St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-06-08

she is with, tney look up cOnhdentlyifOr
nod and they always get it. After
breakfast, which always occurs exactly
at $50, Mrs. Harrison sees the steward,
Mckim, and gives him the orders for
the day. This means that she tells him
whether there are to be guests
and whether she wishes any
changes made in the decorations
of the private dining room. He arranges
the entire menu for the day. does the
marketing and oversees the servants.
Unless it is the housekeeping season,
that is all the time Mrs. Harrison gives
to her Kitchen, but you may be sure she
has just as much interest in everything
going we'll as young matron when
giving her first dinner, and she says
that the only difference between her
cares now and when she was private
citizens wife is that she does not need
to worry over the preparations for en-
tertaining.
She has introduced numberless
changes which give a hOme-like air to
the private dining room. One of these
is to have the table for breakfast and
luncheon spread with napkins, instead
OF with one large cloth. 1t gives the
table, which is large round affair of
very light oak. a dainty effect. Every
dish has pretty dolly, and in the CEN
ter there is always bowl of flowers.
Poorly Cared for China.
wonder if this country has any idea
where its china is kept. There isn't a
gentleman's house in the land that has
not better accommodations. There it is
all the elegant ware which former
mistresses of the White house gathered
with so much pride and in the face of
SO many grOWlS from the congressional
appropriation committees, which sup
piled the money-tucked, crammed and
damned into all unfinished closet which
would hardly kennel two maStiffS. No
wonder that so much of it is broken and
picked that each succeeding mistress of
the White house almost sheds tears over
the ruin of the thing most dear to a
woman's heart-rare china. Until
President Arthur's day there was not
even this closet. all the valuable china
being stored in the basement:
but he had this closet cut from
the little hallway by the ele-
vator. There are two rows of shelves
about three feet deep, and there the
three sets which belong to the service
are kept, one-third Of them being on
the floor. Mrs. Harrison says that of
the 1000 pieces, made at so great an ex-
pense in the Hayes administration.
there are not more than 400 left. WOm-
Ell all over the land know how it is not
to have enough silver knives and forks
to go round, and they have all felt the
anguish of seeing the most distinguished
guest get the plated one by mistake.
But who would dream that the White
house would not have enough knives
and forks to go round, and yet it is true.
Every time fifty people sit down to a
state dinner there two of them take
their bonillon from plated spoons, their
terrapin from plated forks, and cut the
fllet of beef with plated knives.
Not Enough to Go Around.
1t is horrible thought, but there are
only four dozen genuine silver knives,
forks and spoons in the buffers pantry,
and by the most skillful ingenuity they
cannot be made to do the duty for fifty
people. There is one set of knives and
forks in the sideboard which has his
tory, for it cost president a reelec
ton. These are the gold knives and
forks which Van Buren, added, and
/ when the people learned that the pub
lie moneys were being taken to put
gold spoons in presidents mouths, they
promptly defeated him. Now. the truth
of the matter is that they are not gold
at all, and the people were hasty in
their Judgment. They are sold silver
washed with gold, and it was only
few years ago-in President Arthur's
day-that they began to wear off and
disclose the hoax. He had them re-
washed, and they are still used on state
occasions. They are small, fine bladed
and much more delicate than those
commonly in use in this day. Many of
the larger pieces of silver date back to
Madison's day, although no memoranda
has been kept, and it is hard to tell
when things were purchased.
Making Presidential Pies.
The busiest place in the whole exec
utive mansion is in the basement, over
which Dolly Johnson. the colored cook,
presideS. Dolly is tall, fne-looking
woman, light of color, and probably
not much over thirty. President Harri-
son secured her short time ago from
Kentucky, and. from all accounts, Dol
iy knows how to suit presidential APP
petite much better than the former
cook, Nine. Pelouard, whose fanciful
French cooking was not at all to the
plain American taste. Mary Robinson
makes the pies, bakes the bread and
fries the crullers. and is the assistant
of Mistress Dolly johnson, who con-
fines her ambitions to brewing soups
and basting meats. The two can get up
| a dinner that would put Phillipini, Mic
olini and all the other $4,000 chefs to
| the test Delmonlco has no more Juicy
| meats than Dolly draws from her oven,
| and Vanderbilt's own chef cannot put
| up a better pastry than Mary. They
both wear tidy dresses of Dutch-blue
| calico and big white aprons that cover
| them from head to foot, but neither of
| them wear caps, as the least suggestion
| of livery is unbelievable at the White
| house.
There are two kitchens in which Dolly
| johnson can carry out ner dream of
| cookery, one under the private dining
room and of the same size, and the other
under the serving room and the buffers
pantry. The first is used when 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
| five-thousand-dollar houses, and one
! cannot help wishing that the people
who do so adore the quaint, historic
White house would geta peep into these
| dark, lily furnished rooms. The upper
| floors of the quaint, historic White
house are bad enough, but the base
ment would be condemned by even a
modern building inspector.
| Steward McKim and His Duties
Across the hall from the kitchen is
the stewards room, a large apartment
under the state dining room. Tt is
tastefully furnished with carpet and
| chairs sent from the INNER rooms and
contains large desk, where Mr.. Nc
/ IZ:.,a 81, tc,r.c tho hool-c