The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-01-12
THEY TOOK A VACATION
Nearly Every President Has Had
One Except the Unfortunate
Abraham Lincoln.
But Some Have Observed the
Rules Which Govern Minor
Officers.
10 Free From ofloIal Cares
and Duties.

Where tho Chief Executives Have Gone to
Ee Free From ottloIal Cares u
and Duties.
Ths president az the Unitad States Id d
very important part OF the government
machinery nt Washington, but that the ma.
ohinery can run along pretty smoothly
without the Grief engineer has been very
well demonstrated this summer, says the
New York Iimes. William the RESTLESS.
emperor OF Germany, is not mora oil a Wis
itor than benjamin Harrison, and il ID many
years since tho cnpital has been so much
deserted az il has bsen this year. Mr..
Blaine set tho example by his early flight to
Bar Harbor, and the president coon after
ward stretched his wings and was waited TO
Cape May. In the matter. OF their yaca-
tions there has always been 9 striking dit
ference in presidential tastes. Some like
to place themselves 9 u n par with all the
small government officers and to observe
the law that regulates their leave OF Obj
ssnce, while others like to transact bust
meas at q distance from tho sent Of govern
ment.
The law which governs leaves Of absence
in tho departments in Washington has been
in effect for a number OF years. by it no
clerk is allowed moro than thirty days
leave with pay in u year; but if he should be
i'll he lie allowed extra leave for that, pro-
vided it does not extend beyond q period Of
sixty days. Thus no may, in exceptional
circumstances be ahsent from his desk for
ninety days and be paid as though he had
done his work; but II he has a protracted
illncss lasting longer than this. he must
lose his pay. So says the law, and il ls prob
abls that it is obeyed in the main, but, OF
course, the higher officers are subject to no
regulation in this matter. and can take as
long vacations as they zee fit. Naverthe-5
less, II was the custom OF Mr.. Cleveland,
md OF Mr.. Arthur also, to set the example
of adherlng to the rule that governs tho
small government officers, and neither OF
them ever took a vacation purely for reore-
alton lasting more than thirty days. But
White house they did ii completely.
President Arthur used to spend his month
in camping out and fishing. He and Gen.
Sheridan went off together one summer and
explored the region of the Yellowstone Ma
tional park. They camped in spots remote
sITCn uaDlGAUlOuAs uLlA WSlS LIZ 90 -
accessible to tho worries and cafes OF office
as it they were snugly living in the islands
Of Bermuda before the cable was laid. MI.
Cleveland used to enjoy the same rough
life, and loved to bury himself in the noun
tain Businesses of the A%dirondacks, where
he hunted and caught fish. He was not al
together inaccessible there, however. as he
found out. 1t seems TO be the sacred right
of all free Americans to modest the chief
magistrate whenever it suits them. he can
not even catch 3 fish but they insist upon
knowing its weight, and he cannot shoot at
Il deer but sixty millions OF people must
know whether he hit Or missed.
10 glance at the lives of tho Presidents ia
to show ut once that the farmer prasidentiB
u thing Of the past. Our recent presidents,
to use IN expression Of the frontier, live
in tho settlements Mr.. Cleveland's home
CITY, Hayes lived in a small town, and
Grant had no home. Only Garfield, Of
modern presidents, was . cOnntIyman. Ills
home Was a farm.
But, going back to the beginning, it was
very different. Washington, Madison and
Jefierson had only one idea when they took
u rest. Thoy went as fast as horses could
carry them to their plantations IN Virginia.
Washington had to ride or drive all the
way from Philadelphia or New York to
reach his beloved Mount Vernon, Y tJefer-
son had only 120 miles travel, and Madison
IlOE moro LuNll ulubhys OoAA fAAilAS u q
most formidable trip to reach his Massa-
chusetts country place, and he consequent
lv took few vacations, and his son, John
Quincy Adams. was ono OF the hardest
working prssidents we have ever had.
Jefferson, on the other hand, abgented
himself from the seat of government for
prolonged periods in the summer, but the
shades OF Monticello are SO entioinR that
one can hardly blame him. In order to
reach his estate he journeysd almost due
south from Washington through q country
that steadily grows more beautiful until
Monticello is reached. A most wTetchedr road
it was that he Travelled over, and a wrotched
road it is cow, full Of rocks and stones and
holes, and barely passahle except on horse
back, but he wAs repaid for his journey.
About ten miles to ths northward Jefferson
could sec Peters 81 mountain 0verhnnEing him,
but he did not dream then that a Virginia
girl would n hundred ysars afterward make
Peters mountain quite famous. He had q
commanding viow on the west, too, a cir
culn8tance that stood him in good stead
early in his career. when he had spied Col.
Tarleton and the British forces coming
the Virginia legislature. Thomas Jefferson
saw them from the porch OF hla house and
very wisely ran away.
Twenty miles nearer the capital WAS the
place whore Madison passed his vacations,
where he had always lived, and where he
IAally QleQ. Ii 0lOltlCnllo 10 CHdIlllluky
what onn bs said of Montpelier? No Wondar
the sage, Madison, loved the spot. From
his front porch he had suoh q view Of the
towering Blue Ridge mountains, Thirty
miles away as one seldom SEES, end about
his house md back of 1T he had 4 park and
lawn and fine old trees, such HI are rarely
met with, except on soms or the finest
estates on tho Hudson river. There WAS
something simple ard healthy in the vaca-
ton lives of theSe formor presidents. For
them there were no aummet-resoft recer-
tions, no long line of han shakers, no in
cessaut ~speechmAking, no lunketing for
votes.
jackson was another planter president,
who loved his falm better than any other
place, and Monroe was equally attached to
Round Hill. But when Old Hickory went
home this psopla along the road went wild
with enthusiasm, and they even followed
him to the doors of the hermitage. There
he sat and smoked his corncob pipoa and
listened to his tlattcreJn and stormed
against his enemies, but the peaceful,
philosophical repose that Monroe, Je1fer-
son, Madison, and Washington always
orayed and partially found when they we're
on their estntrs was not for tho mnstcr of
the Hermitage. Liquid Ere ran through
hia veins. and, like the old gentleman i'll
nicholas Nicklehy," he wanted II meal OF
thunder sandwiches and bottled lightning.
There was rfb rest for the Iron general. and
his vacations seldom lasted long or brought
relaxation to his nervous spirit.
President Harrison, like President Ar
thur, and unlike all Of tho old-tima pres
idents, has no country home. He seems to