Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-02-13
WALTER WELLMAN, PRESIDENT OF THE
 PRESS CLUB.

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 WALTER wELLMAN, PRESIDENT OF THE | PRESS CLUB.
 ble. Then we lay aside the cares of office. crack jokes at each other about our expert ences with the office seekers and with the newspapers and contrive for a short time to | forget our miseries."
 Two Lively Clubs.
 It is a dull night in Washington that | does not show at least half dozen big din
 ners in progress. The greatest of all dinners | at the national capital, however, are those | given by the newspaper correspondents. The newspaper dinner has become one of the well recognized institutions of Wash ington. It is doubtful if any other city in | the world is able to present its like There are two organizations of newspaper men | here which give each an annual dinner, and wonderful dinners they are too. They cas- | fly eclipse everything else in that line known to the people of this country.
 The oldest of these organizations is the famous Gridiron club, of which Frank Hat | ton of the Washington Post is president. l It is composed of 10 correspondents wheth- l CT with an idea of initiating the 40 immor- | tals of the French academy not is un- | known. But at any rate the number of ac- | tive members is never permitted to go over i 40, and candidates are always waiting for | the vacancies. Inasmuch as the objection of two members of the club is sufficient to | blackball a candidate, some of the best l men in the ranks of the profession, on ac- l count of having enemies in the club have | found it impossible to gain admission. This | has naturally produced some irritation, and | among the younger correspondents of the | capital there is disposition to sheer at the | Gridiron men as "jOurnalists' and as chaps who imagine themselves a little bit better | than any one else in the world. The aver age newspaper man of Washington, as else | where, believes in and practices the most rigid democracy, and anything that savers ! of high mightiness at once rouses his ire. Fun That Is Furious.
 The open to all and up to date newspaper organization of the capital is the Press | club, of which Walter Wcllman is the pres | ident. Unlike the Gridiron, it has club | house and iS a club in the full and proper | sense of the term. But nearly all the mem bers of the Grdiron are also members of | the Press club, so such a thing as rivalry l between the two organizations is impossi | ble. While the Gridiron has but 40 mem | bers, the Press club has nearly 200 active members, all connected with the press, the great majority of them Washington core
 
 | ganizations gives a big annual dinner, and it | is difficult to say which club carries the ban | ner for originality of ideas, for fun and for | good times. The Gridironers go in rather | more for roasting" their guests and for l burlesques upon public questions and char acters, while the Press club has more dig nified dinner, usually with accessories of | decorations and novelties that are beauti- | full or picturesque. The dinners of both Io1,, h 1io men are very glad of a chance to attend 1 them.
 Those of my readers who have never at | tended one of these big dinners will not | find it easy to imagine what they are like. Seat from 100 to 125 people at a great table, | loaded with costly flowers, with potted plants and palms all around, the walls iridescent with electric devices, the menu cards always something highly novel and unique, and you get in the minds eye a glimpse of the scene. Then remember | that these men are the flower of the na- | tional capital, the men who rule the nation either through the lawmaking power or through the press, and you will the more surely grasp the significance of the occa- | sion. The newspaper men are the hosts; | the members of the cabinet, senators, rep | resentatives, generals of the army and ad
 mirals of the navy are their guests. Even presidents have attended these dinners. A Fearful Ordeal.
 The dinners of the Gridiron club and those of the Press club to a lesser extent are modelled after those of the famous Clo- yer club of Philadelphia The Clover club, of which Moses Handy was the early con- trolling spirit, originated in this country the idea of asking men to dinner for the purpose of "roasting' them on the gridiron of ridicule. To such an extreme was the process carried in the Clover club that at length it became a contest of bravery. The men who accepted an invitation to the Clo- yer club banquet did so with fear and trem
 bling, and only the bravest of the brave were equal to the facing of second ordeal
 It finally became necessary to tone down the ferocity of the ''roasters," for things had come to such a pass that public men would not in any great numbers subject themselves to the fires of ridicule and guy ing. The Gridiron club, made up wholly o1 newspaper men, as it is, has had the same experience, and as the years go by it fs found more and more difficult to induce public men of the highest reputation, par ticularly those who are ambitious of the presidency or other promotions, to incur th&
 risks of wounded pride at one of these ban quoting hall ordeals.
 It is no light matter to face one of these dinner tables. The most experienced after dinner talker finds his evening transformed from an occasion of pleasure into one of torture through consciousness of the fact that he is likely to be called out at any mo- ment, being introduced by the toastmaster with the words which will make him most uncomfortable, and with dozen or score of bright fellows sitting round waiting a chance to interrupt, to roast and to guy him. An ordeal like this is likely to make even the hardest of dinner campaigners nervous, and it is fact that men who un- der ordinary circumstances make bright speeches, with self confidence and aplomb, humble and halt and hesitate when facing these newspaper inquistors.
 The man who hesitates is lost. The speaker who mumbles a word, who halts longer than is required to catch his breath, will find his ears assaled with cries of Sit downp' If he attempts to tell as story which | most of the crowd have heard before, the first pause will be taken advantage of by the roasters to strike up:
 Oh, what a chestnut, what a chestnut, what 0
 chestnut, just nowl
 Slightly DiscouraginG.
 The man who starts off with the remark, "Mr. President, yon will scarcely expect me to make long speech at this time of the night,'' is sure to be hailed with: No, wa do mt Cik doyvnpJ Tho tc