The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-07-15
GIVE GEORGE A CHANCE.
HE WAS A BIG MAN IN HIS DAY EVEN
} IF HE is FORGOTTEN.

of His Country-An Example of the
Changes That Time Makes.
Away down on Broad street there is a
building in which great men used to
meet, but which they keep away from
now.
In it met stately George Clinton, the
no less stately General Knox, and there
General Hamilton drank wine or coffee
with Burr long before they met on the
fields above Weehawken. Thomas JET
ferson sat and discussed politics in that
very house with Robert Morris and Ed
mund Randolph, and if they did not al
ways agree it did not matter for the mo-
ment.
In the same days at odd times great,
dignifed figure would sometimes ap-
pear in an upper room Of this very house.
This man had large head, not all
swelled, and large feet, too, for that
matter. He stood head and shoulders
above the rest, and in statelness sur
passed them all. He drank his rum and
water with relish or else he took wine
that was really good with that enjoy
ment that is felt by the man who knows
the worth of good vintage. A dark look
ing man was near to attend to every de-
sire of this stately man.
The other habitues of the house treated
the dark man with familiarity. They
addressed him as SAM" and called on
him from time to time to hotly pursue
his boys from the taproom below to the
room above with the tankards and the
crackers and cheese that were ordered.
The stately man was treated with rever-
ence. Hats were off and tongues were
still when he spoke, which was seldom.
They called him General" and in his
presence contentious minds forgot to dis
pute.
THE HEADQUARTERS TODAY.
For this was General Washington, and
the dark attendant was "Black Sam"
Fraunces, and the house was ''Fraunces'
tavern"
The other day newspaper man who
still finds something to admire in Wash
ington visited this old tavern that, until
little over year ago, still bore on its
wall a sign that designated it as wash
ington's Headquarters. The sign is not
there now. The old wainscoting is gone
from the taproom on the lower floor.
The stairs that Washington and Jeffer
son, John Adams, Hamilton and the rest
of them used in their day are torn down,
and bar, over which schooners of beer
are sold by stolid German gentleman,
stands where it did.
You approach the "long room, sacred
to Washington and his officers, by an
entrance, on one side of which is cheap
barber shop, on the other signs to the eff.
feet that you can get lodgings for gen.
tlemen only" also liver and bacon, sauer-
kraut, kidney stew and other dishes of
the kind for practically nothing,
These delicacies are served in what
was known as the ''Long ROOM" where
Washington and his generals met in
their day. If Washington and some of
the stately men of his day could now
visit this room at that hour of the day
when kidney stew is most rampant they
might be trife shocked.
In one corner of this "Long Room"
where the dodgers eat, bust of George
Washington still stands. 1t shows up
his big head and nose in very fair way.
But when you see it in room filled
with the odor of kidneys, sauerkraut and
cOrned beef the effect is little spoiled.
SHABBY TREATMENT.
L.,
the Long Room" not many months ago
and saw this bust. 1t was in the morn
ing, and the cooks had some cabbages
piled about the bust of the Father of his
Country. Perched upon the top of the
head, so to speak, of the figure was the
battered derby hat of some person I'M
known This man was big man, so he
kicked few of the cabbages away and
threw the hat out of the window. To
German waiter who then appeared on
the scene he expressed himself frankly
and freely.
How dare you treat figure of George
Washington that way" he demanded.
'Vot George Vashington?" said the
waiter. Then the American walked out
of the place IN dazed sort of way and
went up Broad street. Right in front of
the sub-treasury he noted the big statue
of Washington that stands there. He
looked at the brightness of the shoes and
stockings as they are represented as
compared with the general dinginess of
the rest of the figure. He did not know
that crank came along some time ago
and frightened up the statue from the
buckled shoe TO the knee, for he ex-
claimed in anger:
''Ef they haven't BACKED his feet and
legs with stove blackin'I No wonder
New York didn't git the Worlds fair if
she's too mean to give George a fair
show"
Then he drifted sadly away. His re-
marks We're hardly fair Still the so
ciety of the Cincinnati" has had its head
quarters in Fraunces' for more than 100
years, and in that particular locality at
least, TO use the expression of the rural
patriot quoted above, George is not
getting fair show. New York Re-
corder.
Vpf,- y