Telegram-herald., 1891-03-22
WASHINGTON GOSSIP
Mr.. vsux and His Reverence for
.Old Hickory"
POPULARITY OF SENATOR JONES
T~~aty-ftse Cigar. . Day-Gen. Basss
aad Hls Fare we'll 30 " sshingtos-
Senator sasysF's $1,000 tor
Charity


end Of the last congress. probably never
10 return 10 il, were General Banks. OF
Massachusetts,. aud Mr.. Vaux, Of Phils-
delphiA. Not for many years have two
more notable Old men been seen IN CON
yress together. Both were great pedes-
TRANS. fond of rambling about the city
AT al hours. have come across them,
Ilrst one and then the other. early In the
morning and late at night Each walked
alone. being solitary Ia his habits. They
were not com panions: in fact neither 81
them had any chums, though both were
liked and respected by all their asso
ciates.
Not long after sunrise one morning !
was passing through Lafayette park,
which Is the open square IN front of the
White House, soon 10 contain the French
monument 10 General Lafayette, as well
as the famous equestrian statue of Gen
eral Andrew jackson, when in front OF
the big bronze horse Il queer figure
caught my eve: IL was old Mr.. Vaux.
his ancient and battered hat in one hand.
smoking cigar in the other, his ample
gray locks floating in the wind, an
bowling solemnly and respectfully toward
the metal Jackson towering above him.
| did not understand his pantomime, ana
had forgotten il till one day in converse
ton with a group Of congressman Mr.
Naux's name was mentioned, and l mar
rated the incident at the jackson statue.
THAT is nothing new TO me" ssid
Representative Mansur, of Missouri.
MIR. Vaux and are very good friends.
and he tells me that since he has been IN
Washington he has not missed one morn
ing, rain or shine, snow or sleet. walking
from his hotel 10 the park before break
fast, pausing before the Jackson statue
and lifting his hat and solemnly bowling
to ''Old Hickory" You have probably
noticed that the old gentleman smokes
great deal. He is the greatest smoker
ever knew, and the fact that he has
lived To such ripe old age while filling
his skin every day with the poison OF
nicotine is a poser which the anti-tobac-
conist will find it difficult to meet. Nj.
Vaux tells me that he smokes three CT
CARS before breakfast, five or six between
breakfast and luncheon, seven or eight
before dinner and from five TO ten before
going TO bed. His average consumption
is twenty-five cigars day, and strong.
imported cigars they are too. 1t is a
wonder to me that he is alive, yet he has
been smoking like that for many years,
and is a pretty lively old man still"
1t was almost pathetic during the last
few days of congress to see old General
Banks making the rounds of the Capitol.
He knew he was to retire, never to re-
turn, at noon of March 4, and he wanted
to say goodby to all his friends and take
a parting look at all the old familiar
scenes, many of which he had first be
come acquainted with a lifetime ago.
So he went into many of the offices and
committee rooms where his friends used
to be, and b de them a tender farewell.
In many cases the desks at which the
old generals friends used to work are
now occupied by men who are strangers
to him, but this did not seem to make
any difference with the veteran publicir..
His memory for localities, always keen
in a pedestrian, is much stronger than
his memory for faces and names, and the
result was that General Banks wrrng
the hands of men whom he had never
seen before. Often in walking through
the main corridors of the Capitol he
would fancy persons were speaking TO
him, and stop and shake them warmly
by the hand, and say goodby and God
bless YOU" Some of the astonished
strangers looked at the white haired gen
eral IA if they thought him insane, not
knowing his weakness in Identification
of faces casually met, and his warm
hearted desire to say farewell to every
ono he had known.
Another interesting old man who will
retire from public life two years hence
is senator Sawyer. He Is the most pop
ular man in the senate, aud the one TO
whom all subscription papers for chart
table purposes are first taken. The old
senator has q business mans habit Of
keeping careful account of his receipts
and expenditures In his little memo
randum book Is jotted down every item
of income or outgo. even TO the cost Of
MS luncheons. cigars and newspapers.
Ia running over these few weeks ago,
for the purpose of balancing his accounts
for tho year 1900. Senator Sawyer dis
covered discrepancy of something like
5000. But he was not alarmed.
II know just what that is he said;
zone class of expenditures of which l
keep no account In my book is charity.
That Ia not business. and therefore | do
not treat it in business way. 1t sim
ply eoea. and there Il no use 81 having a
record Of IL. A. il is neither profit nor
loss. At the end Of the year | figure mp.
and the difference between what | haze
on hand and what ought TO have is
what have given away. Bless my soull
fear don't give half enough"
Il IL easy 10 imagine that kindly.
good humor>i. aSecsionste old man ~ho
gives away &is.ooo year. and is AFRAID
he ought 10 give more. does not lack for
popularity among hia a@aocistes II IL
this same old man who can put more
bills through the senate than any other
member ~ the body. His record on
private bills. pension bills. etc. worthy
cases all. yoa may b~ sure-hss never
been eanai~d No one objects 81 saw
yer's bills. no ono willngly pufs snT
ut~tArle- in hta say. every enc y willing
A .s....rt a.. =.