;
these hang on the two sides of the back
of the room. These portraits are very
fine, ana the one OF the vice president
the great French artist says he con-
siders the second best thing he has ever
done. 1t represents Vice President
Morton standing. Ii is life-slze and it
is work of wonderful art. The paint
ing OF Mrs. Morton is equally fine, and
The vice presidents WIIe is one of the
.handsOmeSt of the wives of our states
men. She is of medium height, straight.
we'll formed, and her face is full of
strength and character. She has blue
eyes, and she dresses in exquisite taste.
iIhiS picture repI eSents her in an even
ng costume of dark red velvet, and the
color shows to advantage her beautiful
neck and arms.
The photographs VI .he room, how
ever, are quite as interesting as the
pictures. They are as numerous as
those OF the study. They are scattered
from one end of the library to the
other. and they stand in collections and
singly on every available spot. One
screen-like frame of thirty cabinet
photographs represents the royal fami-
lies of Europe, and Mrs. Morton picked
these up while she was abroad. ]
asked her whether she had met all the
persons represented in the frame, but
she told me that the French court was a
republican one, and that her acQuaint-
ances had been more democratic. She
pointed to another frame, in which the
pictures of Gambetta and other French
leaders stood side by side with Blaine,
Lincoln and other American statesmen,
and she showed me small Sevres bust
of President Grevy, which he had given
to Minister Morton.
Vice President Mortoh's house,
| strangely enough, rivals the White
house, not only as society center, but
even in the style of its finish. The
| library is the red room, and the room
| that opens into this is furnished i'm tint
very nearly akin to that of the blue
| room of the White house. There is a
third parlor, whose walls are hung in
satin of greenish tint, and should the
vice president take out his dining table
| and turn his dining room into a ball
room, he would have small East room
| at the end.
The furniture of these two second
| parlOrs is of gilt wood, upholstered in
delicate yellow satin, and the pictures
which hang upon the walls are by noted
artists. A red velvet carpet runs through
the seyenty-tive feet of reception rooms,
and red velvet rug forms the center
of the dining room. The house itself
is furnished in exquisite taste, and
it is one of the finest, though not
Morton's stable is as elaborate as his
house. 1t is part of the house, and is
| of the same red pressed brick with
| black lines running around it. The
vice president has swell coachman
| and footman in rich plum-cOlOred liv-
| cry, who wear stiff cOckaded hats, and
drive his housekeeping bays hitched to
big coach with red wheels.
During the winter much has been
| said about the vice presidents bar at
his new Shoreham hotel. This hotel is
big apartment house, at which many
Of the most noted of Washington peo-
pie live and in which they pay from
$500 to 81, 800 per year for a suite of
furnished rooms. There is restaurant
on the ground floor, and il was in this
that the bar was said to be located. Mr..
Morton's agents were interviewed on
the subject, and he himself expressed
| great indignation at the statement.
| The truth is that the application
for a license to sell liquor was
made without his knowledge, and that
| he had no interest in the hotel beyond
the leasing of its apartments through
his agents. 1t was true that license
had been granted, and it was part of
the agreement at the time of the renting
of the flats that no part of them should
be used as bar or saloon for the sale of