The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-06-07

| WASHINGTON, May 29.-At the we'd
ding of Margaret Blaine and Walter
Danrosch it was found necessary to
limit the number of invitations on ac-
count of the smallnesS of the house Yet
the house which Mr.. Blaine occupies is
not a small ore by any means. It has
an enormous drawing room and two or
three large parlors, apartments which
can be readily thrown into one. It is
oue Of the largest houses in the city, and
! probably can accommodate as large a
throng on a social occasion as any other.
| Washington, is full of large houses, de-
signed for social entertaining, and yet
| the general complaint is that the houses
are too small. PaTI9rs are often crowd
| ed almost to sUiTocation. In no other
| way can the growth Of the society Of the
| capital be better illustrated than by this
| increasing inadequacy Of the houses
which do the official entertaining. The
Official society Of the capital is built on
such lines that it has ouCgrOwn even the
| handiwork of the architect and the
| builder Mr.. Blaine's own house, occu-
pied by Nr. Letter, is one Of the largest
private houses in the country, and at
times It is not large enough for the de-
mands made on it. All the cabinet
! officers find the same trouble, though
they rented the largest dwellings they
could find in the city. The palatial
home Of the vice president comes nearer
filing the biIl than any of the other
official houses, but even it is sometimes
uncomfortably thronged. The fact is,
at no distant day the leading official
homes in Washington viii have to be
palaces, or prove inadequate to the needs
Of the elaborate and extended society
which foCks to them.
One Of the most magnificent houses in
Washington is that which Senator Hearst
has Just occupied. That is TO say, the
Hearsts have occupied q part Of the
house; though 1t is hardly fair to say
that Senator Hearst has occupied this
house, either, for ne IS not much of a
factor in the domestic organization. The
great house has been built and furnished
entirely by Mrs. Hearst. The senator
has not bothered his head about the mat
ter, except to pay the bills, an easy task
for him. Ee told Mrs. Hearst to go
ahead and pick out her site and see her
architect and the contractors and build
I'D a house, and when she was ready to
move in he would move in with her and
that would be all there was to it, so fan
as he was concerned. He has faithfully
kept his part Of the contract, and when
Mrs. Hearst decided to move into part
of the house while tho remainder was be-
ing finished Uncle George, as the senator
is known by ell OF his friends, took pos
session Of the little corner assigned him
without bit of grumbling. But Mrs.
Hearst was a bitterly disappointed wo,
man. The great house was promised he1
by the contractors the first day Of last
October; then it was to be ready in No
vember, and finally in December.
Surely" Mrs. Hearst thought, eve
shall be able to get in for the social sea
SON" Cut it was Lent before even a
part of the house could be occupied, and
to this day the workmgn are harmering
away in some of the best rooms of the
house.
The lesson Of this is that if palaces ara
needed for the leading houses of the
American capital, the palaces should be
built. They cannot be ordered one
month and be ready for occupancy the
next. The American style Of building
homes TO order. much as shoema!1ers
make shoes or tail0rs trousers, VIII not
apply with satisfactory results in the
creation Of palaces such as Washington
Is becoming the seat Of.
The tendency here now is toward great
houses. Probably there are fifty houses
in town which would do credit to any
European capital They are not exactly
palaces, but the palace is the next step
beyond. One may look forward a few
years and IN his minds eye see the hills
which surround = asningtoQ covered
with castles and cllateaux Of princely
grandeur. These win be the homes not
of earls and dukes and barons. but of the
wealthy citizens of America who seek
along with a delightful climate the social
advantages OF the capital 4 Gordon of
hills surrounds the entire city. at a dis
lance varying from two to four miles
from the Capitol, and when these are
crowned by modern palaces and castles,
as they some day viii be, the result viii
be city the fairest on earth.
Going back again TO the Hearst house
1t is said its mistress has discovered al
ready that a mistake was made in not
planning for a mansion twice as large.
Ii Is a house of seventy rooms. and one
hundred and fifty rooms would be about
right, she thinks TINS is enwoaching
upon the domain OF the palatial, sure
enough, and such quantities of furniture
as that house has swallowed up, continu-
ing to cry Justify for more. Every day
for three months big wagons have been
emptied of their contents Ii front Of the |
Hearst mansion. have heard it said
that there is already in the house Sl70.- /
600 worth Of furniture, rugs, pictures and /
hanglngs, and l can easily believe it. /
Many of the fine pictures ana antique /.
rugs were purchased by Mrs. Hearst /
while abroad. and her fancies and not /
the prices dictated every investment. |
Much Of TIE furniture W made to ordeI |
from designs furnished by the architect |
or by Mrs. Hearst herself
This IS a pretty dpa house, Of course, /
said Uncle George Hearst, while smok- |
ing his after dinner cigar in a room lined I
and ceiled with his favoTiTe California I
red weed, ''but it IS nothing like the old /
home we used to have down IN Missouri. /
Think of an old fashioned southern farm |
house, with a big gallery o. porch run |
ming around the whole structure, great |
lawn in front. fllsd with trees hundred /
years old, well WATCH contained the /
best water IN TIE vo-.d and an orchard /