Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-04-18

me that when she came into the house she
| was surprised at the immense size Of the rooms
aud she was in despair as to how she could
make them look smaller and more homelike.
She did so by having the furniture made in
| proportion. and the result is that the whole
house has homelike character and everything
is harmonious. In Mrs. Hills bed room, for
instance. the bed. OF white maple. is six feet
| wide but it does not look larger than an
| ordinary one. and was not aware that it was
large until my attention was called TO it. The
| sofas are very long and the chairs and tables
| match Even the lamps have been made larger
than those of ordinary houses. and the result is
a combination which you will not find in the
great palaces Of Europe nor in the other fine
! houses of the world. Speaking of lamps. one
| on the center table in the music room has a
body two feet high and is fully foot in
j diameter. Mrs Hill hunted for it for long
time, and finally had it made out of q vase
which she found which just harmonized with
the coloring of the room.
THE DEN OF RAILROAD MAGNArE.
The living room Of the house is the library,
and just off Of this is Mr.. Hills den. It is not
more than ten feet square and it is walled in
mahogany 1t has an air of solidity about it,
and it is furnished elegantly but simply. On
the book cases on one side Of the room are
great volumes of railway reports and railway
magazines, while globe stands in one corner.
There is little library table under the window
! with paper and pens on it. and at the rear Of
the room there is = mahogany door, which
opens into great vault, in which is stored at
times, l doubt not, securities which are worth
millions.
THE BASEMENT AND THE ATTIC.
The basement and the attic of this great man
sion are to me even more interesting than the
living rooms. The house must have a quarter
of an acre of floor space and the basement is q
housa in itself IL has a hall IN wide that
could drive a wagon through it without grazing
the walls and its rooms are all large, airy and
| well lighted. The floors are Of marble. The
halls and rooms are paneled with slabs OF white
MARI lie polished that you can see your face in
them and the whole is lighted by electricity.
These marble floors rest bed of mineral
| wool and 80. 900 pounds Of mineral wool were
used in making this house freproof. Mr.. Hill
says IL is treproof. ratproof and cyclone proof.
| and it has steel roof over the whole of it SO
| strong that YOU could run a train Of cars over
it without injury. The attic has been turned
into a tneater for the amusement Of Mr. Hills
children. and there is miniature stage here
and an audience room about thirty feet wide
by fifty feet long. The stage has scenes and
toolights. and it Is. in fact. complete little
theater. The boTs have magic lantern and
/ hey sometimes give exhibitions.
TWO TONS OF COAL A DAY.
1t takes two tons of coal day to keep this
uOuhc wal ytlib oOlio Al ioOhiuS
at the great boilers in the basement. There is
an engineer who does nothing else but attend
! to these and Mrs. Hill tells me thai the house
! is so thick that during the past winter they
have not had 20 open the registers OF the differ
ent rooms for neat. but have only had to warm
the halls. The engines represent 800 horse
power. and if you will keep 800 horses at work
| day and night you will get idea of the
| amount of force that it takes to turn winter
| into summer for Sir James j. Hill. There is II
dynamo and electric plant connected with the
house. One OF the most interesting parts OF
the basement is the laundry. 1t has a marble
floor and brick walls. The washing is done in
great porcelain tubs ard the clothes put on
racks that are rolled in and out of cases under
which steam pipes are cooled. These pipes
keep the temperature of the drying cases Mt
+ l3U degrees and the clothes are dried in & iify.
The kitchen has the same marble floors, but its
tables are Of white who'd. which clean
those of Dutch housewife | noticed that
most OF the cooking utensils were of copper
and the range seemed to me to be large enough
Tor the roasting of an OK.
HILLS FAMILY LIFE.
As 1 said above. the strongest feature Of this
big mansion is its home-like character. Mr..
Hill is man of domestic tastes. He loves his
family and he has beautiful home life His
wife has borne him nine children: and when
took lunch with her there were three pretty
! old boy with the table. The lunch was
| served in the breakfast room, and it was as
I simple and unconventional as those which Won
find in any well-to-do family in the United
States any day. Mrs. Hill is q charming
! woman. She does not look to be more than
| forty. and though she has these nine children.
! there Is not gray hair in her head. and her
face is free from wrinkles. She is refined and
! well educated and is full OF common sense.
/ She is woman of remarkably good taste.
NJ cha oil
She is. l am told. always doing good in the way
CT charity nIr. Hill is himself very charitable.
| though most of his gifts are never known to
the public. Not long ago he attended a sermon
, of Bishop Irelcnd which pleas ed him very much.
! 1t Was oHe in which the great bishop preached
/ on true Amerlcanlsm, i'll which ne said it
every yOInS man duty to DC true American.
. to become permea'ed with the spirit of the
( country and 10 aid in Its government and de-
veopment. Al the close of the sermon Mr..
, Hill told the bishop he would like to have him
call upon him and that he would give him a
check which would enable him to carry out to
a certain degree his ideas. He did and he re-
! ceived more than half million dollars to build
II Catholic theological seminary. the priests
I Of which should be educated along
the lines which he had marked ont in
his sern1n. | don't know that Hill is
a Catholic, but he is grea. friend of the
archbishop. and Mrs. Hill showed me beauti-
| flu! medallion OF Leo Mi which the pope
/ recently sent as q present 10 MI. I'M. me
picture is as big aroand the palm of your
hand, and it represents a lovely face, kind and
gentle. As we looked at it remarked on the
sweetness of the expression of the good
fathers features, and Mrs. Hill said ''Yes, he
is beautiful character, and only wish he was
| fifteen years younger" l then asked her a
question or so about Bishop Ireland. and she
said that lady OF st. Paul who had recently
been in Rome had met the pope ard that he
had spoken in the highest terms Of the bishop,
| and had asked her if she one of his friends.
She replied: YES we people of the northwest
are all friends of Bishop Ireland" Whereupon
the pope said: II am glad to hear it, for think
| he needs friends FRANK G. CARPENTER
AN EVENING GOWN OF CREPE.