Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1894-05-31


not proud enoug. to make distinc-
/ tions. There are no castles IN the rat
world.
The rats and mice in the white
| house are not so numerous as they
used to be. The late wife of President
Harrison was home-loving woman
and therefore good housekeeper; and
she determined soon after her family
was domiciled in the executive man
sion that the rats must go. An expert
was sent for, and he brought some fer
rets to Washington to battle with
| their hereditary domestic enemies
The expert carefully stopped up all of
the holes except one, into which he in
troduced the ferrets. The rodents fed
out of their labyrinthine underground
passages through the only exit left
| open, at which trained Scotch terriers
stood waiting to grab and kill them
with a shake apiece. The fcrrets do
most important service by seeking out
the nests of young rats and eating
their brains, of which they are ex-
! treme1y fond. On the occasion re-
ferred to the wooden floors in the
| basement of the executive mansion
were taken up and concrete was laid
down instead. This was done mainly
for the purpose of keeping out such
four-footed foes in the future. The
mice in the building are few, by rea-
son of the efficiency of black and
white cat that strayed in and settled
down in the kitchen five years ago.
Mrs. Cleveland had considerable
trouble with white house rats duriDg
her first term in the executive man
sion, and was agreeably surpri sed at
the commencement of her second term
to find tire number of the rats greatly
reduced. She used a great deal of poi
son and many traps during her first ad-
Ininistration, but managed to keep
them in subsection by using traps only
during her second term
The rats were SO numerous, hungry,
aggressive and impudent when Gen.
Grant commenced his first term that
Mrs. Grant compelled the removal of
the stable, which then adjoined the
building on the east. But the destruc-
ton of the stable did not remove the
rodent pests. In fact, they. were so
bold that one of them tripped up the
fat colored cook as she walked across
the kitchen, and she killed it by sitting
down upon it. The animals made a
network of tunnels under the brick
pavemcnts and in the walls. They
were not content with ordinary food,
but preferred the remnants of state
dinners : particularly chicken GRO
quettes and pate de foie gras. They
lived high while Andrew johnson was
president, because Mr.. johnson was a
high liver and did not care much about
his surroundings. This was unfortu-
nate, because there were persons at
that time resident in the executive es-
tablishment to whom the presence of
rats. real or imaginary was particu-
larry Objectionable. subsequently
the superintendent of public buildings
and grounds repeatedly tore up the
floors and rebuilt the sewers, but with
out effect.
The first good overhauling which the
white house has received in genera
ton was superintendent by the wife OF
President Hayes in the summer of III
The family residence was taken up in
the presidents cottage at the Nationa
Soldiers home, north of the city. Leav
ing her husband there, Mrs. Haye:
drove into town every day, opened al
the doors and windows and aired the
white honse thoroughly while the
workmen were remodeling sewers
water pipes and floors Billy Crump
who was steward of the white house
Nnder Hayes and Garfield. declared