The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-04-16

volved at the time Of his election to the
senate. He is good story teller. and it
Is said that he knows Shakespeare bv
heart and can repeat Paradise Lost" from
beginning to end. He has besutifut
wife ana very bright family. am told
that he had fiery red head rs . boy,
though his hair is now q beautiful brown
and his whiskers are almost black. Two
OF his girls have red hair. The youngest
OF these was only five years old when her
little baby brother was born. She saw the
oaid-headed baby and that night they say
she closed her prayer as follows:
Please. God, bless baby brother, but
don't let him have red hair We have
enough red heads In this family already"
Senator Washburn and Mr.. Lowry are
interested in the 500 road together, and
they are rapidly pushing this on to COM
meet with the Canadian Pacific. When
this Is done it will form the last great
trunk line across tho continent. I am
told by Senator Washburn that the 500
Its local freight and its lumber shipments
are enormous. There are millions Of tele-
graph poles lying along it awaiting ship
ment and 1t promises to pay well.
Speaking of Washburn, his residence
here Is worth fortune. 1t is An immense
white stone surrounded by ten acres Of
ground, every foot of which is valuable.
and Is again rich.
st. Paul has dozens Of great houses
which would do credit to any Eastern
city, but the residence of Mr.. James ].
Hill, the Great Northern railway mag.
nate, Is one of the really fine houses Of the
world. George W. Chiids, when he visited
IL, said it surpassed that of the Van.
derbilts in many ways. and that he
liked IL better than his own homo al
with Mr.. Hil's friend. Mr.. George p'1 a.
Brackett. yesterday. and like It far better
than the home of North, the nitrate king.
which saw in England last summer. Il
Is more homelike and less gaudy. It 10
located in st. Paul on Summit avenue, and
Its grounds slope down toward the Missis-
slppi river. 1t has acres of grounds about
1t, and its windows give wide views of the
hills and valleys of the Mississippi. The
house Is an immense two-story building OF
brown stone put together in the rough aud
crowned With steel root. which slopes
down in many gables. A port cochere big
enough for an ordinary house, under
which you could haul the biggest load Of
hay you have ever seen without touching
its walls or its sides. forms the entrance TO
1t, and as you go into this you are im-
pressed with the massiveness and solidity
of the structure. The house looks a.
though it were built to outlast the ages.
The walls are about four feet thick. and
In constructing 1t Mr.. Hill went down
thirty-eight feet until he struck the solid
bed rock tor the foundation, This is one
of the characteristics of his work--he eoea
to the bottom of everything before he b.
gins 1t and builds substantially and with.
out frills or filigrees. His railroad officea
at st. Paul are severely plain in their COM
struction, and you see the same good taste
displayed about every part of his house.
The front doors are Of massive oak. beaus
ffrli Vy npvyc<J q - ~
over a vestibule Of Roman mosaic as care.
fully inlaid rs Florentine breastpin. into
grand hall finished in antique oak An
you 60 In you note that the walls are Of
carved oak and that the ceiling is of the
same wood in great panels. You come
promenade corridor of the White House.
but tar moro beautifully finished. 1t muse
be hundred feet long and about twenty
feet wide, and 1t runs from the picture
gallery at one end to the great mahogany
dining room at the other. Its root In made
up Of four great panels enclosed in rafters
of carved oak, each four feet wide, and
these are upheld by eight duted oak col.
umns, each Of which 10 a. big around
Is the waist Of good sized man. The
walls Of his hall are hung with 6ne paint
tngs. lts floor - covered with soft rugs.
and it's lighted. - are the large rooms Of
the house. In most wonderful way.
strung IS it were upon wires. seems to
hang down . bushel Of diamonds. These
are prisms Of cut glass festooned In the
shape Of basket and lighted by electric.
ity. which. coming from the globes be.
hind them and reflected BY mirrors above.
nation. There are four Of these diamond
baskets in the hall, one in the dining
room, another in the library and others
in the music. reception and drawing
rooms. A chandelier always looks out Of
place in house. II makes . big room
look larger and a small room look smaller,
but these diamond baskets take up mo-
room and they are the most beautiful
things / have ever seen in house lighting.
From the center Of this hall rises the stare
case between these two huted columns, by
easy landings to the second story, and
looking down upon you from it, as you
come in. are great windows Of stained
glass, which throw soft light into the
hall. At the right and left OF the staircase
are CRATES covered by mantels Of tho same
massive oak, and over one Of these is =
painting of Mrs. Hall and the other Of Mr..
Hill.
the dining room is about fifty feet long
by thirty feet wide. 1t ID finished in
South American mahogany, and the fur.
niture - OF the same wood. The walls
from your feet to above your head are
paneled In the richest of mahogany, which
has polish equal to that of the finest
piano. The Getting is made up of panels
framed in great mahogany rafters and
the panels are OF rough stucco covered
with gold leaf. Window seats run around
the end of the dining room, sitting upon
which you can look out over the Mississ-
ippi. There is n great sideboard of ma.
hogany twelve feet long filled with the
finest of china and cut glass. In two cor.
ners of the room are glass covered Gun.
boards filled with beautiful glassware.
and on the sideboard and other places
about the room are pieces of the finest
of all kinds of china. not few being OF
Sevres and Royal Dresden. The butter
was with me while i stood in the room
and he told me the cost Of furnishing it
was over $4,000. The dining table is or
carved mahogany. and it is of immense
size. In fact, all the furniture
in this house is fully from one
third to twice as large as that you
md in ordinary houses. Mrs. Hill told
me that when she came into the house shs
Was surprised at the immense size Of the
rooms and she was in despair as to how
she could make them look smaller and
more homehke. She did so by having the
furniture made in proportion, and the 70.
suit Is that the whole house has q home.
like character and everything is harmoni.
Gus. In Mrs. Hili's bedroom. for instance.
the bed, OF white maple, is six feet wide.
bnt it does not look larger than an ordis
nary one, and was not aware that il was
solArge 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 com bination