The Portland daily press., 1891-03-23
WASHINGTON GOSSIP.
Mr.. vaux and his Reverence fol
'soId Hickory"
Correspondence of the Press

Correspondence of the Press.l
WASHINGTON, March 19.-Two pictur
esque old men who left public life at the
end of the last congress, probably never
to return to it, were General Banks, of
Massachusetts, and Mr.. Vaux, of Phila-
delphia. Not for many years have two
more notable old men been seen in con-
gress together. Both were great pedes-
trians, fond of rambling about the city
at all hours. have come across them,
first one and then the other, early in the
morning and late at night Each walked
alone, being solitary in his habits. They
were not companions; in fact neither of
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 to contain the French
monument to General Lafayette, as well
as the famous equestrian statue of Gen
eral Andrew jackson, when in front of
the big bronze horse a queer figure
caught my eye? 1t 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, and
bowling solemnly and respectfully toward
the metal Jackson towering above him.
did not understand his pantomime, and
had forgotten it till one day in converse
ton with group of congressman Mr..
Vaux's name was mentioned, and | mar
rated the incident at the jackson statue.
"That is nothing new to me-" said
Representative Mansur, of Missouri.
"Mr. 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 to 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 a
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 poser which the anti-tobac-
conist will find it difficult to meet Mr..
Vaux tells me that he smokes three ci-
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 lifetime ago.
So he went into many of the offices and
committee rooms where his friends used
to be. and babe them 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 publicist
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 wrung
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 as 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
one 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, and the one to
whom all subscription papers for CHAIR.
table purposes are first taken. The old
senator has 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 o.
his luncheons, cigars and newspapers
In running over these few weeks ago
for the purpose of balancing his accounts
for the year 1890, Senator Sawyer dis
covered a discrepancy of something lik'
| SSa noo Rut he was not alarmed.
81 know lust what that u.s." he said
zone class of expenditures of which