The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-02-12

| paper. There are many women IN Wash
ington who write for the press, and
some of them earn large incomes too,
but only one has entree to the press gal
lery. This lady, Mrs. Burke, is the regu-
larly accredited and very industrious
| correspondent of western paper, and
she takes her place among the large
number of newspaper men and manages
to get all the news in which her employ
ers are interested, but the fact is she
meets with no very cordial welcome at
the hands of her fellow workers. The
newspaper correspondents here have al
ways been opposed to letting women
into the gallery, and while they couldn' t
keep Mrs. Burke out under the rule,
they have managed TO exclude her name
from the list of correspondents printed
in the congressional directory. These
school miStresses of whom [ have been
writing saw Mrs. Burke at her work in
the senate gallery, smiled approvingly
at her, and l dare say gloried, one and
all, in her spunk.
1t would be easy to write two OF three
columns about the manner in which
our schoolma'a ans explored every nook
and Granny of the city of Washington,
paid their respects TO the president and
the members of his cabinet, interviewed
officials of all degrees of rank and use
fitness about the details of their work,
and left behind them in snow and air
and the memory of all with whom they
had come in contact one large, insistent,
persuasive interrogation point. But be-
fore going any further with this pleasant
recital l want to retell story which
was told me by the man at the Wash
ington monument, and which is fairly
illustrative of what a woman will do
when her predominating propensity, the
curiosity of sightseeing, is fully reused.
1.-The schoolma' ans have rode up and
down, and walked up and down, taken
views from the top and bottom and of
rhe interior with their kodaks and fash
lights, said the man who stands at the
door of the big obelisk, ''but the queer
est case we ever had here was that of
woman from Vermont, who came one
NN -eA-h CAA44A4~CAs II HIAANA NEtNN III
several hours that day something was
wrong with the steam pipes in the power
house, and the elevator wasn't runnin
nor the electric lights which illuminate
the interior of the shaft. When our
lady from Vermont arrived we told her
how things was, and advised her TO come
again the next day. when the steam
would surely be all right, and she could
be taken up. But she wouldn't have 1t
that way. She said she had come all
the way from Vermont, was going home
that night, and must see the top Of
George Washington monument or her
trip to the capital would be nothing but
a failure. Couldn't she walk up: Ger
talnly, madam, says l, but You are
lame, and don't see how you could ever
make it You see, she was on clutches,
poor thing! Oh can salE IT. said she,
if yIun just give me a chance But
argued, the interior Of the monument
is as dark as pitch. Look up and see:
its great hole Of blackness, with
mere speck Of light barely visible at the
top We'll, can't You lend ne lantern?
'HaTen't lantern about the premises
"A candle, then By this time, you may
imagine, was interested in the woman
liked her spunk. and so l went down
10 the engine room and brought her up
a candle. She thanked me for II, took
II II her hand, seized her clutches IN
determined sort OF way. and slowly dis
appeared IN the darkness overhead. Wei,
sir, IN about three-quarters Of ar hour
she came down again, radiant and tn
umphant, the only woman that I know
Of who ever walked 70 the top Of the
monument on crutches with only tai
low candle 10 light her way
WALTER WuLMAN-